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. #nuclear power plant S. Korea, Poland sign MOU on nuclear power plant project South Korea and Poland signed an agreement Monday to jointly push for a plan to build a nuclear power plant in the European nation, raising hopes for Seoul's first nuclear power pl... #KBO Battle of homegrown aces set in Korean Series opener Two of the best homegrown pitchers in South Korean baseball this season will go head-to-head to open the championship series Tuesday. The SSG Landers will host the Kiwoom Heroes... Regulations for quality measurement and risk adjustment are increasing and the financial impact for health plans are progressively driving accountability and profitability with payments, penalties, and bonuses. In order for health plans to manage this complexity and stay profitable, Risk and Quality departments will need to streamline their processes, employ best practices for data capture, and use strategic interventions to improve program outcomes, efficiency, and results. Combining quality programs with efforts aimed at documentation and coding can be difficult, so having a coordinated road map is key. The ideal approach uses predictive analytics that identify the likelihood of closing quality gaps, prioritizes the revenue impact of addressing each quality metric, and evaluates providers and medical groups for both clinical performance and coding efficacy. During this presentation, attendees will get a better understanding of risk and quality programs and how they can work together to close gaps in care, including the following: The Financial Impact of Commercial Risk Adjustment (CRA) and Quality Programs Synergies between Quality and Risk Adjustment for ACA populations Keys to success in integrating Risk and Quality Programs Closing Gaps using an integrated approach for Risk and Quality About Pulse8: Pulse8 is the only Healthcare Analytics and Technology Company delivering complete visibility into the efficacy of Risk Adjustment and Quality Management programs, enabling health plans and at-risk providers to achieve the greatest financial impact in the ACA Commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid markets. By combining advanced analytic methodologies with extensive health plan experience, Pulse8 has developed a suite of uniquely pragmatic solutions that are revolutionizing risk adjustment and quality. Pulse8s flexible business intelligence tools offer real-time visibility into member and provider activities so our clients can apply the most cost-effective and appropriate interventions for closing gaps in documentation, coding, and quality. For more company information, please contact Scott Filiault at (732) 570-9095, visit us at http://www.Pulse8.com, or follow us on Twitter @Pulse8News. About Healthcare Education Associates: Healthcare Education Associates (HEA) is a division of Financial Research Associates, LLC. HEA is a resource for the healthcare and pharmaceutical communities to improve their businesses by providing access to timely and focused business information and networking opportunities in topical areas. Offering highly targeted conferences, Healthcare Education Associates positions itself as a preferred resource for executives and managers seeking cutting-edge information on the next wave of business opportunities. Backed with over 26 years of combined conference industry experience, the producers of HEA conferences assist healthcare professionals, actuaries, attorneys, consultants, researchers and government representatives in their professional endeavors. For more information on upcoming events, visit us online: http://www.healthcare-conferences.com About Resource Initiative and Society for Education: RISE is the first national association totally dedicated to enabling healthcare professionals working in organizations and aspiring to meet the challenges of the emerging landscape of accountable care and health care reform. We strive to serve our members on four fronts: Education, Industry Intelligence, Networking and Career Development. To learn more about RISE and to join, visit us online: http://www.rasociety.org Angel Taveras, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig, LLPsBoston office and former Providence, Rhode Island mayor, will serve as a panelist at the seminar, The Gathering Storm: The Looming Rhode Island Financial Crisis in Public Pensions and Other Post-Employment Benefits, from 12 to 2 p.m. on October 14 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Taveras and fellow panelists will discuss the accounting, actuarial and legal ramifications of the public pension crisis. Speakers will share their perspectives on the existing and impending Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) requirements and the recent rulings of the Superior Court for Providence County in the City of Woonsocket health benefits case, the City of Cranston pension benefit case, and the impending ruling in the City of Providence pension and health benefits case. The seminar is hosted by the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns and Donoghue Barrett & Singal, P.C. Taveras served as the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island from 2011-2015, and is credited with rescuing the city from the brink of bankruptcy and confronting a $110 million structural deficit. Under his leadership, Providence received the All-America City Award from the National Civic League for its plan to boost third-grade reading proficiency, and was the recipient of a $3 million award from Carnegie Foundation to create innovative high schools. In 2013, Taveras won Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge $5 million grand prize for his innovative proposal to improve the vocabularies of pre-school age children. Taveras serves on the Board of the Alliance for Early Success, a nonprofit organization that works to advance state policies for young children. Most recently, he was elected to the national board of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, one of the foremost Latino civil rights organizations in the country, serving a pan-Latino constituency. At Greenberg Traurig, Taveras focuses his practice on municipal restructuring, public finance, commercial litigation, pension litigation, and public infrastructure. He has over 14 years of experience in litigation and has dealt with complex commercial matters, bankruptcy litigation, zoning and land use, shareholder disputes, and election recounts and challenges. About Greenberg Traurigs Boston Office Established in 1999, Greenberg Traurigs Boston office is home to nearly 70 attorneys practicing in the areas of bankruptcy, corporate, emerging technology, energy, governmental affairs, healthcare, intellectual property, labor and employment, life sciences and medical technology, litigation, public finance, real estate and securities. An important contributor to the firm's international platform, the Boston office includes a team of nationally recognized attorneys with both public and private sector experience. The team offers clients the value of decades of legal experience and hands-on knowledge of the local business community, supported by the firm's vast network of global resources. About Greenberg Traurig, LLP Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 2,000 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, third largest in the U.S. on the 2015 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com. Timothy Pluard, M.D., Saint Luke's Cancer Institute Medical Director This week Saint Lukes Cancer Institute opens the Saint Lukes Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer, which will provide highly specialized, individualized treatment exclusively for women with metastatic or advanced breast cancer. The center honors Dr. Paul G. Koontz, Jr., M.D. a highly accomplished Saint Lukes Hospital surgeon recognized for his skilled treatment of breast cancer. Metastatic breast cancer is cancer that has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body. While generally not considered curable, women with advanced breast cancer are living much longer, fuller lives due to advances in treatment and management of the disease. However, the vast majority of awareness and research dollars for breast cancer is focused on early stage patients, ignoring a very important populationwomen with metastatic breast cancer. A study of metastatic breast cancer patients in 2006 found these women often felt totally abandoned by both the scientific community and the advocacy community. The Saint Lukes Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer has a distinct mission: improve the outcomes and quality of life for women with metastatic breast cancer. The center will offer a unique dual approach to care, bringing together access to the very latest metastatic clinical trials, medical research, and treatment options in combination with integrative supportive therapies such as nutritional planning, exercise physiology, yoga, acupuncture, behavioral health, and spiritual support. Not only will the Center be completely unique to Kansas City, it will be one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind in the nation. We recognize each of these women is in a very unique situation and needs a treatment plan designed exclusively for her, said Timothy Pluard, M.D., medical director of the Saint Lukes Cancer Institute and the Saint Lukes Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer. The Koontz Center will bring together leading edge genomics, medical treatments and clinical trials as well as the latest in integrative therapies and allow us to create an individualized, completely comprehensive plan for each woman. Integrative therapies will include: Nutrition planning Exercise physiology Yoga Acupuncture Massage Oncology behavioral health Spiritual counseling Advanced breast cancer support groups In addition to providing important quality of life benefit, the potential impact on long term health outcomes also will be studied. We have long recognized that therapies such as exercise or nutrition can help a patient feel better and improve overall quality of life, said Pluard. However, oncologists are now beginning to suspect that these therapies, if delivered appropriately, may actually impact tumor progression and overall health and outcomes. Our goal is to be able to provide qualitative data on what those impacts may actually be. When a woman contacts the Saint Lukes Koontz Center after being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, she will be able to meet with a breast cancer specialist within one business day. Being diagnosed with cancer of any type is a scary and anxiety filled experience, said Pluard. We want these women to be able to meet with our expert team quickly so we can answer their questions, determine their treatment plan and get started immediately managing their care. When a patient comes in for her full evaluation it will typically be an all day experience. She will meet with representatives from the entire specialty team, including a medical oncologist as well as members of the integrative therapy team. At the end of the day, she will have a final consultation with her team and receive a customized treatment plan designed specifically for her. Patients also will receive a video copy of their consultation so they can review and share with friends and family. When patients are meeting with their doctors we know they are often overwhelmed, said Pluard. They leave and may not remember much of what was discussed or have difficulty fully answering questions from concerned loved ones so having a video of the consultation to take with them when they leave can be incredibly valuable. In addition, out of town family members also have the option of joining via web conferencing so they can participate and ask questions when the treatment plan is shared. The Saint Lukes Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer also will offer video consultations for patients outside of Kansas City. Because this is truly a one-of-a-kind center for a highly specialized group of women, we anticipate we will advise and treat women from all across the country, Pluard said. The Saint Lukes Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer is located at Saint Lukes Hospital of Kansas City. Saint Lukes Cancer Institute offers care at nine locations throughout the Kansas City region, and provides services through clinical affiliation at Liberty Hospital, Bates County Memorial Hospital and Western Missouri Medical Center. For additional information visit http://www.saintlukeskc.org/koontz or call 855-ONE-SLCI. Enrollment growth at Ohios colleges and universities was one of the highest in the nation from 2006 to 2011...as todays students apply for college, they are also looking at the flexibility online learning offers. AffordableCollegesOnline.org has released its list of the Best Online Colleges in Ohio for 2016. As a leader in higher education and student resources, the site determined the University of Toledo, Tiffin University, Ohio University, Youngstown State University and Bowling Green State University offered the top five four-year online programs in the state. Sinclair College, Columbus State Community College, Belmont College, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and Clark State Community College are recognized as Ohios top five two-year online programs. In all, more than 40 schools were recognized as part of the lists. "Enrollment growth at Ohios colleges and universities was one of the highest in the nation from 2006 to 2011, said Dan Schuessler, CEO and Founder of AffordableCollegesOnline.org. "As todays students apply for college, they are also looking at the flexibility online learning offers. The schools on our lists are those offering the best overall quality and value for online education in Ohio. Colleges are required to meet several basic requirements to qualify for a spot on the Best Online Colleges in Ohio lists. Schools must be regionally accredited and be public or private not-for-profit entities. There are also strict affordability standards each school must meet: two-year schools must provide in-state tuition no greater than $5,000 annually and four-year schools must provide in-state tuition no greater than $25,000 annually. Each college is ranked based on an in-depth analysis of more than a dozen value-based data points, including financial aid availability and graduation rates. To learn more about each schools position on the lists and find details about the data and methodology used to rank each school, visit: http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/online-colleges/ohio/ The following list includes all two-year schools on the 2016 Best Online Colleges in Ohio ranking: Belmont College Bowling Green State University - Firelands Central Ohio Technical College Cincinnati State Technical and Community College Clark State Community College Columbus State Community College Cuyahoga Community College Edison State Community College Hocking College Lakeland Community College Lorain County Community College Marion Technical College North Central State College Northwest State Community College Rhodes State College Sinclair College Stark State College The following list includes all four-year schools on the 2016 Best Online Colleges in Ohio ranking: Ashland University Bowling Green State University - Main Campus Cleveland State University Franklin University Gods Bible School and College Kent State University Kettering College Mercy College of Ohio Miami University - Oxford Mount Carmel College of Nursing Mount Vernon Nazarene University Ohio Christian University Ohio University - Main Campus Shawnee State University Tiffin University Union Institute & University University of Akron Main Campus University of Cincinnati - Main Campus University of Northwestern Ohio University of Rio Grande University of Toledo Urbana University Wright State University - Lake Campus Wright State University - Main Campus Youngstown State University ### AffordableCollegesOnline.org began in 2011 to provide quality data and information about pursuing an affordable higher education. Our free community resource materials and tools span topics such as financial aid and college savings, opportunities for veterans and people with disabilities, and online learning resources. We feature higher education institutions that have developed online learning environments that include highly trained faculty, new technology and resources, and online support services to help students achieve educational and career success. We have been featured by nearly 1,100 postsecondary institutions and nearly 120 government organizations. Industry experts provide legal updates to Chicagoland Board members Our informative sessions provide Board members and communities with the tools they need to make crucial decisions. FirstService Residential, Chicagolands leading property management company, hosted its latest free educational seminar for condominium, cooperative and homeowner association Board members on October 6, 2016 on the topic of Legal Updates for Communities. FirstService Residential partnered with industry attorneys from Chuhak & Tecson, Keough Moody and Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit to inform Board members about recent and upcoming legislation which could affect their communities. The session also included information from LM Funding America, Inc. regarding a new way associations can collect bad debt. Information about the legislative changes can be found on the companys website, http://www.fsresidential.com/LegalUpdatesIL. Hosting educational seminars is just one of the ways we make a difference for the communities we serve, said Asa Sherwood, president, FirstService Residential in Illinois. Our informative sessions provide Board members and communities with the tools they need to make crucial decisions. Together, we strive to improve property values, reduce operating costs and enhance residents lifestyles. Since launching its educational series in 2013, FirstService Residential continues to hold regular training seminars for Board members as a value-added service. Past seminars have included lectures on a variety of topics, including: Budget and Financial Health, Active Shooter Response and more. About FirstService Residential FirstService Residential is recognized as Illinois leading and most experienced full-service community association management firm. For over 65 years, FirstService Residential has continued to provide the best-in-class community management solutions and genuinely helpful service to its more than 150 communities and 50,000 residents throughout Chicagoland. FirstService Residential is North America's largest manager of residential communities and the preferred partner of HOAs, community associations and strata corporations in the U.S. and Canada. FirstService Residential's managed communities include low-, mid- and high-rise condominiums and cooperatives, single-family homes, master-planned, lifestyle and active adult communities, and rental and commercial properties. With an unmatched combination of deep industry experience, local market expertise and personalized attention, FirstService Residential delivers proven solutions and exceptional service that add value, enhance lifestyles and make a difference, every day, for every resident and community it manages. FirstService Residential is a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation, a North American leader in the property services sector. For more information, visit http://www.fsresidential.com. ### Heres a historical fact investors can find some comfort in: stock market returns are typically positive during election years82% of the time on average. Fisher Investments released a new infographic showing the impact of presidential election years on market returns. The infographic illustrates average S&P 500 returns during each presidency dating back to 1929. The current presidential candidates may speak of doom and gloom, but heres a historical fact investors can find some comfort in: stock market returns are typically positive during election years82% of the time on average. This pattern exists because presidents typically lose relative power at mid-term elections and legislative risk aversion is usually much higher in the second half of their terms as a result. Presidents know this and push for more major legislation in the front half when their power is likely to be greater. Stock markets generally dislike broad, sweeping legislation as it introduces uncertainty for investors. New legislation typically results in redistribution of money, property rights or regulatory changes. Research shows people hate losses much more than they like gains, so when the likelihood of legislation is higher, overall risk aversion risesmuting returns. Which party wins the White House also has an impact on market returns. When a Democrat wins the presidential election, average S&P 500 Index returns are often lower in the election year and higher in the inaugural year, 7.4% and 16.2% respectively. When a Republican is elected, average S&P 500 returns initially soar on pro-business rhetoric then taper off the following year, 15.5% and 0.7% respectively. However, this is an unusual election with an outsider as the Republican nominee, pitted against a well-known Democratic nominee, so the trend may not applya factor Fisher Investments will continue weighing as the election nears. To full view the infographic, please visit: https://www.fisherinvestments.com/market-insights/politics/elections-and-market-outcomes-infographic About Fisher Investments Fisher Investments is an independent, fee-only investment adviser founded in 1979. As of 9/30/2016, Fisher Investments and its subsidiaries manage over $71 billion in assetsover $35 billion for North American private investors, over $32 billion for institutional investors and over $3 billion for European private investors. Fisher Investments maintains four principal business units: Fisher Investments Institutional Group, Fisher Investments Private Client Group, Fisher Investments 401(k) Solutions Group and Fisher Investments International Group, which serve a global client base of diverse investors. The clients of Fisher investments and its affiliates include over 150 large institutions and over 35,000 high net worth individuals. Founder and Executive Chairman Ken Fisher has written the Forbes Portfolio Strategy column for over 32 years, and has authored several New York Times bestsellers on finance and investing. For more information, please visit http://www.fisherinvestments.com. Matt Thomas I have found them to be the best local resource for distributing the generous donations they receive to the people who are most in need. Im always impressed by the bounty that is shared with those in our community who have less and are in need. Past News Releases RSS RE/MAX Realtor Matt Thomas Helping... Realtor Matt Thomas Reaches RE/MAX... RE/MAX Realtor Matt Thomas Helping... Matt Thomas, a RE/MAX Northwest Realtor and founder of The Altitude Group, recently announced his office will be hosting a Thanksgiving food drive to help fight hunger in Colorado. Non-perishable food items, which will be donated to Food Bank of the Rockies, can be dropped off at RE/MAX Northwest, located at 12000 Pecos Street, Suite 160, Westminster, CO (Wells Fargo Building), from October 18 to November 14. I have volunteered my time and services to Food Bank of the Rockies and their affiliates for several years now. Its amazing to see the outpouring of generosity that they receive from the community and which they, in turn, return back to the community, said Thomas. I have found them to be the best local resource for distributing the generous donations they receive to the people who are most in need. Im always impressed by the bounty that is shared with those in our community who have less and are in need. Their operation is incredible to behold. With the help of donors and volunteers, Food Bank of the Rockies is able to help literally thousands. Food Bank of the Rockies, the largest private hunger-relief organization in the state of Colorado, provides food for more than 411,000 people annually. It does this by distributing 131,000 meals each day through more than 500 hunger-relief partner agencies and its direct service programs. Thanks to donations, 96 cents of every dollar Food Bank of the Rockies receives goes directly to its food distribution programs. To donate directly to Food Bank of the Rockies, please visit http://www.foodbankrockies.org/take-action/give-funds/. About Matt Thomas, RE/MAX Northwest Matt Thomas is both a listing and buyers agent specializing in residential homes sales in the North and Greater Denver Metro Areas. He is also the leader and founder of The Altitude Group at RE/MAX Northwest. For more information, please call (303) 269-1617. The office is located at 12000 Pecos Street, Suite 160, Westminster, CO 80234. About the NALA The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361. 80 Years of Memories of Life in Hawaii and Beyond is a deeply moving story filled with real-life adventures, historical tidbits and hard-won wisdom 80 Years of Memories of Life in Hawaii and Beyond (published by Trafford Publishing) offers a cross section of life during and after the Second World War told in the perspective of the author, William Harrison Wright, Jr., a native Hawaiian. This posthumous publication is a heady mix of personal anecdotes and historical tidbits all of which reveal glimpses of the zeitgeist of the era as well as Hawaiian culture. Wright was born in 1929 and was raised in Hawaii. The book narrates his life in Hawaii during major world events such as World War II and the Korean War. Post-war life in both Hawaii and the mainland USA are also described. While war stories are an important part of this memoir, it also brings to life other events, places and people that made the authors life more meaningful. 80 Years of Memories of Life in Hawaii and Beyond is a deeply moving story filled with real-life adventures, historical tidbits and hard-won wisdom. Wrights account offers compelling new insight into what it was like to live during a time of rapid global change. 80 Years of Memories of Life in Hawaii and Beyond By William Harrison Wright, Jr. Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 124 pages | ISBN 9781490771762 Softcover | 6 x 9in | 124 pages | ISBN 9781490771755 E-Book | 124 pages | ISBN 9781490771779 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the Author William Harrison Wright, Jr. was born and raised in Hawaii, in the town of Kekaha, Island of Kauai. At the outbreak of the Korean War, he volunteered for active service, spending his entire tour of duty at Fort Ord, California. He was later hired to work on the cruise missile project and served as a group leader on the B-1B Bomber program until his retirement. He passed away in February 2013. Trafford Publishing, an Author Solutions, LLC, author services imprint, was the first publisher in the world to offer an on-demand publishing service, and has led the independent publishing revolution since its establishment in 1995. Trafford was also one of the earliest publishers to utilize the Internet for selling books. More than 10,000 authors from over 120 countries have utilized Traffords experience for self publishing their books. For more information about Trafford Publishing, or to publish your book today, call 1-888-232-4444 or visit trafford.com. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: In Rani Patel in Full Effect, out this month from Cinco Puntos Press, debut YA novelist Sonia Patel introduces a teenager living in Hawaii with her Gujarati Indian immigrant parents, struggling to find her identity and discover where she belongs. Sexually abused by her father and feeling isolated from her introverted mother, Rani takes solace in writing rap songs and performing in the early 1990s underground hip-hop milieu, where she makes risky choices that, ultimately, enable her to uncover her strengths and reconnect with her mother. The author, a psychiatrist of Gujarati descent who lives and practices in Hawaii and is an accomplished writer of rap verse, spoke with PW about creating the character of Rani whose identical surname is hardly a coincidence and relaying her story. The autobiographical strains of your novel sound loud and clear. What led you to share some gritty pieces of your life with teen readers? In my role as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I do not reveal my personal life to my patients. I make occasional exceptions if I think divulging bits of my experiences will be therapeutic for the patient. There are many times I want to interrupt my teen patients and blurt, Hey, listen, Ive been there, done that. Dont waste your time making those kinds of mistakes. Dont learn the hard way like I did! Listen to me! Of course, thats not how psychotherapy works, and its rarely useful to lecture. Over the years, I got to reflecting on what additional tools I might use in therapy to help guide teens away from destructive behaviors. I kept coming back to self-disclosure. It just seemed logical that my patients and their families would be more likely to consider making behavior changes if they knew Id practiced what we were discussing. Why is fiction an effective medium for communicating that message? One day in the fall of 2014, when I was working on a new rap, I took a break and skimmed over the binder of rap Id written over the years. I read it in a certain order, and to my surprise, that order told a story of a girl overcoming adversity. Aha! It hit me. The story could be a blend of struggles and triumphs mine, those of some of my patients, and my imagination. This type of mix would hopefully produce a troubled but relatable protagonist. By writing a realistic YA novel, I was confident I could help teens in a way that, for some of them, might be more powerful than psychotherapy. Did the key role that hip hop and rap played in your teenage life inspire its importance to Rani? It was never really a decision to incorporate hip hop and rap into Ranis story. Rather, her story was born out of the rap Id written over the years. Id been hooked to hip hop especially rap since I was 11, from the first time I heard Run DMC rap to a dope beat on my boom box. Later in my teens, I put my pen to my pad and words flowed into rhymes. The rhymes gelled into rap. The rap expressed my hurt, frustration, and rebellion against my familys dysfunction. My fathers manipulative, controlling, and abusive actions isolated my mother and me, not only from our Gujarati Indian culture but also from American culture. So listening to and writing in this musical genre reduced your sense of isolation? The bottom line was that, though my genetic ancestry is Gujarati Indian, Ive never felt Gujarati Indian enough. Though I am the first person in my immigrant family to be born in America, Ive never felt American enough. And though I was raised on the island of Molokai, Ive never felt Hawaiian enough. I picked up positive bits and pieces of my surrounding cultures Gujarati Indian, Native Hawaiian, and American but these positives couldnt balance out the worthlessness I increasingly felt as my father rejected my mother and made me into his intimate companion. Fortunately, hip hop threw me a lifeline the music soothed my soul, and rap gave me a voice for my feelings of inadequacy and rage. All the things hip hop gifted me with kept me afloat while my familys ship capsized like it did for Rani. Hip hop saved her life, yo! And mine, too. Fast-forwarding to your adult life, how did your experience working with teenagers in your psychiatric practice help shape Rani Patel in Full Effect? My experiences treating teens from all walks of life definitely fueled the novel and offered a helpful counterpart to my personal experiences. Each teen Ive treated has his or her own story and challenges. The insight they gain from therapy helps them change their behavior and tolerate a spectrum of thoughts and feelings until their self-worth improves. I try to instill them with the desire to keep striving to overcome and thrive. Through my YA fiction, I hope I can impact more teens than in my office alone. Im looking to entertain, but also to inspire, to help, and to guide. Rani doesnt get it right away, and thats why her story is a realistic response to trauma. Rani repeats old, bad behaviors for a long time thats all she knows. So youre hopeful that Ranis circuitous path to recovery will encourage readers dealing with trauma to persevere on their own healing journeys? Its one thing for me in my capacity as a psychiatrist to discuss not giving up with my teen patients. Its another, maybe more potent, thing for them to think about the real, relatable experiences of another person. And perhaps its even more compelling for them to read a YA novel about a young protagonist whose world they can climb into and live in for a while. Perhaps in this vicarious manner they can gain empathy for their own situation and be inspired to keep trying to make positive change. Was it difficult, or cathartic, to revisit painful parts of your past to relay Ranis story? It was both and also therapeutic. Physician heal thyself most certainly applied when writing Ranis story. I never had a psychiatrist growing up, when I was in the thick of my family turmoil. Deep down, I knew there was a problem, but I buried all my feelings because no one else seemed to think there was anything wrong. I figured it was just the way things were, and that I was way better off than kids who were starving or being beaten or growing up in war-torn countries. It was only in the process of writing Ranis story that I found true healing. However, I also found grief the grief Id avoided my entire life. Grief about the reality of my familys problems and the long-term consequences my mother and I suffered. Grief about the terribly hurtful choices Id made. Ultimately, through the process of writing Ranis story, I gained tremendous insight into my past and how it connects to my present. Ive solidified my identity, self-worth, and ability to make good interpersonal decisions something Ive been encouraging my patients to strive for all along. Your novel was selected as a YA Editors Buzz book at BEA, and has received multiple starred reviews. As a first-time novelist, this enthusiastic reception must be very gratifying. Yes its been such an honor! I am new to the YA world and feel grateful for this buzz. I consider myself an outlier in terms of authors, because my focus is on emotional and interpersonal realism as opposed to shock value, world building, or epic storytelling. So while Rani Patel in Full Effect may not make the New York Times bestseller list, I am already well on my way to achieving my goals as an author to help and inspire teens. What is next up for you as a novelist? Any chance you will continue Ranis story in a sequel? I often fantasize about writing a sequel with Rani in college in New York City. Ive imagined her there kicking up her rap skills, and developing a strong network of female friends. Maybe someday Ill get to that. Currently, though, Im working on a tragic teen love story set on Oahu a trans Gujarati boy and a girl from Hauula meet by chance. And though their lives are filled with chaos of all kinds, their love grows. They start to solidify their true identities, but then... youll have to wait and see! Rani Patel in Full Effect by Sonia Patel. Cinco Puntos, $16.95 Oct. 978-1-941026-49-6; trade paper, $11.95 ISBN 978-1-941026-50-2 What this years Heartland Fall Forum, held Oct. 57 in Minneapolis, lacked in terms of bookseller attendance, it made up for in enthusiasm, especially when it came to childrens books and authors. This years joint trade show of the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association drew 280 booksellers from 69 MIBA stores and 29 GLIBA stores, 238 exhibitors staffing 72 booths and tables, and 160 authors to The Depot, a 19th-century train station that has been converted into a conference hotel complex. Attendance was about 5% down from last years show in Chicagoland, and 31% from 2014, when the regional trade show was last held at The Depot. The booksellers who did attend, though, were happy to be there, because, they reported, meeting authors is just as important to them as checking out publishers newest offerings and the childrens book authors at Heartland fully delivered. You read a book and say, unh hunh, Mary Gehring of the Bookshelf in Batesville, Ind,. told PW before the childrens breakfast began. But you come to this and you hear the authors speak, and when you hear their passion, you want to read the book and you really want to sell it [because] you think, I have this person that I can [handsell] this book to. And, as Becky Anderson of Chicagolands Andersons Bookshops noted while moderating the childrens breakfast, childrens book authors create magic. The four authors certainly did create magic for a room full of booksellers, with their talk of how they came to write about kindly witches and shape-shifting cats and badass dinosaurs. Kelly Barnhill, author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon (Algonquin) spoke of her upbringing in a family of Midwestern educators and how writing middle-grade fiction has allowed her to connect with her educator self. Disclosing that she could never hold down a normal job, she came to write weird fictions because she likes weird things including kindly witches, wise swamp monsters and dragons who suffer from delusions of grandeur. Every story she writes, Barnhill disclosed, begins with a conundrum that delights me, [and] makes me wonder. The Girl Who Drank the Moon, she said, began with the swamp monster. I dont know where he came from, she said, but she knew she had to investigate whether there was a story there. My job is weird, she concluded. But its OK the [real] world is weird too. Next up was Brendan Wenzel, who presented They All Saw a Cat (Chronicle) the first picture book that he both wrote and illustrated. Describing himself as a life-long lover of animals, Wenzel noted that physiology, history, and location all have an impact upon perception and emotion, one of the points he wanted to make in They All Saw a Cat, in which a cat walked through the world, with its whiskers, ears and paws and all of the other creatures it encounters see it differently from the others. Displaying the books illustrations to the audience, Wenzel demonstrated how the same cat is a cuddly friend to a child, an endless expanse of sky-high fur to a flea, and a roaring monster to a mouse. Wenzel noted that he included Rorschach-style endpapers in They All Saw a Cat. I like to ask kids what they see in the endpapers, he said. Concluding his presentation, he expressed his hope that booksellers will close the book after reading it and think of all the fun stuff that he created in the production of this book. Brandon Mull, author of the bestselling Fablehaven series (Shadow Mountain), then explained how he came to write fantasy stories. Disclosing that he was the oldest sibling in a family of five, Mull said that he has always lived in my head, fighting battles and having adventures as a coping mechanism, especially against boredom. My head was a factory of weird creative things, he said of his childhood, recalling that reading the Chronicles of Narnia broke my little brain [because] all I wanted was it to come true. Like C.S. Lewis, Mull said he began to write down fantastic stories about people who never existed and things that never happened. Mulls new series, Dragonwatch, is launching with Shadow Mountain in March. The world he created in Fablehaven is an entry point for this new series, which is about a family entrusted with guarding the dragons in dragon sanctuaries. Most people [in his novels] cant speak to dragons, he said: They become paralyzed with fear. The characters in Dragonwatch, he said, were his favorite cast of characters ever. Concluding on a serious note, Mull emphasized the importance to him of writing about fantastical worlds so that young people could use his stories as their own coping mechanisms. One way I can describe my job is that I pretend to be a 13-year-old girl talking to a centaur, Mull said, explaining that if an author of childrens fantasy novels is adept at writing compelling dialogue, you can draw in kids and get them to read. The mornings final speaker, Eric Litwin, also emphasized the importance of drawing children to books. Saying that he is a former teacher, or, as he joked, a recovering teacher, Litwin recalled how, as a child, he could not sit still in class and received bad grades, but survived school by reading voraciously. As a teacher, he noticed that kindergartners loved books, but that there were older children who were turned off to books. What happens between kindergarten and third grade? he asked. He concludes that the two typical methods of teaching children how to read are flawed. He writes his books keeping in mind that repetition, rhyme, and plot prediction are much more effective methods in teaching children to read than the widely-used phonics method, in which children are taught the alphabet first, the sounds they make, and how letters form words. He then adds in some motion and music to the mix to ramp up the fun. Litwin then strapped on his guitar and began performing Groovy Joe: Ice Cream & Dinosaurs (Scholastic, Sept.). Within minutes, he had the crowd of booksellers singing at the top of their lungs the refrain, Love my doggy ice cream, while waving hands, pumping fists, and even doing a few 80s-style dance moves in their seats. It was, Litwin pointed out, literary disco with a message: its good to share even with a dinosaur. Finishing a raucous performance, Litwin recalled that his first childrens book, Pete the Cat, was self-published more than 10 years ago. His local bookseller, Little Shop of Stories, in Decatur, Ga., got behind the book and brought it to the attention of indie booksellers as well as to others in the publishing industry. What I have learned is booksellers are the heart and soul of the book publishing industry, Litwin said in thanking them. That was the funnest breakfast Ive been to, said Kate Scott of Dragonfly Books in Decorah, Iowa, afterwards. There was so much excitement and energy there. Everyone matched that energy. I loved seeing the authors do what they actually do [at author events]. Oh my gosh, if you can entertain adults like this, kids must go nuts. Zsame Morgan, who is opening Babycakes Book Stack, a childrens bookstore in downtown St. Paul next spring, agreed, describing the breakfast as both enlightening and entertaining. She added, I cant wait to have author events at Babycakes Book Stack and witness the children meeting the dynamic people responsible for reaching the corners of their minds. Tom Lowry of Lowry Books in Three Rivers, Mich., echoed their sentiments, adding that he appreciated that the four authors demonstrated new creative ways of looking at the world and is gratified that such talent go into childrens books. Lowry noted that he already stocks Groovy Joe and They All Saw a Cat in his store, but to have the authors talk about them adds to the experience. And Gary Shapiro, who opened a bookstore in Arkeny, Iowa, earlier this year, said that The Girl Who Drank the Moon is the kind of book that will sell well at his store. He predicted that Dragonwatch is going to do well too, especially because he cannot keep Fablehaven titles in stock. We order five, we sell five. We order five, we sell five, he said. Like magic. Next years Heartland Fall Forum returns to Chicagoland next year. It will be held once again at the Westin Lombard in Lombard, Ill., from Oct. 1113. Today, theres perhaps more interest than ever before in the future of libraries. I see this at my own library, the White Plains (N.Y.) Public Library, where we have begun a large-scale renovation thats required us to close off most of our first floor. If I stand in my library lobby for five minutes, I end up fielding questions from patrons. Many are expected: What have you done with the new mysteries? Where are the computers? Whos paying for this? But other questions are more reflective. What sort of a library are you building when so much content is available digitally? Will there still be books? What about more space for meetings and workshops? Will food be available? The public, it turns out, is trying to figure out our future right along with us. Community Support I admit, Im no Marshall McLuhan. But as a library director, I try to track the changing environment libraries are living in, often through the weekly Read for Later newsletter from the American Library Associations Center for the Future of Libraries. But Im more keenly interested in the decisions my colleagues from across the country are making for their libraries right nowIm most interested in what the next five years will bring, not the next 15. Which is why I find reading grant announcements and applications so revealing. No one completes a grant application on a whim. Tedious and labor-intensive, grant applications are a response to real needs in ones community, or within ones profession. Grants are meant to address the future we want to create tomorrow. And no one provides more grants to libraries than the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), through several grant programs, with awards ranging from $5,000 to $2 million. Though the IMLS provides priorities for each grant cyclefor example, building a national digital platform, or programs for learning in librariesthere is enough latitude to submit applications that, in the words of the IMLS, will move library and archival services... forward. So what do the 80-plus library grants funded by the IMLS in 2016 tell us about the librarys role in the near future? I took a look, and broadly speaking, the applications tell us that libraries are actively addressing a wide range of challenges within their communities. And, long gone are the days when a librarys solution to a challenge would be to develop a collection of books and wait for people to discover it. Whats Happening Not surprise, digital is a big area of support for IMLS. In 2016, over a third of IMLS grants went to digital library projects. But unlike in previous years, the 2016 grants didnt necessarily support content creation, or even metadata. They mostly sought to improve the connection among existing tools, services, and content collections. Creating a national digital platform is a major stated priority for the IMLS. And we can expect more funding in the future that will seek to connect the various far-flung parts of our digital library infrastructure by knitting it together, and improving discoverability. Education and learning is another key priority for libraries, and also for IMLS. On that front, the 2016 IMLS grants suggest that school librarians are eager to integrate maker activities into their communities through the school library. In Utah, for example, a junior high school and a public library are seeking to develop a program for rural, small-town public and school librarians, to teach them the skills required to initiate maker programming. "Long gone are the days when a librarys solution to a challenge would be to develop a collection of books and wait for people to discover it." In Norman, Okla., a joint effort between the public schools and the University of Oklahoma is looking to design and test a learning by making program, which focuses on creative problem solving. Engaging more than 570 students over three years, that program seeks to transform the role of the school librarian in K12 learning. A number of projects seek to help refugees. Project Welcome, from the Mortenson Center at the University of Illinois and ALA, is a program to help libraries support the various organizations providing resettlement and integration services to refugees. In Hartford, Conn., young adult librarians are launching a three-year project for immigrant and refugee youth that focuses on language learning, digital literacy skills, leadership development, cultural competency, and social action. In Azusa, Calif., the library is working on a Grassroots ESL (English as a Second Language) program, which will provide language instruction with partner organizations throughout the community, not just in a classroom. Similarly, the Free Library of Philadelphia is seeking to work with nine community partners to integrate the library into the broader systems of workforce development and adult education. The Denver Public Library, meanwhile, is developing programming for adults experiencing homelessness and poverty. OCLC, is working on an interesting program to help small and rural communities reimagine and reconfigure their library spaces to support participatory learning and other programming. And in a low-income Brooklyn, N.Y, neighborhood, the library will pilot BKLYN Link, which will provide both free broadband access and a technology-based fellowship program for 18-to-24-year-olds, who will actually install and maintain the network. But for me, the genius awards go to the Providence (R.I.) Public Library for its LibraryU project, and the Brooklyn Public Library for BKLYN Link. LibraryU is a workforce development program will support 600 underserved teens, with learning opportunities, digital credentials, academic credit, exposure to work, and entry points into academic and career pathways. And in a low-income Brooklyn, N.Y, neighborhood, BKLYN Link, will provide both free broadband access and a technology-based fellowship program for 18-to-24-year-olds, who will actually install and maintain the network. This is what the public library reinvented looks like. Whats Missing? So, whats not included in this years round of grants? If you ask public librarians what their greatest institutional challenge is, many would say its that library staff and leadership still do not reflect the communities they serve. Yet there is only one grantand its for archival facultythat addresses diversity. Absent too is that old saw, information literacyalthough other types of literacies (especially digital literacy) do pop up. Though several grants support UX (user experience), theres also no research into our users and the roles that libraries playor dont playin their lives. Have we given this research up to Pew and OCLC? And with the exception of the open source e-reader, SimplyE, there is no mention of books and the experience of reading. In fact, in reviewing the 2016 grants you would hardly know that libraries are in the business of acquiring, sharing, and promoting discussion about books. Is there really nothing left for us to learn to support the experience of reading? Is reading no longer an action we as librarians are supposed to value? I applaud all the inventive ways librarians are seeking to expand their roles in the community, and the programs supported by the 2016 IMLS grants are truly laudable and innovative. But Id also suggest that what libraries could use is a national reading platform thatlike the IMLSs goal of a national digital platformwould connect and support the myriad reading activities strewn across libraries, publishers, and literacy advocates. Blythe, CA (92225) Today Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High around 85F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. Low near 60F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. When Quad-Citians remember the late Hans W. Becherer, the first thing that springs to mind is probably the iconic green machines on which our community originally was built. And of course, as Deere & Companys seventh CEO, he did make significant and lasting contributions to the success of the company founded by John Deere. But there is more to the story of his decade at the helm of Deere and as a leader in our community to be shared and remembered as friends and family mourn the 81-year-olds death in Colorado last week. Its hard to measure all that he did since so much of it was done so quietly. But that generosity led the Quad Cities Illinois Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals to name him the Outstanding Philanthropist of the year in 2001. The organization said then, His contributions to the community are legion whether it is much-needed fundraising or a willingness to open his own wallet to help. Among those we know benefited were kids served by Junior Achievement. He also boosted Arrowhead Ranch and Renew Moline and he promoted economic development and bistate cooperation at a time when it was still frowned upon in some circles. Besides the legion of others we didnt know about, there were some very public ones our community continues to benefit from today. In addition to donating the land on which the long-awaited civic center stands, Deere and Co., with Mr. Becherer at the helm, led the private-sector fundraising necessary to help what is now the iWireless Center go from vision to reality. John Deere Commons rose under his watch and today remains one of the biggest tourism draws in Illinois. The synergy that those things created in downtown Moline helped to spark a transformation that continues today. Under his leadership, Deere also began a successful partnership with the PGA that gave birth to the TPC at Deere Run, and of course, the John Deere Classic, a first-class operation that generates huge sums of money for Quad-Cities charities. Despite all he did, he rarely took a public bow. In fact, weve been told Mr. Becherer had hoped to slip away quietly at his retirement. But grateful Quad-Cities friends refused to let him do so without a community-wide celebration. His death offers us one more opportunity to celebrate the man area mayors proclaimed had for 10 years given Deere and our community visionary leadership and a prophetic view of what could be. Our sympathy to his family and friends from a community grateful that this generous visionary once called it home. Moline police officers testified Thursday that they found a pile of burning materials -- suspected to be the clothes worn by a shooter -- upon a search of Lamaree Wilson-Neuleib's home and backyard the morning of the shooting. Mr. Wilson-Neuleib, 18, is on trial in Rock Island County Circuit Court on one charge of first-degree murder and one charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. He is alleged to have shot Zachary Phillips, 18, leading to his death, and Erik Roberson, 21, leading to serious injury. The shooting occurred May 20, 2015, at 10:35 a.m. on 53rd Street in Moline. According to court testimony, shortly after police arrived on scene, Mr. Wilson-Neuleib was named as a suspect and police set up a perimeter around his residence on 45th Avenue Court in Moline where officers behind the house saw a small fire burning in the backyard grass. It looked like you could see a pair of shoes and maybe some clothing," Moline Police Officer Jeremy McAuliffe testified Thursday. He said it didn't take long for Mr. Wilson-Neuleib to voluntarily come outside and be taken into custody. On Wednesday, multiple witnesses testified the shooter was wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, red shoes and blue latex gloves. Stephanie Tanner testified that, when she was asked later that day to identify the person she had seen, she hesitated "only because he was wearing different clothes." Also testifying Thursday were a 911 caller, a 911 dispatcher, a Moline High School resource officer, two Illinois State Police officers, the forensic pathologist who performed Mr. Phillips' autopsy and an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Alex Snell, 18, who said he was a friend of both victims, also took the stand. He said Mr. Roberson came to his apartment the morning of May 20 when Mr. Roberson received a call from Mr. Wilson-Neuleib wanting to buy cannabis. I thought that it was very, very weird he was trying to buy four grams of cannabis for $100, Mr. Snell said. Mr. Snell said he stayed behind while Mr. Roberson, Mr. Phillips and a third friend, Matthew Merrill, went to make the transaction. Ten minutes later, Mr. Snell said, he received a call from Mr. Merrill saying "they all got shot." Illinois State Police Trooper Dustin Johnson, a firearm identification specialist, confirmed all of the fired bullets and used casings collected at the crime scene came from the gun police say was used. The same gun was confirmed to have been bought by Billy Wilson, Mr. Wilson-Neuleib's father, Aug. 6, 2010, from Carbon Cliff Bait and Tackle store, according to Frank Cecchinelli of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The gun, however, did not have Mr. Wilson-Neuleib's fingerprints on it, testified Chris Jacobson of the Illinois State Police, an expert in latent print identification. He also said Mr. Wilson-Neuleib's prints were not found on bullet casings. More witnesses are expected to testify today as Mr. Wilson-Neuleib's trial continues at 8:30 a.m. ROCK ISLAND -- Former city manager Thomas Thomas on Thursday filed the required statement of economic interests paperwork with Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney's office, one day after an ethics complaint was filed against him. Mr. Thomas had no comment Thursday on why he didn't file the statements in 2013, 2014, 2015 or 2016, other than to say it wasn't intentional. William Gass, of Springfield, filed a complaint against Mr. Thomas related to the statements. His claim was presented Wednesday before the Rock Island Ethics Commission during a probable cause hearing to determine if the case merited further investigation. The commission took the complaint under advisement. Ms. Kinney said state law requires the annual filings for various local and state government employees, including municipal employees such as Mr. Thomas who resigned in September. Deputy clerk Dee Lyon said roughly 1,200 people receive annual notices stating Illinois law requires them to file similar statements of economic interests. Ms. Kinney said more than 200 of those people have not filed the required statements. Ms. Kinney said she does not police whether those required to file actually do. The statements seldom gather attention unless a complaint is filed, such as the one from Mr. Gass, she said. But that doesn't make the requirement any less important, she said. "I think it's in the best interests of employees that are required to do so to file a statement of economic interests in a timely manner," Ms. Kinney said. Questions on the statement includes ownership in any entity doing business with the city, any professional organization affiliations in which income of more than $1,200 was derived and the nature of professional services rendered by the person outside of the job from which income exceeding $5,000 was received. In his filings Thursday, Mr. Thomas replied "None" to those and other related questions. State law says anyone required to file a statement who willfully files a false or incomplete statement can be found guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Rock Island city attorney David Morrison could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon to determine if the commission will proceed further with the complaint. MOLINE -- The 2016 Upper Mississippi River Conference may set a benchmark for approaching broad improvements to the Mississippi River and other rivers around the world, attendees said Thursday. The river's watershed, as a whole, barely passed assessment by America's Watershed Initiative, which rated it a D+. The upper region of the watershed, which includes the Quad-Cities, received a C. Categories included how much clean water was present, the condition of the river infrastructure and ecological health. The assessment prompted this year's theme of the conference now underway at the iWireless Center in Moline. "Raising the Grade includes representatives of groups from up and down the Mississippi River interested in environment, transportation, infrastructure and flooding. Attendees on Thursday said they hope to create a list of ideas that lead to short- and long-term improvements for the river. Jordy Jordahl, director of Americas Watershed Initiative, said while the conference's focus may be the upper basin, anything accomplished there will affect the rest of the Mississippi River. Finding solutions won't be easy, he said, but he was excited about the conference. He said more than 200 people attended one morning session. "More and more, people are seeing we need to be working together," he said. Conference speaker Heath Kelsey of the University of Maryland said he has conducted similar water studies around the world and residents of other river regions will be watching the conference in Moline. Flood defenses were among the concerns for East Moline Mayor John Thodos. "We're looking for a comprehensive plan, not the piecemeal stuff we've seen in the past," he said. Maj. Gen. Michael Wehr of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said a reinvestment is needed in the transportation infrastructure along the river, with emphasis on the areas most at risk and with the most impact on the system. A failure in one of the locks or other portions of that infrastructure, he said, could bring traffic along the waterway to a halt. The American Watershed Initiative report gave infrastructure condition a D; infrastructure maintenance received an F. The conference wraps up today, with a preliminary report expected this afternoon, according to one of its organizers, Kathy Wine, executive director of River Action. US-Russian tensions spilling into UN Security Council By Kambiz Foroohar Bloomberg News (TNS) NEW YORK _ Rising tensions between Moscow and Washington over the civil war in Syria, interventions in Ukraine and election-year accusations of hacking in the U.S. are spilling over into an increasingly divided United Nations Security Council, threatening to paralyze initiatives from North Korea to Africa. The latest signal of U.N. dysfunction came Oct. 8, when Western diplomats fumed over Russia's veto of a French-drafted resolution that would have demanded an end to airstrikes and military flights over the Syrian city of Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people are trapped. Russia is backing Syrian President Bashar Assad's efforts to retake the city. "Russia has become one of the chief purveyors of terror in Aleppo," said David Pressman, deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N. A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had demanded a war crimes investigation of Russia and Syria. In exercising his veto power, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin dismissed the French resolution, which received 11 of 15 votes, as a "waste of time." "The loss of trust between the big powers over Syria is immense, and will be hard to reverse," said Richard Gowan, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "There is a fear that the current ill-temper over Syria could spread to discussions of other issues, making U.N. action harder." Things weren't always so tough. A more cooperative atmosphere at the U.N. in recent years helped bring about the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate change accord. However, those agreements are starting to seem a long ways off as the current divide begins to derail diplomatic efforts in other parts of the world, including Yemen, North Korea, Sudan and Burundi. Yemen Russia says a Saudi Arabian-led coalition should be held accountable for their air campaign against Shiite Houthi rebels who have overrun the capital and much of northern Yemen from the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. After an aerial attack on a funeral hall on Oct. 8 in Sanaa left about 140 people dead, the U.K. ambassador penned a draft statement for the Security Council condemning the attack. Russia blocked the statement, with Churkin calling it "wishy washy." North Korea The U.S. and China are in negotiations to curb North Korea's trade in coal, iron ore and crude oil after Kim Jong Un's regime conducted its latest nuclear tests on Sept. 9. One sticking point? The U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense system to South Korea, which both China and Russia oppose. Without their help, the U.S. stands little chance of tightening sanctions on Pyongyang. Sudan The Security Council remains divided over Darfur, where Russia and China are blocking moves to investigate human rights abuses by the Sudanese government, including allegations of chemical attacks. Burundi Russia and China have blocked Security Council statements regarding deadly political unrest and human rights violations in the East African country, where President Pierre Nkurunziza made the decision to run for a third term. Reason for optimism? The U.S.-Russian breakdown comes as former Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Guterres prepares to assume the office of U.N. secretary-general in January. In a display that not all cooperation at the U.N. has ended, the 15 Security Council members unanimously backed him for U.N. chief last week, and the General Assembly elected him by acclamation on Thursday. Guterres earned a reputation as a hard-working, competent leader of a minority-led government in Portugal in the late 1990s and later head of the U.N.'s refugee agency, dealing with waves of migrants displaced by the Syrian crisis. "It is just possible that he may have the talents to act as a bridge between Moscow and Washington on issues like Syria," Gowan said. It won't be easy. In August 2014, the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce held a news conference calling for reforms that would streamline and strengthen local government in Rock Island County. In two short years, the county board has hired a professional administrator, ended board member pension and health care benefits, voted to downsize the board from 25 to 15 members, negotiated a two-year employee salary freeze, and adopted professional management policies including anti-nepotism, general reserve funds, and employee performance appraisals. These reforms will save the county $3.4 million annually. While these reforms have at times been contentious, the bipartisan effort has been able to keep the majority of members moving forward. They have made some very difficult decisions, some of which involved personal sacrifice. Most recently, the board voted 20-3 in favor of reducing the number of committees from 8 to 4, even though it meant a pay cut for members. The Quad Cities Chamber Business Advocacy Council would like to express our appreciation for the great reform work the Rock Island County Board has undertaken these past two years. We know there is more work and difficult decisions ahead, and we look forward to continuing to support the county down its path of reform. Pryce T. Boeye, chair, Business Advocacy Council Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose." -- "Me and Bobby McGee" What did Donald Trump have left to lose Sunday night? His dignity? Please. His campaign's theme? His Cleveland convention was a mini-Nuremberg rally for Republicans whose three-word recipe for making America great again was the shriek "Lock her up!" This presaged his Banana Republican vow to imprison his opponent. The St. Louis festival of snarls was preceded by the release of a tape that merely provided redundant evidence of what Trump is like when he is being his boisterous self. Nevertheless, the tape sent various Republicans, who until then had discovered nothing to disqualify Trump from the presidency, into paroxysms of theatrical, tactical and synthetic dismay. Again, the tape revealed nothing about this arrested-development adolescent that today's righteously recoiling Republicans either did not already know or had no excuse for not knowing. Before the tape reminded the pathologically forgetful of Trump's feral appetites and deranged sense of entitlement, the staid Economist magazine, holding the subject of Trump at arm's-length like a soiled sock, reminded readers of this: "When Mr. Trump divorced the first of his three wives, Ivana, he let the New York tabloids know that one reason for the separation was that her breast implants felt all wrong." His sexual loutishness is a sufficient reason for defeating him, but it is far down a long list of sufficient reasons. But if it -- rather than, say, his enthusiasm for torture even "if it doesn't work," or his ignorance of the nuclear triad -- is required to prompt some Republicans to have second thoughts about him, so be it. For example, Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolinian seeking a third term, represents a kind of Republican judiciousness regarding Trump. Having heard the tape and seen Trump's "apology" (essentially: My naughty locker room banter is better than Bill Clinton's behavior), Burr solemnly said: "I am going to watch his level of contrition over the next few days to determine my level of support." North Carolinians will watch with bated breath as Burr, measuring with a moral micrometer, carefully calibrates how to adjust his support to Trump's unfolding repentance. Burr, who is chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has not received this nugget of intelligence: Contrition is not in Trump's repertoire. Why should it be? His appetites, like his factoids, are self-legitimizing. Trump is a marvelously efficient acid bath, stripping away his supporters' surfaces, exposing their skeletal essences. Consider Mike Pence, a favorite of what Republicans devoutly praise as America's "faith community." Some of its representatives are still earnestly explaining the urgency of giving to Trump the task of improving America's coarsened culture. Because Pence looks relatively presidential when standing next to Trump -- talk about defining adequacy down -- some Republicans want Trump to slink away, allowing Pence to float to the top of the ticket and represent Republicanism resurrected. This idea ignores a pertinent point: Pence is standing next to Trump. He salivated for the privilege of being Trump's poodle, and he expresses his canine devotion in rhetorical treacle about "this good man." What would a bad man look like to pastor Pence? Still, some journalists, who seem to have no interests beyond their obsession with presidential politics and who illustrate Kipling's principle ("What should they know of England who only England know?"), are so eager to get started on 2020 that they are anointing Pence the GOP's front-runner. Perhaps Republicans will indeed embrace a man who embraced a presidential candidate whose supposed "locker room banter" merely echoed sexual boasts he published in a book. Today, however, Trump should stay atop the ticket, for four reasons. -- First, he will give the nation the pleasure of seeing him join the one cohort, of the many cohorts he disdains, that he most despises -- "losers." -- Second, by continuing to campaign in the spirit of St. Louis, he can remind the nation of the useful axiom that there is no such thing as rock bottom. -- Third, by persevering through November 8 he can simplify the GOP's quadrennial exercise of writing its post-campaign autopsy, which this year can be published Nov. 9 in one sentence: "Perhaps it is imprudent to nominate a venomous charlatan." -- Fourth, Trump is the GOP's chemotherapy, a nauseating but, if carried through to completion, perhaps a curative experience. "This stuff has been asked and answered time and time again and we can just get on with it which is why I'm not pulling my bill," Chloe Swarbrick said. 2 hours ago The HarrisX Ragan CEO/Communicators Perceptions Survey needs CEOs, CCOs and senior-level communicators to share their opinions on variety of topics including ESG, CSR and purpose, DE&I, and whether organizations should take a stand on political and social issues. Well share the preliminary findings, including how CEOs and communicators differed in their responses, during Ragans communications Week, Nov. 1-7. Full results will be shared in a special report this winter. Take the survey here. For those who take the time to share their insights and who provide us their email, we will send a copy of the final, aggregated findings and executive report. Your views are important to us and your answers will be kept anonymous. Cuban import agency Tradex signed a contract with Sinara for 60 type TGM8KM and 15 TGM4 locomotives in July 2016 in a deal which also includes the rehabilitation of UFCs Jose Casamayor works in Havana. The first TGM8KM will be delivered to Cuba in May 2017 and a further 14 units will be shipped in September and November 2017. A large batch of spare parts for the existing Cuban fleet of TGM locomotives will be delivered in November 2017. Amtraks Gateway Program to construct two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River to bring the number of tracks connecting New Jersey and New York City from two to four is making steady progress. The most recent development, announced Oct. 14, involves the U.S. Department of Transportations addition of the aptly named Hudson Tunnel Project to the Presidents Permitting Dashboard, an online tool for federal agencies, project developers and interested members of the public to track the federal governments permitting and review process for large or complex infrastructure projects. The Gateway Program partners previously announced a commitment of the necessary resources to expedite environmental reviews, but todays announcement that the project will be listed on the Dashboard will ensure that the established schedule is delivered on time, Amtrak said. Adding the project to the Presidents Dashboard will make the Hudson Tunnel Project a top priority for the multitude of agencies involved in the review process. The Permitting Dashboard is one element of a larger, government-wide effort to streamline the federal permitting and review process while increasing transparency, in addition to improving environmental and community outcomes. Amtrak listed the following developments: Hudson Yards Concrete Casing (pictured): Amtrak, working with the Long Island Rail Road, Related Companies and NJ Transit, has successfully preserved the right-of-way under a portion of the Hudson Yards development on the West Side of Manhattan by advancing construction of the underground concrete casing that can house future rail infrastructure. Preserving the right-of-way maintains the option for a future tunnel to connect directly to Penn Station New York. The USDOT provided $235 million in federal Sandy resiliency funds for the project, the first phase of actual construction of a new Hudson River Tunnel. The casing now extends from 10th Avenue through the western edge of the 11th Avenue viaduct. Federal Pathways to Credit Emerging Projects Agreement: The USDOT announced the release of a new credit planning tool, in conjunction with the establishment of the Build America Bureau, under the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The FAST Act made key reforms to the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program, a $35 billion federal loan program, and the Bureau has built on the reforms to create an Emerging Projects Agreement that eligible partners can now utilize. The Emerging Projects Agreement allows the USDOT to offer technical assistance and focused USDOT credit resources for complex, large-scale projects seeking low-cost federal credit. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says he is optimistic that this will enable big, ambitious projects to get a head start on plans while project sponsors continue to assemble the financing packages necessary to utilize federal credit programs. A fact sheet is available at www.transportation.gov/bureau. Federal Capital Improvement Grants (New Starts and Core Capacity): Significant progress has occurred in securing federal grant funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project and Portal North Bridge (Phase 1 of the Gateway Program). In May 2016, the Gateway partners applied for these projects to be included in the Project Development process for New Starts, a type of Capital Investment Grant available through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Project Development is the first phase that these projects are required to complete before a construction grant can be awarded. In July, USDOT accepted both the Hudson Tunnel Project and Portal North Bridgecritical elements of the Gateway Programinto the New Starts Project Development process, making these projects eligible for FTA funds. The Hudson Tunnel Project and Portal North Bridge now move forward with identifying specific development plans and, in the case of the Hudson Tunnel Project, completion of the environmental review process. The necessary environmental reviews have already been completed for the Portal North Bridge to receive FTA investment under New Starts. The move also allows costs incurred by Amtrak, NJ Transit and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) related to the environmental review and engineering and design activities to eventually be reimbursed under the FTA program. On Sept. 2, the Gateway partners submitted a Portal North Bridge Core Capacity rating package to the FTA for evaluation. If the project scores well, it will be included in the USDOTs recommendation for the Presidents FY18 Budget. Inclusion of Portal North Bridge in the Budget, expected to be released next Spring, would represent a huge step toward securing significant federal grant funding. Simultaneously, the Gateway partners are advancing engineering and environmental work on the Hudson Tunnel Project with the goal of having that project included in the Presidents budget in the near future. USDOT invested $55 million into planning for the replacement of the Portal Bridge, and the Hudson Yards concrete casing project received $235 million in federal funds. The project is now eligible for potentially billions in federal grants and loans. The environmental permitting process as been accelerated. Gateway Program Timeline Oct. 29, 2012: Superstorm Sandy hits the New York, New Jersey region causing devastating damage, including inundating the existing North River Tunnels with seawater and expediting the need for major repairs. May 30, 2013: $185 million in federal aid is obtained from the Superstorm Sandy Relief package to begin work on Phase I of the Hudson Yards Right-of-Way Preservation Project, which maintains the option for a future tunnel to connect directly to Penn Station New York. Sept. 23, 2013: Work begins on Phases I and II of the Concrete Casing project between 10th Avenue and the western edge of 11th Avenue in Manhattan. Funding for Phase II provided by $50 million made directly available to Amtrak through the Superstorm Sandy Relief package and a subsequent commitment of $11 million by the LIRR and NJT. Summer 2015: Significant delays occur for passengers in and out of Penn Station as a result of infrastructure failures (chiefly electrical and signal related) in the existing North River Tunnels. August to November, 2015: Formation of the Gateway Development Corporation (GDC) proposed to advance the project. An agreement is forged involving the states of New York and New Jersey and the PANYNJ on the need for significant federal investment and cooperation on equitable project financing and developing a framework to support the Gateway Program. A 50-50, federal-local funding split for the cost of the Gateway Program is proposed. Agreement to create the GDC and share the costs of advancing the Gateway Program is reached. Amtrak and NJT execute an agreement for NJT with the Federal Railroad Administration to commence environmental work on the Hudson Tunnel Project, primarily funded by federal appropriations provided to Amtrak. March 23, 2016: Gateway Program partners announce $70 million in funding, split 50/50 between Amtrak and the PANYNJ, to begin preliminary engineering work on the Hudson Tunnel Project. May 2, 2016: Environmental review commences, with public scoping meetings on Hudson Tunnel Project EIS in New York City on May 17 and Union City, N.J. on May 19. May 31, 2016: Application is entered by the Gateway partners for Hudson Tunnel Project and Portal North Bridge Project for FTAs New Starts Project Development phase. July 11, 2016: Former U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari named interim executive director of the GDC to assist in developing the structure and governance of the Gateway Program. July 14, 2016: Gateway Program projects take the first step toward qualifying for major USDOT funding as Hudson Tunnel and Portal North Projects enter the Project Development phase of the FTAs New Starts grant program. Sept. 2, 2016: Gateway partners submit a Portal North Bridge Core Capacity rating package to the FTA for evaluation. If the project scores well, it will be included in the USDOTs recommendation for the Presidents FY18 Budget. Oct. 14, 2016: Hudson Tunnel Project included on Presidents Permitting Dashboard. Substantial completion of the concrete casing through the Eastern Hudson Yard announced. Emergency responders from 18 cities in 13 states across Norfolk Southerns railroad network are receiving advanced training in safely handling potential rail incidents involving hazardous materials with NSs safety train. As of Oct. 14, 1,515 emergency responders have received professional instruction on the train. At every location, emergency responders can choose from among three days of free training that includes instructor-led and hands-on learning. The train includes two boxcars converted into classrooms, four types of railroad tank cars used in transporting various types of chemicals, and two specially equipped flat cars. Ninety-two Atlanta-area emergency responders are the most recent training recipients. Staged this Atlantas Amtrak station, the safety train attracted representatives of a number of area agencies, including Georgia Department of Transportation HERO units, law enforcement officers from the Habersham County Sheriffs Department, and fire and rescue personnel from Atlanta, Cobb County, DeKalb County, Griffin, Henry County, Smyrna, and Spalding County. The safety train is part of Norfolk Southerns Operation Awareness and Response initiative launched in 2015 to educate the public about the safe movement of hazardous materials by rail and to connect emergency first responders in NS communities with information and training resources. Including instruction on the train and through other course offerings, NS in 2016 so far has trained nearly 4,000 local emergency responders throughout its operating territory. The safety train is a mobile technical training center, a vocational school, for the continuing education of first responders and representatives of government agencies who support Norfolk Southerns commitment to incident-free handling of hazardous materials, said NS System Manager Hazardous Materials David Schoendorfer. Its a whistle-stop train that helps keep our communities safe. NS has a great safety record, but in the unlikely event of a train derailment involving hazmat, we want to make sure the communities we serve are prepared. We are focusing on areas where we have significant hazmat shipments. Its a best business practice to help with preparedness. This training provides continuing education and familiarization with processes and equipment Norfolk Southern uses, said Michael Lewis, battalion chief, DeKalb County Fire & Rescue in metro Atlanta. It helps us understand the potential hazards of working with railroad equipment, and it builds relationships that enable us to work as a team with Norfolk Southern in any kind of rail emergency situation we may encounter. For us to be able to come here locally and receive this training is awesome. The safety trains next stop will be in Chattanooga, Tenn., Oct. 25-27. To register in advance for training in Chattanooga or at other stops scheduled this year, visit www.joinNSoar.com and click on Training and Download Invitation near the bottom of the page. NS says the training is beneficial for all emergency responders, including representatives of fire departments, law enforcement, emergency medical services, hazmat response teams, emergency management personnel, military, homeland security personnel, rail regulators, shippers, and customers. Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK In most European countries, working fathers can take parental leave, which is offered to both mothers and fathers, and paternity leave, which is just offered to fathers. The take-up of parental and paternity leave by fathers is thought to be associated with the improved development of the child. It also helps to promote a more gender equal sharing of childcare at home and the mother's return to the labour market. Paternity leave for working fathers is offered in 18 of the 28 EU member states, with the length of time being shortaround 12.5 days on average. Most of these countries also offer 100 per cent income compensation for fathers on paternity leave. However, parental leave is notably different. It does not have to be taken immediately after birth by either parentfor mothers parental leave can be taken after maternity leave. Parental leave is also longer, but largely uncompensated. Perhaps most importantly, the uptake of parental leave by working fathers is low. In 23 EU member states, on average, only 10 per cent of fathers took up parental leave in 2015. RAND Europe explored the reasons for the low take-up of parental leave by fathers across Europe. Three key factors emerged: a lack of income compensation offered to working fathers; a lack of flexibility as to when parental leave is taken; and the culture of their workplace. Our research shows that countries that provide the highest compensation rates have the highest proportion of employees taking parental leave. Working fathers on middle-to-high incomes are more likely to take parental leave, simply because they can afford it. Those on lower incomes are less likely to take parental leave. Parental leave eligibility in many countries is also conditional on the length of employment for working fathers (usually a year or more) and whether they are on full-time or part-time contracts. In many cases, those on part-time contracts are on a lower income and less likely to take leave. Flexibility in the timing of the parental leave is another important factor in its uptake by fathers. Such factors include when it is taken (e.g. at what point during a child's lifetime), its distribution (e.g. all at once or in separate periods) and whether it is taken full or part time. A lack of flexibility can often deter fathers from taking their parental leave. Although harder to quantify, workplace culture plays a role in determining uptake of parental leave by fathers. Companies that offer flexible working hours, options to increase or decrease working hours, or have work-life balance arrangements, such as creches and babysitting, as part of their workplace culture are more likely to have male employees that take up parental leave. Such commitments towards a work and family life are seen as important signals by fathers that it is acceptable to take parental leave. A number of policies in EU countries have aimed to encourage the uptake of parental leave by fathers. These are often use it or lose it initiatives or financial incentives. The uptake of paternal leave by working fathers in Sweden has doubled after cash bonuses were provided for parents if parental leave is equally divided between parents and part of parental leave was reserved specifically for fathers. Germany also experienced a rise after reserving a specific part of parental leave for fathersa rise from 3.3 per cent in 2006 to 29.3 per cent in 2012. The take-up of parental leave does appear to be driven by economic factors, such as a lack of compensation, but flexibility of when the leave is taken and the culture of workplaces also appear to affect take-up. The link between fathers taking parental leave and improvements in the development of children makes it an important area for European policymakers to consider. Janna van Belle is an analyst at RAND Europe. This commentary originally appeared on New Europe on October 13, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. Barack Obama struck a chord with Germans eight years ago in Berlin, when he promised adoring crowds a sharp break with the Bush era. But as his own era ends, the bloom is off the rose in some German foreign policy circles. Germans who once cheered Obama now complain about NSA spying, the failure to close Guantanamo, and what they see as a mishandling of Syria. In retrospect, though, it's hard to imagine a US president being more European and, specifically, more German on key foreign policy issues. The next American president will likely be less tolerant of allies who call for US action yet balk at paying their fair share. Other challenges loom. Initially, the Obama administration seemed to have limited interest in Europe. But this wasn't altogether a bad thing, especially since its foreign policy philosophy was so congruent with the thinking of so many Europeans, and especially Germans. Obama's emphasis on what Derek Chollet, a former senior official at the Pentagon, has dubbed the Long Game was greatly appreciated in Berlin. Obama's reticence on military force and his defense of strategic restraint were mirrored in German circles on the left and the right, as was his emphasis on dialogue and diplomacy. Early on, the Obama White House took important decisions on Russia that made life easier in Berlin. The Obama White House took important decisions on Russia that made life easier in Berlin early on, ending controversial US plans for third site missile defense installations in Central Europe, launching a reset of relations with Moscow, and backing off Bush administration plans to enlarge NATO eastward. When relations with Russia later soured, Obama's approach still jibed with that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. On Ukraine, Obama understood the need for transatlantic as well as European unity and appreciated the difficulties Merkel had in sustaining the latter. He let Europe take the lead with Russia over Ukraine, resisting pressure in Washington for a more forceful US role. Over the recommendations of top advisors, Obama then chose not to offer Ukraine lethal military aid, sparing Berlin a likely European crackup. Washington and Berlin lined up on Iran, too. Rather than castigate Tehran and threaten regime change as his critics urged, Obama pursued and signed the nuclear deal. Similarly, his balanced policy toward Israel played well to a German public that sees Israel as an essential partner yet is deeply sympathetic to the Palestinians. A course of strategic restraint in Syria although heavily criticized as weak American leadership by some in Germany allowed Berlin to avoid thorny questions of how Germany might support military intervention there. Obama even backed off from his initial push for regional democracy promotion. Germany may have sat out the 2011 Libya intervention, but the US president's willingness to lead from behind there allowed Europe to emphasize its role and responsibilities in the broader region. Obama meanwhile backed the Paris agreement on climate change, opened diplomatic relations with Cuba, and mostly kept his distance from the EU's internal problems, except when backing Merkel on Brexit or refugees. Not everything was perfect. Beyond Guantanamo, there was scant progress on nuclear disarmament. White House Keynesians tangled with German conservatives over monetary policy and allegations that US spies had tapped Merkel's own cellphone sparked a storm of anger in Berlin. The pivot to Asia was seen as a slight. Obama's weapon of choice for global counter-terrorism operations unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones has become one of the most controversial legacies of his presidency and was roundly criticized. If elected, Hillary Clinton will likely be more assertive on Russia and Syria, might revisit lethal aid to Ukraine, and could press Germany on defense spending. But it's hard to imagine a future US president being any easier for Germany. With just weeks left to the election, Hillary Clinton looks increasingly likely to become the next commander-in-chief. She is widely expected to seek to build on the Obama administration's legacies while leaning in more on some key security issues. In particular, Clinton will likely be more assertive on Russia and Syria, might revisit lethal aid to Ukraine, and could press Germany on defense spending. Promoting democracy might also take on renewed priority. On the campaign trail, she has contrasted with the Obama administration's doctrine on global trade although the possibility that she might amend that position in office remains. Donald Trump's campaign appears to be derailing, and fast. That comes as relief to many in Berlin; Trump has backed both isolationism and a more militarized approach to foreign policy that harkens back to the early George W. Bush presidency, when Berlin and Washington's relations reached their post-Cold War nadir. He has been relentless about Europe's defense contributions. They're not paying us what we need, he said in his debate with Clinton on September 28, adding, NATO could be obsolete. He is also skeptical of the very international organizations Germany champions, like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and perhaps the European Union itself. While Trump's apparent admiration for Vladimir Putin might win him some points with Putin's remaining friends in Berlin, it could undermine Merkel's investment in a tough European line on Ukraine. All this could mean Germany is forced to take over even more international responsibility, with all the financial and diplomatic obligations that entails. The Obama era will be remembered as the time when America's leadership role in Europe began to shift. Europeans got more freedom of action, but could no longer outsource their foreign, and especially military, responsibilities to Washington. Whoever is president next: Europe will have to do more. Christopher S. Chivvis is associate director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation's International Security and Defense Policy Center. Jana Puglierin is head of the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations. This commentary originally appeared on Berlin Policy Journal on October 14, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. The rise in new digital-based technologies and systems is unprecedented. Over the last two decades, this level of digital growth has changed our society. Digital technologies are omnipresent, both in terms of where we are and what we do in the workplace, at home, in the local community, when purchasing goods, when travelling and across different social interactions. To explore the opportunities and challenges that digital technologies are creating within society, the Corsham Institute, in partnership with RAND Europe, over the past year designed and delivered the 2016 Thought Leadership programme looking at the Digital Society. The programme, which was periodically hosted at St. George's House, brought together senior figures from academia, industry, government and third-sector organisations, and examined four key topics: digital health; cyber and resilience; digital living; and trust and ethics. When these topics are looked at, four common themes emerge. Use of personal data: The public feels that they have no control over how data is captured and used. Data is becoming a valuable commercial resource for many organisations, but there needs to be a balance between the needs of the individual whose data is being collected and the organisations processing the data. Potential inequalities caused by digital technologies: Despite the huge potential for significant economic and societal benefits, digital technologies can magnify gaps between sections of society that have connectivity and the means to access new services (such as being able to afford the technologies), and those that do not. The increasing use of digital technologies: The increasing reliance on automation in digital technologies is likely to lead to significant changes to employment. A key benefit of automation in technologies is the ability to assimilate multiple data sources, thereby supporting more effective and automated decision-making. Employees are also likely to require new and different skills to remain employed as digital technologies become a stronger feature within the workplace. A need to make the public more digitally savvy: By raising awareness of the opportunities and risks inherent in digital technologies, the public will be better prepared in how to behave online to avoid inflicting harm (intended or unintended) on themselves and others. The Digital Society is at an important crossroads. If the UK is going to maximise the benefits from the increasing adoption of digital technologies, three potential actions may need to happen by 2020. Creating a narrative and awareness campaign for the public and industry that articulate the benefits and challenges will be important. A Charter of Digital Rights and Responsibilities is one big-picture idea, which would aim to make everyone, from the public to industry to governments, aware of their rights and responsibilities online in order to create a more inclusive and safe digital society. Establishing trust and transparency is also important. The public needs to trust that organisations will not misuse their personal data, which can be largely achieved by organisations being transparent about how they intend to use it. There also needs to be transparency in how technologies are used and rolled out. The increasing automation of human tasks requires quality assurance to maintain trust and confidence in digital technologies. Addressing the potential for inequality is another area of focus, both in allowing people access to digital technologies and also in the workplace. An Equalities Impact Assessment of new digital technologies can ensure that everyone in society can benefit from the opportunities of the Digital Society, while education and training will be required to ensure that people have the necessary digital skills to continue working. A digital society can bring about economic and societal gain, but dangers exist: social exclusion and further inequalities pose further risks; public trust is eroded if data is misused; jobs are lost to automated technologies; and cyber-attacks will likely increase. Ensuring that the Digital Society is fit and ready for the future will require a wide variety of societal issues to be addressed, not just the actual digital technologies. Hans Pung is president and Catriona Manville is a research leader at RAND Europe. Both were involved in the Thought Leadership Programme 2016 with the Corsham Institute and contributed to its report. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. For Release Thursday October 13, 2016 RAND Europe's study shows the yearly operating costs from re-establishing border controls in Europe, with one-off costs of up to 20 billion. Study highlights decrease in levels of crime following the 2007 enlargement of the Schengen area where internal border checks have largely been abolished. Reform of EU asylum system is one of several policy recommendations to help Schengen area manage higher levels of migration. A new study estimates that the abolishment of the Schengen Agreement and re-establishment of internal border controls in Europe would cost around 2 billion3 billion in annual operating costs. Border controls could also cost the current Schengen nations anywhere between 0.1 billion20 billion in fixed one-off costs, depending on the scenario resulting from the end of the Schengen Agreement. The first scenario a two-year border introduction in all Schengen states estimates that the fixed costs could be in the range of 58.6108.6 million. The second scenario the permanent suspension of the Schengen Agreement in all countries estimates that the fixed costs could be in the range of 7.41 billion19.76 billion. The economic estimates provided by RAND Europe took into account the potential costs of physically re-building borders among Schengen states, the direct administrative costs associated with the management of re-introduced borders and indirect costs stemming from disruptions to trade and travel. The study, The Costs of Non-Schengen, was commissioned by European Parliament to investigate the economic, political and social costs of ending the Schengen Agreement, the 1985 document that led to the ending of most border controls across 26 nations. This followed the temporary establishment of border controls in some EU member states in 2015 to manage the uncontrolled flow of migrants within the Schengen Area. Part of the social costs explored by the study looked at the association between the 2007 enlargement where new Schengen states (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) entered the area and the different types of crime within the Schengen area. It was found that levels of crime, such as burglary, car theft, theft and robberies, had decreased since the 2007 Schengen enlargement, with some evidence on positive associations between the abolition of internal border controls and the volume of seized drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. A key aspect of the political costs examined by RAND Europe focused on the trust of citizens living in the Schengen Area. The study's findings suggested an upward trend in European citizens' trust in national and European institutions following the Schengen enlargement in 2007. Trust is seen as an important factor in making the Schengen Agreement work for countries in the area. Marco Hafner, a research leader at RAND Europe and the report's main author, says: The recent influx of migrants and refugees to Europe has put the existing Schengen system under strain. However, from the study, it is clear that a re-establishment of border controls would come at a high economic cost and undo much of the positive social and political developments made in the past ten years. In order to manage the influx of migrants and refugees, the study suggests a number of recommendations focused on improving the existing Schengen Agreement. These include: A reform of the EU asylum system, improvements in EU return policy and strengthened cooperation with transit countries and countries of origin to lower pressure on the EU's external borders. Pressing ahead with the establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and more effective external border checks through initiatives such as systematic checks on EU nationals to support external border controls. Improvements in information collection and sharing across agencies and member states to support existing police and judicial cooperation arrangements. Hafner continues: Our recommendations to improve the Schengen Agreement focus on a reform of the EU asylum system, external border control and further cooperation across the different countries' law enforcement agencies. This would help to manage the high levels of migration to Europe, while ensuring that the positive benefits from the Schengen Area remain. RAND Europe's report was requested by the European Parliament to feed into a Cost of Non-Europe Report produced by the European Added Value Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service. This was published together with the Research Paper at the following link: https://epthinktank.eu/2016/09/11/the-cost-of-non-schengen-civil-liberties-justice-and-home-affairs-aspects/ - ENDS - Notes to Editors: About the Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement was signed in 1985 between five EU member states (Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) to work towards a gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, with the actual removal of border controls taking place in 1995. In the 1990s, the Schengen area was expanded to include every EU member state except the United Kingdom and Ireland who have not opted in (13 in total). Similarly, the member states which joined as part of the 2004 accession wave, with the exception of Cyprus, have become members of the Schengen Area (nine in total). Non-EU countries can also become members of the Schengen Area, with four doing so already &mndash; Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. In total, the current Schengen Area includes 26 countries, of which 22 are EU member states. The newest member states, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, have not joined the Schengen Area yet. About RAND Europe RAND Europe is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. Our clients include European institutions, governments, charities, foundations, universities and private sector firms with a need for impartial research. We combine deep subject knowledge across diverse policy areas including health, science and innovation; defence, security and infrastructure; and home affairs and social policy. Combined with proven methodological expertise in evaluation, impact measurement and choice modelling, we are able to offer quality-assured research and analysis, unbiased insights and actionable solutions that make a difference to people's lives. www.randeurope.org Telefonica-owned Movistar+ has signed an agreement with Kantar Media to keep track of its linear viewing, time-shift and video-on-demand (VOD) services. Kantar will design, deploy and manage a proprietary audience measurement service for Spains largest pay-TV platform . The service will use Kantar Medias return path data (RPD) audience measurement technology to collect data from its nearly four million subscribers through return path from Movistar+ set-top boxes and other connected devices.Under the terms of the agreement, Movistar+ will also have access to Kantar Medias analysis software, Instar Analytics.We are delighted to be partnering with Movistar+ to build and manage this new service, said Richard Asquith, global CEO of audience intelligence, Kantar Media. Todays announcement further cements our leading position in return path data, with more than 20 services launched across the world over the last decade.Felipe de Lucas, advertising commercial director, Movistar+ added: "With this project, Movistar+ wants to contribute to the advertising industrys adaptation to consumers new media consumption habits. For this goal, Kantar Media is the best partner. After leaving Argentinas largest telco, Valeria Campos has been appointed by Grey Juice Lab as business development manager for Latin America. The provider of content and services for over-the-top (OTT) and video-on-demand (VOD) platforms aims to strengthen its Latin American presence with this appointment.Campos, who joins the company from Telecom Argentina, will help drive Grey Juice Labs growth in the region. In her former position, she worked in various parts of the business to define the converged fixed and mobile business strategy, identify new revenue opportunities and develop actions to ensure market share and loyalty levels.Its great to have someone with Valeria Camposs profile and experience on the team, said Damian Craimowicz, Grey Juice Labs regional director for LATAM. She has worked for a long time for one of the regions biggest operators so is already very familiar with the challenges operators face when it comes to launching VOD services.Because of my background, I'm well aware of the challenges that operators face when it comes to OTT, and Grey Juice Lab is in a great position to alleviate these, added Campos. Grey Juice Lab has best-in-class solutions that solve these issues, and with the increase in on-demand video consumption in the region now is the perfect time to grow Grey Juice Labs presence in the market. InfoSat-Laos has agreed the lease of transponder capacity on Thaicom 8 to facilitate the launch of a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV network in its home country. The Ku-band satellite capacity will enable delivery of more than 15 channels on InfoSats new DTH platform, in both standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD).Thaicom 8 supports the continued high demand for Ku-band capacity of the broadcasting industry in Asia and Africa as it transitions from standard definition to high definition and ultra high definition, said Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri, CCO, Thaicom Public Company Limited.We are delighted to be able to support InfoSat-Laos business strategy. With its high signal strength, Thaicom 8 is optimised to provide state-of-the-art TV broadcast services in Laos.Somsouk Souksavath, manager of InfoSat-Laos, added: InfoSat-Laos is looking forward to delivering broadcast services to our viewers on the Thaicom 8 satellite platform. We can now provide direct-to-home satellite broadcasting services to our viewers nationwide in both standard definition and high definition formats.Co-located with Thaicom 5 and Thaicom 6 at 78.5 East longitude, Thaicom 8 entered service in July 2016 following its launch by SpaceX. By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our privacy policy unless you have disabled them. You can change your cookie settings at any time but parts of our site will not function correctly without them. [Close] NYC authorities demand $100 mln bail for Russian woman charged with extortion MOSCOW, October 14 (RAPSI) New York City Department of Correction has demanded an extraordinary large bail of $100,000,000 for release of Svetlana Travis (Zakharova), a Russian citizen who is charged with attempted extortion from New Yorks ex-governor Eliot Spitzer, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday. Earlier a judge in trial against Travis has set a $1,000,000 bail for her release. On Tuesday, the criminal case against Travis was heard in a Manhattan court. Bail was set after prosecutor told the court that the defendant may leave the United States. Lawyer of Travis, on the other hand, claimed that his client has no reason to leave. Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York reportedly closely follows the situation. In February, Travis claimed that Spitzer attacked her in a luxurious hotel and left for Russia afterward, New York Daily News reported. Spitzer denied all accusations and later filed a lawsuit against Travis on the grounds of claims of common law fraud, fraudulent inducement and unjust enrichment. The lawsuit was dropped two months later. Travis was arrested on Monday shortly after her return to the country. She is also a defendant in another criminal case. According to New York Daily News, in addition to extortion charges, Travis has been charged with forgery as well. Allegedly she used personal data of a 67-year-old man from New Jersey to rent an expensive apartment. Reportedly the victim learned about the situation only when collecting agency started calling him back. Russian pensioner receives suspended sentence for repost on social media Context Russian pensioner charged with extremism for repost on social media MOSCOW, October 14 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) A court in the Chuvash Republic found the local pensioner Nikolai Egorov guilty of incitement of national hatred by repost of a publication on VKontakte social network and gave him a two-year suspended sentence, his attorney Yevgeny Gubin told RAPSI on Friday. According to the lawyer, the sentence will be appealed. Prosecution asked the court to sentence Egorov to 360 hours of compulsory community service. The defendant pleaded not guilty. According to investigators, on May 8, 2014, Egorov posted an open letter of publicist Boris Stomakhin, which was earlier declared extremist, on his VKontakte page. Egorov insisted that he had not put any publications online and that many people had access to his account because of his half knowledge of Internet specifics, Gubin said earlier. Russian investigators close case against deceased alleged Khatyn massacre accomplice Context Canada refuses to extradite alleged Khatyn massacre accomplice to Russia MOSCOW, October 14 (RAPSI) A criminal case against Vladimir Katryuk, who allegedly participated in the massacre in the Belarusian village of Khatyn during World War II, has been closed because of his death, Russias Investigative Committee announced on Friday. In March 1943, Nazi collaborators massacred the entire population of Khatyn, or 149 civilians, including 75 children and minors. They also destroyed all residential buildings. The Investigative Committee representative specified that there is no statute of limitation for war crimes, according to the Charter of the Nurnberg international Military Tribunal of August 8, 1945. Russian investigators opened a case over genocide against Katryuk, who had left for Canada. Russia, as a successor of the Soviet Union, took up the obligation to prosecute Nazi war criminals. In 2015, Canadian officials refused to extradite Katryuk. He was exonerated from all charges by Canada. Therefore, the country has ignored the principle extradite or prosecute, the Prosecutor Generals Office of Russia said earlier. The Killid Group, October 10, 2016 Ahead of the second round of presidential polls in 2014, the two candidates now president and chief executive had signed an agreement to strengthen media rights and respect liberty of the press. In reality the media has to struggle for access to information and security, and if you are female against sexual harassment, says the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which represents Afghan journalists. The NUJ conducted a survey, interviewing 1,088 journalists in 11 provinces who worked in the print and electronic media and websites. Faheem Dashti, the unions head, believes violence against the media has increased. Journalists are beaten, and terrorised by the government, he says. Half of those surveyed confirmed violence was on the rise. There were 60 incidents in the first six months of this year. Last year, there were only 39. Women were harassed both within the office and outside. Female journalists are faced with security and financial problems, and also sexual harassment, NUJs Dashti confirms. Unfortunately the government has not done anything. Journalist Husain Naseri, a freelancer, says the government has neither provided security nor investigated the dossiers of violence against the media. The government always makes promises but never acts. Hezbullah Atal, a reporter with Kabul News, echoes the same feelings. They (leaders of the national unity government) approved the law of access to information at the beginning but unfortunately many of the government offices do not share information with the press, particularly when it is not in their interest. The other problem is that they release incorrect information that creates many problems. Hekmatullah Nori, reporter for Aryana News, wants the government to immediately implement the law of access to information. According to Wahidullah Oryakhil, reporter for Gurbat TV, the public blames the media when information is wrong. Kareebul Rahman Shahab, a reporter with the daily Sarnawesht (destiny), blames journalists at the top for weakening the media. He says many of those in top jobs are poor at their work and give the media a bad name. In addition, cases of violence, torture and murder against journalists have increased this year. He blames it on the government. The government is committed to democracy; it should not create problems for journalists. It is getting tougher and tougher to be a journalist, says Kabul Press Club chief Aziz Ahmad Tasal. Apart from anti-government groups, the government is a threat to the media. Journalists were beaten up during a trip of the Afghan president to Bamyan, Tasal says. Government view Minister for Culture and Information Abdul Bari Jahani thinks the bill on immunity for journalists will speed up investigations into dossiers of violence against journalists. The National Security Council, Ministry of Culture and Information and some other security institutions have drafted the law for the setting up of a committee in Kabul that would also have control over the provinces, says Jahani. Meanwhile, a committee led by Sarwar Danesh, second deputy minister, is reviewing some 625 cases of violence against journalists over the last 14 years. With amendments in media laws, press freedom will be better protected, he says. Dashtee adds that the goal of the survey is to make aware the government about its weak and strong points solve the problems so that it becomes strong. Dashtee sees the economic problem a big problem of the journalists as he founds from the survey but says that misbehavior with the journalists and not reviewing their dossiers are also serious problems, Reuters, October 11, 2016 SHARANA: 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 told Reuters 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 Pakistan, there are no detention centres for women. Fawzia poses for a picture as she spends her jail term in one of the tribal elders' house in Paktika province, Afghanistan July 27, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) Video report Fawzia poses for a picture as she spends her jail term in one of the tribal elders' house in Paktika province, Afghanistan July 27, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) 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 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 United States (US) 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 per cent of girls and 50pc 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." Global Research, October 12, 2016 By Eric Margolis America was furious after the bloody 9/11 attacks. The Bush administration had been caught sleeping on guard duty. Many Americans believed 9/11 was an inside job by pro-war neocons. Afghanistan was picked as the target of US vengeance even though the 9/11 attacks were hatched (if in fact done from abroad) in Germany and Spain. The suicide attackers made clear their kamikaze mission was to punish the US for occupying the holy land of Saudi Arabia, and for Washingtons open-ended support of Israel in its occupation of Palestine. This rational was quickly obscured by the Bush administration that claimed the 9/11 attackers, most of whom were Saudis, were motivated by hatred of American values and freedoms. This nonsense planted the seeds of the rising tide of Islamophobia that we see today and the faux war on terror. An anti-communist jihadi, Osama bin Laden, was inflated and demonized into Americas Great Satan. The supposed terrorist training camps in Afghanistan were, as I saw with my eyes, camps where Pakistani intelligence trained jihadis to fight in India-occupied Kashmir. Afghanistan, remote, bleak and mountainous, was rightly known as the graveyard of empires. These included Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Timur, the Moguls and Sikhs. The British Empire invaded Afghanistan three times in the 19th century. The Soviet Union, worlds greatest land power, invaded in 1979, seeking a corridor to the Arabian Sea and Gulf. All were defeated by the fierce Pashtun warrior tribes of the Hindu Kush. But the fool George W. Bush rushed in where angels feared to tread, in a futile attempt to conquer an unconquerable people for whom war was their favorite pastime. I was with the Afghan mujahidin when fighting the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, and again the newly-formed Taliban in the early 1990s. As I wrote in my book on this subject, War at the Top of the World, the Pashtun warriors were the bravest men Id ever seen. They had only ancient weapons but possessed boundless courage. During the 2001 US invasion, the Americans allied themselves to the heroin and opium-dealing Tajik Northern Alliance, to former Communist allies of the Soviets, and to the northern Uzbeks, blood foes of the Pashtun and former Soviet Communist allies. Taliban, which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, had shut down 90% of Afghanistans heroin and opium trade. The US-allied Northern Alliance restored it, making Afghanistan again the worlds leading supplier of heroin and opium. US occupation forces, backed by immense tactical airpower, allied themselves with the most criminal elements in Afghanistan and installed a puppet regime of CIA assets. The old Communist secret police, notorious for their record of torture and atrocities, was kept in power by CIA to fight Taliban. Last week, Washingtons Special Inspector General for Afghan Relief (SIGAR) issued a totally damning report showing how mass corruption, bribery, payoffs and drug money had fatally undermined US efforts to build a viable Afghan society. Whats more, without 24/7 US air cover, Washingtons yes-men in Kabul would be quickly swept away. The Afghan Army and police have no loyalty to the regime; they fight only for the Yankee dollar. Like Baghdad, Kabul is a US-guarded island in a sea of animosity. A report by Global Research has estimated the 15-year Afghan War and the Iraq War had cost the US $6 trillion. Small wonder when gasoline trucked up to Afghanistan from Pakistans coast it costs the Pentagon $400 per gallon. Some estimates put the war cost at $33,000 per citizen. But Americans do not pay this cost through a special war tax, as it should be. Bush ordered the total costs of the Iraq and Afghan wars be concealed in the national debt. Officially, 2,216 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan and 20,049 were seriously wounded. Some 1,173 US mercenaries have also been killed. Large numbers of US financed mercenaries still remain in Afghanistan and Iraq. Noble Peace Prize winner Barack Obama promised to withdraw nearly all US troops from Afghanistan by 2016. Instead, more US troops are on the way to protect the Kabul puppet regime from its own people. Taliban and its dozen-odd allied resistance movements (terrorists in Pentagon speak faithfully parroted by the US media) are steadily gaining territory and followers. Last week, the US dragooned NATO and other satrap states to a voluntary donor conference for Afghanistan where they had to cough up another $15.2 billion and likely send some more troops to this hopeless conflict. Washington cannot bear to admit defeat by tiny Afghanistan or see this strategic nation fall into Chinas sphere. Ominously, the US is encouraging India to play a much larger role in Afghanistan, thus planting the seeds of a dangerous Pakistani-Indian-Chinese confrontation there. There was no mention of the 800lb gorilla in the conference room: Afghanistans role as the worlds by now largest heroin/opium/morphine producer all under the proud auspices of the United States government. The new US president will inherit this embarrassing problem. Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist, writing and commenting for the top media outlets of the United States, Canada UK, France, Gulf states, Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan. HRW, October 13, 2016 By Ahmad Shuja Afghan Shi'ite Muslims men mourn over the grave of a victim who was killed in an attack at the Sakhi Shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan October 12, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) Afghan Shi'ite Muslims men mourn over the grave of a victim who was killed in an attack at the Sakhi Shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan October 12, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) A gunman wearing an Afghan National Security Forces uniform opened fire on Shia mourners at Kabuls landmark Sakhi Shrine on Wednesday, killing 18 people and wounding 54. The attack on members of the Shia Hazara community occurred on the eve of Ashura, the Shia mourning day. Victims included four women, including Sumaya Muhammadi, a member of the Daikundi provincial council, and two children. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Shia Hazara communitys agonies didnt end on the eve of Ashura. The following morning, a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) killed at least 15 Hazaras in Afghanistans northern Balkh province. ISIS claimed responsibility for this attack, too, its third on the countrys Hazara community since the July 23 bombing of a peaceful protest in Kabul that left more than 85 dead and 400 wounded. The security environment is worsening for all Afghans in the face of an intensifying insurgency. However, these targeted attacks on Shia Hazaras underscore their increasing vulnerability, even in big cities under firm government control. Over the past three years, insurgents have specifically targeted Hazaras traveling on rural roads for kidnap or killing. Afghanistan already has a grim history of killings targeting the Hazara community. The Ashura attacks brought back chilling memories of the house-to-house searches by the Taliban in 1998 to identify and kill Hazaras in the northern province of Balkh. The killing spree, which followed speeches by the Taliban governor demanding that Hazaras convert to Sunni Islam, left thousands dead. The plight of Shia Hazaras in neighboring Pakistan offers a grim lesson of what might happen if the Afghan government fails to protect vulnerable minorities. Pakistans besieged Hazara communities have faced a bloody onslaught by the extremist anti-Shia militant group Lashkar-e Jhangvi for more than a decade in the face of official indifference, or worse, government complicity. Lashkar-e Jhangvi has already sought to export its trademark targeting of large religious gatherings to Afghanistan in 2011, when an attack on an Ashura gathering killed more than 60 people. Sectarian attacks against Afghanistans Shia Hazara community have yet to reach the frequency and severity of those faced by the community in Pakistan. Nor is there any evidence of Afghan government complicity in these attacks. But that does not excuse government complacency toward the possibility that such attacks could further escalate in the face of an insurgency whose offensives are increasingly sustained, successful, and sectarian. The Afghan government should take more effective measures to protect its Hazara community from insurgents, starting with improving security at religious gatherings in large urban centers under government control. And those insurgents, whether they are ISIS or Taliban, should be on notice that widespread or systematic attacks on civilian populations amount to crimes against humanity. It has now been almost a decade since Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei traveled to Bandar Abbas, Iran's major port in the Persian Gulf, and declared that the Iranian navy and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps counterpart would be the symbols of the might of the Iranian nation. His speech came against the backdrop of a massive reorganization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which transformed the navy (alongside the Qods Force) as Iran's chief mechanism to project power. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Property details: ESCAPE TO GODS COUNTRY AND OWN A PIECE OF PARADISE IN THE NORTHERN MAINE WOODS. This huge 40 +/- acre tract of recreational and hunting land is located in Grand Isle Maine. This lot is about views, beauty and tranquility. A stone throw away from the Canadian border. Property comes with a brand new little house over looking the valley and the Canadian border. A new gravel road leading to the little house where you can relax and enjoy. You have over 1700' of road frontage on Grivois road. Half of ... Price: $ 1,100 Seller State of Residence: Maine Property Address: Grivois Road, Grand Isle Maine Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Mixed Location: 047**, Grand Isle, Maine You will be redirected to eBay Nearby Mixed , We're sorry, this article is not currently available Porterville, CA (93257) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 76F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a law suit against the state of Georgia in an attempt to re-open voter registration in six counties in which Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in the wake of Hurricane Matthew Chatham, Bryan, Camden, Glynn, Liberty, and McIntosh counties for a period of six days. Glancing around the Internet today, it feels like the world is burning. It seems as though every day, another injustice, another disaster, or another disappointment (looking at you, Brangelina) is trending on Facebook. But what if I told you that amidst all of this sadness, there is actually some good news? When voter registration concluded on Oct. 11 in Georgia, a potential swing state in the 2016 election, the push for Georgia voters to have their voices be heard was at an all-time high. In this Sept. 27, 2016 photo, a visitor pets fennec fox at Little Zoo Cafe in Bangkok, Thailand. In Asia, where the first cat cafe opened more than a decade ago, the concept has moved well beyond felines. At Little Zoo Cafe in Bangkok, meerkats, raccoons and the little foxes with the hugest, softest ears imaginable can be cuddled near plates of crepes and French fries. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) SHARE By MARTHA MENDOZA and NATNICHA CHUWIRUCH, Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) Cat cafes where customers sip lattes while petting resident kitties are just opening their doors around the U.S. and Europe. But in Asia, where the first one opened more than a decade ago, the concept has moved well beyond felines. At Tokyo's Snake Center, visitors pay 1,100 yen (about $11) for a cup of coffee and a slithery friend to wind around their arm; a plate of curry bread snacks or a really big snake costs extra. At We Are The Furballs (WTF) in Singapore, Mochi and her puppy pals yap at ankles and occupy guests' laps for peaceful dognaps. And at Little Zoo Cafe in Bangkok, meerkats, raccoons and little foxes with the softest ears imaginable can be cuddled near plates of crepes and French fries. Some sell the animals, or offer them for adoption. Others invite customers to bring their pets, or just offer encounters with creatures from penguins to hedgehogs. "I wanted there to be a place where people can come learn about the animals," said Wachiraporn Arampibulphol, who opened an exotic animal cafe in Bangkok a year ago after visiting an owl cafe in Tokyo. Snuggling Jelly, a blond fox, Wachiraporn said she used to import chinchillas, meerkats and other exotic pets, but worried that owners bought them impulsively and then abused them or let them collapse and die in Thailand's heat. She said customers at her Little Zoo Cafe get a reality check when they're so close to the animals; she's only sold a half dozen this year. "When you see pictures and photos of these animals, you see their cuteness," she said. "But people don't think about what the animal would smell like or how actually raising one would be." Indeed, a musky odor floated above two red foxes Mocha and Cappuccino as they boisterously wrestled and skittered around customers' legs. Nearby, Nuttida Chaloembun, 23, from Bangkok, watched a waitress grapple with Cracker, a 25-pound raccoon, who chattered and swatted her away with little hand-like paws. "It's fat and really adorable but it won't let me touch it," laughed Nuttida. Shirley Chaifong came to the Little Zoo Cafe all the way from Malaysia after seeing photos of meerkats on Instagram. But it was the tail-wagging corgi, an uncommon breed in Asia, she fell for. "It's a great way to see the animals," she said, her hands running through his fur. After a cat cafe opened in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2014 the concept quickly spread to more than 20 American cities, from New York to Los Angeles, and many more are planned. They're also popular in Europe, with recent openings in Netherlands, Finland and Italy. The Cat Flower Cafe in Taipei, Taiwan, took credit as the first-ever cat cafe when it opened in 1998, although some aficionados say cats meandered through a Viennese cafe almost a century earlier. The real boom began in 2005 in Japan, where few apartments allow pets. There are now more than 100 cat cafes listed in Japan, 50 in Tokyo alone. But new goat-, rabbit- and bird-themed eateries now offer competition. American and European cat cafes have stringent health and safety regulations that sometimes ban actually petting animals, or require cats to remain well separated from food. Most are affiliated with local humane societies or rescue shelters. In many Asian countries, where there are fewer hygiene rules in restaurants and pets can be bought in street markets, animal rights activists say the cafes are cruel. "These animals often become despondent and develop neurotic and self-destructive behavior," said Jason Baker at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' international campaigns office. "I don't know why anyone would want to eat a meal surrounded by animals who are imprisoned in cages and pens that are tiny fractions of the size of their homes in the wild." But cafe owners say they're trying to help the animals by allowing people to safely and compassionately interact. Tokyo Snake Center cafe manager Hisamitsu Kaneko said visitors can gain new appreciation of their oft-maligned reptiles. "People have biases, or preconceptions about snakes, that they're disgusting or scary," said Kaneko, whose customers choose from about 60 snakes. "I think there are no animals as beautiful." At Bangkok's TrueLove @ Neverland cafe, more than a dozen imported and bred huskies were panting if calm as they lounged for an hour outside on a humid 35-degree C (95-degree F) day, chewing ice cubes and carrots while visitors marveled at their thick fur. At the end of a one-hour dog encounter, customers peeled off plastic foot covers, sanitized their hands, checked their husky-selfies and climbed into waiting tuk-tuk rickshaws. Barking and yipping, the dogs dashed en masse into their air-conditioned quarters to rest up and eat before their next human visitors. In this photo taken Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, Emelie Eriksson carries her son Albin outside her home in Bergshamra, Sweden. Eriksson was the first woman to have a baby after receiving a womb transplant from her mother, a revolutionary operation that links three generations of their family. (AP Photo/ Niklas Larsson) SHARE By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer BERGSHAMRA, Sweden (AP) Emelie Eriksson has a bond with her son that hardly seems possible: She and her son were born from the same womb. Eriksson was the first woman to have a baby after receiving a uterus from her mother, in a revolutionary operation that links three generations of their family. "It's like science fiction," Eriksson, 30, told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview at her home just north of Stockholm. "This is something that you read in history books and now in the future when you read about this, it's about me." Eriksson's son Albin is now nearly two. She agreed to share her story with the AP because she hopes other women who need help having a child will be encouraged and inspired by her family's extraordinary womb transplantation experience. "I hope this will be a reality for everyone that needs it," she said. Her operation was performed by Mats Brannstrom, a Swedish doctor who is the only person in the world to deliver babies five so far from women with donated wombs. Brannstom believes the operation will one day be common, and he is working with doctors elsewhere, including at Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic in the U.S., to perfect the procedure. Two of his former team members were involved in four womb transplants at Baylor University in Texas that were announced this week. One was successful but the patient is not yet ready to attempt a pregnancy. Eriksson was 15 when she began wondering why she hadn't gotten her period; a doctor discovered she had been born without a womb and explained that she would never be able to carry her own children. In her early 20s, Eriksson began reading about scientists attempting to create organs from stem cells and was told about the womb transplant research being pursued by Brannstrom. She described the novel project to her mother one Sunday evening in Stockholm. "I thought this was something that could only happen (far) in the future," said Marie Eriksson, 53. "But then I said to Emelie, 'I'm so old, I don't need my womb and I don't want any more children," she said. "This is your only chance to have a child and you should take it." Eriksson emailed Brannstrom and after several trips to Gothenburg and dozens of medical tests for both Ericksson and her mother, they were accepted into his trial testing the pioneering transplant. "I'd known all my life that I wouldn't be able to be pregnant," Eriksson said. "But maybe now there was a small, small chance for me." Eriksson's husband, Daniel Chrysong, agreed to go ahead after meeting Brannstrom and being reassured he wasn't "some lunatic doctor." Still, he doubted it would succeed. "I thought (we had) a bigger chance of winning the lottery," he said. The night before her and her mother's operations, Eriksson said, was the first time that she was genuinely afraid, mostly because her mother was terrified of the anesthesia. "I thought, 'what if it doesn't work and my mom still has to do this surgery?'" Eriksson said. She had two mild rejection episodes in the months after the surgery, but doses of steroids helped them pass. After a year, Eriksson was finally ready to attempt to get pregnant. Brannstrom's team transferred a single embryo into her womb, which Eriksson and Chrysong had created during in-vitro fertilization. The first pregnancy test was negative. Eriksson was discouraged, but took another test a week later: that one was positive. "When I called my mom to tell her, she was like, 'I knew it!'" Eriksson said. She said her mother told her, "I knew I had a good womb." Eriksson was only convinced they had succeeded when she heard her newborn son scream in the delivery room. "I realized that everything had worked," she said. Chrysong was so overcome that he fainted and had to be watched over by the anesthesiology nurse on the floor of the hospital room. Eriksson said that she and Chrysong intend to explain to Albin exactly how he was born, one day. "I'm not sure he will understand exactly everything that me and my mom had to go through," she said. SHARE Salena Lee Nelson By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight The death this week of a 73-year-old Shasta Lake woman attacked in July by her daughter has prompted the Shasta County District Attorney's Office to take a second look into the criminal case of her attacker. Hilda Flanagan was admitted to the hospital on Oct. 6 and died Sunday at Mercy Medical Center. The District Attorney's office is speaking to family members and seeking her medical records to determine whether her death might be linked to the assault by 52-year-old Salena Lee Nelson, Deputy District Attorney Brandon Storment said Thursday. "We need to see if there is a nexus" between the attack and Flanagan's death, he said. If so, Storment said, murder charges could be filed against Nelson, who was sentenced last week to probation and ordered to complete an 18-month residential rehabilitation treatment program in the case. Storment said Flanagan was in agreement with the plea bargain, but her recent death has cast a new light on the case. "Now it's a different situation," Storment said, adding that he's also heard that Flanagan's death might be pneumonia-related. "We need to look into it," he said. Nelson was arrested after the July 23 incident and pleaded no contest in August to elder abuse with a great bodily injury enhancement. That attack left Flanagan with a fractured nose and neck, as well as numerous bruises, sheriff's deputies have said. According to deputies, Michelle Malo said she heard yelling and cursing coming from her neighbor's home on Montana and called the sheriff's office around 11 p.m. July 23. She and another neighbor went to the home and saw Nelson throw a ceramic coffee cup at 73-year-old Flanagan, hitting her in the face, deputies said. Nelson grabbed Malo and pulled her hair, but the two neighbors got Flanagan out of the home, deputies said. Flanagan told deputies her daughter became abusive after drinking at a party earlier in the night, deputies said. They got a ride home, and that's when Nelson accused Flanagan of letting a dog out of the house, according to law enforcement. Nelson punched and kicked her mother, and threw a glass ashtray and a coffee cup at her mother, deputies said. Nelson also told her mother she was going to kill her in her sleep, according to law enforcement. Nelson, who denied attacking her mother, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, elder abuse with great bodily harm or death, threats to commit a crime and domestic violence. SHARE Winds whipped flames across 15 acres overnight in southeast Redding before firefighters contained the blaze just as raindrops began falling. Firefighters rushed to the area of Meadow View Drive and Airport Road after receiving reports of the blaze at about 1 a.m. today, said Cullen Kreider, deputy fire chief with the Redding Fire Department. They arrived to find windy, but dry, conditions that had propelled the flames to spread across several acres, he said. "It was like a sheet of fire," he said. The fire threatened homes in the area as well as commercial buildings, though none were damaged, said Wil Francis, a battalion chief with the agency. No one was hurt and the fire damaged only some fences in the area, he said They had just contained it after an hour-long battle when the rain arrived, he said. The cause remains under investigation, he said. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighters helped battle the blaze, he said. SHARE Freddie Alexander Smoke III By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight Freddie Alexander Smoke III is back in Redding. And he says he's not guilty of starting the 2014 Bully Fire, which left a 35-year-old man from Mexico dead. Smoke, captured Sept. 27 in Indiana after jumping bail in July 2014, was returned to Shasta County Jail on Tuesday and subsequently arraigned in Shasta County Superior Court. The 39-year-old Smoke is charged with six felonies, including involuntary manslaughter. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing on Oct. 26. He is being represented by the Shasta County Public Defender's Office and is in Shasta County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. Smoke is accused of starting the deadly 12,000-acre Bully Fire, which began July 11, 2014 and was contained July 26, 2014. Authorities say Smoke was operating a large rental truck to deliver fertilizer to an illegal marijuana grow near Roaring Creek Road and Sargent Road. It was hot and windy, and heat from the truck's exhaust system set dry vegetation ablaze, authorities have said. The fire destroyed 20 buildings and killed 35-year-old Jesus Arellano Garcia of Michoacan, Mexico. Authorities from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had been looking for Smoke, who was arrested July 11, 2014, after he quickly bailed out of Shasta County Jail on a $10,000 bond before Garcia's body was found on July 16, 2014. Smoke, who failed to show up for his Aug. 22, 2014, arraignment on arson and involuntary manslaughter charges, was finally discovered and arrested last month in East Chicago, Indiana, as a result of a U.S. Postal Service inspection. That inspection centered on marijuana being mailed from California to Indiana, which does not allow medical or recreational use of cannabis. "The postal inspectors were already aware of Smoke as part of the investigation," Postal Inspector spokeswoman Mary Johnson said following Smoke's arrest. "It was then made clear the Cal Fire investigation was also looking for him," she said last month. "The arrest was a collaboration between the two agencies." A SWAT team arrested Smoke and another person as part of a raid in East Chicago, Indiana. In addition to involuntary manslaughter, Smoke, who was extradited to California, is charged with three counts of recklessly starting a fire that caused injury or death, one count of failing to appear in court and one count of growing marijuana illegally in Shasta County. SHARE By Alayna Shulman of the Redding Record Searchlight It's the last month before the culmination of an especially bitter presidential election, so you're probably sick of hearing people talk about how sick of the race to the White House they are. But for some local teachers, the unusual amount of tension between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is an inspiration for their lesson plans, at least. "I've never seen anything like this," said Deb Elliott-Black, a seventh-grade history teacher at Parsons Junior High School. "We talk about, 'Well, he's a businessman and he had other things going in, so he wasn't this typical politician.'" Since Elliott-Black also teaches debate, she piques her students' critical-thinking skills by having them analyze Trump's and Clinton's strategies. "I show them a couple videos of middle-school debates to show them what a debate should look like," Elliott-Black said. "When you talk about strategy, 'Why does (Clinton) keep walking in front of (Trump)? She's doing that for a reason. What's happening?' ... We talked about, 'Well, why do you think (Trump) brought (accusers of Bill Clinton) there?' There's all these pieces that they just don't even think about, and then you see the lightbulbs going on." Grant School history teacher Craig Wilkinson also analyzes style as a sort of mental exercise for his students, and he uses the debates as a chance for extra credit assignments. "I try to keep it neutral and play both sides," said Wilkinson, who teaches both seventh and eighth grades. "We talked about who won (the debate) and, 'What does winning mean?'" The lessons have been going on since the primary election, but just like the candidates's strategies they've evolved since then. "(During the primary) I tried to make the point, 'Right now, he's only having to appeal and she is only have to appeal to a certain spectrum of the population, their political party,'" Wilkinson said. Still, extreme tension can also be hard to discuss when you're teaching kids who aren't old enough to see R-rated movies. "This election has been more difficult," Wilkinson said. "There haven't been many times I've had to have a caveat before the discussion, 'We're going to discuss this in appropriate-for-school terms.'" Wilkinson was referencing the scandal over a video released last week in which Trump made comments about kissing and touching women. While it may be awkward or just downright inappropriate to talk about that with middle-schoolers, Elliott-Black said there are ways around the specifics: She uses two kid-friendly news aggregator programs that boil down stories to grade-appropriate versions. "We weren't talking about anything that had to do with women's private parts; it just referenced that (Trump) had made inappropriate comments about women," she said. Of course, there are more history and debate lessons than just the American elections system to cover. But Elliott-Black says she's even tied mandatory ancient-history lessons into the election likening America's current division to the Fall of Rome since her students are more interested in current events. "These kids crave what is going on today," she said. "I have kids that are feeling very strongly either way, and I have to rein it in, because they could take over the whole class with their ideas." SHARE Kailey Hester Richison Susan Hess Public's help sought in finding runaway Redding police are asking for the public's help in finding a girl they say is at risk and has run away from home. Kailey Ardelle Hester's age was not immediately available. She is white with dark brown hair, 4 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds, officers said. They said Kailey is known to frequent the Parkview Avenue, Freebridge Road and Russell Street area of town, south of the Redding Library. If you see her or know her whereabouts, call the Redding Police Department at 225-4564. Inmate sentenced in liquid assault Susan Lorraine Hess is not someone who might be considered a model jail inmate. The 53-year-old Tehama County woman has been sentenced to four years in prison on battery-related charges for throwing a cup of toilet water mixed with toilet paper and vomit into the face of a Tehama County correctional officer, the District Attorney's Office said Thursday. According to prosecutors, Hess, who was a jail inmate on apparent trespassing, vandalism and other charges, threw the vomit-toilet water mixture into the face of the correctional officer, who then fell and injured his finger. A second correctional officer also got splashed by the vomit concoction. On a separate occasion, Hess also filled up a bottle with bleach and sprayed it on two other people, ruining their clothes, prosecutors said. Trial date set in Pokemon Go case A Dec. 6 trial date was set Thursday in Shasta County Superior Court for a 30-year-old Redding man accused of robbing another man playing Pokemon Go, as well as having sex with two 15-year-old girls. Jerald Brian Richison, who has been offered a plea bargain deal that would require a five-year prison sentence, remains in Shasta County Jail on $450,000 bail. He is due back in Shasta County Superior Court next month for a settlement conference. Richison was arrested Sept. 15 after he allegedly robbed Geoffrey Porter, 47, who was playing Pokemon Go in the parking lot of Poppie's Pizza on Lake Boulevard. Police said Richison approached Porter and pointed what later turned out to be a replica handgun at him. The Shasta County District Attorney's Office also recently filed a felony case charging Richison with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and a lewd act upon a child for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old Redding girl. In another criminal case filed in February, Richison is also charged with having unlawful sexual intercourse with another 15-year-old girl in 2015, impregnating her. Two charged in May 2014 murder Murder charges were filed Thursday in Tehama County Superior Court against two Corning residents in connection with a May 2014 murder. First degree murder charges were filed Thursday against Poly Duenas Sanchez and Gabino Nemecio Madera, both 21 and from Corning, according to the Tehama County Sheriff's Office. The two were already in Tehama County Jail and had been charged with murder in connection to the death of Walter Dani in 2014. The two were charged Thursday in the murder of Marat Magdeev, 21, of Chico, whose burned body was discovered in an orchard near Hamilton City in May 2014. Little information regarding the circumstances surrounding Magdeev's death was released Thursday. Woman loses home in Thursday fire A woman lost her house early Thursday in a fire in the French Gulch area west of Redding, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire broke out at 4:45 a.m. in the 33000 block of Trinity Mountain Road, about 15 miles northwest of Redding. Firefighters contained the fire, but not before it destroyed the house. Cal Fire estimated the damage at about $200,000. The American Red Cross is helping the woman who lived in the house, Cal Fire said. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Vegetation fire burns 2 acres A early-morning fire scorched 2 acres in southwest Redding, but was quickly contained, the Redding Fire Department said. The fire broke out at 2:35 a.m. along a walking trail at Blazingwood Drive and Canyon Creek Road, off Buenaventura Boulevard less than a mile west of Highway 273 south of downtown. Firefighters contained the fire within five minutes, Battalion Chief Wil Francis said. The fire didn't threaten any buildings or damage any property, Francis said. Investigators are looking into what caused the fire. Sheriff's K-9 aids in Burney arrest Shasta County sheriff's deputies used a dog to help arrest a Burney man who they learned was driving a reported stolen vehicle during a Thursday morning traffic stop, authorities said. A deputy on Thursday morning stopped Richard Brian Lewis, 26, for a traffic violation and ticketed him, sheriff's Sgt. Quentin Johnston said. That deputy later learned the vehicle Lewis was driving had been reported stolen. Deputies then went to Lewis' home on Saint Helena Street to arrest Lewis, who was also on post-release community supervision, Johnston said. Deputies entered Lewis' home after trying to get him to come out and found him in the living room. Lewis refused deputies' orders, at which point they used sheriff's dog Blitz to help arrest him after a brief struggle, deputies said. Officers took Lewis to Shasta Regional Medical Center for medical clearance and booked him into Shasta County Jail on suspicion of vehicle theft, possessing stolen property, resisting arrest and violating his supervision. The vehicle was returned to its owner, Johnston said. SHARE Susan Hess Susan Lorraine Hess is not someone who might be considered by jail guards as being a model inmate. The 53-year-old Tehama County woman has been sentenced to four years in prison on battery-related charges after she threw a cup of toilet water mixed with toilet paper and vomit into the face of a Tehama County correctional officer, the District Attorneys Office announced Thursday. According to prosecutors, Hess, who was a jail inmate on apparent trespassing, vandalism and other charges, threw the vomit-toilet water mixture into the face of the correctional officer, who then fell and injured his finger. A second correctional officer also got splashed by the vomit mixture. On a separate occasion, Hess also filled up a bottle with bleach and sprayed it on two other people, ruining their clothes, prosecutors said. Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Tehama County Court Executive Officer Caryn Downing, left, enters the new facility, as others tour the new courthouse on Thursday in Red Bluff. SHARE Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight People tour the new Tehama County Courthouse in Red Bluff on Thursday. By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight After nearly a decade of budget cuts and other woes, Tehama County finally has its new, $35 million courthouse. The new Tehama County Superior Court of California facility at 1740 Walnut St. will house all court personnel. Until recently, judges, staff and other court employees were spread across four buildings in downtown Red Bluff, Todd Bottke, its presiding judge, said during the dedication ceremony. The project, which cost $56 million with land, design and other costs added to the $35 million construction costs, encountered few problems despite a 28 percent reduction in its budget by the state, Bottke said. "I have only 10 words: On time, on budget and outstanding job by all involved," he said. And it may be the North State's last one for some time. In August, the state's California Court Facilities Advisory Committee in August froze 41 courthouse projects statewide, including in Shasta County. That facility, estimated to cost $165 million, originally was planned to move forward in March 2017 with bond sales, said Melissa Fowler-Bradley, Shasta County Superior Court executive officer. But the state court's account doesn't have enough money in it because its revenue, once $320 million derived from fines and fees, has dwindled, in part due to the state redirecting much of it. "It's a little over $100 million short of what it needs to be," she said. Legislators who represent Tehama county, State Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-4th) and Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-3rd), both said they're aware of the need for new courthouses after the dedication ceremony Thursday. But they're not too optimistic about them in the short-term. "I consider that an uphill battle and I feel myself in a lonely position," said Nielsen, vice chair of the State Senate's Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and a member of its appropriations committee. He doesn't foresee any more major cuts in the near future for the construction account. But additional funding seems murky as well. It features a range of digital-age equipment that allows video, audio and photos to be displayed in court from a connected tablet, he said. It also is fully accessible for those with disabilities, he said. Tehama County's new courthouse received the highest priority funding because of major security concerns at the old one, which was spread across four facilities near Pine and Washington streets, Bottke said. Some of those facilities didn't have metal detectors and X-ray machines to screen for weapons, said Gregg Cohen, Tehama County's District Attorney. In addition, defendants in custody sat in the jury boxes for hearings leading up to their trial, he said. "In-custody defendants were seated in the jury box 5 to 6 feet away from my prosecutors," he said, adding he hasn't had an incident yet. The new courthouse has a room behind bulletproof glass and a secure, second set of hallways and elevators for those in custody, Bottke said. Jail inmates will be transported there from the county jail, Tehama County Sheriff Dave Hencratt said. He didn't know the estimated costs when asked at the dedication ceremony, but he said he's adding four personnel to handle the in-custody defendants. The new courthouse will open for business on Monday. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect figure for the courthouse's construction costs. It should have said the new courthouse cost $35 million to construct. The error has since been fixed. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Redding City Council candidate Julie Winter holds a rally Friday at Market Street Steakhouse in Redding. SHARE By Sean Longoria of the Redding Record Searchlight Redding City Council candidate Julie Winter was all business Friday as she discussed economic development before an audience of about 20 people. Winter spent the 35-minute presentation at Market Street Steakhouse discussing how Redding could embrace technology, brand and market itself and move past its barriers, including crime and the inability for businesses to attract skilled workers. "We move the economy, we change everything in Redding," Winter said. To do that, Winter suggested Redding look to Bend, Oregon, Dubuque, Iowa, and Roanoke, Virginia as examples. Dubuque and Bend focused on developing their riverfronts while Roanoke promoted itself as an outdoors destination. "They also focus on assets like their downtowns," she said. Among the other ideas presented Friday were focusing on bringing more tech and manufacturing jobs to the city and creating an economic advisory board to the City Council to help craft a vision for Redding and serve as a key contact between business owners and the city. "Right now, you could probably go to an individual City Council person if you had an idea about your business but that individual city council person won't be able to fix it," Winter said. Redding telling its own story through branding above and beyond tourism is also important, she said. "We're more than our problems and I'm concerned that in our community the story we're telling is only our problems," Winter said. Kari Hess, one of the owners of NorCal Vape downtown, asked Winter about public safety, which wasn't a focus in the presentation. "Part of telling our story is going to be cleaning up our streets," Winter said, noting crime is among the complaints she's heard from business owners. Winter also supports Measures D and E, the half-cent sales tax before voters in November to hire more police, firefighters, expand jail bed space and build a mental health crisis facility. Though Winter didn't pitch her campaign during the talk, afterward she emphasized her focus on the economy as reason voters should elect her. Winter is running for one of two seats on the council up for election. Lea Tate, Adam McElvain and incumbent Gary Cadd are also running. Hillary Clinton's running mate, Virginia senator Tim Kaine, has developed a reputation as an affable, if kind of nerdy, dad with his quirky sense of humor and the fact that he travels with "six harmonicas in [his] briefcase at all times." Today, during an interview with "No Limit Larry & The Morning Maddhouse" on North Carolina's Power 98 FM, Kaine more than lived up to his rep with a total groaner of a dad joke. Here's what happened. Right before the interview, the station played Chance the Rapper's Lil Wayne and 2Chainz-assisted "Coloring Book" single "No Problem" (perhaps because fans were using rapperradio.com?), and the DJs name-dropped the track during Kaine's intro. Then, Kaine responded with, "They call me Lil Kaine not Lil Wayne," and I can't decide if that's cute or if I'm actually dying inside. Listen to the clip below. Advertisement "They call me Lil' Kaine not Lil' Wayne" - Tim Kaine on @Power98FM making me cringe pic.twitter.com/dbzxpI418F Colin Jones (@colinjones) October 12, 2016 If you're curious, you can also check out the full interview at this link. This isn't Kaine's first foray into music on the campaign trail. The noted harmonica-enthusiast is also a fan of my favorite band the Replacements, specifically their album "Let It Be," has also name-dropped Lucy Dacus, Alabama Shakes and David Bowie on the campaign trail. PSA: If any members of Kaine's team are reading this, I will send him CDs from other Chicago artists. I think he'd really like Whitney, Twin Peaks, Jamila Woods and Eryn Allen Kane. Advertisement (H/t: Pitchfork) @joshhterry | jterry@redeyechicago.com Jorge Soler and teammates work out Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, before the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) Who has the edge? Starting pitching Aside from Game 1 starter Jon Lester, don't expect any Cubs pitchers to pitch deep unless they're throwing a shutout. Kyle Hendricks' off-speed pitches should work effectively against the Dodgers lineup. The Cubs won't face Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw until Sunday at the earliest. The Cubs didn't face 16-game winner Kenta Maeda or Kershaw this season, but it wouldn't be surprising to see Kershaw pitch on short rest if the Dodgers face elimination. Edge: Cubs. Advertisement Bullpen The Cubs bullpen was responsible for two of their three losses to the Dodgers, but they match up extremely well with left-handers Travis Wood, Mike Montgomery and Aroldis Chapman. Rookie left-hander Rob Zastryzny pitched 3 2/3 innings of one-hit ball on Aug. 27 at Dodger Stadium. With Adam Liberatore out after elbow surgery, the Dodgers will lean on soft-tossing J.P. Howell against left-handed hitters. Closer Kenley Jansen is accustomed to working on as many as three consecutive nights. Edge: Cubs. Advertisement Offense Justin Turner continues to get big hits, but the Dodgers need more production from the right side to prevent the Cubs from loading up with left-handed pitchers. Rookie Corey Seager looks as polished as veteran left-handed hitters Chase Utley and Adrian Gonzalez. Jason Heyward batted .360 against the Dodgers during the regular season, and the Cubs could use a big lift from him in the middle of the order unless Addison Russell gets hot. Javier Baez will remain near the bottom of the order to stretch out the lineup. Edge: Cubs. Defense The Dodgers don't have the greatest range up the middle, but Seager and Utley make routine plays. The addition of Carlos Ruiz in late August bolstered their catching. Cubs manager Joe Maddon has every reason to involve rookie outfielder Albert Almora Jr. with double switches after his performance in the NLDS. Baez made an inadvisable throw to second that cost the Cubs a game Aug. 28 at Dodger Stadium but has been outstanding on defense in the playoffs. Edge: Cubs. Manager Dave Roberts has provided a calming influence on the Dodgers roster and put his stamp on a team that has embraced sabermetrics this year. His navigation of an injury-plagued pitching staff is admirable. As he did against the Giants, Maddon will pull out all the stops and will use left-handers at any cost to shut down the Dodgers' left-handed-heavy lineup. Maddon could employ more tricks to test the Dodgers infield. Edge: Cubs. Mark Gonzales Cubs manager Joe Maddon discusses the team's break in games before the start of the NLCS and the health of Kyle Hendricks on Oct. 13, 2016. (Mark Gonzales/Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) Tribune staff predictions Mark Gonzales: The Cubs have the left-handed pitching to neutralize the Dodgers' marquee left-handed hitters. Jon Lester allowed one run in 15 innings while striking out 16 against the Dodgers in 2016, and it doesn't hurt he's pitching Game 1. Cubs in 7. Advertisement David Haugh: As much respect as the Dodgers deserve, the Cubs likely just survived their toughest test in the National League. They have too much pitching, and the bats are waking up. The team that refused to lose won't. Cubs in 6. Colleen Kane: The Cubs won four of seven regular-season meetings but didn't face Clayton Kershaw, who may have his playoff blemishes but can't be taken lightly. Still, the Cubs pitching staff as a whole has the edge, and their big bats will heat up. Cubs in 6. Chris Kuc: The Cubs cleared their biggest hurdle en route to the pennant when they beat the Giants. The Dodgers' hopes lie with dominant starter Clayton Kershaw, but the left-hander won't be enough to stop the juggernaut Cubs. Cubs in 6. Paul Skrbina: Clayton Kershaw leads a staff that was fifth in the NL in ERA during the regular season, but the Cubs were No. 1 behind Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Co. They also had the No. 2 offense, and some of the big boppers haven't heated up. Cubs in 6. Paul Sullivan: The Cubs dig playing in sunny California. "It suits our personality, how laid-back we are," shortstop Addison Russell said. This won't be a laid-back series, though, and home-field advantage will be the difference. Cubs in 7. Season series recaps May 30-June 2, Wrigley Field Advertisement Cubs 2, Dodgers 0: After Jason Hammel exited with a right hamstring cramp, Travis Wood, Justin Grimm, Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon pitched seven perfect innings in a combined one-hitter. Dodgers 5, Cubs 0: The Dodgers pitched their own one-hitter while jumping on the Cubs bullpen for five runs over the final two innings after Jake Arrieta limited them to two hits. Cubs 2, Dodgers 1: Jon Lester struck out 10 and walked none in a complete game, and Kris Bryant hit a two-run homer. Cubs 7, Dodgers 2: The Cubs hit four homers, three off rookie Julio Urias, and Kyle Hendricks pitched eight strong innings. Aug. 26-28, Dodger Stadium Cubs 6, Dodgers 4 (10): Bryant homered in the eighth and 10th, and Jason Heyward doubled and scored the tying run in the ninth on Kenley Jansen's wild pitch. Advertisement Dodgers 3, Cubs 2: Joe Maddon pulled Hammel after three runs in 2 1/3 innings. Urias struck out eight in six innings. Dodgers 1, Cubs 0: The only run came in the eighth on a bases-loaded grounder to third baseman Javier Baez, who threw late to second as Ben Zobrist scrambled to get to the bag. Colleen Kane Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 47 Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo share a snack in the dugout before their workout on Oct. 9, 2016, a day before Game 3 of their National League Division Series at AT&T Park in San Francisco. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) Projected Cubs roster Probable Game 1 lineup Dexter Fowler, CF: Six strikeouts in NLDS; needs to re-ignite offense. Kris Bryant, 3B: Started NLDS-winning rally by beating shift. Advertisement Anthony Rizzo, 1B: Needs to quit expanding strike zone. Ben Zobrist, LF: Ninth-inning double made up for rough NLDS. Addison Russell, SS: Only two RBIs since Sept. 19. Jason Heyward, RF: Playing time could decrease as games get more urgent. Javier Baez, 2B: Prime example of why you don't give up on raw talent. David Ross, C: Might need to hit as well as he did in Game 4 of NLDS. Advertisement Reserves Albert Amora Jr., OF: Fearless rookie will get more opportunities. Chris Coghlan, IF-OF: Baez's emergence has cut into his playing time. Willson Contreras, C-OF: Getting more work as part of double switches. Miguel Montero, C: Could be limited to games Arrieta starts. Jorge Soler, OF: Seems relegated to part-time role. Advertisement Rotation Jon Lester: Living up to his billing as a big-game pitcher. Kyle Hendricks: Could get two starts if series goes six games. Jake Arrieta: Returns to the scene of his 2015 no-hitter. John Lackey: Should pitch better with shorter time between starts. Bullpen Advertisement Aroldis Chapman: Dominant bounce-back performance in Game 4 of NLDS. Carl Edwards Jr.: One of the unsung heroes of Game 4 of NLDS. Chicago Tribune Sports Weekdays A daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute. > Justin Grimm: Could provide a big lift if he can retire lefties. Mike Montgomery: Game 3 performance shows promise for 2017. Hector Rondon: Velocity is back, but still a few rough edges. Pedro Strop: Ready for a heavier workload. Advertisement Travis Wood: Could serve as pinch hitter if Cubs carry 12 pitchers. Rob Zastryzny: All lefties welcome against Dodgers' plethora of left-handed hitters. Mark Gonzales Government considering proposal to allow conversion of used cooking oil into biodiesel, say Shine Jacob and Shreya Jai. Soon, waste vegetable oil from McDonalds, Subway, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Haldirams could power your diesel car. If the Narendra Modi-led government has its way, deep fryer oil will be converted into biodiesel. The ministry of new and renewable energy has asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to come up with regulations on chip oil. We will rope in big food chains to collect used cooking oil. A preliminary discussion with stakeholders in this industry was done earlier, a senior MNRE official said. The final policy would be shaped only after FSSAI forms regulations on the quality, collection and usage of used cooking oil, said another official. The official added that both the MNRE and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas (MoPNG) have requested FSSAI and are awaiting their response. According to data by the Biodiesel Association of India, India uses 22 million tonnes of vegetable oil for cooking purposes. After use, the used cooking oil that India generates is three to four million tonnes. If these food chains give it to the biodiesel industry, it can earn them Rs 40-45 a litre, said Sandeep Chaturvedi, president, Biodiesel Association of India. Used cooking oil can also be used by soap manufacturers, provided the policy is tweaked to allow this. The roadblock before biodiesel companies to go ahead with this plan is the lack of coherent policy in the country. Currently, used cooking oil is a blacklisted item for both export and import. According to government instructions, cooking oil should not be used more than thrice. FRY POWER! India uses 22 million tonnes of vegetable oil for cooking Currently, 2,500 fuel retail outlets in the country are using biodiesel for blending Railways uses it for 5% blending of diesel it consumes Biodiesel is novel to India, while it has experimental usage in developed economies such as the US and Europe McDonalds UK in 2007 announced it would produce biodiesel from its waste cooking oil to run its fleet Britains Virgin claims to have run the UKs first biodiesel train, which runs on 80% petro diesel and 20% biodiesel According to biodiesel manufacturers, this may be a profitable move for large cooking oil consumers such as restaurants. If this happens, it will create a lot of feedstock for the biodiesel industry, Chaturvedi added. Currently, biodiesel is used for blending with diesel. It is part of the overall strategy by the Dharmendra Pradhan-led petroleum ministry to cut energy imports and carbon emissions. Currently, 2,500 fuel retail outlets in India use biodiesel for blending, while the railways uses it for five per cent blending of diesel it consumes. Currently, Indias dependence on oil and gas imports accounts for 80 per cent of all petroleum products and 70 per cent of the total natural gas consumed. The Modi government has a target to cut imports by half by 2030. Last year, the MoPNG permitted direct sale of biodiesel (B100) to bulk consumers such as the Railways, shipping and state road transport corporations. Currently, the railways is the largest consumer of diesel in India, with an annual consumption of 2.8 billion litres, of which biodiesel blending comes to around five per cent. In the last financial year, the railways consumed around 6,000 kilolitres of biodiesel. The railways has invited tenders for procuring 50,000 kilolitres of biodiesel this year. With 10 per cent blending, the railways can save Rs 392 crore a year on fuel bill, Chaturvedi added. Image: A McDonald's kitchen. Photograph: Reuters. With its free listing of goods and services, Facebook could disrupt the paid model adopted by classified players in the country, say Ayan Pramanik and Raghu Krishnan. Facebook Marketplace is yet to expand into India, but among the first listings is Handwork of India, a Maryland shop that sells desi clothes to customers in the United States. The Indian store has received good ratings from shoppers and its products are visible to other users on the social media platform who might be interested in buying them. The mobile-first marketplace, which allows people to buy, sell and discover items within a community, is only available in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand -- the developed, English-speaking countries. But it is a matter of time before Facebook brings the concept to India. The country has over a billion mobile phone subscribers, of which over 200 million use smartphones that allow them to access internet on the go. Currently, Facebook has over 150 million users in India, a majority of whom access the social media site on their smartphones, making the country an especially ripe destination for its marketplace platform. On a growth path Indias digital classifieds industry is expected to grow three-fold to $ 1.2 billion (around Rs 7,900 crore) by 2020, with horizontal classifieds, which include services such as jobs, real estate, autos, and so forth, cornering around 30 per cent of the share, according to a joint study by Google and KPMG in September. Google says search trend reveals that the non-metros, such as Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kochi, Coimbatore, Indore and Jaipur, have seen a four-fold increase in local searches for e-services, real estate and automobiles. Crucially, people are ready to pay a fee to get their work done. Which means those who list their services have a monetising opportunity as well. For instance, 59 per cent of those who buy second hand goods are willing to pay for quality verification or home delivery; 43 per cent of job portal users are ready to pay for auto application for vacancies and 40 per cent of consumers searching for real estate do not mind paying for legal verification of property, said the KPMG and Google report. Facebooks marketplace is designed to offer such classified postings for free within a community for people to buy and sell goods. Transactions and delivery of goods, however, are done outside of the platform. Disruptive force In India, Facebooks potential entry could disrupt the models built by Naspers-owned OLX and Tiger Global-backed Quikr. While buyers and sellers can list on Facebook for free, other existing players offer the service for a fee. OLX and Quikr did not respond to an email seeking comments. Interestingly, both OLX and Quikr have claimed market leadership in the listings category. India is a key early market for OLX, in which we had to deploy significant capital in the last fiscal years. This investment has been put to very good use by out-executing our main competitor, Quikr, Martin Scheepbouwer, CEO (classifieds business), Naspers, told investors in June. Quikr had retorted to that saying that OLX was yet to make money in India, while pointing that its rival was using selective data to stake leadership claim. In a growing market like India where various data sources contradict each other, selectively cherry-picking sources that present a favourable picture of ones own business can be very misleading, said Prasun Mandal, head analytics, Quikr. In addition, there is the inconvenient truth that our monetisation is growing strongly and is in tens of millions of dollars, while our competitor is yet to even start generating revenue. We fully agree that the horizontal classifieds battle in India is over. We just disagree on who has won it. Slugging it out While the two online classifieds companies battle it out to prove who the winner is, analysts say, Facebooks marketplace could be the real threat. Whether you like it or not, doing something at scale and usability are big problems not many companies have been able to solve... Facebook has been able to do this successfully, says Sanchit Gogia, founder and chief executive, Greyhound Research, a technology researcher. It is a community which they have successfully built, now they are taking this community to commerce. Facebook is going to the next level, where it can see itself making money, he adds. However, the marketplace could have been a bigger threat if it had taken care of payments and delivery as well. It could be a powerful idea to start such a platform, especially because of Facebooks large user base. But, it would have been a threat to the existing players if the social media site had enabled payment and delivery, says Pinaki Ranjan Mishra, partner and national leader (business and risk advisory services), EY. Shares of IT major Infosys fell by over 5 per cent after the company slashed its revenue guidance for the second time this year due to its recent performance and "near-term uncertain business outlook". Even after a positive opening, shares of the company failed to hold on to the gains and dipped 5.31 per cent to Rs 996.15 -- its 52-week low on BSE. At NSE, shares of the company plunged 5.33 per cent to hit its one year low of Rs 996.25. IT major Infosys on Friday posted a 6.1 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,606 crore for the September quarter and slashed its revenue guidance for the second time this year due to its recent performance and "near-term uncertain business outlook". The Bengaluru-based firm had reported a net profit of Rs 3,398 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing. The consolidated revenue for the quarter was up 10.7 per cent at Rs 17,310 crore, from Rs 15,635 crore in July-September 2015. The figures are as per Indian Accounting Standard (Ind AS). Revenues are now expected to grow 8-9 per cent in constant currency, translating to 9.2-10.2 per cent in INR terms and 8.2-9.2 per cent in USD terms. This is the second time the company has reduced its revenue guidance for the fiscal. In July, Infosys had said it expected revenues to grow 10.5-12 per cent in constant currency terms, lower than the previously estimated 11.5-13.5 per cent for the full year 2016-17. At $12-bn valuation, this will be India's largest FDI; deal to be announced on Saturday, says Dev Chatterjee. Russian oil major Rosneft, Singapore-based trading firm Trafigura and Russia-based financial investor UCP are all set to acquire a combined 97.4 per cent stake in Ruia-owned Essar Oil at a valuation of around $12 billion, including debt. The Ruias and a few other minority shareholders will be left with 2.6 per cent stake in the firm. The transaction will be announced in Goa on Saturday where Russian President Vladimir Putin would be attending the BRICS summit along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a top source in the Essar Group said. A board meeting of Rosneft, held in Moscow on Thursday, cleared the transaction to buy 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil, and, according to sources, the equity valuation would be around $7.5 billion. The other two investors, Trafigura and UCP, would buy 24.2 per cent stake each in the company. Bankers said the new investors will also take over Essar Oils debt of around $4.5 billion. This transaction is expected to become the biggest foreign direct investment inflow into India, pipping Vodafones $11.7 billion investment in India. When the company was delisted in December last year, the Ruias had paid 80 per cent premium to Essar Oil shareholders over the floor price that valued the company at Rs 39,000 crore ($6 billion). The Ruias will be repaying Essar Groups foreign debt from the proceeds of the sale, sources said. The Rosneft deal was originally signed in July last year but ran into rough weather, as Indian banks were worried over the impact of the US sanctions on Russian companies. The transaction is a win-win deal for both the Ruias and Rosneft, as it would help Essar Group to reduce its debt, which had crossed Rs 88,000 crore as of March this year. At the same time, Rosneft would be able to sell its crude oil produced in Russia to Essar Oil in India and then market it to Indian customers. READY RECKONER Largest FDI in India at $12 bn Equity valuation at around $7.5 bn New investors to take over Essar Oils debt of arund $4.5 bn Ruias to reduce Essar Groups debt of Rs 88,000 cr (as of March 2016) Rosneft to supply crude to Essar Oil Essar Oil is a 20-mn tonne per annum refinery and has 2,200 retail outlets FY16 Ebitda at Rs 7,000 cr, estimated to rise to Rs 10,000 cr in FY17 After the sale, Essar Group to have interests in BPO, shipping, power and steel The transaction also marks the exit of the Ruias at a bumper profit after they sold their 33 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar to Vodafone Plc in July 2011 for $5.46 billion. Apart from the 20-million tonne per annum refinery, the sale would include the Vadinar Power Company, two ports and 2,200 retail outlets, which are crucial for the refinerys operations. The exit of the Ruias from Essar Oil ends a chapter for the group, which entered the business in the mid-1990s. The construction of the refinery was delayed for a considerable time due to cyclone and regulatory delays and it started commercial production in May 2008. Interestingly, the financials of Essar Oil are looking up. It is expected to make an Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of Rs 10,000 crore in financial year 2016-17, compared to Rs 7,000 crore last financial year. The Essar Group was under pressure from the banks to reduce its debt, which went up to Rs 88,000 crore in March this year. The group was planning to sell 30 per cent stake in Essar Steel but dropped the plan, as it could not find any takers. In the past few years, the group sold its US-based business process outsourcing (BPO) unit for $610 million, its Vodafone India stake for $5.46 billion and real estate, including an office complex in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, for Rs 2,700 crore. While the groups oil refining business did well, its steel business failed to make money due to falling steel prices, lack of gas supply from the Krishna-Godavari basin and damage to its Kirandul-Vizag slurry pipeline by Naxals in October 2011. The lack of gas supply brought down Essar Steels capacity utilisation at the Hazira plant to 40 per cent. The steel business has recovered this year on the back of the minimum import price imposed on cheap Chinese steel and increased gas supply. After the sale of its profit-making refining business, the group will be left with BPO business, shipping, power and steel businesses. Image: Shashi and Ravi Ruia. Photograph: Rediff Archives. (With inputs from Reuters) Government officials working overtime to dismantle the Tata plant and return land to farmers, says Ishita Ayan Dutt. The road to the erstwhile site of Tata Motors Nano factory in Singur, Hooghly district, is now clear of the thick foliage that had grown over it in the past eight years, paving the way for dumper trucks to keep coming and going day and night. Officials from the district magistrates office and the state police are busy noting the number plates on the trucks at a camp, while a guard keeps a close watch on the frenetic pace of activity on the ground from a makeshift tower. The hustle and bustle is palpable, much like the years between 2006 and 2008, when Tata Motors was readying the plant to roll out the Nano, which was touted as the cheapest car in the world. Save for a notice that says the work at the site is in accordance with a Supreme Court verdict and entry to the site is prohibited, it would have seemed that Singur had turned back the clock to better times. The year 2006 was a watershed year for Bengal. Pro-industry Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee became the chief minister after the CPI-M won the assembly elections by an overwhelming majority. Several projects were announced. One was Tata Motors Nano. However, of the 13,000 project-affected farmers, 2,000 refused to accept compensation cheques and, thereby, became unwilling. An indefinite agitation led by Mamata Banerjee, then in the Opposition, followed. This ultimately led to the relocation of the Nano plant to Sanand, Gujarat, in October 2008. In January 2008, then Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata had unveiled the Nano at the Delhi auto expo, and the commercial launch was to happen later that year. At the time of shifting the plant, which was constructed in 13 months, 95 per cent of the work was completed. Thirteen vendors associated with the project had completed construction of their plants and another 17 were in various stages of construction. Twenty-four other vendors were at various stages of obtaining approvals for construction. The pace of work at Singur was at its peak because a deadline had to be met. In August 2016, the Supreme Court set aside the acquisition of 997 acres by the Left Front government for the Nano project and directed the Trinamool Congress government, led by Mamata Banerjee, to re-distribute the land to its owners in 12 weeks. Half of that time is already over. Around 80 per cent of the dismantling of the structures on the site is over. Part of the land demarcation work is also over. We are working towards completing the work within 12 weeks, a government official said. Government agencies -- Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners -- and its contractors have been working overtime to complete the work. State government employees have been on a holiday since October 6 but the ones working in Singur have stayed put. We worked during the Durga Puja. There have been no holidays for us. The people at the site are even working at night, an official at the block development office said. The Bengal government had initially given Tata Motors time to dismantle the structure. But sources close to the development said Tata Motors had conveyed to the state government that its case was still pending in the Supreme Court. Tata Motors said it did not wish to comment. Dismantling the structure has proven to be an arduous task for the government agencies. First, it tried dynamites to bring down the concrete. It did not give the desired results. We are now using rock breakers, a government official said. Landowners will be given possession of the plots only after the dismantling and demarcation is over. Chief Minister Banerjee has promised that she will make the land cultivable. But even the most ardent of her supporters is sceptical whether it will happen and when, if at all. Image: The Tata Nano factory at Singur, West Bengal. Photograph: Reuters. 'Show me songs that become larger than songs better than Dylan's.' 'Show me words that are like the master key to every human emotion under the sun better than Dylan's.' 'And show me someone who tosses it all out like Dylan does, every time,' says Mango Indian. IMAGE: Bob Dylan is presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Barack Obama in May 2012. The Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honour, is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavours. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images So the only man to make a face like a scowling owl while the world's most powerful head of State hung a medal round his neck has been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. I'm sure you don't care, neither do I. Probably the man who wrote 'I have dined with kings and I've been offered wings but I've never been too impressed' doesn't either, at least publicly. 'Here's what I love about Dylan: He was exactly as you'd expect he would be,' Barack Obama had said of meeting Bob Dylan, of course much before yesterday when he became the first self-proclaimed 'song and dance man' to be chosen for the Nobel. 'He wouldn't come to the rehearsal; usually, all these guys are practicing before the set in the evening,' Obama had added. 'He didn't want to take a picture with me; usually all the talent is dying to take a picture with me and Michelle before the show, but he didn't show up to that. He came in and played The Times They Are A-Changin. A beautiful rendition. The guy is so steeped in this stuff that he can just come up with some new arrangement, and the song sounds completely different. Finishes the song, steps off the stage -- I'm sitting right in the front row -- comes up, shakes my hand, sort of tips his head, gives me just a little grin, and then leaves. And that was it -- then he left. That was our only interaction with him. And I thought: That's how you want Bob Dylan, right? You don't want him to be all cheesin' and grinnin' with you. You want him to be a little skeptical about the whole enterprise. So that was a real treat.' So you see, all you carpers that Dylan's Nobel is graffiti on the hallowed halls of literature can carry on your shoulder a Siamese cat all you want. From Kolkata, home to the maximum number of critics per square inch of area in the world, to Hari Kunzru (congratulations if you know him), there's worthless foam from the mouth at Dylan's Nobel. As if the man who has spent most of his life scrubbing clean of the dirt of fame is to blame for all denied worthies. To you, I say 'astronaut' -- as the fictional Dylan said in the impressionistic film I'm Not There when asked by a journalist if he would say a word for his fans. Never mind that Blowin' in the Wind reverberated hours before Dr Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech in Washington, DC. Never mind that his imagery has found its way into everything from a sermon by the Pope to very often in legal judgments to scientific research papers. Never mind that his songs remain relevant far beyond the boundaries of rock and roll or poetry. Never mind that generations continue to get addicted to his drawl. I was there for the Bob Dylan festival in Shillong this year, organised for the last 44 years by local legend Lou Majaw. And when you hear him sing 'Ah but I was so much older then I'm younger than that now', you really believe him. A school full of little girls rocking out at 11 am -- with the Catholic nuns having a hard time containing the boisterous imps in white and blue uniform -- as Lou and his battle veteran band belted out Dylan for them was a sight that will stay with me far, far more than the snarks and quips of literature's self-proclaimed saviours. Last heard, Lou -- whose own songs are just as timeless and who just underwent a life-saving surgery -- is planning a big gig to celebrate the Nobel notch. May he stay forever young. Show me one man whose body of work encompasses such consistent universality as Dylan. Show me songs that become larger than songs better than Dylan's. Show me words that are like the master key to every human emotion under the sun better than Dylan's. And show me someone who tosses it all out like Dylan does, every time. So, yeah, I couldn't care less about the Nobel to the man whose songs will keep me company as the spring turns slowly to autumn. He just has won the last award left to throw away carelessly. This is not the first time he has been placed on a pedestal, neither the first time he has been called 'Judas'. He has never bothered with the blood on the tracks after spilling it out on record. He has always moved on and proved that but for the sky there are no fences facing. Deal with the Nobel Prize for Bob Dylan, dear carpers, and you can always turn to his songs for solace in any situation like I do. Don't think twice, it's alright. The army decides on the response and chooses its own time and place for action. The political leadership never interferes. Former Defence Minister A K Antony tells Amit Agnihotri that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikars statement is an insult not only to the Indian Army but also the previous National Democratic Alliance government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Edited excerpts: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said no surgical strikes had happened against terrorists across the Line of Control when the UPA was in power. How would you like to react to the remarks? Well, I can say that I feel sorry and sad over the statement. The defence minister is playing politics over surgical strikes. This is an insult to the Indian Army. This is dangerous for the country. Parrikar further said the September 29 surgical strikes had allowed the army to vent the frustration bottled up over the past 30 years. Is that correct? I dont agree with that statement. Many surgical strikes took place when the UPA was in power and even before that. The army decides on the response based on the gravity of the situation and chooses its own time and place for action. The political leadership never interferes. Why do you think the defence minister is casting a doubt on the previous governments? If the defence minister said no surgical strikes happened in the past 30 years, he is also referring to the previous NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He is actually insulting his own party leader. What is the difference between the conduct of the BJP and Congress ministers in handling such matters? UPA ministers never went public to claim credit for surgical strikes. At no point, did our ministers give media bytes to claim credit. It is not good for the government to come out with operational details of surgical strikes. Such information is never put out in the public domain. The BJP said the Congress neglected the armed forces. What do you have to say to the charges? The government should focus on removing anomalies in the one rank, one pension scheme, which was approved by the UPA government and was later changed by the NDA government. We had sanctioned a mountain strike corps at Rs 60,000 crore. But it has been practically abandoned by the NDA. During UPA-II, the defence ministry never surrendered capital expenditure to the government but the NDA has done so in the past two years. UPA had made arrangements to improve medical and housing facilities for the armed forces and also increased disability pension. The NDA has diluted these measures. You said the army is an apolitical force. Please explain. During communal clashes, many a times the army is deployed as it enjoys a reputation of being a secular and an apolitical force. That remains unchanged. The Indian Army is the best in the world and never crossed the LoC on its own. It did so only in retaliation to an attack or infiltration in the past. The government should not politicise defence matters. Two employees of a nationalised bank in Chennai suburbs were arrested on Friday on charges of circulating rumours on the health status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is undergoing treatment, police said. The arrests were made following a complaint by an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam woman worker Sunitha Devi, they said. Sunitha had gone to the bank at Thondamuthur on October 7 when the two staff Suresh and Ramesh sought to know from her about the health condition of Jayalalithaa. When she did not reply, the two reportedly made some comments on the health status, police said. Sunitha, who left the bank informed her party colleagues about the incident, they said. A few AIADMK workers along with Sunitha returned to the bank on Thursday, as the bank remained closed for five days on account of holidays, and sought an explanation from the two about their comments, leading to some arguments, police said. Sunitha lodged a complaint with police, who registered cases under various sections of Indian Penal Code, including 505 (1)B (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public) and 506(1) (threat and intimidation). Suresh and Ramesh were arrested and later remanded to custody. Police had already warned of stern action against those spreading rumours about Jayalalithaa and formed special teams to investigate such cases. More than 40 persons have been arrested so far for allegedly spreading rumours and posting malicious and false content regarding the health status of the chief minister on social media. Soon after 68-year-old Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration, rumours were circulating about her health on social networking sites including Facebook and WhatsApp. General Surindar Bhaskar served as the 17th chief of the US Army Dental Corps, reports Ritu Jha. "My father was a kind man who set a high standard for us," says Dr Philip Bhaskar, son of Major General Dr Surindar 'Sindi' Bhaskar, who served as the 17th chief of the US Army Dental Corps. General Bhaskar died of a heart attack at his home in Monterey, California. He was 93. Born in Punjab, General Bhaskar was the first Indian-born general in the United States military. He was an oral pathologist, an educator, a periodontist, and also an author. His father, Dr Philip Bhaskar said, lived the American Dream and had an incredible life. He came to America on a scholarship at 22, and went to the Northwestern University School of Dentistry in Chicago. He was 19 when he earned a degree in dentistry from the University of Punjab and then practiced general dentistry in Mumbai before immigrating to the US. The young man had left India without informing his family and sailed on a troop ship during World War II. At that time there weren't many Indians in the United States, said Dr Bhaskar, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Monterey. "It was his thirst for academic excellence that brought him to the US," said Dr Bhaskar, "He wanted to be in a place where he could study and become the best. And at that time, particularly Chicago was a hub for health care." He wrote four books and 200 articles, mostly on oral pathology and periodontics. According to ada.org, after receiving his degree in 1946, he did a master's in science, got a PhD and did specialty training in oral pathology and oral medicine at the University of Illinois and University of Chicago. He was board certified in both oral pathology and oral medicine. He joined the US Army Dental Corps in 1955 where his numerous positions included chief of oral pathology, director of the US Army Institute of Dental Research and director of medical personnel. He was promoted to major general and sworn in as assistant surgeon general for dental services and the 17th chief of the US Army Dental Corps in 1985. After retiring from the US Army, General Bhaskar completed a periodontics residency at the University of California Los Angeles School of Dentistry before moving to Monterey in 1980 to practice periodontics with the Monterey Peninsula Dental Group. He continued to lecture throughout the country on oral pathology and periodontics until he retired in 2005. "He loved the United States and wanted to be in an environment where he could give back to his new country. It also gave him an opportunity no one else would give," said Dr Bhaskar on his father's decision to join the army. "I have learned a lot of things from my father," he added. "His life was a great example for me in his dedication to his profession, his patients and his love of this country and heritage." But he also loved India. "He was very much an Indian, though he was an American of course, he loved India." Norma Bhaskar, Dr Bhaskar's wife, is German-Irish. The couple had three sons. "Back then the Indian community was so small that my dad really wanted to simulate into American culture and society. But my mom learned Indian cooking and she did her best," said Dr Bhaskar, who is General Bhaskar's second son. William Carpenter, former chair of the department of pathology and medicine at the University of the Pacific, Arthur A Dugoni School of Dentistry, said General Bhaskar was his mentor during residency. "It was 1970 and I worked with him one day a week and would be together for two years. He was in charge of the research. We would do surgery on patients together. He was a pathologist and ran a residency programme," Dr Carpenter remembered. "He also became a commander of the research institute. He was a very hard worker, a very dedicated and simple person." Defending the Centres stand on triple talaq, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said when over a dozen Islamic countries were regulating the practice by enacting laws, how could it be considered wrong for a secular country like India. His remarks came a day after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board opposed the Centres affidavit in Supreme Court on the practice and also boycotted the Law Commissions consultations on Uniform Civil Code. Over a dozen Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran and Egypt have regulated triple talaq. If Islamic countries can regulate the practice by enacting law, and it has not been found against sharia, then how can it be wrong in India, which is a secular country? Prasad said. The minister, however, refused to comment on the issue of Uniform Civil Code. The Law Commission is considering it and has sought views of various sections of the society. Since it is under their consideration, I have nothing to say, he maintained. For the first time in Indias constitutional history, the Centre had on October 7 opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds of gender equality and secularism. The law ministry, 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. Image: A Muslim bride waits for the start of a mass marriage ceremony. Representation image/Danish Siddiqui/Reuters The mother of a martyred Army Captain on Thursday accused police in Madhya Pradesh of demanding bribe to make efforts to trace the bravery medals of her son that were stolen in 2014. When contacted, Bhopal (South) superintendent of police Anshuman Singh said the police had not received any complaint in this regard. "We got to know about this from the media only," he said. Nirmala Sharma, a resident of Shahpura locality in Bhopal said that her only son, Captain Devashish Sharma of Punjab Battalion, was killed on December 10, 1994, during Operation Rakshak. Talking about the issue, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that his government will suspend the officials who asked for bribe from the mother of martyr Devashish Sharma. On Friday, MP home minister Bhupendra Singh visited Nirmala and assured her that he will bring the matter to the consideration of home & defense ministers of the country. Captain Devashish Sharma was posthumously awarded Kirti Chakra by the government of India and a bravery award by the Jammu and Kashmir government. The medals were stolen during a theft at their house on October 21, 2014, regarding which a report was lodged in Shahpura police station. "Forget about original, all I want is duplicate medals. I will be really thankful to govt if they help me", said the martyr's mother Nirmala. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the army will never "forgive" the country if it is found "sleeping" when it should be awake, in comments that come against the backdrop of the recent surgical strikes. He asserted that the army does not believe in speaking but in displaying its valour. "Our army is happiest when we sleep in peace. They have no complaint. But they will never forgive us if we sleep when we should be awake. Unfortunately, we have been found sleeping when we should have been awake. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. We have to keep alert always. It will be injustice to the army if we sleep away when we have to be awake," he said without elaborating. Addressing ex-servicemen and their families at the inauguration of Shaurya Smarak (memorial to valour) in Bhopal, he devoted his speech hailing the role of armed forces and their spirit of sacrifice in adverse situation. "Our army does not speak but acts. When I would say this earlier, they (critics) would tear my hair out. They would say Modi is sleeping and doing nothing. Like our army which does not speak but displays its valour, our defence minister also does not speak..." he said with a pause as the audience broke into applause with some raising patriotic slogans. Modi said the ancestors in hundreds of years of India's history never waged a war to capture a country. "But if it comes to fighting for values and ideals, India is never found wanting," he said. Lauding the valour and humaneness of armed forces, he referred to their relief and rescue operations in Srinagar during the floods two years ago despite the violence they face from the stone-pelting mobs. "When massive floods hit Srinagar two years ago, the government found it difficult to deal with the situation and the country saw that our jawans were toiling to save people's lives. "They never thought these are the same people who pelt them with stones, breaking their head and damaging eyes. The attack is sometime so severe that they even face death," Modi said, praising armed forces' rescue efforts in Kashmir. He also highlighted their relief work during other natural disasters and recalled their efforts in Uttarakhand, which was hit by massive floods in 2013. Recently, they rescued over 5,000 Indians and people from other countries, including Pakistan, from war-hit Yemen, he said. "Even in international peacekeeping operations, Indian forces have served for long," he said. On the occasion, he also asserted that his government has fulfilled all the promises it had made while rolling out OROP for ex-servicemen, saying over Rs 5,000 crore has already been distributed to them. Attacking previous Congress governments without naming, he said they made tall claims but never fulfilled them. "Some governments were so clever that they even made budgetary provisions of a meagre Rs 500 crore," he said, citing figures for monetary benefits to retired soldiers following the OROP implementation. "We have promised to pay the money due to forces in four instalments under OROP and we are doing so," he said, adding, I am content that we are keeping our promises." He also highlighted the Centre's efforts to ramp up defence production in India and made it self-reliant in the field. "I have been working on this for the last two years and i am confident that a day will come soon when India will not only become self-reliant but also export weapons... We have a lot of talent." Praising the armed forces for their bravery, he said they are also among the first ones across the world when judged on the yardsticks of discipline and concern for fellow human beings. Praising the 'shaurya smarak', he said it is like a pilgrimage site. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called Modi 'super manav' (super human) who is working to make India a strong country. "The Prime Minister's policy is we will not trouble anyone but if troubled, then we will not spare any one," he said. Defence Parrikar Manohar Parrikar recalled there was never lack of valour in the country and cited examples of Shivaji and Maharana Pratap. "The entire world has seen the valour of our soldiers... September 29 was yet another example of the bravery of Indian soldiers," he said, making a reference to the date of surgical strikes. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing at Ex Servicemen Public Meeting, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Photograph: PIB Photos At least 14 people were killed and 17 others injured as a private bus fell into a large pit filled with water near Namli town in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam on Friday. IMAGE: The bus was speeding its way to Mandsaur when it suddenly tripped over and fell into the pit. Photographs: PTI Photo Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Bhopal during the day, mourned the mishap. So far 14 bodies have been pulled out from the bus, Ratlam district collector Chandrashekar Borkar said, adding three persons were rescued. The bus was on its way to Jaora from Ratlam when the mishap occurred on the four-lane road at 12 Patthar Khadan, about two km from Namli town, he said. The bus fell into a pit dug for the soil/gravel to be used in road-laying. Rain water had collected in the pit. Prima facie, the speeding bus fell into the pit after its steering broke and the driver lost control over the vehicle, Additional Superintendent of Police Dr Prashant Choube said. A National Disaster Response Force team from Bhopal and divers from Indore were called to carry out rescue operation. IMAGE: Unconfirmed reports said there were 40-45 passengers in the bus. The prime minister expressed grief over the incident. "Extremely distressed by the loss of lives caused by the bus accident in Ratlam, MP. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. "I wish those injured in the bus accident in Ratlam a quick recovery," Modi said in two tweets. Unconfirmed reports said there were 40-45 passengers in the bus. According to eyewitnesses, it was going at a high speed when it overturned and fell into the pit. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of deceased and Rs 25,000 each to the injured. It doesnt matter that the man who has been given charge of Jayalalithaas portfolios today started out opposing her, reports Aditi Phadnis. You could ask why Ottakara Panneerselvam (or OPS as he is known in Tamil Nadu) has been given charge of Jayalalithaas portfolios, including the authority to call cabinet meetings while she is in hospital. One reason could be his apparent lack of ambition and readiness to give up the chief ministership when asked. Hes done so not once but twice, the last time around, in 2014. In 2001, he was made the chief minister of the state when Jayalalithaa was jailed. He refused to sit in the chief ministers chair, preferring instead to occupy the seat next to it. When Jayalalithaa was convicted in an income tax case and sent to jail in 2014, OPS was selected by her as the man who would rule as Bharata did when Ram was sent on vanvas: the parable that is being related with such relish by workers of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. OPS cried a great deal but consented to take charge. But the real control was in the hands of his officials. As chief minister, it was he who pointed out in February 2015, when the 2015-16 Union Budget was tabled, that rather than create a new income slab to tax the super rich, the government had imposed a surcharge -- just so it would not have to share the proceeds with the state governments. After Jayalalithaa was released on bail but OPS was still the chief minister, Tamil Nadu complained bitterly about the 14th Finance Commission award and the way it had short-changed the state specifically in the states share in the divisible pool of taxes: from 4.96 per cent, the share came down to 4.4 per cent. The chief minister griped that other similarly placed states with higher-than-average per capita gross state domestic product had gained from the increase in the weight to the area criterion, the introduction of the demographic change and forest area criterion; while poorer states had gained from the income distance criterion. But despite being the only state in India where forest cover had actually increased (around 20 per cent now), Tamil Nadu had lost on all counts. On top of this, because it had no deficit, it had not received the revenue deficit grants. It was during OPSs tenure that Tamil Nadu did some hard bargaining with the Union ministry of railways, which is proposing special purpose vehicles with the state governments to finance railways projects with the Centre paying 50 per cent of the cost and the state pitching in with free land. OPS pointed out that the land might be free but it had to be monetised in terms of equity shares for the state government at market value so that money could be raised from banks or from the market. And, he said, the Centre should keep to the time-table so that the state government did not suffer on account of the Centres laziness. For Jayalalithaa, watching all of this from afar, it was clear that OPS was a dutiful second-in-command, content to stay in the combined shadow of officials and the chief minister. It didnt matter that he was a Thevar from south Tamil Nadu. It didnt matter that he had started out opposing her and had actually backed Vennira Adai Nirmala, who contested against her in 1989. What mattered was that while OPS could be considered a caste force, he was realistic enough to work for Jayalalithaa instead of trying to overreach himself and become a threat to her. According to analysts, the relationship between Jayalalithaa and OPS is symbiotic. The Thevars are an extremely important caste force in this region; but without Jayalalithaa, OPS, despite being from a family that is respected, would be nothing. For the moment, circumstances have imposed a succession plan in the AIADMK. Whether this will endure, only time will tell. Taking a jibe at Pakistan, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said it could seek the help of India if it could not root out terrorism on its own. Addressing a public rally in Bengaluru, he said Pakistan was getting isolated from the world for abetting terrorism. "If Pakistan government wants to get rid of terrorism and if Pakistan government on its own cannot root out terrorism, then it can seek help of India. India is ready to root out terrorism from Pakistan," he said. He said constant efforts were made to improve relations with Pakistan, pointing out that Narendra Modi had invited in May 2014 all the heads of governments of neighbouring countries for his swearing in as Prime Minister to send a message that India wants to have better relations with them. But Pakistan did not understand this and tried to take advantage in "violation", he said, apparently referring to the Uri terror attack. "We do not hate people of Pakistan but hate terrorism in Pakistan." Singh said terrorists from Pakistan crossed the borders and killed 19 soldiers but what the Indian jawans did in retaliation was sending a strong message to the world that the country was not weak but strong. He also said the greatest example of India being a secular country was it declared itself a secular state rather than a theocratic state unlike Pakistan that called itself an Islamic state. At the rally, former Dalit IAS officer K Shivaram, who has acted in some Kannada films, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ahead of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation summits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he is looking forward to building bridges to new partnerships and finding common resolve and solutions to entrenched problems of the region. Modi, who will also hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders on the sidelines of the Summits in Goa, said they will discuss ways to address pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals. I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform, the prime minister said in a Facebook post. New initiatives will be launched in Goa by BRICS as it marks the successful operationalisation of initiatives like the BRICS New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, he said. The prime minister noted that India is facilitating an outreach summit with the BIMSTEC comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sir Lanka and Thailand. Representing nearly two thirds of humanity together, we hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring, he said on the first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. Referring to India-Russia Annual Summit, the prime minister said Putins visit will give an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia. Terming Brazil as an important strategic partner, Modi said President Michel Temers visit will open up new areas for cooperation with the country. As Chair of the BRICS this year, India has embraced a stronger emphasis on promoting people-to-people linkages in diverse fields including trade, sports, education, films, scholarship, and tourism, he said BRICS Summit will be held in Goa on 15-16 October, followed by the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. India is expected to continue with its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the issue of terrorism originating from there when it plays host to Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa at the summit. Even preceding the Summit, Modi is likely to raise these issues with Putin and Xi on Saturday when a series of bilateral meetings are slated at the seaside venue. New Delhi will also make all out efforts to revive BIMSTEC when PMs of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) attend the outreach meet. This also assumes significance given the collapse of recent South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit after four countries apart from India pulled out of the meet to be hosted by Pakistan over the issue of cross-border terrorism, maintaining that environment was not conducive to hold such an event. Indian officials have made it clear that Indias effort would be to have strong language in the BRICS outcome document on terrorism including how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries, safe havens and finances. Militants attacked a paramilitary force convoy on the outskirts of the city on Friday, killing a jawan and injuring eight others. The incident took place at Zakura when militants fired at the vehicles of Sashastra Seema Bal carrying its personnel to their camp after performing law and order duties in the city, officials said. Banned Al-Umar Mujahideen terrorist organisation claimed the responsibility for carrying out the attack and also warned of similar actions in near future. This outfit had become dormant in the early part of 1990s and ceased to exist after its chief, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Mushtaq Latram', was arrested in 1992. Zargar was one of the three prisoners exchanged for passengers of IC-814 plane that was hijacked by Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group in 1999. Besides Zargar, the other two released were Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar and Sheikh Omar. The claim by the outfit signalled revival of the militant group in Kashmir after more than two decades. In the attack, one jawan of the SSB was killed and eight others were injured, the official said. The injured, who included a policeman, have been admitted to a hospital for treatment. Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched search operations to track down the militants. This is the first militant attack in the city since the encounter at Nowhatta on August 15 in which a CRPF commandant was killed and nine other personnel were injured. Photograph: ANI/Twitter The Bharatiya Janata Party aims to use the surgical strikes as a way of attracting voters across the states, especially in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Archis Mohan reports. The BJP has planned a series of public rallies of its top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar across the country, but particularly in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The rallies will be used to drill home the message of the political will that Modi government has shown to launch surgical strikes against Pakistan-based terrorists. A BJP leader on Thursday said surgical strikes will be the main election plank of the party in UP. While the party is still undecided about announcing a chief ministerial candidate, the leader said the nationalistic fervour that has enveloped the people of the country, including in UP, will overcome caste-based loyalties. On Friday, the PM will address an ex-servicemen conference in Bhopal. He will also inaugurate a war memorial, a Shaurya Smarak, built over 12.67 acres and which commemorates the sacrifice of Indian soldiers in the wars and battles of 1947, 1962, 1965, 1971 and the Kargil conflict of 1999. Defence Minister Parrikar will also be present. The top BJP leader also disabused any impression that the party was unhappy with Parrikars public statements on the surgical strikes by the Indian Army. I pity the intelligence of those who think the defence minister of the country shouldnt speak on the issue of surgical strikes, the leader said. Modi government ministers, BJP leaders and cadres had carried out tiranga yatras across the country to coincide with this years Independence Day celebrations. The aim of these yatras was to evoke a sense of nationalism. A large majority of these events were organised in UP. Party sources believe the Uri terror attack and the subsequent surgical strikes have consolidated this sense of nationalism. The leader, in an informal interaction with media persons, said the party was confident of reaching the majority mark in UP, wrest Uttarakhand from Congress, retain Goa but indicated the Congress, and not the Aam Aadmi Party, was in the forefront in Punjab. The state currently has a Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP coalition government. He said the party was organisationally on a much firmer ground in UP, than it was in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, along with a minor ally, had then won 73 of the 80 seats. He said the party had then organised booth committees in only 36 per cent of UPs 135,000 polling booths but now has such committees in 87 per cent of the booths. The BJP will also launch a series of Parivartan Yatras in UP on November 5. Party President Amit Shah will flag off these yatras, which will culminate in Lucknow on December 24, the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee. The partys assessment is that there are at least 10 million families in UP with a relative serving in the Indian defence forces. The party believes its popularity has surged in the state after the surgical strike and it is headed for a majority in the 403-member UP assembly. The BJP leader said the party still considers incumbent Samajwadi Party as its challenger since its core vote bank is intact, while Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party was nowhere in the race and betraying desperation with its call to Muslims for support. The BJP believes it has succeeded in dispelling the propaganda among Dalits of UP, which comprise a fifth of the states population and considered core support base of the BSP. The BJP sponsored six-month long dhamma chetana yatra, to reach out to Dalits, will culminate in the presence of the BJP chief in Kanpur. The yatra held nearly a thousand public events during its journey across UP. Image for representation only. A drunken conversation tipped off Thane Crime Branch detectives to the unprecedented scam targeting unsuspecting Americans from call centres in Thane. Reportage and photographs: Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com IMAGE: Thane Crime Branch detectives take some of the accused for a medical check up on October 7, 2016. The first four days of October had recorded incessant rains, but the weather was pleasant the next day. It was about 8.45 in the evening and about 700 call centre employees, packed inside a nine-storey, newly done building in Mira Road, a suburb in Thane district, were furiously at work, calling and receiving calls from citizens, mostly seniors, in the United States of America. While the first floor accommodated the parking lot, the top floor was being readied for more agents and the hiring process was underway. Packed to about 100 a floor, these employees, would call non-suspecting US residents, telling them they had violated US tax laws and ask them to cough up anywhere between $500 (about Rs 32,000) to $60,000 (about Rs 38 lakhs) to settle their tax dues and avoid penalties, including imprisonment. These employees, mostly college-going teenagers, freshly-minted graduates, Class 12 dropouts, a select few in the know, most oblivious, were part of a racket that has now run into -- according to sources investigating the fraud -- anything between $36 million and $70 million (Rs 240 crore to Rs 500 crore). At around 8.30 pm the same evening, Senior Police Inspector Nitin Thakare of the Thane Crime Branch's Unit 1 was readying 200 policemen for an operation. Most of these policemen were not told about the mission that Thakare, along with his superior, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mukund Hatote, had planned that night. As the convoy of more than 20 police cars made its way through the bustling Eastern Express Highway towards Mira Road after sunset, the 700 employees were using a six-page written script to hoodwink US citizens posing as officials from the Internal Revenue Services, the US' tax collection agency. The team leaders were egging their teams on to get more aggressive with their customers; the 'closers' -- experienced agents who closed the calls after trapping people to pay up -- were helping out agents who called on them once they softened the person at the other end; the floor managers were busy texting a 16-digit code, from prepaid cards, extracted from the 'tax evaders' to their seniors in Ahmedabad, who then sent this 16-digit code to their counterparts in the US. After keeping about 30 per cent of the conned money, the agent in the US would then transfer the funds illegally via hawala routes to the masterminds in India. This con had been in play for more than four years now through various such dubious call centres spread across Thane, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad and other places across the country. But the scam was about to be busted by the Thane Crime Branch. *** IMAGE: Senior Police Inspector Nitin Thakare (extreme right in the blue shirt), Assistant Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch (Detection) Mukund Hatote (seated) along with members of the Thane Crime Branch team that busted the scam. When the police convoy was a few hundred metres away from the Delta IT Park, the nine-storeyed glass facade building from where the scam was being run, Thakare and his fellow officers divided the 200 policemen into 10 groups as they unleashed the raid on the building around 9.30 pm. As the raid began, the policemen first disconnected the Internet lines leased for the con using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP); CCTV cameras too were disconnected, lest employees get a whiff of what was going on. The 700 employees had no clue about what had befallen on them. "I was on the eighth floor when the policemen in mufti entered the floor at 10.15 pm," says Aniket (name changed on request as it is an ongoing police investigation), an 18-year-old employee who worked on inbound calls from US citizens. "The police called on the floor managers and team leaders to assemble at a vacant space inside the hall," said another employee from the fifth floor without revealing his name. "Those who did not cooperate with the police were beaten up and arrested," the fifth-floor employee said. The same act was being played out on the eighth floor. "They started taking out hard disks, sealing the computers, and collecting whatever documents -- payment vouchers, records of closed calls, money collected on the floor since 6 pm (employees worked here from 6 pm to 4 am and 7 pm to 5 am shifts apart from those who worked day shifts to keep an account of the money collected by all the agents, pending calls, and those who had promised to pay up later), resumes and photographs of employees," Aniket said. By the time, the raid ended the following night at 10 pm across three call centres -- Delta IT Park, Universal Outsourcing and Oswal House, all in Mira Road -- the detectives from the Thane Crime Branch had impounded 900 hard disks, sophisticated servers, software and hardware that was used to mask the calls emanating from India as those from a US telephone numbers. The detectives arrested 70 employees, with over 772 employees asked to be present at the police station for questioning whenever required. Interestingly, an employee said, the people who ran the scam at this call centre had an inkling about an impending police raid on September 30. "At around 11 that night, four hours after my shift started, we were asked to vacate the premises immediately on September 30. The entire building was evacuated by 1 am with most employees looking perplexed at the turn of events, unaware of what was in their fate only a couple of days later," he said. "We were all asked to go home instead of hanging around the premises and asked to come back on Monday, October 3," he added. As nothing happened on Monday and Tuesday the people who were expecting a police raid took it easy. And then at 9.30 pm on October 5, lightning struck. *** IMAGE: One of the 70 accused in police custody being taken for questioning at the Thane Crime Branch's Unit 1. As fate would have it, an employee at this call centre, who was in the thick of the con, in a drunken stupor, confided to a friend how thousands of US citizens were being scammed. The employee, who revealed details of the scam to his friend, was upset with his employers that he was not being paid adequately. This drunken conversation would eventually end up with Inspector Thakare. It so happened that the friend in whom this call centre employee confided was also Inspector Thakare's friend. Thus, the lid was blown off over the four-year-old, Rs 500 crore-and-counting scam. "When my friend told me about this employee's story we decided to act," Thakare told this correspondent at his office two days after the scam was busted. "We got this employee to record calls with US citizens to verify his claims," added a source from the Thane Crime Branch on the condition that his name would not be mentioned in this report as he is not authorised to speak with the media. Once the detectives verified and cross-verified what the employee had revealed after listening to the audio tapes, they knew they had to raid these call centres to end this fraud. But there was a hitch. The call centres that were to be raided were out of bounds for the Thane Crime Branch officers because these establishments fell under the jurisdiction of the Thane Rural Police. Without wasting time the issue was discussed with Thane Police Commissioner Parambir Singh and subsequently with Maharashtra Director General of Police Satish Mathur. Once the required permission was obtained, the policemen swooped on the three call centres and dug out the unprecedented fraud. "The masterminds are experts in technology, They have used software and hardware including proxy servers to mask their real identities," Thakare said. "10 to 12 accused are still absconding even as we arrested 70 employees who were in the know of the scam taking place at these centres," Thakare added. After the scam was busted, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mukund Hatote, Thane Crime Branch (Detection), has been receiving emails from US citizens from Pittsburgh, California, New Jersey providing him with details of how they were duped. "One lady from California was threatened by these scamsters and they made her pay $13,500," Hatote said. A 25 to 30-year-old resident of Ahmedabad's Bopal locality, Sagar 'Saggy' Thakkar has emerged as the Indian kingpin of this multi-million dollar scam. *** IMAGE: A father of one of the accused comforts his daughter outside the Thane Crime Branch office. Sagar Thakkar would rarely visit the Mira Road call centre where Aniket and other employees worked for salaries between Rs 5,000 to Rs 60,000 a month excluding the incentives. Whenever he did, the entire building would be agog with his presence, say two other employees who worked at the Delta IT Park, and who had been called for questioning by the police. Both had worked for more than a month at the call centre. "I saw him only twice in the 45 days I worked there before the police raid," said an employee who worked on the eighth floor, where, mostly, according to him, those who had been freshly trained were deployed to answer inbound calls. "He was flashy. He would mostly be accompanied by bodyguards. He wore torn (ripped) jeans, bright jackets, sunglasses, and would come in flashy cars," said another employee. "He could be around 25 to 30. Most team leaders would egg their agents on citing his lifestyle," says the fifth floor employee who saw him on a couple of occasions driving a Mercedes and Audi cars. Three of the four employees said they saw Thakkar on the day their salaries were distributed in cash. "The floor managers would come with a heavy sack and pay the salaries, sorted into neat bundles," said the fifth floor employee. *** IMAGE: Employees of the Delta IT Park call centre await questioning outside the Thane Crime Branch office. While 70 people were arrested the rest were released after being asked to present themselves for questioning as and when required. The recruitment process for getting a job at this call centre was simple. The first ladder included testing language skills. "Once the first level was cleared, the interviewee would be sent to another person who would try and find out if the prospective employee would raise an alarm if they discovered what their actual job was, which was difficult to find out, as there were layers upon layers that prevented the freshers from knowing that it was a scam and how it worked. Hired employees were then trained for a period of seven to 15 days depending on their grasping power and sent on the floor to either call prospective victims or speak to them when they called back. "I was given the job offer via a telephone call. They had advertised a number in a train and when I called I got selected because I spoke fluent English," says a lady employee who had come to the Crime Branch for questioning. "The job was not difficult as all agents were given a written script along with rebuttals. Each one of us was told to be aggressive while speaking to the American customers. We were trained to speak with authority," she said. "If the person at the other end would not be cowed down by our aggression we were asked to hang up on them without much ado." Like any call centre, the one at the Delta IT Park would organise walk-in interviews, referrals and use social media to recruit employees. Once selected, they would be grouped in teams of 15 people each and sent to different floors based on their training, grasping power, confidence and skill sets. They were given the phone codes of all the 50 US states to help them find out from which state the call had come or to which state an automated dialer had made the phone call. "We made almost 1,000 calls a day and only four or five would fall for the con and make immediate payments via preloaded cards," said an employee. "The team leader would egg us on to keep at it aggressively; another came into play when the call had to be closed; yet another when the client at the other end was ready to pay and part with a 16-digit code for transfer of money into a US account," an employee said. "It was a looting business for them. For them it was making money using underhand means; it was their business," another employee said, "but for us it was a job that helped us run our houses." "You will always find more people than you need to do a job, without asking too many questions, even if you pay a salary as paltry as Rs 5,000 or Rs 15,000," an 18-year-old awaiting questioning at the Crime Branch said. "I had no clue what I was getting into when I entered the building 15 days ago." 'We should hit Pakistan, continue to prepare for surgical strikes, continue to punish Pakistani posts in the proximity of the LoC and we should start adopting counter terrorist measures.' 'That should be India's action without escalating it to a full-fledged war,' Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd) tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com On the current situation on the Line of Control: When the Indian Army lost 18 soldiers in Uri, it became unbearable for the nation. The Government of India was left with no other option but to retaliate. The anger was so much that if the government did not retaliate, things would have gone wrong with the government itself. On the surgical strikes: In military parlance, this is a very planned action inside enemy territory or inside home territory where the smallest number of people take part but do the maximum damage. A surgical strike does not last more than one hour, that is what we teach. It is a hard, fast operation. I give you three examples of surgical strikes in the world. Raid by Israel in Entebbe: They had to plan for two years for that raid, but it was conducted within 43 minutes and they got back. The American killing of Osama bin Laden in Abottabad: The Americans knew about his presence in Abottabad for four years, but had to play for time and be 100% sure. They had to buy people in Pakistan, including Pakistani generals. They created the exact replica of that area in the United States and practiced for one year by using helicopters etc. When they were absolutely sure, they flew from the Bagram airfield in Afghanistan for 70 minutes into Pakistan. They did this operation for exactly 21 minutes, killed Osama, took his dead body and flew back to Afghanistan for 70 minutes. So for the actual surgical strike of 21 minutes, they prepared for nearly four-and-a-half years. In exactly the same way, the decision was taken by the Government of India to retaliate. The army found out the places where the terrorists camps were located and deliberately picked PoK though we know there are terrorist camps in Punjab also, near Lahore, Narowal, Muridke etc. Why we picked up PoK was because it belongs to India. We said we are not hitting the Pakistan army though we knew Pakistan army elements are protecting these terrorists. The group that took part in the surgical strikes must just be about 30, but to protect them in case things went wrong they would have kept 700 troops ready on our side. Even helicopters were kept ready. The young soldiers who did this must be between 22 to 28 years old. Strict orders were given to not leave any dead body behind and bring the injured back. They went on foot. With no one to guide them, they relied on technology. They massacred 40 odd people as they say. Pakistan can't hide the dead bodies. As the bodies reach their loved ones, and as time passes, you cannot hide the sound of the wails of their families. Slowly it will build up. The young soldiers were told you destroy and return. They must have not stopped to count the dead bodies. There is no point doing a postmortem on how many died as long as none of our soldiers were lost. On Pakistan's denial of the surgical strikes: If they accept this fact, their government will be in trouble. When Ajmal Kasab was caught in Mumbai, the government of Pakistan denied it. They denied Pathankot. In Kargil they did not accept the dead bodies of their soldiers for three months. They can never accept because it will show their army and government in poor light, but how long can they deny it? On the demand for proof of the strikes from Opposition parties in India: In an operation like this, you don't stop to count the dead, you just strike and return. What proof do you want? Should they have brought back some dead bodies? Then they would say you only got back two bodies and you say you killed 20? Do you want CCTV footage? Proof required in a court of law is not the proof that an army can produce. This is not what happens in war and should not happen either. This is foolishness of the part of the Opposition parties and I am not pleading for the government, but pleading for the army. By putting a shadow of doubt on the army you have insulted and humiliated the whole Indian Army. Young boys have risked their entire life, gone into Pakistan, hit the enemy hard and came back. Tomorrow the young boys will think what an ungrateful nation this is. On whether the army has presented proof before: Never. I have been DGMO myself. I have conducted physical strikes myself, but a surgical strike of this type has happened for the first time after the 1971 war in PoK or Pakistan. We have been hitting them once in a while where the local commanders take the risk, but this was a well planned, executed, coordinated, approved by the government physical strike. After we lost our boys from the Dogra Regiment in an ambush in Manipur -- our army went into Burma for an operation. The NSA and foreign secretary flew at night when the strike was already going on. They met the chief of the Myanmar army at night to convince him that we were dealing with terrorists, our insurgents who were in their country. They were told that we had nothing against your people. Does that mean that the NSA and foreign secretary fly to Pakistan and meet Nawaz Sharif and tell him! But exactly four hours after the strike, our DGMO made a public statement saying that he had just spoken to his counterpart in Pakistan with the spokesperson for external affairs sitting beside him. Our DGMO won't lie that he has spoken to the Pakistan DGMO in front of the national and international media! But the government of Pakistan cannot accept it officially. No nation in the world has questioned its armed forces on an operation like this. I don't know why we want to be an exception for political gains. When you start doubting Narendra Modi, Manohar Parrikar, the DGMO, you are not doubting the individual, you are doubting the institution of the prime minister, the institution of the defence minister, the institution of the chief of the Indian Army. What message are you sending? On the ceasefire violations post the strikes and the attacks on Indian security forces: We must make it clear to Pakistan and I am sure we have done it -- 'Don't provoke us to come again' -- and I am saying this very carefully. Secondly, we should not hesitate to launch such strikes in the future also. It can be confined to PoK, including areas opposite Kargil -- Gilgit and Baltistan. We must ensure that these strikes are only against terrorist camps -- not innocent people. Even in this strike no civilian has died. We should punish Pakistan army camps which are in the proximity of the LoC. They are hitting us right from Pathankot, Sambha, Kathua, Jammu, Uri, Baramulla, Handwara. On the terrorists waiting to enter India: These are trained terrorists. If you keep them unoccupied, they will create problems in your own country. We should not hesitate to hit them. Therefore, we have the right to respond to ceasefire violations. Proxy war has to be fought by proxy mechanism only. Direct war is no answer to proxy war. The Americans have failed, the Britishers have failed, the Russians have failed. Terrorism has to be fought by counter-terrorism and counter-terrorism has a much wider arc of activity. On the possibility of another India-Pakistan war: The Pakistan army has been told by America not to make the mistake of fighting a conventional war with India. Even China does not want Pakistan to fight with India because the Chinese have made huge investments in Pakistan in infrastructure. But Pakistan's foreign and defence policy is based on anti-India sentiment. If they don't play that card, the survival of the government will be at stake and the survival of the government is the survival of the army. Our policymakers must understand this loud and clear that Pakistan's anti-India policy will continue. In the larger interest of India, war is not the right thing at the moment. China and the US keep accusing each other on the South China Sea, but they will not fight a war because they are focused on the economy. This will keep China and America away from war. India would like to focus on building its economy and infrastructure, Pakistan is not concerned about this, therefore they have adopted the philosophy of bleeding India through a thousand cuts. A prosperous and militarily powerful India is not in Pakistan's interest. Out of this grows the philosophy of cross-border terrorism, proxy war, or undeclared war to keep India internally busy, not to allow them to develop their forces and thereby a powerful army. Capacity and capability for war needs time, therefore you need peace, so India is also not interested in fighting a war at this time. Today war has become an extension of diplomatic policy. Pakistan has been cautioned by both the US and China not to get into a conventional conflict with India, so they are outsourcing military diplomacy to the terrorists. Terrorists have become the extension of Pakistan's army. The Pakistan army has deliberately outsourced terrorism to the so-called non-State actors against India. These non-State actors are born, raised, trained, motivated in Pakistan and tasked to put bombs and kill people. They are a product of Pakistan and are an appendix to Pakistan's foreign and defence policy. They want to keep us busy in northern Kashmir to prepare for a bigger hit in southern Kashmir near Jammu. They keep shifting the balance from right to left. On what can be expected from the Pakistan army: More infiltration. The Pakistan army will not make the mistake of sending even one soldier into our territory. We should not respect the violation of the ceasefire, we should hit them, continue to prepare for surgical strikes, continue to punish Pakistani posts in the proximity of the LoC and we should start adopting counter terrorist measures. That should be India's action without escalating it to a full-fledged war. We have to be careful. We should hit them in their own territory like the Americans and Israelis. We should not allow them to come into our territory. IMAGE: Soldiers take positions outside the government building in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir, where terrorists were holed up. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI photo Turkey: Freedom of belief and security threats Publisher Forum 18 Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Turkey: Freedom of belief and security threats, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c1614.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Turkey's failed coup attempt, ongoing and new security threats and government actions have long-term implications for the rule of law with the freedoms of religion and belief, assembly, association and expression. Immediate measures are necessary to protect religious or belief communities directly affected by conflict and terror. Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Political will needed to counter terrorism and address evolving nature of ISIL, Security Council told Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Political will needed to counter terrorism and address evolving nature of ISIL, Security Council told, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c32340c.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 October 2016 - Briefing the Security Council today, the top United Nations political official said that while the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) and its affiliates have continued to face military setbacks, they nevertheless continue to pose a significant and diversified threat. "Increasingly complex and nearly simultaneous attacks in different countries - committed through large-scale operations and individual or small terrorist cells, either directed or inspired by ISIL - have a significant impact and present particular problems to UN Member States in terms of the security response," UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told Council members. "ISIL [also] continues to assert itself in cyberspace, using closed fora, encrypted messaging systems, and communications through the 'dark net' to recruit and distribute its propaganda," he added. Mr. Feltman's briefing was based on the report of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the threat posed by ISIL to international peace and security and on the efforts of the UN in support of its Member States to counter that threat. Detailing the impact of ISIL in various parts of the globe, Mr. Feltman informed the 15-member body on the group's activities in south-east Asia, East Africa and Yemen and noted a renewed energy on part of the group's pre-existing terrorist networks as well as increased motivation of individuals to travel to conflict zones as foreign terrorist fighters. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas He further informed the Council that a growing number of UN Member States have addressed the potential threat posed by such foreign fighters who return to their home countries through a range of criminal justice, administrative and rehabilitation and reintegration measures as well as having taken a preventive approach, including by charging individuals with inchoate and preparatory offences. He added however that countries continue to face challenges in this context, including generating and converting intelligence information into admissible evidence. Mr. Feltman, who heads up the UN Department of Political Affairs also appraised Council members of the efforts of various UN entities to support countries counter the threat of ISIL, including through development of the capacity-building implementation plan for countering the flow of foreign terrorist fighters, as well as promoting best practices on the protection and promotion of human rights to prevent violent extremism. He further added that at the field UN bodies, such as its missions, prepared assessment reports on ISIL and shared these with the Member States. Concluding his briefing, the UN political official echoed the importance of the Secretary-General's call for a comprehensive and purposeful international cooperation to effectively prevent violent extremism and counter-terrorism. "Despite the international community's efforts, international counter-terrorism cooperation is still not up to the level of the danger posed," he said, adding: "If we aim to anticipate new terrorist threats and dynamically address the evolving nature of ISIL, military, security and law enforcement measures need to be complemented with preventive actions that address the drivers of violent extremism conducive to terrorism." Security Council dispatches UN special envoy to Burundi for talks on political crisis Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Security Council dispatches UN special envoy to Burundi for talks on political crisis, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c36040e.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 October 2016 - The Security Council will dispatch a senior United Nations envoy to consult with officials in Burundi to "find a way forward on all issues related to peace and security and UN activities in the country," after the Government earlier rejected a Council resolution on establishing a police officers' component there and amid reports that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Briefing reporters today after closed-door consultations with the Security Council, Jamal Benomar, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for Conflict Prevention (including Burundi), said he had discussed implementation of its resolution 2303 (2016), which authorized up to 228 UN individual police officers for the component, to be deployed in the capital, Bujumbura, and throughout Burundi, for one year. Through that measure, adopted by 11 votes in favour to none against with four abstentions (Angola, China, Egypt, Venezuela), the Council also expressed "its intention to pursue targeted measures against all actors, inside and outside Burundi, who threaten the peace and security of Burundi." "As you are aware, the Government of Burundi rejected key provisions of the resolution shortly after it was adopted," said Mr. Benomar, explaining that Council members requested that he travel to the country in order to consult with the Government, "to hear their positions and concerns, to share the views of the Council, and to clarify our objectives." Stressing that he will endeavour to consult constructively with the Government in order to work towards a consensual way forward, he stated: "What started as a political crisis can only be resolved by a political solution." Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for Conflict Prevention (including Burundi), Jamal Benomar, briefs the press after closed-door consultations with the Security Council. UN Photo/Manuel Elias Mr. Benomar said Burundians proved this themselves a decade ago, when they emerged from a long civil war that saw hundreds of thousands of people killed and displaced. "With the support of the region and the international community, Burundian stakeholders worked together then to come to an agreement that provided a sound framework for a stable future." In the years that followed, Burundi made important strides towards peace and development. As an important contributor to UN and African Union peacekeeping troops, Burundi itself helped other countries to find stability, he noted. "Burundi's future rests in Burundi's hands. I am confident that with political will and leadership, the Burundians can find a way out of this crisis through dialogue and compromise," he said. Responding to questions, including whether he would raise the issue of the country's reported decision to suspend cooperation with UN human rights officials and also to withdraw from the ICC's founding Rome Statute, Mr. Benomar said he hoped to discuss all issues on the table. "What we need is a renewed engagement with the Government with a view to clarify the objectives of the resolution and cooperate on finding a way forward on all issues related to peace and security and UN activities in the country," he concluded. Yesterday, Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the daily noon briefing at UN Headquarters that while the Organization is disappointed to learn of the Government's decision to cease cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office would nevertheless "remain open pending further discussions." Further, Mr. Dujarric said that while he had heard reports of the Burundian Parliament voting to withdraw from the ICC and a letter reportedly being sent to the UN, no such letter had been received as of today indicating their decision. "Obviously, if a letter were received, it would be regrettable, but I think it's also important to note that, according to the provisions of the Rome Statute, such a decision would become effective one year after notification, he said, explaining that State parties that decide to withdraw are still obligated to cooperate with any criminal investigations or proceedings that were commenced before the effective date of the withdrawal. Burundi was thrown into crisis more than a year ago when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term that he went on to win. To date, it has been reported that hundreds of people have been killed, more than 250,000 have fled the nation, and thousands more have been arrested and possibly subjected to human rights violations. UN receives 'partial' approval from Syrian government on October aid deliveries, envoy reports Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN receives 'partial' approval from Syrian government on October aid deliveries, envoy reports, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c38240c.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 October 2016 - Unless the deadly violence in Aleppo subsides, the United Nations will be unable to carry out its humanitarian responsibilities to victims of bombardments, shelling and attacks against civilians, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy stressed today. "There has been no relief for the people of Aleppo; they continue to suffer from heavy air strikes and shelling," he told reporters after a Humanitarian Taskforce meeting in Geneva. He acknowledged that eastern Aleppo is experiencing greater degrees of violence but emphasized that "both sides of the city, populated by civilians, are subjected to extremely difficult circumstances." These circumstances involve a "minimal" capacity to treat emergency cases. Hospitals are no longer able to operate at the same capacity as they were one week to ten days ago and medical evacuations have not yet been made. The respective taskforces on humanitarian aid delivery and a wider ceasefire, created by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), have been meeting separately since early this year on a way forward in the crisis. Russia and the United States are the co-chairs of the taskforces and the ISSG, which also comprises the UN, the Arab League, the European Union and 16 other countries. Mr. Ramzy briefly touched on the political situation between the US and Russia, noting that the UN Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, has been involved in "intense" discussions with all parties, particularly with regards to the humanitarian crisis and opportunities to reduce violence and ameliorate the political situation. He said Mr. de Mistura will attend the meeting in Lausanne this Saturday to continue efforts. The only positive update that Mr. Ramzy was able to share was that the water supply in Aleppo, previously cut off, has been partially restored and that substation 1, Suleiman al-Halabi would be capable of providing water to eastern Aleppo, as long as fuel is provided. Repairs are under way to substation 2, and the UN is currently providing water to the western part of the city. Aerial view of Aleppo, Syria. September 2016. Photo: WHO/A. Kalmykov He further reported that the UN has received a partial approval from the Syrian Government for the October plan and that additional steps would be taken in order to ensure deliveries could be made. Meanwhile, the UN continues with air drops to Deir ez-Zor and Hasakah, but more efforts are required to meet civilian needs. Air drops, Mr. Ramzy noted, are costly and a last resort used only in extreme circumstances, as is the case in both cities. The UN Deputy Special Envoy responded to questions about medical evacuations, reporting that more than 200 are in critical condition, including 400 children who require evacuation. To a question about needing a ceasefire to evacuate, he replied: "There cannot be medical evacuations without a ceasefire. That is very clear. How long the ceasefire will need to be in place for the medical evacuations, this is one of the issues that [was under discussion during the meeting]." Mr. de Mistura has made an appeal for the evacuation of Nusra fighters, the rebel group that was previously the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Such an evacuation, said Mr. Ramzy, "would have a positive impact on humanitarian aid moving into eastern Aleppo." Al-Nusra has so far replied negatively to Mr. de Mistura's appeals, but the Deputy Special Envoy revealed that the appeal has "found resonance in certain quarters," and that they hope parties on the ground would push it forward. Mr. Ramzy concluded the press conference by reiterating that humanitarian aid to Aleppo is contingent upon a ceasefire. Security Council extends UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti for six months Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Security Council extends UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti for six months, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c3a040c.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 October 2016 - Accepting Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recommendation, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti for six months at the current force and police strength. Through the adoption of a resolution, the 15-member Council decided that the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) - consisting of up to 2,370 troops and up to 2,601 police component personnel - will stay in the Caribbean nation through 15 April 2017. The mandate renewal comes in the wake of the humanitarian emergency caused by the 4 October landfall of Hurricane Matthew, which also forced the postponement of the 9 October elections. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) the Category 4 storm had claimed the lives of 473 people as of 11 October, with 75 missing and 339 injured. Some 2.1 million people, including 894,057 children, are affected, and 1.4 million people, or 12.9 per cent of the population, need humanitarian assistance, including 592,581 children. About 750,000 people, including 315,000 children, need urgent humanitarian aid for the next three months. In the text adopted today, the Secretary-General is requested to conduct a strategic assessment mission of the situation in Haiti "by the end of the current mandate and preferably after the inauguration of a newly elected president" and to present recommendations on the UN's future presence and role in Haiti in his next report to the Security Council. In that regard, the Council affirmed its intention to consider the possible withdrawal of MINUSTAH and transition to a future UN presence "beginning no sooner than 15 April 2017," based on its review of Haiti's overall capacity to ensure security and stability and on the security conditions on the ground. Also in the resolution, the Council strongly urged Haiti's political actors "to work cooperatively in the interests of the Haitian people, joining forces in prioritizing the country's return to full constitutional normality by completing the electoral process, under way, and without further delays" and ensuring "the holding [] of free, fair, inclusive, and transparent presidential election and partial re-runs of the legislative elections, together with first-round elections for one-third of the Senate seats whose current incumbents will end their term in office in January 2017." UN warns of humanitarian crisis as 7,400 cross Afghan border each day Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN warns of humanitarian crisis as 7,400 cross Afghan border each day, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c3be412.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 October 2016 - Every day, some 7,400 Afghan returnees cross the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan, prompting the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to warn of an escalating humanitarian crisis. The Government of Pakistan has imposed a return deadline of 15 March 2017 for voluntary return and repatriation. UNHCR and IOM estimate that Afghanistan will receive between one and 1.5 million returnees by that date when combined with the internally displaced persons (IDP) movement in eastern, southern and central areas of the State. While the deadline has been long-known, the Pakistani Government is generating pressure to speed up the return process due to a change in political dynamics between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This includes an increase in the spread of terrorism, presence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) in both countries, and deepening ties between Afghanistan and India. Yesterday, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report 3, which states that 60 percent of those returning are children. 80,000 are under the age of 5 and require immediate health and nutritional support. UNHCR and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are currently overseeing a humanitarian strategy that involves 160 national and international non-governmental organization partners in addition to the UN, IOM, Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies. OCHA is conducting a joint needs assessment that focuses especially on nine districts that have been identified as high return areas. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is meanwhile focusing on nutrition, health, and education, providing vitamins, vaccinations, psychological care, and basic teaching materials to people at cross-border points and regions experiencing a high influx of returnees. The agency is also working closely with IOM to ensure that water, sanitation and hygiene needs are met and is collecting feedback on returnee's needs at key entry and transit points. Messages about immunization, health, nutrition, handwashing, education, child protection, and birth registration have been distributed to the returnees. OCHA's report identifies the eastern region of Afghanistan (including Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan) as the highest risk areas for IED incidents, kidnapping and sudden armed clashes among government forces, armed tribal groups, and Taliban factions. Along the border areas with Pakistan, there have been reports of ISIL/Da'esh. UNICEF and other agencies conducted a security assessment mission earlier this month to enable road missions to the Torkham border and nearby districts experiencing a high rate of returnees. UNICEF Afghanistan has met the initial short-term three-month funding period to respond to the humanitarian crisis, but will need an additional $2.1 million in the medium-term. The next Situation Report is anticipated for 19 October 2016 and a summary of the programme results will be adjusted to reflect sector-specific needs assessments by 15 October 2016. UN refugee agency condemns rising violence against civilians in Central African Republic Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN refugee agency condemns rising violence against civilians in Central African Republic, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c41b40c.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 October 2016 - The United Nations refugee agency today condemned attacks on civilians in the Central African Republic (CAR), where clashes between rival groups have forced thousands of people to flee their homes and disrupted vital humanitarian aid operations. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) "strongly condemns attacks against civilians which severely hamper the provision of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to populations in need," said the agency's representative for the country, Kouassi Lazare Etien in a news release. Fighting in the past month between ex-Seleka militiamen and anti-Balaka fighters has affected western, eastern and central parts of the country and the capital, Bangui, according to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSCA). The Mission said at least 11 people were killed and 22 wounded in clashes that followed the murder of an army officer on October 4, with 14 people reported to be still missing. MINUSCA also said 150 people had fled their homes and 35 families had taken refuge in in the capital, Bangui. In a further incident of violence in the northwest on Tuesday, MINUSCA reported that 30 persons sought refuge in Cambatt camp at the south entrance of Koui town, while another 130 sought refuge in Gabbatt camp to the north. "Armed group activities engender insecurity and provoke population movements. Displaced people are perpetually in urgent need of food, basic household items, medicine and access to education," Mr. Etien said. Displaced people are perpetually in urgent need of food, basic household items, medicine and access to education The UN refugee agency said it was particularly alarmed by growing insecurity in the eastern prefecture of Haut-Mboumou, home to 2,748 Congolese refugees in Zemio, another 1,057 Congolese who have settled in Obo as well as 4,222 South Sudanese refugees in Bambouti. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) refugees who thought they had found safety here in Zemio camp in Central African Republic were attacked when they ventured back to DRC to work their land. Photo: UNHCR/A. Kitidi On September 19, attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army in Tabane 1 village, 20 kilometres from Zemio, led to the displacement of about 700 people and prompted UNHCR to decide to speed up the relocation of the South Sudanese refugees from Bambouti to Obo. There, they are able to receive protection and assistance in health, education, shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene, and food and non-food aid. Several humanitarian properties and convoys in the centre and north of the country were targeted by armed robbers. This, as well as clashes on September 16 between ex-Seleka and anti-Balaka elements in Ndomete, Nana-Grebizi prefecture, caused more than 3,200 people to flee into the bush and to nearby villages. Despite reinforcement by the UN peacekeeping mission, armed groups have continued to set up illegal checkpoints and demand money from traders in the town of Kaga-Bandoro in Nana-Grebizi prefecture, forcing up prices of local commodities and disrupting the movement of humanitarian convoys. On September 21, an attack by the armed group 3R (Retour, Reclamation et Rehabilitation) on Degaulle town in Ouham-Pende prefecture in the northwest led to the flight of an estimated 3,400 families towards Bocaranga and surrounding villages. The growing insecurity is causing many organizations to leave or reduce their presence. Two UNHCR partners have cut their staff or suspended monitoring activities in the west of the country. In Bocaranga, four humanitarian organizations have closed their bases or suspended their activities and two others have evacuated their staff, to Paoua in Ouham-Pende prefecture, or to Bangui. One of UNHCR's partners has reduced its staff on the ground for security reasons. Insecurity constrains UNHCR's response Because of the insecurity, UNHCR's response has been confined to protection monitoring, participating in food distribution to internally displaced people, and coordinating protection and shelter for the newly displaced populations. A UNHCR-operated call centre in Ndomete, Nana-Grebizi prefecture, provides care to individuals who have suffered from gender-based violence, and helps in the tracing of unaccompanied children. Displaced people are in urgent need of food, basic household items, medicine and access to schools. Armed groups have occupied schools in some parts of the country, preventing classes from taking place. Food prices are rising and basic commodities are quickly disappearing from the market. The 2016-2017 academic year has been interrupted by the presence of armed groups in and near dozens of schools and colleges in Ouham, Ouaka and Nana-Mambere prefectures, preventing more than 10,000 children from continuing their education. Indonesia: Halt chemical castration Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Indonesia: Halt chemical castration, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c49a4.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Indonesia's authorities must immediately repeal provisions that allow sex offenders to be punished by forced chemical castration and even the death penalty, Amnesty International said today. "The sexual abuse of children is indescribably horrific. But subjecting offenders to chemical castration or executions is not justice, it is adding one cruelty to another," said Papang Hidayat, Amnesty International's Researcher on Indonesia. Chemical castration is a drug or hormone treatment to suppress sex drive. Imposing it by law without informed consent as a punitive measure would be a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. "Forced chemical castration is a violation of the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international law," said Papang Hidayat. "The expansion of the scope of the death penalty is inconsistent with Indonesia's international obligations which protects the right to life. Further given the serious flaws in Indonesia's justice system the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated." The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) has said they will refuse to implement the castration punishment as it violates their medical ethics. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, regardless of the method of execution or the crime for which it is imposed, and believes that there is no credible evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect. Background Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) No.1/2016 which amended Law No. 23/2002 on the Protection of Children was ratified yesterday in the House of Representatives. The Government Regulation was issued in May by President Joko Widodo following several high-profile cases of rape of children and subsequent calls by politicians for harsher punishments for those who commit sexual offences against children. Article 81 of the revised law imposes forced chemical castration as an additional punishment for "anyone who commits violence or threatens violence to force a child - person below 18 years - to have intercourse with him or with another person that causes: more than one victim, serious injury, mental disorder, infectious diseases, the loss or malfunction of the reproductive organs and/or death of the victim". According to the revised law chemical castration will be carried out against the offender for a period of up to two years after the convict has undergone his prison term. Offenders below the age of 18 are not subject to this punishment. Forced chemical castration violates the international law prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment which is set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), to which Indonesia is a state party. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Maldives: Stop blaming others for rights record Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Maldives: Stop blaming others for rights record, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c4ff4.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Responding to the announcement that the Maldives government has decided to "leave" the Commonwealth because of criticism of its human rights record, Amnesty International's South Asia Director Champa Patel said:"The Maldives authorities should address their own human rights situation rather than lash out at legitimate criticism. "Human rights have been in a complete freefall in the country over the past few years. The government has locked up opponents through politically motivated trials and led an unprecedented crackdown on independent media. Authorities have also threatened to end a decades-long moratorium on the death penalty and carry out the first executions in more than 60 years. "Instead of complaining about unfair treatment, the Maldives government should look at engaging more constructively with the international community." Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Nigeria: Tens of thousands at risk of imminent mass forced evictions in Lagos Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Nigeria: Tens of thousands at risk of imminent mass forced evictions in Lagos, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c54b4.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Authorities in Nigeria's Lagos State must immediately abandon plans to demolish all irregular structures in waterfront communities across the state within the next three days, which would leave tens of thousands of people homeless and destitute, Amnesty International said today. Tens of thousands of people living in settlements along creeks and waterfronts, the majority of whom are poor fishing communities, are at risk of forced evictions. This comes as a result of Lagos State authorities' plans to demolish irregular structures in their attempt to improve security following a rise in kidnappings in Lagos. Nigerian authorities are prohibited under international law from using forced evictions as a punitive measure. "While the government needs to address the issue of abductions, destroying people's homes and forcibly evicting tens of thousands of people from their homes can never be a lawful response," said Amnesty International Nigeria's Researcher Morayo Adebayo. "Many people in these settlements make their living in or near the Lagos Lagoon waterfront and are now facing terrifyingly uncertain futures. "By attempting to push these residents off the waterfronts with just a week's notice, no genuine consultations, and no provision of compensation or alternative housing, the Lagos State authorities are blithely violating international human rights law. We are urging the Lagos authorities to immediately halt their plans to forcibly evict the waterfront communities across the state." The day after the Governor's announcement, Amnesty International spoke to the Baale (traditional ruler) of the Illubirin fishing community, Peter Simenou, who said: "Yesterday, the Governor came here, he told us we should leave here within seven days. So we told him that we are fishermen, there is nowhere else for us to go. He said he has told us all that he came to say, and he did not say anything else." Amnesty International is calling for Lagos State government to halt its plans to demolish irregular structures across the state's waterfront and to ensure that forced evictions are not used as a punitive measure or a law enforcement tool. Even in situations where evictions are considered to be justified, governments obliged to ensure that that they are carried out in strict compliance with international law, including the principles of reasonableness and proportionality. Governments must consider all feasible alternatives to evictions in consultation with all affected people. Any person affected by a proposed eviction must be served adequate written notice, within a reasonable time period. Other due process safeguards must be followed, including the provision of legal remedies and compensation. Governments have to ensure that no one is left homeless and provide adequate alternative accommodation for those who cannot provide for themselves. "It is staggering to think that Lagos still does not have a law prohibiting forced evictions and guaranteeing people's right to housing. Authorities in Lagos need to establish a moratorium on mass evictions until they have regulations in place to ensure that evictions comply with international standards," said Morayo Adebayo. Background Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode visited Ilubirin, a waterfront community on 9 October 2016 where he said that demolition of all shanties in Lagos will begin in the next seven days. Amnesty International received confirmation of these plans from the Public Relations officer of Lagos State Building Control Agency. He told Amnesty International that they will demolish all the shanties on the waterways. The Lagos State authorities added that these planned demolitions are as a result of the rise in kidnappings which they believe the irregular structures are a main cause, describing such settlements as 'security threat' structures. On the official Lagos State government website, the Commissioner for Information Steve Ayorinde said: "The government has taken adequate steps to stem the tide of kidnapping in the State, noting that in line with the directive of the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, plans have been concluded to commence the demolition of illegal structures erected across the state waterfronts and creeks." More than two million people have been forcibly evicted from their homes in different parts of Nigeria since 2000. These evictions are carried out without adequate prior consultation, adequate notice and compensation or alternative accommodation. Most were already marginalized and many had lived for years without access to clean water, sanitation, adequate health care or education. In September 2015, approximately 10,200 residents of Badia-East community in Ijora area of Lagos were forcibly evicted, and many of them remain homeless and dependent on family and friends. The state government is yet to provide any compensation or resettlement to these evictees. Nigeria is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and other international and regional human rights treaties, which require it to realize the right to adequate housing, and to prevent and refrain from carrying out forced evictions. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Concern about mass lese-majeste charges against journalists after king's death Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Concern about mass lese-majeste charges against journalists after king's death, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c82f106.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Thailand's junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), not to restrict reporting and not to embark on a massive crackdown on all those, including journalists and Internet users, who comment on the King Bhumibol Adulyadej's death, announced by today, and its consequences. As national mourning is declared for Thailand's 70 million inhabitants, RSF is concerned about possible reprisals against local and foreign reporters who, in the coming days and weeks, cover and comment on political events linked to the 88-year-old king's death and the succession. "We caution Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha against using lese-majeste charges to silence either journalists or members of the public, who are the ones most affected by the king's death," said Benjamin Ismail, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "Even if Thailand now faces many political uncertainties, we think it is not only inevitable but also essential that the media and social networks discuss all political issues including the monarchy and the current political regime. Restricting the public debate would be contrary to the duty of the government and NCPO to serve the general interest." There is no shortage of taboos for the media in Thailand but lese-majeste (criticizing the monarchy) is the biggest headache because the charge is widely used and it is punishable by three to 15 years in prison under article 112 of the penal code. Journalists even hesitate to cover lese-majeste court cases or to do online searches for terms related to the subject. Hundreds of people, including journalists, intellectuals, academics and politicians, have been arrested on lese-majeste charges. As no more than an anonymous phone call suffices for the Department of Special Investigations to begin an investigation, strict self-censorship is the rule. Three journalists are currently serving a prison sentence on a lese-majeste charge. One is Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, the editor of the magazine Voice of Thaksin, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for publishing two articles (not by him) in 2010 that were deemed to have defamed the king and the monarchy. A military court sentenced Kathawuth Bunphithak, a citizen-journalist and online radio presenter to five years in prison on 18 November 2014 for hosting a web radio programme on political subjects that allegedly violated the lese-majeste law. Six days later, Thai E-News website editor Somsak Pakdeedech was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for posting an article he did not write himself. Ranked 136th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index, Thailand has seen drastic curbs placed on media freedom since the military staged a coup in May 2014. RSF issued a report on the situation in Thailand in November 2015. Entitled "Media hounded by junta since 2014 coup," it urges the Thai authorities to stop using draconian media legislation in order to gag critical and independent media, censor the Internet and spy on bloggers and anyone posting "critical" information on social networks. New reprisals by Beijing against Chinese media Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 14 October 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, New reprisals by Beijing against Chinese media, 14 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800c8f34.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) regards a temporary ban on reposting articles from the Caixin Media website, Caixin Online, as not only arbitrary but also a flagrant violation of the Chinese constitution. Issued this week by the Chinese authorities, the ban prohibits other Chinese websites from republishing content from the Beijing-based Caixin website for two months. According to US-based China Digital Times, the banning order said : "Over the past year, Caixin Online has repeatedly violated news and propaganda discipline and published reports with problematic orientations whose republication elsewhere has had a seriously negative influence." Last week, Caixin published an open letter signed by 168 lawyers objecting to a new ban on their defending their clients by means of online articles or public protests. The letter was removed from the website shortly after it was posted. Chinese President Xi Jiping is on RSF's list of press freedom predators while China is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index. For more information, click here. "By censuring a report about this protest by human rights lawyers, who are themselves now banned for talking about their clients' cases in the media or on the street, the circle of censorship has been completed," said Benjamin Ismail, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "The reprisals against this respected publication and the ban on lawyers informing the public via the media about violations of their clients' basic rights show that the regime is cracking down in an unprecedented manner. The international community must react without delay, or else watch China sink ever deeper into dictatorship." The Caixin Media group, which includes a business weekly and other publications as well as Caixin Online, specializes in providing business and financial news but is also known for expressing liberal views and for criticizing the communist government. It was founded in 2010 by Hu Shuli, a pioneer of investigative journalism in China who has had considerable experience of government censorship over the years. She used to edit Caijing Magazine, which was repeatedly suspended because of articles regarded by the government or "private" sector leaders as overly critical. Kyrgyzstan: How the Media Can Combat Extremism Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 14 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol RCA 798 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Kyrgyzstan: How the Media Can Combat Extremism, 14 October 2016, RCA 798, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800cb2f4.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. IWPR and the OSCE partnered last month to host a conference exploring the media's role in countering extremism in Kyrgyzstan. Some 100 officials, media professionals, university lecturers and students from across the country took part in the September 28 event. Kyrgyzstan's state policy on religious affairs for 2014 to 2020 calls for broader cooperation between the media, civil society and public authorities in counteracting extremism. Bishkek has been struggling to find an adequate response to extremist propaganda, particularly in the poorer areas of the south. So far, at least 500 Kyrgyz nationals have travelled to fight with radical forces in Syria and Iraq. Ainura Temirbekova, deputy minister of culture, information and tourism, said that the dissemination of extremism via the internet was of particular concern. The state was well aware of the limited use of simply blocking problematic websites, Temirbekova said, adding, "Police measures of fighting against an ideology and prohibiting certain information from being disseminated, as many countries have experienced, have only had a temporary effect. "Most often governments that prohibit and restrict, for example, the internet, are deluded that everything is under control. But unfortunately often it's not true," Temirbekova said. One issue is that Kyrgyzstan is a secular state, although there has been growing interest in religion in recent years. So religious practise remains relatively novel in this post-Soviet country, meaning many ordinary citizens remain unaware of the exact difference between faith and extremism. This may put them even at more risk. A survey by the Bishkek-based Expert Consulting Agency showed that only 9.6 per cent of traditional and online Kyrgyz media content offered a consistent approach to covering religion, extremism and terrorism issues. The study, which ran from January till June 2016, showed that most coverage was either sensational or superficial. Elina Karakulova, head of the local Internews network, agreed that editors had to do more to regulate reporting quality and develop journalistic ethics. Zakir Chotaev, deputy chairman of the state commission for religious affairs, also highlighted the important role played by the media. "Even the public authorities see all events in Kyrgyzstan through the media media outlets help us respond properly and resolve problems coming from the religious sector," he said. Begaim Usenova is head of the Media Policy Institute, a Kyrgyz NGO specialising in legal issues. He said that state actors and the wider society still had "difficulties in understanding the mission and the role of media in combating extremism". Since 2015, IWPR has been working with the interior ministry's department for counteracting extremism, the state commission on religious affairs, the Muftiyat, and local scholars to combat radicalisation. As part of its three-year Investigative Journalism to Promote Democratic Reform project, funded by the European Union, IWPR also organised a series of lectures in universities in Bishkek and Osh. IWPR Central Asia director Abakhon Sultonnazarov said a long-term, nationwide project focused on countering extremism in Kyrgyzstan was now badly needed. "Online and mobile services have to be used [to connect] with the young and urban population, whereas TV, radio and print media have to be used to reach older generations and rural audiences," he concluded. Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting United Arab Emirates: Speech Charges Violate Academic's Rights Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 13 October 2016 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, United Arab Emirates: Speech Charges Violate Academic's Rights, 13 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800cc534.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. United Arab Emirates authorities have violated basic rights in their prosecution of the Emirati academic Nasser bin Ghaith, a coalition of nine human rights organizations said today. Bin Ghaith faces charges stemming from his peaceful criticism of Egyptian and Emirati authorities. Authorities also accuse him of violating the country's repressive counterterrorism law by collaborating with local groups the authorities have classified as terrorist. Authorities held Nasser bin Ghaith in incommunicado detention for nine months after his arrest in August 2015, and did not let him see a lawyer or inform him of the charges against him until the second session of his trial on May 2, 2016, during which he complained to the judge that he had been tortured in detention. Three of the five charges against him clearly violate his right to freedom of expression. Authorities have kept bin Ghaith in solitary confinement since his transfer to the maximum security block in Al-Sadr jail on May 18. The next session of his trial is on October 17, at the State Security Chamber at the Federal Supreme Court, whose verdicts are not subject to appeal, in violation of fair trial standards. "The charges against Nasser bin Ghaith and serious violations of his right to a fair trial demonstrate again that the UAE regards peaceful dissent as a crime," said Joe Stork, deputy director at Human Rights Watch. "The laws authorities accuse bin Ghaith of breaking violate international standards of free speech and freedom of association." The coalition supporting bin Ghaith consists of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI); the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS); FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders; Front Line Defenders; Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR); Human Rights Watch; International Service for Human Rights (ISHR); and Scholars at Risk. Security officers in civilian clothes arrested bin Ghaith in Abu Dhabi on August 18, 2015, four days after he posted a series of tweets that directly or implicitly criticized Egyptian authorities. On August 13 and 14, he posted three comments critical of Egyptian security forces' mass killing of demonstrators at Raba'a Square two years earlier. Article 166 of the UAE penal code provides for a maximum of 10 years in prison for anyone who commits any "hostile act" against a foreign country that could expose the UAE to the danger of war or the severance of diplomatic relations. Bin Ghaith also faces charges that he posted information "intended to damage the UAE" by "claiming that he was tortured and unjustly accused during a previous trial." In 2011, bin Ghaith was one of five men convicted of "publicly insulting" UAE officials in relation to their alleged criticism of the UAE's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Human rights organizations concluded that bin Ghaith's 2011 trial was "fundamentally unfair." Bin Ghaith is also accused of violating article 29 of the UAE's 2012 cybercrime law, which provides for a maximum of 15 years in prison for publishing material online with "sarcastic intent" or to "damage the reputation" of the state or its leaders. Authorities also charged bin Ghaith in connection with a tweet that he posted on August 17, 2015, in which, local media reports said, he made "remarks ridiculing the UAE's decision to allot land to build a Hindu temple." Article 28 of the UAE's cybercrime law provides for between three and 15 years in prison for anyone who posts online anything that "may endanger the national security and the higher interests of the State or afflicts its public order." The fourth and fifth charges relate to his apparent association with the Ummah and Al-Islah parties, Emirati organizations that the authorities classified as "designated terrorist organizations" in November 2014. The Khaleej Times reported that bin Ghaith had given lectures "that promote these groups." Video recordings of one such presentation, made in Istanbul and available online, show the Ummah secretary-general, Hassan al-Diqqi, introducing bin Ghaith as an academic. In a May 5, 2016 Twitter statement attributed to bin Ghaith's family, they rejected Ummah party claims on social media several days earlier, the day before bin Ghaith's trial session, that bin Ghaith was the party chairman. In July 2013, the UAE Federal Supreme Court found 69 people with links to al-Islah guilty of attempting to overthrow the country's political system. From the court's reasoning, it appears that those convicted simply exercised their legitimate rights to free expression and association. The only evidence in the judgment that suggests any intention to overthrow the government is a confession by one defendant, Ahmed al-Suweidi, whom authorities had forcibly disappeared for five months after his arrest on March 26, 2012. In court al-Suweidi recanted his confession and denied all the charges. During the trial, 22 of the defendants smuggled out handwritten notes alleging that they had endured mistreatment that in some cases amounted to torture. Article 21 of the UAE 2014 counterterrorism law provides for the death penalty or life in prison for anyone who organizes or manages "a terrorist organization." The law's broad definition of terrorist activity allows authorities to designate any act that courts deem to have opposed the state, incited fear, or threatened national unity as terrorism. Article 180 of the penal code provides for a maximum of 15 years in prison for anyone who "administers an association, corporation, organization or any branch thereof, with the aim of overthrowing the regime of the State." The counterterrorism law also authorizes the death penalty for people whose activities are found to "undermine national unity or social peace," neither of which are defined in the law. At the most recent session of bin Ghaith's trial, on September 27, 2016, court officials prevented a United Kingdom-based lawyer from entering the court to observe the trial on behalf of the coalition of nongovernmental groups, telling him that he needed prior authorization, and that only family members, lawyers, and accredited journalists could attend. UAE residents who the authorities suspect have spoken with human rights groups are at serious risk of arbitrary detention and imprisonment. "Only the lawyers, family, and press from the UAE were admitted to the court, on the basis that the trial covered a matter of national security, but what this case is actually about is Dr. bin [Ghaith's] peaceful expression of his opinions on reform in the UAE and Egypt. Another adjournment is justice delayed and justice denied," said Khalid Ibrahim, co-director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights. On October 4, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Front Line Defenders, Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), and Scholars at Risk, submitted information on Nasser bin Ghaith's case to variety range of United Nations human rights bodies and experts. Oil Strike in West Kazakhstan Highlights Limits of Energy-Based Growth Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author George Voloshin Publication Date 13 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 164 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Oil Strike in West Kazakhstan Highlights Limits of Energy-Based Growth, 13 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 164, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e1004.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website The latest meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Algeria, on September 28, brought some relief to producers, with the price of oil finally trading above $50 per barrel for the first time in months. News of a preliminary deal, whose implementation is scheduled for November, was met with optimism in Kazakhstan, a major oil producer and exporter in the former Soviet space, second only to Russia. Yet, the deal's success hinges on a variety of factors beyond Kazakhstan's reach. First, the OPEC members need to agree among themselves on the rules of play to avoid cheating. Second, Saudi Arabia and Iran need to put their rivalry aside to reach a durable compromise, while Tehran still insists that it will not agree to any production cuts until domestic output reaches certain pre-sanctions levels. Third, there is a non-OPEC country, Russia, with its own ambitions and an ability to disrupt the stabilization of oil prices if it decides to try to win more market share at the expense of the oil cartel (RBC, Inform.kz, Rosbalt.ru, September 28). The recent change of prime minister in Kazakhstan (see EDM, September 19), with Bakytzhan Sagintayev succeeding his boss, Karim Massimov, who moved to chair the National Security Committee (KNB), is above all else a reflection of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's economic concerns. The Kazakhstani economy will not grow by more than 0.1 percent this year, after 1.2 percent growth in 2015 and 4.3 percent in 2014. This is far below the 6-7 percent expansion achieved when the price of Brent crude oil consistently exceeded $100 a barrel. Next year's GDP growth is expected to reach approximately 1 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank; but it will depend on the government's ability to implement structural reforms. It is clear, nonetheless, that no government, however creative and hardworking, is able to consistently do what should normally be done over several decades. Kazakhstan still depends on oil exports for over 60 percent of total government revenues and a quarter of its GDP (Kapital.kz, September 9; Kursiv.kz, July 17; Matritsa.kz, April 28). One of the Kazakhstani government's biggest fears is the repetition of social unrest like what happened in the western city of Zhanaozen, in Mangistau Oblast on the Caspian Sea, on December 16, 2011 (Independence Day). That year, hundreds of oil workers took to the streets to protest low salaries and unhealthy working conditions at two local energy companies, Karazhanbasmunay and Ozenmunaygas. The former is co-owned by the national oil company KazMunayGas (via its main production subsidiary, KMG E&P) and China's CITIC Group. The latter belongs to KMG E&P, whose second-largest shareholder, after KMG (58 percent), is China Investment Corporation (11 percent). The protests lasted for more than eight months and ended in bloodshed. Clashes between protesters and the riot police resulted in 16 dead and over 100 wounded as Kazakhstan experienced the highest bout of instability since independence (Inform.kz, December 17, 2011; RIA Novosti, December 16, 2011; Tengrinews.kz, June 6, 2011). The specter of Zhanaozen hovered again over the city this past September, when employees of a drilling company called Burgylau took to the streets to demand higher pay. They complained about poor sanitation, having to purchase spare parts with their own money, and "unfair" remuneration. It took local authorities several weeks to formulate a response, although there had earlier been a short-lived strike at Burgylau's main production facility at the end of July 2016. The regional governor of Mangistau, Alik Aydarbayev, visited the site in person to reassure the striking workers by promising them additional contracts from the shareholder, KMG, for at least 34 new wells by the end of the year. He also said that wages would soon be realigned with KMG's unified salary grid, even though Burgylau's statutes do not provide for such a harmonization (Forbes.kz, October 6; Radio Azattyk, October 6, August 1; Lada.kz, September 29). The problem in the wider Mangistau region is bigger than it actually seems. While Kazakhstan prepares to relaunch production at the giant Kashagan oilfield in neighboring Atyrau Oblast, the majority of Mangistau deposits are almost entirely depleted. Oil from Kashagan was stopped for three years in 2013, but will certainly require more spare hands in the next few months and years. The North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) consortium, whose shareholders include both KMG and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), looks keen to pump at any price in order to recover its initial investments. However, the increased employment opportunities are unlikely to be a boon for the Mangistau workforce because it is comprised mostly of low-skilled workers, not high-qualified engineers. Thus, it will be much easier and more convenient for NCOC to hire among the local population of Atyrau rather than to relocate workers from the south (Kursiv.kz, October 5; Inform.kz, September 24; Vlast.kz, September 15). The Zhanaozen predicament clearly speaks to the need to diversify the Kazakhstani economy away from hydrocarbons-and doing so as quickly as possible in spite of the resistance of vested interests, entrenched bureaucrats and big business. According to most forecasts, the price of oil will stay below $50-55 per barrel in 2017, amid global oversupply and weaker-than-usual demand from China, India and other important consumers. With the 76-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev still in power, Central Asia's largest economy would obviously be significantly better off if it embarked on reforms before the inevitable presidential succession. The current oil crisis and the economic stagnation it has spawned are both a risk and an opportunity for the country. Political stability is a key element of the ideal recipe for Kazakhstan, which saw a new wave of terrorist incidents in June-July 2016. The country needs strong leadership to weather the ongoing downturn (Forbes.kz, July 18; Kapital.kz, June 6). Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Opposition UNM Party Hurting From Saakashvili's Distance Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Devi Dumbadze Publication Date 13 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 164 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Opposition UNM Party Hurting From Saakashvili's Distance, 13 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 164, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e1834.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Late on the evening of October 4, a car was blown up next to Tbilisi's Freedom Square. Givi Targamadze, a high-ranking member of Georgia's United National Movement (UNM) party, along with his driver, survived; four passersby were injured, one seriously (Civil Georgia, October 4). Targamadze implied that the recently formed Georgian State Security Service was behind this terrorist attack, pointing to its deputy head, Ioseb Gogashvili, and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, as organizers (Tabula, October 4). Targamadze used the car bomb as a rallying cry to call for high voter turnout in the country's October 8 parliamentary elections. The Ministry of Interior, meanwhile, swiftly identified a man easily recognizable on several pieces of publicized CCTV footage as the suspect in hiding, declaring the case "an attempted murder in aggravating circumstances" (Civil Georgia, October 7). The October 4 bombing topped a series of factors that created a political environment almost certainly contributing to UNM garnering only 27.11 percent of the vote in the elections. Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG), on the other hand, received 48.67 percent and is likely to increase its lead to a constitutional majority in the majoritarian single-mandate districts runoffs in two weeks (see EDM, October 11). An "Assessment of the Pre-election Environment," jointly issued by a group of Georgian non-governmental democracy and civil rights watchdogs, lists an array of violations building up in the four months leading up to the election. These violations, the report argues, conditioned the relatively low voter turnout of 51.63 percent on October 8. Parties and candidates were largely "able to conduct their election campaigns in a competitive environment"; but an atmosphere of fear may have created enough voters who were possibly intimidated into voting for the ruling party or abstaining entirely to pre-determine the election's outcome (Transparency.ge, October 7). Cases of political violence and intimidation have been piling up for months. Disseminations of illegally acquired recordings of private conversations have become a matter of course in Georgia (see EDM, September 14), but none have been investigated so far. On May 22, UNM leaders and activists in a local by-election in the village of Kortskheli were beaten up (Civil Georgia, June 2). In addition to the Kortskheli incident, Georgia recently witnessed an attempted shooting of a parliamentary candidate and an assault on ruling party members-which was preceded by an ambush of UNM activists. Between September 2 and October 1, there were "3 cases of alleged political dismissals; 11 cases of intimidation; 12 cases of abuse of administrative resources; 8 cases of interference with campaigning; 6 cases of violence; 4 cases of possible vote buying; 2 cases of vandalizing party offices; 37 cases of destroying campaign materials, 4 cases of using hate speech; [and] 8 cases of campaigning by unauthorized individuals," according to the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (Isfed.ge, accessed October 13). In most instances, the target was the opposition, primarily UNM. On election day, irregularities and partially violent disruptions of voting were reported in the precincts of Djikhaskari, Ubisi, Ganmukhuri, Kutaisi and Zugdidi; while in Marneuli, due to a stone-throwing assault on the precinct, the voting results had to be canceled. In Adjara, UNM bemoans that the annulling of 24,677 ballots cost it a victory in this region (Rustavi 2, October 10). Besides UNM, the Republican Party, the Labor Party, the parties led by Paata Burchuladze and Nino Burjanadze, and initially even the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (APG)-which cleared the 5 percent threshold to enter the legislature-have accused the ruling party under Ivanishvili's tutelage of manipulating the election results. UNM's leader, Mikheil Saakashvili-the governor of Ukraine's Odesa region and Georgia's former president-called on UNM members to abstain from the second-round runoff elections and to boycott the parliament, so as to not legitimize the electoral fraud alleged to be as high as 10 percent of all votes (Tabula, October 10). But in his declaration, Saakashvili temporarily caused a rift in his party. International observers such as Frank-Walter Steinmeier, perhaps the most distinctly Russia-friendly of German government ministers, immediately declared the elections fair, as did the United States' Ambassador Ian Kelly (iPress, October 10). Lacking sufficient documentation to prove election fraud (iPress, October 12), UNM's Political Bureau voted to join the parliament and fight for as many of the remaining 49 majoritarian seats as possible (Netgazeti, October 12). The pro-Western Georgian opposition fears that with the nationalist APG as a partner, GDDG will more openly pursue a Eurasianist and hard conservative political agenda in the next parliament. With a constitutional majority in sight, for which 46 seats are lacking, GDDG leaders Irakli Kobakhidze and Gia Volski announced plans to change the presidency from a popularly elected office to a position appointed by the parliament, thus further weakening Georgia's already shaky system of checks and balances (Primenews, October 10). Furthermore, the ruling majority plans to rewrite the constitution to include a definition of marriage as strictly a union between a man and a woman (Tabula, October 12). Considering Georgia does not allow for civil unions, this would be another hit to the country's civil liberties. GDDG also eyes moving the seat of parliament from the second-largest Georgian city of Kutaisi. And UNM fears new advances in what it claims are the ruling party's efforts to neutralize the last remaining major government-critical TV station, Rustavi 2. Finally, Georgian Dream continues to show little or no will to openly confront Russia's occupation of Georgian territory (see EDM, October 6)-a policy position likely to strengthen if GDDG manages to expand its executive power with added unchecked dominance in the legislative branch. Perhaps as a result, some leaders of the defeated Western-oriented parties-the former Girchi, State for People, the now dissolved Free Democrats, and the Republican Party-called on voters to cast their ballots in the second round in such a way as to prevent GDDG from obtaining a constitutional majority, thus effectively urging support for UNM (iPress, October 12). Such an ironic and possibly belated about-face by yesterday's foes of UNM is almost certainly driven by fears of further election fraud. Saakashvili remains in Odessa, and leading a boycott (however reasonable) from afar would have been difficult. In his absence, UNM demonstrated agility by quickly mobilizing to take part in the upcoming runoff races to avert even more devastating results in the election. As a result, Saakashvili was forced to publicly drop his call for a boycott (iPress, October 13). It remains to be seen whether UNM's decision to initially overrule its still highly popular leader will make Saakashvili appear weak, and whether it will cost the party any votes in the runoff elections. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Can Belarus Overcome Its Economic Doldrums? Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Grigory Ioffe Publication Date 12 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 163 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Can Belarus Overcome Its Economic Doldrums?, 12 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 163, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e1e84.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Facing a stalemate in its negotiations with Russia, Belarus unilaterally increased by 50 percent its tariff on the transit of Russian crude oil beginning on October 11. This is clearly a partial antidote to the lingering lack of bilateral agreement on the price of Russian natural gas for Belarus and the subsequent decision by Moscow to cut back on crude oil sold to Belarus. Now, the price of transporting one metric ton of oil through Belarus will amount to 400.98 Russian rubles ($6.37) instead of 267.32 rubles ($4.25) (Lenta.ru, October 2). At the same time, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced that Belarus is indeed negotiating with Iran on potentially buying a large amount of oil from that country (Belta, October 7). Already, Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service called Belarus's unilateral transit fee raise "unthinkable" and a violation of established procedures (Tut.by, October 4). Meanwhile, Russian financial analysts have declared that Iranian oil would be too expensive for Belarus because of additional transport costs and the necessity for technological adjustments to a different brand of oil. The same analysts, nonetheless, agreed that Moscow should keep an eye on Belarus lest the latter's attempts to diversify its oil supply eventually succeed (RIA Novosti, October 7). Concerning the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the resumption of its credit line to Belarus, Lukashenka declared that Belarus cannot meet the "ultra-liberal" IMF demands about raising out-of-pocket utility payments without raising wages. Such reforms, he claimed, would turn Belarusians into paupers and "undermine what the president of Belarus has been doing for 20 years" (Tut.by, October 3). And yet, a "source well informed about the nature of negotiations between the IMF and Belarus" assured the country's major non-state online news outlet, Tut.by, that the negotiations in question are at an advanced stage, that "we would go down this path to its very end," and "one should not overdramatize the situation" (Tut.by, October 5). The Tut.by source was most likely a member of Belarus's delegation that recently returned from talks with the IMF in Washington. This delegation included Deputy Prime Minister Vassily Matyushevsky and the chairman of the National Bank, Pavel Kallaur. The Belarusian Ministry of Economy has outlined the three economic growth poles for the country in the near future. First, it announced 74 innovation projects, 19 of which are supposed to be completed in 2017. These are projected to boost economic growth by 0.12 percent; by 2020, these projects' contribution to the economy is expected to increase to 1 percent. Second, the ministry named the Belarusian-Chinese Veliky Kamen (Great Stone) industrial park, for which the year 2017 is expected to be decisive. And third, the economy ministry predicted the growth of small- and medium-sized private business (Naviny.by, October 3). Lukashenka expanded on all of these and other issues in his October 7 speech before the Belarusian parliament (Belta, October 7). As usual, alongside straightforward messages contained in his address, there were some cryptic remarks as well. "To think that somebody else is a friend whereas Russia is a foe, is foolish," remarked Lukashenka, once again marking a clear distinction between Russia's political class, which he said may occasionally act without regard to the needs of the Russian people, and ordinary Russians, who "think the world of Belarusians." He once again rejected any attempts to set the Russian language against Belarusian. Although in Minsk all recorded announcements on public transportation and many written signs are actually in Belarusian, this language is seldom heard in the street. Regarding economic reforms, Lukashenka expressed the view that whereas he himself is ready for tough restructuring, the Belarusian people are not. For example, they would not be able to afford all the utility cost increases, he asserted. As for the recent (September 11) parliamentary elections, Lukashenka confirmed "our desire to please everyone East and West." He acknowledged that while he would want even more opposition-minded people in the parliament (to which two members of the opposition were elected for the first time since 2004-see EDM, September 13), the opposition actually would not know what to do with power even if it managed to acquire it. Strangely enough, Lukashenka's scathing remarks about the opposition were different in tone but not in substance from the remarks by his self-described opponent, Svetlana Alexievich, the 2015 Nobel Prize laureate in literature. Alexievich had recently opined that "our people are not ready to fight"; that "strong-willed people in the opposition are not too numerous"; and while she worships Alayksandr Statkevich, a 2010 presidential hopeful who spent six years behind bars, he is just "a romantic," i.e., an idealist (Svaboda.org, October 7). Lukashenka also expressed his non-great-power view of international politics. Notably, he said there is a cult of brute force and argued that the attempts at engineering social revolutions in the Middle East have led to disaster. He also referred to the widespread criticism of himself for his alleged desire to "sit on two chairs" (the criticism most frequently heard in Russia regarding Belarus improving its relations with the West). In reply, he suggested that Belarus's geographic location between Russia and Europe means the country is predestined to maintain good relations with both sides lest it "once again becomes somebody else's province." Lukashenka explained Belarus's standpoint on natural gas prices: he pointed to the low global oil price, with respect to which natural gas prices have always been negotiated, as well as to the absurdity of having vastly different domestic prices on energy between countries engaging in shared economic integration projects-presumably alluding to Belarus and Russia's joint membership in the Eurasian Union, for example. Finally, he pledged to remove red tape and bureaucratic obstacles to private businesses and lauded the fact that some newly elected parliamentarians represent important areas of college and secondary education. The latter observation may be taken with a grain of salt considering the deplorably meager salaries at Belarusian colleges, even against the backdrop of the country's average wages (see EDM, September 26). Overall, there are ample signs of continuing attempts by the Belarusian government to pull the country out of its economic doldrums. And if the results of Minsk's past efforts are indicative of future possibilities, it is likely that the economic decline in Belarus will soon be overcome. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Putin Restores Nationality-Based Units in Russian Military Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Paul Goble Publication Date 12 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 163 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Putin Restores Nationality-Based Units in Russian Military, 12 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 163, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e2524.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Three times in the course of the last century, the Russian military has formed ethnically-based units. During World War I, the tsars created the famed "savage" division, which consisted of regiments made up of people from the Caucasus. In the Russian Civil War, such groups arose on both sides as a temporary measure. And during World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin allowed the formation of such units to ease the task of mobilizing the country against the Nazi German invasion. But in all three cases, senior officials were deeply suspicious of ethnically-based units, fearing they could become seedbeds for secession. So as soon as the crisis these types of units were created to meet passed, the authorities moved to eliminate them. Now, however, as a result of budgetary stringencies, demographic imbalances and the unsettled state of some republics in the Russian Federation, President Vladimir Putin appears to be setting up such institutions once again. Yet, as is so often the case today, this course of action by the Kremlin is being pursued indirectly and deniably by mandating that draftees serve near their homes. The Russian government is thus transforming, in many cases, what should be multi-ethnic and integrative institutions into mono-ethnic and potentially divisive ones. This process, which the Kremlin has never proclaimed as policy, began more than a decade ago, when the Russian defense ministry said that it would no longer adhere to the Soviet practice of sending draftees far from their home areas; rather it would now allow conscripts to serve nearby. That change was intended to make military service more attractive because it would allow soldiers to more easily maintain ties with their homes and families. It picked up speed in the course of back-and-forth negotiations between Moscow and the leaders of the North Caucasus republics over the last three years as Moscow sought to restart the draft there because of demographic constraints in Russia proper and the non-Russians sought to keep their young men nearby (see EDM, July 10, 2012; November 20, 2014). The result was that Moscow pledged that any draftee from a North Caucasus republic would serve in the region unless he asked to serve elsewhere. The result of that concession has been the appearance of more military units dominated by non-Russians, something that has forced Moscow to send more Russian-majority units to areas where the security situation has deteriorated. Most analysts both in Moscow and in the West have assumed that this arrangement was specific to the North Caucasus. But in recent weeks, a clear indication emerged that this situation has spread elsewhere and may now be standard operating procedure, even if it has as yet not been acknowledged as official policy. Tuvinskaya Pravda, the main newspaper of the predominantly Buddhist republic on Russia's border with Mongolia and one with a long history of anti-Russian activity, reported, on September 28, that "the relocation of the military staff of the 55th motorized rifle brigade and their families to Tuva has begun. The core of this brigade consists of people born in Tuva, and in essence this is the first such military unit since the experience of the Tuvan cavalry squadron, which was staffed by military personnel from the Tuvan People's Republic and which took part in the liberation of almost 80 cities and villages of Ukraine in 1944." Tuva was a Soviet satellite state at that time and was absorbed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) that year (Tuvinskaya Pravda, September 28). The paper continues with quotations from republic leaders and local people about how proud they are to have their own unit and how they believe that its presence in the republic-it has been moved from just outside now that sufficient housing and other facilities have been built-will serve as a positive advertisement for Tuva and Tuvans. Some of this is simply local boosterism, but that would not be possible if this unit were not composed largely of ethnic Tuvans. And it is likely that other republics and regions of Russia have much the same attitude toward units consisting of local people now based on their territories. From Moscow's point of view, such "national units" (even if the center does not openly celebrate them) have three key advantages and three equally important disadvantages. The advantages include significant cost savings, as soldiers do not have to be moved long distances; a better image of the Russian military among local people and hence less resistance to the draft; as well as fewer instances of ethnically-based clashes in the military because ever more units will be dominated either by Russians or by non-Russians. But there are three major disadvantages: First, this arrangement means that military service will play a far less significant role in promoting the acculturation and assimilation of the non-Russians. Second, it means that integrated groups of non-Russians will train together and acquire military skills that, as the situation in the North Caucasus has shown, they may end up using against Moscow. And third-and this may be the most important consequence of all-non-Russians in particular but many Russians in the regions as well will begin to see these local or national units as a marker of their own sovereignty, distinguishing between them and the all-Russian army. Whether the advantages or the disadvantages will prove decisive is as yet unclear. But by taking this step in a non-explicit and deniable fashion, Putin is sowing the wind-and he or his successors may well reap the whirlwind as a result. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Russia Flexes 'Iskander' Muscles on Its Northwestern Flank Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Sergey Sukhankin Publication Date 12 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 163 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Russia Flexes 'Iskander' Muscles on Its Northwestern Flank, 12 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 163, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e2ba4.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Over the past several months, Russian has been ramping up military activities on its northwestern flank (see EDM, July 11). This was most recently underscored by the intensification of Moscow's "Iskander diplomacy" and attempts to project the image of improving efficiency in the western-facing Armed Forces. Both elements revolve around Russia's strategic outpost in the West-the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave. According to Lauri Lepik, the Republic of Estonia's permanent representative to the North Atlantic Council, speaking on October 7, Russia was secretly transporting Iskander-M theater ballistic missile complexes to Kaliningrad Oblast. As proof, the Estonian official presented screen shots that depict the sea vessel Ambal, a civilian ferry from Ust-Luga (Soikinsky Peninsula, by the Gulf of Finland, being used for this purpose (Newkaliningrad.ru, October 7). This information was later repeated in the Russian mass media (Fontanka.ru, October 7). It took a full day for the Russian Ministry of Defense to grudgingly confirm this deployment of Iskanders (Lenta.ru, October 8). Defense ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov boasted that Russia "wanted the [Iskander] complex to be spotted by the Americans" (Interfax, October 8). Furthermore, he admitted that "Russia has transported Iskander complexes to Kaliningrad before and will continue to do so" (Politonline.ru, October 8). The deployment of these advanced ballistic missiles to Russia's Baltic exclave was predictable. At the end of June, the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the North Atlantic Council, Alexander Grushko, hinted that Iskanders could be sent to Kaliningrad Oblast on short notice (Interfax, June 30). That being said, the current "Iskander affair" should be viewed within the context of a much broader range of preparatory activities conducted by the Kremlin over the past several months. On October 4, the rocket brigade of the Western Military District (MD) was put on the maximum level of military readiness (TASS, October 4). This posture turned out to be in preparation for carrying out military exercises, including training to fire the Iskander-M. These exercises assembled 500 military personnel and 50 pieces of heavy munitions and artillery, thus substantially increasing the scope of similar drills held last July (Voenno-Promyshlennyi Kurier, July 25). The authorities also announced on the same day that Kaliningrad would be hosting tactical war games. The exercise would involve the participation of over 1,000 military personnel and more than 100 pieces of special equipment, including BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, T-72 main battle tanks, Akatsiya and Gvozdika self-propelled artillery pieces, Giatsint field guns, and Grad multiple rocket launchers. These land forces would practice under the cover of Su-24 attack aircraft and Mi-24 helicopters (Newkaliningrad.ru, October 4). It is worth noting the changing nature of these exercises on Russia's Baltic coast. In late August, snap readiness exercises were carried out in the Western MD specifically in preparation for the large Kavkaz (Caucasus) 2016 war games concentrated on Southwestern Russia (Vzglyad, August 25). Whereas two subsequent September exercises hosted in Kaliningrad Oblast (at the Baltic Sea Fleet's "Khmelevka" training grounds) were concerned strictly with local tasks, such as coastal defense and on-shore naval fire support (Vesti-kaliningrad.ru, September 7; Newkaliningrad.ru, September 14). Besides holding more exercises, the government has also been explicitly building up the military manpower present in Kaliningrad Oblast. For instance, according to local sources, more than 7,000 additional naval personnel will join the Baltic Sea Fleet (BSF), which is stationed in the oblast, of whom more than half will be brought in from other parts of Russia (Newkaliningrad.ru, October 4). Taken together, these developments reflect Russia's evident rapid efforts to fortify its northwestern flank. These actions are driven by at least three key issues. First, Moscow is reacting to the fallout from the "decapitation of the BSF" (in June 2016), whereby Moscow sacked several dozen commanding officers for systemic corruption and widespread incompetence. Those revelations were not only embarrassing for the government but additionally exposed numerous weaknesses in the Kremlin's control over the region (see EDM, July 19). Now, Moscow is trying to deal with these ongoing challenges by highlighting perceived outside threats. Specifically, Russia aims to create the impression of dramatic changes being carried out in Kaliningrad by holding more military exercises and accreting ever stronger military forces to this "fortress on the Baltic." Nonetheless, historical experience of the central government's involvement in regional-level affairs suggests that quantity will not necessarily transform into quality. A second factor driving Russia's recent activities in its northwestern flank, is the Kremlin's resolve to use the Iskander as a kind of "trump card" or tool of Russian diplomacy to deal with other countries in the Baltic Sea region-from Poland and the Baltic States to Scandinavia. Russia has for years suggested that Iskander-M missiles would target Central-Eastern European countries in retaliation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) moving additional forces to the Baltic region. In addition, Moscow has threatened Sweden and Finland with Iskanders should either of these countries seek membership in the North Atlantic Alliance (RT, April 29, 2016; see EDM, July 29, 2014; June 13, 2016). Third, in spite of ostentatious pronouncements about Russia's invincibility, Moscow clearly does not feel secure on its northwestern flank-apparently doubtful of Kaliningrad Oblast's ability to be the country's "impregnable bastion." In his analysis of possible conflict scenarios between NATO (and its allies) and the Russian Armed Forces, Mikhail Nikolayevskii argues that Kaliningrad will be particularly susceptible to a surprise attack by Western forces. The analyst contends that forces stationed in this exposed oblast would be destroyed with relative ease (Voenno-Promyshlennyi Kurier, August 24). Considering this situation, Iskander complexes deployed to Kaliningrad could play a decisive role in warding off the forces of a potential attacker. Moreover, the fact that Iskander missiles can reach targets as far as 500 kilometers away, could shift the regional balance of power more in Russia's favor. The apparent deployment of Iskander ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad actually suggests that Moscow has exhausted all the other means of effectively withstanding the political, economic and cultural competition with other regional players. "Iskander diplomacy" thus represents Moscow's last resort. For Kaliningrad Oblast, on the other hand, this means a return to the Soviet-era preoccupation with the militarization of the territory. The residents of Kaliningrad, therefore, can expect the progressive transformation of their region back into an isolated military outpost-reversing the modest external links with Europe that were cultivated during the post-Soviet period. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation 'Politkovskaya's Warning' and Russian War Crimes in Syria Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Pavel K. Baev Publication Date 11 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 162 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, 'Politkovskaya's Warning' and Russian War Crimes in Syria, 11 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 162, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e3574.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Last Friday (October 7) marked ten years since the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya. And while her killer and several accomplices were convicted, the mastermind of this crime is still at large (Novaya Gazeta, October 7). Two days prior to the assassination, Politkovskaya had called Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov an "armed coward," who should face trial for his atrocities; but last week, her sworn enemy staged a grandiose inauguration in Grozny, celebrating his re-election as Chechnya's president (Svoboda.org, October 5). Russian officialdom avoided paying any tribute to the late world-renowned author, taking a clue from President Vladimir Putin's opinion that her influence on political life in Russia was "minimal" (Moscow Echo, October 7). Nonetheless, 39 percent of Russians admit they remember Politkovskaya (Levada.ru, October 6). Fighting courageously for the rights of the victims of the Chechen war, Politkovskaya warned that the enforcement of draconian "peace" would not only turn Chechnya into a zone of crime and tyranny, but also transform Russia itself, so that the legacy of Stalinism would re-emerge in new political forms (Grani.ru, October 7). Chechnya has indeed matured into an armed dictatorship where Russian laws do not apply and brave human rights defenders like Natalya Estemirova are silenced by bullets (Novaya Gazeta, October 3; see EDM, October 4). This brutal suppression of opposition has brought no real peace to the North Caucasus, where low-intensity violent clashes have become a norm of everyday life (Kavkazsky uzel, October 7). Waging this messy domestic war and mobilizing public opinion in support of it, Russia has inevitably turned away from democratic reforms and regressed into a police state where predatory clans in various special services squabble for control over cash flows while pledging loyalty to the supreme leader (see EDM, October 3). The murder of charismatic opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, on February 27, 2015, in which Kadyrov's "warriors" are implicated but the master-mind remains untouchable, signified an ugly mutation of Putin's regime into a "hybrid Stalinism," which builds its domestic legitimacy upon the foundation of militarism and wars (Moscow Echo, October 7; see EDM, March 5, 2015; February 26, 2016; September 7, 2016). Russian intervention in Syria is a direct manifestation of this mutation. Camouflaging its geopolitical game as a contribution to the international struggle against terrorism, Moscow saw no need to do anything about the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Syria; and Russian public opinion has remained indifferent about it (New Times, October 3). Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu bragged that the Syrian operation provided a perfect opportunity to test a range of modern weapons systems and a boost for Russian arms exporters, as if the targets for air and missile strikes were not schools and hospitals (RBC, October 6). US Secretary of State John Kerry went a long extra mile in seeking to accommodate Russian demands for defining many rebel groups as terrorist organizations and to negotiate a ceasefire, so that even the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs found it appropriate to commend his efforts (RIA Novosti, October 6). But Moscow saw his concern about the humanitarian agenda as a weakness in Washington's policy, which could be exploited by putting pressure on the besieged city of Aleppo (Ezhednevny Zhurnal, October 3). A new wave of airstrikes has pushed this game too far, and a deeply frustrated Kerry ultimately defined Russian actions there as "war crimes" (Newsru.com, October 7). The breakdown of the US-Russian channel of communication on Syria fits into the general pattern of Russia's readiness to escalate tensions in its confrontation with the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Upon canceling the stalled Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA, 2000) with the US, Putin announced he was inserting into draft legislation a long list of demands for normalizing bilateral relations. This list apparently includes calls for the withdrawal of NATO forces from the Baltic States and even financial compensation for Russian economic losses caused by Western sanctions and Russia's own counter-sanctions (RBC, October 4). Washington may have no issue with dismantling the costly PMDA, but for Moscow the key point in the message was to establish the fact that nuclear matters are not exempt from the confrontation (Carnegie.ru, October 4). This leaves few doubts about the transformation of Russia's relations with the West into a new cold war; it also shows that for Putin's regime, this high-risk hostility is a natural state of affairs (Gazeta.ru, October 4). This pre-war alert, amplified by hysterical propaganda, provides justification for increasing pressure on all dissent: for instance, the international historical and human rights organization Memorial (where Estemirova worked) has now been branded a "foreign agent" by the regime (Svoboda.org, October 4). Emigration becomes the natural response of the urban middle classes. Official statistics show an increase in outmigration to 50,000 in 2015, but research data suggests the real outflow is four times higher (RBC, October 6). And having to contend with recurrent attacks by "patriotic" thugs, various Russian democratic opposition groups are forced to stage their events abroad, like the recent commemoration of Nemtsov in Berlin (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 7). Sober experts point out the accumulating losses for Russia from such strategic brinksmanship. But their voices are drowned out by tirades of professional opinion-makers, who chide the purported weakness of the timid and disunited West (Gazeta.ru, October 7). Politkovskaya was right about the malignant influence of the Chechen war on Russia but wrong about the inner strength of Russian society to overcome the tendency to shirk from the hard work of upholding human dignity; she underestimated Russians' propensity to entrust the mission of restoring Russia's greatness to an omnipotent leader. Putin grants Kadyrov a free hand to rule Chechnya by despotic violence not because this helps keep the spread of terrorism in check but because the same model is gradually being reproduced throughout Russia. In fact, Kadyrov's willingness to send his armed gangs to sort out business conflicts in Moscow resemble rather closely Putin's demonstrations of power in Syria or in the Baltic theater, where Iskander ballistic missiles have yet again been deployed to Kaliningrad (RBC, October 8). Much like Kadyrov, Putin feels he is above the law, and he scorns moral norms in the international arena, assuming that nobody will call his bluffs. When stopped by a resolute counter-force, he will look for an asymmetric response. So a new US administration can start with a working proposition that Putin's Russia cannot return to "normal" behavior. Its hostility is guided by a deeply entrenched rationale, which is set to deliver Russia to yet another tragic failure. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Georgia's Parliamentary Elections Begin a Shift in Country's Political Landscape Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Vasili Rukhadze Publication Date 11 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 162 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Georgia's Parliamentary Elections Begin a Shift in Country's Political Landscape, 11 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 162, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e3c54.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Georgia held nationwide parliamentary elections on October 8. Against the background of the country's stagnant economy and worsening living conditions, it was not entirely clear if the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) party would actually manage to hold on to power (see EDM, September 28). Ultimately, GDDG emerged victorious, hence formally securing its control over the government for the next four years. Yet, at the same time, these elections have weakened all of Georgia's domestic political forces, including the ruling party, thus signaling a shift in the country's political landscape. The elections were characterized by a low turnout. Only 51.6 percent of voters turned out at the polls (On.ge, October 10). Almost half of the Georgian electorate stayed home, suggesting widespread public apathy and disappointment with the entire Georgian political establishment. In total, three political parties overcame the 5 percent threshold of votes needed to make it into the parliament. According to preliminary results, GDDG received 49 percent of the vote, thus taking 44 seats via proportional party lists, out of a possible total 77 in the 150-seat parliament. The rest of the 73 members of the legislature are elected in single-member majoritarian districts. In those districts, GDDG won 23 seats, thus bringing the total number of its members of parliament (MP) to 67. In the rest of the 50 districts, no candidate won an absolute majority of the votes, necessitating future runoff races (Cec.gov.ge, accessed October 11). More than likely, GDDG will win most of these runoffs (to be held next month) and will secure a constitutional majority of 100 seats in the parliament. However, the fact that GDDG only took 23 out of a total 73 majoritarian districts in the first round reflects the party's shaky political ground. Furthermore, in the election, GDDG received 856,000 votes, which is 325,000 (or 27.5 percent) less in comparison to the 1.181 million votes that the GDDG-led coalition garnered in the October 2012 elections (Results2012.cec.gov.ge, accessed October 11). Thus, it appears GDDG and its grip on power are both in decline. The biggest loser, however, was the major opposition party, United National Movement (UNM). In fact, the October 8 elections were a crushing defeat for UNM. Against the seemingly unpopular GDDG, UNM was gearing up to win the elections and retake power that it lost four years ago. The party leaders and regular members loudly declared looming victory in the weeks and months ahead of the elections (Interpressnews.ge, September 26; see EDM, September 28). However, UNM only achieved a distant second place, despite the mass mobilization of its electorate. Second place might not seem like a bad result for any political party. However, against the background of its much lauded and self-proclaimed predicted victory, it certainly looks like a humiliating defeat for UNM. The party received only 27 percent of total votes, which, in fact, is 13 percent less than what UNM garnered in 2012. UNM was only able to win the most votes in two of the proportional party list electoral districts. Moreover, it failed to win outright even one single-member constituency district in the first round (though it pushed 50 single-mandate district races into second-round runoffs ). The once popular former first lady Sandra Roelofs, the wife of former president Mikhail Saakashvili (who is still the formal leader of UNM), failed to win in her own district (Cec.gov.ge, accessed October 11). It remains to be seen if UNM manages to win any single-member constituency. In most districts, its candidates trail GDDG members by significant margins (On.ge, October 10). Overall, UNM currently has only 27 seats out of 150. Even if UNM's candidates win runoffs in some of the districts, the party's current parliamentary faction will definitely see the number of its MPs almost halved. UNM has already cried foul that the elections were purportedly falsified (News.on.ge, October 9), even though the European Union and other international observer missions assessed the elections as free and fair (Civil Georgia, October 9). At the same time, UNM quickly descended into an internal blame game, turmoil and infighting to find a scapegoat for the defeat and figure out the party's next steps. Some UNM members even indirectly called on Saakashvili to step down as party leader (Tabula.ge, October 10). In the days following the elections, UNM leaders and members ferociously argued whether the party should boycott the parliament altogether, including the coming runoffs in the single-member constituencies. Saakashvili argued for the latter, while other party leaders were more inclined toward not boycotting either the parliament or the runoffs (Civil Georgia, October 10). In the following days and weeks, such intra-party fault lines will likely become even clearer. At this point, however, it is already beyond doubt that UNM is in deep crisis. It would not be a surprise if this crisis ultimately results in splitting the party or at least in ousting Saakashvili as the party leader. The third and the last political party that made it into the parliament is the Alliance of Patriots (AP), a far right party, which barely overcame the 5 percent threshold. Although, AP will have just small faction of six MPs, the fact that this marginal group entered the legislature clearly illustrates the country's shifting political landscape and, generally, Georgians' disappointment with the political establishment. Notably, none of the smaller mainstream pro-Western political parties-Irakli Alasania's Free Democrats and David Usupashvili's Republican Party-overcame the 5 percent threshold to enter the legislature. In fact, following his party's defeat, Alasania announced he is temporarily quitting politics (Timesnews.ge, October 10). Similarly, other more-or-less significant political actors: Nino Burjanadze's Democratic Movement, Shalva Natelashvili's Labor Party, and Paata Burchuladze's State for People will remain outside the parliament. The October 8 elections sent a clear signal to the Georgian political establishment: the Georgian public is deeply disappointed with the political elites and craves a new political force with fresh ideas and new leadership. So far, no such force seems be on the horizon. Nevertheless, the next four years may well produce one since the current crop of established political elites-both in the government and in the opposition-is leaving open a political space ripe for a new generation of leaders to enter. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Governor of Kabardino-Balkaria Calls for Unified Alphabet for All Circassians Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Valery Dzutsati Publication Date 11 October 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 162 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Governor of Kabardino-Balkaria Calls for Unified Alphabet for All Circassians, 11 October 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 162, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800e4184.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website At a recent conference of the International Circassian Association (ICA), the governor of Kabardino-Balkaria, Yuri Kokov, proposed to create a unified writing script for all Circassians. Although the idea is not new, this marked the first time that the political leadership of one of the Circassian republics in the Russian Federation has come out in support of it. Circassian activists have raised the issue numerous times since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It is particularly topical for the Circassians due to this ethnic group's multiple divisions (Kavkazskaya Politika, September 23). Circassians in the North Caucasus are divided among four main territories, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Adygea and Krasnodar region. A large part of the Circassian population also resides outside the Circassian homeland in the North Caucasus, mostly in Turkey. Thus, creating a unified medium of communication would greatly facilitate the coordination of this divided people. Many Circassian activists outside Russia have advocated for the adoption of the Latin alphabet for the Circassian language. Currently, Circassians in the North Caucasus use the Cyrillic alphabet. Some Circassians have even proposed to return to the ancient Circassian alphabet that was in use prior to Arabic, Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Even though all Circassians in the North Caucasus use alphabets based on Cyrillic, they are not identical. Moreover, Circassians across the four territories speak different dialects, which sometimes prevents them from understanding each other (Onkavkaz.com, June 16, 2015). The governor of Kabardino-Balkaria proposed not only to provide the same writing script for all Circassians, based on the Cyrillic alphabet, but also to create a unified literary language, which Circassians across administrative and interstate borders still do not have. According to the Circassian activist Asker Sokht, devising a common alphabet is a relatively straightforward task; a well-known professor of linguistics, Muhadin Kumakhov, has already provided a foundation for such work. Yet, the authorities will face an uphill battle if they decide to implement a common literary language for all Circassians, Sokht says. At the same time, since Sokht comes from Adygea, he advocates for the Adygean dialect to become the "literary Circassian" for all Circassians (Kavkazskaya Politika, September 23). The problem with that is that the majority of Circassians in the North Caucasus currently reside in Kabardino-Balkaria and speak the Kabardin dialect. Why do the Circassians then not adopt Kabardin, as the common literary language? This is also problematic because the majority of the Circassians in the diaspora speak other dialects than Kabardin. Although the Russian Empire targeted all Circassian tribes in the 19th century, those tribes that lived near the Black Sea coast, such as Shapsugs, were hit especially hard. The Russian tsars wanted to clear out the Black Sea coastal areas of "unwanted people" completely, while the landlocked territories were of somewhat less strategic importance to Moscow. Hence, more Circassians from the historical Circassia on the Black Sea coast can now be found in the diaspora than from inner parts of Circassia in the Central North Caucasus, where Kabardino-Balkaria is located. Kabardino-Balkaria is currently de-facto the largest republic with a Circassian population and is trying to secure its top position. About 0.5 million Circassians live in the republic, which is much larger than the estimated 60,000 Circassians residing in Karachaevo-Cherkessia and the little over 100,000 Circassians inhabiting Adygea. The number of Circassians in Krasnodar region is negligibly small-about 4,000. Following Governor Kokov's statement, Kabardino-Balkarian State University announced it would include the Circassian language in the mandatory curriculum for students from the diaspora who study at the university (Kbrria.ru, October 7). Why did the government of Kabardino-Balkaria suddenly become concerned with the Circassian language? Part of the reason appears to be the government's strategy to improve its tarnished reputation. The aforementioned International Circassian Association (ICA), where Kokov made his announcement regarding a common Circassian writing script, has been harshly criticized by many independent Circassian activists for the organization's ostensibly pro-Moscow leanings. Now, in using the platform of the ICA, Kokov is apparently trying to help the organization regain its credibility among Circassians at home and abroad. Apart from the language initiative, the governor of Kabardino-Balkaria proposed to celebrate Circassian Day (Den Adyga) in September, which was reportedly invented to undermine the influence of the Circassian diaspora and of the Islamists in the republic (Onkavkaz.com, September 21). As usually happens, Moscow's support for various projects pursued by Kabardino-Balkarian officialdom are being accompanied by quiet, but effective pressure on independent Circassian activists. Thus, the head of the Circassian organization in Karachaevo-Cherkessia and an outspoken critic of the authorities, Muhamed Cherkesov, has recently been replaced with a more obedient activist, Ali Aslanov. Earlier, several overly active Circassian leaders such as Adam Bogus were also forced to resign from their positions in Adygea (Natpressru.info, October 9). Moscow's strategy in the Circassian lands in the North Caucasus seems to be the tried-and-true strategy of taking over the Circassian movement and destroying it from within. To do so, Moscow endows certain official figures, such as Governor Yuri Kokov, with money and power to make bold promises about the rebirth of the Circassian nation. At the same time, independent civil activists are undermined, removed or co-opted. Informal and more-or-less independent Circassian organizations routinely come under pressure from the government and are destroyed after "losing the agenda" to the authorities and their puppet organizations. But once the official agents of Moscow are the only organizations left, they end up toning down their promises and eventually forget them. The strategy has worked for Moscow in the North Caucasus fairly well, and there is no reason to suggest that it will not be used again and again. Furthermore, it is a win-win situation for the regional authorities, who receive additional funds for their role, and for Moscow, which is thus able to rid itself of independent Circassian activists at a relatively low price. The Kabardino-Balkarian authorities' sudden activism and Moscow's willingness to pay for it also indicate that Moscow is taking the Circassian question quite seriously and is prepared to finance regional actors willing to suppress and mislead the Circassians. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Central America turns its back on hundreds of thousands fleeing 'war-like' violence Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 14 October 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Central America turns its back on hundreds of thousands fleeing 'war-like' violence, 14 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5800f1914.html [accessed 31 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Governments in Central America are fuelling a deepening refugee crisis by failing to tackle rampant violence and sky-high homicide rates in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras which are forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, Amnesty International said in a new report today. Home Sweet Home? Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador's role in a deepening refugee crisis explores how the three countries are failing to protect people from violence, and also failing to set up a comprehensive protection plan for deportees forced by countries such as Mexico and the USA to return to life-threatening situations. "El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have become virtual war zones where lives seem to be expendable and millions live in constant terror at what gang members or public security forces can do to them or their loved ones. These millions are now the protagonists in one of the world's least visible refugee crises," said Salil Shetty, Secretary General at Amnesty International. "Although countries like Mexico and the USA are utterly failing to protect Central American asylum seekers and refugees, it is high time for authorities in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to own up to their role in this crisis and take steps to tackle the problems that force these people to leave home in the first place." "Millions of Central Americans are falling through the cracks, victims of countries that do not fulfil their responsibility to provide the international protection they need, and of their own governments' utter inability and unwillingness to keep them safe from the most tragic end." Record-breaking violence Murder rates in Guatemala and Honduras are also among the highest on earth. The United Nations has ranked El Salvador as one of the deadliest countries on earth outside of a war zone, with more than 108 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015. In Honduras the rate was 63.75 and in Guatemala it was 34.99 per 100,000 inhabitants. Young people are the hardest hit by violence, with more than half of those killed in the three countries in 2015 under 30 years of age. Young boys often join the gangs under duress, while girls are forced to become gangsters' "girlfriends" and are often sexually abused. Shop owners and bus drivers are routinely extorted and forced to pay "taxes" to the gangs controlling their area. Those who fail to follow the strict unwritten rules of conduct are often abused or killed. Many young children across the three countries told Amnesty International they had quit school for fear of gang members and now have to spend all day at home. The Salvadoran Ministry of Education has been reported as saying that 39,000 students left school due to harassment or threats by gangs in 2015 - three times the figure in 2014 (13,000). The teachers' union said they believed the real number could be more than 100,000. In some cases, teenagers are harassed and attacked by the security forces, accused of being part of a gang. Sixteen-year-old Andres (not his real name) is living in hiding in El Salvador after being arrested in May by security forces. He told Amnesty International they tortured him to confess to participating in a shootout and being a lookout for gangs in what seems a desperate attempt to show officials are trying to tackle the shocking levels of violent crime in the country. He said the soldiers poured bottles of water into his mouth and nose, put his head in a puddle, stuffed sand into his mouth, jumped on his stomach, then kicked, punched and threatened to kill him unless he confessed. His mother complained to the authorities about her son's treatment and an investigation has been opened. Andres is now constantly moving from house to house, afraid the men who abused him will find him, and is desperate to leave the country. No protection The relentless violence has led to a surge in asylum applications from Central American citizens in Mexico, the United States and other countries, reaching levels not seen since the region's armed conflicts ended decades ago. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the number of asylum applications from people coming from the three countries has increased more than six times in the past five years, particularly in neighbouring countries and in the United States. But despite overwhelming evidence that many asylum-seekers face extreme violence and potentially death if they are not granted asylum, deportations from Mexico, the USA and elsewhere have increased. The number of Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans deported from Mexico increased by nearly 180% between 2010 and 2015. Sent back home to be killed For Saul, it is too late. The 35-year-old father of five was murdered in his native Honduras less than three weeks after he was sent back home from Mexico in July 2016 when his asylum application was rejected. A bus driver - one of the most dangerous professions in Honduras due to the control gangs assert over the industry - Saul fled the country in November 2015 after he survived a shooting along with his two sons, who were severely injured. The police failed to follow up on his report or offer him protection. When Amnesty International spoke to Saul in July, his final words were, "I feel like something is going to happen again, maybe to me." His wife and sons are now living in terror of what might happen to them. Government officials in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were unable to confirm to Amnesty International how the US$750 million earmarked for the region as part of the US-backed Plan for Prosperity would be used to help deportees whose lives are at risk. The plan is aimed at tackling the root causes of migration as a way to stem the migrant flow and protect those who are deported back. El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have set up official reception centres for deportees. Deportees have to go through a short interview where a migration official asks them about any abuse they might have suffered during the journey. They are rarely asked about the violence they were fleeing in their own countries and any needs for protection they might have. "Reception programmes for deportees are a bad joke. A shiny building, a warm meal and a welcome banner will not keep these people safe from the horrors that await them back home," said Salil Shetty. "Instead, what we need to see is an effective region-wide initiative to invest the international aid they are receiving into tackling what causes so many people to desperately flee their homes." "Unless Central American leaders address the shocking current levels of violence in their countries, the region risks plunging back into its darkest times. Instead of stubbornly denying people are running away from violence, those in power should focus their efforts on trying to find solutions to it." Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Paris, France -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/14/2016 --Earlier this week, Pocket Lens launched an initiative to arm people with the lens they need to take even better photos with their mobile devices. Until 15th October 2016, the company has reduced the price of one of its most popular lenses the 2-in-1 macro and wide-angle lens by 93% in an effort to get more people shooting beyond the limits of their phones. A spokesperson for Pocket Lens commented, "Our users and potential users have always been the focus of every lens we've developed, which is why Pocket Lenses are affordable, durable and give great results. Plus, the Pocket Lens community is thriving because people love taking exceptional pictures and sharing tips about how to take impressive shots! With the recent launch of the iPhone 7, we wanted to do something special, and we decided that helping mobile users get more out of their mobile cameras was the way to go! " The Pocket Lens macro and wide-angle lens is designed to add two new dimensions to in-built mobile phone and tablet cameras. It is easy to clip on to Android, iOS and other mobile devices and gives the user the ability to shoot professional looking close-ups and wide-angle shots that could make people's selfie sticks redundant. The company has now challenged new users to experiment with their new lens and to post their very best close-up and wide-angle shots on the Pocket Lens Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages for the Pocket Lens community to see. "By reducing the price of our 2-in-1 lens by more than 90%, our goal was to make the lens accessible to everyone who wanted to try it and we are looking forward to seeing the fantastic shots new users have been able to take! This very special offer ends on 15th October and we hope as many people as possible take advantage of this great opportunity," the brand's spokesperson went on to say. Pocket Lens is offering its 2-in-1 Macro and Wide-Angle Lens, suitable for any type of smartphone, for just $1.99 until 15th October. The discount coupon can be claimed by visiting: http://damaanda.com/pocketlens-super-deal/ Pocket Lens users can post their pictures on the company's social media streams here: https://www.instagram.com/pocket_lens/ https://twitter.com/pocket_lens https://www.facebook.com/pocketlens/ IU Health Morgan opening walk-in primary care service Nov. 8 A new walk-in primary care service unit is opening at IU Health Morgan very soon as the healthcare provider looks to offer more convenience to Martinsville and Morgan County residents. Wanda's Wang keeps top spot on China rich list Updated: 2016-10-14 06:43 By Jiang Xueqing/Wang Zhuoqiong(CHINA DAILY) Property tycoon Wang Jianlin topped the ranking of China's richest people for a third consecutive year, defending his spot against those with experience, like Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, and newcomers such as Yao Zhenhua, chairman of the financial conglomerate Baoneng Group. The 62-year-old Wang, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and his family collected wealth totaling 215 billion yuan ($32 billion), followed by Ma, 52, whose family wealth surged by 41 percent from a year earlier to 205 billion yuan, according to the annual Hurun Rich List. Several dark horses made the list in spite of little change at the top. Among them, the most impressive was the 46-year-old Yao, whose fortune increased to 115 billion yuannine times the amount of the previous year. Yao made headlines this year with a hostile takeover battle for leading real estate developer China Vanke Co. Hurun Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said Yao's financial investment model represents a new wave of "wealth creation" in China, according to media reports. "The first money made in China 20 years ago came from trading, followed by manufacturing, real estate and IT," he said. "Today it is about using the capital markets for financial investments." A growing number of young entrepreneurs joined the list this year. Among the total of 2,056 richest people, 68 were born in the 1980s or later, rising from 56 last year. Of the young rich, 21 are self-made and mainly from the information technology industry. Last year, one new Asian entrepreneur joined the billionaire ranks every three days, thanks to China's accelerated economic evolution, which is creating ideal conditions for young entrepreneurs to get rich quickly, according to another report on Thursday. The report, jointly released by UBS AG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that 113 Asian entrepreneurs, 54 percent of the global total, attained billionaire status last year. Eighty of them are from China, and the average age is 53. China's billionaire population surged in the past two years, up from 35 percent of Asian's new billionaires in 2009 to 69 percent in 2014 and 71 percent last year. Almost half of these came from three sectors: technology (19 percent), consumer and retail (15 percent) and real estate (15 percent). Additionally, e-commerce businesses are rising, the report said. Jiang Xueqing and Wang Zhuoqiong contributed to this story. FRIDAY AND SATURDAY The Goldthwaite Music Festival will take place from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday and noon to midnight Saturday at the Bootjack Ranch, 140 County Road 327, near Star. Free admission. Donations will be accepted for the New Horizons Ranch. As part of the Paramount Film Series, 'To Catch a Thief' will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Film historian Robert Holladay will give a lecture on the film at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children. For more information, visit paramount-abilene.org. The Hardin-Simmons University All-School SING will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Behrens Auditorium on campus. For tickets, go to www.hsutx.edu/tickets. SATURDAY A car, truck and motorcycle show will take place from 8:30-11:30 a.m. at Wylie Baptist Church, 6097 Buffalo Gap Road, and the Gifts of the Harvest Craft, Gift and Bake Sale will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Proceeds will go to the Backpacks for Kids program at the Food Bank of West Central Texas. A Christmas Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Abilene Woman's Club, 3425 S. 14th St. Vendors will be available, and tables will be dressed for Christmas and other holidays. Admission is $10. Abilene author Marguerite Gray will sign copies of her new novel 'Surround Me' from 1-3 p.m. at Texas Star Trading Co., 174 Cypress St. The Junkers Prom will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. Sixth St. Fraid Knot and the Soulmates will perform. Participants are encouraged to dress in vintage clothing. Tickets will be $25 at the door. Proceeds will go to the Noah Project. The Friends of Abilene State Park will conduct Dance Under the Stars from 7-9:30 p.m. at Abilene State Park. Muddy Creek will perform. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children 12 and younger. Leading Chinese entrepreneurs to meet Trudeau in Canada Updated: 2016-10-14 17:00 By Chen Yingqun(chinadaily.com.cn) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will greet a delegation of leading Chinese entrepreneurs in the coming week in Canada, after meeting them six weeks ago in Beijing. A China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) delegation will embark on an eight-day journey to Canada from October 16 to 23. This is the 9th destination country of CEC's annual visit, following trips to the United States, UK, France, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, Germany, and Italy. Trudeau will host the delegation at the Willson House residence on Meech Lake. Just a month ago, he met with CEC members at the China Entrepreneur Club Leaders Forum in Beijing during his first official visit to China, and held discussion on China's private sector business leaders views on Canada-China business relations and partnership growth. The journey will cover the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. The delegation will mainly look into the policy landscape of Canada, the opportunities during economic transformation, competitiveness in talent and technology, and foster communication with important industries including technology and innovative industries, consumer goods, and finance. The CEC delegation will be headed by Ma Weihua, President of China Entrepreneur Club. Delegates include business leaders from various industries such as Xu Jinghong, Chairman of Tsinghua Holdings, Frank Wu, Chairman of Central China Real Estate; and many others. CEC's visit will also include meetings organized by Power Corporation, Bombardier, Cirque du Soleil, and Royal Bank of Canada. Roundtable dialogues will be held with the QG100 Network, the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, the Canada China Business Council, the Business Council of Canada and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. The China Entrepreneur Club is the premier business leader platform in China. CEC member companies are economic powerhouses, with 50 dynamic companies earning a total annual gross income of over three trillion RMB. A second suspect in the May shooting death of a 21-year-old Abilene man and the injury of another was indicted Thursday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A Taylor County grand jury indicted Kobe Tayler Poston, 18, in connection with the May 17 killing of Robert Cisneros at the Abilene North Apartments. A second man also was shot but survived. Poston remained Thursday in the Taylor County Jail in lieu of a $75,000 bail bond in the second-degree felony, according to jail records. Separately, Poston also was indicted on charges of aggravated robbery and robbery in connection with a Nov. 21 incident. In August, a grand jury indicted Jared Dykes, 18, on a charge of murder in connection with the slaying. He remained in the Taylor County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail bond, according to jail records. Also Thursday, the grand jury indicted Arthur Franklin Shotwell III, 19, on a charge of sexual assault of a child in a case involving a girl younger than 17. According to court documents, the girl's great-grandmother walked in while the girl and the suspect were having sex in May. The girl said it had happened more than once, according to the documents. Shotwell was released from the Taylor County Jail on a $75,000 bail bond. Other indictments announced Thursday include: Adam Wayne Funderburg, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of methamphetamine, May 4; Eldwin Lovelady Jr., aka Eldwin Manes Lovelady Jr., aka Eldwin Manes Lovelady, theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, April 7, 2015; theft (enhanced), Dec. 1; Otha Wayne Thacker, assault family violence (enhanced) (two priors), March 5; robbery (two priors), May 10; Lisa Williams, tampering with evidence, May 13; Casey Joe Beabot, possession of methamphetamine, May 12; Michael Anthony Preston, possession of cocaine, evading arrest (enhanced) (two priors), May 13; Roy Dan Misduke, aka Danny Roy Sutton, possession of methamphetamine (two state jail priors), May 11; Desiree Luz Marie Torres, forgery (counterfeit), June 14; Nichole Marie Sanchez, theft (enhanced), July 1; Alfred Steve Garza, aka Alfred Garza, aka Steve Garza, possession of cocaine (two priors), May 5; William Joseph Martinez, assault family violence (enhanced) (one prior), Dec. 31; Marco Antonio Ortiz Jr., possession of methamphetamine, May 21; evading arrest (one prior), June 10; James Riley Garner II, aka James Garner, theft (enhanced), Dec. 9, 2014; Douglas Eugene Lawson, aggravated assault, Dec. 26; Roxana Lynne Stites, injury to a child, May 3; Angela Jaquez, aka Angela Jazquez Bravo, aggravated assault (one prior), May 22; Michael Anthony Rodgers, theft (enhanced), May 13; Regenald Jermain Turner, assault family violence (enhanced) (one prior), April 28; Alissa Williams, possession of cocaine, May 1; Cory Gene Trueblood, aggravated assault, April 4; Kelly Marie Moore, possession of methamphetamine, May 3; Chad Joe Jowers, possession of methamphetamine, May 3; Keaston Earl Bolden, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of methamphetamine (one prior), July 20; Virgil Wayne Garrett, theft (two priors), Aug. 26, 2015; Ruben Flores Jr., misapplication of fiduciary property, Nov. 30; Crystal Leanne Sanders, possession of methamphetamine, Sept. 14, 2015; Marcos Losano Jr., possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of methamphetamine, Feb. 18; Shayla Deon Boswell, possession of heroin with intent to deliver, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, possession of heroin, possession of cocaine, unlawful possession of firearm by felon, May 9; Wendell Courtney James, possession of heroin with intent to deliver, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, possession of heroin, possession of cocaine, May 9; Jimmy Roger Wilson, driving while intoxicated, evading arrest (one prior), May 22; Joanna Marie Rios, driving while intoxicated with a child, June 4. Twitter: BrookeCrum_ARN KILLEEN Despite Donald Trump's self-destruction, malevolent misogyny and other stunning character flaws, this red state will vote for him, as will roughly 40 percent of the country. Here, outside the sprawling Fort Hood military base, and elsewhere across this massive state, more voters dislike and distrust Hillary Clinton than admire her. And they like the idea of bringing change to Washington, no matter how turbulent that change might be. Many anxious Republicans, terrified over their party's future, feel they have to support its nominee. That said, there are cracks in the Texas GOP. After the surfacing of a 2005 tape in which Trump talks about not having to repress his sexual urges with women, the state's lone Republican woman in Washington, Rep. Kay Granger, said he should be replaced. Earlier, the Dallas Morning News, for the first time in 75 years and 20 elections (excluding the Lyndon Johnson-Barry Goldwater duel, in which it stayed neutral), did not endorse the GOP nominee, saying Trump is 'hostile to conservatism' and not a real Republican. But do those cracks matter in a state where active and retired military are prevalent and a paramount issue, understandably, is national defense? If you've listened to Trump's answers on the topic one he says he gets asked about more than anything else, except health care you'd think so. After all, he has said the military is a 'disaster' and must be fixed but then failed to say how. (Come to think of it, he has no specifics on any of his promises.) He's the candidate who inartfully suggested soldiers succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder because they aren't strong enough. He said this at a time the military is trying to destigmatize mental illness by reassuring veterans seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness. The statement infuriated Vice President Joe Biden, whose son Beau served in Iraq and who has frequently visited soldier overseas, seeing PTSD everywhere. One young captain who was supposed to get a medal reportedly begged Biden not to give it to him because the fellow soldier the captain pulled from a burning vehicle didn't live. Trump also spent a week vindictively feuding with a Muslim Gold Star family whose son died fighting for America. He absurdly made it even worse in the second presidential debate by saying if he had been president at the time, their son would not have died. Trump was for war in Iraq and now denies it. He said Sen. John McCain, who fought in Vietnam, is not a hero because McCain was a POW; heroes don't get captured. Trump said he would torture suspected terrorists and kill their families. This not only is against international law but won't work because tortured prisoners say what they think their captors want to hear, not the truth. It also would endanger U.S. prisoners of war. When a veteran gave his Purple Heart medal to Trump, the candidate blithely said, 'I always wanted a Purple Heart' and kept it. Trump likened military prep school to having served in the military, saying he felt as if he had served. Trump said Muslim Americans who serve America abroad must be vetted before they return home. All this is to say, soldiers and veterans who admire Trump, in Texas and elsewhere, ought to think again. In his discourteous, dismissive, disdainful behavior toward Clinton during the recent debate, Trump said a truly awful thing. He said he would put his political opponent in jail if he is president. That's dictatorship. Too bad our choice is between two hugely unpopular candidates. But the rude, crude dude is worse by far. Email Ann McFeatters, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com. Whether it's her choice of snazzy hats, introducing us all to her good friend Myrtle or her bubbly personality, Donna Albus brightens your day. Her day evening, actually was brightened Thursday when she was named 2016 Outstanding Citizen of the Year. Dick Spalding, last year's deserving honoree, presented this year's winner at the annual Abilene Chamber of Commerce Membership Celebration at the Abilene Civic Center. Ms. Albus has been involved in the kinds of projects that make a community a better place to live, most notably Abilene Clean & Proud. The organization, now known as Keep Abilene Beautiful, this year celebrates its 30th anniversary (we have a story planned for Sunday's edition). She was its director from 1991-1997. She went out with a bang. That year, an effort was made to beautify Abilene by planting crepe myrtles, both colorful and suitable to our often arid environment. The slogan 'Myrtle is coming, get your bed ready' caused a buzz, some believing it was riske. Still, thousands of trees were sold and those still adorn our city. Times have changed and we laugh about the fuss about Myrtle now. But Ms. Albus' drive changed little over the years, whether it was trying to save aging Ben Milan Elementary School from being closed. It was, in 1980, but the next effort she was involved in, saving the deteriorating Drake Hotel, was successful. Today, The Grace Museum is a downtown jewel. She has been involved in the Adopt-a-Highway and Make a Difference Day programs, and she headed Keep Texas Beautiful. Keep America Beautiful has honored her efforts, as did former President George W. Bush and the 78th Texas Legislature. On the human side of beauty, her duties at the West Texas Rehabilitation Center and volunteerism at the Abilene State Supported Living Center also have made our city a better place. She also once chaired the Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau board of directors. She has helped get school supplies into the right hands, and get outdated phone books out of our hands. Busy as she has kept herself, Ms. Albus has found time to enjoy life and laugh. Rarely do we see her without a hat. Or a smile. Or miss her at a social event. She has appreciated where she lives and Thursday, Abilene showed it has appreciated her. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Weak trade beginning to stabilize Updated: 2016-10-14 07:55 By Zhong Nan in Beijing and Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou(China Daily) Exports fell in first three quarters, although overall picture showing signs of improvement China's exports fell by 1.6 percent year-on-year to 10.06 trillion yuan ($1.49 trillion) in the first three quarters of the year, while overall trade performance improved on a quarterly basis, customs data showed on Thursday. Foreign trade between January and September was down by 1.9 percent to 17.53 trillion yuan from a year earlier, with imports dropping by 2.3 percent to 7.47 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs. Customs spokesman Huang Songping attributed the weak figures to sluggish world growth and the lack of effective support for global trade. "As China continues to face weak domestic and global market demand, we have discovered that its traditional advantage in foreign trade has shown many weak points and confronted difficulties such as trade protectionism, rising operational costs and limited market channels," said Huang. But China's foreign trade has shown signs of stabilizing, since it rose by 1.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, he said. He said the government will take adequate measures to support foreign trade, including further cutting taxes for domestic companies and improving research and development capabilities for high-end manufacturers, as well as enlarging trade volume with countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative routes. Huang said the depreciation of the Chinese yuan could benefit domestic exporters, but would also raise the import costs of production materials, since processing trade still remains a major part of China's trade pattern. "An economy's currency fluctuations could have a mixed impact on trade growth due to cross-border cooperation along the global industrial value chain, undermining efforts to boost exports," Huang said. China's exports to countries along the Belt and Road routes increased between January and September. For example, exports to Pakistan grew by 14.9 percent; to Russia, by 14 percent; Poland, 11.7 percent; Bangladesh, 9.6 percent; and India, 7.8 percent. Meanwhile, exports to the United States, China's second-biggest trade partner, fell by 1.9 percent, and those to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its third-largest trade partner, shrank by 1.9 percent. Machinery and electronic products as well as goods in labor-intensive sectors, including textiles and toys, accounted for the lion's share of export goods, and private companies still led the country's exports. Joneaa Jeans, a Dongguan-based garment company, was one of the major exporters of original equipment manufacturer jeans, which are used as other companies' end products, to Europe last year, with sales of 130 million yuan. However, its overseas sales declined this year, and exports dropped to 47 million yuan due to weak market response. Xie Qundi, president of Joneaa Jeans, said her company is looking for new partners in emerging markets, especially in South America and Southeast Asia. It has also added a 12-member team to design new styles of jeans for the needs of various foreign clients. "Even though orders from abroad did show some increase in September, they are much fewer than last year," said Xie. "Our independent brands and the depreciation of the yuan certainly will help the sales in overseas markets." Contact the writers at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 10/14/2016 page1) Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Cambodia that wrapped up on Friday brought millions of dollars in soft loans and debt forgiveness for Phnom Penh, but triggered a fresh war of words between the ruling party and an opposition wary of Beijing's largesse. Xi's two-day visit to a country that has been the strongest Southeast Asian supporter of Chinese policies in the disputed South China Sea produced 31 economic agreements covering at least $60 million in new loans and forgivess of $90 million in Cambodian debts to China from 2015. Sam Rainsy, exiled leader of the opposition Cambodia National Renewal Party, told RFA'S Khmer Service in Thursday he was worried about the "enormous money" the government was borrowing from China. "Hun Sen's government is borrowing enormous money from China, billions of dollars. I am very concerned about this loan because [we] do not know what the loans have been used for, and there is no monitoring," he told an RFA live televsion show. "It is the Cambodian people who will have this burden, not the Hun Sen government," he added. Sok Eysan, spokesman for Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, dismissed the complaints the noise of a "mad dog." "This opposition leader always does things for his power and ambition only, without considering national interests and society," Sok Eysan told RFA. "The opposition leaders are all incitement ring-leaders. Their acts are to defame the current legitimate government while praising themselves. Now, his words sound just like a mad dog, biting anything in its way," the spokesman added. Opposition politicians and human rights groups, who have been the target of an intensify crackdown by Hun Sen's government that has seen politicians and activists beaten or jailed, have been concerned about Cambodia's increasingly cozy ties with authoritarian China. They say Chinese funding and political support help make Hun Sen immune to human rights criticism from Western countries that have been traditional aid donors. In a speech in June after his crackdown was criticized by the European Union and the United Nations, Hun Sen slammed his critics and praised China. "China also has never threatened us like this. Cambodia has its own political independence," he said. "China also never advised Cambodia to do this and that. Development researcher Meas Ny told RFA, however, that Cambodians often pay a steep price for money from China. "With the new economic reforms in Cambodia through development projects, we only see endless problems, especially crises resulting from land disputes where there are Chinese projects," he said. "We travel to various areas with problems, especially the areas where there is investment from China," said Meas Ny. Reported by Moniroth Morm for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Paul Eckert. A Myanmar soldier holds a banner with Arabic writing and pouches containing bullets and documents seized inside a house during a search for attackers in Maungdaw township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Oct. 14, 2016. The Myanmar government said Friday that an extremist Islamic terrorist organization whose leader was trained by the Taliban in Pakistan carried out violent weekend attacks on three border guard posts near the border of Bangladesh in restive Rakhine states Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships. More than 40 border guards, attackers, and soldiers have died since the initial raids on the border posts on Sunday, and hundreds of residents have fled to neighboring townships such as Buthidaung to escape subsequent clashes between security forces and armed men. Army soldiers and border police have conducted security sweeps of villages in Maungdaw, searching the homes of Rohingya Muslims for the attackers and stolen weapons. Interrogations of two attackers who were caught and another two who were handed over to Myanmar security forces by Bangladesh have revealed that the attacks were carried out by Aqa Mul Mujahidin, an Islamic organization active in Maungdaw, a statement issued by President Htin Kyaws office said. According to the findings of the interrogations, the attacks in Maungdaw were intended to promote extremist violent ideology among the majority Muslim population in the area, the statement said. Using Maungdaw as a foothold, this was an attempt to take over the areas of Maungdaw and [nearby] Buthidaung [township]. The organizations leader Havistoohar is a religious and social extremist believed to be about 45 years old from Kyaukpyinseik village in Maungdaw, who previously participated in a six-month Taliban training course in Pakistan, it said. He pretended to be a refugee and frequently went to a village near Teknef in Bangladesh, where he received funding from organizations and extremist individuals in the Middle East, it said. The funding was not provided by particular organizations, but was provided secretly through contacts between individuals, the statement said. Havistoohar worked with a Pakistani named Kalis who had also participated in terrorist training at a camp in Pakistan. About five month ago, he had arranged for Kalis to go to Maungdaw to conduct armed training classes for local extremist youth whom Havistoohar had mobilized, the statement said. Linked to the RSO Aqa Mul Mujahidin has links to the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), a small militant group active in the 1980s and the 1990s until the Myanmar government launched a counteroffensive to expel its insurgents from the border area with Bangladesh. The group was believed to be defunct. They secretly ran weapons training and self-defense training in remote locations in the hills and forests, as well as in the compound of Abdul Rahman in the Middle Nga Ku Ra village, and in the forest near Kyauk Pyin Seik village, the statement said. Following this, plans were drawn up to carry out violent attacks. Havistoohar planned for about 400 attackers to simultaneously attack six border guard posts and local police offices, it said. Meanwhile, Myanmars top leaders held a special meeting on Friday in the capital Naypyidaw to discuss the backgrounds of the terrorists, current actions of security forces in the area, and procedures for dealing with the culprits. President Htin Kyaw, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, deputy commander-in-chief Vice Senior General Soe Win, Minister for Home Affairs Lt. Gen. Kyaw Swe, Minister of Defense Lt. Gen. Sein Win, and Minister for Office of the State Counsellor Kyaw Tint Swe also discussed armed conflicts in other areas of the country and management procedures to enhance the capacity and abilities of the Myanmar police force. Government ministers, representatives of political parties, and officials from nongovernmental organizations also met on Friday in Rakhines capital Sittwe to discuss the Maungdaw attacks. Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Rohingya Muslims gather inside the Thet Kay Pyin internally displaced persons camp during a visit by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan (not pictured) in Sittwe, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Sept. 7, 2016. The United Nations newest effort to address large-scale refugee flows and migration, adopted last month in New York, has left out at least one highly vulnerable group internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Southeast Asia, say disappointed human rights experts and activists. The adoption of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants on Sept. 19, in which U.N. member states agreed to protect the rights of refugees and migrants and share responsibility for large movements on a global scale, will have little or no effect on IDPs in Southeast Asia, especially Muslim Rohingya forced into camps in their native Myanmar and scattered across the region. The stateless Rohingya have been called the most persecuted minority in the world, and some rights groups contend they are the victims of state-sponsored genocide because of the intense persecution by majority Buddhists and officials of a military government long known for brutality that was replaced by a civilian administration only six months ago. Rights groups point out that while the declaration is intended to address the millions fleeing recent wars, especially the raging conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, it has failed to grasp an opportunity to include concrete measures to help IDPs such as the 1.1 million Rohingya who mostly live in the Southeast Asian countrys coastal Rakhine state, also known as Arakan state. The declaration was, frankly speaking, a response to political pressure emanating from the ongoing/proxy war in Syria rather than the long-running problems in Myanmar, which since the start of the Syrian civil war, have failed to make headlines in the West, wrote said Steven Kiersons, team lead for Myanmar at The Sentinel Project, in an email. If it has any effect on the situation in Myanmar and Southeast Asia in general, it is at the very least an acknowledgement that the current system for handling migrants and refugees is systematically dysfunctional and relies more on stemming the flow of people than addressing the root causes of migrations, said Kiersons, whose Canada-based nonprofit organization focuses on the prevention of genocide. The Rohingya, victims of an obscure conflict in a country that had largely shut itself off from the world for decades, briefly grabbed world news headlines in 2012, after an outbreak of communal violence killed hundreds and led many thousands to become refugees within Myanmar or take dangerous boat trips to other Southeast Asian countries. Four years on, their fate remains precarious, amid renewed tensions in the wake of an armed attack on Oct. 9 on Myanmar guards on the countrys border with Bangladesh that has sparked retaliatory violence, leaving more than 40 people dead and sending thousands of frightened villagers fleeing their homes for cities. Rafendi Djamin, director of Amnesty Internationals South East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office based in Bangkok, calls the New York Declaration a token gesture that will have little impact on the lives of refugees fleeing conflict and persecution in Southeast Asia or elsewhere. Instead of announcing clear and concrete steps towards ending the refugee crisis, world leaders chose to abscond any real responsibility towards reaching a solution, he told RFA. Djamin noted that U.N. members states had discussed including internally displaced communities in the declaration, but in the end decided not to because they thought that it would make the documents scope too broad. While the main responsibility for protecting IDPs lies with national authorities, U.N. member states must push the Myanmar government to ensure that the Rohingya and other displaced people have full and unrestricted access to humanitarian assistance and that efforts to resettle them are conducted voluntarily, safely and with dignity, he said. It is also important for the international community to address the root causes which include discrimination and violence that have forced both Rohingya refugees and IDPs to flee their homes, he said. The map shows Rakhine state in western Myanmar. RFA graphic Tangible programs necessary The declaration, which was adopted during the U.N.s first-ever high-level summit on the issue of migrants and refugees by heads of state and government, U.N. leaders, and representatives from civil society, the private sector, international organizations, and academia, mentions IDPs three times in general terms. But they are not addressed in the section on commitments, human rights advocates pointed out. Myra Dahgaypaw, acting executive director of the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma, said she sees no positive impact from the declaration as written on paper and notes that not only the Rohingya, but other people in Myanmar are routinely displaced and become refugees due to fighting or the confiscation of their land by the national army and conflicts with the countrys numerous armed ethnic groups. [Unless] the U.N. and the stakeholders are willing to implement some tangible programs specifically for the affected communities, the declaration will only be a gesture, she wrote in an email. If the U.N. would like to see tangible results, the U.N. and its stakeholders must create specific programs that are measurable, work with local community leaders by going on the ground, speaking with the affected community, collecting information and conducting need assessments directly, she said. Daniel Sullivan, senior advocate at Washington-based Refugees International who focuses on Myanmar, agrees that the New York Declaration will have little immediate impact on migrants and refugees in Southeast Asia because of its lack of accountability. If there is one major disappointment with the New York Declaration, it is that it does not provide for accountability for states that do not live up to their commitments. It is good that IDPs are mentioned in the declaration, even if not being addressed in the commitments, but if it does not lead to future efforts to explicitly address the challenges of IDPs, then it will be a massive shortcoming that will undermine not only the security of IDPs, but the commitments to addressing refugees as well, Sullivan told RFA from Bangkok where he is completing a research mission on Rohingya in Malaysia and Thailand. Its necessary for actual reform to be implemented to have an impact on IDPs like the Rohingya as the Malaysian government and UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, have done to tackle complex migration and refugee resettlement issues, he said. If put into effect, it could lead to implementation of ideas like granting work permits to refugees, providing education, and better access to health care, Sullivan said. These would lead to substantive improvement for refugees in Malaysia, including at least 50,000 Rohingya now living there he said. Ideally, the commitments in the New York Declaration will help add pressure for such ideas to move forward. Blatant restrictions on human rights Most of Myanmars Buddhist majority considers the Rohingya to be illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, though many have lived in the country for generations. The countrys 1982 Citizenship Law effectively renders the Rohingya stateless by prohibiting them from holding Myanmar citizenship. This policy denies them basic rights, freedom of movement, and access to social services and education. In the case of the Rohingya in Myanmar, we are talking about blatant restrictions on human rights, Sullivan said. There is a need for freedom of movement, unrestricted humanitarian access, and, in the longer term, addressing the status of Rohingya as stateless due to Myanmars citizenship laws. Addressing statelessness is included among the New York Declarations commitments, so, in theory, should cover the Rohingya. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, also cast doubt on the impact of the New York Declaration. The declaration has welcome aspirations but no mechanisms for monitoring and implementation, he told RFA. There should be a binding convention on the rights and treatment of IDPs, with monitoring and public annual reports naming and shaming countries which dont comply, including those who havent signed the convention, Farmaner said. Tens of thousands of Rohingya were displaced following communal violence with Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 that left more than 200 people dead. Afterwards, about 140,000 Rohingya were forced into dozens of IDP camps, where about 120,000 remain today in a state of limbo. Since 2012, more than 170,000 mostly Rohingya have fled Myanmar and the border areas of Bangladesh by sea to escape ongoing abuses. But many have fallen into the hands of human traffickers in other Asian countries, according to Fortify Rights, a Southeast Asia-based group that seeks to prevent and remedy human rights violations. The declaration also alludes to obligations under international law when it comes to IDPs, said Djamin. It says: "While some commitments are mainly applicable to one group, they must also be applicable to the other. Farmaner noted that Myanmars new civilian-led government has retained restrictions on humanitarian aid to Rohingya IDPs that were put in place by the military junta that ruled the country for 50 years until 2011. People are dying as a result, he said. Rohingya IDPs need international protection in their own country just as much as refugees who flee abroad. Rohingya children play inside an internally displaced persons camp during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Sittwe, western Myanmar's Rakhine State, July 2, 2016. Credit: AFP Slow-moving and stagnant Likewise, Wakar Uddin, director general of the Arakan Rohingya Union, believes that the New York Declaration will have little or no impact on refugees and migrants in and from Myanmar, saying that such efforts are slow-moving at best. The nonprofit umbrella organization represents various Rohingya groups worldwide and seeks to find a political solution to the issues they face, including human rights violations and the denial of citizenship. He calls the Rohingya issue a truly humanitarian disaster and laments that it was not included in the New York Declaration. Absolutely, it should have been included, he wrote via email. Most countries in this declaration are preoccupied with the issues in Syria, Iraq, and Palestine, which involve several millions refugees and IDPs. These have apparently overshadowed the smaller groups elsewhere in the world, but it shouldnt have happened that way. Uddin also believes the Rohingya issue was left out of the declaration for political reasons, because many of the countries that have spoken out against their treatment in the past have now stopped because they trust the new civilian government, led by state counselor and de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to address the matter. The UNHCR has maintained limited operations with small units in the northern part of Rakhine state but cannot deliver necessary assistance to the people because of its limited presence and restrictions that were first put in place by the junta-led government. The UNHCRs handing of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh has been much better than its dealings with IDPs in Rakhine, said Uddin. Nonetheless, there may be some improvement of these issues in Myanmar not because of the New York Declaration, but due to the emerging unilateral efforts by Aung San Suu Kyis NLD-led government to address the root causes of the migrants, refugees, and IDP issues in and from Myanmar, Uddin said. Firm and full engagement In late August, Aung San Suu Kyi formed a nine-member Rakhine Advisory Commission tasked with examining humanitarian and development issues, access to basic services, the assurance of basic rights, and the security of all who live in Rakhine. However, her appointment of former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan and two other foreign dignitaries to the panel triggered opposition from Rakhine Buddhists and the states Arakan National Party, which has called for the commissions disbandment. These groups, which have led the hostility against the Muslim Rohingya, say they believe the foreign members will automatically side with the Rohingya and turn a domestic issue into an international one. Regardless of the Rohingya citizenship argument from either side, the Rohingya victims in the IDP camps must be returned to their original homes in their respective townships, Uddin wrote. The United Nations must engage fully and firmly with the government of Myanmar for the immediate repatriation of the Rohingya IDPs, he said. U.N. officials said more must be done collectively by the organizations member states to deal with the forced displacement of people. The New York Declaration represents a global recognition that no one state can address this issue on its own. We must share responsibilities, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told reporters on the sidelines of the summit for refugees and migrants. Migration must be a choice, not a necessity, he said. We must address the root causes of forced displacement. Helen Clark, head of the United Nations Development Programme, which seeks to wipe out poverty in the world, told journalists on the sidelines of the annual Social Good Summit in New York on Sept. 18, the day before the New York Declaration was adopted, that the international community needs to give more voice to IDPs. Global leaders and grassroots activists discussed the impact of technology and new media on social initiatives worldwide at the two-day conference held annually during U.N. General Assembly week. Clark, a former prime minister of New Zealand, noted that the summits outcomes would not go anywhere near a rewriting of the U.N. Refugee Convention of 1951 or address the issue of IDPs, but she hoped that it would raise awareness among leaders and ideally lead to more practical support for refugees in terms of funding. This summit isnt dealing with the internally displaced, but they are a significant proportion of those who are forcibly displaced, so that tells us that theres work to expand this conversation to deal with that specific group of people, she said. Most Southeast Asian nations, including Myanmar, are not signatories to the U.N. Refugee Convention of 1951, which defines the term refugee, outlines the rights of the displaced, and sets out the legal obligations of U.N. member states to protect them. Its great that theres the convention on refugeesbut the internally displaced they need voices, they need attention as well, so thats a conversation that must happen, said Clark. Three days later, Clark and others issued an open letter to U.N. member states, calling on governments and world leaders to do more to support IDPs alongside refugees and migrants. Research for this story was supported by a fellowship from the International Center for Journalists and the United Nations Foundation. Over a hundred senior Tibetan Buddhist scholars gathered this week at Kardze monastery in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province to hold formal debates on a core subject of Buddhist philosophy, the Middle Way, and to instruct laypeople in the fundamentals of their religion, sources in the region said. The senior teachers, or Geshesmany of whom had received advanced religious degrees in monasteries in India and then returned to Tibetcame from about 50 other monasteries in Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) county and nearby areas for the discussions, a resident of the area told RFAs Tibetan Service. They joined many other monks, reincarnated lamas, and other scholars, so that about 500-700 were in attendance altogether, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Their debates are on the texts of the Madhyamaka, the Middle Way of Buddhist philosophy," he said. Over a thousand laypersons also gathered to hear the debates, "and the scholars took the opportunity to give them basic Buddhist teachings and speak on the need to preserve the Tibetan culture and language, the source said. They also emphasized the importance of mental peace for the overall health of the Tibetan community, he said. Many had trained in India The monasterys original plan was to invite over 500 Geshes from across Tibetan-populated areas of China, but only around a hundred arrived to take part in the debates, RFAs source said. Many of those who participated are returnees from Buddhist monasteries in India who are now enrolled in different monasteries in Tibet, the source said. Apart from Kardze monastery, other monasteries in the county sending representatives included Dargye, Tonggo, Koma, Draggo, La, Yarga, Jowo, Dza Sershul, and Aga, he added. The debates, which began on Oct. 10, were scheduled to run all week and end on Friday, Oct. 14, he said. Public assemblies at monasteries in Tibetan regions of China have greatly increased in size in recent years, observers and participants say, as tens of thousands of Tibetans gather to assert their national and cultural identity in the face of Chinese domination. Chinese security forces, fearful of sudden protests by Tibetans opposed to Beijings rule, often monitor and sometimes close down events involving large crowds, sources say. Reported by Sonam Wangdu for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. Afghan officials say hundreds of members of the Afghanistan's security forces have been killed in recent fighting against Taliban militants in and around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province. Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy head of Helmand's provincial council, and Helmand's lawmaker in the upper chamber of the Afghan parliament, Sheer Muhammad Akhon, said on October 14 that the number of soldiers and police killed during the previous 10 days was more than 200. Akhonzada also told RFE/RL that more than 100 Afghan troops were killed on October 11 in a single battle while trying to retreat to Lashkar Gah from a besieged outpost at Cha-e Anjir, about 10 kilometers from the provincial capital. Akhonzada and Akhon also said 45 civilians had also been killed, and more than 100 members of the security forces had been wounded. Akhonzada and Akhon say Helmand Province is facing its worst security situation since the Taliban regime was ousted nearly 15 years ago by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Taliban fighters now control most of the province and have surrounded Lashkar Gah. With reporting by Reuters and AP The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Afghan security forces have broken the siege around a hilltop army base north of Kabul, after three days of heavy fighting with Taliban militants. RFE/RL video from October 12 showed Afghan soldiers exchanging fire with the militants who attacked the Qurghan Hill base earlier this week. (RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan) Heavy carrier rocket shoots for moon, Mars Updated: 2016-10-14 07:34 (China Daily Europe) China will conduct the first launch of its heavy-lift Long March 5 carrier rocket this year and will use it to transport a manned space station into orbit in the near future. The maiden flight of the nation's strongest and most technologically advanced launch vehicle will take place at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the island province of Hainan. With a takeoff weight of 869 metric tons, it can lift a 25-ton payload into low Earth orbit, or a 14-ton payload into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. A Long March 5 carrier rocket is lifted in preparation for transport to Wenchang Space Launch Center in August. He Chao / Xinhua A Long March 5 rocket is assembled in Tianjin in April. Chen Yehua / Xinhua The Long March 5 will be tasked with launching heavyweight spacecraft including the Chang'e 5 lunar probe, major parts of the planned space station and Mars probes, according to officials at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. Chinese scientists and engineers are now developing a permanent manned space station, which is to be built in space from 2018 and will be put into service around 2022. It will consist of three parts: a core module attached to two space labs, each weighing about 20 tons. The facility is expected to become the world's only space station after the International Space Station is retired in 2024. According to the academy, the Long March 5 will use liquid oxygen-kerosene and liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen as propellants for its engines, which means the gigantic rocket will be friendlier to the environment than previous versions. It has taken researchers 10 years to develop the rocket after nearly 7,000 tests, the academy says, adding that engineers will develop six configurations for the Long March 5 family, with each having different launch capacities. The academy has also begun to develop a superheavy rocket that will have a takeoff weight of 3,000 tons and can thrust a 100-ton payload into low Earth orbit. If research and development go as planned, the rocket will carry out its first flight in around 2030 and will enable China to carry out manned missions to the moon and to send and retrieve Mars probes, according to the academy. Lieutenant General Zhang Yulin, deputy head of the Central Military Commission's Equipment Development Department, said in April that the nation will strive over the next 15 to 20 years to land astronauts on the moon. China has sent 10 spacecraft and 10 astronauts into space and will soon fulfill a manned mission to transport two astronauts to a space laboratory. The nation has also made three lunar exploration missions, including one that soft-landed a rover on the moon. The country will also send an unmanned probe to Mars to orbit and land on the red planet around 2020, the Chinese space authority says. (China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page7) Reports from Russia's North Caucasus region of North Ossetia say five Armenian citizens, including a woman, have been killed in a bus accident. However, Armenia's government says only the bus driver and one passenger out of the five people killed in the October 14 accident were Armenians. It says the other three were Russian citizens. At least nine other passengers aboard the bus were hospitalized with injuries. The bus was traveling from Moscow to Yerevan with a total of 45 people aboard when it collided with a truck early on October 14. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has ordered his government and Armenia's embassy in Russia to provide survivors of the crash with assistance. Sarkisian also has expressed condolences to relatives of those killed. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax The Galustian family have just fled Aleppo -- and arrived in Armenia, days after their home was destroyed by rockets. They are just the latest among thousands of ethnic Armenians who have escaped from the war-torn Syrian city. (Naira Bulghadarian, Garik Harutyunian, RFE/RL's Armenian Service, Reuters) The leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member-states have decided to set up a joint crisis response center to exchange information on common threats, including terrorism, and make decisions in real time. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, who is hosting a meeting of the CSTO summit on October 14 in Yerevan, made the announcement concerning the new response center. Further details were not immediately available. Sarkisian also said the issue of a new secretary-general of the CSTO will be discussed at a summit of the grouping in Russia's St. Petersburg at the end of the year. And he said the members of the CSTO "reaffirmed their commitment to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem." During the meeting, the CSTO also adopted documents including agreements on drafting a unified list of terrorist organizations, a collective security strategy for the period till 2025, and a document on measures to counter international terrorism and extremism. Senior officials from six former Soviet republics, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, are attending the gathering in the Armenian capital. In addition to heads of state, the foreign ministers and defense ministers of the CSTO's member states are in Yerevan for the talks. As leaders gathered in Yerevan, Armenia formally transferred its chairmanship of the CSTO's Council of Foreign Ministers to Belarus. The CSTO is a regional security group of former Soviet republics whose members are Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. Prime Minister Baqytzhan Saghyntaev represented Kazakhstan in place of the 76-year-old President Nursultan Nazarbaev, whose visit to Yerevan was cancelled in advance because of what Nazarbaev's aides described as "a cold." Nazarbaev returned to work at his office in Astana on October 14, three days after official reports said he was being treated for a "cold." Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax 6 Work begins on the portrait. Van Helten says he does not intend the work to be a political statement. "Who am I to make a statement about a complex situation like this?.... Honestly though, I reckon if I went to the other side I would see just the same thing, the same kids in the classrooms.... This isn't about good and evil." Mohammad Nayeb-Zehi was among the hundreds of worshippers who gathered on September 30 at the Great Mosalla, a religious site in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan, for Friday Prayers. Just hours later, the 16-year-old's family learned he was dead. Nayeb-Zehi was among the scores of people gunned down by security forces in a brutal crackdown following anti-government protests in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan Province, which is home to the country's Baluch minority. "He was a simple laborer and not political," Nayeb-Zehi's brother, Ahmad, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda in a telephone interview from Zahedan, adding that his sibling had been shot in the heart. "We're in pain, and we cannot accept it." The crackdown in Zahedan came amid weeks-long nationwide protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died on September 16, days after she was detained by Iran's morality police. In Sistan-Baluchistan, public anger at the authorities escalated amid reports that a 15-year-old Baluch girl had been raped by a police official in the province's southern port city of Chabahar. The violence erupted soon after protesters gathered outside a police station near the central mosque in Zahedan. Members of the crowd chanted anti-government slogans, and some threw rocks. Security forces responded with deadly force by firing on the crowd from the station, according to witnesses. Security forces also raided the central mosque and the nearby Great Mosalla and opened fire on worshippers using live ammunition, rights groups said, adding that many were shot in the head, heart, neck, or torso, revealing a clear intent to kill or seriously wound. At least 94 people were killed and 350 wounded on that day, referred to as "Bloody Friday," according to the U.S.-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. At least 13 minors were among those killed, including Nayeb-Zehi. The victims were overwhelmingly Baluch -- a mostly Sunni ethnic group that has long faced disproportionate discrimination at the hands of the Iranian authorities. "He was martyred inside the Mosalla while holding his prayer mat," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. Nayeb-Zehi's family first visited Zahedan's Khatam al-Anbia hospital, hoping he was among the wounded. They later found his body in a seminary at the Great Mosalla. "We entered a room there and saw about 10 bodies," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. "[Mohammad] was among them." He said the authorities prevented the family from filming the scene. "I told them this has to be documented, it has to be published by international media," he said, adding that footage later emerged on social media showing the gruesome scene at the seminary. The family refused to send Nayeb-Zehi's body to the morgue. Instead, his body lay in the living room for around 24 hours before he was buried. "We said he was martyred and there was no need for an autopsy," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. The authorities accused Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group, of attacking the police station. The group is recognized as a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States and has previously claimed deadly attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan targeting Iranian security forces. But local and independent sources have rejected the authorities' claims. The authorities have also reported a much lower number of fatalities, announcing that only 19 people, including several members of the security forces, were killed. Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi said the authorities were "rubbing salt into the wounds of the people" by claiming "terrorists" were involved. He said he witnessed a military helicopter shooting at civilians near the Great Mosalla. "I haven't even seen such scenes in Hollywood movies," he said. "A helicopter was shooting at people. A lady was shot in front of my eyes." RFE/RL could not verify his account. But activists have accused security forces of shooting at protestors from helicopters. "I don't know what the intention of this crime was," he said. "Our only demand from the establishment is for the murderers of our [family members] to be punished." The killings have led to widespread anger in Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran's poorest provinces. Anti-establishment protests have been reported in Zahedan since the crackdown, including on October 14 and October 21, when protesters took to the streets after Friday Prayers and chanted "Death to the dictator." During his Friday Prayers sermon on October 21, influential Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi said senior officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were "responsible" for the September 30 killings. "We are surprised by the silence of the high-ranking officials," he said in his sermon, which was posted on his website. "Scores were killed here without any reason. I don't have the exact number. Some have reported 90, some say less, some say more," Ismaeelzahi added. He also said people will not be satisfied until "those who killed the people" are brought to justice. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center said the events of September 30 amounted to "a massacre of protesters by security forces." "The government's total denial of responsibility for the massacring of citizens by its security apparatus is consistent with similar past denials and is evidence that internal calls for investigation of such crimes are insufficient," said the rights group, which documents human rights violations in Iran. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency says a military operation aimed at retaking Iraq's northern city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS) militants will begin within a few days "if there is no extraordinary development." The report on October 14 cited Iraqi sources as well as officials who have taken part in talks between Turkey and the United States. It said Sunni Muslim forces trained by the Turkish military at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq will take part in the planned operation. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq confirmed on October 14 that it was increasing air strikes against IS targets in Mosul ahead of the planned operation to retake the city. Correspondents also report the movement of Iraqi government forces and allied militas to the south and east of Mosul. Iraqi Army Brigadier General Firas Bashar said that "all the troop movements now are related to the Mosul operation." The Wall Street Journal reported on October 12 that Ankara's demands for its Sunni allies to take part in the offensive were threatening to fracture an uneasy alliance of Iraqi forces. It said the pressure from Turkey had triggered "new demands from influential, rival Shi'ite militias" that are now rethinking their earlier agreement to play a more limited role in the fight for Mosul. Based on reporting by Anadolu, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev returned to work at his office in Astana on October 14, three days after official reports said he was being treated for a "cold." State-run television channels in Kazakhstan on October 14 showed Nazarbaev meeting with Prosecutor-General Zhalip Asanov and the mayor of Astana, Aset Isekeshev. Nazarbaev's office said on October 12 that Nazarbaev's illness forced him to skip a summit of the Russia-led Common Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Yerevan that began on October 14. The announcement of Nazarbaev's illness was unusual, as the state of his health is rarely made public in the Central Asian former Soviet republic. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. A Moscow judge has jailed Russian anti-Putin activist Roman Roslovtsev for 20 days following his latest arrest for his one-man protests. The judge ruled that Roslovtsev's 21st arrest on October 13 showed the repeated nature of his violation of the law on public demonstrations. (RFE/RL's Russian Service) Pakistan has lifted a travel ban imposed on a leading journalist for reporting that civilian officials had argued with the country's powerful military over its alleged covert support for militants. An official memorandum issued by the Interior Ministry stated that it had "been decided to delete the name of Cyril Almeida ... from the Exit Control List." No further details were given on what prompted the government to remove Almeida's name. Pakistan's Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan told reporters on October 13 that journalist would not be allowed to leave the country until the completion of a government committee's inquiry into the story, which authorities claim was fabricated. Almeida is a leading columnist and assistant editor at Dawn, one of Pakistan's most-respected English-language dailies. Human rights activists urged the government immediately to lift travel and other restrictions on Almeida. Almeida's October 6 story was about a high-level security meeting between military and government officials over the possible arrest of members of a militant anti-India group that became very intense. Based on reporting by AFP Police in Pakistan say gunmen riding on motorcycles have killed two paramilitary officers and wounded another in the southwestern city of Quetta. Wasay Khan, a spokesman for Pakistan's Frontier Constabulary, said the October 14 attack targeted the paramilitary troops while they were on guard duty in Quetta, the volatile capital of Balochistan Province. He said the gunmen fled after the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Quetta has been the center of a low-level insurgency by separatist groups in Pakistan that are demanding more autonomy and a greater share in Balochistan Province's natural-gas and oil resources. Quetta also has been a base for Afghan Taliban leaders since the Taliban regime was ousted from Kabul in late 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion. Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and Dawn Comprehensive deal vital to Britain's stability Updated: 2016-10-14 07:35 By Chris Peterson in London(China Daily Europe) As nation shapes up for a 'hard Brexit', China ties should not be taken for granted, politicians and analysts say One of the first rules of diplomacy is never take anything for granted. As Britain shapes up to what is increasingly looking like a messy divorce from the European Union, or a "hard Brexit", attention is being focused as never before on Britain's relationships with other world partners. China is the main focus, as it is the fastest-developing economic superpower and is increasingly becoming the world's banker. Politicians and analysts on all sides agree that relations with a China that is in the ascendant are key to Britain's survival, and there is a danger that British officials may be taking China for granted. The last time Britain and China held serious diplomatic talks over a shared issue - in this case, Hong Kong - things were markedly different. Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London, writes in The Diplomat newsletter that in the run-up to the Hong Kong agreement, Britain had a larger economy than China and, at the time, was an equivalent, if a more important, world player. Times have changed. Experts agree that doing a comprehensive trade deal with China is vital to Britain's survival as a key world player. Chinese investment and access to China's huge domestic market are vital ingredients. That won't come easily. Many commentators in Britain have talked as if signing a trade deal with China is simply a case of filling in the gaps and signing off on the deal. Nothing could be further from the truth. China has become the economic powerhouse it is today with a direct approach, with its government making sure any agreement is in China's best interests, as any country would. Brown cites trade agreements with Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand as cases in point. "They (the Chinese) will take what they can, open up only if they have to, and aim to come out on the winning side," he writes. "So far, China has a 100 percent winning record here." Officials on both sides have made much of the "golden era" of relations between Britain and China, and that is certainly a fair description as cultural and investment links flourish in the wake of President Xi Jinping's state visit a year ago. Chinese indications that it is ready to negotiate a bilateral trade deal as soon as Britain's divorce from the EU is finalized have also been welcomed. But here, too, a note of warning should be sounded. Britain has been a member of the EU for more than 40 years, and during that time all trade deals have been negotiated through the EU. In other words, Britain no longer has the experienced officials vital in negotiating a fair deal. China does, obviously. There have been other warning signals for Britain. For generations, much as been made of the "special relationship" that has existed with the US since World War II. But that wasn't enough to stop President Barack Obama saying bluntly that in the event of an exit from the EU, London would be at the back of the line as far as discussing a separate trade deal was concerned. Just to make the point, he and his officials repeated that after the June 24 referendum that ended in victory for the Leave campaign. British officials are aware that, this time, the UK will be approaching China as a supplicant. Tim Summers, a senior consulting fellow with the Chatham House Asia Programme, in Hong Kong, warned that a Sino-British deal shouldn't be taken for granted. "With all the other challenges facing the UK, a coherent China strategy may be too much to hope for. And the UK's approach to China will depend on how relations with the EU pan out," he says. "So, China policy looks like it will be yet another area of uncertainty for Britain as it extracts itself from the EU." chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com (China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page3) Police in Russia's North Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria say they killed three militants in an overnight gunbattle. Russia's Interior Ministry and National Counterterrorism Committee say the three armed men included a suspect wanted for alleged involvement in a 2005 terrorist attack against police in Kabardino-Balkaria. Russian authorities say the three men were killed late on October 13 after they opened fire on police who were trying to stop the car they were traveling in. The car had been reported as stolen earlier on October 13. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax The lawyer for a Ukrainian journalist held in Moscow on charges of espionage says he was briefly prevented from leaving Russia. Attorney Mark Feigin says Russian border guards at a Moscow airport refused to allow him to board a flight to Vilnius on October 13, saying he was banned from leaving Russia under a request by the Federal Bailiff Service. Feigin initially said he thought the ban was linked to his professional activities. But Feigin said later on his Twitter account that he was informed by the Federal Bailiff Service that the travel ban was the result of a technical error in its computer database. Feigin is currently defending journalist Roman Sushchenko, a Paris-based correspondent from Ukraine's Ukrinform news agency who was detained in Moscow for allegedly collecting classified information. Sushchenko was formally charged with espionage on October 7. Feigin has also defended other high-profile clients at trials in Russia -- including Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, members of the protest art collective Pussy Riot, and Crimean Tatars jailed in Russia on terrorism charges after Moscow's seizure and annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014. With reporting by TASS and Interfax Moscow says it "may consider" supplying Turkey with air defense systems in a further warming of ties after a feud over the downing of a Russian jet last year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies on October 14 that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks in Istanbul earlier this week in which the prospect of supplying Ankara with air defense systems was brought up. "Various missile defense systems were mentioned and if the Turkish side so desires, Russia may consider the possibility of supplying Turkey in various ways," Peskov said about the talks on October 10. Turkey's private NTV channel, citing Turkish Foreign Ministry sources, said earlier this week that Ankara was ready to accept an offer from Russia for a Turkish tender to build long-range air defense systems. Putin's visit to Turkey was his first since the November 2015 downing of a Russian war plane by Ankara sparked the worst dispute between the countries since the Cold War. Based on reporting by AFP and TASS Serbian leaders have warned that support for joining the European Union is waning in favor of stronger ties with Russia, the Balkan country's traditional Slavic ally. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on October 13 that EU membership remains the goal of his government, despite a changed atmosphere recently which has welcomed a bigger Russian presence in the country. "In a way, we are losing ground," Vucic said. "We succeeded in losing political momentum and today is a completely different atmosphere...than it used to be a year or two years ago." In a sign of the change, the Russian and Serbian militaries held a joint air-force drill this week near Belgrade. Serbia has previously assured Russia that it will never join NATO, despite its interest in joining the EU. Serbia since 2014 has also refused to impose economic sanctions against Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, as EU members have. Moscow has backed Serbia in its dispute with the West over Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian former province whose 2008 declaration of independence Serbia has refused to recognize. WATCH: Serbia Hosts Russian Pilots For Joint Drills Belgrade has agreed in negotiations with the EU to normalize ties with Pristina to advance in its membership bid, though it has repeatedly said it will never recognize the ex-province's statehood. Vucic spoke at a debate in Belgrade with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who urged Serbia to recognize the independence of Kosovo, saying it would benefit regional stability. "The sooner Serbia recognizes Kosovo the better it will be for everyone," Rama said. "It is over, Kosovo is a state, it is a state recognized by major world powers.... People made their choice." Rama conceded, however, that for Vucic and Serbia, "this remains taboo." Rama's statement on Kosovo provoked complaints from Vucic that the EU had put more pressure on Serbia to make concessions than the Kosovo government, provoking resentment in Serbia. "That is what people see and that is what people feel," Vucic said. WATCH: Albanian PM Calls For Serbia To Recognize Kosovo While Vucic spoke in Belgrade, Serbia's pro-Russian President Tomislav Nikolic was visiting Moscow and told TASS that Serbia would never recognize Kosovo to obtain EU membership. "Serbia will never become an EU member if in exchange it is asked to recognize the independence of Kosovo," he said. "But they do not hear us and keep putting forward this precondition again and again." With reporting by AP, AFP, and TASS Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratified an agreement with Damascus for the indefinite deployment of a Russian Air Force group near Syria's coastal city of Latakia. The agreement was signed in Damascus in August 2015, just days before Russia began launching air strikes against Syrian rebel fighters in order to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The deal stipulates that Russian military aircraft and aviation crews deployed at Syria's Hmeimim airfield are there at the request of the Syrian government. It also grants diplomatic immunity to Russian personnel deployed at Hmeimim and their family members. The Russian Defense Ministry says it also is working to make its Syrian naval station at the port of Tartus a permanent base. Russia has significantly built up its military presence in Syria since the collapse on September 19 of a cease-fire agreement brokered by Moscow and Washington. Based on reporting by TASS, Interfax, Reuters, and AP Russia's announcement that it is suspending its participation in a Black Sea grain export deal requires a strong international response from the United Nations and the Group of 20 (G20) major economies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on October 29. "This is a completely transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine for Africa, for Asia," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Russia should be kicked out of the G20. "Why can a handful of people somewhere in the Kremlin decide whether there will be food on the tables of people in Egypt or Bangladesh?" Zelenskiy asked. "Russian terror and blackmail must lose. Humanity must win." Russia told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a letter that it was suspending the deal for an "indefinite term" because it could not "guarantee safety of civilian ships" traveling under the pact, Reuters reported. U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the move as "purely outrageous" and said it would increase starvation. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. "There's no merit to what they're doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it," Biden told reporters. The United Nations urged Russia not to withdraw from the deal, and deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said negotiations with Russia were ongoing. "It is vitally important that all parties refrain from any actions that could jeopardize the Black Sea Grain Initiative," Haq said, using the formal name for the deal. The European Union said it supported UN-led efforts to keep the Ukraine grain deal alive. Nabila Massrali, spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy at the European Commission, said the EU stressed that "all parties must refrain from any unilateral action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people around the world." Russia also asked the UN Security Council to meet on October 31 to discuss an alleged attack on its Black Sea Fleet, Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said. It said some of the ships attacked in Sevastopol in the early hours of October 29 were civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that in light of the attack, which it said Ukraine carried out "with the participation of British experts," Russia "suspends participation in the implementation of agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports." The ministry said earlier that drones were used in the attack and that they were all destroyed. Only one Russian ship, a minesweeper, sustained minor damage, it said. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said earlier on Twitter that Ukraine had previously warned that Russia planned to "ruin" the grain-export deal. Kuleba called on "all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations." The grain export deal between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations allowed a resumption of grain exports. Under the July 22 agreement, Ukraine was able to restart its Black Sea grain and fertilizer exports, and some Russian fertilizer exports also resumed. The agreement was set to last 120 days with the option for renewal on November 19 "if no party objects," a UN spokesman said on October 28. Russia had threatened to pull out of the agreement on grounds that the grain was not being sent to poorer countries, which at the time the deal was signed desperately needed the grain to ensure their populations did not starve. Analysts have pointed out that Moscows withdrawal from the deal would deprive Ukraine of a major part of its hard-currency revenues and at the same time would drive up global food prices and inflation in Europe. Photo Gallery: Ukrainian Farmers Risk Their Lives As Global Food Crisis Looms The inability of Ukraine to transport millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products amid Russia's invasion has aggravated a global food crisis. The country is a major exporter of seed oils, corn, and wheat, but the war and Russia's blockade of Ukraine's ports have effectively stopped a significant amount of that flow. While Ukraine's leaders seek ways to export the country's agricultural output, its farmers face perilous conditions as a result of the ongoing conflict. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Email to a Friend Share on LinkedIn The United Nations on October 28 had urged parties to the Black Sea Grain Initiative to renew it. "We underline the urgency of doing so to contribute to food security across the world, and to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. The agreement freed up exports from three of Ukraine's ports -- Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhne -- which had been blockaded since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February. The deal set up a corridor that is exclusively humanitarian, the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure said. The ministry says that since the first ship left the port in Odesa on August 1, Ukraine has exported more than 9 million tons of food, of which more than 5 million tons went to countries in Africa and Asia. At the same time, 190,000 tons of wheat were sent to countries on the brink of famine within the framework of the UN World Food Program, the ministry said. "Ukraine remains a reliable partner for the civilized world and is ready to continue promptly collecting and shipping agricultural products to ensure global food security," the ministry added. With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his country's civil war has turned into a new theater of conflict between Russia and the West. "What we've been seeing recently during the last few weeks, and maybe few months, is something like more than Cold War," Assad said in an interview with Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda published on October 13. Russia entered full-force into the Syrian conflict more than a year ago by sending bombers to back Syrian ground troops with air strikes, a development that appeared to turn the tide of the war in the regime's favor. While the United States and European powers back the rebels fighting Assad, they have not similarly provided military aid. Assad accused Turkey of "invading" his country with its recent campaign to oust Islamic State militants and Kurds from Syria's border areas near Turkey. Assad also said that Saudi Arabia had offered to help him if he agreed to cut ties with Iran, one of Syria's main allies. He said the Saudis told him: "If you move away from Iran and you announce that you disconnect all kinds of relations with Iran, we're going to help you. Very simple and very straight to the point." Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and TASS Thousands in Ukraine marched in support of their armed forces on the annual Defenders' Day. An estimated 4,000 people joined the "March of Heroes" in central Kyiv, with banners proclaiming "Ukraine is united and Independent," "Glory and honor to the defenders of Ukraine," and "Freedom." President Petro Poroshenko established the holiday on October 14 after Russia's annexation of Crimea two years ago and the start of the conflict with pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service) KYIV -- Thousands of nationalists have marched through Kyiv in a torchlight procession to celebrate Ukrainian fighters past and present on a day that saw a fearsome far-right military force formally enter the country's political fray. As dusk fell on the second annual Day of Defenders on October 14, a holiday established following Russia's seizure of Crimea and interference in eastern Ukraine, marchers lit torches that illuminated the flags of the far-right Azov and Right Sector parties and filled the sky above them with smoke. The march coincided with traditional nationalist events marking the creation of the controversial World War II-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and to celebrate Ukrainian Cossacks. The far-right activists chanted "Glory to the nation!" and "Death to enemies!" as they wound their way from the capital's towering Mother Homeland statue to St. Sofia Square. It was a show of force for the ultranationalist groups, in particular for Azov, whose ranks have served as perhaps Ukraine's most formidable fighting force in the war against the separatists that has killed more than 9,600 people since April 2014. WATCH: Footage From A Day Of Defenders Rally In Kyiv The march under torchlight capped a day in which Azov, formerly a volunteer militia but now included in the National Guard, officially became a political party. Credited with recapturing the strategic port city of Mariupol from separatist forces, the Azov battalion has also been accused by human rights groups of torture and even war crimes during the conflict. Other detractors believe the group's far-right ideology and militancy could pose a threat to President Petro Poroshenko and the stability of the state. Some of the marchers wore facemasks adorned with skeletons and the Azov symbol -- an emblem similar to the Nazi Wolfsangel that the group claims is actually comprised of the letters N and I, meaning "national idea." "Putin's a d***head!" some chanted, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military and security services clandestinely seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and have backed the separatists in the east of the country. 'Several Ways Of Coming To Power' At an inaugural party congress earlier in the day, Azov's new political leaders told some 400 delegates and attendees -- many dressed in military fatigues -- that the party would work to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression. They also elected parliament member Andriy Biletsky as party leader for the next four years. Azov's platform calls for amending Ukraine's constitution to expand presidential powers, allowing him or her to serve as commander in chief of the armed forces as well as head of state. It also backs the restoration of Ukraine's nuclear power status, the nationalization of companies that were owned by the government when Ukraine gained independence in 1991, and the legalization of firearms for personal protection. "All citizens who receive permission will be allowed to own and carry pistols," the party platform states. Its foreign policy seeks to sever cultural, diplomatic, and trade ties with Russia while building a Baltic and Black Sea Union comprised of other neighboring nations. The party also urged a public discussion about restoring the death penalty in Ukraine for crimes such as treason and embezzlement of government funds. Nazar Kravchenko, an Azov party leader, told the Hromadske news site that he hopes the party will give the group greater political influence. "There are several ways of coming to power, but we are trying something through elections," he said. "But we have all sorts of possibilities." Azov is not the first far-right group to enter Ukraine's fractious political arena. Both the Right Sector movement and the nationalist Svoboda party have tried their luck in politics but failed to reach the 5-percent threshold needed to enter parliament in October 2014 elections. In May 2014, the parties' presidential candidates finished near the bottom of the polls. The Fatherland party of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is currently the country's most popular political party with the support of 6.3 percent of Ukrainians, according to a recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Fatherland is followed by the ruling Petro Poroshenko Bloc at 5.9 percent. Azov was not included in the poll because it had not yet been established as a political party. KYIV -- Ukraine's far-right Azov Battalion has officially created a political party. Greeted by chants of "Death to enemies!" at an inaugural party congress in Kyiv on October 14, Azov's new political head, Nazar Kravchenko, told some 300 attendees, many in military fatigues, that the party would work to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression. The gathering coincided with traditional nationalist events marking the creation of the controversial World War II-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and to celebrate Ukrainian Cossacks. It also marks the second annual Day of Defenders, a holiday established following Russia's seizure of Crimea and interference in eastern Ukraine, where a war has killed more than 9,600 people since April 2014. Credited with recapturing the strategic port city of Mariupol from Russia-backed separatists in 2014, Azov is a former volunteer militia now included in the National Guard. Due to members' far-right ideology and militancy, detractors believe the fighting force might also pose a threat to President Petro Poroshenko and the stability of the state. Kravchenko told the Hromadske news site he hopes forming a party will give Azov greater political influence. "There are several ways of coming to power, but we are trying something through elections, but we have all sorts of possibilities," he said. Azov's symbol is similar to the Nazi Wolfsangel but the group claims it is comprised of the letters N and I, meaning "national idea." Human rights organizations have accused the Azov Battalion of torture. Overseas people wait for clarity over Brexit Updated: 2016-10-14 07:35 By Harvey Morris(China Daily Europe) Foreign investors can be forgiven for worrying that, post-Brexit, Britain's attitude to outside investment might change Major foreign investors are awaiting some clarity about whether Britain will maintain its traditional open-door policy to international corporations wishing to buy into the its economy following this year's Brexit vote. Since Theresa May became prime minister in the wake of the June referendum decision to leave the European Union, her insistence that "Brexit means Brexit" has proved an unhelpful guide to both domestic and foreign-owned businesses planning for a future outside the EU. Hints of a tighter regime came as soon as May came to office in July and put a brake on a nuclear deal involving major Chinese investment. In the end, she gave the go-ahead for the $21.9 billion Hinkley Point nuclear power station development in which China National Nuclear Corporation is a main investor. May's caution was put down to her wanting assurances about the potential national security implications of placing such a vital infrastructure project in the hands of foreign companies, in this case China and France. But she has since signaled that the government might adopt a more interventionist stance on foreign investment in less contentious sectors. The emergence of a more protectionist rhetoric from the prime minister has alarmed not only traditional business backers but also free-marketers in her own government. May's challenge is how to interpret the sentiment of the majority of voters who opted for Brexit in the June 23 referendum, which offered a simple "yes" or "no" choice on continued membership of the EU. The referendum result has been variously seen as primarily a rejection of large-scale immigration from Europe and elsewhere; as opposition to globalization, including the takeover of British industry by foreign firms; as a reassertion of sovereignty in the face of further political integration within the EU. Or all of the above. For some voters, the Brexit campaign slogan of "Take back control" might well have been taken as a pledge to take back control of those parts of the economy now in the hands of foreign companies. But that conflicts with the slogan of free market Brexiters that Britain would remain "Open for business" after EU withdrawal. Controversial foreign takeovers do occasionally make the headlines, as when the quintessentially British chocolate-maker Cadbury's was sold to a US company in 2010. The outcry over the sale was as much a sentimental protest as an expression of concern at the loss of British jobs. May might have judged that she was tapping into a popular resistance to foreign takeovers when she indicated she might change the law to allow the government to intervene more forcefully to assess their merits. That would involve establishing a system for the government to routinely vet big foreign deals. However, she faced immediate pushback, not only from the business sector but also within her own cabinet. Philip Hammond, the chancellor (finance minister) reportedly told her in cabinet that Britain could not go down what he called "the Danone route". He was referring to action by the French government in 2005 to block a foreign takeover of food producer Danone, regarded in France as something of a national treasure, just as Cadbury's was in Britain. Successive free-wheeling British governments have until now tended to ridicule the interventionist tendencies of some of the UK's European neighbors. But foreign investors can be forgiven for worrying that, post-Brexit, Britain's attitude to outside investment might be about to change. May's nudge toward protectionism might prove popular among voters in the short term, but in the light of the challenges confronting the UK economy after the referendum and of resistance from her free market colleagues, Britain is unlikely to turn its back on foreign investors just yet. The author is a veteran foreign affairs commentator. Contact the author on harvey.morris@gmail.com. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily. (China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page11) Speculation about the fate of Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the late Uzbek President Islam Karimov once tipped as his potential successor, has gripped Central Asia and observers of the region ever since she vanished from public life amid a corruption scandal more than two years ago. So Uzbek social media was understandably set ablaze when a new Twitter account earlier this month began publishing a stream of posts suggesting Karimova herself was the author of the tweets. But an investigation by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, has found that the person -- or group -- tweeting from the handle @Zabitaya1972 is merely posing as Karimova, whose popular Twitter account was shut down around the time she was placed under house arrest in 2014. Her conspicuous absence from her father's funeral last month, combined with her prolonged silence, has fueled rumors concerning her whereabouts. The purpose of the Twitter hoax remains unclear, though critics of the government suspect Uzbek security services may be involved. The appearance of the Twitter account comes as Shavkat Mirziyaev, Uzbekistan's prime minister and acting president, seeks to shore up his power base following Karimov's death. Mirziyaev has issued no comment on the legal status of Karimova, who was reportedly placed under house arrest in 2014. But for many, the fact that Uzbek authorities did not grant her temporary release to attend her father's funeral in September -- and even omitted her name when offering condolences to Karimov's family -- speaks louder than words. Inception Shortly after the account was created on October 2, the author or authors -- using the Twitter name Afina -- appeared to confirm widely circulating rumors that Karimova had been moved from house arrest to forced institutionalization in a psychiatric clinic in Tashkent. Without claiming directly to be Karimova, Afina darkly tweeted about being held against her will, desperately appealing to be allowed to see "my children," and posting an image of a typed letter -- signed by "Gulnara Karimova" -- to her "mother." The online reaction online was immediate. Uzbek social media users -- fans and critics of Karimova alike -- immediately began analyzing the clues and debating the authenticity of the account. Many believed that Karimova was indeed tweeting from the account, citing the tone and content, images of handwritten notes posted by Afina, and what appeared to be scraps of insider information only Karimova or someone close to her could have known. After expressing gratitude that her "requests" to see her daughter had been honored, Afina abruptly began launching bitter broadsides against acting President Shavkat Mirziyaev and the rest of the Karimov family, particularly Karimov's younger daughter, Lola, who remains active in public life in Uzbekistan. Then, on October 9, Afina wrote in Russian: "Some guests are here. It looks like they are taking me away to be shot." The tweets continued the following day, albeit with a notably different tone. Over the next several days, Afina posted series of first-person -- and at times obscene -- tweets implicating Lola Karimova in corruption and various crimes, including sex trafficking. Contact During this period, Afina contacted numerous influential social media accounts and opposition outlets via direct messaging -- including RFE/RL on October 12. In the appeals, Afina asked RFE/RL and other outlets to write articles based on the account and publicize information from prepared texts. In a Twitter exchange over several hours via direct messages, Afina explicitly claimed to be Gulnara Karimova. But when RFE/RL tested Afina on basic information about Karimova's biography, the Twitter user repeatedly failed. For example, Afina appeared to believe that the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) -- where Karimova once took a course -- was in Boston. In fact, it is located in New York City. RFE/RL then asked Afina a trick question about FIT, asking the interlocutor to "confirm" that the institute is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is located "on the west side of the Potomac River." Afina confirmed this deliberately erroneous information. In a final attempt to confirm the Twitter user's identity, RFE/RL then asked Afina to take a selfie while holding up three fingers and send it via direct message. In response, Afina sent a photograph of a woman's hand, with four fingers visible, resting on the edge of notebook. The notebook contained handwritten lines of what appeared to be poetry -- similar to posts that Gulnara Karimova had frequently made from her own Twitter account before 2015. When asked if the "beautiful poem" was her own, Afina replied: "Yes, thanks. Just, thinking out loud." In fact, however, the text is identical to excerpts of a romance advice column published on a Huffington Post blog in 2015. As Afina adopted a more desperate tone, asking that serious allegations against the Mirziyaev government be published, RFE/RL confronted the user directly with the evidence that he or she was not Gulnara Karimova. Afina admitted to the deception, but said that Karimova needs "help." The Twitter user then switched to Russian and claimed to be Karimova's daughter, Iman. As evidence, Afina sent a photograph of Iman identical to a publicly accessible image posted several years ago on the teenager's social media accounts. After RFE/RL continued to press for evidence of the Twitter user's true identity, Afina stopped responding. Later in the day, the Afina resumed tweeting as Gulnara Karimova, providing biographical details that carefully corrected some of the mistakes RFE/RL had challenged him or her on in the private exchange. 'We Need Revolution!' Although the true identity of the person -- or persons -- behind the hoax cannot be determined with certainty, several individuals contacted recently by Afina via direct message told RFE/RL they believe more than one person may be using the account -- and that Uzbekistan's National Security Committee (SNB) may be involved. "This is just an SNB project. [They are] trying to get [Karimova's] supporters," a well-known Uzbek Twitter activist using the pseudonym AkhmadxonUSA told RFE/RL. Akhmadxon, known as a follower of the influential exiled imam Obidkhon Qori Nazarov, confirmed that the real Gulnara Karimova had reached out to him via videoconference two years ago when she became embroiled in corruption scandals that preceded her spectacular fall from grace. He says the real Karimova asked for his help in getting her messages to the public, and that her appeals superficially resembled those he recently received from Afina via direct messaging on Twitter. However, he said, having spoken extensively with her on her verified account two years ago, he was "100 percent sure" that Gulnara was not operating the Afina account.He added that Afina refused to communicate over video conference and claimed "not to remember" an agreed-upon password that the real Karimova had urged him to ask for in case others might impersonate her on social media. He believes Afina's outreach is a provocation. "The last time I talked with Afina, she kept saying: 'We need revolution, we need to demand our rights!'" Akhmadxon told RFE/RL. He noted that "only maybe three people in the world" knew about his exchanges with Karimova, so if Afina is not Karimova, the person operating the account had access to her communication history -- such as the security services who presumably seized her electronic devices when she was arrested -- or had monitored the original exchanges. The pattern of communication from the Afina account and the people the user chose to reach out to via direct messages closely echoes previous tactics known to be used by Uzbek Security Service "trolls," who have adopted increasingly sophisticated messaging tactics in the past few years according to social media analysts. The editor of a website known for lampooning Uzbek politics also told RFE/RL that Afina had contacted the outlet claiming to have compromising materials about the Mirziyaev government. The texts Afina asked RFE/RL to publish stressed the importance of human rights and other values promoted by Western governments. They also included claims that Gulnara's son, Islom, was recognized by Karimov as his "true heir." This claim contradicts speeches made by Mirziyaev, who has identified Karimov as his mentor and teacher and painted himself as the authoritarian president's rightful successor. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Shenzhen now in fashion Updated: 2016-10-14 07:36 By Mariella Radaelli(China Daily Europe) Young, vibrant designers from the southern Chinese city make their debut at Milan Fashion Week China's young but vibrant fashion industry was traditionally centered in Shanghai and Beijing, but now Shenzhen is strutting its stuff on international catwalks. A raft of labels from the southern Chinese city made their Milan Fashion Week debuts this year, including pret-a-porter brand Ellassay, Xie Haiping and La Pargay. Chinese designers at Milan Fashion week including Xie Haiping; Lai Rui, founder of La Pargay; and Wang Dusen, brand image management center director for the brand Ellassay. Imax Tree / For China Daily Work by 18 young Shenzhen designers was also showcased on Milan's catwalks, in an event organized by the nonprofit Shenzhen Garment Industry Association. The show in late September comes after Shenzhen labels featured at the London and New York fashion weeks, and amid a growing international appetite for quality made-in-China goods. Shenzhen's creativity will be part of the Milan event every year from now on, says Francesco Fiordelli, an Italian designer and ambassador for the Shenzhen garment industry in Europe. He says, "Milan means internationalization and visibility." China's fashion textile sector has been "extremely lively" since the new government policies made the sector "absolutely strategic", he says. "The industry (in Shenzhen) has developed over the past five years, at an increase of 37 percent," he says. "Specifically, sales of women's clothing brands in China have risen more than 26 percent, while footwear and accessories are up more than 41 percent." Women's brands now have substantial market power, Fiordelli says, explaining that women's garments account for 85 percent of production in the city, which is also home to 85 percent of Chinese women's fashion companies. "Shenzhen is the most important women's garment-producing district in China," as it has shaped an entire supply chain, stretching from fabric production to distribution, he says. The city is home to 3,500 clothing brands and 15,000 designers, mostly in Dalang Fashion Valley. It is also known as the Chinese capital of interior design. "Working on the internationalization of Shenzhen brands is my life's mission," says Shen Yongfang, president of the Shenzhen Garment Industry Association, which along with promoting brands works to protect trademarks and other intellectual property against cheap, unauthorized knockoffs. Over the years, Shen has invited many European experts to the city to build collaborative relationships with local designers. She is also the founder the China International Brand Clothing and Accessories Fair, now in its 16th year, which attracts 1,200 exhibitors and about 5 million visitors to Shenzhen. She also helped establish the Shenzhen Clothing R&D Center and the Shenzhen Clothing and Garment Industry Cluster in the early 2000s. "The brands in the cluster, such as Marisfrolg and Yinger Group, have experienced rapid growth in the past decade. They have achieved billions of yuan in annual sales," Shen says. Meanwhile, Shen says Chinese women can find true elegance without having to wear European brands. "They are already behaving that way around the world," she says. "An elegant woman may wear a pair of superb Ferragamo shoes and a simple qipao (traditional Chinese dress) made with our unique silk. And that's it. Look at our first lady (Peng Liyuan); she is a model of elegance". She is also confident about the future development of Dalang Fashion Valley. "China's fashion industry is becoming more international thanks to connections and the regular exchanges of expertise, especially from Europe, the birthplace of fashion," Shen says. "China is not only a big garment country. Soon, we will become a powerful garment country. Ethnic and cultural elements are the source of fashion inspiration." Qu Xin, the mayor of Shenzhen, says the city will continue to support the fashion industry and invest in the production chain. Part of this effort will be to train the next generation of designers and industry professionals, such as tailors, cutters and pattern makers, he says. "We have become the most creative fashion hub in China," he says. "We'll achieve the impossible by establishing Shenzhen as an international center and a pole of attraction through the development of a fashion city, along with consolidation of fashion week and the fashion fair." Italian fashion academy Istituto Marangoni has also opened a training center in the city. Shenzhen, which neighbors Hong Kong, grew from a fishing village into a modern metropolis after former leader Deng Xiaoping launched his reform and opening-up policies. "Deng was the 'ferryman' of economic development," Shen says. "He nourished an economic boom that radically improved the lives of citizens. Shenzhen today is a reflection of Deng's extraordinary vision." For China Daily ( China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page22) Police in Chase City are investigating the fatal shooting of a man late Wednesday as the towns first homicide in a dozen years. Michael Jerome Stewart, 33, a Chase City resident, was found lying face down in the 400 block of North Washington Street after police responded to a shots fired call at 11:56 p.m., said Chase City Police Chief J.A. Jordan. Paramedics pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Were a small locality, and we dont have a lot (of killings), Jordan said Friday. But when we do, we take it very personal because weve got a small group of people here; weve got decent people here. The last homicide in the town of about 2,300 residents was in 2004, he said. We dont have a motive (for Stewarts slaying) at this point, Jordan said. We dont think it was robbery. Police tracking dogs were brought in to search the area, but nothing was found. The shooting scene is in a residential area in the northwest part of the town. Were asking for the publics help on this. We have no leads at this point, Jordan said. He said Stewart was living in Chase City but previously resided in Clarksville, about 16 miles away. Anyone with information about the killing can call Chase City police at (434) 372-4244 or Mecklenburg County Crime Solvers at (434) 738-6191. The Hanover County Sheriff's Office is investigating a rash of stolen vehicle reports, along with reports of items being stolen from vehicles. Two vehicles were reported stolen Thursday in the Hanover Grove subdivision off of Lee Davis Road, Sgt. James Cooper said. While investigating the vehicle thefts, investigators also found a vehicle in Hanover that had been stolen from Richmond. Also in the Hanover Grove subdivision, items had been reported stolen from one vehicle, while multiple other unlocked vehicles in that neighborhood had been rummaged through, the sheriff's office said. In addition, things were stolen Thursday from multiple unlocked vehicles in the 9200 block of Hanover Crossings Drive, according to the sheriff's office. "Investigators continue to process evidence and are seeking suspects in these cases," Cooper said. In a statement, the sheriff's office reminded citizens to lock their vehicles and remove all valuables. "This is a crime of opportunity," the sheriff's office said. The statement continues: "We once again request that any citizen that lives in the area where these crimes were committed and has an exterior security camera, to please check their footage and contact the Sheriffs Office if anything suspicious is noticed." For the love of art Updated: 2016-10-14 07:36 By Zhang Kun(China Daily Europe) Power couple Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei continue their prolific streak with the opening of a new Long Museum in Chongqing While artists, officials and guests gathered in the banquet hall to celebrate the opening of the Long Museum in Chongqing, Liu Yiqian was fast asleep in the hallway with his feet propped on the coffee table. Given his hectic schedule ahead of opening night, no one could blame him. The 53-year-old billionaire is one of China's best-known art collectors. He co-founded the first Long Museum in Shanghai in 2012 before opening a second in the same city in 2014. The Long Museum Chongqing's debut exhibition is 100 Years of Chinese Art, which features 137 iconic Chinese artworks. Photos by Gao Erqiang / China Daily The museums have gone on to hold exhibitions that have raised the eyebrows of art experts from home and abroad. Long Museum Chongqing, which opened on May 27, takes up the first three floors of the Guohua Financial Center, which is owned by Liu's investment company. A fourth Long Museum is set to open in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, in two years. Liu made his fortune in the early 1990s playing the stock market and is today president of several listed companies. He began investing in art in the 1990s, with his interest mainly in ancient Chinese art. His wife, Wang Wei, has also amassed an impressive collection of modern art and "revolutionary" art created in China between the 1950s and 1970s. Yet most people would argue that it is Wang who has the true passion for art - including Liu. "Be it to sell or rent, I built the towers (Guohua Financial Center) to make money from them," he said during his speech at the Chongqing banquet. "My wife decided she wanted the first three floors for a museum." He also went on to praise his wife for her efforts as the director of all three Long Museums and joked how he was getting used to being referred to as "the husband of Wang Wei, head of the Long Museum". Wang's personal art collection includes pieces from the early 20th century as well as Chinese and Asian contemporary works. She says she hopes she can introduce more cutting-edge artists to the wider public in China. As curator of the Chongqing museum's debut exhibition, 100 Years of Chinese Art, she has gathered 137 iconic Chinese artworks spanning 1911 to 2011 to present in five "chapters". The display, which is presented across three large halls, begins with works from the early 20th century, when modern and Western art were introduced to China, and shows audiences the process of how Chinese modern art gradually developed its distinctive style. The exhibition also explains how the founding of New China in 1949 brought about drastic changes to the nation's art scene and how it was used as a major political tool to highlight the accomplishments of leaders and people's efforts in nation-building. Featured are some important artworks from the 1980s, when China began to open up to the world, that reflect how artists were inspired and even overwhelmed by the influx of Western fashion and ideas. Among the exhibits are paintings from official school textbooks, iconic images in Chinese art history and paintings that have sold for record-breaking sums in recent years. Wang specially chose a large number of pieces by artists from Sichuan province for the show, saying that their achievements have not been truly reflected by other museums. "Chongqing has great significance in the modern Chinese art scene. In addition, I want to be where we're most needed, rather than join a hyperactive art community, such as in Beijing," Wang says when asked why she chose the southwestern city for the new Long Museum. Pang Maokun, head of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, agrees that locals hardly know anything about the achievements of artists from Chongqing and Sichuan. He feels the new Long Museum will play a positive role in the development of Chongqing's art ecology. "Long Museum has collected thousands of top-notch artworks from home and abroad that span more than 1,000 years. The quantity and quality of the collection is second to none in China," he says. "More importantly, the professionalism and dedication of Long Museum will be a source of inspiration for other museum workers in the region." In addition to introducing famous art from around the world, Long Museum Chongqing also aims to serve as an educational center for art schools and institutions. Wang says graduate students are welcome to do research at the museum, and that internship opportunities will be created. She adds that the museum's schedule has been fixed up to 2021 and includes an exhibition of American artist James Turrell's works as well as one highlighting the work of female artists. Directors of acclaimed institutions such as London's Tate Gallery and the Whitney Museum of American Art have expressed an interest in Long Museum exhibitions and are eager to participate in its activities. "People sometimes ask whether I have a team of consultants. Actually, it's one person - just me," Wang says. "But I never feel tired. There's only positive energy running through my veins. "I'm truly happy with what I do because it has brought me a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment." zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page21) The University of Virginia accepted plane tickets from a Chinese education company accused of admissions fraud, according to Reuters. According to the story, posted Friday afternoon, UVa is one of several universities that accepted airline tickets from Dipont an education company that the Reuters report accuses of massive college application fraud in 2014. Anthony de Bruyn, a spokesman for the university, said a UVa admissions officer attended a conference sponsored by Dipont in 2014. The company paid for the employees airfare, which is permitted under University policy, de Bruyn said in an email. But, de Bruyn said, UVa does not have a special relationship that the report says Dipont claims. Vanderbilt University, Wellesley College, Syracuse University, Tulane University and the University of Southern California are among the colleges also implicated in the report, which claims admissions officers from each of those schools have visited China to personally advise students at an annual program on how to apply to U.S. colleges. Many U.S. universities and colleges, including UVa, have been concerned about the viability of Chinese college admissions companies and agents representing Chinese applicants, and the university does not offer preferential treatment to applicants using such services, de Bruyn said. Dipont is an education company that helps Chinese students gain admission to American colleges and universities. The report cites anonymous sources within Dipont that claim the company routinely wrote application essays, altered recommendations and in at least one case gave a student access to his high school transcript so he could erase bad grades. Serve up a dish fit for a king Updated: 2016-10-14 07:36 By Pauline D Loh(China Daily Europe) Editor's note: To understand China, sit down to eat. Food is the indestructible bond that holds the whole social fabric together and it is also one of the last strong visages of community and culture. Yunnan cuisine has become popular of late. In almost all major cities in China, you are bound to come across exotic dishes from the so-called Land Beneath the Rainbow Clouds. Food from this southwestern Chinese province is very grounded, its earthy flavors coming from the influence of ethnic and tribal groups, of which there are 27 scattered throughout the region. The plentiful use of seasonings such as onions, garlic, wild peppers, chili, tamarind, herbal leaves and roots like coriander, dill, basil, mint, wild ginger and other rhizomes make its flavors nearer to that of Southeast Asia than continental China. Xiaodaoya is a main attraction hanging in the restaurant windows in Kunming. A Ying / For China Daily Today, let's look at two legendary birds that are famous in Yunnan that have retained their natural flavors without too much tampering. One is a silky chicken cooked in a clay steamer pot - Yunnan's signature qiguoji. The other is an equally historic littleduck, first introduced by the province's Hui Muslims more than 600 years ago. To understand the chicken, we have to flip the page of history back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) during Emperor Qianlong's days. On one of his forays deep into Yunnan, he visited Jianshui, a city known for its crystal-clear springs and tofu. The local governor decided you couldn't serve an emperor only spring water and tofu, so he commanded all the chefs in town to come up with a dish that could be set before a king. An inventive cook decided to create a special dish out of the local red-glazed pottery. His pot had a funnel in the middle and allowed steam to enter and cook the meat without adding any liquid, based on the distillation principle. The bird deemed worthy enough of such a unique pot was the local silky chicken, a small bird covered in snow-white feathers with blue ear patches and red wattles. Once stripped of its feathers, it was a black chicken, right down to its internal membranes and bones. It is also a sweet succulent bird without too much excess fat. First, the chicken is dressed and chopped up into bite-size pieces that are carefully arranged around the funnel, rather like a Bundt pan. Thin slices of ginger, and salt and pepper are the only seasoning needed. No water is added. The lid is firmly closed and sealed with parchment paper. The pot is then lifted onto another boiling pan of water and steamed for three to four hours. In the end, the poultry pieces inside the pot are miraculously swimming in an intense chicken broth. We don't know if Emperor Qianlong liked this chicken, but it certainly got enough rave reviews from other satisfied customers that it stayed on the menu. Not only that, but it spread far beyond Jianshui and became the accepted dish to offer honored guests all over Yunnan. As in every dish that becomes popular, successive generations of chefs have added their own touches. Qiguoji is now offered steamed with Chinese herbs such as panax ginseng or cordyceps, and sometimes bird's nest is added for a touch of decadence. In its simplest form, the three main ingredients are silky chicken, slices of Xuanwei ham, and the province's well-known mushrooms such as cepes, matsutake, chanterelles and porcini. One thing is constant and that is the quality of the chicken broth, savory and full of the umami of the distilled bird. Properly made, it glisters with minute globules of tasty golden fat. In another little town called Yiliang, on the way to the karst hills of the Puzhehei tourist district, it is a little duck that makes gourmets salivate. It is indeed a little duck, for it must not be more than 40 days old when it hangs in the oven to roast. The end result is a tiny whole bird only as large as a man's fist and wing tips that easily fit on his fingernails. Yiliang roast duckling is prepared much like Peking duck. These little cousins have the same succulent meat and crisp skin, but they come with bones so soft they can be crushed in the mouth. In Kunming's prosperous Muslim quarters, the main attraction hanging in the restaurant windows are the rows upon rows of tiny roast ducks. They call them little knife ducks, or xiaodaoya. They are transplants from Yiliang and are prepared according to halal rites. Otherwise, the recipes are identical. The ducks are drained of blood and blanched once to remove scum and grit. They are then dried before being rubbed inside and out with a mixture of salt fried with ground star anise, cardamom, fennel, cumin and Sichuan peppercorns. The ducklings are then hung for four hours, after which the skin is inflated like a balloon to separate it from the meat. The birds are dipped quickly into boiling water to tighten the skin before being repeatedly massaged with raw honey. After a final air-curing, the birds are hung inside steel drum ovens where they are roasted and then smoked. It may seem to be a long process for such a little duck, but therein lies the attraction. The duckling skin is crisp and burnished with honey, the meat pink, tender and just a little gamey. Even the bones are often obliterated by eager foodies. The name little knife duck comes from the Hui, who prefer to eat with their hands and often serve lamb and duck with a knife on the plate so diners can cut up individual portions. The duck is served with a sweet bean paste dip and a dried chili flake mixture. Yunnan offers many delicious encounters, but the adventure is never complete until you've met the black chicken in its funneled steamer pot, and the little spring duckling. paulined@chinadaily.com.cn Recipe to try You may not have the luxury of owning a qiguo or steamer pot, but you can still enjoy the original flavors of steamed silky chicken. Most Asian grocery markets carry these little black birds. Steamed black chicken 1 small silky chicken Slices of any hard dried, cured ham Dried mushroom like cepes, porcini, chanterelle; rehydrated Salt and pepper 4 to 5 thin slices of ginger Corn flour Remove excess fat from the chicken and trim off any hanging flaps of skin. Discard the claws and head. Cut up the chicken in pieces that will fit into a deep bowl. Prepare the steamer on high heat. Wash chicken pieces and marinate with salt, pepper and lightly dust with cornflour. You have salty ham in the platter so go easy on the white crystals. Line the bowl with ginger slices and place the chicken pieces on top. Tuck the cut-up ham slices in between the chicken. Place the mushrooms on top. Steam uncovered for an hour on medium heat. The long cooking will convert the steam into delicious chicken juice. That's the reason for a deep bowl. (China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page18) It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search BRICS leaders look for stronger union Updated: 2016-10-14 07:37 By Andrew Moody(China Daily Europe) Struggling economies of some members put pressure on group The leaders of the leading emerging nations need to demonstrate the BRICS organization still matters when it meets for its eighth summit in Goa, India, on Oct 15, experts say. The two-day meeting takes place against the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding some of the economies within the bloc. High on the agenda will be institutional reform so its members, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and China, can work more effectively together to deliver results. Martin Jacques says China remains committed to the developing world rather than focusing all its interest on the West. Zhang Wei / China Daily Windsor Chan at Hogan Lovells says China is playing a major part in BRICSs. Mujahid Safodien / For China Daily British author Gideon Rachman says there remains a big question about how BRICS hangs together as a political grouping. Nick J.B. Moore / For China Daily The summit, which President Xi Jinping will attend, and which will have a lotus flower in the color of each of its members' flag as its emblem, will have a five-pronged approach to build a more coherent organization, which will include integration, innovation and exploring synergies among existing mechanisms. Jeremy Stevens, chief China economist at Standard Bank, Africa's largest bank, says such issues remain important for such a young organization. It was in effect founded only seven years ago. "I expect them to focus on issues such as institutional underpinning and collaboration generally such as people-to-people exchanges and learning from one another," he says. "One area where they might want to cooperate more is infrastructure construction." Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator and author of Easternization, which examines the rise of Eastern countries, says there remains a big question about how BRICS hangs together as a political grouping. "It started out as an economic proposition and has mutated into something more political. I am not sure if it still makes sense as a geopolitical proposition. What is actually meant to unite them? They are all big emerging markets, apart from South Africa, but that is about it. "My guess is that in 20 years' time we will have forgotten all about BRICS, but I could be wrong." BRICS, a term first used by former Goldman Sachs chairman Jim O'Neill in 2001, formally became an official grouping when the countries held their first summit in Yekaterinberg, Russia, in 2009. The founding countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China, were joined by South Africa, which, although much smaller than the others, was seen as a proxy member for the African continent. Since the last summit in Russia in July last year, the organization has set up the New Development Bank and launched a 3 billion yuan ($447 million; 401 million euros; 364 million pounds) green financial bond. But with the Chinese economy slowing and the Russian and Brazilian economies hit hard by the slump in commodity prices, the organization may have lost some of its original gloss. Martin Jacques, author of When China Rules the World and a visiting professor at the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, believes China remains committed to the organization, despite the suggestion it is looking more to Western countries such as Germany and the UK to build economic and commercial ties. "China's fundamental orientation is to the developing world, and I think you can see this by looking at its overall foreign policy and the arguments it makes about reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Unlike BRICS, these Washington-based institutions don't reflect the developing world." Despite the recent economic difficulties of some of its members, some 3 billion people, or 43 percent of the global population, live in BRICS countries and the bloc makes up 20 percent of global GDP. "The reality is that the BRICS economies matter more and more every year," Stevens of Standard Bank says. "These countries are reshaping global trade and investment in a profound way. The growing size of their economies and their huge populations are producing a huge structural transformation." Some argue that the biggest BRICS initiative has been overshadowed by China setting up its Asia Infrastructure Investment bank this year, which has more development capital than the World Bank, and its Belt and Road Initiative. "It might have slightly overshadowed what BRICS is doing, but I think China sees the organization as one of its major networks and it won't abandon it," Jacques says. "When China does something it sticks to it." In BRICS, China's economy is the biggest, five times larger than that of the next biggest, India. Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets and chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley in New York and author of The Rise and Fall of Nations, believes this remains a fault line. "China is really far above any BRICS nation. This and the changing general sentiment about emerging markets is also not good for the organization," he says. Windsor Chan, strategy consultant for Asia practice at law firm Hogan Lovells in Johannesburg, insists, however, that China playing a major part in BRICS gives it its strength. "It is certainly very important for South Africa. BRICS as with the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is seen as a way of engaging with China and facilitating investment and trade with Africa generally." andrewmoody@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page25) BRICS 'needs to find focus again' Updated: 2016-10-14 07:37 By Wang Mingjie(China Daily Europe) Some BRICS countries need to find their purpose again, given that some of the economies are weak. So says Jim O'Neill, who in 2001 coined the acronym BRIC, grouping Brazil, Russia, India and China as potential growth powerhouses. South Africa was added nine years later to make it BRICS. "They need to find their collective purpose and really maintain the collective vision," the former UK Treasury minister and life peer told China Daily in an exclusive interview to mark the 15th anniversary of the publication of his paper coining the name. "Brazil, Russia and South Africa are now in recession, with many questioning their BRICS status. "Even though they have got problems, they are still key parts of the global economy," O'Neill says. "They need to be involved in global governance, so the importance of the BRICS is not diminished by the fact that they are in recession." The former Goldman Sachs chief economist says: "In the 15-year context, people also need to remember in the first decade since I created the acronym, all the BRICS countries grew much more than I said. So even though Brazil and Russia particularly have been disappointing, the collective size is pretty similar to what I said it would be. Very importantly, so far this decade China is growing by more than I assumed." O'Neill believes that China can play a role inside the BRICS bloc because it is so big. In fact, China is twice as big as the other four economies combined. He thinks that BRICS economies could reinforce practical cooperation by undertaking collective investments in terms of environmentally-friendly and alternative energies, consistent with climate challenges, particularly now that China has signed the Paris climate change agreement. O'Neill, who has been chairing a formal review of anti-microbial resistance, said BRICS countries could also take a collective position on what they want to do in terms of initiating policy change on the back of UN agreement, especially because they all suffer from the interplay of infectious disease. The challenges facing the world economies are many, with a lot coming from the developed world, but he said BRICS countries should consider sensible shared infrastructure projects. "Take China's Belt and Road initiative, for example, which touches three out of five BRICS countries. One could conceive of all the BRICS countries' investment banks maybe playing a role in Belt and Road infrastructure efforts. That would be a significant opportunity for them to do things together, which would help strengthen their economies and the world economy." This year is a landmark one for China because it hosted the G20 summit for the first time, he said. "Hosting an international summit is never easy, but I like the focus they brought to try to improve the global economy and global governance. In some way, the best part of the G20 was endorsing China's status as an important part of the world economy." O'Neill resigned recently as a Treasury minister amid reported tensions over the approach to China of the new prime minister, Theresa May, including the UK's Northern Powerhouse project. In the last year he has been involved in building up Northern Powerhouse, with attempts to bring Chinese investment into new schemes. O'Neill, who was born in Manchester, said he remains passionate about the Northern Powerhouse project and is eager to help that continue. He also hopes the Sino-UK relationship will not change under May's leadership. "Obviously I played my own role in developing the so-called golden relationship, which is very exciting, and I think it is very important for the UK, especially post-Brexit, that we develop stronger trade links with key drivers of the world economy, and obviously China is one of them." wangmingjie@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily European Weekly 10/14/2016 page24) Deals with Cambodia include energy, trade Updated: 2016-10-14 06:30 By An Baijie(China Daily) Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, meet in Phnom Penh, Oct 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] China and Cambodia inked 31 cooperative documents on Thursday during President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the Southeast Asian neighbor. Features of the agreements and memorandums of understanding, whose signings were witnessed by Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, include loans, trade deals and construction of power plants. Additionally, China has agreed to import 200,000 tons of rice from Cambodia. The two countries also agreed to jointly implement the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in production capacity. The initiative, consisting of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was proposed by Xi in 2013 with a focus on infrastructure. During his talks with Hun Sen, Xi said he received a magnificent and friendly welcome "from the moment I stepped from the plane". Hundreds of students welcomed the delegation with portraits of the two countries' leaders on the streets outside the airport. China will continue to offer more support to Cambodia to help the country maintain stability and improve people's livelihoods, Xi said. Under the leadership of Hun Sen, Cambodia has gained stable social order and rapid economic development, improved people's livelihoods and promoted the country's international status, Xi said. The Cambodian prime minister called Xi's visit historic and said it will strengthen the traditional bilateral friendship. He also expressed gratitude for China's medical treatment of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath. Xi was making his first state visit to Cambodia since he became China's top leader in late 2012. He will fly to Bangladesh on Friday morning and then go to Goa, India, to attend the eighth BRICS Summit. In July, Cambodia voiced support for China's stance on the South China Sea issue after the ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in a case unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III. Ye Hailin, a senior researcher of South Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Xi's visit will not only strengthen bilateral ties with Cambodia, but also have great influence on the Southeast Asian region. "Cambodia is not a big power, but the country's role is quite prominent in the Southeast Asian region," he said. The visit will deepen China-Cambodia cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, he added. "Cambodia is a young country that has great potential in infrastructure and industrial upgrade, and what Cambodian people expect is the same as what Chinese investors expect," Ye said. Xi: China considers Bangladesh important partner in South Asia Updated: 2016-10-14 14:47 By An Baijie in Dhaka(chinadaily.com.cn) Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid, right, holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Dhaka, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] China considers Bangladesh as an important partner in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, President Xi Jinping said in an arrival statement at the Dhaka airport on Friday. "We are ready to work with the Bangladeshi side to further deepen our political mutual trust and elevate our relations and practical cooperation to a higher level," Xi said. Xi is paying a state visit to Bangladesh from Friday to Saturday. He is the first Chinese president to visit Bangladesh in the past 30 years. He arrived in Dhaka at about 11:40 am after wrapping up visit to Cambodia. He will then fly to Goa of India to attend the eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend. "In the 41 years of our diplomatic relations, China-Bangladesh ties have kept moving forward," Xi said in the statement. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Dhaka for a state visit, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The Chinese president pointed out that China and Bangladesh face similar task of development. He said that the Chinese dream to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is "in perfect harmony" with Bangladesh's dream of a "Sonar Bangla". "I look forward to having broad and in-depth exchange of views with President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and other Bangladeshi leaders on China-Bangladesh relations and issues of mutual interests to chart the course for our future cooperation and jointly usher in a new chapter in our bilateral relations," Xi added. Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid upon Xi's arrival in Dhaka, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Jiang Jingkui, director of the Center of South Asian Studies at Peking University, said that the South Asian region, which was not a traditional focus for China, has become more 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 the northern part of South Asia is key for the (Silk Road Economic) Belt, while the southern part is important for the (21st Century Maritime Silk) Road. Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, arrives in Dhaka for a state visit, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Bangladesh has been positive in implementing the China-India-Myanmar-Bangladesh economic corridor, and Xi's visit will bring more practical cooperative results for the two countries, he said. TOUCHING tributes have been paid to former Voluntary Action Rotherham chairman Peter Broxham, whose death leaves a huge gap for charities across the town. Mr Broxham - who was also a keen member of the Round Table and then Rother Vale 41 Club - died on September 2 at the age of 75 following a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He had served nine years as VAR chairman and was still an active member of its board of trustees at the time of his death. Janet Wheatley, chief executive officer of VAR, said: Peters death will leave a huge gap for the many local charities that he actively supported. For more than 30 years, Peter has been an active supporter, friend and trustee of many local groups. He was determined never to be defined by his illness. He was a real gentleman who was passionate and supportive of the voluntary and community sector. He was always willing to help out and provide advice, support and encouragement whenever it was needed. Former steelworker Peter had to retire from British Steel in 1981 before going into the voluntary sector. Margaret Oldfield, VAR chairman, said: Peter was always keen to give back to the community and worked tirelessly, never once complaining or expressing frustration at the challenges he faced daily. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends and so many in the voluntary and community sector as a whole but he has left us with many happy and fond memories. We at VAR, many other voluntary organisations, and Rotherham as a whole, owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. It has been our privilege and pleasure in having known and been associated with Peter for so many years. MORE than 600 jobs for Santas Little Helpers are up for grabs as Royal Mail prepares for its Christmas post rush. Seasonal workers are being sought by Royal Mail to help sort the Christmas post, as well as the increasing amount of online Christmas shopping. They will support Royal Mail's 120,000 permanent postmen and women who sort and deliver the mail all year round. In South Yorkshire, there are around 670 jobs on offer, of which about 600 are in Sheffield with the remainder in Doncaster. Temporary positions across a variety of shifts will be available between mid-November through to early January, with most of the extra work on offer in the busiest month of December. Parcelforce Worldwide is also looking for drivers and indoor workers as the whole organisation gears up to deliver at Christmas. Royal Mail's chief operations officer, Sue Whalley, said: Christmas is our busiest time of year. We plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service for consumers and businesses in the UK at Christmas. We make a substantial commitment in additional resources including the recruitment of thousands of temporary workers to handle the festive mailbag and the growing market of online Christmas shopping. Royal Mail also has a year-round recruitment drive where it recruits postmen and women into its delivery offices around the UK. There are a range of permanent and temporary delivery roles in sites across England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. More information is available at www.royalmail.com/jobs. A dedicated website for Christmas positions can be found at www.royalmailgroup.com/xmasjobs and more information is available on 0345 600 1785. The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has released Belgium's rough and polished diamond trading statistics for the first nine months of 2016 (January-September), which show a decrease in both volume and value of polished diamond imports and exports, alongside increases in volume and value of rough diamond imports and exports. Exports of polished diamonds from the country during the period reached 4.17 million carats, valued at US$9.33 billion, down respectively 9.64 percent and 8.68 percent, year-over-year (YoY). Imports were also down, with 4.73 million carats (down 9.16 percent YoY), at US$10.18 billion (down 9.44 percent YoY). Rough diamond exports for the nine-month period increased 14.73 percent by volume YoY to 80.75 million carats, and rose 12.43 percent by value to US$9.82 billion. Imports of rough diamonds for the period were 69.86 million carats, 11.66 percent higher compared with the previous year, and US$9.29 billion by value, an increase of 7.86 percent YoY. Rough diamond imports and exports in the month of September show significant growth when compared with the previous year: Rough exports increased 26.04 percent by volume to 10.78 million carats, and a huge 60.92 percent in value to US$1.42 billion. Rough imports were also up significantly, with 10.16 million carats imported during the month, valued at US$870 million, up 45.61 percent and 39.07 percent respectively. Union Pacific Union Pacific (UP) has announced the completion of its rail fastening system replacement throughout the curved track in the Columbia River Gorge, which saw the June 2016 UP derailment involving 16 tank cars near the town of Mosier, Ore. The curved track that stretches eight miles is now secured by a fastening system using spikes rather than lag bolts, which the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) said caused gauge widening along the tracks and led to the derailment in its preliminary report on the incident. UP says its use of spikes instead of lag bolts is expected to improve the detectability of defects during future inspections, whereas defects in lag bolts were more difficult to identify. The FRA also noted in its June report that broken and sheared lag bolts can be troublesome to locate by high-rail inspections, but are critically important to resolve quickly. We have a clear focusto safely operate our trains and protect our communities, said Wes Lujan, UPs vice president of public affairs for the railroads western region. The fastening system replacement reinforces our commitment to rail safety in the Gorge as we strive to improve upon our 99.98 percent hazardous materials safety record and achieve our goal of zero incidents. The railroad says it has implemented significant safety improvements to decrease the networks derailments by 35 percent from 2000 to 2015 and that it lowered derailments in Oregon by 58 percent between 2000 and 2015. DCC plc (DCC.L) announced that DCC Technology, which trades as Exertis, has agreed to acquire Hammer Consolidated Holdings Limited, a specialist distributor of server and storage solutions to resellers in the UK and Continental Europe. DCC has agreed to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Hammer based on an initial enterprise value of 38.3 million pounds. The consideration will be paid entirely in cash and is structured as an initial payment at completion, followed by earn out payments over three years based on Hammer's future trading results. Based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, Hammer distributes server and storage products for a broad range of leading suppliers including Dell, Intel, NetApp, Seagate and Western Digital. It provides product design and build solutions tailored to the requirements of customers in specific industries. Hammer sells to value added resellers, cloud service providers and system integrators from sales offices in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Holland and Belgium. Tommy Breen, Chief Executive of DCC plc, said: "The acquisition of Hammer will significantly strengthen the product and service capability offered by Exertis to its reseller customers. In addition, Hammer's expertise will better enable us to take advantage of positive industry trends, including growth in cloud data centers and demand for big data analytics." For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Allergan plc (AGN) said it will present new data from its irritable bowel syndrome portfolio at the upcoming American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting in Las Vegas during October 14 to 19. The presentation will be on efficacy and safety of Viberzi or Eluxadoline in IBS-D Patients Who Report Prior Inadequate Symptom Control with Loperamide and Impact of Baseline Pain Severity on the Efficacy of Eluxadoline in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea. Viberzi is a twice daily, oral medication indicated for use in adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea. The company said there is a potential for increased risk of sphincter of Oddi spasm, resulting in pancreatitis or hepatic enzyme elevation associated with acute abdominal pain with Viberzi. These events were reported in less than 1% of patients. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News As Thailand mourns the death of it revered King Bhumibol, Facebook in allegiance suspended all ads on its pages. Such an action is for the first time in the history of the social media giant. Facebook said shutting down of ads were part of a cultural custom. King Bhumibol Adulyadej died on Thursday at the age of 88. He was the ruler of the country for the last 70 years. The country will be observing mourning for 30 days. All National flags will be at half-mast. Facebook has not said anything about the extent of its ad shut-down in Thailand. Facebook in an update said advertisers in Thailand can continue to run ads outside of Thailand. Meanwhile, Google has changed its homepage in Thailand to dark grey and white color and its ads are running as usual. Thai TV stations are broadcasting programs in black and white. When, Lee KuanYew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, died in March 2015, Yahoo had shut down all advertisements from its pages. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News Crude oil futures were lower Friday, as industry data showed U.S. rig counts continue to rise. In a sign that U.S. production could make up for OPEC output quotas, Baker Hughes reported the nation's rig count rose 4 to 432. Meanwhile, the EIA said Thursday that U.S. oil inventories rose 4.9 million barrels last week. WTI crude oil for December were down 9 cents at $50.09 a barrel. The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.6 percent in September after edging down by a revised 0.2 percent in August. Meanwhile, U.S. producer prices increased by slightly more than expected in the month of September. Also, consumer confidence unexpectedly fell to a one-year low in October amid anxiety over the presidential election. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... By SA Commercial Prop News Lonrho is turning the historic former Stuttafords Department Store building in the Johannesburg Central Business District into the easyHotel Rissik Street. Lonrho (LON:LONR) is opening the first easyHotel branded hotel by the end of the year under its exclusive franchise agreement with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup. Lonrho Plc will develop the first easyHotel.com branded hotel in Africa in the former Stuttafords department store building in Rissik Street in the Johannesburg CBD. Scheduled to open at the end of the year, the hotel will be developed in terms of a franchise agreement with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannous easyGroup. The easyHotel.com Rissik Street is the first hotel under the exclusive 20-year master franchise agreement (MFA) that Lonrho enjoys with easyHotel. Together, easyHotel and Lonrho are committed to establishing an easyHotel network across Africa. The MFA provides Lonrho with the exclusive rights to the easyHotel brand in Africa and sets out an agreed opening schedule for 50 properties by 2016. Opening its first easyHotel.com in the heart of the Johannesburg, the commercial capital of South Africa, demonstrates Lonrho Budget Hotels corporate objective of operating hotels in Africas high-demand, high-growth destinations. Lonrho says easyHotel will be the first trans-continental hotel brand in Africa specifically designed to be accessible to many, not a select few. easyHotels unique low-cost business model permits the customer to enjoy an international standard bedroom at a highly competitive price. The easy brand is one of the worlds most recognised and successful value-for-money brands and easyHotel.com Rissik Street will be built and operated to easyGroups international standards, providing clean, safe and branded hotel accommodation for people travelling on business, leisure and visiting friends and family. David Lenigas, executive chairman of Lonrho, said: This new hotel project between Sir Stelios and Lonrho starts the roll-out of easyHotels.com throughout Africa. Room prices will start from US$29 per room per night. There is a large gap in the market for a quality budget hotel and the easyHotel.com room offering is ideally suited to fill it across the continent. Lonrho is already a significant brand name across Africa. We believe that combining it with the easy brand, which is well-known for highly successful budget operations, to create the Lonrho easyHotel.com chain will satisfy the growing demand from consumers across the continent. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, chairman of easyGroup, commented: easyHotel is all about simple comfort and great value. So I`m delighted to bring our first African hotel to Johannesburg. The city has a wealth of attractions and events of interest to both leisure and business visitors, and this new easyHotel will allow them to enjoy the best of what Johannesburg has to offer without the expense. Im confident that easyHotel fans will soon be putting South Africa on their destinations wish list. Im looking forward to working closely with David Lenigas and his team as we begin bringing quality, value-for-money services to Africa. By SA Commercial Prop News The Mall @ Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg, owned by Redefine Properties. The Mall @ Scottsville on Pietermaritzburgs busy Durban Road revealed its new look to shoppers today with the 8,500m first phase of its extensive revamp. The much-anticipated refurbishment which kicked off in August 2011 - saw the popular mall get a full makeover that includes a refreshed tenant mix, re-branding, enhanced security and a contemporary look throughout. Owner Redefine Properties, a property loan stock company listed on the JSE, invested R34.5 million in the three-phase project. The mall is superbly situated on the main arterial into Pietermaritzburg from the east, and the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of Kwazulu-Natal is right on its doorstep. Checkers remains our anchor tenant, explains Group Development Manager at Redefine Properties, Mike Ruttell, However weve expanded our offering to include among many others Mr Price, Sheet Street and Bed Masters as well as African Bank and Capitec Bank. He points out that existing tenants have played a key role in the refurbishment, updating their own stores and contributing in a dynamic way to the re-branded space. The first phase includes a full redesign of the common areas, an extensive security upgrade and a new, contemporary look. The second and third phases will focus on expanding and diversifying the tenant mix. We are all excited about the fresh, modern feel with local stone, wood and natural light as key design elements, he says. As an investment, the refurbishment is paying off. The first phase is fully let and generating a yield of 10.26%. Ruttell adds that leasing for the second and third phases is in full swing, with tenants like El Sombrero Spur and a post office already signed up. Several local companies successful in Best of the Best awards business Church and village contributions are not to blame for our sufferings, and most importantly, these are not the causes of poverty. Although many have argued that these have resulted in poverty in Samoa, Togoiu Misiki from the village of Sasina disagrees. The 88-year-old told the Village Voice yesterday that he disagrees with the claims made by some people saying that church and village contributions are why some are living in poverty. Service is one of the key values in the Samoan culture, he said. This value of service is reflected in the very well known proverbial expression o le ala ile pule o le tautua the pathway to leadership or authority is through service. And these two practices are part of our service to our village and church. Its what our forefathers instilled in us and we should follow it. This is where we get our blessings from. We are used to serving and it has always been like that. He went on to say that everything begins at home. In Samoa, family is the solid foundation of everything. I always believe that if families fuse together, the village will unite and so will the churches as well. But if our families are not welded together, then there will be no unity within our villages and churches. So I think that if our families and their leaders highlight and emphasize the importance of good service, then we wont have these many problems any more. I believe that if our children are taught from an early age to serve their home communities and extended families, then they will be awarded leadership opportunities when they come of age. Tautua is more than an attitude amongst Samoans; it is a value that is highly prized, and brings prestige to a family because it is a duty and obligation carried out to honour ones family or aiga. Moreover, he also believes that the leaders of our families, villages and churches should show our children how to serve. Its our job as leaders to lead and serve. We are to show them how and why it is important to serve. On the other hand, Togoiu also thinks that the break down of our family values in todays society have resulted in the bad behaviours of our youths nowadays. Like I said, everything begins at home. The changes in the behaviours and actions of our children nowadays all starts from home. If the parents dont do their job well with how they raise their children, they will end up as troublemakers. The workshops we have now are not the solutions to the problems we have now. We have so many workshops aiming to alleviate the problems faced by our youths. But the answer is simple. Go back to our roots and bring back our old ways of raising our children. He also believes in the saying that it takes a whole village to raise a child. It takes a whole village to raise a child and everyone has a part to play. The parents, church ministers, the matais, the teachers and the government. Lastly, at the age of 88, Togoiu uttered that there have been a lot of changes in the lifestyle we have in Samoa nowadays. There have been a lot of changes in Samoa nowadays. The lifestyle is different compared to how it was back then. For instance, back in the days, we didnt have cars. We used to walk from one end to another. We had to walk to the plantation and carry our loads on our shoulders back to our houses. We also used to walk to the hospitals and to town as well. CONCORD, N.H. (AP) U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster believes Donald Trump used his fame to force himself on women with neither consent nor consequences. She says she experienced just that with a celebrity surgeon who assaulted her decades ago when she was a young staffer on Capitol Hill. Kuster, a Democrat seeking her third term, briefly described the incident last summer during a House floor speech about campus sexual assault. But it wasn't until the recent publication of Trump's vulgar and sexually predatory comments that she publicly named the man she says assaulted her: Dr. Christiaan Barnard, who performed the world's first human heart transplant in 1967 and died in 2001. In Thursday interview, Kuster said it's Barnard's status, not identity, that's important. She first named him in an editorial board meeting with the Concord Monitor on Wednesday. "The point I was trying to make is that I was 23 years old and in a situation with someone famous, and I not only didn't know what to do, I didn't dare tell anyone," she said. "I don't tell the story because it's remarkable or unique, I tell the story because it's all too common." Kuster spoke days after release of a 2005 recording in which the Republican presidential nominee boasted of using his fame to kiss and grab women without their consent. "And when you're a star, they let you do it," Trump said, adding later after making a vulgar comment: "You can do anything." Trump apologized for his comments, but also dismissed them as "locker room talk" and a distraction from the campaign. He also has said he never engaged in the sort of conduct he described. "That just really caused me to think that because women have not spoken up and in my case it was 40 years we're complicit in an environment that continues," Kuster said. "What has happened with Mr. Trump's comments ... ironically, he has launched a nationwide dialogue, and he inadvertently defined lack of consent," she said. "It's been a taboo topic for too long. That's why I want to use this discussion as an opportunity to educate the public and also to advocate on behalf of survivors for change." Kuster had recently graduated from Dartmouth College when she took a job as a legislative aide to U.S. Rep. Pete McCloskey, a Republican from California. She said she was seated at a business luncheon with her boss and Barnard when the South African cardiologist reached his hand under her skirt. She told no one until last June, just before her floor speech. "I was so shocked, I just didn't say anything, and I think that's typical," she said. "Juries struggle with this: 'Why didn't you come forward sooner? Why didn't you report the incident?' There's so much shame and stigma on the survivor, your reaction is to try to deal with it privately." Barnard became an international star after he transplanted the heart of a young car crash victim into the chest of a 55-year-old businessman in Cape Town, South Africa. The obituary published in the Los Angeles Times, said Barnard's "surgical successes were ultimately overshadowed by his playboy celebrity" and described his three marriages and "notorious trysts" with Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and others. According to his autobiography, he was "consumed and intoxicated" by fame. One of Barnard's grandchildren, who runs a nonprofit foundation named for him in South Africa, did not immediately respond to an email request. A call to McCloskey's law office in California also was not returned. Since returning to Washington as a congresswoman, Kuster has co-sponsored legislation to codify rights for sexual assault survivors and pushed for an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act to address the growing problem of sexual assault in the military. In New Hampshire, she has hosted several forums on college campuses to discuss the issue. She said her decision to tell her story is a continuation of those efforts. "This moment in time gives us a chance to broaden the dialogue and advocate for a change in the environment, to say definitively, this is inappropriate behavior and to give support to survivors to come forward and get the treatment they need," she said. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago were freed Thursday in a swap for detained leaders of the Islamic extremist group the first release since nearly 300 girls were taken captive in a case that provoked international outrage. The freed girls, some carrying babies, were released before dawn and placed in the custody of the Department of State Services, Nigeria's secret intelligence agency. In photos released by the government, the former captives, most now young women, appeared gaunt and exhausted. The government "wants the girls to have some rest," said presidential spokesman Garba Shehu, adding that "all of them are very tired." Some 197 captives remain missing, though some reportedly have died. "We are extremely delighted and grateful," said the Bring Back Our Girls movement, which campaigned in Nigeria and internationally for the release of the girls, most of whom were teenagers when they were seized in April 2014 from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok. "We thank the federal government and, like Oliver Twist, we ask for more," said Hauwa Biu, an activist in Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state and the birthplace of Boko Haram. The release was negotiated between the government and Boko Haram, with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government acting as intermediaries, Shehu said. He said negotiations would continue for the release of the other students. Many of the girls freed Thursday were carrying babies, said an aid worker who saw them in Maiduguri, where they were taken by helicopter after their release, before being flown to the capital, Abuja. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The government said at least one child, a boy of about 20 months, was among those released. Many Boko Haram captives recently freed by military action have been shunned by their communities because they came home pregnant or with babies from the fighters. Four detained Boko Haram leaders were released Wednesday night in Banki, a town on Nigeria's northeast border with Cameroon, said a military officer familiar with the talks. Just hours later, the girls were released in Banki, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists. But Information Minister Lai Mohammed insisted there was no swap, just "a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides." At a news conference, he refused to say how the girls were chosen. He said they would be "debriefed" and placed in the care of doctors, psychologists, social workers and trauma experts, and their names would be released after their parents were informed. In Abuja, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo welcomed the freed young women, telling them: "The whole nation's been waiting for you," according to a post on the official Twitter account of the Nigerian presidency. He said the girls' parents were on their way to the Nigerian capital to be reunited with them. In photos of the meeting released by the government, many of the women appeared malnourished, their clothes hanging loosely over their bony frames. Others freed from Boko Haram captivity by military action have said the extremists are running out of food. A Chibok community leader, Pogu Bitrus, said one parent had called to say the government had contacted him to say his daughter was freed. "We just want all of our girls to come home," he said. The abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their school in Chibok and the government's failure to quickly free them caused an international outcry and brought Boko Haram, Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group, to the world's attention. Dozens of the girls escaped on their own, but some 197 remain missing. In May, one of the captives, Amina Ali Nkeki, managed to escape and told her family that some of the kidnapped girls had died of illness and that others, like herself, had been married off to fighters and were pregnant or had babies, her mother told the AP. She said her daughter wants to come home with her baby, but has been kept in the custody of the secret service. "It is hoped that the newly released 21 won't exchange captivity in Sambisa Forest for captivity in an Abuja fortress," said Emmanuel Ogebe, a Washington-based human rights lawyer whose foundation is helping educate some of the escaped Chibok girls in the United States. Ogebe also criticized the government's release of photos of the freed young women before they had even been reunited with their parents, saying they must "be kept out of public parading, photo ops and political exploitation by the government of Nigeria." Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who campaigned for the girls' freedom as the U.N. special envoy for global education, urged Nigeria's government not to give up until every girl is safely home with her family. "We do not know how they will readjust, but one thing is for certain, their lives have changed forever," he said. Soon after the kidnapping, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said he would marry the girls to his fighters, saying they should be wives, not going to school. The name Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden," or "sinful," in Nigeria's Hausa language. The extremists have attacked many schools and kidnapped many thousands of girls and boys during their seven-year insurgency that has killed more than 20,000 people, according to Amnesty International. In a statement Thursday, Shehu put the death toll at more than 30,000. Some 2.6 million people have been driven from their homes by the insurgency and the United Nations has warned that tens of thousands face famine-like conditions. Negotiations last year failed when Boko Haram demanded a ransom of $5.2 billion for the girls' freedom, according to a recently published authorized biography of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari by American historian John Paden. It was not clear if any money changed hands in this swap. Negotiations may have been complicated by a leadership struggle within Boko Haram, where the Islamic State group has named a new leader to replace Shekau, who insists he is still in charge. Whats good for Upolu is also good for Savaii. This is one of the common phrases we hear from the government. Sufia Faalupega of Faletagaloa Savaii said the government has been singing this tune for so long and yet the developments dont reflect it. The 65-year-old said he was in school when he heard this saying. Its an old saying I must say, he told the Village Voice. Weve heard this so many times, but the development in Apia is still better than Savaii. Why do you think more people from Savaii and the rural areas move to Apia? It is because all the developments are based in Apia. He went on to say that living in the urban area is more beneficial than living in the villages. The standard of living in Apia is higher than Savaii, he said. In terms of finance and incomes, I think the people in Apia are getting more money than most families in Savaii. This is because of all the employment opportunities available in Apia. When the children here in the village dont do well in school, the plantation is the only place for them to earn a living. But in Apia, there are a lot of different places where they can turn to for job opportunities. And most of the families here in Savaii depend on the people working in town for money to help out with village contributions. Here in the village, we have plantations to help our families. On the other hand, Sufia also believes that there have been a lot of improvements in Savaii over the years. The roads, water and electricity here in Savaii are much better now than before, and thats a good thing for us. But the problem is, there are more developments in Apia now and its attracting a lot of people to move in to the town of Apia. All the main developments are in Apia and we cant really keep our people in the village if they want to move to Apia. The saying, whats good for Upolu is also good for Savaii is a nice saying. But when are we actually going to see the same developments in Savaii like the ones we have in Apia? Its an old tune to our ears. And thats why I still believe that life in Apia is more beneficial than the life here in Savaii. Opinions may differ on what the greatest gift of all is. But for Eseese Moafanua Siitia, she truly believes that life is the greatest gift of all. Meet Eseese Moafanua Siitia from the village of Faletagaloa. She is 76-years old and stays with her husband Moafanua Siitia and their grandson Laulala at Faletagaloa. She was spotted by the Village Voice scrapping coconut in their kitchen for their evening meal. At the age of 76, she is still healthy and strong. And like the saying, age is just a number; Eseese believes that you can still do so many things even when your hair turns grey. As you can see, I am preparing our evening meal, she told the Village Voice. I am still strong and I like doing this because it helps me exercise. This is how life is for me and my husband. All of my children are working in Apia and some are overseas. Our grandson goes to school and he helps us out with the chores in the evening. Moreover, Eseese said that there are no challenges living in Savaii. To me, I prefer staying here and life here is great. There are no troubles and no challenges. We have strong village councils here and they help maintain peace in the villages and thats why I love the life we have here. She also went on to say that there have been a lot of changes in the lifestyles nowadays. And its understandable because we are moving forward and the world is changing. Even though some of the changes are not good for us and our culture, we cant do much about it because we cant keep changes from happening. All we have to do is adapt and get use to it and at the same time, hold on to our culture and heritage. However, the only problem Eseese said they face most of the time is sickness. But thats only natural for us who are getting old. We are not getting any younger. And although I am strong, I can still feel that it is not the same because I am getting older. My husband is also bedridden and I have to look after him. That is the only challenge we face. But I know that God is the best healer and that he can help us. Moreover, she believes that eating healthy food is what makes them strong. If you eat healthy food like fish and taro, you will remain strong. Other than that, Eseese said that life is good for her and her family. To me, I am happy just the way we are. We have a roof over our heads, and we have food every day and a family that prays together. And thats all that matters to me, and I am grateful to God for all His blessings upon me and my family. I am also grateful to him for giving me and my husband the gift of life to enjoy and be with our children. Samoa has launched its Agriculture Policy Bank essentially an e-library which serves as a one-stop shop for information relating to the Pacific Island countrys agriculture policies and regulations. The Agriculture Policy Banks are an initiative of the European Union (E.U) supported Intra-A.C.P Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (P.A.P.P), implemented by the Pacific Community (S.P.C), and are hosted on S.P.Cs Pacific Agriculture and Forestry Policy Network (P.A.F.P.Net) portal. In launching the Policy Bank, Samoas Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, the Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt, noted the importance these documents in one place and accessible to the public. The Policy Bank is an important tool to assist us in raising awareness and promoting our agriculture policy, particularly to the farmers, he said. Now farmers have access to mobile phones and internet so they can access this information, and use them as a pathway for change raising the status of farmers within the community, and also changing the mindset from old methods to new. The Agriculture Policy Bank was launched in front of an audience comprising farmers, youths, entrepreneurs, development partners and government officials, and the Minister thanked S.P.C and the European Union for the support provided in introducing the Agriculture Policy Bank to Samoa. The European Union Ambassador to Samoa and the Pacific, Andrew Jacobs said, The EU is very proud to support this important initiative for agricultural development in Samoa. The Policy Bank will provide easy access to key sector and sub-sector policies, plans and strategies, including summaries translated into English and Samoan, making these documents easily available for all stakeholders across Samoa and the world. It will above all make a big difference for farmers in Samoa, providing opportunities and improving livelihoods. The Policy Bank launch is part of the annual National Agriculture Show, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (M.A.F) to showcase the importance of the agriculture sector to Samoa and highlight the achievements of farmers and the best produce from across Upolu. M.A.Fs Assistant Chief Executive, Dr. Faletoi Suavi, said the Agriculture Policy Bank will be closely monitored and regularly updated by the Sector Coordination Unit, to support the development of evidence-based policies and assist in the implementation of the Agriculture Sector Plan for the next five years. Dr. Suavi stressed the important role of information sharing using the Policy Bank, where countries can have access to policies and sector plans, not only for Samoa but for sharing with other Pacific countries. S.P.Cs Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (P.A.P.P) Policy Research Officer, Cheryl Thomas, said supporting M.A.F in the development of this Policy Bank is part of a programme of work by the Pacific Agriculture Policy Project, and the wider S.P.C Land Resources Division, to strengthen regional agricultural development strategy across the region. National agriculture policies are increasingly being used by donors and development partners to guide their investments in the sector, and making these documents readily available is an important step towards improving development outcomes for our farmers, Ms. Thomas said. Samoa is the fourth country in the Pacific to launch an Agriculture Policy Bank, preceded by Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Tonga. Ms. Thomas confirmed similar agriculture policy banks are planned for other Pacific A.C.P countries, including Timor-Leste. The Samoa Agriculture Policy Bank is the best avenue to showcase up to date policy documents and all other important sector documents for all our stakeholders. It will be the first e-library of policy documents for the Samoa Ministry and the Agriculture Sector, said M.A.F Principal Policy Officer, Tai Matatumua. Also highlighted during the launch was the important plant breeding work carried out by S.P.C in Samoa, including three new varieties of taro released in 2015 that are already being grown by farmers specifically for the export market. Samoa was one of the first countries in the Pacific to sign the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (I.T.P.G.R.F.A), and Samoan farmers are now reaping the benefits of the multilateral access system through these new varieties. A ground-breaking ceremony to kick start work for the $82million Apia Port Safety project funded by Japan took place at the Matautu wharf yesterday. The expansion and enhancement project is to allow larger cruise-ships to dock at Matautu and facilitate for more storage space for containers. Japans Ambassador to Samoa, Tuimaugaoalii Kazumasa Shibuta said the port is important, as it is a door to connect Samoa to the outside world. He described the port as a life line. This is particularly crucial in the transportation of products such as agriculture crops, fishery products, food and fuel and a pathway for tourists from cruise ships. The project was a request from the government of Samoa to the government of Japan in August 2013 as a Japanese grant assistance, he explained. During that period the port was not fully recovered due to damages caused by the powerful cyclone Evan, as you can remember it was covered by huge logs carried by destructive flood. Corresponding to the request J.I.C.A. then dispatched the survey team to Samoa for checking such damages and survey for possible rehabilitation as immediate as possible in an exceptional case. As a result, an Exchange of Note of the project was signed in June last year between Prime Minister Tuilaepa and Tuimaugaoalii, promising a grant of $82million. The three components of the project include an extension of the wharf up to more than 300meter for safety landing of cruise ship. The second one is rehabilitation and expansion capacity of deteriorated container yard creating more than twice the capacity and the improvement of tugboats and navigation system. The Ambassador said the project is expected to stimulate the economy through employing local workers and purchasing construction material from local market. Prime Minister Tuilaepa acknowledged the support of Japan and its contribution to the development of Samoa. He recalled that for the past twenty years, Japan has assisted in upgrading the ports including fisheries wharf facilities and to improving inter-island and international ferry services. Tuilaepa stressed the fundamental need for improved transportation in the development of Samoa. This is in order to address challenges of isolation and distance in markets, he explained. The enhancement work will allow for bigger cruise-ships like the MV Crown Princess and Queen Victoria which has a length of 294meters to dock here. While the expansion will make more room for storage and to dock bigger ships, Tuilaepa said it will face another problem of smaller space for ships to turn around. It will provide more space for cars to travel but the ships will face another problem of not enough room to turn around which means we will have to look for another solution for that in the near future. J.I.C.A dispatched a survey team to Samoa from in June 2014 to conduct a series of site inspections including topographic surveys, soil investigations and an environmental survey which sees the much needed improvement of Apia Port from deteriorated conditions due to Cyclone Evan's aftermath in 2012. Approximately 97 percent of the foreign trade cargoes of the country are handled in this port, and is the most important social and economic infrastructure in the country. The National Agriculture Show prize giving was held yesterday at Sogi, signalling the end of the National Agriculture Week. More than two hundred farmers used the opportunity to showcase the different varieties of fruits, vegetables, livestock and seafood stock during the two-day event. Thousands of people including several schools have been visiting and participating in the show sampling fresh pawpaws, mangoes, vaisalo, salads and much more. For a number of farmers, the show was also an opportunity to share their stories with others. There are challenges in planting taro palagi but that didnt stop me, Alosio Ligi of Faleasiu. He claimed the third prize for the Talo Palagi category. Working the land is what we rely on all the time not only to take care of our families, but to also deal with obligations to the church, village and the countless faalavelave. Ive been planting taro palagi for that long and this is the only way we can earn a bit of money for our families especially my children. The show encourages me to keep on working...and Im looking forward to coming back next year with a different taro to present at the show. Thirty-three year old mother from Aleisa, Lilian Fruean, told the Samoa Observer, she was extremely happy to showcase her produce at the event. I started when I was young, she said. My parents taught me how to plant these vegetables. When I grew up, I havent strayed too far away. Selling vegetables is a really good way to make money and thats what motivates me to keep doing it. My message to other vegetable farmers out there is to continue on planting and theyll see the results. But what are some of the benefits in growing your own vegetables? It will save lots of money and improve family health especially when you grow your own at your backyard. Having the knowledge to plant your own can help many individuals, families and villages today. The Agriculture Show will also be held in Savaiii. The Chief Executive Officer of Samoa's Chamber of Commerce, Hobart Vaai, is optimistic that with hard work, the country will be able to minimise the impact of the closure of Yazaki Samoa Ltd, as announced earlier this week. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Mr. Vaai said Samoa has no other option but to remain optimistic. It calls for all the relevant stakeholders to work even harder. That includes the government and the private sector. Well we have to be, he said. From the private sectors point of view, it is an issue but we have to exploit other avenues. Were looking at a cocoa initiative we have at the moment, encouraging farmers to replant cocoa. From the Chambers perspective, Mr. Vaai said it is committed to doing whatever it can to help. Were working as much as possible in assisting the transition process, looking at areas such as job creation and small business development, he said. We are really looking at encouraging entrepreneurship and providing opportunities for those who will be transitioning to unemployment. Well be looking at other areas to find them employment, moving forward. The gap in employment exists following the announcement by Yazaki that some 740 employees will soon find themselves without jobs with the company shutting shop. Y.E.S. Branding Division Manager in Japan, Yoko Yamada, said the closure is due to the car manufacturing industry in Australia winding down. Over the years, Yazaki has been supplying products to the Australian automotive market but the latest developments in the market there have had a knock on impact here, forcing the company to re-evaluate the viability of their operation in Samoa. The demands of the market for shorter lead times and more flexibility coupled with the logistics connections to Samoa make it commercially un-viable to supply any other market for example U.S.A. or Japan from here, he said. As a result we have been trying to identify other alternatives for this operation. Unfortunately we have not been able to identify anything viable and must therefore announce that we will phase out production operations in Samoa. Y.E.S. President, Craig ODonohue said the situation is difficult and the company does not know exactly when it will officially close. I think you would understand that last Friday was the last production order for Ford Motor Cars in Australia and this is the start of what we are calling the winding down of Australian car operation. This is likely to continue in Australia until the end of 2017 but we have no idea exactly when. About the employees, the President assured they would be given the necessary support. The support includes up-skilling, re-skilling, life skill training and opportunities offshore. Mr. ODonohue said they would engage every employee to ask them about what they want and what they expect from the company on a plan that suits them. As for the packages, he said the factory people would be given a lump sum for their service. According to Mr. ODonohue when the car company first announced closure of their manufacturing operation in Australia Y.E.S. immediately at the time engaged in discussion with the government of Samoa and other options outside the comfort zone of the company. We had about eight key programmes anything from tourism to shipping, agriculture, textiles, he recalled. We put together a crazy summary of business opportunities. We looked strongly at breadfruit opportunities to make flour. There have been a lot of research done in that area and also agriculture, but that project is quite foreign to Yazaki operation. Yazaki has some experience with agriculture and was interested in that but with those we just couldnt find a viable business. For Mr. Vaai, he said Yazakis closure is disappointing. "It's shocking but you know, we're just staying positive," he said. "At this time we're pulling together. We're pulling together not only for the sake of Yazaki, but the employees and the impact it will have on our economy. But we're staying positive and we're going to work hard and aggressively to ensure that the impact is minimal, and hopefully, none at all." Yazaki has operated in Samoa for 25 years. The San Diego Unified Port District Board on Thursday delayed approving a $1.2 billion proposal to redevelop Seaport Village until possibly next week. The Seaport San Diego proposal for new hotels, promenades, an aquarium and an observation tower was originally going to be discussed. But board members said they wanted finalize the selection of the development team, headed by Yehudi Gaf Gaffen, CEO of the Gafcon project management company. That move required new notices for another meeting, which Commissioner Dan Malcolm said he hopes will be held next week and no later than at the regularly scheduled Nov. 8 meeting. Advertisement Two commissioners indicated they want to complete the Gaffens team selection and dismiss five other bidders in the running. Nothing has changed in this commissioners view in the months ensuing since July, when we selected the proposal from the Gafcon group, said Commissioner Bob Nelson, a sentiment echoed by his colleague Robert Dukie Valderrama. The staff had expressed a preference to continue exclusive discussions with Gaffen, but Malcolm and others said they want the option to formally end the bidding process. In its report the port staff had listed numerous outstanding questions and issues they want to get answered over the next six to eight months. At the end of that process would come an exclusive negotiating agreement and development agreement. Those would then trigger an environmental impact report and, ultimately, a coastal development permit by 2019. Construction would follow over the subsequent six years. The proposal from Gaffen and partners Jeff Jacobs and Jeff Essakow, who own the Rancho Valencia Resort in Rancho Santa Fe, would replace the 36-year-old Seaport Village. The specialty retail center and other attractions and buildings occupy 70 acres of land and water in the Central Embarcadero, south of the USS Midway Museum. The master plan is by the AVRP/Skyport Studios architectural firm. The Midway President and CEO Mac McLaughlin told the port board that it would like Navy Pier, where the historic aircraft carrier is docked, to be included in the Central Embarcadero redevelopment zone. The pier currently serves as a parking lot and a previous requirement imposed by the California Coastal Commission calls for turning the pier into a public park. The Midway previously proposed a 500-foot sail-like sculpture and park above a parking lot. I would ask you to incorporate Navy Pier into your overall strategic vision for what the port of San Diego should look like in 20 years, McLaughlin said, and not treat it the way its been treated for the last 15 years since Ive been involved as a single parcel of real estate that only has one option. Randy Robbins, a principal at AVRP/Skyport which has the Midway as a client, said he told McLaughlin that the pier was being left out of the redevelopment process. Our goal, of course, is to design and maintain an exceptionally seamless waterfront, Robbins said. roger.showley@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-1286; Twitter: @rogershowley HP Inc. says it will cut 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years as it faces continued challenges in the markets for personal computers and printers. The cuts are in addition to 3,000 jobs that HP previously said it was trimming this fiscal year. The company has about 50,000 employees worldwide. The cuts will occur across the company, said HP spokeswoman Vanessa Yanez, who added that the Palo Alto company does not break out this information by location. Advertisement HP has been grappling with shrinking demand for PCs and printers as more people use smartphones and store documents and photos online. Chief Executive Dion Weisler hopes to build the business by selling more high-end PCs, office printers and 3-D printing systems. HP Inc. is one of two companies formed last year by the breakup of Hewlett-Packard Inc. The other, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., primarily sells servers and other data-center technology; HP Inc. retained the personal computer and printer operations. At its height, the combined HP generated more than $100 billion in annual revenue. Weisler said in a statement Monday that the split enabled us to become nimble and focus on accelerating growth and reinventing industries. Last month, HP announced it was buying Samsung Electronics Co.s printer business in a deal worth $1.05 billion, the largest printing acquisition in HPs history. ------------ FOR THE RECORD: 5:05 p.m.: An earlier version of this story misstated that HP announced layoffs in its quarterly earnings report. The announcement was made as part of the companys 2017 fiscal outlook. ------------ Times staff writer Tracey Lien in San Francisco contributed to this report. ALSO Verizon to shut call centers in California and 4 other states On-location filming in L.A. climbs, lifted by reality TV and Web shows New Wells Fargo CEO has one week to prove hes the right choice, critic says UPDATES: 3:50 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from HP spokeswoman Vanessa Yanez and CEO Dion Weisler, earnings results and additional background information. This article was originally published at 2:45 p.m. Living small is a lifestyle choice you understand or just dont get. Little houses, small portions and living within our means today can all seem so un-American. But the Germanyinfused British-stalwart brand of Mini is a counter statement and a backbone of doing more with less. Its line of small cars are cultural icons and teacups of transportation in a land of big gulps. But the brand motors on, infusing one pilgrim at a time. While its cars are subcompact they have grown in dimensions for realistic use in this land of plenty big. Advertisement One of the larger models is the Mini Cooper Clubman, a handy five-seater for families or trendsetters. This little wagon has a roomy interior capable of adult comfort and function. There was a push last year to infuse the entire Mini lineup with more premium materials and it shows. There is a sturdiness to the interior elements and pleasing refinement to the appearance of plastics, contrasting hues and the contemporary style of metallic trim. At the same time, it seems overkill for a brand that prides itself on motoring mischief, but Mini calls the luxury treatment Motoring Grown Up. The 2017 Clubman is sold in front- or All4 all-wheel drive models with base and S power choices. And all Minis have free scheduled maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles (while the basic warranty coverage goes for four years or 50,000-miles). Base model starting prices are $24,950 and $26,750 for All4, including the $850 freight charge from Oxford, England. The engine is a 134-horsepower, 1.5-liter turbocharged and direct-injected three-cylinder with 162 foot-pounds of torque from 1,250 rpm. It has fuel economy ratings of 25 mpg city, 24 highway and 28 mpg combined on premium fuel. With the eight-speed automatic ($1,500), I was averaging a solid 30.3 mpg and enjoying the Mini mantra of fun. The Clubman S is $28,500 or $30,300 All4. A plethora of personalization accessories and packages can push the final price to neverland. The Cooper S gets the big motor a 189-hp, turbocharged and direct-injection 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 207 foot-pounds of torque from 1,250 rpm. It has mileage ratings of 22/32/26 mpg on premium with the standard six-speed manual. The six-speed manual moves through the gears with well-machined accuracy. The clutch is light and a hill-holder assures stress-free launches. Theres also a John Cooper Works Clubman All4 with a twin-turbocharged 228-hp version of the 2.0-liter four-cylinder. It is in a class above the standard Clubman with pricing that starts at $36,450. It can get to 60 mph in 6 seconds, which compares to 6.9 for the Cooper S or 8.9 seconds for the base engine. Ive tested a Clubman S with six-speed manual transmission ($37,000 with extras) and the standard Clubman with eight-speed automatic ($31,750) with extras. For my money, the standard Clubman was sweet and sustainable without pretense. The Clubman is now longer and wider than any other Mini and it feels it inside. The cabin is very well soundproofed but with some runflat tire noise at Interstate speeds. Four-wheel disc brakes have plenty of grip to manage the 3,100- to 3,300-pound curb weights (front- or all-wheel drive). Mini maximizes interior space and manages 39 inches of front headroom with a moonroof or 40.2 inches without; thats taller than in many midsize sedans. There are clever and useful storage and stash areas throughout. The door storage pockets can hold a quart-size drink bottle; the owners manual actually fits in the glove box (nonlocking) with room to spare; and the center armrest has two levels of storage. There is a charging cubby with a 12-volt, aux-in and a USB port just ahead of the shift console and dual cup holders. And there is that one-of-a-kind drivers sunvisor above the side window. (But wouldnt a simple sliding visor be cheaper and more effective?) Another cool Mini feature are toggle switches for various controls, including the ignition switch. The wagon barn doors are different, too, and dont really hurt the drivers rear view, which is already narrowed by the three rear headrests; the rearview camera (in the large center circle) is key to clarity. The leatherette seats with perforated centers in the standard model would be my pick over the $1,500 leather option. Leatherette looks look like the real thing and also has tidy stitching and a tender touch. Both front seats are manually height adjustable. The seatbelt anchor is not height adjustable and cut awkwardly across my neck, but Im short. Back seat comfort is good (with a padded fold-down armrest with cup holders) but legroom is tight and the slim center position is a mere suggestion, compromised by a tall center exhaust-driveshaft tunnel. But there is a head restraint, which makes it OK for three across on the school commute. The cargo area is small and square with a usable 17.5 cubic feet that expands to 47.9 cu. ft. with the seat folded. But the space does not look tall enough or even wide enough to stow a bicycle unless both wheels are off. There are a pair of small side cubbies with nets, lots of basement storage (because there is no spare tire), bag hooks and even storage space in the doors. Living small has its Cooper rewards. Its just not inexpensive. Standout softball player Kirsten Jelinski was a beacon of light to her father, and just 25 when her ex-boyfriend shot her to death in Oceanside in April 2015. Sadie Stockalper was 28 when her ex did the same in Warner Springs little more than a month later. In 2015, at least 16 people across San Diego County were killed in incidents of domestic violence. Half of those deadly encounters happened in North County. Each of those victims will be honored this weekend at the annual Domestic Violence HOPE event, designed to shine a light on intimate partner violence, to help people understand what it is and what can precede it and to share a message of hope and help. Advertisement The North County Domestic Violence Coalition which includes prosecutors and policing agencies as well as victim advocacy groups is behind the free event, which will be held Saturday at Carlsbads Magee Park. Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso said she was just shocked when she realized that half of the regions domestic violence homicides last year were in North County. We are coming together to send a message that we are in this together, said Grasso, who is helping organize Saturdays gathering. Victims need to know they dont have to live in the silence. Sheriffs Detective Kim Houry said the event will also educate people about relationships that may not be criminally violent, but are emotionally abusive. A lot of people dont understand that this is an unhealthy relationship, she said. According to statistics from the San Diego Association of Governments, which tracks crime numbers, domestic violence incidents rose in most North County cities from the start of 2011 through the end of 2015. Reports of domestic violence went up by 89 percent in areas patrolled by San Marcos deputies over that five-year stretch, with 475 incidents reported last year. Vista deputies also saw a 61 percent increase in the areas under their watch in the same time period, with 785 such reports last year. Officials say it is difficult to measure why the reports are up. Its very possible, though, that the rise in the numbers does not mean there was more violence just more reporting of it. Tracy Prior, the chief of the District Attorneys Family Protection Division said Thursday that, across the county, criminal justice and social service agencies have worked to build trust with communities so people will reach out for help. An increase in reporting such incidents can be a good sign that people are trusting law enforcement and accessing help, she said. When officials looked at the 16 domestic violence deaths in the county in 2015, another factor stood out in half of the cases, the suspect committed suicide. To me, that is significant, Prior said. And we have to take a look at that as a community. The instances include the December 2015 death of Teresa De Jesus Ortiz, 46, who was shot by her estranged husband in her Escondido apartment. Three days later, he killed himself. The men who killed Jelinski and Stockalper also killed themselves. The Domestic Violence HOPE event which will include speakers, information booths, survivor testimonials and a remembrance of victims will run from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. Saturday at Magee Park, at the corner of Carlsbad Boulevard and Beech Avenue on the citys northwest end. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT The award-winning North Coast Repertory Theatre company wants to move out of its small shopping center home in Solana Beach and build its own performance space on vacant land within the Encinitas Ranch shopping center. The group made its pitch Wednesday to the Encinitas City Council, which has been waiting for years for the site to be developed. The weed-covered spot, which is tucked between a Chase bank branch and an Aaron Brothers Art & Framing business, has been the subject of at least six theater proposals in 20 years --- none of which have ultimately panned out. Even North Coast Rep eyed the place more than a decade ago before turning to Solana Beach. The time for the Encinitas project is now, representatives of the group said. Advertisement Our vision for the future is to be a destination theater in Southern California with two state-of-the-art theater spaces and a thriving theater school, Steve Horine, said the theater companys development consultant. Council members said they would be thrilled to add the theater to the towns list of attractions and agreed to start a process that could lead to a long-term lease for the 7-acre, city-owned lot. It would be great to have you in a bigger space, Councilwoman Lisa Shaffer, a frequent patron of North Coast Rep performances, told theater officials. Mayor Kristin Gaspar said she hoped this was the very last time that city leaders became excited about a theater proposal for that property. Most recently, Intrepid Theatre Co. entered into inclusive negotiations with the city in mid-2015, hoping to build a 130-seat theater on the site. The company was initially proposing to start with a $350,000 structure and then expand later. Later, Intrepid supporters found that construction costs were going to be far higher than they hoped and their negotiations with the city have been discontinued, Gaspar said Wednesday night. Horine stressed to the City Council that North Coast Rep will have the money to make its project happen, mentioning that it had a $5 million naming donor lined up and expected various fund-raising matching donations during the campaign. The plans call for a roughly $15 million structure, he said. The company, which was founded in 1982, is already well on its way to becoming a regional attraction and has an annual budget of $2.5 million, he said. However, its future potential is hampered by its limited performance space, he added. Tucked into the Lomas Santa Fe Plaza shopping center just east of Interstate 5, North Coast Rep has a 194-seat theater --- its delicately referred to as an intimate performance space on the organizations web site. The group had planned to relocate into the long-proposed and ultimately abandoned Cedros Crossing development a housing, retail and parking project proposed by North County Transit District for land it owns in Solana Beachs downtown. Since that projects been derailed by community opposition, Horine said North Coast Rep is looking outside Solana Beach for a new home. After his presentation, council members decided to reactivate their theater negotiating subcommittee in order to explore a lease agreement with the theater company. Any proposed agreement would later need to return to the full council for approval. A group of North Coast Rep board members, including president Sharon Stein, attended Wednesdays meeting but didnt speak to the council on the issue. Encinitas resident Donna Westbrook, a frequent City Council meeting attendee, told the council that Measure T a city-sponsored, housing measure on November ballot mentions the theater pad as one of a group of options for future mixed-use housing projects. She said city leaders ought to be telling people to vote no on that ballot measure, if theyre considering allowing a theater on the site. Council members and a city planner responded that the ballot measure offers options for additional housing and doesnt commit Encinitas to building homes on those properties. Henry is a freelance writer in Encinitas. OCEANSIDE--One of the oldest churches in Oceanside is marking its anniversary with a community-wide celebration at the foot of the Oceanside Pier. St. Mary, Star of the Sea church marks the 89th anniversary of its parish with a concert and Beach Mass by the ocean Oct. 16 at Junior Seau Pier Amphitheatre. The free event, open to the entire community, hearkens back to the dedication of the parish in October 1927. But actually, St. Marys goes back more than 120 years, and is considered Oceansides oldest Catholic church, aside from Mission San Luis Rey, a Franciscan community of Catholic stewards founded in 1798. Advertisement The first documentation of the faith community known as St. Mary, Star of the Sea, according to long-time member Barbie Matthiesen, is a story in Oceansides newspaper The Blade from April 1893, describing a gathering of Catholics celebrating Palm Sunday and waving palm branches, standing on a dirt lot at the corner of Third and Ditmar, now 609 Pier View Way, where the parish is today. It was the first such gathering documented of Catholics worshiping in downtown Oceanside, said Matthiesen, who serves as the parishs business manager and director of stewardship. Several years later in 1896, a church was built where the church offices now stand. The original church has since been moved to the corner of San Diego and Lemon Streets and is still used for faith-based activities. The current church building with Spanish architectural influences and stained glass windows was dedicated Oct. 24, 1927. The parish has since grown to more than 4,000 community members and has been supporting a faith-based school since 1953 that serves more than 280 children from pre-K through 8th grade at 515 Wisconsin Ave. Sundays celebration includes a praise and worship concert led by recording artist Santiago Fernandez from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., followed by Mass at noon. A variety of multi-ethnic foods will be sold by vendors during the event. A fundraising raffle is set to raise money for facility improvements and repairs to the historic church. Prizes are slated to include a 2016 Honda Honda Fit LX, a one week vacation at beach front home in Puerto Rico and a Samsung 55 4K UHD TV. Raffle tickets: $10 each sold before Mass at the celebration. Visit stmarystars.org linda.mcintosh@sduniontribune.com From the 16th to 18th centuries, salons flourished in France and Italy as a place where the literati could meet to exchange ideas, culture, music and art. This week, a new salon series was born in North County with the same goal but a very different audience. Storytime Salon, targeting the toddler and grade-school set and their parents, is a new monthly program at the Encinitas library. The free events feature area childrens book authors reading from their work and pianists performing music themed to the stories. More than 50 people (half of them children under 12) turned out for the inaugural event at 2 p.m. Sunday. Future events are planned on Nov. 13, Dec. 18 and Jan. 22. Storytime Salon is the brainchild of Virginia Loh-Hagan of Escondido, who has published more than 100 books for children and adults, plays piano and is on the faculty at San Diego State University. Advertisement Loh-Hagan said she believes introducing young minds to the salon experience may help them better appreciate the arts as adults. Loh-Hagan and her husband, software engineer Jeff Hagan, are in their early 40s. Theyre active consumers of concerts and theater around San Diego, but she said theyre often the youngest people in the audience. Author Virginia Loh-Hagan shows some of the more than 100 books she has written. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune ) It makes me worried, she said. Unless we can get the younger generation hooked, who will be supporting the arts when the current generation of patrons are gone? Its so important. The salon was a gathering of minds around art and music, and its these things our culture and art that make us human. Loh-Hagan created the series as a thank-you to the library system. When she was a child, libraries were her second home. As an adult author, she said libraries have become her biggest supporter. But she has a special affinity for the Encinitas Library, where she and her husband were married at 10:10 a.m. on Oct. 10, 2010 (10-10-10). Their nuptials were written up not in the newspaper but in the American Libraries Magazine. Libraries are a big deal for me, she said. As a little girl, I escaped to the library. I practically spent more time there than I did at home. I grew up inside their walls. Loh-Hagan is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who named her Virginia because thats the state where they were living when she was born. After graduating the from the University of Virginia at age 22, she moved to San Diego where she has lived ever since. Loh-Hagan has been a grade-school teacher, a curriculum designer and a specialist in childrens literacy. But her two passions are writing books and playing the piano. Loh-Hagan has written dozens of books for Cherry Lake Publishing that include chapter books, do-it-yourself manuals, monster stories, sports, extreme animals and more. Many are whats known as high/low books, which are nonfiction high-interest topical books written for struggling older readers with a low literacy level. But shes especially proud of the books inspired by her Chinese-American heritage. I can still remember when I was in second grade and my teacher was reading a book aloud ... it was the first time I ever saw a Chinese-American girl in a book. It was so inspiring to me, she said. That experience became the seed for The Jade Dragon, a 2006 semiautobiographical chapter book Loh-Hagan co-wrote with Carolyn Marsden. Its about a Chinese-American second-grader named Ginny who meets another girl like herself at her school in Fairfax County, Va. In 2013, she co-wrote Paper Son: Lees Journey to America, a picture book about a 12-year-old orphaned boy who immigrates to America from his native China in 1926. The book was recently nominated for a California Young Reader Medal. And on Dec. 1, shell publish another picture book titled PoPos Lucky Chinese New Year. Loh-Hagan said juggling book deadlines with teaching, and making time for her husband and their two dogs is a challenge. A night owl, she tends to do most of her writing at night, usually dropping into bed around 4 a.m. One thing she always makes time for is the piano. She started playing the instrument about 15 years ago and now owns three pianos, including a Steinway semi-concert grand that she purchased from former Spreckels civic organist Carol Williams. To hone her skills, Loh-Hagan regularly hosts living room recitals for herself and nine other adult piano students. Some of them are featured at upcoming Storytime Salons. One of the reasons why I am so diligent about my piano lessons is that it reminds me of what its like to struggle, she said. I struggle at piano, big time. As a teacher-educator, I work with students who struggle; piano keeps me humble. Its good to struggle. Its human and important for teachers. It makes me a better teacher. Upcoming Storytime Salons 2 p.m. Nov. 13: Womens accomplishments theme, featuring author Kathlee Krull 2 p.m. Dec. 18: Holiday theme, featuring authors Helen Foster James and Salina Yoon 2 p.m. Jan. 22: Chinese new year theme, featuring author Virginia Loh-Hagan and illustrator Rafael Lopez Where: Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Drive, Encinitas Admission: Free Online: virginialow.com/storyitme-salon/ The man who would be the Cookie Monster circled the parking lot in a beat-up, maroon van. Inside, a pair of red and black boxers hung from the grab handle. A toothbrush and tube of toothpaste were stashed in the glove box. But his prized possession was stuffed in a large plastic bag: the furry blue costume of the iconic Sesame Street character. Adam Sandler his legal name, but no relation to the comic actor slipped the outfit over a sweat-drenched blue T-shirt before putting on the head with the famously googly eyes. Advertisement Then he got to work, playing Pied Piper for children going in and out of the Los Angeles Zoo and, hopefully, persuading their parents to slip a few dollars his way. In a city where people dress as characters from Spider-Man to Chewbacca for tips, Sandlers Cookie Monster is far from singular. Nor is it unusual when they make waves for dubious reasons like full-on brawls on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Were looking at you, Mr. Incredible and Batgirl.) But none of the other costumed characters is likely to carry a weight greater than Sandler. The 52-year-old has been dubbed a serial troublemaker from New York to San Francisco, and now L.A. He has been caught on video making anti-Semitic rants, got caught up in an extortion case involving the Girl Scouts and was accused of threatening to beat up another Cookie Monster. All of this has made him one notorious faux Muppet. Just here in the last six months, weve had quite a few problems with him, said L.A. police Det. Jeana Franco. This guy is like a national nuisance. See the most-read stories this hour >> Sandler born Danny Mark Sandler in Ashland, Ore. denied threatening the other Cookie Monster and said businesses along Hillhurst Avenue were lying about his behavior and that Los Feliz residents provoked incidents. He added that the kids at the zoo love him. I tamed my behavior down since Ive been at the zoo, since New York, Sandler said. This is a good place for me to be, because Im only impacting one business. If I go to Santa Monica or something, it impacts 50 businesses. So its better that Im here. And its calmer, no one is harassing me. The Los Angeles Police Department has gotten complaints from residents, businesses and from the fellow Cookie Monster. Because Sandler has not committed a felony, he has not been arrested, police said. For the zoo, Sandler presents a conundrum. Outside, Sandler has told attendees not to shop at zoo stores because a Muslim group owns them, according to some complaints. Because Sandler stands in a designated free speech area, he has the legal right to be there, April Spurlock, a spokeswoman for the zoo, said. If you want to follow the law, his speech is constitutionally protected, said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA 1st Amendment law professor. If he threatens another person or if he does anything else illegal, he can certainly be prosecuted for that. But he needs to be prosecuted for the constitutionally unprotected material, not anything thats constitutionally protected. Adam Sandler gets ready to climb into his Cookie Monster costume outside the LA Zoo. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times ) Zoo staff monitors Sandlers behavior and makes security officers aware if he is out of the free speech area or if his behavior is harassing or inappropriate, Spurlock said. The zoo has received a total of 67 formal complaints, in person and over social media, about Sandler since last year, she said. The general thought was that Adam Sandler was scary, disruptive, made people feel unsafe, and was a poor reflection on the zoo, Spurlock said in an email. On July 13, another Cookie Monster alleges, Sandler threatened to beat him up for stealing his business. Out of costume, Sandler has also drawn the ire of Los Feliz residents and businesses who accuse him of making anti-Semitic remarks and of being aggressive toward passersby. On Nextdoor, an online social network for neighborhoods, an April post about Sandler the Threatening man living in red van on Finley garnered more than 300 comments. Spotted this guy on Sunday yelling anti-Semitic stuff at random people and yelling at diners on the porch at Alcove not to eat there because the restaurant had poisoned a small child and bribed congressmen to cover it up, one user commented. A manager at a business on Hillhurst said that Sandler has screamed at customers, made anti-Semitic comments, threatened him and spit in his face. Im scared, said Frankie Tirado, who said he has filed a battery report. I would like to see him get some kind of help. I dont think he belongs out on the street no one wants to hear the Cookie Monster say hes going to kill their family. The L.A. city attorneys office filed one count of battery against Sandler on Wednesday for the alleged incident involving Tirado, according to a representative. Stephanie Bahena takes a photo of her daughter with Adam Sandler dressed as Cookie Monster outside the Los Angeles Zoo. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times ) On a recent afternoon, Sandler posed for photos outside the zoo. The following day, he refused to confirm that he was Sandler, but addressed questions related to his criminal history and said the press does not like him. Department of Motor Vehicle records show the van that he drives is registered to an Adam Sandler. He repeatedly walked away after answering questions, only to return a few minutes later to continue speaking, answering questions through the Cookie Monster head. Im very fragile, I need my income right now, he said pleadingly. Please dont take this from me I have nowhere to go from here. Sandler added that he is Jewish and is not anti-Semitic. In 2012, Sandler who previously dressed as Elmo was caught by more than one video camera shouting anti-Semitic and xenophobic remarks in New York City. When he spoke to the New York Times that year, he said he had previously traveled to Cambodia and started a pornographic website called Welcome to the Rape Camp. A 1999 Associated Press article named Sandler and referred to him as the websites creator. He told the New York Times that he had been deported from Cambodia. Sandler was arrested in September of 2012 for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, according to the NYPD, after screaming and yelling in a public place, causing annoyance and alarm. He was indicted in 2013 for allegedly attempting to extort money from the Girl Scouts of the USA and stalking an employee. According to court documents, in June 2007 the Girl Scouts hired Sandler through a temporary employment agency to work on a short-term computer programming project, according to a New York County district attorneys office news release. His work on the project ended in November 2008. Beginning in July 2012, he reportedly began sending harassing emails to his former supervisor at the Girl Scouts, according to the district attorneys office. He later demanded a $2-million cash settlement or yearly lifetime income from the Girl Scouts and threatened to publicize false allegations about the organization if it did not comply, according to New York prosecutors. On Oct. 9, 2013, Sandler pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny in the second degree and stalking in the third degree. He was sentenced to a year in jail and a protective order against him was filed. In San Francisco in 2014, Sandler was charged with threatening a business owner. On the same complaint he was charged with three public nuisance counts, according to Karen Catalona, a deputy district attorney who was working as a neighborhood prosecutor at the time. Ultimately, Sandler pleaded guilty to being a public nuisance and was placed on probation for five years, Catalona said. A related order prohibits him from being in Fishermans Wharf, Union Square and the Embarcadero including all the piers along the Embarcadero for five years. I think when people hear the guy in the Elmo suit it sounds like a joke, Catalona said. But when you actually look at how hes making people feel and you look at his history, its disturbing. Its not funny. Adam Sandler without his Cookie Monster costume head outside the Los Angeles Zoo. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times ) Sandlers father, Allan Sandler, declined to talk at length about his son when reached by phone in Oregon recently. If youre looking if hes ever been violent, or anything like that, no, hes never been, Allan Sandler said. All I can tell you hes my son, hes a good kid. Before getting on a bus on a recent afternoon, a group of schoolchildren spotted Sandler waiting outside the zoo. Cookie Monster! they shouted, as they ran to embrace the costumed character. They ran their hands over the blue costume, the front of which was held together by safety pins. Some sat on his leg to pose for photos, heedless of the notoriety in the grownup world surrounding the man behind the fuzzy, blue mask. For more California news, follow @brittny_mejia ALSO Manson follower denied parole for 1969 murder of musician Strong storm to soak Northern California this weekend, forecasters say 70-year-old ice cream vendors family says he was violently robbed in North Hollywood Jevonne Davis was in the fifth grade when his life changed. After a childhood spent bouncing from home to home, he met his new foster mother in Compton and she took him to the theater. The child was transfixed by the actors onstage, by the dancing, the singing, the sheer creativity. He leaned over and whispered to his foster mom: I want to be part of this. Davis is 18 now, a veteran of the stage and screen. Last week, he and two fellow Los Angeles County foster youths were honored at the White Houses inaugural South by South Lawn festival for a short film they starred in, wrote and directed. Advertisement The film they made this summer, called Time for Change, was a finalist in the White House Student Film Festival, one of more than 700 entries. The students, selected by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, worked with Kids in the Spotlight, a Burbank nonprofit that teaches young people filmmaking skills. The short film, which is set in the future, depicts a roundtable meeting of people from different centuries who are asked what kind of world in which they want to live. Davis who had acted in eight plays by the time he reached his freshman year at Animo Watts College Preparatory Academy in South Los Angeles played Thomas Jeffersons son in the short film. In the world I want to live in, all men should be treated like they are created equal, to paraphrase my father, Davis character says. Davis, who is now a freshman at Cal State Fullerton, said the experience of being a young African American man who played a presidents son onscreen and got to meet President Obama in person was humbling. Foster youth, you know, they dont always have a place to share their voice, he said. Its like, wow, I cant go back. I just have to continue to do better, continue to go forward. Davis hopes to star on Broadway, or maybe on television or even the silver screen. But he has another goal too. For me to be satisfied with life before I leave this Earth, I want to open up my own acting school for foster youth and give back because I saw what it did for me, he said. Angel Marie Velasquez, who just started her freshman year at Cal State L.A., plays a medieval peasant woman. Her characters dream for the future? I want to own the castle, not have to clean it, she says. Maybe I can teach my daughters to want more for themselves. Velasquez, 18, said she was born with drugs in her system and has been involved in the countys foster care system since she was an infant. Her grandmother raised her in East Los Angeles, and she was a high school honor roll student. The White House honor, she said, has her entire family, even those who werent always there, rallying behind her. Im starting to have everyone in my life now, she said. Leanne Elizabeth Caldejon, 18, said she played the stereotype of a young millennial woman in the film. She showed up late for the futuristic meeting, clutching a cup of coffee. Sorry Im late. My Uber driver got lost, but Im here, she says walking in, staring into her cellphone. When asked what kind of world she wants, she says, I want to advocate for youth like me so they can be who they want to be. Caldejon said the role hit home for her. It often feels like young people are not taken seriously and they dont feel they have the power to speak up, she said. Caldejon entered the foster care system at 14 after running away from home, fleeing verbal and physical abuse, she said. At one point, she said, she was choked by a relative, and she was berated if she got a bad grade in class. She just stayed quiet to avoid a fight, she said. I just felt like I was the Cinderella of the house, Caldejon said. I didnt feel like I was part of the family. When Caldejon was placed with her foster family in Pico Rivera, she found her actual home, she said. Caldejon who said she was self-sufficient, working at an ice cream shop as a teenager moved out of her foster home at 18 because the family could take only two kids at a time and she wanted another child to get to live with her foster parents. She now lives in her own apartment as part of the Department of Children and Family Services program for non-minor dependents in extended foster care. She is double-majoring in social work and law at Cal State L.A. and hopes to become a lawyer for foster youth. I want kids like me to learn they have a voice, she said, choking up. Just because theyre in foster care doesnt mean they have no chance in life. hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson ALSO Rapper Coolio charged with felony after loaded gun is found in his bag at LAX, authorities say Law enforcement officers gather at memorial for slain L.A. County sheriffs sergeant: He was the best of us Rep. Duncan Hunter pushes Coast Guard to procure a ship it doesnt want owned by a top campaign donor An underground plume of toxic chemicals in Chula Vista threatens to contaminate the bay and its largely the Navys fault, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week by the Port of San Diego. The suit cites the Navy as the lead defendant, along with the Air Force and a series of now-defunct federal agencies. Attorneys for the port allege that these parties either spilled a brew of toxins or allowed a defense contractor Rohr Aircraft, now owned by UTC Aerospace Systems to contaminate 48 acres of waterfront property along Lagoon Drive. As the legal, regulatory and environmental steward of the public trust tidelands of San Diego Bay, we would be remiss if we ignored this issue, the port said in a statement about Mondays court filing. Advertisement This litigation is one piece of many moving parts in our plan to remediate legacy contamination on the bayfront. We are pursuing parties responsible for historic contamination of the site, including the U.S. government. Some remediation has already been completed, and our efforts are ongoing. Over the years, the port has worked with cities, shipyards, other companies and regulators to dredge contaminated sediment from the bay. Similar projects have been undertaken in harbors and bays up and down California, spurred by tougher water-quality rules, environmental groups lawsuits and public-health concerns related to fishing in polluted locations. The clean-ups have cost tens of millions of dollars. San Diego port officials said the Chula Vista property, hemmed in by the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge to the north and a sprawl of light industry and a marina to the south, contains 16 toxins that often double as industrial solvents, poisons, lubricants, refrigerants, degreasers, anti-corrosion sealers and soldering agents. Together, the substances could harm the liver, thyroid and kidney and trigger neurological damage, skin problems, heart disease, cancer and, in rare cases, even death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Its important to note that there is no major development or residential use currently on this bayfront land, and therefore we are not aware of immediate risks to human health from legacy contamination, according to the ports statement. The agency indicated that any potential threats to human health will be addressed through the remediation process with the defendants. Officials have not estimated the expense of cleaning up the plume, but the lawsuit seeks $75 million in damages. Mondays filing marked the 30th time since 1987 that the port has been a party to a federal lawsuit claiming environmental damage. The sides have settled and discontinued all but one case a complaint brought in August against defense contractor Lockheed Martin claiming pollution of the Marine Terminal Railway Facility along San Diegos Harbor Island Drive. Citing a policy of remaining mum on ongoing litigation, the U.S. Attorneys Office in San Diego declined comment on the ports newest lawsuit. Industrial production began on the Chula Vista site shortly before Americas entry into World War II. Originally owned by Rohr, a portion of the property was purchased by the federal government in 1942 and leased back to the company. At its peak in 1945, Rohr employed more than 13,000 workers at the site, but most of the buildings were shuttered at the end of the war. During the Korean War, Rohr again leased that property from the government, hiring a force of more than 10,000 workers there before the conflict ended. In 1962, a change in California law transferred a large portion of the land to the port district, which wants to redevelop the contaminated site as part of its larger Chula Vista Bayfront revitalization project.Its the latest in a long-running series of efforts to create a mix of tourism, retail and other business and leisure activity in a heavily industrial area thats often termed a brownfield by urban planners. According to the projects environmental impact report, port officials knew as early as 1999 about potential contamination there. In 2010, the then-Chula Vista Redevelopment Authority ordered both Rohr and the port district to clean up the pollution. After they didnt comply, in 2012 the redevelopment authority sued Rohr in state court, according to legal filings. The following year, Rohr launched a lawsuit against the port to pull the agency into the litigation. The ports newly filed litigation in U.S. District Court draws the federal government into the fray. The San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday emailed a copy of the lawsuit to UTC Aerospace Systems, which did not reply as of Thursday evening. cprine@sduniontribune.com In the latest tumult for the trouble-plagued littoral combat ship fleet, the Navy has relieved the commanding officer of Crew 106 from the San Diego-based ship Freedom following a loss of confidence in his ability to lead sailors and carry out his duties. Vice Adm. Tom Rowden, the senior commander of Naval Surface Forces in the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets, fired Cmdr. Michael Wohnhaas on Thursday evening following the initial findings of an ongoing probe into a mechanical mishap that happened during the recent Rim of the Pacific war-game exercises. On July 11 while off the coast of Southern California, the Freedom suffered seawater damage to its No. 2 main propulsion diesel engine. The cause was a lack of procedural compliance, according to Navy spokesman Douglas Sayers. Because the investigation into the mechanical failure is ongoing, the Navy declined to specify what the failure or violations were but said that they were caused by human error. The Navy takes leadership seriously, Sayers said during a telephone interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune on Friday. The foremost concern is for the safety and well-being of the sailors and their ship. Advertisement On Friday, the Navy temporarily transferred Wohnhaas to the command headquarters of the Pacific Fleets Naval Surface Force in San Diego. Capt. Matthew McGonigle, the deputy commodore of Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One, assumed temporary duties as the Freedoms commanding officer.The Freedoms homeport is San Diego. Crews rotate aboard ship and are led by different commanders. The Navy has yet to render a final decision on the range of repairs necessary to fix the ship. Launched in 2006, the Freedom was the lead vessel in a futuristic fleet of nimble warships, but the program has been plagued by cost overruns, design flaws, maintenance glitches and command snafus.Union-Tribune attempts to reach Wohnhaas were unsuccessful on Friday. A Pennsylvania native, Wohnhaas graduated from the Naval Academy in 1996 after majoring in History. The career Surface Warfare Officer previously served aboard the guided missile cruiser Anzio, the fast combat support ship Supply, the frigate Vandegrift and the destroyer William P. Lawrence, according to his official Navy biography.He also deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a joint headquarters element. cprine@sduniontribune.com A woman found a dying man on the front porch of her Midtown apartment on Friday, San Diego police said. There was no sign of violence or injuries, and his death is not considered suspicious, police Officer Tony Martinez said. The woman called police about 5:15 a.m.and reported that a man was lying on the porch of her apartment on State Street near Reynard Way. He appeared to be passed out, she said. Advertisement By the time officers and paramedics got there, the man was dead, Martinez said. He said the mans identity wasnt immediately confirmed, but he might have lived in the same apartment complex. The Medical Examiners Office will conduct an autopsy and an investigation into the mans death. A U.S. Navy officer, one of several charged in the Fat Leonard bribery scandal, pleaded guilty Thursday to a bribery conspiracy charge in San Diego federal court. Lt. Cmdr. Gentry Debord, 41, admitted he accepted cash, luxury hotel rooms and prostitutes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis in exchange for passing on inside information about Navy operations. The information benefited Francis company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia. The company provides fresh water, ground transport, sewage disposal and other services and supplies to Navy ships that visit foreign ports across southeast Asia. Advertisement Debord also admitted in his plea agreement that he instructed GDMA executives to inflate invoices to the Navy to cover the costs of the gifts he received from the contractor. According to prosecutors, the executives described Debord as over the moon to receive the gifts and joked that he swallowed their bribes hook, line and sinker in instant messages quoted in court documents. In emails and other communications, they referred to prostitutes as cheesecakes and bodyguards, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Debord served as a logistics and supply officer aboard the Essex, an amphibious assault ship, beginning in 2008. In February 2010, Debord asked a GDMA executive to provide him with three hotel rooms, two cellphones, a van and $2,000 Singapore dollars, the plea shows. He then advised the executive to recover the value of the items by inflating the amount the company would charge the Navy for potable water and trash removal service for the Essex port visit to Singapore a year earlier. So far, 16 people have been charged in the corruption and fraud investigation. Of those, 11 are current or former Navy officials. Several defendants have pleaded guilty to federal charges and have been sentenced to prison. Others, including Francis, await sentencing. Debord faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for Jan. 13. dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @danalittlefield A man accused of beating a woman to death at a downtown San Diego hotel, then dumping her body in a shower was convicted Friday of first-degree murder. Jason Bradwell Lewis, 41, was charged in the death of Jhordann Rust, 26, a Wisconsin woman who had arrived in San Diego shortly before she was killed. Her body was found Dec. 14 in a common shower area of the 500 West Hotel on Broadway near Columbia Street. She had been severely beaten, mostly in the head and neck area, and her jaw was broken. Advertisement The Superior Court jury deliberated less than a day before finding Lewis guilty. Prosecutors said Rust traveled to San Diego with her fiance, Cory Nowell, and the couple checked into the hotel on Dec. 12. The fiance was arrested that evening after the couple got into an argument and Nowell allegedly pushed Rust. Deputy District Attorney Melissa Vasel said during her closing arguments Thursday that Rust had gotten locked out of the hotel room she and her fiance shared. She couldnt get a new key because the room wasnt registered in her name. Scared and alone, she called family members to help her feel safe, the prosecutor said. It was during a call Rust made to her mother in Wisconsin that the beating took place. Rusts mother heard a commotion and her daughters cries before the call dropped suddenly. My daughter is being attacked right now in San Diego, she told a 911 dispatcher in Chippewa Falls, Wis., hoping to be connected to California authorities. When that failed, she called San Diego police. Hopelessness, powerlessness. Those feelings have permeated this case, Vasel told the jury, explaining how Rusts mother felt knowing her daughter was far away from her and in danger. The prosecutor argued that Nowell was in a similar position when he was released from jail the morning of Dec. 14. He returned to the hotel to find Rust gone, but nearly all of her belongings were still in their room. He, too, called for help and learned that Rusts mother had filed a missing person report. Im homeless. I just got out of jail, he told 911. I dont know what to do next. Later, he learned that Rusts body had been found in a shower on the floor below where they had been staying. Investigators learned that Rust was with Lewis, a resident at the hotel, the night she was killed. Their images were captured on a security camera recording at a nearby convenience store where they bought a bottle of wine. A witness saw Rust enter Lewis room. She never leaves that room alive again, the prosecutor said. Vasel told the jury that Lewis beat the victim inside his room, possibly for his own sadistic purposes, stuffed her body into a suitcase and carried it to another floor of the hotel where there were fewer occupants. He also disposed of the bed sheets and mattress pad, which were found later in a hotel trashcan. Police found signs of a struggle inside Lewis room. The legs of the bed were broken and a part of the wall above the bed looked discolored, as if someone had wiped it clean. They also found the suitcase with Rusts blood inside it. Lewis DNA was found on her body. Rusts blood was on Lewis clothes. Deputy Public Defender Jason Conge argued in trial that the prosecutor had left several questions left unanswered in her explanation of the case. Among them: What went wrong? Was there a fight? Were drugs and alcohol involved? Conge said his client had no motive to kill the victim, and that tests revealed Rust had toxic levels of alcohol and methamphetamine in her system. But it wasnt enough to persuade the jurors to acquit Lewis of the murder charge. At least one juror cried as she listened to the prosecutors description of the attack during closing arguments. As the juror left the courtroom Friday after the verdict, she spoke softly to Rusts family members. God bless you guys, she said. Lewis, who has prior convictions for residential burglary and battery, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16. He faces a possible sentence of 56 years to life in prison. dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @danalittlefield A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a California law that requires pregnancy counseling centers to provide information about the availability of abortion and birth control to patients. The lawsuit was filed in San Diego federal court by the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, the Pregnancy Care Clinic in El Cajon and the Fallbrook Pregnancy Resource Center. Alternatives Womens Center in Escondido also filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit asked for a preliminary injunction to stop enforcement of the California Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act, which requires that licensed pregnancy clinics post a notice stating the existence of publicly funded family planning services. The law also requires unlicensed clinics to announce that they are not licensed by the state. The law went into effect Jan. 1. Advertisement The Legislature claimed that crisis pregnancy centers pose as full-service womens health clinics, but aim to discourage and prevent women from seeking abortions and interfere with womens ability to be fully informed and exercise their reproductive rights. The pregnancy centers argued the law violated their right to free speech and the freedom to exercise their religion. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found no violation of First Amendment rights. Although the Act is a content-based regulation, it does not discriminate based on viewpoint, according to the opinion. Matt Bowman, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, argued the case on behalf of the pregnancy centers and said he will be discussing the possibility of appealing the ruling. Its bad enough if the government tells you what you cant say, but a law that tells you what you must say under threat of severe punishment is even more unjust and dangerous, Bowman said in a statement. In this case, political allies of abortionists are seeking to punish pro-life pregnancy centers, which offer real hope and help to women. Forcing these centers to promote abortion and recite the governments preferred views is a clear violation of their constitutionally protected First Amendment freedoms. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis The bald eagle found near death last month was returned to the wild Friday morning in Ramona where the majestic national symbol spread its wings and flew over the tree tops until it soared out of view. The man who found the sickly bird less than four weeks ago and the people who nursed it back to health were on hand to watch as it took off into the clear blue sky and headed south for a moment before it turned north and flew off in the direction from where it was found. Today was a remarkable day, said Ali Crumpacker, the director of the Fund for Animals Wildlife Center, where the bird has been recovering. Advertisement Crumpacker said that when the eagle arrived, it acted more like a puppy than the vicious bird of prey that it is. Blood tests later confirmed the eagle had West Nile virus, the mosquito-borne disease that affects a birds neurological system and cripples its flying capability. It was expected the eagle would have needed some six to eight weeks to recover, but it rebounded quickly. To be able to release it back to the wild so soon was incredible, she said. His strength came back, his desire to be a wild bird and hate us again came back, and he basically said, I need to go now, Crumpacker said. Dr. Todd Cecil of the Pet Emergency and Specialty Center in La Mesa, who first treated the bird, said it was no more than a day or two away from death when it was discovered Sept. 19 on the ground in some bushes. It was so weak and lethargic that it surely would have been killed by a predator or died from starvation if it had not been found. When the veterinarian first handled it, the eagle didnt even put up a fight, instead it just rested its head on his arm. Its stomach was completely empty and Cecil estimated that it had probably been down for two or three days before it was discovered. But when it took off Friday, it looked strong and healthy, Cecil said. Andrew Hix was the man who the found eagle. The 23-year-old and his younger brother were hiking in the dark late on a Monday night and were a couple miles off a trail when they heard something rustling in the bushes. Thinking it was a turkey, they went to investigate and were shocked to find it was an eagle. The startled bird at first tried to fly away but it just fell back into the brush. Hix said he thought maybe it had a broken wing. I knew I had to do something, the young man said. He took off his sweater and wrapped it around the eagle which struggled at first, then it calmed down. It seemed like he knew I was trying to help him, Hix said. He called his mom, who picked them up, and kept the bird overnight in a covered cage. He delivered it to the wildlife center the next morning. Hix, who had been checking on the birds recovery, said he was very happy to watch it fly away and know that it was once again free. He said he will look for it now whenever he goes hiking. My eyes will be in the sky, he said. Crumpacker said there are only 10 to 13 documented bald eagles in the San Diego region at any given time. Its suspected the bird may be the male half of a nesting pair that lives in the Ramona grasslands. Now that the bird has been fitted with an identification band, if an eagle returns to the nest wearing a sparkly bracelet, we will know that our guess was correct, she said. In the meantime, Crumpacker said she was gratified to see the bird flying again. I saw why hes the symbol of the United States, she said. He was strong, he was determined, and he had a mission. A male bald eagle that was found near death on a trail in Ramona was rehabilitated by The Fund For Animals Wildlife Center in and released to the wild. (John Gibbins/San Diego Union-Tribune) 619-293-1710 debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com twitter.com/Debbi_Baker Proposition 64, which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana, is being portrayed by supporters as nearly without cost to our society. But from a law enforcement and health care perspective, thats just not the case. Proposition 64 is a step backward instead of forward for Californias progress in public health. Its confounding that on the same ballot voters are being asked to both expand marijuana use and to curb the smoking of cigarettes. Law enforcement has some real concerns about Proposition 64 based on what has happened in Colorado. Advertisement ANOTHER VIEW: Yes on Prop. 64: Measure replaces failed system with strict, smart regulation The United Medical Marijuana Coalition and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith announce "Buy Safe Buy Legal. A campaign that helps medical marijuana patients separate law-abiding dispensaries from law-breaking dispensaries. Since this initiative passed in Colorado, the black market in the state has increased and continues to escalate. Black market marijuana is cheaper than taxed marijuana, and Colorado has seen an influx of cartel/organized crime involvement in their marijuana industry. California already has established marijuana cartel drug trafficking routes and marijuana businesses; these wont simply go away. Since legalization, Colorado has seen a 15 percent increase in violent crime. Based on what has happened in other states where recreational marijuana use was legalized, Californias law enforcement community expects to respond to increased overdoses, including of children; increased traffic fatalities; and violent crimes, as violence is often a way to protect marijuana operations or enforce territories by cartels. This legislation does not provide adequate protections to our youth; it doesnt even try to provide real solutions to existing problem of marijuana use among young people. In 2014, an estimated 8.7 percent of California youth ages 12 to 17 used marijuana in the prior 30 days. Amazingly, among 11th-graders in San Diego, an astonishing 21 percent reported marijuana use in the prior month, and 6 percent reported daily use. The experience in other states that have legalized marijuana is that these numbers rise significantly after legalization. We can expect the same. Like law enforcement, health care providers are concerned. The scientific evidence is clear that marijuana use interferes with normal brain development. Our childrens brains are in a state of active development from the prenatal period, through childhood, adolescence and into their early 20s. The impact of marijuana is a decrease in the functional connectivity of the brain think number of neuronal connections here. The result is still being studied in animal models, but we know that there is a close association between marijuana use and IQ, as well as academic performance and lifetime achievement. There are probably fewer connections in the brains of young adults who have been heavy users of marijuana. We think the cannabinoid system which is the system in the brain that is affected by THC the active ingredient in marijuana plays an active role in brain development. Use of marijuana appears to interfere with this system and thus interfere with normal brain development. Marijuana use also is linked to the development of psychosis, especially among those with a pre-existing genetic vulnerability. There is clear evidence not just a link or association that long-term marijuana use leads to addiction. In addition, such use is associated with anxiety and depression. Its difficult enough for young people to get through adolescence, find their identity and march out into the world with a passion. Marijuana just makes it more difficult. As if that werent enough, consequences include the long-term risks of cancer, the development of chronic bronchitis and a significant increase in visits to the emergency room for marijuana-related medical problems. Certainly, there are gaps in our knowledge around marijuana use, especially its efficacy in treating a number of chronic medical conditions. Medical science will likely one day show us how to harness the potential benefits of the marijuana plant. But the impact of marijuana on our youth is a true crisis today, even without Proposition 64. If passed, the adverse impact to our youth will increase, with absolute certainty, given the experience of other states that have legalized recreational marijuana use. So, as representatives of local law enforcement and one of the regions largest health care providers, we join with organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics in standing up for our young people and against Proposition 64. Gore is San Diego County sheriff; LaBelle M.D., is senior vice president, Chief Medical Officer, Scripps Health. If experts were to design our public schools from scratch, we would do things far differently. We wouldnt have a long, harmful gap in teaching every year, a vestige of the 19th century, when farmers children helped with the summer crop. We wouldnt start class before 8:30 a.m., a practice that takes a heavy health toll on young people who need their rest. We would have graduation requirements that paved a way to middle-class careers by requiring computer science and other valuable job skills. We would pay kindergarten teachers far more based on research that shows they are among the most important adults in childrens lives. But in California, not only is there a complacency about this status quo, there is strong resistance to change. Innovative education policies championed by Democratic and Republican presidents alike are dismissed by most state leaders. In 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown mocked the idea that schools could be improved by using metrics in a veto message that started with a gibe at the siren song of reform. Given this dismaying picture, the people we elect to school boards should not only be open to change but be unsatisfied with the status quo. This editorial board thinks both candidates for the school board district representing southeastern San Diego are well-qualified; both were impressive in interviews with us. But LaShae Collins, a top aide to Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, seems more likely to be a change agent than appointed incumbent trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne. Advertisement Collins is a strong believer that schools must be accountable when it comes to student and teacher performance. And she praises legislation authored by Weber and vetoed by Brown that would have imposed a more meaningful, less muddled approach to evaluating schools than the one recently approved by the State Board of Education. The bill would have mandated a single score snapshot of school performance, as required by a provision in a 2015 federal law meant to compel states to improve not tolerate struggling schools. In contrast, Whitehurst-Payne opposes the rule, saying, The feds dont get everything right. That suggests a satisfaction with current state evaluations that we cant fathom. A similar dynamic is at play in the county Board of Education race pitting incumbent trustee Rick Shea and former state Sen. Mark Wyland. In his interview, Shea showed himself to be a personable, bright career educator. But with Wyland, a former Fulbright scholar who knows state education issues inside-out, county residents have the chance to vote for someone who could emerge as a leader in getting the California education establishment to live up to its promises to help English-language learners. Its awful, whats been done with the Local Control Funding Formula, Wyland says. Hes absolutely right. The 2013 law was depicted by Brown and others as a historic move to steer billions of dollars in resources specifically to help English learners. Two years later, state officials decreed that these funds could instead be spent on teacher raises. We need education leaders who wont stand for such flimflam. Collins for city school board. Wyland for county school board. This editorial board has historically opposed single-use plastic bag bans, arguing against them repeatedly, on the local and state level. But this summer San Diego became the 150th municipality in the state to ban plastic checkout bags, and these days a statewide ban seems as inevitable as it could be effective. In 2012 after San Jose adopted its ban, surveys found an 89 percent reduction in bag litter in its storm drain system and about a 60 percent reduction in city creeks, rivers, streets and neighborhoods. Its time for California to follow. Under Proposition 67, stores would charge and collect 10 cents for each reusable bag they provide to shoppers. Thats no deterrent. A 2014 USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll showed California voters supported the states plastic bag ban nearly 2-to-1. So whose argument will Californians buy? Their legislative leaders who passed and signed a statewide ban into effect two years ago? Or the plastic bag manufacturers who poured mostly out-of-state money into a campaign to have voters bag the ban? (The plastic bag industry is also financing Proposition 65 over environmentalists objections. Dont be confused by that measure. Just reject it.) Advertisement Industry officials make two major points: that plastic bags can be recycled and that they amount to less than 1 percent of the total trash stream. The bottom line is that only a tiny percentage of the 15 billion single-use plastic carryout bags Californians use each year are recycled now, and that hundreds of thousands of birds and marine animals die annually from ingesting or getting caught in plastics. RELATED OP-EDS Yes on 67: Protect Californias bag ban from out-of-state profiteers No on 67: Bag ban brings higher costs, no benefits Plastic bag bans are so common already across California that requiring one statewide seems a natural extension and a minimal disruption. Protect the environment by voting no on 65 and yes on 67. Twitter: @SDuncovered Email: matthew.hall@sduniontribune.com Karl Newmeyers question in Where was the harm of Clintons emails? (Sept. 30) begs a response. He said Clintons use of her server was careless but why all the outrage? No one has been able to prove email harm. Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor San Diego Union-Tribune P.O. Box 120191 San Diego, CA 92112-0191. You can also leave a comment below Advertisement Anyone who has ever held a security clearance knows the rules. Harm is the potential as well as the demonstrable evidence. There are men and women who paid severe penalties for doing far less with or without immediate proven harm. We may never know the harm caused by Clintons actions over the long run. Good espionage is keeping sources secret. Since we do know she lied to cover it up, she knew it was harmful. Using Newmeyers logic, drunken driving is not intrinsically wrong if no harmful accidents occur. Yikes, what are we thinking? Thomas Tomkins Escondido Trump might want to avoid military analogies Regarding Trump launches attack on disloyal Republicans (Oct. 12): I hope Paul Ryan is not offended by Donald Trumps not wanting to be in the same foxhole with him. He didnt want to be in my foxhole or that of any other Marines, soldiers, sailors or airmen in Vietnam either. R. Kennedy San Carlos Kudos for the work done at the Frozen Zoo Regarding the article Conservation hopes live at San Diegos Frozen Zoo (Sept. 25): As a volunteer, and a future research zoologist, I cherish every moment around animals and being able to learn from them. Despite the debates about how scientists are playing god, I am writing to support the work and research that is being conducted at San Diegos Frozen Zoo. The Frozen Zoo informs people about its research and the animals histories. It is conducting important research as to why certain species are dying quickly, such as amphibians, and figuring out how to save them and many endangered species from extinction. It is doing this through cloning and surrogacy with frozen eggs and sperms. Researchers need the Frozen Zoo because they feel the urge to repair the damage that humans created by encroaching on animals area. Kristin Berube San Diego Hard to fathom papers support for Harris Your recommendation of Kamala Sanctuary City Harris (Kamala Harris for U.S. Senate, Oct. 11) is by far the worst recommendation you have made so far. Buck Rushworth Ramona Marines should honor Corps proud slogan Regarding Marines weigh retirement of The Few, The Proud slogan (Oct. 3): When I was 18 years old, I didnt want to go to college after high school. I wanted to do something different. I decided to serve my country. As an 18-year-old choosing what branch to join was difficult choice. I talked to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. I joined the United States Marine Corps and began the 13-week transformation process at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. One of the selling points for me joining the Marine Corps was its slogan The Few, The Proud, The Marines. When talking to the recruiters of the different branches, the Marines seemed to be the best choice for me. In this article the author writes about the change being about a marketing scheme for millennials to join the Marines. The slogan has been in use since 1977. Military traditions should not be changed just to appeal to a different generation. It appealed to my grandfather and it appealed to me. Jeffrey Leigh Escondido Our nation needs to play tough with Russia Regarding daily news articles of Russian and Syrian bombings of Aleppo: History will judge the U.S. and the president poorly for standing by and watching genocide being perpetrated by the Russians with their war planes in Syria. A no-fly zone should be imposed immediately and the Russians should be told to stay out. I know that this is a difficult decision, but I lived through the Cuban embargo, when President Kennedy had the courage to back down the Russians. They are bullies and, like most bullies, will not challenge us if we act decisively. Putin is a bully but no fool. We tell the world that we have the strongest and most capable military in the world but, if we refuse to employ it, it really doesnt matter. At this time, Putin views us as timid and indecisive. This can be very dangerous. The president and Congress need to act decisively and now to save the lives of those innocent civilians who are being bombed into oblivion. Michael M. Holland Carlsbad Cartoon a disservice to Clinton, and to pigs Depicting former President Clinton as a pig (How can someone like this be president? Oct. 12) equal to or the same as Donald Trump is not worthy of the U-T. Steve Breen draws a comparison that I cannot place any validity on. Pigs are very vocal. They communicate by grunting, squealing and snorting to indicate pleasure, distress, alarm, etc. Having watched the debate, I can only attribute this partial description of this species to Trump. L. Marlene Evans San Marcos Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. The graphic language Donald Trump used to describe women in a 2005 tape first revealed last week in a Washington Post story and then repeated on television, the radio and the internet to a mass audience has provoked a kind of reaction typically reserved for R-rated film scenes. At home, people watching on TV turned their complaints to the Federal Communications Commission. At schools, teachers told students that just because a presidential candidate says those words it doesnt mean theyre allowed in school. On CNN, a Trump surrogate said she was offended by the words. Even first lady Michelle Obama cant believe those words came from a top candidate for president of the United States. Here is a portion of her full speech in front of a crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she was campaigning for Hillary Clinton on Thursday. https://twitter.com/bpolitics/status/786640286252281856 Michelle Obama: While I'd love nothing more than to pretend like this isn't happening and come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream. This is not something that we can ignore. Its not something that we can sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season because this was not just a lewd conversation. This wasn't just locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us worried about our children hearing it when we turned on the TV. In a way, the words Trump used are at the center of a bigger discussion about the treatment of women and basic moral decency in America, which Obama points out in her speech. But they also present a challenge for news organizations (including The San Diego Union-Tribune) to publish and air a candidates profanities. Because the FCC regulates over-the-air television outlets, broadcast stations like NBC, CBS and ABC are more likely to censor the language. The FCC issues fines for profanity violations. However, the FCC does not have regulatory powers over cable networks like CNN and Fox News, as reported by Al Tompkins at the Poynter Institute. Since the airing of the Trump tape, the FCC has reportedly received 23 complaints about the language aired on television, most of it coming from cable news and some coming from websites. One of them filed on Oct. 11 under Indecency reads, How many times do we need to hear this tape or see the video. we get the point. WE know you dragging Donald through the mud. But, lets not bring the kids into this ok? And thats just on media. A teachable moment is also happening at home where parents are having to decide how to explain or protect their kids in light of the words Trump described as simply locker room talk. https://twitter.com/pimathman/status/784903174125531136 https://twitter.com/mattmoorek/status/784946562711584768 https://twitter.com/kouredios/status/785989778814619649 https://twitter.com/BetsyGleick/status/785981746886180864 https://twitter.com/MaryAnneMulli12/status/785996292174610433 For the record, Trump did apologize for the remarks he made in the 2005 tape and called them a distraction from the real issues that voters must weigh in the upcoming election. Many Republicans also condemned his remarks, some called for him to drop out of the race, and others pulled their support entirely. Trump and his supporters, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, subsequently referred to such disavowing Republicans as self-righteous hypocrites and downplayed the offensiveness of the tapes. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785120729364922369 https://twitter.com/RealScottErnst/status/784995166197198853 https://twitter.com/chuckdevore/status/784874001256427521 Regardless of whether the Trump tape shapes the outcome of the election, people on every corner of the country have something to say about the words and what they represent in society. Big deal, not a big deal? You tell us. Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @RunGomez ALSO Donald Trump takes off 'shackles,' takes on 'disloyal' GOP Trump accusations resonate in San Diego where Filner was mayor Behind Donald Trump's vile 2005 comments about women Poway resident Virginia Rowe is celebrating her 100th birthday on Saturday and she has some advice for everyone: stop worrying so much. Rowe, a resident at the Boulder Creek Post Acute care center in Poway, will be celebrating her centennial with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She said she was looking forward to her party and seeing family members, many of whom are coming from out of state for the event. Her advice for making it to 100 years old is Dont worry about anything. Rowe was born Oct. 15, 1916 in Detroit, Michigan. She was an only child with an overprotective mother, she said. My mother wouldnt let me off the porch, said Rowe. I wasnt allowed out of her sight. She said that as an only child, she had to keep herself entertained. She took up making paper dolls and tatting (making knotted lace by hand) and began playing the piano at age 8. She said was a good student who skipped at least one grade and would play the piano for her classmates on rainy days so they could dance. She married and had five children, four girls and a boy, with her husband, who served in the army. I wanted a big family because I always wanted brothers, she said. My mother wanted six sons and she got four girls, said her daughter, Gwen Marandola. Rowes life took a turn when her husband died when she was 45. Rowe was left to raise five children alone. She never remarried. The Lord knew what he was doing when he gave me one son, said Rowe. It was harder to raise a boy as a single mother. Marandola and her sister, Teresa Podimatis, said that their mother went back to work and never complained. She did whatever she could to support the family, said Podimatis. She did Kelly Girl (a temporary staffing agency), she sold soap. Rowe also kept busy giving back to her community. She was a Girl Scout leader, volunteered at her church, did voting polls and counted ballots and started a toy drive. I enjoyed volunteering, said Rowe. I wanted to stay busy. I wanted to keep helping others. I could have been very lonely if I worried about things and cried because something wasnt right, but I kept myself busy. Rowe even kept volunteering in her 80s, reading to those who couldnt. Shes still teaching me patience and how to age gracefully, said Podimatis. At Boulder Creek, she plays bingo and loves the Padres, her daughters said. Her mind is still sharp, said Marandola. She loves jokes and riddles. Between Marandola, Potimatis and her three other children, Cheryl, Mary and Bill Rowe, Rowe has nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Rowe said she hoped she was still alive to celebrate her 105th birthday with her family. San Diego Unified is teaming up with districts across the country to address problems schools face hiring teachers and other employees. Californias second-largest district has joined a coalition of 12 urban school systems to recruit new educators into the profession and increase the diversity of its workforce. The group will also look for better ways to promoting non-teaching jobs. Schools locally and nationwide face obstacles filling positions amid shrinking substitute teacher pools, where many educators get their start; and a drop in applicants. Whats more, schools are also under pressure to fill support staff jobs such as bus drivers, mechanics, security officers, instructional aides, and food service workers. Advertisement The districts will look for new ways to establish a military job pipeline that takes advantage of veterans and military parents that could be qualified for education jobs. Next month in the days following Veterans Day, the 12 school districts will launch a series of job fairs and other events. In addition to San Diego Unified, districts in Anchorage, Dallas, Dayton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Milwaukee, New York City, Reno, and Tulsa, are developing plans to work with veterans and their spouses. A second batch of districts will work on a similar initiative to be launched close to Memorial Day. San Diego Unified will hold an event November 19, from 8:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. at Scripps Ranch High School. The San Diego Unified School District Veterans and Families Career Fair will invite veterans, active duty, their spouses and family members opportunities to learn about education jobs. Information will be on hand to help teachers moving to San Diego from other states about transferring their credentials. Job interviews will be available for substitute teaching positions and substitute clerical jobs. Would-be classroom assistants will may take the Classroom Assistant Proficiency Exam for free (the district will waive the $7 fee.) To register visit: https://ttesandiegounified.eventbrite.com/ maureen.magee@sduniontribune.com Twitter:@MaureenMagee I like a day in Belize City. There. I said it. No, it is not Paris or New York. No, I would not recommend it to first time visitors to Belize. No, I dont recommend taking a solo midnight stroll. (I REALLY dont recommend that one.) But it has it charms. You dont have to look too closely to feel like its 50 or 100 years ago. Yesterday I took the water taxi over (1.5 hour ride) for a day of shopping. Rain clouds were hovering over but I didnt see rain all day like San Pedro did. The San Pedro Belize Expresss dock is still being re-built after Hurricane Earl. It now leaves just a few docks north in Central Park. The 10am boat was blissfully roomy. I had a list of items for stocking up the camp Cayo Frances Farm & Fly which hosts her first official guests this week. My first stop? The Macys of Belize Mirabs. It is just steps away from the water taxi, just outside the Tourist Village Cruise Ship Dock. Inside, I found much of what I needed light blankets, baking pans, towels and more. Things that I couldnt find in San Pedro or ones that were much cheaper in Belize City. I also found Mirabs setting up forCHRISTMAS. Holy moly. They are still working but just below there will be a huge HUGE faux tree all aglitter. Next I hit Hofius and Augusto Quan hardware stores (less than 10 minutes away and over the bridge). Passing this cool looking drug store. And this over the water bar. The first, Hofius, has LOTS of cheap home good from plates to lamps to pots and pans. Time to stop for a delicious lunch across the street in the shadow of the old courthouse. Mmmmthe Ice Cream Shoppe. Next stopthe Staples of Belize City Angellus Press. You can even get the official English to Kriol dictionary. I bought a few things here and continued on down the road. I was planning on visiting Food & Beverage (the Price Club of Belize) and then a framing store about 10 minutes walk down the way. It was a straight shot in a well traveled area. The wires overheadwowzer. I saw pieces of metals hangers stuck in this one. Lots of small shops selling groceries are in some cool looking buildings. Like this one Or this one. I wonder who Charlie Yon was. On New Road, I passed this beautiful rehabilitated home. Lawyers below and the Philippines consulate above. Granted, I have not met everyone in the country but is there a sizeable Philippino group here that I dont know about? After googling the list, I am confused by quite a few of them. Estonia? Can anyone help me out here? I found my framing shop, rightfully named The Framing Shop on Cleghorn Road and got a few estimates. It was time to walk back and head to the water taxi. I actually had 45 minutes and stopped for a pedicure. Its been WAY too long. The ladies asked me if I wanted a cup of Boones during the treatment I had already dropped off most of my loot. I passed this sign which, again, got me thinking. Why are many of the signs in Belize in this exact handwriting? Is there one sign painter who travels all over? Or is this a special Belize font? The 3pm water taxi was JAM PACKED. Oy. I got back to San Pedro just after 4:30, did some quick errands and head home. For a day that ended cloudy, it was a gorgeous sunset over the lagoon. And MANwas I tired. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Update on this week's prescribed burn A prescribed burn in the Santa Fe municipal watershed has created a layer of thick smoke in the area. Smoke may linger as long as another week, according to Forest Service officials. The Santa Fe National Forest started the burn Wednesday with hand ignitions and aerial ignitions Thursday. The focus was 2,435 acres just north of McClure Reservoir. Ignitions on the Santa Fe Watershed prescribed burn wrapped at 2:30 p.m. Thursday," said spokeswoman Julie Anne Overton. "Afternoon and evening winds were less than expected, and an inversion kept smoke over the city." Air quality monitors on Upper Canyon Road and at the Harold L. Runnels Building at Alta Vista and St. Francis Drive indicated unhealthy levels of smoke, a news release said. The state Health Department said anyone experiencing health effects from smoke exposure should take extra care to stay inside or get to an area with better air quality. Overton said fire crews were unable to treat approximately 650 acres within the planning area, and the Forest Service after consulting with the New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Department of Health decided not to continue ignitions Friday. Areas most likely to be affected by smoke include nearby communities along Hyde Park Road and neighborhoods along the Santa Fe River near Canyon Road, Cerro Gordo Road and East Alameda Street. Smoke likely will be visible from Santa Fe, Tesuque, Glorieta, Pecos Canyon, Eldorado and Interstate 25. Norristown, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/14/2016 -- In just two short years, Global Blends, a coffee distributor based in the Delaware Valley, has quickly become the region's preferred vendor for delicious beverages that match unparallelled taste with a complete coffee philosophy. The company is proud to announce that more clients recently joined the Global Blends family by deciding to offer exclusively Global Blends coffee, tea and snacks at their locations. The clients joining Global Blends' impressive roster include upscale French-Italian BYOB eatery Birchrunville Cafe (located in Chester County, PA) and Audi Eatontown, as well as other luxury auto dealerships in the state of New Jersey. Global Blends' passion for ethically-sourced coffee, distinctive flavors and unmatched customer service is all but fitting for these well-regarded establishments. Since its inception, Global Blends has served clients with diverse supply needs, ranging from supermarkets to offices to restaurants. The recent addition of clients is not the only exciting news that Global Blends has to share. The company was honored to cater the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) 2016 World Education Congress in June of 2016 at Harrah's Casino. Members of the MPI, the world's largest meeting and event industry association, convened to network and learn, all while enjoying coffee, tea and snacks provided by Global Blends. Lastly, Global Blends is turning an eye to the coming season with the planned distribution of its Bucks County Coffee Co. pumpkin spice blend. The fall favorite will be hitting Acme grocery store shelves across the Mid-Atlantic region, and is on sale at $6.99 per package. Global Blends' full list of products and company philosophy are available at http://www.globalblendscoffee.com. Call 800-849-3851 to speak with a representative, or to schedule a complimentary office demonstration and free product trial. About Global Blends Delaware Valley coffee distributor Global Blends believes in ethical coffee sourcing, impeccable flavor and transparent supply processes. In addition to their Rambler Series of small batch, micro-lot blends, Global Blends stocks some of the Delaware Valley's favorite coffee, tea and espresso brands, including Bucks County Coffee Co, Nespresso, Wawa, Cafe Britt and Two Leaves and a Bud Tea. In addition to single-serving cups and ground coffee, Global Blends distributes condiments, snacks, supplies and equipment to restaurants, offices and other businesses throughout the region. Learn more by visiting http://www.globalblendscoffee.com/ or calling 800-849-3851. In a study using RT-IMRI (real-time intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging) to guide the transplantation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons into the brains of non-human primates modeled with Parkinsons disease, scientists found that RT-IMRI guidance not only allows for better visualization and monitoring of the procedure, but also helps cell survival. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a type of stem cell that can be generated directly from adult cells. These cells offer great benefits for regenerative medicine as they propagate indefinitely and can differentiate into a variety of cell types, such as neurons, heart, pancreatic, and liver cells. In previous studies, scientists have found that while iPSC-derived neurons provide great opportunities for cell replacement they also present challenges. Our team developed an MRI-compatible trajectory guidance system that has been successful for intraoperative MRI, said Dr. Marina Emborg, a researcher with the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the corresponding author of a paper published last month in the journal Cell Transplantation. We recently upgraded the system for real-time targeting and guidance and, as a result of the improvements, the procedure provides several advances for cell delivery. Dr. Emborg and her colleagues in the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that the advancements allow for real-time pressure readings that can prevent clogging during cell delivery. They also found a way to prevent exposure to air during the procedure. Both advancements, in addition to real-time observation by MRI, add to the procedures efficacy and safety. Using post-mortem brain analysis, the teams found that the transplanted cells grafted and survived well in the test animals after transplantation. The application of the RT-IMRI system for intracerebral targeting and delivery of iPSC-derived neuroprogenitors is feasible and presents and the advantage of allowing monitoring of cell uploading and infusion, the scientists said. These methods will be particularly valuable for clinical application where safety and efficacy of the treatment is defined by the accurate delivery of cells. Cell therapy is the cornerstone of regenerative medicine for neurodegenerative disease, said Dr. Paul Sanberg, Distinguished Professor at the University of South Florida and Co-Editor-in-Chief for Cell Transplantation. With the advent of iPSCs, the field has made significant advances. The current study expounds upon those advances by addressing logistical concerns regarding cell administration and tracking. This method has wide applicability and may be relevant for not only Parkinsons disease, but other neurodegenerative conditions as well. _____ Scott C. Vermilyea et al. Real-Time Intraoperative MRI Intracerebral Delivery of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neurons. Cell Transplantation, published online September 14, 2016; doi: 10.3727/096368916X692979 Samsung is no longer looking forward to take its chances with their Galaxy Note 7 catching fire. The resultant issues with their latest flagship device has led to a permanent discontinuation of the device. Depressing as it may seem for many fans, the company had to take this major step backwards for the safety of its customers. Experts are still in the investigation to find out the exact reasons behind it. But, speculations are rising and most of them are pointing out on the batteries of the phablet. This battery flaw might be the core issue behind these sudden combustion. Soon after, all the phones were called back by Samsung, the research team made these predictions related to battery problems. They perceive this fire hazard issue of being a result due to the faulty batteries - which are produced by Samsung's own sub-unit, Samsung SDI. Further indications come in pointing out at the batteries being larger in size for the device. This might have caused the batteries to crinkle around the corners causing a short circuit, eventually leading to combustion. More than 70% batteries were produced by Samsung SDI for the Galaxy Note 7. The remaining 30% were created under Japan's TDK Corp, Amperex Technology, based in Hong Kong. But, further confusion has recently been generated when the fire catching issue was found in these Amperex batteries as well. This was checked during the trials for this issue and the conclusion was later deduced. Samsung might face a heavy loss due to the sudden global recall of the Note 7. Investigators are still on the line to come up with more rigid conclusions, so that the problem is eradicated for good, letting the buyers be free from the nervousness developed in the minds of many. This is important as the upcoming devices by Samsung could face similar dilemmas when it comes to sales. Ethiopia is different from other nations affected by climate change. This is because the region benefits from climate change by having increased water availability in the coming decades, according to a new study. The study was just printed in the journal Climatic Change. It was led by researchers from Virginia Tech. The team speculated that the water availability in the Blue Nile Basin may augment in the coming decades because of climate change. This may boost the crop production, hydroelectric power projects and promote irrigation, according to Science Daily. In the study, the team used acclimate and hydrologic models to foresee the impact of climate change on water availability and sediment transport in the Blue Nile Basin. The results showed that there is 20 to 30 percent more streamflow available in the area in the coming decades, according to the researchers. In the past studies, they only found an increased rate of water availability of 10 percent. On the other hand, there would be an increased in sediment transport in the rivers because of the increased water flow. This would lessen the capacity of reservoirs and dams in storing the water. Zach Easton, an associate professor of biological systems engineering, said that greater water availability is a positive outcome. On the other hand, this is countered by more sediment. He further said that one way to overcome this is through installing conservation practices on farms such as using cover crops and low and no-till planting methods. This would make the soil healthier, more stable and lessen the erosion. Easton continued that the Blue Nile Basin is about 5,000 feet in elevation. This would potentially good for agriculture, water availability and low disease and pest pressure. Certainly, the climate change could benefit the Blue Nile Basin with an increased rainfall in the region. Ethiopia has almost 100 million inhabitants, making it the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second most populous nation in Africa. It has a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometers and its capital is Addis Ababa, which is also the largest city in Ethiopia. For most of history, it has been believed that Marco Polo was the first European to travel Asia in 1300 AD. However, it seems that their estimate may be off by over 1,500 years because Greek sculptors may have helped carve the terracotta warriors that have watched over the tomb of Qin Shi Huang for over 2,000 years. Historians and archaeologists excavating the tomb of China's first emperor examined the statues, concluding that they were unusual for their time period - and that it had been influenced by Greek sculpture. The Guardian noted that this suggests that the East and Wet actually much earlier than anyone previously thought. These Terracotta warriors were first discovered by a farmer in 1974 by a farmer from Xian, one of the oldest cities in China. The warriors, which were buried underground, were presumed to keep their emperor safe even in death - a tradition most associated with Egypt's King Tut, whose grave was also adorned with life-size statues. However, there had been no evidence of such burial rituals in China - either before or after Qin Shi Huang. BBC reported that the statues, which are also incredibly detailed with decorative hairstyles and armor were lovely to look at, but Chinese statues of the same era were typically simpler, and stand only 8 inches tall. A separate study also noted that there have been European-specific mitochondrial DNA found at some sites of the westernmost Xinjiang Province, suggesting that westerners may have settled there during the reign of the emperor. Professor Lukas Nickel from the University of Vienna noted that he believed the First Emperor may even be influenced by the arrival of the Greek statues in Central Asia following the death of Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC. More of the new discoveries will be outlined in a BBC documentary called "The Greatest Tomb," a joint effort by the British company and National Geographic, to air on BBC Two on October 16. Anias and Jadon McDonald are one (or two) in 2.5 million. The 13-month-old twins were born conjoined at the head, and were brought to their parents to a Bronx hospital to undergo surgery despite warnings that they could suffer physical issues after. However, the surgeon who is operating on the twins is the same one who famously separated a different pair of twins also conjoined at the head in 2004. The boys' parents, 31-year-old Nicole and 37-year-old Christian, insist that the boys are perfect, but they also want to give them a normal life. To give them what they deserve, The Daily Mail reported that the family traveled to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York, to have the operation be done by one of the most esteemed surgeons in the country for a check amounting to $2.5 million. Despite knowing it's for the best, Nicole fears that something wrong could go during surgery, even admitting that se has become attached to the boys the way they are. Anias and Jadon's situation, which officially labels them as "craniopagus twins," a phenolmenon that only occurs once every 2.5 million births. What's even more surprising is that the boys made it as old as 13 months, when around 40 percent of these kinds of twins are stillborn, while a third of those who do survive die within 24 hours of birth. Unfortunately, they cannot remain as is either: if they do survive, there is still an 80 percent chance that they would die before the age two. Separation won't be too much of a good thing as well: one or both of the twins could suffer developmental complications after the surgery. Still, their parents have faith, saying that no matter how it turns out, they are still going to love the boys. CNN reported that the lead surgeon of the operation is Dr. James Goodrich, considered to be one of the world's leading neurosurgeons for twins conjoined at the head. He will be joined by plastic surgeon Dr. Oren Tepper, who will reconstruct the boys' skulls and stitch their heads close after their separation. The three crew members of Expedition 49/50 are scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 19 at 4:05 a.m. EDT (2:05 p.m. local time) from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. The event will reportedly be covered live from 3:15 a.m. EDT on NASA TV as well as on the American space agency's website. Expedition 49/50 crew members comprise of Roscosmos cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough. The trio will travel on the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft for two days to examine the upgraded systems before docking at the Poisk module of the space station on October 21 at 5:59 a.m. EDT. The docking event will also be covered live by NASA TV, and the event will be broadcast from 5:15 a.m. EDT The hatches between the ISS and Soyuz will be unlocked at around 8:35 a.m. The new inhabitants of the space laboratory will be welcomed by crew members of expedition 48/49, that include Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and flight engineers Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Kate Rubins of NASA. The previous expedition members have been aboard the flying laboratory since July 7. Expedition 49/50 was originally supposed to be launched on September 23; however the date was postponed due to technical issues with the Soyuz spacecraft, as per Roscosmos."Roscosmos has decided to move the launch of Soyuz MS-02 ship planned for September 23 due to technical reasons after holding tests on the Baikonur Cosmodrome," a Roscosmos official had stated. The three new members of ISS are scheduled to return back on Earth in late February, spending a little more than four months aboard the space station. The full six person crew will continue work on numerous experiments in the fields of Earth science, physical science, biotechnology and biology on the space laboratory. Phobos, the moon of Mars which is considered our solar system's Death Star due to its similar appearance to the fictional planet destroyer in the Star Wars films, has long puzzled scientists with its massive 5.6-mile-wide crater. Now, a recent study based on numerical simulations has reportedly solved the mystery of the bizarre formation, known as Stickney crater. As per the study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, physicists created models of comet or asteroid impacts that could have formed the Stickney crater without completely destroying Phobos. "We've demonstrated that you can create this crater without destroying the moon, if you use the proper porosity and resolution in a 3D simulation," said Megan Bruck Syal, study author. The recent calculations conducted during the study reveal that the largest moon of Mars was hit by a 200-meter object which collided into the satellite at nearly five miles per second. The collision was impactful enough to create the large depression on the surface of the 13 mile wide Phobos. The researching team also rejected the theory that numerous parallel grooves, which seem to radiate from the crater, were formed by the impact. The simulations, instead, show that the fracture patterns caused by collision would not be like the parallel, long, straight grooves seen on the lunar surface. Apart from finding the cause that led to the bizarre Stickney crater, the study was also conducted with another objective - to gain more insight into an open source code the researching team had developed to simulate the different techniques of deflecting destructive asteroids heading towards Earth. If something similar to the object that hit Phobos were to collide with Earth, the effect would be disastrous, as per the scientists. "If NASA sees a potentially hazardous asteroid coming our way, it will be essential to make sure are able to deflect it. We will only have one shot at it, and the consequences could not be higher. We do this type of benchmarking research to make sure our codes are right when they will be needed most," added Meg Bruck. FLORENCE, S.C. About 12 hours of lost water pressure and some exterior damage to the west tower of Carolinas Hospital System were the two major events experienced during Hurricane Matthew, hospital officials said Thursday. What amazed Costa Cockfield, though, was how the entire staff pulled together in the face of adversity, how well the hospital was prepared and the seamless integration of outside agencies working hand in glove to ensure patient care remained a top priority. Daily phone calls between the hospitals and the S.C. Hospital Association to prepare for the storm were invaluable, said Cockfield, the chief nursing officer. The Department of Health and Environmental Control opened a special medical needs shelter at the Cedar campus, she said, and the city did a tremendous job in keeping the hospitals command center up to speed about water line breaks. Strong winds took off sections of the front and rear of the west tower on Saturday and crews were in place Sunday working on repairs, she said. Sixty patients were transferred and 83 rooms were cordoned off; work is continuing at a rapid pace. It was a tremendous undertaking, she said, referring to the overall teamwork and esprit de corps she witnessed last weekend. It reminded me of pit crews. Tankers were prepped to come in if water pressure had not been restored, she said, and parent company Community Health Systems also had plans in place to send back-up generators, which werent needed, because generators in place worked as they should. Loren Rials, interim chief executive officer and chief financial officer, said that while hes proud of everyone at the hospital, he was impressed that 150 employees slept on cots and were fed by the hospital as well. Cockfield said a phlebotomist came in several hours early Friday night, concerned that roads might be impassable. Cockfield said a surgical technician that waded through knee-high water to make it to work. Those are the kinds of stories that warm your heart, she said. This is when you see true character. Dealing with leaks was also part of the Hurricane Matthew experience for Carolinas Hospital System and pretty much everyone else and she said one lesson they learned was to be more prudent about using good linens to take care of the leaks. Indeed, each department is working on a report, she said, so lessons learned can be mulled over if any update to the current disaster plan is needed. A temporary day care was also something the employees needed and used, and a home health business asked for and received temporary office space. Two hemodialysis patients from Georgetowns Prince George Nursing Facility stayed for several days at the hospital as well. Our engineering department was phenomenal, Cockfield said. Our clinical leaders were phenomenal our priority is patient care but we also take care of our employees. A few weeks ago I sent a letter to the Morning News editor concerning the problems that LED's are causing at night. Because it was so long, it had to be edited. Some of the important info was left out; this is a follow-up to that letter. One very important thing that was left out was that in June, at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, the AMA members voted unanimously to support using LEDs of 3000K (Kelvin) or less - especially less. The official AMA Report from that meeting has been distributed to the Department of Energy, utilities, governors, mayors, city/county councils, and local planning boards to educate our leaders about the problems "blue-rich" LEDs are causing to us and the nighttime environment. Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) is a number used by lighting companies to identify the "perceived color" given off by light sources measured in degrees Kelvin (K). But it is not an accurate way to determine the actual amount of blue and green from any light bulb (lamp) or LED. CCT is a very crude way to describe how "warm" or "cool" a light appears to the human visual system. Lower temperature CCT appears "warmer" and more eye friendly, while higher temperature (blue-rich) CCT looks "colder" and harsher to our eyes. And all of this "blue light" disrupts our circadian rhythms and suppresses melatonin, a natural hormone that our body produces that fights breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. There are three things that the lighting industry - which includes lighting manufacturers, lighting designers, and of course the local utilities - never told us when LEDs first hit the market. They didn't inform us that (1) our eyes are extremely sensitive to short wave-length "blue-rich" light at night. Our visual system perceives it as being three to five times more intense than longer wavelengths of light such as yellow, orange, and red. (2) the only way the LEDs could be made more efficient was to load them up with short wave-length blue light. And (3) LEDs are an extremely concentrated and very intense "point-source" of light; almost laser-like in produced brightness and glare! What makes things worse is that the lighting companies did absolutely no research to fix the problems that these first-generation LEDs are now causing. A retired U.S. Army lighting engineer put it this way: "They wanted to sell as many LEDs as possible and get them on light poles before we noticed the problem." The complaints from citizens in cities that have installed LEDs have been heard. Some lighting companies (Cree Lighting is one) are beginning to address the "blue-rich" problem. But the best thing for city/county leaders to do is wait until the lighting companies get the problem corrected. For the latest research on the problems with LEDs go to Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition at (flagstaffdarkskies.org) and the Illinois Coalition for Responsible Outdoor Lighting at (illinoislighting.org). FRANCIS PARNELL Darlington WASHINGTON -- Let's begin with the People magazine writer who says that Donald Trump took her into a room at his Mar-a-Lago estate -- while his pregnant wife was changing her clothes upstairs -- and "within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." Natasha Stoynoff is an experienced journalist with six books to her credit, and her story is similar to those told by others. A second woman says she, too, was groped by Trump at the Florida estate. Two other women told The New York Times of being accosted by Trump, one of them groped and the other forcibly kissed. A former Miss Washington says Trump "continually grabbed my ..." at a beauty pageant. Another woman alleged in a lawsuit that Trump pushed her against a wall and tried to put his hands up her dress. Trump denies it all. But there is reason to believe these stories of sexual assault -- let's call it what it is -- because of Trump's own words about the way he treats women. This is the very behavior Trump boasts of in the "Access Hollywood" videotape that surfaced last week. He relates how he "moved on" co-host Nancy O'Dell, a married woman, without success. He says that when he sees beautiful women, "I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait." He says that "when you're a star," you can "grab them by the p----. You can do anything." At Sunday's debate, Trump tried to dismiss those unguarded words as "locker room talk." Pressed by moderator Anderson Cooper, he claimed never to have actually done any of these things. Imagine how that denial sounded to women who knew otherwise. The creepiest new revelation comes from CBS News, which discovered footage from a 1992 interview in which Trump says of a 10-year-old girl: "I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?" And there have also been reports in the Guardian and BuzzFeed about Trump walking in on contestants in the Miss Teen USA pageant when they were half-dressed. Ick. The story here is not just that Trump is a pig, which we already knew. It is that the Republican nominee for president of the United States appears not to be a rakish lothario but a sexual predator who uses his wealth and power, including his physical strength, to force himself on women. Yet vice presidential nominee Mike Pence -- who calls himself "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order" -- tells audiences that Trump is "a good man." There are no words for such hypocrisy. The GOP claims to stand for traditional family values. Indeed, some leading Republicans abandoned the Trump Titanic when the "Access Hollywood" tape made it impossible to pretend the party had nominated a candidate worthy of the presidency. But others -- notably Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- have stuck with him, hoping to survive the electoral disaster they fear is coming. Inside the gilded Trump Tower bunker, the self-described habitual groper is reported to be in a constant rage. His narcissism leads him to blame everyone else for his predicament -- the women who alleged the assaults, the news media that seek to hold him accountable, the Republicans scrambling for the lifeboats. He will never, ever blame himself. Trump and his inner circle apparently believe that screaming about Bill Clinton's sexual peccadilloes will somehow excuse or neutralize what we have learned over the past week. But Hillary Clinton is on the ballot, not her husband. Voters know the difference. They also understand that women who suffer sexual assault often do not immediately come forward. In a story that People posted Wednesday night, Stoynoff described what happened after Trump allegedly jumped her at Mar-a-Lago: "I tried to act normal. I had a job to do, and I was determined to do it. ... 'You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?' he declared, in the same confident tone he uses when he says he's going to make America great again. 'Have you ever been to Peter Luger's for steaks? I'll take you. We're going to have an affair, I'm telling you.'" Stoynoff wrote that "like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. ... I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me." Back in New York, "I asked to be taken off the Trump beat," Stoynoff wrote. Most Americans feel the same way. Eugene Robinson's email address is eugenerobinson@washpost.com. Motley Fool The catalyst that sent the self-driving truck start-up tumbling was a report that federal regulators have launched an investigation into whether executives improperly shared proprietary technology with a start-up based in China. A number of federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (Cfius) are investigating a relationship between CEO Xiaodi Hou and Hydron, a Chinese start-up focused on self-driving, hydrogen-powered trucks -- a company launched last year by Mo Chen, one of TuSimple's co-founders. After conducting its own investigation, which has been ongoing since July, TuSimple's board of directors took the drastic step of terminating the CEO and removing him from the board. Mohammad Ammar Hezbollah Miami drug trafficking money laundering Three men alleged to have links to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have been accused of using Miami banks to launder money for Colombian cartels, according to court documents seen by the Miami Herald. Mohammad Ahmad Ammar, 31, a resident of Medellin, Colombia, who was arrested in Los Angeles in September, is believed to be the main figure in the scheme and is currently in a Miami-Dade jail facing state felony money-laundering charges. Ammar's father is a well-connected Hezbollah associate, according to court documents. Hassan Mohsen Mansour, a dual Lebanese and Canadian citizen, is also believed to be a Hezbollah associate and is currently in custody in Paris, facing a different money-laundering case in southern Florida. The third man charged is Ghassan Diab, purported to be a "high-ranking member of Hezbollah who has access to numerous international bank accounts." Diab, who has not be apprehended, was based in Nigeria, and he is thought to currently be in that country or in Lebanon. According to an arrest warrant seen by the Miami Herald, Ammar was contacted by a confidential informant working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration in early 2014. He was asked to help launder $250,000 in Australian dollars from cocaine sales and move it to Miami banks, where it would be available to Colombian traffickers. Hezbollah members carry the coffin and a picture of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in an attack in Syria, during his funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, May 13, 2016. REUTERS/Aziz Taher Ammar, allegedly with the help of Mansour, moved the money to an account in Dubai's opaque banking system, after which the money disappeared. Later, bank accounts in Miami set up by the DEA as part of the sting operation began to see deposits trickle in from vague sources, usually accompanied by fake invoices. Story continues After that laundering operation, another deal to launder $250,000 was made, with the same process of transferring and disguising the funds playing out. According to the Herald, Ammar boasted of his criminal connects throughout the operation, telling investigators that he knew people who worked for an airline and could smuggle cocaine to Miami and that his family had strong ties to Hezbollah. "These drug trafficking and money laundering schemes... provide a revenue and weapons stream for an international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the word," DEA Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley said in a statement earlier this year, when the DEA announced a "significant enforcement activity against Hezbollah's financing operations." Latin America's criminal nexus Ammar also admitted to a DEA informant that he worked with a high-powered Medellin-based trafficking organization called La Oficina de Envigado. The case against Ammar is not the first report of Hezbollah involvement in Latin American criminal networks, but it does fit with the general pattern of the terrorist group's purported activities in the region. Global cocaine map In 2011, a Lebanese man was charged with selling cocaine to the Zetas cartel and laundering money for the group, and then using the profits of those laundering activities to finance Hezbollah. In 2014, Brazilian police accused a prison gang in the country of providing protection for Lebanese inmates in exchange for Hezbollah providing the gang access to international arms markets. Lebanese traffickers with links to Hezbollah have long been suspected of operating in the relatively lawless region where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay's borders meet. The people with links to Hezbollah who have been arrested are almost all thought to be "associates," not active members of the group, and most have been charged with crimes related to money laundering, Insight Crime notes. "There has been a longstanding presence of Hezbollah, one of the principal surrogates of Iran, in the region. Their activities have largely been involved in logistics support, providing funds back to Lebanon to Hezbollah itself," Adm. Kurt Tidd, head of US Southern Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year. Zetas While Hezbollah's presence in Latin America has typically been overstated, and though the group's activities in the region have usually been limited to logistics, the evolving criminal landscape raises the potential for the terrorist group to pursue more nefarious undertakings. The fragmentation of criminal groups in Colombia and Mexico in particular has opened space for more groups to operate, and the increasingly decentralized nature of these criminal networks, along with the rise of subcontracting among organized-crime groups, creates the possibility that traffickers may not always know who or what they are smuggling. "There is not yet any indication that the criminal networks involved in human and drug trafficking are interested in supporting the efforts of terrorist groups," US Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly told the Senate Armed Services Committee in a written statement in March 2015. But, Kelly went on, "these networks could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders, potentially undetected and almost completely unrestricted." NOW WATCH: GREEN BERET: Why our strategy against terrorism is making things worse More From Business Insider In a tersely worded regulatory filing, the company announced that Arthur L. Regan, who is currently a director of the company, would step in as interim executive chairman of the board. Peter Georgiopoulos will receive a one time severance payment plus full vesting of various equity grants. Regan, presently operating partner at Apollo Global Management, is best known for his previous roles as the top man at Principal Maritime Management, an Apollo sponsored entity whose fleet of suezmax tankers was sold to Teekay Corp in late 2015. Prior to his time at Principal Maritime, beginning in 2010, Regan came out of the Stena organization, serving as ceo of Arlington Tankers, a listed company which had acquired vessels from Stena companies at its outset. A group of funds within the Apollo universe were part of a preferred equity deal announced last week; the Apollo companies, along with funds tied to Centrebridge Partners and Strategic Value Partners, agreed to invest an aggregate of $125m, in a purchase of preferred shares. Bank lenders, in turn, agreed to amend the terms of company bank debt. Reflecting the predilection of PE executives to fly first class, the deals are expected to give Genco a runway out through 2018, by which time the bulk carrier market might have turned upward. Gencos fleet consists 70 vessels totaling 5.2m dwt - 13 capesize, eight panamax, four ultramax, 21 supramax, six handymax and 18 handysize, after the expected delivery of two ultramax newbuilds. It is premature to predict the exact nature of changes at Genco, which merged with a related company, Baltic Trading, in 2015. However, the recent evolution of Gencos balance sheet has similarities to recent happenings at another listed drybulk outfit, Eagle Bulk Shipping, also originally founded by Greek-American principals, where financial investors have restructured debt and taken control of the company. Eagle has re-invented itself as a company with operational smarts, instead of the circa 2005 model of placing vessels on period time charters. Regan, one of the few executives in the New York market who can navigate the worlds of shipping and PE investing, is certainly the right man for this tough role. One of the barriers is that there are already five or six fairly large and established local players that are engaged in the cabotage trade who would be tough to compete against. Wickmann however suggested that MCC would be open to going into cooperation with them to bring international experience to the table. However, this is where the second challenge of Indonesia's requirement that any joint venture shipping firm to take part in the trade will have the foreign party as a minority partner arises. Wickmann suggested that it could be helpful if the Indonesian government at least explored the possibility of making an exception for the shipping industry, perhaps in the same way that they did with the offshore vessel sector. "I'm already in the world's biggest market and we have a lot on our plate so it has to be a good opportunity and the political environment has to be supporting it," he concluded. Fired by the Chinese resurgence, market got off to a punchy start before hitting the brakes as Baltic Dry Index (BDI) hovered just above the 900 points level at 906 points on Wednesday, down 16 points as compared to Tuesday. This losing-steam scenario was then played repeatedly in the FFA markets. First, paper got off to a slow start with around 775 lots exchanged hands on 10 October, Monday, which was a stark contrast to last Fridays volume of nearly 2,000 lots traded. Then, the trading volume went ballistic to hit 3,170 lots on Tuesday before winding down to 2,260 lots on Wednesday. This peaktrough cycle reflected the kind of impact that the Chinese participants held in the market; first beginning with a flurry of activity before settling down to a more realistic level. As such, the capesize spot charter rate declined steadily at the start of the week with gradual losses from $14,013 on Monday down to $13,140 recorded on Wednesday, losing over $873 in just three days. On the contrary, panamax spot rates had defied gravity and booked steady gains from $5,839 on Monday to reach $6,114 by mid-week trading. Trade sources indicated that there are more enquiries coming from Indonesia and Australia especially on coal shipments that inevitably drove up the rates. Meanwhile, gains are also seen in kamsarmax where rates were heard at $7,000 daily for rounds. On the other hand, supramax and handysize rates did not catch on to the Chinese uptick, and remained statics throughout the week. For instance, supramax spot rates started the week lethargically at $7,076, then ended $7,048 by Wednesday, a change of just $28. However, the supramaxes lethargy may wear off with positive development in near term. Supramax paper like the larger vessels was subject to some positive momentum as we saw rates increase throughout the day, said an FIS freight broker based in Asia. He believed that the prompt has started to push with physical reports of better fixtures and a seemingly tightening Atlantic market. Handysize spot rates however seem immune to the post-Golden week uptick with spot trading relatively unchanged at the range of $5,912 - $5,935. So it is business as usual for Chinese traders, as they found their way back to the markets this week. On their return, they brought along some short-lived vitality, like a Sichuan hot pot: hot and spicy on the first taste before the numbness set in. Contact FIS: http://freightinvestorservices.com/freight-derivatives/ffas/ Vard is paying NOK35m ($4.29m) for Storvik Aqua, which provides feeding, measurement and control solutions to the aquaculture industry. Vard is one of number of companies that is trying to fight the slump in the offshore sector by moving into aquaculture. It said that Storvik Aquas products would enable Vard Aukra shipyard to deliver specialized vessels for fish farming with innovative integrated solutions. Through this acquisition, Vard confirms its position as a provider of innovative solutions for the aquaculture business, said Roy Reite ceo and executive director Vard. Storvik Aqua has a production facility in Norway with subsidiaries in Scotland and Chile. High-powered seismic air guns could soon be vastly increasing the submarine noise levels off the Atlantic coast of the United States, potentially harming marine life. The air guns are used to create powerful sound waves that move through the water column and into the sea floor where they become seismic waves that help illuminate geological structures that could contain petroleum reservoirs. Last week the Obama administration released an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for oil and gas exploration on the East Coast that could open the door to permits being for seismic air gun surveys from Florida to New Jersey just months from now. Underwater World Captured in Stunning Photos The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) jumped on the EIS, calling it "a capitulation to the forces of drill-baby-drill." "Airgun exploration is not only a gateway drug to offshore drilling but, as the scientific community has recognized, a major assault on the oceans in itself," wrote NRDC's Michael Jasny just hours after the EIS was released. "Imagine dynamite going off in your neighborhood every 10 seconds for days, weeks, and months on end. Now imagine that you depend on your hearing to feed, mate, communicate, and do just about everything else necessary for survival." That, he said, is what wildlife will have to deal with when the air guns start blasting. PHOTOS: Mammals of the Sea But has that really been the case in the Gulf of Mexico, where the exploration technique has been employed for many years? "There really hasn't been a lot of data," said oceanographer Douglas Nowacek of the Duke University Marine Lab. "The government is (now) where it should have been before it started in the Gulf of Mexico. People were not able to participate in the Gulf of Mexico." He and his colleagues have studied the effects on the ability of sperm whales to hunt at depth and found the whales were changing some of their hunting echolocation sounds in response to the air gun sounds. Other research has found everything from little response by animals, to changes in feeding behaviors and even displacement of commercial fish, Nowacek said. "It's a mixed bag for sure," said Nowacek. For whales there is direct a danger if the marnine mammals stray too close to the air guns. Currently the only way that danger is supposedly mitigated is by posting lookouts, Nowacek said. But how do you keep an eye out for whales when it's dark, cloudy of blowing 30 knots? he asked. Further away from the source, the air gun blasts, which can go on for hours, run the danger of causing damage to whales in the same way that humans get very selective hearing loss working around some machines all day, day after day. Sharks, Marine Mammals Hang In Paradise There is also potential damage to animal behavior, Nowacek said. That includes feeding, or raising young. Either one can have big impacts on whether animals survive or reproduce successfully. "There have not been been these sorts of surveys off the East Coast since the 1980s," said Jolie Harrison of the National Marine Fisheries Service's Office of Protected Resources. And the agency is doing what it can to make sure marine life will be protected, she said. "People fought very hard in the 1980s to promote a character of the Atlantic Seaboard," said Leila Hatch, who has worked on ocean noise at NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. "This is a change from that. None of us would argue that we are making decisions under perfect conditions. Our job is to take a precautionary stance." A North Atlantic right whale crests. An upcoming seismic survey area coincides with their main range. April 22, 2011 -- Earth Day isn't just about life on land. It's also an opportunity to explore the organisms that inhabit the oceans. The University of Miami's Rosenstiel of Marine and Atmospheric Science hosts an annual photo contest for the best snapshot of life under the sea. More than 600 images were submitted from an international pool of photographers. This shot of two transparent gobies, taken in MarsaAlam, Egypt, claimed the top prize as the best overall photo of the competition. Explore some of the other photos to claim top prizes in the 2011 underwater photography contest in this slide show. PLANET GREEN: The Most Stunning Bodies of Water in the World This pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus bargibanti, may be difficult to spot, given how well it blends into its environment and the fact that these seahorses don't grow any larger than an inch. But this snapshot earned first prize in the contest's "Marco" category. This vibrantly colored nudibranch (Cratena peregrina) was seen in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. A nudibranch and a mantis shrimp rest on the sea floor of Bali's Seraya Beach in Indonesia. Cuttlefish are seen mating off in the Oosterschelde estuary near the town of Zeeland, Netherlands. This photo took the top prize in the "Wide-Angle" category. A stingray is surround by cardinal fish in this photo taken in Mogan in Gran Canaria, Spain. A school of barracuda gathers in the Sudanese Red Sea. This brightly colored jellyfish was spotted in Lake Worth Lagoon in Riviera Beach, Fla. The photo took the top prize in the "Fish or Marine Animal Portrait" category. This web burrfish (Chilomycterus antillarum was spotted in the same location as the jellyfish in the previous slide. If it looks like it's smiling, that's because this photo took home second prize in the portrait category. This frog catches its own reflection at the surface of a lake in Belgium just as the photographer snaps a picture. This snapshot of an orange spotted filefish, Oxymonacanthus longirostris, claimed the top prize in the "Student" category. The fish was spotted in the water of YasawasIslands, Fiji. This whale shark (Rhincodon typus) and its entourage were spotted cruising the depths of Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. When Kari Whitman of Ace of Hearts Dog Rescue brought her emotional support dogHank on an American Airlines flight last year, other passengers couldn't help but take notice. The grossly obese dog had to be hauled onto the flight in a cart. He had his own seat in first class, but spent most of the trip lying on the floor of the plane near Whitman. Hank was a model passenger compared to a pot-bellied emotional support pig that boarded a U.S. Airways crowded Thanksgiving morning flight from Connecticut to Washington in 2014. At first passengers thought that the tattooed woman with the pig was carrying a giant stuffed animal over her shoulder, but when the pig hopped down, pooped in the aisle and squealed, they knew otherwise. As complaints from airlines and passengers mount over the large array of animals being hauled onto planes by their supposedly emotionally dependent owners, the Department of Transportation is taking a closer look at size and species restrictions for these animals. A DOT Advisory Committee on Accessible Air Transportation is meeting this week to decide on guidelines. RELATED: Did Horses Evolve to Read Human Emotions? Service animals, such as those that help blind people, are limited to dogs and, in some cases, miniature horses. Since 2003, when the DOT revised its policy on service animals to include emotional-support animals, there have been no restrictions for these animals. An added perk for pet owners is that their animals can essentially fly for free -- right in the cabin. "American Airlines has transported many species as service animals, including pigs and birds," Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for AA, told Seeker. "Primary complaints have been about animal behavior." Passengers with allergies or animal phobias have filed complaints with various airlines. One person's emotional support animal can be another individual's nightmare. Problems aren't limited to flying either. People have been allowed to wear giant boa constrictors around their necks in stores because the snakes function as emotional support animals. Daniel Greene, who suffers from seizures, claimed that his snake alerted him to pending seizures by giving him a neck hug. Onlookers have not been so comfortable around the seemingly mild-mannered boa. Then there is also a provision under the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 that views emotional support animals as "reasonable accommodation," even in homes and housing communities that have a "no pets" rule. The incentive, then, to register a pet as an emotional support animal is clear: free flights, companionship in places that otherwise wouldn't allow pets, and a way to stick it to landlords with no-pet rules. Plus, the registration process can be ridiculously easy. Technically a person has to provide a letter from a licensed mental health practitioner attesting to the psychological benefit of a pet's presence.But some websites claim to provide this letter after a three-minute screening process. All it takes is a few online clicks, filling out some surveys - and a payment. RELATED: Dogs Get What We Say and How We Say It Caught up in the mess are people who legitimately need such animals, physically disabled people who are worried about their service animal rights, and the psychologists who are often asked by their patients to provide supporting documentation. Geoff Ewart says his wife's need to fly with her German Shepherd is sincere. Ewart wrote to the DOT as part of a comment-gathering process tied to this week's meeting, explaining his wife has "relatively severe anxiety that, among other difficulties, surfaces as a fear of flying, having her emotional support animal with her when she's traveling -- especially when flying alone -- makes a big difference in her life." However, some psychologists are uncomfortable being put in the middle of the situation, or realize later what a tangle they've just entered. Jeffrey Younggren, a professor of clinical and forensic psychology at the University of Missouri, recently conducted a study on this issue with grad student Cassie Boness and psychologist Jennifer Boisvert. "Most (psychologists) do not understand how serious the letter is and that it is a formal disability letter," Younggren told me. "When this is explained to them and what the implications of such a certification might be -- for example, testifying in court to substantiate the opinion -- they are quite happy to leave these certifications to more qualified evaluators." Younggren and his colleagues believe that the evaluation process should address specific psychological issues that are going to be improved, and not just that the owner wants to be with their pet. Most importantly, the researchers believe that the evaluations cannot be done briefly or online through the use of questionnaires. As Younggren said, "we need to raise the bar on what must be done here." New DOT regulations on emotional support animals are expected to be out for public comment within the year, although new rules could take months or years to take effect. WATCH VIDEO:Why You'll Never Have A Pet Lion It lacks the stature of the 526-foot tall Vehicle Assembly Building or the utility of NASA's spacecraft processing hangars, but in some ways the modest, isolated house - known simply as "The Beach House" - cuts to the heart of the Kennedy Space Center story. It was inside this wood frame-and-concrete block house, which was badly damaged last week by Hurricane Matthew, that generations of astronauts said good-bye to their wives, husbands, lovers and best friends, not knowing if they would ever see them again. "Everybody has in the back of their minds that things may not turn out as planned," former shuttle astronaut Mike Mullane said in an interview with Seeker. "The beach house was a very emotional, poignant place to say their good-byes." "It's a piece of history," said former astronaut Sandy Magnus, who was a member of the last shuttle crew. "It looks like just a normal house, but it was a protected place where you could go while you're in quarantine." "The nicest thing about it was when we had the family barbecue," Magnus added. RELATED: Space Launch Site Spared by Hurricane Matthew Two days before launch, shuttle crews could invite five or six guests to the beach house for a cookout. "It was time where our families could all interact. It was really special," Magnus said. The space shuttles were retired in 2011, ending, at least temporarily, human spaceflight missions from the United States, and with it sidelining Kennedy Space Center's raison d'etre. NASA has hired aerospace industry stalwart Boeing and Elon Musk's ambitious SpaceX to begin launching astronauts from Florida again, hopefully in 2018. Since the shuttle program ended, astronauts travel to Russia for rides to space. By then, the beach house, which suffered in the high winds inflicted by Hurricane Matthew, should be repaired. "We have protected it from further damage," KSC director Robert Cabana wrote in an email to Seeker. "The important thing is that it's structurally sound." Costs for repairing the beach house are still being assessed, he added. RELATED: Will SpaceX Get People to Mars Before NASA? The U.S. government bought the house in 1963 as part of the purchase of an oceanfront subdivision called Neptune Beach to accommodate the expansion of what would become Kennedy Space Center. The government paid a grand total of $31,500 for the development and its land, NASA wrote in a 2010 article about the beach house titled "If Walls Could Talk." "I don't know who the far-thinking person was that preserved this house from destruction -- there were other houses here when this was private property -- but thank you," Mullane said in the NASA article. "I'm sure they could not have imagined how this would be part of manned space flight history," he said. Patagonia, iconoclastic makers of outdoor gear, announced last week that the company will be expanding to a whole new category: beer. Since its founding in 1973, the California-based Patagonia has always had a strong environmental and ecological bent; it's a certified B Corp, meaning Patagonia undertakes initiatives for public good that aren't strictly profit-based. (This is rarer than it sounds.) From its original clothing and bags, it now sells everything from snowboarding gear to baby outdoor clothes to, in its Patagonia Provisions imprint, food (typically stuff like granola bars and pouched salmon). Beer is a new enterprise, though. Since Oct. 3, the company's brand-new Long Root Ale is available in stores, specifically Whole Foods markets in California, Washington and Oregon. Patagonia describes the beer as a "Northwest-style pale ale," made with organic ingredients, including barley, which is normal, and something more unfamiliar: kernza. Kernza is a brand-new grain, only a few years old, from the Kansas-based Land Institute. It's a type of wheatgrass, which, confusingly, is a relative of wheat, though not a particularly close one. It's a strange sort of crop, looking a bit like wheat and containing gluten, and it can be ground into flour much like wheat to be used for breads, crackers, cookies or whatever else you'd use wheat flour for. What makes it most interesting to us is the very reason the Land Institute is interested in the first place: kernza is an incredibly capable soil replenisher. RELATED: Is Patagonia the World's Most Beautiful Place? Kernza has enormously long roots, up to 10 feet beneath the surface, and, unlike wheat, is a perennial, meaning it doesn't have to be re-seeded each year. Those long root systems make it tougher for pests to destroy it, and also make kernza excellent for fighting erosion and keeping soil in place. With much less erosion, fertilizer stays in the soil, where the plants can use it, rather than flushing out. That means that kernza both requires less fertilizer and that it reduces fertilizer's trip into water sources or other environments where it's not wanted. The beer itself is made by Hopworks Urban Brewery, in Portland, Ore., and Patagonia says the addition of kernza to the mash results in a slight spiciness. You can read more about the beer here. More From Modern Farmer: This story originally appeared on Modern Farmer. WATCH: Why We Should Only Surf in Chile The United Nations elected its ninth secretary-general in October, former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres. The top U.N. post has been described as "the hardest job in the world." As Laura Ling explains in today's Seeker Daily report that's about right. A major part of the challenge is that, although the secretary-general has enormous responsibilities, the official duties of the position are not that well defined. As a result, every secretary-general has interpreted the job differently. According to the U.N. charter, the secretary-general is the leader and spokesperson for United Nations, chairing most meetings and creating the official annual report. But unofficially, the U.N. leader is a world moderator, often acting as diplomatic mediator in international disputes. Former secretary-general Kofi Annan, who served from 1997 to 2006, was particularly skilled in this regard, as he navigated conflicts while consistently prioritizing human rights across the globe. RELATED: UN Climate Pact Moves Closer to Taking Effect The U.N. leader must consider the perspectives and interests of 193 different countries, while acting as impartial mediator and moral authority. The secretary-general must often take an active role in high-stakes international disputes. Dag Hammarskjold, for instance, was tasked with forging peace between Israel and Arab States during the Suez Crisis. Javier Perez de Cuellar brokered the ceasefire that ended the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. The process of selecting the secretary-general is nearly as open-ended as the job itself. The U.N. charter simply stipulates that the five-member Security Council recommend a candidate to the General Assembly, who vote up or down. The actual mechanics of this process take place behind closed doors for the most part, although the U.N. began holding open hearings in 2016. The secretary-general must assume a number of roles, some seemingly contradictory: diplomat and advocate, activist and bureaucrat, moderator and administrator. When Guterres assumes this powerful but ambiguous position in January, he'll have his work cut out for him. -- Glenn McDonald Learn More: Council on Foreign Relations: The Role of the UN Secretary General CNN: Portugal's Antonio Guterres poised to become next UN secretary-general BBC: UN Secretary General:The hardest job in the world? Press Release October 14, 2016 Only 59 of 3,286 workers affected by K to 12 received govt subsidy ANGARA: MAKE FINANCIAL, EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR DISPLACED TEACHERS Senator Sonny Angara has urged the government to make the financial and employment assistance more accessible to give due relief to the more than 3,000 higher education workers affected by the implementation of the K to 12 program. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) revealed during its budget deliberation in the Senate that only 59 of the 3,286 displaced teachers and non-teaching personnel have so far availed of the financial and employment assistance by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Under DOLE's Adjustment Measures Program, displaced workers may receive financial aid ranging from P7,000 to 25,000 while they are looking for alternative employment. The amounts will be based on the prevailing median salary of the higher education institution personnel per nature of appointment per region, or his or her previous monthly salary, whichever is lower. The duration of the financial support, which will be released every end of the month, will be for three months for non-permanent and six months for permanent higher education personnel. However, CHED K-12 transition program director Karol Mark Yee said the teachers found it too difficult to access the financial assistance given the many requirements set by DOLE including a minimum of 10 job applications for the past month as proof that they are actively seeking jobs. Yee also cited low awareness of the DOLE's program for displaced higher education workers. "The K-12's very design is to improve the state of education in the Philippines. I am certain with more scrutiny and efficiency, there is a way we can weather the transition without sacrificing one of the most crucial elements of education: the teachers," said Angara, a known advocate of educational reform and author of a bill seeking higher salaries for teachers. The senator urged the education authorities to ease the requirements and improve the information drive on such programs. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, during Thursday's DOLE budget hearing also presided by Angara, concurred that the requirements should not be that stringent, and that they will streamline the process to avail of the financial support. The government has allocated P500 million for DOLE's Adjustment Measures Program under this year's budget. At present, the actual displacement for AY 2016-2017 is at 3,286 teaching and non-teaching personnel, which is much lower than the initial projection of 9,000. To mitigate the impact, 925 were hired by the Department of Education to teach senior high school. CHED will also open up its applications for scholarships for graduate studies to accommodate the displaced faculty. CHED has already awarded scholarship to more than 4,000 college teachers before the opening of AY 2016-2017 to minimize the displacement of teachers. Meanwhile, aside from financial aid, DOLE's employment facilitation services includes profiling of displaced higher education personnel, matching, and job referrals. Job referrals and placements can be also provided by the Public Employment Service Office, private employment agencies, registered contractors and sub-contractors, industry partners, and training institutions accredited by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. "Not only did these higher education personnel lose their jobs, some also lost their security of tenure as well as the benefits extended to their dependents. We must work very hard to find a way to improve our education system and at the same time, ensure that we extend ample support for our noble workers," Angara said. Press Release October 14, 2016 Drilon urges econ managers to ensure economic stability amidst Duterte tirades vs ally countries While saying he supports the Duterte administration's pursuit of an independent foreign policy, Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon cautioned the country's economic managers to put in place mechanisms to cushion the negative effects on the economy, if the President's tirades against the country's long-term allies will remain unabated. Drilon said that while he agrees with the Duterte administration's push for a more independent foreign policy, "the country cannot afford to lose the support of its long-time ally countries, especially in the economic and development sectors." "Antagonizing multilateral institutions and having poor relations with other countries may have serious economic consequences," Drilon said. The senator said that among these is the possible reduction in the foreign aid contributions to the Philippines, currently at a whopping $3 billion. "The government should take precautionary measures to cushion the impact once foreign aid contributions to the country are reduced, or should the United States and the European Union take the President's challenge to withdraw foreign aid seriously," Drilon said. Drilon also feared that the country risks losing trade preferences, including those covered by the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) particularly in the EU member countries. The GSP allows local producers to export their products at either zero tariff or at a preferential tariff rate. "If the GSP is withdrawn, then our products become expensive and non-competitive in the areas where these products are exported," Drilon said, adding that such a scenario will hit hard Filipino exporters and ordinary workers alike. Drilon cited the local tuna industry as an example and explained that local producers fin fishing communities in General Santos City currently exports its tuna products to EU markets at preferential tariff rates and will be hardly hit. "It will badly affect our poor people who depend on our tuna industries," he added. Drilon said that poor relations with the EU might also affect around 25,000 Filipino seafarers in EU-registered vessels, whose employment situation largely depends on the Philippines' relations with EU member countries. "So the fact is, if we lose these privileges, then it will adversely affect our economy, and in turn the livelihood of millions of our fellow countrymen. So it is very critical that we maintain our good relations with our long-time partners and allies in the US and EU," Drilon said. The senator earlier expressed support for the administration's pursuit of an independent foreign policy. He stated that the President as the chief architect of foreign policy is mandated by the Constitution to maintain an independent foreign policy. However, Drilon stressed that the Duterte administration could pursue an independent foreign policy "without jeopardizing the billions worth of foreign assistance poured into the country annually." Lastly, the senator said that the government should prepare for the negative effects brought about by the weakening of the peso against the US dollar, as this will impact the country's financial portfolio. Citing the country's debt service burden - currently at almost P6 trillion or 43% of the gross domestic product - as an example, Drilon said that the P334 billion allocation for debt service for next year may not be enough due to the weakening of the peso. Lacson backs P390-million DND 'Love of Country Builders' program Instead of being viewed as "pathetic dependents," Filipino war veterans may soon have a better chance of inspiring young Filipinos to love their country. This is the idea behind the Department of National Defense's "Love of Country Builders" program, which Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson is supporting. "From one veteran to another although we don't look like (veterans yet), approved, Sir, as far as the committee is concerned," Lacson told DND Undersecretary and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office administrator Ernesto Carolina at a budget hearing for the DND. Lacson is a member of the Philippine Military Academy's Class 1971. Carolina said the DND is seeking P390 million for 2017 for the "Love of Country Builders" program, which seeks to develop shrines and other facilities where children are brought, to inspire love of country. The program seeks to bring more funds for the commemoration of historical events and writing and publication of veterans' heroic deeds. Also, Carolina noted the 1987 Constitution requires authorities to prepare young people to be future defenders of the country. "We're so fixated every year paying arrears and benefits, the image of a veteran is a pathetic dependent on government and always asking for an increase in benefits. And hardly do they connect the veterans to the values they really represent - sacrifice, love of country, gallantry," Carolina said. Press Release October 14, 2016 Legarda Asks NEDA: Help Restore Ecological Integrity of Manila Bay Senator Loren Legarda has asked the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to take a proactive role in ensuring the sustainability of the Manila Bay through the restoration of the bay's ecological integrity. During the hearing for the proposed 2017 budget of NEDA, Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that while there may be a need to construct more cemented cities, the priority should be ensuring that present cities are sustainable. "Before we even think of reclaiming a portion of Manila Bay again, either for commercial or residential purposes, let us first check the living condition of communities around the bay. Almost eight years after the Supreme Court issued a Writ of Continuing Mandamus for the rehabilitation of Manila Bay, what have we done so far?" Legarda asked NEDA to meet with the Manila Bay Coordinating Office (MBCO) to review the development plan for the Manila Bay. "We should have a sustainable restoration program for the Bay which should include the strict enforcement of laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Act," she said. The Senator added that all 178 local government units (LGUs) in the Manila Bay area should enforce the ESWM Law and have a materials recovery facility (MRF) and sewage system so that waste are not dumped on the bay. "We should not use our bays and rivers as sewerage or garbage bins. What would our children and grandchildren say of us--that we destroyed our natural treasures and left them with polluted rivers and bays? Let us implement our environmental laws, plant mangroves or restore coral reefs, whichever is applicable. It would even be ideal if we have walkways and bike lanes around Manila Bay so that more people would realize the abundance of our natural resources and the beauty of what we have. Let us all work together to bring back the bounty of Manila Bay and restore its ecological integrity," Legarda concluded. Press Release October 14, 2016 Speech of Senator Loren Legarda "Ensuring Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction as a Priority in Policy Making and Development Planning" PH Haiyan Advocacy Cooperative: Regional Cooperative Conference on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation 14 October 2016 | Leyte Academic Center, Palo, Leyte Every year on October 13th we commemorate the International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR). This year's celebration focused on reducing global disaster mortality, the first of the seven targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. In my privilege speech in the Senate the other day, I shared the story of Yolanda survivor Nenita Consolacion who was featured in a documentary painfully narrating how she saw her two children in the rubble, lifeless, but still holding each other's hands until the end. [1] I am certain many of you here have your own stories of loss and survival from Typhoon Yolanda. It is already harrowing to see the statistics--6,300 lives lost. Almost three years after Yolanda, we are way past the finger wagging. Certainly, it would have created a big difference if communities were prepared and knew a storm surge and how they could have escaped its wrath. But this is no longer the time for regret; now is the time for action; now is the time to turn lessons and painful experiences into positive actions for change. PH as Poster Child for Climate Impacts Following Yolanda, we have become not only the recipient of generous donations from other nations but also the poster child for climate change impacts. The 2014 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management took off from the Philippines' Yolanda experience. ASEM delegates adopted the Post-Haiyan Tacloban Declaration, which affirmed the importance of the central role of governments in enhancing risk governance, transparency, responsibilities and accountabilities of all stakeholders. French President Francois Hollande went to the Yolanda-affected town of Guiuan, Eastern Samar during his state visit to discuss climate cooperation. Early this year, Former US Vice President Al Gore visited Tacloban where he saw for himself the magnitude of the devastation and heard the stories from the survivors themselves. He shares the Philippines' Yolanda experience in his climate leadership trainings and uses it as a concrete example of the impact of climate change to highly vulnerable communities. Moreover, our experience from Yolanda was one of the rallying points for a more ambitious climate deal during the Paris climate talks last year. The Philippines, as Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum then, was among the most influential in the crafting of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which seeks to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and possibly not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. That is why it is ironic that, with the imminent entry into force of the Agreement following the ratification of more than 55 countries representing more than 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we are taking our time. Vulnerable small island states such as Fiji, Marshall Islands, Palau and Maldives, and even the largest emitters of GHG--US, China, India, and the European Union--have all ratified the Paris Agreement. I am committed to ensure the immediate concurrence by the Senate to the ratification of the Agreement once the Executive transmits it to our chamber. We need to ratify the Paris Agreement so that we can access the Green Climate Fund, which will help us finance our climate adaptation programs, and receive other technical and financial support from developed countries. But while we await such opportunity, we should not stick to 'business as usual' in the way we pursue development, especially since we have also committed to building the resilience of our communities and promoting sustainable and inclusive growth in accordance with the Sendai Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals. Legislative Interventions The Philippines has numerous laws and policies focused on addressing issues on environment, climate change and disaster resilience. Among these are the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System, Marine Pollution Control Law, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Renewable Energy Act, Environmental Awareness and Education Act, Climate Change Act, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Act, the Act Creating the People's Survival Fund, among others. The Climate Change Act and DRRM Act are even considered as model legislation by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and many lawmaking bodies in the world. In the present Congress, I have filed a Resolution calling for an inquiry in aid of legislation on the alleged detrimental health impacts and human rights infringements arising from the operation of coal-fired power plants in the country. I have also urged the Senate to lead the conduct of an environmental audit of relevant national agencies and local government units in relation to their compliance to and enforcement of environmental laws. Our goal is to introduce measurable targets, identify where implementation can be supported, and encourage public accountability of all officials. Moreover, in my capacity as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, we were able to transform the 2016 national budget into one that is climate-adaptive and disaster-resilient. Under the 2016 national budget, the implementation of programs, projects and activities should contribute towards preventing the creation of new disaster risks, reducing existing disaster risks, building the resilience of local communities and the nation as a whole. We have mainstreamed provisions that ensure that the implementation of government programs would contribute towards building resilience, including on the maintenance and operation of dams, repair and retrofitting of public infrastructure, resilience of agricultural communities, and building of evacuation centers in every region in the country. We likewise reiterated the enforcement of our environmental laws. We will continue to do this in the 2017 national budget. These laws and policies, however, are not enough to make our communities safe and keep us alive. We need fair and effective enforcement. We need to translate national policies, plans and programs into local action with measurable gains. Convergence and Whole-of-Society Approach Effective enforcement emanates from everyone's understanding and appreciation of responsibility and accountability. It is thus important to put communities at the heart of relevant programs and policies and gather collective action that is rooted in a sense of solidarity. We should pursue synergy of government action in strengthening the understanding of climate and disaster risk, especially at the local level. Through convergence, sharing of knowhow, and developing competencies at the local level, we can ensure a holistic, science-and-risk-based planning, especially for the development of local climate change action plans, local disaster risk reduction and management plans, and comprehensive land use plans. We need to strengthen our adaptation actions at national and local levels. This includes preparing risk assessment, protecting ecosystems, improving agricultural methods, managing water resources, building settlements in safe zones, developing early warning systems, instituting better building designs, improving insurance coverage, and developing social safety nets. Important sectors for adaptation and disaster risk reduction include agriculture and for security, water sector, health sector, awareness raising and education, environmental management, early warning systems, and development planning and practices. Engaging rural people in decision-making, especially to understand the interplay of informal and formal institutions, plays an important role in strengthening public decision-making. Farmers and fisherfolk need to have a strong voice in adaptation processes, so they can articulate their concerns and priorities as grounded in their daily lives. The cooperative sector is likewise encouraged to take a more active role in building community resilience to disasters. One of the 7 principles of cooperatives--the concern for community--is geared towards the achievement of sustainable development. I urge all cooperatives to take up this important task of addressing a global phenomenon through concerted action at the local level. We must forge a network of cooperation to raise awareness and promote solutions to climate change. Conclusion On November 8, we will mark the third year following the onslaught of the strongest storm ever to make landfall in recorded history. We should never bury the lessons we have learned from Yolanda. We should draw them out of our collective but fleeting memory if only to pay homage to the survivors and the victims. Each of us has opportunities to make a difference for our future. We must take hold of the opportunity to responsibly manage our environment and lead the way towards making our nation and our planet resilient and sustainable for us and for future generations. Thank you.*** ____________________________ [1] Senator Loren Legarda. "LOREN LEGARDA: Tacloban Venice Biennale Video". Filmed [2014]. YouTube video, 12:50. Posted [October 2014]. Press Release October 14, 2016 Villar pushes DA to preserve native animals In the face of the growing consumption of meat among Filipinos, Sen. Cynthia Villar pushed for the preservation of native animals, which are cheaper to raise and more adaptable to the country's changing climate. During the budget hearing on the proposed P50.5-budget of the Department of Agriculture, Sec. Emmanuel Pinol said Filipinos' consumption of meat rose from 15 kilos per capita to 35 kilos per capita, and the inventory of 2.5 million cattle is not enough to feed the 105 million population. "We should turn to native animals to help us feed the growing population. We have seen problems raising imported cows; our climate is changing and these animals cannot adapt. Whereas iyong ating native animals kayang-kaya nila ang climate change dito sa Pilipinas. Siguro in our program, dapat i-emphasize din iyong native animals," Villar, who was presiding over the Finance Subcommittee E hearing, said. "And besides, sa native animals hindi sila bibili ng feeds kasi they can live on grass that we can plant. In effect, para sa mahihirap nating farmer, this is more sustainable kasi wala silang puhunan para bumili ng feeds, magtatanim na lang sila ng grass. May mga grass na high-protein na pwedeng magpalaki ng native animals. Let's look at our native animals and let them grow in the Philippines," Villar added. At the Senate, Villar filed Senate Bill No. 144 or the "Philippine Native Animal Development Act of 2016", which aims to promote the scientific propagation, processing, utilization and development of Philippine native animals. The bill recommends the creation of the Philippine Native Animal Development Center (PNADC). The proposed PNADC in coordination with DA, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, native animal growers' cooperatives and organizations, LGUs and the private sector shall formulate a 20-year Framework for Development to be validated and updated annually. The framework will serve as a guide in implementing programs, plans and projects. It will also provide for investment promotion and facilitation, production support and extension, R&D, market promotion and development, quality assurance, infrastructure development among others. To bring the development of the industry closer to the stakeholders, the bill also seeks to create one native animal center in every region of the country that will be called Native Animal Regional Center. The active participation of farmers is also encouraged under the bill. Farmers' associations and cooperatives will serve as the focal point for government assistance in the propagation and dispersal of Philippine native animals and dissemination of technology on native animals. For his part, Pinol expressed support to the proposal of the vice chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, saying the bill is part of DA's legislative agenda. "In a more macro level, the development of the industry of native animals impacts on the food security of our fast-growing population. Gusto rin natin tangkilikin at i-promote pa ang native animal farming dahil sa ito ay sariling atin. Native animal-raising follows the tenets of sustainable farming and organic agriculture," Villar said. The major exhibition All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 is lacking that most crucial artifact, a shiny black leather jacket with a Free Huey button on the left lapel, accessorized by a black beret. But it has the man who invented that uniform and wore it better than anyone Bobby Seale, standing on the second-floor terrace at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA). From this promontory overlooking Lake Merritt, the founding chairman and national organizer for the Panthers can point to buildings and describe crucial moments that took place in each. Bobby Seale is the most important Black Panther living today, says OMCA senior curator Rene de Guzman. A historic figure, Seale and other Panthers give our exhibition powerful authenticity. What is most powerfully authentic is the setting at 10th and Oak streets. You can go into the Great Hall and study a moment in Panther history, then go out onto the Peace Sculpture Terrace and identify that moments location with a map and reading rail called It Happened Here. Seale, who lives in Vallejo, doesnt need a locator map or reading aid. His descriptions are colorful and animated; and hes adept at mimicking both the ministerial cadence of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the prison rasp of Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton. As he warms up, Seales monologue becomes so entertaining that de Guzman sits down on a stone bench and just listens, like a schoolkid, as Seale riffs away. All Power to the People opens by laying some foundation for the rise of the Panthers. For Seale, it all started on Dec. 28, 1962, when he went to see King speak at the Oakland Civic Auditorium, now the Kaiser Convention Center, behind OMCA. I have a top job. I work at Kaiser Aerospace & Electronics in the engineering department. ... What was it about this auditorium that got me interested in the civil rights process? To answer his own question, he switches to the voice of King as he heard it that day. He said, Here in the Bay Area, the Langendorf bread company and the Kilpatrick bread company will not hire any people of color. I say were going to have to boycott them, and were going to have to boycott them so completely and so profoundly that were going to make Wonder Bread wonder where the money went. Four years later, Seale, who learned his trade in the Air Force, had left his job at Kaiser and gone back to school at Merritt College to study black history. He formed a group called Soul Students Advisory Council and invited Newton, an ex-con and fellow Merritt College student, to a rally where Seale spoke. On Oct. 22, 1966, his 30th birthday, Seale and Newton formed the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Their founding declaration was the Ten Point Platform and Program, and the rough draft in Seales handwriting is under glass. The platform called for full employment for black people, decent housing, the release of all black people from jails and prisons, and an end to police brutality of black people. To reach that end, the Panthers armed themselves, and the result of that can be seen in a replica of a jail cell, with an authentic cell door borrowed from the Alameda County Sheriffs Office. You can press your face in between the bars, a feeling that Seale knows. Standing out on the east terrace, Seale points to the Alameda County Courthouse, a triumphant 1930s building across 11th Street. Upstairs on the top is the Alameda County Jail. Ive been in there. Hueys been in there. Hueys trial was in this building. He was found not guilty of first-degree murder (for the shooting of an Oakland police officer) and not guilty of second-degree murder, only guilty of third-degree voluntary manslaughter. Stephen Shames, courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery/Polaris The courthouse jail is at the same elevation as the top-floor apartment at 1200 Lakeshore Ave. that Newton took upon his release. Seale points out the balcony where Newton would stand and point to the courthouse at the other end of Lake Merritt. We put Huey Newton there while I was in jail. I was in jail for two years without bail while I went through two major historical trials, the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial (for fomenting a riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention) and in Connecticut (for murder of an FBI informant). Huey came out of jail 10 months before I did. When they told me they were putting him up there, I said, Thats good, because ... thats a security building. Senior citizens live up in there and maybe the police wouldnt be rushing in that building with a bunch of guns. (Laughs.) A critical moment in Panther history came April 8, 1968, four days after the murder of King. Bobby Hutton, the first person to join the Panthers and its treasurer, was killed by police in a violent confrontation in West Oakland. Hutton was just 17 and became a martyr for the Panther cause. Actor Marlon Brando attended his funeral at Ephesian Church of God; and afterward, they all gathered at the Camron-Stanford House, last of the Victorians on the shore of Lake Merritt. Id forgotten the amount of places I took Brando. He was a close friend of mine. He must have come up here five or six times and spent a day or two with us. The violence long associated with the Panthers is represented in the exhibit by a shotgun in a glass case not far from a simple grocery bag, also in a glass case. This represents Seales proudest moment as a Panther, the Black Community Survival Conference that included a chicken in every bag, for 10,000 bags, and a voter registration form for every adult. Laney College is where we did all the bagging. We got the cafeteria and set it up. ... I got a black gang called the Zodiacs to do some work. I convinced them. ... We got the young gangs working with the old people. I went up to the University of California and got me 500 white radicals to help me. ... I wrote a cookbook later on. I had ribs, chicken, collard greens, you name it. That was for the workers. They worked eight-hour shifts for 2 days. No chickens in the bag. You cant have them sitting there for a day or two. Then they rolled it all over to the auditorium. With that, his monologue shifts across to the auditorium where it had all started with Kings speech 10 years prior. By now Seale is rolling and his speech cannot be stopped. At 79, he jumps up on a ledge and starts waving his arms to emphasize the drama of the food giveaway. That auditorium holds 6,750 seats. We packed the place. I pulled in entertainers. ... The groceries were hidden. Finally all the chickens are in the bags. John Lee Hooker has been playing for an hour and a half. ... We got him off the stage. ... That curtain went up and with the lights beaming down the cellophane on those chickens glittered. In 45 minutes, all 10,000 bags of groceries were gone and those chickens were still at 32 degrees. That was the name of that game. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art Exhibition: All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 runs through Feb. 12, 2017 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. General admission: $15.95. Closed Monday and Tuesday. www.museumca.org. Conference: Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary Commemoration & Conference runs Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 20-23, at OMCA and Laney College. Bobby Seale appearance: On Jan. 21, the Panther founding chairman will be in conversation with Oakland playwright and activist Chinaka Hodge at OMCA. Art exhibit: Pictures and Progress: the Black Panther 1966-2016 runs Nov. 10 through April 1 at McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz. Included are photographs by Pirkle Jones and Ruth-Marion Baruch, posters by Emory Douglas and comic portrayals of the Panthers. http://exhibits.library.ucsc.edu. Bobby Seale talks about giving away 10,000 bags of groceries: http://bit.ly/2d4u8eh. Nevadas governor declared a state of emergency Friday after flames driven by high winds raced through the community of Washoe Valley northeast of Lake Tahoe, destroying at least 19 homes and more than a dozen other buildings, officials said. More than 300 firefighters were battling the Little Valley Fire, which as of Friday afternoon had burned about 2,000 acres of land west of Washoe Lake and south of Reno, and was one of a pair of blazes damaging Tahoe communities. No injuries were reported, and the cause was under investigation. A domestic life called into question is at the heart of Robert Olen Butlers latest novel, Perfume River. The protagonist, a man in his late 60s named Robert, is a tenured professor at a university in Florida; he drives an old Mercedes and spends hours in his comfortable home office while his wife, Darla, also a tenured professor, does her own research and goes running. Characters in this book drink a lot of tea and coffee and use landline phones and answering machines. One might easily forget that the novel takes place in 2015 because all perspective here looks to the past. Most of the characters present-day actions studying a monument, driving down a road are ways for them to slip into memory. For the past is home to all the unresolved issues, including Roberts experience in the Vietnam War, his affair with a woman he met there, and his troubled relationship with his father and brother that the characters have spent decades trying not to face. The strength of this novel is its shifting point of view. Butler moves easily among his characters to create a composite portrait of a family that has been wrecked by choices made during the Vietnam War. While Robert enlisted as a researcher, trying to avoid battle, his brother Jimmy moved to Canada, infuriating their father. The resulting years of estrangement and tension must now be dealt with as the patriarch dies. A secondary story line involves a homeless man, who is also named Robert but who goes by Bob, whose increasing instability and interactions with Robert bring further trouble to the novel. The women, meanwhile, remain in the background, their roles limited to being wives and girlfriends. The death of a patriarch, the roles of men and women these contribute to the novels old-fashioned atmosphere. The same is true of the novels depiction of the Vietnam War era, which has already been well worn not just in Butlers previous work but in so many books and movies about that time period. Roberts father is angry, stubborn and unforgiving. Roberts mother is weepy and enabling. The novel has the expected mentions of Viet Cong snipers and exotic girls; the Vietnamese women are sex objects who disappear. That was in another country. A country at war. He worked hard to see Lien as a Vietnamese woman. He focused on the otherness of Vietnamese women, on the seemingly universal kinesthetics of them the feeling in his chest and arms and loins for their smallness, for their softness of parts and hardness of will, for the glide of them. And so all of those qualities faded from him once he returned to the States and to the women who had shaped his desire from boyhood. These Americans were the women in their diversity, in the scale of them who were imprinted on him. Then, in a coffee shop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he felt his physical desire embed itself in a long-shared culture, in a shared cast of mind, in another womans uniqueness, an American woman. If anything, this book is a reminder of how much the American imagination and thinking about the war in Vietnam have been shaped by descriptions like these, that not only rely on othering and objectifying but reinforce them. Its as if we are supposed to take for granted and accept that any book about the war must include such stereotypes. Perfume River depicts Vietnam and the woman Robert loved there as representations and metaphors; they exist not as actualities on their own but in service to the protagonists devastations, dreams and desires. All of this might have been gotten away with 25 years ago, but our thinking about the war, as well as our thinking about how we write about race, sex and gender, have become more nuanced and complex. Is it fair to ask writers to try to catch up? I think so. For isnt part of the point of writing to evolve and discover? Of course, this is also a time when any such questioning can be dismissed as identity politics, as if identity and politics werent always involved in the writing, reading and producing of literature. I had a curious sense, reading this novel, that it wanted to exist in a space outside of any of these considerations, that it wanted to be contemporary while being free of our contemporary questions. I have always admired domestic novels for their subversiveness, for how the underside of a quiet life reveals turmoil and rage. I admire the domesticity in Perfume River too, its lull of the everyday. But I also had a sense that I had read this book many times before: a novel that understands its political power yet chooses not to engage. In spite of the exoticized cover and title, Perfume River is not really a novel about the Vietnam War; it is a novel about a man figuring out his relationship with his father, his own secrets and his own sense of mortality. It is a portrait of a man who has found himself in a stable and prosperous life and wondering why and how that is so. This novel is more a meditation than a page-turner; its mournful, with a literal funeral at its turning point. In spite of its various points of view, it returns, as it must, to the protagonist, a man in need of a reckoning. Beth Nguyen is the author of Stealing Buddhas Dinner, Short Girls and Pioneer Girl. She directs the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco. Email: books@sfchronicle.com Perfume River By Robert Olen Butler (Atlantic Monthly Press; 273 pages; $25) A hundred years ago, a small carnival sideshow added two new cast members. George and Willie Muse, brothers from Virginia, were variously billed as Ecuadorian Savages, emigrants from Madagascar, and Darwins Missing Links. Later, they were Eko and Iko, Ambassadors from Mars. The truth was considerably less colorful. And more cruel, Beth Macy writes in her extraordinary new book, Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mothers Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South. Heralded as natures greatest mistakes, Macy writes, George and Willie were modern-day slaves, hidden in plain sight, at a time when naive and eager audiences didnt think to ask questions about contracts or working conditions, and civil rights didnt much exist for children, women, or blacks. The Muses were African Americans born with albinism. They had pale skin, blue eyes and light-colored hair. They didnt look like their siblings, or most of the other black residents of Truevine, Va. In an era when freak shows were common, they were gawked at, lied to, stolen from and misrepresented. Their act required them to play dumb, Macy says, but they werent. Truevine is at once poignant and rigorous, a compassionate dual biography and a forthright examination of codified racism. Macy is a resourceful reporter and a strong but never showy writer. She worked for a newspaper in Virginia when she first interviewed members of the Muse family 15 years ago. This book, her second after Factory Man, is the work of a journalist whose persistence, empathy and commitment to accuracy cant be doubted. How did George and Willie Muse end up in a sideshow? The kidnapping in Macys subtitle refers to the belief that around the turn of the 20th century, a carnival promoter abducted George and Willie, who were quite young at the time. This is the version of events thats been passed down by those who knew the Muses. It may well have happened this way. But Macys extensive research she unearthed news reports and legal documents not seen in many years suggests another possibility: Harriett, the boys mother, might have temporarily let them go, presumably for pay, believing that theyd soon be brought back home. When they werent, she found a lawyer and fought for their return. Considering the many hardships Harriett Muse was forced to endure a few decades after the Civil War, Macy cautions those whod criticize her decisions: Who is anyone to judge the pressures facing an illiterate washerwoman raising five children alone in rural Virginia during the harshest years of Jim Crow? However they came to it, carnival work would shape the Muse brothers lives. They started appearing in press reports in the mid-1910s, when Willie and George, who was about three years older, were in their teens or early 20s (their birth dates vary depending upon the source). Racist ringmasters would tell crowds that the Muses were Monkey Men or Sheep-Headed Men. When spoken to, they replied in gibberish, as instructed, Macy writes. The Muses were far brighter than they were allowed to demonstrate. Film footage shot in the 1920s, Macy says, shows the brothers chatting cheerfully with co-workers: They do not appear to be mentally encumbered, incapacitated, or slow. In the years ahead, they traveled the country with small carnivals and big circuses. They learned to play stringed instruments and were seen by millions of people from Hawaii to the Hudson Valley of New York, Macy writes. In 1927, Harriett Muse learned that her sons would be performing in Virginia. Years had passed without word of their health or whereabouts, Macy writes, and she was determined to see them. Harriett attended the show and refused to leave the fairgrounds unless George and Willie accompan(ied) her home. At a time when African Americans were systematically denied a voice in the justice system, Harriett hired a lawyer and sued the circus. A settlement seems to have provided the family with at least some of the money that various carnival promoters had pilfered from the brothers. It was George and Willies decision to rejoin the circus in the spring of 1928, Macy writes. The family needed a regular income, and after a spell in small-town Virginia, the brothers probably also missed the relative freedom of the circus backyard. They took some pride in their profession, too. They may have been laughing at us, Willie said, according to family members, but backstage, we were laughing at them because they were paying to see us. The brothers performed into the 1950s. Some works of history are willfully oblivious to the modern world. Not this one. Macy acknowledges the terrible news that echoed in the background as she conducted her research: It was the spring of 2015, the sesquicentennial of the end of the Civil War. And yet racial wounds seemed to be growing by the day: police shootings of unarmed black men occurred in so many cities, it was hard to feel one had been mourned before another happened. Macy interjects in this way just a handful of times, choosing her spots and mostly letting the Muse brothers story speak for itself. The overall effect is extremely powerful. Truevine may focus on events that began a century ago, but its guiding spirit couldnt be more urgent. Kevin Canfield has written for Bookforum, Film Comment and other publications. Email: books@sfchronicle.com Truevine Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mothers Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South By Beth Macy (Little, Brown; 432 pages; $28) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When George Zeidan discovered Google Maps three years ago, he started plugging in the places he knew, including his dads hometown, Beit Jala in the West Bank. But he couldnt see it anywhere on the digital map. Later, when he and others plugged in more than 550 Palestinian villages and locales into Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps, they couldnt find those either. Zeidan and a small group of Palestinians took their concerns to Apple and Google by running along the streets of Mountain View and Cupertino and delivering letters to the companies executives Thursday. Their request: Update the maps. People need to be able to see where these places exist, where are they on the map, said Zeidan, 27, a leader of the run. The politics of mapping can be a minefield, and tech companies that set out to chart the world inevitably face uncomfortable choices. A decision to note certain places but not others can be seen as making a political statement on the worlds borders and contested territories. In geography, we understand maps not only as technical artifacts but also as expressions of power, said David OSullivan, an associate professor at UC Berkeleys geography department. So by making maps, companies are stepping into a realm that is unavoidably political, regardless of the companies intentions. Perhaps reflecting the thorny nature of the subject, a spokeswoman for Waze, a separate mapping division inside Google, declined to comment. (The runners delivered letters of protest to executives at Waze as well as Google Maps.) Apple did not return a request for comment. We are committed to continuously improving the quality of our maps, Google said. We actively work with government, private and public organizations to find and integrate new data into our maps. James Tensuan/Special to The Chronicle Companies often look to organizations such as the United Nations for guidance on naming, experts said. More generally, they rely on a variety of sources to create digital maps, including information from municipal groups, imagery collected by satellites or cars with cameras, and, in some cases, residents. Google Maps has a program called Local Guides, which taps the knowledge of locals to update hours and accessibility, as well as review restaurants and attractions in their areas. But despite these sources, the maps are limited by the resources the companies allocate to constantly update their digital maps of the world. Some provide different maps based on where the map is being requested, OSullivan said. Google Maps, for example, has made adjustments based on the domains of where customers are logging in, according to the Telegraph, a British publication. So users in India will see Arunachal Pradesh as part of the country, while users in China see it listed as South Tibet. The reality is that maps have always been a representation of the worldview seen in particular parts of the world. We just have to correspond to that, chief Google cartographer Ed Parsons told the Telegraph. The Palestinian villages that the runners hope to add to the maps are small, and the group says those villages are at risk for demolition by the Israeli government. Recognizing them on the map could stop the villages destruction and bring commerce to those areas, said the groups organizers, the Rebuilding Alliance and Palestinian running group Right to Movement. They said the maps include Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which the runners described as illegal, but not Palestinian countryside villages such as Al Aqaba and Umm al Kheir Village. James Tensuan/Special to The Chronicle A representative for the Consulate General of Israel declined to comment. Google has already faced scrutiny for its coverage of the region: Some users recently accused Google of having deleted the word Palestine from its maps, but the tech giant said it was never there, according to the New York Times. Zeidan said people still rely on paper maps to get to the villages. Its not the easiest and fastest, most efficient way, he said. The technology shift has not happened because of the fact that you cant find them. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Those villages are included in OpenStreetMap, an open-source collaboration project that allows volunteers to map the world and is supported by donations. OpenStreetMap volunteer Harry Wood said companies such as Google and Apple tend to focus on larger cities at first. Apple markets itself to wealthier customers, while Google makes money from selling advertising, analysts said. They do tend to de-prioritize large parts of the world where there arent such large populations that can spend a lot of money, said Wood, a developer at tech firm Transport API in London. Thats what it comes down to. Wood said getting mapping information on war zones or areas with lots of conflict can be expensive and difficult. Because Apple and Google Maps are missing some places, OpenStreetMap has partnered with other organizations such as the Red Cross to create detailed maps of areas like Haiti and Nepal, so that first responders can quickly respond to those in need. In the past, government agencies around the world employed large numbers of cartographers, who made specialized maps for those areas. Now Google and Apple are trying to take on the same effort with fewer people and without the same local level of knowledge in places, UC Berkeleys OSullivan said. In addition, consumers expect the maps to get updated quickly, and the maps themselves have higher visibility because they are broadly accessible online. All maps are wrong they necessarily simplify, OSullivan said. If they didnt, they wouldnt be useful. Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee San Jose PD / / A YMCA youth counselor in San Jose was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of lewd acts with a child, according to a statement from San Jose Police. Taylor Smith, 25, of San Jose, worked at the YMCAs after school program at Price Middle School, where police say he committed a sexual act against a young girl who attended the program in September. Further details, including the victims age, were not released. The most trusted photographer of the Black Panther Party would have joined the party if only hed been eligible. He is Stephen Shames, 69, of Brooklyn, and 50 years ago he was just another white kid from Los Angeles whod come to UC Berkeley as a freshman and been radicalized by the antiwar movement. By the Summer of Love, he was a sophomore with a Pentax around his neck. During a peace rally at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, he was bold enough to snap an image of Black Panthers co-founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale as they were selling Chairman Maos Little Red Book. I just caught them out of the corner of my eye, and they were so charismatic, I was just like Wow, Shames says. That one image led to six years with the Panthers, and now 26 of his most intense black-and-whites of that era are enlarged on display at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. There are also 18 of Shames pictures on display at All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 at the Oakland Museum of California. The images for both come from Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers, a 50th anniversary oral history and monograph by Shames and Seale. More than 200 pictures are in the book, and half have never been seen before. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 Stephen Shames, courtesy Steven KAsher Gallery/Polaris Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Heidi Gutman Show More Show Less To compile it, and the show, Shames went through thousands of images in a file cabinet marked Panther Contact Sheets. That cabinet hadnt been fully examined in nearly 50 years as Shames pursued a long career as a freelance photographer and editor while running a boutique ad agency on the side. All along he has maintained a relationship with Seale. This goes back to those first pictures that Shames took to the Panther office in Berkeley and showed to Seale himself. Thereafter Shames spent way more time with the Panthers than he spent in class or at his library. Other photographers came to shoot rallies and outside events, he says. But I was the only photographer who was allowed to go backstage, or hang out in Hueys apartment. I even rode in cars with them. They gave me incredible access because Bobby trusted me. He crossed the country photographing the Panthers but never thought to get the one image he wishes he had now himself with Seale or Newton or both. Nobody ever took selfies back then, he says. Shames got close enough to the Panthers that the FBI opened a file on him. But he still graduated on time in 1969, with a bachelors degree in American history and a minor in anthropology. He got no academic credit for his main course of study. I was embedded in the black community by virtue of being with the Panthers, he says. I should have been awarded a B.A. in black studies. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers: Through December. Reva and David Logan Gallery of Documentary Photography, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, North Gate Hall. Book signing and slide show: Stephen Shames and Bobby Seale will appear 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19. RSVP at (510) 642-3383. www.journalism.berkeley.edu/events Dan Wright cuts an imposing figure. Tall and brawny with a shaved head and bushy beard, the former tugboat captain and artisan leather-goods maker has the look of someone who might spend his spare time making moonshine in the remote woods. In reality, that impression isnt far off well, minus the woods and the illegal part. Wright and his partner, Earl Brown, released their debut spirit to select Bay Area bars, restaurants and liquor stores last week. A malted rye whiskey made from scratch inside their modest West Oakland distillery, its the first whiskey to be produced legally in Oakland since Prohibition, the company says. It might seem odd that in one of Californias culinary DIY epicenters, Wright & Brown Distilling Co. is the citys first whiskey operation, but it makes more sense when you consider some of the hurdles associated with the industry. Prohibition-era rules and regulations are just starting to become untangled, with the goal of making things easier for small producers. In the last several years, California has legalized operating on-site tasting rooms and has given the green light for distillers to sell a limited amount of product direct to consumers (instead of having to go through a third-party distributor). Those tweaks have helped fuel a torrent of interest in craft distilling in this state, now home to nearly 100 operations, the vast majority of which opened in the last decade, according to the California Artisanal Distillers Guild. Wright & Brown Despite this, Brown says one of the biggest challenges is getting around what Wright describes as a full-on Catch-22. The weird thing about distilling versus home brewing and winemaking is youre not allowed to do it on your own. Its illegal, Brown says. You have to have a licensed premises, and to have a licensed premises you have to set up the equipment and install it before they even sign off on it. Not to mention that whiskey, the liquor of choice at Wright & Brown Distilling Co., typically requires months, if not years, of barrel aging. During that time, zero revenue is coming in. And so it remains an industry that requires a certain pioneering spirit, a quality that Brown and Wright dont lack. The two longtime friends grew up together in Humboldt County, the products of farming-oriented families and a rural community that placed an emphasis on growing, making and preserving your own food. Theyve taken that upbringing to heart at their distillery, where everything milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, barrel aging and bottling is done on-site. Brown, who focuses on the administrative end of the business, is interested in the big picture. He talks ambitiously about sourcing grains like rye and barley from California growers, and thereby re-establishing a local supply line thats been in flux since Prohibition. Wright, the head distiller, is more hands-on. I am into the ethos of what Im doing and where the products come from, Wright says. But for me, its all about flavor and how to control what this stuff actually tastes like. I want to be able to make something that I want to drink, and in order to do that, I have to know exactly what goes into it. Its quality in, quality out. He speaks passionately and expertly about the beautiful German-style pot still that was handmade and shipped in pieces from Louisville, Ky. Featuring a stout design and mechanical technology thats changed little since the 1800s, the still is built to produce a lower-proof, less-purified product imbued with more of the taste and essential oils of the base grain. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Thats evident in all the spirits made at Wright & Brown, which will eventually roll out other whiskey styles (including single malts), brandy and rum. It comes across loud and clear in the debut rye, which tastes simultaneously accessible thanks to the lower-alcohol proof and exotic, exhibiting an unusually rich, spicy and densely layered flavor profile. Wright & Brown Its a product that tastes wholly unique to where it was made, and who made it. Which is kind of the point of this craft distillery movement, Brown points out. There are all these arts that were lost after Prohibition, and they were taken over by industrial producers that centralized everything, he says. They took it to this scientific level and scale and process that removed the human element. The craft and artisanal movement brought that back, and it makes for more interesting and diverse products. Wright & Browns rye whiskey is available at East Bay and San Francisco locations, including Penrose, Lukas Taproom, Branch Line Bar, Elixir Bar and Epicurean Trader, which will feature it in their whiskey club. For a complete list, go to wbdistilling.com/locations/ Ethan Fletcher is a freelance writer in the East Bay. Email: food@sfchronicle.com It wasnt the first time that a group of revolutionaries had used raw theatrics for dramatic effect. But the provocative demonstration of May 2, 1967 when members of the newly formed Black Panther Party marched into the California state Capitol armed with loaded rifles and wearing berets became a lasting image of black activism. Five decades later, a new movement would spring up, its founders outraged that the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an African American teen in Florida, would go unpunished. This time, smartphones were the weapon of choice, as three African American women Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi began rallying their peers, using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to express their anger and grief and demand justice. What began as a social media movement quickly broadened, inspiring large-scale demonstrations and catapulting young, tech-savvy activists into the public eye. And, as it evolved, Black Lives Matter came to resemble the Black Panther Party, established 50 years ago this month by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. As Oakland, hometown to both movements, marks the 50th anniversary of the Panther Partys founding with a new museum exhibit and conference, activists from both eras, academics and others see clear differences, but also many connections and parallels. And while many say its inspiring to see a similar movement emerge today, some take it as a sign of how little progress has been made over half a century. If you look at the policy demands of both movements, theyre literally almost identical, said Frank Roberts, a political organizer who teaches a class on the Black Lives Matter movement at New York University. The issues that spurred the Panthers into existence police violence against black people; economic inequality; the dearth of medical services, educational opportunities and healthy food for people living in low-income neighborhoods still bedevil activists today, he said. And that probably says more about the tragedy in American justice than anything else, Roberts said. Scot Brown, associate professor of African American Studies at UCLA, said the two groups have similar ways of engaging radical ideas and presenting them to a mass audience. Yet he also sees a clear distinction between the Panthers, who rose in an era of global political manifestos that gave people a sense of direction, and Black Lives Matter, which is more atomized and issue-driven. Black Lives Matter is not trying to represent what an organization 50 years earlier did, Brown said. Its shaped by the realities of the moment. Its looking forward. Newton and Seale announced the Panthers formation in October 1966 with a manifesto. Their Ten-Point Platform and Program could be a blueprint for the political agenda that Black Lives Matter drafted this year. Steeped in the revolutionary zeal of the time, the Panthers called for a sovereign state for black people, an end to mass incarceration, and economic reparations to redress the injustices of slavery. Art Frisch/The Chronicle Black Lives Matter refined those demands into concrete goals: universal health care, cuts in military spending, free high-quality education for black people, public financing for political elections, and citizen oversight of police. The Black Panther Party platform was part manifesto, part wish list, said Yohuru Williams, a history professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut. The Black Lives Matter platform goes one step further. They said, Were not just going to be aspirational, were going to lay out solutions. The Panthers, though, were born into a different political climate. For much of the 20th century, Oakland was a conservative city ruled by Joseph Knowland and his son William, two Republican Party leaders who spawned a newspaper dynasty at the Oakland Tribune. People dont realize it, but this used to be a very Republican town, said Jim Chanin, an Oakland civil rights attorney. To Chanin, the politics of the time might explain why the Panthers chose to be so confrontational. They carried guns on public streets and formed armed patrols to follow police officers and watch for acts of brutality. They choreographed protests that played to the television cameras. Their imagery berets, military fatigues, leather jackets and dark sunglasses sharply diverged from the genteel style of the concurrent civil rights movement. While the Panthers aggressive Black Power messaging drew attention both from nervous authorities and a beleaguered black community there was a method to its actions, said co-founder Seale. The reason I started the Black Panther Party was to organize, he said. The tactic was to go out and patrol the police, and we were legal on every level. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle 2016 As the movement grew, the Panthers foot soldiers concentrated on building free breakfast programs and medical clinics, opening a community school and putting black candidates up for political office. Seale made a bid for mayor in 1973 and forced a runoff against the white Republican incumbent, John Reading, before losing. That was such an earth-shattering situation, Chanin said. It meant that the citys white political establishment finally had to acknowledge its black constituents, he said. Not long after Seale ran on a slate that included fellow Panther Elaine Brown, Oaklands political landscape was transformed. Lionel Wilson, the citys first African American mayor, was elected in 1977 and served three terms. His successor was another prominent African American politician, Elihu Harris. Today, the Oakland City Council is about as diverse as the city itself, with three black members, two Latinos and three white members. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle Cat Brooks, an Oakland activist who organizes Black Lives Matter demonstrations and marches against police brutality, largely credited the Panthers for the greater political access that she and her peers have today. I think it was the work of the generation before me that made it so politicians now feel like they have to sit down with us, she said. Joel Angel Jurez Black Lives Matters public actions often echo those of the Panthers minus the shoulder arms. Instead, theirs is a movement propelled by technology. Its a vehicle for us to explain issues that have been ignored by mainstream media, said Malkia Cyril. A Black Lives Matter activist in Oakland, shes the daughter of the late Janet Cyril, who ran the Black Panthers free breakfast program. When black people were able to live-stream the violence of police officers on Facebook Live, she said, that changed the dynamic of power. Social media also help amplify the Black Lives Matter message nationally and beyond, making it easier for supporters to act and harder for politicians to dismiss. Sen. Bernie Sanders couldnt ignore the group when his mike was grabbed by activists at a Seattle rally. He later met with Black Lives Matter representatives. A private fundraising dinner for Hillary Clinton in South Carolina was interrupted by a woman demanding Clinton apologize for once referring to gang members as superpredators. Clinton later would. At a Clinton campaign event in New Hampshire, activists who were initially not allowed inside were able to press Clinton on her policies. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle The Panthers, by contrast, were not granted private audiences with powerful politicians, said Todd Boyd, a professor who focuses on race and popular culture at the University of Southern California. He suggests that comparing the groups may downplay the impact and the obstacles the Panthers had in their time. The fact (Black Lives Matter) could get an audience with Hillary shows how nonthreatening they are, Boyd said. The Panthers became a national story when they went to the state Capitol in Sacramento armed. Ive not seen anything like that from Black Lives Matter. But Black Lives Matter has, on occasion, embraced old-school dramatic tactics. Just as the Panthers knew how to lure TV cameras with guns and militaristic attire, members of Black Lives Matter have also come to understand the power of spectacle. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. With emotions flaring in response to the police killings of black men like Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y., and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn., Black Lives Matter demonstrations have become increasingly in-your-face. In January, 25 demonstrators drove onto the Bay Bridge, stopping their cars to block all five westbound lanes near the tower of the eastern span. They strung chain through the cars and around their bodies, blocking traffic for hours in protest of police shootings and gentrification. The aim? Shutting down the Bay Bridge and all it represents in terms of commerce and the flow of goods back and forth, said organizer Brooks. She also helped organize an act of civil disobedience in July, in which protesters chained themselves to the doors of the police union building in Oakland part of a carefully orchestrated day of action that obstructed police buildings across the country. We have to interrupt business as usual, Brooks said. We can have temper tantrums on Facebook and Twitter all day, and talk about white supremacy until were blue in the face, but the only thing this power structure understands is when we interrupt its commerce. Direct action is all about creating discomfort, Cyril said, essentially echoing the Panther philosophy. If youre uncomfortable and you want me to move out of the way, you want business as usual thats not going to happen until you meet our demands. The Black Panther Party gradually devolved, in great part because of harassment, surveillance and violent confrontations with the federal Cointelpro program organized by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who saw the Panthers as a threat to national security. The group also suffered from internal feuding, which many say was instigated and exacerbated by federal infiltrators. When the Panther Party officially shut down in the early 1980s, the revolution it sought had not been achieved, though its legacy can still be felt in Oakland and beyond. Just where Black Lives Matter is headed, how long its movement will last and what impact it will have is not clear. But its decentralized, online approach may help it avoid some of the problems that beset the Panthers. As about 100 demonstrators marched on Broadway in downtown Oakland last month to protest the shooting of Keith L. Scott in Charlotte, N.C., Maile Hampton shouted chants through a megaphone. Hampton, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, associates with Black Lives Matter but is not part of the organization. You dont necessarily have to be in the organization to protest for Black Lives Matter, Hampton said. No one organization owns the police brutality movement. Its more of a coalition. Hampton said she has been inspired by the Black Panthers. Last year, she was arrested after a demonstration in Sacramento for allegedly trying to keep another protester from being taken away by police. Hampton, who is biracial, said she was charged with lynching. The obscure state law its racially charged name since stricken was originally aimed at preventing vigilante mobs from wresting people from police custody but has been used often against protesters aiding each other. Hampton said she thought of Assata Shakur, the former Black Panther who escaped prison and fled to Cuba, as she was led from her home by police. When you have true words to speak, you know youre going to be targeted, Hampton said. She and others say Black Lives Matter, like its venerable forebear, is making political leaders uneasy. The pushback that (Black Lives Matter) gets is reminiscent of the pushback we received 50 years ago when mainstream America hated us, said Ericka Huggins, who ran the Black Panthers Oakland Community School from 1973 to 1981. Fifty years later, everyone wants to talk to us, she said. I hope it doesnt take another 50 years for us to appreciate Black Lives Matter. Rachel Swan and Otis R. Taylor Jr. are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com, otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan, @otisrtaylorjr Commemoration A free Black Panther Party 50th anniversary rally and party is scheduled to take place outside Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22. Additionally, an ad hoc committee of former Black Panther members is hosting events to commemorate the anniversary. More information can be found at: www.bpp50th.com On this day, she was handcuffed and headed for jail. In time, her voice would be celebrated. The Chronicles front page from Oct. 14, 1970, covers the arrest of political activist Angela Davis after a months-long hunt. Davis, the alleged supplier of guns for the bloody Aug. 7 battle at the Marin Civic Center, was arrested yesterday at a New York motel, the story read. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, in announcing the arrest, said the 26-year-old former UCLA philosophy teacher was unarmed and offered no resistance. Davis had been put on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted list the third woman to earn the distinction. She was accused of purchasing firearms that were used by Jonathan Jackson, a 17-year-old who stormed a Marin County courtroom, gave weapons to three defendants including his brother and took hostages. During the police shootout that followed in San Rafael, a judge and three of the armed men, including Jackson, were killed. The shotgun that was used to kill the judge was owned by Davis. She soon became the focus of national media scrutiny. After being captured, Davis declared her innocence. She was jailed, but a grass-roots organization sprung up seeking to have her released. Songs by the Rolling Stones and John Lennon and Yoko Ono spread the message that Davis was innocent. After 16 months behind bars, her bail was paid and she was released. The trial was moved from Marin County to Santa Clara County and she was found not guilty. Davis went on to become a prominent UC Santa Cruz professor, scholar and author whose work was required reading in colleges across the country. Top O the Top of the News: A bullet-proof shield for cab drivers went on show at City Hall. Page 4. Now if only they could protect riders from dangerous driving. See more front pages: Go to SFChronicle.com/covers to search a database of hundreds of Chronicle Covers articles that showcase the newspapers history. More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond. Chronicle Covers highlights one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken and producers Kimberly Chua, Michelle Devera and Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke (Click to enlarge) RTSRJDZ In her first interview since the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton derided Donald Trump for supposedly stalking her around the debate stage Sunday. The Democratic presidential nominee sat down with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday to discuss Clinton's reaction to the debate. "It was clear that my opponent, Donald Trump, was going to try to, you know, dominate the space almost to the exclusion of the people who were sitting there," Clinton said of the town-hall debate setting. "I mean, they were sitting there so that we could talk to them and that they could ask questions, we would then answer, and because of the revelation of the public video and everything that came out on 'Access Hollywood,' you know, he was really all wrought up and you could just sense how much anger he had," she said. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. She was referring to a salacious leaked "Access Hollywood" tape that showed Trump bragging in 2005 that his celebrity status allowed him to grope women. Clinton continued: "And so he was really just trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage, and I would just feel this presence behind me, and I thought, 'Whoa, this is really weird.' I was just trying to stay focused, trying to keep my composure, trying to interact with the moderators ... and deal with the string of accusations that he was putting forth." Clinton said she found it difficult to debate Trump, whom DeGeneres compared to a "teenager." "It's frustrating," Clinton said. "I feel such a sense of obligation to people that, you know, I work at trying to make sure what I'm saying is appropriate, is accurate, conveying that to people. Everybody makes mistakes, don't get me wrong, I obviously have made more than my share, but to run against somebody and debate somebody who is consistently just spewing forth falsehoods, and when you catch him, when you say, 'No, wait a minute, you said this, you actually were on the record about this,' 'No I wasn't. No I wasn't.'" Story continues Watch the clip below: NOW WATCH: 'CHECK OUT SEX TAPE': Trump goes on raging tweetstorm ripping Miss Universe contestant More From Business Insider Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press If Gov. Jerry Browns Proposition 57 overhaul of prison sentencing in California wins voter approval next month, it could face resistance from local governments around the state. The opposition campaign, which had consisted mostly of prosecutors, police groups and Republican politicians, was joined this week by the League of California Cities, whose members include nearly all of the states 482 municipal governments. The U.S. Justice Department review on the San Francisco Police Department made plain the case for change: a change in culture, a change in leadership, a change in certain professional practices and a chance in the relationship between police and the community. Ronald Davis, director of the Justice Departments Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, suggested that the report could serve as a guiding document in the citys search for a successor to Chief Greg Suhr. That would be a good start. Suhr was in many ways a strong advocate for reform, but as someone who came up through the ranks, he was saddled with the image of an insider and his message was clouded by the antagonistic approach of a police union that was too often resistant to change and too quick to try to tarnish even its most constructive critics as anti-police. One such critic, District Attorney George Gascon, became a particular target of the unions us-versus-them dynamic when he put together a blue-ribbon panel of judges last year to assess the degree of institutionalized bias in the department after the disclosure of racist text messages exchanged by officers. The federal review validated many of the Gascon panels findings and recommendations. In doing so, the Justice Department review should remove the personality conflicts and political rivalries from the equation. Its 94 findings and 272 recommendations provide a template for all factions to come together to work for a more equitable and effective police force. The many ethical and highly professional officers in the ranks can draw reassurance in the federal reviews overriding conclusion that it found no proof of overt racial bias by officers or the agency as a whole. A succession of bystander videos of police shootings of suspects has become a topic of national concern and outrage, including Decembers fatal shooting of Mario Woods. One significant point of vindication for the department against its critics: the review found that race and ethnicity were not significantly associated with the severity of force applied by officers, even though most uses of deadly force by SFPD involved persons of color. Nevertheless, the Justice Department did detect an implicit bias in areas such as traffic stops (African Americans pulled over at disproportionate rates), officers word choices and department hiring and promotion practices. Women and nonwhites tend to be terminated from recruit training at higher rates and are under-represented in leadership and supervisorial positions. To his credit, Mayor Ed Lee initiated the review by his outreach to the Department of Justice, and he pledged to follow through on its recommendations. He noted in a Chronicle opinion piece Thursday that some of the reforms were under way, though there is still a lot of critical work to be done. The challenge for the new chief and the urgency to find one with the experience and independence to make these changes has never been more pronounced. Buried in a presidential debate marked largely by insults and threats, the two candidates were asked a question about Syria that provided insight into how their worldviews and foreign policy priorities differ. What would they do about Syria and the humanitarian crisis there? Democrat Hillary Clinton focused on how the U.S. should use its power to help create a no-fly zone and try to check Russian influence in Syria through negotiation. Republican Donald Trump was concerned about knocking out the only thing he felt directly affected American interests: the Islamic State. We have to worry about ISIS before we can get too much more involved, he said. The answers Clinton talked about working with allies on the ground and a humanitarian intervention, while Trump had a single target show the two candidates have different approaches to Americas responsibility as a superpower and its relationships with other countries. Clinton is someone who believes in an active and engaged role abroad, said Elizabeth Saunders, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor of international affairs at George Washington University. She believes that its good for us for our national security and economic prosperity for us to have a really engaged presence internationally that includes alliances and occasional military interventions. Trump, on the other hand, believes that international alliances have not served the United States well and thinks that we spend too much money on many of these things and would be less engaged globally, she said. Heres a breakdown of where the candidates stand on major foreign policy issues: Syria An estimated 400,000 people have been killed in the five-year civil war. In recent weeks, the besieged city of Aleppo has suffered significant civilian casualties as Russia and Syrian leader Bashar Assad pound areas controlled by antigovernment forces. In recent years, the Islamic State has risen to prominence in Syria, unleashing deadly attacks there. Clinton: She has described ways to become more involved in Syria. They include targeting Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, increasing air strikes against the terrorist organization in both Iraq and Syria, and providing more support for groups that fight it. At Sundays debate, Clinton reiterated her call for a no-fly zone in northern Syria a split from the Obama administration. She said Syria showed the ambitions and the aggressiveness of Russia and that she would curb that influence. Trump: He has focused primarily on attacking the Islamic State when discussing Syria. But the GOP nominee has said he would not reveal his plan to defeat the Islamic State, saying only that he knew more than the generals did about it. In March, Trump mentioned sending thousands of troops into Syria and Iraq to defeat the Islamic State, but he later said he would send in very few troops. At Sundays debate, he praised the potential benefits of working with Russia against the Islamic State. Trump said that while he was not a fan of Assad, the Syrian dictator was killing the Islamic State, along with Russia and Iran. He added that the U.S. had to worry about ISIS before risking further involvement in Syria. NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed more than 60 years ago to deter the influence of the Soviet Union. A main principle is that an attack on one country is considered to be an attack on all the countries. Trump: Overall, he has been skeptical of the alliance and its necessity. He has called for the United States to rethink its relationship with NATO, specifically criticizing the amount of money America contributes more than any other country. Trump said that he would have to think about whether to defend the small Baltic members from a Russian attack. Have they fulfilled their obligations to us? If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes, he said. However, Trump seemingly changed his position on the issue at the first presidential debate, saying he was all for NATO. Clinton: She has been overwhelmingly supportive of NATO. In a speech at Stanford University this year, Clinton said Americas global alliances give it a strategic advantage over China and Russia. She pointed to NATO as one of the best investments the country had ever made, as NATO allies had stood with America after 9/11 and were alongside the United States in Afghanistan and the Balkans. Russia The rocky relationship between the United States and Russia has become an issue because of the the GOP candidates seeming sympathies for Vladimir Putin. The recent diplomatic conflicts between the Obama administration and Russia namely the breakdown in a Syria cease-fire plan along with Russias apparent involvement with the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails have increased that spotlight. Clinton: She has kept a tough line on Russia. While the former secretary of state led the Obama administrations reset of U.S.-Russia relations, which included a nuclear arms treaty between the two countries, she is said to have been skeptical of Putin and Russia. She reportedly wrote memos to President Obama advocating a tougher approach to Russia toward the end of her time in the administration. Clintons running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has also said economic sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea need to continue. Trump: He has said he wished the relationship between the two countries was stronger. He has said he would have a very, very good relationship with Russia, while repeatedly praising Putins leadership qualities. He has said that he would look into lifting sanctions against Russia and even consider acknowledging Crimea as part of Russia. Iran The U.S. and five other foreign powers have reached a landmark deal with Iran over its nuclear program. The deal led to the lifting of sanctions in exchange for international oversight and restrictions on Irans nuclear program. Clinton: She supports the deal. The Democratic candidate has repeatedly talked about her efforts to increase international sanctions against Iran to force it to negotiate. Clinton says she supports standing by the deal and would reinstate sanctions if Iran were to break the agreement. Trump: He has been critical of the deal. Trump initially said that ripping up the deal would be difficult but that he would police that contract so tough they dont have a chance, before saying later that he would renegotiate. He has called it the worst deal ever made by a country. North Korea In recent months, the country led by Kim Jong Un conducted its fifth underground nuclear test, which was met with quick condemnation by the U.N. Security Council, and tested a long-range rocket engine. Trump: He appears to have focused primarily on getting China to fix the problem. China should solve that problem for us and should go into North Korea, he said. In the past, he stated that the United States might be better off if Japan and South Korea had nuclear weapons to protect themselves from North Korea. Trump has repeatedly said those two countries needed to pay more for U.S. defense support. Clinton: She has mentioned a renewed focus on North Korea. She has called for continued sanctions against North Korea but has said there was more the United States could do, including rethinking the current strategy and getting China to realize it was not just a U.S. issue. She has said that the United States would continue to honor mutual defense treaties in Japan and South Korea. It is essential that Americas word be good, she said in the first presidential debate. Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz These days, the rising stars of Hawaiis culinary scene showcase their island roots, rather than disguise them, even with mainland training and experience. Heres a taro patch of talented chefs whose ties to Pacific Islander culture run deep; perhaps a television show awaits them, too. When the school day ended at Kapaa High, Noelani Planas headed to A Pacific Cafe to wash dishes and discover how Jean Marie Josselin transformed local ingredients into exquisite dishes on an evolving menu. While attending culinary workshops for low-income students at Kauai Community College, Planas earned first place at regional competitions. At 18, Josselin sent Planas to open Restaurant 808 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Adding to her education, she trained under Michael Mina, Wolfgang Puck and Joel Robuchon. In 2014, Planas brought her experience home as chef de cuisine at Kauai Grill, where her signature dishes included pan-seared scallops with thyme and Champagne beurre blanc; Kauai quail eggs and a robust ragu made with Kauai corn and Portuguese sausage. In May, the 37-year-old joined Red Salt as executive chef, where her refined dishes, including sashimi (pictured), appear on the fall menu. www.meritagecollection.com/koakea/dining-at-red-salt M.L. Zach Sato, The Restaurant at Hotel Wailea, Maui Loo Valdez Before Zach Sato transformed the former Capische? into the more definitively named Restaurant at Hotel Wailea a few months ago, the Maui-born chef and avid surfer had made waves on the Big Island by his 2014 rescue of a drowning snorkeler, captured on the latters head-mounted camera. While Capische? may not have been going under, its menu shows new signs of liveliness under Sato. A graduate of San Diego Culinary Institute, he spent the last decade working for Hawaii Regional Cuisine co-founder Peter Merriman in his namesake and Monkeypod Kitchen restaurants. Sato shares Merrimans passion for island-grown, seasonal ingredients, particularly those from Hirabara Farms, not far from Merrimans flagship restaurant on the island of Hawaii. At the Restaurant at Hotel Wailea, recently designated as the states only Relais & Chateaux property, Sato serves a salad of Tamimi Farms tomatoes, burrata, pickled shallot and kale oil (pictured). Tender kale appears in his crispy Jidori chicken dinner for two, along with giardiniera, cherry tomato agrodolce and burnt scallion emulsion, while a side dish pairs Hirabara Farms corn with Maui chevre. But Sato neednt go all the way to the Big Island, or even off property, to source fresh produce. The adults-only Hotel Wailea also boasts a farm; look for its mango in Satos foie gras terrine, spiked with Serrano ham and cilantro. www.hotelwailea.com/dining J.C. Mi Jin Kang, Kaana Kitchen, Maui Maui-born Isaac Bancaco blazed quite the trail at Kaana Kitchen, the house restaurant of Andaz Maui at Wailea, when both debuted in late 2013. His open, interactive Kitchen was named Mauis best new restaurant, while he earned the title of top chef in the 2014 Aipono Awards, the Valley Isles most prestigious culinary honors. But Kaana Kitchens new chef de cuisine, Mi Jin Kang, can clearly hold her own with Bancaco, with whom she recently created a sold-out, Hawaii-sourced dinner for the famed Beard House in New York. She also took third in last years international Hyatt Culinary Challenge, drawing on her Korean heritage and her roots on another Pacific island Guam to create dishes such as churropanada, a churro-style empanada filled with pork and roasted corn, and ahi with kabocha, (pictured). Kang came to the islands by way of the Bay Area, after graduating from college in Illinois in 2009. She trained at Napa Valleys Culinary Institute of America, worked as a line cook with chef Hira Sone at Terra in St. Helena and at Ame at the St. Regis in San Francisco, and served as junior sous chef at Morimoto Napa. A sous chef gig at Morimoto Waikiki brought her to Hawaii four years ago. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Sit at the sunset-lit chefs table (six courses, $125, or $250 with wine pairings) while Kangs at work, if only to avoid hard choices between savory dishes such as abalone risotto with onsen egg, buttermilk-fried chicken (made extra crispy with mochi and cornflakes) or smoked Kauai shrimp with tom kha panna cotta. www.maui.andaz.hyatt.com/en/hotel/dining.html J.C. Michelle Karr-Ueoka, MW Restaurant, Honolulu With the strongest pastry game in town, chef Michelle Karr-Ueoka, an Oahu native who cut her culinary teeth under famous chefs Thomas Keller and Alan Wong, continues to push the boundaries of dessert. At MW, the James Beard-nominated restaurant she owns with her husband, Hawaii Rising Star chef Wade Ueoka, her artistic confections are celebrations of Hawaiis farms and melting-pot culture. A Kula strawberry shave ice (pictured) is a nod to Filipino halo-halo with haupia tapioca, mochi ice cream and a delicate drift of strawberry snow. The tropical fruit creamsicle gets its texture from a bruleed lilikoi cream and jellied fruits (an ode to the Sunkist Fruit Gems). At Artizen, the couples grab-and-go spot in the Hawaii State Art Museum, Karr-Ueokas $5 desserts take on a modern-art flair. With its gridlike design, the carrot cake, made with Mao Farms carrots and Meyer lemon from the Big Island, is a decidedly Mondrian moment. www.mwrestaurant.com L.M.B. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As San Franciscos Betabrand prepares to launch its ironic Silicon Valley Fashion Week? for the second year in a row watch as robots, exoskeletons and a llama outdo last years drones! its worth noting that the irreverent online clothing company might never have launched had its founder grown up watching cable TV. Cable wasnt available in the 1980s in Chris Lindlands hometown of Rancho Santa Fe (San Diego County), so when his parents declined to sign up for satellite TV, he did the next best thing: He created his own shows. Friends of mine had video cameras, so we would always make stupid home movies, the 44-year-old said at the companys retail shop and headquarters on Valencia Street recently. The storytelling part that you see around Betabrand began with me doing that kind of stuff. Betabrand may have begun as a joke, but the joke was on him when his first product, Cordarounds, took off in 2006. Lindland was employed by an online German hotel company at the time; to bolster his resume and marketing chops he created a side project: pants whose ridges wound around the legs horizontally and a website with clever quips and faux scientific facts about how the pants lowered the wearers (ahem) crotch heat index. Adolescent male humor has taken the company far since Betabrand launched officially in 2010, but six years into the madness, the question isnt why goofiness is so appealing. Its how the company sustains a creativity that seems to burn ever hotter. After an hour of rapid-fire conversation with Lindland, a fashion disrupter appropriately born on Bastille Day and who claims to be jet-lagged after arriving home the previous day from Europe but shows no sign of fatigue its apparent the fuel is his own inner high-octane drive. Its a unique formula composed of his experience as the co-founder of a tech startup (i-Drive data storage); a stint in Hollywood as the creator of an animated comedy show sold to Spike TV; and a Gen X perspective that grounds him in the ways that digital consumers live and think. Michele Ochoa/Courtesy The Internet has created consumers that expect the world to change every 15 seconds, Lindland says, standing amid racks of fan-favorite silver Disco Hoodies on the sales floor. How can a fashion industry that says, Were going to invent what you wear two years from now connect with the consumer base that expects everything to be immediate, and constantly changing? Lindland asks. Our business says, Design ideas can spring forth in two minutes; we should be striving to have people interact with that two hours later. Because a design is an idea, and an idea is what people consume online. Thats why Betabrand keeps its website dizzyingly fresh posting 12 to 15 garments online every week, unlike traditional clothing companies that design months in advance and deliver apparel to department stores up to a year later. To achieve the rapid turnaround, Betabrands in-house fashion designers make their own sketches and review hundreds of ideas submitted by outside designers. All designs are posted in a crowdfunding section of the website; if they are a success, they join Betabrands collection. To manufacture at breakneck speed, Betabrand does all the back-end work first: It develops a prototype for a garment, and a supply chain for materials and vendors, and then places the garment on its website for customers to browse and order. If we find out that 10,000 people want this thing, Lindland says, pointing to a new plaid shirt on a rack, production can begin two days later. Comedy is integral to Betabrands popularity, hence the emphasis on gag names like the new Weed-Tweed blazer by Matt Their found on the crowdfunding section of the companys website. (Its pretty clear that pots going mainstream across the United States. Soon, smokers of all ages, shapes, and strains will emerge from the smoky shadows to rejoice and blaze up! And what will these legions of newly liberated tokers wear? My Weed-Tweed Blazer, naturally, the product blurb states.) Betabrand Betabrand, which strives to be the Facebook of fashion, also gets new ideas from Internet chatter. Following the success of its $78 Dress Pant Yoga Pant for women, created by Sarah James for office workers in 2014, Betabrand saw that women were wondering why nobody was making stylish, comfy apparel for traveling. Thats how a 40-piece travel collection that includes the Red Eye Wrap, travel jeans and a travel skort was born. The pace may be relentless, but Betabrands employees seem to enjoy Lindlands charismatic pressure. In August, Lindland held the companys first Alumni Ball, a costume party to celebrate the efforts of present and past employees. One of those present, Steve Teeple, 28, a senior web producer, says he left Apple and took a pay cut to come to Betabrand in 2012. Its an insane editorial-magazine-newspaper vibe, where Chris coming up to us saying, This story isnt working were going to change it up and We have to scramble to re-photograph things and move things around, says Teeple. He wants to be the person that is saying, Why cant we do this better? Why cant we do this faster? and I really respect that about him. One of those rip-and-redo episodes involved a campaign for a hemp-fiber shirt called the Tree Hugger, with photos of a man hugging a tree. Lindland scrapped it, feeling it was lackluster, and suggested two alternatives The Libertarian, for the consumer who believes in guns and sustainable textiles, and the Tree Humper, about a forbidden romance between man and tree. How does Lindland keep those new ideas coming? Ive often wondered that myself, says Benjamin Keyser, 37, Betabrands art director, as electronic dance music pulsed inside. It doesnt seem like it takes him any effort to come up with stuff its all kind of mad scientist brilliant weird stuff, and not all of it is appropriate for photo shoots. Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle In September, Betabrand launched YogAID, a program that donated $5 from the purchase of each pair of Dress Pant Yoga Pants to the nonprofit Techstars Foundation, working to increase diversity in the tech field, raising $100,000 for the group. Betabrand also gave those customers a free Betabrand pantsuit calendar featuring 32 local female entrepreneurs (Debbie Sterling of GoldiBlox; Stephanie Hannon, Hillary Clintons CTO; Caroline Ghosn of Levo) clad in pantsuits and photographed doing yoga poses. As Betabrand launches its new Urban Outdoors line this month, its also preparing for the second annual Silicon Valley Fashion Week? Oct. 20-22, to be sponsored by Zappos and held at the Gantry, a new mid-Market event space in San Francisco, to accommodate an anticipated 2,500 attendees. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Lindland is focusing on the Bay Areas Burning Man and maker roots, and he hopes the event becomes like Comi-con for fashion, referring to the long-running San Diego convention attended by more than 130,000 costumed fans. Were the home of visual stuff and technology. That feels more like a San Francisco show than if we try to behave like a New York show; whenever San Francisco tries, it looks like a pale comparison. Carolyne Zinko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: czinko@sfchronicle.com Silicon Valley Fashion Week? Oct. 20-22: 1425 Market St. Tickets: $25 and up; www.betabrand.com. The Betabrand Pantsuit calendar is $20 at www.betabrand.com/pantsuit-calendar.html. Betabrands greatest hits 2011: Disco pants; the caperon, a hybrid cape and apron 2012: Executive Pinstripe Hoodie, timed to Facebooks IPO. 2014: Dress Pant Yoga Pant, the companys best-selling item to date; Gay Jeans, with multicolored threads that fray and come out as the garment is worn. Creative block? Lindlands environmental tips for getting unstuck: 1. Head to a cafe. Surely the coffee aids in elevating the senses, but the environmental change is the extra ingredient. Theres always someone working away on a screenplay, start-up or thesis, and my mind feeds off the environment. 2. Take a hike. Once a month, I walk a couple projects up Twin Peaks or Mount Tam. Sounds like an excuse to blow off work, but when your job is inventing experiences (which fashion really is all about), it helps to take your brain to places folks really want to be. 3. Visit SFMOMA. Sounds pretentious, but it really isnt. Art museums are monuments to creative thinking. It never hurts to wander through an ocean of ideas when youre puzzling about problems creative, professional or personal When a furor erupted over the rapidly rising price of EpiPens this summer, the drugmaker Mylan offered a solution: a coupon for the expensive drug. People who need the EpiPens to protect themselves from life-threatening allergic reactions can use the coupon to get up to $300 off at the pharmacy counter if their insurance plan has a deductible or a co-payment. It is a good deal for those people. But these seemingly generous coupons may be making drug costs higher for everyone. New research suggests that co-payment coupons can actually increase total health care spending by encouraging patients to choose more expensive drugs when lower-priced substitutes are available. Those high costs can then boomerang back to patients in the form of higher insurance premiums. Mylan is not the only drug company to offer such coupons. They are common in the industry and used for drugs for many diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, skin problems and mental illness. The negative effects of coupons have long been suspected, but two new papers, one published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine and one that will be published by the National Bureau of Economic Research this week, are the first to precisely measure the effect. A research team from Harvard, Northwestern and UCLA looked at brand-name drugs that also had generic equivalents. When drug companies offered a coupon for the brand-name version, more patients stuck with the more expensive brand-name drug, and the company raised the prices on such drugs faster than it did for drugs for which no coupon was available. Altogether, the researchers estimate that coupons for 23 such drugs with a generic alternative resulted in an extra $700 million to $2.7 billion in spending on drugs over five years. (Because generic drugs are required to be biologically identical to their brand-name cousins, the more expensive brand-name version doesnt make patients any healthier.) These are wolves in sheeps clothing, said Leemore Dafny, a professor at Harvard Business School and a co-author of the research. These efforts to help consumers bear the cost of their drugs are actually driving higher spending without commensurate health benefits. When it comes to drugs like the ones in the study, your insurance company tries to steer you toward generics by giving the generics very low co-payments and charging higher fees for the brand-name version. But the co-payment doesnt cover the whole cost of the drug, of course. Its just a signal that insurance companies use to steer you toward the cheaper product. The coupon can reduce the portion of the drugs cost that you pay yourself, but it doesnt do anything to lower the share paid by your insurance company, which can be hundreds or thousands of dollars more. Insurance companies use co-payments when they negotiate with the makers of competing brand-name drugs. When your insurance company negotiates with a drug company to get a good price, its main leverage is the co-payment. Imagine two similar drugs for the same ailment. The insurance company can offer a drugmaker lots of business if it steers patients to buy its product. The promise of all that business gives the drugmakers an incentive to offer a good discount. In that situation, an insurance company might charge a $10 co-payment for a $300 drug and a $50 co-payment for its competitor, which costs $500. A coupon for the pricier drug will make it less expensive for the patient at the drugstore, but wont change what each drug is costing the insurance company. If coupons cause patients to prefer the $500 drug, then the maker of the cheaper drug will have no incentive to keep offering a better price, and both drugs might end up costing $500. Steve Miller, the chief medical officer at Express Scripts, which negotiates drug benefits for health plans around the country, said coupons sometimes force his company to refuse to cover expensive drugs at all, since the coupons work only when the insurance company picks up part of the tab. Its one of these things where what superficially sounds like a good thing giving patients discounts actually in the long haul ends up costing patients more money, he said. The federal government bans the use of coupons when buying drugs through Medicare health insurance. Massachusetts also bans the practice. Those bans created what economists call a natural experiment and allowed the researchers to measure how much of a difference coupons made. They looked at a database of health claims for everyone employed by a New Hampshire company, then compared the drugs bought by customers in New Hampshire, where coupons were allowed, with those in Massachusetts, where they were not. To make sure the differences didnt reflect some other difference between the states, they also looked at Medicare recipients in both states, and found similar drug-buying habits among people in both places. Dafny and her colleagues suggest that more states may want to follow the lead of Massachusetts in banning the coupons. Some individual patients would end up paying more for drugs, but average costs would probably go down. She and her co-authors also warned that the practice of offering co-payment discounts might also start spreading to doctors offices and hospitals, and could cause similar distortions in negotiations between health care providers and health insurance companies. But there are downsides to discount bans. Health plans have been asking patients to pick up a larger share of their health care bills, and many plans now ask customers to pay a percentage of their costs, not just a co-payment. Those kinds of policies can put important medications out of reach for some patients on limited budgets. The EpiPen is a good example: Mylan could make the drug more affordable by lowering its price, but, until recently, there was no good, cheaper generic version that patients could choose instead. That meant people with high co-payments had no way around a high price at the drugstore. There is evidence that, with coupons, patients may be more likely to keep taking prescribed drugs. When conflicts get difficult in health care between the different entities, we too often let the consequences of that conflict spill over onto sick people, said Dr. Peter Bach, a physician and director of the center for health policy and outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital. In a recent paper, he and a co-author argued for an array of policies that would get financial help to patients while avoiding some of the coupons more distorting effects. Ultimately, he argued, the country needs a better way to price and pay for drugs. GREENSBORO, N.C. Battered by sordid new accusations of sexual misbehavior, Donald Trump fought back in ever-more-remarkable fashion Friday, acting out one womans allegation onstage and suggesting another was not attractive enough to merit his attention. He defiantly denied a weeks worth of accusations that have all but consumed his presidential bid just over three weeks before the election. She would not be my first choice, that I can tell you, Trump said of one woman in a rambling attack on his female accusers as he campaigned in battleground North Carolina. The New York businessman said his staff wanted him to avoid the topic altogether but that he couldnt resist defending himself. He blamed the growing story on his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and an international media conspiracy, describing his female accusers as sick people seeking fame or money. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3 The only thing I can say is hopefully, hopefully, our patriotic movement will overcome this terrible deception, he declared. Trump assailed the New York Times in particular, noting its connection to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who is a major shareholder in the media company. Spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub later said Slim doesnt know Trump at all and is not the least bit interested in his personal life. Meanwhile, Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, promised the campaign would soon release evidence against the women that would show Trumps innocence. Its astonishing to see the enormous coverage of these, of these really unfounded allegations, unestablished allegations, compared to an avalanche of emails coming out of Hillary Clintons years as secretary of state, Pence said on NBCs Today Show. Indeed, Friday marked another day on which WikiLeaks released thousands of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas personal account. Two more women, meanwhile, came forward Friday with allegations against Trump. A former contestant from NBCs The Apprentice, said the former reality television star became sexually aggressive at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007. Summer Zervos, appearing at a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred, said Trump kissed her open-mouthed and touched her breasts in a private room. And in a story published Friday, Kristin Anderson told the Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when Trump reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear. MADISON, Wis. House Speaker Paul Ryan, under siege from fellow Republicans for his unwillingness to help Donald Trump, accused Democrat Hillary Clinton and liberals on Friday of seeking to impose a gloom and a grayness on America and pursuing a government-heavy agenda for elites. In the America they want, the driving force is the state, Ryan said in remarks to college Republicans in his home state. It is a place where government is taken away from the people, and we are ruled by our betters, by a cold and unfeeling bureaucracy that replaces original thinking. Ryans comments were his first significant public statements since he privately told GOP colleagues on Monday that he would no longer defend or campaign for his partys presidential nominee. That came after last weeks release of a 2005 video showing Trump boasting about forcing sexual contact with women. Ryan rescinded an invitation for Trump to appear at a Wisconsin political event last weekend, though he has not dropped support for Trump. Trump has responded with tweets suggesting a sinister plot and calling Ryan ineffective, highlighting an extraordinary schism between the top GOP elected official and the partys White House candidate. While Ryan never mentioned Trumps name Friday a common tactic for many congressional Republicans this campaign season he tore into Clinton, who polls show has surged ahead in the race for the White House. When Hillary Clinton says we are stronger together, what she means is we are stronger if we are all subject to the state, Ryan said. What she means is we are stronger if we give up our ties of responsibility to one another and hand all of that over to government. Ryan referred repeatedly to liberal progressivism as a failed philosophy that demands conformity and sameness and has produced fewer jobs, unabated poverty, excessive regulations and an oversize government. They want an America that is ordinary. Theres kind of a gloom and a grayness to things, he said. Ryan told his fellow House Republicans on Monday that he will spend the remaining weeks until the Nov. 8 elections campaigning to help them keep control of the chamber. The GOP seems likely to retain its House majority, but Democrats hopes for prevailing have grown recently days amid a string of bad days for Trump. On Friday, Ryan said he raised around $15 million in July through September this year for House Republicans. His Democratic counterpart, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, said she raised about $35 million for her partys House candidates during those same three months. King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who took the throne of the kingdom once known as Siam shortly after World War II and held it for more than 70 years, establishing himself as a revered personification of Thai nationhood, died on Thursday in Bangkok. He was 88 and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in history. The royal palace said he died at Siriraj Hospital but gave no further details. King Bhumibol was a unifying figure in a deeply polarized country, and his death cast a pall of uncertainty across Thailand, raising questions about the future of the monarchy itself. The military junta, which seized power in a coup two years ago, derives its authority from the king. But the kings heir apparent, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, seen by many as a jet-setting playboy, is not held in the same regard as his father. King Bhumibol spent most of his final years in a hospital, ensconced in a special suite. His portrait is hung in almost every shop, and as his health declined, billboards proclaimed Long Live the King, signaling widespread anxiety about a future without him. In response, he openly fretted about the people feeling so insecure. His death ends a reign of 70 years and 126 days, one that few monarchs have matched for longevity. Queen Elizabeth II, by comparison, has ruled Britain for more than 64 years, having surpassed Queen Victorias mark in 2015. King Bhumibol (pronounced poo-me-pon) was an accidental monarch, thrust onto the throne at 18 by the violent death of his older brother in 1946. He fully embraced the role of national patriarch, upholding Thailands traditions of hierarchy, deference and loyalty. He was educated in Switzerland, spoke impeccable English and French, composed music, played jazz on the clarinet and saxophone, wrote, painted, took up photography, and spent hours in a greenhouse at his Chitrlada Palace in Bangkok. Once he had returned from Europe, however, he stayed put. Never interested in a jet-set life, he stopped traveling abroad, saying there was too much to do at home. Bhumibol Adulyadej was born in Cambridge on Dec. 5, 1927, the son of Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, a founder of modern medicine in Thailand; the prince was studying public health at Harvard at the time. Bhumibols mother, Princess Sangwalya Chukramol, was a Thai nurse studying on a scholarship at Simmons College in Boston when she met the prince. King Bhumibol had an older brother, Ananda, and a sister, Galyani Vadhana. Bhumibol was 2 when his father died, and his mother, to whom he was very close, took her children to Switzerland for schooling. Their family life was interrupted in 1935 when Thailands last absolute king, Prajadhipok, Mahidols half brother, abdicated after a military coup. The crown passed to Mahidols eldest son, Prince Ananda, then 10 years old. Ananda was barely into his 20s when, on June 9, 1946, he was found dead in his private chambers with a bullet through his head. Bhumibol, though not originally in the line of succession, was anointed king. While on a trip to Paris, King Bhumibol met Sirikit Kitiyakara, whose father, a Thai prince, was serving as a diplomat in Europe. They married in 1950. Queen Sirikit and the couples four children survive. California can require hundreds of antiabortion clinics known as crisis pregnancy centers to notify their patients that the state makes abortion and other reproductive health care available at little or no cost, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The law, which took effect in January, does not violate freedom of speech or religion because it merely requires the clinics to provide accurate information about health care that the patients have a right to receive, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. While the ruling only denied an injunction that would have halted further enforcement, the court made it clear that it saw no constitutional grounds for overturning the law. The state has a legitimate interest in ensuring that its citizens have access to and adequate information about constitutionally protected medical services like abortion, Judge Dorothy Nelson said in the 3-0 ruling. She said the law does not encourage, suggest or imply that women should use these state-funded services. The court upheld rulings by federal judges in San Diego, Oakland and Sacramento that allowed the law to take effect. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious legal organization that challenged the law on behalf of several clinics, said it would consider a further appeal. Political allies of abortionists are seeking to punish pro-life pregnancy centers, which offer real hope and help to women, attorney Matt Bowman said in a statement. Forcing these centers to promote abortion and recite the governments preferred views is a clear violation of their constitutionally protected First Amendment freedoms. He noted that some federal courts in other states have struck down similar laws on free-speech grounds. Crisis pregnancy centers offer free counseling and services including pregnancy tests and ultrasound examinations to pregnant women, but steer them away from abortions, and have been known to advise women that abortion is physically and psychologically harmful. There are about 2,500 centers nationwide and at least 228 in California, according to a legislative staff analysis of the new law. The measure, sponsored by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, requires all state-licensed reproductive health centers, including crisis pregnancy centers that have a doctor on their staff, to notify clients of the full range of low-cost or free reproductive health services available under state law. Those services include contraception, prenatal care and abortion. The notices must list the phone number of the county social service center. The law requires clinics without a doctor to notify clients that they are not licensed by the state. In upholding that requirement, the court said the Legislature expressly found that crisis pregnancy centers often present misleading information to women about reproductive health services. As a consequence, Nelson said, Californias interest in presenting accurate information about the licensing status of individual clinics is particularly compelling. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko The legalize marijuana crew over at Proposition 64 headquarters just found a surprising new endorser: conservative Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove. Not because he likes the devils weed, mind you, as he makes perfectly clear in his op-ed Friday in the Sierra Sun Times, one of his Sierra foothills local media outlets. It may be one of the best I hate the thing Im endorsing endorsement ever. I abhor the use of marijuana and believe we should do everything we can through education and persuasion to discourage its use. But our current laws have failed us, and have created a violent and criminal black market that actively and aggressively markets to young people. Legalization takes the criminal profit out of the equation, and allows us to regulate marijuana the same way we currently regulate alcohol. This should make it more difficult for minors to obtain marijuana; it should remove illegal cultivation from our neighborhoods and forests and move it to normal agricultural operations; and it should replace the criminal gangs that traffic marijuana with law-abiding farmers and shopkeepers. For those keeping score at home, count two of the most-conservative members of the California Republican delegation McClintock and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa backing Prop. 64. Back in May Rohrabacher, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, compared tearing down the walls of marijuana prohibition to Reagan going to Germany and telling Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down that wall. Really. Joe Garofoli Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli 1 Afghan attacks: Hundreds of members of Afghanistans security forces have been killed recently fighting insurgent attacks on the main city in the southern province of Helmand, officials said on Friday. Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy head of the provincial council, and lawmaker Sheer Muhammad Akhon put the number of soldiers and police killed in the past 10 days in and around Lashkar Gah at more than 200. Separately, they each said 45 civilians had also been killed in the fighting, which saw Taliban militants launch attacks on at least two areas of the city earlier this week. The Taliban have been gradually taking over Helmand since launching this years offensive in April. Officials have said they now control around 85 percent of the province. 2 Mosul air strikes: The U.S.-led coalition is increasing air strikes in and around the Islamic State-held city of Mosul as Iraqi ground forces build up ahead of a planned operation to retake the city, it said in a statement Friday. The coalition said its planes had conducted more than 50 air strikes against the militant group in the Mosul area over the past two weeks. The operation to retake Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraqs military. Iraqi and coalition forces say some 30,000 troops will be needed to retake the city that has been under Islamic State control for more than two years. Commodity analysts at Goldman Sachs have detailed a new tactical opportunity for investors, explaining that a supply glut will mean copper will see some significant price pressures in the coming months. Copper weakness relative to zinc strength has been one of the bank's core views throughout 2016, and that view was renewed Thursday with a fresh call on what it describes as its "metal supply divergence trade." "Over the next three to six months we believe that copper will continue to underperform zinc, with copper about to hit a wall of supply, while the zinc concentrate market continues to tighten," the team of analysts, led by Jeffrey Currie, said in a note. The suggested trade is to sell LME copper (: .TRJCRBLP) March 2017 contracts against a half of a unit long position in the LME zinc March 2017 contract, which Goldman Sachs said would offer a potential return of around 18 percent. Its six-month price targets for copper and zinc are $4,200 per ton and $2,500 per ton, respectively. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange slipped on Thursday morning after weak export data from China, with the contract now trading at $4,776 per ton, according to Reuters. It recently reached a two-month high of 4,889 per ton at the end of September. "In copper, we expect the main catalyst for the downside will be accelerating oversupply, but we are also conscious that we are entering a weak seasonal period for demand during which period inventories tend to build and prices often come under pressure," the team added. "In zinc, the catalyst for further upside is that we expect a further substantial tightening of the concentrate market over the winter, which should result in zinc smelter production curtailments in China." More From CNBC A British judge ruled there had been no "undue influence" from Goldman Sachs over the LIA, a $67 billion sovereign wealth fund set up by Moamer Kadhafi (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt) (Getty/AFP/File) London (AFP) - Goldman Sachs won a high-profile legal battle with Libya's sovereign wealth fund Friday, with a British court dismissing claims the bank duped Libyan officials into investments worth $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros). The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) accused the investment bank of exploiting the fund's inexperienced staff, pushing them into "inappropriate" transactions in a series of shady deals. The derivative trades ended up being virtually worthless when the equities they were tied to plunged in the 2008 financial crisis. Dismissing the claims, a British judge ruled there had been no "undue influence" from Goldman Sachs over the LIA, a $67-billion sovereign wealth fund set up by Moamer Kadhafi, who was toppled from power in 2011. "Their relationship did not go beyond the normal cordial and mutually beneficial relationship that grows up between a bank and client," judge Vivien Rose said in a written decision. The LIA said it was "naturally disappointed" with the outcome, adding in a statement: "Time will be needed fully to digest the judgement and all options are being considered at this time." The case, brought in 2014, alleged that Goldman Sachs laid on lavish corporate hospitality and tried to garner influence with foreign trips and prostitutes. The LIA had alleged that Goldman Sachs employee Youssef Kabbaj embedded himself in the fund, gained the trust of "young and impressionable staff" and sold it complex products that ended up losing the LIA over $1.2 billion. These actions earned the bank over $220 million in profits, LIA lawyers claimed. The Wall Street giant denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the Libyan fund lost money due to the global financial crash, not their close working relationship. In a statement after the ruling, the bank said: "We are pleased to win this case, with a comprehensive judgement in our favour." Judge Rose said there were no grounds for concluding that the profits earned by Goldman Sachs on the disputed trades were excessive, "given the nature of the trades and the work that had gone in to winning them". Although the transactions might be regarded as "unsuitable", they were no different from many of the other investments made by the fund at that time, she said. President of the LIA's interim steering committee, Ali Mahmoud Hassan, said the fund, which is also separately suing French bank Societe Generale, would continue to pursue other legal cases "to put right the wrongs suffered elsewhere in the past". Jim Cramer was shocked when Honeywell (NYSE: HON), which has a huge assortment of businesses, saw its stock fall sharply in the beginning of October after management painted what was interpreted as a grim outlook for 2017. Honeywell's CEO Dave Cote told the " Mad Money " host that perhaps the long-term message may have gotten lost in that presentation. "I gave credit for people understanding what our long-term profile was. I was wrong," Cote said. "This is one where I could have done a significantly better job of communicating this story. We tried to do it in the context of 2017 is going to be good, but it seemed to get totally lost." Honeywell released an updated presentation of the overall business on Thursday that painted a much brighter picture for the future. Cote explained that instead of presenting the company's prospects in an overall package, the company attempted to explain the moving parts of the company. Honeywell made some big moves this year. It tried and failed to take over United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), and then announced the sale of its Technology Solutions business and spun off its chemicals and resin business to create a new independent company called AdvanSix. And while most of these moves were received well by Wall Street, investors were shaken when management adjusted its third-and-fourth-quarter 2016 and overall expectations. "I have to tell you, I was astounded by the reaction," Cote said about the stock's 7 percent fall on Oct. 7 in response to the guidance. Cramer noted that the presentation in the beginning of October addressed upfront the weakness in aerospace. Many investors associate Honeywell with aerospace, thus, they may have interpreted it as more of a dire situation than it actually was. Cote said he agreed the aerospace industry is not as troubled, stating that while the bizjet market is declining, the commercial, defense and aerospace segments are doing fine. Honeywell also indicated in its updated presentation that the company's oil and gas business bottomed in the third quarter. Story continues Cote rebuffed the theory that the company is squeezing the business to generate margins. "I can understand how you might feel that way. I can understand feelings, but then you should at least search for some data that causes you to say that," Cote said. Moving forward, Cote is transitioning the company's model to be less of a hardware model, with almost 50 percent of its engineers working to develop software. He added that based on the M&A profile of the company and its focus on technology and software, he thinks it is the best positioned industrial company when it comes to understanding the importance of physical and digital products. Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Vine Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com More From CNBC MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian court accepted a request from Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena to settle a case revolving round alleged financial crimes by former managers, a source said on Friday. The settlement with Monte dei Paschi involves the seizure of 10 million euros (9 million pounds) and a fine of 600,000 euros, the source said. In October some former managers at Monte dei Paschi were among several people ordered to stand trial for a series of financial crimes. Under Italian law a company can be held responsible if it is deemed that it failed to prevent, or attempt to prevent, a crime by an employee that benefited the company. (Reporting by Manuela d'Alessandro, writing by Stephen Jewkes, editing Luca Trogni) Heart surgeon Issam al-Rassi (R) holds hands with nine-month-old Syrian refugee Amena al-Helou at the Hammoud Universal Hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon (AFP Photo/Mahmoud Zayyat) Sidon (Lebanon) (AFP) - Nine-month-old Amena al-Helou's skin sizzles as the surgeon cauterises an incision in her chest, beginning a heart operation at a south Lebanon hospital to save the Syrian refugee's life. She is just one of dozens of refugees treated each year by Lebanon's leading paediatric heart surgeon Issam al-Rassi, who each week sets aside a day to operate on Syrian and Palestinian refugees. But for all his efforts, including on occasion waiving his fee, Rassi's work runs up against the reality that many refugees simply cannot afford the life-saving treatment Amena is receiving. "I have lost babies while the father was looking for help for money," he says in his office at the Hammoud hospital in Sidon. "I have a baby who should have been operated on at six months being operated on at nine months because the father needed three months to get the money." So, despite being born without a right ventricle, Amena is in some ways lucky, because her parents have been able to scrape together loans to pay for her treatment. She is barely visible as Rassi, 50, and his team perform the procedure, her tiny figure dwarfed by the operating table and cloaked in green sheets. The skin on her torso is painted brown with antiseptic and wrinkles like old leather as it is pulled apart to reveal her rib cage, which Rassi snips open. He works to reroute the blood flow from Amena's head directly to her lungs, ensuring it is oxygenated despite the missing ventricle. The room is quiet except for the occasional request for a tool and the beeping of a machine monitoring Amena's vital signs. As he completes the procedure, Rassi observes her blood oxygen saturation rate rise to 98 percent. "It's working," he says. - 'Huge sums' - Outside the operating room, Amena's parents Khalil and Amira al-Helou are waiting anxiously to hear the fate of the youngest of their six children. They have been refugees in Lebanon since they fled their home in war-torn Syria's northeast in 2013, with 39-year-old Khalil relying on seasonal farm work to scrape together money for food. Story continues Hammoud hospital offers discounts to refugees, and the UN covered 75 percent of her operation -- but the remainder was still nearly $2,000 (1,800 euros), far beyond the Helous' means. "I gathered the money from different people, my brother, my cousin, other relatives," Khalil said. "What's hard is not now, but paying it all back later. I don't know how we'll do it." Khalil said he approached several charities in Lebanon for help but was told they "don't help Syrians." More than a million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon since the war began in March 2011, testing the already-limited resources of the tiny nation and the patience of its four million citizens. The UN says it lacks the funds to respond to the crisis, meaning refugees who can barely afford food are left to pay thousands of dollars for life-saving operations. The situation infuriates Rassi, whose voice raises in a rare show of emotion as he discusses it. "We cannot ask a father living in a tent... to pay $3,000, it's a huge sum of money," he says. "For a Lebanese middle-class person, it's the salary for three months." Until recently, Rassi was Lebanon's only paediatric cardiac surgeon and he sees his work with refugees as a matter of responsibility. "It's really part of our duties, not part of our job. You have a baby, you have to operate on the baby," he says. - 'Rationing care' - After Amena's successful operation, Rassi immediately moves on to 18-month-old Ali, who breathes in rasping gasps, eyes buried in his swollen face. Like Amena, he is missing a ventricle, but his procedure has been delayed by three months. "The operation should have been done a long time ago, we're doing it late because we had to collect the money," says his 29-year-old father Ahmed Hassoun, from northwestern Idlib province. While Ahmed borrowed from relatives, Ali developed a chest infection, further delaying the operation. UN refugee agency UNHCR says it sought $134 million for hospital care for Syrian refugees in Lebanon this year but only received pledges worth $36 million. UNHCR senior public health officer Michael Woodman, himself a doctor, said that was a huge sum but fell far short of needs. "We need a much bigger commitment... The fact that we are 30 percent funded for lifesaving care is appalling," he told AFP. The UN is currently only able to cover 50 percent of the health needs of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, he said. "It's very difficult, it's a tragedy... No one wants to be in this position of rationing health care, we shouldn't be." For now, Amena's parents are focused on her recovery, her mother tearing up at the sight of her fragile daughter in the ICU, sedated and breathing through a tube. "Of course you feel afraid," Khalil says quietly, "but there's no other option." "She's the most precious thing I have." BEIRUT Syrian residents in the opposition-held eastern part of Aleppo hunkered under a fresh wave of air strikes on Friday amid intense clashes between government forces and rebels, while a senior opposition official warned that supplies of food and medicines were fast running out in the besieged city. The aerial bombardment is part of a weeks-long devastating military campaign by Syria and Russia that the opposition says has killed dozens of people in the past three days alone. EL-ARISH, Egypt Suspected Islamic militants in Egypts Sinai Peninsula attacked an army checkpoint on Friday, killing 12 soldiers and wounding eight, according to security and medical officials. The officials said the attack took place about 50 miles east of the Suez Canal, near the town of Bir el-Abd, where the wounded were taken for treatment before they were ferried to the city of el-Arish to the east. Early Voting Appears Popular Heath Haussamen is reporting that so far, early voting in Bernalillo and Dona Ana Counties is Hes also posted the Secretary of States interactive map showing voter convenience centers around the state. Gun Safety Group Donates Big in New Mexico Gun law reform advocates are in New Mexico. The Associated Press reports: "Everytown for Gun Safety, a national organization advocating for universal background checks on firearm purchases, made several recent contributions to Democrat-aligned political committees in the state, including a $100,000 donation to Patriot Majority New Mexico, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week." Former Miss Teen New Mexico Remembers Trumps Dressing Room Visit As Donald Trump faces increased criticism over his treatment of women, Michael Coleman reports on what a former New Mexico Miss Teen USA remembers about the billionaires 1997 dressing room visit. She says even though she was fully dressed and didnt know if the other pageant contestants were or not. Environment Groups Want Attorney General to Investigate Flynn New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is being whether former New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn violated state law by helping industries seeking to preserve the controversial 'Copper Rule,' which Flynn helped orchestrate during his time with the Environment Department. Rebecca Moss has the story. Obama Returns Tribal Land While undocumented immigrants have been deported at record levels during President Barack Obamas administration, it looks like to Native American tribes during the same time period. Feds Consider Sealing Parts of Nuclear Repository To ensure safety, of the underground Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Southern New Mexico. Laser Technology Developed at Kirtland Kevin Robinson-Avila reports that Kirtland Air Force Base is working on laser technology for the militarys fighter jets that will eventually be used to that threaten American pilots. Crimes Rates Drop During Balloon Fiesta While crime rates are up overall around the state, it appears that across the city of Albuquerque during 10-day long Balloon Fiesta earlier this month. That's it for this week. Thanks to Charlotte Jusinski for her eagle eyes and early morning copy editing help. Have a great weekend. Santa Fe Reporter Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck, who plans to test-fire a one million-horsepower Electron rocket from the East Coasts Mahia Peninsula later this year, has been named as the 2016 EY New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year. A date hasnt yet been disclosed for the launch which will be aimed for a low Earth orbit and will be the first of three test missions. Becks fascination with the extra-terrestrial started in childhood and the 39-year old founded his company with the mission of removing the barriers to take business into space. While Rocket Lab is based in Los Angeles, most of the operational functions take place in New Zealand and it has the rights to launch a rocket every 72 hours for the next 30 years from the East Coast site. Hes had tens of millions of dollars worth of investment from the likes of Khosla Ventures, Bessemer, and Lockheed Martin, and over 100 world class engineers have signed onto the flight development crew. It gave me enormous confidence that these virtual rocket rock stars wanted to be involved to keep building and launching disposable rockets to get satellites into space, he said. Weve really pushed innovation to the limit to achieve the frequency and cost requirements. Other category award winners were Colin and Dale Armer, Carmel Fisher, Ranjna Patel, and Jos Ruffell. EY awards director Jon Hooper said this years category winners are all disruptors of traditional business models. EYs recent Megatrends report said the next wave of disruptive technology artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics, and other sharing economy platforms, will take labour displacement to a higher level. As an example of where it might be heading, he said the US Defense Department is developing an onboard artificial co-pilot that can speak, listen, be visually aware and operate the cockpit controls. In another example, 45 percent of executives attending the World Economic Forum in 2015 said they expected an artificial intelligence machine would be serving on a corporate board by 2025. Boards will need new blood of a very different kind while those in legacy businesses need to challenge long-held assumptions about what your business actually is, who your customers are, and where your competitors come from, Hooper said. Then theres the very important strategic question of finding the right balance between new ventures and established revenue streams which is globally driving a big chunk of current M&A activity," he said. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: NZME Investor Day 2022 Virtual Event SPG - Changes to Executive Team HGH - Details for the Heartland 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting Smartpay - Change of External Auditor AoFrio achieves 18% revenue growth in Q3-2022 SML - Annual Meeting 2022; Chair & Director Rotations Tower completes sale of Papua New Guinea subsidiary Pushpay enters into scheme implementation agreement... Pushpay trading and FY23 guidance update October 31st Morning Report The Hill family trust has sold down a tenth of its stake in Michael Hill International, in a move its founder and namesake Michael Hill says will enhance the stock's liquidity following its listing on the Australian stock exchange. The trust, Hoglett Hamlet, sold 16 million shares to a number of unrelated parties for A$25.6 million. It had owned 164.3 million shares, or 42.9 percent of the jewellery chain, and now holds 38.9 percent. "Since the move of Michael Hill International Ltd to ASX there has been very strong demand from Australian investors," Hill said in a statement. "We have often been advised that the Hill family could enhance the liquidity and appeal of the companys shares if we reduced our holding." Hill said the trust doesn't have any current plans to sell further shares, and Hill family interests still own 48.7 percent of the company. In June, Hill outlined his succession plan, with 10 percent of the company transferred to trusts for daughter Emma and son Mark, shortly before Michael Hill's listing on the ASX. Australia is Michael Hill International's biggest market and its financial reports are in Australian dollars. The shares last traded at $1.69 on the NZX, up 69 percent this year. On the ASX, they last traded at A$1.605, and have gained 28.4 percent since listing. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: NZME Investor Day 2022 Virtual Event SPG - Changes to Executive Team HGH - Details for the Heartland 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting Smartpay - Change of External Auditor AoFrio achieves 18% revenue growth in Q3-2022 SML - Annual Meeting 2022; Chair & Director Rotations Tower completes sale of Papua New Guinea subsidiary Pushpay enters into scheme implementation agreement... Pushpay trading and FY23 guidance update October 31st Morning Report Opener Azhar Ali smashed a maiden triple hundred to put Pakistan firmly in control against the West Indies in the first day-night Test in Dubai on Friday. Ali's epic unbeaten 302 guided Pakistan to 579-3 declared before the West Indies closed the second day on 69-1, still needing another 311 to avoid the follow-on with opener Kraigg Brathwaite (32) and Darren Bravo, on 14 not out, fighting at the crease. They lost Leon Johnson leg-before in leg-spinner Yasir Shah's second over for 15 but negotiated the pace-cum-spin attack well for 22 overs. It was Ali who stole the limelight in this second ever day-night Test with a career-best score that was spread over 645 minutes of dominating batting, albeit on a flat Dubai stadium pitch. It is only the third Test triple century against the West Indies, after Andy Sandham of England and late Pakistan great Hanif Mohammad, making Pakistan's 400th Test, and his own 50th, a memorable occasion. In all Ali smashed 23 boundaries and two sixes and put on 215 for the opening wicket with Sami Aslam (90), 147 for the second with Asad Shafiq (67) and 165 with Babar Azam (69) for the third. Ali said he was honoured to join the 300-league. "It's a great achievement," said Ali. "It's a proud moment and feeling which I can't explain and I will remember this for the rest of my life. "I had cramps yesterday but today I felt better and when I got a chance I thought I should grab it. The first target was 200 but 300 is a double joy and great honour." Ali drove part-timer Jermaine Blackwood to the cover boundary to complete his triple century off 469 balls, pumped the air in jubilation and then did Pakistan's new style of salute and push-up celebrations. Misbah, unbeaten on 29, signalled the declaration in an attempt to forge ahead in the three-match series. - Elite company - Ali became the fourth Pakistan batsmen behind Hanif (337 vs West Indies in 1958), Inzamam-ul-Haq (329 vs New Zealand in 2002) and Younis Khan (313 vs Sri Lanka in 2009) to hit a triple hundred. Story continues When on 278 Ali completed 4,000 Test runs, becoming the tenth Pakistani to reach the milestone in the five-day format. Ali's knock as well as Pakistan's big total justified the decision to refine the seam on the pink ball used for this match after players complained of difficulties picking it up in the first-ever day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand at Adelaide last year. A switch to a black seam, instead of the white and green one used at Adelaide, seemingly aided the batsmen considerably, with leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (2-125) returning the best figures for a struggling West Indian attack. Earlier, Ali was given another lifeline when Blackwood dropped a regulation catch off spinner Roston Chase in the slips with the Pakistani opener on 190. Resuming at 279-1, Pakistan lost one wicket in the first session when Shafiq gave a return catch to Bishoo. Ali continued from where he left off after resuming on 146, reaching his 150 with a single and then hitting a six and a boundary off Chase to send Pakistan past 350. Soon after Ali reached his double century with a boundary off paceman Shannon Gabriel, his second after scoring 226 against Bangladesh in Dhaka last year. This three-match series will continue in Abu Dhabi (October 21-25) and Sharjah (October 30-November 3). Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks during news conference at the Prime Minister Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kuba Atys/Agencja Gazeta (Reuters) WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland has attracted a major investment in its automotive industry from the United States and it is also in talks with Toyota <7203.T> on a potential new project in Poland, Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday. "We have a decision on another, big investment, American one, in the automotive sector," Morawiecki said without providing more details. He was speaking at news conference on Daimler's plans to build a 500 million euro engine plant in south-west Poland, which was announced in May. The plant will make engines for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. Markus Schaefer, board member for production for Mercedes-Benz Cars, who was also speaking at the news conference, said that the plant in Jawor, around 70 kilometres west of Wroclaw, would hire 500 people. At a separate event on Thursday, Morawiecki was asked whether Toyota also had plans to invest in Poland. "Talks are being held," he said. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Marcin Goettig. Editing by Jane Merriman) A Rio Tinto logo is displayed on the front of a wall panel during a news conference in Sydney November 29, 2012. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne/File Photo DAKAR (Reuters) - Mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO.L) said on Monday that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a partner in its $20 billion Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, is selling its 4.6 percent stake. The exit of IFC, an arm of the World Bank, is the latest setback for the project to develop the world's biggest untapped iron ore reserves. In July, Rio Tinto's new Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques indicated the project had been shelved temporarily due to a sustained slump in prices. "We confirm that the IFC has exercised a put option, which it has held since 2006, to require Rio Tinto and Chinalco to buy their stake in Simfer," Rio Tinto said in an emailed statement, referring to the joint venture. Rio has a 46.6 percent stake in the project; China's Chinalco has 41.3 percent and the Guinea government has 7.5 percent. A senior official at Guinea's mines ministry said he was not aware of the decision. The West African country is counting on the project to spur economic growth after Guinea was hit by a crippling Ebola epidemic that officially ended in June. When fully operational, Simandou has the potential to double Guineas GDP, the project partners have said, while China, the world's largest iron ore consumer provides an obvious market. (Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Saliou Samb in Conakry; Editing by Susan Fenton) Last month's Inaugural flights saved almost 22,000 kg of carbon emissions. Singapore Airlines (SIA) joined a growing number of airline operators launching 'green routes' aimed at reducing emission. Airservices, Australias air navigation service provider, announced yesterday that SIA's new Capital Express service between Singapore, Canberra and Wellington has been unveiled as the latest addition to the Asia South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) programme. Under the programme, SQ291 and SQ292 flights will be as environmentally friendly as possible through the utilisation of a range of ASPIRE practices, including: making use of favourable winds, reducing airborne holding, enabling efficient continuous descent arrivals, and reducing taxi times. The ASPIRE programme is a partnership between six air navigation agencies and ten partner airlines, focused on reducing the environmental impact of aviation through operational means across Asia and the Pacific. According to Airservices, the inaugural Capital Express flights on 20 and 21 September saved almost 7,000 kg of fuel across the four sectors, which equates to an approximate saving of around 22,000 kg of carbon emissions. The results were achieved by using 25 of a possible 32 efficient flight operations and air traffic management practices on all four sectors of the new service. According to Airservices, it is expected that over the course of a year the ASPIRE programme will help the Capital Express flights save around 1.5 million kilograms of fuel and 4.6 million kilograms of carbon emissions, which is the equivalent of taking approximately 970 cars off the road. More From Singapore Business Review OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen killed three Burkinabe soldiers on Wednesday, the defence ministry said, in the latest sign that instability in Mali is spreading to its southern neighbour. Attacks by Islamist militants in Burkina Faso were rare before a major strike by al Qaeda-linked fighters in the capital that killed 29 people in January. The latest attack prompted President Roch Marc Kabore to delay a trip to Belgium and call an emergency ministerial meeting, government sources said. "The death toll is three dead and one injured among Burkinabe forces and two attackers dead," the ministry said in a statement on the attack at Ingangom, five kilometres from the Malian border. The same base was attacked in June, resulting in the death of three police officers. A newly-formed militant group called Islamic State division in the Greater Sahara, led by a fighter formerly loyal to Algeria's Mokhtar Belmokhtar, also claimed to have attacked a Burkinabe military position in the far north last month. (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou; Writing by Emma Farge; editing by Ralph Boulton) Getty Images. "In times like this ... the most important thing for clients to remember is to stick to a long-term plan," JPMorgan's Stephen Parker says. Donald Trump will claim Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim was part of a cabal dredging up allegations the Republican nominee touched women inappropriately, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the report, which cited an unnamed Trump adviser, Trump planned to claim that Slim, a New York Times shareholder and Clinton Foundation donor, was trying to boost Hillary Clinton 's campaign by damaging Trumps. The adviser said Trump could launch the attack as early as Friday, the report said. A spokesman for Slim denied that the media mogul had interfered in the U.S. election, while New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said Slim had never sought to influence the newspaper's coverage, the WSJ reported. A Clinton campaign press secretary called Trump's claim a "deranged right-wing conspiracy theory," the report said. The Slim family owned around 17 percent of The New York Times Co. Class A shares as of March, although the Sulzberger family controls the company, the report noted. The full WSJ report can be read here. Since a 2005 video emerged last week of Trump making lewd comments about women and bragging about groping them without consent, several women have alleged the Republican nominee assaulted them. Trump has denied the accusations in vehement terms and threatened to sue the various media outlets that have run stories. On Thursday, Trump's wife Melania tweeted a letter from her lawyer that asked People magazine to retract parts of story in which a writer on the magazine recounted how Trump allegedly assaulted her. When Trump launched his campaign for president more than a year ago, he accused Mexican illegal immigrants of being rapists and drug dealers. In response, a TV company controlled by Slim canceled a planned project with Trump, Reuters reported at the time. Story continues In an email sent Friday, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., The New York Times publisher and chairman, told CNBC, "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report." Slim and the Trump and Clinton campaigns did not respond to requests for comment. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC NEW DELHI: The five-member BRICS bloc saw a 5.8 pct growth in containerised trade with the world in the first half of 2016 on the back of a strong showing by India, says Maersk Line, the worlds largest container shipping company. BRICS export-import (exim) containerised trade with the world registered a growth of 5.8 pct in the first half of 2016 as against de-growth of 2.2 pct in the same period last year, it said. This growth for BRICS, it said, was led by India followed by China and is forecast to gain pace next year as Brazil and Russia are expected to emerge from recession, contributing to higher GDP expansion. Volumes should improve as GDP for BRICS is expected to increase to 5.7 pct in 2017, an improvement over the previous forecast of 5.3 pct. China is expected to grow more than 6 pct in 2017, India at 8 pct, Brazil at more than 0.5 pct and Russia at above 1 pct, it said in a release here. Economic uncertainty has been a deterrent to investments in infrastructure, which is critically important to help countries lower their supply chain cost and consequently boost exports as well as improve competitiveness. According to Maersk Line, if a country is able to lower trade costs by 10 pct, exports can increase by more than 20 pct. The heads of BRICS countries are meeting in Goa this weekend to discuss improving collaboration and increasing trade. While 2016 did not start positively for the world, India paced up in the first half of this year. This growth was on the back of a strong US economy and recovery in the European market. That said, it is worth mentioning that trade among BRICS countries continues to grow although China remains BRICS as well as Indias largest trading partner responsible for 82 pct of Indian containerised trade. Franck Dedenis, MD, India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh Cluster, Maersk Line, said: India exim trade with BRICS nations has been consistently growing at 4 pct since 2012. He further said recovery in Brazil and Russian economy is good news for BRICS and it might entail an increase of trade among India and China in 2017. We are also noticing some interesting trends that are beginning to emerge of late. Rise of India, Thailand and Vietnam as alternative sourcing markets to China can put some pressure on China in future, he said. China, Maersk said, remains Indias strongest trading partner followed by Russia and Brazil. Indias exim trade with BRICS nations was strong at 6.5 pct and 7.8 pct, respectively, in 2015 and 2016. Read Also: IPO Market Heads For Mega Year; 50 Companies Raise $2.93 Bn In 2016 ATMs, the New Age Bank Branches NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have nearly ten bilaterals, including an annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in three days in Goa from October 15 on the sidelines of the five-nation BRICS Summit and BIMSTEC outreach meet. Prime Minister Modi will meet Putin on Saturday for the annual summit and the talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to be held later that day. His summit with Brazilian President Michel Temer is scheduled for Monday. While issues such as terrorism, economy and connectivity are expected to dominate the deliberations at the multilateral-level, bilateral meetings will see India exploring ways to enhance cooperation in key areas of security, defence, energy and investments, officials said. Apart from holding meetings with leaders of BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), Modi will have talks with Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He will also have a bilateral with State Counsellor of Myanmar Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is arriving in India on October 16 on her first visit to the country after assuming the office. During Modi-Putin meeting, key issues of defence, security, civil nuclear cooperation, trade and investment are expected to dominate the talks. Significantly, Indian envoy to Moscow Pankaj Saran had said that India has conveyed its views toRussia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which "sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy", and that it will create further problems. The bilateral summit also comes at a time when India is undertaking large-scale defence modernisation programme involving replacing old Russian equipment with modern ones from the country itself and from other nations. Some of the most important defence deals currently under discussion are purchase of 5 S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and upgradation of the Sukhoi 30-MKIs. On nuclear cooperation, the two sides are working to finalise a General Framework Agreement and a Credit Protocol for unit 5 and 6 under Kudankulam project and negotiations for the same are likely to be concluded during Putin's upcoming visit, officials said. During Modi-Xi meeting, issues such as India's NSG membership bid and China blocking the banning of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief and mastermind of Pathankot attack Masood Azhar by the UN are likely to be discussed by the Indian side, according to officials. Ahead of their meeting, China has indicated that it will not remove the technical hold it has placed in the UN Sanctions Committee on banning Azhar as it was opposed to anyone making "political gains in the name of counter- terrorism". However, on NSG, Chinese government has said it was "ready" to talk. Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi had last met on the sidelines of G-20 in Hangzhou in September. Read Also: Where Strength of Indian Army Stands in Front of USA Russia Resurrects the Lesser Known Military Threat MOSCOW: Russia and India will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday following talks between Russian President Vladmir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa, state media here reported on Thursday. "Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. India is interested in getting five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets. It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prised missile system after China which had struck a $3 billion contract last year. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. Ushakov said part of the documents will be signed behind closed doors. The Kremlin aide declined to comment on the details of the deal, suggesting that first the document should be signed. Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian- Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported. Following the results of their talks, Putin and Modi will adopt a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues. Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Overall, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents, he said. The Russian presidential aide said Putin and Modi will hold their talks in Goa ahead of the summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping of leading emerging economies. The Russian and Indian leaders are first expected to talk in a narrow format and then negotiations will be held at the level of delegations. Russia's delegation will also be represented by Vice- Premier Dmitry Rogozin, the heads of the Industry and Trade, Energy and Economics Ministries, state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom and others. After the talks, the Russian and Indian leaders will take part in the ceremony of laying the foundation for the third and fourth power units of India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant via a video conference, make statements for the media and hold a tete-a-tete lunch. Read Also: Russia Remains India's Leading Military Supplier: President Putin India, Russia Ink Pact To Set Up 25 Irradiation Centers BENGALURU: Russia resurrects the lesser known military threatthe doctorine of maskirovka, a military doctorine developed in the beginning of twentieth century. Maskirovka includes broad range of military deception methods starting from camouflage to denial. With the adoption of this technique, on the country side of Russia onto the green fields the new arsenal was seen tested by red army which included inflatable tanks, missiles, jets and MIG fighters. The Maskirovka style of operation is also referred to as Russian military deception, with the actuation of which Russia has won many wars. This treachery move of deceiving the combatant has contributed many soviet victories, one of which includes Operation Bagration where the clearing of German forces from the eastern part of Poland was successfully performed. Back on the green fields, onlookers saw MIG, tanks and other military arsenals but later few minutes the field was empty. This phantom situation stunned the spectators. It is not an illusion but an inflated structure used to deceive enemies during combat. These structures can inflate in five minutes and can disappear with the same rate. Not only arsenal but artilleries are also been sewed and stitched to inflate. The most feared Russias weaponS-300 missile system has also been mocked and inflated in the field. Such mocking helps to create confusion among the combatant by weakening their decision making skills as the commanders take more time in determining whether the target is real or not. Currently, Global Fire Power Ranked Russia second amongst 126 nations in the planet for the current military capabilities and the available firepower in 2016. Read Also: Meet the Army's Brave "Mute Scouts" of South Kashmir IRCTC Gives Kashmir a Facelift through Glass-Top Train Coaches BENGALURU: India is an emerging superpower while the USA is the current superpower of the world. India and USA share a great diplomatic bond and it realizes in the form of different treaties signed by both governments. Recently, Ash Carter, Defense Secretary, USA, and Defense Minister of India, Manohar Parrikar signed the LEMOA agreement. This treaty will allow militaries of both countries to work together and use each others bases and supplies. The Indian government is working for the modernization of Army equipments and to make military establishments more technologically advanced, and the USA has taken a step forward in helping this process to achieve results. The website Top10wala compared military strengths of both countries to know where India stands in front of USA. Military Budget The United States has the highest defense budget in the world. The USA spends about $580 Bn as the military budget, which is one-third of the total military budget of the whole world. India spends about $45.2 Bn as the defense budget and sits at eighth position in defense budget spending. Read Also: Russia Resurrects the Lesser Known Military Threat Meet the Army's Brave "Mute Scouts" of South Kashmir NEW DELHI: Bengaluru-based women's health tracker startup Maya has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Rajan Anandan, Google Vice-President Southeast Asia and India. Previously called LoveCycles, Maya had raised seed funding of 5 crore from Prime Venture Partners earlier this year. The company has also appointed technology veteran Raghu Mallena as its Chief Technology Officer and co-founder. Founded in early 2012 by John Paul, Maya enables women to keep track of their menstrual and physiological health via a mobile application. Maya is building a personal health assistant that uses data, analytics, and machine learning to provide women actionable insights around their health. To date, Maya has processed more than 100 million data points to build its predictive models. "The funds will be used to enhance the user experience, product development and to expand the user base of Maya in India," it said in a statement. Maya logs more than 1.2 million active users every month. It has clocked more than 6.5 million downloads in more than 50 countries worldwide. Globally, the tracker supports 13 languages including Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French. "Rajan is one of the most prolific internet executives and investors in South Asia. He is known to invest in companies that are potential disruptors and we are honored to be a part of his portfolio," Paul said. Anandan has reportedly invested in over 30 companies, including startups Hello English, wiziq.Com, Travelkhana, POPxo, Taxspanner.Com and others. Read Also: Start-Ups To Get No Relaxation In Procurement Norms For Certain Items Samsung Acquires AI Startup To Enhance Virtual Assistant Experience STATEN ISLAND, N.Y -- The aunt of the 23-year-old man who was shot earlier this month in New Dorp and later died said his organs will be used to save lives. Kristine Gosling, a retired veteran of the NYPD, said her nephew, Stephino Ross, would have wanted to help people this way. "We were able to find people to receive five of his organs," Gosling said. Ross, of New Dorp, passed away at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze, where he was rushed in critical condition after the shooting in his aunt's house at 6 Cannon Blvd. on Sunday, Oct. 2. Thomas Dembinski, 18, of New Dorp, was charged with third-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the shooting that the initial police investigation indicated was an accident. Gosling said the gun used in the shooting was hers, but said that it was kept in a lockbox in the house. Police could not confirm if a lockbox was found in her house. Dembinksi declined comment when contacted by the Advance. He told police that Ross showed him three handguns on the evening of the shooting, including the weapon that killed Ross, according to court papers. "I took the magazine out, I cocked the slide back. I thought the round had ejected and stuff," Dembinski continued, according to filing. "And then we were talking and stuff and I pulled the trigger and it discharged. It just discharged." Gosling remembered her nephew as a young man who was getting his life on track and heading in the right direction. "When he was younger he made mistakes, but he was getting on the right track," she said. She said he was active in their local church, Crossroads, located on New Dorp Lane. "We celebrated his life with a service at the church last Saturday," Gosling said. "Well over 300 people were in attendance." Dembinski is currently charged with with assault and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the incident. Those charges were filed before Ross' death. Gosling said that simply was not enough. "I was extremely upset with the original charges," Gosling said. "It was completely ridiculous." A spokesman for the Richmond County District Attorney's Office said the investigation is ongoing. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island man has been charged with defrauding over 100 investors of more than $2 million, officials announced in a media release Thursday. Edward J. Servider aka "Nick Halden" allegedly used his firm EJS Capital Management, LLC, to fraudulently solicit investments for trading in off-exchange foreign currency transactions from March, 2013, to July, 2014. Instead of investing his victim's funds, Servider used the money to cover personal and business expenses, the release said. U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said Servider used the money to pay for things like an engagement ring, BMW lease, hotel rooms and parking tickets. "As alleged, Edward Servider not only lied to his investors about his past performance in the Forex markets, but actually did not even engage in any trades for his investors," Bharara said. Authorities allege that Servider and the salesman at EJS would cold call potential investors and convince them to invest in foreign currency with the company. They even went as far as to draw up false performance reports that claimed between 2010 and 2013 that EJS had achieved gross annual returns for its investors of approximately 18 percent, 22 percent, 49 percent and 77 percent. FBI Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney said traders hoping to live the high life should see Servider's story as a cautionary tale. "There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, only investors and the FBI and our law enforcement partners demanding you explain where the money went," Sweeney said. Servider is facing five counts, including conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and mail fraud. If convicted and sentenced to the maximum, he could be facing 85 years in prison. In a separate action in May, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil charges against SERVIDER, EJS Capital Management, LLC and others. The charges were brought in connection with the President's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Mariners Harbor woman, who previously pleaded guilty to felony assault after being accused last year of severely burning her young son and her cousin's son when she threw hot cooking oil at a man during a dispute, was sentenced Friday to two years in prison. Jamecka Lewis, 24, became embroiled in an argument with her cousin's boyfriend just before 4 a.m. on May 6, 2015, inside a 10th floor apartment in a building on Holland Avenue, according to a law enforcement source and a criminal complaint. Lewis lived in another apartment building on Holland. At one point, the defendant threw hot cooking oil at the man, said the complaint. The boiling fluid missed its intended target, instead striking the little boys, the complaint said. The victims were both 2 at the time. Ms. Lewis' son was burned, said the source. Her cousin's son was more badly scalded, suffering second-degree burns to the face and body, causing permanent disfigurement and severe eye damage, according to the source and complaint. In June, Lewis pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to second-degree assault. Besides prison time, she was sentenced to 18 months' post-release supervision. A first-class ride for Cowboy Kel Bridle Path residents show love for mail carrier For the past six years, Kelvin Hoang has been delivering mail and smiles to people living in Simi Valleys Bridle Path neighborhood. We love Kelvin. Hes the best. Hes like... SV Womans Club to meet Detectives Kelly King and Jessica Getchius of the Simi Valley Police Department will discuss the problems faced by victims and perpetrators of domestic violence at the monthly luncheon meeting of... Womans flight aboard B-25 bomber honors grandfathers WWII bravery As Kerri Braemer-Castro looked down at the mountains and valleys of Camarillo from the cockpit of a World War II B-25 bomber earlier this month, she finally felt connected to... Shred your documents The Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce will hold a drive-thru document shredding event from 1 to 4 p.m. Fri., Nov. 11 in the parking lot behind the Chamber office, 40... Join Artists of Northwest Arkansas for our October monthly meeting on Thursday, Oct 20th at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Springdale at 1:30. Our guest presenter this month is Daniel Coston. Daniel is a well known Fayetteville artist who specializes in acrylic paintings, pencil and pen-and-ink-drawings. Daniel will present a talk on and demo ways to use warm-up techniques to stay flexible, remain open to new possibilities or even jumpstart a painting. During his talk, he will demonstrate particular techniques that might be considered artistic calisthenics that can help artists see new possibilities for their work. More of Daniel's work can be see at his website: www.costonart.com Please join us for this highly informative session, the event is open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, please email ANA at artistsofnwarkansas@gmail.com or visit our website at http://www.artistsnwarkansas.org/ St Thomas Episcopal is located at 2898 S 48th St, Springdale, AR 72762. Page Content PHILIPSBURG - The President of the Commonwealth of Dominica His Excellency Charles A. Savarin and First Lady Clara J. Savarin paid a courtesy visit to Prime Minister The Honorable William Marlin at the new Government Building. The President of Dominica is the first visiting High Ranking Official to meet the Prime Minister at his new office. The President of the Commonwealth of Dominica His Excellency Charles A. Savarin and First Lady Clara J. Savarin are visiting Sint Maarten as guests of The Dominica Foundation Sint Maarten. Prime Minister William Marlin and Mrs. Marlin are scheduled to join the President of Dominica and his wife at an event hosted by the The Dominica Foundation Sint Maarten on Friday evening at the Belair Community Center with the theme Building Meaningful Partnerships & Fostering relationships Through Culture and Education BRIDGETOWN - The Prime Minister of Sint Maarten the Honorable William Marlin, accompanied by the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Ms. Khalilah Peters and the Policy Advisor for Donor Coordination from the Department of Interior and Kingdom Relations, Ms. Olivia Lake attended the two day High Level EU- Caribbean Sustainable Energy Conference held on October 10th - 11th in Bridgetown Barbados. This conference was primarily focused on CARICOM/CARIFORUM and EU relations however both the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) as well as the French Overseas Regions (ORs) were invited to partake in this conference. The inclusion if all groupings in the region was to impress that energy supply vulnerability and fossil fuel dependence is not only a problem of the CARIFORUM countries but that of the entire Caribbean. This event was also a means to set the stage for wider regional cooperation specifically in the area of energy. During the first day of the conference, in the capacity of Regional Authorizing Officer(RAO) for the Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) 11th EDF Regional Programme, the Honorable Prime Minister William Marlin participated as a special guest in a Ministerial panel discussion centered around the latest policy developments that support increased investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. In his intervention, Prime Minister Marlin emphasized that Caribbean countries possess a great potential for alternative energy production and when unified as a block they could benefit from a true comparative advantage. He also discouraged allowing outside investors the advantage of pitting countries against each other for their own profitable gains, drawing from examples the region experienced with the cruise industry. Alternatively, he suggested that all Caribbean countries should make a concerted effort to find ways to overcome the energy challenges in the region by tapping into the wealth of specifically geothermal energy resources. He further proposed the creation of the financial mechanisms to construct the infrastructure necessary to feasibly supply the entire region and beyond. Support of these proposals by Prime Minister Marlin was resonated by other sitting and past Prime Ministers as well as Energy/ Infrastructure Ministers in the interventions that followed. The 11th EDF Caribbean Regional Programme will also aim to dedicate a significant portion of the 40 million envelope to Sustainable Energy increase in the Caribbean OCTs. The programming process is still ongoing with as goal to sign the financing agreement near the middle of next year. In the spirit of wider regional cooperation and in the understanding of the related climate change issues that will affect all Small Island Developing States, the Caribbean OCTs have agreed to explore options to blend the funds of the programmes in the area of Knowledge Development. As such, this conference provided an unparalleled opportunity to not only engage with regional partners, but moreover to identify the most effective areas for cooperation. Sustainable energy companies from around the world also attended this event as speakers and participants, but also with their exhibitions in a parallel Business Opportunities Forum. This was an extra advantage of the conference as there was the possibility of engaging with existing companies for both access to the technology and possible investments. Key outcomes of the conference were the signing of the Joint Declaration on Sustainable Energy between the European Union, European Investment Bank and CARIFORUM on reinforced cooperation in the field of sustainable energy. Further, five support programs in the renewable energy sector for the region, totaling 54 million EUROS were also signed during this conference. These agreements are evidence of the European Unions commitment in supporting Caribbean countries in meeting their obligations stipulated in Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Charlotte Delbo, a member of the French Resistance against the Nazis, was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Her Who Will Carry the Word depicts the lives of French women there who found solidarity in working to keep the strongest of them alive so that someone would be able to share their stories with the world. Delbo's play, translated by Cynthia Haft, has been called a sobering and moving tribute to the resilience of people placed in horrific circumstances. Who Will Carry the Word addresses life amidst death. (Sue Kessler photo) Who Will Carry the Word addresses life amidst death. (Sue Kessler photo) The play will be presented by the theater department, on the mainstage of Skidmores Bernhard Theater, Oct. 2123 and 2730, with 8 p.m. curtain times except for Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 (or $8 for students and seniors); call 518-580-5439 or email the box office. Director Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly 02, a Brooklyn-based theater artist and choreographer, calls Who Will Carry the Word "a powerful lesson in humanity." She says, "Each of the survivors (49 out of 230 women) knows that without the others, she would not have returned." Marzalek-Kelly also expresses awe for Delbo, who, as one of the survivors, "spent a great deal of her life accounting for these women and sharing their stories." Later this fall, the theater department also presents The Orphan Sea, by Obie winner Caridad Svich, in Bernhard Theater's Black Box space. It runs from Nov. 30 through Dec. 6, with showtimes at 8 p.m., except for a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Tickets are $12 (or $8 for students and seniors); call 518-580-5439 or email the box office. Directed by faculty member Eunice Ferreira, this multilingual, multimedia performance asks, "How do we respond to global crises of displaced people and environmental threats on our Facebook news feed?" and "What does it mean to cross digital, linguistic, and physical borders?" Ferreira says the event aims to engage the audience in a metatheatrical journey across waters, time, and geographies using song, poetry, film, and dance. Svich has written that The Orphan Sea is "a story of those that cross rivers and seas and those that wait for them, of a lover who searches for one lost years ago, and of someone called Penelope, who may be waiting for someone called Odysseus." Thanks for visiting ! The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Thank you for your support! By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree "He is yet to tell me, but I have decided as his wife that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again," Aisha Buhari said. We brought you the platforms of the major parties vying for your votes on Saturday. Now we bring you the policies of the smaller parties hoping to pry your vote away from the big three. Minor parties offer voters an alternative to the major parties, but they also offer a cache of policies they, in all probability, will never be called on to deliver. Of the 141 candidates standing for election into the ACT Legislative Assembly this year, about two in five are from one of the six minor parties in contention. Credit:Karleen Minney Of the 141 candidates standing for election into the ACT Legislative Assembly this year, about two in five are from one of the six minor parties in contention. The expansion of the assembly and the loss of the ACT's only seven-seat electorate make it more difficult for independents and minors to get the quota they need to win a seat (more on how the ACT's voting system works here) but it hasn't stopped them from trying their darnedest. Record levels of pre-polling mean the ACT will have a snapshot of voting patterns in the "most important election" since self-government by early Saturday evening. But Canberrans will be going to the polls without knowing the true cost of flagship policies from the Liberals and Labor, which were dumped on Treasury right before deadline, leaving it unable to give them proper scrutiny. Chief Minister Andrew Barr campaigned at the Canberra Hospital campus on election day eve. He met newborn Rhianna Khanna and mum Meenal of Casey at the Canberra Women's and Children's hospital. Credit:Karleen Minney Election-eve was punctuated by a string of late developments. Labor's misuse of fake Medicare cards was referred to the Australian Federal Police, while community clubs continued their vigorous campaign against Labor with full-page newspaper advertisements and a mass text-messaging campaign, which urged voters to favour the Liberals. UnionsACT were making last-minute robo-calls to voters and continued to deliver 20,000 cards at bus stops promoting light rail, which closely resembled the "Transport Canberra" cards used for buses. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has admitted it has been gagged by big insurance companies from releasing the names of life insurers denying as many as one in three customer claims. The revelation was made during ASIC's appearance before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Economics on Friday. ASIC's senior executive for insurers, Michael Saadat, said the corporate watchdog used its compulsory powers to extract the information from insurance firms. "They can consent to us publicly revealing the information but they haven't done so. The insurers we have spoken to so far have expressed significant concern," Mr Saadat told the committee. After a lot of arm twisting, Westpac's life insurance arm has been outed as the insurer declining one-in-three total and permanent disability (TPD) claims made by its customers. The admission was made hours after the corporate watchdog refused in parliament to reveal the identity of the country's biggest decliner of life insurance claims in TPD. Westpac's life insurance arm, BT Financial Group (BTFG), briefed politicians on Friday night then issued a public statement admitting it had a denial rate of 37 per cent on TPD policies. But the press release said the figures should be treated with caution and were not comparable. Parramatta is the property hot spot in Sydney with low office vacancies and forecasts of economic growth breaching $7 billion in the next five years. The new Sydney Olympic Park master plan is also expected to fuel development that will see western areas of Sydney eclipse eastern and northern neighbours. Parramatta Square. An artist's impression of Walker Corporation's proposed commercial towers. According to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Parramatta's economic growth is set to almost double over the next five years and the city is on track to become a leading financial hub The Parramatta 2021 report, commissioned by the City of Parramatta, found the economy of Sydney's dual CBD will grow by $7 billion by 2021, to $30 billion. The strengthening of ties with the new Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) will prove a bonanza for commercial property, according to experts. Singaporean companies including Keppel REIT, Suntec REIT and Frasers Centrepoint are well established in the market and own a range of high-profile assets across the country, including the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel and Novotel Melbourne on Collins, which are owned by Frasers Hospitality Trust, which is sponsored on the Singapore Stock Exchange by Frasers Centrepoint. Sofitel Sydney Wentworth Hotel, owned by Frasers Centrepoint and managed by Accor. Singapore-listed Ascendas REIT has signalled its desire to expand in Australia, buying properties in Sydney and Melbourne in deals worth $168 million, and indicating it would like more assets. JLL negotiated the sale of a business park at 197-201 Coward Street, Mascot, in Sydney, for $143.4 million to Ascendas on behalf of Frasers Property Group. Sydney's office leasing markets have hit a sweet spot for landlords with rents tipped to rise in line with demand and flat supply, according to agents. Knight Frank's director, office leasing, Kymbal Dunne said office rents in the CBD are rapidly increasing, however businesses could struggle to meet the growth of rents. Landlords are in the sweet spot for rental growth. Credit:Jim Rice There are predictions the Sydney prime office vacancy will head towards 3 per cent in the medium term. "Businesses are likely to increasingly sacrifice space to manage rent, which is where activity-based working is ramping up in the Sydney CBD market," Mr Dunne said. In the queue outside Mecca Maxima's store opening in Melbourne this week, a young woman patiently waited for her chance to get a selfie with big-name Australian beauty blogger Chloe Morello. The line was long, but Madeleine was happy to wait to share a precious few seconds with one of her beauty idols and be one of the first customers admitted into Mecca Maxima's biggest store to date in the newly opened precinct at Vicinity Centre's Chadstone shopping centre. Madeleine is a self-confessed beauty addict. She is far more interested in cosmetics than fashion and she's not alone. Further back in the queue was Courtney, who also prefers to spend on make-up rather than fashion. Discount furniture retailer Fantastic Holdings has agreed to a "compelling" takeover valuing it at $361 million from the acquisitive South African owner of the Freedom and Snooze furniture chains. Steinhoff Asia Pacific Holdings' $3.50-a-share bid is 43 per cent above the stock's last trading price. It has the support of Fantastic's two key shareholders, chairman Julian Tertini and former finance director Peter Brennan, as well as the board in the absence of a superior offer and subject to an expert's report. Brothers Peter (right) and Ethan Kayem feature in a Fantastic Furniture TV ad. Credit:Jeff de Pasquale JDE Shares in Fantastic skyrocketed on the news, closing up 40.4 per cent, or 98, to $3.43 on Friday. The surge valued Fantastic at $355.5 million, just shy of the offer. Grant Oshry, of 10-per-cent shareholder Perennial Value Management, said the bid was a "good outcome" after Fantastic had "lost its way" during the financial crisis. At the start of the year, Perennial called on Fantastic to consider privatisation due to the company quickly losing key executives and concerns over corporate governance. We met people with stories of sadness and joy, of triumph and tragedy, of relentless boredom and too much excitement. We rolled out swags in the bush, hired rooms at flyblown country pubs and enjoyed soft pillows in the occasional five-star establishment. The highway barely deserved the name in parts, but what we set out to discover turned out to be true: 200 years since white settlement, the whole thing was sealed, linking just about every populated place in the nation, and you could drive it in an everyday passenger car. I was set reminiscing about that monumental circuit by stories that have begun appearing about a project under way to seal a track known as the Outback Way, which will join up with other roads to create a link from Perth to Cairns, cutting clean across the great isolation of Australia's inland via Alice Springs. The Outback Way itself extends 2800 kilometres from Laverton in Western Australia to Winton in central west Queensland. Only 1100 kilometres of it is bitumen. The other 1700 is pretty ordinary dirt, sand or gravel with teeth-rattling corrugation and bulldust holes that could very nearly swallow a car. Enthusiasts call it Australia's longest shortcut, but every time it rains, the road closes for an average of three days. The federal, Queensland, West Australian and Northern Territory governments have stumped up about $75 million and another $100 million has been promised for sealing more of the track, but at somewhere between $300,000 and $800,000 a kilometre, a ribbon of tarmac stretching diagonally across Australia seems a long way off. Yet it fires the imagination. All those tiny and isolated settlements finally linked. In a country as large and sparsely populated as Australia, roads have always been a big deal. Political careers and entire governments have risen and fallen on the state of the roads. But here we are, 28 years after we celebrated finally encircling our nation with a strip of pavement, and in too many places in even well-populated districts roads are falling apart. Back in 1988 as Jon Beale and I entered Victoria from South Australia, our long trip almost over, Highway 1 was the Princes Highway. It was well-made and well-maintained and we cruised across the border, heading towards Portland. Take that same stretch today and you'd be in danger of knocking a wheel off in a raggedy-edged pothole. The speed limit on sections of the open highway has been reduced to 60km/h. Hundreds of heavily-laden log and woodchip trucks ply the south-west's highways each day, heading to and from the busy port of Portland. They have been pounding the roads and breaking them up for years now. Council workers patch the worst spots, but it takes only a few days for the patches to break up, too. Warwick McEachern, general manager of Portland Bus Lines, which runs school buses throughout the district, instructs his drivers to travel slowly because the roads have become dangerous. Jack Penny at Trident Tyres says the business does a brisk business replacing tyres and wheel rims destroyed by the roads. Yes. By Highway 1. Like everywhere in Victoria, voters in the far south-west are about to elect a new shire council the Glenelg. Every candidate lists "better roads" in their campaign material. They all know federal and state funding hasn't kept pace with anywhere near the need. The problem, you might guess, is that Glenelg Shire is in blue-ribbon Liberal territory. The federal Liberals know they'll never lose the seat down there Wannon and the state Labor government knows it won't win the seat of South-West Coast. So these days they don't try too hard. A couple of months ago the state government gave the shire $44 million for road maintenance. It sounds quite a lot. It's not. Up the road between Geelong and Colac, in the much more marginal seat of Corangamite, both federal and state governments have been pouring hundreds of millions into duplicating a 60-kilometre stretch of Highway 1. When it's done, it will have cost about $600 million. That's about $10 million a kilometre. The roadwork won't extend beyond Corangamite. The woman I pass in the tunnel has seen better times. She's in her 30s, I guess, but haggard. Her sign says she has escaped domestic violence and certainly she looks the part. I want to help but my only cash, excepting a $50, is earmarked for the collection plate. No doubt she needs it more, but then I'd have to deal with not putting in (self-concern, ignominy). Not that anyone would comment but that makes it worse. Plus I'm late, and the opening moments are breathtakingly lovely, so I scurry off, debating good deeds versus transcendence like some theological white rabbit, accusing myself of cowardice, vowing to find her on my return. Two hours later she's still there, still miserable. I give her $10 having broken the $50 note buying sushi for lunch (again, selfish) but still I feel bad. She needs shelter, not money, and surely to God I could help with that, speak to her, take her home even. Except that's where fear kicks in: self, safety, the nest. So I leave her there on the edge of tears. On the edge of disaster. Illustration: Simon Bosch I tell you this only because the question of home became the recurrent motif of my week. Home as habitat, refuge and identity is our core humanity, the springing point for hope and purpose and their end. But is it a human right? Wherever I looked, I saw attack on home. It was Global Climate Change Week, not that you'd notice. The Trump-Clinton circus barely mentioned that small planetary question and, scarcely less ludicrous, Queensland Labor elected to save the Reef fast-tracked the massive Adani coal mine that steals native land, belches CO and will nail down the Reef's bleak coffin. Australia's political leaders would have done well this week to listen to Paul McClintock. Speaking at a conference of the business-backed Committee for the Economic Development of Australia at Parliament House, the group's chairman made a strong case for the government to accept that the national budget faces a revenue problem, not just an expenditure problem. He outlined $15 billion in proposed new revenue streams to help balance the budget. We endorse many of them, including ending negative gearing and improving taxation of superannuation contributions, and broadly support the intent. Whether or not you agree with all of CEDA's suggestions, the central point was clear: the budget is long overdue for structural changes to transform it into a fairer and more economically sustainable model. In Mr McClintock's words, finding additional revenue streams is "the only realistic way to balance the budget quickly". The present design of petroleum resource rent tax is not delivering for taxpayers. One area ripe for investigation in the name of deficit reduction is Australia's paltry return from the booming export gas industry. As The Age reported this week, in five years Australia is expected to pass Qatar to become the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas. But where the Gulf state is expected to receive $26.6 billion in royalties from the multinationals pumping and shipping 100 billion cubic metres of LNG from its offshore gas fields, Australia's Treasury estimates it will rake in just $800 million for the same amount. The petroleum resource rent tax is designed to just draw a levy on super-profits only. While this model, rather than a flat royalty, makes some sense given the boom and bust nature of the industry, there are serious questions to be asked about whether the current design is delivering taxpayers what it should. The Australian Taxation Office has estimated the sector could pocket as much as $187 billion in sales before paying any rent. Unpublished ATO figures also suggest only 5 per cent of oil and gas projects operating in Australia paid resource rent tax last financial year. Yet revenue from the industry, which is predominantly LNG projects off Western Australia and coal seam gas development in Queensland, reached $25 billion. It is not a new idea that the petroleum resource rent tax is not fit-for-purpose. Back in 2010, the Henry tax review warned the Commonwealth was failing to collect an appropriate share of resource rents from successful projects because successful investors were being over-compensated for deferring deductions. In April this year, Fairfax Media revealed documents prepared for the Western Australian government found it would be decades before projects such as the $70 billion Gorgon facility in that state yielded revenue of note for the Commonwealth. Diane Kraal, a Monash University senior lecturer who has studied the petroleum resource rent tax for nearly 30 years, makes a persuasive case when she argues that, despite huge growth in the industry, it is unlikely the amount paid by multinational LNG companies will significantly increase in her lifetime under current settings. As she points out, the tax was designed with the comparatively volatile oil market in mind, not for LNG producers who now dominate the sector and hold stable, long-term supply contracts. She believes a federal royalty, similar to the model in place before 1987, should be reintroduced. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull both raised concerns with South Australia's energy infrastructure. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen And because they emerged as a bigger share of the Coalition, they were entitled to an extra seat at the cabinet table as well. In a cabinet of 23, the Nationals now occupy five seats. That's the biggest number the party has ever enjoyed, last matched under Arthur (Artie) Fadden in 1950 in the Menzies government. The Nationals now have their hands on portfolios encompassing water, agriculture, mining, infrastructure, transport, small business and regional development. They have not lost any major policy arguments inside the government for a long time. This is the same political party whose own former leaders wrote it off just eight years ago. They lined up to administer the last rites Doug Anthony, Ian Sinclair, Peter Nixon and John Anderson called for the party to surrender its identity and merge fully with the Liberals after the 2007 election. "The size of the party will continue to decline," said Doug Anthony. "Equally severe will be the decline in our reputation as an influential party as numbers decline." He predicted a collapse in party support, finances and even the loyalty of Nationals MPs. Instead, the party has come back from the dead. The bigger picture is that the Coalition between the Liberals and Nationals is perhaps the most successful in the Western world. As academic Linda Botterill pointed out in her 2009 book on the party, "the stability and predictability" of the Coalition makes it "an anomaly" in Western politics. And the new vigour of the Nationals with an accommodating Liberal partner promises to extend its durability. Joyce has a close and convivial relationship with Turnbull. Barnaby Joyce intends to build the relationship into the same long and strong power-sharing arrangement enjoyed by the Liberals' Menzies and Nationals' Black Jack McEwen. McEwen was such a force that he ultimately had the power to veto the Liberals' choice of leader for their own party post-Menzies, when he blocked Billy McMahon in favour of John Gorton. Black Jack "deserves the attention reserved for prime ministers because of his national prominence and his dominance of trade and industry policy during the postwar decades," according to the Oxford Companion to Australian Politics. No doubt Joyce would enjoy a similar epitaph on his own political career. He sees the correct relationship with the Liberals as being "business partners we're not sycophants and we're not enemies". How has this Nationals revival happened? And how has it happened under a leader that many regard as a bumpkin, a clot and a clown? Look at him on the TV on Thursday, holding forth to the media, complete with an Akubra on his head, an unsightly skin cancer rash on his beetroot-red face and a liberal festooning of dandruff on his coat collar? There are two major factors. One is that the old division of political labour between the two parties has changed. It was always based on the Nationals representing the farmer and the country while the Liberals were the party of the city-dweller and capital. Today, it's not so straightforward. "The vast bulk of our votes don't come from people who live on farms, they come from people who live in streets where the garbage is collected" in towns and regional centres and peripheries, Joyce has pointed out to colleagues. The Nationals' core constituency now has the same sort of white, low-income, working-class sensibility as Donald Trump's supporters. Today the Nationals represent a poor-man's conservatism and the Liberals represent a more laissez-faire liberalism. It's obvious in the contrast between the parties on same-sex marriage, for instance. Turnbull calls it "marriage equality"; Joyce calls it "marriage redefinition". Turnbull hoped that the plebiscite, a policy bequeathed him by Tony Abbott as a compromise between Liberal and National, would lead to progress; Joyce supported it in the hope that it would lead to stalling. Courtesy of Labor's decision this week to block legislation for a plebiscite, Joyce has now got his wish granted. The immutable position of the Nationals in favour of a plebiscite guarantees that there will be no compromise from the government, even if Turnbull wanted to offer one. When a Liberal leader veers too conservative, he is rejected by his own party. Tony Abbott is the case in point. Better to have a more liberal Liberal and allow the Nationals to appeal to the conservative vote. "That way you have two very genuinely different spear-chuckers for ultimately different arms of the Coalition," Joyce has observed privately. This is exactly what just happened at the July election, according to the analysis of the Nationals. Turnbull's coup against Abbott angered many conservative Liberals who couldn't bring themselves to vote Liberal as a result. They voted National, where there was one available, instead. Second is the persona of Joyce himself. Abbott once described him as Australia's most effective retail politician for the way he challenged and finally broke the Australian political consensus in favour of carbon pricing. To Joyce, the Nationals aren't thriving despite the fact that he looks like a bumpkin but because he looks like a bumpkin. A successful conservative is unashamed of who he or she is, in Joyce's philosophy. "The biggest mistake a National can make is to try to look like a Liberal the voters just drip off you," he's told colleagues. Consider the way that Joyce and the Nationals led the attack on renewable energy when South Australia's electricity system shut down. They instantly pounced on the opportunity to blame renewable energy, even in the face of the fact that it was not solar panels but a mighty storm that shut the grid. They were denounced and mocked, yet they have succeeded in reinvigorating the national policy debate on energy supply and finding the right place of coal and renewables. Turnbull himself, the man once known primarily as an advocate of carbon pricing, took up the cry. This was not coincidental; he and Joyce co-ordinated from the moment the lights went out in Adelaide. You may despise Joyce for the way he disregards the facts in the pursuit of an argument, but you can't deny his effectiveness. The Nationals don't hold any seats in South Australia yet managed to frame the national debate according to their agenda. Pollock, born in 1912, was into American Indian and Mexican art when, in the 1930s, he encountered the work of Picasso. Pollock's other great interest was jazz. In jazz, the musical lines go wherever they want within a certain tempo and beat. Pollock painted similarly, saying every age had to find its own technique. His age immediate post-World War II was in the shadow of the atom bomb and the new visual mass medium of television. Pollock's work, being abstract, defies easy descriptions. What I know about Pollock is that he grew up in the rural spaces of Wyoming. His drunken abusive father was, among other things, a surveyor. He took young Jackson on a job that involved seeing the Grand Canyon. One: Number 31 1950 is a big work, five metres by three. I've looked at Pollock's painting Blue Poles a number of times. I've known enough about Pollock to be interested, but it's never reached out and pulled me in like some paintings do. That's when I know I'm in the presence of great art when I feel like I'm inside the painting or, alternatively, the painting is inside me. It's almost a physical thing. That's how I felt when I saw One: Number 31 1950. Pollock had hurt intelligent eyes and an alcohol problem he said he painted out of need. When a critic said that his paintings had no beginnings and no ends, Pollock took it as "a fine compliment". He said his paintings had no centres there was just one big single effect he was after. He wanted harmony and when you get inside the movement of One: Number 31 1950 harmonies abound. The painting's primary colours are white, grey and black. It's like looking into a night sky. Then you start seeing gorgeous flecks of red. The lines of paint may look random but the closer you look the more you see how they correspond and harmonise. The whole thing leaps into being around you. If I were asked what made travelling half-way around the world to New York worthwhile, One: Number 31 1950 would be among my answers. Back in Melbourne, I got on the internet and called up images of the work and to my surprise although perhaps I should have known better they had none of the effect on me the actual painting did. There's a performance that happens in your head when you see it that doesn't happen when you look at a photograph of it not least because it's only a tiny fraction of the original in size. The best part of the Australian Blue Poles story for me is that the painting originally cost $1.2 million and the gallery director's authority only went as far as paintings of $1 million. The person who ultimately made the decision to purchase Blue Poles was Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. It was controversial then, it's controversial now, but he thought it was good for Australia so he bought it. That was typical of the excitement generated during the Whitlam years. Last week, Victorian Liberal Senator James Paterson said that Australia should sell Blue Poles and put the money towards paying off the national debt. Is he serious? If he is, he is a dull, limited young man. There is also something about his attitude that is unknowing or uncaring of public sentiment. Blue Poles is the National Gallery's most popular item. If Senator Paterson has his way and the painting is sold, Australians will have to go back to experiencing it through photographs like they did in the Menzies years. As the American presidential election descends into an ever-more sordid debacle, we need to keep in mind its deeper, positive potential. Donald Trump may be all the things his critics say he is: fascist, racist, sexist, misogynist, populist, unfit for office. But he has also rocked the political elite to its core, and exposed its failure to act in the interests of the people. Almost all the mainstream political commentary on Trump has come from the political establishment, an analysis steeped in orthodoxy, whether conservative or progressive. Its hostility is inevitable. While the commentaries acknowledge the anger of the electorate over things like job losses, stagnant, even declining, real wages and immigration, they have not identified the deeper causes of Trump's rise, and other political developments in Western nations, including Australia, Britain (Brexit) and Europe. And who can argue with a plebiscite? It is the purest form of democracy just the citizen and the ballot box, expressing his or her democratic will, with a 'lil stubby pencil tied to a string. Nothing could be more commendable. Right? But it turns out that actually, when it comes to the NSW Liberal Party, lots of people are against plebiscites, and not just the same-sex marriage one. Members of the moderate and centre-right factions fear a plebiscite model would lead to branch-stacking with large blocks of strongly religious and conservative ethnic members. These new members, they say, would lead the party off an electoral cliff into a Trump-esque, ultra-conservative abyss. The moderating effect of the state executive is needed to stop the party veering into radical right-wing unelectability. Abbott says that view is anti-democratic. Why else do people join a political party, he asks, if not to have a say in preselecting candidates? "[Voters] will learn their lesson if they get it wrong and suffer the consequences," he says. "It doesn't seem logical to penalise existing members because you're afraid of new members coming through." The moderates, say Abbott and his hard-right-wing pals, are sore because they don't control the NSW party, and haven't since former premier Barry O'Farrell brokered a peace deal between the centre-right and moderate factions in 2009. Since then the two factions have worked together to control NSW, leaving Abbott's ideological bedfellows, the hard-right conservatives, in the political cold. These controlling factions are run by the lobbyists Nick Campbell and Michael Photios, who happen to be in cosy business together. Increasingly, their financial interests, and the lobbying power these men have over ministers who might be able to make decisions affecting those financial interests, are under scrutiny. Abbott used a meeting of Liberal MPs in Canberra this week to raise the preselection plebiscite issue, putting Turnbull on the spot and provoking the considerable pique of Christopher Pyne, who, as a South Australian, declared himself uninterested in the grubby grassroots politics of his NSW cousins. Abbott threw down a challenge to Turnbull to support his push for greater democratisation, even though he knows, better than anyone, Turnbull was backed into the leadership by the moderate and centre-right factions, who want the preselection rules to stay just as they are. You don't have to be Nostradamus to see where this is going. For ordinary people who have lives to run and have hitherto neglected to concern themselves with the inner processes of the NSW Liberal Party, the whole debate is likely to inspire feelings of deep existential weariness. But the dispute has wider implications, which could eventually interrupt the lives of even those gentle citizens who try to ignore all matters of Liberal factionalism. While Abbott has repeatedly said he has no hope of returning to the Coalition leadership, it is probable that, like all born politicians, some ghost of ambition still haunts him. Shoring up factional support in NSW would be useful if those ghostly ambitions ever took a more material form. Abbott would not be the first ousted leader to use the issue of grassroots party democracy as a stalking horse. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd used his time in the wilderness to campaign for Labor Party reform to ease the stranglehold of the unions on the party's selection of its leader. Last year Rudd called for full democratisation of the voting process for selecting Labor senators. Both Rudd and Abbott bear a grudge against the factions which dislodged them. Both men know that it is very hard to mount an intellectual argument against greater democratisation without sounding elitist, and this argument is strengthened by the open dismay of the political and media elites over leaders chosen by grassroots party members overseas. Just look at the British Labour party's selection of Jeremy Corbyn, or the US Republican party's choice of the sexual predator with the orange face. Neither of these men is palatable to the broader electorate. Politicians love a photo opportunity that allows voters to associate them with "jobs and growth". In March, then energy minister Josh Frydenberg heralded the "golden age of gas", reeling off astonishing figures about how Gorgon would add $440 billion to the economy by 2040 and contribute $70 billion to federal government coffers. Chevron's environmental impact statement, presented to Turnbull in 2007, made the bold claim that revenues from Gorgon alone would generate so much wealth it could allow the government to cut personal taxes. The company was even more bullish when, in 2015, it released an economic benefit report produced by consultants ACIL Allen that claimed Gorgon and its smaller sister project Wheatstone and its one-sixth stake in the mature North West Shelf LNG venture would contribute "$338 billion to federal government revenue" between 2009 and 2040. Remember that Gorgon and Wheatstone are just two of 10 major LNG export terminals in WA, Queensland and the Northern Territory owned among others by Shell, ExxonMobil, Santos, Woodside and ConocoPhillips. Aside from the usual jobs bonanza during the construction phase, the LNG boom has been sold by successive governments as a huge win for federal coffers and for the wealth of Australians, the ultimate owners of the resource. But, as the production phase continues, there are worryingly few signs of the promised riches materialising via the Commonwealth-administered petroleum resource rent tax the only royalty-like payment incurred by LNG projects that operate in Commonwealth waters. Under a deal cut by Labor resources minister Martin Ferguson, who now works as a consultant in the petroleum sector, the PRRT was brought "onshore" or extended to coal seam gas projects in Queensland in 2012 but they are allowed to deduct state royalties before paying the Commonwealth tax. Tweaks to the PRRT, introduced at the same time as Labor's doomed mining tax, retained a generous "uplift rate" on exploration costs whereby the value of capital invested upfront increases by 18 per cent each year until it can be cancelled out against operating revenue before a cent in PRRT must be paid. Australian Tax Office figures show the oil and gas industry currently holds $187 billion in this "carry forward expenditure" and the total is rising sharply. With total annual LNG sales expected to be in the vicinity of $25-$40 billion in the years ahead it will be eight years or more before that $187 billion is written off against sales. Even in 2010, Ken Henry's review of the tax system raised concern about the PRRT's "failure to collect an appropriate and constant share of resource rents from successful projects due to uplift rates that over-compensate successful investors for the deferral of PRRT deductions". Experts such as Diane Kraal, a senior lecturer at Monash University who has studied the PRRT since its introduction in 1987, say the $1.8 billion paid to the Commonwealth by the multinationals in PRRT will not increase significantly "in her lifetime" if the system is not tightened by government. She believes the PRRT, which was designed to net "super-profits" in the more volatile oil market, is overly-generous for LNG producers who hold stable, long-term supply contracts but do not experience short bursts of rampant profits. She says a federal royalty, in use before 1987, should be reintroduced to guarantee the public begins to benefit from the LNG boom, especially from the WA projects like Chevron, Wheatstone and Woodside's Pluto venture. "Because of oil's super-profitability the tax had been effective but is no longer effective," she said. Fairfax Media revealed in April a briefing note prepared for the Barnett government that warned the Commonwealth would wait "decades" to receive any significant revenue from Gorgon, Wheatstone and Woodside's Pluto gas field. And this week a rapidly growing push for a parliamentary inquiry into whether the PRRT is a dud was given impetus by research showing that in 2021, when both Qatar and Australia will be exporting the same volume of LNG, the Persian Gulf state will reap $26.6 billion through its royalty-based system. Australia, according to Treasury forecasts, will receive just $800 million. On top of that, Fairfax Media revealed unpublished Tax Office statistics that show just 5 per cent of Australia's 149 operational oil and gas projects paid a single cent in PRRT last year. On Thursday, Bill Shorten's union, the Australian Workers' Union, and the Community and Public Sector Union added their weight to the push for an inquiry already supported by the ACTU, the Maritime Union, Greenpeace, the Tax Justice Network, the International Transport Workers' Federation and the Australian Council of Social Service. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen and Labor's finance spokesman Jim Chalmers are being lobbied to support action through parliament, while shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh is already on board, Fairfax Media understands. "Key unions are lining up behind this and there's a storm brewing inside Labor," said an ALP source. AWU national secretary Scott McDine said the chief executives of LNG companies should be "hauled before the parliament to answer questions on behalf of the gas resource owners the Australian people". "It's bad enough the government has allowed foreign multinationals to sell our gas offshore without limit, meaning Australians now pay more for our own gas than overseas buyers. But now they're failing to even tax these exporters for the privilege. "Our government is literally allowing foreign multinationals to pump our finite gas resources offshore for free." The Greens back a parliamentary inquiry and Labor could get one established with the support of senators Nick Xenophon, Jacqui Lambie and Derryn Hinch. Treasurer Scott Morrison this week revealed that he was taking briefings on the PRRT. "While the government supports lower taxes, companies must also be expected to pay their fair share of taxes. The Treasurer will continue to take advice on sensitive tax matters such as this," said a spokesman. The Australian Petroleum and Production & Exploration Association, representing the industry, insisted that depressed oil prices which broadly determine LNG contract prices and the early stage of the biggest projects were behind the bleak state of PRRT receipts. "The PRRT was never intended to be paid by all projects at all times," APPEA said. "It is a super-profits tax so it only applies when projects achieve super-profits. That is not the case for many new projects today because we are early in the life of these projects and commodity prices are depressed. "The industry has invested more than $200 billion in new LNG projects over the last six years but most of these projects are only now producing LNG. It will be many years before these projects cover their huge, upfront costs." APPEA described the $187 billion in carried forward expenditure as accumulated investment. "These business costs must be paid back before companies turn a profit allowing business costs as a deduction against revenue is standard tax practice for companies and individuals." A Chevron spokesman said the company had paid $3 billion in taxes from earnings from the North West Shelf and would "pay its fair share" from Gorgon and Wheatstone. Former prime minister Tony Abbott says there is "potential for corruption" within the NSW Liberal Party, as long as lobbyists control the factions that effectively decide preselections. Mr Abbott has also blasted the "toxic" culture of leaking from partyroom meetings, and when questioned on a return to the leadership, said he stands "ready to serve", but is "perfectly content serving as the member for Warringah". "I want to see much less factionalism within the Liberal Party," he told Fairfax Media. "There is a potential for corruption when you've got people making money out of people whose preselections they can control or heavily influence." David Gonski's review into school funding is fast becoming like Tolstoy's War and Peace or Joyce's Ulysses. A hefty text that's often referenced but rarely read. Politicians of all persuasions claim to be in favour of Gonski principles, but the substance of the report is fading into the distance. Rather than a sophisticated and interlocking set of recommendations, "Gonski" has become a slogan, a hashtag, a vibe. An intruder has been shot and a security guard stabbed during an altercation at Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr's US home. According to TMZ, the intruder jumped the fence at the model's Malibu home on Friday morning. Miranda Kerr is seen at LAX on October 5, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Credit:Getty The intruder reportedly stabbed the security guard in the eye, prompting the guard to fire multiple shots. At least one of the shots struck the intruder in the head. It is understood Kerr, who flew into LAX on October 5 after attending Paris Fashion Week and was last spotted leaving the Malibu property on Sunday, was not at home at the time. Whenever US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton steps out, every detail of her outfit typically her trademark trousers suit is analysed from colour to cuff to designer. Despite currently leading the race to the White House winning the first two debates, many headlines continue to focus on her appearance: "Our lady of the pantsuit," "Hillary Clinton's style win", "Hillary Clinton and Melania Trump: Battle of the pantsuits", "People are Googling why Hillary Clinton only wears pants", "Is Ralph Lauren going to be Hillary Clinton's dresser in chief?" The same can't be said for her Republican candidate Donald Trump. Apart from questions arising about the veracity of his strawberry-blond combover and jibes about his tangerine glow, there has been little commentary based on his appearance, particularly his preferred uniform of a presidential blue suit, white shirt and red tie. Ironically, Trump has made a sport out of objectifying women, measuring their worth based on their looks and bragging about getting away with sexual assault because of his "star" status. When the op-shop opened in April, Wright, 39, was a guest of honour. But what she saw in the village, 1.5 hours' drive from Katharine, made a lasting impression for other reasons. "Within days, my Facebook post was shared 28,000 times. I thought I would get 15 bags of clothes. In the end we got 500 bags from all over the country," the director of Toni&Guy hair salons at Bondi Beach and Randwick, NSW, said. A friend who works with the Northern Territory Aboriginal community asked the Bondi hairdresser for help with an idea. Could she rally for second-hand clothing to sell in the remote community's new charity op-shop? Alima from Jilkminggan, with Kelly Wright. Alima is the same age as Wright's son. Credit:Deciding to Make a Difference The community of 300 is flooded regularly throughout the year, forcing families to overcrowd homes on higher ground. The badly corroded infrastructure has had no updates in 17 years. "I was astonished at the conditions in which these people live. I realised that if I don't do something, I become part of the problem," says Wright, a mother-of-two who left the UK in 1999. "I fell in love with a girl who is the same age as my son and it was devastating for me to know that in Australia, a little girl is going to grow up without the same opportunities he will have," she recalls. "I made her a promise that she will get the same opportunities as my kids. Once you make a promise, you have to see it through." By the time she had driven to Darwin on the way back to Sydney, she had written a business plan in her mind. At the airport, she started a presentation and when she arrived at home in Bondi, she had the outline of her new charity, Deciding to Make a Difference. On Friday, I felt this crashing pain, like something was dropping. I waited a couple of hours before going to Fairfield Hospital, where the nurses came and listened to the baby. I went into labour, the nurses kept whispering and the doctors came in and they left without saying anything. I was desperately hoping the baby was OK but I knew it wasn't and they wouldn't tell me. I gave birth at 10.15 on Saturday night. Still to this day, I can count the tiles in that room. There was no pain medication, not even paracetamol. I was doing anything I could to get through it. I could hear babies being born and crying because I was in the labour suite. I was a secondary priority. They wouldn't let my husband and my mum come in and see me. I was on my own the whole time. There was no aftercare, all I can remember is them saying that the baby was a boy and that he had been born still. The last thing I remember was them whisking the baby away. I didn't see him or touch him. It was like nothing was there, it was gone. That night they wheeled me into a room with a lady who had a live baby and I was in there for two days with her. The pain of her baby coming in and out was intolerable.. Visitors would say 'Oh, where's your baby?' I really just wanted to die, I thought I was such a failure, why did this lady have a live baby and my baby died? They said that he looked perfect. I don't believe that they did an autopsy. They sent me home on the Monday and they didn't tell me that my milk would come in after three days. The doctor asked my husband to go around and pick up some tablets - they were male hormone tablets to stop the milk coming in. I just remember standing, sobbing in the shower. We were never asked to organise a funeral for Ben, they only asked my husband for $20 to arrange for 'disposal of the body'. Did they put him in the garbage? What did they do with him? I was never able to find out. A few weeks later, I asked if I could have a birth certificate or a death certificate, they said 'No, he was never born'." Patsy Healy, a director at WN Bull Funerals in Sydney, delivered her stillborn girl, Melissa, in September 1991. She has two adult children. "I was at work when I went into labour. We dropped our daughter with friends and headed to King George V Hospital. Off we trotted, I was 34 weeks and didn't think too much about it until ultrasound testing and the nurse couldn't detect a heartbeat - she didn't tell me, a registrar came in and spoke to the nurse and my husband eventually said, 'Please talk to us.' The registrar said 'Your baby's perished.' To me, those words didn't fit the situation - tyres perish. I remember vividly this beautiful nurse and it was the first time she had heard a mother being told her baby had died. Then I had to give birth. It was too late for a lot of pain relief. That was the most difficult bit, knowing that the labour wasn't going to stop and that I was going to deliver a dead baby. They took a Polaroid photo of her, which I was given. That was the last I saw of her. I never did get to hold her. Our elder daughter named her Melissa. She would have been 25 last month. She was deformed and we learnt later that she would not have survived for long. They had nowhere to put me. They couldn't put me on the maternity ward, so I ended up on a surgery ward. My boss came to me in hospital the next day and I asked him to look after Melissa, he helped us make the funeral arrangements and brought her to the crematorium and arranged a service. It's an intensely intimate time. They gave us all these leaflets and so on. You're a logical adult but it's really hard to ring up and say 'Hi, my baby died, I need help.' No-one approached us and asked if we needed support. In those days, we couldn't register the birth, that later changed, so I do have a document that shows that she was delivered. It's awkward for a lot of people afterwards. Last week you were pregnant and this week you're not and you don't have a baby to show for it." Penny Ryan gave birth to stillborn boy, Max, in Sydney in 2006. She now works part-time at the Stillbirth Foundation. Penny Ryan, Adam Perrett and their boys Harper, 9, and Monty, 7. Credit:aStillbirth Foundation "It was my first pregnancy, I was 30, fit and healthy. I didn't fit any risk category, it was a fairly uneventful pregnancy and I was in the last few weeks. I noticed that the baby had stopped moving as much. Whenever I mentioned it, [doctors] said 'There, there, don't stress, it's just bunkering down.' I went into labour naturally at 40 weeks and five days. They make you wee in a cup and then they pop you on a bed and measure the heartbeat and that's when we were told they couldn't find a heartbeat. We had Max at RPA, they were pretty amazing, they looked after us beautifully. The labour was 12 hours, when he was born, we got to name him, hold him. My parents drove up, my midwife was with me the whole time. We were given a room on the maternity ward, but set back. We had a double bed and they allowed Max to stay with us, family and friends came and visited me and met Max. I was in for two days. He slept between my partner and I. I was discharged then readmitted as my blood pressure went through the roof and was put on the antenatal ward. The doctor clearly hadn't read his notes and asked me how many weeks pregnant I was. What was really lacking for me was emotional support afterwards. I didn't want to have to explain myself over and over again. There were no specific stillbirth resources and I was sent a leaflet on how to sleep safely with my baby. I had clear signs and a gut instinct that something wasn't quite right but nobody listened. We agreed to have an autopsy done as part of a Sydney stillbirths study. Their best bet was that I had subclinical preeclampsia. When we got the result, we had to go to the labour ward, then into a doctor's office, all the doctors were kicked out and we were given our results there. There was no privacy. We chose to have Max cremated and we had a service in the park. His ashes are on a shelf in the kitchen, my two boys who were born after him put things up there to keep him company." Lauren Malcolm and Shane Baggett, from Sydney, had a stillborn son, Landon, in 2015. Lauren Malcolm and Shane Baggett. Credit:Stillbirth Foundation "Landon was born on the May 5, 2015. I was at work, my wife said she just felt a bit different and went up to the doctor to check what was happening. They couldn't find a heartbeat. We went into the mode of 'Wow, is this really happening?' It changed our whole world. It was just by chance that we met a counsellor through the hospital, we had her around to help guide us through the whole series of checks and ultrasounds. My wife had to be induced, we felt helpless, we were in the maternity ward at Prince of Wales Private. Knowing that there are all these babies around you getting born, it's a hard thing to cop. It's still very, very hard to cope with everyday. I have a photo in my office of my little girl and my little boy, one is alive and one is not. I talk about him, there is stigma attached, but he is something that I'm very, very proud of. There's no real education as such, if you have a stillbirth, there were no pamphlets, there was nothing support-wise had the hospital not had a counsellor. I don't know how we would have survived without her. The hospital was immensely accommodating. There was an insensitive doctor and I went straight to the nursing staff and complained. We were so lost, it was just so foreign to us. We spent a good day and night with him. We took photographs, we dressed him, we named him. We had a cremation. Our counsellor helped us with a funeral plan. They put him in a little nest, we spent time with him the day before his funeral and took foot prints and handprints. This is a little human life. If he had taken one breath, it would be a whole different world of medical reaction. It's treated completely differently. This has happened to a lot of families. Once you're in this club, you find out the club has been there for a long, long time - and that it is bigger than you ever realised." 2016 and moving ahead: Victoria Bowring is general manager of the Stillbirth Foundation. She is fighting for funding and awareness of stillbirth "There's so much still to be done. Six babies a day are stillborn everyday - it's a statistic that has remained about the same for the last couple of decades and is the leading cause of death for children under 12 months. These days, stillborn babies are issued with birth and death certificates, they are considered lost children. There is still a taboo, still a large percentage of the population who don't see it that way. For every one baby that dies with SIDS there are 35 babies stillborn. We need education, much like we've had around SIDS. We're ready to start a national health campaign around the risk factors and prevention methods so that we can start to drive down the rate. Up to a third of stillbirths in Australia are possibly preventable. So those dividend stalwarts have struggled. The "cheap" stocks you bought, because you're a value investor haven't delivered. And it's not even a problem we can sheet home to the mining bust or underperforming banks. As fund manager Perpetual points out, "Since the GFC, value-oriented equity strategies have underperformed their growth counterparts not just in Australia but around the world. Rather than revert to the mean, cheap stocks have exhibited a frustrating pattern of staying cheap. Meanwhile, almost any company delivering growth (seemingly regardless of whether it's organic or purchased) has experienced significant multiple expansion." Keep your ear to the ground for financial advice. Credit:Viki Lascaris Being a defensive investor has been tough over the last few years. Well, more than the last few years, really. Not only have the value crowd been hurting, but those who have been predicting doom and gloom have suffered, too. If you were getting your portfolio ready for disaster by avoiding "growth" stocks that were going to suffer most in a downturn you've fallen behind. Normally, of course, cash would be a safe haven for the defensive investor. With term deposit rates delivering maybe 2 or 3 per cent, you might have saved your money from volatility but unless you have millions stashed away, it's hard to live on. Now, if avoiding volatility at all costs is your aim, I don't have a better solution than cash, but remember, the "at all costs" bit isn't just a rhetorical flourish dodging ups and downs really will cost you. But if, like me, you know that earning decent returns means embracing a little volatility, where's the best place for a defensive investor to put their hard-earned? First, ignore the crowd. The usual suspects read: banks have been even worse than the cash in them, with only the Commonwealth Bank showing a positive capital return over the past 12 months. Annie is 57 years old and like many women, notwithstanding that she has worked part time for 26 years, has relatively few cash savings to show for her efforts. In fact, although she is university educated and has worked as a professional all these years, she only has about $20,000 in the bank and a little over $100,000 in her employer super fund. Annie attributes this largely to the fact that school fees for their three sons were funded from her income. Annie and her husband are going through a rough patch and while she is hopeful that they will stay together, she is understandably feeling quite vulnerable at this time. There is however one big difference between Annie and many other women who have found themselves in a similar situation. Before Annie met her husband and when she was working full-time, she had used her some of her spare cash to purchase shares in the initial public offerings during the 1990s. She invested $2000 each in the Commonwealth Bank, Telstra and healthcare company CSL. With the benefit of time and the reinvestment of all her dividends, these shareholding have now grown in value to almost $700,000. Telstra was one of the big public floats of the 1990s and 2000s. Credit:John Woudstra Annie explained she feels it was just sheer luck that she had spare cash when these companies were first offered to the public. She also explains however that some of her friends also bought into these same floats, but sold out many years ago when the share price increased using to fund car, holidays and other expenses. As a working mother she was too busy to monitor the day-to-day movement of the stocks and as such happily let them run all these years. While this story may be somewhat of an outlier, there are some useful points. As part of our exclusive Clique behind the lens series, Fairfax photographers speak about how they captured powerful photos. Fairfax photographer Janie Barrett spoke with Clique about a recent portrait of her daughter, Milla, and how she captured the beautiful moment. Janie Barrett's recent portrait of her daughter, Milla. Credit:Janie Barrett Where was this photo taken? We were on a family holiday camping at Wollemi National Park. It was a cold, wet, blustery day. I'd taken my camera and I'd see if I could take some photos when the light was at it's best, around dusk each day. The architect of the Gonski education reforms, David Gonski, is forking money out of his own pocket as part of a $5.25 million gift to needy public schools across Australia while the federal government refuses to provide billions of dollars in funding for the final two years of his reforms. But Mr Gonski, who savaged the Abbott government's backflip on school funding in 2014 for "ending the concept of aspiration", praised the Coalition government on Friday at the launch of the Schools Plus pioneers initiative, a program that has allowed tax-free private donations to public schools for the first time. "I know there will be some who will be cynical and say today's announcement is a way of indicating that government doesn't give enough money to schools," said Mr Gonski. Where do Sydney's biggest-spending foodies live? They're not in polished Paddington, or the hot spot of Potts Point. Cronulla is home to the diners who fork out the most when eating out, according to statistics from restaurant reservation website Dimmi. Amber Daines, at her local cafe The Platinum Coffee House in Gladesville, says a memorable dining experience "doesn't have to be expensive". Credit:Louise Kennerley An analysis of information provided by more than one million Dimmi subscribers found Australians each spent an average of $64 a meal when eating out in the 2015-16 financial year. But those living in beachside Cronulla spent an average of $83 per person. Residents of well-heeled Woollahra were second on the list, spending an average of $81 each time they dined out, while Gladesville, Dulwich Hill, Leichhardt and Seaforth residents spent an average of $79 each. He should have been celebrating becoming an uncle for the first time. But Mousallem Samer, 25, will instead be behind bars after he allegedly flew into a potentially cocaine-fuelled fury and had to be Tasered by police in a hospital unit where his younger sister was due to give birth. Families in the unit were evacuated as parts of Canterbury Hospital in Campsie were put into lockdown when Mr Samer lost his temper after repeatedly raising concerns about his sister's delivery with hospital staff on Friday night. Mr Samer allegedly threw his body at police and spat at them, treated hospital staff aggressively and jumped on his sister's hospital bed during the dramatic outburst. He has been charged with resisting arrest, behaving in an offensive manner, assaulting a police officer and intimidating doctors, nurses and security staff at the hospital. Former NSW premier Morris Iemma will chair a new greyhound reform panel. If this moment at which Baird, only in the job for just over a year, felt confident enough to lecture Australia's political leaders was the zenith of his political career, then his stunning backdown this week on a bid to end greyhound racing in NSW was undoubtedly its nadir. As he outlined repeatedly during his testing battle with industry and media over the past three months on the issue, he was doing what he believed was the right thing, on principle, on animal welfare grounds, regardless of the political backlash just as he had outlined in that speech in 2015. But facing the media on Tuesday to announce he would repeal legislation he determinedly drove through Parliament just six weeks earlier, Baird threw up his hands and issued an extraordinary mea culpa: "I was wrong." With that, a politician whose popularity had him at one point in the realm of the gods crashed back to earth. For one Liberal MP observing this week's dramatic events, it was a pivotal moment in Baird's leadership and the fortunes of the NSW Coalition government. "Baird likes to tell the party room regularly that if you get the policy right, then the politics will take care of themselves," the MP told Fairfax Media. "But this time it hasn't worked." "The government has had a big wake-up call that you have get both right if you're going to bring about change." As it happens, there is one aspect of Baird's speech that was particularly on the money: as soon as he announced in July this year the contentious decision to end greyhound racing from mid-2017, the backlash was fierce. Unveiling the report of a 13-month inquiry into the industry by former judge Michael McHugh, which found up to 68,000 greyhounds had been killed in the past 12 years for being too slow or unable to race, Baird and Deputy Premier and Nationals leader Troy Grant expressed their disgust. Declaring the report's findings "chilling and horrific" they announced there was no alternative to closing the industry. But sniffing the political wind, Opposition Leader Luke Foley quickly pledged the to oppose the ban and even reverse it if elected, delivering the industry an important political champion from the outset. It wasn't long before the right-wing media swung into action, led by 2GB's Alan Jones and Ray Hadley, who proceeded to unleash their full fury on Baird with daily, often personal, attacks. The pair was eagerly supported by News Corp titles The Daily Telegraph and The Australian, both of whom took firm editorial and reporting positions against the ban. (Fairfax Media supported the ban but not the way it was announced.) Suddenly, on an issue for which it strongly felt it had the moral upper hand, the Baird government was facing an unprecedented media campaign. Any attempt to seriously discuss anything other than the future of the greyhound industry was literally shouted down. That was bad enough. But an even more concerning problem lay within the Nationals, fuelled by the feared impact in regional areas, where the industry supported precious local jobs. The task facing the government changed entirely when three Nationals MPs Katrina Hodgkinson, Kevin Humphries and Chris Gulaptis broke ranks to publicly oppose a ban their leader Troy Grant was supporting. In late August, the three dissenting MPs crossed the floor to vote against the successful bill to close the industry from July 1 next year. What had been a relatively standard fight with the Labor opposition had become a raging internal battle as well. Adding to the pressure was the looming November 12 Orange byelection, which became a focal point for the anti-ban campaigners, including members of Grant's own party room. Although held by a fat margin of 21.7 per cent, speculation emerged that the Nationals were at risk of losing the seat in a greyhound-related protest vote and such a loss would threaten Grant's leadership. The consequence of the election of a new, anti-greyhound-ban Nationals leader would be the potential detonation of the Coalition itself. That, in turn, had serious consequences for Baird's leadership. As is often the case, much of the speculation was difficult to ground in fact. For instance, it was reported that Nationals internal polling had the seat at 53-47 to the Nationals, representing a swing against them of 18 per cent. In fact, Fairfax Media has confirmed the result of the poll, taken in early September, was 57-43 in favour of the Nationals. While this represented a 14 per cent swing against the Nationals, it suggests the seat was not in doubt. It is also widely accepted that talk of Grant's leadership being under threat was overstated. But that did not cut through the noise of a furious campaign. When the capitulation came, it was fast. Despite declaring on the Friday before he left for a week's holiday in late September that the July 1, 2017, industry closure date was "locked in", things changed within days. Perhaps influencing the timing was that Parliament was due to return on Tuesday for its final three weeks of sitting for the year. On Monday afternoon, having returned from his holiday the day before, Baird met with John Keniry, the man he had appointed to guide the industry through its transition to closure. According to Baird, Keniry told him and Grant that his view, having engaged with the industry, was that there was now "a deep appetite for change". Baird has since explained it was this briefing, along with the "community feedback", that led to the decision to back down. It also offered the pair at least some cover for a spectacular reversal. They wasted no time. The same evening, former NSW premier Morris Iemma was approached to chair a new greyhound reform panel. Later that evening, Baird headed off to what has been widely viewed as a peace-making dinner with Jones in his apartment in the "Toaster" building at East Circular Quay. Once cabinet signed off on the back-down on Tuesday morning, Baird was soon fronting the media, helping himself to a large serving of humble pie. So where did he go wrong? Opinion polls, including one commissioned by Fairfax Media, show a majority of NSW voters supported the industry ban, but this was not apparently enough for Baird to hold the line. The main criticism, even from Baird's supporters, is that a decision to close an entire industry particular for a Liberal government should have been put out for significant public discussion. Yet Baird and his cabinet made the announcement as a fait accompli. Why? One theory being put forward this week is that the election victory went to his head; that he was suffering from a Messiah complex. Proponents of this theory point to not just the greyhound decision, but also issues such as council amalgamations, that have helped cement a narrative fed by Jones and others that the government has grown arrogant and unwilling to listen. Certainly Baird and his government have taken a sharp dive in the opinion polls since the election. A Fairfax Media-commissioned ReachTel poll in August had the Coalition and Labor at 50-50 on a two-party preferred basis a 4 percentage point shift compared with the 2015 election result. The bigger shock for Baird was a preferred premier result which showed Foley outrating him 51-49 per cent. Last month's Newspoll recorded a two-party preferred result of 51-49 in favour of the Coalition and Baird's performance figures slipped into negative territory for the first time. The thousands of comments posted to Baird's Facebook account in response to his greyhound back-down announcement will give him no comfort that the reversal is the way to claw back that lost support. "You're a disgrace," posted one angry constituent. "How much does a soul go for these days, Mike Baird?" asked another. Of the 6400 posts responding to Baird's explanation on Facebook, about two-thirds were overtly negative. In response to the question "Do you respect Mike Baird for admitting that he made a mistake in banning greyhound racing?" 54 per cent of the 800-strong Sydney Morning Herald readers' panel responded they did not, 37 per cent said they did and 9 per cent didn't know. The episode has also given the Foley opposition a much-needed shot in the arm. Accused of political opportunism and mocked as a "man of principle" by Baird for his opposition to the greyhound ban, the Opposition Leader has returned fire, with interest. "The Premier said that he was a man of principle, a man of conviction," Foley declared after the reversal. "Where are Mr Baird's principles today? I'm calling out a search party for them. Who's the man of principle now?" Among Baird's parliamentary colleagues, however, the sense of relief is palpable. "Delighted," one Liberal MP commented. Most argue that Baird's mea culpa has ended the bloodletting and they can get on with the business of governing. Another Liberal MP described Baird as "empowered", comparing the move favourably to former prime minister John Howard or former Queensland premier Peter Beattie, both acknowledged masters of the school of "I was wrong" politics. Another praised how Baird executed his back-down but offered a warning: "He can't do it again. You can't come back for seconds." For one MP, the episode marks the point at which Baird is expected to be a more consultative leader with the public, his cabinet and his party. "This is the end of Mike Baird, Mark 1 but the start of Mike Baird, Mark 2," the MP suggested. "It's the making of the man." Street racing charges against an international student have been withdrawn following a crash in Sydney's west that left two men dead and a third critically injured in February. Police have dropped allegations that Ahshanul Fakhru, 27, was taking part in an illegal street race along Canterbury Road in Belmore, which led to the crash. The Toyota Aurion "disintegrated" on impact when it crashed on Canterbury Road in Belmore, police said. Credit:Nine News It had previously been alleged that Fakhru was racing against his close friends in a Nissan Skyline when the Toyota Aurion in which they were travelling lost control and "basically disintegrated when it hit a power pole". The driver of the Toyota, Fahim Rahman Anik, and his front-seat passenger, Saqlarn Hasan, both 20-year-old students from Bangladesh, died. He starts again. "I have a lot of faith in Mike Baird his true interests lie in what's best for the state and the people and he doesn't make decisions out of self-interest so I'm confident over time that if there are changes made then he will continue to mould it until we get to the right place." Is he pleased to hear of the possibility of rollbacks? "Yes." What would he like to see done? "Maybe the right scenario is the lockouts go to 2am I think 1:30's a bit too early I think 2 o'clock is probably a more reasonable time. "But then I think a 3 o'clock finish is not right if you're a shift worker, a hospitality worker, and you finish work, at 2am you want to go out and have a drink, you want to go and socialise with your friends. The city should still be vibrant at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and in the venues and that you feel when you go out of the venues you feel safe in the streets." You want to stay open til 4? "At least 4 o'clock there are enough controls in place, we can't let people get drunk in venues." "We need a vibrant city, we're an international city and we need a level of vibrancy. We need to have a respectful and safe community I think we test certain measures and see how effective they are but the current ones are detrimental to our city Melbourne's laughing at us, saying come to Melbourne." Hemmes says he has not raised his concerns directly with the government or the premier. Nor does he complain his business has been adversely affected by the lockouts. At 44, Hemmes is firmly in control of the family empire. It's 18 months since the death of his father John after a lengthy battle with cancer and he and partner Kate Fowler have a daughter, Alexa, who's about to turn one. Arriving at Long Chim (which is not owned by Merivale), Hemmes is immediately checking out the kitchen, inspecting the fittings and taking in the room. Chef David Thompson quickly learns Hemmes is in the house and comes to greet him and check how hungry we are before offering to bring out some dishes. Menu cast aside, Hemmes is full of praise. "He's brilliant." Have you tried to lure him to one of your venues? There's an awkward silence. "We've chatted," says Hemmes with a laugh, before tucking into an entree of chive cakes and satay chicken. A myriad of Hemmes family private companies control Merivale, making tracking the fortunes of the overall empire difficult. The parent company Hemmes Group primarily invests in a range of subsidiaries, such as Hemmes Trading which runs a series of the better-known venues. Justin Hemmes himself has appeared only once in BRW's Young RIch List nearly a decade ago valued at some $37 million. While Hemmes is known for his hospitality nous and a reinvention of the Sydney hospitality scene over the past 15 years, he acknowledges Merivale's business success depends as much on a more common Sydney industry: property development. The business typically buys attractive sites or spaces of interest which Hemmes, along with his sister Bettina, refurbishes to create a hospitality hub in the area that improves the value of the property. Various reports over the past few years have put the value of that property portfolio at somewhere around $500 million. "It's two hats, property investor and developer and the hospitality business. I love property, the operating side of the business is to enhance the value of the property and to pay the rent, or the interest. "It serves two purposes. Basically it builds the value of the land. My passion is creating venues for people." He didn't get into the property and hospitality double act knowingly. "My father had incredible passion for property and he always tried ot instil that into me. I went into the hospitality side of things first, i enjoyed it. I enjoyed the interaction with people. I enjoyed the serving side of things. I went into construction and I worked on a construction site that's when I fell in love with property I spent two years on a construction site and that was the best thing that ever happened to me. " Merivale's dual business model has helped it avoid the perennial boom and bust cycle of Sydney's pub industry and allowed Hemmes to redevelop an outmoded beer barn culture with tastes customers have developed as they have increasingly travelled the world over the past two decades. Merivale has so far largely hugged the Sydney coast, with the furthest west he's gone is Alexandria and Enmore so how about pushing west, like Parramatta? "Parramatta probably would be a good place to open. There's so much happening there. Nothing's ruled out. "The success of the business allows us the scope to grow. We're not sellers everything we build we're building it for ourselves. We use cash generated from the business, we reinvest back into the company and our lovely friends at the bank facilitate and help us grow. Two police officers have been charged and will face court after an 8-year-old Aboriginal boy was allegedly left alone in the "rear pod of a police caged vehicle" for almost an hour. The boy was put into the back of a paddy wagon when he was picked up by an officer at Coraki in northern NSW on April 13 at around 1.30pm. The mother with her 8-year-old son, who was allegedly locked in a paddy wagon for almost an hour. Credit:ABC News He was suspected of committing malicious damage and was taken back to Coraki Police station, where he was allegedly left in the back of the police car, apparently forgotten. He was left there for "a period of about 50 minutes", a NSW Police statement said. The boy's mother told the Northern Star in April she left work as soon as she heard her son had been put in a paddy wagon. An armed teenager who allegedly held her own grandmother hostage at the Gold Coast overnight has been charged. Police declared an emergency situation about 9.30pm on Thursday night after reports a woman, 61, was being held in a house on Cotlew Street by a woman armed with a knife. Police surrounded the home and negotiated with the armed 17-year-old woman, who was taken into custody about 4am. The woman's alleged grandmother was transported to Gold Coast University Hospital with minor injuries. The Supreme Court was on Tuesday presented with photos of Mr Tostee and Ms Wright taken on Mr Tostee's phone the night Ms Wright died. Credit:Twitter/7 News He said if the jury was satisfied the defendant had instilled fear and terror into Ms Wright then he caused her death as much as if he'd pushed her. Mr Cash argued Mr Tostee used excessive force in responding to Ms Wright throwing ornamental rocks at him. The pair were captured on CCTV meeting for the first time face to face in the hours before her fatal fall. The court heard Ms Wright had "probably" unlawfully assaulted Mr Tostee earlier in the evening, before she plunged to her death from his balcony. He "wrestled" with her, restrained her "for some time", and appeared to have brought the situation under control fairly quickly, Mr Cash said. "His dominance of her is positioning such that she is no danger," he said. The prosecutor asked the jury to consider whether Mr Tostee's response was a reasonable use of force. The jury was again played excerpts of an audio recording taken on the defendant's phone on the night. It heard Mr Tostee tell her she was lucky he hadn't thrown her off the balcony, call her a "goddamn psycho little bitch" and order her out of his apartment, and her screams of "no, no, no". Further along in the recording, Mr Cash suggested the sounds heard were "gurgling" as he alleged Mr Tostee was restricting the deceased's breathing, possibly by a chokehold, for at least 45 seconds. On Thursday, pathologist Dianne Little said there was no physical evidence Ms Wright had been choked or strangled but agreed there was a small possibility such an act could occur without leaving a mark. Mr Cash said the defendant used "excessive force" in restraining the "petite" Ms Wright and if she had armed herself with a clamp or telescope found in the room, that was "perfectly legitimate". "She is by this point defending herself against the conduct of the defendant rather than the other way around," Mr Cash said. Mr Cash played the section of audio captured as Ms Wright was forced out onto the balcony, saying she was experiencing "terror, bordering on hysteria". Mr Tostee, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murder. The trial continues. Timeline of Warriena Wright's final night Based on CCTV and audio recording exerts tendered in murder trial Thursday, August 7, 2014 8.46pm - Gable Tostee and Warriena Wright meet for their Tinder date on Cavill Ave, Gold Coast. 8.50pm - Mr Tostee buys a six-pack of beer from BWS. 8.53pm - They get into lift at his block of units. Last time Ms Wright is seen alive. Friday, August 8, 2014 Mr Tostee starts recording audio on his mobile phone at 1.05am 2.14am - Mr Tostee: "You have to leave." Ms Wright: "It's all good." Tostee: "You're f---ing insane." 2.15am - Mr Tostee: "You're lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony, you goddamn little psycho b----." 2.17am - Mr Tostee: "I'm gonna let you go, I'm gonna walk you out of this apartment just the way you are. You're not going to collect any belongings, you're just going to walk out. I'm gonna slam the door on you. If you try to pull anything I'll knock you out, I'll knock you the f--- out." Heavy breathing then crashing sound 2.20am - Mr Tostee: "You just don't understand. Let go! You think if you hit me I'll just fall down like in the movies?" Ms Wright: (screaming) "No, no, no, no, no. Just let me go home." Mr Tostee: "I would but you have been a bad girl." Ms Wright: (screaming) "I want to go home, I want to go home." Distant scream followed by loud heavy breathing 2.22am - Mr Tostee: "Shit." (call goes to voicemail) "Where the f--- are my keys?" 2.23am - Gets out of lift on ground floor, paces around, goes back in. 2.25am - Gets out of lift in basement, leaves building via car park. 3.07am - Mr Tostee continues walking around Gold Coast entertainment precinct. 3.11am - Orders and eats pizza from Cavill Ave shop. Mr Tostee calls father An outdoor kitchen area north-west of Brisbane was the battleground for two male pythons who wrestled it out for the attention of a nearby female. Owner of the property Murray Paas, who knows of at least one python living in the ceiling of his bedroom, said he wasn't too surprised when he saw the tail of a python in the kitchen area on Sunday. Two pythons battling it out in Dayboro. Credit:Murray Paas "I saw the tail of this guy and was going to move him outside but he moved off quickly and went under a table," he said. "I went around the other side and witnessed the start of the battle." Donald Trump may have had a chance to win the election if he had remained more "disciplined", former Queensland premier Peter Beattie says. Mr Beattie, who spent several years in the US serving as Queensland's Los Angeles-based trade commissioner, said the 2016 presidential race was "the most extraordinary election campaign in the history, I think, of the United States". He said there was a huge anti-Washington sentiment in the US, and the middle class had suffered badly with set-backs in the economy. "Hillary's not a good campaigner, she's a shocker. If he (Trump) had been disciplined, he may well have had a chance," Mr Beattie said. The federal government has relied on fewer than five departmental investigators across Australia to probe child care fraud estimated to run into the billions of dollars. As state and federal education ministers scramble to deal with the long-standing rorting of Family Day Care subsidies, a Fairfax Media investigation has found the national Child Care Fraud Investigations Team has been overwhelmed for months. Foundations Family Day Care director Kathi Hewitson: "The lack of oversight is astounding." Credit:Simon Schluter Earlier this year, the team had just four investigators three based in Canberra and one based in Perth examining suspected Family Day Care rorting worth millions of dollars. An additional two investigators in Sydney were unavailable because one was suffering from ill health and the second was rarely at work. Sources within the department and law enforcement confirmed that while the investigation team's most serious criminal cases are, on rare occasions, picked up by an Australian Federal Police taskforce, dozens of important matters have not been adequately investigated. Victoria's overcrowded maximum security psychiatric hospital could be substantially expanded to cope with the number of inmates who need to be transferred from Victoria's prisons. An independent review into patient safety sparked by a cluster of potentially preventable baby deaths at a Bacchus Marsh Hospital has also found the bed-strapped Thomas Embling Hospital, the only hospital in the state that treats people found not guilty because of mental impairment, urgently needed resources. Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield Credit:Eddie Jim In April this year, Easton Woodhead, 21, the ex Melbourne Grammar student who stabbed homeless man Wayne 'Mouse' Perry to death in 2014, was reported to have spent at least five months in prison waiting for a bed to become available at Thomas Embling. In August, staff at the hospital went on strike to demand greater protection after hundreds of attacks from violent patients in recent months raised safety fears. A bushfire in the state's north that's razed over a million hectares has now burnt ten kilometres into a Kimberley wildlife sanctuary, with fire crews scrambling to contain it. Fire crews and volunteers have been battling the blaze since late September after it was sparked by a lightning strike at Ellenbrae Station in the Kimberley. The fire has burned over a million hectares. Credit:@awconservancy Despite their best efforts in hot, blustery conditions, the fire has moved steadily toward the Mornington-Marion Downs Wildlife Sanctuary, breaking containment lines on Thursday with strong winds fanning the flames into the protected area described as 'a showcase for conservation in northern Australia." WA's Act-Belong-Commit campaign has got the attention of Denmark and will be carried out nationwide over a two-year trial. This will be the first international application of the campaign and other countries have also shown an interest, including the US, England, Canada, Japan, Fiji, the Faroe Islands and Mongolia. WA's Act-Belong-Commit campaign has got the attention of Denmark and will be carried out nationwide over a two-year trial. Credit:Tanya Lake The WA Mental Health Commission provided Curtin University with more than $500,000 to apply the campaign over 2015-2016 and it will continue into next year. Over the past eight years, the Federal Liberal Government has been contributing to the campaign's application. One of Perth's richest streets, Jutland Parade in Dalkeith, has been cordoned-off after a pool maintenance worker inhaled toxic chemicals and was rushed to hospital on Friday afternoon. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services confirmed a worker was taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital after mixing a 25 litre tub of either sulphuric or hydrochloric acid with chlorine in a resident's backyard. DFES has been called in to safely remove 25 litres of pool chemicals from a home in Dalkeith. (File image) Credit:Nick Moir "A woman called triple-0 at 1.43pm and said she had some people doing some pool maintenance and they'd mixed some chemicals together," a DFES spokesman said. "At 2.46pm, two men in gas suits entered the premise to retrieve products and disperse them into the pool. A group of juvenile credit card scammers using ride-sharing service Shofer seem to be continuing on their crime spree - despite two of their members being charged by WA Police in August. WA Police issued a statement two months ago, when the Technology Crime Services department received reports of fraudulent credit card activity occurring throughout Australia. The group seems to be using stolen credit cards to buy items - then seeks either a cash refund or uses ride-sharing to go pick them up. Credit:Jim Rice The group allegedly used stolen credit card details in order to pay for services such as cinema tickets, fast food, hotel accommodation and clothing over the phone or online. Once the order was made, they would attempt to obtain a cash refund or use a ride-sharing service to collect goods. The wife of paramedic Wesley Ackerman, who was critically injured in an ambulance crash on Monday, has released a statement saying the family is taking his recovery "one day at a time." Mr Ackerman has been fighting for his life in Royal Perth Hospital for five days following a head-on collision involving an ambulance and ute. On Friday he reportedly began responding to hospital staff by blinking, nodding and shaking hands. Odile Ackerman has thanked the community, hospital staff and St John Ambulance for their "unbelievable" support. Washington: Americans travelling to Cuba will be allowed to take home more of the communist-ruled island's coveted cigars and rum under new measures announced by the US government to further ease trade, travel and financial restrictions that have been in place for decades. Cuba welcomed the steps announced on Friday, part of President Barack Obama's effort to make his historic opening to Cuba "irreversible" by the time he leaves office in January, but said they did not go far enough. The latest in a series of new rules since the former Cold War foes began normalising relations in 2014 will allow Cubans to buy certain US consumer goods online, open the door for Cuban pharmaceutical companies to do business in the United States and let Cubans and Americans do joint medical research. For American travellers, the biggest change is the removal of limits on the amount of rum and cigars they can pack in their luggage, strictly for personal use. Bordeaux: In a dank flat in south-western France, 23-year-old Nasir stares at a living room wall bare except for a list of emergency numbers. Here, he contemplates life for his asylum-seeking family outside the migrant camp in Calais that had become home. Nasir volunteered his family for resettlement days before France is expected to begin dismantling the violence-ridden camp in Calais known as the "Jungle", where disease is rife and traffickers prey on individuals desperate to reach Britain. Migrants cycle through smoke on the outskirts of the Calais 'Jungle' camp. Credit:Getty Images The two-storey apartment block in Merignac, a sprawling suburb of Bordeaux, is one of about 160 so-called reception centres where President Francois Hollande's Socialist government plans to temporarily re-house the Jungle's dwellers. There are few signs of the social workers Nasir is told will visit frequently, but Merignac's town hall has given the family food vouchers worth 80 euros ($115) for the week. Bangkok: The International Criminal Court has bluntly warned Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that he could face prosecution over extrajudicial killings in his deadly crackdown on drugs that has left more than 3600 Filipinos dead since July 1. The court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she was "deeply concerned" about thousands of alleged killings in the Philippines and statements by "high officials" who "seem to condone such killings". "Any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing, in any manner, to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the [court] is potentially liable to prosecution before the court," she said. The Philippines is a member state of the court in The Hague, which has the authority to prosecute individuals for crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Ivyland, Pennsylvania: When Donald Trump is in trouble with women voters, he has often called on his daughter Ivanka, an executive and entrepreneur as smooth as he is rough-hewn, as calming as he is potentially alarming. Ivanka Trump, 34, had attacked the "false narrative" of her father's misogyny on television a month ago, and she declared in the northern spring that he was "not a groper" in response to a New York Times account of his treatment of women. It was she who persuaded her father to add child care support to his policy proposals. She returned to the campaign trail on Thursday for the first time since the emergence of a recording of Donald Trump vulgarly describing how he liked to grab women by the genitals and force kisses on them. On a carefully stage-managed swing through the Philadelphia suburbs, Ivanka Trump avoided mentioning the 2005 recording or a series of accusations by women who said the Republican nominee had gone beyond braggadocio to active groping. Rescue workers search through rubble in rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Mr Assad told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda on Friday that he regarded Aleppo as a "stepping stone" to taking back control of the entire country. "It's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to another areas, to liberate other areas from the terrorists," he said. "This is the importance of Aleppo now." Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff this week insisted no civilians in Aleppo had been targeted by Russian planes. Credit:AP Mr Putin this week pledged that Russia won't give in to "blackmail and pressure" over its military campaign in Syria. He accused the US of whipping up "anti-Russian hysteria" after his country vetoed a French-proposed UN Security Council resolution on October 8 demanding an immediate halt to Russian and Syrian air strikes in Aleppo. The meeting in Switzerland on Saturday marks the first attempt at diplomacy since a US-Russian cease-fire agreement hammered out over months of negotiations collapsed in acrimony in September after only a week. The main goal for the Lausanne talks is to get a cessation of hostilities in place, particularly in and around Aleppo, and to get humanitarian aid delivered, US State Department spokesman John Kirby said in Washington. The Syrian "situation can only be resolved diplomatically," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Thursday, reiterating previous statements that Mr Obama doesn't believe there's a military solution to the crisis. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday called the situation in Aleppo a "humanitarian catastrophe" and accused the rebels of using civilians trapped there as "human shields." Russian and Syrian bombing in Aleppo has eased only slightly after a punishing wave of strikes from late September to early October that opposition activists said killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed hospitals, sparking international condemnation. Bolstering Assad Last week, the failure of the peace effort and the stepped-up bombing of Aleppo prompted US Secretary of State John Kerry to say that Russia and Syria may be culpable for war crimes for what he called a deliberate campaign to terrorise civilians. But the offensive will go on until the northern city falls, said Frants Klintsevich, deputy head of the defense and security committee in Russia's upper house of parliament. "This will be a turning-point it will immediately resolve all the problems with the terrorists. Once we take the city, the Americans won't be able to defend them." After Aleppo, the next target will be the other remaining rebel stronghold, the north-western city of Idlib, which would hand the government control over all major urban centres in Syria except for Raqqa, the capital of the self-declared caliphate of Islamic State, Mr Klintsevich said. Russia, whose intervention in Syria last year bolstered Mr Assad after he faced the risk of defeat, is anxious to accelerate its military gains in Syria before the US has time to try and reverse them, said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Moscow-based Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, a research group that advises the Kremlin. The US is examining ways to provide more weapons to the opposition via allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, according to a US administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. A European diplomat said the aim is to change the balance of forces on the grounds by supplying rebels with sophisticated defensive weapons, though not shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons known as Manpads. The Obama administration has refused to supply Manpads for fear they would end up in the hands of Islamic State or other jihadists. Applying pressure Robert Ford, a former US ambassador to Syria who's now a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said supplying arms for the Syrian rebels is a way of applying pressure on Russia "to make the point that there must be a return to the cease-fire and to the negotiating table." Even though it won't prevent the capture of Aleppo, it might slow the offensive, he said. Harbor View:--- The President of the Commonwealth of Dominica His Excellency Charles A. Savarin and First Lady Clara J. Savarin were welcomed today by the Governor of Sint Maarten His Excellency Eugene B. Holiday and First Lady Marie-Louise Holiday upon arrival at the Cabinet of the Governor of Sint Maarten. It is the first time that the excellences and first ladies met each other. Parties spoke privately in the Governors office where they exchanged views on the relations between the people of Sint Maarten and the Commonwealth of Dominica. Withholding information on a female employee that got preferential treatment from the management of USZV. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Inspectorate is getting a hard time to get USZV to fully cooperate in turning over information to them as they began the scheduled audit on medical referrals. SMN News tried to obtain information on at least two cases that raised eyebrows, where it can be considered that proper procedures were not followed when it comes to medical referrals. USZV said they conducted an internal investigation but were not willing to turn over that information for the sake of clarity. Director USZV Glen Carty admitted that at least one mistake was made with the referral of the USZV staff but said that mistake is rectifiable. Carty said the person who arranged the medical referral made a mistake when they booked the patient at the Renaissance. When press for more information regarding the medical referral Carty then referred SMN News to the Inspectorate and even said he would have his lawyers consult with the Inspectorate to see what information they are allowed to divulge. SMN News contacted the inspectorate via email requesting the information on the two patients, one being the former partner of the Inspector General who is allegedly having an intimate relationship with a senior management staff at USZV. This alleged affair is widely rumored in the community and while Carty knows the patient is the former partner of the inspectorate he chose to refer SMN News to the Inspectorate in order to create a conflict of interest. One of the cases SMN News is seeking information on is the case of Samuel Allen Jr who was airlifted to the Dominican Republic in a comatose state. The medical referral at SMMC was signed off by a gastroenterologist instead of a trauma surgeon since there is no neurologist at the St. Maarten Medical Center. SMN News also requested information on the staff member of USZV who went to Curacao for medical check-ups. Based on investigations conducted by SMN News the patient who resides and works on St. Maarten is not known at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) that has the necessary equipment to conduct check-ups. SMN News found out that the patient had her doctor in Curacao provide her with a medical transferal letter to himself, instead of having a specialist on St. Maarten namely SMMC refer the patient abroad for further medical check-ups. A response from the Inspectorate on Thursday states the following: Referring to your e-mails dated October 11th and October 13th in which you make inquiries about 2 medical referral cases by SZV,namely Mr. S. Allen jr. and an employee of SZV, identified by you as Ms. Lijkwan, the Inspectorate would like to inform you as follows. As you may know, the Inspectorate is scheduled to audit the referral dept. of SZV. This intention to audit the department was published in the local media mid-July. Due to vacation and understaffing this has not happened yet. However, in anticipation of this audit, the Inspectorate has started an investigation of these two cases. The Inspectorate has to date not received all information it needs to perform a proper review of the cases and finalize its investigation. Once the investigation is complete, a report will be drafted. It is the duty of the Inspectorate to supervise and enforce all healthcare ordinances and regulations and achieve compliance. The Inspectorate has been given the authority and means by law to achieve this compliance, also from SZV. The healthcare arrangements SZV has in place for its employees have to be established in labor regulations which need to be submitted to the supervisory board of SZV and need to be approved by the Minister of VSA. It is the duty of the Inspectorate to make sure that these labor regulations insofar as they pertain to the medical care to be received by SZV staff and their family members ensure adequate treatment and -in that respect- that proper policy and procedures are in place to ensure that the required care is provided,that all staff members are treated equally, that the care received is of sufficient quality and that the available funds are used properly. The Inspectorate started it's investigation into the two cases in question yesterday and has received part of the requested information so far. As SZV has questioned the Inspectorate's authority to investigate referrals of SZV staff not all the requested information has been received. If SZV is unwilling to provide the Inspectorate with the rest of the information that was requested then we will be forced to take further measures. Kind regards, Ashanti van Heyningen Click here to view the official response from the Inspectorate regarding USZV and audit of medical transferrals GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI), announces a partial road closure of L.B. Scott Road from Friday night October 14. This partial road closure will take place on Friday evening from 10.00PM through 2.00AM in the vicinity of Cake House Bakery. The partial closure is related to the sewage system. Motorists and pedestrians in the area should pay keen attention when commuting as heavy equipment will be in use. Ministry VROMI apologizes for any inconveniences this may cause. L.B. Scott Road Partial Road Closure Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI), announces a partial road closure of L.B. Scott Road from Friday night October 14. This partial road closure will take place on Friday evening from 10.00PM through 2.00AM in the vicinity of Cake House Bakery. The partial closure is related to the sewage system. Motorists and pedestrians in the area should pay keen attention when commuting as heavy equipment will be in use. Ministry VROMI apologizes for any inconveniences this may cause. PHILIPSBURG:--- On October 4th, 2016 hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti as a category 4 storm. Hurricane Matthew has caused severe damage and left over 1000 fatalities in its wake. Red Cross St. Maarten is, therefore, opening its relief accounts at the Windward Islands Bank 80980900 NAF and 80980902 USD in order for the community to send emergency relief funds to Haiti. All monies received will be transferred to the Netherlands Red Cross who will add it to the Haiti relief effort. Please be mindful that we are only accepting financial donations at this time. We urge persons with relief materials to contact the various organizations who are collecting items to send to Haiti directly as we are not in the position to ship at this time. The Board and staff of Red Cross St. Maarten expresses our heartfelt condolences to the people of Haiti. Claim: An aircraft carrier unknowingly attempted to bully a lighthouse into moving out of its way. Rating: About this rating False Advertisment: A tale of the self-important aircraft carrier captain getting his well-earned comeuppance at the hands of a plain-speaking lighthouse has been making the rounds on the Internet since early 1996. Most write-ups purport to be transcripts of a 1995 conversation between a ship and a lighthouse as documented by Chief of Naval Operations: ACTUAL transcript of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. This radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10-10-95. Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision." Canadians: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision." Americans: "This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course." Canadians: "No, I say again, you divert YOUR course." Americans: "THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP." Canadians: "This is a lighthouse. Your call." It's not true. Not only does the Navy disclaim it, but the anecdote appears in a 1992 collection of jokes and tall tales. Worse, it appears in Stephen Covey's 1989 The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and he got it from a 1987 issue of Proceedings, a publication of the U.S. Naval Institute. It's far older than that, as this excerpt from a 1939 book shows: The fog was very thick, and the Chief Officer of the tramp steamer was peering over the side of the bridge. Suddenly, to his intense surprise, he saw a man leaning over a rail, only a few yards away. "You confounded fool!" he roared. "Where the devil do you think your ship's going? Don't you know I've got the right of way?" Out of the gloom came a sardonic voice: "This ain't no blinkin' ship, guv'nor. This 'ere's a light'ouse!" Even older, a one-panel 1931 cartoon that appeared in the Canadian newspaper The Drumheller Review (but listing The Humorist of London, England, as its source) displayed two men arguing through megaphones, one standing on the bridge of a ship, the other on the exterior walkway of a lighthouse, above this bit of dialogue: Skipper: Where are you going with your blinking ship? The Other: "This isn't a blinking ship. It's a lighthouse!" Slightly different versions of the e-mailed account name different ships as the one which unwillingly gained a lesson in the unimportance of self importance. Having debunked this tale a few times themselves, the U.S. Navy has a web page about this legend, one that answers what three of the commonly cited ships were doing at the time this supposedly occurred. The U.S. Navy's take on this crazy bit of faxlore is contained in the following 1996 newspaper article: The source of that story, which the Navy swears is untrue, is not known. It's a joke that has been floating around for at least 10 years, and maybe 30 to 40 years. Some think it originated in a humor column in Reader's Digest. Nobody knows for sure. But for the past four months the story of the ship and the lighthouse has been passed along, as gospel, by comedy talk-show hosts, lazy newspaper columnists and clueless cyberspace jockies until it has taken on an air of the apocryphal. It clings to Navy lore like that old captain from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." And, like Coleridge's haunted captain, the Navy is having a real tough time getting this albatross off its neck. This week the story was repeated by The New York Times News Service, quoting a Canadian newspaper. Last week it was read to a global radio audience on Michael Feldman's popular "Whad'ya Know?" program on Public Radio International. Earlier, the same network's "Car Talk" program aired the tale. In the story's current form, the ship is identified as the carrier Enterprise. In the past it involved a battleship. A version that arrived via e-mail in Norfolk from the U.S. Air Force Academy identified it as the "aircraft carrier Missouri." There is no such carrier. The Missouri is a retired battleship. Various versions carry little embellishments. An amateur-radio buff communicating via the Internet said it happened in Puget Sound. A columnist in the Montreal Gazette said it happened last fall off the coast of Newfoundland. A columnist in North Carolina quoted a local man as saying it happened off the Carolinas. "It's a totally bogus story, but over the last four months we've gotten at least 12, maybe 18 calls from different media sources trying to confirm that," said Cmdr. Kevin Wensing, an Atlantic Fleet spokesman in Norfolk. "Unfortunately, some of them don't check it out. They just repeat it. "The first time I heard of it was oh, let's see, how long about 10 years ago or so, I think. "That story's so old," Wensing said, "it probably started out back in the galleon days, or back when there was a big lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt." Dutifully, when all those reports about the carrier Enterprise began to surface, the Navy had to follow procedures and check it out. "Yes, we talked to the Enterprise," Wensing said. "It was like, "We've heard this story and we're pretty sure that it's without basis ... And their reaction was, 'What? You can't be serious.'" For the record, Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, released no such transcript on Oct. 10. Or any other time, said Cmdr. John Carman, a spokesman for the admiral. "It's a joke," Carman said, chuckling in disbelief. "And not only that, I've been told it's a real old joke. Like 30 to 40 years ago, that old." Of the many flaws in the recent version, the most glaring is that there is no longer a radio crew or any crew, for that matter on any lighthouse on the U.S. coastline. The last one was automated 10 years ago, said Lt. j.g. Ed Westfall, the lighthouse program manager for the U.S. Coast Guard's Fifth District, based in Portsmouth. Westfall said he, too, had heard the story for years, but he had a different understanding of its origin. "I always thought," he said, "it was just something one of us Coasties had made up to poke fun at the Navy." BERNINA of America Recognized BERNINA Fashion Fund Recipient During Runways & Gallery Event at Fashion X Houston Posted by Publisher Software AURORA, IL (Marketwired) 10/14/16 BERNINA of America, the premier manufacturer of sewing, embroidery and quilting machines, recognized Nicholas Phat Nguyen of Mysterious by N.P.N., a Houston-based designer, as the BERNINA Fashion Fund Recipient at Thursday nights Runways & Gallery event at Fashion X Houston held at the Silver Street Studios. During the event, Nicholas was presented with a BERNINA 330 (B 330) sewing machine and the new BERNINA L 450 Overlocker. Both machines together are valued at $2,600. The BERNINA Fashion Fund is a partnership between BERNINA and Fashion X that was established in 2014 to support local emerging designers who show incredible talent. We are pleased to recognize Mysterious by N.P.N. designer, Nicholas Phat Nguyen with a BERNINA 330 sewing machine and the new BERNINA L 450 Overlocker, said Amy Gutierrez, Director of Marketing for BERNINA of America. These two entry-level machines are a perfect combination that will give Nicholas the ability to design and produce new collections with ease and precision. BERNINA values the creativity of young, talented and emerging designers like Nicholas, who are truly the future of fashion and style. The B 330 is an entry-level sewing machine that offers a broad variety of stitches, a generous long-term memory with 30 free locations for stitch creations, a built-in needle threader, LED sewing light, and an automatic buttonhole function. For more information, visit . The L 450 Overlocker, a new entry-level machine that will be introduced in summer 2016, boasts 1,200 stitches a minute and a number of innovative features including a patented Micro Thread Control (MTC), LED sewing light for the needle and looper area, thread tension release with presser foot lift, and a 5-step Presser Foot Pressure Adjustment. Additionally, the L 450 Overlocker has the patented BERNINA Front Foot Lift, which enables sewist to easily position and guide bulky projects and multiple layers of fabric. For more information, visit . I cant tell you how thrilled I am to be recognized as the BERNINA Fashion Fund winner and to receive these two quality BERNINA machines, the B 330 sewing machine and L450 Overlocker, said Nicholas Phat Nguyen, Houston-based designer of Mysterious by N.P.N. I am excited to start using my new BERNINAs and experiencing all of their unique features and functions that will enable me to create unique designs for upcoming collections. Nicholas was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with a childhood dream of becoming a major fashion designer. As a part of a small, advanced group of students, he was awarded the opportunity to study abroad in the United States at the age of 15. When Nicholas arrived in America he was ready to pursue his dreams as a designer and devoted all of his free time to studying fashion design. Through learning all aspects of fashion design and lots of practice, he taught himself how to sew. For more information, visit . Founded in Switzerland more than 100 years ago, BERNINA is the worlds premier manufacturer with a proven reputation for offering quality state-of-the-art sewing, quilting and embroidery machines, overlockers, and embroidery software. BERNINAs leadership is marked by an impressive number of ambassadors, industry leaders, influencers and bloggers, who chose to partner with the company. BERNINA products are sold in the United States through a network of over 400 fully trained independent dealerships that also offer support and education. Select BERNINA and bernette machines, and BERNINA software can also be purchased online. BERNINA products are designed for beginning to advanced sewists and priced to meet a variety of budgets, with new products being introduced every year. You can follow BERNINA on Facebook: , Instagram: , and Pinterest: , and read BERNINAs WeAllSew blog at . To learn more about BERNINA and to find a Dealer, visit or call (630)978-2500. Image Available: Joanne Tedesco (312)780-7210 Lia Antonetti (312)780-7218 Justin Omens said a number of untrue rumors have popped on social media speculating that his mother knew the truck driver. Who did it best? Vote for the Tribune's high school football player of the week Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea Leaders of a proposed space nation called Asgardia discussed the project at a news conference in Paris on Oct. 12, 2016. The team discussed the possibility of one day building a space station, like the one shown in this artist's rendition, which they released to media outlets. PARIS A proposed space nation called Asgardia is now accepting applications for future citizens. Leaders of the Asgardia project discussed the prospective space nation at a news conference in Paris Wednesday (Oct. 12). The leaders aim to launch Asgardia's first satellite in 2017 and say they would like to eventually have a space station where some, but not all, of its planned 150 million (mostly Earth-dwelling) nationals would live and work. Asgardia, named after the Norse gods' home of Asgard, will be a democracy with an emphasis on the freedom of the individual to develop space technologies, according to Igor Ashurbeyli, Asgardia project team leader and founder. People can now apply to be selected as one of the first 100,000 citizens through the nations website, asgardia.space. At the time of publication, the number of applicants has reached more than 84,000, according to the website. While Asgardia is not officially a nation (yet), prospective citizens must fulfil the legal requirements for Asgardia's United Nations application for example, they must be from nations that allow multiple citizenships. [Incredible Technology: How to Build a Space Station Colony] Asgardia would be a nation in space, in low-Earth orbit, or beyond, the project leaders said. The Asgardia project team said they think they need at least tens of thousands of citizens before they formally apply to the U.N. for recognition (although there are 14 countries in the world with fewer than 100,000 citizens). This illustration of a futuristic-looking satellite orbiting the Earth is on the website for the Asgardia project, a mission to create a space-based country. (Image credit: James Vaughan) But, not all Asgardians need to live in space, just as citizens of an Earth-bound nation may live outside that country's borders. And Asgardians could claim to be citizens of the new state for the time being, even if Asgardia is not formally recognized by the U.N., Ashurbeiyli told Space.com, through an interpreter following the Oct. 12 news conference. The team said they also want to crowdsource Asgardia's flag design and insignia. The prospective nation is being established to "serve humanity" and for "peace in space," according to Ashurbeyli. A scientist by training, Ashurbeyli founded what is now a holding company, Socium Holding, which, according to the Asgardia website, has "more than 10,000 employees across 30 companies worldwide." According to his own website, the companies under Scoium Holding are "operating in many diverse sectors within the fields of science, technology and the social sphere." "If you look at a nations population, statistically, 2 percent of the population are creative and productive and progressive, so we hope that looking at the population of Earth, 7.5 billion, we are hoping that 150 million would be those creative progressive people [who become Asgardians]," Ashurbeyli told Space.com. He said that during citizenship selection, preference will be given to those applicants who develop and invest in space technologies. Ashurbeyli described Asgardia as a state not distracted by things like infrastructure, such as roads and hospitals. He called Asgardia " a mirror reflection of Earth in space, but without the borders, boundaries, religious constraints and without the state lines; a digital mirror reflection without all those drawbacks. We prefer dialogue with people and companies, not states[Asgardia] facilitates and inside that envelope they can create. Ram Jakhu, the director of McGill Universitys Institute of Air and Space Law in Montreal, is the Asgardia project team legal expert. Jakhu told Space.com via Skype on Oct.12 that with the selected citizens, a government and an inhabited spacecraft to call territory, Asgardia would eventually fulfill three of the four elements the U.N. needs to consider a nation as a state. The fourth is recognition by U.N. member states. During the same Skype call, Jakhu told Space.com that "if [Asgardia] does good things," then he doesn't think gaining recognition by existing U.N. member states will be a problem. "The [Asgardia] vision is very, very clear: This nation will do things to help protect the Earth and, secondly, it will be for exclusively peaceful purposes and also allowing access to developing countries that don't have that [space access]. So, if that is done, recognition will not be a major problem. If these four elements [territory, people, government and recognition] are achieved it become a state and can apply for its membership of the United Nations." No fees are required for the citizenship applications and new citizens will not be expected to contribute to the cost of the first satellite, to be called Asgardia, which the program team plans to launch in late 2017. Ashurbeyli would not provide any details about the satellite or what its function will be, but said it was "100 percent funded." Ashurbeyli said Asgardia's first satellite would be launched from one of the spacefaring nations, but the launching state (the country that will pay for the launch) would be a country with an emerging economy that is not a signatory to the Outer Space Treaty. The project team views partnering with a developing country as a way to get countries involved that have not previously had access to space. The Outer Space Treaty (OST) is an international agreement made during the Cold War in 1967, and assumes all activity in space will be led by a nation-state. Ashurbeiylj said he views the OST as restrictive, with its state actors-led approach. Ashurbeyli wants private individuals and companies to be able to act in space without direct government involvement. The OST also says that no nation-state can own territory in outer space and signatories are obliged to follow this. Partnering with a non-signatory nation would avoid such legal complications with regard to exploiting space resources, he said. Non-OST signatory African countries Ethiopia and Kenya, in particular are seen as potential candidates for the satellite's launching state. The Asgardia project team also has plans for satellites that would protect the Earth from asteroids and space debris. Asgardia project team member, Joseph Pelton, who is the director emeritus of the Space & Advanced Communications Research Institute at George Washington University, told Space.com after the news conference that the defense of the Earth would require different spacecraft. For asteroid defense, Pelton envisages a flotilla of spacecraft that would be launched to meet the huge space rock years before it reached Earth and would fire lasers at the objects surface. The laser fire would vaporize parts of the surface and the resulting jets of vapor would create enough force to slowly push the asteroid in another direction, avoiding Earth. Pelton expects Asgardia to work with Earth-based nation states to fund such a defense system. For a defense against coronal mass ejections (powerful bursts of charged particles from the sun that can damage satellites or power grids), Pelton told Space.com: "I am working with Jim Green who is head of planetary sciences at NASA and we think it might be possible to deploy a system at L1, a million and a half kilometers [930,000 miles] out, that would have one to two Tesla magnetic fields that would be like an artificial Van Allen belt." Tesla is the unit of measurement for the strength of a magnetic field (not only the name of a car company), and the L1 orbit lies between the Earth and the moon. The Van Allen belts are a collection of charged particles, gathered in place by Earths magnetic field, which deflect harmful particles from the sun. Pelton went on to describe a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space station positioned at L1, that uses solar power to create the magnetic force field to mitigate the impact of the coronal mass ejections. For these defense projects and other space technology developments, Ashurbeyli said he foresees crowdfunding as one potential source of investment capital. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. At the White House Frontiers Conference Interplanetary track on Oct. 13, experts from the space industry convened for a panel discussion about entrepreneurship that supports exploration. (From left to right: Jason Crusan of NASA; Bob Richards, CEO of Moon Express; Mike Gold, VP of Space Systems Loral; Carissa Christensen from Tauri Group; Jeffrey Manber, CEO of NanoRacks) A "renaissance" in space exploration is helping drive down the cost of going to orbit and will eventually help humanity get to Mars, said several speakers at the White House Frontiers Conference. The Interplanetary track of the event, held yesterday (Oct. 13) and broadcast via live stream, featured experts from NASA and several private companies to talk about how to make space more accessible for the private sector and the general public. At SpaceX, one of the most common T-shirt slogans seen is "Occupy Mars," said Tim Hughes, SpaceX's senior vice-president and general counsel. The company has been testing reusable versions of its Falcon 9 rocket, and a few weeks ago CEO Elon Musk talked about how this technology could help create a network of ships and rockets to get to Mars. "We want to improve upon the reliability and cost of access to space to enable things to happen," Hughes said in a panel discussion. NASA, the military and the commercial space markets will all benefit from reusable rockets, he added, and SpaceX is looking forward to employing reusable vehicles, because these vessels will already have been tested in space when they go up again. SpaceX Senior Vice President and General Counsel Tim Hughes speaks during a panel discussion on entrepreneurship in space exploration at the White House Frontiers Conference Interplanetary track on Oct. 13. (Image credit: NASA) Some lower-cost work is already taking place on the International Space Station, NanoRacks CEO Jeffrey Manber said in the same panel discussion. His company provides shoe-box-size hardware called CubeSats to do experiments on the orbiting complex. More than 15 nations have worked with the company, and 140 CubeSats have been launched, Manber said. He added that he foresees more 3D printing taking place in the next five years, in an effort to make astronauts more self-sufficient. "I think one of the greatest accomplishments in NanoRacks is we have shown [that] a small entrepreneurial company can work with NASA," Manber added, saying that doing so has opened up opportunities for other small firms such as Made In Space, which created a 3D printer for the International Space Station. Inspiration Rod Roddenberry Jr., whose father, Gene Roddenberry, created the original "Star Trek" series, opened the Interplanetary portion of the conference by talking about the connection between "Star Trek" and space exploration in the real world. He showed a segment from a video interview posted by WIRED in which U.S. President Barack Obama talked about "Star Trek." In the video, Obama said that "Star Trek" was one of his early inspirations for getting interested in space. The idea of a common goal for humanity, and a confidence in humankind's ability to solve problems, made the show enjoyable for him as a child, he said. "Even when you look back I think there are only 20 episodes they looped back over and over again," he joked. "But they were fun to watch." Obama said the thing he likes the most today about "Star Trek," as well as the 2015 movie "The Martian," was the emphasis on problem solving. "It showed a bunch of different people trying to solve a problem and employing creativity and grit and hard work and having confidence if it's out there, we can figure it out," he said. After that, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides gave a short keynote address about increasing access to space. His slide show included some of the earliest photos of the Earth, the moon and Saturn taken from space. He also spoke of the "planetary perspective," or the "overview effect," which refer to how a person's perspective changes when seeing the Earth from space for the first time. "Space is not far away, but it's been closed to humanity for a long time," Whitesides said. As less expensive payloads get into orbit, however, that even those people not going into space directly can benefit, he said. The explosion of CubeSat use in recent years is similar to the computer or internet revolutions because it is making space accessible for "1,000 different uses," Whitesides said. Some common implementations include communications, Earth photography for applications like disaster management or agriculture, and taking measurements of Earth with instruments like magnetometers. But government regulation will need to catch up with the industry, said Bob Richards, CEO of Moon Express, during the panel discussion. His company was recently granted the world's first government authorization for a private moon landing. "There is no Department of the Moon that can say 'yes' to us," he joked, adding that the authorization was possible only through a collaboration among the U.S. Department of State, NASA and others. While the authorization was appreciated, it's a one-time thing that cannot be repeated unless Moon Express goes back for approval, he said. The Frontiers Conference covers five different fields that could benefit from U.S. science and innovation, said the event's founders: personal, local, national, global and interplanetary. The conference is co-sponsored by the White House, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Observers in portions of Mexico, Central America, southeastern Canada, the eastern U.S. and southern Europe will see the waning gibbous moon occult the bright naked eye star Aldebaran in the early hours of Wednesday (Oct. 19). The waning moon will cross in front of one of the brightest and most colorful stars in the sky on the night of October 18-19 for viewers in the southern and eastern United States, and part of eastern Canada. Late Tuesday night (Oct. 18), users of even the smallest telescopes will be glued to their eyepieces as the edge of the waning gibbous moon, 85 percent illuminated, occults the 1st-magnitude star Aldebaran, which forms the bright orange eye of Taurus, the Bull. We're currently in the midst of an almost four-year series of Aldebaran occultations. Every month as the moon circles the Earth it passes in front of the star as seen from some part of the world. On the night of Oct. 18-19, the lucky region includes anywhere south of a line running from Los Angeles to about 50 miles south of Las Vegas, through Denver, to 30 miles southeast of Minneapolis, then northeast to Ishpeming Township, Michigan, and continuing to George's Island, Labrador. If you are north of this line (which includes the Pacific Northwest, northern and central California, northern and central Rockies, northern and central Plains), the moon will pass tantalizingly close to Aldebaran, but will not cover it. Observers right on this line, probably less than two-tenths of a mile (three-tenths of a kilometer) wide, will be able to watch Aldebaran graze the bright limb of the moon. [Planets, Constellations and Orionid Meteors In Oct. 2016 Skywatching (Video)] Many observers will aim smartphones and camcorders at their eyepieces to capture a video of the event while shortwave radio time signals play in the background. That setup will allow viewers to time the instant when the star vanishes behind the moon's limb, and when it reappears later from behind the other limb, to a few hundredths of a second. The International Occultation Timers Association (IOTA) has set up a special web page for the upcoming Aldebaran graze, complete with maps, predicted lunar-limb profiles and other information. When to look For prospective viewers in Southern California, Aldebaran will disappear soon after 10 p.m. PDT. In the eastern U.S., it will happen between 1 and 2 a.m. EDT. The star will disappear on the moon's bright side and reappear on the dark side. As the moon, three days past full, ascends the eastern sky, Aldebaran will appear to creep up to the moon's bright limb for many minutes, then hang on the sunlit edge of a few seconds an eerie orange fire among the lunar hills. You'll need a telescope to see it there through the moon's glare. Then, in an instant, it will snap out of view. Aldebaran will reappear from behind the moon's dark portion (depending on your location) up to 75 minutes later. This time you may be able to see the event with binoculars, since the star will pop back into view farther away from the dazzling lunar surface. Detailed predictions IOTA has also created a web page depicting the entire viewing zone (which includes parts of Africa and Europe) and a listing of disappearance and reappearance times for over 1,000 locations including nearly 300 in the United States. For example, what can you expect to see from a rooftop in Philadelphia? The City of Brotherly Love is location #920. The listings are in Universal Time; for Philadelphia this is 5:41:05, which corresponds to 1:41:05 a.m. EDT. At that time, the moon will be 54 degrees high at an azimuth of 122 degrees, corresponding to 32 degrees south of due east. The position angle (PA) is 48 degrees, measured counterclockwise from the top of the moon. This gives the position along the moon's limb where Aldebaran will disappear. So 0/360 degrees = 12 o'clock; 90 degrees = 9 o'clock; 180 degrees = 6 o'clock; 270 degrees = 3 o'clock. In this case, if the moon was the face of a clock, 48 degrees would correspond to between 10 and 11. For the reappearance: 6:47:39 UT (2:47:39 a.m. EDT); Altitude 64 degrees; Azimuth 148 degrees (SSE) and the PA is 284 degrees. The U.S. Nautical Almanac Office provides an alternate occultation visibility map here. Halfway done As I noted earlier, the current series of Aldebaran occultations runs for nearly four years. The current series began Jan. 29, 2015, with an occultation visible from the Arctic regions. The next Aldebaran occultation visible from North America (and Hawaii, too) will come on the night of Dec. 12-13. The series will come to an end Sept. 3, 2018, for Greenland and the Arctic regions. After that, we must wait until Aug. 18, 2033, for the series of Aldebaran occultations to begin. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. For the first time in almost two years, the private spaceflight company Orbital ATK on Sunday will launch one of its Antares rockets, after an anomaly on Oct. 28 2014, caused one of the company's rockets to explode seconds after liftoff. "Our team is absolutely thrilled to be back in the launch operations phase," Kurt Eberly, the Antares department program manager for Orbital ATK, told Space.com. You can watch a webcast of the launch here beginning at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV. In addition to understanding what caused the 2014 anomaly, the Antares team has been working on putting two new engines into the Antares' first stage. Those two RD-181 engines will provide the rocket with additional thrust. [Viewing Guide: How to See the Nighttime Antares Rocket Launch] The Antares rocket that is scheduled to launch Sunday (Oct. 16) is carrying cargo to the International Space Station in an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft. The delivery is part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services 1 (CRS-1) program; Orbital ATK is one of two companies that hold a contract for CRS-1. An Orbital ATK Antares rocket carrying the OA-5 Cygnus cargo ship is raised into launch position at Pad 0A at at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Oct. 14, 2016. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls) Over the last two years, while the Antares rocket has been out of commission, Orbital ATK has flown the Cygnus to the station using an Atlas V rocket, built by United Launch Alliance and flown out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For Sunday's launch, Orbital will return to the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. "For us it's great to be home again," Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of the Advanced Programs Division at Orbital ATK, told Space.com. DeMauro is also manager of the Cygnus program. "Just driving down to Wallops, after not having been here for a while it's back where we belong," he said. "We are just so excited for our launch next week and to move forward." An Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft is released from the International Space Station using a robotic arm in this image taken on June 14, 2016. (Image credit: ESA/NASA) Rocket upgrades Both the Antares rocket and the Cygnus spacecraft have undergone upgrades in the last year. In December 2015, Orbital ATK (which was created as a merger between Orbital Sciences Corp. and the Aerospace and Defense groups of Alliant Techsystems Inc. or ATK) flew its first "enhanced Cygnus" spacecraft, which provides more storage capacity than the normal version of the craft. In March, the enhanced Cygnus vehicle carried a record-setting 7,900 pounds of cargo to the station. Sunday's flight will be the sixth cargo-delivery mission to the station (the mission is officially titled OA-5, even though the previous cargo flight was titled OA-6). The Cygnus spacecraft can also take care of garbage on the station: after unpacking the vehicle, astronauts load it up with disposable material, and the whole thing falls back toward Earth and burns up in the atmosphere. [Antares Rocket & Cygnus Spacecraft Explained (Infographic)] Orbital ATK plans to make 10 cargo deliveries as part of its CRS-1 contract with NASA. In January, it was announced that the company had secured a second contract, worth up to $1.5 billion, for CRS-2. (Private spaceflight provider SpaceX also had a contract for CRS-1 and CRS-2; the Sierra Nevada Corp. also secured a delivery contract with NASA for CRS-2). DeMauro said Orbital ATK plans to launch its remaining CRS-1 cargo missions with the Antares rocket, but the company may change the launch vehicles during CRS-2, "depending on what NASA wants." The company specifically designed the Cygnus to be able to fly aboard different vehicles that that might offer something that the Antares does not. With its two new RD-181 engines, which are built by the Russian company NPO Energomash, the Antares has "about 13 percent" increase in thrust compared to the previous configuration, Eberly said. That boost is not necessary for the heavier loads carried by the enhanced Cygnus spacecraft that's taken care of by an earlier upgrade to the rocket's second stage, which is a solid-rocket engine that is built by Orbital ATK. So the increased thrust now available to Antares could create new opportunities for future missions, DeMauro said. Looking ahead Right now, the Antares rocket is only being used for launching the Cygnus spacecraft, but Eberly said the company is planning to make bids to launch NASA science missions and commercial satellites into space. "That's where we see our future," Eberly said. In order to make a bid with NASA to launch science missions, Orbital ATK will have to demonstrate at least one successful launch with its proposed vehicle, Eberly said. Hopefully, the company will make that demonstration this week. In addition, Eberly said the Antares team has been working on a configuration of the rocket that would include a small, liquid-propellant third stage that could give the rocket an extra boost to deliver payloads to slightly higher orbits than it is currently capable of. Those higher obits (which are still in the range known as "low-Earth orbit") are "required for a lot of science satellites," Eberly said. While Antares won't be able to send large payloads beyond low-Earth orbit (even with an additional third stage), Cygnus may go much farther in the future. Orbital ATK has discussed publicly its desire to be involved in plans by NASA to send humans to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, such as around the moon or to Mars. DeMauro said the company is looking at how Cygnus' capabilities could be expanded so that it could not just carry cargo, but serve as an orbiting habitat for astronauts. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. 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. Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Are they proud or relieved? Mohamed, who worked as a hairdresser in Syria, shrugs his shoulders. "No," he says. "I'm just tired. Really tired." He has hardly slept since Sunday night, he says. Too much has happened since then. He and his two friends have been celebrated in the German press as "the heroes from Leipzig." German Chancellor Angela Merkel has thanked them for their actions and politicians from a variety of parties have suggested they be given the Order of Merit, Germany's only federal decoration. The heroes themselves are less effusive. "We only did our duty," says Sami. More than anything, they want to counter the accusation made by al-Bakr before he committed suicide. The terror suspect told Leipzig police that, far from being heroes, the three were accomplices who had supported his plot. Security officials, though, say that the three have not been connected to any of the preparations al-Bakr made prior to his arrest. By the time SPIEGEL went to print on Thursday night, officials continued to view the three as witnesses and not as suspects. "Al-Bakr is crazy," Ahmed says angrily. "He wanted to kill us too. We had absolutely nothing to do with him." After the two attacks this summer -- one in Wurzburg, which saw a 17-year-old Islamist from Afghanistan attack train passengers with an axe, injuring five, and another in Ansbach, where a Syrian refugee blew himself up, injuring 15 people -- many in Germany have begun seeing refugees as potential terrorists. The case of al-Bakr in Chemnitz has further confirmed such suspicions. But the three men from Leipzig would like to change these impressions and show that the vast majority of Syrians in Germany are, like them, interested only in the safety and peace their host country has provided them. A Mysterious Phone Call Thirty-six years old Mohamed A. is a sturdily built man with shoulder-length, black hair with a fear of dogs. He has a wife and five children who remained behind in Syria. Ahmed E. is 28 years old and his family -- wife and three children -- is likewise still in Syria. He wears a goatee and has black curly hair. In Syria, he studied mechanical engineering and now dreams of being able to continue his studies here in Germany. Sami M. is 26 years old and used to work as a truck driver. He is a big fan of FC Bayern Munchen. All three are from the same city in Syria and came to Germany last summer and fall by way of Turkey, Greece and the Balkans. Some of their statements are contradictory and others are difficult to confirm, but on the whole, the story they have to tell seems credible. Mohamed says he was invited to dinner on the evening of Saturday, October 8 by a Syrian acquaintance in Leipzig and brought along Sami, who was visiting from Stuttgart. At around 6 p.m., his phone rang. According to the story told by the three refugees, the Syrian caller introduced himself as Khaled and claimed that he had received Mohamed's number from a man at the train station. He said he was new in the city and needed a place to stay for one or two nights, even offering to pay. That telephone conversation is one aspect of the story in which investigators are particularly interested. Mohamed asked Sami to pick up the visitor at the Torgauer Platz tram stop, not far from Leipzig central station. As would later become clear, the visitor was not actually named Khaled, but Jaber al-Bakr. Sami recalls that the man seemed confused -- his clothes were dirty and his hair mussed. "I pitied him," he says. The men offered their guest lamb with rice and al-Bakr ate ravenously, they say, telling them that he hadn't eaten the whole day. After eating, Mohamed took Sami and al-Bakr back to his apartment in a complex in the Paunsdorf neighborhood of eastern Leipzig. Later that evening, Ahmed joined them. The four of them sat together in the kitchen drinking tea and talking about Syria and life in Germany. Al-Bakr said that he wanted to find a job in Leipzig. Because he didn't have any clean clothes, Mohamed loaned him clothes to sleep in. Didn't they have reservations about taking in a man that none of them knew? Mohamed raises his eyebrows and sticks out his lower lip. "I didn't think about it too much," he says. A Bungled Arrest Attempt Mohamed spent three months in a refugee hostel in Munich before moving to Leipzig. In the hostel, he slept in a hall and shared a shower with dozens of people. Ahmed, for his part, stood in line every night for several weeks in Berlin to register as a refugee. "It's completely normal for us to help a compatriot in need," they say. What the three didn't know, however, was that their guest, who they still considered to be harmless, was wanted by the Saxony authorities, who had lost track of his whereabouts. The initial attempt to arrest al-Bakr had actually been well prepared. Domestic intelligence officials had received indications of a Syrian terror suspect in mid-September and intelligence agents secured assistance from officials in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt to monitor the residential building at Usti nad Labem Street 97. The communist-style concrete block building was one of many such structures in the quarter, an area which housed 90,000 people during East German times. Al-Bakr was monitored there until intelligence officials notified the Saxony police last Friday. The police quickly assembled a specialized team and turned up at the site at 9:45 p.m. They staked out the building throughout the night until a man emerged at 7:04 a.m. An "unidentified person," according to an internal report, "hastily left the target object" heading for the Chemnitz city center. Officers fired a warning shot, but the man disappeared. The state criminal police office says the officers weren't totally sure it was al-Bakr and that it was impossible to shoot at him because there were innocent bystanders in the field of fire. A pursuit on foot likewise failed: The officers were wearing protection weighing 30 kilograms (65 pounds). The account raises questions. How could a man wearing a backpack, a person suspected of preparing an imminent bomb attack, be allowed to simply run away? Because the officers were wearing heavy equipment? Experienced officers who have been part of such operations in the past are astonished by this version of events. "Such operations are always prepared with the assumption that something won't go as planned," says a former member of a state police special operations unit. "Something can always go wrong. That's part of it. But it's unacceptable that a suspect can simply run away and isn't even followed." 'As Short as Possible' The failures seemingly didn't stop there. According to internal Saxony state documents, a person "identical" to the man who fled later returned to the building, leading police to believe that the suspect was back. Officers raided the building, breaking down more than 30 doors as they searched the entire complex. A spokesman for the Saxony criminal police force would later say the raid was "nevertheless a successful part of the operation." Still, there was no sign of al-Bakr. Even as a Europe-wide search for the Chemnitz suspect was underway, Mohamed, Ahmed and Sami were chatting cluelessly with their guest on Sunday morning in Leipzig. Al-Bakr asked them where he could get his hair cut. "How do you want it?" asked Mohamed. "As short as possible," al-Bakr replied, whereupon Mohamed retrieved a shaver from the bathroom. A short time later, at around 11 a.m., Mohamed, Ahmed and Sami left to go swimming and, afterwards, to visit a friend. Saying he was tired, al-Bakr stayed behind in the apartment. Until just a few years ago, there were just 200 Syrians living in Leipzig. But since the outbreak of the civil war , that number has risen to 5,000. Most Syrian refugees tend to associate largely with other Syrians and Ahmed says it isn't easy to establish contacts with German residents of the city. He knew nothing of Islamophobic demonstrations and had never heard the word Pegida, the Dresden-based anti-immigration organization that has been staging anti-Islam marches in German cities since the fall of 2014. Nevertheless, Ahmed sensed the hostility of people in Saxony, saying that neighbors would slam their doors shut when they see them. Ahmed and Mohamed avoid public places and spend most of their time at home or at the homes of other refugees. Throughout Sunday, news of the planned terror attack flooded television and radio broadcasters in Germany, but Mohamed, Ahmed and Sami initially took no note, instead playing cards in their friend's apartment. It was only later that evening that Ahmed looked at his Facebook page on his mobile phone. He noticed a story about the planned terror attack in Germany and clicked on a photo of the suspect. Tied Up with a Power Cord What he saw made him dizzy. The man in the photo looked exactly like the guest staying in Mohamed's apartment. "That can't be," Mohamed said. The Syrians looked at more photos until they no longer had any doubts that the man who introduced himself as Khaled was actually Jaber al-Bakr. The Leipzig-Sudwest police station was only sparsely manned shortly before midnight on Sunday night and initially Ahmed and Sami found only a single officer on duty. Ahmed had only been studying German for a few months and he struggled mightily as he tried to explain to the female officer what had taken place in his friend Mohamed's apartment. He was unable to string the words "terrorist," "house" and "help" together in a comprehensible sentence. Just a few kilometers away, Mohamed, together with the friend with whom they had just been playing cards, slipped into his apartment. Al-Bakr had already gone to bed. Mohamed opened the backpack belonging to the terror suspect and found a combat knife and cash. He took a deep breath and then he and his friend rushed their guest. Al-Bakr tried to fight them off and yelled, but the two Syrians were able to tie him up with a power cord. In our interview, Mohamed acts out the scene with his hands. "It was actually quite easy," he says. Al-Bakr offered his captors money if they let him go, telling them that he had received 10,000 euros to carry out the attack. "You can have as much as you want," al-Bakr told them. Mohamed rejected the offer. "The guy was a terrorist," he says. "We fled Syria because of people like him. For us, turning him into the police was the obvious thing to do." The two Syrians in the apartment in Paunsdorf then sent a picture via WhatsApp of the tied-up al-Bakr to Ahmed, who showed it to the police. Suddenly, they were able to understand the urgency of the situation and called for backup. Half an hour later, the police sped into the eastern Leipzig neighborhood and stormed the apartment. The Syrians were interrogated for several hours that night and were allowed to go only on Monday morning. They were interrogated again -- in a different state -- on Thursday. Radicalized in Germany But what about the man who had been plotting the attack? In an effort to find out more about him, SPIEGEL contacted his brother Alaa, who is 10 years older, by telephone. He lives in Saasaa, a town not far from Damascus, with his parents, three sisters and four brothers. Their father is a prosperous building contractor who is loyal to the regime and has contacts to Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party. Jaber, he said, had been a normal youth. He had loved karate and he prayed and fasted, but he hadn't been a radical. He didn't have a girlfriend and had been in his third year at the University of Damascus, where he studied the new discipline of mechatronics, a combination of mechanical engineering and electronics. He had been temporarily detained by the police because he criticized Assad at the university. Prior to fleeing Syria in November 2014, Jaber allegedly stole 5 million Syrian pounds, worth around 24,000 euros at the time, from his father. He used the money for his journey to North Africa, where he boarded a boat for Italy and then headed onward to Germany. At that time, his brother said, Jaber al-Bakr was not politically engaged, adding that he was recognized as a refugee in Germany after just a few months and began learning German. Alaa regularly spoke to Jaber on the phone. He says: "My brother was radicalized in Germany." Jaber, he says, watched horrific videos from Syria in the internet and an imam in Berlin brainwashed him, telling Jaber to return to Syria and fight. In September 2015, he says, al-Bakr traveled via Istanbul to the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa to join the extremist group. He informed his family that he was now fighting for IS. Alaa tried to talk him out of it, saying that no matter what he wanted politically, he should never, never join the "Islamic State", but Jaber answered that the only independent power in Syria was Islamic State. Shortly thereafter, the family broke off contact. Jaber al-Bakr returned to Germany, but his brother says he doesn't know when, exactly. "At some point in the last two months." Blanket Denial The two haven't spoken to each other since August. At home in Saasaa, Alaa al-Bakr doesn't believe the horrific end of his brother's story. "I raised my brother. He would never have carried out an attack! That's a lie!" Alaa believes that the German police murdered Jaber and refuses to believe that his brother killed himself -- that he hanged himself in Saxony, far away from his hometown of Saasaa. At 12:42 a.m. on Monday, police arrested Jaber al-Bakr, who had been tied up by Ahmed and Sami. According to investigators, he was interrogated by officers of the Saxony state criminal police office -- without a lawyer present -- four "around two hours" the next morning with the help of an Arabic-language interpreter. He denied all of the accusations against him, accusing others instead: the man who had given him the apartment in Chemnitz and the three Syrians who had turned him into the police the night before. After the interrogation, at around 1:30 p.m., the arrest warrant was presented, again in the presence of a translator. During the official presentation of the arrest warrant, the accused "said nothing further," investigators say. It took just 15 minutes. That afternoon, police brought al-Bakr to the Leipzig prison, where there was no interpreter. His lawyer Alexander Hubner says al-Bakr didn't understand any German and that it was impossible to communicate with him without a translator present. The prison warden spoke of "communication difficulties," but added that the prisoner seemed calm and focused. The judge who authorized his imprisonment warned of the potential for a suicide attempt but also identified al-Bakr as a potential danger to other prisoners or prison staff. Al-Bakr was issued a T-shirt and jogging pants, the kind of prison clothing given to all prisoners in pre-trial custody in Leipzig. Because of the suicide risk, it was agreed that he would be checked on every 15 minutes. Because of the dangers he potentially presented to others, the Syrian was placed in isolation. Normally, prisoners at risk of committing suicide aren't left alone, but judiciary officials did not identify an acute danger -- at least not on the basis of his gestures and behavior. With no interpreter present, nobody could understand him. One day later al-Bakr had an appointment with his lawyer, Hubner, who brought an interpreter along with him from Dresden. They didn't have a detailed discussion but Hubner said his client seemed stable, but he noticed that al-Bakr refused to consume any food and didn't want to drink anything either. "That made it clear that my client was putting his life on the line," says Hubner. Peculiar Behavior After meeting with the lawyer, the high-profile new arrival spoke with the institution psychologist using an interpreter. The psychologist found al-Bakr to be calm and withdrawn. She said that he asked questions about his imprisonment and wanted to know if he was at greater risk of deportation because of his hunger strike. This was seen as a sign that al-Bakr was thinking of his future, which didn't suggest that he was planning to commit suicide. The psychologist concluded that there was no acute danger of suicide and that his cell didn't need to be inspected every 15 minutes any more. Every 30 minutes was sufficient. According to the warden, it was a group decision. The supervisory authority in the state justice ministry also accepted this conclusion. At 5:50 p.m. that same day, though, al-Bakr began exhibiting peculiar behavior: He climbed onto his bed and tore down the ceiling lamp. It was later discovered that an electrical plug had also been torn out in the cell. The officers believed it to be vandalism, which, they say, isn't uncommon among agitated new arrivals. And yet, they had found al-Bakr to be rather calm. Was this, perhaps, an initial attempt to kill himself? That night, there was no electricity in al-Bakr's cell, repairs having to wait until the next day. The idea of bringing the inmate to a secure suicide-proof cell wasn't discussed. "There was nothing to suggest an acute danger," the warden says. Hubner called the prison on Wednesday afternoon to speak with them about the problem of the hunger strike and al-Bakr's refusal to drink. Hubner was told that there was a water faucet in the cell and that nobody dies of thirst when water is available. They also discussed the lamp and the electrical socket. Finally it was agreed that close attention would be paid to the inmate "because of the overall circumstances." The lawyer was assured that al-Bakr was being regularly supervised. By Wednesday night, it was too late. The last regular inspection of the cell took place at 7:30 p.m., at which point al-Bakr was seen alive. At 7:45 p.m., 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, a trainee went to the cell and found the inmate dead at the grate, asphyxiated by his prison-issue T-shirt. Help came too late and at 8:15 p.m., the terror suspect was declared dead. Saxony's Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), says that the Saxony judiciary did everything it could to prevent the suicide. The prognoses of the psychologist, he said, had unfortunately not turned out to be correct. He said that the decisions made at the prison were "reasonable." But al-Bakr's lawyer, Alexander Hubner, believes that his client's suicide is indicative of a "clear failure" in Leipzig, triggered by the psychologist's misdiagnosis. The brief conversation she had with his client, he says, was insufficient for an adequate analysis. "Everything there simply went according to the pre-set formula." The Challenges of Terrorist Hunting But Jaber al-Bakr's suicide is much more than merely a failure of the Saxony judiciary. Al-Bakr's death is also a serious setback for the German intelligence agencies, which are trying to identify possible connections underlying the terror that has seemed to edge ever closer over the last several months. Al-Bakr may have had insights into terrorist networks, principals or modes of communication -- insights that are badly needed because, despite the authorities' best efforts, they still know precious little about the threat level facing Germany this fall. Wurzburg, Ansbach, Dusseldorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Chemnitz: In the public perception, Islamic State has long been spinning its web across the country. Spectacular raids in the last few months have strengthened the impression that Germany has, on several occasions, only barely escaped cataclysmic attacks. But as it turns out, the distinctions between terror-plots, empty boasting and false alarms are fluid. And since with every real or suspected threat the number of tips expands, it is becoming more difficult for the authorities to keep up. By early October, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) alone had received 445 reports in which refugees were described as terrorists or sympathizers. In 80 of these cases, the BKA launched investigations, while the majority of the remaining cases were mistakes or denunciations. German citizens have called the BfV's hotline 800 times since the start of the year. On top of this, the German Federal Intelligence Service receives an average of two warnings a week, though they sometimes come daily, from foreign intelligence agencies. Sometimes these are vague indications that a terror group intends to travel to Germany through Bulgaria in order to carry out an attack. But how should one act on such information? The authorities are playing a losing game. If they ignore a semi-concrete tip and a bomb explodes afterwards, they seem unreliable. If they strike hastily and the suspects turn out to be innocent, they are accused of creating a climate of fear. "The pressure is enormous," says an experienced investigator, especially since the Paris attack. Since then, the margin of discretion has become smaller and smaller. The authorities now take every threat even more seriously. The example of the four men who were targeted by investigators after a large raid in February -- and have since been described as a "Berlin IS cell" in the media and parts of the security apparatus -- shows where that can lead. They had supposedly planned an attack on Checkpoint Charlie and newspaper headlines proclaimed: "Capital in Crosshairs." The suspects had aroused the suspicions of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution after a tip from a foreign intelligence agency in late 2015. Now the Berlin public prosecutor's office no longer believes it was an Islamic State cell. Three of the four suspects have since been deported to Algeria for a variety of infractions and it's possible that they belonged to a migrant smuggling operation . The fourth will soon be prosecuted for financing terrorism because he supposedly transferred money to Islamic State, allegedly for night-vision devices. But investigators didn't find any evidence that an attack was being planned. Reasons for Doubt But when the authorities don't find anything, does it mean that there was nothing there to find? Even today, authorities are still shocked about the man who handed them the so-called Dusseldorf IS cell on a silver platter, a Syrian man named Saleh A. On the morning of February 1, he strolled into a police station in Paris' 18th Arrondissement and gave a thorough confession to the perplexed officers. According to Saleh A., he was the leader of an IS sleeper cell that was planning an attack on Dusseldorf's old town. He also passed along the names of his three supposed co-conspirators, all of whom have been in pre-trial detention since June 2. Saleh A. was recently extradited to Germany. The news of a terror attack in the heart of the Rhineland generated a lot of attention, but there are reasons to be skeptical. One of the four, for instance, had a lifestyle that doesn't exactly fit with that of a fanatical Islamist: He had a German girlfriend, took drugs, drank alcohol and spent many of his nights in the club. Saleh A.'s claims that he "made a U-turn" overnight and went over to the good side are also suspect. Another potentially serious reason to doubt the story is that another accomplice, whom Saleh A. claims to have met in 2014 with Islamic State in Syria, apparently was registered as a driver for a unit of the Algerian military that took part in anti-terrorism missions. That, at least, is what documents found by his defense lawyer, Marvin Schroth, show. As a member of the military, Schroth claims, his client could not have left his country. Does that clear the suspects of wrongdoing? Maybe. But there is also incriminating evidence, like the fact that three of the refugees accused by Saleh A. came to Europe via the same route as the Paris attackers. The same is true of the three refugees who were recently arrested in Schleswig-Holstein. They and Saleh A. supposedly had contact to the same Islamic State group. The fact that they behaved unremarkably during months of observation could mean anything: that they don't have any nefarious intentions -- or that they had learned how to communicate in secret. The authorities are carrying out tough, frustrating work. The same is true of the Federal Prosecutor's Office, which is currently working on over 140 proceedings against alleged Islamist terrorists or violators of international law in connection with Syria or Iraq. The federal prosecutors are keeping tabs on 700 further incidents of a similar nature. And with every new unresolved case, the pressure grows. Did the 16-year-old male refugee who was arrested in Cologne have similar plans to the axe attacker in Wurzburg? One of his chat partners advised him to buy lots of matches to obtain sulfur for the building of a bomb, but no matches were found in his room. Did the woman who set off the terror alarm at the Frankfurt airport do so by mistake or intentionally? And is it a coincidence that she came "from the Arab region"? Just One Wish Almost nothing is as it seems in the shadow fight against terrorism. Many, though, have gained the impression that Islamic State is everywhere. And since the opposite is hard to prove, an experienced investigator of the state security apparatus says: "Nobody can square it with their conscience not to have prevented an impending attack." An ultimately unjustified intervention may be extremely frustrating -- "but as a trade-off, more tolerable." Measuring the risk becomes more difficult as the political debate heats up. After al-Bakr's arrest, politicians from the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's CDU, requested that the intelligence services receive immediate access to the personal data of all asylum applicants. CSU General Secretary Andreas Scheuer has demanded the "total revision" of the refugee registration process. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere found the CSU demands perplexing, because since a change to the law made in February, intelligence agencies have been able to access a newly created databank to clear up their security concerns. The system, to be sure, doesn't yet work perfectly from a technical standpoint, but it is expected that data-sharing will work seamlessly by the end of the year. That, however, isn't enough to fix a further shortcoming: For over a year, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees did not hold hearings for most applicants from Syria. To ease the workload of migration officials, asylum applicants from the country were merely required to fill out a 10-page questionnaire. Experts warned that the accelerated process raised potential security issues. The questionnaire asked applicants whether they were part of the military or of an armed group in Syria, but what Islamist would answer "yes"? Al-Bakr also had to fill out a questionnaire when he applied for asylum in Germany in February 2015. There was nothing in his answers that would have aroused security concerns. On June 9, he was recognized as a refugee. At the time, his fingerprints were compared with the databases of the intelligence agencies, but there were no matches. The three Syrians from Leipzig, meanwhile, are wondering what will happen next. During our interview, Mohamed buries his face in his hands. He says he can't get the images of al-Bakr out of his mind and the Syrians don't want to return to Leipzig under any circumstances. "We just don't feel safe there," says Ahmed. He laughs sheepishly when told that many people in Germany consider him to be a hero. He doesn't want a decoration, as German politicians have proposed. Ahmed, Mohamed and Sami actually only have one wish: They would like to get their families out of Syria -- and bring them to Germany. By Jorg Diehl, Hubert Gude, Frank Hornig, Martin Knobbe, Ludwig Krause, Maximilian Popp, Christoph Reuter, Sven Robel, Jorg Schindler, Fidelius Schmid, Andreas Ulrich, Andreas Wassermann, Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt and Steffen Winter This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD The Connecticut Film Center has sold for about $20 million its warehouse property on the citys West Side that serves as a production studio for The Peoples Court, with the new owners planning to add a self-storage center to the site. An affiliate firm of two real-estate companies, Boston-based The Davis Companies and Valhalla, N.Y.-based Highland Development Ventures, bought 300 Stillwater Ave. Officials from the two companies said that their plan would meet a local market need. They estimate that the amount of self-storage space for each person in Stamford totals about 60 percent less than the national average, a trend that they attribute to factors including a lack of land and zoning restrictions. Were really excited to deliver this facility to a high-quality market like Stamford, Jerry Murphy, vice president of investments at TDC, said in an interview Friday. This is a facility that will have first-class storage options that will be unique to this market and add excitement to the product. The storage center would operate alongside the existing production facilities run by the Connecticut Film Center, as most of the approximately 152,000-square-foot building at 300 Stillwater Ave. is vacant, Murphy said. Connecticut Film Center officials confirmed that arrangement. The Peoples Court will continue to operate alongside the storage facility, Bruce Heller, of the CFC, said in an email Friday. TDC and Highland Development plan to repurpose the building to accommodate self-storage units on two levels linked by a mezzanine structure. The footprint of the building would not significantly change, except for the addition of a few thousand square feet of space, Murphy said. The self-storage hub would include a center-drive aisle for interior access to units, drive-up access to storage space along the buildings exterior and a leasing office. Tenants would be able to enter on one side of the building, drive to their unit, load and unload and then exit through the other end of the building without having to reverse, Murphy said. About 1,100 storage units are planned for the property, with a typical unit covering about 100 square feet. Construction of the storage complex is scheduled to start by the end of 2016, with an expected completion in 2018. A Moorestown, N.J.-based architectural firm, Tao Architecture + Design, will design the project. Plans for the storage center received administrative approval from the citys zoning department and will not require going before the zoning board, Murphy said. This acquisition of 300 Stillwater Ave. represents TDC and Highland Developments sixth self-storage facility development. Other facilities are located in Brooklyn, N.Y., Newark, N.J., Chicago and Milwaukee. In addition to storage facilities, TDC has developed and reformatted office and residential properties along the east coast. Among their Connecticut projects, TDC recently renovated The Westport Center for Health, which is now home to Village Pediatrics and Womens Health Connecticut. pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH The single Greenwich debate between the two contenders for the 36th District state senate seat Thursday night was a discussion between gentlemen. Unlike the contentious back-and-forth of the two people running for the 151st District that caused boos and catcalls from the audience over Republican support for Donald Trump, incumbent Republican state Sen. L. Scott Frantz and his Democratic challenger, John Blankley, focused on local issues. Before either senate candidate spoke, League of Women Voters moderator Jean Rabinow said flat out that no questions about Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton would be accepted. The two men took the podium at Town Hall as the second set of contestants brought together by the League of Women Voters of Greenwich. First on the set were incumbent Republican Rep. Fred Camillo and challenger and first-time contender Dita Bhargava. Frantz is seeking his fifth two-year term in office. Blankley is a member of the towns Board of Estimate and Taxation. Their hour-long debate largely focused on fiscal issues. Both agreed the state faced significant challenges. Frantz and Blankley proposed different paths to fix the fiscal hole. The problem, Frantz said: too much borrowing; cuts in services that had left the state in the bottom of many national rankings; people choosing to go elsewhere to live, work and start businesses; and a shrinking the tax base at a time when unfunded liabilities are growing. We are really in dire straits, he said. Weve grown our budget over the last 40 years just shy of 70 percent. If we dont get the expense structure of Connecticut under control, we dont stand a chance, because the clock is working against us and mathematics is working against us. Blankley favored a more optimistic look, saying the state had the fourth-highest gross domestic product per capita in the country and ranked high in household income, productivity, innovation and patents written. Thats why my wife and I decided to move here 30 years ago, Blankley said. Problems have developed since then, and I dont want to minimize them, but I absolutely insist on talking about the things that are good in our state. Its morning again in Connecticut. The glass is half full. The two found themselves in agreement on several topics, including the need to fund vocational high schools and for more to be done to stop the epidemic of heroin overdoses in Connecticut. Both men said the state had to do a better job negotiating contracts, especially for employee benefits that include retirement and health care contributions. Blankley outlined several plans to shore up the states finances throughout the evening, including creating an infrastructure bank as a partnership between the state and the private sector. Frantz said the state could not be fiscally sound with so many wealthy people moving to states with less stringent tax laws. The (Democrats) typically want to ignore that because it doesnt really fit their narrative, Frantz said. I can think of three billionaires who have declared their residency in Florida and with them they are bringing 23-and-a- half billion dollars worth of net worthWe cant balance a budget to save our lives without those people in our state. Blankley countered by saying, Weve lost perhaps three billionaires in the past few years, but we are not going to manage the affairs of our state for the sake of a couple of billionaires. Both candidates have significant backgrounds in finance. Frantz has worked in private equity and Blankley was a former high ranking executive for two companies before opening a successful information technology firm in Connecticut. They differed, though, on what kind of a business climate there was in Connecticut. Frantz said that Connecticut is ranked at the bottom of studies for business climate with the states tax and regulation policy keeping businesses from moving to the state. We need to fix our fiscal house and fix the balance sheet and the budget, Frantz said. Connecticut cant be in a constant case of fiscal crisis. But Blankley pointed to his own success founding a business in the state. There is nothing in terms of business climate, taxes, regulations or whatever that have held me back, Blankley said. There is no regulation if removed would have made me more entrepreneurial. There is absolutely nothing holding businesses back. Businesses come here and stay here. The men complimented each other during their closing statements. Frantz called Blankley a wonderful guy who serves the town well and Blankley joking that he and Frantz got along so well that they had better not let the voters see how friendly they were. The 36th district covers Greenwich and portions of Stamford and New Canaan. The two candidates will face off in a New Canaan debate on Nov. 1. kborsuk@scni.com STAMFORD As thousands of residents register to vote ahead of the November races, city registrars are preparing for a chaotic Election Day that could see turnout surpass its 2008 peak. If the number of new voters continues to climb as registrars project more than 52,000 Stamford votes may be cast in the Nov. 8 election, topping the 47,955 votes cast when President Barack Obama ran against Arizona Sen. John McCain. The projection is based on the 80 percent of registered voters who cast ballots in 2008. Since Sept. 1, registrars have counted 3,331 new Stamford voters nearly 1,200 alone since Oct. 1. About half of these voters are unaffiliated, while 35 percent are Democrats and 14 percent are Republicans. Stamford had about 64,000 registered voters 24 days before the election. Bucking the statewide trend, a majority of Stamford voters are Democrats, trailed by unaffiliated voters. Across Connecticut, most voters are unaffiliated, while Democrats comprise its largest political party. Many new Stamford voters come from two districts: One covering the South End and Shippan and one covering the downtown. Nearly 30 percent of new voters are from these areas. Democratic Registrar of Voters Ron Malloy suspects that those recently added to the electoral roll are young people renting apartments in new buildings. The downtown district and Harbor Point have a huge number of new voters, disproportionate to the percent of voters they have to begin with, Malloy said. Since 2010, Harbor Point developer BLT has built 2,360 of the 4,000 apartment units it has planned for the South End, contributing to a population swell that will be reflected in the next U.S. Census. Citizenship These Stamford neighborhoods may also be home to undocumented immigrants. Leading up to the election, immigrants from across the country who have green cards have rushed to become citizens before Election Day. People who were eligible to become citizens in the last 12 months have reached out to organizations like ours to help them apply for citizenship, and to do it in time to be able to vote, said Catalina Horak, executive director of Neighbors Link, a Stamford-based organization that provides resources to immigrants. While Horaks organization does not ask clients about their political leanings, she says its safe to assume they do not support Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. Striking a chord with immigrants this election season, Trump has threatened to deport all illegal immigrants and has called Mexicans drug dealers and rapists. If a green card holder wanted to become a citizen in time for the election, however, its too late to start now. The naturalization process can take up to six months and costs nearly $600 a reason why many legal immigrants put it off until its time to vote. Election Day registration Citizens who havent yet registered to vote can do so at voterregistration.ct.gov through Monday, Nov.1 Stamford residents can also register to vote in-person at the Stamford Government Center on Election Day. Malloy estimates 400 people will choose this route, but the secretary of the states office has told the city to be prepared for 1,000 people. Malloy advises potential voters that theyll have a quicker and easier time registering online than waiting to do it on Election Day. eskalka@scni.com A RMs buyer SoftBank is planning to launch a $100 billion tech fund in London with Saudi Arabia. One of the worlds biggest banks ING is moving traders from Europe to London in a huge vote of confidence in the City. Royal Bank of Scotland is pushing for parts of the looming trial over its 12 billion fundraising months before a state bail out in 2008 to be held in secret, court documents show. Passing on cash to relatives, a commodity prices slump and a stronger dollar saw billionaires, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, lose $300 billion (246 billion) last year, a UBS and PwC report revealed. The total cost of Samsung pulling its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones off the market will be at least 4.4 billion, the beleaguered electronics giant warned. Lord Sugars property firm Amsprop has made an opportunistic 17 million swoop on a London property whose original buyers pulled out in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Deal-hungry hedge-fund giant Man Group saw its shares soar on the back of a jump in funds and the surprise acquisition of US and Europe-focused fund Aalto. Comment: Jim Armitage on the battle to audit big company accounts. BP, BAE Systems, Legal & General and GlaxoSmithKline audits are up for grabs. This is big money: EY billed BP $47 million last year. GSK paid PwC 27.5 million. Market update: After ending Marmite-gate, shares in Tesco jumped 6.35p to 201.45p, while Unilever fell further today, down 27.5p to 3569p. It missed out on a minor rally from the FTSE 100, which rose 39.65 points to 7017.39, ending three days in the red. Going up: Tesco, Rio Tinto, William Hill Going down: Unilever, Moneysupermarket.com, Aureus Mining O ne of the worlds biggest banks is moving traders from Europe to London in a huge vote of confidence in the City. In defiance of talk that the Brexit vote will see thousands of bankers forced out of town, Dutch giant ING is shifting 40 traders from Amsterdam and 20 from Brussels to its London headquarters in Moorgate in the heart of the Square Mile. ING says support staff are likely to follow, but that it is too early to say how many. Percy Rueber, head of ING Financial Markets, said: The intention to move some functions to London might seem counter-cyclical. However, even after Brexit, London has and will continue to have a deep labour talent pool. Bankers saw the move as a clear sign of the Citys enduring strength. David Davis plays down talk of 'hard' or 'soft' Brexit Anthony Browne, chief executive of the British Bankers Association, told the Evening Standard: This is a vote of confidence in London as Europes financial capital, but we cant afford to be complacent. Its vital that the UK continues to offer a welcoming environment for international banks after Brexit. Some commentators have suggested that banks will have to send thousands of staff overseas if access to European markets is lost in a hard Brexit. Banks say they are making contingency plans, but would prefer to stay in London. City veteran David Buik, of Panmure Gordon, said: The sooner the prophets of doom realise that financial markets are global and not parochial the better. ING is one with the foresight to recognise the fact that London is the quintessential financial centre. The fall in the pound is making it cheaper for European and American banks with assets in euros or dollars to hire London bankers. Sterling fell again today, down half a cent to $1.22. If it keeps diving, bankers salaries could even rise as foreign banks chase top talent in the City. INGs move comes days after French finance minister Michel Sapin insisted trade would flow away from London. There will be a transfer of activities to the continent. I dont know what magnitude and I dont know exactly what activities, but there will be a transfer of business to the continent, he said. Thats the inevitable consequence whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, he added. Frankfurt has also been vocal about its desire to lure finance workers. ING is a huge global bank with assets of well over 1 trillion. It has a relatively small presence in London with around 650 staff. It established its presence in London when it bought Barings Bank in 1995. R oyal Bank of Scotland is pushing for parts of the looming trial over its 12 billion fundraising months before a state bail out in 2008 to be held in secret, court documents show. The taxpayer-backed bank is being sued for 4 billion by more than 30,000 retail investors and hundreds of City institutions, who shelled out for the shares before it was forced into a 45 billion rescue at the height of the financial crisis. The long-running case in which RBS has already run up more than 100 million in legal costs will be heard in the High Court next year, dragging former directors including disgraced chief executive Fred Goodwin into the witness box. Despite the huge public interest in the case RBS is still 72% owned by the taxpayer eight years on skeleton arguments submitted by both sides to the latest case management conference show RBS is pushing for parts of the trial dealing with commercially-sensitive information to be heard in private. RBSs submission says it may for some purposes be necessary during the trial to refer to information that has been designated as confidential. It adds: The parties will need to avoid (as far as possible) reading any confidential information aloud, but where this really cannot be avoided it may be necessary to ask the Court to sit in private for a short period. Herbert Smith Freehills, RBSs lawyer, also wants a sensible discussion with the claimants on the subject. In pre-trial hearings the claimants have so far agreed to confidentiality but stress that this has caused some logistical difficulties already. The claimants legal team however remains sceptical as to the necessity and practicality of this eight years after the events and flagged up the obvious and very substantial cost to this exercise. It adds that it cannot be expected to notify the defence in advance about documents to be referred to in cross-examination of witnesses and says that the trial cannot stop while redactions are considered. RBS offered a 700 million settlement to the claimants in July which was rejected. The bank declined to comment. T he total cost of Samsung pulling its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones off the market will be at least 4.4 billion, the beleaguered electronics giant has warned. Samsung had already cut its third-quarter profit forecast by 1.9 billion this week. But it now expects an additional hit of around 3.5 trillion won (2.5 billion) following one of the most disastrous launches in corporate history. The update came just days after the South Korean firm scrapped its new flagship product, which was meant to take the fight to Apples latest iPhone 7. It recalled the phones last month following reports of batteries burning during charging. Moving forward, Samsung Electronics plans to normalise its mobile business by expanding sales of flagship models such as the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, the firm said. It will focus on making significant changes in its quality assurance processes. US activist investor Elliott Advisors is calling for a break-up of the company. L ondon's economy has been reliant on railways since Victorian times. We take the complex network of Tube lines and overground services for granted it is only when things go wrong that we come to see how essential trains are to keeping London on the move. Unfortunately, this year has seen ever greater, more frequent problems. It is therefore welcome that Sadiq Khan has today set out proposals for the takeover of suburban rail services by Transport for London. The idea isnt new, but with every Southern strike it becomes a more attractive proposition. Crucially, there is both cross-party support for the Mayors plan and backing from councils beyond the capital. Kent County Council had previously been uneasy, fearing that passengers from the area might lose out as a result of changes but discussions have been fruitful and Kent now seems to be on board. TfLs pitch is that by bringing more services under its control, it can manage relevant lines in a more co-ordinated fashion and, because of the organisations size, can invest in a way that current franchise operators cannot. That would clearly be to the good. Promises of more frequent services, an expansion of the Oyster card system and refurbished stations will get the thumbs-up from commuters who are at the end of their tether. There is, of course, a long way to go before the Mayors proposals become reality and they need to be carefully scrutinised by all parties, including central government. But perhaps the best argument in favour of bringing services such as those operated by Southeastern under TfL is the relative success it has made of the Overground network. Prior to 2007 the railway was run by Silverlink Metro it was underused and little loved. Under TfL, there has been considerable investment and expansion, resulting in a four-fold increase in passengers on the line. That is a track record that stands the Mayors new proposal in good stead. Nicola pushes her luck Say what you will about the Scottish First Minister but Nicola Sturgeon doesnt lack chutzpah. She has told the SNP conference that if Brexit negotiations dont go her way, she will consider a second referendum on Scottish independence. More to the point, she wants quite clear concessions to Scotland when it comes to the negotiations on leaving the EU. Not only does she want Scotland to stay in the single market, she wants it to have a say over the rules governing that market. In other words, she wants all the privileges of EU membership. She also wants Edinburgh to have control over immigration, which raises the possibility that England might not have the free movement of people from the EU but Scotland would. This is nonsense. Scotland has a significant measure of devolution but it does not yet have its own foreign and immigration policy. If thats what Miss Sturgeon wants, let her hold another independence referendum, and good luck with it. With the fall in the oil price since the last one, and the febrile condition of the eurozone, independence is even less attractive now. Mrs May should call her bluff. Bankers welcome For all the talk this week about Frankfurt luring bankers from the City, it looks as if the traffic is going at least for now in the other direction. The Dutch bank ING is shifting 40 traders from Amsterdam and 20 from Brussels to its London headquarters. It is recognition not just that with the pound so low our bankers are cheaper than they were, but that Londons formidable pool of financial talent is hard to beat. Lets hope more follow. Y et again this morning, more anguished reports from Aleppo: on the Today programme, two little boys gave their own account of what it was like to be on the receiving end of the Syrian army/Russian bombardment. We havent been to school for a month, one said. There are too many barrel bombs. Then there are the running heart-rending tweets from a seven-year-old girl. Please Stop the Bombing, Assad and Putin the handwritten placard she holds in her photo reads. I want to be like children in London. And then there are the images, a succession of dreadful pictures of children being taken, bloodied and maimed, from the rubble that was their homes, carried by rebel fighters. Its not possible to see that human suffering unmoved. And duly, it was Aleppo that was the subject of the first Commons debate this week after the return from recess. Andrew Mitchell, former minister for overseas aid, compared its plight to that of Guernica in 1937, bombarded by the Nazis. And it was Aleppo that caused the new (just three months in) Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, to talk military action for there is no other construction that can be put on his words to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee yesterday: We cant just see Aleppo pulverised ... We have to do something. Whether that means we can get a coalition together for more kinetic action now I cannot prophesy, but certainly what most people want to see is a new set of options. Certainly the Foreign Secretary is responsive to public mood. The plight of the besieged population of the city has captured the imagination of those who find the Syrian civil war almost impossible to grasp. It has become an urban metaphor for war, the way Sarajevo was during the Bosnian conflict. But is it right to take our instinctive sympathy for the beleaguered citizens of Aleppo to the point where we consider engaging militarily in this conflict ... against the Russians and the Syrian army? Consider that useful Greek word Boris used to describe the action we should take: kinetic motion. The plain implication here is that Britain could participate in policing a no-fly zone over Aleppo. Indeed, the most obviously kinetic action we could take would be to shoot down one of the Russian planes bombarding the city, just as the Turks did a few months ago. Not that military action is the only option the Foreign Secretary is contemplating. He wants to convene a meeting of like-minded Western allies in London on Sunday to discuss the options available, probably including the US Secretary of State, John Kerry. There the military option can be further explored. For it is Boriss opinion that negotiations with the Russians have, as he puts it, run out of road. This, all of this, is unworthy of Boris Johnson. He is, without question, the most intelligent Foreign Secretary we have had in a generation. There are few politicians who can so well capture the public mood and talk human as he does it. But here he is playing to the gallery: he is going along with a public sentiment that feels, as he says, we have to do something. In doing so, he is contemplating a dangerous and irresponsible course of action nothing less than intervening in this conflict, and on the wrong side. Because in Syria there is no body of liberal democrats for us to back: its a brutal regime versus rebels dominated by Islamists. Aleppo, the second city of Syria, is under siege but this is not simply Russian planes bombarding innocent civilians. The city is under the control of rebel fighters a coalition of groups in which the leading element is the al Nusra front, a group not a million miles removed from al-Qaeda. The US was signally unsuccessful in trying to detach them from other rebels. And as Patrick Cockburn made clear in an excellent piece for this paper, those rebel fighters are quite willing to use civilians as a human shield. Indeed, al Nusra is popular in Aleppo. Any action to enforce a no-fly zone would be intervention on the side of rebels, who include a substantial component of radical Islamists. Boris knows this, or should; so why is he playing along with the simplistic notion that Aleppo is about children versus Putin? If Boris is simply suggesting that Britain intervene to assist civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the city, well thats been tried, though its less easy than it looks. Or if hes simply wanting to deliver aid and medicine, fine again. But hes going further. No one in their right mind would exculpate the Assad regime and the Syrian army from having dropped barrel and cluster bombs and used chemical weapons on citizens. And some Russian action has been at best indiscriminate, at worst war crimes: it was almost certainly responsible for the shelling of an aid convoy last month. But Aleppo is only part of a civil war in which, hard as it is to believe, the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies are not the primary villains. That accolade must go to Islamic State, which seems to have been forgotten in the surge of moral indignation in the Commons. It still occupies a swathe of northern Syria and Iraq which it gained and holds by dint of unutterable brutality. Until very recently, there was a tacit agreement on the part of the Western allies and Russians that IS was the biggest threat. It meant that there was de-facto co-operation and intelligence- sharing between them in making attacks on IS bases; it worked, sort of. But in now identifying Russia as the real threat to peace in Syria, Boris is abandoning this important consensus that the common fight against IS is what matters most. This is a dreadful mistake. In fact, if it werent that the only alternative to Assad were Islamist nutters, it is probable that more Syrians would take a stand against him. If our foreign policy is to be driven by heart-rending images, then there are lots more out there: of the wretched Yazidi victims of IS genocide for one. But its the job of the Foreign Secretary to see the larger picture on Syria, to lead public sentiment rather than react to it. Boris can, must, do better than this. D awn French says she will be battling debilitating vertigo when she brings her one-woman show to the West End for the last time next week. The comedy star was diagnosed with the condition while performing 30 Million Minutes, and had to see a neurologist and postpone shows when touring the production two years ago. However, on Tuesday she starts a six-night run at the Vaudeville Theatre. She told the Standard: We found out it was exacerbated by the lights on the stage and the video screen at the back. I hope it wont kick off. Im used to it now. I understand if the floor looks like its wobbling, it is in my mind. Its weird like youre drunk without alcohol. Youre not sure whats up and whats down. The comedian, 59, does not suffer from vertigo at other times. She told how in 2014 I was on stage in Southend. The room started to spin. I finished the show but the crew were ready at the side of the stage, waiting to drag me off if I fell over. I dont think Im brave. I grab onto things on set to get my balance. In 30 Million Minutes, directed by Michael Grandage, French takes the audience through experiences from her personal life. She said: I always have a hard time describing [the show]. I know the things it isnt: its not a sideshow, not just stories about me, not stand-up, not storytelling entirely. I try to answer questions Ive been asking myself forever. Its a chance to talk about things that have happened to me. What goes into making up a person. French, who married charity worker Mark Bignell in 2013, has often endured speculation about her private life, from her 2010 split with Lenny Henry to discussions over her weight. Arts picks: 10th-16th October 1 /8 Arts picks: 10th-16th October Shopping and F***ing Its not been staged for twenty years and its got a swear word in the title, but will Mark Ravenhills in-yer-face play still have the power to shock? The Lyric Hammersmiths artistic director Sean Holmes is bringing it back to the stage with an exciting young cast, so well see if Ravenhills vision of a 21st century of empty consumerism rings true. If were not too distracted by internet shopping. October 7 - November 5, Lyric Hammersmith; lyric.co.uk Beyond Caravaggio It doesnt get much better for art lovers this autumn, with the National Gallerys blockbuster new exhibition exploring the influence of Caravaggio on other painters. These gloriously rich paintings are brimful of stories and are a feast for the eyes. Read our review here . October 12 - January 15, National Gallery; nationalgallery.org.uk Oil Ella Hicksons play about one womans journey through the history of oil promises to be epic, and its the latest in a line of chunky hits of theatre from the Almeida. Anne-Marie Duff stars and Carrie Cracknell directs, so for those reasons alone its not one to miss. Read our interview with Ella Hickson about new writing at the Almeida. October 7 - November 26, Almeida Theatre; almeida.co.uk Adriaen van de Velde: Dutch Master of Landscape You may not have heard of Van de Velde - this is the first ever exhibition devoted to the painter and draughtsman - but you need to see his work. One art historian compared Van de Veldes work to Mozarts chamber music. The Dulwich Picture Gallery has collaborated with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to bring over 60 of his paintings to London, and they are not to be missed. October 12 - January 15, Dulwich Picture Gallery; dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined Who is up for 500 years of vulgarity? The Barbicans new exhibition traces fashion past and present to try and explore ideas around taste, and make visitors think again about what exactly it means to be vulgar. Including contributions from Prada, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood, the show hopes to make visitors realise that excess doesnt have to be offputting, its just about the way you look at it. October 13 - February 5, Barbican Centre; barbican.org.uk Blue Heart This is the first major revival of a double bill of one act plays by one of our greatest living playwrights. Caryl Churchills Blue Heart comes to the Orange Tree Theatre after an initial run in Bristol, and is another in a long line of exciting shows programmed by the brilliant Richmond venue. October 13 - November 19, Orange Tree Theatre; orangetreetheatre.co.uk Art Battle Who knew that a paintbrush could be an instrument for partaking in competitive sport? At The Vaults this Saturday you can watch artists paint live, and in battle with one another. Making painting a spectator sport, a group of artists will respond to sound, light and performance art and you can vote for your favourite. October 15, The Vaults; thevaults.london Soho Rising Soho Rising showcases the best work from Soho Theatres Young Company, so its the place to see the new writing stars of tomorrow taking their very first steps on London stages. Over the course of a week, there are seven shows including comedy, cabaret and theatre, including a show about going blind and a comedy gala to end the season. October 10 - October 15, Soho Theatre; sohotheatre.com She said that in the show I can put the record straight about many things. Its very difficult to have stuff reported about your life that just isnt true. She and her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders have been linked to the vacancies at The Great British Bake Off but she said she was happy to clarify the claim was total bollocks. Get 30 Million Minutes tickets at nimaxtheatres.co.uk Visit standard.co.uk/arts for the latest news and reviews from Londons arts scene. Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout Review at a glance I t's not an easy feat making a Shakespeare ballet. When so much of the genius is in the dance of his words, stripping them out can sometimes leave you with a farce in knickerbockers. But David Bintley gives it a good stab in his new Tempest for Birmingham Royal Ballet, a show that has its surprises but doesn't quite dance up a storm. It's a ballet built on a newly commissioned score by Sally Beamish and Bintley's choreography is tightly tied to her music, neat feet matching the rhythms of melodic fragments falling and skittering like breeze on the surf. Although necessarily simplified, Bintley is faithful to Shakespeare's story (albeit overstretching the wedding party in Act II into a lengthy knees-up with Greek gods and a flying peacock) and there's care over narrative and characterisation. Jenna Roberts's Miranda, at first a timid girl, a little awed by her father, bursts into life at the sight of hunky Ferdinand washed up on shore. There's Caliban, trapped between feral beast and expressive man (leaving Tyrone Singleton slightly boxed in in his interpretation); and spritely Ariel (Mathias Dingman), swooping from the ceiling in a nice aerial trick. As Prospero, Iain Mackay is an elegantly composed dancer of lovely long lines and he gets the few profound moments of the ballet, clinging to his daughter's toy doll as he lets go of his own baby into adulthood. There's not much here in the way of tempestuous flair or urgency, this is a polite ballet, not pushing more than mezzo forte in terms of emotion or choreographic invention. But then almost from nowhere the show's climax swells into something genuinely powerful. Maybe Bintley has cracked the Shakespeare thing after all, it just feels like a long journey getting there. Until 15 Oct, Sadler's Wells; sadlerswells.com Visit standard.co.uk/arts for the latest news and reviews from Londons arts scene. Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout C hill October nights are drawing in and thats great news. It means its totally legitimate to batten down the hatches, eat drink and be merry, assuring people through a muffled mouthful of cheese that you need more calories in the cold. Luckily London, as ever, provides. Between now and Christmas there are countless restaurant openings and events to drag you from Netflix and out into the city. So shut your laptop, close the Deliveroo app and head out to feast on the latest seriously innovative food and booze. Youll be saving on your central heating too. Here are the 23 dishes and openings you need to know about this autumn. Perilla Head chef Ben Marks used to cook at Noma, so expect something special from his new permanent restaurant, where a five-course menu including cuttlefish bolognese and roast kale with cod roe costs only 35. Info: Opens early November, 1-3 Green Lanes, N16; perilladining.co.uk Anzu Emma Reynolds and Ken Yamada, the brains behind top London ramen joint Tonkotsu, go a bit fine-dining with this Japanese brasserie. Theyll be serving king crab gyoza, oysters the Anzu way and teishoku, a Japanese take on the Indian thali. Info: Opens November 5, 1 Norris Street, SW1; anzulondon.co.uk Temper Barbecue legend Neil Rankins Soho restaurant opens. Come for the live-fire cooking, stay for the mind- bending tacos think sesame prawn toast or ham and pineapple and the cracking wine list. Info: Opens November 5, 25 Broadwick Street, W1; temperrestaurant.com Epicurean London Sample yourself silly on the countless variations of wine, cheese and other fine foodstuffs on show at this new event at Truman Brewery, before tipsily settling down for some existential booze-focused talks, such as What does craft beer really mean? Info: October 28-29, Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1; epicurean.online El Pastor, Corazon, Breddos You cant move for tiny tortillas this autumn. The Hart brothers have El Pastor in Borough, theres Corazon in Soho, and street-food kings Breddos open a permanent taqueria in Clerkenwell, where tacos come topped with crunchy nut sweetbreads and black pudding mole. Info: El Pastor, 7a Stoney Street, SE1, @Tacos_El_Pastor, Corazon, 29 Poland Street, W1, @corazon_uk, Breddos Taqueria, 82 Goswell Road, EC1; breddostacos.com Glandstonbury A celebration of all the tastiest bits of animal we often waste. Tom Oldroyd, Andrew Clarke and Jackson Boxer are among the top chefs preparing a 10-course, offal-based meal at the Drapers Arms pub, including devilled chicken feet and ox-kidney pastries, and bone marrow beignets with foie gras truffles. Leave any offal puns at the door. Info: October 27, 44 Barnsbury Street, N1; thedrapersarms.com Barullo wine festival Think Argentinian wine ends at Malbec? Think again. Sip yourself straight at this four-day pop-up celebrating the South American nations vino, plus food from two Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco. Info: October 25-28, 25-27 Hackney Road, E2, winesofargentina.org Smokestak If you know, you know: David Carters brisket and ribs are simply the best in London. This autumn he moves from Street Feast to a permanent restaurant, with new dishes such as smoked girolles on bone-marrow toast and coal-roasted sweet potato, smoked ricotta and bacon besides that brisket. Info: Opens early November, 11 Sclater Street, E1; smokestak.co.uk Luca Its hard enough to get into Isaac McHales Michelin-starred Clove Club, ranked 26th in the world. So good luck trying to nab a table at the restaurants second venture. It will serve Italian food made with British ingredients, such as an incredible-sounding ravioli of grouse with potato and whisky sauce. Info: Opens November, 88 St John Street, EC1; luca.restaurant/ Bread Ahead Covent Garden The Borough Market-based bakery makes probably the best doughnuts in London. At its new shop theyre selling those vanilla cream-stuffed pillows of joy alongside buttery brioche buns, with fillings including chicken Caesar and Little Gem. Info: 1a Monmouth Street, WC2, breadahead.com Autumn brunch-over Dump the avo-toast, there are far more exciting brunch menus launching. Chinese Laundry has belly-warming crab congee, or head to posh kebab shop Le Bab for Levantine haggis and eggs or shawarma-spiced pork hash with tater tots and fried eggs. Info: Chinese Laundry, 107 Upper Street, N1; chineselaundryroom.co.uk, Le Bab, Kingly Court, W1; eatlebab.com The Laughing Heart This truly joyous wine bar/off-licence, which gets its name from a Charles Bukowski poem, serves from its 300-strong wine list until 2am. Make sure to soak it up with the char sui bao (smoked pork in steamed buns), which might even beat a bacon sarnie as a hangover cure. Info: 277 Hackney Road, E2, thelaughingheartlondon.com Cafe Murano Piemonte supper club Angela Hartnett cooks exceptional Italian food at her London restaurants, and in November shes teaming up with cult wine merchant Passione Vino to serve a regional dinner, with dishes influenced by the north Italian region. Expect seriously hearty dishes and lashings of full-bodied wine. Info: November 1, 36 Tavistock St, WC2E 7PB; cafemurano.co.uk Hot turmoil: Laos-style pollock / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Kiln Ben Chapman made outstanding, spicy Thai at Smoking Goat; now hes headed to Brewer Street for yet more scorchingly tasty dishes think aged hogget with Szechuan pepper, or roast long pepper and Tamworth pork shoulder curry. Our very own food critic Fay Maschler gave this tiny side of the road restaurant five stars this week, so good luck getting a seat. Info: 58 Brewer Street, W1; kilnsoho.com Pop-ups at The King & Co This Clapham pub hosts a different chef residency each month. Head there before October 30 for lamb bourek from the brilliant Iraqi chefs at Juma Kitchen, then return in November and December as the pub turns to Basque, with Donostia Social Club cooking piles of pinxtos, prawns and Iberico pork. Info: 100 Clapham Park Road, SW4; thekingandco.uk Motu Indian delivery If you really cant drag yourself out, youre allowed an Indian takeaway but make it korma and pilau with a twist. This is the latest offering from the Sethis, owners of Michelin-starred Gymkhana and Trishna. Feast Boxes include poppadoms, naans and dahl, and curries from madras prawn masala to LKO chicken korma all made to top restaurant quality. Info: From October 17; motuindiankitchen.com Veneta The Salt Yard Group has another addition to its group of top-notch tapas restaurants. Veneta, in the new St Jamess Market development, is headed by the lovely Ben Tish. Dishes will include kid-goat ragu with papardelle, beautiful Italian hams and cheeses, and a raw bar with native oysters and spider crab. Info: Opens November 7, 3 Norris Street, SW1; veneta-stjames.co.uk Gastro gelato: Cherries and almonds by Bruce Poole Gelupo collaboration As if the Soho gelateria didnt already serve some of the best gelato in London, its now teaming up with a host of Michelin chefs to create some fairly mind-blowing flavours. Flavours include Fernet Branca and creme de menthe from Fergus Henderson and Cuban tobacco and dark rum from Pierre Koffmann. Info: 7 Archer Street, W1, gelupo.com Flippin Nell Home-made bread made on a market stall thats light but strong enough to take the weight of excellent fillings for vegetarians theres aubergine, honey walnuts and whipped feta, while merguez and egg is hangover-beating dynamite for meat-eaters. Info: Brixton, Clapham, Crystal Palace, Herne Hill, Norwood markets, @flippinnell Lahpet What better way to stick two fingers up to freezing winds than to fortify yourself with curry? This street-food stand serves proper insulation in Burmese specialties such as Rakhine chicken curry (coconut-rich with fermented shrimp relish) and the umami-ish fermented tea-leaf salad that gives the stall its name. Info: Weekends, Maltby Street, SE1; lahpet.co.uk Vickys Donuts An ever-changing line-up of fun new twists on the classic, from blueberry cheesecake and the devilish Reeses (peanut butter and chocolate) to an exploding Smartie flavour for Kerbs fourth birthday tonight. Info: vickysdonuts.com Chick n Sours The clues in the name: this cult restaurant, which recently opened a second branch in Seven Dials, is rightly adored for its fried chicken and sour cocktails. But those in the know go for the sides: from sticky Szechuan aubergine to the hot-and-sour pineapple. Info: 1a Earlham Street, WC2; chicknsours.co.uk Makatcha Warm up with this punchy Indonesian staple cooked in coconut cream with lemon grass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves, with peanut sauce and sweet/sour pickle. Look out for the specials, including creamy noodle soup and mango sticky rice. Info: Various markets, makatcha.co.uk Visit standard.co.uk/restaurants for the latest news and reviews from Londons food scene. @franklymccoy Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout A Brazilian chef described as the best cook I know by Nigella Lawson has launched a pop-up restaurant in the capital. Helio Fenerich, who came to London in the 90s, has been cooking for private parties in the city for years, prompting the high praise from the TV chef. For the following month and perhaps longer he will run Helios Cantina at Institute of Light in Hackney,serving a rustic Mediterranean menu designed for sharing. It will be particularly focused on the food of Italy but also inspired by Spain, France and Portugal. Helio Fenerich: The best cook Nigella Lawson has known Dishes will include artichokes alla giudia with burrata; zucchini with sage fritti; slow-cooked beef and pancetta ragu in chianti; and pan-fried sea bass with black olive tapenade, lentils and Swiss chard. Fenerich is particularly known for his cakes and desserts, having recently brought out a book on the subject in Brazil. Among those set to feature at Helios Cantina are a flourless chocolate cake with creme fraiche, a verrine of roasted apricots, and almond ice cream with a brulee topping. On the menu: Artichokes alla giudia with burrata A Sunday roast feasting menu will also be served, with options including rolled pork belly stuffed with prunes, fennel seeds and lemon and roast chicken with truffle butter, lemon, rosemary, sage and thyme. Both will be served with sides such as roasted new potatoes with rosemary, garlic and pecorino and green beans with Dijon dressing. Customers can also choose the Institute of Lights cinedining package allowing them to enjoy dinner and a film, sitting on comfy sofas and aeroplane-style seats. Visit the-institute-of-light.com. Visit standard.co.uk/restaurants for the latest news and reviews from Londons food scene. Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout T he film industry still has some way to go to catch up with the theatre when it comes to strong roles for women, according to Anne-Marie Duff, who is about to star in the big screen version of Ian McEwans On Chesil Beach. The actress is set to start filming soon as part of a cast of brilliant people including Saoirse Ronan. Duff, who plays the mother of Ronans character, is currently on stage in another mother-and-daughter tale. She is appearing in Oil at the Almeida Theatre in Islington and said working on stage had always been amazing for women. It is the one arena in which there is more space to exist because it is not a purely aesthetic medium unlike film, she said. It is a constant battle and we have to keep fighting the fight and I dont mean that in a whingy way, people want to see interesting characters. I want to see interesting male characters, I want to see interesting female characters, not one-dimensional characters. Duff said her role as an oil executive caught in a clash of generations with her daughter has taught her gut wrenching lessons about parenthood. She said: There might be one fantastic scene in a play where that happens, but actually to share that journey is a rare treat. As a storyteller you have to be as honest as you can be, and that is not always pleasant, but looking at the nature of being a good parent and Im a mum thats been very curious for me. Arts picks: 10th-16th October 1 /8 Arts picks: 10th-16th October Shopping and F***ing Its not been staged for twenty years and its got a swear word in the title, but will Mark Ravenhills in-yer-face play still have the power to shock? The Lyric Hammersmiths artistic director Sean Holmes is bringing it back to the stage with an exciting young cast, so well see if Ravenhills vision of a 21st century of empty consumerism rings true. If were not too distracted by internet shopping. October 7 - November 5, Lyric Hammersmith; lyric.co.uk Beyond Caravaggio It doesnt get much better for art lovers this autumn, with the National Gallerys blockbuster new exhibition exploring the influence of Caravaggio on other painters. These gloriously rich paintings are brimful of stories and are a feast for the eyes. Read our review here . October 12 - January 15, National Gallery; nationalgallery.org.uk Oil Ella Hicksons play about one womans journey through the history of oil promises to be epic, and its the latest in a line of chunky hits of theatre from the Almeida. Anne-Marie Duff stars and Carrie Cracknell directs, so for those reasons alone its not one to miss. Read our interview with Ella Hickson about new writing at the Almeida. October 7 - November 26, Almeida Theatre; almeida.co.uk Adriaen van de Velde: Dutch Master of Landscape You may not have heard of Van de Velde - this is the first ever exhibition devoted to the painter and draughtsman - but you need to see his work. One art historian compared Van de Veldes work to Mozarts chamber music. The Dulwich Picture Gallery has collaborated with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to bring over 60 of his paintings to London, and they are not to be missed. October 12 - January 15, Dulwich Picture Gallery; dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined Who is up for 500 years of vulgarity? The Barbicans new exhibition traces fashion past and present to try and explore ideas around taste, and make visitors think again about what exactly it means to be vulgar. Including contributions from Prada, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood, the show hopes to make visitors realise that excess doesnt have to be offputting, its just about the way you look at it. October 13 - February 5, Barbican Centre; barbican.org.uk Blue Heart This is the first major revival of a double bill of one act plays by one of our greatest living playwrights. Caryl Churchills Blue Heart comes to the Orange Tree Theatre after an initial run in Bristol, and is another in a long line of exciting shows programmed by the brilliant Richmond venue. October 13 - November 19, Orange Tree Theatre; orangetreetheatre.co.uk Art Battle Who knew that a paintbrush could be an instrument for partaking in competitive sport? At The Vaults this Saturday you can watch artists paint live, and in battle with one another. Making painting a spectator sport, a group of artists will respond to sound, light and performance art and you can vote for your favourite. October 15, The Vaults; thevaults.london Soho Rising Soho Rising showcases the best work from Soho Theatres Young Company, so its the place to see the new writing stars of tomorrow taking their very first steps on London stages. Over the course of a week, there are seven shows including comedy, cabaret and theatre, including a show about going blind and a comedy gala to end the season. October 10 - October 15, Soho Theatre; sohotheatre.com Ive been thinking about it a lot, and one of the things you really need to do as a parent is to teach your kid to be capable and able, and that means they are not going to need you any more and that is gut-wrenching but thats your job so that they can exist in a world without you. Duff, who appeared in the National Theatres revival of D H Lawrences Husbands and Sons last year, admitted she was naive about the reality of the oil industry before she started researching the play. She said: It has really affected me on a very profound level, Ive always tried to be pretty green but I have to say Im pretty ridiculous about it now much to the annoyance of people around me. Oil runs at the Almeida Theatre until November 26; almeida.co.uk Visit standard.co.uk/theatre for the latest news and reviews from Londons theatre scene. Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout T he boy looks me firmly in the eyes: Is Jungle finished? Its the question children in Calaiss refugee camp kept asking me yesterday, often with panicked faces. Demolition is expected to start on Monday, although charities yesterday petitioned a French court to delay its closure, arguing that the authorities are not ready to relocate residents. Earlier this week, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said there was a moral duty to bring unaccompanied children languishing in the camp to the UK swiftly. And yesterday a group of under-18s five Afghans and a Syrian left the camp and boarded a train for England. However, they were eligible because they had relatives in Britain with whom they could be reunited; other children in the camp do not. Britain is yet to accept any of the latter, despite the Dubs Amendment which enabled just this being passed in May. The Dubs children have become a lost population, says Red Godfrey-Sagoo of Safe Passage, a programme run by Citizens UK. For these children, the first gate they have to get through is a best-interest assessment, to decide whether to put them in fostering in the UK or in France. The Government has not yet created a process for doing this, so Safe Passage has stepped in, working with a coalition of other organisations, including Hammersmith & Fulham council, NGOs and law firms acting pro bono. This is ground-breaking, says Godfrey-Sagoo. You can them take this mechanism and go, Here you go Greece, Italy there is no excuse for not having this gate open. On Wednesday, assessments finally began, with social workers aided by translators so their work would hold up in a court of law. The first cases are expected to be lodged today, with letters saying legal action will be taken if cases arent reviewed by the Government within 24 hours. The social workers came from Hammersmith & Fulham, a move spearheaded by council leader Stephen Cowan and councillor Sue Fennimore. After Citizens UK counted the number of children eligible to come to the UK, they hoped the British or French governments would send officials in to assess, says Cowan. They didnt. So Hammersmith & Fulham thought it would be helpful to the Home Office to have these children professionally assessed by our social workers. They went as volunteers but we arranged it, with costs paid for by Safe Passage. We wanted to show others the way. We are trying to break the political log-jam. One of the 52 girls currently in the camp / Vicki Couchman The assessments have started with the most vulnerable children: the youngest, those with mental health issues, especially if theyre deemed a suicide risk, and the 52 girls in the camp. I meet Almaz, who is due to be assessed today, at the Women and Childrens Centre, a converted bus. Almaz, who was born in Eritrea but moved to Ethiopia as a toddler, has been in the camp for four-and-a-half months. Most evenings and some days too she tries to board a lorry to England. She is only 16 and was orphaned in childhood. She went to live with her uncle but faced persecution in Ethiopia, so he paid for her to go to Libya. He stopped sending her money after a year and she had to find work, before coming to France. Calais volunteers - in pictures 1 /22 Calais volunteers - in pictures Data Analyst Ellis Cresswell, 27, from Hackney, has taken a week off work to help maintain shelters Matt Writtle Libby McCorry of Enfield, north London and Faith Hamilton of west Wales, of the Ashram food kitchen Matt Writtle Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson who created the Good Chance Theatre in 'The Jungle', Calais, France Matt Writtle Susannah Butter in 'The Jungle', Calais, France Matt Writtle Carrie McAlinden of Hackney, teaches English at the Library Matt Writtle Barry Fallon, 30, of Newport, south Wales, sorts through all the donated food at The Warehouse, Calais Matt Writtle Marie Eisendisc, 32, of Dalston, has quit her career as a fashion videographer to become a full time volunteer in The Jungle Matt Writtle Volunteer Ben Harrison, 20, who was born in Dulwich and now lives in Harpenden, Herts, has taken a gap year before he heads to Yale to study for his degree Matt Writtle Hettie Colquhoun, 23, of Frome, Somerset, who manages logistics at The Warehouse Matt Writtle Royal College of Art student Tom Hatton who has spent the past two weeks documenting The Jungle with his 5x7 plate camera copyright Matt Writtle 2016. Libby McCorry of Enfield, north London, volunteers at the Ashram food kitchen Matt Writtle Volunteer librarian and podcaster Rowan Farrell Matt Writtle One of the many restaurants springing up in The Jungle A fruit and provisions store Matt Writtle Volunteer Liz Clegg in front of her truck renowned in The Jungle Matt Writtle Graffiti in the Jungle Matt Writtle The Calais Jungle Matt Writtle Most children eligible under Dubs are still awaiting even that assessment. In the camp, boys press their name and phone numbers into my hand, not wanting me to call them but to pass their details onto charities to ensure they wont be missed. ONE of these is Jon, as he asks me to call him, although thats not his name. Hes 17, with a face still untroubled by a razor. I meet him in one of the camps makeshift restaurants. He has been in Calais for six months having fled Pakistan sleeping rough along the way in a Macedonian forest with only a jacket to keep him warm. A Shia Muslim, he grew up in Kurram Agency, near the Afghan border. Its very dangerous there for Shia Muslims, he says. There are many kidnappings. The Taliban dont want you to learn: they want to destroy schools, universities, education itself. Young people, especially students, are their target. I cannot go back because I will be a target; I will be killed. The Taliban wont leave us alone. And now theres Daesh too. Young men sharing coffee around a fire / Vicki Couchman His life was very happy in Pakistan and the family wasnt poor: I only left because of the Taliban and Daesh. Jon has two younger brothers and a younger sister. Im worried about them all the time. Now they are small, but if they get big, they will be a target too. His dream is to come to England, complete his education and start his own import/export business. I dont want to stay here thats why I cannot learn [French] 100 per cent I want to be in London. Life in the camp smarts, he adds. Six months is too much time. The police do not treat us well. If they catch us, they hit us. And France wont give us anything: education, housing. They treat us like animals. I feel like I will never go from here. I want to say [to the British Government], Please help us. We are here, dont pretend we arent. We need you to help us, to solve our problem. There are around 1,000 unaccompanied children in the camp. A 14-year-old from Ethiopias persecuted Oromo community says he had to leave because his familys farming land was seized. A 16-year-old from Darfur there was only war and bloodshed there tells me hes seen refugees killed trying to board lorries: more dead bodies. Another teenager fled Afghanistan because he was targeted by the Taliban after going on a summer course in Kabul to learn English. Liz Clegg runs the womens centre and has been a stand-in mother to many of Calaiss children. She says the French authorities have kept both volunteers and refugees in the dark about the impending eviction. There is a level of panic. We are possibly losing children every day because were not being able to give them solid information so theyre choosing to try elsewhere. Cowan tells me that a nine-year-old he met in August who was shaking with fear has disappeared with his brother, aged 10. For those remaining in the camp, tensions are rising. On Wednesday night, unrest grew and a 17-year-old Afghan told me how hed run away following an uproar around midnight and found his eyes burning because of police tear gas. My family didnt send me away to end up like that. Im not staying in the Jungle now. Clegg is worried that come Sunday, the riot police will be sent in. There are still 1,000 children that havent been allocated official places. Logistically, in three days, is that going to be possible? It should take three weeks: to engage with us, to give the children an understanding of the process, to work with them, so this transition is child-centred, a humanitarian approach. She says that a rushed solution will be an additional trauma for the children. Emotionally, these children are already at the bitter end of their ability to cope, and if the Governments response is sudden Jungle finished! Get on a bus! No, you cant say goodbye to the man youve lived with all winter! you will cause psychological problems. In Greece, when they evicted refugees from camps, NGOs were excluded and families were separated in the chaos. Clegg worries something similar will happen in Calais. Are they going to herd them like animals, with no support emotionally? And take them where? To a reception centre. Its not a solution. Its child abuse. She worries that more children will disappear and it wont even be recorded by authorities. We are concerned about the missing-person process here. We believe if a child absconds, theyre not obliged to report them missing. BUT if they are brought to Britain, that will only be the beginning. Clegg warns that some of the children who have arrived here illegally (the youngest of whom is 10) are struggling to cope. She tells me about a 14-year-old whos fallen apart. He hasnt claimed asylum yet. Now hes talked about coming back to Calais because hes frightened. Another absconded from foster care and went looking for Clegg in Birmingham, only to be found a few days later. These children need support to adjust to their situation, she says. Theyve been running on adrenaline for up to a year. They will come down, and at that point many will suffer severe psychological problems. Clegg says refugee organisations have now started specialist training for frontline workers in social services and are looking into it for foster carers too. She will be looking at how the voluntary sector can support the public sector with these children, with a view to instigating a guardianship programme for them. Again and again in the camp, the children talk almost Dick Whittington-like about the lure of London. The bright lights! says an Afghan aged 17. Another boy tells me: Everyone talks about London Bridge. Scores of them have I London hoodies; a volunteer tells me they think it was a job lot, unsold in the UK, maybe tongue-in-cheek. When Lord Dubs who spearheaded the amendment arrived in the camp, the hoodies had just been distributed and he was met with a line of children wearing theirs. As Im leaving the Jungle, I notice a spray-painted message on a wall: There is a big wish in my heart that I should take a cup of tea in London. It seems a modest dream. Follow Rosamund on Twitter @RosamundUrwin L ondon has hosted more than its fair share of exhibitions dedicated to controversial artists, but with Caravaggio the subject of a major new show at the National Gallery were celebrating perhaps the most contentious of all. And once thats whet your appetite, the next stop has to be Rome epicentre of the art world when Caravaggio was most prevalent and his favoured stomping ground. That is, until he killed a pimp and fled to Naples. I wasnt joking when I said controversial. Appropriately enough, my first stop in Rome involves lunch at the excellent Dal Bolognese restaurant, looking out over the Piazza del Popolo. The square would have been Caravaggios first sight of Rome when he arrived at the city in 1592 through its grand entry gate, Porta del Popolo. The piazza owes its more modern beauty to the 19th-century architect Giuseppe Valadier, but in Caravaggios day it was part of the run-down artists quarter, occupied by struggling painters, drunks, ladies of the night and criminals. Just Caravaggios sort of scene. The artist lodged in this no-good neighbourhood and embraced the rogue lifestyle. He would swagger through the streets like a bad-boy rock star, getting into fights, gallivanting with prostitutes and on one occasion he threw a plate of artichokes in the face of a waiter for a perceived slight. With a life so full of violence its no surprise many of his paintings have a gruesome side Judith Beheading Holofernes (1598/9) at Romes Galleria Nazionale dArte Antica is as horrifying and darkly comic as any Tarantino movie. The best place to start, however, is the Galleria Borghese, where you get a sense of the artists journey from good-time guy to dark and dangerous. Hanging side by side, two faces of Caravaggio look out at me. In the first, painted around 1593 when he moved to Rome from Milan in his early twenties, Caravaggio portrays himself as Bacchus, the god of revelry. For the second, dated to the last years before his death in 1610, he paints his likeness into the severed head of Goliath held aloft by David. Judith Beheading Holofernes / Classic Paintings/ Alamy In the Bacchus portrait Caravaggio bears a sickly appearance, which has led some art historians to believe he was suffering from malaria at the time. But if Caravaggio looks ill as Bacchus, as Goliath he looks nightmarish. Blood drains from his neck as his mouth lolls open, saliva glistening on his bottom lip. When viewed beside the Bacchus portrait, its hard to believe these two faces portray the same man. Yet both works display Caravaggios revolutionary approach his contrasts between light and dark, the way he blurs the line between the sensual and the grotesque or the pious and the profane. The largest crop of Caravaggios might be in the Borghese but the greatest delight to be found in Rome is the opportunity to see his paintings in situ in the churches for which they were originally commissioned, where the dark interiors only enhance his masterful use of shadow. The Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, a minutes walk from the Piazza Navona (site of the Fountain of the Four Rivers), is a good place to start. As I head there from my hotel I go down Via della Scrofa, the street where Caravaggio was arrested for beating a man with a stick and tearing his cape with his sword but this reminder of his violent nature melts away when I enter the church and see The Calling of St Matthew (1600). Piazza Navona; works at Contarelli Chapel / Vladimar Pomortzeff/ Alamy The Calling, Caravaggios first public commission, shows Christ pointing at the seated evangelist. A shaft of light follows Jesus into the room, illuminating Matthews face. Four centuries on and its sincere piety retains the power to spiritually move visitors; even Pope Francis has hailed it as an inspiration: That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew. Thats me. I feel like Matthew. The Basilica of SantAgostino is only another two minutes walk away and houses Caravaggios The Madonna of Loreto (1604/5). Depicting a pair of pilgrims fallen to their knees, having come to see the Virgin, their cracked feet face towards the viewer, causing much chatter when the painting was unveiled. A further 20-minute walk to the Santa Maria church provides a third chance to see a pair of Caravaggios in situ two more depictions of calling and martydom, the Crucifixion of Saint Peter and The Conversion of Saint Paul (1601). Alamy Stock Photo After killing the pimp Ranuccio Tomassoni in a brawl, Caravaggio fled Rome for Naples in 1606. A days pilgrimage to the city (two hours from Rome by train) offers the chance to see several masterful works, the best being The Flagellation of Christ (1607) at Museo di Capodimonte. Naples itself offers the same light and shadow of Caravaggio, great artist and violent criminal, with its gorgeous coastal views and tatty, graffitied streets. I take the edge off the flagellation with a Neapolitan pizza and cheeky spritz in the Unesco-listed old town. Caravaggio would approve. Details: Rome William Moore flew to Rome on easyJet (easyjet.com) from Gatwick as a guest of the National Gallery. Hotel Locarno (hotellocarno.com) offers doubles from 200, B&B. Beyond Caravaggio is at the National Gallery (nationalgallery.org.uk) until January 15. turismoroma.it A 21-year-old man has been charged with the murder of martial arts expert Jordan Bari in east London. Mr Bari, 20, was shot at point blank rage as he answered the door to a home in Florida Street, Bethnal Green, just after 8pm last Monday. Bobby Lawrence, of Canonbury Street, Islington, was arrested on Wednesday this week and has now been charged with murder and possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence. He will appear in custody at Thames Magistrates' Court on October 14. A 28-year-old man was also today arrested on suspicion of murder and he remains in custody at a north London police station today. Two other men, aged 29 and 21, were previously arrested at the scene in connection with the killing but they have both been subsequently released with no further action. Mr Bari was a black-belt in taekwondo and had won a number of trophies and titles for the prestigious Gurumu Taekwondo Club in east London, whose members have represented Great Britain at the Olympics. Neighbours described hearing a series of gunshots echoing around the communal hallway of the housing block. Armed officers called to the scene found Mr Bari, a former pupil at Brampton Manor Academy in Newham, collapsed in a pool of blood in the stairwell. He was pronounced dead 45 minutes later. One neighbour said the victim had been staying at the flat but did not live there. A bride who got her would-be husbands name wrong as she prepared to walk down the aisle for a sham marriage has been jailed for 18 months. Immigration officials swooped on Lambeth registry office as Emmaculate Lumnwi, 29, and Nika Lokko, 35, prepared to exchange their vows, Inner London crown court had heard. Lumnwi gave herself away by calling Lokko, who used a French passport under the name of Messangan Sergio Kouye, by his real name. The bride, a marketing consultant with a masters degree in business, moved to the UK from Cameroon in 2011 on a student visa but was turned down when she applied to stay permanently. Lokko was also arrested at Lambeth Registry Office She enlisted Lokko, a NHS facilities manager who was already married, to pose as her husband-to-be at the bogus ceremony on March 3 last year. He was also sentenced to 18 months at a court hearing yesterday. Lumnwi, of Tulse Hill, and Lokko, of Camberwell, had both denied conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. Lokko was also given a 12-month jail sentence to run concurrently for misusing identity documents. Sentencing them, Judge Nigel Seed QC said: These offences are serious. Immigration is a major concern, a huge public concern. "Many people are entitled to be in this country ... But this was a decision to undermine the rules. He said the pair were clearly good people in their professional and personal lives but their offences must be punished with a prison sentence. He added: The courts have made it clear that there had to be immediate custody. Jill Smith, head of the South London Immigration Enforcement team, said: Sham marriage abuse will not be tolerated. Our investigators work very closely with registrars to identify suspicious marriages, and will not hesitate to act. Whether you are a participant or an organiser, you will be caught and brought before the courts. Suspicions had been raised when the couple registered for the marriage and the Home Office were alerted. When she was questioned at the register office, Lumnwi claimed they were a genuine couple. But a jury at Inner London crown court found the pair guilty after deliberating for less than 45 minutes. Lokko was also convicted of possession of a French identity card with intent after the seven-day trial. Lokko is married with two children and a naturalised British citizen. He moved to the UK from Togo in 2003 and was employed as an NHS facilities manager. He said so-called proxy marriages are common in his country and he was ignorant that they are illegal here . D ame Lowell Goddard has rejected claims she used racist language during her time as head of the national inquiry into child sexual abuse. The New Zealand high court judge described allegations made in The Times as falsities, malicious and part of a vicious campaign. The newspaper reported a number of claims made by what it said were well-placed figures at the inquirys headquarters about her alleged conduct, including that she said Britain had so many paedophiles because it has so many Asian men. In a statement Dame Lowell said she had consulted lawyers in London, adding: I confirm my absolute rejection of this attack. I am confident that in New Zealand my known reputation from my work over many years will provide its own refutation of these falsities. Dame Lowell resigned from the beleaguered inquiry, which has been plagued by problems since it was launched in 2014, in August. At the time she called for the probe to be overhauled, saying there is an inherent problem in the sheer scale and size. Professor Alexis Jay replaced Dame Lowell as chair. The probe - described as the most ambitious public inquiry ever in England and Wales - was earmarked to take five years, but there have been suggestions it could run for as long as a decade. In her statement about the Times report, Dame Lowell said: Nearly two years ago I stepped down as a New Zealand judge to answer the urgent request of the British government to chair its inquiry into child sex abuse. Subsequently, for reasons I have made public, I resigned and returned to New Zealand. Two days ago I was contacted by The Times and asked to respond to matters which it now says it obtained from figures within the inquiry. I responded through my London lawyers, identifying the falsity of the matters raised, and the malicious background to them. The newspaper has today published articles about me and the inquiry, using some of those same matters in its attack. I reported to the Home Secretary and to the Parliamentary select committee on my resignation and my reasons for it. My major concern was to protect the inquiry and its work, and identify how the problems I encountered could be overcome. Dame Lowell said that the conduct of those involved has since come under scrutiny. This will give New Zealanders some insight into what I experienced. I await the advice of my London lawyers on these articles, which I have only just seen. I confirm my absolute rejection of this attack. I am confident that in New Zealand my known reputation from my work over many years will provide its own refutation of these falsities. I will be making no further statement and will not engage with those conducting this vicious campaign. S cotland Yard was today accused of insensitive and arrogant handling of child sex abuse claims after it apologised to an innocent former armed forces chief for the way it investigated him. Tim Loughton MP, acting chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, condemned the force and urged it to release as many details as possible of an inquiry into Operation Midland, which investigated allegations of a VIP paedophile ring. The senior Tory MP hit out after Field Marshal Lord Bramall, a 92-year-old D-Day veteran, told of his anger that his wife died before false child sex abuse claims against him were dropped. His home was raided by 22 officers in March last year while he was having breakfast with Lady Bramall. She died in July last year and had been suffering from dementia. The peer said Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe had visited him on Wednesday and apologised. Mr Loughton described the apology as long overdue and called for the force to be as open as possible about the inquiry by retired High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques into Operation Midland. He said: Given the incompetence and insensitive and arrogant way the police have handled this whole investigation they should go above and beyond to release as many details as possible to explain how this unfortunate trail of events was allowed to happen. Sir Bernard has also offered to meet a former Tory MP falsely accused of being involved in child sex abuse and a child murder before publication of the report into his forces handling of the inquiry. Harvey Proctor said he had been offered a private meeting with the Commissioner to discuss a final version of the review. C ommuters faced delays of more than half an hour this morning as a broken down train in east London hit services. A broken down train outside Barking around 7am this morning meant commuter trains from Essex were unable to get further than West Ham, causing mass delays throughout the service. A number of services to and from Fenchurch Street had to be cancelled because of the break down. Passengers on the broken down train complained about being stranded between two platforms with no information on what was going on. Rail operator c2c tweeted: Due to an earlier faulty train at West Ham, Greater Anglia and TfL will be accepting tickets on all reasonable routes. Sorry about the disruption. But commuters took to social media in their droves to complain about the service. @OootSi tweeted: Top organisation guys. Tell passengers to go to Barking and then no trains or advice for what to do after. Staff dont know either. Tom Richardson added: Got booted off at Barking, the train in front broke down. District line all the way to St James Park wasnt fun. Martin Guilbert also wrote: C2C kept us waiting for 50 minutes before deciding to let us off at Barking. Now stuck at Barking. Terrible day at the office for c2c." The train has since been removed, but services are subject to delays and alterations. A c2c spokeswoman said: "We are very sorry for the delays our passengers experienced this morning. "This was due to a faulty train at West Ham which meant we had to terminate trains at Barking. "There may be knock-on delays and cancellations in the next hour or so." A leading primate expert said the gorilla which escaped from its enclosure should not be put back on show to the public at London Zoo. Professor Phyllis Lee said staff at ZSL London Zoo should consider moving Kumbuka to another zoo elsewhere in Europe because he is "unhappy in his environment." Professor Lee, former president of the Primate Society of Great Britain, said the silverback gorillas attempted break-out signals a sense of crisis and desperation. The professor, who has studied primates for more than 35 years and is based at Stirling University, said the 29-stone animal should now be moved to another zoo elsewhere in Europe. Speaking from Kenya, where she is carrying out a research project, she told the Standard: Animals in captivity are often challenged by the unusual circumstances." It came as zoo bosses were today preparing to put Kumbuka back in his pen at London Zoo. A staff member peers through a gate at the zoo / Nigel Howard Professor Lee said: He would have been somewhat challenged in his environment to start with, and from the sound of his behaviour he was desperate to escape. They are highly intelligent and if there is a way to escape they will find it. Gorilla males like to move around, in the wild they move around and join other groups. They join other groups and find other females to join and mate with. They are a wide ranging species and dont take to being kept in small environments. They are not really gentle giants, they are very powerful, very determined animals who have a strong desire to mate. If you get I their way that could mean they hurt someone. London Zoo gorilla returned safely after escaping enclosure He was obviously clearly unhappy in his environment and wanted to escape, to find a new group and females to mate with. He would not have been happy with the other gorillas at the zoo. I now expect him to be transferred. It could be to Whipsnade zoo or another zoo in Europe. There is a european stud group and the zoos are in close contact. Its up to London Zoo because they will understand his behaviour best, but I expect them to try and place him somewhere he might be happier. Police and members of the public at an entrance to the zoo / AP Kumbuka was brought to London to help its breeding programme and to provide a calming presence to the females of the group. He had never had a mate before coming to London. He has two offspring a girl named Alika and a boy called Gernot. Witnesses who visited the zoo yesterday said Kumbuka had appeared agitated in the hours before he escaped. John Davis, 56, who visited Gorilla Kingdom with his two-year-old son Eden, told the Standard: I go there pretty much every day and know the gorillas well. Most of the time the big one just sits and stares but yesterday he was looking really angry. People were banging on the glass and taking pictures using their flashes. Then he lurched towards us and smashed against the glass. My little one was so scared he ran away in tears. Rob Hogan, 37, said: It sounded like a car hitting the window. Visitors were only allowed to leave the zoo when the all-clear was given after Kumbuka had been caught and subdued. Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals, said the ape was soon back with his group and grumbling - a sign of satisfaction - as he was treated to a meal of baby porridge. Staff and visitors were locked in buildings after a klaxon went off at the zoo, signalling the animal's escape / PA He said: An investigation is underway to ascertain how he escaped but he was contained in a secure area and he was no risk to the visitors. I would like to pass on my thanks to guests who co-operated very well with us and moved into buildings to allow the emergency teams to respond. He dismissed suggestions Kumbuka had displayed signs of aggression earlier in the day, saying: Male gorillas like to display behaviour, he will often hit the walls and the glass but he has never tried to escape before. He has a great relationship with our keepers and vets, and is very popular with our customers too. Every animal is different, but we know Kumbukas behaviour and he will very much be staying here as part of our gorilla family. We expect more gorilla babies from him in the next few years. Kumbuka was brought to London from Paignton Zoo in 2013 as the dominant male of the troop. He fathered his first offspring, a female named Alika, with mate Mjukuu in 2014. Last year Kumbukas second baby, a male called Gernot, was born. The group is completed by females Effie and Zaire. Councillor Nickie Aiken, Westminster City Councils cabinet member for public protection and licensing, said a thorough investigation would be carried out. She said: Im concerned to hear that a wild animal was able to get through its first barrier but Im pleased it was unable to get through the next barrier to where members of the public are. It is a serious incident and it must have been quite frightening for everyone who was there. We do expect there to be high levels of safety for the animals and members of the public. The probe is expected to be handled by the same team who carried out the investigation into 2013s ceiling collapse during a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at the Apollo Theatre. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: We were called to assist, but no assistance was needed. A gorilla escaped its enclosure at London Zoo after a cage door was accidentally left open, it was claimed today. A full investigation has been launched after Kumbuka, a 29-stone silverback, sparked panic when he fled his den at the 5million Gorilla Kingdom exhibit. Zoo curator Malcolm Fitzpatrick today refused to explain how Kumbuka - who he described as a gentle giant - escaped despite being asked six times in a row during a live BBC interview. However he denied the gorilla escaped by smashing the glass windows of his enclosure. Categorically I can say that our male silverback gorilla, Kumbuka, didnt break through the glass, he told the Today programme. Police and members of the public at an entrance to the zoo after it was evacuated / AP A source told the Standard the animal escaped after a door between the public viewing area and service pen was left open. Every enclosure has a gated area which is off-limits to the public to stop animals running straight past when the door is opened, the source said. London Zoo gorilla returned safely after escaping enclosure That door shouldnt have been left open. When the Standard asked the zoo about the open-door theory this morning, a spokeswoman said: Its not been confirmed how it happened yet. Reports today claimed Kumbuka had twice smashed the glass during previous scares. Chris Draper, of the Born Free Foundation, told the BBC: Im very disappointed with London Zoo. Obviously accidents do happen but this is a concerning turn of events. This is an enclosure that was built in 2007 at a cost of 5.3 million, funds that I would say could have been far better used conserving gorillas in the wild. A staff member peers through a gate at the zoo / Nigel Howard Its not a particularly overwhelming piece of zoo architecture, nor is it very fit for purpose, not least because gorillas can escape from it. The zoo in Regents Park was placed into emergency lockdown at 5.15pm last night with visitors taking refuge in cafes, the butterfly house and aquarium amid fears the 7ft ape had gone on the rampage. Staff supported by armed police and assisted by the police helicopters heat-seeking camera searched for around 90 minutes before tracing the runaway ape to a secure holding pen behind the main exhibit. Staff and visitors were locked in buildings after a klaxon went off at the zoo, signalling the animal's escape / PA The 18-year-old western lowland gorilla was re-captured and shot with a tranquilliser dart at shortly before 7pm. Witnesses who visited the zoo yesterday said Kumbuka had appeared agitated in the hours before he escaped. John Davis, 56, who visited Gorilla Kingdom with his two-year-old son Eden, told the Standard: I go there pretty much every day and know the gorillas well. Most of the time the big one just sits and stares but yesterday he was looking really angry. People were banging on the glass and taking pictures using their flashes. Then he lurched towards us and smashed against the glass. My little one was so scared he ran away in tears. Rob Hogan, 37, said: It sounded like a car hitting the window. Visitors were only allowed to leave the zoo when the all-clear was given after Kumbuka had been caught and subdued. Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals, said the ape was soon back with his group and grumbling - a sign of satisfaction - as he was treated to a meal of baby porridge. He said: An investigation is underway to ascertain how he escaped but he was contained in a secure area and he was no risk to the visitors. I would like to pass on my thanks to guests who co-operated very well with us and moved into buildings to allow the emergency teams to respond. He dismissed suggestions Kumbuka had displayed signs of aggression earlier in the day, saying: Male gorillas like to display behaviour, he will often hit the walls and the glass but he has never tried to escape before. He has a great relationship with our keepers and vets, and is very popular with our customers too. Every animal is different, but we know Kumbukas behaviour and he will very much be staying here as part of our gorilla family. We expect more gorilla babies from him in the next few years. Kumbuka was brought to London from Paignton Zoo in 2013 as the dominant male of the troop. He fathered his first offspring, a female named Alika, with mate Mjukuu in 2014. Last year Kumbukas second baby, a male called Gernot, was born. The group is completed by females Effie and Zaire. Councillor Nickie Aiken, Westminster City Councils cabinet member for public protection and licensing, said a thorough investigation would be carried out. She said: Im concerned to hear that a wild animal was able to get through its first barrier but Im pleased it was unable to get through the next barrier to where members of the public are. It is a serious incident and it must have been quite frightening for everyone who was there. We do expect there to be high levels of safety for the animals and members of the public. The probe is expected to be handled by the same team who carried out the investigation into 2013s ceiling collapse during a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at the Apollo Theatre. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: We were called to assist, but no assistance was needed. H undreds of partygoers have been left "fuming" after a concert featuring hip hop legend Mos Def in London tonight was cancelled at the last-minute. The announcement was made by the O2 Forum, Kentish Town, at 12.20pm, less than eight hours before the gig was due to begin. It said an urgent issue had stopped the American rapper and activist, also known as Yasiin Bey, from flying to London. He is thought to be unable to leave South Africa due to not having the proper travel documentation. The gig will now take place on Monday, October 24. Some fans who were travelling from across the county to the event have vented their fury online. Becky White said she had spent 150 to travel down from Manchester for the night, while Tess Harrison was already en route from Leicester. Sales manager Ben Miller, 26, who was due to attend the show with a group of eight friends, told the Standard: My Friday night is in ruins, we had been planning this for so long. To cancel on the day and reschedule for a Monday, when the majority of people are working the next day, is very frustrating. I am most definitely p****d off, he added. Tickets for the night, which cost from 26.75 to 55.75, have been made valid for a rescheduled concert on Monday 24 October. On its Facebook page, the O2 Forum posted a statement from organisers Soundcrash, saying: Unfortunately, due to an urgent issue - Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) has not flown to London for tonights show at The Forum, so we are extremely disappointed to say this evenings event is now cancelled. All tickets remain valid for a new date on 24th October at The Forum. We obviously dont like passing on news like this, but are hyped about the new date on the 24th. New Cross resident Tom Parris, 24, said he had purchased a 30 ticket off a friend who could no longer attend moments before the shock announcement was made. To cancel it so last-minute when people will have already booked their transport and sorted out the accommodation is pretty outrageous, he told the Standard. Obviously it is probably out of the promoters hands, but theres no chance Ill be going on the Monday and I imagine many people will be in the same boat. I'm fuming On Twitter, Jo Harris-Cooksley said: Whaaaaa not only has tonights Mos def gig in London been postponed, but its rescheduled for A MONDAY. Another, Sumita Sinha, was quick to ask how she could go about getting a refund. Mos Def, 42, has released four solo albums and is listed as the 14th greatest MC of all time on About.coms list of the top 50. He was arrested in Cape Town earlier this year on an immigration documents-related charge. A leading wildlife group has called for an urgent inquiry into the escape of a large silverback gorilla from its enclosure at London Zoo. The 29-stone silverback male ape Kumbuka escaped from his main enclosure on Thursday after being seen charging at the glass wall in his enclosure. Sources have told The Standard the door to his den was accidentally left open, allowing him to escape. Kumbuka made it as far as a non-public keeper area but the Born Free Foundation said it "could have ended very differently", calling for an inquiry into the incident. Zoo workers patch up cracks in glass made by Kumbuka after he charged at onlookers / Jeremy Selwyn The foundation said the incident was a "startling reminder" of the risks of keeping dangerous wild animals in captivity. It has called for an inquiry and for the Zoos Expert Committee, the Government advisory body, to investigate the safety and welfare of great apes in UK zoos. Chris Draper, associate director for animal welfare and care at the foundation, said: "While we are relieved that this incident apparently ended without injury to visitors or to the gorilla, it is yet another startling reminder of the risks associated with maintaining dangerous wild animals in captivity. "This incident could have ended very differently. We are calling for an urgent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding this escape, and into safety procedures at London Zoo." The Born Free Foundation, which campaigns for zoos to be phased out, called on the Government to increase penalties for attractions if they are found to have put visitors or animals at risk. Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at ZSL, refused to specify how the animal managed to escape, despite persistent questioning on Radio 4's Today programme. Glenn Copus Mr Fitzpatrick said: "Categorically I can say that a male silverback gorilla Kumbuka did not break through any glass. "Kumbuka got out of his back dens into a secure keeper area." When asked how the animal had got out he said the matter was "under investigation". Armed police were deployed at the central London zoo as keepers desperately tried to locate the animal, described by witnesses as "agitated", which was eventually tranquillised and returned to its enclosure. A zoo official said members of the public were "never in any danger" as the western lowland gorilla had remained in a secure keeper area. Moment London Zoo gorilla attacks glass There were no reports of injuries in Thursday's incident and Kumbuka was later seen "up and grumbling and interacting with the rest of his gorilla family", said Mr Fitzpatrick. Staff and visitors were locked in buildings after a klaxon went off at the zoo, signalling the animal's escape / PA Mr Fitzpatrick would not confirm if there were keepers in the area at the time and said the public gorilla viewing zone had only a "handful" of people there. He added: "At no time were any of our visitors in any danger. The gorilla did not get out of the safe space, there were only about 100 visitors." Z oo workers were this morning boarding up the cracked glass which a gorilla smashed into before escaping from his cage. These images show staff repairing the smashed glass of the enclosure, which was broken by the huge silverback gorilla just after 5pm. Kumbuka was agitated and charged at the glass before making a bid for freedom yesterday evening. He was tranquilised and subdued by zoo keepers. A zoo official denied that the gorilla escaped through the glass in a TV interview today. Seconds before the loose animal sirens went off, scared visitors reported seeing the 29-stone gorilla, called Kumbuka, charging at the enclosure wall. Zoo workers patch up cracks in glass made by Kumbuka after he charged at onlookers / Jeremy Selwyn It sounded like a car hitting the window, said Rob Hogan, 37, who had been taking pictures of the animal seconds earlier. He added: We stayed there for another two or three minutes looking, then we walked off towards the reptile enclosure. Two minutes later we heard an alarm. Escaped gorilla Other witnesses described a sudden change in Kumbuka, switching from calm and peaceful to agitated in seconds. Zoo curator Malcolm Fitzpatrick has refused to explain how Kumbuka who he described as a gentle giant managed to escape despite being asked six times in a BBC interview. Kumbuka the gorilla 1 /6 Kumbuka the gorilla AN20268351Newly arrived at .jpg New arrival: Kumbuka meets the public at London Zoo. He arrived two weeks ago from Paignton Zoo in Devon (Picture: Glenn Copus) Glenn Copus AN20268395Newly arrived at .jpg Ladies' man: despite never having had a female mate before, Kumbuku has already been spotted flirting with females Mjukuu and Effie Glenn Copus kumbuka-jpg.jpg At home: Kumbuka with a green pepper as he settles in at London Zoo Getty AN20268475Newly arrived at .jpg Majestic: Kumbuka is a 15-year-old western lowland silverback Glenn Copus kumbuka.jpg Powerful: the western lowland gorilla Getty However he denied the gorilla escaped by smashing the glass windows of his enclosure, which was built in 2007 at a cost of 3.5 million. Categorically I can say that our male silverback gorilla, Kumbuka, didnt break through the glass, he told the Today programme. A source told the Standard the animal escaped after a door between the public viewing area and service pen was left open. But a spokeswoman for the zoo said: Its not been confirmed how it happened yet. T wo mothers, included one with a baby strapped to her, have been hailed as heroes after intervening when thugs were about to stab a teenager in a busy shopping street. The niece and her aunt took action when two youths with huge knives chased two other boys through New Cross in south London. The aunt picked up a cafe chair and lunged at one of the knifemen with all her strength, kncoking him off balance as he was about to attack one of the boys. Witnesses today praised the two women, saying they had saved the boys life. The aftermath was captured by BBC London, who filmed the women telling police what had happened. The niece, still carrying her baby, told officers: I started shouting and the next thing I saw was my auntie, whod got one of the cafe chairs. She was trying to stop them. Her aunt added: We just saw it like this is going to be a bloodshed if we dont get tough. They had two massive knives. We just tried to prevent somebody from ending up in the hospital or in the mortuary. And as a mother I didnt think about anything else, I just thought that this needed to be stopped. Lena Gayle, who witnessed the chase from the window of a passing bus, said the women saved the boys life, no question. She told the Standard: One of the two attackers was carrying the biggest knife I have ever seen, it was huge. I told the driver to pull over and started screaming for people to help. One of the boys being chased tripped and over. He looked like he was done for, doubled up on the floor. They were going to kill him. But this woman stepped in and grabbed a cafe chair and hit the boy with the knife as hard as she could. The guy stopped in his tracks and ran off. Police raced to the scene in New Cross Road after being alerted by members of the public at about 11.15am yesterday. When officers arrived, the alleged attackers and their victims had fled, police said. The women were today praised online by members of the public. Natalia Cruz Fajardo wrote: Oh my days, these ladies have more balls than all those officers with their blue lights. And got stuff under control and got the baby to sleep! Girl power. Lewisham police officers tweeted: The great #Lewisham #community saying #StopKnifeCrime. #Thanks. It came as London Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday joined 150 Londoners, including victims families, campaigners, teachers and police officers, at a summit aimed to formulate a tough new approach to tackling the capitals knife crime epidemic. A Met Police spokesman said: We were called at 11.15am yesterday to New Cross Road to reports of an attempted stabbing on a teenager. All those involved had left the scene prior to police arrival. A massive rescue operation has been launched after a 40-tonne party boat was seen appearing to sink on the River Thames. Dramatic photos taken from the banks of the river show the private hire boat leaning on its side and partly submerged underwater. Firefighters rushed to the scene and spent nearly 10 hours trying to rescue The Wyndham boat, which is run by Thames Boats Ltd. The exclusive vessel, which costs up to 315 to hire for four hours, has a capacity for up to 120 people and hosts lunches, dinners as well as parties and celebrations with a bar on-board. Rescue: Crews spent nearly 10 hours trying to rescue The Wyndham boat. / London Fire Brigade. Lester Barnard, the sales and marketing director for Thames Boats Ltd. which owns the boat, said the company are carrying out an investigation into why it happened. He said the cause is not yet known but the company has a "good safety record" with many years of river experience on the Thames. "We are glad no one was on board when it happened and give our thanks to all the authorities who worked on the salvage operation," he said. Capsized: The Thames party boat was rescued by fire crews. (Phil von Oppen, Twitter) / Phil von Oppen, Twitter. The London Fire Brigade said they were called to reports of a boat sinking close to London Bridge in the early hours of this morning. The boat, which also hosts corporate team building days and clay pigeon shooting, had sunk to a depth of two metres, the fire service said. Nobody was on board at the time. 'Minor incident': The Port of London authority said it was 'minor' and 'she's not going to sink'. / Giulio Troccoli, Twitter Martin Garside, from the Port of London Authority, said the boat is a catamaran which sprung a leak on one of its twin hulls on one side of the vessel. "One of the hulls had taken in water," Mr Garside said. "She sprung a leak overnight, not a bump or collision. She's not going to sink." Catamaran: The boat capsized because one of its hulls sprung a leak, the company Thames Boats Ltd. said. / Chris Schofield, Twitter. The fire brigade used their specialist boat to pump water out of the vessel and crews helped to tie it to a mooring barge. At around 2.10pm more than 10 hours after the call came in at 4am this morning the fire service said crews had left the scene and the incident had been finished by 1.30pm. The brigade said it had left the boat in the care of the London Port Authority. Exclusive: The private hire boat has capacity for up to 120 people and hosts lunches, dinners as well as parties. / London Fire Brigade. Passers-by and people working along the riverbank took to social media to express their bemusement at the bizarre sight. User Damini said: "Lmao the whole office has stopped working and is watching this boat situation on the Thames." A "highly respected science teacher jumped 80 feet to his death in front of police after downing a cocktail of drugs, an inquest heard. Dr Jonathan Jerram, 36, was found by police threatening to jump from the fourth-floor balcony of his flat in Albemarle Court, Tottenham, after officers received a panicked phone call from his mother. They said the Hornsey School for Girls teacher, who had been battling mental illness, was wide-eyed and shaken as he teetered on the ledge. In a statement to North London coroners court, Pc Hannah Vincent said: I could see into the kitchen and there were a large number of knives on the side and I saw a male standing on the balcony. "The door was closed and I could see that he had something in his left hand. There were used needles on the sofabed. I got within six feet of the balcony door and he held the rail and asked if he was in trouble. I moved closer and his behaviour was erratic and his eyes were wide, it concerned me enormously. The second officer at the scene, Pc Tony Stirling, said: I told him, Theres nothing down there for you, mate. I asked him, Please do not jump and he said, I think I will. And he threw himself off the top. Dr Jerram was pronounced dead at 6.13pm on March 13 this year. The inquest heard that he regularly used drugs including cocaine, GHB and methadone and had attempted to take his life a month earlier. Dr Jacqueline Humphries, his psychologist since that attempt, said: He had gone to a party where he had drunk alcohol and taken cocaine, although he did not remember this. He thought he had met a man who had been instructed by the school to monitor him. He went back to his flat and took GHB and smashed the place up. He then attempted to jump off his fourth-floor balcony, but was rescued by his neighbours who had heard shouting. They rushed into his flat and found him hanging from the balcony rails and pulled him back. Toxicologist Rebecca Andrews said there was a recreational amount of amphetamine in his blood and methadone in his urine. Recording a verdict of suicide, chief coroner Andrew Walker said: Jonathan brought about the end of his own life. In a letter to parents, headteacher Kuljit Rahelu said: Dr Jerram was highly regarded by colleagues and students. For confidential support on mental health call the Samaritans on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or attend a local Samaritans branch. T hree London hospitals are among the top ten most expensive trusts in the UK for car parking. Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, Whittington Hospital in Highgate after 5pm and St Thomas Hospital in Lambeth charge patients and visitors 3 an hour to park their car. Data from NHS trusts shows that a third of hospitals in England have increased their car parking charges in the last year, with some charging as much as 4 for a one-hour stay. Some trusts permit patients and visitors to park for free for 30 minutes before charges kick in but others have scrapped a one or two-hour charge, meaning people have to pay a flat fee for three hours even if they stay for 45 minutes. The data suggests a 15 per cent average rise in parking charges across trusts in England between 2014/15 and 2015/16. The Royal Free Hospital charges a flat rate of 3 per hour per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of the over 200 hospitals that reported figures to NHS Digital for both 2014/15 and 2015/16, a third showed an increase in their average hourly charge when calculated across three hours. Some 60 per cent showed no change over the year, while 7 per cent showed a decrease. Almost four out of ten NHS trusts said they also charged for disabled parking. Royal Free Hospital: Charges a flat rate of 3 per hour per hour for parking / PA The most expensive hospital in the country for one-hour parking fees is the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guilford, where patients have to pay 4 to park their car for any stay up to two hours, though it does have a few spots where drivers can park for 20 minutes before being charged. England is the only part of the UK where hospitals charge patients and visitors to park their vehicles. Laura Keely, campaigns manager at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Cancer patients often need to make frequent trips to hospital. They should not be left out of pocket in order to receive life-saving treatment. "Public transport is not always an option as cancer patients can have an increased risk of infection because treatment has compromised their immune system. "Treatments can also leave patients feeling tired, sick and weak, so they have little choice but to travel by car. "Car parking is free at most hospitals in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales but not across all hospitals in England. "Those in charge of hospital car parking have a responsibility to ensure that their schemes work for vulnerable people, such as those living with cancer." Some hospitals in England maintain free parking. Trafford General Hospital in Greater Manchester for example offers free parking for up to three hours. Some trusts offer concessions to visitors whose loved ones are terminally ill as well as discounts on weekly fares for those undertaking longer treatment. Of more than 90 trusts that responded to the Freedom of Information request, half are making at least 1 million a year from parking fees. Additional reporting by the Press Association C ressida Bonas, Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy have led a host of stars in performing famous movie and literary quotes about London for a new film to promote the capital as open to creativity and business. Dominic Cooper, Noel Clarke, Louis Theroux, Harry Enfield, Notting Hill director Richard Curtis, Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha and Amma Asante, director of A United Kingdom, took part in the latest #LondonIsOpen video which was unveiled by Mayor Sadiq Khan last night at the BFI London Film Festival. In the black and white film, Bonas, 27, quotes Ron Burgundy from the comedy Anchorman, saying:I will take you to foggy London town because you are my little gentleman. Arterton paraphrases Avi from the Guy Ritchie gangster film Snatch to say: Yes, London. You know, fish and chips, cup of tea, good food, bad weather, Mary Poppins. While Curtis repeats a quote from the recent Paddington Bear film: In London everyone is different and that means anyone can fit in. The video was shown ahead of the premiere of Arterton and Nighys Second World War film Their Finest, which was filmed in the capital, and chosen for his this years Mayors gala screening. Curtis said: London has always had a rich film culture - I dont much like shooting anywhere else - but its now really become a global hub for international film production. "The city is so famous and interesting that it attracts a huge number of story-tellers and now we have the best facilities in the world to match that. London and film is a fantastic success story. Long may it continue. It comes after the Standard reported last week how Dagenham could be set to emerge as a new hub for film-making in the capital. A site for what would be the biggest film studios in the city has been identified close to the abandoned Ford car plant. The Mayor and Darren Rodwell, the Barking and Dagenham council leader have jointly commissioned an 80,000 study to make the business case for the investment. Mr Khan said: Im incredibly proud that London has become world-renowned in the industry for our filmmaking credentials, imagination and innovation. "We have some of the oldest and best studios anywhere on the planet, the most cutting-edge post-production facilities, the creme-de-la-creme of actors, technicians and special effects artists as well as many iconic locations for filming great scenes. "To maintain and grow this reputation and potential, we must continue to be outward looking, attracting the filmmakers of tomorrow to our great city. N icola Sturgeons SNP today warned they could torpedo Theresa Mays plans for more grammar schools. The partys education spokeswoman Carol Monaghan said it reserved the right to step in if the new schools plan affects teacher pay and education spending in Scotland even though no grammars will be opened there. The prospect of a major reform aimed entirely at England being threatened in Parliament by the 54-strong bloc of Scottish Nationalists is likely to infuriate Tory MPs. This would put a potential Commons vote on a knife edge. Ms Monaghan feared new grammars will follow the English academy model allowing schools to set their pay scales for staff. She said: If schools across England set pay scales lower than the agreed national scales, that would mean an education budget across the piste would be lower, and there are Barnett consequentials for us. Scotland could stop Theresa May's plan for grammar schools - even though none will be opened there / EPA The Barnett formula stipulates that when education spending goes up or down in the UK, Scotlands budget will be changed accordingly. A situation where less money is spent on English teaching salaries, could also mean less Scottish school spending, she claims. The SNP power in the Commons would also be seen on airport expansion, with their 54 MPs significantly outnumbering anti-Heathrow West London MPs should a vote on a third runway go before Parliament. Angus Roberston said: The Scottish government has signed a memorandum of understanding to support Heathrow. There are some very strong reasons to support Heathrow and we will play our part in Westminster in making sure that we have the best transport deal for the Scottish economy. The Scottish Government believe Heathrow will bring more jobs, tourism and flights to Scotland. E uropean Council President Donald Tusk has warned Britain that the only alternative to a hard Brexit is no Brexit at all. Speaking in Brussels, Mr Tusk said that there was no room for negotiation on freedom of movement as a condition for access to the single market. He said there would be "no compromises", ruling out a scenario where Britain could curb European immigration to the UK while retaining access to the trade block. Britain, he said, has a simple choice. Either it makes a clean break from the European Union, including the single market, or it reverses the June 23 referendum decision in which 52 per cent of the country voted to leave the EU. The statement will come as blow to Remainers who have pushed for a so-called soft Brexit in which Britain would retain access to the single market. Mr Tusk, who will chair meetings of European leaders in charge of negotiating Britains exit from the union, mocked the Vote Leave campaign promise that Britain could have the EU cake and eat it too. Union: Prime Minister Theresa May meets European Council President Donald Tusk in London, September 2016 (David Mirzoeff/PA ) / David Mirzoeff/PA He said: To all who believe in it, I propose a simple experiment. Buy a cake, eat it, and see if it still there on the plate. The brutal truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us. There will be no cakes on the table. For anyone. There will be only salt and vinegar. His comments are likely to be used by Leave MPs as evidence that the UK will be better off for quitting the single market and brokering international trade deals. At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham last month, Prime Minister Theresa May told the Conservatives' grass roots that Britain would trigger the European Union's Article 50 exit clause by the end of March 2017 and pledged to control European immigration to the UK even if it meant leaving the EU's single market. David Davis plays down talk of 'hard' or 'soft' Brexit Let me be clear, said Mrs May,we are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again. And we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. She added that MPs who were calling on the government to do everything in its power to keep Britain in the single market were looking at Brexit the wrong way. Mr Tusks statement comes as a British businesswoman has brought a case to the High Court challenging the governments right to commence Britains withdrawal from the European Union without parliamentary approval. Investment manager Gina Miller, among others, argues that the government cannot invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally notifying Brussels of Britains departure from the union, without MPs passing an act of parliament. The government maintains that the peoples decision on June 23 to leave the European Union has given ministers a mandate to proceed with exit negotiations and that the ancient powers of Royal Prerogative gives HMG executive power. A British holidaymaker has been fined 3,000 after defecating on the tarmac of an airport runway in Brindisi, Italy. About 50 horrified passengers saw David Sharp, 68, drop his pants and relieve himself after a three hour Ryanair flight from Manchester on September 30. After relieving himself, Mr Sharp was stopped by police at the airport and released after questioning. Officers later traced Mr Sharp and a friend to the Casa Barocco bed and breakfast in Lecce, where he was fined just over 3,000 for committing acts contrary to public decency. The airport's deputy police commander said he "appeared to be the little worse for drink". L ord Bramall, the former head of the British Army, says he has received an apology from the Met Police over its investigation into historical child sex abuse allegations. The 92-year-old, who was Chief of the Defence Staff for three years in the 1980s, said the apology came from Met commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. The investigation, which was dropped in January, was part of the Met's controversial Operation Midland probe into a supposed VIP paedophile ring. Lord Bramall, who was not arrested, had always categorically denied the allegations. Sir Bernard had previously refused to apologise but the country's most senior police officer visited Lord Bramall on Wednesday, after reportedly receiving a draft report of a review into Operation Midland. Sorry: Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe allegedly apologised to Lord Bramall / PA Lord Bramall told the Daily Telegraph: "Sir Bernard has apologised for the search of the house. He said they should never have searched the house. "The commissioner also apologised for the inordinately and unnecessarily long time they took to the complete the investigation, and the words they used to say they were taking no further action against me." He said he had felt "great distress" over the claims and labelled the doomed 2.5million probe "misguided". In particular, he said he was upset that his wife, who had been suffering from dementia, died in July last year without knowing he would face no action. Lord Bramall told the paper: "My wife died without me being cleared. It didn't come into their consideration that my wife was dying. "Sir Bernard told me 'we couldn't take you out of it earlier' because it would look like I had preferential treatment." The Met Police did not confirm an apology had been made. N etflix paid less than 400,000 in UK corporation tax last year, it has emerged. The TV and film streaming service, which has almost 6 million subscribers in the UK, revealed yearly revenues of 36.5million in this county. Pressure has been growing on US tech giants such as Apple and Google to increase their tax payments to HM Revenue and Customs. Netflix, which produces original series such as Orange is the New Black and has 80 million global subscribers, is set to make 6.5million in total revenues this year. But a Netflix spokesman told the Standard that its 441,775 UK tax bill - in euros because the parent company is in the Netherlands - is effectively a rate of 22 per cent. 10 must-see Netflix Original series 1 /13 10 must-see Netflix Original series Narcos Wagner Moura stars as Pablo Escobar in this drama about the rise of the Colombian drug trade Juan Pablo Gutierrez/Netflix Stranger Things The Duffer Brothers' Eighties-set mystery series channels classic Spielberg and Stephen King, with plenty of loveable characters Netflix Jessica Jones Krysten Ritter is perfectly cast as Netflix's super-strong private detective, with David Tennant in superb form as her terrifying mind-controlling ex Myles Aronowitz/Netflix Bojack Horseman Netflix's hit animation is no Family Guy rip-off - it's a remarkably sharp and astute sitcom about a horse actor struggling with depression after spending his early years in a hit sitcom Netflix Orange is the New Black The inmates of Litchfield Penitentiary make for one of the best and most diverse casts on TV in this witty and gripping comedy-drama Netflix Master of None Aziz Ansari writes and stars in this brilliantly observant comedy series about 'millennials', identity, and the pace of modern life K.C. Bailey/Netflix House of Cards Kevin Spacey brings added gravitas to the Machiavellian plotting of lethal politician Frank Underwood NETFLIX The Get Down Baz Luhrmann brings his inimitable visual style to this tale of the origins of hip-hop in the Bronx in the Seventies Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper is irrepressibly upbeat in Tina Fey's comedy about a woman who emerges after a decade in a doomsday bunker - and sets out to seize life Daredevil Casting off the memories of the Ben Affleck film, Marvel's Daredevil offers a dark and brooding origin story of blind lawyer-turned-vigilante Matt Murdock Netflix He said the 36.5million revenue booked in Britain is for the provision of marketing services and classifies all its UK employees as involved in marketing. In the UK, Netflix is financially contributing in different ways with corporate taxes, wages and tens of millions of pounds in VAT as well as funding dozens of UK productions for hundreds of millions of pounds, said the spokesman. We have more than 30 UK projects in various stages of development. In addition to The Crown, other shows and movies include Black Mirror, Lovesick, or Brad Pitts War Machine movie. "We are also the home for British shows such as Marcella, Crazyhead, River and Cuckoo outside the UK." T he Queen today unveiled a new portrait of herself to mark six decades as patron of the British Red Cross. The painting by Henry Ward depicts the monarch in flowing garter robes at Windsor Castle. She is the longest-serving patron of the charity, and the new portraits imagery highlights the ties between the Royal Family and the Red Cross. It includes a bust of Henry Dunant, who founded the charity, and the jewels of Queen Alexandra, who signed the petition for the granting of the British Red Cross Royal Charter before it was presented to her husband Edward VII. Portrait: The artwork was painted by Henry Ward (Dominic Lipinski/PA ) / Dominic Lipinski/PA Artist Mr Ward, who was born in Essex and now lives in Canada, was chosen by the Red Cross because of his support of the charity. He said: "As a long-standing supporter of the British Red Cross, it has been an honour to paint the Queen to celebrate six decades of her patronage. "To portray Her Majesty as monarch and as patron of the Red Cross I have included imagery that relates to the history of the relationship. "I have also been influenced by previous royal portraitists such as Anthony van Dyck and Sir Joshua Reynolds." E llie Bamber was the spitting image of Nocturnal Animals co-star Amy Adams as they walked the red carpet at the London premiere. The British actress, 19, who got her big break by being cast in Tom Fords dark new thriller, looked nearly identical to the A-lister on Friday night, thanks to their striking red hair. But while everyone else opted for black, the teen star turned up to the Odeon Leicester Square in a bright red gown, setting herself apart. Adams, 42, who plays the lead role in Fords second feature film, looked almost gothic in a floor-length black velvet dress, designed by the man himself. Catching up: Amy Adams and Ellie Bamber on the red carpet / Dave Benett Speaking on the red carpet, Adams said: Susan is a challenging character, I mean my job is to sort of thread the stories together without a lot of dialogue so I saw that as a huge challenge. I was so excited to see how Tom intended to tie all the stories together through emotion and through music and lighting and it just felt like a beautiful project to be a part of. Red alert: Amy Adams and Ellie Bamber / Dave Benett Brit actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays a brutal mid-western thug in the new film, looked rather dapper in his Tom Ford suit. Its a very visual, visceral, dark thriller. It keeps you at the edge of your seat, for sure, he said. But its also a beautiful love story underneath it. It makes you realise what you have and what to hold on to. Co-star Armie Hammer also walked the red carpet at the London Film Festival Headline Gala, although Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon and Isla Fisher were elsewhere. Adams has been a fixture of this years LFF, walking the red carpet earlier in the week for the opening of her other new film, Arrival. Nocturnal Animals - Trailer Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news. J ohn Boyega had an amazing response to a Twitter follower who told him not to get involved in the US election. The British Star Wars actor hit back at one of his fans after she told him to stay out of American politics following his tweet about Donald Trump on Friday. Boyega posted a video of a young black girl being harassed at a Trump rally back in March, under the caption absolute p****. One follower quickly tweeted: Loved you in Star Wars, but how about you stay out of American politics. Instead of letting it lie, Boyega replied to say: Sorry mate, too much free speech pie and I don't give a s*** juice. The stars fans were quick to praise him for his comeback, with one person writing: YOU REALLY ARE A JEDI. Actors are humans who live in countries and care about other humans in countries - that's never changed, wrote someone else. Another follower suggested that the actor delete the tweet about the Presidential candidate, to which he replied: On whos watch? Tom Hanks 'offended as a man' by Trump remarks Boyega isnt the only actor to speak out against Trump in the run up to the election, with A-list starts including Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro criticising the Republican. He's so blatantly stupid. He's a punk, he's a dog, he's a pig, he's a con, a bulls*** artist, a mutt who doesn't know what he's talking about, said De Niro Colin Powell said it best, he's a national disaster, he's an embarrassment to this country, it makes me so angry that this country has gotten to this point that this fool, this bozo, has wound up where he has. W ith the Great British Bake Off moving to Channel 4 in 2017 with judge Paul Hollywood, viewers have been speculating about what the BBC will do next. Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins and Mary Berry all quit the show over loyalty to the BBC with rumours that the network will be launching their own rival baking show. Now a press release from the BBC hints that Nadiya Hussain might be involved in whatever comes next. In a statement announcing that she will continue to make films for The One Show, Hussain said: Since winning The Great British Bake Off Ive been lucky to have had some amazing opportunities with the BBC. I believe that making it my home gives me the scope to work across such a unique range of diverse and interesting projects. The Great British Bake Off: who could replace Mel and Sue? 1 /14 The Great British Bake Off: who could replace Mel and Sue? Stepping down Mel and Sue will be leaving the Bake Off after the current series - so who could take over? BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon Nadiya Hussain Last year's Bake Off winner became a national treasure, and has since proved to be a great TV presence on the Chronicles of Nadiya and Loose Women BBC Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp Is there a more quintessentially Channel 4 duo than Phil and Kirstie? The latter's love of home crafting would stand her in good stead Robert Webb and David Mitchell The Peep Show duo could bring a similar understated charm and wit as Mel and Sue Nigella Lawson While the Bake Off has always been more cosy than sultry, Nigella would be sure to spice things up a bit Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images Dave Lamb You might not know his face - but you definitely know his voice, as the man who elevated Come Dine With Me to must-watch TV with his hilarious voiceovers Richard Ayoade Despite his success as a director with Submarine and The Double, Richard Ayoade still presents Travel Man for Channel 4 - his superbly dry humour would add a new flavour to the Bake Off Ken McKay/ITV/Rex The Fabulous Baker Brothers Channel 4's resident baking experts, aka Tom Herbert and Henry Herbert, are surely salivating at the prospect of the Bake Off changing channels Channel 4 Sandy and Sandra Look no further than Gogglebox for tons of brilliant TV personalities - and this hilarious duo would be our pick of the bunch Channel 4 Anna Richardson The TV presenter has previously proved she could make anything watchable - even Naked Attraction. Richardson would be perfect for Bake Off, except she's Sue Perkins' partner, so it might be a long shot Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish Cult heroes Adam and Joe would bring a brilliant irreverence and joyous silliness to the Bake Off - though the former is busy with the podcast, and the latter has a successful career in the film industry BBC The release could be seen as confirmation that Hussain will not be joining Paul Hollywood on Channel 4s Bake Off, as she describes the BBC as her home. Could a new Bake Off rival be one of the "interesting projects" she has lined up? Mary Berry leaves Bake Off and Paul Hollywood stays - Twitter reacts After winning the competition, Hussain this year starred in her own two-parter The Chronicles of Nadiya, where she travelled around Bangladesh, reuniting with members of her extended family, and cooking as she went. Mary Berry announced her departure from the Bake Off in a statement saying: "My decision to stay with the BBC is out of loyalty to them, as they have nurtured me, and the show, that was a unique and brilliant format from day one. The current series of Bake Off has two episodes left, with the next full series set to air on Channel 4 in 2017. Evening Standard Online has contacted the BBC for comment. OGALLALA, Nebraska A Florida truck driver accused of causing a deadly pileup on Interstate 80 in July has pleaded not guilty. Tony A. Weekly Jr., 53, made an appearance in Keith County District Court on Friday morning where he entered a not guilty plea to six counts of felony motor vehicle homicide and one misdemeanor count of reckless driving. According to authorities, Weekly, of Baker, Florida, was distracted and failed to slow down at a construction zone on I-80 near Brule on July 31. The resulting crash involved five vehicles. A family of five from Minnesota died at the scene and another person died later of injuries caused by the accident. Five others were injured. District Judge Richard Birch of North Platte set a follow-up hearing for Jan. 20. Weekly remains free on bail. I stood in front of the display case staring at the frozen dough. There were croissants, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, but no pie crusts. Frustrated and lost, I scanned up and down the case. The tubes of dough were right there, ready to be purchased, taken home, popped open, baked and eaten, but none were what I was sent to get. Pie crust, but where was the tube? It was not there. So, I called my wife and started to explain my predicament. Standing in front of the display case, door open and telling my wife, There is no pie crust. A hand appeared and voice behind me, kindly said, down there. I followed the hand and its extended finger. There on the bottom shelf, in a red rectangle box was pie crust. It was in the container I thought it should be in so, I didnt see it, even though it was right in front of me the whole time. The same is true with so many different things in our lives. The things right in front of us, our kids, our spouse, the people, places, events and organizations in our own community. On Monday, University of Nebraska president Hank Bounds visited the community, toured the Panhandle Research and Extension Center and, before leaving, he spoke with local business leaders. He talked about the important role the center played in the university system and the role the center plays in local community. The latter is something we tend to overlook. On the old Hiram Scott college campus, the extension center provides a campus impacting western Nebraskas economy daily. Though the number of farmers and ranchers have declined over the years, production agriculture is still the most important western Nebraska industry. The PREC has helped improve the job done by farm and ranchers from its founding in 1909. The University of Nebraska Experiment Station and the USDA teamed up to homestead a quarter-section of land five miles east of Mitchell in 1909. Research began and what was learned was shared with area residents. The teamwork has continued as the center has grown. Faculty members such as Charlie Finster, Dean Yonts, Ivan Rush, Bob Wilson, David Baltinspurger, Dave Nuland and John Smith are just a few of the men and women who have played key rules making western Nebraska the fertile educational hub it is today. These faculty members, some who have passed away and many have retired turning their role over to others who have developed new crop varieties, fought diseases and developed new farm/ranch techniques. For many, unless you are somehow involved in production agricultural, the PREC is that pie crust you look right over. The present facility under the leadership of Dr. Jack Whittier continues to educate students, conduct valuable research and help our community grow. President Bounds drew our attention to the importance of something right in front of us and rightfully praised the work being done at the PREC. As locals we need to look around and see great opportunities, organizations and lessons that can be found all around us. We must not overlook the value of agricultural in our community. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. When Whitney Gilbert and Shadese (DeeDee) Griffith began dating more than a year ago, neither could have expected that they and their family w The investment in the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) laser at Magurele can generate local development, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said Friday, showing that the turnover which a recent study estimates stands at over 600 million euro per year. "A governance concept is needed which should include several institutions, because so far people have focused more on the scientific part, on the construction of this facility that will host the laser, the gamma component. (...) Since spring, we have realized that we shall see the laser ready and not be able to capitalise on its true potential. That is why we began developing this concept, which is making progress. The idea of the meeting today is that, beyond the governmental or research institutions there, we should motivate, encourage and involve the local public authorities, but also the business environment. Investments there that can generate, as far as I understood from the study, a turnover exceeding 600 million euro annually, could generate up to 6-7,000 jobs, with a high added value," the Prime Minister said, at the end of a meeting on the topic of developing the "Laser Valley-Land of Lights" concept. Ciolos insisted on the need to connect through infrastructure Magurele to Bucharest and Henri Coanda Airport, in order to better capitalise on the laser's potential. "Particularly for that reason the Transport Ministry is also involved together with the Ilfov County Council and the City Hall of the Municipality of Bucharest. Magurele is to the south of Bucharest and there is also need for a connection to the Airport and the city centre. Even the works on Bucharest's ringroad will ensure the connection between the southern and the northern part of Bucharest (...). This study that was conducted also includes this part of necessary infrastructure to connect Magurele to Bucharest," he explained. agerpres. President Klaus Iohannis will pay a visit to the Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavoda, announced the President's Spokesperson Madalina Dobrovolschi. "I inform you that on Tuesday Romania's President will be paying a visit to the the Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavoda," Dobrovolschi stated in a press conference. Madalina Dobrovolschi added that the head of state will discuss with the Nuclear Plant's employees and leaders. She mentioned that, 20 years ago, the first reactor of the Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavoda was opened, and at the end of 2015 the plant received a certificate which underlines its excellence in nuclear security, operations and production. "Nuclear industry is an important topic, which represents a strategic subject in the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT)," Madalina Dobrovolschi added. The President Spokesperson brought to mind that on a governmental level a working group was created for matters of regional energy security. The Presidential Administration has an intense activity within this working group in order to find solutions to the problems that this sector is confronted with. The Spokesperson also pointed out that the Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavoda is among the first 5 in the world. According to Madalina Dobrovolschi, on Monday, at 16:00 hrs, at the Cotroceni Palace, the weekly meeting between President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minsiter Dacian Ciolos will take place, and on Wednesday the head of state will welcome a delegation of the Confindustria Italia led by Vicenzo Boccia. agerpres. The secretary of state with Romania's Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) Alexandru Victor Micula, the national coordinator of Romania in the '16+1' format, in Riga emphasised the importance Romania is giving to boosting cooperation within the '16+1' Forum and accomplishing the projects agreed upon in November 2015 in Suzhou, the People's Republic of China, says a release by the MAE sent to agerpres on Friday. The participants in the forum were informed on the operationalisation in the next period of the Dialogue and Co-operation Centre in Energy (CDCDE) that is to operate in co-ordination with the Romanian Energy Centre (www.crenerg.org). "Romania is committed to organise and host this co-operation dialogue centre in energy considering also the co-operation potential in energy between Romania and China," reads the release. Micula reiterated Romania's interest in the 'One Belt, One Road' Chinese initiative, a future-oriented development project, mentioning the possible connection with the '16+1' format due to the geographic position of the Central and Eastern European countries on the Chinese initiative's road. In Riga, on Friday, Alexandru Victor Micula participated in the reunion of national coordinators of the China-Central, Eastern Europe co-operation Forum (16+1) on the preparation of the agenda, documents and co-operation projects that are to be addressed at the Summit at Prime Ministers' level on 5-6 November 2016 in Riga, Latvia. The US Embassy in Bucharest says the recent visit by ambassador Hans Klemm to Romania's Supreme Court of Justice was a courtesy call, mentioning that its representatives constantly meet Romanian officials for talks on bilateral issues of shared interest. It says Klemm paid the courtesy call to meet the new chair of the Supreme Court, adding that it does not disclose the content of the meetings. On Friday, Klemm met Chairperson of the Supreme Court Cristina Tarcea at the headquarters of the Supreme Court. Court officials said the visit lasted about half an hour, with Klemm congratulating Tarcea on her appointment. The visit had been scheduled as far back as September 20, when the US Embassy sent a request for a Klemm-Tarcea meeting. This June, Klemm met heads of prosecutorial offices and Romania's Attorney General Augustin Lazar; First Deputy Attorney General Laura Oprean; Chief prosecutor with the Directorate for Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Daniel Horodniceanu; Deputy Chief Prosecutor with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) Calin Nistor. The conversations focused on continuing cooperation in the fight of trans-frontier crime and organised crime as well as providing support for the professional training of Romanian prosecutors. agerpres. Plans are underway to rehab in two south St. Louis neighborhoods a dozen multifamily buildings for new residents, many of them refugees from Bhutan. Rise Community Development, Messiah Lutheran Church and several nonprofit organizations plan to renovate the buildings to produce 45 apartments in the Fox Park and Tower Grove East neighborhoods. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 21 at 3101 Arsenal Street. The buildings to be rehabbed are in the Tower Grove East, Fox Park and DeSales historic districts. Messiah Lutheran's congregation is experiencing growth of an ethnic Nepalese population that came to St. Louis as refugees from Bhutan. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to provide high-quality affordable housing for neighborhood families, Chris Shearman, a church representative, said in a statement. This project will restore the wonderful character of these historic buildings and turn them into assets for the community. SACRAMENTO, Calif. The operators of an international website advertising escort services will be allowed to post bail while they await trial on charges of pimping by trafficking prostitutes, a California judge decided Thursday. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman ruled after a secret hearing that the Backpage.co m operators have enough assets that are not tied to the website, which California authorities allege are ill-gotten gains that should not be used to post bail. The California attorney general's office charges that the website brought in millions of dollars each month through thinly disguised online advertisements for commercial sex, some involving minors. Backpage attorney Liz McDougall said the site's chief executive, Carl Ferrer, 55, would post $500,000 bail Thursday. Ferrer is charged with pimping a minor, pimping and conspiracy to commit pimping. Michael Lacey, 68, and James Larkin, 67, would post $250,000 each, she said. They are charged with conspiracy to commit pimping. The Arizona men, who at one time owned a chain of alternative newsweeklies that included the Village Voice, Phoenix New Times and the Riverfront Times in St. Louis, are Backpage's controlling shareholders, according to state authorities. McDougall and other attorneys representing the three men declined comment. The attorney general's office did not oppose allowing the three to post bail, said spokeswoman Kristin Ford, nor has it attempted to freeze the website's assets or shut it down. The attorney general's office alleges that more than 90 percent of Backpage.co m's revenue comes from adult escort ads. By charging for the ads, the state says the three men violated California's law against pimping, defined as making money off prostitutes or soliciting customers for prostitution. Defense attorneys said the three will challenge the charges at a Nov. 16 hearing. They said the charges violate First Amendment free speech protections and a federal law that blocks state actions against websites that distribute content created by others. Reporters and others were barred from the hearing under a California law designed to protect private financial affairs. The Associated Press objected to barring the media from the hearing, but the law allows a judge to close evidentiary hearings at the request of anyone who is providing any portion of the bail money. Attorneys would not say who requested the closure. Clyde Blackmon, one of Ferrer's attorneys, cited the penal code section. "That's all I can tell you," he said. "That allows the courtroom to be closed." Cushman & Wakefield, a global commercial real estate company, said Friday that it would add 600 jobs to its already big presence in the St. Louis area. Most of the new employees added over the next three years will work at newly leased space at 575 Maryville Centre Drive, in Town and Country. Cushman & Wakefield also will expand its office in downtown St. Louis. The growth will allow the company to get state of Missouri incentives based on its creation of new jobs and property investments. This expansion is a clear indication of our dedication to the St. Louis community, our employees and our clients, said Joe Stettinius, Cushman & Wakefields chief executive for the Americas. Our employees in St. Louis have played a crucial role in the growth of our firm, from both a local and national perspective. Cushman & Wakefield already employs about 900 people at seven offices in the St. Louis area. The company said it would grow its St. Louis-area Global Occupier Services and Property Client Accounting groups, which serve national and global clients. Human resources, IT and accounting services also will expand, the company said. Gov. Jay Nixon praised the expansion, which he said would represent a $17.4 million investment. Cushman & Wakefield is a respected leader in commercial real estate and these hundreds of new jobs is a big win for St. Louis, Nixon said. This significant investment and continued growth is a testament to the strength of Missouris positive business climate for professional services companies. The governor joined company officials in making the announcement at Cushman & Wakefields corporate services office in Creve Coeur. In 2015, Chicago-based DTZ bought New York-based Cushman & Wakefield for $2 billion. The merged company, which kept the Cushman name, has 43,000 employees companywide and $5 billion in global revenue. Brian Ungles, Cushman & Wakefields managing principal in St. Louis, said the company was focused on creating a center of excellence to help us attract and retain the regions top talent. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay welcomed the expansion. This is another example of an industry-leading national firm moving good-paying positions to St. Louis County, Stenger said. Cushman & Wakefield plans to add 40 jobs at its office at 600 Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis. A spokeswoman said the new jobs will raise the headcount to 100. Slay said: Downtown St. Louis is enjoying a renaissance spurred by growth up and down Washington Avenue. I am proud to welcome some of Cushman & Wakefields new additional employees to the City of St. Louis office. They will add to the energy in the district. Cushmans expansion is in line to get $150,000 in state job-training aid and just over $8 million from Missouri Works, a program that allows employers to retain withholding tax on new employees. Deere & Co. said its proposal to buy Precision Planting, an agricultural equipment and technology company, will increase consumer choice and directly benefit growers, in a response filed on Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit to block the acquisition. Deere announced its planned acquisition of Precision Planting in November 2015, for about $190 million. Precision Planting's parent is The Climate Corporation, which is a unit of Creve Coeur-based Monsanto Co. In August, the Justice Department said the proposed deal would mean higher prices for high-speed precision planting equipment, which allows farmers to plant row crops, such as corn, up to twice as fast as with conventional machinery. In its response, Deere challenged the Justice Department's definition of "high-speed precision planting system," saying it was vague and ambiguous. Deere also denied "that there is any meaningful economic market consisting of 'high-speed precision planting systems.'" The Justice Department declined to comment on Thursday. Deere said the Justice Department initially cleared its proposed acquisition in October 2015 in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission's Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Clearance is separate from actual approval of a deal. Following a protest by an unnamed Deere competitor, the Justice Department opened a new investigation and later filed a lawsuit in August 2016 to block the transaction, Deere spokesman Ken Golden said, referring to legal documents the company filed on Wednesday. "It is our position that this case is designed to protect a competitor, not competition," Golden said. Both Deere and the Justice Department declined to name the competitor. CNH Industrial and AGCO Corp. are Deere competitors that have agreements to factory install Precision Planting equipment on their new planters. Precision Planting equipment and technology can also be retrofit on older planters manufactured by Deere, Kinze Manufacturing, CNH Industrial and AGCO. Deere said the company's commitments to CNH Industrial and AGCO, and its license grants, technology transfers are all "pro competitive." Additionally, Deere entered into an agreement with Ag Leader, an agricultural technology company, to manufacture and sell Precision Planting products if the acquisition is completed, as a possible remedy to the Justice Department's competition concerns. Ag Leader will remain an independent competitor in the precision agriculture industry, a statement on the company's website said. Deere's proposed deal is part of a wave of consolidation among agriculture companies as they search for ways to cut costs and improve profits in the face of a shrinking farm economy. Seed and agrochemical producers Monsanto and Germany's Bayer AG have agreed to merge, while ChemChina wants to buy Syngenta AG in a $43 billion deal. Schnucks, one of the biggest grocery chains in St. Louis, is the target of a boycott, faces a potential strike and has, in recent weeks, managed to anger some local nonprofit groups. Now the company is embroiled in a fight with one of its former top executives. Former Schnuck Markets president Anthony Hucker has filed suit against the chain and CEO Todd Schnuck for breach of contract, alleging he was terminated without cause after he was offered the CEO job at Save-A-Lot a year ago. In the lawsuit pending in St. Louis County Circuit Court, Hucker accuses the Maryland Heights-based company and Todd Schnuck of intentionally interfering with his employment prospects after Schnuck refused to waive a non-compete agreement Hucker signed when he was hired. After he was offered the CEO position at Earth City-based Save-A-Lot in October 2015, Hucker alleges that he approached Todd Schnuck, asking him to waive his non-compete agreement. Save-A-Lot, which is owned by Eden Prairie, Minn.-based SuperValu, has more than 1,300 stores in multiple states. After his meeting with Schnuck, Hucker alleges he emailed Schnuck to say he was willing to remain at Schnuck Markets if the company was unwilling to waive the non-compete agreement. Todd Schnuck never responded, either verbally or in writing, the lawsuit states. Instead of waiving the non-compete, Hucker was terminated without cause in November 2015, according to Huckers attorney Jerome Dobson, and caused him to lose the opportunity to be CEO of Save-A-Lot. As a result of defendants tortious interference, (Hucker) has suffered lost wages, benefits of employment, and other employment compensation, the lawsuit filed Sept. 22 says. A spokesman for Schnuck Markets said the company was aware of the lawsuit but did not comment on pending litigation. Hucker previously worked in leadership positions at Aldi, Wal-Mart Stores and Giant Food before joining Schnuck Markets executive ranks in 2013. Founded in 1939, Schnuck Markets has 99 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. When Hucker was promoted to president in September 2014, he became the chains first non-family member to hold the position. Non-compete agreements typically bar an employee from taking another job at a competitor, but Hucker doesnt view Save-A-Lot, a discount grocery chain, as a competitor to Schnucks, according to his attorney. Our position is they are not competitors, Dobson said. The people who shop at Save-A-Lot do not go to Schnucks. Schnucks competitors are Dierbergs stores. Dobson did not specify an exact figure Hucker is seeking to recover, which includes severance, but said it was in excess of $100,000. They terminated him, refused to pay him his severance and they wouldnt release him from his non-compete, Dobson said. Tucker moved to Florida after leaving Schnuck Markets and earlier this year was named chief operating officer of Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of multiple grocery chains operating in seven southeastern states, including Winn-Dixie and Harveys. The legal dispute is the latest controversy facing Schnucks, which is privately held. On Sunday, Schnucks completed the layoff of warehouse employees first announced in April that led to one of its unions, Teamsters Local 688, to boycott the chain beginning in June. After Local 688 union members picketing at the entrances of Schnucks stores protesting the layoffs, in August, the grocer ended its long-standing policy of allowing solicitors to stand at its doors. The solicitation ban drew criticism from groups including the Salvation Army that had raised funds for charity for years at the retailer. A Schnucks spokesman said earlier this year that the solicitation ban was not related to the union dispute but, rather, a redirection of its charity efforts from the front of the store to its My Schnucks Card (eScrip) fundraising program. Schnucks also is in the midst of a contract dispute with its largest union, Local 655 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents thousands of checkers, stockers and other employees. Last month, Local 655 employees voted to reject Schnucks contract proposal and authorize a strike, and contract negotiations are continuing. The union said Friday that it planned to hold an employee meeting the week of Oct. 24 with an update on contract negotiations. NEW YORK The state of Ohio on Friday joined the growing list of state and local governments to suspend business relationships with Wells Fargo & Co. over a scandal involving as many as 2 million bogus accounts. Gov. John Kasich announced that for one year he is barring Wells Fargo & Co. from "participating in future state debt offerings and financial services contracts initiated by state agencies under his authority," and will seek to exclude the California-based bank from participating in debt offerings initiated by the Ohio Public Facilities Commission. Procter & Gamble Co., which is losing market share to eco-friendly products, is under mounting pressure to either fend off the competitors or buy one of them. The maker of Tide and Crest is struggling to maintain its position in key categories, including skin care, razor blades and laundry detergent. Companies with so-called sustainable brands products that are seen as more natural, environmentally sensitive or purpose-driven are chipping away at P&Gs long-standing hold on American households. Though P&G remains the worlds largest consumer-products company, its wares dont have the same maverick appeal as newer brands. Unilever, P&Gs top competitor, raised the stakes last month when it agreed to acquire Seventh Generation, a Vermont-based company that makes sustainable cleaning products. The company had previously acquired Dollar Shave Club another startup targeting Americas bathroom cabinets and expressed interest in Honest Co., the household-products company co-founded by actress Jessica Alba. The situation may lead to a broader hunt for other sustainable acquisitions, said Philip Gorham, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. Buying a brand like Honest Co. or Method Products assuming those businesses can be acquired could help P&G appeal to younger consumers. The consumer products industry is going niche, he said. Any number of the multinational consumer product manufacturers would want companies like Honest Co. and Method Products in their portfolio. P&Gs sales in core categories have slipped in recent months. Its share of the U.S. skin-care market fell to 12.7 percent in September, down from 14.2 percent in July, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, which cited IRI retail data. And the company, which owns Gillette, is facing a declining market for razor blades. At the same time, Dollar Shaves smaller rival, Harrys, has been gaining share. That company recently began selling at Target stores, further squeezing P&G. P&G just sold 41 beauty brands to New York-based Coty Inc., a deal that closed on Monday. But the company may soon return to acquisition mode. Chief Executive David Taylor signaled on a conference call in August that P&G will rely on deals to fill out its product portfolio. Am I open to M&A bolt-on acquisitions that we think are strategic and would help accelerate the growth in any of our 10 core categories? The answer is clearly yes, he said. Damon Jones, a spokesman for Cincinnati-based P&G, declined to comment on its acquisition strategy. Unilever, meanwhile, has been more aggressive in snapping up nontraditional brands. It agreed to acquire Dollar Shave Club in July in a deal that was said to be worth about $1 billion. Unilever then set its sights on Seventh Generation, announcing plans to purchase that company in September. The buying spree raised questions about other brands in the category. Unilever has also discussed an acquisition of Honest Co., according to a person familiar with that matter. But Honest Co. may push ahead with a plan for an initial public offering. The startup has been working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley on a possible IPO, people familiar with the matter said earlier this year. Since Alba helped start Honest Co. in 2011, the company has branched out from natural baby products to home cleaning and beauty items. Honest Co. has gotten a foothold in stores such as Target and Whole Foods Market Inc., but its also faced challenges. Honest Co. was the target of a class-action lawsuit filed last year in which customers claimed its products were deceptively labeled and contained unnatural ingredients. Eco-friendly products typically carry a premium over traditional cleaners and hygiene items a key advantage at a time when supermarket prices are getting squeezed. Consumers are often willing to pay about 20 percent more for sustainable products, according to Bill Harrison, head of consumer investment banking at Headwaters. The market for sustainable personal health products alone could be worth $117 billion, his firm estimates. But theres always the chance that smaller brands dont want to be acquired by a consumer-products behemoth. Take Method, the San Francisco-based company that sells green cleaners. It agreed to a merger with Belgiums Ecover in 2012 because the companies seemed to have the same philosophy. Drew Fraser, CEO of Method, says Seventh Generations deal with Unilever was quite different. By becoming part of Unilever a company that isnt built on the same philosophy Seventh Generation risks alienating its current customer base, he said in an e-mail. Customers in our category want to buy and support brands aligned with their values, so joining Unilevers portfolio may feel disjointed to Seventh Generations consumers. These concerns may make it difficult for P&G to buy its way into the hearts of sustainable-product shoppers. Instead, the company may need to focus on rehabilitating its own brands, said Ali Dibadj, an analyst from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. P&G is still trying to get its house in order, Dibadj said. There seems to be no shortage of websites that aim to identify the top doctors and hospitals for patients. But a local nonprofit is throwing its resources behind a new site that allows St. Louis area consumers to compare area physicians and hospitals. ChooseWellSTL.org, which launches Friday, was developed by the Midwest Health Initiative, a new regional health improvement collaborative, with the goal of helping consumers see how area health care providers measure up. What weve tried to do is create something for our community that shows hospital and physician data in the same place, said Louise Probst, executive director of the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition, an employer group that helped start the Midwest Health Initiative. We know informed consumers make better health decisions. And as consumers are stuck with high-deductible health plans, theyre searching for places that provide the best care. When consumers first visit ChooseWellSTL.org, they can see performance measures by individual hospital or primary care practices. Data on primary care performance was gathered from different local health plans, representing more than 1 million area patients health care claims. Hospital performance was gathered from publicly available data kept by the federal government and The Leapfrog Group, a Washington-based watchdog organization. Having the data not only helps us, and all the employers ... it can help the people in the community cut through the marketing or the hearsay or the stereotypes and get some good credible information on how physicians and hospitals are performing on a number of quality metrics, said Steve Martenet, president of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri. For example, when comparing hospitals, a patient can see how prevalent certain infections are at specific hospitals. Patients can see how many cases of MRSA, or Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, occur over a set time period. But in addition to simply presenting data to consumers, the website tries to educate consumers on certain conditions such as MRSA and why its important to track. The website also shows how common surgical site infections are for various procedures. And it also shows how patients rated their experience. Kevin Supple, chief financial officer for the Francis Howell School District, said these measures are important for consumers to learn. His school district of 2,200 employees insures about 4,000 people when dependents are added. They, too, have high-deductible health plans, so its important theyre making informed health care decisions. Hes working to acquaint employees with the website after helping provide claims data to the St. Louis Business Area Health Coalition. Our members have already shown that theyre being very careful consumers of health care, Supple said. It should, in the long run, help to keep our costs lower, he said of smarter health care decision making. On the website, the portion that rates primary care physician practices is indicative of where health care is headed, said Dr. Justin Huynh of Mercy. The sites of primary care are judged on how well they coordinate care for patients, and not necessarily of whether they ordered the right tests. For example, in one instance, primary care practices were measured on how likely female patients in their practice were to get cervical cancer screenings. In most cases, the primary care physician isnt performing or even expected to perform those screenings. But the primary care physician is seen as the driver of a patients care. And if their patients arent receiving all the annual tests they should be, its reflected in the dataset. This really make us step back and make sure some of the broader health goals of the patient are being accomplished, Huynh said. The data also shows how likely patients were to refill their diabetes medication on time. The data may ruffle some feathers said Huynh, but it will probably change performance, he said. Bringing data to physicians is always challenging. They take what they do very seriously. When you bring them something that may not reflect well on them its always a very tough situation, he said. But after being shown the data, physicians tend to change their practices to improve their scores, he said. The administration of President Barack Obama announced Friday that it is eliminating a $100 limit on the value of Cuban rum and cigars that American travelers can bring back from the island. The administration is also lifting limits on cargo ship travel between the U.S. and Cuba and easing U.S. and Cuban researchers' ability to conduct joint medical research. The measures are contained in a new round of regulatory changes meant to ease U.S. trade with Cuba. The Obama administration has now made six sets of changes loosening the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba in the hopes that the normalization of relations with the island will not be reversed by a future administration. This round is expected to be the last before President Barack Obama leaves office. Cuban rum and cigars will now be subject to the same duties as alcohol and tobacco from other countries, meaning most travelers will be able to bring back as many as 100 cigars and several bottles of rum. Because high-end Cuban cigars can sell for more than $100 apiece outside Cuba, every U.S. traveler can now legally bring back many thousands of dollars of Cuban products, potentially generating hundreds of millions of dollars in new annual revenue for the Cuban state. The change does not mean that Cuban rum and cigars will be available for sale in the U.S. the change is aimed at tobacco and alcohol brought home for personal use. The previous limit restricted travelers to a combined value of $100 in rum and cigars, although enforcement of the limit notably declined after President Barack Obama declared detente with Cuba on Dec. 17, 2014. The administration has described its policy goal as aimed at helping the Cuban people improve their lives by winning greater economic and political freedom from the single-party state. "Challenges remain - and very real differences between our governments persist on issues of democracy and human rights - but I believe that engagement is the best way to address those differences and make progress on behalf of our interests and values," Obama said in a statement announcing the changes. Rum and cigar production is entirely government-run under Cuba's centrally planned communist economy. While the first regulatory changes focused narrowly on helping Cuba's growing private sector, Friday's new rules are almost entirely aimed at similarly state-run industries including shipping and medical products. The package of regulatory changes announced Friday also allows cargo ships to visit U.S. ports directly after docking in Cuba. They had been barred from U.S. ports for 180 days after visiting Cuba. Cuba blamed that measure for harming its ability to import and export and dampening hopes that a new military-run port in the city of Mariel could serve as a major link in the regional cargo shipping system. A senior Obama administration official said the new regulations' focus on Cuban state enterprise should not be interpreted as a shift away from helping ordinary Cubans. "We have designed the policy very much to have the maximum benefit to the Cuban people, broadly, but in so doing we are not restricting engagement with the Cuban state. That has been clear since Dec. 17, 2014," the official said in a conference call with reporters held on condition of anonymity. "The Cuban people continue to be at the center of everything we're doing." More than 160,000 American travelers visited Cuba last year and that figure is expected to double this year. Hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans visit family on the island each year and will also be able to take advantage of the new measure, which comes a month and a half before the restart of commercial flights to Havana after more than 50 years. There are two suspected cases of chickenpox on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus, school officials said today. Varicella or chickenpox is a vaccine-preventable illness that causes a bumpy rash and fever. It is usually not dangerous but in some cases can cause serious complications, especially in people with compromised immune systems. Health officials are recommending vaccinations for anyone who hasn't received a complete dose or has not had the illness previously. Students or staff who catch the disease should avoid class or work until the rash has scabbed over. There have been 367 cases of chickenpox reported this year in Illinois. Missouri reports about 200 cases a year. ST. LOUIS James O. Broadhead was an influential Unionist during the Civil War. Alonzo Slayback was a Confederate officer who rode in the last major rebel raid in Missouri. After the war, they became law partners downtown and enjoyed social prominence. Broadhead was the first president of the American Bar Association. Slayback was a founder of the Veiled Prophet pageant. His daughter, Suzanne, was the first belle, or queen. Slayback belonged to the Elks. So did John Cockerill, managing editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Brotherly love couldnt bind them. Broadhead ran for U.S. Congress as a Democrat in 1882 with the backing of St. Louis social elite. The Post-Dispatch furiously opposed his candidacy, claiming he sold out the people by representing the city in a gas-utility case and then becoming the gas companys lawyer. Broadhead also represented robber-baron Jay Gould, who had railroad interests in St. Louis. In the 19th Century, newspaper rhetoric and personal honor were highly charged things. The Post-Dispatch mocked Broadhead as Weakhead and accused him of vacillation, duplicity (and) selfishness. On Oct. 12, 1882, Slayback spoke at the 18th Ward Democratic meeting in John Howards saloon, 405 Garrison Avenue, and called the Post-Dispatch a black-mailing sheet where no gentleman would work. Cockerill fished from his files an old letter to the editor that called Slayback a coward and derided his Confederate service. Cockerill ran it in the Oct. 13 edition. Slayback saw the paper and was outraged. He grabbed fellow lawyer William Clopton and marched two blocks to the Post-Dispatch at 515 Market Street. They burst into the managing editors office as Cockerill was chatting with the newspapers business manager and composing-room foreman. Cockerills pistol was on his desk. Stories differ on the ensuing exchange, but Cockerill fired. Slayback fell dead on the floor. Cockerill went home to wash up and surrendered to police. Officers had to rush to the newspaper to defend it from an angry mob gathering on Market. The next day, the Post-Dispatch called the homicide an Unfortunate Affair and said Slayback had a pistol. The St. Louis Republican, which backed Broadhead, called Slayback an unarmed victim of Post-Dispatch venom. At the coroners inquest, Post-Dispatch employees identified a .44-caliber revolver with some rust as Slaybacks weapon. Cockerill and his witnesses said he fired in self-defense. When the coroner asked Clopton if Slayback was armed, he testified, No, sir, he had no pistol. Slaybacks friends scorned the weapon as a low-quality piece far beneath his standards. Cockerill wasnt charged, but left the Post-Dispatch after it lost 1,300 subscribers. The newspapers owner, Joseph Pulitzer, soon bought the New York World, where Cockerill became an editor. Broadhead served one term in Congress. Read more stories from Tim O'Neil's Look Back series. ST. LOUIS A man who killed another with 12 shots in a Mount Pleasant neighborhood apartment was acquitted of a murder charge Friday on a claim of self-defense. After a four-day trial, St. Louis Circuit Court jurors found Pierre L. Davis, 37, not guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 14, 2014, shooting death of Antoine Farrell. That Davis killed Farrell by shooting him a dozen times was not disputed. Davis shot Farrell, 40, about 12:15 a.m. with a .40-caliber handgun as Farrell sat on a couch smoking a cigarette, authorities said. It happened after a night of partying at Davis apartment in the 4300 block of Minnesota Avenue. Davis became angry and ordered Farrell to leave, authorities said. The defense attorney, Rick Kroeger, told the court that Davis fired after feeling threatened when Farrell replied, Ill leave you here, and reached for a gun. Davis testified that Farrell had reached for a gun sitting on the couch. But a man with them that night testified that Farrell did not. Davis and Farrell may have had a rocky friendship because they each each had a child with the same woman several years apart, authorities said. Farrell lived in the 1500 block of Park Ashwood Circle in St. Charles. Assistant Circuit Attorney Patrick Hamacher told jurors the killing had been premeditated. Each and every shot was deliberate, he told the jury. The handgun Davis used was never found, and Davis initially denied to police any involvement in the shooting. A .45-caliber handgun was found under one of Farrells hands, but authorities believe parts of the crime scene may have been staged. They found that a rear door had been kicked in and shell casings had been collected in a vodka bottle. Police arrested Davis shortly after the shooting about a block away after stopping him as he drove Farrells BMW. He had past convictions in St. Louis for third-degree assault, drug and gun possession and harassment. EAST ST. LOUIS A man from Park Hills, Mo., who coerced a distraught 15-year-old Metro East girl into prostitution in truck stops and trailer parks in at least three states was sentenced Wednesday to life in federal prison. Marcus Dewayne Thompson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis in May of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion and sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion. Thompson approached the girl in Madison in June of 2015, as she was contemplating suicide after arguing with her father over becoming pregnant. He was in a pickup with the four other girls inside and promised her a modeling career, court documents say. Instead, Thompson and his wife, Robin Thompson, arranged sex acts with men in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana via the website Backpage.cm. The group was living in a camper Marcus Thompson stole. Robin Thompson negotiated prices, helped get hotel rooms, provided condoms and kept records. She also threatened the teen if she tried to escape or talk to authorities. She also admitted prostituting two other women online. U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan called Thompson a "predator" who had both raped the minor at least five times and facilitated her rape by others, prosecutors said. The victim contacted authorities in July 2015 from Cardinal Glennon Childrens Medical Center in St. Louis. Robin Thompson was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge. At the time, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan called the crime one of the worst he has ever seen. Parole has been abolished in the federal system, meaning a life sentence is just that. UPDATED at 12:50 a.m. with victim's identification and more details ST. LOUIS A St. Louis man has been charged with murder in connection with a fatal stabbing in April. Jonathan Edward Harris, 48, of the 4500 block of Lexington Avenue, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Harris is accused of stabbing a 31-year-old man found dead in the Baden neighborhood. Court documents identified the victim as Jose Luis Orona. Orona was found with multiple stab wounds at about 10 p.m. on April 5 near railroad tracks in the 500 block of Antelope Street, near Calvary Cemetery. According to the documents: A witness found Orona after he tried to help the driver of a white, older model sedan that appeared to be stuck on the tracks, charging documents say. The sedan took off when the witness approached. He then saw the body near the tracks. Investigators found Orona's cellphone in his clothing. He had exchanged multiple text messages with a contact listed in the phone as "K,"about giving him a ride from the Baden neighborhood before his death. Investigators later matched the number for "K" to Harris. Orona asked Harris to pick him up at a Love's Travel Stop store less than two miles south of where Orona was later found. Harris sent Orona a text, "I'm here" just 10 minutes before Orona was found dead. Investigators later found that Harris and Orona frequented the same apartment complexes on Whitehall Manor Drive and a Congress Airport Inn on North Lindbergh Boulevard, both in Bridgeton. Harris was later described to investigators as a cocaine and marijuana dealer who had been seen driving a white, older model Ford Crown Victoria sedan. His physical appearance and prior addresses matched those provided in descriptions to investigators. Investigators found that Harris had a white Ford Crown Victoria registered to his name. The same car was found in Bridgeton about six weeks after Orona's death in the possession of a man who told investigators he was buying it from a man he identified as "Red." The man identified Harris as "Red" when investigators showed him a picture of Harris. A forensic examination found Orona's blood in the car. Harris likely fled Missouri shortly after the car was recovered, police said. A warrant for his arrest was issued Thursday. Harris was described as an African-American man in his late 30's to early 40's about 5-foot-six-inches tall, with a slightly muscular build, light complexion, "low" haircut and light acne on his face. Harris has past convictions of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a firearm. The gunman was identified as Orlando Harris, 19, a recent graduate of the school. One survivor heard him say he was 'tired of everybody' in the school and that his gun jammed at one point. Officials are mum after a report that Ohio University's president might be on the shortlist to come lead the University of Missouri System. Richard Vedder, a professor emeritus at Ohio University, told the Post-Dispatch Thursday night that a faculty member on the search committee called him and at least one colleague, asking about the performance of Ohio University President Roderick McDavis. "It was clear to me that the interest in him was significant and serious," Vedder said. "That suggests to me that he is pretty high on their list." University of Missouri System spokesman John Fougere declined to identify whether McDavis is among the presidential candidates. "The search committee for the next UM System president has had the privilege of considering a number of qualified persons from a national pool, and throughout our considerations we have pledged to maintain candidate confidentiality," Fougere said in a statement. The private search is expected to stay quiet until sometime in November or December when officials announce the new president. JEFFERSON CITY School districts in Missouri need to do more to protect the data they collect from students, according to a report released by Auditor Nicole Galloway on Thursday. School districts can be vulnerable against hackers without the proper safeguards, and Galloway has said information could be at risk that parents might not even consider: authorized bank debits for a lunch plan, for example, or health records provided to a school nurse. "Missouri schools have access to a lot of information on students and their families, which means they have a responsibility to keep that information protected," Galloway said. The audit was part of an initiative out of Galloways office aimed at preventing unauthorized access to students records. Certain practices can put student information at risk. Last fall, an audit of the states education department found the department was unnecessarily storing students social security numbers. The department has since ended the practice. Lawmakers have also recognized that student data can easily fall into the wrong hands. In 2014, the Missouri Legislature passed a bill requiring the states education department to put provisions in contracts that would keep student data from being sold or used to target advertisements. The audit released Thursday provides guidelines for schools throughout the state, but assessed five school districts specifically as part of the initiative: in Boonville R-1, Waynesville R-VI, Park Hill, Cape Girardeau and Orchard Farm R-V, in St. Charles County. Too often, the audit found, staff can be part of the problem. While employees should be the first line of defense for students privacy, theres little done to ensure they change passwords on a regular basis. To combat this, the audit recommends schools establish privacy training for their employees and stricter policies for handling student information. It also suggests schools appoint someone to serve as a security administrator for a district and create a plan outlining a response to any potential data breaches. The audit also revealed some schools did business with third-party vendors, with nothing in place in a written contract dictating what information was available to them. WASHINGTON The Federal Election Commission this week wrote Roy Blunts Senate campaign with questions about a few donations, including two from political groups or corporate PACs tied to Blunts lobbyist son and campaign manager, Andy. The letters, dated Wednesday, ask for more information and are mainly routine queries about individuals or political committees that gave more than the FEC limit allowed in any election cycle. Burson Snyder, a deputy campaign manager for the Republican U.S. senator, said fixing them will require minor bookkeeping or data entry corrections. One questioned is a $3,800 donation from former Missouri Sen. Christopher Kit Bond that was supposed to be for the Aug. 4 primary. The overall amount does not exceed combined FEC limits that Bond could give, but the allotment is technically higher than the amount he can give in either the primary or general campaign. Individuals can give up to $2,700 per election, or $5,400 total for both the primary and general. PACs are limited to $5,000 each for primary and general elections. Snyder said Friday that the campaign had not received the letters, which are posted on the FECs Web site here and here, but did review them after alerted by a reporter. Snyder said the letters raised a "very routine paperwork or data entry matter on a small percentage of contributions" to Blunt's campaign, and pointed out that Blunt's opponent, Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander, had also received FEC requests for clarification. But one of the FEC letters sent to Blunt is notable because it also questioned seven contributions from unregistered organizations, including a $1,000 donation in June from a group called Missourians for Responsible and Better Government. Missouri Ethics Commission records show that Missourians for Responsible and Better Government was formed in late 2014, with a $110,546 donation from Missourians for Matt Blunt, Inc., the leftover state-level campaign committee for Roy Blunt's son, the former governor. At the time the new committee was formed, in September 2014, Andy Blunt was listed as its treasurer. That was amended in the committee's paperwork on Sept. 7, to list his wife, Jill Blunt, as the treasurer. In the two years it's been in operation, the original $110,546 has been spent down to under $66,000, through modest donations to Missouri Republican legislators and operating expenses. Among the donations the committee has made is the $1,000 that it gave to Friends of Roy Blunt on June 6 of this year. "While I do not speak for them, it is my understanding that the mission of Missourians for Responsible and Better Government is to help elect conservative candidates in Missouri," Snyder said. "Roy Blunt is a conservative Missouri candidate, so the contribution is logical." Missouri Democrats have tried to make an issue Andy Blunt's dual role as a state lobbyist and manager of his father's Senate campaign. The FEC letter also questions a $5,500 donation that Exelon PAC made to Bunt that wasn't divided between primary and general. As the Post-Dispatch reported last year, Democrats criticized Andy Blunt for lobbying in Jefferson City for Exelon, the Chicago-based power company which is potentially liable for cleanup of radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill. Snyder said Andy Blunt had nothing to do with the Exelon PAC contribution. An Exelon spokesman did not return calls and emails seeking comment late Friday. As we have since July 2006, each Friday well post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. Below is our latest Friday Sampler. 1) President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippinesbest known for his internationally condemned violent campaign against drugs that has left 3,600 dead since he took office in Junehas his sights set on banning public smoking. Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said Mr. Duterte wanted a 100 percent smoke-free environment in public places, as in the southern city of Davao, where he was formerly mayor, according to the Associated Press. The measure would restrict smoking to designated outdoor areas away from the public, and would include e-cigarettes as well as traditional cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. Ms. Ubial said there was no reason for smokers and tobacco companies to oppose the ban. Were not stopping them from smoking, she said. We are just telling them not to smoke around nonsmokers. 2) Not shying away from its reputation as a super-premium brand capable of commanding high prices, Davidoff has announced two Royal Release cigarsa Robusto and a Salomoneswith MSRPs of $80 and $100 per cigar, respectively. The blend features an Aromatica Dominicana wrapper thats exclusive to this release, a Habano Ecuador binder, and a variety of Dominican filler tobaccos. The seeds themselves were created, germinated, and planted especially for this purpose, according to a Davidoff press release. The heritage and pedigree of todays Royals can be traced back to the harvest of 2004/5, a year of near perfect growing conditions and ideal rainfall. In addition to the cigars, which are sold in boxes of ten, Davidoff is also releasing a Royal Release lighter by S.T. Dupont ($970) and an ashtray made of handblown glass from Murano, Italy ($290). 3) Inside the Industry: Meier & Dutch, the distribution arm affiliated with Cigars International, which is owned by the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (which is also the parent company of General Cigar), has announced the introduction of Lucious Lyon. Inspired by the FOX television program Empire, Lucious Lyon is named after the shows lead character, portrayed by Terrence Howard. The cigar is made in Honduras in three sizes and features a Connecticut wrapper, dual Connecticut Broadleaf and Mexican binders, and filler from four countries: the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico. Along with the cigar, Meier & Dutch is also releasing a line of accessories made up of a crystal ashtray, a high-gloss humidor, and a cutter and lighter by Xikar. 4) From the Archives: Coffee and cigars go together about as well as any pair we can think of. Whether youre a fan of light roast or prefer thick, sweet cafe Cubano, theres sure to be a cigar to fit your preference. StogieGuys.com has been making recommendations and offering coffee advice for years. Check it out here, here, and here. 5) Deal of the Week: Crowned Heads fans will want to jump on this deep discount (50% off) on the two limited edition Mason Dixon releases. Both the North and South blends are in stock for $99 for a box of 20. Add coupon code StogieDeal and get a free triple-flame table lighter (good on any purchase of $75 or more). The Stogie Guys photo credit: Flickr Smith Bros & Webb apprentice, Jack Clugston, gives tour of shop floor to Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi. (Submitted photo) AN ALCESTER manufacturing company has been praised for its vision and foresight. Nadhim Zahawi MP visited Smith Bros and Webb last month to see at first hand the opportunities being offered to young people. The Prime Ministers former apprenticeship advisor heard how the company, which exports all over the world, has launched an apprenticeship scheme alongside its recruitment of experienced engineers. The expansion comes as the company enjoys a growing order book in the UK from bus and commercial fleet operators, as well as buoyant sales abroad, especially from the Far East, Middle East, India and Australia. Mr Zahawi was given a tour the factory by chairman Harvey Alexander, director Andy Barracliffe, and marketing manager Simon Tipple. He said: Its great to see innovative businesses offering valuable apprenticeship programmes like this in my constituency, and I look forward to young people seizing this chance to pursue a rewarding career in engineering. As a government we continue to remain committed to having 3 million apprenticeships in place by 2020 and to achieve this target it is vital that both corporates and SMEs come forward to support this initiative. Andy Barracliffe, Director of Britannia Washing Systems, said: We see plenty of opportunities for further expansion and in order to secure a pool of suitable skills for the years ahead we are launching an apprenticeship scheme that will open up rewarding careers in engineering to young people. We want to grow local talent to protect and preserve the proud culture of innovation and engineering excellence in the Midlands, UK, which Smith Brothers & Webb has been contributing to for the past 70 years. IT'S the penultimate meeting of the 2016 season at Stratford on Saturday, with a seven-race card featuring the 25,000 totequadpot Four Places In Four Races Handicap Chase over two miles and five furlongs, writes David Hucker. With host of jump meetings this week, there were plenty of options for trainers around the country but, with valuable prizes on offer, Stratford attracted a large number of entries and these have turned into some competitive fields, including seven declared for the big race. Irish trainer Gordon Elliott, whose string has been boosted by the arrival of horses owned by Gigginstown House Stud previously trained by Willie Mullins, sends over Mountain King, twice a winner at Perth under champion jockey Richard Johnson. There will be a change of rider on Saturday, with Tom Scudamore taking over, and, despite having to carry top weight, the combination look to have a good chance of landing the first prize. Course winner Roman Flight, who takes a while to get warmed up in his races, may find this trip on the short side, and the danger could lie in Mont Royale, whose trainer Jonjo ONeill saddled his 2,000 British winner at Uttoxeter on Thursday. Prior to racing, annual members have the chance to visit the Condicote stables of Martin Keighley. Formerly a jockey with the legendary David Nicholson before turning to training, Keighley has run 29 horses over the summer jumps campaign, including Sticking Point, owned by HRH The Princess Royal, and Somewhere To Be, owned and bred by her daughter Zara Phillips. Seven have won, amassing nearly 40,000 in prize money. There will be plenty of time to make the short journey back to Stratford for the first race, the Class 3 toteplacepot Racings Favourite Bet Mares Handicap Hurdle, which is due off at 2.05pm. Course winner May Hay, owned and bred by Willie Carson, was not disgraced behind Sharp Rise last month and races off the same handicap mark of 125 on Saturday. She is a model of consistency and could make the perfect start to the afternoon for Scudamore. Sharp Rise, meanwhile, will revert to chasing as he also races on Saturday, lining up for the $350,000 American Grand National at Far Hills, as he bids to become a first Grade 1 success for Over Norton trainer Charlie Longsdon. Next up is the toteexacta Forecast The 1st And 2nd Selling Hurdle and Tajseer could be another winner for the Elliott/Scudamore combination, although he needs to bounce back after a disappointing performance at Navan last time out. But, on official ratings and in receipt of 4lbs, Angus Glens, who has run consistently this year without getting his head in front, should come out on top for trainer David Dennis. Between them, Dennis and Philip Hobbs accounted for a third of the entries in the 12,000 totetrifecta Pick The 1,2,3 Handicap Hurdle. Whilst Hobbs is without a runner, Dennis has opted for the progressive Lostock Hall, a winner here in August, who could well strike again. Daulys Anthem, beaten a nose by Shows Over also at the course in August, ran well at Warwick last time out, and may get his reward in the toteswinger Three Ways To Win Handicap Chase to give trainer Dennis another success. Five winners at Chepstow over the weekend saw champion trainer Paul Nicholls take over top spot in this seasons table as he looks to land his 11 title. He has just one runner at Stratford, saddling Clic Work in the following @totepoolracing Follow Us On Twitter "National Hunt" Maiden Hurdle. But, on form, he could struggle to beat point-to-point winner Breath Of Blighty, trained at Mollington by Paul Webber. Great Alne trainer Robin Dickin seems to have found the key to Wildmoor Boy and he may land a hat-trick in the concluding totepool Racings Biggest Supporter Lady Riders Handicap Hurdle. Delek US Holdings (NYSE: DK) disclosed the following letter in an SEC filing on Friday morning: October 14, 2016 David Wiessman on behalf of the Special Committee of Alon USA Energy, Inc. 12700 Park Central Dr., Suite 1600 Dallas, TX 75251 Dear David: I am writing on behalf of Delek US Holdings, Inc. (Delek, we, us or "our") to propose a business combination of Delek and Alon USA Energy, Inc. (Alon). Under our proposal, Delek (or a subsidiary of Delek) would acquire each outstanding share of Alon common stock which Delek does not already own in an all-stock transaction at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.44 Delek shares for each outstanding Alon share. We believe both companies are currently undervalued to differing extents by the market, and our proposal reflects, in the context of the current and prospective challenges facing Deleks and Alons sector, our view of the relative fundamental values of Alon and Delek; each companys respective outlook and balance sheet profile; and potential synergies for the transaction. We believe this combination would create significant value for the respective stockholders of Delek and Alon in both the near- and long-term, and the 100% equity consideration would allow Alon stockholders, many of whom are also currently Delek stockholders, the opportunity to fully participate in that value creation as it is realized. This proposal supports the shared mission of Delek and Alon of optimizing and growing stable cash flows from an integrated portfolio of refining, logistics and retail assets. For its part, Delek has taken a number of steps to strengthen its financial position, most recently announcing a definitive agreement to sell our retail subsidiary, which transaction is expected to meaningfully enhance our financial flexibility. A combination with Delek would allow Alon stockholders to take part in a formidable combined company to weather the current downturn in the industry and emerge in a position of substantial strength as margins improve. When taken together, these factors collectively position a combined company to be a peer-leading enterprise in the refinery space for the long-term. Our board of directors has authorized management to engage in negotiations and the making of this proposal. Delek has engaged Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. and Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP as our financial and legal advisors, respectively. Given the all-stock nature of the transaction, our proposal would not be subject to any financing contingency. This proposal does not constitute a legal offer or a binding agreement between us. Such an agreement, if any, would be subject to completion of mutual, customary due diligence for a transaction of this nature and negotiation of definitive transaction documents, the terms and conditions of which would have to be approved by the boards of directors of both Alon and Delek. We will not move forward with the transaction unless the transaction is approved by a special committee of the board of directors of Alon that is comprised entirely of directors that are independent of Delek. In addition, the transaction would be subject to a non-waivable condition requiring the approval of the transaction by the holders of a majority of the shares of Alon not owned by Delek or its affiliates. If the special committee of the board of directors of Alon does not recommend, or the public stockholders of Alon do not approve, the proposed transaction, such determination would not adversely affect our future relationship with Alon. We also expect that our proposal would require approval from Delek stockholders to authorize the issuance of the required shares to close the transaction. Please be aware that this proposal is an expression of interest only, and we reserve the right to withdraw or modify our proposal at any time and for any purpose. We believe our proposal presents a compelling opportunity for Alons stockholders and look forward to your response. I am personally committed to overseeing the successful integration of the companies into a single enterprise, and I and the rest of our senior management team are available at your convenience to discuss any aspect of our proposed transaction. Sincerely, /s/ Ezra Uzi Yemin Ezra Uzi Yemin Chairman and CEO of Delek US Holdings, Inc. Fortis Inc. (NYSE: FTS) and GIC Private Limited ("GIC") announced today the closing of the approximately US$11.3 billion acquisition of Novi, Michigan-based ITC Holdings Corp. ("ITC"). Fortis is now among the top 15 North American regulated investor-owned utilities ranked by enterprise value. Its 8,000 employees serve customers at utility operations in five Canadian provinces, nine U.S. states and three Caribbean countries. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sets rates for approximately 30% of the Corporation's regulated rate base. Rate setting for the balance of the Corporation's regulated rate base is largely governed by state and provincial bodies in the jurisdictions in which the Fortis utilities operate. "Today is a special day for Fortis and ITC," said Barry Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortis. "Our teams have worked tirelessly over the past year to make this acquisition happen, and we couldn't be more pleased to welcome ITC to the Fortis group of utilities. The ITC acquisition is the largest in the history of Fortis, dramatically increasing our North American footprint. It establishes significant scale and a new platform in the electric transmission sector." "This is a great day for our customers, employees and our local communities, and the culmination of this transaction is a major milestone for ITC," said Joseph L. Welch, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ITC. "We remain dedicated to our service territory while now having the benefit of additional Fortis resources to better serve our customers." Welch said, "I am grateful for the hard work of the ITC employees and management team in building this great company and look forward to a bright future of continued operational excellence. ITC's leadership team is well positioned for success as a part of the Fortis portfolio." Rhys Evenden, Head of Infrastructure for North America at GIC, said, "We applaud the efforts of our combined teams and we look forward to a successful long-term partnership." ITC Executive Leadership Team Transition As part of the completion of the transaction, Joseph L. Welch announced his retirement, effective November 1, 2016, as President and Chief Executive Officer of ITC. Mr. Welch will remain Chairman of the ITC Board of Directors. Linda H. Blair will succeed Mr. Welch as President and Chief Executive Officer of ITC. Ms. Blair currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Unit Officer and has been a member of ITC's leadership team since its inception. Fortis expects to nominate Mr. Welch for election to the Fortis Board of Directors at its 2017 Annual General Meeting. "ITC will continue to focus on delivering value for customers through modernizing the electrical infrastructure of the United States and other areas," Ms. Blair said. "I am confident in our leadership team and the ability to execute on our strategic goals and our long-term strategy of investing in transmission opportunities to improve reliability, expand access to power markets, allow new generating resources to interconnect to our transmission systems and lower the overall cost of delivered energy for customers." "I am pleased Joe will remain involved through his chairmanship of the ITC Board of Directors and his participation on the Fortis Board, and look forward to working with Linda and the rest of the ITC management team," said Mr. Perry. Following a short transition period, the ITC Board of Directors will be comprised of a majority of independent directors, as well as representatives from Fortis and GIC. Transaction Details As previously announced, ITC shareholders will receive US$22.57 in cash and 0.7520 Fortis common shares per share of ITC common stock. Former ITC shareholders who continue to hold Fortis common shares on the upcoming record date will be entitled to Fortis' next quarterly cash dividend of 40 cents ($0.40 CAD) per Fortis common share. This dividend was declared by the Fortis Board of Directors on September 27, 2016 and is payable to all Fortis shareholders of record at the close of business on November 18, 2016. The dividend to Fortis shareholders will be paid on December 1, 2016. As a result of the closing, ITC's common stock is being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, and ITC shareholders will be provided with instructions on how to receive the merger consideration for their shares by Computershare Trust Company of Canada, in its capacity as exchange agent for the transaction. The common shares of Fortis began trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FTS and continue trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the same ticker symbol. As inter-listed shares, each Fortis common share can be traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canadian dollars or on the New York Stock Exchange in U.S. dollars. The U.S. Treasury building is seen in Washington, September 29, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Bourg By Lindsay Dunsmuir WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deficit widened to $587 billion for the fiscal year 2016 on slower-than-expected revenues and higher spending for programs including Social Security and Medicare, the Treasury Department said on Friday. The 2016 deficit increased to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product. It was the first time the deficit increased in relation to economic output since 2009, according to figures from the Congressional Budget Office. That year, the deficit peaked at $1.4 trillion amid the financial crisis. Last fiscal year's deficit was $439 billion, with a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 2.5 percent. Accounting for calendar adjustments, the 2016 fiscal year deficit was $548 billion. Fiscal 2016 revenues grew 1 percent to $3.267 trillion, while outlays rose 5 percent to $3.854 trillion. Revenue growth was reduced by the retroactive extension of some expired individual and corporate tax deductions passed by Congress as part of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act late last year, Treasury said. With an aging population, mandatory spending for Social Security and Medicare, the federal retirement and healthcare programs for the elderly, have increased. For September, the Treasury posted a $33 billion budget surplus, a 63 percent decline from the same month last year. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a $25 billion surplus for last month. When accounting for calendar adjustments, September would have shown a $75 billion surplus compared with an adjusted $91 billion surplus in the same month a year ago. Receipts last month totaled $357 billion, a 2 percent decline from September 2015, while outlays stood at $323 billion, an 18 percent rise from the same month a year ago. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has repeatedly warned that increasing federal debt levels are unsustainable over the long term unless Congress changes current laws. (Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrea Ricci) The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), today announced it is issuing an emergency order to ban all Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone devices from air transportation in the United States. Individuals who own or possess a Samsung Galaxy Note7 device may not transport the device on their person, in carry-on baggage, or in checked baggage on flights to, from, or within the United States. This prohibition includes all Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices. The phones also cannot be shipped as air cargo. The ban will be effective on Saturday, October 15, 2016, at noon ET. We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority, said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk. Device owners have experienced documented incidents of dangerous evolution of heat with both recalled and replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices. Samsung and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) acknowledged this imminent safety hazard with the companys September 15, 2016 and October 13, 2016 recalls. Additionally, on October 11, 2016, Samsung suspended the manufacture and sale of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 device. The fire hazard with the original Note7 and with the replacement Note7 is simply too great for anyone to risk it and not respond to this official recall, said CPSC Chairman Elliot F. Kaye. I would like to remind consumers once again to take advantage of the remedies offered, including a full refund. Its the right thing to do and the safest thing to do. What air travelers should know If passengers attempt to travel by air with their Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices, the phones may be confiscated and passengers may face fines. Passengers who attempt to evade the ban by packing their phone in checked luggage are increasing the risk of a catastrophic incident. Anyone violating the ban may be subject to criminal prosecution in addition to fines. Passengers currently traveling with Samsung Galaxy Note7 phones should contact Samsung or their wireless carrier immediately to obtain information about how to return their phones and arrange for a refund or a replacement phone. Samsung has provided guidance for customers about refund and replacement options, as well as how to contact wireless carriers, athttp://www.samsung.com/us/note7recall/ [external link] . Samsung is also answering customers questions at 1-844-365-6197. . Samsung is also answering customers questions at 1-844-365-6197. If an airline representative observes that a passenger is in possession of a Samsung Note7 device prior to boarding an aircraft, the air carrier must deny boarding to the passenger unless and until the passenger divests themselves and their carry-on and checked baggage of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 device. Passengers absolutely should not pack the phones in their checked luggage. If a flight crew member identifies that a passenger is in possession of a Samsung Galaxy Note7 device while the aircraft is in flight, the crew member must instruct the passenger to power off the device, not use or charge the device while aboard the aircraft, protect the device from accidental activation, including disabling any features that may turn on the device, such as alarm clocks, and keep the device on their person and not in the overhead compartment, seat back pocket, nor in any carry-on baggage, for the duration of the flight. The Samsung Galaxy Note7 device is considered a forbidden hazardous material under the Federal Hazardous Material Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-185), which forbid airline passengers or crew from traveling with lithium cells or batteries or portable electronic devices that are likely to generate a dangerous evolution of heat. PHMSA has issued a special permit to Samsung to facilitate commercial shipment of the recalled devices by ground transportation. Some of the upside in Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) today (+1%) is being attributed to chatter that SoftBank could step-up as a buyer for the company. The speculation follows news Thursday afternoon that SoftBank is partnering with Saudi Arabia to create a $25 billion tech fund, that can grow to $100 billion over five years. Twitter's market cap is $12.6 billion. In a series of tweets, @1971Capital lists several reasons a deal could make sense: 1) Ive been saying for the past year that Softbanks Masayoshi Son is the most likely acquirer of Twitter $TWTR 2) Now Masayoshi Son/Softbank have a $100bil tech fund hes put together w Saudi Arabia. Prince Al-Waleed is $TWTR's 2nd biggest shareholder 3) Watch 16:30 mark of this vid & the last minute where he says hell get into social media 1 way or another $TWTR 4) Masayoshi Son will be in San Francisco next week at the Arm TechCon. Look it up... $TWTR 5) In mid-2105 Softbanks previous CEO Nikesh Arora said they were interested in buying $TWTR 6) Wouldnt surprise me if all the $TWTR deal talk lit a BIG fire under Masayoshi Son to put this $100 mil investment fund together 7) There is a very good chance Masayoshi Son simply cant let Twitter slip away $TWTR imho 8) $TWTR is huge in Japan where Softbank is headquartered and Masayoshi Son resides 9) One other thing - Masayoshi Son has more balls than Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook and Satya Nadella combined. Hes the real deal... $TWTR MESA, Ariz., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leading provider of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the U.S. and a committed corporate ally in the fight against childhood cancer, today honored the McKenzie Monks Foundation and heroes Joel Nava and Scott Starr with Duckprints Awards for leaving their footprints in the battle against childhood cancer. "Aflac's longstanding fight on behalf of children with cancer and their families has been a source of great pride, motivation and inspiration for the broad Aflac family for over 20 years," Aflac Foundation President Kathelen Amos said. "We are pleased to welcome Cardon Children's Medical Center to our ongoing Duckprints celebrations and to honor each of these heroes for their unique contributions in this ongoing effort to eradicate childhood cancer." The 2016 Duckprints Awardees are: McKenzie Monks Foundation The foundation was created in honor of 4-year-old McKenzie Monks who lost her battle with cancer but leaves her footprint with each Kenzie Kase that is given to another child undergoing cancer treatment. The McKenzie Monks Foundation also created Kenzie Korner, a special place for young patients to take a break during treatment, at Cardon Children's Medical Center. The foundation was created in honor of 4-year-old McKenzie Monks who lost her battle with cancer but leaves her footprint with each Kenzie Kase that is given to another child undergoing cancer treatment. The McKenzie Monks Foundation also created Kenzie Korner, a special place for young patients to take a break during treatment, at Cardon Children's Medical Center. Joel Nava A former patient at Cardon Children's Medical Center and a soon-to-be nurse at Cardon, Nava has a long history of bringing cheer to the hospital halls even through his leukemia diagnosis at age 13. A former patient at Cardon Children's Medical Center and a soon-to-be nurse at Cardon, Nava has a long history of bringing cheer to the hospital halls even through his leukemia diagnosis at age 13. Scott Starr A former Cardon patient whose cancer diagnosis did not slow his dreams of graduating high school, Scott now gives his time as a mentor to other pediatric cancer patients and raises awareness for childhood cancer. Local entertainer Lucky Romero, a longtime volunteer and now volunteer coordinator for Banner Desert and Cardon Children's Medical Center, is host of the event. Childhood cancer is the No. 1 cause of death by disease for children under the age of 15, according to the National Cancer Institute. However, less than 5 percent of federal funding for cancer research goes to pediatric cancer, according to the Children's Cancer Fund. Since 1995, Aflac has contributed more than $110 million to bridge the gap in funding and help find the cure. As part of the grassroots Duckprints campaign that began in 2013, Aflac is calling on people across America to become active in the cause. Aflac is donating $2 to the fight against children's cancer for each Duckprints-related social media activity on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and/or Instagram, up to $1.5 million. Related social actions include: Twitter - $2 for any tweet using the hashtag #Duckprints or for retweets of Duckprints-related tweets. Facebook - $2 for any share of specific posts related to Duckprints or using #Duckprints.YouTube - $2 per view of the Duckprints videos on YouTube.Instagram - $2 for every post using the hashtag #Duckprints. Aflac also created a website (aflacduckprints.com) that enables users to nominate unsung heroes in their community who have made a difference in the lives of children and families facing cancer. People can follow the Aflac Duck on his journey to hospitals around the country honoring those who have made a difference in the fight against childhood cancer. In addition, merchandise such as plush Aflac Ducks and Duckprints-related T-shirts, slippers and other items are available for purchase at aflacduckprints.com, with all of the net proceeds going toward the treatment and research of childhood cancer. About Duckprints Award recipient McKenzie Monks Foundation McKenzie Monks was just 3 years old when those dreaded words were heard: "She has cancer." McKenzie was diagnosed with bilateral Wilms tumor cancer in both kidneys. Life would never be the same for her and those who loved her dearly. Immediately, McKenzie and her family took action. McKenzie faced a new life of doctors, needles, 11 months of chemo, 12 surgeries, 50 radiation treatments, intense pain and the brutal process of undergoing a bone marrow transplant. During her courageous journey, McKenzie was often seen pulling her Hello Kitty suitcase filled with some of her favorite things to keep her busy and provide her comfort during treatment. After 19 months, McKenzie left the life of pain she had come to know, but what she left behind continues to be a gift to so many. McKenzie's family her mom, Denise Monks; dad, Richard Monks; and sisters, Michelle and Mandy Monks knew they wanted to keep her spirit alive. Their footprints began with the creation of the McKenzie Monks Foundation. The mission of their work is to help children cope with the long days of battling cancer. Since 2004, nearly 3,000 Kenzie Kases have been given to children that are fighting cancer. These Kases were inspired after the Hello Kitty suitcase that brought McKenzie joy and comfort. Each child receives a Kase with an iPad (or DVD player), blankets, toys and crafts. Not only does the McKenzie Monks Foundation provide Kenzie Kases, but it has also created a special space at Cardon Children's for young patients. Kenzie Korner was built for children to step away from their treatment for much needed breaks where they can relax, have fun and just be a kid. About Aflac Duckprints Award recipient Joel NavaJoel Nava was diagnosed at 13 years old with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in May 2003, and later it relapsed in his central nervous system. He was a quiet, caring and polite young teen who was very bright and had plans for high academic achievement. The two things that Nava loved most were his family and school. His biggest worry at diagnosis was that he was just about to start at Brophy College Preparatory school and missed the entire first year. Because of his love of academics, it took a lot to keep him busy and not bored on long hospital stays especially when he had shingles and had to stay in his room. In fact, he decided to write a hospital newsletter and posted it in the staff bathroom for all to know the happenings and gossip of the unit. The newsletter frequently had doctor and nursing tidbits in it regarding life events such as who was in school, who was getting married and who was pregnant. The nurses still talk about Nava's newsletter. Nava also made a paper snowman once and would change the theme of the snowman on the unit wall when he came in for admissions to correspond with the holiday or someone's birthday. He loved to teach the nurses Spanish and would laugh when he would make them say crazy things. As a young adult, Nava took a trip to Japan in a World Study Abroad Program. While there he decided he wanted to pursue a career in nursing. Nava went on to ASU Nursing School and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and health innovation. He credits his pediatric oncology nurses as his mentors, saying, "My nurses were there for me," and they "epitomize the idea of compassion and empathy." Nava is joining the team at Cardon Children's Medical Center as a pediatric oncology nurse. About Aflac Duckprints Award recipient Scott StarrScott Starr left his footprints at Cardon Children's Medical Center from the beginning of his battle with Burkitt's lymphoma at the end of his junior year of high school in May 2015. The diagnosis came right as Starr was beginning his lifelong dream of entering the Marines. Starr soon learned that because of his diagnosis, he would not be able to meet the Marine health requirements. However, this did not stop him from moving forward to plan B, which included finishing high school. Starr's cancer treatment included several severe surgeries, planned and unplanned, along with chemotherapy. Not only did he endure this difficult treatment, but he spent weeks on a ventilator in the pediatric ICU. Yet Starr never let himself be defined by his cancer. Starr never lost his smile, positive attitude and sense of humor. He remained who he was, passionate about the military, his family, his friends, and his will to overcome each and every obstacle. Following Starr's last surgery, doctors informed his family it would be several days and maybe even weeks before he would be up and moving again. Starr was up and out of his bed within 24 hours of his final surgery. Due to all the challenges he faced during treatment, it was unclear whether Starr would be able to meet the requirements to graduate from high school. As graduation approached, Starr worked hard on completing his school work and was able to fulfill his dream of graduating. Starr is now cancer free and has since been considering becoming an EMT or a firefighter. Though he has completed all his treatments, he continues to leave his footprints on Cardon Children's Hospital through his involvement in community programs to help raise awareness as well as through mentoring of several other patients who are battling cancer. About Lucky Romero Banner associate Lucky Romero has been involved with Banner Health since 2001, when he became a volunteer at Banner Desert Medical Center. In 2003, Romero was hired as a Banner associate at the hospital he volunteered with for nearly 300 hours of service. Since then, Romero has been an advocate for giving back to the community and has helped with many campaigns, events and councils as the host, coordinator or chair. It is only fitting that Romero is one of the volunteer coordinators today for Banner Desert and Cardon Children's Medical Center. This truly is a role he enjoys because he gets to work with compassionate people on a daily basis who aspire to give back to their community by becoming a volunteer in a medical facility. About AflacWhen 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. Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus and American Family Life Assurance Company of New York. Aflac Group herein means Continental American Insurance Company and/or Continental American Life Insurance Company. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428675 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100423/CL92305LOGO Media contacts Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or [email protected] Analyst and investor contact Robin Y. Wilkey, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX: 706.324.6330, or [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aflac-and-cardon-childrens-medical-center-present-duckprints-awards-to-champions-in-the-fight-against-childhood-cancer-300344842.html SOURCE Aflac FAIRFIELD, Conn., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As world leaders meet in Lausanne to discuss the carnage in Aleppo, children continue to be killed in the east of the city at a rate of more than six a day. As they discuss the fate of the city's civilians, at least 18 children will be injured and require urgent medical care, based on current casualty rates.* Save the Children's President & CEO Carolyn Miles has joined forces with David Miliband, CEO of The International Rescue Committee, Jan Egeland, CEO of the Norwegian Refugee Council and Winnie Byanyima, CEO of Oxfam International to write an open letter to the delegates, saying the continued failure to protect Aleppo's civilians is jeopardizing the whole system of international humanitarian law. The four leading international NGOs call on the leaders meeting to establish a ceasefire of at least 72 hours in East Aleppo as a first priority. This will allow the sick and wounded to be evacuated, and for food and medical aid to enter the besieged area. Just stopping the violence is not enough this time, aid must get through to the civilians who desperately need it. Carolyn Miles said: "The world is watching what's happening in Lausanne today. We have failed Syria's children for too long and there must be accountability for what's happening to them in Aleppo. "Since the last ceasefire collapsed, more than 130 children have been killed in Eastern Aleppo and almost 400 injured in relentless and indiscriminate bombing many can't receive treatment for their appalling injures because hospitals have run out of even basic medicine and equipment. The children of Aleppo cannot wait for a war of words to play out; time is running out for them." A 72-hour ceasefire is an essential first step to deliver aid and evacuate civilians who want to leave East Aleppo, but it must be the prelude to an intensified diplomatic effort by all sides to end the conflict. Save the Children wants to see urgent investigations launched to establish the full scale of horrific attacks perpetrated in Aleppo and the indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure. Notes to editors: * In the 21 days from September 23rd, approximately 136 children killed and 382 have been injured in East Aleppo according to figures from the Aleppo Health Directorate. These figures only record the child casualties who have presented at hospitals. CONTACT: Negin Janati, 203.212.0044, [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/four-leading-ngos-call-for-immediate-aleppo-ceasefire-ahead-of-key-switzerland-meeting-300345324.html SOURCE Save the Children Oakland, CA (PRWEB) October 14, 2016 The non-profit MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba) applauds the Obama Administration's decision to eliminate obstacles that have kept Cuban health innovations from reaching Americans. The U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced today amendments to the Cuba embargo regulations that will allow U.S. medical research centers to collaborate with Cubans in commercial as well as non-commercial research. The changes also permit Cuban-developed pharmaceuticals to enter normal FDA regulatory channels, and be sold in the United States if FDA approved. "These two Presidential actions--which will first and foremost benefit patients in both countries--were top priorities in MEDICC's White Paper sent to the White House in February, so we are especially pleased to see this announcement," said Dr. Nassim Assefi, executive director of MEDICC. "Today is a day to celebrate the new opportunities for improved health outcomes for both American and Cubans through closer cooperation in medical research and its results, particularly in critical areas such as cancer and diabetes," she said. While today's OFAC announcement addresses many of the MEDICC-recommended actions, others are yet to be adopted, such as allowing U.S. patients to travel to Cuba for medical treatment, providing Americans with more options for care, especially given Cuba's global recognition for many medical advances not yet available in the United States. About MEDICC Since 1997, MEDICC has worked to disseminate the approaches and outcomes of Cuba's public health system, as a contribution to the global quest for universal health and greater health equity. MEDICC facilitates mutual learning opportunities in several ways: its documentary film Salud!; the open-access, MEDLINE-indexed English journal, MEDICC Review, that publishes research by Cuban and other scholars from the Global South whose work touches on health equity; insightful trips to Cuba for US health policymakers, educators and practitioners; a national network of US communities whose leaders have been inspired to innovate for better health, thanks to their MEDICC-organized experiences in Cuba; and by serving as an institutional bridge-builder between US, Cuban and global health institutions and organizations. MEDICC also assists US students and graduates of Havana's Latin American Medical School to return home to practice in provider-shortage areas, and supports US policies that facilitate greater health cooperation with Cuba for the benefit of people in both countries. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/10/prweb13767462.htm DALLAS, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Inline Group, the premier matching source for physicians and advanced practitioners with health care organizations across the United States, has named Mike McDaniel Executive Vice President. As a key member of the company's leadership team, McDaniel brings his solid expertise and 20 years of experience in sales and physician talent acquisition to TIG. "Mike's proven leadership and positive results will be critical to helping us launch our aggressive growth strategies as we move to help physicians and advanced practitioners succeed in the challenging health care environment," said Kelli Mulloy, President of The Inline Group. "His insight will enable us to develop new products and approaches that will benefit our medical professional and hospital clients." McDaniel currently owns his own speaking and motivational training consultancy. Prior to joining The Inline Group, he served in various roles with physician recruitment firms including The Medicus Firm, Arthur | Marshall, and Merritt Hawkins & Associates. "The Inline Group is a recognized leader in connecting top clinical talent with health care organizations," said McDaniel. "I am excited to bring my knowledge and experience to an innovative company that has its eye squarely on the needs of physicians and advanced practitioners in order to support their future success." For more information visit www.inline.group. About The Inline Group: The Inline Group is the premier matching firm for physicians and advanced practitioners with healthcare organizations across the United States. Using its unique turnkey approach to identify potential candidates and establish the best match for the specific opportunity, The Inline Group's goal is to bring the healthcare organization and candidate together for what will hopefully be a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship. This win-win approach is changing communities by connecting candidates with clients without commissions. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160415/355879LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mike-mcdaniel-joins-the-inline-group-as-executive-vice-president-300345137.html SOURCE The Inline Group CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomson Reuters announced today the launch of Thomson Reuters Labs Cape Town. The Lab will see Thomson Reuters engage with the region's vibrant innovation ecosystem and dynamic startup community to fuel growth and empower success for Thomson Reuters customers worldwide. It will have a presence at Bandwidth Barn, a technology-centered community in the heart of the region's startup ecosystem. Thomson Reuters Labs Cape Town is the latest location to open as part of Thomson Reuters Labs' growing global network that also includes Boston, Waterloo (Canada), London and Zurich. The Labs have two primary objectives: innovation and partnership. Innovation will come through driving creative conversations with our customers and partners through open events and rapid prototyping. Partnership involves collaboration and co-creation with startups and other partners to put new technology and business models into practice. The Labs provide capabilities across the many disciplines that constitute data science and deliver tools, analyses, dashboards, visualizations and proof-of-concept applications. "Thomson Reuters Labs is an engine of innovation for our company, leveraging creative partnerships to deliver real solutions for our customers," said Mona Vernon, vice president of Thomson Reuters Labs. "Through our growing Labs network, we continue to connect Thomson Reuters best-in-class data sets and professional expertise with innovation communities around the globe." Ian Merrington, chief executive officer of CiTi (The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative) and The Bandwidth Barn said, "We are delighted to welcome Thomson Reuters to our FinTech cluster. Combining their deep industry expertise with our own incubation initiatives, we look forward to pursing our shared mission of innovation in business and technology throughout Africa." The Lab will officially launch at the Africa Summit 2016, a pan-African networking and knowledge sharing event for executives, startups and investors looking to grow their business on the African continent. The Africa Summit runs October 13-14, 2016. The winner of the Africa Startup Challenge will be presented with a $10,000 prize at the Thomson Reuters Lab launch on October 14th. To learn more about Thomson Reuters Labs, and data innovation at the company, visit labs.thomsonreuters.com. Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters is the world's leading source of news and information for professional markets. Our customers rely on us to deliver the intelligence, technology and expertise they need to find trusted answers. The business has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. For more information, visit www.thomsonreuters.com. ContactAndrew GreenDirector, Corporate Affairs+1-646-223-4228 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130208/MM57185LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newest-thomson-reuters-data-and-innovation-lab-launches-in-cape-town-300344847.html SOURCE Thomson Reuters PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge Park has a meaningful place in the hearts of many. It is a place of worship and community for a thriving congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. At the same time it is a living memorial to George Washington and the Patriots of the American Revolution. And for some, it's simply a place of solace. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428618 Now this sacred Chapel is in need of immediate restoration and preservation. In response to these great needs, the leaders of The Washington Memorial Chapel have launched a campaign to raise funds to restore the building to its original glory. After a thorough architectural assessment in 2015, it was determined that the cost of repairs will total nearly $4.5 million. Under the leadership of the Campaign's Chairman Jason Griggs, the campaign has already raised $500,000 in an initial quiet phase among close friends of the Chapel and the Washington Memorial Heritage. The public phase was kicked off during an event that was held on June 12 at the Chapel. This phase expands the campaign's efforts to include the entire congregation and a wider circle of friends and supporters. The goal of this phase is to raise the first $1 million to address the emergency and highest priority repairs to the Chapel. "The Washington Memorial Chapel is a special place. What most people don't know is that the Chapel is NOT a part of the Valley Forge National Park despite being surrounded by it and therefore does not receive any financial assistance for preservation," said Griggs. "Losing this treasure would be like closing the Smithsonian and the Washington Monument simultaneously. As you know, the Washington Memorial is closed because of deferred maintenance." The campaign will ultimately transition to a wider campaign that will aim to raise the remaining funds and accomplish preservation efforts for the Chapel. This longer-term strategy will include approaching foundations that have a passion for preserving historic buildings, especially ones that are related to the history of our nation and its founding leaders. "The campaign will grow to encompass local, national, and international supporters, taking into account the close ties between the United States and France during the American Revolution and the Chapel's continuing memory of France's support," added Griggs. For more information about The Washington Memorial Chapel, visit http://wmchapel.org/heritage/ and http://www.savewashingtonmemorial.org/ to learn about the campaign. About The Washington Memorial Chapel The Washington Memorial Chapel was built as a tribute to General George Washington and the Continental soldiers who survived the brutal winter cantonment at Valley Forge in 1778-1779. The inspiration for the Chapel resulted from a sermon preached by the founder and first rector, the Rev. Dr. W. Herbert Burk, of Norristown, Pennsylvania. In June 1903 the cornerstone was laid on private property donated by the I. Heston Todd family. A small framed building preceded the present structure which became known as the Theodore Roosevelt Chapel, in honor of President Roosevelt, who visited the site in 1904. The Chapel was completed in 1917. It is the home of an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. Designed by Milton B. Medary, Jr., the Chapel was erected for two purposes. It is the home of an active parish as well as a national memorial to Washington and the Continental Army, welcoming visitors from all over the world and serving as a "wayside chapel" for those who visit Valley Forge National Historical Park. GUIDING PRINCIPLES Both the Chapel and the Washington Memorial Heritage are private organizations. Visitors are often surprised to learn that the Chapel receives no funding from the National Park Service and is not formally affiliated with the Valley Forge National Historical Park. Washington Memorial Heritage was created as a secular nonprofit, independent of the Chapel. It is a qualifying charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. This allows foundations and individuals who might not contribute to a purely religious organization to aid in the preservation of this magnificent building, which has been described as one of the foremost examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States. 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/saving-a-national-treasure-the-washington-memorial-chapel-restoration-committee-launches-campaign-to-restore-washington-memorial-chapel-in-valley-forge-300344730.html SOURCE The Washington Memorial Chapel Restoration Committee CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SPX Corporation (NYSE: SPXC) announced today that it will release its third quarter 2016 financial results after market close on Thursday, November 3, 2016. SPX Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Gene Lowe and SPX Corporation Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Scott Sproule will discuss the company's third quarter results during a conference call at 4:45 p.m. Eastern time. Those interested in participating in the conference call should dial in five minutes prior to the start of the call. The call will be simultaneously webcast via the company's website at www.spx.com and the slide presentation will be available in the Investor Relations section of the site. Conference call Dial in: 877-341-7727 From outside the United States: +1 262-558-6098Participant code: 98490756 A replay of the call will be available by telephone through Thursday, November 10th. To listen to a replay of the call Dial in: 855-859-2056 From outside the United States: +1 404-537-3406 Participant code: 98490756 About SPX Corporation: Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SPX Corporation is a leading supplier of highly engineered HVAC products, detection and measurement technologies and power equipment. With operations in about 20 countries, SPX Corporation had approximately $1.7 billion in annual revenues and approximately 6,000 employees worldwide in 2015. SPX Corporation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol, SPXC. For more information, please visit www.spx.com. Investor Contact: Paul Clegg, Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations Phone: 980-474-3806 E-mail: [email protected] Media Contact: Vivek Dhir, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development Phone: 980-474-3703 E-mail: [email protected] Source: SPX Corporation BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) delegation will embark on an eight-day journey to Canada from October 16 to 23. This is the 9th destination country for CEC's annual visits, following successful trips to the United States, UK, France, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, Germany, and Italy. The journey will cover the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will again meet with the CEC delegation, hosting them at the Willson House residence on Meech Lake. Just six weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with CEC members at the China Entrepreneur Club Leaders Forum in Beijing during his first official visit to China. It created an opportunity for a candid discussion focused on the questions of China's private sector business leaders concerning Canada-China business relations and partnership growth. The delegation will mainly look into the policy landscape of Canada, the opportunities during economic transformation, competitiveness in talent and technology, and foster communication with important industries including technology and innovative industries, consumer goods, and finance. The CEC delegation to Canada will be headed by Dr. Ma Weihua, President of China Entrepreneur Club, President of the National Fund for Technology Transfer and Commercialization Council and former President of China Merchants Bank. Delegates include business leaders from various industries including Xu Jinghong, Chairman of Tsinghua Holdings; Frank Wu, Chairman of Central China Real Estate; Jiang Xipei, Chairman of Far East Holding; Niu Gensheng, Founder of Mengniu Dairy Group, Founder and Honorary President of the Lao Niu Foundation; Peter Wang, Chairman of Tentimes Group; Wang Chaoyong, Founding Chairman and CEO of ChinaEquity Group; Xia Hua, Chairwoman of EVE Group and other renowned entrepreneurs. The visit has attracted much attention, and a few of the events planned will include a media presence. On the business front, CEC's visit will include meetings organized by Power Corporation, Bombardier, Cirque du Soleil, and The Royal Bank of Canada. Roundtable dialogues will be held with the QG100 Network, the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA), the Canada China Business Council (CCBC), the Business Council of Canada (BCC) and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. The delegation carries an objective of bolstering public diplomacy of the Chinese private sector. Ma Weihua elaborated that the purpose of the CEC international visit is to learn from the most disruptive business leaders and systems across the world, while demonstrating the integrity of Chinese entrepreneurs and ambitions in seeking cooperation opportunities. Ma noted that the recent warming of China-Canada relations has created more opportunities for business communication between the two countries; the duty of entrepreneurs is to turn this bilateral enthusiasm and positive energy into practical business cooperation. The China Entrepreneur Club is the premier business leader platform in China. CEC member companies are economic powerhouses, with 50 dynamic companies earning a total annual gross income of over three trillion RMB. As a private non-profit organization, the CEC is committed to nurturing entrepreneurship and business integrity while paving the future of sustainable economic and social development. Media Contact:Enya Chen Senior PR Manager, China Entrepreneur Club Tel: +86-181-0108-0400 E-mail: [email protected] China Entrepreneur Club The China Entrepreneur Club is the premiere business leader platform in China. Established by 31 of China's most influential entrepreneurs, economists and diplomats in 2006, the CEC is a hub for Chinese entrepreneurial exchange, cooperation, and international collaboration. As a private non-profit organization, the CEC is committed to nurturing entrepreneurship and business integrity while paving the future of sustainable economic and social development. CEC members represent the first generation of modern Chinese entrepreneurs. Members and member companies are proud to signify commercial success while abiding by the rules and regulations of the market economy. CEC members continue to set the example for sustainable competitiveness by actively engaging in public welfare initiatives and endorsing corporate social responsibility. CEC member companies are economic powerhouses, with 50 dynamic companies earning a total annual gross income of over three trillion RMB. The CEC mission and vision represent a set of core values for club members, employees and affiliates to live by. These values are the backbone of club activity, from International Visits to the Member Company Visits and Daonong Gala. Additionally, the Green Companies Alliance and China Green Companies Summit exhibit a relentless pursuit of building sustainable, transparent green companies in China. Official website: http://www.daonong.com/English/ Follow us on LinkedIn: China Entrepreneur Club The CEC Annual International Visits The China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) has practiced effective public diplomacy with the strong aggregation of the 50 top Chinese entrepreneurs. Given this context, the international visit is one of the CEC's most important annual events. The visits provide a two-way channel for Chinese enterprises and the international community represented by their foreign counterparts to carry out open dialogue and enhance mutual understanding. With the strong support and active engagement of leading organizations in political, commercial and academic backgrounds, the CEC has enhanced the long-term positive communication between China and the international community by successfully promoting the public diplomacy in a market economy. Since 2011, the CEC business delegation has successfully visited the United States (2011), the United Kingdom (2012), Belgium & France (2013), Singapore & Australia (2014) and Germany & Italy (2015). Online information: http://www.daonong.com/English/cec_pv.html To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/turning-canada-china-economic-friendship-into-practical-business-cooperation-300344974.html SOURCE China Entrepreneur Club By Walter Bianchi BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina complained on Friday about military exercises that Britain is planning this month in the disputed Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. Argentina has for decades claimed sovereignty over the British-run islands it calls the Malvinas and the dispute led to a brief war in 1982. The overwhelming majority of the islands' 3,000 inhabitants say they want the islands to remain a British overseas territory. Argentina's foreign ministry said in a statement that it had sent a letter to the British ambassador demanding the country call off the "illegitimate" exercises, which are scheduled for Oct. 19-28 and include the launching of Rapier missiles. A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Buenos Aires called it a "routine exercise" that takes places about twice a year. Argentina lodged its complaint just a month after the two countries agreed to work together toward removing measures restricting the oil and gas, shipping and fishing industries on the remote islands. Pro-business President Mauricio Macri has sought to improve relations since taking over in December after diplomatic tensions mounted under his predecessor, populist Cristina Fernandez. But in a blunder that embarrassed the administration last month, Macri claimed he and British Prime Minister Theresa May had agreed, during a brief encounter at the United Nations General Assembly, to discuss the sovereignty claim. Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra later walked back the remarks after Britain denied that the issue of sovereignty had come up. In Friday's statement, the foreign ministry said it had learned of the planned military exercises on Thursday. It said the exercises "contradict the principle of peaceful conflict resolution" and called the Falklands "Argentine territory illegitimately occupied by the United Kingdom." In last month's agreement, the two sides also agreed to establish additional flights between the Falklands, located about 435 miles off the coast of southern Argentina, and third countries in South America. The last bout of serious tension over the Falklands occurred in June last year when an Argentine federal judge ordered the seizure of millions of dollars in assets owned by oil drillers operating in the area. (Additional reporting by Maximiliano Rizzi and Luc Cohen; editing by Grant McCool) By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Clashes between two semi-autonomous regions of Somalia this week have killed at least 11 people and displaced around 50,000, the United Nations said on Friday, stoking concerns the violence could escalate. Clashes have been intensifying between forces loyal to the semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and forces from the semi-autonomous Galmudug region. The two sides are fighting in the town of Galkayo, which is divided between clan militias loyal to the different regions. "The armed violence has exacerbated an already fragile humanitarian situation ... especially for IDPs (internally displaced people) who continue to live in deplorable conditions and makeshift structures," the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement. The statement said 11 people had been killed in the fighting so far, citing local officials. Hirsi Yusuf Barre, the mayor of Galkayo south, said three members of their Galmudug militia had been killed on Thursday and five injured. The dispute centered around plans by militia from the north part of town, who are allied with Puntland, to build in the south part of town, he said. "Puntland wants to build in parts of our south Galkayo by force and that is an aggression we will not accept," he said. "Puntland tanks started shelling us yesterday and we had to respond." Major Mohamed Ibrahim, a military officer in Puntland, said they had lost two soldiers on Thursday. "Galmudug started the fighting," he said. "We shall defend ourselves." Somalia has been at civil war for 25 years and clashes between the clan-based militias who control much of the country are common. In the south, forces loyal to the weak U.N.-backed government are also battling Islamist insurgents. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Tom Heneghan) YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Vandals attacked a crude pipeline belonging to Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC in the restive Niger Delta, a military spokesman said on Friday. "It was sabotage by vandals," military spokesman Thomas Otuji said, when asked about a claim by a militant group called Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate of an attack of the NNPC pipeline near Iwhremaro on Thursday night. The group, which has claimed previous attacks, said in a statement it had carried out the attack at about 9pm on Thursday and warned "Now you shall know what uprooting of your cherished assets means," it said to the government and major oil companies that work in joint ventures with NNPC. "More to come in the coming days." There was no immediate information on the impact on Nigeria's oil production. The attacks have reduced output by 700,000 barrels per day, around a third of its production, since the start of the year. Militants say they want a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region. Crude sales make up about 70 percent of national income and the vast majority of that oil comes from the southern swampland. Nigeria, an OPEC member, was Africa's top oil producer until the recent spate of attacks pushed it behind Angola. President Muhammadu Buhari has said the government is trying to negotiate a lasting solution with the militants but there has been no visible progress. The militant scene is splintered into small groups, made up of mostly of unemployed men, which even their leaders struggle to control. (Reporting by Tife Owolabi; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Susan Thomas) MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian embassy in Damascus was targeted in a mortar attack on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, condemning what it called "a terrorist attack" in the Syrian capital. One of the mortar shells, fired from a district controlled by rebels, exploded close to the guard post in front of the embassy, while another detonated near the entrance to the consular office, the ministry said in a statement. The embassy compound was strewn with shrapnel, but none of embassy staff were hurt, it said. It said material damage was being assessed. "We confirm that Russia's consistent policy of uncompromising fighting against terrorists in Syria will be continued," the ministry said. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Andrew Osborn; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn) The logo of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is seen at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela, September 14, 2016. REUTERS/Henry Romero By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan state oil producer PDVSA's bond prices dropped on Thursday after the company again extended a deadline for its $5.3 billion debt swap offer, suggesting investors may be hesitant to partake. PDVSA [PDVSA.UL] on Wednesday night moved the date for both the early deadline and the expiration to Oct. 17, from Oct. 12 and Oct. 14, respectively. The swap requires more than 50 percent participation to go through. "It's illogical that PDVSA extends again the deadline without improving the terms and will eventually have to make a decision to go ahead with less than 50 percent participation or suspend the transaction," said Siobhan Morden with Nomura Securities International. If low participation scuttles the swap, investors may lose their recently gained optimism that PDVSA can avoid defaulting on its heavy bond obligations. The company is struggling with low oil prices, slumping production and an extreme cash flow deficit that has left it unable to pay contractors on time. President Nicolas Maduro has insisted Venezuela and PDVSA will make all debt payments and dismissed default talk as part of a politically motivated campaign against his socialist government. Sources said central bank president Nelson Merentes reiterated Venezuela's willingness to pay in a rare private meeting with two dozen investors on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington last week. "He said plan A, B and C is to pay, even if the exchange doesn't go through," an investor who attended the meeting told IFR. "He didn't seem concerned." But Venezuelan officials evaded more pressing questions on PDVSA's bond swap and the availability and reliability of macroeconomic data, according to the attendees. The company's 2017 bond maturing in April fell 0.1 points to a bid price of 81.550 in afternoon trade, while the 2017N bond dropped 1.350 points to a bid price of 86.750. The two bonds are part of the swap operation. "They are probably not yet at the tender threshold," said one investor, who is planning to participate in the swap, of the extension. The swap allows investors to exchange bonds maturing in 2017 for a new bond maturing in 2020 that is backed by shares in U.S. subsidiary Citgo Holdings Inc. It was meant to ease significant payments including a $2 billion amortization in November and $5 billion in amortizations due in 2017. But if participation in the swap is low, bond prices will likely fall further, according to market analysts, and PDVSA will not get as big a financial breather. "Honestly, I don't know whether to be scared (that participation won't be met) or think that they're doing this to get the maximum participation," said another investor about the deadline extension. (Additional reporting by Paul Kilby and Davide Scigliuzzo; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 13, 2016 Registration No. 333- U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 o Pre-Effective Amendment No. o Post-Effective Amendment No. MEDLEY LLC (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter) Delaware 6282 27-2437343 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) (Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) Medley LLC 280 Park Avenue, 6th Floor East New York, New York 10017 (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (212) 759-0777 (Registrants Telephone Number, Including Area Code) John D. Fredericks General Counsel Medley LLC 600 Montgomery Street, 35th Floor San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: (415) 568-2760 (Name and Address of Agent for Service) COPIES TO: R. Cabell Morris, Esq. Winston & Strawn LLP 35 W Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60601-9703 Tel: (312) 558-5609 Fax: (312) 558-5700 Stuart Gelfond, Esq. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP One New York Plaza New York, New York 10004 Tel: (212) 859-8000 Fax: (212) 859-4000 Approximate date of proposed public offering: As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective. If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box: o If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. x 333-213984 If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. o If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. o Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of large accelerated filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one): Large accelerated filer o Accelerated filer o Non-accelerated filer o (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) Smaller Reporting Company x CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 Title of Securities Being Registered Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(1) Amount of Registration Fee(2) 6.875% Notes due 2026 $ 4,134,250 $ 479.16 (1) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933 solely for the purpose of determining the registration fee. The Registrant previously registered securities with a proposed maximum aggregate price of $28,750,000 on the Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 333-213984), which was declared effective on October 13, 2016 (the Prior Registration Statement). In accordance with Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, an additional amount of securities having a proposed maximum offering price of $4,134,250 are hereby registered, which includes shares subject to the underwriters overallotment option. (2) The Registrant previously paid filing fees of $3,332.13 in connection with the Prior Registration Statement. This Registration Statement shall become effective upon filing in accordance with Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933. EXPLANATORY NOTE This registration statement is being filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) by Medley LLC (the Company) pursuant to Rule 462(b) and General Instruction V of Form S-1, both as promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The contents of the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-213984) filed by the Company with the Commission, as amended, including each of the documents included therein or incorporated by reference therein and all exhibits thereto, which was declared effective by the Commission on October 13, 2016, are incorporated herein by reference into, and shall be deemed part of, this registration statement. This registration statement includes the registration statement facing page, this page, the signature page, an exhibit index, an opinion of counsel regarding the legality of the securities being registered and a related consent, and the consent of the Companys independent registered public accounting firm. SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant has duly caused this Registration Statement on Form S-1 to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in New York City, in the State of New York, on this 13th day of October, 2016. MEDLEY LLC By: Medley Management Inc., Manager By: /s/ Richard T. Allorto, Jr. Name: Richard T. Allorto, Jr. Title: Chief Financial Officer of Medley Management Inc. KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Richard T. Allorto, his true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and re-substitution, for him and on his behalf and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign, execute and file this registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and any or all amendments (including, without limitation, post-effective amendments) to this registration statement, with all exhibits and any and all documents required to be filed with respect thereto, with the Securities and Exchange Commission or any other regulatory authority, granting unto such attorney-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing appropriate or necessary to be done in order to effectuate the same, as fully to all intents and purposes as he himself might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that such attorney-in-fact and agents, or any of them, or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof. to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement on Form S-1 has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated: Signature Title Date /s/ Brook Taube Brook Taube Co-Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer and Co-Chairman (Co-Principal Executive Officer) of Medley Management Inc., Manager of Registrant October 13, 2016 /s/ Seth Taube Seth Taube Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chairman (Co-Principal Executive Officer) of Medley Management Inc., Manager of Registrant October 13, 2016 /s/ Jeffrey Tonkel Jeffrey Tonkel President of Medley Management Inc., Manager of Registrant October 13, 2016 /s/ Richard T. Allorto, Jr. Richard T. Allorto, Jr. Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) of Medley Management Inc., Manager of Registrant October 13, 2016 EXHIBIT INDEX Exhibit No. Description 5.1 Opinion of Winston & Strawn LLP 23.1 Consent of RSM US LLP 23.2 Consent of Winston & Strawn LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1) 24.1 Powers of Attorney (see signature page) Exhibit 5.1 October 13, 2016 Medley LLC 280 Park Avenue, 6th Floor East New York, New York 10017 Re: Form S-1 Registration Statement Ladies and Gentlemen: We have acted as special counsel to Medley LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the Company ), in connection with the Companys registration statement on Form S-1 (the Additional Registration Statement) pursuant to Rule 462(b) promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), relating to the registration and sale of up to an additional $4,134,250 in principal amount of senior notes (the Additional Notes) generally in the form of note (with appropriate insertions) included as part of Exhibit 4.3 to the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-213984) originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) on October 5, 2016, as amended, and the related prospectus included therein (the Original Registration Statement and together with the Additional Registration Statement, the Registration Statement). All of the Additional Notes are to be sold by the Company as described in the Original Registration Statement. The Notes will be issued under the base indenture dated as of August 9, 2016 between Medley LLC and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee, included as Exhibit 4.1 to the Registration Statement (the Base Indenture) and a supplemental indenture generally in the form included as Exhibit 4.3 to the Registration Statement (the Supplemental Indenture and together with the Base Indenture, the Indenture ). This opinion letter is being furnished in accordance with the requirements of Item 601(b)(5) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Securities Act. In rendering the opinions set forth below, we examined and relied upon such certificates, corporate records, agreements, instruments and other documents, and examined such matters of law, that we considered necessary or appropriate as a basis for the opinions. In rendering the opinions set forth below, we have examined and are familiar with: (i) the Certificate of Formation of the Company; (ii) the Fourth Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of the Company; (iii) the Base Indenture; (iv) the form of Supplemental Indenture; (v) a Certificate of Good Standing with respect to the Company issued by the Delaware Secretary of State as of a recent date; and (vi) the resolutions of the board of directors (the Board ) of Medley Management Inc., as manager of the Company, relating to, among other things, (a) the authorization and approval of the preparation and filing of the Registration Statement, (b) the authorization, execution and delivery of the Indenture and (c) the authorization, issuance, offer and sale of the Additional Notes pursuant to the terms of the Indenture and in the manner described in the Original Registration Statement, certified as of the date of this opinion letter by an officer of the Company (collectively, the Resolutions ). We have also examined originals, or copies certified to our satisfaction, of such corporate records of the Company and other instruments, certificates of public officials and representatives of the Company and other documents as we have deemed necessary as a basis for the opinions hereinafter expressed. In such examination, we have assumed the legal capacity of all natural persons, the genuineness of all signatures, the authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals and the conformity with the originals of all documents submitted to us as copies. As to any facts material to the opinions expressed herein that we did not independently establish or verify, we have relied upon oral or written statements and representations of officers and other representatives of the Company and others. For purposes of our opinions in this opinion letter, we have assumed that: (i) the Indenture relating to the Additional Notes has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Trustee in accordance with the terms of the Indenture and will be a valid and legally binding obligation of the Trustee; (ii) the final terms and conditions of the Additional Notes to be so issued, offered and sold, including those relating to price and amount of Additional Notes to be issued, offered and sold, are as described in the Registration Statement, the prospectus, and the related prospectus supplement(s); and (iii) the Additional Notes have been (a) duly authenticated by the Trustee in accordance with the Indenture and (b) delivered to, and the agreed consideration therefor has been fully paid at the time of such delivery by, the purchasers thereof. Based upon the foregoing and subject to the assumptions, qualifications and limitations set forth herein, we are of the opinion that the Additional Notes will be validly issued by the Company and will constitute valid and legally binding obligations of the Company enforceable in accordance with their terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, moratorium and similar laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors rights and to general equity principles; provided, however, that we express no opinion as to the enforceability of any waiver of rights under any usury or stay law. The opinions expressed herein are based upon and limited to the laws of the State of New York and the Limited Liability Company Act of the State of Delaware (including the applicable provisions of the Delaware Constitution and reported judicial decisions interpreting these laws). We express no opinion herein as to any other laws, statutes, regulations or ordinances. The opinions expressed herein that are based on the laws of the State of New York are limited to the laws generally applicable in transactions of the type covered by the Registration Statement. We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion letter as Exhibit 5.1 to the Additional Registration Statement and to the reference to our firm under the caption Legal Matters in the prospectus included in the Original Registration Statement. In giving such consent, we do not thereby admit that we are experts within the meaning of the Securities Act or the rules and regulations of the Commission or that this consent is required by Section 7 of the Securities Act. Very truly yours, /s/ Winston & Strawn LLP Exhibit 23.1 CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM We consent to the incorporation by reference in this Registration Statement on Form S-1 of Medley LLC filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, of our report dated June 10, 2016, relating to the consolidated financial statements of Medley LLC (prior to May 29, 2014, Medley LLC and Medley GP Holdings LLC) and subsidiaries, appearing in the Prospectus which is a part of the Registration Statement (No. 333-213984) on Form S-1 declared effective on October 13, 2016. We also consent to the reference of our firm under the caption Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm in such Prospectus. /s/ RSM US LLP New York, New York October 13, 2016 Dear Members of the Board: As you know, on August 22nd Marcato submitted a standard and routine request for shareholder list materials so that we may communicate with our fellow shareholders of Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (the Company or BWW). Unfortunately, the Company has still not complied with its obligations under Minnesota law, as the vast majority of the requested information and virtually all useful requested information remains outstanding. We are hopeful that management will agree to provide the remaining information promptly and without any further waste of Company resources. We are troubled by the lengths to which management has gone in an apparent attempt to thwart our communications with other shareholders and have no doubt that our fellow shareholders will find managements behavior as disconcerting as we do. We were further troubled to hear of your decision on October 6th to appoint three new directors to the Companys board, a decision made unilaterally and without consultation with the Companys shareholders. These new appointments were clearly intended to create the false impression of meaningful change, but without actual engagement in constructive dialogue with shareholders. These actions are an unfortunate continuation of the Companys pattern of entrenchment, obfuscation and poor decision making. Accordingly, we are writing this letter to alert you and our fellow shareholders of the Companys obstructionist behavior in the hope that you will instruct management to immediately put an end to it. It has now been more than seven weeks since Marcatoa 5.2% stakeholder in BWWrequested a limited amount of information for the purpose of communicating with fellow shareholders. As Im sure you know, Marcato has an unassailable right under Minn. Stat. 302A.461 to receive this information. Other public companies routinely provide such information to shareholders without question or delay when presented with similar requests. This is in fact the very same information that BWW is already using itselfwe are merely seeking to have a level playing field with the Company. It should not take nearly two months to produce. The Company initially refused to acknowledge that Marcato owned any BWW shares. Specifically, Company counsel stated that the Schedule 13D which we filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 17, 2016, a copy of which was enclosed with our request, was insufficient to demonstrate that any particular entity was a shareholder of BWW as of [August 22, 2016]. Company counsel insisted that we provide a brokerage account statement evidencing Marcatos ownership. When asked to explain, our attorneys were told by your counsel that Marcato could have sold all of its shares since the 13D filing. To put it another way: management appears to have envisioned a scenario in which Marcato submitted a shareholder list request after it sold all of its BWW holdings, without disclosing the sale in a subsequent 13D amendment. Its a scenario that defies logic. Company counsel then conditioned providing any information on Marcato entering into an onerous confidentiality agreement that went well beyond what was required by law. Surely, management must have understood that providing a draft agreement with such terms served no purpose other than to further delay our communications with other shareholders. Nevertheless, we reached out in good faith with a draft confidentiality agreement reflecting an accommodating approach. We also provided the account statement, as requested. In return, Company counsel asserted that Marcato Capital Management LP ( Marcato Capital ) was not a proper party to the shareholder list request [g]iven that the applicable statute requires the shareholder to own stock as of the dated [sic] of a demand. We were surprised by this response, given that Minn. Stat. 302A.461 explicitly states that a beneficial owner has an absolute right to demand shareholder list materials and that Marcato Capital was clearly a beneficial owner. Your counsel then demanded that Marcato Capital provide copies of its confidential investment advisory agreements to prove that it was a beneficial owner of common stock. After multiple rounds of back and forth with counsel, management backed off its unsupported demands and conceded that we were shareholders and entitled to receive materials. We were optimistic we were putting this episode behind us. Unfortunately, when the materials we were promised finally arrived by email, the information we were given was incomplete, outdated and virtually useless. These materials included: Simon Bridges National MP simonbridges.co.nz This week it was great to join the hundreds of people who crowded around the base track of the Mount to welcome the biggest container ship to ever dock at Tauranga Harbour. Its a major milestone for Tauranga following the Ports recently completed $350 million infrastructure upgrade. These upgrades have clearly already paid off, by providing the opportunity for larger ships like the Aotea Maersk to visit our shores. To give some perspective to its size, the container ship is longer than the 345 metre Sky Tower, measuring an impressive 347 metres. The 9500 twenty-foot equivalent units vessel offers exporters significant efficiency and environmental benefits. The Aotea Maersk can carry almost twice as much cargo as any other container ship that has previously docked in New Zealand, which will allow us to become a more efficient export nation. Such large ships are a potential game changer for our regions businesses that are looking to export, allowing us to compete with countries that have big ships on their main trade routes. It will serve a new line between China, New Zealand and Chile, opening up new economic opportunities in Latin America. It will also offer a fast weekly direct service to important markets including China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The Governments Roads of National Significance programme is strengthening the key strategic routes that will be used to transport freight to and from ports handling these megaships. As witnessed by the Aotea Maersks arrival, the Port of Tauranga is set to benefit from these improvements significantly. We also continue to invest heavily in the rail network with more than $4.2 billion spent in rail since coming into government. This foresight means our land transport network, including the golden triangle between Tauranga, Waikato and Auckland, will be able to more effectively and safely manage the freight these massive ships will carry. Its great to see how improved infrastructure is transforming our regions economy for the better. I look forward to seeing more business growth as a result of the Ports new capacity for larger ships. Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP An editorial about possum trapping vs. 1080 led to a lot of misinformed anger. If we base our assumptions on the media alone, how can any of us really know what a person - or political party - is actually advocating? Traditional media loves red and blue. We are black and white. For more detailed New Zealand First you can go to nzfirst.org.nz/policies but here's a quick overview on some key areas of regular media-twisting. 1080: It does kill possums, but also hunting dogs, deer, fish and others; it's also transferrable to anything that eats an animal killed by 1080. We are for investigation and investment in alternatives and the phasing out of this pernicious poison, as quickly as practical. Immigration: We agree New Zealand requires immigration to make up for skills shortages, but the levels must be sustainable (70,000 a year is too high) and have a clear benefit for New Zealand. Trade: We are pro-trade, but anti-ISDS. Big business cannot be allowed to limit our ability to govern; We are for adding value to our exports, rather than just sending raw materials overseas for them to process and resell. Removing GST from food: Ingredients and basic necessities don't need an extra tax on them. The supermarkets' pricing software can definitely cope with this. Instead, we need to focus on the estimated $7.5 billion of corporate tax, uncollected through avoidance. Every regular kiwi I've convinced to actually read our policies has come back to say they agreed with them - and most decided to join the party. New Zealand First has no fear of informed debate and, with the advancements in modern technology, we are getting our real message out to more and more real kiwis. Come down to our new office at 45 Grey St, in the CBD, and I'll be happy to answer your questions face-to-face. Anonymous online anger is too easy. Let's talk. Around $9 million will be invested in the redevelopment of Edgecumbe College in the Bay of Plenty. This project will involve demolishing and rebuilding three existing classroom blocks and an administration building, says Education Minister Hekia Parata. Another three blocks will be repaired or have remediation work carried out to address weather tightness issues. Many of the existing buildings at the college are old or leaky, so this is about creating a 21stCentury learning environment, says Hekia. The redevelopment will see flexible learning spaces built, which enable teachers and students to work collaboratively or independently, depending on students learning needs. Edgecumbe College belongs to the Rangitaiki Plains Community of Learning (CoL). Communities of Learning are about schools working together to help students achieve their full potential. One way Edgecumbe College contributes to its CoL is by sharing its technology spaces with nearby schools, so other local students will also benefit from this redevelopment. The Government is committed to heartland communities throughout New Zealand. We want students to be motivated and invested in their learning, and having the right infrastructure and learning environments in place is an important part of achieving this. Construction at Edgecumbe College is expected to begin in 2018. Tauranga City Council has announced that it has appointed HEB Construction as civil works contractors for constructing the new tidal stairs, pier and pontoon at Taurangas waterfront. The contract awarded to HEB Construction has a value of $2.8 million. Deliverables include 49 metres of tidal stairs, a new 27 metre pier and a new 24 by 3 metre floating pontoon. Over the past month, Council has been negotiating the construction tender. These negotiations have meant working through refining and improving construction methodology and techniques, says Tauranga City Council city transformation general manager Jaine Lovell-Gadd. As a result a new extended timeframe for construction has been agreed. This is supported by Downtown Tauranga and local business owners, and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council who have provided written approval to the consent condition in regards to works over this period. Construction will begin by the end of October. Based on current construction timeframes, assuming no significant weather-related delays, construction would be completed and the new facilities will be open to the public by Easter 2017. Council will now work closely with HEB during the construction phase. People will be able to watch the construction underway via a live feed from a camera at www.tauranga.govt.nz/accesstowater. HEB Construction has extensive knowledge and experience with this type of work and has successfully completed a number of similar projects throughout New Zealand. Were glad to have the opportunity to work with Tauranga City Council on this new key infrastructure project, says HEB Construction CEO Derrick Adams. HEB Construction is also the civil works contractor on Taurangas Marine Precinct project. Because both projects are water edge works, both working to the same time frames, HEB Construction is able to ensure the projects are well aligned, have significant synergies and can achieve economies of scale. We are excited about moving into this last stage of this important project, to finally realise the citys goal to improve the connections between the city and the harbour. We are looking forward to working with HEB Construction to build the planned physical structures, and ultimately transform our waterfront, says Tauranga City Council chief executive Garry Poole. A public event to open the facilities is planned for Easter 2017. More information will be provided closer to the date on this. If people have any questions, they can call Council on 07 577 7000, email richard.conning@tauranga.govt.nz or check out the website at www.tauranga.govt.nz/accesstowater. On Thursday night the Cure Kids roadshow came to Tauranga, as part of their two-week national campaign to raise awareness for Red Nose Day. Red Nose Day is Cure Kids largest annual appeal to raise money for child health research to improve the health outcomes for Kiwi kids. In Tauranga, the team called in at the BNZ Partner Centre on Cameron Road to meet with partner organisations, including representatives from Taurangas BNZ, Briscoes and Overland stores, and the local Rotary club. Event fundraiser Nicky Sinclair-Perkins says the roadshow is also about informing the public of what the charity does. In the community there can be some misunderstanding about what we do. Some people see us only as a cancer-related charity, but we do work in a range of areas. Cure Kids is currently funding, or has previously funded research into inherited heart conditions, childhood cancers, cystic fibrosis, sudden unexpected death in infants, stillbirth, burns, epilepsy, asthma, child and adolescent mental health, among many other health conditions. The team from Cure Kids with ambassador Kemper (second from right on couch) and the charitys supporters. Photo: Cure Kids. In Tauranga, the Red Nose Day team were joined by 10-year-old Cure Kids ambassador Kemper. At the end of January this year, Kemper was diagnosed with Friedreichs ataxia, a genetic condition that affects the central nervous system. This is a slow progressive condition that will affect Kemper for the rest of his life and will require further monitoring. Despite the challenges Kemper faces, he doesnt let these hold him back. As a Cure Kids ambassador, he helps raise awareness, and has a series of fundraisers planned for his school for Red Nose Day. Tonight the roadshow heads to Hamilton, before returning to Auckland to prepare for their big day in November. People can make a donation, or volunteer their time by helping a Red Nose Day street appeal on Friday November 18, by visiting the website: www.rednoseday.co.nz Businesses, schools, or community groups interested in getting involved can get in touch with the team by emailing rednoseday@curekids.org.nz UPDATED: 1:21PM: Police confirm there has been an incident on a reserve and it involves a lawn mower. Theres been an incident involving a lawn-mower on Turret Road a short time ago. Tauranga Police have confirmed theyre attending the incident along with representatives of City Care. Senior Sergeant Ian Campion cannot elaborate on whats happened just yet. However he confirms there has been an incident on a reserve and it involves a lawn mower. A witness who drove past the incident says there were two amublances, fire and police at the scene, which is located in the reserve just before the bridge. SUNLIVE will have more information as it comes to hand. Earlier: A caller to the 0800 SUNLIVE hotline is reporting major traffic queues, with multiple emergency services on site. SunLive will update this story when more information is known. David Leo Garcia, 27, who was on the show for 109 programmes, said he prepared for the word games by reading a dictionary four hours a day David Leo Garcia, after answering his final question. :: TELECINCO David Leo Garcia had been unbeaten for 109 programmes of Pasapalabra, the popular word game show in which contestants are tested on their fast reaction and general knowledge in the company of celebrities. The 27-year-old, originally from Malaga and now resident in Barcelona, had come within just one word of winning the jackpot on 13 occasions, but his day finally arrived on the show aired on Monday, when he completed the full alphabet circle and came away with a total of 1,866,000 euros. The biggest cash prize ever awarded by the channel Telecinco was his, thanks to ranzon, a less common word in Spanish for ransom, which is normally referred to as rescate. David Leo was no stranger to television studios when he first went in for Pasapalabra. The Hispanic Philology graduate from Malaga University and teenage winner of poetry prizes had already won 54,000 euros on the show Avanti on Antena 3 and 16,000 euros on Saber y Leer on La 2. David Leo gave up his job as a Spanish teacher for foreigners in Barcelona last October when he decided to devote his time entirely to Pasapalabra. I spent at least four hours a day reading dictionaries and encyclopaedias and learning bits of general knowledge of all kinds, from everyday objects, to Nobel prizewinners, he said. When asked by show host Christian Galvez what he would do with the money, he said that first on the list was a trip to Japan, then he wanted to set up a cafe bookshop and an academy for useless facts. Im in no hurry to spend it, he told SUR. In fact I hope that the money from Pasapalabra will last all my life, if Hacienda [the tax office] allows that, I know it will take a big chunk, he explained. Meanwhile he says he is still working on his poetry with a view to publishing a book at some point. First though, David is back in the studio to record Pasapalabra: Bote Master, a version of the show with other former contestants. Pasabalabra began on the channel Antena 3 in 2000 and moved to Telecinco in 2006. It is based on the British game show The Alphabet Game which aired on BBC 1 in 1996 and 1997. This was later remade for ITV as Alphabetical. The Australian-first Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) will bring together the best of Victorias aerospace research, design and manufacturing leaders to work with industry on the next generation of air mobility. Syracuse, N.Y. Cor Development Co. is pushing ahead with construction of a 123-room extended-stay hotel at the Syracuse Inner Harbor while two of its principals fight federal bribery and bid-rigging charges. Cor received its building permits from the city Oct. 6 and has begun initial site work for the Element Hotel on the south bank of the former state Barge Canal terminal off West Kirkpatrick Street. The Element will be the second hotel Cor has built at the harbor. It opened a 134-room Aloft Hotel at the harbor in July. The Element will be built a short distance to the west of the Aloft. The two buildings will share a circular driveway. Company spokeswoman Maggie Truax said full-blown construction is expected to start later this year. An opening is slated for March 2018, according to the hotel chain's website. Fayetteville-based Cor, one of the most active developers in Central New York in recent years, is facing some serious challenges. Two of its principals President Steven Aiello and General Counsel Joseph Gerardi were arrested last month on federal charges that they participated in a bid-rigging and bribery scheme to obtain construction contracts at a state-funded nanotechnology hub in DeWitt. They have denied any wrongdoing. Cor has signaled its intent to push ahead with its $350 million development of the harbor into a hotel, residential and commercial center while Aiello and Gerardi fight the charges against them. It has run into some opposition from Mayor Stephanie Miner's administration, however. Cor is building the foundation for the first of two apartment and retail buildings on the west bank of the harbor, along Van Rensselaer Street. But the city, citing a technicality in state fire codes, has refused to issue permits allowing Cor to build the rest of the structure. The city has also refused to sell Cor the last of five parcels of land around the harbor to allow it to construct three office and retail buildings on the east bank. Under a 2012 agreement with the company, the city is obligated to sell the land to Cor. But city lawyers said the city should not be held to that agreement in light of Aiello's and Gerardi's legal troubles. Cor is suing the city over the issue. Developers of properties elsewhere in the lakefront area have been closely watching the dispute, fearing that a delay in the harbor's development will negatively affect their projects. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 0207 Punks.JPG Billy Blake, far left, grins while chained to two other inmates shortly after he fatally shot one Onondaga County Sheriff's deputy and injured another on Feb. 10, 1987 outside of DeWitt Town Court. (Julia Malakie | The Post-Standard archives) (Julia Malakie ) COMSTOCK, N.Y. -- For murdering an Onondaga County Sheriff's Office deputy, William "Billy" Blake says he believed he deserved to die. Blake, after 29 years in solitary confinement, says he sometimes wishes he was dead. Blake, now 52, is serving what will likely be a life sentence in prison - 77 1/2 years to life in prison - for fatally shooting Deputy David Clark in 1987 in DeWitt while Blake tried to escape at a court hearing. Blake expressed his thoughts about the killing and prison in an essay that appears in a book published this year, "Hell is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement." The book, which came out in February, is a collection of works about solitary confinement put together by Solitary Watch, an organization aimed at raising awareness about solitary confinement. Blake, however, will probably never read the book. After copies were sent to Blake, the state ruled the book is "unacceptable," so Blake can't receive it, according to a state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokeswoman. Blake is at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock in Washington County. In a letter sent to Blake published on Solitary Watch's website, a state committee that reviews materials sent to inmates states the book incited disobedience and posed a "clear and immediate risk of lawlessness, violence, anarchy, or rebellion against governmental authority." Three pages of the essay Blake wrote were flagged by the committee as too dangerous for him to read, according to Solitary Watch. Blake wrote his essay after finishing his 25th year in solitary confinement in 2012. The essay, which was first published on Solitary Watch's website in 2013, included Blake's thoughts on the murder he committed. The Yale Law Journal gave him an honorable mention in their annual prison writing contest for the essay in 2012. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick at the time the essay was published said it was unfortunate the law school would choose to honor a "sociopathic murderer." "While the fact that this genetic mutation is 'bored' in prison apparently merits an award from the future barristers at Yale, the People of Onondaga expect that more sensitivity be shown to crime victims and their families," Fitzpatrick said. "Perhaps the students at Yale can all chip in and send Blake a deck of cards so he can play Solitaire for the next 50 years." Blake was being transported from DeWitt Town Court on Feb. 10, 1987 when he decided to try to escape. Blake, then 23, had been arrested on drug charges days earlier. Deputies Clark and Bernard Meleski were preparing to lead Blake and two other inmates out of the building when Blake struck. Blake hit Meleski and grabbed his gun. After a struggle for the weapon, Blake shot both deputies. Deputy David Clark He then pulled the other two prisoners out of the court building and into the parking lot. Police caught them there and arrested Blake. Clark, 33, died the next morning - leaving behind a wife and two young children. Meleski was seriously injured but survived. Blake won't be be eligible to be considered for parole until 2060. If alive, he would be 97 years old. In the essay, Blake wrote many people in the Syracuse area believed he deserved to die for his crimes. He wrote he didn't disagree. "Even by the standards of my own belief system, such as it was back then, I deserved to die for what I had done," Blake said. "I took the life of a man without just cause, committing an act so monumentally wrong that I could not have argued that it was unfair had I been required to pay with my own life." After decades spent confined to a cell, Blake said he believes death would've been kinder. "Had I known in 1987 that I would spend the next quarter-century in solitary confinement," he said, "I would have certainly killed myself." If Blake were paid for his essay, the money would be seized and used to help pay the money he owes Deputy Clark's family, the corrections department spokeswoman said. Blake was ordered to pay more than $5 million to Clark's family. Also, New York state has the Son of Sam Law which prevents criminals from profiting from the crimes they have committed. Son of Sam was David Richard Berkowitz, a serial killer who killed six people in New York City in 1976 and 1977. The state adopted the law because there was speculation at the time that Berkowitz was going to make money selling the rights to his story. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Two Syracuse police officers were returning to their office early Friday when they spotted a burning car that had crashed and rushed to help rescue the driver. Syracuse police said officers headed to the department's Erie Boulevard East patrol offices at 4:36 a.m. noticed fire and smoke in the parking lot at 2211 Erie Boulevard East. The officers, Sgt. William Galvin and Sgt. David Burgess, notified 911 and discovered a vehicle on fire. They tried several times before they finally got the driver's door open, police said. The driver was then able to get out. Syracuse firefighters and other police officers arrived at the scene. The driver was rushed to Upstate University Hospital by American Medical Response ambulance. The driver is in critical condition, police said Friday afternoon. Police are withholding the man's identity until family members can be notified. Police said the man drove off the road into several parking lots, struck a portable generator and a parked car before coming to a stop. The vehicle damaged properties at 2211, 2221 and 2321 Erie Boulevard East. New York State Spill Response was called due to the large amount of fuel spilled on two of the properties. Erie Boulevard East westbound was closed until 1:30 p.m. Police are continuing to investigate the crash. marvinbryant.JPG Syracuse homicide victim Marvin Bryant. (Provided photo) Jahmeer Stackhouse Syracuse, NY -- County Court Judge Anthony Aloi, who is retiring this year, said experience doesn't always make deciding an appropriate punishment easier. The judge wrestled for more than an hour today over the sentence for Jahmeer Stackhouse, who was 17 years old when he stood by and watched two companions stab 65-year-old Marvin Bryant to death Oct. 14, 2014. Stackhouse had been convinced to come along by his cousin, Shakeith Stackhouse, then 19, who actually stabbed the victim. Another teen, Brandon Grant, then 15, also stabbed the victim. And a third man, Tony Comer, then 19, had robbed and then lured Bryant to his death. But Jahmeer Stackhouse said today that he didn't have any idea what the others intended to do during the robbery-turned murder on South Salina Street. And while there are conflicting reports, there's no proof that Jahmeer Stackhouse actually touched the victim at all, prosecutor Matthew Doran said. Still, Jahmeer Stackhouse was the first to plead guilty to the robbery in April 2015, with a promise of 18 years in prison. He cooperated with police and agreed to testify against the others if needed. He would get consideration of a lower sentence if he testified against the others at trial. But there was no concrete promise of a lower sentence. That was a year and a half ago. Since then, the others have all been sentenced to state prison: Brandon Grant to 7 years to life (given his young age), Shakeith Stackhouse to 25 years to life and Tony Comer to 18 years in prison (for the initial robbery). Meanwhile, Jahmeer Stackhouse remained in jail, awaiting his fate. Doran, the prosecutor, decided against using Jahmeer Stackhouse at the trial of his cousin, Shakeith. But the fact that Jahmeer Stackhouse was prepared to testify helped convince Comer to finally plead guilty in August of this year, the judge said today. So that led to the judge's decision today: should Jahmeer get a lower sentence than 18 years, despite not actually testifying against the others? The victim's wife, Sherry Bryant, said no. "I've known you since you was a kid," Sherry Bryant told Jahmeer in court today. "You stood there and watched it happen and you did nothing. What were you thinking? Why didn't you try to help?" Later, she added, "Now you want time reduced for something you didn't even do." But the grieving widow said he shouldn't get any leniency. After all, she could never see her husband again. But defense lawyer Tom Ryan argued that Jahmeer Stackhouse shouldn't be penalized because the prosecutor chose not to use him at trial. And he noted that Jahmeer's cooperation led to the other convictions. Ryan pointed to a letter from Doran in March 2015 that suggested a 12-year punishment if Stackhouse testified. But Doran and the judge noted that no promise was ever made. And Stackhouse was never called on to testify. Doran said today he wouldn't object to a 15- or 16-year prison term. Ryan also noted Jahmeer's difficult past, including a learning disability that forced him to repeat first and eighth grade. He was also very impressionable and "had admiration" for his cousin Shakeith, the defense lawyer said. Despite his learning issues, Jahmeer Stackhouse completed pre-GED and GED classes while in jail the past two years. He then took classes to become a certified flagger for road construction projects. Ryan called those "amazing" achievements, given his client's difficulties. Given his turn to speak today, Jahmeer Stackhouse turned to the gallery and apologized to Bryant's family, saying he had no idea what the others were planning to do. "My life, I feel like, is gone now," he said. "I'm sorry. I just hope for some leniency on me, please." County Court Judge Anthony Aloi The judge, who had already spoken at length about the factors he was weighing, then spoke for several more minutes about everything. "As my career of judge winds down, it isn't any easier to sort out what the appropriate sentences are in these tragic cases," Aloi noted. He said Jahmeer was in the presence of people "who got you into an awful lot of trouble." But he added that the murder was "something that you didn't intend to happen." In the end, Aloi decided to compromise: he sentenced Jahmeer Stackhouse to 15 years in prison. Maple Street homicide (1).JPG In this file photo from 2015, a Syracuse police officer parked outside 320 Maple St., where police say A'Nickalus Hill was shot. Hill was later found in the middle of East Fayette Street. Harry Shelton is accused of murdering Hill. (Jacob Pucci|jpucci@syracuse.com) Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man thanked his lawyer for "saving his life" this morning after being found not guilty of shooting to death a man last year. Harry Shelton, 35, had been accused of being the gunman who actually killed A'Nickalus Hill last July in what everyone says was a stupid dispute over the slang phrase "Deez Nuts." Harry Shelton Defense lawyer Eric Jeschke argued that the evidence showed Shelton had the gun afterward, but that there was no proof he pulled the trigger. A jury found Shelton not guilty of murder and convicted him only of the misdemeanor of endangering the welfare of a child. Shelton was sentenced to a year in jail today. But given the fact he has been in jail since last November, he is almost surely to be released immediately under sentencing guidelines. A co-defendant who planned the shooting, Jashua Williams, was sentenced Thursday to 25 years to life in prison for Hill's murder. But Williams said Shelton was actually the gunman. The weapon used belonged to Shelton, authorities said. Another witness also said Shelton admitted to being the shooter, prosecutor Melinda McGunnigle said today. But two other witnesses only saw Shelton with the gun after the murder, and he maintained that he only picked up the disabled weapon after Williams fired the fatal shot. Williams apparently became angry at the victim, Hill, because the victim wanted him to stop using the phrase "Deez Nuts" around children in the house they shared at 320 Maple St. Williams asked Shelton to get a gun, then went back to the Maple Street residence and confronted the victim. The victim's children heard the shooting and the victim's son saw his father mortally wounded in the bedroom. Aloi, who found Williams guilty in a bench trial, said today he felt the jury rendered the correct decision against Shelton. The judge noted the jury found there was not enough evidence to show that Shelton was necessarily the shooter. VIENNA, N.Y. -- A man with a child in his car led troopers on a chase that ended at his home because he has a suspended license and was on probation, the New York State Police said. Dillon M. Kotary Dillon M. Kotary, 21, of 8 Oswego St., Camden, was charged with third-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer, third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, endangering the welfare of a minor and unlawful possession of marijuana. At 11:10 p.m. Tuesday troopers spotted a 2005 Dodge Stratus heading north on state Route 13 in the town of Vienna. The car was going 85 mph in a 55 mph zone. When troopers tried to pulled the car over, the driver kept going and led them on a chase. The car later stopped in the driveway of 8 Oswego St. in the village of Camden. The driver ran from the car and left his 16-year-old passenger behind. State police said the passenger identified the driver as Kotary. State police said the passenger told troopers Kotary did not want to stop because he was on probation in Oneida County at the time and was driving with a suspended license. Kotary was arrested by troopers in the backyard of his home and found with marijuana, state police said. He was arraigned in Camden Village Court and held at the Oneida County jail in lieu of $500 bail or $5,000 bail bond. Contact Ken Sturtz: 315-766-7833 | Email | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ 20161011 stirpe all.jpg State Assemblyman Al Stirpe speaks on the steps of Syracuse City Hall in support of tax credits for geothermal energy. (Provided photo) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- State and city lawmakers joined forces this week to support tax breaks for producers and consumers of geothermal energy. The Syracuse Common Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign into law a 25 percent tax credit for geothermal energy. State leaders joined councilors afterward to repeat the call to Cuomo. The state Senate and Assembly passed a bill that would offer a tax credit for geothermal energy at the end of the 2016 legislative session. The bill awaits Cuomo's signature. The governor has not yet asked to be presented with the bill. The bill gives a 25 percent tax credit -- up to $5,000 -- to homeowners to install geothermal heating and cooling systems. Those systems include a series of pipes that generate and store energy from the ground. It is a renewable energy source. In January, Cuomo vetoed similar tax breaks for geothermal energy. Cuomo has until the end of this year to sign the new bill. Bill Nowak is executive director of NY-GEO, a geothermal trade group. He said his organization has been trying to schedule a meeting with Cuomo but has been unsuccessful. The advocacy group has held press conferences in Buffalo and Rochester, but Syracuse is the first city to involve local politicians in the fight. Geothermal energy is currently subject to federal tax breaks. Those expire at the end of this year and Congress has not extended them. Advocates in New York are seeking a statewide tax credit that would replace the expiring federal credit. Nowak said the breaks being sought for geothermal mirror existing credits for solar energy. This page no longer exists or may have been moved.If you believe this is a mistake please email A growing problem for ship Masters The position of a ships Master, apparently enshrined in centuries of law, custom and practice, is showing evidence of strain in the light of 21st century ship operation and management, a leading shipping commentator said. The Masters traditional authority is widely perceived as being diminished while responsibility is being increased, frequently in matters over which he/she has little or no control. Is the role of the Master under attack? How has his authority and responsibilities been affected in an age of instant communication between ship and shore, and a growing volume of laws and regulations affecting the way the Master runs his ship? These are the core questions for the 14th Cadwallader Debate and Dinner to consider at Drapers Hall, London on 26th October, organised by the London Shipping Law Centre (LSLC) Maritime Business Forum. Michael Grey, LSLC Council member and former seafarer, has no doubts about the growing difficulties facing ship Masters. He cites external interference in loading and stowage, course, speed and performance decisions, sometimes overriding the Masters safety concerns and backed by bullying. There are increasing instances where the Master is held as a legal hostage, when local and port authorities, sometimes corrupt, find something wrong with the ship, its operations and its cargo. With an estimated 150,000 new merchant officers required in the global shipping industry by 2025, Grey expressed concern that these factors could well discourage those contemplating a career at sea and ultimate command. He said: Ambitious and bright officers need to be attracted to the ship Masters role. However, there are worrying signs that senior officers are being deterred from this aspiration when they observe first-hand the burdens borne by those who command the ships they sail in. Under the chairmanship of Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, the speakers panel will be led by Capt Kuba Szymanski, InterManager secretary general, as moderator. He will be supported by Michael Kelleher, Director, West of England P&I Club; Faz Peermohamed, Global Head of Shipping, Ince & Co; Michael Chalos, Partner, K&L Gates (New York): and Jeff Lantz, Director of Commercial Regulations and Standards, US Coast Guard. Capt Szymanski said: Hierarchy is vital to a vessels performance, as clear decisions are fundamental to a ships performance and the safety and integrity of crew, cargo and the environment. Ever since all shipping companies had to adopt the ISM Code, we have seen a transfer of authority from ship to shore personnel who are making more key decisions. Yet the Master remains formally responsible for factors which he does not control. The Master must continue to be the voice of the vessel, just as he/she has always been, he stressed. Grey added: The debate is designed to tease out areas of real concern within the industry, ashore and afloat. The issue is that modern legal developments and the communication technology, which binds ship and shore more closely together require the traditional role of the ship Master to be revisited. Do you celebrate Sweetest Day? Here are a few things you should know about the mid-October holiday that started out as "Candy Day." ABS to research cyber security ABS has been awarded a research contract by the Maritime Security Centre (MSC) a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Centre of Excellence. Led by the Stevens Institute of Technology, this is a two-year research programme focused on defining the future of cyber security for the maritime industry. Study participants, which include DHS and the US Department of Defense, will focus on key areas that will help define future research and guidance. Cybersecurity incursions and threats to the marine transportation system (MTS) and port facilities throughout the country are increasing, said Dr Hady Salloum, MSC director. This research project will support the missions of the DHS Center of Excellence and the US Coast Guard to address these concerns and vulnerabilities and will identify policies and risk management strategies to bolster the cyber security posture of the MTS enterprise. The MSC-sponsored research project has a number of objectives that include defining risk-based performance standards better, developing a maritime-specific framework for cyber policy, identifying critical points of cyber security failure, developing design requirements for a maritime cyber test-bed and investigating quantitative analysis tools to determine the effectiveness of cyber detection and deterrent strategies. Cyber security is one of the most pressing and evolving technical and operational challenges impacting the maritime industry today, said ABS CTO Howard Fireman. Our goal with this research programme is to leverage the skills and expertise of leading thinkers to build a framework the industry can follow to contend with cyber challenges. Bahrain-based shiprepairer ASRY has welcomed the return of Euronav, following a seven- year absence. Euronav, the Belgian-base owner, operator and manager of 53 large tankers, chose ASRY for the recent repair of the Suezmax Cap Diamant, which completed her drydocking in early September. Euronav is a leader in its field, commented ASRY shiprepair general manager, Charles Maher, so it was naturally very satisfying that they chose to return to ASRY after a seven-year hiatus. The last vessel ASRY docked for Euronav was the Suezmax Felicity in 2009. Cap Diamant carried out routine drydocking repairs, hull treatment, renewal of cargo tank steam heating coils, tank treatment, plus other work. Euronavs senior technical superintendent, Alexandros Potamianos, commented that the performance of the yard was highly satisfactory. Cautious optimism expressed on maritime crime reduction figures A maritime security concern has expressed cautious optimism on the back of its latest analysis, which showed a reduction of maritime crime across worlds traditional hot spots. The Gulf of Guinea, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean High Risk Area (HRA) have all seen a significant reduction of reported maritime crime throughout July, August and September of this year, according to a third quarter 2016 analysis by Dryad Maritime. With the exception of the Sulu Sea, incidents in Southeast Asia are at their lowest level since 2009 and in the Indian Ocean HRA, there were no confirmed acts of piracy in 3Q16, with the last recorded incident of piracy reported on a merchant vessel in 2014. In the Gulf of Guinea and within Nigerias Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) there has been a decrease in the frequency of attacks with a total of just four against commercial shipping at sea off the Niger Delta since early July, this compares to 36 attacks in the first six months of this year. Despite the quarters positive statistics, the analysis was released with the caveat that expectations for the remainder of the year, especially in relation to the GoG, should be tempered. Ian Millen, Dryad Maritime COO, said: We have cause for some optimism on piracy and maritime crime, with a generally stable and improving situation in some areas balanced against some serious cause for concern in others. In the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, Somali piracy remains broadly contained and, in Southeast Asia, piracy is at its lowest level since 2009, with a 65% reduction when compared to this time last year. The bad news, however, is that 81 people have been kidnapped, seven have been killed and 61 remain in captivity. Beyond piracy and maritime crime, the maritime domain poses other threats. From conflict situations ashore in Libya and Yemen, to the threat of anti-ship missiles in busy shipping lanes, as evidenced by recent incidents in the southern Red Sea, seafarers continue to trade and transit in some dangerous waters. The continuing humanitarian crisis of Mediterranean migration puts other pressures on the shipping industry and its seafarers; a situation in which ships crews have responded to admirably. But despite all of the global maritime risks, we should remember that those who are well-informed and well-prepared can continue to operate safely across the vast majority of the globe, he concluded. e-Certificate trials start The Liberian Registry has launched operational trials for electronic certificates covering both statutory and class regulations. Having initiated the practice of issuing electronic statutory certificates, such as Minimum Safe Manning, Civil Liability Convention and Registration Certificates for several years, the Liberian Registry has now started trials on ships classed by Japanese classification society ClassNK for the statutory certificates that it issues on behalf of Liberia. The new e-certificates will have a two-fold benefit for owners and operators. They will significantly reduce the administrative burden associated with handling and managing traditional paper certificates, while facilitating the on board retrieval of certificated data. The Liberian Registry began issuing e-certificates in respect of regulatory compliance in a format developed in accordance with the updated Guidelines for the Use of Electronic Certificates issued by the IMO. Scott Bergeron, CEO of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR), the US-based manager of the Liberian Registry, said, Liberias intention is always to make regulatory compliance easier and more cost-effective for shipowners and operators. Look at what we have been doing for years in terms of harmonising ISM and ISPS audits, for example. Starting to move towards a system based on the use of e-certificates, which can be verified online is the logical next step in the technological transformation of ship registration, and indeed of shipping generally. It will also help to reduce the incidence of fraud and manipulated data. Gone are the days when certain ship registers could allegedly operate successfully out of a back office with little more than a telephone and a fax machine. By contrast, the Liberian Registrys industry-leading position is based on investment in technology and highly qualified, experienced staff, enabling shipowners and operators to meet their commercial and regulatory obligations. We are delighted that ClassNK chose to co-operate with Liberia in trialling this important initiative embracing both statutory and class requirements on Liberian-flag ships, he concluded. As part of its aims to improve the operations of shipping companies, ClassNK developed ClassNK e-Certificate, following the progress and concept implemented by the Liberian flag, which has already been issuing electronic certificates worldwide. Currently, ClassNK is testing system functions, such as the offshore transmission and receiving of data and website access for the verification of electronic certificates. The trials for the ships in operation are being carried out in co-operation with Japanese shipping companies, under the authorisation and in mutual co-operation with LISCR. Marlink to encompass Fleet Xpress The implementation of Inmarsats Global Xpress (GX) across Marlinks worldwide network infrastructure and service delivery platform is now complete. Following successful installation and testing at all three GX Meet Me Points (Indian Ocean Region, Atlantic Ocean Region and Pacific Ocean Region), Marlink will be able to offer Fleet Xpress (FX) globally along with its range of maritime digital solutions, such as XChange and SkyFile. The ability to retain Marlinks XChange and digital solutions, will make migration to FX easier and more cost-effective for Marlinks existing customers. Combined with FX, XChange and SkyFile will enable maritime clients and their vessels to achieve further operational efficiencies and cost reductions, as well as boosting crew well-being on board, Marlink claimed.. Already installed on thousands of ships, Marlinks digital solutions allow the management of communications & IT on board, including remote access from shore. Also available to FX users is Marlinks messaging and data-transfer solution for ship-shore communications, in addition to a cost effective solution offering full control for private crew communications (voice, internet access and social media). Scalable and designed to host future maritime applications, XChange enables Marlinks maritime clients to access new digital solutions.. An example was the recently released XChange Telemed, which delivers an end-to-end secured telemedicine service, including remote video assistance, for less than $1 per day, per crew member. In June this year, Marlink and Inmarsat signed a strategic alliance based on the integration of FX with the companys multi-band communication services portfolio. The two concerns worked closely together prior to forming the alliance, with Marlink supporting Inmarsat during the development stages of GX. As an independent service provider, Marlink is able to deliver FX services with a large range of maritime digital solutions and applications. We have invested significantly in our collaboration with Inmarsat to become one of the first service providers to achieve full GX readiness, said Tore Morten Olsen, President Maritime, Marlink. The combination of Inmarsats new high throughput services and our technology and applications portfolio is a very strong value proposition for customers looking to develop their fleet operations and crew welfare using cutting-edge maritime satcom solutions. The combination of the power of Fleet Xpress with the value-added services offered by Marlink enables shipowners and operators to enhance their business intelligence and improve operational efficiency and as a result brings the concept of smart shipping closer to reality, said Ronald Spithout, Inmarsat Maritime, President. OPEC cuts- questions remain The recent announcement that OPEC has reached a provisional agreement to cut production came as a surprise to many oil market participants, Gibson Research said in its weekly report. It became clear that there was an intention within OPEC to limit output within a 32.5 to 33 mill barrels per day range, down some 0.5 to 1 mill barrels per day from nearly 33.5 mill barrels per day produced by the members in August. Details still need to be ironed out with OPEC needing to agree, who and how much to cut at the time of writing. Iran is likely to remain exempt from any deal until its production is restored to 4 mill mill barrels per day, up from about 3.6 mill barrels per day at present. Nigeria, which has been supportive of such an arrangement is likely to be unwilling to cap production much below 2 mill barrels per day, from recent levels as low as 1.46 mill barrels per day. Equally, other OPEC producers will claim their production is in recovery mode. For example, production in Libya is rising but well below the 1.39 mill barrels per day produced in 2011. Venezuelan production has also been in decline, meaning they may also be unwilling to adhere to any reduction in production levels, Gibson said. These factors mean the emphasis is likely to be placed again on Middle East producers, with Saudi Arabia in particular focus. Saudi crude production hit 10.6 mill barrels per day in August, following seasonal trends, which typically see production increase over the summer months to meet domestic energy demand. It could therefore be argued that production was always going to fall towards the end of the year, as peak electricity demand faded closer to the cooler winter months. Thus a cut of 0.4 mill barrels per day, which had been muted by some analysts, may have a limited impact. Other Gulf states including Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar also boosted production over the summer and may follow similar seasonal patterns. Even if some OPEC members trim production, rising production from both within and beyond OPEC could offset any declines. Increases from Iran and Nigeria seem likely, whilst any artificial support to the oil price will stimulate non OPEC supply and could be the catalyst needed to reinvigorate the US shale industry, Gibson said. Shale producers have been forced into becoming far more efficient in order to survive lower prices, meaning breakevens across the industry have fallen. Some 109 rigs have been added since May, and production may be starting to stabilise. If oil prices are to firm further, then US drilling activity is likely to intensify. In addition, production is rising in Brazil, whilst crude flows from the Kashagan field are starting to materialise. Russia is currently sending out mixed signals. Russian production is at or near record levels, and whilst Russia has signalled it may be willing to freeze output, a cut could be a step to far for now. Overall, whilst such action from OPEC is typically negative for the tanker market, it may not be a disaster with the impact being marginal, offset by rising supplies elsewhere. Equally, much of the cutbacks could be a reflection of lower seasonal domestic demand amongst crude producers, and thus have a limited impact on seaborne exports, Gibson concluded. Later - a series of meetings between Russia & Saudi Arabia produced statements signalling that a potential agreement to limit crude output is a possibility. According to President Vladimir Putin Russia is ready to join the joint measures to cap production and is calling for other oil exporters to join. At the same time, Algeria has also called for similar measures to be taken by non-OPEC members, shipbroker Intermodal reported. RMI attains tanker top spot The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Registry has claimed it has become the world's largest tanker fleet flag state. The number one spot was achieved during the summer, RMI said, with additional tonnage joining the registry from Greece, the US and Asia, bringing the total tanker gt up to 44.6 mill. International Registries Inc and its affiliates (IRI), which provide administrative and technical support to the RMI Maritime and Corporate Registries, said it was committed to the continued decentralisation of services to better support the registry's owners and operators in every aspect of their business. This principle has led the registry to an average year-on-year growth of 15% since 2001, it claimed. Overall, the RMI Registry now stands at 137.3 mill gt, with an average age of 8.7 years, totalling 3,937 vessels. The registry has been on the US Coast Guard's Qualship 21 programme for 12 consecutive years and continues to be on the White Lists of the Paris and Tokyo MOUs. "Qualship 21 is a particularly difficult standard to meet," said Bill Gallagher, President, IRI. "As mentioned at the Connecticut Maritime Association's (CMA's) Shipping 2016 Conference, 13 of the 26 eligible flag States from 2015 fell off Qualship. "This dramatic development in the spring led directly to the increased tonnage for the registry in the summer. The RMI is the only flag state of the three largest that holds Qualship 21 status; where others have faltered, we have remained steadfast for more than a decade. "Tanker tonnage undergoes a strenuous vetting process and choosing a quality flag is one of the most important factors in the process for owners, operators, and charterers. "Through our exceptional operations and customer service to so many of the world's top shipping companies, the RMI registry is in the business of running a high-quality and sustainable flag. We pride ourselves on our proactive approach to our shipowning customers, whether this means practical advice on ensuring that a ship meets Port State Control standards or addressing our owners and operators concerns in the development of international regulation, we provide a high level of support from any of our 27 worldwide offices," he concluded. In September, the registry established a dedicated team of experts to guide shipowners through the complications of complying with the recently ratified Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC). The RMI will be supporting proposals at the IMO's MEPC 70 meeting for a delay of BWTS installation on some existing vessels. "We are committed to working with the industry to find practicable solutions to the convention requirements," said Gallagher. CEDAR RAPIDS | Flanked by two co-sponsors, Sen. Chuck Grassley called for a balanced-budget amendment to bring more fiscal responsibility to Congress and remove the threat of federal government shutdowns over future budget disagreements. Passage of a constitutional amendment to limit federal spending to no more than the revenue collected would require broad bipartisan support, Grassley said at a Friday news conference after he, Sen. Joni Ernst and Georgia Sen. David Perdue met with about 50 employees of Alliant Energy in downtown Cedar Rapids. Perdue is a former Alliant board member. Grassley, a fiscal conservative, is a longtime supporters of the balanced budget amendment, which was defeated in the Senate by one vote in 1995. Winning support today may be more difficult because theres not as much bipartisanship going for it ow as we did back then. Its no less necessary today than it was then, said Perdue. The federal government is carrying $20 trillion in debt and more than $10 trillion in future unfunded liabilities. That works out to $1 million per American family, he said. When people realize what a deep crisis we are in, thats when Americans stand up and force their elected officials to compromise, he said. The balanced budget amendment has become one of the issues in Grassleys re-election contest with Democrat Patty Judge. Her campaign spokesman said Friday Grassley has no credibility on the issue. He has made clear the budget is not a priority of his by skipping 73 percent of his Budget Committee hearings this term alone, Sam Roecker said. Since he went to Washington, the national debt has skyrocketed by over $18 trillion. Judges objection is that those kind of amendments is they really do not take into account what might happen: war, catastrophic events, she told Radio Iowa. I think that we need to leave that out of our constitution. However, Grassley said his proposal would make an exception for national defense. Judge called his approach unwise. We do require that in Iowa, but I do not believe it is the wise thing to do, the one-term lieutenant governor told the Sioux City Journal. Iowas Constitution requires the state budget to be balanced every year. I did not think it was the wise thing to do at the state level, Judge said, and I really do not believe it is the wise thing to do in the country. Ernst saw what consequences of Judges approach when she was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2010 the same election that Judge and Gov. Chet Culver lost their re-election bid. I witnessed firsthand the results, she said about the Culver-Judge administrations $800 million-plus state budget deficit. That was her leadership that led us into that dark place, Ernst said. If thats what we would see at the federal level, heaven forbid, because every Iowan today owes $60,000 toward our federal debt. The states financial picture was much rosier than Ernst would lead voters to believe, Roecker said. The fact is, Iowa had a $750 million surplus in 2010, after dealing with the worst recession since World War II and one of the worst natural disasters in Iowas history, he said. In this episode of the nature and expedition series Breaking Trail, host and animal expert, Coyote Peterson, has a painful run-in with a teddy bear cholla cactus while hunting for tarantula hawks in the Sonoran Desert, in Tucson, Arizona. Previous episode: Coyote Meets a Curious Little Weasel in Alaska This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? CEDAR RAPIDS Sen. Chuck Grassley wishes there was something he could do about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. He also wishes there was something he could do about Trumps rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. But they dont ask me for advice, the six-term Republican told The Cedar Rapids Gazette Editorial Board Thursday. So hes concentrating on his re-election, Grassley said, and what he can accomplish for Iowans. There have been times hes agreed with Republicans presidents and times he didnt. Its been the same with Democratic presidents. His priorities include continuing wind energy tax credits as long as theyre needed. Grassley, who refers to himself as the father or wind energy, said the credits have led to the creation of more than 6,000 jobs. If re-elected, he said hell continue to work to make sure taxpayers money is accounted for. Transparency brings accountability, he said. He also wants to see the economy grow by 3.5 percent a year or more rather than at the recent rate of less than 2 percent a year. Economist estimate employment would grow by 6 million jobs if the economy was growing at 3.5 percent, Grassley said. Regardless of the outcome of the presidential race, Grassley said he will fulfill his responsibility as a senator to work with the commander-in-chief. Bottom line is what can I do for the people of Iowa, he said. When I can work with Hillary Clinton or Trump Ill work with them. When I cant, Ill do whats right for the country. Although hes met Trump Grassley introduced him once at a pre-caucus campaign event -- he doesnt know him well, perhaps not as well as Clinton, who he served with in the Senate for eight years. I always had a good relationship with her, but I dont want to say that it was always cordial, he said. The served on the Budget Committee but he never got a close working relationship with her. They would talk about interests common to Iowa and New York, agriculture, for example. Grassley doesnt recall being a co-sponsor on any of her amendments, but it was always a good relationship. We probably voted more opposite than we did the same, he said. Nick Cavalla, the man in charge of managing the University of Cambridges endowment funds, has said he is confident about the investment of Cambridges funds but is maintaining a cautious approach to investing. As the richest university in the UK, Cambridge has total assets worth 4 billion, 1.7 billion of which are managed under Mr Cavalla in the University of Cambridge Endowment fund. Of this fund, around 60 per cent is invested in listed global stocks including Unilever, Diageo and Procter & Gamble. Mr Cavalla expresses that he is interested in fund managers who do different things. The endowments support around 5-6 per cent of Cambridges budget each year, and Mr Cavalla cautioned that just a bit more than that would risk imprudence. With rising university tuition costs, university officials are paying increasing attention to revenue from the endowment fund and are looking for alternative ways of funding higher education. To this end, last month the University announced its first issue of 350 million worth of bonds. But Mr Cavalla says he feels no pressure to change his investment approach. I dont feel under any pressure. To be honest with you, theres little I can do to increase the size of the endowment in the short run, he says frankly. Weve had four and a quarter years here under my watch. And the performance has generally been pretty good. A maths graduate from Kings College, Mr Cavalla has since his appointment in 2007 boosted the universitys endowment fund to 1.7 billion from 900m when it was managed by F&C Investments. In addition to this central fund, Cambridges 31 colleges manage their own endowments separately. This is troublesome to directors at some colleges, who find it difficult to find ways to invest relatively insignificant amounts of around 10m to 25m. In a move to resolve this problem, Mr Cavalla reorganised the central endowment fund in 2010 so that colleges could invest in it. Two colleges now invest purely in the fund and four other colleges are partially invested. The fund was always unitised, but now it has got a proper prospectus which means that these colleges can invest in it if they want to, he explains. As far as the colleges are concerned, I think theyre happy with what theyve got as performance has been good. From an international perspective, however, the University comments that its assets are still dwarfed by US universities. Endowments in US universities are considerably larger, with Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Texas each controlling funds of over $17 billion. Mr Cavella claims that the issue for Cambridge is an overreliance on public shares: The piece were missing materially compared with US universities is that were overweight in public equities and were underweight in private equity. Keeping in line with his prudent approach, he adds: Well migrate a little bit more into private equity over time, but carefully. Gwen Jing Deputy News Editor Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. DES MOINES U.S. Rep. Steve King does not believe the international Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal will be approved by Congress when federal lawmakers finish their years work after the Nov. 8 election. King, the Republican from western Iowa, said Thursday that Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan want to approve the trade deal before a new president and Congress arrive in Washington in January. But King said he does not think the men have the political clout to convince Congress to approve the deal. He said Obamas influence is waning as the end of his second term grows closer and that Ryans influence has been weakened by his recent statement that he will not campaign for the partys presidential candidate, Donald Trump. King made the remarks Thursday during his appearance at the Greater Des Moines Partnerships federal candidate series. I dont think Paul Ryan has the capital that he might have had because of this friction within the party thats clear, I think, to everybody today, and I think the presidents without a doubt losing political capital by the day, King said. So I dont think theyve got the juice to push it through Congress, and because of that I dont think it comes up (for a vote). King, who is running for re-election against Democrat Kim Weaver, did not say whether he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but said he supports trade in general terms so long as it does not include mandates on immigration or climate change. Weaver is not scheduled to speak at the Greater Des Moines Partnerships federal candidate series. The organization is a coalition of central Iowa economic and community development organizations. A Russian appeals court recently rejected Googles appeal of a US$6.75 million fine regulators imposed on it for anticompetitive behavior that is, for forcing mobile device vendors to put Google Play apps on the main screens of devices using the Android operating system. The Ninth Arbitration Appeal Courts ruling, handed down last month, means that the court considered the decision of Russias Federal Antimonopoly Service to be reasonable and legitimate. Google therefore would have to pay the fine and take steps to remedy the situation. The Appeal Court upheld the judgment of the Court of First Instance, confirming legitimacy of FAS decision and determination, noted Elena Zaeva, the head of FAS Department for Regulating Communications and Information Technologies. Google must now execute the determination in full within the designated period. FAS is confident that executing the determination will create fair conditions for efficient competition in the fast-growing mobile applications market, she added. Smartphones Stifled The decision stemmed from a complaint lodged by rival Yandex, which alleged that Google had abused its dominant market position in 2014. Three smartphone vendors Prestigio, Fly and Explay at the time said they no longer could preinstall Yandex apps and other services on their devices, according to Yandex spokesperson Vladimir Isaev. Yandexs complaint, filed in February 2015, alleges that in order to install Google Play on their devices, manufacturers were required to preinstall the entire suite of Google GMS services, and set Google as the default GMS search on those devices. Google prohibited the manufacturers from installing competitors services on those devices, Yandex alleged. Android was the leading mobile operating system in the world when the complaint was filed. It was installed on more than 84 percent of devices globally, and it was the leading mobile OS in Russia, installed on 86 percent of all smartphones in the country, according to Yandex officials. FAS investigated the claims and found that Google and Google Ireland did indeed set restrictive conditions for using Google Play on mobile devices, ensured through rewards from Google. They included a requirement to preset Google search, to buy the entire Google Mobile Services application package, to give Google apps preferential placement on the device screen, and to prohibit installation of competing apps. As a result of the FAS action, Google faced a fine of between 1 percent and 15 percent of its annual revenue from its Russian business in 2014; the company eventually was fined $6.75 million (438 million rubles). EU Controversy Ongoing The Russian courts decision came amid the European Commissions ongoing investigation of allegations that Google and Alphabet engaged in similar anticompetitive behavior involving Android in Europe. The EC this spring accused Google of violating competition laws by forcing manufacturers to preinstall Google Search and the Chrome browser, and to set Google Search as the default on their devices. Google prevented manufacturers from selling smartphones running on competing OS systems based on the Android open source code, and it gave financial incentives to manufacturers and mobile network operators on the condition they exclusively preinstall Google Search, the EC also alleged. The outcome of the Russian case, though unsurprising, will have no bearing on the EC case, which will be determined on its own merits, according to Thomas Vinje, chairman of the global antitrust group at Clifford Chance, legal counsel to nonprofit FairSearch, the main complainant in the EC action. We are confident the European Commission will conclude that Google has breached EU antitrust law, Vinje told LinuxInsider, but the commission is a highly sophisticated and independent antitrust authority and will reach its own decision independently of the Russians. Verizon in July agreed to purchase Yahoo for approximately $4.83 billion in cash. The following month, a well-known hacker that goes by the handle Peace offered up the login credentials of 200 million Yahoo accounts on a dark web marketplace for three Bitcoins (around $1,800 at the time). Yahoo said it was aware of the alleged breach but it wasn't until late September that the Internet pioneer came forward with details on the matter. As it turned out, it wasn't just 200,000 accounts that had been stolen but rather, at least 500,000 which could put the entire deal in jeopardy. On Thursday, Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman said during a roundtable in Washington that he thinks they have a reasonable basis to believe that the impact is material and that they're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to them the full impact. Silliman added that if Yahoo believes the impact is not material, they'll need to show it to them. In other words, that means the situation may trigger a clause in the original agreement that could let Verizon back out of the transaction. Specifically, the clause says that Verizon can exit the deal if a new event "reasonably can be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, results of operation or financial condition of the business." When asked about the matter, a Yahoo spokesperson told Reuters that they are confident in Yahoo's value and continue to work towards integration with Verizon. Silliman told the publication that Verizon has already gained approval from the Federal Trade Commission and is awaiting word back from the European Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Accidentally destroying something while browsing in a store can be a nightmare. Not only is it embarrassing for the customer, but most places will charge for the breakages. So imagine how you'd feel if you knocked over four brand new televisions worth over $6000. The incident took place at the HBH Woolacotts store in St Austell, which is in Cornwall, UK. It was caught on CCTV and posted on the store's Twitter account. The video shows the customer walking over to the four TVs on display, before kneeling down to have a closer look at one. It's not clear exactly how he did it, but the hapless shopper manages to push over the curved television. That's a bad day: Customer at our St. Austell store damages over 5000 worth of TVs, including a curved OLED! Ouch! https://t.co/xfqtRcKdCc --- HBH Woolacotts (@hbhwoolacotts) October 13, 2016 Like the world's most expensive dominoes, the TV falls backward and knocks over the one behind it. If things had ended at this point, the damage could have been limited to a couple of thousand dollars. But no. Horrified and no doubt wishing he'd looked with his eyes and not his hands, our hero reels back in shock, only to knock over yet another expensive TV. Again, it tips backward and drags another set down with it. The store's assistant manager, Mike Collins, said: "Staff were devastated when it happened - I had been on a day off but came back and watched the footage. My manager just said 'you will never guess what has happened'. I was very shocked." Collins said there was 5000 (around $6100) worth of damage done to the smart TVs, which included a curved Samsung OLED TV and two Panasonic models. He wouldn't say if the customer had been billed. As is always the case when this sort of thing appears online, there have been questions over whether the incident was faked. The way the televisions have been placed does look very suspicious, and just what was the guy doing that caused the TV to fall backward? Credit: HBH Woolacotts U.S. President Barack Obama has named America's next frontier in space travel: Mars. And he is hoping to do more than just send humans to the Red Planet by the 2030s he has the "ultimate ambition" for Americans to one day "remain there for an extended time." In an exclusive op-ed piece written for CNN.com, the president looked back at his administration's milestones in scientific education, research and commerce, while identifying ways for the country to make that "giant leap" to Mars. But before that massive undertaking (traveling 35 million miles out into space) can even begin, Obama knows the years of planning it entails. He recognizes the groundwork in getting the next generation of Americans, whom he calls the "Mars generation," on that journey. Preparations for the manned Mars mission include upgrading the technology at NASA, providing extensive support to astronauts at the International Space Station, and boosting private sector job creation in the space industry. "We've flown by every planet in the solar system something no other nation can say," Obama notes. "And we continue to drive down the cost of space exploration for taxpayers." So how will the U.S. realize its dream of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s? 1) Public-Private Partnerships "Getting to Mars will require continued cooperation between government and private innovators," he says, "and we're already well on our way." Private companies such as SpaceX and Boeing have currently partnered with NASA to transport American crew to and from the ISS, but Obama plans to take such public-private partnerships to the next level. For the first time, he says, commercial enterprises will start sending their own astronauts to the ISS in the next two years. 2) Sustainable Habitats 'Beyond The Bounds Of Earth's Orbit' Exposure to the unique environment at the ISS will help commercial partners build sustainable habitats that can provide shelter and transport space travelers during long-haul journeys. "These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth something we'll need for the long journey to Mars," Obama writes. 3) STEM Education Obama sees STEM education, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as the launchpad of the Mars generation. These young minds will comprise the new breed of American scientists. "For the first time, more than 100,000 engineers are graduating from American schools every year," notes Obama who, apart from developing students, has also undertaken the training of 100,000 new STEM teachers all within 10 years. "Scientific discovery doesn't happen with the flip of a switch," he says, "it takes years of testing, patience and a national commitment to education." This week, the country's leading innovators in the fields of sciences, engineering and the academe will meet in Pittsburgh to "dream up ways to build on our progress and find the next frontiers." 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. There is something quite appealing about things that are beyond our reach. This is probably why people are gravitating toward the leaked images of the Microsoft Band 3, which never saw the light of day. If consumers remember, Microsoft has produced the wearable device back in 2014. It is primarily a smart band that both have smartwatch and fitness-tracking functionalities. Last Oct. 3, Microsoft announced it is halting production of the product line, effectively ending the wearable's story with the Band 2. If the device in the leaked images could have been the Band 3, then Microsoft's decision seemed unfortunate. The device looks decent especially when it also allegedly includes features such as waterproofing and radio frequency identification (RFID) support in addition to its capacity to track biometric data and its user's swimming performance. The images and specifications of the alleged Band 3 prototype were posted by a member of Windows Central forum. It was not detailed how the image was obtained, but this could belie previous reports that Microsoft did not consider making the Band 3. Whatever the case is, the device and the line are officially dead. While some stragglers might still be available in some stores today, stocks will not get replenished once they ran out. Microsoft has already stopped production and has also pulled out the Microsoft Band software development kit (SDK). There are some observers who noted that Microsoft is only using Band as a way to expand the Microsoft Health apps. Indeed, the company seemed to confirm this view through an interview with ZDNet. "We remain committed to supporting our Microsoft Band 2 customers through Microsoft Stores and our customer support channels and will continue to invest in the Microsoft Health platform, which is open to all hardware and apps partners across Windows, iOS and Android devices," Microsoft said. A previous Tech Times report further noted that Microsoft now wants to push Microsoft Health further as a platform for health and fitness for all devices, including those running Android and iOS systems. The entire health-app-expansion narrative seems valid since the wearable cannot be considered an utter failure. There was a point, for instance, when consumer demand was so strong that it immediately sold out in retail stores. It is, however, also helpful to underscore that despite some bright spots in the Band's sales history, it has never posed any serious challenge to dominant players such as Fitbit, Android and Apple smartwatches. It is safe to say, therefore, that the Band's demise is brought about by a combination of different factors. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Apple is reportedly working on a keyboard that has its keys outfitted with an e-ink display. This was according to a Reddit post which cited the same device being exhibited in a tech event in China. It is easy to dismiss rumors as nothing but false claims but this tipster has provided an accompanying video to support his discovery during the Foxconn-sponsored event in Tsinghua University. This one has one caveat: this information is far from concrete as the source himself said. According to the Reddit post, the e-ink keyboard was developed and manufactured by an Australian startup called Sonder. Now, Apple through its Procurement board office is reportedly taking over the company and the source of that information is no less than a Foxconn Innocon executive. It seems that the process is not yet completed; therefore, the e-ink or magic keyboard might not be implemented at all. Reddit poster Foxconninsider, whose identity has been verified by the forum's moderators, was only able to capture the Sonder e-ink keyboard prototype. This could morph into the future version of the Apple Magic keyboard. He added, however, that there was a MacBook DTF model being demonstrated with an e-ink keyboard. The tipster said that the MacBook appeared to be similar to the latest models available in the market today except for the e-ink keyboard display. He also vaguely referenced a lighting panel, which could be the OLED panel that Tech Times previously reported last Oct. 1. One can also turn to computer renderings by Martin Hajek for insights about the concept. Now this particular angle concerning the MacBook can be supported by recent report that Apple will launch a redesigned MacBook Pro with a secondary touch screen display. According to reports, this could be implemented in such a way that the screen shows different keys depending on the app being used. In this concept, Apple could also make switching keyboard language support easier for international users. Whatever the case is, the possibility of a secondary display might no longer prove impressive today. The Lenovo Yoga Book has already introduced that feature although according to a very different interpretation. It is difficult to verify this kind of big update from Apple considering how secretive the company operates especially with respect to product development. But if one heads to Sonder's website, one will find that, indeed, it has an existing e-ink keyboard product. The product splashed in the website's homepage, which looks like the one shown in the leaked video, is being touted as a keyboard that has infinite possibilities. It is now available for preorder and will start shipping in the last quarter of 2016. It is not going to be surprising if those shipments will arrive at consumers' doorsteps bearing the Apple logo. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Google added four exciting new features to Google Photos on Oct. 12. As the app's team details, users can browse through past memories and experiences in three new ways and fix those sideways album photos. Google Photos is one of, if not the smartest cloud imaging services to date because of its built-in assistant and search technology that helps users instantly create animations, collages and more directly after uploading. And now, a bevy of cool features will be coming to the app again as the company upgrades its service. These new features aim to help users revisit memories and provide a better experience. The update includes tools to help orient images properly as well as craft animations from the uploaded videos, among other features. Create GIFs In the past, Google Photos was only capable of creating a looping animation of a collection of pictures taken on the same date, and turning Live Photos shot with the Apple iPhone 6s and newer phones into GIFs. The recent update will extend this same support to the videos uploaded. Google explained that the Google Photos app uses artificial intelligence technology to scoop out video segments that summarize an activity. These can be considerable movements like diving in the pool or even small ones like a shy smile. The app will then create a short animation of a specific moment in the video that you wish to share with family and friends or on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Browse Through Past Memories As days pass and users continually take pictures with their gadgets, the photo library continues to grow. Such a time will come that it will be difficult to find pictures from specific events, locations or dates. That's why Google decided to make the Google Photos app able to help users rediscover memories of the people found in their most recent pictures. It's a quick and easy way of revisiting relationships and fondest bonds through the years. Highlight Recent Stories Another new feature will make it easier for users to look at the most recent highlights from their pictures. This could be most suitable for new parents, for example, as the integrated assistant can pop up a Google Photos card occasionally to show the finest photos taken last week or last month. This is ideal for parents who also want to create a curated baby album. This new feature is basically a different approach Google is adopting to automate the process of generating photo albums. With the large quantity of pictures people are taking, manually organizing them has become a tedious task, making this new feature a useful tool. Rotate Awry Pictures Last but definitely not the least is the tweak that could solve a lot of users' pet peeve: pictures with a wrong orientation. The built-in assistant will now pop up a card suggesting which pictures need adjustments, and with a simple tap, all these pictures will be rotated correctly. The new features are now available in the web version of Google Photos and on the apps for iOS and Android. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A cosmic impact may have set off massive and instantaneous warming on Earth about 56 million years ago, a new study in New York has revealed. Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found physical evidence that a giant comet may have crashed into our planet and triggered the warming event known as Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Studying such an event is important because it offers the best analogs to modern global warming, scientists said. Finding Clues During PETM, thousands of gigatons of carbon dioxide accumulated into the atmosphere, causing the global temperature to rise by 8 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit). At that time, billions of shelled microorganisms died, rock layers contained unusual ratios of carbon isotopes and Arctic sediment cores had no trace of ice. But how did researchers figure out the link between the warming event and the comet strike? The clues came in the form of small glass spheres found inside rock core samples from New Jersey and Bermuda, which are called "microtektites." These glass spheres or spherules are believed to be leftovers or debris that the giant comet ejected when it slammed into Earth. Morgan Schaller, one of the study researchers and an assistant professor at Rensselaer, says the discovery suggests that there was a cosmic impact around the same time the rock samples were deposited. "[A] space rock hit the planet," he says. Schaller and his colleagues were searching for the fossils of a tiny organism known as Foraminifera when he noticed a microtektite in the sediment he was investigating. Afterwards, they began to search for more and discovered as many as three microtektites per gram of sediment. Schaller says the discovery was completely accidental. How The Impact Triggered Ancient Climate Change The coincidence of the cosmic impact with a major warming event has been quite baffling for scientists, but the physical evidence may help support the timing. Schaller assumes that the event may have possibly triggered intense magnitude 10 earthquakes and released methane stored deep within the ocean into the atmosphere. The event may have also caused super active volcanoes to erupt, producing large quantities of carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, Mark Boslough, a physicist from Sandia National Laboratories and who was not involved in the research, says the PETM is a major event in the history of Earth and the sediment discovery may be major if it "holds up." "It provides a big clue in the chain of discovery that we need to solve that mystery," says Boslough. Details of the new study are published in the journal Science. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. An estimated $17 billion loss was the result of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, where Note 7 devices were reported to inexplicably explode. The prolonged affair has put the company in dire consternation, fumbling hither and thither to administer a recall program for the exploding Note 7 units. Yet, the program proved to be a failure caused by still-problematic replacement units. The hastened version of the disaster concludes with Samsung officially pulling the plug on Note 7 production, essentially declaring it dead forever. In an attempt to rejuvenate its brand, Samsung has chosen to move forward, ramping up production of its other flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7. Confidence in Samsung is at an all-time low, and despite the Galaxy S7 being in perfectly good shape and a fine candidate for a Note 7 replacement, consumers are reasonably veering away from the brand for now. Samsung knows the best course of action would be to revive and sustain consumer loyalty to its own brand, if it wants to recover from the massive loss. Now, it's been reported that Samsung is currently investigating the Note 7 situation, trying to figure out what exactly went wrong in the production of the devices that caused them to randomly combust without warning. According to Business Insider, Samsung is expected to elucidate findings from the investigations in the coming weeks, citing a spokesperson. "We're currently conducting a thorough investigation, and it would be premature to speculate on outcomes. We will share more information in the coming weeks," according to the spokesperson. There's no clear explanation as to why the Note 7 behaved the way it did. The replacement units were a short-lived stroke of hope for the company, as even those were found to have been just as rife with problems as the original problematic units. Samsung claims that the replacement phones come with a battery from a different manufacturer, though it doesn't confirm whether that's the reason why the units resumed the problems. "The replacement phones have batteries from a separate and different supplier than the original Note 7 devices," according to the spokesperson. Many have speculated that exploding Note 7 units were simply the result of a faulty design and possibly flawed engineering. "We are working around the clock to analyze the causes of the remaining reported cases," Samsung told Bloomberg following the halt of Note 7 production. According to Bloomberg, the flaw found in the replacement units may be different from the flaw originally found in the exploding units. Examination of incidents suggests that the batteries in the replacement units, made by Chinese company Amperex Technology Ltd., had issues. As "the coming weeks" draws near, we will know more about the exact reason why the Note 7 was laden with life-threatening issues. The disclosure is a much-needed anthem from the company to extinguish or mitigate the hysteria. For now, it would be premature to predict the total failure of the company since it does have many branches to keep it afloat, though surely, a blow of this gravity has dented its spine. It's hard to imagine where it will go next. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. BRITT Dogs were on the agenda during the Britt City Council meeting this month. The council reviewed the dog ordinance after the original discussion was delayed from the September meeting. The ordinance presented to the council was a rough draft. The council in August agreed to delay enforcing a community ban on pit bulls. City officials in September announced they would review the towns animal control ordinance. Council member Curt Gast asked the ordinance committee to put in a definition for an unsupervised dog. Gast also questioned how many incidents a dog could have before being classified as a dangerous animal. So it takes four incidents before its moved to a dangerous animal. Does it include dog bites? he asked. City clerk/administrator Shell Anderson said the incidents would include barking or running loose. Running around town is the biggest nuisance, ordinance committee member Linda Friedow said. Council member Mike Ostercamp said the ordinance didnt specify any length of time that an owner must submit proof of liability if an incident occurs. I thought we wanted a time frame for not complying and a penalty, he said. Mayor Ryan Arndorfer asked the council members if they would be OK with a 10-day time limit and a $200 fine. I dont think thats unreasonable, Ostercamp said. Still, council member Bryan Aitchison wants to see the ordinance enforced once the council approves it. He recommended having Police Chief Dan Cummings take a look at the ordinance before the next council meeting. My only issue with it is theres a lot in there, and I want to make sure its enforced, Aitchison said. Windows 10 runs on more than 400 million hardware units; however, Microsoft did include many features that are forcing users to share their data with the company, so we listed a number of tips to reverse that. No More Privy Cortana The virtual personal assistant improves its AI capabilities by storing and analyzing what you say, write and type. This means that Cortana gets full access to your contacts, location, browsing history and calendar. Users can put a damper on Cortana's data gathering, but will trade off voice dictation when addressing the assistant. To stop this from happening, go to Settings - Speech, Inking, & Typing - Getting to Know You tab. Once there, click on Stop Getting To Know Me. This switches off dictation and purges any information that was collected on your device. Disable Your Location Mobile devices have the habit to allow third-party apps to find your location. While navigating the streets of a new city, that is reasonable, but at other times, you might want to disable the feature. As long as your location detection is on, Windows 10 holds on the device's location history for a good 24 hours. A good alternative is to define a location manually, so apps are happy and you retain more privacy. To turn off the location, go to Settings, and find Location. Navigate to Location for this device is on - Change to switch it off for all users of your device. While you are here, you might want to dissolve your Location History, and can select which apps to detect your location and which you want to be under the radar from. A fast way to enable/disable your location is by tapping into the Action center. Play with the Location switch to rapidly chance between on and off. Zero Syncing Users who sign in with a Microsoft account get their settings and credentials synced between devices, alongside the notifications which get the same treatment. Disabling the sync feature means that each device will maintain their own settings and passwords, even when users log in with a Microsoft account. This implies that passwords will have to be inputted manually. Lock Screen On The lock screen could holster a myriad of data that you want to keep private. By going into Settings - System - Notifications & Actions you can tick off the Show notifications on the lock screen, thus having no notification appear on the lock screen. Earlier this year, Microsoft was in hot water in France when it was revealed that Windows 10 is collecting user data sans users' permission. France's Chair of the National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) gave Microsoft three months to update its OS so that Windows 10 users' privacy is better protected. "We will work closely with the CNIL over the next few months to understand the agency's concerns fully," says David Heiner, VP and deputy general counsel at Microsoft. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Nintendo NX Could Come With Smartphone And VR Support: Report | TechTree.com There are some things in the gaming industry, which set them afire with rumors, especially if the product is that much awaited, and brand happens to be something like a Nintendo. That is exactly the case for the upcoming Nintendo NX console, which rumor mills suggest, will be a hybrid design, and is currently undergoing product tests. Other rumors also suggest that the final product may be called the Nintendo Duo, and the hybrid design will set it apart, making it both a home and hand-held console. The details first came from French site called Gameblog, which were then translated on the English gaming forum, NeoGAF. What makes the rumors noteworthy, is that several sources in the gaming industry which have development kits from the company, and are making products for them, have actually confirmed to these rumors. By the way, there are reported 20 special games being developed, and the Nintendo has not yet given full-details and specifications of the final product. For gamers looking to get a head-start on what the Nintendo NX could hold for them, there are 20 games being developed currently, and the company has not even explained or given out all the features of the nest console, which brings in a surprise element. Some of the titles being worked on, include Skyward Sword, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Smash Bros., and a host of Wii and N64 games. Also, there are rumors, and credible ones from Eurogamer, which suggest there will be a wireless dongle for TV connectivity, detachable controllers but no docking slot for the handheld unit of the controller. In terms of the screen on the unit, The Nintendo NX/Duo will also sport a screen which is at par with the resolution of the PS4, and the play on the go will also run smoothly, even in the living room. In terms of the support for other devices, though tests results have not yet been favorable, show that mobile handsets and VR (virtual reality) are a part of the consoles connecting capabilities. In terms of the video capabilities, a Reddit post read 4k streaming has been mentioned. - What this likely means is playback of content such as Netflix, etc. Not gameplay, the post reads. 1080p and 60fps are being used by the marketing teams in relation to game-play on to the console portion. I've heard unconfirmed rumblings of 900p for the infamous hybrid part of the device. While the technicals have been in the rumor mills for a while now, the price is also being talked about. It is stated to be in the region of $299.99 (approx Rs 20,000) as the base price and $399.99 (Rs 27,000) for the bundled price, but how much or what will be in the bundle, is still a mystery. What gamers in India need to essentially wait for, is what the branding will be like in India, and what name it will come as, along with the mystery price tag. Though in the past, some 3D printed renderings have been proven to be false, it is unlikely in this case, as most reports point out to detailed authenticated sources giving out the information about the new console. TAGS: Nintendo NX, Gaming, consoles, virtual reality In this Bolivian department, militia groups are attacking social, political, and Indigenous activists who support President Luis Arce. | Read More MASON CITY Democrats are leading the way in early voting in Cerro Gordo County, but the margin is not as great as it was four years ago. As of the end of the day Friday, 1,776 Democrats had cast early ballots compared to 1,308 Republicans and 1,034 voters who have no party affiliation. In 2012, the last time there was a presidential election, Democrats cast 2,500 early votes compared to 1,418 Republicans with 1,236 voters declaring no party affiliation. The election is Nov. 8. CLEAR LAKE | Police in Clear Lake are seeking information about a crash that seriously injured a bicyclist last month on Main Avenue. Gary Beach, 47, was hit by a car Sept. 27 on Main Avenue and then dragged more than 150 feet, police say. He and his bike were stuck under the front of the Hyundai Veloster when it came to a stop near 22nd Street. Beach allegedly freed himself but was hospitized with what police called "substantial" injuries. He has since been released from the hospital. Clear Lake Police Chief Pete Roth said Thursday investigators are continuing to interview witnesses and identify potential witnesses who have information pertinent to the case. Police also are awaiting results of lab tests. No arrests had been made as of Thursday. Roth said anyone with information about the case can contact Clear Lake Police Detective Jim O'Keefe at 641-357-2186. -- Molly Montag. CLEAR LAKE Disability Rights Iowa and Opportunity Village Childrens Autism Center will offer two seminars on special education law, guardianship and substitute decision-making. The first, focusing on special education law, is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20. It will be led by Nathan Kirstein, staff attorney with Disability Rights Iowa, and Beth Rydberg, senior advocate with Disability Rights Iowa. Topics include individualized education program components, discipline, restraint, seclusion, and bullying/harassment. The second, focusing on guardianship and substitute decision-making, is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27. It will be led by Scott Lyon, adult and investigations staff attorney with Disability Rights Iowa. Topics include the rights of individuals under guardianship law in Iowa, due process, specific issues in restrictive decision-making and what to do if a wards rights are violated. Both will be followed by question-and-answer sessions. They will be held in the Severtson Forum at the Kinney-Lindstrom Center, 1200 N. Ninth St. W., Clear Lake. A state district court judge temporarily removed from the bench on misconduct counts managed to quickly bounce back from his year-long suspension with a new job with Iberville Parish government. J. Robin Free, who until June presided over cases for the 18th Judicial District, is now being paid $75,000 a year as the supervisor of Iberville Parish's Department of General Services. Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso, a lifelong friend of Free's, said Thursday the judge is being paid to update the parish's personnel manual and to assist Ourso's chief financial officer with the parish's 2017 fiscal year budget. Free was hired shortly after his suspension, Ourso said. "I don't want the public to think I did something political," Ourso said. "Robin came over and asked if I could help him. I figured I could save the parish money by hiring this man who has more than 20 years of experience with labor law to work on our personnel manual." The Louisiana Supreme Court in June doled out a yearlong suspension without pay to Free for failing to maintain the integrity of his position and exhibiting behavior described by the majority of the Supreme Courts seven justices as injudicious, lacking judicial temperament and giving an appearance of impropriety. Free, who served on the bench since 1996 on cases in West Baton Rouge, Iberville and Pointe Coupee parishes, was suspended for making comments in front of a victim's family showing bias toward prosecutors, abusing his contempt authority in two separate cases, making inappropriate comments toward women during domestic abuse proceedings, and using slang when speaking to defendants in several criminal cases. The suspension is Free's second within a two-year period. In December 2014, Free was suspended without pay for 30 days for accepting an all-expense-paid trip from a Texas attorney whose client was awarded $1.2 million in a personal injury lawsuit tried in the judges court. In a written statement Friday morning, Free said: "Im thankful for the opportunity that Mr. Ourso has given me to apply my skills and expertise to make Iberville Parish a better place for its citizens to live." He continued, "My attention is now focused on being a better person and a better judge in order to better serve the citizens of the 18th Judicial District." A job description for his new position, provided by Ourso, lists some of Free's duties as: "preparation and preservation of ordinances for all matters relating to the Iberville Parish Government," reviewing condemnation ordinances, and training inspectors on procedures. The job description includes drafting the parish's professional services contracts, modifying the parish's personnel manual, assisting the finance department, and drafting forms for parish servitudes, rights of way and utility service agreements. Ourso claims he would not have hired Free if he didn't have a need for his services within his administration. The parish president said hiring the judge will probably save the parish nearly $200,000, the amount it would take to hire an outside attorney to update the personnel manual which hasn't been done since 1997. Ourso said Free has already presented him with a draft of the new personnel manual, which will need to be reviewed and presented to the Parish Council for approval. "He has to follow all the rules like all my employees. He doesn't have vacation days or sick leave," Ourso said. "I told him: Over here, I'm the judge now. He's in my court and these are my rules." Free's employment with the parish will force him to recuse himself from any cases involving the parish government when he returns to the bench. "I'm not the kind of person to beat a man when he's down," Ourso said. "He made a mistake. He's taking his punishment like a man. I'm happy we could help him out." Aramis Jackson is not intellectually disabled, a state judge ruled Friday in setting the stage for the 25-year-old's murder trial next year in the 2010 home-invasion shooting death of a single mother and the wounding of her then-9-year-old daughter in Beauregard Town. District Judge Tony Marabella's ruling means East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutors can seek the death penalty if Jackson is found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of 42-year-old Alexandra Engler. He also faces a charge of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Ariana Engler, now 15. If the judge had found Jackson to be mentally disabled, a first-degree murder conviction would have carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The U.S. Supreme Court has barred the execution of intellectually disabled inmates. +2 Mental disability ruling in 2010 Beauregard Town slaying coming Oct. 14 A judge said Monday he'll decide Oct. 14 whether a Baton Rouge man is mentally disabled and "If there was ever a case for the death penalty, this is the case," District Attorney Hillar Moore III said outside the 19th Judicial District Courthouse, noting that the time he spent at the crime scene the day of the shooting made the decision to pursue the death penalty "pretty easy." Bonnie Hunt, the mother and grandmother of Alexandra and Ariana Engler, respectively, expressed profound relief that the long-running case can now be set for trial. "It's good to see some movement on this. It's been a long time. It's been a tough time," she said outside the downtown courthouse. "The next step is going to be a trial." Hunt, who was in the courtroom when Marabella issued his decision, said her granddaughter is doing "fabulous." Ariana was shot multiple times in the Sept. 24, 2010, attack. Johnny Adriani, the girl's father, also was in the courtroom gallery and said afterward that the judge made the correct call. "When you look at what happened, there's no doubt in my mind he knew what he was doing," Adriani said of Jackson. Baton Rouge Capital Conflict Office director David Price, one of Jackson's attorneys, objected to Marabella's ruling. Jackson's next court date is Dec. 2. Two psychologists who examined Jackson split on the issue of whether he is intellectually disabled. California psychologist Ricardo Weinstein, who was hired by Jackson's lawyers, testified in March he believes the accused killer is intellectually disabled based on his IQ scores and adaptive functioning. But New Orleans psychologist Gina Manguno-Mire, hired by the District Attorney's Office, testified at that same hearing that Jackson's IQ does not fall within the intellectual disability range. She also said he has been able to function in society. Weinstein noted in his report that Jackson attended school up to the seventh grade in Baton Rouge and received special-education services. Manguna-Mire indicated in a report that Jackson was arrested for the first time at the age of 11, and had been arrested nine times by the time he was 17. Marabella concluded in his written ruling that the defense failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Jackson has deficits in intellectual and adaptive functioning that would render him intellectually disabled. Witnesses identified Jackson as the man they saw in the area shortly after the shooting carrying a gun and a television believed stolen from the Engler home, police have said. A prosecution-hired forensic consultant who specializes in footwear impressions testified at a 2013 hearing that a bloody shoe print found in the kitchen of the Engler house was left by one of Jackson's shoes. Moore has said the shoe print matches shoes found in Jackson's possession, but he declined to say if Jackson was wearing the shoes when he was arrested. A Baton Rouge state judge refused Thursday to either block Tuesday's scheduled televised U.S. Senate debate or increase the number of candidates taking part in the 90-minute forum from five to eight. There are a whopping 24 candidates in the race to fill the seat being vacated by Sen. David Vitter. District Judge Tim Kelley issued his ruling following two days of testimony from three candidates who were not invited to the debate: former Louisiana legislator and ex-state Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner Troy Hebert; former Atherton, California, mayor Charles Marsala; and Native American Beryl Billiot, of Kentwood. Hebert, a no party Senate candidate from Jeanerette, claims in a lawsuit against Louisiana Public Broadcasting and the nonprofit Council for a Better Louisiana that the criteria to participate in the debate are unfair and unconstitutional because to be included in the forum candidates must have raised at least $1 million and polled at least 5 percent in an independent survey. Kelley rejected those arguments, calling the criteria "reasonable and viewpoint-neutral." Marsala, a Republican from Metairie, and Billiot, no party, joined Hebert's suit. Hebert said he disagrees with but respects Kelley's ruling and will consider his appeal options as he continues to campaign. Billiot also did not rule out a possible appeal, but Marsala said he will not challenge the judge's decision. Both said they will maintain their campaigning. "Today, you have to be a millionaire to run for the U.S. Senate," Hebert added outside Kelley's courtroom. CABL attorney Jude Bursavich argued to the judge earlier Thursday that the case is about "citizens' right to be informed." CABL President Barry Erwin testified that a decision to block the debate would have a "chilling effect" on future forums. Assistant Attorney General John Morris, who represented LPB, contended the criteria CABL established for gaining access to the debate stage are "reasonable, objective and viewpoint-neutral." Erwin testified the $1 million threshold, which was raised from $250,000 since the last U.S. Senate race in Louisiana between eventual winner Bill Cassidy and Mary Landrieu, was not arrived at "arbitrarily or overnight." He said the larger figure helps gauge the seriousness of a candidate's campaign and the whether the candidate has significant public support. "I am a very serious candidate," testified Billiot, who said he campaigns from sunup to sundown but does not accept big corporate donations or those from special interest groups. Of the $1 million threshold for entry into the debate, Billiot said, "It becomes an auction." Erwin testified it is a reality that a statewide campaign requires big dollars. "It's unfortunate the money situation has gotten to the point where it is," he conceded. Hebert testified he is not accepting campaign donations. "I'm being punished for taking a stand against big money in politics," he said. "A million dollars is too expensive." The debate, sponsored by CABL, will be held Tuesday at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and air from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. across the state on LPB stations. The primary is Nov. 8. The five candidates invited to the debate are U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany and John Fleming, both Republicans, state Treasurer John Kennedy, also a Republican, and Democrats Caroline Fayard, who is a lawyer, and Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell. Traffic congestion has become a "cancer" in the Baton Rouge area, and a new bridge across the Mississippi River is the top need, the leader of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber said Friday. "All is not well," said Adam Knapp, president and CEO of BRAC. "Our place has a crisis." Knapp made his comments to a regional meeting of Gov. John Bel Edwards' 18-member transportation task force. The panel is holding hearings statewide before making recommendations by Jan. 1 to the governor on how to tackle road and bridge problems, including a nearly $13 billion backlog. A boost in the state's gasoline tax up to 20 cents per gallon is being floated is one of the likely suggestions of the panel. "There is a growing chorus across the state saying we have to make a change,"said Shawn Wilson, secretary for the state Department of Transportation and Development. Motorists in Louisiana pay 38.4 cents per gallon in state and federal gasoline taxes, including 16 cents in state taxes for rank-and-file projects. (The national average is 48.7 cents per gallon. Louisiana is about a tenth of cent more expensive Texas and about two cents more than Mississippi.) "It has been 27 years since we have done anything like this," Wilson told the group. "It has to happen." +8 While task force barely underway, hike in Louisiana gas tax likely to emerge The first increase in Louisiana's gas tax in more than a quarter of a century is all but cer Wilson also said Edwards "is willing to be big and bold in transportation." Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, told the task force the Baton Rouge area is in dire need of traffic relief. "By God, we as a group are united to make sure the area is taken care of," Carter said. "Please make sure this area is taken care of." What needs to happen before Louisiana sees gas tax hike U.S. Rep. Garret Graves said Friday the state needs to build more credibility with the publi Knapp said the state needs at least $600 million more per year for transportation. Each penny of the state gasoline tax raises about $30 million per year, which means a boosts of 20 cents per gallon would raise around $600 million annually. Other funding options are also under review, including tolls and public/private partnerships. A new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge south of the current, newer one would cost at least $1 billion. Knapp said it would also take 8-10 years to build a new one. "No project stands out more than a new southern bridge," he said. "We know more revenue is going to be needed to make that possible." Knapp said Baton Rouge area employment has grown three times faster than the rest of the state, and overwhelmed an already stressed transportation system. He said a 2016 survey of business leaders put transportation over flood recovery as the top priority. How La. flood might change plans for state's transportation overhaul A study touted as the forerunner to the most sweeping overhaul of Louisiana's roads and brid Carter noted that a 1989 transportation bond issue called TIMED mostly excluded the Baton Rouge area even though motorists pay four cents per gallon to help retire that debt. "Whatever it might be," Carter said of possible funding sources. "We know what is wrong and we need help." Carter and others also quizzed DOTD officials on why a new bridge is on the state's second tier of mega projects, which means it has less priority than A-list improvements. John Pacillo, operations director for Mexichem Fluor in St. Gabriel, said road and bridge troubles are crippling the area's economy. Pacillo said delays getting in and out of plants drive up costs. "The infrastructure problems in this region, right now, are making the plants less competitive," he added. Pacillo said backups on the Mississippi River bridge result in four, five and six-hour delays for businesses. "We do need more lanes across the Mississippi River," he told the group. A tax hike to boost state aid for roads and bridges is likely to be a key issue during the 2017 regular legislative session. However, any such increase requires two-thirds majorities in both chambers, always a high hurdle. Carter and state Rep. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, said area lawmakers have the political will to boost state aid for transportation. "This is the sort of thing we don't want to miss out on," Edmonds said. Eric Kalivoda, deputy secretary for DOTD, said an additional $700 million per year would allow the state to tackle a wide range of major projects, including a new bridge in Baton Rouge. Kalivoda said how to raise the money needs attention. "That is what we need to get to," Kalivoda. House Transportation Committee Chairman Kenny Havard, R-St. Francisville and a member of the task force, said he would back a hike in the state's gasoline tax. "I know we need it," Havard said. "I don't know if it is going to be 20 cents, I don't know if it is going to be 10 cents." MASON CITY | St. James Lutheran Church Women of the ELCA will hosting the Angels and Sunflowers Fall Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22. There will be a shabby chic craft store, bake sale, photo booth, basket donations and more at 1148 Fourth St. S.E. Coffee and pastries will be served from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., with a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $7 for the luncheon. Children five and younger are $3. Entries are being sought from local artists and crafters for a display and competition of angel-themed art or crafts. For more information, call 641-420-2159. Every poster is about attracting attention, but Mr Dubey's was simply audacious - and ridiculous - as he deliberately put a red dot on his nose to get people talking about him. Drum roll please. The winner of the best ACT election poster is ... Independent candidate for Ginninderra Vijay Dubey. Runner-up is Independent candidate for Ginninderra Dr Kim Huynh. His shirtless torso with its fake Belco tattoos was bold and arresting. It also, obscurely, referenced his refugee past and a body that almost gave out on him as an infant fleeing on a boat from Vietnam who then recovered and thrived. Loved it. The runner-up in the ACT election poster competition: Kim Huynh, Independent candidate for Ginninderra Third place is to Liberal candidate for Murrumbidgee Giulia Jones, one of the few Liberal candidates to think outside the box with her election posters. The individual 'G's along the Tuggeranong Parkway were very pretty against the backdrop of a sunset over the National Arboretum. Nice. So soak it up Canberra, it's all part of the festivities of an election. And it may not last. Super fund trustees and the life insurance industry have been put on notice over the value and quality of the products in default super funds. Credit:Tribune When ASIC also broke down claim rejection rates by distribution channel or how people came to buy the insurance it found some shockingly high rejection rates in group insurance. One insurer knocked back 23 per cent and another insurer 18 per cent of claims made against life insurance policies sold through super. All other insurers rejected 10 per cent or less of claims in super life insurance, with the average being 8 per cent. Australian super fund members have no way of knowing whether their super life insurance is with one of those insurers with the high rejection rate because ASIC refused to name names. And with a slew of group life insurance deals between insurers and super fund trustees having recently been renegotiated, and with some including tough new policies that will make claiming more difficult, these figures may well be much worse in coming years. Insurance expert John Berrill, from Berrill & Watson Lawyers, has warned about new conditions in some group life insurance contracts that should pose "red flags" for members such as new sunset clauses on TPD claims, strict new "activities of daily living" tests, unusual exclusions and harder words about what constitutes TPD. With super life insurance contracts typically struck in three-year deals, Berrill continues to see problematic policies. "You don't get change overnight," he says. "There's always a lag, particularly with disability claims and death claims. You don't usually see TPD claims until a year or two after a person stops work, and the relevant contract is the one in place when they stop work... because these are policies that are in place now, they are having an impact now, they are the policies that people are now starting to claim on." Against the backdrop of all this, some have questioned the future of the "opt out" policy, with influential Nationals senator John Williams publicly questioning whether it is appropriate. "I think it should be an opt-in [situation], especially when, as I said, we're seeing stories about insurers failing to pay claims," he told Fairfax Media in August. Little wonder, then, that the industry is gearing up and joining forces to defend this turf. The insurance industry makes the argument that, without the "opt out" policy, millions of Australians would likely have no life insurance worsening what the FSC says is an $800 billion under-insurance shortfall in Australia. "Without default group insurance provided on an opt-out basis, a potential gap of almost $1.9 billion is created that superannuation members and their families would have forgone at their time of need," says the Financial Services Council's Sally Loane. "Underinsurance still remains a big problem in Australia." Jim Minto, the interim chief executive at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), says it is "proper" to have a discussion about the merits of life insurance in super, but says: "If we didn't have this model most Australians would not have life insurance. The question is, is it working OK?" Fund members pay a combined $6.1 billion in premiums a year for the policies, which offer income protection insurance and lump-sum payments on death or in cases of total and permanent disability. It used to be the case that few people claimed against their super life insurance policies, partly because fewer people knew about them. But the industry was hit by a spike in TPD claims in 2013, in response to which some insurers have sought to pare back payouts. This, in turn, has led to a public backlash, and cases of egregious claim rejections that have been reversed once media scrutiny has been applied. Take the case of the McQueen family in Queensland. Eric McQueen was medically retired from the Queensland Police Service; he battled for years to secure a TPD payout through his SunSuper-provided insurance policy, despite being paid out quickly on a separate policy through his QSuper fund. The claim was settled as it was about to be reported by Fairfax Media's Adele Ferguson. Insurance companies and super fund trustees, which strike the deals with insurers on behalf of fund members, are now working to show that they can fix things. The Bank of Canada considered dispensing with tradition and removing the British monarch from its bank notes in the event of Queen Elizabeth II dying or abdicating. The issue of Queen Elizabeth's death came up several times at the Bank of Canada between 2007 and 2015, according to documents obtained by Reuters under access-to-information laws. The longest-reigning British monarch, the Queen appears on all standard Canadian coins, as well as on the C$20 bank note. The 90-year-old Elizabeth, head of state of 16 Commonwealth countries including Canada and Australia, has reigned since 1952 and remains popular in the Northern American country. "Their shares are worth one cent! Ours are $5! They want to coat-tail with us and you people will all pay the price. Write to the ACCC! Write to your representatives. It's really really serious," one shareholder urged his fellow investors at the meeting in Sydney. Sharing value Illustration: Simon Bosch 'They' is Vodafone Hutchison Australia, which is part-owned by Hutchison Telecommunications and Vodafone Australia. Hutchison's share price currently sits below 1 cent, at 0.8 cent. "It is a free ride," another shareholder told the meeting. "If they get that, all of us will pay the price and it's wrong. Absolutely wrong. I would like to go even further than that and say that it's criminal." One man suggested any move by the ACCC to force rival access to Telstra's network could be stopped if shareholders put enough pressure on MPs. "That will be the best thing we can do to protect our share value and dividends from this overseas hijacking," he said. The ACCC is thinking of "declaring" wholesale domestic mobile roaming services. Declaration is a regulatory tool that forces a network owner to provide access upon request. If commercial agreements are not working, the ACCC can set price and terms. There are 13 declared services already, including wholesale ADSL and superfast broadband access. The ACCC plans to release an issues paper in coming weeks and open it for public submissions. And a preliminary decision is expected in early 2017, according to ACCC chairman Rod Sims. Shareholders may also be wasting their stamps by lobbying politicians, he adds. "We are an independent regulator. [Writing to politicians] may not be the best use of their time," Sims told BusinessDay this week. Sims knows exactly why Telstra is so protective of its mobile network. "Telstra is arguing that the only reason they invest is to have the best network and keep that advantage over their competitors," Sims says. If roaming is allowed, Telstra will get a reasonable return on their assets, Sims promises. But, given how fiercely Telstra is fighting, it could be argued it doesn't want a reasonable rate of return. It wants to keep charging its 17 million mobile customers a premium for being on the largest network in the country. The ACCC's inquiry threatens that premium. Superior service Credit: Louie Douvis Those companies embroiled in the dispute have fallen into two camps - infrastructure owners Telstra and Optus versus Vodafone, TPG, smaller telcos and consumer groups. Telstra and Optus don't make a profit from the network traffic that passes through their regional towers. They make a profit from charging consumers more for their superior networks. Telstra has invested "huge amounts" to be the leader in coverage across Australia, according to its group executive of corporate affairs, Tony Warren. "At the moment if I am a customer who doesn't value coverage, but values price, I go with Vodafone. Australians value coverage and that's why they come to us." And Telstra admits that its decision to build towers in regional areas has more to do with maintaining its premium pricing than a community-minded commitment to ensuring regional Australians have decent coverage. "We have invested in a whole lot of towers in the bush that are not economic in their own right. But because they have extended our coverage claim it has made sense for us to upgrade and extend [the network]," Warren tells BusinessDay. "We made a choice to be the premium supplier with the best coverage and the best network. What Vodafone is trying to do is have that removed by regulation." Warren is one of the key players in the public battle, recently telling an industry conference that declaring the mobile network will "kneecap" Telstra's investment plans. But competitors argue Telstra has only has the biggest network because of billions of dollars of government subsidies. Public funding "Without government handouts they would only have an incentive to build one base station further out from where Optus is," Macquarie Telecom's national executive for industry and policy, Matt Healy says. "And each round of new government funding is passing taxpayers' money into the pockets of Telstra shareholders." In 2012 the West Australian government awarded $40 million to Telstra for 113 new towers along regional highways. Telstra added $100 million of its own capital, but only Telstra customers can use those towers. The same with the $95 million Telstra received for building 430 new towers under the federal government's Mobile Black Spot Program. This added 68,600 square kilometres to the size of Telstra's network. At the moment Telstra charges customers about 15 per cent more than its competitors, leading to healthy revenues. Last financial year 40 per cent of all of Telstra's revenues, about $10.4 billion, came from mobile products. Pre-tax earnings from mobiles are just over $4 billion annually. Telstra does heavily invest its own funds into its mobile network, including $1.3 billion last year. It says only 1 per cent of funding for mobile towers came from public money. Now it it has threatened to stop building towers in regional areas if it has to let other telcos use the network. And Optus is threatening the same. "Declaring domestic roaming would remove all the incentives for current record levels of investment in mobile infrastructure in regional areas," Optus' vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, David Epstein, says. Last year Optus, which is wholly owned by SingTel, spent $1.7 billion on mobile infrastructure. It reported revenues of $6 billion from 9.4 million mobile customers. Epstein says Optus will only keep building more towers if it can make a profit. "We would not have ever contributed that investment if it was going to be subjected to domestic roaming declaration," Epstein says. At the recent CommsDay conference he gave a speech arguing regional areas are a "growing and very significant competition" among telcos. But he suggested that smaller telcos are not really prepared for the high cost of servicing regional customers. "Surely, protagonists are not suggesting that infrastructure operators should offer mandated roaming to competitors below cost or with significant subsidies?" Declaring war Vodafone's chief strategy officer and corporate affairs director, Dan Lloyd, said this was the first time anyone had been able to look at what was "happening under the hood". Credit:Louie Douvis Leading the push in favour of declaration is Vodafone's chief strategy officer Dan Lloyd. He disagrees domestic roaming would reduce investment and argues that Vodafone and other mobile operators will invest more in regional areas if they only have to expand around the edges of Telstra or Optus' networks. And then everyone can use those expanded areas. He says Australians are paying exorbitant prices because of entrenched monopoly. "Overall, Telstra is undeniably one of the most profitable communications companies on the planet," he says. "At the moment they are earning an unreasonably high rate of return". Globally, mobile operators earn margins between 20 per cent and 30 per cent. Telstra's pre-tax earnings margin for mobile products is about 42 per cent. The foreign Vodafone Group that Telstra warned its shareholders about has 500 million customers worldwide and earns free cash flow of about $4 per customer per year. Telstra is currently earning free cash flow of $234 per customer per year, Lloyd says. Essentially, he is arguing Telstra earns too much money. Macquarie's Healy agrees, saying Telstra's dominant position in the mobile market is another example of failed deregulation. In the UK, British Telecom was banned from building a mobile network for several years to give new entrants a chance to build networks and gather customer share. But Telstra was allowed to build mobile straight away using the profits from its fixed monopoly. It has never fallen behind and successive rounds of government funding to improve regional mobile reception have mostly gone to Telstra. Barriers to entry TPG shares have been savaged. Credit:Rob Homer TPG's chief operating officer, Craig Levy, says the barriers for new mobile entrants are "extremely high", including millions of dollars of investment to buy spectrum and build a network large enough to start selling mobile plans. TPG has plans to become a mobile operator in Singapore and has bought spectrum in Australia. But it is still hamstrung. "TPG does not believe that it is likely that it will be able to successfully secure a commercially negotiated roaming arrangement with the current incumbent mobile carriers. For that reason, it should be declared," Levy says. Optus and Vodafone have commercial agreements in place today that allow Vodafone customers access to the Optus network in regional areas. And Vodafone lets TPG buy access to its network. Telstra undoubtedly has the largest mobile network, covering about 2.4 million square kilometres, or just under a third of Australia's land mass. Optus' covers about one million square kilometres and Vodafone's a bit less than that. About 95 per cent of the population is covered by all three networks, while more than half a million people have no choice but to use Telstra or Optus. A further 230,000 have no mobile coverage at all. Most mobile networks in regional areas cover the highways, then rapidly fade away. "The argument that 95 per cent of the population has access to three networks, while those of us in the country have not even one provider in some cases - is the precise reason national roaming needs to be looked at again," the LNP member for Maranoa, David Littleproud, says. "In terms of investment, let's not forget that Australian taxpayers have made a significant contribution to building communications infrastructure in rural Australia." Given these geographic challenges it is not surprising the ACCC has investigated domestic roaming before, in 1998 and 2005. Crucial difference TPG says it already has a large chunk of the infrastructure needed to operate a mobile business. Credit:Louise Kennerley But the crucial difference today is the lack of network sharing. Levy points out that In 1998, the ACCC concluded regulation was not necessary because "roaming arrangements are likely to be commercially negotiated with the three incumbent mobile carriers". And during the 2005 review, Telstra had an agreement called 3GIS with 3 Mobile, which is owned by Hutchison Telecommunications. (These days, 3 is known as Vodafone, after Hutchison merged with Vodafone Australia in 2009.) While Telstra currently re-sells mobile access network to re-sellers like Aldi and Woolworths, they are only allowed to access 1.6 million and 1.3 million square kilometres respectively. The full 2.4 million sq km is only available to Telstra customers. "[Back] then the market had sorted it out through voluntary roaming agreements. Whereas now, clearly, the market is not sorting it out," Sims says. Healy adds that when Macquarie Telecom buys access from Telstra it comes at slower speeds and with less functions than Telstra sells its own customers. Lloyd says this kind of situation is why the ACCC exists. "The whole point of the Consumer and Competition Act is that monopolies and excess profit are not in the interest of consumers," Lloyd says. Roaming raid Telstra chairman John Mullen (left) flagged the dividend cut. Credit:Nic Walker Back at the Telstra annual general meeting, shareholders asked the board for help expressing their anger at a foreign company's raid on their assets. Warren says the telco is not orchestrating a shareholder campaign, but will provide shareholders with information, such as sharing links to the ACCC's inquiry. And despite the anger in the room the Australian Shareholder Association's Rod McKenzie, says there are no plans for protests or campaigns. "It doesn't seem fair to Telstra or to Telstra shareholders that others can come along and just piggyback," McKenzie says. "Telstra's Australia-wide coverage is really the point of difference between Telstra and the smaller providers." Chairman Mullen told shareholders the company has modelled the financial impact of a full or partial declaration. If the network is declared, it is likely Telstra will have to reduce prices to be more competitive. Warren says they won't be releasing those figures any time soon. "Clearly if the ACCC made a decision we will have fiduciary duties to inform the market of the impact." Telstra currently expects to deliver income growth of between 5 per cent and 9 per cent with earnings growth under 5 per cent. Free cash flow will be up around $4 billion. At its full-year results Telstra announced a major investment program that will see capital expenditure grow to 18 per cent of sales, up from the current 14 per cent. "After divesting Autohome for a $2 billion profit and with the National Broadband Network payments starting to accelerate, Telstra's balance sheet was starting to look lazy, so Telstra has decided to put the funds to work in the form of a larger capital investments and capital management," Morgans analyst Nick Harris wrote in a recent note to clients. Mr Harris has a target price of $5.51 with a 'hold' recommendation. Shareholders also complained about the low share price at the annual meeting. It recently dipped below $5 for the first time in three years, but has since recovered and last traded at $5.10 on Friday. MASON CITY The City Council will consider steps Tuesday that would create quiet zones at railroad crossings in Mason City. The plan includes closing the crossing at Ninth Street Northwest which some neighborhood residents have opposed. Some Mason City neighbors not quiet about quiet zones plan MASON CITY City officials are moving ahead with plans for quiet zones at several railroad Quiet zones will allow train traffic to move through the city without the necessity of loud horns blowing to warn motorists and pedestrians. In quiet zones, medians are placed in such a way that vehicles cannot cross railroad tracks when gates are down. City officials have been negotiating for months with Union Pacific Railroad officials. The City Council will be asked to approve project plans and specifications and to set a date for a public hearing on the plans. The work will include removal of street and sidewalk pavement at Fourth Street Southwest and Ninth Street Northwest and installation of mounted medians at 15th Street Southwest, Sixth Street Southwest and First Street Northwest. The result would be a quiet zone along the Union Pacific rail line from 15th Street Southwest to Ninth Street Northwest, a distance of about 1.5 miles. The engineers estimate of the citys cost is $103,801. It is budgeted at $90,000 with the money coming from local option sales tax revenues. City Administrator Brent Trout said the budget will have to be amended to absorb the added cost. Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart has started new litigation against her children's trust fund to prevent it from receiving millions of dollars in royalties from a Rio Tinto joint venture. Mrs Rinehart, whose wealth was recently estimated at $6 billion, filed the fresh salvo against the trust that manages the inheritance of her four children John Hancock, Bianca Rinehart, Hope Welker and Ginia Rinehart late last month in the Federal Court. Billionaire Gina Rinehart during a tour of Hancock Prospecting's Roy Hill Mine operations. Credit:Philip Gostelow The legal action comes as Mrs Rinehart hit the headlines again this week with a bid for Australia's largest cattle station from Kidman & Co for $365 million. It also comes as Hancock Prospecting ramps up production at the Roy Hill iron ore mine in the Pilbara. The widely respected building industry trade union official, Raymond William Collins, has died in Ballarat at the age of 95. As a former president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council and former Victorian branch secretary of the Building Workers Industrial Union (BWIU), Collins was admired for his thoughtful leadership and tireless work for construction workers and the broader trade union movement. His strategic guidance was keenly felt most often during the turbulent times of the Cold War period of influence over the Australian labour movement and during the days of union amalgamation during the 1980s. A carpenter by trade, Collins had a deeply felt sense of social justice and fair play. He served his country, his union and the labour movement for many decades, and went on playing a positive role even after his retirement. Collins became active in trade unions during the 1940s and '50s when the labour movement was dominated by a left-right political divide that structured union affiliations and split the Australian Labor Party. While working on extensions to the big Australian Paper Mills site in Alphington after the war, Collins became a mentor to a tough young Collingwood-born labourer and later controversial union leader, Norm Gallagher. Attorney-General George Brandis. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen But the legal profession has expressed concerns, publicly and privately, that it is Brandis who is playing politics and undermining the independence of the office of Solicitor-General. "He's a political animal and he's always been regarded as such," says a senior lawyer in Queensland. A former solicitor, Brandis was called to the bar in 1985 but the coveted rank of Senior Counsel (SC) or silk eluded him until 2006 some six years after he entered Parliament. He had been knocked back when he applied for silk as a practising barrister in the 1990s. In 2013, he traded the SC post-nominals for the regal Queen's Counsel (QC) when the title was restored by the Queensland government. "George is a very avuncular, private school boy who went through Oxford," the senior lawyer says. "Bright enough lawyer. But it was a surprise to everybody when he was appointed a QC because he didn't have a sufficient practice to support that." Brandis, who graduated with honours in arts and law from the University of Queensland before attending Oxford on a Commonwealth scholarship, had plied his barristerial trade largely in lower courts. He made few appearances in the Court of Appeal and High Court, which are considered crucial for appointment as silk. "Normally to become a QC you have to have a substantial practice and be recognised as an expert in your particular field," the lawyer says. Senator Macdonald, the most vocal of Brandis' supporters over the Gleeson affair, dropped fighting words in the Senate on Monday when he said some of Gleeson's advice had "not been all that hot". "Remember that the Attorney-General is a qualified barrister and a Queen's Counsel himself," he said. "Like him or hate him and we can all say which side we fall on there he has a very astute and sharp legal mind. In fact, I would back the Attorney-General's legal view on matters ahead of most other QCs and SCs." It was a remark calculated to get right up the nose of the Sydney bar, which suffers no shortage of intellectual and collegial pride. "Justin could basically run rings around Brandis in his sleep", says one senior barrister. Gleeson, who was the founding head of Sydney's prestigious Banco chambers and is also an Oxford alumnus, had an "extensive practice" at the bar and was able to "glide between different practice areas". "Justin would be considered first class; Brandis would be considered a plodder," the silk says. If Brandis' appointment as silk caused a stink in the legal profession, the Queensland Liberal senator was well accustomed to those by 2006. He has acquired a reputation as a magnet for controversy during almost two decades in Parliament. In 2004, he was accused of calling Prime Minister John Howard a "lying rodent" over the children overboard affair a claim he emphatically denied in a statutory declaration. He would also court controversy in 2014 by backing contentious changes to racial discrimination laws on the basis people had "a right to be bigots". That came hot on the heels of the bookshelves affair. Senate estimates hearings revealed taxpayers footed the bill for a $15,000 custom-built bookcase to house Brandis' extensive collection of books and law reports. The new bookcase was required because a $7000 bookcase ordered to house $13,000 worth of taxpayer-funded books and magazines was too large to move to Brandis' new office following the change of government. And then there was the costly and protracted court battle with Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus over access to his diary. In September Brandis lost a second court bid to keep his electronic diary secret from the prying eyes of Labor, although the full Federal Court decision only requires him to consider Dreyfus' freedom of information request rather than guaranteeing access. Dreyfus had sought to inspect the entries to ascertain whether Brandis consulted with community legal centres and others before their funding was cut in the 2014 budget. Bill Potts, president of the Queensland Law Society, says he would "love to have [Brandis'] ear with respect to funding issues for the legal aid office and community legal centres", along with the Federal and Family Courts. "He's approachable but like every other politician he's beholden to the Treasury," he says. Potts says Brandis had "served his state well as a Senator" and had "certainly been a very dedicated and hardworking politician", combining multiple responsibilities including for national security and as leader of the government in the Senate. The Sunshine State's economy is looking sunnier, according to the latest report from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland. But CCIQ director of advocacy Nick Behrens said there was still considerable room for improvement, as shown in the October Queensland Economic Update. "The level of caution being exercised by consumers, as indicated by weak retail spending and household consumption, is indicative of the soft conditions currently being experienced by businesses in many sectors of the economy," Mr Behrens said. "While indicators do suggest improving conditions, there is still further work required in restoring confidence in the economy, and encouraging a return to spending on goods and services." A couple have pleaded guilty to murdering Queensland mother-of-four Tia Landers on the fifth day of their Supreme Court trial. Linda Eileen Appleton and John Edward Harris had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Landers on June 16, 2014 at Brighton when their Brisbane Supreme Court trial started on Monday. Tia Landers was murdered in Brighton in 2014. But they changed their pleas on Friday morning and admitted the brutal killing, and will now be sentenced on October 21. AAP Andrea Kennedy has helped lift her 96 kilogram husband up their flight of stairs for nearly a week. Her husband, Russell, has advanced multiple sclerosis (he has been ill with it for the past 25 years) and the elevator that usually carries him between the two floors of their house has been down since Sunday, when a wild windstorm swept through the state, cutting off power to more than 10,000 homes. Andrea and Russell Kennedy near the internal lift Russell relies on. Credit:Pat Scala So each day, Andrea has helped her husband climb the 17 stairs. He holds onto the glass railing, taking it step by step. "I'm glad he didn't fall because I wouldn't have been able to lift him," Ms Kennedy said on Friday. A 16-year-old who allegedly threatened to kill a couple while holding a fake gun in Melbourne's north on Friday has been charged and is due to face a Children's Court. The Fawkner Embona Taskforce, which was set-up eight years ago to tackle robberies in the western suburbs, has charged a teenager after executing a search warrant at a property in Hyde Park Avenue, Craigieburn, on Saturday. A Craigieburn teenager has been charged. Credit:Cathryn Tremain A police spokeswoman said the search warrant followed an incident in Sheffield Way, Craigieburn, on Friday night. She said detectives have been told a man and a woman were sitting in their car while parked in Sheffield Way about 6.15pm when a teenage boy allegedly armed with a firearm threatened them. A motorcyclist is in a serious condition in hospital after crashing into a deer south of Perth. The male driver was riding a blue Honda motorcycle when he hit a deer on the side of the road on Kwinana Freeway, Karnup around 1am on Friday morning. A motorcyclist was seriously injured after hitting a deer. Credit:Getty Images The 31-year-old Kiara driver broke several bones in the accident and was taken to Royal Perth Hospital. The deer died in the crash. A group of Osborne Park locals are revolting against Main Roads, placing their own speed limit signs along Main Street after the authority refused to include the "unsafe" pedestrian area in a 40km/h speed reduction trial. Community group, Main Street Co-op member Tania Pietracatella said locals erected the signs after becoming fed up of cars speeding through the business and shopping precinct area, which made it difficult to cross the road. The 40km/h signs asking residents to 'please slow down' have been erected along Main Street. She is part of a growing number of community members who want the Main Street strip between Eldorado Street and Cape Street, currently zoned 60 km/h, transformed into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly community hub. "The traffic on Hutton and Main Street has been an issue for years," Ms Pietracatella said. A young Perth woman has described the moment her "heart sank" after she discovered social photos from her Facebook page had been altered and published on porn sites. Noelle Martin, 22, said she was 'reverse Google image searching' herself three years ago when she came across an image of her face, taken from a picture of her with friends at the Claremont Hotel, photoshopped onto the body of a naked woman. "I really was shocked, I felt like I wanted to vomit, my heart sank," she said. "They had taken ordinary photos - nothing pornographic, nothing sexually explicit - from my social media... and put my face on naked bodies. OSAGE | Nicholas Lenz told a Mitchell County deputy during a recorded interview that he repeated hit and kicked a woman in early March and briefly restrained her using packing tape or zip tape several times. I beat the f--- out of her for two days straight, he said in the audio recording played for jurors Thursday afternoon during his trial on charges of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury. Lenz also admitted during the interview that he used packing tape to restrain the woman while they were in her house in Mitchell and later used zip ties to bind her ankles in a camper on his grandparents property near Otranto. On Wednesday the woman testified Lenz left her zip-tied in the trailer for four hours. Woman testifies at Mitchell kidnapping trial that defendant threatened to kill her OSAGE The woman Nicholas Lenz of Mitchell is accused of confining and beating over two day However, in the recorded interview Lenz said he never left her tied up for long. I wasnt trying to keep her hostage, he said. Lenz, 23, also from Mitchell, was in a romantic relationship with the woman. He claimed they went to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area twice and bought and smoked crack cocaine there. He said the second time they drove back to Mitchell from Waterloo, they were in her car but he drove because she was drunk. Lenz said when the woman, who the Globe Gazette is not naming, is coming down from a crack high, she becomes a totally different person. She started putting me down, he said. Lenz said they got back to Mitchell on the morning of March 6, drove around for a while and then went to sleep. When Mitchell County Deputy Jeff Huftalin, who was the conducting the March 8 interview, told Lenz he expected him to be honest, Lenz began to cry. I couldnt take the putdowns anymore, he said. Lenz said when they were in the car she told him she wanted him to pack up his stuff that was in her house. I punched her like 10 times, Lenz said. When they were back at the womans house, he said he kicked her and punched her in the face. Lenz said he was beginning to feel paranoid as he came down from a crack high and was beginning to mistake the trees in the yard for people. Thats when he decided to go to his grandparents place, taking the woman with him. He said he repeatedly hit her in her jaw and ribs while they were in the car. Lenz said when they arrived they sat in the camper for a bit and he told her he was going back to Mitchell to pack up their things and bring them back to the camper. Lenz said when he was driving he went into a ditch. He then took a Chevy Trailblazer from a residence as well as other items such as a laptop, a Wii and some guns and ammunition. He said he went back to the camper without returning to Mitchell first. He then took the woman, who had been in the camper, along in the Trailblazer. Lenz said he drove to St. Ansgar, broke into Sportsmans Bar and Grill and stole some cash. He said he tried to take a safe from Gerbs Bar in Stacyville, but couldnt lift it into the Trailblazer because it was too heavy. Lenz has been charged for the burglaries, but is not being tried on them at this time. He said when he and the woman returned to her house they brought everything inside and she went to bed while he passed out on the couch. During the interview Huftalin told Lenz officers had been to the camper and seen the zip ties. When Huftalin asked him what they were used for, Lenz said it was after he had returned to the trailer following the home burglary. He said he was afraid she would try to grab one of the stolen guns and kill him, so I did zip tie her some. He said he only had her restrained her for a little while as he loaded all the stolen items into the Trailblazer. Then while she was in the vehicle he moved the guns back into the camper and they left for Austin, Minnesota, before heading to St. Ansgar and Stacyville. Lenz said the woman did not participate in the burglaries and was not zip-tied while in the Trailblazer. He said he threatened to kill her but didnt really mean it. He denied every pointing a gun to her head. Lenz repeatedly asked during the interview how the woman was doing. He also asked Huftalin to tell her, I still love her. Sorry for what I did. The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. Friday. After cross-examination of Huftalin is finished, defense witnesses are expected to begin testifying. Judge Christopher Foy said the trial might not be over until Monday. If convicted on the kidnapping charge, Lenz faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Men masked with helmets have trashed iconic South Fremantle restaurant Ruocco's after previously threatening the owner over unpaid protection money. Ruocco's, home to WA's first wood-fired pizza oven and a local institution for decades, was stormed by two hooded and helmeted thugs who smashed up the restaurant interior with hammers just after 2pm on October 1, grand final day. Police rushed to the scene on South Terrace after multiple calls from the public but the offenders fled. "The business owner had been receiving ongoing threats that he and his staff would be assaulted if he did not hand over money on a regular basis," police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said. Abuja: Relatives of one of the 21 Chibok schoolgirls freed by Islamist militant group Boko Haram after two-and-a-half years in captivity in north-east Nigeria said on Friday they could not wait to be reunited. Around 220 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote north-eastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. Boko Haram released 21 of the girls on Thursday after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group. The girls were taken from the north-eastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja to meet government officials. Travelling from eastern Yola to Abuja, Goni Mutah, the father of Asabe Goni, who was 21 when she was kidnapped, was overjoyed to hear of his daughter's release, and said he had immediately phoned his relatives to share the news. Auto Lab LIVE From NYC - Saturday October 15, 2016; 7-9 AM (EDT) Radio Call-in Show The Auto Lab Radio Show is Broadcast Saturday's 7 to 9 AM On New York City's WNYM Radio AM 970 and Streamed Worldwide On The Auto Channel Broadcast Date: October 15, 2016 Car Question or Concern? Call Toll Free 888-692-7234 Auto Lab is a 28 year old interactive automotive-focused New York area radio call-in show hosted by Professor Harold Wolchok. Each week a cadre of experienced hands-on automotive experts are in-studio with advice for the New York area's 12 million people, providing listeners with honest, practical and street-smart car repair and buying advice. Auto Lab is also about the automotive industry, its history, and its culture, presenting the ideas and advice of leading college faculty, authors, and automotive practitioners in a relaxed, conversational interactive format. Listeners can hear the past 18 years of archived Auto Lab shows as simulcast on www.theautochannel.com. Listen - Auto Lab Page (Includes Audio-on-Demand Archives, Auto Programs at Community College Database, Guests Pictures Auto Answers - Maintenance, How To's, Safety, Used and New Car Buying, Ombudsmen Suggestions. From These Auto Lab In-Studio Experts Broadcast Date: October 15, 2016; Harold Bendell- Major Auto Fred Bordoff-Bronx Community College, CUNY Tim Cacace-Master Mechanix Libby Demarco-Broadway Sunoco Howard Lepzelter-Retired Bronx Community College, CUNY David Goldsmith - Urban Classics Auto Repairs Joanne Porcelli, Esq Michael Porcelli - Central Avenue Auto Repairs & I-CAR Nicholas Prague- MTA and Rockland Community College, SUNY Auto Lab Correspondents Report Auto Safety News, New Car Reviews, Technology and Latest Auto World Information That May effect You! Broadcast Date: October 15, 2016 Robert Erskine, Senior European Correspondent, Suffolk England IN THE TRUNK Sharon Sudol & John Russell Senior Correspondents NISSAN ROGUE Russ Rader, Vice President Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2017 KIA SEDONA EARNS TOP SAFETY PICK + AWARD Robert Sinclair-AAA Northeast GASOLINE PRICES THIS WEEK TEEN DRIVER SAFETY WEEK OCTOBER 16-22, 2016 ST. ANSGAR St. Ansgar students now have access to an in-house mental health counselor once a week through Turning Leaf Counseling Services. Though its not something that would replace the current counseling provided at the school, members of the St. Ansgar School Board recently agreed it would help deal with the shortage of mental health professionals in rural Iowa. Similar counselors are located for middle- and high-schoolers in Osage and Garner-Hayfield Ventura. The distance traveled to reach appointments means students miss time in school a half day and sometimes up to a full day. The length of time it can take to get an appointment can leave students without necessary services for months. A mental health professional would only be at the school twice a month in the beginning and would take care of all the paperwork, including the billing to families insurance policies. No costs would be incurred by the district. The school would simply be providing a safe place for students to meet with mental health professionals and get the services that they need, Superintendent Jody Gray said. Board members approved a one-year contract, with the potential to extend it for years to come. The School Board would also be able to terminate the services with 30 days written notice if it chooses. Board members requested an update at the end of the year on how successful the counselors felt providing the services had been. if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi... Birmingham digital health firm secures funding to launch new platform A BIRMINGHAM technology business has secured a 50,000 investment to market test, refine and deliver its latest product. Innovation Birmingham Campus-based digital health firm, Kaido, has been backed by the SME Innovation Fund to help launch its connected health platform. The SME Innovation Fund is a joint initiative set up by Mercia Fund Management, the start-up arm of specialist funder Mercia Technologies, and the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN), which aims to support healthcare start-ups across the West Midlands. The WMAHSN brings together investment, energy and expertise from across the health science community. In collaborating with Mercia, it provides repayable grants of up to 50,000 for up to ten new innovations each year to support innovations that have the potential to deliver a high growth for a business and its investors. Kaido uses smart technology and access to world leading expertise to help people get more from their health applications, wearable devices and smartphones in line with their health goals. The firm is one of 24 start-ups currently on Innovation Birminghams Serendip Smart City Incubator. It was awarded the funding following a competitive application and interview process. Richard Westman, founder of Kaido, said: The SME Innovation Fund has come at a really important time for Kaido as we look to grow the team and accelerate development. It was critical that our world-leading sports science expertise was matched by the same level of technology infrastructure to deliver on our vision. Serendip co-locates promising start-up businesses with large commercial partners. Based on the first floor of the Campus 42,149 sq ft iCentrum building, the commercial partners help to mentor qualifying early stage tech companies and may, in turn, become customers or distribution channels for the start-ups. Dr Christopher Parker, managing director at WMAHSN, said it was already supporting Kaido with its presence in the Digital Health Quarter of the Serendip Smart City Incubator. The (SME) fund is a further sign of our commitment to SMEs in the West Midlands life sciences sector, helping to create wealth in the local economy through industry collaboration and attracting inward investment, as well as delivering improvements in healthcare by aiding the spread of innovative diagnostics, devices and services at scale and pace, he said. Peter Dines, Head of Life Sciences at Mercia Technologies, said: The WMAHSN SME Innovation Fund is designed to support early stage innovative companies based in the West Midlands. We are impressed by the Kaido team and its collective vision to exploit what is a very interesting innovation in a fast moving sector set to continue to grow. We look forward to providing support to the Kaido team as they continue on their journey. Hospital offers safe option to dispose of meds, narcotics Los Robles Health System is working to crush the opioid drug crisis by raising awareness about the dangers of opioid misuse and the importance of safe and proper disposal of unused or expired medications. Crush the Crisis will take place... Alzheimers Foundation to host free conference The Alzheimers Foundation of America will host a free virtual educational conference from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tues., Nov. 15. The event is part of the foundations 2022 national Educating America Tour. The conference, which is free and open... Authorities warn about rainbow fentanyl Victims often arent aware theyre taking it The Ventura County Office of Education and state health officials have issued a warning to schools and families about rainbow fentanyl, a form of the potentially fatal synthetic opioid that comes in bright colors. Rainbow fentanyl can be found in... Cancer support community to host remembrance event Cancer Support Community Valley/Ventura/Santa Barbara invites family members and friends of those who have died from cancer to attend the second annual Evening of Remembrance from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 3 at Cancer Support Communitys Garden of Hope,... MASON CITY | Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N. Pennsylvania Ave., will host "A Festival of Hymns: The Writers Tell Their Stories at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, and 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 23. This program by Hal Hopson features nine significant hymn writers, from fourth century Bishop Ambrose though 20th century Chris Tomlin. Each hymn writer tells their own story in the first person followed by the singing of a representative hymn. Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation provides a range of financial products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segments. The Securities Services segment offers custody, trust and depositary, accounting, exchange-traded funds, middle-office solutions, transfer agency, services for private equity and real estate funds, foreign exchange, securities lending, liquidity/lending services, prime brokerage, and data analytics. This segment also provides trustee, paying agency, fiduciary, escrow and other financial, issuer, and support services for brokers and investors. The Market and Wealth Services segment offers clearing and custody, investment, wealth and retirement solutions, technology and enterprise data management, trading, and prime brokerage services; and clearance and collateral management services. This segment also provides integrated cash management solutions, including payments, foreign exchange, liquidity management, receivables processing and payables management, and trade finance and processing services. The Investment and Wealth Management segment offers investment management strategies and distribution of investment products, investment management, custody, wealth and estate planning, private banking, investment, and information management services. The Other segment engages in the provision of leasing, corporate treasury, derivative and other trading, corporate and bank-owned life insurance, renewable energy investment, and business exit services. It serves central banks and sovereigns, financial institutions, asset managers, insurance companies, corporations, local authorities and high net-worth individuals, and family offices. The company was founded in 1784 and is headquartered in New York, New York. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. was founded in 1869 by Marcus Goldman as an investment bank catering to institutions and businesses. Among the firm's first products are the revolutionary use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs which opened a new method of finance for business and industry. The original firm expanded to Goldman Sachs in 1882 with the inclusion of son-in-law Samuel Sachs and again in 1885 with a son and another son-in-law. The firm joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1896 expanding into trading of its own and in 1898 it was worth $1.6 million. The company began its work in the IPO market in 1906 with the initial public offering of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and then moved on to Ford and other prominent names of the time. The 1930s brings a change of leadership and a new direction for the firm. The company shifted toward a purer play on investment banking and embarks on a campaign of acquisition that lasted until the present day. The company doesnt go public itself until 1999 and from that point on it will change into a bank holding company that not only offers investment banking services but takes deposits too, and in 2016 the company added consumer banking to its list of services. Today, Goldman Sachs is a financial institution that provides a range of financial services for corporations, institutions, governments, and individuals globally. The company operates through four segments that include Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset Management, and Consumer & Wealth Management. According to US banking regulations, it is systemically important to the financial health of America. The company is headquartered in New York, New York, and operates 6 regional headquarters as well. Regional headquarters are located in financial hotspots such as London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangalore, and Warsaw. Among its many prominent CEOs are John Corzine and Hank Paulson who both went on to successful work in government. The company's Investment Banking segment provides a full range of financial advisory services as well as underwriting for the public markets. The financial advisory services include but are not limited to strategic advisory for mergers and acquisitions, divestiture, restructuring, and spin-offs. This segment is also engaged in middle-market lending and transaction banking. Underwriting services include IPOs, preferred stock, debt instruments, and bridge loans. Goldman Sachs Global Markets segment facilitates market transactions for institutions, banks, brokerages, corporations, and governments. Services include execution, derivatives, financing, clearing, settlement, and custody. The Asset Management segment manages client portfolios across the investment spectrum while the Consumer & Wealth Management segment provides advisory and banking services to consumers. Heres whats most troubling about the prominent Republicans who have deserted Donald Trump because of the video in which he made revolting remarks about women: Many of those same people stood by him for more than a year while he made almost daily statements demeaning Hispanics, as if that were OK. Something has gone fundamentally wrong with the Republican Party. From a practical standpoint, the party which has been hijacked by right wing white nationalists fed with a constant stream of conspiracy theories by Fox News has ignored one of the main lessons of its 2012 defeat. In a 100-page, 2012 election post-mortem by the Republican National Committee released in March 2013, the party concluded that it had lost in part because it had alienated Hispanic voters with its anti-immigration stands. The document recommended endorsing comprehensive immigration reform a code word for the Obama-backed idea of giving most undocumented immigrants a path to legalization under certain conditions. The analysis warned that if we do not, our partys appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only. Indeed, the Republicans have been steadily losing Hispanic voters in recent years. George W. Bush, the last Republican to win the White House, obtained 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain got 31 percent in 2008, Mitt Romney got 27 percent in 2012, and Trump according to the latest Pew Research poll, conducted before the release of the video in which he boasts about sexually assaulting women had 19 percent. But worse than all of that is the Republican Partys abandonment of basic moral principles. Since Trump announced his run for the presidency in mid-2015, he based much of his campaign on the premise that most Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals. He has repeatedly insulted Muslims as if all 1.6 billion of them were terrorists, and has publicly made fun of the physically handicapped. And with some notable exceptions, Republicans looked the other way. Where were McCain, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and dozens of other high-profile Republicans who didnt break with Trump until the Oct. 7 release of Trumps now-infamous video? Most of them, like McCain, explained that they had made their difficult decision because I have daughters. Where were they when Trump demonized Hispanics? Dont they have any Hispanic friends? Where were they when Trump said that Indiana-born federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel was not qualified to preside over a case involving the failed Trump University because of the judges Mexican heritage? Where were they when Trump was spreading the falsehood that Obama was not born in the United States, and that he may be a Muslim, until Trump finally admitted as late as Sept. 16 that the president was born in this country? African-Americans had been saying for years that Trumps birther movement was a racist effort to de-legitimize the first black president of the United States. Where were those leading Republicans when Trump who has never served in the military belittled the Khans, the American Muslim parents whose son died in Iraq while trying to rescue fallen U.S. soldiers and was given a posthumous Gold Star for his act of heroism? Where were they when Venezuelan-born former Miss Universe Alicia Machado told the world that Trump had called her Miss Piggy and Miss Housekeeping an apparent reference to her being a Latina after she had gained weight? And when Trump continued to demean her as recently as two weeks ago? My opinion: If Trump loses the election as now seems likely and America spares itself from having a banana republic-styled autocrat as president, the Republican Party must do much more than a critical self-examination. It must recover its moral compass. It should ban from its ranks any member who doesnt abide by basic human decency principles that call for not demonizing others for their ethnicity, religion or gender. If it doesnt do so, the Republican Party may just as well declare itself dissolved. I read Todd Blodgett's most recent opinion column with considerable interest. I've come to expect Blodgett's skillful rhetorical support for the Republican brand and for the Reagan-era policies that he was once paid to advocate. Even so, I was surprised to see Blodgett endorse Donald Trump, a candidate so toxic that respected senior Republicans such as ex-President George H.W. Bush are unable to vote for him. My friends in Mason City include many small entrepreneurs: business owners, contractors, caterers and such. I want to remind them that Trump has made a career of refusing to pay the bills he fairly owes to exactly such businesses unless they sue for payment -- and unless they can afford the expensive lawyers required to fight Trump in court and win. Most have instead chosen simply to quietly swallow their losses. (Business owners in New York have long known of this pattern but Trump has not yet had much opportunity to cheat North Iowans.) Many of you know from bitter experience what a disaster a big account that stiffs you or goes bankrupt can be for a struggling business. Anyone who makes a core business strategy of such sharp dealing should not be extended any further credit. I have tried to imagine how such bad-faith dealing would play out in the White House and on the stage of international affairs and cannot find anything good about the idea. Please -- vote for anyone but Trump. Anyone. Joel J. Hanes, Santa Clara, California, formerly of Mason City Running for president means never having to say youre sorryor at least, that was what Hillary Clinton was hoping. Thats because apologies arent her strength, and her team knew it. Email exchanges, released by WikiLeaks, between Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and other top staffers and confidants back in 2015 show deep concern and relief when Clinton was forced to apologize for using a private email address instead of her official State Department address. The emails may have been first obtained by Russian hackers who targeted Podesta. The emails provide a rare window into the Clinton teams approach to one of the most electric controversies of this entire presidential cycle: her decision to use a private email server and email account while she was secretary of state. Clintons team bungled the response for months, refusing to admit she had done anything troubling and even trying to laugh off the scandal. The problem became pressing on March 10, 2015, when Clinton told reporters at a press conference at the U.N. that she had used a personal email address for her State Department work. The press conference was a disaster. She looked evasive and defensive, and she refused to admit that she had done anything wrong, and the problem percolated. On Aug. 18, in Las Vegas, she held another press conference about the issue, and glibly joked about wiping her server with a cloth. That went over like a ton of bricks. When it became crystal clear that her approach wasnt working, her team accepted what had long been obvious: She would have to say she was sorry. It was a prospect that made them nervous. In an email chain discussing Clintons sit-down interview with Andrea Mitchell on Sept. 4, 2015where she said she regretted that the email drew controversy, but didnt concede she had done anything wrongstaff and allies bemoaned her situation but held on to optimism. She rocked it! wrote Tanden in the subject line of an email to Podesta and campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri. and they should get easier from here Palmieri shared that sentiment. I actually cried a little bit with relief, she wrote. But they knew they werent out of the woods, and discussed the fact that she would need to do a number of media interviews to try to push back against the controversy. She gets into a rhythm when theres tons of interviews, Tanden wrote. But I definitely recommend having her beat up a punching bag (or a staffer but that is unpleasant) before she goes on. She really needs to exorcise the injustice of it all. Podesta also seemed to see Clinton as a victim. No good deed goes unpunished, he wrote. Press takeaway was the whine of but she really didnt apologize to the American people I am beginning to think Trump is on to something. Tanden then conceded that Clinton needed to do more. Everyone wants her to apologize. And she should, she wrote. Apologies are like her Achilles heel. But she didnt seem like a bitch in the interview. And she said the word sorry. She will get to a full apology in a few interviews. And thats what she didbut not after substantial criticism. On Sept. 7, she refused to admit any wrongdoing to the AP. What I did was allowed, she told the AP at an Iowa campaign stop. On Sept. 8, though, she finally admitted in an interview with ABCs David Muir that she herself made a mistake by using a private email for State Department business. As I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts, she said. That was a mistake. Im sorry about that. I take responsibility. The story still dogged her, though, and her apology procrastination just gave fuel to critics arguing she only cared about poll numbers. At the first general election debate, she finally gave an answer that seemed to make everybody happy. Im not going to make any excuses, she said (after spending almost a year making excuses). It was a mistake. A Russian ship that intelligence and military officials reportedly fear can cut undersea Internet cables is near the coast of Syria. And its appearance coincides with what researchers say is a marked uptick in the instability of Internet traffic in that country. The ship, named Yantar, is currently positioned off the coast of Lebanon and is moving on a northern track towards Syria, according to public vessel tracking data. Dyn, a U.S.-based company that tracks Internet outages around the world, reports a dip in the number of available networks in Syria in recent days. Undersea cables are frequently cut by accident, including by ship anchors dragging on the ocean floor. Its possible that the Internet outages in Syria and Yantars presence in the neighborhood are merely a coincidence. But the Internet in Syria has a history of going down at times that the regime of Bashar al-Assad has plotted military offensives, raising the possibility that Russia may be assisting in a communications blackout as its military forces pound rebel positions in the beleaguered city of Aleppo. The ship is technically classified as a research vessel, but its equipped with a pair of remote submarines that U.S. officials have said are capable of severing the cables miles under the oceans surface that carry global Internet communications. Yantar cruised off the coast of the United States last year en route to Cuba, and was monitored along the way by American intelligence satellites, according to The New York Times. At the time, officials said they were monitoring a surge in Russian submarine activity along undersea cable routes. Defense officials told The Daily Beast that they couldnt confirm the presence of the Yantar near the Syrian coast. Yantar, the Russian word for amber, was built for secretive deep-sea research, according to the Web site Global Security. The U.S. Navy blasted three radar installations in Houthi-held territory in southern Yemen, the first direct American intervention in the ongoing conflict there. The U.S. military is hoping that doesnt lead to yet another war for American forces. But hope, as the old military saw goes, is not a plan. So far, Pentagon officials are keen to not be drawn into a broader conflict. Rather they called Wednesdays strike a self-defense measure. But at the same time, defense officials said they were prepared to strike again, should the Houthis threaten Americanor even commercialships in the regions waters. Its up to them, one defense official explained to The Daily Beast, referring to whether the Houthis, Shiite-dominated rebels, attempt to strike U.S. ships again. But it wouldnt be smart of them to keep doing this. The Iranian-backed Houthis are aligned with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a U.S. ally forced to step down from power in 2012. The U.S. has been providing logistical support for the Saudi-led coalition that backing Salehs successor, Abu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who legitimacy has been questioned domestically. Pentagon officials concede that the region around Yemen is fragile for a cycle of strikes and counterstrikes. That is, the Saudis conduct strikes on behalf of the Yemeni government it supportsoften with tragic consequences to nearby civilians. The Houthis, who consider another government legitimate, strike in response at Saudi Arabia and its American allies. And the wave of attacks start anew. Yemen has been without a government since 2014, when the Houthis swept in and forced Hadi, the then-president, to resign. The Houthis attempted missile strikes at a Navy destroyer, the USS Mason, twice in the past week appeared to be in retaliation for a Sunday attack on a funeral in Sanaa that killed at least 140 people and wounded 500 more. The Houthis hold the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition responsible for the air strike. On Wednesday, after the second attempt at the Mason, American forces struck back, launching three Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Houthis, who denied launching missiles at the Mason, are already are threatening to retaliate for Wednesdays strikes. The direct American attack targeting Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable, said Brig. Gen. Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency. Yemen has the right to defend itself and we would deal with any development with the right steps. Within hours of the attack, Iran announced that it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden, according to the Tasmin, the semi-official state news agency. In a statement, Iranian officials suggested the deployment of the warships had been planned long before Wednesdays strikes. Irans Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels from piracy, according to Tasnim. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook did not offer any information Thursday about what intelligence led the U.S. to conclude the Houthis were behind the missile launches or who provided the Houthis their weapons. But, in fact, the U.S. military does have some idea about why it struck at another nation. Two defense officials believe the Houthis may have used Iranian weapons in their attempted attack on the Mason. And the radars targeted by the U.S. in retaliation were likely there long before the collapse of the Yemeni government in 2012, a second defense official told The Daily Beast. Those Navy counterattacks may have had some help from above. In theory, two destroyers could determine a radars location by triangulating the sensors signal, Hudson Institute analyst Bryan McGrath, a former destroyer captain, told The Daily Beast. But its more likely that a U.S. satellite, drone or manned surveillance planeor Special Operations Forces on the groundgathered the intelligence that made the retaliatory attacks possible, McGrath explained to The Daily Beast. Its very difficult for the ship to do something like this without external targeting, McGrath said. The same forces that gathered the intelligence probably stuck around in order to assess the damage the cruise missiles inflicted, McGrath said. Tom Cooper, an independent military analyst and author, told The Daily Beast that the Houthi missiles were probably Chinese-made C-801 cruise missiles, which are closely modeled on the deadly French-made Exocet. The Houthis have allegedly received weapons and supplies via Iran, but its possible the C-801s came from former Yemeni military stocks. In 1995, the Yemeni navy acquired three attack boats armed with the Chinese weapons. The boats and their missiles could have fallen into Houthi hands as more and more of the Yemeni military defected to the Houthi side in recent years. The Houthis could have mounted the C-801s on trucks and paired them with sea-search radars to form a kind of ad-hoc ship-killing force. My educated guess, if you like, is that there is a unit consisting of former officers and sailors of the Yemeni navy that have sided with Houthis and who are operating these missiles now, Cooper said. The attack on the Mason wasnt the first attempted strike at a U.S. ship. On Oct. 9, after the airstrike on the Sanaa funeral, Houthi forces fired two missiles at USS Ponce, an amphibious assault ship that supports mine hunting helicopters. The Mason, which was escorting the Ponce, fired its own surface-to-air missiles, possibly shooting down one of the Houthi munitions. The other Houthi weapon fell harmlessly into the sea. Houthi troops attacked for the second time on Oct. 12, firing at least one missile at the Mason. The destroyer fired backand, as before, the Houthi missile struck the sea. Hours later, the destroyer USS Nitze, a sister ship of the Mason, launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at three radar installations the Pentagon suspected of helping to direct the Houthi attacks. If the U.S Navy only managed to destroy the Houthi units radars, the trucks and their missiles might still pose a threatprovided the Houthis can acquire replacement sensors. The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, Cook warned. Critics fear that every strike and counterstrike could draw the U.S. further and further into a conflict it would rather avoidat least directly. U.S. forces are already conducting airstrikes in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and at times, Somalia. The rebels have long argued that American military, logistical and intelligence support for the Saudi coalition makes Washington a co-belligerent. The cruise missile strikes [Wednesday] against rebel radar sitesnecessary to protect our ships in the strategic waterswill only add to the anti-American narrative, Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst currently servi and current senior fellow the Brookings Institution, explained to The Daily Beast in an email. Its easy to forget how silly most people thought Donald Trump was, all the way back in January. It was before any primaries or caucuses. Trump led in most polls, but people still couldnt really quite believe that people were actually going to vote for him. I spent much of that month at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, reporting for The Daily Beast on the militants who had taken it over. In the intervening months, Trump has morphed from a vague joke or a thumb in the eye of the establishment, depending on your point of view, to a fascist megalomaniacal wreck of a candidate who is unlikely to be elected because he is fundamentally incapable of seeing past his own nose. As Trump has become an ever-more-worrisome figure, you can track his descent into right-wing madness easily. There were the Red Meat days, where he was merely a bigot. Then came the alt-right phase, the joyous celebration of Daddy Trump and Pepe the Frog and the oven jokes on Twitter. Trump has by now lied so often and so blatantly that many people thought it a little joke when we found out hed bragged about sexually assaulting women. Of course he did, hes Donald Trump. But for once the man was telling the truth, and in the last day or so America has watched with dawning horror as we realize that if he wasnt lying about being a sex criminal, perhaps he has not been lying about the walls and the deportations and the locking up of his political opponents. Maybe hes actually been telling the truth about himself this whole time. I watched his speech Thursday, and if I closed my eyes, I could smell the campfire smoke at the Malheur refuge and feel the Oregon winter wind on my face. Here were the conspiracies, the references to the shadowy international cabals, the whispers about the illegitimacy of the Department of Justice and the Trilateralist coopting of the FBI. It was like listening to an immodest Ammon Bundy. We have to protect ourselves from not just the government (because it is only a pawn) but from the people who really run it. We should be watchful, resilient, readyand though he is reluctant, he will sacrifice himself, for he is the only one who can save us from the terror. Donald Trump shouted out every fevered dystopian fantasy I heard on the refuge, with the exceptions of Agenda 21 and abortion as population control. They control the Department of Justice, he said. They have essentially corrupted the director of the FBI. This is a conspiracy against you, the American people, and we cannot let this happen or continue. This is our moment of reckoning. This is precisely the logic that led a few hundred people to take up arms against the government in Oregon, though at least Ammon Bundy started with a reasonably legitimate premise. Donald Trump doesnt even have two Americans jailed twice for the same crime to legitimize his quest. What he has is a small but growing fringe that talks about We the People instead of Americans. We have already seen the violence at his rallies, we have seen the vicious street attacks, we have worried about the rise of the right. What I have not until Thursday heard was something that spiked my nativist upbringing, words delivered in a very particular order that made me want to go buy another rifle and check my food storage. I was raised among white people, sent to an elementary school in which there were no black kids, and then moved to the mountains of Utah for high school, where the neo-Nazis recruited at illicit drinking parties because kids who would have a beer were already disaffected in an overwhelmingly Mormon culture. There is a part of me that remembers the coding, the tones, remembers the fear that the government might come and massacre us again as they had in times not that long ago. I reject it violently, but you dont ever forget what you were raised to believe even if you learn better. It would take a linguist to comb through that speech and parse out which words came from where. I am only a writer steeped in the language of right-wing revolution. I was outraged by Trump before. But now I am worried. There is no scenario in which this country repudiates him and then goes about its business; we allowed his rise and we have emboldened the people that we ignored for so long. We have three weeks to go yet, more scandals and reactions and fear and terror, and at the end of it, we will have an unknowable number of people who will absolutely and without question think that Hillary Clintons election is an unmistakable sign that it is time for the governed to withdraw their consent. Not a majority; not even many, compared to the millions of people who live in America. But enough. Thursday, Donald Trump traveled a step further down the path of militant right-wing revolution. It wasnt a call to arms, exactly. But it was far past the point of comfort. As-sal amu alaykum. Je m appelle Abu Omar al-Firansi. Our new age of sacred terror is multilingual, and yet I was still surprised to click on the video showing a young man covered with a mustard-colored scarf, only his eyes and forehead visible, delivering his confession. I advise you not to come here, he concludes after a lengthy disquisition. Never in my entire life have I experienced such humiliation, injustice, and segregation as I have had to endure here. Abu Omar al-Firansi, a French national, has just deserted from the so-called Islamic State. His recounting of his time as an ISIS jihadist was apparently filmed in northern Aleppo around six weeks ago in a safe house belonging to an unnamed smuggler he paid to transport him out of Syria and into Turkey. The footage, which apart from al-Firansis shrouded face features only a nondescript tile wall background, was shared exclusively and for the first time with The Daily Beast and was shot by a member of Ibn Awa, a new and as-yet-unpublicized anti-ISIS activist collective, with what appears to be a broad network in the Syrian eastern provinces of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. Arabic for Son of the Jackal, Ibn Awa aims to expose the grim reality of ISIS rule, as suffered by the native population still under its yoke in eastern Syria, by compiling leaked documents and conducting on-camera interviews with ex-jihadists on the lam. According to Abu Abdo, one of the founders of Ibn Awa, the organization doesnt yet have a website or active Twitter or Facebook accounts, although these are supposed to be forthcoming in a matter of weeks. Some of us work within rebel groups, and some of us are living in Daesh areas, he says, using the defamatory Arabic acronym for ISIS. He is also cautious about giving too much away about the provenance or backing of Ibn Awa. Abu Abdo also did not want to share too much detail about Ibn Awas personnel or strength of numbers, fearing that his embryonic movement might suffer the same sort of retaliations that have lately been visited upon another, separate grassroots corps of Syrian activists, Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, whose representatives have been executed in ISIS snuff videos in Syria or tracked and assassinated by ISIS operatives in southern Turkey. We aspire to be more careful, he says. Why Son of the Jackal? Because this animal is associated with meanness and aggression, Abu Abdo answers, inviting me to listen to Abu Omars testimony to prove that this adequately encapsulates ISISs true, as opposed to advertised, nature. The fleeing jihadists message, obviously, is aimed not at lay or Western audiences already duly horrified by ISIS, but at fellow Muslims abroad who are still drawn to the prospect of making hijrah, or emigrating, to what the minions of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi consider the only true Islamic state. The video, as viewed by two other ISIS experts, including a specialist on its Francophone European network, does not appear staged or fraudulent or coerced. However, The Daily Beast cannot fully verify the claims Abu Omar makes, or his identity. His whereabouts as of now, according to Abu Abdo, are unknown; he may well have made it to Turkey, he may still be stuck in Syria, or he may be dead. But his revelations about ISIS conform to what many other defectors and deserters have said about the internal workings of an organization that is premised on Islamic purity and discipline but in reality offers little more than a goons rodeo of religious wannabes, ex-Saddamists, hypocrites, rapists, and extortionistswith plenty of overlap between and among those categories. The 28-year-old Abu Omar, who speaks throughout in well-educated French (aside from the occasional hosannas in Arabic) claims to have been born in North Africa but to have grown up and studied in France before emigrating to join the Islamic State in July 2014, shortly after the establishment of the caliphate was announced officially. Abu Omars last name in the video, al-Firansi, means nothing more than that hes Frenchand there are quite a few of these al-Firansis around. According to a March study put out by the New York-based intelligence firm the Soufan Group, France has produced around 1,700 jihadists for ISIS, of whom 250 are thought to have returned to French soil (PDF). Infamously, a consortium of French and Belgian ISIS operatives managed to perpetrate two of the grisliest terror attacks Europe has experienced since the London tube-and-bus and Madrid train bombings more than a decade ago. Much of the planning for those attacks was said to have been done by a man called Abu Suleyman al-Firansi, who, at least until his rumored arrest by the Turkish military several months ago, headed ISISs amn al-kharjee, or foreign intelligence branch, and was responsible for its European operations. Abu Suleyman, is also of Francophone North African ancestry. Abu Omar claims to have joined the army of terror because everything about his adopted homeland was ugly to him. Like all young people our age who are living in Europe, I think that what made me come here is a spiritual quest that I felt in myself, he explains. I wanted to go beyond my limits while still searching for my Lord through things other than simply a prayer that had no flavor or a fasting that had no flavor either, he says. I also wanted to escape this French government, which was segregationist, racist and all that. When he reached ISIS-held territorymost likely Raqqa, its de facto capital and intake center for aspiring muhajireen, although he doesnt specifyhe was installed in a madhafa, or safe house, much like the one from which he delivered this interview. He was distinctly unimpressed: It is total anarchy there, of course, no organization. I stayed for two weeks After that I did two weeks of a legal training to upgrade my knowledge in religion, belief, and dogma. After that, two weeks of military training, a pseudo military training, of course, because this is not a real military training. Such a schedule of indoctrination and martial preparation roughly conforms to what other former ISIS members have told The Daily Beast. Abu Omar said he did not just fight in Syria, he also fought in borderlands of Iraq, having taken part in the battles of Zumar, Gwer, and Rabia, all against the Kurdish Peshmerga. In Zumar, by far the fiercest of the battles (the town was only fully captured three months after the operation to liberate it was launched), French warplanes joined American and British ones in bombing ISIS targets; although Abu Omar doesnt acknowledge the fact, he was therefore likely dodging missiles fired at him by his own government. On ISISs side of the battlefield, he continues, one is nothing else but a soldier and there is little that resembles an Islamic organization. The rank-and-file claim to be Muslims, but institutions and practices are wholly foreign to the faith. It is rather the ways of the former Baathists, he says, commenting on ISISs now (mostly liquidated) senior command echelon composed of several former spies and military officers of Saddams regime. The former state actors may be gone, but their Baathist ethos remains, he insists. That is the way you are treated. You are treated like a dog. You only are a soldier, you are just supposed to obey. You have pledged allegiance and you are supposed to say nothing. ISIS militants are ill-equipped and ill-trained. He briefly discusses the siege of Zumar, which started in August 2014, and which ISIS managed to withstand, albeit only after losing 150 brothers. The Peshmerga retreated. But the following month, the Western bombers arrived and ISIS was no match for them; the jihadists retreated from this Kurdish zone deeming it expendable to their sole ambition of conquering areas peopled by their ethnic kin. They are only interested in Sunni regions, Abu Omar says. It was the same thing with Gwer, it was the same thing with Rabia. Anything that is not Arab or Sunni is of no interest to them. They are completely focused on nationalistic issues, none of the things we came here for. So, in fact, we die for nothing. Abu Omar touches upon another unacknowledged motivation underlying the jihadist project. For all its propagandistic window-dressing about ushering in the apocalypse and enveloping the word in the black flagpropaganda now reportedly much reduced thanks to continued battlefield losses and the elimination of its top media gurusmany of ISISs ambitions are more proximate and political. It pursues a strategy of Arab Sunni revanchism or restorationism, with the ultimate goal of reclaiming Baghdad for Iraqs minority sect. The old guard of Saddam Hussein lost it when the U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003 and empowered the Iraqi (and Iranian) Shia. In 2014, it could be argued, ISIS bit off far more than it could chew by advancing well beyond the Sunni Arab heartlands of eastern Syria and western and central Iraq, where it could more effectively superimpose itself on a centuries-old tribal system that it understood only too well. Indeed, al-Firansi decries ISISs true foundation as a tribal Iraqi business based on local feuds and rivalries over turf, money, and spoils. These people are into this for themselves. It is like in Afghanistan. It is exactly the same thing. It is copy-paste. Just like the Afghans were into this for themselves, their tribes, their traditions and at the end [foreign recruits] ended up being thrown under the bus. Uninterested in being a pawn in another nations clan warfare, Abu Omar claims he left Iraq and returned to Syria, which he found slightly more relaxed before it, too, devolved into the same petty administration and personal viciousness hed found on the other side of a now supposedly erased border. He joined the hisbah, or ISIS police force, which was meant to be a professional and impartial investigatory body whose remit was uncovering crimes against the caliphateand God. Instead, he said, it was a showcase, and a fraud. Rather than exercise autonomy to investigate alleged offenses, the hisbah was merely a foil of the amniyat, or intelligence branches of ISIS, which would issue diktats, perhaps in order to meet quotas or settle scores or just for the sake of it. The secret services of ISIS would inform us that such and such were involved in drug trafficking or cigarette smuggling, or in I dont know what. We had to arrest him. There was not the slightest investigation, no administrative or paper work. Nothing. There is no actual police and even less an Islamic one. Because those with whom I used to work were doing exactly the things they forbade to others. Nor did takfirinomics fare well during Abu Omars time in Syria. Given the straitened economic circumstances imposed by the war, shop owners are allowed to raise the prices for bread because of food shortages. ISIS leaders also forbid buying or selling cheaper oil outside of their dominion. And an entire generation is being intellectually beggared. Parents now refuse to send their children to school either because the schools will be destroyed in airstrikes or because the curriculum is thoroughly ideologized. In the short term, there is absolutely no policy that is being implemented. Life is not livable here. Yet there is a sort of caste system or hierarchy of privilege. First, Iraqis are esteemed above all others, in contravention of the ostensibly anti-nationalist orientation of the caliphate. Next come the appointed regional emirs, who run the show. Next are ordinary men, followed by ordinary women. Finally, Muslims as a broad category outrank all slaves. Although where femininity begins and bondage ends is often difficult to discern, because women meant to be classed as virtuous and protected are actually treated otherwise. ISIS preys on your wives even as you are still alive, Abu Omar says. They do not wait until you die. You have to know that in case you die, there is a law according to which your wife has to remain locked away in a madafah for one year. After one year, she is forced to get married, which is in fact a form of legalized rape. Disillusioned with his role as a sham cop in a sham state, Abu Omar tried to leave. It wasnt easy. He plotted his escape for a year and half, he says, but the coalitions escalating war made it difficult because ISIS shut the borders. People such as myself are of course meant as cannon fodder. As for the civilians, they are meant as shields since without them, it is much easier for the planes. Whats more they even close some roads and force people to take the very roads that they themselves use so that the planes do not bomb. Originally we were supposed to have come to protect the Syrian people but we started using them as shields. Personally, I wash my hands of the whole thing. Trump confidante Roger Stone has found himself in an uncomfortable position: the crosshairs of the Clinton campaign, which alleges he has ties to Wikileaks, the organization mounting its own assault against the Democratic nominee. In short, they are turning the conspiracy theorist into the theory. For the past week, Wikileaks has engaged in damaging daily releases of stolen emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, something that Trump has seized on in his speeches to show Hillary Clintons relationship with big banks and the so-called establishment. The Wikileaks organization has been a thorn in the side of governments around the world, releasing secret documents usually shielded from public view. The Clinton campaign has responded by questioning Stones connections to Wikileaks, which somehow came into possession of more than 50,000 emails from Podestas inbox. If its true that Stone had foreknowledge of Russian-hacked emails, it would create yet another troubling link between Trump and Vladimir Putins orbit. Stone has made no secret of his relationship with Wikileaks, telling far-right radio host Alex Jones in August that he had mutual friends with Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, who he said was "one of the great freedom fighters in the world today. Stone predicted weeks ago that Podesta would be enmeshed in scandal -- and hinted Wikileaks would be the ones to spark it. But he issued a Trumpesque denial to The Daily Beast on Thursday: in an email, Stone said he did not know about the Wikileaks release in advance, despite publicly boasting that such information would be coming down the line. Stone told The Daily Beast that he only predicted a coming Podesta scandal because he had done "extensive research" independently, regarding Podesta's "money laundering for Russian interests and the Clinton foundation as well as money laundering in connection with the legal sale of military technology," which he will soon publish a piece on. The original documents I found were in Russian and German and took some time to translate, he added. It could only happen in 2016: Stone, who has at varying times been a lobbyist, a political strategist, is now the subject of a conspiracy of his own. Its a bizarre position for Stone to be in, given that hes usually the one spinning theories, such as worrying openly about being assassinated by the Clintons and claiming they killed John F. Kennedy, Jr. The Clinton campaigns theory holds far more credibility than Stones ramblings: Podesta claims that Stone had prior knowledge of the hack, which the FBI believes was carried out by the Russian intelligence. Sometime before the end of July 2016, the Clinton team began to suspect that Podestas emails had been breached, a campaign official told The Daily Beast. In late August, more than six weeks before Wikileaks started dumping Podestas emails, Stone began making dark insinuations that suggest he knew that a Podesta scandal would soon be revealed. Trust Me, It Will Soon The Podesta's Time In The Barrel. #CrookedHillary, Stone tweeted. Stone pointed his finger at me, and said that I could expect some treatment that would expose me, Podesta told reporters Tuesday. In a conference call with reporters organized by the Clinton campaign Friday morning, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell named Stone as someone he felt should be investigated for ties with Russia. Morrell believes that while Trump may be an "unwitting agent" of the Russian government, Stone and others "may be into this more deeply, may have relationships with Russia -- perhaps financials relationships and they're actually working on behalf of the Russians in getting this material out and spreading it around." "I don't want to go overboard here and say I know that for sure, I certainly don't. But I am deeply concerned about it," Morrell added. "I think it requires a full investigation and it requires the American people to know the truth here before election day." More than a month before Wikileaks began releasing Podesta's emails, Trump predicted Podesta-gate on his radio show, "Stone Cold Truth -- This guy makes [Paul] Manafort look like Saint Thomas Aquinas, he quipped. Manafort, of course, is a former business partner of Stones who was booted from the Trump campaign after his work for pro-russian Ukrainian oligarchs came to light. Stone told The Daily Beast that he had a mutual friend who has visited with Assange, but that he never received any documents from [Wikileaks] and I know the claim they Assange works for the Russian [government] is Clinton campaign bullshit. He recently told a local CBS affiliate that dinner with his mutual friend on Oct. 10. That same night, Stone made another pronouncement. I have total confidence that @wikileaks and my hero Julian Assange will educate the American people soon #LockHerUp, Stone wrote on Twitter. Four days later, Wikileaks began releasing a daily deluge of stolen Podesta emails. The Clinton campaign went on the offensive. We now know the FBI believes the Russians are behind this hack and that a Trump campaign associate was back-channeling with Julian Assange, said Clinton campaign spokesman Glen Caplin. On Day 5 of the WikiLeaks propaganda campaign the question is what did the Trump campaign know and when did they know it? The charge is meant to deflect from Podesta's illegal activities, Stone shot back. --Olivia Nuzzi contributed reporting. Oh bother. Now theres another character to keep track of in the 100 Acre Wood. The Best Bear in All the World, a new book just published and timed to celebrate Poohs 90th anniversary (that would be today), contains four new stories, including one by Brian Sibley, about a penguin. The story was inspired, Sibley has said, by a photo of a stuffed penguin in the Milne household that presumably came from Harrods, the London department store that furnished the other stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milnes classic stories about a boy and bear and their friends and relations in the Sussex countryside. The thought of Pooh encountering a penguin seemed no more outlandish than his meeting a kangaroo and a tiger in a Sussex wood, Sibley said in one interview, so I started thinking about what might have happened if, on a rather snowy day, Penguin had found his way to Pooh Corner. I have not read the penguin story, and I doubt I ever will. I have nothing against the people who created the book in which it appears. Not much anyway. I dont think it was a wise decision, but we live in the age of franchises, where popular authors do not die so much as pass the baton to some other writer who goes on cranking out books about Sherlock Holmes, Jason Bourne, Philip Marlowe, or, now, Winnie the Pooh. Because I know how hard it is for writers to make a living, I do not begrudge them the money made by trying to fill the shoes of Conan Doyle, Chandler, Milne, or whoever. Just dont ask me to read those books. Quaint as it seems, there is still a lot to be said for the individual authors voice. If A.A. Milne had not been such a singular storyteller, I would not be writing this article. To create an indelible, not to say immortal, character, be it a private detective or a portly bear, is a rare thing. Only a handful of writers have managed that. To my way of thinking, we should respect that achievement, and the best way to show respect is to insist that no one else can touch it. Yes, its sad when authors die and the wonderful stories quit coming, but cant we be a little grown up about this? Apparently not. Because not only do we live in the age of franchises but also in the age of remakes, sequels, sanctioned tie-in novels, and fan fiction where Luke Skywalker and Elizabeth Bennet and now Pooh get to do lots of things they never did on screen or in the books where they first appeared. The most generous interpretation of this would be to say that these characters, larger than life to start with, are also larger than their creators. By this logic, Pooh does not belong to the long dead Milne or his estate or any other handlers. Pooh belongs to his fanswho are indeed legion: a recent poll found that Pooh is the worlds most popular childrens book character, outranking even Harry Potter. So in spirit if not legal fact, he is in the public domain. All I can say to that is you cant crowdsource everything. The only text I know of that was successfully written by a committee was the King James Bible, and that was a translation. But against that thought presses the considerable weight of publishing, television, and movies, which depend on creativity without necessarily exalting it. Indelible characters in the minds of these people are not unique things to be treasured and protected so much as they are products to be sold and licensed. Pooh is great because he makes the cash register ring. Somewhere in all this, the author is forgotten or ignored. Milne never wrote a story about a penguin, but in todays mindset, that doesnt matter. He might have written such a story, or maybe he was about to write a penguin story and dropped dead before he got the chance. And anyway, why should we let a dead man have the last word? Asked if he worried about his books being ruined by bad movie adaptations, William Faulkner said, no, his books were still intact and sitting on the shelves just as he wrote them. Hollywood couldnt change that. But we live in a coarser time, when children grow up not knowing whether Winnie the Pooh was created by A.A. Milne or Walt Disney or, most recently, Brian Sibley. As a result, they never learn the value of a unique imagination or treasure what few wonderful books an author may have left us. Why should they when theres always another story in the pipeline? When my kids were kids, they preferred the Disney version of Pooh to the stories in the Milne books. I could live with that, grudgingly, not because I thought there was no difference between the two versions (Disneys version in this instance is one of that corporations more harmless adaptations) but because my children knew the difference. They knew where the stories came from, that somebody wrote them and without that somebody, there would be no stories. Can children today make the same distinction? Im not holding my breath. The United Kingdom voted by a percentage of 52 to 48 to leave the EU in a referendum this summer. While many millions of people are far from happy about the prospect of Brexitand not just because of the rising price of making Marmitefew are be as active in trying to do something about it as Gina Miller, an influential London fund manager, who is taking the Prime Minister of the UK, Theresa May, to court in what critics say is an attempt to overturn the process by a legal backdoor. Miller has emerged as the leading figure in a High Court challenge demanding that May stages a vote in Parliament before invoking the now legendary Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which formally begins the exit process. Article 50 sets a two-year deadline after which Britain will cease to be a member, unless the other countries of the EU unanimously agree to an extension. May, who replaced David Cameron as leader of the Conservative party thereby automatically becoming the PM after Cameron was forced into a humiliating resignation following the vote, claims that she does not need Parliamentary approval to trigger article 50she argues that the referendum result is all the authority she needs. May recently announced, to loud cheers from the grassroots right-wing of her party at her party conference, that she intended to trigger article 50 in March next year. No election is technically due until 2020, meaning the UK will be out of the EU by the time it comes around, if May gets her way. However, if the government were to collapse or resign, an early election would be called. This is the Bremainers best hope. It is conceivable that a general election could be won by a coalition of parties which made their central policy the undoing of the referendum. Britains electorally insignificant Liberal Democrats are the only party to have currently pledged to explicitly overturn the referendum result. They won just 8 seats at the last election, but the Scottish National Partywith 54 seatsare violently opposed to leaving the EU, and the issue could just unite the splintered Labour party in the event of a snap general election. However, theres one big problemdespite a narrow Tory majority of 16, there is no sign of a government collapse on the horizon. Therefore delaying the triggering of article 50 is the best hope of many Bremainers, and this, her critics suggest, is Millers ultimate aim. Miller, who has been remorselessly cast as a whining Bremainer or Bremoaner by the pro-Brexit press, denies this, and has denied her legal action is simply a case of being a bad loser. Miller, who previously said she felt physically sick at the referendum result, argued in a recent interview with BBC radio that, we are all leavers now and that she simply wants MPs to do their job and debate the issue before acting (Miller declined to speak to the Daily Beast). Kasra Nouroozi, of law firm Mishcon de Reya which is acting for Miller, has previously said, The result of the referendum is not in doubt, but we need a process that follows UK law to enact it. The outcome of the referendum itself is not legally binding and for the current or future Prime Minister to invoke Article 50 without the approval of Parliament is unlawful. One high profile Brexit campaigner, former Tory former minister Dominic Raab, accused Ms Miller of, a pretty naked attempt to steal the referendum by the back door, telling the BBC, I think it takes a pretty special kind of arrogance to think that one persons view trumps that of 33 million. Such criticism is likely to be so much water off a ducks back to Miller, who is widely disliked by the Citys still-powerful old boy network after starting a campaign against hidden fund charges. Miller, who sleeps just four or five hours a night, believes her race and gender have fueled resentment against her. In a recent interview in the Financial Times she revealed that in the City she is nicknamed the black-widow spider. Miller, who was born in Guyana, and is one of a tiny minority of senior women fund managers (just 7% are managed or co-managed by women) told the FT, That nickname is wrong on so many levels. Her husband, Alan Miller is a star fund manager, but is best known for the high-profile divorce battle he waged with his former wife, Melissa, in 2006 in which he disputed a 5m settlement. In court, Mr Millers lawyer claimed it would be cheaper for him to run over his ex-wife than pay the settlement. It shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone that Nancy Reagan and Cynthia Nixons politics never lined up. And so it was with a raised eyebrow that news came that Nixonwhose liberal activism has taken her from New York Mayor Bill de Blasios first campaign to current Hillary Clinton surrogatewould portray the late former first lady, whose conservative leanings included a blind eye to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 80s that many believe is partly responsible for the death of millions worldwide. Killing Reagan, National Geographics newest installment in its Killing series, based on Bill OReillys best-selling novels, doesnt touch on the AIDS crisis. But its telling of the events leading up to and just after John Hinckleys assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan does humanize a steely wife whose devotion to her husband had its effects on policy, and whose concern for his health after the shooting influenced the leader the world got to see. I have my political views, and I certainly would never want to be part of a project that maligned those views, Nixon tells The Daily Beast, when asked how she squared away humanizing a person whose politics she disagreed with. I would never want to be a part of a show where I play Nancy Reagan that I feel like whitewashed the truth about the Reagans. Shes also not interested in being an agitprop. If I want to work a particular political issue, Ill go make a speech about it, and everyone knows its a speech, she says. I dont want to make propaganda, because propagandas not very interesting to watch most of the time. To that end, Killing Reagan, which premieres Sunday night, is not propaganda. It also should manage to skirt controversy. When OReillys book, which the film is based on, was released, Reagan loyalists were up in arms over its implication that Reagan was never quite the same after surviving Hinckleys attempt on his life. CBS stirred up such a huff when a miniseries it had in development insinuated a similar sentiment back in 2003 that it eventually decided to shuffle the project to Showtime to save face. Nixons Nancy is the only character to hint at a weakened Ronnie in Killing Reagana quick hes changed! to an advisor she worries is working her recovering husband too hard. But Nixon does think that a decrease in Reagans visibility after the shooting was largely Nancys doing: She was like, You did it your way and got shot. Were doing it my way now. Researching the series gave Nixon empathy for the former first lady that surprised her. She made a lot of decisions I dont approve of, but I also feel like life was really hard for her, she says. Whereas her husband had a bit of a golden touch, finding success with many things he put his hand to, Nancy could never catch a breaksomething the film touches on with the first ladys distress over the publics perception that she is a Dragon Lady. Its one of the reasons why she liked fancy things so much, because she was so exhausted, Nixon says. Working and working. I think she was looking for her reward. She was like a bird flying, flying, flying all the time and was like, I just need a place to rest, and I would like it to be velvet-covered please. And while Killing Reagan isnt politicized at all, the former Sex and the City star says she doesnt see any value in making a film in which they are portrayed as evil. We need to take people with whom we disagree and try to understand them, Nixon says. Were speaking over the summer, strangely enough the same week when it was announced that John Hinckley would be released from the mental institution he was sent to after the attempted assassination. (Nancy would be furious, Nixon says about the news. I think its good she didnt live to see it.) Its days after Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination to be the first female presidential candidate in historybut its months before Clintons opponent would take over the news cycle after a tape leaked in which he brags about sexual assault. So when Nixon says, I dont like Trump, as an intro to her next point, its without that recent contextbut her point still holds merit. But I think we need to try to understand, if not try to understand him, understand the people that he appeals to, why he appeals to them, she says. Because were not talking about a fringe group. Were talking about a significant portion of the American people. And theyre not crazy. Theyre not necessarily, I dont know, wrong. Theres some reality that theyre experiencing that I dont see. But its become incumbent upon to try to see it. Nixon was 15 when she heard that Reagan had been shot and remembers the fear, paranoia, and compassion she felt immediately afterward. It didnt matter that she wasnt a fan of Reagans, or that her parents didnt vote for him. Actor Tim Matheson, who plays the late president in the film, shares a similar story. He hadnt voted for Reagan in his first election, but remembers feeling a fondness for him after watching him stay the course following his recovery from the assassination attempt. He wasnt the only one either. As Killing Reagan chronicles, Reagans approvals spiked off the charts in the weeks after. After four years I voted for him! Matheson tells me, flashing his Hollywood smile. He was the only Republican Ive ever voted for. Its a familiar phenomenon for Nixon. The thing about it is: presidents are like movie stars, she says. We love them, we hate them. We scrutinize them, we trash them. We miss them when theyre gone, we hate them when theyre there. We love them when theyre an underdog and when theyre on top of the heap we want to tear them down. Like with movie stars, its really easy to forget that theyre just human beings. When something happens that reminds us of that humanity, it sends us into shock. Nixon likens it to when Hillary Clinton teared up during a campaign stop eight years ago in New Hampshire. All of a sudden her popularity surged, because people thought of her as hard and impenetrable, she says. Killing Reagan show a similar political turnaround for Reagan, who, prior to the shooting, had dismal approval ratings and a horrible time getting policies passed. Directly after completing filming of Killing Reagan in Atlanta in the spring, she flew to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she was being honored for her film work. The Pulse nightclub shootings had just happened. I said, Its wonderful to come to this safe haven, she remembers. Not only am I coming from that news cycle week, Im coming from 1981. And to see how far weve come as a movement and as a people. And not just us, she says, referring to the LGBT community. Were not in such a different place, but everybody around us and looking at us thinking about us and having opinions about us have come enormously far. Its an optimism for the future that she was still high on when we chatted that summer afternoon, in the wake of the historic Democratic National Convention and its theme Stronger Together. As terrific as Hillary Clintons speech was and the moment was and the balloons, I thought what was really great was what they kept saying, that the presidency, a presidential administration, is not about one person, she says. Watching the Democrats one after another come out and speak, I felt like it was a team of all-stars. I felt like thats what was so important. All these people were making these amazing speeches that echo each other. Its like we got the Harlem Globetrotters. The other teamthats the circus. Editors Note: The Daily Beast is running an ad campaign for Killing Reagan. It has no bearing on the aforementioned piece. In 2011, shortly after Donald Trump first publicly latched onto the theory that President Obama wasnt born in the United States, Randal Pinkett knew he had to do something. The winner of Season 4 of The Apprentice wasnt interested in embarrassing Trump, but he was interested in reaching out to him as a former colleague, as somebody who he thought had Trumps respect. Pinkett, the only black winner in the seven seasons of the show, called his old boss. I said, Donald, if you really want to be president, this is not the way to go about it, Dr. Pinkett told The Daily Beast. Because you are offending people of color. Including me. Including me, Donald! The Donald, said Pinkett, wasnt buying it. He basically blew me off completely, said Pinkett. He asked me if I was trying to make this a publicity issue even though I called him privately. The phone call ended coldly and abruptly, and Pinkett didnt hear from his former boss again for a year. In the days following the release of video of Trump bragging about sexual assault, rumors have swirled that a similarly incriminating tape exists of the Republican presidential nominee using the n-word. The search for the tape has gotten so intense that Apprentice producer Mark Burnett has released statements clarifying that while he is not a Trump supporter, he cannot release footage from The Apprentice without breaching a spider web of contracts. Whatever footage of alleged depraved behavior exists, the public wont likely see it for quite some time. If ever. Pinkett doesnt recall his former boss engaging in racism that overt and aggressive, but he does have a lingering bad taste in his mouth over how he was treated at the end of his season of the show. In an Us Weekly interview with Trump that ran a week before the finale aired in September 2005 (the same month Trump was recorded bragging about grabbing women by the pussy, natch), Trump was asked to describe Pinkett and fellow finalist Rebecca Jarvis. He described me as lazy, Pinkett said. He described my white female fellow finalist as beautiful. Their task in the finale was to raise money for charity. Pinkett raised $11,000 for his chosen charity, Autism Speaks. Jarvis did not raise any money for her chosen charity, and Pinkett was crowned the winner. But after he was hired by Trump, producers called Pinkett back into the boardroom, where Trump asked him, on live television, if Pinkett would be willing to share the title of The Apprentice with his fellow finalist. Pinkett said no. She was much younger, much more junior, much less experienced, said Pinkett. He thinks Trump asked him to share his title because he wanted to hire a pretty white woman. Pinkett said his experience working for the Trump Organization for a year after the shows finale was mainly positive. But during his apprenticeship, he noticed that he was the only person of color at the executive level. And as a result, he was put in an awkward position. At the time, the Trump Organization was competing for a coveted casino license in Philadelphia. Pinkett, a Philly native, said he was routinely asked to represent the organization at meetings and community events designed to sway people in the neighborhood to come around to the idea of letting Trump put one of his projects in their backyard. Without the communitys approval, the gambling commission wouldnt grant a casino license. The forums got contentious and ugly, kind of like the campaign trail, recalled Pinkett. The executives from Trump would come in and try to begin talking about what theyd do for the community. And at every forum I went to, they never got through their presentation because the vocal community members shut them down and they had to be escorted out. Toward the end of his apprenticeship, Pinkett told Trump Organization executives that he didnt want to attend another community-courting event. He said they didnt take his refusal very well. His business consulting firm BCT Partners did business with the Trump Organization, and when Pinkett balked at serving once again as the face of Trumps Philadelphia ambitions, Trump executives told him theyd pull their contract with BCT Partners. Pinkett has spent the intervening years running his own business, giving speeches, and writing books. In one of them, Black Faces, White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness, he details his experience in the finale of The Apprentice when he, despite outperforming his competition, was asked to share the title with a white competitor. Hes been speaking about how he was treated by Trump and the Trump Organization for years, including a recent ad that he shot for MoveOn. But what of The Donald, who declared himself a changed person since the recording of the now-infamous tape in 2005? Donald surrounds himself with people who dont challenge him, said Pinkett. He weeds out people who want to challenge Donald or who want to be critical of Donald. I dont think hes learned anything. A sergeant who used hand-sanitizer to draw a penis on his female subordinates car. Rape investigators accused of joking about masturbating to victims stories. These are just a few of the scandals to rock the Seattle-area sheriffs office over the past four years. And after settling a sexual-harassment lawsuit for $1 million in 2013, the King County Sheriffs Office (KCSO) is again embroiled in a legal fight over its treatment of female officers. This time, two sheriffs deputies and one sergeant are accusing the county of gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual-orientation based harassment, and retaliation. And discovery for the civil suit is already dredging-up new allegations of misconduct at KCSO, with a former head of internal affairs seeking whistleblower protections before he talks. Central to many of these claims is King County Sheriff John Urquhart, 69, who was elected amid promises to clean up the corruption-plagued agency. Urquhart has been with KCSO since 1980, working his way through roles such as narcotics detective and spokesman before beating incumbent Republican Sheriff Steve Strachan in 2012. Urquharts tenure so far, however, has been ignominious, involving the two sexual-harassment lawsuits, a cop convicted of pimping his wife and selling his colleagues steroids, a bogus sex trafficking bust, a chief-of-staff with polygraph problems, and more. In this latest lawsuit, initially filed in April 2015, two former King County deputies and one current sergeant seek damages from King County for gender-based harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. The complaint specifically calls out the actions of Sheriff Urquhart, Major Sean Ledford, and Sergeant Dewey Burns. Burns, a supervisor in the Metro Transit Division, had been the subject of a 2014 incident involving defensive tactics instructor Melissa Deer. A sworn statement from Deer claims he grabbed her crotch during a training exercise knowing full well that his hand was never supposed to be near my crotch. I was shocked, angry and pissed off, wrote Deer. I asked him What are you doing? He shrugged and acted like it was a joke. Deer called the incident degrading, sexist, and a sexual assault. In 2015, another allegation involving Burns surfaced. In this case, text messages showed the sergeant making racist, anti-gay, and sexually explicit comments to other staffers, including a female subordinate, Deputy Amy Shoblom. The texts were shocking and cant be ignored or explained away, said Urquhart, who fired Burns over the content deemed racist and homophobic. However, Urquhart did not see anything inappropriate about the sexually charged content Burns exchanged with Shoblom, finding that the vast majority of the texts had been welcomed by her and on many occasions Deputy Shoblom instigated the highly sexualized texting between the two. Thats not how Shoblom, a nine-year veteran of KCSO, describes it. The 33-year-old is one of three plaintiffs in the current suit, along with Diana Neff, 50, and Julie Blessum, 45. After Shoblom transferred to the Metro Transit division in 2013, Burns had direct supervisory authority over Shoblom, according to the suit, and she considered it a condition of employment to take his antics in stride. These antics included texting her half-naked photos of women he was sleeping with, asking during a roll call if she had hooked up with a male deputy, and drawing a penis on the hood of her car with hand sanitizer, among other things, according to the complaint. After complaining to a captain and getting no response, Shoblom told another sergeant, Lou Caballero, about what was going on and he also filed a complaint. In August 2015, both were fired, allegedly for lying about an argument with a bus driver. Neff and Blessum, meanwhile, say they were subject to a different sort of harassment/discrimination. Both worked in KCSOs Shoreline precinct, and both were gay. Neff, who had been with the sheriffs office since 1987, became a sergeant in 2000 and was assigned to Shoreline in 2006. Blessum came to the precinct in 2012. Major Ledford arrived as precinct chief in 2013. Ledfords presence changed things in the department, according to the lawsuit. He refused to speak to Neff or other women who held positions of authority and treated them in other discriminatory ways. At one point, he and the precincts second-in-command allegedly tried to have a female storefront deputy reassigned because her hair was askew and they didnt think it made a good first impression. The woman had just gone through chemotherapy treatment for cancer, and her hair was a wig. Both Neff and another female sergeant filed complaints with superiors that they say were ignored. Neff spoke with Urquharts top deputy, Anne Kirkpatrick, who allegedly told her the sheriff said she could make it work or leave. Eventually, Ledford had Neff and the other female sergeant who had complained transferred out of Shoreline, replacing them both with male sergeants. (Neffs replacement immediately hung up a poster on his door that disparaged and mocked transgender persons, the suit says.) Within 18 months of Ledford taking over, the precinct had gone from having three women in positions of leadership to having none. Blessum, who remained in the precinct as a deputy, claims that in Neffs absence, gay bashing became par for the course at Shoreline. She requested a transfer out of Shoreline, which was denied, and eventually quit in November 2014. Neff, who had moved on to another precinct, was soon subjected to an internal affairs investigation that her complaint says was instigated by Sheriff Urquhart. A longstanding member of the KCSOs officers guild leadership has stated that in all his years he has never seen the sitting Sheriff act as a complainant in an internal investigation, it states. Neff was eventually cleared of all wrongdoing. Given the breadth of the inquiry and the fact that litigation is ongoing, it is very difficult to meaningfully respond, says Sergeant Cindi West, media relations officer for the sheriffs office, when contacted for comment. The lawsuit challenges certain actions taken by the Sheriffs Office against two former officers and one current officer. The Sheriffs Office stands by those actions and decisions, contends they are about officer accountability not harassment, and is confident a jury will view them similarly. A trial for the civil suit is scheduled for January 2017. Meanwhile, case discovery is turning up all sorts of new allegations about potential King County corruption. For instance, Chris Barringer, the sheriffs former campaign manager and current chief of staff, supposedly passed a polygraph test in 2012 as a condition of employment. But according to Detective Tiffany Atwood, who reviewed the test results, Barringer should never have been hired. He showed a significant response to questions about whether he had ever solicited or accepted a bribe, noted Atwood, which means he did not pass his polygraph even though a supervisor had told her he had. Barringer had also disclosed marijuana use that he hadnt admitted to on a background questionnaire, which is an automatic disqualifier. Atwood brought up her concerns about the old polygraph in 2015, when she heard that Barringer had been accepted into the state police academy. This sparked an internal complaint, during which then-Internal Investigations Unit commander Jesse Anderson tried to review the polygraph results personally but was told by Urquhart they were confidential. The Sheriff said his word is all that IIU needs to address that issue, he reported. The attorney for Shoblom, Blessum, and Neff said this is relevant to her case because it gets to credibility issues. Urquhart, who had signed a certified document saying Barringer passed the polygraph, told the Seattle Times that the lawyer was simply trying to obfuscate the real issues and manipulate public opinion. Another recent controversy has involved D.J. Nesel, an employee of KCSO since 1991. Nesel became head of the internal investigations unit in 2012 but left the position 18 months later citing an inability to work with Urquhart, whom he characterized in a Sept. 6 deposition as meddling and moody. Nesel stated in the deposition that he had been threatened over his testimony and, in a Sept. 20 declaration, claimed it was county lawyer Mark Stockdale who had threatened him, during an Aug. 28 telephone conversation. Nesel said Stockdales statements implicated, to put it lightly, my employment with the Sheriffs office, and were repeated at a meeting the next day. Stockdale later tried to offer a clarification, stated Nesel, but I know what was said to me and how it was said and what the intent was. Nesel said he was claiming whistleblower status and protections from retaliation by the sheriffs office or King County. In an email, King County spokeswoman Cindi West pointed out that deposition testimony is not subject to cross examination and provides far from a complete record. Maybe so, but Nesels deposition still doesnt look good for the county. He stated that he was dumbfounded to learn that Sheriff Urquhart and Major Ledford had been conducting their own secret investigation into Diana Neff long before turning the case over to internal affairs, a situation he called ludicrous and out of whack. Nesel also claimed that Urquhart had made disrespectful and disturbing comments about women, although he couldnt say specifically what the statements were because the county contends they are protected by attorney-client privilege, since county lawyers had been present in the room. Urquhart was once the subject of an internal complaint, in 2003, alleging harassment/discrimination, dishonesty, ridicule, and conduct unbecoming an officer, including making inappropriate comments on the radio about the deputies and demeaning behavior [that] created a hostile work environment. However, the complaints portrayed Urquhart as an equal-opportunity irritant and, aside from finding that Uquharts management style failed to meet Department standards as a supervisor and created apprehension, lack of trust, and low morale, internal affairs cleared him of all allegations. But according to Nesels September deposition, Urquharts more-recent statements about women revealed some deeply rooted issues going on there, and I think it affects his command and affects our department in a negative basis. Sexism, discrimination based upon gender, and the creation of a hostile work environment for female employees is a long standing problem and pervasive throughout [KCSO]... from Sheriff Urquhart on down, states the latest lawsuit from female officers. The first lawsuit came in January 2013, with three longtime deputies with King Countys Special Assault Unit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. Specifically named in the suit were Sergeants Anthony Provenzo and Paul Mahlum, who managed the Special Assault Unit. Perhaps most disturbingly, the complaint alleges that Provenzo and Mahlum regularly made inappropriate sexual comments about rape victims. The managers would state say it slower, so I can close my eyes, and I need a box of tissues while [deputies] were discussing the facts of their investigation, the suit claims. The comments were sexually suggestive of Provenzo and Mahlum fantasizing and masturbating to the details of a sexual assault. According to the plaintiffs Belinda Ferguson, Janette Luitgaarden, and Marylisa Priebe-Olson, Provenzo and Mahlum also sexually harassed, verbally abused, and discriminated against female officers on a daily or almost daily basis. This included regularly discussing the size of Belindas breasts and making other comments about female officers anatomysomething seven male and female staffers attested to in documents submitted to the court. Provenzo allegedly called himself the Italian stallion, kept pictures of his sons with Hooters waitresses on his desk, and regularly talked about his sexual prowess. He allegedly told Ferguson not to bother fully investigating sexual assaults that happened on the Muckleshoot Indian reservation because it happens there all the time. King County settled with the women for $1 million in December 2013, without admitting any wrongdoing. Sergeants Provenzo and Mahlum were each sentenced by Sheriff Urquhart to one days suspension without pay. Sean Hannity admits hes not a journalist. That was the important thing to remember at 10 p.m. Thursday evening, when the Fox News host and street martial-arts enthusiast sat down with Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willeythree women who long ago accused Bill Clinton of rape or sexual assaultamid six straight days of bombshells about Donald Trumps alleged sexual misconduct. Hannity didnt ask the women about that. Actually, he didnt ask much at all, besides a series of leading questions and damning statement about what allegedly happened to the women when they were alone with the former presidentold news that Hannity and his friend Donald are hoping strikes a chord with female voters and convinces them Hillary Clinton is an enabler of a sexual criminal unfit for the White House. Before last Friday, Trump had mentioned Bills infidelitieswith Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowersbut had not made an issue out of the allegations of sexual misconduct made by the three women, a pet obsession of Roger Stone, his longtime friend and confidant and the author of The Clintons War on Women, an extensive screed that details the couples alleged crimes against women. But that changed when The Washington Post published audio of Trump from 2005 in which he could be heard boasting about grabbing women by the pussy. In an apology video posted late Friday night, Trump promised to talk more about Bills alleged crimes in the coming days, and then he made goodbefore Sundays presidential debate, he hosted a press conference with them and Kathleen Shelton, a woman who claims Hillary acted in poor faith by representing her alleged rapist in court and getting him off the most serious charges. The campaign continued to go nuclear as more allegations surfaced from women who said they were assaulted by Trump, whod already been accused of rape by his first wife, Ivana, (who later recanted) and Jill Harth, a makeup artist, of sexual assault. The shit really hit the fan Wednesday, when Miss Washington USA 2013 claimed he groped her, while The New York Times published the accounts of two women, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks, who said they were groped or otherwise touched inappropriately by Trumpone on a plane, one in Trump Towerand a People magazine writer, Natasha Stoynoff, published her own account of being assaulted by Trump at Mar-a-Lago, while his pregnant third wife, Melania, changed clothes in a nearby room. Hannity had some work to do for the Republican nominee, in other words. In a suit and blue striped tie, Hannity sat across from the three women and helped each go through their storiesClinton raped and bit Broaddrick, he groped and fondled Jones in his office, he forced himself on Willey. Hannitys toughest question was: Has the media reached out to you for interviews? The women said no, but a quick Google search proves otherwise. Shelton first told her story, anonymously, to The Daily Beast in 2014. Broaddrick was extensively profiled and interviewed by BuzzFeed in August. Willey ignored multiple interview requests from The Daily Beast in the last year. Reporters took to Twitter to note times they interviewed, or tried to interview, the women. Asked about this blatant falsehood, Hannity emailed a response but refused to go on the record. Meanwhile on the air, he asked the women if they were scared. Why wouldnt we be? Jones said. Theres been so many things happen to people connected to the Clintonsa reference to the so-called Clinton Body Count, the conspiracy theory that the Clintons kill or have their enemies killed. Do you fear for your life? Hannity asked. Yes, Jones said, because if Hillary is elected, she will run the world. 1 Melania Trump Threatens to Sue People Magazine Over Assault Story SHE SAID, SHE SAID HAMILTON, Bermuda, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. (TSX:TNP) (NYSE-MKT:TAT) (the Company or TransAtlantic) today announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement with Valeura Energy Netherlands B.V. (Valeura) for the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Thrace Basin Natural Gas (Turkiye) Corporation (TBNG), and provided a production update. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6fc8f1da-387f-4377-b331-61a4691c4f83 Entry into Share Purchase Agreement On October 13, 2016, TransAtlantic Worldwide, Ltd. (TransAtlantic Worldwide), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a share purchase agreement (the Share Purchase Agreement) with its joint venture partner, Valeura, for the sale of all of the equity interests in TBNG, a subsidiary of the Company with assets and operations in the Thrace Basin of Turkey. Pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement, Valeura will pay $22.0 million, subject to closing adjustments, to TransAtlantic Worldwide in exchange for the transfer of all of the equity interests in TBNG. Concurrent with its acquisition of TBNG, Valeura will sell the deep rights on certain of its Turkish joint venture lands to Statoil Banarli Turkey B.V. (Statoil). N. Malone Mitchell, 3rd, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, We are glad to enter into the transaction with Valeura to sell our interest in TBNG. Valeura has been a good joint venture partner. They have brought significant technical support to the joint venture and we look forward to Valeura and Statoil proving the deeper productivity of the Thrace Basin. He added that if Valeura and Statoil are able to establish deep basin productivity in the area, we will be able to join that deep basin play through our 100% interest in the west offset of the Temrez block. Mr. Mitchell also noted that the sale of TBNG represents the equivalent to TransAtlantic of the sale of approximately 379 net barrels of oil equivalent per day ('BOEPD') (99% gas) when using the September 2016 production rate. We intend to use the sale proceeds received to increase our cash reserves and fund drilling operations in our Southeast Turkey oilfields, which we believe will more than offset the decrease in production resulting from the sale of TBNG. This sale accomplishes the important second step of our planned financial restructuring. The sale of TBNG is expected to occur prior to year-end 2016, and is subject to certain closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals and the closing of the sale of Valeuras deep rights to Statoil. Production Update TransAtlantics current 7-day average net production rate is approximately 4,632 BOEPD, comprised of approximately 4,080 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and 3.3 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (MMCFPD). Daily net oil production increased from the end of the second quarter of 2016, primarily due to production enhancement in the Bahar Field in Southeast Turkey, which is ongoing. Incremental production from this work was approximately 500 BOPD. About TransAtlantic TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. is an international oil and natural gas company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. The Company holds interests in developed and undeveloped properties in Turkey, Albania and Bulgaria. (NO STOCK EXCHANGE, SECURITIES COMMISSION OR OTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN.) Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains statements concerning the Companys expectations, plans, goals, objectives, assumptions or information about future events, conditions, results of operations or performance that may constitute forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements or information are based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described in the forward-looking statements or information. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the Companys ability to close the sale of the equity interests of TBNG, ability to continue as a going concern; access to sufficient capital; ability to refinance, repay or restructure its debt; success of cost reduction efforts; market prices for natural gas; natural gas liquids and oil products; estimates of reserves and economic assumptions; the ability to produce and transport natural gas, natural gas liquids and oil; the results of exploration and development drilling and related activities; economic conditions in the countries and provinces in which the Company carries on business, especially economic slowdowns; actions by governmental authorities, receipt of required approvals, increases in taxes, legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to fracture stimulation activities, changes in environmental and other regulations, and renegotiations of contracts; political uncertainty and civil unrest, including actions by insurgent groups or other conflict; outcomes of litigation; the negotiation and closing of material contracts; and other risks described in the Companys filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Westons unveils new Stowford Press design Westons is refreshing the designs on its Stowford Press Cider cans, bottles and glassware. Aimed at reinforcing the authenticity of the brand, the move forms part of Westons' 2.5m investment in the brand this year. The design has been applied across Stowford Press 500ml bottles and cans as well as its pint and half-pint glasses. It features a strapline of 100% local home-pressed apples, which aired for the first time in the summer, in its latest TV ad. The packaging utilises a watermarked tumbling-apple design as well as a gold-coloured apple icon. As part of the packaging update, the brands glassware has changed and now uses gold leaf in both a band around the glass and the newly-designed apple icon. The shape of the glassware has returned to one of the brands original shapes as well as featuring the brands new strapline. The packaging and glassware designs were created by Cheltenham-based agency Brand on Shelf (BoS). As part of the packaging update, the brands glassware has changed and now uses gold leaf in both a band around the glass and the newly-designed apple icon. The shape of the glassware has returned to one of the brands original shapes as well as featuring the brands new strapline. The packaging and glassware designs were created by Cheltenham-based agency Brand on Shelf (BoS). Sally McKinnon, head of brands at Westons Cider, says: We are really excited to be unveiling our updated packaging, which features our new strapline of 100% local home-pressed apples and reminds consumers that all apples used in Stowford Press Cider are locally sourced to the Westons Cider Mill in Herefordshire. The new water-marked tumbling-apple design and more authentic-looking gold apple icon reinforce the authenticity of the brand while also giving a nod to the premiumisation of the brand, which is now the third largest draught apple cider brand in the UK on-trade, worth 76.5m. Westons Cider is now run by the fourth generation of the Weston family, which has been producing traditional English cider in the Herefordshire village of Much Marcle since 1880. Westons makes a broad range of ciders for the premium cider sector with its other key brand groups including Wyld Wood, Henry Westons, Old Rosie, Mortimers Orchard and Caple Rd Cider, the UKs first craft cider in a can. 14 October 2016 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorial assistant NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) today hosted Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus at the companys Newport News Shipbuilding division. Mabus toured the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and recognized more than 1,000 shipbuilders and sailors for their hard work on the construction and testing of the ship. Mabus also discussed Navy and Marine Corps accomplishments over the past seven years, including the Navys work in innovation, energy, shipbuilding, personnel initiatives and partnerships. What the Navy gives America is presencenot at the right place at the right time, but all the time, Mabus said. Quantity is a quality all its own. These shipbuilders produce great American ships. With aircraft carriers, we get on station faster, stay there longer, and we bring everything we need. A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com/file?fid=57fff6172cfac208629f315d. Matt Mulherin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, and Capt. Richard McCormack, Fords commanding officer, accompanied Mabus on the ship tour. Ford is 99 percent overall complete, and less than 10 percent of the overall testing program remains. Secretary Mabus encouraging words mean a lot to these men and women who have worked hard to bring Gerald R. Ford to life, Mulherin said. Like all lead ships of a new class, Ford has come with its challenges. The shipbuilders and Ford crew have tackled each challenge together and without hesitation. Im very proud of their perseverance, and Im honored to be a part of building this great ship. Mabus is the 75th Secretary of the Navy and a former Navy officer, having served aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock (CLG 4). During his tenure, Mabus has worked to improve the quality of life of sailors, Marines and their families; decrease dependence on fossil fuels; strengthen industry and international partnerships; and increase the size of the Navy fleet. Under the secretarys leadership, greater priority has been placed on shipbuilding contracts, which helps us maximize learning curve efficiencies in ship construction and provides stability to our industrial base, Mulherin said. We value Secretary Mabus unwavering support and greatly appreciate his time with us today. Huntington Ingalls Industries is Americas largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of engineering, manufacturing and management services to the nuclear energy, oil and gas markets. For more than a century, HIIs Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs nearly 35,000 people operating both domestically and internationally. For more information, visit: Political campaigns and super PAC often hire pollsters to survey voters about the potential strengths and weaknesses of an opponent or themselves. Evidence of that type of polling has surfaced in emails hacked from the private account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, and released by the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks. In January 2008, a group of progressive activists, including Podesta, pondered polling voters about rumors involving then-Sen. Barack Obama's cocaine use and about his late father's Muslim faith. The questions were set to be asked as rumors were already swirling that the future president was secretly a Muslim born overseas. Obama has acknowledged experimenting with cocaine and marijuana in his youth. Clinton and Obama were competing in the Democratic presidential primaries at the time. Kristi Fuska, a polling analyst with Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, sent proposed questions for a telephone survey that would have asked questions about Obama, according to a message released by WikiLeaks. The message, entitled "McCain Survey," was sent to Podesta and others close to the Clinton campaign, including Paul Begala and Tara McGuinness. Here are the questions the poll team proposed asking: "-- 1 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) was the only candidate at a recent event not to cover his heart during the national anthem and he has stopped wearing an American flag pin. "--2 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) benefited from a land deal from a contributor who has been indicted for corruption. "--3 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) would personally negotiate with the leaders of terrorist nations like Iran and North Korea without preconditions. "--4 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) voted against allowing people to use handguns to defend themselves against intruders. "--5 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) plans to raise taxes by 180 (one hundred and eighty) billion dollars a year to pay for his government-run health care plan "--6 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) voted repeatedly against emergency funding bills for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. "--7 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh)'s father was a Muslim and Obama grew up among Muslims in the world's most populous Islamic country. "--8 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) is ranked as one of the ten most liberal members of the Senate because of his support of issues like gay adoption. "--13 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive the procedure. "--14 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) supports giving driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. "--15 Obama (owe-BAHM-uh) described his former use of cocaine as using 'a little blow.' " Begala said Friday that the message was sent to members of a group called Progressive Media, composed of Clinton and Obama supporters and led at the time by Tom Matzzie, a former director of MoveOn. "We could not coordinate with either campaign, and worked to prepare to defend either candidate in the general election," Begala explained in an email. "It was called 'McCain survey' because it was designed to test attacks that might come in the general election. Our entire focus was the general election. Both Obama and Clinton supporters were, at the time, concerned the eventual nominee would emerge wounded and vulnerable for the general election." After securing the nomination, Obama called on the group to disband because at the time he didn't approve of the use of super PACs in presidential election. "Every campaign and every PAC tests potential negatives against the candidate they support," Begala said. "That's all this was." Matzzie described the polling as "Campaigning 101 to test vulnerabilities," adding that they tested potential vulnerabilities for Clinton and Obama. "While I can't verify 100% veracity of the specific words from hacked emails. I am certain we tested a lot of things like that," he said in an email. "The researchers who helped us cook up negatives went on to work for the Obama campaign itself." Mattzie and Begala say they do not recall whether these specific questions were asked, but that they were consistent with the kind of work they would have been doing at the time. CC398 found in three supermarket meat samples Testing carried out on 97 samples of British-produced pork sold in UK supermarkets, carried out by the campaign group Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, found CC398 in three packets of meat. It tested samples from Asda, Aldi, Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose, and found the superbug in British-produced pork mince from Asda in Northamptonshire and Bristol and Sainsbury's in Surrey. The bacterium found in all three mince packets was fully resistant to tetracyclines, a group of antibiotics which are among the most widely-used in intensive pig farming and are also used to treat urinary tract and sexually transmitted infections in humans. The Sainsbury's sample was also resistant to fluoroquinolones and trimethoprim, also both widely-used in pig farming as well as human medicine. The Asda samples were partially resistant to flouroquinolones and were fully resistant to macrolide and lincosamide antibiotics - again common in pig farming and human medicine. "It is extremely worrying to find LA-MRSA in British-produced pork", said Alliance spokeswoman Emma Rose. "Scientists are now warning that the extensive (MRSA) reservoir in animals could ultimately lead to a pandemic spread in the human population. "LA-MRSA is able to cause serious and potentially fatal infections in humans, and as the bacteria is resistant to antibiotics, it is extremely difficult to treat. What's more - even more dangerous variations are emerging as the superbug evolves." CC398 was first identified in livestock in the Netherlands in 2004. Since then, it has spread across Europe, infecting farm animals and people. The infection has been found in cattle, horses, chickens and turkeys, but pigs are the primary species affected. The superbug has been linked to an overuse of antibiotics in factory farming - where often cramped and dirty conditions allow disease to flourish, and farmers can become reliant on drugs to keep animals healthy. Serious regulatory deficiences exposed CC398 is one of a growing number of antibiotic resistant superbugs. The growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) - referring to bacteria becoming immune to commonly-used antibiotics - poses a grave danger to global public health. The NHS's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has described antibiotic resistance as posing a "bigger threat than terrorism" - while a major global review by economist Lord Jim O'Neill earlier this year predicted resistant superbugs would kill more people than cancer by 2050. Our investigation has identified several gaps in regulation which mean LA-MRSA is able to spread to the British pig herd. Firstly, while Denmark says it has one of the world's most comprehensive pig health screening systems, producers are not legally required to screen export animals for CC398. Livestock known to be infected can be freely exported. The next issue arises in Britain. While imported pigs must be guaranteed to be free from a number of diseases, this strain of MRSA is not one of them. This is because CC398 is not classified as a notifiable disease by Public Health England. Since first being found in Danish pigs in 2006, CC398 has travelled well beyond the confines of farms, spread by agricultural workers or through contaminated meat. The variant is now estimated to account for about 40% of all human MRSA cases in the country. More than 600 people were known to have contracted CC398 in Denmark in 2013. The following year 1,276 cases were recorded, while last year another 1,172 cases were confirmed, according to government figures. Newborn babies have also been found carrying the bug, transmitted from their mothers. In some cases CC398 proves fatal: since robust screening procedures of humans were introduced in Denmark in 2012, six people are known to have died after contracting it. Last year the Danish government announced a major plan to tackle the rates of CC398 by reducing the amount of antibiotics used in pig production by 15% by 2018. It also announced plans to improve biosecurity on farms, through measures such as improvements of pig farm workers' hygiene and programs to monitor the development of MRSA. But the initiative did not include mandatory screening of breeding pigs destined for export markets. Professor Kolmos said the strategy had major deficiencies: "The plan takes no actions against trade of live MRSA positive pigs, knowing well that this - according to scientific studies - is the most important way to spread MRSA. If [Britain is] to avoid the problems we have [in Denmark] with pig-associated MRSA, you have to stop the import of live MRSA-positive pigs as soon as you can." Public Health England: three human infections recorded The most recent Danish trade figures available show the UK imported more than 3,000 Danish breeding pigs in the past six years, including 916 animals in 2013, 598 the year after and 283 in 2015. In July 2014, Britain's first confirmed case of CC398 in a pig farm was identified: in Northern Ireland, a single piglet was found to be infected after being sent for post-mortem. Although the animal died of pneumonia, MRSA was found in its liver, lungs and spleen, according to an industry publication. In January 2015, two more piglets originating from a separate farm in eastern England were found to be infected - they were submitted to a government laboratory for post-mortem after showing signs of skin disease. In total, 60 pigs from the breeding farm showed symptoms of illness, and six died as a result of the disease. Upon questioning Public Health England (PHE), we discovered three confirmed human cases of CC398 had been recorded in the UK. None of the cases were linked to people working in pig farming, raising concerns the infection was spread by contaminated meat or already exists in the human community. PHE would not release details of where or when the cases were diagnosed as the small number of cases meant to do so would risk identifying the people involved. Although veterinary health officials have declined to speculate about the origins of the outbreaks in pig farms, industry publications reported that imported animals were believed to be responsible for the case in Northern Ireland. Breeding pig exporter's MRSA problem We have also learnt that at least one major Danish pig-breeding company that supplies animals to England - Breeding Centre Rnshauge A/S - has been contaminated with CC398 in the past. The company operates three pig-breeding facilities, and claims on its website to regularly supply both live pigs and semen to more than 30 countries - including England - as well as to clients in Denmark itself. Rnshauge says it has more than 750 breeding animals in artificial insemination stations globally, and claims that as many as one in four Danish pigs carry the company's pig genes. Rnshauge pigs tested positive for CC398 in 2014 during government sampling, according to a list of more than 200 Danish pig farms found to be infected with LA-MRSA during official testing carried out between 2011 and 2015. The official Danish export database shows Rnshauge exported 16 pigs to the UK in December 2012, 65 in March 2013 and 41 in July this year. We have also established that another pig breeding firm supplied by Rnshauge was found to be contaminated with CC398 during the testing. The company, Solvang Swineavl, is a large exporter of breeding pigs in its own right with international customers in Belgium, Italy, China and Brazil. The data was published for the first time earlier this year by the media organisation Investigative Reporting Denmark following a lengthy legal battle. Farming bodies tried to prevent publication of the list, arguing that it could prove detrimental to the individual farmers named and the industry as a whole. Until January the authorities had refused to publish it, only doing so after Denmark's highest court ruled against the ongoing secrecy. Rnshauge declined to answer questions about the number of animals it had exported to the UK in recent years, or whether it voluntarily screened its animals for CC398. The MRSA strain was prevalent in many EU countries, it said, so it was no surprise it was present in some Danish pigs. It did not comment on its current MRSA status, but said: "In both production and export of pigs we follow - as any other Danish producer - all the rules from European and Danish authorities." 'No screening procedures in place neither in the EU nor in Denmark' Tim Petersen, from the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food, said that the official MRSA screening tests should only be seen as "snapshots" of specific farms and places where animals were tested. But he admitted that there were "no screening procedures in place neither in the EU nor in Denmark by which the farms [or] herds can declare themselves free after being found infected." Alliance spokeswoman Rose said it was astonishing that no active government screening of the British pig herd for LA-MRSA had occurred since 2009 - when an EU wide survey was carried out and no MRSA was found in UK farms - despite repeated calls for testing. As such, she said, it was impossible to know how many pigs were infected and what the potential risk was to public health: "If we are to have any chance of heading off this catastrophe, the government needs to put in place some basic measures to tackle the spread of LA-MRSA. The systematic overuse of antibiotics on intensive pig farms - which is strongly linked to the emergence of CC398 - must stop." Professor Erik Millstone, a food safety expert at the University of Sussex, said the FSA was wrong to downplay the seriousness of LA-MRSA: "The FSA might give its usual response of: 'If people cook food properly then they're not at risk'. But not everyone cooks everything properly, and cooks often handle [meat] before they cook it. We increasingly eat outside of our homes, and from kitchens in cafes and restaurants where it's impossible for consumers to know how the food is prepared or cooked." People could also get the infection from those working at farms and slaughterhouses, he said, adding: "The emergence of antibiotic strains of pathogenic bacteria is a huge threat to human health and the health of livestock." What exactly was found in British supermarket pork? Multi-locus sequencing typing - a type of testing considered the 'gold-standard' for identifying specific strains of bacteria - was carried out by the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics on 97 samples of pork products from major British supermarkets. Three packets of pork mince - two from Asda, one from Sainsbury's - were found to contain LA-MRSA CC398. A Guardian Films investigation last year revealed imported Danish meat had been contaminated with the superbug - but this is the first time individual British supermarkets have been named in relation to UK-produced pork. The bacterium in all three packets were tetracycline-resistant. Tetracyclines are the most widely used antibiotics in intensive pig farming and are used to treat urinary tract and sexually transmitted infections in humans. The pork from Sainsbury's was also fluoroquinolone-resistant. Fluoroquinolones are a class of antibiotics used in pig farming, which in human medicine treat respiratory and urinary tract infections. It was also resistant to trimethoprim, an antibiotic widely use in farming, which is used to treat bladder, lung, middle ear infections and traveller's diarrhoea in human medicine. While the samples from ASDA were not fully fluoroquinolone-resistant, they showed intermediate-level resistance to the drugs. They were also resistant to macrolide and lincosamide antibiotics. Macrolides are very widely used in pig farming, and lincosamides are quite widely used too. Macrolides are prescribed for respiratory, skin, soft tissue and sexually transmitted infections in humans, while lincosamides are used to treat a range of bacterial infections. The British response - is it adequate? The National Pig Association (NPA) has developed its own voluntary protocol for pig farmers and breeders to try to stop the growth of CC398 in the British pig herd. It focuses on the entry point - infected pigs from other countries arriving in the UK. The Red Tractor certification scheme - to which more than 90% of UK pig producers are signed up, requires importers to ensure the stock they buy has been tested for the bug in the source country, whenever a new supplier is used. Regular testing must then continue. Neither the NPA nor Red Tractor would confirm whether they held data on compliance levels for the protocol however, or data on the number of pigs found to be infected with LA-MRSA. David Clarke, chief executive of Red Tractor, admitted there had been procedural failings in the past but said this would not be acceptable going forward: "Going forward we intend to enhance the Red Tractor standard to require specific veterinary checks on the pathogen test results of every consignment and we will expect to see a signed veterinary certificate of disease-free status." Sainsbury's said it believed LA-MRSA was "very uncommon" in British pork and it always advised customers on how to cook meat properly and use basic kitchen hygiene. It said in a statement: "We only allow the use of medicines on farm for animal health and welfare purposes, and under the strict supervision of a vet. We work closely with our farmers to ensure antibiotics are used responsibly and are taking advice from leading industry experts on this issue." Asda said: "Our customers can be assured that we are working closely with industry groups and farmers to make sure that antibiotics are used responsibly in farm animals." A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said: "Livestock-Associated MRSA is not the same as MRSA strains that can cause healthcare-associated infections and if meat is handled and prepared properly, the risk to people is low. "Defra and the National Pig Association recommend that pigs imported to Britain are screened for LA-MRSA. The Government is currently reviewing options for surveillance, which will be proportionate to the very low health risk posed by Livestock-Associated MRSA. "Tackling resistance to antibiotics is one of the Government's top priorities. We are already making good progress in the UK and have set out a clear commitment to significantly reduce the level of antibiotic use in livestock." Zoe Davies of the NPA said: "Presence of resistance to antibiotics in LA-MRSA cannot be directly attributed to malpractice in use of antibiotics in the country where it is detected, since LA-MRSA retains the resistance genes even when the bacteria may not have been exposed to the antibiotic." She said that Dutch and Danish farms have a high prevalence of LA-MRSA even though significant reductions in antibiotic use in farming have been made. "There is no specific UK or EU legislation for the control of MRSA in companion animals or livestock. Government is constantly reviewing the range of surveillance and control options available for new and emerging disease situations, including those involving AMR, but clearly such measures must be demonstrably proportionate to the risk to human and animal health. LA-MRSA is considered to be of low risk to public and animal health and it is not a food safety concern." How gaps in enforcement could help spread of superbug Animal health officials do not have the necessary legal powers to contain LA-MRSA CC398 even after outbreaks are confirmed, a government contingency planning document reveals. According to the document, current policies allow officials to carry out laboratory surveillance of the bacteria concerned and to access premises and livestock for sampling. Yet "additional policy tools" - such as putting movement restrictions on livestock, restricting the disposal of farm waste, slaughtering animals and restricting the prescription and supply of antibiotics - are "not currently available because the legal powers are not in place". This potentially hampers efforts to contain disease outbreaks: "Taking the first three bullet points together [movement restrictions; disposal of farm waste; slaughter], the advantages would be achievement of a much closer control of the situation on affected premises", the document states. "The risk of dissemination of the resistant organism (from that premises) could be much reduced." Notifiable diseases - such as salmonella - are subject to stricter control, the document notes, than non-notifiable illnesses such as LA-MRSA. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate said that while the spread of CC398 is not controlled through restrictions on movement, they continued to work with industry and stakeholder groups to tackle the issue, including developing specific guidance on improving biosecurity. "The fact that LA-MRSA is not a notifiable disease does not affect our ability to identify LA-MRSA through clinical surveillance programmes and research run by UK government", a spokesperson said. Separate documents reveal officials investigating England's first pig related CC398 outbreak in January 2015 were hindered by a farmer's refusal to allow detailed sampling at the breeding facility believed to be at the centre of the outbreak. 'No appetite to enforce further testing on the farm' Officials discussed invoking statutory powers in order to gain entry to the farm, but were worried that such action might jeopardise voluntary sample submissions in the future. The consensus was that "there was no appetite to enforce further testing (using legal powers) on the farm." A spokesperson from the Animal and Plant Health Agency confirmed that three cases of LA-MRSA had been found in the UK by January 2015 - one in pigs in England, one in pigs in Northern Ireland and one in poultry in England - but said the official response was considered "appropriate and proportionate to the risk." The body declined to confirm whether any sampling was subsequently carried out, or whether further farm visits were made. Emma Rose, from the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, describes the lack of enforcement measures as "worrying" and say wider surveillance is needed: "The current controls are inadequate, in large part due to the lack of appropriate surveillance and testing [which are] crucial to determining the extent of the LA-MRSA problem and to helping define the measures required to contain and control it." Andrew Wasley is an investigative journalist specialising in food issues. He's co-founder of the award-winning investigative agency Ecostorm and a previous editor of The Ecologist magazine. His book, 'The Ecologist Guide to Food', was published in 2014. Follow Andrew Wasley on Twitter: @Andrew_Wasley This article was originally published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and is reproduced with kind permission of the author. This story is part of the Bureau's in-depth investigation series looking at AMR. If you have any stories or tips please contact our dedicated AMR reporter Madlen Davies. A shorter version of this story previously appeared in the Guardian. Get all of TBIJ's antibiotic resistance updates on Twitter: @TBIJAntibiotics COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Colorado Association Services, an Associa company, congratulates Angela Johnson on receiving the Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) designation through the Community Associations Institute. Achieving the industry's top accreditation allows her to better provide community management services to communities and homeowners in Colorado Springs. The PCAM designation is the highest professional recognition available nationwide to managers who specialize in community association management. To earn the PCAM designation, a community manager must have five years of direct community management experience, maintain their Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) designation and pass all six of CAI's M-200 level professional management development programs, which cover community communications, leadership and governance as well as financial and facilities management. "Angela has devoted herself to this industry and the hard work and dedication we see from her every day is validated with this prestigious designation that is earned by the best of the best in this industry," says Associa Regional Vice President Heather Kerwin. "She is an inspiration to other community managers and a natural leader within the Associa family." Johnson is the community director for Associa's Colorado Springs office. She has worked for Associa since 2011 and oversees the operations of 43 community associations, 4000 residential homes, and eight management team members. Johnson has worked in the community association management field for more than 20 years and has managed all types of communities, from high-rises, mid-rises, and townhomes to villas and single-family homes. Building and managing successful communities for more than 37 years, Associa is the worldwide leader in community management with over 10,000 employees operating more than 180 branch offices in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Based in Dallas, Texas, our industry expertise, financial strength, and innovation meet the unique needs of clients across the world with customized services and solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more about Associa and its charitable organization, Associa Cares, go to www.associaonline.com or www.associacares.com. Stay Connected: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/associa Twitter: https://twitter.com/associa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/associa Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/associa/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/associamarketing Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Associaonline/ Photos accompanying this release are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41673 CONTACT:Billy Rudolph 214-272-4107 brudolph@associaonline.com Boones Mill is taking steps to ensure that its redevelopment project aligns rather than conflicts with the countys new business park. The town is sending a few suggested changes to the draft master plan for the 550-acre business park, formerly known as the Southway Farm, to the members of the county board of supervisors for their consideration. The town council unanimously voted to do so Tuesday. The draft master plan for the park, which county staff worked with Timmons Group to produce, was presented to the board of supervisors and made public in August. The supervisors didnt take any action. Michael Burnette, the countys economic development director, said the supervisors will review comments the county has received on the plan and hopefully make a decision on whether to adopt it at their meeting next Tuesday. Boones Mill Town Manager Matt Lawless plans to speak at the meeting about the towns proposed amendments. Boones Mill is working to redevelop the former North American Housing manufacturing complex. Work recently began on renovations to a two-story industrial building on the town-owned property. Lawless said he wants to make sure Boones Mill and Franklin County are on the same page about the goals of their respective projects, so each will contribute something unique that plays to each of their strengths rather than replicate the other. We want to make sure that the planned development at Southway is consistent with the strategies of the two towns and that what were doing is working in parallel, Lawless said. The amendments ask that: Language be added to the plan indicating the county and town will partner to align the Southway project with similar efforts in Boones Mill. The county not recruit businesses looking for less than 100,000 square feet, and direct such prospects to other areas of the county, like Boones Mill, better equipped to serve them. The county consider interconnecting water supplies with the Boones Mill system before or in addition to building a storage tank at the park. The county not include a farmers market or auction house in the market space and instead use it as a fairground or expo space. Lawless said he doesnt want to see the county sacrifice space in the business park for a business looking for less than 100,000 square feet of space when they could go elsewhere in Franklin County. None of the three options in the master plan calls for a building less than 120,000 square feet. However, Burnette said the master plan displays the largest possible buildings that could fit on each pad site but it doesnt necessarily mean the county wouldnt bring a business looking for less space into the park. Committing to not recruiting businesses looking for less than 100,000 square feet is something the county would have to look at closely, Burnette said. Some companies, especially startups, might be looking to start small in a place they can expand later, he said. With regard to water supplies, the town has a 250,000-gallon storage tank just a few miles from the park and could supply at least 50,000 gallons of water per day to the park. Lawless said the town would like to see the farmers market removed from the list of possibilities for the market space, given that there are already several located throughout the county. Boones Mill is home to Foothills Produce Auction, which started this May in a building owned by the town. Burnette said at this point, the county isnt planning for a farmers market, but they have spoken with the produce auction about relocating to the business park. It will be up to the board of supervisors to determine which, if any, of Boones Mills amendments make it into the master plan. Burnette said the county wants to work closely with both Boones Mill and Rocky Mount to bring more development and prosperity to both the county and the towns. Overall, Burnette said, the county has received very few comments about the draft master plan. Domestic violence cases increase in Des Moines County this year Advocates say there was a spike in domestic abuse cases in Des Moines County this past year. But not all incidents are being reported to police. KIGALI, RWANDA and ATLANTA, GA, Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched the worlds first national drone delivery service during a ceremony in the countrys centrally located Muhanga District. Starting today, the Rwandan government will begin using drones to make up to 150 on-demand, emergency deliveries per day of life-saving blood to 21 transfusing facilities located in the western half of the country. The drones and delivery service are built and operated by Zipline, a California-based robotics company. While Rwandas drone delivery service will initially focus on blood, an international partnership between UPS, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Zipline will help the country quickly expand the types of medicines and lifesaving vaccines that can be delivered. "Drones are very useful, both commercially and for improving services in the health sector. We are happy to be launching this innovative technology and to continue working with partners to develop it further, said Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The Global Problem Throughout the developing world, access to lifesaving and critical health products is hampered by what is known as the last-mile problem: the inability to deliver needed medicine from a city to rural or remote locations due to lack of adequate transportation, communication and supply chain infrastructure. In Rwanda, postpartum hemorrhaging is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. Blood requires storage and transport at safe temperatures and spoils quickly. Because there are many different blood products and no way to accurately project future needs, many transfusion clinics do not keep all the blood they may need in stock. During Rwandas lengthy rainy season, many roads wash out becoming impassible or non-existent. The result is that all too often someone in need of a lifesaving transfusion cannot access the blood they need to survive. The Solution Rwandas national drone delivery program enables blood transfusion clinics across the Western half of the country to place emergency orders by cell phone text message. The orders are then received by Zipline at its at its distribution center located in the countrys Muhanga region where the company maintains a fleet of 15 drones, called Zips. Each Zip can fly up to 150 km round tripeven in wind and rainand carry 1.5kg of blood, which is enough to save a person's life. Zips take off and land at the Nest, and make deliveries by descending close to the ground and air dropping medicine to a designated spot called a mailbox near the health centers they serve. Zipline will make 50-150 emergency flights a day to 21 transfusion clinics across the Western Half of Rwanda and can fulfill orders in around 30 minutes. Rwanda plans to expand Ziplines drone delivery service to the Eastern half of the country in early 2017, putting almost every one of the countrys 11 million citizens within reach of instant delivery of lifesaving medicines. The inability to deliver life saving medicines to the people who need them the most causes millions of preventable deaths each year around the world. Zipline will help solve that problem once and for all, said Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo. Weve built an instant delivery system for the world, allowing medicine to be delivered on-demand and at low-cost, anywhere. Rwanda and Beyond The commercial partnership between Rwanda and Zipline is expected to save thousands of lives over the next three years. Through this effort, Rwanda is leading the world by using cutting-edge technology to leapfrog the absence of road infrastructure and to provide cutting edge healthcare access to all its 11 million citizens. The work in Rwanda is being further supported by an international partnership between Zipline, UPS and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Thanks to a $1.1 million grant from the UPS Foundation, the partnership will study Rwandas blood drone delivery operation with an eye towards helping the country quickly expanding the types of medicines and lifesaving vaccines that can be delivered. Leveraging UPSs extensive global supply chain and logistics expertise, Gavis deep public health and vaccine knowledge, and Ziplines cutting edge last-mile delivery technology, the partnership hopes to use the knowledge gained in Rwanda and export it around the world. UPSs logistics expertise and resources are expected to play a critical role in helping the partnership to expand the reach of this important work. The company was actually able to transport the entire Zipline system from California to Rwanda in record time in a Browntail cargo plane, helping to ensure Ziplines distribution center could be constructed in just four weeks. "One of the most important focus areas for The UPS Foundation is to spark public-private partnerships that create powerful scale and drive demonstrable impact in support of global humanitarian aid and relief," said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and chief diversity and inclusion officer at UPS. The shared belief in the ability to save lives through applied innovation, combined with Rwanda's vision, is now not only poised to advance humanitarian logistics and logistics as we know it around the world, but also to save lives. Now is when our partnership between The UPS Foundation, Gavi and Zipline counts most, as we see the first operational missions dedicated to shipping lifesaving blood, and keep our eye on what the future can bring for other life-saving commodities, as well as for other parts of the world. Drones have the potential to revolutionise the way we reach remote communities with emergency medical supplies. The hours saved delivering blood products or a vaccine for someone who has been exposed to rabies with this technology could make the difference between life and death, said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. This project will also act as an important test for whether drones are a viable way to improve targeted vaccine delivery around the world. Every child deserves basic, lifesaving vaccines. This technology could be an important step towards ensuring they get them. Over the course of the next year, and with the support of the partnership with UPS and Gavi, Zipline plans to expand drone delivery services to countries across Africa and the Americas. Additionally, Zipline recently announced plans at the White House to expand it service to the United States, where it will serve Indian reservations in Maryland, Nevada, and Washington State. Media Assets: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cy2tuim7jsqerml/AADC4ndSWX8jAOmAG_ePmbjoa?dl=0 About Zipline Zipline is a robotics company based in California. The companywhich includes seasoned aerospace veterans who previously worked at companies and organizations like SpaceX, Google, Boeing, and NASAdesigns and manufactures autonomous aircraft for delivering lifesaving medicine to the worlds most difficult to reach places . Ziplines long-term mission is to build instant delivery for the planet, allowing medicines and other products to be delivered on demand and at low cost without using a drop of gasoline. Zipline is supported by some of the smartest investors in the world, including: Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, SV Angel, Subtraction Capital, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and Stanford University. About UPS UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Since its founding in 1907, UPS has built a legacy as a caring and responsible corporate citizen, supporting programs that provide long-term solutions to community needs. Founded in 1951, The UPS Foundation leads its global citizenship programs and is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national, and global communities. In 2015, UPS and its employees, active and retired, invested more than $110 million in charitable giving around the world. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/Foundation. To get UPS news directly, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS or follow @UPS_News and @UPS_Foundation. About Gavi Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children's lives and protecting people's health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunisation of nearly 580 million children and the prevention of approximately 8 million future deaths. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is funded by governments (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, the Peoples Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the State of Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States), the European Commission, Alwaleed Philanthropies, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as private and corporate partners (Absolute Return for Kids, Anglo American plc., The Childrens Investment Fund Foundation, Comic Relief, the ELMA Vaccines and Immunization Foundation, The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (IFPW), the Gulf Youth Alliance, JP Morgan, la Caixa Foundation, LDS Charities, Lions Clubs International Foundation, Majid Al Futtaim, Phillips, UPS and Vodafone. WESTPORT Despite mold being found in several classrooms, officials have said students will remain in Coleytown Middle School. Five Coleytown Middle School classrooms have been remediated for mold, according to Director of School Business Operations Elio Longo and 13 other classrooms, currently in use, have been flagged as possibly having mold. The project could cost the town $250,000, said Longo, but those are early projections. We have remediated a cluster of classrooms, but it really comes down to a design flaw in the unit ventilator in the wall and some, perhaps, possibly substandard insulation that allowed moisture over time, condensation to collect in that wall and when you have moisture in a wall, its not a good thing, Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer said Monday. Brooks Environmental Consulting, the company that completed the mold remediation project, said in its report mold was discovered in September after a teachers complaint regarding visible mold on the interior surface of the drywall in classroom 133. Classrooms 125, 128, 130, 131 and 133 are the five classrooms where mold was discovered, abated and cleared for occupancy. Fungal spores are found everywhere with many of them having no adverse effects. However, contained in the report on classrooms 130, 128 and 125, were traces of graver fungi. Stachybotrys in all three and Paecilomyces in room 125. Paecilomyces can cause various infections in humans and Stachybotrys, which can produce mycotoxins, can be harmful if the toxins are inhaled, ingested and exposed to skin. Out of 30 total classrooms equipped with the same, possibly faulty, cooling system, 14 have been tested for mold. The remaining 16 classrooms have yet to be fully inspected. Thirteen of those are in use, with the remaining three being tested for mold. Longo said the administration doesnt plan to test the remaining classrooms in question until at least Thanksgiving break, allowing middle schoolers and teachers to continue school activities in untested confines. He noted that 27 of the 30 classrooms are in use and have been cleared for use by the environmental consultant, Mike Zubarev, of Brooks Environmental Consulting. The abatement project is not an emergency at this point. There is no evidence of potentially toxic mold species presence at the common areas and classrooms, Zubarev said. Coleytown was built in 1965 and it is unclear when the cooling system was installed or last worked on. The classrooms that remain to be tested, if there is hidden mold, at this time, they are suited for occupancy, according to Brooks Environment, Longo said. Longo said at Thanksgiving break they plan on opening the walls to test the mold and if abatement is required, they will do so. Longo said the work may extend into holiday break. It has health implications if it is exposed. It is encapsulated and in the walls, Longo said of the mold. Asked about how long Westport students and employees have been exposed to the mold at Coleytown, Longo said he couldnt nail down a precise timeline for that, but Palmer said she believes the mold became an issue after the start of the school year. Every summer we have a comprehensive protocol where we clean all of the classrooms, countertops, the floors. There would have been a reporting of any mold if it were cited over the summer. Based on our summer protocols for cleaning the buildings top to bottom, it would be unlikely that this mold was present before the start of the school year, Palmer said. Palmer told the school board on Monday the mold problem was under control and that the administration has the gift of time in addressing the remainder of the mold. The only mold that remains is called hidden mold that is behind the walls and because of that there is no health hazard to anyone in the building at this time. The environmental consultant has said we really have the gift of time, through the end- of-the-year vacation periods, to remediate the rest of the classrooms that have the unit ventilators and there is an area of the ceiling that needs to be remediated, Palmer said. Palmers predecessor, Elliott Landon, had his share of encounters with mold remediation, notably in 2006, when mold was found in a pod at Kings Highway Elementary School following years of teachers questioning the quality of the air and multiple instances of student illnesses. In 2014, according to the Connecticut Post, the mold remediation effort at Kings Highway ultimately cost the town $4.5 million, $1.6 million over the initial budget. The costs were exceedingly high because, through the mold inspection process, lead was also found in the school. @chrismmarquette; cmarquette@bcnnew.com RIGA, Latvia, Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- X Infotech, (www.x-infotech.com), a global provider of software solutions for identity documents and payment smart cards, officially marks 10 years in business with an anniversary celebration at its headquarters in Riga. X Infotech was founded in 2006 by passionate and highly skilled IT professionals Sergey Yeliseyev, Vadim Tereshko, Alexander Popov and Maris Birgelis. The company started with the distribution of partner products, quickly gaining the reputation of a trusted market player. A few years later the company self-invested in R&D, opening the development of its proprietary software products for electronic identity documents and smart cards. Today, X Infotech has immensely broadened the reach and sharpened the vision, evolving a strong track record and serving hundreds of customers in 45+ countries - Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. We grow and mature in different areas whether turnover, increased customer satisfaction, market share or the number of the employees, said Vadim Tereshko, Co-owner and Business Development Director, Banking & Mobile at X Infotech. After all, our success would not be possible without our team, partners and clients with whom we work together to develop software and lead the industry. On behalf of our Board I would like to express our confidence for many more years of growth and prosperity. Within 10 years X Infotech has gathered an impressive success-stories portfolio, from social projects in Africa and payment card programs in the EMEA region to eID documents in Uruguay, as well as the European Union laissez-passer and ePassport/eID card in Ireland. Governments, financial organizations and banks choose X Infotechs comprehensive software solutions for exceptional quality and robust functionality, complemented with ultimate flexibility and guaranteed delivery. This is a very exciting time for me, personally. From our first day in business to today, X Infotech experienced significant growth in government eID, said Sergey Yeliseyev, Co-owner and Business Development Director, Government eID at X Infotech. We face the ever-increasing competition in the industry, but together with our extra-dedicated team and reliable partners, we keep climbing to the top of the hill everyday higher and higher. About X Infotech X Infotech (www.x-infotech.com) is a global provider and integrator of software solutions for identity documents and smart cards. The company helps governments, local document producers, banks and financial institutions to implement eID and smart card programs, providing the IT infrastructure and empowering them to take full and autonomous control of their projects and businesses. X Infotechs solutions are easily modified, making them compatible with any type of chip and personalization equipment, document verification and biometric enrolment devices. Headquartered in Europe, X Infotech boasts of having 100% projects successfully implemented in 45+ countries worldwide. With all the controversy at the presidential level this election season, it is quite easy to lose sight of the important races for state representative and state senate. Arguably, more laws that affect our personal prosperity and our daily lives are passed by the legislature in Hartford than in our nations capitol. A stark reminder of the importance of focusing on local races was in the news last week: Kiplingers ranked Connecticut the second worst state in which to retire. Their article lists the top 10 states that are least tax-friendly states for seniors; Vermont is first, followed by Connecticut. Per Kiplinger's, these 10 states impose the highest taxes on retirees, and exemptions forretirement income are limited or nonexistent. Property taxes are on the high side, too. Andsome of these states are facing significant financial problems that could force them to raise taxes, cut services, or both. Separately, the Tax Foundation, a non-profit and non-partisan tax research group educating taxpayers about sound tax policy, recently listed Connecticut as 43rd in the nation for its business tax climate. Whats the simple conclusion from this data? Connecticut over-taxes and over-regulates people and businesses to the extreme. The Democrats in our state dont see this. But the sad result is these policies are the catalyst for decisions by seniors on fixed incomes, by wealthy citizens concerned about estate taxation, and by businesses seeking a fair profit to pick up and move to other states. We all know people who have had to make this tough decision. Every day that Im in Hartford, I see this seemingly blind refusal by the Democratic majority to look at another path other than, yet again, increasing taxes and fees on businesses and people. While theres no question Connecticut residents fully expect to pay taxes to support core government services, e.g. public health, public safety, transportation, social services and education, we need to look seriously at redefining how we deliver and fund those services. House Republicans along with S enate Republicans have presented not just one alternative budget weve offered five within the last four years! Our proposals provide for all these services without raising taxes. The most current budget, entitled Pathway to Sustainability (fiveyearbudget.com), was vetted by the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis as viable with valid fiscal solutions and lauded by newspaper editorial boards across the state. Examples of our common-sense ideas include a proposal requiring a full vote in the legislature on all union contracts; new protocols to oversee union overtime and computation of retirement benefits; offering all new hires a 401K plan rather than guaranteed defined benefits; centralizing legal staff under the Attorney Generals office; expanding privatization of DMV services; and, providing municipal mandate relief. Very simply, we need to make structural changes to achieve a return to fiscal prosperity. Democrats have held the governors office and both legislative chambers for six years. Theyve had time to return Connecticut to prosperity. But, in that time they chose to raise taxes a record $4.8 billion in the hope that it would turn our economy around. It has not. Instead, it has created a vicious cycle of retirees and businesses leaving the state, and businesses choosing not to locate in Connecticut. The result is a continued loss of revenue, forcing more tax and fee increases. Let me clarify, though, that the vast majority of our legislative work in Hartford is done on a truly bipartisan basis, is highly collegial and warmly respectful. The reality, however, remains that control of our state budget is a partisan issue, driven by one-party rule. Our citizens deserve more than the uniform rhetoric from the Democratic leaders in Hartford. They cry finger-pointing and lack of bipartisanship when we highlight their reckless spending and taxation policies. Connecticut has so many positive assets: a well-educated workforce, abundant cultural opportunities, a historic coastline and scenic landscapes. We can match our natural assets with fiscal prosperity to benefit all. I believe strongly, that working together, we can and we will. State Rep. Terrie Wood is a Republican seeking a fourth term to represent the 141st House District of Norwalk and Darien. WASHINGTON In the interest of fairness, I wish to raise an issue on which Donald Trump has been consistently and resoundingly right: The Republican Party is utterly pathetic. During a decade of commentary, and in a career of government service before that, I have often argued that the GOP is better than its liberal stereotypes. It is a case I can no longer make, at least when it comes to presidential politics. The Trump ascendency is the triumph of anti-reason of birtherism, of vaccine denialism, of suggestions that Justice Antonin Scalia was smothered with a pillow and that Hillary Clinton may have been involved in the death of Vince Foster. It is the triumph of nativism of a political appeal based on hatred against migrants and Muslims. It is the triumph of white nationalism, which has moved inward from the fringes of Republican politics. It is the triumph of misogyny, demonstrated with words that require a disinfectant shower after hearing. It is the triumph of authoritarian impulses. Since the Constitution is broken, argues Maine Gov. Paul LePage, we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country. Trump has made the party a laughingstock among the young, a toxic brand among minorities, an offense to many women, a source of worry among American allies and alarm among national security professionals. And this was before Trump pronounced himself unshackled from the style-cramping expectations of his establishment Republican captors. The main use of his newly found freedom has been to attack GOP leaders. Speaker Paul Ryan has authored bad budgets. In what way? They were very, very bad budgets, Trump elucidated. He wouldnt want to be in a foxhole with Sen. John McCain which presumably was the point of his five Vietnam deferments. Steve Bannon, the CEO of Trumps campaign, once said, What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party. The lift, it might be said, of a driving dream. And how has the object of this contempt responded? It is supine. It is docile. It licks the hand that beats it. Trump can hardly maintain, for even five minutes, the pose of apology for predatory and abusive language against women before dismissing it as salty language or the equivalent of a sneeze. Yet Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus calls his apology heartfelt, a description he must know to be false. And running-mate Mike Pence goes further, urging evangelicals to accept Trumps apology because they are required to believe in grace and forgiveness. Pence is seeking theological cover for cruelty and political cynicism. This is nigh to blasphemy. There is also a group of Republicans who unendorsed Trump after the most recent taped evidence of misogyny, only to withdraw their unendorsements under pressure. It is hard to secure scientific proof of a politician betraying his or her conscience for political reasons, but this comes pretty close. And the position of Ryan refusing to defend Trump any damn longer but not unendorsing him is not much better. His transparent disgust for Trump has become a self-indictment. This much is clear: Republican leaders offered no effective resistance to the ideological and political demolition of their party. Which may, in the worst case, give George W. Bush the distinction of being the last Republican president. Trump, it appears, has ceased to seriously pursue that office, using American democracy to work out his inner demons or perhaps to position his brand. And he employing conspiracy theories and rented spokesmen may well take the country down a post-election rabbit hole by questioning the legitimacy of what he is already calling a rigged system and a total fix job. But assuming Trump is one of American historys biggest losers his direction, though not yet his destiny it will be more difficult for him to make the charge of loserhood against others. And his conspiratorial, self-serving attacks on our constitutional order may seem like spraying graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial. Massive electoral repudiation might speak a language that Republican leaders finally understand, after proving themselves unable to learn the strange tongues of conviction and courage. Maybe they will even be ashamed of themselves, as they should be. This would set the stage for the recovery of a hopeful center-right conservatism that sees politics as something nobler than scalp-hunting a politics that begins with gratitude for our national blessings and views Americas flaws and failures as occasions for common purpose. This task, however, will start from scratch. A building on a ruin. At a special legislative committee meeting Wednesday, lawmakers heard news that wasnt a surprise to anyone. The states prison system is struggling to hire enough mental health care staff to offer services to all of the state inmates in need of the help. This comes on top of a shortage of corrections officers. Currently, 35 behavioral health jobs in the prisons are unfilled. There are simple, clear reasons why many of these positions are vacant. First of all, they are extremely tough jobs. Prisoners arent the most cooperative, trustworthy people. Thats not always true. Some sincerely want help. But others are gaming the system and doing what they can so they will be released earlier. A state prison also isnt the best of work environments, especially when it comes to safety. While being a prison psychologist or psychiatrist is difficult work, the pay doesnt reflex the difficulty of the job. Mental health specialists could get paid more, with less stress, in a private sector position. Four reasons the difficulty of the job, the poor work environment, the comparatively low pay and a shortage of mental health specialists throughout the country naturally make it hard to fill these positions. And thats too bad, because probably the greatest need for mental health care exists in the countrys prisons. Estimates are that 1,100 of the states 5,300 prisoners have a serious mental illness, according to an attorney for the committee, former Sen. Steve Lathrop. So the need is great. Two factors combined a large need and a short staff mean that many prisoners arent receiving the treatment they need before being released. The oft-cited example is Nikko Jenkins, who killed four people after being released. Current prison administrators, the governor and the Legislature all seem to sincerely want to address the prison staffing shortage. This comes after the previous administration under former Gov. Dave Heineman just ignored the problems at the prisons. State Corrections Director Scott Frakes is requesting an additional $15.6 million from the Legislature to hire 165 more employees. Many of these would be corrections officers, but some would be in the mental health staff. State senators will surely look favorably on the request as addressing the problems in the prisons is one of the states top priorities. It will be hard to fill the mental health care positions, but the Legislature needs to make sure the corrections department is funded to where it can make a good-faith effort at filling staff positions and giving inmates the mental health care they need. The 75th Grand Island Chamber of Commerce Harvest of Harmony Parade, sponsored by Tom Dinsdale Automotive, is complete. Thank you to all who took time to travel from near and far to enjoy the festivities this year. Your support of Harvest of Harmony is what helps sustain this event. Thank you to The Grand Island Independent for their excellent coverage of Harvest of Harmony, and thank you to NTV for their live coverage of the parade, as well as their help with the social media updates. As always, Harvest of Harmony had a theme that parade entries were encouraged to incorporate in their floats. This years theme was Our Diamond Jubilee: An Illustrious Past and a Brilliant Future. Several floats paid tribute to our anniversary, while others focused on the past and the future. All the floats were wonderful, and it was clear that a lot of time and effort was put into them. This year we had a great turnout of participants. We had over 220 total entries for the parade with 107 bands participating from all over the state and 27 pageant participants. Everyone did a wonderful job. Thank you to all the participants. We hope it was a positive experience for all involved. A huge thank you goes out to the Harvest of Harmony Committee, Grand Island Area Clean Community System, Railside and all the great volunteers. The parade and pageant were enjoyed by thousands because of the efforts of this group. Last but not least, we would also like to thank our parade sponsor, Tom Dinsdale Automotive, for their continued support of this community event and to all of our Harvest of Harmony Pageant sponsors. Thank you. Cindy Johnson President Grand Island Chamber of Commerce Kristin Johnson Marketing & Events Coordinator Grand Island Chamber of Commerce Montgomery County woman gets prison sentence in Bensalem drug death Corrine Smith will spend up to 10 years in prison for providing the drugs that killed a man in Bensalem in 2020. NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Attorney Advertising -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC reminds investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (MGT or the "Company") (NYSE:MGT) and certain of its officers. The class action is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased MGT securities between May 9, 2016 and September 20, 2016, inclusive (the Class Period). This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act). MGT acquires, advances, and monetizes assets in the online, mobile, and casino gaming space. The Company operates through two segments, Gaming and Intellectual Property. The Company is currently in the process of acquiring D-Vasive, a provider of leading edge anti-spy software, and Demonsaw, a provider of a secure and anonymous file sharing software platform. On May 9, 2016, MGT announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets and technologies from D-Vasive Inc. (D-Vasive), a provider of anti-spy software (the D-Vasive Transaction). With this acquisition, MGT announced the planned position of Defendant John McAfee (McAfee) as MGTs Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and the planned corporate name change to John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc. MGT notified investors that [m]ajor terms of the deal include the payment to D-Vasive Inc. stockholders of 23.8 million restricted shares of MGT stock and $300,000 in cash. The proposed share issuance is expected to amount to roughly 47% of the Company on a pro-forma diluted basis at closing. Then, on May 26, 2016, the Company publicized that it had entered into an agreement to acquire certain technology and assets from Demonsaw LLC (Demonsaw), which MGT said is a provider of a secure and anonymous file sharing software platform. MGT notified investors that [m]ajor terms of the deal include the payment to Demonsaw LLC members of 20.0 million restricted shares of MGT common stock. The proposed share issuance is expected to amount to approximately 28% of the Companys common stock on a pro-forma fully diluted basis at closing, inclusive of shares of common stock to be issued in connection with the Companys previously announced transaction with D-Vasive, Inc. MGT and D-Vasive would then arrange for D-Vasive to purchase Demonsaw in advance of the D-Vasive Transaction, in order to simplify these transactions, and meet certain customary tax issues, so that MGT would acquire Demonsaws assets as well as D-Vasives via the D-Vasive Transaction. On September 9, 2016, at MGTs 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, the Company stated its issuance of a total of 43.8 million shares of common stock in connection with the D-Vasive Transaction had been approved by its shareholders. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: (1) the NYSE was unlikely to approve the listing of 43.8 million additional shares that MGT was required to issue in connection with the acquisitions of D-Vasive and Demonsaw; and (2) consequently, MGTs public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On September 19, 2016, pre-market, MGT announced that on September 15, 2016, it received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The Company stated that it does not believe it will be the subject of any enforcement proceedings and is fully cooperating with the SEC's requests. Following this news, MGT stock dropped $0.74 per share, or 22.7%, to close at $2.52 on September 19, 2016. Then on September 20, 2016, MGT announced that the NYSE had informed MGT on September 19, 2016 that it would not approve the listing on the Exchange of the 43.8 million shares that the Company is required to issue in order to complete the closing of the D-Vasive [sic] merger, and that [t]he Company and John McAfee remain committed to closing the transaction and are exploring alternatives. Then on September 20, 2016, MGT announced that the NYSE would not approve the listing of 43.8 million shares. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firms site: http://www.bgandg.com/mgt or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484 or via email info@bgandg.com. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address and telephone number. If you suffered a loss in MGT you have until November 21, 2016 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firms expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Raleigh, NC, Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RegEd, the leading provider of compliance technology solutions to the financial services industry, is pleased to announce its participation in the 2016 National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) National Conference in Washington, DC, on October 16-19, 2016. The NSCP National Conference offers more than 70 sessions, covering topics that are relevant to investment advisers, broker-dealers, private funds and investment companies. The conference agenda will focus on new regulatory developments, enforcement trends, regulatory examinations, compliance best practices and the practical implementation of compliance policies and procedures. There will also be a significant focus on the recent DOL fiduciary rule and its implications for the industry. RegEd representatives will be on-site during the conference to highlight the firms innovative enterprise compliance solutions, and discuss the ways in which they support a robust culture of compliance: DOL Fiduciary Rule Compliance: Courses that enable firms to effectively train employees on the requirements of the fiduciary rule, and technology solutions for monitoring and managing compliance across the organization. Conflicts of Interest Management: Integrated solutions that enable firms to seamlessly monitor, identify and remedy conflicts of interest and code of conduct issues among the firms registered population. SCORE Risk Control Center: Configurable compliance dashboards that deliver clear, comprehensive views into the status of compliance requirements at the company level or specific to the individual. Ann Robinson, Senior Vice President, RegEd, and former compliance officer with more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, will speak on the topic, Managing the RFP Process for Vendor Solutions. The session will cover the front-to-back RFP process, including managements role, liability issues, responsibilities and best practices when evaluating a vendor solution. Robinson stated, "The NSCP National Conference offers an educational forum to discuss regulatory hot topics and share best practices. This year the program includes a conference track focused specifically on the new DOL rule and its potential impact. RegEd representatives will address the ways in which training and technology can effectively prepare firms to deal with the requirements of the rule. RegEd is exhibiting at the conference and can be located at Booth 42 in the main exhibit hall of the Omni Shoreham Hotel. For more information on RegEd or its attendance at the 2016 NSCP National Conference, please call 800-334-8322 or email sales@reged.com. About RegEd RegEd is a leading provider of compliance technology solutions with relationships with more than 400 enterprise clients, including 80% of the top 25 broker-dealers and top 25 insurance companies. Established in 1994 by former regulators, the company is a recognized industry authority and has created the standard of excellence for rule-based and content-driven compliance automation for insurance companies, investment advisors and broker-dealers. RegEd solutions drive new levels of operational efficiency and enable firms to cost-effectively comply with regulations and mitigate risk. For more information, visit www.reged.com. Join SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook, PhD, on WSIE 88.7 FM this Sunday, Oct. 16, at 9 a.m., as he welcomes Ronda Sauget D. Mgmt., MBA, PhD, executive director of the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois (LCSI). They will discuss how the Leadership Council serves the region and differs from other national councils, how education has evolved to assist economic development, and future growth opportunities for the region. Sauget was appointed executive director in 2015, having previously served as president, vice president and chair of the LCSI. In her role, Sauget works closely with senior-level leaders in business, industry, labor, education and government to address initiatives regarding regional economic development. Possessing more than 20 years of industry experience in consulting, strategic management, market research and executive leadership, Sauget was president of her entrepreneurial firm Validus Business Strategies. Prior to joining the LCSI, she served the Archview Economic Development Corp. as executive director for more than 10 years, attracting millions of dollars in new investment and creating hundreds of regional jobs in Southwestern Illinois. The Leadership Councils mission is to unite the region for growth through business, industry, labor, education, governmental groups and goal-specific support committees. These groups collaborate to accomplish large goals that could not be achieved otherwise. The Council consists of leaders primarily from Madison and St. Clair Counties with members from surrounding counties and the St. Louis metropolitan area participating, as well. As the second-largest population center in Illinois and the fourth-largest population in the St. Louis metropolitan area, Southwestern Illinois is uniquely positioned to cultivate positive economic change. Sauget explains the LCSI differs from other national councils in its ability to deeply connect a variety of professional sectors. These different professional groups are the central and strategic fiber of Southwestern Illinois, Sauget shares. Before the Leadership Council existed, some groups did not have the commonalities they should have. The entire genesis of the Leadership Council was to bring those groups more closely together to work on those common areas that benefit all of us. She continues by explaining that differences among sectors will always exist, but if cohesion can be formed in neutral realms, such as job training and workforce development, the group can work together to generate significant positive change. Perhaps what makes Southwestern Illinois most economically attractive to industrial leaders is the availability of transportation resources in an area where land is available and affordable. Highlighting multi-modal transportation via river, road, rail, air and pipeline, the regions assets have drawn major agricultural companies, such as ADM, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus and Cargill. Recently attracted major manufacturers also include Amazon, Proctor & Gamble, Dial and Hersheys. Our region has a robust economic sector which allows business to construct complex positioning strategies, Sauget says. Looking throughout the United States, its quite difficult to find and select sites with multi-modal capabilities in an area with such available land. We will continue to drive that - not only to maintain the companies existing here today, but also to grow those companies and others in a major way. One role I serve is talking to different businesses in the community about issues. These challenges are often common across all economic sectors, so addressing them is important for creating a positive business environment where companies want to come and thrive. We look at those areas to better understand how we can positively aid and impact the results for companies that operate here. They discuss that as online education becomes more popularized, the demographics of student enrollment have shifted. In the summers of 2015 and 2016, SIUE online enrollment doubled from the previous summers statistics - so theres much more demand, and the online options are becoming much more popular, Pembrook reveals. For the future, I see more companies moving toward certificates and other forms of education, in addition to degree programs, Sauget explains. There are many certifications that can advance career paths. I believe a lot of businesses would like to see more technical education combined with academic skills. Online classes can be taken whenever its convenient for a student. Many students are working many different hours and shifts. If they are going to advance their education, the teaching and learning environment must be flexible to provide that student an accessible learning opportunity. In her decorated career of economic leadership and competitive intelligence, among Saugets proudest career accomplishments includes work on the American Bottoms Levee Project. Having recently received a regional award for the project, the LCSI has worked passionately over the last 10 years with Madison, Monroe and St. Clair county leaders to form the Flood Protection District Council, an assemblage developed to fundraise and advocate for the renovation and reaccreditation of the American Bottoms levee system. Through collaborative efforts, the coalition invested $110 million and has succeeded in repairing the 75-mile river levee, protecting 150,000 residents, 4,000 businesses, and 56,000 local jobs from threating Mississippi River water levels. In 2017, the American Bottoms levee system will be evaluated for reaccreditation. If we had not taken this proactive approach, flood insurance rates in the area would have skyrocketed, Sauget describes. Many homeowners would not have been able to afford it, and businesses would not have been able to expand. It was critical to have the levees restored and make sure our communities are safe, our businesses are safe and continue to drive robust economic activities. In 2007, it was estimated that over $50 million in increased insurance premiums would have left our region through the flood insurance protection program if we hadnt done something. We didnt want to see that exodus of money due to the levees being decertified without seeking some sort of process to have them fixed. Tune in to WSIE 88.7 FM every Sunday at 9 a.m. as weekly guests discuss issues on SIUEs campus. By Logan Cameron, SIUE Marketing & Communications The Edwardsville Police Department is partnering with Red Robin from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 22 for the sixth annual Tip-a-Cop Special Olympics fundraiser. Law enforcement officers will be handing over their badges and trading them for aprons as they serve you to gather tips for Special Olympics participants and their families. This will be the EPDs last Special Olympics fundraiser for the year. Lt. Mike Fillback said although the EPD has hosted several Special Olympics fundraisers so far this year, every little bit makes all the difference. The main thing is that were trying to bring attention to Special Olympics and raise money for their benefit. Everything that we raise - we do several events throughout the year and this is just one of them - goes to Special Olympics here in Illinois to benefit the athletes and their families," Fillback said. "It gives the athletes the opportunity to participate and get out and do something with other athletes and their families that they wouldnt get the opportunity to do without the organization and the money that is helped raised through the charity. So its just a good opportunity to help them out and give them a more productive life, he said. Red Robin restaurants across the state will be participating in the fundraiser. The Red Robin in Fairview Heights will also be getting involved. All of the proceeds will go to Special Olympics. Fillback said the Tip-a-Cop fundraising initiative originally started in the West Coast at Red Robin and it wasnt until they came to Edwardsville that the EPD got it started. Red Robin, when they originally came to town, their corporate office is out of the West Coast, and each state, or I believe pretty much all of the states have a Torch Run that specifically raises money for Special Olympics in their state. That was something that Red Robin was doing out on the West Coast and they were interested in doing that here in the state of Illinois. So its a corporate-level initiative to participate in it. Since we got one of the Red Robin franchises moved to town, theyve been doing this event. Were just fortunate enough to have them here in town to make it possible to give us a location to reach out to the community and do this, Fillback said. Although every fundraiser is different, Fillback said he hopes for a good turnout. Were hopeful for a big turnout but it really is up to the public. So were getting the word out there and hope theyll stop by and see us, he said. Fillback said he aims for the same goal every year, although participation in the fundraisers does vary. As far as every year, I shoot for $15,000. But everything that is raised goes to Special Olympics, so really our goal is to raise as much money as we can and awareness for Special Olympics and just go from there. Well be happy with whatever we get. We know theres a lot of charities out there and a lot of things people need to do with their money besides this particular charity, but we hope everyone can see this as a great organization and reach out by making a donation of whatever they can to help that organization achieve its goals, he said. If people are unable to attend the fundraiser or are not in the Edwardsville area but still wish to make a donation to Special Olympics Illinois, contact Lt. Mike Fillback at 618-692-7526 go online to www.soill.org and make a donation. Not all police departments participate in Special Olympics. The next Special Olympics fundraiser for the EPD will take place in February of next year with the Polar Plunge event. Fillback said this fundraiser is also an annual occasion. We start every year off with the Polar Plunge coming up in February, and thats an annual event weve been participating in in Carlyle and its basically one of those where you raise donations as an individual, you jump in the water and people make a donation to Special Olympics basically on your behalf. Thatll be our next one coming up and that will be in February of next year, he said. If you are also interested in finding other ways to help Special Olympics aside from financial compensation or want to get your child involved if they eligible, go to www.soill.org for more information. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Muhammad Latif Fauzi Leiden Fri, October 14, 2016 Controversy has been rife in Indonesia over the seemingly religious cult in East Java called Padepokan Dimas Kanjeng Taat Pribadi, whose leader Dimas Kanjeng has been arrested for murder and possibly a fake investment scheme. This follows the preceding case of Gatot Brajamusti, arrested for alleged drug possession and sexual harassment. Of late, Indonesia has seen several peculiar ritual groups. Nuanced with religious activities, the Dimas Kanjeng movement has remarkably involved some prominent elites and thousands of followers. They believed that the kanjeng (spiritual leader) can produce money and gold. This phenomenon has caused increasing public and scholarly concerns. I was not completely surprised with the varying voices stepping forward to a TV talk show discussing the phenomenon. Indeed, from the testimonies presented by the murdered relatives, fraud almost convincingly explains the case. At stake are issues of delusion, a deviant sect, money forgery and murder. These were opinions argued by police officer, politicians, religious scholars, and intellectuals. One of them specifically persuaded the well-renowned religious leader, a follower of the kanjeng, to come back. It shows the way both religious-traditional and modern approaches regard the Dimas Kanjeng case from a very legal, black-and-white view: black magic, crimes, fraud and the likes. The case has been simply viewed in a structural manner, rather than functional. The fact is, however, that the police arrested the kanjeng on several suspicions. I do not necessarily intend to defend one side as true or oppose the legal process. That is not a productive stance, from an academic perspective at least. However, little has been asked on the extent to which the notion of modernity, let alone state sovereignty, has to cope with present-day complexities such as the case in question. Some questions deserve to be mentioned here. Why join this group? Do the followers have the same orientation? What does modern rationality means to them? Why spirituality? Where is the nation-state? Over the last few decades scholars have been concerned with the relation of modernity and religion. That modernity, attributed to rationality, leads to the decline of traditional-religious values and its practices now are coming under scrutiny. Modernization brought about secularizing effects. By contrast, it also provoked anti-secularization movements (Berger 1999). This generated an increasing demand for the re-advancement of religious and traditional institutions in many worldly sectors (Kalanges 2014). Modernity has been imagined as the promotion of the nation-state, the resurgence of science and technology, the respect for human rights, and the promise of economic welfare. Yet, scholars today have observed a global increase in the role of religion in contemporary societies. It has encouraged revival movements and resulted in so-called modern crises of authority (Keyes et al 1994). The more modernity is promoted, the more it is resisted. Modern ideas have inevitably encouraged the coming-into-being of the state, yet in a non-natural swift way. It assumed legitimate rule and appealed to its people to strive for unity. Commitment to modernization led to the alienation of past traditions, discouraging ritual activities. Here modernity experienced a problematic relationship with the past. It somehow invented a new authority and rite. Now Asian countries are generally experiencing this variety of religious resurgence. They are resisting against modernity. The alleged state authority is challenged. These movements interestingly benefit from modern technology and transnational networks. The academic sphere is experiencing the same challenge, explaining why traditional, religious choices are still popular. Whereas the world is heading to a more rationalized society. Back to Dimas Kanjeng, his followers believed he could provide them prosperity. As dower, they transferred money via the modern ATM to purchase special perfume oil for duplicating money. This entails modernity and magical power working as one. Despite the legal issues, the occurrence of Dimas Kanjeng is a symbol of the unending contestation of religion, spirituality and modernization. Given this complexity, it seems misleading to only put this case on the religious agencies shoulders (official and non-official ulema). Criminalization of Dimas Kanjeng dashed the utopic hopes of his followers. The problem lies not solely on rationality, legal awareness and proper religious understanding. This nation still needs to do its homework on economic welfare and future prosperity. _____________________________ The writer, who is pursuing his PhD at LIAS, Leiden University, the Netherlands, is also a lecturer at the Surakarta State Islamic Institute. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Fri, October 14, 2016 Although digital technology has its share of downsides, particularly for younger generations, including shortened attention spans and increased egocentrism, it is a powerful tool to promote and preserve arts and culture, keeping strings connected among generations. That is a short summary of the Culture in the New Digital World symposium conducted on Oct. 12 at the Bali Nusa Dua convention center as part of the World Culture Forum 2016, co-organized by the Culture and Education Ministry and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The four-day international gathering was aimed at advancing culture as an integral part of sustainable development while building a harmonious global-local society featuring cultural performances as well as discussion sessions as platforms to exchange ideas and field experiences that will translate into a series of recommendations for UNESCO members. During the session, Google Cultural Institute (GCI) operations head Luisella Mazza as well as arts and culture Europana Foundation executive director Jill Cousins shared their experiences in disseminating the arts through digital technology. GCIs Google Arts and Culture (artsandculture.google.com), for example, has endeavored to break physical barriers between the public and the arts by providing 360-degree virtual tours of museums all over the world, including the Bruegel box in Brussels, since it was launched in 2011. The website has also undertaken an ambitious task of making people feel as if they are onstage with world-class performers despite viewing them only through a computer or tablet. Meanwhile, the Europeana Foundation (europana.eu) sources data from cultural organizations and research libraries to digitize information pertaining to artworks in multimedia format. We dont just feature individual materials but also connections among different things. If you, for instance, type Mozart in the search box, you will find not just recordings of his music, but also paintings of his figure, Jill told the forum. She added that the information could also be useful for the creative industry, art researchers as well as other related stakeholders. Jill said in order to attract younger audiences to the digital project, Europana used platforms familiar to youngsters like Wikipedia, Google and Instagram. She also attempted to make the artworks as fun and engaging as possible to cater to the penchant of Generation Z a popular term referring to the digital generation for intense personal participation. For instance, this year they set up an art installation called Jumping Jacks, where participants saw their bodies projected onto a wall but transformed with cutouts from significant artworks (the right arm of a figure from a Caravaggio masterpiece, for instance) and were asked to follow the movements of the cutout figures. We collaborate with curators, cultural organizations and tech product managers to develop our platform, Luisella explained. Transnational knowledge transfer True to the emphasized importance of collaboration and participation among the digital generation, the Education and Culture Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with New Zealands Auckland University of Technology (AUT) pertaining to a month-long capacity building program involving 50 Indonesian cultural workers. The cultural workers come from various backgrounds: dance, music, theater, film, galleries and museums, visual arts, history and philology, among others. The training itself will focus on the use of technology to conserve the arts as well as to disseminate them. A special emphasis will be placed on data archiving. The first week of the program will commence in Indonesia while the subsequent three weeks will be conducted at the AUT campus. It will run from Nov. 13 to Dec. 4. The MoU was signed by AUT pro vice-chancellor international and dean of school of culture and society Nigel Hemmington and the ministrys planning and international cooperation bureau head Suharti on Oct. 12 on the sidelines of the World Culture Forum 2016. Theres a high demand for this program; around 900 people applied during the registration process, the ministrys director general of culture, Hilmar Farid, told the press. Nigel said the university would transfer skills in protecting, maintaining and promoting culture, specifically New Zealands field experience and expertise in protecting the language and dance of its native Maori people through digital archiving. Hilmar said that, upon returning to Indonesia, the 50 cultural workers would be stationed across the country to apply their knowledge in a local context, in a residential program that would be regularly monitored and evaluated to ensure sustainable change. He said in the future the ministry would like to cooperate with more countries on similar exchange programs. A similar program for teachers will soon be conducted. Nigel said New Zealand looked forward to working closely once again with Indonesia on educational programs. An investment of US$35 million has been confirmed to set up an Asia-Pacific center of excellence to facilitate the programs. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Three local businesses were among 15 finalists of a start-up competition held in Istanbul, Turkey, from Oct. 6 to Oct. 10. The Indonesian consul-general in Istanbul, Herry Sudradjat, told the Antara news agency that online fundraising website Kitabisa.com, custom clothing service provider Kostoom and job search engine Urbanhire made it into the top 15 at the Startup Istanbul 2016 Challenge, following a tight selection process that involved another 474 candidates. (Read also: Start-ups invited to join national movement) No fewer than 24,646 start-ups from 135 countries had registered to participate in Startup Istanbul 2016 Challenge, but only 489 succeeded. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Thu, October 13 2016 Amid public skepticism, the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) are pushing their agenda for a constitutional amendment. They promise the amendment will be partial, focusing on the revival of the state policy guidelines (GBHN), which was a signature feature of the authoritarian New Order regime. Critics suspect that the project will serve as a forum for political parties to push their own agendas, but MPR Chairman Zulkifli Hasan swears it aims to strengthen the presidential system and provide the president with systematic guidelines to achieve development goals. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 13 2016 Upon finishing a meeting at his South Jakarta office on Monday evening, Anthony Liong said it had been a busy day supervising social media coverage about candidate pair Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno. As the head of the Jakarta gubernatorial election candidates social media team, Anthony was aware that smear campaigns against Anies and Sandiaga in the digital world would not stop for the next few months, adding that it was his job to minimize the problem in the best possible way. For the task, Anthony, who runs a digital marketing business, said he had a digital forensic team to counter slander and present real facts. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Spending by the Defense Ministry and the Indonesian Military (TNI) next year is set to be much lower than proposed by the government, despite plans to establish military bases in Natuna, Riau Islands. A draft for the 2017 state budget allocates Rp 104.58 trillion (US$8.3 billion) for defense, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said in Jakarta on Thursday, as quoted by the Antara news agency. That is barely half of the almost Rp 200 trillion suggested by the government. Modernizing weaponry systems remained the main focus of the budget, he said, as a lot of TNI armament was outdated and no longer usable. The minister specifically mentioned combat and transportation aircraft as equipment that was most in need of renewal. The construction of the military bases in Riau Islands would be another focus of the [ministrys] budget, Ryamizard added. TNI commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said last month that the government was currently finalizing plans to build military bases in Natuna for the Air Force, the Navy as well as the Army. The bases, strategically located in one of the archipelago's outermost regions, were expected to be completed within three years, he said. The 2017 state budget draft breaks defense spending down to 40 percent for routine expenditure, approximately 20 percent for spending on goods and the remainder for capital expenditure. The House of Representative's Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign affairs, previously rejected the government's request during budget draft negotiations for defense spending amounting to 1.5 percent of the overall state budget, which would be approximately Rp 180-200 trillion. (liz/rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 As his newly appointed deputy minister, Arcandra Tahar has said he would support Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan as the energy sector chief, stressing that he will fully support the former transportation minister to revitalize the energy sector. Following his return to the Cabinet, the former energy minister, who was previously dismissed after serving only 20 days following a fiasco around claims that he held US citizenship, said he did not mind being given the deputy minister position, adding that his intention is to serve the nation. "This is the best decision taken by the president and I am ready to serve wherever, whenever. This is the fate of Indonesian people who are willing to to return and serve their nation," Arcandra told reporters after the inauguration ceremony at the State Palace on Friday. "Of course we will work together in revitalizing the energy sector in Indonesia. In this case, we need a figure like Pak Jonan and I will fully support him in carrying out his duties in the ministry," he went on. The inauguration ceremony was held at 1:30 p.m. before President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo departed on a working visit to West Kalimantan. Vice President Jusuf Kalla was absent from the ceremony due to a visit to Makassar, South Sulawesi, while Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who was the acting energy minister, was also in West Kalimantan. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has sworn in former transportation minister Ignasius Jonan as Energy and Mineral Resources Minister and former energy minister Arcandra Tahar as deputy minister at the State Palace on Friday. The inauguration ceremony was held at 1:30 p.m. right before Jokowi departed for West Kalimantan for a work related visit. The appointment of the two men filled the position left vacant after Jokowi discharged Arcandra in August. Jokowi stripped him of his duties after only serving for 20 days following a fiasco that involved him holding US citizenship. He regained his Indonesian citizenship on Sept. 1 following a process at the Law and Human Rights Ministry. Ignasius previously served as transportation minister before the president removed him from the cabinet in July. Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan served as the acting minister following Arcandra's dismissal. (rin) CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Members of the Society of American Law Teachers have elected John Marshall Law School Associate Professor Hugh Mundy to its Board of Governors. The election was held at SALT's September Teaching Conference in Chicago at John Marshall where Mundy was the conference co-chair. He also has contributed to SALT's consumer guide for prospective law students, blogged for the SALT website and participated in committee meetings at the SALT Teaching Conference in Las Vegas. "I look forward to joining the SALT Board of Governors," Mundy said. "I deeply believe in the organization's mission to prioritize social justice teaching in legal education, improve the legal profession and broaden access to justice for marginalized communities." "SALT also has allowed me to forge meaningful relationships with other like-minded academics and activists from law schools across the country," he added. "We are deeply grateful to Professor Mundy for all that he contributes to the legal profession and the quest for social justice. He is committed to making the legal profession more inclusive and reflective of the great diversity of this nation, enhancing the quality of legal education by advancing social justice within the curriculum, as well as promoting innovative teaching methodologies and extending the power of law to underserved individuals and communities. We are fortunate to count him as a new member of the SALT Board," SALT Co-Presidents Sara Rankin and Denise Roy said in a statement. The Society of American Law Teachers is a national organization of progressive law teachers, law school administrators, librarians, academic support experts, students and affiliates. The organization has been working for more than 40 years to improve the legal profession, the law academy and expand the power of law to underserved communities. Mundy joined the faculty of John Marshall in 2012 and teaches evidence, criminal law and lawyering skills. He is a graduate of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in Washington DC. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Jakarta Police will deploy thousands of officers to secure a demonstration against Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama set to take place on Friday afternoon. The protest over blasphemy allegations was initiated by the hard-line Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI). Central Jakarta Police spokesman Comr. Suyatno said 3,420 personnel would be assigned to the task, with thousands of people expected to join the protest. "We will maximize security in the areas where the demonstrators will hold their protest," he said on Thursday, adding that the number of personnel may increase in accordance with further instructions from Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan. The FPI and several other groups are scheduled to start their protest at 1 p.m. after Friday prayers in Central Jakarta. The protestors will likely march from Istiqlal Mosque to the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) office in Gambir and end at City Hall. "We urge police to act firmly and investigate Ahok as soon as possible. If police fail to do so, it will trigger people's emotion, which has been restrained for some time," warned FPI Jakarta secretary Novel Bamukmin. The hard-line groups had slammed Ahok for alleged religious defamation in citing Surah al-Maidah, verse 51 of the Quran, during a visit to the regency of Thousand Islands on Sept 28. Ahok's statements had drawn protest from Muslim groups, including the Indonesian Ulema Council, which announced that he had committed blasphemy with his remarks. An FPI member filed a report with Bareskrim against Ahok. Ahok apologized for his remarks on Monday, saying he had had no ill intentions with regard to either the Quran or Muslims. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura Fri, October 14 2016 In the first case of violence in this election season, the house of a Golkar party politician in Jayapura, Papua, was attacked with a low explosive on Thursday, damaging the fence and breaking the windows of his car. The attack on the house of Golkars acting secretary for the Papua chapter, Marthinus Werimon, was believed to have been connected with an internal conflict within the party, particularly in relation to the upcoming mayoral election. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Fri, October 14 2016 Twelve years ago the prominent human rights defender Munir Said Thalib was assassinated aboard his flight to the Netherlands, with investigators blaming juice laced with arsenic. The murder on Sept. 7, 2004, took place six years after the New Order ended. Yet the crime and its continuing cover-up clearly shows us how past evil powers are alive and well as we still dont know who actually killed Munir. An off-duty pilot on Munirs Garuda Indonesia flight was pronounced guilty of the murder and sentenced to 20 years, but was freed late 2014 following remissions; former Garuda president director Indra Setiawan got 12 years. Former State Intelligence Agency deputy Muchdi Purwoprandjono faced trial but was acquitted. On Monday an unprecedented ruling from the Central Information Commission stated that the State Secretariat must disclose to the public the report of the investigation into Munirs death that a government-appointed team submitted to the then president more than a decade ago. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Markus Makur (The Jakarta Post) East Manggarai, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara Fri, October 14, 2016 Mass drug administration has been conducted to combat lymphatic filariasis in East Manggarai regency, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), one of the vector-borne diseases endemic to areas in Indonesia, a health official has said. The East Manggarai Health Agencys disease control and prevention and environmental health program (P3PL) head, Regina Malon, said thousands of residents age 2 to 70 in the regency would receive anti-filarial drugs during this years national filariasis elimination program. Throughout October, health workers from several community health centers (Puskesmas) will give anti-filarial drugs to people across the area, she said on Wednesday. East Manggarai regent Yoseph Tote launched the filariasis elimination program for the regency on Oct.10. Regina explained the result of a blood examination in 2015 showed 256 people in northern areas of East Manggarai suffering from lymphatic filariasis. Filariasis is endemic in eight areas across East Manggrai, including Borong, Dampek, Elar, Mok, Pota, Tilir, Waelengga and Wukir. The mass drug administration will be focus on those eight areas, she said. Regina said her agency would distribute 274,000 anti-filarial drugs to 249,478 people. East Manggarai is one of 13 regencies endemic to filariasis in NTT. The other 12 are Bajawa, Central Sumba, Ende, Lembata, Manggarai, Nagekeo, Rote Ndao, Sikka, South Central Timor (TTS), Southwest Sumba, Sumba and West Manggarai. The filariasis prevention program will be conducted for five years from October 2016 to October 2020, said Regina. Tote said the filariasis elimination program was a UN program. We provide anti-filarial drugs to prevent and cure the disease. The goal is for East Manggarai to be filariasis free by 2020. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) Beirut Fri, October 14, 2016 Residents of opposition-held eastern Aleppo woke up to a fresh wave of airstrikes Friday amid clashes between government forces and rebels, part of a devastating military campaign by Syria and Russia that opposition activists say killed dozens of people in the past week. President Bashar Assad has voiced his intention to recapture the northern city's rebel-held eastern neighborhoods, saying a military victory in Aleppo would provide the Syrian army a "springboard" from which to liberate other areas of the country. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they came from, or to kill them. There's no other option," he said in an interview with a Russian media outlet, Komsomolskaya Pravda, released Thursday. Syrian government forces have encircled the eastern half of Aleppo, besieging tens of thousands of people and pounding the territory with airstrikes on daily basis. The siege and deadly bombardment has caused an international outcry with a number of countries and groups accusing Syria and Russia of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys. President Barack Obama planned to convene his National Security Council for a highly anticipated meeting about Syria on Friday. Having cut off diplomatic talks with Russia after a cease-fire in Syria failed, the Obama administration has been at a loss to find a new viable strategy to stem the violence even as the bloodshed in Aleppo and elsewhere continues to mount. The violence also gives additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow earlier this month. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Friday reported dozens of overnight airstrikes on eastern Aleppo. It added that clashes are taking place on the northern and southern edges of the city. The Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, said the airstrikes killed and wounded a number of people, with some buried under the debris. The Observatory said Wednesday that at least 358 civilians had been killed in eastern Aleppo since the US and Russian-brokered truce collapsed on Sept. 19. The UN says over 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also included a limited ground offensive. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14 2016 The governments attempts to deny the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the country with the worlds largest Muslim population has now been taken to the global stage. Indonesia has joined a group of 17 countries, including of conservative countries like Saudi Arabia, to block a plan to include the rights of LGBT communities in a new urban strategy drawn up by the UN. The plan, aiming to acknowledge homophobia, was initiated by Canada and backed by the European Union, the US and Mexico. It is due to be finalized at a major UN conference in Ecuador next week. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Amnesty International calls for the Indonesian government to revoke provisions of chemical castration and the death penalty as punishment for sex offenders following the recent endorsement of a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on child protection by the House of Representatives. The sexual abuse of children is indescribably horrific, but subjecting offenders to chemical castration or executions is not justice, it is adding one cruelty to another, Amnesty Internationals researcher on Indonesia Papang Hidayat said in a press statement on Thursday. Punitively imposing chemical castration, a drug or hormone treatment to suppress sex drive, is cruel, inhuman and considered degrading under international law, he said. Besides chemical castration, the regulation also makes it possible for judges to administer life imprisonment sentences or the death penalty to convicted child rapists, which has raised concern among human rights activists. The punishment for sex offenders adds to the serious flaws in Indonesia's justice system and the country's poor record of human rights, Papang said. President Joko Jokowi Widodo issued the Perppu in May in response to public demands for harsher punishment for rapists following a number of reports of child murders and sex crimes. The House passed the bill into law on Wednesday despite rights activists outcries as there are not details provided in the law for carrying out punishments. The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) has reiterated its refusal to perform chemical castration, saying this procedure violates medical ethics. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 House of Representatives speaker Ade Komarudin has been reported to the House of Representative's Ethics Council for allegedly violating Law No. 17/2014 on Legislative Institution, also known as the MD3 Law, by abusing his authority as speaker. A member of the Houses Commission VI overseeing trade, industry and investment, Bowo Sidiq Pangarso, reported Ade to the council after the latter signed an approval letter for organizing a meeting on state capital injection at Commission XI, which oversees finance and banking. Ade reportedly invited nine state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to attend the meeting although they are partners of Commission VI. The House speaker should have informed Commission VI before he approved Commission XIs invitation to the [nine] SOEs to attend the meeting, Bowo told journalists on Thursday. The lawmaker further said Ade had also invited the nine SOEs to meet him in his capacity as a House speaker without any consent from the Commission VI. They comprise two state construction firms, PT Hutama Karya and PT Wijaya Karya, state steel producer PT Krakatau Steel, state electricity firm PT PLN, state toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, state train manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api, state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura, state housing firm PT Pembangunan Perumahan and State Logistics Agency (Bulog). Citing Article 86 (1) of the 2014 MD3 Law, Bowo said a House speaker should be a bridge within the House. Ade did not have authority to decide that a Commission could invite the partners of other commissions without prior consent. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Qatar has expressed its interest in looking into the development of military equipment manufactured by three Indonesian state-owned enterprises, namely PT Pindad, PT Dirgantara Indonesia and PT PAL, a top diplomat has said. Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar, Muhammad Basri Sidehabi said Indonesian military products, especially light tanks and military weapons, were popular in Qatar. He made the statement on the sidelines of a visit to Jakarta, during which he brought a group of business delegates from Qatar to attend the Trade Expo Indonesia 2016. This visit is also aimed at promoting Indonesias military equipment industry, which is well-known in the Middle East," Basri said in a statement on Friday. On Friday, Basri met with Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryucudu in Jakarta. The minister said he would invite Qatari Defense Minister Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Attiyah to the 2016 Indo Defense Expo scheduled to be held from Nov. 2 to Nov. 5 to further promote domestically manufactured military equipment. Ryamizard stated that the Expo was one of the biggest of its kind in promoting army, navy and aerospace military products. Around 800 companies from 20 countries will participate in the event, which was expected to draw 20,000 visitors, he went on. Basri said that although Qatar was relatively small geographically, it was one of the biggest military arms markets in the Middle East. While Pakistan and Turkey currently served as arm suppliers for Qatar, the ambassador said Indonesia also could make it a potential market for its products. Boy Darmawan, the embassy's ad-interim Charge d'Affaires in Doha, said Qatar had imported military equipment worth around US$150 billion in recent years. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Fri, October 14 2016 The government has sent a strong signal that it will maintain its ban on nickel ore and bauxite exports despite pressure to seek alternative sources of revenue amid the weakening global economy. On Wednesday evening, interim Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Luhut Pandjaitan announced that nickel ore with a low grade of 1.8 percent was also unlikely to be included in the governments planned relaxation of an impending export ban on unprocessed mineral ores, which will be implemented from Jan. 12. The ban, which was originally meant to start in 2014, was set up by the administration of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the hope that it would push the development of the downstream sector, or the construction of smelters, which would create added value for the domestic economy while commodity prices remain low. Luhut, who also serves as coordinating maritime affairs minister, explained that a study conducted by the government showed that the downstream development of the nickel industry had been running successfully as nickel products were being widely exported across the globe. Many products that use nickel in production, such as stainless steel, have been successfully exported. China imports almost 60 or 40 percent of it from us and has even established its own stainless steel industry here. Why would we need to export [nickel ore] anymore if we can process it domestically? he said, adding that he had seen a similar trend with bauxite, the worlds main source of aluminium. There are currently 20 smelters dedicated to ferronickel, nickel pig iron and nickel hydroxide, with national demand of 41.6 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore per annum. Data from the Processing and Smelting Companies Association (AP3I) shows that Indonesia holds 21 percent of the nickel global market share. Despite the impending ban, a study by Fitch Groups BMI Research shows that Indonesias nickel mine production has the highest growth rate compared to other countries at 10.6 percent per annum from 2016 to 2020, with production expected to reach 296,000 tons that year. Luhut said the government was unlikely to allow exports of rare earth minerals even though Indonesia does not yet have the technology to process them. He argued that rare earth minerals were not widely available across the globe and Indonesia had several potential reserves. Separately, state-owned diversified miner Aneka Tambang (Antam) said it supported the governments plan to uphold the complete ban on nickel ore exports although it would prefer to export low-grade nickel as it was economically unfeasible for the firm to process it in the country. Processing nickel domestically with a grade of 1.8 percent and below is not economically feasible for Antam to do. The idea is to utilize this waste in order to create revenue, Antam corporate secretary Trenggono Sutiyoso told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. Meanwhile, AP3I deputy chairman Jonatan Handojo applauded the prospect that nickel ore exports would remain banned next year. He explained that weak nickel prices would drop even further if Indonesia continued to allow unprocessed nickel ore to be exported next year while Chinas demand remained low. However, he questioned the governments potential plan to ban rare earth mineral exports as commodity prices remained high in the global market and Indonesia did not have the technology to process the minerals. As the prices of the rare mineral still high we can also implement fantastically high export duties to create more revenue for Indonesia, he told the Post. JP/ Fedina S. Sundaryani ---------------- to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login DALLAS, Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE:AHC) said today that it will release third quarter 2016 financial results on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 before the market opens. A conference call will follow at 9:00 a.m. CDT that morning. The conference call will be simultaneously webcast on A. H. Belo Corporations website at www.ahbelo.com/invest. An archive of the webcast will be available at www.ahbelo.com in the Investor Relations section. To access the listen-only conference call, dial 1-800-230-1092 (USA) or 651-291-0561 (International). A replay line will be available at 1-800-475-6701 (USA) or 320-365-3844 (International) from 11:00 a.m. CDT on November 1, 2016 until 11:59 p.m. CST on November 8, 2016. The access code for the replay is 403803. About A. H. Belo Corporation A. H. Belo Corporation is a leading local news and information publishing company with commercial printing, distribution and direct mail capabilities, as well as expertise in emerging media and digital marketing. With a continued focus on extending the Companys media platform, A. H. Belo Corporation is able to deliver news and information in innovative ways to a broad spectrum of audiences with diverse interests and lifestyles. For additional information, visit www.ahbelo.com or email invest@ahbelo.com. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jambi Fri, October 14 2016 The Jambi High Prosecutors Office is investigating recipients of scholarships handed out during the 2013-2014 period following reports of irregularities in the disbursement process. We will question a total of 100 recipients this October, the prosecutors office investigation head Imran Yusuf said Thursday. The office launched the investigation after the provinces Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found that some of the scholarship recipients had not enrolled in a university, did not finish their education or dropped out from university. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14 2016 Talk over coffee: ABCD School of Coffee operation manager Yudistira MB (left) and HYPE Pantai Indah Kapuk executive Jane Kenny give a presentation about the upcoming Jakarta Coffee Week in a press briefing led by moderator Ogi Wicaksana. (Courtesy of ABCD School of Coffee) The coffee phenomenon in Indonesia is rising in line with the spreading growth of coffee shops all over the country boasting house blends of local beans and an increasingly younger staff of competent baristas. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 The comeback of former transportation minister Ignasius Jonan and former energy minister Arcandra Tahar into the ministry comes with a special mission, namely to reform the energy sector, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has said. After an inauguration ceremony at the State Palace on Friday, Jokowi told reporters that the two figures were the right choice and were competent professionals to carry out massive reform in the energy sector, highlighting that their well-known persistency would be beneficial to the reform mission. "It's more on the management, not a personal or political issue. This is an issue of management and I am sure both figures are competent even though I know both are stubborn, but they like to go to the field," he said. Jonan has been officially appointed as Energy and Mineral Resources Minister with Arcandra as his deputy minister. Arcandra had left the position in the last two months following a fiasco that involved him holding US citizenship. The inauguration ceremony was held at 1:30 p.m. right before Jokowi departed for a working visit to West Kalimantan. Vice President Jusuf Kalla was not present at the ceremony due to a visit to Makassar, South Sulawesi. The President further said that both figures would form a good team to face the challenges ahead. "I am sure that they can resolve the problem in the energy sector and be a good team," he said. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 President Joko Jokowi Widodo has been trying to fast-track infrastructure and economic development in Papua over the last two years, but little has been achieved to prevent human rights abuses from taking place in the countrys easternmost region. Soon after he took office, Jokowi made an oath that he would not let Papuans continue to suffer as a result of the long-standing Javacentric paradigm of development. Thus, basic infrastructure such as roads and railways are being constructed in the resource-rich region. But, at the same time, the number of reported human rights abuses in Papua continues to increase. This has underscored Jokowis hesitancy to promote peace on the island, hurting Papuans who have put their faith in him, the human rights group Setara Institute said Thursday. Setara Institute data shows that 45 human rights abuse cases were reported in the first nine months of the year, ranging from murders and arrests of activists to torture carried out by Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) personnel. The number is a steep increase from the 16 rights abuse cases recorded last year. Jokowis biggest failure is that he simply thinks improving Papua can be done through economic and infrastructure development. The problem in Papua is not only about prosperity but also the dignity of its people, which can be realized by treating them equally, not promoting violence, Setara vice chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos told a press briefing. The Indonesian Science Institute (LIPI) has mapped out four major problems that have caused long-standing conflict in Papua, namely the states failure to bring prosperity to the region, the discrimination toward and marginalization of native Papuans, state-promoted violence and different interpretations regarding Papuas integration into Indonesia. Regarding the findings, LIPI has also broached the idea of a peaceful and inclusive dialogue to resolve conflict in Papua. The dialogue is expected to involve all stakeholders, including native Papuans, migrants, government institutions, as well as separatist groups such as the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). Setara Institutes National Council secretary Benny Soesetyo said Jokowi had more than enough poltical capital to expedite peace talks in Papua, but still lacked the political will to do so. Benny said Jokowis main source of political capital was that he had gained the trust of many Papuans; he went to Papua on his campaign trail and 70 percent of Papuans voted for him during the presidential election. Also, Jokowi has been successful in consolidating power to support his government. This provides the impetus for the President to initiate peaceful dialogue, Benny said. Papua Peace Network (JDP) coordinator Neles Tebay, who was also present at the briefing, said the government had to resolve the problems identified by LIPI in a holistic manner, and not prioritize one above any other. As long as the government fails to deal with all the four problems, conflict will continue in Papua and international voices will raise their concerns about Indonesias approach to the region, especially in regard to the settlement of human rights cases, Neles said. During the 71st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, seven Pacific countries expressed their concern over continuing human rights abuses in Papua, calling on the body to take concrete measures to address the matter and on Indonesia to resolve the problem. Indonesia, however, has strongly rejected those countries claims, saying that their criticism is politically motivated. Meanwhile, the ULMWP and Indonesia have both tried to garner support from members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), who will meet in December to decide whether to grant either ULMWP or Indonesia membership in the group. According to Neles, three of the five members, namely the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) were seemingly in favor of ULMWP being granted membership. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie and Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 A lawmaker from Democratic Party, Benny K. Harman, said the government should make a commitment to present a fact-finding report on Munir Said Thalibs death 12 years ago and stop claiming the report was lost. The government should ask for a copy of the fact-finding report from state institutions, such as the National Police and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), and it should ask related officials who were involved in Munir's investigation case to locate the report, House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing legal affairs deputy chairman Benny K. Harman said. Benny, a Democratic Party politician, mentioned the name of Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono, BIN chief at the time of Munir's murder in 2004, who had a close relationship with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. "I am sure the report is not lost. If the President wants to find it it, he should ask Hendropriyono. [Locating the report's whereabouts] is a simple matter," Benny said on Thursday. On Thursday, Jokowi instructed the Attorney Generals Office (AGO) to find the "lost" investigation report. "If there is new information, it has to be processed according to the law," Jokowi said at the State Palace on Thursday night. Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto and former Garuda president Indra Setiawan were found guilty of Munirs murder but the fact-finding team had also identified the alleged role of Hendropriyono, as the team discovered telephone calls from Hendropriyono to Pollycarpus close to the day of the incident. Hendropriyono repeatedly denied involvement in Munir's death. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim and Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Wearing a worn-out shirt, a middle-aged man seemed agitated, pacing back and forth while repeatedly trying to call someone at the drivers license office in Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, on Thursday. The man, who only wanted to be called Mikan, said he was trying to reach an official involved with the drivers license service who had promised to give him a new licence in one day, without the hassles of standing in long lines for registration or taking tests. When he finally reached the official, who had offered a fast, but illegal way of obtaining a license for Rp 700,000 [US$54], he ended up being disappointed. The official said he could not come out of the office and that the service would not be available for a while because of an inspection that had taken place at his office that day. Now I have to do it myself and have to wake up as early as 5 a.m. tomorrow to come early to this place to avoid long queues because I live far away from here, the resident of Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post. The government has announced that it will combat illegal levies that plague the public service as part of President Joko Jokowi Widodos legal reforms. A task force has been formed to curb illegal levies under the lead of Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto and the National Police by conducting raids on civil servants at government offices. After announcing the legal reform plan on Wednesday, Jokowi witnessed the arrest of three Transportation Ministry officials who were accused of collecting illegal levies related to licensing services. But considering the failure of similar special forces formed to combat illegal levies during previous administrations, questions remain about whether Jokowi would succeed. Anticorruption activist Adnan Topan Husodo of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said the New Order once had a similar team and later there was also a Timtas Tipikor (Corruption Eradication Team) formed before the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Both of them failed to root out the culture of civil servants collecting illegal levies. Notoriously known as one of the most corrupt government institutions, the National Police, the main institution that will shoulder the gargantuan task, has also been accused of such practices. Officials at the polices vehicle document registration center (Samsat), like the one in Daan Mogot, allegedly offer faster ways of attaining licenses to applicants who are willing to pay higher, unauthorized fees. Drivers licenses attained through the normal process should only cost from Rp 100,000 to Rp 160,000, depending on the type of vehicle, but that process requires waiting in long queues and completing a series of tests. People like Mikan can apparently get a license more easily by paying more. Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) head Comr. Gen. Ari Dono Sukmanto said Jokowi would issue a presidential decree as the legal basis for the establishment of the task force. Officers involved in [collecting] illegal levies will face criminal charges. They will be severely punished, Ari said. National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has instructed all regional police forces to set up special teams to eliminate illegal levies. If the operations turn up civil servants suspected of collecting illegal levies those bureaucrats, like the three accused at the Transportation Ministry, would be charged under the Corruption Law. Economist Ari Kuncoro of the University of Indonesia criticized Jokowis move to combat the small-time corruption. He said the police alone would not be able to stop the practice as it was highly pervasive and mostly conducted by low-ranking officials. Ari said the only way to curb such a culture was by establishing an online system that was easy for citizens to use. Establishing an online system, which is easy to operate, will encourage citizens to avoid using the services of middlemen. It is better for the police to focus on curbing the larger-scale corruption that has hampered development and the economy, Ari said. ____________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura, Papua Fri, October 14, 2016 The Jayapura Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BBPOM) officially launched the Papuan Safe Food and Drug Care Movement marked with destroying Rp 2.1 billion (US$161,024.43) worth of harmful and illegal food and drug products in a ceremony in Jayapura, Papua, on Wednesday. Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) head Penny K. Lukito said the movement aimed to boost cross-sector cooperation to optimize the monitoring of food and drug distributions in areas across Papua. Law violations in the field of food and drug are crimes against humanity. To limit the movement of the perpetrators, there should be comprehensive monitoring involving government and local administrations, business players and all society members, said Penny. The harmful and illegal food and drugs destroyed in the event were confiscated during market operations in 29 regencies and municipalities across Papua over the past year. They comprise 220,111 pieces of expired and illegally distributed traditional medicines, cosmetics, health supplements and food, totaling 3,401 different items. The types of violations we found during the operations include illegal distributions of drugs, chemically-tainted drugs, expired cosmetics and expired foods, said BBPOM Jayapura head Hans Kakerisa. He said his agency handled 20 cases in which the perpetrators were considered of allegedly participating in light crimes. Meanwhile, five cases underwent full legal processing. The Jayapura Prosecutors Office has handled the cases. Kakerisa said nine counterfeit drugs were discovered in three regencies this past year. We cannot yet detail the names of the drugs, but one thing I can assure you, those drugs have not been redistributed. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post) Pekanbaru, Riau Fri, October 14, 2016 Dozens of hectares of peatland in the Rangsang Timur district of Meranti Islands regency, Riau, are on fire despite the recent onset of the rainy season. Meranti Islands Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) head Edy Afrizal said the fires had been raging for four days and did not only burn the bushes but also damaged rubber and coconut plantations belonging to local farmers. We estimate the burned area is about 50 hectares, he said Friday. Edy could not confirm the cause of the disaster but said the police had begun an investigation. This repeated fire on peatland is very unfortunate, because we have dispersed enough information that everyone here knows setting fire to land is a crime punishable by jail, he said. He added that a joint team of personnel from his office, the Indonesian Military and the National Police as well as locals was trying to extinguish the fires, but they were facing difficulties due to the lack of water and a strong wind blowing from the west, helping the fire spread. Haze is emitting from the burning land, he said. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14 2016 Telecommunications operator Indosat Ooredoo is teaming up with state-owned pawnshop Pegadaian to serve the country's massive unbanked population through the launch of a money transfer service that allows customers to send or receive money from any Pegadaian outlet across the nation. The product, introduced under the name Dompetku Pengiriman Uang (My Wallet Money Transfer), employs telco-agnostic and bank-agnostic principles, which means that customers are not required to use Indosat's mobile phone number to access the service. They only need to register their identity cards with any Pegadaian outlet as future reference for digital transactions. We aim to keep expanding our outreach through cooperation with other institutions to grasp a wider range of the ecosystem as well as to support the government plan to provide financial inclusion and cashless transactions, Indosat Ooredoo CEO Alexander Rusli said Wednesday at Pegadaian headquarters, after officially announcing the cooperation. To access the service, a customer will be charged between Rp 15,000 (US$1.15) and Rp 35,000 per transaction based on the amount of money they send. The service fees will be equally shared by both Indosat Ooredoo and Pegadaian. Each customer, however, can only send or receive a maximum Rp 25 million per day. Both senders and receivers will be notified with a unique reference number for verification before the cash withdrawal process. With Pegadaian's 4,455 outlets spread across the archipelago, all of which are digitally connected, the cooperation is expected to reach the district level. Pegadaian president director Riswinandi said the cooperation would benefit both sides to further expand the networks of their customers. This cooperation will also benefit the people who wish to transfer money quickly, easily and safely. With the cooperation, Indosat Ooredoos Dompetku is now accessible in 20,000 outlets nationwide. The countrys second-largest telecommunications operator had previously partnered with retail giant Alfamart to offer the service. The fact that only around 20 percent of the total population of the fourth-largest country in the world have bank accounts is signaling a huge potential that has yet to be optimized. President Joko Jokowi Widodo has frequently conveyed his commitment to fostering financial inclusion and cashless transactions, in a bid to unlock economic potential and to eradicate poverty in the country, as part of his Nawacita nine-point development agenda. Pegadaian, founded in 1901, has long been associated with small- and middle-income people, indicated by the fact that the average amount of loans taken by its 7 million active customers is less than Rp 5 million. Indosat, meanwhile, last year rebranded itself as Indosat Ooredoo after the Qatar-based Ooredoo Group became a majority shareholder with a 65 percent stake. Before the official launch of Dompetku earlier this week, the two parties had teamed up to introduce the service in July, recording 2,800 transactions involving Rp 1.6 billion since then. (fac) ---------------- To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan has promised to immediately investigate Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy. He made the promise in front of thousands of members of Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and other civil organizations who had marched from the Istiqlal Grand Mosque to the National Police Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) office and City Hall. "The Bareskrim chief says the case will be processed," he said while standing on a vehicle belonging to protesters parked in front of City Hall on Friday afternoon. Bareskrim head Comr. Gen. Ari Dono previously said the police would investigate Ahok in regard to the allegation. The police have questioned witnesses and gathered evidence regarding the allegation. "We will interrogate Ahok," he told protesters in front of the Bareskrim office in Central Jakarta. A massive demonstration against Ahok required traffic to be diverted on Friday afternoon. All vehicles heading toward Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan were directed to Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur and Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara. Ahok reportedly told people in Thousand Island regency not to be deceived by those who try to tackle him by citing Quranic verse Surah al-Maidah: 51. He later apologized for his statement and said he had meant no harm. However, hard-liners insist an apology is not enough. (ags) TORONTO, Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alacer Gold Corp. (Alacer or the Corporation) (TSX:ASR) (ASX:AQG) plans to release its third quarter 2016 operating results, financial statements and the related managements discussion and analysis before the TSX market opens on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 (North America). Rod Antal, Alacers President and Chief Executive Officer will host a conference call on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. (North America Eastern Daylight Time) and Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. (Australian Eastern Daylight Time). You may listen to the call via webcast at http://services.choruscall.ca/links/alacer20161026.html. The conference call presentation will also be available at the link provided prior to the call commencing. You may participate in the conference call by dialing: 1-800-319-4610 for U.S. and Canada 1-800-423-528 for Australia 800-930-470 for Hong Kong 800-101-2425 for Singapore 0808-101-2791 for United Kingdom 1-604-638-5340 for International Alacer Gold Call Conference ID If you are unable to participate in the call, a webcast will be archived until January 26, 2017 and a recording of the call will be available on Alacers website at www.AlacerGold.com or through replay until Wednesday, December 7, 2016 by using passcode 0857# and calling: 1-855-669-9658 for U.S. and Canada 800-984-354 for Australia The corresponding financial statements, managements discussion and analysis, press release, and presentation will be posted on Alacers website and on www.SEDAR.com. About Alacer Alacer is a leading intermediate gold mining company, with an 80% interest in the world-class Copler Gold Mine in Turkey operated by Anagold Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (Anagold), and the remaining 20% owned by Lidya Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (Lidya). The Corporations primary focus is to leverage its cornerstone Copler Mine and strong balance sheet to maximize portfolio value, maximize free cash flow, minimize project risk and, therefore, create maximum value for shareholders. The Copler Mine is located in east-central Turkey in the Erzincan Province, approximately 1,100 kilometers southeast from Istanbul and 550 kilometers east from Ankara, Turkeys capital city. Alacer is actively pursuing initiatives to enhance value beyond the current mine plan: Copler Oxide Production Optimization Expansion of the existing heap leach pad to 58 million tonnes continues to advance. All required land use permits for the Heap Leach Pad Phase 4 expansion have been received. The Corporation continues to evaluate opportunities to extend oxide production beyond the current reserves, including a new heap leach pad site to the west of the Copler Mine. Copler Sulfide Project The Sulfide Project is under construction with first gold production projected in the third quarter 2018. The Project is expected to deliver long-term growth with robust financial returns and adds over 20 years of production at Copler. The Sulfide Project will bring Coplers remaining life-of-mine gold production to 4 million ounces at All-in Sustaining Costs 1 averaging $645 per ounce 2 . averaging $645 per ounce . The Corporation continues to pursue opportunities to further expand its current operating base and to become a sustainable multi-mine producer with a focus on Turkey. The systematic and focused exploration efforts in the Copler District, as well as in other regions of Turkey, are progressing. Cakmaktepe Southeast, Cakmaktepe East, Cakmaktepe North and Bayramdere are the main focus in the Copler District, and have the potential to add oxide production within the next two years. In the region, the Gediktepe Project (formerly known as the Dursunbey Project) has advanced with a maiden resource and reserve released in third quarter 20163. Alacer is a Canadian corporation incorporated in the Yukon Territory with its primary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Corporation also has a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange where CDIs trade. 1 All-in Sustaining Costs is a non-IFRS financial performance measure with no standardized definitions under IFRS. For further information and a detailed reconciliation, please see the Non-IFRS Measures section of the Corporations MD&A for the three months ended June 30, 2016. 2 Detailed information regarding the Copler Sulfide Project, including the material assumptions on which the forward-looking financial information is based, can be found in the Technical Report dated June 9, 2016 entitled Technical Report on the Copler Mine and Copler Sulfide Exploration Project (the Updated Technical Report) available on the Corporations website at www.alacergold.com, on www.sedar.com, and on www.asx.com.au. 3 Alacer has exercised its clawback option for the Gediktepe Project and upon completion of the clawback, ownership will be 50%/50%. Detailed information can be found in the Press Release entitled Alacer Gold Announces a New Reserve for its Gediktepe Project Providing Future Growth, dated September 13, 2016, available on the Corporations website at www.alacergold.com, on www.sedar.com, and on www.asx.com.au. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Collin Binkley (Associated Press) Boston Fri, October 14, 2016 Black and Latino students in the US are far less likely than their peers of other races to attend elite public universities, according to a new study. The Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, DC, analyzed federal data from 2014 to compare the types of public colleges students of different races attended. The group divided colleges by selectivity, ranking them as elite public universities, other four-year schools or community colleges. Out of all white students who attended public colleges in 2014, almost 20 percent attended highly selective schools, the study found. Asian students fared even better, with 31 percent. But only 9 percent of black students and 12 percent of Latinos attended public universities with the most-selective admission rates. Meanwhile, minority students were far more likely to attend less-selective universities and community colleges, which typically have lower graduation rates. Authors of the study say it helps explain why disproportionately few minorities earn college degrees. Only 16 percent of young Latino adults have bachelor's degrees, according to federal data, compared to 63 percent of young adult Asians. That can lead to inequality in other areas, including income, the group says. "Obviously at these top elite colleges, you have a wider array of career opportunities and academic opportunities," said Elizabeth Baylor, the group's director of postsecondary education. In Massachusetts, just 5 percent of black students at public colleges attended a top school, along with 6 percent of Latinos, among the lowest rates in the nation. Katy Abel, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Higher Education, said the issue is a "huge concern" to Massachusetts leaders. She said public colleges are working to improve their remedial education programs, which can deter some students from attending college. "Too many of these students get discouraged having to take remedial course for which they must pay, and for which they receive zero college credit. They get discouraged," Abel said. Other states where blacks were least likely to attend top schools include North Carolina and Tennessee. For Latinos, the rates were lowest in New York, Massachusetts and California. Minority students at many US colleges have called for greater diversity on campus in recent years, with some saying they feel isolated and forgotten. Policymakers also have pushed colleges to boost minority enrollment, and a proposal from President Barack Obama would provide two free years of community college for all "responsible" students. But Baylor, the study's author, said it's key to make sure minority students have access to top colleges, too, where graduation rates are often double those at less-selective schools. "If we're going to close these attainment gaps that exist among people of different races and ethnicities, I'd like to see more students of color attending these universities that have good outcomes," she said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Fri, October 14, 2016 Three Malaysian-flagged fishing vessels from Vietnam were caught illegally fishing in Bintan waters, Riau Islands, on Thursday. Patrol vessel KP Hiu 14 belonging to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry arrested 48 Vietnamese citizens, who were crew members of the three boats. Another vessel detected by the ministry managed to escape into Malaysian waters. The ministrys fishery and maritime resources monitoring directorate generals (PSDKP) Batam office head Akhmadon said the three Vietnamese vessels were detained as they trawled around 22 miles off Bintan Island. Foreign fishing vessels have gone deeper into Indonesian waters while in previous cases, they only dared to fish in border areas. Its very ironic to see that rampant illegal fishing practices continue despite our tough law enforcement against perpetrators by destroying their vessels, said Akhmadon on Friday. The three vessels are machine vessel KM Murkhan 5, with 22 crew members, KM Karang 6 with 21 crew members and KM JMS 00637 with five crew members. Patrol personnel found 3 tons of different types of fish inside cooler facilities on the three vessels. We have secured them [vessels and fish] as evidence. We are coordinating with the immigration office to legally process the 48 crew members and hope that they will be deported immediately, said Akhmadon. He said the crew members of the three vessels would be charged under Law No.45/2009 on fisheries. It is hoped that within 30 days, their case documents can be handed over to the court, said Akhmadon. (ebf) Busted -- The boats have been detained as evidence and the ministry's directorate general is coordinating with the immigration office to legally process the 48 crew members. (JP/Fadli) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya Fri, October 14 2016 Bottle up!: A worker sorts Cleo water bottles at Tanobel Foods factory in Pandaan, Pasuruan, East Java, on Saturday. (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana) East Java-based bottled water producer Tanobel Food and Beverage plans to gradually expand its number of production facilities over the next few years to cater to increasing demand in the local market. Tanobel, producer of the Cleo brand, currently runs 18 factories and expects to build another 32 in the next few years, with an annual investment of at least Rp 100 billion (US$7.67 million). We will operate a new mid-sized factory with a capacity of 200 million liters of water per year in Purworejo, Central Java, by November. We will add three or four more production facilities next year, Tanobel founder Hermanto Tanoto told reporters recently in Surabaya. In 2017, Tanobel plans to build drinking water factories in Semarang, Central Java, and the East Java cities of Ngoro, Pasuruan and Banyuwangi. There are approximately 800 bottled water companies in the country, producing a total of 1,800 brands. Around 60 percent of the companies, however, run on a small to medium scale, targeting only a particular regional or provincial market. The Association of Indonesian Producers of Packaged Drinking Water (Aspadin) recorded that the production of bottled water reached 24.7 billion liters in 2015 and was expected to rise to 27.2 billion liters by the end of this year, indicating a 10 percent year-on-year (yoy) increase. The association said the top four brands were Aqua, Vit, Club and Cleo. The first two brands are produced by global food giant Danone while Club is made by PT Asahi Indofood Beverage Makmur, a joint venture of publicly listed PT Indofood CBP and Japanese beverage group Asahi, leaving Cleo as the only top brand fully owned by a local business. Tanobels 18 factories currently spread across the archipelago, with most of them located in Java. The company, which holds a 5 percent market share, produces up to 2 billion liters of drinking water per year. Hermanto added that his company was aiming to have at least 50 water factories nationwide before penetrating Southeast Asian markets to face global competition, particularly after the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community late last year. Hermanto predicted that the countrys growing economy would provide a boost for the bottled water industry to reach even greater growth of up to 20 percent next year. In August, President Joko Jokowi Widodo promised 5.3 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) next year, slightly higher than the 5.2 percent growth forecast for 2016. Another reason for the strategic expansion was cutting transportation costs, which currently make up 12 to 16 percent of total production costs. With lower production costs, the company would not need to increase the price of its products. The bottled water industry depends on transportation and distribution. Those who have an extensive distribution and transportation network will survive, Hermanto said. Previously, Aspadin chairman Rachmat Hidayat said the association had urged its members to keep providing customers with low prices to help maintain the growth of the industry. The Industry Ministry, meanwhile, has targeted 7.8 percent growth for the food and beverage industry this year. ---------------- to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya and Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Thousands of people from hard-line Islamic groups gathered at Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta and started to march through the city, pushing for criminal proceedings against Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama over alleged blasphemy. The protesters, most of whom were men dressed in white Muslim attire, were heard yelling, "We want a Muslim governor", "Burn Ahok!" and "Kafir!" "Indonesia is a country based on the rule of law. We want the state to show presence in this case, because the law has regulations on this [religious defamation]," Ja'far Shodiq, vice secretary general of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), said at Istiqlal Mosque on Friday. Ja'far asked the protesters to carry out peaceful action. He also reminded the demonstrators to not be racist. He said the protest was not connected to the upcoming gubernatorial election. The protesters only wanted to express their belief, which was in accordance with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), which had said that Ahok had committed blasphemy by telling people in Thousand Islands regency not to be deceived by a Quranic verse, Surah al-Maidah: 51. The FPI and several other groups said they would march from Istiqlal Mosque to the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) office in South Jakarta and ended at City Hall in Central Jakarta. Ahok has apologized for his statement and said he had meant no harm, but the hard-line groups insist that is not enough. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Thousands of people plan to join a protest held on Friday in Central Jakarta against Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama's alleged religious defamation remarks. Based on the reports received by Jakarta Police, there are about 5,000 people from a variety of civil organizations who plan to march from Istiqlal Mosque up to City Hall, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said as reported by Kompas.com on Friday. He urged protesters to conduct the rally peacefully. As part of security measures, Jakarta Police will deploy 2,800 personnel to secure the areas where the protests will be held as well as to make sure there are no disruptions in public order and traffic. The number of personnel could increase depending on the situation, Awi said. The number could reach 3,000 officers of Central Jakarta Police. The protesters, comprised of Islamic-based groups, such as Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), will observe Friday prayer in Istiqlal Mosque before a march to the National Police's Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) office in Gambir, Central Jakarta. The protestors plan to end the protest at City Hall, according to police. The protest is in response to Ahok's alleged religious defamation. The protesters demand Bareskrim to process the report filed against the outspoken governor. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Young teachers of the Gerakan Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesian Teaching Movement, GIM) are being deployed to the far corners of the archipelago, reaching out to students in remote areas where the government also faces challenges. Solidaritas director Mark Fiorello, whose company was hired to facilitate a reflection of GIMs five-year journey, has commended the foundation's efforts in galvanizing local students to get educated, as well as maintain their enthusiasm, while also involving local actors in the process. "So the idea is, by bringing local actors into the circle and raising their enthusiasm, they become more aware of local problems and want to get engaged in finding local solutions," Fiorello told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. He said local initiatives had also been triggered by what had been started by the Jakarta headquarters. However, Mark continued, the question still remains whether the enthusiasm actually contributes to improving the quality of education. GIM must also be able to find solutions to systemic issues in the education system that are fundamental to the government's shortcomings, he added, including teacher absences. The foundation, established by Jakarta gubernatorial election candidate Anies Baswedan, now covers 24 regencies and has deployed 621 teachers since 2010. Young adults below 28 years of age and holding a bachelor's degree are deployed to teach in a remote village for 12 months. GIM executive director Evi Trisna noted that the foundation was currently in its first year of deploying teachers to new areas, namely Natuna in Riau Islands, Nunukan in North Kalimantan, South Hulu River in South Sulawesi, Konawe in Southeast Sulawesi, Southwest Maluku in Maluku, Yapen and Pegunungan Bintang in Papua. "In choosing our candidates, we make sure to pick problem-solvers who are able to adapt to the new locales while still effectively contributing well to their everyday duties," Evi said. Patrick Roeroe, 26, has recently returned from a year of teaching in South Halmahera in North Maluku. He said some of the biggest challenges were the cultural differences he experienced in comparison to his Javanese background. Nevertheless, he said, teaching in the countryside was exciting since many of the education materials could be found right on his doorstep. "We would just walk outside the classroom and learn about flora and fauna with [examples of] the subject right there with us," Patrick said. (dan) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, October 15, 2016 House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komarudin has expressed his optimism over the future of Indonesias energy sector under the leadership of Ignasius Jonan and Arcandra Tahar. Surprised by Jonans appointment, Ade believed the former transportation minister's return to the Cabinet would revitalize the countrys energy sector. Jonan and Arcandra were inaugurated as energy and mineral resources minister and deputy minister, respectively, at the State Palace on Friday. The Golkar Party politician acknowledged Jonan's capacity and capability in the transportation sector and praised his legacy from his term as state-run railway company Kereta Api Indonesias (KAI) president director. "KAI [services] became more comfortable under his leadership. Now, he has been entrusted to handle the energy sector, assisted by Arcandra who has the technical capacity and intellect. I am optimistic that Indonesias energy sector will be better under their management," Ade told reporters after the inauguration. The two men filled positions left vacant after Jokowi dismissed Arcandra as energy minister in August. Jokowi stripped him of his duties after only 20 days in the role following a fiasco over his US citizenship. He regained his Indonesian citizenship on Sept. 1 after a process at the Law and Human Rights Ministry. Jonan previously served as transportation minister before the President removed him from the Cabinet in July. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, October 15, 2016 Top ministers from Australia and Indonesia are scheduled to gather in Bali on Oct.28 to discuss the strengthening of cooperation on strategic security issues between the two countries, officials have said. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said foreign and defense ministers from Indonesia and Australia were ready to attend the fourth meeting of the pair ministers, which was initiated in 2010. "Some of the issues to be discussed include strategic security issues, which have become prime concerns of both countries, and on how they can contribute to the stability and peace of the region," Arrmanatha said during a press briefing at the ministry in Jakarta on Friday. The ministry's East Asia and Pacific director Edi Yusup said the meeting was expected to expand cooperation that had been established in previous talks, including on counterterrorism and deradicalization. He further said the meeting would discuss maritime safety and security issues, especially those related to disputed territories in the South China Sea, and Sulu Sea security, which had been rife with kidnappings of Indonesian sailors in recent years. Australia wanted to know how Indonesia had addressed a string of hostage-taking situations, he went on. "There is also a possibility for the two countries to launch cooperation on cybersecurity during the event," Edi said. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Danial Albakri (The Star) Kuala Lumpur Fri, October 14, 2016 Human Rights Watch (HRW) has raised concerns that there is a growing culture of fear in Malaysia. The group released a 40-page report that condemned the use of certain laws to crack down on free speech and peaceful assembly. Criminalising peaceful speech appears part of the Malaysian governments larger effort to tighten the noose on anyone expressing political discontent, said Phil Robertson, deputy director for HRWs Asia division, at the reports launch on Thursday. The report specifically targeted the use of the Sedition Act 1948, the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998, the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 and the Peaceful Assembly Act, all of which Robertson said were the most frequently used laws against dissenters. He claimed that these laws were vaguely worded, allowing for selective prosecution of critics of the countrys administration. Robertson gave the metaphor of the threat of a shark out in open water, where outspoken dissenters do not know when and where they may be prosecuted. Thats the kind of intimidation they are aiming for, he added. He pointed out that having this threat hanging over their heads is what has created the culture of fear to speak out among Malaysians. The report claimed that the authorities have been more frequently clamping down on public protests and rallies. According to the group, there is also a growing trend of using CMA against social media users and online news outlets. It seems that Malaysia wants to emulate Singapore in how it controls information. If you look at Singapore, they use regulatory restrictions and mandatory requirements to restrict what goes on there, said Robertson, adding that HRW did not want to see Malaysia adopting the Singaporean model. What Malaysia is trying to do is to put the Internet genie back in the bottle, he said. Robertson said he is also concerned about the proposed amendments to CMA that have not been publicly disclosed. The HRW report called on Putrajaya to repeal or amend these laws. These recommendations are similar to the ones expressed in the HRW report that came out last year. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Vijay Joshi (Associated Press) Bangkok, Thailand Fri, October 14, 2016 Thais wept in grief across the nation Thursday after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country's unifying figure and the world's longest-reigning monarch. He was 88. Hundreds of people had gathered since Wednesday at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, where Bhumibol had been treated for various ailments for much of the past decade. Many sobbed loudly, clutching each other in anguish and shouting "Long live the king." "There is no word to explain my feeling right now," Gaewkarn Fuangtong, a humanitarian worker, said in Bangkok's financial district. "I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better for his sake." The government announced a 100-day mourning period and a 30-day moratorium on state events. But businesses, tourist attractions and public transport were to remain open Friday because of the government's desire not to hurt the sputtering economy. "The stock market, investments, other businesses should not stop. Do not try to let the country lose its credibility, especially in the case of impact on the stock exchange," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a televised address to the nation. He said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will succeed the king under the constitution, but had asked for more time to mourn with the nation before ascending the throne. No date has been set for his coronation. Most Thais have seen no other king in their lifetime and thought of Bhumibol, who reigned for 70 years, as their father and the embodiment of goodness and godliness. Although a constitutional monarch, he wielded enormous political power and served as a unifying figure during Thailand's numerous political crises. But in recent years, he suffered from a variety of illnesses that affected his kidneys, brain, lungs, heart and blood. He remained publicly detached from recent political upheavals, including the 2014 coup that brought Prayuth, an army general, to power. "Since I was young I saw him work really hard, and now it's hard to explain. I feel numb inside," said Danaiwut Wiroonpiti 26, a photographer who was crying outside the Grand Palace where the king's body will be taken in a procession Friday. "He's the center of all Thai people. It's like we lost the main pillar of our lives, the person who holds us together. I can't hold my tears." In this Dec. 5, 2012, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, seated center, and his family members, from left: Princess Somsavali, Princess Ubolratana, Princess Chulabhorn, Princess Siribhachudabhorn, Royal Consort Princess Srirasm, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, Princess Sirindhorn; after addressing the crowd from a balcony of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall on his 85th birthday in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP/Wason Wanichakorn) Portraits of Bhumibol displayed in most Thai homes and businesses generally depict him in arduous travels to remote villages, where he often went to see the situation of his subjects first hand. But recently, whenever Bhumibol appeared in public, he was in wheelchair, waving feebly at his subjects. Even those rare appearances stopped as he became confined to the hospital. On Sunday, the palace announced his health had become "unstable," and on Wednesday, Vajiralongkorn rushed back from Germany, Prayuth canceled a trip abroad and royal family members began gathering at Siriraj Hospital. He died a little before 4 p.m. on Thursday, the palace said. His death was announced three hours later in a broadcast carried simultaneously by all TV stations. "Even though the board of doctors has closely monitored and treated him to the best of its abilities, the king's condition never improved," the palace said in a statement. It said he passed away peacefully. "He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there," Prayuth said in a statement. "He was a king that was loved and adored by all. The reign of the king has ended and his kindness cannot be found anywhere else." Messages of condolences poured in from across the world. "With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim," US President Barack Obama said. "His majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations." French President Francois Hollande hailed the king for "exceptional human qualities ... his profound sense of justice, his care for modernity and sustainable development." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as "one of the tallest leaders of our times." Bhumibol Adulyadej (pronounced poo-mee-pon ah-dun-yaa-det) became king in 1946. He anchored the Southeast Asian country through violent upheavals at home and communist revolutions next door with a blend of majesty and a common touch. There is great concern about the succession, since Vajiralongkorn has not earned the same respect as his father. Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said for the next 30 days all TV and radio stations, including online media, will broadcast the same programs provided by a government-controlled pool. He did not specify foreign TV channels in the rule, but on Thursday night all channels on the country's main satellite TV service, including BBC and CNN, were replaced by the pool footage. Associated Press journalists Natnicha Chuwiruch, Kiko Rosario, Tassanee Vejpongsa and Nattasuda Anusonadisai contributed to this report. cesium4u wrote: Studies show that the most creative engineers get their best and most useful ideas only after doodling and jotting down what turn out to be outlandish ideas. Now that many engineers do their work with computers instead of on paper, however, doodling is becoming much less common, and some experts fear that the result will be fewer creative and useful engineering ideas. These experts argue that this undesirable consequence would be avoided if computer programs for engineering work included simulated notepads that would allow engineers to suspend their serious work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work. Which one of the following is an assumption on which the experts reasoning depends? (A) Most creative engineers who work with paper and pencil spend about as much time doodling as they spend on what they consider serious work. (B) Simulated notepads would not be used by engineers for any purpose other than typing up outlandish ideas. (C) No engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas. (D) The physical act of working on paper is not essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling. (E) Most of the outlandish ideas engineers jot down while doodling are later incorporated into projects that have practical applications. Why not C?? X is good However, X is no longer available Y that is simulated X is necessary Assumption: Y should be at least as good as X. Negation to confirm: If X is much better than Y, the conclusion fails APPLY TO THE QUESTION: Doodling is becoming much less common, computer programs allow engineers to suspend their serious work on the computer quickly return ANALYZE EACH ANSWER: Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. TEMPTING. much less common serious serious work on the computer, so they can type and return quickly to their original work. Correct. Wrong. Hi cesium4u.I'm glad to help.First of all, I will generalize the stimulus as follows:Fact: Most creative engineers get their best and most useful ideas only after doodling and jotting down what turn out to be outlandish ideas.Fact: Now that many engineers do their work with computers instead of on paper,Fact:Conclusion: Its necessary to createfor engineering work included simulated notepads that would, type up outlandish ideas, and thento their original work.(A) Most creative engineers who work with paper and pencil spend about as much time doodling as they spend on what they consider serious work.Out of scope. We do not compare time here.(B) Simulated notepads would not be used by engineers for any purpose other than typing up outlandish ideas.Out of scope. We just talk about the usefulness of simulated notepads for creating outlandish ideas. Nothing about other purposes. The fact that simulated notepads can be used for other purposes is not the assumption of the main conclusion simulated notepads can help engineer to create outlandish ideas.(C) No engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas.But C has two problems:(1) The fact clearly says that: Doodling is becoming. So even when the engineers have paper and pencil, they will not spend time to doodle on paper because they are doing their work on the computer.(2) Read the conclusion carefully: computer programs would allow engineers to suspend their serious work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work.The conclusion emphasizes that simulate notepads can help engineers who are doing In fact, paper and pencil can help engineers to jot down ideas, but the engineers can't return quickly to their "serious works". Thus, focus on each word in the conclusion is really important.(D) The physical act of working on paper is not essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling.This assumption states that simulated notepads can definitely replace papers.(E) Most of the outlandish ideas engineers jot down while doodling are later incorporated into projects that have practical applications.Out of scope. Nothing about practical applications.Hope its clear. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 14, 2016 Banyuwangi in East Java will host a fish market festival on Saturday that will showcase fresh fish, decorative fish, freshwater fish aquaculture and fisheries processed goods. Banyuwangi Regent Abdullah Azwar Anas told Antara news agency Friday that the event was part of the Banyuwangi Festival that feature 53 tourism activities throughout this year. (Read also: Heres why Banyuwangi is perfect for nature and culture lovers) "Visitors will be able to shop for fisheries products at the festival. The event will also hold a 1,500-meter long fish grilling activity," he said. Up to 2000 people are said to participate in grilling hundreds of kilograms of fish, in which visitors will be invited to enjoy the food afterward. The event is expected to boost fishery potential in the region, as well as provide a new attraction for tourists as Banyuwangi's Muncar Port is one of the biggest fishing ports in the country. (kes) STATEMENT: Agudath Israel of America condemns in the strongest terms the UNESCO resolution passed this week that effectively denies the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. It is an unabashed falsification of history, the magnitude of which can only be explained by a deep and ugly hatred for the Jewish people and its heritage. To ignore the historical record and the fact that Jews have prayed daily for millennia to be able to return to their ancestral land is nothing short of grotesque. Nations that supported this shameful resolution desire to delegitimize Israels claim to sovereignty over the Holy City. Their animus will not accomplish that. Its only consequence will be to make peace in the Middle East even more elusive. Countries that demonstrated their malign intentions by endorsing the resolution and those that, out of cowardice, abstained, deserve denunciation. We applaud President Obama and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Estonia, for their courage in voting against the resolution, and for historical truth. [TLS] Historian and author Tyler Anbinder (The Five Points) will be discussing his new book, City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York, this Wednesday at the Tenement Museums event series, Tenement Talks. In the book, Anbinder puts the immigrant experience at the center of the growth and development of New York City. By tracing the history of the citys immigrant groups back 400 years he illustrates that the same fears that dominate 21st-century debates on immigration were alive and well in earlier eras. Publishers Weekly glowingly reviewed the book here. Tyler Anbinder will be in conversation with Pulitzer Prize nominated author Suketu Mehta on Wednesday, October 19th at the Tenement Museum from 6:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Seating for this FREE event is first-come, first-served. Doors open at 6 p.m. Books will be for sale with a 15% discount. abid1986 wrote: The Parthenon was a church from 1204 until 1456, when Athens was taken by General Mohammed the Conqueror, the Turkish sultan, who established a mosque in the building and used the Acropolis as a fortress. (A) who established a mosque in the building and used the Acropolis as (B) who, establishing a mosque in the building, used the Acropolis like (C) who, when he had established a mosque in the building, used the Acropolis like (D) who had established a mosque in the building, using the Acropolis to be (E) establishing a mosque in the building and using the Acropolis as Hi, Comma + verbing modifies preceding independent clause,then how establishing and using is modifying athens,which is actually a dependent clause. Thanks Abid Hi Abid,Thanks for posting your doubt here.The Comma + Verb-ing modifier modifies the action in the preceding clause. This preceding clause can be an Independent or a Dependent Clause. Ans also, action denoted by the Comma + Verb-ing modifier must make sense with the Subject of the action modified by this modifier.In this sentence, the cause preceding the Comma + Verb-ing Modifiers "establishing..." and "using..." is "when Athens was taken by General...So, here the action these modifiers modify is "was taken". The Subject of this modified action is "Athens". Hence, this modification is illogical because Athens did not do any of the two actions denoted by the Comma + Verb-ing Modifiers here.These actions were actually performed by the General. Choice A is the clear winner here that conveys that meaning perfectly.For more details on the correct use Comma + Verb-ing modifiers, please read the following article:Hope this helps.ThanksShraddha_________________ orange exhibit, which thereby activates , which activates , in turn activation , and activate and activate which activates 1. Transition after "exhibit:" ,which / ,in turn / ,and / and / which, as a result 2. Vert tense & parallelism: activates / activation / activate Let's start with #1 on our list: how to proceed after the word "exhibits." , which thereby activates INCORRECT , in turn an activation of INCORRECT , and OKAY and OKAY which, as a result, activates INCORRECT We can eliminate options A, B, and E it INCORRECT and CORRECT There you go - option D is the correct choice! Hello Everyone!Let's take a closer look at this question and decide how to narrow it down to the correct choice quickly! To start, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted inUnlike the original National Museum of Science and Technology in Italy, where the models are encased in glass or operated only by staff members, the Virtual Leonardo Project, an online version of the museum, encourages visitors to touch eachthe animated functions of the piece.(A) exhibitthereby(B) exhibitanof(C) exhibitit will(D) exhibitthereby(E) exhibit, as a result,After quickly glancing over the options, there are a couple places we can focus on to start narrowing down options:This problem mainly focuses on making sure we use transitions and modifiers correctly:(A) exhibitThis isbecause adding the comma + which turns the phrase into a modifier. Any comma + which modifier must refer back to the closest preceding noun, which in this sentence is the exhibit. Does the exhibit activate the animated functions? NO! The person's touch activates it! So let's rule out this option.(B) exhibitThis isbecause using the phrase "in turn an activation of" doesn't really make sense. First, the phrase "in turn" can only be used to introduce new clauses, which would need their own nouns and verbs to work. In this case, the phrase "in turn an activation of..." is missing a solid verb for it to make sense, so let's rule this one out as well.(C) exhibitit will activateThis isfor now. It's clear that the touching and activating of the animated functions happen, for the most part, at the same time. Both items use parallel structure by using singular verbs (touch/activate), so let's keep this one for now.(D) exhibitthereby activateThis isfor now. It's also clear that we're talking about two actions the people are performing (touch/activate), and both are worded using parallel structure. Let's keep this one for now.(E) exhibitThis isbecause, yet again, we have a "which" modifier used incorrectly. This sentence suggests that the nearest noun (exhibit) activates the animated functions, which isn't correct - the people do this through their touch. So let's rule this out.because they all created confusing or misleading modifiers. Now that we've narrowed it down to only 2 options, let's take a closer look at each one to determine which is the best option:(C) exhibit, andwill activateThis isbecause it contains a vague pronoun! What is the word "it" referring back to: the touch, the visitors, the exhibit? It's not clear, so we need to toss out this option. The GMAT really doesn't like vague pronouns, so whenever you see one, it's a good indicator that you're looking at a wrong option!(D) exhibitthereby activateThis is! By using the word "and," the sentence is clearly showing that the visitors are doing 2 actions: touch the exhibit and activate the animated functions. Both actions are worded using parallel structure by using singular verbs (touch/activate). It is clear and concise, just like the GMAT prefers!Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it._________________ Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs MGS88 Minimal Deposit Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit 2 Menit Metode Deposit Bank Transfer, Pulsa, E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik Slot Online, Judi Bola, Casino Online, Togel Online, Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin Pragmatic Play, PGSoft, MicroGaming, Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, Wild West Gold, Starlight Princess Win Rate 98% RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami. Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi. Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh. Apa itu RTP Live? RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal. Apa itu RTP Slot? RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah. Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar. Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting? Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan. Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan. Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya : Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP. Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi: RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%) Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik. Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar. Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot: RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar. Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot. Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini: Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia. Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia. Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong. Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam. Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini. Many Downriver residents realize this area was populated with Native Americans prior to the arrival of Europeans, but not as many know much about them. Ted Roll, grand chief of the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation, hopes to change that with the second annual Native American Day at Carlson High School. Set for Oct. 26, the program is open to all third and fourth grade classes Downriver. Weve found out that the program is best received by the younger students, Roll said. In recent years Roll and members of his tribe have been on a mission to not only educate people about the Wyandot people and their history, but to also share the culture. The event, which drew about 2,500 students last year, takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Carlson High School, 30550 W. Jefferson in Gibraltar. Those who have an interest in Native American lore and practices, tribal storytelling and local history will not want to miss this wonderful event, Roll said. Roll said features will include presentations by Wyandotte Nation Fancy Dancers, Native Drumming and the sharing of Wyandot lore by storytellers. Artisans also will be on hand with handmade items on display, such as beading, tribal implements, drums and other objects. Groups are welcome to tour the expo, which will be set up in the main gymnasium. Students are expected to participate in the tours, asking questions along the way as part of their assignments. Each group will then be able to watch the Wyandotte Nation Fancy Dancers perform and tell the story of their dance, as the drummer keeps the beat for them. Each group also will be able to have a story told to them, by one of the Wyandot tribal members, Those wishing to be a part of a group tour are asked to book a time slot in advance. For more information or to reserve a time slot, contact Roll at 734-652-3756 or at ChiefRoll@gmail.com; or contact Crystal Fowler at 734-379-7140 or at fowlerc@gibdist.net. Phuket Governor orders officials to strictly uphold national mourning mandate PHUKET: Governor Chockchai Dejamornthan has ordered to all government officials in Phuket to strictly uphold to the tenets laid down by the Prime Ministers Office following the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej yesterday. By Yutthawat Lekmak Friday 14 October 2016, 02:38PM Governor Chockchai Dejamornthan order all officials to strictly abide by the announcement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Tanyaluk Sakoot Phuket holds mass services to honour His Majesty PHUKET: Mass services were held at various locations across the island today in honour of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away at Sirirat Hospital in Bangkok yesterday at 3:52pm. By Yutthawat Lekmak Friday 14 October 2016, 04:06PM More than 1,000 students, academics and faculty staff joined the service at Phuket Rajabhat University this morning. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat More than 1,000 students, academics and faculty staff joined the service at Phuket Rajabhat University this morning. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat More than 1,000 students, academics and faculty staff joined the service at Phuket Rajabhat University this morning. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat Chancellor Dr Prapa Kayee led the service at Phuket Rajabhat University with a eulogy honouring His Majesty. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat More than 1,000 students, academics and faculty staff joined the service at Phuket Rajabhat University this morning. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat More than 1,000 students, academics and faculty staff joined the service at Phuket Rajabhat University this morning. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat More than 1,000 students, academics and faculty staff joined the service at Phuket Rajabhat University this morning. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat More than 1,000 students, academics and faculty staff joined the service at Phuket Rajabhat University this morning. Photo: Nattapong Jantarat Senior Phuket officials, led by Phuket Governor Chockchai Dejamornthan, join the mass services at Provincial Hall to honour His HM Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Photo: PR Dept Senior Phuket officials, led by Phuket Governor Chockchai Dejamornthan, join the mass services at Provincial Hall to honour His HM Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Photo: PR Dept Books of condolences has been made available at Provincial Hall for members of the public to sign with their special messages.Photo: PR Dept A senior Phuket official takes part in the symbolic Royal bathing ceremony at Provincial Hall to honour His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Photo: PR Dept Students, academics and faulty staff at Phuket Rajabhat University held a mass service this morning (Oct 14) to mourn the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol yesterday. More than 1,000 attendees dressed in black gathered at the main field on campus at 8:30am for the service. University Chancellor Dr Prapa Kayee led the service with a eulogy honouring His Majesty, his achievements and the adoration he invoked from the Thai people. At 4pm today, officials led by Phuket Governor Chockchai Dejamornthan began a symbolic Royal bathing ceremony at Provincial Hall. Joining Governor Chockchai were officials dressed in their ceremonial white uniforms with black armbands along with students and other members of the public. A book of condolences has been made available at Provincial Hall for members of the public to sign with their special messages. Books of condolences have also been made available at all three District Offices on the island. World leaders pay tribute to HM The King BANGKOK: World leaders paid tribute to HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a champion of his people during a momentous seven-decade reign. By AFP Friday 14 October 2016, 10:28AM HM Queen Elisabeth, who for decades had publicly shared very good relations with HM The King, has reportedly sent a private message of condolence to Queen Sirikit and The Crown Prince of Thailand following His Majestys passing. Photo: Courtesy of the Royal Thai PR Dept HM King Bhumibol, whose reign witnessed political turmoil, coups and violent unrest, was revered as a serene and caring father of the nation, and a bulwark in troubled times. UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed the Kings long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader respected internationally. The Secretary-General expresses his hope that Thailand will continue to honour King Bhumibols legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights, his spokesman said in a statement. US President Barack Obama praised the monarch as a close friend and partner of the United States. He paid tribute to the king as a tireless champion for Thailands development, praising his unflagging devotion to improving the lives of his subjects. I had the honour of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people, he said. Greatly missed Neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia both expressed their sorrow at his passing, with the island city-state describing the king as an outstanding and deeply revered monarch (who) worked tirelessly for the betterment of the Thai people. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said, King Bhumipol was a towering presence whose contribution to Thailand, and the rest of the region, is beyond words. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram of condolence, saying that during the decades of his reign he won the sincere love of his subjects and high prestige abroad. British Prime Minister Theresa May said HM Bhumibol guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed. Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed HM The Kings contribution to Thailands development, adding that the good relationship between Bangkok and Beijing were due in no small part to personal efforts made by HM King Bhumibol himself. Bhumibols rural development projects improved the lives of millions of people in Thailand and will be remembered for generations to come, said EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. HM Queen Elizabeth, who for decades had publicly shared very good relations with HM The King, has reportedly sent a private message of condolence to Queen Sirikit and The Crown Prince of Thailand following His Majestys passing. The message will remain private between Her Majesty and the Thai Royal Family, but it is expected to mirror the thousands of other tributes that have been pouring in over the last few hours reported RoyalCentral.com (Click here.) Surveys for $3B Navigator carbon capture pipeline could begin in South Dakota Navigator fulfilled two prerequisites in South Dakota law that could allow them to conduct surveys on private land without a landowner's permission. An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand. Two City Council members are urging NYCHA to rechristen public housing developments named after historical figures who owned slaves or facilitated the slave tradeincluding prominent New Yorkers like Peter Stuyvesant and Henry Rutgers, as well as five former presidents. In a letter to NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye, Council Members Robert Cornegy and Ritchie Torres cite the Treasury's recent decision to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill as an "occasion to reexamine the controversial figures whose names have been immortalized in New York City... as the nation reckons with its dark past." Cornegy and Torres, co-chairs of the Council's Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus, have requested that Olatoye consider renaming at least eight of the 328 public housing developments throughout the city: The Andrew Jackson Houses in Concourse Village The James Monroe Houses in Soundview The Thomas Jefferson Houses in Spanish Harlem The Henry Rutgers Houses in the Lower East Side The Peter Stuyvesant Gardens in Bed-Stuy The George Washington Houses in Spanish Harlem The Ulysses S. Grant Houses in Morningside Heights The Daniel Webster Houses in Claremont Village According to the council members' letter, more than half a million New Yorkers live in the city's public housing developments. More than 90 percent of NYCHA households are families of color, and roughly 45 percent are black. "Why should any of those New Yorkers have their homes named after slave-owners who sustained the most savage institution the United States has ever known?" Cornegy and Torres wrote. They continued: "Public housing developments should honor leaders who stood for the founding principles of equality and freedom, not those who stood against them. Immortality in the nation's first and largest assemblage of public housing should be reserved for those dedicated to the dignity of all people, including people of color." Many recent acts of protest have addressed the racism and misogyny of Americas early political leaders. Thomas Jefferson may have written the Declaration of Independence, but he also owned more than 600 slaves during his lifetime, at least one of whom he raped and fathered children with. (For what it's worth, information about Jefferson's slaves is listed under the "Property" section of Monticello's website). NYCHA's current rules for renaming a development prohibit properties from being renamed if they are currently named after a person. "We appreciate the intent of the letter and are reviewing the proposal's feasibility, fully recognizing New York City's complex history," a NYCHA spokesperson told Gothamist. "Any effort to rename a NYCHA development would begin and end with our residents who, in many cases, feel attachment to the names that have represented these communities for many years and would have to reach consensus before a change is made." "We are in the process of reviewing our policy," they added. "Any change to a development's name requires extensive residential engagement and support for the change." Torres and Cornegy suggested NYCHA take the Treasury's example and rename the Andrew Jackson houses after Harriet Tubman. However, Torres told the Observer that he understood removing certain nameslike George Washington'scould be "problematic," and that he and Cornegy were not calling for a "categorical rule" against slaveholder names, only a conversation and reconciliation. "Naming an institution is not mere symbolism. It is a moral sentimentan emphatic expression of who we are and what we value as a society," they wrote. Cornegy and Torres' full letter below: I am paralyzed by the outside world and plan to spend the weekend sitting under my coffee table clutching a copy of the Constitution. Join me, or be forced to endure wonky weekend subway work. Here's what's on tap: 2 trains will not run in either direction between 96 St and Wakefield-241 St from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. 3 trains will not run at all from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. 4 trains will operate to and from New Lots Av from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. 5 trains will not run in either direction between Eastchester-Dyre Av and E 180 St from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. A trains will not run in either direction between 168 St and Inwood-207 St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. Trains will run along the F line in both directions from W 4 St-Wash Sq to Jay St-MetroTech during that time. From 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday, all A trains will make local stops from W 4 St-Wash Sq to 59 St-Columbus Circle, and from 168 St to 145 St. C trains will not run in either direction from 145 St to 168 St from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Also during that time, trains will run along the F line from W 4 St-Wash Sq to Jay St-MetroTech. All D trains will make local stops from W 4 St-Wash Sq to 34 St-Herald Sq starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and ending at 5 a.m. Monday. All E trains will reroute along the F line from 21 St-Queensbridge to W4 St-Wash Sq from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. Also during that period, Jamaica Center-bound trains will skip 75 Av and Briarwood. From 11:45 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, and again from 11:45 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday, trains on the Jamaica Center-bound track will run express from the 21 St-Queensbridge F line station to 71 Av. From 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday, Manhattan-bound trains will make local stops from 71 Av to the 21 St-Queensbridge F station. Jamaica Center-bound F trains will skip 75 Av, Briarwood and Sutphin Blvd from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. J trains will not run at all between Crescent St and Jamaica Center, with that change in effect from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Manhattan-bound trains will run express from Myrtle Av to Marcy Av from 3:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Manhattan-bound M trains will run express from Myrtle Av to Marcy Av from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, and again from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. 71 Av-bound R trains will run express from Queens Plaza to 71 Av from 6:30 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and Sunday. The 42nd Street S shuttle will run overnight from 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the Elizabeth, New Jersey man accused of setting off a series of explosive devices in New York and New Jersey last month, pleaded not guilty from his hospital bed on Thursday to NJ state charges that he attempted to murder five police officers in the lead-up to his capture. Rahami was shot several times on the afternoon of September 19th, after police discovered him sleeping in the entrance of a bar in the town of Linden. The 28-year-old had been identified as a person-of-interest earlier that morning, and his name had been pinged to cellphones across the region. Police had already raided his family home when they discovered him. When officers confronted Rahami he allegedly fired shots, hitting one officer in the stomach (the cop was wearing a bulletproof vest and survived). He then ran away before being shot and wounded. None of the five officers involved in the arrest sustained serious injuries. Rahami lay in a hospital bed in Newark on Thursday, with a white sheet pulled up high to his neck, flanked by his attorneys. The NY Times set the scene: In a soft voice, Mr. Rahami answered yes to a few routine questions from the judge: Was he able to hear what the judge was saying? Had he seen a copy of the criminal charges? One of his lawyers, Peter Liguori, did much of the talking, as he stood over Mr. Rahamis bed, in a yellow hospital gown and blue gloves. Mr. Liguori said Mr. Rahami would be pleading not guilty to each of the charges. Rahami's bail was set at $5.2 million. Shortly after his arrest, Liguori, a public defender, claimed in a letter to the judge that a prosecutor had denied him access to Rahami. The prosecutor allegedly said Rahami was "unconscious and unable to speak," but Liguori maintained that, "It is vital that the public defender be given access to his client so that Mr. Rahamis medical condition may be verified and his rights are protected." Even now, little is known about the extent of Rahami's injuries. The Elizabeth NJ courtroom where Rahami was arraigned on Thursday (KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images) The bombings took place on Saturday, September 18th. The first pipe bomb detonated that morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, causing no injuries. Two others were recovered from the area but did not detonate. The second explosion occurred on West 23rd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan at 8:30 p.m., injuring more than 30 people. The Chelsea bomb was a pressure cooker; a second pressure cooker device was found on West 27th Street and removed safely. Rahami is also facing federal charges, including bombing a place of public use and using weapons of mass destruction. His federal court arraignment has yet to be set. A naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan, Rahami was living above his family's fried chicken restaurant at the time of the bombings, where he also worked. He was known as a "nice guy" who would give free chicken to customers, but friends and family said he became more religious and serious after traveling to Afghanistan a few years ago. "It's like he was a completely different person," childhood friend Flee Jones told the NY Times last month. "He got serious and completely closed off." FILE - In a Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016 file photo, Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae swim in a container displayed at the Florida Mosquito Control District Office, in Marathon, Fla. Florida health officials have identified another Miami neighborhood where mosquitoes have spread the Zika virus to people. Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office announced Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that five people have been infected with Zika in a 1-square-mile area of the city just north of the Little Haiti neighborhood. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) This product image released by Yandy.com shows a model dressed in a Donna T. Rumpshaker costume, a spoof of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. It comes with a white sleeveless shirt with collar, red tie, royal blue faux blazer and royal blue booty shorts. A "Making America Great" red cap and blond wig are sold separately. (Christos Sewell/Yandy.com via AP) You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Yet another woman has come forward with allegations that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, molested her. The incident happened in the 1990s at a Manhattan nightclub, where Kristin Anderson told the Washington Post that she "did not notice the figure to her right on a red velvet couch until, she recalls, his fingers slid under her miniskirt, moved up her inner thigh, and touched her vagina through her underwear." Anderson is the latest to allege that Trump actually does just grab women, the way he bragged on a 2005 Access Hollywood tape, "When youre a star they let you do it. You can do anything... Grab them by the pussy." According to the Washington Post, "Anderson, who said she doesnt support Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton, did not initially approach The Post. A reporter contacted her after hearing her story from a person who knew of it, and she spent several days trying to decide whether to go public." That was before others spoke up: Two women told their stories to the NY Timesone was suddenly kissed by Trump in a Trump Tower elevator in NYC and the other was grabbed under her skirt on a planeand another described how he grabbed her butt to the Palm Beach Post. A People writer also gave a first-hand account of how Trump forced his tongue down her throat during an interview, adding, "You know were going to have an affair, dont you?" From the WaPo: That decided it for Anderson. Its a sexual assault issue, and its something that Ive kept quiet on my own, Anderson said. And Ive always kept quiet. And why should I keep quiet? Actually, all of the women should speak up, and if youre touched inappropriately, tell somebody and speak up about it. Actually go to the authorities and press some charges. Its not okay. The article does make clear that, since this happened so long ago, not all details are entirely clear to her, but "The episode, as Anderson described it, lasted no more than 30 seconds. Anderson said she and her companions were 'very grossed out and weirded out' and thought, 'Okay, Donald is gross. We all know hes gross. Lets just move on.'" Anderson had told some people about it: "One friend, Kelly Stedman, told The Washington Post that Anderson informed her about the encounter a few days after it happened. 'We were out at a girls brunch' at the Great Jones Cafe in Manhattan, Stedman said, recalling that when she and two other friends heard the story, they found themselves 'laughing at how pathetic it was' on Trumps part." Anderson, who "knows that because she has come forward, her personal life may be intensely scrutinized" (divorces, restraining orders) also said in the interview, "It wasnt a sexual come-on. I dont know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it, and nothing would happen. There was zero conversation. We didnt even really look at each other. It was very random, very nonchalant on his part." Trump denies that he assaulted Anderson or any of the other women. His spokeswoman told the Post, "Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous." Yesterday, Trump insinuated that the People magazine writer wasn't hot enough to assault. The Washington Post reports, "In May, records show, [Anderson] switched her voter registration from Democrat to 'no party preference.'" She said of Trump and Hillary Clinton, "Both of them have some things that are good. And both of them have some things that are bad. But mostly, Im just thinking wow, this is the choice we have? This is it?" But the tribe has a long way to go The government is establishing logistic hubs near sea ports with private sector participation to relieve the issue of receiving stocks on the airport, seaport and movement of goods inland, Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at an ASSOCHAM conference on 'Strategies for Double Digit Growth' in New Delhi on Friday. This , the minister noted, would address immediate concerns and would be sustainable in the long term. The minister also spoke about having raised the issue of trade imbalance with China, and said she found the Asian giant "very forthcoming". Highlighting the efforts of the government to cut down on logistic challenges, she said the Centre has been trying to make electronic data interchanges at major ports that are completely under the control of Centre. In 36 landing areas, the regional authorities representing the DGFT (Director General of Foreign Trade) office have just initiated a two-day intensive workshop to see how best to reach out to exporters...and engage with them. CBEC (Central Board of Excise and Customs) is also part of this exercise, said the minister. On the issue of 24x7 presence of DGFT and Customs authorities she said, We shall ensure that there shall not be a day wasted for import or export for some reason when there is a need for an authority to come in to certify or to question or to give clarification. For want of the presence of officers, trade shall not suffer, we shall attend to it.. Highlighting that a complete, comprehensive picture is being handled on the logistics front, she said her ministry was engaging with railways to cut down costs. She also informed that the review of Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) was underway. As of 2015, when FTP was brought out, I remember making a clear statementso that there is a sense of stability in the minds of exportersthat I would not review the policy unless we reach the mid-term...We are doing the FTP review. Conceding that taxation was a key issue hampering the growth of the export sector, she said, You cannot be paying tax over tax and exporters cannot be taxed for exporting. We recognise that difficulty and I know GST (Goods and Services Tax) alone cannot give us the solution. In fact, GST would raise the industrys ambition saying why taxation cannot be simplified and subsume many of tax into GST so that we handle only one. Emphasising that simplification of taxation was the governments top agenda, she said, We are trying to simplify. Since it involves many states, we are also making sure that we take them on board. On ease of doing business, she said government was identifying more and more hurdles each year without which exporters, manufacturers would be better off. We are working on it, it is something which is not going to be that easily brought to a closure. These are long term sustained efforts, which are not the glamorous side of big ticket reforms but sustainable actions that we need to take in order to bring systemic reforms and we are at it. She said the Commerce Ministry was also working on sorting out currency related issues faced by exporters. We are not leaving any one area. We are constantly in search of newer markets so that our exporters can benefit. I know the risks involved in some of the countries; these are issues we are working out. On the issue of trade imbalance with China, the minister said, Yesterday I have raised this issue with Chinese minister and not for the first time, we have had this dialogue since 2014...I found the minister was very forthcoming. We have highlighted that the imbalance is not because of our industrys lack of competitiveness, they are competitive enough but access is not being made available to us, said Sitharaman. She also spoke about raising the issue of Indias information technology sector facing experience related issues in every region. You enter a country and not each region and that has been held against us, so we have highlighted the point. We have highlighted the fact that they could give us some pilot projects through which we can prove our capability. However, the minister said more time cannot be wasted. We have waited for two years, even after this new government has come in, China has been requested that they have to be a lot more open to receive Indian institutions which go there to do business". She said that pharmaceuticals is one of the important areas, where China wants more services to be available. They want our drugs but unfortunately many of the permissions, certifications are not happening as quickly as they should. The Union minister also invited the industry to use the dashboard of the Commerce Ministry for export and import related data more as that would also be influencing its policy making. Hyderabad will soon be home to the Afghanistan consulate, the second one in the country after Mumbai. The move is meant to improve friendly ties with India. The country also has an Embassy in Delhi. A delegation will also soon arrive from Afghanistan to Hyderabad to look for a suitable place for the consulate. Afghanistans ambassador to India, Shaida Mohammad Abdali, said,The consulate in Hyderabad will not only focus on trade and business, but will be a step forward for the expansion of our ties with India at all levels. We are going to expand cooperation in education, commerce and people to people ties, cultural cooperation and cooperation in health sector. He was attending an event organised by FICCI and FTAPCCI (Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry). He also spoke on the proposal of a sister-city relationship between Hyderabad and Jalalabad. While there is an in-principle agreement, the ambassador said that he was yet to discuss the same with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. There are also talks for starting direct flight services from Hyderabad to Kabul. Currently, direct flights can be availed only from Delhi. Pushing business as its first priority, the Afghan ambassador said that there would be a major business summit in Delhi within the next two months to attract investments from across the globe for the Chabahar port in Iran. The issue of cross-border terrorism is expected to resonate during Vice President Hamid Ansari's visit to Hungary and Algeria, which will commence on Saturday. Secretary(west) Sujata Mehta said that terrorism would be a major theme of discussion in bilateral meetings with leaders of the two countries. "Absolutely. I am confident that this will be a major theme that he will touch upon in all his bilateral meetings," Mehta said, when asked if the vice president will discuss the issue of cross border terrorism in his bilateral engagements during the visit. She recalled that the Uri attacks figured prominently in his statements delivered at bilateral meetings, including the recent NAM summit in Venezuela. Algeria, a member of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), has been fighting against a web of inter-linked terror groups for more than a decade, she said. "At the highest level, there is bound to be focus on the absolute requirement to fight terrorism," Mehta said. In Hungary, Ansari, apart from his meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and Speaker of the National Assembly, will meet students and academicians. He will visit a town that is famous for its Rabindranath Tagore connection and will also be meeting members of the Indian community. The visit to Algeria will be an effort to further India's interests in the rich oil and petroleum reserves that the North African country boasts of, along with investments in fertiliser production to meet India's needs. He will arrive at Budapest on October 15 and will be in Hungary till October 17. The next stop in his two nation trip will be the Algerian capital Algiers, where he will reach on October 17. He will head back to India on October 19. Kerala Industry Minister E.P. Jayarajan, charged with appointing his relatives to government jobs, resigned on Friday. In the first week of October, the appointment of P.K.Sudheer as the managing director of state-run public sector undertaking Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE) came under fire from the opposition parties. Sudheer is the son of CPM Lok Sabha MP P.K.Sreemathy and the nephew of Jayarajan. The opposition parties alleged that Sudheer did not possess the necessary qualifications or experience for the job. As the incident snowballed into a controversy, Deepthi Nishad, wife of Jayarajan's nephew, resigned from her post as general manager of Clays and Ceramics Products Ltd in Kannur. On Thursday, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan sought details of all appointments that took place in his ministry. The minister offered to resign on the same day. Both the opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party had called for strict action against the minister, ever since reports about the appointments surfaced. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made the announcement, saying Jayarajan himself decided to step down. "He asked for permission in the secretariat meeting following the mistake he committed. He was very particular about the image of the party and the government," Balakrishnan told the media. "We have proved that we are a party that holds values in politics and we are different from other parties," Balakrishnan said. "The previous (Oommen Chandy) government saw several ministers getting involved in trouble over various charges. The BJP-Vasundhara Raje Scindia (government in Rajasthan) faced charges but did not resign. "With Jayarajan's resignation, we have proved we are different," added Balakrishnan. The party secretariat meeting held here went on for nearly three hours. Vijayan, taking the salute at a passing-out parade of police constables in the capital, pledged his government won't be soft on corruption. The CPM found itself on the backfoot over the Jayarajan issue, with not a single party leader turning up for debates on TV channels to discuss the nepotism charges. As he left the meeting venue, Jayarajan sarcastically remarked to journalists: "An announcement will come soon which you will like to hear." Meanwhile, the Vigilance Department told a court here on Friday that it was taking necessary steps in the probe against Jayarajan. On Thursday, a public interest litigation was filed against Jayarajan. (With inputs from IANS) Donald Trump didn't give to 9/11 charities in the year or so after the devastating terrorist attacks, contrary to his claim, and he may not have given at all, according to a city audit unearthed by the Daily News. The tabloid reports that Comptroller Scott Stringer reviewed previously sealed audits of two main 9/11 charities set up in the wake of the attacks and found no records of a Trump gift. Stringer's staff pored over the records in response to a FOIL request. Trump reportedly promised to donate $10,000 to the Twin Towers fund the month of the calamity. The fund was created by then-mayor Rudy Giuliani, now a Trump mouthpieceand what a mouth it iswho lately has been bragging about Trump's supposed contributions. At the RNC in July, he said that Trump made "anonymous" donations after 9/11, and "every time New York City suffered a tragedy." "He's not going to like my telling you this, but he did it anonymously," Giuliani said. Stringer told the News that he found no record of any anonymous donations to the charities. The audits ran through July and September, 2002, so there is a possibility that Trump donated after those dates, however, the tabloid's review of records from the Donald J. Trump Foundation show no 9/11 giving through 2014. The paper also couldn't find anybody who recalled Trump donating space in his building at 40 Wall Street to assist in the recovery effort, as he has claimed to have done. If Trump made the donations personally, he could clear the air by releasing his tax returns, which he has refused to do throughout his campaign, defying decades of convention for presidential nominees. We have reached out to the Trump campaign for comment and will update if we hear back. This isn't the first indication that all is not as it seems with the would-be groper-in-chief's charitable giving. In recent months, investigative reports have shown that Trump: used $258,000 from his foundation to settle lawsuits; donated $25,000 to Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi's reelection campaign as she was considering a fraud probe into his get-rich-quick program Trump University; funneled other people's money through the foundation to take credit for other people's giving; claimed at least four other donations that charities never received; and bought items worth $32,000 at charity auctions with foundation money, possibly in violation of IRS rules. Trump did donate $100,000 from his foundation to the 9/11 Museum in April of this year. As the News notes, the donation occurred in the wake of Ted Cruz's attacks on him for his supposed "New York values." Militants ambushed a convoy carrying paramilitary forces in Kashmir on Friday, killing two security officers and wounding seven others, police said.The militants escaped after carrying out the attack on the outskirts of Srinagar, summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, a senior police officer told Reuters. Security forces were searching for the gunmen, he said. The two dead included a paramilitary officer and a policeman who died in hospital.Militants have carried out several attacks in recent weeks, the largest of which was a September 18 raid on an Indian army base that killed 19 soldiers. On Wednesday, gunmen shot dead a political party worker in Kashmir, hours after two suspected militants were killed by armed forces following a 56-hour operation on the edge of Srinagar. Russia and India will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa, state media in Moscow reported on Thursday. "Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. India is interested in getting five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets. It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a $ 3 billion contract last year. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. Ushakov said part of the documents will be signed behind closed doors. The Kremlin aide declined to comment on the details of the deal, suggesting that first the document should be signed. Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian- Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported. Following the results of their talks, Putin and Modi will adopt a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues. Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Overall, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents, he said. The Russian presidential aide said Putin and Modi will hold their talks in Goa ahead of the summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping of leading emerging economies. The Russian and Indian leaders are first expected to talk in a narrow format and then negotiations will be held at the level of delegations. Russia's delegation will also be represented by Vice- Premier Dmitry Rogozin, the heads of the Industry and Trade, Energy and Economics Ministries, state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom and others. After the talks, the Russian and Indian leaders will take part in the ceremony of laying the foundation for the third and fourth power units of India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant via a video conference, make statements for the media and hold a tete-a-tete lunch. Will a leaked video footage cost Donald Trump the job of the most powerful man in the world? An outraged United States of America can discuss little else right now apart from the man, who 11 years ago crudely boasted about his prowess with women, and how he could get away because of his celebrity status. Trump, whom the Republican Party had reluctantly accepted as its nominee for president, has motor-mouthed his way all year through, saying the most atrocious things about migrants and Muslims. However, the revelations of the tape, which was published by The Washington Post, were damaging enough for him to reluctantly issue a "regret", though the apology was quite negated with him using the same platform to accuse rival Hillary Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, of being worse in the women exploitation department. The billionaire businessman, on the surface at least, seems to have moved on in his typical brazen manner, shuttling across the country to campaign in the last few weeks for D-day on November 8. I wont quit, he said defiantly, even as pressure mounted on him to step down and save the party's face. Trump's wife, Melania, stepped in to say she had forgiven him, while his daughter Ivanka remained part of his damage control campaign. But many in the party were aghast when the media revealed that Trump had once said that it was fine by him if his daughter was called a piece of anatomy, or that he would have liked to date her if she wasnt his daughter. The Grand Old Party, which from the beginning was divided over his nomination, has its fissures showing prominently. Several Trump supporters including Senator John McCain have left his side. His running mate Mike Pence condemned the tapes and is trying the fine art of balance as he distances himself from Trumpisms and yet remains the vice presidential candidate. Trump supporters like former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former presidential aspirant Ben Carson cut lonely figures defending him. House Speaker Paul Ryan, meanwhile, has shouldered the challenge of ensuring that Trump does not ruin the prospects of the numerous Republican candidates running for the Senate and Congress as well as state bodies, elections to which are being held simultaneously with the presidential election. The bigger picture is not the loss of its presidential candidate, but the very future of the party itself. Trump is retaliating by saying his shackles are gone. Which means he can speak freely against people like Ryan. That he has been doing vocally, saying he doesnt need Ryan and co and that he is better off not being in that "foxhole". Although Democrat Barack Obama has been president for eight years, Republican strength in the Senate and the House of Representatives has grown over the last few years, which made it difficult for Obama to push across several laws. Republicans have a slight advantage in the Senate and an overwhelming one in the House. So has Trump's meltdown begun? Is Hillary on the smooth track to presidency? On these questions, the answers are not any clearer today than they were during the party conventions or before. "Trump's campaign is devolving," says Pramila Jayapal, an Indian-origin Democrat running for Congress from Washingtons 7th district. "As we get closer to the election date, Trump is revealing more of his misogyny, racism and xenophobia. Hillary is not a perfect candidate but she is smart and qualified and will move our country forward. Trumps latest tapes should be the final period on his demeaning campaign." Frank Islam, Democrat fund raiser, believes Trumps chances have plummeted, with only Ohio being a swing state where he has a chance, given its older and whiter population. Others, however, are not so sure. "This has been the most unconventional and unpredictable election, there is nothing certain or cemented. Thirty days is a long time in this volatile election; the people are anti-establishment and want change. Dont assume anything till the votes are counted," says Timothy Roemer, former US ambassador to India and former Democrat member of the House of Representatives. "Secretary Clinton has the advantage right now with the electoral college and voters, but Trump has not thrown in the towel yet. He has certainly created a series of serious challenges." Indeed, surveys come up with such diverse results that while their methodologies and samples can be questioned, the only conclusive point they indicate is the uncertainty. The most recent poll by Survey Monkey for CNBC, shows that after the second debate (which was after the leaked tapes), Trumps rating has seen a boost, with 23 per cent saying he made a better impression as presidential candidate, while 17 per cent felt that way about Hillary. Other surveys indicate exactly opposite trends. The Republican party is trying desperately to cut its losses. It would like Trump out, but that is wishful thinking. For starters, Trump has no intention of quitting. "And, who is to take over from him," asks Roemer. Early voting has started in several states. Obama, for instance, has already cast his vote. "There are rules to remove a candidate at a late stage, but they are very complicated and have never been invoked," explains Sumit Ganguly, professor of political science at Indiana University, Bloomington. "Also, even if they could get him out, at this late stage, the GOP might actually suffer further because there could be a rebellion in the party," says Ganguly. The Republican National Committee has just reaffirmed it is behind Trump. So while alternatives like propping up Ben Carson to run with Pence make for good theoretical discussion, they are not practically viable right now. Some Trumpters, in fact, see a big conspiracy in the leaked tapes, which are ostensibly the result of investigative journalism. "There is no doubt those comments were offensive and should not be tolerated. But he was just saying what the average American man says in an unguarded moment," says A.D. Amar of the Indian Americans for Trump. "Look beyond the content. NBC had the tapes months ago, but didnt release them earlier because Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush may have won the nomination and the Democratic camp feels they would make more formidable Hillary opponents. The timing of the release was calibrated to smoothen Hillarys path, but it hasnt had the desired effect." The blue-collared white alpha male, with whom Trump struck a chord, has thrived on his politically incorrect comments and the leaked tapes are not likely to dent his image with them. It is the kind of stuff they would identify with. This voter base of his is called calcified, as it cannot be swayed. To win an election, however, Trump and Hillary both need to expand their voter bases. Trump appears to have lost the woman voter base entirely, but whether Hillary has won this section over or not cannot be said. The educated young woman has not seen her as the saviour. Jayapal, a staunch follower of Hillary's primary challenger Senator Bernie Sanders, says she threw her weight behind Hillary after Sanders dropped out because as a woman of colour, she had to ensure Trump did not enter the White House. "We must defeat him decisively," says Jayapal. While the electorate may share the sentiment, they may choose not to vote, or vote for a third alternative like Jill Stein of the Green Party or Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party. "Lets accept it, Hillary is damaged goods herself, with the private email server scandal and her Wall Street ties," says Ganguly. Street fight: Trump has consistently faced opposition from rights groups for his anti-immigrant stance. From a May Day rally in Los Angeles, California | Reuters The Trump tapes are unlikely to be the finale of this particular soap opera. It still has four weeks to run and Trump had, at one point, threatened to reveal more about "crooked Hillary" and her husband. Bill has a reputation of philandering, so while new details will be salaciously lapped up, will they make a dent on Hillarys reputation? After all, those who have accepted her did so keeping in mind that she stood by her husband during his worst sexual scandals, for whatever reason. "More may come out, but she has withstood the worst," says Ganguly. Whether Trump loses by the largest landslide in American history, whether Hillary creates history as the first woman in the White House with the slimmest of margins or whether the US gets Trump for president, one thing is certain. The new president inherits an electorate that wants change. "And unless the president addresses issues of alienation, reforms the criminal justice system and taxation, the next four years will be a difficult presidency with no second term," says Roemer. That, however, is the sequel. Season 1 is still on air. Lovers of unique beer and adorable fuzzy beasts should take note of the Beer For Beasts event coming to The Bell House this Saturday. The annual event's all about specially-brewed beers, drinking said beers, and raising money for the Humane Society of New York. Sixpoint Brewery has tapped over 20 collaborators for the event, including breweries, venues and food makers (like the Mexican Chocolate Stout with Ample Hills Creamery). Each has come up with a one-time-only beer created specifically for the event; once the keg's kicked, it's all over. Tickets $70. The Taste of the Seaport returns for its seventh incarnation in this historic area, with over 40 restaurants and beverage providers on hand. Attendees purchase "tastes" ($35 for five in advance or $40 for five at the door) and can choose which dishes they'd like to try from purveyors including Ambrose Beer & Lobster, Financier Patisserie, Dorlan's Tavern & Oyster Bar, Tandoor Palace and Toloache Taqueria. Swing by from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the eats/drinks, plus live music and a kids activity zone. (Bronx Brewery) Up in the Bronx, it's the Boogie Down Classic party hosted by the Bronx Brewery. Starting at noon, their backyard space will host DJs, BBQ, Puerto Rican food and of course, all the brewery's delicious beers. Admission to the event is free, but a pre-sale package ($16) includes two beers, a brewery beanie and a discounted Uber ride. Proceeds benefit NYRP's Haven Project. Meanwhile in Queens, the LIC Flea & Food hosts the Queens Beer Festival on Saturday and Sunday with morning and afternoon sessions. Many of the major New york players will be on hand pouring sips of their suds, including every single Queens-based brewery. Tickets $29 - $68) Spicy Shoyu Ramen from Mew Men (Facebook) On Sunday, the Japan Fes events series offers an outlet for ramenthusiasts, beginning with a Fall Fes & Ramen Competition on the Upper West Side. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., stop by to sample ramen from New York, NJ, PA and Japan, concluding in a vote by festival attendees for the best bowl of the day. Particularly of note are the two entries from Japan; 175 Deno from the Hokkaido Prefecture offering their signature tantanmen and Menya Jiro from Kagoshima Prefecture with a tonkotsu ramen. By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times Please be advised that the Five Towns Jewish Times will be made available this week on Friday morning rather than Thursday morning. However, due to the important nature of this article it is being released early. To read it in its entirety, please pick up the 5TJT tomorrow morning. MODERN TECHNOLOGY In the past 30 years or so, refrigerators have undergone numerous changes and upgrades in technology. These are wonderful in terms of increasing energy efficiency and reducing the costs of electricity, but they are not necessarily so good in terms of hilchos Shabbos. The heterim, the leniencies, that we once had in terms of using refrigerators, are no longer as valid on account of the newer technologies that have been adopted by the refrigerator manufacturers. THE ORIGINAL QUESTIONS The original refrigerators had the following halachic question: When the refrigerator or freezer door is kept open, warmer air comes in. This could cause the compressor, which cools the air, to be turned on. Is causing the compressor to turn on a Torah prohibition or a Rabbinic prohibition? Is opening the door considered a direct action or a grama, a secondary result of a primary action, which under certain circumstances would be permitted? THE FOUR EARLY ANSWERS There were actually four different approaches to the refrigerator question in the late forties, fifties, and sixties. 1] Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztl ruled that one can open the refrigerator door without a problem whether the compressor is on or off. (Minchas Shlomo Vol. I #10) 2] Rav Moshe Feinstein ztl ruled that one can technically open the refrigerator even when the compressor is off, but it is preferable to wait and only do it when the compressor is on. (Igros Moshe OC Vol. II #68) 3] Rav Eliyahu Henkin ztl ruled that one can only open the refrigerator when the compressor is on and it is forbidden to do so when the compressor is off. This was also the view of Rav Elyashiv ztl as cited in Mitbach Khalacha page 303. 4] The Chazon Ish ruled that it is forbidden to open the refrigerator at all whether the compressor is on or off. (Cited in HaPardes Cheshvan 5719/1958) In the United States, some followed Rav Henkin, some followed Rav Moshe, but the vast majority eventually followed the view of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztl. His three-fold rationale was: that the compressor was only a Rabbinic violation that the opening of the door that allowed the surrounding air to enter was a grama on a Psik Reisha and that it did not always happen. On account of avoiding the negation of Oneg Shabbos taking delight in Shabbos, he allowed opening the door even when the compressor was off. NEW ISSUES But that was then, when the only question was causing the compressor to turn on. Now, on account of the new technology, there are numerous other issues. The issues are: Modern refrigerators have door sensors that detect every time the door is opened and report back to the computer. The modern refrigerators also have instantly reactive digital thermostats. The early thermostats in refrigerators were based upon mercury thermometers with electrodes inserted directly through the glass, so that when a fixed temperature was reached the contacts would be closed by the mercury and the compressor would turn on. These were accurate to within a degree of temperature. Modern thermostats use a number of sensor technologies such as, bimetallic mechanical or electrical sensors, electronic thermistors and semiconductor devices, and electrical thermocouples. These can and often control the defrosting and cooling apparatuses instantly. Manufacturers have now started using adaptive defrost controls where the heating coil of the defrost mechanism is directly connected to the temperature settings and thermostats. These controls measure compressor runtime and or number of door openings and then automatically run the defrost cycle. For example, Maytag and Whirlpool models automatically run the defrost after 4 hours of compressor time. The newer electronic damper controls are now controlled by heat sensors attached to computer chips. The controls of the damper, like the defrost cycle, are no longer mechanical and occur with immediate repercussions when the refrigerator is opened. In Israel, Rabbonim and engineers has been trying to create technological solutions to address these problems. The Shabbos mode settings in Israel take all of these issues into account. Visit your Israeli cousin in Har Nof, Ramat Beit Shemesh, or Rechavia, and see this for yourself. In America, by and large, the Rabbonim and Poskim have not addressed the halachic problems until a technological solution has been developed. To address the issue, the Star K worked with manufacturers to develop models with a Shabbos Mode. These models addressed the issue of the defrost cycle, but they did not address a number of the other issues. The computer is constantly taking readings and electronic information. It seems that the Shabbos Mode is relying on a leniency that a computer may be utilized as long as the digital display is not seen. Many Poskim have questioned this ruling, some even stating that the use of a computer is either a biblical prohibition of Writing or of Makeh BPatish. STAR KS EXPLANATION This author reached out to Rabbi Avrohom Mushel from the Star-K who explained that Rav Heinemann Shlita spoke to Rav Elyashiv ztl who said that as long as the refrigerator does not take any action that is not a grama when it takes in any information, then there is no violation being performed. Rav Heinemann is of the opinion that these are still considered a Grama and are therefore not forbidden. When Rav Elyashiv ztl was consulted by Poskim in Eretz Yisroel, however, he indicated that a computer collecting information would be considered a serious problem, as the letter he had signed indicates. The fact of the matter is was not uncommon for Rav Elyashiv to at times be quoted in a contradictory manner. This author spoke to Rav Hershel Schachter Shlita who held that recording the information on a computer would under many circumstances at least be considered Ksiva Miderabanan. He also felt that there may be issues of Davar Shemiskavain the person intends for it to happen since it is beneficial for him even on a Rabbinic violation. This author also spoke to Rabbi Eli Gersten of the OU and he stated that Rav Yisroel Belsky ztl pushed very much to have timers on refrigerators. Indeed, he told Rabbi Gertsen that his grandfather, Rav Wilhelm used to sell timers in his hardware store, and they called it the Rav Henkin switch. Rabbi Gersten also stated that Rav Belsky ztl used the language of chshashos concerns of a Torah prohibition. Rabbi Gersten further stated that when one student from Yeshiva Torah VDaas (who accompanied Rav Belsky at the OU on Thursdays when he came I to rule on questions) expressed grave concerns when he had just purchased a new refrigerator he said, Look until a timer comes out, just open it with a shinui. When the timer comes out purchase it. Regardless, in Israel, most of the manufacturers have devised devices that circumvent the computer entirely. This has not happened here in the United States as of yet. There is, however, another semi-solution for all American refrigerators and freezers which will be addressed at the end of this article. HOW REFRIGERATORS WORK What follows is a short explanation of how refrigerators are different, and the halachic problems that technology has brought. In order for a refrigerator to work, the cooling of air must take place in a closed, sealed system. When the gas expands it absorbs heat calories and cools down the surrounding air. There are essentially four items in the sealed system: They are 1] the compressor, 2] the condenser, 3] the metering device evaporator and 4] the suction tube. What happens first is the refrigerant gas (such as R-134 or R-12) enters into the compressor in its gas form. The compressor then raises both the pressure and the temperature of the gas. The gas then enters the condenser (normally located under or behind the refrigerator) still in gas form. It exits as a liquid. The now high pressure/high temperature liquid refrigerant enters a metering device or capillary tube and exits as a low pressure/ low temperature liquid. The low pressure/low temperature liquid refrigerant now enters the evaporator located inside the freezer. It now exits as a low pressure/low temperature gas. Finally, it enters the suction tube and exits into the compressor in gas form. UNDERSTANDING ELECTRONIC DAMPER CONTROL To function properly, the refrigerator freezer needs good airflow. The evaporator, located within the freezer provides the cold air that the fresh food section and the freezer sections need. A fan above the evaporator blows air into these sections. The damper controls the rate of the airflow. It used to be that the dampers were manually controlled by hand. Now most are electronically controlled and use an electric motor. A fan is also controlled electronically that provides airflow through the condenser to cool it off. If there is a block to any of these airflows, the refrigerators do not function well. DEFROST After the compressor runs for a while a level of frost develops on top of the evaporator. A defroster mechanism is used to remove this ice, because it will eventually block the airflow. During the defrost cycle, the refrigeration is cut off and the defrost heater comes on to melt the ice off the evaporator. Once the temperature reaches between 47-50 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the model, the defrost thermostat stops the defrost cycle. Refrigerators go through a defrost cycle anywhere from once every four hours to once every 48 hours. There are two types of defrost controls, adaptive defrost controls and the old mechanical defrost timers. ADAPTIVE DEFROST CONTROLS More electricity is used in refrigerators during the defrost than any other function or cycle in the unit. Manufacturers, therefore, developed adaptive defrost control technology. The adaptive defrost control adapts the defrost cycle to each individual units use. Some adaptive defrost systems utilize door sensors. The greater number of times that the door is opened, the greater the need for the defrost cycle. On GE refrigerators with adaptive defrost, a defrost cycle occurs once every 48 hours if the doors are not opened at all during that time. The longer the door stays open in between defrost cycles, the more often it goes into a defrost cycle. Other adaptive defrost systems measure the compressor time and defrost after a certain number of hours of use. Both types may be game-changers in terms of Psik Raisha and Safaik Psik Raisha. MECHANICAL DEFROST CONTROLS The old method used a mechanical defrost timer which would vary depending upon each particular model. Some would defrost every six hours for 30 minutes and some would defrost every 12 hours for 35 minutes. TEMPERATURE CONTROLS Generally, refrigerators have two controls, one for the freezer and one for the fresh food. The fresh food control is a thermostat that cuts off the refrigerator when the fresh food section reaches a certain desired temperature. This is called the Cold Control and the cutoff temperature is between 33 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit. On both older refrigerators and some new refrigerators, the freezer control controls a damper that either slows down or speeds up the rate in which the air enters the fresh food section. On newer models of refrigerators that have an electric damper control, the damper automatically opens and closes the damper. This is done by the computer using the data from the electronic sensors. THE PARTIAL SOLUTION There is a new timer that is now being marketed by Zman Technologies which essentially shuts off the refrigerator for four six minute periods every hour. There is a green light which indicates when you can open the refrigerator or freezer. A red light indicates when you cannot. The timer contains a forty year calendar for Shabbos and Yom Tov and need not be reset for the life of the refrigerator once it is installed. The device has three different modes to adapt to the needs of each particular refrigerator model. The device has OU certification. Both Rabbi Hershel Schachter as well as lhbcl Rav Yisroel Belsky ztl were behind the product. WHICH FRIDGES It is this authors view that most Rabbonim and Poskim who research the issue in depth will conclude that the new issues need to be addressed in a halachically acceptable fashion. The enclosed pictures show that virtually all Poskim in Eretz Yisroel have signed letters indicating the serious implications of this technology. This is an issue that is currently being examined by leading Poskim and Kashrus and Rabbinic organizations. Many of them will be issuing rulings about how best to address the issues in the coming weeks or months. The device is available at Five Towns Judaica on Central Avenue here in the Five Towns, and in Boro Park, Flatbush, Williamsburg, Monsey and Lakewood. The author can be reached at [email protected] U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemens Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships. The strikes marked the first shots fired by the U.S. in anger against the Houthis in Yemens long-running civil war. The U.S. previously only provided logistical support and refueling to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemens Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemens former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. While the U.S. military has been focused on al-Qaida in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week. No information on casualties from the U.S. missiles was provided by American officials. The three radar sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military official who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity. The destroyer USS Nitze launched the cruise missiles, the official said. President Barack Obama authorized the strikes at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. U.S. officials had said earlier that the U.S. was weighing what military response to take. These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway, Cook said following the U.S. action. The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and elsewhere around the world. In a sign of the regional nature of the Yemen conflict, the Houthis ally Iran announced Thursday that it was deploying two warships into the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the deployment of the Alvand and the Bushehr was part of a regular anti-piracy patrol off Yemen and East Africa. Still, its announcement hours after the American strike appeared aimed at sending a signal to the United States. Iran says it supports the Houthis, though it denies arming the rebels. The U.S. Navy says it has intercepted shipments of weapons from Iran bound for Yemen. Meanwhile, Yemens state news agency Saba under Houthis control quoted an unnamed military official as saying that US accusations that a US destroyer had come under attack from areas under control of Houthis were false. He said, all these claims are totally untrue and that the popular committees (Houthi militias) have nothing to do with such action. He added, such claims are part of the general context of creating false justifications to escalate assaults and cover up the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people, along with the blockade imposed on it, and after the increasing condemnations to such barbaric and hideous crimes against Yemenis. Loai al-Shami, a Houthi spokesman, had earlier declined to comment on the U.S. strike. Sharaf loqman, spokesman for the Yemeni army, called it an American farce to find a reason to interfere in Yemen directly after failure of the Saudis. He said that the army never targets ships outside the territorial waters and only those that enter the Yemeni waters come under attack. Early Wednesday, two missiles were fired at the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer that is conducting routine operations in the region with the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship. Neither missile got near the ship, said a U.S. military official. The missiles were fired from the Yemen coast, near the location used Sunday when two missiles were launched at the same two ships, said the official, who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity. A second official said it wasnt clear whether the ships countermeasures caused the missiles to hit the water on Wednesday or if they would have landed there anyway. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity. These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission, the chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, said in a statement Wednesday. The team in USS Mason demonstrated initiative and toughness as they defended themselves and others against these unfounded attacks over the weekend and again today. All Americans should be proud of them. Col. Walid Zeyad, a top naval official in Hodeida, told the AP that radars were in three different sites: Ras Eissa and Khoukha (both in Hodeida) and al-Makha port, of the western province of Taiz. He said that they were hit early morning around 7 a.m. The area is a hub of weapons smuggling. The general impression in Yemen was that since the Saudi imposition of a blockade, and the air campaign, all radars were destroyed. When asked Zeyad if these radars are new, he declined to comment. The missiles fired on Sunday were variants of the so-called Silkworm missile, and both also fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use. Sunday 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. The U.S. has been considering withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following Saturdays airstrike on a funeral and other troubling incidents of civilian casualties as a result of the Saudi bombing campaign. The strike on the funeral in the capital, Sanaa, killed some 140 people and wounded more than 600. That bombing, among the deadliest of the war, likely sparked the rebels to launch more ballistic missiles in Saudi Arabia and target the U.S. warships in the Red Sea. 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. Meanwhile, an international human rights group, Human Rights Watch, said Thursday that the funeral bombing constitutes an apparent war crime and that the remnants of missiles found at the site of the attack showed that they were American-made. It said a disproportionate number of the victims were civilians when the coalition carried out two airstrikes. An international investigation is needed into the atrocity, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for the rights group. She said the attack on the funeral joins a long list of abuses by the coalition. The U.S. missile launch also could affect relations with Iran, which says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them. Thats contradicted by the U.S. Navy, which says it has intercepted several shipping boats since the war began carrying Iranian weaponry suspected to be on the way to Yemen. There was no immediate reaction to the U.S. launch Thursday morning in Iran, which was marking the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura. Houthi-linked media also did not report the strike. The missile fire by the Houthi raises questions about maritime safety in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal. The U.S. moved more naval ships near the strait after 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. Analysts with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy called the Houthi missile fire a surprisingly aggressive move, but stressed there were limits to Irans control of the rebels. Houthi relations with the Islamic Republic resemble the Iran-Hamas relationship more than the Iran-Hezbollah relationship that is, the Houthis are autonomous partners who usually act in accordance with their own interests, though often with smuggled Iranian arms and other indirect help, the analysts wrote in a report released early Thursday. (AP) [PHOTOS BY JDN IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Holiday briefings were held at the home of Florida Chaplain Mark Rosenberg on Erev Rosh Hashana to discuss holiday prayer schedules and special safety precautions needed during the high holidays. The pre holiday briefings were held with multiple law enforcement agencies. Among them, various Agencies under the directions of Major Cristopher Dellapietra of Troop E of Florida Highway State Troopers, Chief Bill Hernandez of the North Miami Beach Police Dept., Major Saima Plasencia of MDPD, Troy Walker, Special Agent in Charge of FDLE Miami Regional Operations center. This very sensitive detail, coordinated by Lt. Tom Buchanan and Sgt. Samir of the MDPD, Sgt Molina of FHP, and Major Rant of the NMBPD has been in place for the past few years. Important Meetings were also held in Tallahassee (Floridas Capitol) with Colonel Gene Spaulding, Director of the Florida Highway Patrol. Commissioner Richard Swearingen of FDLE and Secretary Julie Jones of Dept of Corrections to discuss holiday needs. Colonel Spaulding stressed the importance of such communication and ensured that special Holiday details will be put in place throughout the state providing extra patrol during the Holidays. In attendance were FHP Chaplain and Director of CSE Mark Rosenberg, Rabbi Oirechman of Chabad of Tallahassee and David Katz from CSE. A pre-holiday meeting also took place at the office of Dade County Mayors Carlos Gimenez hosted by Deputy Mayor Russel Benford in attendance were the Medical Examiners office, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Miami Corrections Dept, Fire Rescue, Jewish Federation, Director Perez of the Miami Dade Police Dept and staff leaders of Miami International Airport. Chaplain Rosenberg thanked all these agencies for being so sensitive to all rituals and needs of the Orthodox communities all year around but especially during the holiday times. Deputy Mayor Benford hosts Holiday meetings prior to significant Jewish Holidays to ensure all needs are met and sees these meetings as an important endeavor, said Chaplain Rosenberg. The Jewish community is grateful for the increase visibility during the late hours of the night as families walk home very late after the holiday meals and to and from Shuls. Chaplain and CSE Director Mark Rosenberg has been working with all law enforcement agencies, providing calendars, maps and other important information, so these departments can understand the community needs during these times. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) A citizens complaint of official misconduct by Republican Gov. Chris Christie over the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal can move forward, a judge ruled Thursday, raising the possibility that the governor could face indictment. The complaint, filed by retired Teaneck firefighter William Brennan, alleges Christie knowingly refrained from ordering that his subordinates take all necessary action to re-open local access lanes from Fort Lee that had been closed with the purpose to injure Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christies re-election bid. The complaint claims residents were deprived the benefit and enjoyment of their community. The complaint comes amid the trial of two former Christie appointees who are accused of orchestrating the lane closures in September 2013 as political retribution against Sokolich, a Democrat. Christie wasnt charged and has denied any involvement in the scheme or its cover-up. The governments star witness, David Wildstein, testified that several members in the governors inner circle knew about the plot beforehand or soon after and that Christie himself was told about the traffic jams on the third day of the four-day lane closures. Christie spokesman Brian Murray said that the ruling is being appealed and that it comes from a serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the system. The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening, Murray said in a statement. The governors misconduct case goes to the Bergen County prosecutors office, which will decide whether it will lead to an indictment. Christie appointed the prosecutor. Spectators in the courtroom who were mostly there for minor criminal violations applauded after the judges ruling, NJ.com reported. Official misconduct is considered a second-degree offense in New Jersey and carries a possible sentence of five to 10 years. An initial court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 24. Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, Christies deputy chief of staff, are currently on trial in the lane closures case. Baroni and Kelly face charges including conspiracy, fraud and deprivation of civil rights. The most serious charge, wire fraud conspiracy, carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence. They contend the scheme was conceived and executed by Wildstein, a career political operative and blogger their attorneys have characterized as Christies hatchet man at the Port Authority, a powerful bistate agency that runs bridges, tunnels, ports, airports and the World Trade Center. (AP) The Orthodox Union Advocacy Center endorsed today the efforts of New Jersey Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-20) and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) for introducing legislation (A-4253 & S-2634) which, if passed, will allocate vital funds to the states houses of worship, synagogues and nonprofits to bolster safety and security. The bill proposes up to a $10,000 state grant per institution eligible to receive a Federal Homeland Security Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) award. The new funding will be used to hire security personnel at critical junctures throughout the year. Funding through the $1.5 million program will be allotted in three equal installments totaling up to $500,000 annually. This legislation was inspired by the OUs Advocacy Centers pioneering work in the field. OU Advocacy spearheaded the creation of the Department of Homeland Securitys Non-Profit Security Grant Program in 2005 to assist synagogues, Jewish day schools and other nonprofits at risk of terror attacks to make their buildings more secure. To date, the NSGP has delivered more than $150 million to Jewish community institutions, including $20 million each for 2016. This bill is especially meaningful given that the High Holidays are approaching and heightened security is key to worshippers safety declared Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center. The OU Advocacy Center looks forward to being a partner in the coalition that will support this important legislation and continuing the successful climb to further legislation that ensures the safety and security of our generation and the generations to come. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Agudath Israel of America condemns in the strongest terms the UNESCO resolution passed this week that effectively denies the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. It is an unabashed falsification of history, the magnitude of which can only be explained by a deep and ugly hatred for the Jewish people and its heritage. To ignore the historical record and the fact that Jews have prayed daily for millennia to be able to return to their ancestral land is nothing short of grotesque. Nations that supported this shameful resolution desire to delegitimize Israels claim to sovereignty over the Holy City. Their animus will not accomplish that. Its only consequence will be to make peace in the Middle East even more elusive. Countries that demonstrated their malign intentions by endorsing the resolution and those that, out of cowardice, abstained, deserve denunciation. We applaud President Obama and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Estonia, for their courage in voting against the resolution, and for historical truth. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO on Friday, a day after the U.N. cultural agency adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem. UNESCOs draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for the Har Habayis -which includes the Kosel. The validated resolution is expected early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change. Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters. Education Minister Naftali Bennett informed UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Israels decision on Friday. Following the shameful decision by UNESCO members to deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organization, Bennett said. The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city, Bokova, the head of UNESCO, said in a statement. To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass government welcomed the resolution, as did Hamas. A spokesman for Hamas, which is pledged to Israels destruction, called it a step in the right direction. The dispute over Jerusalems holiest site ignited a wave of terror this time last year. Since then Palestinian terrorists have killed 36 Israelis and two visiting Americans, mainly in stabbings. About 220 Palestinian terrorists have been killed by Israeli fire. (AP) [COMMUNICATED CONTENT] Arlington marks a first. Now, for the first time in the USA, kosher travelers can enjoy a truly complete luxury hospitality experience in New Hampshire all year round. Beyond special Yom Tov programs and one-shot events, Jewish families have grown accustomed to that instinctive feeling of second-class citizen when looking to vacation throughout the year. Not anymore. Even a decadent kosher continental breakfast is included free all year round. In addition to being a 365-day 360-degree kosher hotel, Arlington is also an affordable luxury for families of any size. While special event coordinators are always forced to pass the steep costs onto patrons, Arlington makes a range of options available to all. Families and individuals can choose any room type from the hotels 60 boutique suites, for any number of nights. They can also customize their kosher culinary menu from the famed on-premises Birch Bistro, so no expensive bundle savings make their way to the bill. Large groups are always welcome for simchas or any festive occasion personal to business. Arlington offers fully custom white-glove event planning, with hosts afforded full control over the hotels celebration spaces and renowned kosher cuisine. Single-room booking is available for smaller events at any price level with a rich buffet menu from Birch Bistro. Also on offer is a premium selection of fine kosher wines, and unique kosher cocktails are handcrafted to spec. At long last, traveling like a Jew can mean vacationing like a mentsch. No need to ship food, negotiate with a temperamental microwave, or eat out of unappetizing cans. Now theres always kosher gourmet food ready to indulge the entire family, heimishe Shabbos meals served fresh and large, and a full shul and kosher mikvah on premises all year round. Around peak seasons, such as Chanukah, midwinter and major Jewish holidays, Arlington will offer an exclusive, all-inclusive program that leaves nothing to pack. Contrary to the year-round schedule, these dates will be blacked out on Arlingtonnh.com and on other online booking sites. Families would be indulged in a comprehensive hospitality experience along with exceptional kosher dining included for all meals. As Arlington continues to set the standard for kosher luxury in the hospitality industry, a shift in the market is to be expected. Kosher travelers will soon have more premium experiences to choose from, and Arlington intends to lead the kosher boutique category. For reservations and more information inquire at 603-869-7777 or arlingtonnh.com President Barack Obama is saying that all of Americas progress under his administration over the last eight years goes out the window if voters elect Donald Trump. Obama is holding a rally Friday for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland. Hes urging Ohio Democrats to cast their votes now, with early voting under way in the state. The president said America is better than Trumps remarks about women, minorities and other groups. He said you dont have to be a husband or father to know his comments about how he treats women are not right. He said you just have to be a decent human being. Obama was interrupted briefly by a pro-Trump protester shouting about Bill Clinton and his allegations. Obama suggested the protester may have been paid to be at the rally. (AP) When someone shares with you something of value, you have an obligation to share it with others. Ruling: Ex JPMorgan boss Achilles Macris LONDON WHALE Britain's highest court will rule on a battle between a banker and the City watchdog. The case relates to the 2012 London Whale scandal at JPMorgan, in which staff at the US bank's City office racked up 5.1billion of losses by betting on risky derivatives markets. JPMorgan was fined 138million by the Financial Conduct Authority and the unit's former boss, Achilles Macris, 55, was hit with a 792,900 penalty. But he claims he was improperly identified in a report on the JPMorgan fine. The case now goes before the Supreme Court after the regulator appealed against an earlier ruling in Macris's favour. Judgement is expected in the next three months. COMMERCE CHIEF The British Chambers of Commerce has appointed Adam Marshall as its new director general following the resignation of John Longworth in March. Marshall has been acting director general since Longworth left in a row over Brexit WHITBREAD ROLE Costa Coffee owner Whitbread has appointed a former Barclays finance chief as its boss of pay. Deanna Oppenheimer will succeed Stephen Williams as chair of the firm's remuneration committee in March. Also joining the Whitbread board is David Atkins, chief executive of retail property company Hammerson. BANK EXPANSION Arbuthnot Banking Group is to expand its commercial operations in the North West as larger rivals scale back. In a trading update, the merchant bank also announced a special dividend of 300p per share, or 45million. And it said the Bank of England's base rate cut to 0.25 per cent would mean a short-term margin squeeze. FINDEL SALES British home shopping and education company Findel has reported a mixed performance in the first half of the year. Sales in its greeting card company, Express Gifts, were up 12 per cent but sales in education business, Findel Education, were down 5.5p. Despite the mixed results, Findel said it was confident of achieving a target of 100,000 new customers by the end of the full year. JUPITER BOOST Investors pumped 789million into Jupiter Fund Management in the three months to September 30. The firm has 40.4billion of assets under management. William Hill is under attack from its biggest shareholder over merger talks with Canadian online gambling company Amaya. Parvus Asset Management, which holds a 14.3 per cent stake in Britain's biggest bookie is angry over alleged 'double standards'. It made public a letter sent to the board after a meeting with chairman Gareth Davis and interim chief executive Philip Bowcock. In reaction, William Hill shares were up 4.4 per cent, or 13.1p to 312.1p in late afternoon trading today on hopes for possible competing bids. Disgruntled investor: Parvus Asset Management, which holds a 14.3 per cent stake in Britain's biggest bookie William Hill is angry over alleged 'double standards' In a note today, analysts at Liberum Capital said: 'What is clear is that Parvus have hung up the "For Sale" sign at Hills and the Company remains "in play". 'In our view 100m of synergies with any potential partner pushes the share price towards 400p or beyond if a bid premium materialises.' Last weekend William Hill confirmed it was in talks with Amaya to create a transatlantic gambling behemoth worth around 4.7billion. Parvus said: 'The board refused to talk to the 888/Rank Consortium just two months ago. 'You urgently need to explain why you are applying such blatant double standards. We strongly encourage that the board stops wasting valuable time and shareholder resources pursing this value-destroying merger.' A weaker pound will mean higher prices for Mountain Warehouse customers, the outdoor retailer has warned, as it indicated it has shelved plans to float on the stock market. The management-owned company, which opened its 250th UK store last month, said it will face increased costs from sterling drop in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union as it was only hedged against the currency until last February. While it will absorb some of the costs increases and renegotiate deals with suppliers, some of the rises will be passed on to customers, Mountain Warehouse said in an update today. It added that it had already decided not to launch an initial public offering before the Brexit vote. Cold feet: A weaker pound will mean higher prices for Mountain Warehouse customers, the outdoor retailer has warned, as it indicated it has shelved IPO plans due to Brexit Mountain Warehouse's chief executive and founder Mark Neale told the Press Association: We're hedged until February 2016, but after that we're going to have to deal with the increased costs in three ways. A third will come out of securing better prices from factories, a third will be absorbed by the business and a third will be passed on to customers with selective price increases. The company added that this will be the first time Mountain Warehouse has increased prices in five years. The fresh price increases news comes a day after supermarket giant Tesco pulled dozens of Unilever brands from its website - including popular products such as Marmite and PG Tips tea bags - after the household goods giant moved to hike its wholesale prices by about 10 per cent to compensate for the drop in the value of the pound. The issue was later resolved, with Unilever confirming that the items were once again fully available in Tesco stores. Aside from increasing prices, Mountain Warehouse also sees the UKs decision to leave the European Union putting its plans for a stock market listing on hold. Mr Neale told Retail Week: 'We started to explore it [an IPO]. But, certainly after the [EU referendum] vote, it would have been like pushing water uphill and so we decided to come back to it down the road.' Expansion: Mountain Warehouse opened 24 stores in the first half, including one in Lewes Mountain Warehouse is not alone - fitness chain Pure Gym this week said it had scrapped plans for a stock market flotation, just one month after first announcing it wanted to go public. The gyms operator blamed the rapid U-turn on 'market volatility' and 'challenging conditions' for newly-listed shares. Despite the caution, Mountain Warehouse today reported a big jump in sales for the first half, although profits came in lower, weighed down by expansion costs. Mountain Warehouse said first half sales grew 29.5 per cent to 76.8million, with pre-tax profits edging down from 4.3million to 4.0million. The group opened 24 new stores in the first half, some of them abroad in Germany, North America, Poland and Ireland, with an extra three stores opening today in Lewes in Sussex, Ivybridge in Devon and Lodz in Poland. All of a sudden, big number deals in the junior mining sector are beginning to pop up. Its been a long hiatus. With one or two exceptions in the gold sector, theres been no corporate activity of any real significance at this level for nearly seven years. Now, Solgold is on the block, as major miners and investment specialists have bid up the value of its Cascabel copper property in Ecuador to beyond 200million. And Eurasia Mining has just signed a 144million turnkey development contract for Monchetundra, an asset that for regulatory reasons its unable to say much about at all. On the block: Major miners and investment specialists have bid up the value of Solgold's Cascabel copper property in Ecuador to beyond 200million The two are markedly different. The first is a pure-play exploration project found and worked up by experienced geologists with a track record of finding big copper projects worldwide. It has now attracted the attention of major players who clearly want to build it and mine it for themselves. In the case of the second firm, Sinosteel wants to finance and build it, but then hand it over, either to Eurasia, or to a buyer or joint venture partner that may subsequently come in. Eurasia has all sorts of non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements outstanding, so it cant say much. It might be light on detail, but the market really seemed to like the news with the Eurasia shares up almost 60 per cent this week. By contrast SolGold is up around 9 per cent over the same time period. That said, the stock has enjoyed a rip-snorting run in the year to date, rising 760 per cent in the last nine months. In all, it has been an odd week on the markets. We saw the FTSE 100 hit a new record high before retrenching below 7,000. On the AIM All Share there were minor zigs and zags but the net impact was minimal as the small-cap index finished just 0.3 per cent in the red. Falcon Oil and Gas, run by the irrepressible Philip OQuigley, enjoyed a decent run (up 26 per cent) after its partner, Origin Energy, successfully uncovered gas in an area called the Beetaloo, in Australias Northern Territory. 'It is a very exciting development, it is not every day you have a declaration of a discovery,' OQuigley told Proactive Investors in an interview. 'Origin came on board couple of years ago and started drilling only last year, this project is just going from strength to strength. 'This declaration of discovery is a huge leap forward, so it is terribly exciting.' Cancer research: Advanced Oncotherapy hopes to bring in up to 4million of fresh capital in an open offer of shares priced at 1 each Finally, a small company that could help revolutionise cancer treatment in the UK is looking for a little help from investors. Advanced Oncotherapy hopes to bring in up to 4million of fresh capital in an open offer of shares priced at 1 each. The fund raising is part of a larger financing plan 'supported by banks and strategic partners' and helps the company tap into a 24million facility provided by the private equity group Metric Capital. The cash will be used to bankroll the manufacture and installation of Advanced Oncotherapys ground-breaking LIGHT proton therapy machine in Harley Street, bringing the cutting edge cancer treatment to London. LIGHT, which stands for Linac Image Guided Hadron Technology, is cheaper and smaller than the current units, which are almost prohibitively expensive. The LIGHT system has the ability to propel protons at the speeds generated by much larger machines. Deutsche Bank has announced a hiring freeze in a bid to slash costs as traders continue to raise fears over its future. The embattled German lender is already working through 35,000 job cuts after it lost 5.8billion in 2015. In a memo, bank division heads were told to stop recruitment with immediate effect. Cuts: Deutsche Bank is working through a programme of 35,000 job cuts after it lost 5.8bn in 2015 But it did little to ease market jitters, with Deutsche shares dropping 3.4 per cent in German trading yesterday. The freeze does not apply to Deutsches compliance, audit and anti-financial crime operations, which is recruiting 1,000 people to ease concerns about weakness. US authorities fined the lender 7.8million earlier this week over failings in its equity research department. They said it failed to properly preserve transcripts from its internal chat system which were sought by investigators, and did not do enough to stop analysts secretly helping valued customers. Deutsches share price has more than halved in the past 12 months. And a sharp sell-off was triggered last month when the American Department of Justice demanded an 11.5billion bill over toxic bundles of mortgage debt sold in the run-up to the crisis. Dutch banking giant ING is moving 60 traders to London to take advantage of the capital's unrivalled role as a finance hub. It came as City sources poured cold water on French claims US banks could leave. The jobs, which will be shifted from Amsterdam and Brussels, are a sharp retort to claims the City will haemorrhage business because of Brexit. Brexit move: Dutch bank ING is to send 60 traders to London to take advantage of the capital's unrivalled role as a finance hub ING said more positions could follow. 'Even after Brexit, London has and will continue to have a deep labour talent pool to support our business,' it said. Bullish French finance minister Michel Sapin visited Washington last week and said he was now certain that Wall Street financiers would be moving roles from London to the Continent. Yesterday, he said Britain would definitely lose US lenders' business because of Brexit. 'They are telling us clearly that there will be a transfer of activity,' said Sapin, whose party has slumped in the polls ahead of elections next year. 'It's no longer a question of if, but when.' The EU is threatening to throw up barriers to force finance firms to move inside the bloc. And although the City believes some roles will shift abroad, no one expects a rush for the exits. One insider said: 'There's been no sign US banks are planning to leave London. They . . . have a long-term commitment to remaining in the capital.' The construction sector looks to have contracted in the third quarter and acted as a drag on the UK economy after output dropped unexpectedly in August, figures show. All areas of construction except for private commercial saw a monthly drop, including housebuilding, which fell 1.3 per cent - although the biggest slump was in infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and electricity. The Office for National Statistics played down a Brexit effect on Augusts 1.5 per cent drop in construction output, saying monthly figures can be highly volatile. Housebuilding: It fell in August compared to July, but it was 8% higher than last year As the fall this month is led by infrastructure, it seems unlikely that post-referendum uncertainties are having an impact, said Kate Davies, a senior statistician at the ONS. Monthly construction data can be quite erratic, though, so we would warn against trying to read too much into one set of figures. But while taking volatility into account, especially during the summer months when much can depend on the timing of holidays, the picture pained by three-month figures is an equally bleak one. Construction output in the three months between June and August fell by 1.3 per cent compared with the previous three months and by 0.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. Year-on-year figures are also poor, with construction rising 0.2 per cent compared with August 2015, far below consensus forecasts for a 1.2 per cent jump. The amount spent on repair and maintenance dropped to 3.9billion in August, which was its lowest level since September 2013, according to the ONS. Construction drop: All subsectors except for private commercial saw a monthly drop The Bank of England has warned that construction will be one of the hardest-hit sectors as the UK proceeds to leave the European Union. Housebuilders were some of the worst hit if the immediate aftermath of the referendum vote, their shares dropping by around 40 per cent. However, the UK economy has so far been more resilient than expected in the immediate aftermath of the referendum on EU membership. The latest manufacturing PMI survey showed that output in the sector reached its highest level for more than two years in September. And the latest construction PMI showed that activity grew for the first time since May and respondents citing a reduced drag on demand from Brexit-related uncertainty. Infrastructure: The biggest slump was in infrastructure projects such as roads and railways Some house builders such as Telford Homes and Countryside Properties have also said they saw activity pick-up again after a Brexit dip. Howard Archer said that while the latest data suggests the construction sector is improving, there are still 'many uncertainties' about the future - 'particularly regarding clients willingness to commit to major projects, especially in the commercial real estate sector. He added: The possibility that the economy will slow appreciably over the coming months despite its current resilience and that the housing market will struggle are also concerns for the construction sector. Commercial property transactions have been particularly weak. He also said that, because a substantial amount of materials and components used by construction companies are imported, firms were going to see their costs rocket as the pound continues to weaken. The construction sector accounts for about 6 per cent of GDP, so it has limited implications for the overall economy, however a marked fall in output could still have an impact, Archer added. Jon White, UK managing director of global construction consultancy Turner & Townsend, said: 'The industry may have absorbed the initial shock of the referendum result with barely a ripple, but the benign limbo could not last forever.' He also said that the governments renewed commitment to infrastructure project could help revive the industry. '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. Consumers face an epidemic of price hikes blamed on Brexit following the row between Unilever and Tesco, experts warn. Retail analysts fear manufacturers are lining up to impose price rises blamed on a fall in the value of the pound since the referendum. Sterling has fallen about 18 per cent against the US dollar and 15 per cent against the euro since the vote to leave the European Union. Retail analysts fear manufacturers are lining up to impose price rises on British supermarkets blamed on a fall in the value of the pound since the EU referendum (file picture, model posing) The slide has boosted exports but also driven up the cost of imports setting the scene for higher prices in supermarkets and on the high street. Britons already pay more for everything from gadgets such as Apple's iPhone to games consoles. Internet streaming services, beauty products and designer clothes are also more expensive as global brands see Britain as a 'Treasure Island'. It is feared the cost of everything from clothes, wine and food to televisions, dishwashers and washing machines will rise in the coming months. Business expert Professor Andrew Fearne, of the University of East Anglia, said: 'The problem is that some companies will use the exchange rate as a vehicle for negotiating price rises that are avoidable. It comes after Unilever and Tesco became embroiled in a stand-off over rumoured price hikes 'What we are seeing here is the thin edge of a very long wedge in the world of fast-moving consumer goods.' But, as Unilever has found, firms that try to push through price rises on the back of Brexit risk a backlash. Ian Wright, of the Food and Drink Federation, which speaks for manufacturers, warned of more Brexit-induced price battles. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the 5th largest bank in the world and the largest in the U.S. The current company is the result of a series of mergers that began in the earliest days of American banking history and include more than 1,200 original banks. The oldest predecessor is The Bank Of The Manhattan Company which was founded in 1799 by Aaron Burr. At the time, The Bank Of The Manhattan Company was the 3rd oldest bank in the U.S. and the 31st oldest in the world. The Chase Manhattan Bank, a precursor to JPMorgan Chase, was later formed when The Bank Of Manhattan Company purchased Chase Bank which was established in 1877. JPMorgan & Co came to life in 1895 in order to finance the United States Steel Corporation. Itself a result of merger, the company also financed other early American businesses as well as aided the federal government by backing a bond offering. It wasnt until the year 2000 and after several more mergers that JPMorgan Chase & Co was born. It will be four more years before the merger with Bank One which is notable because it brings CEO Jamie Dimon into the picture. JPMorgan Chase & Co was instrumental in aiding the US government during the 2008 financial crisis. It backed the accounts of several major banks including Bear Stearns and eventually took over their operations. Today, JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide with operations on every continent and in more than 60 countries. JPMorgan Chase & Co operates through four segments that are Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). Services are available in branches in 48 of the 50 US states and around the world. Services are available via ATM, online, mobile, and telephone. The CCB segment offers traditional banking services to consumers that include but are not limited to deposits, loans, mortgages, and lines of credit. The CIB segment provides investment banking products and services to businesses, institutions, and governments that range from prime brokerage, insurance, corporate strategy, and access to capital markets, to lending, cross-border financing, and derivative instruments. The CB segment provides financial services for small, medium, and large businesses including commercial real estate banking of all types. The AWM segment provides investment management solutions to institutional and retail investors. This segment also provides retirement products, brokerage, trusts and estates, and investment management products. A donated addition to the Canyon Creek Wildlife Management Area that the state says will benefit wildlife and access could close by the end of the year. The 729 acres would preserve habitat for elk and deer, winter range for mule deer and a known corridor for wildlife moving between the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and areas to the south, Ken McDonald, wildlife division administrator with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, told the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission in Forsyth on Thursday. The $550,000 donation northwest of Helena comes through the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which received most funding through the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Lewis and Clark County open space bond. Called the Specimen Creek property, the donation near Flesher Pass is currently owned by Stimson Lumber Company. Supporters of the acquisition note concern about subdivision. With the highway running right through theres a lot of development potential and that could impact public access, RMEF Senior Lands Program Manager Mike Mueller said in a previous interview. FWP public meetings and comment saw only support for the project, McDonald said. The departments proposal notes that if it takes donation of the property, additional weed control and perimeter fencing is needed to meet wildlife management area standards. With the addition Canyon Creek would grow to nearly 3,000 acres. The commission voted unanimously to accept the donation, which McDonald said could close by January. Because the donation exceeds $100,000, a final approval is needed from the Montana State Land Board, according to FWP administrator Ron Aasheim. Habitat Montana has been the agencys historic funding source for land conservation. The last Legislature passed prohibitions on using the funds for land acquisition with conservative lawmakers citing concerns over FWP land purchases. Because the Canyon Creek addition would come through a donation, the Habitat Montana restrictions do not apply. The following companies are subsidiares of Vodafone Group Public: 360 Connect S.A., 3@ Telecom, A-ccelerator B.V., A-ccelerator Holding B.V, AAA (Euro) Limited, AAA (MCR) Limited, AAA (UK) Limited, Acorn Communications Limited, Africonnect (Zambia) Limited, Ag Mercantile Company Private Limited, Al-Amin Investments Limited, Amsterdamse Beheer- en Consultingmaatschappij B.V., Apollo Submarine Cable System Limited, Array Holdings Limited, Asian Telecommunication Investments (Mauritius) Limited, Aspective Limited, Astec Communications Limited, Autoconnex Limited, Aztec Limited, BelCompany BV, Bluefish Apac Communications Pte. Ltd, Bluefish Communications, Bluefish Communications Limited, Business Serve Limited, C&W Worldwide Nigeria Limited, C.S.P. Solutions Limited, CCII (Mauritius) Inc., CGP India Investments Ltd., CGP Investments (Holdings) Limited, COOP Mobil s.r.o, CT Networks Limited, CWGNL S.A., CWW Operations Limited, Cable & Wireless Access Limited, Cable & Wireless Americas Systems Inc., Cable & Wireless Aspac Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Services Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Svyaz LLC, Cable & Wireless Capital Limited , Cable & Wireless Communications Data Network Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Starclass Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Technical Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd (Beijing Branch), Cable & Wireless Europe Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless GN Limited, Cable & Wireless Global (India) Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Business Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Holding Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Telecommunication Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Holdco Limited, Cable & Wireless Networks India Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Trade Mark Management Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Waterside Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Pension Trustee Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Voice Messaging Limited, Cable & Wireless a-Services Inc, Cable & Wireless a-Services Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited Indian Branch Office, Cable and Wireless Nominee Limited, Cable and Wireless Worldwide South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cavalry Holdings Ltd, Celfocus Solucoes Informaticas Para Telecomunicacoes S.A, Cellops Limited, Cellular Operations Limited, Central Communications Group Limited, Central Telecom (Northern) Limited, Centurion GSM Limited, Chelys Limited, City Cable (Holdings) Limited, Cobra do Brasil Servicos de Telematica ltda., Commnet Cellular Inc., Complete Network Technology, Connect (India) Mobile Technologies Private Limited, Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited, Dataroam Limited , Device Insight, Digital Island (UK) Ltd, Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited, East Africa Investment (Mauritius) Limited, Emtel Europe Limited, Energis (Ireland) Limited, Energis Communications Limited, Energis Holdings Limited, Energis Local Access Limited, Energis Management Limited, Energis Squared Limited, Erudite Systems Limited, Esprit Telecom B.V., Eudokia Limited, Euro Pacific Securities Ltd., Eurocall Holdings Limited, Europolitan Holdings AB (now Europolitan Vodafone AB), FB Holdings Limited, FM Associates (UK) Limited, FinCo Partner 1 B.V., FireFly Networks Limited, Flexphone Limited, GS Telecom (Pty) Limited, Gateway Communications Africa (UK) Limited, Gateway Communications Tanzania Limited, General Mobile Corporation, Generation Telecom Limited, Ghana Telecommunications, Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited, Global Cellular Rental Limited, Globe Limited, GrandCentrix GmbH, Grupo Corporativo ONO S.A.U., H3ga Properties (No 3) Pty Limited, HBO Nederland Cooperatief U.A., HBO Netherlands Channels sro, HBO Netherlands Distribution B.V., Hellas Online, How2 Telecom Limited, Hutchison Essar Ltd, Indus Towers Limited, Intercell Communications Limited, Internet Network Services Limited, Invitation Digital Limited, Ipergy Communications NV, Isis Telecommunications Management Limited, Jaguar Communications Limited, Jaykay Finholding (India) Private Limited, Jupicol (Proprietary) Limited, KABELCOM Braunschweig Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, KABELCOM Wolfsburg Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, Kabel Deutschland, Kabel Deutschland Holding, Kabel Deutschland Holding Erste Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Holding Zweite Beteilgungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Neunte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Siebte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabelfernsehen Munchen Servicenter GmbH & Co. KG, LG Financing Partnership, LGE HoldCo V B.V., LGE HoldCo VI B.V., LGE HoldCo VIII B.V., LGE Holdco VII B.V., LLC Vodafone Enterprise Ukraine, Le Bunt Holdings Limited, Legend Communications Limited, Liberty Global, Liberty Global Content Netherlands B.V., London Hydraulic Power Company, M-PESA Foundation, M-PESA Holding Co. Limited, ML Integration Group Limited, ML Integration Limited, ML Integration Services Limited, MV Healthcare Services Private Limited, Mannesmann AG, MetroHoldings Limited, Mezzanine Ware Proprietary Limited (RF), Mirambo Limited, Misrfone Trading Company LLC, MobiFon S.A., Mobile Commerce Solutions Limited, Mobile Phone Centre Limited, Mobile Wallet VM1, Mobile Wallet VM2, Mobile by Sainsburys Limited, Mobiles 4 Business.com Limited, Mobileworld Communications Pty Limited, Mobileworld Operating Pty Ltd, Mobilvest, Motifpros 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Multi Risk Indemnity Company Limited, Multi Risk Limited, ND Callus Info Services Private Limited, Nadal Trading Company Private Limited, Nat Comm Air Limited, National Communications Backbone Company Limited, Navtrak Ltd, Netforce Group Limited, Netgrid Telecom SRL, Number Portability Company (Proprietary) Limited, ONO, Omega Telecom Holdings Private Limited, Oni Way Infocomunicacoes S.A, Oskar Mobil S.R.O., Oxygen Solutions Limited, P.C.P. (North West) Limited, PPL Pty Limited, PT Network Services Limited, PTI Telecom Limited, Peoples Phone Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Group Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Limited, Plex Limited, Plustech Mercantile Company Private Limited, Prime Metals Ltd., Project Telecom Holdings Limited, Quickcomm Software Solutions, Radio Opt GmbH, Rian Mobile Limited, SBC SMART CITY 1517 B.V., SMMS Investments Pvt Limited, Safaricom Limited, Safenet N.P A., Sarmady Communications, Scarlet Ibis Investments 23 (Pty) Limited, Scorpios Beverages Pvt. Ltd, Silver Stream Investments Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Ltd., Singlepoint Payment Services Limited, Siro Limited, Spar Aerospace (Nigeria) Limited, Sport TV Portugal S.A, Starnet, Stentor Communications Limited, Stentor Limited, Storage Technology Services (Pty) Limited, T.W. Telecom Limited, T3 Telecommunications Limited, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern Beteiligungs GmbH, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG, TNAS Limited, TSM NZ Limited, Talkland Airtime Services Limited, Talkland Australia Pty Limited, Talkland Communications Limited, Talkland International Limited, Talkland Midlands Limited, Talkmobile Limited, Tele2 Italia SPA, Tele2 Spain, Telecom Investments India Private Limited, Telecommunications Europe Limited, Ternhill Communications Limited, The Cobra Group, The Eastern Leasing Company Limited, The Old Telecom Sales Co. Limited, Thus Group Holdings Limited, Thus Group Limited, Thus Limited, Thus Profit Sharing Trustees Limited, TnT Expense Management LLC, Tomorrow Street GP S.a r.l., Tomorrow Street SCA, Torenspits II B.V., Townley Communications Limited, Trans Crystal Ltd., UMT Investments Limited, UPC Nederland Holding I B.V., UPC Nederland Holding II B.V., UPC Nederland Holding III B.V., Unified Communications, Uniqueair Limited, Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH & Co.KG, Usha Martin Telematics Limited, VAPL No. 2 Pty Limited, VBA (Mauritius) Limited, VBA Holdings Limited, VBA International (SL) Limited, VBA International Limited, VEI S.r.l., VM SA, VND S.p.A, VSSB Vodafone Shared Services Budapest Private Limited Company, Verwaltung Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH, Victus Networks S.A., Vizzavi Finance Limited, Vizzavi Limited, Voda Limited, Vodacall Limited, Vodacash s.p.r.l., Vodacom (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business (Angola) Limitada, Vodacom Business (Ghana) Limited, Vodacom Business (Kenya) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group Services Limited, Vodacom Business Cameroon SA, Vodacom Business Cote Divoire S.A.R.L., Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA, Vodacom Financial Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Group Limited, Vodacom Insurance Administration Company (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Insurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Limited, Vodacom International Limited, Vodacom Lesotho (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Life Assurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom Payment Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No.2 (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Tanzania Limited Zanzibar, Vodacom Tanzania Public Limited Company, Vodacom UK Limited, Vodafone (NI) Limited, Vodafone (New Zealand) Hedging Limited, Vodafone (Scotland) Limited, Vodafone 2, Vodafone 4 UK, Vodafone 5 Limited, Vodafone 5 UK, Vodafone 6 UK, Vodafone Albania Sh.A, Vodafone Alternatif Telekom Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Americas 4, Vodafone Americas Virginia Inc., Vodafone And Qatar Foundation L.L.C, Vodafone Asset Management Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Automotive Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Automotive Electronic Systems S.r.L, Vodafone Automotive France S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Iberia S.L, Vodafone Automotive Italia S.p.A, Vodafone Automotive Japan K.K, Vodafone Automotive Korea Limited, Vodafone Automotive SpA, Vodafone Automotive Technologies (Beijing) Co Ltd, Vodafone Automotive Telematics Development S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Telematics S.A, Vodafone Automotive UK Limited, Vodafone Belgium SA/NV, Vodafone Benelux Limited, Vodafone Bilgi Ve Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Vodafone Business Services Limited, Vodafone Business Solutions Limited, Vodafone Canada Inc, Vodafone Cellular Limited, Vodafone Central Services Limited, Vodafone China Limited (China), Vodafone China Limited (Hong Kong), Vodafone Connect 2 Limited, Vodafone Connect Limited, Vodafone Consolidated Holdings Limited, Vodafone Corporate Limited, Vodafone Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Czech Republic A.S., Vodafone DC Pension Trustee Company Limited, Vodafone Dagitim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Data, Vodafone Distribution Holdings Limited, Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E., Vodafone Elektronik Para Ve Odeme Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Empresa Brasil Telecomunicacoes Ltda, Vodafone Empresa Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Vodafone Enabler Espana S.L., Vodafone Enterprise Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Austria GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Bahrain W.L.L., Vodafone Enterprise Bulgaria EOOD, Vodafone Enterprise Chile SA, Vodafone Enterprise Communications Technical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Denmark A/S, Vodafone Enterprise Equipment Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited Czech Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited DubaiI Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Finland OY, Vodafone Enterprise France SAS, Vodafone Enterprise Germany GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Global Businesses S.a r.l., Vodafone Enterprise Global Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network HK Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network Pte. Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Hong Kong Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Italy S.r.L, Vodafone Enterprise Korea Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Luxembourg S.A., Vodafone Enterprise Netherlands BV, Vodafone Enterprise Norway AS, Vodafone Enterprise Regional Business Singapore Pte.Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Singapore Pte.Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Spain S.L.U. Portugal Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Spain SLU, Vodafone Enterprise Sweden AB, Vodafone Enterprise Switzerland AG, Vodafone Erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Vodafone Espana S.A.U., Vodafone Euro Hedging Limited, Vodafone Euro Hedging Two, Vodafone Europe B.V., Vodafone Europe UK, Vodafone European Investments, Vodafone European Portal Limited, Vodafone Finance Limited, Vodafone Finance Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Finance Sweden, Vodafone Finance UK Limited, Vodafone Financial Operations, Vodafone Financial Services B.V., Vodafone Fixed Ltd, Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone Foundation Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Gestioni S.p.A, Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited, Vodafone Global Content Services Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Hong Kong) Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Italy) S.R.L., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Japan) K.K., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Russia LLC, Vodafone Global Enterprise Taiwan Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Telecommunications (Hellas) A.E., Vodafone Global Network Limited, Vodafone Global Network Limited Slovakia Branch, Vodafone Global Services Private Limited, Vodafone GmbH, Vodafone Group (Directors) Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Pension Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Services GmbH, Vodafone Group Services Ireland Limited, Vodafone Group Services Limited, Vodafone Group Services No.2 Limited, Vodafone Group Share Trustee Limited, Vodafone Hire Limited, Vodafone Holding A.S., Vodafone Holdings (Jersey) Limited, Vodafone Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Holdings Europe S.L.U., Vodafone Holdings Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Finance Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Receivables Pty Limited, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited, Vodafone India Digital Limited, Vodafone India Limited, Vodafone India Services Private Limited, Vodafone India Ventures Limited, Vodafone Institut fur Gesellschaft und Kommunikation GmbH, Vodafone Intermediate Enterprises Limited, Vodafone International 1 S.a.r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone International 1 S.a r.l., Vodafone International 2 Limited, Vodafone International Holdings B.V., Vodafone International Holdings Limited, Vodafone International M S.a r.l., Vodafone International Operations Limited, Vodafone International Services LLC, Vodafone Investment UK, Vodafone Investments (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Investments Australia Limited, Vodafone Investments Limited, Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Ireland Distribution Limited, Vodafone Ireland Ltd., Vodafone Ireland Marketing Limited, Vodafone Ireland Property Holdings Limited, Vodafone Ireland Retail Limited, Vodafone Italia S.p.A., Vodafone Jersey Dollar Holdings Limited, Vodafone Jersey Finance, Vodafone Jersey Yen Holdings Unlimited, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Field Services GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Kundenbetreuung GmbH, Vodafone Kenya Limited, Vodafone Leasing Limited, Vodafone Libertel B.V., Vodafone Limited, Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone M-PESA SH.P.K., Vodafone M-Pesa S.A, Vodafone M.C. Mobile Services Limited , Vodafone Magyarorszag Mobile Tavkozlesi Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Vodafone Malta Limited, Vodafone Marketing UK , Vodafone Maroc SARL, Vodafone Mauritius Ltd., Vodafone Mobile Commerce Limited, Vodafone Mobile Communications Limited, Vodafone Mobile Enterprises Limited, Vodafone Mobile NZ Limited, Vodafone Mobile Network Limited, Vodafone Mobile Operations Limited, Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Multimedia Limited, Vodafone Nederland Holding I B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding II B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding III B.V., Vodafone Net Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Network Pty Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Foundation Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited, Vodafone Next Generation Services Limited, Vodafone Nominees Limited1, Vodafone ONO S.A.U., Vodafone Oceania Limited, Vodafone Old Show Ground Site Management Limited, Vodafone Overseas Finance Limited, Vodafone Overseas Holdings Limited, Vodafone Panafon International Holdings B.V., Vodafone Panafon UK, Vodafone Partner Services Limited, Vodafone Payment Solutions S.a r.l., Vodafone Portugal Comunicacoes Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Procurement Company S.a r.l., Vodafone Property Investments Limited, Vodafone Pty Limited, Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C., Vodafone Retail (Holdings) Limited , Vodafone Retail Limited, Vodafone Roaming Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Romania S.A, Vodafone Romania M - Payments SRL, Vodafone Romania Technologies SRL, Vodafone Sales & Services Limited, Vodafone Satellite Services Limited, Vodafone Servicios SL.U, Vodafone Servizi E Tecnologie S.R.L, Vodafone Servicos Empresariais Brasil Ltda., Vodafone Shared Services Romania SRL, Vodafone Specialist Communications Limited, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland Gemeinnutzige GmbH, Vodafone Technology Solutions Limited, Vodafone Teknoloji Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Tele-Services (India) Holdings Limited, Vodafone Telecel-Comunicates Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Telecommunications (India) Limited, Vodafone Telekomunikasyon A.S, Vodafone Towers Limited, Vodafone UK Content Services Limited, Vodafone UK Investments Limited , Vodafone UK Limited1 , Vodafone US Inc, Vodafone Ventures Limited1 , Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungs AG, Vodafone Worldwide Holdings Limited, Vodafone Yen Finance Limited , Vodafone m-pesa Limited, Vodafone-Central Limited Vodaphone Limited, Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company S.A., VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V, Vodata Limited , Vouchercloud SA (Pty) Ltd, Wataneya Telecommunications S.A.E, Waterberg Lodge (Proprietary) Limited, Wayfinder, Wheatfields Investments 276 (Proprietary) Limited, Wireless Interactions & NFC Accelerator 2013 B.V., Woodend Cellular Limited, Woodend Communications Limited, Woodend Group Limited, Woodend Holdings Limited, XB Facilities B.V, XLink Communications (Proprietary) Limited, Your Communications Group Limited, ZUM B.V., ZYB, Zelitron S.A., Zesko B.V., Ziggo B.V., Ziggo Bond Company B.V., Ziggo Deelnemingen B.V., Ziggo Finance 2 B.V., Ziggo Financing Partnership, Ziggo Holding B.V., Ziggo Netwerk B.V., Ziggo Netwerk II B.V., Ziggo Services B.V., Ziggo Services Employment B.V., Ziggo Services Netwerk 2 B.V., Ziggo Zakelijk Services B.V., and Zoranet Connectivity Services B.V.. Read More Parker-Hannifin Corporation manufactures and sells motion and control technologies and systems for various mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Diversified Industrial and Aerospace Systems. The Diversified Industrial segment offers sealing, shielding, thermal products and systems, adhesives, coatings, and noise vibration and harshness solutions; filters, systems, and diagnostics solutions to monitor and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors, which control, transmit, and contain fluid; control solutions for extreme corrosion resistance, temperatures, pressures, and precise flow; and hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical components and systems for builders and users of mobile and industrial machinery and equipment. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and distributors who serve the replacement markets in manufacturing, packaging, processing, transportation, construction, refrigeration and air conditioning, agricultural, and military machinery and equipment industries. The Aerospace Systems segment offers products for use in commercial and military airframe and engine programs, such as control actuation systems and components, engine build-up ducting, engine exhaust nozzles and assemblies, engine systems and components, fluid conveyance systems and components, fuel systems and components, fuel tank inerting systems, hydraulic systems and components, lubrication components, pilot controls, pneumatic control components, thermal management products, and wheels and brakes, as well as fluid metering, delivery, and atomization devices. This segment markets its products directly to OEMs and end users. The company markets its products through direct-sales employees, independent distributors, and sales representatives. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Helena City Commission members are interested in restoring a crosswalk across Montana Avenue at its intersection with Highland Boulevard, which is often occupied by students from nearby Jefferson Elementary School. But with repainting white stripes on Montana Avenues new asphalt and installing yellow traffic signs cautioning drivers of the crosswalk comes other considerations and costs for the commission. The federal Americans with Disabilities Act requires that curb ramps for future sidewalks be installed on all for corners of the intersection and this, city engineer Ryan Leland said during Wednesday city commission administrative meeting, adds $10,000 or a little more to the projects cost. Currently, there are no sidewalks at the intersection. City policy requires the city to pay for half of a curb ramp and the property owner to pay the remaining cost, Leland noted. During a discussion of this project, Commissioner Andres Haladay said he favored the city paying the full cost because of the public good that curb ramps serve. If the city orders property owners to install sidewalks -- the commission has this authority for properties along city streets -- he favored the property owner paying the sidewalks entire cost, which is city policy. Federal standards on accessibility provide guidance on sidewalk installation but dont require sidewalks to be installed in addition to the curb ramps, said Thomas Jodoin, the city attorney. After the meeting, Alles said he didnt see a pressing need to have property owners install sidewalks at this intersection. Another decision facing the city is whether to install extensions of the curb that balloon into the street, known as bulb-outs, which reduce the distance for pedestrians crossing the street. Adding bulb-outs that extend from all four corners into Montana Avenue at the intersection would add between $50,000 and $75,000 to the project cost, Leland said. While saying "well make it safe for kids, the installation of bulb-outs has yet to be decided, Alles said after the meeting. Although the city has the money for the project, using the funds here would mean delaying another project, Leland said, although he didnt specify which one might be put on hold. Even though the commission, with Mayor Jim Smith absent, expressed interest in making the intersection safer for school children who cross there daily, weather could hinder getting a crosswalk painted on the street. Painting a crosswalk on the asphalt would need to happen before signs were set in place, the commission was advised by city staff. Freezing temperatures could also affect the ability to get crosswalk signs installed, it was noted during the meeting. If the city is able to only get the crosswalk painted on the street and the signs in place before wintry weather, having a comprehensive plan for meeting the federal law come spring would place the city in a more legally defensible position, Jodoin said. Several parents told the commission they wanted the crosswalk restored on Montana Avenue for the safety of children. Traffic doesnt always stop for those who are trying to walk across Montana Avenue at this location, they noted to express their concern for pedestrians. Winnebago Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells recreation vehicles and marine products primarily for use in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. The company operates in six segments: Grand Design Towables, Winnebago Towables, Winnebago Motorhomes, Newmar motorhomes, Chris-Craft Marine, and Winnebago Specialty Vehicles. It provides towable products that are non-motorized vehicles to be towed by automobiles, pickup trucks, SUVs, or vans for use as temporary living quarters for recreational travel, such as conventional travel trailers, fifth wheels, folding camper trailers, and truck campers under the Winnebago and Grand Design brand names. The company also offers motorhomes, which are self-propelled mobile dwellings used primarily as temporary living quarters during vacation and camping trips, or to support active and mobile lifestyles under the Winnebago and Newmar brand names. In addition, it offers other specialty commercial vehicles for law enforcement command centers, mobile medical clinics, and mobile office spaces; commercial vehicles as bare shells to third-party up fitters; and boats in the recreational powerboat industry under the Chris-Craft and Barletta brand names. Further, the company is involved in the original equipment manufacturing of parts for other manufacturers and commercial vehicles. The company sells its products primarily through independent dealers in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Winnebago Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1958 and is based in Forest City, Iowa. The following companies are subsidiares of Quanta Services: (De) Lazy Q Ranch LLC, 1 Diamond LLC, 1Diamond AS, 618232 Alberta Ltd., 8246408 Canada Inc., Advanced Electric Systems, Advanced Electric Systems LLC, Advanced Utility Testing & Maintenance LLC, Alexander Publications LLC, Allteck GP Ltd., Allteck Limited Partnership, Apprenticeship Programs Inc., Arby Construction, Arcanum Chemicals LLC, Arnett & Burgess Oil Field Construction Limited, Arnett & Burgess Pipeliners (Rockies) LLC, Arnett & Burgess Pipeliners Ltd., B&N Clearing and Environmental LLC, Banister Pipelines Constructors Corp., Banister Pipelines Constructors GP Ltd., Banister Pipelines Limited Partnership, Brent Woodward Inc., Brink Constructors Inc., Brink Constructors Inc. A Corporation Of South Dakota, Brown Engineering and Testing, CAT SPEC Ltd., CAT-SPEC Limited Partnership, CAT-SPEC Limited Partnership (Regd Name) CAT SPEC Ltd., CAT-Spec Limited Partnership, Canadian Utility Construction Corp., Cat Spec Limited LP, Cat Spec Ltd, Cat Spec Ltd. L.P., Cat Spec Ltd. LP, Cat Spec. Ltd. LP, Cat-Spec Ltd (A Domestic limited Partnership), Cat-Spec Ltd LP, Cat-Spec Ltd., Cat-Spec Ltd. L.P., Cat-Spec Ltd. LP, Cat-Spec Ltd. Limited Partnership, Catalyst Changers Inc., Chatham Electric, Citadel Industrial Services L.P., Citadel Industrial Services Ltd., Citadel Industrial Services Ltd. L.P., Citadel Industrial Services Ltd. Limited Partnership, Coe Drilling Pty Ltd., Computapole, Conam Construction Co., Consolidated Power Projects Australia Pty Ltd, Conti Communications Inc., Crux Subsurface Canada Ltd., Crux Subsurface Inc., Cutting Technology - 1 Diamond LLC, DB Utilities Inc., DE Lazy Q Ranch LLC, DNR Pressure Welding Ltd., Dacon Corporation, Dashiell (DE) Corporation (Dashiell Corporation), Dashiell Corporation, Dashiell Corporation DBA Dashiell (DE) Corporation, De Mears Group, De Mears Group Inc., Delaware Quanta Technology LLC, Delaware Underground Construction Co., Didado Utility Company Inc., Digco Utility Construction L.P. Digco Utility Construction Limited Partnership, Dorado Specialty Services L.P., Dorado Specialty Services Ltd., Dorado Specialty Services Ltd. L.P., Dorado Specialty Services Ltd. Limited Partnership, Dorado Specialty Services. Ltd. L.P., Driftwood Electrical Contractors, EHV Power ULC, ELITE PIPING & CIVIL L.P., ELITE TURNAROUND SPECIALISTS LTD, Elite Fabrication Ltd. Elite Fabrication LP, Elite Piping & Civil Limited Partnership, Elite Piping & Civil Limited Partnership, Elite Piping & Civil Lp, Elite Piping & Civil Ltd L.P., Elite Piping & Civil Ltd., Elite Piping & Civil Ltd. L.P., Elite Piping & Civil Ltd. Limited Partnership, Elite Piping and Civil L.P., Elite Turnaround Specialists L.p., Elite Turnaround Specialists Limited Lp, Elite Turnaround Specialists Limited Partnership, Elite Turnaround Specialists Limited Partnership, Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd Lp, Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd., Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd. L.P., Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd. LP, Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd. Limited Partnership, Energy Consulting Group LLC, Enscope, Enscope Pty Ltd, FIC GP LLC, Field Personnel Services LLC, First Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC, First Infrastructure Capital GP L.P., Five Points Construction Co., G-Tek, G-Vac, GEM Engineering Co., Grand Electric Inc., Great Lakes Line Builders, Grid Creative Inc., Grid Manufacturing Corporation, Grid Training Corporation, H.L. Chapman Pipeline Construction Inc., Haverfield Aviation, Haverfield Aviation Inc., Haverfield International Incorporated, Heritage Midstream LLC, IM Electric Inc., IUC ILLINOIS LLC, IUC Nebraska LLC, InfraSource Construction LLC, InfraSource Field Services LLC, InfraSource Services LLC, InfraSources Construction LLC, Infraestructura ETP de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V, Infrasource Engineering Company PC, Infrasource Iowa Underground LLC, Infrasource Of Pa LLC, Integracion Tecnologica del Peru SAC, Intermountain Electric Inc., Intermountain Electric Inc. A Corporation of Colorado, IonEarth LLC, Irby Construction Company, Irby Construction Company Inc., Iron Mountain M.J. Electric LLC, Island Mechanical Corporation, J.C.R. Construction Co. Inc., J.C.R. Utility Construction Co., J.W. Didado Electric Inc., J.W. Didado Electric LLC, J.w. Didado Electric, JBT Electric LLC, Kingston Contracting Inc., Lazy Q Ranch LLC, Lazy Q Training Center LLC The Lazy Q Lineman School, Legend Foundation Services, Lex Engineering Ltd., Lindsey Electric L.P., Logical Link, Longfellow Drilling, M. G. Dyess Inc., M. J. ELECTRIC LLC IRON MOUNTAIN, M. J. Electric LLC, M. J. Electric LLC - Iron Mountain, M. J. Electric LLC DBA M. J. Electric Iron Mountain LLC, M.J. Electric LLC DBA M.J. Electric Iron Mountain, M.J. Electric LLC Iron Mountain, MTS Field Services, MTS Field Services (Richmond Co), MTS Quanta LLC, Manuel Bros. Inc., Marathon Construction Services, Mears Canada Corp., Mears Equipment Services LLC, Mears Group Inc., Mears Group Pty Ltd, Mears Installation LLC, Mearsmex S. de R.L. de C.V., Mejia Personnel Services LLC, Mercer Technical Services, Microline Technology Corporation, Mid America Energy Services Inc., NACAP Niugini Ltd., NC Northstar Energy Services Inc, NGI Construction, NGI Construction Inc., NGI Construction Inc. (FN), NLC CA. Inc., NLC FL. Inc. Northwest Lineman Center, NLC ID. Inc. Northwest Lineman College, NLC TX. Inc., NPC Energy Services LLC, Nacap Australia, Nacap PNG Limited, Network Communication Services, North Houston Pole Line L.P., North Houston Pole Line Limited Partnership, North Sky Communications, NorthStar Energy Services Inc., Northern Powerline Constructors Inc., Northstar Energy Solutions LLC, Northwest Lineman Center, Northwest Lineman College, Northwest Lineman Training Center, Northwest Lineman Training Center Inc., Nova Constructors LLC, Nova Constructors LTD, Nova Equipment Leasing LLC, Nova Group Inc, Nova Group Inc (CA), Nova Group Inc., Nova Group Inc. DBA NGI Construction, Nova NextGen Solutions LLC, O. J. Pipelines Canada Corporation, O. J. Pipelines Canada Limited Partnership, O.J. Industrial Maintenance, O.J. Pipelines Canada, One Call Locators Canada Ltd., P.D.G. Electric, PAR Electrical Contractors Inc., PDG Electric Co., Par Internacional S. de R.L. de C.V., Performance Energy Services Guyana Ltd., Performance Energy Services L.L.C., Phasor Engineering Inc., Phoenix North Constructors Inc., Phoenix Power Group Inc., Potelco Inc., Potelco Incorporated, Power Delivery Program Inc., Price Gregory International Inc., Price Gregory Services LLC, Probst Construction Inc., Probst Electric Inc., QEPC, QEPC Power Solutions LLC, QES GP LLC, QP Energy Services LLC, QPS Engineering LLC, QPS Engineering LTD., QPS Engineering PLLC, QPS Environmental, QPS Flint Construction, QPS Flint Tank Services, QPS Global, QPS Global Services, QPS Global Services (Richmond Ci), QPS Professional Services, QPSE, QS Mats, QSI Engineering Inc., QSI Finance (Australia) Pty Ltd., QSI Finance (Cayman) Pvt. Ltd., QSI Finance Canada ULC, QSI Finance GP (US) LLC, QSI Finance I (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., QSI Finance I (US) LP, QSI Finance II (Australia) Pty Ltd., QSI Finance II (Lux) S.a r.l, QSI Finance II (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., QSI Finance III (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance III (Lux) SARL, QSI Finance IV (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance IX (Canada) Limited Partnership, QSI Finance V (US) L.P., QSI Finance VI (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance VII (Canada) Limited Partnership, QSI Finance VIII (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance X (Canada) ULC, QSI Inc., QSN Lux Holdings I SCSp, QSN Lux Holdings II SCSp, QSN Lux Holdings III SCSp, QSN Lux Holdings IV SCSp, QTSL LLC, QUANTA FOUNDATION SERVICES, Quanta APL GP II Ltd., Quanta Asset Management LLC, Quanta Associates L.P., Quanta Aviation Services LLC, Quanta Canada GP ULC, Quanta Canada Holdings III Limited Partnership, Quanta Canada Holdings LP, Quanta Canada III GP Ltd., Quanta Capital GP LLC, Quanta Capital LP L.P., Quanta Capital Solutions Inc., Quanta Cares, Quanta EPC Services, Quanta Electric Power Construction LLC, Quanta Electric Power Construction Management Inc., Quanta Electric Power Services LLC, Quanta Electric Power Services West LLC, Quanta Energized Innovations Ltd., Quanta Energized Services U.S. LLC, Quanta Energized Services of Canada Ltd., Quanta Energy Services LLC, Quanta Environmental Solutions, Quanta Equipment Company LLC, Quanta Government Solutions Inc., Quanta Holdings I (Netherlands) B.V., Quanta Holdings II (Netherlands) B.V., Quanta Infraestructura de Chile SpA, Quanta Infrastructure Services LLC, Quanta Infrastructure Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Quanta Inline Devices LLC, Quanta Inspection Services, Quanta Insurance Company Inc., Quanta International Holdings (US) LLC, Quanta International Holdings II Ltd., Quanta International Holdings Ltd., Quanta International Limited, Quanta Kingsvale LP Ltd., Quanta Lines Pty Ltd., Quanta Maine Services LLC, Quanta Middle East LLC, Quanta Pipeline Services Inc., Quanta Power Australia Pty Ltd, Quanta Power Generation Inc., Quanta Power Inc., Quanta Power Solutions India Private Limited, Quanta Resource Development, Quanta Services Africa (PTY) Ltd., Quanta Services Australia Pty Ltd., Quanta Services Chile SpA, Quanta Services Colombia S.A.S., Quanta Services Costa Rica Ltda., Quanta Services Guatemala Ltda., Quanta Services International Holdings II LP, Quanta Services International Holdings LP, Quanta Services Management Partnership L.P., Quanta Services Netherlands B.V., Quanta Services Panama S. de R.L., Quanta Services Peru S.A.C., Quanta Services Puerto Rico LLC, Quanta Services of Canada Ltd., Quanta Subsurface Canada Ltd., Quanta Subsurface LLC, Quanta Tank Services, Quanta Technology Canada ULC, Quanta Technology LLC, Quanta Technology UK Ltd., Quanta Tecnologia do Brasil Ltda., Quanta Telecom, Quanta Telecom Services, Quanta Telecommunication Services, Quanta Telecommunication Services LLC, Quanta Telecommunications Services LLC, Quanta Underground Services, Quanta Underground Services (Culpeper Co), Quanta Underground Services (Spotsylvania Co), Quanta Underground Services Inc., Quanta Utility Engineering Services Inc., Quanta Utility Installation Company Inc., Quanta Utility Operation LLC, Quanta West LLC, Quantecua Cia. Ltda., R. R. Cassidy Inc., RMS Holdings LLC, RMS Holdings LLC (Delaware), RMS Welding Systems, RMS Welding Systems LLC, Ranger Directional, Realtime Engineers Inc., Realtime Utility Engineers Inc., Redes Andinas de Comunicaciones S.R.L., Riggin & Diggin Line Construction, Rms Welding LLC, Rms Welding Systems LLC, Road Bore Corporation, Ryan Company Inc. The, Ryan Company Inc. of Massachusetts, Ryan Company Inc.(The), Seaward, Seaward Corp, Seaward Corporation, Service EC (DE) Inc., Service Electric Company (DE), Service Electric Company Inc., Service Electric Company of Delaware, Servicios Par Electric S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios de Infraestructura del Peru S.A.C., Southwest Trenching Company Inc., Specialty Tank Services L.P., Specialty Tank Services LP, Specialty Tank Services Limited Partnership, Specialty Tank Services Limited Partnership, Specialty Tank Services Ltd., Specialty Tank Services Ltd. (LP), Specialty Tank Services Ltd. L.P., Specialty Tank Services Ltd. LP, Specialty Tank Services Ltd. LP, Specialty Tank Services Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold General LLC, Stronghold Holdings (BVI) Limited, Stronghold Inspection L.P., Stronghold Inspection Limited Partnership, Stronghold Inspection Limited Partnership, Stronghold Inspection Lp, Stronghold Inspection Ltd L.P., Stronghold Inspection Ltd., Stronghold Inspection Ltd. L.P., Stronghold Inspection Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold Limited Partnership, Stronghold Ltd., Stronghold Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold Management Holdings LP, Stronghold Specialty General LLC, Stronghold Specialty Ltd., Stronghold Specialty Ltd., Stronghold Specialty Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold Tower Group LP, Stronghold Tower Group Ltd LP, Stronghold Tower Group Ltd., Stronghold Tower Group Ltd. LP, Stronghold VI LLC, Subterra Damage Prevention Specialists Ltd., Summit Line Construction, Sumter Utilities Inc., T. G. Mercer Consulting Services Inc., TA Construction, TC Infrastructure Services Ltd., Taylor Built, Texas Specialty Tank Services Ltd. LP, The Aspen Utility Company LLC, The ComTran Group Inc., The Hallen Construction Co. Inc., The Massachusetts Ryan Company Inc., The Ryan Company Inc Of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company Inc., The Ryan Company Inc. (Massachusetts), The Ryan Company Inc. of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company Incorporated of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company Of Massachusetts Inc., The Ryan Company of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company of Massachusetts (FN), Tom Allen Construction Company Inc., Tom Allen Construction Company of Delaware, Trans Tech Electric, TurnKey Automation Limited Partnership, TurnKey Automation Limited Partnership, TurnKey Automation Ltd., TurnKey Automation Ltd. Limited Partnership, TurnKey Automation Ltd. Limited Partnership, TurnKey I&E Ltd., Turnkey Automation Ltd. L.P., Turnkey Automation Ltd. LP., UCC Underground Construction Co. Inc., Ucc - Underground Construction Co., Underground Construction Co. Inc., Underground Construction Co. Inc. (Delaware), Underground Electric Construction Company LLC, Utilco Inc., Utility Fleet Services, Utility Line Management Services Inc., Utility Testing & Maintenance LLC, Utility Training Services Corporation, VALARD Polska sp. Z o.o., Valard, Valard, Valard Construction (Ontario) Ltd., Valard Construction (Quebec) Inc., Valard Construction 2008 Ltd., Valard Construction Australia Pty Ltd, Valard Construction LLC, Valard Equipment (AB) Ltd., Valard Equipment GP Ltd., Valard Equipment Limited Partnership, Valard Geomatics (Ontario) Ltd., Valard Geomatics BC Ltd., Valard Geomatics Ltd., Valard Mechanical Ltd., Valard Norway AS, Valard Sweden AB, Valard Zagreb d. o. o., Wade D. Taylor Inc., West Coast Communications, Winco Helicopters, Winco Inc., Winco Inc. an Oregon Based Corporation, Winco Powerline Services, Winco Powerline Services Inc., Winco Powerline Services Inc., Winco Services Inc., World Fiber Inc., and mmit Line Construction Inc.. Read More BILLINGS -- Safe Montana's founder directed a contractor not to release the contract for a series of anti-medical marijuana billboards, according to the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. Commissioner Jonathan Motl released his decision late Thursday, saying that Safe Montana should have reported the billboard expenses, which totaled $20,560, earlier than its October financial report. He also ruled that the group was improperly set up to both support its own ballot initiative and oppose another. The campaign complaint was filed in September by Jeff Krauss, treasurer for Montana Citizens for I-182. The ballot initiative would expand medical marijuana in the state. In his investigation, Motl obtained a contract between Safe Montana founder Steve Zabawa and Lamar, the billboard company, which was signed in mid-February. Motl said that he requested the document from a Lamar representative, but the employee "refused to produce a copy of the contract, saying his refusal was directed by his customer, Safe Montana." Motl issued a subpoena for the contract, which was fulfilled Thursday morning. "In our judgment, this is a pretty substantial offense," he said. Krauss had alleged that Safe Montana should have had dealings with Lamar prior to the final invoice date of Aug. 29. That invoice was reported on the group's October financial disclosure. Motl wrote that the February contract created a financial obligation and should have been reported. Reached on Thursday, Zabawa called Motl politically motivated. For him to come out and make some type of judgment without all the facts, it is actually irreparably harming Safe Montana," he said. Zabawa also characterized the February contract as a "reservation" and said that he was going to fulfill Motl's request for the February contract, but his attorney's hadn't compiled the information yet. Motl requested the document on Tuesday. The February document is labeled "contract," and it reserved billboard space in Missoula, Helena, Billings, Butte, Great Falls and the Flathead Valley. It's three pages long. Asked why he was unable to produce the contract in three days, Zabawa said that Lamar hadn't returned it to him. I signed it. They never signed it and it was never given back to me, he said. The contract included in Motl's findings was signed by Zabawa on Feb. 16 and by two Lamar representatives a day later. Other findings Motl also ruled that Safe Montana was not properly set up to support it's own initiative, I-176, and oppose I-182. Safe Montana first introduced I-176 to repeal the state's medical marijuana program but failed to collect enough signatures to reach the ballot. It then pivoted to actively oppose I-182. Motl cited state law that defines a ballot committee as a group set up to support or oppose one issue. He ruled that Safe Montana should have set up another committee to oppose I-182. He also cited Safe Montana for three late reports, as well as vague expense descriptions. Motl said that a punishment will be determined at a later time. The Commissioner still has two more campaign complaints on his docket related to an increasingly heated medical marijuana debate. Both were filed by Safe Montana against Montana Citizens for I-182 and the Montana Cannabis Industry Association. HAMILTON Libby was famous for awhile. There she was on the internet happily scampering away from anyone who attempted to capture her on top of Lost Trail Pass. Jennifer Reighard of the Bitter Root Humane Association first got word that Libby had been abandoned or lost in that remote corner of the world in the middle of August. With her background in animal control in Deer Lodge, she was deemed the perfect person to round up the freedom-loving hound that so many had already taken such a liking to. And so Reighard carted an extra-large dog trap up to the top of the pass to the caretakers house. You know those live traps you use to capture cats or skunks? Its like that, only human-sized, she said. Its huge. She spent an entire day trying to entice Libby to walk in and enjoy a snack. I talked with some hunters who said they had spent a week trying to get her close enough to catch her, Reighard said. They didnt have any luck. And neither did she. Libby did poke her nose into the trap far enough to trigger the spring, but she was slippery enough to squeeze her way right back out. Her back legs were outside the trap when it triggered, Reighard said. She somehow managed to get out. But Reighard didnt quit. One Saturday, the caretaker called her with some good and bad news. He said Libby had finally wandered far enough into the trap to be captured. That was the good news. The bad news was an RV filled with ladies outraged to see a dog standing there in a live trap had decided they needed to take matters into their own hands. They let Libby free. I was so glad it was him that talked with them, Reighard said. Im really happy it wasnt me. And so she reset the trap and worried the dog was now on to her. I didnt think there was any way that she would go back in there now, she said. A few days later she got another call from the caretaker. He said she needed to get up there as soon as possible. When Reighard arrived, there was Libby, standing in the trap. And right there, too, was a beaming Canadian named Lucille who told Reighard that she was going to want to give her a hug. Lucille told Reighard that she had spent a good part of her day coaxing Libby closer with treats. And finally, when she had just about hit the bottom of the box, Lucille gave that dog a choice. She said she told Libby that she was going to have to take this last one out of her hand, Reighard said. And when Libby did that, she was finally captured. I told her it must have been her essence. She was the only one Libby would let get that close. When Libby finally had the chance to snuggle down into a dog bed, Reighard said she went like, Oh. That feels so good. It wasnt my effort alone that caught her. It took everyone to make this work. There were so many people who really cared about this dog, she said. It took almost a month to capture the hound. And, as it turned out, it was in the nick of time. Libby had seven puppies this past weekend at the Bitter Root Humane Associations shelter. Shes enjoying a new maternity ward right now, said the shelters manager, Eve Burnside. Libby is so sweet. She has those great big doe eyes. I think shes happy to be some place warm, safe and dry. Burnside said shes had a few calls from people who say they are Libbys owners. I dont think so, she said. It sounded to me like they just wanted the dog and her puppies. Well be looking for a new home for her. We wont adopt the puppies out until they are at least eight weeks old. When that time comes, Reighard thinks she will be first in line. She has already picked out a little black female that she believes would fit right in with her pack of five. I think Im going to name her Huckleberry, she said. I think we might name the rest of them after all the ski trails at Lost Trail. Im just happy that they are here safe and sound. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Bill Parry Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee and Make Queens Safer will host a Kids Bike Rodeo Day Oct. 22 in partnership with the Variety Boys & Girls Club to bring the Astoria community together to celebrate kids on bicycles and to call for safer streets to ride them on. The event is part of TA Queens continuing Campaign for Traffic Calming on 21st Street, which began in 2013 and now represents 22 area nonprofits and schools and more than 1,600 residents, who have signed letters and petitions calling for the city to renew its efforts to remake the road as a neighborhood street instead of a dangerous speedway, organizers say. We shouldnt have to wait for people to be killed to get the safety implementations we need, TA Queens volunteer Macartney Morris said. The Department of Transportation must heed the communitys desires and use all options to narrow the roadway and slow the traffic down, including pedestrian malls, protected left turns and protected bike lanes. 21st Street between Queens Plaza and Hoyt Avenue is a densely populated residential area with many schools, apartment buildings and senior centers. Cars, trucks and other heavy vehicles use 21st Street to toll shop and travel between the Queensboro and Triboro bridges. Between July 2012 and September 2016, 21st Street was the site of three fatalities and 469 reported injuries, according to the NYPD. The Variety Boys & Girls Club is located at the southeast corner of 21st Street and 30th Road, the same intersection where 45-year-old Sean Crume was struck and killed April 6 by a hit-and-run driver who is still at large. For years, 21st Street has been left to function as a highway cutting through our neighborhood, Variety Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Matthew Troy said. Children and parents visiting our club would often run through speeding traffic to cross 21st Street. The Campaign for Traffic Calming on 21st Street applauded the DOTs installation of a traffic light at the intersection last month and immediately called for measures at 28th Avenue, 33rd Road, mid-block between 34th and 25th Avenues and 39th Avenue. Were joining with the Variety Boys & Girls Club on Oct. 22 to celebrate the installation of the traffic light that will save lives, TA Queens volunteer Angela Stach said. But our work on 21st Street is not done, and we will keep organizing until pedestrians and cyclists who use 21st Street are no longer treated as afterthoughts and second-class road users. At the Bike Kids Rodeo Day youngsters will be able to test their skills, learn how to ride with lessons from Bike New York and get a safety check by mechanics from Nomads Cycle. Kids must bring their own bike and helmet to participate and a parent or legal guardian must also be present to sign a participation waiver. Were organizing Kids Bike Rodeo Day because we think every kid and adult should be able to safely ride a bicycle in his or her neighborhood, Make Queens Safer Co-founder Cristina Furlong said. Theres no better way to fight for safer streets than by showing everyone the joy that comes from riding a bike. The rodeo runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams For the Haitian-American community in Queens, there was more heartbreak last week as a Category 4 hurricane roared across the southern part of the island nation and left vast destruction behind. As Matthew rammed into Florida and up the coast, headlines about the hurricanes path in the United States dominated the coverage with only spotty news about its impact on Haiti. The media was criticized in some quarters for ignoring Haiti, the poorest country in the western Hemisphere. Family members in Cambria Heights and other neighborhoods in southeast Queens were left worrying about loved ones after the storm cut off the southern peninsula and stymied rescue operations. Haitian-Americans United for Progress, a 40-year-old nonprofit in Hollis, put out the word to donate even before the grim numbers on the death toll and the extensive damage began to roll in. With Haiti still struggling to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and a subsequent cholera epidemic, Matthew delivered another crippling blow. As rescue workers began to reach remote towns and villages that had been flattened by the storm, the estimates of the dead climbed. The official count hovered around 300, but as the first reporters got to the area the numbers shot up to 800 or more fatalities. The American media were criticized for not topping their U.S. hurricane stories with the Haitian death toll, but editors were reluctant to go with spotty reports from the field. When the full picture began to emerge, however, it turned out the high death toll estimates were accurate and the economic revival in some towns in the south had been obliterated. The citys response to the latest crisis in Haiti has been slow, partly due to the delayed news coverage. But the mayors office announced Wednesday city employees could deduct donations from their paychecks, with 100 percent going to rescue agencies, such as UNICEF, the Red Cross, International Medical Corps and Global Giving. State Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park) is collecting non-perishable foods and other supplies to ship to the beleaguered island. Haiti, the worlds first black republic after slaves revolted in 1804, has a turbulent history. Some of the early settlers of the boroughs Haitian-American community, which now number about 40,000, were driven out of their homeland by the dictator, Papa Doc, in the late 50s and 60s. Thousands followed. The Haitian diaspora has made major contributions to the Queens economy and cultural life. We should expand the relief efforts. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Patrick Donachie REGO PARKA Rego Park man was arraigned Saturday evening after police said he confessed to murdering his mother and dumping her body in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Roman Gorbunov, 21, was charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, tampering with physical evidence and concealment of a human corpse, according to the criminal complaint filed by the office of Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Police said Lyubova Gorbunova, 58, the mother of the accused man went disappeared from her home in Rego Park Sept. 27 at about 9 a.m. According to the criminal complaint, police said Roman Gorbunov struck his mother in the head several times, killing her, and then dumped her body in a lake located in Flushing Meadows. Police had been searching the park for the remains of the woman, and her body was recovered the morning the son was charged with murder. The New York Post reported that cops began searching the park after an Uber driver tipped them off that he had picked up Roman Gorbunov at about midnight Sept. 29. According to the Post, the son was dragging a garbage can that allegedly contained the remains of his mother. The driver dropped him off inside the park after which he dumped the body in a lake inside of the park. Gorbunov was later picked up by police in Brooklyn. The criminal complaint said police learned the details of the crime and the location of the victim after the son confessed to the murder. Police said they also recovered video surveillance and eyewitness testimony that would help to strengthen the case. The DAs office said Gorbunov could face from 25 years to life in prison if he was convicted. According to Brown, Gorbunov is scheduled to be back in court on Oct. 21. A man also opened a GoFundMe page to raise money to assist Lorbunova Gorbunov, Lyubova Gorbunovas daughter, in transporting her mothers body from New York City to her native Uzbekistan for burial. As of press time, the page had raised $3,329 of a $10,000 goal. People can donate funds to the cause at https://www.gofun dme.com/ 2tfmd 78. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Patrick Donachie The police officers involved in the shooting death of a South Ozone Park man in April will not be charged with wrongdoing, according to a report released by the office of Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. George Tillman was approached by NYPD officers at 1:30 a.m. April 17; officers claimed they saw him with an open container of alcohol leaning against the outside of an SUV, and also claimed they saw a firearm sticking out of his waistband. Police said Tillman fled, and a number of officers chased him. Police said four officers fired on Tillman after he tried to pull the weapon at the corner of 116th Avenue and 135th Street. Tillman was shot 11 times and died of a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Elected officials, including state Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park), called for the state to assign a special prosecutor, but in May Attorney General Eric Schneiderman concluded that the Queens DA should conduct its own report, which has been released in full on his website at queen sda.org . According to the Queens DA, an executive order mandates that the attorney general investigate any police shooting where the person shot was unarmed, but Schneidermans office claimed it did not have jurisdiction in this case. Tillman was an electrician visiting this city from Maryland and a father of five. After the investigation, Brown said his offices six-month inquiry corroborated the NYPDs account. Under the circumstances, I believe that any fair and reasonable person would agree that to bring criminal proceedings against the officers would be totally unwarranted, he said. The investigation established that Mr. Tillman was armed with a loaded and operable firearm, that he ignored police commands to drop it and that he pointed it at the police. Brown said as Tillman turned toward his left and pointed the gun at officers, they shot in response. Brown said that all of the injuries Tillman sustained were consistent with someone who turned to his left. Brown also said investigators found Tillmans DNA on the weapon that was recovered, but he acknowledged that no civilian witnesses saw the shooting. Sanders expressed frustration about the decision. Its sad that it didnt happen, Sanders said about the DAs decision not to file charges. While it is true that we do not have all of the information that the DA has, it is also true that it is a rare occurrence if a police officer is ever charged, and rarer still that they are ever convicted in these types of cases, and that seems to fit a national pattern. Brown said his team interviewed NYPD officers and personnel, emergency responders and civilians, and investigated video recordings, police radio transmissions, crime scene and ballistics reports, as well as the autopsy report on Tillman. I have an ethical duty to institute criminal charges only where there is probable cause to support them, Brown said. This is not such a case. MISSOULA -- A petition signed by at least several faculty members and many University of Montana students calls on Gov. Steve Bullock to hire a new UM president and commissioner of higher education in a transparent national search. Lewis Schneller, who helped gather the 129 signatures as a member of the UM Advocacy Coalition, agreed Thursday the petition won't actually result in the governor launching a search for a new UM president. The coalition is an informal campus and community group that has questioned the direction of the administration. However, Schneller also said it is critical that the governor understand "the desperateness of the situation" on the Missoula campus. Enrollment at UM has dropped some 24 percent in the last six years, and some faculty members are concerned the ensuing budget cuts will hurt the quality of instruction if UM isn't able to grow its coffers soon. The petition notes the "most disturbing" enrollment decline is the 9 percent decrease in incoming freshmen. It also notes that UM has lost "tens of millions of dollars in revenue" as a result, and the community feels the effects. "As a result of this sharp decline ... the economy in the city of Missoula has been adversely impacted," the petition said. "It is now incumbent on you (the governor) to address this critical situation in an urgent fashion." Professor G.G. Weix is one of the faculty members who signed the petition. She said she believes it's important that national searches are conducted for those high-profile positions done in the case of Engstrom, an internal hire, but not in the case of the commissioner. She also wants the governor to hear about the state of UM. "For me, it was more important that petitions continue to go to him so that he understands how dire the situation is," said Weix, an anthropology professor. This summer, President Royce Engstrom brought on board a vice president with a new focus on enrollment. He had not seen the petition Thursday, but he has said UM has a positive trajectory in every direction but enrollment, including more graduate students than the entire Montana University System combined, and recruitment is his team's focus. At a news conference this fall, vice president for enrollment and student affairs Tom Crady said the changes he's implementing should lead to an estimated 3 percent enrollment increase in fall 2017. In addition to Weix, at least three other signatures appear to be from UM faculty, but just one has a working campus number. Some UM departments cut phone lines last year to save money, and of those faculty, only Stephen Neyooxet Greymorning has a voicemail; he could not be reached Thursday. Michel Valentin, a professor in modern and classical languages and literature, confirmed by email he also had put his name to the petition. Schneller said he's pleased UM hired Crady in an open and transparent national search, and he's optimistic the new vice president can deliver results. However, he still believes two administrators at the top, Engstrom and Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian, should be replaced for the good of UM. "The boat is still taking water," Schneller said. "We haven't turned this thing around." An attack on an Egyptian military checkpoint killed 12 soldiers and wounded six others on Friday in the Sinai Peninsula where security forces are fighting jihadists, the army said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Mortar rounds and rockets were fired at the army post, a police official and a medic told AFP. The army spokesman said in a statement that soldiers clashed with the assailants in the northern Sinai. "Terrorist elements attacked a checkpoint in the northern Sinai. The clashes left 12 soldiers dead and wounded six others," the statement said. It said that "15 terrorists were killed". But the jihadist IS group, in a statement on the smartphone app Telegram, said its "soldiers" were "safe and sound" and had seized arms and ammunitions during the attack on the military checkpoint. The attack took place in the Bir al-Abd area west of El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, the officials said. The Egyptian affiliate of IS has claimed several attacks on security forces and foreigners in the Sinai in the past. Bir al-Abd has so far been largely spared the violence that has rocked northern Sinai over the past three years. Jihadists in Egypt have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. They pledged allegiance to IS more than a year later, and their attacks have persisted despite a sweeping military campaign in the peninsula which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. Earlier this month, gunmen killed five Egyptian police conscripts in El-Arish. The jihadists claimed the bombing last year of a Russian airliner carrying tourists home from a Sinai resort. All 224 people on board were killed. SOURCE: AFP Q&A with PA-16 candidates Robert Matzie and Rico Elmore Both Beaver County natives, Matzie and Elmore have expressed their interest in making Beaver County a better place in their own unique ways. ARLEE For almost all Americans, a journey to the homelands of their ancestors requires the crossing of oceans. For Lorraine Stevens of St. Ignatius and her 9-year-old granddaughter, Maurita Voice, its a 51-mile hike. On a cold October morning, at a church and cemetery southeast of Arlee, the two set out on foot for the Bitterroot Valley. They were joined by dozens of other people from the Flathead Indian Reservation on Thursday who, for three days, will honor their ancestors by walking a route similar to the one their forebearers traveled 125 years ago. Their Return to the Homeland journey has one significant difference. Their ancestors in 1891 were sent north, against their will, by the U.S. government and escorted by U.S. soldiers. These people are reversing the direction. Following a smudging ceremony and a prayer led by Tony Incashola in the Salish language, they started walking south. Incashola, director of the Salish-Pend dOreille Culture Committee, said its called the Salish Trail of Tears. *** Its hard to describe what it was like for them, being removed from the place where they had lived, grown up, raised their families, Incashola said. For years afterward, people would not tell the story or talk of the removal. They didnt want the young people to hate, and they feared they would feel that way. Gary Three Woodcocks and Lucy Vanderburg led the walkers as they departed the St. John Berchman Catholic Church the same Jocko church their ancestors had arrived at 125 years ago after walking north for three days. Three Woodcocks was first to carry the staff, a talking stick with an eagle feather used for several years in tribal hunting camps, horse camps, and for coyote stories. Vanderburg wore a yellow shawl made by Louise Combs (1900-2005). Combs' mother-in-law, Mary Ann (1882-1978), made the walk in 1891 as a young girl. The 2016 walk began at the foot of Louise Combs grave in the church cemetery, and Incashola said he believes Mary Ann, who was one of the last survivors of the removal, is also buried there. Young Maurita Voice donned a smaller maroon shawl reportedly made by Mary Ann herself. They suffered for us. Im grateful I have a chance to see what they went through, Voices grandmother, Stevens, said. Im teaching one of my little ones, and Im learning to understand what it was like for them at the same time. While a core group intends to walk all three days and all 51 miles, others will take part in various legs. The large group that left the Jocko Church included several students from Nkwusm, the Salish language school in Arlee, and Two Eagle River School in Pablo. They were taking part in the first leg, which took them from the church to U.S. Highway 93. Three horseback riders, Leon Wieder, Austin Moran and Bryce Finley, also joined in. The Salish werent really a horse people, Wieder said, but historical photographs do show a few young Indian men on horseback as everyone else made the journey on foot. The core group camped at the KOA in Missoula, and on Friday will proceed to the Chief Looking Glass Campground in the Bitterroot, as they make their way home. On Saturday, at approximately 2 p.m., another large group is expected to join them for the last mile of the walk, to St. Mary Mission Church in Stevensville. *** Willie Stevens, Lorraines brother and one of the organizers of the journey, said the purpose is to honor the memories of ancestors forced from their homeland, and remind younger Salish people of a sad but important part of their history. We dont want a permit, we just want to walk, he said. Were doing it in a peaceful way. Stevens distributed a detailed history of the Salish and their connections to the Bitterroot to the walkers. Chief Victor succeeded in getting the Bitterroot Valley south of Lolo Creek set aside as a Salish reservation in the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 pending a survey, according to the handout, but white settlers soon wanted the land for agricultural and timber purposes. Shortly after Chief Victors death in 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant issued an executive order falsely asserting that the survey had been conducted, and that it had determined that land to the north better suited the wants and needs of the Salish people, the handout said. A delegation led by a future president, James Garfield, was then dispatched in 1872 to negotiate the removal of the Salish from the Bitterroot. Despite the threat of bloodshed the new leader, Chief Charlo, who was Victors son, also refused to sign such an agreement. Back in Washington, Garfield recommended the government proceed as if Charlo had signed. The official copy of the agreement, which was sent to the Senate for ratification, had Chief Charlos mark forged onto it, the handout says. Years later a U.S. Senator from Missouri, George Graham Vest, had clerks dig up the field copy of the agreement. There was no X beside Chief Charlos name. *** Two sub-chiefs broke with Charlo and, in 1873, moved with a few families to the Flathead Reservation. Most Salish remained with Chief Charlo in the Bitterroot, where the government assigned them individual allotments of land and seized the rest of the valley for white settlement. As the railroad arrived and with it, more people, demand for land in the Bitterroot increased at the same time that mining, logging and agriculture were burgeoning. Pressures on the Salish, who were trying to live by traditional ways as property lines carved up the valley, worsened. In 1889, Chief Charlo finally agreed to move north after receiving assurances that housing would await his people. Anticipating the long-resisted move, the Salish did not plant crops in 1890. Congress, according to the handout, then failed to appropriate funding for the removal of the Indians to the Flathead Reservation. The same things were repeated in 1891. But late that year, in October, Gen. Henry B. Carrington arrived and told the Salish it was time to go. Mary Ann Coombs likened the trip to a funeral march, the handout says. Children wondered why the grownups were crying. Despite the losses incurred in the removal, and the governments failure to deliver promised help, the Salish rebuilt their lives on the reservation, the handout says, assured that now, at last, they would be left alone. Thirteen years later, of course, Congress then opened the Flathead Reservation to white settlement. But thats another story. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are about two three-day walks, 125 years apart. Today's Salish will arrive in the Bitterroot on the same October date their ancestors left. Regardless of what took place, Incashola said, the Bitterroot will always be the Salish homeland. R.J. Mitte, who starred on AMC's "Breaking Bad," is the spokesperson for the Shriners Hospitals for Children's "Cut the Bull" program, which deals with handling bullies. Mitte, who has mild cerebral palsy, will speak as part of the MSU Artist-Lecture Series on Tuesday in Akin Auditorium. Contributed photo SHARE By Richard Carter, Special to the Times Record News The nine student members of the Midwestern State University Artist-Lecture Series committee wanted to bring actor R.J. Mitte to the campus because of his standout role on the popular AMC series "Breaking Bad," said Matt Park, associate vice president for student affairs at MSU. "Because of his nature as an actor, on a popular series that's viewed by the college-going population, they were interested in his story," Park said. "But then they explored his information and investigated his background. They found he has mild cerebral palsy in real life. He wasn't just acting. "There was a true and real dimension of his character that represents his real life situation. His role and present advocacy for children and people with disabilities was something that also resonated with the students related to a value of social justice and equity and working with sometimes what I would consider disadvantaged or less-privileged individuals." The 24-year-old Mitte, who played Walter "Flynn" White on "Breaking Bad," will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Akin Auditorium as part of the 52nd MSU Artist-Lecture Series. His talk is titled "Overcoming Adversity: Turning a Disadvantage into an Advantage." A Louisiana native, Mitte was diagnosed with a mild form of cerebral palsy at age 3. While his cerebral palsy is not as extreme as his character on "Breaking Bad," that didn't stop students from harassing him in school. One of the things he realized about obstacles such as cerebral palsy is that one learns to adapt and grow. Mitte is the ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy. He also is the spokesperson for the Shriners Hospitals for Children's "Cut the Bull" program, which deals with handling bullies. In 2005, at age 13, Mitte moved to Los Angeles with his family, after his younger sister was offered an acting opportunity. Within two years, he landed a small role on "Hannah Montana," and in 2008 he won the role of chemist Walter White's son in the critically revered "Breaking Bad." Since then, Mitte has been active as a producer, actor and advocate. He appeared in the third season of ABC's "Switched at Birth" (2014) among other shows, along with the title role in the indie film "Who's Driving Doug?" (2016) and music videos such as 3 Doors Down's "In the Dark" (2016). The young actor drew heavily on his own experiences growing up to play his role on "Breaking Bad," but he has not played characters exclusively with disabilities. He has frequently said that actors with disabilities should be hired for more than just their disabilities. Mitte is also an Elite Model and has done runway modeling for such noted designers as Vivienne Westwood. Mitte's Artist-Lecture talk will be followed on Nov. 11 by Kip Fulbeck, an surfer, filmmaker and art historian. Fulbeck's lecture also will feature an art show, "Hapa," relating to his mixed ethnic heritage. The fall series concludes with Native American speaker, author and attorney Walter Echo-Hawk, on Nov. 15. Park announced that the spring 2016 Artist-Lecture series will begin Jan. 19 with a musical performance by six-piece Nashville percussion ensemble rePercussion. "I compare them to Stomp. They use a lot of items to create their percussion, like trash cans and buckets," said Park. The second spring event features Carnegie Mellon University's Heather Knight. She represents the important role of women scientists in robotics, science technology, engineering and mathematics. The last spring event will focus on one or two spoken word artists reciting poetry, Park said. The Artist-Lecture series is intended for MSU students, staff and faculty, as well as community members. Richard Carter/Special to the Times Record News Joe Tom White will be the honoree at the Legends dinner at the Museum of North Texas History Tuesday. SHARE By Richard Carter, Special to the Times Record News The Museum of North Texas History is honoring area radio and television personality Joe Tom White as its second North Texas Legend. "We started the award last year to honor people in the area who have made a positive and large impact on the area for a long period of time," North Texas Legends executive committee member Kenny Mayo said. Mayo sent White's name to the museum board, which approved it. The group honored Nat Fleming as the first North Texas Legend in 2015. The dinner will start 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the museum and is catered by Texas Best BBQ. Some of White's friends, Joe "Mad" Martin and Mike Rucker, will speak with Mike Campbell serving as the emcee. Mayo said White will talk about his career, which began in 1959. White in 2015 was the first Wichitan to be inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. "When you look at some of the people who are there, that's really impressive." The list of honorees includes "Snuff" Garrett and Bill Mack, both of whom had connections to Wichita Falls. Area disc jockeys "Big" Jim Russell, Brad Austin, Keith Vaughn and Joe "Mad" Martin were nominated for 2016. "Since 1959, when Joe Tom started out in KWFT, he's always been a positive influence in promoting this area," Mayo said. White was at KWFT for 26 years and then left to KGTM radio, where he met Mike Campbell. The two were at KAUZ TV for 5 years and then White went to NewsTalk AM 1290 radio in 1993. He left NewsTalk AM 1290 radio this summer and is helming the Texoma Country Morning show with Campbell from 5-5:30 a.m. and 7:30-8 a.m. weekdays on television stations KFDX and KJTL. White has been a positive influence on so many different area groups, including the North Texas Field & Stream Board, as well as Maskat Shrine Clowns ("Big Tom"), said Mayo, and that includes White producing the Texas-Oklahoma Fair and Wichita Falls Gun & Knife shows. White's other volunteer activities include the Mavericks, Camp Fire, Boy Scouts, the United Way, Kiwanis, Club Gold Coat Ambassadors and the Wichita Falls Railroad Museum. The Vernon native served as an officer in the Army Signal Corps, and has owned and operated the advertising company Joe Tom and Co. since 1993. "Most everyone knows Joe Tom from being on the radio, doing commercials, the gun show and the Texas-Oklahoma Fair," museum Executive Director Charles Campbell said. "A lot of people might not realize how much he has done to promote nonprofits and charitable causes in the area. He's really done a lot in that regard." Campbell was pleased with the turnout for the first North Texas Legends award dinner for Nat Fleming. "Like Joe Tom," Mayo said, "Nat's always been positive about this area and promoted this area. It was just kind of natural for us to choose Joe Tom." The award is a way museum members are trying to make the community aware of the outstanding people who give so much to the area. "It will be one very special night and a great opportunity to hear good people talking about good people," Mayo said. The award will be an annual one, said Campbell. A plaque near the front of the museum lists award winners. File - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton plays with balloons during a celebration on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Thursday, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) SHARE By Bloomberg News The following editorial was written by Bloomberg View editors: Hillary Clinton already had an elaborate plan for tax reform. This week she added to it, again. She now wants to double, to $2,000, the tax credit granted to parents of young children, and to make it "refundable," meaning that cash would be paid even to parents who owe little or no tax. As it stands, there's lot to be said for this idea. The rest of Clinton's tax plan contains some good ideas, too. The problem, though, is a surfeit of ideas of every kind good, bad and indifferent. What the U.S. tax code needs most is simplification. That, it seems, is not among the candidate's tax-reform priorities. A refundable tax credit for low-income families is a fairly expensive proposal: It would cost on the order of $200 billion over 10 years. Yet it's a cost-effective measure, because it's well-targeted. (The child-care deduction suggested by Donald Trump isn't refundable, so it's worth most to the families that need it least.) The plan also has bipartisan appeal: Marco Rubio suggested something similar during his presidential campaign. Tax reform, though, shouldn't be judged piece by piece. That's how years of incremental change have yielded an insanely complex system. A wide-ranging scheme of reform, such as Clinton's, affords the opportunity to smooth out unforeseen incentives and unintended spikes in effective tax rates economic signals that send effort and investment in the wrong direction. She's missed that opportunity. Granted, Clinton's approach is straightforward: She aims to raise taxes on the rich, leave taxes on middle-income households broadly unchanged, and give new help to low-income families. The simple way to do that would be to raise marginal income-tax rates for those on higher incomes and convert deductions into credits that deliver the same relief, in dollar terms, regardless of income. Instead, the Clinton plan gives the code new layers, akin to the alternative minimum tax namely, a 30 percent minimum for taxpayers earning more than $1 million a year (the so-called Buffett Rule) plus a new 4 percent surcharge for those making more than $5 million. Her plan (like Trump's) also proposes to close the notorious carried-interest loophole, which lets some rich taxpayers classify income as capital gains, taxed at lower rates. That's good a simplification, as well as being fairer. Unfortunately, she also wants to add new bands to the capital-gains tax schedule (the longer the holding period, the lower the rate). This introduces new complications. Clinton's approach to corporate-tax reform is no simpler. Lower rates and a broader base would discourage tax evasion and strengthen incentives to invest for sound economic reasons. Instead, her plan leaves the basic flaws of high rates and a narrow base unmended, and proposes a battery of new rules to curb abuses. The error is obvious, and the current code proves it: Complexities are opportunities to game the system. Simplicity is desirable in itself, but it also serves the purposes of fairness and compliance. Clinton's goals of relieving poverty, making the tax code somewhat more progressive and reducing evasion are commendable. But those aims are better achieved by making the tax code less complicated, not more. PAUL BUCKOWSKI The School of Performing Arts at Proctors and the Times Union, in association with the Broadway League, have partnered to present the inaugural High School Musical Theatre Awards for the Capital Region at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at Proctors Theatre. Interested schools must apply by Oct. 21. Winners of the best actor and best actress awards will go on to represent Proctors and the Capital Region at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards ceremony, at Manhattan's Minskoff Theatre, Monday, June 26 receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to New York, where they will receive professional instruction and compete with students from other regional programs for the title of best national high school actor and actress. HALFMOON The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office is investigating a structure fire at a Halfmoon home Thursday afternoon that sent one person to the hospital. The fire broke out around 12:57 p.m. at 35 Henrik Hudson Way, a home on a cul-de-sac off of Anthony Road. ALTAMONT -- Dozens of firefighters fought two massive blazes for hours, no fire hydrants in sight. The unrelated fires destroyed two single-family homes in Guilderland two weeks apart. Proceeds from the village's fire department fundraiser Friday night will now help the victims get back on their feet. "Knowing what these families have lost, we felt it was necessary to support the families of our community," the volunteer firefighting organization said in a press release. The station will host an open house and sub dinner from 4 to 8 p.m. The event was already scheduled to coincide with National Fire Prevention Week and the funds had been slated for outreach, educational events and fire prevention efforts. "The village pays for equipment and supplies to fight fires, the department does fundraising for everything else," village trustee Nick Fahrenkopf said. But the devastating fires that displaced two local families prompted a last-minute change of plans, Fahrenkopf said. Neither home was close to a fire hydrant, so fire crews shuttled large amounts of water to both scenes. It took almost twelve hours and fourteen fire departments to knock out a Sept. 28 fire on Western Avenue A family member had been cooking food in the microwave, and it appears the fire started near the microwave, Altamont Fire Chief Paul Miller said. Firefighters found heavy smoke and fire in the kitchen when they arrived. The fire quickly spread to the roof and caused significant damage in the attic of the single family home, Miller said. Nobody was injured, but the home is currently uninhabitable. Two weeks later, a blaze burned a Gardner Road home to the ground. The homeowners narrowly escaped the Tuesday fire, Miller said. Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the blaze eight departments fought for almost eight hours. The fire started near the garage, before spreading into the entire structure, Miller said. Husband and wife Paul and Theresa Oliver are living in a recreational vehicle in their driveway until they find more permanent housing. Local elementary school students' visit the fire house Tuesday was canceled after the Gardner Road fire broke out. Kindergarteners will attend the Friday night fundraiser to showcase their fire prevention posters. Republican Senator George Amedore is also expected to stop in, Fahrenkopf said. The event will have three dinner choices: meatball and sausage sub sandwiches or chicken fingers, all served with French fries and a beverage. Adult meals will cost $8 and kids meals $6. Donations are also welcome. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Cinnoman was no ordinary cat and what she meant to 27-year-old Lindsay Ruiz was profound. That's why Ruiz memorialized her 18-year-old female Maine Coon cat that died last month with a death notice published in the Times Union, eulogies at online pet bereavement sites and on Cinnoman's Facebook page. "I thought of her as my daughter and if she were human, the next logical step was to write an obituary," Ruiz said. "She was very special and I wanted to do something special for her." The paid death notice, the first of its kind in the Times Union, began: "Cinnoman Puff Ruiz (born April 22, 1998) passed away on Sept. 30, 2016 at 18 years old after leading a healthy and vibrant life." Ruiz got Cinnoman when she was 9, a gift from her grandmother meant to cheer up a little girl who had lost two cats. Her first cat, Puff, was hit by a car when Ruiz was 8 and lived in Chesterfield, Va. Her kitten, Puff Jr., died of feline leukemia in their house after she'd had the kitten for just a week. "I was such a depressed third grader because of all that," Ruiz recalled. Enter Cinnoman, which was how the girl misspelled the spice that inspired the name of the cat with black and orange coloring. The cat marked the milestones of Ruiz's life, from growing up in Virginia to moving in with her grandparents in Ravena while she attended the University at Albany, where she earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 2011. She now works as marketing manager for Albany Super Storage. Cinnoman was the one constant during the up and downs in Ruiz's life. "She had a big personality. She strutted around and waved her bushy tail like a diva. I did everything with her," said Ruiz, who chronicled the cat's exploits on Facebook and Instagram with photos, videos and postings. She dressed the cat up in Christmas outfits, tiaras and bling befitting a diva. She documented Cinnoman's hunting prowess. She let the cat drink milk out of a champagne glass for New Year's. She "talked" with the cat. "Cinnoman had a trill that was in between a purr and meow and other vocalizations. She responded when I talked to her," Ruiz said. The cat endeared herself to many people, including Ruiz's boyfriend, Sean Hachey, who was at first hesitant about Cinnoman. "She's very social and personable and Sean came to love her," she said. Even their landlord fell under the Cinnoman spell. "He made an exception in the lease for her," Ruiz said. The cat kept their apartment mouse-free. Cinnoman was an outdoor cat in Virginia who hunted rabbits, frogs, mice and other critters. As an indoor cat in Albany, she became a finicky eater. Ruiz fed her a wide variety of canned cat food flavors. "She wouldn't eat the same meal two days in a row," she said. Chicken and turkey varieties were favorites. Cinnoman was a battler who fought back after becoming gravely ill two years ago and a veterinarian recommended that Ruiz put the cat down. "I wasn't ready to let her go. Cinnoman made a comeback and was better than ever," she said. The cat's final months were a long and costly decline from hyperthyroidism, irritable bowel disease and kidney failure. The cat's appetite fell off and it withered away from 12 pounds to about 6. Ruiz fed 18-year-old Cinnoman whatever she wanted at the end. Cheez-Its became the cat's go-to treat. The final days were excruciating for Ruiz. On Sept. 30, Cinnoman, weak and in pain, slowly circled the mud room looking for a quiet corner. "I knew she was suffering. I think she was looking for somewhere to die," Ruiz said. She brought her cat to the vet to be euthanized. "It was the hardest decision of my life," she said. "She gave me the sign that she was ready." She clipped some of Cinnoman's hair and placed it in a locket that she now wears everywhere. The cat was cremated and Ruiz has ordered a custom urn for the remains. She vowed to remain connected to her feline soulmate, even in death. "When I die, I want the urn put in the casket with me," she said. Her wish now complies with the law after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation last month that allows New Yorkers to be buried with their beloved pets at certain cemeteries. pgrondahl@timesunion.com 518-454-5623 @PaulGrondahl John Carl D'Annibale Eleven water sources at two Bethlehem elementary schools tested positive for lead at levels requiring them to be shut off and remediated, according to emails the district issued to parents this week. One source was a water fountain. If a source shows lead levels above 15 parts per billion, a district is required to turn off the source, and develop and implement a lead remediation plan under a new state law requiring all public schools in New York to test water outlets currently or potentially used for drinking or cooking purposes. The new law, passed on Sept. 6, makes New York the first state in the nation to require all of its public schools to conduct lead testing on all sources of potable water. Washington John Podesta, the veteran Democratic political operative who has served two different presidents and is chairman of Hillary Clinton's political campaign, has had a lousy week. Not only has the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks been publishing emails pirated from Podesta's account earlier this year, but hackers penetrated his Twitter account and apparently wiped all the data from his iPhone and iPad. The breaches brought to the Clinton campaign an abject lesson in the insecurity of modern devices and the consequences of failing to adopt adequate computer security practices. Matt Tait, chief executive of Capital Alpha Security, a security consultancy based in the United Kingdom, said activists from Anonymous, a loose global network of computer hackers with an anti-authoritarian bent, had bragged of targeting Podesta and wiping his devices remotely. What allowed the hackers to target Podesta was a single email from the thousands WikiLeaks has published in the past week. In that May 16, 2015, correspondence between Podesta and Eryn Sepp, his former special assistant at the White House, Podesta asked whether Sepp knew his Apple ID, which would allow access to his Apple accounts and devices. "I do," she responded, listing his Gmail address and his password: Runner4567. Within minutes of the posting of that batch of WikiLeaks emails Wednesday, Anonymous activists began exchanging queries. At 5:36 p.m. Germany time, one activist posted: "CAN we DO SOMetHING WITH AN APPLE ID?" Moments later, another Anonymous hacker with the moniker 4Chan "had found Podesta's Apple creds and logged in for first time," Tait tweeted. Wednesday, as Clinton landed in Las Vegas for a campaign event, a hacker got into Podesta's Twitter account and tweeted in his name: "I've switched teams. Vote Trump 2016. Hi pol." Washington The direct U.S. entry into Yemen's civil war, for now a limited response to rebel missile fire on a U.S. Navy ship, risks a wider entanglement that could leave the next American president embroiled in a yet another unwanted Middle East war with broad implications for the region and beyond. Obama administration officials from the White House, Pentagon and State Department all argued that Thursday's cruise missile strikes on radar sites controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were strictly a self-defense measure and not an escalation in military involvement. "These strikes are not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "We want to make crystal clear that if you threaten our forces, you threaten our ships, we will be prepared to respond, as we did in this case." The potential consequences of more American military action and even possibly inaction could affect the stability of the longstanding U.S.-Saudi relationship, maritime security in an area where Iran has shown increasing interest, and last year's landmark nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. The U.S. is already involved in the conflict indirectly through its support of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels on behalf of the Yemen government. And the willingness to move from proxy to active combatant, even in self-defense, opens the door to a greater role. It has happened before. Despite a deep reluctance, President Barack Obama has expanded the U.S. military footprint in Iraq and Syria to confront the threat posed by the Islamic State group. In Yemen, the administration's actions have previously been confined to drone strikes against al-Qaida's affiliate there and logistical support to the Saudis. Strikes against Houthi targets are the first of their kind. It appears the Houthis lashed out at the United States with missile fire against the USS Mason in the Red Sea in retaliation after warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck a funeral in the Yemeni capital Sanaa last weekend. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Colonie A passenger on a Florida-bound flight last Friday said he and his family were unable to board because TSA agents had left their posts almost two hours before the plane took off, so there was no way for the family to be screened through airport security. John Swick of Old Forge, Herkimer County, said he, his wife and their children, ages 3 and 4 months, had driven 2 hours to make the flight. Hurricane Matthew was hitting Florida and the flight was delayed until 9:45 p.m. Swick said he showed up at the airport at 8:20 p.m., only to be told by a Jet Blue agent that TSA personnel had left 20 minutes earlier and the family could not be cleared to fly. "The whole experience was surreal," Swick said. "We couldn't get through security because TSA had left." Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said in an emailed response the delay was caused by Hurricane Matthew and passengers should have been properly informed. The JetBlue flight to Fort Lauderdale was originally scheduled to depart at 5:06 p.m., she said. The airplane arrived at Albany International at 8:51 p.m. and didn't take off until 10:10 p.m. "The checkpoint closes at 8:15 p.m.," Farbstein said. "Had the flight departed on time, there would not have been an issue. Unfortunately a hurricane of historic proportion ... was the reason for canceling and delaying thousands of flights for several days." Almost all the other passengers made the flight, she said. "The airplane had a seating capacity for 156 people. We are aware of two parties that missed their flights because they arrived after the checkpoint closed, the Swick family (per the complaint Mr. Swick sent to you) and a single flyer," she said. "Still, more than 100 people managed to make the flight, even with the delay." Jet Blue knew that the TSA checkpoint was closing at 8:15 p.m., she said. Swick said he did not receive a notice from Jet Blue alerting him that TSA personnel would leave or he would have arrived earlier. Jet Blue did not return calls and emails for comment Thursday. Swick said the next plane did not leave until 5 p.m. the next day, the exact time of the family wedding they were trying to attend. The passenger said he spent two hours arguing with the Jet Blue agent to get a flight out of a different airport, a conversation that was interrupted because the agent had to go assist with the flight he was supposed to be leaving on. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. He was given a free overnight hotel stay, but checked in at 11 p.m. and left three hours later to drive to Boston for a 7 a.m. flight. Once he convinced the airline to switch him on a flight from Boston, he said, they then tried to charge him extra if he flew back there instead of to Albany. "I said 'How do you expect me to drive home from Albany if my car is in Boston?'" he said. The passenger said he would like some recompense for the costs, but that's not his only concern. "There obviously should be compensation offered for the expense of re-routing myself to Boston but also some policy change that this never happens again," he said. Farbstein said there is no history of similar issues at the Albany airport. "It is most understandable that the Swicks are upset that a major Category 4 hurricane caused a flight to take off five hours after its original scheduled to departure time, but there is nobody to blame other than Mother Nature," she said." tobrien@timesunion.com 518-454-5092 @timobrientu The epidemic of anger infecting America could be our undoing. It's not alarmist, I think, to suggest that our democracy's survival may hinge on tamping down the anger. But who can imagine right now how or when that might happen? Our fury, it seems, hasn't yet peaked. A few months ago, more than two-thirds of Americans told pollsters that they were angry at "the way things are going" in the United States. That was before the angriest general election campaign in memory got under way. Now it is surely worse. If you don't think American anger is out of control, take a look at the big Donald Trump rallies this week. His supporters have long been boisterous in booing Hillary Clinton ("Lock her up!") or undocumented immigrants, but on Thursday night they lashed out at reporters and producers whose job is to cover their candidate. They booed, shouted profanities and flashed their middle finger toward the frightened journalists. "They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation," Trump said, egging on the crowd. "They will lie, lie, lie, and then again, they will do worse than that. They will do whatever's necessary." More Information Rex Smith is editor of the Times Union. Share your thoughts at http://blog.timesunion.com/editors. See More Collapse (In response to the rising tension, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which usually focuses on press freedom in totalitarian and war-torn nations, issued a statement declaring Trump to be "an unprecedented threat to the rights of journalists." That's extraordinary language, surely drafted with the hope of forestalling violence against journalists, which is common elsewhere but so far rare in America.) While Trump is encouraging the anger, he didn't create the angry mood. He's more a product of it. And while his over-heated rhetoric and the response of his ardent backers is extreme, the anger isn't limited to his side of the political battle. When Bernie Sanders was running for president, he said, "I am angry, and millions of Americans are angry." Even Hillary Clinton, whose aides wish she could fire up her supporters more, has said she "understands why people get angry." Do we really understand? Why might we be so righteously enraged? You can cite any number of economic factors. For one thing, income inequality has ripped up the social contract, making it unlikely that most Americans can escape the current economic doldrums unless you're already rich, in which case our tax laws make it easier than ever to get richer. For another, the political system has become largely dysfunctional, as politicians fearful of challenges from extreme fringes of their supporters refuse to engage in any negotiation that might yield ground to people whose opinions differ from their own. Government is paralyzed, and Americans are damn tired of hearing about it. And there are a lot of people whose anger arises from fear of change and the unknown. Perhaps they don't like the idea of gay people marrying (ruled constitutional by a conservative-majority Supreme Court), or don't understand that America can't rule the world the way it did before the digital revolution and fast transportation shrank the globe, and before terrorism erased many of the advantages of sovereign nations. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Anger is fueled by ignorance. For example: It's simply not true that we can restore low-skilled factory jobs for millions of Americans, no matter what kind of trade barriers we erect. Even if factories return to America these days, the jobs that were here two decades ago won't. That's because of automation, with efficiencies that no president can or will reverse. But there's no political payoff in struggling to help voters understand that. It's easier for a candidate to stimulate anger at China, at Mexico, at trade deals than to thoughtfully discuss policy alternatives, like an infrastructure plan that might create jobs, especially in alternative energy development. Our anger may be provoked by political and social forces, but it carries over so easily to everyday life. We bash an ATM when it gives us bad news about our bank balance. We scream at a driver who doesn't see us in their blind spot. We're mad at software, schools, churches and the media. But it is in politics that the consequences are so troubling. Our anger leads us to conclude that government is our enemy, when, in fact, government really is us. Anger at the course of the campaign is prompting Donald Trump to claim, absent any evidence, that America's electoral system is "rigged," though his emergence as the Republican nominee, despite opposition from the entire party establishment, can be seen as a triumph of democracy. If he loses, it won't be because of a rigged system; it will be because he gets fewer votes. That's reasonable, isn't it? Too bad so many people are too angry to see it that way. The Supermacs owned Barack Obama Plaza acquired the Loughton Papers that were part of an auction by former Minister for Health, James Reilly, of the contents of the residence at Moneygall. The papers comprise hundreds of original documents relating to the history of the Loughton Estate, Mr Trench and the Bath Estate as well as copperplate records of the Encumbered Estates since 1749. Supermacs owner Pat McDonagh, speaking after the purchase had been confirmed, said he was delighted to have been able to protect the integrity of this vital historical record for the community and for County Offaly. He said he was well aware of the influence of Trench on the County and the particular significance of Trenchs policies on the midlands of Ireland in his role as steward of the Bath Estate. Mr McDonagh said these papers open to public record the decisions of a time in Irish history which spans the 1798 Rebellion, the Act of Union and shaped the thinking which ultimately led to the rebellion of 1916 and Irish Independence. In that context he said the papers are part of a tapestry of history and their preservation for historians, the community and the country is his first priority. He commended Offaly County Council for their interest in working with Supermacs for the preservation of the papers. He said he will be in immediate contact with the Council on the digitising of the archival material and the making available of the digital archive. Mr McDonagh confirmed also that the Visitor Centre at the Barack Obama Plaza will host a Loughton House section where extracts from the archive will be displayed on a rolling basis. He said the Plaza will work to ensure that the heritage of the House is not lost to the community and he confirmed that he will encourage local and expert input to ensuring that the archive will be educational, appropriate and accessible. The business tycoon said that historians owed a debt of gratitude to the owners of Loughton House, Dr James Reilly and his wife Dorothy who assembled this collection during their ownership of the house. The contents of Loughton House were auctioned last month by Sheppards Auctioneers, Durrow, and included among the items were paintings, furniture, porcelein and vintage cars, inculding a Daimler registered to the British Admiralty in 1939 when Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty. It had a pre-auction estimate of between 12,000 and 18,000 and which sold for 12,500. Dr Reilly also had a number of other vintage and classic cars for auction, among them 10 vintage Jaguar cars, of which only five were sold. The highest price of 3,200 was achieved for a 1960s Jaguar S with a 3.4 litre engine which had a top estimate of 4,000. In his 2009 feature His and Hers, filmmaker Ken Wardrop looked at seventy unrelated women in the Irish midlands, both young and old as they discussed the men who meant the most to them in their lives. His latest film, Mom and Me goes to America to examine the relationship between men and their mothers and unearths tales every bit as heart-warming, humorous and emotional as his earlier feature. Employing the framing device of a local radio talk show, the film sees radio presenter Joe Cristiano calling on the men of Oklahoma, recently voted the manliest state in the USA, to come on air and talk about their relationships with their mothers. What follows is a delightful and revealing insight into the lives of these men and what their mothers mean to them. The cast of characters interviewed here come from all walks of life and include a war veteran, a prison inmate and a lawyer whose stories are filled with humour, warmth and pain. In this compelling documentary Wardrop reveals a more vulnerable and gentle side to these masculine figures as they spend time with their mothers and thus offers up a touching tribute to this particular relationship. Mom and Me will be screened in the Source Arts Centre in Thurles on Wednesday, 19th October at 8pm. Tickets: 5/9 [October 13, 2016] Fusionex Recognized for 'Outstanding Excellence' at Mrca Crown Awards 2016 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fusionex, a multi-award-winning, leading software solutions provider specializing in Big Data Analytics (BDA), the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, and Deep Learning, added another award to its growing list of accolades when it was recently declared winner of the Malaysian Retail Chain Association (MRCA)'s Award for Outstanding Excellence. The award was conferred during the MRCA Crown Awards 2016, which also marked the Association's 24th anniversary, held recently at the grand ballroom of the Majestic Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The Outstanding Excellence Award gives recognition to the most outstanding entrepreneurial company propelled by vision, innovation, and farsightedness. Fusionex was granted the MRCA award for also having an extraordinary track record. Founded more than a decade ago in Malaysia, Fusionex came from humble entrepreneurial beginnings. At the time, the young company invested heavily in research when its R&D Division was subsequently formed and in a few years, Fusionex has expanded beyond its home shores to establish its footprint in other Asian countries. Today, it continues to expand into other markets as well. Fusionex works with a number of Fortune 500 companies to deliver innovative, breakthrough concepts and solutions. The MRCA Crown Awards 2016 was dubbed an evening of "Opulence & Enchantment" and brought together over 600 guests from the pinnacle of the retail and franchising industry, comprising entrepreneurs, chief executive officers, and senior management. The award ceremony was launched by MRCA to promote recognition of industry success stories. Ivan Teh, Fusionex Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Receiving this award is indeed an honor for Fusionex and our team members who worked tirelessly to share innovative and impactful solutions with the world. We are jubilated to receive the Award for Outstanding Excellence and are glad our efforts and triumphs over the years are recognized by such an esteemed crowd of our peers. We will not rest on our laurels and as this award prioritizes vision and farsightedness, so shall we continue to improve our offerings for the future." Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161013/8521606551 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 13, 2016] North America Software Defined Data Center Market (2016 - 2022) LONDON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SDDC offers a highly secured platform utilizing web-based servers to deliver data in an effective manner, and enable access to information by virtualization and cloud technology. Today, approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes data is created, suggesting an age of big data. Agile networks and swiftly rising smartphone adoption has enabled telecom operators to gain insights about their customers' behavior and preferences. Industry analysis suggests that the data generation from telecom & IT would reach 44 trillion GB by 2020. Therefore, the telecom sector has aligned its operations in line with implementing SDDC to enable superior computation, low capital expenditure, and achieve efficiency. For instance, the U.S. telecommunication industry deployed software-defined computing to access cloud computing easily. Additionally, various IT organizations from diverse industry verticals have also shifted to SDDC due to its cost-effectiveness, high storage capacity, and efficient performance. The report highlights the adoption of Software Defined Data Center, in North America. Based on the component type, the Software Defined Data Center market is segmented into Solution and services. Solution markt is further segmented into Software-Defined Storage, Software-Defined Networking and Software-Defined Computing. Services segment is further sub divided into Integration, deployment & migration Service, Consulting and Managed services. Based on Data Center Type, the market is segmented into Large Scale, Mid-Scale and Small Scale. The Applications highlighted in this report include IT & Telecom, BFSI, Government Utilities, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Manufacturing and Others. Based on country, North America Software Defined Data Center market is segmented into US, Canada , Mexico , and Rest of North America . US remained the dominant region in the North America Software Defined Data Center market in 2015. Canada would witness highest CAGR during the forecast period (2016-2022). The report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the Software Defined Data Center market. Key companies profiled in the report include Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corporation, HP Enterprise Company, Hitachi Ltd., Cisco Systems, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Google Inc., Amazon.com, Inc. and Oracle Corporation. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4212768/ 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/north-america-software-defined-data-center-market-2016---2022-300344807.html SOURCE ReportBuyer [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 13, 2016] Global Intelligent Hearing Protection Devices Market 2016-2020 LONDON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- About Intelligent Hearing Protection Intelligent hearing protection products are increasingly replacing passive hearing protection products in various applications, primarily because they provide situational awareness to the wearer. Although these products are three to four times more expensive than passive products, the growing availability of cost-effective solutions (under $100) will drive market growth. Technavio's analysts forecast the global intelligent hearing protection market to grow at a CAGR of 10.05% during the period 2016-2020. Covered in this report The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global intelligent hearing protection market for 2016-2020. For the purpose of arriving at the market size, the study considers the revenue generated from the sales of intelligent hearing protection products by manufacturers. The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: - APAC - Europe - North America - ROW Technavio's report, Global Intelligent Hearing Protection Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth propects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Key vendors - 3M - Honeywell - Phonak Other prominent vendors - SensGard - Etymotic Research - Sensear - NoNoise - Silenta - Starkey Hearing Technologies - Hellberg Safety - Hunter Electronic Market driver - Strong demand from defense industry - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market challenge - Issues with comfort and fit - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market trend - Focus on products for individual consumers - For a full, detailed list, view our report Key questions answered in this report - What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? - What are the key Market trends? - What is driving this market? - What are the challenges to market growth? - Who are the key vendors in this market space? - What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? - What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors? You can request one free hour of our analyst's time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4103764/ 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/global-intelligent-hearing-protection-devices-market-2016-2020-300344809.html SOURCE ReportBuyer [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 13, 2016] Forbes School of Business and Technology Sponsors 4th Annual Techweek New York SAN DIEGO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Forbes School of Business and Technology at Ashford University is a Bronze Sponsor of the 4th Annual Techweek in New York City. Held October 10-14 at various venues throughout the city, Techweek New York celebrates entrepreneurship with seminars, public demonstrations, events, a startup competition, hiring fair, workshops, and more. "Having the Forbes School of Business and Technology at Ashford University sponsor New York Techweek was a perfect fit," said Forbes School of Business and Technology Executive Dean Bob Daugherty. "Our school offers an academic curriculum that encourages students to become thought leaders and innovators in the fields of business and technology." As part of the school's sponsorship of this week's event, the Forbes School of Business and Technology is co-hosting a booth at Techweek New York. Attendees of the event will be able to learn more about the school's academic programs. Techweek is the nation's leading technology conference and festival. The event is dedicated to bringing together entrepreneurs, visionaries, influencers, and thought leades for collaboration and engagement. Techweek New York aims to provide an open space for all who are passionate about technology to be a part of the conversation. For more information on the Forbes School of Business and Technology at Ashford University, visit http://www.ashford.edu/degrees/online/business.htm. For more information on Techweek New York 2016, visit http://techweek.com/newyork/. About Ashford University Where heritage meets innovation that's Ashford University. At Ashford, students discover relevant degree programs, innovative technology, and cherished tradition. Ashford offers associates, bachelor's, and master's degree programs online, allowing students to balance life by providing the flexibility to do school work anywhere, anytime. For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu, www.facebook.com/ashforduniversity, www.twitter.com/AshfordU, or call Marianne Perez, Media Relations Manager, at 858.513.9240 x11636. About Forbes Media Forbes Media is a global media, branding and technology company, with a focus on news and information about business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership and affluent styles. The company publishes Forbes, Forbes Asia, and Forbes Europe magazines, as well as Forbes.com. The Forbes brand today reaches more than 94 million people worldwide with its business message each month through its magazines and 36 licensed local editions around the globe, Forbes.com, TV, conferences, research, social and mobile platforms. Forbes Media's brand extensions include conferences, real estate, education, financial services, and technology license agreements. Forbes is a registered trademark of Forbes Media and Forbes School of Business is under license. Contact: Marianne Perez, Media Relations Manager 858.513.9240 x11636 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428635LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/forbes-school-of-business-and-technology-sponsors-4th-annual-techweek-new-york-300344784.html SOURCE Ashford University [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Review of RDP ThinBook India's Most Affordable Laptop HYDERABAD, India, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RDP has launched 'ThinBook' India's most stylish and slimmest 14 inch laptop at the most affordable price to make computing available for everyone. It has got huge traction and response from all over India. RDP laptop has created disruption in the Indian market with its low pricing and technical values. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428708 ) RDP ThinBook design and build Its sleek and matty finish, ebony black colour and 35.81 cm (14.1) screen gets immense appreciation. It is pre-installed with Windows 10 operating system for speedy and smooth user interface. The keyboard and trackpad of ThinBook is much better than expected, the palm rest area is spacious and there's a generous trackpad with great trackpad buttons. The keyboard area consists of well-spaced chiclet keys and there are LED status lights above the keyboard for power, num lock and caps lock. The touchpad is small, but it's surprisingly responsive and smooth with intuitive smart gestures. RDP ThinBook specifications ThinBook comes with fairly efficient Intel Atom Quad Core x5-Z8300 processor and offers clock speed of 1.84 GHz. It's built on the 14nm fabrication process and has a TDP of under 4W, due to this it can sustain and remain cool without getting heated even after long hours of usage. ThinBook is backed up by 2GB RAM and 32GB eMMC storage, and can be expanded upto 128GBthrough microSD card. The laptop also has a VGA webcam, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. In terms of connectivity, users get USB 3.0, USB 2.0, Mini-HDMI, a headphones socket, a microSD card slot and power adaptor. Performance: As far as performance is concerned, RDP ThinBook does fairly well. For this most affordable laptop the showstoppers are 8.5 hours battery and Windows 10. Windows 10 pillars around the use of Cortana, Microsoft Edge and mobile-like notifications which work perfectly. Windows 10 Cortana starts voice commands just by saying 'Hey Cortana' no matter what users are doing. The big 14.1 inch display allows users to watch videos on a larger screen and it also helps in split-screen multitasking. Speakers perform well and are loud enough to allow users to enjoy movies and videos without any external speaker while the CPU can handle 4K videos without any trouble. RDP claims 8.5 hours of battery life on the ThinBook, which is in fact possible. In PCMark 8's battery test, the ThinkBook got 7 hours and 57 minutes, which is more or less the same result RDP got with actual mixed usage. Verdict ThinBook makes large-screened laptops a lot more accessible and therefore offers pretty good value for money. It is designed mainly for those who want to buy a compact and portable laptop. It is also good for those who need an affordable Windows PC to perform their daily tasks and is portable to be their companion. The battery is also good, so users can carry it along on business and personal trips. Only storage could be the problem for few but users can always expand the storage using external storage solutions. About RDP Workstations Pvt. Ltd. RDP is India's Leading IT hardware and mobility devices manufacturing company. It was incorporated in 2012 with a mission to provide simplified, affordable computing and mobility solutions, and has grown rapidly to establish a strong presence across India. The company's sales and support personnel are spread across major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi and Hyderabad. RDP's dealer network comprises of nearly 1000+ dealers pan-India and the company has set-up over 150+ support centres across India to offer simplified after sales support. For more details, visit http://www.rdp.in/thinbook Buy at https://www.rdp.online Follow RDP on Facebook for updates https://www.facebook.com/rdpcomputers Media contact: Rajesh Mallampalli [email protected] +91-7306090012 Online Marketing Manager RDP Workstations Pvt Ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Ricksoft Provides Add-on Allowing Users to Import Microsoft Project Data into Atlassian JIRA TOKYO, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricksoft Inc. (Ricksoft) based in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, announced that it has developed and is set to provide MS Project importer for JIRA, an add-on that allows users to import data from Microsoft Project, a project management tool of Microsoft Corp., into JIRA products produced by Atlassian Pty Ltd. (Atlassian). WBS Gantt-Chart for JIRA provided by Ricksoft, which is necessary to operate MS Project importer for JIRA, will be offered to those who possess the software. Product overview: Ricksoft has developed MS Project importer for JIRA in response to requests from many customers who say they want to import data from Microsoft Project, a project management tool developed by Microsoft, into JIRA Server. JIRA Server is a bug-tracking and project management tool developed by Atlassian. The server consists of JIRA Core used for business process management, JIRA Software used for software development and project management and JIRA Service Desk used for operation and as a help desk. Data imported from Microsoft Project are displayed on the Gantt-Chart for JIRA produced by Ricksoft. Video of the product: https://youtu.be/3TuoG05r0s8 How the software will be provided: MS Project importer for JIRA will be provided in Atlassian's marketplace for free of charge. https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/jp.ricksoft.plugins.ms-project-import4jira/server/overview About Gantt-Chart for JIRA (URL only) https://ricksoft-inc.com/products/wbsganttchart.php About Ricksoft Inc. (URL only) https://ricksoft-inc.com/about/ About registered trademarks Company names and product names mentioned herewith are the registered trademark or trademark of respective companies. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ricksoft-provides-add-on-allowing-users-to-import-microsoft-project-data-into-atlassian-jira-300344901.html SOURCE Ricksoft Inc. [October 14, 2016] Komodo Anonymous Cryptocurrency Announces the Launch of Its Upcoming ICO LISBON, Portugal, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Komodo, the cryptocurrency offering highest standards of anonymity and security has announced the launch of its ICO. The Komodo cryptocurrency ICO, starting October 15, 2016, will go on for 37 days until November 20, 2016. Those interested in participating in the ICO can buy Komodo cryptocurrency (KMD) with either Bitcoin (BTC) or BitcoinDark (BTCD). Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428704LOGO The cryptocurrency forked from ZCash supports zero knowledge proofs secured by Bitcoin's global hash rate. The delayed Proof of Work consensus mechanism developed by Komodo Platform enables the Komodo blockchain to be backed up on the Bitcoin blockchain. The custom transactions are broadcasted to the Bitcoin blockchain by the platform's notary nodes. These notary nodes can be used by other cryptocurrencies to secure their own blockchain. Komodo already has an operational testnet in place, while the developers work on furthering the technology. More information is available in the recently released delayed Proof of Work whitepaper. Komodo Platform draws inspiration from Bitshares and Steemit. In order to eliminate the use of PoW mining, Komodo blocks are created using Delegated Proof of Stake mechanism. The upcoming ICO will provide the much-required funds for the development of notary noes. The ICO also offers an opportunity for the not so "tech savvy" members of the cryptocurrency community to gain a stake in ZCash technology, which otherwise is only possible through mining. Komodo Platform forecasts Zcash to trade at around $40 in the near future. Since Komodo is a result of the research and development by BitcoinDark and SuperNET teams, BTCD users will be able to swap their holdings for KMD at a 50% bonus, relative to the average closing price in August. BTCD holders will also receive a special asset issued on the Komodo blockchain, that allows them to continue receiving dividends from Bitcoin Dark. Komodo will start with a supply of 100 million KMDs, of which 90% will be distributed to investors during the ICO and the remaining 10% will be used for development, marketing, advisers, and bounties. About Komodo Komodo is a secure and anonymous cryptocurrency based on the ZCash fork. It is a result of the joint development effort between BitcoinDark and SuperNET teams. Learn more about Komodo at https://komodoplatform.com/ Find Komodo Whitepaper at https://komodoplatform.com/whitepaper/ Komodo on Steem https://steemit.com/@komodoplatform Komodo on Bitcoin Talk https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1605144.0 Media Contact Contact Name: Antonio Madeira Contact Email: [email protected] Komodois the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Related Links Bitcoin PR Buzz Komodo 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/komodo-anonymous-cryptocurrency-announces-the-launch-of-its-upcoming-ico-300344935.html SOURCE Komodo [October 14, 2016] BioNano's Next-Generation Mapping (NGM) Used to Reveal the Genome Structure of the Korean Genome NGM plays important role in revealing full range of structural variations across human genomes Highlights importance of population-specific references to advance clinically-relevant precision medicine SAN DIEGO, Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioNano Genomics, Inc., the leader in physical genome mapping, today announced that the de novo assembly of the genome of a Korean individual (AK1) has just been published in the October print issue of the journal, Nature. The article is titled, De novo assembly and phasing of a Korean human genome.1 Researchers used next-generation mapping (NGM) using the Irys System from BioNano Genomics and SMRT sequencing from Pacific Biosciences as the primary tools for de novo genome assembly, they added 10x Genomics to assist with haplotype phasing and Illumina sequencing for sequence error correction. The result is a high quality, diploid reference genome with unprecedented completeness, as measured by the hybrid scaffold N50 of approximately 45 Mbp. Remarkably, eight chromosomal arms are resolved into single scaffolds. The observed quality metrics make this Korean genome assembly the most contiguous diploid human genome assembly to date. In addition, findings from the AK1 assembly revealed more than 18,000 previously unreported structural variations (SVs) when compared to GRCh38, a commonly used human reference. In a time of precision medicine, population-specific reference genomes are becoming essential to address population specific variations. This study provides extensive investigation of novel, previously unreported and Asian-specific SVs, and reports clinically-relevant alleles. In total, 47% of the insertions and 76% of the deletions represent new discoveries. Jeong-Sun Seo, M.D., Ph.D., from the Seoul National University College of Medicine and lead author of the study, commented, Through this research we demonstrate the ower of de novo genome assembly and phasing by integrating multiple genomic technologies, including NGM, SMRT sequencing, and others for the generation of a high-quality contiguous genome assembly and detection of the full range of SVs. In particular, NGM played a critical role as it provides longer range information compared to other long read commercial solutions, so we relied on NGM when there were conflicts in the data. Importantly, the findings demonstrate the important genomic differences of the Asian ancestral group from other groups, and how ethnic diversity limits the utility of a single human genome reference. Moreover, it supports the argument that more representative, population-specific, reference-quality genome assemblies must be incorporated into the population-based initiatives underway around the world to uncover ethnic diversity underlying the human genome. Erik Holmlin, Ph.D., CEO of BioNano Genomics, commented, NGM is an essential tool for achieving the contiguities described in this study and for revealing the true structure of the genome. Long-range genomic information attained from optical mapping with BioNanos Irys System provides the foundation on which complete and accurate reference-quality genome assemblies can be built, which will prove crucial in realizing precision medicine. Reference 1. Seo, J.S. Nature. 13 October 2016. doi:10.1038/nature20098 About The Irys System The Irys System provides a comprehensive view of the whole genome via single molecule imaging, facilitating high resolution de novo mapping without the guidance of a reference genome and generates valuable insights about the biology of the genome based on information about the order, orientation, arrangement, and interaction of genomic components. The Irys System uses IrysPrep Reagents to extract and label long DNA molecules and the IrysView and IrysSolve software to provide powerful de novo assemblies and analysis of the genome. About BioNano Genomics BioNano Genomics, Inc., the leader in next-generation mapping (NGM), provides customers with genome analysis tools that advance human, plant and animal genomics and accelerate the development of clinical diagnostics. The Companys Irys System uses NanoChannel arrays integrated within the IrysChip to image DNA at the single-molecule level with average single-molecule lengths of about 350,000 base pairs, which leads the genomics industry. The long-range genomic information obtained with the Irys System helps decipher complex DNA involving repeats, which are the primary cause of inaccurate and incomplete genome assembly. On its own, next-generation mapping with the Irys System enables detection of structural variants, many of which have been shown to be associated with human disease as well as complex traits in plants and animals. As a companion to next-generation sequencing (NGS), next-generation mapping with the Irys System integrates with sequence assemblies to create contiguous hybrid scaffolds that reveal the highly informative native structure of the chromosome. Only BioNano Genomics provides long-range genomic information with the cost-efficiency and throughput to keep up with advances in next-generation sequencing. The Irys System has been adopted by a growing number of leading institutions around the world, including: National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, BGI, Garvan Institute, Salk Institute, Mount Sinai and Washington University. Investors in the Company include Domain Associates, Legend Capital, Novartis Venture Fund and Monashee Investment Management. For more information, please visit www.BioNanoGenomics.com. Notes: BioNano Genomics is a trademark of BioNano Genomics, Inc. Any other names of actual companies, organizations, entities, products or services may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Contact BioNano Genomics: Kirsten Thomas The Ruth Group [email protected] (508) 280-6592 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Epiq Showcases eDiscovery, In-House Counsel Expertise at the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Annual Meeting KANSAS CITY, Kan., Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Epiq, a leading global provider of integrated technology and services for the legal profession, today announced it will be participating in and sponsoring the 2016 ACC Annual Meeting in San Francisco Oct. 16 through Oct. 19. Anthony Gillette, senior counsel at Epiq, will be speaking at the advanced session, Developing a Multijurisdictional Strategy for Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege. The panel discussion will: Provide U.S. and global perspectives on attorney-client privilege Offer tips for ensuring privilege is protected in countries in which multinational corporations operate Provide practical guidance on when privilege attaches to internal investigations, data breaches, and other sensitive corporate communications in countries outside the U.S. Cover alternative exceptions to disclosure for the in-house attorneys toolkit Epiq will also showcase its eDiscovery expertise at the conference, including its eDiscovery business intelligence dashboard, DMX, and its award-winning eDiscovery managed services offerings. DMX eDiscovery business intelligence dashboard: Providing review and production metrics for users of both DMX and kCuras Relativity, DMX dashboard clients can pull valuable metrics from prior matters to inform decisions about future cases. The dashboard also allows users to interact with the data and find information that never would have been revealed otherwise, ultimately boosting work efficiency across case teams. Providing review and production metrics for users of both DMX and kCuras Relativity, DMX dashboard clients can pull valuable metrics from prior matters to inform decisions about future cases. The dashboard also allows users to interact with the data and find information that never would have been revealed otherwise, ultimately boosting work efficiency across case teams. eDiscovery managed services: Epiq delivers customized capacity-based eDiscovery environments that reduce costs, forecast budgets and potentially recover eDiscovery costs. Epiq provides your organization with a fixed monthly fee and your own infrastructure to house as many cases as you can you pay the same fixed monthly fee for the infrastructure, application and user licenses. About ACC The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is a global bar association that promotes the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel who work for corporations, associations and other private-sector organizations through information, education, networking opportunities and advocacy initiatives. About Epiq Epiq is a leading global provider of integrated technology and services for the legal profession, including eDiscovery, managed services, bankruptcy, class action and mass tort administration, federal regulatory actions and data breach responses. Our innovative solutions are designed to streamline the administration of litigation, investigations, financial transactions, regulatory compliance and other legal matters. Epiqs subject-matter experts bring clarity to complexity, create efficiency through expertise and deliver confidence to our clients around the world. For more information, visit us at www.epiqsystems.com. Press Contact Sarah Brown Epiq +1 503 523 8980 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] DoubleVerify Appoints Steve Brown Managing Director for Europe Brown Responsible for Growing the Company's Business Across Europe LONDON and NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DoubleVerify, the recognized leader in digital quality solutions, today announced the appointment of Steve Brown as managing director for the European region. Brown is based in the company's London office and will play an integral role in providing brand advertisers with the technology necessary to protect them from digital ad fraud as well as increase the consumer engagement and overall performance of their online media investments. Brown joins DoubleVerify from Adconion, where he was managing director of UK, responsible for builing the company's revenues in Europe. Previously, Brown served as Sales Director for Yahoo, where he managed their European ad revenues for mobile, search, video and Right Media Exchange services. "Our global customers look to DoubleVerify to achieve optimal performance for their digital marketing investments," said Wayne Gattinella, CEO and president of DoubleVerify. "As the global need to authenticate the quality of digital media and improve campaign performance continues to grow, Steve will work closely with our expanding European client roster to help ensure that an ad bought is an ad seen." "The DV mission, vision and dedication to its customers aligns perfectly with my passion," said Brown. "I am eager to work with DV customers and help them through a time of change and growth, while growing DV revenue in the European market." About DoubleVerify DoubleVerify is the recognized market innovator with the technology and tools that accurately authenticate the quality of digital media and drive ad performance for the world's largest brands. DV provides media transparency and accountability to deliver the highest level of impression quality for maximum advertising performance. Since 2008, DV has helped hundreds of Fortune 500 companies gain the most from their media spend by delivering best in class solutions across the digital ecosystem that help build a better industry. Learn more at doubleverify.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Micron Optics Announces Changes to Executive Management Team ATLANTA, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Micron Optics, Inc., a global leading innovator and provider of fiber optic sensing systems and tunable laser technology, today announced changes to its executive management team: - Todd Haber has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer and President, having most recently served as the Micron Optics Chief Technology Officer. - Tom Graver has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, having most recently served as Micron Optics Senior Vice President of Global Sales. - Dr. Dustin Carr has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer, having previously served as the Director of Product Development. - Scott Riggi has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Global Sales, having previously served as Micron Optics Vice President of Sales for the US and Canada. Micron Optics' newly promoted CEO, Todd Haber, said, "We are honored and excited to have this opportunity to serve our team, our partners, and our customers in a new capacity." Haber notes that the promotions of Tom Graver, Dr. Dustin Carr, and Scott Riggi put the right people in the right places to position the company for significant and meaningful change. "The Micron Optics team is driving toward a renewed era of ever-increasing technical, financial, and relational excellence. We will focus our efforts tightly on our strengths, committing to processes of continuous improvements, and extending our capabilities through mutually beneficial relationships with our outstanding network of partners. We aim to achieve financial prosperity for our shareholders and unprecedented degrees of satisfaction for our team and their families. We will do so by exceeding our customers' expectations with premium product experiences and open, honest communication. In coming years, Micron Optics will grow significantly through an ever expanding product line of optical components, lasers, and instrumentation for monitoring, metrology, and imaging applications." About Micron Optics, Inc. Micron Optics' (http://www.micronoptics.com) optical sensing and tunable filter products make impossible measurements possible, revealing new, critical information for infrastructure, energy, transportation, medical and industrial sectors. Since 1990, Micron Optics has been expanding its core capabilities from tunable optical components and leading-edge instrumentation and software, to complete optical sensing systems. Micron Optics is a privately held company with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. For more information, visit http://www.micronoptics.com. Marketing and PR Contact: Megan Johnson Marketing & Administrative Assistant, Micron Optics, Inc. Phone: +1.404.325.0005 ext. 265 Email: [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/micron-optics-announces-changes-to-executive-management-team-300344958.html SOURCE Micron Optics, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Lincoln International Represents MAVERICK Technologies in its sale to Rockwell Automation, Inc. CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lincoln International ("Lincoln"), a leading global mid-market investment bank, has announced that MAVERICK Technologies ("MAVERICK" or the "Company") has been acquired by Rockwell Automation, Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Columbia, Illinois, MAVERICK is the largest independent systems integrator in North America and is a global leader in industrial automation, enterprise integration and strategic manufacturing solutions for clients across a wide range of manufacturing and process industries. Leveraging its unique enterprise-wide perspective, the Company identifies suboptimal operations and improves performance for greater safety, efficiency and overall profitability. MAVERICK's people, processes and technical capabilities ensure delivery of the right solution for every project, using the most appropriate technology. Organizations around the world depend on MAVERICK's responsiveness, results-driven approach and dedication to their success. Over the years, MAVERICK has completed more than 15,000 projects, in 46 countries, across six continents. Paul Galeski, MAVERICK founder and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We will continue to deliver our domain expertise, now withthe power of a Fortune 500 industrial automation leader at our side. This creates the best combination available to help uncover the benefits of information that drive performance in process industries." Mr. Galeski commented further, "Lincoln's unique insights and in-depth understanding of our business model, drawn from the firm's extensive experience advising professional and human capital services companies, allowed them to share our story and value proposition in a highly compelling manner. We were impressed with the level of personal attention and guidance Lincoln provided to the management team and our shareholders throughout the sale process." Lincoln International acted as the exclusive financial advisor to MAVERICK, working closely with the management team and shareholders throughout the sale process. This included providing advisory expertise and managing the marketing, negotiation and due diligence phases of the transaction. For more information on Lincoln's Global Business Services Group, please visit www.lincolninternational.com/industries/business-services About Lincoln International Lincoln International specializes in merger and acquisition advisory services, debt advisory services, private capital raising and restructuring advice on mid-market transactions. Lincoln International also provides fairness opinions, valuations and pension advisory services on a wide range of transaction sizes. With seventeen offices in the Americas, Asia and Europe, Lincoln International has strong local knowledge and contacts in key global economies. The firm provides clients with senior-level attention, in-depth industry expertise and integrated resources. By being focused and independent, Lincoln International serves its clients without conflicts of interest. More information about Lincoln International can be obtained at www.lincolninternational.com Media Contact: Heidi Becker [email protected] (312) 506-2739 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428695 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lincoln-international-represents-maverick-technologies-in-its-sale-to-rockwell-automation-inc-300344910.html SOURCE Lincoln International LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Panasonic Joins with Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and National Action Network to Launch NAN-Newark Tech World NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Corporation of North America Chairman & CEO Joseph M. Taylor today announced that the company would become the anchor funder of the NAN-Newark Tech World, a technology education center, which will operate in the building once occupied by the South Ward Boys' & Girls' Club in Newark. The National Action Network (NAN) is a national civil rights organization founded by Reverend Al Sharpton in New York City. NAN-Newark Tech World will serve as a high-tech community center for the City of Newark. It will offer Newark students courses in web design, graphic design, digital literacy, networking and more. Panasonic has been a corporate citizen of Newark since 2013 when it relocated from Secaucus, NJ, to a location one block from Newark Penn Station. Since arriving in the city, the company has supported Newark institutions related to education, including refurbishing and enhancing NJPAC's digital broadcast capabilities to enable the performing arts center to become a world-class broadcast center for digital learning. For 25 years, Panasonic has collaborated with Newark's NJIT on the Creative Design Challenge, an annual robotics competition for NJ high school students, to help create a pipeline of science and technology talent ssential for industry's future workforce. Panasonic also sponsors the Panasonic Eco Citizenship Program for area middle school students to complement their science studies. "Newark has become a center of technological innovation and continues to attract cutting edge technology companies as a result of our research colleges and universities, a growing tech-savvy workforce, and one of the nation's most advanced fiber optic infrastructures," said Mayor Ras J. Baraka. "Panasonic is an iconic representative of Newark 3.0. On behalf of the people of Newark, I thank Panasonic for taking the lead in funding a technology education center that will prepare our young people and adults for the jobs of the future." "NAN-Newark Tech World is an important and historic step for the community in New Jersey and NAN's work to bridge the digital divide. The tech industry has been out of reach for people of color for far too long, but now, thanks to the assistance of Panasonic and Mayor Baraka, students will be able to learn new skills that will enable them to succeed in the workforce for years to come. I am thrilled that the National Action Network can be a part of this momentous progress," said Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of National Action Network. "Panasonic is delighted to be able to lend a helping hand to NAN-Newark Tech World by becoming the anchor funder in this project which promises to give Newark's students a grounding in the kind of technologies that can make a difference for them as they enter the working world," said Panasonic's Mr. Taylor. "It is an honor to be involved in such a worthy program that has benefited from the leadership of Mayor Baraka and the guiding ideals of Rev. Sharpton. I hope that other Newark-based companies will step up and help to ensure the growth of this important initiative." "Making the transition to an information technology economy requires new initiatives to ensure there are opportunities for presently underserved individuals to develop skills in advanced technologies needed by industry. NAN-Newark Tech World, a 10-gigabit Internet and computer-based IT training facility powered by Panasonic, is being launched exactly for that purpose," said Rev. Steffie Bartley, NAN NJ Director, and Tech World Coordinator. "As the information economy continues to develop, Newarkers will benefit greatly from efforts made by Rev. Dr. Al Sharpton, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Panasonic Corporation of North America to establish Tech World in the heart of Newark's South Ward." About Panasonic Corporation of North America Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic was featured in Fortune Magazine's 2016 ranking of 50 companies that are changing the world and doing well by doing good. Specifically cited were its smart and sustainable technologies, including its contributions to smart cities and the electric vehicle revolution. Learn more about Panasonic at us.panasonic.com/news. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428740 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367536LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/panasonic-joins-with-newark-mayor-ras-j-baraka-and-national-action-network-to-launch-nan-newark-tech-world-300345040.html SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] About Time Magazine Shares Top Tips for PR Professionals at Gorkana Briefing Event LONDON, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At an exclusive Gorkana, Cision and PR Newswire media briefing event, Angelica Malin, founder and editor-in-chief at About Time Magazine, explained how the social-led website has captured an audience of aspirational, young professionals. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428778 ) About Time is a social-first publication aimed at, predominantly, young professional women; the 'social decision makers'. Since launching two years ago, it has grown to become a leading London lifestyle guide, with more than 75,000 monthly users in 163 countries worldwide. It is a modern, online-only magazine dedicated to food, drink, travel, fitness and style. But while About Time's content is varied, it is united by the slogan: 'it's about time you tried' It aims to catalogue all that is new and on-trend. At the media briefing event, Malin told the room how the "very bossy website" differentiates itself through fast and flexible trend-focused content. She talked about a recent occasion where About Time used Gorkana's Media Requests service to call on PRs for relevant recipes upon realising that it was World Porridge Day. An influx of emails arrived and the team compiled and published a list of porridge recipes before lunch. By constantly monitoring site analytics, Malin ensures that content goes out at exactly the moment that she knows it will create a buzz on social media. She added, although she receives pitches via many channels, "good, old-fashioned emai works for us." She said: "Phone calls can feel a bit aggressive." Here are a few more tips and suggestions from the About Time event, hosted at the London Communications Agency and chaired by Philip Smith, head of news and content at Gorkana: About Time welcomes tailored PR content With just two full time staff members, editor Angelica Malin and deputy editor Alicia Grimshaw, the title welcomes content from PRs that fits individual formats of the title's regular features. At the very least, said Malin, pitches should be tailored towards a specific column, feature or section of the site. About Time's audience is interested in start-up brands According to Malin, the title's readers are very entrepreneurial. She said: "Our audience is quite interested in start-ups." She is interested in partnerships with emerging brands, in particular. However, there's still space for traditional brands. Malin added: "Anything we run about Pret, people go mad for." The title is looking to develop its 'travel' and 'fitness' sections Malin said that the team would like to publish more travel content. She said: "It's often how much you're sent, and we're not sent a lot of travel information." Malin also said that she is planning to cover more fitness ideas and content, and the site will soon undergo a re-design to make it more mobile-friendly. Immediacy is key to its content "We're flexible in the sense that we can run things very quickly. " Malin explained. Editorially, they set a schedule on each Friday for the coming week's content, though sometimes the turnaround can be even faster. Additionally, there's no point in PRs sending material months in advance, she added, because the title is so trend-driven. A week beforehand is ideal. Cision is a leading global media intelligence company, serving the complete workflow of today's communication professionals. Offering the industry's most comprehensive PR, IR and social media software, rich analytics, content distribution and influencer outreach, Cision enables clients to engage audiences, enhance campaigns and strengthen data-driven decision making. Cision solutions include PR Newswire, Gorkana, PRWeb, Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and iContact brands. Headquartered in Chicago, Cision serves over 100,000 customers in 170 countries and 40 languages worldwide, and maintains offices in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.cision.com or follow @Cision on Twitter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jLJOiBsc-4 For more information, visit http://www.gorkana.com | http://www.cision.com or follow @gorkana | @Cision on Twitter For media information please contact: Philip Smith Head of News and Content [email protected] Gorkana +44(0)20-7674-0200 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] ProfNet Experts Available on Pharmacists, Loneliness, Halloween and More NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform. EXPERT ALERTS Important Role Pharmacists Play in Wellness Important Role Pharmacists Play in Management of Medications Chronic Loneliness a Public Health Crisis Watters' World: Chinatown on 'O'Reilly Factor' Appalling and Irresponsible News Reporting Five Halloween Tips for Parents Tips for Parents What Your Halloween Costume Reveals About You MEDIA JOBS Copy Editor Law360 (NY) American Metal Deputy Editor Argus Media (TX) Reporter Law360 (NY) OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES Become a Better Writer: 12 Offbeat Residency Programs 5 Tips to Boost Election News Engagement On PRN: Obama Pens Essay, Economic Optimism at 10-Year High, ATM Fees Set Record EXPERT ALERTS: Important Role Pharmacists Play in Wellness Dr. Murray Cohen Board Chairman Global NGO Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd. "Stopping disease spread in the U.S. government alone could have a great impact on this country and thereby the world. Pharmacists' work with laboratories, testing, medication research and disbursement is critical to the health care industry." Dr. Cohen can speak on the Zika virus, our first line of defense in preventing the spread of infectious disease, what hospitals are doing to prevent infectious disease among staff and patients, as well as the importance of humidity in preventing infectious disease. He is an internationally recognized expert in bioterrorism, workplace safety, biosafety, industrial hygiene and infectious disease control. He is also the owner of a veteran-owned small business named Consultants in Disease and Injury Control (CDIC Inc.). He served for 21 years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a career public health service officer, specializing in the prevention of occupationally transmitted infections, including bacterial diseases (anthrax, tuberculosis) and blood-borne viruses (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, Ebola). He also serves as a consultant to Wello Inc. ProfNet Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/murraycohen Contact: Jeannie Lewis, [email protected] Important Role Pharmacists Play in Management of Medications Alan C. "Rik" Heller Chairman and CEO FreshLoc Technologies, Inc. "Pharmacists are spread thinly with all of their various duties in ensuring safety in both selecting and managing pharmaceuticals. Pharmacists rely on quality automated environmental systems when they can to improve patient safety and help them focus on their substantive work." A leader in indoor sensory monitoring, Heller created Bill Gates' residence location monitoring system. His expertise includes: patient and employee care and safety, hospital acquired infection (HAI) technology, CDC guidelines, patents, temperature compliance, environmental monitoring compliance, particle sensors, humidity, disease spread, contagion, fever, patient care and more. ProfNet Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/rikheller Contact: Jeannie Lewis, [email protected] Chronic Loneliness a Public Health Crisis J. Walter Freiberg Justice of the Peace Commonwealth of Massachusetts What happens when loneliness engulfs us? How do we manage life when the absence of adequate connections becomes an excruciating hunger? To Freiberg, loneliness is simply the perception of inadequate connections, in precisely the same way that hunger is the perception of inadequate food, and thirst is the perception of inadequate hydration. It is a sensation, not an emotion, and, it's not reserved for the rejected seniors who populate our nursing homes, sequestered from the younger generations of their families. Children, even babies, can feel terribly alone and disconnected: "In contrast to the loneliness we all experience when connections in our lives are severed is the chronic loneliness that plagues the lives of an ever increasing share of the American population. Current research indicates that something like a third of Americans lead truly isolated, lonely lives, with no one to go home to, no one to call or be called by, no one to care for, and no one who cares. One in four Americans report that they spoke with no one about something important to them in the past six months. Imagine that." Freiberg, a social psychologist-turned-lawyer, recently published a book, "Four Seasons of Loneliness," that explores the consequences of lost connections trough his unique lens. In the book, he explores the consequences of chronic loneliness through four case studies. Freiberg has had a long and storied career that included an assistant professorship at Boston University, a teaching position at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and positions at several of Boston's oldest and most prestigious law firms. He has written highly acclaimed books, "Critical Sociology: European Perspectives" and "The French Press: Class, State and Ideology," as well as more than 35 articles, book introductions, and other scholarly works on social psychological and legal issues. During his career, Freiberg has been awarded a Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Research Fellowship, and a Centre National de al Recherche Scientifique Fellowship. He continues to practice law on a reduced basis, serves as a Justice of the Peace for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and lives in Boston with his wife, near their children. www.jwfreiberg.com Contact: Penny Sansevieri , [email protected] Watters' World: Chinatown on 'O'Reilly Factor' Appalling and Irresponsible News Reporting Jean Lau Chin, EdD, ABPP Professor of Psychology Adelphi University "Correspondent Jesse Watters was sent to NYC Chinatown on Oct. 3 to sample political opinion after China was repeatedly named in negative tones during the presidential election. Watters' video of these 'interviews' with Chinatown residents for Fox News' 'O'Reilly Factor' is racist and reprehensible from the start. It starts and ends with a flurry of anti-Asian stereotypes, mocking the Chinese as foreign, bizarre and dumb. He could have gone to many community sources if he truly wanted to find out what the Chinese community thought. Instead, he selectively chooses individuals and edits the interviews to portray them in a most unfavorable light. He accosts an elderly woman who apparently does not speak English, and mocks her smiling non-response as dumb and ignorant. He invokes stereotyped images of Chinese practicing exotic customs, and as dealers of the black market. He invites a kung-fu punch from one of his interviewees and then depicts it as a weak excuse for the real thing. The post analysis of the video by Watters and O'Reilly was depicted as 'showing what the community thinks' and as 'gentle fun.' I was appalled with this racist and derogatory portrayal, and poking fun on the backs of the Chinese community. The segment does nothing more than play up every offensive stereotype of Asian-Americans that we have fought against. I am dismayed that, in this day and age, with the many Chinese Americans who are English speaking American citizens and voters in the U.S. that Watters and O'Reilly would use such a ruse to continue to portray Asians in such a negative light. A number of Asian-American groups and leaders have called for Fox News to do more responsible broadcasting and to take corrective action against such portrayals. A petition is already out to have Fox News: 1) issue an immediate apology and retraction for the Watters' World: Chinatown segment; 2) cancel Watters' World segments and/or scheduled specials from future broadcast; 3) take some immediate corrective next steps at Fox News to sample and portray Asian-American opinion." Chin is a distinguished educator, administrator, clinician and scholar. She was the first Asian-American psychologist to be licensed in Massachusetts and has held numerous leadership positions in the field. She also spearheads the NYC Chinatown Oral History Project and authored "Who are the Cantonese Chinese?: New York City Chinatown During the 1940s-1960s." Book: http://amzn.to/2dG7rtB Website: http://www.adelphi.edu Media Contact: Kali Chan, [email protected] Five Halloween Tips for Parents Florence Ann Romano The Windy City Nanny Halloween is a chance for kids to play dress-up, be out after dark and, of course, indulge in a plethora of candy. For parents, however, it might be a bit more hectic than exciting. To keep things as stress-free as possible, Romano shares some reminders for parents this Halloween: 1) Socializing: "Halloween is a chance for children and families to socialize. Get a group together from your kid's school to meet their friends and their parents!" 2) Allergies: "If your child has an allergy, it's imperative that they do not eat the candy without you. And make sure the group they're with knows what to do in an emergency." 3) Costumes: "Don't let your kids dress sexy if you can help it. Remind your girls that less isn't necessarily more." 4) Manners: "Please, thank you, kindness, etc. And remember, children with special needs participate in Halloween too, and need extra TLC." 5) Trick-or-Treating: "Young children should always have an adult present during trick-or-treating. If your older children will be going alone, ensure you know the route they will be taking and agree on a specific time to be home." Romano is a dedicated philanthropist and former nanny who worked for more than 15 years as a nanny. She shares her experiences in "Nanny and Me" (Mascot Books, May 2015), her beautifully illustrated debut book for children making the transition from being cared for solely by their parents to having a nanny in their home. Born and raised just outside Chicago, Romano earned a degree in performance theatre at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. She is the owner of Trinity, LLC, a 100% woman-owned new family company that runs the Original Six Media production company. Romano also serves as president and founder of a junior board for young professionals that support autism awareness for children and adults. Website: www.WindyCityNanny.com Contact: Mark Goldman, [email protected] What Your Halloween Costume Reveals About You Dr. Frieda Birnbaum Research Psychologist, Psychoanalyst Dr. Birnbaum can discuss what your Halloween costume reveals about you: 1) The Pimp: "Likely worn by an insecure man who's acting out his fantasy of dominating women. It's really not an original costume and is often a choice for the uncreative types." 2) Celebrity: "Outgoing individuals tend to dress up like celebrities because it almost guarantees they'll get lots of attention." 3) Gross/scary: "Horror is popular in pop culture, and if a person goes for the gross and scary costume, chances are they will be a low-key individual who doesn't seek the limelight. These are likely also boring people." 4) Disney/cartoon character: "This is a safe choice that is G-rated for all audiences. It's a people pleaser and often worn by someone who doesn't prefer to rock the boat." 5) Superhero: "Kind-hearted individuals tend to flock to these costumes, as they wish to help others and be seen as making a difference." 6) Funny/original: "When you see a costume that makes you look twice of three times, chances are the wearer of that costume is an A-type personality and highly creative individual who probably spent the past nine months creating their costume." 7) Congress costume: "Considering how unpopular Congress is today, anyone who would dress up like them probably enjoys being scorned and reviled. People who dress up like members of Congress this year should probably seek professional counseling." 8) No costume: "Likely a choice of people completely out of touch with their inner child or those who feel they are 'too mature' to be dress up in costumes. They have the potential to bore people physically to death." Based in the New York metro area, Dr. Birnbaum is a research psychologist, psychoanalyst and author of "Life Begins at 60: A New View on Motherhood, Marriage, and Reinventing Ourselves." She's an expert on depression, women's issues, and attaining happiness. Contact: Ryan McCormick, [email protected] MEDIA JOBS: Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/ Copy Editor Law360 (NY) American Metal Deputy Editor Argus Media (TX) Reporter Law360 (NY) OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES: Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line. BECOME A BETTER WRITER: 12 OFFBEAT RESIDENCY PROGRAMS TO GET ON YOUR RADAR NOW. Carving out a career in writing isn't easy. As you know, the types of writing jobs are endless, including news reporting, blogging, freelancing, ghost writing, feature writing, business writing, sponsored content, book writing, and technical writing. So if you're managing several assignments at the same time, switching gears can be particularly taxing. We dug up a dozen unique writer residency programs that aim to help writers do one thing: keep up the good work: http://bit.ly/2dqqQwE FIVE TIPS TO BOOST ELECTION NEWS ENGAGEMENT. Although the right story idea and content distribution channel can get your election news noticed, you need to do more to inspire audiences to take the next step. Here are five ways to boost election content engagement: http://prn.to/2d2xopm ON PR NEWSWIRE: OBAMA PENS ESSAY, ECONOMIC OPTIMISM AT 10-YEAR HIGH, ATM FEES SET RECORD. With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire for Journalists. Here are some of this week's most newsworthy releases you might have missed: http://bit.ly/2dOhmNh PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150416/199234LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/profnet-experts-available-on-pharmacists-loneliness-halloween-and-more-300345108.html SOURCE ProfNet [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] A.M. Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Life Insurance Corporation (International) B.S.C. (c) A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bbb+" of Life Insurance Corporation (International) B.S.C. (c) (LICI) (Bahrain). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings of LICI reflect its good, albeit declining, risk-adjusted capitalisation, track record of profit generation and niche market position. Offsetting factors include the lack of an integrated enterprise risk management (ERM) framework and the financial profile of LICI's ultimate parent, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC of India), which has a high level of exposure to the economic and financial system risk associated with India. LIC of India is a state-owned entity. LICI's strong level of growth during 2015 eroded the company's risk-adjusted capitalisation; however, it remains at a good level. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of LICI's capital management strategy is an area of concern, owing to the extent to which the company's risk-adjusted capitalisation has diminished in recent years as business expanded. A.M. Best will expect LICI to implement a capital management policy that supports its business plan. LICI maintains a sound level of profitability, with the company reporting a pre-tax profit of BHD 4.5 million (USD 12.1 million) in 2015 (2014: BD 4.3 million). A diversified global bond portfolio generates a relatively steady investment yield and provides a margin in excess of the guaranteed investment returns required on certain life policies. Additionally, LICI's performance benefited from a lowcost base with an expense ratio of 5.8% in 2015. LICI also benefits from a niche market position, targeting the Indian expatriate community in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states by leveraging the LIC of India group's strong brand and portability of its policies back to India. The company enjoys an excellent market share within the life sector, owing to the growing Indian community in the GCC, and maintains a strong distribution network to support its expansion. An offsetting rating factor is LICI's internal ERM capability, which remains at a developing level. As the company expands, it will become increasingly important to evolve its ERM practices, as well as actuarial and product engineering capabilities. LICI's financial strength is not considered to be currently affected by the financial profile of its parent, LIC of India. This reflects A.M. Best's consideration of the regulatory protection in place that restricts the extraction of capital from the insurer, as well as the expectation for LIC of India to be supported by the state thereby reducing the need to place a call on LIC's capital. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best's Credit Ratings. 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. and/or its subsidiaries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005580/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Intrepid Announces the Sale of VXi Corporation, a Leading Provider of Headset Communications Solutions, to GN Audio (Jabra), a Denmark-Based Leader in Intelligent Audio Solutions Intrepid Investment Bankers (Intrepid), a leading middle-market investment bank, today announced that its client, VXi Corporation (VXi), a leading provider of headset communication solutions for enterprises and mobile professionals, has been acquired by GN Audio, a division of GN Group (GN: CO), a Denmark-based leader in intelligent audio solutions, offering wireless headsets and earbuds under the Jabra (News - Alert) brand, as well as hearing aids and medical grade audio solutions under the ReSound brand. VXi was a portfolio company of Vicente Capital Partners (VCP), a private equity firm specializing in both non-control and control investments in growth businesses that have annual revenues between $5 million and $25 million. The sale of VXi marks the third deal for Intrepid's Commercial & Consumer Technology team in the last 12 months. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005752/en/ Intrepid served as exclusive financial advisor to VXi Corporation (Graphic: Business Wire) "Intrepid's Commercial & Consumer Technology team brought a highly professional approach to representing VXi, demonstrating in-depth knowledge of the sector, a unique ability to articulate VXi's story and global reach to find a synergistic strategic acquirer for VXi. They ran a robust and highly structured process, ultimately resulting in a successful exit for our firm," said Klaus Koch, Managing Partner at VCP. "VXi has consistently generated impressive sales growth and profitability since its acquisition by VCP in 2012. We positioned VXi as a highly valuable asset due to its established loyal customer base, potential for exponential growth and impressive senior management team. We appreciate the opportunity to represent VCP and VXi in this important process," said Gary Rabishaw, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Commercial & Consumer Technology practice at Intrepid. "We believe this is a great outcome for VXi and VCP," commented Adam Abramowitz, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Commercial & Consumer Technology practice at Intrepid. "Through our disciplined process and global outreach, we found an ideal strategic partner for VXi, and we believe the business is poised for accelerated growth under the ownership of GN Audio (Jabra)." Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Dover, N.H., VXi is a best-in-class manufacturer of telecommunication headsets that offer superior noise cancellation with unmatched fit, comfort and durability to address demading enterprise and mobile workforce applications where reliable performance and sound quality are mission critical. The company is an established player in the large enterprise communications market under the VXi brand and is the leading Bluetooth headset provider for truckers and other professional drivers under the BlueParrott brand. About Intrepid Investment Bankers Intrepid provides M&A, capital raising and strategic advisory services to entrepreneurs and middle-market companies in various industry sectors. Our heritage, rooted in our founders' successful 35-year history, breeds a culture that embraces teamwork, tenacity and creativity to win big for our clients. We believe that every company has an entrepreneurial passion that drives it and a story that defines it. Our team delivers results through skillful positioning and relentless execution. Based in Los Angeles, Intrepid augments its international capabilities through active membership in Oaklins, an exclusive global alliance of M&A advisory firms. Member FINRA/SIPC Intrepid homepage LinkedIn Facebook Twitter About Intrepid's Commercial & Consumer Technology Practice Intrepid's Commercial & Consumer Technology team provides a unique blend of proven execution expertise, deep industry knowledge, and relationships cultivated over many years of dedicated coverage. Target (News - Alert) sectors include: pro audio/visual technologies, digital signage, and residential and consumer technology. By focusing exclusively on these sectors, our industry bankers have a deep understanding of prevailing trends and value drivers. To stay up to date on recent industry trends, read our Banker Insights. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005752/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Ford Credit Offers Customers Financial Relief After Storms, Flooding in the Southeast Ford (News - Alert) Motor Credit Company has a message for customers recovering from the storms and flooding in the Southeast: We're here to help. The company's disaster relief program allows qualified customers to delay one or two monthly payments, resuming their regular payment schedules when their situations improve. "We care about our customers and want to help them, especially in times like this," said Dale Jones, executive vice president, The Americas. The company is sending and/or emailing contact instructions to eligible Lincoln Automotive Financial Services and Ford Credit customers. Interested customers do not have to wait to hear from Ford Credit, they may call this toll-free number immediately: 1-800-723-4016. The offer is available to qualified customers who are leasing or hae purchased vehicles with financing from Ford Credit or Lincoln Automotive Financial Services. Interest may continue to accrue on the deferred payment(s) on simple interest contracts. About Ford Motor Credit Company Ford Motor Credit Company is a leading automotive financial services company. It provides dealer and customer financing to support the sale of Ford Motor Company (News - Alert) products around the world, including through Lincoln Automotive Financial Services in the United States, Canada and China. Ford Credit is a subsidiary of Ford established in 1959. For more information, visit www.fordcredit.com or www.lincolnafs.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005756/en/ Watts Water Technologies Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: WTS (News - Alert)), will hold a live webcast of its conference call to discuss third quarter results for 2016 on Thursday, November 3, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Watts Water Technologies will announce its financial results for this period in a press release to be issued after market close on Wednesday, November 2, 2016. This call is being webcasted and can be accessed by visiting the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.wattswater.com. Following the webcast, an archived version of the call will be available at the same address until November 3, 2017. Watts Water Technologies, Inc., through its family of companies, is a global manufacturer headquartered in the USA that provides one of the broadest plumbing, heating, and water quality product lines in the world. Watts Water companies and brands offer innovative plumbing, heating, and water quality solutions for residential, commercial, and industrial applications. For more information, visit www.wattswater.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005841/en/ [October 14, 2016] USC Marshall Appoints Gary Shaffer to Lead Library Management Program The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business has appointed Gary Shaffer, CEO of the Tulsa City-County Library, as director of the USC Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) program. Shaffer, who holds a Ph.D. in managerial leadership from Simmons College in addition to a master of library and information science from the Pratt Institute, has led the Tulsa public library since 2011. Shaffer brings a distinctive educational and management background to the MMLIS directorship that uniquely complements the program's focus on library leadership in academic, digital, and large urban environments. An expert in triple bottom line sustainability, Shaffer's research aims to establish best practices in libraries that account for economic, environmental, and social factors in determining organizational value. Among Shaffer's other areas of research is emotional intelligence, specifically how library directors tap into it to be more effective in their roles. "The USC MMLIS is exciting to me for many reasons, not the least of which is its one-of-a-kind approach to leadership education across the curriculum," Shaffer said. "USC-educated library leaders-expert librarians with a solid foundation in entrepreneurial management-are poised to shape the future of our field. I'm honored and grateful for this opportunity to participate in such an exciting enterprise." Shaffer added that he sees a future rich with potential for professional librarians in digital preservation of and access to our cultural heritage, creating new kinds of library services across many types of academic, public, and corporate institutions, and developing services, collections, and ibrary cultures that meet the needs of 21st-century communities. "Marshall welcomes Gary Shaffer to his new position as the MMLIS director," said Sandra Chrystal, USC Marshall Vice Dean for Online Education. "His achievements at the Tulsa City-County Library will inform our students and colleagues and align with our entrepreneurial academic programs." Shaffer describes his time leading Tulsa City-County Library as one of learning and collaborative accomplishments. "I am incredibly proud of what we accomplished," he said. "Our strategic planning, our fundraising, our facilities, our people, our collections-everything came together in service of the citizens of Oklahoma." Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin presented the Oklahoma Quality Foundation Award to the Tulsa library to honor the system's accomplishments under Shaffer's leadership. "Gary's leadership experience and his interdisciplinary research on management strategy will help the USC MMLIS build upon the excellent work Ken Haycock has done as the program's founding director," said Catherine Quinlan, dean of the USC Libraries. "The Marshall School is known for its excellent student experience and for graduates that make tangible impact in their areas of research and practice. Gary will help make certain that our MMLIS graduates take their place among Marshall alumni who advance their fields in world-changing ways." In addition to leading the 24-location Tulsa library system, Shaffer was a Public Urban Library Service Education (PULSE) Fellow at Brooklyn Public Library and held librarian and managerial positions in the County of Los Angeles and Sacramento public libraries. He is an active member of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE); the American Library Association (ALA); the Public Library Association (PLA); the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA); and Reforma, a national organization that promotes library services to Spanish-speaking communities. Through IFLA, he serves as a delegate to the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. Shaffer officially assumes his responsibilities as director of the USC MMLIS program as of January 1, 2017. About the USC Marshall School of Business Consistently ranked among the nation's premier schools, USC Marshall is internationally recognized for its emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation, social responsibility and path-breaking research. Located in the heart of Los Angeles, one of the world's leading business centers and the U.S. gateway to the Pacific Rim, Marshall offers its 5,700-plus undergraduate and graduate students a unique world view and impressive global experiential opportunities. With an alumni community spanning 123 countries, USC Marshall students join a worldwide community of thought leaders who are redefining the way business works. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005882/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. Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world's most differentiated and comprehensive portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories, and in 50 different languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences around the world through its iconic brands and products, including: Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HBO Max, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, WB Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Spanish, Hogar de HGTV, among others. More information: www.wbd.com. Saddling up to help children What gave rise to the Ventura County Sheriffs Posses latest initiative to help kids with disabilities? Just a man and his horse. Somis resident Russell... CRPD to dedicate latest neighborhood park near Janss/23 The newest installation in the Conejo Rec and Park District system is now open to the public. On Oct. 21, CRPD crews took down the... The best birthday gift ever As Kerri Braemer-Castro looked down at the mountains and valleys of Camarillo from the cockpit of a World War II B-25 bomber earlier this month,... Break out the costumes HISTORIC FUNTop, Layla Sayegh, 8, of West Hills tries her hand at roping on Oct. 22 during Leonis Adobe Museums annual Pumpkin Party. Above, Lisa... MACON It's tough to top the United Methodist Church when it comes to the number of locations it maintains in Macon County. There are 18 churches, ranging from Garver Brick, which draws about 30 people for worship, to Decatur Grace, with an average Sunday attendance of 215 at two services. That's one reason why one of the first things the Rev. Terry Harter did in 2010 after he became superintendent of the denomination's Sangamon River District of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference is ask Decatur-area congregations to start talking about how they could collaborate. Prairieview Parish, a joining of Elwin, Macon and Zion Chapel United Methodist churches, is a recent result. Spurred by the retirements July 1 of the Rev. Sally Hamon, former pastor at Zion Chapel and Decatur Central, and Rev. Janet Eggleston, former pastor at Macon, the new parish is led by directing pastor the Rev. Randy McGeehon, who preaches at Elwin, and part-time pastors the Rev. Matt Stevens, who preaches at Macon, and the Rev. Kent Bangert, who preaches at Zion Chapel. Hamon serves as a part-time minister of visitation and Kathy Miller as administrative assistant, meanwhile, for all three worship centers. We all know fewer and fewer people are coming into the ministry, McGeehon said. Prairieview Parish could offer more services to more people for a smaller financial investment. It also worked out well as McGeehon underwent replacement of both knees this year, with Stevens filling Elwin's pulpit until he recovered from the first surgery this spring and Hamon for the second this summer. Retiring two years ago as an information technology specialist at Caterpillar Inc., Stevens has since been volunteering at Decatur First United Methodist while he obtained his license as a pastor with the denomination. Bangert, on the other hand, had been serving with Hamon as a certified lay minister and preaching at Decatur's Central United Methodist Church before taking over for her in the pulpit of Zion Chapel. I was sad about leaving Central, but the opportunity was beneficial for me as a bi-vocational minister because I have three people I can turn to if I need help, he said. Bangert is a full-time farm manager for Moore & Warner Farm Real Estate in Clinton. One might think Hamon's plate is too full as a minister of visitation to what was once three congregations, but she's developing a group of caring callers among all Prairieview's members. Our goal is to start blending things more, McGeehon explained. Yeah, maybe we go to Macon church on Sunday morning, but when we have a weiner roast in the evening, everybody's there. The parish conducted a series of Backyard Kids Clubs over five weeks this summer that drew from all three congregations as well as the neighborhoods of the three different sites, Warren Park in Boody, Hyde Park in Elwin, and Memorial Park in Macon. Hamon also said a joint kickoff service in Elwin July 4 was an amazing success. We filled the place, so it was good, McGeehon added. We also have a joint ministry task force. The cooperation doesn't stop with Elwin, Macon and Zion Chapel either. Involved in preliminary discussions about the formation of Prairieview Parish, Blue Mound United Methodist Church receives support from the parish for its food pantry and agreed this year to house one of Macon's two after school programs, the Hawk Hangout homework assistance for junior high students. Macon still houses the Meridian Kids First program for elementary students. We sponsor both of those programs, and our goal is to get more church members involved in supporting the paid staff who run them, Stevens said. For his part, Harter is delighted he didn't have to sell anything to anybody, unlikethe predecessor who proposed creating Okaw River Parish involving United Methodist churches in Cerro Gordo, Hammond, LaPlace and Lovington. Prairieview Parish was not imposed from upon high, Harter said. That gives me great hope. DECATUR A candlelight service for Domestic Violence Awareness Month shined bright with the memory of Amarrah Reynolds and all other children who fall victim to the abuse of adults. But mourning the Aug. 31 beating death of the 4-year-old Decatur girl, allegedly by her father's hand, was not the end of the story for more than 100 people gathered Thursday evening in St. James Catholic Church. Instead, two survivors helped by Dove Inc.'s domestic violence program stood up and spoke bravely about their escape from abuse. The first was Susie Wayne, who said she met her abuser in 1989 and at one point chose him over her daughter and son (the biggest regret of my life) before moving herself and her son back in with her parents in 1995 and breaking things off for good in 1996. He held me by my neck up against the wall, Wayne said. Luckily for me, he was intoxicated, so I pushed him off me and was able to get out the door and leave. The second survivor was Angel Escobar, who said he landed on Dove's doorstep one year ago, full of self-recrimination. You have to remember it's not your fault, he said. It came to you, and you made the best decision you could for yourself and your children. Wayne and Escobar returned to the front of the sanctuary later in the service to light the survivor candle together. As part of the ceremony's celebration the people who work to put an end to domestic violence, program director Teri Ducy thanked her staff and presented an award to Lowe's Manager Dave Ozier, Assistant Manager Michelle Cornett and other volunteers from the Forsyth store working to upgrade the program's shelter. Other plaques went to Decatur Police Department patrol officer Chad Louden; and Sgt. Ronald Atkins of the Macon County Sheriff's Office; Prairieland Punishers and Pawprint Ministries. At a similar ceremony Oct. 6 in Shelbyville, the emergency department of Shelby Memorial Hospital and Darrell and Lisa Best of Best Wedding Chapel were recognized. On Monday in DeWitt County, Dove's domestic violence program gave awards to Clinton police detective Todd Ummel and Lane Christian Church. In Decatur, a solemn procession of posters that has become a traditional part of the service featured 66 newspaper articles published about cases of domestic violence in the past year. The articles included those about Amarrah's death and criminal charges against her father, Darren Reynolds Jr., and her mother, Dalvon Taylor. He is charged with with two counts of first-degree murder, and she is charged with one count of endangering the life or health of a child. One of 16 T-shirts decorated by domestic violence victims and draped over several of the pews was created in the girl's memory as well. I was only 4 when you killed me, the author imagined Amarrah saying. Ducy said reports from her autopsy show the child suffered multiple hemorrhages of her brain and contusions consistent with blunt-force head trauma. Police reports also state that her mother told detectives that Amarrah had been abused by her father for a period of about two years, she said. Let us all pray that justice is done. DECATUR Richard A. Rodgers, then a 32-year-old Effingham resident, met with his probation officer early Aug. 6, 2015, as part of his sentence for his heroin possession conviction. He then drove to Decatur to buy heroin. After buying a $50 bag, Rodgers drove out of town that night in his SUV, attracting attention from other drivers, who witnessed him swerving into the oncoming lane on Illinois 121, almost colliding with several other vehicles. Despite the efforts of the other motorists, who called 911 to try to prevent a tragedy, Rodgers veered into the path of a car driven by Justin L. Baker, 32, of Shelbyville, killing him and critically injuring his 4-year-old stepson, Landen Lynch. The crash occurred on Andrews Street Road, just east of Macon. Rodgers, who pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated driving under the influence of drugs, was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison. With credit for time served since his arrest in August 2015, he will be eligible for parole in 2024, after serving a minimum of 85 percent. Associate Macon County Judge Jeffrey Geisler said that in reaching his decision he considered the impact of the defendant's actions on Baker's family members, as well as Rodgers's three prior convictions. The sentencing guidelines were three to 14 years. First Assistant State's Attorney Nichole Kroncke argued for the maximum sentence at the end of the four-hour hearing. The crash is horrific, Kroncke said, adding Rodgers had seven prescription drugs in his blood, plus 5 times more of the amount of heroin necessary to be considered impaired. Ed Deters, Rodgers' attorney, asked for a sentence of about five years, noting that he had no criminal record until he was about 30 years old. All his crimes resulted from the use of opioid prescription drugs, due to back surgeries, which led him to illegal drugs. He's the face of an epidemic, Deters said. Victim impact statements were presented to the court by family members. Meghan Baker, who married Justin nine months earlier, said she celebrated her first anniversary at her husband's grave. Her 5-year-old son, Landen suffered tremendously, including brain and abdominal injuries, as well as a removed spleen. He has had five surgeries. His brain injuries have caused developmental and behavioral problems. I suffer from depression and anxiety due to going through all of this, Baker said. Jennifer Lorton, Baker's ex-wife, said he was a devoted father to their daughter, Autumn. Justin spent as much time as he could with her and attended her ballgames and school events. He was killed two weeks before his daughter's 10th birthday, said Brenda Hennigh, Justin Baker's mother. When Autumn had her best time in cross country and her Cubs won a big game, she went to the cemetery to tell her dad. No child should ever have to share their excitement and triumphs at a grave. This week in storage and CPUs found news that researchers are developing the first 1nm transistors, which is a promising development as Moore's law grinds to a halt. Speaking of grinding to a halt, the PC market continued its frightening fall. The industry is pounding the war drums of open interfaces, and IBM and all its friends joined forces to combat Intel's aspirations of an Intel-branded datacenter. We'll cover those after the recap. There's a lot of cud this week, so let's get right to chewing. The goodness of Kaby Lake is almost upon us, so it's no surprise to see the motherboard vendors lining up to support Intel's latest. Asus started by slapping the "Kaby" tag on 87 of its 100-series motherboards last week, and ASRock weighed in with its own salvo of upgrades this week. Not to be forgotten, Apollo Lake SoCs are also about to wade into the marketplace, so Asus released its J3455M-E motherboard, but in a case of oneupmanship, ASRock announced five new Apollo Lake motherboards with passive cooling. WD armed itself with SanDisk for a mere $16 billion when it gobbled it up during a fire sale. Now WD has NAND fabs and a war chest bristling with flash patents (5,000+), so it is free to assault the SSD market. WD made its somewhat triumphant return to SSD with its new Blue series, but it falls below our pricing expectations. NAND is non-volatile, but the SSD market surely is; prices fluctuate rapidly, so we expect WD to adjust its pricing soon. Of course, the high price may just be WD dipping its toes into the SSD waters to see what the market will stomach, or perhaps the NAND shortage is already rearing its ugly head. We'll know in a few weeks. Intel famously acquired Altera for the tidy sum of $16.5 billion (which seems to be the going price for everything these days), and the first fruits of its acquisition come to market in the form of the Stratix 10 FPGA. The new chip barrels in with the 14nm+ tri-gate process and up to 1TB/s of memory bandwidth from on-package HBM2 in tow. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, perhaps the 5.5 million logic elements or the impressive 80 GFlops-per-watt will (good eye, bit_user). Intel also threw in a 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor just to get us talking, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that change to an Atom in the future. A new day dawns, and with it, a new interconnect. The Gen-Z consortium consists of industry heavyweights such as AMD, ARM, Dell EMC, IBM, HPE, Micron, Samsung, Seagate, SK hynix, Western Digital, and others, and it is promoting a new bus interconnect for next-generation storage class memory. Unlike other interconnects, the Gen-Z spec uses memory semantics (load/stores - put/gets) to speed up the fabric. Gen-Z is perhaps most notable for its lack of Intel. The industry is fearful that Intel will utilize a proprietary interface for 3D XPoint and other emerging memories, so the broad consortium aims to strike back at the Intel empire with a free interconnect to keep prices in check. Patriot's Hellfire M.2 NVMe SSDs have a great name that evokes images of missiles, bombs, and fire. These are always the first things on my mind when I'm looking to upgrade my computing experience, so I'm all ears. Chris Ramseyer shot the Hellfire at our test regimen and found it to offer much better performance with the new Phison E7 firmware. It also has an attractive price point. The SSD market is in a state of flux as a new truckload of products come to market, so it might be wise to wait for more products in the next month before making your next purchase. Researchers Bust Out Lube And Carbon Nanotubes To Design 1nm Transistors (A Little Lube Fixes Everything) Carbon nanotubes are the cure for all that ails you; at least, that's what researchers think. We've been awash in carbon nanotube news as of late, as researchers recently created nanotube-based transistors that outperform silicon, and Fujitsu weighed in with an announcement that it is bringing carbon nanotube-powered NRAM memory to market next year. Of course, all of this nanotube-iness began back in 1952, and we have yet to experience the revolution, so take the news with a grain of salt (nanotubes?). Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, added to the recent news with the announcement that they have created a 1nm transistor using carbon nanotubes and molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 --a common engine lubricant) in lieu of silicon. The development of a 1nm transistor is important because most industry leaders predict that transistors, and thus the seemingly-immortal Moore's Law, will hit a brick wall at 5nm. Semiconductor fabs have already encountered significant quantum tunneling challenges as they reduce the size of the silicon transistors below 14nm, which is one of the key contributors to the recent slowdown in the chip-shrinking cadence. Transistors have a source, drain, and gate. In the image above, the current passes from the source to the drain, which the gate controls. The gate switches when voltage is applied. The electrons that flow through the MoS 2 channel are heavier because it has more resistance than silicon, thus allowing their flow to be controlled with shorter gate lengths. Researchers can roll MoS 2 into 0.65nm-thick sheets while retaining the ability to store energy in an electric field, but there is no suitable way to forge a 1nm gate using standard lithography techniques. The researchers pulled out the trusty hollow carbon nanotubes for the proof of concept. However, we should keep in mind that this is merely a proof of concept, and the new technology has no plans, at least as of yet, for mass production. The researchers published a paper in Science that one can access with a subscription. The abstract notes: As an alternative to Si, certain layered semiconductors are attractive for their atomically uniform thickness down to a monolayer, lower dielectric constants, larger band gaps, and heavier carrier effective mass. Here, we demonstrate molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) transistors with a 1-nm physical gate length using a single-walled carbon nanotube as the gate electrode. These ultrashort devices exhibit excellent switching characteristics with near ideal subthreshold swing of ~65 millivolts per decade and an On/Off current ratio of ~106. Simulations show an effective channel length of ~3.9 nm in the Off state and ~1 nm in the On state. Demonstrating a new technology and actually overcoming the economic barriers that stand between all promising technologies and mass production are always two vastly different things. The new development does show the ability to overcome the limitations of Moore's Law with new materials and techniques, but it will be some time before we see a true production-worthy silicon alternative emerge. IBM Takes The Cap Off CAPI CAPI (Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface) is perhaps the most exciting accelerator interface that you've never heard of, largely because the promising interface is relegated to the high end of the server market. Accelerators are becoming more popular as the rapid generational increases in computing power are waning. These slip-in computational power boosters attack a range of workloads such as compression, encryption, networking, and storage applications. Accelerators wield FPGAs and ASICs, and even flash storage, to great effect; but the nefarious PCIe bus stands in the way of unlocking the true potential of the speedy add-ons. IBM developed the CAPI interface to tackle the bandwidth problem. CAPI utilizes standard PCIe connections but leverages a custom protocol that provides up to 50% more performance (25Gbits per second) than a typical PCIe 4.0 slot (16Gbits per second). IBM claims the combination of accelerators and CAPI offers up to 10X the workload performance in big data applications, largely due to increased bandwidth and reduced data movement (it's coherent). Using the existing PCIe infrastructure with an optimized interface, much like Nvidia does with its proprietary NVLINK (which IBM is also a vocal proponent of), affords a faster pathway with lower latency that can help to address the most challenging of workloads, such as machine learning, with customized high-performance accelerators. IBM started down the path of open source-ry through its OpenPOWER Foundation, which began with a mere five members but has ballooned to 260. The initial effort involved opening up the "target" side of the interface, which was necessary to spur development of third-party accelerators. Now that a robust ecosystem of cards has appeared, the company has decided to open up the other end (host) of the CAPI interface. IBM still stands behind PCIe and NVLINK, but it has brought together a broad industry conflagration, which includes AMD, Dell, EMC, Google, Mellanox, Micron, and Xilinx, to support the new OpenCAPI Consortium. The purpose of opening up the spec is to allow other vendors, and processor architectures beyond IBM's own Power products, to leverage the speedy interface. Xilinx announced that it is whipping up FPGAs to support the new interface, and Mellanox has plans to infuse its networking gear with the new interface, as well. Google and Rackspace have a new server codenamed Zaius that will leverage POWER9 processors and the OpenCAPI interface. IBM also plans to introduce its OpenCAPI-powered servers in the second half of 2017. The formation of OpenCAPI, and the heavyweights behind the initiative, signals yet another broad consortium of industry players that are lining up behind open interfaces, as opposed to the proprietary interfaces that hamstring development and promote stratospheric pricing models (Intel, they are eyeballing you). Most notably, ARM and AMD are in the OpenCAPI consortium, so look for the interface to spread quickly amongst the Intel competition. We asked, and yes, Intel is free to join the consortium. If enough of the industry adopts the interface and moves forward while leaving Intel behind, Intel might not have a choice. PC Market Continues To Slump--Just Not Quite As Slumpy The poor PC market has been under duress for an extended period of time, so it really is no surprise that the decline continues. Gartner released its preliminary quarterly PC Tale of Doom, otherwise known as the PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide By Region report, which indicates that PC shipments have experienced a record-setting second year of declines. Worldwide PC shipments weighed in at 68.9 million units in 3Q16, which represents a 5.7% decline over the previous quarter. Gartner attributes much of the loss to the proliferation of computing devices, which includes phones and tablets. The company predicts that the average consumer wields at least three computing devices, which may help to reduce the need to upgrade their notebook and desktop PCs. It's notable that both the smartphone and tablet markets are also in decline, so the proliferation of devices may have a knock-on effect across the board. The U.S. market has improved to the tune of 15.3%, but the global picture helped to drag down overall PC shipments. The report also noted that the top six vendors claimed a record-setting 78% of the market share, which might indicate that smaller vendors are suffering as the industry continues to consolidate. Surprisingly, Intel recently increased its 3Q16 revenue projections due to increased chip sales, so perhaps there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. The current malaise in the computing industry likely bears some of the blame, as well. Were stuck in a never-ending cycle of incremental upgrades that don't really bring any new exciting technologies to bear, so there is nothing to spur a heavy refresh cycle. The industry envisioned a sharp increase due to the Windows 10 upgrade, but it appears that never materialized, likely because consumers could simply upgrade their existing operating system for free. In either case, the industry needs a big jump forward to spur more excitement, and because the operating system and software segments aren't going to provide the stimulus, perhaps new hardware will. Intel has its Kaby Lake processors in the hopper, but the CPUs look to be yet another iteration of the same incremental upgrade cycle. AMD has, arguably, the most exciting new release in its forthcoming Zen processors, but only time will tell if that can help jump start the PC economy. If youve been looking to forge a career in music production and sound engineering, well point you firmly in the direction of Abbey Road yes, the Abbey Road which made its way to Australia in 2015 in the form of the Abbey Road Institute, a new avenue for those hoping to get a leg up in a competitive industry. Clearly our music scene caught the eye of the legendary British studio (which of course famously produced a host of iconic recordings for The Beatles, and a great many others), as they opened up a brand new educational institute in Melbourne. The course on offer is a 12-month advanced diploma in music production and sound engineering bringing with it the hefty cache of an iconic name, backed by an equally-weighty curriculum and range of facilities. This weekend, the Melbourne campus is opening the doors of those facilities to anyone pondering their next step towards a career in music production, offering aspiring mixing board maestros a chance to learn everything they care to about the institute. From 11am to 3:30pm, itll host inspiring and informative talks, performances, and tours, while also answering any questions you may have about the place. Youll have a chance to pick the brains of staff and peers about music production and the audio industry, and get an exclusive insight into what the life of a student attending the production school is like. Industry-leading producers will be there to discuss techniques and the current state of the music industry over a series of panels, including ARI staff member and 12-time ARIA winner Charles Fisher, who can also boast awards for his Lifetime Contribution to Australian Music, Australian Producer of the Year, and Australian Engineer of the Year a cluttered mantlepiece that proves youll be in very safe hands. Meanwhile, drummer/producer Beau McCree and music industry lawyer Julian Davis will also be there to provide their experiences in a range of other fields. The state-of-the-art recording facilities will also be open for technical demonstrations all day by technical manager Brad Toan, so if the words Avid S6, SSL or API 1608 mean anything to you, or the prospects of fiddling with microphones by Shure, Neumann and Royer hold any allure, youll be in for a fun time. Even just registering and attending the Open Day could give you a push in the right direction in the form of some nifty prizes, as youll be entered into a draw to win a full licence version of the industry-standard music production software Pro Tools 12, worth a fair whack at $785, and pair of Beyerdynamic DD770 headphones to boot. Other prizes will include tickets to the variety of free gigs that take place at the institute throughout the year, or a swag of Abbey Road merch. Love The Beatles? Get the latest The Beatles news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more JOIN If you cant make it to the open day, theres another option, Study For A Day, which will take place on Friday November 5 from 10am to 3pm and offer insight from Abbey Roads Lance Krive and Bradley Toan, who have worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Stevie Nicks and Madonna not a bad resume by anyones standards. Places are limited, and Registrations are open now, with the Open Day taking place on Saturday at October 15 at the Abbey Road Institute campus at 1/135 Sturt St. Southbank, Melbourne. Despite a lot of public opinion to the contrary, it looks as though the response to music festivals of late has been increasingly positive, with more and more festivals completely selling out. Just last month, we saw Listen Out pull in 68,000 punters in four cities (of which all of them sold out), and the recently wrapped-up Caloundra Music Festival is even expecting this years attendance figures to have exceeded last years record amount of attendees. Likewise, as The Music Network reports, Festival Of The Sun has seen the quickest sell-out that the festival has experienced in its 12-year lifespan. Why is this occurring though? Well, in recent times weve been seeing a far greater amount of lineups that are managing to appeal to both the younger and older market demographics, which is in turn, bringing in a larger amount of patrons than ever before. For proof of this, one need only to look at the Queenscliff Music Festival, who are on track to be looking at their first sell-out in the 20 year history of the event. Featuring artists as diverse as Ben harper & The Innocent Criminals, Killing Heidi, Paul Kelly & Charlie Owen, and Urthboy, theres something there to appeal to the widest array of punters. Even the Falls Festival has seen increased demand. Already, tickets to the Lorne, Victoria event sold out in 45 minutes, but the festival has applied for an increased capacity of 1000 in order to ensure they wont disappoint an excessive number of patrons. While we arent sure if this means that were entering a new golden age of music festivals, were definitely sure that music festivals are experiencing a bit of a much-needed revival. One of Australias finest indie exports, Sodastream, have returned from their 10 year hiatus with their new track Three Sins. The Perth duo, acclaimed for their intricate instrumentation and sweet, wavering melodies, broke up in 2007 following the release of their fourth album Reservations. Reuniting in 2013, the group are set to release their fifth album, Little By Little, in February of next year. The first taste Three Sins, was originally written for their last album Reservations, but ultimately didnt make the cut. It features the trademark Sodastream sense of humour, mixed in with a Wilco-esque vocal delivery, and a confronting set of lyrics, namely based around sympathy for social pariahs. While we are yet to see any tour dates to accompany the release of Three Sins or the upcoming Little By Little album, we can only hope that when Sodastream bring their music to us, theyll be back in the form that we knew and loved them in back in the day. Golden Plains 2017 kicked things off in a big way last month after announcing the dates and ticketing ballot for next year, as well as a massive and altogether legendary headliner in the form of Split Enz and Crowded House icon Neil Finn. Now, punters gathered in the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre underneath the full moon will also be treated to a performance from UK music veterans The Specials, one of the most revered and pioneering bands in the genre of 2-Tone ska. The annual Golden Plains ticketing ballot is also still open. You can check below for all the dates and ticketing details and feel free to get really excited about one of the biggest dates on the annual Aussie festival calendar. The Ballot for Golden Plains XI is open until 10pm Monday, 17th October, so make sure you act fast. As for the event, organisers are promising the same Golden Plains you know and love with a few improvements like a new sound system, new campground, new foods, and new kids under 12 free. GOLDEN PLAINS 2017 The Specials joining Neil Finn Saturday, 11th March Monday, 13th March 2017 Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre VIC Tickets: Golden Plains Kansas City Hotspot Cash Continues Kansas City Metro Runaround Today Toy Train Hype Report Tonight Latino Voters Unite For Hillary Tonight Cowtown Cash Kindness Tonightat an impressive 44 years-old proves thatand thereby inspires this quick peek at some of the evening news. Take a look:And this is thefor right now . . . URBANA Unlike their party leaders, the two candidates for the 13th Congressional District kept their tone civil and arguments policy-focused during a debate Thursday. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and Democratic challenger Mark Wicklund of Decatur covered topics including health care, gun regulations and the Black Lives Matter movement during the event at the WILL-TV studio on the University of Illinois campus. The debate was hosted by Illinois Public Media, NPR Illinois and the League of Women Voters of Champaign County. Davis, 46, is seeking his third term in office. Wicklund, 48, is a former Macon County Board member and president of the Decatur-Macon County Opportunities Corp. board. Neither candidate has gotten what he wanted out of the presidential race, as both supported someone other than his partys nominee during the primary election. Davis initially endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. He later supported Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and agreed to serve on his agricultural advisory committee but ended both Saturday after a recording surfaced of Trump making vulgar comments about women in 2005. Its a decision that my wife and I made across the kitchen counter when we heard the recent comments, Davis said, citing the example set for his three teenage children. What we heard was something that I dont think should be heard from anyone, let alone candidates running for the president of the United States. Wicklund backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the presidential primary but has now thrown his support behind Hillary Clinton, calling her the most experienced candidate. He doesnt agree with all of her actions, though. Well, you know, thats Basic Ethics 101 when youre running for public office. ... She shouldve known to separate her email accounts and keep them that way, he said. The FBI has looked at those and felt there was no need to file any charges. Shes promised to do better going down the road, and Ill hold her to that promise. Both candidates said they support Second Amendment gun rights, and spoke about the need to address mental health issues as part of any strategy to reduce gun violence. Wicklund said he wanted to close the gun show loophole, which allows private individuals to buy firearms at gun shows in some states without passing a background check. If they can go next door to Indiana, go there and purchase a weapon of any caliber they want and bring it back to Chicago (Closing the loophole) will tighten that up and reduce the amount of guns coming into the Chicago area, Wicklund said. Davis said criminals dont follow gun restrictions. Every time a new law is passed to address a problem that criminals will never follow anyway, it only affects law-abiding citizens, he said. Thats something Im going to fight against. Both candidates were asked if they had met with activists from the Black Lives Matter movement to hear their concerns. Wicklund said that he had. Davis said he had not but would be willing to do so. They agreed that attacking law enforcement was not the way to resolve issues, and both called for judicial reform. In different terms, they spoke of the need for improved communication between law enforcement officers and the communities they protect. From middle school to college, Davis said students at schools he visits are concerned about these issues. I urge them to get to know their police chief and also get to know the local officials who have jurisdiction over the police department, Davis said. When theres more communication and you and I both know each other, were going to be able to avoid many of the problems I think were seeing. Wicklund recalled his childhood in Decaturs inner city, when police officers were a highly visible part of the neighborhoods. Right now, we have law enforcement in Decatur that live 40, 50 miles outside of town, he said. How do you represent your community and serve and protect them if you dont know firsthand whats going on within that community? Davis continued his call to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He has repeatedly supported replacing it with other legislation that would include allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines. Wicklund acknowledged problems with the health care legislation, but said it was a good starting point. He indicated support for a Medicare-for-all or single-payer addition to the system. The debate will be rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Monday on WILL-TV. KANSAS CITY INSIDERS OFFER FIRST WORD OF NEW CONSERVATIVE "BALANCE" COMING TO THE KANSAS CITY STAR THAT ALREADY HAS HARD LINE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPPORTERS CONCERNED!!! BUT IS IT TOO LATE TO LURE PEOPLE BACK TO THE NEWSPAPER WITH A FEW RIGHT LEANING COLUMNS??? This week that Kansas City Star has been publishing nothing but cartoons and letters to the editor.A great many TKC readers have complained about this fact and the dearth of editorial content during an election season that tends to inspire more reader participation is troubling to many local news junkies.The reported firing of Yael Abouhalkah and Lewis Diuguid's decision to leave on his own terms have left the paper without any real voice given that Barb Shelly is now ruining The Pitch with her progressive talking point regurgitation and nobody expects much out of Mary Sanchez. But the current hard times of the newspaper are easy to see for the last remaining handful of folks who pick up the newsprint regularly.Here'son the new direction of the paper that threatens to turn the politics of Kansas City upside down . . .Checkit:Fact is . . . Progressive politics were an integral part of the newspaper's decline and the hope is that balance will bring readers back.Columnists on their way are touted asand it's hard to deny that description should at least pique the interests of avid news readers.Still, the reality is that the Star's printing biz isn't as lucrative as newspaper cheerleaders claim and would do better on its own . . . Google and Facebook dominate the advertising market ahead of all competitors and set prices far too low for large scale publishers with huge salary demands like the Star to compete . . . Still, there is hope for survival despite the fact that subscribers and biz keep abandoning the increasingly niche publication during the current social media epoch.So will this upcoming Conservative move bring the Star back from the edge of doom??? You decide . . . The migrant situation is better than last year, EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said The migrant situation is better than last year, EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said at a press conference of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. However, the situation is still very fragile in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, but also in other Member States that have to deal with a high number of asylum applications, irregular migrants to return and refugees to integrate, he said. Avramopoulos welcomes the success of all Member States to deliver on their commitments. In the last few months, many Member States have increased their efforts on relocation and resettlement, demonstrating what is possible, if the political will is there, he noted. "I encouraged the Ministers to continue delivering like this, and the Commission will continue supporting Member States with all available means to further accelerate the implementation of the relocation and resettlement schemes, as well as the full implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement," he stated. External partners The EU Commissioner stressed that migration challenges cannot only be addressed inside Europe, but we have to work with our external partners. "Today we had a fruitful discussion on the Migration Partnership Framework which is a key element to reduce irregular migration flows and improve returns of irregular migrants. Today, we have not only discussed about the measures to address the immediate needs, but also how to build a more resilient European migration and asylum policy to face future challenges." Avramopoulos acknowledged that progress has been reached on the reform of Eurodac and to create a new European Asylum Agency, adding "I hope we can reach an agreement by the end of the year." "Following the official launch of the European Border and Coast Guard last week, we discussed the next steps to fully operationalise the new agency within the coming months. For this, I called on the Member States to be fully engaged to set up for instance the pool of experts. However, better managing our external borders in order to reduce irregular arrivals means also that we have to enhance pathways for people in need of protection to come legally. This is why we had an intensive discussion on the EU resettlement framework." All these elements are inter-linked and crucial building blocks of a sustainable and future-proof European migration and asylum policy, he underlined. "Finally, managing our external borders better is also essential to improve our security. The key element here is exchange of information," according to the Commissioner. "We all agreed that we have to know who is crossing our external borders. For that, we already have proposals on the table for systematic checks of EU citizens at our external borders, and for an EU entry-exit system. These changes to our border management are urgent to improve our security. The Member States and the European Parliament need to move quickly and adopt them into law still this year. I have also informed the Ministers that next month I will propose an EU Travel Information and Authorisation System, similar to the US 'ESTA'," he concluded. 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 Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras contacted former U.S. president Bill Clinton before Greece's July 2015 referendum on bailouts but only spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama afterward Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras contacted former U.S. president Bill Clinton before Greece's July 2015 referendum on bailouts but only spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama afterward, a Greek government source told the Athens-Macedonian New Agency (ANA) on Thursday. The source was responding to ANA questions about the revelations recently made by Wikileaks in the "Podesta e-mails" posted on October 7. These revealed that Obama's office had reached out to Bill Clinton via John Podesta, Clinton's former chief of staff, asking whether he might be able to persuade Tsipras to sign a bailout deal. In the leaked e-mails John Podesta, who currently heads the Hillary Clinton campaign, is shown contacting Clinton's office to ask whether the former president, referred to as WJC for Willian Jefferson Clinton, was willing and able to step in. "iIm on a train and hard to talk by phone. White House asked me whether WJC had enough of a relationship with PM Tsipras to call him and counsel him to make a deal. Can you ask him whether thats in the realm of possibility. If yes, I can talk to him after Im off the train and explain their thinking and what they are hoping to accomplish. Thanks." Clinton's office sent a message back indicating that Clinton was initially amenable but requesting additional information, including whether the same pressures would be applied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 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 Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) has announced that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has approved the plan to renovate a number of historic mosques in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The renovations are an extension of ongoing efforts to renovate and revive a number of historic mosques throughout the kingdom, explained Prince Sultan bin Salman, head of SCTNH. The announcement came during Prince Sultans speech at a workshop on the care and rehabilitation of historic mosques held recently in Madinah. Prince Sultan also announced the establishment of a fund for renovation of historic mosques in Madinah that will allow every citizen to participate in the process. He confirmed that King Salman has given great importance to historic mosques and has emphasised that any renovation projects launched in areas like historic Jeddah, central Riyadh, and historic Dariyah give considerable importance to the renovation of historic mosques. He also praised the donations of citizens and businessmen in Madinah to support the renovation of 14 historic mosques. An announcement was made for the establishment of a fund to support the renovation of historic mosques in Jeddah, said Prince Sultan, noting that efforts are currently under way to renovate Al Memaar Mosque in Old Jeddah at the expense of the King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Endowment. He also confirmed efforts are under way to renovate Othman bin Affan historic mosque in Old Jeddah, in addition to a number of other mosques. TradeArabia News Service A Saudi Arabian airlines passenger plane, bound for Madinah, was forced to make an emergency landing at Cairo International Airport due to bad weather conditions. The Flight 829 was on its way to the Saudi city from Alexandria's Borg Al-Arab airport, said an official source from the Saudi airways company. The pilot had to divert the plane and make an emergency landing in Cairo after he was alerted about the bad weather conditions in Alexandria, it added.-TradeArabia News Service Dear Dr. Roach: Does a diuretic such as Lasix (furosemide) have any negative effect on kidney function after being taken over a period of 16 years in connection with congestive heart failure? E.T. A: Furosemide (Lasix) is a powerful drug. It prevents the kidney from being able to reabsorb water and salt, which are then excreted by the kidney. This drug is used for many different medical conditions, but especially to reduce the symptoms of fluid overload in people with heart, liver or kidney failure from some underlying condition. The effect of furosemide on the kidney is very powerful, but it diminishes somewhat over time as the kidney makes changes to compensate, to a degree, for the effects of the drug. Over time, most people with congestive heart failure on chronic furosemide therapy do have some loss of kidney function. However, most authorities feel that this progressive loss is due more to the underlying disease than it is to the medicine. For example, in heart failure, the kidney often does not get all the blood it needs, which in itself can lead to kidney damage. Furosemide needs to be used judiciously, but with proper care it is a safe medication for the right indications. Tongue cancer Dear Dr. Roach: I have a history of squamous cell cancer of the tongue. About six weeks ago, a PET scan highlighted activity on my tongue for the second time in 28 months. The biopsy pathology came back as type 16 positive, associated with the HPV virus. I am scheduled to have surgery to robotically extract the tumor. My question is about HPV. Is this the same virus that causes canker sores? I have had two large canker sores on the back-right side of my tongue, and later two more on the front-right side. Now the sores have cleared up, but my tongue is still numb on the right side. J.K. A: Human papilloma virus is becoming a leading risk factor for development of cancer of the mouth and pharynx. Type 16 is the most common to cause cancer, in the head and neck for both men and women, as well as cervical cancer in women. HPV most commonly appears as a wart, but it can have multiple appearances. However, they are an outgrowth from the skin, whereas a canker sore is an ulcer, a hole in the lining of the mouth or tongue. Canker sores (properly called "aphthous ulcers") are not thought to be related to viral infections, but are thought to be more autoimmune related. They can be related to irritants, such as sodium lauryl sulfate, a component of many toothpastes. The booklet on herpes and genital warts explains these two common infections in detail. Readers can obtain a copy by writing: Dr. Roach, Book No. 1202, 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 with the recipient's printed name and address. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Blood testing Dear Dr. Roach: I donated a pint of blood last week through the American Red Cross Organization. Afterward, the nurse drew an additional five vials, and when I questioned her as to the reason, she said they would be "sent for testing." I have donated blood for years but have previously never had these additional samples drawn. Can you help explain why? T.C. A: Although I can't be sure, I know that the Red Cross, like other blood organizations, is taking steps to comply with the new Food and Drug Administration requirement to test for Zika virus. Depending on what state you live in, it may be that they were screening you for Zika virus in order to keep the blood supply safe. Zika virus is known to cause birth defects when a pregnant woman becomes infected. Donald Trump launched his Trump Taj Mahal casino 26 years ago and called it as 'the eighth wonder of the world'. However, his friend and fellow billionaire Carl Icahn decided to close it Monday morning, causing it to be the fifth casualty of Atlantic City's casino crisis. Regarding Monday's shutdown of the gambling hall, Trump told The Associated Press in a recent interview, "there's no reason for this." According to ABC News, Trump said that both sides should have been able to work out a deal to keep the casino open. Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union went on strike July 1, after it could not agree with Icahn on a new contract to restore health insurance and pension benefits that were terminated two years ago in bankruptcy court. On August 3, Icahn decided to close the casino, stating that it lacked a "path to profitability." Approximately 3,000 workers lost their jobs, contributing to the total jobs lost by Atlantic City casino closings to 11,000 since 2014. Moreover, picketers attached an anti-Icahn poster that they had signed to the casino's main Boardwalk entrance door which proclaimed: "We held the line." "We held the line against a billionaire taking from us!" said Marc Scittina, a food service worker at the Taj Mahal's player's club since shortly after it opened in 1990. "This battle has been going on for two years." The Taj Mahal becomes the fifth Atlantic City casino to go out of business since 2014, when four others, including Trump Plaza, shut their doors. Also, this time, the shutdown is different. Fox News says that it involves a casino built by the Republican candidate for president, who took time out from the campaign trail to lament its demise. "I felt they should have been able to make a deal," Trump told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "It's hard to believe they weren't able to make a deal." See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 A family from Bury, Great Manchester is contesting the decision made by the American Airlines to deny their refund request for their three-year old son's ticket who was diagnosed with Leukemia before his supposed flight. The Airline argued that the diagnosis, as the reason for the cancellation is not an "exceptional circumstance." In a report from The Sun, the three-year old Oscar Long was diagnosed with Leukemia in July, just two weeks before his travel to Florida along with nine members of his family. With his condition, he was not allowed to travel for another three years of which the family heeded and opted to cancel the trip and had provided the airline the proper documentation of what happened hoping that their case will be considered. However, American Airlines declined the request and said that it is against their policy. The other members of the family except for Oscar and his parents, were forced to continue their trip leaving the boy in his house still thinking that he is going to Florida and visit Disneyland. "The day we were travelling Oscar was having a round of chemotherapy. We booked it as a whole family and we wanted to travel with the whole family, we didn't want to go," said Kimberley Wallwork, Oscar's aunt. Saddened and angered by the situation, the boy's parents Ben and Leane have been talking with the travel agency and the American Airlines itself to rectify their decision and issue a refund for the three of them. Express reported that the family was able to receive a partial refund of 748.60 out of the total 1,270 they spent for the tickets. The Flight Guru, the family's travel agency have been negotiating with American Airlines for the family to receive the whole amount as refund and offered a 200 voucher as a sign of goodwill to the family. The family said that the whole debacle has been really stressful, adding weight to the sadness they feel regarding their son's Leukemia diagnosis. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Passengers aboard an Azur Air flight from Antalya, Turkey to Moscow were shocked at the grim turn of events that happened only 45 minutes in the journey. The unnamed 50-year old woman suffered from a deadly diabetic seizure in-flight, ultimately leading to her demise. The members of the cabin crew were unable to help her during the said situation. According to the Daily Mail, the passenger wasn't able to bring Insulin with her in her carry-on, as she thought that were wasn't any need for it since she gave herself a dose of it before the flight. This was just an unforeseen event for both ends. The cabin crew had no choice but to lay her body down the aisle and put a blanket over her. The pilot made the executive decision of just completing the flight to Moscow, rather than going for an emergency landing. The flight was a little bit over three hours. Passengers were traumatized at the events, and they had no choice but to sit with the body for the entire duration of the flight. The crew had no choice to leave her body there, because it was a full flight. There wasn't any space left where the other passengers can't see the body. This event happens very rarely in flights, but if anything like this happens, they usually have a protocol for it like laying down the body in isolated aisles or if the plane is big enough, at the 'corpse compartment'. Stuff New Zealand also reports that the passenger might also have been suffering from acute heart failure prior to the trip. Passengers with diabetes are advised to inform cabin crew that they have such conditions. They will be allowed to carrying syringes with Insulin on board, all they need to do is to present a doctor's note. Diabetes is a serious condition, which is why patients should always observe self-care. Here's Youtuber T1D Lindsey's story about flying as a diabetic: See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 After the recently concluded 2016 Rio Olympics, four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles is starting to make the rounds for Team USA's victory tour. This included a stint at Chicago's O'Hare airport, one of the world's busiest airports, where she briefly worked as crew member for United Airlines, one of her many sponsors as a professional athlete. Simone Biles, four-time Olympic gold medalist, United Airlines cabin crew Simone did tasks such as informing passengers about Wi-Fi details on the flight, scanning tickets at the gate, and inspecting the plane's cargo hold. The best part of the day was when she did a shift as a flight attendant, and announced that an Ohio-bound plane was headed to Rio, site of the last Olympic games. Interacting with the fans "Simone Biles was back on the podium yesterday, but for a very different reason: She was alerting passengers it was time to board a flight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport," says the Huffington Post. The four-foot-eight Texas native was greeted at the airport by a flood of selfie requests. Most of the excited onlookers were young fans, also training to become world-class gymnasts for Team USA. "She's my favorite gymnast - she's my idol!," Averill Downey, 11, of Patterson, NY, tells the Chicago Tribune, "I'm so happy to have met her today." Averill, an aspiring gymnast, did a handstand while Biles assisted. "Oh, no, no, no, no," said Charlie Hughes, 11, of Darien, CO, when the Chicago Tribune asked if he would take a picture with Biles. Hughes said, "I'm too scared. She was so great in the Olympics." Eventually, with much coaxing, his mother talked him into taking the picture, something he can be proud of when he achieves his goals. Stage Dad Despite Biles' fun and excitement over the Team USA tour Ronald Biles, Simone's father, was standing by at the airport, and was "mystified" over people's reactions to his daughter. Besides the many requests for selfies, many fans end up screaming and getting way excited, reactions Ronald isn't used to over his daughter, whom he has known for the past 19-years of her life. Team USA Gymnastics Tour Simone and the rest of the US Gymnastics Team will be at the United Center on Thursday, October 13 for the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions. Other well-known Team USA athletes include team captain Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian. Simone Biles is also sponsored by Hershey's who released an ad in June 2016, featuring the famous athlete. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 A total of 264 passengers of Thai Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had an impromptu visit to Bali, Indonesia after the pilot diverted the flight due to faulty oil sensor. News.com.au reported that the Thai Airways aircraft, which was already three hours delayed for departure, was originally bound for Brisbane, Australia from Bangkok. After a few moments in the air, the passengers noticed the plane's change in direction and was informed later that they will be having an emergency landing in Bali due to an error in the plane's oil sensor. In the same report Paul Pluta, one of the passengers, said that the plane had dumped oils before having a very rough landing in Denpasar. "They normally say "cabin crew arm the doors" before landing, but they didn't say that this time, that means the safety chutes were ready to fire on a bad landing," he said. An insider from the airline industry was quick to argue that the claims of Mr. Pluta was misguided. "Doors are armed (meaning that the emergency slides will inflate if the door is opened from the inside) from shortly after pushback, and remain so until shortly before arriving at the gate," the insider said. This measure is done to avoid accidental deployment of the chutes when doors are opened. According to Stuff, the passengers were forced to stay overnight in Bali and were accommodated in nearby hotels while the plane is being checked and repaired. A spokeswoman from Thai Airways said that the plane is expected to arrive at its original destination in Brisbane by approximately 30 minutes to midnight of Oct. 12 or a total of 36 hours of travel from Bangkok, Bali and to Brisbane. In the same report from Stuff, the International Civil Aviation Organization has raised concerns about Thailand's safety measures and practices in aviation. Reportedly, Thai Airways was banned from doing operations in China, Japan and South Korea. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Sydney may have been recognized as a convict settlement, but nowadays it's Australia's largest and most glamorous city. It has fascinating combination of laid-back beaches, a glittering coastline, historic clout, and plenty of contemporary development. In short, this capital of New South Wales is a must-see destination. Those who plan to pay a visit have a lot of options for where to stay, varying from quirky boutique hotels such as QT Sydney to five-star properties like the Langham. Book a room at the sleek Establishment Hotel in the CBD if you opt to stay in the metropolis' business and shopping district. If ever that you want to explore Sydney's up-and-coming inner neighbourhoods like Chippendale, the industrial-chic Old Clare Hotel is perfect for you. Surfing as a hobby? Stay at the QT Bondi, the latest hotel in laid-back Bondi Beach. Every kind of traveler will find the perfect vacation home among the five chic hotels in Sydney written below, as suggested by Architectural Digest: The Old Clare Hotel It opened its service last fall in up-and-coming Chippendale. The structure unites two heritage buildings with a raw, industrial design that gives tribute to the past, at the same time, feels very of-the-moment. Most of the rooms and suites feature exposed brick walls or original wood paneling. From $252/night; theoldclare.com.au QT Sydney This place is located in the heart of Sydney's CBD. QT Sydney, a quirky boutique hotel, has many of dramatic flair. Merging the historic Gowings department store and the former State Theater, QT Sydney mixes Gothic, Italianate, and Art Deco architecture with playful modern design. From $362/night; qthotelsandresorts.com QT Bondi QT's latest hotel shows Bondi's surfer-cool aesthetic with an art installation by Shaun Gladwell in the lobby. The rooms are bright and airy which are done up in beachy neons and pastels with subway-tiled bathrooms. It is also equipped with a kitchenette and washer/dryer. From $188/night; qthotelsandresorts.com The Langham Sydney This is one of Sydney's premier five-star hotels which offer impeccable design and unparalleled service. The Langham Sydney has modified furnishings, luxurious materials, and art combine to form an elegant residential vibe. The rooms include tufted headboards, classic furniture, and marble bathrooms. There's also a Palm Court bar that serves a renowned afternoon tea and a spa which is the perfect place to rejuvenate. From $452/night; langhamhotels.com Hotel Palisade This small boutique hotel in a historic building near the Rocks district has rooms which displays an Impressionistic hand-painted mural, along with elegant furnishings in nautical tones and works by local artists. Hotel Palisade features different shades of pink, has a dreamy rooftop bar and restaurant Henry Deane gives a tranquil relief with stunning views of Sydney Harbour. From $210/night; hotelpalisade.com See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Marine conservationists' battle against Japanese has become more intense. This lead the Sea Shepherd Global, the self-proclaimed "direct action" ocean conservation organization, a group that fights against poaching, hunting, and illegal fishing, to introduce their latest weapon against Japan's whaling industry, the Ocean Warrior. According to Headlines and Global News, Sea Shepherd chief executive Alex Cornelissen stated that their group has been missing one thing in their fleet: a vessel with speed and endurance. The 54-yard Ocean Warrior needed 18 months to build by a Dutch shipbuilding firm. With its state of the art hybrid propulsion, four powerful engines and a helicopter landing deck, and a red cannon mounted on the bridge which can eject a mighty spume of water to inhibit the visibility of the whalers, the Ocean Warrior cost 8.3 million euros or $9.3 million with funding from public lotteries based in Great Britain, The Netherlands, and Sweden. Cornelissen was confident that the Ocean Warrior can outmatch any poaching vessels and with its speed and endurance, the vessel will help them be able to follow anywhere the poachers go and run away from them if the war gets too aggressive. Sea Shepherd has fought for their advocacy to "defend, conserve, and protect" marine life in the vast expanses of the planet's oceans for almost 40 years according to Yahoo! News. Around 5,000 whales were also saved by the Sea Shepherd Global for the past ten years. They are also preparing for their 11th campaign in the Southern Ocean: Operation Nemesis. Despite the global moratorium imposed in 1986, Japan has still continued hunting whales. Tokyo has sought to close down the campaigns on anti-whaling in court complaining that the activists ram their ships and snare propellers with ropes, harass their crews by using paint and stink bombs on them. On the other hand, the marine conservationists complain that the whalers usually throw stun grenades at them and try to sabotage their vessels. "I'm hopeful, because we've seen the whalers go down and they'll continue to go down, because we'll continue to make their lives miserable down there," said Cornelissen. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Popular German kitchen appliance designer, Bosch, has developed a self-driving car, for launch at the ITS World Congress in Melbourne, Australia. This event marks a first for Australia - a self-driving vehicle operating on its roads. Bosch's Vehicle Automation Project "Bosch has been working on a vehicle automation system for five years that can be used on any car," Gavin Smith, President of Bosch Oceania, told Business Insider in an email. "For this demonstration, Bosch used a Tesla Model S, but it stripped the car of its Autopilot hardware and replaced the sensors with its own technology." Last July, Elon Musk, CEO of hypersonic speed technlogy leader Tesla, said that Bosch, who was already making Tesla's radar sensors, would be working on significant new improvements in the future. "Our work is systems based so any vehicle could have been used as the donor," Smith said of Bosch's prototype vehicle. "A Tesla Model S was chosen because it represents our mobility solution well, it is connected, electric, and automated." The need for Self-Driving Cars In a review, Bosch claims more than 90% of vehicular accidents are caused by human error, and self-driving cars can produce transportation risk factor by a big probability. This means that besides the car being able to signal to the driver different warnings the driver may not pick up, the car itself may act on behalf of humans in emergency situations, saving the lives of the driver, and riders in the car. Australia and Self-Driving cars According to Gizmodo Australia, the Victorian government has invested $1.2 million at this initiative, hand-in-hand with its Transport Accident Commission. The Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative also shared that Australians were keen on self-driving cars for when "they're bored" -- not necessarily a safety feature, but could prove to be another advantage to the self-driving car. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 It should surprise no one that this presidential election -- the first ever to involve a female nominee from a major party in the top spot -- has devolved into a contest of man's ultimate metaphor. I'm not referring to a spitting competition, if you're struggling here. Rather, the race apparently is to determine which is the worst man on the stage -- Bill Clinton or Donald Trump. Never mind that Hillary Clinton is the one running for president. This historic struggle for dominion over a winning narrative, either one of which would be a losing proposition in a sane world, proves yet again that we dismissed Dr. Freud too soon. And, if I may add a footnote for future discussion, that women have traded their superior powers in pursuit of the lesser distinction of being equal to men. Would that life were more complicated. Instead, we are hostage to a comedy. Shocked, shocked, I tell you, the people were to hear an 11-year-old recording of Trump talking dirty about women. Really? Democrats, who tolerated a president's abuse of power with an intern and, poor Freud, a cigar that wasn't just a cigar, couldn't believe their ears. Republicans couldn't believe the hypocrisy of Democrats. Tell me if you've heard this before. The revelation that sent Trump supporters scurrying to protect their women's skirts? The GOP nominee's bragging to Billy Bush about kissing beautiful women and grabbing their privates, presumably without their consent, because that, young man, is what celebrities get to do! No news here, folks. But speaking of weird, Republicans previously have been fine with Trump's racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic comments -- but, this business won't stand. Meanwhile, poor Billy Bush, whose full name can't be said too often, has been suspended from his "Today" show job because he played along, laughing at Trump's absurd statements. Well, of course, he played along. He was a reporter for a Hollywood show at the time and this is what reporters do. They will laugh at just about anything to keep an idiot talking. But America is rediscovering its virtue, if, as always, selectively. Morning chatterboxes at Fox News remind us, as if we could forget, that Christians believe in redemption and second chances. Trump apologized. Others have said that "actions matter more than words." While Trump only talked about assaulting women (as far as we know), Clinton did have sexual relations with that woman, consensually, and possibly others who weren't so inclined. In either case, outrage is justified -- and I won't defend either man's behavior. But a little context might be helpful in understanding these two characters. Trump and Bill were born two months apart in 1946 into a revolutionary culture that soon would embrace a hip-swiveling crooner named Elvis Presley and Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine. Basically, everything you need to know about Bill Clinton and Donald Trump can be found in these two mid-century icons. A fellow Southerner, Clinton saw himself as Elvis. Even now, his face sometimes betrays Elvis' smoldering glance with the slightly curled lip. Trump, a New York City boy, was Hefner. He collected all the toys of the Playboy lifestyle -- boats, planes, cars -- the best of everything a gilt-mongering rich boy would seek to glam-up his sex appeal. Mar-a-Lago was his Playboy mansion. All three of his wives have been bunny quality, and Trump Tower isn't just a tall building. Of course, he believes that any woman would welcome his kisses. And then things got weirder. Trump has dismissed his casual chat with the much-younger Billy Bush as "locker room talk." Whereupon, offended athletes more recent to the locker room -- and to a greater awareness about sexual harassment and rape -- decried Trump's insult to their integrity. At a "news" conference before the second debate, Trump rounded up three women who shared recollections of their unwanted sexual encounters with Bill Clinton. A fourth woman condemned Hillary Clinton for serving as the court-appointed attorney in defending a man that she accused of raping her when she was 12. The women flanked Trump, who sat with hands neatly folded on the table, looking as pious as an acolyte about to recite the Apostles' Creed. Whether Hillary Clinton's attempts to contain "bimbo eruptions" are sufficient to undermine her global role in advancing women's rights will be a tough call only for those to whom Ken Bone's red sweater is a hero. As for Elvis and Hef, they are so yesterday. Personally, I never could stand either one. ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan's top court has adjourned the appeals hearing for Christian woman convicted of blasphemy who has been on death row since 2010. A Supreme Court judge on Thursday refused to hear the case of Aasia Bibi, citing a possible conflict of interest. Her lawyer, Saiful Malook, says no new hearing date has been set. The case has drawn international condemnation of Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws. Bibi was arrested after a quarrel with Muslim women in eastern Punjab province and accused of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a charge she repeatedly denied. Pakistani Islamists have been demanding Bibi's execution and two officials, a governor and a minorities' minister, were killed in 2011 for supporting her. Rallies also took place on Thursday in the cities of Lahore and Karachi, demanding Bibi's execution. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Low 58F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Early this morning a bus carrying 52 passengers from Moscow to Yerevan collided with an 18-wheeler on a stretch of highway six kilometers from the town of Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia killing five. The accident occurred at 4:30 a.m. local time (5.30 a.m. Yerevan time). Of the five killed, 3 were ethnic Russians, citizens of Russia. The two Armenians killed were citizens of Armenia. One was the driver of the bus. Armenias Ministry of Transport, Communication and IT, reports that the Mercedes bus was not registered to ply the well-travelled route from Moscow to Yerevan. The bus is said to belong to one Karen Poghosyan. The ministry does not specify who Poghoayan is, nor does it say what caused the deadly crash An investigation into the crash has been launched. UPDATE: The driver of the bus involved in a deadly crash earlier today has been identified as Yura Poghosyan, father of the bus owner Karen Poghosyan. This information was relayed to Hetq by Davit Melkonyan, an official at Armenias Ministry of Transport, Communication and IT. Melkonyan says that Karen Poghosyan isnt operating any other bus routes as far as the ministry knows. A bus returning the uninjured passengers to Armenia was cancelled, and they have been transferred to an airplane allocated by the Russian government. Melkonyan couldnt say when the plane would touch down in Yerevan. Armenias Ministry of Health reports that ten injured passengers are now being treated in three hospitals located in the town of Vladikavhaz. A few are in serious condition and the others have various degrees of contusions and broken limbs. Seoul, October 14 Samsung Electronics said today that discontinuing the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, which is prone to overheat and catch fire, will cost it about $3 billion in the current and coming quarters, raising total costs from the recalls to at least $5.3 billion. The Note 7 discontinuation will cost in the mid-2 trillion won range during the October-December period and another 1 trillion won ($884 million) during the January-March quarter, the company said. Samsung already slashed its third-quarter profit forecast by $2.6 billion earlier this week, an amount that could wipe out its entire mobile business profit. That did not include the cost of Samsung's first recall, which analysts estimated at 1 trillion won to 2 trillion won. Samsung has enough cash and other businesses to absorb the shock from the phone recall. It said it expected to generate 5.2 trillion won ($4.6 billion) in operating income during the third quarter after the recall cost. Analysts said most of the income will be generated by sales of advanced displays and semiconductors. Samsung added that it will make significant changes in its quality assurance processes to improve product safety. It did not elaborate. The company said it will expand sales of two other smartphones released in spring, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, quashing rumours that it may try to release updated versions of those devices. More than 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones were recalled due to the unexplained overheating problems before Samsung gave up the product earlier this week, just two months after its launch in August. AP Satinder Pal Singh Dera Bassi, October 12 Punjabs anti-tobacco law is set to get tougher as the government has issued fresh guidelines to plug all loopholes that led to the poor enforcement of a ban on tobacco products. The Health Department had issued a warning to all sweetmeat shop owners, grocers and bakers to stop sale, storage of tobacco products which have already banned under the Food Safety and Standards Act. Officials from the Health Department said storage, distribution or sale of tobacco which was flavoured, scented or mixed was strictly prohibited. This could be in the form of gutka, pan masala or by any other name. It has been learnt that the department had started conducting inspections and raids in the city following complaints by residents that vendors in the city were selling tobacco products openly despite a ban by the government. Sources said a warning had been issued to small retailers, roadside vendors not to sell loose cigarettes, gutka, pan masala or face suspension of their licences. The officials said the department had been conducting surprise checks at various points of sale of tobacco products to check violations as per complaints received by the department in this regard. Keeping in view health aspects, we have issued a warning to them not to sell any tobacco-related products, said one of the officials in the Health Department. Surinder Singh, District Health Officer, said strict instructions had been issued to the authorities concerned to seize the chewable tobacco under the Food Safety and Standards Act and initiate action against the violators. He said no laxity by any erring officials in its implementation would be tolerated at any cost. In the face of non-compliance of the Health Departments instruction within the stipulated time, the vendors/traders could be challaned with a cash penalty of Rs 25,000. Licence of commercial establishment could be cancelled in case of violation of the Tobacco Control Act as per the latest notification of the Punjab Government, Surinder added. Charu Chhibber Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 14 Indias foreign policy aggravates conflict rather than damping it down. We must make friends with other countries like Jawaharlal Nehru did. This was stated by Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs and Sports, during a session of the Young Thinkers Conference at the Indian School of Business, Mohali, here today. Aiyer was addressing the ongoing issue of Indias conflict with Pakistan. As a solution to the worlds problems, including India-Pakistan, Aiyer proposed going back to the Gandhian philosophy. Why fight and invade countries? Let us please go back to the Mahatmas way of life and run the world from there, he exhorted. Aiyer was one of the panellists of the session that deliberated upon the topic Are economic considerations adequately reflected in foreign policy? The session was chaired by senior journalist Praveen Swami, and speakers included Ambassador Paramjit S Sahai, former high commissioner to Malaysia and ambassador to Sweden; and Ravindran Devagunam, director, Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) of Malaysia. Aiyer further said Though India is a rising economic superpower, as far as creation of human power was concerned, the nation is poor. Our strength lies in being a soft power. Our overambitious nature drives us off-track. We need modest global ambitions to prosper. Backing Aiyers statement, Swami remarked, Whether there is a war to be fought or fortune to be had, we as a nation just dont have the means. Sahai, too, agreed. Devagunam opined that trade expansion was the best hedge against conflict. Though Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) are constantly being signed with India, their execution remains a distant dream. We must focus on their execution and implementation, he said. Sir Dominic Asquith, British High Commissioner to India, delivered the keynote address. Earlier, in the first session, India-UK: New Opportunities was deliberated upon by a panel comprising Divya Dwivedi, head, Policy and Communications, UK India Business Council; Shehla Hasan, Country Head, Confederation of British Industry; Aditya Malkani, Country Head, Kings College London; and Nitin Mantri, CEO, Avian Media. The session was chaired by Pradeep Singh, deputy dean and CEO, ISB, Mohali. The panel discussed key areas which need to be explored and enhanced between India-UK. The panellists listed out distinct areas of teaching, collaborations, education that need to be worked on in the backdrop of Brexit. The session concluded with a consensus on building an ecosystem enabling transfer of idea, technology, trade and education. Rajinder Nagarkoti Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 14 Reservation of wards for the Scheduled Caste candidates, including SC woman candidates, and woman candidates for the MC poll scheduled to be held in the third week of December, has come as a setback to the Congress and the BJP bigwigs. In the draw of lots, which was held in the presence of representatives of political parties at the UT Guest House, Ward Nos. 5, 6, 7, 11 and 23 were reserved for the SC candidates. Out of the five wards, Ward Nos. 5 and 6 were reserved for the SC woman candidates. Similarly, out of the total 26 wards, Ward Nos. 2, 4, 9, 12, 13, 15 and 17 were reserved for the woman (general) candidates. Though the ward reservation is a blow to both parties, the BJP has an edge over the Congress as a majority of the wards that were reserved belonged to the Congress candidates. Former Mayor and Congress councillor Subhash Chawla, whose Ward No. 5 was reserved for the SC woman candidate, was eyeing for the ticket from Ward No. 4. But the Ward No. 4 was also reserved for a woman (general) candidate in todays draw of lots. Now with the development, Chawla will again have to look for another ward. Similarly, former Mayor and Congress councillor from Ward No. 7, Poonam Sharma, whose ward is reserved for an SC candidate, will now try for the ticket from Ward No. 17, which was reserved for a woman (general) candidate today. The sitting Congress councillor from Ward No. 17, Mukesh Bassi, will now look for the ticket from Ward No. 1 or 18. In the BJP, sitting BJP councillor Saurabh Joshis Ward No. 2 was also reserved for a woman (general) candidate in the draw of lots. Sources revealed that Joshi family may try for the ticket for Saurabhs wife Neha Joshi or Bindu Joshi, his elder brother Vineet Joshis wife, from Ward No. 2. Vineet Joshi is the Assistant Media Adviser to the Punjab Government. Annual three-day cultural fest 'Spectra-2016' concluded at Lovely Professional University amid performances for international dances and songs by national as well as international students. Along with thousands of national students, international students from 50-plus countries also participated in large number to compete and imbibe the assorted cultures. On looking students equally enjoyed and absorbed the true spirit of different musical forms be it Indian kuchipuddi, odissi, bharatnatyam; Yemeni popular dance 'al-Bara'; Maldivian 'bodu beru'; Sri Lankan 'kandyan'; Somali 'dhaanto'; the 'deuda' dance of Nepal; Sudanese 'nuba moro'; Rwandan 'intore'; 'jerusarema' of Zimbabwe; or Bhutanese 'rigsar'. At different venues of the university, competitions for collage making on the theme of world peace, clay-modeling on the theme of mother and child, cartooning on modern scenario and waste material productions for Installation also conveyed great messages to the student-audience. With these participations, the fest concluded for 50-plus competitions, where 3,000 LPU students showcased their individual talent in five categories of music, dance, theatre, literary and fine arts. The winners of these different competitions will further participate in the national-level event 'Youth-Vibe-2016' to be held from October 18 to 22 on the LPU campus. Essay writing competition English Literary Society organised an essay writing competition on 'Mahatma Gandhi - A source of inspiration'. 70 students participated in this competition and expressed their view about the preacher of non-violence and truth and paid tribute to him. Bablee of BA-III won the first prize and Monika of BA-II year second. TNS S Nihal Singh AFTER the second US presidential debate, the outlines of the picture have become clearer. Mr Donald Trump, with all his low humour and going after Mrs Hillary Clintons husband Bills sexual escapades, represents a large chunk of dissatisfied voters, largely but not exclusively school grade whites, who have lost out to the technological revolution. Mrs Clintons supporters, on the other hand, are educated establishment figures, liberals of various types and even Republicans appalled by the Trump phenomenon. Surprisingly, Mrs Clintons gender she would be the first woman president if she won has had a low resonance, except among the older generation of women. Over the long months of campaigning in this most peculiar of American presidential contests, Mr Trump has proved unsinkable even as he made one gaffe after another, which would have floored another candidate. One would have imagined the tipping point would be his locker room lewd comments on women caught on tape, but he sailed through in the debate after tendering an apology. And his supporters cheered him regardless. What his latest jibe at women did do was to open the cracks between him and the Republican establishment and Mr Paul Ryan, speaker of the House of Representatives, went to the extent of saying he would not campaign for Mr Trump and asked his colleagues to concentrate on winning House seats. In a sense, this made Mr Trump an independent candidate and he has taken it as such. Decidedly, whatever the result of the election, the Republican Party is facing a life and death crisis. Here is a person elected by the party conference as its candidate throwing all the Republican edicts to the wind and laying down his own view of the country and the world. His praise for Russias President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader is parallel to threatening to dissolve the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation if Europeans did not pay more. And he wants to withdraw the atomic shield from Japan and South Korea asking them to have their own atom bombs. That a candidate who could possibly be elected president could proclaim such policy options is incredulous. One way to look at the Trump phenomenon is that he has come into politics at the right moment to become a symbol of a Tarzan vanquishing the ills that face the people. Some of the issues are the high school educated whites who have no place in the jobs market, the growing inequality between stagnating wages of the middle class and the sky-rocketing earnings of those working for financial markets and the revival of the race issue, despite the country having a first black president. The irony is that the US has been a world pioneer in technology and the magic world of computers but has not planned for the consequences of the new world it was building. Indeed, the pace of the changes has brought into play racist and extreme right-wing groups. It is reasonable to assume that Mrs Clinton will win the election but some of the festering problems will not go away. Second, the Republican Partys grave crisis will be played out in slow acts because it will need to spell out its core beliefs in the modern context while attempting to avoid a split. Parties change and evolve over time, but the Trump phenomenon has made Republican evolution more difficult by trampling over the partys basic beliefs. Although domestic issues are taking precedence over international affairs, America cannot forget its role as the preeminent superpower. China is expressing its bid for superpower status effectively. It shows contempt for the international tribunals verdict against it in the South China Sea and is builing its own coalitions in South-east Asia. At the other end, Russia is making life difficult for the US in the Middle East as it seeks to withdraw from the region. By following an aggressive policy in Syria, Russia is seeking to safeguard its interests in the war-torn state and is burnishing its status as a major power. Russia is still under Western sanctions because of its annexation of Crimea and role in eastern Ukraine. And they are hurting. Mr Trumps threat to turn US policy on its head does not help in framing a new paradigm in evolving policy in a new world. What is clear is that despite Chinas feverish military expansion, the US remains by far the greatest world military power and will remain so for the foreseeable future. In more immediate terms, the problem lies in the American psyche. The Vietnam phase was bad enough but its misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned the people off such military interventions. In any event, but for an unforeseen event, the last lap of the Obama presidency will resist policy change, the red line he had drawn for Syria and ignored it once it had been crossed continuing to haunt him in retirement. In the end, America itself is on trial through an election campaign that has reached the depths of low personal attacks, largely, if not exclusively, initiated by Mr Trump. The reaction of the West has been particularly sharp. Europeans are gazing incredulously at the leader of the free world and the lodestar of democracy. Whatever the result, America will need to look at the larger picture to repair the great harm this election campaign has done to the nation. Apart from the Republican Partys own future, the working of US democracy needs a closer study and debate. The strength of American democracy has been its institutions and their robustness in seeing off the wrong guy taking office. But where do you strike when a maverick comes close to the presidency with a history of hosting beauty shows and a medieval attitude towards women? Here is a man who reportedly has not paid income tax for 18 years and is proud of it. It is the beginning of a process of churning that will have to work out its own salvation. Naveen S Garewal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 14 Eyebrows are being raised over the Haryana Governments move to plead the case of MM Medical Institute, Mullana, in the Supreme Court with a request to allow it to fill over 50 vacant seats after the college deliberately did not admit students by staying away from three consecutive counselling sessions held under the direction of the apex court. The governments role is already under the scanner before the Punjab and Haryana High Court for keeping yet another private medical college - SGT Medical College, Gurgaon, out of combined counselling. This college has filled its 100 seats ignoring the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET). The Supreme Court issued a directive on admission In August following which all medical colleges in the country, including deemed universities, were to admit students based on combined counselling by the states under the NEET. At that time the Haryana Government ignored complaints by students and parents pointing out that MM Medical Institute, Mullana, was not participating in the counselling and was keeping the seats vacant so that these could be filled under the management quota for a heavy fee later. Some students were admitted by the college after the third counselling but they were made to pay Rs 13.5 lakh as against Rs 7 lakh prescribed by the state. The action of the government to bestow a special favour to these two private medical colleges of the state, violating a Supreme Court directive, has been questioned by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The governments blatant support to these colleges to sell their vacant seats after they violated the Supreme Courts directive as part of a well-planned strategy has been questioned by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the government to explain the reasons which prevailed with the state to take such a decision (allowing it to skip the combined counselling), which prima facie is discriminatory. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued guidelines for counseling for admission in undergraduate courses to medical colleges under the NEET as per the SC order during 2016-17 for combined counselling for admission to the MBBS/BDS courses in all medical and dental colleges and deemed university. The Khattar Government made a strange interpretation of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare instructions and gave exemption to SGT Medical College on the ground that it comes under a private university, which is not specifically mentioned in the letter. In the case of a similar petition in a case of Madhya Pradesh, the Supreme Court declared invalid all admissions made without combined counselling and directed the government to do all admissions again by centralised counselling After the SC order, the Department of Medical Education and Research took up the matter with the CMO with a copy of the order suggesting cancellation of the admissions done by the Gurgaon college. However, the Khattar government ignored the SC verdict interpreting the order relevant only for Madhya Pradesh. Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 14 The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government came to power in Haryana in October 2014 by making a plethora of promises, including implementation of Swaminathan report that promised 50 per cent profit on production cost, to the farmers. Two years down the line, farmers seem to be a distressed lot in the state due to back-to-back crop damage, governments failure to provide them remunerative price for crops (except the present kharif crop), paddy scam, forced insurance under the Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and many other issues. The state Agriculture Department is plagued with issues such as staff shortage and delay in promotions. Out of the 900-odd sanctioned posts of the Agriculture Development Officers, nearly 60 per cent are lying vacant. No promotions have been done by the government in two years, revealed an Agriculture Department official. Important schemes such as preparation of soil health cards and crop cutting experiments are getting delayed due to this. Agriculture Development Officers recently went on strike against governments policies in agriculture. Implementation of the Swaminathan report that recommended 50 per cent profit to farmers on their input costs was one of the biggest poll promises of the BJP in the October 2014 Assembly elections. Farmers, who were expecting the government to take some steps to ameliorate their financial condition, however, were in for a shock when the government launched the PMFBY and the banks started debiting premium from their accounts without their consent. Jagraj Dandi, Joint Director (Statistics), Agriculture Department, said under the PMFBY, the state government had covered 6.92 lakh farmers and recovered Rs 250 crore as premium. The government had covered bajra, maize, cotton and paddy crops under the PMFBY, but opposition leaders allege that money had been deducted from farmers even for the crops not covered under the scheme. There are cases where farmers have grown crops like sugarcane, which is not covered under the PMFBY, but premium amount has been deducted from their accounts, alleged Abhay Singh Chautala. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has also been hitting out at the Khattar government on the PMFBY issue. Hooda has termed the PMFBY a loan recovery scheme and said the state BJP government had reduced itself to an agent of private insurance companies. However, Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar, who launched a campaign for the success of the PMFBY, has accused Opposition parties of misleading the farmers. The paddy scam that rocked the state last year has also scarred the much-publicised transparent image of the Khattar government. Government agencies, it was alleged, bought basmati paddy from farmers on MSP and gave it to its chosen millers for custom milling. The millers, in turn, sold basmati on higher rates in the open market. The inclusion of several grain markets of the state in the National Agriculture Marketing (NAM) network is being considered a positive step by the Khattar government. However, the government buckled under the pressure of traders when it delayed its plan for e-procurement of crops from this kharif season. Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojana: What leaders say The Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojana is a loan recovery scheme. The state BJP government has reduced itself to an agent of private insurance companies Bhupinder Singh Hoda, former CM There are cases where farmers have grown crops like sugarcane, which is not covered under the crop insurance scheme, but the premium amount has been deducted from accounts Abhay Chautala, INLD leader Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 13 The CBI today registered three cases to probe incidents of violence and arson during the Jat reservation agitation in Rohtak in February this year, including the burning of Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyus residence. The agency said it took over the investigation in these cases on the request of the Haryana Government and orders from the Centre. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Allegations to be probed include attacking, looting of weapons of the police guard, attempting to murder the family members and burning down the residence of the Finance Minister, a CBI spokesperson said. The allegations in two of the three cases pertain to violence and arson at the FMs residence on February 19. The third case relates to allegations of looting of weapons from a company of the BSF and the Haryana Police and attempting to murder them by thousands of armed rioters at the Delhi bypass in Rohtak. Ambika Sharma Tribune News Service Kasauli, October 14 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today inaugurated the fifth Khushwant Singh Literature Festival emulating the theme Breaking Barriers. On the opening session, Virbhadra said: Khushwant Singh was a thorough gentleman, a journalist of repute, a litterateur, a seasoned parliamentarian and a treasure-trove of vast knowledge, besides known for his sense of humour. He described the noted writer as a man of varied talents who had served the Indian legal system and literature with equal passion and hard work. I was a regular reader of Khushwant Singhs columns and some of his books like Train to Pakistan, Delhi: A Novel, The Company of Women and Truth, Love and a Little Malice have left an indelible impression on the minds of the readers, averred the Chief Minister. Earlier, he also dedicated a 9-km stretch of the natures track named as Khushwant Singh Trail to be developed with an outlay of Rs 18 lakh. It will run from the Kasauli bazaar to the plains of Kalka. Since Khushwant Singh often traversed on foot, the trail has been especially dedicated to his love for nature. The Chief Minister said the festivals theme Breaking Barriers was dedicated to the cause of education of the girl child and the preservation of ecology and both these issues were close to the writers heart. He threw light on the works of the noted writer saying he had done much of his writing in Kasauli and many of his passions, such as his love for nature, Urdu poetry, concern for the education of the girl child, pride in the Indian soldier, his irreverence and humour, were nurtured in the environs of its hills. Khushwant Singh was specially known for his writing and Indian literature is lucky to have a writer like him, Virbhadra said. Started in 2012, when the iconic writer was still alive, the festival is the lone such event named after an individual and also the only literary festival held in Himachal Pradesh. He also launched a coffee table book Solan a Mosaic of Experiences written by Minakshi Chaudhary and published by the District Cultural Council, Solan. He also gave away prizes to winners of various childerns competition. Earlier, Rahul Singh, son of the noted journalist, who is also the chairman of the festival, in his brief address, recalled his fathers love for the town and the nature saying he was committed towards the education of the girl child. Though a lot of people loved him for his honesty and frankness, he also had a fair share of critics. Despite having interest in religion, he was an agnostic, but full of humanity and compassion and he was a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Former Chief Minister, Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil, Station Commander, Kasauli Cantonment, Brig Deepak Sharma and former deputy chairman, Finance Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia were among other dignitaries present on the occasion. Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated the newly constructed Sadhupul Bridge completed with an outlay of Rs 2.80 crore on the Kandaghat-Junga-Chail road. The old bridge had collapsed in June 2014 and was completed within a year and a half. Ambika Sharma Tribune News Service Kasauli, October 14 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday inaugurated the fifth Khushwant Singh Literature Festival here on the theme Breaking Barriers. Addressing the opening session, the CM said, Khushwant Singh was a thorough gentleman, a journalist of repute, a litterateur, a seasoned parliamentarian and a treasure-trove of vast knowledge besides known for his sense of humour. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) He described the noted writer as a man of varied talents who had served the Indian legal system and literature with equal passion and hard work. I was a regular reader of Khushwant Singhs columns and his books like Train to Pakistan, Delhi, The Company of Women, Truth, Love and a Little Malice have left an indelible impression on the minds of readers, the CM said. Earlier, he dedicated a 9-km stretch of natures track that has been named as Khushwant Singh Trail, which would be developed at a cost of Rs 18 lakh and would run from the Kasauli bazaar to the plains of Kalka. Since Khushwant Singh often traversed on foot this trail has been especially dedicated to his love for the nature. The CM said the festivals theme Breaking Barriers is dedicated to the cause of education of the girl child and the preservation of ecology and both these issues were close to the writers heart. He threw light on the works of the noted writer saying he had done much of his writing in Kasauli and many of his passions, such as his love of nature, Urdu poetry, concern for the education of the girl child, pride in the Indian soldier, his irreverence and humour were nurtured in the environs of its hills. Khushwant Singh was especially known for his writing and without doubt Indian literature is lucky to have a writer like him, the CM said. Started in 2012 when the iconic writer was still alive, the festival is the lone such event named after an individual and also the only literary festival held in Himachal Pradesh. The CM also launched a coffee table book Solan, a Mosaic of Experiences, written by Minakshi Chaudhary and published by the District Cultural Council, Solan. He also gave away prizes to winners of various childerns competitions. Earlier, Rahul Singh, son of the noted journalist, who is also the Chairman of the festival, in his brief address, recalled his fathers love for the town and nature saying he was committed to the education of the girl child. Though a lot of people loved him for his honesty and frankness he also had a fair share of critics. Despite having interest in religion he was an agnostic but full of humanity and compassion and was a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil, Station Commander, Kasauli Cantonment, Brig Deepak Sharma, and former deputy chairman, Finance Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, were among the dignitaries. Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated the newly constructed Sadhupul Bridge on Kandaghat-Junga-Chail road completed at a cost of Rs 2.8 crore. The old bridge had collapsed in June 2014 and was completed within a year and a half. Ishfaq Tantry Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 14 Days before two fidayeen militants stormed the Entrepreneurship Development Institute at Pampore on the outskirts of Srinagar, the authorities had planned to construct concrete security bunkers around the premises to secure it against the possible attackers. In fact, the authorities at the EDI had floated tenders for the construction of security bunkers on October 6, just five days before the second militant attack on October 10, in which a seven-storey building housing the offices of the EDI and the hostel suffered huge damages. Yes, we had floated the tenders for the construction of security bunkers to secure the EDI campus and the process in this regard had already been initiated, EDI Director Mohammad Ismail Parray said. Following a deadly militant attack on the EDI campus earlier this year on February 20, in which the main office complex a four-storey structure besides an attic had suffered huge damages in the 48-hour gunfight between the holed-up militants and security forces, the authorities at the EDI had taken up the matter of upgrade of security at the EDI complex with the local police. While agreeing to provide security, the police had, however, suggested for construction of security bunkers around the campus before the actual deployment of security personnel. Subsequently, the authorities at the EDI had issued notices inviting tenders in local newspapers on October 6, just five days before the second militant attack on the EDI complex. In the notices inviting tenders, dated October 3, 2016, which were published in local newspapers on October 6, the EDI authorities had invited sealed tenders from the registered government contractors for the construction of six-eight security bunkers on the Pampore campus, with a closing date of October 24. It was specified that the security bunkers must be constructed within a stipulated time period of 30 days. However, before the bunkers could be constructed, the militants struck again at the EDI complex on October 10, following which a 60-hour gunfight ensued between the holed-up militants and the security forces, in which the second major building at the EDI complex a seven-storey structure suffered huge damage. As the security agencies already had inputs of an impending militant attack, the police and Army had inspected the EDI campus just a night before the October 10 attack, sources said. They added that a patrol, comprising police and Army personnel, had inspected the campus at around 11pm on Sunday evening as they had inputs about militants striking a government building. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 14 Two days after two fidayeen were killed at Pampore, militants struck on Friday evening, killing a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan and injuring nine others on Srinagars outskirts. Police sources said a convoy of six SSB vehicles was attacked by the militants at Zakoora, 15 km from the city centre at around 7 pm, when three companies were returning from the area to the base camp after performing law and order duties. Ten SSB jawans were injured in the attack and one of them later succumbed. The SSB jawans retaliated and the exchange of fire between two sides continued for some time, a police officer said. It is suspected that two militants were involved in the attack. The condition of three SSB jawans is stated to be critical. Soon after the shootout, the police and the CRPF cordoned off the area to carry out a search operation to trace the militants. The area where the shootout took place is a populated area. It could not be established whether the militants were planning to sneak into a nearby CRPF camp in the area or the attack was aimed at the patrol party. The forces have been on a high alert as there are inputs about militant attacks after the surgical strikes at terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29. Two days ago, the 56-hour-long encounter had ended inside a multi-storey building of Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Institute located on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on the city outskirts at Pampore, with the killing of two fidayeen militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba. In October two fidayeen attacks have been foiled by forces on Army bases in north Kashmir. While militants were able to flee after trying to sneak into an Army base in Baramulla, on October 2, three militants were killed in a gunfight in Langate Kupwara when they attempted to sneak into the base on October 6. Samaan Lateef Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 14 The Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir are likely to be held in February, when cross-border infiltration of militants is expected to be least due to towering snowcaps at the LoC in north Kashmir. The state government will take up the matter with the Election Commission of India next week and propose the dates in February for peaceful elections. The decision has been taken by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti during a recent meeting with her legislators, sources said. They said the government was keen to hold elections as early as possible to test its strength on ground, which have been shaken by over three months of protests, sparked by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8. The PDP insiders say the Panchayat elections are the best opportunity to test the party base in Kashmir which as per media reports, has diminished. The PDP is not what is being said in media. We are in a constant touch with our voters and have done a lot of development work which will be reflected in the elections, a senior PDP leader said. He said in the upcoming two weeks, Kashmir will witness a change for good. A political engagement will be initiated with Pakistan and separatists will also be taken on board to normalise the situation, he said. The legislator said the PDP would also hold rallies in every constituency in Kashmir to revitalise its voters. The PDP leadership is hopeful that through political engagement with separatists coupled with development work and exgratia to civilians killed during the unrest, it will get a major boost ahead of the Panchayat elections. J&K Chief Election Commissioner Shantmanu said the final electoral rolls for Panchayat elections would be made public in January. However, he said the government had not yet sent any information to his office regarding the holding of panchayat elections in February. The term of 4,098 panchayats was completed in July this year and elections were to be held before June. However, due to the ongoing violence, the elections were delayed and official dates are yet to come. The state has 4,098 sarpanch constituencies (panchayats) and 29,402 panch constituencies, taking the total number of sarpanch and panch segments to 33,500. Smridhi Chawla On the verge of being shackled to the matrimonial chair? How about some fun before you take the plunge? Trip with your buddies before your wedding, a tradition of sorts earlier confined to boys, is catching the fancy of girls too. They, too, want to let loose before the big day. For some sailing in the soon-to-be-drowned boat of bachelorhood, a last trip with buddies may be a way to satiate their wanderlust. For others, it may be a way to tell the gang of friends they are special. Whatever be the reason, youngsters are embarking on their no-rules, no-limits trip before tying the knot. And they are as excited about it as about their honeymoon, perhaps more. Sohrabh Dhawan, Ludhiana-based businessman, delved into the beauty of Goan beaches in the monsoon this year, before delving into the beauty of his wife-to-be. He says, A bachelor trip was a must for me to rejoice my few days of freedom. I took a road trip to Goa with five of my friends. The trip was all about beaches, party and Goas delight, feni. But why should boys have all the fun? Neha Kapoor, a fashion designer from Delhi, planned her trip to London in 2014 with her two girlfriends. London was about shopping during the day and tippling in the after hours. The trip was important, knowing that I might not get a chance again, she quips. Some prefer the luxurious way, and some are the raw travellers who backpack to the greens of mountains. For Amita Bhatt, Chandigarh-based HR consultant, trek to Triund did the soul talking before her wedding. I have an ardent love for the mountains. I chose to trek with my friends to relive my college days, she says. Fun is one part of the trip and preparing for it is another. So, emerging are the e-portals offering packages for bachelor trips. Vineet Khanijo, one of the heads of an e-portal, says, From transportation to hotels to meals, we take care of everything within the stipulated budget. Packages for bachelor trips are in demand like those for honeymoon. Ohh!! Did we forget our foodie travellers? For some, a bachelor trip is another food trail. Jatin Wadhwa, Chandigarh-based businessman, says: I once saw a travel programme on TV where the hosts visited McLeodganj to binge on mouth-watering Tibetan delicacies. I planned my bachelor trip to McLeodganj in October 2015. Small kiosks serving authentic Tibetan food, and the tranquility of monasteries were nothing short of a paradise. Still not motivated to take up the last trip of bachelorhood? Watch Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara. The revelation Abhay Deol encountered on his bachelor trip in the movie may propel you to plan one. Ahmedabad, October 14 Ahead of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal's October 16 rally in Gujarat, posters carrying his photographs along with Burhan Wani, Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden, terming them as "heroes of Pakistan", have appeared in Surat city. The Delhi Chief Minister is scheduled to address a public rally at Varachha in Surat on Sunday evening. While AAP accused the ruling BJP of being responsible for the "defamatory" posters, the saffron party denied the allegations and said that common people deeply hurt hurt" after Kejriwal demanded proof of the Army's surgical strikes across LoC had put them up. Yogesh Jadvani, spokesperson of AAPs Surat unit, said: "We know that it is a tactic by BJP to defame Kejriwal and AAP ahead of the rally. BJP workers are given rewards for putting the most defamatory poster. But, we are not bothered by such negative politics". He also expressed confidence that over one lakh people would attend the rally. However, BJP said "anti-Kejriwal" people were coming forward to vent their anger against AAP and its leaders. "Kejriwal is known for doing such drama. We are least bothered even if he visits Gujarat thrice in a year or in a week. These posters are a natural reaction of people against Kejriwal's anti-national stand. He would receive such welcome at any place in India. However, he would get a red-carpet welcome in Pakistan," Gujarat BJP convener Harshad Patel said. "I am sure that if something goes wrong in his rally, he will blame our leaders, saying that it was done at the behest of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. He must have kept his script ready if things do not go down as per their plans," he said. Earlier, banners showing "dubious" track record of several ministers in the AAP-led Delhi government had surfaced in Surat. In some societies of Varachha area, dominated by Patels, banners warning Kejriwal from entering the premises were also put up a few days ago. PTI New Delhi, October 14 Ahead of BRICS and BIMSTEC Summits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he is looking forward to building bridges to new partnerships and finding common resolve and solutions to entrenched problems of the region. Modi, who will also hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders on the sidelines of the Summits in Goa, said they would discuss ways to address pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform, the Prime Minister said in a Facebook post. New initiatives will be launched in Goa by BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) as it marks the successful operationalisation of initiatives like the BRICS New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, he said. The Prime Minister noted that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sir Lanka and Thailand. Representing nearly two-thirds of humanity together, we hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring, he said on the first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. Referring to the India-Russia Annual Summit, the Prime Minister said Putins visit would give an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia. Terming Brazil as an important strategic partner, Modi said President Michel Temers visit would open up new areas for cooperation with the country. As Chair of the BRICS this year, India has embraced a stronger emphasis on promoting people-to-people linkages in diverse fields, including trade, sports, education, films, scholarship, and tourism, he said. BRICS Summit will be held in Goa on October 15-16, followed by the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. PTI Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, October 14 An association of single-screen cinemas on Friday refused to screen movies starring Pakistan artistes in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, dealing a blow to Karan Johars upcoming Diwali release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that features Fawad Khan. The decision taken by the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) at its meeting here mainly covers single-screen theatres and comes amid tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri attack last month. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma play lead roles in the film. Datar said the decision was not taken due to any political pressure and that the association was keeping patriotic feelings of people in mind. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The COEAI has decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and the national interest of our country, all our members and exhibitors will refrain from screening movies that have involvement of any Pakistan artiste, technicians, directors, music directors etc, association president Nitin Datar told mediapersons. Our association has several members, including single-screen theatres and few multiplexes. Our members are based in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of Goa and Karnataka, he said, adding: The decision stands until things (Indo-Pak relations) get normal. The release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil faced trouble last month when Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) issued an ultimatum to Pakistan actors to leave India and also sought a ban on them. The party had threatened to stall the releases of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Raees, starring another Pakistan actor Mahira in the lead role. Subsequently, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) passed a motion to ban artistes from across the border from working in the industry till Indo-Pak relations are normalised. The body, however, has criticised COEAIs decision, saying the films which have already completed production should not be targeted. We stick to our stand. We feel films that are completed shouldnt be banned, said TP Aggarwal, IMPPA president. Datar said while the decision not to screen certain films would cause monetary losses for the theatre owners, there might have been greater damage if their screens were vandalised. The decision drew criticism from the film fraternity but it was welcomed by the MNS. I congratulate all members of the COEAI... I think multiplexes havent taken any stand yet but we are firm on our stand that we wont allow any movie which features Pakistan artistes to release in Maharashtra, said MNS leader Amay Khopkar. Censor Board chairman Pahlaj Nihalani said the decision is wrong as the film mostly features Indian actors. With PTI inputs New Delhi, October 14 The row over the law panels decision to seek public opinion on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) intensified today with the government accusing the All India Muslim Personal Law Board of politicking on the issue even as the Congress and the Samajwadi Party said it should not be imposed. A day after the AIMPLB and some other Muslim outfits announced their decision to boycott the process initiated by the Law Commission, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu insisted on a distinction to be made between the UCC and triple talaq, where the core issue was gender justice and ending discrimination against women. Naidu, however, said the UCC was in consonance with the provisions of the Constitution, but made it clear that it would not be forced on people. You (Muslim law board) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate you put forth your point of view. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of Prime Minister and call him dictator, he said. The governments sharp reaction came after AIMPLB and various other Muslim organisations said the move amounted to the Modi government declaring a war on their religious rights and that UCC will kill Indias pluralism. A combative Naidu went on to say, If you are so interested in making political comments you can as well join any political party of your choice. This is not expected from the Muslim law board and other religious leaders. You have to confine yourself to the issue and the issue is put forth for discussion by the law commission, he said. Amid the raging row over the twin contentious issues, the Congress said the matter of triple talaq sould be left to the Supreme Court to decide, but expressed itself against imposition of a Uniform Civil Code. UCC should not be imposed and all stakeholders need to be taken into confidence, its spokesperson Shobha Oza said. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said the issue should be left to religious leaders. PTI Quotes DONT CONFUSE TRIPLE TALAQ WITH UCC People are confusing triple talaq with Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The main concerns are gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women. You (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of PM and call him dictator? M Venkaiah Naidu, I&B Minister Whats wrong in regulating it? Over a dozen Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran and Egypt have regulated triple talaq. If Islamic countries can regulate the practice by enacting law, and it has not been found against Sharia, then how can it be wrong in India, which is a secular country? Ravi Shankar Prasad, Law Minister No religious prosecution, no way Tolerance is essential for peaceful existence. People from all religions live peacefully in India and practise their religion without any fear of discrimination. That is why India is a university of tolerance.... religious persecution will never be allowed in India whether it is before or after election Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Islamabad, October 14 Pakistan on Friday accused India of resorting to ceasefire violations at the India-Pakistan border to divert attention from rights abuses in Kashmir. Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria, who was addressing the press in a weekly briefing, claimed India was nervous about its diplomatic offensive highlighting the abuses. Ceasefire violations on the Line of Control and interference in the internal affairs of neighbours are indicative of Indian nervousness," Radio Pakistan quoted Zakaria as saying. Zakaria called Indias claim of military surgical strikes in Pakistan lies aimed at calling international attention away from the gross rights abuses in Kashmir. The official also claimed that Pakistan had already taken up the abuses at many levels internationally and would continue to do so. He also accused India of obstructing UNs fact-finding mission to Kashmir. New Delhi, October 14 Scaling up cooperation in the atomic energy sector, India and Russia have finalised a general framework agreement and credit protocol for setting up units five and six at the Kudankulam nuclear plant. The formal announcement of the pact and the credit protocol is likely to be made after bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow in Goa on the sidelines of BRICS Summit. "Russia and India finalised 'General Framework Agreement' and a 'Credit Protocol' for Units 5 and 6 and are planning to announce it in Goa," Russian sources said. They said the two countries are also planning a ceremony of "first pour" of concrete to the foundation of Unit 3 and 4 and a ceremony of inauguration of Unit 2 of the Kudankulam nuclear plant. Both ceremonies will witness the participation of Putin and Modi as well as Kudankulam engineers in Tamil Nadu via video-conference, they added. On August 10, the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear was dedicated to the nation jointly by Modi and Putin who had participated at the ceremony from Moscow via video-conferencing. The Kudankulam 1 has been jointly built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Russia's Rosatom and it had started generating electricity in 2013. The agreement for the project was inked by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988, but actual work on the ground started only in 1997. The unit 1 and 2 of Kudankulam plant were built at a cost of Rs 20,962 crore. A major share of power generated in the plant goes to Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. Each of the units has a capacity to generate 1,000 MW of power. PTI New Delhi, October 14 India on Friday lashed out at a Pakistani daily for concocting a story on Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar admitting that the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army were a bluff and asserted that the entire report was baseless. The News International Pakistans story titled Indian FS admits surgical strike was a bluff is completely concocted and baseless, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets. He said German Ambassador Dr Martin Ney was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes and that they have had no further conversation since on this subject. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Meanwhile, a story has surfaced on a Pakistan publication The News where the Indian foreign secretary in a recent meeting with German ambassador in New Delhi is said to have admitted that there was no surgical strike undertaken by the Indian Army. Quoting an official source, the daily reported, The Pakistani mission had been told that during a formal meeting on the issue of the ongoing India-Pakistan stand-off between German Ambassador to India Dr Martin Ney and Indian FS Subramaniam Jaishankar in New Delhi, The Indian Foreign Secretary has categorically denied and said that there was no surgical strike undertaken by Indian Army inside Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. ANI Kigali, October 14 In a possible breakthrough, India and the US on Friday agreed to bring an ambitious amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out the climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons used in air-conditioners and refrigerators by advancing the freeze year by two years to 2028. After holding crucial bilateral talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the Conference on Montreal Protocol, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said India has agreed to move the freeze year from 2030, which the country proposed this morning, to 2028. Freeze year is the year in which phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) starts. We have almost reached an agreement, Dave said as the negotiations to reach an agreement to phase down the HFCs reached its final stage at the Kigali Convention Centre here. Kerry held two rounds of bilateral meetings with Dave on the sidelines of the conference. Talking to reporters alongside Dave, Indias lead negotiator Manoj Kumar Singh said India has entered into an agreement in the meeting held between Dave and Kerry. Singh said in the original proposal put forward by India there was no freeze year, but in the morning we had given a position that we can have a freeze (year) at 2030. But during the second round of meeting it was moved to 2028 with a condition that there will be a review of technology somewhere around 2023 or 2024, and if India finds that refrigeration sector is growing at much faster rate and it cannot accommodate within the available refrigerant, then India will free to go to 2030 as freeze year, Singh said. He said the review will be done by Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) under the Montreal Protocol. But it will be mutually agreed upon by India and other parties. Without India, no one can unilaterally decide that what is the growth rate which will trigger that mechanism, he said. Officials attending the meeting said the US has agreed with Indias baseline proposal to prepone the baseline to 2024, 2025 and 2026. Indian climate experts here hailed the outcome reached between India and the US. We have a good baseline, freeze year and schedule. It recognises the principles of common-but-differentiated responsibility. This is good for climate and good for India, climate expert and Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Deputy Director-General Chandra Bhushan said. The meeting of climate negotiators from nearly 200 countries will end today. India yesterday displayed its commitment by announcing to destroy HFC-23, a super greenhouse gas, in its all five HCFC-22 plants operating in the country. HFC-23 is as a by-product of HCFC-22 production. China is currently the worlds largest producer of HFCs and consumes 20 times more than India. production. PTI Lucknow, October 14 Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Friday that the newly elected party legislators will decide who will be the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. "The elected legislators and the Samajwadi Party's Parliamentary Board will pick the next Chief Minister," Mulayam Singh told the media here. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The remark comes amid a strife within the Samajwadi Party between incumbent Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and a senior party leader and his uncle, Shivpal Yadav. The Samajwadi Party leader, a former Indian Defence Minister, however, underlined that there was no rift in the "Samajwadi family". Mulayam Singh also said that there should be no politics on a Uniform Civil Code and people should be free to follow any religion in the manner they want. IANS Tribune News Service Lucknow, October 14 Causing a major embarrassment to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, his father and Samajwadi Party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav today gave no assurance that Akhilesh would head the government in case the party returned to power. Speaking to reporters, the party patriarch virtually ran down the authority of his son by asserting that after getting a majority, the SP legislators and parliamentary board would elect the next chief minister unopposed. Responding to a question on who would be the face of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam claimed that even during the 2012 election campaign all knew who would become the chief minister. However, after remaining a CM thrice as well as union defence minister, I had become a pen-pusher and wanted to remain free to be with the people, hence I made him (Akhilesh) the chief minister, said the senior Yadav. He reiterated that the SP would go it alone and not enter into an electoral alliance with any party. Mulayam, however, played down the differences within the family and party by claiming that Akhilesh had met Shivpal Singh Yadav that every morning. Making light of Akhilesh setting up his very own war room at the Janeshwar Mishra Trust office ahead of the Assembly elections, he remarked: Kise kahan baithana hai, hum khud tai karenge (I will decide where to place whom). Islamabad, October 14 Pakistan on Friday said there was no backdoor diplomacy going on with India and the composite dialogue process between the two countries remained suspended. There is no backdoor or track-II diplomacy going on between Pakistan and India, as such kind of contacts are established on the desire of the two sides, Pakistan Prime Ministers Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told Express News channel. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) India had always blamed Pakistan for militancy without any proof, Aziz claimed. India had the habit of blaming Pakistan after every terrorist incident in their country without providing any solid evidence, he said. He said the Composite Dialogue Process between the two countries remained suspended. Aziz said the issue of Kashmir and the continued human rights violations there were the focus of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs address at the UN General Assembly. Aziz also rejected the notion of Pakistans diplomatic isolation and claimed that his country was moving in the right direction, according to the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan. He said that with the major re-alignments underway at global and geo-strategic levels, Pakistan was moving in the right direction. Development of Eurasia by Russia and China, activation of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), formation of AIB (Asian Investment Bank), etc, indicated major re-alignments, he said. Aziz said the cause of concern in the Western countries about Pakistan was its growing relations and cooperation with China. He said Pakistan also enjoyed good bilateral ties with the US, the UK, the European Union, the Middle East and other regions of the world. Azizs remarks come amid strain in ties following the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed and Indias surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC on the intervening night of September 28 and 29. PTI Jaipur, October 14 The Jaipur Sufi Festival began here today without a 25-member Pakistani delegation of artistes, poets, authors and academics, who backed out of the event after India decided not to participate in the SAARC Summit in Islamabad. The event is organised by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature. Barring the Pakistanis, about 200 participants from SAARC nations are listed for the three-day deliberations. Finding Sufi mystic tradition relevant to the present society, Union Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal stressed that terrorism could be eliminated by spreading Sufism that had played a pivotal role in breaking superstitions and blind faith. OC Mukesh Ranjan Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 13 Coinciding with the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh starting in December, the Railways has drawn an elaborate plan to mark the occasion by naming a few trains after the 10th Sikh Guru and also making operational the defunct Patna Sahib station. The station, one of the oldest in the country, would soon have cosy retiring rooms, a spacious reservation complex, well-equipped information booths and well-maintained washrooms, a senior Railway Board official said. It would function round the clock to facilitate the passengers. The step has been taken after Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur wrote to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The Railways would put up display boards at strategic points to give updates on the movement of trains and details on the Parkash Utsav. Apart from the Railways, Bihar had chipped in with Rs 4 crore to set up information booths and provide amenities at Patna Sahib station, he said. The Railways is also exploring running a train from Amritsar to Patna Sahib. New Delhi, October 14 Union Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not be dragged into the uniform civil code issue. Naidu said the Muslim Personal Law Board should not politicise the issue. He said the triple talaq issue is being linked to the uniform civil code but the main issues were gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Nothing would be imposed on people as the government wanted a debate on triple talaq, he assured. On allegations by the Muslim Personal Law Board, he said, Why drag the PM in the issue? Join the party of your choice if you want to make political comments. PTI Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 14 Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed BRICS leaders who began arriving in Goa on the eve of the Summit, China threw in the usual hoopla with President Xi Jinping making a strategic stopover in Bangladesh the first such visit by a Chinese leader in 30 years. The two sides signed 40 agreements, including loan and investment deals in the infrastructure sector worth over $40 billion, as they upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership. Xis Dhaka visit is strategically placed since Bangladesh has traditionally been a close ally of India and for China, it is another nation in the South Asian region where it wants a bigger footprint. Last year, Modi had announced a $2 billion credit line during his visit to Dhaka, but Chinese generosity has dwarfed that. While BRICS is an economic forum, India will use this opportunity to try and push forward its agenda on terror. Sources say India will try and convince each nation to issue statements condemning terror in an effort to globally isolate Pakistan. But China is expected to play the usual spoiler. India is also pushing hard to ensure the Goa Declaration, to be issued at the end of the BRICS Summit, focuses on isolating the sponsors of terror. But the event that is likely to grab more eyeballs is the bilateral meetings between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin as also with Xi. India and Russia will hold delegation-level talks followed by signing of agreements in which they are expected to ink major defence deals. Later in the evening, Modi will meet Xi where the two are expected to discuss the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and Masood Azhar issues, as also strengthening economic ties. Indications are that the two countries will achieve mutual agreement only on the economic front. Archit Watts Tribune News Service Badal/Muktsar, October 14 As many as 24 protesting activists of the Punjab State Suwidha Centre Employees Union and three policemen were injured in a clash after the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse them at Badal village today. The state government has already terminated their services and also made the suwidha centres functional, but the protesters are still demanding regular jobs. Around 1 pm, the protesters started moving towards the CMs residence from a stadium at Lambi village where they had been observing a relay fast for the past 10 days. They have been lodging their protest for the past 38 days. They crossed the barricades at Lambi and Kheowali villages, allegedly hurled stones at the police and entered Badal village. The police launched a lathicharge. This led to a scuffle between the police and protesters. The police lobbed teargas shells and used water cannon to disperse the protesters, but they didnt budge. Some protesters were bundled in police vehicles and taken to Lambi police station. The rest blocked the Kheowali-Bathinda road at Badal village, seeking action against the police. Later, they were detained and taken to different police stations. Some protesters claimed that the policemen fired shots into the air. However, the police denied it. Union president Harmeet Singh claimed, We were moving towards Badal village so that some senior officer would come to hear our woes and arrange a panel meeting with the CM. However, the police beat us up. Some policemen abused some women activists. They were dragged and thrashed by policemen and their clothes were torn off. Kuldeep Kaur from Jalandhar, who is five-month pregnant, was beaten up. Balraj Singh, SP, Malout denied the allegations. He said, About 150-200 of them have been taken into preventive custody. A criminal case is being registered against protesters for injuring the cops and tearing their uniforms. Gurpreet Singh Gill, SSP, Muktsar, said, We did not object to the peaceful protest of these people in the past. But they hurled stones at a police party today, crossed barricades and caused injuries to some policemen. Then, we resorted to lathicharge to disperse them. Now, they are making baseless allegations. GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 14 The family of an inmate, who was killed on the jail premises in 2013, got a compensation of Rs 18 lakh here today. Raju (19) was reportedly subjected to inhuman treatment in the Amritsar Central jail in November 2013, leading to his death while in police custody. Later, the family moved the High Court which got the matter investigated by a district and sessions judge in September 2015. It came to light that there were fatal injury marks on the body. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged against 32 officials posted in the jail and other related departments. The inquiry of this portion of the case is still underway with DGP (crime) Iqbal Singh Sahota. Jail Superintendent Ashish Kapoor said the compensation amount of Rs 15 lakh along with Rs 3 lakh interest were paid to the family members by the government. Four cheques amounting to Rs 4.61 lakh each were handed over to the family members which included his brothers Desa Singh, Jodh Singh and Chabba and sister Bittu. His mother Manjit Kaur, who had filed the writ petition against the government, died during the case proceedings. Raju was a native of the Maqboolpura locality which is infamous for high death rate due to drugs. His family lived in a dingy two-room dilapidated house shared by over 10 members, including Desa Singh and his three children and Jodh Singh, his wife and children. Desa Singh and his brothers do small-time labour jobs. Raju was the youngest among us. No one informed us about his ill health. We were informed only after he was taken to hospital. His both legs were broken. Later he died in jail which was a big blow to my mother. It was she who fought to bring justice, but did not live long to hear the HC order, he said. Raju was picked up from his house on October 15, 2013, by the police and was later booked in a drug case. He was sent to judicial custody the next day. On November 4, he was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and he died two days later in the jail. He said though they had received the monetary compensation, they would still fight for action against the officials who were responsible for Rajus death. Those who were booked included Jail Superintendents BS Bhullar and Amrik Singh, assistant superintendents Gurbinder Singh, Tasvir Singh and Jagtar Singh, medical officer Dr Gunam Singh and naib tehsildar Harvinder Singh. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 14 Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday came in support of the protesting Congress MLAs, who spent the entire Thursday night at the gate of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's official residence here. The MLAs are protesting against the alleged assaultand police inactionon party workers in Ludhiana on the Dasehra eve. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) They demanded action against Police Commissioner JS Aulakh and SP Jaswinder Singh, accusing them of inaction even as Akalis attacked Congress workers. Raising slogans against the government, the Congress leaders demanded immediate suspension of the SP and transfer of the Police Commissioner. They alleged that the police were biased as they booked six Congressmen for attempt to murder, including DCC president Gurpreet Gogi, who was injured in the clash. Meanwhile, the high-security upscale area in Sector 2, where Badal resides, was partially blocked owing to the ongoing protest. Although the area is strictly a no-protest zone with Section 144 of the CrPC imposed at all times, which bans the assembly of five or more people, the agitating crowd continued to swell. Gurdeep Singh Mann Tribune News Service Bathinda, October 13 Raj Kumar, alias Raju (21), accused of raping and murdering celebrity perfumer Monika Ghurde in Goa, went missing following the charge of mobile theft three-and-a-half-years ago. A former security guard at the Sapna Raj Valley apartment complex in Sangolda, Goa, Raju allegedly killed Ghurde on October 5 and was arrested on October 12 from Bengaluru. Villagers said they failed to trace him even after lodging a missing report at the Dabwali police station of Haryana. He belonged to a lower-caste poor family of labourers in our village and was residing with his maternal relatives in Sakera Khera village of Dabwali in Haryana. He was sent there in 2012 to get admission in Class XII along with another close relative, said Malkana village sarpanch Gulzar Singh. He said a day before his arrest, the Goa police with the help of the Bathinda Police enquired about any link of Raju with village boys and his family. We told the police that his parents and a younger brother have no criminal record and none of his family members were in touch with him ever since he went missing, the sarpanch added. He pointed out that the accused used to call up some youths of the village to share his experiences in Mumbai and Goa but these boys never informed the family members about the calls. Raju fled from his maternal relatives village after he and his close relative were accused of stealing a cell phone by another youth. Initially they denied having stealing the phone, but later escaped to Delhi. While the other boy returned from the Delhi railway station, Raju went to Mumbai, the village sarpanch said. He added that Raju did menial jobs at the residence of a colonel in Mumbai but left the job after quarrelling with him. He then went to Goa and brought shame to their village. Being a security guard, he helped Ghurde find a flat on rent. He was, however, caught with a stolen umbrella of Ghurde and the womans complaint led to deduction of his two months salary Rs 20,000. He failed to get any other job due to the theft complaint. During interrogation, he claimed of pleading twice to Ghurde but she refused to withdraw the complaint. He then decided to take revenge and killed her. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 14 Staying put outside the Chief Ministers residence for the second consecutive day, Congress MLAs here today remained firm on their demand for action against Ludhiana Police Commissioner JS Aulakh and SP (crime) Jaswinder Singh in connection with the recent attack on party workers in Ludhiana on Dasehra eve. Leader of the Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi and fellow MLA Parminder Pal Singh Pinki said party leaders would sit on dharna by turns. Joining the agitating MLAs, PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh and state party affairs incharge Asha Kumari not only lauded them for highlighting Akali excesses but also announced that effigies of chitta (drugs) would be burnt in every constituency. The effigies of Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia were burnt in Amritsar, but no one was booked. But we were attacked for burning an effigy of chitta Ravana because the Akalis take offence to this word. We dare them to register cases against Congress leaders in all constituencies, he added. Demanding the registration of a case against the Akali halqa incharge concerned, the former CM said false cases against Congress workers should be withdrawn and the erring police officers punished. Bharat Khanna Tribune News Service Mansa, October 14 Dalit youth Sukhchain Singh, who was murdered on the night of October 10, was cremated today, even as the police arrested co-accused Amandeep Singh alias Bitta of Gharangana village and Sita Singh of Makh village. The other accused persons Balbir Singh Kala, Hardip Singh, Sadhu Singh, all from Gharangana, and Babrik Singh alias Bittu of Chhote Nangal were arrested earlier. Sukhchains autopsy was conducted by a panel of three doctors, following which the body was taken to the cremation ground at Gharangana. When Akali MLA and Punjab SC Commission incharge (Malwa zone) Joginder Singh Jindu, sarpanch Sardul Singh Gharangana and others arrived at the spot, members of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), CPI (ML) and some villagers started raising slogans against them. The legislator and the others left the place in a huff. The youths family said it had received Rs 5 lakh as compensation so far, even though they had demanded Rs 25 lakh and a government job for one family member. Sukhchains brother Sukhvir Singh said, The liquor mafia should be reined in. The accused targeted my brother because they suspected him of informing the police about liquor smuggling. About three months ago, they pelted our house with stones. We complained to the police, but no action was taken. SSP Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar, said, This is not a case of atrocities on Dalits as one of the accused, Babrik Singh, also belongs to the SC community. There are five FIRs registered against the murder accused and about 10 against the deceased and his accomplices on the charge of liquor smuggling. A doctor, who did not wished to be quoted, said: The main cause of death was haemorrhage. The victim was hit on the head with a sharp-edged weapon. The right leg was broken and the left one was chopped off. Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, October 14 Nearly a dozen policemen and protesting suwidha centre employees were injured on Friday when they clashed after police resorted to lathicharge to disperse them at Badal village. The protesters, including men and women, were moving towards the CMs residence from Lambi village, where they had been holding a protest for the past fortnight seeking regular government jobs. Though a large number of cops were deployed there to stop the protesters, they managed to cross the barricades and moved ahead. It led to a scuffle between the cops and protesters. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The police also resorted to teargas shells. Eyewitnesses claimed that the cops also fired some shots in the air. However, by that time the protesters had reached near the CM residence. The district administration has already terminated the services of protesting employees and the suwidha centre has also been made operational. Till the filing of this report, the protesters and cops were still present there and the situation was tense. The protesters later blocked the road. Five activists of the ETT TET-Pass Unemployed Union are already lodging a protest from atop two mobile phone towers at Badal village, seeking regular government jobs. They had climbed up the towers on October 12. Harmeet Singh, president, Punjab State Suwidha Centre Employees Union, claimed, We were moving towards Badal village so that some senior officer hears our plight. However, the cops brutally beat us up with sticks. Water cannons were used, teargas shells lobbed. Some male cops, including an SP-rank officer, also abused some women activists. Women activists were dragged and thrashed by male cops. The cops have also taken some of our activists to Lambi police station. Meanwhile, police were detaining all those who had blocked the Kheowali-Bathinda road at Badal village. Malout SP Balraj Singh, who was leading the police party, said: About 150-200 protesters have been taken into preventive custody. Besides, a criminal case is being registered against some for causing injuries to policemen and tearing their uniforms at Lambi police station. Pushpa Girimaji Last month, a friend of mine had gone on a vacation with her husband to a holiday resort. Apparently, the resort was being expanded and the construction work was going on in one part of the building. Two days into the vacation, my friend and her husband were waiting for a cab to take them out, when a huge glass from the building-under-construction fell on her husbands head and split it into two. He was rushed to a hospital, but did not survive. Could you please suggest the steps that she needs to take to ensure that this does not happen to others and also force the hotel to cough up adequate compensation for the tragic and sudden death of her husband? She has two young children to look after. This is truly very tragic and highlights the callous indifference to safety exhibited by the hotel. If they were extending the hotel building, it should have been completely cordoned off to prevent any building material from falling on someone. This was a very basic safety precaution. The very fact that a glass from the construction site fell on a guest of the hotel shows that even this basic safety arrangement was not in place at the hotel. I hope the police has shut the hotel and will not allow its reopening till it gets a full safety certificate. As for your friend, she must keep the hotel bills, the doctors prescriptions, bills, death certificate pointing to the cause of the death, eyewitnesses account, if any, etc. Usually, the compensation is based on how much the person was earning, his future prospects, etc. So she will also have to provide all that information. In addition, the courts also award compensation towards loss of consortium, besides punitive damages and cost of litigation. She could file the case in the civil court or before the consumer court. I would suggest the latter because it is relatively quicker. In her petition before the consumer court, she should also ask for directions to all hotels on maintaining certain basic safety norms or direct the union ministry of tourism to come up with a scheme to ensure the safety of all hotels in the country. In the US, for example, safety specialists provide third-party safety accreditation to hotels. In India, too, we need to have such mandatory safety certification for hotels. I must mention that this is not the first mishap of this sort happening in a hotel. Some years ago, a young boy fell from one of the upper floors of a five-star hotel in Delhi. Safety demands that the railings on each floor be tall enough to prevent children and even adults from falling over. Similarly, the gap between the railings should not be large enough to allow a child to slip through and fall down. If the specifications in the National Building Code are followed strictly, such mishaps could be prevented. In another case about a decade ago, a 26-year-old woman had died in a five-star hotel in Mumbai, when a glass pane from a window got detached and fell on her, slicing her head into two, even as she was walking towards the hotels swimming pool. There have been at least two cases of hotel guests falling into the elevator shaft because the elevator door opened even when the car was not in position, indicating the poor maintenance of the lift by the hotel management. All these cases demand that hotels pay more heed to safety. Can you please quote for my benefit, a decision of the apex consumer court that would help me in my case? In Manisha Chhabra Vs the Director, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, the honeymoon at a hotel run by the TNTDC turned into a tragedy for the newlyweds, thanks to the carelessness of the hotel. Manisha and her husband checked into the hotel on December 19, 1993, at about 8.30 pm. Soon after, her husband noticed a small door on the western side that was just latched. Assuming it to be a storage space or balcony, he opened it and stepped out, only to fall to the ground 35 feet below. He did not survive the injuries suffered by the fall. In her complaint before the consumer court, Manisha pointed out that the hotel should have at least put a grill or a balcony outside the door to prevent such a fall. Or locked the door and put a warning on it. Absence of any of these measures constituted negligence, she argued. The apex consumer court took serious note of the negligence of the hotel and awarded Rs 5 lakh, along with 10 per cent interest calculated from 1993-the date of the accident till the date of the award in 2003. Of course, that was still a small amount of compensation, but today, the courts take a more serious view of such negligence and the award of damages is far more just. Vibha Sharma There is a village in Kerala which is so amazingly fertile that not just its lands are bountiful but also its people. Kodinhi, a virtual island surrounded by water bodies and wetlands in its hinterlands, has more sets of twins than anywhere else in the country. Situated in Muslimdominated Malapuram district, it is enroute between the coastal town of Kozhikode and Kottakal, the city famous for Ayurvedic medicines and treatments. Otherwise, Kodinhi is like most villages in Kerala, though quite unlike those in other parts of the country. Clean, lush green, dotted with big swanky houses, flush with Gulf money, the concept of MNREGA falls short here. It also has its very own Twins and Kin Association (TAKA), a body to register and provide support to its twins citizens. Alavi Pattasseri, father of twins Hamnath Alavi and Nusrath Alavi and a TAKA member, says the twin phenomenon in Kodinhi is many times, at least five to six times, more than the global average. It is certainly the highest in India. There are more than 273 pairs in the village alone. The oldest are around 78 years old, says Alavi. Daughter Hamnath, a homeopathic doctor by profession, is one of the twins, and a twins enthusiast. She keeps surfing the internet and reading on the issue and would like to be part of some serious government-initiated scientific study on Kodinhis curious phenomenon. Most of the twins are girls pairs and the number of twins is increasing every year. I think it has something to do with the environment here, some geographically-linked phenomenon. A couple from outside who came and settled here also got twins, she says, recalling the instance of a teacher who migrated to Kodinhi and was blessed with twin children. Hamnath can count four pairs of twins in her immediate family. I also see more number of twin-bananas and twin-coconuts here in Kodinhi. There is definitely something here that helps increase fertility, in hyper-ovulation. I am told that almost 20 per cent of the new generation in Kerala is suffering from reproductive issues. Perhaps, unravelling the mystery of Kodinhi can help them and others, Dr Hamnath says. As per Alavi, the phenomenon was first noticed around six decades back when surveys were carried out under the family planning programmes in the state. It was noticed that almost every family in Kodinhi had a history of twins, he says. Ahead of the village is a small primary school The AMLP School, Kadavallur, for Classes I to IV. Headmaster Abdul Samad has been a part of the institution for almost 24 years now. And he does not recall any year when there were not at least six to seven pairs of twins in the school. One year we even had 10 pairs. This year the school has seven pairs. But one pair is absent today because one of the twins is not well. It is always like this with the twins, if one is not well, both will be on leave, he laughs. A dermatologist working as public health consultant in the nearby Chemmad town for the past 17 years, Dr Sribiju MK is also a twin enthusiast. As per Sribiju, he has been researching the Kodinhis unusual phenomenon for a decade now. His research has been largely informal and secondary in nature. I like doing research on Kodinhi twins because it is a fascinating issue, one which if researched properly, with scientific methodology and biochemical means, may yield a breakthrough in human reproductive science. It needs a proper, in-depth scientific study, he says. A survey conducted by him in the region, around three-four years, he found 256 pairs of twins. The number, he says, could be higher maybe 300 or more, as Kodinhi on an average gets 10 to 15 pairs of twins every year. Also many may have been left. Plus the number is also increasing every year. Like Hamnath, Sribiju also senses something special about Kodinhi, something that makes it as interesting a place as Candido Godoi in Brazil which has 1,000 per cent higher than global average twin rate. In India, there are two other villages where similar trends have been noticed - Umri near Allahabad and Kadavaloor, a hours drive from here in Kodinhi. But their numbers do not match this place. The common thread is that they are all in Muslim-dominated, observes Sribiju But the community-related attribute does not cut ice with Alavi who counts several Hindu families with twin births. This apart, Sribiju also feels the Kodinghi phenomenon has something to do with its environment, perhaps water or what lands here produces and villagers eat. One of the causes of infertility is ovaries not being able to release the ovum. Perhaps there is something here that helps stimulate the ovaries, he adds. Remember, Kodinhi is a virtual island, encased by wetlands and water bodies, setting it apart from its surroundings. Genetic factors, Sribiju believes, could not be the only reason. Complete outsiders to Kodinhi have come here and have had twins. The best part is all twins are all healthy, born without any deformities. Twinning can be a health hazard for both the woman and her children. We had checked all the twins with the help of paediatricians and found no deformities, he says. Meaning that whatever is there in the land, water or air of Kodinhi is not harmful. Asians have a relatively low rate of twin births, 11 per 1000 live births and Africans, particularly Nigerians, have the highest 40 per 1,000 births. Japanese have the lowest rate of 1.3 per 1000 live birth. It has been observed that when Japanese women go to Nigeria their fertility increases. Also, the higher rate in some parts, particularly in the Western countries, may be because of artificial insemination as mostly older, mature women give birth to twins, Here in Kodinhi, this is not the case. There are many reasons for twinning which is why Kodinhis uniqueness calls for a proper scientific probe. It is almost as if something mysterious is hidden in the atmosphere. Perhaps it can be used by pharmaceutical companies and doctors to help people dealing with infertility as currently only the affluent can afford the treatment, says Sribiju. Kavita Kanan Chandra The emerald and blue sea surrounding the Indian archipelago of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands beckons tourists for deep sea diving and snorkelling for the beautiful coral reefs that exist under its sparkling surface. The lush tropical forest, swaying palms and long stretches of pristine beaches of white sand makes for an ideal vacation. The most sought-after tourist destination today, however, conceals the murkiest chapter in our countrys colonial rule. The brutality of political prisoners in the solitary confinement of the notorious Cellular Jail in Port Blair is spine-chilling. Far away from the mainland India, the islands became synonymous with Kaala-Pani. Most revolutionaries of Indias freedom struggle died unsung and unknown suffering extreme torture inflicted on them by merciless British wardens. Now a national memorial, it is one pilgrimage that every Indian should take to honour supreme sacrifice of our valiant freedom fighters. The Cellular Jail completed in 1906 had seven-pronged structure with honeycombed corridors and a central tower. Each cell measuring 13.5 feet by 7 feet housed one convict in solitary confinement. Even before its construction of the jail, the Andaman Islands were used as a prison to send in exile the prisoners of Indias First War of Independence of 1857. Even today when you step inside a cell, the horror of captivity is not lost and silent screams seem to reverberate. With only three surviving prongs of the jail and gallows in the premises, this national memorial also has a museum, photos and names of freedom fighters and a library. A visit to the museum torments as haunting depiction of convicts in fetters and chains bleeding with pain stare back at you. The mood of the tourists becomes sombre as they move from one soul-shattering scene to another, seething with rage or deeply numbed by it. The perverse nature and sadistic nature of tormentors rattles you as scenes of daily floggings, torture and hard labour beyond the convicts physical capacity is displayed. As the momentum of freedom struggle picked up, more and more prisoners were deported to Kala Pani. The revolutionaries accused in the Alipore bomb blast, Lahore conspiracy case, Gaya conspiracy case, Chittagong armoury raid and others were sent to Cellular Jail. Many distinguished political prisoners like the Savarkar brothers, Pandit Parmanand, Ladha Ram, Indu Bhushan Roy, Pulin Das, Trailokyanath Chakravarthy, Gurmukh Singh, Babu Ram Hari among others were subjected to atrocities here. There were countless hangings, suicides, cases of insanity, failed jailbreaks and hunger strikes. It was impossible for any prisoner to produce his daily quota of 30 pounds of coconut oil, make ropes and extract 10 pounds of mustard oil. They were hardly given much food or water. Frail in body they failed in their daily tasks. It was enough reason to put them into fetters, neck rings, handcuffs and shackles while the cruel wardens hurled abuses at them. Its unnerving to even think how the spirits of even the strongest were crushed. Many perished while only few survived to recount the horrific tales. When Mahavir Singh, a convict in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, sat on hunger strike protesting the inhuman treatment, he was force-fed milk that entered his lungs causing death. His body was tied to a stone and thrown in the sea. It was only in late 1930s that things began to change and in 1938, political prisoners were repatriated from the cellular jail. For short while, it came under the Japanese in early 1940s but the British reclaimed it. With Indias freedom, the jail ceased to exist and a dark chapter was closed for good. The eternal flame of freedom, Swatantra Jyoti erected in the vicinity of the Cellular Jail reminds us of the supreme sacrifice of our freedom fighters. The son et lumiere (sound and light show) should not be missed. As actor Om Puri narrates the history of Cellular Jail through an old Banyan tree that stands as mute witness to the sacrifice of those brave men, silence prevails as spectators fight their tears. This is one befitting tribute to the martyrs that also make you value the hard-earned freedom in new light. Factfile The Cellular Jail has a museum, an art gallery, a photo gallery. Open daily except National holidays. Timings: 9 am-4.45 pm. Lunch break: 12.30 pm-1.30 pm (Entry ticket available only till 4.15 pm) Entry ticket: Rs 30 Photo camera: Rs 200 Video camera: Rs 1000 Film shooting: Rs 10000 (prior permission needed) Entry ticket for Son-et-Lumiere (Light and Sound show): Rs 50 Timings: 6 pm (Hindi), 7.15 pm (Hindi) except Monday, Wednesday, Friday when the second show is in English Atul Prasad Caring for someone with Alzheimers disease requires a difficult balancing act. Even though you work hard to keep your loved one safe, happy and comfortable, keeping track of his/her medications, their routine care on a day-to-day basis, tracking and managing doctors appointments, etc. keeping coordination among every task can be tricky and things can go haywire at the drop of a hat. Hence frustration levels are bound to rise and that can only makes things worse. But you, the caregivers, life matters, too. Its just as important to keep up with your work, family and social life. In your role as a caregiver, do what you can do to remain updated about Alzheimers and how to be prepared to attend to your patient. Most importantly, give the patients medicines regularly and on time as that can take care of many problems. Counselling For both the Alzheimers patients and their caregivers, life gets equally affected. Hence, its important to counsel and explain to caregivers about the problems they are going to face. In fact, many a times caregivers do not know how to cope up with certain situations and as the result they feel frustrated. Also, in Alzheimers, a persons condition can change quickly. There may be times when the patient seems normal and can take care of his/her routine activities. Other times, the patient may become exhaustively dependent on the attendant. The way medications affect a person can also vary. The changes can be confusing and may make your loved one seem demanding. But its a natural part of the disease. And your loved ones symptoms will only get worse as years go by. While medicines can slow down this progress, the drugs cant stop it. So, counselling is definitely required for most caregivers. Understanding Alzheimers We need to understand that Alzheimers patients live in the world of their own. Memory loss is one aspect with Alzheimers patients and their behaviour change is another. The doctors usually emphasise to caregivers that they should maintain some kind of fixed routine or time-table for the Alzheimers patients like they may go to temple every morning at a specific time or go for morning walks or an outing daily at the same time. Its advisable that the affected person should be involved in some kind of daily activities. This is important to make their behaviour controllable. Be a part of social groups With caregivers, social support helps a lot. They need someone to talk to, too, to openly vent their feeling or frustrations to a friend or family member. Or they can join a support group/organisation to share how they are dealing with Alzheimers and also learn from others in a similar situation. It helps to know that you are not alone and that other people feel the same. Moreover, caregivers of such patients are often frustrated of their unpredictable routine so its important they are part of some social groups or some organisations where they can talk about their particular problems. Let your body get enough rest In extreme cases doctors prescribe mild tranquillisers to both patient and the caregiver. It helps caregivers to feel refreshed, relax and get enough rest. Taking care of an Alzheimers patient can be both, physically and mentally, exhausting. Hence its important for both of them to get enough sleep. Dont let them depend on you totally People with Alzheimers cant do everything they used to do earlier, but they can mange some things with a little help. Let your loved one handle some simple tasks, like getting dressed or folding laundry. Help them set easy goals for completing tasks, and remember to celebrate when they are able to achieve these goals. Such patients can also become socially embarrassing for the caregiver at times as they may pass urine in their pants or they may start undressing in open. But this type of behaviour can definitely be controlled with medicines. Alzheimers is not curable, but if diagnosed well in time, the progression of the disease can definitely be delayed and symptoms managed. The writer is Senior Consultant, DM (Neurology), BLK Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi Tips to understand the patients behaviour Movie review: Wild and sweet Australian comedy 'Girl Asleep' will wake you right up Tribune News Service Mussoorie, October 14 Three of the seven youths, who were held captive at a hotel in Saudi Arabia for the past several months, have returned home safely. Rajeshwar Painuli, BJP leader and chief coordinator of the Dobra-Chanti Pul Banao Sangharsh Samiti, stated this here today. Painuli said he wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on September 7 for help in rescuing the youths. Swaraj, responding to the letter, facilitated the return of three youths from Saudi Arabia while four are still stuck there. Those who have returned are Vikram Singh, Sumer Singh and Sachin Sharma from New Delhi. The other four are Virendar Singh Bhandari, Subash Chandra Pandey, Sachin Singh and Gajendar Singh Bhandari. Painuli thanked Swaraj for facilitating the safe return of the three youths. He requested her to help others return too. Painuli said another youth, Anandi Lal from Gram Saruna Ghansali, is stuck in Oman and efforts are on to bring him back. The state government did not show interest in helping these youths. He appealed to the youths of the state not to leave the country without checking the credentials of the recruiting agencies. A migration directory should be formed so that the whereabouts of the youths could be ascertained and they be given assistance in case of emergency. The cases of youths from Uttarakhand getting stuck in foreign countries are on the rise. London, October 14 Britain is committed to leaving the European Union, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday, slapping down a suggestion from European Council President Donald Tusk that the country might ultimately change its mind. Tusk, who will run the Brexit negotiations for Brussels, said on Thursday that Britain might decide not to leave the EU as it will not offer London any softer terms than a damaging hard Brexit. The Prime Minister has been very clear ... that the British people have made their decision and we are now going to get on with that, with taking the UK out of the EU and on making the most of the opportunities ahead, the spokeswoman said. She pointed to the fact Tusk had also said that Brexit talks should be approached in good faith. That is the sort of spirit the prime minister wants to encourage and foster with other European partners, that we approach this constructively, she added. There are opportunities both for the UK and for the EU with the decision to leave and so we now need to come together, work together effectively to agree on a new arrangement, a new relationship that can work in the interests of all of us. May plans to have held substantive bilateral meetings with all 27 other EU leaders by the time she attends a European Council meeting in mid-December, the spokeswoman added. She has already met 15 since taking office in July. May will also attend an annual meeting of Britains ambassadors to the other 27 EU countries in London on Friday to hear their views and to set out the importance of strong bilateral relations with EU partners. I expect the prime minister to emphasise the important role that ambassadors have to play in Brexit, helping us to establish a granular picture of their host governments economic interests, which sectors and major companies have most at stake in the UK economy, the spokeswoman said. Reuters Washington, October 14 Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, is leading Donald Trump by seven points, according to a latest national opinion poll conducted by a media outlet seen friendly to the Republican leader. "Clinton receives 45 per cent to Trump's 38 per cent. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at seven per cent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein gets three per cent," Fox news said in its latest poll yesterday. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The TV channel is seen friendly to the Republican leader. Last week, Clinton was up by two points in the four-way contest (44-42 per cent). "In the two-way match-up, it's Clinton over Trump by eight (49-41 per cent). She had a four-point edge a week ago (48-44 per cent, October 3-6). Clinton's lead is outside the poll's margin of sampling error in both the two-way and four-way contests," the news channel had said. After the surfacing of a decade-old video surfaced in which Trump is seen making lewd remarks about women, Clinton's lead over the reality TV star has increased. RealClearPolitics, which keeps tracks of all major polls, said on an average, Clinton is now leading Trump by 6.7 percentage points. According to some other polls, Clinton is ahead of Trump in some of the key battleground States like North Carolina and Florida. They are in a virtual tie in Ohio. PTI Male, October 14 The main Maldives Opposition party today accused President Abdulla Yameen of behaving like a despot for quitting the Commonwealth in the face of mounting criticism over his rights record. The party of the exiled former president, Mohamed Nasheed, said the unilateral decision to pull out of the 53-member bloc was another example of how Yameen was turning the honeymoon islands into a diplomatic pariah. President Yameen has made the Maldives a very isolated place, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said in a statement. This is an absolute despotic move, which says much about the Yameen regime and its political posturing and disregard for international or public opinion. The Maldives has been wrangling with the Commonwealth over its human rights record since the toppling of Nasheed, the Indian Ocean archipelagos first democratically-elected leader, in February 2012. AFP Washington, October 14 The recent comment made by a visiting Pakistan envoy that the outgoing American President Barack Obama is now just a guest at the White House is "ridiculous", the US has said. "That's a ridiculous comment," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters yesterday when asked about the remark made by the visiting Special Envoy of the Pakistan Prime Minister on Kashmir Issues Mushahid Hussain Syed here last week. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "Obama is a guest for the next few months," Syed had said in response to a question about his expectations from the US government during a panel discussion on Kashmir at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank. Syed turned his answer to the next US administration after being asked the American government, underlying that the current incumbent was outgoing. "What Pakistan would like from the US - and I'm talking of the incoming administration because Obama is a guest for the next few months, 20th of January 2017, there will be a new administration - that they have to see the region where they have a more comprehensive perspective and do not try to compartmentalise peace and security, because that is not possible," Syed had said. PTI San Francisco, October 14 A passenger on board an Alaska Airlines flight was removed from the plane after he catcalled a woman flight attendant during her safety demonstration. The incident occurred while the Boeing 737 was on the tarmac at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington state, and was preparing for a flight to Burbank, California. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Amber Nelson, a passenger on the flight, wrote on her Facebook page that the attendant had been demonstrating how to use a life vest when the passenger--who was seated between two women--called out, Ooh, sexy! Before we could do more than glare in his direction, the flight attendant removed her vest, purposely walked up to him and said, You need to be respectful, and started to walk back to her task, Nelson wrote. He said, Cmon, Im just playing with you! Nelson said an airline employee subsequently boarded the plane, telling the man to gather his things and leave. Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Ann Zaninovich confirmed Nelsons account of the events to Alaska Dispatch News but did not have additional details on the incident that took place on Sunday. Zaninovich said the airline backed the flight crews initiative in handling the situation. We stand behind the actions taken by our employees, Zaninovich was quoted as saying. PTI Washington, October 14 Injecting H-1B and outsourcing as an election campaign issue, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has alleged that companies are importing low-wage workers on the work visas and pledged to protect jobs for Americans. "Many mothers across this country are worried their kids won't find jobs, and they are right to be worried. One of the biggest threats is outsourcing jobs for college-educated kids are being sent to other countries," the 70-year-old reality TV star told his cheering supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio last night. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "At the same time, companies are importing low-wage workers on H-1B visas to take jobs from young college-trained Americans," he alleged. "We will protect these jobs for Americans," he pledged. H-1B work visas are the most sought after for IT professionals, particularly those from India. While H-1B and outsourcing had become one of his frequent campaign issue during the Republican primary season early this spring and summer, it more or less remained absent from his key election issue till the election rally in Ohio ahead of the November 8 polls. According to a recent policy paper on immigration, Trump's vision is to prioritise the jobs, wages and security of the Americans and establish new immigration controls to boost wages and to ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first. He plans to protect the economic well-being of the lawful immigrants already living here by curbing uncontrolled foreign worker admissions, and select immigrants based on their likelihood of success in the US and their ability to be financially self-sufficient. Pledging to protect American jobs, Trump said at the rally that his administration will "have to make sure that those who have graduated college and those who are soon to graduate can find a good job to start a good career when they do". Trump said his economic plan including tax, trade regulatory, and energy reforms will create 25 million new jobs and allow the private sector to grow at 4 per cent per year. "This includes reforms to protect and expand the sharing economy -- startups like Uber -- that have managed to provide great services to consumers, and create lots of jobs in the process," he added. "Finally, and most importantly, the foundation for a new prosperity will be a re-dedication to the constitutional rule of law," Trump added. PTI 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. Flooding in Dare County, N.C. Photo: NCDOT Hurricane Matthew may be little more than scattered clouds in the Atlantic Ocean at this point, but it left behind damage to highways and other property that could take a lot of time and money to clean up. The storm hit the Southeastern U.S. hard, slamming into Florida as a category 3 storm and dragging along the coast as far north as Virginia before moving out to sea. While the wind and flooding have subsided, state transportation departments are only now fully accessing the damages. As of Oct. 14, the U.S. death toll from the storm has hit 42 people. Goldman Sachs estimates that when all is said and done, the storm may have caused up to $10 billion in damages, according to a Chicago Tribune report. In North Carolina a section of southbound Interstate 95 has been washed out by floods and may take as many as three weeks to repair. Until then, NCDOT has diverted traffic to the northbound lanes, creating a two-lane highway detour. Interstate 40 has also been affected by flooding in a 7-mile section near Interstate 95. The Florida coastal highway A1A may take as long as six months to a year to fix the damage caused by storm surges that washed away large sections of the road. The highway, which follows a thin strip of land adjacent to the main coast, is the primary route to many beaches and towns in the area. In Virginias Hampton Roads district, the Virginia Department of Transportation estimated its damages will top the $2 million mark, with at least 44 washed out roads, nine of which will require major repairs. A sinkhole that developed on Route 58 was still being assessed as road crews are waiting for the waters to recede. Photo by Cummins Westport. Orders are being processed and production has started for Cummins Westports ISL G Near Zero NOx natural gas engine, the company announced. The ISL G NZ has received emission certification from the Environmental Protection Agency and Air Resources Board in California to meet the optional 0.02 g/bhp-hr the first such midrange engine in North America to do so, according to Cummins. The ISL G NZ has exhaust emissions that are 90% lower than the current EPA and ARB NOx limit and also meet the 2017 EPA greenhouse gas emission requirements. "The start of production of the ISL G Near Zero natural gas engine offers a game-changing solution for the reduction of urban tailpipe and engine related emissions," said Rob Neitzke, president of Cummins Westport. "The ISL G Near Zero is now at the forefront of cost-effective and dependable emission reduction strategies in transit, medium-duty truck and refuse applications." The ISL G NZ can operate on compressed, liquid or renewable natural gas. The engine offers low engine ratings from 250-320 horsepower and 660-1,000 lb-ft torque. In addition to NOx emissions reduction, the ISL G NZ will feature closed crankcase ventilation, reducing engine-related GHG methane emissions by 70%. The ISL G NZ offers improved reliability and durability as well as range and performance with low emissions, through its three-way catalyst (TWC) aftertreatment. TWCs are effective, simple, passive devices, packaged as part of the muffler. Cummins Westport natural gas engines do not require active aftertreatment such as a Diesel Particulate Filter or Selective Catalytic Reduction. The ISL G NZ engine is available as a first fit engine with transit, shuttle and school bus, refuse and truck original equipment manufacturers or as an engine replacement (repower) for existing ISL G vehicles. Creative Oklahoma adds TCC official to board Douglas Price with Tulsa Community College was among eight new members named to the board of Creative Oklahoma, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing Oklahomas economy through innovation and education. Price is director of Global Learning & International Partnerships. Expansion programs currently being implemented include the Oklahoma Creative Communities program, providing creative problem solving support to eight communities throughout the state, and a new start-up collaboration and training space in downtown Oklahoma City, in partnership with Rose State College. Focus is also on the launch of the Oklahoma Innovation Network that provides resource mapping and connections for entrepreneurs and citizens with marketable ideas. Creative Oklahoma will also manage the new Oklahoma Venture Mentoring Program for entrepreneurs, a partnership program with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Paul Green joins Freese and Nichols, Inc. Paul Green, a former director of operations at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, has joined Freese and Nichols, Inc. and will spearhead the firms transportation efforts in Oklahoma. Green spent 33 years at ODOT, overseeing approximately two thirds of the agencys employees. He has also been involved with some of Oklahomas most notable transportation projects, including emergency reconstruction of the Interstate 40 Arkansas River bridge at Webbers Falls, and reconstructing state Highway 20 at Keetonville Hill in Rogers County. Green earned his bachelors degree in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University. Arvest to give $12,500 to Oklahoma teachers Arvest Bank will honor Oklahoma teachers by awarding 25 educators each with $500 for a total of more than $10,000 in prize money. The decision to award teachers from a pool of more than 45 communities was made not only out of respect and appreciation for the work teachers do, but as a sign of support at a time when many school budgets across the state have been cut, according to a company announcement. All prizes will go to teachers who work at state-funded schools. We know that teachers have a tremendous impact on our children, communities, and even our future, Arvest marketing manager Rita Garrison said. Arvest sincerely appreciates all the work teachers do and wanted to find a way to show our gratitude. We hope these awards will do just that. To nominate a teacher to receive one of the $500 prizes, look for an Arvest Bank Facebook post about this contest Monday through Oct. 23. Include the teachers name, school name, city, and one sentence describing why that teacher deserves to win. Teachers can be from Adair, Ada, Bartlesville, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Chickasha, Choctaw, Chouteau, Coweta, Del City, Dewey, Duncan, Edmond, Elgin, Eufaula, Fort Gibson, Glenpool, Grove, Jay, Jenks, Kansas, Lawton, McAlester, Moore, Muskogee, Norman, Nowata, Oklahoma City, Okmulgee, Owasso, Midwest City, Porter, Pryor, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Shawnee, Stillwater, Stilwell, Tahlequah, Tulsa, Vinita, Wagoner, Walters, Westville and Yukon. Students with can apply for NFIB scholarships The National Federation of Indepenent Businesses will open its scholarship application for the 2017 NFIB Young Entrepreneur Awards until Dec. 18. High School seniors who run their own business and plan on attending a two or four-year university, college or vocational institute next fall can apply. Thanks to Visa and other small business supporters, 95 scholarship winners will receive a $2,000 award, and five students will be chosen as finalists and attend an event in Washington D.C., where the winners will be chosen. The Young Entrepreneur of the Year recipient will receive $15,000, the Dan Danner Leadership Award winner will also receive $15,000 and the remaining three finalists will receive $5,000. Semifinalists will be notified by mid-January. ABC Supply promotes David Cook ABC Supply Company, a building products distributor, has promoted branch manager David Cook to managing partner. Cook will continue managing his current branch at 4345 S. 93rd East Ave. and also serving as a member of ABC Supplys National Branch advisory board, which advises senior management on a wide range of topics. ABC Supply is the largest wholesale distributor of roofing in the U.S. and one of the nations largest distributors of siding, windows and other select exterior building products. BKD promotes Nicole Jackson to manager BKD, a CPD and advisory firm, has promoted Nicole Jackson to manager. Jackson has spent five years providing audit and assurance services to entities in the manufacturing and distribution, construction and aerospace products industries, as well as for various employee benefit plans. She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Oklahoma Society of CPAs and the Tulsa Employee Benefits group. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in accounting. KOKI, KMYT names director of local solutions Karla Wagner has been named director of Cox Local Solutions and will oversee digital advertising sales and revenue for Cox radio, television and media sales, KOKI-TV and KMYT-TV general sales manager Cathy Gunther announced last week. Karla has over 20 years of experience in multi-media sales & marketing with a proven track record for success. Gunther added I couldnt be happier to have Karla join our team. Wagner most recently worked as director of digital sales at Chicago-area Paddock Publications, leading a full service digital agency. She also managed the real estate division of the Tribune Media Group and optimized annual multi-media marketing campaigns for TMGs Builder Media Solutions division. Bailey Medical ranked 38th on national ranking Bailey Medical Center was named one of the 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare, ranking 38th on this years overall list and 14th in the small hospital classification. Bailey Medical Center was also one of only three in the state to make the 2016 list. The ranking announcement was made Oct. 6 at a reception in New Orleans. Bailey CEO Keith Mason, was on hand to accept the hospitals recognition. This recognition is a testament to the incredible team we have at Bailey, said Mason. We are committed not only to providing high-quality health care to our patients but also to creating a dynamic work environment for our employees. Im proud of the culture weve created at Bailey. Bailey is part of Hillcrest HealthCare System, which is owned by Ardent Health Services. Local HMO partner earns award for innovation A GlobalHealth partner was recently recognized for development of an advanced population health analytics solution that leverages big data and predictive and prescriptive health insights to provide a complete view of the health care continuum. VitreosHealths advanced predictive analytics solution was awarded the 2016 North America Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation. VitreosHealths analytics provide insights as a service to proactively reduce patient populations health complications by anticipating their actions instead of reacting to them, said GlobalHealth President and CEO Scott Vaughn. It integrates electronic health records, as well as socio-economic and claims data to generate a specific risk analysis that can aid care management strategies. GlobalHealth uses VitreosHealths insights to fuel our care management programs and predictive analytics program to help provide better health outcomes for our members, Vaughn said. We have experienced an 18 percent reduction in emergency room encounters and emergent hospital admissions and experienced reductions in medical costs that translate to a $16 reduction in per-member, per-month costs, or $10 million annually. VitreosHealth is incredibly deserving of this award. Bixby in-home health care to hold ribbon-cutting The Bixby Metro Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Home Helpers and Direct Link, 6804 S. Canton Ave., at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Home Helpers is an in-home health care agency with services available 24 hours a day and provides senior care, recuperative care and services to new moms and personal emergency response systems. Physical therapist Michele Scott, a certified Alzheimer educator, is the owner. Last months fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher by a Tulsa police officer cast a shadow Thursday over the Manhood Summit, an all-day workshop designed to help young black males make a successful transition to adulthood. Black young men in America, youve got the odds stacked against you, Tulsa attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons told the more than 100 students, most of them eighth-graders from area schools, gathered at the Cox Business Center. We are here for you. We understand what youre dealing with, said Solomon-Simmons, who is representing the Crutcher family. Were here today to let you go beyond the odds, the obstacles and the opposition that you will face as a black man in this country. Were going to stand with you, he said. You have to be two times better. You have to be 15 minutes early. You have to jump higher, run faster. Dont you ever forget it, said Solomon-Simmons, who co-founded the sponsoring MVP Foundation with his wife, Mia Fleming. Fleming said that recent events have been difficult for young blacks. The images that theyre seeing, and the videos that are playing over and over again with these shootings, it hits really, really close to home, she said. We just want to make sure that these boys know that no matter whats going on, we love you, we support you, and were here for you. You can still be a success despite all the odds that may come against you. In an animated afternoon session, three black Tulsa police officers created role-playing scenarios with the students to illustrate how to handle encounters with police, and answered their questions, some of them directly related to the Crutcher shooting. Officer Donnie Johnson said he will often stop to talk to people just to see whats going on in the community. The reaction I get is, Why are you bothering me? He said young people should show respect not only to police officers but to all adults, including their parents, and if they have a problem with police, they should talk to their parents about it. Cards passed out to the students listed 10 rules of survival if stopped by police, including: be polite and respectful; make no sudden moves; keep hands in sight; stay calm; do not resist arrest; do not argue; remember that your goal is to get home safely; do not run. The Rev. Phil Armstrong, with Metropolitan Baptist Church, said some black youths may view police officers as a threat and run from them because of negative encounters they have witnessed involving police and other family members. Keith Miller, with 100 Black Men of Tulsa, one of dozens of adults who attended to support the students, urged them to change how you see yourself. change how people see you. It may save your life. William Coleman, a teacher at KIPP Preparatory School, brought 20 eighth-graders to the event. They love it, he said. Coleman said the event was particularly important in light of the racial unrest in the nation, and the recent shooting of Crutcher, whose daughter was one of his students last year. Weve experienced a lot of heartache, he said. They have a lot of questions to ask about the situation. He said being able to talk to men helps the students come up with a point of view. This is very powerful for them. Students from Booker T. Washington High School who had attended the event in previous years came to the summit as mentors to the eighth-graders. They wore black shirts that read Men of Power on the front, and I am my brothers keeper on the back. One of them, Booker T. Washington junior Christopher Grant, said he served as a mentor because, Its good to make a difference. You can change a life. Thats why I appreciate the organization, and thats why Im here. Another, BTW senior, Mekhi Singleton, said, I love it. Its a great event. I think it changes the perspective that minority young men have on what it is to be a man; what it is to be cool. It shows them the right way. Trevin Corona, an eighth-grader at Monroe Demonstration Academy, said he found the summit inspiring. I learned that when someone trash talks to you, how to react appropriately, he said. Armstrong taught the opening session, titled Manhood 101, on the importance of a firm handshake and looking people in the eye. Before the time of written legal contracts, he said, men entered into a contract by shaking hands. What made you a man was the ability to keep your word. Your word was your bond. Your good name was considered gold. He said a good handshake, and looking people in the eye, conveys respect, honor and dignity. Something as simple as a handshake determines how people will perceive you, he said. The day included a lot of practical advice. Armstrong taught the boys how to tie a necktie, and other sessions covered how to use tools; how to handle money; how to administer CPR. 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. Next month CMC will again be screening the Americas biggest night of country music, the 50th CMA Awards. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host a three hour live event. Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer, said: I am very excited about this years list of nominees. We have artists who received their first CMA Awards nominations decades ago alongside first-timers; we have critically-acclaimed songwriters and artists who have reset the bar for Country Music. This is going to be an exciting year in addition to celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the CMA Awards. Direct from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood return to host the highly anticipated event on the Country Music calendar, where the biggest names in Country Music will gather to honour the best performers, songwriters, record producers and music video directors of the past year. Superstar Dolly Parton will be the 2016 recipient of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented during The 50th Annual CMA Awards. The Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award is for an iconic artist who has attained the highest degree of recognition in Country Music. The 50th Annual CMA Awards will feature a star-studded lineup of artists performing including Keith Urban, Garth Brooks with Trisha Yearwood, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town and in addition to their hosting duties, both Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will perform on the night also. The stellar line-up of finalists for The 50th Annual CMA Awards represent the depth and range of Country Music over the past five decades from soulful traditionalists to contemporary ground-breakers. Eric Church, Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton top the list for nominees for The 50th Annual CMA Awards with five nominations each. Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban received four nominations and Tim McGraw received three nominations. Artists who received two nominations include Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Cam, Old Dominion, Brothers Osborne and Thomas Rhett. Vying for the coveted Entertainer of the Year Award includes nominees Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. Thursday November 3 at 11.00am on CMC. SBS is screening Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water on Sunday night, following its Deep Water documentary. Russell Crowe narrates the doco about the Abberton brothers, Sunny, Koby, Jai and Dakota (not to be confused with the River Boys?). This was written and directed by members of the group and first released in 2007. Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water is the gripping documentary about the cultural evolution of the inner-Sydney beachside suburb of Maroubra and the social struggle of its youth: the tattooed and maligned surf community known as the Bra Boys. Russell Crowe narrates their story: from their success in professional big wave surfing, to their international reputation for hard partying and rough justice, and their running battle with the authorities to their absolute reliance on one another to fit into a society in which theyre displaced. Central to this story is the true-life struggle of the Abberton brothers, Sunny, Koby, Jai and Dakota one charged with murdering a Sydney standover man, another pursuing a professional surf career but charged as an accessory in his brothers legal fight, another trying to hold the family together and a young brother whose inheritance is his siblings notoriety. Using archival footage shot by the Bra Boys blended with current surf vision and interviews to create a story thats compassionate and confronting, this is one of contrast, involving against-the-odds success and predictable failures. Ultimately, its a story exploring the legacy of the Bra Boys. Sunday, 16 October at 10.20pm on SBS. Showcase will premiere two new HBO comedies next month, Insecure from token black girl Issa Rae and weed comedy High Maintenance (pictured) by Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair. Insecure Creator/writer/star Issa Rae brings her fresh voice to HBO with this painfully funny new comedy series, which follows best friends Issa (Rae) and Molly (Yvonne Orji) as they navigate the tricky professional and personal terrain of Los Angeles, while facing the challenges of being two African American who defy all stereotypes. Though Issa fancies herself a badass rapper when shes alone in front of the mirror, her day-to-day life as the token black girl at an educational non- profit is far less empowering. With 30 looming large, Issa starts to reconsider a five-year relationship with unemployed boyfriend Lawrence (Jay Ellis), which is going nowhere fast. Struggling just the same is Issas BFF Molly, whose professional success as a high-paid lawyer stands in stark contrast to her dismal dating life. After an unexpected performance at an open-mic night, Issa decides to embrace a better and bolder side, but learns that, despite the confidence of her razor-sharp rhymes, being less insecure in everyday life isnt quite as easy. Over the course of eight Season 1 episodes, Insecure explores the black female experience in a subtle, witty and authentic way, as Issa and Molly stumble their way towards pulling their lives together, while trying their hardest to never settle for less. Thursdays from November 3 at 9.30pm on Showcase. High Maintenance A city of strangers with one connection. High Maintenance follows an NYC pot dealer with a list of clients with neuroses as diverse as the city, providing a glimpse into the private lives of customers and how they light things up. Created, written and directed by the husband-and-wife team Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, the web series High Maintenance made the jump to HBO with six new half-hour episodes that explore the intriguing, often eccentric private lives of dozens of New Yorkers with one connection: their weed dealer. Following a nameless, bike-riding pot-delivery man referred to simply as The Guy (Sinclair), the series brings viewers into the homes and routines of a variety of urban characters, each with a different compelling reason for doing business with The Guy. High Maintenance is a weed show whose primary focus isnt really about pot, as it weaves together contemporary vignettes that bring viewers into the apartments, lives and minds of one pot dealers colourful and compelling clientele. Filmed primarily on location in Brooklyn, the series offers an authentic, on-the-ground view of NYC, traversing the city alongside The Guy on his daily bike-delivery circuit across the boroughs. Portraying the neurotic New Yorkers in High Maintenance are a myriad of guests, from A-list talent to lesser-known NY theatre mainstays and stars on the rise. Returning guests from the webisodes include Michael Cyril Creighton (Horace and Pete), Australian actress Yael Stone (Orange is the New Black), Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), Helene Yorke (Masters of Sex), Greta Lee (Girls) and Hannibal Burress (Broad City), while Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), Miriam Shor (Younger), Lee Tergesen (Outcast, Oz) and Peter Friedman (The Affair) are among those new to the HBO series. Thursdays from November 3 at 10.00pm. Last night Film Victoria held their annual 2016 Screen Leader Awards: Jill Robb Award Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox of Every Cloud Productions (Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, Gods of Wheat Street) were acknowledged for their outstanding leadership, achievement and service to the industry. John Howie Award Ian Anderson for his post production expertise in the finish of Australian classics including Muriels Wedding, The Castle, The Secret Life of Us, Tomorrow, When the War Began and Oddball Jan Sardi Award (inaugural award) Alison Nisselle for her significant achievements as a screenwriter. Her credits include television dramas Phoenix, Janus, Bed of Roses and the feature film Healing among others Fred Schepisi Award (inaugural award) Greg McLean for his achievements in directing on Wolf Creek, Rogue and most recently The Belko Experiment which screened at Toronto International Film Festival. Jenni Tosi was also reappointed to the role of Film Victoria CEO. Were incredibly proud to honour Fiona Eagger, Deb Cox, Ian Anderson, Greg McLean and Alison Nisselle with their respective awards. Their achievements and leadership will inspire others in Victorias screen community, she said. Our 2015 / 16 annual results highlight the talent and creativity that exists here in Victoria, across all sectors and we congratulate all those who contributed to this success. Americas love affair with Ricky Gervais continues with a new game show, Five to Survive, coming to ABC. According to Deadline, the hour long format features one adult contestant who must answer 10 questions correctly to earn the top prize. If they answer incorrectly, the contestant has a chance to be saved by a group of five kids who have been asked the same question. Gervais will interact with the kids as they assist the adults with their answers. Another host is yet to be announced. Ive never understood the saying never work with animals or children. said Gervais. As a producer and director, I prefer either to Hollywood actors. Theyre cheaper, they do as theyre told, and the filming hours are better. At its core, Five to Survive is a high stakes Q&A game show with the unpredictable twist of contestants putting their earning potential in the hands of children, said David Goldberg, Banijay Group President and CEO, Banijay Studios North America. 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) The Armed Forces of Ukraine are a significantly more reliable guarantor of security of our country than the Budapest Memorandum. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this in the video address on the occasion of the Day of the Defender of Ukraine, posted on his Facebook page. "Our guarantor is the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and it is much more serious than the Budapest Memorandum," Poroshenko said. He noted that the external threat had accelerated the process of formation of the modern Ukrainian political nation on the principles of civic patriotism. "Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking citizens, citizens speaking other languages, Ukrainians, Russians, Crimean Tatars and other ethnic groups all firmly uphold the position of Ukrainian patriotism and side by side protect our country with weapons in hands. Ukrainians are seriously set to continue to fight for their independence," the President said. ol President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko had a phone conversation with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. This is reported by the press service of the Head of State. The parties discussed the situation in Donbas. Petro Poroshenko informed on the increased shelling by Russian militants, especially at night. He also emphasized the importance of deploying the OSCE permanent observation points in the area of troops delimitation, the statement reads. The parties discussed the issue of speeding up the provision of the visa-free regime for Ukrainians and ratification of the Association Agreement. The interlocutors agreed to conduct a trilateral phone conference between the leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France shortly. ol The establishment of an anti-corruption court in Ukraine is a necessity, and the Venice Commission is ready to support it. President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio said this in an interview with the Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper. He noted that he was not a supporter of establishment of the specialized courts, including an anti-corruption court. "Ordinary judicial proceedings should be appropriate for all cases. However, this is a really good approach for the present-day Ukrainian, where corruption flourishes. I even admit that an anti-corruption court is a necessity for you. And we are ready to support its establishment," Buquicchio said. ol The All-Ukrainian Festival of Cossack Song, dedicated to the 500th anniversary of birth of Prince Dmytro Vyshnyvetsky-Baida and the Day of the Defender of the Fatherland, has kicked off in Ternopil region, western Ukraine. "We hold the festival on the territory of the prince's palace complex and the remains of the ancient castle. Thus, we draw attention to our historic heritage, we want to attract tourists to the architectural gems of our region," Head of the regional tourism department Nazar Yavorsky said this in a commentary to an Ukrinform correspondent. The festival includes competition programs for choirs, vocal ensembles and soloists, vocalists, duets, trios and quartets from all over Ukraine. ol Earlier this month Frances President Francois Hollande announced that the informal camp for refugees and migrants in Calais, the so-called Jungle, will be closed in the coming days, with the camp population to be moved to centres where better help can be provided. This is welcome. The Calais authorities estimate that some 6,000 people are staying at the camp. It is vital that they be moved in a planned and organized manner, and that proper alternative accommodation is found for them around the country. People need to be fully informed in advance about the dismantling of the camp. Asylum seekers need to be given proper information and prompt access to asylum procedures. It is also crucial to pay special attention to the estimated more than 1,200 unaccompanied or separated children in the Jungle, whose best interests have to be taken into account, making arrangements such as special reception centres to ensure their safety and welfare when the site is closed. This is important so that children dont move on to other destinations and risk becoming exploited by human traffickers or end up living on the streets without any support. Strengthened measures must be taken to reunite children with relatives in Europe, such as the 200 unaccompanied children in Calais identified as having family links in the United Kingdom. The Jungle site has been problematic for a number of years, and UNHCR has long recommended its closure. Living conditions are appalling, with the most basic shelter, inadequate hygiene facilities, poor security and a lack of basic services. UNHCR commends the French authorities on almost doubling in recent years accommodation space in reception facilities for asylum seekers in France, while urging the government to further increase the number of places. An additional 20,000 places would ensure that all asylum seekers and refugees have adequate accommodation while their claims are processed. For more information on this topic, please contact: In Paris, Celine Schmitt, [email protected], +33 6 23 16 11 78 In London, Andrej Mahecic, [email protected] +44 788 023 09 85 Leaders of five Madison startups began their week with a couple of days in sunny California, hobnobbing with venture capitalists and Badger alums. It was the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerces annual Silicon Valley trip, aimed at introducing West Coast investors to some of the talent in the Midwest. Polco, the online citizen forum that won the chambers Pressure Chamber pitch contest in August for a guaranteed spot on the trip, and runner-up AkitaBox, with building management software, were among the participants. Joining them were: GrocerKey, with an e-commerce platform for grocery stores; Markable, with online clothes and accessories shopping; and Moxe Health, whose software helps health care providers share patient information with insurance companies. It was an incredibly valuable opportunity, said Polco CEO Nick Mastronardi. It helped foster investment at home before the trip; it helped build great connections with Silicon Valley investors and Silicon Valley companies; and it helped bridge even stronger connections among the companies and members who traveled together. Representatives of 10 venture capital firms took part in the two-day event, which included dinner and private discussions, and a reception sponsored by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. with support from the Badger Entrepreneurship Forum, a group of UW-Madison alums in the Bay area. Jeremy Neren, CEO of GrocerKey, said he learned a lot by hearing the questions and feedback from the West Coast investors which did feel different from VCs Ive pitched in the Midwest ... I absolutely feel like we found great leads for future investment. Polcos Mastronardi said hed been focused on pitching to investors but the reception with alums was phenomenal. So many talented folks with very cool experiences, all wanting to help us out, he said. Mastronardi also said he was tickled to meet with Googles chief economist Hal Varian. His insight was very valuable, Mastronardi said. And sometimes, even a brush with those who cater to the rich and famous can be a thrill. I needed a haircut before my pitch in Palo Alto, and the guy who cut my hair said he had also cut (Apple co-founder) Steve Jobs and (Facebook co-founder) Mark Zuckerbergs hair, Mastronardi said. Chamber president Zach Brandon, vice president Kevin Little, board chair Beth Donley and board member Mark Bakken also attended the Silicon Valley mission. While its too soon to tell if any investments will result, in follow-up conversations, I can tell you the investors were impressed with what they saw and want to stay better connected with Madisons entrepreneurial scene, Little said. SciArt chosen for Milw. accelerator SciArt is in the fall 2016 class of the WERCBench Labs accelerator program in Milwaukee. Its the only Madison company in this group of 10 startups. SciArt is a UW-Madison spinoff, established in January. The companys technology is meant to cut the cost of prototyping new products, and to solve mechanical design problems rapidly. We are decreasing the amount of material required to make functionally safe products, said co-founder and director of engineering Praveen Yadav. We want to get you the best possible design using the least amount of material. The software integrates with popular CAD (computer-aided design) programs, he said. The first meeting was quite illuminating, Yadav said. It provided some insight on some of the mistakes we made in the past regarding potential customers. SciArt is a graduate of (Madison and Milwaukee accelerator) gener8tors gBETA program for young companies. This is the second class for WERCBench. The 12-week program started Oct. 6 and ends in January 2017. With support from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., each team receives a $10,000 grant at the start of the program and a $10,000 investment when they complete it satisfactorily. WERCBench is a program of the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium, founded in 2009 by three universities and four industrial companies to focus on early research designed to transform energy power and controls. Since Google positioned Pixel and Pixel XL to high-end phones, they are considered threats to Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The new technology of Pixel phones are expected to catch more attention of the buyers that will eventually beat the sales of iPhone 7 in 2016. Google Pixel Phone with Verizon Google's partnership with Verizon for the first roll out of Pixel phones resonate the strategy of Apple when the tech giant partnered with AT&T for the iPhone 1. According to Forbes, this wise strategy will generate more sales for Google because of the exclusive availability for constrained demands and Verizon's motivation to sell Pixel phones. Google has also the possibility to take an advantage on the Galaxy Note 7 recall most especially now that Samsung has official stop the production of the handsets. After Google's event, Pixel phones are now considered by some as one of the best Galaxy Note 7 alternatives aside from iPhone 7 and LGV20. Nexus is Dead Another strategy used by Google to get ahead with Apple is the killing off its Nexus brand. During the unveiling of Pixel phones, Google announced the discontinuation of Nexus line up which according to Android Authority a sign of historic change in the mobile phone strategy of the search giant. It may appear that Pixel phones are not as elegant as Nexus 6P however according to some analyst, the October 4 event will remain a monumental moment for Google. Through Pixel phones, Google's present will be more felt in sourcing components, distribution management, deals of supply chains, establishing relationships with carriers and inventory management. Pixel Phones Sales in 2016 Google is estimated to generate between 3 million to 4 million sales of Pixel phones before 2016 ends according to Digital Trends. However, the sales won't beat the 60 million estimated sales of iPhone 7 at the end of the year. Carrier exclusivity is seen as the main reason of the forecast large flat sales of Google Pixel phones. In a survey conducted by Consumer Intelligent Research Partners, it was found out that out of five subscribers, four are likely to stick to their own carrier to upgrade their phones. As the presidential campaign continues to blaze as the two major candidates try to win more voters into their fold. One of the burning issues, and could also be their make or break, is education. Here is an overview on what Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton thinks about the five most important issues concerning education: school choice, student loans and debt, common core, early childhood education, and teachers pay. With regards to school choice, Trump has been consistent in his support for school choice where parents and students can have the freedom to select the school they have. Clinton, on the other hand, voiced her support for charter schools where schools are funded by the government but governed by an independent body rather than by the local public education system. Moreover, Trump has continuously criticized the federal government for making a profit from the student loan programs. He promised to create jobs but he hasn't provided any concrete plans yet how to solve it. For her part, Clinton proposes a college free education for families whose income are less than $125,000 a year. He further proposes that all community colleges should be free and that a three-month moratorium should be in place to help students with existing debts refinance and restructure their monthly payments to reduce it. As for the issue on Common Core, the Clinton camp does not really focus on it but her opponent spoke passinately against it. Trump promises to wipe out the Common Core if elected president. On the contrary, Clinton laments about the Common Core being an "unfortunate argument." Where Trump lambasted Common Core, he was mum about what he will do concerning early education childhood. Clinton has a plan, although she did not discuss how she's going to do it, what she wants to do for America's next generation. She said that she will make pre-school available for all 4-year olds by putting in more cash to states. Finally, on the issue of teacher's pay, Trump supports merit pay that benefits performing teachers and wants to end teacher tenure that supports bad or low-performing teacher. Clinton, for her part, said she would start a national campaign to elevate teaching and provide better pay as well as training and support to educators across the nation. She also proposed to refinance student debts to new teachers and forgive any outstanding debts after 10 years. Sushi is what comes to mind when you think of Japanese food, right? Makes sense, as sushi has long captured the American imagination, is fun to eat and generates billions of dollars in revenue, according to market studies. But what about Japanese food beyond that iconic dish? Paris-based chef Maori Murota aims to broaden the Wests idea of Japanese cuisine with Tokyo Cult Recipes (Harper Design, $35), which offers 100 Japanese recipes from tamago, a rolled omelet, to chicken yakitori to spaghetti Napolitan and even strawberry shortcake. Youll also find a few sushi recipes, although Murota notes sushi is more of a special occasion meal to be enjoyed out. I sincerely do not know why sushi became the national food of Japan all over the world, Murota wrote in an email from France. She hopes her book, which is one of a series of Cult Recipes books focusing on the cuisines of such cities as New York and Venice, will help readers discover we have so many different types of food in Japan other than sushi. And also I really hope that they find Japanese cooking accessible and fun to make. Diversity is the word Murota chose when asked to describe Japanese food. We are extremely open to all kind of foreign foods, and on the other hand, there are some type of foods that proudly and strictly keep their tradition, she wrote. The hybrid of new and old, international food and traditional food, and being open and being completely closed. That makes the diversity in Japanese food. But being open to foreign ingredients doesnt mean mere copying, she insisted. Thats a point also made by Mark Hellyar, executive chef of Momotaro in Chicago, which bills itself as a multidimensional Japanese restaurant. These foods, and he pointed to spaghetti dishes created in the 1950s, are Japanese and not fusion dishes. Were not fusion. We hate that term, he said of Momotaro. People get confused about what Japanese food is. OK. What is Japanese food then? Hellyar points to foods cooked on a robata, or Japanese grill, curry and grilled food skewers called kushiyaki (all three are on Moromotos menu). So many things are coming up, said Takashi Yagihashi, when asked about the Japanese food scene. The Japanese-born restaurateur behind Slurping Turtle, with locations in Chicago and Ann Arbor, Mich., said hes hearing from family and friends these days about a savory pancake called okonimiyaki, which can include cabbage, eggs and seafood. At Slurping Turtle, the big sellers are international in spirit: duck-fat-fried chicken, and taro root tacos stuffed with hamachi. Hiroko Shimbo, the Japanese-born, New York-based author of Hirokos American Kitchen and other cookbooks, said its more the structure of a meal than a specific dish that describes Japanese cuisine. Cook the rice, serve with vegetables, make the miso soup, and maybe grill or cook a fish, she said. Elizabeth Andoh, the American-born Japanese food authority and author of Kansha and other cookbooks, shares Shimbos focus on menu planning, She stressed, in a video call from Tokyo, that rice is critically important to the meal. (She also suggested ohitashi, cooked greens, often spinach, steeped in dashi stock, when asked to name a quintessential Japanese dish.) Murota agreed about the importance of properly cooked Japanese rice. It is essential in our cuisine, she wrote when asked what readers of her book really need to master. Students return to campus with another challenge: the risk of Zika Virus. While campuses with the help of authorities have taken the necessary steps to prevent the virus from getting into campus, risk is still there. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention are also taking steps to protect and educate the public and launched a website for Zika Virus. There has been over 3,818 reported cases of Zika in the United States according to the CDC's Case Counts. Most of the cases were acquired during travel (3,712) and 105 cases were reported to have been acquired locally and mosquito-borne. Most of the travel associated cases are from those who entered the U.S. from South and Central America and brought the virus with them. Some acquire the virus through sexual activity and the mosquito-borne cases are from Florida. People with Zika shows mild symptoms of fever, rashes, headache, muscle and joint pains, and conjunctivitis. The virus can affect fetuses of expectant mothers causing them brain defects and babies being born with microcephaly or abnormally small heads. To date, there is no evidence that "a woman who is not pregnant would not pose a risk for birth defects in future pregnancies after the virus has cleared from her blood." Florida has reported over 800 cases of Zika and universities have taken steps to educate students about the virus and how to protect themselves. Apart from informing students the University of Miami and the Florida International University (FIU) have also established prevention efforts in campus. FIU created a committee to take charge of their campaign that initiated the steps in prevention which included treatment of standing water where mosquitoes might breed and an information campaign that included setting up signages in campus and FAQs on the university's website. The University of Miami have also taken the same steps and included spraying insecticide in targeted areas inside the campus. Since it's difficult to determine student's response and attitude towards the campaign, involving the community is another alternative. American College Health Association's (ACHA) Tim Moody also suggested using the CDC's Zika Interim Response Plan as a guideline. While Miami might be the hotspot for Zika transmissions in the U.S., universities are non-complacent about the issue and are taking measures to protect their students. Universities in the Gulf Coast have are doing preventive steps since their climate makes the area a suitable breeding ground for mosquitoes. Tulane University in New Orleans for example have kicked off prevention steps long before classes began. They have either drained or treated standing water and sprayed on campus several times during the summer. The University Health Center of the University of Maryland at College Park even emailed students with tips and other relevant information about Zika before the start of the fall semester. Since most cases of Zika were contracted with travel associated activities, the University of Texas at Austin's University Health Services gave consultation to students who came back from a trip for diagnosis and also inform them how to protect themselves and their sexual partners. At the moment, there is no known vaccine or medicine for Zika, the best way for everyone to be protected is to be informed. Video: Recent data released by the U.S Census Bureau showed the education condition of each city in the United States. It revealed which are the most and least educated cities in the country. The data was analyzed by 24/7 Wall St. and revealed which cities have the highest number of college degree holders and which ones have not.The analysis showed that 60 percent of Boulder, Colorado's population holds a bachelor's degree. Meanwhile, Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Arizona has the lowest with only 11.9 percent of its adult population attended college. Even the educational attainment of each state's cities also has a very big difference. In the state of Oregon, for example, Corvallis has 55.1 percent of its adults have college degrees while in another city, Grants Pass, only 14 percent has. The analysis also showed that most educated cities also come from the states which have the highest percentage of education as well. Out of the Top 10 cities, seven came from those states which percentage of degree holders are also high. Since the higher the educational attainment, the more opportunities for a high paying job has, those cities with a high percentage of educational attainment also tend to have higher income than those that don't. In fact, 36 cities out of those who are reported to have a big number of bachelor's degree have a median income much higher than the national average. Further studies made about the relationship between the presence of a university and the economy also revealed that the presence of an educational institution in the area affects the economy and population retention of that area. For example, 70 percent of people remain within the area after graduation. Aside from that, innovative companies in the area provide incentives for students to remain in the area after graduation. For a more detailed report of each state's most educated cities, click the link here and find out. A study has shown that women who quit STEM majors to pursue another one has higher scores than the men who stayed and pursued STEM degrees. But why do women shy away from STEM-related majors if their grades are high enough to earn a degree? The study also revealed that women in STEM-related programs usually quit after taking calculus. However, there are deeper, underlying reasons why this happens. Fear of failure, lack of confidence, and the pervading culture how STEM is viewed all contribute to this. Most women fear failure especially when they see their grades are failing. One student suddenly decided to change majors when she got a 3.0 GPA in calculus. She panicked thinking she was failing but fortunately the Society of Women Engineers where she belonged to in college told her that such score is excellent compared to men. That sealed the deal and she continued with her STEM degree. Another study revealed that such disappointment comes because a lot of students, both male and female go to college overestimating their mathematic skills only to find out later that they are not as good as they think. Another reason why women quit or never entered the field after graduating is because there is a prevalent belief about the "marriage penalty" where they won't be able to get married by 30 if they (the women) pursue a STEM or business-related career. Dr. Jess Ellis, an assistant professor of mathematics in the College of Natural Sciences at Colorado State and a co-author of the CSU study, said that this generation has been raised to believe that boys and girls have different roles to fill resulting in women growing up doubting talents and abilities "of theirs that do not align with the cultural messages we were raised with." However, Ellis also pointed out that it is natural if some students change their minds later and shift to another major. She likened it to a leaking pipeline but instead of striving hard to patch it up, it should be directed in the most equitable way whether it be by gender, status, or ethnicity. "We need to understand the experiences of students who stay and of those who leave, with a special attention to the experiences of students coming from underrepresented populations. We need to also attend to how to encourage more students coming from traditionally underrepresented populations to enter the STEM pipeline," Ellis said. Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 leak train does not seem to stop until it is launched. Many rants hint to next year release date for the tablet with top-notch specifications. Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 design leaked by Evan Blass on Twitter Notorious leaker Evan Blass spilled an image of what's believed to be Galaxy Tab S3 design - which does not show any major changes from its predecessor. The photos in the video below, show two tablets in black and white colors. Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 specifications Starting from an AMOLED display, Exynos 8890 or Snapdragon 820 processor and 4 GB of RAM - Samsung could unveil two versions of internal storage, 32 GB and 64 GB. The optics department could pair an 8 MP of rear shooter with 2 MP of front-facing camera. The tablet is rumored to run Android Marshmallow OS and have 4,000 mAh battery capacity, NeuroGadget reported. Anoter speculation suggests that Galaxy Tab S3 could come in 9.7-inch variants only (WiFi and WiFi+LTE), with 1536 x 2048 pixels resolution, GSM Arena has learned. There is no word about pricing yet but as a reminder, the 8-inch variant of Tab S2 was introduced at a price of $399 whereas the 9.7-inch is priced at $499. Hence, the upcoming tablet should be sold at the price range. Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 release date Galaxy Tab S3 did not show up at the IFA 2016 but a recent leaked FCC document could indicate that the tablet may come real soon. After passing through the highest certification for telecomm devices, it may only take months before we see Galaxy Tab S3 being released in the market, Trusted Reviews reported. Other technical specs of Galaxy Tab S3 listed in the document include NFC, GPS, 4G LTE and Bluetooth 4.2. Samsung could gear up for Galaxy Tab S3 release at the MWC 2017 that will take place in Barcelona, February 27 - March 2. With that being said, the tablet could head start the competition as Apple iPad Pro 2 is expected to be launched in March 2017. The iPad family is apparently becoming the news among tech crowds. It hasn't been launched yet but the chatters and speculations from experts should give a brief update on what's to come. Apple rumor: iPad Pro 2 gets a desktop-class performance When Apple introduced the original iPad Pro back in 2015, Tim Cook said that it's the most capable and powerful iPad ever created. It would make sense that the next iPad Pros will surpass the predecessor in many aspects. Not just a rant, but the analysis comes from ever-accurate expert Ming-Chi Kuo, saying that Apple will reveal three variants of iPad Pro tablets, Mashable reported. Kuo's analysis indicates that the new tablets will be more professional, aiming at commercial and educational sectors. The newest rumor from Macotakara claims that iPad Pro family will consist of a 7.9-inch, 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch devices. Macotakara is not a reputable leakster but Kuo and the Japanese blog seem to agree on one thing - three new iPad Pro devices. A recent leak of A10X chip benchmark corroborates Kuo's speculation. The powerful chip would make iPad Pro 2 at least 80 percent faster than PC, just like Apple's claim with the original tablet. Apple will also said to aupgrade the device's battery, bringing at least 10 hours of life. Other speculated components include four speakers, True Tone display, more-advanced Apple Pencil that will be integrated with wider app choices. Apple rumor: iPad Mini Pro low-end specifications The iPad Mini 5 or Mini Pro is rumored to arrive in 7.9-inch size with all the similar features found in a Pro tablet. Aside from the display technology upgrade, the Mini variant will sport A9X chip instead of A10X, marking it as a lower-end device, Neurogadget reported. Moreover, the iPad Pro tablets might still have the 3.5 mm headphone jack Apple rumor: iPad Pro 2 and iPad Mini Pro release date Reports suggest an early 2017 release date for iPad lineup as this year's focus is the huge overhaul in Macbook Pro 2016, which is set to be released this month. The company where students have their internships not only affect their academic goals - it also has an impact on their future career. Choosing the right company, where you can gain relevant work experiences and skills, can make or break your goals professionally. Vault.com previously revealed its rankings on the companies that have the Most Prestigious Internship Programs, with Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs & Co., Facebook and J.P. Morgan taking the top five spots. Other companies on the Most Prestigious Internship Programs list are Microsoft, Tesla Motors, Morgan Stanley, The Walt Disney Company and Twitter. Evercore's Advisory Summer Analyst and Summer Associate Program got the top spot for Vault's 50 Best Internships list. Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP's Summer Internship and Elliott Davis Decosimo's ENVISION Summer Internship Experience got second and third, respectively. Moreover, the list also includes Nickelodeon Animation Studio's Nickternship Program which was able to take a place in the ninth spot. Vault also revealed the companies that offer the best internship programs for tech and engineering majors. Capital One's Technology Development Program got the top spot. The company offers three roles in the program: Software Engineer, Data Engineer and Cyber Security Engineer. Interns will be able to work with talented engineers and interact closely with senior leaders. There are also training and development sessions on iOS, Android, AWS, Open Source Big Data tools, Security and Voice-Driven applications, among others. The program will be 10 weeks long and is available in San Francsico, CA, New York, NY, McLean, VA, Richmond, VA, Plano, TX, Chicago, IL and Wilmington, DE. Thrivent Financial's IT Internship program is in second place while Garmin International is at third place. Aerospace giant Boeing nabs the seventh place while SpaceX's sister company, Tesla Motors, is at the 20th place. It was previously reported that SpaceX interns will get the chance to be involved in the design, development, testing and manufacturing of spaceflight hardware. The groups looking for interns are: Avionics (for both Electronics and Software), Dynamics, Launch Operations, Manufacturing/Operations, Propulsion (Engines), Structures, Enterprise Information Systems as well as the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) group. It was noted that there may be opportunities available in other areas as well. Public universities are a popular choice among upcoming college students because they are affordable and high-quality. With the rising of tuition, getting accepted at an acclaimed public university can definitely help lessen students' college expenses. University of California - Berkeley has recently been deemed as one of the best schools in the U.S. according to U.S. News. The school is deemed as the top national public university. Its Los Angeles campus is tied in second place with the University of Virginia. The University of Michigan is at fourth place while the University of North Carolina finished the top five. In WSJ's list of the college and universities with the most diversity on its campuses, systems such as the City University of New York and the California State University are among the leaders in supporting students and staff from various socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds across the nation. Urban public schools in California also have diverse student bodies, each having a large proportion of non-native students. The University of California - Irvine got the eighth spot for environment while UCLA got 10th place. U.S. News revealed their list of the top 10 public national universities in the U.S. It was noted that these schools operate under the supervision of state governments and are funded partly by tax dollars as well as state subsidiaries. Public universities offer discounted tuition rates to in-state students. University of California - Davis, UC - San Diego, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin - Madison tie in 10th place. They are followed by the University of California - Irvine. UC's Santa Barbara campus comes in eighth place. Georgia Institute of Technology got the seventh spot while College of William & Mary, in Virginia, got sixth place. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill nabbed the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. University of California - Los Angeles and the University of Virginia tie in second place and UC - Berkeley is deemed as the best public national university in the United States. A citizen police review committee Thursday recommended that OIR Group of Pasadena, California, assist in evaluating the policies and practices of the Madison Police Department. The MPD Policy and Procedure Review Ad Hoc Committee approved the recommendation by a 12-2 vote. It still must be approved by the City Council and Mayor Paul Soglin. If approved, OIR Group will receive up to $400,000 to continue interviewing community members and evaluating the police department to offer recommendations. The citizen review committee was formed after the 2015 fatal police shooting of black teen Tony Robinson. Three groups presented proposals to the committee Oct. 6. Committee members said two immediately became the clear favorites, OIR Group and Hillard Heintze of Chicago. New York-based Exiger was the third finalist. Committee member Keith Findley advocated for OIR Group, saying it had an outside perspective and the other two groups have worked more with police departments in the past. Hillard Heintze and Exiger had commended Madison for having a progressive police force, which Findley said showed a bias that would lead to little change. Madison does have that history as a very progressive department, said Findley, who teaches at UW Law School. That doesnt mean it doesnt have problems. Former Madison police captain and committee co-chair Luis Yudice said the connections Hillard Heintze has with police, specifically the Chicago Police Department, should not be viewed as a detriment. He said Hillard Heintze had a better chance of convincing police that change is necessary. Yudice and committee member Sean Saiz voted against awarding the contract to OIR Group. October 14 2016 The holy grail of introducing a rail service to Glasgow Airport has taken a fresh twist with plans to introduce a personal rapid transit (PRT) system one of two options currently being weighed up by Glasgow and Clyde Valley Cabinet after plans for a heavy rail link were scrapped Under two competing proposals for City Deal funding the route would be serviced either by a 144m tram/train option to Glasgow Central via Paisley Gilmour Street, which could reduce airport journey times to just over 16 minutes.Alternatively, the 80m PRT system may get the nod, linking to a 'Glasgow International Railway Station' in four minutes it would take just 12 months to build. This would see a fleet of small automated pods shuttle between the two stops on custom-built lightweight guideways.The idea has already received the backing of Junction 29. Landowner of a 40 acre site at the airport. Its MD, Paul Kelly, said: The PRT optionwould significantly ease congestion on the M8 corridor between the airport and the city centre. Our PRT solution is very similar to what is already in place at London Heathrow Terminal 5, which is very reliable and has high levels of customer satisfaction.Passengers would travel on the Glasgow Central Gourock/Wemyss Bay line and disembark at a relocated Paisley St James station. They would then join the PRT system and four minutes later, arrive at the airport.A final decision is expected to be made by December. Students at Riverdale Elementary School in Muscoda were sent home early on Friday after being evacuated from the building due to a fire in the school's laundry room. The students at the school, 800 N. Sixth St., were safely taken to the high school, according to an announcement posted on the Riverdale School District website. There was no damage estimate to the laundry room and no cause of the fire was given. Page Content Curiosity and creativity will be celebrated at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Oct. 20-23 as part of the Wisconsin Science Festival. Held at various locations statewide, the festival helps communities discover how science is changing the way people lead their lives. The following free, public events will be held on the UW-Stevens Point campus as part of in conjunction with the festival: Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m., "How Might Video Games Cultivate Virtue?" - This presentation is the annual University Evening, held at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Room of the Dreyfus University Center, 1015 Reserve St. Led by Assistant Professor Josh Horn, the program will target virtual reality gaming in relation to morality. Friday, Oct. 21, 12-2 p.m., Waste Education Center tour - Experience demonstrations of research and activities as students learn natural resource management and sustainable practices. The center is located at 1940 Maria Dr. Sunday, Oct. 23, 2 p.m. "Endless Horizon" planetarium show Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek: the Next Generation" narrates this program about the people, innovation and discovery that led to modern space exploration. It is offered in the Allen F. Blocher Planetarium on the second floor of the Science Building, 2001 Fourth Ave. Sunday, Oct. 23, 3:30 p.m. "Weathering the Ice Age" Museum Director Ray Reser will present on Native American history in central Wisconsin at the UW-Stevens Point Museum of Natural History, located on the first floor of Albertson Hall (U niversity Library), 900 Reserve St. For more information on the Wisconsin Science Festival and other programs and activities, go to www.wisconsinsciencefest.org. Wyoming Business Tips for Oct. 23-29 A weekly look at Wyoming business questions from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), part of WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming. By Bruce Morse, WSBDC regional director I am starting to work on my budget for 2017 and always struggle with it. Do you have any tips to make that easier? Harold, Buffalo First of all, Im glad to hear you are starting to think about your 2017 budget. Now is a great time to begin working on that. Many businesses never get around to it and simply hope it works next year. It sounds like you have an existing business, so at least you have some historical numbers to work from. I would start with this years information, modifying it depending on what you know about the upcoming year or decisions you plan to make. This can be based on price adjustments, new contracts you either have or anticipate, or marketing campaigns that you hope will drive new business to you. Conversely, if you know that revenue will be down for some reason such as losing a big client, a fall in prices and so on, you will want to account for that as well. If you have a business with some seasonality, review your accounting reports for the last few years to see what that pattern looks like. If its reasonable to assume that will continue, plan accordingly. On the expense side, what changes do you anticipate? Can you source a new supplier that might improve your gross margin, negotiate a better deal with your landlord, or realign your marketing spending to reach more targeted customers, and so on? For new businesses just starting out, projections can be a bit more difficult. The expense side is always a little easier to pencil out; however, based on the nature of the business, average ticket size, location, capacity, inventory levels and other factors, a sound estimate can be arrived at. Lets face it: Nobody knows for sure what the future holds, but you want to make as good a guess as possible based on the information available, and then monitor it closely as the year progresses so you can make adjustments if necessary. If you are struggling with this process, need some tools to help you organize your information or simply want to bounce your thoughts off an impartial third party, contact your SBDC adviser for assistance. A blog version of this article and an opportunity to post comments are available at www.wyen.biz/blog1/. The WSBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922. A man involved in a fight Thursday afternoon in Fitchburg told police he had been shot at during the fight. Police found a shell casing at the scene. The man was not hit by the bullet but suffered minor injuries in the fight, police said. The fight happened around 5:45 p.m. in the area of Pike Drive and Eggiman Road. Police were sent to the scene after a 911 call by a resident who heard a single gunshot. "A short time later, Madison officers responded to a report of a male who had been injured in a fight," Fitchburg police said. "He told Madison officers he had been involved in a fight and was shot at." The victim said he was fighting with another man when a third man fired the single shot. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Fitchburg police, 270-4300. On Oct. 11, Wynn Las Vegas Executive Chef of Sinatra, Chef Theo Schoenegger, along with Frank Sinatras granddaughter, AJ Lambert, hosted lunch and story-telling for the students of Dean Petersen Elementary. Two third grade classrooms were chosen for the Wynn hosted event in acknowledgement of their perfect attendance. The students dined in the schools cafeteria on tables adorned with Wynn linens while being treated to pasta and meatballs cooked by Schoennegger and the Sinatra team. Following the festive meal Frank Sinatras granddaughter, AJ Lambert, read the inspirational childrens tale of Sinatra titled Frankie Liked to Sing. In support of Spread the Word Nevada, Wynn provided each child with their own copy of the story to take home. Wynn Las Vegas has an extensive partnership with Dean Petersen Elementary School to help the school continue to accomplish great things in a traditionally underprivileged area of Las Vegas. In conjunction with Clark County School Districts Reinventing Schools initiative, Wynn has committed to provide support and coordinate services from other nonprofits to help the students at Petersen Elementary succeed in their education. Can Tho is facing difficulties in treating medical waste due to the lack of waste treatment facilities, while dumping sites are overloaded. - Photo coneco.com.vn Deputy Director of the provincial Health Department Cao Minh Chu said an estimated 6,800kg of medical waste was discharged each day from 129 healthcare facilities in the city. However, the city faced many difficulties in treating the waste, Chu said at a meeting with the Health Ministry this week. All hospitals collected and classified medical waste as regulated, but most of them did not have solid waste treatment facilities, he said, adding that they had to enter into contract with some enterprises to transport and treat medical waste, which was difficult to supervise. He noted that construction of solid waste treatment facilities required huge investment, making it hard for health facilities to afford it since the provincial budget was limited. Vice Chairman of the citys Peoples Committee Le Van Tam said handling medical waste was one of the urgent tasks for the city. The city had worked with an enterprise to treat solid medical waste in O Mon District, but it wasnt effective enough, he said. Meanwhile, the waste dumping station in Co o District was overloaded. The treatment of medical waste water in the city also faced challenges since waste treatment facilities had deteriorated. More than 1,500cu.m. of medical waste water was released each day, but these facilities could only handle some 1,300cu.m., according to the health department. The department is investing in building medical waste water treatment systems at large hospitals with ODA-loan support from the health ministry. The department plans to ask the citys Peoples Committee to use the provincial budget to build waste treatment facilities for some hospitals. Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the city should tighten management of solid medical waste treatment and stamp out substandard incinerators at private health clinics to prevent environmental pollution. The new EZ is expected to contribute to utilising potentials in serving socio-economic development, national defence and the security of the province as well as the whole central region. In addition, the economic zone will be developed into an area of breakthrough development creating an impetus for the provinces socio-economic development, with synchronous and modern infrastructure, civilized urban areas, sustainable environment and effective land use. The planning scale of the zone covers 23,792 hectares, including the entire administrative boundaries of 17 communes and towns to the southeast of Quang Tri province, belong to Hai Lang, Trieu Phong and Gio Linh districts. As oriented by 2050, the Southeast Quang Tri EZ will become a dynamic, modern and effective zone in the central region, in Viet Nam and in ASEAN; a gateway for international exchange to the East Sea of Viet Nam; and an area of sustainable and harmonious development, with attraction to investors, modern and synchronous infrastructure and beautiful urban landscapes. Four development zones The Southeast Quang Tri EZ features four development zones. Specifically, the zone no. 1, covering 11,469 hectares to the southeast of the EZ, is the key development area which is home to crucial projects of the entire EZ, including power centre, energy complex, industrial zones, urban areas, public services, administrative areas, deep-water seaport and non-tariff zones. The zone no. 2, covering 2,221 hectares to the northeast of the Cua Viet River, develops coastal resort tourism services and the Cua Viet urban area, which focuses on developing supporting services for the central region of the EZ. The zone no. 3, covering 3,400 hectares to the northwest of the Cua Viet River, develops a regional-level infrastructure hub, with Quang Tri Airport as its focus, and luxurious services. The zone no. 4, covering 6,702 hectares to the west of the EZ (closely connected to National Highway 49C), is an area for high-tech agriculture development and a reserve area for expanding the core region and stabilizing existing residential areas. High-quality goods agricultural production Under the plan, the Southeast Quang Tri EZ will focus on shifting agricultural production into manufacturing high-quality, high-tech and clean commodities associated with the application of scientific and technological advances; developing the models of farms and integrated farms; implementing measures to deal with environmental pollution; and combining farming production with the processing industry and the trade sector to ensure the consumption of farm produce. Concerning forestry, mangroves will be zoned to be protected, preserve the environment and serve tourism. Meanwhile, the EZ will also zone the areas of forests serving resettlement areas associated with forest planting in Hai An, Hai Khe and Hai Duong communes. Concerning trade and services, a first-class shopping centre will be built at the public centre in Trieu Lang commune, while a supermarket will be constructed to the south of Cua Viet town. The building of new commercial routes and streets is also under the plan. In addition, traditional markets in communes will be upgraded, focusing on the areas purchasing farming products, along with the establishment of a network of shopping malls, general services, trade cooperatives, retail markets, convenience stores and grocery stores. The plan also includes the formation of a logistics area, near seaports, for goods transshipment, and the establishment of a network of regional shopping and wholesale centres (20 hectares per centre). A week after Hurricane Matthew tore through Haiti, communities in many remote areas are still left without international aid. (AFP/Rodrigo Arangua) Ban will visit Les Cayes on Haiti's southern coast - one of the cities hardest-hit by Matthew - and meet with Haitian leaders, his office said. The United Nations has launched a flash appeal for US$120 million to help Haiti cope with its worst humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake. Only US$6.1 million has been raised so far, equal to five per cent of the total appeal, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. At least 473 people were killed when Matthew crashed ashore on Oct 4 as a monster Category 4 storm, packing winds of 230 kilometres per hour. Ban said on Monday that a "massive response" was needed to cope with the destruction, with 1.4 million people in need of urgent assistance after towns and villages were almost wiped off the map. Separately, the UN Security Council decided to extend the mandate of the MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission in Haiti for another six months, until April 2017. UN mission chief Sandra Honore told the council this week that the extension would help Haiti deal with the humanitarian crisis and ensure political stability after elections were postponed. Ban will also travel to Ecuador to attend the Habitat III conference on housing and sustainable urban development. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L-on podium) joins the delegates to observe a moment of silence to pay their respect for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej during the ceremony for the appointment of the Secretary-General. (AFP/Jewel Samad) Bhumibol, whose reign witnessed regular bouts of political turmoil, coups and violent unrest, was revered as a serene and caring father of the nation, and a bulwark in troubled times. His death at the age of 88, with Thailand under a military dictatorship, could cause fresh political tensions and economic hardship, analysts warned as his people come to terms with losing the only monarch most have ever known. Profile of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej. (AFP/Gal Roma) UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed the king's "long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader ... respected internationally". "The Secretary-General expresses his hope that Thailand will continue to honour King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights," his spokesman said in a statement. President Barack Obama praised the monarch as a "close friend" and partner of the United States. He paid tribute to the king as a "tireless champion" for Thailand's development, praising his "unflagging devotion" to improving the lives of his subjects. "I had the honour of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people," he said. Backed by an intense palace-driven personality cult, Bhumibol was revered as semi-divine by many in Thailand, and a towering leader above the din of the kingdom's fractious political scene. In his heydey he built a reputation as a people's monarch, criss-crossing the nation to visit the rural poor and sometimes intervening to quell political violence - although he approved most of the army's many coups during his reign. 'GREATLY MISSED' Neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia both expressed their sorrow at his passing, with the island city-state describing the king as "an outstanding and deeply revered monarch ... (who) worked tirelessly for the betterment of the Thai people". President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram of condolence, saying that "during the decades of his reign he won the sincere love of his subjects and high prestige abroad". British Prime Minister Theresa May said Bhumibol "guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed". Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed Bhumibol's contribution to Thailand's development, adding that the "good relationship" between Bangkok and Beijing were due in no small part to "personal efforts made by King Bhumibol himself". Bhumibol's "rural development projects improved the lives of millions of people in Thailand" and will be remembered for generations to come, said EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej". As concern mounted over the Bhumibol's health in the days prior to his death, the stock market and baht currency tumbled. And analysts predict further jitters ahead. "The death of Thailand's highly revered king will plunge the country into a state of mourning, and also deep political uncertainty," forecasters Capital Economics said in a note. "The period of (relative) political calm since the 2014 coup has helped the economy recover ... But renewed political instability could quickly derail this recovery." "Although the King has been unwell for a number of years and has had little or no influence on day-today policymaking for some time, he has continued to act as a unifying force in the country." Advisory group Bower Group Asia said all eyes would now be on the succession. The junta leader said Thursday that the named heir, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has asked for time before being officially proclaimed the next monarch. "During the mourning and transition period, the military will retain a firm grip over the country to ensure that the royal succession proceeds smoothly and does not become politicised," it said. A Verona man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal income tax evasion. David Stott, 51, of Verona, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Madison to evading taxes by underreporting the gross income for his business Colorado Gold in his tax returns from 2010 to 2012, according to U.S. Attorney John W. Vaudreuil. Stott also admitted to under-reporting commission income for the same three years as well as the previous three, Vaudreuil said. Over the six years, Stott evaded nearly $400,000 in income taxes. Stott faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Vaudreuil said. Sentencing is scheduled for Saturday. 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. Yeah I here what yall are saying but I don't agree with having to make groups in order to have my samples launch different ways. I should be able to assign each and everyone of my samples anyway I want without having to set up groups. Some I want the typical on/off action with the press of a button (no shift needed) and others I want to stutter (pressing the button repeatedly starts the drop/one shot over and over). This is how it was in 7 and that's how that sampler works in SDJ (which I do use) so like I said ill ask for this to be changed in the wishes forum. Thanks though and yeah I have the APC mini as well but I use that for Resolume and sense I can't assign how individual samples are launched it wouldn't make a difference what controller I was using. When it comes to deciding who should be the next U.S. president, many people in the politically active community of Vietnamese-Americans say they will not be voting for the candidate they like the best, but rather for the candidate they dislike the least. Between the two devils, I choose the lesser one. Thats Donald Trump, said Leslie Le. Le was a colonel in the South Vietnamese army before fleeing to the United States decades ago. Like most of the other Vietnamese refugees of his generation, Le has voted for Republicans in every election since he became a U.S. citizen. This year, however, it took Le a long time to make up his mind. 'Two bad candidates' It is very difficult this time because [there are] two bad candidates," he said. Of Republican Trump, Le said, "he never thinks before speaking... before speaking out what hes thinking, and he changed policies a lot. He plans to build a wall between United States and Mexico, and he forces the Mexican government to pay for it. Its not reality, so what he said is just his imagination. Le said Democrat Hillary Clinton would be more dangerous than Trump if she becomes president. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, she must [have been] able to tell what information is classified, related to national security, and which information is OK to transmit over private server email. If shes not capable to do that, she cannot be a president, Le said. The younger generation of Vietnamese-Americans views things differently; many of them support Democrat Clinton. Gender bias against Clinton? Anyone whos served in politics for 20, 30 years will have some skeletons in the closet," said 33-year-old Viet Tran. "The only things thats been mentioned about her - nothings really that outrageous, nothing that hasnt been done before by other politicians. I think people are just more harsh on her because shes female. Twenty-six-year-old Hugh Tra supported Democrat Bernie Sanders until the Vermont senator dropped out of the race. I will be supporting Hillary," Tra said. "She has adopted a lot of Bernie Sanders' policies and implemented a lot of progressive platforms into her personal platform. Vietnamese are the sixth-largest immigrant group in the U.S. Vietnamese-Americans are known for their interest in politics, and also for a generational divide in their political preferences. Traditional Republicans Dzung Do, managing editor of the Vietnamese-language newspaper Nguoi Viet, explained why older Vietnamese-Americans have traditionally voted Republican. During the Vietnam War, the Republicans were very aggressive where the Democrats were anti-war," Do said. "So that kind of thinking... They [older Vietnamese] think the Democrat was responsible for the loss of Vietnam. Do said there also is a gender bias among some older Vietnamese. He said he asked members of his community whether a woman could lead the United States government, and the older people he surveyed informally were emphatic: No. No way. But over the past decade, even older Vietnamese-Americans seem to be switching toward support for the Democratic Party, Do said. "People live here longer, especially old people. They got some benefits from social programs," the newspaper editor said. "When they first came here, they thought that they might do something to change Vietnam. Now they see the relationship between Vietnam and U.S. [is getting] warmer and warmer, so theres no way they can do that. Reluctant Trump supporters Some aging Vietnamese now have a more favorable view of Democrats, Do said, because they appreciate that party's support for government-funded social-welfare programs. But Mike Nguyen, who fled the communist regime and does not believe in an expansive social welfare system, said he will vote Republican because he believes Republican economics work. I vote Republican because of the policy, not because of Trump," Nguyen said. "I would like to give [tax] money back to the people who create jobs. If you tax them too much, and you give it away, everything in the country will go down. Many Vietnamese who traditionally vote Republican, however, are only reluctantly supporting Trump. Le sums up why: If you dont vote for anybody, you indirectly vote for the bad one. On the other hand, Do said he expects some Vietnamese-Americans will leave their ballots for president blank on election day next month. The United Nations has formally approved its next Secretary-General. Antonio Guterres of Portugal will become the world bodys ninth leader on January first, succeeding Ban Ki-moon, who leaves office at the end of this year. From New York, VOAs Margaret Besheer has more. After a 36-year military career highlighted by a historic first, Marcia Anderson has returned full-time to the Madison area intent on relaying the lessons she learned to the next generation of young women. Id like to do some public speaking about leadership, especially to young people, focusing on young women, said Anderson, who capped her military career with two years in the Pentagon as deputy chief of the Army Reserve. The military and the legal professions are still pretty male-dominated, Anderson, 58, said in an interview Thursday. Id like to tell them about handling themselves effectively in an organization, while at the same time making a contribution. From 2010 to 2012, she was deputy commanding general for the Army human resources command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, followed by her stint as the Pentagons No. 2 Army Reserve officer. Across the board she was just so remarkably gifted and poised, said William D. Razz Waff, a retired reserve major general who worked alongside her in both assignments. When she walked in the room, folks paid attention. At the Pentagon, she was often called upon to represent the reserve in meetings with the secretary and the chief of staff of the Army, and she served on a policy board that advised the secretary of defense. Anderson needed to overcome the bias of regular army officers who dont accept reserve and national guard personnel as their equals, Waff said. She was masterful at overcoming that, he said. Folks would often say say Well, you are just a reservist; what do you know about the topic? And then she would start talking, and when she was finished she had pretty well silenced the person who had asked the question. After her two-year active-duty stint at the Pentagon ended in 2014, Anderson moved from her Alexandria, Virginia, apartment back to her home in Verona, where she lives with her husband, Amos Anderson, a retired Madison school district administrator. She retired from the military in April but has continued to work in her job as clerk of courts for U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison. At noon on Friday she is scheduled to be honored in the federal courthouse at a ceremony hosted by Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Reinert, commanding general of the 88th Regional Support command at Fort McCoy. Andersons father, Rudy Mahan, a retired Beloit Corp. sandblaster, served in the Army Air Force during the Korean War but narrow options available to black soldiers kept him driving trucks despite his desire to fly bombers, she said. She said she learned a crucial lesson as a girl in the 1960s watching her mother and grandmother being ignored in a car dealership. They insisted on seeing the manager, then showed him a bank financing letter, and were able to buy a car. That showed me the importance of being prepared and strategic, and just putting people in a position where they have to pay attention to you, Anderson said. She graduated from Creighton University and Rutgers University School of Law. In 1998, she was hired by the federal court in Madison. Anderson was in the public eye in Wisconsin after former Gov. Jim Doyle appointed her to the board that hired the secretary of the state Department of Veterans Affairs. The board fired the secretary, John Scocos, and some veterans groups criticized her, saying she wasnt qualified. After Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2011, the boards hiring and firing power was removed, Scocos was rehired, and the state paid him $325,000 to settle lawsuits he had filed. Anderson said she wants to be a force for positive change, but wont run for office because election rhetoric has so little to do with policy. She said she appreciated the militarys reliance on objective criteria in personnel decisions. There are certain qualifications and requirements needed to even be considered for promotion to the next level, so you know what you have to do, Anderson said. In other fields its sometimes a mystery. Anderson said she worries that good people are driven away by what they see as unfair behavior in organizations. She urges young people to get involved and make change by building relationships with others, working hard and thinking strategically. Its not necessary to take your shoe off and pound the table, she said. Talk to other people before the meeting. The worse thing you can do in a meeting is jump in and not have anyone there to back you up. A spokesman for the U.S.-led foreign military coalition in Afghanistan said it is worried about the number of casualties Afghan security forces have suffered in recent battles with the Taliban. According to local officials, more than 100 personnel of the Afghan National Defense and Security Force, or ANDSF, have died within the past two weeks while defending the southern city of Lashkar Gah and dozens more have been wounded. The Taliban in recent days has staged repeated attacks on the capital of Helmand province, where the Afghan government is in full control of only two of the 14 districts. We do have concerns about the number of ANDSF casualties and it is something we work closely with our Afghan partners to address, said U.S. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for Resolute Support, NATOs mission in Afghanistan. He told VOA that Afghan forces did not break or collapse despite suffering significant casualties in 2015 and instead were able to regenerate capacity to hold ground during this years offensive against the Taliban. This year, the ANDSF successfully stayed on the offense and despite some difficult fights and casualties, has successfully defended every provincial capital, Cleveland asserted. As we move into this coming winter, well again work very hard with the ANDSF to assist in their recruiting and training of new forces. The Resolute Support mission is tasked to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces. Most of the casualties occurred after Taliban insurgents launched a large-scale attack on Lashkar Gah on Monday, fighting their way into parts of the city. While the assault was underway, a massive suicide car bombing inside the city killed at least 40 people, including police personnel, and wounded many more. The attack prompted the U.S. military to conduct several airstrikes against Taliban positions to support Afghan forces, according to Cleveland. Afghan media quoted Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy head of the provincial council, as claiming that the insurgents captured more than 150 Afghan forces during the fighting this week, though military commanders disputed the claim. The commander of the international forces, U.S. General John Nicholson, recently disclosed that in July alone, Afghan army and police lost more than 900 personnel. Afghan authorities do not publicly discuss casualties among government forces, but President Ashraf Ghani is reported to have told a meeting of civil society groups the death toll for August was over 1,000. The fighting has since intensified, with Taliban insurgents forcing their way and capturing parts of the northern city of Kunduz earlier this month before Afghan forces evicted them on Thursday. From March to August, about 4,500 Afghan soldiers and police were killed and more than 8,000 wounded, the New York Times reported this week, quoting an unnamed Afghan official who had seen the tallies. In addition to high casualties, Afghan forces are also plagued with high attrition and thousands of non-existent personnel or ghost soldiers. More than 62,000 civilians are believed to have fled Mosul in recent weeks as Iraqi forces prepare for a final assault to retake the city from the Islamic State terror group. And there are growing indications they may be among the last to safely escape. Despite talk by U.S. and Iraqi officials about setting up safe routes and government-controlled screening centers to handle the flow of fleeing civilians, aid groups say they are seeing few indications Iraq is serious about making adequate preparations. Instead, they say Iraqi military planners seem intent on locking down Mosul in an effort to make sure no one IS fighter or innocent civilian is able to leave. What were hearing is that the nature of the operation now has fundamentally changed and what the military is speaking about now is an operation in which the local population would be sealed in, so to speak, Human Rights Watch senior Iraq researcher Belkis Wille told VOA. Theyre calling on civilians in Mosul to put white flags on their doors and simply to stay there, she said. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which has been helping tend to almost 38,000 Iraqis who have fled from Mosul and surrounding areas at the Debaga camp, is likewise alarmed. There are no identified safe routes in place to allow people to escape, said Wolfgang Gressmann, NRC country director. Calamity to come? It could be a humanitarian disaster in the making. We expect hundreds of thousands to attempt to flee when the fighting gets more intense, Gressmann said. With no safe exits, they will risk getting trapped in the crossfire while we will be unable to reach them. According to United Nations estimates, as many as 1.5 million people are living in Mosul, and officials expect as many as 200,000 to flee as soon as the battle for the city begins in earnest. But with the start of the final assault weeks or days away, long-sought accommodations for displaced Iraqis are lagging far behind. U.N. officials say six displacement camps have been built so far, capable of housing a total of about 50,000 people. And while there are plans to ready 11 more, humanitarian organizations are quick to point out they have received only about half of the $280 million they requested in July to meet the needs of the expected flood of civilians. Aid agencies also say as many as 800,000 civilians could flee as the fighting intensifies. And in a worst-case scenario, in which as many as 1 million people flee Mosul, a top U.N. official warns the costs would skyrocket to perhaps as much as $1 billion. Some groups say Iraqi officials are telling them the lack of preparedness for displaced civilians is one of the reasons they now want to close off all escape routes from Mosul. Theyre saying this is a way to minimize civilian casualties, minimize demolition of buildings, destruction of the city and therefore it doesnt really matter in a situation like that, that camps arent ready, that screening centers havent been established yet, said Wille, of the Human Rights Watch. But Wille thinks that may be nothing more than wishful thinking. I think its unrealistic to think that civilians in Mosul who have been living under ISIS now for two years, some number wont take the opportunity to flee, she said, using an acronym for Islamic State. Trusting the Iraqis The U.S.-led coalition, which has been helping Iraqi forces prepare for the battle to retake Mosul, has consistently endorsed the way its leaders have handled the planning. The coalitions director of partner force development, Canadian Armed Forces Brigadier General D.J. Anderson, told reporters earlier this month that he has every confidence that the Iraqis are developing a solid plan. Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. John Dorrian told Pentagon reporters Wednesday the Iraqi government is directing 20 camps for displaced civilians and working with humanitarian groups to pre-position resources. The government of Iraq is working with the U.N. and nongovernment organizations to plan for the internally displaced persons that may flee the fighting in Mosul, he said. Coalition planners are attending those meetings and assisting the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] with their planning efforts. Other top U.S. officials have emphasized a desire to keep the plans for how to handle the civilians fleeing Mosul as quiet as possible, as long as possible. Wed know where wed like the IDP flows to go, but do you want to preview that too early to give the enemy exactly where they want the IDPs to go? U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk asked recently. U.S. officials also suggest having civilians stay in place, also known as white flagging, during the battle for Mosul could minimize their exposure to danger. We have seen ISIL use human shields during its retreats from cities such as Fallujah, Ramadi and Manbij, a U.S. intelligence official told VOA, using another acronym for IS. We have no reason to doubt ISIL may use this deplorable tactic again. Doubts remain Aid groups and human rights organizations are not so sure. This practice [white flagging] was used in Fallujah, said Gressmann, of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Rather than provide safety, it invited ISIS fighters to enter civilian homes for protection or force civilians to move with them from location to location. There are also persistent concerns that by forgoing the use of safety corridors and screening centers run by government-approved forces with help from aid groups that Mosuls Sunni civilians will be exposed to the wrath of Shia-dominated militias. Already, Iraqi officials have made clear that these forces, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, will be used to reclaim Mosul despite allegations that some of them are directly responsible for the death, torture and disappearances of hundreds of Sunni men and boys from Fallujah. U.S. officials have tried to downplay such concerns, emphasizing that any forces coming into contact with civilians will be under the control of the Iraqi government. I dont know where that confidence is coming from, Amnesty Internationals Donatella Rovera told VOA. There is obviously no disincentive for those among the forces and the militias who are likely to participate in the Mosul operation to behave any differently than they have done up till now. China's last-known prisoner held in relation to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests will reportedly be released Saturday, but he'll face freedom a frail and mentally ill man, a rights group and a fellow former inmate said. Miao Deshun's expected release follows an 11-month sentence reduction, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for the rights of political prisoners in China. The 51-year-old former factory worker is severely ill after spending more than half his life behind bars, said Dui Hua's executive director, John Kamm, in an email. Tanks and troops converged in Beijing to quash pro-democracy protests on the night of June 3-4, 1989, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people. Authorities later jailed more than 1,600 people around the country for crimes linked to the demonstrations. Nearly three decades later, young Chinese know little of the events that marked the last major popular challenge to Communist rule in the mainland and remain a taboo. Dui Hua said in May that Miao was due to be released Saturday. The date could not be independently verified. The Ministry of Public Security and the Beijing Higher People's Court did not respond to faxed requests for comment. Miao was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 1989 for throwing a basket into a burning tank, an act considered arson by the court. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1991, and further reduced over the years. No one other than prison officials or other prisoners in the ward for sick and disabled prisoners have seen him for many years, Kamm said. Miao suffers from hepatitis B and schizophrenia and is being held at the Yanqing Prison, a facility in a Beijing suburb that has a ward for elderly and ill prisoners, Dui Hua said. During his time at the Beijing No. 1 Prison, Miao refused to accept the charges leveled against him or sign declarations of repentance, according to a former fellow inmate, Wu Wenjian. Wu, then a factory worker, was also serving a sentence for involvement in the Tiananmen protest. He spent four years in the same prison units as Miao. As time passed, Miao became very stubborn and refused to do hard labor, refused re-education, refused to write repentance letters, Wu said in an interview. That's why he was moved to another unit reserved for the `diehards.' For that, Miao often endured heavier punishments than other inmates, and prison guards frequently beat him and tortured him with electric batons, Wu said. It is already a miracle that he is alive. We all thought he would not make it out of this, Wu said. According to Dui Hua, Miao has spent time in solitary confinement and has had no contact with the outside world for many years. He was transferred to Yanqing in 2003. China has never fully disclosed what happened when the military crushed the 1989 weeklong protests, which authorities branded a counterrevolutionary riot. The decades since have seen breakneck economic growth and the ruling Communist Party relinquish much of its day-to-day control over many aspects of society. The party retains a tight grip on dissent that has intensified under President Xi Jinping. At the sprawling exhibition grounds in the heart of New Delhi, Chinaland Solar Energy Company showcased a new design of solar panels at the first-ever trade exhibition organized by the BRICS group of emerging nations. Alex Lee, the foreign trade manager of the Chinese company, explains that these panels are particularly suitable for India, which is massively expanding solar power generation. You dont put any roof tiles. You just use panels as roof tiles and they make power for you and also can be used as roof sheet, he says. Chinaland is among nearly 600 companies that took part in the trade fair hoping to capture new markets in the five emerging economies that make up BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. WATCH: A Look Inside the Exhibition Grounds The exhibition was held ahead of a summit of these five countries in India. The meeting aims to boost trade within the group, which at less than $300 billion is a meager five percent of the blocs total global trade. Efforts to intertwine their economies more closely come at a time when the BRICS nations, once hailed as the engines of global growth, have been hit by a slowdown. Brazil and Russia are in recession, Chinas growth is down to its weakest in a quarter century, South Africas economy has also contracted, and although Indias economy has revived, the country is still struggling to increase investment and create jobs. Ahead of the BRICS summit, China proposed a free trade area among the group to advance trade, but the idea has not found favor from the others who fear being swamped by Chinese goods. However, with the era of rapid expansion for the BRICS countries over, the five nations are pushing for more trade facilitation measures to help them tap the blocs potential, which accounts for about 25 percent of the global gross domestic product and 40 percent of the worlds population. From South Africa, several wine makers are hoping to export their wines to India, a country where a wine culture is taking hold as a growing economy propels more people into the middle-income bracket. Director of Cape Town-based wine company Zevenwacht, Denise Johnson sees huge opportunity in India; a market she is exploring for the first time. Visiting some of the restaurants and hotels, wine culture is quite new and young in India, so it is going to take a long time for growth in the wine industry, but with just 25 million people just in Delhi, the potential is huge. Johnson, however, would like to see the high import duties on wine come down as these make foreign wines expensive. I think there is huge potential for us to have trade agreements with each other and benefiting by reducing duties as they do in many other countries around the world. Warning that protectionist tendencies pose a threat to the world economy, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is pitching for more domestic reforms. Economic Relations Secretary Amar Sinha in New Delhi says efforts are on to ease trade and cites a pact on customs facilitation the five countries are to sign as a step forward. One of the agreements that is on customs cooperation is basically bringing down the trade barriers. That itself is a major trade facilitation effort. Lee from Chinaland Solar Energy agrees that it is not easy to tap the potential of emerging nations. For our foreigner company it is not very easy to develop this market so we also have some partner in India, local partner, says Lee. Still, the need to find new customers as domestic economies slow down is tempting many businesses. India, whose economy is faring relatively better than the others, remains the most attractive market. Chinese company ZTE Telecom wants to become a key player in selling mobiles in India after witnessing the success of other players. Although it is a significant player in other BRICS countries, India is one of the key markets the company has not tapped. Ten percent would be a huge market share which we are working on to get, which we gain in next five years in India, says Sachin Batra, the Chief Marketing officer of ZTE in India. While expanding trade ties may take time for the BRICS countries, experts say the group has some achievements to its credit on the economic front. The most significant is the setting up a BRICS Bank last year called the New Development Bank that has approved projects worth more than $ 800 million for renewable energy projects in member countries. Trade experts, however, say the ambitions of the BRICS countries to seek a bigger voice in the global financial order created by Western countries in the aftermath of World War II remain largely unfulfilled. Trade expert and professor at New Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University, Biswajit Dhar, says One really hoped that this alternative narrative as to how to move forward, thinking out of the box, that was something expected of the BRICS. Unfortunately they have not done that. As authorities in Turkey continue to make arrests in connection with Julys failed military coup, some observers there are asking why the crackdown has not affected the ruling AKP party, given that the coup attempt's alleged ringleader, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, once had close ties with the party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Arrest warrants were issued Friday for 189 judges and prosecutors, all accused of having links to Gulen. More than 30,000 people have been arrested, most of them from the military, the education system and the judiciary. Erdogan has defended the scale of the crackdown, claiming that Gulens supporters infiltrated all government sectors over decades and ultimately used that network in a bid to seize power. Gulen denies any involvement in the coup attempt. Opposition parties increasingly are asking why the probe has not reached the doors of Erdogans AKP party, given its past close relations with Gulen. Coup investigation Selin Sayek Boke, deputy head of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party and its spokesperson, says the fact the lack of attention to the inroads Gulen's followers made into the ruling party calls into question the legitimacy of the coup investigation. We don't see a sincere attempt to cleanse this organization from [the] AKP [itself], she said. Erdogan made little secret of his close alliance with Gulen, once famously declaring we have given you everything you wanted. In his early years in power, Erdogan saw Gulens powerful network of followers within the state as a useful tool in countering the powerful pro-secular military, which was hostile to Erdogan's Islamist leanings. Erdogan came out and accepted the decade-long alliance between the AKP and the Gulenists, said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels. But at some point the investigations should also implicate cases against [the] AK party's own members, who for so long have backed the Gulenists both internally and externally. Many of those arrested have been accused of using an encryption communication app called Bylock in connection with the coup. Prosecutors allege the app was created and used by Gulen supporters to communicate about the coup plot. Turkish security forces claim to have broken the app's encryption, allowing them to find many conspirators. Double standards? In a rare display of dissent, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the opposition National Action Party and a strong backer of Erdogan, highlighted the double standards in the investigation. For example, if a civil servant who used ByLock is being arrested, while a politician or a high-ranking official who is also involved in the same act is being ignored, this would create a victimization, said Bahceli. It really depends how he [Erdogan] plays this, said Semih Idiz, a political columnist for the Al-Monitor website. The question, he said, is whether the Turkish president is "trying to instrumentalize this to realize his ideological and personal ambitions," or is, instead, putting "himself in a position where he projects the image of having the countrys concerns ... above everything else." Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced this week that the government will restart efforts to realize Erdogan's plan to change the constitution and transform Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system. That announcement fueled speculation the crackdown is merely a power grab. AK Party The reason the crackdown has not targeted the AKP may be the scale of the number of Gulen supporters within the party. According to one report, two prominent mayors, five to six cabinet ministers and as many as 60 AKP deputies may have links with Gulen. The issue there is whether the ruling management of AK Party and Erdogan are essentially able to contain the damage that this would do to the AK Party, said analyst Ulgen. If they start such a process, I think there is uncertainty as to what the damage will be. Observers say Erdogan is likely facing pressure from within his party to avoid a major purge because of the potential political fallout. A presidential source insists an extensive investigation is already underway, though, and says Erdogan is determined to purge all Gulen elements from the party, whatever the cost, adding it is only a matter of time. Delegates at a climate conference in Rwanda are expressing optimism that they will reach a deal to phase out greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters at the conference in Kigali Friday that countries may agree on different deadlines for ending use of the gases, raising hopes of a breakthrough on the issue. The United States and other Western countries want to begin eliminating the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in 2021, while other nations, such as India, want to move at a slower place, starting reductions after 2030. No country has a right to turn its back on this effort and to forget about the meaning of a multilateral effort, Kerry said. Experts say that banning HFCs, also used in aerosols, could slow the rise in the global temperature by half a degree by the end of the century. If were going to give this amendment the teeth it needs to prevent as much as a half-degree of warming, then we need to make sure were pushing for the most far-reaching amendment we can adopt, Kerry said. Stephen Ndegwa of the Center for Climate Change Awareness in Kenya says Africa cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of developed nations and send pollutants into the atmosphere. We are adopting a lot of new technologies because we are a new growth market for China and the West, he said. It means we are purchasing a lot of technologies that have the capacity to affect our environment, so it comes at a critical time so that we avoid the mistakes that the developed countries may be made on their way to achieving their status. HFCs, although less plentiful than carbon dioxide, can have an effect that is thousands of times that of an equal volume of carbon dioxide when released into the atmosphere. The hazards of HFCs have multiplied as sales of air conditioners and refrigerators have soared in emerging economies like India and China. HFCs replaced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were discontinued under the 1987 Montreal Protocol when scientists found out they were destroying the ozone layer. Paul Newman is the co-chair of the scientific panel on the Montreal Protocol at the conference. He says the agreement to reduce CFCs created a market for HFCs. Now they are looking at what can they do to help control the climate change by HFCs, he said. So at the moment, what they are trying to do here in Kigali, Rwanda, is creating an amendment to the Montreal Protocol. It can control HFCs, so this is a big leap for the Montreal Protocol. Whatever is agreed to in Kigali will complement other pacts made to reduce global warming, such as the Paris agreement that was signed in December. To say that Donald Trump has a rocky relationship with the media is a massive understatement. For months, he's barred certain reporters and media outlets from his rallies. He's threatened to open up libel laws so that he could have an easier time suing news organizations he sees as dishonest. Emboldened by his fiery invectives against the media, his supporters regularly scream obscenities at journalists during his rallies, in one case even prompting the Secret Service to intervene to protect one reporter. Trump's conflict with the media continued Thursday, with the Republican presidential nominee threatening to sue The New York Times over a story in which two women accused him of inappropriate physical contact. The story was one of several that came out this week accusing Trump of making unwanted sexual advances. In a speech in Florida, Trump slammed the reports as a "concerted, coordinated and vicious" attack by the corporate media, which he said were controlled by his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. "The corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism," Trump said. "They're a political special interest no different from any lobbyist or financial entity with a total political agenda. "And their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them, it's a war and for them, nothing at all is out of bounds," he said. Though Trump denies the allegations of sexual misconduct, that hasn't kept them from receiving almost non-stop media coverage for much of the past week. That's in part because the accusations came just days after Trump was seen in a leaked 2005 video bragging about his ability to get away with sexual assault. The groping allegations are far from the only Trump-related controversy to receive media attention recently. In the past two-and-a-half weeks, news outlets have been filled with stories on Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, his public bickering with a former Miss Universe, possible violations of charity laws by his Trump Foundation, and his fallout with Republican Party lawmakers. Viewed together, it constitutes a stunning barrage of negative news coverage aimed at a presidential candidate, just weeks before the November election. Media bias? There have been news cycles dominated by Clinton controversies. Most of that coverage has focused on Clinton's use of a private email account, her alleged inaction during the deadly 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya, and inappropriate overlap between the Clinton Foundation and her former employers at the State Department. But the coverage, at least on major news outlets, is seemingly unequal, and the disparity is making some media analysts uncomfortable, at least in particular instances. "I think what's happening is that some journalists and news organizations think Trump is such an unusual and threatening candidate that they feel they have the right to bend or alter their ethical obligations," said John C. Watson, professor of journalism ethics at American University. In Watson's view, it's a mistake for journalists to view Trump as an existential threat to democracy, and therefore break the rules of even-handedness. But at the same time, he says Trump "warrants greater news coverage because what he says and does is very often more newsworthy." In other words, whereas it may seem that the media are biased in favor of Clinton, it only appears that way because she hasn't "said or done as much horrible stuff as Donald Trump has," according to Watson. Robert Drechsel, the recently retired director of the University of Wisconsin's Center for Journalism Ethics, agrees that the negative coverage has much more to do with the unusual nature of Trump's candidacy than any left-wing media conspiracy. "Anyone who has been involved in media work would very quickly realize that that is not the way things work," Drechsel said. "It's something largely of his own making. It's just that Donald Trump has done and said so many things that have invited so much scrutiny that they tend to dominate the news coverage." And dominating the news coverage is a strategy that Trump himself has embraced, at times explicitly. Coverage benefits In his 1987 book Trump: The Art of the Deal, Trump acknowledged that he sometimes behaves in an "outrageous" or "controversial" manner in order to attract media attention. "From a pure business point of view, the benefits of being written about have far outweighed the drawbacks," Trump says in the book. That media strategy appears to have worked for Trump this election up to a point. During the primary election, Trump was largely seen as having benefited from the extra media attention, in part because his unorthodox stances appealed to his hardcore base of supporters and helped him stand out among his 16 Republican rivals. But during the general election, when Trump has faced just one major opponent and has needed to appeal to a larger and more diverse voter base, the extra scrutiny appears to have hurt him. After the latest barrage of negative stories, Trump now finds himself down more than six points in a two-way race with Clinton, according to a polling average compiled by RealClearPolitics. It could get worse; for instance, if more women come forward to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct or if, as rumored, additional tapes are released showing Trump making lewd comments. If that happens, journalists will have the responsibility to report the facts, whether or not it is seen as fair, says Aly Colon, professor of media ethics at Washington and Lee University. "The truth needs to be the priority in all these instances," he said. "They need to hold both of these candidates accountable for what they say, what they've said, and what they propose. And then the candidates have to answer that and deal with that themselves." In late June, under the cover of night, more than 100 men dressed in black, some armed with long batons, surrounded the factory of Beijing Universal International, a Taiwanese American business located in the capitals suburb of Dougezhuang Township. The men first shut down the power and then climbed over the companys walls to grab two security guards and two employees inside the building, witnesses say. The four were quickly ordered to vacate the premise and prevented from witnessing and shooting photos or videos with their cell phones. Prodded and yelled at, the guards and employees were dragged across the street and held in a local government owned building, one guard said. I told them that we would listen to them and that there was no need to treat us that way and push us around. I am a free and legal Chinese citizen, not some hoodlum, he said, recounting what happened early that morning on June 24. Speaking with VOA days after the incident, he lifted up his pants legs to reveal his skinned up knees, explaining how he was pushed to the ground. Foreign criminal Exactly how many bulldozers or backhoes were involved in what turned out to be an operation to demolish the facility is unclear. What is clear is that it did not take long for the wrecking crew to turn the near 4,000 square meter facility, and all of its equipment, furniture, machinery and supplies into a pile of rubble. Originally, we were supposed to meet with the owner of the property and local authorities on Monday, but then more than 100 men showed up in the middle of the night said Josephine Lee, General Manager of Beijing Universal International. Within an hour everything was razed to the ground. Lee and her husband, Mick Chiu, came to China more than two decades ago in the hope that their language and cultural understanding would bring a bounty of commercial opportunities. But the demolishing of their business, Chiu said, was an unfair and harsh blow. I pay taxes and [employ] Chinese employees, Chiu said. Then, they come at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and demolish everything. Its like hey, I am a criminal, I am a foreign criminal. Demolition debacle Forced demolitions are a huge problem in China. Local authorities over-stepping their legal bounds to make land grabs in cahoots [EDS: colluding secretly] with developers are a key source of social unrest in China, said Jiang Mingan, a professor of law at Peking University. In the past, developers could just move in and carry out (forced) demolitions themselves with a government approval, Jiang said. But that is no longer the case. Now the government must sign off on the demolition first and carry out the task on its own. The government no longer can pass on the duty to developers. In 2001, the country passed what was widely seen as an ill-considered regulation on demolition and relocation. Some of the provisions of the regulation provided a legal footing for local governments to demolish city houses in order to accelerate urbanization projects. After a decade of land grab controversies by local governments, forced demolition in lieu of a court order was officially banned in 2011 after China kick-started a new set of regulations to ensure all demolitions are carried out upon the consent of property owners. The new laws, however, while well thought out have so far been poorly executed, legal experts say. And legislation alone has not been enough to stop some local governments from abusing their power. Local governments rely heavily on land transactions to boost their revenues and that perpetuates the problem. The slowdown of the Chinese economy is adding to that pressure. Old normal At a top-level government meeting in late August on deepening reform, officials called for more efforts to strengthen economic property protection and building a more egalitarian legal system. So far, pronouncements and pledges have done little to change realities on the ground. Analysts argue that really the only way to keep forced demolitions from happening is to change the countrys tax and revenue system. Authorities are still finding ways around existing legislation to keep on bulldozing over the rights of renters, owners and businesses. Nighttime demolitions, as well as the confiscation of cellphones, detentions and in some cases even violence are common tactics. Earlier this year, a group of rights lawyers released what they called the 2015 Annual China Demolition and Relocation Report. According to the report, more than 100 violent clashes occurred last year in connection with relocation disputes as authorities took a heavier-handed approach. The lawyers also found that while courts had begun to admit relocation cases - something that was nearly impossible and rare in the past - legal obstacles remain. Waiting game VOA has been seeking comment from local officials in Beijing for weeks now in response to Beijing Universal Internationals case. The two sides continue to try to resolve the dispute, but increasingly the company feels their situation is hopeless. My lawyer tells me that once the factory was demolished, legally there is not much else that can be done, Chiu said. Lee adds that the government can stall as long as they want and it could take up to five to 10 years to get any resolution. Just before this story went to press, an official at the Dougezhuang Township said they were close to releasing a statement and that it was on its third draft. And while it is common for the structures of Chinese citizens to be bulldozed over by officials and developers, it is more rare to hear about foreign owned companies getting caught up in the struggle. Not alone But Beijing Universal International is not alone. Zheng Bichai, a U.S. citizen and owner of a seafood-processing factory in the southern province of Fujian returned to China in 2006, answering a call to overseas Chinese from the government to return to the country and invest. Since then she has been operating a business in Keng Yuan Township of Lianjiang County in Fujian, purchasing the land on which her factory was built. Earlier this year, however, authorities said they wanted the land to build a water treatment plant where her business is located. Zheng says she supports the proposal. But, before the two sides could reach an agreement on compensation, the government moved in also under cover of the night to demolish the factory. I am not saying all of the officials involved are greedy and corrupt, but there are those who are and that have treated us unfairly, she says. Some of the ways that this has been handled has been way too heavy-handed. Zheng says some authorities told her that she had to accept compensation of 1 million Chinese yuan - about $150,000 - and that regardless of what she thought, thats the way it was going to be. However, when news of the story was divulged by local media, officials said they had accidentally demolished the factory. For months, Zheng has been working and waiting on officials to resolve the dispute. She has even agreed to lower her compensation demand from more than $2 million to around $1 million, she says. Officials have done little but patronize her. When China was hosting the Group of 20 Nations meeting, however, she says they cozied up to her saying they would resolve the dispute. In the end, that was just a smokescreen. Hurricane Nicole weakened late Thursday as it moved into the open ocean after making a direct hit on Bermuda. Nicole slammed into the British territory as a Category 3 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 180 kilometers per hour (120 miles per hour), the U.S.-based National Hurricane Center said. Nicole caused serious damage to the islands infrastructure, causing walls and roads to collapse, tearing roofs off buildings, ripping up trees, smashing boats against rocks, and flooding numerous homes and roads, the Royal Gazette newspaper reported late Thursday. More than 27,000 customers were without power. There were no reports of deaths or injuries. By late afternoon, the storm was about 210 kilometers (130 miles) northeast of Bermuda. In Nicoles aftermath, government officials inspected bridges and other structures. The Royal Bermuda Regiment removed uprooted trees and other debris from roads. Cleanup efforts were expected to continue until early Friday, and the islands airport planned to reopen by then. Schools were scheduled to stay closed until Monday. Malcolm Nance is extremely worried about what might happen as U.S. votes are tallied on Nov. 8, election night. A career U.S. counterterrorism and intelligence official with 33 years of experience, Nance said he had overwhelming evidence that Russia is seeking to interfere in U.S. elections to put "not just a finger, but their whole hand" on the scale to help Republican nominee Donald Trump and hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Nance said a number of private companies had traced cyberattacks exposing potentially damaging Democratic Party emails and voicemails back to cyber "fingerprints" clearly identified in the past as those of Russian state hackers. He said the same fingerprints were found in what turned out to be Russian hacking of power plants in Ukraine and of the German parliament. Nance outlined his evidence in a book published this week, The Plot to Hack America. Interference to date Last Friday, the Homeland Security Department and the director of national intelligence put out a joint statement formally accusing Russia of hacking into the computers of U.S. political organizations, including the Democratic National Committee, and orchestrating the release of the contents in conjunction with WikiLeaks. Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the accusations, saying interfering in the U.S. election would not be in Russia's interest. Putin said U.S. authorities should pay more attention to the content of the emails, instead of who had taken and exposed them. Trump has also repeatedly questioned why Clinton and others say that Russia is behind the attacks, and he has expressed admiration for Putin as a strong leader. Trump campaign surrogates say Clinton is simply trying to distract from the contents of the emails. Current Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into his emails was part of a broader investigation into Russian cyberattacks. Podesta claimed longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone had "advance knowledge" of the leaks. Stone has admitted he is in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Florida system U.S. federal investigators believe Russian hackers are also behind cyberattacks on a contractor for Florida's election system that may have exposed the personal data of Florida voters. Nance said Russian military intelligence also attempted cyberattacks on voter databases in Illinois and Arizona. Illinois officials said data on about 90,000 people might have been breached, while Arizona officials said they saw no indication that hackers had succeeded in accessing data in their systems. Several states across the country have reported scans of their computer systems, which is often a precursor to a breach. Nance told VOA he was not worried that Russian agents would attempt to hack into individual voting machines. What he fears is cyber mischief at a state level that could discredit the results. "It's far easier to create mayhem and chaos on Election Day by, at the end of the day, going to a state which is controversial, like Florida, Ohio or Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump has said he expects the state to be stolen," he said. All it would take is hacking into the computer on which the state calculates its results, and "removing some digits from one column and then putting them in another column and then moving them back 5 minutes later so that people know it's a hack, all right?" Nance said. 'It would create chaos' What would that do? "It would create chaos in the entire electoral process, and it would give one side the ability to claim that the election has been invalid and should be done again," he said, "and that could literally create a constitutional crisis in the United States, if not civil disobedience and violence." Nance rejected assertions that he was accusing Russia of supporting Trump for political reasons. "This is not a partisan issue. Someone a foreign intelligence agency at the bequest of a former director of the KGB [the main security agency for the former Soviet Union] is attempting to hijack the American electoral system for the first time in 240 years," he said. Brookings Institution foreign policy expert Thomas Wright told VOA he didn't know about the technicalities of cyberattacks, but he did say Trump and Putin have similar worldviews, since Trump opposes NATO and other U.S. military alliances in Europe and Asia and has long expressed respect for authoritarian figures. He said the hacking allegations had shined a light on the vulnerabilities of the U.S. electoral process. House Speaker Paul Ryan laid out his case against liberal progressivism Friday using some of the same anti-government rhetoric as Donald Trump, while avoiding mention of the Republican presidential nominee. The speech in Madison capped a tumultuous week for the Republican Party after a video surfaced showing Trump making predatory comments about women and several women coming forward with allegations that Trump touched them inappropriately. Ryan vowed Monday not to campaign with or defend his partys nominee and has dodged reporters ever since. The Janesville Republican framed the election mostly in terms of retaining the U.S. Senate so that he could send conservative bills to the presidents desk. But the only hypothetical occupant of the Oval Office he referenced by name was Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Ryan contrasted what he deemed Clintons liberal progressivism with his own conservative philosophy that emphasizes less government and more freedom. The left does not just seek a continuation of the last eight years, Ryan said. They intend to make it into a reality an arrogant, condescending and paternalistic reality. Ryan didnt mention Trump once, though he mentioned the ugliness of the 2016 campaign, saying it has taken some very dark turns, and said that beneath it lies two competing governing philosophies. When Hillary Clinton says we are stronger together, what she means is we are stronger if we are all subject to the state, Ryan said. What she means is we are stronger if we give up our ties of responsibility to one another and hand all of that over to government. But there is no strength in that. Only hubris. Only the arrogance to assume we are better off if we fall in line and bow down to our betters. Ryan told a group of UW-Madison College Republicans that liberal progressivism needs no long introduction in Madison, noting the event held at the Masonic Center in Downtown Madison was 10 minutes from La Follette High School, named for the early 20th-century governor and senator Robert La Follette, who championed government policies that restrained the influence of large corporate interests. Their theory was that if we enlarged the state, if we stocked the bureaucracy with so-called experts and technocrats who would decide what was best for the collective, we would be better off, Ryan said. In the America we want, government exists to serve the people. And instead of lecturing us, our leaders listen to us and offer positive solutions to tackle our problems. The program included a question-and-answer session moderated by conservative talk radio host Vicki McKenna. He took seven questions from audience members that were submitted in advance, none of which mentioned Trump. The closest was one asking about how to handle criticism in the current political climate. Dont talk about the latest Twitter storm from somebody, talk about what you believe, Ryan said. Dont walk into a bizarre personality contest, get into an ideas contest. Ryan greeted some attendees before quickly ducking out as reporters closed in to ask questions. Madison Mayor Paul Soglin rebutted Ryans speech in an interview, saying it was laced with demagoguery, ignorance and the worst of Donald Trump. He said the speech failed to credit the Progressive Era with laws that banned child labor, protected worker rights and laid the foundation for the university system that has produced life-saving vaccines. He noted that the government Ryan criticizes provides roads, airports, clean drinking water and safe food. Soglin said Ryan is promoting the same demagoguery as Trump that government is the enemy. He said the speech signifies Ryans recognition that Clinton will win, and there will be a struggle to reclaim leadership over the conservative wing of the Republican Party after the election. Look at all the words in there that are simply designed to elicit anger and distrust as Donald Trump would, Soglin said. Youd think at this point we could just do better than that. Before the event, UW-Madison College Democrats called on Ryan to revoke his endorsement of Trump. Natalie Halbrooks, 20, the womens caucus director of College Democrats of Wisconsin, said Ryans silence is not admirable. It is not noble. Theyre trying to distract from the fact that they have an undefendable candidate right now, Halbrooks said. Ryans speech comes after a tumultuous week for Trump that has frayed an already tenuous relationship between the two. Last Friday Ryan said he was sickened by a 2005 video of Trump making predatory comments about women, and disinvited the real estate billionaire from a GOP unity event in Elkhorn. Ryan then told his House caucus members Monday that he wouldnt campaign with or defend Trump for the remainder of the campaign. In response, Trump called Ryan a weak and ineffective leader and suggested Ryan would be to blame if Clinton wins the Nov. 8 election. A Marquette Law School Poll released Wednesday showed Trumps support waning in the state, especially in the wake of the video release. He is scheduled to make his fourth visit to the state Monday with a rally in Green Bay. A previously announced event Monday in West Allis was canceled. Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO on Friday, a day after the U.N. cultural agency adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the deep, historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem. UNESCO's draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray. The validated resolution is expected early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change. Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters. The draft resolution, seen by The Associated Press, diminished the links of two important holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City to Judaism. The text refers to the site known by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name. The draft resolution refers to the Muslim holy site of Al-Buraq Plaza without quotations, but puts the site's Jewish name, the Western Wall Plaza, in inverted commas. Education Minister Naftali Bennett informed UNESCO of Israel's decision on Friday. Following the shameful decision by UNESCO members to deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organization,'' Bennett said. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he was ``outraged'' by the resolution. Would UNESCO vote to deny the Christian connection to the Vatican? Or the Muslim connection to Mecca? The UNESCO vote claims that there is no connection between the Jewish people and the Western Wall. In fact, it is the UNESCO vote that has no connection to reality.'' Strained relations The spat is the latest in Israel's rocky relations with UNESCO, which it accuses of making decisions out of political considerations. Israel captured east Jerusalem, with sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians claim the territory as part of their future state, and its fate is one of the most contentious issues in the decades-old conflict. Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City as the Temple Mount, site of the two Jewish biblical temples. Muslims refer to it as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary, and it is home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Irina Bokova, the head of UNESCO, expressed dismay with the wording of the draft resolution, stating that "different peoples worship the same places, sometimes under different names. The recognition, use of and respect for these names is paramount.'' "The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city,'' Bokova said. "To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list." Palestinians approve of draft Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' government in the West Bank welcomed the resolution, as did Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for Hamas, which is pledged to Israel's destruction, called the resolution a step in the right direction.'' The dispute over Jerusalem's holiest site ignited a wave of violence this time last year. Since then Palestinian attackers have killed 36 Israelis and two visiting Americans, mainly in stabbings. About 220 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, most of them identified as attackers by Israel. The Palestinians, as well as Israeli and international rights groups, say forces have in some cases used excessive force to subdue attackers. Israel has blamed the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders, compounded on social media sites that glorify violence. The Palestinians say it is rooted in some 50 years of military rule and fading hopes for independence. South Sudans exiled former vice president and opposition leader says hell reluctantly take his movement back to all-out war if a peace deal with the government cannot be restored. Rieck Machar, the leader of the Sudan People Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), told VOA in an exclusive interview Thursday that his movement is reorganizing itself to stage what he called a popular armed resistance against the government of President Salva Kiir. At the same time, he said he wants to revive the August 2015 peace deal between the SPLM-IO and the government. He said the troika" of countries that backed the peace deal the United States, Britain and Norway should call for an urgent meeting of South Sudanese political parties to address the country's political instability and ongoing conflict. They have to find a way of resuscitating this agreement," he said. "Once it is resuscitated and people accept that there have been violations, then the need for reinstituting the transitional government becomes the first step. Machars escape Machar spoke to VOA's South Sudan in Focus program by phone from South Africa, where he flew this week to seek unspecified medical treatment. The former vice president fled the capital, Juba, in July during clashes between government and opposition forces that killed some 300 people. He said 70 of his fighters were killed by the South Sudan army as he and his fighters made their way to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. When we were pushed out, I withdrew the troops, Machar said. We moved to South Baria, then we moved to Lainy area, then from there to the areas of Mundri, from Mundri to Maridi, and then moved south to the Congo border. That [journey] took exactly 37 days and [when] we add the three days of fighting [in Juba], we were under fire for over 40 days. Outreach to president Machar said throughout his journey to Congo, he was constantly contacting Kiir in a bid to end the fighting, which erupted at the presidential palace and later engulfed Juba town. He said he could not continue communicating with Kiir while being pursued by members of the South Sudanese air force and infantry. I decided to withdraw to a country [where] I will be secured in and then find a way of having that meeting with President Salva, Machar said. After Machar fled the capital in July, United Nations aid agencies reported fighting in Western Equatoria state, where thousands of families were displaced from their homes. Local chiefs in the area told VOA reporters that the South Sudan Army ransacked villages, beating anyone they found in the villages around Mundri and Amadi. The South Sudan Army had ground forces pursuing us, along with four helicopter gunships, Machar said. They also had one drone and two surveillance planes that were daily on our heads, locating where we were marching and then the helicopter gunship will follow [and] bombard us. At the time, Machar was still South Sudan's first vice president. Machar and about 750 of his fighters were evacuated in late July from the South Sudan border by U.N. peacekeepers in the DRC. He and a few of his soldiers were then flown to Sudan's capital, Khartoum for medical treatment in August. Conflicting narratives Following the fighting in Juba, Kiir accused Machar of wanting to kill him and overthrow the transitional Government of National Unity. He told the Kenya Television Network that Machar had a pistol during an early July meeting at J1, the South Sudanese presidential palace. A government source said fighting at the presidential palace was kindled by Machars spokesman in Nairobi through a July 8 Facebook post, saying that Kiir had arrested Machar in the palace and Kiirs men were planning to kill the vice president. Machar and Kiir appeared visibly shaken during a July 7 address to the nation carried by South Sudan Broadcasting Corp. The two leaders told South Sudanese that they did not know the cause of the fighting between Machars bodyguards and South Sudan presidential guards. Members of Machars party dismissed the governments version of the fightings source. According to Machar, Kiir misled the Kenyan journalist. Oh my God, this is a big lie," he said. "I, Riek Machar do not carry pistol or pistols or guns since 1991 when I began to lead either a party or troops. I dont carry a pistol. He [Kiir] knows that very well. Why would I carry a pistol when he has called me for a meeting? Machar said he was discussing pressing issues when fighting suddenly erupted outside the presidential palace in July. He added that there would be no peace in South Sudan until the resolution of issues such reforms in government institutions, cantonment areas for his troops, and Kiirs controversial plan to create 28 states. If hed planned to fight in Juba, Machar would have waited for his nearly 3,000 troops were in the capital, he said. But I did not wait for that because I wanted the implementation of the peace agreement to be done first. Regime change Machar met with officials of his SPLM in Opposition party in September in Khartoum and issued a statement declaring war on the transitional government. The new government is not a transitional government of national unity. They should not delude the international community of this, Machar told VOA. The current government is a new regime, but it is not implementing the agreement. The reason why they [made the] attempt on my life in J1 was the rejection of the agreement. He said groups opposed to Kiirs leadership are fighting all over the country, including in the former Central Equatoria state, Western Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Bahr El Ghazal. International reaction The United States, Britain and Norway donor countries supporting South Sudan have voiced concerns about Machar's declaration of war. The three issued a statement in October asking that he seek peaceful means to ending South Sudans conflict. Machar said the three countries have ignored the real problem in South Sudan and are focusing on prescription rather than the symptoms. He said his forces have been under constant attack from the South Sudan army since he signed the August peace deal. He said he met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Khartoum on Wednesday and they discussed the need for a political solution. He also said he assured Museveni about the readiness of SPLM-IO members to engage in dialogue with Kiir. Machar said he met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Khartoum on Wednesday, and they discussed the need for a political solution in South Sudan. He said he assured Museveni about the readiness of members of the SPLM-IO to engage in dialogue with Kiir. Machars replacement Kiir appointed Taban Deng Gai as the countrys new first vice president after Machar fled Juba in July. Machar said the appointment of Taban will not bring peace to the country. He called Taban an accomplice. "The fact that President Salva appointed Taban, who is a conspirator with him [Kiir], as first vice president doesnt stop the war. The SPLA-IO has been there and the SPLA [South Sudan Army] has been fighting the SPLA-IO. They all know that. If I, as the first vice president, would be pursued by ground forces and by air, what is the intention? Machar said Deng was angry because he did not get the position of minister of petroleum in the transitional government. Instead, Machar said he appointed Deng as minister of mining. He didnt like it. He did not hide it. He decided immediately to resign from being chief negotiator, from being a member of JMEC [Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission], I tried to persuade him not to resign. He refused and started plotting because he wanted to be minister of petroleum. After the July fighting in Juba, Machar said he consulted members of the SPLM-IO and fired Deng from the party. Machar said he wrote a letter to Kiir informing him of Dengs dismissal from the party. No return to Juba Machar said he will not return to Juba if there are no efforts to end the political impasse in the country. If I go to Juba, we need to discuss it," he said. "There must be a political dialogue to discuss what happened, what were our differences in Juba. First lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that remarks about women and their bodies emerging from one of the presidential candidates were "cruel, frightening, and it hurts." Obama did not mention the name Donald Trump during a rousing and highly emotional campaign speech for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. But she was clearly referring to fresh allegations from four women who say Trump groped and forced kisses on them. "This is not normal, This is not politics as usual," Obama said. "This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. And it doesn't matter what party you belong to Democrat, Republican, independent no woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserves this kind of abuse. ... This has got to stop right now." WATCH: Obama says Trump's actions and comments are "not normal" The first lady said she was not just concerned about "a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior" and how that affects young girls and boys. She said the entire world looks toward the United States as a model for women's rights and education. Moral authority "But if we have a president who routinely degrades women, who brags about sexually assaulting women, then how can we maintain our moral authority in the world?" Obama asked. "How can we continue to be a beacon of freedom and justice and human dignity?" Trump was just as forceful in defending himself against allegations made by women in The New York Times, The Palm Beach (Florida) Post, and People Magazine that he had groped them. He called their stories "totally, absolutely false." "These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction and outright lies," Trump told supporters Thursday in Florida. "These events never, ever happened, and the people who said them fully understand." Trump said that he had "substantial evidence to dispute" the claims and that he would make it public at an "appropriate time very soon." Trump said Hillary and former President Bill Clinton know "very well" the stories are false. He called the U.S. media a "political special interest" allied with the Clintons in an effort to destroy his bid for the White House. He demanded that the Times retract its story and threatened to sue the newspaper. An attorney for the Times said it stood by the story and welcomed the chance to meet Trump in court. Clinton's response Hillary Clinton's only response to the newest Trump allegations was to recommend that people watch Michelle Obama's speech, saying the first lady made a "compelling and strong case about the stakes in the election." Seventy-four year-old Jessica Leeds told the Times that she sat next to Trump on an airline flight more than 30 years ago. She alleged Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt before she fled to another seat in the back of the plane. "He was like an octopus," Leeds said. "His hands were everywhere." She said she saw Trump two years later at a charity event and that he started insulting her. Another woman, Rachel Crooks, described her 2005 encounter with Trump, telling the Times that she met him for the first time outside an elevator in his Manhattan building and that he almost immediately started kissing her on the mouth. Mindy McGillivray talked about her meeting with Trump to The Palm Beach Post, saying he grabbed her rear end backstage after a show at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where she was assisting a photographer. Reporter's account People Magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff talked about interviewing Trump and his then-pregnant wife, Melania, at Mar-a-Lago in 2005 when he took her into a room and "pushed me against the wall and forced his tongue down my throat." Stoynoff said Trump told her they were going to have an affair. McGillivray and Leeds said they both shouted at their television sets during last Sunday's Trump-Clinton debate when they heard him deny ever forcing himself on women. Trump was answering a question about a leaked 2005 videotape in which he bragged that he could grope women because he is a "star." He dismissed the remarks as "locker-room banter," but he apologized and said he hated what he had said. The allegations against Trump may have wrecked his presidential hopes. RealClearPolitics, a political website, said Clinton nationally now had a 6 percentage-point lead over Trump with the election less than a month away. Many fellow Republicans have seemingly conceded the White House to Clinton and are now focused on maintaining control of Congress. The International Organization for Migration warns a migration refugee crisis unfolding in Yemen and Djibouti is having a serious impact across the Horn of Africa. The International Organization for Migration said about 10,000 migrants, mostly from Ethiopia, make the long, dangerous trek across the blistering hot desert to Djibouti every month. From there they transit through war-torn Yemen to Saudi Arabia in search of work. The IOM said most of the migrants are young men. About 30 percent are unaccompanied minors, some as young as 11. It said very few women are to be seen. Speaking by telephone from Obock, Djibouti, IOM Director for East and Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Labovitz, said the women are largely invisible because smugglers take them to Saudi Arabia by car to work as domestic servants. It is much more clandestine and organized," he said. "And so we are not seeing them. But, it also means in terms of protection, we do not know what is going on at all. Labovitz said Yemen recently began deporting Ethiopian migrants to Djibouti. He said it appears thousands are likely to be deported in the near future and called such a prospect "very worrying" for a "small country like Djibouti." What we are seeing right now, too, in Yemen is that in the government areas, they are asking us urgently to provide food and services to over 4,000 individuals in detention," he said. "And we also hear in the coalition areas that there are several thousand who may be deported soon. We do not know. Labovitz said the IOM will not be able to handle such a huge surge of migrants. He said the Migration Response Center, the transit center run by the IOM and the Ministry of the Interior in Obock can take care of about 100 migrants at one time. Currently, the center is hosting between 600 and 700 stranded Ethiopian migrants, he said. Djibouti could soon be facing a massive surge of migrants, creating a humanitarian crisis, added Labovitz. To make matters worse, he said the IOMs voluntary return program is largely on hold because most of the Ethiopian migrants have no documents and the IOM is strapped for cash. Last week's brazen killing of a senior opposition negotiator, Jeremias Pondeca, dealt a blow to Mozambiques already troubled peace talks, further postponing the oft-delayed closed-door talks that are aimed at finding a path to peace in this Southern African nation. For more than a year, Mozambiques ruling party and opposition have been engaged in stop-and-start peace talks that have, so far, produced no solution. The two sides were enemies during Mozambiques brutal, 15-year civil war. After that conflict ended in 1992, the Renamo rebel group turned political opposition and contested every national election, losing them all and crying foul every time as the ruling Frelimo party again swept to power. A fractious 2014 election sparked fresh turmoil, with Renamos leader renewing conflict in his strongholds. The talks were supposed to finally find a solution and address Renamos demands for greater role in politics, government and administration. And so, when opposition negotiator Pondeca was shot dead in broad daylight on a Maputo beach by unknown assailants, Mozambican analysts were quick to label it a political hit, and observers feared for the worst. The European Union issued a statement condemning the killing, and Human Rights Watch warned that Pondecas death could put the peace talks at risk. The talks, which were supposed to resume this week, were delayed. Peace talks But then both sides did something unexpected: shaken by events, these bitter opponents did not walk away from the table. Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, who has long accused Frelimo of causing the country's troubles, even appeared to soften -- although he accused Frelimo of orchestrating Pondecas death. We cannot abandon negotiations, he said in an exclusive interview with VOA's Portuguese service. Dhlakama said that Pondecas death is a tragedy but Renamo will not back down. We will continue to fight for democracy. We will work to make the regime reform and make sure that there is a functioning democracy, a state of law. President Filipe Nyusi appeared to similarly soften, condemning the killing and attending Pondecas funeral. Some observers saw that as a rare and significant reach across the aisle from the ruling party. It looks like, despite the very worrisome nature of this acts, both sides decided to step up to the plate and make sure it wont derail the negotiations process, which is very encouraging, said Miguel de Brito, who is Mozambique country director of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa. Maputo-based lawyer and analyst Rodrigo Rocha echoed that optimism. This is in fact one of the most positive news that we have received in the previous times, he said. But rights defenders say they remain concerned, as Pondecas name is the latest on a growing list of killings in Mozambique that are believed to be politically motivated. Politically-motivated killings Zenaida Machado of Human Rights Watch told VOA that since March 2015, at least 10 high-profile figures have been killed from both sides. Among them are Pondeca and another member of the Council of State, a group that advises the president. The numbers are bigger than that, Machado added. The killings include people who are not affiliated with any party but at one point have criticized the government or made political comments, she said. But negotiations are, at their root, still a battle for dominance and spoils. Does Renamos tragic loss give it an edge? De Brito isnt sure -- and in fact thinks the governments magnanimity may help them just as much. It does not give Renamo an upper hand, but it changed a little bit a public attitude of the government side in the negotiation. In the public eye, it has probably changed the perception of how these things work. There are more than 400 sites in the U.S. National Park Service, and Mikah Meyer plans to visit all of them. Most recently, he's been in the northeastern state of Maine, where hes noticed a recurring theme ... that many of the vast and beautiful natural areas open to visitors like him would probably not have remained so had it not been for the generosity of a dedicated group of wealthy Americans. Patriotic philanthropy A good example of that philanthropy was a park Meyer had recently visited: the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, which President Barack Obama just designated as a national park. The land, which encompasses about 35,000 hectares (87,500 acres) of spectacular woods and waterways, was purchased and donated to the National Park Service by Roxanne Quimby, a Maine resident and devoted conservationist who founded the hugely successful company Burt's Bees. The company makes natural, Earth-friendly personal care products. The entrepreneur, environmentalist and philanthropist donated the land, and also a $40 million endowment to help improve the park and pay for the services, Meyer said. A family affair Quimby formed the Quimby Family Foundation in 2004 with the vision to advance wilderness values and to increase access to the arts throughout Maine. Meyer had a chance to meet with Quimbys son, Lucas St. Clair, an avid outdoorsman and conservationist whose childhood years in Maine fostered his deep love and respect for the outdoors. St. Clair, who is a member of the foundation's board of directors, spoke with Meyer about the challenges of creating a national monument. We talked for over an hour about the almost decade-long process of getting Katahdin to become a national park site and how much work, time, energy and money has gone into doing this, Meyer said. It made me think about the time and effort it must have taken to create all the other 412 sites within the National Park Service. And Im guessing that all of them probably took as much, or similar amount of work. Acadia celebrating 100 glorious years Meyer is right. Purchasing land and donating it to the park service has been an enduring tradition in the U.S. particularly in this part of the country. And it takes a huge amount of work. Acadia National Park is another example of a spectacular land and waterscape thats been preserved and protected thanks to the generosity of dedicated, conservation-minded Americans over several generations. The very first national park established east of the Mississippi River, Acadia is over 20,000 hectares (50,000-acres) of lush woodland, rocky beaches, historic carriage roads and majestic granite mountains. Its highest peak, Cadillac Mountain, at 466 meters (1,530 feet) is the highest point along the eastern coast and a place where visitors can be the first to see the sunrise in the United States from early October through early March. Its pristine lakes and ocean coastlines are home to a variety of plants and wildlife including moose, bear, whales and seabirds. What I think made Acadia unique was that you have these big mountains right next to the ocean so that juxtaposition of the rocks and the waves and the mountains seem to be Acadias signature, Meyer observed. Roxanne Quimby who donated the Katahdin land also recently purchased some land near Acadia, Meyer said, donating about 32 hectares [80 acres] to the Acadia Park to preserve it for future generations. It was just fascinating to learn how as a family, they were able to use their particular strengths to acquire the land and then go through the whole process of convincing the public that this is something that is worth going through with, Meyer said. I just really admire all of the work that these people put into something that they didn't have to do. But before the Quimby family, there were others. Early beginnings Many attribute Acadia's enduring existence to the early efforts of American academic Charles W. Eliot, Harvard University's longest-serving president (1869-1909), who helped shape the university into a highly esteemed, world-renowned institution. Eliot formed the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations in 1901, with the mission of ... acquiring, owning and holding lands and other property in Hancock County for free public use. Essentially, to protect the natural resources of Maines Mount Desert Island, where his son a landscape architect who died at 38 vacationed, and had hoped to expand public access. The father of Acadia National Park George B. Dorr who studied at Harvard became known as a gentleman scholar and conservationist. He co-founded the trustees organization and spent most his adult life working in support of the establishment, care and expansion of the park, devoting not only his time but much of his personal wealth. As a result of his efforts, he became known as the "father of Acadia National Park." The peoples playground Another wealthy recruit to the effort was John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a member of one of the most powerful families in America known for its long tradition of supporting national parks by establishing or enhancing more than 20 of them, from Maine to Wyoming. Rockefeller also had a vacation cottage on Mount Desert Island. He donated about 4,047 hectares (10,000 acres) to Acadia and financed and directed the construction of the historic carriage roads, the Park Loop Road, the gatehouses and a number of other iconic buildings. Acadia was fascinating in that it was once this playground to the wealthy, Meyer noted, Charles W. Eliott then-president of Harvard used to bring his boat up to the area and it was he and Dorr who really spearheaded the start of Acadia. Its interesting to see how what was once private wealthy people's playgrounds is now a public playground, he added. And as Acadia National Park rightly references in its online sites, there were countless other individuals who contributed to its creation by giving through their labor, or generously gave properties they had purchased or inherited so they might be protected and enjoyed by all for generations to come. Enduring gestures Meyer feels lucky to be one of the many millions of visitors who enjoy Americas national parks every year and to be able to benefit from the generosity of conservationists who had the foresight to protect lands he feels sure would have fallen victim to privatization or development. This whole time to New England from Vermont, New Hampshire and now to Maine a large theme has been wealthy American philanthropists who donate natural lands so that the rest of America can experience what they were fortunate enough to experience, Meyer concluded. Through the collaborative efforts of these conservation-minded citizens, the creation and preservation of Americas first eastern national park is just one example of an enduring tradition established by President Woodrow Wilson 100 years ago ... To conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Follow Mikah To follow Mikah and learn more about the places hes traveling to, he invites you to visit him on his website. Since the beginning of 2016, there have been significant discussions about North Koreas human rights situation, its weapons programs, and the sanctions placed on the country by the United Nations. Politicians, military officials, and analysts from research organizations have shared their views and opinions about the events on the Korean peninsula, but what of those who live in South Koreas capital of Seoul? Kim Geon-hee, a 16-year-old student told VOA, I dont think the [present] policies are working. In the past and now, we have been pushing for our own policies (South Korea), but North Koreas reactions show those policies are ineffective. The South Korean government should make [new policies]. Another Seoul resident, Jung Hae-young, added, In my opinion, it doesnt seem that the South Korean government really thought about [their] policies. Instead of being concerned about the diplomatic situation and relations with North Korea, the government [Park Geun-hye administration] is only focusing on how to maintain itself. The government is careless about whether the policies are effective or not. Lee Ba-woo, a 55-year-old artist, doesnt feel that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is threatening, but rather Kims way of thinking is dangerous. Just like we had kings in the old days, said Lee, We can see that Kim has some problems with the way he views situations. Because of his background, he thinks narrow-mindedly. South Korea has announced the government will deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system to counter Pyongyangs continued provocative actions.But the decision has been met with protests. We are just in the middle of the power game between China and the United States, says Lee Dong-won, a 32-year-old office worker. The decision of the THAAD deployment was made so easily. I dont know if we had enough discussions, he said. Despite Kim Jong Uns threats of using nuclear weapons, Lee Ba-woo isnt concerned. There will be no nuclear war because it could also threaten North Korea. Its a show. They want something from America. They are playing with America.China also says to stop. If North Korea continues provocations, maybe America will bomb their facilities first, said Lee. Recent satellite imagery suggests North Korea may be preparing for a missile or nuclear test, events that could change opinions and the tension level on the peninsula. Reporter Bruce Harrison in Seoul contributed to this story. Rebels in northern Syria have been fighting among themselves after one of the largest Syrian rebel groups was accused of having ties to the Islamic State. The battles, that have been raging for days in Idlib province, threaten to weaken the rebels hold on the region as Syrian and Russian air strikes have increased to uproot them. Rebels recently largely stopped fighting government forces and have lost some 30 percent of territory to government-backed forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian government troops are the primarily winner of this fighting, said Rami Abdulraham, the group's head. As the fighting among rebels is ongoing, regime forces have made large advances in Idlib and stopped a rebel offensive in the nearby province of Hama. As Syrian civil war, which began in 2012, has grown more complex, nearly a dozen rebel forces have formed as the movement against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad splintered. Ahrar al-Sham, a local extremist force and Jund al-Aqsa, another Islamist group, had been allies before battles erupted in Idlib last month. Local reports said nearly 100 fighters have been killed on both sides in the recent fighting. Idlib has a strategic and symbolic significance for Islamist rebel forces. It borders Turkey and has been used as a supply point for anti-government forces elsewhere in the country. Idlib is also the only province where rebel fighters control much of the territory. The most powerful rebel group in Idlib is the Fateh al-Sham Front, until recently an al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. It has been deemed a terrorist organization by the United States. Through a complicated chain of alliances with other rebel fighters, the group has been in control of Idlib since March 2015 after rebels pushed out government troops from their last positions in the western part of the province. The U.S.-led coalition has occasionally targeted Fateh al-Sham positions in Idlib. The Pentagon last week confirmed the death of a prominent al-Qaida leader in an airstrike in Idlib. Hoping to stem the rebel infighting, Fateh al-Sham brokered an agreement between Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham that it hopes will lead to a lasting cease-fire and the release of hostages by both sides. But given ISs alleged influence in the rebel infighting, analysts say the agreement is unlikely to hold. While IS has no fighting presence in Idlib, it is attempting to build networks of local affiliates. Local activists say IS has long been recruiting in the province. "(IS) has sleeper cells everywhere," a rights activist in Kafranbel, a town in Idlib province. He spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. The activist said there have been attempts by IS underground recruiters to mobilize local residents in his town to pledge allegiance to IS. One of the rebel groups involved in the infighting in Idlib, Jund al-Aqsa, reportedly has ties with IS and was responsible for the assassination of several rebel commanders in Idlib, according to locals and analysts. Jund al-Aqsa has the same Salafi ideology as IS, said Sadradeen Kinno, a Syrian reporter, who closely follows militant groups in the country. Jund al-Aqsa recently tried to distance itself from IS by pledging loyalty to the ruling Fateh al-Sham. The move has in a sense legitimized the group despite its towing a line more similar to [the Islamic State] said Faysal Itani, a Syria expert at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. If rebels can overcome their differences, they can be freed to concentrate on operations against the (Syrian) regime, Itani said. Im a nerd, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday, speaking at a science and technology conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Im a science geek. I dont make any apologies for it. The president got laughter and applause for his comment. He had an audience full of science geeks. Pittsburgh, once seen as an industrial metropolis in decline, has forged a new reputation as a hub for technological innovation, particularly robotics. Despite cold, rainy weather, a conference focused on science and a visit by the president generated excitement on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, where the conference was held. WATCH: Future Combines Human, Machine Intelligence, Scientists Say The White House, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh co-hosted the one-day Frontiers Conference, where Obama and other attendees got a chance to examine a Boeing space flight simulator and a SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft that has carried cargo to the International Space Station. Cool stuff, Obama said. He told his audience good-naturedly that he stuck the landing while trying out the flight simulator. Five frontiers The conference, co-hosted by Carnegie-Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, was the backdrop for the presidents announcement of about $300 million the White House is contributing to research and development. The conference addressed five frontiers of innovation: health care and precision medicine; technology and data-driven improvements to communities; artificial intelligence; climate change; and space exploration. Some of the funding is set to go into a White House report on the future of artificial intelligence, exploring its possibilities and the questions it raises for society and public policy. The deep-space exploration project will support the presidents goal of sending humans to the planet Mars by 2030. The Obama administration is putting $16 million into a large-scale public health study and $165 million into projects using data to solve quality-of-life issues, such as traffic congestion. Projects known as the Police Data Initiative and the Data-Driven Justice Initiative will get support for their efforts to improve the U.S. criminal justice system. Obama warned against resistance to scientific innovation, taking a swipe at climate change naysayers when he warned against people who willfully ignored facts or stick their heads in the sand. Some of the White House funding announced Thursday will go toward collecting and processing climate data, as well as education initiatives to help citizens and organizations respond to the problem of climate change. This conference is about pushing boundaries for whats possible, he said in his remarks. Theres nothing we cant do. The president got a roar of applause while talking about inclusiveness in science education and opportunity. We are the nation that just had six of our scientists and researchers win Nobel prizes, he said. And every one of them was an immigrant. During the conference, Obama shared a fist-bump, a gesture of greeting, with Nathan Copeland, a paralyzed man with a robotic arm. Copeland can feel sensation in the arm and control it with his mind, thanks to scientific innovation. John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week that the conference is meant to be a milepost rather than a one-time event, designed to inspire people to continue making scientific progress. There will be a followup, he said. New technology hubs Pittsburgh, in its new incarnation as a technology hub, serves as the federal agency headquarters for cyberdefense, robotics, software engineering and energy research. Carnegie Robotics, a network that designs robotics systems for its clients, moved into a former steel supply company building in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 2015 and quickly began expanding. Company CEO Steve DiAntonio told local media that there are now 40 robotics companies in Pittsburgh, twice as many as there were four years ago. The number of robotics employees has tripled in that time. Obama noted that Pittsburgh is not the only urban area to have revitalized by cultivating new research and technology industries. He also cited Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Cincinnati, Ohio, among urban areas that reinvented themselves. Doubling down on science, tech and innovation helped those places create amazing new jobs and opportunities, Obama said. Innovation is in our DNA. Science has always been central to our progress. The conference was closed to the general public, but that didnt stop a swarm of Carnegie Mellon students from gathering near Obamas motorcade, hoping to catch a glimpse or a photo of the president as he headed out of town. Warplanes belonging to Russia and the Syrian government conducted a massive air raid on targets in rebel-held areas of Aleppo overnight and into Friday morning, according to a monitor group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday morning that dozens of airstrikes hit eastern Aleppo overnight and while the airstrikes ended by mid-morning, skirmishes were still taking place around the northern and southern edges of the city. According to the Aleppo Media Center - an activist collective - the airstrikes killed or wounded several people, though the exact number is unknown. some people are still buried under the rubble. The fresh round of bombing comes just a day before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It will be the first meeting between the two representatives since Washington and Moscow cut off diplomatic talks earlier this month. The West accuses Russia and its Syrian allies of war crimes for bombing hospitals and U.N. relief convoys in and around Aleppo as they target Syrian rebels looking to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Diplomacy to reduce violence White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday the U.S. is no longer trying to reach an agreement with Russia but is instead trying to use a "variety of diplomatic channels" to reduce the violence inside Syria. "And that's necessarily going to include some Russian participation. But it is no longer in the context of trying to broker this agreement that would ... hold out the prospect of U.S. military cooperation with Russia. That's something that Russia has lost, frankly, lost the credibility to be able to try to agree to," Earnest said. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in the city of Aleppo, which has seemingly become ground zero in Syria. Rebels control the east while the Syrian military besieges the rest of the city. While targeting the opposition with bombs, Syrian and Russian forces have been hitting civilians. Pictures of bleeding children, some in so much shock that they cannot even cry, have sickened the world. Russia denies attacking civilians. It says its only target are "terrorists," the word Russia and Syria use when talking about the opposition. UW-Madison is recommending that students be vaccinated against a rare form of meningitis following the hospitalization of two students last week, university officials said Friday. University Health Services will be offering the vaccine, Bexsero, for free to students starting Thursday. The vaccine is effective against the B strain of the disease, the strain that the two hospitalized students contracted. Meningococcal strain B is a form of the bacterial disease that few students are vaccinated against because a vaccine has only been made available recently, according to the university. Most students have only received immunizations against four common strains: A, C, Y and W. While the two students with the B strain are currently recovering, UHS Director of Medical Services William Kinsey said he wants all students vaccinated. The health and safety of our students is our top priority, Kinsey said. This recommendation is the best approach to protect students who are at risk for contracting serogroup B. We want every UW-Madison undergraduate to be immunized. The B-strain vaccine Bexsero requires two doses to be effective, with the second one administered a month after the first dose. University officials said details on vaccine clinic times and locations will be released Monday. In 2013, 21-year-old UW-Madison student Henry Mackaman died of the B strain of the disease. There have been no student fatalities at UW from that strain since. Student cases of the B strain at other universities have prompted similar responses. Five college campuses have seen outbreaks of the B strain since 2013, according to the National Meningitis Association: Santa Clara University, the University of Oregon, Providence College, Princeton University and the University of California-Santa Barbara. The five campuses held mass vaccination campaigns, allowing emergency clinics to administer the B-strain vaccine to all undergraduate students, some graduate students and faculty. Meningococcal disease is caused by bacteria that can infect the brain, causing meningitis, or the bloodstream. Its spread by direct contact with oral or nasal secretions, university officials said. Symptoms of meningococcal disease include high fevers, severe headaches, confusion and stiff neck, according to the university. To limit the spread of meningococcal bacteria, university officials recommend not sharing cups or utensils, regularly washing hands and covering mouths when coughing and sneezing. Authorities in Pakistan have revoked a controversial travel ban on a leading journalist days after he was barred from leaving the country for publishing a story about a national security meeting. Pakistan officials described the story as fabricated. Almeida and his newspaper maintained its accuracy. The punitive action against the journalist, Cyril Almeida, stemmed from his Oct. 6 front-page article in the English-language DAWN newspaper in which he detailed a heated exchange between civilian and military authorities on how to tackle Islamist extremism. An official statement Friday said the decision to revoke the ban was a goodwill gesture taken after a meeting between federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and a delegation of leaders of media houses in Pakistan. The controversial article quoted civilian leaders as warning the military that Pakistan faced international isolation unless it acts against anti-India and anti-Afghanistan militants allegedly operating out of Pakistan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the unpublicized meeting with cabinet ministers and the countrys military spy chief in attendance. The government has repeatedly denied the story. It launched an inquiry to identify who had leaked what officials insisted was inaccurate and misleading information. Authorities placed Almeidas name on the so-called Exit Control List late Monday, forcing him to abandon a family vacation to Dubai that he was to take the next morning. The list is meant for preventing criminals, suspects facing trial, and those wanted for corruption from leaving Pakistan. The move triggered national and international outrage and calls to immediately remove the travel ban on Almeida, a highly respected columnist. Fridays statement quoted Khan as emphasizing that the removal of the name of the journalist would in no way affect the ongoing inquiry into the matter and the inquiry would continue to its logical conclusion. Army Chief General Raheel Sharif chaired a meeting of his top military commanders in Rawalpindi on Friday, where the issue again came under discussion. Participants expressed serious concern over the feeding of a false and fabricated story of an important security meeting and viewed it as a breach of national security, according to the statement the militarys media wing issued after the meeting. U.S. photo-sharing app Snapchat has chosen Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc as lead underwriters for an initial public offering that could come as early as March, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday. The banks were notified earlier this week that they had been awarded one of most coveted and potentially lucrative IPO mandates in recent years, as the Venice, California-based company vies for a $25 billion valuation in the stock market. JPMorgan Chase & Co, Deutsche Bank AG, Allen & Co, Barclays Plc and Credit Suisse Group AG will be joint book runners, the source said, asking not to be named because the information was not yet public. Snapchat, whose parent is Snap Inc, and the banks were not immediately available to comment on the news first reported by Bloomberg News. Snapchat started in 2012 as a free mobile app that allows users to send photos that vanish within seconds. It has more than 100 million active users, about 60 percent of whom are aged 13 to 24, making it an attractive way for advertisers to reach millennials. Awash in venture funding, the company raised $1.81 billion in May, which valued it at about $20 billion, media reports said at the time. But investors worry that Snapchat's advertising sales, which began last October, is the company's only significant revenue source. Snap in September starting describing itself as a camera company. Its first physical product will be glasses with an embedded video camera. Users will be able to record video from their perspective in 10-second increments, which can be synched with their smartphones. The company's last round of funding included General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price and Lone Pine. Previous rounds included Fidelity Investment, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Yahoo! Inc. The U.S. IPO market has been unfriendly to technology companies for most of 2016. Year to date, technology IPOs have raised roughly $2.3 billion, compared to $5.2 billion over the same period in 2015. But a recent string of such IPOs has instilled more confidence among investors. South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the release of results of an anti-corruption investigation over allegations of political interference by his wealthy friends, his spokeswoman said Thursday. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was due to release her preliminary findings Friday in a probe into the Guptas, an Indian-born family accused of using their close ties with Zuma to influence cabinet appointments. "I can confirm that the president has applied for a court interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters. Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours last week as part of her final investigation before her seven-year term comes to an end Saturday. In a statement late Thursday, graft watchdog spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said Madonsela would release her last batch of investigation reports Friday and provide updates on the progress of other investigations. But she did not state whether the report on the Guptas would be among them. Although Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing, the allegations have damaged the president, who was separately forced to repay part of the cost of a lavish upgrade to his private residence as a result of an investigation by Madonsela. On Monday, Zuma asked Madonsela not to report her findings until he has had a chance to question other witnesses and review any evidence that implicated him. But Madonsela said the president had been given all the evidence implicating him on Oct. 1, and urged Zuma to answer questions to aid the probe. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party said in a statement that Zuma was "worried about what is contained in this report, and desperate to stop it from being made public." Lawyer Gert van der Merwe, who represents Ajay Gupta, said his client would not seek to block the report. The row over the report adds to pressure on Zuma, whose government was rocked this week when prosecutors ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear in court Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him, news that sent markets reeling. Analysts have said that Gordhan has been a target of political pressure from a faction allied to the president, although he has denied any rift with the finance minister. Perceived divisions between Gordhan and Zuma have previously rattled markets in Africa's most industrialized economy, which is at risk of having its credit rating downgraded to "junk" later this year. The premier of Guateng, South Africa's most economically important province, said the fraud charges leveled against Gordhan were frivolous and undermined efforts to avoid a ratings cut. "It undermines every little effort that South Africa is making to move forward," David Makhura, accusing Zuma's administration of "recklessness." Gunmen on motorcycles killed at least three Pakistani paramilitary forces Friday in the southwestern city of Quetta. A splinter Pakistani Taliban group, Jamaatul Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. The group has claimed responsibility for most of recent attacks across the country, including a suicide bombing in Quetta in early August that left more than 70 people dead. Most of the dead in that bombing were members of the city's lawyer community. The victims were on a routine patrol when the assailants ambushed their vehicle, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps paramilitary force said. Quetta is the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. Separatist ethnic Baloch insurgents and Islamist militants routinely carry out attacks against government installations, security forces and the minority Shi'ite Muslim community in the region. Fugitive leaders and fighters of the Afghan Taliban are also allegedly using the province for plotting attacks in Afghanistan. Baluchistan is at the center of a multi-billion dollar economic corridor China and Pakistan are building to connect the two countries through a network of rail, road and power projects links. Authorities in Islamabad allege archrival India is funding anti-state groups in Baluchistan to undermine the so-called China Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC to be completed with Chinese investment of more than $46 billion. New Delhi rejects the charges. Since the last mission to the moon, half a century ago, space enthusiasts have been talking about a trip to Mars. President Barack Obama this week reiterated the call for a U.S. mission to Mars that he first proposed in April 2010. He called for a partnership with private sector companies to develop the means to send humans to and from Mars by the 2030s. But a mission to Mars is fraught with challenges. A major problem is radiation. Earth is protected from cosmic rays by its magnetic field, but astronauts on a mission that would take many months could suffer major health problems en route as their vehicle is bombarded by radiation. Another problem is political. Critics in the U.S. Congress want to know why the country should spend billions of dollars to go to Mars if there is no practical reason to do so. Private companies may find some commercial value in a Mars adventure, but skeptics question whether they can achieve their plans without massive funding from the government. Still another hurdle is the time scale, according to Paul Spudis at the Houston-based Lunar and Planetary Institute. Any program where the payoff is 20 to 30 years in the future is, effectively, a dead issue in Congress, he told VOA, because they do not deal in timescales like that. They deal in timescales from two to 10 years. All of these problems with Mars are why some space experts are returning to the idea of using the moon as a first step in accomplishing a long-range plan to get to the red planet. 'Fly me to the moon' During the administration of President George W. Bush, experts developed a plan to return to the moon to test equipment for a Mars mission. But that plan was later scrapped in favor of a long-term project to go directly to Mars, even though it might take 20 or 30 years to accomplish. In his recently published book, The Value of the Moon, How to Explore, Live, and Prosper in Space Using the Moons Resources, Spudis makes the case for a moon base, partly because it is relatively close by and is in continual orbit of earth. Effectively, you can get to the moon in a minimal amount of time, he said, it is only three days to the moon and three days back. Whats more, he argues, previous NASA missions have shown that the moon has useful resources, like frozen water at its poles. So, I have energy. I have materials. I can live on the moon. I can make rocket propellant, he said. The rocket fuel would come from using electricity from a large array of solar cells to break apart the two elements that make up water. By taking the hydrogen and oxygen from cracking the water and disassociating with electricity and then freezing those gases into liquids that is the most powerful chemical propellant we know of, Spudis said. Pros and cons At a recent gathering of scientists and space enthusiasts at Rice University for the Lost in Space 2016 conference, there was a lot of support for returning to the moon from people like former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao. We can train crews, he said. We dont necessarily want the first crew on Mars to be rookies. We can train crews on the Moon. But Michael Lembeck, Board Chairman of U.S. Space, LLC, favors using the moon as a staging base and questions using it as a refueling station for a Mars rocket. If we talk about actually making the trip to Mars on chemical propulsion that could be a dead end. We need high-speed transportation, he said. But Paul Spudis argues that chemical fuel is well-tested and available. The fundamental problem with a lot of the advanced propulsion systems, for example, the plasma rockets and nuclear thermal propulsion, is that they require technology that we do not have. Lunar demo Spudis proposes a plan that would use robots to do much of the preliminary work on the moon, starting with tests of the polar water resource. The next step, he said, is to actually land a demonstration experiment, where you show that you can dig up the ice. You can extract it and store it as water. Once that is done, we will have effectively demonstrated all the pieces we need to show that we can go back to the moon to stay. But to carry out such a plan either the United States, another country with a space program or a private company would have to commit to the project with a lot of money. One use of the moon that might prove valuable in the nearer term, according to Spudis is using a base on the moon to place and maintain satellites in orbit in cislunar space, that is, the space between the earth and the moon. He said this could lead to big distributed communication systems that would be far better than anything that exists today. Given the importance satellites for modern life on earth, such use of the moon might prove very cost effective. Parts of the southern Philippine island Mindanao are growing tense as the government steps up its fight against a violent Muslim rebel group, a campaign that weary locals broadly support but that troops and police may never win. The government of tough-talking President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of lawlessness in September to allow more police-military cooperation on wiping out the 400-strong Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebel group. In August, Duterte ordered his forces to seek them out in their lairs and destroy them. Victory could help revitalize chronically poor, underdeveloped Mindanao, where fighting with Muslim rebels has killed about 120,000 people since 1970 and stained the island with a reputation for violence that in turn deters investors. About one-third of the countrys poor live in Mindanao, a breadbasket and wealth of mineral deposits with one-fifth of the entire national population. Those factors give the campaign against Abu Sayyaf popular support in Mindanao. Its something that has to be done because Abu Sayyaf has had a record of kidnappings and non-negotiable actions that need to be addressed by, I guess, military force, said Antonio Ledesma, archbishop of the Mindanao city Cagayan de Oro. In a sense, military confrontation might be what is needed at this time. People in Cagayan de Oro remember 2013, when Abu Sayyaf was suspected of setting off a bomb blast killed six people in a restaurant district. About 500 kilometers to the west, in the 800,000-population city of Zamboanga, soldiers walk through the streets and police operate checkpoints on numerous street corners. At a street dance competition, organizers asked that mobile phones be switched off for five hours as a security measure. Checkpoints, including one operated by a bomb inspection team, are also common now along the highways between Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro. Defeat for Abu Sayyaf would improve perceptions among foreigners of Mindanaos safety for travel and business, said Rhona Canoy, 62, president of International School Cagayan de Oro and part of a local political family. I dont believe they have any political fervor or drive that makes them do this, Canoy said. Theyre not raising funds so that they can increase their army or improve whatever. Theyre just in it for the money. Theyre just bandits. As far as people in Mindanao are concerned, thats how we see them. Having them removed, well, yeah it would be nice. Abu Sayyaf is based in outlying islands in the Sulu Sea southwest of Zamboanga. At least three other Muslim groups in the same area are pushing for political autonomy and periodically kidnapping people, extorting money and setting off bombs to get attention. Many of Mindanaos 21 million inhabitants back Dutertes fight because hes from the island and has vowed to negotiate with two other Muslim insurgent groups, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front. Both groups have indicated this year they also want to talk. The Moro people are Muslims who have occupied western Mindanao and the Sulu Sea since the 13th century. They had long sought more autonomy from European colonists and now want it from Manila. But its not clear if Duterte or anyone else can win a war with Abu Sayyaf, a 25-year-old organization seen as Mindanaos most violent rebel group. Many locals advocate for the president to negotiate with Abu Sayyaf as well as other autonomy-seeking groups. War will not stop it. The only best thing to do is to really talk to them. Because here in Mindanao, I believe they have the right for this land, but its not the right that should be broken, said Clarence Minao, a 36-year-old government employee in Cagayan de Oro. Because we are all Filipinos, so we have different tribes like theyre Muslims, but we can live together safely if theres peace talks. People in Cagayan de Oro also hope Duterte keeps the 50 to 100 American military advisers who are on Mindanao at any given time. Duterte has asked that they leave, for their own safety, after 14 years of help with forensics, kidnapping intelligence and cyber-crime. The U.S. embassy in Manila indicated this month it was still working with the government. Duterte has called for deploying thousands of his own troops to destroy Abu Sayyaf. In August, the government killed 22 rebels and lost 12 soldiers, but the following month a bomb killed 14 people in a night market in the presidents hometown of Davao City, possibly an act of retaliation. Abu Sayyaf will be hard to beat, analysts caution. Local government officials and residents in the Sulu Sea area support the group as they get a cut from kidnapping ransom in exchange for funding. They have little trouble finding new recruits as needed. Its a very loose organization and its membership shifts when necessary, said Jay Batongbacal, University of the Philippines associate professor of law. It almost operates more like a brand than an actual unit or movement, so I think it will be very difficult absolutely to exterminate. United Nations agencies are condemning attacks by ex-Seleka fighters in the Central African Republic and calling for restraint to prevent further escalation of violence. Tensions in the Central African Republic between Muslim ex-Seleka rebels and the Christian anti-balaka militia have been rising since September 12, when a group of ex-Seleka entered a hospital in Kaga-Bandoro in the countrys north demanding treatment for a member. Since then, a number of unsettling incidents have occurred, including attacks against civilians and violence against humanitarian workers. The worst occurred Wednesday, according to the U.N. Human Rights office, when hundreds of ex-Seleka members attacked a camp for internally displaced people, the prefects office and a camp run by U.N. peacekeepers. Thirty people were killed, including 18 civilians and 12 ex-Seleka fighters, agency spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told VOA. She said many others were injured, and houses and offices were set on fire and looted. Before the violence erupted in September, the countrys armed groups were participating in a process of disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and rehabilitation. "This sudden escalation is particularly worrying," Shamdasani said. " We are calling on the armed group to stop right now, to exercise restraint to prevent a further escalation and to go back to the table, to resume the dialogue." The U.N. childrens fund also condemned Wednesdays attack. It reported armed ex-Seleka men attacked a secondary school in Kaga-Bandoro while teacher training was underway. It said three teachers and the director of the Regional Pedagogical Center were killed. United Nations officials are urging the ex-Seleka to resume the process of disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating, seen as a crucial step toward peace. United Airlines has suffered an hours-long problem with its computer systems that resulted in delays and cancellations globally. Passengers travelling late Thursday and early Friday took to social media to complain about delays as long as six hours. United posted a statement on its Twitter account saying "we're aware of an issue with our system & are working to resolve it." By 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT), United officials claimed to have fixed it and said delayed flights were resuming. Flight tracking service FlightStats showed 20 United flights were delayed and seven canceled worldwide by European morning hours. Other U.S. airlines have experienced recent disruptions because of computer system outages. In July, Southwest Airlines blamed a faulty network router for an outage that led to the cancellation of over 2,000 flights. In August, Delta canceled at least 450 flights worldwide because of a computer problem. VOA News contributed to this report. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration announced Friday the easing of restrictions on Cuba in an attempt to create more economic opportunities between the two countries. The administration approved a package of regulatory changes that is intended to expand scientific, humanitarian, trade and commercial opportunities between the U.S. and Cuba. President Obama said "very real differences" on democracy and human rights still exist between the two countries but the best way to address the differences is through engagement. The administration's plan is intended to promote joint medical research between the two countries, the sale of Cuban pharmaceuticals in the U.S. and banking opportunities for Americans in Cuba. Humanitarian-related initiatives involving scholarships for scientific research and improving Cuba's infrastructure will also be expanded. "These steps have the potential to accelerate constructive change and unlock greater economic opportunity for Cubans and Americans," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement. The changes, which will take effect on October 17, are another step in President Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Thursday that allegations by four women that he kissed and touched them inappropriately are "totally and absolutely false." With his campaign reeling from the accusations, the brash real estate mogul told supporters in Florida, "These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction and outright lies. These events never, ever happened and the people who said them fully understand." He said he has "substantial evidence to dispute" the claims that will be made public at an "appropriate time very soon." Trump claimed that his opponent in the November 8 election, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, "know it and know it very well" that the allegations are not true, but offered no supporting comments. Trump said the national news media was a "political special interest" aligned with the Clinton campaign and published the claims to thwart his run for the White House. Trump offered his rebuttal to the incendiary accusations in the hours after the four women alleged that he made unwanted sexual advances on them, just days after he denied acting out on taped boasts he made in 2005 that he could grope women with impunity because he was a celebrity. The women, in accounts published Wednesday in The New York Times, The Palm Beach Post and People magazine, all described incidents in which Trump, seeking his first elected office, kissed or groped them in unwelcome encounters on an airplane, inside his Trump Tower skyscraper in New York or at his oceanside Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida. One of the incidents was more than three decades ago, the others in 2003 and 2005. Before his remarks at the Florida rally, Trump rebuffed the claims on his Twitter account. "Why didn't the writer of the 12-year-old article in People magazine mention the 'incident' in her story? Because it did not happen!" he said. He called The New York Times account phony and "a total fabrication." His lawyers said they were drafting a lawsuit against the newspaper. WATCH: Trump slams NY Times, media, female accusers Trump's remarks on the 2005 tape have roiled the late stages of his 2016 presidential race against Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state. National polls show his support plunging after the widespread broadcast of the tape and his second debate last Sunday with Clinton. Real Clear Politics, a political web site, said Clinton now has a national 6.2-percentage-point lead less than four weeks before the November 8 election. In addition, numerous polls show her surging to bigger leads in the key battleground states that will decide the outcome. The Clinton campaign said the new allegations against Trump "sadly" concur with "everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women. These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape are more than just words." In the debate, moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN asked Trump if he had actually done the activities he boasted about on the tape. "No, I have not," Trump replied, calling his crude remarks "locker room talk." But two of the women said they reacted angrily when they heard his denial as they, along with more than 60 million Americans, watched the debate unfold on television. Mindy McGillivray, who says Trump grabbed her rear end while she was assisting a photographer at an event at his Florida estate in 2003, said she got off her couch at her home and yelled at the TV, "You liar!" Another woman, Jessica Leeds, now 74, told the Times, "I wanted to punch the screen." She alleged that Trump, in the first-class cabin on a flight to New York more than 30 years ago, sat beside her and suddenly lifted the armrest between them, grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. "He was like an octopus," she recalled. "His hands were everywhere." Leeds said she fled to the back of the aircraft. "It was an assault," she said. In the other incidents, Rachel Crooks, then a 22-year-old receptionist, said that in 2005 she encountered Trump at his office building in New York, introduced herself and shook hands with him. But she said Trump wouldn't let go and began kissing her cheeks and then "kissed me directly on the mouth." "It was so inappropriate," Crooks said. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that." The fourth woman, Natasha Stoynoff, a People reporter assigned to cover Trump for the gossipy, celebrity magazine, said while she was at Mar-a-Lago in 2005 interviewing Trump and his then-pregnant wife Melania, he found a moment when his wife was elsewhere changing clothes to take her into a room and shut the door. "Within seconds," Stoynoff recalled, "he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." "I was stunned," she said. "And I was grateful when Trump's longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself. How could the actions of one man make me feel so utterly violated? I'd been interviewing A-list celebrities for over 20 years, but what he'd done was a first. Did he think I'd be flattered?" She said that afterward Trump added, "You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?" The women's descriptions of Trump's advances on them come close to the way he depicted himself in 2005, remarks captured on a live microphone as he rode on a bus on a Hollywood back lot as he headed to a cameo appearance on a television soap opera. "I just start kissing them," he told a celebrity television host. "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." Trump said he would just grab women's genitalia. First lady Michelle Obama, in a campaign appearance Thursday for Clinton in New Hampshire, denounced Trump's comments, calling them "an insult to decent men." "This isn't about politics," she said. "It's about human decency. The men in my life do not talk about women this way." Referring specifically to the Times account, the Trump campaign said, "It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of the campaign for president should say it all." Attorneys representing Trump sent a letter to Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet demanding the newspaper remove the article from its website and issue an apology. "Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump's candidacy." The newspaper stood by its story and said it would "welcome the opportunity" to have a court fight over publication of the article. Trump has often criticized the media's reporting on his campaign, including singling out what he calls the "failing New York Times." The tree-killing emerald ash borer was confirmed for the first time in Manitowoc County this week, a county that was previously quarantined for its proximity to others where the insect had been found. It was found in a private six-acre woodlot in the Town of Schleswig, and makes Manitowoc County the 39th of Wisconsin's 72 counties infested with emerald ash borer. While Manitowoc County had been under quarantine for emerald ash borer since 2014, this is the first confirmation of the tree-killing insect in the county. But the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said the confirmation won't change anything from a regulatory standpoint. "The quarantine will remain in place," said Brian Kuhn, DATCP Plant Industry Bureau director. "The insects will continue to spread naturally, but the quarantine can help prevent EAB from leapfrogging to entirely new areas with the help of humans." This means that people are unable to take firewood from Manitowoc County to non-quarantine counties, and businesses working with wood must collaborate with the DATCP before shipping products. The emerald ash borer has now been found in Adams, Brown, Buffalo, Calumet, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Door, Douglas, Fond du Lac, Grant, Green, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, La Crosse, Lafayette, Manitowoc, Marquette, Milwaukee, Monroe, Oneida, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Portage, Racine, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Trempealeau, Vernon, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Winnebago and Wood Counties. Zimbabwes acting president Phelekezela Mphoko says there is nothing wrong with top state officials draining money from the national fiscus to finance Zanu PF activities. Mr. Mphoko made these remarks in Kent, Norton, where he was addressing a Zanu PF rally ahead of a parliamentary by-election pitting a party candidate and Themba Mliswa, a former ruling party provincial chairperson. He said some of the money siphoned from the government was used for feeding people, who are facing hunger. His sentiments were echoed by Zanu PF commissar Saviour Kasukuwere who said those people using stage funds to back the ruling party are defending the countrys sovereignty. We are the government in power. We cannot be removed from power by people who have been given money by foreign governments Other governments are trying to remove the Zanu PF government. Zanu PF will use government funds to defend our government as well. So, if you want to arrest us for using state funds to defend the government we are prepared to go to Chikurubi. Arrest us all Professor Jonathan Moyo is accused of using state funds derived from the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF), a tertiary education entity, to sponsor Zanu PF programs, including First Lady Grace Mugabes nationwide rallies a few months ago, and for purchasing bicycles for traditional leaders in his Tsholotsho constituency. Professor Moyo has acknowledged that he used the funds for such purposes instead of channeling it towards college students programs. At the same time, Mphoko has dismissed suggestions that he recently blocked the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission from arresting Professor Moyo. Commission chairperson Goodson Nguni said indications are that the money that was sourced by Professor Moyo from state coffers was allegedly abused. Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. During the Second World War, the French head of state, Philippe Petain, who had abolished the Republic, had his ex-heir apparent, Charles De Gaulle, head of the French Forces of the Interior, judged and condemned to death. On this model, the current President of the French Republic, Francois Hollande, has evoked the possibility of opening an international legal procedure for the war crimes committed in Syria - and to judge not only the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bachar el-Assad, but also the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin [1] a subject that was hinted at by UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon. These declarations appear while Canada, the United States, France, Holland and the United Kingdom are supporting the jihadists of East Aleppo against Hezbollah, Iran, Russia and Syria [2]. The desire to condemn Mr. Putin is not new (successively for the Second Chechen war, Ukraine and now for Syria), but is a recurrent idea of the US and Israeli neo-conservatives. During the Russian presidential electoral campaign of 2012, the United States even proposed to help President Medvedev to run against Vladimir Putin, to finance his electoral campaign and give him full access to the inner circles of the leaders of the planet, if he would promise to deliver Vladimir Putin to them. Which he obviously did not do. On 29 July 2015, the neo-conservatives presented to the Security Council a text by Victoria Nuland (wife of Republican leader Robert Kagan she became the spokesperson for Democrat Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and is today assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia) [3]. The text proposed to create a Special International Tribunal to judge the authors of the catastrophe of flight MH17, which was shot down in Ukraine, causing 298 fatalities. The text referred to an international Enquiry Commission, of which Russia was officially a member, but had been excluded by the other members. It was therefore possible to claim that Russia was responsible, and thus to judge and condemn Vladimir Putin. Russia not only pointed out the absurdity of creating an international Tribunal for a minor news item, but also the specious character of the procedure, and opposed its veto. The Western Press minimised the event. Washington is right to consider Vladimir Putin as the architect of the reconstruction of Russia after the dissolution of the USSR and the pillage of Boris Eltsine (whose cabinet had been formed by the National Endowment for Democracy). It imagines, wrongly this time, that if Putin is eliminated, it may be possible to force Russia back down to the place it occupied 20 years ago. President Hollande informed his Russian counterpart that he would not accompany him during the inauguration of the new Orthodox cathedral in Paris, which was planned for the 19 October, but would settle for receiving him at the Elysee. The interview could therefore only concern the situation in Syria. President Putin postponed his visit to France to an unspecified date. His spokesperson declared that he would be ready to go to Paris as soon as his French counterpart felt comfortable. A reaction reminiscent of the way one might treat a capricious child. The current dispute between Mr. Hollande and the Russian Federation concerns both the question of Ukraine (refusal of the Nazi coup detat in Kiev, the incorporation of Crimea, and support for the Republic of Donbass) and also the Syrian question (refusal of the attempted jihadist coup detat, and support for the Syrian Arab Republic). It is unlikely that a solution will be found before the end of Mr. Hollandes mandate, or with his successor, if this should be Mr. Juppe, as the polls suggest. These two men have in fact sealed their personal future with Washington in the blood of the Syrian people. Officially in favour of the French strategy, the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, Boris Johnson, has called on his compatriots to demonstrate in front of the Russian embassy in London a form of support which seems to anticipate a withdrawal by the United Kingdom. Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage Getting an induction into one of the most prestigious canons of our time is good for business whoda thunk? Bob Dylan had a surprising, if pleasing, morning, when his status as a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature was announced. Well, the good news keeps blowin in, as the Associated Press reports that sales of Dylans books have increased in a big way thanks to the Nobel bump. Dylans memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, jumped from No. 15,690 on Amazons best-seller list on Wednesday night to No. 278 in the wake of the Nobel news, and it is now out of stock. Meanwhile, a bound compilation of Dylans lyrics, The Lyrics: 1961-2012, hopped from No. 73,543 to No. 209 in the same time frame. (Dylans music also saw the effect, with Bob Dylans Greatest Hits and Blonde on Blonde making it to Amazons top 25 for CDs and vinyl by Thursday night.) Okay, so does Bob Dylan sound literary enough for all you yuckles yet? For a man who has yet to turn 40, Mark Duplass has lived many lives. The multi-multi-hyphenate came up as a mumblecore auteur alongside his brother Jay and still occupies a variety of roles: He acts in both indies and mainstream films while writing, directing, and producing extensively. But as his career has come into focus, Duplass has also begun to more precisely articulate and expand his distinct aesthetic, a process you can see clearly in his most recent effort, the charmingly intimate Blue Jay, which he wrote, produced, and starred in with Sarah Paulson. With Blue Jay now on VOD and in select theaters, Vulture caught up with Duplass to discuss the state of his ever-shifting career and the many, many projects hes working on right now. So you came up with the idea for Blue Jay, but you didnt direct it. Tell me about when it first came to you, and then why you sought out a different director. Theres a little bit of a precedent with me coming up with movies in my head that I want to make, but that I dont want for me or Jay to direct. I did that with Your Sisters Sister, I brought in Lynn Shelton, and I did that with The One I Love, I brought in Charlie [McDowell] and Justin [Lader]. I feel like my particular skill set being an actor who can guard the story and improvise and move scenes around, and being an overall producer who can set up the movies and protect them and not bring in a bunch of shitty money thats going to tank the movie and bring in terrible voices is what I am really best at. I can direct stuff, but I honestly feel like finding a younger director at this point whos more hungry than I am, more excited by the prospect of getting to direct their first narrative with us. How did Blue Jay director Alex Lehmann get involved? Finding directors who are visually very astute and very instinctual is really important to me. Im not that great visually, and Alex is the perfect choice for this because hes a documentary filmmaker. In Blue Jay, theres no blocking, theres no real script, these human beings are going to try to have genuine moments on camera, he doesnt know where theyre going to happen, and then he needs to decide, in the moment, where to put the camera so he can capture it. And that is hard. Sarah said that your three producers Syd Fleischmann, Mel Eslyn, and Xan Aranda were very involved in conceptualizing the movie. Totally. I made a two-page outline, and then we brought in the producers and Alex, and wed have these little talk sessions where wed see what we liked about the story. We would all bring little pieces from our own lives into the story and say, This is what Im dealing with. Three out of the six of us in that room had taken antidepressants. We were like, Whoa, were fifty-fifty in here. Things like that would find their way into the story. And when Amanda talks about dogs, theres nothing like [Sarahs] face when she talks about animals and the way she loves them, and so I was like, Okay! Im writing you an animal scene in this. A lot of this movie is chasing those things. Speaking of Sarah, shes incredible in the movie. I think people are really seeing her in Blue Jay in this way that the culture at large does not see her. The culture at large sees her the way she is in the FX shows, which are also really good but Different. Different. What do you see in actors that makes you think they would be good at working this way? Because its a different way of working. They have to really want to do it, because it is not as fun as it looks, in my opinion. Its pretty torturous, and youre mentally exhausted because youre on your toes constantly. I usually have a good instinct of whether they will be good at it. A lot of that is predicated on them being students of the human condition, people who see the world in a similar way that I do. When I met Sarah, immediately, within 30 seconds we were making jokes about the darkness in all the people at that party around us and how it made us feel sad, but then we were giggling about it at the same time. And I was like, Oh, shes one of my tribe, and you know that immediately when you meet someone like that. Youre getting pretty deep into whats been a very productive career. I have a body of work now, which is weird as shit to say at 39 years old. Yeah, and you have this interesting situation that, weirdly, a lot of older filmmakers generally have, which is that youve made so many films. The question is real: Whats next, and what do I do? When you set out to make a movie like Blue Jay, or the other films youre working on right now, what are you chasing? I think I spent a lot of years quote-unquote trying to build an empire, and Im always chasing my creative bliss thats why I pay for most of my movies myself, and make them small so I can do it. I spent a lot of years making movies that I knew I could make good, because I have a bit of a fear of failure. I spent a lot of time in my 20s making bad stuff, and it hurt so bad that Im like, now that Im here, I dont want to take any crazy risks and fuck up again. But that has started to shift in the last couple of years. Blue Jay for me represents a big shift, and was a big leap of faith on my part, to basically say, this melancholic, nostalgic side of my personality what if I unplugged that and just let my Nicholas Sparks fly? I really wanted to do this, and I was scared that Id be rejected for it, but my gut was telling me to just go for it: Do it cheaply, do it quietly, so if we make a huge mistake, we can tuck it away and it doesnt have to be a big embarrassment. That allowed me the confidence to take that step. In a lot of ways, Blue Jay has less in common with most of the indie movies coming out right now and more with a Douglas Sirk movie, or these older melodramas. Thats the form of it. Really, when we were making this movie, what I was thinking was, Okay, what is the tide of independent film right now, what is my ecosystem? My ecosystem is like Swiss Army Man and The Lobster and independent films screaming for attention with their oddly plotted high-conceptness. Im guilty of that too, by the way; Ive made some of those movies. But my core was like, I dont want to do that I want to play against that tide and I want to go 180-degrees opposite. I want to make something quiet and very patient. Strip everything away: two characters, two colors. Ive said this before, but its a little bit what Miles Davis did with Kind of Blue in the jazz scene in the late 50s, where it was like, I cant get any louder and crazier than John Coltrane. What I can do is just get quiet again. So shooting in black and white was part of that? It was. My core was like, this movie should be in black and white, and my brain was like, youre an idiot, the most pretentious move you can do is to make a black-and-white movie in 2016, the press are going to skewer you, and this is not a smart move. But my core was like, no, you want it to be black and white, allow yourself to do it this one time. Out of curiosity, could you list all the things youre working on right now? Im working on Room 104 for HBO. Im writing a book with my brother that is about the history of our collaboration. Its a little bit overdue, were a little bit in trouble. We are in the process of producing our next three Netflix movies, one of which has been shot and were submitting around, one of which just wrapped, and one of which is going into production next week. Were in the process of building out another slate of movies that I cant really talk about right now. I have two docuseries that were working on that Im really excited about they havent been announced yet, so I cant give titles, but Ive been circling documentaries for years as a source of inspiration, and it honestly is the thing that most informs my narrative filmmaking process. Alex Lehmann and I, the director of Blue Jay, have a secret documentary project that were in process on. All of this shit sounds like, Oh my God, how are you doing all of this, but I have really smart filmmakers at the head of all of these, and Im trying to move more into an executive position in my life. I think Im a good director, but I dont think Im the greatest director in the world; I think Im a good actor, but I dont think Im the greatest actor in the world; I think Im a good writer, but Im not the greatest writer in the world. Theres a couple of things that only a few people can do, and Blue Jay is an example of that. To know how to build this movie in a way that, even if we shat the bed, we wouldnt lose money and wed do well with it I know how to do that as a producer. I know how to write a script that can be shot in seven days and doesnt suffer from that. I know as an actor how to guide that narrative from within the scenes. That alchemy of those things is what Im trying to lean into more, and if Im being honest, what Im uniquely qualified to do. Are there any of those things that you find yourself most wanting to dive into more? Writing this book has really opened up a new side of me. Probably because the learning curve was very steep, I was very not good at it when we started. I have this fantasy that I will maybe write something in the narrative-fiction realm at some point. And Jay and I are moving a little bit away from directing right now, because, quite frankly, we can write and produce and act and shepherd a young director, and it takes us a lot less time, and we can do a lot more. I have two young kids, and when youre a writer and a producer, you can kind of live 9-to-5. With Room 104, Ive got a great group of people. I show up at 9 a.m. after I drop my kids off at school, just in time for the first shot, and I check it out, and its going really well, and I have one of my ace directors in the hole, Im like, were good I can go away then go pick up my kids from school. Thats where Im at right now. This interview has been edited and condensed. True-crime documentaries usually center on the perpetrators, but theres barely a reference in Keith Maitlands shattering Tower to the life of the man who, on August 1, 1966, rode an elevator to the 27th floor of the University of Texas at Austin clock tower and opened fire on random passersby, shooting 44 people, 11 fatally. (He also killed people on the nearby observation deck.) Maitland uses rotoscoped animation to re-create the events from the limited excruciatingly limited perspective of those on the ground. These include two people who were struck by bullets: a young woman eight months pregnant and a boy on a bicycle delivering newspapers. We also hear the stories of policemen and civilians who risked their lives to carry off victims or climb the tower to confront the gunman. Theres even a woman who watched from a classroom window and now says there was a moment that separate[d] the brave people from the scared people. I realized that I was a coward. I wouldnt use that word but I get where shes coming from. Whats hard for us to imagine now after that day and similar ones in Aurora and Newtown and many other places that live in infamy is that those on the University of Texas campus in 1966 had no context for this event, nothing to compare it to. The pregnant woman, Claire Wilson, tells Maitland that, as she lay on the plaza, the temperature approaching 100, the concrete burning the backs of her thighs, her blood leaking out, she thought that it was an alien invasion and shed been hit by an anti-matter gun. Probably that made more sense at the time than what was actually happening. Rotoscope means the animation is laid over real actors who went through the paces of the people theyre portraying. Those actors also narrate, their words taken directly from transcripts or interviews conducted by the filmmaker. Sometimes Maitland cuts to actual footage from that day. Sometimes he puts animated figures in the foreground against grainy, black-and-white news coverage. Its an extraordinary weave. Rather than distancing us, the animation brings us closer. It puts whats happening in the present tense. The rifle cracks seem to slice through us and Maitland cuts to negative images, strobe-like, as the victims fall to the ground. The sheer beauty of the images gives Tower a surreal quality and drenches it in emotion. The soundscape is layered, a collage of traffic noise, real radio and TV broadcasts, and the sound of Top 40 hits like the Lovin Spoonfuls (What a Day for a) Daydream over tinny AM radios. Through all this, the clock tower animated and in footage keeps the time, so were aware of the minutes ticking by. Were also aware of how close to death Claire is, and how helpless the people on the side feel. They know shes alive, but theyre afraid to enter that open plaza. A man who did much later says he still feels a tingle in the center of his spine, the place he was sure the bullet would hit. The most astonishing moment in Tower is when a young woman named Rita Starpattern walks out to Claire, lies perpendicular to her, and tells her its going to be all right. She keeps Claire from losing consciousness as time seems to stand still. The word you sometimes hear about films like Tower from documentary purists is over-aestheticized, which means they think its false to the reality, manipulative. Its too composed, too lyrical. Director Keith Maitland sometimes does go a little far for my taste: I could have done without the psychedelic love montage (with butterflies) when Claire remembers her blissful months with the boyfriend dead beside her. Its true to her feelings and the hippie-dippy culture of the time, but it plays almost like parody. But I love when non-fiction filmmakers stretch the form and attempt, with as much honesty as they can muster, to put us in the middle of the events they describe. They give us stunning hybrids like Waltz With Bashir, Persepolis, and, now, Tower. Maitland puts us on such intimate terms with his subjects that when the faces of the real, aged people burn in over their younger animated counterparts, the effect is unspeakably moving. This was well before we understood such things as posttraumatic stress disorder, and many survivors have never wanted to talk about what happened. They spoke to journalists decades later. Some are baring their feelings only now, for this film. I was on the three-person jury that gave Tower the top documentary prize at this years South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. You can imagine the emotions. That cut of the film had a longish section about other gun massacres with a pointed message about gun control. Its gone now, trimmed to brief images of Columbine and Aurora and other sites of carnage, and thats arguably for the better. It felt shoehorned in. But I missed it. Ironically, some people might see Tower in its present form as an example of what happens when not enough people are armed. Although the Texans who blasted at the tower with squirrel guns had little impact (perhaps they kept the gunman from getting too comfortable), it was the cops Ramiro Martinez, Houston McCoy, and a hastily deputized civilian named Allen Crum who finally ended the siege after an hour that seemed like a lifetime. Whether someone could have stopped the gunman before he started blasting: Sure, with a time machine. On the 50th anniversary of the Austin shooting August 1, 2016 it became legal for students at the University of Texas to carry guns. We seem to be in the midst of a vast human experiment in states like Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, etc. God help us all. Photo: Warner Bros. This weekend, the number-one movie in America is poised to be Gavin OConnors The Accountant, a thriller that stars Ben Affleck as an assassin with Aspergers syndrome. Its that rarest of birds, a Hollywood film not based on any preexisting intellectual property thats opening on more than 3,000 screens. It is also, unfortunately, a bit of a mess. To call The Accountant a potboiler would imply that every time a pot boiled, its lid went flying through the ceiling, the water overflowed, and then the stove burned your house down. Whether through studio meddling or an overambitious script, somebody forgot to connect a few of the movies dangling threads. Either that or, unlike the titular accountant Christian Wolff, I simply do not have the unique cognitive abilities necessary to follow it. Here are 20 questions that you may find yourself asking while walking out of The Accountant: Spoilers for The Accountant below, sort of. 1. What was Afflecks dad doing in the Army, exactly? Was he Jason Bourne? 2. Why does child-Afflecks brother never say a word? Is there something wrong with him, or did they just not want to give the kid a SAG card? 3. Why is Affleck feeding the Treasury department information, anyway? Just so he can help out J.K. Simmonss character? 4. If Affleck was an informant the whole time, why did J.K. Simmons make Cynthia Addai-Robinson go through all the trouble of finding him? What did they even learn from that? 5. What was going on at the robotics company? John Lithgow was stealing money and then funneling it back in? Why, so he could inflate the companys value? And how did he, a robotics company CEO, have the connections necessary to get a small private army to function as his death squad? 6. Okay, lets take the embezzling stuff at face value. Even then, why the hell did Lithgow bring Affleck in in the first place? Because if Jon Bernthal was working for Affleck all along, and its Bernthal who makes Lithgows CFO kill himself, then couldnt the two of them have just done that before they started the audit? Sure, maybe it was for cover, but Anna Kendrick has already found the error Lithgows company didnt need to bring in some mysterious accountant to make it plausible that hed panic. 7. Speaking of Bernthals character, is the guy just a mercenary? Does he have a security company? Why was there that scene of him bullying the Swiss banker? What kind of operation is this, anyway? 8. Did the farmer not think it was weird that Affleck had an anti-tank rifle that he used to shoot cantaloupe? 9. Why did J.K Simmons stop protecting Jeffrey Tambor in the first place? His characters whole rationale was basically, Im bad at my job. 10. Shouldnt Affleck have wanted to kill Simmons for that betrayal, since it was Simmonss fault that Tambor died not help him get promoted? And shouldnt part of the deal with that have been, Ill help you, and you dont investigate me? 11. Why did nobody care that there were a bunch of dead bodies on Anna Kendricks floor? There wasnt anyone who was like, Hmm, maybe we should talk to this accountant about why there was a massive gun battle in her apartment? 12. What is she possibly going to do with a genuine Jackson Pollack? 13. So the autistic woman played by The Americans Allison Wright is Afflecks handler slash manager how did she learn to do literally any of the things shes doing if shes been living in that facility her entire life? Just having a powerful computer doesnt seem like it would be quite enough. 14. Was Affleck in Leavenworth just because he beat up a bunch of people at his moms funeral? If he was some super-secret military killing machine, why did the Army drop him so quickly? Especially considering his dad got shot at that funeral? 15. Where was his brother this whole time? In mercenary school? 16. If Affleck has such a strict moral code, why is he working with these cartels and terrorists? Just for the money, so he can give it to the neuroscience research facility? Seems like theres an easier way to make a little cash and lay low than uncooking the books for the Sinaloa cartel. 17. Bernthals got a point why hasnt Affleck ever reached out to him? Wasnt a big thing that he was Afflecks only friend growing up? 18. What was the government taking credit for at the end? The murder of most of the C-suite executives at a major robotics corporation? Is that really less important than some Treasury investigation? 19. How was Affleck always able to avoid having his face photographed? That seems like a superpower, not just some spy technique. 20. Is this really what its like to be an accountant? Donald Trumps recent declaration that the shackles have been taken off and that he now intends to campaign without restraint sounds suspiciously like the sort of pronouncements made by black-hat professional wrestlers fans know its fake and over-the-top, but they relish such moments anyway. So much of the Trump campaign has been showmanship that its sometimes easy to forget hes running to be president, not entertainer-in-chief. Say what you will about unrestrained Donald Trump, but his latest shtick sounds suspiciously like that Trump fellow who has been campaigning for the last 16 months. Racist? Check. Misogynist? Check. Remarkably ill-informed on world affairs? Attention span of a gnat? Easy to anger? Egotist supreme? Check, check, check and double-check. Whats telling is not that the billionaire reality TV celebrity whom Republicans so foolishly chose to be their partys presidential nominee is, at heart, a self-serving opportunist who from Day One had little interest in his partys future or well-being. Its how other GOP candidates have jumped on and off his bandwagon like rats fleeing a sinking ship, getting back on it and then rethinking their choice a third time. Their collective excuses, claims of ignorance, lame explanations and sudden realizations the man at the top of the ticket is singularly unfit for office will provide a generation of Americans a solid frame of historical reference for the concepts of opportunism, self-deception and moral bankruptcy. Trump is not some sudden disaster for the Party of Lincoln. Hes the guy who blustered Archie Bunker-like about Mexicans as criminals and rapists on the day he announced his candidacy. Hello? Even the candidates abhorrent views on women were well-known, too, as hes been a frequent guest on Howard Sterns radio show. Those who missed the Stern interviews might at least have caught Trumps shameful dust-up with Fox News Megyn Kelly during and immediately after the first debate of the primary season. His bankruptcies, shady financial dealings, disgraceful and racist birther movement claims all have been part of the package from the start. Thus, when people such as House Speaker Paul Ryan fret about which kind of rat they wish to be, dry or wet, it inspires no confidence in their judgment, only in their capacity to look out for themselves above all others. Ryan obviously wishes to remain in leadership, and so he can, presumably with a straight face, stake out a position of supporting Trump for president but not campaigning for him or defending him. Does that somehow offend the fewest people in House GOP caucus meetings or back home in Wisconsin? The Donald obviously doesnt think so, as hes already lashed out at Speaker Ryan as an ineffective leader whose support he doesnt want anyway. Polls suggest the Trump campaign is now officially off the tracks, his declining support from women threatening to put most swing states beyond his grasp. One presumes the untethered Trump will simply double and quadruple down on his most bellicose and caustic lines of attack and go for sheer spectacle like Hulk Hogan pulling off his signature Atomic Leg Drop. The Breitbart crowd will swoon while Hillary Clinton makes plans for White House move-in day. ... The only question left will be what this disaster means for the Republican majority in Congress. Democrats are beginning to sense a golden opportunity, and much of their efforts between now and Nov. 8 may be directed at creating coattails that might flip the Senate and even the House. But not so fast. As much as Trumps tirades against disloyal Republican leaders might have proven disastrous for those facing competitive party primaries, it may not have much impact at all in the general election. And as evidence we point to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican with a deep disdain for Trump but whose polls numbers have never been higher. In a recent opinion survey, three-quarters of Marylanders said they approve of Hogans disavowal of Trump, with Republicans roughly split on the issue. That means even some of Trumps most ardent supporters dont blame Hogan for being against their guy. What does that say exactly? Maybe even voters know Trump is not only a cad, hes a con. They just want to send a message to Washington that they arent happy but they arent so foolish to actually expect to elect the guy. That would be the equivalent of electing a President Hogan Hulk, not Larry when all you really want is to see him grind your least-favorite opponents face into the canvas for a moment or two. Ben Affleck in The Accountant. Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Warner Bros. Entertainment The Accountant stars Ben Affleck as a financial savant who makes his living as an accountant to some of the worlds most dangerous criminal organizations. After a routine audit, critics have found multiple irregularities in the films construction, but some of them seem inclined to overlook them, with many reviewers offering a deduction for the movies spot-on casting. Still, the films winding narrative doesnt add up, and some critics found its depiction of Aspergers syndrome aesthetically, if not morally, bankrupt. Heres what critics have to say: The action-thriller The Accountant is laughable, but when youre not laughing at it, youre laughing with it. Its enjoyable enough. To avoid disappointment, you should know that despite the unconventional storytelling a tapestry of flashbacks and twists that make you say, What the hell! the movie is winding its way toward the most conventional payoff imaginable. However, mental-health advocates will be interested in its largely upbeat portrait of Aspergers syndrome. The downside is plain: The hero, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), rarely makes eye contact and has little in the way of vocal modulation or a natural ability to read non-verbal social cues. He doesnt have a girlfriend (or boyfriend) or any discernible friend. But hes a mathematical genius, a cunning businessman, a ninja wizard, and a crack shot. As the autism spectrum goes, its not the worst trade-off imaginable. David Edelstein, Vulture Who knows why Mr. Affleck, looking appropriately dead-eyed and miserable, committed himself to this laborious ultraviolent brain tease of a crime thriller. The movie, directed by Gavin OConnor (Tumbleweeds), makes little sense. The screenplay, by Bill Dubuque, is so determined to hide its cards that when the big reveal finally arrives, it feels as underwhelming as it is preposterous. And Mr. Affleck, despite a meticulous performance, never uncovers a glimpse of his abused characters humanity beyond Christians carefully delineated symptoms. Stephen Holden, the New York Times Based on a deliciously pulpy Black List screenplay by Bill Dubuque, The Accountant was one of those projects that admirers imagined would never get made and maybe they had a point, seeing as how the script casually assumes that someone with Aspergers syndrome is potentially wired to become a ruthless killing machine. In the wrong hands, the screenplay could have been as controversial as Brian De Palmas Dressed to Kill was with the trans community. But here, director Gavin OConnor (Warrior) demonstrates the right way to handle such material, elevating what is essentially an exploitation movie into a Zen character study, one that takes its pound-of-flesh antihero seriously. Peter Debruge, Variety Two impulses war against each other in the film. Theres the desire to be a troubling, affecting drama about a fractured family, a story of regret with an urgent social theme. And then theres the unflinching action movie that is, sadly, more marketing friendly. OConnor and Dubuque try their best to fuse those two wants together, and there are times when The Accountant, with its odd pacing and bursts of unexpected thoughtfulness, works on both levels. But too much of the film is bifurcated, see-sawing awkwardly between its poles. The reveal of the twist at the films center is goofily handled, and Afflecks performance has a glint of actor-y nonsense poking through all the mannered monotone. Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair The Accountant is both an intriguingly and maddeningly schizophrenic action drama: Its intriguing due to its audacious attempt to make an antisocial, on-the-spectrum math genius into an action hero, and maddening because, having gone halfway toward genuine eccentricity, it conforms by relying on fatigued genre tropes when it finally gets down to business. All the more frustrating because of its conceptual freshness and Ben Afflecks sly turn in the title role, this sleek action thriller ends up delivering standard shoot-em-up goods after initially suggesting it might provide something rather different. The sizable target audience probably wont mind. Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter The Accountant shouldnt be taken too seriously. Christian seems to get a little better as the film proceeds, evolving from an amusing stoicism to a more receptive attitude toward emotional stimuliespecially those provided by Dana Cummings (a delightful Anna Kendrick), the junior accountant who discovers a financial discrepancy at Living Robotics, the prosthetics manufacturer owned by Lamar Blackburn ( John Lithgow) and his sister Rita (Jean Smart). A montage in which Christian runs their numbers, and delights in his findings, is particularly good, and the robot theme recurs constantly: Christians chief consultant is the mechanical-sounding voice in his car, a cross between Siri and the car in Knight Rider. That the films nonautistic characters are occasionally sociopaths is one point well made. That people with autism are not unreachable is another: I have to find the person who wants to kill her, Christian says of Dana. And? asks the voice in the car. Christian: Shoot them in the head. Mr. Affleck is in good form. John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal There are any number of enjoyable/quality pieces, but the puzzle doesnt quite fit together. You will realize by the end how much of the movie, even stuff to be enjoyed at the moment, was superfluous and served to make a simple story seem more complicated. The Accountant is quite entertaining until we realize that its going nowhere special. Scott Mendelson, Forbes Preposterous can be defined in many, many ways. But for now, lets use the plot details of The Accountant as Exhibit A. Ben Affleck, bravely tackling an impossible role, stars as Christian Wolff, a math wiz whose position on the autism spectrum has made him perfect material to moonlight as a paid assassin. That notion is offensive on so many levels, especially in the service of such low-grade crime fiction, that its hard to focus on the other faults in the script by Bill Dubuque, who previously punished us with The Judge. And the talented director Gavin OConnor (Miracle, Warrior) should know better than to let bad things happen to good actors. But thats what occurs, and its painful to witness. Peter Travers, Rolling Stone WASHINGTON The second presidential debate bloody, muddy and raucous was just enough to save Donald Trumps campaign from extinction, but not enough to restore his chances of winning, barring an act of God (a medical calamity) or of Putin (a cosmically incriminating WikiLeak). That Trump crashed because of a sex-talk tape is odd. It should have been a surprise to no one. His views on women have been on open display for years. And hed offered a dazzling array of other reasons for disqualification: habitual mendacity, pathological narcissism, profound ignorance and an astonishing dearth of basic human empathy. To which list Trump added in the second debate, and it had nothing to do with sex. It was his threat, if elected, to put Hillary Clinton in jail. After appointing a special prosecutor, of course. The niceties must be observed. First, a fair trial, then a proper hanging. The day after the debate at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump responded to chants of lock her up, with Lock her up is right. Two days later, he told a rally in Lakeland, Florida, She has to go to jail. Such incendiary talk is an affront to elementary democratic decency and a breach of the boundaries of American political discourse. In democracies, the electoral process is a subtle and elaborate substitute for combat, the age-old way of settling struggles for power. But that sublimation only works if there is mutual agreement to accept both the legitimacy of the result (which Trump keeps undermining with charges that the very process is rigged) and the boundaries of the contest. The prize for the winner is temporary accession to limited political power, not the satisfaction of vendettas. Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez and a cavalcade of two-bit caudillos lock up their opponents. American leaders dont. One doesnt even talk like this. It takes decades, centuries, to develop ingrained norms of political restraint and self-control. But they can be undone in short order by a demagogue feeding a vengeful populism. This is not to say that the investigation into the Clinton emails was not itself compromised by politics. FBI director James Comeys recommendation not to pursue charges was both troubling and puzzling. And Barack Obama very improperly tilted the scales by interjecting, while the investigation was still underway, that Clintons emails had not endangered national security. But the answer is not to start a new process whose outcome is preordained. Conservatives have relentlessly, and correctly, criticized this administration for abusing its power and suborning the civil administration (e.g., the IRS). Is the Republican response to do the same? Wasnt presidential overreach one of the major charges against Obama by the anti-establishment GOP candidates? Wasnt the animating spirit of the entire tea party movement the restoration of constitutional limits and restraints? In America, we dont persecute political opponents. Which is why we retroactively honor Gerald Ford for his pardon of Richard Nixon, for which, at the time, Ford was widely reviled. It ultimately cost him the presidency. Nixon might well have been convicted. But Ford understood that jailing a president for actions carried out in the context of his official duties would threaten the very civil nature of democratic governance. What makes Trumps promise to lock her up all the more alarming is that its not an isolated incident. This is not the first time hes insinuated using the powers of the presidency against political enemies. He has threatened Amazons Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, for using the newspaper as a tool for political power against me and other people. ... We cant let him get away with it. With exercising free political speech? Trump has gone after others with equal subtlety. I hear, he tweeted, the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide! He also promises to open up libel laws to permit easier prosecution of those who attack him unfairly. Has he ever conceded any attack on him to be fair? This election is not just about placing the nuclear codes in Trumps hands. Its also about handing him the instruments of civilian coercion, such as the IRS, the FBI, the FCC, the SEC. Think of what he could do to enforce the fairness he demands. Imagine giving over the vast power of the modern state to a man who says in advance that he will punish his critics and jail his opponent. It should be a beautiful fall day in south-central Wisconsin on Friday, but rain is expected to move in for parts of the weekend. A frost advisory issued by the National Weather Service was set to end at 9 a.m. Friday, setting us up for a sunny day with a high of 63. The Weather Service said there's a chance for thunderstorms Saturday afternoon and a good chance Saturday night, with storms continuing on Sunday. The storms will be triggered by a cold front moving across the western Great Lakes. "There is a marginal risk for a severe thunderstorm Saturday afternoon and evening," the Weather Service said. The showers and storms on Saturday night could be accompanied by strong southern winds, gusting up to 30 miles per hour. The cold front will be followed by a warm front on Sunday, pushing temperatures up into the 70s. 27 Storm Track meteorologist Branden Borremans said we could see a high of 73 on Sunday, with a few showers and thunderstorms at night. Borremans said it could be unseasonably warm on Monday with a high of 79 in Madison, under partly sunny skies. Highs could stay in the 70s on Tuesday before dropping back to more seasonal 60s on Wednesday, then down to the mid-50s on Thursday and next Friday. No rain is forecast Tuesday through Friday. Thursday's high in Madison was 52, 8 degrees below normal and 38 degrees below the record high of 90 for Oct. 13, set in 1975. The 52-degree high on Thursday ended a streak of 150 straight days of temperatures of 60 or above in Madison, the streak tying a similar streak in 1976 for the second-longest stretch of 60+ weather in the city. The longest was 158 days in 1963. The low on Thursday was 34, 6 degrees below normal and 14 degrees above the record low of 20 for the day, set in 1988. No precipitation (rain or melted snow) fell at the airport, keeping the October total at 0.72 inches, 0.28 inches below normal for the month. The record precipitation total for Oct. 13 was 1.41 inches in 1883. For the meteorological fall of September through November, Madison has had 9.18 inches of precipitation, 5.05 inches above normal. Since Jan. 1, Madison has had 37.42 inches of precipitation, 8.47 inches above normal. As the Waco City Council has awarded millions of dollars of Tax Increment Financing Zone incentives to downtown business over the last few years, half the council has had to sit silently. Mayor Kyle Deaver and Councilmen John Kinnaird and Dillon Meek have been disqualified from voting or discussing TIF Zone business because they have connections to business interests in the downtown zone. But now, on the eve of a major decision on TIF funds for the city riverfront, all council members are free to vote on TIF incentives. They have Councilman Jim Holmes to thank for breaking the logjam. Holmes, who was appointed to fill a council vacancy in June, had to file an affidavit of substantial business interest on a downtown property under the states conflict of interest statute. He works for a firm, FirstCity Commercial, that owns a one-third stake in the riverfront food truck court at Franklin Avenue and University Parks Drive. Under a quirk of state ethics law, now that a majority of the council has a declared conflict of interest for TIF decisions, all are free to vote on the matter. On Oct. 4, all six council members voted on TIF items for the first time since 2012, voting 6-0 to approve money for Mary Avenue sidewalks and improvements at the West Campus Lofts. Deaver said the council is simply following advice from City Attorney Jennifer Richie on how to comply with the state law. I recognize that it seems a little odd, that now we have four people with property in the TIF Zone, we can vote, Deaver said. But thats the way the statute works. . . . It doesnt seem logical, but I think were doing it right based on the legal advice weve gotten. Deaver said hes glad to have the entire council participating in important downtown decisions. I think that has been a real limitation in the past, in that we were not able to get full council input, he said. Deaver and his brother lease office space downtown for their law firm and are majority shareholders in American Bank, which leases a building for a branch bank in downtown. I asked about that. I lease space, and that causes me to have a conflict? he said. But they ran through the whole analysis and said that I did. Meanwhile, Kinnaird is a vice president of Community Bank and Trust, which owns an interest in the Heritage Square property. Meek is general counsel for Rydell Capital, which has offices in the downtown TIF Zone and owns an old ice plant on Webster Avenue. The affected council members still would be disqualified from voting on any matters affecting their specific business interests. 2012 change Shortly after Richie arrived in 2012, she told council members they shouldnt participate in TIF deliberations if they or their employer had any substantial business interest within the TIF Zone. That was a departure from previous practice. The relevant state statute, Local Government Code Chapter 171, doesnt specifically address TIF zones. But Richie pointed to a 2011 case in Harlingen, where a council member who owned a business in that citys TIF Zone was convicted of a Class A misdemeanor for participating in a TIF funding discussion without filing a conflict of interest form. Richie said this week that shes unsure of how many other cities follow the same practice, but she said she takes a better safe than sorry approach in her guidance. The city of Austin also bars council members with TIF Zone holdings from voting on TIF projects, a city spokesman said, though he was unsure whether any council members are affected. Kinnaird said he appreciates the city attorneys caution in interpreting the conflict of interest law, though he thinks his supposed business interest in downtown is tenuous. And he agreed with Deaver that disqualifying three council members impaired decision-making. The effect was that half the council was unable to provide input on some really important economic development projects in our city, Kinnaird said. Councilman Meek, whose district includes downtown, said hes glad to be able to participate in major decisions, including a proposed residential and commercial development on city-owned riverfront land. Meeks company has never asked for TIF funds but it has partnered with downtown developer Shane Turner on townhouse projects outside the zone on Columbus and Washington avenues. Turner is a regular applicant for TIF funds for projects, including for the Waco Hippodrome and Altura Lofts. But, Meek is not disqualified from voting on such projects because his company has no stake in them. Meek said its difficult in a city of Wacos size to avoid having council members with some business interests in downtown. But he said hes able to vote independently of pressure from friends or business associates, whether the matter is TIF awards, zoning or regulations. We just have to disclose any conflicts we have, and even when we dont have a conflict, we have to vote in a way that we think is going to be best for the city, Meek said. A master plan for the future of Waco Regional Airport digs deeply into a bag of alternatives that range from lengthening the main runway almost 1,400 feet, to generating $400,000 annually by charging $4 a day to use a covered parking area on the drawing board. It even addresses the possibility of transporting Wacos commercial airport across town to the Texas State Technical College-Waco airport, which has a runway 8,600 feet long and can accommodate anything flying, including Air Force One, the official aircraft of the President of the United States, which it has done on many occasions. At this point, the $634,000 blueprint funded 90 percent by the Federal Aviation Administration and prepared by Missouri-based Coffman Associates is going through a phase of public inspection. Anyone could visit the airport between 5:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday to view maps, drawings and charts telling the story of Waco Regional. Airport director Joel Martinez met Thursday with representatives of Walker Partners, the airports engineer of record which hired Coffman Associates. Ultimately, the Airport Master Plan addresses increased development on and around the facility and efforts to meet growing demand for a larger terminal and increased air service. That includes possibly attracting a second commuter carrier to compete with American Eagle, which flies daily to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The FAA gets first crack at approving the plan, and since we track with them as we move along, I dont anticipate the FAA saying were way off base, Martinez said. The Waco City Council will vote on the package that looks 20 years into the future, but not before at least one more opportunity for public input, Martinez said. It probably will have its approval in January or February of 2017, ending about 12 months of preparation and review, he said. The last master plan update for Waco Regional was completed in 2002, meaning it was high time for a replacement, said Jacob Bell, with Walker Partners. Bell said Waco Regional has a lot to recommend it, including an easily accessible terminal and free parking. It is on the outskirts of Waco city limits, which makes it a challenge for some to find, but you can get there in 15 minutes from just about anywhere in the area, and you dont have to drive Interstate 35, he said. A drawback is the perception by some that American Eagle is unreliable in providing its five daily flights between Waco and DFW, despite statistics that say otherwise, Bell said. Officials should work to reverse those perceptions, he said. The truth is that American Eagles reliability numbers are better than the national average, but when you make only five flights a day and miss one or two for whatever reason, there is a perception that something is not right, Bell said. He said the city overall has done a great job rehabilitating and reconstructing runways and taxiways, which are in really good shape. It helps that $48 million has been earmarked for such projects in the past 10 years, with 90 to 95 percent of that money coming from the FAA, depending on the project. The plan does suggest pursuing a second airline to give the flying public more options, and Martinez said he would welcome another commuter. I do think Eagle is reliable, but a competitor would make it even more so and could lead to better prices in this market, Martinez said. Starting elsewhere The report suggests future air service could include direct flights to traditional hubs, including Denver, Atlanta and Chicago. It also said Waco Regional appears to suffer from leakage, in that local travelers often begin their trips at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport or Dallas-Fort Worth International. It states the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes McLennan and Falls counties, makes up 1 percent of the state population. But total enplanements at Waco Regional of about 67,000 in 2015 represented eight-hundreds of 1 percent of enplanements statewide. DFW led the way with 39.6 percent of the states enplanements. The report suggests carriers using 50-seat regional jets to serve markets such as Waco may go to 70- to 90-seat jets and reduce the number of daily flights. I dont like larger planes and fewer flights, Martinez said. But bigger in this case means newer newer engines and less down time. Martinez said Waco Regional prides itself in offering free parking, and that will not change. But he said paid covered parking could prove a popular option. At $4 a day, Ive calculated we could become profitable in 3.5 years, and then we would have a cash stream of $350,000 to $450,000 a year, he said. Under the alternatives section, the plan addresses lengthening the main runway from 7,107 feet to 8,500 feet to accommodate larger and more powerful aircraft. Such a move could mean rerouting China Spring Highway and buying 77 acres north of it or extending toward Lake Waco and dumping fill material in the water to build on. Martinez said such a proposal may sound outlandish, but it must be included in the report to provide options. To do something like that we would need to achieve 150,000 to 200,000 enplanements a year and have Boeing 737s or 757s flying out of here on a regular basis, he said. The proposed master plan identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The following is a rundown of sample items in each category: Strengths include free parking, passenger convenience, restaurant, room for expansion, I-35 corridor location, free Wi-Fi in terminal, ability to train pilots, full hangars, new on-site rental car washing facility, 18-hour manned FAA tower, business diversity, local art displays in terminal, and limited wildlife hazards. Weaknesses include runway length, lack of covered parking, no sterile concession area, limited car rental staffing, lack of courtesy shuttle from remote parking lot, public transportation, airport location and wayfinding, airport service local awareness, and airline service reliability perception. Opportunities include hotel development near airport, business development on-site, presence of Magnolia Market at the Silos, area growth, second airline, mineral rights, capturing more advertising revenue in terminal spaces, introduction of paid covered parking to raise revenue, drainage improvements. Threats include noise complaints as airport grows, lack of available hotel capacity, high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston, competition with area airports, constraints on terminal expansion, reducing airline frequency, general aviation user fees, Transportation Safety Administration constraints on business development. In April 1978, a worker found the body of an unidentified man in a Hewitt drainage culvert, prompting a homicide investigation that has become the Hewitt Police Departments oldest unsolved case. Thirty-eight years later, local law enforcement hope modern technology and the reach of social media will help them solve the murder of Disco Dan, whose real identity remains a mystery. On April 3, 1978, the body of an unknown man, likely in his 20s to 30s, was found in a drainage culvert in a vacant field, near Spring Valley Road and South Haven Drive, just east of Hewitt Drive. A Hewitt man working in the field discovered the body, which had a single gunshot wound, and notified Hewitt police, a two-man operation back in the late 1970s. Back then, the department was really small, and I dont think they had the manpower to devote to a murder case, so it was taken over by the McLennan County Sheriffs Office, Hewitt Police Chief Jim Devlin said. Through the years, it just got lost in the shuffle. When I became police chief in 2012, I knew we had some cold cases, so I asked my staff to bring me what we had on them so we could come up with a plan on solving these cases. Somewhere, somehow, the people who did this deserve justice. Now we are trying to go back in time and take a look at finding who did this to this man. The department now has three cold cases remaining. 3 notable tattoos Disco Dan is described as 5 feet 8, about 128 pounds, with brown eyes, shoulder-length light brown hair, a moustache and a small goatee. Three notable tattoos were found on his body, including a cross inside a heart outline on his upper left arm, the word Peace on his left forearm in capital letters, and the letters RB on his upper right arm. At the time of his death, he was wearing Levis jeans, brown boots, a long-sleeved shirt with a dark blue and white floral pattern and a white puka shell necklace with black beads. A Snoopy medallion was found next to his body. Because of the time period and when I first saw this case, the first thing I noticed was his shirt that looks like a typical 1970s disco shirt, so I aptly named him Disco Dan, Devlin said. It seems catchy, but we dont want anyone to assume this mans name is Dan, because we really dont know. Authorities at the time of the mans death determined the body was in the culvert for a few days before it was discovered. Police did not think he was killed where his body was discovered. Hewitt detective Sgt. Chad Kasting was assigned the case and has continued to follow up on information for the past few years before Hewitt Assistant Chief Tuck Saunders came up with the idea for a community Facebook page for Disco Dan. Saunders got the idea from a colleague who developed a similar page for a case in Louisiana, Devlin said. Devlin said the exact location of Disco Dans final resting place remains a mystery. He was buried in an unmarked paupers grave in McLennan County Restland Cemetery, 2916 S. 9th St. We have located the vicinity of where his body is in the paupers grave, but back then, these graves were unmarked, Devlin said. We know the area is 100 yards by 100 yards, but picking out a specific grave for him is next to impossible. Authorities worked with Texas Rangers in the past several years, and a sketch artist with the Texas Department of Public Safety created a new depiction of Disco Dan. With the sketch in hand, Hewitt police launched the Facebook community page Wednesday to push out information to reignite the case, Devlin said. We have gone back through every piece of paper we have that has anything to do with this investigation . . . to try and figure out any information about this individual, Devlin said. Identifying him is the key piece, because we know he died at the hands of someone else, but if we can just find out who he is, this name will give us a starting point. Anyone with information about any missing person matching this description should contact Hewitt Police Department Sgt. Chad Kasting at 666-6272 or the DPS Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 800-346-3243. A hearing to determine if McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna will be disqualified from prosecuting Twin Peaks biker cases resumes Friday amid accusations that Reyna was not truthful at a hearing in August and continues to deflect questions about who is paying his legal fees for civil lawsuits. Judge Matt Johnson of Wacos 54th State District Court recessed a hearing in August and instructed attorneys for biker Matthew Clendennen and Ray Nelson to confer with Reyna and his attorney to answer basic questions concerning Reynas insurance coverage in civil rights lawsuits. The attorneys for the two bikers, Clint Broden and Abigail Anastasio, are seeking to disqualify Reyna from the cases, asserting he has a financial conflict of interest because he is a named defendant in 10 federal civil rights lawsuits filed in Austin by bikers arrested after the Twin Peaks shootout. At the hearing in August, Reyna either said he was unsure of his exact coverage or deferred questions to his attorney, Thomas Brandt, of Dallas. Brandt, when questioned at the hearing, claimed attorney-client privilege and would not answer. That prompted Broden to file a motion asking Johnson to compel Reyna to answer the questions, which include whether any insurance coverage Reyna has will cover the costs of defense, compensatory damages and punitive damages, and whether McLennan County commissioners have agreed to commit taxpayer funds to cover any judgments or defense costs that exceed indemnification coverage. The motion claims that Reyna and Brandt asserted attorney-client and attorney-work product privileges as reasons they would not answer the questions posed during and after the hearing about Reynas potential financial exposure in the civil suit. After the motion to compel was filed, Reyna issued a press release on his Facebook page that charged the motion was without merit and an attempt at delay. I answered each and every question asked of me regarding civil lawsuits, my defense to those lawsuits and my potential exposure, no matter how remote. To claim otherwise is false, misleading and defamatory, Reynas statement said. Reyna did not return a phone message left at his office Thursday. Broden challenged Reynas truthfulness Thursday, continuing to say his questions have not been answered. Broden and Anastasio have subpoenaed all four county commissioners, County Administrator Dustin Chapman and County Judge Scott Felton to testify at Fridays hearing. Mr. Reyna has said in the past that he wants transparency, but his actions demonstrate obfuscation, Broden said. Mr. Reyna has said in the past that he fully answered questions regarding his insurance coverage, yet the transcript of his testimony says exactly the opposite. Mr. Reyna has said he is against delay in these cases, but he has opposed every single speedy trial request that has been filed in these cases. Mr. Reynas actions speak volumes and now the question is going to be whether the county commissioners join him in the effort to avoid providing answers to simple questions regarding insurance coverage for the civil rights cases naming Abelino Reyna as a defendant. In a motion filed Thursday, Broden continued to question Reynas veracity. At the Aug. 8 hearing, Reyna testified that he carried one cellphone with him when he arrived on the scene of the May 17, 2015, deadly shootout. He said he spoke by phone to former Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman, who was out of state, about how authorities would proceed with the mass arrest of 177 bikers. Review of phone records He further testified that he believed Chief Stroman called him to authorize the mass arrests, Brodens motion says. Nevertheless, a review of the phone records for (Reynas phone number) reveal that there were no phone calls (outgoing or incoming) from telephone number . . . to the phone Chief Stroman testified he was using that day. Broden also says Reynas phone records make it appear that Reyna called Brandts law firm only two days after the incident and apparently had two phone conversations with Brandts law partner, Steve Henninger, totaling more than an hour. Given this was long before Mr. Reyna was being sued in this matter, it is not clear under what capacity the law firm of Fanning Harper Martinson Brandt and Kutchin was operating during these conversations with Mr. Reyna unless it was immediately obvious that Mr. Reyna had liability for his actions taken two days previous, Broden contends in his motion. When I first heard that some Elon University students were protesting my invitation to speak on campus and saying my thoughts were dangerous, I was, of course, thrilled and immediately amended my bio. No one has ever considered me dangerous that I know of. Ill simply report that about 300 students at Elon signed a petition exhorting the administration to disinvite me. They claimed most seriously that yours truly is a rape apologist. This charge was based on their obvious misreading of my 2008 book, Save the Males, which until this moment almost no one had read, as well as snippets from a couple of random columns culled from a body of around 2,000 stretching across 29 years. (One more year and I get to brag.) What had I said that was so controversial? In my book, I had questioned assumptions, which is my job, after all, on the always-sensitive issue of campus rape, which was received less than warmly. I learned that one especially doesnt dare challenge the presumption of rape when male and female sexually convene while the female is drunk. I dared, but not much. I merely wondered: What if the guy is also drunk? Remember, this was more than 10 years ago. Ive written hundreds of columns since then. And much has changed during half a generation. Even so, Im confident of my research in the writing of the book and will never apologize for an opinion. Its a thought, an idea, a conclusion based on evidence and experience. Opinions may change, including my own, but I always reach them in good faith. Thus, I concluded and wrote in this very same book and repeated last week at Elon that I wasnt making excuses for the male, who, by virtue of physical characteristics, including superior strength, bears the greater responsibility in such encounters. At one point during the question-and-answer period following my speech, which was mostly about politics and the presidential campaign, I also suggested that girls stop getting so drunk. Gasp. What parent wouldnt say as much? This isnt blaming the victim, as certain feminists would insist, but is highlighting the obvious. In the real world, wed call this a risk assessment indicating a statistically significant correlation between intoxication and unwanted behavior and/or attention. Or, simply, science. Today, my erstwhile rhetorical question what about the guy? which was really a plea for fairness and due process, is outdated and moot. North Carolina, among other states, has made it law: If a woman is drunk, then sexual intercourse with a male human is, ipso facto, rape. Whether one agrees with this law is irrelevant, as Elon students are told on the first day of school. It was odd to have to delve into these issues in the midst of a historic and potentially catastrophic election, which has been the focus of my work the past two years. Indeed, university President Leo Lambert urged me to focus on politics, which I did after briefly addressing the protest and speaking a few minutes about the crucial need to allow even unpopular speech on campuses in the service of tolerance and education. Alas, I wasnt able to distract my finely feathered foes, who flocked to the microphone armed with mini-congressional floor statements, statistics and quotes from my book. I felt like a witness on Law & Order whose words get twisted and taken out of context. I tried to be sensitive, which lasted about 30 seconds or so, before lapsing into my more comfortable truth mode. When a female student demanded my position on a variety of gender options trans, duo, not sure, etc. I trilled: I love all human beings and the more happy people, the better. A grateful audience applauded rapturously. My questioner obviously hadnt read my column condemning North Carolinas recent transgender-bathroom law. Or the next one about bumping into North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory in makeup at NBC, which was a gas. Nor did she or her comrades appreciate my sense of humor or the tone of my presentation, which one journalism professor described in a tweet as a hybrid of Mark Twain, Jon Stewart, Don Rickles and Celia Rivenbark. I only wish I could have made the girls laugh, too. Post columnist Kathleen Parker is author of the book Save the Males: Why Men Matter, Why Women Should Care. Mike Lee explains why the GOP will block Garland even if Clinton wins: James Hohmann of The Washington Post has this report. An independent U.S. agencys independence gets it into trouble: Lyle Denniston has this post today at the Constitution Daily blog of the National Constitution Center. And at The Volokh Conspiracy, Stuart Benjamin has a post titled D.C. Circuit buries Supreme Court precedent. Paterson council rejects $1.6M deal in US Supreme Court case on campaign sign: Joe Malinconico has this front page article in todays edition of The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey. The Supreme Court Debates Juror Bias: And Samuel Alito complains about oversensitive PC college students. Mark Joseph Stern has this Supreme Court dispatch online at Slate. Two years later, few Hobby Lobby copycats emerge: Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico.com has this report. New hope for undocumented immigrants: DAPA might not be dead a bold legal strategy could protect millions from deportation; A series of legal end runs may succeed in restoring Obamas protections for millions of undocumented immigrants. Daniel Denvir of Salon.com has this report. Eighth Circuit panel reverses course, ordering that Missouri Department of Corrections need not reveal information regarding use of pentobarbital in executions, including the identity of its anonymous supplier: You can access todays per curiam ruling of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at this link. Update: In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that Court reversal shields Missouris execution drug provider. Abbott and Costello Heirs Lose Appeal Over Broadway Plays Use of Whos on First Routine; Hand of God producers beat lawsuit not because of fair use, but because the heirs havent demonstrated ownership of a valid copyright: Eriq Gardner has this post at the THR, Esq. blog of The Hollywood Reporter about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued on Tuesday. Supreme Court deals blow to out-of-state companies on taxes: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report. The D.C. Circuits gratuitous ruling on CFPB constitutionality: Alison Frankels On the Case from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post. Clintons vow to push Supreme Court left galvanizes conservatives wary of Trump: S.A. Miller of The Washington Times has this report. Nueva York, 14 oct (INS).- El gobernador de Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, solicito durante su ponencia ante la junta de control fiscal que la nueva autoridad que controla las finanzas del gobierno puertorriqueno no endurezca las medidas de austeridad ante la crisis que vive la isla, pues eso llevaria a una situacion intolerable para la ciudadania. A su juicio, una estrategia basada en la austeridad solo privara a la economia de recursos para la inversion publica y privada necesaria para generar crecimiento economico.. Ademas, debemos crear toma de decisiones financieras mas disciplinada, con la mejora de los controles presupuestarios y la transparencia financiera.. Y hay que racionalizar el gasto y las politicas fiscales que promuevan la eficiencia. Recalco que se debe proteger a los mas vulnerables como resultado de la crisis fiscal de Puerto Rico. Esto incluye a nuestros adultos mayores, personas con discapacidad y/o a los ciudadanos de mas bajos ingresos, que son dependientes de la red de seguridad social proporcionada por el sistema de salud del gobierno. Sostuvo asimismo que hay que salvaguardar los ahorros de los puertorriquenos, garantizando la estabilidad del sistema de cooperativas de credito local y proporcionar una financiacion adecuada para los planes de pensiones publicas. Luego de establecer que la crisis es la culminacion de decadas de politicas publicas equivocadas y sin escrupulos en San Juan, Wall Street y Washington que nos colocan en un ciclo descendente de la cada vez mayor deficit de explotacion cubiertos con endeudamiento publico siempre creciente cada vez a mayor coste de financiacion. el gobernador afirmo que el gobierno apoya la Ley Promesa. Esto, pese a que inicialmente no estaba de acuerdo con el enfoque del Congreso federal. Explico que ante la posibilidad de un colapso inminente () mi gobierno tiene la intencion de colaborar con la junta de control fiscal en la creencia de que este proceso conduzca pronto a la recuperacion economica que nuestro pueblo merece. Por lo tanto, pondra a disposicion de la junta gran cantidad de informacion y los analisis que hemos reunido durante mi mandato. Mi equipo y yo esperamos coordinar tantas sesiones de trabajo tecnico entre ustedes y nuestros asesores y expertos como sean necesarias. Sin embargo, enfatizo que se ha enfrentado a presiones implacables para despedir a trabajadores, reducir las pensiones y pagar importes totales adeudados a cuatro tenedores de bonos. La junta tambien recibira esas presiones. Pero hemos logrado garantizar los servicios esenciales y evitado un mayor deterioro economico por evitar las medidas de austeridad autodestructivas. Me resisti a esa presion y ahora los animo a hacer lo mismo. Insto asimismo a evitar cualquier reduccion en el gasto, porque eso conllevaria efectos intolerables a la economia puertorriquena y a los que mas han sufrido con la actual crisis. Para hacer frente a eventos inminentes tales como la expiracion de la estancia en litigio y de la moratoria en el pago de la deuda, y debido a la necesidad de infundir confianza, Puerto Rico necesita un plan en marcha inmediatamente, asevero. Y recordo que actualmente el gobierno esta operando bajo un presupuesto de suspension que permite que el gobierno central pueda redirigir los fondos de varias entidades a la Cuenta Unica del Tesoro, incluidos los fondos que se comprometieron a ciertas entidades para el pago de sus deudas o asignadas por la ley y luego se comprometieron a sus tenedores de bonos por las entidades. Esto permite que el Departamento del Tesoro de Puerto Rico pueda mantener sus operaciones y servicios esenciales, asevero. Garcia Padilla tambien insto a evaluar rapidamente (la posibilidad) de emitir una certificacion de reestructuracion tan pronto como sea posible. El primer paso para alcanzar ese objetivo es establecer un plan de trabajo a corto plazo que permita una rapida aprobacion del plan. Nuestro plan muestra que, incluso si Puerto Rico y sus acreedores fueron a hacer su parte, necesitamos la ayuda del gobierno federal para llevar esta crisis economica y humanitaria a su fin. El plan refleja los principios basicos que mi gobierno cree debe ser la base de un plan fiscal para Puerto Rico. De hecho, estos principios deben seguir para guiarnos en el futuro, incluso despues de salir de esta crisis, agrego. Aseguro que el gobierno de Puerto Rico y el gobierno federal deben ser socios en la recuperacion de la economia de la isla. Si las cosas no cambian en la isla, terminaremos los proximos 10 anos con un deficit acumulado de 34 mil millones de dolares. Asi que el mensaje debe ser claro: sin un cambio en la politica federal y sin un cambio en la trayectoria de la economia de la isla hacia un crecimiento real, no habra dinero () para proporcionar los servicios esenciales a la ciudadania. Ponencia del gobernador Alejandro Garcia Padilla ante la Junta de Control Fiscal Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Distinguished members of the Oversight Board, members of the press, puertorriquenos y puertorriquenas, amigas y amigos todos, good morning. It has been a long and challenging road that has brought me, and the residents of Puerto Rico, here before you. I am here this morning to present to you a fiscal plan for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. I am confident that we are advancingtogetheron a path of real progress that brings recovery to the 3.5 million American citizens living in Puerto Rico. By now, the story of Puerto Ricos economic and humanitarian crisis is well known. Equally well known are the root causes of the persistent fiscal and economic challenges that have brought us to this point. When I took office in 2013, the island had suffered from almost a decade of economic contraction, out-migration, 2 deterioration of living conditions, and had almost seventy billions dollars of debt. Puerto Ricos problems did not develop overnight, and they are not the result of any single factor, political decision or political party. Rather, they are the culmination of decades of misguided and unscrupulous public policies in San Juan, Wall Street and Washington. Those policies placed us in a downward cycle of ever-widening operating deficits covered with everincreasing public borrowing at ever-increasing financing costs. During my administration, it became clear that we could no longer, in good conscience, continue down this irresponsible route. I took the decision to face our debt crisis head-on. After implementing many emergency measures, I commissioned three former IMF economists to assess the islands economic situation and to examine the sustainability of our debt. Thereafter, I established a working group of key officials to put together the first comprehensive fiscal and economic growth plan for Puerto Rico. Drawing from that first plan, we have upgraded our calculations and measures to present a new plan that represents my administrations best efforts to balance our obligations to creditors and pensioners with our duty to provide essential services to our citizens. Today, over a year later, with PROMESA in place, I take this opportunity to work together with the Oversight Board to carry this mission through. Many sectors of the community, here and in the island, have criticized the appointment of this Board and are understandably concerned with the extent of the powers vested in it. Initially, I disagreed with Congresss approach, but favored the passing of PROMESA to avoid having my people suffer the misery of a looming government collapse. Therefore, my administration intends to collaborate with the Board in the belief that this process will soon lead to the economic recovery our people deserve. That said, we will work with you to help you get up to speed in the coming days and weeks with vast amounts of information and analyses we have put together during my term. My team and I look forward to coordinating as many technical work sessions between you and our advisors and experts as necessary. You must, however, be mindful of this reality as you carry out your duties under the statute. Since the people of Puerto Rico lack democratic tools to check the Boards powers, you owe them a high degree of care and caution. It is my duty as Governor of Puerto Rico to represent the people of Puerto Rico and ask you to put them ahead of any competing considerations. Over the last years my administration has put the people of Puerto Rico ahead of powerful economic and political interests. I have faced relentless pressures to fire workers, reduce pensions and pay full amounts owed to 4 bondholders. You will too. But, in the face of the largest municipal bankruptcy in history, we have managed to guarantee essential services and have avoided further economic deterioration by escaping self-defeating austerity measures. I withstood that pressure and now encourage you to do the same. That does not mean that we should act in a fiscally irresponsible fashion. We have reduced the number of public workers through attrition and reformed pension systems to make good on our obligations to pensioners, although at levels that are materially lower than the benchmarks in the mainland. These measures should remain in place. It would be fundamentally unfair if the needs of Puerto Ricans are not made the paramount priority. Puerto Rican children and retirees are not to blame for careless decisions made here in New York by the rating agencies who supported the close to thirty two billion dollars in debt issued by the two previous administrations, or the mistaken decisions made by Congress to repeal section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code and remove Puerto Ricos eligibility under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code. Puerto Rican pensioners will not carry the burdens of wrong government decisions. To reduce challenges to the legitimacy of this process, the aspirations of Puerto Rican families and workers should not be bound by the irresponsibility of prior governments and greedy lenders that opted to fill-in with unsustainable loans the gaps of a failing economy that has stalled in recession for a decade. The cost of this crisis cannot be for the students of the University of Puerto Rico to bear. And, even if spending is reduced to pay the debt, you will soon realize that any reduction in spending implies intolerable effects in aggregate demand and will further throw Puerto Rico into a death spiral that will directly affect creditors recoveries across the board. You will soon agree that Puerto Rico requires substantial foreign direct investment and a meaningful partnership with the federal government to lift itself out of this crisis and invest in our economy to pay our creditors. You will also realize that PROMESA offers useful tools to restructure our unsustainable debt. It was necessary to approve the bill as it was before July 1st. However, we told members of Congress for many months that a federal solution also needed to eliminate inequities in funding for healthcare and provide the Commonwealth with tools to bring back the jobs that Puerto Rico lost to foreign jurisdictions when section 936 was eliminated. I urge you and our creditors to join today the Commonwealth in one voice before Congress. Based on the foregoing, our fiscal plan was developed by forecasting the revenues and expenses of all the entities dependent on the Commonwealths tax and other revenue generating capacity. Only issuers of debt that operate solely with internal resources or that were established as special financing vehicles without recourse to the Commonwealth-collected taxes were excluded. The fiscal projections are then presented in two ways. We first show the base projections, which we commonly refer to as the base line, and then show the same projections including revenue-generating and efficiency measures. The base line assumes status quo, implying current laws remain in place and laws with certain sunset provisions expire as legislated. For example, the base projections assume the phase out of Act 154 excise tax on foreign corporations that will occur next year. Then, the projections including our recommended measures add back the revenues lost for that concept by assuming the approval of a substitute revenue structure. In order to address impending events such as the expiration of the stay on litigation and of the moratorium in debt payments, and because of the need to instill confidence, Puerto Rico needs a plan in place immediately. Currently, the government is operating under a moratorium budget that allows the central government to redirect funds from several entities to the Treasury Single Account, including funds that were pledged to certain entities for repayment of their debts or assigned by law and then pledged to their bondholders by the entities. This allows the Puerto Rico Treasury Department to sustain operations and essential services, pursuant to the Puerto Rico Emergency Moratorium and Financial Rehabilitation Act. In our judgement, if these were to change as a result of litigation, the termination of the stay under the terms of section 405 of PROMESA, or the expiration of the Puerto Rico Emergency Moratorium and Financial Rehabilitation Act, the Commonwealth would need quick access to the protection of the stay under Title III of PROMESA and DIP financing. Thus, I urge you to promptly evaluate the Commonwealths compliance with the requirements of section 201 and 206 of PROMESA in order to issue a restructuring certification as soon as possible. The first step in reaching that goal is to establish a short working schedule that enables swift approval of the plan. Our plan shows that, even if Puerto Rico and its creditors were to do their part, we need the assistance of the federal government to bring this economic and humanitarian crisis to an end. The plan reflects the core principles that my administration believes must underlie a fiscal plan for Puerto Rico. Indeed, these principles should continue to guide us in the future even after we emerge from this crisis. These principles can be summarized as follows: First, we must ensure that austerity polici es that inhibit growth no longer drive fiscal decisions. While we recognize that fiscal discipline is a necessary component of our return to fiscal health, we cannot afford to double-down on austerity. A strategy based on austerity will only deprive the economy of resources for public and private investment necessary to generate economic growth. Second, we must create more disciplined financial decision making with improved budgetary controls and financial transparency. Third, we must rationalize expenditures and tax policies that promote efficiency. Agencies with overlapping functions should be consolidated and procurement should be further centralized to promote economies of scale. Also, tax enforcement and administration should be improved to increase the capture rate and reduce evasion. Fourth, we must do our part to make Puerto Rico a competitive place for private investment and employment again. We must undertake reforms to local laws to create a more business-friendly environment, and we must leverage public-private partnerships in areas such as energy infrastructure and provision of services. We recognize that attracting the participation and partnership of the private sector will be critical to our economic future, and we are proposing major infrastructure investments to promote growth. Fifth, we must protect those most vulnerable as a result of Puerto Ricos fiscal crisis. This includes our seniors, people with disabilities and/or our low-income citizens, who are reliant on the social safety net provided by the governments healthcare system. We also have to safeguard Puerto Ricans savings by ensuring the stability of the local credit union system and provide adequate funding for our public pension plans. Ignoring the needs of these stakeholders would only serve to dampen demand, create instability and increase the shocks to the islands economy. Sixth, we must adjust our debts to sustainable levels. Over a year ago, we stated that our approximately $50 billion of taxsupported debt is not payable in full without renewed economic growth and that the level of debt payments required to service the existing debt stock was crowding out public and private investments to jump-start economic growth. We must use the tools provided by PROMESA to achieve a debt restructuring that gives us the breathing room to recover, allows us to invest in growth and create a foundation upon which market access can be restored. And seventh, we and the federal government must be partners in returning Puerto Ricos economy to growth. Our island has not recovered from the economic damage caused by the repeal of the section 936 tax incentives, which caused the loss of more than 100,000 private sector jobs. I want to make the importance of this last principle clear. The fiscal plan that I am presenting today shows a ten-year projection of the Commonwealths finances. If things do not change on the island, we end the next ten years with a cumulative deficit of $34 billion dollars. Things not changing also means that we maintain the same level of federal assistance that we currently receive. If we lose the current level of federally legislated support, most importantly as a result of the phase-out of funds provided under the Affordable Care Act to Puerto Ricos healthcare system and the creditability of a local excise tax against federal income tax is removed, we will end the next ten years with a cumulative deficit of $59 billion dollars. Even after the implementation of the on-island measures in the fiscal plan that we in Puerto Rico can control, our cumulative deficit would still be $40 billion dollars. On top of that, even if you take out all of the remaining debt service over the next ten years, which is a total of 34 billion dollars, we project that the Commonwealth will still be in the red by approximately $6 billion dollars. So the message should be clear: without a change in federal policy and without a change in the trajectory of the islands economy toward real growth, there will be no money for any debt service at all without jeopardizing the Commonwealths ability to provide essential services. These are sobering numbers that underscore the gravity of the task that Puerto Rico and the Oversight Board have to fulfill in the coming months. Today, I am submitting a plan that conveys these numbers, but it is a plan that puts first our peoples priorities and ambitions. As we progress together in the process of approving a comprehensive fiscal plan, I will make sure that the interests of the people of Puerto Rico are protected and will strive for minimum hampering with our priorities. Members of the Board, on behalf of the people of Puerto Rico, I thank you for your commitment of time and energy to assist the Commonwealth in achieving economic recovery. I now urge you to use the powers vested in you by PROMESA having in mind, first and foremost, the wellbeing of the people of Puerto Rico. This will only happen if this Board removes itself from the political ideologies and partisanship that dragged us here. I assure you of the full cooperation of my administration in the coming months and wish to be helpful in any way to my successor. Thank you. North Melbourne has gone to the AFL for an explanation of the Daniel Wells compensation pick after the club was disappointed to be given just pick 33 for the two-time best and fairest winner. North chief executive Carl Dilena said the club felt an end of first round pick was appropriate for a player of Wells' calibre and they were upset to have been given a pick tied to their second-round draft position. North Melbourne are far from happy with the Daniel Wells outcome. Credit:Collingwood Media Dilena said the AFL's compensation formula put too great an emphasis on a player's age rather than the size of their contract offer, their achievements as a player and their importance to their club. "We were disappointed. We thought an end of first round pick was appropriate, so after Brisbane's priority pick that would make it pick 20. Instead, because of our finish on the ladder, it at this stage will be 14 places worse. The inquiry started shortly before 11am and, some five hours later, limps towards a finale. The upshot of today's evidence? The fight between the country's top lawyers is showing no sign of abating. Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson, SC, has said he considers a direction issued by Attorney-General George Brandis requiring all ministers and departments to seek his permission before asking Gleeson for advice is "unlawful". He said he will make a "conscientious decision" to ignore the direction if he is asked directly for advice by, for example, the Governor-General. Brandis has denied he misled Parliament by claiming he consulted Gleeson about this direction, a claim Gleeson denies. The Attorney-General says both he and Gleeson are "fussy about words" and this whole dispute centres on a difference of opinion about what is meant by consult. That concludes our live blog. Thanks for reading. Melbourne lawyer Kimberley Kitching's appointment to the Senate is a "union stitch-up" inside the Labor Party, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said, after the figure of the Victorian Right faction was preselected on Thursday night. Ms Kitching, a close friend of Mr Shorten and a polarising figure in Labor and union circles, will fill the vacancy left by the surprise resignation of powerbroker Stephen Conroy from the party's top Senate spot. Her appointment has been criticised by figures inside and outside the Labor movement, with vocal anti-union senator Eric Abetz labelling the former general manager of a Health Services Union branch a "dodgy HSU boss". "The serious findings against Ms Kitching by one of the most respected members of the Fair Work Commission makes her unfit for public office," Senator Abetz said. Sometimes the best attacks are the most subtle. Tony Abbott's defence of US presidential candidate Donald Trump has elicited a snarky response from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who cast doubt on whether his predecessor was familiar with all of Mr Trump's policies. The former prime minister came to the aid of the Republican nominee on Thursday, telling conservative broadcaster Paul Murray that Mr Trump's policies were "reasonable enough" and his supporters "decent people". Mr Turnbull, who has described Mr Trump's remarks on women as "loathsome", declined to enter the fray on Friday, reiterating that the US presidential election was a matter for the American people, not Australian politicians or parliaments. Four years after her famous misogyny speech attacking Tony Abbott, and when an extraordinary American presidential campaign is featuring gender in both a good and a bad way, Julia Gillard reflected this week on her experience as a woman at the top. Speaking in London at a memorial for Jo Cox, the British MP murdered outside her office at the height of the Brexit campaign, Gillard warned young women contemplating a political career that they would face sexism and misogyny. Former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, former Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete, and Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg present onstage at the 2016 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park To End Extreme Poverty By 2030 at Central Park on September 24, 2016 in New York City. Credit:Getty She reprised the references to her being childless, the gender stereotyping with its attention on her clothes and hair, the ditch the witch placards at rallies, the pornographic cartoons circulated by an eccentric bankrupt, and the vile words on social media. Beyond sexism, there are other very real risks that women in public life must face, Gillard said. Threats of violence have become more prevalent for women in public life. Who wouldn't want to go to work in clothing as comfortable as pajamas? Founded by Rosario Chozas and Julia Ford-Carther, the made-in-South Florida brand Bammies embodies a fashion solution for busy women. Rosario Chozas and Julia Ford-Carther, founders of Bammies. After transitioning from a creative to a corporate environment, Chozas, who has a background in fashion, developed the brand concept, which allowed her to dress appropriately yet comfortably and without sacrificing style that was authentically her. "People would always say, 'Rosario you look so comfortable,' and I would say, 'These are my business jammies,'" Chozas said. Chozas met Ford-Carther through her former work with technology conference eMerge Americas, developing its track and events for women, called WIT. Ford-Carther at the time was senior editor of Ocean Drive magazine, a Miami fashion and lifestyle publication. They hit it off instantly and decided to partner up on Bammies (business plus jammies). They incorporated Bammies in July 2015 and launched the first collection in January. Over the summer they added, after getting many requests, plus sizes. The warming was almost instantaneous. In the blink of an eye, geologically speaking, thousands of gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere. The global temperature rose by as many as 8 degrees Celsius. The oceans became more acidic. Sea levels surged upward. Hundreds of species went extinct. Sound familiar? These events actually happened 55.6 million years ago, during a period of dramatic global warming called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Scientists believe a comet hitting the Earth caused global warming 55.6 million years ago, an event that can help us understand climate change today. Clues from the geologic record show how hot it was. Arctic sediment cores containing no evidence of ice; rock layers with unusual ratios of carbon isotopes; billions of tiny, shelled micro-organisms that died. This catastrophic period in Earth's history is the best analog we have to the climate change that is happening today. But there were no humans around burning fossil fuels in the year 55.6 million before present. Primates had only just evolved. So what could have caused atmospheric carbon and global temperatures to spike so dramatically? The scandal-plagued Health Services Union is poised to rejoin the Labor Party in Victoria, as part of Bill Shorten's expansion of his right-wing power base in his home state. After five years in political exile, the union which trades as the Health Workers Union has applied to re-affiliate to Labor. The HSU represents low-paid health workers such as hospital cleaners and orderlies. Credit:Jerry Galea The application will be considered and, probably, approved at the party's state conference in November. The application was made by secretary Diana Asmar, a controversial figure in her own right and close political supporter of Mr Shorten and Kimberley Kitching, the lawyer preselected on Thursday to replace former Victorian Senator and right powerbroker, Stephen Conroy. Two people conducted a citizen's arrest on a man in his 60s after he allegedly tried to rob a bank in Perth's CBD on Friday. The 63-year-old allegedly entered a Bankwest on Murray Street around 11am and demanded money from a teller while suggesting he had a weapon. A police spokeswoman said when the teller refused, the man pushed them and grabbed a sum of cash. "The man ran from the store and was stopped by two members of the public who held him until officers from the Perth Bike Team arrived," he said. The Collie community was left in shock this week after a senseless act of animal cruelty resulted in the death of six kittens. Collie resident Michelle Kendall's son Lewis was out with friends at a clay pit on the outskirts of town, when they made the gruesome discovery. Six kittens were dumped and left for dead in Collie. Credit:Michele Mossop Ms Kendall said the boys had gone to the pit on Tuesday afternoon in search of yabby nets. "They saw a pink thing dangling out of the water and they pulled it out because they thought it was a pink yabby net," she said. Proving that once again she is Hillary Clinton's best surrogate during this election and a political orator who is at the very least her husband's equal (if not his superior), Michelle Obama has delivered her most powerful excoriation of Donald Trump to date, articulating precisely what it feels like to be a woman subjected to sexist comments and behaviour like his. "I feel it so personally..." she said, describing hearing his words on the leaked video. "The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman." "It is cruel, it is frightening. And the truth is, it hurts," she said, patting her heart. "It hurts." "It's like that sick sinking feeling you get when you're walking down the street minding your own business and some guy yells out vulgar words about your body ... It's that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them or forced himself on them and they've said no but he didn't listen." The New York Times has a message for Donald Trump: Bring it on. After the Republican presidential nominee threatened to sue over sexual assault allegations made against him in an article published Wednesday night, the Times responded on Thursday with a letter daring Trump to go through with a lawsuit. "We did what the law allows," an attorney for the Times wrote. "We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight." One of the six Regional Workshops, under the WCO Security Programme, was held in Pretoria, South Africa, for the East and Southern Africa Region (ESA), from 12 to 14 October 2016. This important Workshop, hosted by the South African Revenue Service (SARS), was formally opened by Mr. Siphithi Sibeko, Executive Officer, International Relations, SARS, and was attended by 24 participants from 18 countries of the ESA Region. This three-day event is a follow-up to the WCO Security Programme Strategic Seminar that was held at the WCO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, in June of this year, and provides WCO Members of the region with an update on the WCO Security Programme activities. Furthermore, this Workshop encourages an open dialogue and consultations on their security related training and capacity building needs. The next Regional Security Workshops are scheduled to take place in Brasilia, Brazil, for the Americas/Caribbean Region, from 21 to 23 November 2016, and in Amman, Jordan, for the North of Africa, Near and Middle East Region (MENA), from 9 to 11 January, 2017. At the invitation of Mr. Bishar A. Hussein, UPU Director General, WCO Deputy Secretary General Sergio Mujica attended the 2016 UPU Ministerial Conference held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 4 October 2016. The Conference was organized during the UPU 26th Congress, held from 20 September to 7 October, gathering 2000 representatives from 155 countries to set the course of UPUs work for the next four years. The Ministerial Conference was attended by Ministers and other senior decision-makers, regional bodies and international organizations, who discussed how Posts can better serve their nations and citizens, help grow the economy and drive development. The theme of the Conference was Delivering Sustainable Development: Connecting Citizens, Businesses and Territories. The Ministerial Conference was opened by Mr. Bishar A. Hussein, UPU Director General, who highlighted the key role of the postal services in fostering economic development, with its unique capacity to knock on the door of over 7 billion citizens around the world. Mr. Hussein also referred to the need of the postal service to further enhance its IT capabilities in order to respond to the new needs of the global economy and the challenges and opportunities that the 21st century brings. In this regards, UPU Director General specifically mentioned that cooperation with the WCO is key to supporting the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Deputy Secretary General Mujica participated in a high level Panel, along with the Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications of Turkey, the Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia of Malaysia, and the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union. In his intervention, Mr. Mujica presented the main WCO instruments and tool designed to support Customs in enhancing economic competitiveness and security. He also described the key initiatives the WCO is taking to support e-commerce, including the WCO Working Group on E-Commerce, recently established to address key Customs-related topics such as trade facilitation, security and revenue collection. Finally, the WCO Deputy Secretary General presented the main areas in which the WCO and UPU are cooperating, including the recent joint letter sent by WCO Secretary General and UPU Director General in July 2016, urging Posts and Customs to develop mechanisms to exchange advance electronic data for effective risk assessment and efficient clearance and service delivery. As part of the overseas component of the Indian Customs Administration Mid-Career Training Programme (MCTP), two delegations of high-level Customs officers visited WCO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium: the first one on 14 October and the second one on 28 October 2016. The delegations were each time welcomed by the Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya, who explained, in his opening address, some of the main challenges faced by Customs in the current international trade environment, and the WCO initiatives to support its Members. On these occasions, the Ambassador of India to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU, H.E. Mr. Manjeev Singh Puri also exchanged views with the audiences on the role India plays in international trade, including with the EU. The meetings continued with a general introduction on the WCO, and with more specific presentations on current WCO activities under each Directorate. The WCO approach in countering illegal trade was discussed, with a specific focus on WCO programmes, as well as instruments and tools made available to Members. Expertise was shared on the opportunities and challenges offered by e-commerce as well as on the Revised Kyoto Convention, being the blueprint for a modern Customs administration, the SAFE Framework of Standards which supports the security along the supply chain, and the WCO Data Model as well as the Single Window as a way to enhance Customs IT interoperability. The WCO Revenue Package was discussed as well as the latest issues in the Origin, HS and Valuation areas in relation with the WCO strategic goals. The way the WCO and regional structures work together in support of capacity building delivery in the various WCO Regions was also explained, and notably for the Asia/Pacific Region, and how WCO Members can benefit from the major e-learning tool CLIKC!. China Mobile Limited provides mobile telecommunications and related services in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The company offers local calls; domestic and international long distance calls and roaming services; and value-added services, such as caller identity display, call waiting, conference calls, and others. It also provides wireless Internet service, as well as digital applications comprising music, video, reading, gaming, and animation; wireline broadband services; and wireline voice services. In addition, it offers dedicated line and IDC services to corporate customers in a range of industry sectors; and basic corporate communication products comprising corporate VPMN and SMS, and tailor made solutions. Further, the company provides international telecommunications services, which includes IDD, roaming, Internet, MNC, and value added business services. Additionally, it offers telecommunications network planning, design, and consulting services; roaming clearance, IT system operation, and technology support services; value-added platform development and maintenance services; mobile data, and system integration and development services; network construction and maintenance, network planning and optimizing, and training services; electronic communication products design and sale of related products; and non-banking financial services. It also provides mobile cloud research and development services; call center services; e-payment, e-commerce, and Internet finance services; and mobile Internet digital content services, as well as operates a network and business coordination center. The company serves 950 million mobile customers and 187 million wireline broadband customers. The company was formerly known as China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited and changed its name to China Mobile Limited in May 2006. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Central, Hong Kong. China Mobile Limited is a subsidiary of China Mobile Hong Kong (BVI) Limited. The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. The company's Retail Banking segment offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, credit cards, education loans, and personal and small business loans and lines of credit; and brokerage, insurance, and investment and cash management services. This segment serves consumer and small business customers through a network of branches, ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile banking channels. Its Corporate & Institutional Banking segment provides secured and unsecured loans, letters of credit, and equipment leases; cash and investment management services, receivables and disbursement management services, funds transfer services, international payment services, and access to online/mobile information management and reporting; foreign exchange, derivatives, fixed income, securities underwriting, loan syndications, and mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets advisory related services; and commercial loan servicing and technology solutions. It serves mid-sized and large corporations, and government and not-for-profit entities. The company's Asset Management Group segment offers investment and retirement planning, customized investment management, credit and cash management solutions, and trust management and administration services for high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals, and their families; and multi-generational family planning services for ultra high net worth individuals and their families. It also provides outsourced chief investment officer, custody, private real estate, cash and fixed income client solutions, and fiduciary retirement advisory services for institutional clients. The company has 2,591 branches and 9,502 ATMs. The company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V.. Read More DERIDDER -- Ninety years ago, Joe Genna and Molton Brasseaux stood trial for the murder DeRidder cab driver J.J. Brevelle. Brevelle's body was found in an old Pickering mill pond. The men were in custody days later, after police got a tip that Genna had solicited a cab the night of the murder, Aug. 28, 1926. The death car was found. The men confessed, though Brasseaux placed most of the blame on Genna. Nevertheless, their fates were sealed. Brevelle was lured as part of a robbery plot to remote eastern Beauregard. When the plans went awry, Brevelle was beaten with a car leaf spring and his throat slashed. Genna and Brasseaux left with $14 and the car Brevelle was driving. Genna's trial began Oct. 11, 1926, and a jury convicted him four days later. Brasseaux's trial began three days later, and it took only three days to return a guilty verdict. They were sentenced to death later that year. The murder and drawn out legal proceedings to follow made newspaper headlines for over a year-and-a-half. The trials and hearings were said to be jammed with on-lookers from near and far. "Hanging Jail" It would be the first double execution in Beauregard, according to a March 9, 1928, Lake Charles American Press story. Hanging was the legal method of execution in Louisiana until 1941. Genna attempted suicide hours before, swallowing 10 or more tablets of an unknown medicine. Robert R. Faxon was a Lake Charles American Press reporter who covered the trials and executions. He went on to author a book about the murder, called "The Brevelle Murder: With a Detailed Account of the Trials of Joe Genna and Molton Brasseaux." Faxon wrote, "Genna, 25 years of age, was the first to go. Based on the relative physical conditions of the men, he, weak and still suffering from the effects of the poison he took yesterday, was the first to mount the scaffold, led by Deputy Sheriff Jim Crumpler. Genna mounted the platform at 12:54. The trap was sprung at 12:55. He was pronounced dead at 1:06 from a broken neck." On Brasseaux, Faxon penned, "Jail worn ... agitated, mentally torture-wracked and straining under the load of taut nerves and a fear-crazed mind, but still carrying an air of defiance, Brasseaux, one year older than his companion, was led out by Deputy Sheriff Gill. Brasseaux took his place at the gallows at 1:14. The trap was sprung at 1:17. At 1:29 he was pronounced dead from a broken neck." "Joe Genna and Molton Brasseaux had paid the price at the bar of justice for the murder of Joe Brevelle," Faxon concluded. Brevelle, who was just 45, is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in DeRidder. A newspaper report notes he had a wife and a 10-year-old son. The executions gave the Gothic Jail, built in 1914, its grim nickname, "Hanging Jail." Intrigue The horrific crime and double execution, set against the imposing jail, no doubt lend to its timeless intrigue. Lori Darbonne, director of the Beauregard Tourist Commission, said the commission is working toward opening the jail to the public for historical tours, possibly as early as November. A fundraiser, "Gothic Jail After Dark" was several dates in October, held as a way to raise money toward the restoration project. For $10, people toured the jail, which was decorated as a haunted house. Thousands attended. "I have always felt that once the jail was opened, we would start to reach our goal as making our area become a cornerstone for what I feel tourism needs to be for our area," Darbonne said. "People are interested in seeing the building because of its stories and unique structure. It's been sitting for 20 years now and the public, they're ready to see it," she said. "Me being able to have the opportunity to showcase it has actually been the highlight of my career here." Tales Christine Smith, who passed away in 2007, was a freelance writer and photographer whose work was published in magazines like Louisiana Life and Southern Living. A photograph she took of the jail was purchased by the City of DeRidder and can be seen today at the Beauregard Museum. Some see a ghostly image in it, on the jail's porch. "Whenever I looked at it, it looked like the gentleman was wearing a bib. About six months later, I was getting my hair done and there was an old man sitting who had brought his granddaughter to get her hair done. It just so happened there was an article in the paper that day and the hair stylist was discussing it. The old man inquired and told his story. He said the old man would stand on the porch every morning. He always smoked his pipe and wore a white-bibbed shirt," Darbonne said. Another photo taken by someone clearly shows a man with a mustache, Darbonne said. "One day, I was going through the Beauregard Parish History book and lo and behold, on about the sixth page in this book was a fellow that closely resembles the apparition that appears in the window which happened to be a deputy that was sworn in, in 1912, which would make the jail his primary office," she said. Darbonne said that man in the photo is early parish deputy Murph Iles. She said whatever you believe -- and even if you don't -- walking through the old jail can be unsettling. "The stories and the mysteries that lie within its walls are kind of ... some of them are quite mysterious. It goes right along with our story line of the 'Myths and Legends' theme. A lot of them are legends ... some of them are myths ... and some of them are actual truths," she said. The stories have drawn a bevy of "ghost hunters." A Louisiana group, Louisiana Spirits, investigated the jail in 2006. See their findings HERE. Architectural gem The architect for the jail was Stevens and Nelson, of New Orleans, the same designers of the courthouse. Falls City Construction, also the courthouse's contractors, built the jail. The reinforced concrete jail is tiered with a spiraling staircase up to a central tower. There are steep gables, arches and barred windows. The jail was considered modern for its time with toilets, showers and cell windows. There were jailers' quarters on the bottom floor as well as a kitchen. An underground passage was formed between the courthouse and jail to bring prisoners back-and-forth. A large section was filled in the ongoing Beauregard Parish Courthouse renovation project, but a small section can still be seen. "There are not that many buildings actually designed like it," Darbonne said. "You take the building being of one solid concrete structure. You do not see buildings that are made in this design anymore. The fact that the Gothic Jail was built for the shock and awe purpose ... That was done in 1914 and still, to this day, you can drive through in 2016, and you still have that awe factor that it was originally designed to do." The jail was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 17, 1981. It was closed by the state fire marshal three years later. Future Darbonne said tourism staff members have been collecting artifacts to display in the jail once it opens. They are hoping to purchase interpretive material from the funds raised this month that will go into displays. "Just being able to have accessibility to the jail and have it open to the public is going to be such a drawing card for our area," she said. There is a vision to showcase the area's history, Darbonne said, and the Beauregard Parish Police Jury is on board. She thinks the potential to grow tourism is great. "Without them (Police Jury), this would not be possible," she said. "Now, we can begin to grow. It's one of those moments in history that we can now move forward." By WestKyStar & Paducah City Staff Oct. 13, 2016 | 06:52 PM | PADUCAH, KY The Christmas Cards in the Park tradition involves the placement of brightly decorated greeting cards, no larger than 4 feet wide by 8 feet high. The cards should be designed to be displayed at the eight feet high and four feet wide position. The Paducah Parks Services Department will provide the posts to set up the cards, the personnel to install them, and lighting. Organizations are recommended to use -inch plywood for their cards. The deadline to coordinate and deliver the cards to the Parks Services Department is Thursday, November 17. Only 25 spaces are available. To coordinate the delivery of the greeting cards, contact Parks Maintenance Superintendent Les Evans at 270-444-8508 ext. 8. Additional Christmas Cards in the Park guidelines are posted at www.paducahky.gov. After the Christmas event, cards must be picked up from the Paducah Parks office by January 16, 2017. The cards will not be stored past that date. For more information about Parks-sponsored activities, visit the Parks Services Department at 1400 H.C. Mathis Dr. or call 270-444-8508. In conjunction with the Christmas in the Park light display sponsored by Paducah Power System in Noble Park, organizations in Paducah and McCracken County can place replicas of large greeting cards in Noble Park. By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 14, 2016 | 06:36 AM | PADUCAH, KY According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center website also states that human trafficking, commonly regarded as one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time, affects every community in the United States across age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic backgrounds. Startling statistics like these inspired West Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges Diversity and Inclusion Series and the One Book Read Committee to host a one-hour presentation titled, Human Trafficking: What is it and How Can You Help? October 24 at 11 a.m. in the colleges Matheson Library. We invite our students, faculty, staff and community members to attend the presentation to learn about human trafficking, including possible signs of trafficking and ways they might be able to help victims, said Dr. Belinda Dalton-Russell, WKCTC Diversity and Inclusion Series coordinator. In this years One Book Read, Little Princes by Conor Grennan, the author shares his own experiences helping to reunite trafficked youth with their families in Nepal, and his story fits perfectly with this presentation, said Amy Sullivan, WKCTC interim director of library services and One Book Read Committee co-chair. Kim Russell, WKCTCs Associate English Professor and One Book Read Committee member, will facilitate the presentation and will open the event to audience questions following the presentation. For more information, contact Dr. Belinda Dalton-Russell at (270) 534-3081 Advertisement By Bill Hughes Oct. 13, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By Bill Hughes Oct. 13, 2016 | 06:14 PM | PADUCAH, KY A western Kentucky man is facing multiple charges after an indictment in U.S. District Court last month. Court documents from the U.S. District Court's Western Kentucky District, obtained by West Kentucky Star, show that Corey A. Thorson of Marshall County was indicted September 13, and charged with one count of bank fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft. He posted $50,000 bond after being arrested a couple of days later. The indictment says Thorson used personal information of five different people "to apply for and obtain vehicle loans from State Farm Bank, and used the proceeds," for himself and his family. The loans totaled approximately $150,000. A person with knowledge of the situation told West Kentucky Star that Thorson had access to personal information belonging to several members of the same family through his insurance job. He allegedly used that information on loan applications, then cashed the checks when the loans were approved. A State Farm agent in Paducah confirmed Tuesday that Thorson worked in that office for less than two years. The crimes for which Thorson is charged allegedly took place between May and November 2014. Thorson almost had his bond revoked a few days later after an unspecified violation of terms of his release, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Lanny King instead decided to impose more conditions on his continued release. Thorson was appointed a public defender by Judge King. A person from attorney Donald Meier's office in Louisville said he would not comment on the case. Court documents don't indicate Thorson's next court date. By Tim Brockwell Oct. 14, 2016 | 05:38 PM | PADUCAH, KY Colleagues of Van Newberry are sharing some memories of the former McCracken County Judge Executive, who died Thursday after being hit by a car while riding a bike on Old Cairo Road.McCracken County Commissioner Jerry Beyer, who worked with Newberry on the McCracken County Fiscal Court for years, says Newberry was a good friend who was a pleasure to work with. Beyer noted several of Newberry's accomplishments while in office."He was very energetic in economic development. He was the person who made the Murray State Campus Building possible. It was his insight and leadership that put that package together. He was also very instrumental in helping set up the scholarship program for McCracken County seniors. He wanted to make sure that children who graduate from high school have at least two years of either a technical or college education." Beyer said.Beyer said that during the 2009 ice storm that devastated local infrastructure Newberry worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of everyone in the county, making sure every door was knocked on and all residents were ok."He literally worked 24 hours a day," Beyer said. "He would go from the emergency operations center out to the road department, back and forth just trying to see that all the people in the county were taken care of."Beyer said Newberry always strived to help the people of McCracken County, without trying to take all the credit for what got done."He was easy to work with. There were a lot of projects that happened, but he wasn't the person who always wanted to stand in the front and take credit. Everything that he did was to help the citizens of this county. Beyer said.Judge Executive Bob Leeper said Newberry had a passion for roads and public safety, and his background as an engineer was very helpful with those types of projects."He was always dedicated to public safety and roads. I think he will always be remembered for his commitment to transportation and public safety, along with a number of other things." Leeper said.Leeper said there is a lot of sadness in the air at the McCracken County courthouse, as many who worked closely with Newberry for years struggle to come to terms with the news of his death."There's definitely a cloud over the courthouse today," Leeper said. "A lot of people who worked with him for a number of years are very saddened by the loss, and the suddenness of it just amplifies that. Hopefully it will give people some comfort that he is well thought of and remembered for all the efforts he made to make McCracken County better."Visitation and funeral arrangements are set for Tuesday at the Luther F. Carson Center. Visitation is from 4 to 7 pm. The service is at 7 pm. Graveside services will be at 10 am on Wednesday at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Bandana. On the Net: Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 14, 2016 | LOS ANGELES, CA By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 14, 2016 | 12:21 PM | LOS ANGELES, CA If you are watching Lifetime Saturday evening, you may recognize a familiar local face as one of the main actors in a new movie. Paducah native Curtis Hamilton, 30, will be playing Dr. Dre in Lifetime's newest movie, "Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel'le". Hamilton says this is not the usual movie you would see on the Lifetime Television Network... "It is dark.. any domestic violence is something that is hard to watch when you see it on the screen. It's a lot," Hamilton tells West Kentucky Star. "We hit I think a lot of levels, it's a very cinematic experience, even though it's a Lifetime TV movie..It's not what you would normally see on Lifetime." The movie is actually considered a response from Michel'le's side of her relationship that was not included in the movie released in 2015, "Straight Outta Compton". Michel'le has maintained she had an abusive relationship with Dr. Dre that the original movie doesn't depict. Hamilton says he is enjoying his time out in Los Angeles and is looking forward to his next acting role. His entire family and many life long friends remain in Paducah. The movie airs nationwide, Saturday, on the Lifetime Network at 7 pm Paducah time. Check your local listings. 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. Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world Loading... Trust the title, not the plot synopsis. A Man of Good Hope is based on Jonny Steinberg's 2015 book about the life of Asad Abdullahi, who at eight-years-old sees his mother shot by militia men in Somalia's civil war in 1991, and must flee his country. A peripatetic life of hard-scrabble and violence unfolds, as he makes his way down through Africa, meeting and losing first a kindly cousin, then a wife and child, then yet more relatives in xenophobic attacks in South African townships. His story is one of repeated struggle and loss - yet told by the Isango Ensemble, it burns bright with humanity and hope. A Cape Town based company made up of performers from townships surrounding the city, the Isango Ensemble offer a brilliantly vibrant evening. The show is a colourful patchwork of forms: simple, direct storytelling segues into soaring opera; foot-stomping, booty-shaking dance sequences fill the stage, while marimbas and drums provide an irresistible, bubbling score. A large cast flicker between different instruments and parts alike at one point, even offering a whistle stop tour of the countries Asad travels through, briefly blazing into the songs, rhythms and dances of Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe (all seemingly without fear of cultural stereotyping). Four actors play Asad, from a scared but smart little boy (the sweetly plucky Phielo Makitle) to a grown man finally hoping to emigrate to America - where, he was once told, everyone is rich and there are (oh the irony) no guns. The violence and rejections he encounters as a refugee - both casual and tribal - are often sobering, but there are moments of real joy here too. There are stage-filling song-and-dance numbers as he learns to speak English, or how to trade, flinging oranges around. His quickness with languages allows him to becomes translator-cum-broker between speakers of Somali and Amharic, or Swahili and English these languages rendered as warbled gobbledygook in one comically astute scene. Performances and clarity of delivery can vary across the cast, but Busisiwe Ngejane, as his first wife Foosiya, stands out with a particularly sassy, memorable performance. A Man of Good Hope is a first for Isango, who have previously done canonical classics (La boheme; A Midsummer Night's Dream) with a South African twist; this production sees them exploring the darker side of recent, post-Apartheid society. To the irrepressibly ambitious Asad, South Africa appears a land of plenty, a place to get rich but it's revealed to be as dangerous for him as war-torn home country. The country's optimism has faded, we're told, with inequality still rife; in recent years, anti-immigrant feeling has soared. Somalian shopkeepers setting up in black South African townships find themselves targets for race-driven lootings and killings. A Man of Good Hope covers a huge amount of ground, infusing an already drama-stuffed individual's story with some sense of the political turmoil of the continent; it skips through locations and characters as rapidly as it does moods and artforms. It's a testament to the springy energy of the Isango Ensemble and the clear-headed direction of Mark Dornford-May that this coheres so effectively, feeling both seamless and brisk. Warmly recommended. A Man of Good Hope is at the Young Vic until 12 November. VIDEO Indigenous groups affected by the contamination of Chevron in Ecuadorled by Humberto Piaguajejoined the Native Americans protesting the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in the state of North Dakota in the U.S.Piaguaje, from the Siekopai nation and representative of those affected by the Chevron Corporation in the Amazon, said in an interview with teleSUR that he visited the Dakota camp to bring a message of solidarity, unity and strength.It was impressive, it was not only about taking my message but also finding the fighting spirit, finding spirituality among all Indigenous people from every country, said Piaguaje. It was a fraternal moment, a moment of reflection.According to Piaguaje about 200,000 people have joined the Dakota protests, with more than 3,000 living in the camps including Indigenous people from Africa, Australia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Peru, among others.I felt I wasn't alone, that we were all connected although from different countries, but together we are strong as a rock, strong as the earth, said Piaguaje.By joining this struggle we will spread the struggle around the world, Piaguaje added.Known as one of the worlds largest environmental disasters, Chevrons oil dumping in Ecuador has impacted as many as 30,000 people, mostly Indigenous residents.While drilling in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, Chevron, then Texaco, deliberately dumped 16 billion gallons of toxic waste in the oil-rich area of Ecuadors Amazon. Based on thousands of pages of evidence, Ecuadors supreme court ordered Chevron to pay US$9.5 billion in damages and cleanup costs in 2013, but the oil giant has refused to comply, dragging out the lengthy court battle.We dont want what happened to us to happen to the people in Dakota, said Piaguaje. We shouldnt attack the main source of life which is water. He concluded that it was the love of land, water and nature that united Indigenous people throughout the world.A U.S. federal appeals court rejected a request from Indigenous activists to suspend construction on the hotly-contested Dakota Access pipeline. The US$3.7 billion 1,170-mile pipeline, when completed, would transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil across 4 states. The pipeline would also snake through half a mile of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes land, which straddles the border between North and South Dakota. MILLS RIVER COUNCIL APPROVES ZONING CHANGE; PROPOSES TO IMPROVE TWO INTERSECTIONS Mills River Town Council Thursday night approved two resolutions of support for changes in the configuration of two intersections. The Town is asking NC DOT to change the busy intersection of Highway 191 and Banner Farm Road to accommodate large tractor-trailer trucks that are now backing up traffic as they attempt to turn onto or off of those roads. A number of local agricultural industries with large trucks now use that intersection. For the same reason, the town is proposing to use state economic development funds to improve the intersection of Banner Farm and School House Roads. NC DOT says councils passage of the resolutions if the first step, and if approved and funded, the projects could start as soon as in the next 6 to 8 months. Mills River Town Council also Thursday night approved a zoning change along some parts of Banner Farm Road to allow for new industry. That part of the community is already home to Flavor First Growers and Packers, Bold Rock Hard Cider, Trihisthil, and Van Wingerdens. Norafin, a German-based manufacturer, is looking to locate close to Bold Rock and bring over 40 new jobs to the area. A number of residents in a nearby subdivision expressed concern over the change in zoning and the new industry, but they were reassured by a Norafin representative and by Andrew Tate of the local Partnership for Economic Development that the new industry would not be disruptive to the community or detrimental to property values in the subdivision. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Actor David Reale is in Winnipeg for the next few weeks playing the title role of a man compelled to choose between his Hasidic faith and his artistic calling in the drama My Name Is Asher Lev, which Aaron Posner adapted from Chaim Potoks 1972 bestselling novel of the same name. Its a serious role. But lest you think the 32-year-old Torontonian is himself a deadly serious artist, you should understand that he may be best known for the role of Glen Coco in the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls. He is also the voice of Kai Hiwatari in the English-language version of the animated series Beyblade and the voice and face of soldier Charlie Cole in the Ubisoft video game Splinter Cell: Blacklist. LESLIE SCHACHTER Alex Poch-Goldin and David Reale play a father and son in conflict in My Name Is Asher Lev. Curiously, its the non-speaking role in Mean Girls that ended up raising his visibility. It was all on the strength of a short scene that became an Internet meme, in which a student dressed as Santa Claus interrupts a class to hand his character four candy canes with the exhortation, You go, Glen Coco! That gets ignited every year because Oct. 3 is a big day for Mean Girls fans, Reale says in a phone interview, explaining that the date is referenced in an offhand piece of dialogue in the film, an arbitrary detail that gained outsize significance among the fandom. So every year, some online (news service) like Buzzfeed or the Daily Mail does a where are they now? article Did you know Glen Coco is a real person? that sort of thing. It ignites for about three days, Reale admits, clearly amused by the phenomenon. The character doesnt exist outside of that line. And theres been no monetary gain from it whatsoever. But theres riches in peoples friendship and adoration. The role of Asher Lev comes with considerably more dramatic homework, needless to say. The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Segal Centre co-production the Montreal run of which has already finished requires Reale to play Lev from the age of six to his early 20s in a closed environment thats rich in tradition and culture, but not necessarily welcoming to the more secular realm of modern art to which the character is drawn. For Reale, raised a strict Catholic, it was an environment that required depths of research. A lot of Jewish audience members were stunned to find out that I didnt have any Jewish in my background because this character is Hasidic, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, he says. I did some things to try to understand (that world). There are physical and vocal rhythms to a culture you try and understand so you can play it as honestly and accurately as possible, he says. Ellen David, Alex-Poch Goldin and David Reale. Reale travelled to Brooklyn on his own impromptu research mission to investigate the character. I went down without any connections or any plan, he says. I was hanging around Crown Heights hoping I would meet someone who would be willing to talk to me, and in fact, I did. They were very helpful. Someone introduced me to someone else who was raised in the Lubavitch community (the Hasidic movement depicted in Potoks novel) who no longer identifies as Hasidic, he says. I ended up sitting down with two people and they were so helpful to get the human perspective of whats going on. From the outside, all you can see is the clothes and whats different, but from this inside, when you talk to a human being, you see what is the same and where we connect, and how we are all striving for the same things, Reale says. I was able to come into an understanding of Asher, I think, talking about what community means to that community and how important it is. Reale says he had a sense of that conflict from his own experience. I was very religious as a young person and my family was part of a small sect of Catholicism that embraced the born-again Christian mentality, he says. I went down to Ohio and did these youth conferences. When he decided to become an actor at the age of 14, he recalls, My mother called the priest to come over and we had a long discussion over whether I wanted to become involved in an industry that is so rife with corruption and worldly ideals. We almost decided not to, he says. This is a specific story, but anyone can relate to it because everyone is an individual and, by nature, you exist within a culture, he says. And I really felt like the story is about an individual honouring himself in conflict with his culture. randall.king@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @FreepKing 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 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A U.S. company looks to be close to buying and operating the Tolko paper mill in The Pas, potentially saving hundreds of jobs in the northern community. Premier Brian Pallister said Friday the government had passed a regulation allowing prospective purchaser American Industrial Acquisition Corp. to defer some required pension contributions for three years to help conclude a deal. Sources close to the deal said the pension issue was one of the few remaining obstacles in transferring ownership to the new company. KRISTIN ANNABLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files A U.S. corporation has stepped up to buy the Tolko Industries mill in The Pas, which is set to close Dec. 2. The deal hinges on unionized workers agreeing to pension deferrals. Pallister, meeting told reporters Friday, he is cautiously optimistic a deal will be struck. I want to emphasize that this is a step in the right direction, but this is not a done deal, he said. We are hopeful. This is hopeful news for the people of The Pas and the people of Manitoba. But more work needs to be done, he said. Tolko had announced plans to shut down the paper mill on Dec. 2. The Pas Mayor Jim Scott was upbeat about the latest development. This is a profoundly good day, Scott said. Obviously, this is a tremendous step forward. Tolko workers and the town of The Pas are both making sacrifices to get a deal done. Mill employees have agreed to a 10 per cent wage rollback, Unifor national representative Paul McKie said. He estimates the pension deferral is worth about $10 million a year to the prospective buyer. The town, meanwhile, would grant the purchaser a three-year municipal tax holiday worth $450,000 per annum, said Scott. Its something the whole town is going to have to bear down and deal with, (but) Im not hearing very much opposition, Scott said. Kelsey School Division superintendent Julia McKay said from The Pas that her division has not been asked to waive Tolkos $238,259 in annual school taxes, which are 5.3 per cent of Kelseys annual tax revenue. Scott anticipated a seamless transition, with the plant continuing to operate with the same workforce making the same products, precluding the need for environmental hearings. The Free Press sought comment from American Industrials New York office, but the call was not returned. Pallister said the corporation has a record of successfully turning companies around. He said it owns dozens of companies, including operations similar to the one in The Pas. The premier would not say if the province is offering any additional incentives or tax breaks to American Industrial to get a deal done. Id want to be very, very careful not to do anything in any way to jeopardize a positive result for the people of The Pas and for the people of Manitoba, he said. McKie said Unifor and another union representing mill employees, the Canadian Steelworkers, met almost three weeks ago with Tolko and American Industrial. They laid down the conditions of the purchase, he said. They wanted a permanent pension moratorium, which has never been granted to a private company, he said. Instead, the province agreed to a three-year contribution exemption. McKie said there are four pension plans among the various employees, each with separate units of retired pensioners and active workers. It would take one-third of the members of any group to block the agreement, he said required votes on pension deferrals have yet to take place. American Industrial said if any group objected, the deal was off, McKie said. However, the union rep said there is likely not enough time for retirees to mount a campaign against the contribution deferrals, given the tight timeline laid down by the province. The new regulation would give the purchaser more time to address a shortfall in the employees pension plans believed to be in the neighbourhood of $20 million. Pallister said such a move is not unique and does not absolve the would-be purchaser of its legal obligations. The NDP said it appreciated the governments measure but hoped the Progressive Conservatives had driven a hard bargain with American Industrial before it agreed to grant the pension reprieve. Have they got long-term commitments that this company is going to be running for any significant amount of time? Or did they (allow) the moratorium and not get anything in return? asked party spokesman Tom Lindsey, MLA for Flin Flon. We need to make sure that they got concrete, in writing, agreements that this plant is going to keep running, he said. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Hylife Ltd. is embarking on a major investment across its integrated pork-production operations in Manitoba, including a substantial expansion to its Neepawa hog-processing facility. Hylife president Claude Vielfaure said the company intends to invest about $125 million over the next 21/2 to three years and create about 165 jobs over that period. At least half of those jobs will be in Neepawa where the company intends to modernize and expand its pork-production operation by about 130,000 square feet to 310,000 square feet, adding a second shift to the operations. Supplied The Hylife Pork Table restaurant in Tokyos chic Daikanyama district, part of its branding drive in that Asian nation. Hylife sells about $200 million in pork per year to Japan. This will make it a world-class operation, Vielfaure said. Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of this year or early 2017. Since three Vielfaure brothers and a couple of other hog producers formed a joint venture in 1994, the company has grown aggressively. It changed its name from Hytek to Hylife in 2011. The fully integrated company now processes about 1.65 million hogs per year at its Neepawa plant and is responsible for about 80 per cent of that hog production, contracting out the rest to third-party producers. It just completed a new feed mill in Randolph, Man., capable of producing 270,000 tonnes of feed per year. Vielfaure said part of the new investment will go toward increasing the number of finishing barns in Manitoba or expanding existing ones to meet the increased capacity at the Neepawa plant. Hylife now has a total of 1,850 employees and $650 million in annual revenue. This is a huge investment we are doing over the next couple of years, Vielfaure said. We bought the Neepawa plant in 2008, and we have invested heavily over time. When it acquired that plant, there were only 300 employees. It now has 1,200 workers in Neepawa. By comparison, Maple Leaf Foods, a multibillion-dollar operation, has about 2,000 workers at its Brandon pork plant. A major impetus for the investment plan over the next few years is Hylifes growing success in the Asian markets, specifically Japan and to a lesser extent, China. The little company based in La Broquerie is now Canadas No. 1 fresh-chilled pork exporter to Japan, with about $200 million in annual sales. The company is in the process of creating a branding strategy in Japan, where consumers are very discriminating and will pay a premium for high-quality pork. The demand there has been growing, and we feel our quality is if not the best, one of the best out there, he said. Working with a marketing company, Hylife is in the process of creating much greater brand awareness in the Japanese market for Hylife pork. (In contrast, Canadian consumers cant go out and specifically buy Hylife pork. Its Canadian retail customers sell it under their own respective brands.) It is more difficult to brand in Canada where Canadian consumers are more commodity pork buyers, he said. Japanese consumers really understand the taste profile of pork and really identify with brands of pork. Part of that process has led Hylife to open its own restaurant, the Hylife Pork Table, in the trendy Daikanyama district of Tokyo. The 60-seat restaurant with 60 patio seats will serve as a marketing tool for the companys efforts to get the Hylife name out to Japanese consumers. The company also has a growing market in China, responsible for about $80 million in annual sales. Vielfaure was part of the recent trade mission to China led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau where it inked a deal with Chinese online retailer JD.com to sell its frozen pork. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BOEING released an economic-impact study of its presence in Canada as part of efforts to fuel up its profile in Canada as Ottawa continues to consider what kind of fighter jets it wants to buy. Boeing executives from across its network were in Winnipeg Thursday to release the report that shows Boeing contributes about $4 billion annually to the Canadian economy, taking into account direct production here and indirect activities in its supply chain. Most of Boeings direct production in Canada takes place in Winnipeg where it makes more than 600 parts for just about every model of Boeing commercial plane. Boeing has about 2,000 direct employees in Canada, with 1,500 in Winnipeg. The report said including indirect activities in its supply chain, the company is responsible for 17,500 jobs in Canada. Company officials agreed the timing of the report is in the context of the Canadian governments ongoing decision-making process on the procurement of a new-generation jet fighter. Ottawa has still not committed to the purchase of Lockheed Martins controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to replace the aging fleet of 77 CF-18 fighter jets. Concerns about cost overruns and the relative appropriateness of the F-35 for the Canadian Forces have led the Trudeau government to embark on a new round of consultations. Roberto Valla, Boeings vice-president for global sales in defence, space and security for Canada, said Ottawa kicked off a consultation process in July. There was a release of a set of questionnaires for industry to complete, and we responded with information about our Super Hornet jet, he said. Now the government is going through the evaluation of that information. The newer F/A-18 Super Hornet is currently being used by the U.S. navy and the Australian air force. It is a combat-proven jet, a state-of-the-art multi-mission fighter jet capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground engagements, Valla said. He said the company has a proven track record of generating industrial regional benefits in Canada. It is in the middle of $2.9 billion worth of spending in Canada after its recent purchase of five Globemaster C-17s. Commissioning the economic-impact report by the Ottawa consulting firm the Doyletech Corporation was meant to provide a snapshot of the companys presence in Canada. Rick Clayton, one of the authors of the study, stressed the company used a very conservative methodology in all of the assumptions and multipliers. We do not do propaganda, he said. The results are very realistic. The studys determination that Boeing generates $4 billion in economic impact in Canada represents 14 per cent of the economic impact of the entire aerospace industry in Canada. It also reported the impact of Boeings direct and indirect jobs on the GDP is much greater than the average job and much greater even than other aerospace jobs $90,000 for average jobs, $165,000 for aerospace jobs and $227,000 for Boeing direct and indirect jobs. Clearly what we are doing is it at the top of the value chain, Valla said. The analysis also found Boeings spending in Canada has grown at an average annual rate of nearly eight per cent, four times as much as the Canadian economys growth rate. Boeing does not disclose revenue from its Winnipeg operations, but Kim Westenskow, general manager of Boeing Canada operations in Winnipeg, said the company continues to increase its productivity here. Although she said the company has not necessarily increased employment in Winnipeg, it continues to win new work and generate increasing sales. Our workforce is skilled enough that we can build more parts with the same number of people, she said. That is what makes us competitive. That is why we can afford to do an expansion and why we can do more work here. In 2013, the Winnipeg plant undertook a 150,000-square-foot expansion to build parts for the new 737-Max model that will take its first flights next year. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitobas police watchdog is investigating a member of the Dakota Ojibway Police Service, believed to be the police chief. The provinces Independent Investigative Unit released a statement announcing the investigation late Thursday but it did not disclose the officers name. Hours earlier, however, the DOPS, issued a terse statement announcing that its chief, Conrad DeLaronde, had been placed on administrative leave and replaced by an inspector on the force. SUBMITTED Dakota Ojibway Police Service Chief Conrad DeLaronde assumed duties in August 2015. Dakota Ojibway Police Service Chief of Police Conrad DeLaronde is presently on paid administrative leave and we will not provide any further comment on any internal employment matters, the DOPS announcement Thursday morning said. The statement added that three weeks earlier, the First Nations commission which oversees the police force, temporarily replaced DeLaronde. Effective Sept. 23, the DOPS Police Commission appointed Inspector Marc Saindon as the acting chief during Chief DeLarondes absence, the DOPS statement said. The provinces independent investigative unit investigates all serious incidents involving police officers, on and off duty and their work when it involves injury or death to suspects in criminal investigations or inmates in custody. In this case, the unit provided little detail and nothing about the circumstances of the investigation. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is looking into allegations of inappropriate conduct by a member of Dakota Ojibway Police Service, said the statement. The unit said it took on the case after a series of undisclosed incidents were reported and the unit determined an investigation was in the public interest. The matter is at the earliest stages of investigation and, as such, facts and circumstances continue to be garnered and assessed, the statement said, adding no further comment would be made until the process wrapped up. DeLaronde was named chief a year ago in August. Before that, media reports listed a long career in policing for the veteran officer. DeLaronde served as the East District Commander for RCMP D Division and a decade as the chief of Treaty 3 Police in northwestern Ontario, before taking on the role of inspector of operations for the Dakota Ojibway Police Service in 2013. The force provides policing for six Ojibway and Dakota First Nations in southern Manitoba, including Birdtail Sioux, Canupawakpa, Long Plain, Roseau River Anishinabe, Sandy Bay Ojibway and Waywayseecappo. The acting chief in DeLarondes absence could not be reached for comment and the investigative unit would not offer any further comment. alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The strength of the Crowns case against a Winnipeg spa owner accused of human trafficking and extortion will be tested in a preliminary inquiry next year. Simple Simi Mehta, 39, owner of the Simi Magic Spa on St. Annes Road, appeared in court Thursday to set dates for a hearing meant to determine whether there is enough evidence for the charges against her to go to trial. The preliminary inquiry has been set for November 2017. Allegations in June of sexual assault and attempted blackmail at her business led to charges of human trafficking, extortion, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and procuring a person to provide sexual services. AIDAN GEARY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The alleged victim had done business with the St. Annes Road spa prior to the alleged incident, but was not a customer, police said. Court documents show the human trafficking charges one count of trafficking in persons and one count of benefiting materially from trafficking in persons are related to allegations that Mehta recruited, transported, received, concealed or harboured a female victim between June 2015 and June 2016. On June 13, a 29-year-old man reported he was sexually assaulted during a massage, which was filmed. The victim then told police he was extorted out of thousands of dollars under threat the video would be posted online. The victim had a business relationship with Mehta, and was offered a massage when he arrived at the spa to see her, police said at the time, indicating the man quickly contacted authorities after the alleged assault and extortion. Mehtas employee, 22-year-old Pam Sandhu, was also charged with sexual assault, extortion, voyeurism and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. She is scheduled to appear in court next week. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Pipelines, and how they will increase oilsands production and speed up global warming, were on peoples minds at federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carrs town hall meeting Thursday night. Almost half the audience of about 120 people at the Fort Garry Community Centre were interested in voicing their concerns against the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion and its threat to climate. There were some heated moments. The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, which transports crude oil, links Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Natural Resource Minister Jim Carr holds a town hall at Fort Garry Community Centre in Winnipeg. Protestors were given the freedom to go right up front with Carr. Oct. 13, 2016 If we are to meet (the Paris Accord on Climate Change), there is no room for pipeline expansion, Alex Paterson pointedly told Carr. Paterson is a leader of a group called Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition. We have enough capacity at the moment, he said. The Paris accord, agreed to by 95 signatory countries including Canada, seeks to prevent the planet from warming by more than 1.5 C. It wasnt just politically engaged young people sounding the alarm, although they made up the majority of anti-pipeline voices. People of all ages spoke against it. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Natural Resource Minister Jim Carr shakes hands with activist Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation. The Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition called on the Trudeau government to reject pipeline expansion. Ottawa is expected to make its decision on expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline in December. The Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion would increase production in the Alberta oilsands by 750,000 barrels per day, said one of the protest leaders. Under attack most of the night, Carr, the MP for Winnipeg South Centre, chose his words carefully when responding to the anti-pipeline crowd. He reminded the audience the federal government is investing billions in green technology, including electric vehicles. He added all Canadians need to have their say in the decision. The dialogue grew testy at times. The moderator cautioned some audience members several times to keep the discussion respectful. Some people accused the Trudeau government of paying lip service to environmental concerns and of being no better than the former Harper government. Another argument raised is the Kinder Morgan expansion would be a precursor to a planned Energy East pipeline that passes through Manitoba. TransCanada Corp. proposes to convert a 4,500-kilometre natural gas pipeline to carry 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to eastern refineries and a marine terminal in New Brunswick. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Natural Resource Minister Jim Carr holds a town hall at Fort Garry Community Centre in Winnipeg. Patrick Campbell, an engineer in the constituency, informed the audience pipelines are four to five times safer than transporting oil by rail car. He cautioned Carr to address all of the concerns of citizens and not just protest groups. Our country is at the level it is now because our natural resources, Campbell said. bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The University of Manitoba Faculty Association has voted 85.6 per cent in favour of strike action. The UMFA is seeking a one-year deal with an average salary increase of 6.9 per cent. UMFA has scaled back from its original proposal of a 13.2 per cent one-year average salary increase, but continues to bargain in an effort to start catching up to salary levels in Saskatchewan and at Canadian universities such as Dalhousie and Guelph that it considers to be comparable to the U of M. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The University of Manitoba Faculty Association has voted 85.6 per cent in favour of strike action. The university has offered a total increase of seven per cent over four years, with professors who are eligible for increments seeing their salaries go up 17.5 per cent over the four years. The last contract expired March 31. UMFA held a vote among its membership Tuesday through Thursday to ask for a strike mandate. Figures released by UMFA show that the union is asking for a two per cent salary increase on a one-year contract. In addition, there would be market adjustments of $2,100 for professors, $3,120 for associate professors, $3,450 for assistant professors, and $2,880 for librarians, instructors, and lecturers, all of which, UMFA says, adds up to a 6.9 per cent increase. The union has claimed in recent years that the university is sitting on tens of millions of dollars earmarked for capital projects and its strategic plan, which could be used to raise salaries and benefits. As of 2013-2014, said UMFA, the average U of M professor received $143,736, an associate professor $109,132, and an assistant professor $88,739. UMFA calculated its members are paid 86 to 91 per cent of what professors get paid in similar schools in Canada. You can only kick your faculty down the road so far, UMFA president Prof. Mark Hudson said in an interview Tuesday. Theres plenty of financial capacity to do the things they want to do with bricks and mortar, and still pay us a reasonable salary. Hudson said that while salary is a major issue, Some of the biggest issues our members have is around collegial governance and performance indicators. UMFA is seeking a greater say in tenure and promotion, layoff protection for instructors and librarians, and greater benefits, including free tuition for dependent children, adequate daycare and half-price parking permits. UMFAs full proposal can be read on the unions website. The U of M said Tuesday its package is similar to that accepted this summer by the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association, whose salaries went up 7.5 per cent over 54 months. The universitys full offer can be read on the universitys website. U of M communications manager John Danakas pointed out Tuesday that the UWFA had been acknowledging openly that it was doing so because of changes in the provincial fiscal environment. In recent weeks there have been numerous media reports confirming marked shifts in the provincial approach to spending, said Danakas. In a recent interview with the Free Press, Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said that the eight per cent over five years received by provincial engineers was a higher settlement than Friesen believes Manitoba can afford to pay public sector workers in the provinces financial situation. Nick Martin Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Many Manitobans are fortunate to not have to heal from deep childhood trauma. And, if asked, many of us could name at least one caring, consistent adult who was available to us as we navigated childhood. Many of us grew up in environments absent of acute and chronic adversity. But sadly, a nurturing childhood is not an experience familiar to all children. Recently, the media have covered stories about very young children acting out in dangerous ways but who are too young to be formally charged with criminal offences. These stories often do not paint a complete picture. Children come into care for a number of reasons. Many have experienced violence, substance misuse, mental-health challenges, disability and other trauma. Many present with behaviours that, while certainly concerning, are foreseeable, reasonable and normal in light of their life experiences. Trauma changes children. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Many children in care have experienced violence, substance misuse, mental health challenges, disability and other trauma. Fortunately, children under 12 are too young to be held criminally liable. There is little reason to believe the tools available to the courts and correctional services would have any significant therapeutic value for young children. Meeting the unique and complex care needs of traumatized children will contribute to better outcomes and, ultimately, better protect both the public, as well as the children. Long lists of court-ordered conditions or locking young children up will not make them healthy. The justice system is not designed to adequately support individuals when those individuals have complex emotional or developmental needs requiring specialized interventions. Manitoba already incarcerates more children than any other province. Many of the children currently in custody are in or from the child-welfare system, and indigenous children are alarmingly overrepresented in each of these public systems. While the Youth Criminal Justice Act describes and promotes reasonable consequences, rehabilitation and reintegration, the reality is Manitoba has an unenviable track record of punishing very vulnerable children, without much evidence it has been effective. What we are doing is not working. Over the past several years, the government has invested millions of dollars in an inquiry to learn how to better protect and care for Manitobas children. We learned most of Manitobas children enter care as a result of neglect associated with the poverty too many children and families are experiencing as a result of colonization. Today, the families receiving child-welfare services are most often families that are living the legacies of residential schools and are struggling to rebuild family units after generations of children were forcibly removed. It is important to remember when stories circulate about young children behaving in extreme ways, the details that are made public are rarely complete and rarely accurate in terms of how much support and intervention is actually happening. This is a critical time for our province and our country. We are all called to learn more and understand more fully the truth about what attempted assimilation and colonization have done to Canadas indigenous peoples. Reconciliation is an opportunity for all Canadians to accept the difficult history, understand how it lives today and commit to ways we can each contribute to new and renewed relationships. One thing we all share is a common desire to see children live in the best possible world. What one child will need is different from the next, and some need far more support and love than others because they come from an experience that sets their development far back from their peers. When we reframe our understandings of children who have been traumatized, we also share an obligation to understand and provide care that reflects their diverse needs. The ideal environment for children is to be surrounded by a caring, compassionate community. The responsibility cannot simply be delegated to government officials and child-welfare workers people often scapegoated when children experience bad outcomes. In July 2015, our office reported upon children living with complex needs (Safe for Today: Barriers to Long-Term Success for Youth in Care with Complex Needs). We concluded the needs of many of these children are not being met, and the development of specialized placements has not kept pace with demand. We made a number of findings and recommendations, including that the government organize a summit with key stakeholders to develop a unified vision and plan of action for services. These recommendations, which promise the possibility of a shared commitment to a concrete and coherent plan of action, have not been implemented. While governments have the responsibility to design and support policies that create opportunities for growth and positive change, individuals also have a role to play. Even if you feel the decisions of government are out of your hands, you have opportunities to influence conversations and decisions by ensuring your voice is heard. Join us in continuing to advocate for better outcomes for all of our children and youth even those who have experienced incredible trauma and who are acting out in negative ways. Instead of criminalizing them, we need to work to understand them and provide for their needs. This is the work of governments, health-care providers, educators, elders, neighbours, activists, business leaders, volunteers, academics, community leaders and community-based organizations its our work as engaged, caring citizens. Healthy children live in healthy communities, and we have much work left to do. Darlene MacDonald is the Manitobas childrens advocate. Safe-for-Today-FINAL Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. I didnt say that. Thats long been the response from politicians called out for using inappropriate language in Parliament. In 1971, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau claimed he was merely saying fuddle-duddle when he was seen mouthing: f off to a Conservative asking questions about unemployment programs. In 2015, his son Justin Trudeau confirmed that fuddle duddle werent the words he used. No surprise there. Now its NDP MLA Rob Altemeyer making the claim I didnt say that, after Rochelle Squires, minister for the status of women, complained that he screamed: Take your pants off Oct. 6, in a debate on a private members bill on sexual assault at universities. This follows earlier complaints that two male NDP members heckled female Conservatives when they voted against the legislation. Its hard to really make out what Mr. Altemeyer is saying on the Hansard tape and to Ms. Squires credit, she didnt make the accusation right away, waiting until the Conservatives had a chance to review the official recording which the Speaker Myrna Driedger provided to all parties. (By the way, this on its own suggests a new trend by the Speakers office, which in the past seldom released official recordings.) WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS NDP MLA Rob Altemeyer Mr. Altemeyer, the earnest MLA from Wolseley, claims he said Gonna take a pass on it? certainly more innocuous than what Ms. Squires heard, and the recording is unclear. Still, at the heart of it, Conservative women who voted against a bill that they saw as poorly designed were taken to task by the NDP while their Conservative male counterparts were left alone. More to the point however, is the ability for politicians to berate, scream, swear and generally act like junior high students with impunity because Hansard recordings dont necessarily represent the actual proceedings of the legislature. The Hansard recording is unclear because Mr. Altemeyers microphone was not on when he was heckling Ms. Squires and so what he said was picked up as background noise. By not including the heckling, catcalls and general boorish behaviour of politicians, theres no sense of just how low politicians can go during debate. Part of it is semantics. In Manitoba, Hansard only picks up the proceedings when the member speaking has been recognized by the Speaker and has been given the floor. Anything else that is being said is considered off the record. Part is just logistics. Its difficult enough for the Hansard operators toiling away with the electronic recordings to determine exactly what was said when the microphone is live. To have all the microphones live all the time would make their jobs even more difficult particularly during a heated debate. Hansard is an important record of what goes on in the Manitoba legislature. In 2009, a complaint from members of the legislature press gallery that Hansard was editing what members said, the Speaker (at the time George Hickes) declared that all verbal miscues, false starts, needless repetition and other awkward phrasings should be included and that editing wasnt allowed. But because Hansard cant record what happens when the MLAs dont have the floor, things get missed. And certain politicians may use that loophole to act poorly another way of saying fuddle duddle to parliamentary propriety. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/10/2016 (2209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. It has taken five months of training, but a Winnipegger has finally made it to the front lines of the First World War. And that soldier, Cpl. Stanley Evan Bowen, is tweeting about it a century later. A Winnipeg Free Press project that began last May, using the many letters Bowen wrote home, is following his wartime experience and tweeting about it as close to real time 100 years ago as possible. SUPPLIEDStanley Bowen outside a church in England during First World War, before he served at the Western Front. And today, Oct. 13, Bowen found himself in the danger zone for the first time after months of training. The Free Press has been sending near-daily messages from Stanleys Twitter account @SignedStanley to his girlfriend Mary McNair, who lived at 662 Corydon Ave. Bowen began writing to his future wife from the moment he boarded a train at the CP Rail station at Higgins and Main on May 26, 1916 until Sept. 29, 1918. Previous tweets followed his experiences training in Britain and beyond, on his way to the the front. They also chronicle a century-old love story in which a soldier longs to be back with the girl he left behind and looks forward to being with her again, often recounting moments from time theyd spent together. The tweets have attracted hundreds of followers, including people at war museums, military buffs and history teachers and their students. SUPPLIEDStanley Bowen (left) with his fiance Mary McNair before he went to war. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca The Winona Educational Assistants of Education Minnesota, Local 123-1, have selected Janice Holtet as the Winona Education Support Professional of the Year. Holtet is the local union president and was nominated and selected for the award for all her years of dedication working with students in the work experience program, and in WAPS classrooms. She was also chosen for her tireless work, time, and travel to the state organization in the Twin Cities to advocate for the wellbeing of Winona education assistants. Her dedication, understanding and support of the Educational Assistants has been outstanding. She is available for each member when it is needed be it a personal issue, job issue or contract issue. Holtet will now be considered for recognition at the state level for Education Support Professional of the Year through Education Minnesota. The Winona Area Public Schools appreciate the work Holtet does on behalf of students, congratulate her, and root for her for state recognition. WABASHA As part of Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton administrations tour of every Minnesota county, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith visited the National Eagle Center Thursday to hear the nonprofits hopes and plans for the future. Smith and Dayton have been splitting Minnesotas 87 counties between them dating back to early August, with Smith also visiting Goodhue and Dodge counties Thursday. The tour to hear from the residents of the counties puts the governors office in contact with a variety of people, including business owners, educators and local leaders and, in this case, live eagles. The National Eagle Center filled Smith in on several of their plans, and their hope for state funding assistance in the future. Rolf Thompson, executive director, said the plans that led to the centers phased expansion were a result of demand, and currently the organization couldnt keep up with the number of requests and visitors they have with the facility. The next phase of the planned expansion would create more space for the eagles, more education space, and opportunities and a gallery area to house an extensive and newly gifted eagle art collection. By early 2017, the National Eagle Center plans to own four adjacent buildings on Main Street located near the current facility. The vision for this phase of the expansion is an adaptive re-use of the buildings to maintain the historic aesthetic of Wabashas Main Street, while creating a unified visitor experience with the current facility. Since its grand opening in its new location in 2007, the Eagle Center has experienced steady growth and now sees more than 80,000 visitors each year. Today the center is facing growing demand for its engaging educational programs and has a unique opportunity to expand its educational themes and attract new audiences, organization leaders said. That includes the expanded presence on Main Street, which would provide gallery space for the Preston Cook Collection of more than 20,000 items, valued at more than $2 million and recently moved to Minnesota from California after its donation this spring. Its a world-class, one-of-a-kind collection, Thompson said. It will help us earn the name National Eagle Center. Cook, who was present Thursday, said the collection had taken 45 years to gather and to his knowledge would constitute the first museum dedicated to bald eagle art, or art centered solely around eagles in general. Im really happy to be here and Im really happy everything turned out right, Cook said. State funding through the Legislatures bonding bill didnt happen for the center this year, or for anyone else, after lawmakers failed to agree on the bill. Thompson said the center continues to hope for state support, and estimated a cost of over $20 million when the expansion is fully completed, with money coming from both public and private sources. Thompson said the state had put a $1 million investment in the original center, which created a self-sustaining organization that provided jobs and tourism. Thats the return, Thompson said. It has really leveraged this forever organization. Smith said communities like Wabasha and Red Wing are regional centers, and that projects like the center can draw people into the area as well through tourism. It just seems like a fantastic project, Smith said. It could appeal to people across a wide range of interests. One of the local lawmakers in attendance, Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, said he is helping with the continued push. This is a project of regional significance, Schmit said. Im ready to step up and get the job done. As of midweek, La Crosse County still hadnt heard from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about officials concerns about lack of water pollution enforcement more than three months after requesting action through a county board-approved resolution. But the county has heard from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: La Crosse County is on the receiving end of $20,000 to $30,000 enforcement bill. The county didnt do anything wrong, other than having the misfortune of having two rare species of mussels living on the west side of Hintgen Island. The island, owned by La Crosse County but technically in Minnesotas Houston County, is home to the Harold E. Craig Fleeting Site, a facility that accounts for 23 percent of the barge mooring capacity in the port of La Crosse. A major project to stabilize the western side of the island along Broken Arrow Slough got started this summer. If we dont beef it up on that back side we eventually get a breakthrough and the island gets split in half, said Karl Green, UW Extension natural resource and economic development agent for La Crosse County. As part of the $604,550 project, the contractor hired by the county had to perform an environmental review before proceeding. In August, the Minnesota DNR notified the county that the environmental review had turned up 113 live mussels representing 15 species, two of them designated as threatened by the state of Minnesota: the monkeyface mussel and the fawnsfoot mussel. Two species of special concern also were found: the black sandshell mussel and the round pigtoe mussel. Obviously, were not thrilled about having to remove even marginal mussel habitat, Green said, but the fleeting site is a key part of having a smooth barge operation on the Mississippi River, with room to tie up 15 barges. Green said the Minnesota DNR gave the county two choices: pay to move the mussels or pay a mitigation fee that would cover the cost of introducing the threatened species in a more friendly location. Initial estimates to move the mussels came in at $60,000, Green said, so it made more sense to pay the mitigation fee, which is based on the amount of acreage involved. The Minnesota DNR has not given the county a final bill yet, but it is expected to be between $20,000 and $30,000. At Wednesdays La Crosse County Board Executive Committee meeting, La Crosse County Administrator Steve OMalley noted that his proposed budget includes $25,000 for the mitigation fee. While the county has a Harbor Assistance grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that is paying for 80 percent of the fleeting site project, the mitigation fee isnt eligible to be covered by the grant, so the county is on the hook. OMalley got in a dig at Wisconsins DNR after explaining the entry in his budget: Minnesota apparently has a DNR that actually enforces things. ITProPortal is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Since I started tracking Congressional votes, I learned we cant believe what politicians say until we see how they voted. Lets look at what Sen. Ron Johnson has said about the issues and then compare that to his votes. Small government: Johnson says he wants small government, yet supports laws that control what we do in our private lives. He favors laws against gay marriage and a womans right to choose what to do with her own body. He voted to allow government surveillance of Americans private email, phone calls and other communications, a clear invasion of our privacy. Veterans: He claims he supports veterans, but was one of only three senators to vote against funding and reform of the Veterans Administration health system. He also voted against extending federal veterans benefits because, he said, It costs too much. Federal debt: Johnson says hes against increasing federal spending, but voted for the 2013 Paul Ryan budget that was estimated to add $3.1 trillion to the deficit while it protected tax breaks for companies that shipped jobs overseas. He voted against the 2011 Budget Control Act that reduced the deficit by up to $2.4 trillion over 10 years and against a Senate budget that would have reduced spending by nearly $2 trillion. Yet he voted to increase defense spending to profit defense contractors, even though the United States spends more on defense than the next-highest seven nations combined. For example, we spend three times as much as China does and $210 billion more than Russia. In 2015, Johnson also voted to shift large sums of military expenses to an account that has no spending limits. Johnsons not much of a fiscal conservative after all. Government efficiency: He says he wants to make government more efficient. So, why did he vote against a bill that would consolidate dozens of federal programs for job training, adult education and literacy into one program run by the states instead of by the federal government? Homeland security: As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, youd think Johnson would be concerned about possible terrorists getting their hands on guns and explosives. He isnt. He wants to keep his A rating and financial support from the National Rifle Association so, to him, any guns sales are good sales. Thats why he voted against a bill that would have prohibited gun sales to people on the government no-fly list or the FBIs terrorist watch list and against a bill that would have required background checks on all commercial sales of guns. College affordability: In 2015, Johnson voted against a bill that would allow students to refinance their college student loans. Infrastructure: Businesses like the one Johnson owned depend on roads for transporting the goods they produce, yet roads and bridges all over the country are deteriorating faster than states can fix them. Instead of voting to help the states, Johnson voted against federal road funding and, except for interstate highways, wants to put the entire financial burden of all other road building and maintenance on state taxpayers. Jobs: He says he wants to create jobs in this country, so why was he one of only seven senators to vote against a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that move their operations overseas? Instead, to encourage job growth, the bill would have given a tax break to companies that move their operations back to the United States. Ask Sen. Johnson why hes against that. Voters also should ask why he voted against the equal pay for equal work bill. Or why he supports fast-tracking questionable trade bills like the Trans Pacific Partnership without allowing amendments. But this ones unbelievable, even for Johnson: He voted against a Democratic amendment to the Keystone Pipeline bill that would have required TransCanada, the builder and owner of the proposed pipeline, to use steel made in the United States. Why would he vote to deny Americans the opportunity to make the steel pipeline that would run from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico? He also voted against making TransCanada pay its fair share of clean-up costs if the pipeline ruptured a possibility made more likely by its construction from cheaper Chinese steel. Miscellaneous: The Huffington Post has an audio of Johnson telling his big donors at Americans for Prosperity that he favors privatizing Social Security, which could devastate seniors during a major recession. While Americans are sick of big money buying elections since the Supreme Court ruling that allows secret, unlimited campaign donations, Johnson voted not to overturn it another example of his catering to those who give him the most money. We deserve a United States Senator who puts hard-working Americans first. Vote for Russ Feingold on Nov. 8. Despite debate about spending taxpayers money, the City of Mauston approved a grant agreement for a flood mitigation plan at the common councils meeting on Tuesday. Meeting at city hall, the council voted 6-1 to approve the flood mitigation grant agreement for a sub-watershed detention basin at near Veterans Memorial Park. Alderman Steve Leavitt was the only council member to vote against the agreement. We had submitted for the grant; its a 50/50 (cost) split, and the intent is to reduce flooding south of that area, said City Administrator Nathan Thiel. We would be re-routing a ditch that goes through Marshall Drive and Elm Street and through the Bible Baptist church property. We would be re-routing around the JC-AIRS property line and around the armory, connecting with the ditch that goes past Highway 58. Thiel said the city was awarded $130,694 from the Wisconsin DNR, but would have to match that amount for the detention basin. He said the expense is TIF (tax incremental financing district) eligible, which would help the city pay for the cost. Basically this is a play on words that its a sub-watershed for Veterans Park, instead of saying were going to fix the problem for people who own land on Marshall Drive. I disagree with that because were going through private property, Leavitt said. Its been an issue with the council for 25 years and weve told people no. We told that to people on Maple Drive when they had problems, so now were going to fix this and let the people on Maple Drive suffer? I dont think we should do this. Its a step in the wrong direction. Its not fair to have the whole city pay for one issue that the contractor screwed up 30 years ago. Council President Rick Noe disagreed with Leavitt, saying that while TIF financing is taxpayer money, its not going against the levy. It affects the roads because if the roads are impassable then its a safety issue, Noe said. This is a solution that became available when JC-AIRS put in a retention pond there and then we acquired the land behind the armory for virtually nothing so all we have to do is expand the ditch and fix the ditch behind the armory. It will give us another outlet so we can split the amount of water. Mayor Brian McGuire said the area near Veterans Memorial Park experiences frequent flooding several times a year. While he does live in the area, McGuire said most of his neighbors have worse problems with flooding every year. Were trying to subsidize this issue as much as possible through alternative revenue sources, Thiel said This grant didnt have a lot of applicants this year so we were fortunate to even qualify. To turn this down now, most likely this wont come back in the same form and fashion. Alderman Francis McCoy said its no secret Mauston has problems with flooding. If theres a chance to get money, I say, yes, lets do it, McCoy said. Were trying to fix the problem one step at a time. Even though we didnt create this problem, we are obligated to fix it, said Alderman Floyd Babcock. The city also chose Vierbacher to engineer the detention basin for an amount not to exceed $35,000. Thiel said Vierbacher will work on both the design and construction administration for the project. Emerald ash borer hits Mauston While the news broke last week that emerald ash borer was found at Jones Park in Mauston, McGuire said it wont change what the city is already doing to prevent the spread. Thiel said the city has about 800 ash trees in its public right-of-way. He said those affected only represent a small hit to the total population. The forester, Seth Westberg, is here and available for citizens who have questions, Thiel said. We did proactively treat some trees this year. The one that was affected was well enough advanced that it didnt make sense to treat that one. Westberg is available by contacting the public works department at 608-847-4070. New municipal court judge The council appointed Tom Reigard as the citys substitute municipal court judge. Seth Tully previously held the position, but since Tully moved outside city limits, he can no longer serve as judge, according to Thiel. The position will be up for election next spring and Reigard could choose to run for the judgeship. Sept. 29, 7:56 a.m. The Columbus Fire Department was dispatched and cancelled while enroute. Sept. 29, 4:23 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to assist EMS on County Highway TT in the town of Elba. Oct. 1, 5:48 a.m. The Columbus Fire Department was dispatched and cancelled while enroute. Oct. 1, 1:11 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to a motor vehicle accident with no injuries on North Lewis and West James Street in the city of Columbus. Oct. 1, 3:03 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department was dispatched and cancelled while enroute. Oct. 1, 3:38 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to natural gas leak on APC Way in the city of Columbus. Oct. 1, 10:48 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to a carbon monoxide alarm due to malfunction on Chapel Street in the city of Columbus. Oct. 9, 12:07 a.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to assist EMS on West James Street in the city of Columbus. Oct. 10, 2:20 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to assist EMS on Duborg Road in the town of Columbus. Oct. 11, 4:09 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department was dispatched and cancelled while enroute. Total fire calls for the year so far: 145 A man who authorities accused of running a drug operation while incarcerated at the Sauk County jail was found guilty of two felonies Thursday. Mardi T. Suggs, 54, of Baraboo, appeared in court where he pleaded no contest to felony counts of cocaine and marijuana possession with the intent to deliver. Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Klicko accepted the pleas, found him guilty of both charges, and scheduled a sentencing hearing for Dec. 2. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors have agreed to cap their sentencing recommendation at four years of incarceration followed by four years of supervised release, according to court records. Charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed. The criminal complaint against Suggs alleged that he ran a drug operation from the jail, using his girlfriend as a distributor while he was locked up. Authorities based the allegation on recorded conversations between Suggs and 49-year-old Sherry A. Fuller. Detectives received a tip in October 2014 that Fuller had traveled to Chicago six times to purchase large amounts of cocaine and sold it in the Baraboo area, according to the complaint. Authorities then allegedly used confidential informants to purchase cocaine from her on two separate occasions in February 2015. After her arrest, Fuller told authorities that she was selling drugs at the direction of her boyfriend, Suggs, who was running the business from the Sauk jail. The complaint states that a detective verified that allegation by listening to recorded jailhouse phone calls between Fuller and Suggs. When authorities searched Suggs vehicle, home and an apartment he rented in West Baraboo, they allegedly found marijuana, cocaine, a broken crack pipe and a handgun. In December, Fuller pleaded no contest to felony cocaine possession and was sentenced to three years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release. A charge of firearm possession by a felon was dismissed. MADISON (AP) Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold are preparing to meet for the first of two televised debates in their tightening race. Theyve been here before, six years ago, when Feingold was the more experienced, polished politician and Johnson a underdog newcomer. This year, Johnson enters Fridays debate in Green Bay just 25 days before the election as the incumbent but still the apparent underdog. Even so, the underlying dynamic remains the same, said Republican strategist Mark Graul, who helped Johnson prepare in 2010 and again is lending his advice. Whats he telling Johnson? To be himself, Graul said. Ron Johnson is famously not a politician. Hes not the guy whos going to go up there and deliver the canned one-liners and sound bites. Still, theres more pressure on Johnson to shake up the race, given hes trailing in polls, said Paul Maslin, a Democratic pollster from Madison. Feingold whos been in politics for 34 years, 28 in elected office should stay the course, not do anything too dramatic, and keep on keepin on, Maslin said. Both sides have tried to cast the race as about which candidate is better both for the economy and national security. Feingold has campaigned to increase the minimum wage, help college students refinance student loans and oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal. Johnson argues that he has a stronger plan for fighting terrorism and that his experience helping to build a plastics manufacturing company in Oshkosh puts him in a better position than Feingold to understand how to create jobs and the economy. The presidential race has cast a long shadow over the race, as Johnson has long been seen as vulnerable due to the state generally skewing Democratic in presidential years. But he was buoyed by a Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday showing the race as nearly even. Hes also become increasingly aggressive on the campaign trail, sticking by Donald Trump in the wake of sexual assault allegations and challenging Feingold to defend backing of Hillary Clinton. Feingold has described her as reliable and trustworthy; polls show a majority of Wisconsin voters disagree. The Wisconsin Republican Party released radio ads Thursday attacking Feingold for that comment and painting him as a hypocrite for taking the majority of his campaign cash from out-of-state donors. Feingold has been careful not to break ties with the more liberal wing of the party, appearing at recent rallies with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Johnson expects Feingold to try to use his support for Trump against him in the debate, which he says hell counter by comparing Feingolds lack of having a record of accomplishment with his own record in the Senate. Johnsons Senate office released a report Thursday highlighting his work as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, noting bills passed on issues like border and immigration security and reducing federal regulations. Feingolds signature legislation during 18 years in the Senate was co-sponsoring with Republican Sen. John McCain a campaign finance overhaul. He also was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act, which was enacted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and opposed President Barack Obamas decision to expand the war in Afghanistan. However, he was a vocal supporter of Obamas health care overhaul law. Johnson has been preparing for Fridays showdown by going over tapes from 2010s three debates. Feingold campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said hes been listening to the needs of middle-income and working families in advance of the debate. The two will take questions from a panel of journalists during the hour-long debate, which is sponsored by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and will be broadcast widely across the state as well as on C-SPAN. Feingold and Johnsons second and only other planned debate is Tuesday in Milwaukee. That 90-minute debate will be hosted by WISN-TV and the Marquette University Law School and moderated by Mike Gousha, a veteran broadcast political journalist. Sauk County health officials are encouraging people to protect themselves from mosquitoes after finding West Nile virus in a dead crow. The county began surveillance for the virus in May. The crow that tested positive was found dead Oct. 2, according to the Sauk County Public Health Department. Mosquitoes contract the virus by feeding on infected birds, and then spread it to humans. The positive bird means that residents of Sauk County need to be more vigilant in their personal protective measures to prevent mosquito bites, Public Health Director Cynthia Bodendein said. Bodendein said it appears West Nile virus is here to stay and encouraged people to limit time outside at dawn and dusk. Residents also should use repellent, make sure window and door screens are secure, prevent pooling water, frequently change water in bird baths and pet dishes, clean outdoor pools, and keep foliage trimmed. Public Health Nurse Diana Haley said there have so far been no confirmed human cases of West Nile virus in Sauk County, and only one human case in the entire state this year. There were seven confirmed human cases throughout the state in 2015, including one death, she said. So far this year, 45 Wisconsin counties have reported West Nile virus activity in birds, horses and mosquito pools. Most people infected with West Nile dont get sick, health officials say. Those who do can experience fever, headache, muscle ache, rash and fatigues. The virus can be fatal for older adults and those with compromised immune systems. State health officials have monitored the spread of West Nile since 2001. Infections in humans have been reported from June through October, according to the health department. People can report sick or dead crows, blue jays or ravens by calling the Dead Bird Reporting Hotline at 1 (800) 433-1610. However, Sauk County will no longer be testing birds this season. An annual Halloween attraction in La Valle has undergone a few changes this year. The Mighty Keagan Haunted House has a new home at E4288 Section 11 Road, La Valle. Event organizer Laura Clark said it was previously held in the basement of her familys residence. This year Amanda Redner offered the use of her property, so the house will be a bit different. Volunteers have turned an old barn into a maze of terror, complete with unsettling sounds, frightening characters and macabre images. Clark said the change has numerous perks, including more space for parking, more room for other attractions and additional opportunities for scares. This years theme is Your Worst Fears, so the barn is full of common phobias such as spiders, bats, birds and darkness. There are also traditional haunted house scares like a butcher shop, zombies and chainsaws. As with past years, the Mighty Keagan event is not intended for children or the faint of heart. Clark said its a genuinely terrifying experience so anyone who has a heart condition may want steer clear. Tours will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29 and 31. Admission costs $10. Children younger than 13 may enter for $7 but the event is not recommended for little kids. Amenities Attendance has steadily increased over the last two years so volunteers are prepared for a large turnout this October. Clark said the first house drew about 400 people while last years tour pulled in around 1,000. Thats too many people for Clarks home, which necessitated the move to the barn. Theyre hoping to see between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors this year, although more would be welcome. Clark added that Mighty Keagan offers more than just a haunted house. Child care will be available on site for adults who want to take the tour but cant find a babysitter. There will also be live music or a DJ every evening, a fire pit for warmth and childrens games and activities. Concessions will also be sold. Tickets will be numbered so guests dont need to stand in line for hours. Clark said visitors may buy their tickets then enjoy the music, sit around the fire or have some food and drink while waiting for their turn through the barn. She noted that tickets will be sold up until 11 p.m. and tours will be held after that time if necessary; however long it takes to move everyone through the barn. Good cause The haunted house started as a way to honor Clarks son while raising awareness for childhood cancer. Clark, who is fighting cancer herself, lost her son Keagan when he was 2 years old. Since then her family has formed the Mighty Keagan Foundation to bring some joy to childhood cancer patients during the holidays. Clark said all proceeds from the haunted house will purchase Christmas dinner and toys for kids at American Family Childrens Hospital in Madison. Its Clarks dream to one day raise enough money to also support Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She said the haunted house generated about $4,000 last year and this years goal is $7,000. It would need to bring in at least $8,000 to support both hospitals. Clark said it may be possible if enough people show up, buy concessions or donate. As with other public events, insurance is required and its the largest expense for the haunted house. Almost everything else is donated, from use of the property to decorations to concessions. Countless volunteers decorate, provide materials, find costumes and makeup, operate the ticket and concession stands and portray characters within the house. The actors have been known to spend hours on their feet while in costume. Clark said its an exhausting job, especially since the house warms up with so much traffic. One year it rained throughout the entire haunted house, an unpleasant situation considering October tends to be chilly and windy. Still, the volunteers were incredible. No one complained, she said. They just loved it. LODI It was a day of celebration and remembrance at Lodi High School for school leaders from Thailand who on Thursday mourned the loss of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Its a sad moment for the entire country, said Supannachaht Plangngoen, or Mr. Chaht as hes known by his friends in Lodi. The worlds longest-reigning living monarch hours earlier had died at 88 after 70 years as head of state. Hes the best king in the world, from our perspective, and has been doing lots of good things for the country, Supannachaht said. Hes a leader of everything, everything, in Thailand. Supannachaht was one of 10 Thai educators who traveled to the school this week to extend a Memorandum of Understanding between Sa-nguan Ying School in Suphanburi, Thailand and Lodi High School. Its a partnership that began with an exchange program in 2008 and was enhanced in 2011 to include distance-learning classes for both schools, a dual arrangement unlike any other in the state, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The Thai educators spent the day visiting several classrooms before celebrating the partnership in a ceremony that featured national anthems from both countries a fitting display of unity in the opinion of Principal Vince Breunig. We really find the similarities between our two cultures, Breunig said of the partnership. Breunig signed the MOU in Thailand two years ago. We really see teenagers are teenagers, whether theyre here or in Thailand. In the news, in politics, we spend so much time focusing on how were different and not so much on how were the same. This shows how similar people are in most things. The distance-learning partnership between the schools is very, very unique for Thailand, as well, Supannachaht said, giving the Thailand school of 2,500 students a chance to study abroad without leaving your country. Its been fantastic, he said, especially for the students. We open the world for them. We open families to families, town to town, school to school, country to countries, learning of living in peace, living together in harmony. So we learn about how people care for each other. Student perspectives Thursdays visit from Thai educators who today will visit the elementary and middle schools in Lodi preceded the November exchange of 18 Lodi students and three staff members, the fifth such visit by Lodi. Seventy Lodi students have so far visited Thailand in the three-week program, the schools alternating exchanges each year. Students from Sa-nguan Ying School will come to Lodi in November 2017. Some Lodi students, like senior Lily Chase, either have or will soon have experience in both the distance-learning and the exchange program. The greatest part of the (distance-learning) class is learning from a Thai person who knows everything there is to know about Southeast Asia, said Chase, who took Supannachahts Southeast Asian Studies class last fall and will travel to Thailand next month. So you get a far more genuine experience being taught that way. What Chase was most looking forward to, among the many Buddhist temples, was the Thai food and the elephants, professing her love for how the country appreciates its history. Theyre a lot more tied to their history than we are probably because they have a lot more (history) than we do. For Sam Keller, a senior who visited Thailand as a sophomore, his experience is still fresh in his mind, even two years later. What stood out to me is the Thai culture how different people live over there versus here, Keller said, noting incredible experiences like riding elephants in the Elephant Kingdom. People in Thailand are much kinder to each other than Americans are, I think, and the work ethic of the Thai culture is (exceptional). Keller upon graduation plans to study engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he said he can draw upon what he saw in Thai farming practices for learning about sustainable engineering. Its given me a better view of the world as a whole. Before this experience I just had the view of little Lodi, Keller said. After this experience I was able to see how people live in different parts of world how they lived and survived. Learning cultures One of the first differences between cultures that Thai students see, Supannachaht said, is that Americans dont wear uniforms in school. American schools also seem to stress punctuality a bit more than Thai schools do, he added, noting in Thailand were more flexible, requiring an adjustment for students taking the American classes, which are taught by Lodi educator Mark Kohl. Adjusting to other cultures is familiar to them, however, as the Thai students also exchange with schools in Singapore and Australia. They learn how to be punctual. They learn how an American teacher teaches, and the different content. Cultural differences noted by Lodi students include the number of languages that Thai students learn, Bruenig said. Thats one of the biggest differences, he said. Most of them have been learning English a long time and are starting to pick up a third or fourth language. Chase agreed with Keller that among the biggest differences in culture is found in kindness. Thai people are a lot more polite than Americans, from what Ive noticed, she said. The generosity of the Thai people, Keller said of his visit there, and how they treated us almost like celebrities it was an incredible experience. For Supannachaht, who has visited America many times, the big differences are how huge America is and its cold weather. Our winter is like your summer, he said, noting theres no fall season in Thailand. As similarities go, schools struggling to find funding for education is a problem everywhere in the world, including in Thailand, Supannachaht said. But funding has gradually improved in Thailand in recent years, he added. Bruenig emphasized the similarities are what matter most to both schools. Our kids get a chance to say, Hey, theyre just like me. They might speak a different language, but, boy, they have similar interests. It allows you to understand a little more about whats going on in someone elses life. I just think thats huge for us both. Portage Mayor Rick Dodd remains 100 percent in favor of building a band shell in Pauquette Park. While city parks leaders were very cool to the idea, Dodd thinks theres still the wiggle room needed to win approval for the estimated $300,000 project. I dont think it is a dead project, Dodd said. It is going to take some talking to get that done and some convincing that is the right place. Earlier this month, members of the Parks and Recreation Board which oversees the citys parks on behalf of the Common Council refused to endorse a preliminary project plan put forward by the Portage Service Clubs Association (PSCA). PSCA proposed raising half the funds and asked the city to contribute the other half. The PSCA, made up of members of the citys service clubs, including Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimists, Greater Portage Youth Foundation, Lions, Chamber of Commerce, Civic League, VFW, American Legion, and Elks, was the driving force behind the splash pad project in Goodyear Park. Parks board members expressed concerns about the location and cost and seemed pretty firm on that opinion. I dont know that (those concerns) can be overcome, Common Council member Mark Hahn, a member of the parks board, said previously. I cant support it in that location and for that much money. In September, the PSCA presented a plan to construct a 75-foot by 35-foot structure in the location where there is currently a concrete slab and tackle a few other ancillary park improvements as well. The most notable use for the band shell would be the annual Fourth of July celebration Concert in the Park featuring the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Dodd said he understands the concerns about the project cost. That number that the service clubs gave was a worst case estimate and it scares a lot of people. It scares me, he said. And the city is spending a lot of money on its parks in 2017, Dodd noted. He said it is reasonable for parks leaders to be concerned about adding another costly project. Yet, improving the park with financial assistance from the PSCA is a win, he said. That is probably the premier park that we have, Dodd said. Other concerns over parking and impacts on the neighborhood can be mitigated, Dodd said. There may be a possible route to win approval without the Parks and Recreation Board, but Dodd said thats not practical. Getting that groups buy-in is key to moving forward, he said. The Parks and Recreation Board includes two Common Council members, but has a majority of citizen members. OXFORD Friends of Oxford resident Viktoria Walker hope to replace a van she lost in an electrical fire. The best way to do that, they agreed, is to share Walkers remarkable story. The idea of somebody who is physically handicapped, trapped in a burning car with their dog it just scared the life out of me, said Jayne Blanchard, who along with fellow Maryland resident Ann Holman is organizing a GoFundMe drive for their friend www.gofundme.com/2sq38h8. So far theyve raised $2,275 in a week. They hope to raise $50,000 before November. Walker, her dog Minnie in tow, was going to pick up her son Oct. 3 when her van caught fire a situation made all the more perilous since Walker uses a motorized wheelchair. Luckily, two passersby in the isolated, rural area noticed Walkers predicament before saving her and Minnie. The van was lost. Walkers present situation isnt easy, her friends said. Walker in 2010 was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and deteriorating discs in her back the latter condition worsening as she went through six rounds of chemotherapy. Walker would later lose her husband Jimmy to a brain aneurysm, and then her cancer returned, this time to her lungs. Shes already facing so much with so much bravery by herself, Blanchard said. She drives herself to Madison for chemo(therapy), and now this. Shes without a vehicle, and we dont know how shes going to get there. I wish I could do more, said Holman, who set up the GoFundMe Page and enlisted other friends, like Blanchard, to help spread the word. She is such an awesome person. Shes always so upbeat and positive, (believing) that you do good things and good things happen, and thats not why you do them you do them to be good. Ive always admired and respected her for that. While Walker has dealt with and overcome many obstacles and tragedies in recent years, the most important thing to know, her friends said, is how caring of others Walker has been throughout her life. Blanchard, a medical editor, and Holman, a federal medical librarian, each met Walker in an online health and wellness community, ultimately forging lasting friendships. Her friends estimated Walker has helped at least 10 foster children over the years, adopting three of them, noting shes always the first person to tell you every kid is worth trying to save. She took on the hardest cases, Blanchard said, the adolescent boys the ones nobody wanted because most people want babies or toddlers. Holman and another friend were visiting Walker in Oxford when Walkers husband Jimmy died an experience that brought them closer to Walker. We were acquaintances at that time, Holman said, but after that, we moved on to being really good friends. It means everything to be able to raise some money to get her the help she needs, because, right now, shes trapped, Blanchard said. Whats happened is almost too much to comprehend. The GoFundMe page notes that with $25,000 raised, the friends would then purchase for Walker a used, converted wheelchair van. But for $50,000 they could purchase something newer and more reliable. The GoFundMe page also states Walker living at home with one son, a high school senior can no longer work and has no income except for disability insurance. Academic programme continues on Friday Update from the Senior Management Team (18:00): University activities Despite some of the disruptions earlier today, the majority of classes went ahead across all campuses and class attendance has improved. Classes resume tomorrow as per the academic calendar. Managements engagement with students The mediators informed Wits management just before 17:00 that the student leaders would not attending the meeting scheduled for today. We apologise to all those who were preparing to watch it via live streaming or on the Concourse. The Senior Executive Team of Wits University remains completely committed to engaging with student leaders. Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Adam Habib remains open to engaging with student leaders. Audio clip The University is aware that a new voice clip threatening violence at the University and intimidating students is circulating on social media. This clip, together with two others from last week, have been passed on to Wits Security, the Wits Legal Office and the South African Police Services for investigation. Anyone with information about the source of the voice clip should call the Head of Wits Security, Mr Mokgawa Kobe on 0117171853. Measures to curb violence on campuses at night Update from the Senior Management Team (17:00): Academic programme The majority of Wits academic programmes went ahead today across campuses. Attendance has increased day by day across campuses. Disruptions to the academic programme were reported this morning on the Wits West Campus. Firecrackers were also set off in some classrooms as well as near the Matrix and in Central Block. Security and police were called to the scene and the disruptors dispersed. Classes then resumed. We have had no disruptions this afternoon. Measures to curb violence on campuses at night The University has sustained huge losses due to destruction of property. The University has an obligation to ensure the safety and security of persons and infrastructure within its precincts and has resolved to put into place measures to minimise the present danger. In the circumstances and with effect from the 14th October 2016: 1. All University buildings, facilities, libraries and reading rooms other than student residences and staff accommodation will be closed between 21:30 and 06:00. 2. People who have not been assigned accommodation within University precincts will not be granted access to the University after 22:00. This restriction on access will remain in effect until 06:00. 3. Only people who are authorised to occupy University facilities, and those who are on official University business may be in the University precincts after 22:00. 4. All persons who are authorised to be on campus after 22:00 must remain in the specific authorised area until 06:00. 5. Any other persons who must of necessity be on campus must first apply to the Registrar or her nominee for written permission via Carol.Crosley@wits.ac.za. Written permission will be granted only for compelling reasons. Failure to abide by the above restrictions may constitute misconduct. In an emergency, Campus Control should be contacted on (011) 717-4444 who will arrange for contact with the Registrar if required. A full security and police presence will be deployed across all campuses and vehicles, buses and bags may be searched. Temporary Bus Timetables PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LAST BUS WILL LEAVE FROM YALE ROAD NORTH / EMPIRE ROAD AT 1OPM. Students should be notified of the interim change in bus stops for security reasons. Other motorists using the Yale Road North entrance are requested to be patient as buses drop off and make U-turns in this area. 1. Braamfontein Campus Bus Stop (AMIC) will move to Yale Road/Empire Rd Entrance 2. Esselen Street Bus stop (ESN) will move to Cnr of Esselen Street and Claremont Street (Old bus stop) 3. Wits Junction (WJ) will move to Park Lane Bus Stop (Outside Wits Junction) 4. Parktown Education Campus (WEC) will move to York Road (Opposite Medical School) 5. Blackwood Ave and St Davids Place will not be affected. Court case Some students took the University to court today in an attempt to interdict it from resuming classes and the academic programme. The court ruled in favour of the University and the case was dismissed with costs by the South Gauteng High Court. [VIDEO] Wits Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Habib talks on free higher education, the Wits Poll, police action on campus and willingness to engage with students (36min32sec): [WATCH] Excerpts from the above video on Youtube: The following companies are subsidiares of Johnson & Johnson: 3Dintegrated ApS, ALZA Corporation, AMO (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Beijing Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Guangzhou Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., AMO ASIA LIMITED, AMO Asia Limited (Korea Branch), AMO Asia Limited Taiwan Branch (Hong Kong), AMO Australia Pty Limited, AMO Australia Pty Limited (New Zealand Branch), AMO Canada Company, AMO Denmark ApS, AMO Development LLC, AMO France, AMO Germany GmbH, AMO Groningen B.V., AMO International Holdings Unlimited Company, AMO Ireland, AMO Ireland Ireland Branch, AMO Italy SRL, AMO Japan K.K., AMO Manufacturing USA LLC, AMO Netherlands BV, AMO Nominee Holdings LLC, AMO Norway AS, AMO Puerto Rico Manufacturing Inc., AMO Sales and Service Inc., AMO Singapore Pte. Ltd., AMO Spain Holdings LLC, AMO Switzerland GmbH, AMO U.K. Holdings LLC, AMO United Kingdom Ltd., AMO Uppsala AB, AUB Holdings LLC, Abott Medical Optics, Acclarent Inc., Actelion Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Actelion Pharmaceuticals US Inc., Actelion Treasury Unlimited Company, Akros Medical Inc., Albany Street LLC, Alios BioPharma, Alza Land Management Inc., Anakuria Therapeutics Inc., Animas Diabetes Care LLC, Animas LLC, Animas Technologies LLC, AorTx Inc., Apsis, Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Asia Pacific Holdings LLC, Atrionix Inc., Auris Health, Auris Health Inc., Backsvalan 2 Aktiebolag, Backsvalan 6 Handelsbolag, Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co. Ltd., BeneVir BioPharm Inc., Berna Rhein B.V., BioMedical Enterprises Inc., Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., Biosense Webster Inc., Branch of Johnson & Johnson LLC (RU) in Kazakhstan, C Consumer Products Denmark ApS, CSATS Inc., Calibra Medical LLC, Campus-Foyer Apotheke GmbH, Carlo Erba OTC S.r.l., Centocor Biologics LLC, Centocor Research & Development Inc., Cerenovus Inc., ChromaGenics B.V., Ci:Labo Customer Marketing Co. Ltd., Ci:Labo USA Inc., Ci:z Holdings, Ci:z. Labo Co. Ltd., Cilag AG, Cilag GmbH International, Cilag Holding AG, Cilag Holding Treasury Unlimited Company, Cilag-Biotech S.L., CoTherix Inc., Coherex Medical Inc., ColBar LifeScience Ltd., Company Store.com Inc., Conor MedSystems, Cordis International Corporation, Cordis de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Corimmun GmbH, DePuy Hellas SA, DePuy International Limited, DePuy Ireland Unlimited Company, DePuy Mexico S.A. de C.V., DePuy Mitek LLC, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., DePuy Products Inc., DePuy Spine LLC, DePuy Synthes Gorgan Limited, DePuy Synthes Inc., DePuy Synthes Institute LLC, DePuy Synthes Leto SARL, DePuy Synthes Products Inc., DePuy Synthes Sales Inc., Debs-Vogue Corporation (Proprietary) Limited, Dutch Holding LLC, ECL7 LLC, EES Holdings de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., EES S.A. de C.V., EIT Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (Europe) GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC, Ethicon Inc., Ethicon LLC, Ethicon PR Holdings Unlimited Company, Ethicon Sarl, Ethicon US LLC, Ethicon Women's Health & Urology Sarl, Ethnor (Proprietary) Limited, Ethnor Farmaceutica S.A., Ethnor del Istmo S.A., FMS Future Medical System SA, Finsbury (Development) Limited, Finsbury (Instruments) Limited, Finsbury Medical Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics International Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics Limited, GH Biotech Holdings Limited, GMED Healthcare BV, GMED Healthcare BV (Branch), Global Investment Participation B.V., Guangzhou Bioseal Biotech Co. Ltd., Hansen Medical Deutschland GmbH, Hansen Medical Inc., Hansen Medical International Inc., Hansen Medical UK Limited, Healthcare Services (Shanghai) Ltd., Hickory Merger Sub Inc., I.D. Acquisition Corp., Innomedic Gesellschaft fur innovative Medizintechnik und Informatik mbH, Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC, J & J Company West Africa Limited, J&J Pension Trustees Limited, J-C Health Care Ltd., J.C. General Services BV, JJ Surgical Vision Spain S.L., JJC Acquisition Company B.V., JJHC LLC, JJSV Belgium BV, JJSV Manufacturing Malaysia SDN. BHD., JJSV Norden AB, JJSV Produtos Oticos Ltda., JNJ Global Business Services s.r.o., JNJ Holding EMEA B.V., JNJ International Investment LLC, JOM Pharmaceutical Services Inc., Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy (Holding) Limited, Janssen BioPharma LLC, Janssen Biologics (Ireland) Limited, Janssen Biologics B.V., Janssen Biotech Inc., Janssen Cilag C.A., Janssen Cilag Farmaceutica S.A., Janssen Cilag S.p.A., Janssen Cilag SPA, Janssen Development Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Diagnostics LLC, Janssen Egypt LLC, Janssen Farmaceutica Portugal Lda, Janssen Global Services LLC, Janssen Holding GmbH, Janssen Inc., Janssen Irish Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Korea Ltd., Janssen Oncology Inc., Janssen Ortho LLC, Janssen Pharmaceutica (Proprietary) Limited, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Janssen Pharmaceutica S.A., Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Janssen Pharmaceutical Sciences Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceutical Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. Japan Branch, Janssen Products LP, Janssen R&D Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Scientific Affairs LLC, Janssen Supply Group LLC, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., Janssen Vaccines Branch of Cilag GmbH International, Janssen Vaccines Corp., Janssen-Cilag, Janssen-Cilag (New Zealand) Limited, Janssen-Cilag A/S, Janssen-Cilag AG, Janssen-Cilag AS, Janssen-Cilag Aktiebolag, Janssen-Cilag B.V., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Lda., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Ltda., Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Janssen-Cilag International NV, Janssen-Cilag Kft., Janssen-Cilag Kft. Branch Office, Janssen-Cilag Limited, Janssen-Cilag Manufacturing LLC, Janssen-Cilag NV, Janssen-Cilag OY, Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH, Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceutical S.A.C.I., Janssen-Cilag Polska Sp. z o.o., Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd, Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd (Branch), Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag s.r.o., Janssen-Pharma S.L., Jevco Holding Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson (Angola) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson (Egypt) S.A.E., Johnson & Johnson (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Ireland) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Jamaica) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Kenya) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (DHCC Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (JAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. Service Center (DAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Mozambique) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (New Zealand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Philippines) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Thailand) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (Trinidad) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Vietnam) Co. Ltd, Johnson & Johnson - Societa' Per Azioni, Johnson & Johnson AB, Johnson & Johnson AB Eesti filiaal (Branch), Johnson & Johnson AG, Johnson & Johnson AG (Zuchwil Branch), Johnson & Johnson Belgium Finance Company BV, Johnson & Johnson Bulgaria EOOD, Johnson & Johnson China Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Thailand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer B.V., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health Care Switzerland Branch of Janssen-Cilag AG, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Holdings France, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (Dominican Republic Branch), Johnson & Johnson Consumer NV, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Services EAME Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Del Paraguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson Dominicana S.A.S., Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc., Johnson & Johnson European Treasury Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Finance Limited, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH (Branch Office), Johnson & Johnson Gateway LLC, Johnson & Johnson Gesellschaft m.b.H., Johnson & Johnson GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Guatemala S.A., Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc., Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Inc., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Commercial and Industrial S.A., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Consumer Products Commercial Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson Hemisferica S.A., Johnson & Johnson Holding GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Inc., Johnson & Johnson Industrial Ltda., Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC Inc., Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Limited, Johnson & Johnson International, Johnson & Johnson International (Belgian Branch) (European Logistics Center), Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Branch), Johnson & Johnson International Financial Services Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson K.K., Johnson & Johnson Kft., Johnson & Johnson Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Korea Selling & Distribution LLC, Johnson & Johnson LLC, Johnson & Johnson Lda, Johnson & Johnson Limited, Johnson & Johnson Limited (Sri Lanka Branch), Johnson & Johnson Luxembourg Finance Company Sarl, Johnson & Johnson Management Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical (China) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Proprietary) Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Suzhou) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical B.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America L.L.C., Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical NV, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Pty Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical S.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.C.S., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.p.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical SAS, Johnson & Johnson Medical Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Ankara Branch), Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Izmir Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East - Scientific Office, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ - LLC (Lebanese Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Ghana Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Kenya Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC Branch (TSO) (Saudi Arabia Branch), Johnson & Johnson Morocco Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson NCB (Belgian Branch), Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB, Johnson & Johnson Pacific Pty Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Panama S.A., Johnson & Johnson Personal Care (Chile) S.A., Johnson & Johnson Poland Sp. z o.o., Johnson & Johnson Poland sp. z o.o. oddzial w Warszawie "Consumer", Johnson & Johnson Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd. Korea Branch, Johnson & Johnson Pty. Limited, Johnson & Johnson Romania S.R.L., Johnson & Johnson S.A., Johnson & Johnson S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson S.E. Inc., Johnson & Johnson S.E. d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson SDN. BHD., Johnson & Johnson Sante Beaute France, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision India Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson UK Treasury Company Limited, Johnson & Johnson Ukraine LLC, Johnson & Johnson Urban Renewal Associates, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Ireland Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson de Argentina S.A.C. e. I., Johnson & Johnson de Chile Limitada, Johnson & Johnson de Chile S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Colombia S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson de Uruguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Venezuela S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Ecuador S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Peru S.A., Johnson & Johnson do Brasil Industria E Comercio de Produtos Para Saude Ltda., Johnson & Johnson for Export and Import LLC, Johnson & Johnson s.r.o., Johnson Y Johnson de Costa Rica S.A., Johnson and Johnson (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson and Johnson Sihhi Malzeme Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, LTL Management LLC, La Concha Land Investment Corporation, Latam International Investment Company Unlimited Company, Legal Entity Name, MDS Co. Ltd., McNEIL MMP LLC, McNeil AB, McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., McNeil Denmark ApS, McNeil Healthcare (Ireland) Limited, McNeil Healthcare (UK) Limited, McNeil Healthcare LLC, McNeil Iberica S.L.U., McNeil LA LLC, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, McNeil Panama LLC, McNeil Products Limited, McNeil Sweden AB, Medical Device Business Services Inc., Medical Devices & Diagnostics Global Services LLC, Medical Devices International LLC, Medos International Sarl, Medos International Sarl succursale de Neuchatel (Branch), Medos Sarl, MegaDyne Medical Products Inc., Menlo Care De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Mentor B.V., Mentor Deutschland GmbH, Mentor Medical Systems B.V., Mentor Partnership Holding Company I LLC, Mentor Texas GP LLC, Mentor Texas L.P., Mentor Worldwide LLC, Micrus Endovascular LLC, Middlesex Assurance Company Limited, Momenta Ireland Limited, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., NeoStrata Company Inc., NeoStrata UG (haftungsbeschrankt), Netherlands Holding Company, NeuWave Medical Inc., Neuravi Limited, Novira Therapeutics, Novira Therapeutics LLC, NuVera Medical Inc., OBTECH Medical Sarl, OGX Beauty Limited, OMJ Holding GmbH, OMJ Ireland Unlimited Company, OMJ Pharmaceuticals Inc., Obtech Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals NV, Ortho Biologics LLC, Ortho Biotech Holding LLC, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, Orthospin Ltd., Orthotaxy, PT Integrated Healthcare Indonesia, PT. Johnson & Johnson Indonesia, Patriot Pharmaceuticals LLC, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pharmadirect Ltd., Pharmedica Laboratories (Proprietary) Limited, Princeton Laboratories Inc., Productos de Cuidado Personal y de La Salud de Bolivia S.R.L., Proleader S.A., Pulsar Vascular Inc., Regency Urban Renewal Associates, RespiVert Ltd., RoC International, Royalty A&M LLC, Rutan Realty LLC, SYNTHES Medical Immobilien GmbH, Scios LLC, Sedona Singapore International Pte. Ltd., Sedona Thai International Co. Ltd., Serhum S.A. de C.V., Shanghai Elsker For Mother & Baby Co. Ltd, Shanghai Elsker Mother & Baby Co. Ltd Minghang Branch, Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Ltd., Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Sightbox LLC, Sodiac ESV, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Company, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Partnership, SterilMed, SterilMed Inc., Surgical Process Institute Deutschland GmbH, Synthes Costa Rica S.C.R. Limitada, Synthes GmbH, Synthes Holding AG, Synthes Holding Limited, Synthes Inc., Synthes Medical Surgical Equipment & Instruments Trading LLC, Synthes Produktions GmbH, Synthes Proprietary Limited, Synthes S.M.P. S. de R.L. de C.V., Synthes Tuttlingen GmbH, Synthes USA LLC, Synthes USA Products LLC, TARIS Biomedical, TARIS Biomedical LLC, TearScience Inc., The Anspach Effort LLC, The Vision Care Institute LLC, Tibotec LLC, Torax Medical Inc., UAB "Johnson & Johnson", UAB Johnson & Johnson Eesti Filiaal (Estonian Branch), Vania Expansion, Verb Surgical, Verb Surgical Inc., Vision Care Finance Unlimited Company, Vogue International, Vogue International LLC, Vogue International Trading Inc., WH4110 Development Company L.L.C., XO1, XO1 Limited, Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Beijing Branch Office, Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Shanghai Branch Office, Zarbee's Inc., and Zarbee's Naturals. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Pfizer: AH Robins LLC, AHP Holdings B.V., AHP Manufacturing B.V., Agouron Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alacer, Alpharma Holdings LLC, Alpharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alpharma Specialty Pharma LLC, Alpharma USHP LLC, American Food Industries LLC, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Angiosyn, Array BioPharma, Ayerst-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, BIND Therapeutics Inc., BINESA 2002 S.L., Bamboo Therapeutics, Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., Baxter International - Marketed Vaccines, BioRexis, Bioren, Bioren LLC, Blue Whale Re Ltd., C.E. Commercial Holdings C.V., C.E. Commercial Investments C.V., C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., CICL Corporation, COC I Corporation, Catapult Genetics, Coley Pharmaceutical GmbH, Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., Continental Pharma Inc., Covx, Covx Technologies Ireland Limited, Cyanamid Inter-American Corporation, Cyanamid de Argentina S.A., Cyanamid de Colombia S.A., Distribuidora Mercantil Centro Americana S.A., Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., Esperion LUV Development Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Farminova Produtos Farmaceuticos de Inovacao Lda., Farmogene Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Ferrosan A/S, Ferrosan International A/S, Ferrosan S.R.L., FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Foldrx Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Manufatura Ltda., G. D. Searle & Co. Limited, G. D. Searle International Capital LLC, G. D. Searle LLC, GI Europe Inc., GI Japan Inc., GenTrac Inc., Genetics Institute LLC, Greenstone LLC, Haptogen Limited, Hospira, Hospira (China) Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd, Hospira Aseptic Services Limited, Hospira Australia Pty Ltd, Hospira Benelux BVBA, Hospira Chile Limitada, Hospira Deutschland GmbH, Hospira Enterprises B.V., Hospira France SAS, Hospira Healthcare B.V., Hospira Healthcare Corporation, Hospira Healthcare India Private Limited, Hospira Holdings (S.A.) Pty Ltd, Hospira Inc., Hospira Invicta S.A., Hospira Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, Hospira Ireland Sales Limited, Hospira Japan G.K., Hospira Limited, Hospira Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Hospira NZ Limited, Hospira Nordic AB, Hospira Philippines Inc., Hospira Portugal LDA, Hospira Produtos Hospitalares Ltda., Hospira Pte. Ltd., Hospira Pty Limited, Hospira Puerto Rico LLC, Hospira Singapore Pte Ltd, Hospira UK Limited, Hospira Worldwide LLC, Hospira Zagreb d.o.o., ICAgen, Idun Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Santa Agape S.A., InnoPharma, InnoPharma Inc., International Affiliated Corporation LLC, JMI-Daniels Pharmaceuticals Inc., John Wyeth & Brother Limited, Kiinteisto oy Espoon Pellavaniementie 14, King Pharmaceuticals Holdings LLC, King Pharmaceuticals LLC, King Pharmaceuticals Research and Development LLC, Korea Pharma Holding Company Limited, Laboratoires Pfizer S.A., Laboratorios Parke Davis S.L., Laboratorios Pfizer Ltda., Laboratorios Wyeth LLC, Laboratorios Wyeth S.A., Laboratorios Pfizer Lda., MTG Divestitures LLC, Mayne Pharma IP Holdings (Euro) Pty Ltd, Medivation, Medivation Field Solutions LLC, Medivation LLC, Medivation Neurology LLC, Medivation Prostate Therapeutics LLC, Medivation Services LLC, Medivation Technologies LLC, Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Limited, Monarch Pharmaceuticals LLC, Neusentis Limited, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NextWave Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, P-D Co. LLC, PAH USA IN8 LLC, PF Americas Holding C.V., PF Asia Manufacturing B.V., PF PR Holdings C.V., PF PRISM C.V., PF PRISM Holdings S.a.r.l., PF Prism S.a.r.l., PFE Holdings G.K., PFE PHAC Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Pfizer Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Wyeth Holdings LLC, PFE Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) LLC, PHILCO Holdings S.a r.l., PHIVCO Corp., PHIVCO Holdco S.a r.l., PHIVCO Luxembourg S.a r.l., PN Mexico LLC, PT. Pfizer Parke Davis, Parke Davis & Company LLC, Parke Davis Limited, Parke Davis Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Parke-Davis Manufacturing Corp., Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Inc., Peak Enterprises LLC, Pfizer, Pfizer (China) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Pfizer (Perth) Pty Limited, Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Pfizer (Wuhan) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer AB, Pfizer AG, Pfizer AS, Pfizer Africa & Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Veterinarian Products & Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer Anti-Infectives AB, Pfizer ApS, Pfizer Asia Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Pfizer Atlantic Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Australia Holdings B.V., Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pfizer Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., Pfizer Australia Pty Limited, Pfizer B.V., Pfizer BH D.o.o., Pfizer Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer Biofarmaceutica Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Pfizer Biologics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Pfizer Biologics Ireland Holdings Limited, Pfizer Biotech Corporation, Pfizer Bolivia S.A., Pfizer Canada Inc., Pfizer CentreSource Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Chile S.A., Pfizer Cia. Ltda., Pfizer Colombia Spinco I LLC, Pfizer Commercial Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Commercial Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Commercial TRAE Trading Kft., Pfizer Consumer Healthcare AB, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare GmbH, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd., Pfizer Consumer Manufacturing Italy S.r.l., Pfizer Corporation, Pfizer Corporation Austria Gesellschaft m.b.H., Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Pfizer Croatia d.o.o., Pfizer Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Development LP, Pfizer Development Services (UK) Limited, Pfizer Domestic Ventures Limited, Pfizer Dominicana S.R.L, Pfizer ESP Pty Ltd, Pfizer East India B.V., Pfizer Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer Egypt S.A.E., Pfizer Enterprise Holdings B.V., Pfizer Enterprises LLC, Pfizer Enterprises SARL, Pfizer Europe Finance B.V., Pfizer Export B.V., Pfizer Export Company, Pfizer Export Holding Company B.V, Pfizer Finance Share Service (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Financial Services N.V./S.A., Pfizer France International Investments, Pfizer Free Zone Panama S. de R.L., Pfizer GEP S.L., Pfizer Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer Global Supply Japan Inc., Pfizer Global Trading, Pfizer Group Luxembourg Sarl, Pfizer Gulf FZ-LLC, Pfizer H.C.P. Corporation, Pfizer HK Service Company Limited, Pfizer Health AB, Pfizer Health Solutions Inc., Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, Pfizer Hellas A.E., Pfizer Himalaya Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Holding France, Pfizer Holding Ventures, Pfizer Holdings Corporation, Pfizer Holdings Europe Unlimited Company, Pfizer Holdings G.K., Pfizer Holdings International Corporation, Pfizer Holdings International Luxembourg (PHIL) Sarl, Pfizer Holdings North America SARL, Pfizer Hungary Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Innovations AB, Pfizer Innovations LLC, Pfizer Innovative Supply Point International BVBA, Pfizer International LLC, Pfizer International Markets Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer International Operations, Pfizer International S. de R.L., Pfizer International Trading (Shanghai) Limited, Pfizer Investment Capital Unlimited Company, Pfizer Investment Co. Ltd., Pfizer Investment Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Ireland Investments Limited, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 1 LLC, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 2 LLC, Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Ireland Ventures Unlimited Company, Pfizer Italia S.r.l., Pfizer Italy Group Holding S.r.l., Pfizer Japan Inc., Pfizer LLC, Pfizer Laboratories (Pty) Limited, Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pfizer Laboratories PFE (Pty) Ltd, Pfizer Leasing Ireland Limited, Pfizer Leasing UK Limited, Pfizer Limitada, Pfizer Limited, Pfizer Luxco Holdings SARL, Pfizer Luxembourg Global Holdings S.a r.l., Pfizer Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer MAP Holding Inc., Pfizer Manufacturing Austria G.m.b.H., Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Pfizer Manufacturing Holdings LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Manufacturing LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Services, Pfizer Medical Technology Group (Belgium) N.V., Pfizer Medicamentos Genericos e Participacoes Ltda., Pfizer Mexico Luxco SARL, Pfizer Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pfizer Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Animal Health and Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer New Zealand Limited, Pfizer Norge AS, Pfizer North American Holdings Inc., Pfizer OTC B.V., Pfizer Overseas LLC, Pfizer Oy, Pfizer PFE ApS, Pfizer PFE AsiaPac Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Pty Ltd, Pfizer PFE B.V., Pfizer PFE Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Belgium SPRL, Pfizer PFE Brazil Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE CIA. Ltda., Pfizer PFE Chile Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Colombia Holding Corp., Pfizer PFE Colombia S.A.S, Pfizer PFE Commercial Holdings LLC, Pfizer PFE Croatia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer PFE Finland Oy, Pfizer PFE France, Pfizer PFE Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Ireland Pharmaceuticals Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco 2 S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Pfizer PFE Limited, Pfizer PFE Luxembourg S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Mexico Holding 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE Netherlands Holding 1 C.V., Pfizer PFE New Zealand, Pfizer PFE New Zealand Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Norway Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE PILSA Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Peru Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Peru S.R.L., Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer PFE Private Limited, Pfizer PFE S.R.L, Pfizer PFE Service Company Holding Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer PFE Singapore Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Singapore Pte. Ltd., Pfizer PFE Spain B.V., Pfizer PFE Spain Holding S.L., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding 2 S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Switzerland GmbH, Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 2 B.V., Pfizer PFE UK Holding 4 LP, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 1 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 2 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 4 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 5 LLC, Pfizer PFE spol. s r.o., Pfizer PFE Ilaclar Anonim Sirketi, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Pfizer Parke Davis (Thailand) Ltd., Pfizer Parke Davis Inc., Pfizer Parke Davis Sdn. Bhd., Pfizer Pharm Algerie, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Pharma PFE GmbH, Pfizer Pharmaceutical (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceutical Trading Limited Liability Company (a/k/a Pfizer Kft. or Pfizer LLC), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Global B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea Limited, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Pigments Inc., Pfizer Polska Sp. z.o.o., Pfizer Private Limited, Pfizer Production LLC, Pfizer Products Inc., Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Pfizer Research (NC) Inc., Pfizer Romania SRL, Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A. (Belgium), Pfizer S.A. de C.V., Pfizer S.A.S., Pfizer S.G.P.S. Lda., Pfizer S.L., Pfizer S.R.L., Pfizer SRB d.o.o., Pfizer Saidal Manufacturing, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Pfizer Saudi Limited, Pfizer Seiyaku K.K., Pfizer Service Company BVBA, Pfizer Service Company Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Services 1, Pfizer Services LLC, Pfizer Shared Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Shareholdings Intermediate SARL, Pfizer Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Singapore Trading Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Spain Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Specialties Limited, Pfizer Strategic Investment Holdings LLC, Pfizer Sweden Partnership KB, Pfizer TRAE Holdings Kft., Pfizer Trading Polska sp.z.o.o., Pfizer Transactions Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Transactions LLC, Pfizer Transactions Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer Transport LLC, Pfizer Ukraine LLC, Pfizer Vaccines LLC, Pfizer Venezuela S.A., Pfizer Venture Investments LLC, Pfizer Ventures LLC, Pfizer Worldwide Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Zona Franca S.A., Pfizer spol. s r.o., Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn S.A. de C.V., Pharmacia Brasil Ltda., Pharmacia Hepar LLC, Pharmacia Holding AB, Pharmacia Inter-American LLC, Pharmacia International B.V., Pharmacia LLC, Pharmacia Limited, Pharmacia Nostrum S.A., Pharmacia South Africa (Pty) Ltd, PowderJect Research Limited, PowderMed, Purepac Pharmaceutical Holdings LLC, Redvax, Renrall LLC, Rinat Neuroscience, Rinat Neuroscience Corp., Roerig Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Roerig S.A., Sao Cristovao Participacoes Ltda., Searle Laboratorios Lda., Serenex, Servicios P&U S. de R.L. de C.V., Shiley LLC, Sinergis Farma-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Site Realty Inc., Solinor LLC, Sugen LLC, Tabor LLC, The Pfizer Incubator LLC, Therachon, Thiakis Limited, Treerly Health Co. Ltd, US Oral Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Upjohn Laboratorios Lda., Vesteralens Naturprodukter A/S, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AB, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AS, Vesteralens Naturprodukter OY, Vicuron Holdings LLC, Vinci Farma S.A., W-L LLC, Warner Lambert, Warner Lambert Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Warner Lambert del Uruguay S.A., Warner-Lambert (Thailand) Limited, Warner-Lambert Company AG, Warner-Lambert Company LLC, Warner-Lambert Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Warner-Lambert S.A., Whitehall International Inc., Whitehall Laboratories Inc., Wyeth (Thailand) Ltd., Wyeth AB, Wyeth Australia Pty. Limited, Wyeth Ayerst Inc., Wyeth Ayerst S.a r.l., Wyeth Biopharma, Wyeth Canada ULC, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare LLC, Wyeth Europa Limited, Wyeth Farma S.A., Wyeth Holdings LLC, Wyeth Industria Farmaceutica Ltda., Wyeth KFT., Wyeth LLC, Wyeth Lederle S.r.l., Wyeth Lederle Vaccines S.A., Wyeth Pakistan Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals FZ-LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Wyeth Puerto Rico Inc., Wyeth S.A.S, Wyeth Subsidiary Illinois Corporation, Wyeth Whitehall Export GmbH, Wyeth Whitehall SARL, Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) Limited, Wyeth-Ayerst International LLC, and Wyeth-Ayerst Promotions Limited. Read More The Boeing Company is the worlds largest manufacturer of airplanes and commands more than 50% of the market in some channels and categories. The company and its family of subsidiaries design, develops, manufacture, sell, service, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and related services worldwide. The company operates through four segments including Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital providing products and services to end-users in 150 countries. Boeing got its start in 1910 when William E. Boeing developed a love for aircraft. Soon after he takes his first plane ride which leads him to build a hangar and begin construction of his first plane. The onset of WWI helped spur the companys growth but business was cut drastically in its wake. The start of WWII was another milestone for the company and one that led to its current position of dominance. The company was incorporated in 1916 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. Boeing employs over 140,000 people in 65 countries making it one of the most diverse employers on the planet. The Commercial Airplanes segment is built around the iconic 7-series which includes the 737, 747, and 787. The segment provides commercial jet aircraft for passenger and cargo requirements, as well as fleet support services for regional, national, and international air carriers and logistics and freight companies. In terms of global volume, the company estimates about 90% of all air freight is carried aboard one of its jets. This segment also includes the Dreamliner family of planes. The Dreamliner is a game-changing airplane for many carriers as it opens up the potential for new one-stop destinations because of its capacity and range. The Defense, Space & Security segment develops and manufactures a range of systems including manned and unmanned aircraft, missiles, missile defense systems, satellites, communications equipment, and intelligence systems for governments. Among the many iconic brands within this segment are the AH-64 Apache, Air Force One, B-52, C-17 Globemaster, Chinook, F/A-18, and the V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft used by the Marines. The Global Services segment offers a range of products and services that include supply chain and logistics management, engineering, maintenance, upgrades, conversions, spare parts, pilot and maintenance training, technical and maintenance documents, and data analytics to its commercial and defense customers. Boeing is also a leader in innovation, leveraging its many decades and avenues of experience to further aerospace and defense technology. Among the many innovations is the MQ-25 Stingray which will be the worlds first autonomous aircraft. The Stingray is only one of many areas of research that also include drones and undersea vehicles. Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company, provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management. The Consumer Banking and Lending segment offers diversified financial products and services for consumers and small businesses. Its financial products and services include checking and savings accounts, and credit and debit cards, as well as home, auto, personal, and small business lending services. The Commercial Banking segment provides financial solutions to private, family owned, and certain public companies. Its products and services include banking and credit products across various industry sectors and municipalities, secured lending and lease products, and treasury management services. The Corporate and Investment Banking segment offers a suite of capital markets, banking, and financial products and services to corporate, commercial real estate, government, and institutional clients. Its products and services comprise corporate banking, investment banking, treasury management, commercial real estate lending and servicing, equity, and fixed income solutions, as well as sales, trading, and research capabilities services. The Wealth and Investment Management segment provides personalized wealth management, brokerage, financial planning, lending, private banking, and trust and fiduciary products and services to affluent, high-net worth, and ultra-high-net worth clients. It also operates through financial advisors. Wells Fargo & Company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Deckers Outdoor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, markets, and distributes footwear, apparel, and accessories for casual lifestyle use and high-performance activities. The company offers premium footwear, apparel, and accessories under the UGG brand name; sandals, shoes, and boots under the Teva brand name; and relaxed casual shoes and sandals under the Sanuk brand name. It also provides footwear and apparel for ultra-runners and athletes under the Hoka brand name; and fashion casual footwear using other plush materials under the Koolaburra brand. The company sells its products through department stores, domestic independent action sports and outdoor specialty footwear retailers, and larger national retail chains, as well as online retailers. It also sells its products directly to consumers through its retail stores and e-commerce websites, as well as distributes its products through distributors and retailers in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, Latin America, and internationally. As of March 31, 2022, it had 149 retail stores, including 75 concept stores and 74 outlet stores worldwide. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Goleta, California. Botticelli and the Search for the Divine to open at Muscarelle in February Sandro Botticelli, Sant Agostino nello studio (Saint Augustine in the studio), Fresco, Chiesa di San Salvatore in Ognissanti, Florence. Courtesy image Photo - of - Hide Caption Botticelli painting on view for first time in United States One of only two of Sandro Botticellis paintings of an isolated Venus will be on view for the first time in the United States, together with other Botticelli mythologies and portraits, in Botticelli and the Search for the Divine: Florentine Painting Between the Medici and the Bonfires of the Vanities, a major international loan exhibition organized by the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary in partnership with Italys Associazione Culturale Metamorfosi. In the fourth such partnership, the exhibition will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston as its only other venue. The exhibition will open at the Muscarelle Museum on Feb. 11, 2017, and run through April 5. It will open to the public in Boston on April 18 and close on July 9. We are extremely proud to be able to bring to this country a groundbreaking exhibition of one of the worlds greatest artists, said Aaron De Groft, director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art. The Botticelli show continues a tradition of internationally important exhibitions, following Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Leonardo da Vinci in recent years, in which exhibitions of great original works of art provide the lens for us to explore the themes and ideas that inspired their genius. We hope that this approach reflects the inquiring mind of Thomas Jefferson, our distinguished alumnus, through whose efforts, the College of William & Mary, founded 1693, became the first university in America. We are, moreover, proud to have shared these exhibitions with our colleagues and partners in the other Revolutionary capital, Boston. Botticelli was one of the most original and creative painters of the Italian Renaissance. Today, his name and images are known as widely as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who were his friends. Together with his deeply moving religious images, Botticelli is renowned as the unchallenged master of classical mythologies. In his time, he also replicated the central figure of his iconic Birth of Venus in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. One of the only two such Venuses known today in the world, from the Galleria Sabauda museum in Turin, will be on view for the first time in America, together with many other works that have never previously traveled to the United States. The exhibition will feature 16 of Botticellis paintings, most with life-size figures, from major museums and churches in six Italian cities, including Florence, Milan and Venice. Every phase of the artists long, tumultuous career is represented in the selection. Also featured are six rare paintings by Botticellis great master Filippo Lippi, the only pupil of Masaccio. The cultural milieu of Renaissance Florence will be represented by several paintings by Filippos son, Filippino Lippi, Botticellis most important student and a leading master in his own right; a painting and a bronze statuette of Hercules by Antonio Pollaiuolo; the death mask of Lorenzo the Magnificent; and a portrait of Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo. The Botticelli show is the most recent of numerous cultural initiatives by the Muscarelle Museum to which the Italian Embassy has lent its support. Renato Miracco, cultural attache for the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C., stated that the upcoming Botticelli and the Search for the Divine will be the largest and most important exhibition of its type ever organized in the United States. He added, The exhibition catalogues by John Spike, a leading Italianist, have been outstanding works of scholarship. For more information on the exhibit, call 757-221-2700 or visit muscarelle.org . Admission is $15 during this exhibition but free to members, William & Mary students, faculty and staff, as well as children under the age of 12. 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 Contract for nuclear islands of Xudabao Phase I 14 October 2016 Share A contract has been signed for the civil construction of the nuclear islands for units 1 and 2 of the Xudabao nuclear power plant in China's Liaoning province. The units are the first of six AP1000 reactors planned for the site. The signing of the contract (Image: CNECC) The contract was signed on 10 October by China Nuclear Industry 22 Construction Company (CNI22) general manager Zheng Xiaojun and China Nuclear Power Engineering Company (CNPEC) general manager Liu Wei. CNI22 is a subsidiary of China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation (CNECC), while CNPEC is a subsidiary of China General Nuclear. The signing ceremony was attended by CNECC chief engineer and vice president Huo Lin Zhuang; director of CNECC's nuclear engineering division Yang Zhenhua; and, CNI22 deputy general manager Yang Zhenxun, among others. China's National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) announced its approval of the site selection for Xudabao units 1 and 2 - the first two of six AP1000 units planned there - in April 2014. It said the site, in Xingcheng City on the island of Hulu, would meet site-related aspects of nuclear safety regulations. Final approval was reported in September 2014, and again in December 2015 by the NNSA. Site preparation at Xudabao began in November 2010. The National Development and Reform Commission gave its approval for the project in January 2011. However, following the Fukushima accident two months later, Chinese authorities suspended the approval process for new plants. In October 2012 China announced that approvals for inland plants would be delayed until after 2015. Parts that had been intended for the Taohuajiang plant in Hunan province - where four AP1000 units are planned - were subsequently earmarked for Xudabao. Manufacture of the steel containments for the first two Xudabao units was launched in July 2013 by Shandong Nuclear Power Equipment Manufacturing Co Ltd. China National Nuclear Corporation subsidiary Liaoning Nuclear Power Company Limited - set up in March 2009 - is majority owner of the plant, with China Datang holding a 20% stake and the State Development and Investment Corporation holding 10%. CNPEC is the general contractor for the Xudabao project, expected to cost some CNY 110 billion ($16 billion). Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Haiyang 1 pumps operated at full-power 14 October 2016 Share The four reactor coolant pumps at unit 1 of the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China's Shandong province have been operated simultaneously at full speed for the first time. The AP1000 is set to begin operating by the end of the year. Operators in Haiyang 1's control room test the main pumps (Image: SNPTC) The four pumps all attained 100% speed at 1.23am on 9 October, State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) announced in a 12 October statement. Installation of the fourth and final reactor coolant pump at the Haiyang 1 AP1000 was completed on 25 April. Cold hydrostatic tests of the primary circuit were successfully completed at Haiyang 1 on 2 July. The tests, which involve increasing the pressure within the primary circuit to 21.6 MPa and maintaining it at that level for 11 minutes, aimed to confirm the integrity and sealing of the circuit's components. Hot tests of the reactor's primary circuit were officially launched on 20 September. Tests have subsequently been carried out with the pumps operating at 24%, 50% and 88% speed. On 9 October, all the pumps were operated at full-speed for two hours with the water in the reactor coolant system at a temperature of around 275C. The pumps were then taken back down to 50% speed. SNPTC said during the tests the pumps operated as normal, "verifying their reliability and stability". In September 2007, Westinghouse and its partners the Shaw Group received authorization to construct four AP1000 units in China: two at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and two more at Haiyang. Sanmen unit 1 is expected to be the first AP1000 to begin operating later this year, while Haiyang 1 is also expected to start up by the end of the year. SNPTC announced last month that the four main pumps at Sanmen 1 had been operated continuously at full speed for five hours as part of the unit's start-up. The company said that, at full-speed, the pumps' vibration, stator temperature and bearing temperature were within the normal range. Four AP1000 reactors are being built in the USA - two each at Vogtle and Summer - while three AP1000s are also proposed for the Moorside site in the UK. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics 5. Where Is Rome Located? The historic city of Rome is located in the central-western part of the Italian Peninsula on the banks of the Tiber River in the Lazio region of Italy. The city is the capital of Italy and also its biggest and most populated metropolis hosting 2.9 million residents within an area of 1,285 square km. Vatican City, a country, is located within the boundaries of Rome making it the only example of a country within a city. 4. Climate Of Rome Mediterranean climate prevails in Rome characterized by dry and hot summers, and humid, cold winters. During the warmest months of July and August, the average temperature during the day is 30 C while at night, it is 18 C. In the coldest winter month of January, the average day temperature is 12 C, and that at night is 3 C. Heavy snowfall is extremely rare, but light snowfall occurs almost every winter. However, snow accumulation on the ground is not known to happen frequently. The pleasant climate of Rome favors heavy tourist footfall in the city throughout the year. 3. The Tiber River Of Rome The Tiber River is a historic river in Europe, famous for the city of Rome that is located on its banks. The Tiber River is the second longest river in the country after the River Po. The river traces its origin to the slope of Monte Fumaiolo from where it flows for 405 km in a generally southern direction and drains into the Tyrrhenian Sea near Ostia Antica. According to some ancient writers, the Tiber River was originally known as Albula but renamed Tiberis after a king of Alba Longa, King Tiberius, died by drowning in the river. The river has played a vital role in the birth and expansion of the city of Rome as will be explained in the below sections. Another river, the Aniene also crosses Rome. The river joins the Tiber north of the historic center of the city. 2. Geography Of Ancient Rome And Origin Of The Roman Civilization Historians hold the view that Rome was founded on a group of seven hills located in the present-day Lazio region of Italy. These hills, named Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and Viminal are located on the Tiber River's eastern bank, in the heart of the city of Rome. It is said that small village-like settlements grew up on the summits of these seven hills but in the beginning, these settlements were not organized or unified into a single entity. The city was possibly founded by Romulus on the Palatine Hill, and gradually, the residents of all the seven hills would come together to share common interests and solve common problems, giving shape to the ancient city of Rome. Thus the aggregation of these settlements paved the way for the transformation from a proto-urban stage to an urban situation. The increase in agricultural productivity and heightened trade activities possibly boosted the growth of the city. 1. How Did The Geography Of Rome Affect Its Expansion? The geography of a place often plays a big role in influencing the growth of settlements in the place. This fact is no different for Rome where the geography of Rome affected its expansion in a major way. The elevated location of the city on the top of the seven hills provided a sense of protection to the residents and also protected the people against flooding. All great cities of the world have developed on the banks of major rivers, and so did Rome. The waters of the Tiber River satisfied the domestic water needs of the people of the region. Also, the river facilitated irrigation and navigation. It connected Rome to the Mediterranean Sea and thus provided an easy trade route between Rome and other parts of Europe and the world. Origins of the Gregorian Calendar The Gregorian calendar was first used in 1582. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII as a way of correcting the Julian calendar and its yearly measurements. The Julian calendar required a leap year every 4 years as a way to compensate for an 11-minute miscalculation of the solar year. However, this adjustment was not sufficient to keep the calendar in line with the solar year. The discrepancy pushed the Easter celebration further from the vernal equinox every year. The Pope was motivated to return to the celebration as it was originally planned by the earlier Church. When the Catholic Church began utilizing the new calendar, several Catholic countries followed, including Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and some areas of France. Method of Recording Time According to the Gregorian calendar, the leap year is implemented in years that are divisible by 4. If the year is divisible by 100, it is not a leap year unless it is also divisible by 400. In order to ensure the calendar aligned with the solar year, the public had to skip several days. Initially, this began as 10 days lost. However, the longer a country waited to switch calendars, the more days it was required to skip. Today, the Julian calendar is approximately 13 days behind the Gregorian date. The Gregorian calendar is not 100% accurate, either and actually has a 26-second yearly difference when compared with the solar year. By the year 4909, the calendar will be 1 day ahead of the solar year. Skeptics and Protests Protestants were largely skeptical of the Catholic move to change the calendar. Many believed the Gregorian calendar was part of a larger scheme to undermine the spread and influence of the Protestant churches. The calendar was also initially rejected by the Orthodox Church. Because of this rejection, Easter was celebrated on different dates depending on the Christian denomination. Over time, other countries gradually began to adopt the new calendar, though this was not always without protest from the public. In Czech lands, Protestants protested against the monarchical implementation of the new calendar. In the United Kingdom, one of the later countries to use the new calendar, Irish Catholics protested against England by celebrating Christian holidays based on the Gregorian dates. Adopting the New Calendar Because not every country adopted the Gregorian calendar simultaneously, different nations in the world used different dates for some time. While Denmark (then including Norway, Prussia, and the Protestant states of Germany adopted the calendar in 1700, it was only a partial change. These countries only recognized the solar calculations, disregarding the lunar part. Under this system, Easter was calculated using the vernal equinox according to the Gregorian calendar and the instance of the full moon. Germany claimed this was an improved system until 1774, when they adopted the complete Gregorian calculation. Sweden switched over 40 years, from 1700 to 1740, deciding not to skip 11 days but rather to skip leap days. This move meant that Sweden was neither under the Julian nor the Gregorian calendar for 4 decades. The very last country to accept the Gregorian calendar was Turkey in 1926. Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Iran, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia have not yet adopted the new calendar. Widespread Use As the calendar spread throughout the globe, more governments were inclined to officially adopt its usage. This was done as a means of easing international relationships. Although some countries use the Gregorian calendar alongside a traditional calendar, today, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used civic calendar in the world. Ben Duke rescuing the dog By: Chan Yuan (Scroll down for video) A man is very grateful to a hotel manager after he saved his dog from a horrific death. Ben Duke, who is the general manager at The Roadway Inn in Greenville, South Carolina, said that he is grateful that he was able to save the dog. Duke was coming out of a storage area in the hotel as one of his guests was getting into the elevator with his dog on a leash. As the doors closed, the dog had wandered out of the elevator. Duke realized that the dog was pulled by its leash towards the elevator. He sprang into action. aI just grabbed it, and struggled with it, then I guess adrenaline set in, I snapped the leash right above my hand,a Duke said. Thankfully, Duke was able to save the pet named Boo Boo, from strangulation. He explained that the dog was scared and scratched on his face. The dogas owner came down in tears. aHe was crying and was so grateful,a Duke said. aHe just came up and hugged me. It was pretty crazy,a he added. Duke told a friend about what happened, and the friend asked him if he has a video. He reviewed the surveillance camera in that area. He showed the video to his friend, who suggested that he make it public. Duke posted the video on his Facebook page, where it went viral with people calling him a hero. Although Duke doesnt see himself as a hero, he is very happy that he was able to save the dog. Appeal After HGV Causes Extensive Damage to Parked Cars This article is old - Published: Friday, Oct 14th, 2016 An appeal for witnesses has been launched after a HGV damaged a number of parked cars on a street in Wrexham. Overnight between 5am 6am on Friday 14 October extensive damage was caused several parked vehicles parked on Connor Crescent by a HGV. PC Thomas Hough tweeted this morning to say: North Wales Police are appealing for witnesses, enquiries are being made but the damage to the vehicles are extensive. This is also an appeal to the lorry driver to come forward. PC Hough added: Enquiries are ongoing and were doing what we can to trace the driver. Anyone who may have witnessed anything or has any further information on the incident is advised to contact North Wales Police on 101 quoting reference number RC16156301 Man Arrested Following Early Morning Arson Attacks in Caia Park This article is old - Published: Friday, Oct 14th, 2016 A man has been arrested after three cars were set alight in Caia Park during the early hours of this morning. North Wales Police have this afternoon confirmed that a man has been arrested after three cars in the Anthony Eden Drive area of Caia Park at around 1:30am. He is currently in custody at Wrexham Police Station. A male has been arrested after a series of car fires in Wrexham during the early hours of today. Anyone with information please contact 101. DCI Neil Harrison (@NWPNHarrison) October 14, 2016 You can read our original story on this mornings car arsons here. Three Vehicles Set Alight in Latest Caia Park Arson Attack This article is old - Published: Friday, Oct 14th, 2016 Three vehicles were set alight overnight in the latest string of arson attacks in Caia Park. North Wales Fire and Rescue Service were called to the area in the early hours of the morning, with the vehicles set alight within half an hour of each other. The first vehicle took place at 1:27am in the Gernant area of Caia Park, with one crew from Wrexham using one hose reel jet to extinguish the fire. Just a few minutes later at 1:36am one crew from Wrexham were called to a second car fire in the Minafon area. One hose reel jet was again used to extinguish the blaze. At 1:48am the fire service were called to a third vehicle fire on Glan Gors. One hose reel jet and a CO2 extinguisher were used to extinguish the fire. A spokesperson for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that all three of the fires had been started deliberately. It is not known if the arson attacks were linked. The arson attacks are the latest to take place in the Caia Park area, which has fallen victim to eight deliberate fires since the start of October. Redirected foot patrol to Caia due to alot of incidents recently. We are here to reassure you not alarm you. #OffaSNT #inCaia James Yoxall (@NWPJamesYoxall) October 14, 2016 Weve contacted North Wales Police and are awaiting further comment. More than 1,000 mostly retired Chinese soldiers protested outside the Defence Ministry headquarters in central Beijing throughout Tuesday over the governments failure to assure key veteran benefits, including pensions, healthcare and jobs. Clad in camouflage uniforms, the protesters sang In Unity is Our Strength and other Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) songs. One banner read: Our rights and benefits to be transferred from military posts to suitable civilian work have been violated. The protest was surrounded by hundreds of police, who blocked nearby streets and attempted to prevent the media from taking photos or interviewing the participants. Demonstrations, particularly those in central Beijing, are usually quickly shut down by authorities. The apparently lenient attitude toward Tuesdays protest indicates great nervousness in the Chinese regime over the potential for unrest within the PLA. As part of a far-reaching restructuring of the Chinese military announced last year, the PLA plans to slash 300,000 troops from its total of 2.3 million. The latest cutback will add to the pool of at least six million retired PLA veterans, whose ranks have staged a series of protests in recent years over similar demands. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are being retrenched as the Chinese economy is sharply slowing and the government has announced plans to slash over-capacity in state-owned enterprises. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attempted to assuage anger among PLA veterans at the National Peoples Congress in March by pledging to spend 39.8 billion yuan ($US6.1 billion) on allowances for retrenched troops. We will see that demobilised military personnel are settled into new jobs or have good access to employment and business startup services, he said. The government claimed to have ordered state-owned enterprises (SOE) to reserve 5 percent of new jobs for veterans. At the same gathering, however, plans were unveiled for massive lay-offs in SOEs in key sectors, including 1.3 million coal miners and 500,000 steelworkers. Veterans gathered at Tuesdays protest clearly did not believe the promises. An unnamed 55-year-old protester from Shanxi province told the Wall Street Journal that veterans had received nothing since retiringno pensions, no social security. Weve been neglected, he said. Were here to seek what we deserve. Shanxi is one of Chinas northern rustbelt provinces where growth rates have slumped and unemployment is high. The ex-soldier said he had been forced to work odd jobs to make ends meet since leaving the PLA two decades ago. According to a report by the US governments Radio Free Asia (RFA), the protesters came to Beijing from around a dozen Chinese cities and provinces. A PLA veteran, who only gave his surname, Gao, told RFA: I signed up to the army in 1976 in Beijing and was demobilised in 1988. It wasnt too bad to start with, but then they started laying off people in the factories and we were just given 400 yuan and told to leave. That was never going to be enough. Weve been unfairly treated. Another protester surnamed Hu pointed to the broad spectrum of soldiers involved. Today we have here demobilised soldiers, including lower-ranking officers, non-commissioned officers, and regular soldiers [as well as] soldiers who participated in nuclear tests and the Vietnam War, he said. A human rights activist, Huang Qi, told the Guardian that veterans had held more than 50 protests this year. However, the latest oneoutside the Defence Ministry headquarterswas obviously aimed at embarrassing the government, which was hosting a high-level international security gathering, the Xiangshan Forum. Defence Minister Chang Wanquan was to host a banquet for participants in the building. According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the largest previous protests of demobilised PLA soldiers took place in June 2015, when several thousand, mainly veterans of the 1979 war between China and Vietnam, gathered outside the Central Military Commission (CMC) in Beijing. The CMC commands the Chinese armed forces and is headed by President Xi Jinping. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime is clearly concerned that such protests could trigger wider unrest within the military, and more broadly across society. Under Xis leadership, the military apparatus is being overhauled to focus greater emphasis on the navy, air force and missile units, and away from the army. The PLA restructuring will end the existing command structures that divide the country into seven military regions, which have functioned as quasi-fiefdoms for the army, supplemented by four general departments. The role of the CMC will be greatly expanded, giving the CCP and Xi in particular greater control of the military. The veterans protests are just an overt symptom of broader dissatisfaction, not only within the lower PLA ranks but also among generals who are being sidelined. Last November, the militarys main newspaper, the PLA Daily, posted an article, subsequently deleted, bluntly warning that if the restructuring is not done properly, this could affect the stability of the military or even all of society. The PLA has been the central instrument of the CCPs police state-apparatus, which has been used to suppress opposition, particularly by the working class. In June 1989, the regime used the army, backed by tanks, to crush the mass protests in Tiananmen Square and other cities at the point where large sections of workers were joining the students, raising their own class demands. The CCP recalls only too well that army units had to be drawn from the countryside after those present in Beijing baulked at killing civilians. The Xi leadership is conscious that it will have to rely on PLA to suppress the growing social unrest being fuelled by the slowing economy, the lack of jobs and services and the widening gulf between the super-rich that the CCP represents and the working class. One measure of popular discontent is the strike figures collated by the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin. Last year, strikes doubled from the previous year to nearly 2,800, and as of July were up by another 20 percent this year. In a speech delivered by Donald Trump to an audience of thousands in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Republican candidate turned his campaign in a more distinctly fascistic direction. Presenting himself as both the savior of America and the victim of a ruthless political and economic establishment, Trump sought to connect deep-seated social anger among masses of people with an America First program of anti-immigrant xenophobia, militarism, economic nationalism and authoritarianism. Responding to the latest allegations of sexual abuse, Trump proclaimed that he is being targeted by international bankers, the corporate-controlled media and the political establishment who fear that his election will undermine their interests. He offered as an alternative his own personathe strong-man leader who is willing to bear the burden and make the sacrifices necessary for a pitiless struggle against such powerful adversaries. Trump warned that the November 8 election would be the last opportunity for the American people to defeat the powerful vested interests that are supporting Hillary Clinton. The clear implication of the speech is that if Trump loses the election, the struggle against the political establishment will have to be carried forward by other means: in other words, by force and violence. Unlike other Trump speeches, which have largely consisted of rambling and disconnected improvisations, the West Palm Beach address, followed several hours later by no less explosive remarks at a mass rally in Cincinnati, was carefully prepared. Trump read from a teleprompter, and the argument was delivered coherently. There is little doubt that the speech was scripted for Trump by his campaign chairman, Stephen Bannon, on leave as CEO of the Breitbart.com web site, a gathering place for the so-called alt-right, an amalgam of ultra-right, white nationalist and neo-Nazi tendencies. The fascistic character of the speech lies in its combination of an appeal to real social grievancesTrump referred explicitly to the disenfranchisement of working peoplewith racist, chauvinist and dictatorial solutions. This includes not only the demand for jailing Hillary Clinton, now a refrain of every speech, but his calls for his supporters to prevent a rigged election by blocking access to the polls for voters in certain communities. Trump denounced the global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. He continued: Just look at what this corrupt establishment has done to our cities like Detroit and Flint, Michiganand rural towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and across our country. They have stripped these towns bare, and raided the wealth for themselves and taken away their jobs. He went on to cite internal Clinton campaign emails published by WikiLeaks this week, documenting how, as Trump put it, Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers. After the top congressional Republican, House Speaker Paul Ryan, publicly broke with Trump Monday, declaring that he would neither campaign for him nor defend him, Trump responded with the declaration, It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. The West Palm Beach speech demonstrates what Trump has in mind. The Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign have played a critical role in enabling Trump to advance his fascistic campaign. Throughout the primary campaign, Bernie Sanders drew larger and more enthusiastic crowds than Trump for his denunciations of Wall Street and the power and privilege of the millionaires and billionaires. Once Sanders quit the race and threw his support to Clinton, the epitome of the political establishment, the Democrats created the conditions in which Trump can present himself as the sole opponent of the status quo. He is seeking to draw on the social anger that previously animated support for Sanders. Indeed, he has repeatedly denounced Clinton for the corrupt, backroom maneuvers aimed at undermining Sanders, which Sanders himself has worked to cover up as he campaigns for Clinton. Trumps claim to oppose the establishment on behalf of the working people is pure demagogy. He owes his own career as a billionaire real estate and casino mogul, media celebrity and presidential candidate to the very forcesthe financial elite, the corporate media and the political establishmentthat he now falsely claims to oppose. But the Clinton campaign does not even attempt to respond to Trumps social demagogy, because it is tied by a thousand threads to the corporate and Wall Street oligarchy. Clinton is running as the designated successor of Barack Obama, responsible for the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the financial elite in history. Unable and unwilling to offer the slightest hint of genuine social reforms, the Democratic Party seeks to fight Trump on the most banal and bankrupt level. While his sallies against Clinton strike home because her corruption and role in the establishment are so self-evident, her campaign is unable to generate any genuine enthusiasm or support, particularly among young people. Instead of a genuine exposure of Trump, the Democrats have substituted political provocations of a reactionary character. The Clinton campaign, warned of the impending release of masses of politically incriminating documents by WikiLeaks, sought to preempt this exposure by denouncing the leaks as a conspiracy engineered by Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. Clinton is appealing for support from sections of the Republican Party, above all the neo-conservatives of the George W. Bush administration, responsible for the war in Iraq, the widespread use of torture and other crimes. The anti-Russian campaign has been combined with an effort to demonize Trump for a series of purported sexual offenses, with a barrage of video and audio recordings, together with the testimony of alleged victims. The Democratic campaign and its media allies are using methods similar to those the ultra-right employed in its efforts to oust Bill Clinton from the White House in the 1990s. They are seeking to stampede public opinion with increasingly sensationalized material. These methods degrade political discussion and distract popular consciousness from the real issues in the election. It would be wrong to conclude that masses of people are attending Trumps rallies and supporting his campaign because they want a fascist solution to their problems. He is drawing support because, from the rotten miasma of official politics, including the self-absorbed identity politics of the Democratic Party, layers of the middle class and working class find nothing that appeals to them. Trumps appeal is that he is seen as shaking a collective fist at the political elites. However, there is a real danger. If Clinton wins the election, the policies that she will pursue will only increase the anger and social discontent among broad masses of the population. Clinton would come to power as one of the most despised candidates in American history. The election now just over three weeks away will resolve nothing. The critical task is to build a political leadership that can give a genuine, progressive expression to the interests of masses of working people. This is the significance of the Socialist Equality Party election campaign of Jerry White for president and Niles Niemuth for vice president. In the aftermath of the elections, facing ever expanding war and increasing economic distress, masses of working people will look for solutions outside of the existing political structure. This solution must be provided by a revolutionary socialist movement. Indias principal Stalinist party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, is playing a foul role in the reckless, bellicose offensive Indias ruling elite is mounting against its nuclear-armed arch-rival, Pakistan. The CPM joined with the rest of the political establishment in supporting the surgical strikes the military, acting on the orders of Indias virulently right-wing, Hindu communalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, carried out inside Pakistan on the night of September 28. It is also backing the strengthening and heightening of Indias military readiness along the Line of Control (LoC) in disputed Kashmir. And, while claiming to favour the defusing of tensions, the Stalinists have signaled their support for the provocative political, diplomatic and economic measures New Delhi has taken against Pakistan, since it declared Islamabad responsible for the September 18 attack on the Uri military base in Indian-administered Kashmir. The September 28-29 Indian Special Forces raids across the LoC were the first military action India has publicly admitted to carrying out inside Pakistan in more than four decades. No sooner were they announced than the BJP government and corporate media went into overdrive to celebrate them as proof of Indias military prowess and the end of the so-called policy of strategic restraint vis a vis Pakistan. In reality, the strikes were both illegal and a dangerous escalation of the Indian and Pakistani bourgeoisies reactionary military-strategic rivalry. This rivalry has blighted the subcontinent since the 1947 communal partition of South Asia into an expressly Muslim Pakistan and a predominantly Hindu India. Today it threatens the people of the region with nuclear war. Yet within hours of the strikes being made public, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury attended an all-party meeting convened by the BJP government to brief party leaders on the Indian militarys action and to demonstrate that Indiathat is all shades of the bourgeois political establishment from the Stalinists to the BJPs fascistic ally, the Shiv Senastands united against Pakistan. At the meetings conclusion, its chair, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, boasted that all participants had commended the military action and had assured the government of their support in any action in future. Yechury and the CPM have not contradicted any part of Singhs account. Under conditions where the strikes and the all-party support for them were being used to provide fodder for an anti-Pakistan campaign that threatens to ignite all-out war, the CPM Polit Bureau issued a terse statement on the evening of September 29 under the anodyne title, On Governments brief to some Opposition leaders. Indicating the Stalinists support for the Special Forces illegal attack on Pakistan, the 111-word statement referred to certain operations conducted by the Indian army, then, echoing the militarys own claims that it had no plans for further intrusions inside Pakistan, added, The CPI (M) expects that there is no further escalation of hostilities. The statement went on to express hope that incidents like at Pathankot [the Indian Air Force base that was attacked January 2 allegedly by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed] and at Uri will not recur. The CPM has all along maintained that the safety and security of our people from cross border terrorism must be ensured. Further underscoring the CPMs support for the BJP-ordered military action and the claim that the nation stands united behind it, the CPM Politburo statement issued not a word of criticism of the Modi government, which came to power pledging to pursue confrontation with Pakistan. Nor did it see fit to in anyway distance itself from the jingoistic anti-Pakistan campaign the corporate media had mounted, in concert with the BJP and the Hindu right, in the run-up to the surgical strikes. Subsequently, CPM General-Secretary Yechury made explicit the CPMs support for strengthening Indias military-security apparatus and its mobilization along the Pakistani border. It is our and the central governments responsibility, declared Yechury, to ensure that our people are protected. The CPM had previously joined with the rest of the ostensible political opposition in rallying behind the BJP government after it had placed responsibility for the Uri attack on Pakistan without so much as a cursory investigation. In a Central Committee (CC) statement issued within hours of the Uri attack, the CPM declared, Pakistan must stop aiding and abetting the extremist forces. Such activities are a big impediment to the peace process in [the] region. The Pakistani military and political elite have used armed Islamist groups to advance their reactionary geo-strategic interests and, especially in the Kashmir Valley, to manipulate and communalize the opposition to Indian rule. But the Stalinists make reference to this only so as to justify their backing for no less reactionary forcesthe Indian bourgeoisie, its military-security apparatus and the rabid Hindu communalist forces it has spawned. Nowhere in its statement did the CPM mention the BJP governments brutal repression of the current wave of mass anti-Indian government protests in Jammu and Kashmir; let alone the abuse and crimes to which the Kashmiri people have been subjected under successive Indian governments and by the half-million strong security force that has occupied Indian-administered Kashmir for the past quarter-century. Similarly, the CPM CC statement made no mention of the provocative steps that the BJP government had taken against Pakistan in the weeks preceding the Uri attack. These steps included: intensifying Indias opposition to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor; initiating an international campaign to have Pakistan labeled a state-sponsor of terrorism; and leveraging the Baluchi ethno-nationalist separatist insurgency against Islamabad, by exposing Pakistan human rights violations in Balochistan and by signaling it could press for Pakistans dismemberment. In escalating tensions with Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP government were pursuing the Indian bourgeoisies long-term goals of weakening Pakistan and China, as well as seeking to turn attention away from their repression of the mass anti-Indian government protests in Indian-held Kashmir. CPM advocates diplomatic offensive against Pakistan The Stalinists continued to legitimize the BJP governments campaign against Pakistan in an editorial published in the September 25 edition of their English-language weekly, Peoples Democracy . Titled After Uri attack, what?, the editorial explicitly called on the BJP government to mount a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan and to strengthen Indias military forces along the Pakistan border. The day before Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj denounced Pakistan as a terrorist state from the floor of the UN General Assembly, Peoples Democracy declared, There must be multilateral diplomacy and sustained political initiatives to bring the issue of Pakistan sponsorship of the terrorist organizations on to the international stage. Similarly, the editorial provided support and cover for the governments mobilization of the military, calling for strengthening the security arrangements on the LoC and more comprehensive measures to tackle the threat posed by the infiltration of jihadi suicide squads. Significantly, while the editorial championed a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan, it said nothing about several key, highly provocative elements in the governments diplomatic campaign against Islamabadits leveraging of the Balochistan secessionist movement and its threat to cripple Pakistan economically by abrogating the Indus Water Treaty. These elements demonstrate that the difference between a diplomatic offensive and military action is only tactical; under capitalist governments both are forms of aggression. Moreover, almost without exception military action is preceded and prepared through diplomatic offensives. To support the former is to assist the ruling class in rallying popular support and otherwise laying the groundwork for military aggression and war. In its After Uri attack, what? editorial, the CPM counseled Modi and his government to ignore the Hindu right RSS and its cohorts and stick to the policy of strategic restraint, since all the military options have serious limitations or risk the danger of an escalating conflict between the two nuclear armed powers. But, in an action that exemplifies the role of the CPM as an adviser, attorney and servant of the Indian bourgeoisie and ruthless defender of the Indian capitalist state, the Stalinists policy of supporting the Indian bourgeoisies diplomatic aggression against Pakistan, while posing as opponents of military action was jettisoned no sooner than did the BJP government declare that it had thrown off the shackles of strategic restraint. Four days after the CPM editorial was published, Yechury joined the rest of the Indian establishment in endorsing the military strikes at the government convened all-party conference. The CPM: A state party For decades, the Stalinists have supported the Indian bourgeoisie in forcibly maintaining its rule over Kashmir, in its strategic rivalry with Pakistan and in its great power ambitions. They have justified this support with the claim that the Indian state incarnates the anti-imperialist struggle that convulsed South Asia in the first half of the 20th century. In truth, India and Pakistan and South Asias toxic communal nation-state system are the product of the suppression of the democratic revolution at the hands of the national bourgeoisie. Terrified of the emergence of the working class as an independent power, the Indian National Congress, under the leadership of M.K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, betrayed their own program for a united, democratic, secular India and made a deal with British imperialism and the Muslim League to partition the subcontinent and make the colonial state apparatus the basis of independent bourgeois rule. Partition defied economic logic, has served as a pivotal basis for continued imperialist domination of the region, and has given rise to a bitter and communally charged geo-strategic rivalry that has resulted in the waste of untold resources and lives and that is manipulated by both reactionary ruling elites to defuse social discontent and fan communal reaction. A decisive factor in the heightening of tensions between India and Pakistan over the past decade is Washingtons aggressive moves to transform India into a frontline state into its drive to strategically isolate, encircle and prepare for war with China. While showering strategic favours on India, Washington has downgraded its relations with Pakistan, resulting in an ever widening military-strategic gap between New Delhi and Islamabad. In response, Pakistan has sought to strengthen its longtime strategic partnership with China, further aggravating relations with both Washington and New Delhi. Meanwhile, buoyed by US support, New Delhi, under Modi, has calculated it has the strength and leeway to more aggressively assert the interests of the Indian bourgeoisie in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, particularly against Pakistan. The CPM has postured as an opponent of the BJP governments recent decision to open Indian military bases to routine use by US warplanes and battleships. However, it has supported and facilitated the Indian bourgeoisies pursuit of a strategic global partnership with US imperialism, supporting a succession of Indian governments that sought closer relations with Washington. For four years, the CPM and its Left Front propped up Manmohan Singhs Congress led-government as it initiated the strategic partnership with Washington and negotiated the civilian nuclear deal meant to underpin it. Today the Stalinists continue to champion alliances with all manner of right-wing regional and caste-based parties that openly support Indias integration into the USs war drive against China, including the basing agreement. Moreover, the Stalinists opposition to an Indo-US military alliance is from the standpoint of how best to uphold the national interests and freedom of maneuver of the Indian bourgeoisie, not the struggle against imperialism. In keeping with this position, the CPM has supported the large-scale expansion and modernization of Indias armed forces that has been pursued by all Indian governments since the beginning of the century. By lining up with the BJP and the ruling elites jingoistic campaign, the Stalinists are assisting the Indian bourgeoisie in advancing its predatory strategic interests, including potentially corralling the population into a ruinous war, and serving to obscure the grave dangers faced by the working class and toilers in the region and globally. Already, the BJP governments belligerent moves against Pakistan have brought India and Pakistan perilously close to the outbreak of what would be the first-ever war between nuclear-armed states. Moreover, such a war could rapidly bring in other great powers. As a result of the USs harnessing of India to its anti-China drive, the Indo-Pakistani conflict and the US-China confrontation have become intertwined, adding to each a volatile and massive new explosive charge. As in the Middle East, the South China Sea, Eastern Europe and other global hotspots, the seeds of a Third World War are germinating in these conflicts. Such a catastrophe can only be prevented through the revolutionary intervention of the working class and such an intervention can be organized and prepared only through the building of a working class led anti-war movement based on the principles of international socialism. An important element in this struggle is the forging of the international unity of workers in South Asia, including India and Pakistan, against all the governments and parties of the bourgeoisie. Only the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist movement, fights for this perspective. We urge workers, youth and socialist-minded intellectuals to join the fight against war by joining the ICFI and fighting to build new revolutionary working class parties as its sections in India and Pakistan. With the US Navys firing of Tomahawk cruise missiles against targets on Yemens Red Sea Coast early Thursday, Washington has embarked on another major escalation of a spiraling campaign of military aggression aimed at imposing US imperialist hegemony throughout the Middle East and around the globe. The attack against Yemen is only one front in US military operations that stretch from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria and beyond. It has been carried out with no public debate, much less even the pretense of obtaining the consent of the American people. With the US election less than a month away, neither the Democratic or the Republican candidatenor for that matter the mediahas shown the slightest inclination to divert from the degraded scandal-mongering that dominates both campaigns to discuss the implications of military action that could rapidly drag the world into a major regional and even global war. President Barack Obama approved the missile strikes, but made no speech nor even issued a perfunctory written explanation for the US attack. The Pentagon has provided the only US explanation for the missile attacks on Yemen, claiming that they represented limited self-defense strikes conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway. According to the US militarys account, the targeting of Yemeni territory was a response to two separate incidents in which missiles were fired from Yemen at the USS Mason, part of a three-ship US flotilla patrolling the Bab al Mandab Strait, the strategic passageway that separates the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa and links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Some 4.7 million barrels of oil were shipped daily through the strait last year, much of it bound for China, along with 40 percent of global maritime trade. US imperialism is determined to establish its control over the narrow waterway as a chokepoint to be employed against its rivals and to assure that its navy has the ability to traverse this strategic passage and deny access to all others. Both the Houthi rebel movement that controls the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the Yemeni army which is aligned with this movement have denied that they targeted US warships and have denounced the cruise missile attack as an act of aggression. There is no reason anyone should take the Pentagons account for good coin. No evidence whatsoever has been produced to substantiate the claim that the Houthis were behind the missile attacks on the USS Mason, or indeed that any missiles were fired at all. There are other actors in Yemen with motives for attacking US warships. These include Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, formerly branded by Washington as the worlds most dangerous terrorist group, but now fighting in de facto alliance with the US against the Houthi rebels. Then there is Saudi Arabia, which has waged a savage bombing campaign against Yemen since March 2015 and is responsible for the lions share of the 10,000 Yemeni deaths since then. While Thursdays missile strikes marked the first direct US attack on targets associated with the Houthi-led government in Sanaa, the Pentagon has provided the logistical and intelligence support, including the aerial refueling of warplanes, without which the murderous Saudi campaign would be impossible. Moreover, the US has poured a whopping $115 billion in arms into the kingdom since Obama took office, resupplying bombs and missiles dropped on Yemeni homes, schools and hospitals. However, the Obama administration has recently expressed mild reservations about this slaughter, suggesting it might reduce its involvement. A missile attack, falsely attributed to the Houthis, would serve to draw the US more directly into the war. That the missile attacks on the US Navy took place at all is a question that should be approached with deep skepticism. There is a precedent for fabricated military engagements at sea being used as the pretext for a major escalation of American militarism. In 1964, a supposed attack by North Vietnamese gunboats on a US warship in the Gulf of Tonkin was invoked as the rationale for passing the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, granting President Lyndon Johnson authorization for the rapid escalation of the US war in Vietnam. A year after the murky events, Johnson cynically admitted, For all I know, our navy was shooting at whales out there. The main evidence cited by Washington for Houthi involvement in the alleged missile attacks stands as an indictment of US imperialism itself. The alleged attacks have been reported in the wake of the savage October 8 bombing of a funeral by Saudi warplanes that claimed at least 155 lives and left another 500 wounded. Fragments of the 500-pound bombs used to massacre the mourners, who included senior officials in the Houthi governing authority as well as children, had markings identifying them as US-supplied. Washingtons claim is that the attacks on the US warship were carried out in retaliation. The attribution of this motive to the Houthis only underscores US imperialisms own guilt in relation to war crimes carried out in league with the despotic oil monarchies of the Gulf against one of the poorest nations on the face of the planet. The year-and-a-half-old bombing campaign has destroyed much of the countrys infrastructure and left 14 million people, more than half the countrys population, suffering from hunger. This criminal war has exposed every pretext employed by Washington to justify its interventions in the Middle East, from the war on terror to human rights. As in Yemen, so in Iraq, Libya and Syria, US interventions are waged to secure geo-strategic domination and prepare for far more dangerous confrontations with Russia and China. The threat that these separate conflicts, along with those developing in Eastern Europe and the South China Sea, will coalesce into a third world war grows by the hour. Without a determined political struggle to unite the working class in a fight against war and its source, the capitalist system, such a global catastrophe is inevitable. The conference Socialism versus Capitalism and War being held by the Socialist Equality Party in Detroit on November 5 will be a decisive step in the fight to build such a movement. The World Socialist Web Site calls upon all its readers and all those seeking a genuine means to oppose war to register to attend today. South Korean electronics giant Samsung announced on Tuesday it was discontinuing its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone following numerous reports that the device was spontaneously overheating and in some cases catching fire. The decision to immediately and permanently terminate the model came less than a month after Samsung first acknowledged the issues and started replacing the smartphones, only to learn that the replacement devices were also burning up. According to media reports at the beginning of September, Samsung had received 92 reports of batteries overheating in the US, with 26 instances of people being burned and 55 reports of property damage. In one instance, an automobile caught fire in St. Petersburg, Florida, after a Galaxy Note 7 burst into flames while charging. In a later report, Southwest Airlines evacuated a flight on the ground when one of the devices started smoking and making popping noises even after being turned off. In a statement on October 11 to US consumers, Samsung said, Since the affected devices can overheat and pose a safety risk, we are asking consumers with an original Galaxy Note7 or a replacement Galaxy Note7 to power it down and contact the carrier or retail outlet to obtain a replacement or get a full refund. The Note 7 is the latest and largestwith a 5.7-inch displayof the internationally popular Samsung Galaxy line of smartphones. It was launched on August 19 in 10 major markets amid highly positive reviews and was expected to be the best-selling Samsung mobile device ever. At the time of the recall, more than 2.5 million of the smartphones were sold globally, with 1 million of those sold in the US. Much of the media coverage of Samsungs unprecedented decision has focused on the damage to the Galaxy brand and the financial impact of the fiasco on the tech company. Some estimates put the long-term cost of ditching the Note 7 at $17 billion, possibly the costliest product safety failure in the history of consumer electronics. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics stocks fell by 8 percent on Tuesday, wiping out about $8 billion of the companys market value in its biggest one-day drop since the financial crash of 2008. The stock plummet took place just four days after the firm had reached an all-time high on Wall Street on October 7. Prior to the crisis, Samsung held approximately 22 percent of the $425 billion worldwide smartphone market, with the Apple iPhone coming in at around 11 percent. The technical failure occurs at a time of transition in the industry, with global sales growth of smartphones beginning to flatten after many years of rapid expansion. The damage to Samsungs reputation in the global smartphone markets is expected to be significant, with many consumers never again going back to the companys products. It is for this reason that some industry experts are suggesting that Samsung should cut its losses and abandon the entire Galaxy line and start all over again. Samsung seriously bungled the handling of the technical problems that started being reported almost immediately after the Note 7 was released. At first, the company stopped selling the model and told consumers who had purchased one before September 15 that they could get a replacement or refund. Working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the company investigated the issue and reported that the overheating was caused by faulty lithium-ion battery components provided by Samsung SDI, one of the companys subsidiaries. Then, in the midst of distributing the replacement smartphones with batteries made by another supplier, Samsung (and their cell phone carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon) abruptly stopped exchanging the phones with the explanation that temperature fluctuations might occur in the new devices but there was no safety risk. Samsung then said it would resolve individual cases with customers who had problems with the replacement phones. This was then followed up by the announcement that the Galaxy Note 7 was being pulled from shelves and production altogether. Some have blamed the top-down management culture at Samsung for the way the crisis reeled out of control. According to a report in the New York Times on Tuesday, two former Samsung employees said the workplace was militaristic, with high-level executives far removed from product design and the technologies deployed. For example, fearing lawsuits and subpoenas over the incinerating phones, Samsung management told staff charged with investigating the root cause of the burning phones that they were not to communicate with each other via e-mail. Although no new official explanation has been provided, it appears that the overheating is related to electronic components other than or in addition to the batteries. In any case, it is clear that the first measures taken by company executives were designed to protect the corporate interests of Samsung and not the safety of the public. Samsung was founded in 1938 and is today a $220 billion global conglomerate with many divisions. The current CEO, Yoon Boo Keun, is the grandson of the founder. The company is best known for the manufacture of consumer products such as smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners. While Samsung smartphones are assembled in Gumi, South Korea, the company has production facilities in dozens of countries including the US, China, India, the UK, Poland and Vietnam. As a quintessential product of the global economy, the design and manufacture of smartphones is a mesh of complex processes, raw materials and components from many parts of the world. The intense competition in the smartphone marketincluding the aggressive drive for continuous and rapid product innovation, feature and design enhancementsundoubtedly played a role in Samsungs release of millions of devices that posed a significant health and safety risk to the public. Two 16-year-old boys in Sydney have been arrested and charged with terrorism offences amid a blaze of prejudicial police and media allegations designed not only to destroy any chance of a fair trial but also further whip up public fears of terrorism. Broadcasting vague and unsubstantiated police accusations has become the modus operandi of the war on terrorism over the past 15 years. But Wednesdays arrests in the working class suburb of Bankstown have seen this operation taken to new depths. Fed by police leaks, the headlines in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, a Murdoch media tabloid, included: Two boys planned beheading in Bankstown and Arrested teens have links to Islamic State. Both teenagers were charged yesterday with terrorist offences after police surveillance teams allegedly observed them purchasing knives, which were later referred to as bayonets. Police declared they found a note on the boys, handwritten in Arabic, pledging allegiance to the caliphate of Islamic State. Each was charged with acts in preparation for a terrorist act, which carries a penalty of life in prison, and being a member of an unnamed terrorist organisation, which carries a penalty of 10 years imprisonment. They were denied bail, so they are likely be detained at least until December before any court hearing. Without waiting for any trial, let alone conviction, the Australian reported: According to police the pair were moments away from carrying out a gruesome stabbing attack, or perhaps a beheading, one of the hallmarks of Islamic State-inspired terrorism. Likewise, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters the police had prevented an imminent attack that was inspired by Islamic State. She admitted, however, the police had no information about the target, or any other details of the alleged plot. What we do know, though, is that the actions, we will allege, were enough to say they were preparing to do an attack, although we dont know specifically where that attack was going to take place, Burn said. Police said the two boys had been under intense surveillance for at least two years. Among the accusations against them is that in 2014 one boy refused to stand for the national anthem during an assembly at East Hills Boys High, his school. This allegation demonstrates that any form of legitimate political protest, including refusing to stand for Advance Australia Fair, can be characterised as evidence of terrorist intent. The guilt of the other boy was insinuated by reporting that he is a relative of a man who was recently jailed for eight years on charges of helping Australians travel to Syria to fight in the countrys civil war. As part of this barrage, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported: He is a relative of Australias most notorious Islamic State recruiter, Hamdi Alqudsi. This is blatant guilt by association. Prosecutors fed the media coverage by tendering court documents quoting a phone conversation between one of the boys and his mother, intercepted by the security agencies a day after the killing last October of New South Wales police worker Curtis Cheng. The boy is alleged to have told his mother: When they come, I am going to do something to them that they have never seen before. I am going to do something bigger. As intended, the media immediately depicted this unclear remark, made more than a year ago, as a threat of a ghastly crime. The Australian began its report by asserting: An alleged teenage extremist arrested on the streets of Sydney moments before he was to commit a grisly terrorist attack was deported by Egyptian security services less than a year ago after he travelled to the Sinai region to join a foreign terror group. The newspapers article revealed that the boy was stopped and interrogated by Egyptian security services last December. It said the Egyptian authorities provided information on the teenagers alleged activities to Australian intelligence services, which fed into an investigation of the boy. In other words, the Australian agencies are collaborating closely with the Western-backed Egyptian military dictatorship. This is part of Australias integral involvement in the US-led wars that have devastated the Middle East since 2001, fuelling the intense popular hostility that Islamic fundamentalists have readily exploited. Both boys and their families have long been subjected to police and media assaults. One of the teenagers told the media in 2014 he was burning after police raided his home and his mother was detained without her nijab on. Amid the media frenzy, one commentator pointed to the fact that marginalised young Muslim people, who typically confront mass unemployment and constant police harassment, are also becoming increasingly hostile to the Australian political establishment and its police-intelligence apparatus. Associate Professor Mehmet Ozalp from the Islamic Sciences and Research Academy told the ABCs 7.30 program: They are in that world, and experiencing raids in their homes their being angry is not about anger towards what is happening to Muslims around the world but what is happening to them and to their family members. As it has since barely surviving the July 2 election, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls Liberal-National government seized on the arrests to justify further bolstering the repressive police-intelligence apparatus in the face of rising social and class tensions. Justice Minister Michael Keenan declared: Since the national terrorism threat level was raised on 12 September 2014, there have been four attacks, and now 11 major [counter-terrorism] disruption operations in response to potential attack planning in Australia. Like the latest arrests, these 11 major operations have been based on accusations of imminent attacks that have contained no evidence of any specific plots. The more than 60 anti-terrorism laws enacted over the past decade and a half permit people to be jailed for life for allegedly preparing a (unspecified) terrorist act, without any proof of an actual plan. This legislation, adopted with Labors bipartisan backing, also defines terrorism in sweeping terms that can cover traditional forms of political protest. Two recent terrorism arrests, one against a right-wing activist and the other against a Kurdish journalist, highlight the capacity of the laws to be used against political opponents, particularly anti-war and socialist organisations. This weeks arrests continue the governments efforts, assisted by Labor and the corporate media, to ramp up the war on terrorism under conditions of a deepening offensive against the jobs, working conditions, welfare entitlements, essential social programs and living standards of the working class. These operations, accompanied by intensifying witch-hunting of Muslims, seek to both divide the working class along communal and ethnic lines, and create the ideological conditions for escalating Australian participation in the widening wars provoked by the US in Syria, Iraq and throughout the Middle East. The death of the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej yesterday afternoon at the age of 88 has provoked fears in ruling circles in Thailand and internationally that the countrys protracted political crisis will worsen. The king had close ties to the armed forces and was the linchpin of the state apparatus, currently presided over by a military junta. The palace signalled Bhumibols imminent demise last weekend with an announcement that he had a severe infection. He was frail and had suffered from multiple afflictions for some time. The news impacted immediately on the financial markets. The Thai stock market fell 6.2 percent over the course of the week and the Thai baht shed 2 percent against the US dollar. The kings death was greeted with a wave of nauseating accolades from heads of state and political leaders around the world. US President Barack Obama issued a statement declaring that Bhumibol was a tireless champion for economic development and improved living standards. The UN General Assembly and Security Council stood in silent tribute. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised Bhumibols legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights. The international media followed suit, focussing on the outpouring of grief among the kings supporters. The phrase revered by the Thai people appears in article after article, which either gloss over or completely ignore the Thai monarchys staggering wealth and its support for the countrys long succession of military coups and abuse of democratic rights. Bhumibols meticulously-cultivated image as a man of the people can survive only due to the protection afforded by the countrys draconian lese-majeste laws, enforced by the military and police to intimidate and silence critics. Article 112 of Thailands criminal code declares that anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent will be punished with up to 15 years in prison. The pall of media censorship extends over the monarchys vast business empire. According to the Forbes magazine, Bhumibol was the worlds richest monarch and one of its wealthiest individuals, with a fortune estimated at around $30 billion. His holdings included the Crown Property Bureau, which holds vast tracts of land as well as large stakes in major corporations and industries. The monarchy is also an important source of business patronage, including through the award of royal warrants to companies. Bhumibol epitomised the vast social divide between the rich and poor. A comment on the Bloomberg web site noted that more than 70 percent of government spending is devoted to Bangkok and surrounding provinces, and political power is heavily centralised. The system will almost certainly perpetuate one of the worlds widest inequality gaps; by one estimate, the richest 0.1 percent of Thais owns nearly half of the nations assets, it commented. As the countrys economic boom as a cheap labour platform waned, particularly in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, Thailand confronted a worsening political crisis stemming from growing social unrest among the working class, along with the rural poor in the north and north-east. Deteriorating living standards and social inequality also underlie the protracted armed insurgency in the southern predominantly Muslim provinces that has claimed more than 5,000 lives since 2004. Far from being a neutral figurehead standing above the political fray, Bhumibol has sided with the Bangkok elitesthe military, state apparatus and associated corporate bodiesin their protracted struggle against a rival faction of the ruling class represented by deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The monarchy and the traditional elites initially backed Thaksin when he won the 2001 election in a landslide, then turned against him. They did so not because of Thaksins autocratic methods and abuse of democratic rights, but because his economic restructuring cut across existing systems of patronage and he raised expectations among the rural and urban poor through limited social reforms. Bhumibol and the royal establishment backed the military to the hilt when it ousted Thaksin in a military coup in 2006 and rewrote the constitution. The demonstrations of anti-Thaksin yellow shirts that provided the pretext for the coup drew heavily on the Bangkok middle classes and not accidently adopted yellowthe royal colouras their symbol. The inability of the establishment opposition parties to win any of the carefully-managed elections over the past decade has only deepened the political turmoil. The army cracked down brutally on pro-Thaksin red shirt demonstrations in 2010, killing at least 90 people, and in 2014 ousted the government of Thaksins sister Yingluck Shinawatra. The failure of the Shinawatras and their supporters to mount any concerted resistance to the monarchy and the military stems primarily from the fact that all factions of the Thai bourgeoisie are terrified at the growing unrest among the working class and rural poor. The current military junta headed by General Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister has sought to consolidate its grip on power by once again rewriting the constitution and cracking down on any dissent. Particularly sensitive to any, even slight, criticism of the monarchy, it has used the lese-majeste laws more and more frequently to arrest and jail opposition. A report by the French-based International Federation for Human Rights issued in February documented 66 arrests on lese-majeste charges since the May 2014 coup, with 36 individuals convicted and jailed, including 22 by military courts. A great deal of nervousness surrounds the succession, as 64-year-old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is in no position to revive the tattered image of the Thai monarchy. Even the lese-majeste laws have not prevented salacious details of his jet-set lifestyle and his lack of any pretence of interest in the lives of the Thai people from being the subject of media commentary. In announcing Bhumibols death, General Prayuth signalled that Vajiralongkorn, who was designated as successor in 1972, would ascend the throne. He later announced that the crown prince had requested a delay in his proclamation as king, and time to mourn his fathers death. Together with orders for a lengthy and elaborate period of mourning, it appears that the junta is desperate to prevent Vajiralongkorns installation from becoming a focus for broad popular opposition to the Bangkok elites. The pilots, flight attendants and ground crew of Germanys TUIfly airline are putting up fierce resistance to a restructuring plan accompanied by extensive layoffs and a severe deterioration in working conditions. While management proceeds ruthlessly against them, the workers, as in many other conflicts, are faced with the problem that the trade unions stand on the side of the company. They work closely with management and have conspired with them against the workers. Immediately before TUI board chairman Henrick Homann announced the details last week of the companys far-reaching restructuring plans, with devastating consequences for the workers, trade union representatives signed their names to a new collective agreement. In doing so, they ended the no-contract conditions in which strikes are legally permitted and created a contract peace in which industrial action is forbidden. The workers reacted furiously. As the trade union functionaries opposed their call for action, the workers resorted to self-defence. They organized a spontaneous sick-out strike, in which they called in sick on short notice and in large numbers. The effects were considerable. The action showed the power the workers have when they break through the bureaucratic control of the trade unions. Management was completely surprised and could not organize replacement crews. Flights were cancelled by the dozens, and last Friday, TUIfly temporarily ceased all air traffic. The trade union leadership was just as taken aback as management. The former head of the Independent Flight Attendant Organisation (Ufo), Nicoley Baublies, now the head of IG Luftverkehr (IGL), attacked the workers and their sick-out action. That is definitely not a means of labour struggle for us, Baublies told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. But that was not enough. The trade unions immediately took the initiative of organizing a strikebreaking operation. A joint Ad-hoc Crisis Agreement with the Air Berlin airline company reads: Air Berlin has come to an agreement with the Cockpit Organization, the Ver.di bargaining commission Cabin and the general works council to implement emergency measures with the aim of stabilizing air traffic This was followed by a joint appeal from management, the union and works council to oppose the sick-out strike. The statement reads: A large number of Air Berlin flights operating under a wet-lease agreement with TUIfly have also been affected by the extensive TUIfly cancellations. In light of this, Air Berlin, together with the Cockpit Organization, the Ver.di bargaining commission and the general works council, calls on pilots, flight attendants and ground personnel to take part in special operations on a voluntary basis. Unions have often sabotaged and stalled strikes and protest actions. But seldom before have they so openly and brutally stabbed their own membership in the back while operating as strikebreakers. Despite this, the strike action had significant consequences. TUI personnel chief Elke Eller found herself compelled to quickly issue a statement saying TUIfly would remain a German company based in Hannover for the next three years. Labour and wage agreements would be valid until then, she promised. But such promises are worth nothing. This is not a legal binding agreement, nor is it clear whether, or in which form, TUIfly will even exist in three years. Although the spontaneous strike action has been thwarted, the unrest among workers remains. It is seething at TUIfly, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). To prepare for the struggles ahead, it is necessary to draw a balance sheet of past experiences. An assessment of the trade unions is of central importance. Without breaking free from the straitjacket of the unions, it is impossible to lead a successful struggle to defend jobs and social standards. The Ver.di and VC functionaries defend themselves, saying they were fooled by management and taken by surprise. But this is a lie. Nine leading functionaries at Ver.di, Cockpit and the works council sit on the companys supervisory board, and three of them belong to its executive committee. They are involved in all strategy debates and restructuring plans of management. The unions and the company works council are not only informed from the beginning about such decisions, but even submit their own restructuring plans for job cuts while agreeing to keep the peace. Since 2014, there has also been a roundtable at company headquarters in Hannover which can be summoned on short notice. One could hardly imagine the collaboration of trade unions, works councils and management to be closer or more intimate. It is just this close partnership that encourages management to carry out ever more intense attacks on workers. The board of directors considers the unions and works councils as an important instrument for the enforcement of its interests and plans. That is why the shock and concern in the boardroom was so great in recent weeks. The unions and works council temporarily lost control and the workers acted independently. The close partnership between management, the works council and union means that the interests of workers can only be defended against, and not with, the unions and councils. In this context, it is important to take a more precise look at the so-called employee representatives on the supervisory board. Ver.di functionary and chairman of the companys works council Frank Jakobi is deputy chairman of the supervisory board and a member of the presidium. According to the companys 2014-15 financial statements, he received 222,300 for his work on the supervisory board. Andreas Barczewski sits on the supervisory board and presidium representing the Cockpit organization. In the last year, he was paid 192,600. Altogether, the work of the nine union representatives on the supervisory board has been compensated with 1.13 million. For Jakobi and Barczewski, that means more than 15,000 per month in addition to lavish works council salaries. Naturally, they all claim to pay the majority of their fees to the unions. But that does not improve matters. Rather, it confirms that the unions are funded in large part by the companies themselves through their supervisory boards. Basing themselves on this collaboration, TUIfly plans a massive restructuring and the formation of a new leisure airline which is, above all, geared toward drastically reducing personnel costs through job and wage cuts. In the end, no one knows what will remain of TUIfly, writes the FAZ. Together with the beleaguered Air Berlin and its major shareholder Etihad from the United Arab Emirates, TUIfly is to be integrated into a holding in which current pay scales will no longer apply. Two weeks ago, the Air Berlin board of directors announced they would lay off 1,200 workers as part of a strategic reorientation of the company. The new holding is to include 60 aircraft, 20 from the Austrian Air Berlin sister company Niki and 40 from TUIfly. The travel company TUI as well as Air Berlin majority owner Etihad will each keep one quarter of the shares. According to press reports, the majority will rest with an Austrian foundation. The FAZ cites an internal newsletter in which TUIfly employees expressed their concern and outrage. TUIfly salaries will sink to the levels of Niki, which are approximately half as much. Or the entire workforce will simply be gotten rid of. To fight against this, it is necessary to oppose the logic of the capitalist profit system and take up an international socialist perspective. The restructuring of TUIfly and Air Berlin is part of a European-wide and international development which is not confined to the airline industry. Workers everywhere are confronted with the fact that the globalization of production is being used to enforce cost reduction measures in the form of layoffs, wage cuts and the degradation of working conditions. Everywhere, so-called atypical employment relationships are being created. The dream job of being a pilot has turned into a nightmare. Temporary work and pseudo-self-employment are increasingly used by airline companies to reduce personnel costs. Most pilots must already pay for expensive training themselves and then, as part of the pay to fly system, pay tens of thousands of euros in order to accumulate the necessary flying hours. In every other area of the airline industry, exploitation worsens and opposition grows. A few days ago, air traffic controllers in Greece announced a strike that was planned to last for several days. But the unions stifled it at the last moment. In September, air traffic controllers went on strike in France. But there too, the unions very quickly brought the strike to an end. It is increasingly clear that without a rebellion against the trade unions and a conscious break with their nationalist, profit-oriented policy pitting workers in one location against those in another, no attacks from the company can be repulsed and no problems solved. It is necessary to make last weeks sick-out strike the starting point for organizing independently of the trade unions. A political program based on the rights and interests of workers in opposition to the profit interests of the companies must be adopted to unite workers internationally in a common struggle for a socialist perspective. Film and theatre director Andrzej Wajda, one of the most prominent figures in postwar Polish cultural life, died in Warsaw on October 9 at the age of 90. Wajda died from pulmonary failure. Born in a small city in northeastern Poland in 1926, Wajda began his filmmaking career in the 1950s with a series of works dealing with key historical events of the twentieth centuryWorld War II, the Holocaust and the postwar Stalinist era. His films belong to the canon of Polish and European cinema and made a great impact on his contemporaries as well as subsequent generations. In his home country, Wajda is regarded as one of the most respected and significant documentarians of his time. Rejecting the restraints of Stalinist Socialist Realism, he promoted a revival of symbolism in the spirit of the countrys nineteenth century Romantic traditions. Together with such prominent figures as Wojciech Has, Andrzej Munk and Kazimierz Kutz, he was a driving force behind the movement later known as the Polish Film School. Many of Wajdas earlier movies, including A Generation (1954), Kana (1956) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958), were honest and valuable attempts to portray the complexity of Polish contemporary history and politics. His last films, however, increasingly resembled state-commissioned propaganda. This regrettable decline of a very talented artist was bound up with Wajdas own political outlook in relation to the broader historical developments in postwar Poland. Wajda belonged to a generation born between the imperialist world wars. Those who survived World War II experienced both fascism and Stalinism. Many artists, including Wajda, were attracted for a time to socialism and Marxism. However, they faced the difficulty of having to overcome both the Stalinist and nationalist ideological pressures of their time. After a brief encounter with the anti-Nazi, pro-bourgeois republic resistance movement of the Home Army (AK), young Andrzej lived through the war in provincial Radom and later in Krakow, relatively untouched by the German occupation. His father, Jakob, a lieutenant in the Polish army, went missing in September 1939 and was later declared to have been shot by Soviet forces in mysterious circumstances. The trauma of his fathers disappearance had lasting consequences for Wajda, which he finally sought to lay to rest much later in his career with his film Katyn (2007). After the Second World War, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and, in 1950, at the famed odz Film School. In 1948, he joined the ruling Stalinist PPR (Polish Workers Party). At the time, Wajda believed that artists and intellectuals needed to support the ongoing social and political transformation of his country. When applying for entry to the odz Film School in 1950 (the schools alumni include Roman Polanski and Krzysztof Kieslowski), he wrote: Beside talent and a sense of reality, a film director must have a Marxist attitude towards life and art. In line with these convictions, Wajda made his directing debut with Generation (1954), a black-and-white feature about young Communist partisans in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. The partisans are presented in a positive light as opposed to the forces of the pro-bourgeois AK. Inspired by Italian neorealism, well acted and directed, the film shows young, often teenage men and women faced with extreme situations and dramatic choices under conditions of war. The second part of Wajdas famous war trilogy, and perhaps the best, was Canal. Here Wajda masterfully recreates the last days in the lives of several Warsaw uprising fighters who attempt to make their way through the citys sewer system. Awarded the Silver Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, Canal is an innovative masterpiece of anti-war cinema blending realism with suspense, and using innovative sound and light effects. The film was not received favourably in Poland. The futile death of the uprisings heroes, covered in dirt and excrement, did not correspond to the idealised picture of the nations martyrs. Ashes and Diamonds, the third film in the trilogy, was one of the most controversial and discussed films in Polish cinema history. Featuring the talented Zbigniew Cybulski (often referred to as the Polish James Dean), Wajdas film deals with the postwar efforts of the anti-communist AK partisans who were ordered to assassinate pro-Soviet government officials. Wajda skillfully depicts the tragedy of Maciek (Cybulski), who experiences doubts before killing a man, a Communist official, he personally knows. The ambiguity of the films plot provoked both criticism and praise, but it is clear that Wajdas sympathies lie with Maciek. Wajda uses the film to portray his own tragic generation of romantic war heroes through the mythical depiction of one day in the life of a tragic character who dies on the scrapheap of history. Controversy surrounded Wajdas attitude towards national symbols and heroes. Lotna (1959) took a heavy beating from nationalistic circles for its alleged ahistorical treatment of the September campaign (Hitlers invasion of Poland in 1939), when the Polish cavalry on horses launched a attack on German tanks. With this film, as in the case of Generation, Wajda was widely criticised by some for accommodating himself to the Stalinist regime. The release of The Ashes in 1965 once again unleashed a fierce debate on the treatment of Polish history. Wajda was attacked by the critics and nationalist circles for presenting that history in an unflattering light. Set during the Napoleonic wars, the film touches on the sensitive subject of the role of Polish soldiers in suppressing the independence movements of other nations while fighting at the side of Napoleons army for Polands own independence. Wajda paid a tribute in 1968 to Cybulski, one of his favorite actors, who died tragically in an accident at the age of 40, with a highly personal film, Everything For Sale, featuring his wife of the time, Beata Tyszkiewicz. In 1975 Wajda directed one of his most memorable works, The Promised Land. Based on the novel by the Nobel Prize winner Wadysaw Reymont and considered one of the finest Polish films, it recreates the harsh environment of early capitalism in nineteenth century odz, an industrial town. Following the story of three friends: the Polish Karol Borowiecki, the German Maks Baum and the Jewish Moryc Welt, who jointly want to establish a textile factory, the movie exposes the crudity and brutality associated with the ruthless pursuit of profit. The mid-1970s also witnessed a change in Wajdas attitude towards the Stalinist establishment. He began to criticise the bureaucratic regime for strangling the artistic and political expression of his generation and released his first anti-Stalinist film, Man of Marble (1976). The film tells the story of a model worker, bricklayer Mateusz Birkut, during the 1950s, shown through the investigative lens of a young female reporter, Agnieszka. The reporter uncovers the bitter truth behind Birkuts famous feat of laying 30,000 bricks during one shift and the tragic fate of a young worker of peasant origin who, after embracing Communism, is destroyed by the very system he had supported. Man of Marble conveys the mood of growing popular discontent. The film also presciently anticipates the future development of the Solidarity union movement by ending with a scene in which Agnieszka finally manages to meet Maciek, Birkuts son, in front of the gates of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk (where workers stage a historic strike in 1980, precipitating a major crisis for the Stalinist officialdom). Wajdas Man of Iron (1981) picks up where the previous film left off, and documents the birth of Solidarity in 1981 (with a cameo performance by Solidarity leader Lech Waesa). Following the implementation of martial law and the crushing of the strike movement in December 1981 by the Polish Stalinist government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, Wajda filmed his Danton (1983) in Paris. The movie, with a script by Jean-Claude Carriere, examines the events in post-revolutionary France in 1794. Gerard Depardieu, in a remarkable performance, plays Danton, a highly popular figure, who faces trial and execution as a traitor to the Revolution. The film clearly is meant to address both the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism, as well as the situation in contemporary Poland. Before hiring Depardieu, Wajda invited him to the Gdansk shipyard to have him see the inhumanely tired face of revolution that suddenly falls asleep dreaming a dream that cannot be realised. In 1990, the director returned to the theme of the Holocaust in Korczak. Filmed in black-and-white, the movie tells the story of the well-known Polish-Jewish doctor, writer and pedagogue Janusz Korczak (Wojciech Pszoniak). This author of well-loved books for children became another victim of the Holocaust. Wajdas moving film portrays Korczaks struggle to save the children at his orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto and their last march to the gas chambers in Treblinka. Following the collapse of the Stalinist regime and the re-establishment of capitalism in Poland, Wajda entered politics and served as a senator for Solidarity between 1989 and 1991, during Walesas term as president. From 1992 to 1994, Wajda was chairman of Polands Cultural Council, playing an active role in politics and encouraging the revival of nationalism. He became a member of the pro-capitalist Democratic Union (1990-1994), acting as a vocal proponent of the pro-European Union Civic Platform (PO). He also became a co-owner of one of the most influential newspapers, Gazeta Wyborcza, notorious for beating the drum for war with Russia. Wajda consciously turned at this time to Polands national literary heritage. He directed a large-scale version of Pan Tadeusz (1998), based on the epic poempublished in 1834by Adam Mickiewicz, as well as The Revenge (2002), with an excellent role for Roman Polanski, based on another work, a comedy by Aleksander Fredro written in 1833, that is also mandatory reading for Polish students. In 2007, at the age of 81, Wajda completed his film Katyn dealing with the killing of an estimated 22,000 Polish officers and intellectuals by Soviet troops in early 1940. Katyn is a town near Smolensk in Russia where most of the executions took place. Wajdas father was executed, as part of the same operation, in an NKVD prison in Kharkiv in the Ukraine. For decades, any discussion of the slaughter carried out in Katyn was forbidden in postwar Stalinist Poland, while in the Soviet Union itself, blame for the atrocity was laid on German troops following the breach of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact by Hitler. Wajdas film is the first cinematic attempt to deal with this tragic event, and it is deeply flawed. In a succession of scenes, the filmmaker presents in dramatic form all the themes of contemporary Polish nationalismthe danger of Polands being overrun from Germany in the west and the Soviet Union or Russia in the east; the role of the Catholic Church in Poland, heroically intervening on behalf of the Christ amongst nations; and the quasi-democratic qualms of an elite Polish cavalry officer in 1939, whose first thought, according to Wajda, is that his enemy does not adhere to the Geneva conventions. Wajda denied his film was anti-Russian, although all of the Soviet figures portrayed in the filmwith one notable exceptionare thugs and brutes. Even more troublesome than Katyn is the final part of Wajdas Solidarity trilogy, Waesa: Man of Hope (2012). Made in a response to mounting criticism of Solidarity and Waesa, who was accused of having collaborated with the Stalinists, Man of Hope is a shameful propaganda piece marking two decades since the restoration of capitalism in Poland. It also represents the directors rather desperate attempt to restore Waesas reputation as a national hero. The films happy ending features Waesa paying a vassals tribute to the imperialist powers, falsely labelling the reinstatement of capitalism in Poland and the looting of the countrys state assets as the road to freedom. Wajda was not alone in his disorientation. It is difficult to think of more than a handful of Eastern European or Soviet/Russian intellectuals who responded to the restoration of capitalism in 1989-1991 in a critical or even thoughtful manner. Cut off by Stalinism from genuine left-wing thought, accepting the regimes and the Western bourgeoisies claim that Stalinist rule represented a form of socialism or communism, and having campaigned for decades around the empty, abstract slogan of democracy, the artists in particular virtually to a man or woman succumbed to the imperialists siren song. Wajdas prostration before political reaction found vivid expression in his embrace of the fascistic coup in Ukraine. In remarks preceding the premiere of Waesa: Man of Hope on Ukrainian television in April 2014, Wajda commented: Dear friends, in all that youre going through, perhaps youll be curious to know how we, creating Solidarity under Lech Walesas leadership, regained freedom, became a free nation. ... I am deeply convinced that you will win. I wish you this victory from the bottom of my heart. Long live free Ukraine! Wajdas final film, Afterimage (2016), treats the last years in the life of avant-garde artist Wadysaw Strzeminski (Boguslaw Linda) in postwar Poland. Strzeminski identified with revolutionary movements in art and politics in the 1920s. Now, he rejects Socialist Realism and pursues his own artistic path. The Polish Stalinist officials fear and oppress him, kicking him out of the artists association and depriving him of making a living. He dies in 1952. In one of his final interviews, Wajda indicated that he wished to warn against government intervention in the affairs of art. The Law and Justice (PiS) governments brutal intrusion into Polands artistic life, which began soon after the far-right party took power in 2015, troubled Wajda. But his warning, especially in light of his own recent history, which helped these reactionary forces come to power, is a matter of too little, too late: We are now facing attempts by the authorities to intervene in art. They talk about what national art should be or what it shouldnt be. Ive made a film about the events of the past, with the message that interference in art is not a task for the authorities. It is a job of the artists, not the government. In our review of Wajdas Katyn, we noted as a conclusion: Wajda is intent on reviving a national traditionas the reviewer for the New York Times put it, Katyn is deliberately intended to inspire patriotism in the most positive sense of the word. However, both the global integration of world capitalism and the venality of the Polish bourgeoisie render any independent Polish national development impossible. Nothing could be more indicative of the reactionary dead-end of Polish nationalism today than the fact that in its efforts to evade German influence from the west and Russian influence from the east, the Polish ruling elite has increasingly looked for support from the White House in Washington. During the postwar period many of Andrzej Wajdas films provided genuine insights into the workings of both Stalinist and Nazi totalitarianism. His films dealt with the possibility and necessity of opposition to oppressive regimes. As such his work offered a genuine starting point for a revival of culture and film in Poland. Now, however, the development of culture in Poland and elsewhere can only take place in hostile opposition to the film directors espousal of nationalism and uncritical embrace of the free market economy. Europe Protest by Greek television staff over job losses Around 200 television journalists and other staff held a protest Monday outside the office of Syriza leader Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. They are protesting the threat to 2,000 jobs resulting from a reorganization of the Greek private television broadcasting industry. Sixty of the protesters broke through a police cordon to hang a banner on a fence surrounding Tsipras office. A recent auction of television licenses raised around 246 million but left five out of seven current broadcasting companies without licenses and facing closure with subsequent job losses. Protest by Slovakian teachers On October 7, around 150 Hungarian teachers held a protest march in the Slovakian city of Bratislava to demand more pay. They marched to the Finance Ministry where they demonstrated. The same day, some 2,000 teachers from over 200 schools came out on strike. The marches and strikes were organised by the Slovak Teachers Initiative. The teachers are seeking an across-the-board raise of 140 a month this year and a 90 per month raise from January. The action was the latest in opposition to the governments refusal to include teachers in a 3 percent wage increase paid to public-sector workers. A further strike is planned for October 19. Norwegian oil workers end strike A near three-week strike by Norwegian oil service workers ended Tuesday when they returned to work. The 300 staff walked out in pursuit of a pay claim. The strike impacted production at several oil platforms, including those of US conglomerate Halliburton. The strike affected drilling for new oil and gas wells but did not affect production at existing wells. It resulted in the laying off of more than 2,000 employees in firms associated with oil production. The Industri Energi union reached an agreement with representatives of the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association for a two-year collective pay agreement. Protest by Portuguese taxi drivers On Monday, convoys of taxi drivers drove slowly around the Portuguese capital Lisbon, passing the parliament building. An estimated 6,000 taxi drivers from across the country came to Lisbon to participate. They were protesting against the use of apps such as Uber and Cabify, which allow passengers to hail a taxi via an app on their mobile phones. Parliament is due to bring in legislation to control the use of such apps. Under the proposals, however, drivers seeking customers via such apps will be required to undertake 30 hours training, whereas traditional taxi drivers have to undergo 150 hours training before being allowed to trade. UK: Southern GTR rail workers strike Train conductors employed by Southern GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway) took three days of strike action this week in a long-running dispute over the imposition of Driver Only Operation (DOO) trains. The workers, members of the RMT trade union, are opposing plans to change their role to onboard safety operators. GTR had threatened to sack all conductors unless they agreed to their plans, and had sought a legal challenge to the strike. In response, the RMT reversed its opposition. It continued with the strike solely as a means of trying to pressure the company into talks. Negotiations broke down however, on Wednesday, after less than one hour with GTR insisting that where DOO was in operation, it wanted the flexibility to run the service without a conductor or onboard supervisor present. The 72-hour strike concluded Thursday, with threats of further action. Bus workers in Irish capital end series of strikes Bus staff employed by the Dublin Bus Company have voted to end their dispute. Around 1,500 drivers represented by the National Bus and Rail Union voted by a 79 percent majority to return to work, ending a series of strikes over pay which have taken place over the last few weeks. SIPTU trade union members, including drivers and other staff, also voted to end the strike. Dublin Bus staff were seeking a 15 percent wage increase over three years to bring them in line with Luas Dublin tram system staff. The vote to end the series of strikes followed talks brokered by the Workplace Relations Commission. Under the agreement, Dublin Bus workers will get an 11.25 percent pay increase over three years. Although the unions claim there is no productivity agreement associated with the deal, the company states the unions accepted so-called Lean Management techniques and random drug and alcohol testing which the company reports would help reduce costs. Road maintenance workers in Sheffield hold 24-hour strike Staff working for the Streets Ahead road improvement project in Sheffield held a 24-hour strike Monday. The dispute is over a wage claim and to protest 90 job losses announced by Amery, a private-sector company under contract to Sheffield City Council to carry out the work. The workers, members of the street lighting team, will be made redundant by January. Other redundancies will take place over the next year. Amongst those to be laid off are former Sheffield City Council workers who were promised a 25-year contract when they were transferred from the council in 2012. The strikers, members of the GMB union, set up a picket line outside the citys Olive Grove depot. One-day strike by London journalists Journalists working for Newsquest held a one-day strike on Thursday. Newsquest publishes a series of local newspapers across the London area. The journalists are opposed to worsening employment conditions and plans by the company to cut jobs and drive up productivity among those remaining. They are members of the National Union of Journalists. School cleaners in Wakefield, UK continue action Three cleaners at a primary school in Kinsley, near the town of Wakefield in England, are in the sixth week of a strike. The women have nearly 30 years of service at the school. The school became a state funded but privately run academy last year and the cleaning contract was transferred to a private company, C&D Cleaning this April. C&D Cleaning cut their wages from 7.85 to the minimum wage of 7.20 and also cut their pension entitlement, along with sick pay and leave allowance. In response, the cleaners walked off the job and have been holding a picket at the school since the beginning of September. The women contacted their union, Unison, but the company is refusing to negotiate with it. Unison has taken the company to an industrial tribunal, arguing the company may have broken transfer of undertaking regulations. Middle East Protests by public-sector workers in Iraqi Kurdistan Public-sector workers in the Kurdistan region of Iraq have been involved in recent protests over nonpayment of salaries and cuts in salaries. The Kurdistan Regional Government cut state salaries in September last year and has not paid them at all since July. This has led to a dire crisis for many public employees. A large demonstration of teachers and university professors was held in protest at the end of September. Africa National strike of Sudanese health care system Doctors across Sudan began a strike October 6, providing emergency cover only across the country. An October 9 article in the Sudan Tribune reported that 78 hospitals were on strike with other hospitals and 26 health centres joining their colleagues. The independent doctors association, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, are demanding an improvement of their working conditions, protection from assault, and medicines to carry out their duties. Doctors who run police and armed services hospitals are also joining the strike. This week, it was reported that directors of the medical centres were meeting in Khartoum and are expected to also come out in support. The strike is not only confined to the public health care system. Private hospitals are also taking strike action. South African workers demonstrate in 24-hour stoppage On October 7, demonstrations called by Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) took place in states throughout South Africa. The strike and demonstrations were called to correspond with the International Decent Work Day annual demonstration. The International Decent Work Day was established under the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in 2007 and takes place each year. It was reported that tens of thousands of trade unionists stayed away from work. Around 90 percent of textile workers also stayed away. COSATU is calling for the banning of labour brokers, defence of jobs against retrenchments, a minimum wage, defence of collective bargaining, implementation of occupational health and safety standards in all workplaces, a national health insurance system and a demand for free education. The African National Congress government, which works closely with COSATU as a partner, did not formally oppose the action. South African union accepts redundancies South African General Motors is set to cut around 200 jobs at its Port Elizabeth plant. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is threatening to strike but has no intention of defending its members jobs. The union is opposed to the fact that the redundancies programme was not discussed with them and fear it will be imposed arbitrarily. Complaining that the retrenchment package will leave those made redundant in poverty, the union is threatening to strike for the right to slightly lengthen the period before the workers are pauperised. Nigerian college workers strike over unpaid wages and promotions After seven months without pay, college employees at Abia State College of Education Technical in Nigeria, began industrial action this week. The college employees are among an increasing number of public-sector workers nationwide, that have gone without wages for several months. The staff complain that contract agreements such as the Consolidated Polytechnics and College of Education Academic Salary Structure and the Consolidated Tertiary Education Institutions Salary Structure have not been honoured. The workers fear that the education system is being undermined by the conditions they confront. Nigerian polytechnic workers in dispute over downgrading Polytechnic workers at Ado-Ekiti College, located in the capital city of Ekiti State, struck this week. The workers claim management is ignoring their demands. The strike began after college management did not respond to workers grievances by a deadline they set. The staff have been arbitrarily downgraded from Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS) 8 to CONTISS 7 and are subjected to less favourable conditions than colleagues in other polytechnics. Two academic unions and one non-academic union involved in the strike are calling on the government to set up a panel to investigate the complaint. Namibian trade union supports planned scabbing operation Namibian teachers are preparing to strike over pay. In response, the government is threatening to recruit a scab workforce for the duration of the strike. Teachers were set to strike Thursday and say it would be illegal for the government to use strikebreakers against them. The Namibia National Teachers Union is demanding an 8 percent pay increase and called on other unions to back them. The National Labour Organisation is opposed to the strike, with its president supporting the right of the government to use scabs. The government is also seeking a court injunction against the strike and the police commissioner. The commissioner claims he cannot police the strike in 14 states if it goes ahead. Mali gold miners prepare to strike Mali gold miners are set to strike on October 24 against members of the National Section of Mines and Industries. The mining companies involved are Resolute Mining Ltd and Robex Resources Inc. Randgold Resources Ltd is already involved in a dispute over unpaid bonuses with members of Synacom, the mines, energy and civil construction union. Synacom organises 80 percent of miners nationwide. The unions contend that the gold mining companies are victimising their members by penalties and sackings. A report suggests some CFA 800 million ($1.7 million) of government revenues will be lost if the five-day strike goes ahead. All nine gold producers in Mali will be affected by the strike. Mali is the third-largest producer of gold in Africa after South Africa and Ghana. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A man who killed a 10-year-old girl in a central Florida hit-and-run crash has been sentenced to seven years in prison. The Orlando Sentinel ((https://goo.gl/xjv0ij) ) reports that 42-year-old Lastevie Howard was sentenced Thursday. He pleaded guilty last month to leaving the scene of a crash with a death and a crash with great bodily injury. Aubrey Clark and Jordan El-Ouadi were riding their bikes home from Citrus Elementary School in Ocoee in January 2015 when authorities say Howard pulled out of a parking lot, hopped a curb and hit the children. Both children were hospitalized, and Clark later died. Howard initially fled the scene after the crash, but his attorneys say he returned two minutes later after overcoming his panic. Other witnesses said it took 15 minutes. ___ Information from: Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Businesses impacted by Hurricane Matthew last week, or Hurricane Hermine one month ago, can now apply for loans from the state to help with financial issues caused by the storms. The state's Emergency Bridge-Loan program is designed to help businesses re-open as soon as possible following a disaster. The program is run through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Small businesses with between two and 100 employees that qualify for assistance can get short-term, interest-free loans of up to $25,000. The loans are then to be repaid within 90 or 180 days. The deadline to apply for businesses impacted by Hurricane Hermine is October 31st, and for those affected by Hurricane Matthew, the application due date is November 11th. GEORGIA (WTXL) - In Georgia, voters will decide on an amendment that would allow the state to assume control of schools considered to be "chronically failing." If it passes, amendment 1 would give state-appointed leaders the power to change and restructure those schools. The Decatur County Superintendent believes that amendment 1 is not in the best interest of students, parents and communities. Tim Cochran said that if these groups have problems with the state-controlled schools, there will be no local board or superintendent they can contact. He also said schools are a reflection of the communities they're in and those communities need to help build those schools, regardless of whether or not they're failing. Cochran said the state can help make that happen but it shouldn't take over. "Granted, we know there's issues across the state. We know there are districts that have severe need, but we feel like it's a local decision. There's mechanisms in place for the Department of Education to come in and facilitate growth, facilitate issues to help those districts in need. I think that there's some issues on the legislation that probably would be best if it was not passed," said Cochran. He continued to say that each of Georgia's 180 districts is different with specific issues that can't be overlooked by a state-run authority. The superintendent said the county board of education is not expected to pass a resolution regarding the amendment. TALLAHASSEE, FL (The News Service of Florida) - Advocates for inmate re-entry facilities said Thursday a Florida Department of Corrections plan to change the way work-release and substance-abuse programs are funded violates state law and may increase rates of recidivism. Re-entry contractors led by Bridges of America --- which provides services in some major cities and has an Orlando contract set to expire Dec. 31 --- told reporters the Department of Corrections is running afoul of a requirement that substantial changes in corrections funding are subject to legislative and executive-branch review. The contractors said the changes would reallocate funds from facilities like theirs to programs inside prisons. Lori Costantino-Brown, president of Bridges of America, said the Department of Corrections notified her organization in July that its state contract would be rebid through a process known as a request for proposals. The department then gave Bridges of America a three-month extension on an existing contract while preparing for the procurement process. Constantino-Brown said the procurement proposal was "different from anything they had put out in the past," including geographical caveats and facility requirements she called "suspicious." Bridges of America has filed a formal protest to the request for proposals. But Department of Corrections officials, including Secretary Julie Jones, have disputed the allegations. "They're welcome to bid on the proposal," department spokeswoman Michelle Glady said. "If they did, it may change things for them. That would be the decision they have to make. They're a business. They're currently protesting it --- that has to be resolved before we move forward with this process." The department and Bridges of America reached an agreement in May that allowed Bridges to continue operating facilities in Broward and Manatee counties, albeit under altered conditions and subject to termination by the department after two years. Both contracts include three one-year renewal options. "Today, more than 60 percent of the department's substance use disorder budget is dedicated to treating only a small number of individuals," Jones said in a September memo. "We know we can do better. We want to provide more services to treat an even greater number of individuals with the same resources." Department officials say their plan would provide services to more prisoners with the same funding levels, while re-entry facility representatives claim the state's plan focuses simply on "filling prison slots," increasing the volume of prisoners served but with diminished effectiveness. Some groups, such as Florida TaxWatch, have backed the re-entry facilities, arguing the department plan would increase inmate recidivism. HOMERVILLE, GA (WTXL) - Investigators said an officer may have been shot at on Thursday evening. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to look in to the shooting by the Homerville Police Department. They said they are still investigating whether or not shots were fired and if they were, whether or not they were directed at an officer. Investigators said that no one was injured during the incident. We will continue to update this story as we confirm more details. VALDOSTA, GA (WTXL) - A Valdosta dentist, whom attorneys said made more than $750,000 for teeth he never removed, plead guilty to healthcare fraud on Wednesday. Dr. Stanley Marable, 55, plead guilty to one count of healthcare fraud and could face a maximum sentence of 10 years, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release. According to attorneys, Marable was a general practice dentist in Valdosta who was paid through Medicaid on more than 3,000 claims for the removal of teeth. However, once they investigated these claims, they discovered that Marable had not removed teeth from many of the patients connected to the claims that had been submitted. Attorneys said several hadn't had any teeth removed at all, including one who didn't know Marable was a dentist. G.F. Peterman, III, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia stated, "Dr. Marable violated not only the trust placed in him as a practitioner of the healing arts, he blatantly lied to and stole from the tax paying public solely for his personal enrichment." As part of his plea agreement, Marable has agreed to pay a total of $789,841.00 to the Georgia Medicaid Program. "Dr. Marable's actions are inexcusable and clearly warranted the actions taken," said Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens. "My office continues to combat Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse through prosecutions like these." Sentencing for Marable has been scheduled for Feb. 8, 2017. Police in a hurry to bust down door cause Wapato drug case to get thrown out YAKIMA, Wash. -- Organizers say part of the William O. Douglas Heritage Trail could be at risk if the foundation associated with the trail can Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form Thousands of paratroopers have recently taken part in a large-scale brigade exercise , at the height of which hundreds parachuted out of the Hercules and Super Hecules planes from 1,200 feet directly into "enemy territory," while others landed on temporary landing strips. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Officers at the Israeli Air Force said this was the first time planes carrying such a large number of soldiers and combat gear land directly onto temporary landing strips. While the task is a complex one, is it one the IDF's cargo aircraft are capable of. : '' X A total of 16 landings were done within just a few hours on the special landing strips, which were prepared in the Ramat Hovav area in the Negev. These stretches of land were flattened and transformed in a short time by an aircraft landscape and desert specialist unit to simulate enemy territory far from Israeli borders. Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office The hundreds of soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade's 890th Battalion and reconnaissance battalion, who parachuted into "enemy territory," covertly secured the temporary landing strip to foil any attempts of attack against the Hercules planes. The cargo aircraft transported 16 combat vehicles along with ATVs used to carry equipment for the ground forces. Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office In addition, the planes unloaded advanced communication equipment to maintain direct and continuous radio contact between the troops on the ground and the command center in Israel, hundreds of kitbags with the soldiers' equipment, boxes of ammunition, water containers, and medical equipment for a field hospital. On the planes were also 60 soldiers from Special Forces units, including the canine unit Oketz and the engineering unit Yahalom. Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office "Hezbollah's fighters have the capability to attack Hercules planes, and that is why our ground forces instructed the planes to land during a very specific window of time," a senior Paratroopers officer explained to Ynet. "Deputy IDF chief Maj. Gen. Yair Golan set a very clear directive: Renew and strengthen the IDF's parachuting capability, with an emphasis on the Paratroopers Brigade, which is why there are no more parachuting courses given as a 'treat' to other units," he added. Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office The troops parachuted using the new US-made "Gur" parachute, which replaces the old "Tzabar" parachute. According to officers in the Paratroopers Brigade, the new parachute, which is also being used by the US military, has reduced the number of injuries among American paratroopers by 75 percent. 'A lot safer than helicopters' The paratroopers parachuted from 1,200 feet even though in real time, based on the level of danger on the ground and the wind speed, they can jump from as high as 6,000 feet. Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office "Parachuting from planes is a lot safer than using helicopters, (particularly since) during war time (the helicopters) will be used more for extraction and evacuation anyway," explained Paratroopers Brigade commander Col. Nimrod Aloni. After touching down, the paratroopers headed to the brigade's "gathering point" and then left on a "raid" of eight targets in a built-up area, which were simulating enemy command centers and a weapons depot storing long-range rockets. Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office Later, the paratroopers were flown to the Mahanayim landing strip in northern Israel to continue the exercise and "capture the Hermon Mountain." The training had different scenarios, and included cooperation with the Air Force and the Navy. Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office During the exercise, the paratroopers drilled other tasks in addition to parachuting, such as locating water sources (wells or streams) and chlorinating the water to make them fit for drinking. According to Col. Aloni, "We want to come to the General Staff and say we are ready and prepared (for any scenario)." Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office According to Maj. S., the deputy commander of the Shimshon Squadron who also piloted the Hercules plane the Paratroopers Brigade commander jumped out of, "the exercise includes assignments that we normally don't do in our day-to-day activity, but we met all of the deadlines set for us." Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office "We can land on any kind of terrain, but we're limited in weight and loads, which is why we have experts working on this," Maj. S. explained. "They come in advance to examine the ground and find any obstacles, and then mark the landing strips for us for day or night landing. We're used to landing on asphalt runways rather than dirt landing strips with dust and vegetation, so this was a special thing." Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office He went on to note that "by the end of the year, we will receive new Shimshon (Super Hercules) planes and have a total of nine planes." A year has passed since Russia began its direct involvement in the civil war in Syria . The number of civilian victims has only increased since the Russians entered the arena and the wave of refugees has not ceased for a moment. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter One year later, has Russia achieved its goals? What has changed on the Syrian border where Israel is concerned? According to official reports, there are 4,000 Russian soldiers in Syria. Only 20 have been killed since September 30, 2015. Can these figures be trusted? Destruction in Aleppo (Photo: Reuters) Saving the regime In the summer of 2015, Syria appeared to be headed towards a turning point. Although there are hundreds of factions and militias on the ground, its safe to say that the civil war divided Syria into three competing factions: The army of President Bashar Assads regime, which is supported by Hezbollah and Iranian forces; the moderate rebels in central and western Syria; and the Islamic State (ISIS) in northeastern Syria. After four years of battle between the three camps, Assad appeared to be collapsing. The Russians intervened in order to save the only regime in the Middle East which allows the Russian army to dock and act on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This is a strategic interest which Russian President Vladimir Putin could not give up on. Photo: AP Salvation arrived for the Syrian regime in September 2015 as the Russians who until then had settled for supplying weapons for the regimes survival began dispatching forces and planes to the shores of Tartus and to the Khmeimim Air Base near Latakia. The Russians first achievement was quick and certain within several months, they saved the Syrian regime from collapsing and stopped the rebels progress. The Syrian army moved from defense to offense. But the euphoria in Assads camp quickly faded away as military and diplomatic problems began. Different goals The rebels surprised the Russians, showed strong resistance and even managed to record achievements in places that were not bombed by the Russians. They developed survival methods, such as digging tunnels and burning tires so that the smoke would get in the planes way. The entire Idlib district is still under the control of the former al-Qaeda branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Sham (The Victory Front), which changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra (The Support Front), although it was bombed incessantly. The slow progress of the Syrian army and Hezbollah convinced the Russians that they must combine the warfare with diplomatic negotiations. The Russian effort to negotiate with the United States and with the rebels supporters, led by Saudi Arabia, angered the Iranians just like they were angered by Russias pre-coordination with Israel. In the first months of the Russian involvement, differences of opinions were raised between the allies. Russias main desire is to defend its military interests in northwest Syria, while the regime and Iran want to reoccupy the entire country. The conflict of interests was shown every time Russia reached a ceasefire and the Syrian army violated it. Russian missile boat headed to Syria (Photo: Reuters) It seems that Assad and the Iranians have failed to understand or accept the Russians sophisticated tactic reaching a ceasefire with moderate rebels in order to focus the fighting against Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and ISIS. Assad never agreed to distinguish between moderate rebels and radical rebels and has always argued that there is no revolt or revolution in Syria, but simply a conspiracy by Saudi Arabia and its allies to turn Syria into a Sunni Islamic state. While the Syrian army is making slow progress, it is consistent and the rebels have hardly recorded any achievements. According to Russian media reports, Russian planes have enabled the Syrian army to reconquer more than 200 villages and expand control of the key cities Damascus, Hama, Homs and Aleppo. Hundreds of rebels have been killed, including senior leaders, led by Army of Islam leader Zahran Alloush. Early 2016 marked a significant deterioration in the situation of the moderate rebels. They are under a siege almost everywhere and are being bombed incessantly, especially in Aleppo, which is the rebels capital and the second most important city in Syria. The Russians are hoping to reach victory in Aleppo in the coming months, a victory which will break the oppositions fighting spirit and end the revolt in Syria once and for all. It will only be in the next stage of their plan that they will focus their efforts on the war on ISIS. Photo: AFP Nonetheless, the Russians have already recorded achievements in the war on ISIS by diminishing its control in northern Syria through bombings, and first and foremost by occupying the ancient city of Palmyra without destroying its antiquities. The Russians organized a concert at the same site in Palmyra where ISIS used to execute people, The Russians did this in order to convey the message that the Russians are fighting against barbarism. Al-Mayadeen networks summary The Lebanese al-Mayadeen network, which is known for its support of Hezbollah and the Assad regime, published a series of opinion articles on the first anniversary of the Russian intervention. Dr. Qassim Izz al-Din, a graduate of Paris-Sorbonne University, admits that the Russian intervention did not lead Syria to a safe harbor, did not stop the war and did not eliminate terror as Russia had pledged when it dispatched its planes, but it did prevent Syria from falling into the hands of gunmen and the states institutions from collapsing, like what happened in Libya. The intervention internationalized the conflict in Syria and created a balance between the US which supports the rebels and Russia and the Syrian regime, which will affect the achievement of a balanced solution in the future. Russia deploys s-300 missiles in Syria (Photo: AP) Monzer Sulaiman, director of the al-Mayadeen offices in Washington, believes that the US made a mistake in thinking that Russia would agree to compromises on the Syrian issue due to the crisis in Ukraine. In his opinion, the US was wrong to allow Russia to be a legitimate decisive side in the negotiations on Syrias future. He writes that the point of agreement between the US and Russia is on the war on ISIS and the point of disagreement is over President Assad remaining in power. Lebanese journalist Mohammed Saif al-Din wrote that through their intervention, the Russians prevented the terrorists from taking over Syria, which would have turned the country into a global terror base. From Syria, they would have reached the Caucasus region and even Russia itself. Putin had estimated that 3,000 Islamists in Syria come from former Soviet Union countries. He says all commentators were wrong in their predictions that Syria would become a second Afghanistan, that Russia would not be able to financially afford the operation due to its condition, that it would become an illegitimate party in the international arena or that Islamic terror would hit the heart of Russia as an act of revenge. According to Saif al-Din, Russia failed in only one area in its attempt to turn the Kurds into allies. The latter preferred the American protection, and that will lead them in the future to a clash with the Syrian regime. Photo: AP Salam al-Obaidy, director of the al-Mayadeen offices in Moscow, argues that the Russian intervention restored the global situation to a state of bipolarity and proved that the US is no longer the only global police. He believes that Russia will remain in Syria and will leave until the battle is decided on the ground, militarily or politically. How does Russian intervention affect Israel? The positive side of the Russian intervention is that Israel has a partner. The landlord in Syria now is Putin rather than Assad or Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans spiritual leader. Israel can coordinate its activities in Syria with President Putin. Iran also appears to have suspended its attempts to create a Hezbollah force on the Golan border due to the IDFs stubborn battle against this infrastructure and thanks to Israels diplomatic efforts in its talks with Russia. The negative side of the Russian intervention are the reinforcement of the Muqawama (resistance) axis and an increase in the Syrian armys armament level, which recently received a reinforcement of S-300 missiles. The Syrian missile upgrade will make it difficult for the Israel Air Force to act against targets in Syria in the future. In addition, Israel will find it hard to supervise the transfer of Russian weapons to Hezbollah or to the Syrian regime and act against such transfers under the current conditions. The Russians are not the good side in the conflict in Syria. They support a much more murderous regime than ISIS, which is responsible for the destruction of the Syrian state, for the immigration of millions of its citizens and for the killing of hundreds of thousands. But the alternative a victory for the opposition, which is almost entirely made up of Sunni Salafi jihad organizations is possibly much worse for Israel and for Syria itself. Unfortunately, the Arab Spring failed in Syria in 2011 and democracy is a passing dream. The young people of the revolution joined jihadi organizations long ago, and all of Saudi Arabia and Qatars money is being funneled to them. There are two options on the ground; a division of Syria into the Islamic State in the east and Islamic emirates of the Salafi rebels in the West, or the option being advanced by Russia an Assad regime dictatorship in Syria. Which is worse? CAIRO- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday that a suspension of Saudi petroleum aid to Egypt was not related to his country's vote on Syria at the U.N. Security Council and the motives for the stoppage were unclear. "Some observers imagine that the stoppage of petroleum cargoes from Saudi Arabia was a response to this but this is not true because the oil cargoes come as part of a commercial agreement signed in April and we do not know the situation of the companies and will take the appropriate response," the official news agency quoted Sisi as saying in a speech to the military. At a UN Security Council meeting on Saturday, Egypt voted for both a French draft resolution on Syria, which was vetoed by Russia, and a subsequent Russian draft, which dropped calls for an end to the bombardment of Aleppo, and failed to pass. Hillary Clinton said privately that the US would "ring China with missile defense" if the Chinese government failed to curb North Korea's nuclear program, a potential hint at how the former secretary of state would act if elected president. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Clinton's remarks were revealed by WikiLeaks in a hack of the Clinton campaign chairman's personal account. The emails included a document excerpting Clinton's private speech transcripts, which she has refused to release. Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and (L) and US Ambassador to China Gary Locke (Photo: Reuters) A section on China featured several issues in which Clinton said she confronted the Chinese while leading the US State Department. China has harshly criticized the US and South Korea's planned deployment of a missile-defense system against North Korea, which conducted its fifth nuclear test this year. But Clinton said she told Chinese officials that the US might deploy additional ships to the region to contain the North Korean missile threat. If North Korea successfully obtains a ballistic missile, it could threaten not just American allies in the Pacific, "but they could actually reach Hawaii and the west coast theoretically," Clinton said. "We're going to ring China with missile defense. We're going to put more of our fleet in the area," Clinton said in a 2013 speech. "So China, come on. You either control them or we're going to have to defend against them." China is North Korea's economic lifeline and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, and has been criticized by the US and others for not doing enough to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. Chinese officials and state media have responded by saying North Korea is not solely China's responsibility and say Beijing's has limited influence with secretive leader Kim Jong Un's hardline communist regime. Clinton also privately criticized China's position on another sensitive issue, the South China Sea. China claims almost the entirety of the strategically vital waterbody has lashed out at an international tribunal's rejection of its claims in a July ruling. By China's logic, Clinton told a different audience in 2013, the US after World War II could have labeled the Pacific Ocean the "American Sea." "My counterpart sat up very straight and goes, 'Well, you can't do that,'" she said. "And I said, 'Well, we have as much right to claim that as you do. I mean, you claim (the South China Sea) based on pottery shards from, you know, some fishing vessel that ran aground in an atoll somewhere." In another remark revealed in the Wikileaks hack, Clinton called Chinese President Xi Jinping "a more sophisticated, more effective public leader" than his predecessor, Hu Jintao. She noted Xi's plans for economic and social reforms, but blamed what she called "a resurgence of nationalism" on the Chinese government. Chinese President Xi Jinping (Photo: AP) China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond Friday to faxed questions about Clinton's remarks. As secretary of state, Clinton visited China seven times and engineered Washington's "pivot" to Asia, which has long been viewed with suspicion by Beijing. The policy shift has seen a tighter focus on the region along with an increased military presence and fortified alliances with allies such as Australia and the Philippines, although the latter has been cast in doubt with the election of China-friendly President Rodrigo Duterte. She also drew condemnation from Chinese state media last year after describing Xi as "shameless" as he prepared to speak on women's rights at the United Nations, shortly after China detained five young feminists who'd campaigned against domestic violence. In a Facebook post Thursday night, Republican nominee for President of the United States, Donald Trump, attacked the UNESCO adoption of a draft resolution disregarding the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, saying, "this ignores the 3,000 year old link between Israel and its capital Jerusalem." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Trump further went on to attack the UN, writing, "This is further proof of the anti-Israel sentiment taking place at the United Nations. Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and under my leadership, we will recognize it as such." In the same post, Trump also attacked President Obama, saying, "The decision by the Obama administration to strike the word 'Israel' after the word 'Jerusalem' in the President's prepared text was a capitulation to Israel's enemies, and a posthumous embarrassment to Shimon Peres, whose memory the president was attempting to honor. In a Trump Administration, Israel will have a true, loyal and lasting friend in the United States of America." Trump was not the only critic of the resolution however, which drew widespread condemnation by many groups. Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, issued a statement saying, "UNESCO has dismissed thousands of years of Jewish history in 24 votes. Those who voted for the motion are politically motivated and have lost all credibility in the eyes of the millions of Jews who come yearly to pray at the western wall and the millions who pray daily that G-d should return to his dwellings in Zion." Likewise, Simon Johnson, the CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council, released a statement saying, "UNESCO's decision makes a mockery of the institution. It is comparable to removing the association of Bethlehem from Christianity or pretending that the Old Testament never existed. It ignores years of history and archaeological proof of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. Whilst we would like to thank the UK Government representative for voting against the motion, UNESCO has proved itself spineless, biased and politically motivated." . The UNESCO resolution received the support of 24 countries, while 6 opposed and 26 abstained. Muslim and Jewish religious leaders met in Jerusalem in an intimate forum including Israelis and Palestinians. Leading the Jewish delegation was Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and Head of the Supreme Rabbinical Court Yitzhak Yosef. The Muslim-Palestinian delegation was led by the Palestinian Authoritys Chief Sharia Justice and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass Advisor to Muslim Affairs Sheikh Mahmoud al-Habbash. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Together with President Reuven Rivlin and other sheikhs and Jewish leaders, they discussed the different ways in which peoples of all faiths can counter religious-derived violence. Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and Head of the Supreme Rabbinical Court Yitzhak Yosef (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) We lived in peace 70 years ago, 100 years ago, its so important, said Yosef. We must live in peace again, Jews with Muslims. He mentioned his late father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who was the chief rabbi in Egypt, describing how he had visited King Farouk of Egypt on holidays with other religious leaders and would discuss the Bible with him. My father was the first who gave a Halachic ruling that allowed swapping land for peace, said Yosef. We need to stop the minority that stands in the way of peace and admonish it. After that minority will be stopped, there will be a chance for peace between us and the Muslims. Yosef also called the leaders on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not to remain silent in light of the war in Aleppo, which he described as genocide. As we sit here, people not far from us, women and children in nearby Syria are being murdered with chemical weapons, biological weapons and air bombs, he said. Millions of refugees are without a roof over their heads, hundreds of thousands of others are starving under siege. They may not be our friends, but theyre people going through a small Holocaust. Describing Jewish suffering throughout history, Yosef said, The people of Israel went through a terrible Holocaust 70 years ago. Millions of Jews were murdered, millions of others remained refugees without a safe haven. The Nazi beast murdered all those millions, while the world saw this and stayed silent. We, as Jews who physically paid the price for that silence, let out a cry all those years, asking how the world knew and stayed silent. I want to take advantage of this stage to say that as Jews, we cannot be silent. Let the call come out of here: we cannot move on from genocide, not in Syria nor anywhere or with any people, even if they are not our friends. He added that we are all human beings. I call on you, leaders from all religionslift up your voices. Let each person use their influence. If this happens, perhaps we will be able to prevent such atrocities. Yosefs statement received unexpected support from Yesh Atid Leader Yair Lapid, who tweeted, Though I have my disagreements with the Rishon Letzion (a nickname for the chief Sephardi rabbi of Israel), the things he said about Syria today are the words of a true spiritual leader. President Rivlin also spoke before the forum, saying, Todays conference is an important and substantial one, and is perhaps the most important conference that one can think of these days. Its goal is first and foremost to call for greater caution in any action that might cause the loss of human lives. It is a call that comes from all (the descendents) of the sons of Abraham. We all know that the tensions between Jews and Muslims are hard and complex, which is precisely why we insisted on meeting here together, added Rivlin. We cannot let this land once again become the site of futile bloodshed. Fighters for life, which was founded by three officers from the Duvdevan Unit , has combined volunteer work with the typical post-army trip many Israelis take once being released from mandatory military service. The goal of the program is to present the world Israel's humanitarian face and takes place in many of the countries young Israelis frequently travel. In addition to the annual delegation to India, other trips to Ethiopia, South America and Central America also take place. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A current delegation to India comprising 27 Israeli backpackers called Team Daniel, in honor of Staff Sgt. Daniel Pomerantz who was killed in Operation Protective Edge, are volunteering in Dhavari neighborhood of Mumbai. The neighborhood is one of the poorest and largest slums in the world and gained notoriety after being filmed as part of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Fighters for life X Volunteers in Dhavari are teaching 350 childrenmost of them MuslimsEnglish, arithmetic, music, art, history, science and more. At a ceremony marking the end of another volunteer group at a local shelter, the mothers of many of the Muslim students arrived wearing burkas and face covers. The director of the shelter where the volunteers were working told the backpackers, "We were taught that you were little devils, but we discovered you are big angels." Israel's ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon, who visited the Israeli volunteers, said, "I met a wonderful group of young Israelis who decided to combine a traditional trip to India with volunteering for the benefit of the local community. I visited the classrooms and saw the great work done by the volunteers which was enthusiastically received by the children, who didn't even want to take a break." The president of the organization, former Air Force commander Eliezer Shkedi, said, "The actions of Fighters for life is of tremendous importance to us as Israelis, Jews and human beings." WEST PALM BEACH, FL Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of engaging in an effort to stop him from winning the White House. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter With his numbers dropping in opinion polls ahead of the November 8 election, the Republican US presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation." Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. Trump denies allegations (: ) X "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges. Trump speaking in Florida (Photo: AFP) Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets. The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. First Lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday. Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama said, "This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV." Michelle Obama's impassioned critique X "It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life," she added. "... The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a womanit is cruel." One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. Jessica Leeds (Photo: AP) Leeds told CNN on Thursday that Trump also kissed her face in an incident that lasted about 15 minutes. "That's long enough," she said. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm. Trump speaking in Florida (Photo: AFP) Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters. The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. Slump in polls Trump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as the uproar over the video threatened to engulf his White House campaign in a way that his earlier controversies had not. A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll showed him 8 percentage points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump trailed Clinton by up to 11 percentage points in other polls. Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals. Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. Trump speaking in Florida (Photo: AFP) Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. "I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer. "I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline." "Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so." Trump's wife, Melania, on Thursday posted on Twitter a letter from her attorney to People that said details in the story were false, pointing to Stoynoff's recollection in the piece that she later ran into Melania Trump and spoke to her in New York City. The attorney, Charles Harder, said in the letter that Stoynoff and Melania Trump "were never friends or even friendly" and demanded that People "print a prominent retraction and apology." The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant. "There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment. At the Florida rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious." He said the "corrupt political establishment" was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people." "Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said. In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk." A recent report published by the Health Ministry found that over the past school year, national health services has vaccinated 1.3 million students between first and ninth grades. The vaccines were administered to all students, except in cases where the parents objected. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter During the first grade, the MMRVa combination vaccine that protects against the measles, mumps, chicken pocks and rebeolais usually administered. Over the past year, 153,842 first graders were given the shotamounting to 96.9% of their peerswhile the parents of 4,919 first gradersamounting to 2.9% of the first grade populationdid not have parental approval and therefore were not vaccinated. This marks a slight rise in percentage who refused, from 96.8% of all first graders who had been vaccinated last year. Receiving a vaccine (Photo: Amir Alon) During the second grade, the DTap/IPV vaccine is given to ward off diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio. 153,177, or 96.1% of second grade students were vaccinated with it, while 6,145 did not, due to parental refusal. This also marks a rise from 94.9% in the previous year. 129,371 eighth graders were given the Tdap vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis last year, while the parents of 6,168 students refused to sign for it. 1,120 ninth grade students who were not given the vaccine during the eighth grade, were also given the vaccine. A vaccine against the papilloma is given in two intervals, and since 2016 has been administered to both boys and girls duringthe eigth grade. 65.9% of students were given during the first interval, with only 59.3% given the second. The lowest turnout rate was in the District of Jerusalem, at 27.7% for the first interval and 23.8% for the second interval. The North District has the highest turnout rate, with 87.2% for the first interval and 82.5% for the second interval. all in all, 50,000 students did not receive a full-course papilloma vaccine. The report was found to have the largest gap between the health services provided by the health bureaus and private health providers. The subjects for health education are chosen with the education staff and provided for students while taking their age into account. Sex education, health and nutrition are included in the curriculum. In the South district, only 0.4% of students received health education from the state, as opposed to 94.2% of students in the Central District receiving information and service provider Femi, and 94.4% of students in Jerusalem, by health service provider Natali. Only 6.6% of sixth graders in the South District were provided with health education, compared to 90.7% in the Haifa District and 92.5% in Tel Aviv. There were also disparities with ninth graders, with 0.8% of those in the south receiving health education, compared to 78.5% of ninth graders from the Central District and 79.1% in the Jerusalem District. JERUSALEM -- Israel is suspending cooperation with UNESCO a day after the UN cultural agency adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the deep historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem. Minister Naftali Bennett said Friday: "I sincerely hope UNESCO will stop this fiasco and stop denying history." UNESCO's draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, diminishes Jewish ties to the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple compound and the holiest site where Jews can pray, and to the plaza that Jews revere as the Temple Mount. The validated resolution is expected early next week, and could comprise changes in wording Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters. Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO on Friday, a day after the UN cultural agency adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the deep, historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter UNESCO's draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray. The validated resolution is expected early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change. Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters. The Temple Mount (Photo: Reuters) Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he was "outraged" by the resolution. "Would UNESCO vote to deny the Christian connection to the Vatican? Or the Muslim connection to Mecca? The UNESCO vote claims that there is no connection between the Jewish people and the Western Wall. In fact, it is the UNESCO vote that has no connection to reality." Education Minister Naftali Bennett informed UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova of Israel's decision on Friday. "Following the shameful decision by UNESCO members to deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organization," Bennett said. Israel captured east Jerusalem, with sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians claim the territory as part of their future state, and its fate is a central dispute. Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City as the Temple Mount, site of the two Jewish biblical temples. Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Irina Bokova (Photo: AP) "The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city," Bokova, the head of UNESCO, said in a statement, the second time that she has condemned the the body that she heads for its treatment of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. "To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list. "Nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space and interweave to the point that they support each other," she continued. "These cultural and spiritual traditions build on texts and references, known by all, that are an intrinsic part of the identities and history of peoples. In the Torah, Jerusalem is the capital of King David, where Solomon built the Temple and placed the Ark of the Covenant. In the Bible, Jerusalem is the city of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the KIoran, Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, where Muhammad arrived after his night journey from Al Haram Mosq (Mecca) to Al Aqsa." Temple Mount (Photo: AFP) "In this microcosm of humanitys spiritual diversity, different peoples worship the same places, sometimes under different names. The recognition, use of and respect for these names is paramount. The Al Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit or Temple Mount whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism, a few steps away from the Saint Sepulcher and the Mount of Olives trees revered by Christians," she said. "The outstanding universal value of the City, and the reason why it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, lies in this synthesis, which is an appeal for dialogue, not confrontation. We have a collective responsibility to strengthen this cultural and religious coexistence, by the power of acts and also by the power of words. This requirement is stronger than ever, to bridge the divisions that harm the multi-faith character of the Old City." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government in the West Bank welcomed the resolution, as did Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza. A spokesman for Hamas, which is pledged to Israel's destruction, called it a "step in the right direction." ISMAILIA - Suspected Islamic State gunmen killed 12 members of Egypt's security forces in North Sinai province and injured eight more in an attack on a checkpoint on Friday, medical and security sources told Reuters. The attack took place 40 km (25 miles) away from the town of Bir al-Abd, making it the first major attack in the central Sinai area, which had so far escaped a campaign of Islamist attacks. It was carried out using assault rifles and some heavier weapons, the sources said. The wounded were taken to hospital in al-Arish. It was not clear if the dead and injured belonged to the military, the police, or a joint force. Official military and police spokesmen could not be immediately reached for comment. BRATISLAVA- Five Slovaks are facing charges of smuggling at least 300 illegal migrants last year from Hungary to western Europe, mostly to Germany and Italy, Slovakian police said on Friday. The five men were arrested in a series of house raids by Slovak police on Tuesday morning and face up to 10 years in prison. Police said they hid migrants from Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan in customized cars from Slovak and Czech rental companies and charged each of them 500-1,000 euros ($550-$1,100). Slovakia has not been a principal route for the hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who have sought to reach richer parts of the EU via the Balkans and Hungary over the past two years. Last year, 71 refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were found dead in an abandoned truck on an Austrian highway near the Slovak and Hungarian borders. MANILA- A budding Philippines-China friendship could boost chances of removing one of their biggest bones of contention in the South China Sea, Beijing's ambassador said on Friday, as the two sides pursue broad business ties while still at odds over sovereignty. Ahead of a high-profile visit to Beijing next week by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and at least 250 businessmen, China's ambassador to Manila, Zhao Jianhua, said there was common ground on the South China Sea that both sides could work from, including on the disputed Scarborough Shoal. Duterte's rapprochement with China marks an astonishing reversal in Philippine foreign policy since July, when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague ruled in favour of the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute. BERLIN- The Syrian refugee suspected of planning to bomb a Berlin airport was radicalised only after arriving in Germany, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, citing the suspect's brother who still lives in Syria. Jaber Albakr committed suicide in prison in Leipzig on Wednesday after two fellow Syrians had handed him over to police. Alaa Albakr, told Spiegel by telephone from Syria that a Muslim preacher in Berlin had radicalised his brother and told him to return to his homeland to fight, which he did, before heading back to Germany once again. DHAKA- Chinese President Xi Jinping, stepping up a competition with India for regional influence, said on Friday ties with Bangladesh would be enhanced to a strategic partnership as the two countries signed 27 agreements worth billions of dollars. Xi, making a first trip by a Chinese president to Bangladesh in 30 years, boosted involvement in Bangladeshi infrastructure at a time when Japan has also increased investment in the country located on the Bay of Bengal. "We agreed to elevate the relations between China and Bangladesh from a closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation to a strategic partnership of cooperation," Xi said after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Israel has been exporting more to Africa as the continent experiences significant economic growth and as the Chinese economy begins to weaken. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Israel Foreign Trade Risks Insurance Corporation (ASHRA) has approved 28 deals to be covered by the insurance corporation. The deals amount to approximately $1.05 billion dollars. Fiscal year 2015 only saw 17 deals approved, amounting to $623 million. The number of Israeli trade deals with African nations which were followed through on in 2015 was four, and amounted to $312 million. PM Netanyahu meets with the leaders of seven African nations (Photo: Kobi Gideon) However, a recent Ashra survey showed that approximately a quarter of all Israeli exporters believe that the African market is the most attractive market to expand operations in. The head of Ashra, Tzahi Malach, said that we are expecting to see a significant increase in Israeli exports to Africa. The main countries we expect to see exporters shipping to are Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Meanwhile, there has been a notable decrease in the amount of exports to China. Only 15 new contracts were approved over the past year, compared to 33 the year before. The financial scope of the deals were also lower approximately $190 million in 2015 compared to $438.5 million the year before. Malachi noted that the majority of exports to China were agricultural or infrastructure related. However, over the past year, there was a significant rise in security exports, with 22 requests receiving approval for insurance coverage. This constitutes an 83 percent rise compared to the previous year. Amongst the security companies who received insurance approvals for export to China were Elbit, Rafael, Israel Aerospace Industries, Elta, and Aeronautics Ltd. SITTWE - Myanmar's government said on Friday a group inspired by Islamist militants was behind attacks on police border posts in its ethnically riven northwest, as officials said they feared a new insurgency by members of the Rohingya Muslim minority. The sudden escalation of violence in Rakhine state poses a serious challenge to the six-month-old government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who was swept to power in an election last year but has faced criticism abroad for failing to tackle rights abuses against the Rohingya and other Muslims. A statement from the office of Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw blamed the little-known "Aqa Mul Mujahidin" for recent attacks around Maungdaw Township, a mainly Muslim area near the frontier with Bangladesh. "They persuade the young people using religious extremism, and they have financial support from outside," said the Burmese language statement. GENEVA- Thousands of Ethiopians trekking through desert heat and war in Yemen for the sake of a low-paid job in Saudi Arabia risk getting stuck in an overcrowded migrant camp in Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday. Three boatloads have recently been returned from the Yemeni port of Aden, potentially closing a route used by 10,000 migrants per month, mainly Ethiopians from the Oromia and Tigray regions and Somalis. "If they increase deportations we are going to get people stuck here," IOM's regional director Jeffrey Labovitz told reporters in Geneva by phone from Djibouti. The transit camp at Obock, comprising some tents and corrugated metal sheets and concrete blocks, has swollen from a few hundred people to 600 or 700, and IOM fears another 3,000 deportees could arrive within days. BERLIN- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday dismissed criticism voiced by his wife Aisha Buhari in a BBC interview, saying she belonged in the kitchen and he had "superior knowledge" about running a government. "I don't know exactly what party my wife belongs to. Actually she belongs in the kitchen, the living room and the other rooms in my house," Buhari told reporters with a chuckle after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Buhari's wife told the BBC in an interview published on Friday that she might not back her husband in the next election unless he shakes up his government. Her husband, a 73-year-old former military ruler, was elected last year after a campaign largely fought on his pledge to crush the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and crack down on corruption. He also served on the country's supreme court. JUBA- Fighting in South Sudan killed at least 60 people this week, the military said on Friday, stoking fears the region could plunge back into full-scale war. Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang accused the rebels of "burning civilians, maiming women and child abductions and setting ablaze properties." Armed men loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar killed 11 government soldiers and 28 civilians from Saturday to Thursday, Koang said in a press statement. Twenty-one rebels were also killed, he said. A spokesman for the rebels was not immediately available for comment. CAIRO- A halt to shipments of Saudi fuel to Egypt under a $23 billion aid deal shows that a rift between the Arab world's richest country and its most populous may be deeper than previously thought, which could leave Egypt desperate for a new sponsor. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Under the deal, signed during a visit by the Saudi king in April, Riyadh was meant to send 700,000 tons of refined fuel a month to Egypt. The agreement threw a lifeline to Cairo and was meant to bury suggestions that the relationship had unraveled. But sources say the fuel stopped flowing on Oct. 1. A week later, Sisi bit the hand that has fed him since he took power in 2013: Egypt voted in favor of a Russian-backed UN resolution on Syria, which Saudi Arabia strongly opposed. Saudi King Salman and Egyptian President Sisi (Photo: EPA) Amid the feud, the Saudi ambassador has boarded a plane to travel temporarily back home to Riyadh. Sisi referred to the dispute in a speech on Thursday, denying that Egypt's position on Syria was the reason for the fuel cut-off. He also struck a defiant tone unlikely to endear him to the Gulf Arab kings and princes that have kept his country afloat. Egypt "would not bow to anyone but God", he declared. Saudi Arabia has no shortage of reasons to hold back on the aid shipments: Egypt agreed in April to turn over two Red Sea islands to Saudi control, but this has been held up by an Egyptian court which blocked the move in June. After years of low oil prices, Saudi Arabia itself is no longer as rich as it once was; it is cutting investment at home, making it more difficult to be generous to its allies abroad. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Photo: AFP) Riyadh has hardly abandoned its client. It came through with a $2 billion deposit in the Egyptian Central Bank in September that helped Cairo secure a $12 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund. But sources in both countries say a rift between them is deepening, and stems from disagreement about regional politics. Even before last week's vote at the UN Security Council, Egypt had been courting warmer ties with Russia, Saudi Arabia's foe in the Syrian conflict. If Riyadh intended to send a message that it was running out of patience with Cairo, the message now seems to have been sent. "It is about Egyptian policy... that very much contradicts the Saudi policy with regard to regional strategic threats. So Saudi Arabia is very much against Iranian expansionism in Iraq and Syria and obviously the Egyptians do not see it that way," said Jamal Kashoggi, a leading Saudi commentator. "Unless Egypt re-evaluates its position I foresee more differences... that could lead eventually to a very cold relationship." COMMON ENEMY Gulf monarchies led by Saudi Arabia have given billions of dollars to Egypt since mid-2013, when Sisi, then army chief, overthrew a president from the Muslim Brotherhood, a common enemy. But with the Brotherhood threat diminished, Gulf rulers have grown disillusioned at what they consider Sisi's inability to reform an economy that has become a black hole for aid, and his reluctance to back them on the regional stage. In Yemen, Riyadh wanted Cairo to play a central role in its war against the Houthi group that controls the capital. Cairo contributed naval forces but, haunted by a previous Yemeni quagmire, was reluctant to commit ground troops. In Syria, where Saudi Arabia is a leading backer of rebels fighting against Bashar al-Assad, Sisi has supported Russia's decision to bomb in support of the president. Egyptian sources and Saudi commentators told Reuters the last straw came on Saturday, when Egypt, the only Arab state now holding a rotating seat on the UN Security Council, endorsed a Russian resolution that excluded calls to stop bombing Aleppo. Saudi King Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Photo: Reuters) Sisi has long been keen to revive ties with Russia, despite Egypt's dependence on generosity from Arab states that consider Moscow an enemy in Syria. Cairo is desperate to lure back Russian tourists to its Red Sea resorts after the bombing of an airplane over the area last year killed 224 people and prompted Moscow to suspend flights. In a sign of warming relations, Russia and Egypt announced this week they would hold joint military exercises on Egyptian soil for the first time this month. Russia is building Egypt's first nuclear plant, and a row over a rejected Russian wheat cargo prompted Cairo to rapidly resolve confusion over trade terms that had hampered its ability to import for months. Meanwhile, the nearly six years of political volatility and economic decline that followed the fall of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak have eroded Cairo's central role in Arab politics. To Egypt's chagrin, its non-Arab rival Turkey - about as populous as Egypt and far richer - is growing in influence, led by Tayyip Erdogan, a foe of Sisi who backed Sisi's overthrown predecessor, the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi. Tiran Island which was transferred to Saudi Arabia (Photo: AFP) A meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries in Riyadh on Thursday included Turkey and talks focussed on the creation of a free trade zone. At an international oil conference in Istanbul this week, Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramaco signed deals with 18 Turkish firms. CONTACTS Egyptian security sources said contacts were underway to patch things up with the Saudis, involving high-ranking military and intelligence officials. The Saudi ambassador to Cairo flew home on Wednesday. Sources in his delegation said he would spend three days there to lay the groundwork for an Egyptian visit to discuss another potential Security Council draft on Syria. The foreign ministries of both Egypt and Saudi Arabia said they were not aware of any such visit. Though the ambassador has not been officially recalled, his departure was read by many Egyptians as a diplomatic slight. The Egyptian security sources said Cairo is considering possible responses should back channel contacts falter, including a reduction in Egyptian pilgrims visiting the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina. Egypt could also withdraw what support it had offered the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. In an unusually combative editorial, the editor-in-chief of state-owned Al Ahram newspaper said it was time end foreign aid that sees Egypt addressed in the "language of subjugation". Egypt natural gas pipeline attacked in Sinai (Photo: EPA) "It is better for us to face the situation and announce the review of everything that could present a burden on decision-makers," he wrote. For now, the interruption in the oil flows appears to be temporary, perhaps partly linked to the fate of the two Red Sea islands. The Egyptian government has appealed the court ruling that blocked the transfer, and a judgment is expected on Oct. 22. An Aramco source said flows were likely to resume by November. But as Saudi Arabia embarks on its own austerity drive and seeks to issue sovereign bonds for the first time, it can no longer afford to give something for nothing, analysts say. "It looks weird if you are trying to raise $10 billion and you give Egypt $2 billion. Gulf partners are really annoyed with Egypt over the fact that it has not undertaken reforms that were expected after 2013," said Angus Blair, Chief Operating Officer at Pharos Holding. "And then there is the issue of the UN Security Council vote and is Egypt supporting its allies in a wider sense? The UN Security Council held a special session at the behest of the Palestinians on the subject of the Israeli settlements. Israeli left-wing NGO B'Tselem was invited by the Security Council to speak at the council condemning Israel over settlement activities. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter B'Tselem chairman Hagi El-Ad, used his time at the UN to attack the Israeli governments policies, blame the government for violence against the Palestinians, take action (against Israel), now. The Israeli leftist organization Peace Now was also invited to the session, but was unable to come, instead sending a representative from its US office. The representative said that the values enshrined in the Israeli Declaration of Independence are in question. The unofficial hearing was the opening shot fired by the Palestinians to get a Security Council resolution passed against Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The session was officially convened by the countries of Malaysia, Venezuela, Senegal, and Angola after a Palestinian request. The name of the session was Settlements as a barrier to peace and to the two state solution. UN Security Council (Photo: AFP) The B'Tselem CEO opened the session by thanking the UN Security Council for the opportunity to voice his organizations positions at the UN. What I am about to tell you is not intended to shock you, he began. The occupation of Palestine is unjust we are about to finish 50 years of occupation, and I am urging you all to take action. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you, what does it mean to live practically 49 years under military rule? Living under military occupation means living under violence, violence directed at Palestinian lives from the cradle to the grave. One wrong move and your rights are taken away, El-Ad continued, speaking about the reality of living in the West Bank as a Palestinian. Who can take checkpoints for half a century? Israel constantly enacts laws which are contrary to the Human Rights Council. Israel announced that 20 percent of West Bank land is state territory, and insists that all of these actions are legal under international law. Despite the international agreements that these settlements are illegal, El-Ad said, the only thing which is growing are the settlements. Btzelem has been working for 27 years to document the live of the Palestinians. We are fighting against infringements on human rights. B'Tselem mission is to explain to Israelis how the Palestinians live. I feel it necessary to ask how many Palestinian houses need to be demolished before action is taken? The Palestinians have the right to life and self determination. This is the time to take action. The Security Council doesnt only have the power, but also has the obligation to take action and send a message to the world Israel cannot occupy a population and call itself a democracy. Israel was established based on international legitimacy. I am a citizen of that nation, it is my home, and Ive lived my entire life with this reality, and millions of Israelis and Palestinians dont know a different reality. We need your help 50 years of occupation is too much. The occupation must end. The UN Security Council must act, and that time is now. In response, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Dannon said that the Palestinians are looking for any way they can to get out of negotiations, and are committing diplomatic terrorism against Israel. During these days when our souls are being weighed and we are praying for the unity of the Nation of Israel, it is sad and disappointing that Israeli organizations are providing moral cover for persecution against Israel at the UN. BERLIN - Germany has agreed to spend 1.5 billion euros to buy five more corvettes for the navy, the navy said on Friday, and Die Welt newspaper quoted lawmakers as citing the need for greater security in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. Die Welt said lawmakers planned to introduce the funding proposal in parliament in mid-November. "To meet new security needs in the Baltic Sea, in the Mediterranean Sea, and globally, the coalition plans to buy five new corvettes for 1.5 billion euros for the German Navy," the paper quoted Social Democrat Johannes Kahrs and Christian Democrat Eckhard Rehberg as saying. In April two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a US guided missile destroyer in the Baltic, and Finland has accused Russia of several breaches of its airspace. Last Saturday, Russia said it had moved nuclear-capable missiles into its Kaliningrad enclave on the Baltic. KHAZER- A few hundred Iraqi special forces arrived Friday at the front line near militant-held Mosul, one small part of a series of troop movements that have massed thousands of soldiers ahead of an operation seeking to retake the country's second-largest city from the Islamic State group. "Yesterday, our commander told us: This is it, the liberation of Mosul is beginning," a special forces sergeant said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. Officials from Iraq and the US-led coalition have said preparations and planning of the operation are ongoing, but there is widespread speculation it will be launched this month. The Iraqi troops interviewed by The Associated Press were camped in a field across the Great Zab River separating Nineveh province from Iraq's Kurdistan region. Nearby, other members of their unit were moving into an abandoned village, converting homes into a barracks for temporary camp. Untitled Document Members of the Air Force Reserve have a chance to recruit new members every time they put on the uniform. Regardless of their job, a potential future Airman sees them. For several years, the Get 1 Now program has been used by members of the Air Force Reserve to recruit new members regardless of job title, but through the use of smart phone technology, the job of recruiting just got easier with the Get 1 Now smart phone application available for all, free of charge. People have instantaneous access to the peer referral program through their smart phones, said Senior Master Sgt. John Wood, flight chief of Recruiting Services here. Both Reservists and civilian employees of the Air Force Reserve may participate in the program. Wood said that the Get 1 Now program now gives awards for referring a qualified lead. Under the original program, people who submitted a qualified lead could only receive awards for accessions, and only after a waiting period. E-Recruiters qualify leads and send qualified leads to recruiters who initiate contact with new recruits, said Wood. Members under the old system only received credit if someone joined. Members pick awards that range from computer accessories to remote controlled drones under the program. Staff Sgt. Tiffany Ihnot, an air transportation and pack services technician for the 76th Aerial Port Squadron, received a solar powered smart phone charger for her qualified referral to the program. I enjoy telling people about the Air Force, that its not just all soldiering, that there are opportunities to travel, meet people, as well as serving their country, said Ihnot. Air Force Reservists and civilian employees can download the Get 1 Now app by visiting their devices respective app store and searching Get 1 Now. Future recruits can also gain valuable information from real reservists at Facebook.com/ShareYourAdventure. Reservists civilian experience proves vital to new aircraft programs When it comes to accomplishing the mission, its not uncommon for the civilian work experience of Citizen Airmen to play as vital of a role as their military experience. This is certainly the case for Lt. Col. Robert Latka and other reservists supporting the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. One of the centers missions is to acquire and prepare new aircraft, such as the KC-46 Pegasus refueling tanker. While Latkas experience as a KC-10 Stratotanker pilot with the 78th Air Refueling Squadron certainly provides value to the mission, it was his civilian experience as a pilot for an international package-delivery company that made him particularly useful to the KC-46 program. Once Latka learned the KC-46 would be based on a Boeing 767 platform, which just happens to be the airplane Latka flies at his full-time civilian job, he took the initiative to reach out to the centers KC-46 program office to offer his particularly appropriate blend of talents. I have been a lifelong tanker guy, said Latka, who started his Air Force career as a KC-135 maintenance crew chief. I thought it would be great to have a hand in all three tankers during my career. At first, the office didnt need help, but when they needed an Air Force tanker pilot who was also well-versed with the Federal Aviation Administrations rules and regulations for civilian airline operations, they took Latka up on his offer, said Dr. Robert Marx, the FAA Military Certification Office Liaison in the KC-46 program office. Since 2012, Latka has been serving with the office about 30 days per year in a variety of roles. Marx said Latka has contributed to the avionics development team, the cockpit working group, the test and evaluation team, the aircrew training team, the flight manual development and verification team and the FAA certification team. This is really interesting work since our group is rather diverse, including pilots, design engineers and testers, Latka said. The majority of my work involves editing and writing the KC-46 flight manuals. But Marx thinks Latkas intangible contributions are just as significant as his tangible skills. He delivered an inspiring presentation at an all-call upon his return from deployment. He helped not only the civilians in our organization but also the junior officers better understand what our mission is and who we do it for, Marx said. And Latka isnt the only Citizen Airmen contributing to the centers mission. Over the years, we have had many Reservists in support of our acquisition programs, Marx said. Reservists bring the warfighter into the program office. This is especially true when we are buying a commercial derivative aircraft since many Reservists also work in the commercial aviation industry as mechanics, pilots and inspectors. Another Reservist supporting the centers mission is Senior Master Sgt. Constantine Karamargin. He is officially assigned to the center as an individual mobilization augmentee, but he came up through the ranks maintaining KC-10 Extenders as a crew chief with the 714th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. And just like Latka, Karamargin is able to leverage his civilian experience as an FAA maintenance inspector. He constantly relies on his vast experience as a crew chief and an FAA inspector to make sure the KC-46 maintenance program is the best it can be, Marx said. He has also been instrumental in navigating the path to achieve FAA approval of the KC-46 maintenance program. Marx said Karamargins civilian experience has paid dividends for the program office. It has been critical since the KC-46 will be the first commercial derivative aircraft platform ever supported organically by the Air Force while still maintaining its FAA type design approval. Karamargin also audited airworthiness policies of civilian aircraft used for Air Force pilot training developed & provided training materials and instructions related to aircraft inspections, supported the Battlefield Airborne Communication Node E-11A program, and assisted the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System program with understanding FAA maintenance requirements. The contributions of Latka and Karamargin have also paved the way for Lt. Col. Michael Capodicasa, another KC-10 pilot with the 78th ARS, who recently began serving with the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program office to assist with acquiring the new Air Force One. In his civilian profession, Capodicasa flies a Boeing 747-8, which was selected as the airframe for the next Air Force One. While Capodicasa is still becoming familiar with the program, Marx said he expects him to perform as well as his fellow Reserve Airmen. I have no doubt that as the PAR program evolves that Lt. Col. Capodicasas involvement will prove just as important based on his 747-8 experience and that he will be a tremendous asset to the program, Marx said. Marx gave credit to Airmen of all statuses for the centers success. This is all being done using the Total Force in development and not just operation, he said. The centers motto of speed with discipline would not otherwise be possible without leveraging both the civilian and military experience the Total Force brings to the table. We are transforming the way the Air Force operates and maintains commercial derivative aircraft and we are doing it as one team. Latest News Washington, DC - At the Federal Trade Commissions request, a federal district court in Arizona has temporarily shut down a fraudulent telemarketing scheme that allegedly bilked more than $9 million from thousands of consumers across the nation, many of whom are elderly and live on a fixed income, including military veterans. According to the FTCs complaint, the defendants cold-call consumers and urge them to buy or invest in e-commerce websites, or websites that link to popular e-commerce websites, such as Amazon.com. The defendants falsely promise lavish returns and assure skeptical consumers that their investment is risk free or that it comes with a 100 percent money back guarantee. The defendants have allegedly received payments from consumers ranging from several hundred dollars to more than $20,000. During the first 90 days after consumers authorize payment by credit card, the defendants respond to their calls, assuring them that their account is earning substantial money that will be paid at the end of the quarter. The defendants allegedly use stall tactics to dissuade skeptical consumers from disputing the charges (many credit cards include a 90-day limit on consumers ability to dispute charges). After 90 days, the FTC alleges that the defendants typically cease all contact with their victims, who receive neither the promised returns nor refunds. The FTCs complaint names the scams three owners and operators, Susan Rodriguez, Matthew Rodriguez and William Matt Whitley, and their six corporations, Advertising Strategies LLC, Internet Advertising Solutions LLC, Internet Resource Group Inc., Network Advertising Systems LLC, Network Professional Systems LLC, and Network Solutions Group Inc. They are charged with violating the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, including calling numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. The complaint also alleges that the defendants use mail-forwarding services to disguise their location, and that they have changed their business name and mailing and physical addresses to avoid detection by law enforcement. For example, when the Arizona Attorney Generals office summoned Susan Rodriguez to testify about the defendants business at a Phoenix address, the defendants promptly closed that office and moved to a different location, and Rodriguez failed to appear to testify. The defendants most recently have done business as Titan Income. They have previously done business as Building Money Network and buildingmoney.cash, Prime Cash and Primecash.net, and Wyze Money and wyzemoney.net. Under the terms of the temporary restraining order granted by the court, the defendants have temporarily ceased operations and their assets are frozen for potential consumer redress. A hearing for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for October 18, 2016. The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint was 3-0. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. Ismailia: Suspected Islamic State gunmen killed 12 members of Egypt`s military in North Sinai province and wounded six more in an attack on a checkpoint on Friday, the military said, adding that it killed 15 militants in return. The incident took place 40 km (25 miles) from the town of Bir al-Abd, making it the first major attack in the central Sinai area, which had so far escaped the militant Islamists` campaign. It was carried out using assault rifles and some heavier weapons, medical and security sources said. The wounded were taken to hospital in al-Arish. "An armed group of terrorist elements attacked a security checkpoint in North Sinai this morning using four-wheel drives and were immediately engaged. Our forces killed 15 terrorists," the military said in a statement. "The clashes led to the martyrdom of 12 and injury of six armed forces heroes." An Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula gained pace after the Egyptian military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt`s oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen, and has started to target Western targets within Egypt. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former military chief who led the overthrow of Mursi, describes Islamist militancy as an existential threat to Egypt, an ally of the United States. Islamic State controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and has a strong presence in Libya, which borders Egypt. Berlin: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday dismissed criticism voiced by his wife Aisha Buhari in a BBC interview, saying she belonged in the kitchen and he had "superior knowledge" about running a government. "I don`t know exactly what party my wife belongs to. Actually, she belongs in the kitchen, the living room and the other rooms in my house," Buhari told reporters with a chuckle after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Buhari`s wife told the BBC in an interview published on Friday that she might not back her husband in the next election unless he shakes up his government. Her husband, a 73-year-old former military ruler, was elected last year after a campaign largely fought on his pledge to crush the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and crack down on corruption. He also served on the country`s supreme court. Nigeria, which has Africa`s largest economy, is in recession for the first time in 25 years, largely due to a fall global oil prices that has slashed the state`s main source of income. Buhari said his government was continuing to fight to combat major economic, security and corruption problems it inherited.He said the government had made strides in fighting Boko Haram, which is now active in just 14 of 177 regions of the country, and was working to combat militant groups in the Niger Delta. Buhari also said Nigeria would continue working to free the remaining girls kidnapped by the jihadist group Boko Haram in 2014 after the group on Thursday released 21 girls on Thursday. "About 100 more (girls) are still in the hands of the terrorists. We hope we`ll get some ... intelligence to go about securing the balance." Buhari said Nigeria was grateful for the help of the United Nations for its help in trying to free the girls, but that Nigeria still faced massive consequences from the group`s power and influences, including up to 2 million people internally displaced refugees, including many children. Despite the problems, Nigeria - the most populous nation in Africa - would be able to produce enough food for its own population of 185 million people, and start exporting food in about 1-1/2 years, Buhari said. Merkel said the European Union would begin negotiations with Nigeria this month about a migration deal to ensure it could repatriate Nigerian citizens denied asylum in EU countries. She emphasised the importance of focusing resources on those people fleeing wars rather than those looking for better economic conditions. But she said Germany would continue to work with Nigeria to provide training for young people so they would not flee in the first place. Ahmedabad: With an eye on 2017 assembly elections, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met the victims of patidar agitation here even as his visit is being closely watched by other political parties. The patidar community, which has a robust OBC vote bank, held large-scale demonstrations across the state last year to demand reservations in various government jobs and educational institutions. Kejriwal's visit to the state, although not his first, is expected to give a huge boost to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members in the state ahead of the polls. The AAP convenor was expected to meet the family members of those killed during the agitation. These protests had turned violent with over a dozen people being killed and many others getting injured. He was also expected to visit the Umiya Mata temple, the revered deity of patidars, at Unjha in Mehsana. AAP Gujarat in-charge Gulab Singh Yadav denied that this trip is to woo the patidar community. "In Mehsana, Kejriwal will also meet the family of the murdered police constable, who hailed from the Thakur community and had been fighting the ban on liqour. There are also other groups of people whom he will meet such as labourers and diamond merchants. He will also meet the families of those who died in the recent spurious liquor tragedy at a village near Surat," India Today quoted Yadav as saying. However, AAP seemed to be non-commital about granting patidars reservation under the OBC category. "This is a very important issue. AAP stands by the provisions of reservation as laid down in the Constitution," Yadav was quoted as saying. "This issue should definitely be discussed. One can agree or disagree with the issue, but discussions must be held on the topic so that a middle path can be reached or some sort of conclusion can be reached. Beating up protestors is no solution," he added. Ohio: US President Barack Obama warned American "democracy itself" is on the ballot in November`s presidential election, as White House concern grows about the lasting impact of Republican Donald Trump`s scorched-earth campaign. "Civility is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Courtesy is on the ballot. Honesty is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Kindness is on the ballot," Obama said at a fiery campaign event for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland. "All the progress we made in the last eight years is on the ballot," he said. "Democracy itself is on the ballot right now." New York: US First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a scathing take down of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling his sexually aggressive comments about women "disgraceful" and "intolerable." Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer who has largely shunned the political limelight to focus on education and health issues, galvanized a rally for Democrat Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire with an impassioned plea to "stop this madness." Her comments came as Trump fought back against a cascade of allegations of sexual misconduct, which surfaced just days after a video emerged of him boasting that his fame allowed him to grope women with impunity. "This wasn't locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women," said the 52-year-old first lady. "It doesn't matter what party you belong to -- Democrat, Republican, independent -- no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse." She lashed out at what she called Trump's "cruel" and "frightening" attitude towards women, while deliberately never using his name. "It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted," she said. "This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable." 'Not how decent human beings behave' Trump's presidential bid was teetering Thursday after claims from at least six women surfaced, alleging that he had made unwanted sexual advances towards them in the past, including groping and kissing. The Manhattan billionaire said Sunday in his second presidential debate with Clinton that despite his lewd conversation with then "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush in 2005 captured on video, he had never sexually assaulted women. Trump has vehemently denied the claims reported by various US media outlets including The New York Times, NBC and People magazine, slamming them as politically-motivated and threatening to sue the Times. "The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION," Trump posted on Twitter. But Michelle Obama nevertheless attacked him with a vengeance. "The men in my life do not talk about women like this," she said. "This is not how decent human beings behave and this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the United States behaves." She championed Clinton as a unifying force and said only she could help "heal the wounds that divide us." The first lady warned that if Trump were elected, "we're telling our sons that it's okay to humiliate women. We're telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated." "While our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election," Obama said to cheers. "We have knowledge. We have a choice. We have a vote." Tegucigalpa: The Honduran authorities are investigating an alleged drug cartel plan to assassinate President Juan Orlando Hernandez and the US ambassador to the country, the leader said on Thursday. "There were indications of plans for an attack against Ambassador (James) Nealon and against (myself) by an Atlantic criminal group," the president told local radio station HRN, referring to a Honduran cartel. The information came from "sources of the Honduran state," he said, adding that an investigation is ongoing. His announcement comes after army captain Santos Rodriguez Orellana accused the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on Wednesday of pressuring him to implicate Hernandez`s brother of involvement in a plan to kill the US ambassador. He told local radio station Globo that DEA agents interrogated him on Sunday. The United States is investigating Orellana for alleged corruption and ties to drugs gangs. The president`s brother, Juan Antonio Hernandez, denied any illegal activities in a statement on Thursday. The center-right Hernandez has cracked down against drug cartels that move cocaine into the United States through Honduras since he came to power in 2014, amid concerns among human rights groups. Orellana`s wife Jennifer Bonilla told AFP that he had requested protection from the state national human rights commissioner for his family, saying he distrusts the military and government. Hillary Clinton has accused her Republican presidential rival Donald Trump of "stalking" her during their televised debate on Sunday. Trump often stood closely behind the Democratic nominee glowering as she answered questions from the audience during the town hall-style event in St. Louis. Speaking during an interview on NBC`s The Ellen DeGeneres Show set to air Friday, Clinton said his movements made her feel "really weird" on stage. "Because of the revelation of the public video, and everything that came out on `Access Hollywood,` you know, he was really all wrought up, and you could just sense how much anger he had," Clinton said, referring to a video leaked last week showing Trump making lewd comments about women. "And so he was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage and I would just feel this presence behind me." Trump rejected criticism about his debate performance at a rally on Monday. "So I`m standing at my podium by my chair. She walks across the room. She`s standing in front of me, right next to me," he said. "And the next day I said what did the papers say? They said, `he invaded her space.`" "Believe me," he added, "The last space that I want to invade is her space." Last week`s video showed Trump boasting in 2005 of groping women with impunity because he was famous, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity. Since then, at least six women have accused him of making unwanted physical advances, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday`s debate that he had never sexually assaulted a woman. During her interview, Clinton praised First Lady Michelle Obama for blasting the Republican nominee in a powerful tirade on Thursday. "The speech that she gave, I think, put into words what so many people are feeling," Clinton said. "And not just women and girls. Men and boys." She also said she didn`t notice making a much-commented shimmy motion during Sunday`s debate when Trump accused her of not having the "right temperament" to be president. "Now people are always saying, `Do the shimmy, do the shimmy.`" Washington: In a shocking incident, a seven-year-old Pakistani-origin boy was allegedly beaten up by five classmates on a school bus in the US for being a Muslim. The incident has forced Abdul Usmani's family to move back to Pakistan. Usmani's parents have alleged that their son was bullied and beaten by five students on the bus while returning home from Weatherstone Elementary School in Cary, North Carolina, as they made references to Muslims and the boy's Pakistani heritage. "Welcome to the United States of America of Donald Trump," Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani captioned a Facebook photo showing his son, Abdul, with his left arm in a sling. "He is in grade 1, bullied and beaten by his own classmates in the school bus for being a Muslim," Usmani said. Usmani told BuzzFeed News that he his wife along with their three sons have left the US for Pakistan after this latest incident in a long history of discrimination towards his children and family. "These are six and seven-year-old kids calling him names, with one kid punching him in the face, while two other kids attacked him, kicked him, and held his arms back," Usmani said. He described his son "as American as you can get". "They keep beating him all the way from school to home on the bus," Usmani said of the boy's ride home last Friday. Abdul, his father said, is traumatised by the attack and has a sprained arm. Lisa Luten, a spokesperson for the Wake County Public School System, was quoted as saying that the principal of the school immediately began investigating the alleged incident after the family told them about it. "(The principal) interviewed seven students sitting near this child, and none of the students, nor the bus driver, witnessed any type of altercation or incident," Luten said, adding that the principal has one more child to interview and has not been able to get in contact with the Usmani family since Friday. Usmani, 38, first came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and currently works as a Chief Technology Officer of a Silicon Valley data software company. Usmani said his family was harassed by a neighbour for months because of their religion, and that his other son has been called a terrorist. "Times are changing and it's not the America we always thought of and believed in. It's not the America that I studied in," Usmani said. "If Trump wins, America will be great again, but a great that nobody will care about," he said. Usmani said the irony of the alleged discrimination is he has been working to combat the effects of terrorism and has worked with the UN's Special Envoy for Global Education on a safe school initiative in Pakistan. Usmani said his family will stay in Pakistan until after the election to see if Trump is elected to determine if his family feels safe enough to return. (With PTI inputs) Bangkok: Millions of Thais donned black Friday as the grieving nation prepared to hold traditional Buddhist ceremonies for revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose death leaves the country facing an uncertain new era. Bhumibol, the world`s longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 88 on Thursday after a long battle with ill health, removing a stabilising father figure in a country where political tensions are still raw two years after a military coup. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, is the king`s named successor, but has made a surprise request to delay formally becoming the next king, according to the junta leader who appealed for citizens to accept the decision and "not cause chaos". Officials prepared to move the monarch`s body on Friday from the hospital where he died to the Grand Palace, a complex of glittering temples and pavilions in the heart of the capital. Large crowds are expected to pour onto the streets for the procession from Siriraj Hospital where the king spent much of the last two years battling an array of ailments. A statement from the palace said the Crown Prince would preside over a ceremony to bathe the king`s body -- a traditional Buddhist funeral rite. His remains will then lie in state for weeks and months of palace rituals. Many Thais on Friday opted to dress in black and white, both mourning colours in Thailand, as they went about their business. "I am very sad, I was born under this king," Arunee Sahathongthai, 49, told AFP as she bought a pair of black trousers at a market in Bangkok, saying that Thais were "united in grief". Some said they were nervous about a future without Bhumibol. "I really loved him," Arnon Sangwiman, a 54-year-old electricity company employee, told AFP. "Now I am afraid of what may happen, about the administration of the country, the type of regime in the long term." Thais had expected Vajiralongkorn to be officially proclaimed king immediately after his Bhumibol`s death was announced. But Thailand`s junta leader late Thursday announced that the prince had sought a delay to mourn his father`s loss and better prepare for his new role. The move could fuel concerns over the succession and test the ruling junta, which has vowed to ensure stability after more than a decade of political turbulence. Most Thais have known no other monarch than Bhumibol and he was portrayed as a guiding light through decades of political turmoil and coups. The Crown Prince spends much of his time overseas and is yet to attain his father`s widespread popularity at home. Analysts said the nation`s elites likely want to stage a slow and careful transition. The junta seized power in 2014 after a decade of strife between Thailand`s two major political factions, exacerbated by the king`s declining health as jostling elites competed for power. The military has deep links with the palace and many inside the kingdom saw the putsch as a move to ensure generals could squelch any instability during a succession. During Bhumibol`s reign, Thailand transformed from an impoverished, rural nation into one of the region`s most successful economies, avoiding the civil wars and communist takeovers of its neighbours. He sometimes intervened to quell Thailand`s frequent political violence but at other times stayed silent, approving most of the army`s many coups during his reign. Any criticism, republican sentiment, or speculation on succession is smothered by a draconian lese majeste law. Tributes poured in from across the globe for the monarch. President Barack Obama described Bhumibol as a "close friend" of the United States and a "tireless champion" of his country`s development. Bangkok: Late Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej has left behind one of the world`s richest monarchies, with a multi-billion-dollar empire spanning property, construction and banks. Analysts say the vast royal reserves have allowed the crown to build a deep network among the Thai elite, helping insulate the king from the political pressures felt by monarchs who rely chiefly on state funding. But as with all issues linked to the Thai monarchy, the crown`s financial dealings are shielded from criticism by one of the world`s harshest lese majeste laws. Even the king`s semi-official biography admits that the Crown Property Bureau (CPB), the banner under which the assets are held, is a "unique" and "rather mysterious institution". Here is what we know about the opaque but powerful palace purse. The CPB is not obliged to release any details of its accounts or activities, so its precise assets are unknown. But 2014 estimates by Porphant Ouyyanont, a Thai academic who has done landmark research on the CPB, put its portfolio at up to $59.4 billion -- nearly four times richer than the British crown. The CPB has invested in dozens of companies over the years, but the bulk of its returns come from land, banking and cement. Company accounts show it holds a 23.69 percent stake in Siam Commercial Bank, the kingdom`s oldest bank, and a 31.6 percent stake in Siam Cement Company, a sprawling conglomerate that has paved Thailand`s urban expansion and branched out across the region`s growing economies. The CPB is also one of the kingdom`s largest landlords with 40,000 rental contracts, half of which are in prime areas of Bangkok, according to the 2011 biography of Bhumibol published on the CPB website. The book put the bureau`s returns -- tax-exempt by law -- at around $300 million annually. The CPB was initially placed under state control when it was formed in 1936, just a few years after absolute monarchy was abolished in Thailand. But a decade later the keys were handed back to the king, giving him final say over any asset sales and power to appoint six out of seven board members. The 1948 legislation also made clear revenue "may be disbursed only by the king". This reclamation of royal control came just after Bhumibol ascended to the throne, marking the start of a long, highly successful effort to revitalise the monarchy`s prestige and power. By the time Thailand`s post-World War II economic boom was underway, the stability that came with palace backing made the CPB the most attractive partner for foreign firms flocking to the kingdom, embedding its control over the economy. "In the 60s we were almost the only institution foreign investors spoke to," the CPB`s director-general Chirayu Isarangkun, who declined to comment for this article, said in a rare 2012 interview published on the bureau`s website. The bureau`s funds are used to cover the royal family`s expenses and the upkeep of palaces and other royal sites. However the palace also receives millions of dollars from the government budget to foot a number of other expenses. Around $170 million annually in state funding covers the salaries of staff working in the Royal Household Bureau and other key palace offices, plus security provided for the royals by police and armed forces, according to the king`s biography. Public funds also cover many of the rural development projects that have been exhaustively promoted by the palace`s propaganda arm. The CPB`s director-general has previously said the king prefers to use as little of the taxypayers` money as possible. "There is no sign that King Bhumibol ever used it as his own money pile," said Paul Handley, author of "The King Never Smiles", a biography of Bhumibol banned in Thailand. He noted that the bureau is overseen by some of the country`s most trusted technocrats, and monitored by one board member from the Ministry of Finance. The CPB has sought to spruce up its image in recent years and publicised a number of corporate responsibility and social development projects. But its financial activities are still largely shrouded in mystery. "Ignorance breeds suspicion -- yes. But excessive curiosity, I believe, can also lower a dignified and trusting relationship," the bureau`s director was quoted as saying in the king`s 2011 biography. Washington: The US on Friday told Pakistan to take action to combat and delegitimise all terrorist groups operating on its soil. "We continue to urge Pakistan to take action to combat and delegitimise all terrorist groups operating on its soil," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at his daily news conference. "Obviously Pakistan has suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists and violent extremists. We want to help Pakistan confront this terrorist threat, but we also want Pakistan also to go after those terrorists who seek and sometimes find safe haven on Pakistan territory," he said in response to a question. New Delhi: The Delhi government on Friday advised L-G Najeeb Jung to dissolve the Shunglu Committee set up by him to examine 400 files pertaining to decisions the AAP dispensation has taken since coming to power. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said a decision in this regard was taken at a Cabinet meeting today chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi Cabinet termed the three-member Shunglu Committee- which was looking into the files- unconstitutional. Sisodia told a press conference here, there is no provision in the Constitution, or in any statute or rule, which mandates setting up of an "external committee" to inquire into ongoing projects of public welfare, question officers and "threaten" to recommend administrative and criminal action against them. He requested Jung to return all files of the government saying "various important works are being affected" due to this. "The Committee has created a dangerous climate of fear and uncertainty among the bureaucracy, thus threatening to derail the government functioning in its entirety, noted the Cabinet," he said. "We have requested the L-G to dissolve the committee as the Lt Governor has no power. The jurisdiction of L-G is well defined under Article 239AA of Constitution of India, the GNCTD Act, 1991, and the rules framed under the Act," he said. If the committee continues its "illegal" functioning, not only will it imperil public welfare, it has also the potential to create a serious constitutional crisis in the national capital, noted the Cabinet, according to the Deputy CM. Sisodia said the "impounding" of over 400 files by L-G is against the transaction of business rules and GNCTD Act. "Cabinet also brought to the notice of the L-G that the August 4 Delhi High Court judgment which is being invoked by him to take such actions, has not become final and is presently under challenge before the Supreme Court," he said. Notices have already been issued by the apex court and the matter is to be finally heard on November 25, he said. "It would have been prudent for the L-G to await the final decision of the apex court before taking such unilateral actions bypassing the elected government," said Sisodia. He claimed that several officers have reported to their respective ministers that they were summoned by the committee informally and grilled for many hours for decisions taken by them in public interest over the last one-and-a-half years. "Such summoning of officers through oral instructions and then questioning them over the content of the files without duly recording and authenticating the officers' version is against the well-established norms of transparency and propriety," he added. Berlin: The Syrian refugee suspected of planning to bomb a Berlin airport was radicalised only after arriving in Germany, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, citing the suspect`s brother who still lives in Syria. Jaber Albakr committed suicide in prison in Leipzig on Wednesday after two fellow Syrians had handed him over to police. Alaa Albakr, told Spiegel by telephone from Syria that a Muslim preacher in Berlin had radicalised his brother and told him to return to his homeland to fight, which he did, before heading back to Germany once again. "My brother was radicalised in Germany," he said. In September 2015, seven months after arriving in Germany where he was granted asylum, Albakr returned to Syria where he joined Islamic State militants in Raqqa, Alaa Albakr said. If this is confirmed it would mark a major security lapse by the intelligence agencies that monitor potential militants among the some 900,000 migrants who arrived last year. German security sources told Reuters that Albakr had travelled to Turkey after receiving asylum in Germany and spent several months there this summer. Albakr`s death makes it more difficult for investigators to track down the network behind his radicalisation, a government spokesman said. "Something went wrong ... and misjudgements were made," Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference. "The death of the suspect makes the work of the investigators more difficult as what would have been possible to find out from him is no longer possible." Seibert added that the suicide must be thoroughly investigated. The results of an autopsy confirmed on Friday that the 22-year-old Syrian refugee had committed suicide. Some 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds) of explosives were found at Albakr`s apartment during a police raid on Saturday but he evaded capture and went on the run for two days. An opposition politician called the incident "an unprecedented sequence of failures by the police and judicial system". Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Goa this evening to participate in the BRICS summit which is beginning here tomorrow. Modi was received at INS Hansa base by state's Governor Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza and others. The Prime Minister drove to a five-star resort at Benaulim where the summit will begin tomorrow. "Over next few days, India will host world leaders for the 8th BRICS and 1st ever BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit," Modi tweeted earlier. "I look forward to useful conversation with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges," he said. "As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic, and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," the Prime Minister said. "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia annual summit, which will also take place in Goa," the PM said. "We also welcome President of Brazil for a bilateral visit, which will open new areas of cooperation with Brazil,? the PM said. "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," he said. New Delhi: Amid a bitter war between the ruling BJP and the AAP party, latter's chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will on Friday visit Gujarat to review his party's preparations for assembly polls due next year. However, ahead of his visit a bitter poster war has begun in the BJP-ruled state with several posters projecting the AAP chief as 'anti-Gujarat' and 'anti-India'. Several posters claiming the Gujarat has already rejected AAP have flooded the streets in Ahmedabad. Must Read: Is Gujarat rejecting AAP? Anti-Kejriwal posters flood Ahmedabad ahead of his visit As per the schedule of Kejriwals visit released by AAPs Gujarat unit, he would spend four days in the state, starting October 14. Arvind Kejriwal will meet family members of Patidar youths, who were killed in the quota stir violence last year, during his Gujarat tour beginning Friday, a move dubbed as casteist politics and stunt by ruling BJP. Slamming Kejriwal, state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani alleged that the AAP leader is creating tension in Gujarat by raking up past incidents. On October 14 and 15, Kejriwal would meet some families of the deceased Patel youths in Mehsana and Ahmedabad. Kejriwal will address a rally in Surat on October 16, before leaving for Delhi on October 17 afternoon. AAP eyeing support of Hardik Patel Arvind Kejriwal's party is believed to thinking of joining hands with Patel community leader Hardik Patel in its bid to beat ruling party BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. Sources said AAP Gujarat leaders have contacted Hardik Patel, the face of a massive Patel or Patidar agitation in Gujarat for reservation in government jobs and colleges, in this regard. Hardik Patel, they claimed, has agreed to support Kejriwal and a formal announcement is expected soon. "Just like any other political party we are in touch with local leaders who want to work for the people. We have approached Hardik and he has assured all support to AAP," said a top party leader. Ahmedabad: Ahead of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal's October 16 rally in Gujarat, posters carrying his photographs along with Burhan Wani, Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden, terming them as "heroes of Pakistan", have appeared in Surat city. The Delhi Chief Minister is scheduled to address a public rally at Varachha in Surat on Sunday evening. While AAP accused the ruling BJP of being responsible for the "defamatory" posters, the saffron party claimed that common people had put them up as they were "deeply hurt" after Kejriwal demanded proof of the Army's surgical strikes across LoC. Surat AAP spokesperson Yogesh Jadvani said, "We know that it is a tactic by BJP to defame Kejriwal and AAP ahead of the rally. BJP workers are given rewards for putting the most defamatory poster. But, we are not bothered by such negative politics." He also expressed confidence that over one lakh people would attend the rally. However, BJP said "anti-Kejriwal" people were coming forward to vent their anger against AAP and its leaders. "Kejriwal is known for doing such drama. We are least bothered even if he visits Gujarat thrice in a year or in a week. These posters are a natural reaction of people against Kejriwal's anti-national stand. He would receive such welcome at any place in India. However, he would get a red-carpet welcome in Pakistan," Gujarat BJP convener Harshad Patel said. "I am sure that if something goes wrong in his rally, he will blame our leaders, saying that it was done at the behest of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. He must have kept his script ready if things do not go down as per their plans," he said. Earlier, banners showing "dubious" track record of several ministers in the AAP-led Delhi government had surfaced in Surat. In some societies of Varachha area, dominated by Patels, banners warning Kejriwal from entering the premises were also put up a few days ago. New Delhi: In the face of strong opposition to Uniform Civil Code by Muslim organisations and various political outfits, Union Minister of Urban Development Venakaiah Naidu, Friday, said the government is ready for a healthy debate. Briefing the press, the Union Minister objected to All India Muslim Personal Law Board's stand to boycott the questionnaire of Law Commission on UCC saying, it is 'dictatorial attitude'. "You (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate you put forth your point of view. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of Prime Minister and call him dictator," Naidu told reporters. If anyone wants to boycott the Law Commission's questionnaire, then it's their choice, but don't force your view on others, Naidu firmly said. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader appealed to all organisations to engage in a debate and not politicise the Uniform Civil Code issue. While emphasising on having a debate on UCC, Naidu said government's sole objective is to ensure equality for all, dignity of woman and gender justice. Naidu said some people were confusing the issue of triple talaq with Uniform Civil Code. "The real mood of the country is that people want this triple talaq to end. People do not want any discrimination on basis of any religious faith against women. As I told you the issues are gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women," he said. "Nothing will be imposed on people, everything will be finalised after reaching a consensus," the Union Minister stated. He slammed the personalities who were trying to drag Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name into the whole episode. Naidu's comments come a day after, the Law Commission's decision to invite views on the contentious UCC yesterday drew criticism from the AIMPLB and other Muslim organisations which said they will boycott it and accused the Modi government of waging a "war" against the community. "We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," AIMPLB general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani told the media. Centrist parties like Congress and JD(U) said the idea of UCC was "unimplementable" and accused the BJP-led government of trying to polarise the people ahead of the assembly polls in several states, including key battle ground state Uttar Pradesh. Also Read: Uniform Civil Code: Want to give opinion on triple talaq, polygamy? Here's how you can do it through questionnaire The developments come days after the Union government told the Supreme Court that 'triple talaq', 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices. Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising of 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue. Lucknow: With an eye on the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, BJP has planned to launch four 'Parivartan Yatras' or "Journey for change" next month from Saharanpur, Lalitpur, Sonebhadra and Ballia. BJP president Amit Shah will flag-off the yatras, during which party's senior national and state leaders will remain present, a senior party leader said, adding the yatra will culminate with a 'Parivartan Sabha' in Lucknow on December 24. "'Parivartan Yatras' which will begin from November 5, will culminate with a 'Parivartan Sabha' in Lucknow on the eve of 92nd birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 24," state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya said. Must Read: BJP to launch four Parivartan Yatras next month First yatra will start from Saharanpur on November 5, second from Lalitpur on November 6, third from Sonebhadra on November 8 and fourth from Ballia on November 9, Maurya said, adding BJP national president Amit Shah, senior national and state ministers will remain present at the start of all the yatras. PM Narendra Modi, who was recently in Lucknow, is expected to address Parivartan Yatra on its last day. The BJP's mega rally across Uttar Pradesh is expected to help generate feedback about a Chief Ministerial candidate, a decision the party is yet to take, said sources. While the decision on whom to field for the top job will be taken by the party's parliamentary board, the Parivartan Yatra will possibly help the party take a final decision. The yatra is expected to cover all 403 assembly constituencies of India's largest state. The surgical strikes across the Line of Control will be one of the key issues that will be highlighted during the yatra, said a senior party leader. "How can the BJP not talk about the valour of the army, which was ordered by the NDA government?" Despite PM Modi's caution against "chest-thumping", the strikes have already been highlighted by the party state unit during his visit to Lucknow during Dusshera. The rally ground was lined with posters that read "Lucknow welcomes the avengers of Uri". The other key agenda of the rallies will be to take feedback on the policies initiated by the Narendra Modi government - Jan Dhan scheme, farm insurance, power for all, LPG for BPL among others. Besides, the party will soon organise a meeting of backward caste community members in two Vidhan Sabha constituencies. BJP has also decided to hold a youth and woman conference all over the state in which workers upto the booth level will participate. New Delhi: India will try to isolate Pakistan further during the eighth BRICS Summit in Goa while also aiming to ink a multi-billion defence deal with Russia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to arrive in Goa today for the BRICS Summit and the first ever BRICS-BIMSTEC meet during which Indian is set to ink a multi-billion air defence missile system with Russia. "The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi tweeted. I look forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil & Russia on key global & regional challenges. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2016 The two-day BRICS summit will be held from October 15 to 16. Don't Miss: S-400 Triumf Why is India acquiring this air defence missile system from Russia The Prime Minister, in a tweet also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Michel Temer of Brazil, who will also reach Goa today. India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa. @KremlinRussia_E Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2016 "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa," the Prime Minister tweeted. Modi said that he looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges. I look forward to deliberations with leaders of China and South Africa, which will strengthen our bilateral ties with these key partners. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2016 "As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," he said. Both Putin and Modi will stay at the Taj Exotica while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an inter-governmental organisation of which Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are members. "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand," Modi said in another tweet. According to the reports, a joint meeting of the BRICS and BIMSTEC leaders will be held on October 16. India is also counting on the BIMSTEC in a bid to corner Pakistan after 19th SAARC summit which were scheduled in Islamabad were cancelled. India-Russia deal on S-400 air defence missile systems Russia and India will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa, according to media reports. Must Read: Russia, India to ink deal on S-400 air defence missile systems "Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency on Thursday. India is interested in getting five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets. It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a USD 3 billion contract last year. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. Ushakov said part of the documents will be signed behind closed doors. The Kremlin aide declined to comment on the details of the deal, suggesting that first the document should be signed. Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian- Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported. Following the results of their talks, Putin and Modi will adopt a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues. Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Overall, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents, he said. Patna: Clarifying the government`s stand on triple talaq, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday asserted that the Centre stands by gender justice, gender equality and gender dignity. Prasad said the Centre has while replying to a notice issued by the Supreme Court in the wake of numerous complaints filed by Muslim women, who were the victims of the triple talaq system, asserted that when Islamic nations can regulate the Muslim divorce system then why can`t India. "The Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Indian Government in the wake of numerous complaints filed by several Muslim women against the triple talaq system. The Muslim women had been asking for justice in this regard. Replying to the notice of the apex court, we have said that the government stands by gender justice, gender equality and gender dignity, as these are also the basic constituents of our Constitution," said Prasad."Secondly, we have said that in more than a dozen Islamic countries the triple talaq system has been regulated. So, if in Islamic countries this system can be regulated then why not in India which is a secular nation," he added.Yesterday, the AIMPLB said they will boycott the Uniform Civil Law as they feel it is not good for the nation. "We will boycott the questionnaire sent by the Law Commission and we have decided that Muslims of the country will not answer this question as it is not acceptable and not good for the nation," Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani of the MPLB said.Rahmani said there are a number of people living in this country belonging from different cultures and added that to bind the culture under one unique code is not acceptable. The Law Commission earlier last week sought public opinion on the exercise of reforming family laws of all religions. The commission has reportedly appealed to members of religious, minority and social groups, non-government organizations, to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including the practice of triple talaq, the right to property for a woman citizen and polygamy. However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has been defending the triple talaq system and termed the filing of the affidavit as `un-islamic.`They claim that triple talaq is a personal law and the Centre has no right to modify it. New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the All India Christian Council on Friday and spoke on religious tolerance and terrorism. He called India a "University of Tolerance" as it has high tolerance for different religions. He also added that terrorism affects all countries and the global community should fight it together. "All sects of Islam are found in India. All the important religions of the world are found in India. Even if you leave others out, you will find Jews, Parsis in India and everyone have the freedom the practice their own religion. That is why I say it won`t be an exaggeration to call India an University of tolerance, because tolerance is important for peaceful existence," Singh said. "Even when India was divided on the basis of religion, we did not allow it to become a theocratic nation, but India is a secular state," he added. Addressing the gathering, Singh said, "We have a lot of challenges. When it comes to terrorism, if a nation makes it a part of state policy it is very unfortunate. We might have differences in our thinking, but do we need to take the help of guns to resolve these differences. If we have differences, we can sit and resolve those issues." "Terrorism not only affects India, but many other countries and the entire global community should come together to fight terrorism," he added. Bhopal: Jain Digamber sect's head Acharya Vidyasagarji Maharaj on Friday suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the country should be called only 'Bharat', during their brief meeting here today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sought the blessing of the religious leader. Among other things, the Jain sect leader suggested Modi that the country should be called only 'Bharat' instead of having the alternative official name of India. "Vidyasagar and Modi spent around 10 minutes together. He was accompanied by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Madhya Pradesh Governor O P Kohli and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan," Jain Digamber community's local spokesman Ravindra Jain told PTI. "He suggested that the country should be referred to as Bharat instead of India. No country has two names and so should be in the case of our nation, he told the Prime Minister," Jain said. Besides, Vidyasagar also suggested that orders of the courts should be delivered in regional languages, Jain said. The spiritual leader also expressed concern about students who take loans for education but do not get jobs later, Jain said. Two years ago, there was a series of talks between RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Vidyasagar at Ramtek near Nagpur. Two months ago, BJP president Amit Shah had met Vidyasagar in Damoh district. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Industries Minister EP Jayarajan on Friday resigned after coming under attack for appointing two relatives in state public sector enterprises. CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made the announcement, saying Jayarajan himself decided to step down. "He asked for permission in the Secretariat meeting following the mistake he committed. He was very particular about the image of the party and the government," Balakrishnan told the media. "He sought permission to resign and he resigned," said Balakrishnan. The news of Jayarajan appointing his relatives surfaced 10 days ago, triggering a volley of criticism against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government which took power only four months ago. The Congress-led UDF and the BJP approached the Vigilance Department to seek a probe and demanded the minister's ouster. Jayarajan was a close aide of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the number two in the cabinet besides being one of the most powerful leaders in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in Kerala. According to CPI-M sources, Jayarajan did his best to explain his case at the meeting of the 14-member Secretariat of the party. But Vijayan was in no mood to relent as the central leadership of the party had taken Jayarajan's action as a serious lapse. One of the two relatives in the controversy is P.K. Sudheer, son of CPI-M Lok Sabha member P.K. Sreemathy. He is a nephew of Jayarajan. The other person is a niece of the minister, Dipthi Nishad. Neither Sudheer (appointed Managing Director of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd) nor Nishad (named General Manager of the Kerala Clay and Ceramics Ltd) had the experience or qualifications for the job. Following a huge outcry, both quit their posts. "We have proved that we are a party that holds values in politics and we are different from other parties," Balakrishnan said. "The previous (Oommen Chandy) government saw several ministers getting involved in trouble over various charges. The BJP-Vasundhara Raje Scindia (government in Rajasthan) faced charges but did not resign. "With Jayarajan's resignation, we have proved we are different," added Balakrishnan. The party Secretariat meeting held here went on for nearly three hours. Vijayan, taking the salute at a passing out parade of police constables in the capital, pledged his government won't be soft on corruption. The CPI-M found itself on the backfoot over the Jayarajan issue, with not a single party leader turning up for debates on TV channels to discuss the nepotism charges. As he left the meeting venue, Jayarajan sarcastically remarked to journalists: "An announcement will come soon which you will like to hear." Meanwhile, the Vigilance Department told a court here on Friday that it was taking necessary steps in the probe against Jayarajan. On Thursday, a public interest litigation was filed against Jayarajan. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Industries Minister EP Jayarajan on Friday resigned after coming under attack for appointing two relatives in state public sector enterprises. CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made the announcement, saying Jayarajan himself decided to step down. "He asked for permission in the Secretariat meeting following the mistake he committed. He was very particular about the image of the party and the government," Balakrishnan told the media. "He sought permission to resign and he resigned," said Balakrishnan. The news of Jayarajan appointing his relatives surfaced 10 days ago, triggering a volley of criticism against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government which took power only four months ago. The Congress-led UDF and the BJP approached the Vigilance Department to seek a probe and demanded the minister's ouster. Jayarajan was a close aide of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the number two in the cabinet besides being one of the most powerful leaders in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in Kerala. According to CPI-M sources, Jayarajan did his best to explain his case at the meeting of the 14-member Secretariat of the party. But Vijayan was in no mood to relent as the central leadership of the party had taken Jayarajan's action as a serious lapse. One of the two relatives in the controversy is P.K. Sudheer, son of CPI-M Lok Sabha member P.K. Sreemathy. He is a nephew of Jayarajan. The other person is a niece of the minister, Dipthi Nishad. Neither Sudheer (appointed Managing Director of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd) nor Nishad (named General Manager of the Kerala Clay and Ceramics Ltd) had the experience or qualifications for the job. Following a huge outcry, both quit their posts. "We have proved that we are a party that holds values in politics and we are different from other parties," Balakrishnan said. "The previous (Oommen Chandy) government saw several ministers getting involved in trouble over various charges. The BJP-Vasundhara Raje Scindia (government in Rajasthan) faced charges but did not resign. "With Jayarajan's resignation, we have proved we are different," added Balakrishnan. The party Secretariat meeting held here went on for nearly three hours. Vijayan, taking the salute at a passing out parade of police constables in the capital, pledged his government won't be soft on corruption. The CPI-M found itself on the backfoot over the Jayarajan issue, with not a single party leader turning up for debates on TV channels to discuss the nepotism charges. As he left the meeting venue, Jayarajan sarcastically remarked to journalists: "An announcement will come soon which you will like to hear." Meanwhile, the Vigilance Department told a court here on Friday that it was taking necessary steps in the probe against Jayarajan. On Thursday, a public interest litigation was filed against Jayarajan. Bhubaneswar: Former Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju has stirred up a controversy yet again, this time by posting alleged derogatory remarks about Odisha and its people. After facing flak from the people of Odisha, Katju apologised. In his Facebook post, Katju said: "I was asked to write about the Oriyas (Odias). What is there to write about these poor chaps? Ever since they got a thrashing at the hands of Ashoka in the battle of Kalinga, they have been a dejected lot." He further wrote: "Now all they have with them are a lot of pots (Patras), big pots (Mahapatras) and supposedly intelligent kings (Patnaiks). And of course, they have Lord Jagannath to whom they pray every day for revenge on the abominable Biharis. Hari Om." Katju`s remarks sparked off criticism from across the state. Banners have been raised against him and effigies of the former apex court judge were burnt at several places in Puri and Bhubaneswar. Later, Katju apologised on Facebook for his remarks. "I said I had written my post in a lighter vein. However, if Odia people are feeling hurt I apologise. I had no intention to hurt their feelings, and was only joking, just as I had joked about Biharis, Tamilians, etc..," Katju wrote in his latest post in the social network. Katju said, "When I went to Odisha, where I have been many times, I marvelled at the sight of the Konarak and Lingaraj temples." However, the damage was already done. In Puri, the activists of "Jagannath Sena" staged an angry protest in front of Jagannath Mandir and burnt Katju`s effigy. In Bhubaneswar, a life-size effigy was burnt at the Master Canteen Chhak. "Katju has no knowledge about Odisha`s history and still has given his comments. He should read history first before making any comment. He has committed a blunder," said senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Biswabhusan Harichandan. "Foolish, juvenile comments deserve contempt, not a response. Clearly, neither years nor a career in law can be relied upon to impart wisdom!" tweeted ruling Biju Janata Dal MP Baijayant Panda. Terming Katju`s remarks as unfortunate, Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly Narasingh Mishra said the former Supreme Court judge should beg apology of the people of the state. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: India on Friday completely rejected the news report of News International Pakistan on the India's surgical strikes along the Line of Control on the intervening night of September 28-29. Vikas Swarup, official spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, issued a statement saying: The News International Pakistan's story titled 'Indian FS admits surgical strike was a bluff' is completely concocted and baseless. The German Ambassador Martin Ney was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes. They have had no conversation since on this subject, Swarup tweeted. New Delhi's reaction comes after 'News International Pakistan' published a story saying, The Indian foreign secretary in a recent meeting with German ambassador in New Delhi is said to have admitted that there was no surgical strike undertaken by the Indian Army inside Azad Kashmir. This startling information has been shared by the German authorities during a recent official meeting with Pakistan Embassy officials in Berlin. The drama of Indian surgical strikes, which had already become a global joke, got a serious jolt with its own foreign secretary having admitted that it was a bluff, the report further stated. In a first, India carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC with the Army inflicting "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from PoK, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Uri attack would not go unpunished. Seven terror launch pads across the LoC were targeted by the Army on the intervening night of September 28 and 29 in a nearly five-hour-long operation during which heliborne and ground forces were deployed. Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday claimed that India was "nervous" due to its diplomatic offensive highlighting "human rights violations" in Kashmir. Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria also accused India of violating the ceasefire on LoC to "divert attention" from Kashmir. He said India was "nervous" because of the diplomatic offensive launched by Pakistan to "expose" New Delhi over the situation in Kashmir. "Ceasefire violations on the Line of Control and interference in the internal affairs of neighbours are indicative of Indian nervousness," Radio Pakistan quoted Zakaria as saying in his weekly briefing. Also Read: No change in US' stand on Kashmir, want Pakistan to act against LeT: White House He said Pakistan has very effectively taken up the situation in Kashmir at all levels. Pakistan will continue to highlight Indian "atrocities and human rights violations" in Kashmir at the world fora, Zakaria said. Also Read: Uri attack a case of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, back India's right to self-defence: US The Foreign Office Spokesman regretted that India was "obstructing" the dispatch of "fact-finding mission" by UN Human Rights Council to Kashmir. He said India's "claim" of surgical strikes is one of the many "lies" that New Delhi has been telling to the world community. Zakaria alleged that India's objective was to "divert attention" of the world from "gross human rights violations" in Kashmir. He claimed that Indian media reported many things against facts and said credit goes to the Pakistani media for "exposing it". New Delhi: The parliamentary standing committee on defence was briefed on Friday about the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army by Vice Chief of Army Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat, sources said. The Vice Chief of Army briefed the panel for around half an hour, said a member, adding that the information provided was all that is already in public domain. The members did not ask any questions after the briefing, the source added. The briefing came after complaints from the Congress on Thursday night that the agenda of the meeting was changed at the last moment and briefing on surgical strike was cancelled. The source said the issue was also raised at the beginning of the meeting by Congress members, but committee chairman Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) said it might have been a "miscommunication". When members said they had written to him on the issue as well, the chairman said he did not receive the letter, and it appeared to have reached media before him. A surgical strike was conducted by the Indian Army on the night between September 28 and 29 on terror launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that further escalated the tensions between the two countries. The strike came following a terrorist attack at an Indian Army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers. Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated `Shaurya Smarak`, a war memorial dedicated to the Indian soldiers, and lauded the humanitarian work undertaken by the defence personnel in times of natural or man-made calamities. Be it the Uttarakhand floods of 2013 or the Kashmir floods of 2014, the Indian Army did a commendable job in saving thousands of lives, Modi said in Bhopal. "In Kashmir, our soldiers rescued -- and provided humanitarian aid to -- thousands of people without giving a thought that these are the same people who throw stones at the Indian forces," he said. "Sometimes these stones can be fatal. But despite that, our soldiers did not go into who did what to them in the past. They just saved the lives of their fellow countrymen," the Prime Minister said while addressing a meeting of former servicemen at Lal Pared ground here. He reminded the audience that the uniformed men armed with weapons also had a humane face. "The first image of a soldier may be that of a uniformed person with bloodshot eyes, carrying weapons and looking for enemies, but the same soldier has a very humane face too," Modi said at the 'Shaurya Samman Sabha'. He said the Indian Army may not be the strongest in the world, but it certainly is on the top on the parameters of humanity, discipline, conduct and behaviour with civilians. Speaking on humanitarian activities undertaken by the Indian soldiers across the globe, the Prime Minister said: "Terrorism in west Asia has taken an ugly shape. Thousands of Indians were stranded in Yemen and their lives were hanging between life and death. Our armed forces brought out more than 5,000 Indians and many foreigners, including Pakistan`s citizens, safely out of Yemen." "The Indian forces never hesitated in giving their lives for the sake of humanity. In both the World Wars, more than one and a half lakh Indians soldiers died. The world is forgetting the sacrifices of our jawans; unfortunately, we also forget it some times," he added. Modi said high morale is the biggest weapon of any Army, which comes from the backing of 125 crore Indians. "Our Army doesn`t talk, but displays valour." Speaking on the `One Rank One Pension` (OROP) issue and anomalies in the seventh Pay Commission, the Prime Minister said: "For the last many decades, the armed forces are demanding OROP. Previous governments in very sophisticated words have been promising the armed forces fulfilment of their demand for OROP. We fulfilled that demand." He said till date, Rs 5,500 crore had been disbursed in instalments in this regard. PM Modi also said that his government is making effort to make India self-reliant in defence production. I am sure a day will come when we will also export weapons, said the PM. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also addressed the gathering. Underlining that the country has no dearth of valour, Parrikar hailed soldiers for displaying their extraordinary courage to the whole world on September 29. Meanwhile, Chouhan said: We are grateful to our brave soldiers. Shaurya Smarak is not just a Smarak, it's a temple of their bravery. Railway stations, airports, bus terminals, important markets and localities in the city were secured ahead of the high-profile visit. Vehicles were screened at different checkpoints to ensure no untoward incident occur. The administration also issued a circular asking all government and semi-government offices to suspended work post 3 pm. The Prime Minister arrived at the Bhopal Airport at 4.05 pm. He was received by Madhya Pradesh Governor OP Kohli, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Modi will leave for Panaji to attend the BRICS meet. Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated 'Shaurya Smarak' in Bhopal and lauded the humanitarian work undertaken by the defence personnel in times of natural or man-made calamities. Addressing ex-servicemen and their families at the inauguration of a war memorial, the PM said the Army will never "forgive" the country if it is found "sleeping" when it should be awake, in comments that come against the backdrop of the recent surgical strikes. He asserted that the Army does not believe in speaking but in displaying its valour. "Our Army is happiest when we sleep in peace. They have no complaint. But they will never forgive us if we sleep when we should be awake. Unfortunately, we have been found sleeping when we should have been awake. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. We have to keep alert always. It will be an injustice to the Army if we sleep away when we have to be awake," he said without elaborating. The PM devoted his speech hailing the role of armed forces and their spirit of sacrifice in an adverse situation. "Our Army does not speak but displays its valour. When I would say this earlier, they (critics) would tear my hair out. They would say Modi is sleeping and doing nothing. Like our Army which does not speak but displays its valour, our Defence Minister also does not speak..." he said with a pause as the audience broke into applause with some raising patriotic slogans. Modi said the ancestors in hundreds of years of India's history never waged a war to capture a country. "But if it comes to fighting for values and ideals, India is never found wanting," he said. He reminded the audience that the uniformed men armed with weapons also had a humane face. "The first image of a soldier may be that of a uniformed person with bloodshot eyes, carrying weapons and looking for enemies, but the same soldier has a very humane face too," Modi said. Lauding the valour and humaneness of armed forces, he referred to their relief and rescue operations in Srinagar during the floods two years ago despite the violence they face from the stone-pelting mobs. "When massive floods hit Srinagar two years ago, the government found it difficult to deal with the situation and the country saw that our jawans were toiling to save people's lives. "They never thought these are the same people who pelt them with stones, breaking their head and damaging eyes. The attack is sometimes so severe that they even face death," Modi said, praising armed forces' rescue efforts in Kashmir. He also highlighted their relief work during other natural disasters and recalled their efforts in Uttarakhand, which was hit by massive floods in 2013. He said the Indian Army may not be the strongest in the world, but it certainly is on the top on the parameters of humanity, discipline, ethics and behaviour towards civilians. Speaking on humanitarian activities undertaken by the Indian soldiers across the globe, the Prime Minister said: "Terrorism in west Asia has taken an ugly shape. Thousands of Indians were stranded in Yemen and their lives were hanging between life and death. Our armed forces brought out more than 5,000 Indians and many foreigners, including Pakistan's citizens, safely out of Yemen." "Even in international peacekeeping operations, Indian forces have served for long," he said. On the occasion, he also asserted that his government has fulfilled all the promises it had made while rolling out OROP for ex-servicemen, saying over Rs 5,000 crore has already been distributed to them. Attacking previous Congress governments without naming, he said they made tall claims but never fulfilled them. "Some governments were so clever that they even made budgetary provisions of a meagre Rs 500 crore," he said, citing figures for monetary benefits to retired soldiers following the OROP implementation. "We have promised to pay the money due to forces in four instalments under OROP and we are doing so," he said, adding, "I am content that we are keeping our promises." He also highlighted the Centre's efforts to ramp up defence production in India and made it self-reliant in the field. "I have been working on this for the last two years and I am confident that a day will come soon when India will not only become self-reliant but also export weapons... We have a lot of talent." Praising the armed forces for their bravery, he said they are also among the first ones across the world when judged on the yardsticks of discipline and concern for fellow human beings. Praising the 'shaurya smarak', he said it is like a pilgrimage site. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also addressed the gathering. Underlining that the country has no dearth of valour, Parrikar hailed soldiers for displaying their extraordinary courage to the whole world on September 29. Meanwhile, Chouhan said: We are grateful to our brave soldiers. Shaurya Smarak is not just a Smarak, it's a temple of their bravery. Railway stations, airports, bus terminals, important markets and localities in the city were secured ahead of the high-profile visit. Vehicles were screened at different checkpoints to ensure no untoward incident occur. The administration also issued a circular asking all government and semi-government offices to suspended work post 3 pm. The Prime Minister arrived at the Bhopal Airport at 4.05 pm. He was received by Madhya Pradesh Governor OP Kohli, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Benaulim: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin here on the sidelines of BRICS Summit in Goa. During the 17th bilateral summit between India and Russia, which is taking place barely weeks after the Uri strike by Pakistan-based terrorists, discussion on terrorism will be on the agenda. India is likely to reaffirm its concerns over growing Russia-Pakistan military ties when the PM holds talks with Putin tomorrow. The two countries are also likely to sign key defence deals worth billions of dollars tomorrow as Moscow hopes to stave off tough competition from the Americans and the Europeans to continue being New Delhi's foremost defence supplier. While India and Russia will sign a "complex agreement" for the production of 200 Kamov 226T helicopters domestically under a nearly USD 1 billion deal to replace the country's ageing Cheetah and Chetak choppers, a deal on naval frigates is also likely. On Friday, Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said that the two leaders would discuss a "broad menu" of issues including new areas of co-operation like energy, infrastructure, railways, agriculture, hi-technology. Saran said as far as Russia's recent military exercise with Pakistan was concerned, "we have conveyed our concerns and views. We are confident that Russia will reflect on our concern. That is where we stand." Also Read: BRICS Summit: India aims to isolate Pakistan further; eyes multi-billion defence deal with Russia Saran had earlier conveyed India opposition to Russia's joint military exercise with Pakistan, a state that "sponsors and practices terrorism as state policy" and that it will create further problems. He also asserted that terrorism was an important issue and will be discussed between the two leaders and efforts would be to ratchet up counter-terrorism cooperation. According to sources, India also hopes to see Russia scale down its military cooperation with Pakistan. "We feel that Russia has understood our concerns, and going forward, there will be some action (scaling down)," sources said when asked if the recent Russia-Pakistan military exercise was a one-off episode and whether Russia had registered India's concerns. Also Read: S-400 Triumf Why is India acquiring this air defence missile system from Russia The two sides are looking at inking more than a dozen pacts including in the area of civil nuclear cooperation. The two sides have finalised the General Framework Agreement and Credit Protocol for unit 5 and 6 for Kudankulum project. They are also expected to ink defence deals worth billions of dollars. Earlier, Modi said, "Putin's visit will give an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia." The two leaders will also exchange views on important regional and international issues, Saran said, adding: "Indo-Russia ties have more than just the bilateral dimension. There are regional and global issues, various troubled hotspots where Russia has stakes and where India has stakes." A "very wide range" of issues will be discussed and it would be unfair to pick one or two, the envoy said and added that the agenda has a "broad menu and fully respects the kind of relationship that both country share". The External Affairs Ministry officials also rejected suggestions of a rift between Russia and India, which recently signed Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US, a move which is seen by many as New Delhi's moving away from its traditional ally. "I would like to emphasize that the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership is characterized by unmatched mutual confidence, trust and goodwill cutting across the party lines as well as between citizens of the two countries. "The broad geo-polotical interest of India and Russia not only do not clash but in most cases also coincide. The bilateral partnership covers the widest possible areas of cooperation which will also be on display tomorrow," Joint Secretary dealing with Russia in MEA, GV Srinivas, said. Srinivas also said Russia has been instrumental in securing for India the membership in Shanghai cooperation organization. "They are the ones who supported us on MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) as also our application to NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) membership. So, there is a very good interaction between India and Russia on bilateral, regional, international levels," Srinivas said. Saran also said, over the decades, India's relationship with "Russia has strengthened, it has deepened and it has widened. Today, it is very legitimate to talk about a comprehensive relationship. "In fact, it is more than a relationship, it is a partnership, and very justifiably, it has been described by the two leaders as both special and privileged as well as, of course, strategic. "With every summit we have seen progress being made in new areas and progress being made in existing areas. I have full confidence that the meeting between the leaders tomorrow will be a very important and significant milestone in the relationship," the envoy added. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday. The two leaders will ink the deal after their talks in Goa ahead of the summit of the BRICS. The S-400 is a new generation anti-aircraft system, which can be equipped with very long-range missiles (up to 400km), long-range (250km) and medium-range (120km). The S-400 Triumf is capable of countering all air attack weapons, including tactical and strategic aircraft, ballistic missiles and hypersonic targets such as the US F-35 fighter jet. India is interested in getting five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets. The S-400 can engage up to 36 targets simultaneously with as many as 72 missiles at altitudes of five meters to 30 km. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. Also Read: India, Russia likely to sign $1 bn deal to produce Kamov choppers If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a USD 3 billion contract last year. Besides grabbing the S-400 defence deal, Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian- Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters. Benaulim: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Goa. The PM is likely to raise issues such as India's National Security Guard (NSG) membership bid and China blocking United Nations ban on JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar. The two leaders are also likely to deliberate upon a range of key bilateral and international issues including ways to tackle the threat of terrorism besides security situation in the region. Notably on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in Beijing that there was no change in China's stand on India's NSG membership bid and New Delhi's attempts to get Azhar designated as a terrorist by the UN. The spokesperson said relations between India and China made "great headway" despite some "disputes" but there was no change in Beijing's stand on the issues of NSG and Azhar. Geng said China maintains that 1267 Committee of the UN designated to ban terrorist outfits should work on true facts and make a decision according to the consensus of its members. On the NSG issue, the spokesperson said, "China's position has not changed regarding the joining of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by India." Xi is arriving here tomorrow to participate in the annual BRICS summit. Prime Minister Modi and Xi had last met on the sidelines of G-20 in Hangzhou in September. (With PTI inputs) Srinagar: National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Friday refused to comment on Uri terror attack. Abdullah, who today convened an all-party meeting to discuss the Kashmir unrest, said India and Pakistan need to sit and talk. Until the issues between the two nations are solved, there will be no end to terrorism, the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said. Quoting former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's words, We can't choose our neigbours, the NC leader said, We have to talk to Pakistan, there is no other option. While appealing to restore peace in kashmir, Abdullah said, "We are only concerned about peace, we dont care about surgical strikes." Abdullah's reaction comes at a time when the Valley has been witnessing un-ending violence for the last 97 days. Tensions between India and Pakistan have been simmering ever since Indian Army conducted surgical strikes along the Line of Control on the intervening night of September 28-29. At least 91 people have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the over three months unrest which started here on July 9, a day after the killing of top militant Burhan Wani in a gunfight with the security forces. In a first, India carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC with the Army inflicting "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from PoK, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Uri attack would not go unpunished. Seven terror launch pads across the LoC were targeted by the Army on the intervening night of September 28 and 29 in a nearly five-hour-long operation during which heliborne and ground forces were deployed. Jaish-e-Mohammad carried out terror attack at the Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in which 18 soldiers were killed and 30 others injured. Srinagar: A Jammu and Kashmir police officer of deputy superintendent rank was suspended for allegedly leaking sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence agencies during the ongoing unrest in the Valley. J&K DGP K Rajendra Kumar suspended the cop and initiated a probe into the allegations. The top cop ordered the inquiry after Home Ministry gave inputs of telephonic conversations between DSP Tanveer Ahmad and Pakistani security officials. However, Ahmad has denied any wrong doing. Giving his side of the story, he said that he received a call from a person, who addressed himself as an Army officer. He wanted him to share the details of the deployment of the security forces in the Valley. The DSP maintains that he asked the Superintendent of Police before divulging the details. Kashmir has been witnessing un-ending unrest ever since Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter on July 08. During the last 97 days of ongoing violence, post Friday prayer protests have been taking place across the valley during which precious human lives are lost in clashes between unruly mobs and the security forces. At least 91 people have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the over three months unrest which started here on July 9, a day after the killing of top militant Burhan Wani in a gunfight with the security forces. Srinagar: In the wake of spurt in attacks, army and other security forces will resume counter-terror operations besides enhancing protective measures at key installations and stepping up vigil in the hinterland in Jammu and Kashmir. The decisions were taken today at a security review meeting chaired by Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and attended by Northern Army Commander Lt Gen D S Hooda, Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen S K Dua, Director General of state police K Rajendra Kumar and senior officers of CRPF and Intelligence Bureau. The meeting reviewed the situation consequent to the terror attack at Pampore in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, which ended two days back after three days. "It was recalled that after the Pathankot terror attack, it had been decided, during the then period of Governor's Rule, that a Multi-Agency Security Audit shall be conducted by the state police in close collaboration with the IB, Central Armed Police Force, Army, Air Force and other concerned agencies. "In this context, and in the background of the terror attacks at Poonch, Uri, Handwara and, most recently at Pampore, it was agreed that surveillance should be enhanced not only along the IB and LoC, as already done, but also in the entire hinterland, counter-terrorist operations should be resumed and, side by side, identified steps should be taken to safeguard and effectively ensure the safety and security of all civil and military vital installations and establishments in the state," an official spokesman said. Two militants took shelter inside a government building in Pampore, 16 kms from here, on Monday, triggering an encounter with security forces which lasted for 56 hours before both the militants were killed. Srinagar: Terrorists opened fire on a convoy of Shashtra Seema Bal (SSB) in Srinagar on Friday evening, killing one jawan and injuring at least eight others. The ambush took place on the Hazratbal-Ganderbal road in Zakura on the outskirts of Srinagar. The SSB personnel were returning to camp from patrol duty when the attack took place around 7.30 pm. There were six vehicles carrying the jawans. Three companies of an SSB patrol party were returning to camp. The terrorists opened fire on one of the vehicles, IG SSB Deepak Kumar said. One jawan was martyred while eight others were injured, four of them critically. The injured were admitted to hospital. The jawans couldn't aggressively retaliate given the civilian population, the officer said. Meanwhile, the security forces have launched a massive search operation in the area which is still underway. The terrorists are believed to have fled the scene after the attack. The latest attack comes days after the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes against several terror camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Nashik: Curfew continued to remain in force in seven villages of Igatpuri and Trimbakeshwar tehsils in the wake of group clashes and incidents of stone pelting following alleged rape attempt of a minor girl by a teenager here, even as police have so far arrested 117 people in connection with rioting, stone-pelting, and arson. While curfew was imposed in eight villages in Igatpuri and Trimbakeshwar tehsils in Nashik on Wednesday night, it was lifted from one village today. According to police, the situation in Nashik city and parts of the district remained under control and no untoward incident was reported in the last two days. Protests had erupted in adjoining villages and spread to Nashik after a 16-year-old boy allegedly tried to rape a five-year-old girl at Talegaon village near Trimbakeshwar. Meanwhile, the condition of the minor victim, who was admitted to Nashik Civil Hospital, is stable and improving. Addressing a joint press conference, Special Inspector General (Nashik range), Vinaykumar Choube and Commissioner of Police Ravindra Singhal said, "In Nashik rural, 82 persons have been arrested and 23 offenses for rioting, stone pelting and arson have been registered so far." Besides, in Nashik city, 20 cases were registered in different police stations and 72 persons involved in these incidents since Sunday have been identified, of which 35 have been arrested, they said. "Curfew was clamped in eight villages in the district on Wednesday night. However, curfew in Vilholi village in Igatpuri tehsil was lifted today, while that in seven other villages will continue till Saturday," they said. Mobile Internet services continued to remain suspended to prevent the spread of rumours and are likely to be restored tomorrow, after taking a review of the situation, Singhal said. "Police are keeping a tab on social media to find out the spread of any troublesome messages. So far, seven persons were booked for allegedly circulating wrong messages on social networking sites and one person was also traced for spreading messages on Facebook," the Commissioner said. Choube said, District Collector B Radhakrishnan and District superintendent of Police (Rural) Ankush Shinde are visiting the sensitive areas in Nashik and appealing people to assist the administration and police for keeping the peace. "City police also conducted raids on some people's houses and recovered two pistols, five live cartridges, and other arms on Thursday," Singhal added. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Social Justice, Ramdas Athawale will visit the city late night and hold talks with the district and police authorities tomorrow over the situation, an official statement said. Mumbai: Hearing a bail application of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, the Bombay High Court on Friday asked how she could be kept in prison when the prosecuting agency had said there was no case against her. Thakur moved the high court after the special court for Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act cases denied her bail on June 28. The division bench of justices NH Patil and PD Naik asked the NIA to submit a compilation of all the previous orders and judgement pertaining to the case. Thakur was given a clean chit by the NIA earlier this year, but the trial court refused her bail. Her petition in the high court said the lower court had failed to take into consideration the change in circumstances. In November 2015, the special court denied her bail, holding that prima facie there was some evidence against her. But in May, NIA filed a fresh charge sheet (after taking over the case from Maharashtra ATS), which gave a clean chit to Thakur. Her lawyer, advocate Jai Prakash Mishra, argued today that there was no material evidence against her. NIA's lawyer also told the high court that the agency had concluded that charges against her could not be substantiated, and the earlier charge sheet filed by ATS was erroneous. "This is an odd case where the prosecution has no objections and yet the accused is denied bail and kept behind the bars," the bench observed, seeking copies of both the charge sheets and the special court's orders denying her bail. Next hearing would be on November 16. Six persons died and 100 were injured in the bomb blast at Malegaon, a predominantly Muslim town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008. Itanagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to join the government led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday. According to BJP state president Tapir Gao, party MLA Tamiyo Taga will be sworn in as a minister. This major coalition came nearly a month after Khandu and 42 other MLAs of the Congress switched sides and, merged with former chief minister Kalikho Pul`s regional party PPA. In Mid-September, Khandu resigning from the Congress party with 42 other MLAs, stating that the decision to resign was unanimous, adding that the aspiration of the people of state is very regional in character and it was necessary to have a synergy between the two. In the 60-member House with an effective strength of 58, the Congress had the support of 47 MLAs, including two Independents, while Opposition BJP has 11 members. Khandu was sworn-in as the ninth Arunachal Chief Minister on 17 July. In a dramatic turnaround in this land-locked state on July 16, Congress replaced Nabam Tuki by choosing Khandu as the new Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, who staked claim to power on the basis of support of 45 party MLAs along with two Independents. Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday announced special grants-in-aid of Rs 50 lakh each to war widows or other legal heirs of defence force personnel who died in the wars with China and Pakistan in 1962, 1965 and 1971. The announcement comes after many families of martyrs refused to end their agitation over the demand for 10 acres of land each from the Punjab government. Families who failed to get the land demanded they be given land or compensation at the present collector rate. "The grant is a major goodwill gesture and an expression of honour and gratitude to the valiant soldiers who laid down their lives in the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars and the 1962 India-China war," a spokesperson of the Chief Minister`s Office here said. The grant will be payable in three half-yearly instalments of Rs 20 lakh, Rs 15 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. Under the state government policy, families of such defence personnel were entitled to 10 acres or cash compensation. "The policy had been announced way back in 1975 and over 1,500 war widows who applied in time were allotted up to 10 acres of rural agricultural land or cash. However, there were nearly 100 cases in which the applicants, for one reason or the other, failed to apply before the cut-off date. Intended beneficiaries in such cases applied by the extended cut-off date of January 4, 2010," the spokesperson said. The Punjab government recently decided to give cash compensation but it was rejected by the families since the amount was calculated at the rates prevalent in the mid-1970s. It came to around Rs 20 lakh per family. The residual agricultural land available for allotment is either locked up in litigation or in unauthorised possession, which rendered it practically impossible for the war widow allottees to take possession of. Keeping in view the demands of the war widows and their representatives, the state government had decided to honour the remaining duly verified and deserving cases of war widows with the cash grant," the spokesperson said. Chennai: Several outfits today held protests across Tamil Nadu demanding that the Union government set up the much-awaited Cauvery Management Board. The demonstrations were held in the city by Muslim outfits, including SDPI, in front of railway stations, police said. In Thanjavur, the Cauvery Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu (Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee) staged an agitation and in Madurai, a pro-Tamil outfit held a demonstration on the issue, they said. All the agitations were held either near or in front of Central government establishments including railway stations. The protesters raised slogans accusing the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "betraying Tamil Nadu's interests". They condemned the Centre for taking a stand against setting up the CMB immediately on the ground that the matter fell in the domain of Parliament. The protests came days after a high-level technical team, set up by the Supreme Court, completed its inspection of Cauvery basin region in Tamil Nadu to assess the situation in the state. The team, which also inspected the Cauvery basin in Karnataka, is set to submit its report in the apex court on October 17. The apex court had set up the team while hearing a petition by Tamil Nadu government seeking release of Cauvery water by Karnataka. Farmers bodies in Tamil Nadu have also called for a 48-hour rail roko on October 17 and 18 to urge the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board. While DMK had yesterday pledged its support to the rail roko, Tamil Maanila Congress today said it would support the stir. Washington: US President Barack Obama on Friday urged his countrymen not to fall for what Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump tries to do as it would make everyone depressed. "You've got a chance to elect a woman who's spent her entire life trying to make this country better. Don't fall for the easy cynicism that says your vote doesn't matter. Don't fall for what Trump tries to do and just make everybody depressed. Don't believe it," Obama told a well-attended election rally in Cleveland, Ohio. He said Trump's closing argument was "What do you have to lose? The answer is: Everything". "All the progress we've made right now is on the ballot. Civility is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Courtesy is on the ballot. Honesty is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Kindness is on the ballot. All the progress we made that last eight years is on the ballot. Democracy itself is on the ballot right now," Obama said. "So if you want to send a message, make it loud. Turn back the voices of cynicism. Turn back the voices of ignorance. Send a message of progress. Send a message of hope. Send a message by voting for Hillary Clinton, and show our kids and the rest of the world we remain the greatest country in the world," he said. Calling for a vote against the Republican presidential nominee, Obama said even though sometimes politics can seem frustrating and the democracy can seem mean-spirited, Americans have a chance right now to reject that kind of politics. "You have a chance to reject the politics of fear. You can lift again back up the politics of hope. Let's not go backwards, let's go forward," he asserted. Obama said if America wants a leader who actually values hard work and respects working Americans, want higher wages, and better benefits, and a fair tax code, and equal pay for women, and stronger regulations on Wall Street, then people should vote for Hillary Clinton. "If you want to know who is going to keep you safe in a dangerous world, then the choice is even clearer. Hillary is going to make sure we finish the job of defeating ISIL. She won't have to resort to torture, or ban entire religions from our country. She has got the knowledge and the experience and the temperament to be the next Commander-in-Chief," he argued. He said the country cannot have a guy who insulted POWs and attacks a Gold Star mom, and has called troops and veterans weak, and cozies up to dictators, and tells allies that the US might not stand by their side unless they pay up first. "He may be up at 3:00 am in the morning, but it's because he's tweeting insults to somebody who got under his skin. That's not the kind of President you want. Not fit to be Commander-in-Chief and not fit to lead the world?s greatest democracy," he said. "This is somebody who threatens to jail his political opponents, or silence the media; who welcomes Russian meddling in our electoral process, and is now suggesting that if the election doesn?t go his way, it's not because all the stuff he said, but because it's rigged and it's a fraud," Obama said. Some nations do operate that way. And they're tyrannies. And they're oppressive. They're now the world's greatest democracy," he said. "We have fought against those kinds of things. Around the world, we talk to other countries, we say, no, in a democracy you can't just threaten to jail your opponents. There are things called due process," he said. "In a democracy, you can't just ban reporters or press that you don't like. Because there's this thing called the First Amendment. In a democracy, you have a contest, but if you lose then you say congratulations and you move on. Because the country and our system of government is bigger than any single individual," Obama said, adding that the US has always stood for something better. Dhaka: Bangladesh and China today upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership as they signed 27 agreements, including loan and investment deals in the infrastructure sector worth billions, after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "We agreed to elevate China-Bangladesh relations from a closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation to a strategic partnership of cooperation and to increase high level exchanges and strategic communication so that our bilateral relations continue to move ahead at a higher level," Xi said after his talks with Hasina. He termed Bangladesh and China "good neighbours, good friends and good partners." "China-Bangladesh relationship is now at a new historical starting point and heading toward a promising future," Xi said. "China is ready to work with Bangladesh to move forward as friends and partners who trust and support each other and to add more substance to China-Bangladesh strategic partnership of cooperation," he said. After Xi and Hasina held bilateral talks, the two countries signed 27 deals -- 15 MoUs and 12 loan and framework agreements ?- on different projects. However, there were reports that China may offer up to USD 40 billion credit, both sides refrained from providing the details of the loan amount. At the signing ceremony, Hasina noted that she had a "very fruitful" discussion with Xi on issues like improving bilateral, regional, and international cooperation. "We agreed to form synergy between our respective development strategies, jointly advance the belt and road initiative and launch the joint feasibility study on a China- Bangladesh FTA to strengthen our trade and investment cooperation and strengthen practical cooperation in key areas such as infrastructure, productivity capacity, energy and power, transportation, ICT and agriculture," Xi said. He said China would "continue to do its best" to provide capital, technological and human resources support and carry out "more cooperation" on big projects with Bangladesh to support its economical and social development. "There was a closer comprehensive cooperation between Bangladesh and China. But the cooperation has been lifted to a strategic relationship," Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told a media briefing after Xi-Hasina talks. "Both the leaders said Bangladesh-China relations are based on trust and are time tested and therefore the relations have now been elevated to a strategic level," he said. He said they also agreed to jointly advance the BCIM economic corridor and increase communication and coordination of international and regional issues of shared interest. Prime Minister Hasina in her statement reiterated that Bangladesh supports China in all of its core issues including "one China policy". "We have agreed to work closely and support each other on regional and international issues of mutual interest," she was quoted as saying by Bangladeshi media. Washington: Hillary Clinton has accused her Republican presidential rival Donald Trump of "stalking" her during their televised debate on Sunday. Trump often stood closely behind the Democratic nominee glowering as she answered questions from the audience during the town hall-style event in St Louis. Speaking during an interview on NBC's The Ellen DeGeneres Show set to air Friday, Clinton said his movements made her feel "really weird" on stage. "Because of the revelation of the public video, and everything that came out on 'Access Hollywood,' you know, he was really all wrought up, and you could just sense how much anger he had," Clinton said, referring to a video leaked last week showing Trump making lewd comments about women. "And so he was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage and I would just feel this presence behind me." Trump rejected criticism about his debate performance at a rally on Monday. "So I'm standing at my podium by my chair. She walks across the room. She's standing in front of me, right next to me," he said. "And the next day I said what did the papers say? They said, 'he invaded her space.'" "Believe me," he added, "The last space that I want to invade is her space." Last week's video showed Trump boasting in 2005 of groping women with impunity because he was famous, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity. Since then, at least six women have accused him of making unwanted physical advances, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday's debate that he had never sexually assaulted a woman. During her interview, Clinton praised First Lady Michelle Obama for blasting the Republican nominee in a powerful tirade yesterday. "The speech that she gave, I think, put into words what so many people are feeling," Clinton said. "And not just women and girls. Men and boys." She also said she didn't notice making a much-commented shimmy motion during Sunday's debate when Trump accused her of not having the "right temperament" to be president. "Now people are always saying, 'Do the shimmy, do the shimmy.'" Beijing: Lt General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, who is one of the leading contenders to become the next chief of the Pakistan Army, has held talks with a senior Chinese military official here, becoming the first top Pakistani military official to visit China after the Uri terror attack. Lt General Hayat, chief of general staff of the Pakistan Army, held talks with Gen Fang Fenghui, member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and chief of the Joint Staff Department, state-run China Military Online reported. CMC - headed by President Xi Jinping - is the supreme political military organisation which exercises control over all wings of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The report did not mention the purpose of Gen Hayat's visit, but it comes ahead of the scheduled retirement of Gen Raheel Sharif in November. Gen Hayat, who hails from a military family, is among the leading candidates seen as a replacement for Gen Sharif. His trip is also the first time a senior Pakistani army official is visiting China since the attack on an Indian army base in Uri in September by Pakistan-backed militants killed 19 soldiers and amplified tension between the neighbours. The Uri attack led to "surgical strikes" by India in which several terrorist "launchpads" across the LoC were destroyed. Gen Fang Fenghui in his meeting with Gen Hayat yesterday said China and Pakistan are "iron brothers" with all-weather partnership. China is willing to make joint efforts with Pakistan to achieve development, so as to benefit the peoples of the two countries, the report quoted Gen Fang as saying. Chinese military is willing to work with Pakistani military to strengthen strategic communication, deepen the pragmatic cooperation in fields such as joint exercises and training, construction of anti-terrorism capability and information sharing, he said. Fang stressed that the two militaries shall make full use of the Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism (among Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Tajikistan) to counter terrorism, and push forward the implementation of China's Belt and Road Initiative as well as the in-depth development of the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership, so as to make positive contributions to safeguarding regional and world peace and stability. Lt Gen Hayat said Pakistan and China with their unique, example-type ties are both good friends and "iron brothers". He hoped the two sides can further strengthen their cooperation in various fields especially in defence and security sectors, the report said. The Pakistani military resolutely supports China to push forward its 'Belt and Road Initiative' and is willing to provide all support for maintaining the security of the USD 46 billion Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said. Jerusalem: Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO on Friday after the UN cultural organisation adopted two resolutions on the occupied Palestinian territories including annexed east Jerusalem ahead of a final vote next week. In a letter sent to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, Education Minister Naftali Bennett accused the body of ignoring "thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem" and aiding "Islamist terror." "I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organisation," he said. Bokova distanced herself from the resolutions in a statement, saying "nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space." The resolutions adopted at committee stage on Thursday refer to "Occupied Palestine" and the need to "safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of east Jerusalem." They refer to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem`s Old City -- Islam`s third holiest site -- without any reference to the site also being revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained that saying "Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall is like saying China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or Egypt has no connection to the pyramids." Bokova did not specifically mention the resolutions in her statement but did refer to the Temple Mount. "The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city," she said. "To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list." Participants said the two resolutions adopted by 24 votes to six with 26 abstentions and two absentees are to be put to UNESCO`s Executive Board on Tuesday, which generally votes with the line taken by committees. The resolutions were put forward by Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria -- members of the 22-strong Arab League which on Friday hailed a "historic decision". A statement from Said Abu Ali, deputy secretary general of the pan-Arab organisation for Palestinian affairs, said the resolutions "invalidate Israeli allegations and inventions concerning Jerusalem and Islamic holy sites." The resolutions "incarnate eternal truth, backed by proof and the vestiges of history," said the Cairo-based Arab League. Washington has expressed its strong opposition. "We are deeply concerned about these kinds of recurring politicised resolutions that do nothing to advance constructive results on the ground and we don`t believe they should be adopted," said State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner. The status of Jerusalem is the thorniest issue of the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel captured east Jerusalem during the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community, declaring the whole city its indivisible capital. The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised future state. Tokyo: When Prince Hisahito was born in 2006, ending a 41-year drought in imperial male heirs, Japans government gladly dropped proposals that women might head the worlds oldest monarchy, but a decade later the little prince remains the last hope for an unreformed Chrysanthemum Throne. The issue is back in focus after Emperor Akihito, 82, hinted two months ago at abdication, with only five heirs in the line of succession, including Hisahito, his sole grandson. The four older heirs are Akihitos centenarian uncle, an 80-year-old brother, and two middle-aged sons whose wives are in their early 50s. In a rare televised address, Akihito said in August he worried age might make it hard to fulfil his duties. The remarks were interpreted as a desire to abdicate, a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law. The succession quandary has long weighed on Akihitos mind, Japanese media and royal watchers say. As the head of the imperial family, the emperor has a great sense of crisis that the royals will disappear, said a veteran Japanese journalist and long-time royal watcher, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. In a country where the population is rapidly ageing and projected to shrink about 30 percent by 2060, the dwindling royal family exemplifies a much larger trend that is also hitting succession planning at Japanese family firms. Next week a panel appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will start considering the topic of abdication. Domestic media and academics say the government appears to be leaning towards one-off legislation that would let Akihito step down in favour of eldest son Crown Prince Naruhito, Hisahitos uncle. Hidehiko Kasahara, an expert in imperial law at Keio University, does not expect Abes panel to broach the topic of male-only succession, which conservatives see as central to an imperial tradition stretching back 2,600 years. The governments stance is to avoid tackling issues like female succession that divide the public, he said. Though surveys have shown a majority of Japanese favour letting women take the throne and pass it on to their children, conservatives are key to Abes political support. Historically, Japans imperial line was preserved by a combination of concubines and cadet royal families called miyake, who could supply a male heir in a pinch. Very occasionally, female place-holders might rule until a male heir was found, but such empresses were either widows or unmarried and did not pass the throne to any children. But times have changed; Emperor Meiji, who died in 1912, was the last to have concubines, and cadet families were stripped of royal status by the Allied Occupation after Japans World War Two defeat. A 1947 law limits succession to male descendants of an emperor. Major surgery In 2005, as hopes faded that Naruhito or his younger brother Prince Akishino and their wives would produce a boy, then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi prepared to challenge that tradition. A panel of experts recommended the first-born child of an emperor or empress should succeed regardless of gender, and Koizumi promised to submit legislation. Hisahitos birth to Akishino and Princess Kiko torpedoed the plan, but the problem has just been kicked down the road. With Hisahitos two sisters in their twenties and Naruhitos daughter and only child Aiko turning 15 this year, the young prince may end up not only the last imperial heir but also the only member of the royal family, as its women become commoners upon marriage under current law. At some point, major surgery will be needed, said Kanto Gakuin University professor Naotaka Kimizuka. We have reached the point where this cannot be fixed with a band-aid. Conservatives favour restoring miyake families to royal status as a solution. We consider the tradition handed down by our ancestors to have great weight, said Akira Momochi, a professor at Nihon University, referring to the male-only succession practice. But restoring miyake could prove a hard sell for Abe, who has otherwise made a policy of promoting female participation in society. His No. 2 in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiro Nikai, has also suggested the imperial succession rules look dated. In an age of female empowerment, it is strange the emperor is an exception, Nikai said in August. Nikais counterpart in the main opposition Democratic Party, former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, also told the Nikkei business daily recently that parliament should discuss the problem of the shrinking number of royals as well as abdication. Abe is a realist, the veteran journalist said. It is clear if nothing is done, the imperial family will die out, so its hard to think he will do nothing. Washington: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday blamed Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who is the largest shareholder in The New York Times, for the daily coming out with stories against him. "The largest shareholder in the Times is Carlos Slim. Now Carlos Slim, as you know, comes from Mexico. He's given many millions of dollars to the Clintons and their initiatives. So Carlos Slim, largest owner of the paper, from Mexico," Trump said at an election rally in North Carolina. "Reporters at The New York Times, they're not journalists, they're corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton. We're going to let foreign corporations and their CEO's decide the outcomes of the (elections). You just can't do this," he said. Over the weekend, the daily came out with stories in which in interviewed women who have accused him of inappropriate relationship. "We can't let this (foreign influence) happen. We are not going to let it happen where they decide the outcome of our elections. They can't do it and we're not going to let it happen. This is our last chance to save our country and reclaim it for we the people, and it's going to happen," he said amidst applause. Trump alleged that no paper is more corrupt than the failing New York Times. "The good news is it is failing, it won't be around too much longer. But they are really, really bad people,? he said. The real estate mogul said he is being viciously attacked with lies and smears. "It's a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are, have no idea. I have no idea. I think you all know I have no idea because you understand me for a lot of years. When you looked at that horrible woman last night, you said I don't think so. I don't think so," he said amidst applause. "Whoever she is, wherever she comes from, the stories are total fiction. They're 100 per cent made up, they never happened, they never would happen. I don't think they'd happen with very many people but they certainly aren't going to happen with me. Folks, you know my people always say, oh don't talk about it, talk about jobs, talk about the economy. Don't worry, your jobs are going to be coming back to North Carolina like you've seen, the economy's going to be good," he said. Kandahar: Afghan officials say hundreds of members of the security forces have been killed recently fighting insurgent attacks on the main city in the southern province of Helmand. Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy head of the provincial council, and lawmaker Sheer Muhammad Akhon put the number of soldiers and police killed in the past 10 days in and around Lashkar Gah at more than 200. Separately they said 45 civilians have also been killed. Akhon says 100 security forces personnel have also been wounded. Akhonzada and Akhon both say it is the worst situation the province has faced in the 15 years since the Taliban's regime ended with the 2001 US invasion. Taliban have taken control of most of Helmand, source of most of the world's heroin, in the past year. Islamabad: Pakistan Army top brass today expressed "serious concern" over a news leak about rift between civilian and military leaderships during a high-level meeting last week on how to deal with militancy, after which the reporter of the story was barred from leaving the country. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif presided over the meeting of Corps Commanders' Conference which was held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. "Participants expressed their serious concern over feeding of false and fabricated story of an important security meeting held at the Prime Minister's House and viewed it as breach of national security," according a statement by the army. Pakistan's leading newspaper Dawn reported last week that there was a verbal clash between the civilian government and the military establishment over the military's covert support to militants like the Haqqani network, the LeT and Taliban. Following the report, journalist Cyril Almeida was put on Exit Control List (ECL), barring him from leaving Pakistan and sparking a massive outrage from journalist associations. The newspaper has rejected allegations of "vested interest and false reporting". It came out with a scathing editorial, saying Almeida's story on the verbal clash between government and military was "duly verified and correct piece of reporting." The Prime Minister's Office has repeatedly denied any rift between the two establishments since the story came out on October 6. The army said the participants in today's meeting held a comprehensive review of internal and external security situation with particular focus on the environment at the Line of Control (LoC) and operational preparedness of the army. Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday defended his threat to kill criminals as "perfect" and vowed no let-up in his war on crime, as the death toll surged past 3,700. International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said yesterday she was "deeply concerned" about the violence, and signalled Duterte could face prosecution by her body for his incitements to kill. But Duterte launched a typically defiant counter-attack today, defending his rhetoric and the crime war that is seeing more that 1,000 people killed every month. "There is nothing wrong in threatening criminals to death. By that statement alone: 'You criminals, I will kill you. Do not fool around.' It is a perfect statement," Duterte said. Describing his critics as "fools", Duterte reiterated his position he was not breaking any domestic laws by threatening to kill criminals and pledged the crime war would continue until there were no more illegal drugs in society. "I will not stop. Be sure of it, you can cast it in whatever stone. I will not stop until the last pusher, until the last drug lord is taken away." Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a pledge to eradicate drugs. Last month Duterte said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts, and likened his campaign to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews in Europe. He later apologised for his Hitler reference, but said he was "emphatic" about wanting to kill all drug addicts. Since Duterte took office, police have killed 1,578 people and 2,151 have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures released today. The total of 3,729 is 368 more than the previous police update released last week. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have condemned alleged extrajudicial killings and warned of a breakdown in the rule of law. Bensouda indicated yesterday that Duterte was at risk of joining the likes of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, in being indicted by the International Criminal Court. "Let me be clear: any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing... To the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the Court," she said in a statement. The Philippine government this week invited UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings. But Duterte vowed yesterday to "humiliate" her and any other critics if they dared to come to the Philippines and investigate. Polls show Filipinos overwhelmingly support Duterte's war on crime. Claims of sexual misconduct against US presidential candidate Donald Trump are grabbing headlines worldwide, but it`s nothing new in a world where sex and politics are all too frequent bed-fellows. In May 2011, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn -- at the time a front-runner for the French presidency -- was arrested in New York after being accused of trying to rape a hotel chambermaid. He lost his IMF job and his dreams of the presidency were dashed. The case was eventually settled in a civil suit. Strauss-Kahn also faced an embarrassing trial in France last year, in which he was accused of involvement in a prostitution ring. Although he said he was unaware the women were prostitutes and was found not guilty, the trial involved a tortuous blow-by-blow account of his rapacious sexual habits. Silvio Berlusconi enjoyed the limelight for decades as a flamboyant Italian prime minister, media tycoon and owner of AC Milan. His "bunga bunga" sex parties became notorious. He was accused of paying Karima El Mahroug, a 17-year-old dancer known as "Ruby the Heartstealer", for sexual services in 2010, and of pressurising police to get her released after she was arrested on suspicion of theft while he was premier. In June 2013 he was found guilty of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and of abuse of power in the "Rubygate" scandal. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but he appealed the sentenced and it was quashed before he spent any time behind bars. Former US president Bill Clinton at first denied his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky but later acknowledged it. The scandal ultimately led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives, although he was later acquitted by the Senate. Trump has labelled his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton an enabler of her husband`s infidelities, holding a press conference just before last week`s presidential debate with three women who have previously accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. The allegations are unproven. The former Israeli president was sentenced in 2011 to seven years in prison for rape as well as sexual harassment and obstruction of justice, in a scandal that rocked Israel. He was convicted of the rape of two aides while he was tourism minister in the 1990s. Katzav, who was president from 2000 until his forced resignation in 2007, has repeatedly protested his innocence. He was refused early release earlier this year. South African President Jacob Zuma, elected in 2009, was tried for rape before he took office. At his 2006 trial, Zuma claimed the sex he had with a 31-year-old family friend was consensual, and he was acquitted. He was head of South Africa`s national AIDS council at the time and sparked an uproar by telling the court he had simply showered to avoid contracting HIV after having unprotected sex with his HIV-positive accuser. He is still mocked over the case in newspaper cartoons -- where he is often depicted with a shower nozzle sprouting from his bald head. Moscow/Beirut: Syria`s President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday that the Syrian army`s capture of Aleppo, which has come under renewed bombardment in an effort to seize its rebel-held sector, would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey. Rescue workers said that Syria`s military backed by Russian warplanes had killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, in support of its offensive against the city. Rising casualties in Aleppo, where many buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have prompted an international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey, to go back to where they come from or to kill them. There`s no other option," Assad said in an interview with Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move," added Assad. As the air strikes and shelling of the city`s east intensified after a brief period of relative calm, Syria`s government approved a United Nations plan to allow aid convoys into the most besieged areas of Syria, with the exception of Aleppo. Syria`s civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 300,000 people and left millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers as well as inspiring jihadist attacks abroad. Assad is backed by the Russian air force, Iran`s Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shi`ite militias from Arab neighbours, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. Assad also told the newspaper that the country`s civil war had become a conflict between Russia and the West. "What we`ve been seeing recently during the last few weeks, and maybe few months, is something like more than Cold War," Assad said. "I don`t know what to call it, but it`s not something that has existed recently, because I don`t think that the West and especially the United States has stopped their Cold War, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union." Assad added that Turkey`s actions in Syria constituted an "invasion, against international law, against the morals, against the sovereignty of Syria." `MAY AMOUNT TO WAR CRIMES` As air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour, according to a civil defence official, European Union foreign ministers drafted a statement accusing Syria and its allies of violence that "may amount to war crimes." "Since the beginning of the offensive by the (Syrian) regime and its allies, the intensity and scale of aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," a draft of their statement seen by Reuters said. Syrian and Russian governments say they target only militants. To the south, hundreds of insurgents and their families have left two rebel-held towns on the northern outskirts of Damascus, residents and fighters said, under a deal with the government which is pushing its opponents to rebel areas further from the capital. The evacuation happened after the army gave community leaders in Qudsiya and Al-Hama - which had enjoyed relative calm under local truces - an ultimatum to get several hundred fighters out of their towns or face a wide-scale assault. "They gave us little option: Leave or all hell breaks loose," said Yousef al Hasnawi, a resident on the local rebel council. The Damascus government says such amnesties are a "workable model to bring security and peace," but its opponents say forcing Sunni Muslim fighters and their families from their hometowns could create new demographic frontiers and worsen sectarian tensions. OBAMA TO REVIEW OPTIONS U.S. President Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria, U.S. officials told Reuters. Some officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against Islamic State. U.S. officials said they considered it unlikely that Obama would order U.S. air strikes on Syrian government targets, and stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Switzerland on Saturday to resume their effort to find a diplomatic solution along with counterparts from some Middle Eastern countries. Moscow called on Thursday on states in the region not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebel groups, warning that any unfriendly actions against Russian forces would draw an appropriate response. `IT`S GOING ON NOW` Air strikes against rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo had tapered off over the weekend after the Syrian army announced it would reduce raids for what it described as humanitarian reasons, but they have intensified since Tuesday. "The bombing started at 2 a.m. and it`s going on until now," Ibrahim Abu Laith, an official at the civil defence rescue organisation in Aleppo, told Reuters from the city. Rescue workers said 154 people had been killed in recent days. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll. Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo - the anti-Assad rebels` most important urban stronghold - facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine. In Geneva, the United Nations said Damascus had partially approved its aid plan for October, giving the green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, which are also deprived of some vital supplies. But the Syrian government did not give approval for either eastern Aleppo or three districts near Damascus, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, the United Nations` deputy special envoy to Syria, said on Thursday, describing the situation as "dire." In a government-held area of western Aleppo, at least four children were killed and 10 wounded on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack. Maungdaw (Myanmar): Towns and villages across northern Rakhine state were deserted on Friday, as terrified residents fled a deadly military crackdown on foot and by air, fearing Myanmar's restive western state could once again be ripped apart by violence. Local officials believe hundreds of people from the area, home to many from the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority, spent months planning attacks on police posts along the Bangladesh border that sparked the crisis this week. Twenty-six civilians have died in the ensuing military lockdown, state media reported - rights groups say the army is gunning down unarmed Muslims on the streets but the army say troops are defending themselves against attack. Law enforcement said 50 "violent attackers" tried several times to overrun a security office yesterday but were repelled by police and soldiers. Families have been streaming out of Maungdaw on foot, their worldly possessions stuffed into carrier bags and plastic buckets or strapped to the front of bicycle rickshaws. Around 180 teachers, workers and residents were also airlifted out of the region at the epicentre of the crisis, while hundreds of government staff have poured into the state capital Sittwe. AFP journalists said Maungdaw town and nearby villages were like ghost towns, with shops shuttered and armed police on patrol. Many of those fleeing are local Buddhists, who make up the majority of the country but account for less than 10 per cent of the population in northern Rakhine, where most people are Muslim Rohingya. Long-simmering animosity between the two groups erupted into communal violence in 2012 that ripped the impoverished state apart, leaving more than 100 dead and driving tens of thousands of Rohingya into squalid displacement camps. "Many Rakhines are going back to Sittwe," said a resident of Buthidaung, a town close to Maungdaw, too scared to give his name. "We are also afraid here because the attackers ran away with guns." An AFP journalist reported seeing clouds of smoke billowing from a village Thursday near charred remains of two dozen bamboo houses that the military said had been torched by "terrorists". The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation issued a statement calling for calm, after receiving "disturbing reports of extra-judicial killings of Rohingya Muslims, burning of houses, and arbitrary arrests by security forces". A woman holds an anti-TTIP and CETA placard during a demonstration outside the EU headquarters in Brussels, on September 20, 2016 to protest against huge transatlantic trade deals linking Europe with Canada and the US Lawmakers in the small Belgian region of Wallonia on Friday voted to block an EU-Canada free trade deal, a move which could seriously complicate future talks with the US and a non-EU Britain. The parliament vote in the French-speaking part of southern Belgium threatens to derail the long-delayed signing by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the pact, known as CETA, in Brussels later this month. "I will not give powers to the federal government and Belgium will not sign CETA on October 18," Paul Magnette, the socialist head of the Wallonia government, told an emergency session of the regional parliament. "I do not intend this as a burial but as a demand to reopen negotiations," said Magnette, who is under huge international pressure to reverse his position. After talks in Paris with French President Francois Hollande, Magnette later hinted he was ready for a solution. "I am a natural optimist and very willing. What we are asking for is very reasonable," Magnette added. "What there has to be for us is legal clauses so that there will be no conflicts between companies and states, that we can protect the powers of the state and our public services," he said. In a largely expected vote outcome, 46 MPs in the economically depressed area voted to reject the trade deal, with 16 against the motion and one abstention. Linguistically-divided Belgium's seven different parliaments must first give the federal government power of signature for Belgium to give its official approval, under the country's complex political system. In order to be signed by Trudeau at the EU-Canada summit on October 27, the deal must first be backed by all 28 EU member states at a trade ministers' meeting on Tuesday. "I am worried about the future of Europe; why add another crisis?" said Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, who still hopes to approve the deal on Tuesday. - 'It's incomprehensible!' - Trudeau on Wednesday said he was running out of patience after two years of delays and warned that killing the deal would send "a very clear message... that Europe is not productive". Story continues Poorer, industrial Wallonia has grown increasingly protectionist in stark contrast to richer, Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north, which eagerly embraces globalisation. Belgium's complex political system includes a federal parliament, parliaments for the three regions of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels-capital, and legislatures for Belgium's Flemish, French and German-speaking communities. Magnette later held talks in Paris with French President Francois Hollande, the EU's most powerful socialist leader and who backs the deal. Belgium's federal and Flanders' parliaments have already indicated that they will back the accord. "It's incomprehensible," said Geert Bourgeois, head of the Flanders region, told Belga news agency. The Wallonia government "stands isolated on the European and international scene," he said. Activists charge that the Canada deal will set a dangerous precedent and open the way for a similar but far more ambitious agreement with the United States, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). TTIP has already run into trouble, with the EU saying it will not be agreed before President Barack Obama leaves office in January, as was initially planned. "This parliament truly defends its citizens, not the interests of lobbyists and corporations," said Vincent De Brouwer of Greenpeace Belgium. "It is now up to the European institutions to listen to this signal and bury these dangerous treaties," he added. The problems getting the Canada deal through Belgium's political maze is also a trial run for the even more controversial negotiations over Britain's exit from the EU. Whatever deal is reached for Brexit after two years of negotiations, expected to start in March, must also be passed by all EU parliaments -- including Belgium's seven. Bangladeshi officials say they expect President Xi Jinping to sign loan and investment agreements worth around $20 billion during his two-day visit Chinese President Xi Jinping signed loans and investment deals with Bangladesh worth about $20 billion on Friday, seeking to increase Beijing's influence in a country closely allied to rival regional power India. Xi hailed what he called a "historical turning point" in relations with the impoverished South Asian nation after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. A senior minister who attended the closed-door talks said the loan agreements from Beijing, which will fund key infrastructure projects such as roads and railways as well as a new industrial park, totalled around $20 billion. "Bangladesh and China have also identified other projects, whose total loans and investment will surpass $50 billion," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. Xi said both sides had agreed to look into a free-trade agreement and expressed hopes the visit would "chart the course for the future growth of China-Bangladesh relations". It is the first visit in more than three decades by a Chinese president to Bangladesh, which lies firmly within New Delhi's sphere of influence. Impoverished Bangladesh needs tens of billions of dollars of investment in its transport infrastructure and energy production to boost its flagging economic fortunes and create jobs for its 160 million people. But analysts said Hasina would have to maintain a careful balancing act between cultivating economic ties with China, already the country's largest trading partner, and maintaining good relations with India. New Delhi has long backed Hasina and held off from criticising her re-election in January 2014 in a contest that was boycotted by the opposition and dismissed as "not credible" by Western nations. "Bangladesh is in India's sphere of influence," said Ali Riaz, political science professor at Illinois State University in the United States. "Understandably, India is watching Bangladesh's growing ties with Beijing. But Bangladesh is improving ties with China carefully so that it does not jeopardise its relations with India," he told AFP. Story continues - Jockeying for influence - Xi will travel on to the western Indian state of Goa on Saturday for a summit of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- and a one-on-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. China and India, the world's two most populous nations, are jockeying for regional influence in Asia. Their relationship is coloured by a brief but bloody 1962 border war over the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, parts of which Beijing claims as South Tibet. China has committed to a major programme of infrastructure building stretching from its immediate neighbourhood to Europe through its flagship "One Belt, One Road" policy which seeks to revive the ancient Silk Road trade route. Asked whether that investment could jeopardise her country's ties with India, Hasina said Bangladesh would maintain "good relations with everyone". "The purchasing power of our people will increase, and who will be the bigger beneficiary of that in our region? India. India is best poised to benefit from the Bangladeshi market," she said in an interview with Indian daily The Hindu. Bangladesh has also agreed to set up an industrial park exclusively for Chinese investors near the strategic port of Chittagong that it hopes will attract manufacturers seeking cheaper labour than they can find at home. "Labour costs in China are six-seven times higher than Bangladesh. The special economic zone alone can bring in $5-$7 billion in Chinese investment," said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, head of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry. That could create much-needed employment -- Bangladesh's economy has been growing at more than six percent in the last decade, but the World Bank says it needs at least eight percent growth to create enough jobs. Bangladesh's $28 billion garment manufacturing industry is the world's second largest after China's, accounts for 80 percent of the country's annual shipments and employs some 40 percent of its industrial workforce. A British judge ruled there had been no "undue influence" from Goldman Sachs over the LIA, a $67 billion sovereign wealth fund set up by Moamer Kadhafi Goldman Sachs won a high-profile legal battle with Libya's sovereign wealth fund Friday, with a British court dismissing claims the bank duped Libyan officials into investments worth $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros). The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) accused the investment bank of exploiting the fund's inexperienced staff, pushing them into "inappropriate" transactions in a series of shady deals. The derivative trades ended up being virtually worthless when the equities they were tied to plunged in the 2008 financial crisis. Dismissing the claims, a British judge ruled there had been no "undue influence" from Goldman Sachs over the LIA, a $67-billion sovereign wealth fund set up by Moamer Kadhafi, who was toppled from power in 2011. "Their relationship did not go beyond the normal cordial and mutually beneficial relationship that grows up between a bank and client," judge Vivien Rose said in a written decision. The LIA said it was "naturally disappointed" with the outcome, adding in a statement: "Time will be needed fully to digest the judgement and all options are being considered at this time." The case, brought in 2014, alleged that Goldman Sachs laid on lavish corporate hospitality and tried to garner influence with foreign trips and prostitutes. The LIA had alleged that Goldman Sachs employee Youssef Kabbaj embedded himself in the fund, gained the trust of "young and impressionable staff" and sold it complex products that ended up losing the LIA over $1.2 billion. These actions earned the bank over $220 million in profits, LIA lawyers claimed. The Wall Street giant denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the Libyan fund lost money due to the global financial crash, not their close working relationship. In a statement after the ruling, the bank said: "We are pleased to win this case, with a comprehensive judgement in our favour." Judge Rose said there were no grounds for concluding that the profits earned by Goldman Sachs on the disputed trades were excessive, "given the nature of the trades and the work that had gone in to winning them". Although the transactions might be regarded as "unsuitable", they were no different from many of the other investments made by the fund at that time, she said. President of the LIA's interim steering committee, Ali Mahmoud Hassan, said the fund, which is also separately suing French bank Societe Generale, would continue to pursue other legal cases "to put right the wrongs suffered elsewhere in the past". Turns out that when your giant, tax-dodging global furniture enterprise pitches itself as a kind of flat-pack-on-tap public utility, it gets treated like one. In 2006, it was poor Germans who used their local Ikeas as a day-care and soup-kitchen. A decade later, the pensioners of Shanghai are treating it as a social club, where they can "picnic, nap, and read newspapers" and meet by the hundreds for a blind-dating event in the cafeteria, for hours, without buying anything. Sweden and China are now at an impasse: Ikea Shanghai has posted a giant noticeboard at the entrance to its store declaring the dating group "illegal" and accusing it of "uncilivized behavior" ([Takei]Oh My[/Takei]), including spitting. But the new measure hasn't stopped the elderly patrons from enjoying dates at their favorite hangout. Now they simply buy the cheapest item availablea croissant costing 4 yuan (60 cents)so they can spend the day there as usual, the Shanghai Morning Post (link in Chinese) reported. The strategy is to eat only outside food, including steamed buns, but to put the pastry on the table so staffers can't shoo them away, one senior citizen explained to the paper. Still, some seniors complain about the new rule. "This is compulsory consumption. I don't think it's fair," one told a local paper (link in Chinese). Another said the restriction is "baffling." Lonely Shanghai seniors now have to buy something if they want to cruise all day in Ikea's cafeteria [Zheping Huang/Quartz] (via Skepchick) Microsoft Corporation MSFT is holding the first-of-its-kind Microsoft IoT Expo at the Hua Nan Bank International Conference Center in Taiwan. The company also officially launched the Microsoft IoT Innovation Center at the event. The expo is being attended by 393 companies from across 17 countries. The event comprises 33 IoT applications showcases and 70 keynote speeches, with an emphasis on building smart cities, manufacturing, retail and life. Why this Move? Microsoft signed a memorandum of understanding for IoT with the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Oct 2015. Since then, the company has been promoting various IoT related industries as well as talent development programs in Taiwan. As of Sep 2016, Microsoft certified over 87 IoT devices from 22 Taiwanese companies with its Microsoft Azure Certification. We note that of all IoT devices worldwide having certifications, Microsofts certification comprises over 40%. Per an IDC report, by 2020, the IoT market is expected to be worth $1.7 trillion with 30 billion connected devices. Given the fact that Asia is rapidly emerging as a growing IoT market, Microsoft is leaving no stone unturned to expand its presence there. The company has already implemented the Azure IoT Suite in various regions in Asia. Intensifying Competition We note that competition in the IoT enterprise space is gathering steam with the presence of major players such as Amazon.com, Inc.s AMZN Amazon Web Services,Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO and Alphabet GOOGL. We believe that such events will help improve IoT awareness among enterprise customers in the Asia-Pacific region, which is an important business hub for Microsoft. Moreover, with Satya Nadellas cloud-first mobile-first focus, Microsoft, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, looks well set to take the competition head on. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. MICROSOFT CORP Price MICROSOFT CORP Price | MICROSOFT CORP Quote 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 CISCO SYSTEMS (CSCO): Free Stock Analysis Report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Toby Sterling THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders can be tried on charges of inciting racial hatred, a court in The Hague ruled on Friday, setting the stage for a politically charged test of freedom of speech laws in the Netherlands. Judge Hendrik Steenhuis dismissed Wilders' lawyers arguments that he was being singled out, saying prosecutors have broad leeway in determining when they think someone has crossed the line from offensive speech to discriminatory speech. Wilders is accused of discrimination and inciting racism for remarks in 2014, televised live, in which he led a roomful of followers in chanting that they wanted "fewer" Moroccans in the Netherlands. Steenhuis set the start date for the three-week trial on Oct. 31, meaning a verdict would be likely in December - well ahead of national elections in March. Wilders' far-right Freedom Party is neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Mark Rutte's ruling conservative VVD Party in popularity polls. Wilders response to the ruling was that he was being "prosecuted for what millions (of Dutch people) think." Via Twitter he also indicated he thinks the process against him is politically motivated. In 2011, he was acquitted of inciting racial hatred charges for calling for the Koran to be banned and for the deportation of "criminal" Moroccans. Judges said that his remarks, while offensive to some, were within the bounds of legitimate political discourse. Many observers felt the trial helped increase his popularity as he was able to showcase himself as a champion of free speech. (Additional reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Louise Ireland) Teaching and Learning U-M to Plan Digital Strategy for Future Innovation In an effort to take the next step in teaching, learning and research, the University of Michigan (U-M) today launched an initiative to encourage faculty and staff to embrace digital technology in the classroom. The Academic Innovation Initiative will be led by the Office of Academic Innovation (formerly the Office of Digital Education and Innovation), along with a steering committee, over the next year to identify investments and solutions that will enhance excellence and impact at the university, and shape the future of education, according to a statement from U-M. Provost Martha Pollack said the vision for the initiative is to increase opportunities for younger people to get a feel for what higher education is like and become college-ready. As U-M President Mark Schlissel noted in a press release, "Academic innovation is where creativity, comprehensive excellence and our aspirations for societal impact all come together at the University of Michigan. Our new initiative will formally help us consider how we can leverage networked access to information, new modes of communication and data analytics to strengthen the quality of a Michigan education, tailor it to the needs of each individual student, and enhance our impact on society." The new initiative will build on past accomplishments from the Office of Academic Innovation, including: A program that started as a way to offer personalized instruction to physics students but, with the help of a $1.9 million NSF award, has expanded to help more than 15,000 students in multiple U-M courses; Developing massive open online courses that have reached more than 5 million online users; Three new MicroMasters in education, social work and information and 20 MOOCs across these three programs; and A program called ART 2.0 that provides data and insights into online programs, enabling students to see if a course suits their academic pursuits and abilities. To learn more about the initiative, visit the Office of Academic Innovation site. Electoral college map 10 12 16 NE corrected After a tumultuous week for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the electoral map has swung dramatically in favor of his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton. Since last week, eight swing states and one congressional district have shifted to be more favorable to the former secretary of state. Not one swing state or congressional district with its own Electoral College vote moved more in favor of Trump. Using polling data from RealClearPolitics and Washington Post/Survey Monkey, Business Insider found that Clinton, as of this week, would lead Trump by 272 to 181 electoral votes in states that were either safe or likely bets to go in favor of either party's nominee. That alone would give Clinton more than the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the nomination. It's a vast difference from last week's projection, which showed Clinton with a 237-to-187 edge in the same categories. Business Insider judged that a safe state was anywhere in which a candidate led by at least 8 percentage points, while a likely state was anywhere in which the nominee held a 4- to 8-point lead. When including states leaning toward a candidate by 2 to 4 points, Clinton held a 316-to-187 advantage over Trump. Last week, Clinton was up 301-to-216 when including this category. The tossups, any state in which the major-party nominees held a lead of less than 2 points, consisted of 35 electoral votes. Last week, the two states that were too close to call were Nevada and North Carolina. This week, North Carolina started leaning toward Clinton, while Arizona and Ohio were downgraded from leaning toward Trump to being a tossup. The two critical battleground states of Pennsylvania and Colorado moved much more in favor of Clinton. Both were only leaning in her favor as of last week. Now Pennsylvania is considered a "safe" state, while Colorado is considered "likely" based on the latest polls. Weiterlesen That polling is a reflection on the brutal week for Trump's candidacy. On Friday, a leaked tape of Trump from 2005 showed him making crude sexual remarks about women, including that he could "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it." Also, many viewed Trump to have lost the second presidential debate to Clinton on Sunday night, during which he threatened to jail her should he win in November. And articles published Wednesday, too recent to be reflected in the latest polling, featured several women who came forward to say Trump had made unwanted sexual advances on them. Trump denied their claims, calling one instance "phony." NOW WATCH: Watch the brutal Hillary Clinton ad that pits Trump against himself More From Business Insider New research led by Portland State University glacier scientist Andrew Fountain reveals how a single warming event in Antarctica may be an indication of future ecosystem changes. In the scientific paper, "The Impact of a Large-scale Climate Event on Antarctic Ecosystem Processes," published in a special section Thursday in Bioscience, Fountain and his team detail the climate event and summarize the cascading ecological consequences over the last 15 years caused by a single season of intense melting in Antarctica between 2001 and 2002. "What we saw in the Antarctic summer of 2001 and 2002 could be the Antarctic future in the decades to come," said Fountain, the study's lead author. "What was an otherwise unchanging environment could be on the cusp of very dramatic changes." Stationed in East Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys -- a polar desert that's among the driest places on Earth -- Fountain and his research team studied the effects of massive flooding caused by the glaciers that melted when air temperatures suddenly warmed to 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Flooding streams eroded, lake ice thinned, lake levels rose, and water reached new places across the barren landscape. The ecosystem still responded to this event after five or more years. Scientists suspect these events will appear more frequently in the future as climate warming affects Antarctica. Fountain's research was conducted in tandem with another National Science Foundation-funded site, Palmer Station, on the West Antarctic Peninsula, a vastly different Antarctic landscape. The extreme climate shift at Palmer during 2001 and 2002 caused freezing and melting at the edge of the peninsula, resulting in increased algal bloom and Antarctic krill, a devastating decline in the population of Adelie penguins, and an increase in the populations of gentoo and chinstrap penguins. ### About Portland State University Oregon's public urban research university, recognized for excellence in sustainability and community engagement, is located in the heart of downtown Portland. PSU's motto is "Let Knowledge Serve the City," and it offers more than 200 degrees with opportunities to work with businesses, schools and organizations on real-world projects. (http://www.pdx.edu) 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 European car registrations hit a record high for September, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers said Friday, amid healthy premium brand sales and solid figures from the scandal-hit VW Group. (VLKAY) VW Group, the largest European car manufacturer by volume, saw registrations across the group rise by 5.6% in September and by 3% for the year-to-date, driven by strong demand for luxury brands such as Porsche and Audi. The core Volkswagen brand also saw volumes rise by 0.1% for the first time since the emissions-rigging scandal made headlines in September 2015. However, the continent's premier auto group may still have some way to go before it makes a full recovery, with Friday's figures showing its market share falling from 23.3% to 22.9% during the twelve months to September. Around 2.7 million new VW Group cars were registered during the nine months ending in September, the statement said. Volkswagen stock was up by 2.25% in European trading at 120.35, but is down by 10.8% for the year-to-date. Total car registrations for all firms operating in the European Union and the European Free Trade Area were up by 7.3% in September, the ACEA said, to 1.4 million vehicles. Registrations were 0.3% higher during the nine months to the end of September, when compared with the previous year, totalling 11.6 million. The strongest growth in registrations was seen in Italy, France and Germany, with these seeing an increase of 17.4%, 13.9% and 9.4% respectively. Growth in the U.K., the jewel in Europe's automotive crown during recent years, came in at just 1.6% in September and 2.6% for the first nine months of the year. Most European auto firms posted good growth in registrations during the recent month, along with gains of market share, with Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group PEUGY being the most noteworthy exception. PSA Group registrations were down by 5.8% during September, compared with one year ago, and its market share was down to 8.6% from 9.8%. But the stock was up by 1.3% in early trading, to 13.02. Renault Group (RNSDF) was one of the biggest gainers among large European auto firms, with registrations rising 18.7% in September and market share up to 8.7%, from 7.9%. The shares were up by 2.8% Friday, the biggest gainer on the CAC 40, to 76.14 BMW Group (BMWYY) also saw noteworthy growth, with registrations rising 13% in September and market share up from 7.2% to 7.6%. BMW stock was 1.1% higher at 76.58 in early trading. FCA Group (FCAU) , the maker of Fiat cars, grew market share from 5.7% to 6.1% on one year ago during September, while registrations were up by 14.2%. It shares were up 1.4% at 5.68 in early trading. Daimler (DDAIF) also grew market share from 6.2% to 6.8% with registrations up by 17.9% during the year to date. Daimler was also trading higher on Friday, with the stock changing hands around 63.97 a few hours into the session, up 1.3%. The advance of Asian manufacturers into Europe stalled during September, with market shares largely flat, despite volume growth for Hyundai (HYMLF) and Toyota (TM) . Toyota registrations were up by 8.4% in September, but market share was flat at 4.5%. Hyundai registrations were also up, 3.9%, but market share was down from 2.6% to 3.4%. British Production Firm Fined $2 Million after Harrison Ford's Star Wars Injury Foodles Production company has been fined for the incident. A British production firm has been fined $2 million for health and safety violations after Harrison Ford was crushed by a hydraulic door on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2014. A decision was made in Aylesbury Crown Court after the company had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of health and safety violations. A door pinned Ford, causing him to sustain injuries that included a broken left leg. "The greatest failing of all on behalf of the company is a lack of communication, a lack because, if you have a risk assessment and you do not communicate it, what is the point of having one? That is the most serious breach here," said Judge Francis Sheridan. The incident occurred when Ford pressed a button on the Millennium Falcon, causing the door to close. Ford believed the set was not live and therefore the door would not close, due to that being the case in previous rehearsals. Foodles issued a statement in response to the ruling: "The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority and we deeply regret this unfortunate on-set accident. The Court acknowledged both the additional safety protocols that were immediately implemented, and that it was a very safe production in all other respects." TouchBistro Raises $17 Million in Series B Financing Latest round was led by BDC IT Venture Fund, with participation from new and existing investors; New funds will be used to further amplify the companys growth TORONTO and NEW YORK October 13, 2016 TouchBistro today announced that it has secured CDN$17 million in Series B funding. The latest round was led by BDC IT Venture Fund, with participation from new investors Round13 Capital and Huff Capital, and existing investors Relay Ventures and Kensington Capital Partners. This latest round brings TouchBistros total funding to date to $30 million. TouchBistro is the top grossing iPad restaurant point-of-sale (POS) app in 37 countries. The company has experienced significant month-over-month growth over the past year, and now has deployed approximately 15,000 terminals across 6,000 restaurants around the world. Its POS solutions process Gross Merchandise Volumes in excess of $4 billion annually. In the last quarter, TouchBistro launched in Spanish and French, and integrated with QuickBooks and Square. This latest round of funding enables us to further amplify our growth by expanding our focus on sales and marketing, and by building out our POS platform through new partnerships with industry leaders and by integrating innovative features that deliver value to restaurants, said Alex Barrotti, founder and CEO of TouchBistro. Our investors share our vision to provide the most innovative, comprehensive, and easy-to-use POS for the restaurant industry. Their continued support positions us to achieve long term success. TouchBistro has evolved from a pioneer in the restaurant mobile POS segment to an industry leader. They are a next-generation financial services platform for the restaurant and hospitality industry that will transform operations and enable growth, while removing many financial process headaches, said Peter Misek, partner in the BDC IT Venture Fund. With its impressive caliber of leadership, depth of technical expertise, and savvy go-to-market strategy, TouchBistro is a welcomed new addition to our growing portfolio of innovative companies. Effective immediately, Mr. Misek has joined the TouchBistro Board of Directors. TouchBistro provides iPad point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the food and drink industry, including full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, food trucks, coffee shops and bars. Servers use the TouchBistro iPad app to take tableside customer orders and instantly transmit them to the kitchen and bar. With TouchBistro, bills are automatically calculated and split whatever way the patron desires, and bill totals are transferred electronically into an integrated card keypad or mobile wallet for payment. This minimizes order and payment errors, resulting in faster service and a superior customer experience. TouchBistro offers a full suite of reports that help restaurant operators manage and improve the bottom line. Restaurateurs have reported sales increases as much as $2,000 a day since they started using TouchBistro due to increased operations efficiency. GCA Advisors, LLC. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the funding round. About TouchBistro With offices in New York and Toronto, TouchBistro is a leader in iPad point-of-sale technology for restaurants, cafes, bars, food trucks, and other food and drink venues. The TouchBistro app has been ranked as the number one top-grossing food and beverage app in 37 countries on the Apple App Store. TouchBistro was named 2016 Best POS System for Restaurants by Business News Daily in its annual review of dozens of point-of-sale (POS) systems and International App of the Year 2015 by Best in Biz Awards. TouchBistro offers a 30-day free trial that can be converted to a no-contract subscription. Additional information is available at www.touchbistro.com. Other POS news: Portugal's Socialist government will introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks in 2017 which is expected to raise 80 million euros ($88 million) for the nation's public health service, a budget bill presented Friday showed. The announcement comes just three days after the World Health Organization urged countries to start taxing sugary drinks, pointing to evidence that price hikes can dramatically reduce consumption. Under Portugal's plans, drinks with a sugar content above 80 grammes per litre will be slapped with a tax of 16.46 euros per hectolitre. Drinks with less than 80 grammes of sugar per litre will pay a tax of 8.22 euros per hectolitre. The tax will raise the price of a standard 330 millilitre can of Coca-Cola, which contains 35 grammes of sugar, by 5.5 euro cents. The new tax will only apply to soft drinks. Sugary drinks based on milk or fruit juice will be spared. The previous centre-right government, in power until November 2015, considered introducing a sugar tax on drinks and foods that contained too much sugar or salt but dropped the idea. Only a handful of other countries, such as France, Mexico and South Africa, have introduced a sugar tax. British Prime Minister Theresa May in August released proposals for such a tax as part of her Conservative government's strategy to combat childhood obesity. The Socialists came to power in Portugal last year after they teamed up with the Communists and the far-left Left Block to oust the centre-right administration. The small leftist parties did not formally join the new government, but Prime Minister Antonio Costa relies on them for a majority in parliament to pass legislation -- an unprecedented political arrangement in 40 years of Portuguese democracy. Heres a thought. As an investor, youve got to make the choice of one of the two to either be a conservative investor or a risk-taker. It is always a little bit of a gamble when putting your money into investment, but how much of a high baller are you? And which category do most Singaporean investors fall into? A survey was conducted in 2015 by Legg Mason on the sentiments of investors around the world. About 200 Singaporeans took part in the survey they had an average of S$1.64 million in investment assets, and were at an average age of 48 years. And this is what they found: Singaporeans are pessimists when it comes to their investment outcome. While the global results indicated that 81% of the participants were optimistic about their investments of the year, the same inclination towards positivity fell to a low 63% for Singaporean investors. The same study also showed that Singaporean investors were unable to reach their expected investment returns, despite having some of the lowest investment expectations in Asia. According to the study, the average expected returns for Singaporeans were 7.9% compared to a 10.6% in Taiwan and China. With that being said, Singaporean investors have a great deal of certainty in the government. 89% of Singaporean investors in the study confirmed that they have no worries whatsoever about the Singapore government being able to conduct its duties and obligations. The global average for the same came at 64%. What does this all boil down to? In a nutshell, when it comes to investment risks, Singapore investors opt for less risky investments. To be statistically correct, 77% of Singaporean investors selected the term conservative, comparing to 59% across the world. So, what kind of investor do you think you are? (By Annette Rowena) Related Articles - 6 blue-chip stocks for investors to buy in Singapore - How Singapore investors can get immediate exposure to Chinese stocks - Singapore Airlines: loved by customers, but investors left wanting more Exports expands for the first time in 3Q since late 2014. At the beginning of 2016, UBS argued that a better tech product cycle and a more favourable manufacturing inventory cycle should propel some moderate cyclical improvement in Taiwan this year, despite still weak external end demand. This view is coming to pass. Taiwan's cycle, it said, has indeed turned more constructive since 2Q16. "Taiwan has turned out to be the 'less ugly duckling' in Asia," it said in a report. In particular, USD exports marginally expanded 0.2%y/y in 3Q16, the first positive quarterly print since late 2014, and industrial production expanded on average 3.6%y/y in July and August. However, UBS cautioned that growth will likely slip in 2017. Here's more from UBS: For 2016, we think real GDP growth is on track to expand 1.5-2.0% (UBS forecast: 1.6%y/y; consensus: 1.0%), reflecting the better-than-expected pickup in manufacturing activities since 2Q. The question is how sustainable the ongoing improvement will be. Unfortunately, the boosts from product and inventory cycles tend to be short-lived. A sustained rebound still hinges on end demand improving. However, end-demand will likely remain subdued next year, given the absence of a decent CAPEX recovery in DM, excess capacity in China, and continued downward adjustment in Chinese construction cycle. Contrary to consensus, which expects growth to accelerate next year, we expect real GDP in Taiwan to slip back to around 1%y/y in 2017. Positive product cycle could soon run its course. It is because the positive product and inventory cycles could fade by late 2016/ early 2017. A better tech product cycle, reflecting the launch of Apple iPhone 7 in September, is driving the current rebound in exports. Tech exports, comprise mainly of semiconductors and constitute a third of the total, expanded on average 7%y/y in USD terms and 11%y/y in real term since 2Q. Better tech shipments have single-handedly pushed real export growth back to positive territory, when non-tech exports marginally improved but largely remained sluggish. Story continues However, real tech exports have already been expanding above trend since June. And product-led above trend growth is empirically unsustainable, unless end-demand is improving significantly or if there will be a succession of positive product stories taking over next year (not that we are aware of). The last major product cycle (the launch of iPhone 6 in 2014) had kept tech exports above trend by 2-3 quarters. This gives us a reference that the current cycle could well run its course by late 2016/early 2017. Inventory boost could also fade. Manufacturing inventories are currently falling but shipments (domestic manufacturing sales plus exports) are picking up. This bodes well for production because manufacturers will naturally respond to rising shipment-inventory by ramping up production Industrial production will likely accelerate further in 4Q16 to high single digit year-on-year pace, a rate nevertheless generally marks the cyclical peak in Taiwan's post global financial crisis manufacturing cycle. In other words, the room for further pick up in Taiwan's production should be limited beyond 4Q16. Besides, the inventory cycle on average lasts about 4 quarters. The current cycle bottomed in 4Q15/1Q16, so the peak might not be very far from here. More From Singapore Business Review Contracts for Difference (CFD) are financial derivative products representing the difference between where a trade on an underlying asset is entered and where it is exited. The underlying asset on a CFD is more commonly a stock, but it can also be an index, bond, currency or commodity. Source: Nexsus Financial Markets Source: Nexsus Financial Markets Profits or losses are realised on the CFD when the underlying asset moves in relation to the position taken. CFDs are traded on margin, a minimum amount of margin must be retained at all times, and they do not expire until closed out. One of the chief differences between a share and a CFD is that there is no ownership claim (and no dividend) with a CFD. It is in effect a contract between the client and the broker. CFDs require less money upfront than buying shares, because the contracts are purchased using margin. Shares can be purchased on margin, but a greater margin amount will normally be required for shares and opening such an account in Singapore is not always straightforward. The advantage of paying a lower margin is obvious. But the CFD trader can be closed out if his position moves against him and he is not holding sufficient margin in his account. CFD are leveraged financial products. This means that not only are profits magnified, but losses can be much higher compared to unleveraged investments. Let us take a quick look at an example of a CFD on a Singapore stock Share Price of company X = $5.50 per share 10 lots of stocks = $5.50 x 1000 = $5,550 The lot size of a CFD will depend on the underlying asset, and so for this example, if you bought 1000 shares at a margin rate of 10%, you would need to pay: $5.50 x 1000 x 10% = $550 In this case, a mere 10% of the share price allows you to trade a CFD that gives you exposure to 1,000 shares. A CFD can be a more efficient use of your capital, although of course you want to get the bet right! When it comes to short selling, there are further notable differences between CFD and shares. It is much easier to short-sell CFDs in contrast to stocks. Many brokerages in Singapore only allow investors to buy stocks, which reduces strategies for those wanting to take a bearish view. With CFD trading, selling is no more complex than buying, making it a great way to take advantage of falling prices, or a down trend in a particular stock or sector. Story continues In addition, CFD trading can be used as a hedge when you have bought the underlying shares, but are concerned about a short term fall in the price. You can short the CFD while you continue to hold the shares. Financial health warnings for CFDs Leverage Leverage should be treated with great care and caution. While it allows you to gain more exposure to a particular financial instrument with less funds, and it magnifies your gains, it also does the same to your losses. Source: ForTrader.org Source: ForTrader.org Because CFDs are leveraged instruments, you are required to hold sufficient deposit or margin in your trading account. And if the market moves against you, you might receive a margin call to top up your funds. If you fail to keep enough margin in your account, your broker may close out your position without notice. Less transparency CFD trading in Singapore is normally transacted over-the-counter (OTC), in other words privately negotiated with the broker. As a consequence, CFD trading will automatically be less transparent compared to trading listed shares on an organised exchange. Source: Kurtosys Source: Kurtosys In fact, depending on the broker, the broker may act as your counterparty as well as executing the trade. This means your broker will aim to profit from your losses. No shareholder privileges As mentioned above, you do not own the underlying shares when you trade CFD, and thus you will not be entitled to voting rights or to receive any other shareholder benefits. Source: Tertiary Minerals plc Source: Tertiary Minerals plc While you do receive dividends on long positions (subject to a dividend adjustment), an amount will actually be debited if you are holding short positions at the close of business on the day the underlying goes ex-dividend. Only highly sophisticated investors should even consider CFD. While the same is often said about stocks, the potential for substantial losses on CFD is considerably higher. If you still feel game to try CFD after the health warnings, good luck! (By Lynette Tan) The Bunt Live returns with Canadian legend Rick McCrank for episode 8 of Season 2. We make no secret of how much we like The Bunt click these blue letters for previous episodes to find out why . This one sees Rick McCrank discuss everything from his sponsorship history, to filming for The End and various Girl videos, Mike Carroll tears himself a new arsehole (literally) and his new show on Viceland. Great pod! The Nine Club With Chris Roberts | Episode 18 Jeron Wilson This week Crob and Roger sit down with Jeron Wilson to discuss electric cars,... Truly life-affirming stuff here courtesy of the Vancouver Courier. Click the image below to read this lovely story about the skateboarding community of Hastings celebrating the... The Bunt Live Season 2 Episode 9 Kevin Lowry The Bunt is back chatting ollies, teenage arrests and Blueprint 2.0 with Calgarys own Kevin... A whole slew of Canadian rippers young and old, including ever-welcome footage of Keegan Sauder and Rick McCrank. The latest episode of The Bunt sees Stevie Williams in the hot seat to talk their normal combination of skateboarding and sports. Newsletter Terms & Conditions Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. If you are not interested you can unsubscribe at any time. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy. Read our full Privacy Policy as well as Terms & Conditions. STEM President Obama Pushes Innovation Frontiers in STEM Image credit: Michael Henninger, Pittsburgh Post Gazette. President Obama traveled to Pittsburgh, PA today to speak on building up the United States capacity for STEM innovation at the White House Frontiers Conference, a one-day national convening co-hosted with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. The Frontiers Conference brought together global researchers, business leaders, technologists, philanthropists and local innovators to discuss how to keep Americans on the cutting edge of innovation with next-generation science and technology that will help improve lives. More than 700 innovators across academia, industry, government and civil society will participate in the conference, according to a White House fact sheet on the event. At the event, which was livestreamed, the president explored five frontiers of innovation: Personal Frontiers: Innovation in health care and precision medicine; Local Frontiers: Investments in open data and IoT (Internet of Things); National Frontiers: Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence through data science, machine learning, automation and robotics; Global Frontiers: Advancements in clean energy and developing advanced climate information, tools, services and collaborations; and Interplanetary Frontiers: Space exploration and the United States journey to Mars. Leading up to the Frontiers Conference, Obama released a national plan for artificial intelligence yesterday. Obama also issued a space-weather Executive Order to coordinate efforts to prepare the nation for space-weather events, according to the fact sheet. The president has been dedicated to 21st century space exploration since his early days in office. Earlier this week, he expanded the countrys commitment to exploring new frontiers that extend beyond Earth, with a new pledge to send humans to Mars and back by the 2030s. To continue momentum, the Obama Administration is providing more than $300 million to support research initiatives that reflect the aim of the five frontiers. Funding can be broken down into the following investments: $70 million to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance research on the human brain and uncover mysteries that hold the key to future scientific breakthroughs in areas such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases, depression and traumatic brain injury, according to the fact sheet; $16 million and four new partners within the NIHs Precision Medicine Initiative, a national research study; $165 million to support cities in using technology and data to tackle quality of life challenges like traffic congestion; and $50 million to fuel a revolution in small-satellite technology for high-speed internet connectivity. To learn about the five frontiers, funding and other information, watch the video footage of the event. By PTI: From Youssra El-Sharkawy Cairo, Oct 14 (PTI) Twelve Egyptian soldiers were killed and eight injured in a terrorist attack on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years battled Islamist militancy. The militants targeted a military base about 80 kilometres east of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Unknown gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint in central Sinai, attracting retaliatory fire from security forces. advertisement Twelve soldiers were killed and eight were wounded, officials said. The injured have been admitted to hospital. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy that primarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed in violence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. PTI YES ABH --- ENDS --- Communication Santa Clara USD Deploys Cloud-Based Communications Tool Santa Clara Unified School District in California has implemented a cloud-based communications system to help administrators, faculty and staff communicate and collaborate with each other. The implementation was driven by requests from teachers and staff, who wanted a communications tool that could integrate with the district's Google Apps for Education platform, which they use for email and productivity applications. Following a product evaluation process, district decision-makers chose RingCentral in early summer 2016, and the implementation was complete in time for the new school year. With RingCentral, district administrators, faculty and staff can communicate using the mode and device of their choice. They can use RingCentral to make secure voice calls, send fax and text messages and conduct audio conferences and online meetings. RingCentral offers mobile apps for iPad, iPhone and Android devices, and integrates with Google Apps for Education to give staff "more flexibility and efficiency in completing work," according to a news release from the company. "The district was impressed with the powerful solution and capabilities of RingCentral's Professional Services team, who ensured fast turnaround on deployment across all 28 locations in time for the first day of school," stated the news release. Santa Clara USD operates 26 schools and employs nearly 2,000 district administrators, faculty and staff members. NAIROBI (Reuters) - Shares in loss-making Kenya Airways climbed as much as 3 percent on Friday, with analysts citing reports that the chief executive and chairman could be soon be replaced, meeting a key demand of pilots who have threatened strike action. Kenyan broadcaster Citizen reported on its website that Chief Executive Officer Mbuvi Ngunze and Chairman Dennis Awori would exit by the end of the month, without giving a source. "They are laying out plans to replace the senior management, that includes the CEO, this is based on reports that I am reading," Daniel Kuyoh, analyst at Alpha Africa Asset Managers, told Reuters when asked about the reason for the share rise. Others analysts and traders echoed the comments. (Reporting by Katharine Houreld and Duncan Miriri; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Adrian Croft) By PTI: From Youssra El-Sharkawy Cairo, Oct 14 (PTI) At least 15 terrorists and 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed today in a major attack by the Islamic State on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency. The Islamic State terror group claimed the attack in which a group of militants in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai, following which a gun-battle broke out between the forces and the terrorists, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. advertisement Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones in Sinai in July 2015. The militants targeted a military base about 80 kilometres east of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Apart from 15 militants and 12 soldiers killed, Samir said a number of terrorists and six security personnel were also injured in the attack. "The armed forces assert that these despicable acts will not deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people," Samir said in a statement. Security forces have launched combing operations in the area to find if any assailants escaped. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy that primarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed in violence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. PTI YES ABH KUN --- ENDS --- In a presidential campaign being waged primarily over questions of personal integrity, the current occupants of the White House are staking out the moral high ground against Donald Trump, whom they are casting as morally unfit to be president. President Barack Obama and the first lady are making the case with increasing vigor on the campaign trail that the Republican nominees personal conduct has disqualified him from holding the nations highest office. On Thursday, Michelle Obama, who has generally refrained from political combat, delivered her most forceful and emotional rebuke of Trump, calling his treatment of women disgraceful and declaring that no woman deserves to be treated this way. Lets be clear: This is not normal. This is intolerable, she said during a campaign rally for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Manchester, New Hampshire, directly addressing news reports that Trump had groped and kissed several women against their will. I cant stop thinking about this, the first lady said, her voice cracking at times. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldnt have predicted. The Obamas had been campaigning against Trump before the disclosure last week of a videotape in which he made lewd comments about women in 2005 and the allegations against him of sexual assault. But the new revelations have raised the stakes of their personal plea to the public to reject the New York real estate developer. You dont have to be a husband or father to say, Thats not right. You just have to be a decent human being, President Obama said of Trumps lewd comments, during a Clinton campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday. While the president seemed to revel in his takedown of Trump, mocking him as unfit for a job at 7-Eleven, it is the first ladys increased political role in the campaign that has added an emotional punch to the Obamas argument. Michelle Obamas speech, televised live on cable news networks, marked her second appearance on a national stage in which she assumed the role of mom-in-chief to speak to the nations moral conscience. Her address at the Democratic National Convention in July during which she said the first familys motto is when they go low, we go high was widely viewed as an emotional rallying point for the Democratic Party. In New Hampshire, Obama, the mother of two teenage girls, warned that the country cannot endure this or expose our children to it any longer not for another minute, let alone another four years. The first lady retains broad popularity, with her national approval ratings reaching 64 percent after her convention address, according to Gallup, and in many ways she is Clintons most effective public surrogate on matters of personal conduct and moral authority. A former corporate lawyer who met her husband when she was assigned to mentor him, Michelle Obama has spent her adult lifetime balancing the demands of work and family life. In her remarks Thursday, she reflected on the stories from previous generations of the male boss who could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office. Trump has been accused of walking in on naked contestants in his beauty pageants, and a reporter for People magazine wrote this week that he sexually assaulted her while she was interviewing him for an article shortly after he married his current wife, Melania. So many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect, the first lady said. But here we are, in 2016, and were hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it. The latest Trump controversies have come at a time when both Obamas have been emphasizing their work as role models to young boys and girls. The president participated in a town-hall-style event Tuesday with ESPN to talk about the My Brothers Keeper initiative his administration began in 2014 to provide support for at-risk young African-American men. And the first lady has spent has spent the past 18 months building Let Girls Learn, a global initiative focused on girls education. But on a more personal level, the first couple stands as a moral contrast to Trump, whose three marriages have been longtime tabloid fodder. The Obamas marked their 24th wedding anniversary this month, and a 12-page cover story in the October edition of Essence magazine celebrated their marriage under the title Grace & Power. The package included photos of the Obamas gazing at each other while holding hands. The president, while promoting policies for women and girls, has often spoken admiringly about being surrounded in the White House by strong women, including his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson. At the town-hall event, President Obama jokingly told a young woman, who asked for advice on balancing work and family, that her husband should just do what you tell him to do, which has worked very well in my house. On Thursday, the first lady took a more serious tone, when she contrasted Trumps lewd comments to the example set inside the White Houses living quarters. I can tell you that the men in my life do not talk about women like this, she said. And I know that my family is not unusual. And to dismiss this as everyday locker-room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere. VIDEO: At an Oct. 13 Hillary Clinton campaign event, first lady Michelle Obama grew emotional while talking about allegations of sexual assault against Republican nominee Donald Trump.Y outube/Hillary Clinton) http://wapo.st/2dWaoXt trump-obamas-1stld-writethru NEDERLAND, Colo. This Colorado mountain refuge of hippies and artists has long thrived on close ties among neighbors and a welcoming embrace of outsiders. But a backpack containing a homemade explosive, dropped on the doorstep of the towns five-officer police department, has left many of these take-it-as-it-comes residents shaken. Authorities on Thursday were still investigating to find who placed the device in front of the police station in Nederlands only strip mall, within sight of a nature center, a brewery, several legal pot shops and a train car once used in Buffalo Bills Wild West show that now serves coffee and burritos. The shopping center was evacuated on Tuesday while robots searched the backpack and investigators detonated the explosive with a startling bang. A detective discovered the backpack when his shift began early Tuesday and brought it inside the stationhouse, believing it was lost property, officials said. He opened it to find items investigators later determined were an improvised explosive device. The FBI said it was an active explosive that failed to detonate, but Denver field division spokeswoman Deborah Sherman would not elaborate Thursday. She said investigators had not pinpointed a motive and urged the public to call with tips. The sheriffs office in Boulder was closed Thursday morning as authorities searched the vehicle of a person who came forward to provide information. They found nothing threatening and the office reopened a short time later. To my knowledge this has never happened before here in Nederland, said John Scarffe, who works in a visitors center and writes for the Mountain-Ear newspaper. People are pretty surprised, we dont really know who might have been involved. Most of what is in Nederland is within walking distance. Had there been an explosion, there is a good possibility people right here would have been hurt. The swarm of police officers was an unusual sight in this mountain-ringed town of 1,500 people southwest of Boulder best known for its love of legal marijuana and its annual celebration of a frozen corpse that draws tens of thousands of revelers. Residents have recently complained about homeless campers and wanderers who live off the land. Two people camping near an area popular with transients attracted to the laid-back community were charged this summer with accidentally sparking a fire that destroyed eight homes by not properly putting out their campfire. But if there is anti-police sentiment, longtime residents said its hard to immediately spot. Its a tiny little mountain town where theres a lot of weird folks, said Robert Spratford, who works in the Train Cars coffee shop not far from the police station. Town administrator Alisha Reis called the bomb scare bewildering. Its troubling to us. People are hoping to understand why this happened, who is responsible for it and to understand a little better about what was behind it, she said. And, why Nederland? Two speeches. Two Americas. A pair of apocalyptic arguments and one call to burn down the house. Thats the summation from just two remarkable hours Thursday that crystallized the final month of Campaign 2016. In back-to-back appearances, in what might be the two most compelling hours of the entire election, Michelle Obama in New Hampshire and Donald Trump in Florida delivered the fiercest, most provocative and hardest-hitting speeches of an election cycle that has been without precedent in hot rhetoric. The presidential campaign has been building toward all this. Day after day after day, the rhetoric has intensified, the charges and countercharges have escalated, the issues have been reduced to asterisks and the gulf between the Trump and Clinton coalitions has widened. Sundays debate in St. Louis foreshadowed what was to come. Now there will be no turning back. Obamas was a scorching takedown of the Donald Trump who was revealed in the Access Hollywood hot-mic video, a sexual predator who bragged about using his celebrity status to go after women. The impassioned first lady said that, no matter ones political affiliation, Trumps language is an affront to women and girls and to men and boys as well. She pleaded with voters not to allow him to occupy the highest office in the land. Trumps was an angry and all-out defense against overnight charges of sexual assault by multiple women coupled with a blistering attack on an establishment that he charged is led by Hillary and Bill Clinton, protected by a complicit news media and so totally corrupt that it threatens the very future of country. If the two speeches changed few minds and there probably arent that many left to change they were an indication of how charged the final days of this campaign are likely to be, and suggest that the conflict will not end with the declaration of a winner after Nov. 8. Michelle Obama has been on the campaign trail in behalf of Hillary Clinton before. She has delivered powerfully on Clintons behalf. Her speech in Philadelphia on the opening night of the Democratic convention helped turn a bad first day into a successful week. Subsequent speeches at campaign rallies have shown her to be as effective a surrogate as the former first lady has. Never has the country seen the first lady like this. Thursday brought out in Obama something different, something more personal, more passionate, more urgent. She was, she said, shaken by the Trump she saw in the Access Hollywood video. I cant stop thinking about this, she said. It has shaken me to my core in a way I couldnt have predicted. And so she threw away much of her standard pro-Clinton speech and laid bare her feelings with a sense of moral outrage and indignation over the idea that Trump could be the nominee of a major political party and a threat to win the presidency. She said she had listened closely to Trumps words. And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and Im sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. Its frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. She said that to dismiss what Trump had said as locker-room banter is an insult to decent men everywhere. She said that to treat the episode as just another chapter in a heated campaign does not do justice to the degradation to which many women are subjected regularly. This is not normal, she said. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful, it is intolerable, and it doesnt matter what party you belong to. No woman deserves to be treated this way none of us deserves this kind of abuse. Her speech lit up Twitter and the Internet. She spoke as Trump was waiting to appear, and on the cable networks two at least the images showed a fiery first lady dominating the screen with a tiny box in the corner of the crowded arena awaiting the GOP nominee. Both CNN and MSNBC broke into regular coverage to show the Obama speech. Fox News did not carry it. When Obama had finished, Trump came out to thunderous applause, a sign that the support among his most loyal backers has not slackened in the face of the hot-mic video, the latest allegations against him, and the turmoil in his campaign and in the Republican Party. If anything, that support has hardened further, and if there were any concerns about that, Trump gave his supporters every reason to stand firm. He cast the choice in November as between a political-media-corporate establishment against the rest of the country, a divide-to-conquer strategy that has been urged on him by his advisers. This is not simply another four-year election, he said. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we the people reclaim control over our government. He said the most recent allegations of sexual misconduct were preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. He promised to produce evidence to refute them and appeared to take a swipe at a People magazine reporter who said he had kissed her and forced himself against her, seeming to suggest that her appearance should cast doubt on her allegations. You take a look. Look at her, he said. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so. I dont think so. He said the establishment will try to retain its grip on power through all manner of means. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed. They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family, they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that, they will do whatever is necessary. The Clintons are criminals, remember that. Theyre criminals. Not only criminals, he said, but the leaders of an establishment whose goal is power and enrichment at the expense of everyday Americans. The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure, he said. Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents, in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors. Trump called the election a moment of reckoning as a society and as a civilization itself, and he issued an exhortation to his followers to overturn the current order. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you, he said. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people. In two hours Thursday, the lines were drawn as never before. Michelle Obama delivered a case against Trumps personal and moral fitness with a forcefulness that Hillary Clinton cannot match, given the past charges against her husband. Meanwhile, Trump has embraced fully the blow-it-up argument that will rattle Republican leaders but which animates those Americans who are most alienated from the countrys establishment. Those are the parameters of the political debate as it stands today and the choice that will be settled on Election Day. campaign-analysis Burque Noir: Vol. 2 will celebrate black culture through multimedia visual and performance art. The event, founded by Ebony Isis Booth and Jennifer DePaolo, will showcase about 12 performers on stage over the course of the evening on Saturday, Oct. 15, at the South Broadway Cultural Center. I moved here from Denver in February 2015 and kind of observed an absence or a small void for activities or creative events that created a sense of place for black artists and performers, Booth said. So myself, Im a spoken-word poet, and I would find that in a lot of places I would be the only African-American performer or just that there would not really be very many at all. There were no open mic or spaces to go that really showcased the black community. Booth decided to work on creating that space that would celebrate black artists who create in Albuquerque and surrounding areas. She wanted to bring black artists together and give them a sense of place. A place where they could perform and showcase their talent in a bit of a variety show, Booth said. With that we want to not only celebrate artists for being black, but we want to kind of talk about the vast array of skill sets and styles and genres of music and visual art that is created by African-Americans. Saturdays event is the second installment. The first Burque Noir took place in March. Burque Noir: Vol. 2 will feature musicians, poets and more. Performers will include Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy; multicultural funk band The Sticky, from Santa Fe; The Dee Brown Situation and Babsy Sinandile, daughter of Nkazi Sinandile of South Africa, who works with refugees in Albuquerque, according to Booth. A marketplace will showcase visual artists, artisans and craft-makers. An artist by the name of Sean Moon is going to be painting live on stage during the night, Booth said. We have two pieces of work that will be on display by Edna McIver, who is a living treasure, if you will. Mrs. McIver was one of the founders of the African American Artists Guild that was active for 18 years prior to it going on a hiatus back in 2007, but shes submitting some works that will be exhibited. Aron KaLai from Albuquerque is going to be exhibiting. Theres another artist named Tiphan Hunter who does a mask series of acrylic painted masks on canvas. Breanna Conner is another artist, who just moved to New Mexico from the Bay Area, who does a series of black-and-white collage work. Its a wonderful variety of styles of visual artists. Speaking at the Ohio Democrats annual dinner in Columbus on Thursday night, President Barack Obama blasted Republicans for nurturing the sort of extreme thinking that led to Donald Trumps political rise. While Obama aimed a few of his swipes at Trump, saying he was caught on tape saying things that no decent person would even think, much less say, much less brag about, much less act on, he directed most of his criticism toward GOP officials who have only recently disavowed their partys presidential nominee. Frequently, he referred indirectly to Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who is running for reelection and holds a significant lead over former governor Ted Strickland (D). The problem is not that all Republicans think the way this guy does. The problem is that theyve been riding this tiger for a long time, the president said, referring to those who questioned whether he was born in the United States, those who called him the antichrist and other conspiracy theories. Theyve been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years, primarily for political expedience. People like Teds opponent, they just stood by while this happened, Obama said, referring to Portman, adding that as in so many other situations, Trump didnt build the building himself, he just slapped his name on it. The problem is this is in the swamp of crazy that has been fed over and over and over again, the president said, to applause. This is the nominee you get. While Portman withdrew his endorsement for Trump after a 2005 videotape surfaced last week in which Trump made crude remarks about sexually assaulting women, Obama argued that he has more respect for those who actually supported the New York real estate mogul than the people who knew better and stood silently by because it was politically expedient. At times his remarks appeared aimed at moderate Republicans and GOP-leaning independents, suggesting that elected Republican officials had lost their moral compass. Youre not even consistent anymore. You claim the mantle of the party of family values and this is the guy you nominate? And stand by and endorse and campaign with? Until finally at the 11th hour you withdraw your nomination? You dont get credit for that, he said. Youre the party thats tough on foreign policy and opposes Russia, then you nominate Trump, whose role model is Vladimir Putin, the former head of the KGB? Im sorry, what happened? Rather than delivering an extended attack on Trump, Obama quipped that members of the audience should look up the video of Michelle Obamas speech in New Hampshire on Thursday, in which she lambasted the GOP nominee for failing to respect women. The first lady said the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by Trump have shaken me to the core. She was pretty good, the president said. PHILADELPHIA New allegations have surfaced of sexual assault against Donald Trump but they are not recent incidents, dating back in one case as much as three decades. Thats left some of Trumps supporters and others asking the question: Why now? The four women who came forward this week cited Sunday nights debate, and Trumps denial of ever kissing or groping a woman without consent, as the straw that broke the camels back and prompted them to talk with news organizations. One, Jessica Leeds, told The New York Times she wanted to punch the screen when she heard Trumps response during the debate. Critics nevertheless are asking why the women waited so many years to finally speak out, and some are using that as ammunition to question the veracity of their claims. The same question and doubts were raised after dozens of women came forward years after the fact to accuse comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault. The Associated Press explored that question and the skepticism surrounding it with experts and accusers in other cases, including Cosbys. Here is their take: ___ WHY NOT COME FORWARD SOONER? The number one reason (people hesitate) is they are afraid they wont be believed because a lot of this happens in private. You may tell friends, because theyll believe you, but you may be afraid to present to authorities. You may have been drinking, or youre afraid of being blamed. Youre not even sure if you may be at fault. Dr. Judith Linden of Boston University, an emergency room physician who treats sex assault victims. ___ WHAT ELSE MIGHT HOLD AN ACCUSER BACK? Theres never a good time to come forward. If you come forward immediately, youre accused of being a gold digger. If you come forward later, youre accused of being liars. You know that when you go forward with a story of sexual assault, especially against a powerful person (or school), you feel isolated, you feel alone. You know youre going to be attacked. Theres still this misconception that theres something to be gained by being a victim of sexual assault. Rehashing a painful moment publicly is not fun, especially when you know that so many people who hear that story are cultured to question you. Kamilah Willingham of Los Angeles, whose account of being sexually assaulted at Harvard Law School was featured in the campus sexual-assault documentary The Hunting Ground and was the subject of a Title IX discrimination complaint against the school. ___ WHAT IS YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE WITH THIS? Theres a lot of re-victimization. I was told that my story was decades old, fantastical. Its had a huge impact on my family. Ive been harassed, chased through grocery store parking lots. Drivers scream at me, flip me the finger. Thats pretty embarrassing and hurtful and really difficult. Cosby accuser Barbara Bowman, explaining the backlash after she came forward in 2005 to support another woman suing Cosby of sexual assault. She penned a 2014 column in The Washington Post asking why no one believed her accusations earlier, and she is now one of seven accusers suing Cosby for defamation in Massachusetts. Cosby, 79, is defending several civil suits around the country and faces criminal charges in the case of another woman. (Note: The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but both Willingham and Bowman agreed to be named publicly.) ___ IS THERE A SILVER LINING TO ANY OF THIS? If theres anything encouraging to say about the last week, and the last couple of years in particular, its the pendulum swinging. It does say something positive about society, that this is not the kind of culture and society we want. There is a cost for misogyny. Shaunna Thomas of Los Angeles, a co-founder of the online womens rights group UltraViolet Action, which ran a full-page newspaper advertisement this week condemning Trump, signed by 3,000 self-described sexual assault survivors. ___ This story has been corrected to remove a quote incorrectly attributed to Sen. Jerry Moran. It has also been corrected to say Willinghams account was the subject of a Title IX discrimination complaint, not a lawsuit, against Harvard. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is holding a rally in Surat on Sunday but the party is of the view that the BJP workers might create trouble. By Vidya : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been gearing itself to mobilise people to join the rally of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Surat on Sunday. However, the party workers are of the view feel that there could be disruptions in the rally by either the BJP workers or someone put forth by them. The party has sent a letter to the Surat and Ahmedabad police commissioners requesting for some time to meet so that they can discuss the issue. The party has also shot off a letter to the Gujarat home department asking them to see that the meetings of Kejriwal on October 16 should not be disrupted. advertisement AAP's Delhi MLA and Gujarat in-charge Gulab Singh Yadav alleged that the BJP workers have been tearing down their hoardings ahead of the rally in Surat and other places while putting up their own posters across various locations that Kejriwal has to visit. "In the last two days, our hoardings were torn by the BJP supporters and the municipal corporation, while hoardings saying that Kejriwal supports Pakistan are being put up," he added. Also read: Kejriwal reaches Ahmedabad today, to meet victims of patidar agitation KEJRIWAL POSTERS One such large hoarding put up right outside Mehsana area bears a picture of Kejriwal that reads, "Namak hindustan ka khata hai, gana pakistan ka gaata hai." (Eats here but sings the tune of Pakistan). Most critics of the party say that the pandemonium that was created at Amit Shah's rally in September in Surat had AAP members in it, so the BJP is bound to turn the table on the AAP now, and disrupt their meetings and rallies. Also read: Kejriwal writes to PM Modi: Roll back disability pension decision, revamp OROP Yadav added that sometime back also at AAP's motorcycle rally, some people had created trouble. "We looked up on the social networking sites and recognised those people were from the BJP. They had put up pictures of them standing with Amit Shah, so it is clearly evident who is behind all these problems here." With these things in mind, the AAP leadership is trying to do their best at requesting authorities to provide adequate security to Kejriwal ahead of his meetings here. --- ENDS --- People in Estonia, a country one-seventh the size of New Mexico that is located against the Gulf of Finland, tell you to visit the Museum of Occupations in Tallinn. They are not talking about a museum of jobs. Estonia, with a population of about 1.3 million, has ping-ponged back and forth among its warring, giant neighbors for decades. And since Vladimir Putin, Russia and NATO have been prime topics in the U.S. election and Estonia was featured in a recent 60 Minutes piece on the renewed Russian nuclear threat, I felt it was time to finish up this column, first conceived after I visited Estonia in March. Estonia has been occupied more often than Wall Street. This being 2016, you might think fears of another occupation, like those whose artifacts are on display at the museum that was started by an expat Estonian, would be a thing of the past. But tensions and nervousness here on the heels of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and recent incursions into Estonian air space by a Russian surveillance plane have brought a pledge of $3.4 billion from the Pentagon. The funding for the European Reassurance Initiative represents a quadrupling of funds from last year to deploy heavy weapons, armored vehicles and other equipment to NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe, to deter Russian aggression, the New York Times reported. Estonia joined NATO in 2004. People in Estonia cannot forget that, between the world wars, Estonia had 20 years of independence along with neighboring Latvia and Lithuania that ended with Soviet annexation in 1940. That most recent occupation wasnt reversed until 1991 when the three countries, known as the Baltics, regained their independence. Recent Russian actions are not lost on Estonians. It makes you understand why Estonians are a little bit paranoid about Russia, said Kadri, who worked in the hotel where I stayed. We are concerned, she said. You would be stupid not to be. But there also are Putin apologists among the many ethnic Russians who live in Estonia. Everybody blame[s] Russia, said a clerk, who works in a candy shop, when asked about the Ukraine situation. The store, which sells the popular European confection marzipan, has its own de facto museum downstairs with sculptures made from the stuff depicting cartoon characters and the head of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many may not picture him looking so sweet. Amid any tensions, life goes on in Tallinn, which has an amazing medieval Old Town dating from the 13th century, and listed as a World Heritage Site by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The site preserves to a remarkable extent the medieval urban structure of building plots, streets and squares, set out in the 13th century, as well as medieval urban fabric. The radial street network is well endowed with buildings from the 14th-16th centuries. The town defenses have been preserved over large sections at their original length and height, rising to over 15 meters (almost 50 feet) in places, the UNESCO website states. The day I visited the Museum of Occupations, a guide was leading a tour in Estonian, explaining how Estonians escaped the country during the Russian occupation in small boats across the gulf to Finland. The Soviets later demanded the return of the boats. Among the other displays are Soviet occupation-era telephone booths. Out in the streets, many of the booths didnt survive the 1970s, as rock bands scavenged their metal to make some of the countrys first electric guitars. The Soviet legacy is hard to miss here. There is a tour of a former KGB observation post, now a museum, located in a room on the 23rd floor of the Hotel Viru in the center of Tallinn. When I visited the city of Tartu, about 2hours away by train, I followed signs indicating a former KGB cells museum. After a mile walk, the signs petered out and three people I asked did not know of it. In April, the Russians were bolstering their submarine fleet with increased patrols by its attack submarines in the North Atlantic, along the Scandinavian countries, in the Mediterranean Sea and near Scotland with a goal of challenging U.S. and NATO submarine strength. In response, anti-submarine exercises were planned for this year with ships from the U.S., Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, France and Britain participating. We are not quite back in a Cold War, James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and the former supreme allied commander of NATO, told the Times. But I sure can see one from where we are standing. Many Estonians probably would agree. There is a perception that crime is out of control, maybe even at a historic high, in the Albuquerque metro area. Its a perception fueled by the murder of two police officers in the metro area in 2015 and the brutal deaths of several young girls in recent months. These cases have stunned New Mexicans and resulted in calls for reinstatement of the death penalty for people convicted of killing law enforcement and corrections officers, and children under 18. A recent Journal Poll found 65 percent of likely voters polled would support such a move. That same poll found that 89 percent of likely New Mexico voters considered crime to be a somewhat or very serious problem. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, who rolled out a new attack-on-crime plan on Wednesday, said the perception is not accurate. I hear people in the community talk about crime being the worst its ever been, when thats simply not the fact, he said. True enough, measuring crime against population. By that measure, crime in New Mexico, Albuquerque and the nation isnt as bad as it was in the 1980s and 1990s. Not necessarily because there are fewer crimes, but because there are more people. That statistical disclaimer doesnt mean folks here are hallucinating. And Berry admits there has been an uptick in the past year or two as has been the case nationally. According to crime data in a report Berry commissioned, violent crime rose 9.2 percent in 2015 compared with 2014 and the property crime rate rose by 11.5 percent in Albuquerque. In 2015, the citys violent crime rate 966 per 100,000 residents was higher than similar-sized cities, such as Tucson, Ariz., Louisville, Ky., Las Vegas, Nev., and Oklahoma City. So even if crime is down from several decades ago, there are some very chilling current numbers to consider. According to FBI crime statistics for 2015, Albuquerque ranked ninth per capita among cities over 100,000 in population for auto theft, 11th for property crime, 34th for violent crime and 94th for murder. So we should all be able to agree that its time we took additional steps to do something about it. And data from the study Berry commissioned by retired University of New Mexico professor Peter Winograd shows a correlation between auto thefts and fewer inmates being locked up in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center. That has occurred as the county has moved to reduce the jail population as part of its compliance with a decades-long civil rights class action lawsuit and after a state Supreme Court ruling that emphasizes that most defendants are entitled to reasonable bail. The high courts 2015 ruling has contributed to a revolving door for career criminals, as detailed in the award-winning November 2015 Journal report, Turnstile Thugs, by investigative reporter Mike Gallagher. That was compounded by new Supreme Court deadlines for how quickly cases must be handled in Bernalillo County, resulting in many dismissals. Winograds conclusion disputed to some extent by others, including County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins is that suspects in a crime who have been arrested and jailed are quickly back on the street to commit more crimes and their favorite target appears to be vehicles to steal. To illustrate that, Wednesdays report by Journal staff writer Ryan Boetel was accompanied by a city-provided graphic showing one defendant, David Romero, was arrested six times in 2015, five of them for crimes related to auto theft. Bail guidelines make it hard to keep even career criminals locked up before trial even if they commit a new crime while out on bond. Voters can fix part of that problem by voting to approve a constitutional amendment on this years ballot that would allow judges to hold suspects without bond if they find they are a danger to the community. Winograds report says people with a history of being arrested for felony property crimes commit 48 percent of auto thefts in the city and the Albuquerque Police Department solves only about 9 percent of them. So it would appear the odds are in the favor of what are likely a fairly small number of thieves who commit crime after crime after crime. Berry urged police, courts and county to work together to find ways to keep the right people behind bars longer, while preserving constitutional rights and not having people languish in jail only because they are poor. Meanwhile, in an effort to help the manpower-strapped police department and improve the response to property crimes, Berry is proposing a multi-pronged approach whose centerpiece is a pilot project that would employ former police officers on a contract basis. This community response specialist team would handle lower-level property crimes so commissioned officers can be freed up for higher priority calls. The City Council should approve the plan. The Legislature also needs to pass a return to work law that would allow some officers to return to the force after they retire, while drawing on their pensions. An effort to do so supported by every sheriff in New Mexico and more than three dozen mayors failed in this years legislative session, killed in the Senate for political reasons, and should be retried in 2017. Berrys pilot project would be a worthwhile stop gap until lawmakers do the right thing and give police agencies in New Mexicos cities and towns the tools they need to more forcefully combat crime. 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. SANTA FE In a lengthy federal court lawsuit filed this week, a couple allege a vast criminal conspiracy in Santa Fe that involves the state attorney general, 11 judges, court personnel, the county Sheriffs Office and others. The 89-page suit results from efforts to evict the plaintiffs, Andrew Ross and Susan Gerard, from a house on Camino Piedra Lumbre on Santa Fes south side. The suit identifies Ross, 69, as a retired civil rights attorney who practiced in Massachusetts and New York, and Gerard, 70, as a prominent local mental health therapist. The couple claim they have been discriminated against, claiming their many attempts to battle the eviction through the judicial system and other areas have been ignored due to collusion in the judicial system. The conspiracy involves almost the entirety of the Santa Fe First Judicial Court, the Santa Fe Magistrate Court, the Santa Fe Sheriffs Department and at the helm of the Criminal Enterprise, the Attorney General of the State of New Mexico, Hector Balderas, says the suits introduction. The complaint also alleges that Ross and Gerard have been persecuted by a Lesbian Sisterhood spread throughout the justice system. This lawsuit is completely frivolous and a waste of taxpayer dollars and resources, James Hallinan, spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office, said in a statement Thursday. The Office of the Attorney General looks forward to its prompt dismissal and remains focused on legitimate issues concerning our state while protecting New Mexicos children and families. The suit, filed on behalf of Ross and Gerard by Albuquerque attorney Arash Asher Kashanian, outlines numerous court actions and other developments since March. After a dispute over a plumbing leak, the couples landlady undertook an extensive crusade of harassment against Gerard and Ross, the suit maintains. The ensuing legal matters included an eviction order, accusations of fraud, temporary restraining orders, appeals, dueling complaints to the Judicial Standards Commission and the state Counseling and Therapy Board, officers coming to the couples home, civil suits filed by Gerard, a criminal case against Ross for alleged threats, and a criminal complaint against the couple filed by a deputy, according to the lawsuit. The suit alleges existence of a Cosa-Nostra-like judicial power structure also known as Nuestra Familia, whose acting consigliere is Balderas, who has made sure all public officials named in this matter are silent about everyone elses activities, in accord with the Code of Omerta. The suit also alleges a cover-up to hide wrongdoing in Magistrate Court and that the Lesbian Sisterhood, whose most prominent members consist of judicial officers, attorneys, court employees, and others in the justice system, has played a major role in the wrongdoing against Ross and Gerard. They say they havent been able to get a hearing on the merits in any of the cases and that they are being singled out, but this happens on a regular basis in Santa Fe silently. The suit seeks damages for racketeering, civil rights violations and other wrongdoing. In September, the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, a group charged with making recommendations to the Bureau of Land Management about its Wild Horse and Burro Program, agreed that tens of thousands of equines in federal holding facilities might need to be euthanized. This recommendation you might call it the nuclear option undoubtedly hit horse lovers like a bomb. Social media mushroomed with immediate rancor. The BLM was inundated by negative feedback and quickly issued a statement saying it would not follow the boards recommendation. Its sad enough that the mustang crisis has devolved to this. Its also sad that only a tiny fraction of the public has taken time to understand the situation, which has created a genuine cultural and environmental crisis in the American West. The boards dramatic recommendation is reminiscent of the prospective Superfund designation of my nearby community of Silverton, Colo., site of last years disastrous Gold King Mine spill. Both attempt to address a long history of citizen and government irresponsibility. Each of them proposes a solution thats as hard to swallow as it is necessary. Few of the many fractured parties find it palatable, but no one is offering better solutions. As horrifying as its recommendation may seem, the advisory group was trying only to rectify bad decisions regarding wild horses that date back generations. Its a chronicle thats echoed by the long history of corporate malfeasance in the mining world. Who, and what, have led us to this point? The simple answer is our forefathers, who thought it was OK to turn unwanted horses out into open country. Those domestic-turned-wild horses have done all too well on our public lands. The number of offspring of former Army horses, frontier horses and ranch horses doubles every five years. Feral horses may have irreversibly degraded millions of acres of rangeland, as the advisory board members discovered on a recent field trip to Antelope Valley, Nev. They viewed miles of high desert land untouched by cattle, yet devastated by the intense grazing of wild horses. If the horses werent so pretty, as well as being an icon of the Old West, we would call them invasive, and we would have sought more effective, less emotion-driven and politicized ways to manage them long ago. Do we have a romantic term for feral cats? Does the average taxpayer recognize how much damage both feral cats and feral horses do to the environment? For decades, our government has rounded up the free-roaming horses and burros, removing them from the wild only to create more space and available resources for the equines left behind. The Bureau of Land Managements strategy, in fact, has had exactly the opposite effect as intended. The wild populations have flourished because of it, not despite it. The National Academy of Sciences said as much in its 630-page publication Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward, released in 2013. Our government has also dragged its feet on pursuing humane population control options, like darting mares with a fertility control vaccine called PZP (porcine zona pellucida). Instead, it invested in risky, inhumane sterilization procedures, which produced horrible results and subjected the agency to several lawsuits. The agency also continued to hold counterproductive roundups that only galvanized more protesters and spurred more lawsuits. Certain activist groups say the feral horses and burros have more claim to the land than any other animals. They believe the equines deserve to live untouched and untethered lives, all other considerations be damned. They leverage romance, Old West ideals and widespread ignorance to fan the flames of public outrage. They like to use the word mustang, but do they really know what that word means? It comes from the Spanish word mestengo and it means stray. We can also blame ourselves for failing to get educated about this environmental and fiscal crisis, for failing to support the wild horse trainers who gentle the animals for successful adoptions, for failing to adopt a mustang or burro, and for letting extremists dictate the conversation and inform policy. Wild horses and burros are in a fight for their lives, whether its on land degraded by a rapid influx of invasive species like cheatgrass, whose spread some blame on horse overpopulation, or in holding pens. The prison-like conditions of these pens cost taxpayers about $50,000 for each animal over the course of its squandered lifetime. Do you find this current, catastrophic state distressing? Pause for a moment to mourn the damage done. Then get educated and help other concerned citizens work toward a solution. Just as with the mining mess, we will need to take drastic steps to get back to whats right for wild horses and our degraded public lands. Maddy Butcher is a contributor to Writers on the Range, the opinion service of High Country News (hcn.org). She writes in Mancos, Colo. Its clearly going to take City Hall a while to get used to Indigenous Peoples Day. Last year, in response to Native American protests during the September Fiestas Entrada re-enactment of the Spanish reoccupation of Santa Fe in 1692, Mayor Javier Gonzales declared the second Monday in October the federal Columbus Day holiday Indigenous Peoples Day. But no one announced the declaration. The day after what was supposed to have been Indigenous Peoples Day, a city councilor read the mayors declaration at a routine Tuesday night committee meeting. Apparently insert irony alert here the declaration fell through the cracks because no one was around at City Hall on the government workers day off for Columbus Day. This year after louder protests at the Entrada the City Council a couple of weeks ago actually voted to make the second Monday in October henceforth Indigenous Peoples Day in Santa Fe. Mayor Gonzales followed up with an announcement, and a letter to the leaders of 22 tribes and pueblos. He said there would be a full-blown celebration in 2017. It turns out a city employee, the officially designated tribal liaison, organized a nice one-hour event on the Plaza for Monday of this week, for whats now Indigenous Peoples Day. It included Native dancing and drumming groups, and the mayor and San Ildefonso Gov. James Mountain spoke. But, for the second year in a row, communications about Indigenous Peoples Day failed. There was no announcement of the noon hour celebration until about 10:30 a.m. Monday, when an emailed news release went out. Still, thanks probably to nice fall weather and the usual foot traffic on the Plaza (possibly supplemented by the proximity of Balloon Fiesta), there was a decent crowd of about 200 people around. Maybe next year, Indigenous Peoples Day will bloom into a full-scale event, joining a list of cultural celebrations on the Plaza that include Spanish Market in July, Indian Market in August, Fiesta and the September Mexican El Grito independence day commemoration, which came downtown for the first time this year. Lets just hope someone is around at City Hall to put out the word. A letter from members of the English faculty at Santa Fe Community College raising concerns about their workloads has resulted in formal reprimands for the teachers. The schools Faculty Senate representative has said that, as a result, the SFCC campus is in a state of crisis and that members of the schools staff are afraid to speak out. The reprimands came after a letter from the teachers explaining why they chose not to attend a strategic planning meeting. The letter from teachers in the English, Speech and Reading Department faculty sent to department Dean Bernadette Jacobs and SFCC Vice President Margaret Peters resulted in written reprimands that called their action blatant insubordination, citing portions of the faculty contract that states failure to comply with policies constitute good cause for termination. The written reprimands were placed in the personnel file of nine faculty members. No individual names were on the letter about workloads, although the letters said it was from the non-chair members of the English department. The letter from the faculty, obtained by the Journal through a public records request, starts by saying members of the English department have expressed deep concerns regarding workload issues to administration for two years and have received only directives to manage our own workloads. Thus, because we have received little support from the administration in managing our workloads, the department has decided as a group to mitigate this issue ourselves, the letter reads. The group then wrote that they would be skipping an Aug. 18 School of Liberal Arts strategic planning meeting. We have chosen to, instead, devote our time and energy to projects that directly impact our department, the teachers wrote. The group went on to say they would continue to manage their own workloads as other campus-wide projects arise and communicate with administration about potential abstentions from participation. Should administration want our departments participation in such projects, we respectfully ask that our workload concerns be formally addressed, the letter ends. Letter called unprofessional The Aug. 23 reprimand from department dean Jacobs, obtained by the Journal after the college refused to release it as a public record because it contained matters of opinion in personnel files, called the faculty members letter distressing. Your refusal to participate in the August 18 meeting demonstrates blatant insubordination and an unprofessional and discourteous expression of your discontent with your current workload, it read. You are expected to attend faculty and staff meetings as required under your contract. Any faculty who are unable to fulfill their contractual obligations, including participation in strategic planning and other important meetings, will be subject to continued progressive discipline up to and including termination . In an interview Thursday, SFCC President Randy Grissom said there have been administration meetings with the English, Speech and Reading faculty more than once in recent weeks and that progress was being made. So weve continued that dialogue, he said. As a college, were always sensitive to issues of concern that may be coming up, whether they are coming from faculty or staff, and we try to address those the best way we can through our shared governance process and other processes we try to get input and feedback. Grissom said the Aug. 18 meeting that sparked the dispute was an Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) strategic planning meeting that was mandatory for the School of Liberal Arts faculty. He explained that AQIP is part of the colleges accreditation process, and the requirement to attend the meetings is addressed in policy and employee contracts. Thats the way we stay working together as an institution, thats the way we plan our way forward, and its also a requirement of our accrediting body, which is the Higher Learning Commission, he said. Grissom said he met with the Faculty Senate Workload Subcommittee in April and is considering proposals the faculty made then. While most were too late in the year to implement for the current fiscal year, they were being considered for next year. One request from the English, Speech and Reading faculty to reduce class sizes from 24 to 22 was met this year, he said. But Grissom stood by the decision to reprimand the employees. We have expectations of all employees its either in their job description, their contract and/or policy and the expectation is they have to fulfill those and, if they dont, we have to address those. Fear and confusion Faculty Senate representative Xubi Wilson told the SFCC board at its Sept. 28 meeting as shown on a video of the boards proceedings that the response from administration has caused alarm among faculty members campus-wide. He said it has generated fear and confusion over what is appropriate communication and that faculty members feel their ability to communicate effectively has been hobbled. Morale is not good and Im concerned that this will be an ongoing problem that will disrupt communication for this semester, and possibly throughout the whole year, he told the board. Wilson said hes talked to about 60 faculty members and all of them seem to feel the letters of reprimand was an over-reaction, and call into question what processes and protections exist for faculty members who have a beef. The video shows that SFCC board member Pablo Sedillo said he has trouble believing that low morale was as widespread as Wilson described. He also expressed support for the administrations response. There are two sides to every story, he said. If some members of the faculty or staff member choose not to cooperate, thats really a disservice to the students and to this institution. Wilson told the board, whose members are elected by voters in a community college district matching that of the Santa Fe public schools, that faculty members are reluctant to speak publicly about the matter for fear of retribution. Frankly, a lot of people are not here because they are afraid, he said at the September meeting. They are not sure if you can be punished for communication, they dont know which communication is alright or when they might be written up. It really makes people anxious about speaking. Wilson urged the board to address the issue quickly. He said hes been doing his best to calm fears, but it would be best if administration opened up a dialogue with the entire faculty and look for a solution. Damage has been done, but there are opportunities to go back to square one, open up a dialogue and talk about what really is appropriate or inappropriate, Wilson said. And, frankly, we dont think that communication should be met with punishment ever. Wilson also suggested that the letters of reprimand be removed from the employees files so all matters could be discussed openly and they wouldnt have to dance around the issue of the reprimands being a confidential personnel matter. While board member Sedillo said he supported efforts to reconcile the matter, he also seemed to suggest that, if disgruntled faculty members didnt like their work climate, they could leave. If I felt that there would be retribution for what I say, I would go look for another job, he said. Sedillo also said it would be wrong for Grissom to have the letters of reprimand removed from the employees files. Board President Kathy Keith took more of a conciliatory tone. One of the things I heard you say is that there are places in the policy that are very vague, that make employees nervous because they are not well defined, and I think this gives us a great opportunity, she said. I think that weve established a good shared government process that we can bring those policies up, that we can look at those policies and rewrite them so that, moving forward, we learn from this. In an interview Wednesday, Keith said employees still have to live up to the existing polices. This is not a communication issue, this is not about someone being sent a letter, this is an issue about conduct, she said. What happened was we had a group of employees that decided not to come to a mandatory meeting. I think theres a consequence for that. Keith said the role of the SFCC board is to hire a president and establish policies. We expect the president and senior management to work with faculty and staff on issues like this. But we also expect all employees to fulfill their job responsibilities, she said. Wilson, the faculty representative, did not return multiple phone calls and emails requesting an interview. Two SFCC faculty members contacted for this story also declined comment. Santa Fe has long been known for its past but what about its future? Creative Santa Fe is launching an effort called Disruptive Futures to try to get Santa Fe seen as a place where innovative thinkers come together from around the country and world to spark ideas about solutions to some of our most knotty problems. Given that the atomic bomb had its birth in Los Alamos, it should be no surprise that The Santa Fe Nuclear Weapons Summit is the initiatives first venture. This will bring some young, amazing people here, said Cyndi Conn, CrSF executive director, of the 20 to 30 invitees to the summit, many of them thought leaders in their fields. The three-day session will kick off with a public talk on Dec. 4, but the rest of the session will be limited to the invitees and the facilitators, who will include former CIA officer and author Valerie Plame, actor Farshad Farhat, data scientist Chris Diehl, theoretical physicist Geoffrey West and others. The public event, 5 p.m. at the Lensic, will feature a dialogue with William J. Perry, former U.S. secretary of Defense, and author and filmmaker Eric Schlosser, whose most recent book, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident and the Illusion of Safety, has been produced as a documentary. While the interactive sessions are expected to spark ideas and insights, which will be reported in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, according to Conn, she acknowledges that its unlikely a neat and tidy solution to the nuclear threat will emerge after three days. But, she said, it might get people fired up and help them leave the event with their eyes wide open about the issues. Millennials, she added, referring to a four-minute film that will be shown at the opening of the event, really arent fully aware of the nuclear threat, the preponderance of weapons and the billions of dollars spent on them. And the subtheme of the effort, she noted, is to raise Santa Fes visibility as a place where ideas are paramount and the future is happening now perhaps in turn attracting young, ambitious entrepreneurs who will bring new energy to the citys economy. Its not as if Santa Fe has lacked intellectual and artistic ferment. The Santa Fe Institute attracts international scholars who come for residencies and conferences to interact with resident scholars focused on the ideas of complexity and how it is expressed in a variety of scientific fields. The School for Advanced Research attracts scholars in residence who give public talks on their intellectual explorations. The Santa Fe Council on International Relations invites speakers who give their thoughts on pressing global issues. And scholars at St. Johns College offer a series of mind-boggling talks. On the arts side, the Santa Fe Art Institute and the Institute of American Indian Arts offer residencies to cutting-edge and established artists, many of whose work addresses social issues. Down the road in opposite directions, Los Alamos National Laboratory conducts research in many fields besides weapons and United World College near Las Vegas, N.M., brings together students from around the world. Thats just a sampling of the many groups Conn said Creative Santa Fe has been working with and hopes to bring together for an exchange of ideas. While the December summit has only that one public event, something else is coming down the road that will be fully public: Beyond Borders Santa Fe, set for Oct. 13-15, 2017. Unlike the nuclear summit, which arose from brainstorming among CrSFs own team for approaches to bring young people into the city and grow its economy, next years event emerged from an inquiry from Beyond Borders Scotland. That group has held festivals for a number of years that bring together people in the arts, science, politics, diplomacy and more to focus on strategies for conflict resolution. It includes not just lectures and participant discussions, but also a series of performances, exhibits, outdoor events, and even yoga and meditation. When Beyond Borders Scotland wanted to expand its reach, it approached the city of Santa Fe and that was because its organizers know former Gov. Bill Richardson, who referred them to Santa Fes mayor, who suggested they talk with Creative Santa Fe, Conn said. It will be an immersive experience, with many hands-on activities, she said, adding that details of Beyond Borders Santa Fe are still being developed. Decisions are yet to be made on what topics would be the focus or how events would be ticketed. But when the Journal brought up topics such as worries over immigration and concerns that some Native Americans have raised over celebration of the Spanish reconquest of Santa Fe, Conn noted that these would be the types of things the festival might involve. While CrSF has done work in the past on issues such as affordable housing for people working in creative fields, Conn said, Infrastructure is important, but we feel we needed to do something really bigger, to shift the perception of Santa Fe, and to attract a different demographic and the types of leaders and businesses we want to attract. After longtime Democratic state Sen. Phil Griego resigned last year amid an ethics scandal, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez picked former Estancia Mayor Theodore Ted Barela to fill the District 39 seat, narrowing the Democratic Partys advantage in the state Senate to 24-18. Now, voters living in the sprawling, largely rural district that spans from Ruidoso to Santa Fe get to decide to keep Barela or go with Democrat Elizabeth Liz Stefanics, who held the seat in the 1990s prior to Griego and is finishing the second of two terms on the Santa Fe County Commission. And while District 39 is considered a battleground district, the 50-year-old incumbent doesnt think party affiliation should matter. This is not a party election, its an election of principles and values, Barela said in a phone interview this week. The comment came after Barela was asked about Donald Trump being at the top of the ticket as the GOP candidate for U.S. president. He said his support of Trump is flagging and he is now leaning toward former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate. Stefanics, 65, a Santa Fe County commissioner from Cerrillos, agreed with Barela to the extent that he wasnt making the election about issues. My opponent hasnt presented a lot of ideas. His fliers seem to take aim at me and are not so much about issues, she said. In any case, campaign finance reports released Tuesday show partisan groups are pouring money into the race. The Republican incumbent has the money advantage at this point a month before election day, Stefanics campaign had about $56,000 cash on hand, compared to almost $106,000 for Barela. The candidates gave entirely different answers when asked to name two issues they felt were most important to District 39 voters. Stefanics said water issues continually come up in her conversations with constituents throughout the district. Theres also concern about the closing of school-based health clinics and what she called the decimation of the behavioral health system statewide, she said. In parts of New Mexico, theres no place within a few hours for them to go when a family member is in crisis, she said. Theres no urgent care, theres no counseling. You have to call the sheriff. Barela answered jobs and opportunity. People are concerned about their children moving out of state to have to find work and then that family bond starts to break down, said Barela, a father of three and grandfather of five. Barela said loosening restrictions on businesses will help stimulate the economy. We need to look closely at what is truly over-regulatory and where were creating unnecessary regulation. Because what were doing is were discouraging business coming into the state, he said. Barela said the state also needs tax reform, particularly on how gross receipts taxes impact businesses and are passed on to their customers. The same product is taxed multiple times, he said. Stefanics said her focus was on small businesses in small communities, particularly in areas lacking broadband services. She said expanding internet infrastructure was also important for schools in rural communities and for a variety of other reasons. If you want someone to be able to further their education and go onto higher education, or take a course online, if you want to do business registration, if you want to pay your taxes, if you want resources to help you, you cant if you dont have internet services, said Stefanics, who in addition to elective office held top state government positions during the Democratic administration of then-Gov. Bill Richardson. Stefanics also said people in the district are concerned about how school teachers must use their time. Everybody who is a parent is concerned about education, and they dont think teachers get enough time and the freedom to teach like they used to because the way the standards and testing are set up. Barela spoke at some length about the importance of family values. Our family values I believe are threatened the most every day, he said, those values that we hold onto and always fall back on. Our social break down in society is because of the family structure. If there is any way of restoring family structure, we gain a lot. It was evident he was turned off by an 11-year-old video that caught Trump talking about groping women. I had made some statements that I was behind the candidate selected by the Republican Party, he said. Things have definitely deteriorated since then. More than half of the $25,500 Barela raised during the most recent reporting period, which covers about one month ending in early October, came from political action committees or fellow GOP candidates who are in races they are expected to win. PAC 22, the political committee backing Minority Floor Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales, gave $3,500. The election committee of Sen. Cliff Pirtle, R-Roswell, sent $2,500 Barelas way, as did the campaign of Republican Sen. Pat Woods of Broadview, while Republican Sen. William Burt of Alamogordo gave $500. The Republican parties of Lincoln and Union counties chipped in a total of $2,000. The gas and oil industry is also pumping funds into Barelas campaign. California-based Chevron Political Government Affairs gave $2,500, as did Mark Murphy, president of a Roswell oil and gas production company. A company listed as PetrolYates Inc. of Albuquerque gave $1,000. Stefanics also has been getting contributions from PACs, political allies and interest groups. More than one-third of the nearly $39,000 she raised during the last reporting period came from PACs supporting Democrats. She got $5,400, the maximum allowable, from the New Mexico Senate Victory Fund, $3,000 apiece from New Mexico Sunrise and labors New Mexicans for Working Families, and $1,500 from Sen. Michael Sanchezs Senate Majority Floor Leader Fund. Other Democrats, including Bernalillo County Commissioner Maggie Stebbins, state Reps. Deborah Armstrong of Albuquerque and Jim Trujillo of Santa Fe, and Santa Fe state Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, chipped in smaller amounts totaling more than $1,000. In addition, labor groups contributed $4,500 and teachers unions gave more than $2,000. All seats in the state Legislature are up for election this year. Election Day is Nov. 8, though early and absentee voting has already started. The question of whether two former Albuquerque police officers will be retried on murder charges in the death of homeless camper James Boyd may not be able to wait until after a new district attorney takes office Jan. 1. But it was unclear Thursday who will make the decision on whether to go forward with the case or dismiss criminal charges against Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy. Initially, it appeared that incoming District Attorney Raul Torres would have that responsibility after taking office Jan. 1. But under local court rules, the prosecution has 30 days from the date of a mistrial to notify the court whether to schedule another trial. A district court jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of acquittal of the two former officers earlier this week. At some point, it will have to come before the court but which prosecutor handles it is unknown at this time, said Tim Korte, spokesman for the 2nd Judicial District Court, on Thursday. The legal conundrum is especially difficult for former SWAT officer Perez, who is still trying to get his Albuquerque Police Department job back, said his attorney, Luis Robles, this week. I think hes still in limbo until somebody makes a very hard decision about whether or not to retry the case, Robles said. As per APD policy, Perez was fired in 2015 because of the criminal charges filed against him. Perez, a nine-year-APD veteran, is appealing his termination but the proceeding is on hold until the criminal case is resolved. Sandy retired in late 2014. Under the state Constitution and court rules, a verdict in a criminal case must be unanimous, so state District Judge Alisa Hadfield declared a mistrial. Court rules require a scheduling conference in the case be held in 30 days. At that time, Hadfield would set a new trial date and pretrial deadlines. The case drew national attention in part because of an APD helmet camera video in which Boyd appeared to be surrendering when he was fatally shot in the Sandia foothills in 2014. Perez and Sandy contended they acted within the law because the knife-wielding Boyd posed an imminent threat to another officer in the hillside standoff. A civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by Boyds brother was settled by the city for $5 million in 2015. Earlier that year, District Attorney Kari Brandenburg filed criminal charges against Sandy and Perez. But Hadfield in April 2015 disqualified Brandenburg from prosecuting the case after defense attorneys argued that she had a conflict of interest. Brandenburg then appointed prominent Albuquerque attorney Randi McGinn as special prosecutor. McGinn took the case for $5,400, plus costs the same amount paid to contract public defenders in a first-degree murder case. After the mistrial Tuesday, McGinn told reporters the question of a retrial is going to be somebody elses decision. Torrez, a Democrat who is running unopposed for the office in the Nov. 8 general election, issued a statement that he didnt want to rush a decision on the case and planned to discuss the matter with McGinn. Asked whether she still had the authority to dismiss the criminal charges, McGinn told the Journal it was an interesting question. She promised to research the issue. When the Journal asked Brandenburg whether she or McGinn had the authority to decide on a retrial, a DA spokeswoman responded by email on Thursday, Regarding retrying of the criminal cases and appointment of special prosecutor; Ms. Brandenburg cannot answer at this time, there are many factors to consider prior to any decisions being made. Asked whether Brandenburg was still disqualified from the case, DA spokeswoman Virginia Padilla replied, Weve answered your question. So far, the case has cost the DAs Office $82,850.17, including McGinns fees. Brandenburg was disqualified after the Journal reported that she had been under investigation by the APD in 2014 for actions she took in response to a burglary investigation of her son. Attorney General Hector Balderas reviewed the APD investigation and concluded Brandenburg had violated no criminal laws. But he said she created an appearance of impropriety by contacting victims, and reimbursing one of them, in property crime cases in which her adult son was a suspect. National police shooting expert Philip Stinson told the Journal this week it is rare for a criminal prosecution of a police officer for an on-duty shooting to end in a mistrial. Of the 77 such prosecutions since 2005, only four ended in a mistrial, Stinson said. Three of those cases were later dismissed. Only one will be retried. Officers in 21 of those cases were acquitted by a judge or jury at trial. These are not easy cases for juries. Theyre very reluctant to convict an officer in these cases. They want to give the officer the benefit of the doubt, said Stinson, a criminologist and associate professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Stinson said he has studied police fatal shootings over the past decade and believes the case wouldnt have been prosecuted criminally but for the video, because he (Boyd) had a knife in each hand. It just looked to me that a reasonable officer could have concluded that there was an imminent threat of serious bodily injury from those knives. A nine-year veteran of APD, Perez, who is married and has three children, is currently unemployed. He doesnt have the resources to pay for what it cost to have a defense, attorney Robles said. No normal person does. Before joining APD, Perez, 35, served two tours in the first Iraq War as a U.S. Marine and was awarded a Purple Heart after he was injured in 2003 when his military caravan hit an improvised explosive device. His former SWAT supervisor testified at trial that Perez was a stellar APD officer. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Those with bench warrants in New Mexico may be able to avoid arrest thanks to a Safe Surrender Program next week. Officials say those with an outstanding bench warrant issued by any magistrate court in New Mexico or the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court can turn themselves in at the Barelas Community Center in Albuquerque on Oct. 14 to 15. The program offers individuals an opportunity to appear before a judge to clear a warrant and potentially resolve their case. By surrendering, officials say people with an outstanding warrant can seek favorable consideration of their case. Magistrate courts and the Metropolitan Court have limited jurisdiction and handle DWI cases, misdemeanors, traffic violations and civil actions up to $10,000. By Lasyapriya Sundaram: The 'Breakup' song from K-Jo's upcoming Diwali release 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' has just hit the airwaves. While the song talks about a relationship going awry, the number is peppy and upbeat. This is not the first time that a break up song has been glorified in a Bollywood number. Imtiaz Ali's 2009 romantic saga 'Love Aaj Kal' had the lead pair of Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan traipsing around the capital city celebrating the fact that they were not a couple anymore in the song 'Chor Bazari'. ALSO WATCH: Ranbir-Anushka's breakup song will make you want to breakup! advertisement While the upbeat breakup numbers are few and far between, songs full of pathos are dime a dozen in Bollywood films. Ali's 2015 romantic drama 'Tamasha's music was scored by A R Rahman and the break up song, 'Agar Tum Saath Ho' sung by Alka Yagnik and Arijit Singh was a chart buster from the word go. What's interesting to note is that the breakup number in Ayan Mukherji's 2013 film 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani', 'Kabira' was set against the backdrop of a wedding. Amit Trivedi turned the break up song on its head when instead of resorting to instruments which have the ability to invoke pathos, the composer used brass band sounds to reflect the feelings of the film's leading man who is mourning the separation from his beloved in the song 'Emosanal Attyachar' from the 2009 film 'Dev D' directed by Anurag Kashyap. Meanwhile Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Romeo and Juliet tale 'Goliyon Ki Raasleela - Ram Leela' had a classically composed number, 'Laal Ishq' which manifested the feelings of loss experienced by the lovers in the film. While there are innumerable songs which reflect the pain of a breakup, filmmakers and composers are figuring out new ways to rework the breakup number in Bollywood. --- ENDS --- Mescalero Tribal Council member Ben Martinez was placed on suspension earlier this month pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations he received reimbursement to which he was not entitled. Martinez is one of eight candidates who garnered enough votes in the tribal primary election earlier this month to run in the general election for a new term in one of the four seats up for election on the council. But in a letter issued Oct. 7, President Danny Breuninger Sr. wrote that Martinez was suspended by a unanimous vote of the council, with one member abstaining. The council felt that allegations regarding financial improprieties and misuse of tribal property were serious enough that further investigation is warranted, Breuninger wrote. The president stated that Martinez admitted to the council on Oct. 6, that he received reimbursement for three days of travel when he only attended one day of a conference in Denver. He also used the tribal plane without proper authorization, Breuninger wrote. The council is looking into other improprieties that involve Martinez receiving meeting stipends for which he was not entitled, double reimbursements from multiple sources for meetings and other travel-related misconduct that reflect on the dignity and integrity of the tribal government. Breuninger reminded tribal members in the letter circulated to them early in the week that the council is dealing with allegations only, and that nothing has been proven to date. Depending on what is uncovered during the investigation, Mr. Martinez will be afforded a hearing and all due process, the president wrote. He added that because of prior misconduct involving abuse of office by Martinez, that resulted in a censure by the council, members determined Martinez should be suspended during the current investigation. Breuninger was referring to an investigation in 2015, when Martinez was accused of promising another tribal member two acres of land elsewhere if she would give up her assignment next to him and allegations he used his influence as a council member to make the exchange happen. The council split 3-3 on a vote to remove Martinez form his seat, with one member abstaining. Sanctions were imposed on Martinez by resolution that included removing him from a subcommittee and denying him eligibility for any committee chairmanship for the remainder of his term on the council. This is something that (neither) the tribal council (nor) I want to do, but their oath of office demands they protect tribal members money and property, Breuninger wrote of the new investigation and suspension. Martinez could not be reached for comment. 2016 the Ruidoso News (Ruidoso, N.M.) Visit the Ruidoso News (Ruidoso, N.M.) at www.ruidosonews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ GREENSBORO, N.C. Battered by sordid new accusations of sexual misbehavior, Donald Trump fought back in ever-more-remarkable fashion Friday, acting out one womans allegation onstage and suggesting another was not attractive enough to merit his attention. He defiantly denied a weeks worth of accusations that have all but consumed his presidential bid just over three weeks before the election. She would not be my first choice, that I can tell you, Trump said of one woman in a rambling attack on his female accusers as he campaigned in battleground North Carolina. The New York businessman said his staff wanted him to avoid the topic altogether but that he couldnt resist defending himself. He blamed the growing story on his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and an international media conspiracy, describing his female accusers as sick people seeking fame or money. The only thing I can say is hopefully, hopefully, our patriotic movement will overcome this terrible deception, he declared. Trump assailed The New York Times in particular, noting its connection to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who is a major shareholder in the media company. Spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub later said Slim doesnt know Trump at all and is not the least bit interested in his personal life. Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, promised Friday morning the campaign would soon release evidence against the women that would show Trumps innocence. More than 12 hours later, the Trump campaign released a statement in which an accusers cousin said he was shocked and bewildered by her account. John Barry of Mission Viejo, California, said in the statement that Summer Zervos, a former contestant on NBCs The Apprentice, wishes she could still be on reality TV, and in an effort to get that back shes saying all of these negative things about Mr. Trump. Zervos said during a Friday news conference that the former reality television star became sexually aggressive at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007. Pence remarked at the enormous coverage of these, of these really unfounded allegations, unestablished allegations, compared to an avalanche of emails coming out of Hillary Clintons years as secretary of state. Indeed, Friday marked another day on which WikiLeaks released thousands of emails that had been stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas personal account. The new batch showed that Hillary Clintons campaign asked former President Bill Clinton to cancel a speech to an investment firm last year because of concerns that the Clintons might appear to be too cozy with Wall Street just as she was about to announce her candidacy. Clinton aides say in the emails that Hillary Clinton did not want her husband to cancel the speech but was eventually convinced. The Clintons paid speeches have been an issue throughout the campaign, particularly lucrative speeches to Wall Street. The Clinton campaign, citing information it says is from the FBI, says the hacks are being investigated as part of a broader attack on Democratic Party leaders that may involve Russia. Clinton herself spoke Friday of a need for national healing. I take no satisfaction in seeing what Trump does and says because it hurts it hurts me and it hurts our country, she said in a speech at a fundraiser. Polls suggest Trump has fallen further behind Clinton nationally and in most battleground states. Early in-person voting is underway in 20 states, including Ohio, where President Barack Obama railed against Trump a day after first lady Michelle Obama declared in a passionate speech, Enough is enough. The Obamas both seized on Trumps words, captured in a video released last week, bragging about kissing and groping women without their permission. The 70-year-old billionaire has apologized, but also repeatedly dismissed his comments as locker room talk. You dont have to be a husband or a father to know that that kind of language, those kinds of thoughts, those kinds of actions are unacceptable. Theyre not right. You just have to be a decent human being, President Obama charged in Columbus, Ohio. Two more women, meanwhile, came forward Friday with allegations against Trump. Zervos, appearing at a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred, said Trump kissed her open-mouthed and touched her breasts in a private room. And in a story published online Friday, Kristin Anderson told The Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when a hand reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear. Anderson, then in her early 20s, said she pushed the hand away, turned around and recognized Trump as the man who had groped her. Trump mocked Andersons claim onstage as he campaigned in North Carolina, pausing to reach out his hand to touch an imaginary woman as his accuser described. I just heard this one. Its like, its like unbelievable, he said. Even before the mounting allegations, there was evidence that Trumps troubles were hurting the Republican Partys ability to raise money. The Republican National Committee has raised about 25 percent less over the past three months than it did over the same period four years ago, when Mitt Romney was atop the ticket. The RNC said Friday that it raised $39.4 million last month, compared to $48.4 million in September 2012. It says it has raised $262.3 million since January 2015, about $20 million more than it had by this time in 2012. Fridays accusations against Trump are in line with similar allegations by women in articles by The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post. Separately, a People magazine reporter offered a first-person account accusing Trump of attacking her in 2005 while she was in Florida to interview him and his pregnant wife. He specifically rejected the People magazine accusers claim at the North Carolina rally. She is a liar. She is a liar, Trump said. These people are sick. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan delivered a high-profile speech on Friday criticizing Clinton and promoting Republicans in next months elections. The nations top elected Republican did not, however, say the words Donald Trump. ___ Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Josh Lederman in Columbus, Ohio, Julie Bykowicz and Hope Yen in Washington and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.a House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., on Friday attacked Hillary Clinton in a speech framing the election as a stark choice between liberal and conservative values, without once mentioning embattled GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Ryan said the election has taken some dark sometimes very dark turns without directly addressing Trump or any of the recent allegations that the GOP nominee sexually assaulted women on several occasions over the years. Instead, Ryan argued for the value of conservative leadership in Congress in a midday address to college Republicans in his home state of Wisconsin. Beneath all the ugliness lies a long running debate between two governing philosophies: one that is in keeping with our nations founding principles-like freedom and equality-and another that seeks to replace them, Ryan said. The speech comes amid a furious fundraising period for Ryan in which he raised more than $15 million for House Republicans in the third quarter for a total of $48 million this year. It was followed by a moderated question-and-answer session with the college Republicans in attendance. None of the students, who were called on by moderator Vicki McKenna of WIBA Madison/WISN Milwaukee, asked Ryan about Trump. House Republicans have been in chaos since last Fridays publication of a 2005 video of Trump bragging about sexual assault and a flood of new allegations of sexual misconduct by Trump. Ryan announced that he will no longer defend Trump or campaign for the GOP presidential nominee during a Monday morning conference call with lawmakers. Ryan did not recant his endorsement of his partys increasingly controversial nominee or rescind his pledge to vote for Trump. Still, Ryans decision to focus solely on campaigning for Republicans running for the House and Senate sparked angry criticism from some members who felt the speaker should support Trump without conditions. Trump also lashed out at Ryan on Twitter as weak and ineffective. He bashed other Republicans for disloyalty, causing some to worry that Ryan miscalculated in his decision to back away from Trump. Ryan has avoided mentioning Trump in recent days and in his speech Friday, the speaker attempted to directly contrast House Republicans vision for the country against the policys Clinton would pursue an apparent appeal to voters that they should elect congressional Republicans to serve as a check on her possible presidency. When Hillary Clinton says we are stronger together, what she means is we are stronger if we are all subject to the state, Ryan said. What she means is we are stronger if we give up our ties of responsibility to one another and hand all of that over to government. While Ryan did not mention Trump by name, he suggested he understood voters may feel there are no good choice for president this election. I know some people are avoiding making any choice at all, he said. I dont begrudge anyone that. Ryan also focused on a House GOP policy agenda that he helped craft in hopes of giving congressional Republicans a substantive platform on which to run separate from the volatile presidential campaign. The America we want is about empowering people to flourish and thrive, Ryan said. That is why we are taking to the country a bold agenda a better way that means less government and more freedom less apathy and more ambition a way that offers the best of what liberty produces. ryan-1stld-writethru GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. A man who was set free after being tried in Mexico in a 1989 killing in western Colorado is facing prosecution for the crime again after returning to the United States. Rafael Garcia, accused of killing a man who was involved with his ex-wife in Palisade, was arrested in Denver on Monday after police found that there was a warrant for his arrest for first-degree murder. Authorities havent released the details of how police encountered the 67-year-old. Garcia was first arrested in the killing in 2009 in Mexico when he was 59. Because of Mexicos hesitancy to extradite people to governments with the death penalty, Mesa County prosecutors agreed to have Mexican authorities prosecute him but he wasnt convicted, the Daily Sentinel (http://bit.ly/2e3wXc7) reported Thursday. The district attorney at the time, Pete Hautzinger, and the Mesa County sheriff at the time, Stan Hilkey said the proceedings took some time and they didnt learn the results until much later. Both Hautzinger and the current district attorney, Dan Rubinstein, said double jeopardy doesnt apply because Garcias original case was heard in another sovereign country with a completely separate jurisdiction. If he was dumb enough to come back to the United States, were free to prosecute him, Hautzinger said. Garcia, who was transferred to Mesa County after his arrest, appeared before a judge in Grand Junction on Thursday with a public defender to be advised of the possible charges that could be filed against him. The director of the countys public defenders office, Steve Colvin, declined to comment on the allegations against Garcia in the death of Charles Porter and the legality of a second trial. ___ Information from: The Daily Sentinel, http://www.gjsentinel.com The Bernalillo County District Attorneys office has dropped charges against Veronica Trimble in connection to the death of a veteran during a robbery at an ATM. Prosecutors say they lacked significant evidence against her, KOAT reported. Trimble and Matthew Chavez were accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old Tyler Lackey at an Albuquerque ATM in February. The shooting happened near Gibson and Yale. Investigators said Lackey and a friend stopped by the ATM after eating dinner. According to police, Chavez tried to rob Lackey. When the robbery failed, detectives say Chavez shot at Lackey as he drove away with Trimble in the car. Lackey died at the scene. Once caught, Chavez was charged with murder along with numerous counts of robbery. According to court documents, witnesses who could have tied Trimble to the attempted robbery wouldnt cooperate the case, KOAT reported. Prosecutors say that ultimately led to Trimbles charges being dismissed. The district attorneys office dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning they could later re-file charges if need be. Chavez is now serving time in Oklahoma for other crimes police say he committed while evading authorities. HOUSTON Police in Houston say a 5-year-old boy pulled his 2-year-old brother out of a burning tractor trailer following a crash that killed their father. KPRC-TV reports the truck was a moving van and the family was relocating to Galveston, Texas, when the crash occurred. Police say the boys were passengers in the truck being driven by their father on Interstate 45 early Friday morning when the vehicle ran into a guardrail and a metal pillar. The truck rolled over and burst into flames. Investigators say the father died at the scene after he apparently was thrown out of the vehicle. Both boys have been hospitalized. The 2-year-old suffered severe burns. His older brother had minor injuries. Police say they havent been able to contact the boys mother. SALT LAKE CITY Mormon leaders are urging members to vote against ballot measures that would legalize marijuana in Arizona, California and Nevada and a Colorado proposal to make assisted suicide legal. Church President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors signed the two letters that were sent this week to members in those four states. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tries to maintain political neutrality by refraining from backing one party or endorsing candidates, but leaders sometimes weigh in on what they consider crucial moral issues. They say marijuana in homes is a risk for children and that it can cause brain development problems for youth. Their opposition to assisted suicide is rooted in the faiths belief in the sanctity of life. The letter says legalizing the practice cheapens human life and dignity. The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce celebrated Hispano Heritage Month with words of inspiration at the chambers annual luncheon Friday. Steve Maestas, CEO of the Maestas Development Group and chair of the board for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, told about 600 people that strength of character, commitment to family and community, hard work, perseverance and faith are attributes deeply ingrained in the Hispanic community. Those attributes make us uniquely positioned to be of great value to our community, Maestas said in his keynote address at the Embassy Suites in Albuquerque. The story of Hispanics in New Mexico is not one of adversity or scarcity, but of advancement. The annual luncheon commemorates National Hispanic Heritage Month, which began nearly 50 years ago, first as a weeklong event and later expanded to a month, to celebrate Hispanic heritage, culture and contributions in the U.S. Hispanics today constitute the largest minority group in the country, with 56 million people representing about 17.3 percent of the total population. In the not too distant future, America will look somewhat like New Mexico, where minority groups make up a majority, Steve Schroeder, chamber board chair and president and CEO of Real Time Solutions, told attendees. In fact, the state could be a template for the country given its broad diversity, said Lt. Gov. John Sanchez. I believe the U.S. will look to the Hispanic community to offer better ideas, vision and solutions to the challenges we face, Sanchez said. Albuquerques Hispano chamber has lived up to those ideals, chamber President and CEO Alex Romero told the Journal. With 1,500 members, its the largest of 250 Hispano chambers around the country affiliated with the National Hispano Chamber of Commerce. We have tremendous traction, Romero said. Were seen as the lead chamber in the country. We share best practices with all others to help them develop and address needs. Its one of the only chambers in the country to own its own building, a 22,000-square-foot facility in the Barelas neighborhood south of Downtown. A range of educational and workforce training programs are offered at the facility, benefiting well over 10,000 people since opening in 2001. That includes a new, 10-week business startup program entirely in Spanish for aspiring Latino entrepreneurs. The chamber is also planning to open two or three satellite offices next year to reach more people in the Hispanic community. We represent the interests of thousands of small businesses in New Mexico, the chambers chief operating officer, Synthia Jaramillo, told luncheon participants. We serve as a leading voice for Hispanic businesses in Albuquerque and throughout New Mexico. NORFOLK, Va. Two years after a launch explosion, the space company Orbital ATK is returning to Virginia to send a load of supplies to the International Space Station. A planned nighttime launch this weekend from Wallops Island on Virginias Eastern Shore will be visible along parts of the coast if the skies are clear. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:03 p.m. Sunday. The mission seeks to put the state-owned launch pad back into business. Its been idle since the 2014 rocket explosion that caused about $15 million in damage. The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority owns and operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on an island that NASA uses to launch small research rockets. Most of those launches are suborbital, and theyve continued. Orbital and SpaceX are the two private companies that NASA has hired to keep the space station stocked. As Orbital returns to the repaired launch pad, some industry observers are still waiting to see if the private company model will succeed in the long run. Unless Congress is willing to spend a lot more money on NASA, this is what we have to work with, said Marco Caceras, senior analyst and director of space studies at the think tank Teal Group. SpaceX and Boeing are supposed to start ferrying astronauts to the space station in the next year or two. In the meantime, the United States is relying on Russia to get astronauts there. NASA began investing in private companies for space station missions after President George W. Bush announced the space shuttle would retire (the last flight was in 2011). The agency needed to refocus its efforts on bigger missions, such as sending humans to Mars, so it turned to private industry. The agency spent nearly $800 million to help SpaceX and Orbital develop launch systems, less than half of each projects cost. Now it is paying the two companies billions to ship cargo to the space station. Since 2012, Space X and Orbital have shipped food, equipment and scientific experiments on 12 successful missions. Two have failed. Orbital lost its rocket and NASA cargo shortly after liftoff from Wallops on Oct. 28, 2014. A liquid oxygen turbo pump caught fire in a decades-old Russian engine, according to a NASA investigation. Since then, Orbital has fulfilled its contract by launching from Cape Canaveral using another companys rocket. Orbital ATK has conducted two resupply missions using our Cygnus spacecraft aboard an Atlas V (rocket) in December 2015 and March 2016 in order to continue to support NASA space station operations while we worked to put Antares back into service, said Orbital spokeswoman Trina Helquist. For Sundays planned launch at Wallops, Orbital will use a newer engine, also Russian built, on its Antares rocket. On June 28, 2015, a SpaceX rocket with cargo for the space station broke up about two minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. Investigators blamed a failed strut assembly on the rockets upper stage. The problem has since been fixed. ___ Associated Press staff writer Steve McMillan contributed to this report. WASHINGTON Theres nothing like a presidential campaign to shine a bright light into the nooks, crannies and back alleys of a candidates life. And theres nothing like Donald Trump in the annals of U.S. politics. Some of whats been revealed about Trumps predatory personal interactions, business dealings, legal tactics and management style would come as no surprise to those whove made a career out of following the billionaires rise to prominence. But ordinary Americans who began the 2016 campaign with a passing impression of Trump as the outspoken mogul of Apprentice fame now have far more information to draw upon as Election Day nears. Despite his curated image as the businessman with the golden touch, Trumps track record in business isnt as magical as he would have people think. Yes, he is rich. Yes, he has had his share of success. But hes also kept company with any number of questionable business associates, had quite a share of projects go bust, left a string of contractors in the lurch, exaggerated his wealth and bragged of using his star power to impose himself sexually on women. Another thing people discovered about Trump this year is all the things they still dont know. He hasnt released his tax returns, records of charitable giving, detailed medical records, immigration files for his wife and more. That penchant for secrecy is coupled with an aggressive strategy to muzzle business and campaign employees by requiring them to sign nondisclosure agreements. A look at some of whats been learned about Trump during the campaign: TAX TURMOIL. Trump is the first presidential nominee in four decades to refuse to release his tax returns. The secrecy has spawned speculation that Trump doesnt pay federal income taxes, isnt as wealthy as he claims or is hiding something else about his business entanglements. The intrigue deepened when The New York Times reported that Trump lost so much in one year that he could have avoided federal income taxes for as many as 18 years. Trump subsequently admitted that he had paid no federal income taxes for many years. TV TURMOIL. From the outside, NBCs The Apprentice was an instant hit that helped turn Trump into a household name, even if its ratings did slip over time. Insiders told AP that Trump repeatedly demeaned female crew and contestants over the years, rating women by the size of their breasts and talking about which ones hed like to have sex with. None of that made it into the show, of course. But the revelations added to persistent questions about Trumps behavior toward women. BEYOND BANTER. Days after The Apprentice revelations, The Washington Post came out with a 2005 video in which Trump is captured bragging about kissing women at will, groping their genitals and trying to have sex with them. Trump dismissed the explosive video as nothing more than locker-room banter and said hed never done the things he talked about in the video. But it caused a number of top GOP officials to call for Trump to step down from the ticket and prompted a number of women, outraged by his denials, to step forward to say they had been targets of his lechery. CHARITABLE GIVING. Trump claims hes given millions to charity. But theres a big question mark about that. An AP investigation found that the overwhelming majority of recent gifts distributed by the Trump Foundation had been made with other peoples money, not contributions from the candidate. And it turns out Trump has used his foundations money to pay legal settlements for his for-profit businesses, The Washington Post reported. The New York attorney generals office this month ordered Trumps foundation to stop fundraising immediately in the state, saying it isnt registered to do so. SHADY CHARACTERS. For all Trumps talk about seeking out the best people, his business associates over the years have included a significant number of questionable characters . He partnered with the son of an Azerbaijani government minister suspected by U.S. diplomats of laundering money for Irans military. He named a Mafia-linked government informant as a senior adviser and supported a convicted cocaine dealer in a letter to a federal judge. He hired a convicted felon to be the superintendent of Trump Tower. On two development deals, he partnered with convicted criminals, one convicted in a Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme. More recently, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort resigned after AP reported that he had helped a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party secretly route at least $2.2 million to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, doing so in a way that effectively obscured the partys efforts to influence U.S. policy. CASINO WOES. Trumps six corporate bankruptcies after his big gamble on three Atlantic City casinos were no secret when he began his campaign, but the circumstances have come into sharper focus over the past year. Trump continues to blame his casinos troubles on an economic downturn that walloped the whole industry. But in fact, two of his casinos bankruptcies occurred in years when overall Atlantic City gambling revenue was rising. UNPAID BILLS. Multiple reports over the past year have documented Trumps refusal to pay various contractors who worked for him. USA Today found at least 60 lawsuits, as well as hundreds of liens, judgments and other government filings that document people who accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them. The Wall Street Journal, likewise, documented hardball tactics that shortchanged Trumps suppliers. During the bankruptcy of the Taj Mahal Casino in the early 1990s, some contractors whod helped Trump build the property went under because Trumps company didnt pay what it owed them millions of dollars in some cases. Trump refused to pay in full 253 contractors who had helped build the Taj. Trumps bankers gave him a $450,000 monthly allowance while his debts were renegotiated. HEAD START. Trump perpetuates a self-made-man persona, stressing that he started out with a small $1 million loan from his father that he later repaid. He doesnt mention that he also received loan guarantees, bailouts and a drawdown from his future inheritance. Reporter Tim OBrien noted in a 2005 book that Trump drew $10 million from his future inheritance during hard times, and inherited a share of his fathers real estate holdings, which were worth hundreds of millions when they were eventually sold off. BRANDING. In recent years, Trump has been known more for licensing use of his name than for building things. Not all those branding deals have been seamless. Condo buyers at failed Trump-named properties in Fort Lauderdale, Florida , Tampa, Florida , and Baja, Mexico , have claimed in lawsuits that the billionaire misled them into believing he was more involved in the projects than just lending his name. Trump won the Fort Lauderdale case and settled those in Baja and Tampa. TRUMP UNIVERSITY. Trump faces class-action lawsuits in California and New York alleging that his Trump University, which offered real estate seminars and classes around the country, pressed students to pay up to $35,000 for mentorships and failed at its promise to teach success in the business. While marketing materials said that Trump had handpicked employees for the operation, in court testimony he acknowledged that he couldnt recall names of his employees. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued Trump University in 2013 alleging it had committed fraud and fleeced 5,000 people out of millions of dollars. LEGAL TACTICS. Trump caused a firestorm when he complained in February that Gonzalo Curiel, the judge handling the California Trump University class-action lawsuit, couldnt be fair, citing the judges Mexican heritage. Trump also tried to get a judge pulled off a New York case in 2011, and he called the judge on a 2009 case biased. MODELS-IMMIGRATION. Cracking down on illegal immigration has been a huge part of Trumps campaign pitch, but his own modeling agency has come under scrutiny for its use of foreign models who came to the U.S. on tourist visas that did not allow them to work in the country. Mother Jones reported that Trump Model Management profited from work by models who didnt have work visas. BUSINESS DEBT. Trumps substantial real estate holdings also represent a substantial pile of debt. The New York Times reported that while Trump promotes himself as beholden to no one, his companies have at least $650 million in debt. It also reported that much of his wealth is tied up in passive partnerships that owe an additional $2 billion to various lenders. WHAT TRUMP SAID. BuzzFeed listened to dozens of Trump appearances on The Howard Stern Show from the late 1990s through the 2000s. Its headline pretty well summed up the results: Donald Trump said a lot of gross things about women on Howard Stern.' MADE IN AMERICA? For all of Trumps emphasis on keeping jobs in the U.S., it turns out Trumps private companies and the clothing line run by his daughter Ivanka routinely sell clothes and other products made in China and other Asian countries. ZIP IT. The say-anything candidate has a thing against loose lips. In both his businesses and his presidential campaign, Trump requires nearly everyone to sign legally binding nondisclosure agreements that keep them from releasing any confidential or disparaging information about Trump, his family or his companies. Hes not afraid to sue those he thinks violate the confidentiality agreements. LAWSUITS GALORE. When Trump isnt happy with his business partners or patrons, hes not afraid to sue. On the flip side, his businesses have attracted an outsized share of lawsuits over the years. A USA Today investigation found that Trump and his businesses have been involved in thousands of suits over the past 30 years. Nearly half the suits were related to his casinos, and most of those involved suits against gamblers who failed to pay their debts. In the first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton highlighted a discrimination case from 1973, when the Justice Department sued Trump and his father for refusing to rent apartments at one of their developments to blacks. Trump said the suit was settled without an admission of guilt. The government said in the settlement that Trump and his father had failed and neglected to comply with the Fair Housing Act. ___ Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/nbenac Citing national sentiments and security issues, the Cine Owners Association has said that they will now allow the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in theatres because it stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. By Hardeep Dugal, India Today Web Desk: Now, there is fresh trouble for Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. After the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena threatened to beat up Karan Johar if he dared to release or make films with Pakistani artists, now the Cine Owners Association has demanded that no films with Pakistani actors should be released in theatres. Nitin Datar, head of the Cine Owners Association said, "Till the relations between India and Pakistan becomes normal, no films with Pakistani actors can be released." This decision has already been put in place in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and parts of Karnataka. Datar added that the Cine Owners Association will convey their decision to other states as well. advertisement This decision comes in the wake of major backlash from several Indians against Pakistani artists working in India and those employing them. ALSO READ: Karan Johar is a 50-year-old frustrated virgin, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is his biopic, says Ranbir Kapoor ALSO READ: No cuts in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil; Ranbir-Aishwarya's lovemaking scenes as well as Fawad Khan remain intact Speaking to India Today, Datar said that if single-screen theatres are set on fire during a screening of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, the responsibility of keeping people safe from danger will fall on the theatre owners. Therefore, keeping all possibilities in mind, the Cine Owners Association has decided to bar the screening of the Karan Johar film in theatres. "Taking national sentiments and security issues into account, we cannot allow the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil," Datar said. On the same note, when asked about the losses that theatre owners would incur if Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is banned from screening, MNS leader Ameya Khopkar said, "Nation comes first. We don't care about losses faced by producers. There will be trouble in theatres if Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is released. Yes, we are threatening." Producer Mukesh Bhatt has come out strongly against the decision by the Cine Owners Association. He told India Today that if security issue a problem, then the film industry will have no choice but to approach the police and the government. "Why are you victimising Karan Johar? What is his fault? My request to Cine Owners Association and MNS is to not stop the release of the film (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)," said Bhatt. Meanwhile, Ashoke Pandit, the vice-president of the Indian Motion Pictures' Producers Association (IMPPA), has said that he is going to approach the Cine Owners Association to withdraw their decision to halt the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Earlier the IMPPA had placed an indefinite ban on Pakistani artists from working in Indian films till the tensions between the two countries normalised. However, the IMPPA had also mentioned that films that had already been made with Pakistani artists, such as Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees would not be stopped from release.(With inputs from Hardeep Dugal) advertisement --- ENDS --- In the hours after People magazine correspondent Natasha Stoynoff said she had been sexually assaulted in 2005 by Donald Trump, while she was interviewing him about his wedding anniversary at his Mar-a-Lago estate, I had the chance to wonder what I, as the magazines then-deputy editor, would have done had she told me about Trumps predation. For a second there, I imagined a scene of Ben Bradlee-esque outrage, calling out the swine for his behavior and striking a blow for reporters everywhere. But in reality, I probably would have simply killed the story that Stoynoff had gone to Palm Beach to report. I would have then called Trumps public relations operatives, told them about their bosss bad behavior and agreed to a truce of mutual silence. In the end, few people would have learned of the event, wed have had to fill a few more pages in the next issue, and Trump would have avoided any public embarrassment. News organizations are devoted to the idea that unless something truly gruesome happens during the course of reporting, the subjects, not the reporters, are the real story. They instinctively feel pressure to absent themselves from the narrative. Its the right instinct, but in the case of sexual assault, whose violations are not always visible, reporters face a terrible choice. No wonder Stoynoff didnt feel able to confide in me or her other editors in 2005. The ghastly truth is that had Trump punched her, our course of action would have been much clearer. Instead, he exploited power, privilege and media sclerosis to his own sweaty ends. Its clear that a grim stoicism is the preferred mien at newspapers and magazines. How else to explain covering the Trump campaign, where professionals spend their days accused of dishonesty, duplicity and general disgracefulness, not to mention the taunts of the crowd? Can you imagine enduring that abuse without complaint? In any other job, HR would intervene immediately. We teach reporters to get the goods, deal with the challenges and suck it up, no matter the hurdles. Stoynoff, a pro, had this ethos tattooed on her bones. As an editor with decades of New York City tabloid newspaper and magazine experience, I reinforced that idea every day. Add to that the fear Stoynoff must have felt as a woman concerned about her professional reputation, and the stigma attached to sexual assault victims, and the odds were stacked against her ever coming forward; she told only one colleague about the alleged attack. Never mind the potential for Trumps retaliation, which he tried to mete out this week in suggesting Stoynoff wasnt attractive enough to be hit on. The trouble is that this thicket of tradition and fear ends up obscuring the truth about men like Trump. (The story that ran as a result of Stoynoffs reporting is an anodyne account of Trumps anniversary, notable only for his lack of interest in his wifes impending motherhood). I was always proud of Peoples reporting, but we, like all news outlets, had established lanes we were more comfortable to swim in. Pushing Stoynoff to become the story, when Trump was already known as something of a boor, would not have been a priority. If that sounds like a cop-out, there it is. There are hints of this straitjacket in the debacle of Billy Bush and the Access Hollywood video. I dont know who knew what when, but I do know NBC News is staffed by professionals. They too dont want to become the story. They are sensitive to the notion theyre trying to game the presidential race. So when something as toxic as Trumps hot-mic filth emerged with Bush as enabler, the organization didnt deal with it swiftly and decisively. The result is that The Washington Post scooped NBC. What interests me about journalisms role in this election goes beyond how news outlets cover Trump. Its whether theyll implement systemic changes to prevent staffers from enduring abuse as Stoynoff allegedly did while allowing them to do their jobs and to paint honest versions of reality that dont sacrifice their dignity in the process. Hackett is former editor in chief of People magazine and a managing partner of 10Ten Media, an editorial content agency. trump-magazine-comment A man who was shot near east Central last month died a couple of days after the shooting, according to a court document recently obtained by the Journal. According to the documents, on Sept. 21 around 9:30 p.m. police found Nam Vu lying on his back on Tennessee NE just north of Central. He was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound. Vu told police that a tall black man shot him but didnt provide any other identifying details, according to the document. He didnt have any personal property on him when police found him, but they found his car, which had been abandoned at a nearby business, the next day. While initially the hospital listed Vus condition as stable, he died two days later, according to the document. Police said at the time they had no suspects or leads in the case. The motive for the shooting is unclear. A federal judge sentenced a former Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent to 12 years in prison Friday for leaking confidential law-enforcement files to an Asian defense contractor who seduced him with cash bribes, booze and prostitutes. John Beliveau, Jr., a one-time NCIS agent of the year, received the most severe punishment imposed so far in a corruption scandal that has ensnared 16 other criminal defendants and rocked the Navy. Beliveau, 47, who pleaded guilty shortly after the scandal became public in 2013, has admitted to leaking hundreds of sensitive NCIS files to Leonard Glenn Francis, a Singapore-based contractor who supplied Navy ships throughout Asia. Francis, a rotund and charismatic man known as Fat Leonard, exploited the leaked information to thwart NCIS investigations into his company for years. Beliveaus attorneys said he betrayed his country because he had a fragile psyche and became clinically obsessed with a crooked Asian defense contractor who easily reeled him with bribes. They asked that he be spared any prison time, while prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence. The punishment was handed down late Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino in San Diego. NCIS officials have described Beliveau as one of the worst traitors in the agencys history. He met Francis after he was assigned to Singapore as a counterterrorism agent in 2008 and quickly fell under the defense contractors spell, according to his attorneys. Francis was a legendary figure in Navy circles who treated officers to lavish meals and parties featuring Cuban cigars, expensive champagne and strippers when their ships made visits to Asian ports. In court papers, Beliveaus lawyers described him as particularly susceptible to Franciss charms because of his fondness for alcohol, a history of mental illness and a lifelong lack of sexual experience with women other than prostitutes. According to his lawyers, Beliveau had struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder since he was a child and was debilitated from cancer treatments when he arrived in Singapore. Soon, he contracted dengue fever during a visit to the country of East Timor and also developed post-traumatic stress disorder after a bizarre incident during which he witnessed, up close, the beheading of a gang member. Given his physical and emotional weaknesses, Beliveau became a prime target for Francis, who supplied him with sex workers, $30,000 in cash and travel, alcohol and a perceived friendship, the agents attorneys said in court papers. Eventually, they added, Beliveau became symptomatically obsessed with Francis, and overwhelmingly attached to the relief Francis could provide through the parties and prostitutes. Beliveau has asked U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino to spare him prison time and sentence him instead to two years home confinement. He has been free on bond since he pleaded guilty to bribery charges three years ago. I have betrayed the badge I wore, the oath I took, my comrades, he said in a letter to the judge. I deserve and understand the feelings of anger, vengeance and disgust from others in my former field. In asking for a 15-year prison term, prosecutors noted that Beliveau caused incalculable injury to the reputation of NCIS and its long-standing efforts to prove that Francis was fleecing the Navy for supplies, fuel and port services. In handing over so many confidential files over a two-year period, they said, Beliveau tipped off Francis to the identities of several cooperating witnesses, including some who had agreed to wear wires for NCIS, and also advised the contractor on how to erase incriminating evidence. Prosecutors also said Beliveau was under no illusions about the nature of his transactional relationship with Francis, regularly demanding money and prostitutes in exchange for leaked material. I will always be your friend, but you will get nothing else . . . until I get what you promise, he said in an email to Francis in April 2012. You give whores more money than you give me. . . . I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I am not an amateur. Francis has also pleaded guilty to bribery charges and has admitted that his firm overcharged the Navy by at least $35 million. He has been in federal custody since he was arrested in a sting operation in San Diego in September 2013. His sentencing is scheduled for next summer. Eleven current or former Navy officials including a one-star admiral have been charged in the case. Many other Navy officers remain under investigation. navy-1stld-writethru American travel to Cuba has been on the rise in recent years, and now there are two more reasons for U.S. travelers to head to the island nation: rum and cigars. The Obama administration on Friday lifted restrictions on how many cigars and bottles of rum Americans can bring back from Cuba, part of continuing efforts to mend more than five decades of strained relations between the nations. This is a big change and one thats long overdue, said David Savona, executive editor of Cigar Aficionado magazine. For quite a long time, Americans have been prohibited from bringing back Cuban cigars, and this lifts many of those limitations. Under the new rules, which take effect Monday, Americans may bring back up to 100 Cuban cigars and 1 liter of Cuban rum, whether purchased in Cuba or other countries, for personal consumption without paying customs taxes. The administration is also clearing the way for cargo ships to travel between the two countries and making it easier for scientists from the United States and Cuba to partner on medical research. These amendments will create more opportunities for Cuban citizens to access American goods and services, further strengthening the ties between our two countries, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in a statement. More commercial activity between the U.S. and Cuba benefits our people and our economies. The number of Americans traveling to Cuba is expected to double this year, to 320,000, as the United States continues to loosen restrictions on tourism and commerce. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide (now part of Marriott International) began operating its first hotel in Cuba this year. U.S. air carriers, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, are set to begin offering service to Havana on Nov. 28. While it is too early to tell, we think this is positive news for our customers, Martha Pantin, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, said in an email. At Two Guys Smoke Shop in Nashua, N.H., owner David Garofalo said customers are already planning cigar-buying trips. Theyre saying, Were cant wait to go get some Cuban cigars, he said. As great as that is, what this means for our shop is that business is going elsewhere, to another country. Industry lobbyists say that the new measure deals a double whammy to American cigar manufacturers and retailers, which are scrambling to adhere to new regulations introduced by the Food and Drug Administration in March. What youre doing is providing an incentive for American citizens to shop for cigars at foreign destinations, said J. Glynn Loope, executive director of the lobbying group Cigar Rights of America. And this is happening months after the same administration dropped 499 pages of new regulations on the industry. At Davidus Cigars, a chain of 11 Maryland stores with nearly $7 million in annual revenue, co-owner Stephen Castro said the new measure makes it harder to stay afloat. Its good and bad, he said. I like to see were normalizing relations with Cuba, but if I cant sell the cigars it hurts me as a retailer. Barry Stein, director of social media for Two Guys Smoke Shop, said he wasnt as concerned. I dont think itll end up making that much of a difference, Stein said. I mean, what percentage of customers are going to travel overseas to buy cigars? His boss, Garofalo, however, is bracing for as much as a 10 percent drop in business if regulars begin bringing back cigars from overseas travel. The thing is, right now the allure is that you cant get it in the United States, he said. We want what we cant have. Thats the big hook. But, he said, there is at least one upside: He will also be able to bring back stogies for himself. The first time he visited Havana two years ago, he was voracious in his pursuit of Cuban cigars. He said he smoked 50 cigars in seven days. I wanted to try everything I could, he said. I was smoking way too much, but it was like, let me get it in while I can. Who knows when Ill get another one? For his next trip to Cuba, in February, Garofalo said, he will be a bit more relaxed knowing he can bring back 100 Cuban cigars. This time, I know Ill have enough to last, he said. Ill probably have to buy a bigger suitcase. cigars 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. By PTI: Hyderabad, Oct 14 (PTI) Afghanistan will soon open a consulate in Hyderabad which will be a step forward for expansion of ties between both the countries, its envoy to India said today. "We are going to open a consulate in Hyderabad which will not only focus on trade and business, but this is going to be a step forward for expansion of our ties at all levels," Afghanistans Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali told reporters here. advertisement "With the opening of our consulate in Hyderabad we are going to expand our ties in education, commerce and people to people ties, cultural cooperation and cooperation in health sector," he said. Abdali was speaking on the sidelines of an interactive meeting organised by FICCI along with FTAPCCI. He said the Afghan and Indian governments have agreed to open a third representation of Afghanistan (after Embassy in Delhi and consulate in Mumbai) in the form of consulate in Hyderabad. "I am here to discuss practical steps for opening Afghan consulate in Hyderabad. The agreement at the government level has been done. We will soon be sending a delegation to Hyderabad to look for the place," Abdali said, adding that the opening of consulate in Hyderabad will open an opportunity between various fields including trade and business. On the proposal of sister city relationship between Hyderabad and Jalalabad, he said "We have in-principle agreed on this. I am going to discuss again (on this matter) tomorrow with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao." On starting direct flights between Hyderabad and Kabul, Abdali said, "After the consulate opens, it is certainly an option we will encourage airlines to operate flights between Kabul and Hyderabad." Presently, there is direct flight service between Delhi and Kabul. To a query, he said Afghanistan and India are strategic partners, which means special status (to India), and there will be cooperation not only from (Afghan) government but also people. The Afghan ambassador further said that New Delhi will host an major business summit, likely within the next two months, to attract investment from across the globe for the strategic Chabahar port in Iran. PTI VVK GK SMJ --- ENDS --- Real Estate News What is it like to live in Dover? Conservation is important to the residents of this Norfolk County town. Maddy Clevenger, 8, and sister Emily, 6, look over the Dover Union Iron Mill site in Noanet Woodlands. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Gretchen Larkin, a big Red Sox fan, likes that she can get to Fenway Park in 25 minutes without traffic. Larkin, 48, head of the Charles River School, a private school in Dover that serves prekindergarten through Grade 8, has lived in the town for three years, though shes resided in the Dover-Sherborn district for nearly 13. It feels like one town, said Larkin, who moved onto campus after taking the position. Larkin, who was born in New York City, was raised in Connecticut and relocated to the Boston area because of her husbands job. Advertisement: Dover, a land of rolling green hills and farms, is the best of both worlds, according to Larkin. Though the town is close to Boston, you do feel like you are far away, she said, but Dover is surrounded by larger towns with town centers and stores for you to have at your fingertips. Green space is important to Doverites, she noted. The people all care about the land and the rural feel of the community, Larkin said of the properties maintained by the Trustees of Reservations and other groups dedicated to land preservation. Larkin, mother to Lulu, 15, and Maisie, 18, has seen firsthand how the community cares for its children. In this age where to be a parent is a daunting and complex role, people [here] care about family and the family unit. Larkin cited Dover Days, a beloved town tradition, as one example. Compared to other town days that Ive been to, you see young kids and kids in strollers, but you also see high school and middle schoolers around the town green. No one is too old and too cool to attend, she said. Advertisement: As for her school, Larkin says she cant imagine it existing in any other town. Dover gives us space. In a more densely populated suburb, we wouldnt have this kind of physical space, she said, noting that the school sits on 16 acres. With the acreage here, kids get to play and learn outdoors. You cant put a price on the importance of play. BY THE NUMBERS 1 The number of traffic signals in Dover (not counting that flashing yellow one) 600+ The number of acres protected and preserved by the Dover Land Conservation Trust 10.73 The number of miles of the Charles River that flow through town 2000 The year in which the Benjamin Caryl House, built circa 1774, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places PROS & CONS Pro Schools This year, US News & World Report ranked Dover-Sherborn Regional the 10th best high school in Massachusetts and 304th nationally. Con Cost The median sales price for a single-family home here was $1,090,250 in August, according to the Warren Group, a real estate publishing and data firm, making the town the 12th most expensive place to live in the state. Chris Liberato and Carol Carlson walk their dogs on a trail in Noanet Woodlands. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Dover is popular with cyclists, both on the road and off. James Wharton inflates his tires prior to joining friends for a ride at Caryl Park. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Pollinators were busy at Channing Park. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Charlotte Victoria Boyce, 4, takes a tennis lesson at Caryl Park. Lane Turner/Globe Staff The tile mosaic outside the entrance to the library Lane Turner/Globe Staff Sarah Cahan visits the library. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Customers line up outside the Powisset Farm farm stand. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Shopping for produce at the farm Lane Turner/Globe Staff Customers enjoy the outdoor seating at Dover Cafe Deli & Pizza. Lane Turner/Globe Staff The town offices Lane Turner/Globe Staff Send comments to [email protected]. By PTI: Chandigarh, Oct 14 (PTI) Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today declared a virtual war against the Akali government in the state for its "failure" to transfer the Ludhiana Police Commissioner in the Chitta Ravan case, asking the party workers in all the 117 Assembly segments to burn effigies as a mark of protest. As the Punjab Congress siege of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badals residence here continued for the second day, he said, "Mark my words, this is just the beginning. We will destroy the chitta and its Ravan in its entirety in Punjab." advertisement Congress workers had reportedly prepared white Ravan effigies in protest against the sale of heroin (chitta) in Punjab. They had planned to burn them on Dussehra, along with photos of the chief minister and his son (Deputy Chief Minister) Sukhbir Singh Badal, which led to a clash between them and Akali Dal supporters in Ludhiana that left at least 35 people injured. The police had arrested Punjab Youth Congress secretary Parvinder Singh Lapran on Wednesday in connection with the incident. Alleging police bias and claiming that no case was lodged against the Akali Dal activists, Congress workers have been staging an indefinite protest outside Badals residence here since yesterday. The protesters, including Congress MPs and MLAs, are demanding Ludhiana Police Commissioner Jatinder Aulakhs transfer and ADCP Jaswinder Singhs suspension. Addressing them, Amarinder demanded withdrawal of cases against Congress workers jailed on "fictitious" charges of assaulting Akali Dal activists. Asking the Akalis why were they so "touchy" about the Chitta Ravan issue, the state Congress chief said, "Is it your guilty conscience that gets pricked and causes goosebumps over the very mention of chitta?" "By resorting to violence against the burning of the Chitta Ravan, the Akalis have actually admitted to their guilt of being synonymous with the synthetic drug," he claimed. Amarinder said the Chitta Ravan was there not only in Ludhiana but all over Punjab, with the "people using it to express their anger against the Badals". He claimed that in Amritsar, effigies of the chief minister and his son were burnt during Dussehra celebrations. "If they (the Badals) think they can intimidate and gag the people by abusing their power, they are miserably mistaken," Amarinder said, adding that it was a matter of "few more months" before the Badals were "forced to run for cover". PTI VJ RC --- ENDS --- Anita Hassanandani and Rohit Reddy tied the knot on this day, three years back. Want to know how they are celebrating their third wedding anniversary? By India Today Web Desk: Anita Hassanandani and Rohit Reddy got married in a fairy tale wedding in Goa on this day, in 2013. The couple is celebrating this special day by spending some romantic moments in Shimla. Before heading to Shimla, Anita and Rohit spent some family time in Chandigarh. Nite out with #Famliy in Chandigarh ?????? A photo posted by Anita H Reddy (@anitahassanandani) on Oct 12, 2016 at 10:22am PDT advertisement Anita and Rohit's love story is quite filmy. Rohit first saw the actress in a gym and later outside a pub, waiting for her car. He did not know that she was an actress at that time and approached her with a 'corny line'. After stalking her on Facebook, the couple met again through a common friend, and by this time, Anita too fell in love with this thorough gentleman who had a great physique and a dimpled smile. Their bond appears to be growing strong with each year. Don't believe us? Look at these snaps from their Shimla holiday to believe. Pure love A photo posted by Anita H Reddy (@anitahassanandani) on Oct 13, 2016 at 4:19am PDT Painting the town red... cos we r soooo in love!! ?????? A photo posted by Rohit Reddy (@rohitreddygoa) on Oct 13, 2016 at 4:36am PDT VacationMode: On! A photo posted by Rohit Reddy (@rohitreddygoa) on Oct 11, 2016 at 8:29pm PDT A photo posted by Anita H Reddy (@anitahassanandani) on Oct 11, 2016 at 9:18pm PDT Happy anniversary, Anita and Rohit. Keep rocking! --- ENDS --- Microfinance Ireland will be marking European Microfinance Day on October 20th by highlighting the benefits of mentoring services for Irish businesses. Set up in 2012 by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Microfinance Ireland works in partnership with the network of Local Enterprise Offices and the Local Development Companies to offer business loans to small businesses. On October 20th, events will be taking place across Europe for European Microfinance Day. It is organised by the European Microfinance Networks in co-operation with all network members, including Microfinance Ireland. This years theme focuses on the importance of non-financial services to help small businesses, such as mentoring. The Microfinance Ireland mentoring service is aimed at both start up and expanding businesses that employ fewer than ten people. Microfinance Ireland has already helped to support, sustain and create more than 2,300 jobs. Minister for Employment & Small Business, Pat Breen said, "Microfinance Ireland, as a not -for-profit lender operating in every county in Ireland, plays a critically important role in providing loans to small businesses to give them the financial support they need to either set up or grow their business. The added support of mentoring services greatly assists the sustainability and success of these businesses and supports overall economic development and growth." He added, "Since Microfinance Ireland was established they have approved loans to more than 1,000 businesses, located across every county in Ireland, helping sustain and create over 2,300 jobs. I would encourage microenterprises to apply for loans from Microfinance Ireland." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Chambers Ireland and a delegation of representatives of the Irish business community participated in the European Parliament of Enterprises in Brussels yesterday. The European Parliament of Enterprises allows business people from all over Europe to become Members of the European Parliament of Enterprises (MEPEs) for one day and gain unique insights into how one of the most powerful bodies in Europe goes about their decision making process. The delegation of representatives from the Irish business community participated in the debates and votes held throughout the day on trade, the single market, sustainability and skills. Speaking following the event, Chief Executive of Chambers Ireland, Ian Talbot said, "It is particularly worrying that two thirds of the entrepreneurs in attendance from across Europe expressed concern that Brexit would harm their business. It is important in this period of uncertainty that the EU listen to the voice of business and work to create a more business friendly policy environment." Source: www.businessworld.ie Photo: HorstWagner.eu The winners of the GSK Ireland IMPACT Awards 2016 were announced during a ceremony at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle this week. The awards are designed to recognise and reward community-based charities who contribute to the improvement of peoples health and wellbeing, as well as acknowledge the positive outcomes these charities have on their users and local communities. This years winners represent an inspirational mix of healthcare heroes making a real difference to the lives of their communities right across Ireland. The IMPACT awards are judged across a number of criteria including innovation, management and partnership which looks to reward how the charities are run and what they are actually achieving. Nurture, Traveller Counselling Service, Dyslexia Association of Ireland, Sensational Kids and Anam Cara were named the winners. The five award winning charities were each awarded 10,000 in unrestricted funding, while five runner-up charities also received 2,000 each. In addition, the winning charities received a video and photography package to promote their charities and services. The Impact Awards 2016 were judged by a multidisciplinary panel of professionals which included: Roger Connor, Judging chair GSK Aidan Lynch, VP GSK Pharma Joe Power, VP and Site Director Cork Claire Taaffe, Communications Director, GSK Katie Pinnock, Director UK and Ireland Charity Partnerships Barry Andrews, CEO Goal Deirdre Garvey, CEO of the Wheel, Samantha McCaughren. Sunday Independent Business Editor Maurice Pratt, Chair of Barretstown President, Global Manufacturing & Supply (GMS) at GSK, Roger Connor said, "GSK is extremely proud to support these healthcare charities, very often unsung heroes, who are contributing so much to health in their communities. To really make an impact, charities need purpose with passion coupled with strong management and governance, which can be very challenging, particularly with tight resources. This years winners show this is possible and we have been impressed, inspired and moved by our winners and the huge contribution they are making to Irish health." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Less than 25% of STEM jobs are filled by women in Ireland according to latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. To counteract this problem, an initiative aimed at encouraging more women to take up roles in technology and entrepreneurship was launched by Code First: Girls. Code First: Girls is a social enterprise that has delivered over 1.5 million of free education over the past three years and taught over 2500 women how to code for free. Additionally over the past 18 months, they have had over 3,000 women participate in one of their courses or events and have supported companies to recruit better tech talent into their firms. Code First: Girls hosted its inaugural event, Hack Your Career, in Dublin last night in partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and their Women in Technology and Operations (WIT&O) advocacy network. They have a number of similar initiatives lined up in Ireland over the coming months including a coding course for girls not directly enrolled in tech-related courses, hosted and supported by Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). As part of the partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, two of the course tutors will be bank employees. Speaking at last nights event, Country Executive for Ireland at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Peter Keegan said, "We are delighted to support such a worthwhile social enterprise as it launches in Dublin. The banks Women in Technology & Operations mission is to attract, develop and retain female talent in technology, and partnering with Code First: Girls gives us the opportunity to show our commitment to furthering womens careers in this space. We wish Code First: Girls the very best in their endeavours in Dublin and look forward to supporting them at this, and at upcoming events." Source:www.businessworld.ie About us Carter Center trainer Gilles Saphy reviews the observation form that the Ohio League of Women Voters plans to use on Election Day 2016. The training is part of a pilot project between the League of Women Voters and The Carter Center. (Photo: The Carter Center/L. DeJong) On a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, a group of Ohio women sat inside a Cleveland conference room holding a spirited discussion about democracy: Just what does it mean to have a genuine election? What constitutes universal suffrage? What qualifies as voter intimidation? The following day, in Columbus, the scene played out again. All these women, members of the League of Women Voters of Ohio or its partners, gave up part of their precious weekends to learn about election observation from Carter Center staff. Ive been horrified by all this talk of election-rigging, said Catherine Turcer of Columbus, explaining one of her reasons for coming. While she believes there are plenty of safeguards to protect the election, she understands that many voters still feel distrustful. At the end of the day, she said, having observers say, This is what we saw, and this is what we didnt see will make people more confident and will have an effect for elections to come. The Ohio league has long worked on election protection, explained Executive Director Carrie L. Davis. Members station themselves outside key polling places and file incident reports when voters complain about being denied the right to vote. That work is important and will continue, she said, but the Ohio league wanted to do more and so partnered with The Carter Center. Election protection takes place primarily in places with a history of problems, which are typically urban areas, she said. Election observation offers a chance to cover more suburban and rural areas. We felt like adding this component would give us a more accurate snapshot of whats happening on Election Day the good, the bad, and everything in between. With 88 counties in Ohio, Davis said, volunteers cant get to them all. And the leagues work is made more difficult because state law makes no provision for nonpartisan observers in polling stations. Participants may have to observe from outside, relying on what they can see (lines, possible intimidation) and reports from voters whove been inside. But we hope to have a good sample and a good variety, she said. This is a pilot project to see how it works, to see how we can improve it, to see how we can expand it in Ohio and beyond for 2018 and 2020. The Carter Centers decision to offer observer training grew out of its recent U.S. election-observer research project with the National Council of State Legislatures, said David Carroll, director of the Centers Democracy Program. As we implemented that project, we realized that there was a knowledge gap not only about the varying access for observers in the U.S., but also about the methods used by international election observers, he said. We thought it useful to reach out to credible groups who might be interested in learning more about observing. The League of Women Voters has a long history of supporting election integrity, so they were a natural fit. Peg Rosenfield, a Columbus resident and longtime league member, agreed. We have spent 96 years helping people have access to vote, she said. The system has to work right for us to do that, and I think election observation goes a long way toward making sure the system works right. And where it doesnt, we can know that and fix it. Bev Dorson and her friend Mimi Becker retired troublemakers from Hudson, Ohio said they came away feeling better equipped to observe. Seeing the observation form in advance and getting to have input into it was helpful, Dorson said. Im looking forward to helping the fair process of democracy, if I can. Related Resources Carter Center Statement on the Integrity of U.S. Elections Observing U.S. Elections | Q&A with Democracy Program Experts David Carroll & Avery Davis-Roberts Carter Center Launches Webpage on Election Observation in the United States The voluntary sector should distance itself from the word charity because it is unhelpful, the chief executive of the British Red Cross said earlier this week. I think the word charity is very unhelpful, actually, he said. I think we have a problem with terminology. The problem is that when the Daily Mail attacks it uses the word charity, but the future is about values-led organisations, both small and large." Mike Adamson was speaking at the NPC Ignites conference in London on Wednesday. Adamson suggested that the problem with the word charity was that it caused people to focus on organisational structures whereas the real question was about how lives could be improved for beneficiaries. He said the sector needed to focus much more on measuring whether it was making an effective difference, and that he hoped to change the processes of measurement inside the British Red Cross to make that easier to do. "Were reshaping the organisation to be organised around the needs of people in crisis. So rather than a higgildy-piggedly flow of information, we can have much clearer lines of sight right the way from our beneficiaries through to the board - about what theyre interested in and how were helping them with those concerns. "We are also moving beyond a rather superficial approach to understanding evidence and insight, to really investing in building an evidence base for each other areas in which we want to be a go-to organisation and then turning that into impact reporting. We will then use both for improving and learning - stretching our services - but also so that we can speak truth to power". Adamsons words were echoed also by Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the British Asian Trust, who said that the sector needs to move away from the concept of charity entirely. We should be about change, not charity, he said. Weve got be about changing things and making things better, about adding value, innovating, building success on those innovations, advocating for change and then changing the world accordingly. This is not the actual gorilla that escaped, at least to the best of our knowledge. Still, if you do happen to see this gorilla coming, run away. (Maybe don't climb a tree.) Our weekly round-up of outlandish and interesting information collected from the corners of the charity sector. Born Free goes ape Yes, Diarys kicked proceedings off with a fairly cheap chimp pun. Queue the groans and rolling of eyes. It seemed like the right thing to do though at the time; certainly better than something to do with bananas. As you will no doubt be well aware of by now, London Zoo was bought to a veritable standstill yesterday when a 29-stone male silverback gorilla escaped from its den and made a loping bid for freedom. Since then all manner of sources both cited and anonymous, eye-witness and not have come forward to have their say. Diarys personal favourite quote of the whole saga comes from the BBC, who spoke to 33-year-old Hamburg native Jonathan Mall. Mall was attending a conference at the zoo when the primate slipped free his surly bonds of slavery and initiated a complete lockdown of the zoo. I was kind of scared, to be honest, Mall is quoted as saying. Because we were in a really closed space where everything is green and beautiful but there could be a gorilla hiding behind every bush. Mall was locked-down in the zoos bird enclosure, just in case you were wondering. This columns not been to London Zoos aviary recently, but cant help but wonder how luscious and green its bushes must be if they could completely obscure the brooding, dark shape of a full-grown gorilla? Another eyewitness reportedly described the incident as like being in Jurassic Park. If the experience was anything like the most recent Jurassic Park film, it must have been underwhelming then zing! The gorilla, who has been identified as 18-year-old Kumbuka, only made it as far as a secure keeper area before being thoroughly tranquilized. The great gorilla escape artist was only out of his area for an hour and, according to the zoo, has now been happily re-united with his family. From out of the mist has now come the Born Free Foundation a sort of animal welfare/anti-zoo charity who are now calling upon the Zoos Experts Committee to give the London Zoo a good, ol fashioned gorilla grilling. "While we are relieved that this incident apparently ended without injury to visitors or to the gorilla, it is yet another startling reminder of the risks associated with maintaining dangerous wild animals in captivity," said Chris Draper, the foundation's associate director for animal welfare and care. This column is very relieved that Kumbuka didnt go the way of well-known mammal-martyr Harambe the Cincinnati-based ape who was unfortunately executed when a toddler fell into his enclosure earlier this year. R.I.P! Diarys relief turned to outright amusement when BBC Breakfast accidentally ran footage of Kumbuka while trailing to its big interview with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon this morning. Its becoming increasingly hard to see why Scotland seems so keen to be free of the United Kingdom, isnt it A most unlikely bromance? Earlier this week an illustrious group of trustees and fundraisers gathered for the launch of the IoFs new guide Fundraising for Dummies Trustees, with the highlight being the joint appearance of William Shawcross, chair of the Charity Commission, and Bernard Jenkin MP, and while the audience may have been expecting some thoughtful commentary or advice from two senior figures in public life they were instead witness to what can only be described as the most awkward of bromances. It took them fully five minutes of incredibly British after you sirs to agree who was going to speak first, and when Shawcross did he opened with a monologue about how wonderful and marvellous Jenkin was, leaving the audience feeling like theyd intruded on a private moment. It turns out that Jenkins committee is no longer responsible for scrutiny of the Charity Commission as part of the summers machinery of government change scrutiny of the Commission has moved to the Culture Committee, currently without a chair. Its fair to say Shawcross was none too pleased about this decision. Could it be that hes concerned about the level of scrutiny a fresh panel of MPs might apply to the Commission? No-one has expressed any concerns about the governance of the Commission for at least a week. So traumatised was he by the cruel upheaval that Shawcross was a little fuzzy on actual Commission issues, such as how the regulator is encouraging more diversity on trustee boards or when Trustees Week is (first week of November, William, always the first week of November). Fortunately the Commissions director of communications was in the audience to answer all those pesky, technical questions. King Harold's stuck in Transit Today marks the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings that seismic set-to between the scions of Anglo-Saxon England and Norman France which forever changed the trajectory of this damp, windswept island nation. While English Heritage has already begun feathering its nest selling over 16,000 tickets for the staged re-enactment which will take place on Saturday the Guardian has managed to winkle out a pretty delicious little detail about the life of Harold Godwinsons impersonator: he drives a transit van. On the eve of the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, King Harold was packing his Transit van for the journey from Shropshire to meet his fate. The chaps name is Kendall Kinrade and, if his piece in the Guardian is anything to go by, he absolutely cant wait to take one in the eye so to speak, despite the ongoing debate between historians about whether or not the real life King Harold did die of an eye arrowing. You can only carry historical accuracy so far, Kinrade said. I dont think the audience would ever forgive me if I didnt take the arrow in the eye. Diarys not a betting sort of column but, if betting wasnt suspended anyway, itd probably put its #firstfiver on the pesky Normans winning the re-enactment for about the 950th time in a row. I need a hero (or maybe a distributor) Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, stood up to explain leadership to assorted charity people at the launch of an Open University event earlier this week. Etherington was in good form, a mix of avuncular and excoriating, addressing charities lack of courage, need for a moral compass, inaction on diversity, and a whole host of other issues. He also took a quick look at the ideas of heroic leadership (do everything yourself and share power with no one) and distributive leadership (get everyone else to do anything, but keep the money yourself). So apparently heroic leadership sounds like what you want to be doing but is actually not that great, whereas distributive leadership sounds really dull but is actually a good idea. (Not that you should listen uncritically to Diary on management theory; you shouldnt put a column on a pedestal.) Anyway, Etherington said, a heroic leader often does so to compensate for certain other shortcomings. Perhaps hes a bit short, or quite stout, or losing his hair. For those who arent familiar with our fearless leader, lets just say that Etherington is known in charity circles as Big Stu for a reason, and it isnt his great height or the size of his quiff. Anyway, Etherington went on, despite fitting the stereotype of the heroic leader, he feels he is much more in tune with the distributive stereotype. Ive been known to distribute quite a lot of work, he said. Particularly if Im tired. A new study of Western forest fires confirms what is already apparent wildfire seasons are getting longer and more destructive. But researchers with the University of Idaho and Columbia University also say humans are to blame. The study made public Monday says human-caused global warming contributed an additional 16,000 square miles of burned forests from 1984 to 2015. Researchers say the 16,000 square miles represent half of the forest areas that burned over the last three decades. Were no longer waiting for human-caused climate change to leave its fingerprint on wildfire across the western U.S., John Abatzoglou, the studys lead author and an associate professor of geography at the University of Idaho, said in a statement. Its already here. The authors of the study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, say its the first to try to quantify how much human-caused climate change has increased wildfires in Western forests. Some other factors that had to be considered as contributing to the increase, the report said, included a legacy of fire suppression in the West, natural climate variability, and human settlement. The study found that longer and hotter dry spells are causing Western forests to dry out and become more susceptible to wildfires. Specifically, researchers said, spring and summer temperatures have warmed by 2 to 2.5 degrees since 1950. Researchers said that warming accounts for 55 percent of what they call fuel aridity from 1979 to 2015. The study attributed the other 45 percent to natural climate variations. The study found that since 2000 theres been a 75 percent increase in forested lands with elevated aridity and nine more days each year with dry forests especially susceptible to wildfires. Anthropogenic climate change has emerged as a driver of increased forest fire activity, the report says. Park Williams of Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and a co-author of the study, said the report provides a better understanding of the effects human-caused global warming has on Western forests. This knowledge will allow us to make more educated fire and land management decisions, he said. One of those decision-makers is Idaho Forester David Groeschl, who said the report could offer some help in the future. We know that our fire season is getting longer, Groeschl said. We know that were seeing more and longer fires, and we know that we have increasing fuels out there as well. The fuel aridity was particularly bad in Idaho in 2015 when an extended heat and drought left northern Idaho forests parched and in the worst condition since 1926, officials said. That summer and fall, 600 square miles of U.S. Forest Service land burned. Idahos bill for fighting wildfires soared to $60 million with some 100 square miles, about three quarters of it forests, burning on state, private and federal lands that are in forest protective districts designated as the states responsibility. Idaho has taken a number of steps aimed at the wildfire risk, including increasing the pay of in-demand, experienced firefighters who were leaving to take similar jobs with more money at other agencies. Idaho also recently formed a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to take on landscape-scale projects by using the states land management expertise that includes selling timber on federal land. The states first auction of federal timber took place last month. How successful the partnership will take years to determine. The study released Monday concluded that the trend of increased forest aridity resulting in large wildfires is likely to continue for decades while there are enough trees to fuel the flames. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sought to set agenda for the upcoming assembly elections in four states. By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday demanded a roll back of the curtailment of disability pension for the armed forces personnel. As per the latest gazette notification of the government, the disability pensions for the armed forces personnel invalidated out of the service have been slashed dramatically. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal wrote, "According to the existing system, armymen invalidated due to 100 per cent disability due to injuries received in the line of duty were entitled to a pension equal to the last drawn pay. But, the recent notification by the Defence Ministry replaced it retrospectively with a slab system causing drastic pecuniary loss for armymen." advertisement READ: Punjab: Can Congress beat the AAP groundswell? India Today-Axis Opinion Poll says possible Kejriwal's letter the Prime Minister assumes political significance in the view of the upcoming elections in four states. The disability pension is potential poll issue in three of the election bound states, namely, UP, Punjab and Uttarakhand, which have large number of personnel in armed forces. ALSO WATCH QUESTIONS 'SLAB SYSTEM' After a service of five years in armed forces, a soldier gets a pay about Rs 28,000-29,000 and a pension of the same amount in the case of 100 per cent disability. But, under the new system, the soldier is entitled to a pension of Rs 12,000 a month, Kejriwal said. The AAP leader also said that after implementation of the seventh pay commission, the officials of the armed forces have lagged behind their civilian counterparts. "Instead of slashing, disability pension (for the armed forces personnel) should be increased," Kejriwal said in his letter to the PM. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. READ: Kejriwal slams Rahul for 'khoon ki dalali' remark, backs PM Modi REVAMP OROP Kejriwal also demanded that the family members of martyrs of armed forces should be compensated with an ex-gratia amount of Rs 1 crore. "Delhi government provides Rs 1 crore to the family of martyrs. The government of India should make a similar scheme," Kejriwal said. The Delhi CM also raised the issue of One Rank One Pension, which has been an emotive issue for the retired armymen. READ: Punjab politics is fluid again as AAP fortunes slide "Our ex-soldiers, who won wars for us and fought militants, are on the streets demanding what is their right. I request you (PM Modi) to weed out the irregularities of OROP and implement it in totality," Kejriwal said. Several ex-armymen have voiced opposition to the OROP implemented by the government calling it inadequate. OROP and disability pension are likely to affect public discourse in the election bound states. --- ENDS --- Although opinions on the term pet parent may vary, theres no denying the fact that pet ownership is a big responsibility. In households without children, dogs often get lavished in especially large amounts of love and attention. So whats Fido to think when suddenly a tiny human enters the picture? While he may soon bond with the new addition, your dog may not immediately be thrilled by the presence of a screaming, time-stealing infant. Studies show that dogs, like humans, can experience feelings of jealousy and insecurity. For this reason, it can be beneficial to prepare your pup for the arrival of a new baby. The preparation process can begin as soon as you find youre expecting, but pet owners should continue helping their dog adjust as the baby grows. Preparing while pregnant Your dog probably has a daily routine. Its important to start changing that routine to match whatever the dogs new routine will be once the baby arrives, says Michael Wombacher, a professional dog trainer and author of " ." Good Dog, Happy Baby ." How soon should dog owners be implementing these changes? Writing for CNN, Wombacher notes that it depends on your dog and how deeply embedded into your routine she is. Expectant parents can begin shaking up the routine a month before their due date or the moment the pregnancy test turns positive. Whats important is that the dog not be given any reason to negatively associate the changes with the baby. At 8 months old Does your dog have soft, tuggable ears or a wagging tail that looks irresistible to grab? By 8 months of age, your baby will probably begin noticing -- and reaching for -- some of the more sensitive body parts on your fur-covered family member. During the months leading up to this tactile phase, you can prepare your dog by conditioning him to be used to awkward grabbing and pulling. Wombacher notes that its also vital that dogs be given a safe zone to retreat to if the babys touching becomes too stressful. It is during this phase that parents can also teach the family pet not to confuse dog toys with baby toys. The two types of toys may be similar in appearance and in noise-making ability, but Wombacher says dogs can easily learn how to distinguish between whats theirs and what isnt. How? Simply dab a little Listerine on the babys toys and teach your dog that the scent of Listerine equals an "off" command. At 14 months old When your little one has gone bipedal, you can begin creating opportunities for structured, positive interactions between your child and your dog. This can include games, rudimentary pseudo-training, and more. US And Russia Face Off Over Syria & Cyber Attacks Relations between the US and Russia took a nosedive recently when Washington announced it would be suspending its negotiations with Moscow over its refusal to halt airstrikes on Syria's largest city, Aleppo. The tumultuous week culminated with an unprecedented move: With 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." Vladimir Putin is rejecting claims that his country is behind any US election-related hacking, saying "hysteria" is fueling the allegations. "This has nothing to do with Russia's interests," he said recently at an investors conference in Moscow. That was only the start of their lowest point in relations since the end of the Cold War. After reports emerged 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, 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. 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. Election Rigging 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, saying the current US administration was "not averse to using dirty tricks" to stir up "unprecedented anti-Russian hysteria." Later, 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. 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 organisations, 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. "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, 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. 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. No-Fly Zone in Syria 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 the recent 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 September. '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. Cyberwar Potential 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." 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 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. US relations between Russia, however, could grow even more hostile in the near term. The White House said President Barack Obama will consider a "proportional response" to Russia's alleged involvement in the hacking. Although the White House declined to provide specifics, it's possible the US could use economic sanctions, issue indictments against suspected Russian cybercriminals, or launch retaliatory cyberattacks against the country. Ein News: BOSTON - Conventional medical wisdom has long held that placebo effects depend on patients' belief they are getting pharmacologically active medication. A paper published today in the journal Pain is the first to demonstrate that patients who knowingly took a placebo in conjunction with traditional treatment for lower back pain saw more improvement than those given traditional treatment alone. "These findings turn our understanding of the placebo effect on its head," said joint senior author Ted Kaptchuk, director of the Program for Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This new research demonstrates that the placebo effect is not necessarily elicited by patients' conscious expectation that they are getting an active medicine, as long thought. Taking a pill in the context of a patient-clinician relationship - even if you know it's a placebo - is a ritual that changes symptoms and probably activates regions of the brain that modulate symptoms." Kaptchuk, with colleagues at Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA) in Lisbon, Portugal, studied 97 patients with chronic lower back pain (cLBP), which causes more disability than any other medical condition worldwide. After all participants were screened and examined by a registered nurse practitioner and board certified pain specialist, the researchers gave all patients a 15-minute explanation of the placebo effect. Only then was the group randomized into one of two groups; the treatment-as-usual (TAU) group or the open-label placebo (OLP) group. The vast majority of participants in both groups (between 85 and 88 percent) were already taking medications - mostly non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDS) - for their pain. (Patients taking opioid medications were excluded from the trial.) Participants in both the TAU and OLP groups were allowed to continue taking these drugs, but were required not to change dosages or make any other major lifestyle changes, such as starting an exercise plan or new medication, which could impact their pain. In addition, patients in the OLP group were given a medicine bottle labeled "placebo pills" with directions to take two capsules containing only microcrystalline cellulose and no active medication twice daily. At the end of their three-week course of pills, the OLP group overall reported 30 percent reductions in both usual pain and maximum pain, compared to 9 percent and 16 percent reductions, respectively, for the TAU group. The group taking placebo pills also saw a 29 percent drop in pain-related disability. Those receiving treatment as usual saw almost no improvement by that measure. "It's the benefit of being immersed in treatment: interacting with a physician or nurse, taking pills, all the rituals and symbols of our healthcare system," Kaptchuk said. "The body responds to that." "Our findings demonstrate the placebo effect can be elicited without deception," said lead author, Claudia Carvalho, PhD, of ISPA. "Patients were interested in what would happen and enjoyed this novel approach to their pain. They felt empowered." Kaptchuk speculates that other conditions with symptoms and complaints that are based on self-observation (like other kinds of pain, fatigue, depression, common digestive or urinary symptoms) may also be modulated by open-label treatment. "You're never going to shrink a tumor or unclog an artery with placebo intervention," he said. "It's not a cure-all, but it makes people feel better, for sure. Our lab is saying you can't throw the placebo into the trash can. It has clinical meaning, it's statically significant, and it relieves patients. It's essential to what medicine means." "Taking placebo pills to relieve symptoms without a warm and empathic relationship with a health-care provider relationship probably would not work," noted Carvalho. ### The Foundation for the Science of the Therapeutic Encounter (F-STE) supported Claudia Carvalho with a post-doctoral grant. Bial (Porto, Portugal) provided placebo pills. Ted J. Kaptchuk and Irving Kirsch supported by NCCIH/NIH grant #2K24 AT004095; Irving Kirsch received a grant from F-STE. About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding. BIDMC is in the community with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth, Anna Jaques Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Lawrence General Hospital, Signature Healthcare, Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare, Community Care Alliance and Atrius Health. BIDMC is also clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and the Jackson Laboratory. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit http://www.bidmc.org. Two major international collaborations have joined forces to publish a paper that sheds new light on one of the most pressing questions in particle physics: "do sterile neutrinos exist? Hints of a new type of neutrino beyond the well-known three types (electron, muon, and tau neutrinos) first surfaced in the 1990s when scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory were looking for neutrino oscillations - the ability of one type of neutrino to morph into another type. The LSND experiment at Los Alamos announced evidence of muon neutrinos oscillating into electron neutrinos. However, the oscillation occurred much faster than the oscillations discovered by Super-Kamiokande that led to the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics. If the LSND results are correct and due to neutrino oscillations, the only explanation is the existence of a new, fourth type of neutrino. But this neutrino would have to be much stranger than anything seen before, being sterile, meaning that it does not interact with matter except through gravity. Light sterile neutrinos are also among the leading candidates to resolve some outstanding puzzles in astrophysics and cosmology. Over the last twenty years, a number of experiments have tried to confirm or refute the LSND findings, but the results have been inconclusive. The new result released by the MINOS and Daya Bay experiments strongly suggests that the ghost-like sterile neutrinos do not explain the LSND result after all. 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 to study 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. 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, a result garnering 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 seen no evidence for this. However, these two results from MINOS and Daya Bay, by themselves, 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 gives us a much stronger handle on sterile neutrinos." The LSND experiment saw muon-type antineutrinos turning into electron-type antineutrinos, so to address the LSND observations, scientists must look at both types of neutrinos simultaneously. This is where the collaboration between Daya Bay and MINOS comes in. "It's not common for two major neutrino experiments to work together this closely", says Adam Aurisano of the University of Cincinnati, one of the MINOS scientists 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". The result is a publication that very strongly excludes most of the possible sterile neutrino oscillation scenarios that could explain the LSND result. The joint result has significantly shrunk the hiding space for a light sterile neutrino. Both the MINOS and Daya Bay experiments are continuing to analyze more data, and an even more sensitive search for the sterile neutrino is anticipated. "The neutrino is one of the most enigmatic particles we have encountered", says Aurisano, "and history suggests that surprises may await us". ### Berkeley Lab and University of Colorado-Boulder team develop new way to reveal crystal features in functional materials Detailing the molecular makeup of materials -- from solar cells to organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and transistors, and medically important proteins -- is not always a crystal-clear process. To understand how materials work at these microscopic scales, and to better design materials to improve their function, it is necessary to not only know all about their composition but also their molecular arrangement and microscopic imperfections. Now, a team of researchers working at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has demonstrated infrared imaging of an organic semiconductor known for its electronics capabilities, revealing key nanoscale details about the nature of its crystal shapes and orientations, and defects that also affect its performance. To achieve this imaging breakthrough, researchers from Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) and the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) combined the power of infrared light from the ALS and infrared light from a laser with a tool known as an atomic force microscope. The ALS, a synchrotron, produces light in a range of wavelengths or "colors" -- from infrared to X-rays -- by accelerating electron beams near the speed of light around bends. The researchers focused both sources of infrared light onto the tip of the atomic force microscope, which works a bit like a record-player needle -- it moves across the surface of a material and measures the subtlest of surface features as it lifts and dips. The technique, detailed in a recent edition of the journal Science Advances, allows researchers to tune the infrared light in on specific chemical bonds and their arrangement in a sample, show detailed crystal features, and explore the nanoscale chemical environment in samples. "Our technique is broadly applicable," said Hans Bechtel an ALS scientist. "You could use this for many types of material -- the only limitation is that it has to be relatively flat" so that the tip of the atomic force microscope can move across its peaks and valleys. Markus Raschke, a CU-Boulder professor who developed the imaging technique with Eric Muller, a postdoctoral researcher in his group, said, "If you know the molecular composition and orientation in these organic materials then you can optimize their properties in a much more straightforward way. "This work is informing materials design. The sensitivity of this technique is going from an average of millions of molecules to a few hundred, and the imaging resolution is going from the micron scale (millionths of an inch) to the nanoscale (billionths of an inch)," he said. The infrared light of the synchrotron provided the essential wide band of the infrared spectrum, which makes it sensitive to many different chemicals' bonds at the same time and also provides the sample's molecular orientation. The conventional infrared laser, with its high power yet narrow range of infrared light, meanwhile, allowed researchers to zoom in on specific bonds to obtain very detailed imaging. "Neither the ALS synchrotron nor the laser alone would have given us this level of microscopic insight," Raschke said, while the combination of the two provided a powerful probe "greater than the sum of its parts." Raschke a decade ago first explored synchrotron-based infrared nano-spectroscopy using the BESSY synchrotron in Berlin. With his help and that of ALS scientists Michael Martin and Bechtel, the ALS in 2014 became the first synchrotron to offer nanoscale infrared imaging to visiting scientists. The technique is particularly useful for the study and understanding of so-called "functional materials" that possess special photonic, electronic, or energy-conversion or energy-storage properties, he noted. In principle, he added, the new advance in determining molecular orientation could be adapted to biological studies of proteins. "Molecular orientation is critical in determining biological function," Raschke said. The orientation of molecules determines how energy and charge flows across from cell membranes to molecular solar energy conversion materials. Bechtel said the infrared technique permits imaging resolution down to about 10-20 nanometers, which can resolve features up to 50,000 times smaller than a grain of sand. The imaging technique used in these experiments, known as "scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy," or s-SNOM, essentially uses the atomic force microscope tip as an ultrasensitive antenna, which transmits and receives focused infrared light in the region of the tip apex. Scattered light, captured from the tip as it moves over the sample, is recorded by a detector to produce high-resolution images. "It's non-invasive, and it provides information about molecular vibrations," as the microscope's tip moves over the sample, Bechtel said. Researchers used the technique to study the crystalline features of an organic semiconductor material known as PTCDA (perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride). Researchers reported that they observed defects in the orientation of the material's crystal structure that provide a new understanding of the crystals' growth mechanism and could aid in the design molecular devices using this material. The new imaging capability sets the stage for a new National Science Foundation Center, announced in late September, that links CU-Boulder with Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, Florida International University, UC Irvine, and Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. The center will combine a range of microscopic imaging methods, including those that use electrons, X-rays, and light, across a broad range of disciplines. This center, dubbed STROBE for Science and Technology Center on Real-Time Functional Imaging, will be led by Margaret Murnane, a distinguished professor at CU-Boulder, with Raschke serving as a co-lead. At Berkeley Lab, STROBE will be served by a range of ALS capabilities, including the infrared beamlines managed by Bechtel and Martin and a new beamline dubbed COSMIC (for "coherent scattering and microscopy"). It will also benefit from Berkeley Lab-developed data analysis tools. ### Other contributors to the work include Benjamin Pollard and Peter van Blerkom, both members of Raschke's group at CU-Boulder. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation. The ALS is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov. DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov. DURHAM, N.C. -- Research Triangle engineers have developed a simple, energy-efficient way to create three-dimensional acoustic holograms. The technique could revolutionize applications ranging from home stereo systems to medical ultrasound devices. Most everyone is familiar with the concept of visual holograms, which manipulate light to make it appear as though a 3-D object is sitting in empty space. These optical tricks work by shaping the electromagnetic field so that it mimics light bouncing off an actual object. Sound also travels in waves. But rather than electromagnetic energy traveling through space, sound propagates as pressure waves that momentarily compress the molecules they are traveling through. And just like visible light, these waves can be manipulated into three-dimensional patterns. "We show the exact same control over a sound wave as people have previously achieved with light waves," said Steve Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University. "It's like an acoustic virtual reality display. It gives you a more realistic sense of the spatial pattern of the sound field." In a paper published Oct. 14 in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers at Duke and North Carolina State University show that they can create any three-dimensional pattern they want with sound waves. The achievement is made possible by metamaterials -- synthetic materials composed of many individual, engineered cells that together produce unnatural properties. In this case, the metamaterials resemble a wall of Legos. Each individual block is made of plastic by a 3-D printer and contains a spiral within. The tightness of the spiral affects the way sound travels through it -- the tighter the coil, the slower sound waves travel through it. While the individual blocks can't influence the sound wave's direction, the entire device effectively can. For example, if one side of the sound wave is slowed down but not the other, the resulting wave fronts will be redirected so that the sound is bent toward the slow side. "Anybody can tell the difference between a single stereo speaker and a live string quartet playing music behind them," explained Yangbo "Abel" Xie, a doctoral student in Cummer's laboratory. "Part of the reason why is that the sound waves carry spatial information as well as notes and volume." By calculating how 12 different types of acoustic metamaterial building blocks will affect the sound wave, researchers can arrange them in a wall to form any wave pattern on the other side that they want. With enough care, the sound waves can produce a specific hologram at a specific distance away. "It's basically like putting a mask in front of a speaker," said Cummer. "It makes it seem like the sound is coming from a more complicated source than it is." Cummer and Xie, in collaboration with Yun Jing, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State, and Tarry Shen, a doctoral student in Jing's lab, proved their sound mask works in two different ways. In the first test, they assembled a metamaterial wall that manipulated an incoming sound wave into a shape like the letter "A" about a foot away. In a second demonstration, they showed that the technique can focus sound waves into several "hot spots" -- or loud spots -- of sound, also a foot from the device. There are existing technologies that can also produce this effect. Modern ultrasound imaging devices, for example, use phased arrays with many individual transducers that can each produce precisely controlled sound waves. But this approach has its drawbacks. "If you've ever had an ultrasound done, you know there's a small wand attached to a much bigger machine a few feet away," said Cummer. "Not only can this setup be cumbersome, it consumes an enormous amount of power. Our approach can help produce the same effect in a cheaper, smaller system." For the metamaterial device to work in such applications, however, each cell must be smaller than the waves it is manipulating. And for ultrasound technologies that operate in the megahertz range, this means the individual cells would have to be 100 times smaller than in the current demonstration blocks. Cummer and Xie are looking for industry partners to show that this sort of fabrication would be possible. They are also shopping the idea around to industries that work in the kilohertz range, such as aerial sensing and imaging technologies. And of course, they're speaking with sound companies to make a single speaker sound more like a live orchestra. "We're currently in the exploration phase, trying to determine where this technology would be useful," said Xie. "Any scenario where your goal is to control sound, this idea could be deployed. And it could be deployed to make something totally new, or to make something that already exists better, simpler or cheaper." ### This work was partially supported by the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant from the Office of Naval Research (N00014-13-1-0631). CITATION: "Acoustic Holographic Rendering with Two-Dimensional Metamaterial-Based Passive Phased Array," Yangbo Xie, Chen Shen, Wenqi Wang, Junfei Li, Dingjie Suo, Bogdan-Ioan Popa, Yun Jing, and Steven A. Cummer. Nature Scientific Reports, Oct. 14, 2016. DOI: 10.1038/srep35437 Yangon, Myanmar 14 Oct 2016: Myanmar's leading heart doctors have warned against unhealthy lifestyles as nearly one in three citizens are reported to have hypertension and half have high cholesterol. The call comes as the ASEAN Federation of Cardiology Congress 2016 (AFCC 2016) is held in the nation's capital of Yangon from 14 to 16 October. "Poor lifestyle choices are unfortunately becoming the norm in Myanmar," said Dr Nwe Nwe, scientific chair of AFCC 2016 and head of cardiology at Yangon General Hospital. "The result is that more people have coronary artery disease, stroke and renal failure than ever before." Hypertension affects 25-30% of people over the age of 40 in Myanmar. Half of adults have high cholesterol, 12% have diabetes, and 15% are smokers. Risk factors are higher among patients with hypertension, of whom 30% have diabetes and 60% have high cholesterol. "Consumption of salt is high in Myanmar, with people preferring to eat preserved food with a high salt content," said Dr Nwe Nwe. "People do not exercise regularly, and the intake of fruits and vegetables is low even though they are readily available in Myanmar." She continued: "On top of that, many patients do not take their hypertensive medication or keep their diabetes under control by keeping an eye on blood sugar levels." The most up-to-date evidence for the management of hypertension and high cholesterol will be discussed at AFCC 2016. Experts will present the latest information on how to prevent initial and recurrent heart attacks. Current management and surgical interventions of heart diseases including valve disease, heart failure and arrhythmias will be examined. Sessions will be held on congenital heart diseases in children. Leading figures from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) will present a special programme which includes highlights from the European cardiovascular prevention guidelines.1,2 Professor Michel Komajda, a past president of the ESC and course director of the ESC programme in Myanmar, said: "Cardiovascular disease is the world's number one killer and many deaths could be prevented with healthy lifestyles and adherence to medical treatment." He continued: "The best way to stop heart disease is to quit smoking, do regular physical activity, eat healthy food, and take prescribed medications to control blood pressure and cholesterol." The theme of AFCC 2016 is "Working Together for Heart Health". Dr Nwe Nwe said: "ASEAN countries are working together to improve the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease through advocacy and research." ### Authors: ESC Press Office Tel: +33 (0)4 89 87 24 83 Email: press@escardio.org Notes to editor 1Sessions with ESC faculty will be held on 15 October 22016 European Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice. European Heart Journal. 2016;37(29):2315-2381. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehw106 http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehw106 About the European Society of Cardiology The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 120 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives. New research in The FASEB Journal suggests that formulating ibuprofen with arginine might be the key to negating the cardiovascular side effects of the drug Move over aspirin, a new formulation of ibuprofen might prove to be a "wonder drug." In a research report published online in The FASEB Journal, scientists used mice and rats to show that ibuprofen arginate may allow people to take higher doses without the cardiovascular side effects that are associated with current formulations found in over the counter products. In addition to being better tolerated, ibuprofen arginate also is released into the bloodstream more rapidly than the current formulations, likely providing faster pain relief. "While more experiments are required, our observations show that ibuprofen arginate provides, in one preparation, a COX-2 inhibitor and arginine supplement," said Jane A. Mitchell, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work and Head of Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, Cardiothoracic Pharmacology and Vascular Biology Section at the National Heart and Lung Institute at the Institute of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science at the Imperial College in London, England. "Whilst remarkably simple, our findings are potentially game-changing in the pain medication arena." The scientists used a range of approaches from experiments using single types of cells to whole laboratory animals in which blood pressure was measured. In the first approach, mouse cells were studied in dishes where the normal arginine was removed from the growth solution. They found that the arginine contained in ibuprofen arginine could work in exactly the same way that regular arginine works in cells. The second experiment involved blood vessels from mice and rats, to which an artificial compound to block the protective effects of the normal arginine contained in all tissues, was applied. In this experiment, ibuprofen arginine reversed the block and restored blood vessel function to normal levels. The third experimental approach involved measuring blood pressure in live rats and blocking the protective effects of normal arginine in the body, which caused an increase in blood pressure. Study results demonstrated that ibuprofen arginine worked just like regular arginine to restore blood pressure to normal levels. Arginine formulations of ibuprofen could act to negate the harmful cardiovascular consequences caused by high doses of these common anti-inflammatory painkillers. "This is a nifty idea and the results are clear"," said Thoru Pederson, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "The potential for human use is attractive, not only for attenuating the cardiovascular risk, but also to the extent that this formulation may circumvent moving certain patients onto opioid painkillers, fraught with their own dangers." ### Submit to The FASEB Journal by visiting http://fasebj.msubmit.net, and receive monthly highlights by signing up at http://www.faseb.org/fjupdate.aspx. The FASEB Journal is published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). It is the world's most cited biology journal according to the Institute for Scientific Information and has been recognized by the Special Libraries Association as one of the top 100 most influential biomedical journals of the past century. FASEB is composed of 30 societies with more than 125,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. Our mission is to advance health and welfare by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy. Details: Nicholas S. Kirkby, Abel Tesfai, Blerina Ahmetaj-Shala, Hime H. Gashaw, Walkyria Sampaio, Gisele Etelvino, Nadia Miriceia Leao, Robson A. Santos, and Jane A. Mitchell. Ibuprofen arginate retains eNOS substrate activity and reverses endothelial dysfunction: implications for the COX-2/ADMA axis. FASEB J. ; doi:10.1096/fj.201600647R ; http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2016/09/02/fj.201600647R.abstract A mild sedative could greatly reduce the risk of people experiencing delirium after an operation, according to new research A mild sedative could greatly reduce the risk of people experiencing delirium after an operation, according to new research. The study, by scientists at Imperial College London and Peking University First Hospital, suggests sedating patients after they undergo an operation may reduce the risk of post-operative delirium by up to 65 per cent. The condition may affect up to one in three people who have a major operation, causing confusion and hallucinations - with the over-65s particularly at risk. The team, who publish their study tomorrow in The Lancet, believe the sedative may help the brain 'recover and reset' after surgery. Post-operative delirium usually strikes within the first two days of a person waking from general anaesthetic. The symptoms range from relatively mild, such as a person not knowing their name or where they are, to more severe, such as aggressive behaviour, believing people are trying to harm them, or even hallucinations. Professor Daqing Ma, co-lead author of the new study from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, said: "Post-operative delirium is a huge challenge for the medical community - and incredibly distressing for patients and their families. In many cases patients become almost child-like, and do not understand where they are, what is happening, and become very upset. Hospital staff have also been injured by delirious patients becoming aggressive. However we currently have no treatments options available for this condition." The causes are unknown, but one theory is that major surgery can trigger inflammation throughout the body, which in some cases can spread to the brain. The risk of the condition increases with age, and it seems to strike more often when patients undergo major, lengthy operations. The delirium can last from a few hours to a couple of days, and some research suggests it may be linked to an increased risk of elderly patients later developing dementia. In the new study, co-led by Professor Dongxin Wang at Peking University First Hospital, researchers assessed 700 patients age 65 or older who were about to undergo major surgery at the Beijing hospital. Half received a low dose of a type of sedative called dexmedetomidine after the operation, as an infusion directly into a vein in their arm, while half received a placebo salt-water infusion. The patients received the infusion of sedative or placebo around an hour after surgery, and for the next 16 hours. This sedative, which is commonly used for medical procedures and in veterinary medicine, leaves a patient relaxed and drowsy, yet conscious. The drug is considered safe as it doesn't affect breathing. Both groups received the same general anaesthetic before undergoing their operation. They were then assessed for symptoms of delirium every day for a week after their procedure. The results revealed that nearly one in four patients in the placebo group - 23 per cent - developed delirium. However only just under one in ten patients - 9 per cent - who received the sedative developed the condition. Scientists are still unsure how the sedative works, but one theory is it allows the brain to rest and recover immediately after surgery, explained Professor Ma. "Previous studies have shown that patients who struggle to sleep after their operation - perhaps because they are in pain or on a busy, noisy ward - are at increased risk of delirium." He added that the sedative dexmedetomidine seems to not only trigger sleep, but actually mimics the natural state the brain enters during sleep. "Although other sedatives induce sleep, they do not trigger the natural 'sleep state' the brain requires to rest, reset, and recover." Professor Ma added that previous research have suggested the sedative may help prevent delirium, but this is the largest study to show such beneficial effects. The study also confirmed there were no side effects of the sedative. Further results showed the patients given the sedative had fewer post-operative complications than the placebo group, and were discharged from hospital earlier. The team will now assess if the sedative has long-term benefits, beyond the seven-day study period. Professor Ma added: "There is still much more work to do around post-operative delirium, as we still don't fully understand what is happening in the brain, and why some patients are more at risk. However these findings suggest this sedative may be a potential method of preventing post-operative delirium in some patients." ### The research was funded by the Braun Anaesthesia Scientific Research Fund and Wu Jieping Medical Foundation. CASE STUDY: "I thought I was sailing down the River Trent on a hospital ship" Professor Michael Wang, a clinical psychologist from the University of Leicester, suffered post-operative delirium after major heart surgery in 2012. He recalled: "I first woke around 18 hours after my operation at a Leicester hospital. A doctor was speaking with a nurse about my operation at the foot of my bed, and I asked them where we were. I thought the doctor replied Nottingham, which confused me as I thought we were in Leicester. I formed the conclusion I was on a hospital ship, sailing down the River Trent. My operation took place over the Christmas period, and I thought perhaps the ship was a private facility allowing surgeons and anaesthetists to earn extra money. I looked out of the window and saw trees moving past on the 'river bank', which confirmed my suspicion. I also thought I heard the sound of other ships' fog horns in the distance, which I now realise was the sound of other patients' bedside call buttons. I kept trying to pull out the tubes in my arm and chest, which were providing vital fluid, antibiotics and monitoring as I didn't believe I needed them. The staff, who were incredibly patient and to whom I subsequently apologised - said to me: "We know you believe this is all part of a conspiracy, but if you pull out your lines you will die." Shortly after this, I believed I was moved into a dark room filled with rolled-up carpets. This, of course, didn't happen and I now know I stayed in my bed on the intensive care unit the whole time. However, I was convinced I had been placed in this room, and when friends came to visit, I was puzzled by why they needed to squeeze through the gaps between the carpet rolls. I also saw a nurse nearby keeping an eye on me, perched among the rolls of carpet. Later I awoke to find myself in a sinister Chinese mausoleum under the intensive care unit (or so I thought). It felt like some kind of nightmare, with dark recesses and glowing Chinese symbols. I have since realised these symbols were based on the illuminated heart monitor buttons on the wall opposite my bed. Once I was discharged from intensive care (approximately three days after my operation) most of the delusions cleared. Although my hallucinations sound frightening, I felt strangely detached from them. I think this is because of my familiarity, through my work, with the intensive care unit environment and the experiences of patients - and so part of me knew I was suffering from delusions. Indeed, I have researched post-operative delirium and I know that most patients find their experiences far more terrifying than I found mine. However, the experience allowed me a crucial insight into what patients experience in post-operative delirium, and why it's so important to gain understanding to improve treatment and prevention of this condition." If you have never been to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, you will never be able to experience the best of it. Here's why. By India Today Web Desk: If you have never been to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, you will never be able to experience the best of it, thanks to climate change. Rowan Jacobsen, in his article for Outside online , tiled Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016), has highlighted in detail as to how this natural wonder is in grave danger. advertisement Read the article here: The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness. It was 25 million years old. For most of its life, the reef was the world's largest living structure, and the only one visible from space. It was 1,400 miles long, with 2,900 individual reefs and 1,050 islands. In total area, it was larger than the United Kingdom, and it contained more biodiversity than all of Europe combined. It harbored 1,625 species of fish, 3,000 species of mollusk, 450 species of coral, 220 species of birds, and 30 species of whales and dolphins. Among its many other achievements, the reef was home to one of the world's largest populations of dugong and the largest breeding ground of green turtles. The reef was born on the eastern coast of the continent of Australia during the Miocene epoch. Its first 24.99 million years were seemingly happy ones, marked by overall growth. It was formed by corals, which are tiny anemone-like animals that secrete shell to form colonies of millions of individuals. Its complex, sheltered structure came to comprise the most important habitat in the ocean. As sea levels rose and fell through the ages, the reef built itself into a vast labyrinth of shallow-water reefs and atolls extending 140 miles off the Australian coast and ending in an outer wall that plunged half a mile into the abyss. With such extraordinary diversity of life and landscape, it provided some of the most thrilling marine adventures on earth to humans who visited. Its otherworldly colors and patterns will be sorely missed. To say the reef was an extremely active member of its community is an understatement. The surrounding ecological community wouldn't have existed without it. Its generous spirit was immediately evident 60,000 years ago, when the first humans reached Australia from Asia during a time of much lower sea levels. At that time, the upper portions of the reef comprised limestone cliffs and innumerable caves lining a resource-rich coast. Charlie Veron, longtime chief scientist for the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Great Barrier Reef's most passionate champion (he personally discovered 20 percent of the world's coral species), called the reef in that era a "Stone Age Utopia." Aboriginal clans hunted and fished its waters and cays for millennia, and continued to do so right up to its demise. Worldwide fame touched the reef in 1770, when Captain James Cook became the first European to navigate its deadly maze. Although the reef was beloved by nearly all who knew it, Cook was not a fan. "The sea in all parts conceals shoals that suddenly project from the shore, and rocks that rise abruptly like a pyramid from the bottom," he wrote in his journal. Cook's ship foundered on one of those shoals and was nearly sunk, but after several months Cook escaped the reef. advertisement After that, the reef was rarely out of the spotlight. A beacon for explorers, scientists, artists, and tourists, it became Australia's crown jewel. Yet that didn't stop the Queensland government from attempting to lease nearly the entire reef to oil and mining companies in the 1960s-a move that gave birth to Australia's first conservation movement and a decade-long "Save the Reef" campaign that culminated in the 1975 creation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which restricted fishing, shipping, and development in the reef and seemed to ensure its survival. In his 2008 book, A Reef in Time, Veron wrote that back then he might have ended his book about the reef with "a heartwarming bromide: 'And now we can rest assured that future generations will treasure this great wilderness area for all time.'" But, he continued: "Today, as we are coming to grips with the influence that humans are having on the world's environments, it will come as no surprise that I am unable to write anything remotely like that ending." In 1981, the same year that UNESCO designated the reef a World Heritage Site and called it "the most impressive marine area in the world," it experienced its first mass-bleaching incident. Corals derive their astonishing colors, and much of their nourishment, from symbiotic algae that live on their surfaces. The algae photosynthesize and make sugars, which the corals feed on. But when temperatures rise too high, the algae produce too much oxygen, which is toxic in high concentrations, and the corals must eject their algae to survive. Without the algae, the corals turn bone white and begin to starve. If water temperatures soon return to normal, the corals can recruit new algae and recover, but if not, they will die in months. In 1981, water temperatures soared, two-thirds of the coral in the inner portions of the reef bleached, and scientists began to suspect that climate change threatened coral reefs in ways that no marine park could prevent. advertisement By the turn of the millennium, mass bleachings were common. The winter of 1997-98 brought the next big one, followed by an even more severe one in 2001-02, and another whopper in 2005-06. By then, it was apparent that warming water was not the only threat brought by climate change. As the oceans absorbed more carbon from the atmosphere, they became more acidic, and that acid was beginning to dissolve the living reef itself. advertisement Concerned for the reef's health, a number of friends attempted interventions-none more poignant than Veron's famed 2009 speech to London's 350-year-old Royal Society titled "Is the Great Barrier Reef on Death Row?" Veron quickly answered his own question in the affirmative: "This is not a fun talk to give, but I've never given a more important talk in my life," he told the premier gathering of scientists, accurately predicting that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations of 450 parts per million (which the world will reach in 2025) would bring about the demise of the reef. No one knows if a serious effort could have saved the reef, but it is clear that no such effort was made. On the contrary, attempts to call attention to the reef's plight were thwarted by the government of Australia itself, which in 2016, shortly after approving the largest coal mine in its history, successfully pressured the United Nations to remove a chapter about the reef from a report on the impact of climate change on World Heritage sites. Australia's Department of the Environment explained the move by saying, "experience had shown that negative comments about the status of World Heritage-listed properties impacted on tourism." In other words, if you tell people the reef is dying, they might stop coming. By then, the reef was in the midst of the most catastrophic bleaching event in its history, from which it would never recover. As much as 50 percent of the coral in the warmer, northern part of the reef died. "The whole northern section is trashed," Veron told Australia's Saturday Paper. "It looks like a war zone. It's heartbreaking." With no force on earth capable of preventing the oceans from continuing to warm and acidify for centuries to come, Veron had no illusions about the future. "I used to have the best job in the world. Now it's turned sour... I'm 71 years old now, and I think I may outlive the reef." The Great Barrier Reef was predeceased by the South Pacific's Coral Triangle, the Florida Reef off the Florida Keys, and most other coral reefs on earth. It is survived by the remnants of the Belize Barrier Reef and some deepwater corals. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Ocean Ark Alliance. --- ENDS --- In a first of its kind study, Mount Sinai researchers are using optimal coherence tomography (OCT) angiography to look at the earliest stages of glaucoma and identify characteristic patterns of different forms of glaucoma based on their vascular patterns. The research could lead doctors to diagnose glaucoma cases earlier than ever before and potentially slow down the progression of vision loss. OCT angiography is an advanced imaging system that captures the motion of red blood cells in blood vessels non-invasively, as opposed to traditional angiography, which uses dye injections. Using this technology, a team of scientists from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered that all glaucoma patients have fewer blood vessels, or less blood flow to the eyes compared to patients without glaucoma. The findings were published in the October 14 issue of IOVS. Researchers analyzed 92 patients above the age of 50 between April and August 2015. They divided those patients into three groups based on their condition: primary open-angle glaucoma (high pressure); normal-tension glaucoma (low pressure); and no glaucoma. They used OCT angiography to look at the blood vessels in each patient, and found those with glaucoma had different patterns of defects in the blood flow in the most superficial layer of the retina depending on the type of glaucoma. "This is the first time we have been able to identify certain characteristic patterns of blood flow that correspond to different types of glaucoma, which may allow us to identify certain forms of glaucoma in their early stages," said lead investigator Richard Rosen, MD, Director, Retina Services, NYEE; Research Director, Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "The findings could lead to new therapeutic strategies to avoid progressive damage in glaucoma patients, and provide a new metric for monitoring early damage that eventually leads to vision loss." The team of researchers developed new software to analyze the images obtained with OCT angiography. This software was designed to map the perfused optic nerve capillaries in each eye to reveal the patterns of the blood vessels feeding the optic nerve fiber layer. They looked at patients with open-angle glaucoma and evaluated how their blood flow distribution differed from patients with normal-tension glaucoma. They then compared the patterns of the blood supply to the patterns of the optic nerve fiber layer loss due to glaucoma. In high-pressure glaucoma the pattern of blood flow loss closely matched the optic nerve fiber loss. In normal-tension glaucoma cases, the pattern of blood flow loss, while not significantly different from open-angle glaucoma, tended to be more diffuse. "Normal-tension glaucoma is often picked up late because it's not recognized if patients don't have high pressure, causing them to lose nerve fiber and blood supply before diagnosis," said James C. Tsai, MD, MBA, Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Mount Sinai Health System; President, NYEE. "This study points to vascular factors contributing to normal-tension glaucoma and we can use this to help identify ways to detect the disease earlier, and possibly prevent vision loss." Further studies will help to refine identification of these characteristic patterns of blood flow that indicate normal-tension glaucoma. Future advancements in technology may also lead to OCT angiography becoming a standardized imaging modality for the diagnosis and management of glaucoma. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School also contributed to this study. ### This research was funded by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., additional support was provided by the David E. Marrus Glaucoma Research Fund and the Herman Peters Pediatric Glaucoma Research Fund of NYEE. About the Mount Sinai Health System The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services--from community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care. The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 12 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is in the "Honor Roll" of best hospitals in America, ranked No. 15 nationally in the 2016-2017 "Best Hospitals" issue of U.S. News & World Report. The Mount Sinai Hospital is also ranked as one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Geriatrics, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurology/Neurosurgery, and Ear, Nose & Throat, and is in the top 50 in four other specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 10 nationally for Ophthalmology, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in seven out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report in "Best Children's Hospitals." To learn more, visit http://www.mountsinai.org. A collaborative team of investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and Loyola University have demonstrated for the first time that culturing T cells in N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) before they are infused as immunotherapy improves effectiveness and outcomes in a preclinical model of melanoma. These findings were reported in the October 15, 2016 issue of Cancer Research. Both incidence and mortality rates for metastatic melanoma continue to rise. Only about 15% of Stage IV melanoma patients receiving standard treatment can expect to survive for five years. By contrast, clinical trial data show that up to 40% of Stage IV melanoma patients survive for five years when treated with adoptive cell therapy (ACT), a form of immunotherapy that calls for infusion of autologous, melanoma-specific T cells. ACT aims to boost a patient's own immune responses against the cancer. To do this, the patient's own T cells are harvested, genetically modified with a therapeutic T cell receptor, activated, and then rapidly expanded to generate large numbers of T cells for therapeutic re-infusion. Unfortunately, patient responses vary. Better outcomes are positively correlated with persistence of the transferred cells. The rapid expansion of harvested T cells before reinfusion increases their susceptibility to activation-induced cell death (AICD), prompting the authors to hypothesize that AICD reduces ACT's overall effectiveness. Researchers have long known that factors limiting T cell persistence also limit ACT efficacy but, until now, no one knew that something as simple as changing the culture condition by supplementing with NAC could improve survival of the reinfused T cells. The research team showed that adding NAC to the in vitro T cell expansion culture prevents increases in the DNA damage marker H2AX and significantly improves T cell persistence and immunotherapy outcomes, including reduced tumor growth and enhanced survival. BOULDER, Colo. - JILA physicists have demonstrated a novel laser design based on synchronized emissions of light from the same type of atoms used in advanced atomic clocks. The laser could be stable enough to improve atomic clock performance a hundredfold and even serve as a clock itself, while also advancing other scientific quests such as making accurate "rulers" for measuring astronomical distances. Described in the October 14 issue of Science Advances, the "superradiant" laser's output of red light is expected to be about 10,000 times less sensitive than conventional lasers to pervasive mechanical vibrations, or noise. As a result, the new laser can lock onto an exact frequency, or color, more tightly, making it 100 times sharper as a precision tool. The work was done at JILA, a partnership of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder. NIST has long been a world leader in developing ultra-stable lasers, and the new work provides a qualitatively new approach for advancing the field further. The same JILA group demonstrated the basic principle for a superradiant laser in 2012. Now the scientists have built the laser using the same type of atoms used in JILA's world-leading strontium lattice clock. In fact, the new laser might be used as an atomic clock all by itself. Strontium atoms were chosen because they have an excellent "memory" of their exact color or frequency. They can potentially store this information for 2.5 minutes, compared to the mere 100 billionths of a second of typical atoms. This allows the superradiant laser to store and protect most of the laser's color information inside the atoms. In contrast, ordinary lasers store this information in light bouncing between two mirrors, and any mirror vibrations scramble it. The ability to maintain a precise frequency is crucial for applications like atomic clocks, which rely on lasers to make atoms "tick" from one energy state to another. "But here is the rub: The very long memory of the atoms is awesome, but it also makes it extremely difficult to get the atoms to emit any light, which provides the information for us to use," said JILA/NIST scientist James Thompson. "But in this superradiant laser, for the first time, we have coaxed these atoms to emit their light 10,000 times faster than they would normally like to emit it." JILA's superradiant laser uses 200,000 strontium atoms stacked in layers of 5,000 and trapped in a hollow enclosure--a cavity--between two mirrors (these mirrors do vibrate, but the frequency information is stored in the atoms). The atoms are chilled to temperatures near absolute zero and levitated in a vacuum by an optical lattice, a "crystal of light" created by intersecting external laser beams. The experiment begins by briefly shining light on the atoms to prepare them in their long-lived excited, or high-energy, state. An environmental signal--quantum noise of empty space--prompts the strontium atoms to spontaneously start ticking as their outer electrons begin to bounce back and forth from one side of the atom to the other. The oscillation is like a miniature antenna that radiates a very small amount of light into the cavity. This very weak light, consisting of only a few light particles, or photons, bouncing back and forth inside the cavity, allows the atoms to communicate and synchronize with each other. This synchronization phenomenon is also evident in pendulum clocks placed near each other, and even in the flashing of fireflies. As the synchronization spreads and strengthens, more and more light is emitted, until eventually all theatoms have moved from an excited (high-energy) to a calm (low-energy) state. Light bounces back and forth between the mirrors nearly 30,000 times before leaking out through the mirrors. All of the energy initially stored inside of the atoms has been converted into a pulse of laser light lasting 50 hundredths of a second. When synchronized, the collection of small antennas act like a single "super antenna" that broadcasts power into the cavity at a much higher than normal rate--a process called superradiance because the collective emission is 1,000 times more intense than independently radiating atoms. The emission rate increases proportionally to the number of atoms squared, making the laser much brighter than is possible without synchronization. Future studies will investigate use of the pulsed superradiant laser light as an absolute frequency reference for such applications as atomic clocks. In addition, researchers hope to create a continuous superradiant laser beam by constantly returning atoms to the excited state. "The superradiant laser light is still billions of times weaker than typical lasers, but the key point is that the color or frequency of the light should be very stable," Thompson said. Such a laser might be just as stable as the atoms used in the most advanced clocks. Today's best atomic clocks are limited in part by laser noise. Because a superradiant laser essentially uses an atomic clock as its energy source, the laser light both reads out the ticking of the atoms and is immune to cavity mirror vibrations. Better lasers may also have applications in space science, perhaps as rulers of light that could reach across distances as vast as from the Earth to the Sun, potentially enabling the detection of gravity waves in space, for example. ### The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Army Research Office, National Science Foundation and NIST. Paper: M.A. Norcia, M.N. Winchester, J.R.K. Cline and J.K. Thompson. Superradiance on the milliHertz linewidth strontium clock transition. Science Advances. October 14, 2016. Northwestern University's Mercouri G. Kanatzidis has received the prestigious 2016 Eric and Sheila Samson Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels for Transportation, according to an announcement by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Totaling $1 million, the Samson Prize is the world's largest monetary prize awarded in the field of alternative fuels. Kanatzidis, an inorganic chemist, equally shares the $1 million prize with Gregory Stephanopoulos, a chemical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The two researchers are being honored for their innovative scientific contributions to alternative fuel development. Kanatzidis' citation notes his "seminal contributions in the design of nanostructured thermoelectric materials, which convert heat to electricity." Kanatzidis, a Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, received the unexpected news Oct. 5 while attending a press conference for fellow Northwestern chemist Sir Fraser Stoddart, who had received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry that day. "I was speechless when I heard the news from Israel," Kanatzidis said. "Some people have to go to Stockholm, and I have to go to Tel Aviv. I am very ok with that." Prime Minister Netanyahu will present the Samson Prize to Kanatzidis and Stephanopoulos Nov. 2 at the International Fuel Choices Summit in Tel Aviv. "This award recognizes all of our thermoelectric research during the last 20 years -- work with the goals of reducing the use of fossil fuels in vehicles and other kinds of applications," said Kanatzidis, also a senior chemist at Argonne National Laboratory. Thermoelectrics are semiconductors that convert waste heat into electricity. By harvesting waste heat, thermoelectric materials can save energy in many thermal processes -- including in automobiles -- significantly increasing vehicle mileage and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Kanatzidis' research has contributed to a deeper fundamental understanding of the thermoelectric process and opened paths to further breakthroughs. Kanatzidis and Stephanopoulos were selected by a committee of international experts, who submitted their recommendation to a board of trustees, headed by former Technion president, Professor Yitzhak Apeloig. This is the fourth time the Samson Prize has been awarded by the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, and Keren Hayesod, the official fundraising organization for Israel. ### ARLINGTON, Va.--The moments after a traumatic limb injury resulting from an explosive blast are critical. Blood is lost, tissue begins to dry and deteriorate, and dirt and harmful bacteria may enter the wound--increasing the risk of infection, limb loss or even death. To combat this threat, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is sponsoring work to develop a breakthrough medical wrap that will not only cover injured limbs, but also mitigate damage and protect tissue for up to three days. The wrap will be called the Acute Care Cover for the Severely Injured Limb--or ACCSIL--and will be demonstrated within the next two years. "ACCSIL will be carried by corpsmen and medics, administered at the point of injury on the battlefield and used in conjunction with a tourniquet," said Dr. Tim Bentley, a program manager in ONR's Warfighter Performance Department, who oversees the research. "It will be lightweight, keep the wound fresh and maintain tissue condition for up to 72 hours--which is particularly important as we plan for future scenarios where prolonged field care will be required." ACCSIL is being designed by Battelle, an Ohio-based research and development organization, in partnership with ONR, the Naval Research Laboratory and the Naval Medical Research Center. The wrap will comprise two main parts: (1) an outer cover that will conform to the shape of the injured limb, stop blood loss, retain body heat and block out dirt, and (2) a "bioactive" inner layer coated with specially designed chemical compounds to release antibiotics and pain medication, keep tissue moist, and prevent bacterial and fungal growth. "Successful development of this system will provide military medics with a solution currently unavailable to them," said Kelly Jenkins, director of advanced materials for Battelle's Consumer, Industrial and Medical business unit. "Current bandages aren't very good at keeping out bacteria, so a lot of medics improvise by using plastic wrap and lots of tape--which is actually really good at keeping the wound moist but not protecting or preserving tissue. ACCSIL will function much better." For Jenkins, ACCSIL's ability to preserve tissue for up to 72 hours will be the wrap's most valuable virtue, especially in remote combat zones where it might take several days to transport an injured warfighter to a military hospital. "The goal with this wrap is not healing but preservation," said Jenkins. "We want to try to stop time--to keep the wound as fresh as when it first happened and give surgeons up to 72 hours to start treatment. Even if ACCSIL can't save the whole limb, we want to save enough of the limb to give the patient a good quality of life they might not otherwise have had in such a situation." ACCSIL's use could potentially go beyond the battlefield to industrial settings aboard ships or submarines--where Sailors and Marines risk crushed limbs from steel plates or hatches, or burns from ruptured steam lines. The wrap also could be a lifesaver in civilian scenarios like farming or automobile accidents, or terrorist attacks like the recent bombings in France and Brussels. "ACCSIL will be designed as a 'tactical to practical' tool," said Jenkins. "Not just for warfighters, but also for first responders and law enforcement. Urban warfare and domestic terrorism present a real need for a device like ACCSIL, which can dramatically improve medical treatment during such an event." ### Coastal defences could be designed to better withstand powerful storms triggered by climate change, a study of wave dynamics suggests. Improving seawalls could help limit loss of life and damage to property as coastal waters become stormier over coming years, researchers say. The team has developed a way of predicting what happens to the millions of tonnes of water inside big waves when they collide with cliffs, seawalls and buildings. Their findings could help engineers design coastal defences that are better able to stop sea water spilling over on to land - known as overtopping. When a breaking wave collides with an upright structure, a powerful jet of water is thrown straight up into the air. Researchers found these huge sheets of water then split into several 'fingers' before breaking apart into a spray of droplets, which can hit people and property with real force. Saltwater can also cause damage to buildings, vehicles and transport infrastructure. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh and Hokkaido University recreated stormy sea conditions in a 24m wave flume in Japan to gauge the impact of waves on vertical walls. A scaled-down version of a seawall was bombarded with waves, which researchers tracked using a high-resolution video camera. They found that water is dispersed in a distinct pattern that varies depending on the size of waves. The pattern differs from those produced by other types of spray, such as those produced by industrial sprayers used in car and agriculture industries. Based on their findings, researchers developed a statistical model to calculate the pattern of spray produced by wave impacts. This could help inform future sea defence strategies which have until now not taken into account the pattern of spray produced by waves, the team says. ### The study is published in the Royal Society journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A. The research was funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Professor David Ingram, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, said: "The UK and Japan are island nations on the edge of large oceans where storms can create very big waves. With climate change increasing the intensity and frequency of storms, a better understanding of the interaction of waves and our natural and engineered coast is critical." Montreal, October 14, 2016. - A pill a day for 12 weeks. The new direct-acting antivirals (DAA) are effective in curing the hepatitis C virus infection, a potentially fatal disease that attacks the liver. But they are expensive--approximately $60,000 per patient. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, and the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC) shows that nearly everywhere in Canada, provinces and territories impose obstacles to the reimbursement of these medications by the public system because of their cost. "There are many new direct-acting antivirals, marketed by different pharmaceutical companies. We studied reimbursement practices for simeprevir, sofosbuvir, ledipasvir-sofosbuvir and paritaprevir-ritonavir-ombitasvir plus dasabuvir. We found that 85 to 92% of the provinces and territories in Canada restrict access to these medications to persons with moderate fibrosis," affirmed Alison Marshall from the Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, lead author of a study to appear today in CMAJ Open. More than 220,000 people in Canada are infected by the Hepatitis C virus. The disease is transmitted by blood. One person in four spontaneously clears the virus before it attacks the liver. The rest often don't feel any symptoms at the beginning, but gradually develop liver disease, graded from F0 to F4. F0 corresponds to the initial infection without fibrosis and F4, to cirrhosis. From one ocean to the other, provinces and territories impose all types of conditions before reimbursing any of the direct-acting antivirals: a fibrosis level of F2, prescription from a specialist physician, the absence of HIV infection, etc. "The pill isn't easy to get," says Michel Deschenes, 38. "I've been infected with hepatitis C for a year and I am still waiting for a FibroScan examination. My doctor told me to come back later because my liver isn't sick enough to prescribe the medication. I have a girlfriend and am actively seeking work. This is putting my life on hold and I'd like to get rid of it," he said. "The treatment is effective, safe and economically viable. We should treat all people infected with hepatitis C," insisted Dr. Julie Bruneau, a physician and researcher at the CHUM. Canada is committed to the World Health Organization's objective of eradicating hepatitis by 2030. "Currently, in Canada, the majority of new and existing hepatitis C infections occur in people with recent or former injection drug use. These people are often vulnerable and stigmatized and have a difficult relationship with the health-care system. Telling them to wait often means losing sight of them. If we want to significantly reduce infection in the future, we need to offer appropriate services, screen and treat these people. If they get reinfected, they have to be treated again immediately. If not, we'll lose the battle and that will be more costly in terms of money and human lives," explained Dr. Bruneau. If the trend continues, the costs associated with treating patients with cirrhosis of the liver will increase from $161M to $258M a year in 2035, according to the calculations of the authors of the CMAJ Open study. "In terms of public health costs, it's less expensive to pay $60,000 now for an antiviral treatment than $500,000 for a liver transplant later," indicates Dr. Bruneau, also a Professor at the Universite de Montreal. Scientists at the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C are calling for a national strategy to eliminate hepatitis C in the country. "Even though health care is the responsibility of the provinces and we have 13 public health insurance plans in Canada, we need a national plan and shared goals that can be adapted to local realities. We did it for HIV and we should also do it for hepatitis C," argues Naglaa Shoukry, a researcher at the CRCHUM and the director of the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C. In Australia, this type of approach provided leverage to negotiate the price of antivirals with pharmaceutical companies, enabling access to HCV therapy for all patients living with hepatitis C with no restrictions based on severity of liver disease. In the first five months of therapy being available, 26,500 have received treatment (12% of the estimated total with chronic hepatitis C). "At the present time in Canada, it's the law of supply and demand; there are negotiations on a company-by-company, pill-by-pill basis. There is no transparency and we don't really know how much the new antivirals really cost. The only way to eliminate hepatitis C is by adopting a national strategy to screen and treat all infected individuals, particularly people who inject drugs," concluded Naglaa Shoukry. ### About this study The study entitled "A review of restrictions of reimbursement of direct-acting antiviral treatment for hepatitis C virus infection in Canada" was conducted by researchers at the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC), headed by Naglaa Shoukry (CRCHUM & Universite de Montreal) and Julie Bruneau (CRCHUM & Universite de Montreal). The study does not necessarily represent the viewpoint of the main funding bodies: The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (grant: NHC-142832), the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Australian Department of Health and Ageing. To learn more, we invite you to read the study: cmajopen.ca. Additional resources Eliminating hepatitis C: an interview with Naglaa Shoukry, researcher at the CRCHUM and director of the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC) http://crchum.chumontreal.qc.ca/nouvelles/eliminer-lhepatite-c Canadian Network on Hepatitis C canhepc.ca/en (in English) University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre crchum.com Universite de Montreal umontreal.ca Source: University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) CHAPEL HILL, NC Crohns disease, a common inflammatory disorder of the intestinal tract, can have devastating consequences for a patients quality of life and is notoriously hard to treat successfully, in part because its course and severity vary so much from one case to the next. Now, UNC School of Medicine scientists have made a discovery that could explain why Crohns is so variable: the disease appears to have at least two distinct subtypes, each with its own pattern of gene expression and mix of clinical features. The discovery, published in the journal Gut, could lead to more effective strategies for treating Crohns, which affects close to one million people in the United States. Although people with the disease typically are treated with powerful immune-suppressing drugs, roughly 70 percent eventually require surgery to remove portions of the intestinal tract that have developed blockages or other problems caused by severe inflammation. Even after surgery, the disease often recurs and is therefore not curative. A deeper understanding of the biology of Crohns disease should enable doctors to target it more effectively. The one-treatment-fits-all approach doesnt seem to be working for Crohns patients, said Shehzad Z. Sheikh, MD, PhD, assistant professor in UNCs departments of medicine and genetics and co-senior author of the study. Its plausible that this is because only a subset of patients has the type of disease that responds to standard therapy, whereas, for the rest of the patients, were really not hitting the right targets. For the new study, published online today, Sheikh teamed up with Terry Furey, PhD, associate professor in UNCs departments of genetics and biology and study co-senior author, to map the levels of gene expression in non-inflamed, healthy-looking colon tissue samples taken from 21 Crohns patients. When they began looking at the gene expression patterns in these patients, two clear groupings dominated. Although we saw a difference between the Crohns samples and samples from people without Crohns, we saw an even greater difference at the molecular level between these two subsets of the Crohns samples, Furey said. How the two disease subtypes differed was unexpected. It was surprising, said Jeremy Simon, PhD, a research assistant professor in UNCs department of genetics and co-first author of the study with former graduate student Matthew Weiser, PhD. Many of the genes that were different between the two Crohns subtypes are markers that distinguish the colon from the ileum, despite these being colon biopsies. The team described how in one disease subtype, the pattern of gene expression mostly resembled that of normal colon tissue. In the other, gene expression shifted towards the pattern normally seen in the ileum the part of the small intestine that empties (via a structure called the cecum) into the colon, and is often the first area affected in Crohns. The team looked not only at specific gene expression products in the sampled tissue, but also at indicators of the epigenetic state of the tissue DNA the pattern of molecular switches on chromosomes that effectively permit or repress nearby gene activity. Here, too, there was a distinction between the two Crohns subtypes, suggesting that their differences in gene expression stemmed from differences in the basic programming of the affected cells. The colon samples were from adults with Crohns that had all undergone surgery, leaving open the possibility that their treatment and disease histories may have played a role in the observed gene expression patterns. So the team then looked at a recently published gene expression dataset from 201 children with newly diagnosed, never-treated Crohns, and although the tissue samples this time were from the ileum, the researchers again observed the same two colon-like and ileum-like disease classes. This suggests that these molecular programs or baseline genomic signatures of Crohns subtypes exist independently of patients ages or treatment histories, said Sheikh. Importantly, these two signatures were linked to different patterns of clinical illness. The colon-like cases, for example, were more likely to have gut inflammation visible during colonoscopy, rectal disease (notoriously difficult to manage from a clinical standpoint), and severe enough colon inflammation to require surgical removal of the colon (colectomy). Sheikh, Furey, and their colleagues now hope to translate these results into a diagnostic test on tissue samples from routine colonoscopies, or perhaps even on blood samples. Such tests could help doctors classify Crohns patients and choose the best therapies. As an initial follow-up, they plan a broadened study to confirm their findings in a much larger set of patient samples, a project for which they recently received funding from the National Institutes of Health. They also hope to undertake a long-term study, in which they would test patients for their Crohns subtype when they are initially diagnosed with the disease, and then follow them for several years to see whether the assigned subtype predicts the disease course. We hope one day to be able to test Crohns patients for the subtype of the disease they have, and thus determine which treatment should work best, Sheikh said. The idea is to find the best therapeutic course for each patient as quickly and efficiently as possible. ### The other co-authors of the study were UNC GI fellow Bharati Kochar, MD; UNC graduate student Adelaide Tovar; UNC postdoctoral fellow Jennifer W. Israel, PhD; former UNC graduate students Adam Robinson, PhD, and Gregory R. Gipson, PhD; UNC research technician Matthew S. Schaner; Hans H. Herfarth, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine; R. Balfour Sartor, MD, the Midgette Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology and co-director of the UNC Multidisciplinary Center for IBD Research and Treatment; Reza Rahbar, MD, assistant professor of surgery at UNC; Timothy S. Sadiq, MD, assistant professor of surgery at UNC; Mark J. Koruda, MD, professor of surgery; and Dermot P.B. McGovern, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, Director of Translational Medicine, and the Joshua L. and Lisa Z. Greer Endowed Chair in IBD Genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The work was supported by the American Gastroenterological Association, the Broad Medical Research Program, Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America, and the National Institutes of Health. A team of chemists including Daniel Weix from the University of Rochester has developed a process for identifying new catalysts that will help synthesize drugs more efficiently and more cheaply. The trick was to do something that has not been attempted before, to examine libraries of drugs to find the cure for bad chemistry: new catalysts. The work was carried out in collaboration with Pfizer as part of a consortium of pharmaceutical companies interested in finding ways to make drugs using less expensive and less rare metal catalysts. Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly concerned about the use of precious metal catalysts because they are, after all, precious--expensive and in limited supply. "If a single mine closes somewhere in the world, a company might not be able to get the catalyst they need to make a life-saving drug," said Weix. "Using nonprecious metal catalysts, like nickel, iron, and copper, avoids this potential catastrophe." A major barrier to using nonprecious metal catalysts is that some of the strategies learned with precious metal catalysts do not seem to apply. In particular, metal catalysts typically contain an organic molecule that controls the reactivity of the metal: a ligand. "For the precious metal catalysts, we have hundreds, even thousands of ligands," notes Weix, "but many of them do not work well for nonprecious metals." This problem came into focus when Weix started receiving industrial inquiries about better conditions for his cross-electrophile coupling chemistry, which involves the interaction of two molecules with the aid of a metal catalyst. "There were a few types of molecules that just didn't couple well, yet were important to a wide variety of companies," recalls Weix. The companies had screened their ligand libraries already and found no new ligands that could improve the reactions beyond a ligand reported nearly four years ago by the Weix group. Having exhausted the commercial supply of ligands, the team at Pfizer suggested searching for new ligands among the Pfizer library of 2.8 million compounds. To help them more efficiently search such a large library, the chemists identified the minimum critical elements of the best ligands and used that as a reasonable starting point, searching the library for compounds that contained the key elements. That search returned more than 1,500 results, leading them to do a more focused search that took into account more practical concerns about availability and likelihood of being a ligand. That search gave them a more manageable 82 results. Among that group, nine ligands in three different classes were found to be highly effective. Further refinements of the "hit" molecules led to even better ligands. "While the new ligands look a lot like the old ligands, they were in a 'blind spot' for chemists," explained Weix. "These types of ligands had never been applied in catalytic reactions, and the only metal complex we found was made by accident." But since those structures are common in drugs, Weix thought it made sense that they found them in the library. Identifying new ligands is interesting already, but what ultimately matters is how well those ligands work with the catalysts in creating pharmaceutical compounds. Both of the challenging classes of reactions that motived the study were solved using the new ligands. In some cases, the improvements were dramatic - reactions that gave almost no product using the old ligands provided over 50 percent yield with the new ligands. "We've shown that it's worthwhile to navigate known libraries of pharmaceutical compounds," said Weix. "What we did was only the beginning, and it's our hope that other chemists and pharmaceutical companies will carry out similar investigations of their compound libraries." The findings have been published in the journal Nature Chemistry. ### A five-year export strategy to open new overseas markets for UK agriculture is being drawn up by the government, Defra secretary Andrea Leadsom has revealed. The strategy to take the UKs food and drink sector to the next level is being devised as the UK prepares to leave the European Union. The events of recent months mean plenty of export opportunities lie ahead, said Mrs Leadsom. We now have a chance to forge a new role for ourselves in the world. See also: Brexit Farm exporters share market worries The governments aim was to make sure British food products were household names from New York to Nairobi. Mrs Leadsom said she also hoped to encourage more exports in terms of volume and agricultural commodities, as well as niche products. Strategy Mrs Leadsom was speaking during a visit to the headquarters of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. Our export team works closely with the Department for International Trade to make sure that food and drink is a core strand of their global export strategy, she said on Thursday 13 October. Across the UK, producers have already exported 10.8 billion worth of food and drink in the first half of this year an increase of almost 6% on 2015. The drive to increase exports is being backed by Defras Great British Food Campaign, which aims to support emerging British companies to export overseas. Mrs Leadsom will also promote British food exports as part of a UK government delegation to the SIAL agricultural fair in Paris next week, followed by a visit to China. Horizons The implications of future trade policy for agriculture are examined in the latest AHDB Horizon publication. The report explores how trade deals with the EU and the rest of the world following Brexit may affect UK the livestock, cereals and oilseeds, and potato sectors. Report co-author Stephen Howarth said: The sustainability and viability of food production businesses in the UK are underpinned by its relationship with the rest of the world. But the balance of imports and exports, as well as our levels of self-sufficiency, vary widely from sector to sector. The AHDB had taken a long, hard look at where those differences were and how they could be turned into an opportunity in future. Mr Howarth said: Increasing productivity and profitability across the supply chain will also be critical in a post-Brexit world. This was especially so in sectors where major global exporters were more competitive. By India Today Web Desk: Baby actors Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu have begun shooting for their upcoming film Naam Shabana which is scheduled to release next year. Naam Shabana is the second film in the Baby franchise. The first film Baby, released in 2015, was a critical and commercial success. Naam Shabana also stars National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajyapee and Malayali star Prithviraj. advertisement "This is one of the many firsts for me this year. Shooting action sequence in Malaysia. We have a major part of the film to be shot in Malaysia in which we will have almost the entire star cast of the film. It will surely be the biggest film for me for next year," Taapsee said in a statement. ALSO READ: Taapsee Pannu opens up on being eve-teased, told that her backless dress was the problem ALSO READ: Pink's Taapsee Pannu and 5 other South actresses who struck gold in Bollywood Taapsee tweeted about the beginning of the second leg of Naam Shabana's shoot as well. 29-year-old Taapsee Pannu has been the talk of Tinsel Town ever since Pink released. Her performance in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer has been lauded by one and all and she has a number of projects lined up for next year including the war film Ghazi and the romantic comedies Tadka and Runningshaadi.com. Speaking of the appreciation that she has been receiving through mails, messages and letters, the actor said, "It's pretty interesting to receive letters and mails of appreciation from across borders. Truly art has no boundaries. There are so many heart-warming messages and mails from females from Middle-Eastern countries especially." Taapsee recently visited the Middle-East where a few girls reportedly met her and expressed their love for Pink. Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar will soon be seen in his Tamil debut 2.0, which is the sequel to the 2010 Rajinikanth film Enthiran. --- ENDS --- New Delhi : The Law Commissions decision to invite views on the contentious Uniform Civil Code on Thursday drew criticism from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Muslim organisations which said they will boycott it and accused the Modi government of waging a war against the community. Calling the questionnaire misleading and divisive, AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said Muslims will not respond to it. We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest, he told media persons here. The uniform code is not suited for this nation. There are so many cultures in India and they have to be respected. A uniform code is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practise their culture and religion, he said. Questioning the timing of the move, Rahmani said the Narendra Modi government had deliberately thrown up this issue now to hide its failures in the last two-and-half years. The development comes days after the Union government told the Supreme Court that triple talaq, nikaah halaal and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices. Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue. Other prominent Muslims who represented their respective organisations at the press conference here included Maulana Arshad Madani (Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind), Mohammad Jafar (Jamaat-e-Islami Hind), Maulana Asghar Imam Mehdi (Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith), Maulana Mahmood Madani (Jamiat Ulema Hind), M. Manzoor Alam (All India Milli Council), Naved Hamid (All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat) and Maulana Abul Qasim Naumani (Rector, Darul Uloom Deoband). Besides, Barelvi cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan of Ittehad-e-Millat Council and Shia cleric Maulana Mohsin Taqvi were scheduled to attend the presser but could not make it, AIMPLB member Kamal Farouqi said. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani said, The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it. Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy, he added, as per IANS. Keep door of the debate open : Minority Affairs Minister to Muslim bodies Meanwhile, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today urged all sections of the community to keep open door of the debate and join the discussions on reforms sans any prejudice. We are an open, democratic and secular country. The debate should happen. The current effort should not be looked with a prejudiced mindset, but an open mindset. Keep the door of the debate open, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Minister (Independent Charge) Naqvi told PTI. He refuted allegations that the BJP-led NDA government is interfering in the religious practices of Muslims through the Commission and said reforms are taking place in other countries too. It is not right to say that the government is interfering in this matter. We only want a healthy and logical debate to happen. This will help all: those supporting the view and also those opposing it, he stated. Congress says UCC cant be implemented, BJP calls its progressive On the other hand, Congress today said that its implementation would be impossible while BJP asserted that the move is aimed at moving towards a progressive society. Other opposition parties like JD(U) accused the BJP-led central government of trying to polarise the people ahead of Assembly polls in several states, with leader of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) Asaduddin Owaisi saying that bringing the UCC will kill the diversity and plurality of India. Owaisi said the governments real agenda was to focus on Muslims and polarise the society. Reacting to the issue, former law minister and Congress leader Veerappa Moily said it will be difficult to implement UCC in a country like India where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws. In a country of this nature, implementation of Uniform Civil Code is next to impossible, he said adding no one should take it as a communal agenda or a Hindu versus Muslim issue. He said 200-300 personal laws exist in India covering various communities. However, BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the Law Commission is taking opinion of all the stakeholders on the issue following which it will form a considered opinion and give it to the Supreme Court. Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual identity If Personal Law Board people are misinformed, I cannot do much about it, he said. Singh also referred to some international declarations and countries like Turkey, Iran and Indonesia saying they changed law to ensure gender equality. He said it was a move towards building a progressive society. Source : Zee News French President Francois Hollande said that, theres a problem with Islam and that too many immigrants were arriving in France who shouldnt be here. Its true that theres a problem with Islam. No one doubts it Its not that Islam poses a problem in the sense that it is a dangerous religion, but in as far as it wants to affirm itself as a religion of the Republic, Hollande is quoted as saying in the book A President Should Not Say That. His comments, made to respected journalists Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, risk dividing his party before next years presidential election. I think there are too many arrivals of immigration that shouldnt be there, he further added. The Le Monde journalists met with Hollande 61 times in December 2015, a month after Islamist militant gunmen and bombers attacked Paris, killing 130 people. Their book was published on Wednesday. The release of the book eclipsed any media boost for Hollande from a wide-ranging interview with LObs magazine also published on Wednesday, which people close to him said was supposed to take him a step closer to formally launching a bid for re-election. Source : India Today In the words of the prosecutor, Everything she reported on was from the position of justifying the protest actions," she now faces criminal charges. Read that sentence again. The state is literally charging her for nothing else beyond exercising her rights as a journalist. Award-winning journalist and the host of Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, has been facing an outrageous arrest warrant in North Dakota for criminal trespass since early Septemberthe result of her merely doing her job as a reporter and covering police violence against oil pipeline protesters in North Dakota. Today, she announced she would return to the state in order to turn herself in and contest the charges on Monday. "I will go back to North Dakota to fight this charge, she said. It is a clear violation of the First Amendment," said Goodman. "I was doing my job as a journalist, covering a violent attack on Native American protesters." It couldnt be more obvious that Ms. Goodman is being charged solely for her journalism and the impact it had on the oil pipeline debate. Heres how Democracy Now described its news coverage that led to the charges against Ms. Goodman: On Saturday, September 3, Democracy Now! filmed security guards working for the pipeline company attacking protesters. The report showed guards unleashing dogs and using pepper spray and featured people with bite injuries and a dog with blood on its mouth and nose. Democracy Now!s report went viral online, was viewed more than 14 million times on Facebook and was rebroadcast on many outlets, including CBS, NBC, NPR, CNN, MSNBCand the Huffington Post. Rolling Stones Matt Tiabbi detailed what happened as a result of the segment Democracy Now aired: Shortly thereafter, the Obama administration intervened, stopping pipeline construction on Army Corps land and asking the company to "voluntarily pause all construction activity" in the area. This victory for the Standing Rock Sioux would likely not have been possible without the aggressive independent reporting of Democracy Now!, whose pictures created significant public pressure. Yet because, in the words of the prosecutor, Everything she reported on was from the position of justifying the protest actions," she now faces criminal charges. Read that sentence again. The state is literally charging her for nothing else beyond exercising her rights as a journalist. We fully support Ms. Goodman for taking this incredibly brave stance and being willing to return North Dakota to fight these charges directly, but make no mistake: North Dakota authorities should have dropped these obviously illegal charges as soon as they were issued. How North Dakota did not immediately realize this was all a horrible mistake on their part is beyond reason. The only explanation seems to be that they want to silence First Amendment-protected speech and intimidate other journalists into not covering the protests. Since the charges were issued a month ago, their actions have been universally condemned by press freedom advocates, and there is simply no justification for letting it stand. Not only are they flagrantly violating the Constitution, they are giving every two bit dictator and corrupt police establishment around the world every excuse to point to this episode and arrest journalists abroad, while making a mockery of our own press freedom protections at home. Goodman is not a stranger to unconstitutional actions by local police. She was arrested in Minnesota in 2008 for covering the protests around the Republican National Convention. She later sued and won $100,000 from the state for infringing her First Amendment rights. We hope and expect similar accountability for the authorities here when the dust clears. But in the meantime, North Dakota should stop embarrassing itself and drop all charges against Amy Goodman, and any other journalist who may be suffering the same fate, immediately. To access the premium content on InsuranceERM, you must first sign in to your account Not registered? Take a free no obligation one-month trial. VANCOUVER, BC--(October 14, 2016) - UEX Corporation (TSX: UEX) ("UEX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce radiometric probe results from five holes completed on the Paul Bay Deposit at the Christie Lake Project (the "Project"). The following results are from five targets identified as necessary for the Paul Bay resource estimate. Results from four of the holes drilled to test the margins of the mineralized zone were as expected; however, results from the final hole CB-102 were exceptional and unexpected. Hole CB-102 tested a large gap in the historic drilling (40-50 m between holes) within the lower section of the Paul Bay Deposit (see Figure 1). CB-102 encountered unexpected high-grade mineralization that included subintervals comprised of semi-massive uranium similar to that observed in holes CB-092 and CB-093 that defined the ultra-high grade subzone described in the UEX news release of September 7, 2016. Radiometric equivalent grades ("REGs") from CB-102 included: 4.23% eU 3 O 8 over 11.90 m from 530.15 to 542.05 m, including three high-grade subintervals: 15.26% eU 3 O 8 over 1.5 m from 533.05 to 534.55 m, 8.20% eU 3 O 8 over 1.0 m from 538.65 to 539.65 m, and 13.60% eU 3 O 8 over 0.6 from 541.35 to 541.95 m. O over 11.90 m from 530.15 to 542.05 m, including three high-grade subintervals: The results from CB-102 suggest that a second high-grade subzone may exist within the Paul Bay Deposit. Room exists around CB-102 to further expand this high-grade mineralization with additional drilling in future programs, once our exploration team has the opportunity to further interpret the geology of this portion of the Paul Bay Deposit. Holes CB-098 and CB-099 tested the up-plunge trend of the ultra-high grade zone (see Figure 1). Hole CB-098 did not intersect significant radioactivity, whereas CB-099 encountered several narrow zones of weak uranium mineralization (see Table 1). These holes have defined the upper boundary of the ultra-high grade zone. Hole CB-097 was drilled to test the eastern extension of the Paul Bay Deposit. CB-097 did not encounter anomalous radioactivity or hydrothermal alteration, indicating that this hole marks the eastern boundary of the Paul Bay mineralizing system. Hole CB-101 was drilled to test a large gap between two mineralized holes west of CB-097. CB-101 encountered several intervals of uranium mineralization, the best of which returned a REG of 0.35% eU 3 O 8 over 1.10 m from 536.35 to 537.45 m. "We are noticing a lot of similarities between the Paul Bay and Ken Pen areas, with respect to the structures that appear to be hosting the high-grade mineralization at both deposits. Applying the Paul Bay blueprint to Ken Pen, which is approximately 200 m along trend and with a fraction of the drilling of Paul Bay, has our geological team very excited." Roger Lemaitre, President & CEO The $4.0 million 2016 Christie Lake exploration drilling program will continue until late October, with the focus now shifted towards exploring the Ken Pen Deposit. The eU 3 O 8 grades were estimated in-situ within the drill holes using calibrated down-hole radiometric gamma probes. Samples from all holes have been collected for assay analysis to confirm these equivalent grades. The samples will be analyzed at the Geoanalytical Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with results expected in the coming weeks. The details on how eU 3 O 8 was calculated from the probe grades were outlined in our press release of May 24, 2016. Table 1 - Radiometric Equivalent Grades - Paul Bay Deposit Hole From To Width Grade (%eU3O8) CB-102 516.75 517.65 0.90 1.08 530.15 542.05 11.90 4.23 including 533.05 534.55 1.50 15.26 and 538.65 539.65 1.00 8.20 and 541.35 541.95 0.60 13.60 CB-101 527.75 528.45 0.70 0.37 534.85 535.25 0.40 0.15 536.35 537.45 1.10 0.35 CB-099 460.95 461.35 0.40 0.15 462.65 464.65 2.00 0.19 About the Christie Lake Project UEX currently holds a 10% interest in the Christie Lake Project and is working under an option agreement to earn up to a 70% interest. The Project is located approximately 9 km northeast and along strike of Cameco's McArthur River Mine, the world's largest uranium producer. The P2 Fault, the controlling structure for all of the McArthur River deposits, continues to the northeast beyond the mine. UEX believes that through a series of en-echelon steps the northeast strike extension of the P2 Fault not only crosses the Project but also controls the two known uranium deposits on Christie Lake, the Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits. The Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits are estimated to host a combined 20.87 million pounds of U 3 O 8 at an average grade of 3.22% U 3 O 8 and were discovered in 1989 and 1993 respectively. This is a historic resource estimation which does not use resource classifications consistent with NI 43-101. The historical resource estimate was presented in an internal report titled Christie Lake Project, Geological Resource Estimate completed by PNC Tono Geoscience Center, Resource Analysis Group, dated September 12, 1997. The historical resource was calculated using a 3 D block model using block sizes of 2 m by 2 m by 2 m, and block grades interpolated using the inverse distance squared method over a circular search radius of 25 m and 1 m height. Specific gravities for each deposit were averaged from specific gravity measures of individual samples collected for assay. UEX plans to complete additional infill drilling on the deposits during the option earn-in period to upgrade these historic resources to indicated and inferred. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historic estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. UEX is not treating the historic estimate as current mineral reserves or mineral resources. Qualified Persons and Data Acquisition Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Roger Lemaitre, P.Eng., P.Geo., UEX's President and CEO and Trevor Perkins, P.Geo., UEX's Exploration Manager, who are each considered to be a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About UEX UEX (TSX: UEX) (OTC PINK: UEXCF) (FRANKFURT: UXO) is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company involved in sixteen uranium projects, including four that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with AREVA Resources Canada Inc. ("AREVA") that is operated by UEX, as well as nine joint ventures with AREVA, one joint venture with AREVA and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited, which are operated by AREVA, and one project (Christie Lake) under option from JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited and operated by UEX. The sixteen projects are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world's richest uranium belt, which in 2015 accounted for approximately 22% of the global primary uranium production. UEX is currently advancing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin which include the Christie Lake deposits, the Kianna, Anne, Colette and 58B deposits at its currently 49.1%-owned Shea Creek Project (located 50 km north of Fission's Triple R Deposit and Patterson Lake South Project, and NexGen's Arrow Deposit) and the Horseshoe, Raven and West Bear deposits located at its 100%-owned Hidden Bay Project. About JCU JCU is a private company that is actively engaged in the exploration and development in Canada. JCU is owned by three Japanese companies. Amongst these, Overseas Uranium Resources Development Co., Ltd. ("OURD") acts as the manager of JCU. JCU has partnerships with UEX, AREVA, Cameco, Denison and others on uranium exploration and development projects in the Athabasca Basin of Northern Saskatchewan including Millennium and Wheeler River and the Kiggavik project in the Thelon Basin in Nunavut. Forward-Looking Information This news release may contain statements that constitute "forward-looking information" for the purposes of Canadian securities laws. Such statements are based on UEX's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding UEX's mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, outlook for our future operations, plans and timing for exploration activities, and other expectations, intentions and plans that are not historical fact. The words "estimates", "projects", "expects", "intends", "believes", "plans", "will", "may", or their negatives or other comparable words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions and is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from UEX's expectations include uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and geology, additional drilling results, continuity and grade of deposits, participation in joint ventures, reliance on other companies as operators, public acceptance of uranium as an energy source, fluctuations in uranium prices and currency exchange rates, changes in environmental and other laws affecting uranium exploration and mining, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in UEX's Annual Information Form and other filings with the applicable Canadian securities commissions on SEDAR. Many of these factors are beyond the control of UEX. Consequently, all forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by this cautionary statement and there can be no assurance that actual results or developments anticipated by UEX will be realized. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Except as required by applicable law, UEX disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. VANCOUVER, BC--(October 13, 2016) - Klondex Mines Ltd. (TSX: KDX) (NYSE MKT: KLDX) ("Klondex" or the "Company") is pleased to report its preliminary production results for the third quarter of 2016 for its Fire Creek, Midas, and True North mines. Three months ended September 30, 2016 Nine months ended September 30, 2016 Fire Creek Midas Nevada Total True North(2) Total Fire Creek Midas Nevada Total True North(2) Total Ore tons milled 26,122 43,934 70,056 31,748 101,804 92,832 137,173 230,005 31,748 261,753 Average gold equivalent mill head grade (oz/ton)(1) 0.98 0.28 0.55 0.06 0.86 0.26 0.50 0.06 Average gold mill head grade (oz/ton) 0.97 0.18 0.48 0.06 0.85 0.15 0.43 0.06 Average silver mill head grade (oz/ton) 0.66 7.59 5.00 - 0.76 8.24 5.22 - Average gold recovery rate (%) 93.4 % 93.4 % 93.3 % 88.7 % 93.6 % 94.1 % 93.7 % 88.7 % Average silver recovery rate (%) 87.2 % 87.2 % 87.3 % - % 87.4 % 87.7 % 87.7 % - % Gold equivalent produced (ounces)(1) 23,858 11,445 35,263 1,752 37,070 74,480 32,374 106,901 1,752 108,634 Gold produced (ounces) 23,654 7,523 31,177 1,752 32,929 73,673 19,287 92,960 1,752 94,712 Silver produced (ounces) 15,023 291,031 306,054 - 306,054 61,864 990,672 1,052,536 - 1,052,536 Gold equivalent sold (ounces)(1) 27,500 13,036 40,488 1,000 41,553 72,644 36,933 109,629 1,000 110,610 Gold sold (ounces) 27,254 8,394 35,648 1,000 36,648 71,688 23,423 95,111 1,000 96,111 Silver sold (ounces) 18,100 344,400 362,500 - 362,500 73,351 1,022,739 1,096,090 - 1,096,090 (1) Gold equivalent ounces ("GEO") and grades are computed as the applicable gold ounces/grade plus the silver ounces/grade divided by a GEO ratio. GEO ratios are computed by dividing the average realized gold price per ounce by the average realized silver price per ounce received by the Company in the respective period. Preliminary GEO ratios for each respective segment are as follows: GEO Ratio 73.7 74.2 74.9 1.0 73.9 76.7 75.7 75.5 1.0 75.6 (2) True North's operations were comprised of the re-processing of existing tailings. The Company reiterates its 2016 production guidance of: Nevada Operations: 145,000 to 150,000 GEOs which is split approximately 45%-50% in the first half of 2016 and 50%-55% in the second half of 2016. True North: 8,000 to 12,000 gold ounces from mining and processing tailing. Mr. Paul Huet, President and CEO commented, "Our third quarter production was in line with our mine plans as we advanced waste development at both Fire Creek and Midas. We have positioned ourselves to finish the year on a high note and remain on track to achieve our annual production guidance." Mr. Huet continued, "We are also excited to report first sales at True North. We recently completed reprocessing the tailings and have begun running ore through the mill and continue to expect to achieve our annual production targets." About Klondex Mines Ltd. (www.klondexmines.com) Klondex is a well-capitalized, junior-tier gold and silver mining company focused on exploration, development, and production in a safe, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective manner. The Company has 100% interests in three producing mineral properties: the Fire Creek Mine and the Midas Mine and ore milling facility, both of which are located in the state of Nevada, USA, and the True North Gold Mine (formerly the Rice Lake Mine) and mill in Manitoba, Canada. The Company also has 100% interests in two recently acquired projects, the Hollister mine and the Esmeralda mine and ore milling facility, also located in Nevada, USA. Webcast and Conference Call Klondex will report its third quarter 2016 financial results after market close on Thursday, November 3, 2016. A conference call and webcast will be held the following morning on Friday, November 4, 2016 at 10:30 am ET/7:30 am PT. The conference call telephone numbers are listed below: Canada & USA Toll Free Dial In: 1-800-319-4610 Toronto: +1 1-416-915-3239 International: +1-604-638-5340 Callers should dial in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and ask to join the Klondex call. The webcast will be available on the Company's website or by clicking: http://services.choruscall.ca/links/klondex20161104.html. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation (collectively, "forward looking information"), including but not limited to information about current expectations on the timing, success and growth of exploration and development activities, the timing and success of mining operations, the Company's ability to produce and sell gold and silver, the Company's achievement of the full-year projections for GEO and gold production, metal grades and production costs, the Company's ability to meet annual operations estimates, the ability to maintain and improve average daily milling rates and mill head grades, the Company's intention and ability to monetize mineralized material, the successful execution and project development at all of the Company's mines and projects, and related permitting. This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy; the price of gold and silver; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with underground operations; and the ability of Klondex to fund its substantial capital requirements and operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and United States available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively. Readers are urged to read these materials. Klondex assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Oct. 13, 2016) - Scorpio Gold Corporation ("Scorpio Gold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SGN) announces its operating results for the third quarter ("Q3") of 2016 at its 70% owned Mineral Ridge project, located in Nevada. Production at Mineral Ridge in Q3 2016 totalled 9,981 ounces of gold and 4,630 ounces of silver compared to 9,497 ounces of gold and 4,927 ounces of silver in Q3 of 2015. Gold and silver production for the first nine months of 2016 totalled 28,578 ounces of gold and 12,876 ounces of silver, representing decreases of 5.3% and 13.2%, respectively, over the same period in 2015. Peter J. Hawley, CEO, comments, "The Company is pleased to report another solid quarter of production at Mineral Ridge with a 5.1% increase in total ounces of gold produced in Q3 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. The Company remains on target to meet its 2016 production guidance of 30-35,000 ounces of gold at a total cash cost of $900-$950 per ounce." Key Operating Statistics Three months ending September 30 Nine months ending September 30 2016 2015 Change 2016 2015 Change Mining operations Mary LC pit Ore tonnes mined 119,574 83,577 43.1 % 405,241 83,577 384.9 % Waste tonnes mined 919,556 941,334 -2.3 % 2,542,039 941,334 170.0 % Total mined 1,039,130 1,024,911 1.4 % 2,947,280 1,024,911 187.6 % Strip Ratio 7.7 11.3 -31.9 % 6.3 11.3 -44.2 % Satellite pits Ore tonnes mined 48,029 127,546 -62.3 % 190,774 241,665 -21.1 % Waste tonnes mined 152,883 990,728 -84.6 % 519,603 1,276,601 -59.3 % Total mined 200,912 1,118,274 -82.0 % 710,377 1,518,266 -53.2 % Strip Ratio 3.2 7.8 -59.0 % 2.7 5.3 -49.1 % Mary pit Ore tonnes mined - 5,695 -100.0 % - 202,002 -100.0 % Waste tonnes mined - 10,311 -100.0 % - 1,053,992 -100.0 % Total mined - 16,006 -100.0 % - 1,255,994 -100.0 % Strip Ratio - 1.8 -100.0 % - 5.2 -100.0 % Total producing pits Ore tonnes mined 167,603 216,818 -22.7 % 596,015 527,244 13.0 % Waste tonnes mined 1,072,439 1,942,373 -44.8 % 3,061,642 3,271,927 -6.4 % Total mined 1,240,042 2,159,191 -42.6 % 3,657,657 3,799,171 -3.7 % Strip Ratio 6.4 9.0 -28.9 % 5.1 6.2 -17.7 % Pits under development Ore tonnes mined - - 0.0 % - 92,146 -100.0 % Waste tonnes mined (pre-stripping) 25,876 - 100.0 % 149,230 1,995,432 -92.5 % Total mined 25,876 - 100.0 % 149,230 2,087,578 -92.9 % Total mining operations Ore tonnes mined 167,603 216,818 -22.7 % 596,015 619,390 -3.8 % Waste tonnes mined 1,098,315 1,942,373 -43.5 % 3,210,872 5,267,359 -39.0 % Total mined 1,265,918 2,159,191 -41.4 % 3,806,887 5,886,749 -35.3 % Processing Tonnes processed 176,901 213,957 -17.3 % 704,039 626,980 12.3 % Gold head grade (g/t) 1.35 1.59 -15.1 % 1.45 1.46 -0.7 % Ounces produced Gold 9,981 9,497 5.1 % 28,578 30,187 -5.3 % Silver 4,630 4,927 -6.0 % 12,876 14,837 -13.2 % Crusher throughput (tonnes per day) 1,923 2,326 -17.3 % 2,569 2,297 11.8 % Recoverable(1) gold (ounces) placed on pad 5,215 7,327 -28.8 % 22,249 19,755 12.6 % (1) A weighted average metallurgical recovery factor has been applied to the estimated contained ounces crushed and placed on the leach pad based on the pit from which the ore was mined. About Scorpio Gold Scorpio Gold holds a 70% interest in the producing Mineral Ridge gold mining operation located in Esmeralda County, Nevada with joint venture partner Elevon, LLC (30%). Mineral Ridge is a conventional open pit mining and heap leach operation. The Mineral Ridge property is host to multiple gold-bearing structures, veins and lenses at exploration, development and production stages. Scorpio Gold also holds a 100% interest in the advanced exploration-stage Goldwedge property in Manhattan, Nevada, with a fully permitted underground mine and 400 ton per day mill facility. The Goldwedge mill facility has been placed on a care and maintenance basis and can be restarted immediately when needed. Scorpio Gold's CEO, Peter J. Hawley, PGeo, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, SCORPIO GOLD CORPORATION Peter J. Hawley, CEO Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Company relies on litigation protection for forward-looking statements. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without restriction, any statements regarding the Company achieving production forecasts for 2016, or planned future production schedules. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements, including risks related to open pit mining and heap leach operations, unanticipated changes in the mineral content of materials being mined; unanticipated changes in recovery rates; changes in project parameters; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; availability of skilled labour and the impact of labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; changes in metals prices; the availability of cash flows or financing to meet the Company's ongoing financial obligations; unanticipated changes in key management personnel; changes in general economic conditions; other risks of the mining industry; and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. MELBOURNE, Oct. 14, 2016 - OceanaGold Corporation (TSX/ASX/NZX: OGC) (the "Company") has been advised that the arbitration tribunal constituted by the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID") has found in favour of the Government of El Salvador (the "Government") in its dispute with an OceanaGold indirect subsidiary company, Pac Rim Cayman LLC. ICSID granted an award of US$8 million to the Government of El Salvador to cover its legal fees and costs. OceanaGold inherited the arbitration process when it acquired Pacific Rim Mining Corp. in November 2013 and the Company has stated from the beginning that its goal was to reach an amicable resolution of this matter which would benefit all parties. Whilst disappointed, OceanaGold will review the ICSID's ruling in detail before evaluating the next steps related to its El Salvador business unit. The Company believes that a modern resource industry that operates in a safe and sustainable manner and within internationally recognised best practices has the potential to unlock a sustainable and multi-decade development opportunity for the Republic of El Salvador. However, the Company recognises that the Government will need to take positive and definitive steps towards establishing a stable business environment if it wishes to attract foreign investment to establish this opportunity. As a world class producer for over two decades, Canadian-Australian mining company OceanaGold has been a valued member of the communities where it operates, including environmentally sensitive areas such as New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United States. Over this time the Company has formed a strong track record of establishing itself as a partner and employer of choice that works in a spirit of cooperation and respect with its stakeholders in a sustainable and ethical way. About OceanaGold OceanaGold Corporation is a mid-tier, low-cost, multinational gold producer with assets located in the Philippines, New Zealand and the United States. The Company's assets encompass its flagship operation, the Didipio Gold-Copper Mine located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. On the north island of New Zealand, the Company operates the high-grade Waihi Gold Mine while on the South Island of New Zealand, the Company operates the largest gold mine in the country at the Macraes Goldfield which is made up of a series of open pit mines and the Frasers underground mine. In the United States, the Company is currently constructing the Haile Gold Mine, a top-tier asset located in South Carolina along the Carolina Terrane. The Company expects the Haile Gold Mine to commence commercial production in early 2017. OceanaGold also has a significant pipeline of organic growth and exploration opportunities in the Australasia and Americas regions. OceanaGold has operated sustainably over the past 25 years with a proven track record for environmental management and community and social engagement. The Company has a strong social license to operate and works collaboratively with its valued stakeholders to identify and invest in social programs that are designed to build capacity and not dependency. In 2016, the Company expects to produce 385,000 to 425,000 ounces of gold from the combined New Zealand and Didipio operations and 19,000 to 21,000 tonnes of copper from the Didipio operation at All-In Sustaining Costs of US$700 to US$750 per ounce. SOURCE OceanaGold Corporation VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct. 14, 2016) - Auryn Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AUG)(OTCQX:GGTCF) ("Auryn" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that is has initiated exploration programs on its Peruvian portfolio of projects focused in southern Peru. The focus of the exploration programs will be a combination of extensive surface sampling, trenching, mapping and geophysics to advance the projects to drill ready stage in 2017. Our exploration focus will start on the Huilacollo and Banos del Indio oxide epithermal gold systems. These two projects are considered by Auryn to be part of the same structurally controlled epithermal system (see figure 2). The Huilacollo project is 2,000 hectares and is currently characterized by a mineralized zone, 350 meters by 150 meters, as defined by historical drilling as presented in the table below. In addition, Auryn has identified numerous high quality exploration targets based on high resistivity, low chargeability geophysical signatures that are coincident with gold in soils. Importantly, only one third of the 6 km by 4 km alteration system has seen any kind of surface exploration to date (see figure 3). Table 1: Huilacollo selected intercepts Hole_ID From To Interval Au g/t Ag g/t Au g/t* meters AM-14 0 82.5 82.5 1.16 6.5 95.6 AM-13 0 62 62 0.94 12.1 58.1 AM-13 128 146 18 1.04 4.3 18.7 AM-06 0 88 88 1.05 9.0 92.1 AM-16 0 82 82 0.99 18.5 80.9 AM-01 0 80 80 1.29 11.8 103.2 AM-02 0 50.65 50.65 1.24 9.3 63.0 HU-3 5.45 39.45 34 2.14 22.1 72.9 Intercepts were calculated using a minimum of a 0.2 g/t Au cut off at beginning and end of the intercept and allowing for no more than four meters of less than 0.2 g/t Au. True widths of the reported intercepts are believed to be approximately 60% of the drilled widths. In 2016/17, the Company will undertake the following at Huilacollo: A multi-spectral analysis for clays to identify high temperature structures indicative of gold mineralization in Q4 2016; A high resolution geochemical sampling, trenching and geologic mapping across the entire land package to be completed by Q1, 2017; and, An initial 3,000 to 5,000 meter drill program estimated to commence in Q1, 2017. The Banos del Indio project is considered by Auryn to be one of the largest untested high sulphidation alteration systems in Peru and shares many similarities to the La Coipa mine complex in northern Chile where economic mineralization is principally located beneath steam heated epithermal alteration. The project is comprised of 5,000 hectares and is characterized by a 9 km by 6 km alteration system that has seen only very limited surface sampling to date. In 2017 the company will undertake the following at Banos del Indio : A multi-spectral analysis for clays to identify high temperature structures indicative of gold mineralization in Q4, 2016; A property wide induced polarization geophysical survey to identify potential fault zones; and, An initial 2,500 meter discovery based drill program anticipated for Q4 2017. Sombrero gold -- copper-skarn system: The Sombrero property is comprised of 3,800 hectares and is located in the Eocene-Oligocene aged copper gold porphyry and skarn belt that hosts the Las Bambas and Tintaya deposits. The project is characterized by several high-grade gold and copper surficial grab samples and remains undrilled. Auryn has identified over 20 km of potential contact between limestones and intrusives on the project that are prospective for skarn mineralization (see figure 4). In 2016/17, the Company will undertake the following at Sombrero: Reprocessing of magnetics and induced polarization geophysical surveys to aid in drill targeting in Q4 2016; and, A geological mapping and geochemical sampling program across the property to be completed by Q2, 2017; An Initial trenching program to identify high-grade mineralization under quaternary cover in Q2, 2017; and,An initial drill program consisting of 2,000 meters in Q4 2017. Curibaya gold -- copper porphyry system: The early staged Curibaya property comprises 31,600 hectares within the Miocene Cu-Au porphyry belt that hosts the Cerro Verde, Cuajone, Quellaveco, and Tocquepala deposits. The project is transected by the regional Incapuio fault zone and subsidiary structures that are collectively interpreted as one of the fundamental controls for both epithermal and porphyry styles of mineralization. Auryn conducted a property wide stream sediment sampling survey and identified an 8 km x 6 km area of drainage basins that are anomalous in both gold and copper (see figure 5). In 2016/17, the Company will undertake the following at Curibaya: Geologic mapping and geochemical sampling within anomalous drainage basins in Q4, 2016. Further work based on results to be determined. Shawn Wallace President and CEO stated, "We are excited to have started our work programs across our Peruvian Portfolio, the projects we were fortunate to acquire are located in some of the most prospective mineral belts in the country. Each project is at various stages of exploration and all represent excellent exploration opportunities." Mr. Wallace further stated "Our portfolio as a whole has now become active across every project, the next 18 months will be exceptionally busy for us with exploration and drilling in support of our goal of making multiple significant gold discoveries." ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AURYN RESOURCES INC. Shawn Wallace, President & Director Michael Henrichsen, P.Geo, COO of Auryn, is the Qualified Person who assumes responsibility for the technical disclosures in this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the company expects are forward-looking statements. 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 the forward-looking statements. The principal factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements in connection with this news release include the uncertainty of. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com. Sixteen-month-old Paisley was born with a rare genetic condition called Beckwith-Wiedemann that causes organs and body parts to overgrow. In her case, the tongue grew twice the size of her mouth. By India Today Web Desk: A baby born with an adult-sized tongue can now smile and eat for the first time after undergoing a second life-changing surgery. Paisley Morrison-Johnson, from Aberdeen in South Dakota, US, was born with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, which causes overgrown organs or body parts and affects about 300 American newborns a year. In her case, the tongue grew more than twice the size of her mouth because of which she had to be fed through a tube till she was six months old. advertisement In a moving Facebook post, her mother Madison Kienow, 21, wrote about the ordeal her now 16-month-old baby went through. She wrote, "Everything was perfect until 29 weeks when Paisley decided she wanted to join us in this world. Lots of chaos, doctors, nurses, tears, fear, unknown things happening and hearing the words your daughter will be flown to Sioux Falls without you due to her health. Not knowing any information just having faith that the staff will make sure I will be able to hold my princess for the first time soon." "Try-monthly scans, blood draws, hourly sugar checks, oxygen, surgery after surgery, therapy and more therapy my princess is still with us. Everyday is a blessing to have her here with us enjoying life to its fullest." she wrote in the post raising awareness about BWS. During her first on September 2nd, 2015 surgery the doctors clipped off two inches of her tongue, but that didn't help baby Paisley's condition. It was only after her second surgery which removed six inches of excess muscle, she could smile and eat for the first time. In the GoFundMe page, set up to help pay for Paisley's medical costs, Madison wrote, I'm so scared yet so happy to know my princess will finally be pain free, and be able to smile and talk to me. This is a bittersweet moment because I'll miss that cute little tongue. This is a long recovery road ahead of us but Paisleys a little fighter, and God has his plan.' --- ENDS --- October 14, 2016 / TheNewswire / Redstar Gold Corp. (TSX.V: RGC, US: RGCTF, FRA: RGG) ("Redstar" or the "Company") announces it commenced drilling at the high-grade Shumagin Gold Zone at its 100% controlled Unga Gold Project on October 13. On October 5, the Company discussed the Phase 2 Drill Program, which will consist of approximately 1,500 metres of diamond drilling that will focus on outlining additional high grade gold mineralization at the Shumagin Zone along strike and at depth. The Company anticipates a larger expansive drill program in the spring of 2017, after all results from the Phase 2 program are received and modelled. The 2016 summer exploration program at Shumagin refined new exploration targets along known structures hosting high-grade rhodochrosite-bearing breccias within dilation zones localized along the approximate 2,000 meter Shumagin Gold Zone. The drill program is targeting a seven (7) drill hole program that will test an approximate 1000 meter strike length of the Shumagin Zone, including the Shumagin Main Zone, the Bunker Hill Zone, and a new zone identified as the East Zone. Please visit the Company's website and refer to the October 2016 Corporate Presentation on page 26 for approximate locations of the drill holes (www.redstargold.com/s/presentations.asp). Redstar's President & CEO, Peter A. Ball, commented, "We are pleased that in less than a week from mobilizing our technical team to our Unga Gold Project, the camp has been set up, drill pads prepped and the drill rig is now turning. We look forward to execution of the drill program and the prompt delivery of assay results to the market over the coming weeks." Selected Historical Drill Highlights from the Shumagin Gold Zone**: Hole# From (meters) To (meters) Length1 (meters) Gold Grade (g/t) Silver Grade (g/t) DDH-26 49.07 49.83 0.76 37.7 20.6 DDH-28 44.81 46.02 1.22 16.5 55.5 DDH-35 77.27 77.88 0.61 192.6 5403.4 DDH-42 132.59 134.11 1.52 30.96 35.0 DDH-46 153.62 154.84 1.22 365.35 190.6 DDH-51 156.06 156.67 0.61 182.02 88.5 DDH-57 38.1 39.62 1.52 59.59 50.05 BMS-01 272.8 278.28 5.49 24.02 19.4 11SH007 223.0 224.0 1.00 43.9 18.5 11SH009 210.1 211.0 0.9 43.1 37.2 11SH010 259.25 259.8 0.55 738.0 408.0 15SH011 60.1 62.0 1.90 202.0 82.0 15SH012 64.0 66.0 2.00 35.3 209.0 15SH012 82.0 85.0 3.00 16.95 183.0 15SH012 89.0 89.7 0.70 133.0 422.0 15SH013 144.0 145.0 1.00 17.45 122.0 15SH013 146.0 147.0 1.00 20.9 232.0 15SH014 187.0 188.0 1.00 19.9 16.0 15SH018 196.0 197.0 1.00 41.2 130.0 *True widths of the mineralized intervals are close to 70-80% of Core Length **DDH-26, 28, 35, 42, 46, 51, 57 & BMS-01 are historic in nature and are not reported herein as new drill results **11SH007-010 and 15SH011-018 have been previously disclosed and may be viewed on Redstar's Website at www.redstargold.com/s/NewsReleases.asp Please refer to Redstar's website (www.redstargold.com/s/Shumagin_2016) to see complete results from Shumagin, which also includes previously reported samples from historic trenching and samples taken during 2014 and reported in Redstar's press release dated December 22, 2014. About The Unga Gold Project The 100% controlled Unga Gold Project covers key strategic portions of adjacent Unga and Popof Islands, approximately 900 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Redstar controls a 240 square kilometer land package that is host to numerous structurally controlled, volcanic hosted intermediate-sulfidation epithermal high-grade vein, breccia, stockwork and disseminated gold-silver occurrences. The Unga Project has excellent infrastructure, including direct daily flights from Anchorage, a deep-sea port and a temperate climate. The former Apollo-Sitka gold mine, located on the southern Apollo-Sitka Trend, was Alaska's first underground gold mine and the site of historic high-grade gold production. Jesse C. Grady, MSc, CPG-11592, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Grady has prepared and approved the technical information contained within this release. About Redstar Gold Corp Redstar is a junior exploration company that is well financed with approximately $5,000,000 in its treasury. The Company is currently focused on advancing its 100% controlled high-grade intermediate-sulfidation epithermal district scale Unga Gold Project. In addition, Redstar controls 2 board seats and 29.9% of NV Gold Corp. (TSXV: NVX), and controls 30% of the Newman Todd Gold Project, in Red Lake, Ontario, Canada. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Peter A. Ball, President and CEO For additional information please contact: T: +1.604.245.5861 Toll Free: 877.310.3330 E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Redstar Gold Corporation (the "Company") expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. 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 may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Firefighters examine a tour bus that caught fire on an expressway in Ulsan, early Friday morning. The fire killed 10 passengers and injured seven. / Yonhap By Choi Ha-young A fire on a tour bus killed 10 people Thursday night on a highway in Ulsan. Seven others on the bus, which was carrying 22 people including a tour guide and the driver, were injured. About 10:10 p.m., the bus scraped against a crash barrier several times while changing lanes. It then caught fire. The passengers could not get out because the crash barrier was blocking the door. Some of them managed to break the window and escape, but 10 people could not escape from the smoke and fire, survivors and witnesses said. Firefighters extinguished the fire at 11:01 p.m. Only the frame of the bus was left. The tour guide told police that they couldn't find the emergency hammer, so the driver used a fire extinguisher to break the windows. The driver, surnamed Lee, 49, claimed that one of the tires went flat and made the bus lose balance. He added he did not doze off. But police suspect he was speeding, based on traffic camera footage and testimony from some of the passengers that the bus was travelling at high speed before suddenly changing lanes. Police will request an arrest warrant for the driver for accidental homicide, saying Lee did not drive safely enough. "The driver claims the accident was caused by a flat tire, so we will send the bus to the National Forensic Service for inspection," Choi Ik-soo, chief of the Ulju Police Station, told journalists at a briefing. Although Lee's record includes instances of driving without a license and driving while intoxicated, it is not yet known whether this case is related to past violations. Lee said he was not drunk. The bus started operation in February by a company named Taehwa, and the tire has never been exchanged since then. Most of the passengers were retirees of Hanwha Chemical and their spouses. They were heading home from Daegu International Airport after returning from a five-day journey to China. Among the 10 fatalities, six were couples. The 10 bodies were severely burned due to the intense flames, so police and hospital staff members are having difficulty identifying them. Police collected the bereaved families' DNA to identify the bodies, which will take at least five days. Meanwhile, two passersby saved and transported some victims by car before ambulances arrived at the scene. "One of them said he was a teacher and disappeared without additional words," said a staff member at a hospital in Ulsan. Spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Army Jeeand Baloch claimed the responsibility of the attack. By Mayank Pratap Singh: At least three Frontier Works Organisation staff were killed in an attack on Thursday in Surab Tank area of Balochistan. Spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Army Jeeand Baloch claimed the responsibility of the attack and said that his fighters in Tunk area of Turbat district attacked a construction site of FWO (Frontier Works Organization) at the CPEC route. advertisement "Today Baloch Sarmachaars -Freedom Fighters -attacked a road construction company of FWO with automatic weapons. As a result of this attack three FWO workers have been killed. BLA accepts responsibility for the attack," Jeeand said. Jeenad further vowed that such attacks against Pakistani installations across occupied Balochistan will continue with full intensity. ALSO READ: Pakistan human rights watchdog warns army over Baloch protests in Quetta and Karachi Balochistan liberation voices raised in Quetta --- ENDS --- Want to feel like a million bucks when you wake up? We tell you how. By India Today Web Desk: A good night's sleep is a necessity just like food, air and water. Sleeping for a minimum of 7 to 8 hours a day is crucial for a healthy living mind and body. There's nothing better than waking up fresh after a good night's rest. Apart from giving you that zing that you need, it also helps you be productive through your day, and you can fulfill all your personal and professional commitments. Since the cells renew themselves at night, adequate rest also helps to keep diseases at bay, makes your skin look refreshed and young and keeps your heart healthy. advertisement However, if you're feeling dull and tired when you wake up, your hectic schedule could have something to do with it. It's probably keeping your mind over stimulated even at night and not letting you get enough deep sleep, necessary for rejuvenation. Also Read: The A-Z skincare guide to help you make it through winter There are some simple solutions, though. Taking a few minutes to unwind before you hit the bed can alter the way your body reacts in the morning. So incorporate some of these habits in your bed time routine and wake up in the morning feeling like you've really slept well. 1. Stick to you sleeping schedule You've probably heard this a million times, but it's true. The body thrives on routine and goes awry if you do not schedule your sleep. It does not appreciate if your sleeping patterns vary on a day-to-day basis. Try to sleep and wake up at approximately the same time daily, as much as possible. 2. Have a bedtime routine Create your own bedtime rituals to sleep peacefully. Be it reading a book, praying, meditating, listening to soothing music, or sipping on green tea, do what works for you. But just remember, too much liquid intake just before bed will disturb your sleep because you'll need to go to the loo. 3. Get off the screen You should never take your screen time to your bed room. According to Healthline.org, "A National Sleep Foundation (NSF) survey found that nearly all participants used some type of electronics, like a television, computer, video game, or cell phone, within the last hour before going to bed. That's a bad idea. Light from these devices stimulates the brain, making it harder to wind down. Put your gadgets away an hour before bedtime to fall asleep more quickly and sleep more soundly." Gadgets disrupt your internal body clock and you'll have troubled sleep through the night. 4. Your skin needs unwinding too Cleanse, tone and moisturise your skin before going to bed. Remove every ounce of makeup from your face before sleeping. This will help your skin breathe through the night and you will wake up looking like a million bucks. 5. Watch what you eat and drink Caffeine, alcohol and chocolate, all interfere with your sleep pattern, so consume them in the earlier part of the day. If you're prone to heartburn or indigestion, avoid spicy or heavy foods, especially at night. Plus, as nutritionists say for good reason, make dinner your lightest meal. advertisement 6. Naps could be your undoing You know how it is with little children? When they nap in the afternoon, they almost always stay awake for longer at night. It's true for you too. Naps, especially in the afternoon, could hamper night sleep, reports Sleepfoundation.org. 7. Keep the room dark and the temperature comfortable Light tells your brain it's time to wake up, so keep the curtains thick and dark. If the AC stabilizer's red light is disturbing, find a way to position your bed so you're not disturbed by it. Also, if the room's too cold or too warm, you won't get your zzzzs. If your partner likes it freezing, wear a pair of socks. 8. Pay attention to mattresses and pillows Do you know why all those mattress advertisements harp on sleep quality? According to Greatist.com, "Low-quality, uncomfortable mattresses have been linked to sleep discomfort and pain, and chronic pain can prevent quality sleep." So if it's lumpy or too soft, or even too hard for your liking, you're likely to toss and turn all night. Pillows too can either help you fall asleep or keep you up--so choose your pillow with care. advertisement --- ENDS --- - Aisha Buhari has warned her husband that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government - She says his government had been hijacked by a "few people" who are behind presidential appointments - The wife of the president claims Buhari "does not know" most of the top officials he has appointed Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, has warned her husband that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government, BBC reports. This comes even as she claimed the government had been hijacked by a "few people" who are behind presidential appointments. Aisha Buhari, wife of President Buhari, has warned her husband that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his govt. Speaking in a BBC interview with Naziru Mikailu, Aisha Buhari said the president "does not know" most of the top officials he has appointed. She said: "The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years." She said people who did not share the vision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were now appointed to top posts because of the influence a "few people" wield. READ ALSO: Only Aisha Buhari can stop the interview from airing - BBC According to her, "Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position." When asked to name those who had hijacked the government, she refused, saying: "You will know them if you watch television." On whether the president was in charge, she said: "That is left for the people to decide." Mrs Buhari said her husband had not told her whether he would contest the 2019 election, but said she will no partake in any of his campaigns if things continue this way till the next election. She said: "He is yet to tell me but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again." When asked what she regarded as the government's major achievement, she said it was to improve security in the north-east where militant Islamist group Boko Haram has waged an insurgency since 2009. She said: "No-one is complaining about being attacked in their own homes. Thankfully everyone can walk around freely, go to places of worship, etc. Even kids in Maiduguri have returned to schools. On if she advises her husband, Aisha Buhari said: "I advice my husband even though I know he has many advisers but I still play my role. "The interest of the 15 million electorates who voted her husband is more important than that of her husband. It is going to two years without any tangible indices of bettering the lives of Nigerians." Despite pressure from the presidency, the BBC went ahead to air more parts of the interview with Aisha Buhari. Even President Buhari had mounted pressure on the BBC Hausa Service not to air the full interview of Aisha Buhari. Excerpts of the interview were published on Tuesday, October 11 and in it, the first lady made some comments that has caught the attention of Nigerians. In the interview, Aisha said the people who worked for her husband to become the president have been side-lined while some people have taken over his government. However, the service said the only way it will not air the interview is for the interviewee, Aisha Buhari, to decide against it. Even in that case her voice recanting what she had said in the interview would be aired. Since her husband won the 2015 general election, Aisha Buhari has been involved in some controversies with the most common being when denounced herself as the first lady of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Aisha said this in a statement at the Appreciation Dinner at the state house last year. She said: I am not the first Lady, I am the wife of the President and will be addressed as such going forward." READ ALSO: Putting a garlic clove under your pillow works magic Source: Legit.ng - NNPC intensifies oil exploration in the North of the country, deploys equipment to Gombe, Bauchi states - At least 11 companies bid for setting up of masts in NNPC offices - As President Buhari directs further exploration of oil, the corporation drills 23 wells in Chad basin As a part of the oil exploration in the North, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) plans to deploy equipment and to resume the search for oil in Bauch and Gombe states, the official site of the corporation said. Maikanti Baru, the director of the NNPC, said this during his visit to Bauchi state. READ ALSO: NNPC discovers 21 wells full of oil in North He said: We are here to signal to the good people of Bauchi and Gombe states of our intention and efforts to mobilise our equipment back to Gongola basin. Our intention is to start 3D seismic acquisition, which covers as much as possible the basin in terms of exploring hydrocarbon in the North-East. Of course, our activities in the Chad Basin will also be re-activated as soon as we get the clear sign, Baru noted. NNPC GMD then advised the citizens of the states not to panic when they see the movement of the oil search equipment into their communities. Baru added that earlier prospects conducted in the two states were credible, particularly in one of the wells in Yankari Games Reserves. Our intent now is to probe with more definitive seismic data that will ensure we cover as much as possible, he said. Dr. Baru also informed that the renewed search for hydrocarbon deposits in the Chad Basin would involve widespread probing of some allocated and non-allocated oil blocks in the region with a view to establishing the magnitude of the deposits. READ ALSO: Buhari directs to intensify oil search in north-east Also on October 10, the petroleum corporation flagged off bid opening for the decommissioning and installation of towers and masts in Lagos, Benin and Port Harcourt area offices with eleven companies participating in the exercise. Legit.ng reported earlier that NNPC confirmed that a total of 23 oil wells have already been drilled by prospecting oil companies that have involved in oil exploration in the North in the past 30 years. 21 of these wells are said to hold some prospects of oil in commercial quantity. Source: Legit.ng By Devarsi Ghosh: Befikre is not really Yash Raj Films' first attempt to redefine the YRF brand of romance. Close on the heels of YRF's 2005 release Salaam Namaste, which jolted the Indian youth out of slumber and made them realise the many benefits of living-in together as a couple, released the highly forgettable Neal 'n' Nikki. While Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta-starrer Salaam Namaste had a marquee cast and hit music working in its favour, NnN had Uday Chopra and Tanishaa Mukerji; that alone should tell you what happened to the film. advertisement WATCH: Ranveer has gone butt naked for Befikre, will censor board certify it? SEE PICS: What's the deal with Vaani Kapoor's chin in Befikre? ALSO READ: The devolution of the YRF romance from DDLJ to Befikre Eleven years later, Aditya Chopra, the YRF chief is releasing Befikre. The trailer which hit the internet on October 10, a few minutes before midnight shows the film's characters Dharam (Ranveer Singh) and Shyra (Vaani Kapoor) dancing, laughing, kissing, making out, making out and kissing...you know the drill...in Paris. That is pretty much what happens in the trailer and comparisons to Neal 'n' Nikki exist for good reason. For starters, Ranveer as Dharam looks moronic throughout the Befikre trailer. By 'looks', this looks has nothing to do with Ranveer's physical attributes or clothing. Ranveer is a superstar, dates Deepika Padukone and YRF dresses him in the most expensive clothes. There is no way he would not seem the hero of a big-budget romantic film. However, his personality is completely idiotic, reminding one of Neal's (Uday Chopra) from NnN. If someone reminds you of Uday Chopra, that is not a good thing. In both films, the boys, Dharam and Neal, come across a desi lass in foreign land (Paris in Befikre and Canada in NnN), and they move about, la la la la, doing 'things', till they realise that all the zero-commitment nonsense was just nonsense and they obviously fall in love because that is what happens in Bollywood films. Well, as of this moment, there is no way to know if Befikre, indeed, ends with the coming together of Dharam and Shyra as a romantic couple. If Befikre does end that way, well, *facepalm*, Mr Chopra. Now, the similarities do not stop there. For one, somehow, this may be a coincidence (or not), but NnN released on December 9 in 2005. Befikre releases on December 9 this year. Now, putting that frivolous similarity aside, let us get down to dissecting how Befikre has been sold to us. Ok, so millennial love, once again, has been reduced to a stream of images, a slate of tired old cliches - girl and guy meet abroad, they indulge in a friends-with-benefits scheme amidst which there are shots of wanton drinking, doing crazy shit in front of white folks, following which real life happens and they realise how important boy and girl really were to each other. To push the point that Befikre is genuinely about millennials, they advertise Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor as #Ranveer and #Vaani. Guys, get real. That Aditya Chopra is middle-aged is understandable, but not his marketing team for sure! advertisement NnN too reduced young love to a banal series of images that has not just been a YRF thing. This kind of 'film' has been made time and again by several filmmakers and Befikre is perhaps the last ditch effort from Aditya Chopra to sell the same old story. Come December 9, the world will know if Befikre is really carefree or brainfree. --- ENDS --- The first part of the controversial yet-to-be aired interview with BBC Hausa interview granted by Mrs Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, has been released. Despite pressure from the presidency, the BBC went ahead to air more parts of the interview with Aisha Buhari. It was reported earlier that the president had started mounting pressure on the BBC Hausa Service not to air the full interview of Aisha Buhari. In the interview, here are 6 things she said: 1. After receiving complains upon complains, I decided to tell him. 2. But, all the same, a lot of people are coming on their own and also collectively to tell him that things are not going the way it should. That is when it comes to putting people in certain positions 3. Most of these people that are occupying some agencies, number one nobody knows them, two, they don't know our party manifesto, they don't know what we campaigned for. They were not part of us completely. READ ALSO: Only Aisha Buhari can stop the interview from airing - BBC 4. They don't have a mission or vision of our APC. 5. I have my own right to say how I feel about something. If it continues like this, I will not be part of any movement again. 6. I need to work with the people that we have started the journey collectively as a teamwork so that we can achieve what we want to achieve, so that he would leave a legacy. 7. She said the interest of the 15 million electorates who voted her husband is more important than that of her husband. 8. Mrs Buhari also said it's going to two years without any tangible indices of bettering the lives of Nigerians. 9. Aisha Buhari said she does advise her husband when asked if she advises her husband. She added saying she knows Buhari has many advisers.mShe still plays her role. When asked if she has told your husband all these? she said he knows. Source: Legit.ng China pulled out at the last minute from a key trade session at the BRICS Trade Fair that was to be held today. By Devina Gupta: China is back to its arm twisting game and this time it started with the BRICS Trade Fair in the national capital. Just a day after the ministerial session of BRICS Trade Fair where China's Vice Minister of Ministry of Commerce was present, China called off its key trade session. Sources have told India Today that it was a last minute call taken by China officials to cancel 'the country seminar' which was scheduled for 10:15 am at Hall no. 8, Pragiti Maidan, the venue of BRICS trade seminar. It's the first time that any participant country has called off a session which is meant to promote business interests of its own leaders. advertisement "China conveyed to us that it had to pull out its officials for another urgent meeting. Hence, they cancelled the country seminar," claimed a senior organiser at the BRICS Trade Fair. But sources have told India Today that the real reason behind the sudden pullout is Beijing's pressure tactic to show its clout. Also read: Ahead of Xi Jinping's visit to India, China says UNSC still divided on Masood Azhar FREE TRADE "China is pushing for Free Trade Area in the BRICS nation. It wants free access to markets specially in India for its goods but India is not willing to cede the ground. So there is bound to be some tough positioning," revealed an official on the condition of anonymity. China wants removal of the trade barriers between BRICS nations, which hasn't found much support in India. China cancelling its trade session in Delhi ahead of world leaders meet at BRICS summit in Goa is exposing the under current in India-China relationship. But will China risk the $70 billion trade at a time when its own economy is seeing a slowdown remains to be seen. Also read: BRICS summit: India banking on trade ties with Beijing, Kremlin to isolate Pakistan The latest dare from the dragon comes after a series of standoffs from China. From blocking India's NSG bid to using its veto power in the UN to prevent Jaish Chief Masood Azhar from being designated as a terrorist, India's patience is surely running out. Watch the video here: --- ENDS --- BJP has blamed the Nitish Kumar govt for the communal tensions that have been witnessed in various parts of Bihar post Durga Puja and Moharram. By Rohit Kumar Singh: BJP has blamed the Nitish Kumar govt for the communal tensions that have been witnessed in various parts of Bihar post Durga Puja and Moharram. Districts like Madhepura and Bhojpur have been the worst-hit following widespread violent clashes between two communities. Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi has blamed the Bihar govt for failing to control the situation by taking one-sided action against one community. advertisement NO TIMELY ACTION, SAYS BJP "The one-sided action by the administration against one community has annoyed people. The administration failed to react on time to control the situation", said Sushil Modi. Also read: Sushil Modi replies to legal notice, stands by his claim of Nitish Kumar's 'Shahabuddin link' Attacking the Bihar chief minister, Modi asked why the communal harmony that prevailed in the state when the BJP-JDU govt was in power has given way to communal tensions now. Talking about the communal tension in Bhojpur's Piro and Madhepura's Bihariganj areas, the BJP leader blamed the district administration in both places for not acting on time. ACCUSED LET OFF " Bhojpur administration did not act against the anti-social elements who were shouting pro-Pakistan slogans and that emboldened them. Moreover, the people who were arrested for creating chaos during Durga Puja processions were let off immediately which infuriated people", said Modi. Also read: Lohia raised sanitation issue but PM Modi realising his dreams, says Sushil Modi The state in the last three days has witnessed communal clashes in Motihari, Sitamarhi, Gopalganj, Aurangabad, Gaya, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur, apart from Madhepura and Bhojpur. --- ENDS --- The student, who was getting thrashed in the video that had gone viral, has now opened up and said that the bullies, who are sons of a dreaded gangster in Bihar, had threatened to kill him of he reported the matter. By Rohit Kumar Singh: After a shocking video had surfaced from Muzaffarpur in Bihar showing two school children brutally thrashing their fellow classmate, the victim has come out in the open with an appalling detail. The two rowdy brothers, Vishal and Vikky, who are sons of a local gangster and were caught on camera thrashing their classmate, in Muzaffarpur's Kendriya Vidyalaya, had threatened to kill the victim if he raised the issue with the school administration. advertisement The victim, Uttam Kumar, disclosed this after a team of senior officials of Kendriya Vidyalaya today visited Muzaffapur to conduct an inquiry into the incident. The video had gone viral on the social media. Also Read: Son of a gangster: Watch bullies brutally thrash schoolmate in Bihar 'THEY THREATENED TO KILL ME, NOT LET ME APPEAR FOR EXAMS IF I REPORTED' "Both the boys, who are actually brothers, beat me up. They threatened me not to report the incident to anyone or else they would kill me. They also threatened that they would not let me appear for my exams if I reported the matter to the school principal", Kumar said. Shockingly, this is not the first time that the ruffian brothers, who are sons of a dreaded local gangster Shashi Bhushan alias Fauji, had beaten up Uttam Kumar. THEY HAD BEATEN HIM EARLIER AS WELL Uttam said he was victimized by the two brothers earlier as well. Vishal's and Vikky's gangster father is presently lodged in Motihari jail. There are several cases of murder and kidnapping registered against the father, Shashsi Bhushan. "The elder brother said he wanted to talk to me but the younger brother immediately came and started beating me up. Earlier also, these boys had beaten me. They threatened that they would get me beaten up from boys outside the school", Uttam Kumar said. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: POLITICS OVER THE INCIDENT Meanwhile, the Janta Dal(United) jumped into the entire controversy and raised questions asking why was the incident which took place on August 25 covered up for more than one and half months. The JDU(U) members also asked why no action was taken against the guilty students and the principal who tried to bury the matter. JD(U) spokesperson Ajay Alok said that since Kendriya Vidyalayas come directly under the Union HRD Ministry, the onus lied on the Centre to take action. "It is shocking how this entire matter which happened on August 25 was downplayed by the school principal. Since the Kendriya Vidyalayas come under the Union HRD Ministry, there was a concerted effort to cover up by the Centre," Alok said. advertisement Alok asked, "Why has the Minister of State in Union HRD, Upendra Kushwaha, not taken any action till now?" --- ENDS --- Oskar Blues and Brooklyn Brewery announce impressive new international ventures while GABF hands out the most hardware in 30 years. A comic book store thinks you should try a new type of bloody beer and a church in Texas believes that craft beer youre sipping has an extra imperceptible adjunct: the devil. A Texas church in the town of Canyon decided to double down on their message of temperance, publishing an ad in The Canyon News calling craft beer the Devils Craft, urging sobriety and including a verse from the Bible purporting the notion that Jesus was an early prohibitionist. Though JC was known to turn water into wine, the Anchor of Hope Baptist Church asserted he drank the fruit of the vine aka Grape Juice. The message was heard loud and clear by nearby Imperial Taproom who offered patrons $1 off their tab if they brought in the screed. Well give you a dollar off for each one you bring in so feel free to bring multiple, read the Facebook post. Come enjoy some devilishly tasty craft beer and/or wine (grape juice with booze in it) with us! The post had 1.2K likes and 584 shares as of Thursday morning. Fall seasonal releases rarely deviate from the pumpkin/Oktoberfest/fresh hop variety, but a comic book store in western Pennsylvania is introducing another autumnal style just in time for Halloween: blood beer. Well, blood red beer to be exact. New Dimensions Comics has teamed with nearby brewer, ShuBrew, to create Blades Bloody Barleywine, brewed with beet puree and Red X malt to give it a distinct hemoglobin hue. The label features the Puppet Master comic villain using his blade-hands to de-cork a bottle of the barleywine. Comic creator, Shawn Gabborin, created a variant cover comic book for the release. Those in the Pittsburgh area can attend the release on October 25 at ShuBrew. Winners of the 30th annual Great American Beer Festival competition were announced on Saturday during a packed and raucous ceremony at the Colorado Convention Center. In total, 286 medals were awarded across 96 categories selected from 7,227 beers submitted by 1,752 breweries. The number of entries represented a 9% increase from 2015. Uberbrew out of Billings, Mont. took home Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year after securing four medals, the most by any brewery in competition. California was the most decorated state with 68 medals followed by Colorado with 38 and Oregon with 21. IPA was the most competitive category for the 15th year running with 312 (Gold: Bodhizafa IPA, Georgetown Brewing Co., Seattle, Wash.) while the newly created Pumpkin/Squash Beer category saw only ten entries. Kirin Holdings Company, LTD, owners of Kirin Brewery Co., is bringing a taste of Brooklyn to Japan, announcing the acquisition of an approximately 24.5% stake in Brooklyn Brewery. The two entities will establish a joint venture to distribute Brooklyn beers and consider the development of a new product geared toward the Japanese market and possibly a restaurant concept. The partnership will work to make beer more appealing and further energize the craft beer market in Japan and Brazil. Japan Lager, anyone? Brooklyn already has an international footprint having helped develop a brewpub in Norway in partnership with E.C. Dahls Brewery in 2015. After opening massive new breweries in Brevard, N.C. and Austin, Texas in the last two years, Oskar Blues announced this week that they would be expanding into nine international markets. 2016 has been a good year for the craft in a can pioneer having achieved distribution in all 50 states in May and expecting to brew 215,000 barrels by years end. After launching the canned craft beer movement in the U.S. were ready to push boundaries around the globe, said Chris Russell, Business Development Director of Oskar Blues, in a press release. As American craft beer travels worldwide we want to challenge the perception of cans once again. Residents of Puerto Rico, Spain, Chile, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia can expect to be sipping Dales Pale Ale and Old Chub by early 2017. Anyone whos seen Cirque du Soleil once realizes two things: That was awesome and how can I do that? Those who dont want to move to Montreal and live with guys named Guy and practice trapeze for 14 hours per day can soon experience the CDS life in 2018, when Cirque du Soleils theme park opens at Vidanta resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Though most of the park details are currently under wraps, what we do know is that park planners intend to combine an immersive Cirque du Soleil experience within Vidanta resorts luxurious stylings. Included within that will be three hotels that cater to both acrobat lovers and those who probably need healing from too much acrobat. Therell also be an interactive theater, VIP hydrotherapy and, much like Disney princesses at Disney World, an assortment of performers strolling throughout the park. At the moment theres no word on what rides may or may not be includedlets hope for a trapeze roller coaster. Perhaps the best information released might be these mockups, which make it look like a contemporary Chichen Itza interspersed with sparkling cenotes, all of this seemingly inspired by someone sipping shroom tea. Nuevo Vallarta sees The Park as an additive to the citys tourism potential. At the moment, park heads hope the theme park will draw up to 5 million tourists annually. Lets just hope falling isnt part of the experience. Tom is a travel writer, part-time hitchhiker, and hes currently trying to imitate Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? but with more sunscreen and jorts. How can you tell a good comedian from a great one? A simple litmus test is to see how they respond when theyve finally hit their groove, creatively and commercially. When their material and reputation is good enough that they can start selling out theaters and clubs on name recognition alone. Watch what they do next. The good ones stay the course, giving you variations on the same kind of jokes and anecdotes that helped push their careers ahead. The great ones start getting playful, experimenting with the form and daring themselves to try new things and new ways of getting people to laugh. By that simple metric, its obvious that Kyle Kinane is well on his way to greatness. Hes already one of the better joke tellers around, turning the conversational style of comedy into an artform. Hes the guy at the bar or at the party that you keep plying with drinks so hell keep telling stories. But on his latest stand-up special Loose In Chicago, it becomes clear how Kinane is trying to stretch himself and his material. The most obvious signpost is his willingness to delve into the murky waters of political comedy. And the smartest choice he made was by not diving in headfirst. He wades into the conversation subtly while staying true to his particular voice. He deftly pivots from his ridiculous patriotism regarding mass murder during a Jack the Ripper tour in London to a discussion of gun control in the U.S., wondering aloud if anyone would really be upset by the Westboro Baptist Church folks getting gunned down en masse. That opens him up to talk about how he somehow admires the WBC for bringing disparate groups together to protest their hatred of Rev. Fred Phelps and co. like, in his example, the LGBT community and Hells Angels. Here he pulls us back into his singular point of view by imagining a burly biker conversing with a gay protester: Whats that? Cute vest? Oh, thanks, thanks. Like yours too. I wouldnt have done all the fringe but I like what youre doing. The rest of the special sits well within Kinanes comfort zone of self-awareness, drawing in the stranger moments from his life and his own absurdist way of thinking. This all coalesces in a brilliant extended riff on the fact that he has been diagnosed with gout. From that nucleus, he spins out long yarns about his overinflated ego, his terrible conspiracy theories, and how his doctor smoothly worked a testicular exam in with their heated discussion about sandwiches. Not to get too high minded about it, but this special felt like jazz. Kinane set the foundation and then peeled off from it into these extended solos that felt like improvisation but have been honed and perfected after months of shows. His comfort with the material and his ability to extemporize with it is even better exemplified by watching his recent set on Conan. He was playing to a different audience and a much shorter timeframe, but he hit different beats with the same material and teased different laughs out of it. Kinane is clearly reaching master status with his comedy, so now we have to wonder why more people arent clamoring to get a listen to it. This special and his previous one (I Liked His Old Stuff Better) were filmed in rock clubs (Chicagos Metro and the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, respectively) and when he tours around the U.S., hes playing in comedy clubs rather than grabbing choice spots at theaters or larger rooms. Perhaps its because he hasnt written a funny/moving memoir and hasnt seemed interested in developing a sitcom based on his life (though the thought of that has me giggling with joy). Whatever the reason, even as hes gaining strength, the audience doesnt seem to be growing with him. A special this good and this funny could very well be the tipping point. Best to get on the bandwagon now. Robert Ham is a regular contributor to Paste and the author of Empire: The Unauthorized Untold Story, out now via Regan Arts. Follow him on Twitter. Speaking in Brussels last Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that We [the U.S.] are not giving up on the Syrian people, and we are not abandoning the pursuit of peace. Bullshit. The U.S. government, as everyone knows (but only a few are willing to admit), has never had any interest in stemming the violence and bloodshed that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. On the contrary, the Obama administration has been actively perpetuating it from the very beginning, through a variety of means. The armed opposition in Syriawith whose righteous cause were supposed to sympathizeis at its core an Islamist proxy army serving the interests of external governments, most notably Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey (all allies of the U.S.), who want to see Syrias secular president replaced by a Sunni theocrat. Its always been this way. The peaceful protests that touched off the conflict in 2011 were anything but; many of the protesters were armed from the very beginning, prepared to use deadly force against the police and army to trigger a revolution on behalf of their state-sponsors. Was the U.S. government ignorant of these plans, concocted by its regional allies, to wage holy war on Syria? Of course not; Bashar al-Assads was one of several regimes shortlisted for toppling following 9/11this in spite of the fact that Assad cooperated with our war on terror and, unlike us, does not arm or train jihadists. The U.S. played a central role in manufacturing the Syrian uprisinga serious crimebut it didnt stop there. Taking advantage of the lawlessness engendered by Muammar Gaddafis deposition and murder (another of Obamas projects), the CIA wasted no time opening up a corridor through which foreign weapons and personnel could flow into Syria and join the ranks of the moderate opposition, e.g. Jabhat al-Nusra, i.e. al-Qaeda in Syria. This had the obvious effect of sharply escalating the violence that was already tearing the country to shreds. Meanwhile, mainstream Western media waged a relentless propaganda campaign against the Syrian government, accusing it, without evidence, of everything from deliberately gassing civilians to running SS-style concentration camps. Atrocities committed by the moderate rebels went unreported; indeed, one had, and still has, to dig around for alternative, independent coverage of the conflict to get an accurate picture of the kind of people our government supports. Fears that Assad, with Moscows help, might actually manage to save Syria from a jihadist takeover are growing. This explains our medias increasingly hysterical attempts to portray Syrias president as a megalomaniacal sadist who kills children for fun. As John Kerry contended in his recent speech, this tragic war has been made worse by the utter depravity of the regime, that doesnt hesitate to still use gas, chlorine, mixed with other ingredients to kill its citizens, that drops barrel bombs on hospitals and children and women. This business about chemical weapons continues to be parroted by outlets like the New York Times, in spite of the fact that no evidence has been presented to support the allegation. Its been known for years that terrorist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra have a chemical weapons capability, and moreover that such weapons have been used against Syrian soldiers; nevertheless, any time a chemical attack occurs, no matter how crude, Assad is automatically and irrevocably held responsible. But then, lack of evidence is hardly a consideration when it comes to demonizing an official enemy. Take for instance the Sept. 20 attack on a UN aid convoy, which killed some twenty people and officially spelled the end of the shaky ceasefire agreement brokered by the U.S. and Russia. Immediately following the attack, Kerry pointed his finger at Russia, later doubling down in spite of the following statement from UN humanitarian spokesman Jens Laerke: We are not in a position to determine whether these were in fact airstrikes. We are in a position to say that the convoy was attacked. Far from accusing Russia, the UN conceded that the attack wasnt even necessarily an airstrike, meaning it could have come from a surface-to-surface missile, meaning it could have come from a nearby rebel outfit. Kerry was unfazed, however; he was determined to exploit the crime in order to divert attention from recent American malfeasance. Recall that on Sept. 17, three days before the humanitarian convoy was attacked, the U.S. air force killed over 60 Syrian soldiers by accident, effectively guaranteeing that the ceasefire would fail. We did it, a terrible accident, Kerry said. But I got to tell you, people running around with guns on the ground, from the air, is a very different thing from trucks in a convoy with big UN markings all over them. Translation: What we did was bad, but what we say the Russians did, without proper evidence, is worse. Therefore, forget about what we did. There are many questions surrounding the American shelling of Syrian troops on Sept. 17, which opened the door for ISIS to capture strategic territory overlooking a military airport. Was it really an accident? Or was it an operation designed to undermine the fragile ceasefire and preclude any further cooperation with Moscow? Think about it: The accident occurred just 48 hours before the U.S. and Russia were to begin military collaboration against ISIS and al-Nusra. Said collaboration, which presupposed seven straight days of ceasefire, was to include intelligence-sharing between the old Cold War adversaries, something the Pentagon was openly opposed to. As reported by the New York Times, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, made a rather staggering admission when asked whether the Pentagon would abide by the agreement: Im not saying yes or no. It would be premature to say that were going to jump right into it. In case the reader missed it, thats an officer in the U.S. Air Force indicating that he might choose to defy an order given by the president. Such is the degree of Russophobia infecting the Department of Defenseit apparently justifies insubordination, perhaps even mutiny. Furthermore, the U.S. Air Force was intimately familiar with the area, Deir el-Zour, that it accidentally bombarded. According to an article in the Daily Beast (which credulously accepts the official government line), the U.S. has conducted scores of precise strikes around the city targeting ISIS and should know the city well. The U.S. has conducted, on average, nearly 20 strikes a week around Deir el-Zour. The notion that U.S. pilots were unaware of who they were bombing for an hour straight is, to put it mildly, difficult to take seriously. One thing is clear: whether the air assault on Syrian troops was a mistake or an act of aggressive insubordination by the Pentagon, the U.S.not Russia, not Assadbears primary responsibility for the ceasefire breaking down. Hence Kerrys eagerness to change the subject and blame Russia for the attack on the aid convoy that occurred three days later. Since then, the Syrian army has continued to advance on Eastern Aleppo (currently occupied by al-Nusra and adjacent terrorist groups), and the Wests propaganda machine has gone into overdrive. Articles shaming the Obama administration for turning its back on Syria and allowing genocide continue to proliferate. The focus now is on Assads supposed penchant for maiming and murdering children, though this preoccupation certainly predates the ceasefire. In one particularly galling example of base opportunism, mainstream Western media exploited an image of a bloodied and dust-covered Syrian childthe boy in the ambulancein order to promote their regime change narrative. First of all, anyone who needs to see a picture of an injured or dead child in order to grasp the horrors of modern warfare ought to have their head examined. Heres a newsflash: War is grotesque; it kills innocent men, women and children; it destroys families, cities, countries and cultures. If you dont know this, you dont know anything. Second, if our media has such empathetic concern for the children being killed in Syria, why is their coverage limited to the victims of airstrikes carried out by the Syrian and Russian governments? Are we expected to believe that our terrorist allies in Syria dont have the blood of any children on their hands? There is in fact a terrible irony to the famous image of the boy in the ambulancelater identified as five-year-old Omran Daqneeshwhose bloodied face became the sentimental symbol, in the West, of the Syrian governments brutality. Every mainstream media outlet, from TODAY to the Times, featured the harrowing image on their front page. The subtext was crystal clear: by failing to intervene in Syria, were allowing this to happen, and it will continue to happen unless we take a stand against (read: bomb) the Syrian government. The Telegraph even ran a short piece written by the man who took the picture, Mahmoud Raslan. The tears started to drop as I took the photo, Raslan writes. It is not the first time Ive cried. I have cried many times while filming traumatized children. I always cry. We war photographers always cry. One can certainly appreciate that sentiment. But hold on a minute. As it turns out, Mr. Raslan is selective about which children are actually worthy of his tears. Those murdered in the most gruesome fashion imaginable evidently do not qualify, as evinced by a smiling selfie Mr. Raslan took with a group of moderate rebels, two of whom were filmed (I wont link to the videoyou can find it if you wish) cutting the head off a twelve-year-old Palestinian child in the bed of a pickup truck. The atrocity was committed in a rebel-controlled region of Aleppo (yes, that Aleppo) by members of Nour al-din al-Zenki, an opposition group directly supported by Turkey and, until 2015, the United States. The young boy was accused of being a member of a Palestinian paramilitary unit allied with the Syrian government. Teary-eyed photojournalist Mahmoud Raslan had no qualms about posing for a gleeful picture with two of the childs executioners. Indeed, he captioned the image, uploaded to Facebook, thus: When you see the leaders on the front, know that victory is coming, with Gods permission. From besieged Aleppo, wherein they all have their faces blackened. (Translated from Arabic by the Canary.) In another image uploaded to Facebook, Raslan expresses solidarity with a group of suicide bomberssome of whom are clearly teenagers. With the suicide fighters, he writes, from the land of battles and butchery, from Aleppo of the martyrs, we bring you tidings of impending joy, with Gods permission. (Again, translated from Arabic by the Canary.) The major media outlets in the West devoted few or no column inches to the savage beheading of the twelve-year-old Palestinian boy. Nor can you find many (any?) articles about Aleppos adolescent suicide bombers, who have been brainwashed to believe that, in blowing themselves to pieces, theyre doing Allahs work and will be eternally rewarded in paradise. Contrarily, you would be hard pressed to go a single day without coming across a new article detailing the effects of Syrian and Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. This glaring discrepancy is precisely what one would expect to observe in a state-controlled media climate, according to which only the victims of our enemies are deserving of comment, let alone sympathy. To apprehend how absurd the narrative has become, consider the wholly uncritical response to Netflixs terrible new documentary about the White Helmets, a jihadist propaganda organizationsponsored and financed by the U.S. and Britainwhose members run around rebel-held territory masquerading as humanitarian first responders. Despite abundant evidence illustrating their true motives (watch this for a succinct breakdown), the White Helmets are celebrated in Western media as an independent, impartial NGO dedicated to saving lives threatened by the Syrian government. Their propaganda, while transparent, is remarkably effective. Theyve been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Ignorant celebrities like Ben Affleck and Alicia Keys have publicly endorsed them. Meanwhile, no major media outlet, as far as I know, has sought to examine whether the White Helmets are in fact the non-political humanitarian heroes they profess to be, which tells you everything you need to know. The incredibly superficial Netflix documentary actually carries no information whatsoever, unless you count the fact that one of the White Helmets admits to having fought alongside a rebel faction for a period of three months. The majority of the film takes place in Turkey, where a group of White Helmets are attending some sort of humanitarian boot camp. There the viewer is very briefly introduced to the leader of the organization, Raed Saleh, who the filmmakers fail to mention was recently denied entry into the United States for undisclosed reasons (that are easy enough to surmise). Nor do the filmmakers explore why the Turkish government, which has long supported jihadist elements in Syria, hosts training camps for the ostensibly neutral White Helmets. The documentary, in other words, is a joke. At the end of it, were informed that the White Helmets have saved over 58,000 lives since 2013, an outlandish figure that comes from the White Helmets themselves and has not been verified by any independent organization. Its hard to tell whether director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara even realized they were making a propaganda film. A glance at Natasegaras Twitter pagereplete with the usual Western talking points re: Syriasuggests that she did in fact know, but theres also the possibility that shes been sufficiently indoctrinated to believe all that nonsense. Either way, she and Einsiedel now function as cheerleaders for U.S. military aggression in Syria. John Kerry salutes them for their service to the American war machine. Needless to say, as long as stealth Islamist groups like the White Helmets are lionized by our government and our media, and as long as atrocities committed by the moderate opposition are systematically ignored, a permanent cessation of hostilities in Syria remains a pipe dream, which is what started the whole mess to begin with. Hero Motors, a completely owned subsidiary of Hero Group, whose flagship company is Hero MotoCorp, has revealed that they have procured a deal from Ducati to manufacture transmission components. This is not the first time Hero Motors will be manufacturing components for international brands. The company already does that for the likes of BMW and Harley Davidson. This is a huge development for the company as they forge a strong alliance with the two wheeler leader in global markets while it also draws Heros expertise to the fore. Hero Motors follows the system of best quality along with zero ppm. To help it maintain this standard of quality, the company is investing INR 150 crores in setting up state of the art infrastructure. Similar investments will be channeled towards enhanced operations in international markets as well. The company has an office set up in Vienna, Austria and is now mulling entry into Europe. Mr Pankaj Munjal, CMD, Hero Group said, This definitely is a big leap for us and we are quite excited about this new development. With this win we are not only forging a strong relationship with a global two wheeler leader but also reaffirming Heros proficiency and expertise in specialized manufacturing We look forward to a long term association with our patrons. Speaking about the groups flagship company, Hero MotoCorp has come a long way since it parted ways with Honda Motor Company 5 years ago in January 2011. The JV lasted 26 years and was extremely successful while it transformed India into a leading motorcycle market. Despite the split and apprehensions which arose there from, Hero MotoCorp climbed the charts and has retained its dominant position in the motorcycle segment. Hero MotoCorp is currently the largest two wheeler maker in the country commanding a 39% market share. The company sold 6,74,961 units in September 2016, up 11% as compared to Honda sales which increased 31% to 5,39,662 units over the year ago period. Maruti Suzuki Baleno hatchback and soon to be launched Ignis small SUV are nominated for 2017 World Car of the Year awards under Urban Car Category. These two offerings from Suzuki Motors will compete with BMW i3, Smart Brabus, Smart Cabriolet, Citroen C3, Citroen E-Mehari and Ford Ka+ (Ford Figo in Inida). Ford Figo, Maruti Baleno and Ignis comply with all requirements to compete in this category which also states that the vehicles should be in the sub 4 meter category and be sold in two continents. Maruti Suzuki Baleno was launched in India in 2015. It measures 3,995mm in length. It is the first Suzuki car which is being exclusively made only in India and exported to the world, including Japan and Europe. Produced at the company plant in Manesar near Gurgaon, Maruti Suzuki India exports the Baleno to over 100 countries around the world. Maruti Ignis on the other hand measures 3,700mm. It is was first launched in Japan earlier this year and will soon be launched in India and Europe. In India, Maruti Ignis is expected to go on sale next year, post it enters production at company plant. It will be offered in a choice of petrol and diesel engine option, and will go on sale through NEXA dealerships on launch in India. Ford Ka+ is on sale in India as the new Ford Figo hatchback. It is powered by a petrol as well as a diesel engine option. Ford India manufactures the new Figo from their plant in Sanand near Ahmedabad. It is also exported to multiple countries across the globe, including Europe and Africa. This is the first time that three cars which are made in India have been nominated for the prestigious World Car of the Year award, highlighting PM Modis make in India campaign. Winner will be announced at the New York International Auto Show on April 13, 2017. News Release A Tata Nano based small car is currently in the works. The new hatchback in question will be a size larger than the Nano and will slot below the newly launched Tiago. As of now, it is undergoing road test, and is internally codenamed as the Pelican. The new product will be benefiting from an improved version of the Nanos platform. While Nano was originally engineered with stringent cost targets, the new derivative will focus on attractive styling, more performance, better interiors and more equipment. Tata Motors has updated its vendors that the Nano based small car would require bigger engine, battery, wheels, etc. The engine displacement is estimated to be close to 1,000 cc. Its likely to be a three-cylinder unit. Thanks to a bigger engine, performance of the car will also be improved by a great extent. Thanks to a new video, shot by a reader, we can confirm that the new Tata Nano will do over 120 kmph. Visually, the upcoming product will be adopting the brands new IMPACT design philosophy. In addition to rivaling the Renault Kwid, the product in question will also compete with the Datsun redi-Go, Hyundai Eon and Maruti Alto. Also Read Tata Tiago Review The Tata Nano based small car is expected to carry an attracting introductory price tag like the Tiago did. It is expected to be launched later next year. For now, Tata is getting ready to launch the new Hexa SUV, which was also spied with the Nano on the Bangalore-Pune highway. You can watch the video below. Calcium deficient fauna, poor conditions for freshwater fish and mercury in the drinking water is the long-term consequences of acid rain in the 70ies and 80ies. Dag Hessen, professor at the Department of biosciences at the University of Oslo, is one of the researchers behind two new studies of the condition in Norwegian lakes. 70 lakes were investigated over the course of 30 years. According to Hessen the brown water is the long term consequences of three trends. First of all the reduced acid rain compared to the 70ies and 80ies. Now that the sulphur pollution is reduces the water is less acid, but at the same time more organic material is leaking into the lakes. In addition comes increased forest growth, which adds to the browning of water. On the top of all this more rain is resulting in increasing run off from land. At the same time, and as a result of the same trends, Norwegian fresh water is becoming calcium deficient. This is a problem for many species as Norwegian rivers and lakes are already low on calcium. "We are at risk of getting a calcium deficient fauna," says professor Dag Hessen. Brown and calcium deficient water has consequences for life in the lakes. This does not only concern fish, but also algae and water plants that dont get enough light. It also reduces the drinking water quality. These results are apparent from two studies that are newly published with researchers from NTNU and NIVA. The plan is to expand the research to other northern countries that are experiencing the same development. Dag Hessen underlines that the reduced sulphur pollution and acid rain reduction are environmental victories, even though the unwanted long term effects on the water quality shows that it can take a long time to get back to normal. The study also shows that there are side effects of forest growth. "The fact that the water quality in Norwegian lakes are about to change considerably suggests that it is about time with a new and more investigation of the water quality in Norwegian lakes," says Hessen. Federal school lunch guidelines enacted in 2012 are improving nutrition for school-age children and reducing childhood obesity, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences faculty member. UF/IFAS assistant professor of food and resource economics Jaclyn Kropp -- along with economists at Georgia State University, Clemson University and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- worked with a county school food services director to develop a novel research model to study school lunch choices children make, combining lunch sales data collected at the cafeteria register with data on student absences. They investigated how the nutritional content of National School Lunch Program entrees chosen by students varied across different socioeconomic and demographic groups and impacted their health. When healthier menu items replaced less healthy items, researchers found the total calories of the students' lunch choices decreased about 4 percent. Calories from fat decreased 18 percent, and those from sodium decreased by 8 percent. "The key finding is that while students prefer less-healthy school lunch options, income constraints, particularly for those students receiving free and reduced-price meals, cause these students to continue participating in the school lunch program and, hence, these students consume healthier meals," Kropp said. Students more likely to participate in free- and reduced-price lunch programs are among the same populations most likely to suffer from obesity and related health risks, said Janet Peckham, an economist in the Office of the Commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and lead author of the study. In another key finding, students who received free lunches were more likely to choose entrees with a higher fat content and less likely to select entrees with higher sodium content, the study showed. Students paying full price were more likely to reject entrees high in fat and choose those higher in sodium. They were also more responsive to increases in protein and more frequently replaced their cafeteria choices with lunches from home. Nearly 32 million students are served more than 5 billion lunches in a school day in the United States. More than two-thirds of these meals are free- and reduced-price lunches that follow school lunch program guidelines. Federal school lunch program nutrition standards require greater availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat milk and a reduction in saturated fats and sodium. The study is published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Antarctica's surrounding waters are home to some of the healthiest marine ecosystems on Earth and support thriving populations of krill, seabirds, fish and whales. But efforts to establish a network of effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean are being hobbled by political infighting and demands that prioritize fishing interests over conservation by members of the international consortium tasked with conserving the region, Stanford scientists say. The findings, published Oct. 14 in Science, come as 24 countries and the European Union convene in Hobart, Australia, next week for the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), to resume negotiations of Southern Ocean MPAs. "Our research shows that CCAMLR's positions for and against MPAs have become entrenched," said lead author Cassandra Brooks, a PhD candidate at Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "Negotiations have become entangled with larger global geopolitics and we see an emerging scramble for marine resources in this remote frontier." The authors argue that as a leader in international fisheries management, CCAMLR has the opportunity to set an example for ongoing negotiations at the United Nations level to develop a legal instrument for conserving biodiversity in international waters, also known as the high seas. But if CCAMLR continues to fall short in its duties, it could set a sorry example with ramifications for marine protection in other parts of the world, said study coauthor Kristina Gjerde, senior high seas advisor at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey California. "It would send the message that fishing interests trump conservation, despite the global interests at stake," Gjerde said. "It could raise doubts that nations will be able to set aside short-term national interests to confront global ocean challenges stemming from accelerating climate change. And finally, it is doubtful that these diminished sites would count toward global goals for MPAs as they would not meet the IUCN MPA criteria." Reverse burden of proof Despite more than a decade of international negotiations informed by robust scientific planning, CCAMLR has failed to meet its goal of adopting a system of MPAs in the Southern Ocean to conserve biodiversity in the face of threats from climate change and potential overfishing, the authors say. advertisement A major obstacle is agreement about the concept of "rational use," which sets the terms under which CCAMLR's member nations are allowed to fish in the Southern Ocean. The region contains some of Earth's least exploited fish stocks, and its large populations of krill -- small crustaceans that are food for the region's fish, seabirds and whales -- and toothfish have made it an increasingly prized fishing spot. Krill is valuable as fishmeal and for making health supplements, and toothfish are sold as lucrative "Chilean sea bass" around the world. As originally defined, rational use required that fishing not cause irreversible damage to the greater marine ecosystems of the Southern Ocean and for precautionary catch limits and scientific oversight to be set in place. But as the number of CCAMLR's fishing nations has grown, and as pressure increases to secure access to current and future resources in the Southern Ocean, some nations are pushing to equate rational use with the unfettered right to fish. Countries such as China and Russia have argued against MPA proposals that in any way restrict fishing and demand sufficient evidence to show that fishing threatens ecosystems. "MPA opponents want to reverse the burden of proof," said co-author Larry Crowder, science director of the Center for Ocean Solutions in Monterey, California, and a fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "When rational use was first negotiated, the whole idea was that you needed data in order to fish. Now, it's being interpreted by some fishing nations as unequivocal fishing." Sunset clauses Sunset clauses on the MPAs are another source of fierce debate. MPAs are usually established in perpetuity, but some CCAMLR member nations are advocating that Southern Ocean MPAs have built-in expiration dates ranging from 20 to 30 years. "Twenty years is shorter than the lifespan of most Antarctic predators which the MPAs are proposing to protect," Brooks said. But not only are sunset clauses inconsistent with the stated goals of MPAs, they do not meet internationally established criteria for protected areas and may not qualify for global MPA targets, the authors warn. advertisement Broader geopolitics have also infiltrated CCAMLR negotiations, the authors say. For example, poor international relations between nations -- such as tensions between Russia and the United States over Crimea -- seem to be spilling into the negotiating room. Nations opposing MPAs are being accused of not negotiating in good faith, while proponents of MPAs are accused of using MPAs a political tool. "The result is a breakdown of trust between member nations, causing a stalemate over MPAs," Crowder said. High seas implications Two large MPAs are currently being negotiated at CCAMLR: one in the East Antarctic and one in the Ross Sea -- a region that has been deemed "The Last Ocean" because it is perhaps the healthiest large marine ecosystem left on the planet. "We've seen an East Antarctic and Ross Sea MPA come to CCAMLR's decision-making table five times now without being adopted. Next week will be the sixth," Brooks said. "Each year, during the course of negotiations, the proposed MPAs in these two regions have continued to be downsized, with ecologically critical areas removed and 'research fishing zones' added." With CCAMLR meetings set to resume on Oct. 17, Brooks and her co-authors urge member nations to find a way forward in upholding their mandate and meeting their commitment toward MPAs. "The Southern Ocean is our best-case scenario," Brooks said. "If we can't figure out how to protect marine ecosystems there, it suggests it will be extremely difficult to protect them anywhere else." It's not everyday you go into work and find a bat on the roof. Workers inside an office building in Sydney, Australia, in late 2015 peered out the window and spotted the bat lying across the roof's metal awning. But this bat was in bad shape - he wasn't moving, not even when birds swooped and began to peck at him. Sarah Curran Luckily for the bat, the office workers were employees of the World Animal Protection Society (WAPS). As much as they wanted to rescue the bat themselves, they knew it could only be someone licensed and trained to rescue bats and vaccinated against Australian bat lyssavirus (a rare disease similar to rabies). So they called Sydney Wildlife, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife in the Sydney region. Sarah Curran, a wildlife rehabilitator for Sydney Wildlife, was studying for her final university exams when she got the phone call. She dropped everything and rushed into the city. "I was advised that maintenance would meet with me to let me on to the roof," Curran told The Dodo. "However, when I got there, maintenance was nowhere to be seen. So a group of very concerned WAPS employees took to the main street with me in search of a workman willing to lend us a ladder." Dodo Shows Foster Diaries This Pregnant Pittie Foster Story Is The Happiest Thing Ever Sarah Curran It had stormed the last 24 hours, and Curran suspected that the bat - whom she named Lenny - had gotten tossed and tumbled in the wind. He'd probably hit a wall at high speed, and dropped onto the roof. Whatever happened, when Curran reached him, she saw that Lenny needed help - quickly. "I took him straight to the vet for assessment," Curran said. "Secured him in a wire-top carry cage, with a fleece sling so that he could rest, kind of like a human patient would lie down in a trolley on the way to the hospital in an ambulance." Sarah Curran The vet shared some bad news - Lenny had a traumatic brain injury due to a high-impact collision. The impact had jolted Lenny's brain around in his skull, causing extensive bruising and swelling. Lenny also exhibited neurological symptoms such as tremors, rigidity and difficulty with coordination. Sarah Curran Lenny's condition was "touch and go," the vet said, but thought it was "worth a shot" to help him get better. This was all the encouragement Curran needed. She took Lenny back to the rehabilitation center inside her home and worked hard to keep his wounds clean and manage his pain. Lenny had to spend several weeks in a hospital cage, which is only large enough for him to stretch his wings, but not fly around. Curran worried he'd lose his ability to fly. Sarah Curran When Curran eventually took Lenny into a larger flight facility, she got a big surprise - Lenny hadn't lost his ability to fly. In fact, he took off straightaway! "I felt rather proud," Curran said. "Possibly a tear of joy out of the corner of my eye!" Lenny stayed in the flight facility for a few more weeks so he could build up his strength. Then Curran released him into a national park in northern Sydney. Sarah Curran If elections were held today in the five states scheduled to go to polls in 2017, the BJP would be the frontrunner in four - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa - and the Congress would take Punjab. Call it a monumental mandate for change, or a wave of fierce anti-incumbency against respective state governments, but the India Today Group-Axis My India opinion poll predicts, in an exclusive pre-election survey of 37,866 voters, that if elections were held today in the five states scheduled to go to polls in 2017, the BJP would be the frontrunner in four - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa - and the Congress would take Punjab. advertisement The saffron surge is partly a result of the surgical strikes in PoK by the Indian army in response to the Uri attack. An overwhelming majority of voters polled (as high as 90 per cent in UP, 88 per cent in Punjab and 77 per cent in Uttarakhand) say the strikes on terrorist camps by India were a good thing. About 91 per cent in UP, 90 per cent in Uttarakhand and 79 per cent in Punjab said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged stronger as a result. Will the surgical strikes help the BJP electorally? About 67 per cent polled in UP say yes, as do 76 per cent in Uttarakhand. However, in Punjab 60 per cent think the strikes have not helped the ruling party's chances. UP turns saffron? The saffron surge is most significant in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh (over 200 million population), often considered an election bellwether in India, though Hindutva issues like gau raksha and Ram mandir have found no traction. The party got just 15 per cent of the vote in 2012, but is now predicted to win 31 per cent, an unprecedented 16 per cent swing in its favour. This could get the BJP 170 to 183 seats. But even as it emerges the single largest party, it would still need 20-30 seats to form the government in Lucknow (202 seats out of 403). This might prove difficult as only 10 seats are predicted for 'Others', unless the BJP is able to split one of its rivals (BSP, SP or Congress). The BSP also seems to be gaining from the fierce anti-incumbency against the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government. Indeed, Mayawati, favoured by 31 per cent of voters, is the top choice for chief minister. The SP's negative swing of 4 per cent (from 29 per cent of the vote in 2012 to 25 per cent now) is predicted to bring the ruling party's seats to somewhere between 94 and 103. The Congress's eight to 12 seats will clearly not be enough to form a coalition government with the BSP. Despite the saffron surge, the poll predictor seems to suggest a hung assembly and political instability in UP. advertisement Congress sweep in Punjab In Punjab, the Congress seems to be getting support from all sections of society, including upper caste Hindu voters (38 per cent) and the Scheduled Castes (34 per cent of SC Hindus and 35 per cent of SC Sikhs). The unpopularity of the Akali Dal can be gauged from the fact that 45 per cent of those polled want the BJP to break the alliance. The drugs problem continues to be top of mind for respondents, with 76 per cent saying it's a major issue. If these projections for the 2017 assembly elections can be considered the semi-finals for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled in 2019, the writing is clearly on the wall: it's advantage Narendra Modi-led BJP. Follow the writer on Twitter @Ajitarticle --- ENDS ---

Veronica Rios

When the lamb arrived at the sanctuary, he was so tiny and scrawny, you could pick him up in one hand. He weighed a little over 5 pounds, and his long black ears hung low against his head. Veronica Rios Felipe was born in late September on a farm in New South Wales, Australia. His mother was young, and for whatever reason, she rejected him at birth. Felipe spent the first 12 hours of his life alone - no mother and no milk. The farmer brought Felipe to Where Pigs Fly, an animal sanctuary in Wollombi, Australia, and asked if they could help. Dodo Shows Odd Couples Dog And Wild Dolphin Play Whenever They See Each Other Veronica Rios "He was very listless," Debbie Pearce, founder of Where Pigs Fly, told The Dodo. "Weak, sick and disorientated. He couldn't stand or suckle. His temperature was precariously high." Since Felipe's mother rejected him, the little lamb hadn't gotten any colostrum - a special milk filled with antibodies that helps protect the newborn against disease. Veronica Rios "Felipe's immune system was very much compromised due to his hard start in life," said Pearce. "He had ascending paralysis caused by botulism toxin. It can be fatal. He was very ill and at times we didn't think he'd make it, but even when absolutely rock bottom, we could see he was trying desperately to survive. He is one very determined little lamb." Veronica Rios Pearce bottle-fed the baby lamb every two hours, and gave him colostrum replacement and daily antibiotic injections. She also took him to Somersby Animal Hospital for regular monitoring. Veronica Rios When Felipe took his first steps, Pearce knew he was getting better. She could also tell by the way his ears perked up. "His ears are very endearing," said Pearce. "They sit out at right angles. When he was sick they just hung low but now they have a life of their very own." Veronica Rios "I love his tenacity, his fighting spirit and his love of life," said Pearce. "He is curious about his world." Now Felipe's favorite activities include napping, snuggling and crashing on any dog bed, whether it's occupied or not. He also likes to listen for Pearce's footsteps in the morning and greet her with a welcoming, high-pitched baa. Veronica Rios "Felipe is hard not to love," said Pearce. "He is vulnerable and defenceless and adorable. I believe other animals sense this and many have reacted to his plight with care and kindness. Felipe is no doubt missing his mother and the safe and secure bonds he has developed with his new friends - our dogs, for instance, are clearly very comforting for him and the animals enjoy nurturing him. I look forward to watching him grow, make new friends and love sanctuary life - free from harm and suffering." About half of all pets in the U.S. are about to get totally transformed. Last year, Americans spent $350 million on pet costumes for Halloween. But is this as much fun for our dogs as it is for us? "The most important thing to consider when dressing your pet up for Halloween is safety," Dr. Louise Murray, director of medicine at the ASPCA, told Care.com. So, if you've just got to dress up your pets for Halloween, here's what you need to know to make sure they stay safe. Dodo Shows Soulmates Pig Loves To Launch Himself Onto His Dad's Lap Choose a costume that lets him move Whether a ladybug, pumpkin, devil or angel, the costume should allow your pet to be comfortable. Make sure he isn't constricted by the costume and able to move freely, the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) advises. Avoid anything that might get tangled up in your pet's legs, making it difficult to move. Look for signs of stress Watch out for signs of stress or anxiety when you put a costume on your pet. If your pet starts rolling his eyes, folding his ears, hunching over or tucking his tail away, it might be time to call it quits. "If your pet hates her costume, don't force her to wear it," Dr. Murray said. Skip the mask Shutterstock The HSUS urges pet owners to skip masks, which can affect your pet's ability to see. "A nice orange bandana or bow tie is a happy alternative to a full-fledged costume," Dr. Murray adds. Avoid choking hazards Just because a costume was made for a pet doesn't mean that it's guaranteed to be safe, so make sure to remove any parts your pet could get his jaws around and chew. These little pieces could be choking hazards. Dog at the annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in New York City. | Donald Bowers Photography/Shutterstock Similarly, keep an eye on your pet if you have Halloween decorations up, or candy lying around. During festivities, keep your furry family members in mind Even if your pets aren't taking part in the masquerade, you still need to keep them in mind if you're having hordes of trick-or-treaters or a halloween party. Animal behaviorist KC Theisen warns that "the things that make Halloween a treat for people - noises, smells, trick-or-treaters at the door and people in costumes - can overwhelm many pets ... While you're enjoying the fun, make sure your pets have a safe haven in a room where they can feel safe, comfortable and relaxed - and that they are tucked away from any hazards." Shutterstock Move over, Greek yogurt. The protein-rich breakfast staple, which has enjoyed an astronomical ascent in recent years, is being replaced by a new form of dairy. The latest fad: Yogurt drinks, according to a report by research firm Mintel. Yogurt smoothies, kefir and other drinks are experiencing double-digit growth because, researchers say, they offer a more portable, spoon-less alternative to traditional forms of yogurt. As a result, sales of yogurt drinks have climbed 62 per cent over the past five years and are projected to grow another 11 per cent this year, according to Mintel. (Sales of spoonable yogurt, by comparison, grew 27 per cent since 2011.) Meanwhile, year-over-year sales of traditional forms of yogurt have been sliding since 2013. Greek yogurt in particular has been battling diminished sales growth in recent years. The thick, creamy product became a mainstream sensation a decade ago, The Washington Post recently reported: The breakfast favourites astonishingly fast growth is epitomized by the success of Chobani perhaps the best known brand: The company, which began selling Greek yogurt in 2007, saw its sales skyrocket from just over $3 million to more than $1.1 billion in its first five years. Greek Yogurt accounts for roughly half of all yogurt sales in the United States. Recently, though, that double-digit growth has tapered off. Old-fashioned Greek yogurt is definitely losing some steam, Jared Koerten, a senior food analyst at Euromonitor, told The Washington Post in January. We grow tired of things pretty quickly here in the United States. But researchers say the popularity of Greek yogurt played a large role in reintroducing the dairy staple to millions of Americans, and ultimately contributed to the burgeoning success of yogurt drinks. Greek yogurt introduced consumers to the possibility of variety, in terms of flavour, texture, and function, the report says. Nearly half of U.S. yogurt consumers say they buy it for digestive health, while 35 per cent like that its affordable, according to the Mintel survey. Overall, yogurt and yogurt drink sales are projected to rise 3 per cent this year to $9.1 billion. The breakfast food is also increasingly being consumed at different times of the day, which bodes well for drinkable varieties. Among Americans who consume yogurt, 84 per cent say they eat (or drink) it as a morning snack, up from 37 per cent two years ago, Mintel said. A growing acceptance of yogurt as a snack creates huge opportunity for the market, said Beth Bloom, a senior analyst Mintel. As adoption of yogurt drinks grows, so too does innovation. Yogurt isnt the only item that has to adapt in the name of convenience. An earlier study by Mintel found millennials are increasingly avoiding cereal because it requires too much effort. Roughly 40 per cent of those surveyed said cereal was an inconvenient breakfast choice because they had to clean up after eating it, according to the New York Times. As a result, cereal sales have slipped by nearly 30 per cent since 2000. And millennials are also increasingly turning their backs on bar soaps because they say its inconvenient when compared to liquid varieties, Mintel reported in August. Convenience is the one thing thats really changing trends these days, Howard Telford, an analyst at market research firm Euromonitor, told The Washington Post last year. SHARE: OTTAWACanada has dispatched its special envoy on its trade deal with the European Union to meet with the leaders of the Belgian region that voted to reject the deal. Pierre Pettigrew, a former Liberal trade and foreign minister recently appointed by the current Liberal government, is off to Paris to meet with representatives of Belgiums Wallonia region after its legislature voted earlier today to reject the agreement, known as CETA. A spokesman for Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada continues to push with its European partners to get the deal signed. EU trade ministers meet next week to consider the pact. The deal requires unanimous approval from the European Unions member countries, including Belgium. The following week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to meet with his EU counterparts at a summit in Brussels where the two sides are expect to sign the deal. The Wallonia vote has created headaches for Belgiums national government because its constitution gives its three regional governments Wallonia being one of them a potential veto over the deal, which has been seven years in the making. Wallonias regional legislature rejected the deal by a 46-14 margin on Friday, with one abstention. The francophone region of 3.5 million people fears the deal with Canada will leave the farming and industrial sectors too exposed to cheaper imports from Canada. Environmental activists and trade unions have all warned such international deals could worsen local standards for food, work and industry. Paul Magnette, the leader of the region of Wallonia, said Friday he would not give the full powers to the federal government to back the deal at an EU meeting Tuesday, where the 28 member states have to decide on full approval of the agreement. Magnette said that the guarantees are insufficient and said labour, environmental and legal standards needed to be improved before such a deal could be approved. We have to say no so we can negotiate, Magnette said. The agreement has already been backed by an overwhelming majority of the 28 member nations of the EU, a bloc of half a billion people. It is scheduled to be officially signed at an EU-Canada summit in Brussels with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Oct. 27, seven years after talks started under the previous Conservative government led by Stephen Harper. The Belgian national government and the dominant Dutch-speaking region on Flanders back the deal. We are certainly brave, said Marie-Dominique Simonet of the Walloon Christian Democrat CdH party. The Liberal MR party, which is also represented in the national government, was scathing. You are taking Belgium and Europe hostage, said Virginie Defrang-Firket in the legislature. Nobody will trust us anymore, she said. The EU says the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement deal with Canada will improve trade, create jobs, and remove just about all tariffs and custom duties while at the same time guaranteeing European standards on anything from food and health quality to labour rights. For many, the CETA is only a prelude to an even bigger free trade deal, called TTIP, that is being negotiated with the United States, and which has given rise already to massive protests in several member states, including Belgium and Wallonia. Talks are planned ahead of Tuesday to see to whether Wallonia might withdraw its rejection. SHARE: We are spending too much time reaffirming Donald Trumps MO as an 80s-era Big Swinging Dick archetype. Once the initial wave of surprise . . . oh, wait. There was no wave of surprise. Trump behaves execrably in the company of, and is accused of sexually assaulting, women. Business journalists who followed Trump closely in the late 80s and early 90s do not fall down in stunned amazement upon hearing this news. The Trump story has always been about the crass omnipotence of money and the ability to parlay financial status into sexual power. In this, Trump does not stand apart from a corporate culture in which women were objets (preferably scantily clad) and there was no need to contain crass talk to the mythic locker room. In describing Trumps groping, octopus-like behaviour toward her, Jessica Leeds told the New York Times that such behaviour was not uncommon in the world of business. We accepted it for years, she told the Times. We were taught it was our fault. As a representation of this, Trump was an Oreos-eating, elbow through-the-Monet kind of guy, recognizable to anyone who spent much time on Bay Street back in the day. The symmetry that was worth noting was this weeks shuttering of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The Taj, which opened in April of 1990, was fodder for never-ending state-of-wonder stories as industry observers predicted defaults on Trumps $2 billion (U.S.) in bank debt, which did come to pass. The Wall Street Journal reflected in late 1990: In August, after his lenders were stunned to learn Trump Organization had a projected negative cash flow of over $100 million, close to 90 banks signed off on a deal to give him money and time to work out his problems. Taj Mahal bondholders had vowed not to let Mr. Trump keep control of the casino after he defaulted on the debt. And yet, noted the Journal, he persuaded them to do just that. Serial bankruptcies followed. Corporate raider and Trump ally Carl Icahn took control of the now defunct casino. Trump, aided by the metastasis of reality television, defied expectations that he would have about as much contemporary currency as Ivan Boesky or Michael Milken. Thats the surprise, not his predatory behaviour. Which brings me to Hillary Clinton. Trumps treatment of women has not only been a boon to Clintons polling numbers, especially among women voters. It has served to soften the examination of the candidate herself. I have gone on at length about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Clintons about-face on that file. This is not about fingering a lie, but in fully understanding the trade position of, potentially, the next president of the United States. It was then-President Bill Clinton who drank the globalization Kool-Aid, dismantling trade barriers to food imports to Haiti, resulting in the dumping of tariff-free American rice on the streets of Port-au-Prince. He would later deem his epic misjudgment a mistake and a devils bargain, telling the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: I have to live every day with the consequences of the lost capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people. Some will undoubtedly argue the unfairness of burdening Hillary Clinton with her husbands actions. But its not so easy to separate one from another. I recall passing through an agricultural landscape in northern Haiti after the 2010 earthquake as rumours grew of another industrial park for garment factories. Hundreds of farmers lost their fields to what became the Caracol Industrial Park, a collaboration between the Clinton Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the U.S. State Department, under the guidance of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the time of those rumours, the locals were talking about the potential for 120,000 jobs. At the time Caracol opened, in the fall of 2012, the target was 60,000. According to US Aid, just 6,200 were employed as of April, 2015. Who wins? A country that should be self-sufficient through agriculture? Or the Haitian business elite, ordering up cheap T-shirts for Wal-Mart, on whose board Hillary Clinton used to sit. It was Secretary of State Clinton who pressured then-President Rene Preval to accommodate Michel Martelly in a post-earthquake two-person electoral runoff, which resulted in Martelly becoming president. It was UN special envoy Bill Clinton who met with Martelly ally Sean Penn to address the same issue. Watching the scene, wrote Edwidge Danticat in The New Yorker last December, one is again reminded that Haitis version of democracy is often decided in small rooms where no Haitians are present. We should be curious now about those small rooms, or those closed rooms where Clinton would pronounce that, say, financial reform is best left to the industry itself. Who is Hillary Clinton? Donald Trump is a mystery to no one. Jennifer Wells can be reached at jenwells@thestar.ca Read more about: SHARE: Bombardier says Philippine Airlines has signed a letter of intent to acquire up to 12 of its Q400 aircraft in a two-class seating design. The turboprop planes, which are built at Torontos Downsview facility, would have an extra six seats for a total of 86, without changing the size of the plane. We are thrilled about the growing interest for the Q400, said Bombardier spokeswoman Nathalie Siphengphet, who declined to give any timelines to firm up the order. I can say all hands are on deck to make it happen. Philippine Airlines said in a news release it would set aside 10 seats for premium seating, as part of its efforts to become a five-star airline. How do airlines make money? More seats, more profits, said Merv Gray, plant chair for Unifor Local 112, which represents the workers at the Bombardier plant. And seats at the front of the cabin are even more valuable because those passengers are willing to pay a premium, he added. Bombardier, which has struggled for years to launch the costly CSeries aircraft program, has been focused on reducing overall costs on other programs including the Q400. Workers in Downsview agreed earlier this year to allow work on the cockpit and wings to be outsourced, likely to China and Mexico, in an effort to cut the price tag on the plane. The proposal was contentious because it would eliminate 200 jobs in Toronto, and after initially rejecting the plan last year, workers then voted for it. Bombardiers Siphengphet said the company is at the request for proposal stage with suppliers to outsource the work. We are always trying to be more competitive, she said. Gray acknowledged that it would be a big project that wouldnt move immediately. However, he argued the sooner you do this the better, so Bombardier can be price-competitive with Italian-French company ATR, its rival in the turboprop market. After years of delays, the CSeries jet began commercial flights this summer with Swiss Air Lines. The larger version of the jet is expected to be delivered later this year to launch customer Latvias airBaltic. Due to the ballooning costs associated with the program, Bombardier asked both the federal government and the Quebec government for financial help. Quebec put up $1 billion (U.S.) in exchange for a 49.5 per cent stake in the CSeries program. Ottawa has been weighing whether to invest since last year, but this week, for the first time, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains signalled that it was only a question of when. Its not a matter of if we want to invest. Its how we do make that investment, Bains told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday We dont want to get a deal done for the sake of getting a deal done. We want to do the right thing. We want to be thoughtful. We want to be deliberate, he said. Bains made it clear that any deal will be focused on good quality jobs in Canada as well as maintaining a head office here. But the main thorny issue is believed to be the governance structure of Bombardier, which makes both planes and trains. Under the current dual class structure, the Bombardier and Beaudoin families have voting control even though they only have a minority stake. In September, Bombardier said it expected to deliver only seven of 15 planes this year, with the delay blamed on supplier Pratt and Whitney, which has had problems meeting engine deliveries. Read more about: SHARE: CHICAGO Ronald. Paging Ronald. Are you there, Ronald? McDonalds said Tuesday that its trusty clown mascot Ronald McDonald is taking a hiatus in response to a rash of creepy clown sightings across the U.S. and even across the pond. But he was keeping a low profile long before that. Ronald McDonald has his own Twitter account, but he hasnt had anything to say, and his role in the chains advertisements has been diminished in recent years. The last time Ronald McDonald made news in a big way was in 2014, when he underwent his first makeover in nearly a decade. The red-haired ambassador has been working less in recent years as a growing cacophony of parents and educators resists the idea of a happy clown marketing burgers, chicken nuggets and french fries to kids. Several organizations, including frequent critic Corporate Accountability International, have urged the company to push Ronald into permanent retirement. The Boston-based watchdog has been aggressively targeting McDonalds and its marketing to kids since 2010. Representatives of the organization have appeared at McDonalds annual shareholder meetings every year since, urging the corporation to stop using Ronald McDonald, calling him the Joe Camel of fast food. Sriram Madhusoodanan a director at Corporate Accountability International, agrees that for the past few years, Ronald McDonald has been in the back seat. While theyll publicly defend him on the stage of shareholder meetings, theres clearly been a quiet pulling back of Ronald, Madhusoodanan said. The worlds largest burger chain, meanwhile, has ignored the groups calls to retire Ronald McDonald and insists it is not engaging in so-called predatory marketing to children. In past years, former CEO Don Thompson responded to angry parents, health professionals and activists at McDonalds annual meetings by noting that Ronald primarily serves as a charity ambassador and by appearing not eating at childrens birthday parties. You dont see Ronald McDonald eating food, Thompson said in May 2014, adding that Ronald McDonald is rarely in schools or restaurants. Weeks earlier, the company, headquartered in suburban Chicago, introduced a new, more modern Ronald McDonald his first makeover in almost a decade. That year, he bid adieu to his baggy jumpsuit and replaced it with slim cargo pants and a vest, with a red blazer and bow tie for special occasions. The makeover was announced in the midst of a months-long sales slump that would continue for months after and eventually lead to Thompsons ouster. It was also in 2014 that Ronald took his big leap into social media, with the hashtag #RonaldMcDonald. There is a Twitter account secured for him, but it is inactive. And he hasnt taken a larger role in marketing campaigns as was promised at the time. Ronald does seem to be a fan of Instagram, though, posting about 260 pictures of his adventures over the past two years. When questioned at this years annual meeting, current CEO Steve Easterbrook reiterated his predecessors stance: Ronalds here to stay, he said. And on Wednesday, McDonalds said Ronalds public schedule outside of the recent creepy clown concerns hasnt been scaled back. Nothing has changed in regards to his public appearances over recent years except for his actual appearance, spokeswoman Terri Hickey said in a statement. As he has for decades, Ronald McDonald continues to be an active ambassador for McDonalds, representing the fun and happiness of our brand. He appears at our restaurants and other community events when invited to spread messages on important topics such as safety, literacy, anti-bullying and the importance of physical activity. Madhusoodanan suggested that the clown controversy may be an opportunity for Ronald to pull back further without much notice. It just seems like this is the time for McDonalds to heed the call to have Ronald hang up its clown shoes once and for all, he said. Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWALisa Raitt has stepped aside as the Conservatives finance critic, the clearest sign yet the Ontario MP and former cabinet minister will enter the race to lead the Conservative Party. In a statement early Friday morning, Raitt said she was stepping aside to ensure full attention is paid to the file while she continues discussions on the future leadership of the party. I thank Rona Ambrose and our (Conservative Party caucus) for trusting me to serve as finance critic over the course of the last year, Raitt wrote. Raitt has already made up her mind about her political future, but has so far held off from officially announcing whether or not shell run for the Conservative leadership. It is widely assumed within Ottawa circles that the Milton MP is already in the race. Her move to the cheap seats in the House of Commons, away from the finance portfolio she seem to relish, is the strongest public indication yet to support those whispers. Raitt could not immediately be reached for comment. Raitt would enter an already crowded field to replace former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the only leader the modern Conservative Party has ever known. Quebec MP Maxime Bernier and Ontarios Kellie Leitch, who both served in Harpers cabinet with Raitt, have taken up most of the oxygen in the race so far. Bernier has laid out a series of libertarian policy proposals to shake up the race, while Leitch has courted controversy by suggesting immigrants should be tested for murkily defined Canadian values. In Ontario, any leadership hopeful would be competing for attention and support with Leitch, as well as Michael Chong, likely candidate Erin OToole, and defeated MP Chris Alexander. On Thursday, former cabinet minister Tony Clement dropped out of the race after failing to attract donations and volunteers. With Quebec Conservatives expected to field both Bernier and Steven Blaney, a former Public Safety minister who championed the Conservatives controversial terrorism law, support in that province will also be difficult to win. Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer is seen as the standard bearer for the Western Reform crowd, and former MP Andrew Saxon is reportedly considering a a bid from British Columbia. Raitt has an advantage among Ontario Conservatives in that she maintains strong connections in Atlantic Canada. She was born in Cape Breton, and still has family in the Maritimes. Shes also quick to point out that connection in Ottawa, which has a considerable east coast diaspora. Two sources said that OToole, who also has some east coast connections, has been calling Atlantic Conservatives to ask for support even as a No. 2 choice behind Raitt. Raitt also represents suburban Ontario, ridings that the Conservatives would desperately like to win back in their bid to unseat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after one mandate. A source said Raitts campaign would likely focus on pocket book issues and attention to small town Canada, something that resonates in both her hometown and the region she represents. SHARE: HALIFAXCanadas justice minister says shes poised to appoint a number of new judges to the bench following criticism from Alberta, where a first-degree murder charge was stayed because of an unreasonable delay in getting an accused to trial. Jody Wilson-Raybould made the commitment Friday at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Halifax with her provincial and territorial counterparts. Raybould said she plans to announce more appointments in the near future, saying the federal government is reviewing the appointment process and the rate of vacancies in every jurisdiction. Speaking after the meeting, Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said the province has the countrys lowest number of superior court justices on a per capita basis. The problem has been in the making for decades, she said, but the minister stressed that both levels of government understand the urgency of the situation. Im confident that moves will be made expeditiously and they understand the seriousness of the concern on this issue, Ganley told a news conference. Its really troubling to see the family of a victim who is not able to get justice ... This is not an issue that arose overnight. This has been building up for years, for decades. A jury trial was to begin next week in Edmonton for a 29-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing a fellow inmate in August 2011, but a judge with the provincial Court of Queens Bench stayed the murder charge last Friday, citing a 62-month delay. Earlier this year, a Supreme Court of Canada ruling dubbed the Jordan decision concluded that such delays must not exceed 30 months in superior courts. The decision also said cases at the provincial level should take not longer than 18 months. Meanwhile, the Opposition federal Conservatives have taken aim at Raybould, accusing her of dithering on an important file. Critic Michael Cooper, an Alberta MP, has said the dozens of vacancies across the country could lead to thousands of cases being thrown out. Raybould said the federal governments comprehensive review of the criminal justice system will include a look at the way judges are appointed. She said recent court delays have been caused by more than a shortage of judges, but she did not elaborate. We have been engaged in looking at the vacancy rates in every jurisdiction and have taken a very concerted approach to our appointments, she said. In a mild-mannered statement released after the meeting, the justice ministers specifically cited their desire to end delays in the completion of criminal cases. The statement also confirmed that the ministers spoke about another hot topic: the pending legalization of marijuana for non-medical use. Raybould said she and her colleagues also discussed issues around public safety, cybercrime, radicalization, violence against indigenous women and girls, Ottawas national security consultation, policing services in indigenous communities, and the response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools. Read more about: SHARE: TORONTOA Toronto woman who has spent the past two months stranded in Russia after having her permanent residency status revoked while abroad will soon be coming home. Julia Yakobis daughter says the federal government has reversed course on a previous decision and granted her the documents necessary to fly home from Moscow in the next few days. Yakobi had flown to her native country in July, but found herself unable to return to Toronto when Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) denied her request for a travel document and revoked her permanent residency status. CIC said she violated a residency requirement by only spending 65 days in Canada over the past five years, while Yakobi claimed she had lived in Toronto continuously since 2014. CIC eventually agreed to revisit Yakobis case and allow her to present more paperwork to support her claim to long-term residency. Her daughter says the family complied by submitting a package of paperwork weighing 3.8 kilograms that ultimately led the government to overturn its decision. I cant find the words to say how happy I am that shes finally coming back where she belongs, Hannah Yakobi said in a telephone interview. Weve spent so much time. Its our mom ... The last couple of months, all weve been doing is just waiting. Julia Yakobi travelled to Moscow to seek medical advice in July with an expired permanent residency card, a move that Citizenship and Immigration Canada allows but does not recommend. She applied for a travel document that would allow her to return to Canada, but was both denied the document and told she did not meet the criteria for permanent residency days before her scheduled flight home. The family concedes that travelling with out-of-date documentation was unwise, but CICs own guidelines make such arrangements possible. If you have been in Canada at least once during the past 365 days, you are entitled to a travel document to enable your return to Canada, reads a letter in which Yakobis request for such a document was declined based on residency requirements. CIC guidelines state that a person must spend at least 730 days in Canada during the five years prior to applying for a travel document. Yakobi said she had been in the country for more than 1,200 days, citing five years worth of tax returns, tenancy agreements, cellphone records and letters of employment as proof. Hannah Yakobi said all those documents were submitted to CIC during the review process, adding the package also included bank records, medical records and logs of other appointments. The ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment on the latest decision. It did not previously explain how it determined that Yakobi had only been in the country for 65 days. A spokesman said the officer who denied her original request considered her documented dates of entry and exit, noting that her last shown entry to Canada was in June 2013. Hannah Yakobi previously said the ministrys own information supported her mothers stance. The date of entry is in 2013, and the date of her exit was July 25, 2016, when she left for Moscow. How is that 65 days? she said. Hannah Yakobi said she and her family are grateful to CIC for revisiting the case, saying her mother had always attributed the situation to a simple clerical error. She said her initial disappointment in the government has evaporated in light of their about-face, adding everyday Canadians have also been encouraging and supportive. This is the sixth country that Ive lived in, she said. I think this positive outcome wouldnt have happened in many countries around the world. Hannah Yakobi said her mother is wrapping up loose ends in Moscow, such as terminating the lease of the apartment she had arranged to live in while her application was reviewed. She said she is keenly looking forward to settling back into her Toronto condominium, jumping back into her teaching positions and visiting with her daughters and grandchild as soon as possible. SHARE: The Bombay High Court directed the Service Tax department to expedite the auction of Vijay Mallya's airbus. By Mustafa Shaikh: The Bombay High Court today pulled up the Service Tax department for not fast-tracking the sale of Vijay Mallya's Airbus auction and sale. A division bench of Justice SC Dharmadhikari and BP Colabawala directed the Service Tax department to complete the auction and sale of the Airbus by December 15. The luxury aircraft has been kept at the airport for a long time and according to the court, the Service Tax department is just buying time. advertisement While raking up the issue and defiance of the court directions, Justice Dharmadhikari said, "Maharashtra government has a habit of defying court orders. Less said the better of a state that doesn't even have an Advocate General." Also read: Bombay HC slams Maharashtra government over poor law and order situation, says criminals are going scot-free AIRBUS AT AIRPORT The Service Tax department has attached Mallya's Airbus 319 which can carry 25 passengers and about 6 crew members. Mallya's aircraft has been parked at the airport in Mumbai pending the auction due to recovery of service tax dues. The court has posted the petition for further hearing on December 20. --- ENDS --- Update - November 30, 2018: Nephat Siziba was found not guilty and the sexual assault charge against him was dismissed on August 23, 2018. An Uber driver has been arrested after a 20-year-old woman was sexually assaulted during an Uber ride, last month. On Sept. 23, Toronto Police said that the woman ordered an Uber just before 4 a.m. to be driven home from Thornhill to Toronto. A man picked her up, and she was sexually assaulted during the ride, the news release reads. Investigators are concerned that there may be more victims. Uber Canada spokesperson Susie Heath said in a written statement that the ridesharing company take[s] every safety incident very seriously and are committed to the safety of everyone who uses Uber. They also said that its drivers go through a rigorous screening process that includes background checks with the RCMP and local police. Before they are picked up, passengers are sent information about their driver, including their name, photo and the make and model of vehicle. Nephat Siziba, 55, of Toronto, is charged with sexual assault. He appeared in court on Sun., Oct. 9. With files from Peter Goffin Read more about: SHARE: Dellen Millard and Mark Smichs trial for the first-degree murder of Laura Babcock will be postponed from February 2017 to September 2017, a judge ruled Friday. Millard had hoped to postpone the trial until January 2018, when Stephen Bernstein, a defence lawyer he hoped to hire, would be first available. Superior Court Justice John McMahon said that Millard had had more than a year to retain a lawyer to represent him, and against the repeated urging of the court to hire a lawyer, had maintained he would represent himself. The right of an accused to counsel of choice is not absolute and must be balanced with a co-accuseds right to a trial in a reasonable time and the right of the Crown to have a trial in a reasonable amount of time in the interest of the community, McMahon said. Mr. Millard has not acted diligently, said McMahon, finding that delaying the trial until January 2018 would be unreasonable to Smich and the Crown. The trial will proceed in September whether or not Millard has retained a lawyer, he said. Both Crown prosecutor Jill Cameron and Thomas Dungey, the lawyer representing Smich, objected to the adjournment request, arguing this was a ploy by Millard to manipulate the courts. Ahead of the Tim Bosma trial, Millard sought adjournment after adjournment, Dungey said. That is the pattern we are seeing again.what we have is Mr. Millard controlling the courts, he said. Both Millard and Smich are serving life sentences for the first-degree murder of Tim Bosma. They are appealing their convictions. Millard faces a third trial for the first-degree murder of his father Wayne Millard. That trial may now be set for the spring of 2018. He has not yet retained a lawyer for that trial, court heard, though he is working on hiring Ravin Pillay, who represented him during the Bosma murder trial. Millard addressed the court to explain the delay in hiring lawyers. He said he has been denied legal aid, and that ongoing civil court matters have made it difficult to obtain funding. McMahon said the court would assist in expediting any civil court matters so that the criminal trials can proceed. Millard also said for the record that he had specifically chosen Bernstein to represent him. Ive gone through a process of selecting which counsel to represent me. These arent light charges, he said. This is pretty serious stuff. Babcock, a 23-year-old woman from Toronto who may have been in a relationship with Millard, went missing in July 2012. Police did not confirm her death until 2014, when Millard and Smich were charged with her murder. At the same time Millard was charged with the murder of his father who died in November 2012 in what was deemed at the time to be a suicide. Millard will appear in court next Friday. Read more about: SHARE: Mary Archer went into hospital an expectant mother, full of dreams for the future she came out three and a half years later, severely brain damaged, unable to walk on her own and struggling to speak. Its been like a nightmare that you never wake up from, says Heather MacDonald-Archer of her daughters devastating injuries suffered in the wake of a fall at St. Michaels hospital in 2009, in the hours after she had surgery to replace a shunt at the back of her skull. Now, after seven years of anguish, uncertainty over living arrangements, and thousands of dollars in care costs, her family is finally getting some relief supportive housing for Mary. Mary Archer, 38, recently moved from an apartment to a non-profit residence for people with physical or cognitive disabilities. Meynell House and a provincially funded agency will cover caregiver costs, lifting much of the current $43,000-a-year financial burden on Mary and her parents. We are beyond relieved, says MacDonald-Archer. She and husband Paul Archer are Marys guardians and have struggled to find the 24-hour-care their daughter needs. Mary was 23-weeks pregnant when she was admitted to St. Michaels hospital in April 2009 to replace a shunt after suffering crippling headaches, vomiting and hallucinations. The shunt had been inserted three years earlier after the young social worker was diagnosed with Chiari malformation, a defect in the rear of the skull that blocks the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. Back in her room after surgery, she was woozy but no longer in pain. Her parents, and Marys partner, Bob Crocker, were assured the operation had gone well, though a hospital official later told them they knew even as she was wheeled from the operating room that the shunt was not optimally placed, the Archers say. Just after 10 p.m. that night, alone in her room, Mary tried to get out of bed to go to the washroom, despite having a catheter. She fell and hit her head, according to hospital records. A doctor ordered a CT scan; it revealed slightly swollen ventricles, but nothing extraordinary. Shortly before midnight, a nurse found Mary not breathing. She had choked on her vomit, the Archers say. The family prepared for the worst after they said they were told Mary was unlikely to survive and would be kept alive long enough to deliver her baby. But after 35 days, Mary emerged from her coma, a shadow of her previous self. Her daughter, Isabella, was delivered by C-section at 36 weeks, three months after her fall. The result of that evening has left Marys life, and ours, in tatters, the Archers wrote in a 2014 letter to the hospital. We are exhausted, and devastated as we struggle still to put our lives back together. With the help of Marys pensions, the Archers have shouldered much of the financial burden resulting from the traumatic series of events. Marys cost of care, living expenses and hefty legal bills forced the couple to sell their house by the Scarborough Bluffs and a home they planned to retire to in St. Andrews, N.B., downsizing to a modest apartment. In the first four years, Marys physio and speech therapy alone sometimes topped out at $750 a week, they said. Marys care at Meynell House, where she pays a small rent, involves a collaboration between health agencies including the provincial Community Care Access Centre and the March of Dimes, MacDonald-Archer says. Theyre really making special accommodations for Mary, who requires a high level of care, her mother says. While not able to comment on individual cases, Stacey Daub, CEO of CCAC Toronto, said the amazing resiliency and determination of our clients and their families, helps make the impossible possible. The move to Meynell House offers a ray of hope for the family in the wake of a face-to-face apology by St. Michaels CEO Dr. Robert Howard the Archers say they received at a meeting in March. The apology came without financial compensation, which the Archers say renders it empty. We appreciate the gesture, but its hollow, Marys father, Paul Archer, says. MacDonald-Archer said St. Mikes executive vice-president Ella Ferris told them in March the hospital does have insurance for these types of situations. But Ferris told the couple in a May 12 letter that because they had previously launched legal proceedings on Marys behalf that were discontinued, the insurance files were closed. HIROC (the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada) has confirmed that it is not in a position to re-open a closed claim where there has been a final disposition of the litigation, Ferris said in the letter. It is our understanding that a court-approved dismissal, or discontinuance, is considered to be a final disposition of an action. We do appreciate that this is of little to no comfort to you, in light of your current challenges. We would like to support Mary, and your family, but as a public hospital are not in a position to provide direct financial assistance or compensation, Ferris wrote. The Archers had launched two lawsuits over Marys care one stemming from a pair of falls in 2010 that resulted in stitches and brain bleeding which required surgery. They later dropped the lawsuits. We ran out of money, says MacDonald-Archer. In total, Mary suffered five falls at St. Mikes. St. Mikes says it has apologized repeatedly for Marys plight, but the hospital has never taken responsibility publicly, the Archers say. This is a very sad situation and the hospital has sincerely apologized to the family on several occasions, including in writing from the hospital CEO and chair of the hospitals board of directors and in person during the Archers March 2016 meeting with CEO Dr. Robert Howard and (vice-president) Ella Ferris, spokesperson Leslie Shepherd told the Star in an email. We appreciate that Marys family is dealing with significant challenges with respect to her care. The hospital declined a request for an interview with Howard or Ferris. The Archers say Howard told them in March that Marys incident was our darkest hour and said we take full responsibility. A hospital spokesperson would not confirm those statements. Since Marys fall, steps have been taken to prevent similar occurrences. The hospital has initiated more focused hourly rounds by nurses at night, when most patient falls occur and introduced post-fall debriefing for staff and a more thorough electronic documentation record, board chair Tom ONeill wrote in a December letter to the Archers. ...Marys journey has had a significant impact and continues to drive us in our improvement efforts, ONeill wrote. For her family, Marys brain trauma still feels as fresh as the day it happened because the tragedy is still there, MacDonald-Archer wrote in a blog post. The hurt lives on today: We see it every time we see our daughter. Before the incident, Mary was a bright woman with dreams: a social worker who hoped to pursue a masters degree and go on to teach; an expectant mother shopping for cribs and debating baby names with partner, Bob Crocker. Today, Mary communicates through smiles, moaning sounds and a special tablet she can use to spell out words and press phrase-buttons. I go to get her coffee, but she has no recollection of me being there when I come back, says Crocker, of Marys short-term memory loss. He visits Mary each weekend with their now 7-year-old daughter Isabella a Shirley Temple lookalike with a wicked wit, says MacDonald-Archer. Im still struggling day by day, Crocker says. Its been a devastating situation. The tragedy changed all of their lives irrevocably. MacDonald-Archer had planned to spend her golden years writing and teaching, untethered by the deadlines of daily news, her former field (both Heather and Paul worked for decades as editors at the Star). Archer was planning to build their nest egg a little longer as a newspaper editor. Marys twin brother, Alastair, who has cerebral palsy, is still missing his guardian angel. Seven years later, the entire family is still reeling. It was a seismic event that altered our way of life, tearing us apart and damaging every corner of our lives as parents, the Archers wrote in a letter to St. Mikes. It ruined us in more ways than we can count. Watching Mary grow into parenthood was what they had been most looking forward to, MacDonald-Archer says. She had such a great future ahead of her. SHARE: When Rehtaeh Parsons committed suicide in 2013 following endless harassment online, the bullying shifted to her mother. I was told I was a horrible mother, Leah Parsons said while speaking at Sheridan College in Oakville on Thursday night. Parsons said Rehtaeh was raped by four boys in her Nova Scotia community in November 2011 and publically shamed for it by her peers. A photograph from the night had been captured and shared, showing a boy giving the camera a thumbs-up having sex with her daughter, who is throwing up out a window. The picture quickly circulated and led to months of bullying and harassment. Only after the attacks shifted to Parsons and continued for two years did she truly understand what her daughter had gone through. Then I knew how it felt to be attacked. I realized if Im feeling this hurt imagine a 15-year-old girl feeling this. I was always reminded of thats how she felt. On top of this, almost immediately following Rehtaehs death, posters began to show up on the streets of Parsons community. Posters reading Speak the Truth, Theres two sides to every story, Stay Strong and Support the Boys. Three years after her daughters death, Parsons is still working to teach others about the consequences of sexual assault, victim-blaming, and teen bullying. On Thursday night, Parsons, who has spoken at high schools and junior highs across Canada, spoke at a college for the first time. She was the keynote speaker at an event titled For Her We Speak, which also featured speeches from MP Pam Damoff, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the Status of Women, and Sheridan president Dr. Jeff Zabudsky. The event was hosted by Halton Womens Place womens shelter, Sheridan College and PhD researcher Nicolette Little. Its goal was to give a voice to the one in four Canadian women who report facing violence, according to a press release written by Little. Parsons is all too familiar with this statistic. Rape culture: Its alive and well, she told the audience. Damoff, who also cited this statistic, said it makes one thing very clear. Our system is not working. Despite these numbers and the prevalence of this issue, Parsons said many people attempted to distance themselves from her situation following her daughters death. A lot of parents after Rehtaeh died said Oh well, she was already a party girl. She was already a troubled teen. Thats why it happened. You werent a good mom, Parsons said. Because if they can say those things about me then it makes them feel safe. Because they think thats that type of family and as long as were not that type of family then were going to be safe. Parsons and others throughout the evening emphasized the importance of continuing to push for better systems to handle these issues, as well as educating both young men and women about consent. It doesnt matter that I had conversations with Rehtaeh because if no one had those conversations with those boys, she was never safe, Parsons said. She recounted numerous occasions after speaking at schools when students approached her to thank her. That gives me hope, she said. And the sizeable audience at Sheridan speaks to the growing concern over these issues. But during a Q & A at the end of the event, Damoff surveyed the room and had one critique. It saddens me that when I look around the room its mostly women here, Damoff said. Bringing men and boys into these conversations is so important. Correction October 28, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that said the goal of the event, according to Sheridan College, was to give a voice to the one in four Canadian women who report facing violence. In fact, this was according to a press release written by PhD researcher Nicolette Little, not, according to Sheridan College. Read more about: SHARE: Next week, the federal Conservatives will mark an anniversary they would probably rather not celebrate a year out of power. In many ways, the Conservative party of 2016 looks a lot like the Liberal party of a decade ago: an interim leader in place, but in the midst of a leadership contest that has too many candidates and no real heir apparent waiting in the wings. A poll this week in the Star showed that the race is still wide open. Thats good news for the would-be leaders, but evidence that this contest has yet to fire up the troops except, perhaps, when the candidates are tussling about Canadian values or social conservatism. Former cabinet minister Tony Clement, who ran against Stephen Harper for the party leadership in 2004, pulled out of the current race this week, citing a lack of enthusiasm for his ambitions among partisans and would-be donors. It all must sound very familiar to Liberals, who were beginning to realize a decade ago that they would be spending some extended time in the opposition wilderness. Ten years ago this very weekend, Liberals were holding a leadership debate in Toronto that would turn out to haunt them in negative ads for years to come. It was the one in which Michael Ignatieff famously said we didnt get it done on meeting climate-change targets and Stephane Dion said, also famously: Do you think its easy to make priorities? At that same debate, Dion, who would become the next leader, declared: Liberals, we need to get back in power as soon as possible. Well, we know how that turned out all around. Theres one important difference between Conservatives in 2016 and the 2006 Liberals, though. The Conservatives are demonstrably better in opposition than the Liberals were. Some of the blows that have landed with the most force against Justin Trudeaus one-year-old government have come from busy Conservative researchers most successfully on housing expenses for Trudeaus senior staffers. Many political observers have been saying that the Conservatives are adept in opposition because 10 years in government gave them the inside track on where to go to stir up trouble. I think there may be another explanation: in their decade in power, they never forgot how to be in opposition. For all those years, Conservatives in power treated question period in the Commons, for instance, as a 45-minute, daily opportunity to embarrass the Liberals or New Democrats, turning questions around into attacks on the questioners. In government, the Conservatives would taunt the opposition with shouts of job-killing carbon tax every time the subject of climate change came up in the House. In opposition, theyre still chanting it, at least a dozen times since the Commons resumed business this fall, by my count. Same job, different seats. Liberals, by contrast, took a long time to adjust to opposition. I remember going to interview Dion, not long after he became leader, to ask him about a foreign policy matter in which Harper was taking a position at sharp odds with the old Liberal government. He opened the interview with: I understand why hes doing that, and then went on to give me a mini-lecture on how foreign policy is a nuanced, ever-changing subject for governments to handle. In other words, just as Conservatives never really left opposition, Liberals always had a hard time embracing it. That sums up a lot of the political dynamic of the past 10 years: the old natural governing party, as Liberals liked to call themselves, against the natural opposing party of the Conservatives. This coming week, nicely timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the election, a new book is being released on Harpers legacy. Its called The Harper Factor: Assessing a Prime Ministers Policy Legacy and was pulled together over the past year by editors Graham Fox and Jennifer Ditchburn at the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Overall, Fox and Ditchburn say the book shows that Harper was not a transformational leader a finding that they warn is sure to surprise his most loyal supporters and ardent detractors alike. I should note that I am one of the contributors to this book, asked last year to write a chapter on how political conduct changed in the Harper decade. For what its worth, I give Harper credit for some of the innovations Canada has seen in political marketing and branding tactics, and the launch of what came to be known as the permanent campaign. Harper kept his Conservatives on a war footing, never forgetting how to wound the Liberals. If his party is doing a good job in opposition in year one, even now that he is gone, we could call that part of his legacy too. SHARE: CONYERS, GA.Natasha Stoynoff, an author and former Toronto Star reporter, said Donald Trump sexually assaulted her. Trump said he did not do so. Because, he suggested on Thursday, Stoynoff is physically unattractive. Faced with a cascade of allegations that poses a mortal threat to his presidential candidacy, Trump responded Thursday with retributive fury disparaging the looks of his accusers, alleging that they had been put up to their accusations by opponent Hillary Clinton, and making a charge against Clinton that bore a resemblance to anti-Semitic rhetoric. It was a scorched-earth rebuttal in no way designed to change the minds of the educated women and suburban moderates who appear to be rejecting him in numbers large enough to doom his campaign. Instead, he allowed himself the luxury of rage. To the extent that there was a strategy, it seemed to be the curious one revealed this week by the Wall Street Journal: fire up the diehard base, like the readers of the Breitbart website run by his campaign chief, while being so hard on Clinton that Democrats will somehow become too depressed to vote. If you had said two years ago, The Republican nominees going to be Donald Trump and the campaigns going to be run by Breitbart, how do you think theyre doing? Well, kind of like this. Its a disaster, said Stuart Stevens, chief strategist to Mitt Romneys 2012 campaign. All campaigns go crazy, just like people do. But in most campaigns someones there to say, No, thats crazy. There were four accusations of sexual assault against Trump on Wednesday. They came five days after the leak of a 2005 tape in which he boasted to an Access Hollywood host of kissing and groping women without their consent and three days after he denied, at a presidential debate, that he had ever actually done so. Trumps decision to show no contrition has already hurt him. It was the dismissive debate denial, in which he claimed he had merely been using locker-room talk, that appeared to motivate Stoynoff and two women who spoke to the New York Times to come forward after years of silence. Trumps campaign has been dogged from the start by his conduct toward women. If there was any true surprise in this so-called October Surprise, it was merely that this house of cards didnt start to fall sooner, said Katie Packer, a Republican strategist who ran an anti-Trump Super PAC during the party primary. She said they had always heard this kind of chit-chat that there were stories out there. I think that now, the question is just: how many Republicans does he take with him? How much damage is he going to inflict? Packer said. The only way out of these kinds of things is true contrition. And hes never shown any contrition in any of his actions. So I think its too late. I think the perception of him is baked in: hes viewed by women as a sexist, hes viewed by non-white voters as a racist. Stoynoff, a New York City resident from Toronto who reported for the Star in the early 1990s, had been on the Trump beat for People since the early 2000s, and always had a very friendly, professional relationship, she wrote in her account on People.com. Our photo team shot the Trumps on the lush grounds of their Florida estate, and I interviewed them about how happy their first year of marriage had been. When we took a break for the then-very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion. There was one tremendous room in particular, he said, that I just had to see, she wrote. We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat. Rachel Crooks told the Times that Trump kissed her without consent in 2005 when she ran into him near an elevator at Trump Tower as a 22-year-old receptionist for a real estate firm. Retired businesswoman Jessica Leeds told the Times that Trump groped her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt when they were seated next to each other in first class on a flight about 36 years ago. At a rally in Florida on Thursday, Trump said the womens claims are preposterous lies that defy truth, common sense, and logic. Of Stoynoff in particular, he said, Take a look. You take a look. Look at her, look at her words, you tell me what you think. I dont think so. Trump also said, These attacks are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies. And, in a claim the Anti-Defamation League and others said employed anti-Semitic tropes, he accused Clinton, who made private speeches to Wall St. companies, of meeting in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers. Trumps speech was preceded by an extraordinary attack from First Lady Michelle Obama, who said the issue wasnt about politics but basic human decency and right and wrong. Trumps treatment of women has always been one of the biggest drags on his campaign. While he is doing poorly with non-white voters, it is his deficit with college-educated white women, a group Republicans have won for decades, that had crippled his chances in key states like Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado. Trump has fallen further in the wake of the videos release. He is now down seven percentage points in national polls a giant margin in a modern presidential election and faces daunting deficits in numerous swing states. Read more about: SHARE: When Tamika Cross heard a woman screaming for help for her husband who fell ill on a Delta flight last weekend, she sprang to action. The young black doctor, on her way home from a wedding in Detroit, took off her headphones, put her tray table up and unbuckled her seat belt. A flight attendant called out for medical assistance for the man, who was unresponsive. Cross, a fourth-year resident at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, raised her hand. She said to me, Oh, no sweetie, put Ur hand down, we are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel, we dont have time to talk to you, Cross wrote in a Facebook post that has gone viral. I tried to inform her that I was a physician, but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks. A request went out over the PA system, asking any doctors on board to press their call buttons. Cross pressed hers. But the incredulous flight attendant asked if she was an actual physician, according to Cross, and requested to see her medical credentials. The attendant quizzed her about why she was in Detroit and where she practiced medicine. When a white man approached and identified himself as a doctor, she said they no longer needed Crosss help. A Delta Air Lines spokeswoman, Catherine Sirna, said that discrimination of any kind was unacceptable. Weve been in contact with Dr. Cross and one of our senior leaders is reaching out to assure her that were completing a full investigation, Sirna wrote in an email. Cross said that what she experienced on the plane was depressingly familiar. She is black, female and young, and people make all kinds of incorrect and sometimes outright offensive assumptions about her medical expertise. On her very first day of being a doctor, she said she was asked if she was there to clean the room. Although she felt personally disrespected and humiliated, Cross said shes pretty desensitized to situations like that because they happen so often. She decided to go public with her story because a flight attendants inability to believe she was a physician for whatever reason: race, age, or gender could have threatened a persons life. Fortunately, the man recovered and walked off the plane, Cross said. But if he had not, the time the flight attendant spent questioning her about whether she was a doctor would have been time she could have spent trying to help him. For years, minority doctors have grappled with the thorny and painful question of how to deal with racist patients. Women doctors often find themselves mistaken for nurses. What Cross experienced may highlight a more subtle and common kind of implicit bias than the overt sexism and racism were used to talking about. Overt bias certainly exists, but there is also a growing body of scientific literature thats revealing an even more uncomfortable truth deep-seated unconscious biases help steer our thinking and behaviour even when we dont realize it. Caroline Wilmuth studied implicit bias as a graduate student at Harvard University, and she frequently used variations of a well-known riddle in her research: A father and son are in a bad car accident. The father dies at the scene. The son is brought to the operating room. The surgeon walks in, sees the boy and says, I cant operate on that boy hes my son! How could this be the case? In Wilmuths experience, the majority of people fail to solve the riddle. The simplest answer is this: the doctor is the boys mother. But not only do people not think of this, they will often go to great lengths Wilmuth called them mental gymnastics to come up with a solution: The surgeon is the boys stepfather. Or an uncle, who always treated the child like his own son. Maybe the surgeon is God and the story has a spiritual dimension. The way people grapple with the question and their embarrassment once theyre told the real answer displays to Wilmuth just how strong these implicit cognitive biases can be. Our assumptions about how the world is organized go so deep that it doesnt occur to most people that the doctor might be a woman. But Cross wasnt asking anyone to solve a riddle. She was sitting calmly in her seat, informing the flight attendant that she was a doctor. But what she had to overcome were the same sorts of biases that make it so hard for people to realize that the surgeon in the riddle is a woman. Even when information that disconfirms ones biases is presented, people struggle to accept that their previous beliefs about the world, what a doctor looks like, what a president looks like, etc. might be false, Wilmuth wrote in an email. What happened on that plane is what women, particularly those of colour, face every day. They have to prove themselves, their credentials, and their qualifications more so than men do. White men are given the benefit of the doubt, whereas black women are saddled with the burden of prooftheir word not being good enough to overcome the bias that works against them. These hidden biases have become a central topic in the presidential campaign, with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton pointing out that they affect us all even when we arent aware of it. I think, unfortunately, too many of us in our great country jump to conclusions about each other. And therefore, I think we need all of us to be asking hard questions about, you know, why am I feeling this way? Clinton said in the first presidential debate last month. Cross said that she made the story public to raise awareness of the issue. She hopes that Delta will investigate what happened, but she has no desire to see the flight attendant fired although perhaps sensitivity training might help, she said. Cross said that the flight attendant apologized multiple times and offered SkyMiles. When Cross told a supervisor at the gate what had happened, he said he was appalled and told her to file a complaint online. He handed her a drink ticket. Cross thought an email to customer service would get lost, so she decided to make a public post about the episode on social media. Now, she knows that she is not alone; in the unspooling comment thread on her Facebook post, other medical professionals have shared their own experiences of encountering bias. SHARE: Donald Trump has indulged in conspiracy theories about U.S. President Barack Obamas birthplace, the FBIs rigged probe of Hillary Clinton, the Federal Reserves political agenda and whether Ted Cruzs father was linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. With his presidential campaign in full-blown crisis on Thursday, Trump was at it again, putting a new spin on a familiar tactic. This time, there was a bigger, badder villain a global power structure of corporate interests, the media and Clinton engaging in subterfuge. This time, it was about him. They knew they would throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved ones, said Trump at a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me. But I never knew, as bad as it would be, I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious. On Friday, Donald Trump again claimed that this whole election is being rigged. Trump, speaking in North Carolina, repeated his incendiary claim that the November election was not being conducted honestly. That's an unprecedented assertion that challenges America's tradition of peaceful democracy. The Republican nominee said the process is rigged and declared that the whole thing is one big fix. Trump also again blasted the media, claiming the coverage of him has been biased. His latest target was Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who owns a share of The New York Times. Trump declared in Greensboro that we can't let Slim influence the election. Trump has also threatened to sue The New York Times over a story featuring two of the women who have accused him of sexual assault. In the face of mounting accusations from women that he groped and kissed them without their consent, dozens of media outlets carefully vetting their claims and a Clinton campaign eager to exploit worries about his behaviour toward women, Trump decided to lump them together. For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that dont have your good in mind. Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they havent seen before, Trump said. He is not just talking about Obamas birth certificate. He is talking about himself, said Mark Fenster, a University of Florida law professor and author of a 2008 book about conspiracy theories and American culture. This now becomes a much more personal enterprise about him. A day earlier, Trump appeared to allege, without evidence, that House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP elected officials who distanced themselves from him were involved in a mass scheme to undermine him. Theres a whole deal going on were going to figure it out. I always figure things out. But theres a whole sinister deal going on, he said. While spreading information ranging from the questionable to the outright inaccurate with no evidence a distinctive feature of his campaign Trump often qualifies his ideas by attributing them to unnamed people he claims are speaking about them. Some of the ideas he has embraced have been denounced by critics who charged that they were racially or culturally derogatory. .@TeamTrump should avoid rhetoric&tropes that historically have been used ag. Jews & still spur #anti-Semitism. Lets keep hate out of cmpgn, Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted Thursday. He was responding to Trumps comment that Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors. For years, Trump was at the vanguard of the birther movement doubting that Obama was born in the United States despite clear evidence that he was. Only last month did Trump officially put his doubts to rest. In doing so, he falsely blamed Clinton for starting the rumours about Obama. Last year, Trump said he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey as the World Trade Center buildings fell during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down, Trump said on ABC News in November. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down. Fact checkers found no evidence to support his claim. At the end of the Republican primary, Trump said Cruzs father, Rafael Cruz, was associated with Lee Harvey Oswald around the time he shot Kennedy. His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being, you know, shot, Trump told Fox News in May. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this? Right? Prior to his being shot. And nobody even brings it up. Trump appeared to be talking about a photograph published by the National Enquirer that showed Oswald and another man distributing pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans in 1963. Cruzs campaign denied that it was his father. No proof emerged supporting Trumps claim. Federal agencies have not been spared in Trumps unsubstantiated attacks. The Fed, which operates separately from the executive branch, was being totally controlled politically, he said during remarks on the economy in New York last month. The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment, Trump tweeted in July, in response to the FBI recommending no charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server. Lately, his rhetoric has become more personal more about his movement, his supporters and himself. Were going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study, make sure other people dont come in and vote five times, Trump said at a campaign stop in Altoona, Pa., in August, voicing concerns about voter fraud that he has repeated with urgency in recent weeks. Studies have shown that documented instances of voter fraud are very rare and that efforts to tighten voter ID laws affect African Americans and younger voters more heavily than others. Trump said Thursday that the world had reached a moment of reckoning. He told his backers that his campaign is not about me; its about all of you, and its about our country. He portrayed the powers he says have banded together to rally against him and his advocates as ruthless and cunning. They will attack you; they will slander you; they will seek to destroy your career and your family; they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation, Trump said. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that; they will do whatever is necessary. More on thestar.com: Sometimes Donald Trump makes sense: Walkom Michelle Obama 'shaken' to the core over Trump's sexual assault comments It was an assault, says woman who claims Trump groped her on a plane over 30 years ago SHARE: JOHANNESBURGConflicting reports emerged Friday about whether the first negotiated release of some Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria in 2014 involved a ransom payment, a prisoner swap for Islamic extremist commanders, or both. A Nigerian hostage negotiator who was not involved in Thursdays release told The Associated Press a handsome ransom in the millions of dollars was paid by Switzerlands government on behalf of Nigerian authorities. He said the Swiss would recoup the money from some $321 million (U.S.) it had said it would repatriate to Nigeria this year from frozen funds looted under former military dictator Sani Abacha. Swiss officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment after confirming Thursday that they had played a neutral, humanitarian role in the operation. The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that it had received 21 Chibok girls from Boko Haram and handed them over to Nigerian authorities. Nigerian authorities have said negotiations continue for the release of the remaining 197 missing girls, though at least half a dozen are reported to have died of illnesses. Two military officers told the AP the 21 girls were swapped for four detained Boko Haram leaders. The hostage negotiator and officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Nigerian officials deny any swap. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said there was no exchange of any kind ... No such thing took place. He did not mention a ransom. Some parents of the freed girls on Friday were making their way to Abuja, the capital, where the girls were flown Thursday, to be reunited with their daughters. At least 23 parents of the kidnapped girls have died since their abduction, some from stress-related illnesses and others in Boko Haram attacks. More than 20,000 people have died and 2.6 million have been driven from their homes in Boko Harams seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state across the West African oil producer, whose 170 million people are divided almost equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south. The first negotiated release of Chibok schoolgirls comes after three failed attempts over several months broke down as extremist leader Abubakar Shekau kept changing his demands, according to Information Minister Lai Mohammed. Negotiations last year failed when Boko Haram demanded a ransom of $5.2 billion, according to a recently published authorized biography of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari by American historian John Paden. Daily Trust, the most widely read newspaper in northern Nigeria, has reported a ransom was paid for the 21 Chibok girls because none of the detained Boko Haram commanders wanted to be released, fearing for their lives amid a leadership struggle in the extremist group. The girls are from a Christian enclave in the predominantly Muslim northeast. Many of their parents are involved in translating the Bible into local languages and belong to the Nigerian branch of the Elgin, Illinois-based Church of the Brethren. Read more about: SHARE: BEIJINGChinas last-known prisoner held in relation to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests will reportedly be released Saturday, but hell face freedom a frail and mentally-ill man, a rights group and a fellow former inmate said. Miao Deshuns expected release follows an 11-month sentence reduction, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for the rights of political prisoners in China. The 51-year-old former factory worker is severely ill after spending more than half his life behind bars, said Dui Huas executive director, John Kamm, in an email. Tanks and troops converged in Beijing to quash pro-democracy protests on the night of June 3-4, 1989, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people. Authorities later jailed more than 1,600 people around the country for crimes linked to the demonstrations. Nearly three decades later, young Chinese know little of the events that marked the last major popular challenge to Communist rule in the mainland and remain a taboo. Dui Hua said in May that Miao was due to be released Saturday. The date could not be independently verified. The Ministry of Public Security and the Beijing Higher Peoples Court did not respond to faxed requests for comment. Miao was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 1989 for throwing a basket into a burning tank, an act considered arson by the court. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1991, and further reduced over the years. No one other than prison officials or other prisoners in the ward for sick and disabled prisoners have seen him for many years, Kamm said. Miao suffers from hepatitis B and schizophrenia and is being held at the Yanqing Prison, a facility in a Beijing suburb that has a ward for elderly and ill prisoners, Dui Hua said. During his time at the Beijing No. 1 Prison, Miao refused to accept the charges levelled against him or sign declarations of repentance, according to a former fellow inmate, Wu Wenjian. Wu, then a factory worker, was also serving a sentence for involvement in the Tiananment protest. He spent four years in the same prison units as Miao. As time passed, Miao became very stubborn and refused to do hard labour, refused re-education, refused to write repentance letters, Wu said in an interview. Thats why he was moved to another unit reserved for the diehards. For that, Miao often endured heavier punishments than other inmates, and prison guards frequently beat him and tortured him with electric batons, Wu said. It is already a miracle that he is alive. We all thought he would not make it out of this, Wu said. According to Dui Hua, Miao has spent time in solitary confinement and has had no contact with the outside world for many years. He was transferred to Yanqing in 2003. China has never fully disclosed what happened when the military crushed the 1989 week-long protests, which authorities branded a counterrevolutionary riot. The decades since have seen breakneck economic growth and the ruling Communist Party relinquish much of its day-to-day control over many aspects of society. The party retains a tight grip on dissent that has intensified under President Xi Jinping. Read more about: SHARE: By Devina Gupta: As world leaders descend on India from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa for the BRICS summit, India is banking on trade ties to isolate Pakistan in the region. In a twin strategy, India will be flexing its trade muscle with China and Russia. From blocking India's NSG bid, to water wars at Brahmaputra river and a veto against India's bid to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist in UN, Beijing has been in a constant face-off with India. advertisement But India is banking on the strength of its markets where Chinese imports stands at $61.7 billion dollars to ensure Beijing falls in line. For China too which is facing a slowdown it is imperative to find a trade partner in India. "At this moment, Indian economy is growing strongest among BRICS. I see the geopolitical issues are constantly changing and unpredictable. We need to prepare for it and address that. But we should not be taking it as part of business" said Xian Zhu, Vice President & COO, New Development Bank set up by the BRICS nations. READ: Modi, Putin to sign $1 billion Kamov chopper deal during Goa BRICS summit Interestingly, China has raised a demand for Free Trade Area among the BRICS nations to remove tariff barriers and India here holds the key to push its own terms with Beijing. Interestingly while India is still holding its cards on FTA, Russia has mooted China's Free trade co-operation plan. "If we are talking about the project between BRICS members there are many examples, like we discussed about gold mining project. In Siberia this property belongs to Indian Sun group enterprises while Chinese enterprises, South Africa and Brazil can take part in this project along with the Russian companies. I think this kind of co-operation of BRICS countries will give great impetus and is a good example for other entrepreneurs from different sectors of industry to take part and organise co-operation in wide spread of industries," said Denis V Manturov, Minister of Industry & Trade. Russia's statement could be a challenge for India. Recently Russia conducted a joint military exercise with Pakistan, signalling a change in equation. So its time for India to push its trade diplomacy with the Kremlin. READ: India unhappy over Russia's military exercise with terror-sponsor Pakistan Russian President Vladmir Putin underlined how Indian businesses have invested about USD 8 billion in their country. While the trade has dipped by 7.8 per cent between India and Russia last year, nuclear and defence are the two key areas of co-operation with 18 key agreements in the pipeline. advertisement We have very tight relations with India specially with military co-operation and supplying military equipment. We have strong relations in industrial co-operation in this field. For many years we are looking forward to more facilities and give new military industrial co-operation, not only in aviation, land forces but also in other spheres. Military industry is always like a locomotive for civil industries," Denis Manturov told India Today. --- ENDS --- EL-ARISH, EGYPTSuspected Islamic militants attacked an army checkpoint in Egypts Sinai Peninsula on Friday, killing 12 soldiers and wounding another eight, according to security and medical officials. They said the attack took place about 80 kilometres east of the Suez Canal near the town of Bir el-Abd, where the wounded were taken for treatment before they were ferried to the city of el-Arish to the east. A military statement confirmed the death toll, but said six troops were wounded. The military said 15 of the attackers, who arrived at the checkpoint in all-terrain vehicles, were killed and an undetermined number of others were wounded in an ensuring gun battle. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, the militants opened fire on the checkpoint with light arms and heavy machine-guns. The officials had no information on casualties among the militants. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the local affiliate of Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Called the Emirate of Sinai, the group is leading the insurgency in the strategic region bordering Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in a brief statement later Friday that the latest attack would only strengthen Egypts resolve to continue the battle for building and survival. The attack was the latest in what appears to be a surge in the number of operations launched by the militants as well as a wave of Daesh kidnappings and subsequent killings of Sinais local residents suspected of collaborating with security forces battling the militants. However, there has been a dramatic fall in recent months in the number of attacks on mainland Egypt claimed by Daesh. A previously unheard of group, Hasm, or Decisiveness, has claimed responsibility for the attempted assassination in recent weeks in Cairo of a top prosecutor and a former mufti, or chief theologian. Egypt has battled militants in Sinai for years, but the insurgency has grown deadlier since the 2013 ouster by the military of an elected Islamist president. Authorities have placed tight restrictions on travel to Sinai, denying access by independent and foreign media to the vast and arid region. The government also routinely claims the death of dozens of militants every month, and occasionally announces that troops are close to defeating the insurgency. Read more about: SHARE: ABUJA, NIGERIANigerias first lady has openly questioned whether her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, is in control of his government and said she may not campaign for him if he seeks a second term. In an interview with the BBC published Friday, Aisha Buhari said her husband did not know many top government appointees, and she accused them of not sharing the vision of his All Progressives Congress party. She did not name names. The president, a former military dictator, was elected in 2015. He has not said whether he will run again in 2019. He is yet to tell me, but I have decided as his wife that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again, Aisha Buhari said. Muhammadu Buhari campaigned promising to crack down on corruption and turn the tide against the Boko Haram insurgency. His government yesterday announced the first negotiated release of some of the almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. However, Nigerias northeast faces a famine that threatens to kill tens of thousands of children after Boko Haram disrupted the regions transportation and farming. Some areas remain dangerous and inaccessible. Nigeria has also fallen into recession and lost its position as Africas biggest oil producer as militants attacked pipelines in the south. Aisha Buharis criticism of her husbands administration focused on political appointments. The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed, and I dont know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years, she said. She said she had expressed her concerns to her husband and claimed they were shared by a lot of people. Read more about: SHARE: The times they are not a-changin. In the clamour over Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, did anyone notice that not a single woman had won a Nobel this year? Its 2016. It happened in 2012 too. It happens most years. In the 115-year history of the Nobels, with 800 winners, only 48 women have won, reports Elizabeth Koh of McClatchy. In the Literature category, where a woman writes alone, escaping the sexist hurdles of universities, only 14 women have ever won. There are many fine female candidates in the six categories each year, including, as the Washington Post pointed out, the American physicist Vera Rubin, who provided the first real evidence of dark matter. Dark matter, imagine that. There are many other deserving female physicists, as Slate.com wrote in 2014, after doing an informal poll in the field and offering a list of 20 names. Physics is the worst category for women. Only two women have ever won. The first was Marie Curie, who won twice. The second was Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963. That was 53 years ago. And then came the news on Thursday that the UN had a new secretary general, Antonio Guterres of Portugal. He was, as they always are, male. The Economists headline was Can the next man do better? and called him the right man for an almost impossible job. The word person does not exist for this publication that keeps asking me to subscribe. But almost all my attention is focused on the U.S. presidential race. Hillary Clinton is well-placed to defeat Donald Trump, a man whose life is based on rock-solid women-hating. But I take nothing for granted. Trump might win. You never know. But if Clinton wins, women will still pay a price. In the same way that the election of President Obama, of mixed race, caused a backlash against African Americans, imagine the savage snapback against Clinton. Things are awful for women now whether they win or lose. It has been warming to see men form common cause with women as Trump blasts out sexist hate. But it will be a rough, say, decade for women if Clinton wins, and I hope, as do all civilized people, that she does. She is not a progressive candidate but she is better than Trump. As we flail in this sea of misogyny, not waving but drowning, Canada seems an island of relative safety. Beyond events like the 1988 Morgentaler decision allowing abortion rights, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus decision to make his cabinet gender-balanced because its 2015 was the most significant Canadian feminist event of our era. It wasnt an honour or a headline, it was actual power being placed in womens hands. Heres an example. In 2008, the federally funded Canada Excellence Research Chairs offered 28 jobs to top researchers. Only one is held by a woman, the Globe and Mail reports. I think in 2016 that number is simply unacceptable, said Science Minister Kirsty Duncan. So she is offering 11 more of these chairs, but only to universities that can show they have a gender and diversity equity plan in place. There were 19 comments on this Globe story, all of them negative, some of them crude, almost all anonymous. Commenters make me wonder about the dubious suggestion that those who show up at Trump rallies arent representative of his voters. Are misogynistic commenters merely the crust or are they the whole pie? If Clinton wins, or obviously if she doesnt, girls and boys are going to grow up in an atmosphere where parents have to explain what a p---y is, and worse. Its a kitten. Trump has been grabbing kittens, thats it. I dont know how theyll explain Trumps attack on international banks a.k.a. Jews. Mr. Trump thinks banks should stay home next summer. Maybe go camping. Camp of Nova Scotia, thats it. Women will be under attack for years to come. At least in Canada we have a feminist prime minister. Im hoping the next Supreme Court justice will be female. I hope women will move up, with government help, to take their rightful place and that women and men will advance in friendship. If Trump wins, Im thinking an underground railroad for Muslims and women fleeing Trump-promised punishment for abortions. We are Canada. We will make space for you. Youll like our new feminist ways. And some more fantasizing: next year maybe all the Nobel winners will be female. Maybe Canada will have a gender-balanced Senate. Hey, it could happen. Read more about: SHARE: CLEVELANDRolling his eyes at the Republican nominee, President Barack Obama mocked Donald Trumps purported business acumen and new-found rage against the global elite, as he rallied Friday for Democrat Hillary Clinton. He warned that democracy itself was at risk if Trump wins. As the presidential election draws to a close, Obama has increasingly embraced his role as troll-in-chief to the former reality star who hopes to succeed him in the Oval Office. With his own popularity having rebounded, Obama has become one of Trumps chief antagonists making the claim that Trumps exaggerated boasts arent to be believed. He used a rally for Clinton in battleground Ohio to try to debunk Trumps charge a day before that Clinton was at the centre of a global conspiracy by wealthy elites and political big-wigs to rig the system against working people. Obama encouraged voters to judge candidates by what theyve been doing their whole lives. This is a guy who spent all his time hanging around, trying to convince everybody he was a global elite . . . and flying around everywhere and all he had time for was celebrities, Obama said. Suddenly hes going to be the champion of working people? Come on, man, Obama said with a sardonic laugh, in what became a recurrent refrain of his campaign speech. In a cutting jab at Trumps business acumen, the president invoked the gambling adage that the house always wins. Unless he owns the house, Obama said of Trump, his voice dripping with contempt. Then it loses a billion dollars. Trump, who formerly had a casino empire in Atlantic City, reported losing more than $900 million in 1995 in tax returns that were recently leaked. Hes since acknowledged using those losses and accounting measures to avoid paying federal incomes taxes for years. Obamas final-stretch push for Clinton has coincided with growing concerns among both parties that the intense toxicity of this years campaign could pose long-term problems for American democracy, as citizens lose faith in the well-being of their political system. In his most direct terms yet, Obama echoed those concerns. Democracy itself is on the ballot right now, he said. The president pointed to Trumps claims that the election is rigged against him, a charge Trump has levelled while encouraging his supporters to monitor for voter fraud he believes will be perpetrated in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. He likened Trumps tactics including barring journalists he dislikes to the way undemocratic nations operate, adding that they are tyrannies and they are oppressive. In a nod to Democratic concerns that Trump is trying to drive down turnout, Obama said Trump wanted to make politics so toxic that voters would figure they have no good choices, and just not vote. Dont fall for it, he urged some 2,500 rally-goers in Cleveland. Ohio, with its diverse mix of cities and rural areas, is a coveted prize every four years, seen as a barometer for the shifts in the nations political climate. This year, its one of just four states that polls still suggest are toss-ups, along with Nevada, North Carolina and Florida. This week Obama entered the final 100 days of his presidency, and hes increasingly devoting his time to trying to push Clinton over the finish line. Deploying his own popularity against Trump, Obama warned in dire terms that his legacy would falter if the businessman is elected. Im here to tell you that all that progress goes out the window if we dont make the right choice right now, Obama said. SHARE: MADISON, WIS.House Speaker Paul Ryan, under siege from fellow Republicans for his unwillingness to help Donald Trump, accused Democrat Hillary Clinton and liberals on Friday of imposing a gloom and a greyness on America and pursuing a government-heavy agenda for elites. In the America they want, the driving force is the state, Ryan, R-Wis., said in remarks prepared for delivery to college Republicans. It is a place where government is taken away from the people, and we are ruled by our betters, by a cold and unfeeling bureaucracy that replaces original thinking. Ryans comments were his first significant public statements since he privately told GOP colleagues last Monday that hed no longer defend or campaign for his partys presidential nominee. That came after last Fridays release of a 2005 video showing Trump boasting about forcing sexual contact with women. Ryan rescinded an invitation for Trump to appear at a Wisconsin political event last weekend, though hes not dropped his support for him. Trump has responded with tweets suggesting a sinister plot and calling Ryan ineffective, highlighting an extraordinary pre-election schism between the senior most elected GOP official and the partys White House candidate. While Ryan never mentioned Trumps name in his prepared comments Friday a common tactic for many congressional Republicans this campaign season he tore into Clinton, who polls show has surged ahead in the race for the White House. When Hillary Clinton says we are stronger together, what she means is we are stronger if we are all subject to the state, Ryan said. What she means is we are stronger if we give up our ties of responsibility to one another and hand all of that over to government. Ryan referred repeatedly to liberal progressivism as a failed philosophy that demands conformity and sameness and has produced fewer jobs, unabated poverty, excessive regulations and an oversized government. The America they want does not stand out, he said. It is ordinary. There is a gloom and a greyness to things. He said that liberals dont only want a continuation of the last eight years. They do not just seek to further the liberal progressive experiment. They intend to make it into a reality an arrogant, condescending and paternalistic reality. Ryan told his fellow House Republicans on Monday that he will spend the remaining weeks until the Nov. 8 elections campaigning to help them keep control of the chamber. In his remarks Friday, he warned that Democrats want to increase bureaucratic control of peoples lives and confirm liberal judges and promised, A Republican Congress will not stand for this. The GOP seems likely to retain its House majority, but Democrats hopes for prevailing have grown in recent days amid a string of bad days for Trump. Ryan has not commented since reports this week in which several women have accused Trump of groping them over the past several decades claims Trump has said are false. In Ryans remarks, he pressed for the GOP agenda that he rolled out last summer that focuses on such issues as cutting regulations, overhauling the tax code and replacing President Barack Obamas health care law. On Friday, Ryan said he raised around $15 million (U.S.) in July through September this year in campaign funds for House Republicans. His Democratic counterpart, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, said she raised about $35 million for her partys House candidates during those same three months. Read more about: SHARE: The Obama administration is mounting a new push to contain Syrias use of chemical weapons, asserting this week for the first time before an international panel that Damascus is obliged to destroy its legal stocks of chlorine and other industrial toxic chemicals. But Washington faces stiff opposition from Russia, which has challenged previous UN findings suggesting the Syrian Air Force bombed at least two Syrian towns with chlorine bombs in 2014 and 2015. The United States this week circulated a draft resolution before the worlds chemical-weapons watchdog, the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, that would require Syria to declare the countrys stockpile of chlorine, a common industrial cleaner that has been converted into a toxic weapon in Syria. It would also require Damascus to declare those stocks, and any other toxic industrial chemicals, within 30 days. Furthermore, it would require Syria to declare all munitions, including barrel bombs, capable of delivering a chlorine payload within the same time period. Though the council generally works by consensus, diplomats say that the United States and its European allies, facing Russian opposition to the U.S. draft, are considering taking the unusual step up putting the matter to a vote. It would require support from 28 countries on the OPCWs executive council, or two-thirds of its 41 member states, to pass. No final decision has been taken on when, or whether, to call for a final vote. Diplomats say the U.S. can easily count on the support of the executive councils nine other Western members, as well as close allies like Japan and several Latin American countries. But they are likely going to have to water down the language to gather sufficient support from Asian and African governments, who may be disinclined to support the most onerous punitive measures. On Friday, the executive council suspended action on the measure, giving the U.S. and other supporters an opportunity to lobby other governments to back it. The U.S. push to curtail the remnants of Syrias chemical weapons program comes three years after one of the Obama administrations few bright spots in the Syrian mess. In 2013, the U.S. and Russia brokered a deal for the destruction of Syrias stockpile of banned chemical weapons, including sarin, VX and mustard gas. But international inspectors later discovered evidence of undeclared warfare agents at sites Syria claimed were not part of their chemical warfare program, fueling suspicions the regime may have stashed additional lethal agents and the shells to use them. They have also confirmed that Syria employed chlorine against opposition-held towns in 2014 and 2015. The U.K., France, Germany and the European Union have backed the U.S. initiative, saying the use of chemical weapons by a member of the convention is unprecedented, and must be answered with a strong response. For the first time in the history of the Chemical Weapons Convention, said one European diplomat, it has been confirmed that one of the member states has actually used chemical weapons. The confidential U.S. draft, which was obtained by Foreign Policy, condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government and the Islamic State. If passed, the text would also grant international inspectors greater access to facilities suspected of concealing chemical-weapon activities, including airbases and barrel bomb storage facilities. It would also suspend Syrias voting rights at the OPCW, bar Syrian officials from senior posts at the chemical weapons agency, and prohibit Syrian nationals from employment at its headquarters in The Hague. Syria would effectively be reduced to the status of an observer state. Under the terms of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, Syria and other signatories are under no obligation to declare the presence of common industrial chemicals, including chlorine, as part of a declared chemical-weapons program. But they are barred from weaponizing chlorine for use on the battlefield. A joint U.N.-OPCW panel recently concluded that Syrian Air Force helicopters dropped chlorine bombs on the towns of Talmenes, on April 21, 2014, and Sarmin. On March 16, 2015. In a statement addressed to the executive council, U.S. OPCW Ambassador Kenneth Ward said Syrias confirmed use of chlorine bombs undermined its right to possess it. Having been found to have used chlorine as a chemical weapon, Syria is now required under [the Chemical Weapons] Convention to declare and destroy all chlorine stocks and any other stocks of chemical weapons, he said. Syria must also declare and destroy all associated munitions such as ... barrel bombs as well as the equipment and facilities used to produce these chemical weapons. Syrias apparent skirting of its commitment to destroy all its chemical weapons muddled by a maddening lack of documentation and transparency has alarmed the international agency as well as big Western powers. The OPCWs director general Ahmet Uzumcu said in his opening statement to the executive council on Tuesday that there are gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies in Syrias claims to have destroyed its entire chemical-weapons program. I continue to underscore the need for the provision of original documentation regarding the Syrian chemical weapons program, access to officials with overarching knowledge about the program, and scientifically plausible explanations on outstanding issues. The blatant challenge to the 20-year-old international convention banning chemical weapons makes a strong response by the international community a must, diplomats said. Syrias dishonesty, said Geoffrey Adams, Britains ambassador at The Hague, has led us to believe that Syria has not only sought to preserve some of its chemical weapons capabilities, but also to develop new delivery systems in order to use chlorine as a chemical weapon. He added: If there is not a strong reaction, then the credibility and trustworthiness of the convention would be undermined. Weve long said that those responsible for using chemical weapons must be held to account, Adams said. Unless we act on those words, we risk normalizing the use of chemical weapons. Read more about: SHARE: LOS ANGELESTwo more women came forward on Friday to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, including a former contestant from a reality show that starred the Republican presidential nominee. The latest accounts come after several other women reported in recent days that Trump groped or kissed them without their consent. Trump has denied the allegations, calling the women liars. Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, said Trump made unwanted sexual advances toward her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007, while photographer Kristin Anderson alleged Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York nightclub in the early 1990s. Zervos, 41, appeared at a news conference Friday with Gloria Allred, a well-known Los Angeles attorney who has previously represented women who have accused celebrities of sexual misconduct. Zervos was a contestant on The Apprentice in 2006 and said she later contacted Trump to inquire about a job with one of his businesses. Zervos said she had an initial meeting with Trump, where he discussed a potential job with her. When they parted, he kissed her on the lips and asked for her phone number, she said. She said weeks later Trump called to invite her to meet him at a Los Angeles area hotel. Zervos said that during their second meeting, Trump became sexually aggressive, kissing her open-mouthed and touching her breasts. Zervos said she rejected Trumps advances and he soon began talking as if they were in a job interview. She said she was later offered a low-paying job at a Trump-owned golf course. Zervos said she is a Republican and has no political agenda in coming forward. Allred said her client told her parents and others about the incident shortly after it occurred. Trumps campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Zervos account. In a story published online Friday, Anderson told The Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when a hand reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear. Anderson, then in her early 20s, said she pushed the hand away, turned around and recognized Trump as the man who had groped her. Then recently divorced, Trump was then a frequent presence in the New York tabloids, and he was regular presence on the Manhattan club scene. He was so distinctive looking with the hair and the eyebrows. I mean, nobody else has those eyebrows, Anderson told the newspaper. She said the assault was random and occurred with zero conversation. Trumps campaign denied the allegations by Anderson. At a rally Friday in North Carolina, Trump said phoney accusers were making accusations for a little fame and that he has no idea who these women are. His rally was going on at the same time as Zervos news conference. Speaking to supporters in North Carolina Friday, Donald Trump denied the multiple accusations of sexual assault he's facing. At one point, Trump suggested one of the accusers was not attractive enough to be victimized by him and she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you. Anderson did not immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press. At the time of the incident, Anderson was trying to start a career as a model while working as a makeup artist and restaurant hostess. She said the episode lasted no more than 30 seconds. Anderson told the Post that she and her companions were very grossed out and weirded out and thought, OK, Donald is gross. We all know hes gross. Lets just move on. The Post said it contacted Anderson, now 46, after a friend she had told about the incident recounted it to a reporter. Other friends also told the Post that Anderson recounted the same story to them years ago. Andersons decision to speak publicly about her experience follows last weeks disclosure by the Post of a 2005 video in which Trump boasted that his celebrity gave him the ability to grab women by the p----. You can do anything. Trump apologized for those remarks, but also dismissed them as locker room talk. Anderson disagreed. Its a sexual assault issue, and its something that Ive kept quiet on my own, she told the Post. And Ive always kept quiet. And why should I keep quiet? Actually, all of the women should speak up, and if youre touched inappropriately, tell somebody and speak up about it. Actually go to the authorities and press some charges. Its not OK. SHARE: Are these really days of awe? Thats how the Jewish holidays just past are known. It also sounds like the U.S. election. Hillary Clinton told the New York Times, Im the last thing standing between you and the apocalypse. She sounded Trumpian. The Times aptly ended an interminable story on her with it. Fareed Zakaria says the world is freaking out over Trump. By world Zakaria always means those with wealth and power but it applies to the remnant as well. CNNS Michael Smerconish said last weekend it had been a unique moment in the history of politics and I already cant remember which moment he meant. This is annoyingly braggadocious. Loopy elections and candidates occur everywhere. Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte is more sinister and monstrous than Trump. Human rights groups say hes responsible for about 1,500 extrajudicial killings and assassinations of drug dealers and street kids, which hes more or less proud of. For causing a traffic jam, he told the pope (son of a whore) to go home. Italys Silvio Berlusconi has been consistently outrageous over a longer period with more varied plot lines. Hes had underage sex scandals and criminal convictions but keeps chugging. He has a stamina for public indignity that Trump, who flies home each night to sleep in his own bed, lacks. And Trump is way less entertaining and spontaneous than Rob Ford was. The main reason the world cant avert its eyes from the Trump drama isnt because its imaginative and dazzling but because its happening in a nation that has fateful impacts on everyone beyond it. Its like watching a tragic play that will engulf you but youre not even a character in it. When the melodrama transforms into reality, it will ripple out over the audience beyond the apron. Americans loved the Ford show because they could tune in and out; it was a diversion. In Toronto we couldnt. It was our ongoing reality. This is a version of imperialism. People all over the world watch not merely in fascination but dread. Thats untrue of any other nations politics. Not only do they invade and occupy you, then extract your wealth and undermine your culture they may even be doing it without forethought, since theyre absorbed in their own domestic dramas. Some of it is conscious and planned, some inadvertent and oblivious like the casual obliteration of Pacific island nations. There was news this week about U.S. warships firing on rebels in Yemen, as a distant result of U.S. policies toward the region going back 60 years, including the Iraq invasion. Generations of lives in the region have been crushed, it spills over into terror in Europe, the U.S. and here. The carnage in Colombia since the 1960s wouldnt have occurred without U.S. meddling. If not for such effects, their electoral capering would be merely amusing, like the Fords to outsiders. But U.S. leaders are both willing and able to incinerate the planet for their pathetically macho reasons. JFK was, in 1962, over missiles in Cuba and he was one of their more thoughtful leaders. He didnt want to, hoped he wouldnt have to but was utterly prepared to. Clinton and Trump are both of that era. Whats a mesmerized yet terrified outsider to do in a situation like this U.S. election spectacle? Maybe fight awe with awe. Though my own religious observance lapsed eons ago, I still try in a fitful way to mark moments like Yom Kippur. It helps pull you out of whatever youre mired in and see with clearer eyes. Back then I found the Jewish Sabbath had the same clarifying effect, weekly: distance and perspective. Ramadan is an extended version of the technique. It neednt be explicitly religious. I think its what people seek in mindfulness on a retreat, in the office or on the subway. People like me, whove been through the religious mill, often emerge clutching the ethical or social justice elements Justice, justice thou shalt pursue as a way to retain a connection. But that route also has challenges. Its worth hanging onto the other side, the transcendent piece, if you can: Looking up like Zhivago (in the film) as he rides across a frozen lake during the chaos of the Russian Revolution, suddenly seeing the serene moon and being transported to another, stiller realm from which, refreshed and renewed, hell return. Rick Salutins column appears every Friday. Read more about: SHARE: After sweeping to power in 1993 with promises of expanded social programs, the federal Liberals did a dramatic turnaround in office, deeply slashing social spending in the name of reducing the deficit. By the late 1990s, the deficit was gone and Finance Minister Paul Martin was the toast of Bay St. But the drastic cuts he introduced in his 1995 budget ushered in an austerity agenda of underfunded social programs and increased inequality that continues to this day. Back then, there were few in Ottawa inner circles resisting Martins deep spending cuts, but one strong dissenting voice came from Douglas Peters, who died last week at the age of 86. Chief economist and senior vice-president of the TD bank, Peters entered politics in 1993 and ended up in cabinet as Minister of Financial Institutions, sometimes called the junior finance minister. Despite his Bay St. pedigree and a Ph.D. in finance from University of Pennsylvania, Peters rejected the business worlds obsession with deficits and smaller government. From his seat next to Martin at top-level budget meetings, the soft-spoken, articulate Peters repeatedly challenged the deficit hysteria that gripped the Finance department and increasingly controlled government policy. To Peters, the key problem was unemployment which hovered above 10 per cent not the deficit. Indeed, the way to solve the deficit problem was to reduce unemployment, Peters argued. As he once told a parliamentary committee: Unemployed people pay less tax. That is one of the most certain laws of all economics. It should be inscribed on plaques and hung in the offices of prime ministers and premiers across the country. In his early days, Doug Peters certainly didnt appear to be someone headed for a seat at the cabinet table. After growing up in Brandon, Man., during the Depression, he flunked out of the pre-meds course at University of Manitoba, with the dean describing him as not university calibre. Peters later proved himself at the University of Pennsylvanias prestigious Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, where he got caught up in the heated debates about economic policy. He became a committed Keynesian, convinced that government had a role to play in ensuring full employment a view that put him offside with the new business orthodoxy calling for smaller government. It also made him an iconoclast on Bay St., when he became chief economist at the TD Bank. The bank gave Peters a surprisingly long leash, allowing him to publicly criticize the cutbacks and restraint of Brian Mulroneys Tory government. He even took a swipe at the powerful former finance minister Michael Wilson, suggesting that the Bennett buggies of the Depression had been replaced with Wilson wagons pulled by unemployed auto workers. Peters was wooed by the Liberals to run in their 1993 campaign, which attacked Mulroney era austerity and called for a national child care program. But if Peters thought the bank was a business-oriented place, he wasnt prepared for how little interest the new Liberal government seemed to have in unemployment or social needs. As finance minister, Paul Martin was almost single-mindedly focused on the deficit, vowing to tame it come hell or high water. Deficit hawks insisted government spending had to be slashed or the financial markets would punish Canada for its big deficits. But Peters, who had long Bay St. experience dealing with financial markets, insisted tackling unemployment was the way to reduce the deficit. He got support from an unlikely source a Goldman Sachs report in September 1994 identifying unemployment, rather than excessive government spending, as Canadas key problem, and noting that once full employment was achieved, the budget gap of Canada vanishes. But the business community had its mind set on smaller government, and Peters soon found himself marginalized as the cry for spending cuts rolled through Ottawa, culminating in Martins 1995 budget, which cut government spending levels by about one-third. When the deficit disappeared a few years later, the Liberals and later the Conservatives used the resulting surpluses mostly to deliver tax cuts, particularly to corporations and high-income earners, leaving Canada with a weakened social safety net and rising inequality. Perhaps Doug Peters voice was simply too soft and too rational to be heard above the chorus of throaty business demands calling for smaller government. But his passing reminds us that there was once a high-level champion for a course of action that would have set Canada on a very different path. That he was ignored is our loss as a country. Linda McQuaig is a journalist and author. SHARE: Ahead of the 8th BRICS summit in Goa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today issue a statement saying he was honoured to welcome Russian and Brazil's President Putin and Temer, and was looking forward to the summit. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he is honoured to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazil's Michel Temer for the BRICS summit to be inaugurated later today in Goa. He also said he looks forward to talks with China during the two-day deliberations. Ahead of the 8th BRICS summit and the first BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit on October 15-16 in Goa, PM Modi posted a statement on his Facebook page welcoming the leaders. advertisement Also Read: India unhappy over Russia's military exercise with terror-sponsor Pakistan READ THE FULL STATEMENT: "India is delighted to host the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa on 15-16 October 2016, followed by a first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. I look forward to extending a warm welcome to the ten leaders of the BRICS and BIMSTEC families. In Goa, I will also have the honour to receive President Vladimir Putin of Russia for the India-Russia Annual Summit and President Michel Temer of Brazil for a bilateral visit. President Putin's visit will give us an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia. President Temer's visit will open up new areas for cooperation with Brazil, an important strategic partner. I also look forward to useful conversations with my fellow leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on addressing pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals. From India Today magazine | An old friend is better than two new ones As Chair of the BRICS this year, India has embraced a stronger emphasis on promoting people-to-people linkages in diverse fields including trade, sports, education, films, scholarship, and tourism. It is anchored in the belief that our people are pivotal partners in our effort to craft responsive, collective and inclusive solutions. We will launch new initiatives in Goa even as we mark the successful operationalization of initiatives like the BRICS New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform. In a first, I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with the BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sir Lanka and Thailand. Representing nearly two thirds of humanity together, we hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring. India looks forward to building bridges to new partnerships and finding common resolve and solutions to our entrenched problems." Also Read: Modi, Putin to sign $1 billion Kamov chopper deal during Goa BRICS summit India to play trade card with China ahead of BRICS summit advertisement China declines to speak up for isolated Pakistan before BRICS Summit --- ENDS --- Donald Trump may be an awful person. I dont know. What I do know is that his recipe for dealing with Russia and Syria makes more sense than that of Hillary Clinton. The awfulness of Trump is very much in the news these days. His approach to women has long been boorish. But now come allegations (which he denies) that he is also a groper. American voters will have to decide whether these allegations are true and if so whether they disqualify the Republican candidate from the presidency. But lost in the furor over Trump the libertine are real foreign policy differences between the two candidates particularly in the all-important war against Islamic radicals known as Daesh or ISIS. These differences crystallized in last Sundays debate. Trump, oddly enough, espoused a strategy that is not that different from the one pursued by the current U.S. president, Barack Obama. Like Obama, he is not averse to working with Russia. Obama had briefly suspended talks with Russia to protest Moscows role in bombing the Syrian city of Aleppo. But that didnt last long. The talks are now set to resume Saturday. In the end, Obama realized that the only way to solve the Syrian crisis was by involving Russia. Trump gets that too. Indeed, he takes Obamas strategy to its logical conclusion. As Trump noted in Sundays debate, if Daesh is to be defeated the U.S. will have to work with those committed to fighting the terror group. In practical terms, that means working with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Iran, as well as Russia. I dont like Assad at all, Trump said. But Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. Iran is killing ISIS. Disavowing his vice-presidential running-mate, Mike Pence, Trump ruled out using U.S. air power to limit Assads attacks on Syrian rebels and civilians. Toppling Assad, he said, might backfire. Whatever emerged to replace his regime could be worse. That may not be an inspiring position to take. But it is practical. As the Libyan experience shows, removing a dictator (in that case Moammar Gadhafi) can make matters worse. Moreover, Daesh can be defeated in Syria only by ground troops. And so far, the only reliable entities willing to commit ground forces to the battle there are Lebanons Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia (which supports Assad), the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG (which want a Kurdish state), and the Syrian army itself. Other effective fighters include Islamist rebels, such as Daesh. But I dont think Washington wants any of these factions to run Syria. The so-called moderate rebels that the U. S. would prefer to support arent a meaningful force in the country. By contrast, Clinton vowed Sunday that she would establish no-fly zones in Syria aimed at stopping both Russia and Assads air force from bombing rebel-held areas. We need some leverage with the Russians, she said because (otherwise) theyre not going to come to the negotiating table for a diplomatic resolution. This sounds reasonable at first glance. But what exactly would the U.S. do to prevent a nuclear power like Russia from sending its warplanes, which are in Syria at the express invitation of that countrys government, into a no-fly zone? Unless Clinton were willing to go to war with Moscow over Aleppo, would this leverage be real? Trump says no. And in this case I suspect hes right. As I write this column, I am watching Trump on television trying to salvage his campaign. The groping allegations have clearly hurt. Speaking to a partisan audience in Florida, he pulls out all the stops. The media and the elites, he says, have joined forces to deny him the presidency. This is a conspiracy against you the American people. A long-time insider himself, he explains that he is being punished by the elites for leaving their club and revealing its secrets to the masses. But he will not give up. Like a kind of Christ figure, he will take all the slings and arrows gladly for you. Throughout, he exudes a fascinating, paranoid intensity that may well resonate with voters. But in listening to this Donald Trump, its easy to forget that sometimes as in his approach to Syria he can make sense. Thomas Walkoms column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Read more about: SHARE: Dr. Rajinder Singh Sekhon sexually abused and harassed patients. He gave a patient drugs without proper prescriptions, used them himself and sold them. He tied a patient to a bed, injected her with Demerol and had sex with her. His abuse went on for years. All these are facts that Sekhon did not contest as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario stripped him of his medical licence this week and condemned his behaviour as outrageous beyond belief. So the question we ask is: why on Earth is this man not facing criminal charges? At the very least he should be under investigation by police. And he may well be once the College forwards its report on his case to police in cities where he practiced medicine Windsor, Toronto and Ajax. On Thursday it said it will do that immediately. The problem is that its unclear how far police will be able to take the case. As the law stands now, the College is forbidden to give police the names of any patients who Sekhon victimized without their consent. And it wont say whether any complainants in this case have done that. In fact, theres a big question mark there. Complainants who were victimized by Sekhon are identified in the Colleges report only as Patient D, F, K and so on, to safeguard their privacy. Its possible that police may end up with a long list of criminal acts committed by this former doctor, but no way to prove them with testimony in a court of law. Clearly, the law needs to be changed to make it more likely that abusive doctors face criminal charges when their behaviour crosses that line. Ontarios health minister, Eric Hoskins, set up a task force in 2014 to examine issues related to sexual abuse by health professionals. The College says it recommended to the panel that the law be changed to give it the discretion to reveal names of complainants to police in cases that are so serious that the public interest requires it. The task force reported last month, and it did not address that issue. And it did not recommend that the law require mandatory reporting of potentially criminal acts to police. All this is done in the name of safeguarding victims privacy. Thats an admirable goal, but it cant be used to let doctors whose behaviour is as appalling as Sekhons escape criminal prosecution. Theres a wider public interest that demands action. Hoskins has the task forces report in hand, and it will be up to him to change the law. He should make sure the College has the power to give police the fullest possible information about abuse by doctors including names of victims. SHARE: Jessica Leeds was 38 when she first encountered Donald Trump. But she didnt speak out after he allegedly assaulted her on a flight to New York more than three decades ago by grabbing her breasts and trying to put his hand up her skirt. As a businesswoman during the 1970s and 1980s she had learned one thing: We were taught it was our fault. At 22, Rachel Crooks was just beginning her career when she says she met Trump in 2005 in the building they worked in. She shook his hand to introduce herself, and alleges he kissed her directly on the mouth. Later, sobbing, she told her boyfriend that the most distressing part was that she felt she couldnt do anything to him because of his position. But that was then. Though Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, is more powerful than ever, these women, emboldened by the high stakes, are finding the courage finally to speak out about their alleged assaults. Their stand is brave, and a welcome sign of the changing times. In recent years, amid a series of high-profile sexual assault scandals and the conversations that followed, attitudes toward such crimes have shifted. There is a growing awareness that victims are not to blame for their assaults and a sense that men can no longer hide behind cloaks of power. No matter the risks of unwanted public scrutiny, of having their credibility attacked or of being pilloried by Twitter trolls, more and more women, Leeds and Crooks included, refuse to be shamed or scared into silence. Consider Kelly Oxford. Last Friday when a video recording surfaced of Trump bragging he could grab women by the genitals and get away with it because hes a star, she sought to show the world the impact that attitude can have on its victims. Women: tweet me your first assaults, she wrote on Twitter. Old man on city bus grabs my p---y and smiles at me. Im 12. By Saturday morning she was getting as many as 50 responses per minute under the hashtag #NotOkay. Similar conversations emerged in the wake of the recent Jian Ghomeshi and Bill Cosby sexual assault scandals. The accusers who came forward in those cases gave strength to others to tell their stories and on and on, chipping away at the stigma that kept Leeds and Crooks and so many others quiet for so long. Such a process seems to be taking place already in Trumps case. In the wake of the recent allegations, Toronto Star and People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff came forward with her own story of Trump pushing her up against a wall and forcing his tongue down her throat. Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant now say Trump walked into their dressing room while they were changing. Florida woman Mindy McGillivray told the local newspaper that Trump groped her at his Palm Beach resort in 2003. (Trump denies all allegations of sexual assault and no charges have been laid.) It is ironic that in some sense Trump is responsible for this healthy outpouring. Leeds, Crooks and McGillivray all say they came forward only because he denied during the most recent presidential debate that he has ever committed the sort of sexual crimes he was recorded bragging about. As Sonia Ossorio, the president of the National Organization for Women of New York told The New York Times: In a campaign short on any concrete policies, Donald Trump has accidentally shed light on a very serious issue. Trumps notion that sexual gratification is the entitlement of the powerful, while by no means rare, is among the most despicable claims of what has surely been the most despicable presidential campaign in American history. Lets hope the destruction once and for all of that dangerous fallacy is among his few lasting legacies. Read more about: SHARE: Re: Cost of tax should be trivial, annoying at most, Oct. 8 Cost of tax should be trivial, annoying at most, Oct. 8 Id like to thank Paul Wells for comforting farmers worried about carbon taxes. There are highly efficient combines on the market, he wrote. Thats helpful information. Its hard to imagine machinery manufacturers will spend invest more on R&D just for those of us lucky enough to pay carbon taxes. Our farmer colleagues and competitors in the U.S., Australia, and elsewhere wont be paying carbon taxes, so demand will be limited. Even with breakthroughs, the Aussies and Americans will get them, too, without paying carbon taxes. Canadian farmers will get hit with carbon taxes while our competitors wont. But the same world commodity prices will prevail for all. The same crops will be grown, the same emissions will be emitted, but carbon taxes will send the signal that farming in Canada is less profitable. Id like to invite Mr. Wells to visit my farm. Well lean on the tailgate, crack some beers, and hell tell me which combines to buy. Then Ill stop worrying about carbon taxes. Jim Wickett, chair of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, Rosetown, Sask. SHARE: An ongoing debate about Uber and other ride-hailing companies such as Lyft, continues: Are their drivers employees or should they be considered as such? At the moment, Uber's business model has its drivers operating as independent contractors -- a designation that has helped the San Francisco-based company stay profitable. But two Uber drivers have been ruled eligible for unemployment payments in the state of New York, the New York Times first reported. While the rulings by the New York State Department of Labor apply only to the drivers' unemployment insurance claims and "do not directly affect other drivers or extend to other protections normally accorded employees," the Times reported, it puts the employee versus independent contractor issue in the spotlight, again. Considering that the ruling is specific to only two drivers, it leaves open the possibility that Uber treats some of its drivers differently, said Baruch College Professor Steven Melnik during a phone interview with Real Money Thursday afternoon. Given that two former drivers were already determined eligible, more might push for the same designation to become eligible for unemployment benefits and possibly other benefits. "Unless Uber can show that other drivers were treated differently, which is highly unlikely, the New York State Board will have to issue the same ruling for all other drivers," Melnik said. "It certainly has major implications on Uber's business model and for all its drivers." Furthermore, Melnik pointed out that if drivers think they are employees, "they should've filed that way," even before a court ruling. And, if they didn't, meaning they filed their taxes as independent contractors, then they will have to correct their taxes. Uber has taken a staunch stance against the employee designation, even proposing a $100 million settlement to a class action employee misclassification suit in California and Massachusetts -- a proposal that was rejected by a federal judge in mid-August. But it is also facing class-action suits in Florida and Illinois, in which drivers are looking to recover unpaid overtime wages and work-related expenses, according to the Los Angeles Times. So, the ride-hailing company's fight for contractors is far from over. Currently, Uber seems more than willing to continue to shell out settlement money in the millions of dollars, rather than alter its drivers-as-contractors designation. Sure, the company has a valuation of $68 billion -- on paper. But New York University Professor of Finance Aswath Damodaran pointed out in an August blog post that Uber has a "flawed business model," one that puts Uber's worth at $28 billion, according to his calculations. It will likely take a court ruling to determine whether Uber drivers are worthy of employee status. But if that were to happen, as Melnik told Real Money in July, Uber would be on the hook to retroactively pay for employee-related taxes, worker's compensation insurance and other rights -- a situation that would certainly cost Uber more than a multi-million-dollar settlement. Editor's Note: This article was originally published at 4 p.m. EDT on Real Money on Oct 13. Employees of TheStreet are restricted from trading individual securities. Call these days of intensified uncertainty in the high stakes oil futures game, where investors put down sometimes huge investments that amount to bets on where crude oil prices are heading, often over the next three months, sometimes much further out. Lately, too, sentiment has been rising that oil is about to tick up in price. "Right now the psychology is bullish," said Vic Sperandeo, president and CEO of EAM Partners, which is known for its futures research. "It is the interest of the oil producers to work together to raise the price," said Sperandeo. Here's the tantalizing fact: crude oil now trades for a hair over $50 per barrel - but the oil producers (a small club, 14 nations belong to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and they control about 40% of current production but perhaps 80% of proven reserves) very much want a price hike. Understand: in 2011 and 2012, oil typically sold for over $120 per barrel. So several OPEC nations - notably Venezuela, but to a degree also Nigeria, Algeria, Libya and even Saudi Arabia - are wrestling with substantial domestic economic issues as they cope with low prices. Oil for most of them is their only business. Why doesn't OPEC just willy nilly set a steep price and tell the world to take it or leave it? For years OPEC did pretty much that but that creates its own risks. Raise the price of oil too high, too fast and recession may result (as it did in the U.S. in 1973 to 1975 and 1980 to 1981). A sputtering economy means less energy consumption which puts immediate downward pressure on oil prices. Then, too, the reason oil is priced as it is is that there just is too much production, said Tim Hynes, a credit analyst at DebtWire who focuses on distressed oil companies. "Supply outstrips demand," said Hynes. To make an OPEC price hike stick the members have to agree on reducing production and by how much, said Robert Minter, investment strategist with Aberdeen Asset Management. That is a lot easier to talk about than to enforce, especially given deep rivalries - even enmities - within OPEC. Iran and Iraq are at each other's throats, the Saudis also have no affection for Iran and probably everybody is leery of Libya. "This gets very political," said Sperandeo. Then, too, times have changed. OPEC has power but it is not a solo act. The U.S. in particular has vast petroleum resources in oil shale formations that presently are not significantly exploited, but, said Minter, at $60 per barrel for oil, shale becomes attractive. So may other - currently too expensive - kinds of U.S. oil production and that matters to OPEC because the U.S. (after China) is the world's second biggest oil importer. When the U.S. turns to more homegrown product that is bad news for OPEC. The U.S. now ranks as the planet's biggest oil producer, and it has the capacity to produce much more if the price of oil rises. Canada (the fifth biggest oil producer) also may ramp up production, particularly in oil sands, if prices rise. OPEC strategists know they cannot lose track of the possible U.S. and Canada production spikes triggered by higher prices. The third reason: non-OPEC member Russia ranks as the third biggest oil producer, and it has a big say in the price of oil. And exactly where Russia stands in regard to cuts is unknown. That's because Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that he is fine with going along with an OPEC price hike associated with production cuts. Meanwhile, Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft, Russia's state owned oil company, has said no, he does not want to cut production. What will Russia - the pivotal player in oil's future - do? Those who believe Putin will prevail are buying futures accordingly. Those who think Sechin will prevail aren't. Forecasting Russia's actions are not for the unwary. What should individual investors do with their own money? Hynes said in this market, with its many uncertainties, he would not recommend buying futures. "Invest in individual companies instead," he said. Sperandeo, by contrast, is bullish about oil futures - in a measured way. He said: "My bet is that oil rallies from here. To the mid 50s, possibly 60. I would be a buyer in a small way." He stressed: "This is a treacherous market." And he said emphatically: "I am not saying bet the farm." But, sift through the variables, and very probably there will be upward price movement - which means the real guess is, will it happen inside the three month timeframe of a typical futures contract? Place your bets. Sprint (S) owner SoftBank (SFTBY) will launch a tech fund with the help of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund which will manage as much as $100 billion. The move comes hot off the heels of SoftBank's 24 billion ($29 billion) purchase of the U.K.'s ARM Holdings, a semiconductor designer, as the Japanese company looks to become a bigger player in the tech sector. The company also sold part of its stake in internet-giant Alibaba (BABA) and offloaded games maker Supercell. "Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector," SoftBank founder and chairman Masayoshi Son said in a statement. The London-based fund, which will be known as SoftBank Vision Fund, will make investments in the technology sector around the world. The Japanese company will invest at least $25 billion over the next five years. The Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will become the lead partner, investing up to $45 billion over the next five years. The pairing in a statement said that they are in "active dialogue" with a few other large investors to participate in the fund. The overall size of the fund can go up $100 billion. In the realm of tech venture capital, the figures stated by SoftBank and the Saudi fund are huge. According to data from the National Venture Capital Association, $100 billion is the same amount raised by all U.S. venture capital funds over the past two and a half years Softbank has been shifting away from its cell phone carrier business and looks to up investments in the internet of things. "The objective of SoftBank to establish the fund is to accelerate [the company's] global growth strategy through the investments via the fund and alliances with portfolio companies of the fund," SoftBank said. Saudi Arabia, for its part, is making a push into non-oil investment as the sovereign wealth fund looks to shore up its financial reserve against the drop in oil. In the summer, the fund made a $3.5 billion investment in car-booking app Uber. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Much of the discussion in the energy sector in recent years has revolved around the collapse - and recovery- of natural gas and oil prices, to the exclusion of other sources. Exelon (EXC) CEO Christopher Crane explained why nuclear power is being virtually ignored on CNBC Friday. "So there are certain plants -not only in the Exelon fleet, across the country - that are economically challenged right now," he said on "Squawk on the Street." "We have low, low growth. We have low natural gas prices. And we're competing against subsidized renewable generation. So there are plants that are not getting compensated for their reliability or their environmental benefits that they provide." Growth in the nuclear sector has been stagnant in the U.S. for decades amid public safety concerns after some highly public near-meltdowns. Zero new nuclear reactors were built in the country between 1977 and 2013. "There's a lot of competing regulations right now," Crane said. "You have the Environmental Protection Agency heading towards a clean power future. But you have markets that are not designed for that." Exelon operates 15 nuclear facilities, including the infamous Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. The company is working state-by-state to be compensated for the facilities' lack of carbon emissions, Crane added. Shares of Exelon were higher in Friday morning trading. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation: We rate EXELON CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of B-. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. You can view the full analysis from the report here: EXC EXC data by YCharts NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wells Fargo (WFC) was suspended from having a business relationship with the state of Ohio and from participating in any bond offerings with the state for a year on Friday. Ohio joins the growing list of states and municipalities barring Wells Fargo from doing business with them, including California, Illinois and Chicago. The bank is being punished for an accounts scandal that involved some of its employees opening up to two million fake accounts for existing customers, in order to boost their sales numbers, to meet Wells Fargo's aggressive sales goals. Some customers were charged fees for these fraudulent accounts. "How much is that affecting your company?" CNBC's Tyler Mathisen asked Wells Fargo CFO John Shrewsberry on Friday afternoon's "Closing Bell." "Because of the size of Wells Fargo and because of the diversification of our business it doesn't have an impact - a measurable impact - on our aggregate results," Shrewsberry answered. The division that is being banned by the different states and municipalities is a part of Wells Fargo's wholesale banking business, which includes corporate lending and underwriting, he noted. A "handful of customers" from that portion of the bank has suspended business, he admitted. Wells Fargo will "compete fiercely" to win those customers back once the suspension periods are over, Shrewsberry claimed. "Those are customers who we really want to win the business back from," he explained. However, the punishment will not necessarily be felt by the bank in the meantime. "Not a big mover for the company overall," Shrewsberry concluded. (Wells Fargo is held in Jim Cramer's charitable trust Action Alerts PLUS. See all of his holding with a free trialhere.) 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 Wells Fargo as a Buy with a ratings score of B. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe 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: WFC WFC data by YCharts Amazon (AMZN) is dominant in the public cloud infrastructure (IaaS) market, but its relatively limited support for "hybrid" cloud environments that pair public cloud services with a company's on-premise hardware and software has been seen as a weakness relative to #2 public cloud player Microsoft (MSFT) and others. Meanwhile, VMware's (VMW) virtualization software powers a large percentage of on-premise server workloads, but has a limited public cloud presence. It's easy to see how the companies' new alliance makes for a very good fit, and could make things a little harder for various rivals. A week after Fortune first reported that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and VMware would announce a partnership, the deal has been confirmed and its details spelled out. The heart of the agreement: VMware will sell a subscription-based service, known as VMware Cloud on AWS, that lets businesses run AWS server workloads on top of VMware's software, while jointly managing these workloads and the VMware-powered ones found on their own infrastructure. The service will leverage VMware's vMotion technology to easily move workloads to and from AWS and a company's own data centers. And in addition to supporting VMware's mainstay vSphere server virtualization software, it will support the company's VSAN storage virtualization platform and its NSX networking virtualization and security platform. Both VSAN and NSX have been seeing strong growth. Importantly, the service will support AWS's unmatched array of public cloud offerings, provided both via Amazon itself and -- through the AWS Marketplace -- numerous third-party software and services providers. While VMware's vCloud Air platform has been offering hybrid cloud services that have much in common with what's delivered by VMware Cloud on AWS, vCloud Air's feature set pales relative to AWS's, and its geographic footprint is also smaller. VMware plans to make the service, which could appeal to companies that have made big investments in on-premise vSphere deployments, broadly available in mid-2017. It might help offset the sales declines vSphere has been witnessing, as workloads keep moving to cloud infrastructures -- both Amazon's and others -- relying on third-party virtualization software such as Microsoft's Hyper-V and the open-source Xen and KVM platforms. For Amazon, the deal could do much to strengthen its sales pitch to businesses that -- due to some mixture of cost, performance, security and compliance concerns -- want to deploy hybrid clouds rather than fully rely on public clouds. The company has already been stepping up its efforts to woo enterprises. Among other things, it has formed alliances with major IT services providers such as Accenture, created a service for migrating corporate databases AWS and built Snowball, an appliance that lets companies transfer and ship large amounts of data to an AWS data center. But Microsoft, aided by the fact that it has several on-premise software offerings that are well-used by enterprises, has held an edge on Amazon when it comes to hybrid cloud support. And this year, the company strengthened its hybrid cloud position by unveiling Azure Stack, a hardware solution to be offered by Microsoft partners that lets companies locally run cloud services that can be moved to and from Microsoft's Azure public cloud infrastructure. In addition, many other prominent enterprise tech names, such as (IBM) , HP Enterprise (HPE) , Dell and Red Hat (RHT) , have thrown their weight behind the OpenStack IaaS software platform, which supports hybrid clouds. And IBM's SoftLayer cloud unit already has a hybrid cloud partnership with VMware. Now Amazon, with the help of VMware's large salesforce and channel partner base, can tell Global 2000-type companies it can also deliver a quality hybrid cloud solution for customers that need it, one that's backed by AWS' enormous feature set and works well with software that many of these companies have widely deployed. Thus, while it's possible Amazon's tie-up with VMware will take time to become a major revenue generator, the deal quickly does a lot to protect Amazon's flank as Microsoft continues doing whatever it can to gain ground. Caesar, a Labrador Retriever, was part of the bomb detection squad during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The 11-year-old pooch died of a heart attack at a farm in Virar. By India Today Web Desk: It was an emotionally taxing time for Mumbai Police, bidding farewell to their devoted K-9 named Caesar, the last surviving 26/11 hero dog who suffered a hear attack on Thursday. The 11-year-old Labrador Retriever, died at a farm in Virar where he was living with three other canines, after his retirement, reports the Times of India. Services of retired member of dog squad,during 26/11 wil b unforgettable.We will miss our hero immensely #RIPCaeser pic.twitter.com/RP7m3X9moF Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) October 13, 2016 advertisement Caeser was part of the bomb-detection operations during the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. The brave pooch saved many lives after tracing hand grenades left by the terrorists at the CST railway station. This rockstar had detected grenade at CST station during 26/11. A life lived well... #RIPCaeser https://t.co/ywqbgIoav2 Suniel Shetty (@SunielVShetty) October 13, 2016 The hero dog served in bomb-search operation after the 2006 serial train blasts and July 2011 serial blasts in Mumbai. He was also a part of the Nariman search team which tracked hidden terrorists. Mumbai Police Commissioner DD Padsalgikar tweeted condolences saying "The brave, alert & efficient Caeser will be remembered fondly for his services. An emotional moment for all of us". The brave, alert & efficient Caeser will be remembered fondly for his services. An emotional moment for all of us @MumbaiPolice #RIPCaeser pic.twitter.com/RoQZCglKSx CP Mumbai Police (@CPMumbaiPolice) October 13, 2016 Caesar's passing comes after three other police dog named Tiger, Max and Sultan died this year. The pooch slipped into depression after he lost his friends one after the other. Tiger was also part of the bomb squad team during the terror strike. Twitter users are using #RIPCaeser as they laud Caeser's courage and pay their tributes for his service: Rest in peace Thank you for your service #RIPCaeser Shubhanjan Saha (@shubhanjan_saha) October 13, 2016 Grand salute 2 one of d #Heros during #26/11. U accomplished much more in ur service than d politicians did during their lifetime #RIPCaeser Aditya Varma (@adityahyd) October 13, 2016 #RIPCaeser We are indebted forever.May God bless ur soul. https://t.co/lyZhpyppVq Pooja Pawaskar (@pooja_1510) October 13, 2016 --- ENDS --- 10/13/2016 By Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 (w), 978-758-4664 (c) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is leading Republican Donald Trump in the race to capture New Hampshires important four electoral votes, according to a new UMass Lowell/7News poll released today. The independent, nonpartisan poll by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion found that 45 percent of likely voters support Clinton compared with 39 percent who say they will vote for Trump. Libertarian Gary Johnson had the support of 9 percent of likely voters and Green Party candidate Jill Stein garnered 2 percent. Only 4 percent of voters reported being undecided and the majority of those who support Clinton (85 percent) and Trump (79 percent) say they will not change their minds before Election Day. As the election draws closer, New Hampshire is again emerging as a swing state critical to either candidate reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. If there is any doubt how important the results in New Hampshire can be in a presidential election, ask Al Gore about 2000. If he had carried New Hampshire, he would have been president, said Prof. Frank Talty, co-director of the Center for Public Opinion and assistant dean of UMass Lowells College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The results on Nov. 8 in New Hampshire could determine not only the outcome of the presidential election, but also control of the U.S. Senate. The Granite State is that important. The survey conducted from Oct. 7 through Oct. 11 via live telephone interviews with 654 New Hampshire registered voters and a subset of 517 likely voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.35 percent for registered voters and 4.87 percent for likely voters. New Hampshire is home to approximately 10,000 UMass Lowell graduates, 2,000 students and 400 employees. Three days of polling were conducted after news surfaced last week about the controversial statements by Trump in a 2005 recorded conversation with Billy Bush during a taping of Access Hollywood. The results of polling after the recording was made public found that New Hampshire voters surveyed were widely aware of it: 62 percent of likely voters said they had listened to the audio and an additional 21 percent of likely voters stated that they had heard a lot about the conversation between Trump and Bush. Nearly a third of those aware of the recording (30 percent) said that it made them less likely to vote for Trump, 1 percent said it made them more likely to vote for Trump and 66 percent, the vast majority, said it made no difference to them. More women (37 percent) than men (22 percent) reported the recording would make them less likely to vote for Trump. Only 7 percent of Republicans surveyed said they are less likely to vote for Trump after becoming aware of his recorded comments about women. Women voters are bolstering Clintons lead in New Hampshire, with 52 percent supporting her compared to 33 percent who support Trump. Forty-six percent of male voters surveyed said they support Trump, compared to 37 percent who support Clinton. Clinton also appears to have closed what had been a bitter divide with supporters of Bernie Sanders, who defeated her in the New Hampshire primary, as she now has the support of 88 percent of voters polled who identify with the Democratic Party. Among those who identify with the Republican Party, 77 percent of voters said they support Trump and 11 percent said they plan to vote for Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, compared with only 2 percent of Democrats. In both candidates cases, more likely voters have a negative view of them than favorable. Thirty-two percent of likely voters polled said they view Trump favorably compared with 63 percent who view him unfavorably and 55 percent of likely voters have a negative view of Clinton compared with 42 percent who have a favorable opinion. Only 33 percent of New Hampshire voters said they consider either candidate as honest and trustworthy, but Clinton has the edge over Trump when it comes to voters opinions on who has the necessary qualifications to be president, with 61 percent who said Clinton is qualified compared to 34 percent who said Trump has the qualifications. When it comes to the temperament necessary to be president, something both candidates have raised during the campaign, only 28 percent of voters said Trump has the necessary temperament compared to 64 percent who said Clinton does. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump are well-liked presidential candidates. Only a third of voters view either as honest and trustworthy, but Clinton is viewed by large majorities of New Hampshire voters as qualified and temperamentally fit to serve as commander-in-chief, said Prof. Joshua Dyck, co-director of the Center for Public Opinion, who wrote and analyzed the poll. Trump, on the other hand, is viewed by large majorities as unqualified and not temperamentally fit. In perhaps the strangest and most negative presidential campaign ever, this, ultimately, helps us to explain why Clinton leads by six points among Granite State voters. Ayotte & Hassan Within Single Percent The races for U.S. Senate and governor in New Hampshire are too close to call, according to the UMass Lowell/7News poll. Just one percentage point separates incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte from her Democratic challenger Maggie Hassan in a contest that could shift the balance of power in the Senate. Ayotte has the support of 45 percent of likely voters while Hassan has 44 percent and Libertarian Brian Chabot has 4 percent. The majority of those polled 87 percent of Hassan voters and 85 percent of Ayotte voters describe their choice in candidates as definite and only 6 percent of voters said they are still undecided. The support for candidates largely follows party lines, with 84 percent of Republicans in favor of Ayotte and 88 percent of Democrats for Hassan, but Ayotte is doing better among independents. Governor's Race Has Highest Percentage of Undecided Voters In the race to replace Hassan as governor, Republican Chris Sununu is just two percentage points ahead of Democrat Colin Van Ostern, 41 percent to 39 percent. Libertarian Max Abramson has the support of 6 percent of likely voters. Fourteen percent of likely voters said they are still undecided and a quarter of those who support Sununu said they could still change their minds compared to only 11 percent of Van Osterns supporters. With more voters undecided about their choice in this race, the final outcome could be decided by any national-level trends in the final days leading up to the election. Other findings from the poll include: In an election year when Democrats could be put in control of the White House for a third straight term, only 31 percent of likely voters say that the country is headed in the right direction, compared to 61 percent who say the country is on the wrong course. Sixty percent of Democrats chose right direction compared with 15 percent of independents and 6 percent of Republicans. Eighty-nine percent of Republicans polled expressed distrust in the federal government compared to 50 percent of Democrats. Clinton is leading among voters younger than 29 and older than 50 while Trump leads by a 2-to-1 margin (50 to 24 percent) in the 40 to 49 age group. Clinton is also leading Trump among voters who earn more than $100,000 (48 percent to 41 percent) and less than $50,000 (47 percent to 32 percent) annually and the candidates are nearly even among those who earn between $50,000 and $100,000 with 45 percent favoring Clinton to 43 percent who prefer Trump. Results of the UMass Lowell/7News poll are based on interviews with a random sample of 654 New Hampshire registered voters and a subset of 517 likely voters conducted via landline and cellular telephones Oct. 7 through Oct. 11. The survey was conducted via live interviews using an overlapping, dual-frame landline and cellphone random-digit dial (RDD) design. Final results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies based on the 2015 American Community Survey. The margin of error for registered voters is plus or minus 4.35 percent and plus or minus 4.87 percent for likely voters. More information on the poll methodology, as well as detailed polling data, is available at www.uml.edu/polls. UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 17,500 students bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. Support us - Help us upgrade our services! Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. Improved multilanguage support Tsunami alerts Faster responsiveness Design upgrade Detailed quake stats Additional seismic data sources Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: Android | IOS to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world.We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team.If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please PayPal or Online credit card payment )., these features have been added recently: Workers for oil and gas giant Pertamina are transferred to offshore rigs near Bangkalan, on Madura Island, Indonesia. The Indonesian state-owned corporation said Thursday that its planned liquefied natural gas receiving terminal in West Java will be delayed by a year to 2020. Pertamina said it is preparing to meet future natural gas demand by stockpiling LNG commitments with overseas companies. (Antara Foto/Reuters) TECHNOLOGY Samsung recall expands to 1.9 million Samsung Electronics and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission agreed on an expanded recall of original and replacement Note 7 smartphones, increasing the number of devices that can be returned to 1.9 million. All owners of the Note 7s will be able to exchange their devices for another Samsung smartphone or receive a refund under the plan approved by the CPSC, the company and the agency said in statements Thursday. Customers who exchange the Note 7 for a Samsung device will get a $100 credit, while those opting for an alternative brand will receive a $25 credit. Samsung cut its third-quarter operating profit by $2.3 billion Wednesday after deciding to permanently end production of the troubled smartphone. The Note 7s were overheating and catching fire even after a recall that was supposed to fix the problem. The announcement almost doubles the number of smartphones subject to the recall. The U.S. consumer agency had announced a voluntary recall of almost 1 million Note 7s on Sept. 15. Bloomberg News MEDIA Discovery invests in new media company Discovery Communications is investing $100 million in a new digital media holding company, the latest partnership between TV networks and Web publishers as they adapt to the shifting media landscape. The new company, Group Nine Media, combines several online publishers: Thrillist, a lifestyle brand; NowThis, a leading creator of social-media videos; the Dodo, a website focused on animals; and Seeker, a Web video series focused on adventurers. Discovery announced the investment Thursday in a statement. Discovery will become a minority investor, with the option of buying a controlling stake at a later date, the statement said. Thrillist chief executive Ben Lerer will become CEO of Group Nine Media, which will work with Discovery on content and ad sales across TV, online, social media and live events, including making videos on behalf of brands. Bloomberg News Also in Business From news services Coming FRIDAY Cuban cigars for sale are displayed at a hotel in Havana on Friday. (Enrique De La Osa/Reuters) American travel to Cuba has been on the rise in recent years, and now there are two more reasons for U.S. travelers to head to the island nation: rum and cigars. The Obama administration on Friday lifted restrictions on how many cigars and bottles of rum Americans can bring back from Cuba, part of continuing efforts to mend more than five decades of strained relations between the nations. This is a big change and one thats long overdue, said David Savona, executive editor of Cigar Aficionado magazine. For quite a long time, Americans have been prohibited from bringing back Cuban cigars, and this lifts many of those limitations. Under the new rules, which take effect Monday, Americans may bring back up to 100 Cuban cigars, whether purchased in Cuba or other countries, for personal consumption without paying customs taxes. The administration is also clearing the way for cargo ships to travel between the two countries and making it easier for scientists from the United States and Cuba to partner on medical research. [U.S., Cuba stepping up efforts to save Hemingway artifacts] These amendments will create more opportunities for Cuban citizens to access American goods and services, further strengthening the ties between our two countries, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in a statement. More commercial activity between the U.S. and Cuba benefits our people and our economies. The number of Americans traveling to Cuba is expected to double this year, to 320,000, as the United States continues to loosen restrictions on tourism and commerce. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide (now part of Marriott International) began operating its first hotel in Cuba this year. U.S. air carriers, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, are set to begin offering service to Havana on Nov. 28. While it is too early to tell, we think this is positive news for our customers, Martha Pantin, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, said in an email. At Two Guys Smoke Shop in Nashua, N.H., owner David Garofalo said customers are already planning cigar-buying trips. Theyre saying, We cant wait to go get some Cuban cigars, he said. As great as that is, what this means for our shop is that business is going elsewhere, to another country. [Russia has its permanent air base in Syria. Now its looking at Cuba and Vietnam.] Industry lobbyists say that the new measure deals a double whammy to American cigar manufacturers and retailers, which are scrambling to adhere to new regulations introduced by the Food and Drug Administration in March. What youre doing is providing an incentive for American citizens to shop for cigars at foreign destinations, said J. Glynn Loope, executive director of the lobbying group Cigar Rights of America. And this is happening months after the same administration dropped 499 pages of new regulations on the industry. At Davidus Cigars, a chain of 11 Maryland stores with nearly $7 million in annual revenue, co-owner Stephen Castro said the new measure makes it harder to stay afloat. Its good and bad, he said. I like to see were normalizing relations with Cuba, but if I cant sell the cigars it hurts me as a retailer. Barry Stein, director of social media for Two Guys Smoke Shop, said he wasnt as concerned. I dont think itll end up making that much of a difference, Stein said. I mean, what percentage of customers are going to travel overseas to buy cigars? His boss, Garofalo, however, is bracing for as much as a 10 percent drop in business if regulars begin bringing back cigars from overseas travel. The thing is, right now the allure is that you cant get it in the United States, he said. We want what we cant have. Thats the big hook. But, he said, there is at least one upside: He will also be able to bring back stogies for himself. The first time he visited Havana two years ago, he was voracious in his pursuit of Cuban cigars. He said he smoked 50 cigars in seven days. I wanted to try everything I could, he said. I was smoking way too much, but it was like, let me get it in while I can. Who knows when Ill get another one? For his next trip to Cuba, in February, Garofalo said, he will be a bit more relaxed knowing he can bring back 100 Cuban cigars. This time, I know Ill have enough to last, he said. Ill probably have to buy a bigger suitcase. Terence Blanchard, seen performing at Blues Alley in Georgetown, will be back in Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center on Oct. 22. (Josh Sisk/For The Washington Post) Grammy-winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard was considered one of the pillars of the straight-ahead jazz resurgence of the 1980s. The New Orleans native played with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers before leading his own hard bop ensembles, recording dozens of albums and writing more than 50 movie scores. Blanchard surprised fans last year, though, when he and his E-Collective band began playing a more groove-oriented kind of music, with R&B vocals from PJ Morton of Maroon 5 and spoken word from Cornel West and Blanchards son, T. Oliver Blanchard Jr. (a.k.a. JRei Oliver). Those words, in tracks like the one that lent the groups album its title, Breathless, address the death of Eric Garner, whose words I cant breathe have been immortalized by protesters. Blanchard, 54, and his band perform Oct. 22 at the Kennedy Center, where he is an artist in residence. (His jazz opera Champion will be performed by the Washington National Opera in the spring.) We spoke to Blanchard recently from his home in New Orleans about the socially charged content of the album, his future work in that vein, as well as the musics sometimes disarming groove. Q: What led you to form E-Collective? A: It was really an idea I had with the drummer Oscar Seaton almost 10 years ago now. We talked about doing a kind of groove-based thing to try and help inspire some young kids who wanted to play instruments but didnt necessarily want to play jazz. But as we got into it, man, it just turned into a thing that we really became interested in because of the musicians we had in the band. Its just something thats growing into something were really excited about doing. Q: Is a groove-based thing something youve wanted to do for a while? A: Oh, yeah, I grew up listening to a lot of different types of music. As a matter of fact, I played in some R&B bands as a keyboard player when I was a kid. Ive always been a fan of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, all those groups. So its always been something Ive had on the back burner. Its just something people didnt associate me with. But thats funny, because you can never display the vast amount of music that you listen to, that youre interested in, through your career. But this band has kind of given me an opportunity to do something thats slightly different, and were having fun with it. Q: Are you seeing different audiences as a result? A: Were starting to. When we first did it . . . we didnt make a big announcement about it. So there were a lot of people who were fans of mine showing up . . . expecting the jazz quintet. We used to make jokes about it. You could tell by the first song, everybody was like, Well, what is this? By the second song, Oh, its not that bad. By the third song, theyre all out on their feet, so its all good. Q: Youve done politically charged work before The Malcolm X Jazz Suite and A Tale of Gods Will (A Requiem for Katrina). But Breathless really seemed to make an impact when it came out. A: We were surprised, because it had a very strong impact on the community. It had a strong impact on young musicians, for musical reasons, which is one reason we did it. But the social justice piece is something I hadnt anticipated to the level of which it was received. Its been interesting to see, because I always felt like I was socially conscious, but for some reason this particular CD really took off into this realm. And were still going to go down that road. The next album that were talking about doing, if we record live, were going to try and go to some cities where weve had some police shootings and get involved in the community and cause some attention and create some conversations around the music in January. Im writing music for that as we speak. Q: Did you have in mind the history of social commentary in jazz from Billie Holidays Strange Fruit to John Coltranes Alabama when you were putting it together? A: Of course, man. I played Alabama and recorded it when I was a young musician. I did some stuff based on these issues a lot throughout my career written music about South Africa and what was going on there. . . . The thing about it for me is that Im just gratified that it helps to create more conversion around these issues. Were living in a time now thats really strange, dude. Its really strange. We have a lot of serious issues coming our way and you get sidetracked by minuscule stuff. You get sidetracked by Donald Trump talking about grabbing p---y on a bus. You get sidetracked about Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem. And you go crazy over these issues, but these are just symptoms of bigger issues. And we still avoid the bigger issues. Thats why I feel like were at a crossroads in this country, because you have a groundswell of people who are just tired of seeing that. Now with the technology, we have a plethora of information coming our way on a daily basis about these things, and its raising peoples consciousness. Its getting people to the point where theyre smart enough to know they dont want to hear the rhetoric. One of the things that disappointed me about the [latest presidential] debate, for example, is that nobody talked about Haiti. You guys call yourselves public servants and yet nobodys talking about that. Its frustrating to witness. Because you sit there and you say, Either these guys are not into it or they think that were not as smart as we are to see through the rhetoric. So part of what we did with Breathless, and part of what were going to try to do with the next album, is to try to continue the conversation, so at the same time you have fun playing the music, were expanding our consciousness. Q: What was it like when you were playing Breathless this summer near where the choking of Eric Garner happened in Staten Island? A: Surprisingly powerful. I wasnt expecting it. It was like, I saw it on the calendar, but it didnt register where I was playing and what I was playing until I got there. . . . I met Eric Garners family after the show, and to see all the attentive faces that were there, it was a really powerful thing. It moved me in a way I was not expecting. I remember at the end of the show, when I looked up and I felt what was coming from the audience, I just told them, Love wins out every time, man. No matter what we go through. Because weve seen this craziness in our history as a country for generations, and one thing that got us through it all is the love we have for mankind. And I know that sounds like a pie-in-the-sky, really idealistic thing to say, but its really true. Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective Saturday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. Tickets: $35. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. A police inspector of the New Delhi Municipal Council was arrested by the CBI for accepting a bribe of Rs 5000. By Ram Kinkar Singh: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has today arrested an inspector of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 5000 from the complainant. A case was registered on a complaint alleging therein that the Inspector of NDMC posted at Connaught Place, New Delhi was demanding a bribe for allowing him to carry on his business in the area. The CBI laid a trap and caught the Inspector while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 5000 from the complainant. advertisement Also read: Uber raises fares in Delhi, longer trips to cost more now Searches at the official premises of the accused are being conducted. The accused will be produced tomorrow before the Patiala House Court. --- ENDS --- Carol Rosegg The 9/11 musical "Come From Away," Broadway-bound and closing at Fords Theatre on Sunday. Whats happening in D.C. theater? Every Friday morning on this page well round up whats on, with links to our reviews and features. Check out whats in previews, whats continuing and whats closing this weekend, and under the heading ETC., see what might be a little beyond category (comedy improv, cabaret, noteworthy readings, etc.). PREVIEWING 43: The Greatest Deaths of Shakespeares Tragedies. Nu Sass Productions revisits and revises its 2013 Fringe Festival compilation of the Bards death scenes. Through Nov. 13 at the Logan Fringe Arts Spaces Trinidad Theatre, 1358 Florida Ave. NE. Tickets $30. Visit www.nusass.com . Freaky Friday. The premiere of the musical based on the popular (and re-made) Disney movie about a mother-daughter personality flip. The score is by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal, If/Then), with a book by Bridget Carpenter. Directed by Christopher Ashley. Through Nov. 20 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets $40-$99. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org. Kiss. The U.S. premiere of Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderons drama involving politics, art and a repressive regime. Directed by Yury Urnov. Through Nov. 6 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW. Tickets $20-$69. Call 202-393-3939 or visit www.woollymammoth.net . Witch. An adaptation of the Jacobean tragedy The Witch of Edmonton by the performance collective Convergence Theatre. Through Oct. 30 at the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW. Tickets $18. Visit www.convergencetheatre.org . CONTINUING Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches/Part II: Perestroika. Tony Kushners seven-hour, two-part epic about AIDS in the Reagan era is being presented at Round House Theatre in a co-production with the Olney Theatre Center. Bolstered by some extremely high-caliber performances, director Ryan Rilette picks up with aplomb at Round House where Jason Loewith, who staged Part I, left off. . . . Round House and Olney offer such a fully realized serving of Kushners epic that you would be inaccurate if you asserted youve had the Angels experience without seeing both. Its a big commitment, for sure. But Kushners a big thinker. (Peter Marks) Through Oct. 30 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Hwy., Bethesda. Tickets $30-$61. Call 240-644-100 or visit www.roundhousetheatre.org . [Peter Marks reviews Millennium Approaches] [Peter Marks on Perestroika] The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The London-born, Tony-winning adaptation of Mark Haddons popular book turns Mark Haddons novel about a teen with an Aspergers-like condition into a techno-sensation . . . The imaginative War Horse director Marianne Elliott situates the show inside a giant cube lined with graph paper by scenic and costume designer Bunny Christie; the video design by Finn Ross and the lights from Paule Constable often turn Christophers story into a mind-blowing cinematic extravaganza. (Nelson Pressley) Through Oct. 23 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets $59-$149. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org . The National Theatre production of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," starring Alex Sharp at the Kennedy Center. (Joan Marcus) [Nelson Pressley reviews Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time] Dantes Inferno. Synetic Theatres return to Dante. Danced with nothing less than a demonic vengeance. . . . As in a pact with any devil, though, the rewards come at a price. In this case, being a movement piece with lovely extremities has too little going on now, as in 2009. (Peter Marks) Through Oct. 30 at Synetic Theater, 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington. Tickets $20-$60. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.synetictheater.org. [Dantes Inferno reviewed by Peter Marks] The Diary of Anne Frank. In the title role, Carolyn Faye Kramer is a gift. . . . This Anne Frank is often lively, funny and life-affirming, but it doesnt shrink from devastating bleakness. (Celia Wren) Through Oct. 23 in the Olney Theatre Centers Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney. Tickets $45-$70. Call 301-924-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org [Celia Wren on The Diary of Anne Frank] The Gulf. A new two-character relationship drama unwinding in real time from Audrey Cefaly, whose Maytag Virgin made a splash at last years Womens Voices Theater Festival. Rachel Zampelli and Maria Rizzo play Southern lovers adrift on a small fishing boat, neatly realized in Signature Theatres extremely intimate Ark space by set designer Paige Hathaway. The audience eavesdrops on the women as they spend a lazy afternoon in Kendras beloved boat, with Kendra fishing for channel bass and Betty fishing for a deeper commitment from Kendra. (Peter Marks) Joe Calarco directs. Though Nov. 6 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets $40-$89. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org . Esther Williamson as the Poet in "An Iliad" at Taffety Punk Theatre Company. (Teresa Castracane) [Peter Marks reviews The Gulf] An Iliad. Esther Williamson in the Lisa Peterson-Denis OHare solo adaptation of Homer, from Taffety Punk Theatre Company. Williamson creates a persuasively modern, ambivalent, self-aware Poet a figure who sometimes exults in the grandeur of epic but more frequently feels burdened by the responsibility of bearing witness to violence. (Celia Wren) Through Oct. 22 at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 Seventh St. SE. Tickets $15. Call 800-838-3005 or visit www.taffetypunk.com . [Celia Wren on An Iliad] The Little Foxes. Marg Helgenberger (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) headlines the first of two Lillian Hellman revivals slated at Arena Stage this season as Regina Hubbard, conniving sister of the avaricious Hubbard clan. The 1939 drama pivots on the intrigue around a Southern family angling against each other as a potentially profitable deal is about to be made. Edward Gero (Antonin Scalia in The Originalist) plays Reginas older brother; Jack Willis is Reginas weary, dying husband; and Isabel Keating is Birdie Hubbard, played here with fluttery brilliance. (Peter Marks) Kyle Donnelly directs. Through Oct. 30 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. Tickets $40-$90. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org. [Peter Marks reviews The Little Foxes] Motherstruck. Stacyann Chins intimate and funny solo show about her struggle to become a parent. . . . Directed by Matt Torney, and presented as part of Studio Theatres Studio X series, the production features a Chin who often paces or prowls as she talks, knees bent and torso tilted forward, as if shes about to hurtle herself across a barrier. (Celia Wren) Through Oct. 23 at Studio Theatres Milton Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Tickets: $20-$55. Call 202-332-3300 or visit www.studiotheatre.org. Andrew Veenstra as Romeo and Ayana Workman as Juliet in Shakespeare Theatre Companys production of Romeo & Juliet. (Scott Suchman) [Celia Wren reviews Motherstruck] Romeo and Juliet. Alan Pauls relatable staging is youthful and pulsing with club music, but Shakespeares accessible tragedy isnt as ablaze as it aspires to be, despite a giant hot red set. Jeffrey Carlson is a zesty, brooding Mercutio, and Andrew Veenstras Romeo and Ayana Workmans Juliet are appealing, yet the famous plot and its quick-burning romance dont quite find the urgent gear the play needs: The language seldom sings. (Nelson Pressley) Through Nov. 6 at the Lansburgh Theatre, 450 Seventh St. NW. Tickets $44-$118. Call 202-547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org. [Nelson Pressley on Romeo and Juliet] Ruthless! The Musical. The 1991 spoof revived by director Matt Conner; composer of Signature Theatres musicals Nevermore and The Crossing. Through Oct. 30 at Creative Cauldron, 410 S. Maple Ave., Falls Church. Tickets $30. Call 703-436-9948 or visit www.creativecauldron.org . Sense and Sensibility. Boss Austen at the Folger Theater, from the New York troupe Bedlam. Modeled closely on their hit off-Broadway production, still running in Greenwich Village, the Folger spinoff (with a completely new cast) successfully bottles the spirit of the 19th-century novelist afresh, in its rendering of the pure-hearted Dashwood sisters and the waves of cattiness and misfortune that batter them this way and that. Its an enterprise so fleet of conception that it quite literally glides through the stories of the romantic struggles. (Peter Marks) Through Nov. 13 at Folger Theatre, 201 E. Capitol St. SE. Tickets $30-$75. Call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu. [Peter Marks reviews Sense and Sensibility] The Year of Magical Thinking. Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stages intimate Kogod Cradle in the solo adaptation of Joan Didions Pulitzer-winning memoir about coping with her husbands death and her daughters illness. Through Nov. 20 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. Tickets $40-$90. Call 202-488-3300 or visit www.arenastage.org . Zombie Prom. An early musical from Dana P. Rowe and John Dempsey, the composing team behind The Fix and The Witches of Eastwick. Through Oct. 30 at the Randolph Road Theater, 4010 Randolph Rd., Wheaton. Tickets $10-$27.50. Call 301-337-8290 or visit www.unexpectedstage.org. CLOSING Laura C. Harris and Joy Jones in Michael Kahns staging of Cloud 9 at Studio Theatre. (Teresa Wood) Cloud 9. An immaculate revival of Caryl Churchills influential 1979 gender-bender, delectably acted by a cast that includes John Scherer, Laura C. Harris, Joy Jones, Holly Twyford, Wyatt Fenner, Philippe Bowgen and Christian Pedersen. Identities whirl and evolve in Churchills period-hopping puzzle, with its first act in the Victorian era and the second in a 1979 that feels virtually like today. Sexual politics are anatomized with precision and quiet flair in Michael Kahns entertaining staging. (Nelson Pressley) Through Oct. 16 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Tickets $52-$85. Call 202-332-3300 or visit www.studiotheatre.org. [Nelson Pressley reviews Cloud 9] Come From Away. The new Broadway-bound new musical at Fords Theatre is based on real events about the 6,600 people stranded in Newfoundland immediately after 9/11. The book, music and lyrics are by a Canadian-American couple, Irene Sankoff and David Hein. A heartwarming and eager-to-please musical. . . . If the books mechanics unfold with too much sugar, the score has an infectious, gritty vitality. (Peter Marks) Christopher Ashley (Xanadu, Memphis, the Kennedy Centers Side Show) directs. Through Oct. 16 at Fords Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets $18-$71. Call 800-982-2787 or visit www.fords.org. [Peter Marks on Come From Away] Lobby Hero. Aaron Bliden seems tailor-made for the role of the oddball security guard Jeff in Kenneth Lonergans 2001 drama, performed by director Alex Levys mostly balanced and understated quartet at 1st Stage (the small Tysons Corner troupe). The plot is saturated in iffy police procedure during an investigation and possible coverup of a murder. Not a torn-from-the-headlines drama so much as an anatomy of human frailty and the gray areas of right and wrong. Yet the sharply drawn portrait of police culture as closed and defensive is plenty resonant. (Nelson Pressley) Through Oct. 16 at 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Rd., Tysons. Tickets $30. Call 703-854-1856 or visit www.1ststagetysons.org. Peter Finnegan, Brianna LeTourneau and Stephen Russell Murray in What Were Up Against at Keegan Theatre. (Cameron Whitman Photography) [Nelson Pressley on Lobby Hero] What Were Up Against. Office sexual politics as topical as ever from Theresa Rebeck. A swift and merrily vicious kick in the pants. Its a fast satire about a talented woman (Eliza) and the dull, bigoted men who rule her workplace. (Nelson Pressley) Through Oct. 15 at Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets $35-$45. Call 202-265-3767 or visit www.keegantheatre.com. [Nelson Pressley reviews What Were Up Against] ETC. Beertown. dog & pony dcs devised, interactive, quirky piece on democratic process, first seen in 2011, has been revised and updated in time for the elections home stretch. Oct. 18-Nov. 7 at the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage, 1816 12th St. NW. Reserve tickets for free, and name your price after the show. Visit www.dogandponydc.com . [Peter Marks reviews the 2014 run of Beertown in New York] The Capitol Steps. The longtime political satirists, tearing laughs from the headlines. Fridays and Saturdays in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Amphitheater, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets $40.50. Call 202-397-7328 or visit www.capsteps.com . Dream Within a Dream: Madness. An immersive performance about Edgar Allan Poes madness after the death of his wife, re-imagined by Through the 4th Wall which performed the show in a found building on New York Avenue NW during the 2014 Capital Fringe Festival for Alexandrias Torpedo Factory. Through Oct. 31 at the Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. Tickets $40. Call 703-838-4565 or visit www.torpedofactory.org. Loves LaBeers Lost. An immersive version of Shakespeares Loves Labours Lost performed in a bar by LiveArtDC, with Grain of Sand Theatre. Through Oct. 22 at DC Reynolds, 3628 Georgia Ave. NW. Tickets $20 (must be 21). Visit www.liveartdc.com. On Stage With the Migration Series. Staged readings of short plays connected to painter Jacob Lawrences 60-panel Migration Series, which is being reunited in full at the Phillips Collection. The playwrights are Norman Allen, Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, Annalisa Dias, Jacqueline E. Lawton and Laura Shamas. Oct. 20 and Nov. 3 at the Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW. Tickets $12. Call 202-387-2151 or visit www.phillipscollection.org. POTUS Among Us. Election season comedy from Washington Improv Theater, with a game show and audience voting. Through Nov. 6 at Source, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Visit www.witdc.org. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Bertolt Brechts 1941 fascist allegory gets a staged reading at the Shakespeare Theatre Company as part of the Theatrical Selection series of political works at several area theaters, Monday evenings between now and election night. Oct. 17 at the Lansburgh Theatre, 450 Seventh St. NW. Tickets are free; reservations required. Call 202-547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org. Shear Madness. The indestructible interactive comedy whodunit, at 12,000-plus performances in the Kennedy Centers Theater Lab. Ongoing. Tickets $50-$54. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org. Woodstock Cabaret. An original 70-minute cabaret of hits from the famous rock festival. Oct. 15-16 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets $35. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org. Dear Amy: This summer my 70-year-old husband became gravely ill. A few days after he was hospitalized, his niece sent a text to his phone to say she would be coming to our city with her daughter for a 10-day-long cheerleading camp. She announced they planned to stay at our home instead of the teams hotel. Needless to say, I was distraught over my husbands illness and overwhelmed with keeping his five siblings apprised of his condition every night when I got home from the hospital. I sent my niece a text regarding his hospitalization and explained how gravely ill he was. She made no offer to stay somewhere else and showed up at our house. While at our home, she made no overture to help with any meals, run any errands or visit my husband in the hospital. She spent much of the time watching television on days when she didnt attend competitions. One evening they left dirty laundry for me to wash. They went to bed. I was exhausted, frightened about my husbands illness, and I wanted privacy at such a terrible time. I did not want guests in my home whom I had met only twice. After they left, I found trash, food scraps, loads of towels and bedding to launder. What should I have done, short of shouting, Go away, which is what I wanted to do? Perhaps this letter can serve as a heads-up for people to be more considerate when dealing with ill family members. Distraught Distraught: Shouting Go away! sounds completely appropriate, given the circumstances you describe. You are offended by the lack of consideration, as well as these family members refusal to basically read your circumstances and respond compassionately. However, some people are like that. They see a straight line pointing to what they want, and they take it. You are facing the very first test of a caregiver, which is the need to take care of yourself, in order to take care of your loved one. To take good care of yourself, you will have to learn to say no, stop and, yes, go away. It can be very hard to say these things, but it gets easier when you realize that exhaustion and anger interfere with your ability to get through the day. Marshaling the power of a definite no is one way of being a strong and able advocate for your husband. Dear Amy: After my two granddaughters last visit (ages 13 and 11), my son informed me that they had recorded one of our conversations. My son was upset by the content of the conversation but not by the fact that these two secretly recorded me. It makes me wonder how often theyve done this and who else they have done this to. (The girls have a lot of overnight play dates at their friends homes.) I am really upset about this. Should I be? Now I dont allow the phones in my home, and this is creating a real problem. Is this a violation of my privacy? Frustrated Grandma Frustrated Grandma: Yes, secretly recording you is a violation of your privacy. Yes, it is wrong of these girls to do this (it is also illegal in some states). But this sort of behavior is within the normal range for younger adolescents, who are devoted to testing, pushing and experimenting. Maybe when you were that age you prank-called people? This is an equivalent, and I agree that there are unintended (and intended) consequences of their choice to do this. I hope you will use this episode as an opportunity to talk to these girls about privacy not only yours, but theirs. I dont think you should ban phones from your home, but forgive them for this episode and be open to the possibility that they will have learned from it. Dear Amy: Angry in Iowa described childhood with an alcoholic parent. I had a mother like hers. My mother isolated, manipulated and lied to us. To people outside the house, she was a saint. I left home and did not see her for more than a decade. When she died, I was treated like a terrible child. No one believed me. The option of counseling did not exist during the 60s. Trying to Heal Trying to Heal: Counseling is an option now, and I hope youll take it. Rally attendees display their feelings for the media before Donald Trumps speech on Oct. 13 in Cincinnati. (Ty Wright/Getty Images) Donald Trumps rallies have never been the friendliest places for reporters. But lately, as Trump has come under increasing fire, an unwelcoming atmosphere for the press has turned into outright hostility. Reporters who cover Trump on the campaign trail say his supporters have become more surly and abusive in the past week, egged on by a candidate who has made demonizing journalists part of his stump speech. Trumps traveling press contingent of about 20 has been met with boos, shouts and obscenities as it entered as a single group the venues where Trump has spoken this week. One reporter who is part of the traveling group described it as a mob mentality, particularly at larger rally sites. Weve been on the receiving end of that throughout the election, so weve largely become numb to it, he said. But in the last few days its just been so much louder, so much angrier. The people who are shouting look at us like were their immediate enemies, not as like . . . primarily late-20-to-early-30-somethings there to do a job. At Trumps rally in Cincinnati on Thursday, the crowd chanted, Tell the truth! as reporters trooped into the designated pen that the campaign has long used to corral reporters. Another recurring chant this week: CNN sucks! Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called the election and the American political system "one big fix" at a rally on Oct. 14 in Greensboro, N.C. (The Washington Post) Some 15,000 Trump supporters showered the small group with prolonged boos and heckling during the Cincinnati rally. Several people approached the press barrier to yell directly at the group and to make obscene gestures, which has made a lot of people uncomfortable, according to one journalist. Reporters are now concealing or removing their press credentials when leaving the pen to avoid confrontations with Trumps supporters. The atmosphere is particularly threatening to female reporters and to female TV reporters whose faces are well known, reporters say. (The camera draws the hate, as one put it.) Some reporters have wondered aloud about the need for more security, or at least more barriers to separate them from the crowd as they enter and exit Trumps events. Another reporter, who asked not to be named because his publication restricts staff members from commenting publicly, said he left the pen on Thursday with another reporter because we didnt want to go out into a sea of 15,000 people alone. They were approached by a young man who started shouting at them to tell the truth and pointing his finger in their faces. It was the sort of moment that could have escalated very quickly if we had responded, he said. Instead, they ignored the man and kept walking. Several journalists attributed the increasingly chilly climate to Trumps stepped-up criticism of the media. BuzzFeed political reporter McKay Coppins said Republican candidates have long been skeptical of the news media, and some of their criticism has merit. But, he added, what Trumps doing seems different. Hes trying to convince his followers that reporters are not just unfair or incompetent, but part of some kind of sinister global conspiracy. I covered the Romney campaign in 2012, and we heard plenty of gripes about press bias, but we werent walking into arenas with thousands of people angrily booing and heckling us while we worked. On Thursday, Trump said the news media was part of a global conspiracy working in concert with Hillary Clinton to destroy his candidacy. He kept it up Friday, denouncing reports that he had sexually assaulted women as lies and saying, the corrupt media is doing everything in their power to stop this movement. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. He singled out reporters at the New York Times as corporate lobbyists for Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a leading shareholder in the Times parent company, and Clinton. (The Times reported this week on two women who accused Trump of inappropriate contact.) Trump has had one of the most contentious relationships with the press of any major candidate in memory. In addition to confining reporters to pens at his rallies, he has banned as many as a dozen news organization at various times in the past 15 months. He has also threatened, if elected, to open up libel laws to make it easier for public figures like him to sue news outlets whose reporting displeases him. Theres been an escalation in the rhetoric about the press, that theres a vast conspiracy, and its something the crowd has absorbed, said Ben Schreckinger, a reporter for Politico. It seems to have made the crowds more aggressive and angry. Schreckinger was booted out of a Trump rally in June and returned to cover the candidates events only this week. The difference was noticeable, he said: In the past, when Trump incited the crowd against the press, you could see people smiling and laughing as they were booing. It was like the mood of a crowd at a ballpark. Now the smiles have disappeared. Trumps campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Will Arndt, 29, and Aubrey Menard, 30, exchanged vows Sept. 4 at Rockwood Manor in Potomac. They were introduced by Wills friend, Luke, after Aubrey went on a lackluster date with him. (Iryna Kruchko/Life Gallery Studio) Bad dates make the best stories, especially when they lead to successful setups. Just ask Aubrey Menard and Will Arndt. In early 2013, Aubrey was attending Oxford University, where she met Luke Martin, a fellow student, at a party. They became Facebook friends and agreed to meet for drinks at a nearby pub. It quickly became apparent, however, that a romantic spark wasnt there for Aubrey, despite Lukes best efforts. He played Bon Iver to me on acoustic guitar, which was super awkward, she says. If youve ever had somebody play guitar [for] you, in a one-on-one situation, you know. Despite the hiccup, they left the night on good terms, and, after a few brush-offs, Aubrey assumed he had taken the hint. So when she received a Facebook message from Luke months later, proposing a date, she was shocked. Turns out, he wanted to set her up with someone else. A friend, in fact. Will Arndt dips his bride Aubrey Menard on their wedding day. (Iryna Kruchko/Life Gallery Studio) He had written: I realized, rather quickly, that a woman of your substance would not be interested in me beyond the odd, drunken chat. However, I have a much smarter, more attractive friend. Hes a great catch, and a real ladies man. His name is Will. He concluded with some advice: Why make it weird, when it could be cool? She was skeptical, but changed her mind after scoping Wills Facebook profile and noticing he had a Battlestar Galactica-inspired photo promoting same-sex marriage. Progressive, nerdy and cute? Aubrey decided she couldnt pass up a chance to meet him, despite the odd circumstances. So she threw caution to the wind and invited him out for drinks. She even volunteered a cop-out for him, in case things got awkward. If I suck, I give you permission to run out to wash your hair, she wrote, or the lamest excuse you can think of. Will, who had also been approached by Luke, wrote back eagerly, and earnestly, eight hours later: It would be great to meet for a drink when you return to Oxford . . . I trust in Lukes judgment. Even when hes wrong, what transpires is always entertaining. For their first dance, the bride and groom line danced to Copperhead Road by Steve Earle, a song they heard frequently during their Nashville engagement trip. (Iryna Kruchko/Life Gallery Studio) They began sending messages, across times zones, and switched to Gmail once the Facebook messages started piling up. Their affection grew as they shared book excerpts, poems and songs, and had detailed discussions over their mutual interests, including the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They ultimately exchanged close to 300 emails and one handwritten letter over the three weeks Aubrey was back in the States. It was a Youve Got Mail kind of situation, says Will. We almost broke Gmail, adds Aubrey, laughing. We learned after you hit 99 messages, Gmail shuts off for five minutes. [Are you getting married in the Washington region? Tell us why we should feature your nuptials here] Behind the screen, both felt more comfortable sharing details and opinions they would normally be hesitant to disclose at the beginning of a relationship, especially a romantic one. We got really deep, really fast, says Aubrey. We talked about hopes for future relationships, past relationships, politics, religion and how we would want to hypothetically raise children. It didnt hurt that both have a literary background Aubrey majored in politics and minored in English at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and was working on her masters degree in politics at Oxford. Will received an undergraduate degree in English from Washington University in St. Louis and was finishing up his masters degree in English at Oxford. He would not have tolerated grammar issues, Aubrey says. Neither played coy or hard to get, which worked in their favor. Will never pretended to be aloof and not answer my emails. If he was gone for two days in Cambridge, hed say so, says Aubrey. It was delightfully earnest. Right away, Aubrey could tell she was falling for him. My friend was like, How are you keeping yourself grounded? And I told her, Honestly, Im not, she says with a laugh. From the get-go, I thought, This person is amazing. He is everything that I want. On April 19, they showed up for their first date extremely optimistic and with presents. She brought him a signed copy of The Lovers Dictionary by David Levithan, and he gave her a copy of the movie Midnight in Paris, along with roses and a handwritten card. We went against everything we had been told about dating and everything that we had done in dating before. We kind of went all in, Will says. From there, things escalated and they began making the most of their limited free time together. Instead of going bowling, or going to the movies, or having other, very superficial interactions, we would talk for two hours about our childhood, Will says. It was intense. They dated for a month and a half before Aubrey left for a summer job she had accepted in Russia, and Will returned to the Washington area (he grew up in Boyds, Md.) to teach English at St. Stephens & St. Agnes School in Alexandria. They began a long-distance relationship luckily, at that point, they already knew they could both write a skilled letter and communicated mostly though email and handwritten letters. As my friend Sophie likes to say, The problem with dating interesting people is that they go interesting places and do interesting things, Aubrey noted. Later that summer, Aubrey moved to Washington and moved in with Will before returning to Oxford to complete her final year of graduate school. We got to a point where we stopped questioning a good thing and began relaxing into it, Will says. After receiving her masters degree, Aubrey returned to Washington and Will in August 2014. The job market was tough and it took some time for her to land a position. It was hard, she says. I didnt have a job. We had no money and all of a sudden Im a fiercely independent person I had to let him take care of me. A few months later, she was offered a dream fellowship with the Luce Scholars Program. The only issue? It would last for 14 months and take place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She has fled to the ends of the Earth in every major point in our relationship, Will said jokingly. Despite the distance, he was completely supportive. I was very scared about going to live in Mongolia by myself and I think, had I been with a lesser partner, I may not have gone, she says. But Will told me, Go! You can always come back home. Just try it. And it turned out to be amazing. They decided to spend the rest of their lives together and agreed to exchange engagement rings on a second anniversary trip to Nashville before Aubrey left for Mongolia. They wound up giving each other the rings within an hour of arriving. We hadnt even unpacked our bags yet, Will says. Later that evening, they celebrated their engagement with vanilla moonshine and line-dancing. In August 2016, Aubrey returned to Washington. She started a job as a management consultant at Deloitte, finalized wedding plans and, with Will, moved into an apartment in Arlington and adopted a Yorkshire terrier. The couple agree it was a whirlwind, but a fun several months. The four-day wedding festivities, which took place at Rockwood Manor in Potomac, included a pre-wedding field day, complete with relays, a scavenger hunt and a campfire, to help guests get acquainted. The weekends events culminated Sept. 4, when Will, 29, and Aubrey, 30, exchanged personalized vows in an outdoor ceremony. Before we met in person, I sat by my computer and waited so eagerly for your next email and desperately wished for time to pass faster, Will told Aubrey. But now that Im with you, I only wish that time would pass more slowly. Afterward, the officiant presented the Menarndts, the couples combined surname. We are both coming into this marriage as whole, complete people with our own personalities and histories. Thats what we love about each other and are bringing to our partnership, Aubrey said. We want to build a collective identity together. Later in the evening, wedding guests enjoyed vegetarian lasagna and waffle ice cream sandwiches. Toward the end of the night, the bride jumped onstage with the band and belted a rendition of Come on Eileen. The couple also has pledged to pay it forward, advising other wary parties to take a chance. We have friends who start dating people and are like, I dont know if this is going to go anywhere, so I dont know if I should reach out [to them], and I always say, Do it, Aubrey says. You never know, it could end up being your person and your story. Just go all in. As for Wills friend Luke? Hes very pleased with himself, Will says. I just hope he can use it as an anecdote on future dates. More from On Love: A fender bender brings a couple back together after 33 years She was told 50 first dates was the key to relationship success. He was No. 98. Wedding trends: Enough with the white dresses Are you getting married in the Washington region? Tell us why we should feature your nuptials here at wapo.st/weddings. In early 2006, Natasha Stoynoff, a writer for People magazine, co-wrote a flowery account of Donald Trumps marriage to his third wife, Melania. Theres my baby! the story quotes Trump as saying while he rushes toward his then-pregnant wife. Then he corrects himself. I mean . . . there are my babies! The story doesnt mention what Stoynoff alleged Wednesday night in a first-person account posted by the magazine: That in the course of interviewing Trump for the story at his Florida estate, he pinned her up against a wall and forced himself on her. We walked into [one] room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us, she wrote. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat. The decade-long lag in reporting the alleged incident gave Trump an opening on Thursday to impeach Stoynoffs story. Why didnt the writer of the twelve year old [sic] article in People Magazine mention the incident in her story, he tweeted. Because it did not happen! Stoynoff and People say that it did, and that the long delay in reporting it reflected the confusion, embarrassment and conflicting emotions that assault victims often experience. It was disorienting for her, said J.D. Heyman, Peoples deputy editor, in an interview Thursday. She felt a great deal of worry and distress about it. Then she felt angry. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump responded to a former People magazine writer who wrote that he kissed her without her consent in 2005 saying, "I don't think so." (The Washington Post) The anger, he said, was triggered by Trumps denial during the presidential debate Sunday that he had ever assaulted a woman. At least four women, including Stoynoff, have come forward since then with stories about Trump groping or kissing them against their will. Stoynoff, who wasnt available for comment, wrote in her article Wednesday that she told close friends about her run-in with Trump. But she didnt confide in her editors at the time, Heyman said: No one in any position to publish the article had any idea about it. Instead, Stoynoff went ahead and contributed to a story portraying Trump and his wife as a happy expectant couple on their first wedding anniversary. People headlined her article, Happy Anniversary, with a smaller headline reading: With their baby due in March, the Trumps recount their first year of marital bliss and tell us whats ahead. It carried the bylines of Mike Lipton and Natasha Stoynoff in Mar-a-Lago. I think hindsight is 20-20, Heyman said of Stoynoffs decision not to inform her editors. I think she felt conflicted at the time. She didnt know what to do. She didnt want to make a fuss, and she was frightened. . . . She was a reporter trying to do her job. Heyman said Stoynoff told editors about her experience with Trump only after the Access Hollywood recording of Trump emerged last week. They encouraged her to write about what happened, he said, but left the decision up to her. After Sundays debate, she was ready, he said. Trump on Thursday pushed back against the allegations, calling them politically motivated smears during a rally in Florida. He specifically denied the People story and instructed his supporters to look at her meaning Stoynoff and decide whether they found her account credible. Donald Trump strongly denied that he had groped and kissed women without their consent, following a number of news reports detailing allegations made by four women. (The Washington Post) Heyman denied Trumps suggestion that there was coordination among the New York Times, People and the Palm Beach Post, all of which published stories Wednesday alleging abuse by Trump. We were totally unaware of the New York Times story, Heyman said. We didnt know of any other reported accounts of this behavior. We had no knowledge or coordination with any news organization, and theres no political agenda. This was a story that we felt an obligation to tell. In a statement, Peoples editor in chief, Jess Cagle, wrote, We are grateful to Natasha Stoynoff for telling her story. Ms. Stoynoff is a remarkable, ethical, honest and patriotic woman, and she has shared her story of being physically attacked by Donald Trump in 2005 because she felt it was her duty to make the public aware. To assign any other motive is a disgusting, pathetic attempt to victimize her again. THE DISTRICT Man found fatally stabbed in NW A man was fatally stabbed Thursday night in Northwest Washington near Fort Totten, according to D.C. police. The incident occurred about 9:15 p.m. in the 400 block of Buchanan Street NW, near Grant Circle just off New Hampshire Avenue. Police said officers responded to a report of a man down and found the victim suffering from several stab wounds. Police said he was pronounced dead at the scene. He was identified as James Patrick Tenor, 54, of Northwest. Authorities provided no other information early Friday. Peter Hermann VIRGINIA Rocket launch set for Sunday Almost two years ago, Orbital Sciences Antares rocket exploded just seconds after liftoff from Wallops Island, Va. On Sunday, Orbital ATK, renamed after a merger with Alliant Techsystems, will try again, weather and other circumstances permitting. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:03 p.m. Eastern time. To see the rocket, look toward the southeast if youre in the D.C. area. At its highest, the rocket will zip about 10 degrees above the horizon. It should be visible about 90 seconds after launch. Antares should appear as a bright, moving star, Space.com says. Observers who use binoculars might also be able to see a short exhaust trail. Jason Samenow MARYLAND Hungry firefighters uncover CO threat Two firefighters stopped in at a Subway for lunch Friday, but instead of leaving with sandwiches, they discovered, by chance, potentially deadly carbon monoxide conditions that shut down a Lanham shopping center. Melvin Batts and Sam Acala of the Prince Georges County Fire/EMS Department had popped into a Subway near Greenbelt and Good Luck roads around noon when the carbon monoxide detectors strapped to their walkie-talkies went off. When other crews arrived, they discovered serious carbon monoxide levels in the air, said Battalion Chief Mike Linynsky. Safe readings of carbon monoxide should fall in the range of 0 to 5 parts per million, he said, with people typically experiencing headaches at 20 parts per million. The readings we found were as high as 600 ppm, Linynsky said. Enough exposure at that level and youd be dead. Emergency crews found that the exhaust vent from an air-conditioning unit was broken and was funneling carbon monoxide into stores instead of outside. Crews shut down the unit, reduced the carbon monoxide levels and had natural gas to the building turned off before people were allowed back in about 2 p.m., according to a statement from the fire department and messages from its Twitter account. One person was taken to a local hospital. Lynh Bui Workers prepare for an event to commemorate the restoration of the Main Hall at Union Station. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) After decades of being cluttered with obstructions, and after it was significantly damaged in 2011 by a rare earthquake in the nations capital, the soaring Main Hall of Union Station has been restored to the grandeur that train travelers in Washington first marveled at 109 years ago. Enter through the front doors of the cavernous, Beaux-Arts-style rail station, look around, then straight up, and the view of the immense General Waiting Room, as it used to be called, is now much like it was in 1907, when renowned architect Daniel Burnham completed a masterwork befitting a city of monuments. Minus the spittoons today, of course. It is a place that has seen a lot of change, Deputy Transportation Secretary Victor Mendez said Thursday night at a ceremony in the Main Hall marking the official end of a five-year, $20 million restoration project. It still stands as a proud icon of the capitals landscape, he said. When it was built, it not only connected two rail systems the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (thus Union Station) but it also allowed for the creation of the Mall and helped spur the citys expansion. With a 26,000-square-foot floor of Greek Pentelic marble and a coffered ceiling more than 90 feet high, detailed in a gold leaf, the Main Hall was once, believe it or not, the largest room in the world, Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, told the gathering. Plenty of photos were on display of the Main Hall as it looked when Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House: a Western Union telegraph desk along a wall, men in derbies, their wives swaddled in ankle-length dresses, holding valises and waiting for steam locomotives, no Amtrak or MARC or VRE commuters in sight. In those days, there were rows of polished mahogany benches, gone now except for one bench on exhibit, surrounded by velvet ropes. At some points it can seem like its really rushed in here, Mendez said. But there are other times when its important for us to slow down and really admire what we have. As decades passed, though, the stately room seemed to be taken for granted. During World War II, with many more thousands of travelers arriving in Washington than ever before, extra ticket counters were hastily put up in the grand space. In the 1970s, after airliners had become the nations principal mode of long-distance travel, the Main Hall was used as the site of a bicentennial visitors center. In the mid-1980s, the aged station was closed for a few years for $160 million in renovations. And in more recent times, there were souvenir kiosks, enormous planters and a restaurant in the middle of architect Burnhams classic expanse. Then, on Aug 23, 2011, an earthquake rattled the East Coast, including Washington, and damaged the halls towering, barrel-vaulted ceiling. That led to the renovation, a joint project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation and the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, with contributions from American Express. The historic plaster ceiling, reinforced with seismically sound steel framing, has been repainted and detailed with 120,000 sheets of 23-karat gold leafing, the group said. The ancient marble floor is still in place, chipped and stained here and there, but new marble is on order from a distributor in Greece. The heating and air-conditioning systems, a non-1907 concession to modern convenience, have been upgraded. And gone are the many obstructions. I could stand here all night and talk about how preservation ennobles us, how it attracts tourists, how it spurs economic growth and can help address the problems of our cities, Meeks said, her voice echoing in the vast hall. But you need only walk into a space like this restored Main Hall to know that our lives are better when our buildings are protected. The senior executive from the nations largest labor group walked door-to-door through a middle-class neighborhood in Northern Virginia carrying a twin message for union households. On Election Day, urged Tefere Gebre, vote not only for Hillary Clinton but also against a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would weaken organized labor. Standing in a steady drizzle on the stoop of a white house in Woodbridge, Gebre made the sale to postal worker Michael Brown. Anything that comes up against unions, Im voting no, Brown, 68, assured Gebre. Without unions, Brown said, it means employers can fire you for no reason at all. The involvement of Gebre, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, underlined the high stakes for unions as they try to end a string of political defeats in state elections across the country. Virginia is one of five states where voters this year will make decisions affecting right-to-work laws, a clunky name for legislation that reduces income to unions. Unions are fighting back, trying to build a retaining wall in Virginia and elsewhere against an anti-labor tide that began in 2012 with key victories for conservatives and business groups in the Midwest. Since then, four states have passed right-to-work statutes. That brought the number of states with such laws to 26. [Right-to-work measure headed for Virginia ballot.] Virginia has been right-to-work by statute since 1947, but Question 1 on state ballots on Nov. 8 would enshrine the policy in the state constitution. Repeal would then be far more difficult for future governors and state legislators. We dont really have a lot of control over what future General Assemblies will do, said Nicole Riley, Virginia director of the National Federation of Independent Business. Its a way of making sure that the robust business environment here in Virginia would be secured. Right-to-work laws protect employees against being required to join a union, which means unions end up representing people who dont pay dues. Business groups say right-to-work laws guarantee individual freedom and encourage investment to create jobs. Unions say they suppress wages and increase income inequality. The surge of interest in right-to-work is evident in the number of states where its an issue in this years balloting. In Alabama, voters will vote on a constitutional amendment similar to Virginias. Ten other states already have right-to-work language in their constitutions, according to the AFL-CIO. In Missouri, a Republican victory in the governors race would almost certainly mean that state would switch to right-to-work. Right-to-work also could advance with Republican victories in the Montana governors race and in some legislative races in Kentucky, according to right-to-work supporters. [How the birthplace of the American labor movement just turned on its unions.] Some of the contests are drawing national attention, as out-of-state business and labor interests pour in money. Spending on television ads in the Missouri gubernatorial battle has reached $27.5 million, making it the nations most expensive governors race. Former Navy officer David Greitens (R) and Attorney General Chris Koster (D) are vying to succeed Gov. Jay Nixon (D), who vetoed right-to-work legislation this year. In Virginia, both sides said they expect a close vote, with large numbers of voters still undecided or unfamiliar with the issue. One concern is that the text of the ballot question is lengthy and complicated, so many voters may find it confusing. The General Assembly passed a resolution along party lines in February putting the issue on the ballot, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) opposes the measure, but governors cant veto resolutions to amend the state constitution. Unions are relying on mobilizing their membership to block the amendment. About 100 spirited activists gathered early on a recent Saturday in a union office in Annadale before fanning out with addresses of union households to visit and literature to distribute. What time is it? Union time! the group chanted. Leaders said their members were energized by what they see as a national attempt to break unions. They also saw the bid to put right-to-work in the Virginia constitution as an unnecessary political stunt, given that nobody has been trying to overturn the law. Its just trying to step on people when theyre down, said Daniel W. Duncan, president of the Northern Virginia Labor Federation. Its made our members mad. Its got them worked up. He noted that 5.4 percent of Virginia workers were members of unions in 2015, well below the national average of 11.1 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Business groups and others supporting the amendment are encouraging companies to spread the word about it to employees and their families. They plan to run some television advertising in the Hampton Roads area and possibly in Richmond and to do some print and digital advertising. But they fear unions are doing more. [Laws that may decimate unions may be inevitable.] That worries Del. Richard P. Bell (R-Staunton), the principal sponsor of the amendment, who has worked since 2010 to put it on the ballot. Our efforts, compared to efforts by unions, who are investing heavily in it, are pretty weak, Bell said. Supporters have not engaged in any kind of get-out-the-vote campaign to this point, he said. The unions say theyre relying on door-to-door canvassing because they cant afford television advertising. I would not call this a large dollar-amount campaign, Gina Maglionico, communications director for the Virginia AFL-CIO, said. The Virginia amendment reached the ballot partly in response to a national wave of anti-union sentiment, according to Bell and other supporters. Business groups saw a need for Virginia to strengthen its commitment to right-to-work to protect its competitive advantage as other states embraced the policy. For the longest period of time, Virginia was the northernmost right-to-work state, and we used that to good advantage, Paul Logan, communications director for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, said. Now youve got the likes of Michigan, well to the north of us, as right-to-work. The key breakthrough for right-to-work came in 2012, when Michigan and Indiana adopted laws. Wisconsin adopted right-to-work in 2015, and West Virginia did so this year. The movement gained strength when GOP legislators around the country saw that Michigan Republicans who voted in favor of right-to-work didnt lose their seats as a result, according to Greg Mourad, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee. Wisconsin happened just a few months after the election that proved it was safe in Michigan, he said. States have embraced right-to-work also in hope of attracting corporate investment after losing large numbers of manufacturing jobs since the 2008 recession. Weve seen a number of reports from site selection consultants, Mourad said. When their clients want to move manufacturing facilities, they dont even consider states without right-to-work. Unions and their supporters counter that other factors such as a well-educated workforce and good roads and transit are more important than right-to-work laws in attracting investment. They also point to data showing that wages are lower in right-to-work states, leading to the union joke that a better description of the policy would be right-to-work for less. Wages are 3 percent lower in right-to-work states than other states, after accounting for differences in the cost of living, demographics and labor-market characteristics, according to an April 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute. That translates to $1,558 a year less in earnings for a typical full-time worker. Gebre cites that argument in his pitches to voters in Virginia. He and other canvassers targeted union households because they were likely to be most receptive and because the unions didnt have enough resources to contact all voters. Around the country, they want us unions to get out of the way so they can fire anybody, so they can further depress wages, Gebre says. He had success with an electricians union member in Woodbridge. Ill vote no, said the middle-aged man, who asked not to be identified by name. As Gebre walked away, he said the voter, like many, hadnt been aware of the measure. Gebre added, He said he was waiting for the union to tell him which way to vote. By PTI: Beijing, Oct 14 (PTI) China plans to launch an X-ray pulsar navigation satellite next month to test autonomous spacecraft navigation, the countrys Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Fifth Academy said today. X-ray pulsar navigation is an innovative navigation technique in which periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space, said Shuai Ping, chief system designer of the satellite. advertisement The satellite (XPNAV-1), developed by CASC Fifth Academy, weighs more than 200 kilogrammes and carries two detectors, state run Xinhua news agency reported. In its mission, the satellite will test the detectors functions in responding to the background noise of the universe, outline pulsar contours, and create a database for pulsar navigation, the academy said. X-ray pulsar navigation techniques will help reduce the reliance of spacecraft on ground-based navigation methods and are expected to achieve autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future, it said. PTI KJV ARK --- ENDS --- FLORIDA Court rules against new death penalty law Just seven months after Florida revamped its death penalty law, the states Supreme Court struck down the new statute as unconstitutional because it does not require juries to be unanimous about handing down the sentences. With a pair of rulings Friday, the Florida Supreme Court further added to the uncertainty surrounding the death penalty in the state, one of the countrys leading practitioners of capital punishment and home to the second-biggest death-row population nationwide. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the states old law as unconstitutional in January because it allowed judges, not juries, to make the final decision about imposing capital sentences. In response to the high courts ruling, Florida enacted a new measure in March that said jurors must unanimously agree that a case involves at least one aggravating circumstance necessary to warrant a death sentence. The new death-penalty law also increased the number of jurors needed to approve a death sentence, pushing it to 10 jurors from the seven previously needed. The ruling came down in a case brought by Timothy Lee Hurst, convicted of the 1998 murder of a co-worker at a Popeyes fast-food restaurant in Pensacola. He also brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, leading to the justices striking down Floridas death penalty earlier this year. People look on from Pier 16 as the FDNY fireboat 343 creates a water display during the FDNY's 15th Annual Blessing of its Marine Fleet in New York City. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) In addition, the Florida Supreme Court handed down another ruling regarding the states new death penalty law Friday. In that case, Perry v. Florida, the justices declared that the updated death penalty statute could not be constitutionally applied to pending prosecutions because it does not require unanimous juries. A spokesman for Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) said her office was still looking over the ruling handed down Friday. Mark Berman Southern region Ga., N.C. told to extend voter registration Courts in Georgia and North Carolina on Friday ordered officials in the two states to extend voter registration for areas affected by Hurricane Matthew, which forced thousands to evacuate and closed local board of elections offices for days. A federal judge ordered Georgia officials to extend the voter registration deadline for one coastal county after Gov. Nathan Deal (R) declined to give residents more time to register for the Nov. 8 election. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed suit. U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. ruled residents of Chatham County, which includes Savannah, must be allowed to register through next Tuesday a week after the original deadline passed. The governor ordered six coastal counties to evacuate for the hurricane on Oct. 6. In North Carolina, a judge ordered state election officials to extend the deadline to register to vote in 36 eastern counties in response to a lawsuit filed by the North Carolina Democratic Party. State Board of Elections executive director Kim Strach decided earlier this week to keep the Friday deadline, but told county boards to accept registration applications mailed to them until Wednesday afternoon as long as the applications were dated Friday. The partys attorneys had argued that people should have until Wednesday to turn in their forms in person at county-elections and other government offices. Florida Gov. Rick Scott also declined to extend that states deadline, but a federal judge on Wednesday extended it to 5 p.m. on Tuesday. South Carolina extended its original Oct. 7 deadline to accept registration forms postmarked no later than Tuesday because of the storm. From news services Natalie Cunningham, a hairdresser in Greensboro, N.C., wonders what Affordable Care Act plan she can get once her insurer leaves the state. Her children, Mekhi, 6, and Nevaeh, 9, are covered through Medicaid. (Jerry Wolford/For The Washington Post ) More than 250,000 people in North Carolina are losing the health plans they bought under the Affordable Care Act because two of the three insurers are dropping out a stark example of the disruption roiling marketplaces in many parts of the country. The defections mean that almost all of the state, from the Blue Ridge to the Outer Banks, will have just one insurer selling ACA policies when the exchanges open again for business in November. The remaining company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, agonized over whether to leave, too. Instead, it is raising its rates by nearly 25 percent. In no other state will as many people find such limited choice. But what is happening to nearly a half-million North Carolinians epitomizes a national checkerboard of ACA haves and have-nots. The waning competition and the financial losses that have prompted insurers to jilt so many ACA customers pose fresh challenges to the marketplaces as they enter their fourth year. [Aetna decision exposes weaknesses in Obamas health-care law] In its final months, the Obama administration insists the exchanges are still viable. And according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 60 percent of Americans in the marketplaces will be able to pick from three or more insurers for 2017, each selling multiple health plans. That is an erosion from a year ago, however, when more than 85 percent had such wide choices. And the whittling has been concentrated in certain places. For the coming year, Oklahoma and Alaska will join Wyoming in having just one insurer selling ACA plans. Perhaps the greatest contraction is occurring in the Southeast. Alabama and South Carolina will have one insurer statewide. Nearly three-fourths of Floridas counties and more than four-fifths of Mississippis will be down to one insurer. So will 95 of North Carolinas 100 counties. Administration officials maintain that the geography of these departures essentially returns to a pattern predating the 2010 health-care law, when insurance options tended to be scarce in rural America. But in several states, the have-not parts of the checkerboard include urban centers. In North Carolina where more than 600,000 people have embraced ACA coverage, more than in all but a few large states marketplace shoppers in Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Fayetteville will find but one insurer. The turbulence is especially palpable in the rolling Piedmont in and around Greensboro. Of more than 30,000 people here who have gained ACA insurance, 80 percent have been relying on United Healthcare or Aetna Health, the insurers pulling out of the marketplace at the end of December. Wow, it is going to be huge, said Natalie Cunningham, a 30-year-old hairdresser who had been uninsured for years before she got her first ACA coverage in 2014. Her health plan enabled her to see a chiropractor who diagnosed her neck and back pains as arthritis that probably was a remnant of a decade-old car accident. As of a week ago, Cunningham had not yet received the letter required of her current insurer, an Aetna subsidiary called Coventry, informing her that she needs to find different coverage. But she is like many residents in worrying how much insurance will cost in the coming year. Or whether they will be able to continue to see the same doctors. Or how their narrowing choice will affect the hopscotch they have been playing year to year in pursuit of a health plan they can afford. At the Legal Aid office downtown, one of North Carolinas many foot soldiers in helping people use the marketplace has started to get anxious calls from clients losing their health plans. My job is to reassure people they are going to be fine, Emily Rhyne said. But without yet knowing exactly what will be available, she is careful not to overpromise. As companies have announced their withdrawals here and elsewhere, they have noted that their ACA customers have been sicker and more expensive than they expected. In Durham, at the sparkling-glass headquarters of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, the economics of those customers are a real concern. For 2014 and 2015, Blue Cross lost $405 million on its marketplace business. Suddenly becoming the health-care laws sole insurer in all but a few counties is an unwelcome prospect. After United and then Aetna announced they were leaving, Blue Cross said it might not stick around either. It had a quarter of a million unexpected customers heading its way, with no clue as to how much medical care they use and too little time to hire and train enough customer service workers. The timing for its decision to stay or go was especially inopportune. Last month, the North Carolina Department of Insurance fined Blue Cross $3.6 million a state record over computer problems last winter that left some customers without insurance cards and some doctors without payments. [Obama administration may use obscure fund to pay billions to ACA insurers] Only a few weeks ago did Blue Cross announce that it would remain statewide for 2017. The easy thing to have done would have been to quit, chief executive Brad Wilson acknowledged in an interview. He said that staying involves some reputational risk and that he hopes customers will be patient with an extraordinary environment here in our state, where all our competitors decided to flee and we decided to . . . stand in the gap. Blue Cross is trying to calibrate the expectations of consumers and government regulators alike, warning that customers may encounter long holds on call lines and urging them to sign up early. Rates will soar. Blue Cross raised 2016 premiums for its marketplace plans by one-third, on average, making its coverage in Greensboro and some other communities more expensive than its competitors. It sought another 19 percent increase for 2017, then asked for more after Aetnas decision. While the state will not disclose final rates until late this month, Wilson confirmed that regulators have agreed to the higher amount, an increase averaging about 24 percent a main reason the insurer is staying. The ripple effect on consumers will vary. Blue Cross is emphasizing that the higher the insurance premiums, the larger the government subsidies for the vast majority of ACA customers who qualify. Here in Greensboro, Keith and Erin Rosen have no such buffer. They chose a Blue Cross plan on the marketplace after the scrap-metal company for which he was chief financial officer was sold and he left. The Rosens, who are both 54, appreciate that the health-care law lets them keep their three young-adult children on their policy. But with his consulting income too high for ACA subsidies, their 2016 premiums spiked by nearly $7,000 to almost $27,000 total. Expensive though it is, they cannot imagine being without coverage, particularly this year. He needed repairs of a hernia and a detached retina. She learned on April Fools Day that the lump under her left arm was a form of chronic leukemia. [Skyrocketing Obamacare premiums still lower than employer-sponsored insurance] Lately, Keith Rosen has begun talking with a few business friends about forming a small company just to get out of the marketplace and buy insurance collectively. The idea of paying more than $30,000 in insurance premiums is tremendously annoying, he said. Where does it stop? Cunningham has no idea what she will be paying, but she already knows the complications of insurance-hopping. A single mother, she works full time at a Great Clips franchise that does not offer health benefits. Her income $29,000 last year allows her elementary school-aged daughter and son to be on Medicaid. But not her, which is why in the past she had waited in lines at the county health department or avoided doctors. When she cut the chiropractors hair, she used to make up excuses for why she did not see him for her back and neck pain. In spring 2014, she asked another customer what he did for a living and learned he was signing up people for the new marketplace coverage. The first two years, she paid $56 a month for a Blue Cross plan. This year, even with her subsidy, that shot up to $139. Cunningham switched to her Coventry plan, which costs her $9 a month, even if all the doctors are in High Point, where she does not know her way around. So she recently ended up back at the county health department for an infection and has been putting off an ultrasound she should have had months ago. If she goes back to Blue Cross, her monthly payments might go down. If they go up, she might work extra shifts at other hair salons. Or, she figures, she might go back to being uninsured. Several local trading bodies have issued calls to boycott goods, especially China-made firecrackers and smartphones, ahead of the festive season. By Ananth Krishnan: China's media today said that social media calls in India to boycott Chinese goods haven't worked with rising sales of Chinese smartphones in India and growing bilateral trade. The campaigns would at the same time "damage bilateral ties", media outlets warned. A commentary in the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid published by the Communist Party's official People's Daily, said that "regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian media's hysteric reports of a 'doomsday' for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation." advertisement "The boycott has not achieved success," wrote Zhen Bo, a scholar at the Center for South Asia-West China Cooperation and Development Studies, Institute of South Asian Studies, Sichuan University. "Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ platforms." Another commentary in the paper, authored by reporter Hu Weijia, said that the campaign "urging people to refrain from buying China-made products has recently been building in India". "Such moves will not help contribute to reducing India's trade deficit, but could damage bilateral ties instead," Hu wrote. The article pointed out that September trade data reflected a growing trade deficit in China's favour, with India exporting goods worth $922 million while importing goods worth $5.4 billion from China. "The huge trade deficit with China has become an increasingly unharmonious factor in bilateral ties between the two countries, requiring China and India to take practical measures to narrow the trade imbalance when leaders of the two nations meet in India over the weekend for the BRICS summit," the commentary said. Calls to boycott Chinese goods have gone viral in recent days, triggered by anger over its move on September 30 to extend a technical hold preventing the sanctioning of Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist Masood Azhar. READ: After blocking India's move to ban Masood Azhar, China now wants action against global terrorists Several local trading bodies have issued calls to boycott goods, especially China-made firecrackers, ahead of the festive season. "Chinese products are often the victim when regional situations get tense, and this phenomenon has been existing for quite a few years," Zhen, the scholar, wrote. "There have been at least two prominent Indian boycotts of Chinese goods in the past few months. The first happened in April. It was caused by dissatisfaction over China's stand on the issue of.. Azhar who is accused of committing terrorist acts in India. The second was in July and because of China's lack of support for India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue." advertisement "China's investment in India," he added, "soared to around $ 870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014." Zhen argued that "enhancing economic ties would be a preferable way to promote the comprehensive bilateral relationship". "The more economic cooperation exists, the more opportunities there will be for Chinese products to enter the Indian market," he said. "India is a big potential market, and people using smartphones and doing online shopping has become the irreversible trend in the new era. With enough experience and capital, some keen Chinese companies have already expanded their business into India. Hopefully, these early birds will get the worm soon." Also Read: India bans import of goods from China: List of top 5 imports of India --- ENDS --- SOUTH SUDAN Week of violence kills 60, government says Fighting in South Sudan killed at least 60 people this week, the military said Friday, stoking fears that the region could plunge back into full-scale war. Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang accused rebels of burning civilians, maiming women and child abductions and setting ablaze properties. Armed men loyal to former vice president Riek Machar killed 11 government soldiers and 28 civilians from Saturday to Thursday, Koang said in a statement. Twenty-one rebels were also killed, he said. A spokesman for the rebels denied the accusations. Those who are committing atrocities and raping are deserted SPLA [government] soldiers who have not been paid for several months and their families are starving. Our forces are aiming to target only those in uniforms, the deputy spokesman for the opposition forces, Dickson Gatluak, said by phone from Ethiopia. South Sudan, the worlds youngest nation, sank into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, removed Machar, a Nuer, from his position as vice president. Subsequent fighting often followed ethnic lines, and human rights groups say both sides targeted civilians. Reuters HAITI November vote slated after hurricane delay Haiti will hold the first round of its serially delayed presidential election Nov. 20 to give time for people in areas of the country affected by Hurricane Matthew to recover enough to vote, the electoral council said Friday. The election repeats a first-round vote a year ago. The results, deemed widely fraudulent, were scrapped after the second-place finisher denounced them. The new vote, previously set for Oct. 9, was delayed when the Category 4 hurricane barreled through the southwestern part of the country. Reuters BRAZIL Environmental affairs official gunned down Police said gunmen shot and killed the head of environmental affairs for the small city of Altamira in Brazils northern jungle state of Para. An Altamira police officer said two men on a motorcycle shot Luiz Alberto Araujo on Thursday night as he drove up to his home. His wife and two sons also were in the car but were unhurt. The police officer said Friday that the motive for the killing was unknown. Local media reports said Araujo had received death threats because of his efforts to stop deforestation in the region. Associated Press Former Alberta premier dies in plane crash: Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice was one of four people killed in a plane crash in British Columbia, his family confirmed Friday, as Canadians across the political spectrum paid tribute to his public service. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had not yet released the names of the those who died in the crash Thursday night. Prentices family said the other victims included the father-in-law of one of their daughters. The Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the wreckage of the Citation jet, which was bound for Calgary, Alberta, when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Kelowna, B.C. Former Uruguayan leader Batlle in critical condition: Doctors said former Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle was in critical condition following surgery after he fainted and struck his head. The 88-year-old underwent surgery Friday to stop a cerebral hemorrhage. Batlle fell in Tacuarembo, north of Montevideo, while there for an event by his Colorado Party. President from 2000 to 2005, he is one of the countrys most important political figures. Amnesty urges ICC to continue Burundi investigation: The International Criminal Court should continue investigating war crimes in Burundi despite a decision by the nations lawmakers to withdraw from the court, Amnesty International said. The vote is part of the governments continued effort to deny justice for victims of human rights violations committed since the crisis began in April 2015, said Amnesty Regional Director Muthoni Wanyeki, referring to protests and violence that occurred after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to pursue a third term. At least 564 people have been killed and more than 300,000 have fled the country, according to the United Nations. From news services Nathaniel Persily is a professor at Stanford Law School. Jon Cohen is chief research officer for SurveyMonkey. If there had been any doubt, it has now become clear that this election campaign is about more than the selection of a president: The values that support American democracy are deteriorating. Large numbers of Americans across party lines have lost faith in their democracy, and many will not accept the legitimacy of this election. Those were the stark findings from a survey we performed from Oct. 6 through Oct. 8 of more than 3,000 registered voters, fully 40 percent of whom say: I have lost faith in American democracy. Six percent indicate theyve never had faith in the system. Overall, barely more than half just 52 percent say, I have faith in American democracy. (Most respondents completed the survey before the Oct. 7 release of the video in which Donald Trump bragged about groping women, but the responses of those surveyed afterward were indistinguishable from those who answered the day before.) This cynicism is widely shared across the electorate, but significant partisan differences emerge on this question, as on so many others. More than 6 in 10 voters backing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton express faith in U.S. democracy, compared with just over 4 in 10 of those backing her Republican rival. Most of Trumps supporters say theyve lost confidence in the basic mechanism of governance in the United States. One of the hallmarks of faith in democracy is a willingness of the defeated to accept the results of elections. Democracy, after all, is not about the selection of particular leaders, but the notion that citizens have the power to select them at all. It relies on the assumption that todays electoral losers will live to fight another day, so that their faith in the system of democratic selection weathers temporary setbacks. But in this election, we find that a surprising share of the electorate is unwilling to accept the legitimacy of the election of their non-preferred candidate. When asked in this SurveyMonkey Election Tracking poll if they would accept the result should their candidate lose in November, just 31 percent say they definitely would see the outcome as legitimate. Nearly as many (28 percent) say it is either unlikely that they would accept the result or that they definitely would not. Again, Trumps supporters were more apt to say they would question the legitimacy of a Clinton victory than vice versa, but sizable shares on both sides, representing tens of millions of Americans, indicate they would not accept the legitimacy of the next president of the United States. It would be easy to chalk up this erosion of democratic values to the extraordinarily dispiriting presidential campaign we are witnessing. But the problems go much deeper than current events or even attitudes about government. The bonds of social trust that serve as the support structure for our democracy are deteriorating. Americans lack of trust in government is representative of declining confidence in institutions across the board. For 40 years, Gallup has measured levels of confidence in an array of institutions, such as the media, organized religion, public schools, banks, unions and big business. Congress may regularly receive the lowest rating, as only 9 percent expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it in the most recent survey, which was released in June. But most institutions within and outside government are at or near historic lows. And yet the problem is even worse. Americans do not trust each other either. In our survey, we found that only 31 percent say that most people can be trusted, whereas fully 67 percent say you need to be very careful in dealing with people. Of even greater concern, its the youngest voters who are most wary of others: Seventy-nine percent of those 18 to 24 say people should be careful of others, compared with just more than half (52 percent) of those 65 and older. This question on social trust has been asked around the world for decades. These response rates place the United States toward the lower end among other advanced democracies. That said, the recent rise of illiberal political parties in Europe demonstrates that the loss of democratic faith in the United States may be part of a worldwide trend. Just to be clear, even though faith in democracy may be waning, things have been worse (during the Civil War, for example), and we are not close to where infamous European regimes were when they traded democracy for dictatorship. In fact, our poll shows that almost all Americans continue to support the basic constitutional feature of separation of powers, for example, and oppose rule by a single leader. But while we are a long way from reaching Weimar Republic levels of alienation and distress, Americans are nonetheless pessimistic about the likelihood that our divisions can be bridged. A whopping 80 percent of voters say that the United States is more divided today than ever before, and most of those believe these divisions are likely to continue far into the future. For all the talk about this election being the most important in our lifetimes, it is critical that political leaders understand that the election itself will not heal the divisions the campaign has revealed. It may be fashionable to think of this election as a referendum on a style of politics or vision of government. But referendums produce concrete results by proving which position more voters support. When a large share of the population is unwilling to grant legitimacy to the process of even asking the question, we should not be surprised when they refuse to accept the answer. The Oct. 9 news article Airstrike kills over 100, injures hundreds more at funeral in Yemen did not mention the White House reaction, which stated that U.S. security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check and that the White House is undertaking an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led Coalition . . . to adjust our support so as to better align with U.S. principles, values and interests. The White House continues to insist, however, on a peace settlement based on the lopsided United Nations Security Council resolution of April 2015 that requires the Houthi-led coalition to lay down its weapons and withdraw from the areas it occupies, with no provision for similar disarmament by the Saudi-led coalition. Since the catastrophic attack Saturday and the White House statement, the bombing raids have continued unabated. Unless both parties put down their arms and a third party is named to supervise a cease-fire, there will be no peace. Marjorie Ransom, Washington The writer was a U.S. diplomat in Yemen. In his Oct. 11 op-ed, George F. Will described Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as the GOPs chemotherapy, a nauseating but, if carried through to completion, perhaps a curative experience [The GOPs venomous charlatan]. I am a pathologist nauseated by the cavalier use of illness semiotics to describe Trumpisms encroachment into the body politic. In my day job, my colleagues and I wrestle with cancer. That work requires serious and generous collaboration. We dissect infectious and necrotic processes from human tissue to render diagnosis. It is not glamorous. We are not always saints. Thanks to advances in personalized medicine, we are often able to screen patients with curable, early-stage disease. For anyone to suggest that Trumpism is curable is to imply the GOPs sins can be excised in the next election cycle. The acid bath Mr. Will described is not a neoadjuvant chemo cycle, nor would it offer the brute efficiency of outpatient surgery. The chemotherapy comparison uses a frame of individualized suffering, when the Republican Partys failed policies have caused millions of Americans to suffer unnecessarily for years, in some cases intentionally. It is not in dispute that a Trump administration would be catastrophic for patients with precarious insurance. As a supporter of single-payer health care, I was disappointed to see a senator from Virginia, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine, reject the public option. The GOP faithful will not erase their cohort effect without a serious moral reckoning which is not the fault of any one individuals pathology, but the failure of their leadership to listen to their base. Maureen Miller, McLean George F. Wills Oct. 11 op-ed on Donald Trump and the Republican Party was on target. That said, I have three concerns: Disparaging a poodle by calling GOP vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence Trumps poodle is offensive to my standard poodle. Comparing Mr. Trump to chemotherapy minimizes those who have endured the process. And Mr. Will should stop complaining and start suggesting alternatives. Linda D. Hallman, Springfield Another small step was taken last week on the steep and winding ascent back to constitutional norms. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the nations second-most important court, did its judicial duty by reprimanding Congress for abandoning constitutional propriety. The court declared unconstitutional the unprecedented independence that Congress had conferred on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This legal skirmish about one aspect of this one tentacle of the administrative state may seem recondite and trivial. It concerns, however, two momentous matters. One is the integrity of the federal governments Madisonian architecture. The other is something that not even the prescient James Madison could have anticipated: Congresss modern eagerness to diminish itself. The CFPB is empowered to regulate the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services. Being able to define financial products, it can regulate almost everything touching finance, from mortgages to financial advisers to retirement plans even car loans, although it is expressly forbidden to do so. Acting like a freewheeling little legislature, it concocts laws as it improvises standards. It is authorized to declare, with scant congressional guidance, certain business practices abusive, unfair, deceptive or involving discrimination. It does so by whatever criteria it pleases, and imposes penalties it deems appropriate. Until the courts decision last week, the CFPB, unlike any federal institution created since 1789, was uniquely sovereign: Its director was appointed by the president for a five-year term longer than the presidents and the director could be removed by the president only for cause. That is, only for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance, not for reasons of policy. The court held that the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured because of its novel agency structure. There are several agencies that are controlled by bipartisan commissioners who can be only removed for cause, and they are described as independent agencies as a result. But they all have five members, chosen from both parties. The court has just held, however, that as created by Congress in the 2010 slapdash Dodd-Frank legislation, the CFPBs single director enjoys more unilateral authority than any other officer in any of the three branches of the U.S. government, other than the president. The courts ruling makes the director subject to presidential control through dismissal. Another important challenge to the CFPBs operations, currently in a federal district court, concerns Congresss voluntary abandonment of its power of the purse: Dodd-Frank, which was passed with the support of only three House Republicans and three Republican senators, says the CFPBs funding shall be determined by the director and shall come not from congressional appropriations but from the Federal Reserve. Small wonder it spends lavishly on itself. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who while at Harvard Law School proposed the CFPB, insists it is highly accountable to Congress. The CFPB disagrees, having proclaimed that its funding from outside the appropriations process gives it full independence from Congress. When a member of the House Financial Services Committee asked CFPB Director Richard Cordray about his agency spending $215 million refurbishing a building with an assessed valuation of $150 million, he, oozing disdain, dismissed the question: Why does that matter to you? Perhaps he should be forgiven for assuming that CFPB spending government money is none of Congresss business, given that Congress has effectively said exactly that. Although Madison assumed that the governments rival institutions would jealously defend their powers, he worried that the legislative branch would threaten the equilibrium of the checks and balances by drawing all power into its impetuous vortex. Today, however, Congress is centrifugal rather than centripetal, expelling rather than concentrating power. A peculiarity of todays politics is the disproportion between Democrats fervent desires to serve in Congress and their lackadaisical willingness to cede its powers. Democratic candidates, both incumbents and challengers, are fighting ferociously to remain on, or get to, Capitol Hill. One wonders: Why? Their party is doctrinally devoted to marginalizing the legislative branch in order to expand the discretion of the administrative state as an instrument of executive power. And the next president certainly will be impatient with Madisons separation of powers. President Hillary Clinton would be because progressives since Woodrow Wilson have considered this system an anachronistic impediment to energetic government powered by an unconstrained executive. President Donald Trump would be anti-Madisonian because the system of checks and balances would impede the sweep of his unmediated fabulousness. The CFPBs progressive authoritarianism reflects, in the language of the Hudson Institutes Christopher DeMuth , regulatory insouciance made possible by legislative abnegation. Both will continue until conservatism reappears. Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES teach their officers how to respond in case of exposure: Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations. While perhaps good advice in the amoral context of espionage, these are not, or should not be, words to live by for those who take part in democratic politics. Yet when Republican Donald Trump was outed as a serial abuser of women, first by his own words and then by testimony from a lengthening list of alleged victims, he responded with tactics worthy of the Russian ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin, whose leadership he so admires. Mr. Trump branded the women liars and blamed the establishment and their media enablers for the purported smear. One reason to believe the charges is Mr. Trumps own repugnant boast, captured on videotape in 2005 and first reported a week ago by The Posts David A. Fahrenthold, about how he likes to grab women by their private parts and force himself on them, as an exercise of his star power. Lacking the decency to take responsibility for this, beyond a thin layer of apology in a thick sandwich of excuse-making, Mr. Trump went on to compound verbally the insult he already inflicted on his victims, through his conduct, with predictable attacks on their veracity, motives and, of course, appearance. Thus did the GOP nominee further confirm his unfitness for the White House, as well as the cravenness of those elected leaders in his party who continue to endorse him. And then Mr. Trump, speaking Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla., escalated: Beyond merely denying the truth of the allegations about his treatment of women, he recast them as evidence that U.S. democracy itself is no longer legitimate. Follow the logic here, if you can: The country is under the control of a conspiracy, involving not just his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the media, but also the entire political establishment, Republicans included, in league with unnamed international banks, whose goal is to enrich themselves by controlling the central base of world political power . . . right here in America and imposing radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people. Mr. Trump, and the movement he heads, are all that stand in the way of this evil cabal. This election, therefore, is no ordinary political contest but a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we the people reclaim control over our government. Ergo, the cabal will destroy Mr. Trump by slander unless the people stand up and resist a small handful of global special interests rigging the system. This language which he read from a prepared text fed into a teleprompter is inflammatory beyond any demagoguery Mr. Trump had offered previously. Coupled with his repeated warnings, echoed by his followers, that the Democrats may be cooking up Election Day fraud, the speech seems to prepare the ground for resistance in the increasingly likely event that things dont go his way Nov. 8. Indeed, anyone who agrees that the alternative to a Trump victory is civilizational disaster, the fruit of a sinister deal, as Mr. Trump put it in another Florida speech, would feel obligated to deny the legitimacy of a Clinton victory, should it occur. Trump-for-President is not a campaign to redeem American democracy or even to take it back, as Mr. Trump puts it; it has morphed into a campaign of destabilization. Mr. Trumps words seek to make accomplices of his listeners. Anyone who challenges the cabal is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed, he told the West Palm Beach audience. They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family, they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. As if the assembled Trumpkins were just as guilty as he of all those alleged sins. A greater measure of accountability belongs to the men and women who purport to lead the GOP faithful, and have, with a few honorable exceptions, so manifestly failed the moral test Mr. Trumps candidacy poses. We are well past the point of urging these politicians to repudiate Mr. Trump for the good of the country, their party and themselves. Frankly, its hard to keep track of where some of them stand on that question: Several prominent Republicans, including two U.S. senators, John Thune of South Dakota and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, called on Mr. Trump to resign his candidacy after the 2005 recording became public then crawled back into the fold, under pressure from the pro-Trump Republican rank and file. Still, it is not too late even for these GOP politicians to repudiate Mr. Trumps conspiratorial view of the American political process. They should at least find the decency, and the patriotism, to declare that everyone must respect the results on Nov. 8 and pursue any protests or disputes through legal channels, not in the streets. Even if Republicans cant bring themselves to part ways politically with Mr. Trump, they can refuse to cooperate in the trashing of our public discourse and essential civic traditions. Surely that is not too much to ask. Two Rivers Public Charter School first graders listen during the weekly school community meeting seated on the floor in the common area known as The Green on April 11, 2012 in Washington, D.C. (Mark Gail/The Washington Post) Theyre in demand among parents who say traditional public schools have failed but theyre not always successful. Their intense rate of growth has fueled an equally intense debate about the role theyll play in the future of U.S. education. Advocates see their expansion as evidence that parents have a huge appetite for school choice. Critics see the beginning of the end of public education, with systems of neighborhood schools replaced by independent, privately run companies without the same obligation to teach the toughest students. A great deal of confusion surrounds charter schools. Here are some of the myths. Myth No. 1 Charter schools are everywhere. At its national convention this year, the NAACP called for a moratorium on charter school expansion. The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, a union-backed coalition, demands: Stop flooding our communities with under-performing and unaccountable charter schools. The charter debate is front and center in the education reform wars, and youd think that theyre everywhere a wave overtaking every community. Yes, the charter movement is growing. And charters have a significant market share in an increasing number of cities, with New Orleans (where 93 percent of students attend charters) leading the way, followed by Detroit (53 percent), Flint, Mich., (47 percent) and Washington (44 percent). Forty-three states and the District have laws allowing for charter schools. But in many parts of the country, charters are few and far between. About 3 million students are enrolled in approximately 6,800 charters, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Thats only about 6 percent of all public school students. Eight states have no charter schools, and five have fewer than 10. The debate is loud, but the market share is still small. Myth No. 2 Charters are the brainchild of union-busting billionaires. Critics of charter schools often accuse philanthropists including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, entrepreneur Eli Broad, hedge fund manager John Arnold and the Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune of fueling the rise of charter schools and other reform projects as a way to promote free-market ideology and undermine teachers unions. In Salon early this year, Diane Ravitch (a George H.W. Bush-era federal education official who has become perhaps the nations most voluble charter critic) railed against Gates for using his wealth to push charters in Washington state. In the Huffington Post, Bill Bigelow argued that Charles and David Koch are involved with school reform because they hate public schools. It is true that deep-pocketed foundations have played a key role in the expansion of charter schools, through contributions to charters themselves and to the ecosystem of organizations that work with such schools. But charters were originally the brainchild of teachers union stalwart Al Shanker, who served as president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974 to 1997. Shanker proposed charter schools in 1988, arguing that they would give small groups of teachers a way to dream up new methods of reaching the students for whom traditional schools were not working. Their successes and failures would hold lessons for other schools striving to improve. The first charter school opened in Minnesota in 1992. Some charters have acted as Shanker envisioned, but in many states they havent, rejecting requirements for teacher certification or barring collective-bargaining rights. Driven by a vision of market-based reform, charters have become not laboratories so much as competition meant to either spur traditional schools to improve or replace them. Just a few years after proposing charter schools, Shanker largely disavowed them, holding instead that schools would get better only by standardizing their goals the same theory that underlies todays controversial Common Core state standards . Myth No. 3 Charters are better than traditional schools. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is a big fan of expanding school choice via vouchers and charters. We will rescue kids from failing schools, he told the GOP convention in July. Books, articles and documentaries like Waiting for Superman have created in the popular imagination a picture of charter schools with impossibly long waiting lists, offering an escape to children desperate for a better education in neighborhoods beset by crumbling traditional schools. While it is true that some charter schools outperform traditional schools, it is also true that many charter schools fail. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) has produced a series of studies comparing academic results at charter and traditional schools. In 2013, CREDO found no difference nationally between traditional and charter schools in math, while in reading, the average charter school student gained the equivalent of an additional eight days of learning per year. But there was wide variation. Among the charters CREDO studied, 31 percent were significantly weaker in math than their traditional school counterparts, 29 percent were significantly stronger and 40 percent showed no real difference. CREDO studies also show variation across state lines. In cities, charters tend to fare better: The average student in an urban charter school gains the equivalent of 40 more days of learning in math and 28 additional days in reading. But the average charter student in Texas and in Ohio a state that has been notorious for allowing poor-performing charters to persist learns less in math and reading each year than her peers in traditional schools. Myth No. 4 Charter schools are public. Or private. In August , a National Labor Relations Board majority ruled that a charter school in Brooklyn was not established by a state or local government and was, therefore, not itself a public school. The boards lone dissenter argued that charter schools operate as K-12 public schools and should be treated as such since they are substantially regulated under state and local laws, and they are overseen by state and local authorities. This is one of educations more bitter feuds, a semantic battle that underlines how important public education is to our nations notion of itself. Advocates insist that charter schools are public because they are tuition-free and equally open to all children. Critics argue that charters are at the leading edge of an effort to privatize public education in the same way other government functions, such as prisons, have been outsourced to private companies. Neither side is entirely right. Charters are a hybrid, and judges and regulators have struggled to figure out how they should be treated under the law. Courts have had a difficult time determining their legal status because they exhibit both public and private characteristics, researchers wrote in a University of Massachusetts Law Review article last year. When charter students in Colorado, for instance, set a fire that destroyed private property, the property owners sued the school for negligence. The school argued that it was a public entity and therefore immune. A federal judge agreed, finding that the schools autonomy did not make it a private institution. Often, the public- or private-ness of charter schools depends on state law. In many states, for example, charter schools are subject to sunshine laws, meaning their records and board meetings are open to the public. But not everywhere: In the District, for instance, charters are exempt from sunshine laws, which means journalists and parents often cannot access even basic information about how the schools spend taxpayer money. Myth No. 5 All charters employ zero-tolerance discipline. Many of the nations most heralded charter school networks were built as no excuses schools that practice a broken-windows approach to discipline. Children are expected to abide by strict rules walking in silent lines, eating silent lunch, sitting up straight, maintaining eye contact with teachers as they move about the room and are punished for even small infractions. The suspension rate among charters nationally was 16 percent higher than among traditional schools in the 2011-2012 school year, according to the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. But it has never been the case that all charter schools subscribe to the no-excuses, zero-tolerance philosophy. In the District in 2011-2012, the same year that charter schools were 72 times more likely than the traditional school system to expel a student, there were six charters that issued zero suspensions or expulsions, and 15 others that issued five or fewer. Lately amid growing concern over feeding the school-to-prison pipeline with expelled students, and over producing graduates ill-equipped to deal with the freedom and responsibility of college life theres been a shift even among some stalwarts of the no-excuses approach. At Ascend charter schools in New York, kids no longer get in trouble for wearing socks that are the wrong color. In the District, charter schools suspension and expulsion rates are dropping. Some KIPP schools now use restorative justice, which prioritizes working through problems over doling out punishment. Even Education Secretary John King Jr. whose charter school in Boston is known for both its high test scores and high suspension rates delivered a speech this summer calling on charter leaders to rethink their approach to discipline. Twitter: @emmersbrown Five myths is a weekly feature challenging everything you think you know. You can check out previous myths, read more from Outlook or follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter. Im not sure if they ever really were, but all politics arent local anymore. Ideas now jump borders; political tactics spread through the Internet; so do words and phrases, even in translation. A few years ago, one of the founders of Jobbik, Hungarys far-right political party, told me he had been inspired by attending a rally organized by the Freedom Party, the far-right political party across the border in Austria. Nowadays, he could watch that same rally on YouTube without leaving his house. For the past couple of years, the rapid movement of political ideas and tactics has benefited illiberal democrats, across the West and around the world. A bevy of crises migration in Europe, war in Syria, Islamist terrorism and nervous financial markets have contributed to genuine insecurity. Social media have magnified anxiety, stoking strong emotions envy, hatred, suspicion with enormous speed. Automated bots and troll armies are used to fight elections and manipulate opinions everywhere from the United States to the Philippines and all across Europe. The result has been increasing support for leaders who offer simple solutions I alone can fix it; arrest the drug dealers; expel the foreigners; build a wall as well as statist economics. Cult of personality, a phrase invented in a different time and a different place, is suddenly in use in a dozen democracies, all around the world. Some have gained followers, including Donald Trump in the United States, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Marine Le Pen in France. Some have won elections, and a few, once in power, have deployed tactics more common to dictatorships than democracies. A crackdown on independent politicians, journalists and thinkers is underway in Turkey. In Hungary, moguls close to Viktor Orbans Fidesz have bought much of the media and last week probably helped shut down the countrys last committed opposition newspaper, Nepszabadsag, immediately after it published several articles critical of the ruling party. In Poland, the Law and Justice government has turned state television into a direct and unsubtle arm of party propaganda. In each case, the divisions, exhaustion and political weakness of liberal, pro-democracy or pro-European politicians also explain the success of these new parties. But can they begin to learn from one another, too? Across Europe, new parties socially liberal, pro-European and anti-populist are forming or re-forming to counter the illiberal wave. Like their opponents, they are not right or left, but rather advertise themselves as rational and effective, opposed to the xenophobia or populism of their opponents, and representative of groups, not charismatic individuals. In Spain, Ciudadanos (the name means citizens) has won support by campaigning against regional nationalism under the slogan Catalonia is my homeland, Spain is my country and Europe is our future. In Poland, a campaign against nepotism has won higher ratings for Nowoczesna (the name means modern). The past two weeks have represented a turning point of sorts. In Hungary, leaders of the split opposition united to boycott a referendum designed to bolster support for the ruling party and stoke xenophobia. A dubiously worded ballot question, a vast state-run advertising campaign the government hired more than a quarter of the billboards in the entire country and stories of refugee rape and murder on state-controlled news sought to persuade Hungarians to vote against sheltering a few thousand refugees from the Syrian civil war. No state money at all was provided to those who campaigned in favor, but on Oct. 2 the majority of Hungarians heeded opposition calls to stay home: A misleading, untruthful question does not deserve an answer, wrote Viktor Szigetvari, chairman of Egyutt (the name means together). The government won, and by a large margin but low turnout rendered the result invalid. Non-party citizens movements have also begun to unify people in ways that cross old political lines. The day after the Hungarian referendum, tens of thousands of Polish women wore black and joined street demonstrations in more than a dozen towns and cities across Poland, protesting a law that would have jailed women who had abortions. Many participants said they opposed abortion but disliked the harshness of the proposed measure even more. Almost immediately, the government withdrew it. Its too early to crow about a liberal wave, let alone an international movement that deserves real attention. But a political realignment is taking place; events in one country will go on affecting those in others. Hungarians, perhaps inspired by success in Poland, went to the streets to protest the newspaper closure. Admirers of Ciudadanos in London talk wistfully about creating something similar in Britain. If Trump is defeated and particularly if he is defeated decisively that will inspire even more. Authoritarianism retains its universal appeal, but so do the antidotes. Read more from Anne Applebaums archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. Mumbai police has started its operation against those selling cigarettes and tobacco products within 100 metres of schools and colleges in the city. By Saurabh Vaktania: Mumbai police has started its operation against those selling cigarettes and tobacco products within 100 metres of schools and colleges in the city. In just two weeks, the social service branch of Mumbai police acted against 64 people selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in the vicinity of educational institutions. The crackdown has taken place at some prominent educational institutions in Mumbai. Mumbai police is now going to write a letter to BMC officials to demolish such shops. advertisement CRACKDOWN TO CONTINUE Social service branch officials have said that actions against such stalls and shops located in the vicinity of educational institutes will continue. Also read: Statutory warning: Cigarette smuggling is injurious to India's health, says DRI There are several shops near educational institutes in Mumbai that sell tobacco products. The cops said that there were several tapris, bar and wine shops within 100 metres of educational institutions that too should be banned and removed from the place. THOSE UNDER 18 CAN'T SMOKE In Mumbai, anyone under 18 years is completely banned from consuming tobacco and ciggerettes. The operation was carried by SS branch and JAPU branch of Mumbai police which will continue for the entire month of October. E-cigarettes a safer choice? Think again --- ENDS --- Back in 2012, Mexico was a mess, seemingly stuck in a death-cycle of dysfunction that looked even worse than the one gripping Washington today. The countrys Congress was deadlocked, and its many problems were spinning out of control. Since 2006, the war on drugs had claimed 60,000 lives. Life expectancy was the lowest among nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Corruption was leaching away 10 percent of gross domestic product, and vast monopolies were smothering the economy (companies run by just one man, Carlos Slim, accounted for more than one-third of the stock exchange). Oil production, on which the government depended for a third of its budget, had dropped by a quarter in just 10 years. Things were so bad that in 2008, the Pentagon warned that Mexico risked a rapid and sudden collapse. The 2012 presidential election didnt promise much improvement. Its victor was a notorious 46-year-old philanderer named Enrique Pena Nieto, a scion of the same party that had introduced many of the problems in the first place. His nickname on the campaign trail seemed to capture the nations expectations women called him bombon, or sweetie and Ashley Madison splashed his face on its billboards. In the years since his election, his many missteps (including corruption allegations, his mishandling of several mass disappearances linked to the countrys security forces and his unfathomable decision to invite Donald Trump for a visit in August) have led many Mexicans, and Americans, to write him off. Yet dismissing Pena Nietos presidency is a big mistake. The first two years of this underrated bombons tenure were among the most productive in Mexicos history. In short order, he managed to win over some of his bitterest political enemies and then join forces with them to bust open Mexicos smothering monopolies, liberalize its rusting energy sector, restructure its failing schools, modernize its banking laws and much more. To appreciate the scale of these accomplishments, try to imagine the U.S. Congress passing immigration, tax, banking and campaign finance reform at the same time. Pena Nietos greatest success was something many governments (including our own) can only dream of: shattering the political gridlock that had paralyzed his country for years. And thats what makes his story worth studying, despite the many subsequent blunders. While it would be hard for the United States to apply his lessons directly the two countries political systems are structured very differently Mexicos achievement remains a crucial reminder in this divisive election year: Even the most venomous political rivalries can be overcome, and the worst political stalemates can be broken. Heres how. Back in 2000, Mexico finally shook off 71 years of one-party rule and became a true democracy. Rather than use their new freedoms to fight for reform, however, Mexicos three main parties the long-dominant PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), the center-right PAN (National Action Party) and the left-leaning PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) used them to fight one another. Congress deadlocked, and things got so bitter that between 2006 and 2012, the PRDs leader refused to even shake the presidents hand. In the absence of government action, all the countrys big problems drugs, poverty, crime, corruption kept getting worse. But the crisis had one silver lining: By 2012, frustrated voters finally decided theyd had enough. In that years election, they rejected the incumbent PAN in humiliating fashion, giving it just 26 percent of the vote. Although Pena Nietos PRI won, it just barely scraped by, with a narrow 39 percent plurality. These results forced politicians such as Jesus Zambrano, a leader of the PRD (which also did badly that year), to reluctantly accept that their constant obstructionism had cost us a lot in the eyes of society, as he told me when I visited in late 2014 to report on these developments for my book, The Fix, about how governments solve intractable problems. So when, shortly after Pena Nietos election, Zambrano cautiously approached him to explore cooperation, the president-elect leapt at the opening. High as the stakes were, they still werent enough to guarantee success; several previous attempts to collaborate had failed. Indeed, this one probably would have, too, but for the ingenious way Pena Nieto handled the ensuing talks. First, he kept the meetings small just nine participants, three from each party and confidential. That intimacy, plus a lot of shared meals and rounds of tequila, encouraged the rivals to see each other as actual people. Meanwhile, the secrecy (there was never a single leak over several months of talks) built trust and helped ward off pressure from special interests. To facilitate horse-trading, the participants put their entire legislative wish lists on the table at the start. Then they determined that all decisions would be unanimous and that nothing is agreed until all is agreed, as another negotiator, Sen. Santiago Creel of the PAN, told me. Another crucial emollient was the PRIs willingness to compromise. It ultimately gave up several cherished priorities its long-standing objection to electoral reform, for instance thereby convincing its former rivals to do the same. Finally, Pena Nieto was very shrewd when it came to sequencing. To build momentum, he put the issues everyone agreed on at the top of the agenda. He also consented to pass some of the other parties pet reforms before his own. What that did, the president told me, was armor plate the deal by showing all parties that they couldnt get what they wanted unless everyone stuck to the plan. Amazingly, it all worked. When Congress opened for business at the start of 2013, the Pact for Mexico (as it came to be known) was declared, the truce held, and Mexicos parties stopped fighting and started legislating. Over the next 18 months, they together passed 85 major reforms, with support from lawmakers averaging 80 percent. Not only did they crack open Mexicos monopolies, reinvigorate its oil sector, take on its powerful teachers unions and revamp its ineffective tax laws, they even passed a new junk-food tax to combat Mexicos fast-growing diabetes epidemic. (What made this list still more impressive is that many of the changes had to be passed twice, first as constitutional amendments and then as implementing legislation.) The upside of marriages of convenience is that they enable the newlyweds to do things together theyd never manage on their own. The downside, of course, is they tend not to last. The pact was no exception: In August 2014, as the parties geared up for midterm elections, Pena Nieto formally announced the deals conclusion. But the legacy of Mexicos grand bargain lives on. First, it has revolutionized the countrys politics. As Creel put it, the pact created a new culture, in which youre not a traitor if you sit down and talk. Or as Aurelio Nuno, a PRI negotiator who now serves as education secretary, told me: Before the pact, you had polarization, gridlock, something very similar to U.S. politics today. Now relations between the parties are radically different. Meanwhile, by unshackling the Mexican economy, promoting competition, improving education and easing foreign investment, the reforms have set the stage for serious growth, especially once oil prices, so critical to Mexicos economy, start to recover. Unfortunately for Mexico and for Pena Nietos poll numbers, which have fallen to 26 percent that growth has yet to arrive. Ordinary Mexicans arent seeing much improvement, and they blame the president. Whats more, a number of states and unions are fighting to block the education reforms, which impose strict new standards on teachers. And the drop in oil prices and the general global slowdown have hurt the country badly. But none of that is really Pena Nietos fault (unlike the various scandals that hes since stumbled into, for which he does bear the blame). The fact that the pact has been slow to bear fruit should come as no surprise. The thing about structural reforms is that their benefits always take time to materialize which is why few politicians dare attempt them. That only makes the courage shown by Pena Nieto and his partners all the more impressive. Whatever his faults, and they are many, theres no denying that Mexicos president is brave. Indeed, that bravery points to the first of Mexicos lessons for the rest of us: People matter. As do guts. The pacts negotiators shared an unusual ability to face reality and deal with it responsibly, setting ideology and party doctrine aside at great risk to their careers. Second, severe crises have an amazing way of concentrating leaders minds, while sweeping away the obstacles that ordinarily block reform, creating an enormous opportunity for leaders bold enough to seize it. As for the final lesson, its the simplest of all: Never abandon hope. When I asked Juan Pardinas, the head of Mexican think tank IMCO, what he thought the storys moral was, he told me this: If [a few years ago] youd asked ordinary Mexicans, or even the people who negotiated the pact, whether they thought something like this could happen here, they would have said no. We went through 15 years of frustration. But our lesson is that the impossible can happen. It happened. Sometimes you really can find water in the middle of the desert. Thats a message Americans desperately need to hear right now. Twitter: @j_tepperman Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter. Sacred Heart Church in Bowie is a well-known historic landmark, not only locally but nationally as well. The Jesuit property, which was founded in 1741, was the site of the 1789 election of John Carroll as the first Catholic bishop in the United States. The Catholic Church in America was organized here. Plans for Georgetown University were discussed here. These facts alone make Sacred Heart one of Marylands greatest treasures. If you consider too that Carrolls cousin was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and that his older brother signed the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution on behalf of Maryland, then you may begin to understand the historical significance of Sacred Heart. But there is more there than meets the eye. History has a way of spilling over to the areas near where monuments are constructed. The Jesuits of White Marsh Plantation, on which Sacred Heart was built, owned more than 2,000 acres and held more than 100 slaves in addition to indentured servants who worked the plantation. But, like many Mid-Atlantic plantations of the time where labor wasnt in much demand, including the infamous Jesuits at Georgetown University, many slaves were sold down South for a much harder life for the slave and for a handsome profits for the sellers. Id like to think that slaves at White Marsh Plantation werent treated as portrayed in Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin, but I dont know for certain. Now, the property around Sacred Heart Church, including the former White Marsh Plantation, is in jeopardy of being developed into 440 single-family homes and townhouses. The very spot where hundreds of slaves worked for many years and where many are still buried will become just more suburban sprawl unless this development is stopped. Those who were forced to work the tobacco fields of White Marsh Plantation deserve better than to be interred beneath high-density residential development. Shame on Northern Virginias Elm Street Development for trying to turn beautiful open space into just another housing development. Shame on Bowie if it grants water and sewer access to the developers just to boost its tax rolls at the expense of its history. Shame on Prince Georges County if it grants zoning changes for this development. And the greatest shame of all is for the Jesuits who would sell their own Catholic legacy (including the hallowed ground of the slaves who supported them for years) for 30 pieces of silver. The Oct. 10 editorial A threat to the rule of law correctly characterized the Oct. 9 presidential debate, in which Republican nominee Donald Trump boasted that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would be in jail if he were president. Ms. Clinton deserved more credit for her integrity, though, than implied by characterizing her as ducking the question of her alleged public and private views on trade. When she contextualized her alleged behavior using American history and President Lincoln, she seemed to candidly acknowledge that politicians (including herself) negotiate with tact, intelligence and complicated private feelings and wishes. Darkly, Mr. Trump bullied her again, leaving tooth marks rather than engaging in what should have been spirited discussion. All people, from elected officials to everyday citizens, hold public and private views. Elected representatives must gather these views with awareness of how their personal interests affect how they carry out the duties of office. Transparency is critical, starting with tax records. It is not necessarily dishonest for a politician both to agree and disagree with perspectives on the same issue. Complex thought makes room for all sides of issues, using differences and conflicts to enlighten problem-solving and debate. Ms. Clinton deserves far more credit for her steady hand and dignified grace under pressure. Our country needs a president who can welcome bankers and borrowers to the same table with the kind of hospitality that feeds the best interests of all people. Stanley Kulewicz, Washington The October 11 World article Ethiopia imposes state of emergency amid unrest highlighted the widespread and proactive dissent that the undemocratic government is facing and the desperate measures it is taking. The situation is a consequence of the ruling partys 25 years of dominance and its brutal suppression of human rights and political opposition. Every segment of Ethiopian society, regardless of ethnic affiliation, has been victimized by the governments unfair and misguided policies. The people of Ethiopia, therefore, in unison, are saying enough to a quarter-century of abuse. That is the reason there are active opposition movements throughout the country. This should not overshadow, however, the destructive presence of secessionist groups and liberation fronts that will further threaten Ethiopias unity and stability. Such groups and their agendas will add only unmanageable chaos to the situation. The current popular movement can become effective only if it is channeled through a unifying, not a separatist, leadership. The people of Ethiopia are demanding that type of leadership to bring a sustainable, democratic change to their nation. Promoting and fighting for the interests of a single ethnic group will never be the solution for Ethiopias persistent political problems. Unity is the key to establishing freedom, equality and justice. Tewodros Abebe, Accokeek In 2015, crosses mark the locations of four sets of human remains buried for more than 400 years near the altar of what was America's first Protestant church in Jamestown, Va. (Joe Fudge/The Daily Press via Associated Press) I am stunned, with historic Jamestown, Va., at stake, that letter writer Jeff Green apparently accepts without question Dominion Virginia Powers corporate preferences [Tourists dont like blackouts, Oct. 8]. Dominion promotes its plan to build an oversize power line as the only option for the Virginia Peninsula and threatens blackouts if its preferred approach doesnt prevail. Yes, progress and history can get along, but Dominion and progress are not synonymous. Consider a July 2014 report by Ceres, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes investors, companies and public-interest groups to accelerate implementation of sustainable business practices to build a healthy global economy. The Ceres corporate network includes international businesses such as Coca-Cola and Levi Strauss, and large utilities such as Exelon and PG&E. Ceress landmark report ranked Dominion near the bottom of large utilities regarding use of renewables and other proven strategies for a more secure, resilient and less-polluting energy future. Clearly, efficiency and renewables are not Dominions preference. Im hopeful that the Obama administration, now reviewing Dominions application for a federal permit necessary for this ill-considered scheme, will reject Dominions power play. John Mayrhofer, Williamsburg, Va. The Oct. 11 front-page article Paul Ryan breaks ranks, refuses to stump for Trump noted that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has parted company with Republican nominee Donald Trump in the presidential campaign in an emergency maneuver to preserve the [Republican] partys endangered congressional majorities in the face of the ever-deepening moral crisis besetting Mr. Trump. I think it was an equally important forward-looking move by Mr. Ryan to preserve his political viability as a front-running Republican presidential candidate for 2020. He simply cannot afford any longer to be seen as Mr. Trumps political enabler and to risk going down in flames with him on Nov. 8. Even so, this emergency maneuver may have come a little too late for Mr. Ryan. He should have faced the music and jumped ship much earlier. Having failed to do so, how can he the leader of the party claim the moral high ground in the GOP after a likely major defeat in November and the ensuing existential crisis? Mr. Ryan may have gambled away his excellent chance to become a president by not standing against Mr. Trump at the right time. In politics, the timing of ones key moves matters. Istvan Dobozi, Gaithersburg The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail Donald Trump has indulged in conspiracy theories about President Obamas birthplace, the FBIs rigged probe of Hillary Clinton, the Federal Reserves political agenda and whether Ted Cruzs father was linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. With his presidential campaign in full-blown crisis on Thursday, Trump was at it again, putting a new spin on a familiar tactic. This time, there was a bigger, badder villain a global power structure of corporate interests, the media and Clinton engaging in subterfuge. This time, it was about him. They knew they would throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved ones, said Trump at a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me. But I never knew, as bad as it would be, I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious. 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. In the face of mounting accusations from women that he groped and kissed them without their consent, dozens of media outlets carefully vetting their claims and a Clinton campaign eager to exploit worries about his behavior toward women, Trump decided to lump them together. For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that dont have your good in mind. Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they havent seen before, Trump said. He is not just talking about Obamas birth certificate. He is talking about himself, said Mark Fenster, a University of Florida law professor and author of a 2008 book about conspiracy theories and American culture. This now becomes a much more personal enterprise about him. A day earlier, Trump appeared to allege, without evidence, that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and other GOP elected officials who distanced themselves from him were involved in a mass scheme to undermine him. Theres a whole deal going on were going to figure it out. I always figure things out. But theres a whole sinister deal going on, he said. While spreading information ranging from the questionable to the outright inaccurate with no evidence a distinctive feature of his campaign Trump often qualifies his ideas by attributing them to unnamed people he claims are speaking about them. Some of the ideas he has embraced have been denounced by critics who charged that they were racially or culturally derogatory. Donald Trump strongly denied that he had groped and kissed women without their consent, following a number of news reports detailing allegations made by four women. (The Washington Post) .@TeamTrump should avoid rhetoric&tropes that historically have been used ag. Jews & still spur #antisemitism. Lets keep hate out of cmpgn, Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted Thursday. He was responding to Trumps comment that Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors. In his remarks, Trump said WikiLeaks documents were evidence of his point. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump was talking about Hillary Clinton meeting and speaking to executives at a Brazilian bank, as evidenced by the Wikileaks document dump, not anti-Semitism. For years, Trump was at the vanguard of the birther movement doubting that Obama was born in the United States despite clear evidence that he was. Only last month did Trump officially put his doubts to rest. In doing so, he falsely blamed Clinton for starting the rumors about Obama. Last year, Trump said he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey as the World Trade Center buildings fell during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down, Trump said on ABC News in November. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down. Fact checkers found no evidence to support his claim. At the end of the Republican primary, Trump said Cruzs father, Rafael Cruz, was associated with Lee Harvey Oswald around the time he shot Kennedy. His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being, you know, shot, Trump told Fox News in May. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this? Right? Prior to his being shot. And nobody even brings it up. Trump appeared to be talking about a photograph published by the National Enquirer that showed Oswald and another man distributing pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans in 1963. Cruzs campaign denied that it was his father. No proof emerged supporting Trumps claim. Federal agencies have not been spared in Trumps unsubstantiated attacks. The Fed, which operates separately from the executive branch, was being totally controlled politically, he said during remarks on the economy in New York last month. The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment, Trump tweeted in July, in response to the FBI recommending no charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server. Lately, his rhetoric has become more personal more about his movement, his supporters and himself. Were going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study, make sure other people dont come in and vote five times, Trump said at a campaign stop in Altoona, Pa., in August, voicing concerns about voter fraud that he has repeated with urgency in recent weeks. Studies have shown that documented instances of voter fraud are very rare and that efforts to tighten voter ID laws affect African Americans and younger voters more heavily than others. Trump said Thursday that the world had reached a moment of reckoning. He told his backers that his campaign is not about me; its about all of you, and its about our country. He portrayed the powers he says have banded together to rally against him and his advocates as ruthless and cunning. They will attack you; they will slander you; they will seek to destroy your career and your family; they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation, Trump said. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that; they will do whatever is necessary. Jose A. DelReal and Jenna Johnson contributed to this report. On Saturday at a convention center in Edison, N.J., Donald Trump is scheduled to give an address at a Bollywood-style charity benefit for Hindu victims of terrorism. (Republican Hindu Coalition/Republican Hindu Coalition) On Saturday at a convention center in Edison, N.J., GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to give an address unlike any he has given before in front of a crowd of fervent supporters who will be mostly nonwhite. The address, hosted by the Trump campaign and the Republican Hindu Coalition, is part of a charity benefit for Hindu victims of terrorism. With Bollywood-style entertainment and Indian celebrity guest appearances, the spectacle will provide welcome optics for a campaign that has provoked almost nothing but backlash from minority voters. The event is also unusual because the Indian American community overwhelmingly leans Democratic, with 70 percent planning to vote for Hillary Clinton compared with 7 percent for Trump, according to the most recent polls. But some Trump supporters are working to improve those numbers, arguing that business-minded and socially conservative Indian Americans are a natural fit for the Republican candidate. Trumps tough talk on national security, and on Pakistan in particular, has also invigorated some Hindu Americans who see Islamic extremism as the gravest threat facing both the United States and India. Trump really is colorblind, said Shalabh Kumar, the electronics magnate who founded the Republican Hindu Coalition, or RHC. What better way to show that than a rally of thousands of people who are brown? Shalabh Kumar, an adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, addresses a news conference in New Delhi on Oct. 7, 2016. (Rajat Gupta/EPA) Together with his immediate family, Kumar has given almost $2 million to super PACs that support Trump. He is spending between $3 million and $5 million of his own money on the event in New Jersey. Like many of the Indian American communitys leaders, Kumar comes from a business background. Admiration for Trumps business background is the bedrock of what support he has among Indian Americans, and belief in his promise to root out radical Islamic terror is the topsoil that lies above it. [Asian American voters continue to shift to the political left] Undeterred by numerous recent allegations of sexual assault against the candidate, Kumar said Saturdays event would go on. The Hindu and Indian people do not abandon their friends in times of crisis, he said. With India and Pakistan on the brink of war, and lives at stake in the global war on terror, Mr. Trump is the president we need at this time. Immigrants who grew up in India are well acquainted with a broken governing system. Sujeeth Draksharam, a Houston-area civil engineer who is now the Republican precinct chair for Fort Bend County, says Democrats remind him of the Indian politicians he so despised in his native country. Weve seen pay-to-play in India. Oh, man thats a great scheme right there, Draksharam said. Ive seen terrorism and corruption. People here, in the land of plenty, they dont know what they have, and maybe thats why they vote Democrat. Maybe weve seen enough of life to know whats real. For us, when it hits in the wallet, or in an attack, thats when we realize were Republicans, he added. Kumar agreed that Trumps hard line on Muslims is a source of support for him among some Indian Americans. A lot of Hindus see it that way, he said. Butchers and killers have declared war on India, on the U.S. and on civilization. You better recognize the war and win it. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Recent voter surveys, however, indicate that Kumar is overestimating that pull, as well as the communitys conservative leanings. In a spring 2016 survey, 70 percent opposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, a plan Trump proposed last year before altering it this year to include unidentified nations with terrorism problems. But it is immigration reform that is one of the biggest draws of the Democratic Party for Indian Americans. More than 60 percent of Indian Americans now in the United States arrived after 2000, according to Devesh Kapur, the director of the University of Pennsylvanias Center for the Advanced Study of India and a contributing author in the forthcoming book The Other One Percent: Indians in America. The Democratic Partys tradition of big tent politics and its embrace of cultural diversity appeals to many recent immigrants. Shekar Narasimhan, of Fairfax, Va., said he thinks that Indians are actually being driven further into the Democratic fold by Trumps antagonism toward immigrants. It is as if a GPS is telling us, Go left, young man! Narasimhan said. [We have Christmas, Hanukkah and Eid stamps. Now the U.S. gets its first Hindu stamp.] Like Kumar and Draksharam, Narasimhan came to the United States as a young man to obtain a masters degree. But while the others veered toward business, Narasimhan took his MBA to rural eastern Kentucky, where he lived for four years working on an affordable housing project. The racism that he encountered informed his political inclinations. In 2006, his son was called a macaca in public by then-Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) at a campaign stop. At the time, The Washington Post noted that his son was Fairfax County-born and raised a tournament chess player, a quiz team captain, a sportswriter at his college newspaper, a Capitol Hill intern and an active member of the Hindu temple his parents helped establish in Maryland. What it said to me was, you can integrate and be part of the fabric and still not be accepted, said Narasimhan. Trump is not a foreign object to me. Im hearing his dog whistles and thinking, I have to do something about this. Narasimhan, now in commercial real estate, is raising money for the Clinton campaign. He thinks Kumars touting of Trumps business acumen is absurd. Other businessmen tell me that he doesnt mean all the nasty things he says and that hes a good businessman and we should follow him, said Narasimhan. I say, Do you really believe that? He may be wealthy, but thats different than being a good businessman. And, the big and hes an immigrant basher. Kumar acknowledged that sometimes, the way he speaks, you could have reservations. But he recalled a meeting he had with Trump on July 9 armed with more than 500 questions from fellow Indian Americans. I was pleasantly surprised, Kumar said. He knows about Hindus. He has investments in India. He called us peaceful people. He said hed never had a problem with us. Few days back Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had threatened the theatre's owners to bear the brunt if they show Pakistani artist-led films. By Mayuresh Ganapatye: The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) has taken a decision not to show Pakistani-starrer and Pakistani director's films. Today, in their executive committee meeting in Mumbai they took this decision. "Keeping patriotic feeling in mind today our committee has taken this decision," said Nitin Datar, President, Cinema and Exhibiter's association. 'BANNING PAKISTANI FILMS UNJUSTIFIED' advertisement This association got presence in states including Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and some parts of Karnataka. In Maharashtra only, they have 430 members which includes single screen and multiplexes claims association. Filmmaker Ashok Pandit feels, "It's wrong precedent. Single body can't decide fate of entire industry. Even we have banned Pakistani artist but banning films will ultimately affect Indian producer's as they have invested money in it." Few days back Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had threatened the theatre's owners to bear the brunt if they show Pakistani artist-led films. But the association feels that they have not taken this decision under any influence of political party. ALSO READ: Salman Khan backs Pakistan actors, says they are not terrorists MNS welcomes theatre owners' decsion to ban films with Pakistani artists --- ENDS --- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowd during a campaign rally on Oct. 13 in Cincinnati. (John Minchillo/AP) Former senior U.S. national security officials are dismayed at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps repeated refusal to accept the judgment of intelligence professionals that Russia stole files from the Democratic National Committee computers in an effort to influence the U.S. election. The former officials, who have served presidents in both parties, say they were bewildered when Trump cast doubt on Russias role after receiving a classified briefing on the subject and again after an unusually blunt statement from U.S. agencies saying they were confident that Moscow had orchestrated the attacks. It defies logic, retired Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, said of Trumps pronouncements. Trump has assured supporters that, if elected, he would surround himself with experts on defense and foreign affairs, where he has little experience. But when it comes to Russia, he has made it clear that he is not listening to intelligence officials, the former officials said. He seems to ignore their advice, Hayden said. Why would you assume this would change when he is in office? The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Several former intelligence officials interviewed this week believe that Trump is either willfully disputing intelligence assessments, has a blind spot on Russia, or perhaps doesnt understand the nonpartisan traditions and approach of intelligence professionals. In the first debate, after intelligence and congressional officials were quoted saying that Russia almost certainly broke into the DNC computers, Trump said: I dont think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay? During the second presidential debate, Trump ignored what a U.S. government official said the candidate learned in a private intelligence briefing: that government officials were certain Russia hacked the DNC. That conclusion was followed by a public and unequivocal announcement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security that Russia was to blame. Maybe there is no hacking, Trump said during that debate. I dont recall a previous candidate saying they didnt believe the information from an intelligence briefing, said John Rizzo, a former CIA lawyer who served under seven presidents and became the agencys acting general counsel. These are career people. They arent administration officials. What does that do to their morale and credibility? Former acting CIA director John McLaughlin said all previous candidates took the briefings to heart. In my experience, candidates have taken into account the information they have received and modulated their comments, he said. Trump, on the other hand, is playing politics. Hes trying to diminish the impression people have that [a Russian hack of the DNC] somehow helps his cause. On Thursday, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), said information she received has led her to conclude that Russia is attempting to fix this election. She called on Trump and elected officials from both parties to vocally and forcefully reject these efforts. Trump has consistently adopted positions likely to find favor with the Kremlin. He has, for instance, criticized NATO allies for not paying their fair share and defended Russian President Vladimir Putins human rights record. Its remarkable that hes refused to say an unkind syllable about Vladimir Putin, Hayden said. He contorts himself not to criticize Putin. Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said in the vice-presidential debate last week that the United States should use military force against the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Trump disagreed. Rather than challenge Assad and his Russian ally, Trump said in the second debate, the United States should be working with them against the Islamic State. Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. Iran is killing ISIS, he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. Russia and Syria have mostly been targeting opposition groups as well as civilians trapped in Aleppo not the Islamic State. Thats the Syrian, Russia, Iranian narrative, Hayden said of Trumps assertion. Greg Miller contributed to this report. Everett Eaton, a 58-year-old banker, had just finished lunch at the Portsmouth Rotary Club when he spoke with three longtime friends about Donald Trump. The quartet had heard Trump speak to their club in 1987, and Eaton, a Republican, said his opinion of the tycoon had only worsened. Youre voting for Hillary? asked a startled fellow Rotarian who knew Eatons political leanings. I have to, Eaton responded. Hes an embarrassment. While Trumps support from white men has been helping keep him close to Hillary Clinton in national polls and some battleground states amid a swirling controversy over his treatment of women, the Rotary Club conversation here illustrated why the GOP nominee faces a more difficult hurdle in New England where surveys show he wins a far smaller share of white men than he does in other parts of the country. That could be significant for Trump, whose narrow path to victory probably requires New Hampshires four electoral-college votes, as well as at least one electoral vote from Maine, which divides its winnings by congressional district. The Trump campaign hopes that New Hampshire is an Election Day fire wall. It was here that Trump made a comeback from his Iowa primary loss and began his march to the nomination. Clinton, meanwhile, lost here in the primary to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by a stunning 22 points. Moreover, New Hampshires racial and ethnic makeup theoretically benefits Trump, with African Americans constituting only 1 percent of the population and Hispanics 3 percent. That increases the importance of the white male vote here. But in recent days, as reports of Trumps lewd comments and alleged groping continued to hurt his standing among women, they also threatened his thinner margin among men. Before those reports, Trump led in the South among white men by 37 percentage points, but his lead among the same group was only nine points in New England and 13 points in other northeastern states, according to a Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll conducted in August. [A 50-state poll shows exactly why Clinton holds the advantage over Trump] All of that means Trump may have one of his slimmest margins for error here in New Hampshire, and the Clinton campaign is striving to slice the male margin further. That effort was on display Thursday, when first lady Michelle Obama delivered a fiery attack on Trump for his comments about women and highlighted the impact upon men. Strong men men who are truly role models dont need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful, she said in Manchester. Separately, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who was the states first female governor, said the Clinton campaign is replicating the way she combated charges that she was not tough enough on foreign policy and defense. Those are subjects on which men traditionally seem to be more engaged, she said in an interview, adding that it will be important to remind such voters about the danger of giving Trump the nuclear codes and how Trump denigrated Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was held prisoner for five years in Vietnam, as not a war hero. Shaheen embodies the dramatic rise in power among women in New Hampshire, one that Clinton hopes to capitalize on. The states governor, Maggie Hassan (D), and its two senators are women. By contrast, when Trump visited Portsmouth in 1987, it was relatively rare to find women in top political positions. Even at the Rotary Club where Trump spoke in 1987, there were only a dozen women out of 235 members, compared with 40 percent today, according to chapter records. Notably, other than the presidential campaign, the highest-profile race here is the Senate contest between Hassan and the Republican incumbent, Sen. Kelly Ayotte. Trumps controversial statements have long been a major issue in that race. Ayotte spent weeks agonizing how far to distance herself from her fellow Republican. At first, she said she would vote for Trump but not endorse him. Then, after The Post on Oct. 7 obtained the Access Hollywood video, in which Trump spoke about grabbing womens genitals and being able to kiss women immediately because he was powerful, Ayotte declared that opposing Trump now is more important than winning any election. Ayottes announcement could exacerbate Trumps problems with maintaining support among women. The Post-SurveyMonkey poll found that Trump led in New Hampshire by 16 points among men but that Clinton led among women by 32 points a gap that is expected to have grown in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape and allegations by several women that Trump groped them. At the same time, some of Trumps signature issues are less important in New Hampshire than elsewhere. Trumps call for expelling 11 million illegal immigrants does not have the same resonance in a state that has only 15,000 undocumented residents, according to the Pew Research Center. The states unemployment rate is 3 percent, below the national average of 5 percent. James Boyle, who owns the Toyota dealership in Portsmouth where Trump is slated to speak Saturday, said that the state is suffering and that the Republicans message appeals to many voters. No one is coming here to start their businesses, he said. We need someone from the outside in the White House. Predicting the outcome of the vote in this famously independent state is difficult. A wild card is the influence of the Libertarian Party ticket former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts governor William Weld. The RealClearPolitics polling average has the Libertarian ticket with 8.3 percent support, one of its strongest showings. It is well remembered here that the Green Partys Ralph Nader received about 4 percent of the vote in 2000 in a contest in which George W. Bush beat Al Gore by one percentage point. If Gore had picked up 7,000 Nader votes, he could have won the state and the presidency. While the Florida recount got most of the attention that year, it was New Hampshires four electoral votes that gave Bush his 271-to-266 margin of victory which explains why both campaigns come here frequently. The quartet of Rotarians who saw Trump speak to the club 29 years ago said they remembered the circuslike atmosphere and huge media presence. Trump sounded then much as he does today, saying the country faced disaster, but he stunned the audience at the time by declining to seek the presidency, even as he said New Hampshirites might one day beg him to do so. Dave Holden, an independent who was at the 1987 gathering, said at Thursdays club meeting that he considered Trump an existential threat to our country. He said he was familiar with polling elsewhere and was amazed at the support he has among white males. The two others in the quartet were split: Bob Tube Loch, 65, a printer, said that Trump has all kinds of problems but that Im going to vote for him because, for the first time in my life, I want to see if an outsider can get in there, because he if cant, that door is closed forever. Andy Fleischer, 65, a commercial real estate broker, said he will not vote for Trump and would consider voting for a third-party candidate, but only if he was sure Trump would lose. Barbara Miller, a banker who attended the Rotary meeting Thursday and heard the quartet talking about Trump, warned that it would be wrong to assume Clinton can count on female supporters to win. Miller said she is voting for Trump because of his conservative views regarding the Supreme Court and the military, and she echoed Trumps attacks on Clinton. I dont support Hillary one bit, she said. She lies, she should be prosecuted, and she should be in jail. As for reports that Trump made lewd comments about women and allegedly groped several, she dismissed them. I hear talk like that in bars and restaurants and TV and HBO all the time, she said. I dont like it, I dont think it is something that men should be saying, but if it is Hillary versus Donald Trump, I way prefer Donald Trump. Scott Clement contributed to this report. Speaking to Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty via a telephone earpiece, Kristin Anderson recalls Donald Trump groping her while she was sitting next to him at a nightspot in New York in the early 1990s. (Alice Li,Brian Young/The Washington Post) Speaking to Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty via a telephone earpiece, Kristin Anderson recalls Donald Trump groping her while she was sitting next to him at a nightspot in New York in the early 1990s. (Alice Li,Brian Young/The Washington Post) Kristin Anderson was deep in conversation with acquaintances at a crowded Manhattan nightspot and did not notice the figure to her right on a red velvet couch until, she recalls, his fingers slid under her miniskirt, moved up her inner thigh and touched her vagina through her underwear. Anderson shoved the hand away, fled the couch and turned to take her first good look at the man who had touched her, she said. She recognized him as Donald Trump: He was so distinctive looking with the hair and the eyebrows. I mean, nobody else has those eyebrows. At the time of the incident, which Anderson said took place in the early 1990s, she was in her early 20s, trying to make it as a model. She was paying the bills by working as a makeup artist and restaurant hostess. Trump was a big celebrity whose face was all over the tabloids and a regular presence on the New York club scene. The episode, as Anderson described it, lasted no more than 30 seconds. Anderson said she and her companions were very grossed out and weirded out and thought, Okay, Donald is gross. We all know hes gross. Lets just move on. Over the years, Anderson, now 46 and a photographer living in Southern California, recounted the story to people she knew, casually at first. One friend, Kelly Stedman, told The Washington Post that Anderson told her about the encounter a few days after it happened. We were out at a girls brunch at the Great Jones Cafe in Manhattan, Stedman said, recalling that when she and two other friends heard the story, they found themselves laughing at how pathetic it was on Trumps part. Anderson said she lived in New York City from 1991 until 2008. Brad Trent, a New York photographer, said he heard the story about Trump from Anderson at a dinner with a group of people in March 2007. It was just girls saying stories about how they got hit on by creepy old guys, Trent said of the conversation around the table. Thats when I found out about it. Anderson is one of a number of women who have come forward in recent days and said that Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, made unwanted sexual advances. As Trump has done with others who have made accusations, his campaign said Anderson is making the whole thing up. Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an emailed statement. Anderson, who said she does not support Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton, did not initially approach The Post. A reporter contacted her after hearing her story from a person who knew of it, and she spent several days trying to decide whether to go public. Andersons decision to do so follows last weeks disclosure by The Post of a 2005 video in which Trump boasted to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush that his celebrity gave him the ability to grab women by the p---y. You can do anything. Trump insisted that his comments were just words and dismissed them as locker room banter. Pressed about them in Sunday nights debate against Clinton, Trump said that he had never done the things he had talked about, which would constitute sexual assault. What Anderson described, however, is consistent with the behavior Trump described on the video. It wasnt a sexual come-on. I dont know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it and nothing would happen, Anderson said. There was zero conversation. We didnt even really look at each other. It was very random, very nonchalant on his part. Anderson said that she was particularly disturbed by the way the video caught Trump and Bush, who were aboard a bus, crudely discussing Arianne Zucker, an actress they spotted waiting to escort them onto a soap-opera set. Bush has since been suspended from his job as co-host of NBCs Today show, and the network is reportedly negotiating his departure. I watched this woman who could have been me; it could have been anyone walk in and shake his hand, Anderson said. That was just nauseating, because she has no idea what she was walking into and what could possibly happen to her. And thats just wrong. As Anderson agonized over whether to tell her story publicly, the New York Times reported the accounts of two women who said that Trump had groped them, and a People magazine reporter wrote a first-person story claiming that in December 2005, Trump pushed her against a wall and began forcing his tongue down my throat. That decided it for Anderson. Its a sexual assault issue, and its something that Ive kept quiet on my own, Anderson said. And Ive always kept quiet. And why should I keep quiet? Actually, all of the women should speak up, and if youre touched inappropriately, tell somebody and speak up about it. Actually, go to the authorities and press some charges. Its not okay. After nearly a quarter-century, there are details that Anderson struggled to recall. The place was packed. There was a table in front of the couch, and there were people standing, people sitting. People are sitting on the arms of the couch, she said. She cannot name the people who were with her at the club but says it is likely they were co-workers from the restaurant where she was a hostess and with whom she long ago lost touch. She believed her encounter with Trump had been at China Club but could not say for sure that it was not another Manhattan nightspot. What she does remember vividly is the tufted red couch. As she pondered whether to share her story publicly, she Googled old photos of the club and found an image of a room crowded with the kind of couch she remembered. A Newsday gossip item from December 1992 described China Club, located then at Broadway and 75th Street, as Donalds Monday-night nest, where he made a practice of picking up women. At the time of the item, Trump had recently divorced his first wife, Ivana, and was not yet married to his second, Marla Maples. On the busiest nights of its heyday, New York magazine once wrote, China Club would be packed with more than 1,200 people, dancing, screaming, drinking, talking, mating, and smoking. Timothy Gleason, a longtime China Club manager, said he never heard any accusations like what Anderson described about Trump. Anderson knows that because she has come forward, her personal life may be intensely scrutinized. She shared the fact that there have been rough spots. She has been twice divorced. In her breakup with one boyfriend, the couple placed restraining orders on each other. She was granted custody of their 5-year-old son. Only in recent years did the incident with Trump start to take on larger meaning to her, Anderson said. Every once in a while, it [would] come up in a remember the time when . . . conversation, and we [would] have a moment of disgust, she wrote in an email to a Post reporter as she considered going on the record. It didnt cross my mind then that this person was a predator. Now, she said, she sees that behavior as a gateway to something worse. A stranger sort of groping you on the side, on the sly, like youre some kind of stuffed animal on the couch. Thats really not okay, and it opens the door for much worse behavior on [his] part and for the girl, allowing worse things to happen to them because they feel that its inconsequential. Its really not nothing, and it sends an awful message to women that theyre nothing, she added. Anderson said she is not enamored with either of the major-party candidates. In May, records show, she switched her voter registration from Democrat to no party preference. Anderson suggested jokingly that she might write in a vote for Mitt Romney or Oprah Winfrey to avoid casting one for Trump or Clinton. Both of them have some things that are good. And both of them have some things that are bad, she said of the two major-party nominees. But mostly, Im just thinking wow, this is the choice we have? This is it? Read more: Two speeches in two hours crystallize the state of Campaign 2016 Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005 Amid crisis, Trump spreads another conspiracy theory about his campaign Alice Crites contributed to this report. While the influx of investment from China is lifting some markets, it is reshaping many others, real estate experts say. (Daniel Hertzberg/For The Washington Post) After a long and painful slide following the real estate collapse in 2008, Seattles property market is enjoying one of the sharpest rises anywhere in the United States. Buoyed by a rapidly expanding economy that has brought tens of thousands of high-paying jobs to the city, real estate values have nearly doubled since 2009, according to the online real estate database Zillow. Yet while technology billionaires gobble up estates from Puget Sound to Lake Washington, Jim Conlan, a real estate broker with Century 21 North Homes Realty in Seattle, says the real catalyst for the dramatic upswing can be found in China. To be honest, Chinese buyers have been flooding this market the past few years, says Conlan, who has been selling homes in Seattle for more than 30 years. Some of them buy homes sight unseen, while others travel here for a kind of real estate tourism and buy real estate after only one viewing. Seattle is not alone. For the fourth year in a row, buyers from China ranked first among foreign nationals purchasing property in the United States, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). U.S. home sales to Chinese nationals totaled $27.3 billion exceeding the total dollar sales figure of the next four countries in the rankings combined, the survey showed. Chinese investment in U.S. real estate could hit $50 billion by 2025, according to a report by the Rosen Consulting Group and the Asia Society. [China is flooding Silicon Valley with cash. Heres what can go wrong.] While the influx of investment from China is lifting some markets, it is reshaping many others, real estate experts say. The torrent of cash is fueling sharply rising prices and dwindling housing supply while keeping homeownership out of reach of first-time buyers in some of the countrys most important real estate markets. In San Francisco Bay-area locations such as Palo Alto and Woodside, home prices have risen by double digits in the past three years, while the number of buyers from China has nearly doubled since 2012, says Penelope Huang, a broker with Re/Max Distinctive Properties. The increased demand is making the area one of the toughest for younger buyers, she says. Listings are snapped up in a week or sometimes less in this market, she says. That kind of pace of sales directly affects first-time buyers. In New York, where big-spending financiers typically make real estate headlines in Manhattan, Chinese investors are increasingly gobbling up property farther away from the spotlight. The influx of investment from China is reshaping many markets, including Seattle. (fotoVoyager/Getty Images/iStockphoto) In middle-class areas of Brooklyn and Queens, the number of Chinese buyers has nearly doubled since 2012, estimates Jennifer Hsu, a broker with Halstead Property in Queens. Theyre now competing with buyers at the middle of this market, she says, and that added competition is making life tougher for people looking to buy their first home. The spending spree is also upending real estate fundamentals in smaller and mid-size markets from Portland, Ore., to Cambridge, Mass., with local would-be buyers increasingly being disconnected from the economies of their own cities. [The latest destination for Chinas billions: U.S. hotels] Factors that typically influence real estate sales in most places, such as income levels and the strength of local economies, do not mean as much when large numbers of outside buyers from places such as China invade a market, says Nela Richardson, chief economist at national realty brokerage Redfin. Local fundamentals arent necessarily the driving factors when that happens, Richardson says. That affects buyers who live in these places and can lead to locals essentially being priced out of their own markets. Real estate in the District of Columbia area has long been viewed as a gateway for foreign investment, mostly from Europe and the Middle East. But thanks to its relative affordability, increasing numbers of Chinese buyers have trickled into the D.C. housing market in the past few years, says Michael Rankin, managing partner of TTR Sothebys International Realty in the District. D.C. lacks the newer condo properties that you see in New York and Miami that typically appeal to buyers from China, says Rankin, who estimates that foreign nationals overall make up about 20 percent of the D.C. market, up from about 15 percent five years ago. But as we see more condo development, and prices here remain lower than other big cities, youre likely to see more Asian buyers land in this market. As the wealth of Chinese citizens grows, some opt to shelter money in U.S. real estate, and West Coast cities such as Portland have proved desirable. (ablokhin/Getty Images) Danielle Hale, managing director of housing research at the NAR, says that in many cases, Chinese buyers are also bidding up prices in markets where demand is already high. That can cause prices to rise sharply and make it that much more difficult for locals to find a home to buy, she says. Thats particularly the case for many first-time home buyers looking for moderately priced homes. [Areas hit hardest by the real estate bust are now seeing the highest gains] Chinese nationals started buying U.S. property in large numbers in the years after the real estate crash, when home prices plummeted in many U.S. markets. Driven by expanding wealth in China and a desire for a haven against political instability, busloads of Chinese buyers began popping up in markets from California to New York. Vanessa Chan says she viewed the U.S. market as a solid real estate investment when she bought a Manhattan apartment two years ago. The Hong Kong-based technology executive paid $1.25 million for a condo in a new tower in Midtown. New York is a lot like Hong Kong in terms of prices, but the housing quality is a lot better, says Chan, 37. I also knew Manhattan property would appreciate much faster than some real estate investments in Asia. Chans broker, Elizabeth Schwartz of Compass, has worked with dozens of buyers from China. Although Chinese billionaires receive a lot of attention for purchasing trophy properties, she says that most Chinese buyers are looking for more moderately priced homes that give them a better return on their money. Theres a huge population of hardworking, educated Chinese who look to the U.S. for real estate investment, Schwartz says. But they come to this market not with money to just throw around, but rather to make informed, well-reasoned investment choices. In recent years, as their numbers have grown, Chinese buyers have targeted the higher end of many markets. The average home price for Chinese buyers in 2015 was $831,800, compared with $499,600 for all other international buyers, the study from Rosen Consulting Group shows. That stream of cash at the top is fueling expensive housing projects in many markets. Although the San Francisco Bay area has long been a sought-after location for Asian buyers, a flurry of high-end condominium projects is actively targeting wealthy foreign nationals from China. Many buyers from China simply want to diversify their assets outside of what is still a communist country, says Alan P. Mark, president of the Mark Company, a sales and marketing firm that has launched four residential developments in San Francisco this year. That means theyre looking for projects in prime locations that will rapidly appreciate. Among the new projects being touted by the Mark Company is 181 Fremont Residences, a 70-story, mixed-use tower with 67 condo units occupying the buildings top 16 floors. The $665 million project, designed by Orlando Diaz-Azcuy Design Associates, includes homes ranging in price from $3 million to $15 million. Those prices rank among the highest for condominiums in San Francisco. Chinese buyers make up a small portion of the overall market here, but its a critical part of the luxury sector, says Mark McLaughlin, chief executive of San Francisco-based Pacific Union. The real estate brokerage spends about $400,000 annually on corporate marketing in China, including having a Chinese-language website and advertising in Asian papers. McLaughlin estimates that buyers from China account for 15 to 20 percent of the San Francisco real estate market. Wealthy buyers from South America have long fueled rising prices in Miami. But as their numbers dwindle thanks to slumping economies in places such as Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina developers are increasingly setting their sights on China. Prices in Miami look relatively cheap compared with places like New York and San Francisco, says Vanessa Grout, president of CMC Real Estate. CMC Group is developing Brickell Flatiron, a 549-unit condo building in downtown Miami with prices ranging from $400,000 to more than $14 million. The project is being marketed to Chinese buyers via local brokerages, Grout says. Although only about 2 percent of international buyers in Miami come from China, according to the Miami Association of Realtors, Grout says the Chinese share of the market is poised to grow. Chinese buyers typically buy in groups and buy more than one unit at a time, says Grout, who attended the Beijing Luxury Properties Showcase last year. The trade show attracts thousands of wealthy Chinese looking at international properties. Weve learned quite a bit about the market for Chinese buyers coming to Miami, and we think it will only grow. A student protester puts barricades in the path of an already burning armored personnel carrier in Beijings Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. (Jeff Widener/AP) On Saturday, China plans to release the final prisoner held for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, but after more than 27 years behind bars, he will rejoin the world a physically and mentally ill man, a rights group said. Miao Deshun, a factory worker from Beijing, was not a leading figure in the pro-democracy demonstrations. Nevertheless, he was given a suspended death sentence for arson after he threw a basket at a burning tank during the June 4, 1989, crackdown on the protests. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison and was subsequently reduced further, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for the rights of political prisoners in China. At 51, Miao has spent more than half his life behind bars and has had no contact with the outside world for many years: His family stopped visiting him more than 10 years ago, reportedly at his own request, Dui Hua said in a statement. He suffers from hepatitis B and schizophrenia: Former prison inmates remember him as a very thin man who refused to admit wrongdoing and participate in prison labor, who was both tortured and given periods of solitary confinement as a result. No one other than prison officials or other prisoners in the ward for sick and disabled prisoners have seen him for many years, Dui Huas executive director, John Kamm, told the Associated Press in an email, adding that Miao was severely ill. Tens of thousands of troops and tanks converged on Beijings Tiananmen Square to quash months of protests on the night of June 3-4, 1989. Several hundred people were killed possibly several thousand and more than 1,600 people around the country were subsequently jailed. Today, young Chinese people know little of the events that marked the last major popular challenge to Communist Party rule on the mainland, but in Hong Kong, the anniversary is always marked with a candlelight vigil attended by tens of thousands. Wu Wenjian, a dissident and painter who was in jail with Miao Deshun in Beijing from 1990 to 1994, said Miaos persistent refusal to accept that he had committed a crime, participate in hard labor or sign repentance letters, was partly why he had remained in jail so long. Hes a loner, Wu said. At that time, whoever got a suspended death sentence would at least pretend to accept the sentence and the reform education, but he wouldnt. He kept appealing and refused to be reformed. Wu said prison guards had frequently beaten Miao, including with electric batons, and even then he had not been in good health. The main problem was with his mental health, he said. Its quite understandable, given that he got a suspended death sentence and was under immense pressure. The Dui Hua Foundation said Miao was due to be released Saturday from Yanqing Prison, northeast of Beijing, after being given an 11-month sentence reduction this year, but the AP said the date could not be independently verified, as the Ministry of Public Security and the Beijing Higher Peoples Court were not responding to faxed requests for comment. Hu Jia, a prominent human rights activist, said Miaos life had been ruined, adding that he would need to re-adapt himself to a society very different from the one that existed when he was jailed. He might find himself leaving a small jail but entering a bigger prison, he said. Hes likely to find himself surrounded by state security police upon his release, something unimaginable before he went to jail. Release from jail does not necessarily mean more freedom. But Qi Zhiyong, who lost a leg in the crackdown near Tiananmen Square, said he was excited by the news of Miaos release. We are from the same generation an oppressed generation, he said. Luna Lin contributed to this report. Read more: Witnesses to Tiananmen Square struggle with what to tell their children 25 years after Tiananmen, is China losing Hong Kong? China tried to erase memories of Tiananmen. But it lives on in the work of dissident artists. Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Crowds line the streets during the procession for Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's body in Bangkok on Oct. 14. (Manan Vatsyayana/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Mourners dressed in black lined the streets Friday for a last glimpse of Thailands revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej as the country began a long farewell that also marks an important moment of image-building for his presumed heir. The kings body was received by Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn at a Bangkok hospital, which the ailing monarch had made his virtual home for years before his death at age 88, which was announced Thursday. The motorcade then headed to the ornate Grand Palace for a ritual bathing of the body in accordance with Buddhist tradition. Bhumibol, the worlds longest-serving monarch, had been on the throne since 1946 and was the only king most Thais had ever known. [King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies at 88] Along the route of the motorcade in central Bangkok, mourners sat quietly clutching photos of the monarch in his military uniform or posing with his two dogs, as municipal workers passed out juice in the blazing heat. 1 of 26 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej remembered in pictures View Photos Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the worlds longest reigning monarch, has died. He was 88. Caption Thailands King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the worlds longest reigning monarch, has died. He was 88. Dec. 2, 2005 Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his wife, Queen Sirikit, are seen during the kings birthday parade in Bangkok. Narong Sangnak/European Pressphoto Agency Wait 1 second to continue. I feel a deep sense of loss, said Supalag Sangmart, 37, a teacher who wept as the kings coffin passed by in a van with military escorts. He is the father of the land. Bhumibols body will lie inside the Grand Palace complex for mourners to pay their respects while monks perform ritual chants. A pall hung over the Southeast Asian nation of nearly 70 million. Television stations played on repeat somber biographies of Bhumibol, who was a beloved figure to the Thai people for his tireless work ethic, paternal aura and willingness to aid the rural hinterlands. [Gallery: Images from seven decades on the throne] Truly the King of Hearts, said a headline in the English-language daily the Nation. The solemn task of memorial and succession began with the removal of the kings body from Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, where he had spent much time in recent years while treated for a lung infection, kidney disease and other ailments. He had not made a public appearance for months. As the country launched into a period of mourning that will last a year, fears remained that the kings death could further fracture Thailands political system and disrupt a plan for elections to be held in 2017. The country has been riven by conflict for more than a decade and has been run by a military junta since 2014. The countrys parliament was supposed to have officially named a successor within 24 hours, but the crown prince told the countrys prime minister Thursday that he wanted to fully grieve his fathers death before taking over as king. The prince, 64, who has spent much time abroad and is thrice-divorced, does not carry the popularity and respect of his father. But many Thais expressed hope he would live up to his fathers legacy. Maybe he has a different style, but hopefully everything will get better and not worse, said Chana Karn, 43, an event planner from Bangkok. Bhumibol was born in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1927, making him the only king from any country born in the United States. His father, Prince Mahidol, was studying at Harvard Medical School at the time. His mother was a Thai commoner. During his 70-year reign, the king took an interest in rural and industrial development and was often praised as a peacemaker during key moments of crisis in the countrys turbulent political history. Suprajit Rattanwong, 39, who waited in the heat outside the palace for hours to pay her respects Friday, said that she was inspired to become a teacher after hearing the king give an encouraging speech to a group of schoolchildren in the countrys remote north years earlier. I keep it as a principal of my life, she said. My heart is breaking. Without King Bhumibols unifying presence, Thailand may be headed for even greater instability King of our hearts: Thais pay touching respects to Bhumibol Adulyadej Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world By PTI: Mumbai, Oct 14 (PTI) Indo-Pak tensions today rocked Bollywood when a Cinema Owners body refused to screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, dealing a blow to Karan Johars upcoming Diwali blockbuster "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" that features Fawad Khan. The decision, taken by the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) at its meeting here, mainly covers single screen theatres and has been slammed by various personalities, including Censor Board chairman Pahlaj Nihalani. advertisement It comes amidst tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri terror attack last month. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma play lead roles in "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil". Datar said the decision was not taken due to any political pressure and that the Association was keeping "patriotic feelings" of people in mind. "The COEAI has decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and the national interest of our country all our members and exhibitors will refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artiste, technicians, directors, music directors etc," the Association president Nitin Datar told reporters. "Under our association we have several members including single screen theatres and few multiplexes. Our members are based in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of Goa and Karnataka," he said, adding, "the decision stands until things(Indo-Pak relations) get normal." The release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" faced trouble last month when Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) issued an ultimatum to Pakistani actors to leave India and also sought a ban on them. The party had threatened to stall the releases of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and "Raees", starring another Pakistani actor Mahira in the lead role. Subsequently, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) passed a motion to ban artistes from across the border from working in the industry till Indo-Pak relations are normalised. The body, however, has criticised COEAIs decision, saying the films which have already completed production should not be targeted. "We stick to our stand, We feel films that are completed shouldnt be banned," TP Aggarwal, IMPPA President, told PTI. Datar said that while the decision not to screen certain films would cause monetary losses for the theatre owners, there might have been greater damage if their screens were vandalised. The decision drew criticism from the film fraternity but it was welcomed by the MNS. "I congratulate all the members of COEAI... I think multiplexes havent taken any stand yet but we are firm on our stand that we wont allow any movie which features Pakistani artistes to release in Maharashtra," MNS leader Amay Khopkar said. Censor Board chairman Nihalani said the decision is wrong as the film mostly features Indian actors. PTI KKP PSH SHD SSN JCH GSN VSC ASK --- ENDS --- advertisement A Syrian man sits inside his tents at Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens, which hosts about 600 refugees and migrants on Sept. 22, 2016. (Petros Giannakouris/AP) When Europe abruptly closed its land borders last spring to refugees fleeing war, it made a much-heralded promise: Wealthy nations across the European Union would take in tens of thousands of desperate Syrians and Iraqis who had made it as far as near-bankrupt Greece only to find themselves trapped. But one by one, those nations have reneged, turning primitive camps such as this one into dire symbols of Europes broken pledge. Amid allegations of Greek mismanagement, this site on the grounds of an abandoned toilet-paper factory still lacks basic heat, even as nighttime temperatures dip into the low 50s. Mosquitoes infest the white canvas tents of refugee families stranded here for months. A 14-year-old Syrian girl was recently raped. There are reports of stabbings, thefts, suicide attempts and drug dealing. I wont go out alone anymore, said Rama Wahed, a 16-year-old Syrian girl hugging herself in her familys tent. Lamis Wahed, 48, center, sits with two of her four children, Rama, 16, left, and Kamal, 17. All five have been stranded in Greece for seven months. (Anthony Faiola/The Washington Post) In the opposite corner, her 17-year-old brother, Kamal, stared blankly ahead. Since their father died in Syria, he is the man of the family. But he looks like a lost little boy. Like so many other families here, their family of five has been waiting for word to go somewhere, anywhere but here. Caught in a broken system, they are losing hope. Kamal swatted at the mosquitoes swarming his legs, both of them bandaged and infected after he could not stop scratching at the bites. To keep the bugs at bay, they run a cheap fan inside the tent, even though it makes cold nights feel even colder. Were never getting out of here, he said. Never. [Migrant flows to Europe continue as U.N. convenes summit in New York] In June 2015, as asylum seekers were rushing into Europe in growing numbers, E.U. leaders met until the wee hours in Brussels. Two countries were bearing the brunt of the crisis the Mediterranean entry points of Greece and Italy. In what leaders heralded as a remarkable show of solidarity, the rest of the E.U. agreed to share the burden. The E.U. would relocate 40,000 refugees, mostly Syrians, to member countries stretching from Portugal to Finland. They would be given shelter, aid and a chance to rebuild their lives. As the number of asylum seekers surged, the E.U. later boosted its pledge promising to relocate up to 160,000. But 16 months after its initial decision, the E.U. has lived up to only 3.3 percent of that pledge, relocating 5,290 refugees 4,134 from Greece and 1,156 from Italy. At first and to some extent, still the problem in Greece has been an overwhelmed asylum system that takes months to register migrants. Although the number of refugees entering the program has recently increased, its future faces an even greater obstacle. Citing concerns about cultural differences and militants masquerading as migrants, nations are breaking their promises to take in refugees. Those countries that are offering spaces are offering fewer than they originally pledged. Others are offering none at all. Last week, Austrias foreign minister became the latest senior European official to suggest the bloc should simply drop the pretense and scrap what he called a completely unrealistic program. In Greece, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is laboring to get as many refugees as possible into hotels and apartments, but most are still facing harsh conditions in unheated camps. There, according to a new report by Amnesty International, they face threats because of poor security and the approaching winter, and there are serious lapses in support for vulnerable refugees, including minors and pregnant women. Some of the refugees, the report charged, are going without adequate food. The Greeks say they are taking steps to improve conditions for the 50,000 refugees the UNHCR says remain in the country. But given the amount of E.U. money available to aid refugees in Greece more than 1 billion euros ($1.11 billion) critics say the camps should not be as bad as they are. Odysseas Voudouris, formerly Greeces general secretary for migrants at the Interior Ministry, resigned last month, protesting what he called a mishandling of the camps by the countrys Migration Ministry. He described the Diavata refugee camp as a symbol of a larger problem. Initially, he said, a German nongovernmental organization had proposed a camp here in the outskirts of Greeces second- largest city, Thessaloniki, using 2.5 million euros in E.U. funds. But the Migration Ministry overseeing the camps insisted that it spend much more 8.5 million euros, including hundreds of thousands earmarked for a local construction firm. Voudouris said he then asked the UNHCR to estimate the costs, to which it replied that a camp for 1,500 refugees there are now about 1,600 here should run about 1.5 million euros. But, he said, the Migration Ministry still insisted on spending far more, dragging out the process to the point where there is still no agreement on what to build or by when. In the meantime, the conditions are bad, and these people are sleeping outside, he said. Winter is almost here. The Migration Ministry declined to comment. But Maria Stavropoulou, head of the Greek asylum service, a different unit not directly involved with the camps, insisted that her country was improving its handling of the refugee crisis every day. She said that she remained optimistic that European nations will ultimately fulfill their pledges to take in refugees but that her country was prepared if they did not. If the pledges dont come in, then [the refugees] will have to stay here, she said. They have to live with that, and so do we. [Turkeys migrant deal with Europe may collapse in wake of coup attempt] An hour after dawn on a recent weekday, Abdelwahab, 14, the youngest son in the Wahed family, walked to school with his 10-year-old sister, Joudy. We used to walk to school together in Aleppo, he said. Its different now. Everything is. For starters, school isnt real school. The Greeks this week were rolling out a pilot program, allowing up to 1,500 refugee children into public schools. But some Greek parents including those who send their children to a school not far from this camp have staged protests to stop them. They argue that the refugee children may carry contagious diseases and live in such unhygienic conditions that they pose a health risk. In this former plant where the Waheds are forced to live, the best education on offer is a few hours a day in an impromptu schoolhouse run by Save the Children. Some of the children here, according to Ahmed their teacher and a Syrian refugee himself have been out of school for four years. They need to be settled, he said. They are missing out on their futures. They need a real home. During Arabic class, their teacher tried to engage the few children who turned up about 10 kids out of about 150 in the camp ages 6 to 14. Some of the refugee parents said they are afraid to send their children to school alone. Others said their children dont want to go and they dont have the strength to force them. The teacher asked the class for a saying in Arabic to practice their writing. Abdelwahab was the first to speak up. Heaven, he said, quoting the Koran, lies under the feet of our mothers. [Welcome to Greeces refugee squats] Earlier at the family tent, his mother, Lamis a widow struggling to care for four children was doing what she does best: trying to cheer them up. She is a young 48. Spirited and jovial, she comforted them two years ago when the war didnt kill their father but cancer did. When they crossed the Aegean Sea in March in a packed raft, her children came ashore in Greece wet and afraid. She cracked a joke about wet cats. All the kids, she said, laughed. But humor is not working now. Rama, her 16-year-old daughter, said she is terrified after the recent rape of another girl. The culprit, another Syrian refugee, was brutally beaten by camp residents soon afterward. Although there are a few Greek police officers stationed at the camps entrance, residents say they rarely intervene. We are stuck here, Rama said. Nobody cares what happens to us. Dont say that, Lamis said with an encouraging smile. They promised to let us in. They will keep their word. Its taking a little more time than we thought. Im telling you, they will keep their word. Thats not true. Were never leaving, Rama said. I told you we never should have left home. Its done, and we cant go back, Lamis said, suddenly growing serious. Why not? We should, said Rama, provoking her mother. There is nothing here for us. They do not want us. Have you seen the pictures of Aleppo? Lamis said. There is nothing left, my daughter. Go back to what? Lamis was crying now, and her daughter relented. Im sorry, Rama said softly. I just want to leave. Read more How do you stop migrants? In Hungary, with border hunters. Germany, once the promised land for migrants, is turning back more of them Merkels refugee policy blamed for loss on her home turf Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Israeli troops raid a workshop they say was being used to manufacture crude submachine guns in the Palestinian town of Azzun in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early on the morning of Oct. 10, 2016. (William Booth/TWP) In the predawn hours, 150 Israeli troops, including masked special-forces operatives, arrived in this Palestinian town in armored personnel carriers and hardened jeeps to hunt for guns and gun makers. They found one of each. The operation was deemed a success. The raid in Azzun was part of an aggressive campaign by Israel to rid the occupied West Bank of guns specifically, a crude kind of handmade submachine gun known on the Palestinian street as the Carlo, after the Swedish model, the Carl Gustav m/45, developed in the last years of World War II. In the past 12 months, Israeli forces have confiscated 350 guns and busted 35 workshops, where moonlighting machinists manufacture the barrels, receivers and other components of the Carlo, according to the Israelis. The Palestinian towns of the West Bank might be among the few places in the Middle East not awash in cheap AK-47s and surplus M-16s. It is generally illegal for Palestinian civilians to own any type of firearm, including hunting rifles. Ownership can bring a prison sentence. In contrast, Jewish settlers in the West Bank are granted permits and carry weapons openly. The relative scarcity of AK-47s in the West Bank compared with hot spots such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan has been won by relentless Israeli pressure, with assistance from the Palestinian Authoritys preventive security forces, which supply Israeli authorities with intelligence about guns and their makers. [Israel wants to bulldoze this ramshackle village, but Europe is providing life support] On Monday, Israeli soldiers burst into Nazar Odeys machine shop in Azzun, where they found what they suspected were gun barrels and bullets, both only half-finished. His drill presses and lathes were muscled out of the shop, dragged by a crane and hauled away by the Israeli army. The doors to the shop, which specialized in retooling brake drums, were welded shut. A mile away and an hour earlier, the 46-year-old father of five was rousted from bed in his pajamas, interrogated in his living room and arrested. So were six other men in the town. Acting on a tip, the Israeli soldiers searched one suspects home. A sniffer dog found a gun hidden inside the headboard of a bed, beneath a pile of clothes. The Carlo appeared to be a kind of Frankenstein weapon, a crude assemblage of multiple disparate parts. In other houses around Azzun, the Israelis arrested five more men who are suspects in a shooting that took place two weeks ago, when a sniper using a Carlo shot out a tire on a minivan driven by an Israeli along the highway that passes in front of the Palestinian town. The assailant was unlucky or incompetent, but his intent was to kill, said Col. Roi Sheetrit, the Efraim Brigade commander who led the raid. He called Azzun a classic terror village. He said that finding one gun is not as important as shutting down a gun maker. It looks harsh, but there is no room for leniency, Sheetrit said. Israeli news media usually characterize all confiscated guns as potential terror weapons. But Israeli commanders acknowledge that many guns cached by Palestinians might be used for self-defense, in clan feuds or by criminals protecting turf. No matter. We want to get to the point where there will not be a single weapon in the West Bank, a senior Israeli commander said in an interview with The Washington Post. Our logic is simple: The illegal weapons industry is one of the enablers of attacks, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of security protocols. If we target this industry and reduce it, then the cost of weapons will go up, he said. Those looking for guns will have to make more arrangements and meet more people in order to get the weapons. People will make more mistakes, and the weapons will cost more. In the West Bank today, a do-it-yourself submachine gun sells for about $500, although the Israelis say the price is going up, to as high as $1,000. A military-grade weapon manufactured abroad, such as an M-16, can cost $5,000 or more. The lack of guns in the West Bank means that the year-long wave of Palestinian violence against Israeli soldiers and civilians has been carried out mostly by teenagers armed with kitchen knives or adults who use their families cars to ram into pedestrians. Palestinians are frustrated by the almost 50-year military occupation and motivated by personal, religious and nationalist reasons to attack Israelis. Young Palestinian men and women who approach Israeli checkpoints with knives are usually shot dead or wounded at the scene; they rarely kill or seriously injure their targets with their knives. But with guns in their hands, the equation changes. The Israelis are worried about what they see as an uptick in attacks with guns. There have been 22 major assaults using firearms in the past year, according to a tally by The Post. The most recent was unusual because the assailant was armed not with a crude Carlo gun but an M-16-style weapon. On Sunday, the Palestinian gunman, known to Israeli police for violence and also incitement on social media, killed two Israelis a police officer and a 60-year-old woman and wounded several others while firing from his car in Jerusalem. [Two Israelis fatally shot in Jerusalem] The Islamist militant movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said the gunman was one of its own likely a supporter and not a member of the armed wing. Israeli police are focusing on who might have provided the gun. The West Bank village where the gunman lived, Al-Ram, was the scene of multiple raids and riots earlier in the week. Since October 2015, there has been a steady stream of stabbings, attempted stabbings, vehicular attacks and shootings by Palestinians against Israelis in Israel and the West Bank. The attacks have killed 38 Israelis, two U.S. citizens, an Eritrean and 230 Palestinians. Israelis say the majority of Palestinians killed were carrying out attacks. Most of the other gun attacks over the past year have been carried out with Carlos. One of the most deadly occurred in June at a trendy open-air food and shopping mall in Tel Aviv. The two Palestinian attackers dressed as businessmen, wearing jackets and ties. Security camera footage showed the frustration of the assailants with their Carlo-style submachine guns. The surveillance footage shows an ammunition clip falling out of one gun and the attacker rushing to recover his bullets. The second assailants weapon appears to jam, and he throws it to the ground in disgust. The morning after Nazar Odeys machine shop was raided, his neighbors expressed surprise, saying he was a quiet, middle-aged family man who was not political. His mother, Hamda Azazameh, fretted about what would happen to the family. Her son was the sole breadwinner. She said he learned how to operate his lathes and drills during a long apprenticeship in Israel. Why would he risk so much? The Israeli colonel said, Theres a lot of money in making guns. One of officers said that $500 for a Carlo is a lot of money especially if somebody sells 10 or 20 guns. Maybe its for the money; maybe its ideological, the colonel said. I dont care, he said. Guns kill. Sufian Taha in Azzun and Ruth Eglash in Jerusalem contributed to this report. Read more: Israelis are calling attacks a new kind of Palestinian terrorism Israel rejects latest U.S. criticism of settlement policy A satirical history of the Jewish people released by the Israeli government offends just about everyone Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The Dome of the Rock in the compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalems Old City. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images) Israel announced Friday that it would suspend cooperation with the top U.N. cultural agency, charging that the international body ignored Jewish ties to its holiest site. Israeli officials had reacted angrily to a UNESCO draft resolution approved Thursday that criticizes Israels actions in and around Jerusalems holiest site and fails to explicitly refer to the Jewish connection to the place. Israels Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the UNESCO decision denies history and encourages terror. The resolution, which was submitted by seven Arab countries at a meeting in Paris, highlights a long list of what it called Israeli violations of the Haram al-Sharif and al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina, and other Muslim holy sites in the West Bank. The document outlines Israeli refusal to implement previous decisions by UNESCO concerning Jerusalem and to appoint a permanent representative of the organization to be stationed there. It also criticizes Israels persistent excavations in East Jerusalem particularly in the Old City and its failure to allow free access to the mosque. While acknowledging that the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls are important for the three monotheistic religions Judaism, Islam and Christianity the resolution stops short of mentioning the significance of the site, where two Jewish temples are believed to have once stood, as holy to Jews. Israeli politicians and U.S. Jewish leaders lashed out at the resolution for its failure to mention the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount or the Western Wall, Jewish terms for the same site, which is considered the holiest in Judaism. The resolution requires final approval from UNESCOs executive board during its official plenary next week. [Meet the Israeli lawmaker who wants to see a Jewish temple at Jerusalems holy Islamic site] Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Facebook that the UNESCO decision was absurd. Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish peoples connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for over three thousand years. Whats next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll? he said. Israels ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama Hacohen, said, Israel and the Jewish people do not need UNESCO or any other country to approve the unique connection between the Jewish people and the State of Israel and Jerusalem in general and its holy places like the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in particular. The resolution was backed by 24 countries. Six opposed it, 26 abstained and two were not present. The United States voted against the resolution. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was created to protect world heritage sites of outstanding universal value, among other things. [Jerusalems ancient Damascus Gate is at the heart of a modern wave of violence] The resolution focuses on alleged Israeli shortcomings in allowing access for Muslims to the mosque, excavations around the specific site and in Jerusalem in general and changes to its facade. It calls on Israel, which the United Nations sees as an occupying power in the part of Jerusalem where the Old City sits, to restore the historic status quo at the site and condemned Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the Awqaf Department, the Muslim body charged with caring for the holy site. Palestinian leaders welcomed the resolution. Israel always claims we focus on the religious arguments, but we are not denying any religious connection. The third paragraph of the resolution recognizes the historic importance for the three monotheistic religions, said Mounir Anastas, the Palestinian ambassador to UNESCO. UNESCO has been asking Israel since 1968, one year after the occupation started, to stop its excavations and archaeological work in all areas of Jerusalem, he said. UNESCO has asked repeatedly for Israel to allow a technical mission to Jerusalem, not a political mission, to report on the state of conservation in the city but it is always denied. UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said in a statement Friday that UNESCO is dedicated to dialogue and peace and such divisions prevent us from carrying out our mission. Recognition, use of and respect for the various names used by different religious groups was paramount, Bokova said. The Al Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit or Temple Mount whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism, a few steps away from the Saint Sepulcher and the Mount of Olives revered by Christians, she said. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world An Iraqi convoy advances on the outskirts of Mosul ahead of a major battle against the Islamic State. (Ako Rasheed/Reuters) When Iraqi forces roll toward the city of Mosul this month, local leaders will have an opportunity to close a painful chapter that began more than two years ago, when retreating army units abandoned the city to the Islamic State. The moment will also mark the culmination of two years of American efforts to build a reliable local fighting force, and present a key test of the Obama administrations strategy for defeating the Islamic State. The operation in the northern city, where at least a million civilians remain, is expected to be a complicated and potentially lengthy fight, as Iraqi troops contend with thick militant defenses that include improved explosives, mines, tunnels and trenches. ISIS is going to fight harder for Mosul than it has for other places, because its a crown jewel, said Jessica Lewis McFate, a scholar at the Institute for the Study of War. ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State. The stakes are high not just for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, looking for a win that would shore up his political standing, but also for President Obama, who is seeking to deliver a battlefield win in the waning days of his presidency. For the U.S. military, victory in Mosul would be an affirmation of its incrementally expanding role in Iraq, where commanders have overseen a gradual troop buildup and added new elements to the U.S. mission, including lower-level advising and use of attack helicopters that may expose U.S. troops to greater risk. It would also validate the administrations decision to allow militants to dominate Mosul for two years, rather pushing for an earlier offensive or asking the Iraqi government to permit an American combat role, while foreign advisers scrambled to train local units. [Battle to banish Islamic State from Mosul could become a mess] Ahead of the final assault, American and allied planes are pounding the city in a bid to weaken militants. In the past two weeks alone, at least 66 strikes have hit sites around Mosul, said Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. The enemy is not going to be allowed to dig in at their leisure, he said. Ahead of the operation, Iraqi and coalition forces have positioned themselves at key staging points around Mosul, including Makhmour, to the southeast, and Qayyarah, joined by American and allied advisers who in some cases will accompany them as they push toward Islamic State lines. Military leaders have sought to stress that the U.S. advisory role in the Mosul offensive will be far different than it was prior to the 2011 withdrawal, when American troops nominally operated in support of local forces but in practice led much of the combat operations themselves. In the latest deployment, the Pentagon last month again increased the number of U.S. troops, bringing it to well above 5,000. One key task for those troops will be helping Iraqi leaders orchestrate the movements of a large, fractious force that will include up to 12 Iraqi army brigades and tribal fighters aided in the broader Mosul operation by Kurdish peshmerga and powerful Shiite militia factions. The U.S. strategy of by, with and through [local forces] will culminate in Mosul, and hopefully in Raqqa not too long thereafter, a defense official said, like other officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. Other American troops will advise Iraqi units in the field. Under current battle rules, U.S. advisers can accompany local forces at the battalion level, which would place them closer to direct combat, with authorization. Its risky advising at that level, we know that, an administration official said. But again, its one decision that we think will help provide more effective coordination. U.S. advisers will also accompany troops from Iraqs elite Counterterrorism Service, who as in previous battles are expected to spearhead the assault into the city. Other measures the White House approved in the lead-up to Mosul, including Apache attack helicopters and HIMARS long-range artillery systems, are expected to play a key role in the final dash toward Mosul. At the same time, American commanders will be anxious to minimize U.S. casualties in a conflict that has received only reluctant support in Washington. Since U.S. forces returned in 2014, three American service members have died in combat operations. For U.S. military officials, another key element of the strategy has been the quest to reform a beleaguered Iraqi army. Officials say Iraqi morale is far better than it was in May 2015, when local troops beat a hasty retreat out of the city of Ramadi in another important setback. Many leaders have been replaced, needed equipment has been provided, and operations alongside U.S. advisers have provided new confidence, officials say. Weve prepared them for a tough fight, another defense official said. But many of the Iraqi victories against the Islamic State were made possible by the fighting power of Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen whose prominence has created another dilemma for the Obama administration. This time, U.S. and Iraqi officials suggest, those forces will remain outside the urban area. [In Iraq, all the pieces are now in place to take Mosul back from the Islamic State] Ramzy Mardini, a fellow with the Atlantic Council, said that the absence of militia might within Mosul may make Iraqi troops more reliant on U.S. and allied air power, as they were in the battle to recapture Ramadi. There, Iraqi forces didnt have the capacity in size to recapture Ramadi without the overwhelming air power provided by the coalition, he said. The result is that the city was destroyed. American officials said they have laid extensive plans to protect the city during its air campaign and especially its inhabitants in the operation. U.S. and U.N. officials are also racing to make preparations for potentially hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Perhaps the biggest test for the U.S. strategy will follow the battle. While U.S. officials say a force of 45,000 police and tribal factions will secure the city, no clear plans for governing the historically diverse city have emerged. Whoever they are, Mosuls new leaders will have to contend with the likelihood of residual militant attacks and the potential for renewed local conflict. McFate cautioned that a win in Mosul would be an important but partial victory against the militants, who may try to fall back to other areas of Nineveh, where they have enjoyed support, or across the border to Syria. Military officials are planning for a possible attempt by militants to flee westward, toward their de facto capital of Raqqa, possibly using civilians as a human shield, setting the stage for a final battle in Syria. Reclaiming Mosul would be a significant gain, she said. But it will not sufficiently eliminate ISIS from Iraq, nor will it eliminate it from Raqqa. Read more: Donald Trump wants a sneak attack on Mosul, but reality is more complicated The private prison industry is lobbying against a Justice Department directive to end the use of their facilities, encouraging legislators to question the policy change and legally protesting one significant contract reduction. The moves by the GEO Group and others demonstrate the practical and political hurdles that stand in the way of the Bureau of Prisons actually ending its use of for-profit facilities to manage federal inmates. The private prison industry claims that the decision to do so was based on faulty research and that officials need contractors because of overcrowding in the federal prison system. We think the private sector facilities did very well, that they were comparably secure, and in some important respects, they were better, said George Zoley, chairman and chief executive of the GEO Group, which operates six facilities. [Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons] The private prison industry, which generates billions of dollars in revenue, has become a powerful lobbying force on Capitol Hill, and officials say they have tried since the Justice Department announcement to rally legislators to their side. Last month, six Republican representatives from Texas, California and Georgia sent a letter asking the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons to step back from the directive until they provided Congress with more information. We are concerned that the DOJs instructions put politics ahead of policy when it comes to maintaining flexibility in our prison system, encouraging vital criminal alien law enforcement and providing the best value for our taxpayers, the lawmakers wrote. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chair of the House Oversight Committee, wrote in a separate missive with two other Republicans that the Justice Departments plan would undermine the effectiveness of the systems rehabilitation programs. The directive by Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates in August that said the Bureau of Prisons should end its use of private facilities was greeted with widespread praise by advocates who have long been calling for the end of for-profit incarceration. Its effect, though, was limited to the 13 privately run facilities, housing a little more than 22,000 inmates, in the federal Bureau of Prisons system. Officials said it was unclear precisely how soon the contract prisons could be phased out. One of those 13 prisons in New Mexico has since had its inmates moved out, and the population in the rest stood just above 21,600 on Friday, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson said in a statement that Yatess directive was in effect and the Bureau of Prisons is committed to implementing it. Since August, the overall prison population has continued to decline and the Bureau continues to modify its contracts to reflect the reduced need for bed space in private facilities, Iverson said. As private prison contracts come up for renewal in the coming months and years, BOP will be terminating or renegotiating those contracts consistent with the continuing decline in the overall prison population. Yates has not minced words in criticizing the privately run facilities. They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Departments Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security, she wrote in her directive. That report found, among a litany of problems, private facilities had higher rates of assaults both by inmates on other inmates and by inmates on staff and had eight times as many contraband cellphones confiscated each year on average than government prisons. A cornerstone of Yatess memo was the revelation that the Bureau of Prisons would amend a solicitation for a 10,800-bed contract to one for a maximum 3,600-bed contract. That, Yates wrote, would allow the Bureau of Prisons over the next year to discontinue housing inmates in at least three private prisons, and by May 1, 2017, the total private prison population would stand at less than 14,200 inmates. The GEO Group initially tried to compete for that modified contract, but earlier this month, it lodged a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office. The company argued that the reduced request was an improper and illogical change that did not take into account what the Bureau of Prisons actually needs, given its problems with overcrowding. It asked the Government Accountability Office to recommend that the Bureau of Prisons issue a new solicitation for the 10,800 beds initially sought. We believe the need is still there, because the Bureau of Prisons is still overcrowded, and these communities have extended themselves financially, Zoley said. [Are private prisons worse or better than public prisons?] The GEO Group is one of three companies that operate private facilities for the Bureau of Prisons. The others are Corrections Corporation of America and Management and Training Corporation. Issa Arnita, a spokesman for Management and Training Corporation, said while the company had not lodged formal protests, it believed phasing out the use of contractors will result in greater overcrowding in public BOP facilities and an increased cost to the BOP and ultimately taxpayers. Jonathan Burns, a Corrections Corporation of America spokesman, said that company was aware of and monitoring the issue. The private industry already had criticized the inspector generals report for what it said was an unfair comparison to public facilities, which hold an eclectic mix of inmates, to private ones, which hold predominantly criminal aliens. The report acknowledged that investigators did not know the extent to which demographic factors might have played a role in contributing to some problems, and it said investigators were unable to compare the overall costs of incarceration between BOP institutions and contract prisons in part because of the different nature of the inmate populations and programs offered in those facilities. But the inspector generals report was not the first public critique of private facilities, and some problems, such as concerns over medical care, seem to have little to do with inmate population. Justin Long, a Bureau of Prisons spokesman, said the bureau supported the deputy attorney generals directive and believed it could be practically implemented over time. That is largely because of declining inmate populations. In fiscal 2016, the bureau saw a population decline of more than 13,500 inmates and sits now at 191,965 205 fewer than the year before. Long said the decline in population has led to a reduction in overall crowding, from 40 percent to 15 percent, as of Oct. 6. He said officials believed the inmate population would shrink further in 2017. The vast majority of those incarcerated in the United States are housed in state prisons rather than federal ones and Yatess memo does not apply to any of those, even the ones that are privately run. Nor does it apply to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Marshals Service detainees, who are technically in the federal system but not under the purview of the federal Bureau of Prisons. Advocates have said, though, that it could serve as a catalyst for broader reform. Read more: How Mother Jones went undercover to reveal the ugly truth about for-profit prisons Private federal prisons less safe, less secure Inside the administrations $1 billion deal to detain Central American asylum seekers Egyptian police officers walk next to a border post, as seen from the Israeli side of the border with Egypts Sinai Peninsula in February. (Amir Cohen/Reuters) Suspected Islamic State militants attacked a military checkpoint in Egypts restive northern Sinai region, killing 12 Egyptian soldiers and wounding six more, the Egyptian military said in a statement, adding that it had killed 15 gunmen in the clashes. No group has asserted responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on militants fighting for the Islamic States affiliate in the northern Sinai. An armed group of terrorist elements attacked a security checkpoint in North Sinai this morning using four-wheel drives and were immediately engaged, the military said. Our forces killed 15 terrorists. The military added that the fighting led to the martyrdom of 12 of their armed forces heroes and that six to eight soldiers were wounded. [Egypts upheaval has transformed much of the Sinai into a no-go zone] If confirmed, the assault represents one of the deadliest single attacks against the military this year, underscoring the lingering threat of the Islamic State in the Arab worlds largest nation, even as the group faces pressure in its primary battlegrounds of Iraq and Syria. Fridays clashes took place roughly 25 miles from the town of Bir el Abd in the central Sinai, an area that has so far not been touched by the Islamic States insurgency. Militants stormed the checkpoint using assault rifles, according to security sources. The wounded were treated in a hospital in Arish, the capital of North Sinai province. A year ago, the Islamic State affiliate, known as Wilayat Sinai, claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Russian charter flight over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 aboard. In the past year, the militants have shown increasing sophistication and brazenness. They have engaged in a steady wave of attacks on Egyptian soldiers, attacking their military posts and targeting them with roadside bombs. [No survivors after Russian airliner crashes in Egypts Sinai Peninsula] Fridays attack underscored the challenges facing the military-backed government of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi. Publicly, the government declares that it is winning the war in the Sinai, but Egypts Western allies are concerned about the regimes ability to curb the Islamic State. Senior U.S. military and government officials have repeatedly visited Egypt this year, in part to discuss the Sinai militancy. The Egyptian government prevents Western journalists from traveling to the northern Sinai, making it impossible to independently verify events there. The government has long battled Islamists in the Sinai, but their insurgency gained force after the Egyptian military overthrew elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi three years ago. A year later, the insurgency pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Hundreds of soldiers and police officers have been killed by the militants. Read more: Israel, Hamas and Egypt form unlikely alliance against Islamic State affiliate 10 new wars that could be unleashed as a result of the one against ISIS Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The German government is once again expanding its operations in the Middle East. Soldiers will begin monitoring Syrian airspace from NATOs so-called Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) reconnaissance aircraft. They will be stationed at the Incirlik air base in Turkey. In addition, current military deployments involving Tornado aircraft, a battleship and reconnaissance equipment will be prolonged till the end of 2017. These decisions were made by the German cabinet on Wednesday. These measures will intensify the war in Syria and heighten the danger of a direct military confrontation between the Western powers and Russia. The deputy prime minister of Turkey, Numan Kurtulmus, issued a warning yesterday through the news agency Anadolu. If the proxy war in Syria continues, he said, America and Russia will reach the point of waging war. The Syrian civil war has brought the world to the brink of the beginning of a major regional or world war, he added. According to the NATO summit agreement in Warsaw at the beginning of July, in the event of a confrontation between Washington and Moscow, the entire Western alliance will be at war with Russia, a nuclear-armed power. It is a serious step, above all in a political sense, commented tagesschau.de. With the AWACS mission, NATO is officially a party to the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Until now, only a coalition of the willing under the leadership of Washington has carried out air attacks beside Russia. With the AWACS mission, the entire alliance is now involved. In recent days, German politicians and media representatives have aggressively urged tougher action against Russia and Syria. The demands range from new sanctions against Russia or more weapons for the militias close to Al Qaeda all the way to a possible deployment of German ground troops. In an interview with the German public radio station Deutschlandfunk on Monday, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) diplomat Roderich Kiesewetter called for a humanitarian corridor safeguarded by the military in Syria. He left no doubt what political and geostrategic aims lay behind his humanitarian propaganda. Kiesewetter demanded limited military strikes against the Assad regime. He said there has always been an international agreement to combat the IS first and then remove Assad. But Assad is a greater evil than Islamic State, and one had to insist that Assad be removed in a manageable time frame. One could not simply observe how Russia has taken the initiative and almost brought the entire country of Syria under its hegemony. One could not permit that in the long run, and had to prevent it. The party pushing most aggressively for tougher action against Russia is the Green Party. The government must urgently initiate proceedings to impose new sanctions against Russia for its barbaric actions in Syria, said, Katrin Goring-Eckardt, the head of the Green faction in parliament, in an interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. The deployment of bunker-penetrating bombs and improvised explosive devices must be called a war crime and punished accordingly, she said. In addition, the friendly visits to Mr. Putin must stop and pressure finally put on Russia so that a no-fly zone can be imposed. After Moscow and Washington had failed to agree to a ceasefire, Europe had to take more responsibility. The measures that Kiesewetter and Goring-Eckardt want to sell as responsible and humanitarian endanger the lives of millions of people and will increase the threat of a nuclear world war. When the US Senate was discussing the implementation of a no-fly zone in Syria at the end of September, the highest ranking US officer, General Joseph Dunford, said, This would require that we wage war with Syria and Russia. On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned NATO against attacking Russian troops and their allies in Syria. That is a dangerous game, he said. Russia is in Syria because the legitimate government of Syria asked it to be there. It has two bases and an air defence system for the protection of its assets. Russia would respond to attacks with military force, he declared. The stationing of AWACS reconnaissance aircraft serves to promote imperialist plans of aggression. AWACS are advance warning and control aircraft fitted with friend-or-foe identification radar. They are deployed in order to locate and identify hostile aircraft and ships at a distance of up to 250 miles and to forward their coordinates to command and control centres that can carry out attacks. Unlike ground-based radar systems, AWACS also provide exact data about low-flying aircraft. The Left Party is an integral part of these war preparations. Last Wednesday, a delegation of seven parliamentary representatives from all parliamentary factions visited German troops in Incirlik. Before that, there were day-long discussions in Ankara, Turkey. Alexander Neu represented the Left Party on the trip. Neu is chairman of the Left Party group in the defence committee in parliament. In an interview with Sputnik Germany, which, significantly, was carried out on the military base of Incirlik, Neu reported on the role he and his delegation played in the stationing of AWACS. When the interviewer said that the visit by the German representatives was seen as a sign that soon nothing else will be able to stand in the way of the AWACS deployment, Neu said, Thats exactly how it is. He said that in light of the tensions between Germany and Turkey in recent months, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) had threatened on Monday that if German representatives continued to be unable to visit the army in Incirlik, it [the SPD] would not agree with the lengthening of the current deployment of German troops in Turkey. Or to any possible AWACS deployment. For this reason, there have been very strong diplomatic efforts, also from Washington, on account of which they are now allowed to enter. Turkey wanted to prevent a situation in which German participation in the current missions as well as a future AWACS mission do not take place. In the end, it is a give and take... We are allowed in, we are allowed to visit the army and the way is free for an agreement of the parliament to both missions. While the Left Party is playing an integral role in war preparations, it is trying to lull the population, which is increasingly worried about the rapid development of war, into a false sense of security. I was just on the German military base in Incirlik. The mood is relatively relaxed. I cannot say that the situation is tense. It is rather the opposite, said Neu cynically. He also asked what the relationship with the Turkish soldiers is like. And that seems to be going well on a professional level. woman drinking Psychologists call it the "spotlight effect": People generally don't pay nearly as much attention to you as you think they do. Phew. But when they are motivated to pay attention, they really pay attention. Not just to your outfit and your haircut, but to seemingly trivial things, like your handwriting and how fast you walk. That's according to the dozens of people who posted responses to a question on Quora, "What are the really small things that tell a lot about a person's psychology and personality?" We checked out the thread and highlighted some of the most surprising ways people may judge you, whether you're on a first date or a job interview. Our goal here isn't to make you feel self-conscious rather, we hope to empower you by giving you insight into what behaviors people are really looking at. And of course, it's up to you to determine whether their conclusions about what those behaviors mean are bogus. 1. Your handshake Several Quora users admitted they judge people based on their handshake. "Strong handshakes usually reflect a strong and confident character, whereas weak handshakes usually indicate a lack of confidence and are almost always a characteristic of people who would look for an easy way to do things," writes Julian Parge. Research backs up the idea that your handshake can reveal certain aspects of your personality, but doesn't quite agree with Parge. One study found that people with firm handshakes were more likely to be extroverted and emotionally expressive and less likely to be shy and neurotic. 2. Whether you show up on time Late for a very important date? The person who's waiting may be forming a negative impression of your personality. "A proactive person will be there on time, because he is self-motivated, mentally organized, and values time whereas a procrastinator will be running here and there at the last hour," says Humaira Siddiqui. Story continues According to science, those who are chronically late aren't necessarily inconsiderate people but they're probably more laid-back, "Type B" individuals. 3. How you treat restaurant staff Multiple users said they pay close attention to how other people interact with waiters. "I will never, EVER date a man who is rude to restaurant staff," says Sati Marie Frost. Even top execs say you can learn a lot about someone based on the way he or she treats waiters, hotel maids, and security guards. Ron Shaich, CEO of Panera Bread, told USA Today he once declined to give someone a job partly because she was nice to him but rude to someone cleaning the tables nearby. 4. Where you look when you drink out of a cup Writes David Junto: "A person that looks into the cup when drinking tends to be more introspective, self-aware, idealistic, and focused. A person who looks over the rim of the cup when drinking tends to be more influenced by others, more environmentally aware, carefree, extroverted, and trusting. A person who closes their eyes when they drink is in some sort of pain or discomfort and is preoccupied with pleasure and relief." And let's not even get started on what people think your drink choice signifies. biting nails 5. Whether you bite your nails Sushrut Munje has strong views on people with bitten nails, saying that it's a sign "the person eats away at himself." Meanwhile, research suggests that those who bite their nails (or pull their hair, or pick their skin) tend to be perfectionists, unable to fully relax. 6. Your handwriting Whether you're writing a to-do list or a love note, your handwriting can say a lot about you. Ramesh Nagaraj believes that "people who put a lot of pressure on pen and paper to write something are usually stubborn in attitude. They have a lot of confidence." Professional graphologist Kathi McKnight says large letters indicate that you're people-oriented, while small letters suggest you're introverted. Letters that slant to the right can mean you're friendly and sentimental; those that don't slant at all might mean you're pragmatic; letters that slant to the left suggest you're introspective. 7. How often you check your phone An anonymous Quora user writes about noticing "where and when [people] pull their phones out (waiting in a short line, talking to their parents, being out with friends, when they're alone in public)." As for what it might mean if you're constantly refreshing your email or Facebook feed, one study found you may be less emotionally stable and trying to boost your mood. 8. Whether you make eye contact Munje says a limp handshake and a lack of steady eye contact "shows lack of self-control, required drive to follow through, and a weak will." Alternatively, psychologist Adrian Furnham, Ph.D., writes in Psychology Today that extroverts tend to look more often and for longer at their conversation partners than introverts do. And in general, people who look at their partners more often are more confident and socially dominant. driving 9. How you drive Michael Price pays special attention to people's driving styles, in particular "how courteous they are towards other drivers." Interestingly, one study found that men who engaged in risky driving behaviors tended to be impulsive sensation-seekers and relatively aggressive and hostile; women in this category were more neurotic and anxious. On the other hand, careful drivers of both genders tended to score low on measures of impulsive sensation-seeking and aggression and hostility. 10. How quickly or slowly you walk "People who patter by quickly are usually more high strung," writes Leena Pathma. Research has found that people generally agree with this assumption, associating looser walks with extroversion and adventurousness and clipped gaits with neuroticism. Yet these perceptions don't usually line up with how the walkers see themselves. NOW WATCH: These aspects of your handwriting reveal a lot about your personality More From Business Insider Brian gleason Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. YouGov BrandIndex shows consumer perception of the entire Samsung brand has tumbled over its exploding phones saga. The brand's "recommend" and "purchase consideration" scores have both declined statistically significantly since explode-gate began. 2. Discovery Communications is making a $100 million investment in an entity called "Group Nine Media," a new holding company that ties together media brands Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo, and Seeker (Discovery's digital network). Ben Lerer, Thrillist's CEO, will be the CEO of Group Nine. 3. Xaxis, WPP's programmatic advertising division, has acquired Triad Digital Media in a deal worth $300 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Triad helps retailers including Walmart, eBay, Asda, Toys "R" Us, CVS, Sams Club, Staples, and Kohls sell ads on their websites. 4. mParticle, a data company that has investment from rapper Nas, just raised another $17.5 million. The funding round was led by Bain Capital Ventures and brings the company's total funding to $37 million. 5. Verizon might be trying to back out of the Yahoo deal over the latter company's handling of its huge hack. "I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact," Verizon's lawyer Craig Silliman said in a statement to reporters. "If they believe that it's not then they'll need to show us that." 6. Someone has found evidence that appears to vindicate Apple in its public fight with a programmer. The saga surrounding the reason why Dash was really booted from the App Store rolls on. 7. Google plans to show different results to desktop and mobile users. Google plans to keep its mobile website index more up to date than the desktop index, which means mobile users will get the best results faster than desktop users. Story continues 8. Google is pushing its new phones with a pop-up ad on the main Google search page. Google really wants you to order a Pixel. 9. BuzzFeed is going to live stream election night coverage on Twitter, The Wall Street Journal reports. As the vortex tightens around the election, Twitter is the heart of this giant American conversation, said Ben Smith, editor in chief at BuzzFeed. 10. Snapchat revealed some new data on its UK users, Digiday reports. Of its 10 million UK users, 77% are over 18-years-old and 43% are parents.. NOW WATCH: Clinton opens up a massive lead against Trump, with lopsided support from a key voting demographic More From Business Insider Instead, the company was headed for record sales of mobile phones this year, it said. By Saurabh Singh: Contrary to reports, Samsung India remains unaffected by the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, the company said in statement on Friday. Instead, the company was headed for record sales of mobile phones this year, it said. Although the company did not take names, it is quite possible that it is hinting at the CMR report that -- earlier in the day -- claimed that the Note 7 fiasco may hit its revenue by Rs 6,500 crore. Also Read: Note 7 failure could cost Samsung more than $5 billion advertisement "Samsung India is appalled by the incorrect reporting of company's financials based on reports by various research agencies. The reports covered in some news articles quote different revenue loss estimates for Samsung India. These research reports are not based on empirical facts. Such projections by any research agency or analyst, therefore, is incorrect," a company spokesperson said in a statement. "Samsung has not sold Galaxy Note7 in India. However, we can confirm that contrary to these reports, we are headed for record sales of mobile phones this year. The festive season has started for Samsung on a high and we have strong support and trust of our customers," it added. According to research firm CMR, the global recall and halt in production of its flagship Note 7, may entail in Samsung India falling short of its projected target of shipping 4 million units in 2016. "This translates to Rs 6,457 crore in terms of revenues for the company. According to the projected growth, Samsung was expected to touch revenues of Rs 45,446 cr in CY2016, an increase of 46 per cent compared to the previous calendar year," CMR said. Now that Samsung has permanently killed the Note 7, it can earn revenues of Rs 38,989 crore, which roughly translates into a growth of 25 per cent in revenues in 2016. Samsung eventually pulled the plug on the infamous Galaxy Note 7 announcing that it will permanently discontinue production and sales of the device citing customer safety was its highest priority. Also Read: Samsung permanently kills Galaxy Note 7, will not sell it anymore Samsung was caught foot in mouth when multiple reports of the Note 7 exploding started emerging. The company, thereafter, issued a global recall of the Note 7 and announced that it will give buyers who had already purchased the device (in the US, for instance) a replacement over the coming weeks. Much to Samsung's dismay, even some of its replacement Note 7s which were deemed safe for use, encountered a similar fate. Thankfully, it had not started selling the Note 7 in some markets, for instance in India, before it was forced into issuing the global recall. advertisement --- ENDS --- Sirte (Libya) (AFP) - At least 14 pro-government fighters were killed on Friday in clashes with the Islamic State group in the jihadists' former Libya bastion of Sirte, a medical source said. "Fighting today began at 9am (0700 GMT) and the toll to now is 13 dead and 25-30 wounded," hospital official Abdellatif Abdel Ali said. One fighter, who was shot, later died after being operated upon. Ali said the majority of those killed were shot in the head by sniper fire. Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have cornered IS fighters in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, since launching an offensive on May 12. After a pause in fighting on Thursday, pro-GNA fighters resumed the battle against IS holdouts in a seaside residential district of Sirte. At least three US air strikes hit IS positions on Friday, an AFP journalist in the city said. A pro-government forces commander told AFP that IS snipers were slowing the anti-jihadist advance. "These gunmen are well trained and equipped. The haven't given in even with air raids and the seige we've imposed on them," Al-Hedi Issa told AFP. "So we prefer to advance slowly in order to preserve the lives of our fighters." The fighting has left more than 550 GNA fighters dead and 3,000 wounded. The IS death toll is not known. A woman in Italy recently died as a result of being bit by a spider related to the notorious brown recluse spider, according to a recent report of her case. The death, which occured in November 2015, is the first fatal case reported in Europe of a bite from a spider of the genus Loxosceles, said Dr. Mario Pezzi, an intensive-care doctor at the Pugliese-Ciaccio General Hospital in Italy who treated the woman and was the lead author of the case report. A Mediterranean recluse spider (Loxosceles rufescens) bit the 65-year-old woman on the middle finger of her right hand while she was cleaning her cellar one evening, according to the report, published in August in the journal Case Reports in Emergency Medicine. Although she was aware of the bite, she initially didn't give it much thought, Pezzi told Live Science. By the next morning, however, a painful lesion had formed on her finger, and she had a fever of 100.8 degrees Fahrenheit (38.2 degrees Celsius), according to the report. [Spider-Man: 5 Weird Effects of Real Spider Bites] The patient went to her local emergency room but was eventually transferred to the intensive-care unit because she was getting sicker: She was breathing quickly, her blood pressure was very low and her heart rate was high, according to the report. The doctors contacted Italy's National Poison Control Center, which confirmed that the woman was suffering from a spider bite, according to the report. In addition, a local health service confirmed that there had been a Loxosceles infestation in the houses neighboring the woman's home, they wrote. There is no anti-venom available in Europe to treat a Loxosceles bite, Pezzi told Live Science. The anti-venom is likely only available in Brazil, where the spiders are more common, he added. Therefore, the only way to treat someone who has been bit by a Loxosceles spider is through supportive care, he said. But the woman died about 12 hours after being admitted to the hospital, according to the report. Story continues Brown recluse bites Anti-venom for a Loxosceles bite isn't available in the United States, either, said Dr. Jon Dumitru, an emergency-medicine doctor at Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, who was not involved with the case but has treated people bit by recluse spiders. Dumitru noted that the spider described in the case report is not found in the United States but that the symptoms appear very similar to those of a brown recluse spider (Loxosceles reclusa) bite. Both spider species are members of the same genus. Loxosceles venom contains an enzyme called phospholipase D, which has many effects throughout the body, Dumitru told Live Science. In less severe cases, the venom can kill tissue, causing a necrotic lesion at the site of the bite, he said. Less often, it can cause a toxic reaction throughout the person's whole body, he said. Such a reaction can happen after Loxosceles venom gets into the blood, because the enzyme in the venom is toxic to red blood cells, which are responsible for carrying oxygen in the blood, he said. When red blood cells are destroyed, the organs in the body don't get enough oxygen, he said. [3 Scariest Spiders: Which 8-Legged Beasts to Watch Out For!] In addition, the venom can impair the blood's ability to clot, meaning that a person is more likely to bleed, Dumitru said. As described in the report, the only way to treat a person who has been bit by a Loxosceles spider who can't be given anti-venom is through supportive care, Dumitru said. In other words, doctors try to treat the symptoms and keep the patient alive until the body can rid itself of the venom. Patients may be treated with blood transfusions or medications to keep their blood pressure up, for example, Dumitru said. It's unclear why some people have more severe reactions to spider bites than others, Dumitru said. It may be that the amount of venom delivered by the bite plays a role, he said. In addition, it seems that very young and very old people are more vulnerable to the severe effects of bites, Dumitru said. People with other health problems may also be at higher risk for a severe reaction, he said; for example, the Italian woman had an autoimmune condition called myasthenia gravis, which can cause muscle weakness throughout the body. Editor's Note: This article was updated on Oct. 13, 2016 to include information about when the case took place. Originally published on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Good Morning America news anchor Amy Robach went back to University of Virginia for a fresh look at the notorious, now-debunked, gang rape article that appeared in Rolling Stone that has ruined lives, sparked civil lawsuits and will be reviewed in journalism classes for years to come. The 9,000-word feature in Rolling Stone magazine has since been labeled a hoax. The detailed story of the gang rape of University of Virginia student Jackie at a frat party ignited outrage over the handling of sexual assault on campuses nationwide. I cant imagine a journalism school not talking about this story and teaching their students about how to avoid some of these pitfalls, Robach told TheWrap. I have a pretty good idea of what they teach when it comes to sourcing and ethics and I think this story will be examined. Also Read: 'World News Tonight' Has Beaten 'NBC Nightly News' Every Night Since Lester Holt Moderated Debate Shortly after it was published in 2014, details of the article were brought into question. Eventually, Rolling Stone retracted the piece and apologized. Robach will examine the consequences in Fridays edition of 20/20, titled, What Happened to Jackie? Robach interviewed former UVA Associate Dean of Students Nicole Eramo, who is speaking publicly about what she called the horrifying fallout from the article for the first time on the eve of her defamation civil trial that kicks off Monday. She talks about the death threats she received, how she could barely go to work and her fear of being fired. Since the article came out, she has been removed from her former position and no longer works directly with students, Robach said of Eramo. You will hear a very emotional interview about what her life is like now. Also Read: Rolling Stone Rape Story: Judge Dismisses Fraternity Members' Lawsuit Eramos lawyers are attempting to prove Jackie made up a guy to make another guy romantically jealous. The whole tale wound up painted as a true story in Rolling Stone, and now Eramo is heading to court. Story continues Eramo is suing Rolling Stone for damages she incurred because of the release of the infamous article. She says she became public enemy No. 1, Robach said. She said her life changed forever and will never be the same. Also Read: Why Rolling Stone Magazine Endorsed Hillary Clinton Despite Clear Love for Bernie Sanders Robach also spoke with the friends of Jackie, who were with her the night that she claimed she was brutally sexually assaulted. They talk to us and tell us their version of events, these were not included in the Rolling Stone article. The reporter, Sabrina Erdely, never reached out to them directly to get their side of the story, Robach said. It is vastly different from what was printed in the pages of Rolling Stone. During the 2015-16 broadcast season, ABCs 20/20 led NBCs Dateline in total viewers and the key news demo of adults age 25-54 in the 10 p.m. ET timeslot. What Happened to Jackie? airs on Oct. 14. Related stories from TheWrap: Rolling Stone Rape Story: Judge Dismisses Fraternity Members' Lawsuit Why Rolling Stone Magazine Endorsed Hillary Clinton Despite Clear Love for Bernie Sanders Kate del Castillo: Sean Penn Lied About El Chapo Rolling Stone Plan South America is on sale today, thanks to a major Aeromexico airfare blowout. As reported early this morning by The Flight Deal, flights are available from cities across the United States, including Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Boston. And the prices are largely between $200 and $300 dollars. Travel availability begins in November, and dates are scattered across the calendar until June 2017. So where can you go? Pretty much anywhere in South America. On-sale destinations include Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Argentina. You can even fly to Lima, Peru for as little as $285 round-trip from New York City in March. Save even more by departing from Chicago, where fares to Peru are as low as $230 round-trip. In other words: now is the best possible time to begin planning a trip to Machu Picchu. A flight from Los Angeles to Santiago de Chile, meanwhile, can be scored for only $207. If youd like to stay closer to home, flights to Panama are only $150 round-trip from the City of Angels. We recommend sticking around Panama Citys historic Casco Viejo neighborhood for a tour, a cup of ceviche, and a Panamanian mojito. A flight to Argentina may be in the $300s, but its still significantly cheaper than the average airfare. And while there's no precise cut-off point for this airfare deal, note that fares will likely sell out fast. To search all of Aeromexicos steep discounts, select your favorite Central or South American destination on Kayak, using their flexible date search. Related Articles Among the many reactions to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's lewd conversation in 2005, the question of whether what Trump was describing constituted sexual assault has struck a cord and caused a sharp divide. In an interview with The Weekly Standard, for example, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said that he did not characterize the behavior Trump described specifically, grabbing a woman's genitals without consent as sexual assault. But Yolanda Moses, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, said that Trump's comments absolutely describe sexual assault. There's a spectrum of sexual assault, ranging from unwanted touching to rape, Moses told Live Science. But much of the public doesn't understand that actions such as groping or kissing someone against his or her will also constitute sexual assault. Rape is not the only type of sexual assault, Moses said. Indeed, the Department of Justice defines sexual assault as "any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient." Sexual assault is at the extreme end of what Moses calls the "sexual harassment continuum." "Harassment goes all the way from words, to intimidation to physical violence," she said. Here are four more common misconceptions about sexual assault. [6 Ways Sexual Harassment Damages Women's Health] Misconception: Sexual assault is usually committed by strangers. Less than one-quarter of sexual assaults are committed by strangers, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). Rather, 43 percent of sexual assaults are committed by friends or acquaintances, and 27 percent are committed by a current or former significant other, according to RAINN. Moses, who is also a consultant/trainer for sexual harassment and sexual assault at UC Riverside, said that when she talks to incoming freshmen, she tells them that it's more important to look out for sexual assault from people they know. Story continues But it may be hard for some people to accept that people they know could commit sexual assault. People may think that sexual assault is often committed by strangers because people want to believe that it's not possible that someone close to them could do this, said Brian Pinero, the vice president for victim services at RAINN. Misconception: Sexual assault only happens to women and girls. Although sexual assault against women and girls is more common, sexual assault can also happen to men and boys. One in 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime, according to RAINN. For men and boys, that figure is 1 in 33. Misconception: Sexual assault is provoked by the victim's actions. Victims don't provoke sexual assault, but "victim blaming" is still common. It's difficult for some people to believe that another person could commit sexual assault so they may try to pin it on the victim by saying they were "asking for it," Pinero said. But sexual assault is never caused by what a victim is doing, saying or wearing, he said. Rather, an assault is the result of a choice made by the perpetrator someone chose to inflict harm upon the victim or chose to push the victim into an unwanted situation, Pinero said. Misconception: If the victim doesn't struggle against the perpetrator, it's not assault. Sexual assault can occur even when the victim doesn't struggle or fight back. However, the idea that the victim needs to have fought back is embedded in our culture. For example, victims are told to go to the hospital immediately following an assault so that doctors can document any abrasions or bruises, which would point to evidence of a struggle, Moses said. But a lack of bruises doesn't mean that assault didn't happen, Moses said. A victim may not fight back; they may freeze, or feel as if they have to do it, she said. Pinero agreed. "Imagine being with someone who has power and not feeling like you have a voice to say something," Pinero said. Victims may also start to blame themselves in instances of sexual assault, he said. "They'll think, 'Did I bring this upon myself'? 'Was I sending out the wrong signal'? 'Maybe I do want this'? All of these things may be playing out in a victim's head, and who are we to decide how someone is supposed to react?" Pinero said. Sexual assault can happen in established relationships as well, Pinero added. Just because a person said yes to a certain activity once, for example, doesn't mean that a partner has a license to engage in that activity whenever they want, he said. Originally published on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Traveling when you're young isn't always easy. If you have kids at home, your opportunities for travel may be limited to school breaks. And even then, school breaks are often monopolized by school sporting events and activities. When you work a full-time job, it can be hard to take a vacation, let alone travel anywhere meaningful. You might have 20 personal or vacation days, but you'll need to save some for sick days and activities with your kids. Even then, it can be difficult to plan travel around everyone else's schedule. When you're a retiree, on the other hand, all of these problems fade away. Since you're no longer limited by parenthood or your work schedule, you can theoretically travel at any time and to any place. That is, of course, if you have the money to do so. Most of the time, a lack of funds is the only thing standing between retirees and their travel dreams. The good news is, there are plenty of ways for retirees to affordably travel if they are flexible and adventurous enough. Here's how to save on travel when you're retired: [See: 10 Places to Retire on a Social Security Budget.] 1. Swap houses with someone else. If you want a place to stay without spending a dime, consider a house swap instead of a traditional hotel or motel route. With a house exchange, you'll place your dwelling on a website like HomeExchange.com with the goal of finding someone who wants to switch. Most exchanges last a few weeks or months, giving each party a taste of the other's home environment. "Even if you don't think you live in a desirable location you just might be surprised," says Jamie Pomeroy, a financial planner for Financial Gusto in Minnesota. "Someone, somewhere would probably love to come stay in your home and experience your environment." 2. Rent a condo, then rent out your home. If you're traveling for any length of time, skipping the traditional hotel experience can save you money. By renting a condo or small home with a kitchen and cooking utensils, you can make some of your meals at home and spend less on food. Story continues Perhaps you could also make money on your home while you travel by renting out your home while you're gone. "Rather than sitting unoccupied while you are abroad, your home will generate rental income to offset the cost of your travel," says Benjamin Brandt, a financial advisor for Retirement Starts Today in Bismarck, North Dakota. [See: 10 Classic (and Unique) Retirement Gift Ideas.] 3. Pursue credit card rewards. These days just about every business in the travel industry has a rewards program, including hotels, airlines, rental cars and even chain restaurants. "Choose your favorite airline, your favorite hotel chain and your favorite rental car service, and sign up for their rewards programs," says Grant Bledsoe, a financial planner at Three Oaks Capital Management in Lake Oswego, Oregon. "If you use them every time you travel, you'll eventually earn discounts and even free travel." Also make sure to explore travel rewards cards and cash back cards if you are debt-free and have a plan to stay that way. The best travel credit cards can help you earn free travel with your favorite hotel chains and airlines. "However, do your research first before going out and signing up for the first one that looks like a good deal," says Clint Haynes, a financial planner at NextGen Wealth in Kansas City. "And, most importantly, make sure you pay it off every month." 4. Pick up a housesitting gig. Websites like TrustedHousesitters.com connect travelers with homeowners looking for someone trustworthy enough to watch their house and maybe even their pets. If you're a retiree willing and able to travel to new places, you can see how this might look. If your idea of travel is slightly flexible, you might be able to score free lodging and earn some cash with this strategy. You'll have to be willing to work some, but not too much. Best of all, you can throw any money you earn back into your long-term travel budget. "As always, be sure to check out the details, but this seems to be a very cost-efficient way to go," says Charles Scott, a financial planner at Pelleton Capital Management in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you score a gig in an awesome spot, you can stay for free and live like a local, too. 5. See if you qualify for discounts. Retirees have many discounts available to them including senior discounts, AARP rates and AAA memberships. There may also be special discounts for military members. "As an Armed Forces retiree, my wife has made many opportunities available to us," says Tom Diem, a financial advisor at Diem Wealth Management in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Some resorts allow bookings for up to three rooms as long as an eligible Armed Forces member is part of the group. That's good to know if you're traveling with others or bringing family along for part of your itinerary. [See: 10 Retirement Hot Spots in the U.S.] If you're a retiree who loves to travel, it's crucial to find ways to stretch your dollars as far as they can go. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways for retirees to save if they're flexible and willing to consider creative travel strategies. The world awaits, but you'll definitely see more of it if you're savvy with your vacation funds along the way. Jeff Rose is a certified financial planner, U.S. combat veteran and the founder of GoodFinancialCents.com. A 6-week-old baby died after a stroller she was in plunged several stories down an elevator shaft in New York City on Thursday, officials said. The infant, Areej Ali, was killed inside her Brooklyn apartment building. She and her mother were on the 23rd floor of the complex when the elevator doors opened but without the elevator car, according to the Associated Press. They both fell eight stories down the shaft before landing on top of the elevator car shortly before noon, the New York Daily News reported. Thats my grandchild, the babys grandfather, Salah Ali, told CBS New York. She was like a month old. Ali added that the babys mother, who suffered non-life threatening injuries, and his son were distraught and in bad shape. Thats his first child, only child, Ali said. The elevator was out of service during the incident, according to the AP. Many of the buildings tenants told reporters that the elevator has been faulty in the past. The citys Department of Buildings said it is testing the other elevators in the building to ensure they are operating safely, the AP reports. Fundraising is vital for business owners. Without funding, its difficult to get your business off-and-running, along with helping it grow. On the flip side, sometimes funding can get in the way and actually hurt your business. For example, without funding your forced to stay lean and you dont have to be concerned about investors or board members interfering with your business. Either way, raising capital for your business deserves a lot of thought and attention. And, after some contemplation and crunching the numbers, you may realize that you actually dont need to raise capital. 1. You dont have a VC-backable business. Most founders feel like their ideas are amazing and worthy of an investment, argues Alex Iskold in an Entrepreneur article. The reality is that most ideas are worthy of some kind of investment, but not necessarily worthy of a venture investment. Simply put, different businesses have different potential and because of that the amount of capital that makes sense to invest in them varies, Iskold continues. A small business, such as a restaurant, can get a bank loan, but it is not a great venture investment because the upside is typically small. In other words, if your business taps into a smaller market, or does not require a large amount of funding, then you may be able to secure alternative funding methods for your small business. 2. You already have the resources or traction. In some cases, you may already have the resources to launch a business without needing to raise capital. While it would be great to start a business with a hefty inheritance, not all of us are that fortunate. However, we may have enough money in our savings to get the business off the ground. Additionally, crowdfunding sites give us the chance to validate an idea and raise money without making a pitch to investors. And, a popular Kickstarter campaign, for example, can give you free publicity. That traction could lead to potential customers. Thats what Walnut Studiolo, a company that makes handmade leather goods, experienced back in 2012. Story continues 3. Theres no rush to scale. While its important that you get your product or service to market as soon as possible, theres also no need to grow too rapidly. In fact, premature scaling can kill your business since it can lead to you going on spending sprees and making clumsy errors that upset your customers. As mentioned in the point above, you can grow your business and gain traction at a steady and healthy pace without ever having to raise any money from investors. 4. Youve reached your milestones. Investors are looking to fund a company to a milestone, writes Iskold in another Entrepreneur post. And, in reality, there are two kinds of milestones for every company -- profitability and next round of funding. If youve already achieved these milestones, then there may not be a need for further investments since your idea has blossomed into a healthy business model that can sustain itself on its own. 5. You dont have the time to mingle with investors. No matter the stage, seeking funding is a time-consuming process. Between developing a financial plan, business model, building your pitch deck and finding the investors who would gel the best with your companys culture can essentially take-up all of your time. That means that youre taking time away from tasks like product development, sales and marketing. 6. You have multiple sources of income. Even if youre making a comfortable salary as a business owner, or youre trying to set aside money while at your current full-time gig, there are hundreds of ways for you to make several hundred dollars on the side. For example, you could be a driver for Uber or Lyft and make a couple of hundred of bucks on the weekends. You could then take that money and put into your business. That may not sound like a lot, but adding $500 a month, if not more, can quickly add-up so that you dont have to raise capital. 7. The business is turning a profit. Theres no exact formula that will determine when your business will start turning a profit. The easiest way to determine this, according to Suzanne Kearns on Quickbooks, is when your revenues exceed your expenses, youre making a profit. However, you dont want to be barely surviving. You want to achieve corporate profitably, which is when you have remaining capital after all expenses and salaries have been paid. Obviously, when you reach this point, there really isnt a need to secure more capital. 8. Its too distracting. Because fundraising is so distracting, a startup should either be in fundraising mode or not, writes Paul Graham. And when you do decide to raise money, you should focus your whole attention on it so you can get it done quickly and get back to work. If you would rather devote your time and resources to achieving other goals, such as acquiring and retaining customers, then you should definitely at least put the fundraising efforts on-hold. (By Murray Newlands) By PTI: From T G Biju Kigali, Oct 14 (PTI) Environment Ministers and policymakers from nearly 200 nations began bilateral meetings here as the Conference on Montreal Protocol for securing a deal for phasing down of climate-warming hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions entered final day today. Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave, who has arrived in the Rwandan capital for attending the high-level segment of the conference, held a number of bilateral meetings including one with his counterpart of Morocco Hakima El Haite, and articulated Indias position on securing an ambitious deal, sources said. advertisement Dave also held bilateral meeting with a South African delegation. A bilateral meeting between Dave and US Secretary of State John Kerry scheduled here this morning are expected to be held to iron-out differences between developed and developing countries in securing a perfect deal, sources said. Playing its cards very carefully, India yesterday displayed its commitment by announcing to destroy HFC-23, a super greenhouse gas, in its all five HCFC-22 plants operating in the country. HFC-23 is as a by-product of HCFC-22 production. India would not change its position on key contentious issues including baseline, freeze year schedule, sources said. India is in favour of having two different HFC phase-down schedule for developing countries -- one for China and whoever else wants to join China and other for the remaining developing countries. China is currently the worlds largest producer of HFCs and consumes 20 times more than India. India has agreed to consider preponing the baseline to 2025 and 2026 and cut HFC consumption by 10 per cent by 2032, if developed countries agree to freeze their HFC consumption by 2016 and reduce HFC consumption by 70 per cent by 2026 or 2027. Currently, developed countries are planning to reduce their HFC consumption by 70 per cent by 2030. In the past, India has proposed baseline for developing countries as average consumption of HFCs in year 2028, 2029 and 2030 and Freeze year of 2031. Addressing the delegates at Kigali Convention centre yesterday, Dave urged the developed world to address finance and technology transfer issues while phasing-down the climate-damaging HFCs. Dave has asked the developed world to be "crystal clear" on addressing the issue of technology and finance otherwise it will be difficult for the small island nations and developing nations to accept such a proposal. PTI TGB CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- For the first time in more than 80 years, the Maud is floating above the sea surface. The sturdy oak ship, made to withstand Arctic winters stuck in pack ice, was originally built for the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, the first human to arrive at the South Pole. In 1930, the ship sank in shallow water off the coast of Cambridge Bay, in northern Canada's remote Victoria Island. This past summer, a Norwegian salvage expedition says they successfully raised the wreck onto a barge. [See Images of the Maud Being Raised Out of the Water] The Maud is "ready for the next step, which is to sail home," project manager Jan Wanggaard told Live Science. Amundsen was the first person to reach the South Pole and the first to lead an expedition through the Northwest Passage from the northern. When the Maud was built, Amundsen's goal was to sail through the unexplored part of the Arctic Ocean, and perhaps drift over to the North Pole. From 1918 to 1920, Amundsen and his crew sailed from Oslo, Norway, along the Russian Arctic coast to Nome, Alaska, traversing a Northeast Passage. Amundsen eventually abandoned the plan to go to the North Pole. Maud spent a total of seven years exploring the Arctic before the ship was seized by Amundsen's creditors and was sold to Canada's Hudson's Bay Co., according to Norways Fram Museum. Although the Maud's exploits aren't widely known today, the expedition was quite eventful for Amundsen he was nearly mauled to death by a polar bear and poisoned by carbon monoxide. It also resulted in heaps of scientific data on the Arctic environment. Amundsen's scientific director aboard the Maud was Harald Sverdrup, an accomplished oceanographer who later became director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. His team recorded magnetic, astronomical and meteorological observations. They took photos of the northern lights. Sverdrup even spent seven months among the Chukchi people in northeastern Russia and took ethnographic notes about the tribe's language and customs. Story continues A leak caused by the propeller axle sunk the Maud in 1930. Over the following years, some of the ship's timber was salvaged for fuel. Norway took back ownership of the Maud in the 1990s. After a long stretch of legal and logistical hurdles, a Norwegian salvage team finally got the go-ahead to raise the Maud and bring it back to a custom-made museum in Vollen, Norway, according to Norways Fram Museum. Wanggaard said he had explored the Maud many times during diving expeditions but that he was still struck by the size of the ship when it was raised. His team had to use about 50 air bags, each with 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of lifting power, to raise the Maud off the seafloor and scoop the ship onto a barge. "You cannot grasp the whole image of the ship underwater," Wanggaard said. "When it came up, it was bigger than we could imagine." The Maud had to be cleared of the mud and sediment that had built up inside, and Wanggaard said the team has found a lot of technical parts, blocks for sails, firewood, coal and other artifacts. "It's in very good condition," Wanggaard told Live Science. "It just needs to dry. That's a long process, but it's good to be here. It's best to dry in low temperatures. It's like a freeze-drying process." Right now, the barge the Maud sits on is frozen in place, and Wanggaard will spend the upcoming winter plotting the ship's journey back to Norway. The expected sailing time is one month, he said, but timing the expedition is a tricky matter. The team might have to wait until July or August for the sea ice to dissipate so that they can safely leave Cambridge Bay. And the Arctic sea ice could start freezing up again before the Maud makes it home, meaning the team would have to spend another winter at a pit stop in Greenland or northern Russia. Wanggaard said he also has to decide whether to take an easterly route to reach Norway or head westward back over Amundsen's Northeast Passage. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations By Steve Holland WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of engaging in an effort to stop him from winning the White House. With his numbers dropping in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election, the Republican U.S. presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation." Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges. "I've never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories," Trump said later on Thursday during a speech in Ohio. Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets. The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. First lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday. Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama said, "This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV." "It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life," she added. "... The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman -- it is cruel." One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. (http://nyti.ms/2dx8k5R) Leeds told CNN on Thursday that Trump also kissed her face in an incident that lasted about 15 minutes. "That's long enough," she said. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm. Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters. The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. SLUMP IN POLLS Trump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as the uproar over the video threatened to engulf his White House campaign in a way that his earlier controversies had not. A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll showed him 8 percentage points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump trailed Clinton by up to 11 percentage points in other polls. Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals. Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. (http://bit.ly/2dTm90D) Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. "I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer. "I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline." "Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so." Trump's wife, Melania, on Thursday posted on Twitter a letter from her attorney to People that said details in the story were false, pointing to Stoynoff's recollection in the piece that she later ran into Melania Trump and spoke to her in New York City. The attorney, Charles Harder, said in the letter that Stoynoff and Melania Trump "were never friends or even friendly" and demanded that People "print a prominent retraction and apology." The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant. "There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment. At the Florida rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious." He said the "corrupt political establishment" was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people." "Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said. In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk." The Washington Post endorsed Clinton on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Emily Flitter, Jonathan Allen, Emily Stephenson, Susan Cornwell, David Morgan, Michelle Conlin, Eric Beech, Eric Walsh, Doina Chiacu; Writing by Alistair Bell and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney) Washington (AFP) - The winner of the 2016 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism, Burundi's Eloge Willy Kaneza, said Thursday the prize offers hope "that my country can be healed." Accepting the award at a Washington ceremony, Kaneza said the recognition encourages journalists in the violence-torn African nation to continue their efforts in delivering news and debunking rumors. "This gives courage not only to me, but to my friends, my colleagues, my collective of journalists," Kaneza told the audience at the National Press Club. "We gain courage and the force to continue doing our work accurately and professionally and to continue giving balanced information." The recognition from those outside the country, Kaneza said, is a positive sign for Burundi. "This is a time of hope that my country can be healed of its wounds," he said. Kaneza, 34, is the public face of SOS Media Burundi, a collective of mostly anonymous journalists formed after the closure of radio stations during the May 2015 coup attempt against President Pierre Nkurunziza. The collective uses Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp as tools, with rigorous verification of facts by teams inside and outside the country to help prevent the spread of rumors that can lead to panic. Kaneza views his role "as preventing people from consuming rumors, because rumors can kill," he said. SOS Media Burundi, set up within 48 hours of the failed coup, publishes via Facebook and Twitter as well as on the music sharing site SoundCloud. Reporters remain anonymous, work in isolation, and cope with the country's poor communications infrastructure by moving from one Wi-Fi hotspot to another. Editorial decisions are discussed via the encrypted mobile application WhatsApp Burundi has been in chaos since Nkurunziza announced plans in April 2015 to run for a third term, which he went on to win. More than 500 people have since died, and at least 270,000 have fled the country. Story continues UN investigators say that in the 12-month period after the crisis began, at least 348 people were victims of extrajudicial killings and 651 incidents of torture were recorded. The award came as the UN Security Council decided to dispatch an envoy to Burundi after the government in Bujumbura broke off ties with UN rights monitors and kept up resistance to the deployment of a UN police force. Also Thursday, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Burundi's national intelligence service to release radio journalist Salvador Nahimana, detained since October 2. The award, named for the late AFP journalist Peter Mackler, is presented by the Global Media Forum along with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Agence France-Presse. The prize was created in 2008 to honor the memory of Mackler, who died of a heart attack that year at age 58. ARLINGTON, VA / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Acme United Corporation (NYSE MKT: ACU), a leading worldwide supplier of innovative cutting, measuring and safety items, will present at The MicroCap Conference on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 in Philadelphia at the Hotel Monaco, along with 60 other companies in the microcap universe. Chairman and CEO Walter Johnsen will present at 3:00 pm ET in Track 3 and will meet one-on-one with institutional investors at the conference. 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. If you are a private investor or institutional investor interested in learning more about the conference, please click here. About Acme United Corporation ACME UNITED CORPORATION is an innovative supplier of cutting devices, measuring instruments, and safety products for school, home, office, hardware and industrial use. Its leading brands include Westcott, Clauss, Camillus, CUDA, PhysiciansCare ,Pac-Kit and First Aid Only. For more information, visit www.acmeunited.com. SOURCE: Acme United The Daily Beast STRINGER/ReutersVideo footage shows pedestrians attempting to sway an Indian suspension bridge in the moments before it catastrophically collapsed, leaving at least 141 people dead as of Monday.Rescuers expect the death toll to continue to rise after the bridge fell apart in the western state of Gujarat on Sunday. The majority of those killed were women, children, or elderly people, a local official told the BBC. Almost 180 people were successfully rescued, however, in an overnight operation inv By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) The Delhi government today advised L-G Najeeb Jung to dissolve the Shunglu Committee set up by him to examine 400 files pertaining to decisions the AAP dispensation has taken since coming to power. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said a decision in this regard was taken at a Cabinet meeting today chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. advertisement The Delhi Cabinet termed the three-member Shunglu Committee- which was looking into the files- unconstitutional. Sisodia told a press conference here, there is no provision in the Constitution, or in any statute or rule, which mandates setting up of an "external committee" to inquire into ongoing projects of public welfare, question officers and "threaten" to recommend administrative and criminal action against them. He requested Jung to return all files of the government saying "various important works are being affected" due to this. "The Committee has created a dangerous climate of fear and uncertainty among the bureaucracy, thus threatening to derail the government functioning in its entirety, noted the Cabinet," he said. "We have requested the L-G to dissolve the committee as the Lt Governor has no power. The jurisdiction of L-G is well defined under Article 239AA of Constitution of India, the GNCTD Act, 1991, and the rules framed under the Act," he said. If the committee continues its "illegal" functioning, not only will it imperil public welfare, it has also the potential to create a serious constitutional crisis in the national capital, noted the Cabinet, according to the Deputy CM. Sisodia said the "impounding" of over 400 files by L-G is against the transaction of business rules and GNCTD Act. "Cabinet also brought to the notice of the L-G that the August 4 Delhi High Court judgment which is being invoked by him to take such actions, has not become final and is presently under challenge before the Supreme Court," he said. Notices have already been issued by the apex court and the matter is to be finally heard on November 25, he said. "It would have been prudent for the L-G to await the final decision of the apex court before taking such unilateral actions bypassing the elected government," said Sisodia. He claimed that several officers have reported to their respective ministers that they were summoned by the committee informally and grilled for many hours for decisions taken by them in public interest over the last one-and-a-half years. "Such summoning of officers through oral instructions and then questioning them over the content of the files without duly recording and authenticating the officers version is against the well-established norms of transparency and propriety," he added. PTI BUN TIR --- ENDS --- advertisement Minnesota Sen. Al Franken stopped by NBCs Late Night on its final night in Washington D.C. to urge Seth Meyers fans to vote on November 8. Meyers asked Franken about GOP candidate Donald Trumps remarks in that Access Hollywood tape about being able to grope women with impunity, and Trumps Debate 2 assertion that it was just locker room talk. Ive been in a lot of locker rooms. I belong to a heath club in Minneapolis you can tell, Franken joked. Our locker room banter is stuff like, Is Trump crazy? So I dont know what locker room he may work out with Roger Ailes. But I think these stories are going to make it hard for Trump to focus on his message that he knows nothing about public policy. I worry about that, Franken told Meyers. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YhAE3gQKzg&w=620&h=340] Related stories Bill Maher: Hollywood Blockbusters Predicted Trumpocalypse Ann Coulter To HBO's Bill Maher: We Always Knew Donald Trump Was "A Lout" NBC Yanks Donald Trump-esque Episode Of 'Law & Order SVU' Until After Election By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The number of Islamist rebels in eastern Aleppo who are not protected by any ceasefire deal, and can therefore be legitimately targeted, is far smaller than an estimate given by the United Nations, diplomatic sources have told Reuters. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) is one of Syria's most powerful rebel forces, and under its former name - Nusra Front - it was designated as a terrorist group because of links with al Qaeda. Russia, Syria and Iran say JFS's presence in besieged eastern Aleppo justifies their attacks, which began despite a U.S.-Russian ceasefire, but the U.N. has urged them to stop using the group's presence as an "easy alibi" to bomb the city. None of them have given estimates of JFS numbers in Aleppo. Last week U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said there were a maximum of 900 JFS members out of a total 8,000 rebel fighters within the besieged opposition-held area. Several sources independently told Reuters that de Mistura's figure for JFS fighters was far too high, and the real number was no more than 200, perhaps below 100. One Western diplomat said it possibly had no more than a "symbolic" presence. "The Russians indicated they wanted to talk about de Mistura's plan which is to get the rebel fighters out of Aleppo. We are a bit skeptical. De Mistura spoke about 900 fighters from Fateh al-Sham, we estimate (the number) at much less," one senior French diplomatic source said. The issue will be discussed on Saturday when foreign ministers from countries including the United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in the war, gather in the Swiss city of Lausanne for talks aimed at halting the spiraling violence. De Mistura has offered to personally escort the fighters out of the city in return for a ceasefire observed by all parties. He has already scaled back his estimate. On Sept. 25, he said that he had information that more than half the fighters in eastern Aleppo were from JFS but gave no total figure. Last week he cited a "much more updated analysis", and he said the 900 figure was "in my opinion, quite reliable". His office declined to comment on where he had got the 900 figure from, but quoted remarks he made to a closed-door session of the U.N. Security Council last week: "If al-Nusra are 900 people, then 900 will have to leave. If they are less, then less will leave. We will be actually involved in that. The point is that every Nusra fighter will leave the city and the rest will stay if they want to." A Jabhat Fateh al-Sham spokesman did not immediately comment on the number. (Reporting and writing by Tom Miles; Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay and Louise Ireland) VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / ALIX RESOURCES CORP. (AIX.V) (FSE:37N) ("Alix" or the "Company") is pleased to report significant milestones achieved on its Tecolote concession, Electra Project located in Sonora, Mexico. The Company has previously confirmed a target sedimentary assemblage with the potential of hosting economic lithium-bearing, clay-rich horizons (Press Release June 30, 2016). The exploration target on the Company's Tecolote concession is lithium-bearing, clay-rich horizons similar to the adjoining Buenavista concession owned by Bacanora Minerals Ltd. (BCN-TSX:V) and Rare Earth Minerals PLC (REM-LON)) (BCN PR 2016-01-06), where reverse circulation drilling has discovered clay-rich layers (the Buenavista deposit) in a sedimentary sequence over an area of 6 by 1.25 km (BCN PR, 2014-11-03). The Company has identified two target areas on the Tecolote concession interpreted to be underlain by sedimentary sequence favorable for lithium mineralization. The first target, the eastern area, is approximately 1,100 m long by 250 to 400 m wide. The second target area is located east is 700 m SW of the first target and measures roughly 400 by 150 m. The Company has proposed a Phase 1 reverse-circulation ("RC") drill program to test the two target areas, and have recently received approval and authorization from the "Ejido" (community) regarding surface (owner/co-op) rights. The Company has also received receipt of an application for the environmental permit (called a "Informe Preventivo") on the Tecolote concession, to complete up to 25 RC drill holes and rehabilitation of existing roads as needed. The Company's geologists are currently reviewing RC drill bids and scheduling activities related to the Phase 1 drill program, and the Company is in consultation with its Joint Venture (and funding) partner, Lithium Australia. Mike England, president of Alix, stated: "We are very pleased to have both community support and environmental permits in hand to allow us to initiate a maiden Phase 1 RC drill program on the Tecolote concession, with the support of our partners, Lithium Australia. The drill program will include a series of shallow drill holes in the recognized sedimentary assemblage and also in some alluvium-covered areas. The objective is to discover lithium-rich clay layers similar to that of the Bacanora/REM Buenavista deposit." Story continues Adrian Griffin of Lithium Australia commented: "The significant opportunity afforded by near-surface mineralization of this type is of great importance to our global exploration efforts. We had no hesitation supporting the Alix exploration plan and look forward to a successful outcome." The technical contents of this release were approved by Michel Boily, PhD, P.Geo a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The properties have not been the subject of a National Instrument 43-101 report. The Company further announces the resignation of David Lajack from its Board of Directors. Mr. Lajack will stay involved with the Company on its Advisory Board. About Alix Resources Alix Resources is a junior mining exploration company focused on seeking and acquiring world class lithium projects globally. Alix continues to evaluate suitable prospects that fit the mandate of the Company. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Michael England" Michael England, President, CEO, Director FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Telephone: 1-604-683-3995 Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770 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. SOURCE: Alix Resources Corp. (Adds background) PARIS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Billionaire Patrick Drahi's Altice telecoms group said on Friday it had bought a 5.21 percent stake in its French subsidiary SFR Group, raising its stake above 82 percent by buying shares off the market in private transactions. The move, paid for in existing Altice shares at a ratio of 8 Altice for 5 SFR, comes less than a fortnight after the French regulator AMF blocked its public offer at that same price for all the SFR shares it did not already own. The AMF said on Oct. 6 it had blocked the public offer on the grounds it lacked information for minority shareholders to judge it. Some activist shareholders had complained to AMF about the proposal. One merger arbitrage fund, CIAM, said on Sept. 14 that the valuations used to justify the exchange ratio were incomplete, and did not reflect the true value of SFR. It also said the board members involved in the valuation were not sufficiently independent. Altice chief executive Michel Combes criticised the decision as "incomprehensible" and said it would damage the reputation of Paris as a financial centre, but he withdrew the offer as a result. (Reporting by Andrew Callus; Editing by Geert De Clercq) Deutschland86, the sequel to hit Cold War thriller series Deutschland83, will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in Germany in 2018. German free-to-air broadcaster RTL Television, which commissioned Deutschland83 in 2014 and aired the show in autumn 2015, has secured a first-look option for the linear TV rights to Deutschland86, and expects to air the sequel in 2018/2019 after Amazons first window. Amazon Prime has made all episodes of Deutschland83 available for streaming for subscribers in Germany and Austria. FremantleMedia Intl., the global sales arm of FremantleMedia, continues to sell the series to broadcasters and streaming services around the world. Other buyers include SundanceTV (U.S.), which will co-produce, Hulu (U.S.), Channel 4 and Walter Presents (U.K.), Sundance Channel (Canada), Crave (Canada), Super Ecran (French-speaking Canada), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), RUV (Iceland), CMore (Scandinavia), RTE (Eire), Canal Plus (France), Movistar+ (Spain), Sky Italia (Italy), Paramount (Italy), OTE (Greece), Telenet (Belgium), RTL Klub (Hungary), HRT (Croatia), Hotvision (Israel), and Sinema TV (Turkey), with more deals to be announced. FremantleMedia Intl. sold Deutschland83 to 38 broadcasters and subscription VOD platforms globally, which took the series to over 110 territories worldwide. It was the first ever German-language drama to have aired on a major U.S. cable channel (SundanceTV) and became the U.K.s highest-ever rated foreign-language drama launch when it debuted on Channel 4. Deutschland86, which was created by head writer Anna Winger and Joerg Winger, and executive produced by Winger, Sebastian Werninger and Ulrike Leibfried for FremantleMedias UFA Fiction, will start to shoot next year. Deutschland86 returns three years after Deutschland83, and picks up the story of East German agent Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) and his compatriots in the Stasi Foreign Intelligence in 1986, according to a statement. Martin has been banished to Africa until Aunt Lenora recruits him to fight for the last gasp of Communism abroad. Set against the backdrop of real events during the last Summer of Anxiety, when terrorism raged across Western Europe, Martins dark mission takes him to Johannesburg, Tripoli, Paris, West Berlin and finally back to East Berlin, where he is forced to face new realities at home and to make an impossible decision. Story continues Deutschland83 was awarded many national and international awards, among them a Grimme Preis, a Goldene Kamera, a Peabody and a Satellite Award. For his role as Martin Rauch, Jonas Nay won a Golden Nymph award at the Festival de Television in Monte Carlo, and the German Television Award. Deutschland83 is also nominated for the 2016 International Emmy Awards in the Drama Series category. Nico Hofmann, co-CEO of UFA, said: With this latest collaboration between Amazon, RTL Television, FremantleMedia Intl. and UFA, a long-awaited wish comes true. This latest deal is a milestone in co-production history. It will be resetting standards for the upcoming years. Jens Richter, CEO of FremantleMedia Intl., said: Deutschland83 achieved tremendous ratings worldwide and together with our fantastic group of partners we were able to help turn the series into the most-successful German drama of our time. The storyline for season two looks to be as thrilling as the first and were looking forward to working with Amazon and our distribution partners to accomplish further success. Christoph Schneider, managing director of Amazon Prime Video Germany, said: After the Amazon Original You Are Wanted with Matthias Schweighoefer and Michael Bully Herbigs Bullyparade Der Film, Deutschland86 is the latest German-made production that will be available exclusively on Prime Video. German series and movies are very important for our Prime members and we are happy to continue to build on our engagement with German production industry and bring great new shows to our customers. Related stories Amazon Picks Up Gillian Anderson-Narrated Kids Show From Studio Ghibli 'Deutschland83' Renewed for Season 2 on SundanceTV and Amazon 30 Scariest Horror Movies Streaming in Time for Halloween After working to take some of the commercials out of its primetime and late-night shows, NBC wants to do something similar in the morning. The network said Friday it had extended a partnership with American Express in which the credit-card company will, next week, help to expand segments across three hours of its Today morning-show franchise, replacing time that would normally be filled with ads. On Today.com, the shows web presence, pre-roll ads will be reduced. The 7 a.m. hour of Today, arguably the shows newsiest and best-watched, will retain its original structure. The effort follows a similar one made in February, in which American Express replaced regular commercial time on programs like The Voice and Late Night with Seth Meyers with extra content from the show or looks behind the scenes. American Express got a mention before and after each segment. NBC has this season begun to run fewer ad breaks during Saturday Night Live as well. A wide range of TV networks has begun to pitch Madison Avenue on the idea of swapping traditional 30-second commercials for sponsorship of video vignettes that play more directly off the programs that drew viewers to the screen in the first place. Time Warners Turner, 21st Century Foxs Fox, Viacom and A+E Networks are among the TV companies using the idea to vie for advertiser dollars. The Today partnership will be in place for the week of October 17, and NBC will use promos to call attention to it starting October 14. Related stories Billy Bush Negotiating His Exit From NBC News in Wake of Lewd Trump Tape What Billy Bush and NBC Must Do to Protect His Future on 'Today' This Presidential Debate Is Brought to You by Budweiser The thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba continued Friday, with perhaps the most significant breakthrough since the longtime foes started normalizing relations late in 2014: Americans can now bring home all the Cuban rum and cigars they want. Thats due to a new round of executive actions the White House announced in hopes of increasing travel and trade with the communist island nation. Under the new rules, which go into effect Monday, Americans can purchase unlimited quantities of Cuban rum and cigars as long as they arent sold for profit. American tourists to Cuba are going to have to consume the items themselves. Challenges remain and very real differences between our governments persist on issues of democracy and human rights but I believe that engagement is the best way to address those differences and make progress on behalf of our interests and values, President Barack Obama said in a statement. The progress of the last two years, bolstered by todays action, should remind the world of whats possible when we look to the future together. In addition to lifting restrictions on booze and tobacco, the White House also announced it will now allow exports to Cuba of some U.S. consumer goods sold on the Internet, and let U.S. firms improve Cuban infrastructure for humanitarian purposes. In addition, U.S. companies can now provide safety services to commercial aircraft in Cuba; American air carriers are starting to schedule flights to Havana. Finally, Cuban pharmaceutical companies can now apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval. The actions are the latest steps in the warming relations between Cuba and the United States. Both countries have opened embassies in respective capitals, and Cuban President Raul Castro has visited the United States. Obama returned the favor last spring, when he traveled to Havana to meet with Castro. Story continues Lawrence Ward, partner at Dorsey & Whitney, a law firm focused on American trade, said ending the ban on rum and cigars is a huge boost to the Cuban economy. Cuban tobacco and alcohol products are two of the most sought-after commodities for U.S. tourists and lifting the limit of the value of these and other goods that Americans can bring back to the United States for personal use undoubtedly will have a positive impact on the Cuban economy, Ward said. The health-related and humanitarian transactions changes will serve to directly benefit ordinary Cuban citizens and will enhance the U.S. pharmaceutical and health-care sectors too. Despite all of the changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba made during Obamas second term, one key roadblock between the countries remains in place: the five-decade-old economic embargo on Cuba. Congress has resisted the call for it to be lifted. Photo credit: SVEN CREUTZMANN/Getty Images Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump again talked about H1B visa and outsourcing, and said that he would protect jobs for Americans. By Press Trust of India: Injecting H-1B and outsourcing as an election campaign issue again, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has alleged that companies are importing low-wage workers on work visas and pledged to protect jobs for Americans. "Many mothers across this country are worried their kids won't find jobs, and they are right to be worried. One of the biggest threats is outsourcing jobs for college-educated kids are being sent to other countries," Trump, the 70-year-old reality TV star, told cheering supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday night. advertisement 'WE WILL PROTECT JOBS FOR AMERICANS' "At the same time, companies are importing low-wage workers on H-1B visas to take jobs from young college-trained Americans," Trump alleged. "We will protect these jobs for Americans," Donald Trump pledged. H-1B work visas are the most sought-after for IT professionals, particularly those from India. While H-1B and outsourcing had become one of his frequent campaign issue during the Republican primary season early this spring and summer, it more or less remained absent from his key election issue till the election rally in Ohio ahead of the November 8 polls. Also Read: Trump vows 'tracking system' to deport everyone whose visa expires NEW IMMIGRATION CONTROLS IN US? According to a recent policy paper on immigration, Trump's vision is to prioritise the jobs, wages and security of the Americans and establish new immigration controls to boost wages and to ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first. Donald Trump plans to protect the economic well-being of the lawful immigrants already living here by curbing uncontrolled foreign worker admissions, and select immigrants based on their likelihood of success in the US and their ability to be financially self-sufficient. Pledging to protect American jobs, Trump said at the rally that he his administration will "have to make sure that those who have graduated college and those who are soon to graduate can find a good job to start a good career when they do". Also Read: Did Donald Trump marry an 'illegal' immigrant? Melania Trump in the midst of an immigration row TRUMP'S PLAN WILL CREATE 25 MILLION NEW JOBS. REALLY? Trump said his economic plan, including tax, trade regulatory, and energy reforms, will create 25 million new jobs and allow the private sector to grow at four per cent per year. "This includes reforms to protect and expand the sharing economy -- start-ups like Uber -- that have managed to provide great services to consumers, and create lots of jobs in the process," he added. "Finally, and most importantly, the foundation for a new prosperity will be a re-dedication to the constitutional rule of law," Trump added. advertisement Also Read: Donald Trump groped, kissed us: Women come out to debunk 'locker room talk' claim Trump's views on women in video will disqualify him for job at a store: Obama Clinton vs Trump presidential debate 2: Who said what Pakistani boy, 7, beaten by classmates for being Muslim, family leaves 'Trump's America' --- ENDS --- Donald Trump A woman on Friday accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of groping her in the early 1990s at a New York City nightclub. Kristin Anderson, 46, did not come forward on her own accord a reporter at The Washington Post had heard about Anderson's story from a person who knew of it, according to the newspaper. The 46-year-old then decided to go public, however, when she saw the 2005 tape in which Trump was unknowingly recorded boasting about using his fame to kiss and grope women. Anderson recounted her story to The Post. She told the newspaper she was at a nightclub chatting with friends when she noticed that a man to her right sitting on a couch slid his fingers under her skirt and touched her vagina through her underwear. Here's how she said it happened: "I was at a club with my friends and I'm talking to my friend who I'm sitting ... across from on my left side. I'm very clear on this. This is the vivid part for me. "So, the person on my right who, unbeknownst to me at that time was Donald Trump, put their hand up my skirt. He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely. And as I pushed the hand away and I got up and I turned around and I see these eyebrows, very distinct eyebrows, of Donald Trump. "And I got up and I moved and I continued to talk with my friends. And they said, 'Oh, that's Donald Trump.' I was like: 'Ew, he's gross. He just put his hand up my skirt. That's not OK.' And we all sort of brushed it off and moved on." Anderson told The Post she thought the incident happened at China Club but could not say for sure. She recalled Trump sitting on a red velvet couch, and photos of the club from that time show a similar couch in the venue. Trump was also known to frequent that club to pick up women. What distinguishes Anderson's story from others that have emerged in recent days is the fact that she had no interaction with Trump before the time she said he groped her. Story continues "It wasn't a sexual come-on," she told The Post. "I don't know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it and nothing would happen. There was zero conversation. We didn't even really look at each other. It was very random, very nonchalant on his part." Anderson told her story about Trump to numerous acquaintances over the years, some of whom recounted hearing it to The Post. Trump's campaign strongly denied the allegations. "Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity," Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told The Post. "It is totally ridiculous." Several other women have come forward since the "Access Hollywood" tape leaked to accuse Trump of similar sexual misconduct. One woman told The New York Times that she was on a plane next to Trump in the early 1980s when the real-estate tycoon lifted the armrest between them and began touching her. She said he grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. Another woman said Trump began kissing her on the mouth after holding on to an extended handshake. And a writer for People magazine said that while she was visiting Trump's Florida estate to interview him, he pushed her up against a wall and forced his tongue down her throat. Allan Smith contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: Watch the brutal Hillary Clinton ad that pits Trump against himself More From Business Insider Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f24464%2fbarber The Fuller Cut in Ypsilanti, Michigan, is the latest barbershop to make waves for its educational discount program $2 off a haircut for any child who reads to him. Ryan Griffin, a barber at the shop, read about a few other barbershops who were doing similar programs back in August 2015. So, Griffin, shop owner Alex Fuller and Fuller's wife got started collecting books. SEE ALSO: Relive your childhood with this Dr. Seuss coloring book The Fuller Cut believes in empowering children and since the barbershop is in a predominantly black neighborhood, they mostly stock books that positively portray African American characters. What we wanna do is get kids reading more. Just enrich their lives," Fuller, who is the owner and barber at the shop, told Mashable. "See all the positives that are in books, take them out of the TV. Youve got TV and video games that have taken over the young blacks, and what youve got to do is get them focused on reading these days because thatll benefit them in the long run. The Fuller Cut's recent Facebook post addresses the derogatory responses the barbershop has received regarding the program. "Because our majority customers are African American, we prefer books within this cultural dynamic," The Fuller Cut wrote on Facebook. "We do not do this to be separate or be inconsiderate to any and all other cultures and skin colors; it is simply because the faces and stories in the books look like them, which inspires them to be proud of their individual amazingness." "Currently, there is a plethora of access to reading other types of booksin the schools and within life in general," the post continues. "But by seeing beautiful reflections of themselves in the books, we empower them and their future in this world, AND we connect them with all humanity by first teaching them how to love and be proud of themselves." Story continues A photo posted by The Fuller Cut (@the_fuller_cut) on May 19, 2016 at 7:14pm PDT Fuller is thrilled about the attention his shop has been getting, because he wants this trend to spread to more barbershops. If we can have other barbershops do this thats our main goal. Its not just for us, but just to spread the word that reading is very important," he told Mashable. "And especially in our barbershop, because were mostly an African American-based barbershop, even though we cut everybodys hair, we just wanted to have a chance to present that positive image and see that theres more out there, and with the books that they read, thats what were trying to enlighten a bit. Here are some more adorable photos of The Fuller Cut's customers reading. Knowledge is empowering. #readtoyourbarber #barberlife #thefullercut #promoteliteracy A photo posted by The Fuller Cut (@the_fuller_cut) on Jul 20, 2016 at 6:39pm PDT Learning about the Pontus. #readtoyourbarber #promoteliteracy #thefullercut #barberlife #ypsilanti #michigan A photo posted by The Fuller Cut (@the_fuller_cut) on Jul 25, 2016 at 10:37am PDT Ready to read and get his haircut. #ypsilanti #barbershop #thefullercut #promotingliteracy A photo posted by The Fuller Cut (@the_fuller_cut) on Oct 19, 2015 at 5:19pm PDT M.J.: Barber, lover of basketball, & aiming and accomplishing high for his life and dreams. #ypsilanti #michigan #barbering #barberlife #thefullercut A photo posted by The Fuller Cut (@the_fuller_cut) on Oct 2, 2015 at 3:16pm PDT Take a look at this serious reader. #thefullercut #promoteliteracy #barberlife #ypsilanti #michigan A photo posted by The Fuller Cut (@the_fuller_cut) on Sep 5, 2016 at 4:12pm PDT Mashable has reached out to The Fuller Cut for comment and will update this story if they respond. BONUS: People Read Their First Tweet (Reuters) - Honda test rider Hiroshi Aoyama will race in his home Japanese MotoGP round at Motegi this weekend as a replacement for injured Spaniard Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa, winner of last month's San Marino Grand Prix, suffered a fracture of his right collarbone in a heavy fall in Friday practice and was due to fly back to Spain later for surgery. "Im obviously very sad about what happened, as I was looking forward to racing in Japan at Hondas home circuit and one of my favorite tracks," the Spaniard, fourth in the standings, said in a team statement. "Now I just want to focus on recovering in order to get back on my bike as soon as possible. My best wishes to Hiro, who is replacing me and will race in front of his home crowd." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond) Summer Zervos, a contestant on Season 5 of The Apprentice, claims that Donald Trump made unwanted sexual advances on her in a 2007 meeting at a Beverly Hills Hotel bungalow set up after she was off the show. At a press conference on Friday with attorney Gloria Allred, Zervos claims that after she was fired from the show, she sought to stay in touch with Trump, seeking career advice as well as possible employment with the Trump organization. Expecting a dinner meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Zervos said that she instead arrived at the hotel to find that Trump wanted to meet her in his bungalow. She said that she waited in the bungalow for about 15 minutes until Trump emerged. I stood up and he came to me and started kissing me open mouthed as he was pulling me towards him, she recalled, her voice choking up at points before a packed room of cameras and reporters at Allreds office. I walked away and sat down on a chair, she said. He was on a love seat across from me and I made an attempt at conversation. He then asked me to sit next to him. I complied. He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast. I pulled back and walked to another part of the room. He then walked up, grabbed my hand and walked me into the bedroom. Zervos said that she then walked out. He then turned me around and said, Lets lay down and watch some telly telly. He then tried to embrace her, she said, but she pushed his chest to some space between us and I said, come on man, get real.' She said that she made it clear she was not interested. I said I came to have dinner. He said, okay, we will have dinner.' They then engaged in an awkward conversation about business, as well as what she should do about a mortgage on her home. Allred said that Zervos described the incident to two people at the time, and that she corroborated their accounts. Zervos also said that after she rebuffed Trumps advances, he gave her the runaround as she continued to pursue a job in his company. She says that she told Trump over the phone that she felt like I was being penalized for not sleeping with him. Trump said that he was golfing and would not discuss it, she said. Story continues Zervos said that she had initially sought a meeting with Trump earlier in 2007, after she was off the show. When she met him at Trump Tower, he greeted her by kissing her on the lips, she said. Although she said that she was a bit uncomfortable with that, she initially dismissed it. He later called her, she says, to set up the meeting in Beverly Hills. Zervos, who described herself as a Republican, said that she reached out to Trumps secretary earlier this year, as he was in the midst of the campaign. She said that she sent the secretary an email to forward, in which she talked of how she had been so impressed with your talents that I wanted to be like you. She said she also wrote, Your interest in me as a potential employee meant the world to me. Your interest in me as anything more blew my mind, and I lost my footing. I have been incredibly hurt by our previous interaction. I hope to hear from you and wish you continued success. Trump, she said, did not reply. She said that she decided to come forward after the release of an Access Hollywood video in which Trump made lewd comments about women to Billy Bush, and after Sundays debate, where the Republican nominee denied that he had ever committed sexual assault. I wanted to be able to sleep when I am 70 at night, she said. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Allred said no criminal reports have been filed, and that Zervos is not pursing litigation at this time. She said that many women have contacted her about other inappropriate interactions with Trump. Zervos press conference came after several women went public with their own accounts of the GOP candidates sexual misconduct, including a woman who came forward Friday claiming Trump touched her inappropriately at a club in the 1990s. Allred was a Clinton delegate at the Democratic National Convention and attended a fundraiser for Clinton on Thursday at the home of Casey and Laura Wasserman. Related stories Billy Bush, NBC Near Agreement on Exit Donald Trump Denies 'Apprentice' Accuser's Groping Claims CNN Chief Says 'It's Not Clear Cut' NBC's Billy Bush Should Lose Job By Walter Bianchi BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina complained on Friday about military exercises that Britain is planning this month in the disputed Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. Argentina has for decades claimed sovereignty over the British-run islands it calls the Malvinas and the dispute led to a brief war in 1982. The overwhelming majority of the islands' 3,000 inhabitants say they want the islands to remain a British overseas territory. Argentina's foreign ministry said in a statement that it had sent a letter to the British ambassador demanding the country call off the "illegitimate" exercises, which are scheduled for Oct. 19-28 and include the launching of Rapier missiles. A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Buenos Aires called it a "routine exercise" that takes places about twice a year. Argentina lodged its complaint just a month after the two countries agreed to work together toward removing measures restricting the oil and gas, shipping and fishing industries on the remote islands. Pro-business President Mauricio Macri has sought to improve relations since taking over in December after diplomatic tensions mounted under his predecessor, populist Cristina Fernandez. But in a blunder that embarrassed the administration last month, Macri claimed he and British Prime Minister Theresa May had agreed, during a brief encounter at the United Nations General Assembly, to discuss the sovereignty claim. Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra later walked back the remarks after Britain denied that the issue of sovereignty had come up. In Friday's statement, the foreign ministry said it had learned of the planned military exercises on Thursday. It said the exercises "contradict the principle of peaceful conflict resolution" and called the Falklands "Argentine territory illegitimately occupied by the United Kingdom." In last month's agreement, the two sides also agreed to establish additional flights between the Falklands, located about 435 miles off the coast of southern Argentina, and third countries in South America. The last bout of serious tension over the Falklands occurred in June last year when an Argentine federal judge ordered the seizure of millions of dollars in assets owned by oil drillers operating in the area. (Additional reporting by Maximiliano Rizzi and Luc Cohen; editing by Grant McCool) Cuss words, middle fingers, and boo-hoos; here is how Donald Trump's supporters pitch for him. By India Today Web Desk: The US Presidential Elections are less than a month away. Almost anyone who is not living under a rock is talking about it: weighing the chances of the two major candidates, dissecting the presidential debates, dissing Hillary Clinton, dissing Donald Trump. Meanwhile, those in favour of Trump taking over the White House are going all out to pitch their support for the controversial Republican frontrunner, and diss the media. advertisement Also read: JK Rowling owns Donald Trump in a single tweet After reports of Trump having sexually assaulted women, and blatantly bragged about it, surfaced, his fans -- both men and women -- came to his defence. While some are certain these accusations are fabricated, there are others who, shockingly, seem comfortable with the idea of Trump "grabbing women by [their] p***y,". Source: Twitter There are those who love Trump so much that sexism seems promotional to them. Source: Twitter Those who believe Trump will "Make America great again,". Source: Twitter Source: Twitter Those who are comfortable with the idea that Trump called women everything from "pig," "ugly," to "inconvinient". Source: Twitter And those who find Trump and his mouth charming. Source: Twitter After Trump claimed yesterday in Ohio that allegations of him having sexually assaulted women were "lies, corruption and false accusations" planned by Clinton's campaign and the mainstream media, his supporters lost their minds. Also read: Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton is a fighter Woman screams at press after Trump rally: "we're mad at you!" pic.twitter.com/r5ewYTpfwB Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 13, 2016 Before that, in Florida, he claimed that the media was "at war," to make Clinton the next US president "at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy." With that, came Trump fans' wrath for reporters. Also read: Dalai Lama's epic mockery of Donald Trump takes the internet by storm Source: Reuters Source: AP Despite several reports and words straight from the horse's mouth, words that clubbed together to promote sexism, racism and hate speech, there are people who still support Donald Trump Also read: First US presidential debate 2016: All you need to know about the Clinton-Trump face-off Source: Reuters There are those who seriously seem to believe Trump can make America great again. But then, there are also those who are not ready to vote for the man who refers to his sexist comments as "locker room talk". Now that Trump rally is over, here is picture of this bold young protester's message pic.twitter.com/ZCnCHWTqBQ Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) October 11, 2016 --- ENDS --- Buenos Aires (AFP) - Argentina said Friday it has lodged an "emphatic protest" against British plans to hold military exercises in the disputed Falkland Islands, renewing an old feud after a recent thaw. British Ambassador Mark Kent was summoned to the offices of the Argentine Foreign Ministry and given a formal note of complaint demanding the exercises be called off, the ministry said in a statement. It said Britain was planning "illegal military exercises in the area of the Malvinas," the Argentine name for the islands, from October 19 to 28, including the launch of Rapier missiles. "Argentina rejects the holding of these exercises on Argentine territory illegally occupied by the United Kingdom," it said. British officials have said the exercises are routine. Britain and Argentina fought a brief but bloody war over the islands in 1982 after Argentine forces occupied them. The conflict killed 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders. Argentina argues it inherited the windswept islands from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century. But Britain says it has historically ruled them and that the islanders -- who number around 3,000, most of them of British descent -- should have the right to self-determination. In a 2013 referendum, residents voted overwhelmingly to remain part of Britain. After years of testy relations under the successive presidencies of Nestor Kirchner and of his wife Cristina Kirchner, Argentina had pursued something of a rapprochement with Britain under new President Mauricio Macri. After taking the reins in December, the Macri administration opened new talks with London, culminating in a series of deals in September covering oil, fishing, navigation and trade in and around the islands. (Adds quote, background on potential sale) BUENOS AIRES, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Argentina's Banco Patagonia SA plans to open 30 percent of its capital in New York early next year, two sources with knowledge of the plans said on Friday. Banco Patagonia is 59 percent controlled by Brazil's state-run lender Banco do Brasil, a stake that would fall after the share offering but leave the Brazilian bank with control, the sources said. One of the sources said the listing is expected in April 2017 to take advantage of investor attention on Argentina since pro-business President Mauricio Macri came into office last year. Banco Patagonia will make a presentation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in December, when the share listing will be made public, the source said. Sources have previously told Reuters Banco do Brasil was in the process of hiring banks to advise it on the sale of Banco Patagonia. The Brazilian lender bought the controlling stake six years ago as a way of growing its international operations but now wants to sell non-core assets. Bloomberg reported earlier on Friday that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA and Brazil's Itau Unibanco Holding SA were among the banks considering acquiring Banco Patagonia for about $1.5 billion, though the banks declined comment. Argentine newspaper Cronista reported this week that Chinese banks were also interested in buying Banco Patagonia. (Reporting by Buenos Aires newsroom; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool) Stockholm (AFP) - An attacker wearing a clown mask stabbed a man in Sweden, police said Friday, as a wave of hysteria about sightings of "creepy" or "killer" clowns sweeps the United States and European nations. "A man born in 1997 was stabbed in the shoulder by an unknown person who ran away," police in Halland county in southern Sweden said on their website. The incident late on Thursday came after two people in clown costumes threatened to kill a young woman in the centre of Sweden on Wednesday. "She was extremely frightened," a police spokesman told the Aftonbladet newspaper, adding that there was "nothing funny" about the spreading craze. Also on Wednesday, a group of men in clown outfits surrounded four 10-year-old children and threatened them with what turned out to be fake chainsaws. Interior Minister Anders Ygeman has called for calm. "We don't want to see a situation where a person gets into real trouble because someone, perhaps half-joking, puts on a clown mask," Ygmen told the TT news agency. In the United States, the social-media fuelled clown frenzy led the McDonald's hamburger chain to announce this week it would scale back the use of its smiley-faced Ronald McDonald. The craze has also spread to Britain, where police forces have been called to several incidents involving pranksters dressed as clowns jumping out and trying to frighten people. Police in Britain and the United States fear the craze will spike in the run-up to Halloween. Even the White House has weighed in and warned that law enforcement authorities were taking such incidents seriously. In Sweden's neighbour Norway the Ringo chain of toy shops has decided to pull clown costumes from its 114 outlets. "We find this phenomenon of going round scaring people very nasty, that's why we're withdrawing clown outfits," a spokeswoman told the broadcaster NRK. The phenomenon has also hit the Netherlands, where two people have been seen wearing masks and brandishing weapons. Story continues France had a similar craze in 2014, which according to sociologist Robert Bartholomew was "quite intense and violent", leading to the arrest or jailing of a dozen teenage "killer clowns". "Clowns can be seen as creepy because you can't read a clown's face, and 80 percent of communication is non-verbal," he said. "If a person is wearing makeup or a mask, it is hard to know whether they are friend or foe." Drashti Dhami, who's currently shooting in Austria for her new Star Plus show Pardes Mein Hai Mera Dil, posted a romantic picture with hubby. By India Today Web Desk: Drashti Dhami and Arjun Bijlani are shooting for their new show Pardes Mein Hai Mera Dil in Austria these days. It is natural for the actors to be homesick as they have been away from their families for a long stretch of time. While Arjun keeps posting pics with his family on Insta to overcome the feeling, Drashti too took to Instagram to share a romantic picture with hubby Neeraj Khemka. Missinulikeneverbefore#loveutomoonnback#mylife#mybestfriend#myeverything#cometome#????????????loveusooomuch???????? A photo posted by drashti (@dhamidrashti) on Oct 13, 2016 at 5:17am PDT advertisement In her free time, the actress is also making efforts to learn German. She likes to carry a pocket-size German dictionary in the country to communicate with people there. Also read: See pics: Drashti Dhami looks stunning at restaurant launch ahead of her TV comeback "I do carry my pocket size dictionary everywhere to avoid any communication gaps and to learn as much as I can during my stay in Austria," Drashti said in a statement. "I love learning new languages and I personally feel one should be open to learning new languages. I am glad that through Pardes Mein Hai Mera Dil, I am getting the opportunity to learn one of my favourite languages, German, which I always wanted to learn and speak fluently," she added. Drashti will be seen romancing TV actor Arjun Bijlani in the Star Plus show. The duo will be seen as Raghav and Naina. (With inputs from IANS) --- ENDS --- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday, October 13, called his successor Antonio Guterres a wonderful choice to steer this organization. Ban said he had always valued Guterres advice and spirit of service. The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday formally appointed the former Portuguese prime minister as the next Secretary-General, effective January 1, 2017. The 67-year-old former UN High Commissioner for Refugees told the BBC that ending the civil war in Syria is the international communitys first priority. Credit: YouTube/UN News Centre Hey everybody Dave Bartosiak with Trending Stocks at Zacks.com. What a glorious last few months its been. The Cubs are in the playoffs, Hillary and the Donald are throwing sticks and stones, and major financial institutions are scrambling to save face. Pass the popcorn, this is gonna be good. The DoJ put the pressure on Deutsche Bank DB a few weeks ago when it proposed a multi-billion dollar fine. Shortly after, several hedge funds had begun to ask for other banks to help smooth out the counter-party risk while others were rumored to have severed tied with Deutsche altogether. Then Deutsche began to lose some wealth management clients as a result of the fallout. And today, the zee Germans came out and said they have ruled out any state aid for Deutsche Bank. Telling legislators it was inconceivable. I dont believe Deutsche is in any real insolvency trouble. They will be just fine in the long run. But the shareholders better watch out. Remember those CoCos my friends. Contingent convertible securities. They are a shareholder dilution 100-megaton bomb. Check out my February video on the topic to get up to speed. Go ahead and check it out, Ill wait. Wells Fargo WFC is even funnier. After the scandal, the whistleblower lawsuit, and the grilling on Capitol Hill, CEO John Stumpf finally resigned. Thats right folks, Morningstars CEO of the Year for 2015, gone 9 months later. This Morningstar CEO of the Year thing is beginning to turn into the Madden Curse. 2014, John Martin of Gilead GILD, gone in January of this year. 2012s entry, Merrill Pete Miller of National Oilwell Varco NOV, gone 11 months later. Can you guys please name Ted Phillips of the Bears the 2016 CEO of the Year? At least Stumpf took one for the team and stepped down. But is it enough? New CEO Tim Sloan said Our senior management could have and should have done more. We have a specific action plan in place to lead our company forward. Phew. Oh gosh, man, I was a little stressed out before but, you got a plan? Were good. So Tim Sloan is going to come in and clean house because hes coming over fromWells Fargo. Wait, so youre replacing the CEO with the former President and Chief Operating Officer. Bold move. I better stop talking trash or theyll never approve me for that auto loan. Good bye McLaren. Story continues So if you cant buy Deutsche Bank and you cant buy Wells Fargo, who can you buy ahead of a potential Fed rate hike in December? Look no further than Jamie Dimon at Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) JPMorgan Chase JPM. Another solid beat on improved trading and mortgage banking revenues, with EPS coming in at $1.58 versus our Zacks Consensus Estimate calling for $1.40. Every time you share this video, somebody spills a cup of hot cocoa at Deutsche Bank. Chime in the comments section below, tell me which bank stock you think is safest to buy right now. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Twitter @bartosiastics and come back here for all the Trending Stocks with Zacks.com, Im Dave Bartosiak. 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 DEUTSCHE BK AG (DB): Free Stock Analysis Report GILEAD SCIENCES (GILD): Free Stock Analysis Report NATL OILWELL VR (NOV): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium overcame a political deadlock over its budget late on Friday, Prime Minister Charles Michel said, after talks collapsed earlier this week straining his center-right coalition. "Agreement," Michel tweeted near midnight in Brussels on Friday in a statement confirmed by his spokesman. Michel had to postpone his planned annual address before parliament due to the lack of a deal earlier. The talks had failed when one of four parties in Michel's government, the Flemish Christian Democrats, demanded the introduction of a capital gains tax which the three other parties in the government opposed. The federal government had penciled in budget savings in excess of 3 billion euros ($3.36 billion) mainly by cutting back on pension and healthcare spending. Belgium's federal government, which has for years been trying to produce a balanced budget, is expected to run a deficit of about 2.8 percent this year, just below the European Commission's upper limit of 3 percent. ($1 = 0.8928 euros) (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel) Bella Thorne was told her bisexual announcement was too much by some Hollywood execs and thats not okay The gorgeous and talented Bella Thorne came out as bisexual earlier this year a move we cheered mightily and while her fans have been super supportive, it turns out that Hollywood has not. In a recent interview with Maxim, Thorne said, It is hard in this business for us. It really is. I have already had people talk shit to me. And it comes from people in the industry, not even fans. Ive had studios tell me my image is too out there, hinting at it but not really saying it. One word for that: UGH. The former Disney star, who got her start on Shake it Off, came out in August when a fan asked straightforwardly on Twitter if she was bisexual. Shed shared some photos on Snapchat that showed her kissing her best friend Bella Pendergast on the lips, piquing her fans curiosity; she answered her fans question with a simple Yes. wake me up when these damn girls will officially date @bellathorne i'm just a happy shipper pic.twitter.com/W0Xp64aXmm (@vodkaingomez) August 22, 2016 While Thorne is currently in a relationship with a man Tyler Posey she told Maxim that she looks for the same qualities in a partner, whether male or female. #mcm to this insanely talented punk bunny what up doggg #mine #mancrush #always A photo posted by BELLA (@bellathorne) on Oct 3, 2016 at 11:12am PDT [I look for] somebody who gets you, that relationship where somebodys just completely accepted who I am as a person and is just like, Fuck it! I love that. Were with you on that one, Bella! Story continues Happy Bisexual Visibility Day! My best friend Bella and I went camping and made life time memories. Not only today but all days we should celebrate acceptance of others. Be who you want to be and it will take you to being your happiest self! #bivisibilityday #creepphotocreds to @dani_thorne #love A photo posted by BELLA (@bellathorne) on Sep 23, 2016 at 4:02pm PDT Despite the industry backlash shes faced, Thorne certainly isnt starving for work. Shes currently set to star in 2017s Famous in Love, and has roles in the dark comedy Shovel Buddies and the Jessica Chastain-led film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Get it, girl! The post Bella Thorne was told her bisexual announcement was too much by some Hollywood execs and thats not okay appeared first on HelloGiggles. That was quick! Bethenny Frankel sold her New York City apartment in just one day. Frankel's four-bedroom loft, which is located in the Big Apple's Tribeca neighborhood, was listed for $6.95 million, and the mystery buyer clearly didn't waste time snatching up the property. EXCLUSIVE: Bethenny Frankel is 'Distancing' Herself from 'Real Housewives of New York': 'I Left it Behind' The 45-year-old reality star revealed just how fast the apartment sold while responding to tweet from the Wall Street Journal. "It was only one day!!! Yay," Frankel tweeted on Thursday. It was only 1 day!!! Yay @WSJRealEstate Bethenny Frankel (@Bethenny) October 13, 2016 NEWS: Bethenny Frankel Shares Epic #TBT With Halle Berry -- See the Pic! Frankel dropped $500,000 in renovations after purchasing the 3,300-square-foot property for $4.95 million in 2011. At the time, the reality star was married to ex Jason Hoppy, who continued to live in the apartment until this past July. "I'm glad that the real-estate gods were looking out for me saying, 'let's give her a break,'" Frankel told the Journal. Selling her apartment isn't the only exciting news that Frankel is celebrating. The Skinny Girl mogul also adopted two adorable puppies, named "Biggie" and "Smalls" to join her 15-year-old Lhaso Apso, Cookie. Frankel shared a video to Instagram on Thursday of her 6-year-old daughter Bryn watching as their "new furry friends" played an adorable game of tug-of-war. MORE: Bethenny Frankel is 'Pleased' She No Longer Has to Pay Ex Jason Hoppy $12,000 Per Month In Spousal Support Social media may be the only way fans will get to see more of Frankel's life from now on, provided that she doesn't return to the Real Housewives of New York City. Story continues Find out why Frankel has been distancing herself from RHONY in the video below. Related Articles Bethenny Frankel might have just won Throwback Thursday. The Real Housewives of New York star took to Instagram on Thursday to share the mother of all throwback shots, from a time when she competed in a beauty pageant against none other than Halle Berry. WATCH: Bethenny Frankel Details 'Traumatic' Divorce, Ex Jason Hoppy's Lawyer Calls Her Insensitive "Hi @halleberry #missteenlongisland #tbt," Frankel captioned the epic retro pic. Hi @halleberry #missteenlongisland #tbt A photo posted by Bethenny Frankel (@bethennyfrankel) on Oct 13, 2016 at 12:45pm PDT WATCH: EXCLUSIVE: Bethenny Frankel is 'Distancing' Herself from 'Real Housewives of New York': 'I Left it Behind' While Frankel's pageant career ended with her run-in with Berry, the Catwoman star went on to win first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant, and came in sixth place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986 -- making history as the first African American contestant to compete for the title. Though Berry inarguably fared well in the pageant circuit, her looks eventually became something to overcome in her career as an actress. "I came from the world of beauty pageants and modeling and right away when people heard that, I got discounted as an actor," Berry told W magazine. "So, I had the job of trying to eliminate that part of my persona. And I took on roles early on that really didn't rely on my physical self at all, and that was a good way to sort of get some credibility within my industry." These days, Berry has no problem embracing her beauty, recently sharing a sexy bikini shot on Instagram. WATCH: Halle Berry Welcomes 50th Birthday With 'Open Arms' and a Sexy Selfie See more in the video below. Related Articles Big Brother alums Jordan Lloyd and Jeff Schroeder are the proud parents of an adorable baby boy! The reality TV couple officially welcomed son Lawson Keith Schroeder on Thursday. WATCH: Big Brother Season 18 Crowns a Winner Find Out Who Took Home the Grand Prize! Schroeder announced the birth with a precious pic of the newborn swaddled in a hospital blanket while being cradled by Lloyd. "Welcome to the world Lawson Keith Schroeder. @bbjordanlloyddid great! #family," he captioned the sweet snapshot. Welcome to the world Lawson Keith Schroeder. @bbjordanlloyd did great! #family A photo posted by Jeff Schroeder (@jeffschroeder23) on Oct 13, 2016 at 11:54am PDT MORE: Julie Chen Sounds Off on 'Big Brother' Season 18 Showmances Schroeder, 38, and Lloyd, 29, became parents six months after revealing that they were secretly married. The twosome originally planned a September wedding in Mexico, but tied the knot early after learning that they were expecting. The newlyweds swapped out their destination nuptials for a civil ceremony at a Beverly Hills, California, courthouse. "It was really hard keeping it a secret," Lloyd told ET after the big reveal in April. "None of my girlfriends in Charlotte [North Carolina] knew that I was pregnant, or that we even got married." See more on the happy couple's emotional wedding in the video below. Related Articles By Romita Datta: Although the festival of Durga puja is over but the hangover seems to refuse to go. With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee choosing to paint the state in festive mood, the spirit of Durga puja continues to linger. The government has organised a grand parade of the 39 best pujas today; based on the category of pandal, Durga idol, lighting, decor and above all the atmosphere. The parade is being held along the main arterial road of the city. advertisement The city wants the flavour of the festival to stay on forgetting the traffic bottlenecks, congested roads and plight of commuters. The parade is going to be a visual treat for all those people, who could not go pandals hopping to watch some of the finest artistic creations. Also read: Novel way to keep Hooghly river clean during immersion BISWA BANGLA SHARAD SAMMAN Banerjee, who has visited close to 50 pandals, criss-crossing the northern and southern part of the city, has announced a special award - Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman for pujas which will fulfill all the criteria of hosting the community puja. The parade list has been drawn up from the list of recipients of Biswa Bangla Sarad Samman. Today, the whole of state's who's-who will assemble at the Red Road to watch the procession of Durga idols. The puja committees have been asked to organise tableaux to splash colours to the procession. Also read: Irrfan's Inferno to Priyanka's Baywatch: Indian actors are finding their footing in Hollywood The traditional dance of Bengal Chau, Santhali dance, classical, Manipuri, Bengal's baul and folk artists will perform as they trundle down the road along with the idols. There will be lights, songs, dance to the accompaniment of dhamsa-madol and Bengal's traditional dhaak. SWEET END The government is spending lakhs for the carnival to ensure a smooth ride for Durga idols before the immersion. Watch towers, giant screens and 1500 police personnel on ground are part of the event. Ambulances will keep a close watch on the programme. There is accommodation for 25,000 seats but going by the general euphoric mood of Bengalis and their love for the festival, the crowd could swell to over a lakh. Also read: Here are the top 5 Durga Puja pandals from across Delhi Banerjee will preside over the event and as a parting shot, the administration has arranged for sandesh, mihidana, rosogolla to be savoured as a sweet end to the festive season. --- ENDS --- Washington (AFP) - Some of the Republican Party's biggest financial donors urged its national committee on Thursday to drop Donald Trump following accusations he sexually assaulted women, The New York Times reported. In a further sign the Republican presidential candidate's free-falling campaign is sowing deep divisions within a party in crisis, the paper quoted some of those who have given millions of dollars to Republicans as saying the scandal surrounding the real estate billionaire threatens the party with lasting damage unless it repudiates him. "At some point, you have to look in the mirror and recognize that you cannot possibly justify support for Trump to your children -- especially your daughters," Missouri businessman David Humphreys told The New York Times, which said he contributed more than $2.5 million (2.3 million euros) in the past four years. "He is a dangerous demagogue completely unsuited to the responsibilities of a United States president," New York investor Bruce Kovner said in an email to the daily. "Even for loyalists, there is a line beyond which the obvious moral failings of a candidate are impossible to disregard," he wrote. "That line has been clearly breached." - Deepening rifts - The criticism extends to Republican leaders who continue to stick by Trump, including Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. "Reince should be fired and replaced with someone who has the competence and leadership skills to rebuild the RNC," California investor William Oberndorf told the paper. However, the party's major donors have little leverage over a candidate who is relying largely on his own money and many small donations from his far-right electoral base. The party's rift deepened on Monday, when House Speaker Paul Ryan -- the party's top elected official -- told hundreds of fellow House Republicans that he would no longer "defend" Trump. Story continues Ryan said he would instead spend the remainder of the campaign focusing on protecting the Republican congressional majorities ahead of the November 8 election. Since then, at least six women have accused Trump of making unwanted physical advances, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday's debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that he had never sexually assaulted a woman. The accusations surfaced after a video emerged of Trump boasting in 2005 of groping women with impunity because he was famous, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity. But the 70-year-old Trump remains defiant, castigating his accusers as "horrible liars" on Thursday and accusing Clinton of conspiring in a coordinated media attempt to sabotage his campaign. Speaking to The New York Times, former RNC finance chairman Al Hoffman summed up the feeling among dissenting donors: "We're headed for destruction." Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be tracking for you today: JPMorgan Chase (JPM) shares were higher in early trading. The nations biggest bank by assets handily beat estimates on both its top and bottom lines for the third quarter. Revenue rose 8.4% from a year ago as bond trading revenue surged 48%. JP Morgan also saw strong performance in its consumer lending, commercial banking and asset management businesses. Wells Fargo (WFC) shares were on the move this morning. Even though the embattled lender delivered earnings and revenue that topped forecasts. Profit fell nearly 4% from a year ago as the bank set aside funds for legal costs related to its sales practices scandal that forced CEO John Stumpf to step down earlier this week. The stock has been hit hard since the sales scandal broke in early September. Citigroup (C) also posted better than expected third quarter results. However, both earnings and revenue fell from a year ago. A jump in its bond trading and underwriting division was not enough to offset weakness in some of its other businesses. Yahoo (YHOO), our parent company, is on investors watch list. Verizons (VZ) attorney said late yesterday that the massive data breach of more than 500 million email accounts could have a material impact on the wireless carriers decision to buy Yahoo. Three women who accuse Bill Clinton of sexual assault and another woman angry that Hillary Clinton represented her rapist appeared on Sean Hannitys Fox News show Thursday night. Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey and Kathy Shelton all appeared as Donald Trumps guests at the second Presidential debate Sunday, after his campaign was thrown on defense by the release of a tape in which he bragged about his own ability to do whatever you want to women. Now they appear to be part of an ongoing effort by the Trump campaign to paint the Clintons enemies of women. On Tuesday, the four women sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannitywho has long praised Trump and appeared in an ad for the candidatein order to elaborate on their decades-old allegations against the Clintons. The first segment of Hannitys show featured Kathy Shelton, who was brutally raped at age 12 by a man whom Hillary Clinton later defended. Hannity made several factual inaccuracies in describing Clintons involvement: he said she was a public defender (she was actually a law instructor who ran a legal aid clinic) and he said she took the case as a favor to a friend (she was actually appointed by a judge, and only reluctantly agreed to take the case after her request to be removed was denied). But Sheltons story is devastating. At 12, she was brutally raped by 41-year old Thomas Alfred Taylor, injured so badly that she was in a coma for five days and robbed of the ability to have children. Hillary Clinton represented Taylor, encouraging him to plead guilty to a lesser charge so that he would spend only a year in prison, instead of the 15 the crime would ordinarily carry. Clinton also filed an affidavit requesting an evaluation of Shelton on the grounds that she could be emotionally unstable and children in early adolescence tend to exaggerate or romanticize. Candice Jackson, Kathy Sheltons attorney, told Hannity that the affidavit amounts to victim-blaming. All of the things that Hillary Clinton put in that affidavit were intended to portrayer her as a liar, someone who made up this rape, that if there was sex it was consensual as a 12-year-old virgin, she said. Story continues Just about every speech she gives, she says I care about women and children,' said Shelton. If she cared about children, she wouldnt have put me through what she put me through. Next, Hannity sat down with Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey, who have all alleged that Clinton sexually assaulted them at different points in his political career, and that Hillary Clinton tried to intimidate them into silence. Broaddrick says that Bill Clinton raped her in a Little Rock hotel room in 1978, when he was Attorney General of Arkansas, Jones says Clinton groped her while he was Governor of Arkansas and Willey says Clinton harassed her in the Oval Office while he was President. Only Joness case resulted in any kind of settlement (an $850,000 settlement with no admission of wrongdoing.) You can read more about all the allegations here. All three women said they thought it was important to share their stories with a younger generation who may not have been around when the allegations originally surfaced in the 1990s. I think its really important for the millennials to know, those that werent born when I came forward after Bill Clinton raped me, and those that were too young to understand what we went through, said Broaddrick. I thought also, we might possibly be able to bring this out and influence people, and be able to tell them that Hillary not for all women, Hillary is only for one woman, and thats herself. Broaddrick says that shortly after the alleged rape, she was approached by Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser and pressured to stay silent about what had happened. She pulls me into her and that very sweet voice fades to a very angry voice, a very low voice, and she pulls me close to her, and she says Do you understand everything you do? Broaddrick said. I felt like in that moment she knew everything and was saying You better keep quiet. All three women also blasted the mainstream media for ignoring their stories, but TIME had reached out to Broaddrick and Willey but they chose not to be interviewed. Everybody in the mainstream press is calling all of Bill Clintons crimes infidelities,' added Willey. Rape, sexual harassment and sexual assault are not infidelities.' All three women said they feared what would happen if Hillary Clinton became President. Theres been so many things that happened to so many people that are connected to the Clintons, Jones said. Shes gonna rule the world. Massachusetts federal Judge Mark Mastroianni has rejected a bold attempt to pin liability on Bill Cosby over what his representatives told the press in reaction to women who accused the entertainer of sexual assault. Cosby is facing a defamation lawsuit from seven women over statements from his reps that the assault claims were "fabricated," "ridiculous" and "absurd." In October 2015, Mastroianni allowed the lawsuit to proceed by declining Cosby's motion to dismiss. Last month, Joseph Cammarata, the attorney for the women, filed a motion for partial judgment on the pleadings. Cammarata pointed to Cosby's generalized responses in the answer to the complaint. There, Cosby's lawyers addressed various allegations by asserting they were either "conclusions or characterizations of law and therefore no response is required." The lack of specific denials, argued Cammarata, was a violation of civil procedure. The judge was asked to rule that Cosby admitted being liable for the publication of the statements, that the public knew that Cosby's representatives were speaking for Cosby, that the statements were widely and foreseeably republished, that the statements are of and concerning the plaintiffs and that Cosby and his representatives acted with intent to cause the women emotional distress. On Friday, Mastroianni denied the motion. The judge's order states he "rejects Plaintiffs' claim that a judgment on the pleadings is the relief available for these assertions of deficiencies in Defendant's answer." Mastroianni also notes that Cammarata's arguments would have been more properly brought as a motion to strike and knocked Cammarata for making an untimely challenge. The civil case is taking a backseat to the criminal one that Cosby is facing in Pennsylvania for allegedly sexually assaulting ex-Temple University employee Andrea Constand. But discovery and other activity in the defamation case proceeds. Story continues In the Constand case, a Pennsylvania appeals court this week turned down an attempt by Cosby's lawyers to review how the prosecution could only be proven through hearsay evidence. Nevertheless, Cosby's team has come forward with a protest to an alleged violation of the entertainer's due process rights. There are more big fireworks to follow in the Constand case, which is currently scheduled to go to trial in the middle of next year. For example, a status report filed on Oct. 11 in the defamation lawsuit stated that Cosby has until Nov. 8 to file a motion to change venue in the criminal matter. Cosby could potentially see some advantage to moving the Constand case away from Montgomery County, Pa., where his nonprosecution for more than a decade became a politically charged issue in the election of the district attorney, who now is pursuing the entertainer. It looks like Billy Bush is gearing up for a legal battle with NBC. The 45-year-old television personality has hired attorney Marshall Grossman for representation, ET can confirm. Marshall is no stranger to high-profile clients, having represented J.K. Rowling, Larry King, Mariah Carey, Erin Andrews, and more celebs in the past. Bush has been suspended indefinitely from his Today show job since Monday for his role in the 2005 tape of Donald Trump making lewd comments about women, in which the then Access Hollywood host could be heard laughing along. It remains unclear if he will be fired. WATCH: Meredith Vieira Says Donald Trump's Leaked Conversation With Billy Bush 'Wasn't Surprising' Grossman wouldn't comment on the negotiations with NBC, but did defend Bush's role in the Trump tape. "If Billy had been passive or responded 'Shut the f**k up' to Trump, Billy would have been out of a job the next day," Grossman tells ET. On Wednesday, ET confirmed that Bush has also hired a public relations crisis management company to help him handle the continued fallout from the video. Bush has already apologized for the tape, telling ET in a statement shortly after it surfaced, "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." In an internal memo obtained by ET, Today show senior producer Noah Oppenheim said on Sunday that "there is simply no excuse for Billy's language and behavior on that tape" and that Bush has been suspended "pending further review of this matter." WATCH: EXCLUSIVE -- Nancy O'Dell Addresses Donald Trump Comments on 'Entertainment Tonight' A few of Bush's past co-workers have defended him after the Trump scandal, including Kit Hoover, who hosted Access Hollywood Live with the father of three from 2010 to this year, when he left to co-anchor Today. Story continues "The tapes are inexcusable. But I'm watching this tape and I'm watching this person -- those tapes were a decade ago and it was seven minutes of someone's life," Hoover said to her new co-host, Natalie Morales, while discussing the tape. "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." Watch below: Related Articles NBC and Billy Bush are nearing a deal for the embattled Today co-host to resolve his differences with the network, Bush's lawyer tells The Hollywood Reporter. It is expected that Bush will leave the network as part of the multi-million dollar settlement, with an announcement coming as early as the end of the day Friday. Marshall Grossman, the Los Angeles litigator hired this week by Bush to negotiate his departure in the wake of the publication of audio and video of Donald Trump engaging in a misogynistic and predatory conversation with the former Access Hollywood host, says he and NBC representatives are close to a deal. The two sides have been holed up in a Los Angeles conference room, with NBC represented in the talks by its head of litigation and senior corporate executives. "The parties are negotiating a resolution of their differences at their highest level and I am personally optimistic that the matter will be resolved upon terms satisfactory to both parties," Grossman says. He declined to elaborate on the terms of a possible settlement or the timing of a deal, only saying that both sides will negotiate until the final pact can be hammered out. Bush is said to make about $3 million a year under his Today deal. Bush, 45, was suspended from Today following the uproar over the Trump tape, during which he can be heard egging on the now-Republican presidential contender and seen asking an NBC soap star to give Trump a hug. NBC initially indicated Bush may apologize and remain with the venerable NBC morning show but public pressure and opposition from many people at NBC led to his suspension. Negotiations with Bush were said to have been amicable but they hit a snag because his team felt NBC News was pinning blame for the Trump incident on Bush, who at the time of the 2005 Access segment was an NBC Universal employee interviewing an NBC star in The Apprentice's Trump to promote Trump's appearance on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. The impasse led Grossman to go public yesterday with a statement to THR: "If Billy had been passive or responded 'Shut the f - up' to Trump, Billy would have been out of a job the next day." Story continues After that statement was widely disseminated throughout NBC Universal, negotiations seem to have accelerated. Full disclosure: Early in his career, the author worked as a lawyer at a law firm run by Grossman. Read more: Billy Bush Lawyers Up, Goes on Attack in NBC Fight (Exclusive) Bangkok (AFP) - Massive crowds of weeping Thais and saluting soldiers lined the streets Friday as late King Bhumibol Adulyadej was borne through Bangkok, a day after his death left an apprehensive country facing an uncertain future. Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 88 on Thursday after years of ill health, ending seven decades as a stabilising figure in a nation of deep political divisions. The phenomenal reverence towards him in Thailand was on clear display as mourners sat for hours in Bangkok's urban heat awaiting the passage of his motorcade, in scenes reminiscent of religious devotees. Pensive-looking men and women dressed in black were jammed cheek by jowl along roadsides in the capital on the short route from the hospital where Bhumibol died to his royal palace. Some fainted and were carried away on stretchers, while others shouted "King of the people!" as the convoy of several vans bearing his body and the royal family slowly wheeled through hushed streets. The king ruled 70 years and was the only monarch most Thais knew. "We no longer have him," wept Phongsri Chompoonuch, 77, as she clutched the late monarch's portrait. "I don't know whether I can accept that. I fear, because I don't know what will come next." - Mourning begins - At the palace, the crown prince was to preside over the bathing of the king's body, a traditional Buddhist funeral rite and the start of official mourning that will include at least 100 days of chanting by monks and months more of palace rituals. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, is the king's named successor but has made a surprise request to delay formally assuming the throne, according to Thailand's junta leader, who appealed for citizens to "not cause chaos". Late Friday a senior junta official confirmed that under Thailand's constitution Prem Tinsulanonda, the head of Bhumibol's Privy Council, will act as regent until Vajiralongkorn officially takes the throne. Story continues "It's temporary to solve the immediate problem as the throne is vacant," deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngam told reporters. Prem is a retired general, a former prime minister and a staunch Bhumibol ally who remains sprightly and highly influential even at the age of 96. Bhumibol was seen as a pillar of stability during his politically turbulent reign, and uncertainty for the future rests largely on doubts over whether his son can exert the same calming moral authority. The crown prince spends much of his time overseas and does not command the reverence at home that his father did. There was no indication of a threat to the crown prince's eventual succession, however, and analysts said the pause could merely be out of respect for the deeply revered king. Strict lese majeste laws muffle detailed discussion of the sensitive succession issue. - 'Element of ambiguity' - "We maybe shouldn't read too much into (the delay)," said David Streckfuss, an expert on the Thai monarchy. "But we have already departed from what should have been a normal succession process. An element of ambiguity has been injected into the situation." The current junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014, saying it wanted to end a decade of political strife. Yingluck's brother, exiled tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, had previously been ousted in a 2006 coup. Since then, tensions have simmered between his throngs of supporters and a competing faction seen as aligned to the crown and military. Some analysts believe the 2014 takeover was prompted in part by concerns over an unstable succession in which Thaksin's faction could seek to exert influence. Bhumibol's reign saw decades of rapid economic development but also frequent military coups that set back democracy. Although the king approved most of the army's many successful coups, he also sometimes intervened to quell political violence, and his loss worries many Thais. "Now I am afraid of what may happen, about the administration of the country, the type of regime in the long term," said Arnon Sangwiman, a 54-year-old electricity company employee. Government offices and state-run enterprises were closed out of respect Friday, but commercial activity otherwise carried on. Stocks, pressured all week as the king's health worsened, rebounded Friday, with the benchmark index closing 4.59 percent higher. Authorities continued to interrupt all television programming in the country -- including international networks such as the BBC and CNN -- using their signals to broadcast non-stop hagiographic fare on the king's life. But colour was restored, a day after all TV images were transmitted in black and white out of mourning. Praise for Bhumibol's role as a ruler devoted to his subjects has poured in from across the globe including from US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. BlackRock, Inc. BLK is scheduled to announce its third-quarter 2016 results on Tuesday, Oct 18, before the market opens. This New York-based asset managers earnings lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate last quarter. Lower expenses failed to counter the revenue headwind witnessed during the quarter. Nonetheless, shares of BlackRock have gained more than 6% during the third quarter, indicating that investors cheered the companys activities. Further, the company has a decent earnings surprise history, as evident from the chart below: BLACKROCK INC Price and EPS Surprise BLACKROCK INC Price and EPS Surprise | BLACKROCK INC Quote Earnings Whispers Will BlackRock be able to reverse the trend this earnings season? Or will the company again succumb to broader economic challenges? Before we go into a detailed discussion about the factors that are likely to influence the results, lets check what our quantitative model predicts. Our quantitative model predicts that an earnings beat is quite likely. Here is what it indicates. Chances of BlackRock beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the third quarter are high. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better for this to happen. Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for BlackRock is +0.60%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate of $5.07 is above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.04. Zacks Rank: BlackRock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). This further increases the chance of an earnings beat. In addition, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BlackRock has been witnessing upward revisions over the last 30 days. Also, the estimate of $5.04 per share for the upcoming release indicates a year-over-year rise of 0.8%. Factors to Impact Q3 Results Though BlackRock continues dominating the ETF market with its brand initiatives for the iShares and ETF business, macroeconomic factors may adversely impact the companys results. Therefore, revenue growth is likely to remain challenging, while the companys efforts to grow its iShares and Retail offerings will help it scale up its assets under management (AUM) and boost margins. Notably, a sequential increase in margin is anticipated in the quarter due to the projected increase in average AUM. In the recent quarters, BlackRock attracted substantial funds in its index offerings. However, the active funds failed to generate alpha or premium returns. This trend is expected to have continued in the third quarter. However, expenses are likely to be on the higher side during the quarter due to a rise in employee compensation costs, as the performance of funds is expected to be better than the previous few quarters. Nonetheless, the company expects G&A expenses to remain stable in 2016 on a year-over-year basis. Other Stocks Worth A Look Here are a few finance stocks worth considering as they also have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. Synovus Financial Corporation SNV has an Earnings ESP of +2.00% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. It is scheduled to report results on Oct 18. State Street Corporation STT is slated to release results on Oct 26. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.80% and carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Raymond James Financial, Inc. RJF has an Earnings ESP of +2.04% and carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company is slated to release results on Oct 26. 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 STATE ST CORP (STT): Free Stock Analysis Report SYNOVUS FINL CP (SNV): Free Stock Analysis Report RAYMOND JAS FIN (RJF): Free Stock Analysis Report BLACKROCK INC (BLK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. By PTI: Srinagar, Oct 14 (PTI) National Conference President Farooq Abdullah today called a meeting of opposition parties of Kashmir to discuss the prevailing situation in the Valley which has crippled normal life for more than three months. "Abdullah has called a meeting of opposition parties and individual leaders to discuss the ongoing situation in Kashmir," a National Conference spokesman said. advertisement He said the aim of the meeting was to find a way out of the situation. Life in Kashmir has come to standstill for the past 98 days due to street protests which erupted after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8. The unrest has claimed 84 lives, including two cops, and left thousands of others injured in clashes between protestors and security forces. Shops, business establishments, petrol pumps and educational institutions have largely remained closed. Thousands of youths, including some top separatist leaders, have been arrested by police in an attempt to break the impasse. Over 300 persons have been booked under Public Safety Act (PSA). PTI MIJ AAR --- ENDS --- kanye west Bragging can be a good idea as long as evidence that comes along later will back you up. That's the conclusion of a paper published October 4 in the journal Social Psychology. Researchers out of Brown University presented subjects on Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform with short snippets of stories about people, like this one: Harry recently took a test designed to assess his general intelligence. When asked to report how he thought he did, he responded, better than the average person. In fact, it turns out that he actually did beat the average overall score on the general intelligence test. In other versions of the story, the test-taker doesn't brag but scores highly, brags but gets a below-average score, or doesn't brag and gets a low score. In a second study presented the same paper, subjects only read that the test-taker bragged or did not brag without learning the result of the test. "We tried to change the decision to brag or to boast or to 'self-enhance' into a strategy," said Patrick Heck, an author on the study. The goal was to evaluate how useful a strategy it is in different situations. The study subjects rated the imagined test-takers on their competence and morality two dimensions of how people understand one another laid out by Princeton psychologist Susan Fiske. A bragger who can't live up to their own claims comes off as the least competent. But the other two braggers the one who backs up his words with a great score, and the one whose score remains hidden come off as more competent than non-braggers. But there's also a way even successful braggers get punished: They seem less moral. Whether or not they backed up their words with actions, subjects judged braggers as more immoral than non-braggers. And there's another benefit to not bragging. If a person predicts they'll get a low score on the test, and then does get a low score on the test, they seem significantly less incompetent than the bragger who gets a low score. Story continues "So if you found yourself in a job interview," Heck said, "and you could slow down time and you think about the decision you're about to make: Do I claim to be better than other candidates? Or do I decide to be humble and say I'm worse in some ways than other candidates? The right answer sort of comes down to what you're most interested in emphasizing or protecting your perceived competence, or your perceived morality." At the same time, it's important to understand that this is a limited study. Subjects evaluated narrow, somewhat contrived stories taken outside the context in which most human interactions happen. There are plenty of issues that could complicate how this effect plays out in the real world. For example, all the test takers in the stories had male names. It's entirely possible that people punish women more (or less) for bragging in identical situations. And all the subjects came from the United States folks from different parts of the world might react to bragging in very different ways. NOW WATCH: A Harvard psychologist's advice on how to argue when you know you're right More From Business Insider By Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - A federal judge in Brazil ruled on Thursday that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial for an alleged bribery scheme related to work by construction giant Odebrecht in Angola. It's the second time in less than a month that a federal judge has ruled that Lula, a two-term president who left office in 2011 as Brazil's most popular president with an 83-percent approval rating, must stand trial. [nL2N1BW244] Lula faces allegations of corruption, money laundering and obstruction of justice related to a sprawling kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, which prosecutors allege he orchestrated for more than a decade. Thursday's decision by Judge Vallisney Oliveira in Brasilia centers on allegations Lula and others took 30 million reais ($9.3 million) in bribes to help win low-interest financing from the BNDES development bank for Odebrecht projects in Angola. Lula's lawyers denied the accusations. [nL1N1CG15Q] Last month, Judge Sergio Moro ruled that Lula would stand trial on charges he was a "direct beneficiary" of 3.7 million reais in bribes from OAS SA, one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the graft scandal. Separately, Moro decided on Thursday to try Eduardo Cunha, former speaker of the lower house of Congress, for his alleged role in the Petrobras corruption scandal. [nL1N19T1G4] As speaker, Cunha led the successful drive to impeach former President Dilma Rousseff for breaking budgetary rules - a move Rousseff and her supporters call a "coup" in retaliation for her not trying to quash the aggressive Petrobras investigation. Rousseff, who served as the chairwoman of the Petrobras board for several years as the kickback scheme played out, is being investigated for obstruction of justice in the graft probe, but has not been charged with any crimes. ($1 = 3.22 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks and Tatiana Ramil in Sao Paulo; Editing by Sandra Maler) SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA on Friday reported its strongest third quarter for commercial jet deliveries in seven years, boosting shares on hopes that a strong result in its airline division would offset weak demand for executive jets. Embraer delivered 29 of its E-Jets to commercial airlines from July through September, the division's best performance for the period since 2009, putting the company on track to hit a full-year delivery target of 105 to 110 deliveries. The success of Embraer's narrow-body medium-range E-Jet airliners has made it the world's third-largest commercial planemaker. Embraer shares rose 2.6 percent in Sao Paulo, among the strongest gainers on the benchmark Bovespa stock index <.BVSP>. BTG Pactual analysts said commercial jet deliveries beat their expectations by eight aircraft, but they warned that competitive pricing pressures for executive jets would still weigh on earnings, which are scheduled for release on Oct. 31. Third-quarter executive jet deliveries slipped to 25 aircraft from 30 planes a year earlier, although deliveries of larger models rose by a third to 12 aircraft, boosted by stronger demand for the new Legacy 450/500 model. Embraer's order backlog, a gauge of its revenue in the pipeline, fell to $21.4 billion at end-September from $21.9 billion at end-June, marking its first quarterly drop in a year-and-a-half. (Reporting by Brad Haynes, additional reporting by Silvio Cascione in Brasilia, editing by W Simon) The Hague (AFP) - Dutch top bank ING said Friday it is moving dozens of trading jobs to London, defying expectations of an exodus of financial sector professionals from Britain because of Brexit. An ING spokeswoman said 60 jobs would be moved from Amsterdam and Brussels to the City of London to join its corporate finance banking team of 650 people already working there, creating a single unit. "It makes more sense to regroup functions that belong together," spokeswoman Carolien van der Giessen told AFP, adding that ING will deal with the consequences of Britain's departure from the EU when its modalities become clear. "Even if Brexit has important consequences, they are currently very difficult to envisage. When the time comes, we'll see what we can do," she said. In the meantime, the City of London remains attractive because of "a great pool of talent", she said. The EU has warned Britain that it will not allow Britain to cling to advantages for its financial industry while blocking free movement of labour in the wake of Brexit. London's financial district has benefited from Britain's EU membership as a foothold in the single market for British and non-EU banks. Huge volumes of euro-denominated trade pass through Britain thanks to so-called "passporting" rules, which allow the UK to host transactions in the single currency despite not itself being a part of the eurozone. But in the wake of the nation's June 23 vote to quit the European Union, that access may be under threat. Several major players in the sector, including US giant JP Morgan and Swiss UBS, have warned that thousands of jobs could leave the "Square Mile" financial district for the continent if that happens. * PM May meets Nissan CEO in Downing Street * Nissan investment decision due by year-end - source * Ghosn called for Brexit compensation deal last month * May says to promote car industry competitiveness (Recasts, adds quotes, source) By Costas Pitas LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Nissan will decide by the end of the year whether to build its new Qashqai SUV model at Britain's biggest car plant, a source told Reuters, after CEO Carlos Ghosn met Prime Minister Theresa May to seek reassurance over the impact of Brexit. Just weeks after telling Britain that he could scrap new investment unless he got a guarantee of compensation for costs related to Brexit, Chief Executive Ghosn held talks with May in her Downing Street residence in central London. Businesses have been concerned that Britain is headed towards a "hard Brexit", which would leave it outside the European single market and facing tariffs of up to 10 percent on car exports. Nissan, which made nearly one in three of Britain's 1.6 million cars last year, already builds the Qashqai sport utility vehicle at its Sunderland plant in northern England. The time it takes to bring a new car into production means Nissan needs to decide on the location of its next generation model soon. "The decision-making process is in the next few weeks and months with a decision expected before the end of the year," a company source told Reuters on Friday, adding that the location might not be announced until early next year. The source also said that a further meeting between May and Ghosn had not been scheduled but that senior Nissan and government officials would continue meeting in the coming weeks. After speaking to May, Ghosn did not disclose whether the issue of compensation had been raised. "I am confident the British government will continue to ensure the UK remains a competitive place to do business," said Ghosn, nicknamed "le cost killer" for slashing expenditure at French carmaker Renault which he also heads. Story continues STAYING COMPETITIVE Ghosn's concerns over trade barriers led other carmakers to warn about the consequences of a "hard Brexit", favoured by some ruling Conservatives who wish to impose limits on immigration, a key concern of many voters who backed Brexit in June's referendum. The chief executive of Britain's biggest automaker Jaguar Land Rover told Reuters that any Brexit deal would have to guarantee a "level playing field", opening up the possibility that others too would seek financial guarantees. The government has said it would do everything it could to encourage, develop and support strategic sectors of the economy such as car manufacturing. May said on Friday she would cooperate with the Japanese carmaker in the future. "We will continue to work with Nissan as we develop the environment for competitiveness of the automotive industry here in the UK to ensure its success," she said after meeting Ghosn. Last month Japan published a list of requests to Britain and the EU over Brexit, including maintaining the current duty-free trade between Britain and the EU and preventing any additional customs clearance burden on trade. Nissan, Toyota and Honda together built almost half of all of Britain's cars in 2015. The largely foreign-owned car industry was a strong supporter of continued membership of the European Union ahead of the June 23 vote, benefiting from unfettered access to the world's biggest trading bloc and its standardised regulations. On Wednesday, a dispute between Britain's biggest retailer Tesco and consumer goods company Unilever caused by a plunge in the pound since Britons voted to leave the EU highlighted business tensions following Brexit. Ghosn said that it was important that the Sunderland facility, which directly employs 7,000 people and many more through the supply chain, remains one of the firm's most efficient plants. "We want to ensure that this high-performing, high-employment factory remains competitive globally and continues to deliver for our business and for Britain." (Additional reporting by Kylie Maclellan; editing by Guy Faulconbridge/Keith Weir) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Britain will present a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire in Yemen following the deadly air strike on a funeral ceremony, the British ambassador said Friday. "We have decided to put forward a draft Security Council resolution on Yemen calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a resumption of the political process," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. The draft text which will also press for access for humanitarian aid is expected to be circulated to the council's 15 members in the coming days, diplomats said. The decision to seek a formal resolution came after Russia blocked a statement drafted by Britain that condemned the air strike, apparently carried out by the Saudi-led coalition, that killed more than 140 mourners. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the statement was "wishy-washy," and called for "some very serious thinking" on how to address the deteriorating situation in Yemen. One of the poorest countries in the Arab world, Yemen slid deeper into chaos when the coalition launched an air campaign in March 2015 to push back the Iranian-backed Huthi rebels who seized territory including the capital Sanaa. Russia, which has friendly relations with Iran, has criticized Western backing for the coalition and pointed to the carnage in Yemen in response to criticism of Moscow's campaign in Syria. A US warship in the Red Sea was targeted by a missile fired from territory held by the Huthi rebels after the attack on the funeral ceremony. The Huthis have denied any involvement. The United States, which has said it will review its support to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, has launched cruise missiles at Huthi sites in retaliation. More than 6,700 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed in Yemen since the coalition first intervened, according to the United Nations. Yemen ranks as a level 3 emergency -- the highest on the UN humanitarian scale -- with nearly 70 percent of the population of 21 million facing food shortages. Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper is no stranger to pop culture, and hes never been afraid to show it. The right fielder was pictured taking batting practice before a decisive Game 5 against the Dodgers with a bat that had a stamp of the late, great Harambe, the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla tragically shot to death last May after a child fell into his enclosure. Now, some would say that Harambe memes have had their summer of fun and should be quietly shown the door, but if theres anyone that can keep something cool, its Harper. We can all recall the time he was the king of keeping things 100, and if this gets a similar reaction, hell continue his reign of being simultaneously the most loved and hated player in the league. Frankly, we say all neutral fans should cheer for the Nationals just to see what else Harpers stamp/stencil guy can come up with for the rest of the playoffs. Stamp/stencil guy: if youre reading this, get on the Ken Bone image post-haste. Itll even match the Nationals colors! Of course, Bones already started selling out, so hes only got a couple more days on the shelf before its not fun anymore. Then again, Bryce is so dang cool he could probably pull off the Ken Bone bat sarcastically and still come off awesome. The guy cant not be cool. By PTI: Muzaffarpur, Oct 14 (PTI) An FIR has been lodged against two students, who are brothers, of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Muzaffarpur, for brutally assaulting one of their classmates in a suspected case of ragging. The FIR was lodged against the two after a video of the assault appeared on the social media yesterday. On the direction of Union minister of state for HRD Upendra Kushwaha, a four-member team of Kendriya Vidyalaya visited the school today to inquire into the incident. advertisement "On the directive of the senior superintendent of police, an FIR was lodged yesterday against the two students for beating their classmate," Kaji Muhammadpur police station SHO Mithilesh Kumar Jha told PTI. Rajiv Ranjan, the Principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gannipur, Muzaffarpur, had lodged a written complaint with the Kaji Muhammadpur police station on the basis of which the FIR was lodged. The purported video of the incident shows the two accused brothers-- one of them a student of class 12 and another class 11-- pushing and thrashing the victim, a student of class 12, in the presence of some other schoolmates on September 25. The two accused are said to be related to a criminal who is absconding in connection with several cases. PTI CORR AR SNS MM TIR --- ENDS --- The fact that we successfully managed to host this years edition against all odds itself is a miracle, Busan Film Festival director Kang Soo-youn told Variety. The two-year struggle between festival organizers and city authorities ended up costing the festival in terms of lost sponsorship and lower star power. It also tore the local film industry into two. We had to largely downsize the Asian Film Market and skip sidebar events, because we didnt manage enough sponsorship, said Kang. She added that there were more practical difficulties. In the morning of Oct. 5, I woke up, feeling that the hotel was shaking. I went straight to the Haeundae beach in the storm to check the BIFF Village only to witness debris floating in the sea. The first thing that came to my mind was maybe were not meant to make it happen this year. All events that were originally set at the damaged BIFF Village were relocated to the Busan Cinema Center. That had the effect of reinforcing the Festival Center as a hub for BIFF visitors. Similarly, Kang said the Korean film industrys boycott ended up doing the festival some good, even though it had been a hindrance to preparations. Those who are still boycotting us are also our supporters, said Kang. The act of boycott has largely helped create a public opinion in favor of the BIFF, both locally and internationally. The international film industries support was what make the miracle happen in a very difficult situation where we had less than two months to prepare, under our first chairman from the non-government sector, she said. [The remaining boycotters are] supporting our independence in their own way, by showing that they wont support us unless the authorities give us freedom of expression in terms of programming. The actress-turned-festival director, however, was skeptical about the festivals financial independence from the government. We definitely need the money from the city and central government, she said. Some say we should launch more revenue-making businesses to secure our own budget, but I think that would weaken the BIFFs identity as a film festival, a launchpad for young, rising Asian auteurs. Story continues Kang says the budget from the government for the next edition has yet to be confirmed. Everything will have to wait until the festival wraps, she said. Regarding personnel, Kang said she would need Kim Dong-ho, the newly appointed festival chairman, for another few years. I feel sorry that we had to bring him back, after he had retired with honor, said Kang. In fact, Kim was the last person that the city wanted to see in the chairmans position. [] But he did lots of work to put the BIFF back on track, and there are still a lot more problems to solve. We still need him for next editions. The festival will wrap its 10-day journey tomorrow (Oct. 15) with Iraq-Germany-Qatar co-produced The Dark Wind, directed by Hussein Hassan. Related stories Busan: Festival Trio in Contention for APSA UNESCO Prize Busan: 'Diamond' Team Enters Cambodia's 'White Building' Busan: SHINee Star Choi Min-ho Helps Indie Drama 'Derailed' Make Splash Three films premiering this week at the Busan Film Festival are among the five titles shortlisted by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for the UNESCO-sponsored APSA Cultural Diversity Award. The three are: Knife in the Clear Water (aka Qingshui Li De Daozi) in the New Currents section; The Bonfire (aka Kostior na Vetru) in the Flash Forward program; and The Dark Wind (aka Reseba,) which is set as the festivals closing night gala presentation. They are joined by Egyptian documentary filmmaker Tamer El Saids debut narrative feature In The Last Days Of The City (aka Akher Ayam El Madina) and Turkish director Mustafa Karas second feature film and Turkeys official submission for the 89th Academy Awards Cold of Kalandar (aka Kalandar Sogugu) in the running for the prize. All five are the works of first, second or third feature filmmakers. This important and prestigious award is presented annually for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through the medium of film. We are proud to work in collaboration with UNESCO and look forward to screening the winning film at UNESCOs Paris headquarters next year, said Michael Hawkins, chairman of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its academy. The APSA awards will be presented at a ceremony in Brisbane, Australia on November 24. Related stories Busan: Festival Director Kang Soo-youn Hails 21st BIFF a 'Miracle' Busan: 'Diamond' Team Enters Cambodia's 'White Building' Busan: SHINee Star Choi Min-ho Helps Indie Drama 'Derailed' Make Splash Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - With scores killed in fresh sectarian violence and militia fighters still refusing to disarm, Central African Republic is on a razor's edge weeks before a French troop pullout and a key donors' conference. After more than two years of brutal slaughter between Christian and Muslim groups that displaced one out of 10 of the country's 4.5 million people, CAR had appeared to be returning to normal, holding peaceful elections early this year after a visit by the pope. But despite 12,000 UN peacekeepers and a few hundred remaining French troops, tensions are high and tens of thousands of people are still displaced and in need of aid. This week saw 30 killed and scores more hurt when fighters from a mainly-Muslim militia group attacked civilians and clashed with UN peacekeepers. The week before a dozen people died in the capital in fighting between Muslim forces and Christian vigilantes. At the end of this month, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian flies into the capital, Bangui, to wind up French military Operation Sangaris, launched in December 2013 amid fears of an imminent sectarian bloodbath. After an earlier scale-back only 350 troops remain. - No effective army - CAR plunged into chaos after the March 2013 ousting of long-serving president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance -- triggering revenge attacks and a spiral of atrocities in which thousands were slaughtered. But in February this year, Central Africans managed to calmly vote into office former university professor President Faustin-Archange Touadera. He took charge however of a state with little authority and no effective army. Security is effectively overseen by the United Nations and constantly threatened by warlords whose armed bands are a legacy of decades of instability and who have been deaf to calls for DDRR (Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration and Repatriation). Story continues "Wherever there are armed groups, the authority of state is not complete," said Gaston Yendemo, chief administrator of the central Nana-Gribizi region where this week's clashes took place. - 'Disproportionate response' - The violence in the central market town of Kaga Bandoro began when a member of the mainly Muslim ex-Seleka militia was killed as he and three others tried to steal a generator from a local radio station. "There was a disproportionate response from ex-Seleka people, who attacked civilians including displaced people hiding in church premises," said a MINUSCA statement. The fighters then attacked a camp for displaced people as well as NGO offices. UN troops from Burundi and Pakistan hit back to protect civilians, killing 12 of the assailants. "Five thousand more displaced people from the bishop's quarters have taken refuge next to the MINUSCA base," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced later. The UN mission has several times been criticised for not lifting a finger during clashes, while some of its soldiers have been accused of sexually abusing Central African civilians. A similar accusation hangs over a small number of French soldiers. Aid workers meanwhile, who are often targeted, are withdrawing making the situation worse for ordinary people. "In Kaga Bandoro alone, the reduction of humanitarian activity has deprived at least 200,000 people of help. In the region, food insecurity affects 120,000 people and 73,206 people are still displaced," OCHA reports. Floods, cholera and the occupation of schools by armed groups makes life even more difficult. UN Deputy Secretary General Herve Ladsous earlier this month urged the world to stand by CAR at a donors' conference taking place in Brussels on November 17. The shipping industry continues to weather a storm, but calmer seas may be ahead. Global demand for shipping fell after the economic downturn and has not completely recovered. The slackening of demand has been further exacerbated as manufacturers built factories in Latin America and don't need as much stuff hauled from Asia. At the same time, the industry has been awash in extra ships. Vessels ordered during better times took years to build and weren't delivered until well into the global financial downturn. That means shippers lost their pricing power and couldn't charge as much to haul the world's goods across its oceans. [See: 7 Stocks to Buy When a Recession Hits.] The Baltic Dry index -- which measure in what shippers charge to haul raw materials such as iron ore, coal, cement, fertilizer and grain and offers a proxy for global trade in general -- hit a record high of 11,793 in 2008 but had dropped to a record low less than 300 points in February. It has rebounded to about 900. At the end of August, one of the world's largest container shipping companies, Hanjin Shipping Co., filed for bankruptcy in its home country of South Korea and in the U.S. in early September. This led to logistical headaches with thousands of empty shipping containers. At one point, some $14 billion of goods were stranded at sea around the globe, a particularly bad time for retailers expecting to receive goods for the holidays, according to the Wall Street Journal. Even though some shippers specialize in metal ore and coal while others move crude oil and natural gas, the generally low level of economic activity around the globe has hurt shippers of all stripes by lessening the demand for energy products and other commodities, says Jim King, managing director of exchange-traded fund portfolio management with Guggenheim Investments. "It's all been kind of bad news across the entire spectrum," King says. "It was just a matter of time before the weaker players would exit the business." Story continues With a lot of bigger shipping companies operating at or near break-even, there may be more bankruptcies on the horizon depending on companies' capital structure and how much cash they have on hand to help weather the bad times, he says. Now would be a good time for investors to get a bargain on buying an actual ship, King says with a laugh. But whether or not it is bargain hunting time with actual shipping stocks is more difficult to call, he says. [See: Oil ETFs: 8 Ways to Invest in Black Gold.] There are some signs that things may turn around. Contracts for new ships are at an all-time low, he says. That means there won't be as many new vessels coming online as older boats outlive their usefulness by being too expensive to maintain or burning too much fuel and are sold for scrap. So the market could see a capacity decline over the next year or two, King says. If scrap metal prices rise, incentivizing companies to sell boats for scrap, and if that combines with an uptick in the global economy, restoring shippers pricing power, that could spell a rebound for shipping companies, he says. Guggenheim runs what is apparently the only pure-play shipping ETF, called the Guggenheim Shipping ETF (SEA). King says the fund has tripled in size since hitting a low in February. It now has about $60 million in assets under management. "I think some people are thinking maybe the worst is behind us," he says. "Somebody thinks it's a good time to buy." But even if investors are early and don't see the share price appreciation they want to, the ETF also has a dividend yield of around 9 percent. Regenia Sanders, vice president and head of the supply chain practice at SSA & Co., thinks investors should wait and see how the Hanjin bankruptcy affects the industry. If other shipping companies leverage technology and partner with carriers like DHL so that shipping isn't such an isolated part of the supply chain, then things could start looking up, Sanders says. Technology shippers could utilize includes data and the internet of things and building more advanced ships, she says. Sanders says there is room for competitors to enter the market who can improve on transparency of tracking containers globally, and there could be room to create alliances for container exchanges so not as many containers are idle at one time, she says. [Read: How to Hedge Against Inflation With Commodities.] "It's a pivotal point in the shipping industry to see where it goes," she says. More From US News & World Report By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Canada's big railways are pressing Ottawa to loosen rules around hauling the country's crops, changes they say would improve efficiency but that farmers fear would weaken their bargaining power. A February report recommended that Ottawa institutes transportation system changes, including phasing out a 16-year-old cap on revenue that Canadian National Railway Co and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited earn hauling western grain. Transport Minister Marc Garneau has spent months meeting shippers and railways, and has a last meeting Oct. 20 with farmers. He will announce decisions this autumn, spokesman Marc Roy said. Railways struggled to move the huge 2013 harvest during a harsh winter, angering farmers. The former Conservative government imposed grain volume minimums and expanded interswitching, the transfer of cars from one railway's line to another's. Expanded interswitching remains, while Ottawa removed monthly grain minimums but kept the authority to impose them again. Railways say the measures, including the revenue cap, distort markets and offer less reason to invest. "We can buy more modern cars, larger capacity cars if we let the commercial process work," Canadian Pacific Chief Operating Officer Keith Creel said in an interview. "Mistrust between the railway and the farmer is going to have to be healed for that to happen." CP asked Ottawa to scrap the cap and eliminate expanded interswitching, which allows U.S.-based BNSF Railway Co to take certain Canadian shipments without adequately compensating railways for using their railroad, Creel said. BNSF declined to comment on compensation. The railway has not made requests to Ottawa regarding interswitching, said spokesman Mike Trevino. CN wants Ottawa to move away from regulated grain volumes, expanded interswitching and the cap, said spokeswoman Kate Fenske. Farmers fear they won't get fair treatment without the cap, since nearly all 400 Western Canada crop facilities are served by a single railway. Story continues "There isn't competition in the system," said Ron Bonnett, president of farmer organization Canadian Federation of Agriculture. Grain companies want Ottawa to preserve interswitching, which introduced needed competition, said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of Western Grain Elevator Association, whose members include Richardson International and Viterra . Canpotex, the offshore potash exporter for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, Mosaic Co and Agrium Inc , wants equal treatment of commodities, and no reinstatement of grain minimums, said Chief Executive Ken Seitz. "We don't want the government to pick winners and losers," said Brendan Marshall, vice-president of economic affairs at Mining Association of Canada, which includes Teck Resources Ltd . (Editing by Bernadette Baum) New York (AFP) - The Christie's auction house in New York will offer for sale one of Claude Monet's celebrated "haystack" paintings, valued at an estimated $45 million, which should reconfirm collectors' appetite for Impressionist art. With wealthy Chinese collectors expressing keen interest in such works, the painting -- part of a series of haystack pictures painted by Monet during the winter of 1890-91 from his French home in Giverny -- will first be presented next week in Hong Kong. It will then be shown in London before returning to New York in early November. This canvas, representing a simple cone-shaped haystack at dusk, is one of the rare works in this series to still be in private hands, Christie's said. Most of the others are in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, or the Art Institute of Chicago. This painting, to be auctioned on November 16, was acquired in September 1891 by the Knoedler & Co. art gallery, which brought it to the United States. In recent years, prices for works by Monet or other celebrated Impressionists have shot through the roof. The record for a Monet was set in June 2008, when a work from his "Water Lilies" series -- "Le Bassin aux Nympheas" -- was sold by Christie's in London for 40.9 million pounds ($80.1 million). By Sarah B. Boxer As Donald Trump has spent the last week doubling down on his defense of past conduct and comments toward women, he is also doubling down on a strong stance he took during a decades-old crime in New York that divided the city to its core. In 1989, the nation was gripped by the story of five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were convicted of raping a white woman in New York Citys Central Park. They were later exonerated. Trump took out an ad in four major papers at the time calling for the death penalty to be reinstated with regard to this case. They admitted they were guilty, Trump wrote last week in a statement to CNNs Miguel Marquez. The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same. Now, in an interview with Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga, one of the Central Park Five says that he is absolutely considering suing Donald Trump for recent comments he made about the case. Speaking to Yusef Salaam, who was 15 when the crime occurred in 1989, Golodryga said, Theres concrete evidence, in the form of DNA, that proves that you, in fact, and the four others, were not the perpetrators of this crime. That evidence is known. Donald Trump knows that it exists as well. Given that, and given what he just said a few days ago, years after that DNA evidence was proven, do you plan on suing him? You know, we definitely if our lawyers move forward and tell us that we can do that, then that is exactly the option that we will take. The great thing about today is that the statute of limitations has not expired. And if we have the opportunity do to just that, we will absolutely do that, Salaam said. In a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, Salaam wrote that he fears for his life in the wake of Trumps most recent comments about the case. When I heard Trumps latest proclamation, it was the worst feeling in the world. I couldnt breathe. I am overwhelmed with fear that an overzealous Trump supporter might take matters into his or her hands. Like a soldier always on high alert, I can never enjoy myself fully, with all the adrenaline that comes with that. Its a scary feeling. Story continues Golodryga asked Salaam how real his fear of physical danger is. Im absolutely worried, Salaam said, sighing. He pointed to physical violence that has occurred at Trumps rallies and that even his ardent supporters have been on the receiving end of. These people, some of them, have been punched, beat, dragged out on stretchers I mean, these are the supporters. So if you have Donald Trump making statements like this, that he still believes were guilty Theyre so enamored by this man that any one of them, at any point in time, could probably think to themselves, You know what, let me do Donald Trump a favor, because I so believe in this man that he wasnt able to get these guys killed back in 1989, I think we could try to do this today. Thats a very, very real fear that I have. Salaam said that he has received threats on Twitter and even got an erroneous alert on his phone saying that someone with his name had been shot dead on his home steps. When I saw that, a chill ran down my spine, he told Golodryga. It was almost as if Im looking at something now that is predicting whats going to happen in the future. Its a very, very scary place to be. Golodryga asked Salaam what he would say to Trump if given the opportunity. Hes already said that if he doesnt win youll never see him again. I think that he should leave us all alone. Do us all a favor. We dont want to go backwards in time. We want to move forward as a people. Our cover story, looks at the China-Pakistan embrace and why India should be worried about it. We examine what has brought the two countries closer together, where they are headed, and how Modi and his foreign policy experts should deal with it. The 1960s were a complicated time for India's foreign policy, particularly in relation to its northern neighbours. It was a decade in which we fought a war along our western frontier with Pakistan and along our Himalayan frontier with China, leading to the two of them forging a close association, soon cemented by the construction of the Karakoram Highway. An enemy's enemy, after all, is a friend. The friendship grew to a point where both China and Pakistan have described their alliance as "higher than the Himalayas, deeper than the oceans, and sweeter than honey". Beyond such torrid rhetoric, the relationship held immense strategic value for both countries, with China offering Pakistan missiles and aircraft, and illicitly helping its nuclear programme. For several years, though, the partnership was largely military. Later, as India experienced its initial post-liberalisation boom, China's interest in servicing the Indian market prompted it to get closer to New Delhi by striking 'a better balance' between India and Pakistan. Over the past few years, however, China and Pakistan have been drawing closer again-dangerously close from an Indian perspective. China's mandarins have now coined a new epithet for Pakistan, describing it as 'Ba tie', or 'iron brother'. advertisement At the core of the new closeness is the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), linking Kashgar, in China's western Xinjiang province, to Gwadar, on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, which already includes energy deals worth $35 billion and infrastructure projects costing $11 billion. The CPEC windfall will potentially shore up Pakistan's teetering economy, ensuring a stable western periphery for China. It will provide a foreign outlet for China's enterprises, which are struggling with overcapacity at home. It will also have immense strategic value because it will secure China's direct access to the Arabian Sea, ending its fear that a rival power could block the narrow Malacca Straits and hold the Chinese economy hostage. The CPEC is moving China and Pakistan to a place where they will be stakeholders in each other's future, with the balance tilted in China's favour given its greater economic and military might. The new proximity has manifested itself on the global stage over the past few months-usually at India's cost. China stonewalled India's bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in June, saying that if India is included, Pakistan should be too. It also blocked India's demand that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) designate the Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar a terrorist in March, and then again in September, even though Azhar's organisation had already been banned by the UN committee. These events highlight a strategic shift in China's two-decade-old policy of attempting to walk the line between its historical ties with Islamabad and its sensitive but improving relationship with New Delhi. This is a critical issue that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have to address when they meet in Goa at the BRICS summit, Pakistan looming over them, conspicuous despite its absence. As tension mounts in the region, particularly after the Uri terror attack and India's retaliatory surgical strikes across the Line of Control, our cover story, written by Associate Editor Ananth Krishnan, who is based in Beijing, looks at the China-Pakistan embrace and why India should be worried about it. We examine what has brought the two countries closer together, where they are headed, and how Modi and his foreign policy experts should deal with it. advertisement It is often said that China has become a superpower in many ways but has still not outgrown its Third World country mentality of only looking at narrow self-interest. As a superpower, it must surely see that terrorism is a global threat and supporting a state known for sponsoring terror shows its own inability to rise above selfish economic interest. It should take a far more long-term view by encouraging Pakistan to abandon this self-destructive path. Simultaneously it should work with India to bring peace and prosperity to the whole region. With the Indian and Chinese economies expanding at a pivotal moment in global politics, the pay off for this will be huge for all. --- ENDS --- Brussels (AFP) - The parliament of the Belgian region of Wallonia voted Friday to block the CETA free trade deal between the EU and Canada, showing how one rebel local government can sink a key global agreement years in the making. Officially known as the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, activists brand it a Trojan horse for a much more ambitious deal with the United States. The vote is also a stark wake-up call for Britain as it starts its negotiations for life outside the European Union. WHAT IS CETA? CETA is a free trade deal between Canada and the EU's current 28 nations, that was formally concluded in 2014 after five years of talks. Its backers tip it as a new kind of trade instrument linking highly developed Western economies that share a similar set values and traditions. But it is opposed by wide array of groups, including environmental activists, trade unionists, and Austrian and French-speaking Belgian Socialists. They say it is a test model to push through the even more controversial EU-US trade deal called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), still in negotiation. WHAT'S IN CETA? Except for a few sensitive agricultural products, CETA abolishes virtually all tariffs between Canada and the EU. Acquiescing to a European demand, Canada has agreed to substanially open up its public procurement to EU companies, which until now were basically barred from such contracts. The European Commission, which handles trade negotiations for the bloc, points to the 145 European Geographical Indications that will be protected on the Canadian market, ranging from champagne to parma ham and gorgonzola cheese CETA backers say the deal will boost trade in goods and services between Europe and Canada by more than 20 percent, and total EU GDP by about 12 billion euros ($13.4 billion) per year. WHAT IS INVESTOR PROTECTION? A key point of opposition to CETA, as for TTIP, is a built-in provision designed to help investors shield themselves from any government regulation that would violate the terms of the trade deal. Story continues Opponents say it allows commercial interests to force governments to change laws at the behest of private interests. In February, Canada accepted important modifications to the contested investor protection system, including leaving more power to governments to regulate freely and the creation of a full-fledged court that would handle complaints. HOW ARE TTIP AND CETA DIFFERENT? The deal with the US, the world's biggest economy and superpower, is seen as the bigger threat by anti-CETA protestors. Unlike CETA, TTIP is still under negotiation and far from the finish line even though talks began in 2013. This month, negotiators conceded that the talks would need to continue beyond the Obama administration, promising even further delays. Closely run elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands in 2017 will also likely delay negotiations. "It's the first time that the EU is negotiating an accord with an economy of a similar size," said Sebastien Jean of the CEPII think tank in Paris regarding the US deal. Worries are rife on both sides of the Atlantic that one power is trying to impose an economic model on the other, he added. WHAT NEXT? EU trade ministers are set to meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday to give their final greenlight for the deal's signature with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on October 27. For that, all 28 member states need to hand over their signatory power. Without Belgium, which needs the greenlight from seven local governments, the signature will not happen. "I will not give powers to the federal government (on Tuesday)," Paul Magnette, the socialist head of the Wallonia government warned on Friday. From ELLE DECOR If there's one person we'd expect to know how to deliver tasty treats in an inviting atmosphere, it'd be the queen of all things lifestyle herself, Martha Stewart. So it's no surprise the mogul is expanding her empire with a chain of cafes. The first Martha Stewart Cafe actually opened back in 2015 inside the mogul's Manhattan headquarters, but soon everyone will be able to sample Martha Stewart brand granola inside two Macy's Taste Bar locations: the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, which opened this past weekend and The Galleria in Dallas, slated to open in November. Photo credit: Courtesy of Martha Stewart, Sequential Brands Group Think of it as an extension of the Martha brand that lets you scoop up everything from cookware to linens, and then turn right around and grab a cup of Martha-approved coffee to refuel. In fact, you'll find the Martha stamp of approval on every element of the cafes, including its white, no-frills interiors to the pastries, which are sourced from local bakeries and selected by Martha herself. (The Chelsea location features treats like croissants from Bien Cuit in Brooklyn and orange brioche top knots from Balthazar in SoHo, for example.) No word yet on any future cafe locations, but if you can't wait until then, pull your Martha Stewart Collection mug out of the cupboard because the cafe's coffees, teas, and even its barista aprons are all sold online. h/t: Refinery29 You Might Also Like (Reuters) - Chelsea manager Antonio Conte laughed off rumors that he is close to being sacked and confirmed that club captain John Terry would return to the squad for Saturday's visit of defending champions Leicester City. On Thursday several British bookmakers stopped taking bets on Conte becoming the next Premier League manager to be sacked, with the club seventh in the table on 13 points after four wins, one draw and two defeats in the league. The Italian, however, told reporters on Friday that he was fully focused on improving the team and had a good relationship both with the club's hierarchy and his players. "I'm trying to find who put the money on," Conte joked. "It's very difficult to talk about this situation because I'm focused on my work to improve the team. I have a good relationship with the club and with the team so I take this with a smile." "We are working very hard to change the situation of the past. We are trying to build something important for the present for the future." The 47-year-old confirmed that Terry, who has missed the last three league games with an ankle injury, was back to full fitness. "Yes, he's available. He came back for a training session in the middle of the week. He's recovered from the injury. I prefer I don't give away the line up today. I'll try to take the best decision for the team," he added. Conte hailed the work of compatriot and Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, who led the 5,000-1 outsiders to the Premier League title last season, succeeding 2015 champions Chelsea. "I was very happy, not only me, but the Italian people that Claudio won a fantastic title. He had a great celebration in Italy. He is a good manager, a good man and I have a good relationship with him," he said. Leicester are 12th in the table on eight points after winning two of their seven league games this season. The Foxes lost defensive midfielder N'Golo Kante to Chelsea in the close season and Conte said the Frenchman had quickly become one of his most important players. "We are very pleased to have him," he said. "He has good stamina, good technique and personality. I like players who put the team above himself." (Reporting by Ian Rodricks in Bengaluru, editing by Mitch Phillips) By Chen Aizhu (Reuters) - Chinese state-owned chemical companies Sinochem Group and ChemChina are in discussions about a possible merger to create a chemicals, fertiliser and oil giant with almost $100 billion in annual revenue, three sources familiar with the matter said. The deal has been proposed by China's central government as part of its efforts to slash the number of state-owned companies and create larger, more competitive global industry players, said the sources. The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter. Top management of the two firms held a meeting earlier this week to discuss a potential merger, said one source directly briefed on the matter. "The government has given the mandate to let Sinochem lead in this potential merger with ChemChina," said the source. A second source familiar with the matter said both firms have started due diligence work looking into each other's financial details and business segments. When asked about a potential merger, a ChemChina spokesperson said: "There is no such thing." A Sinochem spokesman said he was not aware of the discussions. China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees state-owned enterprises, did not comment when asked about the talks. Shares in the companies' listed subsidiaries jumped on the news, with Sinochem International up 10 percent for its biggest one-day rally in a year and Sinofert on track for its best daily gain since December. While still at an early stage, the talks come as China National Chemicals Corp, as ChemChina is officially known, finalises a $43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticides and seed group Syngenta. That deal would be China's largest-ever foreign investment. In early European trading, Syngenta shares were down about 2 percent at their lowest in almost two months. Syngenta declined to comment on the news. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager would not comment on any potential issues arising from the deal, were China to create a domestic chemicals, fertilizer and oil giant. Story continues "It's very early days," she told reporters on Friday. The European Union is expected to rule on the deal by Oct. 28. STRONGER, LARGER It was not clear why the discussions were happening before the ChemChina-Syngenta deal had been finalised, or whether it would create further problems with anti-trust regulators around the world which have been looking at that deal. Beijing may have initiated the talks to create a stronger, larger player to make it easier to absorb a world-class company like Syngenta, said the source directly briefed on the matter. Backing from Sinochem might help ChemChina finance its Syngenta deal on more favourable terms, the source said. ChemChina faces a $3 billion break fee if its Syngenta deal does not proceed. If approved, the ChemChina-Sinochem merger would be among the largest between two Chinese state-owned enterprises, following similar marriages that created shipping giant China Cosco Shipping Corp, train maker CNR-CSR and more recently, the tie-up between Baosteel Group and Wuhan Steel. Combining the two companies, which make everything from refined oil products to latex gloves and insecticides, would propel it into the top echelons of the competitive global chemicals, fertiliser and oil industries. Based on 2015 annual reports, revenues of the combined group would comfortably eclipse Germany's BASF, the world's largest maker of industrial chemicals by sales. It would be a major global chemical giant and challenge domestic rivals Sinopec, PetroChina and CNOOC, said Michal Meidan, London-based China analyst with Energy Aspects. "It really does align nicely the government's priority to reduce the number of SOEs (state-owned enterprises)," Meidan said. XI'S PUSH A merger would fit in with President Xi Jinping's years-long push to shrink the number of centrally-controlled state-owned enterprises, which number more than 100. In Sinochem's case, it is larger than ChemChina, but it needs a partner in the long term if it wants to expand in the global market and extend beyond roots that go back almost 70 years in oil and chemical trading, experts who know the companies said. Sinochem has seen growth in the key energy business stagnate with increasing domestic competition in trading from the likes of state oil trader Unipec and Chinaoil, while its overseas oil and gas assets have struggled amid prolonged low oil prices. ChemChina would add some 500,000 barrels per day of crude oil processing capacity to Sinochem's oil refining business. Premium assets ChemChina acquired would also boost Sinochem's chemical departments. The second source said a deal would benefit both companies: Sinochem's upstream oil and gas assets could feed ChemChina's nine refineries, Sinochem's access to rubber trading would help ChemChina's tyre business, while Sinochem's dominance in fertiliser markets would be a good fit for ChemChina's agri-chemical business. "Sinochem is generally light on assets, while ChemChina is a more of a manufacturer," he said. ($1 = 6.6685 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Additional reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore, Matthew Miller and Meng Meng in Beijing, Joshua Franklin in Zurich, Foo Wun Chee in Brussels) * Merger would create chemicals giant with $100 bln in annual revs * Talks come as ChemChina seeks approval for $43 bln Syngenta bid * Deal proposed by China govt seeking national industry champions (Add background) By Chen Aizhu BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Chinese state-owned chemical companies Sinochem Group and ChemChina are in discussions about a possible merger to create a chemicals, fertiliser and oil giant with almost $100 billion in annual revenue, three sources familiar with the matter said. The deal has been proposed by China's central government as part of its efforts to slash the number of state-owned companies and create larger, more competitive global industry players, said the sources. The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter. Top management of the two firms held a meeting earlier this week to discuss a potential merger, said one source directly briefed on the matter. "The government has given the mandate to let Sinochem lead in this potential merger with ChemChina," said the source. A second source familiar with the matter said both firms have started due diligence work looking into each other's financial details and business segments. When asked about a potential merger, a ChemChina spokesperson said: "There is no such thing." A Sinochem spokesman said he was not aware of the discussions. China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees state-owned enterprises, did not comment when asked about the talks. Shares in the companies' listed subsidiaries jumped on the news, with Sinochem International up 10 percent for its biggest one-day rally in a year and Sinofert on track for its best daily gain since December. While still at an early stage, the talks come as China National Chemicals Corp, as ChemChina is officially known, finalises a $43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticides and seed group Syngenta. That deal would be China's largest-ever foreign investment. Story continues In early European trading, Syngenta shares were down about 2 percent at their lowest in almost two months. Syngenta declined to comment on the news. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager would not comment on any potential issues arising from the deal, were China to create a domestic chemicals, fertilizer and oil giant. "It's very early days," she told reporters on Friday. The European Union is expected to rule on the deal by Oct. 28. STRONGER, LARGER It was not clear why the discussions were happening before the ChemChina-Syngenta deal had been finalised, or whether it would create further problems with anti-trust regulators around the world which have been looking at that deal. Beijing may have initiated the talks to create a stronger, larger player to make it easier to absorb a world-class company like Syngenta, said the source directly briefed on the matter. Backing from Sinochem might help ChemChina finance its Syngenta deal on more favourable terms, the source said. ChemChina faces a $3 billion break fee if its Syngenta deal does not proceed. If approved, the ChemChina-Sinochem merger would be among the largest between two Chinese state-owned enterprises, following similar marriages that created shipping giant China Cosco Shipping Corp, train maker CNR-CSR and more recently, the tie-up between Baosteel Group and Wuhan Steel . Combining the two companies, which make everything from refined oil products to latex gloves and insecticides, would propel it into the top echelons of the competitive global chemicals, fertiliser and oil industries. Based on 2015 annual reports, revenues of the combined group would comfortably eclipse Germany's BASF, the world's largest maker of industrial chemicals by sales. It would be a major global chemical giant and challenge domestic rivals Sinopec, PetroChina and CNOOC, said Michal Meidan, London-based China analyst with Energy Aspects. "It really does align nicely the government's priority to reduce the number of SOEs (state-owned enterprises)," Meidan said. XI'S PUSH A merger would fit in with President Xi Jinping's years-long push to shrink the number of centrally-controlled state-owned enterprises, which number more than 100. In Sinochem's case, it is larger than ChemChina, but it needs a partner in the long term if it wants to expand in the global market and extend beyond roots that go back almost 70 years in oil and chemical trading, experts who know the companies said. Sinochem has seen growth in the key energy business stagnate with increasing domestic competition in trading from the likes of state oil trader Unipec and Chinaoil, while its overseas oil and gas assets have struggled amid prolonged low oil prices. ChemChina would add some 500,000 barrels per day of crude oil processing capacity to Sinochem's oil refining business. Premium assets ChemChina acquired would also boost Sinochem's chemical departments. The second source said a deal would benefit both companies: Sinochem's upstream oil and gas assets could feed ChemChina's nine refineries, Sinochem's access to rubber trading would help ChemChina's tyre business, while Sinochem's dominance in fertiliser markets would be a good fit for ChemChina's agri-chemical business. "Sinochem is generally light on assets, while ChemChina is a more of a manufacturer," he said. ($1 = 6.6685 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Additional reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore, Matthew Miller and Meng Meng in BEIJING, Joshua Franklin in ZURICH, Foo Wun Chee in BRUSSELS; Writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Mike Collett-White) (Adds comment from Uber) By Timothy Mclaughlin CHICAGO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A Chicago-based disability rights group on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against Uber Technologies Inc alleging the ride-hailing company has violated wheelchair accessibility laws. The lawsuit, filed by Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago and three disabled people associated with the group, alleges San Francisco-based Uber fails to provide vehicles equipped to handle wheelchairs. It seeks an order to bring the company into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Out of millions of rides, the company has provided just a handful to disabled users requiring wheelchair accessible vehicles since launching in the city in 2011, the lawsuit claims. Uber's "service to people who require wheelchair accessible vehicles ranges from token to non-existent," court documents said. "That position threatens a return to the isolation and segregation that the disability rights movement has fought to overcome," the documents added. According to the lawsuit, from September 2011, when Uber began operating in Chicago, to August 2015, the company provided just 14 rides to motorized wheelchair users requiring wheelchair accessible vehicles. It did this by connecting riders with wheelchair accessible taxi services, a blog from the company said. By comparison, court documents said, Uber provided nearly 5.5 million rides from April to June 2015 in Chicago, the third largest U.S. city. "We take this issue seriously and are committed to increasing mobility and freedom for all riders and drivers, including those members of our communities who are disabled," Uber said in a statement in response to the lawsuit. In May, Uber launched uberWAV in Chicago, which provides riders with vehicles equipped with wheelchair ramps or lifts and uberASSIST, designed for people who need additional assistance while using the ride-hailing service. At the time, the company acknowledged that it needed to increase disability access in the city and said that it "won't happen overnight." Story continues During an August meeting with Uber officials that included a demonstration of the app, court documents said, the program showed there were no wheelchair accessible vehicles operating in Chicago at the time. Charles Petrof, Access Disability's lawyer, said on Thursday this continues to be an issue. Taxi operators in Chicago with more than 20 cabs must maintain at least 5 percent as accessible vehicles, according to city ordinance. The city also provides financial incentives for wheelchair accessible taxis. Last July, Massachusetts attorney general's office began examining how Uber, and its rival, Lyft, ensure equal access for people with disabilities. (Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler and Michael Perry) (Adds purchase volume and value, adds buyers and sellers, adds background on USDA daily sales announcements) By Karl Plume Oct 14 (Reuters) - A delegation of soybean importers from China signed agreements to buy 5.1 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans valued at $2.1 billion at a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday, the U.S. Soybean Export Council said during a Facebook Live presentation. The purchase agreements were signed by seven of the top 10 Chinese soybean buyers, including state-owned COFCO and Sinograin and privately-held Sunshine group. Sellers included large grain traders such as Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Cargill. Shipment details for the deals were not disclosed. Some of Friday's purchase agreements between U.S. exporters and buyers from China, the world's top soybean importer, are expected to be "frame contracts," with terms to be finalized at a later date. Still, some of the deals may be reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's daily sales reporting system, which requires exporters to disclose deals totaling more than 100,000 tonnes in a single day. Past signings have triggered large daily sales announcement in the following days. A similar event in Indianapolis in August led to nearly 4 million tonnes in purchases valued at $1.8 billion, according to the trade group. Last year's Des Moines signing ceremony, when deals for 13.18 million tonnes of soybeans valued at $5.3 billion were announced, led to USDA confirmation of 1.26 million tonnes in sales over the next two days. The USDA expects China to import 86 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2016/17 season, including 30 million tonnes from the United States, the world's largest producer and second largest exporter of the oilseed. (Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Grant McCool) Aiming to reduce travel time by trains, India has entered into a pact with Germany to deepen collaboration in the field of railways and high speed trains. By India Today Web Desk: With an objective of reducing travel time significantly, India has signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany for running high-speed trains in the country. The agreement was reached during talks between German minister for transport Alexander Dobrindt and railways minister Suresh Prabhu at Rail Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday. The ministers focused on deepening collaboration and strengthening ties in field of railways and high-speed trains. An MoU was signed between Indian Railways and DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH. advertisement READ: Modernisation of Indian Railways picks up steam after pressure from PM Modi FOCUS ON SPEED AND SAFETY Germany will help in increasing speed of trains in India. The railway corridors for increasing speed are to be identified by the Indian railways soon. Germany will also help in station redevelopment plan of the railways in a big way. The 300-kmph high speed bullet corridor, Mysore-Bengaluru- Chennai will be extended upto Vijayawada. Germany will commence a study for extending the corridor from January next year. READ: Sunroof express? India to get trains with glass top coaches soon Germany will also share its expertise in reducing accidents on railway tracks. Indian railways hopes to accomplish its zero-accident mission with the help of Germany. A working group has been constituted on railway safety comprising experts from Germany and India. Dobrindt is in India as part of the follow up of Prabhu's visit to Germany in April this year. ALSO READ: Railway minister asks suggestions from employees and public to cut costs Passenger tweets to ask Railway Ministry, Suresh Prabhu for a diaper, gets heat on Twitter --- ENDS --- BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese official who worked in anti-corruption departments for almost 20 years has been jailed for life for graft, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday. Jin Daoming was put under investigation by the ruling Communist Party in 2014 while serving as a deputy head of the provincial legislature in northern Shanxi, one of the focus spots for President Xi Jinping's war on deep-rooted graft. He had previously worked in the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's main anti-graft watchdog, rising at one point to the position of deputy secretary general. He had held several other anti-corruption positions starting from 1987, his official resume showed. Jin was found guilty of taking more than 120 million yuan ($18.00 million) in cases involving coal mine projects, promotions and anti-corruption investigations, Xinhua said, citing a court in the eastern city of Zhenjiang. As Jin had admitted his guilt and cooperated with the investigation he had received a lighter sentence, Xinhua added, meaning he avoided the death penalty. It was not possible to reach Jin's family or lawyers for comment. Shanxi, one of China's top coal producing provinces, has been among the epicenters of Xi's battle on corruption. In June, its provincial party boss said parts of the region had been "disaster areas" when it came to corruption, but the situation was improving. Shanxi has experienced an economic boom fueled by soaring energy demand over the past decade, one of the reasons state media have identified behind the corruption. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Chinas President Xi Jinping landed in Dhaka on Friday marking the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in 30 years. Chinese state-media heralded the visit as a diplomatic milestone of historic significance, as the two countries will sign at least 21 agreements amounting to nearly $40 billion investment in Bangladesh. According to Reuters, China will also sign off on nearly $24 billion worth of loans to the country Bangladeshs biggest foreign credit line to date. The deal comes after of a series of investments made by Chinese companies in Bangladesh in the past several months including a $1.1 billion deal signed this week by Chinese cable manufacturer Jiangsu Etern Co. to strengthen the South Asian countrys power grid, and a $3.1 billion deal by China Railway Group to build nearly 170 km of railroads connecting the capital Dhaka to southwestern cities. Bangladesh has traditionally been one of Indias strongest allies in the region, but experts say that Delhi will not be able to match Beijings largesse. However, when asked by local media, Bangladeshs Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said he did not think the visit would significantly impact Bangladesh-India relations. Xi is on a diplomatic tour that began in Cambodia and will culminate in a visit to India, during which he will attend the BRICS Summit in Goa. Beijing (AFP) - Beijing on Friday expressed support for a bloody crackdown on illegal drugs in the Philippines overseen by President Rodrigo Duterte, ahead of a visit to China by the controversial leader. The crackdown has left more than 3,700 people dead since July, both at the hands of police as well as in unexplained circumstances, according to official data, prompting condemnation from Western nations, the UN and the International Criminal Court, among others. "We understand and support the Philippines' policies to combat drugs under the leadership of President Duterte," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular briefing. Duterte will visit China next week for his first foreign visit outside of Southeast Asia since assuming the presidency in June, highlighting his efforts to restore ties with Beijing strained by competing claims in the South China Sea. Duterte has looked to build closer relationships with China and Russia while launching repeated tirades against the United States, the Philippines' defence ally and former colonial ruler. His outspoken comments have been largely in response to US criticism of his war on crime, which has 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. He 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. HONG KONG (Reuters) - China on Friday expressed "great indignation and strong condemnation" of two Hong Kong lawmakers who raised the disputed issue of independence this week at their official swearing-in ceremony. The topic of independence was once regarded as taboo in the former British colony, now governed under a "one country, two systems" principle since its return to Chinese rule in 1997. But some young people in the financial hub have begun calling for greater autonomy for the city, ranging from self-determination to independence, after months of pro-democracy protests in 2014 failed to lead to any concessions from Beijing. On Wednesday, two of 70 newly elected legislators, 25-year-old Yau Wai-ching and 30-year-old Baggio Leung, pledged their allegiance to a "Hong Kong nation" and displayed a "Hong Kong is not China" banner while they took their oaths of office, which were later ruled as invalid by the legislature's head clerk. The official Xinhua news agency on Friday quoted an unnamed officer at the liaison office, Beijing's symbol in Hong Kong, as calling their behavior "despicable". "Certain legislators-elect openly displayed the relevant banner and promoted Hong Kong independence. This seriously violated the country's constitution, Hong Kong's Basic Law and the relevant laws," the officer said. "We express our great indignation and strong condemnation." The officer also criticized the lawmakers for making the word "China" sound like "Shina," a derogatory term that the Japanese used when they occupied China during World War Two. Yau and Leung have told reporters their oaths should not be ruled invalid based on their choice of clothing, and they blamed their pronunciation on their accent. The pair, along with lawmaker Edward Yiu whose vow was ruled invalid after he added a line about fighting for genuine universal suffrage, will have another chance to swear in next Wednesday. (Reporting by Venus Wu; Editing by Hugh Lawson) Chinese President Xi Jinping signed loans and investment deals with Bangladesh worth about $20 billion on Friday, seeking to increase Beijing's influence in a country closely allied to rival regional power India. Xi hailed what he called a "historical turning point" in relations with the impoverished South Asian nation after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. A senior minister who attended the closed-door talks said the loan agreements from Beijing, which will fund key infrastructure projects such as roads and railways as well as a new industrial park, totalled around $20 billion. "Bangladesh and China have also identified other projects, whose total loans and investment will surpass $50 billion," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. Xi said both sides had agreed to look into a free-trade agreement and expressed hopes the visit would "chart the course for the future growth of China-Bangladesh relations". It is the first visit in more than three decades by a Chinese president to Bangladesh, which lies firmly within New Delhi's sphere of influence. Impoverished Bangladesh needs tens of billions of dollars of investment in its transport infrastructure and energy production to boost its flagging economic fortunes and create jobs for its 160 million people. But analysts said Hasina would have to maintain a careful balancing act between cultivating economic ties with China, already the country's largest trading partner, and maintaining good relations with India. New Delhi has long backed Hasina and held off from criticising her re-election in January 2014 in a contest that was boycotted by the opposition and dismissed as "not credible" by Western nations. "Bangladesh is in India's sphere of influence," said Ali Riaz, political science professor at Illinois State University in the United States. "Understandably, India is watching Bangladesh's growing ties with Beijing. But Bangladesh is improving ties with China carefully so that it does not jeopardise its relations with India," he told AFP. Story continues - Jockeying for influence - Xi will travel on to the western Indian state of Goa on Saturday for a summit of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- and a one-on-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. China and India, the world's two most populous nations, are jockeying for regional influence in Asia. Their relationship is coloured by a brief but bloody 1962 border war over the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, parts of which Beijing claims as South Tibet. China has committed to a major programme of infrastructure building stretching from its immediate neighbourhood to Europe through its flagship "One Belt, One Road" policy which seeks to revive the ancient Silk Road trade route. Asked whether that investment could jeopardise her country's ties with India, Hasina said Bangladesh would maintain "good relations with everyone". "The purchasing power of our people will increase, and who will be the bigger beneficiary of that in our region? India. India is best poised to benefit from the Bangladeshi market," she said in an interview with Indian daily The Hindu. Bangladesh has also agreed to set up an industrial park exclusively for Chinese investors near the strategic port of Chittagong that it hopes will attract manufacturers seeking cheaper labour than they can find at home. "Labour costs in China are six-seven times higher than Bangladesh. The special economic zone alone can bring in $5-$7 billion in Chinese investment," said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, head of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry. That could create much-needed employment -- Bangladesh's economy has been growing at more than six percent in the last decade, but the World Bank says it needs at least eight percent growth to create enough jobs. Bangladesh's $28 billion garment manufacturing industry is the world's second largest after China's, accounts for 80 percent of the country's annual shipments and employs some 40 percent of its industrial workforce. By Sijia Jiang HONG KONG, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has signalled a potential easing of strict regulations for the country's fast-growing car-hailing market, the official People's Daily said late on Thursday, a week after several major cities tightened rules on the sector. China will "listen to the views of all parties" about rules governing the market, Premier Li told tech leaders at a meeting in the southern city of Shenzhen, a stance that should help ease the concerns of firms like Didi Chuxing and Uber. Beijing and Shanghai proposed tightening rules last week on who can operate as drivers for ride-hailing services such as market leader Didi, which has agreed to buy Uber's China unit and is backed by tech giants Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Apple Inc. "The fundamental principles are clear, and we will ask those cities to carry out an in-depth analysis and listen to the views of all parties," the newspaper reported Li as saying. Li was responding to a question from Tencent founder Pony Ma. Apple's chief executive Tim Cook was also at the Shenzhen event, which is aimed at encouraging innovation nationwide, the People's Daily report said. Apple invested $1 billion into Didi Chuxing in June. A regulation giving legal status to the online car-hailing industry in China for the first time is set to take effect on Nov. 1, but loose wording has allowed different interpretations by local governments. According to drafts issued in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, only drivers with household residency and vehicle number plates registered in the respective cities will qualify. The rules also featured restrictions on car ownership, vehicles' wheelbases and the age of the car. Didi Chuxing has said the measures were quantitative limitations in disguise and may rule out more than 80 per cent of their cars in Shanghai, where less than 3 per cent of their registered drivers have local household residency. (Reporting by Sijia Jiang; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Christian Schmollinger) By Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) - China's state-owned lenders are "very keen" to establish economic and financial ties with the Philippines, opening the door for Manila to tap funding for its massive infrastructure spending plans, the national treasurer said on Friday. The warming relationship between the Philippines and China holds "a lot of promise," National Treasurer Roberto Tan, set to accompany President Rodrigo Duterte on a four-day trip to Beijing from Tuesday, told Reuters by telephone. About 250 Philippine business executives will join Duterte on the trip, which puts aside years of hostility to seek a new partnership with China at a time of mounting tension with Manila's traditional ally, the United States. The closer ties "open up new sources of financing...and this bodes well for the economic initiative of the Duterte administration to invest more in infrastructure," he added. China Eximbank was among the firms that reached out, Tan said, seeking to provide financial help to Duterte's government, which has promised to boost infrastructure spending to 7 percent of GDP by the end of its 6-year term, from 5 percent now. "There is a momentum, but now it is heightened because of the policies of the Duterte administration," Tan said. Tan will attend an event hosted by the Bank of China in Beijing, he said, but declined to give details. Duterte's visit could dispel mistrust over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea that have strained ties, but risks altering strategic alliances in a region growing wary of China's influence and military might, and with a strong U.S. presence. Manila and Beijing will sign pacts next week on "economics, business, (and) investment," Philippine foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose told a media briefing. "We are just trying to promote friendly relations with all countries," he added. "We are not being friendly to one country at the expense of another." (Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) By Steve Stecklow, Renee Dudley and James Pomfret NEW YORK/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A New York educational charity affiliated with a Chinese company may have violated rules governing tax-exempt organizations in the United States, tax specialists say. The Council for American Culture and Education Inc was set up in 2009 on behalf of Chinese for-profit school operator Dipont Education Management Group, according to the two consultants who created the charity. Thomas Benson and Stephen Gessner later ceded control of CACE to Dipont, according to Gessner. Dipont says CACE is independent. On a December 2014 board meeting agenda seen by Reuters, Dipont founder Zhang and three other Dipont employees are listed as directors on CACEs five-member board. The fifth member listed is a Dipont consultant. Diponts close ties to CACE should have been disclosed in CACEs tax filings, said Marcus Owens, former director of the tax-exempt organizations division of the Internal Revenue Service. Thats because the private Chinese company is benefiting from the charitys activities. The only reference to Dipont in CACEs application for tax-exempt status is a note that the two organizations collaborated on a college admissions seminar in China in 2009. Bruce R. Hopkins, a law professor at the University of Kansas, said the relationship should have been fully disclosed. Being so closely tied to a for-profit and functioning to benefit it in so many ways that could be a problem for them, said Hopkins. The consequences could be that they lose their tax-exempt status. Owens also questioned the way in which Dipont founder Benson Zhang gave money to a research center at the University of Southern California. Zhang told Reuters he used CACE to make a $750,000 personal donation to USC because it is difficult to transfer money out of China. I paid back the money to CACE from my personal accounts later, he said. New York prohibits charities incorporated in the state such as CACE from lending to board members, Owens said. It makes no difference whether Zhang reimbursed the charity, he added. Owens said $750,000 is a considerable amount of money. That alone should attract the attention of the (New York) attorney general and it should also attract the attention of the IRS. Reuters outlined its findings about CACEs activities to the New York Attorney Generals office. A spokesman for the attorney general said: We will be reviewing the organization. Reviews dont necessarily lead to formal investigations. An IRS spokesman declined to comment. Another potential problem, said Owens, is the list of board members and officers that CACE has disclosed to tax authorities. Two people listed in federal tax returns as an officer or director of CACE say they dont hold those positions. David Joiner, a former Dipont employee, told Reuters he left the company shortly after the charity was set up in 2009 and has had nothing to do with CACE since. But he was listed on its federal tax filings as its treasurer from 2010 through 2014, the most recent year disclosures are available. They have been using my name without my permission, he said. Jeff Zhu, CACEs chief executive and a Dipont vice president, said the failure to remove Joiners name was probably a clerical error. CACEs 2014 federal tax return also lists as a board member Robert Clagett, a Dipont consultant and former admissions dean at Middlebury College. Clagett told Reuters he didnt know he was on CACEs board. Owens, the former IRS executive, said falsely listing people as board members and officers may be viewed by the IRS as part of a pattern of behavior that could jeopardize CACEs tax-exempt status. It raises fiduciary duty questions for the board, he said, not to mention confusing the IRS. (Edited by Michael Williams) By PTI: Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 14 (PTI) Germany today said it is keen to partner with Kerala in many aspects, including in academic, culture and scientific fields and wants more companies to invest in the state. "Germany is keen to partner with Kerala in many aspects. We want to have cooperation in academic, culture and scientific fields. We want more German companies to invest in the state. We want more German tourists to visit Kerala," German Consul General Margit Hellwig-Boette said. She was speaking after the Honorary Consulate of Germany was opened here by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. advertisement Hellwig-Boette said the Consulate would bring the already outstanding ties between Kerala and Germany to a new level. Speaking on the occasion, Vijayan said the Consulate would strengthen the presence of Germany in Kerala. He said the new LDF government that came to power five months back has a vision. "We want to make Kerala a developed state. There is no compromise on quality and I am sure a country like Germany to a great extent can help Kerala in this regard," he added. He also spoke of the existing cooperation between Kerala and German companies in renewable energy and in other sectors. Syed Ibrahim took oath as the new German Consul at the ceremony. He is an IT-entrepreneur and the Honorary Representative of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. PTI JRK APR KUN DK --- ENDS --- By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia for a two-day visit on Thursday, praising the close ties that have seen Cambodia side with Beijing on the South China Sea, and signed dozens of economic agreements. Thirty-one agreements, including soft loan deals of around $237 million, were signed on Thursday following the meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to Eang Sophalleth, an aide to Hun Sen. Xi also pledged to urge Chinese investment in building Cambodia's high-speed train and an airport in Siem Reap province, as well as provide additional 500 scholarships, Sophalleth said. The Chinese leader has also canceled around $89 million debt, he added. "This is historic in term of the number of agreements signed and pledges," Sophalleth said, adding that Beijing had also pledged another $14 million in military aid. Cambodia has shielded Beijing from criticism by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the South China Sea. ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are in disputes with China over rival claims to the waters. In a joint statement issued after the meeting and posted on China's Foreign Ministry website said both agreed the South China Sea was not an issue between China and ASEAN, and that it should be resolved via talks between the countries directly involved. Last month, Cambodia was able to veto an ASEAN statement referring to a ruling at an international tribunal earlier in the year that largely denied Beijing's claims. China and Cambodia were "good neighbors, real friends who are loyal to each other", Xi wrote in a front-page commentary in Cambodia's biggest Khmer-language newspaper, Rasmei Kampuchea. Xi said bilateral trade reached $4.4 billion last year and was set to reach $5 billion next year. Chinese investment in Cambodia was valued at $864 million last year and a total of $9.1 billion has been pledged since 1994, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia. This year, China has pledged $600 million in aid to Cambodia over the next three years. China has become Cambodia's closest ally while relations between Cambodia and Western powers, including the United States and European Union, are frequently strained by differences over human rights. Miguel Chanco, regional lead analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, said Xi's visit represented a Chinese reassurance amid rising criticism from the West over a crackdown on government critics before a 2018 general election. "China's continued support of Cambodia, both economically and in the arena of international politics, will mean that the Hun Sen regime is unlikely to soften its heavy-handedness anytime soon," Chanco said. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Robert Birsel and Tom Heneghan) Chris Thile reckons he was in his mid-teens when he first performed on A Prairie Home Companion, with Nickel Creek. And while he figures that youth could hardly have imagined that some 20 years later he'd be original host Garrison Keillor's handpicked replacement to lead the iconic syndicated radio show, Thile isn't sure the prospect would have intimidated him. "Y'know that little kid was pretty self-aware -- cocky, even," Thile -- who begins his tenure at A Prairie Home Companion on the American Public Radio franchise on Saturday, tells Billboard. "I hadn't actually discovered any real humility. I knew that humility was probably attractive -- but that makes you even cockier, I think. So I think if I went back in time and told that 15-year-old, 'You're gonna be hosting this show in 20 years,' I would've been surprised but I would've been like, 'Cool. Cool, man. All right!'" Thile says that on the eve of his taking over APCH, he feels like "a kid in a candy shop." Some aspects of the Saint Paul, Minnesota, show will change; the Wobegon Monologue, for instance, will be gone, though poets and spoken-word artists will be part of the show to take up that slack. "I have to play to my strengths, just like Garrison did," Thile explains. "It would be foolish for me to attempt to deliver anything remotely similar to that. I'm not a storyteller by nature, and Garrison is one of the greatest storytellers ever." There will also be a team of writers in place of Keillor, who wrote the vast majority of APHC's scripts during his 27 years helming the program. But Thile promises that his greatest strength -- music -- will be on full display each episode. "I think I'll open up the musical texture a little bit," says Thile, who will host Jack White and Lake Street Dive during his inaugural broadcast, with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and John Hodgman coming Oct. 22 and Esperanza Spalding and Apama Nancherla due Oct. 29. "The show had predominately been acoustic, rootsy -- and it will continue to be. But in my view, anything good is the only requirement. Anything good, I want it to have a home on our show -- anything. I really mean that." Thile is also looking forward to the challenge of writing a new song to debut on each episode -- 13 his first season, with an intent to expand to 26 after that. "I get that runner's high they talk about, the endorphins or whatever it is -- I feel like this is a musical version of that," he says. "Your knees hurt and you're out of breath, but you have that kind of weird, euphoric feeling, and I feel like that when I get one of those songs done in a week. I'm slow by nature; even if I write something fast, I'll let it sit for a month and hem and haw over it. But Garrison told me when we sat down for one of our first big, long discussions about the show, he said, 'I think you're gonna love having a deadline. You're gonna love having to go with whatever it is is you've got and make the thing and get out there and do it. You'll have time to revise it later." Thile says he may "stockpile" some material but mostly hopes to write each song the week of the show. He also promises that while some changes are in store, "APHC" will still familiar to those who have hung with Keillor through the years. "This isn't all of a sudden going to be a super-current, up-to-date, with-it for the millennials kind of thing," Thile says. "That would be artificial in this context. I think the more traditional aspects of the show have always been a wonderful reminder about the people we have been, and that's important. And Garrison, whatever he did on a show, whatever he presented, you can bet your bottom dollar that he loved it. He thought it was good. That will be a guiding principle of the show that we will retain." And Keillor will also retain a guiding role in the show, according to his successor. "Especially initially, as we were all figuring out what the show would be, he was very present for that," Thile says. "He's since stepped back a little bit, and now I call him for advice because, I mean, what an invaluable tool -- the greatest radio variety show host who ever lived is a phone call away. I can say, 'What do you think about X' and Garrison says, 'Hmmm...,' and we go from there." Thile has other musical endeavors on tap in addition to APCH. He's finishing up a duo record with pianist Brad Mehldau as well as an album of Bach trio pieces with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer. His Punch Brothers, meanwhile, have started on their fifth album, with "little seeds of songs...seven or eight so far." Chuckle-slinger Chuck Lorre is getting into the drama business. Amazon, Warner Bros. TV and Lorre are developing an event series based on Bonfire of the Vanities, Variety has confirmed. Currently, the project is being conceived as a single run of eight episodes for Amazon Prime Video. Margaret Nagle, most recently of Boardwalk Empire and Foxs Red Band Society, will write and serve as executive producer alongside Lorre. The project comes from Chuck Lorre Productions, in association with Warner Bros. TV, where Lorre is currently under an overall deal. David Corn, the Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones, is serving as a consultant. This is, of course, not the first live-action adaptation of Tom Wolfes 1987 novel of the same name. The story about the moral abyss of 1980s New York, with all its attendant classicism, racism, and blind ambition, led to a 1990 film starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith. Despite Wolfes book topping the bestseller charts, the film version grossed just $16 million. (Critics werent overly kind, either.) Lorre is primarily known for his broadcast comedies i.e. The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men that tend to be among the higher-rated programs on the channel guide, though he did write an episode of CSI in 2008. But Lorre also recently sold pot comedy Disjointed to Netflix, indicating an agnosticism as to where his shows go, so long as people watch them. Related stories Chuck Lorre on Midnight Mission Award: 'It's About Me Cajoling Warner Bros., CBS' to Help Kathy Bates and Chuck Lorre Talk Their Netflix Pot Comedy 'Disjointed' TV Goes to Pot: Marijuana-Themed Series Light Up the Small Screen Driven by decline in operating expenses, Wall Street banking giant Citigroup Inc. C delivered a positive earnings surprise of nearly 8% in third-quarter 2016. The companys earnings from continuing operations per share of $1.25 for the quarter outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.16. However, earnings compared unfavorably with the year-ago figure. Income from continuing operations was $3.89 billion, down 10% from the prior-year quarter. Though profitability was hit by decline in overall revenues, the company recorded higher fixed income markets revenues, supported by an improved trading environment. Both rates and currencies and spread products improved. Also, investment banking revenues improved owing to increased industry-wide debt underwriting activity during the reported quarter. Further, Citigroups costs of credit for the third quarter were down 5% year over year to $1.74 billion mainly due to reduced provision for benefits and claims and a decline in net credit losses. However, the quarter recorded net loan loss reserve build, mostly tied with North America cards, against a net loan loss reserve release in the prior-year period. FindTheCompany | Graphiq Improved Trading Revenues & Continued Cost Reduction Adjusted revenues of Citigroup decreased 4% year over year to $17.76 billion in third-quarter 2016. The fall reflected lower revenues at Citi Holdings while revenues at Citicorp improved year over year. The revenue figure outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $17.38 billion. At Citicorp, adjusted revenues came in at $16.89 billion in the quarter, up 1% year over year. Revenues at Institutional Clients Group (ICG) increased 2% year over year. Notably, revenues from fixed income markets and investment banking surged 35% and 15% on a year-over-year basis, respectively. However, revenues from equity markets plummeted 34% from the prior-year quarter. Global Consumer Banking (GCB) revenues inched up 1% year over year, mainly driven by North America GCB, partially offset by a decline in international GCB revenues. Corporate/Other revenues were $28 million, significantly down from the prior-year period. The decline mainly reflected absence of equity contribution tied with the companys stake in China Guangfa Bank, which was divested in the reported quarter. Citi Holdings adjusted revenues of $877 million reflected a plunge of 48% year over year. The fall was primarily due to persistent decline in the units assets. However, Citi Holdings continued to report profitability. Operating expenses at Citigroup expenses were down 2% year over year to $10.4 billion. The decline reflected the decrease in expenses in Citi Holdings, and benefit from foreign exchange translation, partially offset by continued investments in Citicorp. Balance Sheet At the quarter end, Citigroups end of period assets was $1.82 trillion, up 1% year over year. The companys loans increased 2% year over year at $638 billion. Deposits increased 4% year over year to $940 billion. Citi Holdings assets dropped 48% from the prior-year quarter level to $61 billion. Credit Quality Improves, Energy Headwinds Linger Total non-accrual assets declined 8% year over year to $6.1 billion. The company reported a decrease of 26% in consumer non-accrual loans to $3.6 billion. However, corporate non-accrual loans of $2.4 billion increased significantly from the prior-year period, mainly related to energy-related loans in the ICG. Citigroups total allowance for loan losses was $12.4 billion at quarter end, or 1.97% of total loans, down from $13.6 billion, or 2.21%, in the prior-year period. Strong Capital Position At the quarter end, Citigroups estimated Basel III Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio was 12.6%, increasing from 11.7% in the prior-year quarter. The companys supplementary leverage ratio for the third quarter stood at 7.4%, up from 6.9% in the prior-year quarter. As of Sep 30, 2016, book value per share was $74.51 and tangible book value per share stood at $64.71, both up 8% from the prior-year period. Our Viewpoint The results certainly do not reflect an impressive quarter for Citigroup, however restructuring efforts, including streamlining moves, should continue to ease its burden on the expense base. One can consider a strong brand like Citigroup to be a sound investment option over the long term, given its global footprint and attractive core business. Additionally, Citigroup exhibits its capital strength that continues to support its dividend and a share buyback program. However, revenue pressure, several legal hassles and the thrust of new banking regulations will continue to be concerns for the company. CITIGROUP INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise CITIGROUP INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | CITIGROUP INC Quote Citigroup carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here. Performance of Other Major Banks Among major banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co.s JPM third-quarter 2016 earnings of $1.58 per share handily surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.40. However, the figure reflects a 6% decline from the year-ago period. Notably, the results included a legal benefit of $71 million. Driven by a strong top-line growth, Wells Fargo & Companys WFC third-quarter 2016 earnings recorded a positive surprise of about 1%. Earnings of $1.03 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. However, it compared unfavorably with the prior-year quarters earnings of $1.05 per share. The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.s PNC third-quarter 2016 earnings per share of $1.84 handily beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.78. However, the bottom line declined 3% year over year. 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 JPMORGAN CHASE (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report PNC FINL SVC CP (PNC): Free Stock Analysis Report WELLS FARGO-NEW (WFC): Free Stock Analysis Report CITIGROUP INC (C): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Sweta Singh and David Henry (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc, the fourth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, beat expectations for third-quarter net profit on Friday after trading revenue surged 35 percent. The resurgence, which was echoed at rival JPMorgan, is a boost for Chief Executive Michael Corbat, who has stuck with the bank's trading business while shrinking large parts of its consumer banking business in overseas markets. While net income fell 11 percent to $3.84 billion, or $1.24 per share, it exceeded the average estimate of $1.16 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Total adjusted revenue fell 4 percent to $17.76 billion, again beating the average estimate of $17.36 billion. Citigroup's shares rose 2.2 percent to $49.58 in early trading, similar to gains at rivals JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as investors lauded a solid start to the U.S. bank earnings season. Both JPMorgan and Wells Fargo beat third-quarter profit forecasts on Friday. Bank of America reports results on Monday, followed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley later next week. CONSUMER BANKING Revenue at Citi's institutional clients group, which includes trading and investment banking, rose 13 percent, boosted by volatility in fixed income markets. That volatility and greater activity were spurred by Britain's June vote to leave the European Union, changing expectations for monetary policy in the United States, Europe and Japan, and money market reforms. However, equity market revenue fell about 34 percent as political uncertainty discouraged companies from initial public offerings and share offers. JPMorgan reported a 1 percent increase. Citi's global consumer banking division had a less stellar performance. Net income fell by nearly a quarter due to a higher cost of credit and higher operating expenses. Part of those expenses were due to the cost of becoming the lender behind retailer Costco Wholesale Corp.s co-branded credit cards this year from American Express Co. Story continues Citigroup said revenue from its North American branded card business grew 15 percent to $2.2 billion, reflecting the addition of the Costco portfolio as well as modest organic growth driven by higher volumes. The business accounts for about a quarter of its total net income and a third of profit from its global consumer franchises. Citigroup executives have said the branded card business is expected to generate a 2.3 percent return on assets, more than double the profitability of the entire company. Overall operating expenses fell 2.5 percent to $10.40 billion. PROFIT TARGETS Despite the solid performance in investment banking, Corbat fell further behind in his quest to reach a 10 percent return on tangible common equity, a key measure of profitability. It fell to 7.8 percent from 8.9 percent a year earlier. Corbat had set the target of reaching a 10 percent return on equity by 2015 shortly after taking the reins in 2012. But the bank has found it hard to hit the target as its earnings are squeezed by low interest rates and the U.S. Federal Reserve's requirement that banks retain more capital. Analysts say the Fed would need to allow the bank to return as much as it earns to significantly improve shareholders' returns and the Fed now lets Citi distribute about 65 percent of its capital. Corbat reached that level in June when he won approval from the regulator to triple the bank's dividend and increase spending on its stock buybacks by more than a third. Previously, Citi had failed Fed tests of its capital plans twice. The bank's common equity Tier 1 capital rose to 12.6 percent from 12.5 percent in the second quarter even as Citigroup returned capital to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. The stock had lost 6.3 percent this year as of Thursday's closing price of $48.47. Citigroup's stock has languished at a steep discount to its tangible book value, which was $64.71 at the end of September. (Writing by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Bernadette Baum) By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Clashes between two semi-autonomous regions of Somalia this week have killed at least 11 people and displaced around 50,000, the United Nations said on Friday, stoking concerns the violence could escalate. Clashes have been intensifying between forces loyal to the semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and forces from the semi-autonomous Galmudug region. The two sides are fighting in the town of Galkayo, which is divided between clan militias loyal to the different regions. "The armed violence has exacerbated an already fragile humanitarian situation ... especially for IDPs (internally displaced people) who continue to live in deplorable conditions and makeshift structures," the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement. The statement said 11 people had been killed in the fighting so far, citing local officials. Hirsi Yusuf Barre, the mayor of Galkayo south, said three members of their Galmudug militia had been killed on Thursday and five injured. The dispute centered around plans by militia from the north part of town, who are allied with Puntland, to build in the south part of town, he said. "Puntland wants to build in parts of our south Galkayo by force and that is an aggression we will not accept," he said. "Puntland tanks started shelling us yesterday and we had to respond." Major Mohamed Ibrahim, a military officer in Puntland, said they had lost two soldiers on Thursday. "Galmudug started the fighting," he said. "We shall defend ourselves." Somalia has been at civil war for 25 years and clashes between the clan-based militias who control much of the country are common. In the south, forces loyal to the weak U.N.-backed government are also battling Islamist insurgents. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Tom Heneghan) While competing on NBC's The Apprentice, American Idol season two runner up Clay Aiken had a front row seat observing then-host and future Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump in action. In 2014, Aiken threw his hat into the political arena, running for a Congressional seat in North Carolina -- a run covered in his own docu-series, The Runner Up, on the Esquire Network. With his former "employer" now running for the highest office, Aiken naturally has his own views on the election, and this Monday he will appear on The View in a segment where the North Carolina Democrat crosses political lines covering a Trump a rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Aiken served as a man-on-the-street reporter for the ABC show before, covering the riots in Charlotte and the transgender bathroom battle in North Carolina. However, this will be the first time Aiken will cover a Presidential election, interviewing regular people for a segment that will air on the Oct. 17 episode of the show. He will also be live in the studio to chat with Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Candace Cameron Bure, Paula Faris, Raven-Symone and Sara Haines about what he learned, as he stood in the same arena where he and Idol winner Kelly Clarkson once performed together on their 2004 co-headlining tour. "I played the same arena he was in when I toured with Kelly. They were playing video before he came out, and they had announcements and people cheering and chanting. I remember how fun it is to have that many people cheering for you, and have an arena full of noise shouting for you," Aiken tells Billboard. "That's all this is for him. He just loves having throngs of people. He actually said that night, 'We broke all records for attendance at this arena,' and while he was saying it, right above his head was a second tier full of empty seats." Aiken says his segment will be a "thoughtful piece," and he anticipates a lively discussion with the panel, exploring the reasons why Trump is resonating with voters. Story continues "I mean, we have to at least try to understand why they feel the way they do, and stop assuming they're all just racist demons," he continued. "And they, by the way, need to start trying to understand why people who are liberal or who are Democrat feel the way they do, and stop trying to assume automatically that because we like Obama we're communists." Read on for more of Aiken's thoughts. So, you filmed a segment for The View. Tell us about the feedback you are getting from Trump supporters. The goal was to try and understand why people like Trump without pushing back -- without debating, without arguing, but genuinely trying to get them to explain what it is about him that they gravitate towards, and why they are so adamantly in support of him, why so many of them knew they loved him and wanted to vote for him on day one, without having heard him campaign in any way. And I didn't argue with them or even question any of their views. I didn't push back; it was simply a chance to get people's opinions. Having gone through the political process yourself, you were well suited to wade into those waters. I think it's so much easier to go and ask people questions, and not have to question their opinion. Just to try and be respectful of what they want to say and feel and believe. I was worried that I would not get people to talk to me, because a lot of people have the impression that a lot of these folks are horrible, mad, mean, angry, racist, xenophobes, and they hate the media and they yell at the press, and they don't trust anybody and they're just angry. And I thought "Well hell, I'm a gay man who I think many people recognize as a liberal, and I'm going with a producer who's a Muslim -- we are not going to be so welcomed here." But the supporters were nothing but gracious and friendly and open to talk. I very rarely encountered someone who was angry, very rarely encountered someone whose motivation for voting for him had anything to do with race, or even immigration. A few people want the wall built and want immigration to be curbed -- so to speak -- but I never got the sense that they were doing it for racist reasons. A lot of them are just very afraid for their jobs. What did you say to them? I asked them to tell me why they supported Donald Trump, and to describe him in one word. And at risk of giving away too much for what we're talking about on Monday, I won't say what it was, but there was one word that came up I'd say about 60 percent of the time. And hearing that, and hearing the stories from people about why they like him, why they're supporting him, why they don't care that he said what he said to Billy Bush, why that doesn't affect them, why that doesn't have any impact on why they're voting for him and won't change their position... I have a newfound understanding of where a lot of these people who support Trump are coming from. And while I certainly don't agree with them, and certainly will not vote for him, and am hopeful that he will not become President, I don't think that it's appropriate to demonize the people who like him. Did any of them talk about the label of "deplorables?" They wear it as a badge of honor. They have posters, they have stickers now that say, "I'm one of the deplorables." It was a mistake, it was an error, for Hillary Clinton to have said that -- I think she admitted that she shouldn't have said that -- but they wear it as a badge of honor. They recognize that. They're proud of this and they talk about it with pride. Trump did used to be a registered Democrat. If you take a look at his registration history, he always tends to change his registration to be the opposite party of the sitting president -- as if he's always thought about running for president, and he knew he needed to switch his party to be in opposition. He switched right after Clinton became president. He left the Democratic party, went to the Republicans for a second, then he went to the Reform party because they were going to have him run. When Bush went into office and the war started, he switched to being a Democrat again, until Obama became president -- then he switched to being a Republican again. I would argue that there are certain things about Trump that may actually push Democratic policies further than any Democrat ever could. Donald Trump is for getting money out of politics. That's not something Republicans have typically gone for. Donald Trump says is he anti-free trade, and that is not a Republican position. But there's research that shows that Republican voters have shifted to anti-free trade at a more rapid clip in the last year than ever in history, and it's probably because Donald Trump has told them that -- he is their spokesperson, he's become their champion. They believe that he's conservative, but he has a lot of these liberal positions that they never would have listened to if Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton had said them. He's all about infrastructure, or he says he's all about infrastructure. He says he wants to build these great roads and these great bridges and these great airports and trains. That is an incredibly democratic position. When Hillary Clinton becomes president -- and I believe she will - -if she goes out and tries to get a stimulus package passed that builds better roads and bridges, Republicans and those voters will be so against it. But when Donald Trump is saying it -- because he's got that R behind his name -- they'll listen to it. Last summer when we talked, you saw this coming. You said not to "discount" him. The reason The Apprentice was successful was because Mark Burnett knew how to produce a show, but also because Trump knows how to give the people what they want. He definitely wants the people cheering for him, and I figured he would probably do everything he could to pander and say the things people wanted, and just try to rile people up. I'll tell you what, I sat in this arena Monday night, and realized this entire campaign is a vanity project. Did you see the video from The Apprentice where he fired [WWE personality Maria Kanellis] for "locker room talk"? I try to be fair that -- I sound like I'm defending him in some way and I really don't want to -- but he was trying to entertain, and the truth is I don't think he has full-reign on deciding who gets fired himself. A lot of it has to do with what NBC wants, and what the ratings are saying and who's got a high Q score and who's doing better for the show. Sometimes he just has to find a reason to fire somebody because the network says that they want so-and-so to go, and he's got to figure out why to be able to fire them. So maybe that was one of those situations where he had to fire somebody, and he had to figure out how to do it, and that was the [way]. Does that necessarily excuse it? No. Moving past the election, it is easy to see him launching his own network. Well, [Michael] Bloomberg had his own media empire while he ran for Mayor, so you can do both. This whole election is like a reality show right now. And reality shows, as you know, are not always exactly reality. There are false-scripted moments to give you drama. If you did a reality show of my life, as it normally is, it'd be boring as hell. So they put people in situations, they manufacture this drama; Trump knows how to do that. I know how to give a sound bite, when I give an interview I know how to say something that will probably get pulled out. Trump knows how to do it 10 times better than I do. Most people try to avoid it, but he knows, "If I say something controversial, I'll stay in the news." It's what he said now, "The shackles are off." Well hell, that's ridiculous. The shackles have been off you since day one. So what's next for you? Any more politics? What do you have on tap? I don't really know. I kind of took the year off after I ran to sort of explore, and dip my toe into different waters, and see what it was I wanted to do. I knew that going back to singing was probably not going to be as easy as it was before, simply because I got that D behind my name now, and I lost people because they can't support me now, because I'm a Democrat. I found that I have a great interest in doing these types of thoughtful pieces. I don't think at this point that people see me in that role, so it's not like all of a sudden I'm going to be a political reporter or anything -- nor do I think I want to be a political reporter -- but I don't think I'm going to be a reporter or a journalist in the typical way. But I'm enjoying this, so I'm going to continue doing it here and there. I don't necessarily have an end goal in mind. The View airs 11 a.m. EST on ABC. Your coffee maker is always there for you, ready to jump-start your day by brewing up a fresh potuntil it isnt, due to some malfunction that means you either skip the caffeine that morning (gasp!) or hit the nearest cafe in your pajamas. First-world problems, we know, but why not avoid them by making sure your coffee maker is in good working order at all times? And keeping the machine clean is one of the best ways to do just that. Minerals in the brew water, especially if your home has very hard water, can degrade a coffee makers components over time. Leftover coffee oils, meanwhile, will tarnish the taste of the finest blends. Here's how to clean your coffee maker in a step-by-step guide from the experts at Consumer Reports. Afterward you'll have better-tasting coffee and a sparkling carafethe better to watch your machine dispense your caffeinated elixir of life, drip by beautiful drip. Step 1: Clean the Brew Basket If youre like most people, you probably rinse the brew basket at the sink after you empty it. Now and then, its good to go the extra distance by washing it thoroughly in warm, soapy water. This will take care of the oily residues that can leave behind a bitter taste. Step 2: Remove Mineral Deposits Minerals in your homes water can clog your coffee makers tank and tubes. If it gets bad enough, the machine will either stop working completely or its brewing performance will be compromised; excessive steaming and increased brew cycle times are two telltale signs of trouble. You can refer to your manual for specific cleaning instructions. But for most machines, an effective solution is to occasionally run equal parts water and white vinegar through the machine. Then run plain water through it a couple more times to eliminate any trace of vinegar. Step 3: Clean the Carafe Coffee stains on a glass carafe look cruddy, plus they can also impart an unpleasant flavor. Fill the carafe with a solution of one part baking soda and two parts hot water and let it stand overnight. Then rinse thoroughly with fresh water. A damp sponge dipped in baking soda can also be used to remove burned-on stains from the hotplate; just make sure the plate is cool before you touch it. Story continues The Best Coffee on the Shelf Once you commit to keeping a clean coffee maker, make sure youre also putting the best ground beans in it. In our latest coffee ratings, Counter Culture is the leading brand from the popular Colombian region, while Whole Foods Allegro brand is our top-rated Kenyan coffee. More DIY Projects to Try Around the House In the Kitchen Laundry & Linens More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted under oath Thursday that she never considered the impact that her use of a private email account during her time at the State Department would have on the preservation of certain public records. Clinton was responding to a set of 25 questions from Judicial Watch, the activist group that has filed a federal lawsuit over her use of a personal email server rather than an official State Department account for official business. Related: Clinton Camp Emails: Needy Latinos and Catholic Backwardness Clintons answers are packed with legalistic objections to the scope of the questions being asked and whether or not Judicial Watch is actually entitled to much of the information it requests. However, one fact that shines through is that the former secretary of state appears to have flagrantly ignored both security concerns and the requirement that official communications be retained as federal records. Throughout her responses, Clinton repeatedly claims that it was her assumption that because it was her practice to send emails about departmental business to staff at their official government email addresses that all of her emails were being captured by the departments servers. However, this does not account for emails that Clinton may have sent or received from people not employed by the State Department. In one answer, she admits, she did not consider how e-mails she sent to or received from persons who did not have State Department e-mail accounts would be searched by the Department in response to [Freedom of Information Act] requests. This is particularly significant because when Clinton was asked to turn over all of her official emails after leaving office, she directed her attorneys to go through her tens of thousands of accumulated emails and identify those related to State Department business. Those not flagged by the attorneys as official were permanently deleted. Story continues Related: Is the Dam Breaking? Multiple Women Come Forward Accusing Trump of Assault The process was not transparent and amounted to Clinton demanding that the government trust the judgment of her attorneys about which emails were official federal records and which were not. Subsequent investigations have revealed that many emails related to State Department business were not, in fact, turned over to the government, but were destroyed. Clintons continued use of a private system, as well as unsecured devices to access that system, also raised major security issues. She refused to answer a question about why she continued to use an unsecured Blackberry device to access her email even after receiving and acknowledging an internal State Department memo that warned, any unclassified BlackBerry is highly vulnerable in any setting to remotely and covertly monitoring conversations, retrieving email, and exploiting calendars. She also vowed that she was never told that her use of the system might violate federal recordkeeping laws. The answer reads, in part, she does not recall that it was ever suggested to her, and she does not recall participating in any communication, conversation, or meeting in which it was discussed that her use of a clintonemail.com e-mail account to conduct official State Department business conflicted with or violated federal recordkeeping laws. Related: Clinton Campaign Struggled to Balance Unions, Environmentalists - Emails/WikiLeaks The release of Clintons answers to the queries from Judicial Watch is just the most recent step in a long-running saga that has involved the watchdog organization deposing multiple Clinton aides and associates, and which promises to drag on far into the future. Were pleased that we now have a little bit more information about Hillary Clintons email practices, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a press release. Our lawyers will be reviewing the responses closely. Mrs. Clintons refusal to answer many of the questions in a clear and straightforward manner further reflects disdain for the rule of law. Below is a copy of Hillary Clintons responses to questions submitted by Judicial Watch: HRC Rog Answers by Becket Adams on Scribd Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By PTI: Children New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) Girls in India are less likely to realise their full potential as compared to those in neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, according to "The Girls Opportunity Index", which is part of a new study conducted by a rights body. The index prepared by the NGO Save the Children ranks India at 90, two spots below Pakistan, which is placed at 88, five points below Nepal at 85 and 10 points below Bhutan at 80. advertisement The objective of the Girls Opportunity Index is to rank countries according to the opportunity that girls get to shape their futures and reach their full potential. The parameters used to develop the index are child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, maternal mortality, women in Parliament and lower-secondary school completion for girls. Other neighbouring countries like Afghanistan and Bangladesh are ranked 121 and 111 respectively. According the report, a low-income country like Nepal is performing better than itspeers because of its relatively good lower-secondary school completion rate for girls, which at 86 per cent, is similar to that of Spain. The United States ranks 32 in the Girls Opportunity Index, below Algeria and Kazakhstan. The report attributes this to "poor womens representation in parliament, high adolescent fertility and maternal mortality rates compared with other countries in its income group." The index comprises 144 countries which had recent data (from 2006 and onwards) for the five indicators mentioned earlier. The report also elaborates on the prevalence of child marriages. In developing countries, one in three girls is married before the age of 18 and one in nine before the age of 15. Globally, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18. It also highlights how child marriage alone can lead to multiple violations -- denying the girl right to education, health, making her vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and putting her at risk of different kind of violence. PTI JC GVS --- ENDS --- John Podesta and Donna Brazile. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News, photos: Andrew Harnick/AP, Paul Sancya/AP) At 7:51 p.m. on Wednesday night, Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile got an odd email from the Gmail account of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. We have a problem, read the subject line. Donna, some of our less than reliable media people are starting to privately question the Russian hack story weve been feeding them about these emails that [WikiLeaks founder Julian] Assange keeps leaking, it read, according to a copy of the email Brazile shared with Yahoo News. It went on to say HRC wants us to come up with a backup story to keep them guessing until we get to E-day in case we need to use it. The email was unlike any Podesta would actually write and for good reason. It was fake. He wrote no such missive, says a Clinton campaign official. But the message, using a cloned version of Podestas real Gmail address, was a vivid example of the mischief Russian hackers and WikiLeaks have unleashed by dumping thousands of stolen emails into the public domain, say Democratic Party officials and cybersecurity experts. This is part of the disinformation campaign, said Brazile, who quickly alerted the DNCs cybersecurity officials so they could try to trace the email to its original source. So far, they havent cracked the case. But party and Clinton campaign officials are increasingly on guard for similar phony messages. In one case, party officials tell Yahoo News, a malicious unidentified spoofer replicated the email address of the DNCs press secretary and sent the New York Times a phony op-ed from Tim Kaine. Were a political party operating under tremendous stress, said Brazile. The Clinton campaign on Friday ramped up its efforts to put a spotlight on Russias role in the cyberattacks on the DNC and other party organizations, arranging a conference call led by former acting CIA director Michael Morrell. He said the hacks were a direct assault on our democracy and called on Donald Trump to condemn them. Story continues But in fact, there is no indication the phony Podesta message was the work of Russian state-sponsored hackers, say cybersecurity experts. Its far more likely it was sent by cyberspoofers using relatively accessible Internet tools to replicate an email address, using or installing an STMP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) email server. In the case of the Podesta email, the spoofer also used a separate reply to email service a sort of throwaway inbox to weed out junk email presumably so that Podesta would have been completely unwitting if Brazile had actually responded. It could really be anybody, said Rich Barger, chief intelligence officer of ThreatConnect, a cybersecurity firm that has closely studied the Russian hacks. It could be a 400-pound hacker in his mothers basement, he added in an allusion to Trumps own quip during the first presidential debate last month. What the Russians with their presumed co-conspirators at WikiLeaks and other websites such as DCLeaks.com and Guccifer 2.0 apparently did do is make the process a whole lot easier by publicizing Podestas private Gmail account and those of scores of other Democratic Party officials and operatives. The spoofers didnt have to do the hard work of trying to sniff out the email addresses, said Barger. The first indication of the problem came two months ago, shortly after the Democratic convention in Philadelphia and the initial WikiLeaks dump of DNC emails. On Aug. 2, at 5:43 a.m., New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor got a chatty email from the DNC address of Mark Paustenbach, the DNCs press secretary. Hi Yamiche, it began. Long story short Tim Kaine wants to submit an Opted [sic] and get it in ASAP. It added that Brazile would be sending the final draft shortly. Alcindor responded later that morning. Hey Mark, Im just seeing this. Ill email my editors right now and get back to you. (A Times spokeswoman confirmed that Alcindor got the email from Paustenbachs address.) The response from the Times reporter surprised Paustenbach, who immediately alerted DNC security, noting that the language in the original message is clearly not mine. Later, a proposed op-ed under Kaines byline was sent from Braziles address to Alcindor. The content was preposterous. (When it comes to selecting a future Vice President, its almost a tradition to pick someone that helps make you as the presidential candidate look better, it read. Its like when you go to a club, and you see those hot girls next to their boring ugly friends. Im the boring ugly friend. Im the one that doesnt get drugged at the bar, because no one wants to touch me with a fifty-foot pole. The Times, of course, never ran the phony op-ed. But the DNC was on notice that they had become sitting ducks for Internet trolls. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in a private speech to bankers three years ago that the United States had warned Beijing it would "ring China with missile defense" unless it did more to rein in North Korea's missile program, according to hacked emails. According to a purported Clinton campaign document attached to an email published by Wikileaks, Clinton said in a speech to Goldman Sachs on June 4, 2013, that the message to China had been, "You either control them, or we're going to have to defend against them." It was not possible to confirm the authenticity of the leaked email. The Clinton campaign has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of hacked emails. The State Department on Friday declined to comment on "alleged leaked documents." When asked whether such a message had been delivered to China, an official said it was not department policy to comment publicly on diplomatic discussions. Although Clinton's reported comments raised a stir in Asia, they are consistent with U.S. efforts to convince China to help restrain North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which so far have borne little fruit. According to the hacked email, Clinton said in the speech, which was delivered after she left her position as secretary of state, that Washington could not accept a situation in which North Korea developed an inter-continental ballistic missile able to carry a miniaturized warhead. She said this not only could threaten treaty allies Japan and South Korea, but also theoretically could reach Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States. "We're going to ring China with missile defense. We're going to put more of our fleet in the area," Clinton said, according to the email. "So China, come on. You either control them, or we're going to have to defend against them." China has been angered by plans announced this year by the United States and South Korea to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to protect against the threat posed by North Korean missiles. The United States has argued THAAD is not aimed at containing China, but Beijing is concerned that the system's powerful radar would compromise its security. Current U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in February that the United States had made clear that the way to prevent THAAD deployment was to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. According to the leaked emails and in other paid speeches, Clinton also praised Chinese leader President Xi Jinping as a "more worldly, somewhat more experienced" politician than his predecessor Hu Jintao, and one who had worked to assert his authority over the People's Liberation Army. Clinton said she also told her Chinese counterparts that the United States had as much a claim to the Pacific as China, given that U.S. forces had liberated it in World War Two. China had "a right to assert themselves," but the United States needed to "push back to create a balance" to prevent China taking a chokehold on sea lanes and countries bordering the South China Sea, she said. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by John Walcott and Leslie Adler) Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump "stalked her" at Sunday's debate because he was seething over the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape. In a sit-down on "The Ellen Show" set to air Friday, the candidate's first interview since the debate, Clinton tells DeGeneres that Trump's fury was palpable as he stood behind her in St. Louis. Read: Woman Says Donald Trump Left Her With the Bill on Their 'Nightmare' Date in the 70s "Because of the revelation of the public video, and everything that came out on 'Access Hollywood,' you know, he was really all wrought up, and you could just sense how much anger he had, Clinton said. That anger, Clinton argued, stemmed from the profanity-filled tape on which Trump can be heard bragging to TV personality Billy Bush about his ability to grab women "by the p****" without asking, thanks to his stardom. Fallout from the release of the 2005 recording was swift as Trump was immediately assailed both from his detractors and from members of his own party. Clinton believes Trump's anger over the campaign-crippling controversy translated to a puffed-up presence on debate night. "He was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage," she told DeGeneres. Clinton continued: "It was so odd, because Id go to talk to somebody and I would just feel this presence behind me, and you know, I thought, 'Whoa this is really weird.'" Trump was accused of apparently trying to intimidate Clinton in the hours and days after Sunday's town hall-style faceoff, accusations Trump responded to at a campaign stop Monday. Read: Woman Says Donald Trump Left Her With the Bill on Their 'Nightmare' Date in the 70s "So, I'm standing at my podium by my chair. She walks across the room. She's standing in front of me, right next to me. And the next day I said what did the paper say? They said, 'he invaded her space.'" Story continues "Believe me," Trump said, "The last space that I want to invade is her space. Believe me. I don't want to invade her space." Watch: Trump Says He 'Saved' Job of Ex-Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Whom He Once Called 'Miss Piggy' Related Articles: CHICAGO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - CME Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures turned higher on Friday, helped by short-covering and bargain buying after futures racked up six straight sessions of losses, said traders. * At 08:57 a.m. CDT (1357 GMT) October was 1.000 cent per pound higher at 95.450 cents, and December 1.000 cent higher at 97.175 cents. * Traders said this week's disappointing cash prices, due to plentiful cattle and beef supplies, contributed to the market's recent bearish mood. * One processor may have been offline on Thursday for scheduled maintenance, which reduced their need for cattle, an analyst said. * This week packers paid mostly $97 to $98 per cwt for slaughter-ready, or cash, cattle that a week earlier sold for $101 to $103, said feedlot sources. * The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated Thursday's slaughter at 110,000 head, compared to 114,000 on Wednesday and 115,000 on Tuesday. * There were no new deliveries reported by the CME late on Thursday. * On Friday, the USDA's export report for the week ended Oct. 6 showed U.S. beef sales at 12,600 tonnes, mainly to Hong Kong, compared to the prior week's sale at 17,500 tonnes. FEEDER CATTLE - October was 1.200 cents per pound higher at 120.650 cents, on short-covering and live cattle market turnaround. LEAN HOGS - October, which will expire at noon CDT (1700 GMT), was down 0.050 cent per pound to 52.575 cents. Most-actively traded December was 0.750 cent lower at 43.425 cents, and February down 0.200 cent to 51.000 cents. * CME October lean hogs was guided by its proximity to the exchange's hog index for Oct. 12 at 52.76 cents, said traders. * They said other contracts felt pressure from profit-taking after three days of gains, helped by the recent uptick in cash prices as packers prepare for a huge Saturday slaughter. * Midwest hog merchants predict a Saturday kill close to 320,000 head. That could include Smithfield Foods' East Coast plants that will try to make up downtime due to Hurricane Matthew. Story continues * Last Saturday's U.S. hog slaughter totaled 236,000 head, according to USDA estimates. * Friday's USDA export report showed U.S. pork sales at 18,000 tonnes, mainly to South Korea, compared to 21,300 in the previous week. (Reporting by Theopolis Waters in Chicago) CMT is gearing up for a bigger push into scripted programming. Shaleen Desai has been tapped to serve in the newly created role of vp, scripted programming at the Viacom-owned cable network, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. In the role, Desai will oversee the continued growth and success of scripted programming at CMT. His duties will include working with the creative community to generate ideas for new programming concepts and characters, as well as developing and overseeing all aspects of scripted production. Desai will be based in Los Angeles and report to CMT evp, development and programming Jayson Dinsmore. Read more: 'Nashville' Set for January Launch on CMT "Shaleen is equal parts creative and strategist; bringing diverse pedigree to the brand," said Dinsmore. "He's a welcome addition to our growing development team and will play a critical role in positioning CMT as a home for premium scripted programming." Desai comes to CMT from Jason Bateman's Aggregate Films banner, where he served as evp, television and oversaw the shingle's first look deal with Universal Television. Before that, he served as svp, Fishbowl Worldwide Media, vp, programming at BBC Worldwide and was one of the founding executives of fox21. He also worked for David Letterman's Worldwide Pants, serving as a producer on The Late, Late Show. The appointment comes in the midst of CMT's big push into scripted programming, fueled by the success of the recently renewed Billy Ray Cyrus comedy Still the King and the upcoming network premiere of Nashville in January after a four-year run on ABC. CMT also has the limited series Million Dollar Quartet (working title) that chronicles the rise to fame of of a young Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, among others. The cabler is also recently ordered a pilot for a new soap, His Wives and Daughters, and is developing a TV adaptation of the movie Varsity Blues. Attention, Billy Bush: If this NBC News thing doesnt work out, you might consider applying for a job at CNN. In off the cuff remarks made while taking part in a Harvard University question-and-answer session, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker suggested embattled NBC News anchor Billy Bush should not necessarily lose his job in the wake of revelations he took part in sexually charged banter with real-estate mogul Donald Trump. I dont know that its so clear-cut that he should lose his job, said Zucker, speaking at a forum organized by the Harvard Institute of Politics, part of the educational institutions Kennedy School of Government. Bush is in negotiations with NBC News about leaving the Comcast-owned unit after a 2005 outtake from an Access Hollywood interview session with Trump was revealed by The Washington Post. Zucker acknowledged that Bushs behavior on the tape, in which he appears to egg Trump on as the executive made claims about sexually assaulting women, was boorish, juvenile and silly. Representatives for Bush were not able to offer immediate comment on the status of Bushs discussions with NBC. My gut would have been to put that story on the air as soon as possible, Zucker said, an admonishment of sorts to NBC News, which was scooped by the Post as it worked to vet the story with attorneys and discussed whether Access Hollywood should be able to broadcast it first. The Washington newspaper, said Zucker, deserves a tremendous amount of credit. Zuckers comments came as part of a wide-ranging conversation that covered the evolution of CNNs strategic direction since Zucker, the former chief executive of NBCUniversal. In conversation with journalist Lois Romano, Zucker said CNN has relied more heavily on original series and digging in deep on the biggest story of the news cycle, rather than hewing to a traditional cable-news broadcast that attempts to cover ten or more stories per programming cycle. We were not covering any less news. We were just putting it in different places, Zucker said. Story continues And he took some time to address perceptions that CNN played a significant role in helping Trump, now the Republican nominee for President, gain traction with voters. We recognized much earlier than most that there was a little bit of a phenomenon, and we recognized there was something going on with him, said Zucker. With that said, the executive added, Trump was quick to give interviews early in the political cycle, while other candidates from both parties were not. The only mistake Zucker thinks CNN could have made is showing too many of Trumps early rallies unfiltered. You never knew what he was going to say. You never knew what was going to happen there, said Zucker. Related stories NBC Pulls Donald Trump-Inspired 'Law & Order: SVU' Episode Until After Election (EXCLUSIVE) Billy Bush, NBC Near Agreement on Exit Donald Trump Denies 'Apprentice' Accuser's Groping Claims Shoppers rush to grab items inside a Cabela's store on the shopping day dubbed Retail sales came in as expected. Sales rose 0.6% month-over-month in September, according to the Commerce Department. That's right in line with economists' expectations, and above last month's 0.3% dip. Excluding auto and gas sales, which can be volatile on a monthly basis, so-called core retail sales rose 0.3%. Meanwhile, the retail sales control group, which excludes volatile items like cars, gas, food, and building materials and feeds directly into the government's calculation of gross domestic product, rose 0.1% (0.4% forecast). "On the surface, the modest core print indicates a weak recovery following the declines recorded in the prior two months," noted Brittany Baumann, macro strategist at TD Securities in commentary. "However, the details of the report are more positive, with weakness seen in only a few components and relatively strong increases broadly based elsewhere." "So, people are eating out (0.8%), renovating their homes (1.4%), and buying cars (1.1%) two months before the election. Yup, lots of election related uncertainty delaying discretionary spending," noted Neil Dutta of Renaissance Macro in commentary after the report. NOW WATCH: LIZ ANN SONDERS: The most unsettling outcome for the markets would be a surprise Trump win More From Business Insider The gruesome incident happened when five criminals, three known to the victim, abducted, thrashed and chopped off his tongue due to a personal dispute on Tuesday. By Rohit Kumar Singh: In a horrific incident, a man was kidnapped and his tongue chopped off on Tuesday near Maner, 35 km from capital Patna in Bihar. The victim, Pawan Kumar, is an electrician. The gruesome incident happened when five criminals, three known to the victim Pawan Kumar, abducted him on Tuesday during the Durga idol immersion procession. After abducting Pawan Kumar, the three criminals Rajan, Sonu and Anand knew him, they thrashed him and later chopped off his tongue. Later, they left Pawan outside his house and fled the area. advertisement GRUESOME INCIDENT When the police questioned him about the incident on Thursday, Pawan said he had a personal dispute with three of the five criminals and in a bid to take revenge on, the criminals abducted him and chopped off his tongue . "I had a personal dispute with the criminals whom I know and I was on work when they kidnapped me and chopped my tongue", said victim Pawan Kumar. Also Read: Son of a gangster: Watch bullies brutally thrash schoolmate in Bihar POLICE CLUELESS FOR TWO DAYS The police, however, remained clueless about the gruesome incident for two days and only through media were they made aware of the incident. The police have now recorded the victim's statement for further action. "I have come to know about the incident through the media. Investigations will take place in the case," said Md Akramul Haq, Inspector of Maner police station. Pawan presently is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Danapur. The police have filed an FIR and launched a probe in the case. The accused persons are absconding. Also Read: Missing for 4 days, 7-year-old boy returns home on Dussehra --- ENDS --- The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday issued a scorching condemnation of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as a threat to press freedom unknown in modern history. The independent nonprofit, which defends the rights of journalists, acknowledged that its denunciation was an unprecedented step and that it was sparked by the billionaire moguls threats against journalists and vilification of the media. Sandra Mims Rowe, the chairman of CPJs board, said in a statement that Trump consistently betrays First Amendment values. She also noted that her organization passed a resolution on Oct. 6 declaring him an unprecedented threat to the rights of journalists and their ability to advocate for press freedom throughout the world. Since the beginning of his candidacy, Trump has insulted and vilified the press and has made his opposition to the media a centerpiece of his campaign. Trump has routinely labeled the press as dishonest and scum and singled out individual news organizations and journalists, she said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowd during a campaign rally, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, in Cincinnati. (Photo: John Minchillo/AP) Trump routinely declares at his rallies that reporters are some of the worst human beings in the world. But he took his media criticism a step further on Thursday by asserting that womens accusations of sexual misconduct were part of a media conspiracy to elect Democrat Hillary Clinton. For her part, Rowe, a former editor of the Oregonian newspaper, cited various times he publicly demeaned journalists: mocking a New York Times reporter with a disability, calling an ABC News reporter sleaze and kicking a Univision anchor out of a press conference for asking an impertinent question. She said Trump has refused to condemn attacks against journalists by some of his supporters and has denied press credentials to new outlets that have been critical of his campaign. She also criticized Trumps vague proposals to restrict basic freedoms of the press and Internet. For instance, at a February rally he declared that he would open up our libel laws so that he could sue anyone who writes purposely negative and horrible and false articles. He has also tweeted these sorts of hazy threats. Story continues My lawyers want to sue the failing @nytimes so badly for irresponsible intent. I said no (for now), but they are watching. Really disgusting Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2016 While some have suggested that these statements are rhetorical, we take Trump at his word. His intent and his disregard for the constitutional free press principle are clear, Rowe continued. According to the CPJ, a founding principle of the United States is the free flow of information through an independent press, but Trump through his words and actions has demonstrated contempt for the presss performing any role other than advancing his own interests. A Trump presidency would represent a threat to press freedom in the United States, but the consequences for the rights of journalists around the world could be far more serious, Rowe said. Any failure of the United States to uphold its own standards emboldens dictators and despots to restrict the media in their own countries. This appears to be of no concern to Trump, who indicated that he has no inclination to challenge governments on press freedom and the treatment of journalists. An attorney for Trump recently sent a letter to the New York Times threatening to sue the paper for libel if it did not remove a story on two womens allegations against the businessman and issue a retraction. The Times stood by its story and defended its right to report newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. By Yawen Chen and Ryan Woo BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A mixed bag of Chinese economic data this week has unnerved global markets and clouded the outlook for China's economic growth, days before the release of the country's quarterly gross domestic product figures. Global markets rose on Friday after official data showed China's factory output prices grew in September for the first time in almost five years, but a day earlier, stocks in Europe and on Wall Street were hammered by an unexpectedly poor Chinese trade report for the same month. Exports for September slumped 10 percent from a year earlier, despite the yuan's depreciation in the past year. Imports unexpectedly fell, after ticking higher in August, raising questions over the resilience of domestic demand. Though China's economy recorded its slowest growth in 25 years in 2015, it has shown signs of stabilising in recent months, sustained by billions of dollars of government infrastructure projects and a spreading credit-fuelled housing boom. China is targeting gross domestic product growth of 6.5 to 7 percent this year, after 6.9 percent last year. "The government has been able to stabilise the economy this year with quite a lot of stimulus, but it hasn't actually been as effective as a lot of people had expected," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, a Singapore-based China Economist at Capital Economics. The booming property market is showing tentative signs of cooling after some local governments rolled out restrictions on home purchases to temper a months-long buying frenzy. Chinese companies are still sitting on $18 trillion in debt, equivalent to about 169 percent of GDP, according to the most recent figures from the Bank for International Settlements. Fixed asset investment is hovering near 17-year lows, while private investment is still languishing at record lows. In a Reuters poll, 58 economists estimated that third-quarter GDP, due on Oct. 19, expanded 6.7 percent, as it did in the first and second quarters. Story continues Despite fresh signs of softer economic conditions, most economists think Beijing will meet its official GDP target without much difficulty. The producer price index (PPI) rose 0.1 percent in September from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, the first expansion on an annual basis since January 2012. But for a more realistic gauge of China's economy, economists tend to look at variables beyond official numbers. "We tend to focus on less high-profile, volume-based indicators, which don't have to be deflated with price indices, such as freight volume, passenger traffic, floors under construction, among other measures," Evans-Pritchard said. He said the official GDP hasn't been a reliable indicator of what's happening on the ground since 2012, the first year China's GDP target came under threat. "What's really interesting about those data is that they used to move very closely with GDP, and from around 2012 onwards most of our indicators continued to slow, but the official GDP (figures) were just kindly moving within a tiny range." Evans-Pritchard's official 2016 official GDP estimate remains at 6.8 percent. But based on other variables, he said he believed growth was likely to be 5 percent. Data for September's bank loans is due over the next few days. Bank lending more than doubled in August from the previous month, fuelled by strong mortgage demand. Zhou Hao, senior economist at Commerzbank in Singapore, said to gauge real growth in China is "a complicated story", but he tends to look at the debt data that comes out of China for clues. China unveiled guidelines this week to cut rising levels of corporate debt that some analysts fear could destabilise the world's second-largest economy. The government aims to stabilise and reduce corporate debt levels in the near- and medium-term. (Reporting by Yawen Chen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Will Waterman) Is the couple that binge-watches together, the couple that stays together? A new study suggests couples should Netflix and chill their way to a stronger relationship! Watch: Make It or Break It: How to Move On The Doctors discuss a new study from the University of Aberdeen which found that watching a show with your partner can fill in for the time a couple might spend with mutual friends. So, if a couple does not share friends from the same circle, the time spent watching a series together could fill that void. The study also found that couples that watch together tend to feel closer because they have another shared experience. The Doctors remind the audience that its still important to do things like get your workout in and eating a healthy meal before plopping down in front of the TV. Watch: Celebrity Love Lessons Do you and your significant other find binge-watching has helped your relationship? Let us know! By Edmund Blair and Duncan Miriri NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan court issued an order on Friday preventing pilots at loss-making national carrier Kenya Airways from going ahead with a strike next week, a lawyer for the airline said. Shares in the company were also boosted by reports that the chief executive and chairman could be soon be replaced, meeting a key demand of pilots who have called an indefinite strike which is scheduled to start on Oct. 18. The strike appeared in doubt after judge Nduma Nderi's order restraining pilots' union KALPA from proceeding. After the ruling, KAPLA said in a statement its members were open to talks with the government to resolve the stand-off, but did not say if they had dropped the call for industrial action. Kenyan broadcaster Citizen had earlier reported on its website that Chief Executive Officer Mbuvi Ngunze and Chairman Dennis Awori would exit by the end of the month, without giving a source. By 1134 GMT, shares in the airline, part owned by Air France KLM and the Kenyan government, were trading at 4.50 shillings, up 3.45 percent. "They are laying out plans to replace the senior management, that includes the CEO, this is based on reports that I am reading," Daniel Kuyoh, analyst at Alpha Africa Asset Managers, told Reuters when asked about the reason for the share rise. Other traders and analysts echoed the comments. There was no immediate comment from Kenya Airways about any management changes. The principal secretary in the Transport Ministry, Irungu Nyakera, who represents the government on the board of the partly state-owned airline, said he had no new information. "The priority now is to get the strike notice withdrawn," he told Reuters by telephone. The government has said the strike amounted to economic sabotage. The union said its members had lost confidence in the ability of the CEO and chairman to end years of losses. The airline said on Thursday it had halved its pretax loss to 5 billion shillings ($49.4 million) in the past six months thanks to a recovery in passenger numbers. Eric Musau, analyst at Standard Investment Bank, said vital to any turnaround in the airline's fortunes was to secure new financing in the form of equity capital. CEO Ngunze told Reuters last month the airline was talking to three or four foreign institutional investors and airlines about buying a stake, without giving details. (Additional reporting by Katharine Houreld and Humphrey Malalo; Editing by Adrian Croft/Alexander Smith) By Shankar Ramakrishnan and Natalie Harrison NEW YORK, Oct 14 (IFR) - Enhanced cash funds are rolling out again in new forms, as investors looking for extra yield amid the money markets overhaul start to embrace an asset class with a checkered past. With the advent of SEC money market reforms that came into effect on Friday, so-called prime funds - once the go-to place to boost returns on cash - have fallen out of favor. And as more than US$1trn has left prime funds so far this year, short-term bond funds - essentially enhanced cash funds with a new name - are catching the eyes of investors. The funds, often privately managed, offer potentially better yields while not being bound by the new regulations. But they also carry many of the same risks as their predecessors, which bruised so many investors in the financial crisis - even when bearing Triple A credit ratings. Many analysts say the lack of regulatory oversight, and the possibility of an extremely wide range of credit quality in the portfolios, should give investors pause. "[Short-term funds] lack standardization and their risk parameters are varied," Roger Merritt, an analyst at Fitch, told IFR. "So there is need for more scrutiny when investing in such funds." CHANGE ARRIVES The flood of money from prime funds was prompted by the new requirement that net asset values, previously kept steady at US$1, now float and are marked to market each day. And while much of the money leaving the prime space has been flowing to government funds so far, investors are likely to find little joy in their returns. "The hope is that government money market fund yields would increase with all this money flowing into them, but that is not going to happen," said Jerome Schneider, head of short-term portfolio management at PIMCO. "Investors in such funds are going to be faced with anaemic yields for months and years to come." That has opened a window for privately run funds that can hold a wide range of debt: short-term high-grade bonds, commercial paper, asset-backed paper and even Japanese bills. Story continues Theoretically, such a portfolio could easily outperform the sovereign space where rates still remain lower for longer. Large institutional names such as PIMCO have been offering such funds for several years - and are showing good returns. PIMCO's enhanced short-maturity active exchange-traded fund, for example, which began in 2009, has returned 1.48% this year up to the end of August - easily outperforming Citigroup's three-month Treasury bill index, which yielded 0.16% over the same period. "People have to recognize [the prime fund exodus] is a structural change, then pick an actively managed fund which can independently assess credit and structural risks," said Schneider. "That is the challenge." HIDDEN EXPENSES But the buyside will have to avoid the mistakes that wrong-footed pre-crisis investors, who often were not fully aware of the impact of external influences on their exposures. Many funds at the time were invested in asset-backed commercial paper, for example, and had exposure to the imploding mortgage market, triggering massive unexpected losses. At the moment, investors appear to be treading more carefully. Short-term corporate bond funds have seen a net inflow of US$4.41bn so far this year as of October 12, according to Lipper data. And money has been concentrated in separate accounts managed by large funds with a capability to maintain a more globally diversified portfolio - a sign of the buyside's caution, according to Schneider. Some money is also flowing into vehicles that mimic the characteristics of prime money funds. Federated Investors, for example, got a Triple A rating from Fitch for a private money market fund it launched recently that intends to maintain a US$1 NAV and adhere to the liquidity, quality, maturity, diversity and disclosure guidelines of regulated money funds. It went live on September 22 and has already attracted more than US$220m in cash, according to Crane Data. One risk to be accounted for in short-term funds is the wider variation of maturities in them. Analysts say prime money funds currently have a weighted average maturity around four to 20 days; for short-term funds, it could run from 40 days to as much as three years. "Investors have to appreciate the added risk," said Sue Ann Cormack, director of sales for BNY Mellon Fixed Income. "There is a broad range of average weighted maturities and some are higher than prime money market funds, which may add relative risk," she said. Moreover, some investors believe that, after adjusting to the new reforms, prime funds will be able to deliver NAVs at US$1 - or close - and thus attract money back in. "Some cash managers may prefer to remain invested in prime funds, motivated by the relative safety rather than just chasing yield," said Cormack, "especially since the crisis proved to them that investing in short-term bond funds does pose additional risk." "It may be a good time to consider short-term funds. But investors need to understand the risk that comes with them." (Reporting by Shankar Ramakrishnan and Natalie Harrison; Editing by Marc Carnegie, Jack Doran and Matthew Davies) PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis, one of the country's most popular politicians heading into elections next year, has said he does not favour swapping the crown for the euro. "Certainly I am not a fan of entry to the euro zone," he told the daily Hospodarske Noviny, according to a report on Friday. "On Tuesday I was in Luxembourg for a meeting of (European Union) finance ministers where the big problems that the euro zone has were apparent." The Czech Republic is one of the east European countries that are one day due to adopt the common currency. However, the centre-left government has not set a target date, and does not expect to do so before its term ends late next year. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told the newspaper, which ran a section on the future of the crown in its Friday edition, that switching to the euro was a question of timing. "I am convinced the question of adoption ... is not whether we will accept it but how to time adoption well," he said. Babis's ANO party is a junior member of the ruling coalition but scored a victory in regional elections this past weekend and leads Sobotka's Social Democrats in opinion polls. That could put Babis, a billionaire businessman who owns a large agriculture, food and media business, in a position to lead the country after the next election. The 19-member euro zone is still feeling the effects of a debt crisis and struggling to get economic growth on track. Babis said many of the euro zone countries did not keep to the club's rules. He also said he was worried that the Czech Republic would have to participate in possible bailouts of other countries or banks. But he said adoption of the euro would bring advantages for some companies. "(Firms) would not have to anticipate how the crown exchange rate will develop," he said. "But the crown versus euro (exchange rate) is always an effective tool. And, going by the way I see the euro zone functioning, I am certainly not for adoption." (Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation is taking steps to get women drivers to operate its luxury Volvo buses. By Vishakha Saxena: At a time when the country is debating women's rights in the ongoing triple talak debate, Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation is wheeling in a breath of fresh air. The state corporation is making arrangements to get women drivers to man its luxury Volvo buses on the Rajkot-Ahmedabad route. "Application forms are available at Rajkot Depot and anyone can apply," GSRTC MD Vijay Nehra told India Today. "We are also tying up with NGOs who train women as drivers and ensure they get licenses, etc." Image: Twitter advertisement GSRTC invited applications from women almost year back too, but found a major skill gap in the applicants. It now plans to ensure they are well trained, brought on board in the next six months. Nehra says that the lack of training was the only obstacle holding them back so far. "We had great experiences with women conductors, so chief minister Vijay Rupani suggested we rope in women drivers as well," he said. Women conductors have proven to be a lot more efficient than their male counterparts, by not permitting people without tickets onboard and being punctual and disciplined. Read: Meet these women drivers who fought taboos to do exactly what they wanted The aim, now, is to get at least 20 women drivers ready and running. "But we can even go to 2,000 drivers, we just need to start somewhere... our aim is to get women in the profession," Nehra said. He also hinted that this was just the beginning. "We encourage women participation across all trades and professions. This is just the first step to open doors and create a conducive environment," he said. And on the question of safety, Nehra was crystal clear - "if our buses are safe for women travellers, they are safe for women drivers as well." Read: Women auto drivers bravely fight all odds in Chennai to work --- ENDS --- And here's what to watch out for in MAS policy statement. Even with the weakening pound, property investors in Singapore are still cautious to buy a property in the United Kingdom compared to their counterparts in other Asian countries. Despite the renewed interest in London properties, some investors are not jumping in as concerns about the country's economy and Brexit situation have send them into jitters. Know more about the story here. No one would even think that the wealthy city-state of Singapore, with its flourishing trade, orderly life and near-zero crimes, would be a place associated with illegal trade. However, a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed that Singapore is at seven out of 17 countries who has scored poorly in preventing illegal trade. Read more here. Some analysts are looking to the city-state's central bank to provide any clues as to whether it prefers a weaker dollar to beef up an economy that probably has not seen growth in the third quarter. At its last policy decision in April, the central bank eased its stance by saying it would not seek an appreciation in the exchange rate. Here are some things to watch out for in the MAS statement today. More From Singapore Business Review BERLIN (Reuters) - The Syrian refugee suspected of planning to bomb a Berlin airport was radicalised only after arriving in Germany, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, citing the suspect's brother who still lives in Syria. Jaber Albakr committed suicide in prison in Leipzig on Wednesday after two fellow Syrians had handed him over to police. Alaa Albakr, told Spiegel by telephone from Syria that a Muslim preacher in Berlin had radicalised his brother and told him to return to his homeland to fight, which he did, before heading back to Germany once again. "My brother was radicalised in Germany," he said. In September 2015, seven months after arriving in Germany where he was granted asylum, Albakr returned to Syria where he joined Islamic State militants in Raqqa, Alaa Albakr said. If this is confirmed it would mark a major security lapse by the intelligence agencies that monitor potential militants among the some 900,000 migrants who arrived last year. German security sources told Reuters that Albakr had traveled to Turkey after receiving asylum in Germany and spent several months there this summer. Albakr's death makes it more difficult for investigators to track down the network behind his radicalization, a government spokesman said. "Something went wrong ... and misjudgments were made," Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference. "The death of the suspect makes the work of the investigators more difficult as what would have been possible to find out from him is no longer possible." Seibert added that the suicide must be thoroughly investigated. The results of an autopsy confirmed on Friday that the 22-year-old Syrian refugee had committed suicide. Some 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds) of explosives were found at Albakr's apartment during a police raid on Saturday but he evaded capture and went on the run for two days. An opposition politician called the incident "an unprecedented sequence of failures by the police and judicial system". (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Andrea Shalal and Robin Pomeroy) Nairobi (AFP) - When a photograph of a smiling President John Magufuli, sitting in an economy class plane seat, appeared on Twitter this month it was widely praised as another example of his personal austerity and common touch. That the picture was in fact an official photo opportunity at the launch of two new Air Tanzania planes - Bombardier Q400s that only have an economy class and never left the ground - made no difference to his fans in Tanzania and beyond. Since winning last October's election Magufuli has shown a talent for publicity-grabbing stunts that bolster his no-nonsense, corruption-busting, man-of-the-people reputation and have made him wildly popular. He won the October poll with 58 percent of the vote. A recent opinion poll gave him a staggering 96 percent approval rating. Yet at the same time his readiness to act on impulse, regardless of due process or political niceties, worries some who see a wide authoritarian streak at the core of his populism. Magufuli has shut down newspapers, banned opposition rallies, switched off live broadcasts of parliamentary sessions, applied a draconian "cyber crimes" law to jail critics, and permitted a messy and unfair election to pass in semi-autonomous Zanzibar. "We're being a bit blind to the negative stuff that he's doing," said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of African politics at Oxford University, who argues that Magufuli's good and bad moves stem from a worrying willingness to break the rules. "When he marches into a place and sacks people without due process he's acting in a populist way, but at the root of that is the same thing that sees him going against the rules in banning opposition rallies. It's the same inspiration and process." - 'Master stroke' - Magufuli, whose nickname "tingatinga" means "bulldozer" in Swahili, began his presidency by sweeping the streets on independence day, appointing a streamlined cabinet, summarily firing government officials suspected of ineptitude or corruption, sacking latecomer civil servants during surprise visits to their offices and banning first class tickets, expensive foreign travel and costly 'per diem' allowances for officials. Story continues The cost-cutting earned him the approving and popular #WhatWouldMagufuliDo hashtag with which Twitter users shared their often-humorous money-saving ideas. It played well in the impoverished East African country where generations of same-party rule had left the youthful population disenchanted with traditional politics. The selection of a relatively unknown 56-year-old former works minister, unencumbered by the baggage of corruption, was "a master stroke" by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, said Nicodemus Minde, a Tanzanian political analyst. "The CCM brand was tarnished, but Magufuli's was not," Minde said, allowing for a semblance of change while perpetuating CCM rule, in power since independence in 1962. Opposition politicians rail against Magufuli for turning Tanzania into a "dictatorship". The claim is surprising given their performance in last year's vote in which the opposition won control of major cities, including Arusha and Dar es Salaam, and more parliamentary seats then ever before. Adjoa Anyimadu, a researcher at the Chatham House think tank in London, points out that Tanzanian presidents generally serve two five-year terms meaning it is "too early to say whether this constriction of democratic space is going to continue to tighten over Magufuli's presidency." Nevertheless, he appears "a bit of a throwback to the early days of multiparty democracy in Tanzania," a sentiment shared by some who see him as a "reincarnation of Julius Nyerere", Tanzania's founding father and an authoritarian socialist. - The company he keeps - The company Magufuli keeps offers clues to his leadership style. As president he has made just two visits abroad, to Rwanda and Uganda, and hosted the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. All three are notorious hardliners bent on staying in power. Magufuli has skipped two African Union summits and been a no-show at three trade and development forums in Kenya, leading Minde to worry that Magufuli's stated focus on domestic issues may damage Tanzania's regional and international standing, as well as being seen as rude and undiplomatic. Magufuli's campaign slogan was "Hapa kazi tu!" meaning "We're here to work!" and that desire is used to justify clampdowns on those perceived to be blocking his political programme. But the concern that democracy is being sacrificed in the name of development is a serious one, particularly in a region with precedents, among them Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, where success in development and economic growth gave leaders a pass on rights and freedoms with foreign donors. "When a leader gets used to breaking rules, institutions get weaker and then the question comes further down the line: are the checks and balances on power still there?" said Cheeseman. By Arno Schuetze FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's finance chief told staff representatives last month that job cuts at the bank could be double that planned, a step that could remove 10,000 further employees, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Although no such decision has yet been taken, Marcus Schenck's remarks, at an internal meeting, signal the lender is considering further significant cost cuts, as it faces a multi-billion-euro fine and a crisis of confidence among investors. "Schenck said that the bank would need to cut another 10,000 staff to bring down costs," said a person who attended the meeting with the chief financial officer, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Such cuts, if agreed, would likely take many years but setting such a goal could reassure investors that the bank is determined to tackle costs that sources said the European Central Bank sees as bloated. If 10,000 job losses were ultimately to follow the 9,000 announced by management in October 2015, roughly one in five of the bank's workforce around the globe would be affected. Deutsche has been engulfed in crisis since news emerged last month of a U.S. Department of Justice demand for a $14 billion settlement over the sale of toxic mortgage bonds before the global financial crisis. It is fighting the fine but could have to turn to investors for more money if it is imposed in full. The discussion about further job cuts comes as Deutsche's chief executive, John Cryan, reassesses a year-old strategy to revive the flagging group, as ebbing market confidence sends its stock price tumbling and prompts some customers to withdraw funds.. A second person familiar with these discussions said the management was also examining the countries where the bank was active to see "whether it was really worth its while (staying in those countries)". PROFIT DOWN, HEADCOUNT UP Cryan too hinted at steeper cuts at the end of August, when he told a conference that Deutsche's staff should be between 25 and 30 percent lower, pointing to lean rivals. Story continues Commerzbank, a far smaller German rival, recently announced it would ax more than a fifth of its workforce - almost 10,000 staff. But given potential high severance costs and revenue losses, it remains unclear whether a further attempt by Deutsche to trim staff can be achieved. Headcount has actually risen at the bank, despite the plans announced by Cryan in October 2015 to slash staff. Employee numbers, which stood at more than 101,300 in the middle of this year, are higher than the roughly 98,600 one year earlier. One hurdle in removing staff is that many are based in Germany, where strict labor law makes it difficult and expensive to fire employees. Of the 9,000 job cuts announced in October 2015, 4,000 are in Germany. In Germany, unlike Britain, for instance, labor representatives have an important say and appoint non-executive directors to Deutsche's supervisory board. They will argue for fewer cuts. An additional downside to shrinking the workforce is that it could sap revenue. Regardless of this, however, the heavy fine demanded by the U.S. authorities could prompt Cryan to act. Once Germany's only bank to go head-to-head with U.S. rivals on Wall Street, stricter regulation, rock-bottom borrowing costs and still heavy costs has squeezed Deutsche's profits. Politicians in Germany, who are preparing for national elections in 2017, are watching developments nervously. They are worried that the state could ultimately be called on to support the lender, widely disliked among ordinary Germans for its aggressive pursuit of success on Wall Street. (Additional reporting by Kathrin Jones and Alexander Huebner in Frankfurt; Writing by John O'Donnell; Editing by Gareth Jones) The first original German-language drama to broadcast on a U.S. TV network is officially coming back. SundanceTV and FremantleMedia International said today there will be a second season of Deutschland 83, the Peabody Award-wining Cold War-set series created by Anna Winger and Jorg Winger. The eight-episode Season 2, which will be known as Deutschland 86, will debut on SundanceTV in 2018. The first season premiered on SundanceTV on June 17, 2015. deutschand-83-jonas-nay Now to be known as Deutschland 86, the new episodes will pick up three years after Season 1 with Jonas Nays East German Agent Martin Rauch on the frontlines of the battle between the Ronald Reagan-led West and the Soviet Empire. With proxy states in Africa as the backdrop in what we now know were the final years of the Cold War, the Stasi agent ends up in the Johannesburg of the Apartheid-ruled South Africa, the Tripoli of Col. Gadhafis Libya, Paris, and both Berlins. sundancetv Deutschland 83 is a key example of the terrific, entertaining content Sundance TV has collaborated on with creative voices from around the world, Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, said in a statement. Anna and Joerg Winger did an incredible job taking well-known historical events and framing them with a unique lens in the first season. We know that they will offer a fresh perspective to the events in Germany in 1986 and are thrilled to join them on their journey back in time. A production of UFA Fiction with Amazon, FremantleMedia International and UFA Distribution, Deutschland 86 is produced by Jorg Winger, Sebastian Werninger, and Ulrike Leibfried, with Anna Winger as head writer. Production on the new season is set to start in 2017 proving the Cold War is still hot. Related stories 'In Cold Blood'-Based True Crime Docuseries Set At SundanceTV AMC & SundanceTV Set Int'l Programming Team Headed By Kristin Jones Brian Dennehy To Recur On 'Hap & Leonard' Season 2 The Cold War will rage anew on SundanceTV now that the cabler and FremantleMedia International have set a deal for season two of period drama Deutschland83. The German-language drama set in 1983 bowed last year on SundanceTV to generally rave reviews and a small but devoted audience. Creators Anna and Joerg Winger envision the political thriller running three seasons, taking viewers up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The series stars Jonas Nay as an earnest East German soldier who is reluctantly recruited to go undercover in West Berlin as a spy for the Stasi. Deutschland86 will jump three years into 1986, when Nays Martin Rauch is sent off to Africa to fight in the last gasp of combat waged in the name of Communism, in Angola. Deutschland83, which earned a Peabody Award, debuted with much fanfare last year on German broadcaster RTL. The show garnered generally strong reviews but the ratings were a disappointment. The second season has been picked up for Germany by Amazon as one of its first original German-language original series. The shift of the show from RTL to Amazon was one of the factors that complicated the dealmaking for the second season. SundanceTV is a co-producer of the show with UFA Fiction, Amazon and FremantleMedia International. UFA, Fremantle and RTL are all corporate siblings under the Bertelsmann umbrella. But it still took some time to work out the details of a second season. Deutschland86 will lense in Africa and Germany next summer and air once again with subtitles on SundanceTV in 2018 three years after the first season aired in the U.S. Season two may run as long as 10 episodes, although the specifics are still being worked out. Joerg Winger, Sebastian Werninger and Ulrike Leibfried are producers with Anna Winger serving as head writer. The 1986 period was a fraught time in Europe with terrorist activity in France and Germany and the ever-present concern about nuclear threats. By the time the Soviet Union intiated its Perestroika policy, East Germany was in desperate economic straits and nervous that the Soviets would soon abandon them. Story continues By 1986 East Germany was doing anything that was necessary to stay afloat, Anna Winger said. The show will have a bigger budget and wider scope in season two, introducing more West German characters and some Americans in addition to the African storyline. Winger notes that Russian president Vladimir Putin was an ambitious young agent working in East Germany for the Stasi around 1986. She hinted a character like Putin could find his way into Deutschland86. We love to play with history as metaphor, Winger said. There are a lot of interesting things to explore in this time. Winger said she has spoken to many current and former diplomats and foreign service workers in Germany and elsewhere who have shared amazing stories of the atmosphere in Berlin as the Soviet Union slowly but began to unravel. Like the first season, Deutschland86 will focus on what that experience was like from the eastern side of the Berlin Wall, as East Germans gradually lose faith in the ideology they had been raised to revere. Maria Schneider and other key cast members will return for the second installment. Joerg Winger said Deutschland83 stirred conversations in Germany about the secret history behind the official history of the then-divided country. It made people also think about what may be going on now that we dont know of yet but well know about in 20 or 30 years, he said. For UFA Fiction, Deutschland83 was a breakthrough in demonstrating that German producers could deliver high-end dramas that travel around the world. The franchise has been picked up by Channel 4 in the U.K. and Canal Plus in France, among other territories. Deutschland83 opened a lot of gates for us, Joerg Winger said. Related stories Amazon Secures Exclusive Rights to 'Deutschland83' Season 2 in Germany 'The A Word' Returning for Season 2 on SundanceTV TV Review: 'The A Word' Oct 14 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co's consumer products unit and Dole Food Co said on Friday that they plan to launch co-branded fresh produce, featuring iconic Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel characters. Dole, a producer of fresh fruits and vegetables, and Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media will start selling their products this fall, the companies said in a statement. The companies will supply Disney-branded Dole bananas, pineapples, berries, and vegetables to grocery and retail stores across the United States, the statement said. The partnership will also launch health and nutrition education programs in 2017. (Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva) (Adds details on marketing) By Malathi Nayak Oct 14 (Reuters) - Seeking to lure American children to the healthy delights of fruit and vegetables, Walt Disney Co.'s consumer products unit and Dole Food Company Inc are launching co-branded fresh produce featuring Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel characters. Under the marketing tie-up announced on Friday, the companies will supply Disney-branded Dole bananas, pineapples, berries, and vegetables to U.S. grocery and retail stores. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Next year, the companies will also launch health and nutrition education programs with themes based on Disney, Star Wars and Marvel characters and films. The programs will include themed recipes featuring Dole products, in-store activities and consumer promotions. Childhood obesity is major public health problem in the United States, where about one in six children and adolescents is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2012, Disney said it would stop accepting some junk-food ads on TV programs, radio shows and websites aimed at children. It decided to run commercials of food and beverage products that meet nutritional guidelines it voluntarily developed in line with government standards. Disney has previously tied up with packaged food brands such as Kellogg's to launch products such as cereal with the well-known character Mickey Mouse and blockbuster "Frozen" animated film franchise themes. Dole and Disney have partnered before. Since 1976, Dole has been the corporate sponsor of the "Enchanted Tiki Room" attraction in Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, that offers a popular frozen dessert known as the "Dole Whip." (Reporting by Malathi Nayak in New York and Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Frances Kerry) The voice of Doc McStuffins is angry these days. Anitra Muhammad, acting as the guardian of actress Kiara Muhammad, who provides the titular voice for the Disney Junior animated Doc McStuffins, has filed a lawsuit claiming that the actress has been stiffed on merchandising revenues. The suit also claims that Muhammad is hired on a per-session basis, with her employment being terminated after each recording session. Also Read: Disney Junior's 'Doc McStuffins' Introduces First Double Amputee Character (Exclusive Video) Muhammads complaint, filed against Disney Character Voices and Studiopolis, claims that she entered into an agreement for Seasons 2 and 2.5 of the series, which would give her 2.5 percent of merchandising receipts for merchandise using her name, voice and likeness. While the suit claims that Muhammads voice recordings have been used in the merchandising of many products, including recorded music and games, it maintains that she hasnt been compensated at the agreed-upon rate. Muhammad also claims that the defendants have routinely failed to timely pay her wages after the termination of each employment. Also Read: Disney Star Cast as Jeffrey Dahmer Has 'Uncanny' Resemblance to Serial Killer (Photo) A Disney spokeswoman told TheWrap that the company doesnt comment on pending legal matters as a matter of policy. Alleging breach of contract, Muhammad is seeking unspecified damages, though the suit claims that the amount in dispute exceeds $250,000. Pamela Chelin contributed to this report. Related stories from TheWrap: Disney Junior's 'Doc McStuffins' Introduces First Double Amputee Character (Exclusive Video) Disney Pulls Controversial 'Moana' Costume After Cultural Insensitivity Claims Disney Channel Star Jenna Ortega Gets Personal for Hispanic Heritage Month (Exclusive Video) French President Francois Hollande is faces severe criticism for his comments in a recently published book that "there's a problem with Islam" and that too many immigrants were arriving in France. By India Today Web Desk: French President Francois Hollande is facing severe criticism for telling authors of a recently published book that "there's a problem with Islam" and that too many immigrants were arriving in France who "shouldn't be here". "It's true that there's a problem with Islam. No one doubts it... It's not that Islam poses a problem in the sense that it is a dangerous religion, but in as far as it wants to affirm itself as a religion of the Republic," Hollande is quoted as saying in the book 'A President Should Not Say That...'. advertisement His comments, made to respected journalists Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, risk dividing his party before next year's presidential election. "I think there are too many arrivals of immigration that shouldn't be there," he further added. The Le Monde journalists met with Hollande 61 times in December 2015, a month after Islamist militant gunmen and bombers attacked Paris, killing 130 people. Their book was published on Wednesday. The release of the book eclipsed any media boost for Hollande from a wide-ranging interview with L'Obs magazine also published on Wednesday, which people close to him said was supposed to take him a step closer to formally launching a bid for re-election. CRITICISM Asked about Hollande's comments, government spokesman Stephan Le Foll said: "There's a problem with Islam today because Islam is politicised by some. There is a problem and at the same time we need to be able to overcome this problem." Cover of the book Un President Ne Devrait Pas Dire Ca (A President Should Not Say That) (Image: Stock) Opposition politicians said on Wednesday that Hollande, France's most unpopular president in six decades, should spend less time talking to journalists and more time governing. Hollande, according to the book, also called the judiciary a 'cowardly institution'. After his comments became public, the president invited France's two highest ranking judges in a bid to patch up relations. But, despite a 20-minute meeting the two judges remained dissatisfied. "Yesterday's meeting with the president did not soften the feeling of humiliation magistrates experienced again... What can the French people be thinking when such comments are made about their justice system by the country's highest authority?" top prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said, according to an Independent report. GROWING HOSTILITY Hollande's comments echo similar statements by conservative politicians following a fresh wave of militant attacks this summer, though he did not suggest the hard-line responses advocated by some right-wing opponents. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, seeking a return to the Elysee palace, had earlier promised a nationwide ban on burkinis and said France should detain or tag all individuals on an intelligence watchlist. In August, however, Prime Minister Manuel Valls had said the state must re-invent its relationship with the "Islam of France". Successive governments in Paris, since late 1980s, have tried but failed to nurture a liberal "Islam of France" that would help integrate the faith into secular society. advertisement Hollande sits atop a deeply divided ruling Socialist Party and has not yet declared if he will run for re-election. Should he chose to, he will face several challengers for the party's nomination. (With inputs from Reuters) --- ENDS --- Donald Trump on Friday mocked recent accusations from multiple women who said he sexually assaulted them years ago. The GOP presidential nominee was speaking at a rally in Greensboro, N.C., when he brought up a recent New York Times story in which two women accused the billionaire businessman of sexual assault. The now-74-year-old Jessica Leeds said Trump assaulted her on a plane three decades ago. Trump mentioned that accusation Friday. "He went after me on a plane," said Trump, mocking Leeds' account of the alleged incident. "Believe me, she would not be my first choice. That I can tell you. You don't know. That would not be my first choice." While talking about the other accusers, Trump grabbed the air high and low, appearing to simulate groping gestures. Trump has been slammed with negative press since a tape recently leaked of him in 2005 talking about his enjoyment of being sexually forceful with women. At the same time Trump was giving his speech in North Carolina, former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos held a media conference with her lawyer, Gloria Allred, at which she said Trump kissed and groped her at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007. In North Carolina, Trump was interrupted by a protester during Friday's rally. That man was assaulted by a Trump supporter in the crowd until police intervened. Trump on the woman who claimed he assaulted her on a plane: "She would not be my first choice ... That would not be my first choice." pic.twitter.com/o7VMgtvVMx - T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) October 14, 2016 Trump was interrupted by a protester in Greensboro and this happened: pic.twitter.com/Hzc2Z82gNu - Holly Bailey (@hollybdc) October 14, 2016 Read more: 'Apprentice' Contestant Says Donald Trump Sexually Assaulted Her at the Beverly Hills Hotel Donald Trump said that he vaguely remembers Summer Zervos, a contestant on the fifth season of The Apprentice, and denied that he met her at the Beverly Hills Hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. In a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred on Friday, Zervos claimed that Trump made unwanted sexual advances on her when they met at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007, after she was off the show yet was seeking his business advice and employment with his company. I vaguely remember Ms. Zervos as one of the many contestants on The Apprentice over the years, Trump said in a statement. To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how Ive conducted my life. In fact, Ms. Zervos continued to contact me for help, emailing my office on April 14th of this year asking that I visit her restaurant in California. Zervos said that she did send an email this year, but that she also wrote in the message that Your interest in me as a potential employee meant the world to me. Your interest in me as anything more blew my mind and I lost my footing. I further said, I have been incredibly hurt by our previous interaction. Trump also lashed out at the media, saying that it is now creating a theater of absurdity that threatens to tear our democratic process apart and poison the minds of the American public. When Gloria Allred is given the same weighting on national television as the President of the United States, and unfounded accusations are treated as fact, with reporters throwing due diligence and fact-finding to the side in a rush to file their stories first, its evident that we truly are living in a broken system, he said in the statement. He added, Hillary Clinton can spend all of her time and money pushing complete lies against our campaign, but I refuse to fall victim to this vicious cycle of personal attacks. In the coming days I plan on addressing our nation in a more personal way to present my vision for how together we fight to bring back American jobs and defend our country against radical Islamic terrorism. I will take my message directly to the American people and bypass the unethical press that wants to see their candidate elected. Story continues Related stories NBC Pulls Donald Trump-Inspired 'Law & Order: SVU' Episode Until After Election (EXCLUSIVE) Billy Bush, NBC Near Agreement on Exit CNN Chief Says 'It's Not Clear Cut' NBC's Billy Bush Should Lose Job Donald Trump today told supporters in North Carolina the women who have accused him of inappropriate behavior and/or sexual assault are all liars. He is the victim of a total set up by the media and the Clinton campaign, the GOP candidate said, adding its time for a woman to come forward with similar charges against President Obama. I have no idea who these women are, Trump insisted to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. Ive never met these people. I dont know who these people are. I think its a disgusting thing. They have no witnesses, he said, speculating they are seeking a little fame. When you look at that horrible woman last nightI dont think so! Trump continued, in an apparent reference to Jessica Leeds, who was interviewed by Anderson Cooper the previous night about the New York Times report in which she claims Trump grabbed her breasts and kissed her during a commercial flight nearly three decades ago. Believe me, she would not be my first choice, Trump snarked of Leeds, who is now in her 70s. You dont know that would not be my first choice! The growing number of claims being made by women are lies being pushed by the media and the Clinton campaign to keep their grip on the country, he said. They are all false, totally inventedall 100% totally and completely fabricated, adding, Ive never met these people. I dont know who these people are. I think its a disgusting thing. Trump questioned the timing of the reports. Its a total set up. Now, suddenly, after many, many years, phony accusers are coming out less than a month before one of the most important elections in the history of our country. One week ago, Washington Post released a 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which Trump is heard boasted to Billy Bush that he is so famous he can kiss and grope women with impunity. At the most recent debate, however, Trump said it was only locker room talk and that he never had actually done such a thing. Some of the women who have come forward have said his debate remark motivated them to come forward. Story continues Today, the Washington Post reported Kristin Anderson claiming she was at a Manhattan club in the 90s in which Trump, who she did not know and was sitting next to her, put his hand up her skirt. At todays rally, Trump said, One came out recently said I was sitting alone in a club. I dont sit alone. I just heard this one. Its like unbelievable! Trump claimed an eyewitness already has debunked the allegation by People writer Natasha Stoynoff that Trump assaulted her when she came to interview the real estate developer and his wife on their one-year anniversary. The reason Stoynoff did not include her assault allegation in her People story 12 years ago is very simple; it never happened. Its a lie, Trump said. And let me tell you, if it did happen, 100% she would have written it; it would have been the biggest story of the year, he said, noting he was the star of The Apprentice at the time. Shes a liar, Trump said, urging his supporters check out her Facebook page; youll understand. Moving on, Trump called President Obama incompetent and blasted him for spending all day long campaigning for Clinton instead of bringing jobs back to the country. Hes talking about me like he knows me. I dont know him. He doesnt know me. Why doesnt some woman maybe come up and say what they say falsely about me, they could say about him? Related stories John Oliver On Donald Trump's "Rigged" Elections Comments & Jesus Complex Hollywood Laughs With Baldwin, Snickers At Trump In Stinkgate Scandal 'Saturday Night Live' Ratings Slip, Still Very Strong with Host Emily Blunt & Donald Trump Parodies carlos slim Donald Trump plans to invoke Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim to advance his claim that the news media and other global figures are trying to sink his campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal. A Trump adviser told The Journal that Trump intended to charge that Slim, the world's second-richest man and The New York Times' largest stakeholder, wants to help elect Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, citing Slim's donations to the Clinton Foundation as evidence. Slim and his foundation have given $250,000 to $500,000 to Clinton's foundation, according to The Journal. Slim also gave a $250 million loan to The Times in 2009 and owns 17% of the newspaper's public shares, though the Ochs-Sulzberger family owns most of a private class of shares that give it control over the company. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. Trump has clashed with The Times in recent days over the paper's reporting of allegations of sexual misconduct by the Republican nominee over the past several decades. The Times has stood by the reporting and rejected demands by Trump's legal team to retract it. The paper has also reported critically on Slim, including an August story detailing the struggles of the billionaire's empire in the face of Mexico's telecom reforms. Donald Trump Enrique Pena Nieto Mexico meeting Right-wing observers have also harped on the connection between Slim and The Times since he took a stake in the paper. "Carlos Slim's blog" has become a nickname for the paper, and conservative commentator Ann Coulter has accused the paper of turning "toward deranged hectoring in favor of illegal immigration" after the Mexican businessman got involved with The Times, according to New York magazine. Story continues "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism," New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told The Journal. "He has never sought to influence what we report." Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump reacts to cheers from supporters as he departs a campaign rally in Lakeland, Florida, U.S., October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar Trump and Slim have also clashed since Trump launched his presidential campaign last summer. After the American billionaire described most Mexican immigrants as "rapists" and criminals, Slim's television studio canceled a project it had planned with Trump, New York magazine notes. Regarding Trump's reported plan to accuse Slim, The Times, and Clinton of collusion, the Mexican billionaire's camp dismissed any suggestion of cooperation. "This is totally false," Arturo Elias, Slim's spokesman and son-in-law, told The Journal. "Of course we aren't interfering in the US election. We aren't even active in Mexican politics." An attack on Slim and his ties to the Clinton Foundation is likely meant to unite Trump's previous salvos against Mexico, The New York Times, and the "global power structure" that the Republican candidate has invoked repeatedly during his campaign. NOW WATCH: 'Totally and absolutely false': Trump vehemently denies sexual assault allegations More From Business Insider Donald Trump Donald Trump revived his attacks on Hillary Clinton's health during a rally Thursday in Cincinnati, Ohio, suggesting again that his Democratic rival doesn't have the strength to serve as president. Implying that, if Clinton were to fall in China, no one would help her. "When she's over in China, if she goes down, in Tiananmen Square, they'll just leave her there," the Republican nominee told the crowd. Trump called Chinese "tough people" who would not help Clinton up if she fell down, and continued, "They'll say 'Let her come up when she's ready.'" Trump has repeatedly stoked theories about Clinton's health, which grew into an international story after the former secretary of state became overheated and was seen stumbling after leaving a September 11th memorial service last month. The Manhattan mogul portrayed Clinton as a powerless leader in a recent TV ad, among numerous attacks questioning whether she has the "stamina" to serve in the White House. Clinton fired back at Trump during the first presidential debate: As soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina. Clinton's doctor released a follow-up statement in September showing that Clinton is in good health and physically fit to serve as president. NOW WATCH: Clinton opens up a massive lead against Trump, with lopsided support from a key voting demographic More From Business Insider Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to fight fire with fire, as he sees it, in the last 25 days of his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Facing a barrage of separate sexual assault allegations, Trump has responded by waging an intense war against the media, the power structure and the Clintons. In a pair of interviews with Yahoo News, a high-level Trump campaign source detailed the aggressive strategy, including the suppression of votes by Democratic-leaning groups, for the home stretch of the presidential race. Were bringing out tactical nukes now, with thermo nukes later, the source said. Trumps epic political battle will be conducted on multiple fronts. The source detailed plans to launch assaults on media collusion, on former President Bill Clintons past sex scandals and on allegations of corruption at the Clinton Foundation. The Trump source further suggested that the nominee would weaponize messages from WikiLeaks trove of hacked emails and introduce the world to new skeletons from the Clintons closet. This explosive approach was on display Sunday, when Trump brought women who have accused President Clinton of sexual assault to the second presidential debate. It was also evident in Trumps fiery speech Thursday, in which he dismissed the accusations of misconduct against him as slander and lies generated by the Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that fund them. According to the source, the Trump campaign is very proud of that speech. Thats kind of the direction its going to take for the next four weeks, the source said. Throw down against the establishment and particularly try to beat them up. Trumps strategy is already being severely tested by revelations about the candidate himself. Between interviews with the source on Wednesday and Thursday, three separate publications published four accounts from women who said Trump had touched or groped them without their consent. On Friday, two more women came forward with similar allegations. Story continues Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of attendees at U.S. Bank Arena on Oct. 13, 2016 in Cincinnati. (Photo: Ty Wright/Getty Images) But the Trump source played down the political risks of the recent spate of sexual misconduct claims against the Republican nominee, saying that such allegations could help Trump in arguing that hes a crusading outsider under attack by a fixed system. I think it reinforces the fact of the corporate media/establishment apparatus that were against, the source explained. Also, remember, you know, were not trying to sell Trump to millennial women. Thats the difference. So, does this hurt? We look at it as a positive for the fact of: Its once again a gang, a pile-on. In his remarks Thursday, Trump denied the allegations while framing the stakes of the election as a fight to the death between the American people and corrupt pro-trade, pro-immigration global special interests. The Anti-Defamation League and others criticized the speech and said this depiction of an all-powerful global elite resembled language used by some anti-Semites. GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in Cincinnati on Oct. 13, 2016. (Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters) Our movement is about replacing a failed and totally corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people. There is nothing the political establishment will not do, no lie that they wont tell, to hold their prestige and power at your expense, Trump began, adding, For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the global special interests they partner with, these people that dont have your good in mind, our campaign represents a true existential threat like they havent seen before. Trump began throwing punches soon after leaked video footage from 2005 was released by the Washington Post last Friday. The clip showed Trump bragging that as a celebrity, it was easy to for him to grab women if he was attracted to them. The firestorm over Trumps comments prompted a slew of prominent Republicans to abandon their support for Trump. Trump denied ever having acted upon those comments, but then a series of women came forward saying that they had been victims of such behavior. But Trump has characterized the loss of GOP support as a blessing in disguise. He boasted Tuesday on Twitter that that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. The source claimed that establishment Republicans are reluctant to take on the Clintons and suggested that, as a result of the defections, Trump felt less of an obligation to play by the norms that were set up and avoid personal attacks. Trumps all-out offensive is not just designed to defend against the groping allegations or to serve red meat to what the source described as his populist and nationalist base. According to the source, who requested anonymity to discuss high-level strategy candidly, the attacks on the Clintons are also aimed at the suppression of votes from millennial women, African-Americans and the idealistic Bernie Sanders supporter. Principally, were trying to drive them to a third party or just have them not vote, the source said. Polls have shown minorities and women all favor Clinton. However, Clinton has struggled with millennials. Many younger voters backed Clintons progressive primary opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The source said that the campaign believes that a one-two combination of Trumps populist message and anti-Clinton attacks can get liberals, minorities and millennials to stay home. Its always been a two-pronged attack, this outsider-agent-of-change message, which we know resonates thats this whole populist take on the system. The system is rigged. Hillary Clinton is the guardian of the status quo. Youre getting ripped off, trade deals, the economy jobs, national security border, that mantra. That falls up underneath that. The second part is then: How do you suppress the Democratic vote? the source said. Thats why many of Trumps attacks on the Clinton Foundation will focus on its dealings in Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria. The source described these countries as places where the Clintons treat blacks as people they can make money off. The source said Trump came up with this line of attack, which he brought up in the last presidential debate, to appoint a special prosecutor as president and potentially jail Hillary Clinton, as he was conducting an event in Miamis Little Haiti, where locals were venting their dissatisfaction with the Clinton familys dealings in their country. The source predicted that these attacks, coupled with Trumps populist message, would help get 10 to 15 percent of the black vote, but said that the move was primarily an attempt to get other African-Americans to stay away from the polls on Election Day. Principally, doing that is about suppression of vote. Like, you know, Im not going to get out of bed. Im not going to go vote for her, the source said. Its about the suppression of votes, just to get them to stay home. If we can pick up some votes along the way, thats fantastic, but its really about the suppression of votes. That same goal of suppression of votes is built into Trumps attacks on President Clintons sex scandals. Were not dependent upon millennial women for victory, right? She is, the source said of Hillary Clinton. Its important for us to suppress the millennial vote for her. To do this, the Trump campaign wants to turn Clinton into Bill Cosby, the comedian who was Americas most popular sitcom dad before his reputation was shredded by sexual assault allegations. Even though Trump is battling his own allegations, the source said Trump will cast Hillary Clinton as an enabler of her husbands sexual predator nature in an effort to have millennial women vote for [Green Party candidate] Jill Stein or not vote at all. This whole rape culture thing, Donald Trump can talk about stuff and may have braggadocio, and male bravado, and all that kind of stuff but shes living with a guy thats a sexual predator, the source said of Clinton. So, were just going back and making him Bill Cosby, because millennial women under 30 dont remember. They were kids in the 90s. They dont remember the Clintons in that era. They have no memory of it, and were going to be relentless in bringing that to the forefront. The Trump campaigns efforts to keep millennial women, liberals and African-Americans from voting for Clinton will include a digital advertising push. Were doing a very, very big run of like 30 ads highly targeted to millennial women, Bernie Sanders supporters, etc., that just hits a drumbeat of the corruption, the sexual predator nature, the corruption of the Clintons, the source said. The person also predicted that the Trump campaign will introduce more characters from the Clintons past to make these arguments. In an email to Yahoo News, Trumps son, Eric Trump, offered his two cents on the strategy of focusing on President Clinton and the Foundation. The younger Trump is a prominent campaign surrogate among his fathers inner circle of political advisers. It has never been so much about Bills scandals, but rather what Hillary did to the women in the aftermath. She mocked, investigated, harassed, laughed at and destroyed these womens lives, Eric wrote. As to the Clinton Foundation, it is one of the great Ponzi schemes in U.S. charitable history. Russia uranium deal, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, gold mines, telecom companies I take charity incredibly personally, and I truly think what they have done is not only illegal but truly horrible from a moral standpoint. The Clinton Foundation, citing third-party analysis of the nonprofit, has rejected conservatives attacks on its integrity. Because Trumps campaign is so concerned about keeping down turnout among young women and African-Americans, his team believes that first lady Michelle Obama could be the most potent surrogate in Clintons corner. Obama has been traveling the country touting Clinton to millennial voters. The source said Obama was going to highly targeted demographic marketing areas and praised an emotional speech she gave on Thursday about Trumps alleged assaults as quite powerful. Shes a much bigger threat than Hillary Clinton because of her charisma, her connection, the source said of Obama. I mean she kind of connects like Trump connects, right? She connects like [President] Obama connects. She has a huge connection. Its very tough to compete with that Thats not Hillary. Hillary is a robot. Trump has promised to eventually present substantial evidence that the allegations were fabricated. Asked about this supposed proof, the source said Trump will do some bringing up obvious contradictions in the stories of the women spoke out against him. However, the source said Trumps defense would chiefly involve shifting the discussion to make it less about the individual women and more about media collusion with Clinton. On Thursday, Trump called corporate media the most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons in an effort to serve a small handful of global special interests rigging the system. Youre going to start hearing in the coming days about the ownership of these institutions and who actually controls them and how that plays into a globalist perspective versus this nationalist perspective, the source said. Attendees react at a Donald Trump rally at U.S. Bank Arena on Oct. 13 in Cincinnati. (Photo: Ty Wright/Getty Images) Trump was clearly deploying that strategy on Friday, when he railed against the New York Times, which has published some of the allegations by women who have said Trump inappropriately touched them. Trump described the paper as one of many media outlets working with the Clintons on behalf of nefarious corporate interests. No paper is more corrupt than the failing New York Times. They are really, really bad people, said Trump. The largest shareholder in the Times is Carlos Slim. Now, Carlos Slim, as you know, comes from Mexico. Hes given many millions of dollars to the Clintons. So, Carlos Slim, largest owner of the paper, from Mexico. Reporters of the New York Times, theyre not journalists. Theyre corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton. Trump also used his remarks Friday to draw attention to the WikiLeaks release of emails belonging to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The medias covering up for the Clintons and their many crimes against so many people, he said. The WikiLeaks documents show how the media conspires and collaborates with the Clinton campaign. What a rigged system, folks. Podesta has said the FBI is investigating whether the Russian government was involved in stealing his emails. He also accused a Trump adviser of having prior knowledge of the hack. The high-level Trump campaign source described Podestas leaked messages as just a godsend. Trump and his team have pointed to many of the emails, including one where Clintons campaign seemed to receive advance notice of a CNN town hall question and one that showed Clinton allies apparently joking about Catholics and evangelical Christians. In his speech on Thursday, Trump argued that the messages show that Clinton was involved in a worldwide web of power. The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure. Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors, said Trump. So true, he added. There have been many iterations of the Trump campaign, which has fluctuated in tone and message under a series of three campaign managers. Just last month, Trumps team attributed the campaigns gains in the polls to the fact that the candidate had been more disciplined and policy-focused. That restrained, positive approach was almost the polar opposite of Trumps no-holds-barred approach in the final weeks of the race. But the source said the campaigns core leadership campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, deputy campaign manager David Bossie, campaign CEO Steve Bannon and Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner are all of one mind that the right move is to mix Trumps policies with the aggressive attacks. There has been persistent speculation that Conway has repeatedly pushed Trump to pull his punches and to become more disciplined, but the source rejected this. Shes really a fist of steel in a velvet glove, the source said of Conway. Trumps children have also been key advisers on the race. Eric Trump is helping to coordinate some state-level efforts, and Kushner in particular has become a key confidant. Though Trumps brood has campaigned for him, there has been much speculation about the familys true beliefs. Asked whether Trumps family is on board with the campaigns new thermonuclear war, the source pointed to Kushner. I think the way to say that is that Jared is someone that is very close to the campaign operation, so no decisions are made that hes not in the loop on, said the source. Melania Trump demanded a partial retraction from one of the publications leveling misconduct allegations against her husband, but she has not been seen on the campaign trail. She would seem to be a valuable surrogate amid the firestorm enveloping the Trump campaign, although the source noted that she has always had a limited role in the campaign and that she would be appearing with Trump at the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday. While its not necessarily clear where every member of Trumps family and team stands, the candidate certainly seems all in on the plan to launch a major offensive. As he railed against Clinton and the establishment on Thursday, Trump argued that hes in the midst of a bare-knuckle brawl against the powers that be. Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them, its war, and for them, nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, Trump said, before adding, Believe me. Shipping port industry colossus DP World Group of Dubai on Thursday joined backers of a US startup working on the futuristic super-speedy train concept Hyperloop. DP World Group, the third-largest port operator in the world, led a $50 million round of investment in Hyperloop One, according to the company. A breakdown of the funding was not disclosed, but Hyperloop One said that latest round brought to $160 million the amount of financing raised since it was founded in 2014. DP World Group recently announced it is exploring the potential to use a Hyperloop system to move containers between ships docked at the port of Jebel Ali to a new inland depot in Dubai. The fresh investment came with DP World Group chief executive Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem taking a seat on Hyperloop One's board of directors. "We continue to seek opportunities to invest in and utilize our expertise to develop disruptive technology," Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in a release. "We are exploring many innovations in our sector." Hyperloop One said that Summa Group chairman Ziyavudin Magomedov was also joining the startup's board. The private holding company was described as having significant investments in port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications and the oil and gas sectors Hyperloop One planned the first demonstration of a full Hyperloop system in the first quarter of next year. "With a team of nearly 200 brilliant employees, the company is leading the way in the development of Hyperloop technology and we are on track to show the world our full system early next year," said Hyperloop One chief executive Rob Lloyd. The startup also announced it has brought on a new finance executive with internet industry credentials as it worked to polish an image tarnished by a nasty legal battle with co-founder Brogan BamBrogan. BamBrogan accused former colleagues of nepotism, threats and mismanagement, igniting a drama at a startup devoted to revolutionizing transport systems. Story continues Earlier this year, Hyperloop One held its first public test in the desert outside Las Vegas, trying out engine components designed to rocket pods carrying people or cargo through tubes at speeds of 700 miles per hour (1,125 kilometers) or more. The company one of the startups with its site set on realizing a futuristic vision for transportation at near-supersonic speeds laid out three years ago by billionaire Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind electric car company Tesla and private space exploration endeavor Space X. Instead of developing the idea himself, Musk made freely available his research into the feasibility of getting people or cargo places at unprecedented speeds by firing them in pods through low-pressure tubes. The list of backers for Hyperloop One includes the French national rail company; US industrial conglomerate General Electric and Russian state fund RDIF. If Islamic countries can regulate the practice of triple talaq and it has not been found against sharia, how can it be wrong in India, asks Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. By PTI: Defending the Centre's stand on triple talaq, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today wondered when over a dozen Islamic countries were regulating the practice by enacting laws, how could it be considered wrong for a "secular" country like India. His remarks came a day after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board opposed the Centre's affidavit in Supreme Court on the practice and also boycotted the Law Commission's consultations on Uniform Civil Code (UCC). advertisement Also read: Banning the abhorrent triple talaq needs no debate Also read: Reforms in Muslim marriage laws is an idea whose time has come "Over a dozen Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran and Egypt have regulated triple talaq. If Islamic countries can regulate the practice by enacting the law, and it has not been found against sharia, how can it be wrong in India, which is a secular country?" Prasad told reporters in Patna. PRASAD MUM ON UNIFORM CIVIL CODE The minister, however, refused to comment on the issue of Uniform Civil Code. "The Law Commission is considering it and has sought the views of various sections of the society. Since it is under their consideration, I have nothing to say," he maintained. Also read: Triple talaq case: Muslim activists snub clerics on Uniform Civil Code For the first time in India's constitutional history, the Centre had on October 7 opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds of gender equality and secularism. LAW MINISTRY AFFIDAVIT The Law Ministry, 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.Also read: Triple talaq: Muslim personal law board to boycott law panel, irks BJP --- ENDS --- The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch court on Friday upheld hate speech charges against anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, meaning his trial will now start later this month. "The court rejects all the defence's objections," judge Hendrik Steenhuis told The Hague district court. Wilders' lawyers last month urged judges at a preliminary hearing to drop the charges against the far-right leader, slamming it as a "political case" ahead of elections due in March. But in his ruling, Steenhuis said prosecuting Wilders will "not affect his political freedoms or that of his Freedom Party." The trial, which will now start on October 31, focuses on comments made at a March 2014 election rally in The Hague, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted "fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?" When the crowd shouted back "Fewer! Fewer!" a smiling Wilders answered: "We're going to organise that." His lawyers argued Wilders had merely "put forward his party's political programme", and insisted he had a fundamental right to freedom of speech. Continuing with the case to trial could have "far reaching political consequences for democracy in the Netherlands," his lawyer had argued. Judge Steenhuis on Friday said: "Just because... Wilders or his party have not been prosecuted over the last nine years because of their viewpoints about Moroccans... doesn't mean that he won't be prosecuted for any statements about Moroccans now." - 'No regrets' - Wilders has remained unrepentant, insisting at his last court appearance that he only said "what millions of Dutch citizens think," and adding he had "no regrets." He tweeted the same comment on Friday, adding the hashtag "#pleurop," a vulgar Dutch way of telling someone to "go away." It was a deliberate echo of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who in a recent TV interview made headlines by using the phrase to suggest Dutch citizens of Turkish and Dutch descent who failed to assimilate should return to their countries of origin. Story continues The prosecution of the platinum-haired politician comes as his Freedom Party has been riding high in the polls ahead of the March vote. But the PVV recently lost its lead to Rutte's liberal VVD party. Wilders's remarks triggered 6,400 complaints, and criticism from within his own party. Some 56 people and five organisations have registered as victims of the comments and at least 34 witnesses have come forward, judges have said. Although judges on Friday allowed 40 claims to go ahead, they capped the amount sought as damages at 500 euros, dismissing the 21 other claims. Wilders is described as the "most heavily-guarded man" in the Netherlands. And since the 2004 assassination of anti-Islam film director Theo van Gogh, he has had around-the-clock protection. But he has drawn heavy flack recently from fellow MPs after saying he would close all mosques and confiscate Korans -- which he famously compares to Hitler's "Mein Kampf" -- should he win the elections. If found guilty, Wilders could face up to two years in jail or a fine of more than 20,000 euros ($22,000). In an earlier 2011 hate trial Wilders was acquitted when judges ruled his remarks targeted a religion and not a specific group of people. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government may meet its 2020 carbon dioxide emission goals after all, it said on Friday, thanks to a more rapid rollout of wind energy and 100 million euros ($110 million) in extra spending. Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the goal "within grasp" after the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency estimated carbon reduction by 2020 will be around 23 percent, compared to 1990 levels, up from a previous estimate of only 17 percent. The government announced an extra 100 million euros of debt funding for carbon storage and energy-savings projects, in additional to existing sustainable energy subsidy programs. In a landmark ruling in June 2015, a district court found the government had fallen behind in attempts to meet its official Kyoto goal of a 25 percent reduction by 2020, and ordered it to take steps to comply. Many observers said the only way to meet the goal was to close at least two of its five remaining coal generation plants, three of which have come on line in the past two years. Dutch Energy Minister Henk Kamp said on Friday that official estimates for wind turbines to be installed on Dutch soil by 2020 were outdated and a goal of 6,000 megawatts may be met after all. Kamp said in a statement that the Cabinet expects to update parliament in November about its efforts to comply with the court's ruling. (Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) Las Vegas (AFP) - In the fifth row of a packed concert venue in Las Vegas, a plump Hispanic couple slumbers peacefully as Bob Dylan bangs out a tune from his 35th studio album. The poet laureate of rock 'n' roll has been going only for 70-odd minutes but -- like many Dylan fans -- they're not getting any younger and it's probably past their bedtime. Since he entered the national consciousness in the early 1960s, Dylan has been the galvanizing "voice of a generation," an authentic American voice recognized even by detractors for the beauty of his lyrics. As if proof were needed that his words vault his songwriting into the rarified heights of poetry, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. Dylan is the first songwriter to win the award, sweeping aside favorites including Britain's Salman Rushdie, Syrian poet Adonis and Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Marking the occasion with a sell-out gig in the glitzy Cosmospolitan hotel in Vegas, Dylan attracted more than 3,000 devotees from across the world, if not the age spectrum. There are men in ten-gallon hats, spurs and droopy Wild West moustaches, presumably celebrating Dylan's little-known Village People period. - 'We love you, Bob!' - A wizened old rocker strolls through the bar in a bandana and motorcycle jacket, clutching what looks like a pina colada. But mostly this is the kind of crowd you would expect to see at a concert in a Vegas hotel -- smartly casual in deck shoes, slingbacks and cardigans, well-heeled and well-behaved. There are some under-40s but perhaps not enough to suggest that Dylan is going to be troubling MTV's playlist any time soon, Nobel or no Nobel. "We love you, Bob," one fan with a ZZ Top beard shouts out as Dylan sits at his piano for a lively opening rendition of the old favorite "Everybody Must Get Stoned." "Legend!" cries another as the rocker glides into "Highway 61, Revisited" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," the front rows rising to their feet, giving the gig the ambience of a One Direction show rather than a celebration of 12 bar blues. Story continues But Dylan doesn't really go in for nostalgia, and many of the numbers he plays -- from "High Water (For Charley Patton)" to the lugubrious "Soon After Midnight" -- are from albums released since the turn of the century. So eloquent on the page, Dylan is also a man of few words -- no words, in fact, when the music stops -- and there isn't so much as a "Hello, Las Vegas" to open proceedings. And so his fans are left to imagine what the newly crowned Nobel laureate thought of his elevation among such vaunted company as Rudyard Kipling, T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway. - 'Lyrics from the heart' - In a set heavy with blues, fans are treated to Dylan on the drums, harmonica and piano -- but not guitar -- during acclaimed but perhaps lesser known songs such as "Simple Twist of Fate," "Love Sick" and "Make You Feel My Love." The is no "Mr Tambourine Man," "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and the crowd has to wait until the encore for perhaps Dylan's most famous and poetic song of all, 1963's "Blowin' In The Wind." "I enjoyed the show. It was kind of short, but I think he's deserving of a prize" says Ray Staniewicz, a 65-year-old who snuck out before the encore. "He's done a lot for the peace movement since the 1960s, '70s and on till today. The literature, I'm not real familiar with, to tell you the truth." Gail Wolffe, 70, who has come from Vancouver with her husband of 50 years, 74-year-old Norbert, and their Yorkshire terrier Suzy Q, had never been to a gig before. "He liked Dylan in the 1960s," she says, referring presumably to Norbert rather than Suzy Q, who it turned out was just three. "I really liked the new songs. I was amazed because I go for the nostalgia, but what he has brought out now is really good," she adds. "He's a poet. He speaks of what's happening in the world and he always has. His lyrics are from his heart." The fashion and skateboarding worlds mourn the loss of an icon. Dylan Rieder passed away from complications due to leukemia on Wednesday, according to a statement from his manager. He was 28. The Orange County, Calif., native from Westminster started skating at the age of 9, and went pro at the age of 18 for Alien Workshop. In the fashion world, Rieder embodied California-cool style - forgoing skate shoes for Prada loafers and loose-fit pants for tailored, high-waisted pants. His unique look and attitude towards professional skating made him an immediate stand-out in Southern California. Read more: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016 Rieder held sponsorships with Supreme, Alien Workshop, Quicksilver, HUF, F*cking Awesome, Osiris, Rasa Libra and more. After landing a Vogue editorial in 2013, he modeled for a DKNY campaign along with Cara Delevingne, A$AP Rocky and Jourdan Dunn in 2014. Supreme on Fairfax, a regular hang-out of Rieder's, switched out their regular wall of decks with ones of Rieder as a youth as an in-store memorial. Transworld Skateboarding reported that in lieu of sending flowers, Rieder's family requested donations be made in Rieder's name to City of Hope in Duarte, Calif. A photo posted by Omar Salazar (@omarsalazar) on Oct 13, 2016 at 1:15pm PDT One of the kindest, most down to down, incredible human beings I have ever encountered. You will be so missed by so many people. Ride and Rest In Peace Dylan Rieder @swankfuck_inc A photo posted by Cara Delevingne (@caradelevingne) on Oct 13, 2016 at 1:16am PDT I love you forever. and ever. and ever. A photo posted by Langley Fox (@langleyfox) on Oct 13, 2016 at 10:28am PDT A photo posted by Atiba Jefferson (@atibaphoto) on Oct 13, 2016 at 10:34am PDT Watch the above w/volume...Dylan Rieder in Supreme's "Cherry" video. This loss will be met with so much love. Bless his heart. A video posted by THE PFW (@pornforwomen) on Oct 12, 2016 at 8:05pm PDT Story continues Dylan ... My hero. No fire, nor star, as perfect and brilliant and beautiful as you, could ever burn long enough. Thank youpic.twitter.com/3XYaHLVvNE - Robert Brink (@RobertBrink) October 13, 2016 "A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not." -Leonardo da Vinci #dylanrieder pic.twitter.com/fivGasK2Ma- TOY MACHINE (@toymachine) October 13, 2016 Dylan Rieder was my aesthetic, I'm shook pic.twitter.com/QKOXhGFPW0 - cc (@caelaelizabethh) October 12, 2016 In memory of Dylan Rieder, 1988-2016. A photo posted by Vogue (@voguemagazine) on Oct 12, 2016 at 5:17pm PDT (Brussels) European Union chief Donald Tusk vowed Thursday not to compromise on E.U. principles in negotiating Britains departure from the bloc and warned that London is heading for a hard exit. Our task will be to protect the interests of the E.U. as a whole and each of the 27 member states, Tusk said. He insisted that Britain cannot hope both to stay in Europes single market and restrict the movement of E.U. migrants, saying there will be no compromises. Tusk, who chairs talks among E.U. leaders as president of the European Council, said London had chosen to radically loosen relations with the EU something that goes by the name of hard Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Britains exit negotiations before the end of March. May also appeared to signal that her government would prioritize controls on immigration over access to the European single market, an approach informally called a hard Brexit. Once May activates the exit clause Article 50 in the E.U.s governing Lisbon Treaty negotiations on the terms of Britains departure would run for two years. The time frame could be extended, but only if the 27 remaining member states agree unanimously. Still, few EU members want to see Britain go, and Tusk said London could withdraw its decision to leave during those two years. There are no legal barriers for this kind of decision, and I have no doubt this scenario will be acceptable for all European partners, he told experts and officials at a European Policy Centre event. Britains foreign minister, Boris Johnson, has said the U.K. government intends to have its cake and eat it by remaining in the E.U.s single market while limiting the movement of E.U. residents into the U.K. Britain is assuming that European partners will compromise given that the country is the blocs second-biggest economy. But Tusk asked his audience at the European Policy Centre think-tank event to try a simple experiment: Buy a cake, eat it, and see if it is still there on the plate. Story continues The brutal truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us. There will be no cakes on the table, for anyone. There will be only salt and vinegar, Tusk said. The only real alternative to a hard Brexit is no Brexit. Pressure is mounting on May as the June exit referendum rattles the British economy and pound, while Scotland mulls a new independence vote, activists launch court challenges and lawmakers clamor for a say on the negotiating terms for Brexit. ___ Raf Casert in Brussels contributed. By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) With per capita availability of eggs in India being lower than the global average, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today called for raising the domestic output three times from the current level of 83 billion eggs to achieve nutritional security. Addressing on the occasion of World Egg Day, Singh said the government is promoting poultry activities under various schemes and giving financial assistance to families below poverty line (BPL). advertisement "In egg production, we are at sixth position in the world. The country currently produces 83 billion eggs," Singh said while addressing a conference here on Nutritional & Income Security through Eggs." Indias production stood at 78.48 billion eggs in 2014-15. "The per capita availability of eggs is around 63 per year while it should be about 180 eggs per person according to National Nutrition Institute. We will have to treble eggs production to reach that level," Singh said. The minister said that the government and the industry have an important role to play in increasing production. "Production will rise if those involved in poultry rearing get right price," he said, adding that poultry farmers need to be encouraged via better pricing and policy initiatives. In order to achieve nutritional security, Singh stressed on increasing awareness about nutritional benefits of eggs and said it should be offered in schools, colleges, old age homes and orphanages. He said that the central government is promoting poultry farming through National Livestock Mission. Poultry farming is being encouraged under the component of entrepreneurship development and employment generation. Earlier this morning, Singh inspected - Pusa 16, the new improved variety of arhar at the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and Indian Agriculture Research Institute. "This variety of arhar takes a period of 120 days to get ready for harvesting compared to its other varieties which takes about 165-180 days. This variety gets ready at once and is suitable for machine harvesting," an official statement said. "After harvesting of this variety, crops like mustard, potatoes, wheat, etc can be sowed easily in the fields. Its production is 20 quintals per hectare and has 23.5% protein content in it," it added. PTI MJH LUX BAL --- ENDS --- CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday that a suspension of Saudi petroleum aid to Egypt was not related to his country's vote on Syria at the U.N. Security Council and the motives for the stoppage were unclear. "Some observers imagine that the stoppage of petroleum cargoes from Saudi Arabia was a response to this but this is not true because the oil cargoes come as part of a commercial agreement signed in April and we do not know the situation of the companies and will take the appropriate response," the official news agency quoted Sisi as saying in a speech to the military. At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Saturday, Egypt voted for both a French draft resolution on Syria, which was vetoed by Russia, and a subsequent Russian draft, which dropped calls for an end to the bombardment of Aleppo, and failed to pass. Though the oil aid was suspended before the vote, diplomats and analysts have said Saudi Arabia was angered by Egypt's position. Sisi said that Egypt would not bow to pressure from anyone. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Lin Noueihed, Editing by Eric Knecht) (Reuters) - AbbVie Inc won the conditional backing of an advisory committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday for a drug to treat a form of blood cancer. The tablet, venclyxto, or venetoclax, is aimed at chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients with either 17p gene deletion or TP53 mutation, which are markers for a particularly aggressive form of the disease. (http://bit.ly/2dYKT7R) AbbVie said patients with these markers have a median life expectancy of less than two to three years. The EMA grants conditional approval for drugs that fill an unmet medical need for serious conditions and show early evidence of clinical benefits outweighing the risks. Venclyxto, developed by AbbVie and Roche Holding AG, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April to treat the disease. AbbVie will market the drug outside the United States, while both companies will sell it in the country under the brand name Venclexta. Cancer has been a focus area for AbbVie as it looks to reduce dependence on its arthritis treatment Humira, the world's top-selling drug. As part of the strategy, Chicago-based AbbVie bought privately held Stemcentrx and its experimental treatment for small-cell lung cancer in April for $5.8 billion. Shares in Abbvie were untraded premarket at 1300 GMT. (Reporting by Mamidipudi Soumithri in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Martina D'Couto) ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is determined to take part in a planned operation by coalition forces against Islamic State in the Iraqi city of Mosul and will implement a "plan B" if it is not involved, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. In a speech in the city of Konya that was broadcast live, Erdogan said Turkey would make its desire to take part in the coalition operation known to its international partners in the coming days. He did not offer details on what an alternative strategy would entail. Turkey has been locked in a fierce row with Iraq over who should take part in the U.S.-backed assault on Mosul, which is expected to begin this month. Turkey fears the use of Shi'ite militias, which the Iraqi army has relied on in the past, will stoke sectarian unrest and a wave of refugees. It also opposes a role by the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). (Reporting by Daren Butler; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley) By Philip Blenkinsop NAMUR, Belgium (Reuters) - The Belgian fortress city of Namur, besieged by European armies down the centuries, issued a declaration of war on the global economic order on Friday with a vote to reject a planned EU-Canada free trade agreement. The parliament of the region of Wallonia voted in its seat at Namur after a similar decision by the parliament of French speakers in Brussels earlier this week, results which risk killing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). And yet the deal is supported by Ottawa and all 28 EU national governments, including Belgium's. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel's government was racing to find a solution, although officials stressed that it was the local governments rather than parliaments that would have the final say. A number, also including that of the tiny 76,000-strong German-speaking community, had not responded. France also stepped up its pressure on its small francophone northern neighbor by inviting Wallonia's premier Paul Magnette to talks in Paris later on Friday with his fellow Socialist, French President Francois Hollande. By contrast, Austria ended weeks of wavering, its chancellor saying his country would not stand in the way of a deal. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters he knew it was going to require hard work right to the very end. "But I'm confident that there are so many strong European countries, like France, ... Germany is fully on board, and others, that this deal is going to make it through," he said. EU trade ministers meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday to vote on CETA and want unanimous backing for it ahead of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday and a visit, if all goes well, by Trudeau a week later. Belgium's federal government favours the pact and one member of Michel's liberals told Namur lawmakers they were making Wallonia "the Cuba of Europe". However, Michel cannot approve CETA without support from assemblies representing the country's three regions and three linguistic communities. Walloon premier Magnette, whose power base is ailing post-industrial cities that once made Belgium a global manufacturing hub, said Canada was a friend but that CETA undermined standards for citizens and shifted too much power to big corporations. Namur, dominated by a 17th-century citadel on the confluence of historic great trading rivers the Meuse and the Sambre, can expect to be besieged by anxious Europeans in the coming days. EU leaders say Europe's commitment to free world trade is at stake, including further planned deals with Japan and the United States. Also paying attention are British officials whose hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU will also require unanimous support across the bloc -- including the stubborn Walloons. "CUBA OF EUROPE" The two regions of Wallonia and Brussels are home to 4.5 million people, less than 1 percent of the 507 million European consumers the EU-Canada free trade deal would impact. Even within Belgium, they are outnumbered by Dutch-speaking Flemings, whose representatives have already backed CETA. But Walloon lawmakers said during Friday's debate that it would harm local farmers, lower environmental and labor standards or give multinationals power over public policy. "Just because we are friends with Canada, that doesn't mean we can't tell them we don't agree on something," said premier Magnette, before the chamber voted 46-16 against approving CETA. Virginie Defrang-Firket, from Michel's liberal party, warned: "You will isolate Wallonia, make it the Cuba of Europe." Some lawmakers wore stickers condemning CETA and TTIP, the even more contentious proposed EU-U.S. trade deal. CETA supporters say it will boost the EU economy by 12 billion euros ($13.4 billion) a year and create jobs. Centrist Michel, a French-speaker, and his main allies from the Flemish right, face opposition on many issues from the left-led Walloons and some observers see the CETA vote as a tactic in a campaign to maintain state spending in the struggling south. But resistance to new trade deals is strong, with the former coal and steel powerhouse of Wallonia just one of many European regions where economic globalization, with its shift of jobs to Asia, is mistrusted. Just last month, U.S. construction equipment maker Caterpillar announced plans to close a plant just 30 km (20 miles) from Namur, cutting some 2,000 jobs. (Additional reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek in Brussels, Francois Murphy in Vienna, Leah Schnurr in Ottawa; editing by Alastair Macdonald and Dominic Evans) Brussels (AFP) - The European Union will on Monday demand that the Democratic Republic of Congo hold elections early next year or face fresh sanctions, EU diplomatic sources said. Deadly clashes rocked the capital Kinshasa in September as the opposition called for President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, to step down amid fears he wanted to stay in office after his term ends in December. One EU diplomat said on Friday that foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday would begin drawing up a list of figures believed to be hostile to elections. "We need sufficient proof to sanction them," said the diplomat, on condition of anonymity, pointing to "people around Kabila" as likely targets. Another EU diplomat said the September clashes, which left at least 50 dead, marked "a game changer" and additional action had to be considered. Shortly after the killings, Washington put two close Kabila allies -- army commander Major General Gabriel Amisi Kumba and former inspector of police, General John Numbi -- on its sanctions blacklist for undermining democracy. Kabila first took office in 2001 and in 2006, a new constitutional provision limited the presidency to a two-term limit which expires in December. At the beginning of this month, the DRC's electoral commission said it would seek to delay a vote until November 2017. The EU diplomats in contrast said the bloc wanted presidential and legislative elections to be held as early as possible next year. The EU has over the years imposed a series of sanctions -- trade restrictions, asset freezes and travel bans -- on the DRC over rights abuses. Home from prison, Shantytown, New York City Fred, who has just returned from prison, weeps as he greets his former girlfriend Rose in a New York City shantytown, 1986. ( Eugene Richards) Its been almost 30 years since the publication of Eugene Richards landmark book Below the Line: Living Poor in America. The book, though acclaimed at the time, was also controversial. Critics applauded the revealing nature of the stories, but often added, almost in the same breath, that what was being shown was a negative view of the country, one that lacked hope. Pushed to reply, Richards countered that these stories were, in fact, portraits in courage. Each person encountered on his journey across America was struggling, against great odds, to better him or herself. Published by Consumer Reports Books in 1987, Below the Line consisted of taped interviews and photographs made by Richards during a seven-month journey across America in 1986 visiting poor rural and urban communities in 11 states from Massachusetts to Wyoming. Richards writes: As one persons history unfolded, I was often directed towards others. When I was with embattled farmers in South Dakota, I was moved to think of the migrant laborers who also worked the land, yet have no title to it. The family I visited in the Tennessee Mountains was barely hanging onto their ancestral homeland. How must it be, then, for people newly arrived in this country that must adapt to a new language, different customs, to an inhospitable economy? In the Arkansas Delta, the grandchildren of the aging and weary sharecroppers I photographed could barely wait to get away from home, to Chicago or New York, which held more promise for them Eugene Richards is a photographer, writer, and documentary filmmaker who has authored 17 books, the most recent being War Is Personal (Many Voices Press, 2010), a documentation in words and pictures of the human consequences of the Iraq War, and Red Ball of a Sun Slipping Down (Many Voices Press, 2014), which speaks of life in the Arkansas Delta decades ago and today. Among numerous honors, Mr. Richards has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, and the Kraszna-Krausz Award for Photographic Innovation in Books. He was the recipient of the 1987 International Center of Photography Infinity Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Photographic Reportage for Below the Line: Living Poor in America. His photographs are represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the International Center of Photography, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. For more information, go to his website. Story continues On the occasion of its fifth anniversary in October 2016, the Bronx Documentary Center (BDC), a nonprofit gallery and educational space whose mission is to share documentary photography, film, and new media with underserved Bronx communities and the cultural community at large, is honored to present Below the Line: Living Poor in America by Eugene Richards. The exhibition features more than two dozen black-and-white photographs from Richards seminal project depicting the extent of poverty in the United States in the mid-1980s. The project garnered Richards the 1987 International Center of Photography Infinity Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Photographic Reportage. The BDCs Melrose neighborhood in the Bronx remains one of Americas poorest communities, located just four subway stops away from one of the countrys wealthiest, the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is the BDCs hope that Richards powerful exhibition will stimulate a dialogue between the local communities it serves and the world at large about actionable steps to fight poverty. Below the Line: Living Poor in America by Eugene Richards is on view at the Bronx Documentary Center (BDC) Oct. 1 through Nov. 6, 2016. See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr. Strongly reacting to the story in Pakistan's The News International titled 'Indian FS surgical strikes was a bluff', External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said it is 'completely concocted and baseless'. By PTI: India today termed as "concocted and baseless" a report in Pakistani media that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar in a meeting with German Ambassador in New Delhi had admitted there was no surgical strike. Strongly reacting to the story in Pakistan's The News International titled 'Indian FS surgical strikes was a bluff', External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said it is "completely concocted and baseless". advertisement The German Ambassador, Martin Ney, was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes. They have had no further conversation since on this subject, Swarup said. In its report today, The News International citing a source claimed that "the Indian Foreign Secretary has categorically denied and said that there was no 'surgical strike' undertaken by Indian Army" in PoK. Also Read: US backs surgical strikes, says India has right to respond militarily to cross-border terror 'Declare Pakistan terror sponsor' is most popular US petition ever After blocking India's move to ban Masood Azhar, China now wants action against global terrorists Pak terrorists may target BRICS summit in Goa in retaliation to surgical strikes, warn agencies --- ENDS --- Overcoming a wave of reluctance to antagonize Moscow, European Union foreign ministers are planning to formally and explicitly admonish Russia for supporting the Syrian governments deadly assault on Aleppo, an attack that may amount to war crimes, diplomats tell Foreign Policy. The European ministers, who will meet meet on Monday in Luxembourg, are also expected to support the imposition of sanctions on as many as 20 Syrian government officials who have had a role in the bombardment. An earlier draft of the EU statement did not include a direct reference to Russia, but has been added at the insistence of the French, British and German governments. The move comes as Secretary of State John Kerry mounts a new diplomatic push to pursue a ceasefire for the besieged city at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday that includes representatives of Russia, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Since the beginning of the offensive by the regime and its allies, notably Russia, the intensity and scale of the aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate, reads a draft joint statement obtained by FP. The escalating violence in Aleppo is causing untold and unacceptable suffering for thousands of its inhabitants. Several EU countries with political or business ties to Russia opposed efforts to explicitly call out Moscow, including Greece, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Cyprus. But proponents of the more pointed language prevailed, just as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed to clean the divided city of Aleppo, prompting fears of more bloody atrocities. Assads military, with aerial support by Russian warplanes, have killed more than 150 people in rebel-held eastern Aleppo this week, according to rescue workers. Given Russias brutal onslaught against Syrian civilians, abetted by Assad and Hezbollah, it is hardly surprising that the EU would, as a first step, respond so strongly, one European diplomat told FP. Story continues The bloc of Central and Southern European countries did succeed in slowing down an effort to sanction up to 13 Russian officials for the Aleppo siege, a move that Britain, France and Germany were considering, according to a Financial Times report on Wednesday. The governments are not expected to impose punitive economic measures on Russia during the Monday summit. When asked about potential U.S. sanctions, a senior State Department official told FP: Weve long held that sanctions are best utilized when they are coordinated with our partners in Europe and beyond that enable coordination of harsher or looser sanctions as conditions require. But no decisions have been made, the official added. The current text of the joint statement came out of a meeting Friday in Brussels of the EUs Political and Security Committee, and remains subject to changes ahead of the Monday meeting of ministers. The plans to sanction up to 20 Syrian officials was first reported by Reuters. The ministers are not expected to reach an agreement on a list of names of Syrian officials, leaving that decision for technocrats to resolve on a later date. The mention of war crimes by EU ministers echoes a remark by Kerry that Assad and Russia should face a war crimes investigation. Former U.S. officials said it was important that Washington and Brussels remain united in their messaging on Syria. As the U.S. appears to be reviewing its options, its important to send a message that Russia could face costs for its actions, said Jeff Rathke, a former State Department official who focuses on Europe at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. So the more clear Europe is about a hardening line, the better. The move also comes as President Barack Obama weighed a decision to use military force against Damascus at a meeting of the National Security Council on Friday. U.S. officials have repeatedly said that there is no military solution to the war in Syria. A Western official on Friday said that U.S. and European militaries have little room to maneuver in a way that would help end the conflict in Syria. Russian forces there, and especially Russian-made air defense systems, have made it much riskier for the United States to intervene, even if it wished. Now that the Russians are there, our options are quite limited, the diplomat said. What the Middle East is seeing right now is that the regime wont fall, that the Russians and Iranians are ready to go to any length in order to support the regime. FPs chief national security reporter Dan De Luce contributed to this report. (ADVISORY- Follow European and UK stock markets in real time on the Reuters Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets) Updates prices, adds details) * STOXX 600 rises, but still down around 7 pct in 2016 * Banks lead sectoral gainers * Man Group tops STOXX gainers By Danilo Masoni and Sudip Kar-Gupta MILAN/LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Friday to claw back ground lost in the previous session, with banking stocks outperforming, while hedge fund Man Group also surged higher. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.3 percent, after touching during the previous session a three-month low. The index however remains down by around 7 percent so far in 2016, but Clairinvest fund manager Ion-Marc Valahu backed having a "long" position to bet on more gains for European stocks. He cited expectations that Deutsche Bank would reach a settlement with U.S. authorities over alleged mis-selling of mortgage backed securities as one reason for this. Deutsche Bank shares rose 2 percent, and Valahu also cited expectations that Italy would fix problems with its struggling banks as a further reason to stay upbeat on European stocks. "You should stay 'long' on European equities. I expect positive resolutions on Deutsche and Italian banks," he said. Europe's STOXX Bank was the biggest sectoral gainer with a gain of 2.2 percent, further undepinned by better-than-expected results from three big U.S. banks. Shares in Banca Popolare di Milano and Banco Popolare both rose more than 6 percent as investors bet shareholders would approve a merger to create Italy's third-largest lender when they meet on Saturday. Shares in French telecoms group SFR climbed 3.8 percent after rival Altice acquired another 5 percent stake in SFR, with the broader STOXX Europe 600 telecoms index advancing by 1.4 percent. Shares in British hedge fund Man Group jumped 13.8 percent to top STOXX gainers after the company posted a rise in assets under management, and announced a share buyback and the acquisition of investment management company Aalto. Story continues "Overall, we think (this) is an encouraging release, and reiterate our 'Buy'," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Philip Middleton in a research note. Software AG slumped 8.7 percent after reporting a drop in licence revenue. (Reporting by Danilo Masoni; editing by Mark Heinrich) London (AFP) - The adoration felt by his people for the late king of Thailand was unique, but several modern monarchs have proved remarkably adept at maintaining public support for what many see as an outdated institution. The death of long-serving King Bhumibol Adulyadej is being marked by an intense period of national mourning in Thailand, where he was seen as a stabilising father figure in troubled times. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who now takes over the mantle of the world's longest reigning monarch after 64 years on the throne, is also hailed as a constant, unifying presence. She celebrated her 90th birthday in April with public approval ratings in Britain of 76 percent -- "ratings that politicians would die for", noted Professor Robert Hazell of University College London's Constitution Unit. Many other European monarchs are also enjoying strong public support, with the notable exception of Spain -- which acts as a cautionary tale. The former king Juan Carlos won widespread respect after playing a major role in the transition to democracy after the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. But he abdicated two years ago amid a corruption scandal involving his daughter, and his son King Felipe VI is struggling to clean up the royal family's image. "Each generation has to renew the contract between the monarch and the people. Monarchy cannot be taken for granted. It has to earn respect," Hazell said. - 'Vulnerable to scandals' - Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, who in 1972 became the first woman to take the helm of the oldest European monarchy, has managed to survive without any major controversies -- and is wildly popular. King Harald V, who has reigned Norway for 25 years, has similar approval ratings of 82 percent. But Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf has struggled for more than 40 years to shed his image as a car-mad playboy, and allegations of affairs have taken their toll on his popularity. Story continues The latest poll, in March, found 65 percent of Swedes wanted to keep the monarchy and 24 percent wanted to abolish it. In Spain, the corruption scandal surrounding Juan Carlos's daughter Cristina came after the king outraged Spaniards in 2012 by going elephant hunting in Botswana at the height of the country's recession. "There is a paradox here," said Professor Philip Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. "On one hand they seem often like permanent fixtures but in today's climate of 24-hour news they are quite vulnerable to personal scandals undermining their popularity quite seriously." - 'Reinventing themselves' - Queen Elizabeth II has not always been so popular, suffering a public backlash over her apparently cold response to the 1997 death of Diana, the ex-wife of her son Prince Charles. But her reputation recovered and now the next generation, Charles' son William and his wife Kate, are injecting a new lease of life into the institution "Monarchies frequently have to reinvent themselves, and find a new way of attracting popularity," said Murphy. "You could do so quite easily around the very attractive and rather glamorous figures of prince William and Kate." In the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix won many hearts in her 33 years on the throne. But after abdicating in 2013, her 46-year-old son Willem-Alexander took over with a promise to be a 21st century king. Outside Europe, Morocco's King Mohammed VI marked a break with his feared father Hassan II while providing stability at a time of turmoil as the Arab Spring swept across North Africa and to the Middle East. Although he retains overall power as head of state and the military, he takes time to meet his people -- as well as to indulge his love of jet skis. By Foo Yun Chee FLORENCE (Reuters) - EU regulators do not see any state aid issues in France's decision to order 21 fast trains from Alstom in a pre-election job-saving move, the bloc's competition chief said on Friday. France last week unveiled the order for the high speed TGV trains at an historic locomotive plant, most of which may never run on a suitable fast track. The order may be worth as much as 630 million euros (567.48 million pounds) for 20-percent state-owned Alstom, a source told Reuters. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager who has the final word on whether EU governments can grant subsidies to troubled companies without giving them an unfair advantage, said she did not see any problems. "No, we have so far of course no concerns, it's not a case on our table. And if there is no case, there is no decision in the pipeline," Vestager told reporters on the sidelines of a conference organised by the International Bar Association. The French move has drawn criticism from some quarters because putting expensive high-speed rolling stock onto a traditional rail system would also increase state rail operator SNCF's operating costs. President Francois Hollande is fighting to win a second term, promising he can reduce a rising jobless rate that is above 10 percent. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek) Heres everything you need to know to understand the Electoral College The 2016 presidential election is just a few weeks away and, as youre probably well aware, things are a bit insane at the moment. With new accusations of sexual misconduct by Republican candidate Donald Trump emerging almost daily, and many of his supporters tweeting to repeal womens right to vote (WTF!!), heading to the polls on November 8th is more important than ever. But you may be wondering: Does my vote for the president really count? And the answer is that it most certainly does, but in a roundabout sort of way. Heres the thing: Theres a group called the Electoral College that actually chooses the president and VP, but most of its members (called electors) are pledged to vote for the party slate chosen by the majority of voters. That means that when you cast your vote, youre directing pledged Democrat or Republican Electoral College members to cast their votes accordingly. Still with us? If youre a little confused, dont sweat it. We were, too! The following is a primer that will (hopefully!) help you understand the Electoral College and why it matters in this election. What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is a group of 538 electors chosen by the states who formally elect the president and vice-president of the United States. The number 538 is equivalent to the sum total of senators (100) and members of Congress (435), plus three electors given to the District of Columbia, and ensures that all states have a fair hand in electing the president and VP based on their population size. The Census, which is conducted every 10 years, determines how many electoral votes each state gets, so a state can gain or lose a couple of votes depending on its population in a given Census year. The Electoral College was created in 1787 by a constitutional provision. It has undergone some changes since then such as how electors are chosen but it remains a vital (if hotly contested) part of our democracy. Story continues How are its members selected? Anyone can become an elector, except for members of Congress and persons holding offices of Trust or Profit under the Constitution. In general, electors are proposed every four years by party organizations in each state and are pledged to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates leading that party. How does it work? On Election Day, voters go to the polls and cast their ballot for a party slate (e.g. Democratic ticket Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine). In all states except Nebraska and Maine, the slate that wins the majority of votes claims all of the Electoral College votes in that state. The candidate who receives at least 270 electoral votes wins the presidency. In Nebraska and Maine, the candidate who wins the most votes gets two electoral votes (for the two senators) and the rest of the electoral votes are assigned congressional district by congressional district based on proportional representation. That means candidates from both parties can win electoral votes in those two states, unlike the winner-take-all system in the rest of the country. Though its not required by the Constitution, there are laws in 24 states and the District of Columbia requiring electors to vote according to the popular vote (i.e. for their partys candidate), and Virginia law states that electors are expected to vote a for a partys candidate. In the rest of the country no such laws exist, but throughout the nations history, over 99% of electors have voted according to the popular vote. Electoral College members officially cast their votes for president and vice-president on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Can the Electoral College really have an impact? It sure can. A candidate can win the popular vote (the majority of ballots cast by American citizens) but still lose the presidency. That happened in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected president. While he won 49.7% of the popular vote, and Democratic rival Al Gore won 50.3%, Bush received 271 Electoral College votes and became president. He won by small margins in many states, and the winner-take-all system worked in this favor. How can it affect this election? There are a few ways the Electoral College could change the outcome of this election. First, if Trump were to drop out of the race, the Republican Party would select a replacement candidate. While Trump will still appear on the ballot since the ballots have already been printed and many absentee ballots have been cast Electoral College members will know to vote for the new Republican candidate, even though the popular vote was technically cast in favor of Trump. Indeed, some absentee voters who have already case their ballots may have voted for Trump in good faith, but their votes would go towards the replacement candidate under the Electoral College system if Trump dropped out of the race now. Heres another scenario: If neither Clinton nor Trump was able to secure a majority of electoral votes, the decision would be made by Congress; the House elects the president and the Senate elects the vice-president. The Denver Post has suggested that if a third-party candidate were to win the electoral votes in a state, while Clinton and Trump split the rest of the votes 50-50, the House might compromise by selecting the third-party candidate as president. Plus, we could find ourselves in another Bush-Gore situation. If you want a little more information on how the Electoral College works complete with fun graphics! watch the video below. And if you havent yet registered, heres a super easy way to do it! The post Heres everything you need to know to understand the Electoral College appeared first on HelloGiggles. At the Samuel Goldwyn Theater Thursday, Ewan McGregor revealed that it took 20 years for him to find the perfect vehicle to make his directorial debut with American Pastoral. Although he was attached as Seymour Swede Levov in the film for many years, he said that the idea of directing the feature wasnt really a concrete thought until his wife gave him a much-needed nudge. Honestly, it [was] my wife, Eve. When we lost the director in late 2014, she said I should do it. I had been looking to director for 20 years and it was never the right opportunity but this one just came together. I spent a day with the script, really being honest about playing the role and having the bigger picture in my head. I suggested myself to the Lakeshore producers and after giving them that big picture, they shortly after let me direct it, McGregor said. It was sort of a series of happy coincidences. I was attached to act in it for a number of years. And I never thought about directing because there was always someone else attached to it or it was director-less, he said. McGregor had an impressive cast to work with on the adaptation of Philip Roths Pulitzer Prize winning adaptation, including Dakota Fanning, who felt thankful to be part of his directorial debut. Hes just a lovely person to be around. Getting to know him was a wonderful part of my life and getting to be part of his first time directing, I think its something hell remember and Im so honored to be a part of that, she said. For Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Connelly, working with McGregor was also a great match that made her tough role much easier to tackle. Hes very confident as a director and he really created a very nice environment for everyone to collaborate in, she said. Connelly is no stranger to heavy emotional roles, but the versatile actress revealed that the role of Levovs wife, Dawn, was challenging. The movie takes place over a number of years so it gave me a lot to think about, she said. I was portraying her as a young woman of about 20 [years old] until about her mid 40s and beyond, so that was part of what made it exciting. I like working on things that challenge me and I like playing characters whose circumstances are much different than my own and who act in ways different than maybe I would, she said. Story continues American Pastoral bows Oct. 21. Related stories Mill Valley Film Festival Grows to Destination for Industry Vets 'Playback': Ewan McGregor on 'American Pastoral,' 'Trainspotting' Sequel and More (Listen) 'Loving,' 'American Pastoral' Secure Prime Screenings at Hamptons Film Festival By Greg Roumeliotis and Lauren Hirsch (Reuters) - Hershey Co (HSY.N), the U.S. chocolate maker that Oreo cookie-maker Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ.O) tried to acquire earlier this year, said on Friday that Chief Executive John Bilbrey would retire from his post on July 1. The move comes less than three months after the charitable trust that controls Hershey reached a major reform agreement with its overseer, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, raising questions about the trust's plans for the company. The selection of the new CEO could determine not just the company's financial performance, but also whether the trust will continue to rely on Hershey as its main asset. About two-thirds of the trust's $12 billion in assets are in Hershey stock. During Bilbrey's five-year tenure as CEO, Hershey doubled its market value to $20 billion, improved its profit margins, and increased its market share in the United States to 31.3 percent from 28.3 percent. Hershey also began to diversify beyond its core confectionary business into other types of snacks. The Kisses chocolate maker said on Friday it appointed a special committee to search for a new CEO. The committee will be led by Pamela Arway, chairwoman of the board's governance committee, helped by executive search firm Egon Zehnder. The committee is considering internal and external candidates for the CEO job, and Hershey Chief Operating Officer Michele Buck is one of the contenders, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing confidential deliberations. FAMILY TIME Bilbrey will continue as non-executive chairman of the board following his retirement as president and CEO, Hershey said. The company also maintained its full-year earnings outlook. Reuters reported exclusively on Thursday that Bilbrey was preparing to step down by next summer. "All of the decisions in my career have been made in consultation with my wife, Teresa, with the impact to our children and our family being paramount. And so it is with that in mind that I have shared with our board, and now you, my decision to retire next year in order to spend more time with my family and wonderful grandchildren who have faithfully and selflessly supported me for so long," Bilbrey wrote in a note to Hershey employees on Friday. Story continues Bilbrey was named CEO of Hershey in 2011 after serving in various senior roles at the company since 2003. He added the position of chairman in 2015. Prior to Hershey, Bilbrey worked for 22 years at consumer company Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N). Following an initial spurned bid in June, Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld re-approached Bilbrey in August, indicating that Mondelez would be willing to offer $115 a share, or about $24.5 billion overall, Reuters reported at the time. Hershey responded that it would not be willing to enter into deal negotiations for an offer of less than $125 per share, a source said at the time. The Hershey trust was set up by the company's founder over a century ago to fund and run a school for underprivileged children. It holds 81 percent of the company's voting stock, and so a sale is not possible without its approval. Following a dispute with the Pennsylvania attorney general over its governance policy, the trust in July agreed to expand its board to 13 members from 10, and for five members to resign by the end of the year. With one trustee having resigned shortly before that agreement, that leaves a total of nine openings. "Everybody wants clarity. The more ambiguity there is about a situation, the more difficult it is to recruit into it," said Peter Crist, chairman of recruiting firm Crist Kolder Associates, referring to the impact the turnover at the Hershey trust will have on the Hershey CEO search. Even if the trust does decide to explore a sale of Hershey, the attorney general can thwart such plans. On Friday, one of the people who agreed to resign from the trust's board by the end of the year, James Nevels, said he would not stand for re-election on Hershey's board in 2017. Nevels currently serves as Hershey's lead independent board director. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Lauren Hirsch in New York; Additional reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Bill Rigby, Sam Holmes and Ted Kerr) DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday. Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the northeastern Borno state, where the Islamist militants have waged a seven-year insurgency to try to set up an Islamic state. "The release of the girls ... is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," a presidency statement said. "The negotiations will continue." Nigeria will continue its military operations against Boko Haram, the country's information minister said. He also said Nigeria did not swap any Boko Haram prisoners for the release of the girls, who would be brought to the capital Abuja later on Thursday. Here are 10 key facts about the Chibok schoolgirls and the Islamist militant group Boko Haram: Since 2009, Boko Haram has waged an insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria that has killed at least 15,000 people and displaced more than two million. The most high-profile attack took place on April 14, 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 school girls, from a secondary school in Chibok in northeast Borno state. About 50 of the girls escaped in the initial melee but 219 were captured. Nigeria's government and military, then under the command of former president Goodluck Jonathan, faced heavy criticism for their handling of the incident, with towns and cities across the nation witnessing protests. The kidnappings prompted a strong social media reaction, with the phrase #bringbackourgirls tweeted around 3.3 million times by mid-May 2014, and the campaign which followed backed by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. Hope for the girls was briefly raised in April 2015 when the Nigerian military announced it had rescued 200 girls and 93 women from the Sambisa forest, northeast of Chibok. It was later revealed that the Chibok girls were not among them. One of the Chibok girls, Amina Ali, was rescued in May. Held for months by the Nigerian government, she told her mother that the girls were starved and resorted to eating raw maize, and that some had died in captivity, suffered broken legs or gone deaf after being too close to explosions. Boko Haram in August published a video showing footage of dozens of the Chibok girls, and a masked man saying some of their classmates had been killed in air strikes. In the video, unidentified bodies could be seen on the ground. About 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, which says they are used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers. Boko Haram used 44 children to carry out suicide attacks in West Africa last year, up from four in 2014, with some as young as eight, mostly girls, detonating bombs in schools and markets, according to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. Boko Haram, which last year pledged allegiance to Islamic State, controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria, around the size of Belgium, at the start of 2015 but was pushed out by Nigerian and regional troops, which are now in a final push to defeat the militants. (Reporting By Kieran Guilbert, Additional Reporting by Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram, Felix Onuah and Ulf Laessing in Abuja; Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) An actor and a travel writer travelled 28,000 km, covering 29 states, in an epic journey across the country. Here are the details of their trip. By India Today Web Desk: At times, when we take time off and look around, we realise that the world is in the middle of a never-ending race. A race that doesn't guarantee fulfilment in life. But as travellers, explorers, adventurers, and discoverers, we know that nothing can make a person happier than being on a journey across numerous destinations. While every experience is novel, every turn brings about a new surprise, and the things we learn about ourselves and our lives in general are endless. advertisement No wonder, St Augustine once said, "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page". Every word of it is true. And a burning example of this is an epic journey taken by Paloma Monappa, an actor and avid traveler, and Meraj Shah, a travel writer. Driving a Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, the duo travelled 28,000 km, covering 29 states across India. Starting their epic journey from the national capital, Delhi, the duo explored the length and breadth of the country while collecting the memories of a bucket full of varied experiences. Right from trotting the lush vineyards of Nashik, to taking a safari at the Rann of Kutch, to cruising the treacherous terrains of Ladakh, the duo has done it all in their journey. Also see: Gul Panag's road trip to the Northeast will inspire you to travel with your girl gang! Travel is not just about reaching destinations. It's about learning about the different lifestyles, cultures, and getting a wider perspective about life by interacting with plenty of people on the way. This is just what Paloma and Meraj did too. Ranging from celebrities, tribal fashionistas, women wrestlers, young scientists, tattoo artists, and pathbreaking entrepreneurs, the road-trippers have interacted and mingled with individuals from diverse walks of life. The duo talked to everyone from photographers to chefs, comedians, sound-designers and artists to hear the challenges they faced and the conviction that carried them in their quest for meaningful work. On their journey, they met various film stars and celebrities who have come down to a "beyond-the-self" orientation to the world. In Mumbai, they talked to actor and author Twinkle Khanna about her association with Raasta Chaap, thus gaining an insight as to how she offered a new lease of life to the dying trees. While in Kerala, a star studded encounter with music director Amal Neerad and superstar Dulquer gave them an insight into the new wave in Malayalam cinema. And there was so much more that Paloma and Meraj experienced. Wondering how to know more about the road-trippers' journey? Discovery Channel will showcase their entire trip in a 13-part TV series titled #IndiaMyWay. The show is starting on Sunday, October 16, and will air every Sunday at 8pm. advertisement Talking about her adventure, Paloma Monappa said, "#Indiamyway has been a thrilling journey that traces juxtaposition of the new with the old. The series encapsulates incredibly liberating and empowering works of young Indians which paints an inspiring picture of the emerging India." Meraj Shah said, "I have been travelling for years, however, this road trip was unique and refreshing.#Indiamyway has been one of the most enriching experiences, offering a stimulating view about the contemporary wave in our socio-cultural structure." --- ENDS --- By Makini Brice LES CAYES (Reuters) - Hurricane Matthew tore up large tracts of food crops as well as mature coffee and cocoa plantations when it ravaged Haiti's fertile south last week, with a U.N. official expressing concern about possible famine in the poorest nation in the Americas. The destruction of crops like rice, corn and beans in the area puts more than 100,000 children at risk of acute malnutrition, the United Nations said on Friday, in a Caribbean country where half the population already was underfed before the powerful hurricane hit. While about half of Haiti's food supply is imported, much of what it does produce is grown in the south. As well as tearing up food staples and filling fields with sea water and trash, the storm uprooted plantations of cocoa, coffee and fruit trees, cash crops that are exported and that experts said will take at least five years to grow back. "This is devastating, and it basically could mean that we have a famine in six months," said Yvonne Helle, Haiti's senior country director for the United Nations Development Programme. Helle said preliminary figures indicated 60 to 80 percent of crops in the affected area had been lost to the storm. "Not only has the harvest been lost, there also has been tremendous damage to fruit trees," Helle added, mentioning the mango, one of Haiti's primary exports. Paul Joseph Maxel, a 75-year-old farmer based in the town of Saint-Jean-du-Sud, said he lost all but one of his 20 mango trees on a 15-acre (6-hectare) property he manages. He said coconut palms and avocado trees also were lost to the hurricane. In front of a tent that his children, who live in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, bought and set up for him beside his hurricane-damaged house, Maxel said he hoped for aid in rebuilding the farm. "Our worries are about how to begin planting trees again," he said. The path to the farm, located on the side of a rolling hill and accessible only by foot, was littered with cracked coconuts and spoiled mangoes from uprooted trees. On the other side of the hill, Auguste Donnay, a 30-year-old agronomy student, sat outside his family's damaged house. It was the only structure standing remotely intact on the property, although it was missing most of its roof. Fallen trees covered the land, and two other buildings were reduced to wooden frames. Donnay called for government assistance to the area's farmers, who he said do not have the resources to start again without help. "If they must do it alone, many people will die ... of hunger," Donnay said. Although Port-au-Prince was largely spared the hurricane's effects, Donnay said an agricultural crisis would reach beyond the south. "They will be affected because it is the farmers here who feed the capital," Donnay said. Matthew killed at least 1,000 Haitians, according to a Reuters tally of numbers given by local mayors, and left more than 175,000 people homeless. "Disaster can be avoided if we act really quickly, in terms of helping people clear their land and start planting again," said Hervil Cherubin, Haiti country director for Heifer International, an agricultural aid group. "People need access to seeds really quickly," Cherubin said. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Will Dunham) Kiev (AFP) - Members of a controversial Ukrainian far-right nationalist group that has battled pro-Russian rebels in the country's east announced on Friday they were creating a political party. The Azov battalion rose to prominence as a volunteer regiment fighting alongside Ukraine's army in the east before being integrated into Kiev's official forces. The role of the group -- which has reportedly attracted neo-Nazi fighters from Europe -- stirred fears over the increasing influence of far-right nationalists in Ukraine during its standoff with Russia. "Today we become a party. And we must become the party of real action," Andriy Biletsky, a Ukrainian MP who heads the movement, told a meeting as they voted to create the new National Corps political bloc. "We want Ukraine to return to the ideas of Ukrainian patriotism, Ukrainian nationalism." The announcement came as Kiev was marking the Defender of Ukraine Day, a public holiday declared two years ago by President Petro Poroshenko that is meant to celebrate Ukrainian troops fighting the pro-Russian insurgency in the east. The day also coincides with the anniversary of the foundation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a group of Ukrainian nationalists who fought against Soviet troops in World War II alongside Nazi forces, and are accused of slaughtering Poles and Jews. Several thousand people marched through the streets of Kiev on Friday night, brandishing torches, Ukrainian flags, as well as the flags of Azov and other far-right groups, an AFP reporter reported. Ukraine has seen a rise in nationalism since the ouster of Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych by protesters in 2014 sparked Russia's takeover of Crimea. While the conflict in the east -- which the West and Kiev blame squarely on Russia -- drags on, the pro-Western political leadership in Kiev has failed to make good on pledges to reform the country's rotten political system. But despite pledges to eliminate rampant corruption going unheeded and the economy deep in trouble, far-right candidates have remained firmly on the fringes at elections. London (AFP) - Irish master trainer Aidan O'Brien will look to cap his European season with a hat-trick of wins from three exceptional fillies at British racing's showpiece event Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday. Leading the charge for the 46-year-old -- who has an extraordinary 20 Group One victories to his credit this season and a career total of 295 -- will be Found, who only a fortnight ago led home an unprecedented 1-2-3 for O'Brien in Europe's most prestigious race the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Found, who ended a frustrating run of runners-up spots in Group One races this term with the Arc de Triomphe, will take on a daunting field in the Champion Stakes including French favourite Almanzor, who beat her into second in the Irish Champion Stakes a month ago. "Found likes a nice clear-run race and doesn't run over a mile and a half (the Arc distance, the Champion Stakes is 1 1/4miles) very often," O'Brien told UK Racing this week. "She's a Group One winner over a mile, a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. She's a really special mare," added O'Brien, who is due to be crowned not only Irish champion trainer but also British champion handler for the first time since 2008. Almanzor's trainer Jean-Claude Rouget said that he wasn't concerned the great filly would re-oppose his stable star and was extremely happy with how he'd prepared for the race which will see the winner pick up the princely sum of nearly A750,000. "He's been in really good form since the Irish Champion Stakes, and I'm extremely happy with him," Rouget told The Racing Post. "The other runners in the race don't interest me. I like to concentrate on my own horse being at the top of his game, which is the most important. "He's a very laid back individual, who is a lovely looking horse with a fantastic turn of foot, which should serve us very well. He'll also like the forecast good ground conditions." Story continues Perhaps the one that could upset the odds is last year's Irish Derby winner Jack Hobbs, who makes his return after six months out with a stress fracture of the pelvis. "It's a particularly easy race to have him come back in!" trainer John Gosden joked to The Racing Post. "The field is not only deep but very strong. I don't think we are under any illusions. "He's in great order and is not the type to be ring-rusty," added the 65-year-old Englishman, whose runner finished third in last year's renewal. O'Brien saddles another tough as teak filly in two-time classic champion Minding -- winner of the English 1000 Guineas and the English Oaks this term -- for the mile race the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. She faces 12 rivals including English 2000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold, who will have the effervescent Frankie Dettori on board, and Irish 2000 Guineas victor Awtaad trained by veteran Kevin Prendergast. "I'm really confident he's going to go to Ascot at the peak of his powers," Galileo Gold's trainer Hugo Palmer told The Guardian. "People always think of horses like humans, that what they really want to do is lie on a beach and recharge their batteries for a fortnight. He doesnat have a desire to sit down with an improving book. Heas a racehorse." Palmer will also oppose O'Brien in the British Champions Fillies and Mares Group One with the former fielding Architecture -- second to Minding in the English Oaks -- and the latter Seventh Heaven, who won the Irish Oaks beating the English filly by just over two lengths. O'Brien, whose son Joseph the former jockey has also taken up training with some success this year, thinks a lot of Seventh Heaven. "She's a beautiful traveler and is a massive, rangy filly that handles fast ground very well. I'd say she's going to make a real four-year-old, because she's big and rangy." Oil drilling equipment maker, FMC Technologies Inc. FTI is set to release third-quarter 2016 results after the closing bell on Wednesday, Oct 19. In the preceding three-month period, the Houston, TX-based firm delivered a negative earnings surprise of 26.67%. The underperformance stemmed from weakness in the North American land market and a negative impact of the strengthening U.S. dollar. Record low rig counts in North America also contributed to the downside. Coming to earnings surprise history, the company does not have a good record. FMC Technologies missed estimates in three of the last four quarters. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Consider This Quarter FMC Technologies enjoys a strong position, particularly in the subsea systems market. It is the companys largest and fastest growing business, which accounts for about two-thirds of its revenues. Subsea products especially subsea trees, controls and manifold and tie-in systems have seen an increase in demand. Given the companys already robust position in this market, we expect margins in the subsea segment to expand. FMC TECH INC Price and EPS Surprise FMC TECH INC Price and EPS Surprise | FMC TECH INC Quote Also, FMC Technologies strong backlog of around $3.4 billion reflects not only steady demand from its customers but also long-term earnings and cash flow visibility. This enables the company to navigate uncertainty better than many of its peers. However, the persistent crude price weakness has compelled top energy companies to resort to spending cuts (particularly on the costly upstream projects) owing to lower profit margins. This, in turn, means less work for equipment suppliers like FMC Technologies and is likely to result in declining income in the to-be-reported quarter. Moreover, the company has historically used bolt-on acquisitions to plug holes in its product/service portfolio. The company may find it difficult to complete accretive transactions in the future, which in turn, could negatively impact its growth rate. Story continues Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that FMC Technologies will beat estimates this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESPand a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP:Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is 0.00%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate stands and the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 23 cents. Zacks Rank: FMC Technologies has a Zacks Rank #3. Though a favorable Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, a 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 and 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks to Consider Although an earnings beat looks uncertain for FMC Technologies, here are some firms that you may want to consider on the basis of our model, which shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. CONE Midstream Partners LP CNNX has an Earnings ESP of +2.70% and a Zacks Rank #1. The partnership is expected to release earnings results on Nov 4. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. CSI Compressco LP CCLP has an Earnings ESP of +40.00% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is anticipated to release earnings on Nov 4. Antero Midstream Partners LP AM has an Earnings ESP of +2.94% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is likely to release earnings on Oct 26. 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 ANTERO MIDSTRM (AM): Free Stock Analysis Report CONE MIDSTREAM (CNNX): Free Stock Analysis Report FMC TECH INC (FTI): Free Stock Analysis Report CSI COMPRESSCO (CCLP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Michael Morell Michael Morell, a career intelligence officer who was acting and deputy director of the CIA from 2010 to 2013, expressed concerns that high-level political operatives connected to Donald Trump's campaign are working on behalf of Russian interests. In a Friday conference call hosted by Hillary Clinton's campaign, Morell railed against Trump for being complacent with hacks that the US intelligence community has pinned on the Russian government. "The thing I'm deeply concerned about it that the people around Donald Trump, the Paul Manaforts, the Roger Stones, the Carter Pages, may be into this more deeply, maybe have relationships with Russia, financial relationships and they're actually working on behalf of the Russians in getting this material out and spreading this around," Morell said, referencing Trump's former campaign chairman and two current advisers. Morell has endorsed Clinton, the Democratic nominee, for president. Trump, the Republican nominee, has been fairly uncritical of Russia during this election cycle, at one point even inviting Russian hackers to find and publish Clinton's emails. He has also spoken favorably of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has called Trump a "very talented" man. "I think that Trump's motivation here to play into Putin's hands is driven by one thing for sure and one thing that I'm deeply concerned about," Morell said. "The thing I'm sure about is that Trump is cozying up to Putin because Putin has played him like a fiddle. Putin has figured out what makes Donald Trump tick and hes playing to it and Donald Trump is responding." Morell said Trump "just doesn't get what Putin is trying to do here." "Trump continues to play to Putin's hands almost every single day," Morell said. He also accused Trump of encouraging Russian meddling in the US presidential election. Story continues "In my mind, he's actually cheering it on," Morell said. "He's reading from Wikileaks material at his rallies. He's encouraging people to read the hacked materials. He is encouraging this attack on our democracy. I just find that amazing and shocking." The US Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence formally accused the Russian government of hacking Democratic Party organizations in a letter posted online last week. The letter says the cyberattacks that targeted US political organizations were "intended to interfere with the US election process." It also accuses senior officials within the Russian government of approving the hacks. Morell said the hacks were meant to "inflict maximum damage on one of the candidates," referring to Clinton. "I cannot remember a single time in American history where the American government has accused another government of trying to interfere in our election," he said. "This is unprecedented, and as an intelligence official, it shakes me to my core." Trump has so far refused to acknowledge Russia's role in the hacks. "This is not a rogue operation by Russian intelligence," Morell said. "[T]his goes to the highest levels of Russian government. The way Putin manages his intelligence services is hands-on. He is a micro-manager. So I am 100% confident that he is aware of all of this, he has approved it, he is directing it." NOW WATCH: 'He never said that': New Clinton ad shows Trump contradicting Pence's VP debate denials More From Business Insider By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) Terming the calling off of the Saarc Summit as "very unfortunate", Nepal, which chairs the grouping, today said India and Pakistan should resolve their differences through diplomatic efforts. Nepals Minister of Commerce Romi Gauchan Thakali said the country lays "great emphasis" on fostering regional trade, investment and economic cooperation among Saarc as well as the BIMSTEC members. advertisement "I think abandoning the Summit is very unfortunate whatever the cause is there but I hope both nations are able to solve it with their diplomatic efforts. I hope this will happen very soon," Thakali told reporters here. He, however, termed the issues between India and Pakistan as their "internal matter", adding that it would have been "much better if the (Saarc ) Summit had happened". The 19th Saarc Summit, scheduled to take place in Pakistani capital Islamabad from November 9 to 10 was cancelled following the pull-out by five members. Besides India, three other members ? Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan ? pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet. Sri Lanka also pulled out of the Summit becoming the fifth country to do so. Saarc members include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Thakali said the BIMSTEC region confronts a wide range of inter-related challenges such as terrorism, trans-national crimes, human drug trafficking, climate change and food security, among others. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia. These include Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Asked what was holding back the conclusion of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement, the Minister said "there are plenty of issues which are still to be negotiated on the table", adding that an early conclusion of the FTA will benefit all nations involved. Thakali said Nepal was looking forward to enhancing connectivity with India through new trade and transit ports. He pitched for adoption of a "collaborative approach" to tackle the challenges confronting the BIMSTEC region. PTI RSN CS ANU --- ENDS --- Former U.S. intelligence officer Malcolm Nance said he has no doubt that Russia is behind the latest dump of emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. After all, Nance told Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga Friday, Russia has been trying to influence the U.S. presidential election ever since the beginning of this sordid campaign. Not only through a series of cyberattacks that stand to hurt the Clinton campaign, but also, he said, by turning Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump into an unwitting asset. The intelligence term, Nance explained, refers to someone who thinks theyve adopted a position but that position has been carved out for them, groomed for them. Theyve been put into a position where they can actually carry out the wishes of another power, he said. Lenin used to call these people useful idiots. Nance further outlines this theory which former CIA Director Mike Morell also expressed in his New York Times op-ed endorsement of Hillary Clinton this August in his new book, The Plot to Hack America: How Putins Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election. Nance has long been critical of Trump and the GOP nominees campaign. Russia itself gains everything if Trump is elected president, he told Golodryga Friday, pointing to some the Republican nominees foreign policy positions as evidence of Russias influence over the candidate. Trump has been critical of NATO, supported Russias intervention in Syria and showered praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin. He cheers on the destruction of the European Union Nance said of Trump, who has branded himself Mr. Brexit. Such a destruction would only help Russia, Nance said. And, he continued, Trump believes that Eastern Europe, from Poland east, is Russias backyard and they should be allowed to do whatever they choose, including the seizing of land in Crimea, possibly starting this insurgency in southern Ukraine, and having their eye on the Baltic states. Story continues In addition to the leak of Podestas emails, U.S. intelligence believes Russian hackers were behind the release of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails before the partys convention. Though he predicts more email hacks and other cyberattacks to come, Nance assured Golodryga that were certainly not facing mutual annihilation, akin to the Cold War. The U.S. has the capacity to do damage, he said. But we dont want to go there, and we really dont need to go there. (Adds analysts view of transaction value, debt reduction target, total asset sale value) By Susan Taylor TORONTO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan said on Friday it will sell onshore California oil and gas assets to Sentinel Peak Resources California for up to $742 million, part of a push by the world's biggest listed copper miner to reduce its multi-billion dollar debt. Hard hit in recent years by slumping commodity prices, Phoenix-based Freeport is under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, its third-largest shareholder, to reduce net debt of $18.8 billion and boost valuation. Under the transaction with private energy company Sentinel Peak, Freeport said it will receive $592 million in cash at closing and $50 million every year from 2018 to 2020 if the price per barrel of Brent crude oil averages $70 or more. Sentinel also assumes $100 million in future abandonment costs for the properties. Several analysts said that Freeport fetched a reasonable price for the assets, which were likely challenging to sell due to a small pool of potential buyers in the high-cost, heavily-regulated California market. Net cash from the deal with Sentinel, which is backed by private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners, will help repay debt, said Freeport. Adding only the $592 million cash payment, the Sentinel deal lifts the value of Freeport's 2016 asset sales to $6.62 billion, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Fraser Phillips in a note to clients. That puts Freeport on track to reach its debt reduction target of $5 billion to $10 billion, he wrote. Last month, Freeport announced the $2 billion sale of its deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas assets to Anadarko Petroleum. That followed failed attempts to sell all or part of the oil and gas business, and withdrawal of a planned initial public offering. Freeport debt ballooned with two ill-timed acquisitions of oil and natural gas producers in 2013, as it diversified beyond copper, gold and molybdenum mining. Story continues In May, Freeport agreed to sell its prized majority stake in the Tenke copper mine to China Molybdenum for $2.65 billion in cash. After the Sentinel and Anadarko deals close, Freeport will still own productive onshore assets in South Louisiana and the shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore assets in California and Central Wyoming. Last quarter, these produced an average 8.6 thousand barrels of oil and natural gas liquids and 78 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. (Additional reporting by Anet Josline Pinto in Bengaluru; Editing by Frances Kerry and Andrew Hay) PARIS (Reuters) - A man and his pregnant, teenage girlfriend suspected of plotting to kill in the name of the Islamic State were put under formal investigation on Friday following their arrest on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Noisy-le-Sec, a judicial source told Reuters. The two partners, aged 21 and 17, were in contact with Islamist State militant Rachid Kassim via the Telegram encrypted messaging system, the source said, confirming an earlier report by French newschannel iTele. Kassim is suspected of having participated in several attacks or attempted attacks in France. French police arrested at least six teenagers last month, all suspected of having plotted to kill in the name of the Islamic State, after having been spotted on social networks. All were in contact via Telegram with Kassim, who is currently located in the Syrian-Iraqi region, according to police and judicial sources. France is reeling from a wave of militant attacks that have killed more than 230 people since January 2015, and its intelligence services are struggling to dismantle a web of militant networks inside the country. In November last year, a squad of suicide bombers and gunmen killed 130 people in a coordinated attack on multiple sites in Paris. In July, a Tunisian man killed 86 people when he drove his truck through a Bastille Day crowd on Nice's seafront. Later that month, two militants knifed to death an elderly priest at his altar in a church in northern France. (Reporting by Chine Labbe; Writing by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Sandra Maler) By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Rights activists celebrated a major victory in France on Thursday after the country passed legislation allowing transgender people to legally change their gender without undergoing sterilization. The move comes after a handful of European nations strengthened the rights of transgender people by scrapping requirements such as undergoing medical procedures in order to have their desired gender legally recognized. Since 2014, Denmark, Malta and Ireland have allowed people to legally change their gender by simply informing authorities, without any medical or state intervention. The practice of involuntary sterilization has been widely condemned as a human rights violation, including by the United Nations. The ILGA-Europe network of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups welcomed the change in French law, which came after a two-year campaign. "These are years of sparring that finally come to fruition," spokeswoman Sophie Aujean told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Brussels, where ILGA is based. "There is no other population in the world that is asked to be sterilized apart from transgender." But along with other groups it said the law was not as progressive as similar legislation adopted in Denmark, Malta and Ireland, because transgender people in France still have to go to court to change their gender. "France has sometimes done revolutions, but this is not a revolutionary law," said Delphine Ravise-Giard, a spokeswoman for the National Transgender Association (ANT). There are no official figures for transgender people in France because the census does not count them, but activists believe there are tens of thousands of them living in the European country. In Europe, transgender people are twice as likely as gay people to be attacked, threatened or insulted, according to a European Union report published in December 2014. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) PARIS The lower house of the French legislature passed a bill to levy a 2% tax on the advertising revenues of online video platforms, including YouTube and Dailymotion. The bill, nicknamed the YouTube tax, would require platforms distributing free and premium video content such as YouTube to pay 2% of their ad revenues in order to help finance local content. The first 70 million euros ($77 million) raised by the levy would go to the National Film Board (CNC). Any amount above that would be deposited into state coffers. Pushed by a trio of Socialist deputies, Karine Berger, Bruno Le Roux et Pierre-Alain Muet, the bill will now be taken up by the French Senate as part of the budget law during the last quarter of this year. If passed, the measure would then require approval from the European Commission. The ultimate goal of the bill, French journal Les Echos said, is to extend the tax to the global digital giants Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon which have been distributing their content in France but have not been subjected to investment quotas in local content as French companies have. The French guild of authors, directors and producers (ARP) has applauded the preliminary approval of this bill. This tax is rooted in the philosophy which has traditionally guided the financing of culture (in France), having content distributors contribute to the financing of this content, the org said in a statement. Related stories YouTube Star KSI Unleashes Furious Rant at Pirates Stealing His Movie 'Laid in America' Q&A: YouTube Stars Rhett & Link on Their New Comedy Series 'Buddy System' Google Acquires FameBit to Help YouTube Creators Line Up Paid Promotions By Tatsam Mukherjee: India was put on the map of world cinema when veteran filmmaker Richard Attenborough decided to make a film on the life of India's father of the nation - Mahatma Gandhi. He auditioned several actors, and yet decided on British actor Indian-origin Ben Kingsley. Indian actors like Naseeruddin Shah were shortlisted but even Naseer accepted that Ben was more suited for the part. Bollywood has since been very much in awe of participating in a Hollywood projects. So much so that, we got quite excited when Steven Spielberg decided to shoot portions of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in India and cast Kabir Bedi and Amrish Puri in significant roles. advertisement ALSO READ: 5 of Irrfan's best performances in Hollywood ALSO READ: 5 best performances by Indian actors in Hollywood movies However, a section of the Bollywood fan-club started calling Hollywood out for having a very superficial understanding of India and Indian actors. The land of the snake-charmers resonated too strongly with Indian actors when being cast for Hollywood projects. So the roles ranged from playing a mystic priest, a saint or an exotic traveler who shares profound insights on life. That's when a bunch of actors began getting recognised from the parallel cinema movement. Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, a story of Mumbai's red-light district Kamatipura painted a real picture of Mumbai's streets and somehow got generalised as the 'real India'. Shortly after Satyajit Ray won his honorary Academy award in 1992, Om Puri was cast as the lead actor in the movie adaptation of Dominique Lapierre's City of Joy along with Shabana Azmi. Based in Kolkata, the film was headlined by Patrick Swayze who comes down to the slums and finds spiritual enlightenment. The film got middling reviews, and adding to Salaam Bombay's version India became a portrait of poverty, spiritual reckoning. All the while, very few Indian actors successfully transitioned to a lead role in a Hollywood film. That was until Naseeruddin Shah was cast in 2002's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as Captain Nemo. Naseeruddin Shah starred in a couple of other 'Hollywood projects' but quickly lost interest saying the parts were very stereotypically Indian. Desi actors got offered parts like the terrorist, the bearer, the Maharaja, but not a frontline character which did not make any reference to their Indian roots. And then there was another explosion, and it had nothing to do with an Indian director. Danny Boyle made Slumdog Millionare. The film stirred up a storm both in India and in Hollywood. The film was getting criticised for misrepresenting India by painting a visceral picture of Mumbai's Dharavi slums. And in Hollywood it was being celebrated for it's 'Bollywood' spirit. It put Irrfan right in the middle of casting calls from A-list projects. And Irrfan only turned out to be the stepping stone. As he starred in Mira Nair's The Namesake (which was still an independent project and relatively unknown), he starred in Marc Webb's Spiderman reboot. He played the role of Dr Ranjit Ratha. It was refreshing to see no reference made to his Indian-ness, and Irrfan played the character with grey-shades to perfection. He went on to play significant characters in Jurassic World and Ang Lee's Life of Pi. He will now be seen in this week's Inferno, which is an adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller where he will be starring alongside Tom Hanks. Irrfan has single-handedly opened up newer markets which is why we have a Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra making their debuts in Hollywood. advertisement Both Deepika and Priyanka are a product of Irrfan and to an extent Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's campaigning for Indian actors. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played a significant but inconsequential character in Pink Panther 2. With Irrfan, the Indian actor has actually arrived in a Hollywood film. And we see that in Deepika's character Serena Unger, where she no longer has to fake an accent, doesn't have to talk about her love for curries, and play a character which is credible to the story. Not the Indian character. Same with Priyanka Chopra who played FBI agent Alex Parish in ABC drama Quantico, without having to wear a 'bindi' to highlight her Indian-ness. And now with her Hollywood debut in Baywatch, she plays Victoria Leeds, the millionare antagonist of the film. In a world where more and more Hollywood projects are getting 'white-washed' it is a relief to see films not having to justify the inclusion of an actor by giving background of samosas and Bollywood music to it. Whether Hollywood is growing up or not is debatable, but can be applauded for the few steps forward. A million miles to go. --- ENDS --- advertisement Oslo (AFP) - The Norwegian government has resisted public pressure to offer a mountain summit to neighbouring Finland as part of its independence centenary celebrations. As a present to their Finnish neighbours, celebrating their independence since 1917, a group of Norwegians had proposed giving them the peak of the 1,361-metre (4,465-foot) high Mount Halti. The gift would have been a neat way of correcting a geographical incongruity, as the Finnish border in the area is situated most of the way up the mountainside at an altitude of 1,324 metres. A Facebook campaign to hand over the immovable present garnered 17,000 signatures. But a legal roadbump brought the friendly scheme tumbling down, halting the Halti plan. "This creative proposal has received a very positive response from the public," Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a letter received Friday by the major of Kafjord, in northern Norway, who was a protagonist in the mountainous gift. "I welcome this and I see a clear sign that Norway and Finland have a close relationship," Solberg continued, while adding that "border adjustments between countries raises complex legal issues." In this case the problems were insurmountable. The lofty gift-giving idea ran up against Article 1 of the Norwegian constitution which stipulates that the kingdom of Norway is "indivisible and inalienable". "We will think of another worthy gift to celebrate the occasion of Finland centenary," Solberg added. Prior to its independence, the "Grand Duchy of Finland" was part of the Russian empure. (Reuters) - Gabon's cabinet has cut its 2017 budget by over 5 percent as persistently low crude prices and falling output pressure the oil-producing Central African economy, it said in a statement on Thursday. Next year's budget will drop to 2.478 trillion CFA francs ($4.23 billion) in 2017 from 2.626 trillion CFA francs this year, the statement said, citing a drop in oil prices and production in the OPEC member. It comes after a small budget drop in 2016 and a 14 percent drop in 2015, both due to a steep drop in crude prices since 2014 and depleting oil fields. Gabon is Africa's fourth largest oil producer with an output of around 220,000 barrels per day, dominated by international oil majors Total and Royal Dutch Shell. President Ali Bongo has said that he plans to diversify the Gabon economy away from oil, but a falling budget will likely apply further political pressure after his razor thin victory in a presidential election in August that the opposition said was rigged. Violent protests ensued in which at least 6 were killed. Bongo's victory by less than 6,000 votes over opposition leader Jean Ping has drawn unwelcome scrutiny of the president, whose family has ruled the oil-producing state in Central Africa for 49 years. Many in Gabon complain that the oil wealth is not distributed, leaving most poor and out of work. Bongo's international reputation has taken a hit since the election and just a handful of African leaders attended his inauguration. ($1 = 585.6200 CFA francs) (Reporting by Edward McAllister; Editing by Sandra Maler) Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - The Gambia's opposition parties announced Friday they would unite around a single candidate for December's presidential election, in an unusual show of unity as President Yahya Jammeh seeks a fifth term in power. At a meeting in Banjul, the groups agreed to pick a single contender at a convention on October 30, just weeks ahead of the election slated for December 1. The signatories of the memorandum said they were "putting our differences aside, in pursuance of the supreme national interest", with the aim of ousting Jammeh from power. They included the United Democratic Party (UDP) -- the country's principal opposition movement -- along with several smaller groupings and the Gambia's first ever female presidential candidate, development expert and women's rights campaigner Isatou Touray. Jammeh came to power in a 1994 coup, and has ruled The Gambia with an iron fist ever since. Before the nation's last presidential vote in 2011, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said Jammeh's control of the media and intimidation of voters meant the election could not be free and fair. The strongman took 73 percent of the vote. The Gambia's newly appointed Independent Electoral Commission assured political parties last month the vote would not be rigged, despite fears that an opposition crackdown is already underway. Commissioner Alieu Momar Njie told reporters in Banjul: "The stakes may be high, and temptation may be great to achieve victory through illegal or morally questionable means in some countries. "I stand here today to pronounce to you that, as far as our concerted efforts are in play, this will never be the case in our dear country." UDP party leader Ousainou Darboe -- the runner-up in 2011 -- is among several opposition figures serving three-year sentences for organising a peaceful rally over two party members' deaths in custody. Story continues The UN, France, the US and human rights watchdogs have all voiced concern over the deaths and called for an independent probe. Campaigning for the election begins on November 16. Since independence from Britain in 1965, the Gambia has had just one other leader: Dawda Jawara, who served until the current president toppled him in the 1994 coup. By Matthew Miller BEIJING (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE) expects increased partnership with Chinese infrastructure firms along China's 'New Silk Road' which aims to link Asia with Europe and the Middle East to generate a significant jump in third-party country sales. Vice Chairman John Rice said on Thursday the U.S. industrial conglomerate is seeking greater cooperation with Chinese engineering, procurement and construction companies in the 65 countries identified in the Silk Road corridor. Rice said GE's third-party country revenue involving Chinese partners, which now stands at about $1 billion per year, could jump to more than $5 billion a year, and may reach $10 billion annually. "Energy is going to be where a lot of where the action is in the short and mid-term," said Rice, who spoke with Reuters on the sidelines of an industry summit GE organized for Chinese suppliers. GE is among a handful of Western players such as Deutsche Post's DHL Group and heavy machinery maker Caterpillar Inc who have identified opportunities from the initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013. Caterpillar has said that it hoped to participate in building the network links crucial to the initiative, while DHL has in recent months launched services that use rail infrastructure connecting China and Europe. For GE, which operates 34 joint ventures and employs 22,000 people in China, third-party cooperation projects also should bolster company revenue at a time when country sales have been hit by a slowing economy and the government's anti-corruption campaign. GE's China revenue, which increased by 1 percent last year to about $8 billion, will be "slightly" better in the current year, Rice said. "Infrastructure projects are taking longer to approve. There's more churn in the system," he added. "We're not alarmed by it. We see nothing in China which causes us to change one bit of our mid- to long-term strategy." Story continues GE also is exporting another $5 billion in equipment and services from its Chinese facilities to support efforts in other countries. "We obviously like the revenue number, but the export number is also very important to us," Rice said. Cooperation on third-party projects also is allowing GE to utilize critical project financing available to Chinese developers. "The 30 facilities we have locally give flexibility here (to) take advantage of financing if we need it," Rice said. "We look at the world from a manufacturing and local content perspective." (Reporting by Matthew Miller; Additional reporting by Brenda Goh in SHANGHAI; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) One way to understand the difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is to distill the world to its essence: people, land, and ocean. The United States has a lot of people and a lot of land, good relations with the people in the lands to its north and south, and oceans to its east and west. As Anders Fogh Rasmussen puts it, America is bordered by two friendly neighbors and fish. As a result of this geographic position, Rasmussen argues, Americans have the luxury of alternating between what you might call Trumpian and Clintonian views of the wider world. When it comes to the global village, the United States is a big, rich house with a wall and a moat around it, the former NATO secretary-general and Danish prime minister writes in his new book, The Will to Lead, whereas other powerful countries live in more dangerous neighborhoods. Throughout history, that privileged position has allowed America to swing between two opposing roles. At times, the United States has acted as the worlds policeman, the one that keeps order in the village and makes sure everyone else sticks to the rules. At other times, it has preferred to be its own gatekeeper, ignoring what was going on in the street outside unless it impacted directly on American security. Donald Trump wants the United States to be a full-time gatekeeper, which puts the Republican nominee for president at odds not just with rival Hillary Clinton, but also with his own running mate Mike Pence and many leaders of the Republican Party. This divide was evident during the second presidential debate on Sunday, when Trump sharply criticized Pence for advocating that the U.S. bomb the Syrian military if Russia and the Assad regime continued to strike civilians in the city of Aleppo. Clinton had just called for a no-fly zone in Syria in response to Russian aggression. Pence and Clinton, in other words, want America to police violations of the international rules of warfare. Trump, by contrast, is willing to ignore those violations if it means defeating ISIS. I dont like Assad at all, the Republican candidate said at the debate. But Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. Assad and Russia may be committing war crimes, but, in Trumps view, theyre keeping the barbarians from Americas gate. Story continues Trump, in fact, has explicitly rejected the notion that the United States should be the worlds policeman. Yet so have Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush. Its a bipartisan platitude, intended to signal that America cant possibly solve every problem everywhere. Trump, however, goes much further. He isnt just saying that the U.S. cant police the world on its own. Ironically for a man who presents himself as the law-and-order candidate, hes suggesting that the United States doesnt even need to be involved in enforcing international law and order as its presently defined. More than any previous major-party presidential candidate, Trump has questioned the value to America of the U.S.-led international system that Harry Truman helped design after World War II: NATO, free trade, nuclear nonproliferation, mutual-defense treaties and overseas military bases, and so on. Recommended: The Trump Allegations: The Latest Updates Clinton celebrates this system. Are we going to lead the world with strength and in accordance with our values? she asked during the first presidential debate. Thats what I intend to do. I intend to be a leader of our country that people can count on, both here at home and around the world, to make decisions that will further peace and prosperity, but also stand up to bullies, whether theyre abroad or at home. Trump position couldnt be further from Clintons. The United States, he argues, shouldnt lead the world with strength until its stronger at home. It shouldnt preach its values when those values have been tarnished by domestic problems. Allies who count on America are really moochers who are draining the country of its wealth. The idea that U.S. leadership advances global peace and prosperitythe conventional wisdom in Washington that its a win-win for America as well as the worldis a sham; international affairs is a zero-sum, every-country-for-itself struggle between winners and losers, and the U.S. is currently losing while its so-called allies and whip-smart adversaries win. America, in Trumps words, is a big stupid bully ... systematically ripped off by everybody. Trump believes the world could live without American engagement. Thats not how the modern world functions. Rasmussen says hes not interested in picking sides in the U.S. election, but his preferences are obvious. If Mr. Trump were to be elected president of the United States, I am concerned it would be the end of the American-led world order, he told Politico in August. In The Will to Lead, Rasmussen makes a detailed case for why the unraveling of that order would be a bad thing for both the United States and the world. Rasmussen, who was leading NATO in 2014 when Vladimir Putin intervened militarily in Ukraine and annexed Crimea, is particularly troubled by Trumps admiration of the Russian president and refusal to criticize Russian aggression. Hes also concerned by Trumps musings about not defending NATO members if those members havent fulfilled their financial obligations to the military alliance. If a NATO ally was attacked by Russia, and if the alliance did not respond to that, the alliance is finished, Rasmussen said. Recommended: The Tweetstorm Heard 'Round the Republican Party Trump has praised President Putin and other autocrats in a way that leaves me with the impression that he would rather conduct domestic policies and nation-building at home, so to speak, while the world could live without American engagement, Rasmussen told me. And thats not how the modern world functions. Rasmussens book plays on the political trope that America cannot be the policeman of the world; he asserts that Americawith its unrivaled military, economic, and diplomatic powermust play precisely that role. The U.S. is destined to lead whether you like it or not, he said. As the worlds only superpower, thats your burden. The United Nations and European Union are too weak and internally divided to assume this responsibility, Rasmussen added; China, as a communist dictatorship, lacks the credibility that democracies possess, while Russia, as a depleted, distrusted power, lacks the capabilities to police the world. Rasmussen claims that Americas role as the worlds policeman was in doubt well before the 2016 election. Barack Obama has demonstrated a degree of Trump-like isolationism, he argues, with grim consequences. Experience shows that when the United States retreats or retrenches, it will leave behind a security vacuum, and that vacuum will be filled by the bad guys. And thats what we are seeing, he said. While America and Europe slept, President Putin attacked Ukraine and he launched a reckless military operation in Syria. Recommended: How Trump's Abuse of Women Hid in Plain Sight As Americans learned during the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks, he continued, It is in Americas interest to strike enemies on their soil instead of waiting and seeing them hit you on your soil. Preventing conflicts or resolving them when theyre minor is less expensive than trying to treat them when theyve grown unmanageable, he said, citing the price of U.S. inaction during the early stages of the Syrian Civil War. The cost to the United States of, say, stationing troops overseas or providing the bulk of NATOs resources are more visible than the value America derives from those actions. But the value, according to Rasmussen, is immense: an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity, and 70 years without nuclear war or world war. Most Americans, moreover, benefit economically when free trade and exchange between peoples around the world take place peacefully and according to certain rules. American ships sail the worlds seas, American tourists travel the worlds countries, American companies invest in the worlds industries, American consumers buy the worlds goods, and the Made in the USA label is in high demand across the globe, Rasmussen writes in The Will to Lead. All of that has been made possible by the rule of international law. America designed this system, he notes, and it stands to lose the most if it is overthrown. The U.S. is destined to lead whether you like it or not. As the worlds only superpower, thats your burden. Rasmussen acknowledges that other countries, and especially other like-minded democracies, need to expend more resources to help the United States carry out its sheriff duties. He says Trumps criticism that Americas fellow NATO members should be spending a greater percentage of their GDP on defense is absolutely fair, though he notes that European defense spending has increased over the last year as its become clear to European leaders that Russia is less a partner than an adversary intent on restoring Russian dominance in former Soviet territory. But Rasmussen overlooks other weaknesses in his argument. He suggests, for example, that Obamas reluctance to play the role of global policeman enabled Russian aggression in Ukraine, but Russia also attacked Georgia in 2008, when George W. Busha president Rasmussen believes took U.S. leadership seriouslywas in office. He argues that the violence and volatility that followed the Iraq War, which he supported as the Danish prime minister, and the Libya intervention, which he helped lead as NATO secretary-general, resulted from lackluster political follow-up after successful military operations, without considering the possibility that the wars represent not poorly executed missions, but a failed, overly militarized model of policing in need of radical reinvention. Rasmussen, moreover, claims that American leadership is necessary because the world is on fire, from Raqqa to Crimea to the South China Sea. But its not clear that the world is actually on fire. As the psychologist Steven Pinker and the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos recently wrote, the worlds wars are now concentrated almost exclusively in a zone stretching from Nigeria to Pakistan, an area containing only a sixth of the worlds population. Far from being a world at war, as many people believe, we inhabit a world where five out of six people live in regions largely or entirely free of armed conflict. If nothing else, however, the urgency with which Rasmussen is making his casehe says he sent inscribed copies of his book to Trump and Clintonspeaks to the starkly different worldviews on the ballot in the 2016 presidential race. I look at the current election campaign as a discussion on this geographical issue, Rasmussen told me. How can the United States make sure that the lessons learned from the Second World War can also be relevant in the 21st century? Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Aides to German Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers last week the state would not take a stake in Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) if it were to issue new stock, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing a person who attended the briefing. Deutsche has been engulfed in crisis since news emerged last month of a U.S. Department of Justice demand for $14 billion to settle allegations that it mis-sold mortgage securities before the global financial crisis. It is fighting the claim but might have to turn to investors for more money depending on the size of any eventual settlement. In a closed-door briefing with a small group of lawmakers last week aides to the Chancellor and senior Finance Ministry officials said it was "inconceivable for the state to take a stake in Deutsche Bank," the newspaper said. "We have a different bank resolution system than in 2009 and this must apply to us in Germany too," the government officials said according to the person. Deutsche Bank and the finance ministry declined to comment. The German government has repeatedly said state help for Deutsche Bank is not on the table, but sources said that behind the scenes the government was looking into options for the country's biggest lender. Deutsche Bank's finance chief told staff representatives last month that job cuts at the bank could be double that planned, a step that could remove 10,000 further employees, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Additional reporting by Holger Hansen in Berlin; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Susan Thomas) FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Aides to German Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers last week the state would not take a stake in Deutsche Bank if it were to issue new stock, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing a person who attended the briefing. Deutsche has been engulfed in crisis since news emerged last month of a U.S. Department of Justice demand for $14 billion to settle allegations that it mis-sold mortgage securities before the global financial crisis. It is fighting the claim but might have to turn to investors for more money depending on the size of any eventual settlement. In a closed-door briefing with a small group of lawmakers last week aides to the Chancellor and senior Finance Ministry officials said it was "inconceivable for the state to take a stake in Deutsche Bank," the newspaper said. "We have a different bank resolution system than in 2009 and this must apply to us in Germany too," the government officials said according to the person. Deutsche Bank and the finance ministry declined to comment. The German government has repeatedly said state help for Deutsche Bank is not on the table, but sources said that behind the scenes the government was looking into options for the country's biggest lender. Deutsche Bank's finance chief told staff representatives last month that job cuts at the bank could be double that planned, a step that could remove 10,000 further employees, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Additional reporting by Holger Hansen in Berlin; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Susan Thomas) By Ananya Bhattacharya: Tom Hanks, Irrfan and Felicity Jones-starrer Inferno is in theatres today. Will it make a mark on the Indian audience? Here's our Inferno movie review. Cast: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Irrfan, Omar Sy Direction: Ron Howard Rating: (2/5) Lonely Planet: Italy. That's what many readers of Dan Brown's 2013 book Inferno had to say about it. The book followed Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon through Italy to Istanbul on a mission to save the world from the Black Death 2.0. And in the process, give the readers a guided tour of Dante's Inferno aided by Langdon's photographic memory and knowledge of symbols and the classics. Ron Howard's 2016 film Inferno is a damper version of Brown's work, if anything like that could exist. advertisement OPINION: Irrfan's Inferno to Priyanka's Baywatch, Indian actors are finding their footing in Hollywood ALSO READ: Before Irrfan's Inferno, 5 best Indian performances in Hollywood films Professor Langdon (Tom Hanks) wakes up in a hospital, befuddled and groggy. He has a head wound, he's got an IV drip in his arm, and a pretty doctor to take care of him. Dr Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) tells Langdon that he arrived at the hospital injured and collapsed. That was Saturday. This is Monday. Langdon has no memory of the last two days. Before long, he realises that he is not in his university, but in Italy. The police of Florence are frantically looking for him, with a policewoman taking a few shots at him. Brooks helps Langdon escape the hospital and reach her apartment. Langdon finds a bio-tube in the pocket of his coat and realises it contains something dangerous. Langdon's journey then consists of ensuring that the 'dangerous something' does not reach the wrong hands. On his way, he crosses paths with Harry Sims (Irrfan). Langdon needs to figure out why he is at the centre of another manhunt, the clues to which lie in Dante's famous 14th century epic-poem, Inferno. Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's Inferno is lax in parts and barely tolerable in others. The screenplay by David Koepp keeps the viewer hooked to the screen for less than an hour, when Langdon is figuring out why he is being hunted by everyone in his line of vision. Post intermission, Inferno goes down the same path so many other films end up doing: stretches on to eternity with restlessness creeping in on you. Keep a mug of coffee handy. There are times even the blazing guns and blaring sirens in front of you can't keep you from dozing off. Tom Hanks, on his part, owns his character of Robert Langdon. While that is okay, the story lets him down. We never really get to see the panache that is so Robert Langdon, mostly because of the way Inferno is written. The energy that was evident in Langdon in Angels and Demons is never really visible in Inferno. advertisement The same goes for most other members of the cast in Inferno. Felicity Jones trudges along as Sienna, but is never compelling. You don't empathise with anyone on the screen; neither Langdon when his memory is lost, nor Sienna, whose genius has gone slightly off course. It's almost as if you already KNOW Langdon is going to be alive and kickin' at the end of this ordeal, come hell or high fire. And that is suicidal for a thriller like Inferno. Irrfan holds his own in the space he is offered. As Sims/The Provost, Irrfan is convincing, but hasn't got the scope to do anything more. Inferno is billed as a thriller, but you never have the edge-of-the-seat moments because you never get to the point of actually caring. In the other film adaptations of Dan Brown books, that has generally not been the case. At the end of the day, everything in Inferno is just about passable. Watch the film if you really want to. (The writer tweets as @ananya116 .) --- ENDS --- BERLIN (Reuters) - A senior German prosecutor has rejected a complaint filed by a lawyer for Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan after German authorities dropped a case against a comedian accused of offending the Turkish president with an obscene poem. The office of the chief prosecutor in Koblenz said he had rejected the Erdogan complaint and upheld a decision by lower-level prosecutors in Mainz, who said there was insufficient evidence to suggest a criminal offense. The case centers on German comedian Jan Boehmermann, who angered Erdogan by reading out a poem on a satirical television show which suggested that Erdogan engaged in bestiality and watched child pornography. The issue has further soured already tense relations between Germany and Turkey, and prompted Germany's ruling coalition to say it would rescind the law that forbids insults of foreign leaders later this year. Legal experts said Erdogan could still file a lawsuit challenging the decision with the provincial high court of Koblenz, one of two such courts in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Such a suit would have to be filed within a month. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is warning owners of Tesla vehicles that the use of the Autopilot function in their electric cars requires the driver's unrestricted attention at all times. The Federal Motor Authority told Tesla owners in a letter that the Autopilot function is purely a driver assistance system and not a highly-automated vehicle that can be operated without the driver's constant attention. Under German road traffic regulations, the driver is required to remain alert and in control of the vehicle at all times when using the system, the letter adds. Tesla's Autopilot, introduced last October, helps drivers steer and stay in lane and is intended to assist - but not replace - drivers. Tesla says it has always made clear that Autopilot is a driver assistance system that requires the driver to pay attention at all times. But it has been the focus of intense scrutiny since a Tesla Model S driver was killed while using the technology in a May 7 collision with a truck in Florida. Germany's Transport Ministry is conducting studies into the Autopilot function on Tesla's Model S electric car. An internal report seen by magazine Der Spiegel called the function a "considerable traffic hazard." (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Alexander Smith) An English schoolgirl obsessed with serial killers appeared in court with slashes on her face before she was found guilty of the attempted murder of her best friend. Read: Disbarred Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping Woman in 'Gone Girl' Case "It seems that she decided to kill her best friend," said Judge James Newton-Price QC. "She had already researched online how to kill swiftly and effectively with a knife. The teen, who has not been named, appeared in court for the stabbing of her classmate with two slashes on each side of her mouth extending to her cheeks. According to court documents, she told the jury she wanted to look like Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight, The Guardian reported. She also told the jury she made the cuts herself so she could plead insanity when she were arrested. The teen, a student of the Petersfield School in Hampshire, however, covered up the fresh slashes on the day of the April 2015 attack. She reportedly pulled her best friend aside at school, and told her to "close your eyes and put your hands out," as she offered her a present. Her friend, 15, opened her eyes just in time to spot the weapon, and jump away. The knife, which the perpetrator pulled out of a bag as her friend had her eyes closed, had pierced her school uniform blazer and shirt, but left the victim with only a superficial puncture wound. According to the BBC, the teen bore a grudge against the victim because she set up fake Instagram and Twitter accounts in her name Read: Woman Sentenced to 30 Years for Killing Dad in His Sleep, Hiding His Body When She Was a Teen The teen later messaged her victim, saying the Joker and Columbine "motivated" her actions. "The defendant was for a period of time obsessed with serial killers and school shootings and the notoriety that attaches to those who commit those crimes," Newton-Price said. Other killers she revered included U.S. serial killers Ted Bundy and "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, along with Norway's Anders Breivik. Story continues According to court documents, she also kept a "kill list" of her potential victims that was later burned, which included other students at her school, and her mother and brother, whose throat she planned to slit while she slept. While she has pleaded guilty to having a bladed weapon on school premises and unlawful wounding, she later told the jury: "I didn't feel very much in control of what I was doing. I didn't want to, I felt I had to, I felt that within myself. A very big part of me was disgusted at what I was thinking." Read: Even If Convicted, Teen Accused of Brutally Murdering His Teacher Could Be Freed The teen ultimately denied wanting to kill her victim, but admitted wanting to harm her. She was led out of the courtroom in tears. The judge ordered her to undergo a psychiatric exam before her sentencing in a few weeks. Watch: Man Who Posted Image of Wife's Dead Body to Facebook Shot Her in Self-Defense Related Articles: An outraged judge in Michigan ran from the bench to help restrain a defiant defendant who was fighting a court officer, courtroom video shows. Tase his a** right now ! shouted Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John McBain as he tore off his robe and helped tackle to the ground a man who had been talking back and blaming his alleged stalking on the woman he was following, MLive.com reported Thursday. Read: Disbarred Footage Shows Police Shooting That Left Autistic Boy, 6, Dead In courtroom surveillance video, McBain is seen helping a court officer to subdue defendant Jacob Larson, who began resisting when the officer tried to lead him out. McBain had ordered Larson to spend three days in jail, but upped it to 93 while Larson continued to argued. There one thing I dont is disruptions in my courtroom, McBain said, according to the news website. The defendant was eventually subdued with the use of a taser. The incident occurred in December but video of the proceeding was posted Thursday by MLive.com. Its not the first time McBain has shouted at defendants. Read: Judge in Stanford Rape Case Removed From New Sex Assault Hearing as Calls Grow for His Ouster In 2014, he raged at a woman convicted of stabbing her boyfriend to death as she expressed boredom while a relative spoke of the dead man. Is that it? Camia Gamet said from the defense table as the victims aunt told the court during a sentencing hearing how the man had long been abused by Gamet. McBain then yelled at the killer, You were relenteless. You stabbed. You stabbed. You stabbed. You stabbed until he was dead, he said. I hope you die in prison. Watch: Judge Outraged That Woman Appeared in Court For Sentencing Not Wearing Pants Related Articles: By Claire Milhench LONDON (Reuters) - A British court ruled on Friday in favour of Goldman Sachs in a $1.2 billion dispute with Libya's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund over derivatives trades, dismissing claims that the investment bank had abused the fund's trust. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) was attempting to claw back the $1.2 billion from the Wall Street giant in relation to nine equity derivatives investments carried out in 2008, which turned out to be worthless. In the trial, which ran for seven weeks in London's High Court in the summer, the LIA argued that Goldman exercised "undue influence" and "unconscionable bargaining" to get it to enter the trades, asserting that the terms of the transactions were "overreaching and oppressive", as defined by English law. The LIA claimed it was too unsophisticated to understand what it was buying, and that Goldman had abused its position as a trusted adviser. The trades were made two years after the LIA was set up to invest the country's oil wealth. But in her 120-page judgment, seen by Reuters, Judge Vivien Rose dismissed these claims. She said that having considered all the evidence: "I find that the LIA has greatly exaggerated the extent to which senior and junior personnel were naive and unworldly about the nature of the dynamics of their relationship with Goldman Sachs." In fact, the key decision-makers understood the trades and the risks, and they were consistent with the fund's need to get invested quickly, she said. "The LIA management were tasked with generating a much higher return than they could hope to make on plain vanilla trades," she said. "This explains why they were prepared to enter into the speculative disputed trades even though this might appear to conflict with the long-term growth objectives of the LIA as a SWF." Responding to the judgment, Goldman Sachs said it was pleased to win the case, "with a comprehensive judgment in our favour". The LIA said it was "naturally disappointed" and added in a statement: "Time will be needed fully to digest the judgment and all options are being considered at this time." Story continues While lawyers for the LIA declined to comment, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters: "I would be very surprised if there wasn't an appeal." UNFORESEEN DOWNTURN Goldman Sachs had disputed the LIA's claim that the wealth fund was financially naive, saying that "an unforeseen financial depression" had caused the losses, not any wrongdoing by the bank. It had also maintained that its relationship with the LIA was an arm's length one between banker and client. The LIA's lawyers had argued in court that Goldman Sachs had gained the trust of fund executives by providing lavish hospitality and gifts as well as a prestigious internship offered to Haitem Zarti, the younger brother of Mustafa Zarti, a key LIA decision-maker at the time. But the judge found that the main motivation behind the offer was the bank's belief the younger Zarti might be chosen to lead the LIA's new office in London. Whilst this may have contributed to a "friendly and productive atmosphere" during negotiation over several trades, it did not have a material influence on the LIA's decision to go ahead with these, she added. She disagreed that the hospitality went beyond what was provided by other banks, citing in particular documents presented by Goldman to the court which showed tickets to top sporting events were provided by another bank to LIA officials. The judge also found there were no grounds for concluding that profits earned by Goldman Sachs on the disputed trades were excessive. The LIA is also pursuing the French investment bank Societe Generale for some $2.1 billion in relation to another set of trades entered into between 2007 and 2009. SocGen is contesting the case, which is only expected to come to trial in April 2017. (Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) London (AFP) - Goldman Sachs won a high-profile legal battle with Libya's sovereign wealth fund Friday, with a British court dismissing claims the bank duped Libyan officials into investments worth $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros). The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) accused the investment bank of exploiting the fund's inexperienced staff, pushing them into "inappropriate" transactions in a series of shady deals. The derivative trades ended up being virtually worthless when the equities they were tied to plunged in the 2008 financial crisis. Dismissing the claims, a British judge ruled there had been no "undue influence" from Goldman Sachs over the LIA, a $67-billion sovereign wealth fund set up by Moamer Kadhafi, who was toppled from power in 2011. "Their relationship did not go beyond the normal cordial and mutually beneficial relationship that grows up between a bank and client," judge Vivien Rose said in a written decision. The LIA said it was "naturally disappointed" with the outcome, adding in a statement: "Time will be needed fully to digest the judgement and all options are being considered at this time." The case, brought in 2014, alleged that Goldman Sachs laid on lavish corporate hospitality and tried to garner influence with foreign trips and prostitutes. The LIA had alleged that Goldman Sachs employee Youssef Kabbaj embedded himself in the fund, gained the trust of "young and impressionable staff" and sold it complex products that ended up losing the LIA over $1.2 billion. These actions earned the bank over $220 million in profits, LIA lawyers claimed. The Wall Street giant denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the Libyan fund lost money due to the global financial crash, not their close working relationship. In a statement after the ruling, the bank said: "We are pleased to win this case, with a comprehensive judgement in our favour." Judge Rose said there were no grounds for concluding that the profits earned by Goldman Sachs on the disputed trades were excessive, "given the nature of the trades and the work that had gone in to winning them". Although the transactions might be regarded as "unsuitable", they were no different from many of the other investments made by the fund at that time, she said. President of the LIA's interim steering committee, Ali Mahmoud Hassan, said the fund, which is also separately suing French bank Societe Generale, would continue to pursue other legal cases "to put right the wrongs suffered elsewhere in the past". CBS forthcoming Good Wife spinoff is giving Diane Lockhart some legal competition. Delroy Lindo (The Chicago Code) has joined the offshoot as Robert Boseman, an attorney who poaches Dianes associates and clients when she gets into financial trouble, threatening her ability to stay in business, the network announced Thursday. RELATEDGood Wife Spinoff: Game of Thrones Rose Leslie to Star as Dianes [Spoiler] The new series debuting in February 2017 on CBS, before moving exclusively to the networks streaming service CBS All Access picks up one year after the events of the Good Wife finale. An enormous financial scam has wiped out Dianes savings, while simultaneously destroying the reputation of her goddaughter Maia (Game of Thrones Rose Leslie). Forced out of Lockhart & Lee, Diane and Maia join Lucca Quinn (the returning Cush Jumbo) at one of Chicagos preeminent law firms. As TVLine reported last month, Sarah Steele is also set to reprise her role as Elis daughter Marissa Gold (who will work as the new firms investigator, following in the footsteps of Kalinda). Lindos character dominates every scene, intimidates every lawyer, and is beloved by every client, executive producers Robert and Michelle King said in a statement. He needs to look like a Chicago lawyer, but have a Shakespearean facility with language, and Delroy Lindo was really the only actor who came to mind. Lindos TV credits include Blood & Oil, Believe and Kidnapped. Launch Gallery: The Good Wife Unresolved Questions Related stories MacGyver Sneak Peek: Jack Shows Off His Salt-N-Pepa Karaoke Skills for Mac Criminal Minds' Hotch Makes His Exit -- Your Thoughts on the 'New Team'? Good Wife Spinoff: Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie to Star as Diane's [Spoiler] Jacqueline Fernandez, Kalki Koechlin and Lisa Hayden are channeling their core strength by taking up the plank challenge. Are you up for the challenge? By India Today Web Desk: International sportswear brand Puma has roped in women with mettle for their new ad campaign, Do You, which aims to empower women to do what they want with confidence and honesty. The new ad campaign was launched on the occasion of International Girl Child Day and encourages women to follow their instincts and "find their best self, to Do You and be who You are, unapologetically." Jacqueline Fernandez doing the plank challenge. Picture courtesy: Twitter/Puma advertisement #DoYou--Jacqueline's story Also read: In pics: Jacqueline Fernandez's chic style at New York Fashion Week While Bollywood actress and fitness buff Jacqueline Fernandez is the face of the movement, avid marathoner Lisa Haydon, Olympic wrestler Sakshi Malik, and other women achievers have also joined the movement by lending their voices and their stories for the campaign. #DoYou--Kalki's story Some of the other incredible women involved are: the Everest sisters Tashi and Nungshi Malik, international Zumba education specialist Sucheta Pal, supermodel Ujwalla Raut, actress Kalki Koechlin, celebrity jewellery designer Farah Khan Ali and belly dancer Meher Malik, among others. Also read: Get ready to see Jacqueline Fernandez grace the front row at New York Fashion Week But that's not all, as a part of the campaign, the global brand is calling out to passionate women to be a part of this movement, by inviting all of them to perform 'the plank' together in the biggest demonstration of planking ever seen. As a result, Twitter got flooded by women performing the plank and uploading their pictures accompanied by the hashtag #DoYou on Twitter. --- ENDS --- Green Day tops the U.K. album chart for a third time today (Oct. 14), entering at No. 1 with Revolution Radio (Reprise/Warner Music), ahead of new entries by Barry Gibb and Alter Bridge. On the singles chart, James Arthur comfortably secures a third week at the summit with "Say You Won't Let Go" (Syco Music/Sony Music). Revolution Radio follows 2004's American Idiot and 2009's 21st Century Breakdown in topping the album survey for Green Day. The Official Charts Company reports that the set outsold Gibb's In The Now (Columbia/Sony), which bows at No. 2, by two to one. The solo success of the Bee Gee is in marked contrast to the U.K. chart performance of his previous album in his own name, 1984's Now Voyager, which peaked at No. 85. The new release also helps the Bee Gees' The Ultimate compilation (Reprise/Warner) return to the top 100 at No. 39. Orlando rock favorites Alter Bridge arrive at a career-best No. 3 with The Last Hero (Napalm), while British chart stalwarts Kaiser Chiefs start at No. 4 with their sixth studio release Stay Together (Caroline/Universal). Last week's newcomer at the top, Craig David's Following My Intuition (Speakerbox Recordings), falls to No. 5. There are four more new entries, for an overall total of eight, inside the top ten. OneRepublic comes in at No. 6 with Oh My My (Interscope/Universal), and Seasick Steve lands at No. 8 with Keepin' The Horse Between Me and the Ground (There's A Dead Skunk). Norah Jones hits the U.K. album top ten for the fifth time with Day Breaks (Blue Note/Universal) at No. 9, and British rockers Feeder do so for a fourth time with All Bright Electric (Cooking Vinyl), at No. 10. Meanwhile, Now That's What I Call Music 94 (Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Universal) moves into a 12th week at No. 1 on the compilations chart. Arthur's singles reign continues with the help of almost 50,000 downloads and 5.61 million streams in the chart week to last night (Thursday). That keeps "Say You Won't Let Go" well ahead of "Closer" (Disruptor) by The Chainsmokersfeaturing Halsey, which moves back 3-2, trading places with The Weeknd's "Starboy" (Republic/XO/Universal), featuring Daft Punk. "Side To Side" (Republic/Universal) by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj moves up again 5-4, while Sia's "The Greatest" (Monkey Puzzle/RCA/Sony) climbs back 8-5, reclaiming its previous peak of four weeks ago. Bruno Mars scores a No. 9 debut with "24K Magic" (Atlantic/Warner). Apparently, Meredith never learned how to tell when she was fighting a losing battle. In Thursdays Greys Anatomy, although her eyes got that certain sparkle in them whenever Nathan was around, she continued to rebuff his every attempt to get closer to her but in such a cute, flirtatious way that, of course, he had to try, try again. Did he finally succeed in convincing her to spend time with him outside of Grey Sloan (and her SUV)? Read on and find out. RELATED2017 Renewal Scorecard: Whats Coming Back? Whats Getting Cancelled? Whats on the Bubble? WERE IN THE CLEAR | As Falling Slowly began, Alex was at the clinic, griping to Meredith about how much he hated it there. She offered solidarity and all of that, but his supervisor, Nurse Tamir, was clearly not a Karev fan. Later, at Grey Sloan, having followed Greys orders and gently turned down Maggies request for a date, Nathan felt that, bullet dodged, he and Mer were now free to hang out. Alas, I dont hang out, she informed him, adding that we are not that type of friends. What kind were they, then, Riggs wanted to know. (Frankly, didnt we want to know, too?) Complicating matters was the fact that Maggie was being totally weird around Nathan, and he backed Mer when she and Owen disagreed about whether a patient injured in a glider-plane accident needed surgery. We make a good team, Riggs noted. Hmm but did they? It seemed less so when the patients condition took a nosedive and she wound up as paralyzed as her paraplegic husband. Understandably upset by this development, Mer wondered whether Nathan had sided with her because of (cough) you and I. Insulted, he spat back, I agreed with you because you were right, not because you were you. RELATEDGreys Anatomy: Tessa Ferrer Returns as Arizonas Once (and Future?) Love Story continues At the end of the hour, Mer told Nathan that she couldnt have another case where I question my medical decisions or yours and asked if they could just be colleagues. Sounds stuffy, he noted. He was just asking why they couldnt be friends, at least, when Maggie walked up. He covered, which led to Pierce thanking Mer for talking to him for her. (As if.) FIGURE OUT YOUR LIFE ON YOUR OWN SCHEDULE | When Alex asked for an hour off from the clinic, Tamir called him on considering his duties there grunt work compared to what he did in the hallowed halls of the hospital, and turned down the request. The nurse wouldnt even allow Karev to do anything that involved cutting into a patient since he wasnt allowed to perform surgery. Eventually, Alex was tasked with caring for a teenage alcoholic, and brought the subject to his lunch break with his pals at Grey Sloan. This is not the cafeteria, Karev, said Tamir upon locating his lackey. Later, Richard intervened with the young drunk, Emma, playing good cop to Alexs bad. But Webbers effort was such a disaster, he seemed to accidentally dislocate the girls shoulder. When Jo arrived as Karevs surgical consult and they, as usual, had words, he finally threw up his hands and walked in order to make his appointment on time. However, hed no sooner boarded his bus than he asked to be let off, as he suspected alcoholism wasnt Emmas problem. Quietly, Alex delighted as Richard delivered the correct diagnosis that he wasnt allowed to, and ended the day oddly happy, despite the fact that his lawyer thought he was headed for the slammer. RELATEDGreys Anatomy: Jessica Capshaw Talks Arizonas Exciting, Fresh Start greys anatomy season 13 episode 4 recap SHES YOURS NOW, IM NOT TAKING HER BACK! | In other developments, the honeymoon appeared to be ending already?!? for the Hunts. Amelias natural Amelia-ness led to questions like, How can we have children? I barely know you! Mer offered Owen her support but jokingly refused to take back his wife. It didnt help that even Nathan seemed to know more about Hunt than his missus did, and Amelia knew more about Stephanie than she did about her husband. I shouldve married you, Shepherd told Edwards. That night, Owen reassured Amelia that she could tell him anything, and then, they took turns confiding in one another horrible incidents from their pasts. Were OK, right? she asked afterwards. And, as a matter of fact, not only were they OK, but there kids would be, too. So lets not wait, Owen said. (According to the scenes from next week, they didnt!) ITS A LIE! | While Ben discovered Jackson sleeping standing up at work, April crashed in an on-call room and informed Stephanie that its a fallacy that moms are supposed to make Zs when their kids doze off, because babies dont sleep! In surgery, Avery complained to Warren that he felt obliged to drink the coffee that Kepner informed Robbins she felt obliged to make for them every morning. So move out, Arizona suggested. That night, the exes had a little tiff about their attempts to co-exist/cohabitate, but in the end, neither of them wanted April to pack up. They even called it quits with the coffee thing. #progress NO ONES GONNA KNOW IF WE TALK TO EACH OTHER | Finally, Bailey informed Andrew that you are not to discuss [your case against Alex] within the walls of the hospital. Which he said shouldnt be a problem since pretty much no one was speaking to him, anyway. When Arizona inquired about the proceedings, DeLuca shot her down, citing chiefs orders. Yet it seemed like he and Jo were still on OK terms, since he was the only person who knew her secret. So, what did you think of Falling Slowly? Is the show hooking up Andrew and Jo? Reuniting Japril? Hit the comments with your theories/hopes/concerns. Launch Gallery: Grey's Anatomy Season 13 Photos Related stories Grey's Anatomy: Marika Dominczyk Cast in Mysterious Season 13 Role Quantico Recap: You Down With AIC? Secrets and Lies Recap: Heartbreak Motel By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Political rivals in the West African state of Guinea-Bissau have agreed that Prime Minister Baciro Dja can stay on until 2018, mediators said on Friday, a step forward in talks to end more than a year of infighting. President Jose Mario Vaz sacked the previous prime minister in August 2015 and political institutions have been paralyzed ever since in the coup-prone country, a major transit point for cocaine trafficking between South America and Europe. It was hoped the appointment of Dja as prime minister in May would ease the deadlock, but he has failed to win the support of a key faction within the ruling PAIGC party. The rival parties last month agreed to a road map that includes the formation of a new government. Alpha Conde, president of neighboring Guinea, is leading the mediation effort. "The prime minister should stay in place until legislative elections in 2018," said mediator Kiridi Bangoura, Guinea's general secretary of the presidency. "The formation of a government will be negotiated in a consensual manner with all the parties," he added. The former Portuguese colony is highly unstable and has seen nine coups or attempted coups since 1980. U.N. officials fear the crisis, if left unresolved, might benefit drug traffickers and attract Islamist militants seeking to expand territory in the region. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) Conakry (AFP) - Idrissa Kallo's expert eyes dart across the waters off Guinea's port capital, Conakry, looking for fish that always seem fewer and far between his nets. As African governments gather for a summit in Togo aimed at cracking down on illegal fishing, Guinea's corrupt officials and lack of resources to prevent the looting of its waters exemplify the problems facing the continent's west coast. The Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG) has estimated that over $100 million (90 million euros) in marine products are caught illegally in Guinean waters every year, with the worst offenders being Chinese, South Korean and Spanish trawlers. "They come here during the night and fish until five or six in the morning, then leave our waters," Kallo told AFP onboard his "pirogue", a narrow wooden fishing vessel typical to west Africa. "Sometimes the inspectors are complicit, and cut the surveillance systems," he added. "It's the ones who hand out the licences who have been to blame for years now." A report by Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI) estimated in June that more than 300,000 new jobs could be created in Africa if measures such as a global tracking system for fishing vessels were instituted, legal loopholes were closed and vessels who repeatedly infringed the law put on a global blacklist. The sale of fishing rights to foreigners netted Africa $400 million in 2014, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, but could in theory generate $3.3 billion if the continent's own fleets caught and exported the fish. - Connivance - Taking matters into their own hands when out on the high seas, Guinea's fishermen call their colleagues back on land if they observe suspect behaviour, who in turn pass on the information to the authorities, Kallo said. "(We) proposed a system of joint surveillance," where fishermen would join inspectors on boats caught in the act. Authorities did not go for it, he said, because it risked unveiling -- and thus preventing -- corrupt practices. Story continues "When they (inspectors) catch a boat breaking the law, the contents belong to them. It's a business," he claimed. Due to the poaching, local fishermen's families lose out and so do the people on land whose livelihoods depend on fish. Conakry's famous smoke houses, for example, are almost all staffed by women who can ill afford a collapse in fishing stocks. The suspicion of connivance between the authorities and illegal trawlers runs deep in Guinea, the sole country in Africa to have been slapped with a ban on imports by the European Union in 2013 for its failure to act on "illegal, unreported and unregulated" fishing. But the ban was lifted this week after concrete steps were taken to deal with the problem -- a well deserved prize, said the man in charge of securing Guinea's seas, maritime commissioner Diomande Doumbouya. A maritime operations centre monitored its waters 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he said, tracking information from GPS systems built into boats. "If a vessel is engaged in illegal activities, it is reported. We can then board (the vessel) straight away," he added. They have had some successes: two Chinese vessels were among 14 identified as operating illegally in a joint operation mounted by The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal between August 28 and September 1. The crews face combined fines of more than three million euros ($3.3 million), though one of the vessels escaped. Doumbouya is adamant that the problem is not one of greed, but of poor resources. "If the state were able to provide speedboats and the means to send out patrols more frequently... that would put these people off," the colonel said, adding that the trawlers simply waited for days when there were no maritime police present. - Regional solution? - Guinea's fisheries minister Andre Louah believes the country now has the right data to inform the authorities of the problem, but admits it often lacks the means to do anything about it. "More than once, I have been informed that there have been unauthorised vessels which were probably fishing illegally in our waters," the minister told AFP. However, the National Centre for Surveillance and Protection of Fishing (CNSP) failed to respond, Louah said, underlining a fundamental disconnect. "It's good to have information, but if we don't have the necessary means to get there and board these ships, it becomes a little difficult," he added. The solution, he believes, is better regional co-operation, of the type that netted the Chinese ships during the summer. That EU and World Bank-backed monitoring operation was a success of the type the summit in Togo hopes to encourage. Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said ahead of the African Union maritime security summit on Friday the problem had be resolved with a joint effort. "Most African countries that have a coastline are victims of one of these problems (illegal fishing, pollution, piracy), which is why it's so important for African leaders to sit down and try to find solutions." Hailey Baldwin shows off her poppin highlighter and guess what its from her new makeup line We werent surprised to hear that model Hailey Baldwin was jumping on the makeup line collaboration train. Its proven to be highly lucrative and were glad to hear about more young women taking advantage of the business opportunities that head their way. Hailey is partnering with Australian beauty brand ModelCo. on the affordable, 25-piece, limited-edition line. Hailey gave us a peek at the highlighter from her line and it is seriously LIT literally and figuratively! wearing my new highlighter coming out soon with @modelco_cosmetics Sign up for #TheBeautySquad at modelcocosmetics.com A photo posted by Hailey Baldwin (@haileybaldwin) on Oct 13, 2016 at 1:35pm PDT Talk about a serious glow! That shimmering, golden sheen is super flattering on her skin tone and is reflecting some major light. We can already tell its going to be an ultra-high quality product. I mean, we can see how highly pigmented it is from here! So often highlighters are too light and melt away into your skin after five minutes, but we have a feeling that this guy is gonna be worth our while. Its no surprise that Hailey would want a high-quality highlighter in her makeup line, as shes always cutting glass with those stunning cheekbones. happy birthday amorzinho A photo posted by Hailey Baldwin (@haileybaldwin) on Oct 9, 2016 at 9:19pm PDT She and Bella always find their light! We cant wait to see whats in the rest of the line, but were sure its going to be reflective of her easy-going, yet glam, California cool-girl style! A photo posted by Hailey Baldwin (@haileybaldwin) on Sep 25, 2016 at 5:38pm PDT Well be waiting with bated breath to see what else shes got coming out, and be ready when it drops! Because if theres something the beauty world cant get enough of, its highlighters! The post Hailey Baldwin shows off her poppin highlighter and guess what its from her new makeup line appeared first on HelloGiggles. By Makini Brice LES CAYES (Reuters) - Haitians on Thursday protested against the death of a motorcyclist in an accident they blamed on blue-helmeted peacekeepers, adding to a spate of incidents the United Nations says is affecting delivery of relief after Hurricane Matthew.The category 4 hurricane tore through Haiti on Oct. 4, killing about 1,000 people and leaving more than 1.4 million in need of humanitarian aid, including 175,000 made homeless, besides disrupting power, communications and transport links. An international relief effort headed by the Haitian government has accelerated this week, but tempers are running high across the hard-hit southwest because help has yet to reach many families whose crops and water supplies were destroyed, increasing the risk of cholera and malnutrition. On Thursday, near the coastal town of Saint-Jean-Du-Sud, about 100 people gathered around the corpse of a motorcyclist they said was hit by a truck in a convoy of U.N. peacekeepers. "MINUSTAH killed Jean-Claude," one woman shouted, using the acronym for the U.N. mission based in the country since 2004. A Brazilian contingent of U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian national police held back the crowd until an ambulance arrived. Men pulled downed trees across the road to barricade it briefly. "Debris from the hurricane has not been removed and it encourages accidents," said Dieuleme Boulote, 40, a journalist for Radio Lumiere, who added that he did not blame the U.N. mission. "The government is supposed to unblock the road." Efforts are being made to clear roads and deliver aid, especially to tackle cholera, a disease accidentally brought to the country by U.N. peacekeepers six years ago. The armed peacekeepers are accompanying convoys because of cases of looting and attacks on aid trucks. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said there had been several security incidents involving humanitarian aid, including one in which peacekeepers fired their weapons. "On 11 October, U.N. escort troops fired non-lethal ammunition to disperse crowds attempting to loot a humanitarian convoy in Les Cayes," said Dujarric, speaking before Thursday's protest. On Saturday, he added, Ban would be in Les Cayes, a port town badly hit by the storm. The United States Agency for International Aid (USAID) announced $12 million in additional humanitarian aid, including 515 tonnes of items such as blankets and chainsaws airlifted by the U.S. military. Venezuela said it had sent 700 tonnes of aid material by ship. USAID said $7 million would go toward the U.N. World Food Program for food assistance, with $2 million going to improve logistics and telecommunications, and the rest for relief supplies. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Tiffany & Co. and that little robins egg blue box enjoy a powerful hold over the female imagination. Perhaps it starts with simply dreaming of grabbing breakfast with Audrey Hepburn, or getting your first open heart pendant as a graduation gift, but out of that seems to blossom a lifelong love affair with the jewelry that comes wrapped up in that iconic packaging. So, naturally, when Tiffany throws a party to celebrate the refurbishing of its Beverly Hills outpost, the creme de la creme of the A-list show up in droves, including Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, and Halle Berry, ready to chat about just what makes this jewelry brand so special. (And to wear a lot of diamonds. That certainly doesnt hurt.) Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage On the star-studded teal carpet, People caught up with a handful of the gorgeous ladies there to support the brand on Thursday night. Wonder Woman a.k.a. Gal Gadot was in attendance in a shimmering Dolce & Gabbana dress, which she said she chose because I thought it was very elegant for this lovely event which she considered a reason to spoil myself with some bling and go out. The actress also gushed over a particular piece of jewelry close to her heart, saying, My wedding ring is so meaningful to me because my husband is the greatest love of my life. Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co. Kate Hudson also made an appearance in a pink silk suit, which she loved despite not knowing the designer. But the actress is looking forward to getting dressed for fall, when asked what shes looking forward to about it getting a little cooler, she said, I always get excited to layer. I get excited to get cozy. Im just loving now that LA is getting a little bit cooler, but I cant wait to get to New York because Im just dying for some weather. And if theres one thing we have here on the East Coast its plenty of weather. RELATED PHOTOS: The Most Jaw-Dropping Celebrity Engagement Rings Story continues Frederick M. Brown/Getty Reese Witherspoon started working with the brand about a year ago because they hired their first female creative design director for this iconic American brand, and its so great, because women are the ones that wear the jewelry, she said. And [creative director Francesca Amfitheatrof] just knows what women love, which is gorgeous jewelry, statement jewelry, but also everyday jewelry. And though its a given that shed be glamorous for events like this, she says she tries to maintain an air of elegance even for the earliest flight out of LAX. I always remember my grandmother telling me, Dont wear sweatpants to the airport. You never know. Somebody could take your picture! Steve Granitz/WireImage Jennifer Garner picked a simple black dress to be the canvas for her $1.7 million of Tiffany & Co. diamonds, though she didnt take any of the credit: Lets not pretend that I ever get dressed by myself, shall we?she joked. The credit for that went to Jordan Johnson of styling duo Jill & Jordan, and though Garner admitted her two daughters Violet and Seraphina would love to be included in picking out jewelry, they wouldnt have the foggiest notion of where to start. But, she says, there are all kinds of things she hopes to pass on to them one day, including a family cross I cant wait to give them. Steve Granitz/WireImage As for Halle Berry, who wore a black Alexander McQueen blouse and trousers with just a hint of bra and plenty of pieces from the Tiffany Masterpiece collection, she made an appearance to support the brand that has, in turn, been a long-time supporter of one of the biggest charities she works with, The Jenesse Center for abused women and children. So, any time they ask me, or invite me to come out and support anything theyre doing, Im usually the first in line, she said. I think they represent style and class, longevity and grace, and Im always proud to support them. What do you think of these stars blinged-out Tiffany looks? Sound off below!Reporting by Abby Stern By Scott Malone (Reuters) - New Hampshire's Senate race is a dead heat between incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte and Governor Maggie Hassan, polls showed on Friday, with the tight contest showing the limits of the Democrat's attempt to tie her rival to Donald Trump. Hassan at a debate on Friday lashed out at Ayotte for having said for months that she would vote for, but not endorse, Republican presidential nominee Trump, whose White House campaign is struggling to fight off allegations about groping women. Ayotte changed her position following last weekend's release of a video in which Trump made lewd comments about women, saying she could not vote for him. "Senator Ayotte until last Saturday was willing to vote to put Donald Trump in the Situation Room with access to the nuclear codes, and that shows a very concerning lack of judgment," Hassan said during a debate on WGIR-AM radio. "I have renounced Donald Trump's statements on many occasions ... I have clearly stated where I stand on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I won't be voting for either of them," Ayotte said, adding that she planned to write-in a vote for Trump's running mate, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana. A pair of new polls released Friday and late Thursday showed the New Hampshire race tied. A MassInc/WBUR poll conducted Monday through Wednesday showed the Republican holding the support of 46 percent of 501 likely voters to Hassan's 45 percent. A UMass Lowell/7 News poll of 517 likely voters found a similarly close result, with Ayotte holding 45 percent support to Hassan's 44 percent. Both gaps were well within the polls' margins of error. But that finding came as the UMass poll showed Clinton extending her lead in the state to a statistically significant 45 percent support ahead of Trump's 39 percent. That poll had a 4.4 percentage point margin of error. Clinton's stronger lead in a four-way race, which also includes Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green party candidate Jill Stein, suggested that Hassan's effort to tie Ayotte to Trump was proving ineffective with the state's famously independent-minded voters. "Senator Ayotte is a pretty well known commodity and her personality and views are strong," said Neil Levesque of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. "You have Republicans who don't want to vote for Trump who are going to vote for Hillary but are also going to vote for Kelly Ayotte because they want her as a check and balance on a Clinton presidency." (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Alistair Bell) Even as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa battles health worries in an intensive care facility at Chennai's Apollo Hospital, she spawns uncertainty about the future of her AIADMK, and a churn in the state's politics. That's because the party itself, to gender-proof the cliche, is a 'one-woman show', the energy and charisma all coming from herself. Her only major rival in the state is the DMK, headed by the wheelchair-bound nonagenarian M. Karunanidhi. The irony is it was Karunanidhi's demand that the government release images of the CM (she's been hospitalised since September 22) and a statement about the state of her health that fuelled the recent spate of courtesy calls by leaders of rival parties. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Union urban affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, and even the DMK's own M.K. Stalin, leader of the opposition in the TN assembly and MK's third son, they all called at the hospital to inquire about her health. advertisement Outside, her loyalists maintain vigil by turn in groups, while a coterie of Jayalalithaa acolytes, steered by her chief advisor, retired chief secretary Sheela Balakrishnan, ensures that the administration functions smoothly from Fort St George (home of the legislative assembly and the state secretariat) in Amma's distinctive style, leaving few gaps in governance. The writ over the ruling AIADMK is managed by her personal aide, Sasikala Natarajan, who runs a cabal that has spread far and wide. She has loyalists working as special assistants doubling as moles in the offices of ministers and has enlisted others in the bureaucracy to operate what some administrators derisively call the "Mannargudi machine", referring to the place where Sasikala and her family hail from. Party workers pray at the gates of the hospital where Jayalalithaa is being treated The Jayalalithaa style springs from her Amma aura which epitomises and, at times, transcends the all-pervasive 'mother' metaphor. She has allowed rumour and secrecy to define her life, cultivating it deliberately as part of her aura. She is admired for her courage and worshipped for the power she wields and, at the same time, exploited by the circumstances of her loneliness. She is nobody's fool and far from being the stereotypical film heroine of her time, fought against her own destiny to emerge as a success in public life. This despite the exploitation and suffering she had to endure in the Tamil film industry and at the hands of her mentor M.G. Ramachandran. Yet, she stood her ground, even at MGR's funeral when detractors literally spat at her, finally emerging as a leader of the poor, perceived "as a saviour", like MGR. Of course, once she came to power, she turned imperious, keeping a subservient rank and file in line with a carrot-and-stick policy, and brushing aside any vestiges of democratic practice. She has extended this to governance too. Only goals matter, not the methods used. In this, she has followed MGR who had ensured that corruption had seeped through into the system. But the mix also included populist programmes, sops and other welfare measures to benefit the poorer sections. In this too, Jayalalithaa's appeal has been streets ahead of Karunanidhi because of the special connection she has enjoyed with women. Jayalalithaa has ensured that her legend, more as a ruler than as an actor, will live on after her time. It is an enduring legacy, with benevolent welfare measures largely aimed at women and children which, in the absence of a defined succession plan, has contributed to her deification. This is also perhaps why she never identified a potential successor to carry on the baton of the AIADMK. She remained focused on cultivating her own 'Amma aura' so that in the Dravidian political pantheon, after campaign founder Periyar, Anna (ex-CM C.N. Annadurai) and puratchi thalaivar MGR, it will always be Jayalalithaa. Perhaps, this is also her attempt to marginalise the role of arch-rival Karunanidhi. advertisement The AIADMK and the people of Tamil Nadu, "to whom I dedicate my life until my last breath", as she emphasised at every rally during the 2016 assembly elections, today need her more than she needs them. So the faithful make vows, fast, pray and indulge in bizarre acts such as piercing the faces of children, all in line with an invocation for her recovery (ironically, the origins of the Dravidian movement lay in an iconoclastic rejection of such practices). It also raises the question-After Jayalalithaa, who?-which may well lead to the beginning of a post-Dravidian phase in TN politics. The transition is daunting as the next assembly elections are, in the normal course, only four years and six months away. Would the legislators, be they from the AIADMK or any other party, want an election soon? The AIADMK will be guided by the earlier experience when CMs were ill and allegations of the failure of the constitutional machinery were made, and particularly how the change of guard took place from MGR to Jayalalithaa. advertisement TURMOIL IN THE AIADMK Sasikala The Sasikala cabal is bound to do everything in its power to sustain itself and stall any attempt by the DMK or others to unseat the AIADMK government. Estimates are that at least 60 MLAs are controlled by Sasikala and her family besides the 12 ministers functioning as her shadow within the government. They had a say in the choice of contestants in the assembly elections, appointment of ministers and even the personal assistants of the ministers. The cabal, though, will need to play its hand well and also have a fair share of luck to defend its interests. It suffers from a trust deficit with everyone, including twice interim chief minister O. Paneerselvam who stood in for Jayalalithaa and is now holding charge of her portfolios. Neither can it go to the people seeking a fresh mandate, given the unedifying record of its backroom managers. What is more likely, at first, is an attempt by different groups in the party to stick together and run the state administration with the backing of the bureaucracy. However, it will neither serve the Sasikala coterie nor anyone under her remote control. Knowing the mood of the people, Sasikala may prefer to stick to Paneerselvam as a safe bet though he, in Jayalalithaa's absence, will not enjoy wide support. Her husband Natarajan, sidelined by Amma, is also a wily political strategist. An obvious factor here will be the abiding loyalty to power of the AIADMK MLAs, so they may not care where that flows from. In a way, they already recognise the source of this power as flowing from Sasikala, and have at least feared her for it. advertisement That said, the Sasikala coterie could be a target for the AIADMK cadre as there is a huge sense of betrayal. Political analysts, therefore, argue that the legislators may not be bound together by any sense of loyalty. A division is imminent and Sasikala will have to tactfully identify a unifying force by anointing an acceptable chief minister and hope to remain a backroom manager. Yet, it will only be a holding operation and even a year could be too long for this forced unity. In the interim, she could try keeping a substantial section of the legislature party united under the Mukkulathor caste tag in the southern districts, which has in the past lent a lot of electoral support to the AIADMK supremo. But it also has the potential to wean away other traditional caste-based votebanks like the Gounders in western Tamil Nadu. Unless the two communities agree to share the spoils between a Sasikala nominee as CM and Lok Sabha deputy speaker M. Thambi Durai, a Gounder, being promoted as the party's voice in Delhi. It is also likely that the Sasikala coterie may cut a deal for an alliance with the BJP, which has begun to make inroads into state politics. The BJP will play ball as it ramps up its strength in the state. A weakened AIADMK could spur an ambitious projection of the BJP as an alternative with national connections, which could attract the large anti-Congress constituency in Tamil Nadu politics too. Sasikala could also follow Jayalalithaa's project in fielding Sheela Balakrishnan as a trump card to contain dissent within the party and with a view to securing the full five-year term without much turbulence. The ministers are familiar with Balakrishnan and are not averse to taking orders from her. The latter might not take the bait, though. The other prospect is veteran Panruti Ramachandran who is a staunch opponent of the DMK, but he is not pliable like Paneerselvam. Meanwhile, the DMK is likely to stay in wait-and-watch mode. Its gambit will be to scuttle any move for dissolution of the legislative assembly by wooing a section of the AIADMK MLAs who have invested huge sums to contest and win earlier this year. The latter may even opt to back Stalin in a changing scenario as he has of late gained some acceptance among the younger generation of party cadre and voters. The DMK will also be careful not to let a potential AIADMK feud lurch towards a collapse of administration which results in President's rule, opening up an opportunity for the BJP. The AIADMK will be tested by the DMK's intrusions, offering support to breakaway factions with the lure of power. "The success or failure of any new AIADMK dispensation will depend entirely on their ability to accept fresh bureaucratic norms, as they cannot continue in the same vein as Amma did and hope to succeed. It will also depend much on whether the DMK can unite under Stalin," says analyst N. Sathiyamoorthy. "The Centre can influence the course of events as the government in office but not as the BJP leadership which is yet to throw up an acceptable, convincing leadership in the state." Jayalalithaa has all along relied on a visibly centralised style of control over the party and government where her personality alone mattered. She put in place an influential network that monitors and controls the party and government which even she, at times, had to resist and rein in. Like her mentor MGR, she has placed more trust in the bureaucracy. In turn, they respect and listen to her. Her linguistic skills, eloquence, courtesies and her ability to control the AIADMK cadre have always kept the bureaucracy in awe of her. She has never placed much faith in the abilities of her MLAs. Bureaucrats have the upper hand in telling ministers what to do with regard to procedures and nuances of governance and she relied on their channels to report any excesses to her. STRONG FRAMEWORK Significantly, the bureaucracy here has always enjoyed a relatively higher degree of independence than in other states because the Dravidian parties relied on them to deal and negotiate with the Central government for routine business and administrative functions. The polarisation of the bureaucracy between the DMK and AIADMK is a gentlemen's agreement in which both sides accept those who are identified with strong leanings, one way or the other. Both parties are, however, highly corrupt and the bureaucracy is aware of this common trait. What is more distinct is the style of administration and the relationship with the bureaucracy between the two parties. During the DMK's reign, interference and unofficial directives were common and the pressure was intense as ministers functioned with enormous clout and treated the bureaucracy as an impediment or executioner. AIADMK ministers are mostly docile because of their humble backgrounds and, as fawning followers of the party supremo, live in constant fear of whispers about their conduct travelling far. Jayalalithaa's practice of replacing them frequently has engendered this trait among her ministers. Governance is also possible without a chief minister visiting Fort St George. The state has been used to it since the days of MGR and during Jayalalithaa's tenure from home or when she was in jail in Bengaluru, and lately from hospital. Tamil Nadu has long been administered in autopilot mode, so the future of governance depends on the steering team and a face of the government which can generate confidence. In fact, the next few years may well be marked by the reign of the bureaucracy like the Chandra Shekhar government in Delhi in 1990-'91. The state's administration, despite failures and the scandals over mining leases or the sourcing of liquor for the state-run TASMAC, has remained focused on development and growth (see box: State of the State). "While Tamil Nadu's growth is mainly driven by services (65 per cent share), industry is the second dominant sector (about 30 per cent of GSDP). It is a leading manufacturer in automobiles, textiles, hosiery, pharmaceuticals, leather, IT and ITES," says Prof K.R. Shanmugam of the Institute of Financial Management and Research, Chennai. What is often dismissed as the 'freebie culture' in handing out 'Amma' branded goodies is also a contributory factor. "Subsidies and concessions in the PDS, in health and education, providing cycles to girls and laptops to college-goers, they are all investments in building capabilities. Expenses on such things as mobile phones, grinders and the like do not amount to much in relative terms as a share of government expenditure," says Chennai-based economist Venkatesh Athreya. (But there may be other reasons to question the priorities implicit in such expenditures. Often, the sourcing prices of these giveaways do not match the quality, allowing the outsourced agency, managed by ruling party activists, to siphon off considerable profits.) Others perceive it differently and disagree vehemently. "Jayalalithaa has reduced Tamil Nadu to a mendicant state in the name of welfare with a slavish political culture and subservient civil servants," complains ex-bureaucrat M.G. Devasahayam. "The AIADMK is not a political party but a honeycomb with slave bees swarming around the queen bee. After Jayalalithaa, it will break and disintegrate. The scams are unparalleled and the government allows corruption at every level. By encouraging open buying and selling of votes she destroyed the very integrity of the electoral process." However, Sathiyamoorty reasons that since the days of MGR's AIADMK it is the leader alone who won or lost elections. "If anything, other regional parties and leaders, be it Modi, Mayawati, Mamata, Nitish or Naveen, they have all followed the Tamil Nadu model one way or the other-putting together development and dictatorship of a democratic genre, sometimes in the absence of a sustained opposition," he says, describing the state as a trail blazer. It's yet another flag on Amma's legacy. Follow the writer on Twitter @AmarnathKMenon --- ENDS --- Franz Ferdinand take direct aim at Donald Trump on their new song "Demagogue." "He pleases my fears It feels so good to be dumb," sings Alex Kapranos, before making a reference to a recently released tape from 2005 in which Trump seems to brag about sexual assault: "Those pussy-grabbing fingers won't let go of me now." The song comes as part of 30 Days, 30 Songs, an independent campaign created by "Artists for a Trump-free America." "Demagogue" is the 5th entry in the 30 Days project; it follows songs from Death Cab for Cutie, Aimee Mann, Bhi Bhiman and Jim James. "Demagogue" is the first tune in the series from a non-American group. The fact that Franz Ferdinand can't vote in the upcoming election may add extra sting to the band's blunt, biting post-punk. The anti-Trump track features taut, martial guitars that stomp forward with crude indifference. The appearance of a sloppy piano riff and odd, wailing studio effects adds a funhouse feel. A statement on the 30 Songs website reads, "Donald Trump would subject the country to the same hateful cycle of drama and madness that we have been assaulted with for the last year. He will continue to demonize minorities and objectify women. He will throw the economy into chaos and gut environmental regulations. He will devastate our standing in the world. "We hope these songs provide both motivation and soundtrack to doing the right thing these last few weeks before this most pivotal election," the statement continues. "Consider this the music by which you will register to vote and cast your ballot for Hillary Clinton, the only candidate who can prevent the apocalypse that would be Donald Trump as president." Related Content: For 70 years, King Bhumibol Adulyadej provided a steadying hand in the rough-and-tumble world of Thai politics. Through nearly a dozen coups and 17 constitutions, the king developed a role as the ultimate adjudicator between an over-zealous military and a notoriously corrupt civilian political class. As he grew ill and retreated from public life, however, Thailand entered a period of heightened uncertainty. His death on Oct. 13 provides an opportunity to consider the benefits of constitutional monarchy a system of government with many virtues if the right person holds the throne. Since Bhumibol took the throne in 1946, almost half of monarchies that then existed around the world have been abolished; only 27 survive. Its hard to be the king. To endure, a constitutional monarchy requires a leader who stays above the fray and yet remains available, who is grounded in principle and yet in touch with popular opinion and who can master the ceremonial trappings of the position while exercising a good deal of political savvy. Because the stakes are lower, this task is much easier in rich democracies like Denmark and Belgium than in the developing world. Whereas Queen Elizabeth, now the worlds longest-serving royal, has presided over a period of post-war reconstruction and European integration, Thailand has during the same period transformed from a poor agrarian country to a mid-level developing nation while surviving a regional wave of war, dictatorship, and revolution. In many ways, the country was fortunate in its monarch. Raised as the younger of two sons and never expecting to be king, Bhumibol assumed the throne upon the unsolved murder of his brother in the palace in 1946. He was the ninth king in the Chakri Dynasty, which has ruled Thailand since the 18th century, but the monarchy had been weakened by a coup in 1932, and the kings role had become somewhat precarious. The country was just emerging from Japanese occupation and was divided between military leaders and nationalists; opposition to the monarchy lay just below the surface. Story continues But King Bhumibol rose to the challenge. Gradually, he developed a series of alliances with the military and commercial class, modernizing the monarchy by aligning it with these new centers of power. He made frequent appearances among the public and sponsored development projects that emphasized the traditional virtues of village life. By cultivating an image of a monarch devoted to his people, he became a widely revered figure among ordinary Thais. For the remainder of his life, King Bhumibol judiciously used the influence he had won to guide his country through a troubled century. His elliptical interventions sometimes giving a wink to a potential coup-maker, other times dressing down a dictator provided a steady hand during this period of tremendous economic and social change. The king proved sympathetic to mass student protests in 1973 and engineered the appointment of a democratic prime minister. Later, however, he sided with right wing forces as Communist revolutions overthrew the neighboring monarchies in Cambodia and Laos. In the early 1990s, in the midst of mass protests, the king called the leader of the protests and the military-backed prime minister to a televised audience and demanded a peaceful resolution. This led to the eventual restoration of democracy. But he has also, on occasion, sided with coup-makers when he thought that elected politicians were not acting in the interests of the nation. He has been guided throughout by a good sense of the political center of his country. Constitutional monarchy sometimes seems like an anomalous form of government, a hybrid vestige of a bygone age. But King Bhumibols reign demonstrates its genuine virtues. Monarchs are repositories of public faith and act as a source of authority outside the bounds of ordinary politics who can step in when the going gets tough. Particularly when a country is in the midst of rapid change, a single individual who serves as a symbol of national unity can provide a crucial anchor. Perhaps this explains why the constitutional monarchies in the Middle East such as in Bahrain, Morocco and Jordan have proven more enduring than the regions republics. But much depends on whether the symbolic figure is truly respected. When monarchs are seen as out of touch or partisan, they risk squandering their authority. Remember Juan Carlos of Spain, whose tone-deaf spending during Spains financial crisis led to his resignation, or King Gyanendra of Nepal, whose resistance to constitutional limits led to the end of the monarchy entirely in 2008. In Thailand, the need for any government military or civilian to recognize King Bhumibols authority helped limit political turmoil. Every coup-maker has sought royal blessing before taking action, and justified the intervention as protecting the monarchy and Thai tradition. If royal endorsement was not forthcoming, the coups usually failed. Its also noteworthy that, relative to its Southeast Asian neighbors, dictatorships in Thailand have been relatively mild: Unlike in Cambodia, Burma, or Indonesia, the country has no history of genocidal violence. On the downside, the countrys democracy also never took deep root, and dissatisfaction with corrupt political parties remains a trope of Thai political discourse. As the king aged, he became less engaged and his ability to steer politics diminished. This trend expressed itself most dramatically in the rise of the populist billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose allies have won every major election since 2000. Now exiled, Thaksin exposed serious cleavages in Thailands society along class and regional lines, pitting the Bangkok elite against his base, the long-disenfranchised rural poor. In recent years, the two sides have staged violent demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, with supporters wearing yellow or red shirts. Coups in 2006 and 2014 deposed Thaksin and his sister Yingluck from power. The king managed to stay above the fray and maintained the respect of most Thais. But he has been unable to address the deep divisions of Thai society, which show no signs of being resolved. The current prime minister, Prayut Chan-Ocha, who led the 2014 coup, has promised to give up power (in keeping with Thai tradition). But the constitution passed this summer gives him a good deal of authority even after new elections, which are promised sometime in 2017. Should those elections again be won by Thaksins allies and there is little reason to think that they will not the cycle of instability may well continue. Monarchies are like family businesses: Generational transitions are points of vulnerability. The iron law of regression to the mean suggests that the more outstanding the leader, the less likely the children will be to measure up. King Bhumibols heir, Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has a playboy past and enjoys far less respect than his father. He has a good deal of support within the military, but not as much among the Bangkok elite or the rural poor, and he has been mostly invisible during the political turmoil of the past few years. As a result, he seems unlikely to be able to provide the same steadying hand that his father did. Constitutional monarchies must embody tradition but also show resilience in the face of change. Despite Thailands well-deserved reputation as a tolerant society, there are certain red lines that cannot be crossed, and the governments aggressive use of laws that criminalize insulting the king has prevented even superficial discussion of the monarchys role. In recent decades, prosecutions under this law have increased dramatically to several dozen each year. The law suppresses discourse, and so Thais speak of the monarchy with whispered euphemisms. It seems unlikely that the new King Vajiralongkorn will have the confidence to allow public criticism of himself, and this may render the monarchy more brittle. As we learned from revolutions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, leaders who do not allow criticism are vulnerable to rapid shifts in public opinion. Constitutional monarchy can be a stabilizing form of government but requires skill to manage through changing times. Thailands transition poses major challenges if the country is to remain one of the handful of successful constitutional monarchies in the world today. The preamble to the countrys 1997 Constitution the most democratic in its history began with the Buddhist exhortation May There Be Virtue. In the years to come, Thailand will see whether its new king is up to the test. In the photo, a monk lights candles for the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya on October 14. Photo credit: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images (Adds CEO comments, detail on trust board member James Nevels) By Greg Roumeliotis and Lauren Hirsch Oct 14 (Reuters) - Hershey Co, the U.S. chocolate maker that Oreo cookie-maker Mondelez International Inc tried to acquire earlier this year, said on Friday that Chief Executive John Bilbrey would retire from his post on July 1. The move comes less than three months after the charitable trust that controls Hershey reached a major reform agreement with its overseer, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, raising questions about the trust's plans for the company. The selection of the new CEO could determine not just the company's financial performance, but also whether the trust will continue to rely on Hershey as its main asset. About two-thirds of the trust's $12 billion in assets are in Hershey stock. During Bilbrey's five-year tenure as CEO, Hershey doubled its market value to $20 billion, improved its profit margins, and increased its market share in the United States to 31.3 percent from 28.3 percent. Hershey also began to diversify beyond its core confectionary business into other types of snacks. The Kisses chocolate maker said on Friday it appointed a special committee to search for a new CEO. The committee will be led by Pamela Arway, chairwoman of the board's governance committee, helped by executive search firm Egon Zehnder. The committee is considering internal and external candidates for the CEO job, and Hershey Chief Operating Officer Michele Buck is one of the contenders, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing confidential deliberations. FAMILY TIME Bilbrey will continue as non-executive chairman of the board following his retirement as president and CEO, Hershey said. The company also maintained its full-year earnings outlook. Reuters reported exclusively on Thursday that Bilbrey was preparing to step down by next summer. "All of the decisions in my career have been made in consultation with my wife, Teresa, with the impact to our children and our family being paramount. And so it is with that in mind that I have shared with our board, and now you, my decision to retire next year in order to spend more time with my family and wonderful grandchildren who have faithfully and selflessly supported me for so long," Bilbrey wrote in a note to Hershey employees on Friday. Story continues Bilbrey was named CEO of Hershey in 2011 after serving in various senior roles at the company since 2003. He added the position of chairman in 2015. Prior to Hershey, Bilbrey worked for 22 years at consumer company Procter & Gamble Co. Following an initial spurned bid in June, Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld re-approached Bilbrey in August, indicating that Mondelez would be willing to offer $115 a share, or about $24.5 billion overall, Reuters reported at the time. Hershey responded that it would not be willing to enter into deal negotiations for an offer of less than $125 per share, a source said at the time. The Hershey trust was set up by the company's founder over a century ago to fund and run a school for underprivileged children. It holds 81 percent of the company's voting stock, and so a sale is not possible without its approval. Following a dispute with the Pennsylvania attorney general over its governance policy, the trust in July agreed to expand its board to 13 members from 10, and for five members to resign by the end of the year. With one trustee having resigned shortly before that agreement, that leaves a total of nine openings. "Everybody wants clarity. The more ambiguity there is about a situation, the more difficult it is to recruit into it," said Peter Crist, chairman of recruiting firm Crist Kolder Associates, referring to the impact the turnover at the Hershey trust will have on the Hershey CEO search. Even if the trust does decide to explore a sale of Hershey, the attorney general can thwart such plans. On Friday, one of the people who agreed to resign from the trust's board by the end of the year, James Nevels, said he would not stand for re-election on Hershey's board in 2017. Nevels currently serves as Hershey's lead independent board director. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Lauren Hirsch in New York; Additional reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Bill Rigby, Sam Holmes and Ted Kerr) On Wednesday, a report came out from Pro Wrestling Sheet that Hideo Itami had suffered a neck injury that could keep him out of action for months. The injury was related to a mistimed powerslam from a tag team match at an NXT house show at the beginning of October, but apparently WWE wanted to take a wait and see approach to the injury, as Itami was set to participate in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with his partner Kota Ibushi. Apparently, the neck injury is severe enough to keep Itami out of action for the foreseeable future, as WWE announced in the above video on Thursday that he will not be teaming with Ibushi in the tournament. Whats more, he is uncertain whether he will be able to be back in action for NXT TakeOver: Toronto in November, but he promised fans that he will return at the latest in December, when NXT goes to Osaka, Japan. You can see the move that allegedly led to Itamis neck injury in the below video: Hideo Itami Takes Nasty Looking Bump Saturday Night At An NXT Live Event. No Word On His Condition pic.twitter.com/xK0YnPZZ9J Pro Wrestling Ultd (@pwunlimited) October 2, 2016 This is a huge bummer for fans and for Itami, who just returned to NXT after a year away with a shoulder injury and was involved in a feud with Austin Aries and showing a new intensity and focus. We can only hope that he returns as soon as possible and makes a complete recovery. Hillary Clinton told Hollywoods elite tonight that she never knows what Donald Trump will show up to their Presidential debates, noting there is a final face-off coming on October 19. Surrounded by her biggest donors on Thursday in what is likely her last official visit to the Hollywood ATM before Election Day, the former Secretary of State was being feted at the Beverly Hills home of 2024 Olympics bid chair Casey Wasserman and wife Laura in what was a love-in masquerading as a fundraiser. With Sir Elton John set to hit the ebony and ivories and repeat his Radio City Music Hall performance for the ex-NY Senator of earlier this year, Clinton said Thursday that I worked out a deal with Elton, he will give a political speech and I will sing. As intended, the remark got great laughter from the well-heeled audience. Playing Tiny Dancer and other hits, the British superstar did venture into the political arena when he told the assembled that we need a humanitarian not a barbarian, in a direct reference to Clinton over Trump for the Oval Office. casey wasserman oct 2016 Introducing Clinton before she spoke to the crowd of long-term supporters, Wasserman told the gathering how in August 1992 a certain Democratic nominee also with the name Clinton came out to L.A. On that visit, Caseys legendary powerbroker grandfather held his second fundraiser for the then Arkansas Governor on the very same property where they are holding tonights event. I certainly hope it brings Secretary Clinton the same luck it brought Bill, Wasserman said of the gathering, comparing it the one 24-years ago that the then MCA boss hosted. Wasserman also took a swipe at Trump, saying the ex-Apprentice host has no idea how a great nation works. Long time Clinton fan Barbra Streisand was at the Wassermans this evening along with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Leftovers EP Damon Lindelof and his wife Heidi, plus Clintons closest aide Huma Abedin. Story continues haim saban 2016 Also in attendance Thursday at the $33,400 to $100,000 a ticket Hillary Victory Fund event were Haim Saban and spouse Cheryl, who are TeamHRCs top check writers with more than $10 million given to pro-Clinton Super PACs and the campaign itself this election cycle. The Sabans hosted Clinton in their house for a fundraiser on August 22 with the Wassermans and Disney boss Bob Iger among the co-hosts that pricey summer night. Tonight the Sabans were co-hosts along Hillarys second largest donors, Jeffrey Katzenberg and wife Marilyn. jeffrey katzenberg 2016 The evening began around 6:30 PM with a series of more intimate roundtables and one-on-ones at the Wassermans with around 20 top tier paying co-hosts and other big spenders. Other co-hosts for the fundraiser include Legendary founder Thomas Tull and wife Alba, Facebook backer Sean Parker and wife Alexandra, Chris and Crystal Sacca all of whom have dug into their accounts on several occasions for Clinton this election, giving over not just their cash but also their homes to the ex-FLOTUS for appeals for cash. Like Vice-President Joe Biden, who is passing the hat around for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at Peter Chernins pad right now too, Clinton is staying overnight in L.A. Unlike the man who many thought might be her rival for the Democratic nomination, Clinton was in town earlier for some other duties filming another appearance on Ellen DeGeneres daytime talker. The sit-down with Ellen will be Clintons first interview since facing off against the increasingly even more reckless Trump in the second Presidential debate on October 9. RelatedDonald Trump: Hillary Clinton Masterminded Assault Lies In Campaign To Destroy His Movement While tonight is being billed as HRCs final Los Angeles dinner before America decides who will be the 45th POTUS, another Clinton is coming to town soon. Former and perhaps once again First Daughter Chelsea Clinton is the headliner at a $250 to $10,000 a ticket October 20 fundraiser that Showtime boss David Nevins and wife Andrea are hosting at their home with special guest Kristen Bell. No word yet if Bill Clinton will be performing his Surrogate-in-Chief duty again in L.A. before November 8 but never count Bubba out when it comes to a good time in Hollywood. Of course if Hillary Clinton wins the White House next month we can expect to see a lot of her, Bill and new VP Tim Kaine, already a fav of the town, over the next four years building up a new war chest for 2020. Related stories Donald Trump: Female Accusers Are Liars, Not Attractive, And In Cahoots With Clinton New Miranda Music and No Trump-Bashing: Harvey Weinstein Is Always Good For An October Surprise Hillary Clinton Tells Ellen: Donald Trump Tried To Stalk Her On Debate 2 Stage Hillary Clinton sat down with Ellen DeGeneres for her first interview since the second presidential debate. After DeGeneres complimented Clinton on her shimmying skills from the first debate - a move Clinton said she didn't even realize she had done until later - DeGeneres asked Clinton to speak about the heated second debate. Clinton said that because of the Access Hollywood tape leak, Trump was "all wrought up" for the town hall-style face-off. "You could just sense how much anger he had," said Clinton. "And, so he was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage and I would just feel this presence behind me and I thought 'Whoa, this is really weird,' so I was just trying to stay focused." She admits to her own mistakes but says it's "frustrating" to debate somebody who is "consistently just spewing forth hoods." Rather than spend all of her time fact-checking Trump, said Clinton, she tried to focus on answering questions. DeGeneres offered up that it's like "debating a teenager." DeGeneres brought up that she was shocked nobody talked about the special moment during the second debate when Clinton had a dance-off with Ken Bone. Clinton laughed as she saw the altered video of herself dancing with the red-sweater-wearing audience member who's gone on to become a viral sensation. She was smiling and at ease throughout the interview, joking that even though she was turning 69 on Oct. 26, she'll be the youngest woman ever elected president of the United States. On a more serious note, Clinton spoke with DeGeneres about the recent sexual assault allegations against Trump and said she doesn't want people to take anything for granted. "Obviously there's a lot that is coming out which is distressing on many levels, but I don't want anybody to think this election's over," said Clinton, asking everyone to vote. The Democratic presidential nominee also spoke about Michelle Obama's powerful speech against Trump and said the first lady put into words what many people were feeling. Read more: Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah Take on Donald Trump, Supporters' Response to Sexual Assault Allegations Hillary Clinton taped a female-targeting appearance for Ellen DeGeneres show, posted online this morning, in which she said Donald Trump appeared to be stalking her during Debate 2. This as Trump grapples with allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women, published in The New York Times and People magazine. Because of the revelation of the video and everything that came out on Access Hollywood, he was really all wrought up, she said. You could sense how much anger he had. He was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage, and I would just feel this presence behind me. I thought, Wow, this is really weird! I was just trying to stay focused, and keep my composure, and interact with the moderators. Also this morning, Trumps running mate Mike Pence told NBCs Today show host-in-chief Matt Lauer that evidence shooting down accusers claims is coming in hours. Related stories Ann Coulter To HBO's Bill Maher: We Always Knew Donald Trump Was "A Lout" NBC Yanks Donald Trump-esque Episode Of 'Law & Order SVU' Until After Election Jeffrey Katzenberg To Host Obama At Final Hollywood Fundraiser Before Election Minister of Industries E P Jayarajan appointed his nephew PK Sudheer Nambiar as Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Limited without informing the party or chief minister. By Jeemon Jacob: Pinarayi government in Kerala received its first jolt after 142 days when Minister of Industries E P Jayarajan submitted his resignation after the controversy of appointing his relatives in public enterprises without minimum qualifications. Sixty-six-year-old Jayarajan, who is also Central Committee member of CPIM, offered his resignation after party state secretariat meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram today criticised him and his sister in law P K Sreemathy, member of Lok Sabah from Kannur for dragging government into controversy. advertisement JAYARAJAN PUTS PARTY AND GOVT UNDER SHADOW OF SUSPICION Jayarajan appointed his nephew PK Sudheer Nambiar as Managing Director of state run Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Limited (KSIEL) without informing the party or chief minister. Sudheer is son of P K Sreemathy who is a senior party leader. Jayarajan is married to her younger sister P K Indira. Jayarajan also appointed his brother's daughter-in-law, Deepthi Nishant as general manager in another public limited company. Deepthi had resigned after the controversy surfaced regarding her appointment. Earlier Jayarajan met both Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPIM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and offered his resignation. There was no other way for Jayarajan to quit as the Vigilance Department has already ordered Quick Verification on his appointments favouring his kith and kin in state-run public enterprises. In the stormy session of the CPIM secretariat, P K Gurudasan, A K Balan and Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac pointed out that Jayarajan had put party and government under the shadow of suspicion. A K BALAN LIKELY TO STEP INTO JAYARAJAN'S SHOES Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan never tried to defend Jayarajan though he was listed as the most loyal minister and a Pinarayi man. Most likely, A K Balan will take over as industries minister. Jayrajan's exit from government will pave way for new power equation in CPIM in Kerala. After 142 days in government, the chief minister has realised that everything is not going well in government and he should be cautious about his loyalists more. "It's good that Jayrajan has resigned. If he had continued in government, he would have damaged Pinarayi more," a senior CPIM leader told India Today. ALSO READ: Pinarayi government's attempt to appoint kith and kin in PSUs draws flak Kerala's Marxist CM Pinarayi Vijayan now a fan of PM Narendra Modi --- ENDS --- Holly Madison is a creature of comfort. With a love of all things Disney and cartoon-inspired outfits, the former Playboy bunny has that never-gonna-grow-up vibe (so Avril Lavigne!), and her latest outfit was no exception to that rule. WATCH: Holly Madison Reacts to Kendra Wilkinson's NSFW Tweets About Her Madison, 36, rocked a forest green plaid skirt during a trip to a West Hollywood, California, salon on Wednesday. She paired the school girl-inspired piece with a Rolling Stones zip-up hoodie, tattoo tights, black combat boots, and white cat-eye sunglasses. Javiles/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES Most impressively, the New York Times best-selling author just gave birth to her son, Forest, two months ago! Earlier this week, Madison shared an adorable photo of her little man, who's clearly learned how to pose from his mama. Little man in a gift from an amazing self-taught seamstress @shawnaebonique. #babyclothes #EDC #forestleonardoantoniorotella #LittleMan #insomniac #electricdaisycarnival @pasqualerotella #hollymadison A photo posted by Holly Madison (@hollymadison) on Oct 10, 2016 at 8:46pm PDT PHOTOS: Oh, Baby! Celeb Birth Announcements However, nothing can beat this sweet photo she posted when Forest was born in August, showing the newborn holding onto his mama's finger. A photo posted by Holly Madison (@hollymadison) on Aug 8, 2016 at 8:37pm PDT Madison -- who also has a 3-year-old daughter, Rainbow, with husband Pasquale Rotella -- is far from the only hot mama looking fabulous shortly after welcoming a bundle of joy. Flash back to how amazing Nicky Hilton looked just three days after welcoming her first child, daughter Lily-Grace, in the video below. Related Articles Someone you know has been very publicly dismissed, and the next day you run into them at the Soho House valet. Fight the all-too-human aversion to awkwardness and don't try to avoid the elephant in the room, says Lisa Gache, CEO of Beverly Hills Manners. "You never want to shun. Bad news travels quickly in this town, and you can't hide the obvious." She also cautions against using the F-word ("I heard you're no longer at such-and-such company" is gentler) and says do offer to listen. Producer Michael De Luca, who served executive stints at Sony and New Line, agrees: "Having been both a firer and a firee, I try to approach that situation with tremendous kindness and empathy. Just go into full human contact mode and offer to take the person out for dinner." Taking the initiative to reach out is meaningful. "Steve Mosko and I did business for 25 years, so when he left Sony [in June] I wrote him a note and told him I'm here for him," says recently retired WME partner Mark Itkin. Itkin also advises following up after three or four weeks to offer help with next steps. After all, says Gache, "people in this town tend to fail upward." Although Gache warns against bad-mouthing ex-employers, producer Lawrence Gordon (who spent two years as 20th Century Fox president) has no such reservations. "I always say: 'Congratulations, you lucky bastard, you went over the wall.' " This story first appeared in the Oct. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Read more: How Billy Bush's 'Today' Exit May Play Out BERLINWhen I first met Mattias in July at a refugee shelter just north of Berlin, he went by the name Mohammed. He had arrived in Germany from Iran the previous fall, along with thousands of other asylum-seekerssometimes up to 10,000 arrived in a single day. After the German government assigned him to this shelter, he converted to Christianity. I wouldnt say I was a Muslim before, he told me. I didnt go to a mosque for an entire year. Now I am going to church every week. He expects it will take about three weeks to get off his churchs waiting list to be baptized. Perhaps once hes more settled in Germany, hell be able to change his name legally to Mattias, his chosen Christian name. We sat together in a sparse dormitory room at the shelter with three other Iranians who had converted from Islam to Christianity. They attend a Protestant church together, but asked that I not provide the exact location nor give their full names. Two of them said they became Christian while living in Iran. Another, like Mattias, had converted after arriving in Germany as an asylum-seeker. Throughout Germany, the pews of churches like theirs are filled increasingly by asylum-seekers. Though two umbrella church organizations told me that they couldnt provide exact statistics or comment on the nationality of the asylum-seekers attending church, Christoph Heil, a spokesman for the Protestant Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatiawhich includes 1,300 parishesconfirmed the pattern. Normally we dont count the number of asylum-seekers who are baptized because we dont differentiate between who is an asylum-seeker and who isnt, but [asylum-seekers asking to be baptized] appears to be a new trend, he said. Muslim converts to Christianity that I spoke to in Germany cited the redemptive power of Jesuss story, and disillusionment with Islam. Its also worth noting the more earthly forces potentially at work: Germany does not grant refugee status to Iranians as easily as it does Syrians and Iraqis. Around 27,000 Iranians applied for asylum in the EU in 2015, with Germany hosting the overwhelming majority; according to Germanys Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, 60 percent of Iranian requests for asylum received positive answers that year. Iranians seeking refugee status must prove that if they are sent home, they stand the risk of being persecuted for their beliefs. In Iran, that often means Christian converts. Recommended: The Trump Allegations: The Latest Updates During conversations with newly converted Iranian asylum-seekers, it struck me that being born again after arriving in Europe was not only an act of faith, but a practical matter: Europe is largely Christian, after all. Some converts, like Mattias, werent particularly devout Muslims to begin with anyway. There are asylum-seekers looking to get baptized who have converted in their home countries and others are getting in touch with Christianity now after seeing a certain way of life in Germany," Heil said. "They ask themselves, what is the root of this way of living, [of] freedom and democracy." At his shelter, Mattias and three of his friends, who all appeared to be in their 30s and 40s, pulled a metal folding table into the middle of the dorm room to prepare for lunch. One of them told me he hoped Donald Trump would become president of the United States, since hed heard he was a Christian. Before we ate, another of Mattiass friends prayed as we bowed our heads, giving thanks for the food. In Jesuss name, Amen, he said. Amen, the others echoed. Then we dug into rice pilaf from a frying pan. The man who led the prayer said he had converted to Christianity in Iran after getting hold of a smuggled Farsi-language Bible. Before it was just theoretical to me, but now I can see it and feel it by my pastors kindness, he said. Another said he converted in Iran because of an old neighbor who had been born Christian. Christians, he said, were kind people. In Islam, the person who does the killing and the person who dies yells Allahu Akbar, he said. In Iran, he noted, referring to the Arab occupation of Persia that began in the seventh century, we became Muslim by force. Recommended: Donald Trumps Warning for Women A week after that meal, I visited Trinity Lutheran Church, which also hosts a large Iranian congregation. A pale, yellow, sterile-looking structure set just off a residential street in Berlins southwestern Steglitz neighborhood, it appears modest compared to the grand churches of Europe. On the lawn out front, some of the Iranian congregants greeted each other with smiles and overzealous, welcoming handshakes. Others shuffled inside, their eyes averted. Notices written in Farsi were posted all over the church. The pastor at Trinity is Gottfried Martens, 53, an affable man with a salt-and-pepper widows peak and kind smile. He explained that Trinitys sister congregation in the adjacent district of Zehlendorf had been helping new migrants adjust to life in Germany since the 1990s, adopting a welcoming stance that eventually turned his church into a destination for Iranian Christians seeking help. Once a few Farsi speakers began attending, more arrived. In 2013, Trinity began its service focusing on refugee work, in Martenss words, providing translations in Farsi and English during services and other church activities. Before the service began that day, I talked with Saeed, another Iranian asylum-seeker. Up the stairs and past the Iranian ushers, we poked our heads into the nave. There were few seats available, so we crowded into the choir loft along with the other stragglers. There appeared to be around 300 people in attendance, mostly Iranians, but my translator pointed out that a line of men seated behind us included Hazaras from Afghanistanalso current or former Shia Muslimslike the Iranians. Only a dozen or so in attendance appeared to be German. A woman in the front pews still wore a hijab. Recommended: Trump Goes to War During the service, much of which was translated into Farsi, the Iranians and Afghans tried to follow along in the church bulletin, concluding each section with a hearty, accented Ah-meeen (familiar to the Iranians and Afghans from Muslim prayers) that filled the sanctuary. Do you want to go take communion? Saeed asked when people began lining up in the center aisle after the sermon. I told him I would stay seated, since I didnt know how to cross myself, which, naturally, confused him: earlier, I had told him that I was a Christian. He was a new believer, steadfast and eager about the outward signs of devotion like partaking in the sacraments, crossing himself at the appropriate times, and eating pork. The outward trappings of Christianity I grew up with in a non-denominational church in rural Maryland, by contrastusing euphemisms rather than cursing (darn rather than damn), voting Republican, eating Chick-Fil-A, and doing nothing remotely Catholicwere difficult to explain. After the service ended, the Iranians and Afghans gathered downstairs for a meal of rice, lentils, and cabbage salad. Asylum-seekers had often complained to me about the German food at their shelters, which they found bland. But the churchs lunch menu seemed tailored to their tastes. During the meal, one Iranian man was filling out a baptism questionnaire that asked for his personal history. It soon turned into a group activity. How do you write engineer in German? he asked the crowd that had surrounded him. Martens made an announcement shortly thereafter, saying that a handful of members of the congregation had recently been granted asylum and residency visas by the German authorities. Were happy they were awarded asylum and then came back to church, he said with a quick smile. Everyone clapped. I can hardly imagine [working] in a normal German congregation anymore. Several weeks later, I returned to the church. I could feel a sort of happy chaos in the air that contrasted to the despair prevalent in refugee shelters Id visited elsewhere in the country. Germans and asylum-seekers hung around drinking tea as children ran around playing; their arts projects hung across one wall. The church provides what is essentially pro-bono social work for refugees, assisting them with housing and other needs as they navigate Germanys complex bureaucracy. People there were taking an active role in changing their situation or that of others, receiving a healthy dose of Christian optimism along with it. Martens said his congregation was lucky to have its pews filled with asylum-seekers from the Muslim world. Being around them, he said, brought meaning to his life. Its such a job to be together with these wonderful people who have risked so much for their Christian faith, he said. I can hardly imagine [working] in a normal German congregation anymore. His church currently counts some 1,000 baptized Iranian and Afghan members with 300 on the waiting list, he said. Before someone is baptized, he must pass a kind of Christian entrance exam by taking classes on what it means to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Its one way of making sure people arent just becoming Christian for the visa, to ascertain whether they really understand what the Christian faith means, Martens said. I know Germans who would fail as well, he added. People in Martenss congregation have, in a handful of cases, had to appeal their legal deportation decision. In one district, Martens said, a woman who determines refugee status simply does not believe that Muslims can become Christian. He takes this as a personal affront. If there are so many [converts] then this cant be true. I cannot help it, he said. There is a Christian awakening among Iranians and Afghans on a large scale. Thats something that these German atheists cannot understand at all. Why dont they come here for just one Sunday and then they will know better? Reporting for this article was funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Many people wait longer than necessary before purchasing a house because they think they need a large down payment. But anyone who otherwise qualifies for a mortgage can buy a home for as little as 3 percent down plus closing costs -- and zero down if you're a veteran. "Everybody thinks it's 20 percent, but people will be shocked to know it's as little as 3 percent," says Ray Rodriguez, regional mortgage sales manager at TD Bank in New York. If you are eligible, you may even be able to purchase a home with a grant to cover your down payment and closing costs. "It depends on where you live and where you're looking to buy," Rodriguez says. According to Rob Chrane, CEO of DownPaymentResource.com in Atlanta, at least 2,400 programs nationwide offer assistance to prospective homebuyers. While many are aimed at people who earn less than the median income -- which varies by locality -- some are open to moderate-income homebuyers, with a few programs helping those who earn up to 140 percent of the median income. [See: The 30 Most Fun Places to Live in the U.S.] "About 70 percent of these programs are some form of down payment or closing cost help," Chrane says. But some assist in other aspects of homeownership. The Mortgage Credit Certificate program, for example, provides federal tax credits for interest paid on a mortgage. There also are programs that help existing homeowners with repairs. Down Payment Resource found that the average amount of assistance provided by a program is $10,000. "Whatever the amount is, it's not peanuts," Chrane says. "It's something that can concretely help people." The challenge is finding out what programs exist in your community and which ones you might qualify for. The catch is you typically can't expect your real estate agent or lender to tell you, since many of them don't know about all the programs, either. The programs are administered by cities, counties, housing finance agencies, nonprofits, lenders and other groups. In some high-cost areas, employers may offer closing cost assistance. Programs come and go, and qualifications change periodically as well. Story continues That makes it smart to do your research before beginning your housing search. "There are a lot of down payment assistance programs," says Marietta Rodriguez, vice president of national homeownership programs and lending for NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit focused on community development and homeownership, and a U.S. News contributor. "It's very difficult for a homebuyer to locate these and curate them." She recommends consulting a local HUD-approved counseling agency. "It's their job to pull together all those resources," she says. Cities and counties may list some information on websites, but that information is often incomplete, making it hard to know who qualifies for assistance. Down Payment Resource also curates assistance information, providing links to the sponsoring agencies, and is beginning to contract with multiple listing services to ensure this information is available to agents. "They're always surprised when we show them all of the programs that are available in their marketplace," Chrane says. [See: The 20 Best Places People Are Moving to in the U.S.] And don't assume that you won't qualify because you're not at poverty level or have already owned a home. "[The program rules are] all over the place," Marietta Rodriguez says. "It depends on the market, and your housing counselor knows that market." Chrane estimates that 60 to 65 percent of the programs are for first-time homebuyers, but most programs define a "first-time" buyer as someone who has not owned a home in the previous three years. "There are millions of boomerang buyers out there who went through foreclosures and short sales," Chrane says. Three years gives these potential homeowners time to rebuild their credit, and then when they're ready to buy again they are eligible for first-time homebuyer programs. Nearly all the programs require buyers to live in the homes as opposed to rent them out, and some will stipulate that you must pay back the aid if you don't stay in the house for a certain number of years. Some set a maximum home price, as well as income limits for buyers. Other programs are only available in specific neighborhoods. Down Payment Resource partnered with with the real estate information company RealtyTrac on a 2015 study that found in counties with populations of 100,000 or more, 87 percent of the residential properties would be eligible for one or more programs. "Any home within a certain price point should be eligible for something," Chrane says. Educators, police, firefighters, health care workers and members of the military may qualify for additional programs or greater aid amounts. "There are communities where it's hard for them to live where they serve," Chrane says. Many programs require recipients to complete a homebuyer education course, which can be helpful to any first-time homebuyers. "It better prepares somebody for what they're getting into," Ray Rodriguez says. Even those who don't qualify for down payment assistance can purchase a home with as little as 3 percent down and zero for veterans. Last year, Fannie Mae rolled out a new program, HomeReady, that is available to both first-time and repeat buyers with as little as 3 percent down, at lower cost than a Federal Housing Administration mortgage. The program allows for co-borrowers who won't live in the house (such as parents) and takes into consideration income from people who will live in the house but not be on the mortgage. Plus, the down payment can come from seller credits or a gift. The income limit to qualify is usually the adjusted median income, but in some low-income census tracts there is no income limit. [See: The Best Apps for House Hunting.] Banks may also offer portfolio loans with special terms for first-time homebuyers. Not all lenders offer every program, so it's important to shop around if you're looking for a mortgage with a low down payment. "I think it's important to do your research and talk to trusted mortgage professionals," Ray Rodriguez says. "Look at all your options before you start looking at homes." Teresa Mears writes about personal finance, real estate and retirement for U.S. News and other publications. She's also written for MSN Money, The Miami Herald, The New York Times and The Boston Globe. She publishes Living on the Cheap and Miami on the Cheap. Follow her on Twitter @TeresaMears. From Road & Track Since we first drove the new Honda Civic, we've been looking forward to the inevitable Si version. So far, Honda hasn't revealed much information on the upcoming sporty Civic, but now we know when we'll get to see it for the first time-at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show. Shown above, the concept version of the 2016 Honda Civic Coupe, which debuted at the New York International Auto Show in early 2015. That info comes from the LA Auto Show itself. With the show kicking off on November 16th, we only have a few more weeks to wait. Hopefully Honda has production specs ready at the time of its reveal-we expect it to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 or 230 horsepower and, of course, a six-speed manual. While we're grateful to get the chance to see the 10th-generation Civic Si, we have a feeling it will be vastly overshadowed by the upcoming Civic Type-R, which was recently revealed in concept car form, and which will be the first Type-R-badged Honda to officially be imported to the U.S. Considering the current, Europe-only Type-R makes 306 turbocharged horses and once owned the Nurburgring lap record for production front-wheel-drive cars, we expect big things. via Motor1 You Might Also Like Newmarket (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Hong Kong is renowned for its packed racecourses and massive betting turnover but now the Hong Kong Jockey Club is becoming a force to be reckoned with at the major global international yearling sales. Whilst they are not trying to win a bidding war with the Sheikhs from Dubai or Qatar, they are improving the quality as part of the HKJC's strategy of looking outwards, their senior international racing consultant Nick Columb told AFP. "I was headhunted three years ago by Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (the HKJC CEO)," said the 70-year-old Romania-born Australian, who gave AFP his first interview since he took up the post at the Tattersalls yearling sales in Newmarket. "Actually I went to the lunch and never left the lunch! "I've been luckily wandering around the world buying horses for the HKJC international auction (a gala dinner held two days before the Hong Kong Derby) to improve the quality of the horse we're bringing into Hong Kong and the auction is part of that process. "We spend the first part of the year in the southern hemisphere, and the northern hemisphere (for) the second part of the year." Columb, who was responsible as either owner or breeder for 17 Group One winners when he was based in Australia, said they had to take into account other cost factors when they were buying the yearlings. "We have to be mindful we're buying them as yearlings and keeping them (in New Zealand and England) for 18 months and then reselling them so we have to leave enough room for us to cover the costs by the time we resell them," said Columb, who is ably assisted by former English national hunt jockey Mark Richards. "So we are not paying or competing at top of the market million euro or pound level, we're down around tops the 3-400 thousand euro/pound mark. "We're buying very nice horses, money doesn't mean you're buying a champion by the way. Story continues "We are buying to a level of excellence we define to be important. "So far results have been excellent so we don't believe we need to be paying millions for the champions." Columb has signed for around 40 yearlings so far this year -- paying out a top price of 450,000 euros ($496,000) -- and the HKJC contribution to the coffers of both vendors and auction houses is readily acknowledged by Edmond Mahony, chairman of Tattersalls. "The Hong Kong Jockey Club are purchasing here for their sale (the gala Derby), and certainly are prepared to go into six figures for the horses they are looking for," he told AFP. "So they are a very important bit of the market here." - 'Tremendous year' - Columb, who fled with his parents in 1946 from Romania in a secret compartment in a train after his family had paid to have his father released by the Soviets from prison, has been delighted with the results of the first batch of yearlings, who are now racing as three-year-olds. "This year has been tremendous three have raced and all have won," said Columb. "One called Pakistan Star (bought in Deauville yearling sales in 2014) is already regarded as a global Youtube phenomenon having won both of his races coming from a long way back. And the other one, Jing Jing Win (bought by their first mainland China purchaser) was the most expensive horse in the auction this year ($1.5 million) won his first race by four lengths." Columb, who was chairman of the Australian Thoroughbred Breeders Association for 20 years, said the chances of seeing one of his purchases flying the flag abroad was not on the cards. "Hong Kong has specific requirements in terms of climactic and track conditions. We buy horses to suit Hong Kong not necessarily to suit the rest of the world." Kigali (AFP) - World envoys were Friday putting the final touches to a deal in Rwanda to phase out potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners, a major step in curbing global warming. Tough negotiations have seen major developing nations such as India put up a fight over the timeline to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and the financing of the transition. However some delegates were already praising an early agreement in principle, and were hammering out the final details in late night sessions. "Country representatives are now negotiating the final details of the amendment," read a tweet from Rwanda's natural resources ministry. "This is a huge win for the climate. We have taken a major concrete step in delivering on the promises we made in Paris last December," said Miguel Arias Canete, a commissioner with the European Union in a statement ahead of the adoption of the agreement. "The global phase-down we have agreed today could knock off up to half a degree of warming by the end of the century." However thrashing out the nitty-gritty of the deal could take talks into the early hours of Saturday. -'Issues of cost'- HFCs were introduced in the 1990s to replace chemicals that had been found to erode the ozone layer, but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming. However swapping HFCs for alternatives such as ammonia, water or gases called hydrofluoroolefins could prove costly for developing countries with sweltering summer temperatures, such as India. These countries want a later date for the phase down to begin. "There are issues of cost, there are issues of technology, there are issues of finances," said Ajay Narayan Jha of India's environment and climate change ministry. "We would like to emphasise that any agreement will have to be flexible from all sides concerned. It can't be flexible from one side and not from the other." Story continues Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered $80 million (72 million euros) to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs. - 'Give it teeth'- US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier acknowledged that while the US would be ready to begin phasing out HFCs by 2021, other countries might move at a slower pace. "But no country has a right to turn their back on this effort," he told delegates, warning that the world already faces droughts, flooding, agricultural disasters and waves of climate refugees. "And if we're going to give this amendment the teeth it needs to prevent as much as a half-degree of warming, then we need to make sure were pushing for the most far-reaching amendment we can adopt," he declared. Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, said that if the agreement was adopted, "it will be one the most important global meetings in this year." HFCs' predecessors, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were discontinued under the 1987 Montreal Protocol when scientists realised they were destroying the ozone layer. This blanket of gas in the upper stratosphere protects Earth from the Sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays. But it emerged that HFCs, while safe for the now-healing ozone, are thousands of times worse for trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. According to the Berkeley National Laboratory, air conditioning is the cause of the largest growth in HFCs -- and the world is likely to have another 700 million air conditioners by 2030. Last year's Paris climate agreement aims to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels. But continued use of HFCs could prove a serious stumbling block to attaining the goal. HFCs -- though they are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol. Any amendment to the protocol will be legally binding. LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Horizon Minerals Corp. (OTC Pink: HZNM) ("Horizon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Mr. Gilberto Arias is joining the board of directors of the Company. Mr. Arias will act as special negotiator and advisor related to the acquisition and development of the Company's Lithium assets. Mr. Arias is a lawyer by training with extensive communications experience and is currently a Senior Advisor at Energeia, a network of researchers and climate change negotiators. Formerly a diplomat, he led the climate change delegation of Panama and acted as a Senior Advisor to the delegations of the Dominican Republic and the Marshall Islands, and collaborated indirectly with many others, as well as doing extensive policy writing and advisory work on trade, climate change and sustainable development. Alongside policy work, Mr. Arias works on implementation initiatives among public, private, and non-state actors. Mr. Arias' focus has been on energy, agriculture, water, and cooperative arrangements in sustainable low carbon development. Mr. Arias attended the University of Virginia from 1982 to 1986, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and economics. In 1986, following his graduation, he attended the University of Cambridge, graduating with a degree in law in 1988 and an LLM in 1989. He became an associate lawyer at Arias Fabrega & Fabrega in 1990 and practiced as a lawyer for ten years until 2000. He subsequently was an executive at the newspaper publishing group Editora Panama America S.A., Panama, until 2009. In 2008 he became Director of Capital Bank, Panama. In 2009 he was appointed as Panama's Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland where he would serve until November 2011. He currently works as a consultant on climate change and sustainable development, collaborating with the OECD, the World Resources Institute, and Energeia, among other think tanks. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Horizon cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Horizon's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Horizon's business plan, Horizon's ability to raise sufficient financing and Horizon's limited operating history. There is no assurance that the anticipated events will transpire as planned. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Horizon undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory body has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Investors are advised to carefully review the reports and documents that Horizon files from time to time with the SEC, including its Annual, Quarterly and Current Reports. CONTACT INFORMATION Robert Fedun President and CEO 1.587.984.2321 SOURCE: Horizon Minerals Corp. Six reporters were asked to leave the court room by a group of lawyers at a Thiruvananthapuram court. By Revathi Rajeevan: A group of lawyers today allegedly attacked journalists present at a Thiruvananthapuram court during the proceedings of a case. The reporters who were at the court to report the proceedings including that of the Vigilance case against Industries Minister EP Jayarajan were allegedly threatened, beaten and sent out of the court by the lawyers. According to the journalists who were at the court, six media persons were in a court room when a group of lawyers came and asked the reporters to leave the court room. The lawyers told them that they can't report and that a person has been assigned to give them information later. advertisement Also read: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's right-hand man quits as minister after nepotism charges JOURNALISTS MANHANDLED The lawyers also allegedly pushed and hit one reporter of The New Indian Express asking him to leave the court room. A senior journalist of PTI was also pushed and asked to leave. Two women journalists belonging to Malayalam channels Asianet and Manorama were also asked to leave. They were told that if they didn't leave, women lawyers would be called to throw them out. The court room proceedings continued all this while and the judge reportedly asked what the commotion is about and said nothing should happen inside the room. Also read: Eggly truth: In Kerala, artificial Chinese eggs leave a bad taste in the mouth LAWYERS-JOURNALISTS CLASH A clash between a journalist who reported on a lawyer facing allegations of sexual harassment of a woman at Kerala High Court in July had snowballed into violent attacks in court premises across the state. Following this, journalists had stopped reporting court proceedings. It was only after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan intervened in the matter that media persons resumed to report from courts. --- ENDS --- Kim Kardashian is said to be working with a therapist to help her cope with the trauma of being robbed in Paris earlier this month. (Photo: Getty Images) On Tuesday night, Kris Jenner hosted a wrap party for the crew of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but the only person missing from the get-together was her daughter Kim Kardashian. According to E! News, the 34-year-old reality stars main focus is working on getting better after the experience of being robbed in a Paris hotel room earlier this month left her in shock mode. Another source told the outlet that Kim has been receiving professional counseling in order to cope with her terrifying ordeal. Kim is doing everything she needs to do, Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist and author of Your Best Age Is Now, tells Yahoo Beauty. When you are a crime victim, you are going to be traumatized, but it doesnt mean that you cant bounce back. Ludwig explains that not only were Kims precious belongings robbed, but the thieves may have robbed her of her sense of safety. Some people walk around with the idea that the world is basically a good place or that theyre in control of their lives, continues Ludwig. An experience of this kind, she said, really can get a person to feel like their world has turned upside down, because their assumptions of the world are now incorrect. The mother of two is most likely discussing her trauma with a therapist to process her terrifying encounter. Its a place for her to talk out her feelings anger, rage, fear, worry about future safety which can have a healing effect, explains Ludwig. And this process can help Kim understand that some of the emotions and flashbacks she may be experiencing is part of the body and minds way of working through what had happened, Ludwig continues. Its reframing some of the experience, so its less jolting, less jarring, and less worrisome. A counselor would also be helping Kim to find ways to feel safe again and to give her a sense of control again, adds Ludwig. Maybe together theyre trying to figure out different ways to design her life, so that this type of threat is less likely to happen to her or the people around her again. Story continues While everyones resilience level is different, theres no way to predict when a person whos been victimized will recover. But Kim may even view this incident as a valuable life lesson. Shes making sure she has more protection, and shes changing the way she interacts on social media which can be potentially dangerous so shes doing the right things, concludes Ludwig. [This may serve as] a good wake-up call on how to protect herself from people who can be more dangerous. Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Shares of HP Inc. HPQ were down 1.3% during yesterdays extended trading hours, following the companys release of its non-GAAP earnings outlook for fiscal 2017, which was lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. In addition, the announcement of a second round of job cuts this year, in an effort to reduce costs amid declining demand for PC and printers, did not go well with investors. Fiscal 2017 Outlook Yesterday, at its Analyst Meeting in New York, the company revealed that it expects to generate earnings per share in the range of $1.55 to $1.65 (midpoint: $1.60). At its midpoint, however, the guidance fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.61 by a penny. On a GAAP basis, HP Inc. projects earnings to range between $1.47 and $1.57 per share (mid-point $1.52). During the fiscal year, the company expects to generate operating cash flow in the range of $2.8 billion to $3.1 billion. It projects capital expenditure of $0.5 billion. Free cash flow is anticipated to be between $2.3 billion and $2.6 billion. Keeping up with its strategy of boosting shareholder wealth, the company announced that it is planning to distribute 50% to 70% of its available fiscal 2017 free cash flow in the form of dividend and share repurchases. HP Inc. further revealed its plan of increasing the annual dividend by 7% to 13 cents per share in the next fiscal year. It also announced an additional share repurchase program worth $3 billion, although a time limit for completing the same has not been set. Headcount Reduction In addition to revising its fiscal 2017 outlook, HP Inc. revealed that it is planning to trim its employee count by 3,000 to 4,000 across different levels over the next three years, that is, from fiscal 2017 through fiscal 2019. This announcement is likely part of HP Inc.s ongoing restructuring plan. It should be noted that the new job cut is in addition to the companys planned job cut of 3,000 employees by the end of fiscal 2016, which was announced this February. Currently, HP Inc. has approximately 50,000 employees. Story continues HP Inc. expects the recently announced job cut to generate annualized cost savings of approximately $200 million to $300 million from fiscal 2020 onward. The company anticipates incurring one-time charges in the range of $350 million to $500 million associated with the job cut. HP INC Price HP INC Price | HP INC Quote Restructuring Initiative Since its split from Hewlett-Packard Company last November, HP Inc. has been trying to stabilize declining sales and eroding profits through a series of restructuring initiatives. The company has been witnessing a secular decline in demand for PC and printers due to the ongoing shift toward tablets and smartphones a space where it is yet to gain foothold. As part of its restructuring initiatives, the company has divested its content management software tools and Customer Communications Management (CCM) assets to Open Text Corporation, a move which will facilitate business realignment and allow it to focus on the PC and printing businesses. Apart from this, it will also facilitate cost reduction and enhanced productivity, thereby helping the company boost profitability. Furthermore, post the split, HP Inc. has been focused on product innovation and differentiation to maintain its leading position in the space. Keeping with this, during third-quarter fiscal 2016, the company launched EliteBook Folio, the world's thinnest and lightest business class notebook. Meanwhile, the company is also undertaking pricing actions, and marketing and sales activities in a bid to drive demand, thus giving some price stability to the market. Moreover, HP Inc. is trying to shift its product mix to the high end and move away from the low- and negative-margin businesses. The impact of these efforts was reflected clearly in the companys last earnings release, wherein the Personal Systems segment witnessed stabilization to a certain extent, and even recorded a slight year-over-year improvement after several quarters. The companys efforts to revamp the printing business have also been commendable. Note that HP Inc. has recently signed a deal to acquire Samsung Electronics printer business for a purchase price of $1.05 billion. The acquisition is a strategic fit for HP as it will be able to expand the companys printing business with the addition of 6,500-plus printing patents owned by Samsung. The move will offer support to the development and manufacturing of HP printers, going forward. In addition, the company is now focusing on enhancing its 3D printing business capabilities in an effort to revive tumbling sales. Note that even though HP has been operating in this space for almost five years now, it still lags behind 3D Systems Corporation DDD and Stratasys Ltd. SSYS. Thus, in order to fortify its presence in the market, HP recently unveiled its Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution, with two models to choose from 4200 and 3200. Unlike 3D Systems and Stratasys, which target all kinds of consumers, HP Inc. is emphasizing only on industrial markets because of their ability to afford a premium range of 3D printing solutions. To satisfy customers in this space, HP Inc. inked collaborations with the likes of BMW, Nike NKE and Autodesk in order to develop more advanced 3D printing technologies for diverse industrial uses. Bottom Line HP Inc.s efforts to turn around the business have been commendable. The company has adopted a strategy of focusing on product innovations and differentiation as well as on enhancing the printing business capabilities, which will help stabilize the top line. On the other hand, its headcount reduction and focusing on high-end product mix initiatives will drive its bottom-line results in the long run. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 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 HP INC (HPQ): Free Stock Analysis Report STRATASYS LTD (SSYS): Free Stock Analysis Report NIKE INC-B (NKE): Free Stock Analysis Report 3D SYSTEMS CORP (DDD): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Tax investigators raided the offices of Hungarian environmental group Energia Klub on Thursday, seizing hundreds of documents and computer files as part of what they said was a "criminal investigation into budgetary fraud". Energia Klub director Maria Csikai told Reuters on Friday that five officers spent all of Thursday going through their files in a move that was reminiscent of a government crackdown on non-government organizations in 2014. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been criticized at home and abroad for his tough actions against NGOs, which extended to 62 organizations and lasted for more than a year but uncovered no wrongdoing. The government had said the groups used international funds in an illicit way to subvert the country's political balance. Orban personally ordered the 2014 "extraordinary government audit", according to a letter to the director of the Government Audit Office KEHI obtained by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union. Since then, the government has kept up pressure on civil society groups that it says receive funding from international donors such as financier George Soros. Orban told parliament last month that civil groups received foreign money to "organize refugee streams and boost migration." Thursday's raid focused on a grant program funded by EEA Grants, the same donor organization whose projects were scrutinized in 2014, provoking a major diplomatic dispute between Hungary and grantor nation Norway. The grant program was non-political, targeting better adaptation to climate change on a local level. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs did not immediately respond to emailed questions, but tax authority NAV confirmed the raid. "Financial investigators indeed conducted a property search in connection with an ongoing investigation," it said. Energia's director Csikai said there had been no warning. "They busted the door on us like on some criminals to seize stuff that has been checked and rechecked a hundred times," she said in the central Budapest office that Energia Klub shares with Okotars, the foundation that was the main target of the 2014 crackdown. Csikai said everything the investigators seized had already been reviewed by state audits, was readily available online, and would have been made available on request. (Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Dominic Evans) AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court may have the jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines' crackdown on drugs, a prosecutor at the Hague-based tribunal said. Nearly 2,300 people have died since Duterte started the campaign on June 30, according to police, of which 1,566 were drug suspects killed in police operations. "I am deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements of high officials of the republic of the Philippines seem to condone such killings," ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement. The Philippines joined the ICC in November 2011 and extrajudicial killings could be prosecuted by the ICC if they are "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population," she said. Earlier on Thursday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called U.S. President Barack Obama, the European Union and United Nations "fools" and said he would humiliate them if they questioned his war on drugs. Duterte's communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said the president has already stated he was "willing to submit himself for investigation before any body". Andanar said vigilante killings were not sanctioned by the government. "Many of those who died were killed during legitimate police operations, which are currently undergoing investigation as directed by the president," he said in a statement on Friday. The ICC, established under the 1998 Rome Statute, is a court of last resort. It only intervenes if a country is found to be unwilling or unable to prosecute crimes under its statute, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Additional reporting by Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by Sam Holmes) IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against Seres Therapeutics ("Seres" or the "Company") (MCRB). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between June 25, 2015 and July 29, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the November 28, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you purchased shares of Seres during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang LLP, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. There has been no class certification in this case. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member. The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Seres made materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material facts about its lead drug product candidate SER-109, praising its potential and efficacy. On July 29, 2016, the Company announced that the Phase 2 clinical trial of SER-109 did not meet its primary endpoint. When this news emerged to the public, the stock price of Seres dropped, causing investors harm. If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have questions regarding this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions. Contacts Joon M. Khang, Esq. Telephone: 949-419-3834 Facsimile: 949-225-4474 joon@khanglaw.com SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP By Rajendra Jadhav and Sethuraman N R MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Demand for gold in India, the world's second-largest consumer, picked up as the festive season began and discounts narrowed, while demand across rest of the Asia continued to improve. Gold traded within a narrow range throughout the week, after falling nearly 5 percent in the previous week. Gold discounts in India narrowed to the smallest level in nearly nine months as prices fell during a key Hindu festival Dussehra boosted retail demand. Dealers were offering gold at $2 an ounce discounts to official domestic prices this week, the narrowest since the week ending on January 23. Last week discounts were $4. During Dussehra demand was very good. Jewellery shops were crowded after a long time, said Fatechand Ranka, a jeweller based at Pune in western state of Maharashtra. India celebrated the Dussehra festival on Tuesday. At the end of the month we have Diwali festival. If prices remain at the current range, then certainly demand will remain robust even during Diwali. Demand for gold usually strengthens in the final quarter of the year as India gears up for the wedding season as well as festivals such as Diwali and Dussehra, when buying the precious metal is considered auspicious. Gold prices in India were about 29,700 rupees per 10 grams on Friday, after falling to 29,300 rupees on October 7, the lowest level since June 6. The improvement in retail demand has provided confidence to jewellers. They are now actively buying, said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank. Refiners and banks are raising imports as a sharp fall in discounts in the last few weeks made their business viable, he said. Demand in top-consumer China rose after the week-long National Day holidays and premiums were quoted around $4 an ounce against the international benchmark. "A healthy premium of local China gold prices to world price is encouraging physical purchases and is evidence of good demand," HSBC analyst James Steel said in a note. Story continues "The resumption of China buying could be important." In Singapore, premiums were mostly unchanged at 50 to 60 cents an ounce and prices were quoted at a premium of around 60 to 90 cents in Hong Kong. "People are loving to buy at these levels. A lot of them are using physical gold as a hedge against the volatile stock markets," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer, Lee Cheong Gold Dealers, Hong Kong. Prices in Tokyo were at a premium of 25 cents an ounce, unchanged from last week. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai and Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) If you find lauki or bottle gourd too icky to eat, wait till you try out these three Indian desserts. These lauki recipes are easy, and the dishes taste just amazing. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/Maria D'souza By Shreya Goswami: We all find the taste and texture of lauki, which turns soggy and gluggy when cooked, a little trying. It turns a shade of pale and translucent green that's quite a turn off as well. So why do we eat it at all? The answer is simple. We eat it because when cooked well, lauki tastes amazing. And we don't just have savoury dishes to depend on. We have some really yummy, traditional dessert recipes that just turn around everything you hate about lauki into a winning dish! advertisement Really, just take a closer look at these amazing dessert recipes. You just can't help but try them out! Lauki Kheer The saffron in lauki kheer makes it taste just yummy. Picture courtesy: Facebook/Souvik Saha Ingredients: 1 tbsp ghee or clarified 1 cup grated lauki or bottle gourd 1/2 cups full fat milk A pinch of saffron strands or kesar 1 cardamom pod or elaichi, crushed 5 tbsp sugar 10 cashews, roughly chopped Method: 1. Heat the ghee in a pot, and add the cardamom pod. Let it splutter lightly, and then add the grated lauki. 2. Stir the lauki at a low flame for 4-5 minutes, and then add the milk. Mix well, and let it simmer for 6-8 minutes. Make sure that the mix does not stick to the bottom of the pot by stirring occasionally. 3. Add the saffron strands, and continue cooking till the milk gets reduced a bit. Add the sugar, and cook further for 20 minutes. 4. Take the kheer off the heat, and add the cashews. Serve it hot or cold. Also read: These 2 easy recipes will jazz up your lauki experience like never before Lauki Halwa Lauki halwa is a sweet treat you must try. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/Maria D'souza Ingredients: 3 cups grated lauki or bottle gourd 2 cups boiled milk 5 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp ghee or clarified butter 4 cardamom pods or elaichi, crushed 1/2 cup almonds and cashews, chopped Method: 1. Heat half the ghee in a wok or kadhai. Add the cardamom pods and the lauki. Saute the mix, and add the milk. 2. Mix the milk with the lauki, and let it boil at a low or medium flame. 3. Add the sugar, and mix well. Continue cooking the mixture till the milk reduces completely. 4. When the milk has completely evaporated, add the rest of the ghee and the nuts. Stir it all together till you get the proper consistency of a halwa. 5. Remove it from the heat, and serve the halwa hot or cold. Lauki Barfi This barfi is super-easy to make, and it can be stocked easily. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/cookwithsapana Ingredients: 2 cups grated lauki or bottle gourd 1 1/2 cups khoya or mawa 1 tsp ghee, for greasing 2 cardamom pods or elaichi 2 cups milk 1/2 cup almonds and cashews, chopped 1/2 cup sugar advertisement Method: 1. Boil milk in a pot with the cardamom, and add the lauki. Mix well. 2. Add the khoya, sugar, and some of the chopped nuts. Mix it well, and cook for 5-10 minutes. 3. Grease a tray with the ghee. Remove the lauki mix, and pour directly into the tray. Spread the mix evenly, sprinkle the chopped almonds on top, and set aside to cool for an hour or two. 4. Once the barfi is set and cool, cut it into equal shapes, and serve. --- ENDS --- Berlin (AFP) - Indigenous Namibians lashed out Friday at Germany for refusing to pay reparations for the genocide of their people a century ago, calling it a "phenomenal" insult to victims' descendents. Germany has been in negotiations with its former colony Namibia over a joint declaration on the massacre of the Nama and Herero people in 1904 and 1905 which would include an apology for the mass killings. But Berlin has repeatedly refused to pay reparations. It argues that hundreds of millions of euros it has contributed to development aid since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was for the benefit of all Namibians. Leaders of both Namibian indigenous groups said they would not accept any apology not backed by reparations.. This is because it "would seriously constitute a phenomenal insult to the intelligence not only of the Namibians and the descendents of the victim communities but to Africans in general," said Vekuii Rukoro, the paramount chief of the Herero people. "It would represent the most insensitive political statement ever to have been made by an aggressor nation to the victims of its genocide," he added. Germany had not only apologised to the Jews for the Holocaust, but had also paid reparations, Rukoro said. "Because we have a different skin colour, the German government is saying to us: it's only an apology and that's it," he said, adding that the "rest will be cheque-book diplomacy through our government, which will be given development assistance, and then we must shut up." "Guess what? The Hereros and Namas of Namibia, victims of genocide, we will not ever, in another 100 years to come, accept that," he stressed. - 'Futile exercise' - Berlin ruled what was then called South-West Africa as a colony from 1884 to 1915. Incensed by German settlers stealing their land and cattle and taking their women, the Herero people launched a revolt in January 1904 with warriors killing 123 German civilians over several days. The Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905. Story continues The colonial rulers responded ruthlessly and General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious extermination order against the Hereros. Rounded up in prison camps, captured Namas and Hereros died from malnutrition and severe weather. Dozens were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls sent to German researchers in Berlin for "scientific" experiments. Up to 80,000 Hereros lived in Namibia when the uprising began. Afterwards, only 15,000 were left. Parliament Speaker Norbert Lammert, writing in a guest column for news weekly Die Zeit, said the Herero and Nama peoples had been systematically targeted for massacre by German imperial troops. Since then, the government has also used the term genocide to describe the killings. The Nama and Herero leaders also demanded a seat at the negotiating table between Windhoek and Berlin, saying they had so far not been privy to the talks that directly concern their people. Moses Kooper, the Nama people's traditional chief, said: "We want to be part and parcel, as affected communities, in these negotiations, otherwise it will be a futile exercise." Esther Muinjangue, who heads the Herero Genocide Committee, said that until representatives of the indigenous people are represented, the talks should be halted. "We don't know what is being discussed at all... Where are we in the process?" she said. "That's why it's a failure and that's why they should stop." Thousands of Muslim hardliners protested in Jakarta Friday demanding the Indonesian capital's Christian governor be executed for allegedly insulting Islam, as he faces an increasingly tight election race. About 10,000 demonstrators wearing white Islamic robes and skullcaps rallied outside city hall in the capital of the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, waving banners that read: "The blasphemer must be prosecuted". The protest was triggered by accusations Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of the February polls. "Ahok must be executed. According to Islamic teaching, he must be killed," Emed Muhammad, a hardline opponent of the governor, told the cheering protesters. "Jakarta is now being governed by an infidel, but Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population." Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed around city hall to ensure the rally did not get out of hand. In his controversial remarks last month, Purnama told a crowd they had been "deceived" by his opponents who used a Koranic verse to try to put them off voting for a Christian. "You are being fooled, he said. Purnama, Jakarta's second Christian governor and the first from Indonesia's ethnic Chinese community, has won huge popularity with his no-nonsense style and determination to clean up Jakarta, an overcrowded, disorganised and polluted metropolis. But his tough-talking style, unusual for a politician in Indonesia, has alienated some and he has also faced constant opposition from hardline Islamic groups, who protested for weeks when he became governor two years ago. Purnama still remains the favourite to win the election but the race has heated up in recent weeks with two other candidates, the son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a popular ex-education minister, declaring they will run. He became Jakarta governor in November, 2014, but was not elected to the post. He was deputy governor and automatically became governor after incumbent Joko Widodo was elected Indonesian president. By Sankalp Phartiyal and Anya George Tharakan MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd (INFY.NS) cut its annual revenue growth target for the second time in three months as India's software service exporters feel the pinch of major Western clients holding back on spending as they wait to see how November's U.S. presidential election and Europe's Brexit drama play out. While it reported second-quarter net profit grew 6.1 percent, the second-largest player in India's $150 billion-plus software services outsourcing industry said on Friday it now expects revenue to grow between 8 percent and 9 percent in constant currency terms in the fiscal year through March 2017. The lowered outlook initially startled investors, sending shares more than 5 percent lower before they pared losses. Infosys had cut its guidance as recently as July, to 10.5-12 percent growth, warning in August it was seeing some "softness" after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. Firms like Infosys and industry leader Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) (TCS.NS) depend on North America and Europe for the majority of their revenue. TCS on Thursday reported lower-than-expected revenue growth and warned clients were delaying spending. "During the course of Q2 we have seen signs of cautious client behavior," Infosys Chief Executive Vishal Sikka said on a conference call. Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS.L) decision to shelve a plan to list a new bank in Britain, for which Infosys was a technology partner, also contributed to the lowering of revenue guidance, Sikka said. At 0921 GMT, the firm's shares were trading 1.9 percent lower. Investors took the view that a sector that is a showpiece of the Indian economy is still well placed in the longer term. "We don't believe that the structural story of outsourcing has changed," said Nilesh Shetty, a fund manager at Quantum Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd. "The engineering talent in India is still priced a lot lower than the developed world." Story continues For its fiscal second quarter ended September, Infosys said consolidated net profit rose to 36.06 billion rupees ($542 million) under Ind AS accounting standards, ahead of analysts' estimates of 35.26 billion rupees. Revenue rose 10.7 percent to 173.1 billion rupees. The company added 78 clients during the three months to September, taking its total number of active clients to 1,136. ($1 = 66.5919 Indian rupees) (Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Devidutta Tripathy in Mumbai, Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) * 2nd revenue growth target cut in 3 months * Cites "near-term uncertain business outlook" * Infosys warned of post-Brexit business 'softness' in Aug * Peer TCS also warned clients delaying spending * Q2 net profit up 6.1 pct to 36.06 bln rupees (Adds CEO, analyst comment, more details) By Sankalp Phartiyal and Anya George Tharakan MUMBAI/BENGALURU, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd cut its annual revenue growth target for the second time in three months as India's software service exporters feel the pinch of major Western clients holding back on spending as they wait to see how November's U.S. presidential election and Europe's Brexit drama play out. While it reported second-quarter net profit grew 6.1 percent, the second-largest player in India's $150 billion-plus software services outsourcing industry said on Friday it now expects revenue to grow between 8 percent and 9 percent in constant currency terms in the fiscal year through March 2017. The lowered outlook initially startled investors, sending shares more than 5 percent lower before they pared losses. Infosys had cut its guidance as recently as July, to 10.5-12 percent growth, warning in August it was seeing some "softness" after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. Firms like Infosys and industry leader Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) depend on North America and Europe for the majority of their revenue. TCS on Thursday reported lower-than-expected revenue growth and warned clients were delaying spending. "During the course of Q2 we have seen signs of cautious client behaviour," Infosys Chief Executive Vishal Sikka said on a conference call. Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to shelve a plan to list a new bank in Britain, for which Infosys was a technology partner, also contributed to the lowering of revenue guidance, Sikka said. At 0921 GMT, the firm's shares were trading 1.9 percent lower. Investors took the view that a sector that is a showpiece of the Indian economy is still well placed in the longer term. Story continues "We don't believe that the structural story of outsourcing has changed," said Nilesh Shetty, a fund manager at Quantum Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd. "The engineering talent in India is still priced a lot lower than the developed world." For its fiscal second quarter ended September, Infosys said consolidated net profit rose to 36.06 billion rupees ($542 million) under Ind AS accounting standards, ahead of analysts' estimates of 35.26 billion rupees. Revenue rose 10.7 percent to 173.1 billion rupees. The company added 78 clients during the three months to September, taking its total number of active clients to 1,136. ($1 = 66.5919 Indian rupees) (Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Devidutta Tripathy in Mumbai, Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Syrian pro-government forces used intense air strikes as cover for an advance in the battleground city of Aleppo ahead of fresh diplomatic talks on Saturday to end the conflict. The United States and Russia, which support opposite sides in the five-year war, will meet in Switzerland to try to resurrect the peace process. Moscow has faced rising international criticism over its backing for President Bashar al-Assad's onslaught in divided Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes. Violence has continued unabated in the northern city, once Syria's commercial hub but now ravaged by Russian and regime air strikes in support of a major government offensive against rebels. The meeting comes after leading charities called Saturday for a ceasefire in the battered city, issuing a joint plea "to establish a ceasefire of at least 72 hours in east Aleppo". "This will allow the sick and wounded to be evacuated, and for food and medical aid to enter the besieged area," said a statement from Save the Children, which joined the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam International in calling for a truce. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded opposition-controlled eastern districts again on Friday, though it did not have any immediate information on casualties. It said pro-government forces had used the air raids to advance southwards from positions in north Aleppo with the goal of "opening a route to the airport", east of the city. The intensified bombardment has put a severe strain on rescue workers and medical staff in east Aleppo, home to an estimated 250,000 residents under siege. "This recent escalation has been huge and we've had a lot of work," said Ibrahim Abu al-Leith, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force in Aleppo. He said rescuers were still working to dislodge people from under the rubble in the Tariq al-Bab eastern district. Story continues - Bleeding to death - AFP's correspondent in east Aleppo said some people had been stuck under the rubble for at least two days as rescuers scrambled between neighbourhoods. Others bled to death after White Helmets teams were unable to reach them in time. Since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow, Aleppo has been engulfed by some of the worst violence of the conflict. More than 370 people, including nearly 70 children, have been killed in regime and Russian bombardment of east Aleppo since the regime's assault began on September 22, the Observatory said. Dozens of civilians, including children, have also died in rebel bombardment of regime-controlled western districts, according to the monitor, which compiles its information from sources on the ground. The Observatory said at least 15 civilians, including two children, were killed Friday in air raids on a village in northeastern Raqa province, "presumably by the US-led coalition" currently battling the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria and Iraq. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to hold fresh talks to try to revive the ceasefire deal in Lausanne on Saturday. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will attend, along with the chief diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces. Iran announced late Friday that its foreign minister Mohammad Javid Zarif would take part in the Lausanne talks. Then in London on Sunday, Kerry will likely meet up with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany. Lavrov played down hopes of a breakthrough in Lausanne, telling reporters on Friday he had no "special expectations" for progress. - Aleppo as a 'springboard' - In an interview with Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid published Friday, Assad said he would use a victory in Aleppo as a "springboard" to capture other rebel strongholds. "It's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to another areas, to liberate another areas from the terrorists," the Syrian president said. He said his next target could be northwestern Idlib province. Idlib is held by an alliance of rebels and jihadists including the Fateh al-Sham Front, which changed its name from Al-Nusra Front when it cut ties with Al-Qaeda. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. There's no other option," Assad said. Also Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a law ratifying a deal with Syria -- first signed in August 2015 -- to establish Russia's Hmeimim airbase to launch pro-regime operations. Russia has long provided political and financial support to Syria and began its bombing campaign there in September 2015. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO Friday after the UN cultural organisation adopted two resolutions on the occupied Palestinian territories including annexed east Jerusalem ahead of a final vote next week. In a letter sent to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Education Minister Naftali Bennett accused the body of ignoring "thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem" and aiding "Islamist terror." "I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organisation," he said. Bokova distanced herself from the resolutions in a statement, saying "nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space." The resolutions adopted at committee stage on Thursday refer to "Occupied Palestine" and the need to "safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of east Jerusalem." They refer to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem's Old City -- Islam's third holiest site -- without any reference to the site also being revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained that saying "Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall is like saying China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or Egypt has no connection to the pyramids." Bokova did not specifically mention the resolutions in her statement but did refer to the Temple Mount. "The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city," she said. "To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list." Story continues Bennett called Bokova's remarks "insufficient," saying on Twitter that the "tailwind UNESCO gives terror will cease only when the organisation cancels yesterday's outrageous decision that denies history to appease Israel haters." And Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki slammed what he called Bokova's "unusual and unacceptable position," which was "an affront to the sovereignty of the Governing Body of UNESCO." "Bokova should focus her efforts on implementing the will of member states and preserving Jerusalem from the occupying power's systematic colonisation," he said in a statement. -'Give dialogue a chance'- Participants said the two resolutions adopted by 24 votes to six with 26 abstentions and two absentees are to be put to UNESCO's Executive Board on Tuesday, which generally votes with the line taken by committees. But Michael Worbs, who chairs UNESCO's executive board, told AFP he hoped a final vote set for Tuesday would be put off so a compromise could be worked out. "We need more time and dialogue between the members of the board to reach a consensus," he said, calling for the vote to be postponed. The resolutions were put forward by Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria -- members of the 22-strong Arab League which on Friday hailed a "historic decision". A statement from Said Abu Ali, deputy secretary general of the pan-Arab organisation for Palestinian affairs, said the resolutions "invalidate Israeli allegations and inventions concerning Jerusalem and Islamic holy sites." Washington meanwhile expressed its strong opposition. "We are deeply concerned about these kinds of recurring politicised resolutions that do nothing to advance constructive results on the ground and we don't believe they should be adopted," said State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner. The status of Jerusalem is the thorniest issue of the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel captured east Jerusalem during the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community, declaring the whole city its indivisible capital. The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised future state. MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian court accepted a request from Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) to settle a case revolving round alleged financial crimes by former managers, a source said on Friday. The settlement with Monte dei Paschi involves the seizure of 10 million euros and a fine of 600,000 euros, the source said. In October some former managers at Monte dei Paschi were among several people ordered to stand trial for a series of financial crimes. [nL8N1C70A5] Under Italian law a company can be held responsible if it is deemed that it failed to prevent, or attempt to prevent, a crime by an employee that benefited the company. (Reporting by Manuela d'Alessandro, writing by Stephen Jewkes, editing Luca Trogni) Abidjan (AFP) - Ivory Coast's main opposition coalition called Friday on voters to boycott a referendum on the adoption of a new constitution that changes contentious rules on presidential eligibility. Current rules require both parents of presidential candidates to have been born in Ivory Coast. It was one of the factors that triggered violent unrest five years ago during contested elections won by President Alassane Ouattara. Ouattara's father was born in neighbouring Burkina Faso and his rival Laurent Gbagbo, refused to cede power after losing a re-election bid. "We call on all our supporters, our compatriots, ... to take the path of boycott," said Pascal Affi Nguessan, president of the Ivorian Popular Front founded by Gbagbo. Nguessan urged supporters of the dozen party-strong opposition coalition the Front heads to go about their daily tasks and go to work as usual "as what is going to happen on October 30 does not concern them." The draft constitution, which parliament overwhelmingly approved earlier this week, changes the rules on presidential eligibility and establishes a senate. President Ouattara says the amendments will help end years of instability and conflict in the world's top cocoa producer, but the opposition says there has been a lack of consultation. In the past, Ouattara was barred from running for the top job because it was claimed he did not meet the parental eligibility criterion. As well as calling for the creation of a second legislative chamber, the draft constitution also sets up the post of vice president, to be elected at the same time as the president and two-thirds of senate members. The draft provides for the president appointing a third of the senate, a provision the opposition is particularly unhappy with. Ouattara told lawmakers last week that under the proposed constitution, the election calendar "will be known in advance by everyone, with fixed dates, so that there can no delays that could disturb our country's stability." Story continues Under the draft, presidential terms are set at five years, renewable only once. Ouattara was elected to a second term in October 2015. Gbagbo is now on trial at the International Criminal Court for war crimes in connection with the deadly unrest that followed his refusal to concede his election to Ouattara in 2010. Some 3,000 people were killed over five months following that poll. Getty Image J.R. Smith remains frustratingly unsigned and thus, not officially a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, but unless and until another team snatches him up, hes a member of that community of players. Sharing a locker room with LeBron James and befriending him has clearly rubbed off on J.R. too, because he wants to speak his mind on social issues more. The only problem is the publics perception of him as a goofball, or worse. Smith would like to speak out, as his friends LeBron and Carmelo have recently, about police violence against African-Americans. But he worries about how hed be interpreted. I cant say what I want and how I want, he told me. Because its me. When I try to explain myself or express myself, it seems to come off the wrong way. Like, when I was in New York, four or five years ago, the anniversary of September 11th comes up and I make an Instagram post for all the people who died, to celebrate their lives. Related Links: The post read, Celebrate the deaths of the people in 9/11! I was trying to say, We shouldnt mourn as much. We should celebrate their legacies, Smith explained. Dont get me wrong: its terrible what happened. The families going through it stillits horrible. But we should celebrate. Thats what I said. And the way it was interpreted by the New York Post was Yay! They knocked down the towers! We feel for J.R., because even as he achieved the ultimate in professional redemption by playing a significant part of a title-winning team, he cant shake the public image of him. To be fair, however, he didnt put on a shirt for days after the Cavs won that title, which endeared him further to those who already loved his antics and persona and further annoyed those bothered by his behavior. Thats the bind J.R. is in, but it shouldnt prevent him from speaking his mind although with a good deal more tact than his 9/11 Instagram post. Even comedians can get taken seriously if they do it right. (Via The New Yorker, whose J.R. profile you should really check out) By Hemender Sharma: Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's Bhopal visit today to inaugurate a war memorial has come with some real hope for Nirmala Sharma, mother of martyred Captain Debashish Sharma. She is hoping she might get back her son's Kirti Chakra that burglars stole from her house in 2014. Nirmala Sharma has alleged policemen from the Shahpura police station demanded money from her, in the name of processing, to trace the stolen Kirti Chakra. advertisement "My son was martyred while fighting terrorists in Kashmir in 1994. He was the only doctor available during operation Rakshak. He was shot from behind and he insisted that the grievously injured be rescued first. He died while being taken to the hospital and was awarded Kirti Chakar posthumously. Burglars broke into my house in 2014 and apart from some valuables they took away my most prized possession--the Kirti chakra of my son. I reported the matter to the police and they demanded money from me in the name of processing," Nirmala Sharma said while talking to India Today. Nirmala Sharma refused to give the bribe and continued to communicate with the Indian Army to get a new medal. "I just want my son's memory back. He has laid down his life for the country but the Indian Army does not give a replacement for any medal except the Param Vir Chakra," she said. Nirmala Sharma's allegation against the police on the eve of the Prime Minister's visit sent the state government running for cover. As soon as the news came out, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh rushed to Nirmala's house and promised action on all fronts. An SIT headed by an IPS officer has been formed to go to the bottom of the matter. "We will find out the policemen who demanded money from Nirmala Sharma and take action against them," Bhupendra Singh told India Today. Nirmala Sharma, however, is not interested in any action. "I just want the medal back. What will I get if some policeman looses his job. I'm interested in getting my most prized possession back," she said. Captain Debashish was martyred in 1994 during operation Rakshak while fighting terrorists in Kashmir and his mother, after 22 years of his martydom, is still fighting the system and the police force to get his gallantry medal back. --- ENDS --- Jagwar Ma -- the Australian duo that tours as a trio -- radiate with goofy, fresh energy. They speak over each other, crack countless jokes, and above all else keep not only themselves but also those around them endlessly entertained. Vocalist Gabriel Winterfield tells Billboard that "music literally brought us together," and after witnessing their tight-knit bond, it's utterly evident they were all destined to meet. Today (Oct. 14), Jagwar Ma released their sophomore effort Every Now & Then -- the follow-up to 2013's Howlin, an album that gained attention from the likes of Tame Impala, The xx and Foals (all of whom Jagwar Ma have supported on tour). Winterfield says touring with Foals stands out as their breakthrough moment, though, as it was their first real opportunity to be seen and heard. He says during Jagwar Ma's performance a few years back at Big Day Out, a festival in Australia that no longer exists, Foals watched from the side of the stage and approached the trio immediately after to invite them on their European tour. "[Frontman Yannis Philippakis] was like, 'Come support us, and come steal our fans.' That's 100 percent what he said," Winterfield recalls with crystal clarity. "It was a break, it was a total break. I'll be forever indebted for that." Jagwar Ma did exactly as Yannis had asked -- the tour largely helped them gain exposure and grow their fanbase. Their transition over the past few years is chronicled on the new album, as Winterfield says, "The record is ultimately about us working out what life is now, because things have changed so much since we did the first one." He adds, "Little older, little wiser, and a little bit dumber." DJ/producer Jono Ma -- who at this point is laying on the table -- is quick to agree with that last part: "Today, definitely." The night prior, Winterfield and bassist Jack Freeman accompanied Ma during his DJ set at The Lab in Brooklyn. The dynamic of Ma DJing as Winterfield hopped on and off the mic to contribute synthesized vocals at times granted insight on the inception of Jagwar Ma. Story continues Jagwar Ma formed in Sydney, Australia -- which fosters a "very very tight-knit" music community, according to Winterfield. He says he, Ma and bassist Jack Freeman all met after high school, and were playing in three different bands at the time. Due to the community-driven culture, though, various bands would often head out on east-coast Australian tours together. Those trips to cities 10-12 hours away -- band members piled into cars since flying was too costly -- proved to be bonding sessions for the three. "[We] played in some big empty rooms -- that brings you together," Ma says. "We used to just have parties on the stage; the bands would just end up on stage in this weird mutated form." That mutated form, though, is largely what inspired the formation of Jagwar Ma. Winterfield describes the group's formation as a "brokerage deal," as he and Ma initially agreed to help one another with their solo work -- Ma would produce Winterfield's music and Winterfield would sing on Ma's tracks. "But then eventually it just kind of became the same thing," he says. The way in which they create their songs largely reflects the fact that they started as separate acts first. Ma says Winterfield typically handles the lyrical content, whereas he handles the beats, and from there he pieces the puzzle together. "Despite the fact that I write the lyrics," Winterfield adds, "the person and the voice that comes through [in the band] is not necessarily me, it's not Jono -- it's this weird hybrid between the two of us. And that's Jagwar Ma." Keeping things within their music-made family is a goal Jagwar Ma often try to maintain, best illustrated by the DIY aesthetic of their sound, which stems from the quite literal DIY environment in which they record. Ma helped build a studio in both France and Sydney for the band to use, which he says "afforded us the time to be creative residents in these spaces." He adds, "Rather than having to spend thousands of dollars per day in some big grand studio, we just did it our way on our time." By and large, the trio is more than happy with the success and memories they have made thus far -- "We go to a lot of parties and shit and it always ends up the three of us just giggling in a corner," Winterfield says. "There's all these cool people everywhere and we just go to the corner and have a little laugh, I really cherish those memories." While they say they would love to have a No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- "What do we gotta do, who do we need to meet? What room are they in?" Ma jokes -- Winterfield says their ultimate goal is "pretty vague, but it's a real one." "I think that goal is that we want to play to as many people as we can and just keep doing it for as long as we can; it's not that complicated," he says. "That's what we like doing: We like making music and playing in front of people." TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's air defense force scrambled its fighter jets in response to Chinese military aircraft at a record rate in the six months ended Sept. 30, raising the number of such incidents from a year ago by about three-quarters. In the six months to the end of September, fighters scrambled to chase Chinese planes 407 times compared with 231 times in the same period last year, according to a press release from the Japanese Air Self Defence Force Encounters with Russian aircraft, which are often bombers that fly around Japan from the north skirting its airspace, rose 67 percent to 180. Japan worries that as China increases its control over the South China Sea it is turning its attention to expanding its influence in the East China Sea and into the western Pacific, where Japan controls a chain of islands stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) from the country's mainland south towards Taiwan. At the current rate of total scrambles, which stood at 594 at the end of September, the number for the year to March 31, 2017, will exceed the 944 encounters logged 30 years ago at the height of the Cold War. (Reporting by Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Tom Hogue) TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has withheld its 2016 funding for the UN heritage body UNESCO, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday, following its decision last year to include documents about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in its "Memory of the World" program. He did not give a reason, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday the UNESCO decision was problematic given conflicting views of Japan and China and that Tokyo might halt funding. "We gave an explanation yesterday to a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party on how payment of our contribution has yet to be made," Kishida told reporters, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party. "As for the future direction, we would like to make a decision in a comprehensive manner." Ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued with a territorial dispute over a group of tiny East China Sea islets and the legacy of Japan's wartime aggression. China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in 1937 in its then capital of Nanjing. A postwar Allied tribunal put the death toll at 142,000, but some conservative Japanese politicians and scholars deny a massacre took place at all. UNESCO established the "Memory of the World" program in 1992 to protect important historical documents and materials. Japan last year raised questions about the authenticity of the Nanjing Massacre documents submitted by Chinese organizations for the inclusion in the program and asked for fairness and transparency, prompting an angry retort from China. Japan had been due to contribute about 3.85 billion yen ($37 million) to UNESCO in 2016, or about 9.7 percent of its total budget. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Nick Macfie) By Olivier Fabre TOKYO (Reuters) - A Tokyo burger joint is getting its customers in on the U.S. election action by asking them to choose the better burger from two representing U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. In this gastronomic contest being held at J.S. Burger Cafe, which lasts until the election, voters get to pick between a Mr. Burger representing Trump, and a Mrs. Burger representing Clinton. The former is inspired by the New York Reuben sandwich and features pastrami beef and beef patties stacked together and topped with coleslaw and homemade Russian dressing on a black bun, the color of which signals Trump's "darker side", according to a restaurant spokesperson. Mrs. Burger, created in the same spirit of invoking the street cuisine of Clinton's hometown, is given the flavor of the Chicago Dog with the inclusion of two sausages, yellow mustard and pickles on a poppy-seed bun. Patrons express their approval of either choice by dropping a vote into a ballot box near the cash register, and the winning burger will remain on the menu for a year, after being announced on November 9, just as the world wakes up to the new selection for U.S. president. (Reporting by Olivier Fabre, Writing by Karishma Singh) CNN topper Jeff Zucker managed to tear himself away from the office on Friday afternoon. The president of CNN Worldwide, in the thick of covering the election, appeared onstage at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum - where he talked about the Access Hollywood tape, Donald Trump's Apprentice request to be paid the salary of the entire Friends cast and Megyn Kelly's upcoming contract renewal. "I have had a unique relationship with Donald Trump," Zucker started off. "I'm also the one who put him and The Apprentice on the air at NBC. I've known who he is and what he is for a long time." What he knows, Zucker emphasized, has nothing to do with the mounting allegations of sexual misconduct that have been levied against the presidential nominee over the course of the last week. He was adamant that it was news to him. "What is out there now, I am unaware of any of that," he said. "I never heard any of that. I knew him as somebody who loved to brag about his ratings, loved the spotlight and knew how to draw attention to his programming." On the subject of the hot-mic audio of Trump discussing groping women with Billy Bush, Zucker said he wasn't sure if Bush should lose his job over the matter - but he did make it quite clear that CNN would not have held any such tapes, as NBC News did with the old Access Hollywood audio. "If CNN had come into the same information, I see no reason why we wouldn't have published it as soon as we verified it," he said. "I can't speak to the process that went on at NBC News, but my gut would have been to publish that story and put it on the air as soon as we came into contact with it." Though Zucker also spent much time talking about his CNN tenure, the network's push into original programming and its 2016 ratings growth, moderator Lois Romano of the Washington Post did focus the first 20 minutes on the divisive nominee. The crowd of students seemed most pleased when Zucker discussed his tenure as president and CEO of NBCUniversal. The executive had some pretty exceptional color to contribute about Trump's contract negotiation after The Apprentice's breakout first season. Trump, per Zucker, wanted to be paid the per-episode salary that the cast of Friends was earning at the time - a cool $1 million. " 'Donald, you're not going to get a million [per] episode,' " Zucker recalled telling the host. "He said, 'No, I mean all six members.' " Story continues Zucker, laughing at the suggestion of a $6 million per-episode salary, said he countered with $600,000. Trump turned him down - until his lawyer called the next day and agreed to the fee. "He would always claim the ratings were bigger than they were," added Zucker. The cable chief again defended CNN's heavy coverage of Trump as news and added that a lot of it had to do with the candidate's willingness to appear on air. "If we made a mistake last year, it's that we put on too many of his campaign rallies in those early months," he said, then pivoting to CNN's many interviews with the candidate. "In [Trump's] defense, and in our defense, when we asked him for an interview, he said yes. And I cannot say that about the other Republicans who were running for president. Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush went two months without giving an interview. That's not Donald Trump and CNN's fault." The subject of Fox News Channel came up twice. Zucker hyped CNN's growing ratings, noting that it was now earning just 2 percent less of the cable news audience of adults 25-54 than his biggest competition. Total viewership, he admitted, is a more difficult title to grasp. "I think it's going to be very hard for us to overtake their audience because their audience has a lot of people over the age of 70," he said, taking a jab. "Frankly, we're not chasing those people." One thing about Fox News he might be interested in is star anchor Megyn Kelly. Zucker kept coy, much to his audience's amusement, when the topic of cable news' most coveted personality came up - but he did have kind words for her. "I think we all know her contract is up some time next year, and I think she's an incredible news anchor, and I think she can do whatever she wants," he said, smiling. "I'll leave it there." Read more: Billy Bush Nearing Settlement of NBC Fight From Cosmopolitan Photo credit: Ballantine Books In Jodi Picoults new book Small Great Things, the best-selling author explores racial prejudice through three perspectives: Ruth, a black nurse charged with the murder of a white supremacists baby; Turk, the white supremacist; and Kennedy, Ruths white public defender who, while well-intentioned, harbors racial biases of her own. Before writing the novel, "I thought very hard about including a voice of color, I did as much homework as I could, I had sensitivity readers correct my voice to make sure Ruth sounds authentic and is authentic," Picoult says. Researching for and writing Small Great Things was, for Picoult, an experience that required her to confront her own unconscious biases, and she hopes those who read her book undergo a similar process. Picoult encourages her audience to "read the perspective of someone who is a black woman in American society, who can really tell you what it feels like. Listen to that voice." Below is a list of nine books and an article that Picoult referred to while writing Small Great Things to spark your own exploration of race in the United States. 1.The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander Photo credit: The New Press "Michelle Alexander poses this concept that African Americans are being kept subjugated no longer by slavery, but by mass incarceration. When people of color are labeled as criminals disproportionately, it allows for a whole new discrimination in housing, in education, in employment. So even though theyre not being subjugated as slaves anymore, theyre still being kept down because theyre being wrongly defined as criminals. All of that sort of plays into the sentencing that Ruth is facing [in Small Great Things]." 2.Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Photo credit: Spiegel & Grau "I didnt read this book; I inhaled this book. Its written as a letter to [Ta-Nehisi Coatess] son. Its an insiders view of oppression as a black man in the United States. Not just the physical effects of believing your body is disposable to most people on this planet, but the mental and emotional effects of knowing that. Story continues "I read it and had to check my privilege after. [I was] putting myself in the center as opposed to looking at why he wrote the book, who his audience was. It was a huge learning experience for me because when you start to think about racism, its a journey that youre on, and youre going to take missteps. When you start to think about racism, its a journey, and youre going to take missteps. "Its very hard as a white woman to enter a discussion about racism without feeling like Im making every mistake possible. [But] knowing that Ta-Nehisi Coates could say, Anyone is welcome to read this book, but this is who I wrote it for, liberated me enough to say, Anyone can read Small Great Things but I am targeting this to a white audience. Ultimately, [Small Great Things] is to get white people to be more aware. We dont need black people to be more aware; they know very well what their lives are like." 3. Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin Photo credit: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers "Its a novel but its loosely based on the life of [a] former white supremacist. His name is Timothy Zaal and [his story is] better than fiction. He was part of a very violent white supremacist crew in California, and he beat up a gay man. They left him in a bloody pulp. [After leaving the movement,] he gave speeches about how to overcome hate at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. One day, he was in the cafeteria [of the center], and theres a tour guide leading a group of people, and the tour guide is the gay man that he left bleeding in the street. I mean, is this crazy or what? After months of very difficult conversations, they became friends. I met with Tim in addition to reading this fictionalized account, which is told by both this kid whos a skinhead and the gay man. I left those interviews feeling like if a white supremacist can have such an utter and complete change of mind and heart, Ive gotta believe the average white person in this country can too." 4. Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead by Frank Meeink and Jody Roy Photo credit: Hawthorne Books "Its based on the life of Frankie, who was the second [former white supremacist] I spoke with, who led a very violent crew in the Philadelphia area. In prison, he was playing a long-standing poker game, and there was a kid his age who was his partner, and the two of them kept winning because they were so close. And it just didnt seem to matter that this kid was black and that Frankie was white. That was the [first] moment that he began to realize that maybe what hed been taught wasnt true. How many exceptions to the rule do you need to make before you begin to think the rule was wrong? "The second moment was after he got out of prison, and he wound up getting a job from a Jewish man. And he had been told his whole life that this guy was gonna Jew you down. This man pulled him aside and says, Youve done such an extraordinary job I actually want to pay you double what I contracted you. Again, Frankie was completely thrown for a loop. And he realized, how many exceptions to the rule do you need to make before you begin to think the rule was wrong?" 5. Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving Photo credit: Elephant Room Press "Of all the books I read, this was probably closest to my life. Debby Irving grew up in a very privileged, suburban, white community and basically never was aware of any of her privilege. The book chronicles her discovery of her role in racism and her awakening to a calling in social justice. But whats really cool about it is at the end of each chapter are these great, thoughtful prompts that encourage readers to do the same thing. So its a really great way, if youre white, to sort of dip your toe into the waters of social justice. Its probably something similar to what youve lived. But it also encourages you to ask some hard questions." 6. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh "Its a seminal article in the world of social and racial justice, and lists 50 ways that racism isnt just about prejudice, but is systemic and institutional. In other words, its not an individual thing; its a global thing. There are things I tried to sprinkle through Small Great Things, moments between Ruth and Kennedy that illustrate some of these issues that are faced by people of color. I can open a bag of popcorn in the grocery store and no one will accuse me of trying to steal it. "Things like, if Im white, I can easily buy posters and greeting cards that feature people of my race. I could take a job with an affirmative action employer without anyone speculating that its because of my race. I can cover cuts on my skin with a flesh-colored Band-aid and flesh happens to be the color of my skin. I can open a bag of popcorn in the grocery store and walk around with it, and no one will accuse me of trying to steal it. I dont have to educate my kids to be aware of racism for their own physical protection. There are all these little things that, as a white person, I never had to think about." 7. A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America by David Shipler Photo credit: Vintage "Its a nonfiction book by a white writer - his thesis is if you learn what it means to be black in the U.S., you will learn what it is to be white. So he visits all-black colleges, he goes to plantations that are open to the public, he goes to police stations, and he basically learns - no great surprise here - to be black is to constantly be on guard and to be constantly be aware of your race. The one piece of the book that really stuck with me was a reunion of the descendants of slaves on a certain plantation. They opened the plantation up to the descendants of the slaves once a year, and it was just a beautiful description of this extended family coming together. And [one of the descendants] said, This wouldnt have existed without any of us. It was a great, powerful moment that I think is probably most recently best echoed by Michelle Obamas amazing speech at the DNC." One of the descendants of slaves said, This wouldnt have existed without any of us. 8.Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum Photo credit: Basic Books "When you go to a school that has black kids, they will all be sitting together in the cafeteria. And that usually makes the white kids very uncomfortable. Why is that? Well, because white kids are used to always being able to go wherever they want to go, and when theyre excluded, they take it very personally. And this isnt just true of kids, this is true of adults too. White people just arent used to not having a seat at the table. White people just arent used to not having a seat at the table. "[Beverly Daniel Tatum] also makes the case that being with your own kind is vital in fighting racism. It validates your experience if you have people who look like you and experience the same things that you experience, and thats why having that black table at the cafeteria is important, and thats why there should be all-black spaces to talk about racism as well as all-white spaces to talk about racism. [Tatum] said [white spaces] allow white people to speak their minds and struggle through their own process of understanding racism without a fear of being misinterpreted, which is often what keeps us silent. Again, it spoke to audience to me and reminded me that if I had a call to arms, it was to speak to people like me." 9. Assimilation Blues by Beverly Daniel Tatum Photo credit: Basic Books "Its [about] why black families settle in white communities. Its very scientific and academic. This was a really important book for me in terms of understanding why Ruth and her son Edison would have situated themselves in a white suburb of New Haven as opposed to being in a community that was more representative of their culture and their race - and by extrapolation, why other black families do the same." 10. Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry Photo credit: Yale University Press "[Melissa Harris-Perry] looks at the stereotypes of black women [and] identifies three: the nurturing caretaker; a highly sexualized black woman; and the angry black woman. And she poses the idea that by categorizing black women in one of those three categories, [it] affects the black population in a political way. A lot of her examination of these three stereotypes played into the characterizations that I was trying to create in Small Great Things. A lot of people have told me that Ruths sister, Adisa, is very hard to read, very off-putting. Well, thats because Adisa is the "angry black woman." But on the other hand, thats how were seeing her through a white prism. What you could also see is that Adisa has spent 50 years being silenced, and when you have any outlet to raise your voice, do you whisper? No, you yell." This interview has been edited and condensed. Follow Heeseung on Twitter. You Might Also Like John Kasich John Kasich has a simple message for Republicans who are struggling with how to respond to the 2005 tape that leaked last week of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boasting about using his celebrity status to grope women. "Lead by example," he told Business Insider in a Thursday interview. The Ohio governor and onetime 2016 presidential hopeful, who was the last Trump challenger to drop out of the GOP primary, released an extended response to the tape over the weekend. In that response, he said the tape was not "surprising to me or many others." "Many people were angry and questioned why I would not endorse Donald Trump or attend the Republican convention," he said. "I've long had concerns with Donald Trump that go beyond his temperament." He mentioned that the two had "substantive" policy differences on trade, Russia, and the budget, adding that Trump had not changed his "disqualifying" policy stances. "I've also encouraged him to change his behavior for the better and offer a positive, inclusive vision for our country, but he has not," he said. "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." Many Republicans had quickly condemned the leaked tape, in which Trump said he could "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it." For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Cory Gardner of Colorado, and Rob Portman of Ohio all unendorsed the Manhattan billionaire, who has since had several women emerge to accuse him of making unwanted sexual advances on them. Trump has vehemently denied those claims. Republican congressional leadership, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, condemned Trump's comments but did not unendorse the mogul, though Ryan said he would no longer campaign for the GOP nominee. Trump went on to rip Ryan and McCain in the coming days. Story continues Others, such as Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, called for Trump to drop out of the race over the weekend but then clarified or shifted their positions to include support for Trump or potential for it. During his Thursday interview, Kasich said his original statement says it all. "I don't have any more words," he said. "I've tried to do the best I can to lead by my actions in an appropriate way without recrimination or anything like that, because I ... I'm a very happy person. I don't think I need to say any more than what I've demonstrated." "And my action over the weekend was not based on just this incident, which is terrible it's been a whole consistent message of division and anger," he said. "And I don't support that." NOW WATCH: This animated map shows how religion spread across the world More From Business Insider Jon Voight continued his support of Donald Trump's campaign Thursday, when he posted a video online of himself earnestly pleading with Americans to dump Hillary Clinton in favor of Trump. The three-minute rant was packed with hits aimed at Clinton and her affiliation with wealthy Americans who have used their prosperity as "weapons." Voight also took down fellow actor Robert de Niro (who recently posted a video calling out Trump, and later called Voight "delusional") by reminding voters of his privilege as a member of the industry's elite. "Robert De Niro is a millionaire ... and has no tolerance for anyone with a different opinion," said Voight. He then addressed the issue of immigration, once again criticizing Clinton for supporting President Barack Obama's initiatives: "Thousands of refugees will flood our nation and nobody will know the good guys from the bad guys. It will kill our economy, which is at an all-time low now, under the years of Obama's presidency. And Hillary boasts of how proud she will be to continue Obama's legacy." Read more: Donald Trump Talks Family, Women in Unearthed Transcript: "When I Come Home and Dinner's Not Ready, I Go Through the Roof" Voight also took swipes at Obamacare, and touched on the current climate of hate, though he blamed the ongoing protests and the actions of Islamic terrorists on the nation's chaos. "We are witness to our own people burning down and looting our cities ... we are all witness to our own people killing our policemen," he said. "Islamic terrorists have killed thousands of people all over our country." The latter half of the video sees Voight make his case about Clinton's incompetency by blaming her for Benghazi during her tenure as Secretary of State: "She has blood on her hands from the Benghazi terrorist raid." The video concludes with the actor warning that "with Hillary as president, we will lose our Second Amendment and our right to bear arms," he said. "Freedom of religion will be attacked. And Hillary will try to stop all conservative voices on TV and radio." Story continues Voight finally pledges his allegiance to Trump and God, which, according to his vision, is the only way America will survive "the most important election in American history." He concluded, "May God protect the real truth, and may Donald Trump win this presidency. He will save our America, and he will certainly make it great again." Watch the video below. Read more: Experts, Sexual Assault Survivors Explain Why Donald Trump's Accusers Are Going Public Now By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ABUJA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Relatives of one of the 21 Chibok schoolgirls freed by Islamist militant group Boko Haram after two-and-a-half years in captivity in northeast Nigeria said on Friday they could not wait to be reunited. Around 220 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. Boko Haram released 21 of the girls on Thursday after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group. They were brought from the northeastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja to meet government officials. Travelling from eastern Yola to Abuja, Goni Mutah, the father of Asabe Goni, who was 21 when she was kidnapped, was overjoyed to hear of his daughter's release, and said he had immediately phoned his relatives to share the news. "Seeing her will bring happiness to us," Samuel, a cousin of Asabe, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Abuja. "And we will hear about the other girls," he said, adding that his delight at Asabe's release was tinged with sadness because his sister, Margaret, and several other relatives who had been kidnapped in Chibok, were not among the 21 freed girls. The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention, with some 200 of them still missing. Information Minister Lai Mohammed denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue. It is unclear what will now happen to the freed girls. Amina Ali, the first of the Chibok girls to be released from Boko Haram captivity in May, has since been held in a house in Abuja for what the state has called a "restoration process". She said in August that she "just wanted to go home". In recent days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram. The militant group last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State. Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon. (Reporting By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Additional Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram in Abuja, Writing By Kieran Guilbert, Editing By Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) By India Today Web Desk: Superheroes and Marvel are synonymous with each other but the latest offering from the Marvel universe is perhaps its most heart-wrenching. Madaya Mom, born out of a collaboration between Marvel and ABC News, is based on the real life accounts of a mother and her family's everyday struggles amid the strife-torn city of Madaya, Syria. Also read: Aleppo's Toy Smuggler, the man who risks his all to bring joy to Syrian children A screengrab of the comics. Picture courtesy: www.abcnews.go.com advertisement Though she continues to remain anonymous for safety purposes, a Syrian national managed to contact ABC News to give an account of life in Madaya which was eventually turned into blog posts like these. Since the city has been under a siege, the Syrian town has no access to electricity or even basics like food and fuel. These posts eventually gave way to a comic which has been described by a statement as follows, "This is the true story of one mother and her family who have been trapped inside the Syrian town of Madaya for more than a year. Madaya Mom is fighting off starvation, unsanitary living conditions and violent threats as she and her children are caught between warring factions in the country's civil war." Also read: 6-year-old American boy seeks Obama's help to bring Omran Daqneesh from Syria A screengrab of the comics. Picture courtesy: www.abcnews.go.com While reports about the war continue to fill newspapers, the comic book illustrates exactly how hard the daily life struggles of those in conflict zones like Madaya can be. Providing a more searing look at everyday life than news cameras, efforts like these are especially important when it comes to helping kids in other regions comprehend the situation of civilians living their lives in strife-torn regions like Syria. Since the comics also comes with a discussion guide for teachers, it seems like that's exactly what it was intended for. The comics can be accessed here for free. --- ENDS --- JPMorgan Chase ( ) quarterly numbers beat on both earnings and revenue. The bank said earnings were $1.58 a share versus an expected $1.39. Revenue also beat expectations, coming in at $25.5 billion. Chase saw loans, mobile customers and credit card sales all stronger compared to a year ago. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has sent a letter to President Obama criticizing SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White. Warren wants her removed from that position. Warren says White isn't getting rid of the political spending disclosure rule, which would force public companies disclose their political contributions. Netflix ( ) is paying Chris Rock a ton of money. The streaming service is paying the comedian $40 million for 2 stand up comedy specials. Netflix outbid HBO and others for the rights to the specials, the first one which will record next year. The American tech workers at Walt Disney World who lost their jobs to immigrants, but not before having to train their replacements, have just suffered a big setback in court. On Thursday, a Florida federal judge dismissed a proposed class action that charged Disney and its consulting firm with committing racketeering. The lawsuit from Leo Perrero and others similarly situated drew widespread attention upon filing earlier this year. They attempted to make the case thatstatements were submitted to the government attesting that foreigners hired on H-1B visas wouldn't adversely affect the working conditions of U.S. workers. In response to the lawsuit, Disney and HCL America argued that immigration law was being misinterpreted, that certification statements to the Department of Labor would only apply to the working conditions of HCL employees, not those working for Disney. U.S. District Court judge Gregory Presnell agrees that the relevant regulations support such interpretation. "Thus, even assuming arguendo that the working conditions of [Walt Disney Parks & Resorts] employees were adversely affected when the HCL employees were brought in, HCL's 'working conditions' certification in the [Labor Condition Applications] was not " writes the judge. "The only way for that certification to bewould be if the working conditions of HCL's U.S. worker employees were adversely affected." Additionally, Presnell writes that with displacement certification isn't required for certain exempt individuals. The plaintiffs attempted to argue that some of the hired workers were non-exempt, but Presnell can't find allegations within the complaint supporting this. Without anystatements, the judge concludes there are no alleged predicate acts that would carry a civil racketeering claim. The complaint is dismissed, though the judge has granted an opportunity to the plaintiffs to try again with an amended version if they so wish. Here's the full order. "The United States government has created immigration and other laws that have allowed American companies to fire Americans, bring foreigners in this nation to take American jobs, ship American jobs overseas and to also send America's private banking and medical data overseas," says Sara Blackwell, attorney for the plaintiffs, in response to the decision. "These RICO lawsuits were only two of many different legal avenues we are employing to stand up for the rights of American workers and the security of the American people's data. We have not decided, at this moment, if we plan to file an Amended Complaint. However, this loss is one that demonstrates the need for legal protection of American workers and American data." Leading railroad operator, Kansas CitySouthern KSU is slated to release third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 18, before the market opens. In the second quarter, the MO-based railroad operator reported better-than-expected earnings. The bottom line also improved significantly on a year-over-year basis, aided by low costs. Operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenues) improved substantially to 61.3% in the second quarter. Driven by its efficient cost management, we expect the railroad operator to report impressive earnings in the third quarter as well. KANSAS CITY SOU Price and EPS Surprise KANSAS CITY SOU Price and EPS Surprise | KANSAS CITY SOU Quote Our quantitative model shows that Kansas City Southern is likely to beat earnings because it has the perfect combination of two key ingredients. Zacks ESP:The Earnings ESP for Kansas City Southern is +0.83% with the Most Accurate estimate exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.20 per share by a penny. Zacks Rank: Kansas City Southern carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Note that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings estimates. Conversely, Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement. The combination of Kansas City Southerns favorable Zacks Rank and positive ESP makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat. What is Driving the Better-than-Expected Earnings? The company has an impressive track record with respect to earnings per share. It outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters with an average earnings beat of 8.63%. We expect the automotive sector to perform well in the third quarter. At the Morgan Stanley 4th Annual Laguna Conference in Sep 2016, the company revealed that automotive volumes were up 13% as of Sep 13. The company expects mid-single-digit revenue growth on a sequential basis in the to-be-reported quarter. Also, cheap labor and lower transportation costs in the Mexican market compared with the U.S. bode well for the company it as it has service networks across both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Story continues We are also impressed by the company's efforts to reward shareholders through dividend payments. However, headwinds related to the energy segment are expected to hurt Kansas City Southerns third-quarter revenues, as has been the case in the past few quarters. At the abovementioned conference, the company had stated that revenues declined 4% in the third quarter as did carloads (data as of Sep 13). Energy volumes were down 6% as were intermodal volumes on the same date. Stocks to Consider Here are a few bank stocks that you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination for an earnings beat this time around: Genesee & Wyoming Inc. GWR has an Earnings ESP of +4.26% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company, which will release its third-quarter results on Nov 1, has an impressive history with respect to earnings per share, having outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters by an average of 5.71%. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Canadian Pacific Railways Limited CP has an Earnings ESP of +0.47% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company, which will release its third-quarter results on Oct 19, has an impressive history with respect to earnings per share, having surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters by an average of 0.96%. Alaska Air Group ALK has an Earnings ESP of +0.49% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. The carrier, which has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third quarter increase 1% to $2.03 per share over the last month, is scheduled to unveil its quarterly results on Oct 20. 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 ALASKA AIR GRP (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report KANSAS CITY SOU (KSU): Free Stock Analysis Report CDN PAC RLWY (CP): Free Stock Analysis Report GENESEE & WYO (GWR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research We already know Kate Middleton is one of the best-dressed travelers around, stepping down jet stairschic, yet practical outfits paired withversatile (and comfy!)travel shoes. This week, on her first solo trip as a royal, the duchess stunned in another way: surprising passengers aboard a commercial flight headed for London. So you're sitting on a plane...and Kate Middleton walks on. https://t.co/ievWbcpdIm Jennifer Peros (@jenperos) October 13, 2016 Imagine being on this plane and the freaking Duchess of Cambridge casually walks on. Do you or do you die?!?!?! #GOALS pic.twitter.com/Oj6uLUKGBu Kate Middleton Fans (@RoyallyKate) October 12, 2016 1. I want to be on this plane. 2. Kate Middleton is so naturally classy. 3. She would have made her MIL proud. https://t.co/AJuFxecHCT Courtney Kabot (@CKabotWGME) October 13, 2016 The Duchess, who majored in art history at university, was certainly in her element today taking great interest in Vermeer's paintings. pic.twitter.com/d1ExwY9Fkg Middleton Maven (@MiddletonMaven) October 11, 2016 After her one-day trip to Holland, the princess boarded a British Airways flight in Rotterdam for her return trip to London. Passengerssnapped photos as she took her seat in the front of the plane wearing a light blue Catherine Walker suit that had almost a vintage flight attendant feelperhaps she was channeling her mother, Carole Middleton, who formerly worked for the airline. Once the short flight was over she was escorted off the plane where a private car was waiting on the tarmac. The one-day trip to the Netherlands included a visitto the Mauritshuis museum in Hague, where she visitedstudents in the gallerys learning program (reminder: Middleton wasart history major in college).The duchess also greeted fans and attended a reception at the museum, as well as metwith the Dutch monarch King Willem-Alexander atthe British Ambassadors Residence. Related Articles Kawasaki Good Times World Reopens Kawasaki has always been a performance-oriented company. In 1972 they released the 900 Super Four (Z1), effectively the debut of the modern Superbike era. Fast forward to 2015, and Kawasaki presented the Ninja H2R/H2 sportbike, with a supercharged engine that set a new performance standard. These two models are products of a philosophy and approach to technology that aims for top speed dating back over 70 years, to the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien (Flying Swallow") Type 3 fighter plane (Check that out i the final image of this article). The Kawasaki philosophy evolves today in their commitment to the ideal ride as "RIDEOLOGY" (Ride Ideology). This term embodies the pride and passion it takes to be fastest in the world, and the goal to enrich the lives of people around the world through the joy of motorcycle riding. Good Times World in Kobe, Japan, puts Kawasakis past and present on graphic display to the public. The exhibits include Kawasaki's legendary 900cc Z1 and legends-in-the-making Ninja H2 and stripped-stock model Ninja H2R. A 46-foot curved screen theater shows Kawasaki Heavy Industries many products for land, sea and air in action. Kawasaki Museum Kawasaki Good Times World reopens on the 14th of October 2016 with new inspiration from the Kawasaki Philosophy. The showcase includes a number of famous Kawasaki bikes that were pioneers in their time. A two-story space allows visitors to see a large number of models. For some models, both the street and race bikes are on display together. Included are: KR500 (Kork Ballington model) Ninja ZX-RR (Shinya Nakano model) Kawasaki 125 B8 125 B8M AVENGER (A7) A7RS H2B H2R KZ1000R KZ1000S ZXR750 ZXR-7 (winner of the 1993 Suzuka 8hours) KX450F (Ryan Villopoto model) Ninja ZX-10R (Jonathan Rea model) In the Hands-On Zone, visitors can sit on actual two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles to get a physical feel for the ride. 1. Ninja ZX-14R ABS High Grade 2. Ninja 250SL 3. MULE PRO-DXT (multi-function utility vehicle) Story continues Kawasaki Heavy Industries Autumn 2016 Exhibition Kawasaki's 2017 models just exhibited at INTERMOT in Germany will be on display as an opening exhibition in the space reserved for specially themed exhibits. RidEX Riding Simulator This riding simulator lets you take two simulated laps on a Ninja ZX-10R sportbike around a circuit whose scenery is shown on the spherical screen in front of you. Both children and adults can enjoy this ride. The Good Times World exhibition opens Friday, Oct. 14, at the Kobe Maritime Museum, 2-2 Hatoba-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Japan. Tel: 078-327-5401 Kendall Jenner has taken action against her alleged stalker. The 20-year-old reality star appeared at the Clara Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday to testify as a witness in the criminal case against Shavaughn McKenzie, who has been charged with two misdemeanors -- one count of stalking and one count of trespassing. WATCH: Kendall Jenner's Alleged Stalker Charged With Stalking, Trespassing Mona Edwards While speaking to judge Dorothy C. Kim, Jenner -- who was dressed in light-colored skinny jeans with a white sweater and full makeup -- detailed her traumatic encounter with McKenzie on the night of Aug. 14, in which she found him sitting on the street in front of her home in West Hollywood, California. Mona Edwards "I've never been so scared in my life," Jenner explained to the judge and jury, which was composed of seven women and five men, according to The Associated Press. "I was terrified. I was literally traumatized." "It's definitely put me even more on edge," Jenner continued. "I definitely don't feel safe in my own house anymore." Mona Edwards WATCH: Kendall Jenner Granted Temporary Restraining Order Against Alleged Stalker Jenner told the jury that as she entered the driveway to her home around 9:30 p.m., she "saw a figure" in her mirror. She claimed McKenzie followed her in, approached her car, and yelled, "I want to talk to you." "I probably screamed at him six or seven times for him to leave," she added. Jenner testified that after police arrived to the scene, she spoke with them about what happened. They then escorted her into her house to grab her things before she left to stay with a friend that night. "I had the police go in the house with me because I didn't want to go in alone," Jenner stated. "I think it brings it back to dealing with him before. I didn't know his intention, it could've been very bad." Story continues As ET previously reported, Jenner claims the incident occurred after she returned home from a casual dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with rapper Tyler, the Creator, and her close pal, Hailey Baldwin. McKenzie allegedly followed Jenner after she opened the gate to her private $6.5 million residence, which prompted her to call 911 at the time. WATCH: Kendall Jenner Gets Dinner With Tyler, The Creator Before Encountering Alleged Stalker Following McKenzie's arrest, Jenner obtained a temporary restraining order against the 25-year-old trespasser. "As a result of Mr. McKenzie's repeated harassment and stalking of me, I fear for my life and have suffered, and continue to suffer, emotional distress," Jenner stated in documents obtained by ET at the time. Judge Kim extended that order for five years on Thursday. McKenzie must now stay 100 yards away from the reality star. The trial continues Monday, Oct. 17 at 10:30 a.m. Unfortunately, the model isn't the only one in her famous family dealing with a terrifying legal situation. New details have emerged in the ongoing investigation in Kim Kardashian West's robbery, where she was tied up and held at gunpoint in the hotel she was staying in during Paris Fashion Week. A source told ET on Wednesday that due to the scary heist, the entire Kardashian-Jenner clan has upped their security protocol. "This incident has scared everyone," the source explained. -Additional reporting by STEVE WILKS WATCH: Kim Kardashian Returns to Social Media After Paris Robbery Related Articles The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has also claimed that it is because of the stand by the party such decisions are taking place. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: After the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India's (COEAI) decision to not allow the release of films with Pakistani artist in theatres, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has welcomed the move. The MNS has also claimed that it is because of the stand by the party such decisions are taking place. Earlier, another film body IMPAA had banned Pakistani artists and technicians to work in Bollywood. Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. advertisement While welcoming the decision, Amey Khopkar President of the Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Kamgar Sena (MNCKS) said, "We welcome the decision by the owners of theatres in Mumbai. But we have heard that some multiplex owners are planning to go ahead with release of Ae dil hai mushkil (staring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan), they should know this very well, that the glasses, screens and interiors of their cinema halls are very expensive". ALSO READ | Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: After MNS, Cine Owners Association declare ban on Karan Johar's film Watch the video Khopkar also reiterated his stand against those who hire Pakistani artists. "I do not understand why they need Pakistani artists in the first place. If they still continue to hire them, we will beat them up". Khopkar also attacked director Mahesh Bhat for coming to Karan Johar's defence. "If Bhat is so worried about Pakistani artists he should go to Pakistan," said Khopkar. Mahesh Bhat has said that it was wrong to stall the release of Karan Johar's movie Ae dil hai mushkil. ALSO READ: MNS workers protest at Karan Johar's office in Mumbai MNS threatens to beat filmmakers who work with Pakistan artistes Ensure all potholes are filled before Diwali or face our wrath, MNS dares Mumbai civic body chief --- ENDS --- By Lesley Wroughton and Clement Uwiringiyimana KIGALI (Reuters) - Talks on a global pact to cut greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners are making progress, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday, raising hopes for a breakthrough against climate change. Kerry consulted with officials from China, India and Pakistan on the sidelines of a meeting in Rwanda that aims to strike a deal among some 150 nations on ways to phase down factory-made hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases. India wants to gives its industry and those of some other developing nations more time to adapt. The United States and about 100 other nations want faster action. If deal can be clinched, it would be the third significant step in fighting climate change this month. "We're making progress," Kerry told reporters before meeting with senior Pakistani officials, after earlier talks with China's deputy minister for environmental protection Zhai Qing and Indian Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave. Kerry is due to fly out of the Rwandan capital Kigali later on Friday, when talks had been scheduled to end. But officials said negotiations would run into the weekend. "I am confident that at the end of the conference we are going to see an agreement," U.N. Environment Programme head Erik Solheim told Reuters. Solheim called on all sides to show flexibility and said talks were approaching "a middle ground." U.S. officials had said before Kerry's arrival that they were optimistic a deal could be reached. A quick reduction of HFCs could be a major contribution to slowing climate change, avoiding perhaps 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) of a projected rise in average temperatures by 2100, scientists say. India, the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is under pressure to speed up its plans for cutting HFCs. New Delhi had previously been pushing for a 2031 deadline, but on Thursday said the peak could be set for between 2024 and 2026. The United States, European Union and African states are among those seeking a peak sooner, around 2020 to 2022. Environmental groups have called for an ambitious agreement on cutting HFCs to limit the damage from the roughly 1.6 billion new air conditioning units expected to come on stream by 2050, reflecting increased demand from a rapidly expanding middle class in Asia, Latin America and Africa. An HFC accord would complement the Paris Agreement on limiting global temperatures rises, which was clinched in December and came into force this month, and a deal to limit emissions from aviation sealed in October. Use of HFCs, which can be 10,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as greenhouse gases, is already declining in many rich nations. The HFC talks follow up from the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which succeeded in phasing out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), widely used at that time in refrigeration and aerosols. The aim was to stop the depletion of the ozone layer, which shields the planet from ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer. An amendment to the Montreal Protocol covering HFCs is to be agreed by consensus. (Editing by Edmund Blair and Mark Heinrich) Abstract expressionism will be a clear winner when Willem de Koonings Untitled XXV highlights Christies Evening Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art on November 15 in New York City. The event will mark 10 years to the day when Christies sold the same masterpiece for $27,120,000an auction record, at the time, for any artwork created after World War II. Arriving in the United States from the Netherlands (as a ship stowaway) in 1926, de Kooning became part of the New York School of artists, a group most active in the 1950s and 60s. The cadre of creatives were identified by their surrealist style and highly interpretive oeuvres, as also evidenced by the works of Jackson Pollock, Betty Parsons, and Mark Rothko, among others. By the time de Kooning painted this multi-hued hallmark in 1977, he was living in Long Island, N.Y., during one of the most prolific periods of his career. Along with his muse (socialite Emilie Kilgore) with whom he was having an affair, de Koonings inspiration would often come from the islands bucolic Louse Point. The locations aquatic environment and the play of light on its fluid landscape provided the brilliant catalyst for his work with oils on canvas. The example soon to cross the block reflects de Koonings approach of alternately scraping over previous brushstrokes and applying layers to enhance textural complexity. Like lightning in a bottle, the result is a seminal study in constrained dynamism. In preview of the sale, Untitled XXV has been on display at Christies King Street Galleries in London since September 30. And while the painting is expected to garner somewhere close to $40 million, the current record for postwar work is held by Francis Bacons Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which fetched $142.4 million through the auction house in 2013. (christies.com) More From Robbreport.com Rosewood Offers an Opulent Off-Season Escape to Tuscany This Extravagant L.A. Estate Rents for $375,000 Per Month Story continues This New Glenlivet Single Malt Whisky Was Born When LBJ Was President A Peek at the Largest Sailing Yacht in the World Youll Feel Like You Hit the Jackpot at This Newly Renovated Vegas Spa Take Over a Private Island in the Maldives You may feel that a lipstick stain on a clean white mug after having coffee at a cafe is sexy, but truth be told, its only so when in movies. In real life, no one appreciates a leftover lipstick residue, and that is a common woe that all lipstick lovers face. kose lip gel magic Source Generally, lipsticks that dont have matte finishes such as lip glosses, lipsticks with sheen and satin finishes are not transfer-proof. That effectively means that as long as your lips are in contact with another surface, youre gonna leave a stain. Not pretty! Plus, that is also a sign that product has come off your lip, and youll need to spend time reapplying it. To some, that might actually be a waste of time and product. But not everyone likes the harsh look of a matte lippie; there are people who prefer the dewy, pouty look that glosses give. So, what if we told you that there is a product that will make all non-matte finish lipstick transfer-proof? kose lip gel magic Source Enter Kose Japans Lip Gel Magic, a translucid gel that coats your lipstick and will keep your lip product from staining. Its almost magical I must say, and yes, thank you Japan for once again blessing us with innovation and ingenuity. HOW TO USE *A word of caution: after application, this product will leave your lipstick with a sheen that is very much like applying a gloss over. So if you are going for a matte finish, do not use this product!* The lip gel is pretty much self-explanatory. 1. First, youll have to apply your lipstick as per normal. kose lip gel magic Source 2. After that, shake the container of the lip gel. This is to ensure that the product is evenly mixed throughout so that a semi-translucent gel will be produced. kose lip gel magic Source 3. Squeeze out an amount of the lip gel thats about the size of a grain of rice onto your finger. Do not spread it around your fingers; leave the gel in the little spherical form like how it was squeezed out. 4. Starting with the inner corners of your lip, go ahead and spread the gel to the other end of your lip. Focus mainly on the inner areas of the lip that are more likely to come off while eating and drinking. Story continues kose lip gel magic Source 5. Just one swipe each on the top and bottom lip is enough. There is no need to massage the product into your lipstick, for it is supposed to be a protective layer coating your lipstick. And thats it! Now you can go about your day, and wine and dine as you please without fearing that your lipstick might smudge or stain. REMOVAL Simply use your makeup remover cleanser and gently wipe away the product at the end of your day. The product and lipstick will come off together easily. ADDITIONAL BENEFITS The lip gel also promises to enhance and brighten your lipstick shades, making them look more intense and vibrant. You can use it on any lipstick colour of your choice. It is also fragrance and colour-free, so you dont have to worry about smelling something on your lips throughout the day, or fear that the gel might alter the colour of your lipstick. kose lip gel magic Source Plus, since it gives the same effect as a lip gloss, I would totally suggest you applying this over your lipstick instead of a lipgloss. This would make for sexy and poutier looking lips! And the best part is, since you only need a small grain-sized amount for each use, Kose has estimated that the average person could use the lip gel up to 60 times. A little really does go a long way here~ Each Lip Gel Magic tube costs 2,500 (S$33.39). Check out the review from other instagrammers: # * # * * * ##OR#PR#LIP#KOSE#LIPGELMAGIC A video posted by niibehiromi (@niibehiromi) on Sep 25, 2016 at 7:15am PDT Tried kose new lip gel magic and it really works 0-0! Time to try for lip stain and gloss to see if it works xD! Update: it doesn't work with lipgloss but with lip stain. #lipstick A video posted by Cerise Sweet (@suzumyon) on Oct 6, 2016 at 11:35pm PDT Now, if youre not going to Japan to get your hands on this miracle product anytime soon, fret not! Simply get a friendly Airfrov traveller to bring them back for you, straight from Japan! Click on the + in the image to copy requests travellers who are in Japan will offer to help you buy one! The post Kose Lip Gel Magic Makes Any Lipstick Transfer-Proof! appeared first on Airfrov Blog. Los Angeles Film Festival director and indie producer Stephanie Allain, in production on Justin Simiens Netflix series Dear White People, is stepping down from the fest, with creative director Jennifer Cochis promoted to the top spot. The change-up was announced today by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the festival and the Spirit Awards. Cochis is collaborating with outgoing Festival Director Stephanie Allain on all aspects of the Festival, Film Independent said. In addition to Dear White People, Allain (Hustle & Flow, Beyond the Lights) is posting Gerard McMurrays Burning Sands and prepping Juanita, an Alfre Woodard vehicle to be directed by Clark Johnson. Film Independent President Josh Welsh called Cochis a brilliant new force on the Festival scene and I am extremely happy to have her step into this new role. He said Cochis has worked closely with Allain for the past two years, first as Senior Programmer and then as Creative Director. Its an incredibly exciting challenge to build upon the great work that Stephanie has done at the LA Film Festival these past five years, said Cochis. I am passionate about continuing to grow this Festival, bringing together audacious and brave visual storytellers with the audiences of Los Angeles. Related stories LAFF Awards: Docu 'Political Animals' Takes Jury & Audience Prizes, 'Blood Stripe' Wins U.S. Fiction 'A Hundred Streets' Clip: LAFF Pic Offers Bittersweet Slice Of London Life Darren Lynn Bousman's 'Abattoir' Clip: Director On His Love Of "Antiques, The Archaic And Arcane" VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Lateral Gold Corp. (LTG.V) (the "Company" or "Lateral") is pleased to announce that it has priced the offering described in its preliminary short form prospectus filed with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario on September 15, 2016 (the "Offering"). The Offering will consist of 5,000,000 subscription receipts (each, a "Subscription Receipt") at a price of $1.00 per Subscription Receipt (the "Offering Price") for gross proceeds of $5,000,000. Each Subscription Receipt will entitle the holder thereof to receive, without payment of additional consideration or further action on the part of the holder, one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Lateral Share") (after giving effect to a proposed four for one consolidation of the Lateral Shares (the "Consolidation")), upon closing of the acquisition (the "RTO") by the Company of CANHaul International Corp. ("CANHaul"). Canaccord Genuity Corp. ("Canaccord") and Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. (together with Canaccord, the "Agents") have been engaged to act as agents in respect of the Offering. The Company has granted the Agents an option (the "Over-Allotment Option"), exercisable in whole or in part, at any time and from time to time commencing on the date of closing of the Offering (the "Closing Date") and ending on the earlier of: (i) the date that is 30 days following the Closing Date, and (ii) the Termination Time (as defined herein), to offer up to an additional 15% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold under the Offering, having the same terms as the Subscription Receipts, including the Offering Price, to cover over-allotments, if any, and for market stabilization purposes. The gross proceeds of the Offering (the "Escrowed Funds"), less 50% of the Agents' Fee and the Agents' Expenses (each as defined herein), will be held by Computershare Trust Company of Canada, as escrow agent (the "Escrow Agent"), and invested in short-term obligations of, or guaranteed by, the Government of Canada (and other approved investments), pending the satisfaction of all conditions to the completion of the RTO, pursuant to the terms of a subscription receipt agreement to be entered into on the Closing Date. Upon satisfaction of all conditions to the closing of the RTO on or before 5:00 p.m. (Calgary time) on October 31, 2016 (the "Deadline"), the Escrowed Funds and the interest thereon (less the remaining 50% of the Agents' Fee, Agents' Expenses and the interest thereon) will be released to Lateral, and each holder of Subscription Receipts will receive one Lateral Share for each Subscription Receipt held, without payment of additional consideration or further action on the part of the holder. If: (i) the closing of the RTO does not occur by the Deadline, (ii) the RTO is terminated at any earlier time, or (iii) Lateral advises the Agents or announces to the public that it does not intend to complete the RTO (in any such case, the "Termination Time"), then holders of Subscription Receipts will be entitled to receive an amount per Subscription Receipt equal to the Offering Price and a pro rata entitlement to the interest earned thereon. The Company has agreed to: (i) pay the Agents a cash commission equal to 7% of the gross proceeds of the Offering (the "Agents' Fee"), (ii) issue to the Agents such number of share purchase warrants (each, an "Agents' Warrant") as is equal to 7% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold under the Offering, with each Agents' Warrant entitling the holder to acquire one post-Consolidation Lateral Share at the Offering Price until the date that is 24 months from the Closing Date, (iii) pay the Agents a corporate finance fee in the amount of $100,000 (which has been paid in full by CANHaul prior to the date hereof), (iv) reimburse the Agents for their reasonable expenses in connection with the Offering (the "Agents' Expenses"), and (v) if the Offering is fully subscribed for gross proceeds of $5,000,000 and the Over-Allotment Option is exercised in full, pay Canaccord an additional corporate finance fee comprised of a cash payment of $50,000 and the issuance of such number of post-Consolidation Lateral Shares, based on the Offering Price, as have an aggregate value of $75,000 (the "Success Fee"). Proceeds of the Offering are expected to be used for sales and marketing, research and development, general and administrative, and other operating expenses of the Company following completion of the RTO. The Offering is expected to close on or about October 21, 2016, or such other date as may be agreed to by Lateral, CANHaul and the Agents, subject to customary closing conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). Trading in the Lateral Shares is expected to remain halted pending the satisfaction of conditions of the TSXV for resumption of trading. It is unlikely that trading in the Lateral Shares will resume prior to the completion of the RTO. For additional information regarding the terms of the Subscription Receipts, the Offering and the RTO, see the Company's news release dated September 16, 2016. Information concerning CANHaul CANHaul provides business intelligence to organizations that require current information concerning the location and status of, and relevant data with respect to, corporate assets such as equipment, devices, vehicles and people. CANHaul does not manufacture hardware, instead it focuses on software, integrating products from sophisticated vendors that satisfy the evolving needs of customers. CANHaul provides real-time connectivity and visibility, which increases control, optimization and safety and enhances decision making, customer service and daily management of business operations. As an early adopter of the mobile-first/cloud-first approach with a long-held focus on an open collaborative technology strategy, CANHaul customers benefit from industry-leading data security through Microsoft Azure, powerful analytics and mobile access to their solution across leading mobile operating systems. CANHaul's innovation strategy is built on the pillars of integration and collaboration. CANHaul's open architecture system enables the extension of functionality by connecting to complementary software solutions and legacy systems vital to its customers' ever evolving needs. This collaborative approach has positioned CANHaul to capitalize on the rapid evolution of the Internet of Things, as evidenced by new partnerships and products such as ConnectX Lone Worker with Honeywell and Time Based Insurance with InsureMy. CANHaul's technology strategy seeks to open a larger addressable market. CANHaul management believes that CANHaul's solutions strongly respond to the needs of companies that require connectivity and visibility, while delivering a customizable and configurable solution to provide deep and sophisticated business intelligence to enterprises from all sectors. Information concerning Lateral Lateral was previously involved in the identification, exploration and development of viable mineral properties in the United States. If the RTO is completed, the resulting issuer is expected to be a Tier 1 Technology issuer on the TSXV. Further information concerning Lateral can be found under Lateral's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. For additional information, please contact John Veltheer at (604) 562-6915. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS "John Veltheer" President, CEO and Director Cautionary Statements No securities regulatory authority has expressed an opinion about the securities described herein. No Lateral securities have been or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any state, district or commonwealth of the United States (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act). Accordingly, these securities may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of any "U.S. Person" (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act), absent an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described in this news release in the United States or any jurisdiction where such offer or sale would be unlawful, or for the account or benefit of any U.S. Person or person within the United States. Completion of the RTO is subject to a number of conditions, including Exchange acceptance and disinterested shareholder approval. The RTO cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the RTO will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the filing statement or other disclosure document to be prepared in connection with the RTO, any information released or received with respect to the RTO may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Lateral should be considered highly speculative. The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed RTO and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the completion of the proposed RTO; the Offering and the use of proceeds thereof; the business and operations of CANHaul; the pro forma financial information of the Company following completion of the RTO and the Offering; and information regarding the management, business and operations of the Company upon completion of the RTO and the Offering. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals for the RTO; an inability to complete the Offering; those additional risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, including the Information Circular; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States. SOURCE: Lateral Gold Corp. Cairo (AFP) - An attack on an Egyptian military checkpoint killed 12 soldiers and wounded six others on Friday in the Sinai Peninsula where security forces are fighting jihadists, the army said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Mortar rounds and rockets were fired at the army post, a police official and a medic told AFP. The army spokesman said in a statement that soldiers clashed with the assailants in the northern Sinai. "Terrorist elements attacked a checkpoint in the northern Sinai. The clashes left 12 soldiers dead and wounded six others," the statement said. It said that "15 terrorists were killed". But the jihadist IS group, in a statement on the smartphone app Telegram, said its "soldiers" were "safe and sound" and had seized arms and ammunitions during the attack on the military checkpoint. The attack took place in the Bir al-Abd area west of El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, the officials said. The Egyptian affiliate of IS has claimed several attacks on security forces and foreigners in the Sinai in the past. Bir al-Abd has so far been largely spared the violence that has rocked northern Sinai over the past three years. Jihadists in Egypt have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. They pledged allegiance to IS more than a year later, and their attacks have persisted despite a sweeping military campaign in the peninsula which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. Earlier this month, gunmen killed five Egyptian police conscripts in El-Arish. The jihadists claimed the bombing last year of a Russian airliner carrying tourists home from a Sinai resort. All 224 people on board were killed. By PTI: Colombo, Oct 14 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modis comment that Ravana was the new form of terrorism has drawn fire from Ravana followers in Sri Lanka. In his Vijayadashmi address in Lucknow on October 11, Modi had linked Ravana with terrorism and said that "the first person to fight terror was neither a soldier nor a politician, but the mythological bird Jatayu who fought against Ravana to protect a helpless Sita, whom he was trying to kidnap". advertisement "We condemn the statement made by the Indian Prime Minister equalling King Ravana to a terrorist," Ittapane Saddhatissa, a Buddhist monk who leads the Ravana Force, said. He said the Ravana Force would soon hand over a petition to the Indian High Commission here, protesting against this remark. Saddhatissa said Modis comment hampers the ongoing reconciliation process in Sri Lanka. Another organisation Ravana Shakthi said Ravana had not been dubbed a terrorist in even in Ramayanaya. PTI CORR CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- Sidon (Lebanon) (AFP) - Nine-month-old Amena al-Helou's skin sizzles as the surgeon cauterises an incision in her chest, beginning a heart operation at a south Lebanon hospital to save the Syrian refugee's life. She is just one of dozens of refugees treated each year by Lebanon's leading paediatric heart surgeon Issam al-Rassi, who each week sets aside a day to operate on Syrian and Palestinian refugees. But for all his efforts, including on occasion waiving his fee, Rassi's work runs up against the reality that many refugees simply cannot afford the life-saving treatment Amena is receiving. "I have lost babies while the father was looking for help for money," he says in his office at the Hammoud hospital in Sidon. "I have a baby who should have been operated on at six months being operated on at nine months because the father needed three months to get the money." So, despite being born without a right ventricle, Amena is in some ways lucky, because her parents have been able to scrape together loans to pay for her treatment. She is barely visible as Rassi, 50, and his team perform the procedure, her tiny figure dwarfed by the operating table and cloaked in green sheets. The skin on her torso is painted brown with antiseptic and wrinkles like old leather as it is pulled apart to reveal her rib cage, which Rassi snips open. He works to reroute the blood flow from Amena's head directly to her lungs, ensuring it is oxygenated despite the missing ventricle. The room is quiet except for the occasional request for a tool and the beeping of a machine monitoring Amena's vital signs. As he completes the procedure, Rassi observes her blood oxygen saturation rate rise to 98 percent. "It's working," he says. - 'Huge sums' - Outside the operating room, Amena's parents Khalil and Amira al-Helou are waiting anxiously to hear the fate of the youngest of their six children. They have been refugees in Lebanon since they fled their home in war-torn Syria's northeast in 2013, with 39-year-old Khalil relying on seasonal farm work to scrape together money for food. Story continues Hammoud hospital offers discounts to refugees, and the UN covered 75 percent of her operation -- but the remainder was still nearly $2,000 (1,800 euros), far beyond the Helous' means. "I gathered the money from different people, my brother, my cousin, other relatives," Khalil said. "What's hard is not now, but paying it all back later. I don't know how we'll do it." Khalil said he approached several charities in Lebanon for help but was told they "don't help Syrians." More than a million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon since the war began in March 2011, testing the already-limited resources of the tiny nation and the patience of its four million citizens. The UN says it lacks the funds to respond to the crisis, meaning refugees who can barely afford food are left to pay thousands of dollars for life-saving operations. The situation infuriates Rassi, whose voice raises in a rare show of emotion as he discusses it. "We cannot ask a father living in a tent... to pay $3,000, it's a huge sum of money," he says. "For a Lebanese middle-class person, it's the salary for three months." Until recently, Rassi was Lebanon's only paediatric cardiac surgeon and he sees his work with refugees as a matter of responsibility. "It's really part of our duties, not part of our job. You have a baby, you have to operate on the baby," he says. - 'Rationing care' - After Amena's successful operation, Rassi immediately moves on to 18-month-old Ali, who breathes in rasping gasps, eyes buried in his swollen face. Like Amena, he is missing a ventricle, but his procedure has been delayed by three months. "The operation should have been done a long time ago, we're doing it late because we had to collect the money," says his 29-year-old father Ahmed Hassoun, from northwestern Idlib province. While Ahmed borrowed from relatives, Ali developed a chest infection, further delaying the operation. UN refugee agency UNHCR says it sought $134 million for hospital care for Syrian refugees in Lebanon this year but only received pledges worth $36 million. UNHCR senior public health officer Michael Woodman, himself a doctor, said that was a huge sum but fell far short of needs. "We need a much bigger commitment... The fact that we are 30 percent funded for lifesaving care is appalling," he told AFP. The UN is currently only able to cover 50 percent of the health needs of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, he said. "It's very difficult, it's a tragedy... No one wants to be in this position of rationing health care, we shouldn't be." For now, Amena's parents are focused on her recovery, her mother tearing up at the sight of her fragile daughter in the ICU, sedated and breathing through a tube. "Of course you feel afraid," Khalil says quietly, "but there's no other option." "She's the most precious thing I have." Fox Business Network anchor Lou Dobbs on Thursday apologized for tweeting out the personal information of Jessica Leeds, who claims presidential candidate Donald Trump touched her without consent. Leeds and another woman, Rachel Crooks, both told The New York Times that the GOP nominee touched them inappropriately years ago. According to the Associated Press, Dobbs retweeted an article about Leeds' accusations along with her home address and phone number. The link, which was not a New York Times article, has now been deleted and Dobbs later tweeted an apology. Dobbs retweeted a Politico article about his initial tweet and added, "My Retweet, My Mistake, My Apology to Jessica Leeds Lou Dobbs tweets Trump accuser's address and phone #." My Retweet,My Mistake,My Apology to Jessica Leeds Lou Dobbs tweets Trump accuser's address and phone # https://t.co/iOP6MJvCEx #MAGA #Dobbs - Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 13, 2016 CNNMoney reports that the link Dobbs retweeted went to a conservative news website article claiming that a number believed to be Leeds' contact info had the same first six digits of the Clinton Foundation. Read more: Two Women Claim Donald Trump Groped Them: "He Was Like an Octopus" Louis Koster has released his first book Being Happy: How to be really happy! It focuses on eliminating depression, stress and unhappiness and manifesting an inspired life CRAFERS, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Author Louis Koster, medical doctor, humanitarian and teacher, has released his first book SER Feliz: Como ser feliz realmente! The title translates BEING Happy: How to be really happy! The book focuses on how to eliminate depression, lethargy, stress, unhappiness and bad moods and manifest an inspired life. More information on Louis Koster and his book SER Feliz: Como ser feliz realmente! is available at: http://louiskoster.com/book-launch-ser-feliz. Only 27 percent of Latinos reported that they would seek mental health services when in need of help as compared to 40 percent of whites saying they would seek treatment according to research reported in Health Services Research. The U.S Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, "Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity Supplement," reported that among all Latinos with mental disorders, fewer than 1 in 11 contact mental health specialists, while fewer than 1 in 5 contact general health care providers. As Louis Koster's first Spanish language book published in the series "A New Language For Life" which delves into what it takes for a conscious person to take their life to the next level, SER Feliz: Como ser feliz realmente! was written to raise the level of consciousness authentically through one's own language. The book's main focus is on how to eliminate depression, lethargy, stress, unhappiness and ordinary bad moods and give direction to those who are stuck, unsure, at a cross-roads or believe that there is more to life than what they are now experiencing. SER Feliz: Como ser feliz realmente! contains detailed steps and instructions designed to be used by people who are serious about being happy to help them trust themselves and have the power to manifest their heartfelt desires quickly with as little stress as possible. Story continues The full how-to book spans three key points: peace how to be more present even if a person has interfering self-criticizing thoughts; fulfillment how to re-energize ones sense of fulfillment when one feels stuck in guilt and worry or feels immobilized by the past; and freedom how to be free to dream. Told along with Koster's own compelling story, he said he wrote the book to help people on their journey of awakening to their true nature and to provide new perspective to some of the issues that they are currently dealing with in their lives. Koster has a background in public health, family medicine, organizational development and transformational training which helped shape the creation of the book. He served for more than ten years as a medical doctor for Doctors Without Borders, The International Committee of The Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations in trouble spots around the globe. SER Feliz: Como ser feliz realmente! will be represented at the International Book Fair October 19-23, in Frankfurt, Germany. It is available for purchase on Amazon at: https://amazon.com/dp/B01L8U3UHU. More information about Louis Koster and his new book SER Feliz: Como ser feliz realmente! is available by visiting the website listed above. Contact Info: Name: Dr Louis Koster Organization: Eudaimonia Press Address: PO Box 85 SOURCE: Dr Louis Koster LYON, France The global market for restored cinema classics is improving, but preservation efforts need to be stepped up before a larger portion of humanitys cinematic heritage vanishes, warned Gaumont president Nicolas Seydoux speaking at the Grand Lyons Lumiere Festival in France dedicated to vintage cinema. We estimate that in the U.S. 90% of movies made before 1914 have disappeared, Seydoux cautioned. In France we dont know the amount weve lost, but I think the fact we can reproduce them [digitally] gives us new hope, he added. French film journalist Fabrice Leclerc in a presentation noted that, by his count, one fourth of Americas cinematic heritage is now preserved outside the U.S. Seydoux pointed out that while in France the prime market for film restoration is television, thanks in part to the proliferation of digital distribution channels its clear today that there are markets for restored films. One of the characteristics of France is that TV broadcasters air restored films, but they demand quality of the highest level, which is great for the audiences, he noted. If we want young generations to watch movies that correspond to the idea that we have of cinema it would be indecent if they are not the same quality as their videogames, which are very good. Defending the use of digital restoration methods vis-a-vis working on the original film stock Seydoux said: Im sure that if Jean Renoir was around today he would have used them to smooth out some sound snags. Gian Luca Farinelli, director of Italys Cineteca di Bologna, the prominent film archives known globally as a prime film preservation entity, agreed that digital techniques open up amazing possibilities. While Farinelli lamented that Italys pubcaster Rai is not interested in the classics, Cineteca di Bologna is now distributing about ten vintage films a year theatrically in Italy averaging 10,000 tickets per title. Their top earners are Spaghetti Western master Sergio Leones so-called Dollar Trilogy which was released in local multiplexes. Story continues Bolognas LImmagine Ritrovata restoration lab, whose work is eagerly commissioned by major movie classics players in Europe, recently opened a Hong Kong outpost that is a point of entry for vintage Asian cinema gems. With an annual budget of approximately 3 million euros ($3.3 million), Gaumont has so far restored 400 movies out of its 1,000-title library. Related stories Les Acacias Screens 'Tales of Hoffmann' and 'Cesar et Rosalie' at Lumiere Festival Bertrand Tavernier: 'My Journey' Has 'Made Me Proud to Be French' Almodovar Shoots Latest Film in Lyon, Shares Prize with Frank Capra Samajawai Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Friday that the chief ministerial candidate of the party would be decided after the assembly elections. By India Today Web Desk: In an interesting turn of events, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday hinted that Akhilesh Yadav may not be an automatic choice for the CM candidate in the upcoming assembly polls in UP. He also indicated that the SP might not announce its chief ministerial candidate before the assembly polls in the state. "Samajwadi Party legislature party will decide on the name of chief minister," Mulayam Singh said to a question about the chief ministerial candidate. advertisement His remarks came at a time when party just seemingly came out of a bitter internal fight for power. UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP state chief Shivpal Yadav were at loggerheads and their fight came out in the open. Mulayam Singh made efforts to broker a compromise between the warring factions of the family. READ: India Today-Axis Opinion Poll for Uttar Pradesh: BJP dream run to continue, but a hung Assembly likely 'I AM THE BOSS' Keeping in tune with brother Shivpal Yadav's persistent claim that Mulayam Singh is the real boss within the Samajwadi Party, he emphasised his role in the party. "Samajwadi Party has reached such heights because of me. There has never been any dispute in the family since three generations and the situation remains the same. People still believe in Samajwadi Party," Mulayam Singh said in an apparent attempt to show solidarity with Shivpal in the matters of party against the objections raised by the chief minister son. READ: Targeting Akhilesh: Perfect recipe of disaster for Samajwadi Party? However, the SP chief denied that there was any problem within the family. "We never had any division in our family, neither will have in future," said Mulayam Singh. ALSO READ: Son still rising: UP CM Akhilesh leads popularity vote over father Mulayam by huge margin After Mulayam slams Akhilesh, UP CM pledges full support to Shivpal --- ENDS --- When the 11th annual Billboard Women In Music event hits New York City this winter, royalty will be present. Following a year where she extended her record as the highest-grossing female touring artist of all time, Madonna will receive Billboard's 2016 Woman of the Year award. "Madonna is one of a miniscule number of super-artists whose influence and career transcend music," said Janice Min, president and chief creative officer of The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group. "With her creative vision, relentless innovation and dedication to philanthropic causes, she is an inspiration to hundreds of millions of people around the world, all while shattering every career record out there. She is an important feminist on top of that, a one-of-a-kind artist who's used her influence to change the conversation around women, sexuality and equal rights." From her Prince tribute alongside Stevie Wonder at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards to her political Met Gala appearance to her indelible commentary on the 2016 election, Madonna has remained a constant force in pop culture and source of cultural conversation over the past year. Her Rebel Heart Tour, which wrapped in March, solidified her status as one of the biggest touring acts of all time. Madonna sold more than 1 million tickets and walked away with $170 million. That makes her the highest grossing solo touring artist in Billboard Boxscore history (the archives go back to 1990) with a staggering $1.31 billion in total concert grosses. Read more: Madonna Strips Down, Joins Katy Perry in Supporting Hillary Clinton In addition to being the first female pop star with true control of her career and image, Madonna is the best-selling female recording artist of all time. She's earned 8 No. 1 albums (and 21 top 10 albums) on the Billboard 200 and 12 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. With her 46th No. 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart in 2015, she extended her own record for the most No. 1s on a single Billboard chart. She also holds the record for the most top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 38. Story continues In addition to her ongoing chart dominance, her philanthropic efforts are effecting real change in the world. Madonna's Raising Malawi organization is currently constructing Malawi's first pediatric surgery and intensive care unit, which will double the number of life-saving surgeries performed on children each year, provide intensive care after critical surgeries, and train specialized Malawian medical staff. The Mercy James Institute of Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care facility will open in 2017. The seven-time Grammy winner will receive the honor at the 11th annual Women in Music event, held Dec. 9 in New York City and airing nationally on Lifetime on Dec.12. The star-studded event is held in conjunction with the publication of Billboard's Women in Music list, which identifies the 50 most powerful female executives in the industry each year. Read more: Billboard Music Awards: Stevie Wonder Joins Madonna in Moving Prince Tribute This story first appeared on billboard.com 2016 Matteo Prandoni/BFA.com Rocco Ritchie is taking after his older sister, Lourdes Lola Leon, as a style-setting teen, and the duo joins an impressive group of fashionable siblings influencing the industry, including Jaden and Willow Smith, Kaia and Presley Gerber and Brooklyn and Romeo Beckham. Rocco, the 16-year-old son of Madonna and Guy Ritchie, attended the Dazed and Calvin Klein party Thursday night to celebrate the magazines 25th anniversary with his rumored girlfriend Kim Turnbull (the granddaughter of artist William Turnbull). But this wasnt his first fashion outing! Just last month he was also spotted sans parents at the Love x Marc Jacobs party during London Fashion Week (also alongside Turnbull). Rocco also secured a modeling job this year. He serves as a face for the Adidas x Alexander Wang collaboration, giving his best Blue Steel alongside seasoned pros like Binx Walton and Hanne Gaby Odiele among others. Instagram Photo RELATED PHOTOS: Last Nights Look: Love It or Leave It? And at just 16 years old, we have a feeling this is only the beginning for the star. After all he grew up with one of the most expressive style stars in history, so fashion is in his DNA. Plus, Madonnas oldest child, Lola, is proof. She first got into the fashion business helping her mom launch Material Girl line for Macys in 2010. And this year she was named the face of Stella McCartneys Pop Perfume. //players.brightcove.net/416418724/rJSWQ1RE_default/index.min.js In September, Madonna and Guy resolved a lengthy and highly publicized custody battle over Rocco after eight months in court. The teen continues to live with his father in London, but hes also spending more time with his mom. Madonna has been bonding with Rocco lately, sharing Instagram posts of them dancing together and celebrating his new gig with Adidas. Instagram Photo Instagram Photo What do you hope Rocco does next? The main Maldives opposition party accused President Abdulla Yameen of behaving like a despot Friday for quitting the Commonwealth in the face of mounting criticism over his rights record. The party of the exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed said the unilateral decision to pull out of the 53-member bloc was another example of how Yameen was turning the honeymoon islands into a diplomatic pariah. "President Yameen has made the Maldives a very isolated place," the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said in a statement. "This is an absolute despotic move, which says much about the Yameen regime and its political posturing and disregard for international or public opinion." The Maldives has been wrangling with the Commonwealth over its human rights record since the toppling of Nasheed, the Indian Ocean archipelago's first democratically-elected leader, in February 2012. Nasheed secured political asylum in Britain earlier this year after travelling to London for medical treatment while on prison leave from a controversial 13-year jail sentence. The country of 340,000 Sunni Muslims is famed for its coral-fringed islands but has been gripped by political unrest since the fall of Nasheed and there are regular anti-government protests. The Commonwealth had put Male on notice after Nasheed stood down as president in 2012 and said he had been forced out in a coup. Nasheed was accused of "terrorism" and jailed in 2015 for 13 years following a rushed trial which a UN panel found to be flawed. The US has warned that democracy is under threat in the Maldives. Yameen's government said Thursday that it had been treated "unjustly and unfairly" by the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, mostly former territories of the British empire. "The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," said a statement from the foreign ministry. It also accused the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat of interfering in its affairs. Story continues The Commonwealth's watchdog committee of foreign ministers last month voiced "deep disappointment at the lack of progress" in the Maldives. It said it would consider suspension at its next gathering in March 2017. The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said the organisation's members and peoples "will share my sadness and disappointment" at the Maldives' decision to quit. By Shihar Aneez (Reuters) - The Maldives said on Thursday it will leave the Commonwealth, weeks after the organization warned it could be suspended because of its lack of progress in promoting the rule of law and democracy. Best known as a paradise for wealthy tourists, the Indian Ocean archipelago has been mired in political unrest since Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in disputed circumstances in 2012. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group last month warned the Maldives that in the absence of substantive progress in rule of law and democracy, it would consider its options, including suspension. The Commonwealth comprises 53 states that were mostly former British colonies. "The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Regrettably, the Commonwealth has not recognized that progress and achievements that the Maldives accomplished in cultivating a culture of democracy in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions." Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said the move by President Abdulla Yameen's government was taken without consulting parliament and will bring "irredeemable damage" to the country's standing in the international community. "This is an absolute despotic move, which says much about the Yameen regime and its political posturing and disregard for international or public opinion," it said in a statement. Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland expressed sadness and disappointment over the decision and said she hoped the move will be a temporary separation. Amnesty International said the Maldives authorities should address their own human rights situation rather than lashing out at legitimate criticism. "Human rights have been in a complete freefall in the country over the past few years. The government has locked up opponents through politically motivated trials and led an unprecedented crackdown on independent media," Amnesty's South Asia Director Champa Patel said. Yameen's administration reintroduced the death penalty in July, rejecting repeated requests by rights groups and the West. Nasheed, in exile in Britain after being allowed out of jail to travel for medical treatment, formed the Maldives United Opposition in June with the aim of toppling Yameen. Yameen's administration has arrested most of his opponents. The opposition says the administration is trying to cover up corruption including money laundering, accusations the government has denied. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Dominic Evans) SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A follower of 1960s cult leader Charles Manson, who masterminded one of the most notorious mass murders of the 20th century, was denied parole from a California prison, officials said on Friday. Robert Beausoleil, who has been in prison since 1970 after he was found guilty of murdering Gary Hinman, can not reapply for parole for three years, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Luis Patino said in an email. Among the victims of the Manson Family in August, 1969 was actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski. She was stabbed 16 times by cult members. Four other people were stabbed or shot to death at Tate's home by Manson's followers, who scrawled the word "Pig" in blood on the front door before leaving. Beausoleil was not involved in the Tate murders. Manson is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison in California for the seven Tate-LaBianca killings and the murder of Hinman in July 1969. Beausoleil was initially sentenced to life in prison but his punishment was modified by an appeals court to seven years to life. Beausoleil was denied parole on Thursday, Patino said, at his 18th parole suitability hearing. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Alistair Bell) Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today hit back at the Muslim board who boycotted law commission on uniform civil code on Thursday. Naidu said triple talaq was not a political issue, but was about gender justice. By Brijesh Pandey: A day after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a host of other Muslim organisations boycotted the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, accusing the government of divisive politics, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu hit back by saying the core issue is gender justice, and not politics. "Why is the Muslim Personal Law Board calling Prime Minister Modi a dictator? What is the objection? I don't understand why they are dragging the name of the PM? Let us have a healthy debate on the core issue which is gender justice," Naidu said. advertisement The Union Urban Development Minister said there should be a debate on the Uniform Civil Code. Also Read: Triple talaq row: Muslim personal law board to boycott law panel, calls it biased 'PEOPLE CONFUSING TRIPLE TALAQ WITH UNIFORM CIVIL CODE' "People are confusing the triple talaq debate with Uniform Civil Code. The government is not in a hurry to implement Uniform Civil Code. There needs to be a debate on this and people can put forth their point of view," he said. The implementation of the Uniform Civil Code is a part of the BJP's election manifesto. Naidu said it has also been mandated by the Supreme Court and not the NDA government. The Supreme Court had recently said it would prefer a wider debate, in public as well as in court, before taking a decision on the constitutional validity of 'triple talaq', which many complain is abused by Muslim men to arbitrarily divorce their wives. Also Read: Triple talaq case: Muslim activists snub clerics on Uniform Civil Code DON'T MAKE IT POLITICAL: VENKAIAH NAIDU Attacking the Muslim board for its call to boycott the law panel's exercise on Uniform Civil Code, Naidu said the board should join a political party. "You want to boycott the Law Commission, then it's your choice. But don't force your views on others and dont make it political," he said. On Thursday, AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani had called the Law Commission's questionnaire "misleading and divisive" and said Muslims will not respond to it. "We will boycott this questionnaire. No Muslim will respond to it because it is misleading and deceitful. The Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," he said. Also Read: Centre opposes triple talaq in Supreme Court, says gender equality not negotiable MODI DELIBERATELY RAKING UP UNIFORM CIVIL CODE? Questioning the timing of the move, Rahmani said the Narendra Modi government had deliberately thrown up this issue now to "hide its failures in the last two-and-half years". "Modi ji wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added. The government had recently told the Supreme Court that triple talaq, 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices. Subsequently, the Law Commission on October 7 put up on its website a questionnaire, comprising of 16 questions, to seek public opinion on the civil code issue. advertisement Also Read: Minorities panel chief comes out openly against triple talaq Muslim NGO condemns Centre's take on triple talaq, says will defend the 'faith' if challenged --- ENDS --- It was 100 years agoon Oct. 16, 1916that Margaret Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic in the United States. An advocate for womens reproductive rights who was also a vocal eugenics enthusiast, Margaret Sanger leaves a complicated legacy and one that conservatives have periodically leveraged into sweeping attacks on the organization she helped found: Planned Parenthood. Last year, 25 House Republicans campaigned to have a bust of the pioneering family planner removed from the Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery, where it has been included in an exhibit featuring American civil rights leaders, called The Struggle for Justice, with Ted Cruzs office issuing a press release explaining that she didnt belong there for a number of reasons, the most damning of which is that as part of her inhumane lifes work she advocated for the extermination of African-Americans. Its not the first time Sanger has faced this accusation. During this past primary season, Ben Carson proclaimed that Sanger believed that people like me should be eliminated later clarifying, per PolitiFact, that he was talking about the black raceand in 2011, Herman Cain alleged that Sangers original goal for Planned Parenthood was to help kill black babies before they came into the world. Historians and scholars whove examined Sangers correspondence, as Salon reported in 2011, challenge those who call the activist racist. Much of the controversy stems from a 1939 letter in which Sanger outlined her plan to reach out to black leaders specifically ministers to help dispel community suspicions about the family planning clinics she was opening in the South. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members, she wrote. It was, as the Washington Post called it, an inartfully written sentence, but one that, in context, describes the sort of preposterous allegations she feared not her actual mission. The irony is that it has been used to propagate those very allegations. Cruzs letter to the director of the National Portrait Gallery, for example, quotes only the first half of the sentence. Story continues Sangers stated mission was to empower women to make their own reproductive choices. She did focus her efforts on minority communities, because that was where, due to poverty and limited access to health care, women were especially vulnerable to the effects of unplanned pregnancy. As she framed it, birth control was the fundamental womens rights issue. Enforced motherhood, she wrote in 1914, is the most complete denial of a womans right to life and liberty. Thats not to say that Sanger didnt also make some deeply disturbing statements in support of eugenics, the now-discredited movement to improve the overall health and fitness of humankind through selective breeding. She did, and very publicly. In a 1921 article, she wrote that, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective. She was, of course, not alone in this viewpoint: In the 1920s and 1930s, eugenics enjoyed widespread support from mainstream doctors, scientists and the general public. Planned Parenthood officials are quick to note that, despite her thoughts on the idea in general, Sanger uniformly repudiated the racist exploitation of eugenics principles. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. made clear that he agreed that Sangers lifes work was anything but inhumane. In 1966, when King received Planned Parenthoods Margaret Sanger Award in Human Rights, he praised her contributions to the black community. There is a striking kinship between our movement and Margaret Sangers early efforts, he said. Margaret Sanger had to commit what was then called a crime in order to enrich humanity, and today we honor her courage and vision. As Gloria Steinem pointed out in a 1998 essay for TIME, Sangers embrace of the eugenics rhetoric may have been less a heartfelt belief than a political ploy to broaden birth controls appeal. But even speaking the language of eugenics could be insidious. Steinem writes: [Sanger] adopted the mainstream eugenics language of the day, partly as a tactic, since many eugenicists opposed birth control on the grounds that the educated would use it more. Though her own work was directed toward voluntary birth control and public health programs, her use of eugenics language probably helped justify sterilization abuse. Her misjudgments should cause us to wonder what parallel errors we are making now and to question any tactics that fail to embody the ends we hope to achieve. Read Gloria Steinems full essay, here in the TIME archives: Margaret Sanger One size doesn't fit all when it comes to students' learning styles. And many U.S. medical schools are now experimenting with alternatives to the traditional lecture. One medical school even plans to remove in-person lectures from its curriculum. The Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont recently announced it will end course lectures and provide video lessons that students can watch on their own schedule. Students will instead spend class time devoted to project-based learning. Dr. William Jeffries, senior associate dean of medical education at the Larner College of Medicine, says the medical school is transforming because educational research indicates that students learn better in an active learning environment than they do in a passive one. Jeffries says an active learning environment requires students to take responsibility for their own education and encourages them to think about the relevance of their coursework in the real world. He says this environment is superior to a passive learning environment where students take in information without applying that knowledge, and he says lectures are generally less engaging than other teaching methods. Nevertheless, some medical school professors defend traditional lectures and say they are the best way to impart passion for medicine to the next generation. [Consider capitalizing on the increasing number of blended learning opportunities at medical schools.] Medical schools vary widely in their teaching methods, and experts say it's important for students to choose a school that suits their learning style. Here are five ways to identify the school where you are most likely to thrive academically. 1. Consider your academic preferences: In college, did you learn best through hearing facts and figures or through hands-on projects? Are you more verbal or visual? Depending on your answers, some medical school teaching methods might resonate better with you than others. Story continues Michael Torres, a first-year student at the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, says he enjoys the personal insights professors share during lectures. "I'm a more traditional student, so I like going to class and taking notes," he says. Torres says when he was sick and had to watch class lectures online, he missed the social connection that comes from attending class in person. But lectures are not for everyone. Some students prefer alternative teaching methods. Michael Bell, a first-year student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says he learns more during his participation in small group exercises, where he and fellow students collaborate to achieve a goal, than he does watching lectures. "In lectures, I feel like we cover a lot of ground, but we don't retain as much," he says. [See ways technology is boosting medical school training.] 2. Explore your options: Popular medical school alternatives to lectures include case studies, where students are asked to diagnose and treat a hypothetical patient based on a complex array of symptoms, and flipped classrooms, where students watch video lectures at home and apply that knowledge in class projects and discussions. But Dr. Richard Gunderman, chancellor's professor at Indiana University--Indianapolis, says students should not write off the value of the traditional lecture. "Like any other form of teaching, it can be done well or poorly," he says. Gunderman, who has won numerous teaching awards, says medical students who feel inspired by TED Talks could find similar inspiration through a great medical lecture from an experienced doctor who serves as a role model. 3. Seek an abundance of clinical learning opportunities: Jeffries says clinical experiences are key to a medical school education and that the earlier students start interacting with patients during their medical school career, the better. "The fact is, if you ask students what they remember about medical school, nobody is going to say, I remember this great lecture on the urea cycle," Jeffries says. "What they are going to say is, 'I remember my patients, and I remember the doctors who showed me medicine. I wanted to be like them.'" [Learn about pursuing leadership skills for success in a health care career.] 4. Prioritize work-life balance: Jeffries says prospective medical students should seek schools where students are given free time during the day to prepare for class, as opposed to schools where they spend the whole day in class and spend nights doing homework. This provides students with a more flexible schedule and allows them more personal time, which contributes to their health, happiness and academic success, he says. When students have control over their schedules, Jeffries says, they are less likely to experience burnout. "I would put a premium on wellness," he says. 5. Consider school spirit: A key sign of a positive medical school learning environment, says Gunderman, is the enthusiasm that students and professors demonstrate. And the best way to judge a school's spirit is through a visit. "I would look for schools where the students and the faculty seem excited about their work," Gunderman says. "If people speak with enthusiasm and a sense of fulfillment about their school, that's the kind of medical school you want to be at, and if people are down and out, something is amiss." Searching for a medical school? Get our complete rankings of Best Medical Schools. Ilana Kowarski covers graduate schools for U.S. News. You can reach her via email at ikowarski@usnews.com. Retirees are bound to be disappointed later this month when Social Security announces the size of the cost-of-living adjustment for 2017 retirement benefits. The nonprofit American Institute for Economic Research estimates that the adjustment will be no more than 0.5 percent, which works out to a monthly income boost of $6 for the average Social Security recipient. Without any meaningful Social Security payout increase, a smart way for retirees to save money next year is to take the time to shop around for the most cost-effective Medicare prescription drug coverage. Whether you are enrolled in Original Medicare and purchase separate prescription drug coverage (called a Part D plan) or you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan that includes prescription drug coverage, wringing the most value from your drug coverage can save you plenty more than what even a robust Social Security cost-of-living adjustment might amount to. The savings to an individual on the out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs can be hundreds of dollars or even thousands of dollars by finding the most cost-effective plan, says Juliette Cubanski, associate director of the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundations Program on Medicare Policy. Yet the foundation reports that less than 15 percent of enrollees make a change to their prescription drug coverage in any given year. Even if youve been happy with your plan in the past, you should still give your coverage a checkup. "Plans are changing a lot from year to year, especially the drug coverage," explains Philip Moeller, author of the recently published "Get Whats Yours for Medicare: Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your Costs." Even if your medications havent changed, the cost to you might be a lot higher next year. Thats because each year, an insurers drug formularythe medications it coverscan change. That can spell a big hit to your pocketbook. In a survey concerning 20 Part D plans, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that among six of the top drug brands (and one generic drug) the difference between the typical cost when the drug was on a formulary and the highest cost when it wasnt amounted to at least $200 per month. Story continues The insurer can shift more of the cost to retirees. Insurers usually sort their covered drugs into tiers, ranging from the least expensive and often generic to pricey specialty drugs that require the highest co-pay from the individual. And there is no uniformity in how similar drugs are priced among plans. A Kaiser Family Foundation study last year found that the monthly out-of-pocket cost for five popular drugs covered by Part D plans can vary by as much as $100. Rx for Savings From Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 every year, current enrollees can comparison shop and change their coverage for the next year. Heres how to make the most of what Moeller calls Medicares annual "do over" offer: Find your plan's Annual Notice of Changes (ANOC). It should have been mailed to you in September. It is the official communication of how your coverage will change. Focus on changes to drug coverage. Your first step is to confirm that every medication you require is included in your plans formulary. Cubanski recommends conferring with your prescribing doctor if a brand-name drug you have been taking is no longer in the formulary or has been moved to a more expensive tier. "Sometimes when a generic becomes available, the brand name will no longer be covered or will be more expensive," she says. "Your doctor may be able to suggest a generic that will meet your needs." If not, you definitely want to shop around for a plan that covers your brand name at a lower cost to you. Double check your pharmacy. If youre not using mail order offered by your plan, be sure that your local pharmacy is considered part of your plans preferred network; using a pharmacy that isnt in-network costs more. Surf your way to savings. The government's free Medicare Plan Finder tool enables you to compare your current plan with other plans available in your area, based on the exact drugs and dosage. (You can compare up to three plans at once.) If you find a better deal tailored to your medical needs, call the plan to confirm what you found online before you make the switch. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S. BURLINGTON, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Memex Inc. ("MEMEX" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: OEE) announces that President and CEO David McPhail will present the Company's investment thesis at the 2016 MicroCap Conference at the Hotel Monaco in Philadelphia. Mr. McPhail's presentation is scheduled to begin at 4:30pm on Monday, October 24. "I'm excited to tell MEMEX's story in front of an influential base of American investors," said Mr. McPhail. "The MicroCap Conference has a strong reputation of connecting these microcap investors to companies like MEMEX. We look forward to attending." About the MicroCap Conference: 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. The MicroCap Conference is held at Philadelphia's Hotel Monaco during October 24 and 25. Over 60 companies are scheduled to present. Investors interested in attending the event can request an invitation HERE. About MEMEX: MEMEX, the developer of MERLIN, an award winning IIoT technology platform that delivers tangible increases in manufacturing productivity in Real-Time, is the global leader in machine to machine connectivity solutions. Committed to its mission of "Successfully transforming factories of today into factories of the future" and encouraged by the accelerating adoption and success of MERLIN, MEMEX is relentlessly pursuing the development of increasingly innovative solutions suitable in the IIoT era. MEMEX envisions converting every machine into a node on the corporate networks, thereby, creating visibility from shop-floor-to-top-floor. MEMEX, with its deep commitment towards machine connectivity, offers solutions that are focused on finding hidden capacity by measuring and managing Real-Time data. This empowers MEMEX's customers to effectively quantify and manage OEE, reduce costs and incorporate strategies for continuous lean improvement. For further information, visit www.MemexOEE.com Story continues Media Contact Memex Inc.: David McPhail, CEO Phone: 519-993-1114 Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com Rashi Rathore, Marketing Specialist Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103 Email: Rashi.Rathore@MemexOEE.com Investor Relations Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations Phone: 416-565-2805 Email: Sean@SophicCapital.com SOURCE: Memex Inc. Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday wrapped up a week of Africa diplomacy aimed at slowing the flow of migrants to Europe from a continent battered by conflict and poverty. She hosted Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, having also met Chad's head of state Idriss Deby two days earlier following a three-day whirlwind tour of Mali, Niger and Ethiopia, the seat of the African Union. As Germany, Europe's top destination for people fleeing war and misery, looks to chair the G20 next year, she has pledged to step up efforts to help Africa and fight the causes of the mass migration. "I think we will need to take a vastly greater interest in the destiny of Africa," Merkel said at the start of her first major Africa trip in five years. "The well-being of Africa is in Germany's interest." Data backs up that notion -- while most asylum-seekers in Germany so far this year came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Germany has also taken in over 13,000 Eritreans and thousands from other African countries. More than 10,000 came from Nigeria, the oil-rich economic giant now grappling with a plunge in crude prices and the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency that has claimed over 20,000 lives and spilled into Cameroon, Chad and Niger. At a joint press conference with Buhari, Merkel stressed support for the country's battle against Boko Haram, but also said that Germany would send back most Nigerians. She said that while most refugees from war zones like Syria were granted asylum, "the approval rate for people from Nigeria is only eight percent. We presume that most of them came for economic reasons." - 'Life-threatening journeys' - Merkel on her three-nation trip repeatedly warned Africans against crossing dangerous deserts and seas for an uncertain future in Europe. "Often it's the young people who head for Europe with completely wrong ideas," she said in Addis Ababa. Story continues "They risk a life-threatening journey without knowing what's waiting for them or even whether they'll be able to stay." The best way to stop the mass flight would be to encourage greater stability in their countries of origin, Merkel said, picking up on the theme of an EU-African Summit held in Malta last year. The list of goals is ambitious -- promoting democracy, fighting terrorism and fostering prosperity through investment. In Mali, Merkel said it was crucial that "African countries don't lose their brightest minds" needed to develop their own countries. Merkel said that as chair of the Group of 20, Berlin would next year host a conference on investment in Africa, especially in the transport and energy sectors. In poverty-stricken Niger, a major migrant transit country, she pledged 10 million euros in military aid and 17 million euros to encourage human traffickers to switch livelihoods. The aid was relatively modest compared to something on the scale of the "Marshall Plan", the US's $12 billion post-WWII assistance to Europe, that President Mahamadou Issoufou called for from the EU. "Merkel's trip was mainly a message sent to European and German audiences that said, 'we are actively doing something'," to reduce migrant flows, said Annette Weber of the German Institute of International and Security Affairs. With huge youth unemployment, repression and conflict in many states pushing people to leave home, she said, the migratory pressures were unlikely to stop soon. - 'Accommodation centres' - Merkel -- facing a backlash at home over last year's huge migrant influx -- is also working on more short-term solutions. Berlin has proposed EU deals with North African countries modelled on the pact the bloc this year struck with Turkey, the main transit country for Middle Eastern migrants. Under that controversial deal, the EU pledged billions in aid and eased visa access in return for Turkey taking back irregular migrants stranded on Greek islands and fighting traffickers. The EU Commission has expressed skepticism about trying to apply the costly and uncertain approach in Africa. Other approaches have also met with mixed success. Germany this year moved to declare Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia as safe countries of origin, to raise the bar for asylum requests. But the bill has been stuck in the upper house for months over human rights concerns in those Maghreb nations. On Thursday, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere suggested that migrants rescued at sea should be taken to "accommodation facilities" in north Africa. "Their need for protection would be verified and we would put into place a resettlement to Europe with generous quotas, fairly divided between the European countries," he told reporters in Luxembourg. "The others have to go back to their home countries." Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico aims to extradite drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States by February, a senior official said Friday, but his lawyer promised to "fight to the end." "We hope (to do it) in January or February," National Security Commissioner Renato Sales Heredia told TV network Televisa, giving Mexico's clearest estimate yet of when it could send the imprisoned Sinaloa cartel chief across the border. Guzman's lawyer Jose Refugio Rodriguez countered: "He can have his own personal opinion. I think it will be very difficult for it to happen between now and January." Refugio Rodriguez told Televisa that his client has instructed him to "fight to the end" and that he can win the case if it "is not handled politically." The foreign ministry approved Guzman's extradition in May, but the man who was once considered the world's most powerful drug trafficker has filed court injunctions. A judge began reviewing the case on September 26 and it is unclear when he will issue his ruling. Guzman can appeal a decision against him in a higher court. Guzman is facing two extradition bids, one in California for drug distribution and another in Texas on charges that include murder and money laundering. - Sons deny ambush - His sons, meanwhile, have made waves, with authorities accusing them of being behind an ambush on a military convoy last month that killed five soldiers in the northwestern state of Sinaloa. Refugio Rodriguez gave Televisa a letter from Archivaldo Ivan and Jesus Alfredo Guzman dated October 2 in which they deny their involvement. "We have nothing to do with the massacre against military personnel," says the letter from the sons, both of whom have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department as members of the Sinaloa cartel. "We have never fought with the government, nor do we want to. This would practically mean digging our own graves." Story continues With Guzman in prison since January, his cartel has faced attacks from rivals. Members of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, which is battling Guzman's gang for supremacy in Mexico, briefly kidnapped Jesus Alfredo in August, according to US and Mexican officials. He was released within days and the motive is unknown. Officials say Guzman's criminal group is also being challenged in its northwestern home state of Sinaloa by the Beltran Leyva drug cartel. - Major US trial - Guzman's extradition would set up a major trial in the United States for the head of a cartel accused of providing tons of drugs to addicts in the United States while fueling violence in Mexico. The government's timing for the extradition "may be a bit optimistic but it is not out of the realm of possibilities," Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and El Universal newspaper columnist, told AFP. "He will obviously defend himself with everything he's got." Guzman was captured in February 2014 after 13 years on the lam, but he escaped a year later from a maximum-security prison near Mexico City through a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel, humiliating President Enrique Pena Nieto. After he was recaptured in January in Sinaloa, Pena Nieto demanded his speedy extradition. The president had balked at extraditing Guzman before his July 2015 escape, preferring to put him on trial in Mexico. Guzman is now imprisoned in Ciudad Juarez, a city bordering Texas. Adaa Khan and Aashka Goradia are bonding big time on the sets of Naagin 2. Adaa Khan and Aashka Goradia on the sets of Naagin 2. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Adaa Khan By India Today Web Desk: Adaa Khan has found a new friend on the sets of Naagin 2. The 'kaali naagin' seems to be spending a lot of time with the evil queen of Mashismatis--Avantika aka Aashka Goradia. The two ladies have also formed a mutual admiration society. You will have to check out their Instagram posts to know what we are talking about. advertisement "Her smile will change everything dull around you, undoubtedly one of most beautiful faces!! She will walk around and drop a little grace around, that's her Adaa," wrote Aashka on her Instagram account about Adaa. Also read: Naagin 2 review: Mouni Roy and Karanvir Bohra starrer fails to re-create the magic of Season 1 Adaa also called Aashka a "lovely lady" and the "purest soul". It's fun to work when you are friends with your co-stars. Isn't it? Naagin Season 2 that premiered on October 8, stars Mouni Roy, Adaa Khan, Karanvir Bohra, Sudha Chandran among others. In the new season, Mouni is playing the role of both mother and daughter Shivanya and Shivangi. Karanvir Bohra is playing the love interest of Shivangi. The impressions for the first episode will be out next week. Will Naagin 2 be able to stop Brahmarakshas' successful run? --- ENDS --- Recaptured drug lord Joaquin Mexico wants to send Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the US in the first two months of next year, the country's national security commissioner said on Friday. "We hope (to do it) in January or February," Renato Sales Heredia told Mexican television channel Televisa after being asked when the drug lord could be extradited. Guzman is currently in jail near Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico, awaiting a ruling from a judge in Mexico City on the Sinaloa cartel chief's appeals to the extradition requests approved by the Mexican government in May. The judge heard Guzman's legal team's appeals against the extradition decision on September 26, and it's not yet known when that judge will return a decision. Once he does, however, whichever side the ruling goes against is likely to appeal, likely extending the process for weeks more. For its part, Guzman's legal team disputed Sales' timeline. Jose Refugio Rodriguez, one of Guzman's attorneys, said in an interview that the extradition petitions didn't all meet the conditions under which the transfer could be carried out by the date mentioned by Sales, according to Mexican newspaper Excelsior. Sales "can calculate, he can have a personal opinion. I see it very difficult (to be) from here to January," Rodriguez said in the interview, according to La Prensa. Renato Sales Enrique Pena Nieto Mexican government national security The extradition process against Guzman has proceeded slowly since his recapture in January this year, when Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said his government planned to send the kingpin north. Experts have estimated that could take several years possibly up to six for Guzman to be extradited to a US court, and other major kingpins captured in Mexico have sweated out multiyear extradition battles before eventually landing in the US. Story continues The Mexican government also has a way to circumvent the legal battle around Guzman, acting independent of the judiciary in order to carry out the extradition. "As a technical matter, the Mexican executive [branch] is not at all dependent on the Mexican judicial system to approve of extradition," Peter Vincent, a former legal adviser at the US Department of Homeland Security, told Business Insider earlier this year. "It in fact has unilateral authority ... to ultimately approve of extradition, because extradition is after all a diplomatic matter, best handled by the executive branch." The Mexican government has exercised this authority in the past, sending cartel chief Benjamin Arellano Felix, a one-time rival of Guzman, to the US in 2008 after deciding that he would not face double jeopardy in a US court. Comments from Rodriguez, Guzman's attorney, suggest he is aware of this possibility. "If the subject of the extradition is not politicized," he said, "we have means to avoid it." NOW WATCH: Mexico just released dramatic video of the raid at El Chapo's house that led to his arrest More From Business Insider Michelle Obama gave a speech about treating women with respect and heres why thats important The First Lady Michelle Obama gave an impassioned and inspirational speech yesterday (October 13th) regarding sexual assault and the current language being used in the election. Speaking in New Hampshire, Obama spoke about how recent discussions had shaken me to my core. The fact is that in this election, we have a candidate for president of the United States who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today, The First Lady said. Michelle Obama Opening up about how on Tuesday (October 11th) she had been celebrating the International Day of the Girl and Let Girls Learn, Obama told how she wanted to instil a sense in young women that they deserved to be treated with respect and dignity, something that the current political rhetoric of one presidential candidate didnt permit. I cant believe that Im saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women, she said. This is not something that we can ignore. Its not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. Because this was not just a lewd conversation. This wasnt just locker-room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV. Michelle Obama Michelle Obama went on to say that this sort of rhetoric encourages a dangerous conversation and legitimization of rape culture. Strong men men who are truly role models dont need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together, she said. And that is what we need in our next president. We need someone who is a uniting force in this country. We need someone who will heal the wounds that divide us, someone who truly cares about us and our children, someone with strength and compassion to lead this country forward. Story continues You can read Michelle Obamas full speech here. Watch Michelle Obamas full speech below. Michelle Obamas speech is so, so, so important. As she said, theres been an outpouring of hateful and dangerous language about women being used in the run up to the presidential election. While she didnt name any names during the 30-minute speech, Obamas message about the impact that these sorts of comments being made by powerful figures like, say Donald Trump, have on people and how they legitimise misogyny, sexism, rape culture, and negative attitudes towards women. Likewise, as she said, this isnt just another headline, normal or politics as usual. No woman deserves to be abused in any way shape or form, whether verbally or physically, and any conversations that endorses that behaviour is never okay. Enough is enough. Michelle Obama The post Michelle Obama gave a speech about treating women with respect and heres why thats important appeared first on HelloGiggles. At a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday in Manchester, N.H., First Lady Michelle Obama condemned recorded comments from Republican nominee Donald Trump as shocking to hear in 2016. Though Trump has characterized his statementsincluding the idea that a star can get away with doing anything to women as locker-room banter, Obama rejected that assessment, instead positioning Trumps comments within a long history of the harassment of American women by men in positions of power. It reminds us of stories we heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how, back in their day, the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office, Obama said, and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough. No matter what you think of the locker-room defense, Obama is right that there was a time when bosses could legally get away a lot. As legal scholar Reva B. Siegel explains in Directions of Sexual Harassment Law, though people may think of workplace harassment as a modern problem, the practice of sexual harassment is centuries-old. In U.S. history, it encompasses everything from the sexual coercion of enslaved women to the predation endured by women in the meat-packing industry, as described in Sinclairs 1905 expose The Jungle. But, throughout much of that history, women were often blamed for the problem and had little recourse available, as Siegel writes: In short, the law assumed that women in fact wanted the sexual advances and assaults that they claimed injured them. Even when the 1964 Civil Rights Act was signedbanning discrimination on the basis of sex, among other reasonsthere still wasnt any recognition that sexual harassment was a form of discrimination, as Joseph Fishkin, professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin, puts it. Story continues Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter The writer Lin Farley is credited with coining the term sexual harassment, while testifying in 1975 before the Commission on Human Rights of the City of New York. Farley was part of the group Working Women United, formed at Cornell when former university employee Carmita Wood filed a claim for unemployment benefits after she resigned from her job due to unwanted touching from her supervisor, as TIME has previously reported. Cornell had refused Woods request for a transfer, and denied her the benefits on the grounds that she quit for personal reasons.' It was in 1979 that scholar Catharine MacKinnon wrote Sexual Harassment of Working Women, making headlines by laying out a legal theory arguing that treating women not as workers but as sexual playthings on the job is a form of discrimination based on sex that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as Fishkin summarizes. In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published sexual harassment guidelines, and in the 1986 case Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the Supreme Court essentially acknowledged MacKinnons view, that harassment was discrimination. All kinds of lower court judgments before then were saying things like, Oh well you werent fired because of your sex, you were fired because you didnt sleep with your boss,' Fishkin says. After that, employers began to get the message: theyd better institute policies to prevent that kind of thing from happening at their offices, as Vicki Schultz, professor at Yale Law School and author of the 1998 Yale Law Journal article Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment explained to TIME. But, she says, it was the 1991 spectacle of Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings, during which Anita Hill alleged he had harassed her, that really changed the national attitude toward whether sexual harassment was a real problem. In the years that followed, the Supreme Court would go even further, for example, by lowering the burden of proof for harassment claims and providing further incentives for employers to institute and enforce firm anti-harassment policies. Nowadays, Schultz argues thatthough harassment is, as Michelle Obama so soundly argued, still a major problemthe law has significantly evolved and, perhaps more importantly, society has finally reached a point where an average person looks at allegations and says gee, thats sexual harassment, even if its not occurring in a workplace, she says, People understand that having something hostile or demeaning directed at you because youre a woman or a man is sexual harassment, she says, regardless of whether a formal legal complaint could be filed. FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Microsoft sought EU antitrust approval on Friday for its $26 billion bid for social network LinkedIn, a spokesman said on Friday, kicking off a month-long review by regulators of its largest deal. "We filed today," company spokesman Robin Koch said. He said the European Commission has set a Nov. 22 deadline to examine the case. The EU competition authority can either clear the deal with or without concessions or it can open a lengthy investigation if it has serious concerns. U.S. software company Salesforce has criticised the takeover, saying it threatens innovation and competition. Microsoft is expected to say that there is more than enough competition from Facebook and social networks on smartphones. Antitrust regulators in the United States, Canada and Brazil have already cleared the deal. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Adrian Croft) Paris (AFP) - An Iraqi migrant was killed and two others injured on Friday after being mowed down by a freight train near a camp in the northern French port of Dunkirk, authorities said. The accident occurred as the migrants were trying to cross the railway tracks near the Grande-Synthe humanitarian camp on the outskirts of Dunkirk. One of the injured was treated in hospital for shock while the other suffered a minor hip injury, the authorities said. The port of Dunkirk is situated about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east along the Channel coast from Calais. Like Calais it is a rallying point for migrants seeking to smuggle themselves onto trucks bound for Britain. Fourteen migrants have died in the attempt so far this year in Calais but Friday's fatality was the first of its kind around Dunkirk. Around 850 people, mostly Kurds, are currently living in the Grande-Synthe camp, which was built by the Doctors Without Borders charity to international standards, despite opposition from the French government. Backed by the local municipality, the camp was built to replace an infamous tent city, similar to the squalid Calais "Jungle", which is set to be razed in the next few weeks. The government has announced plans to tear down the Jungle and relocate migrants seeking asylum in France to shelters around the country. Around 5,700 people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, around 1,300 of them unaccompanied minors, are living in the camp, according to local authorities. Charities have estimated the number at up to 10,000. An Indian Redditer warns Americans about tactics Leftists use to tarnish Donald Trump, and urges them to vote Trump this November 8. By India Today Web Desk: Is Donald Trump America's Narendra Modi? Or is PM Modi India's Donald Trump? Many would take offense if something like that is stated, for Donald Trump is known best for his misogynistic, racist, Islamophobic comments and as a serial liar, birther and a xenophobe, but an Indian Redditer, who goes by the name ind4trump, thinks so. "Our PM is exactly like Trump," he says. advertisement The man titles his post begins his post saying, "Alright, listen up Americans. The left has tried these tactics in India against our prime minister. Don't fall for it," and writes, "our current prime minister has an approval rating of 80% and won an outright majority in parliament." He then says that PM Modi was 'framed' in 2002 Gujarat riots case where a lot of Muslims and Hindus died, that 'leftists' spread fear among Muslims before elections, and that the left-liberals even ran a false campaign alleging Modi had ordered 'snooping of a woman', and vouches that PM Modi tried to improve the lives of Muslims, that he 'ended corruption in the government', that he works without taking a break, and that he rarely gives interviews to the media. Ind4Trump then lists out similarities between Trump and Modi: They have the same energy. They have the same love for their countries. They have the same 'no-nonsene get things done' attitude. They are both hated by 'left-wing' media that cooks up stories against them all the time. He ends his post saying, "Keep fighting, Americans. It is now or never. They will never let a non corrupt person ever run for president ever again." Photo: Reddit (ind4trump) Photo: Reddit (ind4trump) A good part, rather the only good part about this post, is that many foreigners spoke about how kind, polite, and warm Indians they know are. That's something we should be glad about. And one Redditer even had other comparisons to make. --- ENDS --- Mike Pence Indiana Gov. Mike Pence gave a long-winded answer to a question about body-image issues among girls and women. During an interview on WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, news anchor Scott Light asked Pence about an 11-year-old girl, who visited the TV station during a tour and said Trump's rhetoric about women made her feel ashamed. "When I hear those words and look in the mirror they make me feel bad about myself," the girl said, according to Light. The news anchor then asked Pence how he would respond to that girl. Pence responded with a lengthy answer that pivoted to Trump's national-security and foreign-policy platforms: Well I would say to any one of my kids and any children in this country that Donald Trump and I are committed to a safer and more prosperous future for their family. The weak and feckless foreign policy that Hillary Clinton promises to continue has literally caused wider areas of the world to spin apart," Pence said. "The rise of terrorist threats that have inspired violence here at home, and weve seen an erosion of law and order in our streets. And weve seen opportunities and jobs evaporate and even leave Ohio and leave this country. I would say to any of our kids that if Donald Trump and I have the chance to serve in the White House that we're going to work everyday for a stronger, safer and more prosperous America," he continued." The Trump campaign has been dogged by questions about the Republican nominee's treatment of women in the wake of a 2005 video tape leaked last week in which he bragged about groping women. When Trump was asked during the second presidential debate on Sunday if he had ever sexually assaulted women as the audio suggested, the GOP nominee declared that he had not. Following Trump's denial, several women emerged with sharp accusations that the real-estate mogul had made unwanted sexual advances toward them. Those reports were published in The New York Times, The Palm Beach Post and People magazine. Story continues Trump called the reports "pure fiction" and even threatened The Times with a lawsuit if it did not retract the story and issue an apology. NOW WATCH: Trump had a great response when he was asked to name one thing he liked about Clinton More From Business Insider By Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Militants ambushed a convoy carrying paramilitary forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday, killing two security officers and wounding seven others, police said. The militants escaped after carrying out the attack on the outskirts of Srinagar, summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, a senior police officer told Reuters. Security forces were searching for the gunmen, he said, asking not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media. The two dead included a paramilitary officer and a policeman who died in hospital. Militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir have carried out several attacks in recent weeks, the largest of which was a Sept. 18 raid on an Indian army base that killed 19 soldiers. India blamed that attack on militants crossing over from the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan, quickly ratcheting up tensions between the two countries. Pakistan denies any involvement in the assault. New Delhi said in late September that its troops had crossed into Pakistan's side of Kashmir and launched retaliatory "surgical strikes" to kill suspected militants, an operation Pakistan says never took place. Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan have been at odds over Kashmir ever since their independence nearly 70 years ago, fighting two of their three wars over the region that they each rule in part but claim in full. India accuses Pakistan of backing separatists and helping them sneak across the border. Pakistan denies this, saying it only offers moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their campaign for self-determination. On Wednesday, gunmen shot dead a political party worker in Indian-ruled Kashmir, hours after two suspected militants were killed by armed forces following a 56-hour operation on the edge of Srinagar. The attacks on Indian security targets come amid three months of protests, spearheaded by local youth in the region, that erupted after Indian forces killed a Kashmiri separatist leader in early July. (Writing by Tommy Wilkes) Deutschland 83, the critically acclaimed German spy series, is finally getting a second season, thanks to a groundbreaking deal between Amazon and Deutschland producers UFA Fiction. Amazon announced Friday they have pre-bought Deutschland 86, the show's second season, for their Amazon Prime online video service in Germany. The show, which will begin production next year, will premiere exclusively on Amazon in Germany in 2018. Amazon also has licensed all episodes of Deutschland 83 for Prime members in Germany and Austria. As the title suggests, Deutschland 86 is set three years after season one. East German agent Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay), who had been banished to Africa, is recruited by his Stasi agent aunt Lenora (Maria Schrader) to fight the losing battle to defend Communism abroad. Deutschland 86 is set against the backdrop of real events at the time, when terrorism raged across Western Europe. Read more: 'Deutschland 83': Berlin Review RTL, Germany's leading commercial network and the main backer of Deutschland 83, will have a first-look option for the show's second season after Amazon's first streaming window, and could air Deutschland 86 in 2018/2019. "Practically no other German drama series has attracted so much attention or generated so much buzz over the past few years, especially on the international markets," Frank Hoffmann, managing director programming at RTL, said in a statement. "As the rights holder and broadcaster of Deutschland 83, it has been our clear goal to ensure that this exceptional UFA Fiction and FremantleMedia International series could continue - and this has now been achieved with a new partner." Deutschland 86 will air on SundanceTV in the U.S. followed by an online window on Hulu. Most of the original broadcasters for the series have already renewed for season two, including Channel 4 and Walter Presents in the U.K., Canal Plus in France and SVT in Sweden. Story continues FremantleMedia International, who are handling world sales on the show, have signed deals for more than a dozen territories and said they expect to announce several more soon. Fremantle sold Deutschland 83 to more than 110 territories worldwide, making it one of the most successful German-language series of all time. Ironically, the only territory where the show was not seen as an unqualified success was in Germany, where ratings on RTL were below expectations, leading to questions as to whether the network would greenlight a second season. Read more: 'Deutschland 83' Creator on the Show's Music, Why "Under Pressure" Is "The Most Cold War Song Ever" Its October. Its an election year. So Harvey Weinstein, as usual, is full of surprises. On Thursday night, he joined Broadway impresario Jordan Roth in dropping his latest reveal: Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is writing an original musical number for a Monday night Hillary Clinton fundraiser at the St. James Theatre in New York. Who will perform it? His piece will be him, and it will grow to include a wider community, around our theme, Stronger Together, said Weinstein, who had just emerged from rehearsals with Bernadette Peters. Shes got one of ten acts that will get their run-through with Weinstein, Roth and other producers over the next few days. Billy Crystal will host. Julia Roberts will do a reading. Everybody is supposed to deliver something new, or a new twist on something familiar. That was Jordans idea, and I strongly approved, said Weinstein, who let slip what might be the nights biggest surprise: On-stage Trump-bashing is discouraged. Were not going to have any of that, insisted Weinstein, whose contribution to the the current mean season, apparently, will be a shower of sweetness and light for Clinton. Neither she nor her husband is currently set to attend the fundraiser, though Roth and Weinstein refused to rule out a surprise appearance alongside daughter Chelsea, who is on the program. Whether the 99 percent can look in on the Clinton-friendly fun is yet to be determinedsome sort of video hook-up is under review. But the first order of business, Roth and Weinstein said, is to organize the show, and to sell the remaining upper-end tickets, which go for $10,000 a pop. (Cheap seats in the 1,710-capacity theater, at $45 each, are gone.) Weinstein has almost always been good for late-breaking campaign antics, some more vibrant than others. In 2000, he dropped into the Bush-Gore race with an all-star show for the Gore-Lieberman ticket at Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 14. Co-produced with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone and John Sykes of VH1, that one featured performances by Jimmy Buffett; Bette Midler; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Lenny Kravitz; Sheryl Crow; and Jon Bon Jovi, among others. A production that grand could only be called The Concert. In August, Buffett had already joined Carly Simon at a breezier Weinstein bash for Hillary Clinton, then running for the Senate, on Marthas Vineyard. Carly spoke and sang and then introduced a new song called Hillary, which seemed to have only one word in it, complained former Republican National Committee general counsel Jan Witold Baran, who had the bad luck to be renting next door, according to the New York Times. Story continues But that wasnt the end of it. On Nov. 6, a day before the election, Weinstein rounded up the likes of Glenn Close, Ben Affleck, and Robert De Niro for an 11th hour blitz on Miami. Things got intense. Local law enforcement wouldnt let Gores motorcade leave until Weinsteins starrier bunch drove out. Footage of the go-round wound up in Michael Moores Fahrenheit 9/11an anti-Bush documentary that was originally supposed to be an October surprise in 2004. After showing in Cannes, the film was set for Oct. 4 release by Weinsteins Miramax, then a Disney unit. But Michael Eisner, the Disney CEO, scotched it, instead selling rights to Harvey and his brother Bob, who released it in June under a deal with Lionsgate. A week after the election, Weinstein and Moore were already plotting a sequel to be called Fahrenheit 9/11 ; but Eisner landed the next surprise, pushing the Weinsteins out of Miramax, and into a company of their own. The 2008 election was a little calmer, after the part in May, where Weinstein, then a Clinton supporter, told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he might cut contributions to Congressional Democrats if she didnt back his plan to finance new votes in disputed Florida and Michigan primaries. But by October 16, no great surprise, Weinstein was lined up behind Barack Obama, as co-host, with Anna Wintour and others, of a Bruce Springsteen-Billy Joel benefit at the 2,200-seat Hammerstein Ballroom, where the lounge tickets went for $10,000 each. More fun by far was 2012. That year, Weinstein hired Meghan OHara, a producer who had worked with Moore on Fahrenheit 9/11, to stitch news clips of Obama into John Stockwells SEAL Team Six: The Raid On Osama Bin Laden, which was set for a prime-time debut on the National Geographic Channel on Nov. 4, two days before the election, and a release by Netflix the next day. Political opponents cried foul. Justice has been done, said Obama, on-screen, in the campaigns climactic Weinstein moment. As to whether Weinstein will drop another surprise before Nov. 8, you can pretty much count on it. Itll be a separate announcement, he said on Thursday. Related stories Larry David Curbed His Enthusiasm For Hillary & Bernie, Says Hacked Email Bill Maher: Hollywood Blockbusters Predicted Trumpocalypse Jeffrey Katzenberg To Host Obama At Final Hollywood Fundraiser Before Election Donald Trumps campaign has been on the defensive due to backlash over the now infamous Access Hollywood footage from 2005, and allegations of sexual assault against the Republican presidential candidate; the latter of which the Trump campaign called a coordinated character assassination in a recent statement. Miss Wisconsin USA 2005, Melissa Young, met Donald Trump during the pageant in 2005. Young, who is struggling with an incurable illness, said Trump has supported her during her most difficult times. Her experience with the candidate makes her question the sexual assault allegations and the accusers suspicious timing. I find them to be I mean really absurd, disgusting and frankly I think theyre opportunistic. I mean, I have to question, why now? Why now? I mean were talking some of these things from decades ago and I find it to be like now were a few weeks out from the election, were a few weeks out from the election and now all these things are surfacing. I have never heard of anything like this before. I dont think its a coincidence, Young told the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney. When asked whether she believed the accusers, Young responded, I have to say, I question it and I dont find it to be credible. Young explained that the Donald Trump she has known for many years is quite different from the person that has been portrayed in the media as of late. Ive had moments with Mr. Trump that Ive never ever spoken about, private moments. And also, you know, at the pageant, competing at Miss USA in 2005, he was nothing but an absolute gentleman. To further exemplify her point, Young recounted a recent encounter at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was leaving the rally, it was late at night and his Secret Service was helping him get out to the car and they have to keep moving, he cant stop. He looks over and notices that Im freezing cold and goes to remove his long black jacket from his body to hand to Secret Service to put over me, Young continued, I guess I can say it this way, he gave me the coat off his back, that is the Mr. Trump that I know. Related Articles Children born to women who took antidepressants during pregnancy may have an increased risk of language and speech disorders, according to a new study from Finland. In the study, children born to mothers who had depression and bought antidepressants at least twice during pregnancy were 37 percent more likely to develop speech or language disorders over the course of the 14-year study, compared with children born to women who had depression but did not buy any antidepressants during pregnancy, the researchers found. These children were also 63 percent more likely to develop such problems than children born to mothers who did not have depression and did not buy antidepressants during pregnancy, the researchers found. (In some studies on antidepressant use, researchers look at data on people's purchasing of antidepressants because although they can't tell for sure whether a person actually took the medication, this is good approximation.) [7 Ways Pregnant Women Affect Babies] The results may be one factor to consider when pregnant women with depression decide, together with their doctors, whether they should take antidepressants during pregnancy, said lead study co-author Dr. Alan Brown, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. "But I don't think it should be the sole factor," because there are other things to consider, too, he said. Another factor, for example, is the severity of the woman's depression, Brown said. If a woman with depression has been feeling suicidal or has lost touch with reality, then the health risks linked to going off antidepressants might outweigh the potential benefits of discontinuing the medication, he said. In the study, the researchers looked at more than 56,000 children born in Finland between 1996 and 2010, and followed up with them for up to 14 years. The researchers looked at how many of the children developed speech or language disorders or other developmental disorders during the study period. The researchers also looked at data on the health of the children's mothers, as well as demographic information. Story continues Moreover, to take a look at the mothers' antidepressant use before and during pregnancy, the scientists analyzed information from Finland's drug reimbursement register, a database that contains information on all reimbursed prescription drug purchases in the country. Of all the children in the study, nearly 15,600 (about 28 percent) were born to women who had depression and bought antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) while they were pregnant. SSRIs are commonly prescribed antidepressants that are believed to alter the levels of the chemical serotonin. In addition, about 9,500 children (about 17 percent) in the study were born to women who had depression but did not purchase SSRIs during pregnancy. The remaining children, about 31,200 kids (about 55 percent), were born to mothers who did not have depression during pregnancy. It turned out that, out of all the kids, those born to mothers who took SSRIs during pregnancy had the highest risk of developing speech or language disorders over the course of the study. Among those children who did develop such disorders, the average age when they were diagnosed was about 4 years, according to the study, published today (Oct. 12) in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The study does not prove that using antidepressants during pregnancy directly causes these speech or language disorders but rather shows that there is a link between the two. [11 Big Fat Pregnancy Myths] The explanation for this link is not yet clear, but one potential reason could be that antidepressants may affect a baby's brain development during pregnancy, including parts of the brain that are involved in language and speech, Brown said. But it is possible that maternal depression itself also contributes to the increased risk of speech and language disorders in the child, he said. A previous study, published in 2015 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, showed that children born to women who took SSRIs during pregnancy may face an increased risk of autism. Serotonin affects a person's mood, but it is also an important chemical in the brain cell development in a fetus, Anick Berard, an author of that study and a professor of pharmacy at the University of Montreal, told Live Science at the time. However, in pregnant women with depression who don't receive treatment for their depression, there is an increased risk of miscarriage and birth complications, a review study published in 2005 found. Originally published on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Amid the political pundits, pollsters, and stump speeches, it's easy to get lost this election season. So much noise! And in times like this, Americans often turn to an emotionless medium for their political questions: Google. It's there that you'll find some of the most revealing questions Americans have about the US's two major-party presidential nominees. For those interested in what those questions are, Google has a service called Google Trends. If you're looking for what people are searching on Google, Trends is the place to explore as much. Paula Jones Juanita Broaddrick debate Given that we're just a few short weeks away from the November 8 presidential election, Google Trends has been cataloging what people are searching for on each candidate on a day-to-day basis. And what they're searching for speaks volumes. Here's a look at what people are searching for most when it comes to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the past day: Google Trends (Trump) Based on those questions, it's clear that both Trump supporters and nonsupporters alike are looking for information on Trump's campaign. Most tellingly, based on the chart to the left, people are looking up what Trump said most recently instead of his main policy tentpoles: building a wall along the US/Mexico border, defeating ISIS, and strengthening the economy. Things get even more revealing when you look at general searches related to Trump's campaign: Google Trends (Trump) The top two results are Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds two of the women who this week accused Trump of sexual assault. It's not surprising that their names are the top-trending searches related to Trump's campaign, given that the sexual-assault allegations leveled at Trump are dominating news coverage of his campaign. He has repeatedly brought up the allegations himself in stump speeches since accusers came forward in several articles published this week. Story continues Looking at the same trend charts for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton offers a look into a campaign that's seemingly more in control of its messaging: Google Trends First lady Michelle Obama, a surrogate for Clinton's campaign, was a popular search query after her speech on Thursday went viral. Another thing that went viral, however, was the second-highest result: Clinton's Wikipedia page was replaced with porn earlier this week (it's been fixed). More interesting in Clinton's case is the type of questions people are asking on Google: Google Trends (Clinton) Unlike the questions people are asking Google about Trump, the questions people are asking about Clinton have more to do with her as a person than her faults. The chart to the right suggests the most notable negatives attached to Clinton are storylines involving the attack on the American embassy in Libya ("Benghazi"), the private email server she used while serving as secretary of state ("emails"), and her family's charity ("Clinton Foundation"). Yet, outside the least searched question, it looks as if few people are turning to Google to ask questions critical of Clinton. Instead, they're wondering whether Fox News host Megyn Kelly is voting for Clinton or Trump. NOW WATCH: 'This is not something that we can ignore': Michelle Obama slams Trump over sexual assault claims More From Business Insider What this mother did with her breast milk after suffering a stillbirth will make you believe in humanity Sometimes the most heartwarming stories come from overcoming darkness and grief. Thats exactly the case with this tale of a mother who turned a grief-filled situation into an inspiring call to action. Wendy Cruz-Chan was 19 weeks pregnant with her son, Killian, when he was stillborn after she contracted a rare uterus infection called chorioamnionitis. But even after this tragic ordeal, Cruz-Chans body was still producing milk. Wanting to help others while working through her own grief, Cruz-Chan decided to donate her breast milk to infants who need it. Donating 318.50 ouncesof my breastmilk to 2 babies today!From the beginning until today, I have officially pumped and... Posted by Wendy Cruz-Chan on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 When interviewed about her inspiring story, Cruz-Chan told InsideEdition.com: I wanted to turn something tragic into something good. I realized through donating that it gave me a purpose to do something good to help me with the healing process. It just makes me feel good seeing all the babies Ive been helping. The entire process was documented on social media to help normalize breast milk donation and raise awareness of the process. In total, Cruz-Chan was able to donate 2,000 ounces of breast milk! Sadly, donating breast milk to babies in need is still highly stigmatized and few people jump in to help. Hopefully, Cruz-Chans story can help bring more awareness and action to get more people involved. H/T Cosmopolitan The post What this mother did with her breast milk after suffering a stillbirth will make you believe in humanity appeared first on HelloGiggles. By Harriet McLeod JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (Reuters) - Mourners at the funeral for Keith Scott, whose death in a police shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina last month led to a week of sometimes violent protests, called for a commitment to change and an end to hate. The mood was somber inside the church on James Island, Scott's hometown near Charleston, South Carolina, some 200 miles from where the 43-year-old father of seven was shot and killed on Sept. 20. Scott's family disputes the official police account that he was armed and acting aggressively before he was gunned down in a parking lot, a use of lethal force that fueled fresh concerns over the treatment of black men by U.S. law enforcement. But Friday's funeral was mostly about remembering the man who loved reggae and reading, as well as the legacy he left behind. Dressed in white, Scott lay with his hands folded on his stomach in a half-open casket adorned with a spray of white flowers. "Keith's life will not be in vain," Scott's father-in-law, Rayford Dotch, told the congregation, urging people to vote and get educated. Afterward, the 78-year-old minister said his hopeful message was directed at his grandchildren. "We never let anger lead them," he said. Charlotte resident Michelle Cromwell, 40, a friend of Scott and his wife Rakeyia, admitted she was angry when she penned a song titled "Black Lives Matter, Too" after his death. She apologized to the congregation for the political nature of her words about racism and black men dying at the hands of police. "We continue to feel the hate," said the mother of two boys, adding later, "It's a hard thing to swallow." The funeral program said Scott had a fresh outlook on life after being badly hurt but surviving a motorcycle accident last November. In an interview aired on CBS this week, Rakeyia Scott said she believed the medication her husband took for his injuries had caused him to be confused by police officers' demands. Story continues An independent autopsy released by the family on Wednesday showed Scott had gunshot wounds in his back, abdomen and wrist. His funeral service was initially planned for last week but was postponed as Hurricane Matthew bore down on the region. "I think the hurricane was Uncle Keith being humorous," said his niece Kaona Mercer, 26, a paralegal in Columbia. "He wasn't ready for us to bury him yet. He was a free-spirited, loving man." (Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Bernard Orr) By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh government over the reported death of an asthma patient in an ambulance while he was being rushed to a hospital in Bijnor as the oxygen cylinder was empty. Taking a serious view of the alleged medical negligence, the Commission has issued a notice to Secretary, Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare of the state government, and sought a report within four weeks, the NHRC said in a statement. advertisement The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report carried on October 10 which stated that Mohd Aslam, 55, a resident of Chandpur area of Bijnor died after the oxygen cylinder was empty in the ambulance in which he was being rushed to a hospital after suffering a severe asthama attack. Reportedly, the relatives of the patient protested and the Chief Medical Officer promised a probe in the matter. The Commission has observed that it is "shocked to peruse the painful news report that a human life could not be saved even after timely arrival of the ambulance because the oxygen cylinder, which is the most crucial and important life saving apparatus, was not functional". "This is a case of sheer negligence on the part of the concerned officers amounting to violation of right to life of the patient," it said. PTI KND AAR --- ENDS --- By Simon Lewis and Wa Lone SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar's government said on Friday a group inspired by Islamist militants was behind attacks on police border posts in its ethnically riven northwest, as officials said they feared a new insurgency by members of the Rohingya Muslim minority. The sudden escalation of violence in Rakhine state poses a serious challenge to the six-month-old government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who was swept to power in an election last year but has faced criticism abroad for failing to tackle rights abuses against the Rohingya and other Muslims. A statement from the office of Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw blamed the little-known "Aqa Mul Mujahidin" for recent attacks around Maungdaw Township, a mainly Muslim area near the frontier with Bangladesh. "They persuade the young people using religious extremism, and they have financial support from outside," said the Burmese language statement. "They are broadcasting their videos on the Internet like ISIS, Taliban and al Qaeda. They now have 400 insurgents fighting in Maungdaw region." Several videos showing armed men speaking the language of the mostly stateless Rohingya have circulated online this week. Reuters has not been able to verify the authenticity of the videos, but government officials say they believe they show the perpetrators of the attacks that began on Oct. 9. The 1.1 million Rohingya living in Rakhine state face discrimination, severe restrictions on their movements and access to services, especially since inter-communal violence in 2012 that displaced 125,000 people. The Rohingya are not among the 135 ethnic groups officially recognized in Myanmar, where many in the Buddhist majority regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Suu Kyi, who is barred from the presidency by the constitution but leads Myanmar's first democratically elected government in decades as "State Counsellor", has appointed former United Nations chief Kofi Annan to head a panel to propose solutions to Rakhine state's problems. NEW KIND OF CONFLICT Information Minister Pe Myint, who visited Maungdaw Township this week, said the dramatic escalation in violence "may affect the work we've been doing for Rakhine State". "Previously there has been riots and conflict between the communities. Now there is armed conflict," he told reporters in the state capital, Sittwe, on Friday. "The nature of the conflict has changed." Officials have said hundreds of men - some armed with automatic weapons and others with sticks and swords - launched coordinated assaults against three border posts in the early hours of Oct. 9, killing nine police officers and wounding five. In response, the military has poured troops into northern Rakhine State to search for attackers, who made off with dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition. Suu Kyi has told security forces to use caution and follow the law in their response. Her civilian administration does not have oversight over the powerful military, which has designated the area an "operation zone". At least 26 people have been killed by security forces in what state media described as skirmishes with armed attackers and in which four soldiers were also killed. Human rights groups say they have evidence that extrajudicial killings may have taken place. Researchers and aid workers in Rakhine State have consistently reported that the vast majority of Rohingya have no interest in resorting to violence. "We don't appreciate terrorism. It's not the solution," said Kyaw Hla Aung, a Rohingya community leader in Sittwe. MILITANT LINKS The statement from the Myanmar president's office said interrogations with suspects captured after the attacks had revealed links with militants in Pakistan. The ringleader was a 45-year-old who has lived in Bangladesh and spent six months training with the Pakistani Taliban, it said. The statement added that the Aqa Mul Mujahidin - the name of which could not be found in any previous news reports online - was linked to the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), an armed group that has long been assumed defunct. The military-run newspaper Myawady had earlier said soldiers had recovered "RSO flags and RSO badges" in Maungdaw. In one of the videos posted online, a man dressed in black calls for "the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine to all come out and join the jihad", according to Reuters' translation. In a second video, the same man appears to reference the Myanmar military's helicopters, which have been hunting the attackers, as he encourages the armed men surrounding him to welcome martyrdom. A third video shows a long column of men armed with swords and rifles marching in damp, rugged terrain. The weapons in the videos match those taken from border police, officials said. The possible emergence of an insurgency involving Rohingyas has already been seized upon by Buddhist nationalists. Wirathu, a Buddhist monk known for his anti-Muslim preaching, has posted graphic images of the slain police on Facebook. (Reporting by Simon Lewis and Wa Lone; Editing by Alex Richardson) Rome (AFP) - NATO head Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Friday European efforts for a more closely integrated defence policy, boosted since Britain's vote to leave the EU, but warned against trying to create "an alternative" to the North Atlantic Alliance. "Stronger European defence will be good for the European Union, it will be good for Europe and will be good for NATO," he said at a press conference with Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni in Rome. Stoltenberg said enhanced cooperation between European nations could only be positive and urged countries to increase defence spending because "we live in a more dangerous world with new challenges and new threats and we have to respond and adapt". But he said "we must make sure to avoid duplication with NATO structures and that what Europe does is complementary to NATO". "I'm very much assured by the strong statements from minister Gentiloni and many other European leaders that this is not about establishing something that is an alternative to NATO," he added. While EU defence ministers have held talks in recent months to discuss ways of boosting defence cooperation, the move has angered Britain which has vowed to oppose any attempt to create an "EU army" following the Brexit vote. The challenges facing NATO and the EU include "an increasingly assertive and unpredictable Russia". "In recent weeks, Russia has deployed missile systems closer to Alliance borders that could carry nuclear warheads... We will continue pursuing our policy of strong defence combined with political dialogue." Minister Gentiloni said Italy would play a part in a move to counter Russian war games in areas bordering NATO Baltic states since the start of the Ukraine crisis, sending 140 men to join other battalions in bolstering the alliance's eastern flank. The news sparked an outcry from Italy's left wing and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), which slammed "a move which risks exposing our country to war-like scenes and puts us back 30 years." LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Vin Scully is keeping busy in retirement, joking with Jimmy Kimmel that he's been to the hardware store since ending his 67-year Hall of Fame broadcasting career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In his first television interview since calling his last game on Oct. 2 in San Francisco, Scully told the late-night talk show host Thursday that he has a ''very important engagement'' on Monday. ''I'm lecturing at the sixth-grade school at Saint Mel's,'' Scully said, referring to the Catholic elementary school in Woodland Hills where his grandson and granddaughter attend. ''If I can't think of something to do, someone out there will,'' he said, noting he has 16 grandchildren. Scully taped the appearance hours before the Dodgers defeated the Washington Nationals 4-3 to clinch their National League Division Series in five games. ''I expect them to win,'' he said. Scully discussed his early days broadcasting at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after the Dodgers moved West from Brooklyn for the 1958 season. Fans toted transistor radios to follow the action described by Scully because they sat too far away from the field in the vast stadium. After the team moved to Dodger Stadium, fans continued to bring radios to hear Scully. ''I did put most of Southern California to sleep,'' he joked. ''The transistor radio went under the pillow. I hear that my entire life now.'' When Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was running as a candidate last year, he counted on his wife to do a lot of the work for him. Twenty-eight years his junior, Aisha Buhari spoke to women and young people at rallies around the country, promising that her husband would end the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigerias north and bring back thousands of girls kidnapped by the group. But on Friday, she voiced disappointment in her husbands time in office, saying she will not support him if he runs for a second term unless he makes major changes. The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I dont know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years, she told the BBC on Friday. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms, only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position. President Buhari, who is on a state trip to Germany this week, responded to his wifes criticisms by saying, I dont know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room. That earned him a grimace from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is arguably the most powerful woman in the world. Merkel later laughed. Buharis wife has herself proven influential: She opened a large beauty parlor in northern Nigeria and wrote a book about beauty based on her time studying in the United Kingdom. Buhari took over the presidency last year, winning in a landslide election against incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, who had lost support for failing to take Boko Haram seriously until it was too late. Buhari ran on a campaign promising increased security and a crackdown on corruption, and to limit government spending. But Nigerias economy continues to slump: This summer, it officially went into recession. To help stave off costs, Buharis office placed advertisements in local newspapers to sell two of his presidential jets. He also handed over two of his presidential helicopters to the Air Force. Story continues But his wife said his government is being hijacked by outside players who are influencing him in the wrong direction. At 73, the president hasnt yet decided if hell run for reelection in 2019. But if he does, theres at least one person we now know he cant count on for a vote. He is yet to tell me, but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before, she said on Friday. I will never do it again. Photo credit: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images By Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, after mediation by Switzerland and the International Red Cross, officials said on Thursday. Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. "I met them about an hour ago and I can confirm they are in good health," Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said after meeting the 21 released girls, who were brought from the northeastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja. Their release, a boost for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, came after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group, officials said. Dozens had escaped in the initial melee in 2014, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping prompted outrage worldwide and the girls' plight was publicized using a Twitter hashtag, #bringbackourgirls. "In the next few days or months we will be able to negotiate the release of more of the girls," Osinbajo told reporters. A picture released by a presidency official showed one of the girls holding a baby when they met Osinbajo. Officials have accused Boko Haram of having married off the girls to its followers. Information Minister Lai Mohammed denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue. Switzerland "facilitated contacts between Nigerian representatives and intermediaries of Boko Haram" after a request from Abuja, a Swiss government spokeswoman said. "We have nothing to add," she said, when asked if it had been a prisoner swap. In recent days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group. Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army, aided by troops from neighboring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighboring Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls and said some had been killed in air strikes. The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention. Authorities said in May one of the missing girls had been found and Buhari promised to rescue the others. In recent months he had said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over their release. (Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing, Camillus Eboh and by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) Berlin (AFP) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday hit back at criticism from his wife about his leadership, saying she "belongs to my kitchen". Buhari's wife Aisha Buhari told the BBC in an interview that she may not back him at the next election if he fails to shake up his government. But the president lashed out, saying during a visit to Berlin that "she belongs to my kitchen, and my living room and the other room". He also said he had more political experience than her, "so I claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition because in the end I have succeeded" in winning Nigeria's presidency. "It is not easy to satisfy the whole Nigerian opposition parties to participate in the government," he told journalists, addressing the press following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nigeria's first lady said in the interview that Buhari has not told her if he would contest the next elections in 2019. But "if things continue like this... I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again," said Aisha Buhari, whose grandfather was Nigeria's first defence minister. She suggested that the government had been hijacked by a "few people" who have made key official appointments. As a result, she said Buhari did not even know most of the people holding top posts in the country. Buhari was voted into power in 2015 on an anti-corruption platform and Nigerians have largely praised the retired general for his commitment to restoring order and accountability. But the country's economy is battered by a recession as global crude prices sink while the oil-producing south has been hit by a wave of attacks by rebels. Buhari is divorced from his first wife Safinatu, with whom he had five children. He married Aisha, 45, in 1989. They also have five children together. By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) Research firm CMR today said Samsungs India revenues could take a hit of Rs 6,457 crore on account of recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7, a claim that was refuted vehemently by the Korean major. In a report, CMR said Samsungs smartphone shipments to India may fall short of target by 4 million units in 2016, translating into an impact of Rs 6,457 crore in terms of revenues. advertisement "As per projected growth, Samsung was expected to touch revenues of Rs 45,446 crore in CY2016, an increase of 46 per cent compared to previous calendar year. However, following the Note 7 issue, it can earn revenues of Rs 38,989 crore, which means a growth of 25 per cent in revenues in CY2016," the report said. Debunking the report, a Samsung India spokesperson said the company is "appalled by the incorrect reporting of companys financials based on reports by various research agencies". "The reports covered in some news articles quote different revenue loss estimates for Samsung India. These research reports are not based on empirical facts. Such projections by any research agency or analyst, therefore, is incorrect," he added. Samsung had unveiled the Galaxy Note 7 in July in India with a price tag of Rs 59,900, but delayed selling the handset in the country after cases of battery exploding while charging were reported in various countries. The device was to be made available in the Indian market from September but the battery fiasco derailed the launch plans. "Samsung has not sold Galaxy Note 7 in India. However, we can confirm that contrary to these reports, we are headed for record sales of mobile phones this year," the spokesperson said. The CMR report, however, added that Samsung will continue to maintain its leadership in the Indian smartphone segment, but its market share will shrink by 4.2 per cent and settle at around 25.5 per cent instead of estimated 29.7 per cent. "Though Note 7 is a high-end premium smartphone, the impact would be on Samsung spanning all across the segments," CMR Principal Analyst for Telecoms Faisal Kawoosa said. The issue is faced with the flagship model of the year, that too around festive season and as a result, customers confidence is shaken, he added. "A perception, right or wrong, gets built within the market that if the issue is with the high-end premium model, there could be issues in the other models too," Faisal said. Following the global recall and later halt in production, the worlds largest smartphone maker cut its quarterly operating profit forecast by a third to 5.1-5.3 trillion Korean won, translating into a hit of a whopping 2.6 trillion Korean won or USD 2.3 billion. advertisement The global consolidated sales estimate has also been lowered by 2 trillion Korean won (USD 1.7 billion) to approximately 47 trillion Korean won, after the company decided to permanently halt sales of the troubled Note 7 device, in less than two months after its launch. PTI SR MBI ABM --- ENDS --- By Andreas Rinke and Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday dismissed criticism voiced by his wife Aisha Buhari in a BBC interview, saying she belonged in the kitchen and he had "superior knowledge" about running a government. "I don't know exactly what party my wife belongs to. Actually she belongs in the kitchen, the living room and the other rooms in my house," Buhari told reporters with a chuckle after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Buhari's wife told the BBC in an interview published on Friday that she might not back her husband in the next election unless he shakes up his government. Her husband, a 73-year-old former military ruler, was elected last year after a campaign largely fought on his pledge to crush the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and crack down on corruption. He also served on the country's supreme court. Nigeria, which has Africa's largest economy, is in recession for the first time in 25 years, largely due to a fall global oil prices that has slashed the state's main source of income. Buhari said his government was continuing to fight to combat major economic, security and corruption problems it inherited.He said the government had made strides in fighting Boko Haram, which is now active in just 14 of 177 regions of the country, and was working to combat militant groups in the Niger Delta. Buhari also said Nigeria would continue working to free the remaining girls kidnapped by the jihadist group Boko Haram in 2014 after the group on Thursday released 21 girls on Thursday. "About 100 more (girls) are still in the hands of the terrorists. We hope we'll get some ... intelligence to go about securing the balance." Buhari said Nigeria was grateful for the help of the United Nations for its help in trying to free the girls, but that Nigeria still faced massive consequences from the group's power and influences, including up to 2 million people internally displaced refugees, including many children. Despite the problems, Nigeria - the most populous nation in Africa - would be able to produce enough food for its own population of 185 million people, and start exporting food in about 1-1/2 years, Buhari said. Merkel said the European Union would begin negotiations with Nigeria this month about a migration deal to ensure it could repatriate Nigerian citizens denied asylum in EU countries. She emphasized the importance of focusing resources on those people fleeing wars rather than those looking for better economic conditions. But she said Germany would continue to work with Nigeria to provide training for young people so they would not flee in the first place. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Michael Nienaber and Tom Heneghan) LAGOS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Nigeria will sell two-month dollar forwards at an auction on Friday to clear a backlog of demand from airlines, manufacturers and other companies, traders said. Dollar shortages have caused many firms to shut down operations and lay off workers, compounding an economic crisis exacerbated by fall in global oil prices, Nigeria mainstay. "The central bank has asked (banks) to submit bids for a special forex auction before 2 p.m. for funded forwards with 2-month tenor," one traders told Reuters. Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves were down $24.21 billion by Oct. 10, their lowest in more than eleven years, limiting the number of dollars available on the official interbank spot market and causing the naira to sharply depreciate. (Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Editing by Louise Ireland) The Nightmare Before Christmas composer turned the last debate into a horror film, and its chilling Do you like scary movies? Even if the answer is No, you still might have watched one last Sunday. It was called, The Second Presidential Debate. In the days since the debate took place, one thing is certain: Donald Trump wandering around the stage, seemingly stalking Hillary Clinton as she addressed the nation, was HELLA WEIRD. At times, it was downright scary in a HILLARY, LOOK BEHIND YOU!! type way. Were not the only ones who think that, as the internet has taken note and spent the rest of the week questioning Trumps motives for his strange pacing back and forth. Because, like, WHY? Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University The only thing truly missing from this horror movie was a bone-chilling soundtrack. Thankfully, composer Danny Elfman who has scored SO MANY THINGS, like The Nightmare Before Christmas, the OG Spider-Man movies, Beetlejuiceand Good Will Hunting stepped up to the plate to add in some much-needed mood music. In a brand new Funny or Die video, you find yourself not just watching the Presidential Debate, but instead the scariest movie youre going to see this year. Danny Elfmans TRUMP STALKS HILLARY from Funny Or Die Watching Trump lurching behind Hillary during the debate felt a bit like a zombie movie, he explained to Funny or Die. Like at any moment he was going to attack her, rip off her head, and eat her brains. With the added effect of Elfmans new song, the tension is heightened like whoa. Watch this video with the lights on, friends. The post The Nightmare Before Christmas composer turned the last debate into a horror film, and its chilling appeared first on HelloGiggles. London (AFP) - The boss of Renault-Nissan declared Friday that post-Brexit Britain will remain a "competitive place to do business" after holding crunch talks with Prime Minister Theresa May. Carlos Ghosn had warned last month the carmaker needed guarantees from London over the potential impact of Brexit before it could commit to further investment to its car plant in the northeastern English city of Sunderland. aFollowing our productive meeting, I am confident the government will continue to ensure the UK remains a competitive place to do business," Ghosn said in a statement after meeting May at her official residence at 10 Downing Street. "I look forward to continued positive collaboration between Nissan and the UK Government," added the chairman and chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan alliance, without specifying what was discussed. The car chief said he held a "positive meeting" with the prime minister and key members of her Conservative government. Nissan operates Britain's biggest car factory in Sunderland, which has around 7,000 employees, making it the group's largest facility in Europe. Sunderland makes Nissan's Juke, Qashqai and Leaf car models, with around 500,000 cars rolling off the production line every year. Some 80 percent of the plant's daily output of 2,000 cars are exported to 130 nations around the world. "We want to ensure that this high-performing, high-employment factory remains competitive globally and continues to deliver for our business and for Britain," said Ghosn on Friday. The carmaker added it had maintained a dialogue with May since her appointment in the wake of the shock EU exit referendum on June 23. Ghosn had warned in July that he was worried not by Brexit itself, but by the uncertainties that Britain's EU departure would create. "If I need to make an investment in the next few months, I cannot wait until the end of the Brexit," he said last month on the sidelines of the Paris Car Show. "I'm going to have to make a deal with the UK government," Ghosn had said, adding that he would be looking for compensation if his company's tax regime became less favourable or cross-border duties had to be paid once Britain left the European Union. LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Nissan said it wanted to find a way to make Brexit work for both it and the British government at a meeting between its chief executive and Prime Minister Theresa May, after the Japanese firm warned it could halt investment in its car plant. Carlos Ghosn told reporters at the Paris motor show late last month that future spending on Britain's biggest car plant would depend on a guarantee of compensation if Britain struck a deal with European allies which led to tariffs on car exports. "The purpose of this meeting between Mr Ghosn and Mrs May is to ensure both Nissan and the UK Government have an aligned way forward that meets the needs of both the company and the country," a Nissan spokesman said. "We do not expect any specific agreement to be communicated following this initial introductory meeting of the CEO and the Prime Minister." (Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Kate Holton) LONDON (Reuters) - Japanese carmaker Nissan is due to decide whether to build its next Qashqai sport utility vehicle model in Britain or elsewhere by the end of the year, a company source said, a key investment decision for post-Brexit Britain. "The decision-making process is in the next few weeks and months with a decision expected before the end of the year," a company source told Reuters on Friday. CEO Carlos Ghosn told reporters at the Paris motor show late last month that future spending on Britain's biggest car plant would depend on a guarantee of compensation if Britain struck a deal with European allies which led to tariffs on car exports. Ghosn met British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday and said afterwards: "I am confident the British government will continue to ensure the UK remains a competitive place to do business." (Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Stephen Addison) (Reuters) - Police said they found no threat after a student center at Virginia's George Mason University was ordered evacuated on Thursday, the school reported on its website. People inside the Johnson Center at the school's Fairfax campus had been told to "leave the building and remain away from the area," said the school, which is located in a suburb of Washington. All activities at the student center will resume as scheduled on Friday, it said. (Reporting by Ian Simpson and Eric Walsh in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney) By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - A state judge in North Carolina gave residents in counties hit hard by Hurricane Matthew five extra days to register to vote after Democrats sued to get an extension to Friday's deadline, while a federal judge ordered an extension in one Georgia county. The Democratic Party in North Carolina challenged the state election board's refusal to extend the cutoff date, saying in its suit that thousands of people would have been deprived of their fundamental right to vote in the Nov. 8 election if Friday's deadline was not extended by at least five days. The judge ordered an extension to next Wednesday in 36 counties, a lawyer for the state Democratic Party said on Twitter. "This ruling will ensure that those communities who have suffered from the devastating flooding brought on by Hurricane Matthew have the grace period that they need in order to exercise their right to vote and make their voices heard in this critical election, party officials said. Twenty-four people have died in North Carolina and thousands have been forced from their homes in the eastern and central parts of the state due to record flooding in Matthew's aftermath. North Carolina is a battleground state in the presidential election and could play a pivotal role in the race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. State officials said this week they would not extend the regular deadline to register to vote, but allowances would be made for forms delayed by mail delivery. Those who miss the deadline can still register and vote on the same day during the statewide early voting period from Oct. 20 through Nov. 5. The state has a Republican governor, Pat McCrory, who faces a tough contest for re-election. The state's Republican Party opposed any extension. "It is clear that North Carolina Democrats, who have been dominated in voter registration by Republicans, want to use a horrific natural disaster to change the rules in the middle of the game," state Republican Chairman Robin Hayes said in a statement. In Georgia, U.S. District Judge William Moore ordered the voter registration deadline extended until Tuesday in Chatham County, which includes the city of Savannah. The judge said the administrative difficulties of doing so "pale in comparison to the physical, emotional and financial strain Chatham County residents faced in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew." A federal judge on Wednesday gave residents in Florida six extra days to register to vote after that state's Democratic Party sued for more time due to Matthew. South Carolina extended its registration deadline due to Matthew from Oct. 7 to Oct. 11. (Additional reporting by Laila Kearney and Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Chris Reese, Will Dunham and David Gregorio) Governor Pat McCrory travelled to Princeville on Thursday to survey the flooding Hurricane Matthew brought to the historic North Carolina town. McCrory said the town, which was devastated by Hurricane Floyd in 1999, was basically under water and would need to be rebuilt. Authorities in Edgecombe County issued a state of emergency and ordered a mandatory evacuation for Princeville. The death toll from Hurricane Matthew has now risen to 22 in North Carolina according to McCrory. This aerial video shows the scale of the flooding. Credit: YouTube/Office of Governor Pat McCrory MNS corporators today asked Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Ajoy Mehta to ensure that all potholes are filled before Diwali or else face their wrath. By PTI: Intensifying their campaign for potholes-free roads in Mumbai, MNS corporators today asked Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Ajoy Mehta to ensure that all potholes are filled before Diwali or else face their wrath. The ultimatum was given by party corporator Sandeep Deshpande during the meeting of Standing Committee of BMC. "Our party has given a clear cut ultimatum to civic body chief Ajoy Mehta that if potholes are not filled before Diwali, then our workers would make him stand before potholes and get a placard in his hands to accept and announce that he (Mehta) is responsible for potholes across city," Deshpande told PTI. advertisement READ: Potholes continue to disrupt normal life in Mumbai On October 5, Deshpande and another corporator, also from MNS, Santosh Dhuri had forced chief engineer of Roads Department to hold a placard in his hand stating "I am responsible for these potholes. Please take note of it." "We know that whether we make a chief engineer responsible for (condition of) roads or the BMC Commissioner, punishment is same for making both the officers responsible. So why not BMC Commissioner should be declared responsible for the sorry state of roads," he asked. Deshpande claimed all parties in BMC had supported his stand of holding the chief engineer responsible for pockmarked roads. "The parties expressed their displeasure on why only two corporators were sent to jail for raising a valid issue of potholes," he said. Meanwhile, Congress, the principal Opposition party in Sena-BJP ruled BMC, has decided to bring a no-confidence motion against Mehta over the issue of potholes-ridden roads in Mumbai. An uproar was witnessed during the Standing Committee meeting, with corporators spanning all parties holding the civic administration responsible for rising numbers of potholes. Also Read: Congress to name potholes after BJP leaders in Mumbai --- ENDS --- trump A group of former nuclear-launch officers wrote a public letter warning that Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, should not be trusted with the nuclear-launch codes. The letter was organized by Bruce Blair, a former nuclear-launch officer and a scholar at Princeton University, as part of the #NoRedButton campaign. John Noonan, a national-security expert who advised both Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, was among the 10 who signed. The former officers wrote that only the president is capable of ordering a nuclear strike and once the launch has been ordered, it can't be vetoed. "The pressures the system places on that one person are staggering and require enormous composure, judgment, restraint and diplomatic skill," the letter said. "Donald Trump does not have these leadership qualities." Trump has "shown himself time and again to be easily baited and quick to lash out, dismissive of expert consultation and ill-informed of even basic military and international affairs including, most especially, nuclear weapons," the letter said. Blair, the head of the #NoRedButton campaign, also wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on Wednesday in which he asserted that Trump is uniquely unfit for the Oval Office. Blair wrote that Trump is "seemingly blind to the importance of restraint" when it comes to nuclear weapons. "He shows no humility toward the civilization-ending destructiveness of nuclear weapons, and offhandedly entertains their use," he wrote. The nuclear launch officers sum it up in their letter. "Donald Trump should not be the nation's commander-in-chief," they wrote. "He should not have his finger on the button." NOW WATCH: There's a terrifying reason people are warned to stay inside at 5:45 p.m. in parts of Mexico More From Business Insider It would be a "mistake" to reduce the power of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told CNBC. "We saw in 2007 to 2008 how bad consumer practices could actually accumulate and contribute to a financial crisis," he said. "We need to protect consumers and we also need to protect the financial system, and we shouldn't be rolling back Wall Street reform." Lew said the Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) sales scandal isn't as bad as what took place before the financial crisis, but is "bad enough that it just takes away people's confidence and trust in their own banking relationship." The bank in September agreed to a $185 million settlement for violations by its community banking division for opening about 2 million accounts without customer authorization starting in 2011. The settlement included $100 million with the CFPB, the largest penalty the agency has ever imposed. In September, Lew said at the 2016 Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor that the Wells Fargo case should be a "wake-up call." "This ought to be a moment where people stop and remember how dangerous the system is when you don't have the proper protections in place," Lew said. The CFPB was created as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act following the financial crisis. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pledged to repeal those changes. But lawmakers like Rep. Jeb Hensarling , chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, demanded to know why it took so long for regulators to take action against Wells Fargo. "Why was the story broken by an LA Times reporter years and years ago and only now have our regulators seemingly caught it?" the Texas Republican said on CNBC's " Power Lunch ." "I don't know if they need a pat on the back or a swift kick in the backside." Earlier this month, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the structure of the CFPB is unconstitutional because the financial watchdog's director wields too much power. Hensarling has recommended reforming the CFPB so that it is run by a five-member bipartisan commission instead of a single director. Story continues More From CNBC American workers are shunning time off, with 658 million of their vacation days going unused in 2015. But with the help of a new startup, those workers can tap the value of their unused days to use towards everything from travel, contributions to their 401(K) and even donations to charity. PTO Exchange Co-Founder Rob Whalen weighed in on how the company works with employers to give their employees alternative ways to utilize their unused vacation days. So, PTO Exchange actually, we integrate with the accrual payroll of most companies and then we allow employees to utilize the unused benefit for exchange for goods, services or experiences. And the policy is driven by the employer himself, Whalen told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo. According to Whalen the regulatory issues were a major obstacle. Obviously there is a lot of regulatory issues and I think the first two years we spent having to learn those so we could build a platform and an application that would actually service the enterprise right. So, there are rules and regulations, you have to abide by them, our platform allows you to do that. But, the policy is actually set up by the employer. Whalen then explained the companys business model and how it monetizes its relationship with employers and their employees. Yeah, so we make money pretty simply right, we charge $1 per employee per month so its a PEPM model and then we charge 3% per transactionAnd the 3% could actually be, you could actually put that off to the employee or the employer depending on how youd like to drive that. Related Articles In April 2010, Barack Obama gave a big space-policy speech at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASAs 30-year-old space shuttle program was winding down, and the space agency was looking ahead toward the next era of human space exploration. Obama was feeling expansive. By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow, he said. And I expect to be around to see it. This week, with only 100 days left in his final term, Obama renewed that ambition in an op-ed in CNN. Someday, he wrote on Tuesday, 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. Public interest in a Mars mission has flourished in the six years since Obamas speech in Florida, thanks in part to several high-profile triumphs in pursuit of that goal. To name a few: the Curiosity rovers nail-biting landing on Mars, Elon Musks regular and often successful tests of reusable rockets, and Matt Damons extraterrestrial potato farming in The Martian. But Mars mania doesnt correspond with Mars money. In the last few years, Obamas budget proposals for NASA have included cuts to the space agencys Mars exploration projects. Recommended: The Trump Allegations: The Latest Updates Thats what frustrated Casey Dreier, the director of space policy at the Planetary Society, when he read Obamas op-ed this week. Dreier told me he was glad to hear from Obama on Mars; he believes its fundamentally important that a president is excited about space. But the Obama administrations actions havent always jibed with its goals for Mars, he said. Its almost like hes talking about a different NASA, Dreier said. Story continues In his $17.7 billion budget proposal for NASA fiscal year 2013, Obama asked Congress for about $1.2 billion for the space agencys planetary sciences division, which builds and operates all robotic missions in the solar system, including the orbiters and landers that have gone to Mars. That represented a 20 percent cut to the divisions budget from the year before. The reduction forced NASA to withdraw from a joint project with the European Space Agency that launched an orbiter and a lander to Mars earlier this year. We are having to make tough decisions, because these are tough economic times," NASA chief Charlie Bolden said when the budget request was released in early 2012. "We are doing all that we can to be fiscally responsible." Congress responded by putting more money back in; the Senate proposed $100 million more than Obamas request for planetary sciences, and the House proposed over $200 million. The final number came to $1.3 billion. In the years since, Congress has appropriated more than Obama has requested, and lawmakers restored 2013 funding levels by fiscal year 2016. Recommended: The Tweetstorm Heard 'Round the Republican Party Lawmakers have also appropriated more funds for the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket Congress told NASA to build in 2010, which is supposed to launch astronauts on a journey to Mars. Experts say the government would be better off using reusable rockets produced by commercial companies instead of pouring millions of dollars into one they cant use again. The Obama administration has proposed cuts to the SLS, which have faced criticism from Republican lawmakers whose home states support NASA jobs. This administration cannot continue to tout plans to send astronauts to Mars while strangling the programs that will take us there, said Lamar Smith, a Texas congressman and the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, when Obama released his proposal in February. Smith has also criticized the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)the administrations plans to lasso an asteroid and bring it into the moons orbit, where astronauts can visit it, by the mid-2020scalling it a distraction from NASAs Mars goals. But Obamas legacy in space policy will not be the SLS, or even the Mars mission he describes as the next chapter of Americas story in space. The president has presided over an unprecedented expansion of partnerships between government agencies and commercial entities over space technology. Obama has requested more and more each year in funds for NASAs commercial spaceflight program, which invests in private companies that are designing launch systemslike SpaceX and Boeingto carry astronauts to the International Space Station, a capability NASA lost when the shuttle program ended. Recommended: How Trump's Abuse of Women Hid in Plain Sight "Just five years ago, U.S. companies were shut out of the global commercial launch market, Obama wrote in the CNN op-ed. Today, thanks to groundwork laid by the men and women of NASA, they own more than a third of it. More than 1,000 companies across nearly all 50 states are working on private space initiatives. Obamas op-ed is likely one of his final public statements as president about the future of the American spaceflight. Its a lot rosier than some of his first public statements; in April 2008, the then-senator told a group of Wyoming voters that NASA has lost focus and is no longer associated with inspiration. Eight years later, Obama appears to believe that NASA found its focus again under his administration, even if he didnt always find the money to pay for it. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. When a U.S. vessel off the coast of Yemen fired on Houthi rebels Thursday, it sent another of the Obama administrations delicate balancing acts in the Middle East off the rails. Is the president who says hes dedicated to getting the U.S. out of the regions wars now dragging us into another one before he leaves office? The U.S. was in an untenable position in the Yemeni conflict even before the U.S.S. Nitze sent cruise missiles into three radar installations controlled by Houthis, who are Shia and who ousted the Sunni government in Sanaa early last year. It has since chided the Saudis from time to time weakly and ineffectively -- while indirectly supporting their savage and apparently indiscriminate bombing campaign against the Houthi who Riyadh casts (inaccurately) as creatures of the Shia regime in Tehran. If that sounds like another bowl of noodles, with U.S. interests a tangled mess running every which way, it should because it is. As of Thursday, Obama is certain to serve it, piping hot, to his successor in November. FindTheData | Graphiq President Obama reportedly signed off on the missile launches. Here are four reasons he should not have: Retaliation was unnecessary. The Pentagon hauled out a lot of boilerplate to explain its responseself-defense, protecting U.S. personnel, freedom of navigation, and global commercebut it doesnt match the situation. The missiles fired from Houthi-controlled territory fell well wide of U.S. ships. Given the broader circumstances in all their complexity, there was no justification for a military response. Strong diplomatic language was the proper tool, considering the Houthis relatively primitive military resources. But this appears to be yet another judgment that originated at the Pentagon, not the White House and not the State Department. Its Defense, we ought to note, that handled all the public relationsand pointedly asserted that it had Obamas blessing. The U.S. is badly aligned. Even before the Navys retaliation Thursday, the U.S. was drawing increasing criticism for supporting the Saudis indefensible behavior. The U.N. reports that the bombing campaign has already killed more than 4,000 Yemenis. An airstrike in Sanaa last weekend killed at least 140 people attending a funeral. Story continues That attack prompted the White House (finally) to announce that it would review U.S. military assistance to the Saudis. That was the right direction to take. In a matter of days, the administration has turned 180 degreesimplicitly but unmistakably lining up behind the Saudis. Its inexplicableand a grave error. Heres an occasion that truly calls for balance: The administration could have told Riyadh to stop the aggression based on the longstanding relationship between the U.S. and Yemen. FindTheData | Graphiq Ignoring the obvious. The Obama administration has ignored for too long Saudi Arabias decision to go its own way in the region. This has been increasingly clear for several yearsespecially since a younger generation has emerged in Riyadh. The Saudis, dont forget, were vigorously opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq; more recently, there have been major differences over Syria. But the crowning blow was the Iran nuclear deal since Riyadh sees itself as in an existential power struggle with Tehran. Its plain now that ties between Washington and Riyadh will never again be aligned as they were for many decades. Yemen is one reason, Syrias another. The U.S. should recognize chill and conduct policy by reconsidering its interests and alliances. Instead, the Obama administration appears intent on pretending all is as it has been, possibly because it has no idea how to rethink policy. This will cost us. The next president will have to set a new course quickly and squarely. The Iran deal is endangered. While Tehran didnt invent the Houthis, they are an indigenous movement and they are not the proxies of Iran the Saudis make them out to be. The sectarian dimension of the Yemeni conflict is obvious, and yet another big reason the Navy ought to have exercised restraint. The background here is the deep chasm the Iran nuclear accord has opened in Washington and the increasingly evident animosity between the Pentagon and State. Given Obamas commitment to the nuclear pact, any move that endangers it is a mistake. Signing off on the cruise missiles Thursday was one. Tehran is almost certain to assume that Obama has just signaled a limit to his commitment and the Saudi relationship defines it. The Navys move, with Obamas signature on it, is a stunner however one slices it. The president may have just reclassified his signature diplomatic achievement as damaged goods and weakened the White Houses power by ceding policy to the Pentagons advantage. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration, in its final weeks, plans to ease the legal obligations on prisoners to pay for child support while they are locked up, targeting practices that critics say can saddle ex-convicts with crippling debts. The regulatory changes, if put in place, would give President Barack Obama something more to show for his efforts to reform the U.S. criminal justice system, a legacy issue for the Democrat whose time in office ends on Jan. 20. As the first black president of a nation that incarcerates a disproportionately large number of black and Latino men, Obama has made it a priority to address problems that make it difficult for released inmates to reenter society. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the new rules are not final, expressed confidence they would be completed before Obama leaves office. The rules would require that prisoners be allowed to lower the amount of child support they pay in prison, with the goal of preventing large debts that inmates struggle to repay after release and that can lead to reincarceration. Some Republican critics have said such a change would let parents flout their financial responsibilities. Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan last year introduced a bill to block the administration from making such a change. The bill did not become law. A Republican House aide told Reuters the administration's initiative would amount to a "backdoor effort" to avoid the legislative process. Criminal justice reform was supposed to be an area where Republicans and Democrats could find common ground in 2016, but legislative efforts have stalled. As a result, the administration needs to move forward on its own where it can, the White House official said. "We are always happy to sit down and talk with Congress, but at some point we have to move forward with what we know we are legally permitted to do and what is right," the official said. DEBTS PILE UP Child-support programs require absent parents to send money, usually to the spouse who has custody, to help raise their children. For prisoners who have little or no income, regular child-support payments can accumulate into unmanageable debts. Just ask Glenn Martin. As a young father, he went to prison for six years for armed robbery. While in prison, his child support payments were increased to $400 a month from $50 a month, even though he only earned about $40 a month. When he was released, Martin told Reuters he faced a $50,000 civil judgment for back child support, including interest. He said he tried to get that changed, but judges said state law did not permit modifications for incarceration. Martin went on to found a prison reform group, JustLeadershipUSA. "We have two decades of evidence that says that being tough just hasn't worked," he said. "What it has done is further criminalize the people we should be trying to move into the labor market." Most states have changed their laws so that child support payments for prisoners can be modified, but 14 states still do not allow it or place major obstacles in the way. The Obama administration issued draft regulations in late 2014 that would require states to allow prisoners to modify their child support court orders, while also requiring state courts to set orders based on prisoners' "actual" income. States run their own child support enforcement programs, but Washington sets nationwide standards and reimburses states for 66 percent of expenditures on the programs and provides incentive payments to states based on meeting certain targets. The final version of the draft rules, still not public, was sent to the White House for review in July. Supporters say the changes will help reduce prison populations by preventing ex-convicts from accruing debts that make it difficult for them to find legitimate jobs and increases the likelihood they could face jail time over unpaid child support payments. A 2010 administration survey found 51,000 federal prisoners had child support orders, with almost 29,000 of the prisoners behind on payments. The average amount owed was nearly $24,000. "The child support system as it exists today in a lot of ways has become ... a major driver of mass incarceration," said Rebecca Vallas, managing director of the Poverty to Prosperity program at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank. (Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Andrew Hay) On Friday, President Obama renewed his attack on establishment Republican politicians who are backing Donald Trump, despite their nominees comments describing how he gropes women, his threats to jail his political opponent, Hillary Clinton, and his claim that Mexico is sending rapists over the U.S. border. Stumping for Hillary Clinton in the swing state of Ohio, Obama said he was disturbed by Republican officials who know better but are still supporting this guy. He said the Republican Party is responsible for the rise of Trump. They are sane people, theyre normal folks, Obama said of GOP politicians in Congress. But he said they have turned a blind eye and allowed conspiracy theories to flourish, including erroneous stories about Obama being born outside the United States, or creating ISIS with Clinton, or imposing martial law. Now, after their base nominated a candidate who traffics in some of those same conspiracies, the president argued, theyre reaping the consequences of this inaction. They stood by and they didnt say anything, because it was a way to rile up their base and way to mount opposition to whatever we were trying to do, Obama said. Over time, because a lot of the hardcore Republican partisan voters were just hearing this stuff over and over again, they started to believe it. Thats what allowed Donald Trump suddenly to emerge. Donald Trump didnt build all this crazy conspiracy stuff. By blaming Republicans for Trump, Obama is breaking from Clinton and her campaign strategy. She and her campaign have explicitly reached out to Republican voters in advertisements and speeches, painting Trump as an outside-the-mainstream candidate who does not represent conservative values. These moderate Republicans could help Clinton win in some areas and give her a broader mandate to enact her agenda if she is elected president. Obama has a different objective: He wants to protect his legacy by making up some of the historic Democratic losses in statehouses under his tenure, while also winning back the House and the Senate for his party. Pinning Trump on Republicans may boost down-ballot Democrats over their rivals. Story continues You said you were the party of family values, Obama continued. What, you werent appalled earlier when he was saying degrading things about women? When he was judging them based on a score of, Are they a 2, or are they a 10? That wasnt enough for you? Obama suggested that Republicans walking away from Trump now rather than at the point when he said some Mexican immigrants are rapists or expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin are more concerned about political expedience than principles. In his Friday speech making the case against Republicans, Obama praised first lady Michelle Obama for making a nonpartisan pitch against Trump in Manchester, N.H., on Thursday, in which she powerfully condemned Trumps treatment of women. Obama said he could not be prouder of her. On Thursday, Michelle Obama argued that preventing Trump from becoming president was not a partisan question but a moral one. She said the reports of his comments about and treatment of women had shaken me to my core, and that the country must prevent someone who was demeaning to women from taking office. I know its a campaign, but this isnt about politics, she said. Its about basic human decency. Its about right and wrong. And we simply cannot endure this, or expose our children to this any longer not for another minute, and let alone for four years. On Friday, the president also needled Trump for posting a billion-dollar loss in the 1990s and for his supposed populist credentials. Apparently, in a speech yesterday, he started talking about global elites, that there was a conspiracy of global elites, he said. This was a guy who spent all this time hanging around trying to convince everybody he was a global elite. All he had time for was celebrities. Now hes acting like hes a populist, Obama said, shaking his head. Come on, man! Trump told a crowd in Florida on Thursday that Clinton was part of a conspiracy of global elites to fix the economy against the working class. He spent the early part of this week railing against disloyal Republicans who expressed displeasure after the release last week of a 2005 tape in which the developer is heard boasting that he can do anything to women, including grabbing their genitals. (Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, were among Republicans who said they would not vote for him after the tape surfaced.) Since then, the New York Times and other outlets have published the accounts of four women who accused Trump of groping them. Obama left much of the condemnation of Trumps unacceptable comments to his wife, quoting her in his Ohio speech. If you believe that we are better than what weve been hearing, the good news is, as [Michelle] pointed out yesterday, theres something we can do about it right here in Ohio, a battleground state, he said. Barack Obama ohio President Barack Obama unleashed a blistering attack on Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, during a rally in Cleveland on Friday. Obama ripped into Trump's past comments about women, Mexican immigrants, and Muslim-Americans. "You don't have to be a husband or a father to know that kind of language, those kinds of thoughts, those kind of actions, are unacceptable," Obama said. "They're not right." Obama questioned why prominent Republicans like Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire were backing away from Trump only after the public release last week of a 2005 tape in which Trump bragged about being able to grope women. "You said you're the party of family values," Obama said of the Republican Party. "What, you weren't appalled earlier when he was saying degrading things about women? When he was judging them based on a score, of, are they a 2 or a 10?" "If you're doing it just for political expedience because you're looking at poll numbers and you say, 'This might get me in trouble,' that's not enough," Obama said. He accused elected Republican officials of "standing by" and letting "crazy talk" like Obama being born outside the US dominate conservative media. Obama linked the propagation of conspiracy theories to Trump's rise. "That's what allowed Donald Trump suddenly to emerge," he said. Business Insider's latest electoral-projection map has Clinton up 316 electoral votes to Trump's 187, including states that lean Democrat. Trump is up by 1 percentage point in Ohio the battleground state is still in play. NOW WATCH: 'He never said that': New Clinton ad shows Trump contradicting Pence's VP debate denials More From Business Insider The incident came to light when the infant was brought to the district headquarters hospital in a critical condition by her parents Santoshi Bag and Arun Bag. By India Today Web Desk: In a sickening example of blind faith and superstition, a 27-day-old baby girl was branded with hot iron to "cure" her stomach ailments. The gruesome incident was reported from Kangra village in Tentulikhunti block in Odisha. The incident came to light when the infant was brought to the district headquarters hospital in a critical condition by her parents Santoshi Bag and Arun Bag. advertisement The police are looking for the disari (faith healer) who had told the infant's parents to brand her. Nabarangpur district is known for the practice of branding children with hot iron and bangles to cure ailments. There have been many instances of disaris being arrested for "treating" ill children in this gruesome fashion. However, instead of curing the children, this treatment has only to the death of many children who were subjected to the hot iron cure. So far more than 30 such cases have been reported from Nabarangpur and Malkangiri district this year. --- ENDS --- The Obama administration is gearing up for a major promotional campaign to bolster signups for the Affordable Care Act in 2017, but officials already are encountering stiff headwinds. With major insurers including Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross-Blue Shield pulling out of the program in many states to avoid even more huge financial losses as well as stiff increases in premiums in many states, sign ups will plateau or even decline next year, according to some experts. Related: Get Ready for Huge Obamacare Premium Hikes in 2017 The law designed to provide both subsidized and market-rate insurance coverage to Americans who lacked coverage through an employer or who did not qualify for Medicaid, covered 11.1 million people as of March, its third full year of operation. A new S&P Global Ratings report projects that enrollment next year will range from a 4 percent gain to an 8 percent decline compared to 2016 levels, as Bloomberg first reported. Our forecasted modest-to-negative growth is clearly a bump in the road, but doesnt signal game-over for the marketplace, Deep Banerjee, an S&P analyst, wrote in a report released yesterday. Earlier this week, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton declared that the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for an increasing number of people and that rising premium costs were squeezing many middle-class Minnesotans out of the program. Larry Levitt, senior vice president for special initiatives at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said in an interview today that the coming open enrollment period will be pivotal, with the results affecting perceptions among insurers and policymakers about how the law is doing and whether fixes are necessary. Related: Minnesota Could Be the First Obamacare Domino to Fall Marketplace enrollment grew by about 1 million during open enrollment for 2016. Achieving even modest growth for 2017 will be challenging, with premiums rising and the remaining uninsured getting tougher to reach, Levitt added. The administration is hoping that their new efforts at targeted outreach, including reaching out to people facing penalties for remaining uninsured, will prove successful. Story continues One of the biggest problems is that with so many major insurers heading for the door, consumers will have fewer options shopping for health insurance coverage that suits their needs and their incomes. For those who are not eligible for government tax subsidies through Obamacare, the remaining higher priced options will provide little incentive to stay in the program. Highlighting the dilemma for many consumers, Bloomberg reported on Friday that at least 1.4 million people in 32 states would lose the Obamacare health plan they currently have because Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, BlueCross BlueShield and some state or regional insurers have dropped out of the program. The report was based on a survey of state officials and insurance commissioners across the country. The five states hardest hit by those departures are Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation projection, the share of enrollees nationwide who could choose between three or more insurers will drop from 85 percent this year to 62 percent in 2017. At the same time, 19 percent or more of Americans participating in the Affordable Care Acts individual market next year will have only one insurer from which to choose. Related: Its Time to Blame Obamacare for Losing So Many Full-Time Jobs In North Carolina, for instance, a BlueCross BlueShield insurer will be the only option in 95 of the states 100 counties after Aetna and UnitedHealthcare announced earlier this year that they would leave. That means that 284,000 people will be seeking a new plan, according to state officials. Meanwhile, roughly 82,000 Nebraskans will pay more than expected for individual health insurance next year because of Blue Cross-Blue Shields decision to no longer offer policies on the Obamacare exchanges, the World-Herald of Omaha reported this week. That decision will likely result in the two remaining insurers Medica Health and Aetna Health raising their premiums next year by between 40 percent and 55 percent, according to the newspaper. Department of Health and Human Services officials insist that despite a flurry of negative news, they anticipate more positive growth in program enrollment that began with 6.3 million in 2014 and then rose to 8.8 million in 2015 and11.1 million this year. HHS is looking forward to a successful fourth Open Enrollment, and we expect continued growth in the marketplace, HHS press secretary Marjorie Connolly said in an emailed statement today. As the uninsured rate continues to fall to record lows, we are confident that this years outreach strategy will keep connecting Americans with coverage they need and want. Related: White House Is Spending Millions to Battle Obamacare Rate Hikes It didnt help when former President Bill Clinton took a shot at Obamacare during a speech in Flint, Michigan when he said, The people who are getting killed on this deal are small business people and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies because theyre not organized. They dont have any bargaining power with insurance companies, so theyre getting whacked. So you've got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world," Clinton said. With the 2017 enrollment seasons kicking off November 1, the administration is planning to run TV ads and distribute 10 million pieces of direct mail to promote Obamacare. The ad campaign will largely target people who were recently uninsured, who have lost coverage, or who have sought coverage in the past from the Obamacare exchanges operated by the federal government or states. However, the campaign could be drowned out by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and GOP congressional candidates who are running against Obamacare and are likely to seize on reported hikes in premiums and out of pocket costs to argue the program is a failure. Or they could count on Bill Clinton to do it for them. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Susan Taylor and Sonali Paul TORONTO/MELBOURNE, Oct 14 (Reuters) - OceanaGold Corp has lost a claim seeking some $284 million in compensation from El Salvador for failing to issue permits allowing it to dig a gold mine in the Central American country, according to an arbitration decision announced on Friday. The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) found in favour of El Salvador, OceanaGold said in a press release, and the government was awarded $8 million to cover legal costs for the claim, first brought by Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining in 2009. Pacific Rim was taken over in 2013 by OceanaGold, which continued to pursue the claim while at the same time trying to negotiate with the El Salvadoran government to win mining and environmental permits for its El Dorado project. OceanaGold estimates El Dorado holds 1.5 million ounces of gold and 11.4 million ounces of silver resources. The company said in a statement that it was disappointed with the tribunal's decision and would review the ruling before evaluating the next steps for its El Salvador unit. Pacific Rim first applied for a mining concession in 2005. El Salvador, however, has blocked new mining permits since 2008 amid concerns about potential damage to a major river and water supplies from cyanide, which is used to extract gold and silver from ore. A coalition of non-profit groups, backed by the charity Oxfam, have long campaigned against mining in impoverished El Salvador, questioning whether mines with short lives can really aid long term development. OceanaGold, which has assets in the Philippines, New Zealand and the United States, expects to produce 385,000 to 425,000 ounces of gold and 19,000 to 21,000 tonnes of copper in 2016. (Reporting by Susan Taylor and Sonali Paul; editing by Grant McCool) John Kasich John Kasich is furious at Wells Fargo, and now his state is cutting off its business with the bank for at least one year. In an interview with Business Insider on Thursday, the Ohio governor and one-time 2016 Republican presidential contender said Wells Fargo executives should be held accountable for the bank's recent fraudulent-accounts scandal. And on Friday, Kasich announced Ohio was suspending its business with the bank for one year. This will include using Wells Fargo to issue debt or bid for financial-services contracts. The decision applies to state agencies under Kasich's authority. That follows similar suspensions by California and Illinois. "It's clear that Wells Fargo's culture was compromised by greed and by a desire to make money that was stronger than a commitment to following proper ethical standards," Kasich said in a statement announcing the move on Friday. During his interview with Business Insider, Kasich called the scandal "a disgrace." "And everybody who was involved in that culture should be held accountable," he said. He added that the bank's board of directors also held "a certain accountability" for not paying attention to "the quality of the people" running the bank. Wells Fargo announced on September 8 that the bank was settling with regulators for $185 million after retail-banking employees opened up to 2 million debit- and credit-card accounts under customers' names without their knowledge from 2011 to 2015. Kasich said executives should not "walk out of that place with millions, tens of millions, tens and tens of millions of dollars" while 5,300 lower-level employees were fired for opening or overseeing the opening of fake accounts. "It's just an outrage," he said. "It's people who have forgotten decent values towards other people." John Stumpf resigned as CEO on Wednesday and was replaced by former COO Tim Sloan, a 29-year-veteran of Wells Fargo. Stumpf also had $41 million in stock-based compensation clawed back by the bank before his retirement. Story continues Kasich said there might be some "reasonable approaches" that could be effective in curtailing the type of behavior that took place at Wells, but it ultimately came down to the companies to police themselves. "In terms of what law you could pass, I don't know," Kasich told Business Insider. "I mean if there was something specific that made sense, then I'd be OK with that. I would favor that. But just passing something without having a great impact, look, laws only go so far, it's an individual morality that at the end of the day in values that matters in these companies." Despite the scandal, Wells Fargo still posted stronger-than-expected earnings on Friday and said the loss of state business was not a serious detriment to its bottom line. NOW WATCH: 'He never said that': New Clinton ad shows Trump contradicting Pence's VP debate denials More From Business Insider NEW YORK (Reuters) - The state of Ohio on Friday joined a growing list of municipalities to suspend business relationships with Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) over a scandal involving as many as two million bogus accounts. Governor John Kasich announced that for one year he is barring Wells Fargo "participating in future state debt offerings and financial services contracts initiated by state agencies under his authority," and will seek to exclude the California-based bank from participating in debt offerings initiated by the Ohio Public Facilities Commission. "While Wells Fargo only does limited retail banking in Ohio, it does regularly seek state bond business so I have instructed my Administration to seek services from other banks instead, and Ill cast my votes against Wells Fargo on the Public Facilities Commission," Kasich said in a statement. "This company has lost the right to do business with the State of Ohio because its actions have cost it the publics confidence," he added. Last month, the bank agreed to pay a $190 million settlement over its staff opening as many as 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge. The misconduct, carried out by low-level branch staff to meet internal sales targets, shattered the bank's folksy image and triggered a raft of federal and state investigations. The scandal cost former chief executive and chairman, John Stumpf, his job when he was forced to resign on Wednesday after 34 years with the bank. Ohio joins other states and local municipalities, including California, Illinois, and Chicago in banning Wells Fargo from participating in bidding for bond underwriting and other types of business. In addition to outright sanctions, the states of Massachusetts and Oregon, as well as the city of New York, have said they would press for reforms at the bank, await results of investigations while also reviewing their business relationship with the company. Kasich did say he could possibly revisit the decision in the coming year if Wells Fargo were to "make progress in restoring a culture of integrity." (Reporting by Daniel Bases; editing by Andrew Hay, Bernard Orr) For more than 15 years, a lone scientist in southern Finland has spent countless winter nights among the snowy fields and frozen lakes around his village, in pursuit of one of the most ephemeral mysteries of the heavens: the faint, almost phantasmagorical sounds heard during intense displays of the aurora borealis, or northern lights. The epic study by acoustician Unto K. Laine includes the first audio recordings of the muffled crackling or popping sometimes heard overhead during spectacular aurora displays. Over the years, the sounds of the northern lights have been explained as illusions, imagination, inebriation or even voices from the spiritual world. [In Photos: Recording Mysterious Sounds from the Northern Lights] But Laine has shown the sounds are real, and he thinks he has found what causes them: sparks of electricity discharging beneath the aurora in an inversion layer of the atmosphere that can form in clear and calm weather conditions. Physicist Unto K. Laine setting up his aurora recording equipment on a frozen lake in southern Finland. Janne Kommonen Laine told Live Science that he became interested in the phenomenon of so-called auroral acoustics about 25 years ago, when he and his friends heard sounds from an aurora after a nighttime music gathering in Finnish Lapland, in the far north of the country. "This experience never left me. We had to concentrate we did not move or talk at all," he said. "A few of us did not hear it, because at that time, the aurora wasn't very strong, and it was a very low-intensity sound. I could never forget this experience; it was so strange." In 2000, Laine started to keep a careful watch on space weather forecasts for reports of intense solar flares that could supercharge auroras over the following nights. Auroras are caused by charged particles from solar flares interacting with the Earth's magnetic field and raining into the upper atmosphere, where they excite the nitrogen and oxygen atoms of the air to create the dramatic and colorful light shows. "During all these years, I have checked the space weather two to three times a day, so not to miss any aurora events and always, when the weather conditions are good, I go," he said. Story continues Sounds out of space Laine's solitary hunt for the elusive sound of the northern lights demanded great patience. There have been few intense auroras over Finland in the past 16 years, thanks in part to the "solar minimum," a period of decreased activity in the sun's natural 11-year solar cycle. Between 2004 and 2007, the sun experienced a lull in activity, according to NASA, which meant fewer solar flares and fewer auroras. In 2011, as solar activity ramped up, Laine started using a VLF loop antenna to measure magnetic fields and a microphone array to triangulate the locations of crackles and pops in the ever-changing sounds from the aurora. [Aurora Photos: See Breathtaking Views of the Northern Lights] "The sounds are diverse and can vary quite a lot, and it is very possible that there are many different mechanisms creating the sounds," he said. "I have been concentrating more on the clapping, popping and crackling, because they are good for estimating the direction of the sound." In September 2011, during an intense aurora overhead, Laine's microphone array was able to triangulate the locations of several distinct "clap" sounds from the celestial display. To his surprise, the results showed the sounds were originating just 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground much lower than the auroras themselves, which occur at altitudes of up to 300 kilometers (185 miles). Laines unexpected discovery partly explained one of the mysteries of the acoustics of auroras: How can faint sounds from auroras so high in the atmosphere be heard at the surface of the Earth? In a research paper published in 2012, which included the first recordings of auroral sounds ever made, Laine also ruled out a theory that the sounds could be made by trees, because his microphones had been set in open fields and beside frozen lakes. The acoustics of auroras Now, Laine thinks he may have discovered a mechanism in the atmosphere that explains at least some of the sounds caused by auroras. During an intense display of the northern lights over southern Finland on March 17 and 18, 2013, when the temperature in the village of Fiskars was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius), Laine recorded hundreds of auroral sound events. [Northern Lights: 8 Dazzling Facts About Auroras] He also measured magnetic pulses that occurred immediately before each sound event, which corresponded in strength to the volume of the sounds. Then, Laine matched his measurements to data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute for the same night, and found they had measured a thermal inversion layer in the atmosphere a blanket of relatively warm air that traps cold air next to the ground in calm conditions at the same altitude where the noises originated. In research presented June 22 at the Baltic-Nordic Acoustic Meeting in Stockholm, Laine proposed that the sounds are caused by the buildup of electrical charges in the inversion layer, while opposite charges build up in the trapped cold air. When an aurora occurs over the charged inversion layer, geomagnetic disturbances cause the accumulated electricity to discharge with sparks that create measurable magnetic pulses and sounds, Laine said. This could explain why sounds caused by auroras in the upper atmosphere can be heard at the Earth's surface, he said, and why the volume of the sounds appeared to vary with the intensity of the auroras. With the solar activity cycle now entering its downward swing, Laine may have fewer opportunities over the next few years to continue his hunt for the song of the northern lights. But, he hopes his research will inspire more observations of aurora sounds and will spark discussions about the mysterious physical mechanisms that create them. Looking back, Laine said, the weather conditions on the night 25 years ago, when he first heard the sounds of the northern lights, were perfect for auroral acoustical inspiration. "It was very cold weather, about minus 35 degrees C [minus 31 degrees F], with clear skies, no clouds and no wind. So it was absolutely the best conditions to hear the sounds," he said. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Chetan Bhagat is out with his new book One Indian Girl. He teamed up with Amazon India for promotions and on Twitter, as usual, some took Chetan's case while others took Amazon's more than his. By India Today Web Desk: Amazon India teamed up with writer Chetan Bhagat to promote their website and Chetan teamed up with them to get trolled, like a ritual. Amazon tweeted a video where the writer knocks at actor Arjun Kapoor's door and personally delivers his new book. Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor are starring in writer-turned-producer Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend which explains, if it's even half wise an idea, it's maybe time we start taking contemporary cinema seriously. advertisement OPINION: Nastiest review of Chetan Bhagat's new book Here's the video of Bhagat personally delivering his new book to Arjun Kapoor. And soon the collective trolling of Amazon India and Chetan Bhagat began. Here are gems and complaints to ROFL. How about Amazon India using its delivery forces indulging Bhagat and fulfill this man's order? @amazonIN @chetan_bhagat No need of dis publcty gimmick if u imprve ur srvc instd of frauds, waiting for ORDER # 403-4157372-8814701 Ganesh Karakoti (@Ganeshkarakoti1) October 9, 2016 @amazonIN Although Amazon packaging is awesome but we customers want that kinda packaging for the pricier goods we order !!! Dr Sahil (@eversearching5) October 10, 2016 @amazonIN stop all drama I've not got call from Management it's 144 hrs and I'm struggling.. JaymitShah (@jaymit) October 9, 2016 @amazonIN You are delivering book in a wooden box while my phone was delivered in a packet... How ironic.. Tracking no 211148550481 Harsh Srivastava (@HarshSr87) October 13, 2016 @amazonIN @arjunk26 @chetan_bhagat Abe gadhe.. iss 10th fail ko kahan de raha hai book.. ye chane khayega isme.. haha A6 Racer !! (@timepassindelhi) October 13, 2016 And then came Chetan's turn. In one tweet, it's two birds with one shot. @amazonIN @arjunk26 @chetan_bhagat Why not, I was upset when I got the book, would have been even more disturbed if Bhagat came with it. Deepak Kamat (@xxxdepy) October 10, 2016 And this is Chetan Bhagat every time after his new book is published. Or otherwise. --- ENDS --- Russia and Middle Eastern oil producers want to keep oil prices between $50 and $60 per barrel, according to the head of commodities at RBC Capital Markets, who suggested that U.S. supply is the real problem for the oil cartel. Supported by a drop in U.S. fuel inventories, oil climbed further above $52 per barrel Friday amid plans from OPEC producers for a supply freeze agreement to help stabilize prices. "I think that Saudi Arabia, OPEC and the Russians hope that yes some U.S. production will come back but $50 to $60 is probably not enough to resurrect the entire U.S. shale complex," Helima Croft, managing director and global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC Friday. "I don't think they are aiming for $70 to $80, because I don't think they want to bring it all back," she said. Croft added that Russia and the Middle East want a "steady grind higher, not a gallop" in terms of prices. In their most recent note RBC capital markets see WTI and Brent averaging $51 per barrel and $53 per barrel over the rest of 2016, before increasing to $56.50 per barrel and $59 per barrel on average in 2017. November's OPEC meeting is seen as the forum where a supply freeze deal will stand or fall. RBC's Croft said it will be down to Saudi Arabia whether anything meaningful is achieved. "Almost all these other countries are basically maxed out and really it will have to be the Saudi's and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) who takes the cut," she told CNBC. "If the Saudi's incentivize the deal, I think it gets done," she said. And on fears that Libya will ramp up supply to previous levels, Croft said political turmoil in the country would prevent that happening. "Libya has three governments at the moment; there are 100 militias in Tripoli," she said. "The country is awash with weapons. It's like asking Somalia to get their act together." More From CNBC By Ola Noureldin CAIRO (Reuters) - Orange Egypt signed a licence deal on Thursday, paying $484 million to operate fourth-generation mobile phone services in the country of 90 million after the government agreed to offer it additional spectrum. Egypt is selling four 4G licences as part of a long-awaited plan to reform the telecoms sector and to raise money for stretched government finances. The country's three existing mobile phone operators - Orange, Vodafone and Etisalat - initially all turned down the 4G licences saying the amount of spectrum on offer was not sufficient to allow them to offer the service efficiently. The regulator then announced that operators which paid for the licence entirely in dollars would be given priority in buying additional spectrum. U.S. dollars are scarce in Egypt due to a long-running economic crisis. Orange Egypt, a subsidiary of French telecoms group Orange, said early on Thursday it wished to "renegotiate acquisition of a 4G license in light of new terms." The regulator said the company had until October 23 to submit a formal offer but the chief executive of Orange Egypt signed a $484 mln deal on Thursday, receiving 10 megaherz of spectrum instead of the 7.5 initially on offer. The head of Egypt's telecom regulator said Orange would pay half the licence fee in Egyptian pounds and had also acquired a licence to offer fixed line services for a further $11 million. Telecom Egypt, the state's fixed-line monopoly, was the only company to take up the original offer, buying a 4G license in August for 7.08 billion Egyptian pounds ($797 million) to enter the mobile market directly for the first time. The company later offered to buy additional spectrum not acquired by other operators. The regulator said it would reconvene on October 23 to discuss additional options for rolling out 4G services that include holding an international auction for the remaining licences and selling additional frequency to Telecom Egypt. Kuwait's Zain, China Telecom, Saudi Telecom and Lebara KSA have all expressed interest in acquiring Egyptian 4G licences if the established companies bow out. Egypt needs hard currency after burning through its foreign exchange reserves as political turmoil hit foreign investment and tourism since a 2011 uprising. (Writing by Amina Ismail, Eric Knecht and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Adrian Croft and Alexandra Hudson) Milan (AFP) - Crowds of mourners flocked Friday to pay their respects to Italy's Nobel prize-winning dramatist Dario Fo, whose flower-adorned coffin lay in state in a theatre in Milan. A lay ceremony will be held Saturday in front of the city's Gothic cathedral for the writer and actor, one of the leading figures in 20th century farce and political theatre, who died on Thursday aged 90. Behind the coffin stood an easel featuring a photograph of a smiling Fo, brush in hand, while painting materials rested on a stool nearby in tribute to the provocative playwright, who studied fine arts and architecture in Milan before turning to the theatre. His son Jacopo and his wife and children were present at the Piccolo Teatro Strehler to share memories of the Italian master. Fo was "a 360-degrees artist, he was an extraordinary innovator in the theatre world and linguistically as well," 27-year old history student Vincenzo Mirigliano told AFP, after placing a flower near the coffin. "But he was also a great painter, creating works (...) with extraordinary colours," he added, saying Fo's genius lay in his ability to mix humour with moments of profound reflection. Adalberto da Pieve, 80, who came from Milan's outskirts to say goodbye to the mime, stand-up comic, historian and political commentator, said "he was such an ironic person, we will miss him". "Even the sky is crying today," added his wife Angela Sansoterra, 73, as dark rain clouds broke over the northern Italian city. Fo, who was married to the actress and activist Franca Rame, won the Nobel prize for literature in 1997 and told Swedish Academy the award also belonged to his wife and life-long collaborator, who died in 2013. He was best known for his works "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" and "Can't Pay, Won't Pay". Pakistan on Friday lifted a travel ban imposed on a leading journalist for reporting that civilian officials had clashed with the country's powerful military over its alleged covert support for militants. "It has been decided to delete the name of Cyril Almeida...from the Exit Control List," an official memorandum issued by the ministry of the interior and obtained by AFP said. No further details were given on what prompted the government to remove Almeida's name. Islamabad's interior minister on Thursday branded Almeida's report -- which sparked an uproar with its claims that top officials had warned the army to stop supporting proxy fighters abroad -- the "narrative of our enemies". Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan added that an inquiry was being held into whether the journalist should be prosecuted. Amnesty International slammed the ban as "crude" and called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to "remember his promise" to improve conditions for journalists. For years Pakistan has been accused of cracking down on only those Islamist groups which have turned their guns inward towards the state, while harbouring those who fight abroad for its strategic ends. Pakistan is routinely ranked among the world's most dangerous for journalists, and reporting critical of the military is considered a major red flag, with journalists at times detained, beaten and even killed. A Pennsylvania pastor faces nearly 170 criminal charges after he allegedly impregnated a 15-year-old girl from his youth group during a seven-month sexual relationship, authorities said. Wesley Blackburn, 35, was arrested after his wife told Faith Brethren Bible Churchs head pastor last Thursday that her husband had confessed to what was called an affair, WJAC-TV reported. Blackburn allegedly told his wife that he no longer loved her anymore, that he wanted a divorce and that the teen was pregnant. Read: Teacher Charged With Child Sex Abuse After Being Impregnated By Student She said, I dont know what to do, and I said, I do, Senior Pastor Jim Espenshade, told the television station, saying that within minutes he and the rest of the church leaders met, fired Blackburn and called the police. Blackburn, a father of five who served as a youth pastor and Sunday school teacher, allegedly told Pennsylvania State Police that he met the girl in 2009 and they grew closer after she joined his youth group in 2014, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by The Tribune-Democrat. The pair developed a physical relationship in March, Blackburn reportedly said. Read: Teacher Accused of Having Sex With Student While Fiance Was At Bachelor Party "[I feel] disappointed, betrayed, stabbed in the back. I have a 14-year-old granddaughter. When I heard what he did - upset is a good word for it," Espenshade told WJAC-TV. Blackburn was charged with 84 felony counts of statutory sexual assault, 84 misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and one felony count of corruption of minors. He was arraigned Thursday and remains in Bedford County Jail on $200,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court October 19. Watch: Substitute Teacher Invited Two Of Her Students Home For Sex: Cops Related Articles: By PTI: Srinagar, Oct 14 (PTI) Opposition parties led by National Conference today said India and Pakistan should hold talks for the resolution of Kashmir issue and the Centre should initiate a political process on the issue, stressing that war is not the solution. "We are all concerned about peace in Jammu and Kashmir. India and Pakistan should sit on a table and resolve this issue," NC president Farooq Abdullah told reporters after chairing a meeting of opposition parties leaders, including Congress and CPI(M). advertisement "Through dialogue, our (Kashmir) issue will also be resolved. War is not a solution," he said. Recalling Atal Bihari Vajpayees famous speech in Kashmir in 2002, Abdullah said the then Prime Minister had maintained that friends can be changed but not neighbours. "If we live in peace with neighbours, we will all prosper. If we take the route of confrontation, their development might be hampered but ours will also be affected," he said. Terming the prevailing situation in the Valley as "dangerous", he said all parties should work together for peace for which a political process has to be initiated. "We are unanimous that the current situation is dangerous. The sooner it is resolved the better it is for the state and the South Asian region. "It is a political issue. The Prime Minister has said it needs to be resolved and it is even in the agenda of the ruling party (PDP) to have a dialogue with all stakeholders, including Hurriyat Conference," Abdullah, who was accompanied by leaders from other opposition parties, said. He said for the dialogue process to start, all political prisoners and youth arrested during the current unrest should be set free. The opposition parties also demanded a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to probe the deaths and loss of eyesight due to use of pellet guns in Kashmir and find who is responsible. The former Chief Minister said if the government was serious about improving the situation in Kashmir, it should stop the security forces from allegedly indulging in vandalisation of homes and harassment of inmates. "The government should also reconsider its decision to hold annual school examinations (in November). The schools have been closed for three and half months. The examinations should be delayed...It has been done in the past," he said. Asked if the demands of opposition parties will embolden the terrorists, Abdullah said, "If we resolve this issue, there will be no terrorism. If the two nations resolve this issue, terrorism will die automatically." (More) PTI MIJ AAR --- ENDS --- advertisement By Neil Jerome Morales MANILA (Reuters) - A budding Philippines-China friendship could boost chances of removing one of their biggest bones of contention in the South China Sea, Beijing's ambassador said on Friday, as the two sides pursue broad business ties while still at odds over sovereignty. Ahead of a high-profile visit to Beijing next week by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and at least 250 businessmen, China's ambassador to Manila, Zhao Jianhua, said there was common ground on the South China Sea that both sides could work from, including on the disputed Scarborough Shoal. Duterte's rapprochement with China marks an astonishing reversal in Philippine foreign policy since July, when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute. Manila lodged the case in response to what is now a four-year blockade by China's coastguard at the Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing patch. China has never recognized the case, but has been outraged by it, leaving much of the region on edge and in fearing retaliation by a country with a rapidly expanding military and coastguard. The PCA ruled on numerous issues but in terms of the Scarborough Shoal, it concluded no country had sovereign rights over the tranquil, rocky outcrop, thus all states with overlapping claims were entitled to fish there. While generous with his praise of China, Duterte has still insisted Filipino fishermen should have unhindered access to the shoal. Zhao, who speaks often and enjoys a public profile unusually high for a Chinese diplomat, said he was confident a solution could be found and eventually the two countries could create "a sea of peace and cooperation". "The Chinese side is very much interested in fishery cooperation. That is a kind of response to your president's concern about fishermen," he said when asked by a reporter about granting Duterte his wish. "We would like to explore the possibility of how we can handle it properly. "I think both sides are going to be able to work on a possible solution to this problem." It is unclear, however, where the common ground might be when China refuses to discuss the PCA ruling and Duterte continues to promise Filipinos he will not deviate from the content of the July 12 arbitral award. The most notable point in the PCA's award was that China's claims to most of the South China Sea were groundless. Zhao said more than a dozen Memoranda of Understanding would be discussed and finalised next week in Beijing and he predicted a "dramatic increase" in Chinese investment, and tourists to the Philippines. China would provide soft loans and its firms would carry out major infrastructure works in the Philippines, he said. Zhao said China might be open to discussions in future toward resuming joint development with the Philippines of offshore gas reserves, which were stalled at the peak of the sovereignty row. He later told Reuters that China would be supporting a second drugs rehabilitation facility next year in the Philippines, funded by a private Chinese donor. (Corrects name of envoy to Zhao not Zhou in paragraphs 14 and 16.) (Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Nick Macfie) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday defended his threat to kill criminals as "perfect" and vowed no let-up in his war on crime, as the death toll surged past 3,700. International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Thursday she was "deeply concerned" about the violence, and signalled Duterte could face prosecution by her body for his incitements to kill. But Duterte launched a typically defiant counter-attack on Friday, defending his rhetoric and the crime war that is seeing more that 1,000 people killed every month. "There is nothing wrong in threatening criminals to death. By that statement alone: 'You criminals, I will kill you. Do not fool around.' It is a perfect statement," Duterte said. Describing his critics as "fools", Duterte reiterated his position he was not breaking any domestic laws by threatening to kill criminals and pledged the crime war would continue until there were no more illegal drugs in society. "I will not stop. Be sure of it, you can cast it in whatever stone. I will not stop until the last pusher, until the last drug lord is taken away." Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a pledge to eradicate drugs. Last month Duterte said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts, and likened his campaign to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews in Europe. He later apologised for his Hitler reference, but said he was "emphatic" about wanting to kill all drug addicts. Since Duterte took office, police have killed 1,578 people and 2,151 have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures released Friday. The total of 3,729 is 368 more than the previous police update released last week. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have condemned alleged extrajudicial killings and warned of a breakdown in the rule of law. Bensouda indicated Thursday that Duterte was at risk of joining the likes of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, in being indicted by the International Criminal Court. Story continues "Let me be clear: any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing... to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the Court," she said in a statement. The Philippine government this week invited UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings. But Duterte vowed on Thursday to "humiliate" her and any other critics if they dared to come to the Philippines and investigate. Polls show Filipinos overwhelmingly support Duterte's war on crime. (Reuters) - A woman arrested in Phoenix for domestic violence and assaulting a police officer slipped out of her handcuffs and hung herself with a shoelace from a vent in the back of a police van, authorities said on Thursday. The woman was rushed to hospital unconscious after the officers driving the van tried to revive her, but she was not expected to survive, a Phoenix police statement said. It did not give her name or race. The woman was being taken to jail after being arrested early on Wednesday and was the only person in the back of the van, the statement said. An investigation into the incident had begun. Last year, Sandra Bland, an African-American woman, was found dead with a trash bag around her neck in her cell at a jail in Waller County, Texas, where she was arrested at a traffic stop. Authorities said her death was a suicide. The case sparked protests and raised questions about whether she was jailed and mistreated because of her race. A committee this year recommended sweeping changes for Waller County jails, including better mental health screening. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Louise Ireland) This photographer got unbelievably close to a breaching whale and the footage is spectacular If youve ever been in the presence of a pod of whales, then consider yourself a first-person witness of magic happening IRL because the magnificent sea creatures are truly something to behold. No one knows that better than this photographer who encountered a breaching whale while swimming off the coast of Tonga, Popular Mechanics reports. Its one thing to see a whale swimming from afar, but Beau Pilgrim was just 50 feet away from a humpback whale when it suddenly sprang forth from the water. Pilgrim posted the footage of his unbelievable whale encounter on YouTube and it will literally leave you breathless. In the beginning of the video, the whale quickly swims toward the camera then immediately breaks through the surface of the water to pull off the best leap of all time: *nearly loses consciousness from shock* OK, so normally wed be experiencing some rather intense FOMO after watching something so fascinating, like how we felt after seeing pics from the guy who got photobombed by a humpback. However, watching this whale whoosh by so closely was also downright scary. Like, pee-your-wetsuit scary. Before this, hitching a ride on a whales back seemed like a bucket list contender, but after viewing this terrifyingly beautiful footage, watching from the sidelines (or the internet) sounds like a much better option. The post This photographer got unbelievably close to a breaching whale and the footage is spectacular appeared first on HelloGiggles. Pizza is big business in America: U.S. pizza sales total more than $37 billion per year for roughly 3 billion pies. According to a report by the Department of Agriculture, 13 percent of Americans eat pizza on any given day. Delivery drivers play an important role in getting those meals to consumers. One of them, Angela Nguyen, is a delivery driver with Dominos in Ham Lake, Minnesota. For The Atlantics ongoing series of interviews with American workers, I spoke with Nguyen about making deliveries in bad weather, why the pizza shop is such a fixture in her community, and how she deals with people who dont tip. The interview that follows has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Adrienne Green: How did you get started as a delivery driver with Dominos? Angela Nguyen receiving the Driver of the Year award from Dominos (Dominos) Angela Nguyen: Before Dominos, I worked for Minnesota Visiting Nurses. I did housekeeping for people with AIDS and HIV. Then they closed my department. They offered me another position with hospice, but I had a daughter that had died while I was working for Minnesota Visiting Nurses, and it was just too difficult for me to think of going to work with other people that were dying. So I left. [About three months later,] I was looking for something part-time, and my oldest daughter was working there. I would help her out quite a bit, watching her children. I got a job at Dominos and worked the opposite hours of her. It was flexible enough for me to watch her kids while she worked, and then for her to have her children when I went to work. Ive been at Domino's for three years, so I work during the day now. Recommended: Why For-Profit Education Fails Green: What's an average day like for you? Nguyen: I work about 35 hours a week. I go in and make sure that all the boxes, and the sauces for the wings, and the garlic oils for the pizzas that are needed for the day are prepped. I help out on the ovens, get the pizzas out and cut, and make deliveries to customers. There are a lot of things that go on in the shop that people probably aren't aware of. Story continues Green: Has working at Domino's changed much over your three years? Nguyen: Yes and no. My position has stayed pretty much the same. I've watched people come and go quite a bit, and seen the minimum wage go up, but that's about it. Green: What is it like interacting with customers at the store and at their homes? Nguyen: Well, I really enjoy my job. I've been there for quite a while and so I know a lot of my customers on a more personal level. I got to know one customer so well that I learned about his son that died and how his house was damaged. Another customers daughter just had surgery for Crohn's disease and was very, very ill and the mother was out of work. I started a GoFundMe for her, and we are getting enough donations that her mother doesn't have to worry about going back to work right now. She can just stay home and take care of her daughter. Theres more to it than just dropping off a pizza and saying, $17.95. Theres more to it than just dropping off a pizza and saying, $17.95.Green: Are there any misperceptions about how people view delivery drivers? Nguyen: I think a lot of people [think its temporary], but for those delivery drivers that stick around and deliver to these people 10, 15, or 20 times, all of a sudden, you become more than just the pizza-delivery girl. You become an acquaintance, and then sometimes, a friend. Sometimes, were kind of like your bartender: If a customer is having a bad day, you might hear about it, and you listen. You might maybe bring a pizza to 7- or 8-year-old girls birthday party, and just singing to them might just really make their day. Green: It sounds like the deliveries are a real form of community engagement for you. Do you consider this a career? Recommended: The Trump Allegations: The Latest Updates Nguyen: At my age, I don't want to be working evenings or weekends. I want to have that time for myself and with my job. For the most part I can make enough money to take care of what I need to. Therefore, I don't have to go out and get a second job like a lot of these younger people do. It works for me, and I know for a fact that if the store were to disappear, there would be people out there like, What happened to Domino's? We've had to change our delivery area, and the people that have gotten cut out of the delivery area, they'll now be packing up in their car, driving down, and picking up their pizza. We are a big part of the community, and get a lot of regulars that come in time and time again. I know if we were gone that we'd be really missed. Green: What's the most challenging thing about working for Domino's, or being a delivery driver, in general? Nguyen: The weather can play a big part in making or breaking my mood as a delivery driver. We don't close down just because there's 20 inches of snow or there's ice. Sometimes, you'll get people that don't get their pizza for an hour and a half after they ordered it and they might get a little bit crabby and you just got to look at them and say, "I'm really sorry, the weather played a huge part." Hopefully, they'll understand but sometimes you just get people that are having a bad day and you have to deal with it the best you can. Recommended: The Tweetstorm Heard 'Round the Republican Party When the weather is bad we get a lot more deliveries, because maybe people can't get out to the store to get dinner. Most often, people understand, but sometimes you just get the cranky person that wants to try and get a free pizza. Green: Delivery drivers make a lot of their take-home pay in tips. Are people relatively good tippers and how do you deal with it when theyre not? Nguyen: For the most part, people are generally decent tippers. Sometimes, you get the really good tipper, and then sometimes you get the person that doesn't tip you at all, and you have to try really hard to let that roll off your shoulders. Sometimes you'll go make two or three or four deliveries and people just aren't tipping. It happens quite often, and then it's very easy to get really crabby as a delivery driver because we don't always make enough money to cover our gas if customers arent tipping us. Then, we're taking money out of our pocket to deliver that pizza to you. There are always other days where you'll get really good tips all day long. The sunny days where it's bright out, you tend to get better tips. When it's dark and dreary and gloomy, tips tend to suck. It can be difficult, at times, being a delivery driver because we do rely on our tips. We don't make much money as far as a wage goes. The minimum wage in Minnesota is $9.50, but my boss actually pays me $10 an hour. There are not too many delivery drivers within Domino's, I think, that make more than minimum wage. Green: Is there one particular delivery youve made that stands out to you? Nguyen: The gentleman that we helped to get a new house, most definitely. He was living in a 10-foot trailer on his property that had no heat, electric, or water. We would deliver to him on a weekly basis, every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. That's what he would live on on the weekends because he was elderly and couldn't get Meals on Wheels. I would look forward to delivering to him and just being a little ray of sunshine to him every Saturday morning saying, "How are you doing, Lee? Sometimes, I would stop at the store and grab him a hot cup of coffee and a doughnut before I'd go there to bring, with his pizza. He really stood out for quite some time and doesn't order for delivery anymore because he's got a stove and a refrigerator and a microwave. Yeah, he stood out for a very long time. [Editors note: The video below, from a social-services organization called Human Kind, shows Nguyen assisting a customer in getting a new home after she discovered him living in a trailer without utilities.] Green: What would you say that is the most rewarding part of you job? Nguyen: Just seeing somebody smile or just hearing a thank you and having them know my name. Oh, Nguyen, thanks. Nice to see you again. They remember me as a person and not just a delivery driver. Green: How is your work tied into your identity? Nguyen: I've been told that I am a very loving, compassionate, and caring person by many people. In fact, my husband and I are now in the process of getting a divorce, because I do tend to put myself out there more than he thinks I should. But that's okay because that's who I am. I think that this job allows me to, in many situations, be that person. I might see the elderly person that's having a hard time getting around, and I'll go deliver to them and pick up their mail for them or take their trash out. It just allows me to go that extra mile and do something nice for somebody and that, in turn, makes me feel good. You can't be good to somebody else without feeling good yourself. If I worked in a factory all day building parts for something, I might not get that opportunity to do that. This interview is a part of an ongoing project on work and identity in America. You may find other pieces here, including interviews with a funeral director, a butcher, and an Amtrak conductor. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. More than one hundred years ago, Sadie Sachs tried to give herself an abortion. The 28-year-old mother of three knew she and her husband could not afford another child. So one hot July day in 1912, Sadies husband Jake came home from work to find her unconscious in their bed, their three children screaming. Jake called a doctor, who called a nurse, who was named Margaret Sanger. Sanger and the doctor worked for three weeks to fight Sadies sepsis and nurse her back from the brink of death. When she was finally getting better, Sadie asked the doctor if there was anything she could do to prevent another pregnancy. In her memoir, Sanger later wrote that the doctor advised Sadie to resist any more such capers, and then this happened: I know, doctor, she replied timidly, but, and she hesitated as though it took all her courage to say it, what can I do to prevent it? The doctor was a kindly man, and he had worked hard to save her, but such incidents had become so familiar to him that he has long since lost whatever delicacy he might once have had. He laughed good-naturedly. You want to have your cake and eat it too, do you? Well, it cant be done. Then picking up his hat and bag to depart he said, Tell Jake to sleep on the roof. I glanced quickly at Mrs. Sachs. Even through my sudden tears I could see stamped on her face an expression of absolute despair. We simply looked at each other, saying no word until the door had closed behind the doctor. Then she lifted her thin, blue-veined hands and clasped them beseechingly. He cant understand. Hes only a man. But you do, dont you? Please tell me the secret, and Ill never breathe it to a soul. Please! Three months later, Jake Sachs called Sanger again. This time, Sadie died ten minutes after Sanger arrived. Thats when Sanger decided: I was finished with palliatives and superficial cures; I was resolved to seek out the root of the evil, to do something to change the destiny of mothers whose miseries were vast as the sky. Margaret Sanger knew the realities of what she called biological slavery firsthand: she helped deliver one of her own siblings when she was just 8 years old. Her mother ultimately gave birth to 11 babies, all ten pounds or more, before she died at around 40, her death likely accelerated by the physical toll of her pregnancies. When Sanger left home to practice medicine, she met desperate immigrant women in New York tenements who wanted one thing more than anything else: to learn the secret of how to avoid having children. She wrote that the doomed women implored me to reveal the secret rich people had, offering to pay me extra to tell them; many really believed I was holding back information for money. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter There was not yet a secret birth control that could prevent pregnancy, but there was an enormous amount of ignorance about basic biological processes. So Sanger started writing, aiming to prevent young girls from entering into sexual relations whether in marriage or out of it, without thinking and knowing how their bodies worked. Multiple essays she wrote were banned as obscene, she was indicted and she fled the country. She returned when one of her children died of pneumonia, and the charges were dropped. Thats when Sanger, along with her sister Ethel Byrne and a nurse named Fania Mindell, started the first birth control clinic in the United States, which opened its doors on Oct. 16, 1916 at 46 Amboy Street in Brooklyn. They distributed pamphlets that said: Can you afford to have a large family? Do you want any more children? If not, why do you have them? DO NOT KILL, DO NOT TAKE LIFE, BUT PREVENT. Women lined up around the block, paying 10 cents to meet with the nurses. The clinic stayed open for only nine days before it was shut down by an undercover policewoman posing as a patient. It opened again and was shut down again, and Sanger was arrested for maintaining a public nuisance. She opened the clinic a third time, on Nov. 16, but authorities forced the landlord to evict her, and all three women were arrested. When Sanger appeared before the judge, he waved a cervical cap from the bench and argued that no woman should have the right to copulate with a feeling of security that there will be no resulting conception. She went to jail for 30 days. Even though the first clinic stayed open for only nine days, it was the beginning of a birth control movement that would radically revolutionize the way women live their lives, and the way society functions. Five years later, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1921. Twenty-one years after that, that organization was renamed Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood was at the forefront of every birth control milestone of the 20th century. Sanger closely followed and even personally funded some of the research that led to the development of the birth-control pill, and her friend Katherine Dexter McCormick underwrote a large portion of the medical research. The FDA first approved the pill for contraceptive use in 1960, and in 1965thanks to a Planned Parenthood lawsuitstates were no longer allowed to outlaw it. The organization came out in support of abortion in 1968, and only start performing the procedure after it was legalized in the 1970s. (Sanger herself had mixed feelings about abortion: she called the procedure dangerous and vicious, but trusted a womans instinct about when she should and should not give birth to children above any moral position on the subject. In other words, she was pro-choice.) Sangers movement didnt happen in a vacuum. The birth control movement had its roots in earlier social-justice movements: when women became involved in the abolition movement in the first half of the 18th century, they began to realize that the size of their families determined their ability to participate in the outside world. Thats when family size began to fall for the first time, according to Jonathan Eig, author of The Birth of the Pill. Women realized that if they want to stay engaged in the community, if they want to stay active, they have to have fewer children, he tells TIME. Thats when you start to see women realizing that there is a tie between family size and political power. The personal and political ramifications of that first birth control clinic are countless. You can look at all of human history and see that for 99% of it, women were considered objects, like vessels for birthing and caring for children, says Eig. Once you can control your own body, you can control your own life, and then you can assert yourself in your family, your community, in the workplace. It is no coincidence, then, that the rise of birth control coincided with women gaining power in politics, business, education and numerous other areas of life. Though the paths to that power may have varied, every one is connected to the ability to control family size. It seems like a long time, a hundred years, Eig says. But if you think about how much has changed in a hundred years, how unimaginable this would bewomen on the Supreme Court, a woman running for president, theres no doubt that its all connected to access to reliable birth control. BJP leader Ashish Shelar wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj saying that there was a "feeling of negativity towards Pakistani film actors" and that they should not be given visas or work permits. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Upping the ante against Pakistani artists, BJP leader Ashish Shelar has demanded that no visas or work permits should be given to them. Shelar has written to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the issue. Shelar's letter comes in the wake of the Cine Theatre Owners Association's decision to stop the theatrical release of films with Pakistani artists. advertisement ALSO READ: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: After MNS, Cine Owners Association declare ban on Karan Johar's film ALSO READ: How much will producers lose if Ae Dil Hai Mushkil does not release? In his letter, Shelar writes, "Post the surgical strikes, there is a feeling of negativity towards Pakistani film actors. The Cinema Theatre Owners' Association has shown great respect towards our brave soldiers by their decision to not show films with Pakistani artists; it means that there is no scope of job creation for them in that field... So if there is no job opportunity, then those applying for work permit or visa in that section should not be given visas or work permits to work in films here." Earlier, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena welcomed the move by Cine Theatre Owners Association, claiming that it is because of the stand taken by the party that such decisions are taking place. --- ENDS --- Lisbon (AFP) - Portugal's Socialist government will introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks in 2017 which is expected to raise 80 million euros ($88 million) for the nation's public health service, a budget bill presented Friday showed. The announcement comes just three days after the World Health Organization urged countries to start taxing sugary drinks, pointing to evidence that price hikes can dramatically reduce consumption. Under Portugal's plans, drinks with a sugar content above 80 grammes per litre will be slapped with a tax of 16.46 euros per hectolitre. Drinks with less than 80 grammes of sugar per litre will pay a tax of 8.22 euros per hectolitre. The tax will raise the price of a standard 330 millilitre can of Coca-Cola, which contains 35 grammes of sugar, by 5.5 euro cents. The new tax will only apply to soft drinks. Sugary drinks based on milk or fruit juice will be spared. The previous centre-right government, in power until November 2015, considered introducing a sugar tax on drinks and foods that contained too much sugar or salt but dropped the idea. Only a handful of other countries, such as France, Mexico and South Africa, have introduced a sugar tax. British Prime Minister Theresa May in August released proposals for such a tax as part of her Conservative government's strategy to combat childhood obesity. The Socialists came to power in Portugal last year after they teamed up with the Communists and the far-left Left Block to oust the centre-right administration. The small leftist parties did not formally join the new government, but Prime Minister Antonio Costa relies on them for a majority in parliament to pass legislation -- an unprecedented political arrangement in 40 years of Portuguese democracy. Tony Barson/FilmMagic Glam couple George and Amal Clooney have bought a condo in a high-rise under construction on Manhattans Upper East Side, our friends at the New York Post say. And to make the purchase even juicier, The Real Deal says, the Clooneys apartment is one floor below an identical apartment that BFFs Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber purchased. (Gerber and George Clooney jointly own the Casamigos Tequila company.) The condos are in a new building, with the rather basic name of One Hundred East Fifty Third Street, thats expected to be completed next year. Although we dont know exactly how much the Clooneys paid for their new digs, an active listing on the 49th floora 3,385-square-foot, three-bedroom unitis currently priced at $14.75 million. The Post pointed out that the pair decided against purchasing the penthouse unit in the building. That four-bedroom dwelling is also on the market, at a whopping $65 million. 100 E 53rd St realtor.com Sources say the couple chose the building because its near the United Nations (East 42nd Street), which appeals to Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer and visiting professor at Columbia Law School. When complete, the upscale building will feature a wellness facility, swimming pool, and yoga and Pilates rooms. The first two levels will include a gourmet marketplace and restaurant. George Clooney can add this fab property to his real estate portfolio, which includes a 17th-century mansion in England; a retreat on Lake Como in Italy; and a Studio City, CA, home. George, who won the Best Actor Oscars for 2010s Up in the Air and 2008s Michael Clayton, wed Amal in 2014. The post Power Couple Amal and George Clooney Buy Upper East Side Condo appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande scrambled Friday to contain the damage from a series of embarrassing remarks he made in a tell-all book that gave right-wing rivals ammunition to attack him in a televised debate. The Socialist president said he "deeply regretted" comments that upset senior lawyers and judges in a book of interviews with journalists that has wrong-footed even many of Hollande's closest aides. Hollande described the justice system as "a cowardly institution" and accused senior judges of "keeping their heads down". On Friday, two days after the remarks emerged, the president insisted his comments had been misinterpreted. "I deeply regret what has been taken as an insult by judges whose courage and devotion to their difficult work I admire every day," Hollande said in a letter to the country's top judges. The damage however had already been done. One of France's most senior legal officers, Bertrand Louvel, president of the highest appeal court, the Cour de Cassation, attacked Hollande's "degrading vision" of the justice system. Hollande also told the two Le Monde journalists for the book "Un president ne devrait pas dire ca..." ("A president shouldn't say that...") that his former partner Valerie Trierweiler was "an unhappy woman" and he took aim at France's national football team, saying they were "ill-mannered kids who had become mega-rich stars without any preparation". Alain Juppe, the former prime minister who is favourite to clinch the right-wing nomination for president in next year's election, said the comments showed Hollande had "seriously failed in the duties of his office and showed once again that he is not up to the job". Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, who lost to Hollande in the 2012 election, tore into him in Thursday's debate of right-wing candidates, asking: "How far will Francois Hollande go in sullying the presidential office?" Story continues - Openly questioned - Hollande has suffered some of the lowest approval ratings of a post-war president after four years in office clouded by stubbornly high unemployment and a series of devastating terror attacks. Despite his unpopularity, the absence of an obvious Socialist alternative leaves the way open for Hollande to make a bid for a second term. He has said he will make his decision on whether to stand in December. But some senior Socialists admitted the revelations in the book were a further setback for the president. Party leader Jean-Christophe Cambadelis said he was convinced Hollande wanted to stand again but that he was "not making things easy for himself." A junior minister openly suggested that leftist former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg, who quit the government over a disagreement with Hollande, would beat him in the Socialist nominating contest in January. Montebourg is viewed as a maverick, but higher education minister Thierry Mandon said Wednesday: "He can beat (Hollande) because with the way French political life is breaking up... anything is possible." While Hollande's woes dominated the week, polls showed that in the conservative contest Juppe had emerged from Thursday's debate with his lead over Sarkozy reinforced. Juppe portrayed himself as above the fray while Sarkozy was forced to defend his 2007-17 term as president in the debate, which brought together all seven hopefuls for the right-wing nomination. Some 35 percent told pollsters that Juppe was the most convincing in the debate, while Sarkozy scored 21 percent. Because of the deep divisions within the left, the winner of the right-wing primary on November 20 and 27 is likely to become the next president of France. Polls currently show that the right-wing candidate would end up beating the leader of the far-right National Front (FN), Marine Le Pen, in the second round of the election in May. - 'Path of hope' - In Thursday's debate, Juppe sought to distance himself from Sarkozy's hard-edged campaign, which has seen him accused of stealing the FN's anti-immigration clothes. "I want to lead you along a path of hope," the long-time mayor of Bordeaux said. Challenged about the 14-month suspended jail term he received in 2004 over a party funding scandal, Juppe said he could not "rewrite history", adding: "It is up to the voters to decide if that disqualifies me." A visibly irritated Sarkozy meanwhile was forced on to the defensive over the various investigations in which he has been entangled since losing his 2012 re-election bid. "After 37 years in politics my criminal record is clean," he insisted. President Obama gave Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a civics lesson during a rally for Hillary Clinton on Friday. Campaigning for the Democratic nominee in Ohio, the president recalled the latest series of controversial statements Trump has made, including threats to jail his opponent Hillary Clinton and his latest conspiracy theory that the world is controlled by a global elite. In a democracy you cannot threaten to jail your opponents, theres this thing called due process, Obama said. In a democracy you have a contest, but if you lose you say congratulations and then you move on because the country and our system of government is bigger than any one individual. Obama again placed blame on Republican officials who he said have stood by in silence as Trump has trod over the values the GOP has long upheld. But Trump, Obama said, didnt build all of this crazy conspiracy stuff. Obama said that throughout his administration, many Republicans have stood by and allowed conspiracy theories and harsh rhetoric to circulate among the electorate, which cleared the way for the Trump candidacy. A lot of Republican elected officials have just stood by, and they didnt say anything because it was a way to rile up their base and a way to mount opposition to what we were trying to do, Obama said. Some Republicans who knew better stood by silently and even during the course of this campaign didnt say anything. A bevy of Republicans disavowed Trumps campaign after recordings were released of him boasting about sexually assaulting women. House Speaker Paul Ryan told his colleagues earlier this week that he would no longer defend the Republican nominee and would instead focus on keeping the GOP majority in Congress. During the presidents two-day tour of the Buckeye State, he repeatedly called Clinton the most qualified person to ever seek the office, and laid out what he believes is a clear case for why she should succeed him. All the while, Obama offered up praise of the First Ladys powerful denunciation of Trump while taking swipes of his own. On Friday, Obama suggested that Trump is a whiner who complains rather than buckle down and get to work. He also painted him as a flawed businessman who has repeatedly shown disregard for the working-class voters hes now courting. Obama even suggested Trump himself has spent his life trying to convince the world that hes a member of the global elite he now claims is trying to control America. The blue-collar vote will be imperative in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where both candidates are hoping to pull off a win. [Trump] spent 70 years on this earth with no regard for working people. And then suddenly hes going to be the champion of working people? Obama said. Come on, man. President Obama blamed the Republican Party for the rise of Donald Trump, saying that theyve been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years. Speaking at an Ohio Democratic fundraiser Thursday night, Obama focused his criticism on a party he sees as fostering extremism and conspiracy theories, theories which the Republican nominee himself espouses. The problem is, is that theyve been riding this tiger for a long time, Obama said of birther-ism and other conspiracy theories, the Washington Post reports. Theyve been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years, primarily for political expedience. And Donald Trump, as hes prone to do, he didnt build the building himself, but he just slapped his name on it and took credit for it, Obama continued, saying Republicans have laid the new foundation of their party on lies and hoaxes. This is the nominee you get, he said. You make him possible. The president also criticized the recent spate of Republican leaders who have disavowed Trump after the leaked video of him saying extremely crude things about women. They know better, a lot of these folks who ran, and they didnt say anything, Obama said. And so they dont get credit for, at the very last minute, when finally the guy they nominated and they endorsed and they supported is caught on tape saying things that no decent person would even think, much less say, much less brag about, much less laugh about or joke about, much less act on. You cant wait until that finally happens and then say, Thats too much, thats enough, and think that somehow you are showing any kind of leadership and deserve to be elected to the United States Senate. You dont get points for that. As the presidential campaign heads towards its conclusion, lawyers for at least one candidate have threatened a defamation lawsuit against a major newspaper. So how can a candidate for president sue if she or he is a public figure? Barry Goldwater In this instance, Donald Trumps attorneys are warning the New York Times that they may sue for defamation on his behalf after the Times reported on two women who made sexual harassment allegations against Trump. The newspapers editor said the reporting fell in the realm of public service journalism. To be sure, candidates can always file a lawsuit, but to succeed in court, the candidate would need to meet a high standard of defamation based on a landmark Supreme Court decision. Defamation is a legal concept related to the First Amendment, but state laws generally define its elements. Lawyers for a public figure such as Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump would need to prove false statements were knowingly published, with malice, or with a reckless disregard for their accuracy. That actual malice test goes back to the Supreme Courts New York Times v. Sullivan decision in March 1964. A State cannot, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, award damages to a public official for defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves actual malice that the statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard of whether it was true or false, said Justice William Brennan in his majority opinion. Later in 1964, the actual malice rule would see its first test in a presidential campaign. In its October/November 1964 issue, Fact magazine published a special report on the fitness of Republican candidate Barry Goldwater to hold the office of president. The magazine said that Goldwater has a severely paranoid personality and was psychologically unfit for the high office to which he aspired, a conclusion it reached after polling a group of psychiatrists. Facts editor also wrote a story how he believed Goldwater was unfit for office based on his own observations of Goldwaters mental health. Story continues After the 1964 election (which he lost), Goldwater sued the magazine and its editor, Ralph Ginzburg, for $1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. A jury awarded Goldwater $1 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages. The case wound up in appeals for several years. In 1969, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower-court decision in Goldwater v. Ginzburg. The appeals court said that by seeking election to the office of President of the United States, Senator Goldwater invited the press and the public to scrutinize every aspect of his life, public and private alike. But it agreed with the lower court that Fact magazine had met the test for knowingly making false statements with malice. A full appreciation of the tone and tenor of the articles in the Goldwater issue can only be had by reading the full text of the two articles, it said. False statements are protected only if they are honestly made. The use of calculated falsehood, however, would put a different cast on the constitutional question. The appeals court said Goldwater was entitled to damages under a decision that came after the New York Times v. Sullivan decision, the 1967 Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts case. If nominal damages are awarded, the offending book, magazine, or newspaper publisher may not then avoid any additional liability, which a libeler in a different occupation normally might incur, by claiming a special status or an entitlement to special protections under the First Amendment, the appeals court said, citing the Curtis decision. The book, magazine or newspaper publisher who with actual malice prints defamatory falsehoods about a public official or public figure has put himself beyond the pale of the First Amendment. In March 1970, the Supreme Court decided not to take the case on appeal, but Justice Hugo Black did attach a dissent to the Courts denial. I cannot subscribe to the result the Court reaches today because I firmly believe that the First Amendment guarantees to each person in this country the unconditional right to print what he pleases about public affairs, Black wrote. Black cited Goldwaters unique status as a presidential candidate. The public has an unqualified right to have the character and fitness of anyone who aspires to the presidency held up for the closest scrutiny. Extravagant, reckless statements and even claims which may not be true seem to me an inevitable and perhaps essential part of the process by which the voting public informs itself of the qualities of a man who would be president, Black wrote. The decisions of the District Court and the Court of Appeals in this case can only have the effect of dampening political debate by making fearful and timid those who should under our Constitution feel totally free openly to criticize presidential candidates, he concluded. As for Trumps case, it remains to be seen if there is a future lawsuit against the Times. But earlier this year, the candidate made it clear that he doesnt agree with the current protections offered to publishers in their reporting about public figures. Im going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. Were going to open up those libel laws, Trump said at February rally in Texas. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because theyre totally protected, Trump said. Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Webster Bivens story an update after a half-century Race bias in the jury room: whats the solution? An independent U.S. agencys independence gets it into trouble Oct 14 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Times * The billionaire Jim Ratcliffe is bidding to acquire assets in the North Sea owned by Royal Dutch Shell as his Ineos chemicals group steps up efforts to become a leading player in Britain's struggling offshore oil industry. (http://bit.ly/2e1G8M9) * Patients with dementia and cancer will have their access to life-extending new drugs rationed by the NHS. Health chiefs are to be given the power to delay or restrict treatments that cost the NHS more than about 20 million pounds ($24.87 million) a year, even if they are deemed good value. (http://bit.ly/2elZSv5) The Guardian * Unilever Plc has resolved its dispute with Tesco Plc and says well-known brands including Marmite and Ben & Jerry's will be back on the shelves. It emerged on Wednesday that Tesco was running short of stock of a range of household brands from Marmite to Comfort fabric conditioner after a row with its major supplier. (http://bit.ly/2eaXPoG) * More than 50 percent of Sky Plc independent shareholders have voted against James Murdoch's reappointment as chairman. The head of the pan-European broadcaster had to rely on the support of Sky's largest shareholder, 21st Century Fox, to win approval for his return to Sky after a four-year hiatus. (http://bit.ly/2dO6NtP) The Telegraph * Britain is in danger of misreading the political landscape in Europe and faces the possible loss of its reserve currency status if it fails to secure full access to the European single market, Standard & Poor's has warned. (http://bit.ly/2dQTyfW) * MPs are set to vote on whether former BHS owner Sir Philip Green should be stripped of his knighthood by the Queen next week. (http://bit.ly/2exhqUs) Sky News * Pension Protection Fund, which was BHS' biggest creditor when it collapsed into administration, is demanding the company's imminent liquidation in a bid to accelerate investigations into former directors. (http://bit.ly/2dmFebF) Story continues * The 'one size fits all' approach to state pension access could be replaced by a system more tailored to the demands of individual professions in future. The idea is one that has been thrown open for discussion by John Cridland, the former director general of the CBI, who is leading a Government review. (http://bit.ly/2e9lxqG) The Independent * Demand for housing picked up in September for the first time in seven months as confidence began to recover in the wake of the Brexit vote. But conflicting data showed an alarming drop in London sales. (http://ind.pn/2dNmwcL) ($1 = 0.8042 pounds) (Compiled by Shivam Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney) The US called the recent comment made by a visiting Pakistan envoy that the outgoing American President Barack Obama is now just a guest at the White House 'ridiculous'. By Press Trust of India: The recent comment made by a visiting Pakistan envoy that the outgoing American President Barack Obama is now just a guest at the White House is "ridiculous", the US has said. "That's a ridiculous comment," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters yesterday when asked about the remark made by the visiting Special Envoy of the Pakistan Prime Minister on Kashmir Issues Mushahid Hussain Syed here last week. advertisement "Obama is a guest for the next few months," Syed had said in response to a question about his expectations from the US government during a panel discussion on Kashmir at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank. Syed turned his answer to the next US administration after being asked the American government, underlying that the current incumbent was outgoing. "What Pakistan would like from the US - and I'm talking of the incoming administration because Obama is a guest for the next few months, 20th of January 2017, there will be a new administration - that they have to see the region where they have a more comprehensive perspective and do not try to compartmentalise peace and security, because that is not possible," Syed had said. --- ENDS --- Oct 14 (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. - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Friday that it expected about $3 billion in operating profits to evaporate over the next two quarters after its decision to ditch the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. http://nyti.ms/2e9MJ8S - SoftBank Group Corp said it would form a new investment fund that could invest up to $100 billion in technology companies worldwide along with Saudi Arabia. http://nyti.ms/2e9N77r - Verizon Communications Inc may seek to renegotiate its $4.8 billion purchase of Yahoo Inc's operating business, after Verizon's top lawyer said that the hacking of 500 million Yahoo email accounts in 2014 had materially diminished Yahoo's value. http://nyti.ms/2e9Lu9y - Deutsche Bank AG has instituted a company-wide hiring freeze as the lender looks to speed up efforts to reduce costs and regain investor confidence. http://nyti.ms/2e9Ozqs (Compiled by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru) From Town & Country While Duchess Kate met with King Willem-Alexander earlier this week on her first solo trip to the Netherlands, Prince William is back in the UK honoring the closest thing America has to royalty, President Kennedy. At an event for the Kennedy Memorial Trust this evening at Buckingham Palace, William started his speech by saying, "My grandmother would very much like me to pass on some words to all of you." "In 1965, my grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, inaugurated the memorial to President Kennedy, which stands at Runnymede, on land bequeathed by her to the people of the United States." "Her Majesty spoke that day of the extent to which we recognized what President Kennedy had already accomplished, and of the high hopes that rode with him, in a future that was not to be," he continued. "So I am honored, half a century on, to be here this evening and pay tribute to a man whom my family continues to hold in the highest esteem." The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh dined with President Kennedy and his wife, Jackie at Buckingham Palace in June 1961. pic.twitter.com/XtYqg6Yomk - Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 13, 2016 After Kennedy's assassination, Queen Elizabeth donated the land at Runnymede to the American people, and in May of 1965, Jackie, Caroline, and John Jr. traveled to the site for the memorial's dedication (top). In addition to the physical memorial, a scholarship fund for students at Harvard and MIT was also established. Since 1966 512 British students have been named Kennedy scholars. You Might Also Like On Oct 13, 2016, we issued an updated research report on Quest Diagnostics, Inc. DGX, a major commercial laboratory services provider. Quest Diagnostics has successfully complied with its five-point strategy that focuses on areas with high potential such as gene-based esoteric testing for cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease and neurological disorders. Revenues declined 1% on a reported basis during second-quarter 2016 mainly due to the company's efforts to refocus on the core business. Consequently, revenues grew 2.4% on an equivalent basis and once again the company is optimistic about its performance for the rest of 2016 (second-quarter 2016 Diagnostic Information Service revenues grew by 2.2% on a year-over-year basis). Over the last few months, Quest Diagnostics has made a number of strategic product launches and forged new partnerships. This includes three new cancer test services that will provide clinically actionable insight into an individual's risk of developing hereditary forms of cancer. These tests will remain part of the company's newly branded Quest Vantage cancer test menu. Additionally, last month, the company announced the launch of Zika Antibody Test Service based on the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Zika MAC-ELISA. Notably, Quest Diagnostics was the first commercial laboratory to receive FDA emergency use authorization for a Zika test for the qualitative detection of RNA from Zika virus in human serum specimens. We are also looking forward to the company's recently formed alliance with HealthONE System of HCA Healthcare HCA to improve the quality and value of diagnostic services. Per the agreement, Quest Diagnostics will manage in-patient laboratory operations for six Denver-area hospitals in the HealthONE system. We are also optimistic about the current favorable demographic trends along with Quest Diagnostics' mergers and acquisitions activity which is on track with its strategy. The company's recent acquisitions of the Outreach Laboratory Services business of Clinical Laboratory Partners (CLP) as well as the Professional Lab Services Agreements from Barnabas Health, are aiding continued implementation of an accelerated growth plan. However, through the past several quarters, the overall soft industry trends, responsible for low volume growth, have been a major concern for the company. Furthermore, Quest Diagnostics is highly disappointed with the recent CMS proposal related to the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA). While CMS has once again decided to further delay the execution of the new payment system until Jan 1, 2018, Quest Diagnostics is apprehensive about the effect of the final rule, taking into consideration the clinical lab fee schedule representing approximately 12% of its revenues. Moreover, lower healthcare utilization continues to be a major drag. Although the company has witnessed signs of modest increase in utilization, sustainability is still a concern. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Story continues Key Picks in the Sector Two favorably placed stocks in the medical sector include GW Pharmaceuticals plc GWPH and Quidel Corp. QDEL. Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. GW Pharmaceuticals share price has surged 85.1% year to date, compared to the S&P 500s 4.34% gain over the same period. The companys four-quarter average earnings surprise is 41.6%. Quidel has gained 15% in the past one year, higher than the S&P 500s 5.3% gain. Over the next five years, the stock is estimated to record an earnings growth rate of 20%, higher than the industry average of 14.8%. 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 HCA HOLDINGS (HCA): Free Stock Analysis Report QUEST DIAGNOSTC (DGX): Free Stock Analysis Report GW PHARMA-ADR (GWPH): Free Stock Analysis Report QUIDEL CORP (QDEL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Lyle Denniston, Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent, looks at a Supreme Court case about racial bias expressed within the secret confines of a jury deliberation. Much of the time in recent years, the Supreme Court has been divided deeply on racial issues. Some Justices think the nation has moved beyond race, others think the problem remains as bad or is even worsening. Differing views of constitutional issues about race thus emerge. On Tuesday, though, there was no division over the perception that racial bias is a very worrisome thing when it shows up as juries deliberate in private over a criminal verdict. Justice Elena Kagan described the problem most tellingly in the new case before the court: We have the best smoking-gun evidence youre ever going to see about race bias in the jury room. But the unanimity of concern over that problem vanished when the Justices explored solutions and some even wondered if there is a need for any new solution. For now, the only available options in a majority of state and federal courts to deal with the potential of race bias is for defense lawyers to try to use the jury-selection process to keep bias out of the jury box, before the trial begins, or for trial judges to instruct jurors that race is not to be a factor in their deliberations. For centuries, going back to an English case in 1785, a firmly embedded view is that what jurors may have said during their secret deliberations cannot be used, after the trial is over, to challenge the verdict. In that case 231 years ago, jurors had said after the trial that the verdict had been reached by a game of chance perhaps the 18th Century equivalent of flipping a coin. But the judge refused to allow those jurors statements to be used to impeach the verdict, even though reaching a verdict by a game of chance was a crime. The idea was imported into American law at least by the early 1900s. The justification for it has been the same, in England and in America: it is deemed necessary to preserve the secrecy of the jury room, to encourage free debate during deliberations, and to avoid harassment of jurors after the trial is over. In time, a few exceptions developed, but they are not widespread. Story continues The case up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado focused on whether the Sixth Amendment right to trial by an impartial jury should lead to a relaxation of the no-impeachment rule. Miguel Angel Pena-Rodriguez, who worked at a race track in Colorado, was accused of groping two teenaged sisters in a bathroom at the track. He was charged with sexual assault, and ultimately was convicted of the minor versions of those charges. He was sentenced to two years on probation. After the trial was over, two jurors approached the defense lawyers, and said that one of the jurors a former police officer had said during deliberations that he thought Pena-Rodriguez did the crime because hes Mexican and Mexican men take whatever they want, and have a sense of entitlement to do what they wish with women. That juror also was quoted as having said that, when he was in law enforcement, his experience was that nine times out of ten, Mexican men were guilty of being aggressive toward women and young girls. Further, he had described an alibi witness as not credible because he was an illegal which was not true. After the verdict was in, defense lawyers asked the trial judge to order a new trial, relying on the Sixth Amendment. The judge refused. Colorado evidence rules, the judge said, bar the use of juror statements to challenge their verdict. The Colorado Supreme Court agreed. Stanford law professor Jeffrey L. Fisher, representing Pena-Rodriguez in the Supreme Court, had come to the hearing hoping to keep the Justices focused solely on the threat of race bias to the judicial system. Race is different, he said, corroding trials and indeed the entire system. But he encountered immediate questioning from Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., who wanted to know what the stopping point was: would the next case be about a juror prejudiced because of religion, or gender, or sexual orientation, or some other trait? When Fisher answered by sticking with the race is different theme, Alito said that was not being helpful. While the more liberal members of the court seemed more receptive to Fishers argument, they, too, were puzzled, but more about how such a challenge to a verdict would actually be explored. Fisher had argued in his brief that courts would have the tools to work out the procedure, but the Justices wanted suggestions on how it would work. Fisher said it would have to be an objective exploration by the judge, after hearing what jurors had said about remarks during deliberation, and then decide whether that may, or may not, have tainted the verdict. Chief Justice Roberts moved on from the whats next line of inquiry to wonder just how the judge could conclude that a jurors remarks were a demonstration of bias. Suppose, Roberts said, a juror just said he knew how people from a given neighborhood were inclined to act. And the Chief Justice also asked whether Fisher was trying to bring the whole jurisprudence of racial equality into the Sixth Amendment equation about when a jury might not have been fair and impartial. He also wondered what a judge was to do if, despite what one juror might have said, all of the jurors were clearly persuaded that the accused person was guilty. What was gradually becoming evident in the hearing was that at least some of the Justices were simply set against opening up jury deliberations to post-trial challenges, and used their questioning to raise doubts about whether that would be workable at all. It did not appear to help Fishers cause that some 18 states do allow some relaxation of the rule against impeachment of verdicts. The law professor, though, did point out that the rule was relaxed in those states only when the claim was of racial bias in the jury room, not some other form of prejudice. Opposing lawyers from Colorado and from the Justice Department, supporting Colorados position, made it clear they were offended by what was said in the Colorado jury room, but both insisted that existing methods of heading off such bias questioning of potential jurors, plus judges instructions were sufficient to deal with the problem. It was left to Justice Kagan to express some exasperation. The court, she noted, had allowed questions about racial attitudes during selection, and had even allowed direct challenges to potential jurors who had exhibited some signs of racial inclination, but the court did not seem prepared to deal with bias that had actually occurred. Because only eight Justices are on the court now, there remains a chance of a 4-to-4 split, if a ninth Justices does not join the bench before the ruling is issued. The result of such a split would be to simply uphold the Colorado ruling barring the use of juror statements to challenge a verdict after the trial. Legendary journalist Lyle Denniston is Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011. Denniston has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com. The leader of South Africas leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema was served with a court summons on Thursday, accusing him of urging his supporters to trespass, according to a Reuters report. He is now due to appear in court twice in November to face two charges of contravening the countrys Riotous Assemblies Act an act that Reuters points out was implemented during the Apartheid era. Malema has previously said that he wants to seize white-owned land. He posted the following on Twitter after being summonsed: We want our land now & nothing will deter us from this noble cause,not even prison can silence us. We remain unshaken, we will take our land Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) October 13, 2016 Once head of the now-ruling African National Congresss Youth League, Julius Malema was expelled in 2012 for racism and hate speech, and now sees his former patron, President Zuma, as his arch enemy, according to Reuters. Immediately before the summons, Malema had been at a press conference mobilizing his followers to take to Pretorias streets to protest Zumas presidency, in part over the Presidents failure to follow orders from a constitutionally mandated corruption watchdog over $16 million of state money spent on his private home. Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe has been praised by Malema in the past for his resilience, courage, forthrightness and dedication and his progressive vision. Legal experts said the charge carries a maximum jail term not exceeding two years or a fine. [Reuters] As Donald Trump faces numerous allegations of inappropriate behavior, the Clinton campaign has been stymied by accusations that Bill Clinton had an affair with a neighbor, and that he raped a woman. Read: Profane Tape Emerges of Trump Talking About Women: 'Grab Her By The P****' E-mails released by WikiLeaks reveal that Hillary Clintons inner circle was concerned about reports that Bill was having an affair with a wealthy neighbor. The woman in question is 56-year-old Julie Tauber McMahon. An e-mail between two staffers had the subject line, Julie, with the line, Saw her pic in this or last week's Enquirer. Both Bill Clinton and McMahon deny they had an affair and say they are just friends. The Clinton campaign is also being besieged by accusations that Bill raped a woman. Donald Trump cancelled an appearance on Sean Hannity's show Thursday night and three of Bill's past accusers from the 1990s, including Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick, appeared instead. On the show, Broaddrick said, "I think it's really important for the millennials to know, those that weren't born when I came forward after Bill Clinton raped me, and those that were too young to understand what we went through." Bill Clinton denies Broaddricks allegation and was never criminally charged. Trump's campaign manager is threatening to step up attacks against the Clintons, saying, "We're going to turn [Bill Clinton] into Bill Cosby." In a taped appearance on Meet the Press Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden says Bills behavior is irrelevant to the election campaign but Trump's is not. Read: Jill Harth Says Trump Told Her to Get Breast Implants, Treated Her 'Like Cattle' I can't make any excuses for Bill Clinton's conduct and I wouldnt attempt to make any excuses for his conduct, but he paid a price for it. He was impeached." Story continues As for Donald Trump, he said, "This guy has acknowledged that he has been a sexual predator. Meanwhile, President Obama was interrupted on Friday by a heckler waving a banner accusing Bill Clinton of rape. "Hold on a moment young man. Don't be interrupting everybody! Come on. Come on sir, come on," said Obama. The president responded by leading a chant. "Come on everybody let's do our little chant. Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!" The Washington Post has dubbed this election the "rape election." Washington Post writer Monica Hesse told Inside Edition, "The whole election can be boiled down to a personality question: Which candidate or candidate's husband would you be most afraid to ride alone in an elevator with?" Watch: Trump Accuser Jill Harth Reacts to His Groping Comments: 'How Can People Not Believe Me Now? Related Articles: Rapper Coolio has been charged with felony firearm possession after being arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, September 17. PHOTOS: Stars at Court According to Reuters, Coolio (ne Artis Leon Ivey Jr.) faces one felony count of possessing a firearm by a felon with two prior convictions. He was found guilty of having a concealed weapon in his vehicle in 2001 and possession of cocaine base in 2009, according to the news agency. PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots As previously reported, Coolio, 53, and his bodyguard were arrested at LAX after a loaded firearm was discovered in the Grammy-winning rappers backpack as the bag went through a screening machine. "On September 17, 2016, at approximately 10:50 a.m., Los Angeles Airport Police responded to Terminal 3 for a report of a prohibited item at TSA screening," an LAPD public-information officer told Us at the time. "Upon arrival, airport police immediately took possession of a carry-on bag in the X-ray screening belt and detained a 39-year-old black male [the bodyguard] who claimed possession of the bag." Coolio had already made his way onto an aircraft when authorities determined the bag belonged to the artist based on items in the carry-on, according to Reuters. The Gangstas Paradise rapper was then removed from the airplane and detained by police. As previously reported, an LAX police spokesperson said that Coolio "claimed ownership and possession of the carry-on bag." According to Reuters, if convicted, the rapper could face up to three years in state prison. PHOTOS: Celebs Fight Back on Twitter! Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox! Related Content: Forty years after the 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth premiered, the Smithsonian Channel has greenlit The Real Jesus Of Nazareth, a four-part series which will debut sometime next year. The show follows Robert Powell, the British actor who played Jesus in the original, as he returns to the Holy Land to seek out clues to the real historical figure who inspired Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth is a cultural phenomenon, and essentially created a new image of Jesus for the television age, said David Royle, Smithsonian Channels Executive VP of Programming and Production. Its a privilege to have gained access to the original film footage and Robert Powells unique connection to this story makes him a wonderful and insightful guide to the historical Jesus and the Holy Land. The limited series will combine scenes from the classic with Powells journey throughout modern Israel, where he meets archaeologists and scholars who help him reconstruct the story of the man who changed history and inspired billions. Impossible Factual is producing the series for Smithsonian Networks with Jonathan Drake and Steve Maher serving as exec producers. John Cavanagh, Charles Poe and David Royle will executive produce for Smithsonian Channel. Related stories Smithsonian Channel To Repeat 'CBS Sunday Morning With Charles Osgood' President Obama To Introduce 'Star-Spangled Banner' Docu On Smithsonian Channel Netflix Takes English-Speaking Rights To Oliver Hirschbiegel's 'The Same Sky' - Mipcom A boy of Pakistan origin, aged 7, was thrashed by five of his classmates on school bus in US for allegedly being a Muslim. His father wrote about the horrific incident on social media, and said this was ' Donald Trump's America'. By Press Trust of India: A seven year-old Pakistani-origin boy was allegedly beaten up by five classmates on a school bus in the US for being a Muslim, an incident that has forced his family to move back to Pakistan fearing "Donald Trump's America". The parents of Abdul Usmani have alleged that he was bullied and beaten by five students on the bus while returning home from Weatherstone Elementary School in Cary, North Carolina, as they made references to Muslims and the boy's Pakistani heritage. advertisement 'WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF DONALD TRUMP' "Welcome to the United States of America of Donald Trump," Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani captioned a Facebook photo showing his son, Abdul, with his left arm in a sling. "He is in grade 1, bullied and beaten by his own classmates in school bus for being a Muslim," Usmani said. Usmani told BuzzFeed News that he his wife along with their three sons have left the US for Pakistan after this latest incident in a long history of discrimination towards his children and family. "These are six and seven year old kids calling him names, with one kid punching him in the face, while two other kids attacked him, kicked him, and held his arms back," Usmani said. He described his son "as American as you can get". Also Read: Donald Trump refuses to budge on Muslim ban, claims 'Islam ruining Europe' THEY KEPT BEATING HIM ALL THE WAY FROM SCHOOL TO HOME "They keep beating him all the way from school to home on the bus," Usmani said of the boy's ride home last Friday. Abdul, his father said, is traumatised by the attack and has a sprained arm. Lisa Luten, a spokesperson for the Wake County Public School System, was quoted as saying that the principal of the school immediately began investigating the alleged incident after the family told them about it. "The principal) interviewed seven students sitting near this child, and none of the students, nor the bus driver, witnessed any type of altercation or incident," Luten said, adding that the principal has one more child to interview and has not been able to get in contact with the Usmani family since Friday. Also Read: Clinton takes on Trump over Islamophobia, says US not at war with Islam IT'S NOT THE AMERICA THAT I STUDIED IN: VICTIM'S FATHER Usmani, 38, first came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and currently works as a Chief Technology Officer of a Silicon Valley data software company. advertisement Usmani said his family was harassed by a neighbour for months because of their religion, and that his other son has been called a terrorist. "Times are changing and it's not the America we always thought of and believed in. It's not the America that I studied in," Usmani said. "If Trump wins, America will be great again, but a great that nobody will care about," he said. Usmani said the irony of the alleged discrimination is he has been working to combat the effects of terrorism and has worked with the UN's Special Envoy for Global Education on a safe school initiative in Pakistan. Also Read: Trump no longer supports ban on Muslim: Pence --- ENDS --- MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Communications (RLCM.NS) is selling a 51 percent stake in its tower assets to Canada's Brookfield Infrastructure Group for 110 billion rupees ($1.65 billion), in a deal that will help cut the phone carrier's huge debt. Reliance Communications will use the proceeds of the deal with Brookfield "solely" to repay debt, it said a statement on Friday. The preliminary deal is subject to definitive documentation, regulatory approvals and other terms and conditions. Controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, Reliance Communications is the most leveraged among listed Indian phone carriers with its $6.3 billion net debt being more than five times its operating profit. Ambani said last month the company aimed to cut its debt by more than three-quarters within a year. Reliance Communications, India's fourth-biggest cellular carrier by customers, is also merging its wireless business with smaller rival Aircel and has said that deal will cut its debt by 200 billion rupees as it transfers part of the debt to the new venture. India is the world's second-biggest and the fastest-growing internet market by users. As Indian mobile phone carriers expand their 4G telecoms networks to cater to fast-rising demand for high-speed data, Reliance Communications and Brookfield expect the tower business' revenue and profitability to improve further, according to the statement. Reliance Communications, which has been trying to sell the tower assets for years, had in December signed a non-binding pact with a group led by buyout firm TPG Capital Management LP. That deal did not go through. Shares in Reliance Communications were trading 2.3 percent higher by 0819 GMT in a Mumbai market that was up 0.3 percent. ($1 = 66.5919 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) Tony DUrso's Celebrated Podcast Reflects on Success DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Tony DUrso, the self-styled "Dream Business Maker" is celebrating the one-year anniversary of his popular Internet podcast, the Revenue Chat Radio show. The weekly, hour-long interview showcases sales, marketing and leadership experts: CEOs, bestselling authors, and those who have achieved success in their respective fields. "The one-year anniversary of Revenue Chat is a meaningful milestone for me," stated host Tony DUrso. "After a career in sales, writing and real estate, I thought I'd try my hand at broadcasting and I'm amazed at what the show has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time." In the past year, DUrso has shared actionable advice and insights with several intriguing guests regarding the best sales methods, smart business strategies, and useful tips to grow a successful business regardless of the economic climate. One of his A-list guests was Jim Rickards, author of the New York Times best-seller, Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis. In the past year, DUrso has also had the pleasure of hosting other notables such as Mitch Russo, the former president of Tony Robbins Business Breakthrough International. Revenue Chat averages 5,000-10,000 podcast downloads each week and DUrso's website adds another 100,000 unique visitors monthly. The show is available on iTunes, YouTube and there's even a mobile app as well. For those interested in being featured as a guest on an upcoming Revenue Chat broadcast episode, they can sign up for consideration by visiting the show's official booking website, http://www.meetme.so/TonyDUrso. About Revenue Chat Radio Revenue Chat is a weekly podcast featuring host Tony DUrso, the self-styled "Dream Business Maker". Each episode, averaging 5-10,000 downloads per week, features a special guest who has achieved success in life through hard work and overcoming adversity. Both host and the featured guest share insights and actionable strategies on how to be successful in all walks of life. Total downloads of the podcast have topped a half a million, with over 100,000 monthly visitors to his website, www.tonydurso.com. Story continues About Tony DUrso Tony DUrso was born in Sicily, Italy, came to the U.S. at age three and was working a paper route by the age of five. Working at such a young age taught him a strong work ethic, the value of money, and the importance of being self-supportive. At 19, Tony made his way into the business world and uncovered some of the greatest secrets of the sales profession. In the years following this achievement, he made impressive, record-breaking sales forays into real estate, collectibles, insurance technology, and other varied industries. DUrso is the author of three books, including Easy Sales Procedures, a book that endows its readers with the simple truths at the core of sales training methods. DUrso graduated Summa Cum Laude from La Verne University with a degree in Business Administration. Currently, Tony hosts the popular show, Revenue Chat Radio, which achieves up to 25,000 downloads and listens per episode. He interviews CEOs, bestselling authors and experts in sales, marketing and leadership who provide actionable advice and insights. Tony currently resides in the U.S. with his wife of 24 years and their large white Akita. Media Contact: Jeff Cheatham TrizCom PR O: 972-247-1369 C: 972-961-6171 jeffc@trizcom.com SOURCE: Tony DUrso via Submit Press Release 123 While this month marks the 40th anniversary of Robb Report, it is also a time to celebrate new beginnings with the birth of Robb Report Australiathe first issue of which will be on newsstands October 17. As with its parent publication in the United States, the magazine will be the authoritative guide to the latest in luxury and a trusted source for those whose lifestyle emphasizes exclusivity. Like everything of enduring value in life, this first issue of Robb Report Australia has been the result of creativity, collaboration, belief, and toil, says editor-in-chief Michael Stahl in his inaugural editors letter to the reader. You havent got to where you are today by accepting near-enough as good-enough. And thats the very spirit we will celebrate. Within its premiere pages are features that include a first-hand account of driving Ferraris turbocharged 488 Spider through Sydney and surrounds, a conversation with the Prancing Horse marques chief designer Flavio Manzoni, and a look at Australian-born film director Robert Luketic and how his success has taken flight. The comprehensive coverage continues with departments focused on audio, dining, fashion, motoring, watches, wine, and travel. Among the insights inside are a recap of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a detailed account of how Richard Mille gave his new $1.37 million tourbillion timepiece an aeronautic aesthetic, and an explanation as to why Nebbiolo should not be ignored. To commemorate the launch, the publishers threw a posh party in Sydneys suburb of Surry Hills on Thursday, October 13. The guest list comprised 150 of the citys cognoscenti in culture and commerce. Robb Report Australia will print twice quarterly at the outset before transitioning to a monthly periodical by April. The latest launch makes the brands 17th international version (covering regions as diverse as Russia, India, Turkey, Mexico, and Malaysia) and follows that of Robb Report UK, which took off on April 21. (robbreport.com.au) Story continues More From Robbreport.com Customize This 62-Foot Itama Yacht This Phuket Villa Is a Geometric Wonder of Wood, Glass, and Steel Sometimes Bigger Is Better: Custom Line Builds Its Largest Yacht Yet Not That We Needed Another Reason to Visit KyotoBut This Is It Take Over a Private Island in the Maldives Youll Feel Like You Hit the Jackpot at This Newly Renovated Vegas Spa ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two rockets, apparently aimed at a fuel tanker, hit a fish store and open ground near a resort town in the province of Antalya in southern Turkey on Friday and did not cause any casualties, the privately owned Dogan news agency reported. It said the rockets were fired from a mountainous area near the road between the city of Antalya and the resort town of Kemer. Ambulances and special forces police were sent to the area. It was not immediately clear who was responsible, but Kurdish and far-left militants have staged similar attacks, mostly against the security forces, in the past. Three Turkish soldiers were wounded in an armed attack on their military vehicle near Antalya in August. Turkish tourism has been hit by a series of bombings, a failed coup in July and tensions with Russia, whose citizens are among the main visitors to Turkish resorts. The number of foreign visitors to Turkey dropped 38 percent in August. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Louise Ireland) The light over at the Frankenstein place burned brightly on the Sunset Strip Thursday night (Oct. 13) for the premiere of Fox's Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again. The movie airs Oct. 20. The event, held at The Roxy, the legendary Los Angeles club owned by Lou Adler, who executive produced both the original 1975 cult classic and the new Kenny Ortega-directed reimagining, brought out most of the cast, including Orange Is The New Black star Laverne Cox, who takes on the iconic role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, made famous by the late Tim Curry. Cox, who took months of vocal lessons to train for the part and brought her mom with her on the red carpet, took the film's message of "Don't dream it, be it" to heart. "I am a black transgender woman from Mobile, Alabama, from a working class background who is starring in Rocky Horror Picture Show," she told Billboard, still obviously incredulous about her good fortune. "The movie is about freedom and embracing who you are. Letting go of all your inhibitions. I hope that's what people take away - that anything is possible." That was a message echoed by many of the film's stars. "Rocky Horror is all being your authentic self and owning it and who cares if you're considered weird or crazy or different. Just go for it," said Victoria Justice, who plays the newly engaged Janet Weiss, a role created by Susan Sarandon. The former Nickelodeon star watched the 1975 film "several times because I wanted to be able to pay homage to certain specific spots that are already fan favorites," she said, "but I also wanted to not memorize it or copy it so I could make my own choices." Read more: Tim Curry Blesses Fox's 'Rocky Horror' Remake For Ryan McCartan, the Disney actor who plays Janet's fiance, Brad, the part was the realization of a long-held desire. "I have wanted to play Brad Majors since I was 12," he said. "I saw the play with my parents because my sister was in it playing a Transylvanian, playing a slutty nun, in a production in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the Ordway Theater. When I saw Brad, such a nerdy guy turned into a transvestite masterpiece, I knew I would play this role some day. There aren't words to describe how I feel and there never will be." Story continues Even though McCartan, like the original Brad, Barry Bostwick, got pneumonia while shooting the rainy outdoor scenes in a very chilly Toronto, he said he had "no complaints. I put on the gold drag and saw how fierce I looked and I was like, 'I'll be fine.'" As young as McCartan was when he saw the camp classic flick, Christina Milian, who plays Magenta, had him beat. "The first time I saw Rocky Horror, it was my elementary [school] years because my mom was a very cool mom," she said. However, she admitted some of it - thankfully - went over her head. "I didn't necessarily understand what it was all about. I always remember the scene when they realized they ate Eddie." Bad boy biker Eddie, played by Meatloaf in the original, is played by Adam Lambert in the new version. Broadway vet Reeve Carney relished the chance to play manservant Riff Raff after playing the beautiful, immortal Dorian Gray on Showtime's Penny Dreadful. "I was excited to go from Dorian to Riff Raff. He's supposed to be a bit more ghoulish, not necessarily the prom king. It's something different from what I did before," Carney said. "In fact, I'd like to remake this movie 10 times, it was so much fun." Read more: Comic-Con: Foxs Rocky Horror Scares Up a New Take on the Cult Classic To get into character, Carney, who has a new album coming out Oct. 21, imagined what role Riff Raff would play in a band. "He would most certainly be the bass player," he said. "He's the guy in the back that you might not always notice, but he's keeping the show together." After the red carpet, the stars joined the crowd inside - made up largely of very enthusiastic shadow castmembers from as far away as Arizona in costume as their favorite Rocky Horror characters - for the first official viewing of the film. Sal Piro, the president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show fan club since 1977, introduced the film, but first asked the audience to break from the tradition of yelling back at the screen so that people could hear the movie. What followed was a near word-for-word re-creation of the original, with a few stylistic changes, but completely faithful in the joyous tone of the 1975 film. "I want a new generation to actually look back at the original. I want people to buy into the fun of the original and see the progression that's not meant to be about change or to better it, but to appeal to a new demographic," summed up Game of Thrones' Staz Nair, who plays Frank-N-Furter's monster Rocky. "We put our heart and soul into this. Everyone invested every part of themselves, and I believe that comes across in the film." This story first appeared on billboard.com In a series of provocative tweets, outspoken feminist actress turned filmmaker and activist Rose McGowan has declared she was raped by a powerful Hollywood executive - and, by process of deduction, left industry insiders narrowing down to whom she was referring. The statements came amid a swirling public debate about sexual assault allegations facing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Several accusers have offered detailed accounts of unwelcome advances by the Republican presidential candidate in recent days. The discussion has triggered a more all-encompassing national dialogue about what's been termed "rape culture." This follows former Fox News personalities Gretchen Carlson and Andrea Tantaros' claims about network head Roger Ailes' alleged harassment toward them, which triggered his departure in August. Using the trending #WhyWomenDontReport hashtag, McGowan posted on Thursday evening that she'd attempted to have her alleged rapist brought to justice. She wrote, "A (female) criminal attorney said because I'd done a sex scene in a film I would never win against the studio head." McGowan continued, "It's been an open secret in Hollywood/Media & they shamed me while adulating my rapist," before all but naming her attacker. She finished by stating: "It is time for some goddamned honesty in this world." The statements have been liked and retweeted several hundred times. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to McGowan, who has not responded to a request for further comment. a (female) criminal attorney said because I'd done a sex scene in a film I would never win against the studio head. #WhyWomenDontReport - rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016 When no one else in Hollywood would listen, you heard. When no one else in Hollywood would do, you acted. https://t.co/CY2cRPEjWH - rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 13, 2016 because it's been an open secret in Hollywood/Media & they shamed me while adulating my rapist. #WhyWomenDontReport Story continues - rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016 Because my ex sold our movie to my rapist for distribution #WhyWomenDontReport - rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016 It is time for some goddamned honesty in this world. - rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016 Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal will reach Ahmedabad today, a visit to Gujarat that is seen as preparation for the 2017 elections. He will meet the family members of those who died during the patidar agitation. By Vidya : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will reach Ahmedabad today for the much-reported trip to Gujarat, which is being seen as preparation for next year's assembly elections. Although this is not Kejriwal's first trip to the state, it is being keenly observed not just by Aam Aadmi Party members but by other political leaders as well since Kejriwal will be meeting the family members of those who died during the patidar agitation. advertisement In July last year, the patidar community, which is said to be a robust votebank, had held large protests seeking reservation in the Other Backward Classes category for jobs and admission in educational institutions. PATIDAR PROTESTS HAD TURNED VIOLENT These protests had turned violent with over a dozen people being killed and many others getting injured. Kejriwal will also visit the temple of Umiya Mata at Unjha in Mehsana, the revered deity of patidars. Also read: Patidar leaders to support Aam Aadmi Party ahead of UP polls Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi MLA and Gujarat in-charge Gulab Singh Yadav, however, denied that this trip of Kejriwal was only to woo patidars. He said, "In Mehsana, Kejriwal will also meet the family of the murdered police constable, who hailed from the Thakur community and had been fighting the ban on liqour. There are also other groups of people whom he will meet such as labourers and diamond merchants. He will also meet the families of those who died in the recent spurious liquor tragedy at a village near Surat." AAP REMAINS NON-COMMITTAL ON RESERVATION ISSUE However, Yadav seemed non-commital about his party's stand on granting the patidars reservation under OBC category so that they could benefit from the same. Yadav said, "This is a very important issue. AAP stands by the provisions of reservation as laid down in the Constitution." He added, "This issue should definitely be discussed. One can agree or disagree with the issue, but discussions must be held on the topic so that a middle path can be reached or some sort of conclusion can be reached. Beating up protestors is no solution." --- ENDS --- By Nidhi Verma and Jessica Jaganathan NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A group led by Russian oil major Rosneft will acquire India's Essar Oil in a $12 to $13 billion deal including debt, two sources privy to the deal said, strengthening the ties between the world's largest oil producer and the world's fastest growing fuel consumer. The deal helps Russia to deepen economic ties that stretch back to the Soviet era. The purchase is the biggest foreign acquisition ever in India and Russia's largest outbound deal, according to Thomson Reuters data. It also comes as Russia is keen to reassert its role in global affairs and at a time when its own economy is stagnant, hit by Western sanctions and low oil prices. Rosneft will get a 49 percent stake in Essar and the two investors -- European trader Trafigura and a Russian fund UCP -- will hold another 49 percent in equal parts, the sources said, adding that the valuation included about $4.5 billion in assumed debt. Through this acquisition, Rosneft will not only get an additional outlet for its oil amid a global supply glut but will also get to market fuels in the world's fastest-growing major economy. No immediate comment was available from the companies involved. Essar Oil is part of a steel-to-ports conglomerate controlled by the billionaire Ruia brothers that has faced pressure from creditors to reduce borrowing that some analysts estimate at more than $14 billion. Essar Oil operates a 400,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in Vadinar on India's west coast and sells fuels through its 2,470 filling stations in India. The deal will also include the Vadinar port and a power plant associated with the refinery, said one of the sources. "This could herald a diversification in crude sourcing for India overall away from the Middle East," said Tushar Tarun Bansal, director at Singapore-based consultancy Ivy Global. "From India's point of view, it cements a strong relationship with Russia." One source said the deal will be largely funded by Russia's VTB Capital, part of state-controlled bank VTB. VTB Group is under Western sanctions over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis that restrict its access to international capital. Trafigura will also bring in some funds to buy its share, said a third source. Story continues Essar is expected to announce the deal on Saturday in the coastal resort of Goa during a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bilateral summit. In a sign it plans to expand its presence in India, Trafigura has hired two oil traders from Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, and a business development executive from Cairn India to form a new oil desk based in Mumbai, adding to its current Indian staff count of more than 250, two sources familiar with the matter said. The two oil traders have a combined experience of more than 20 years with the Indian refiners, the sources added. Trafigura has also advertised for an oil operations analyst based in Mumbai to provide physical oil products operations and trader support, according to a notice on Trafigura's website. Rosneft and Trafigura are the latest international oil companies after Royal Dutch Shell and BP to enter the Indian fuel retailing market. Rosneft may supply Venezuelan oil to Essar's Vadinar refinery after a deal to buy a stake in the Indian company is finalised, the Indian company's managing director L. K. Gupta told Reuters in August. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Douglas Busvine, Keith Weir, Alexandra Hudson and Christian Schmollinger) RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 2 just wrapped Thursday (Oct. 13) night, and season 5 runner-up Alaska snatched the crown from a worthy batch of competitors. But really, let's be honest. When Alaska entered season 2 of All Stars, the crown was hers to lose -- and by virtue of consistent runway looks, gag-worthy lip synchs and arguably the best Snatch Game impersonation of all time (Mae West lived again for 10 minutes in 2016), she more than earned the victory. So following her victory on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 2, Billboard is excited to debut Alaska Thunderfuck 5000's brand new music video "The T" featuring fellow All Stars competitor Adore Delano. Over sparse, hard-hitting production that brings to mind Nicki Minaj's "Beez in the Trap," Alaska spills the tea on everything from her exes (both famous and infamous) to her newfound sobriety to Drag Race as a personal experience. While the video features Adore Delano singing (always a pleasure), a slew of additional season 2 All Stars appear at the end in a visual send-up of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper -- with Alaska as Christ, because obviously. Like any good rap freestyle (and make no mistake, this is a legit I-got-shit-to-get-off-my-chest freestyle), Alaska addresses everything: Her personal issues (sobriety), her exes (she's good with Sharon Needles but has a sick diss for her tea-spilling ex), Adore Delano's unexpected exit, and her former association with Willam and Courtney Act: Here are a few choice lyrics from "The T": "I keep it cute and I act my age / And you never gonna ever, ever gonna see me drunk on stage" "The Triple A girls went bankrupt morally / Willam met some models and serviced them orally" "I like black tea, I like black D" "I smash some pumpkins, Rat in the Cage / Let's pay women an equal wage" "[On her gossipy ex] You crossed me like the River Styx / But the sex is good because I like small dicks" Story continues "Now let's talk about my exes, I cheated on Sharon with a guy in Texas -- I'm just kidding it was really in Florida, but what the fuck fucking rhymes with Florida" "[On Sharon] We were good to together but we're better apart, and I learned a lot from that broken heart / Sharon and Chad [O'Connell] I'm happy for you" "100,000 is ain't that much / To fuck up your mind and all the friends that you trust" And so many more. Check out the video above and grab Poundcake here. The RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars reunion airs Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. on Logo and VH1. Moscow (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday he had no "special expectations" for talks in Switzerland this weekend on the Syrian crisis, as violence continues to rage in Aleppo. Lavrov is set to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry and top diplomats from the UN and regional powers in Lausanne on Saturday for the first talks on Syria since Washington halted bilateral negotiations with Moscow on a truce earlier this month. "I do not have any kind of special expectations," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying. Russian airpower is currently backing up Syrian regime forces in a ferocious assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo that has sparked accusations of potential war crimes from the West. The sides will look at how to revive a short-lived ceasefire that Moscow and Washington hammered out, but Lavrov insisted Russia does not plan to present new initiatives on ways to resolve the conflict, which has claimed more than 300,000 lives since it erupted in 2011. Instead he said Moscow would call for "concrete steps" to implement earlier UN resolutions and the now defunct US-Russia ceasefire deal. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will attend Saturday's talks, along with the top diplomats of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces. Hopes are low that the talks with lead to a breakthrough in resolving the five-year conflict that has claimed some 300,000 lives. Moscow (AFP) - A historic first ever visit to Britain by the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will help strengthen trust between the countries with ties at a frosty low, a senior cleric said Friday. Patriarch Kirill is set to meet the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury during a four-day visit starting Saturday which will be the first ever to Britain by a head of the Russian Church. Kirill's visit "will help our peoples strengthen their mutual trust," said Metropolitan Ilarion, who heads the Church's external relations department, in an interview with RIA Novosti state news agency. He admitted that Russia and Britain's relations in recent years "have not been going through the best of times." Ties between Moscow and London have slumped as Britain has joined sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis and berated the Kremlin for bombing in Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Russian forces of committing potential war crimes in the war-ravaged country, and urged protests outside the country's embassy in London. Ilarion pointed out that the British royal family has ties to the Church since Prince Philip was a Greek Orthodox Christian before switching to the Church of England when he married the Queen, its head. "The past and present urge us to promote greater closeness between the peoples of Russia and Britain which in turn cannot but have an effect on official contacts," said Ilarion. The Patriarch is meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace on the last day of his visit. Kirill has promoted closer relations with the authorities under the conservative rule of President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer and Orthodox believer, with clerics playing a greater role in schools and the army despite the Church's nominal separation from state. His spokesman reiterated the Russian Orthodox Church's opposition to women priests, saying it supports those Anglican Churches that "stand up for moral norms in accordance with the gospel." Story continues Most of the Russian Orthodox churches in Britain are part of a diocese loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate called Sourozh, with most parishioners having origins in Eastern Europe but some also converts. Some other churches are loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (RCOR), which was formed shortly after the 1917 October Revolution and opposed the Church inside the USSR over its acts of loyalty to the Soviet authorities. The Patriarch on Saturday evening in a gesture of reconciliation will hold a service at the Cathedral of the Dormition in Chiswick which is under the RCOR. SEOUL (Reuters) - Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd traded slightly higher on Friday morning after the South Korean electronics giant said it expected to take a greater profit hit from the demise of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. Samsung shares were up 0.8 percent as of 0008 GMT, versus the wider market's 0.6 percent gain. Samsung said it expected to take a hit to its operating profit of about $3 billion over the next two quarters due to the discontinuation of the Note 7. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Stephen Coates) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone devices will be banned from aircraft in the United States starting on Saturday at noon EDT (1600 GMT) under an emergency order, regulators said on Friday after numerous reports of the devices catching fire. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd scrapped its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on Tuesday because of incidents where the phones began smoking or caught fire, dealing a huge blow to its reputation. The decision came after reports of fires in replacement devices prompted a new round of warnings from regulators, phone carriers and airlines. The order from the U.S. Transportation Department and other agencies bars owners from carrying on the devices or stowing them in checked baggage during flights. "We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk." The Transportation Department warned that passengers who packed the devices in checked luggage raised the risk of "a catastrophic incident." "Anyone violating the ban may be subject to criminal prosecution in addition to fines," the department said in a press statement. The agency said that the phones might be confiscated from passengers attempting to take them onboard, and that people found onboard with the phones might face fines. In another statement issued late Friday, the department clarified that owners who attempt to travel by air with Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices would only be "denied boarding." The world's largest phone maker this week said it was also expanding a U.S. recall of the fire-prone model to a total of 1.9 million Note 7 phones, including the 1 million Galaxy Note 7s it recalled on Sept. 15. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday the Note 7's battery "can overheat and catch fire, posing serious fire and burn hazard to consumers." It added that Samsung had received 96 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the United States, including 23 new reports since the Sept. 15 recall announcement. (Reporting by David Shepardson and Diane Bartz; Editing by Tom Brown and Richard Chang) The first image of a soldier that comes to one's mind may be that of a uniformed person with weapons, but soldiers also have a humane side to their character, PM Modi said in Bhopal today. By S. Sahaya Ranjit: Be it the Uttarakhand floods of 2013 or the Kashmir floods of 2014, the Indian Army did a commendable job in saving thousands of lives, Prime Minister Modi said in Bhopal today. Modi was addressing a gathering of ex-servicemen and families of martyrs at the Lal Parade Ground in Bhopal on Friday ahead of inauguration of the 'Shaurya Smarak' in the city, a war memorial dedicated to the soldiers of India. advertisement Also read: US backs surgical strikes, says India has right to respond militarily to cross-border terror The Army believes more in doing than talking, Modi said in what is being seen as a reference to the surgical strikes across the LoC without mentioning them directly. ARMY DOESN'T TALK, IT ACTS: MODI The Prime Minister while describing the role of the Army said, "Everyone was after me, saying that Modi hasn't done anything, and that Modi was sleeping." "The Army does not talk, it displays valour", ( Sena bolti nahi hai, parakram karti hai) he said. Modi added "Similarly, our Defence Minister does not talk too," he said praising Manohar Parrikar, who was also present at the occasion. Parrikar had also praised Modi for the surgical strikes 2 days ago. Modi added that the Indian Army had played an important role in UN peacekeeping operations as well. "The Army's morale comes from the support it gets from the people," he said, exhorting everyone to stand by the Army. Later, Modi added that Indians should emulate foreign countries where servicemen are given standing ovations whenever they pass by. "Servicemen should not only be remembered during times of war but even during times of peace. Such small gestures go a long way in expressing gratitude towards servicemen." SOLDIERS ALSO HAVE A HUMANE SIDE Modi added, "The first image of a soldier that comes to one's mind may be that of a uniformed person with weapons, but soldiers also have a humane side to their character.The Army does a lot during times of peace as well. The humane role of the Army comes to the fore during natural calamities. The Army helped Pakistanis in Yemen during the rescue operation." Also read: Surgical strikes: Congress hits back, says Parrikar has insulted war veterans, should apologise "In Kashmir, our soldiers rescued and provided humanitarian aid to thousands of people without thinking and objecting to the fact that these are the same people who throw stones at the Indian forces," he said. advertisement ARMYMEN SELFLESS, SAVE LIVES "Sometimes these stones can be fatal. Despite that, our soldiers did not think about who did what to them in the past. They just saved the lives of their fellow countrymen," Modi said. The Prime Minister said that the Indian Army might not be the strongest army in the world, but on the parameters of humanity, discipline, conduct and behaviour with civilians, the Indian Army was certainly on the top of the list. Also read: How India's surgical strikes created rift between LeT terrorists, Pakistan army ONE RANK ONE PENSION PM Modi also listed the financial benefits extended to ex-servicemen by his government. "Many governments in the past had promised One Rank One Pension (OROP) but none of them gave it to the ex-servicemen," he said. Modi, while mentioning the demand for OROP, said that ex-servicemen were a disciplined lot and could not resort to acts like that of a union for their demand. Interestingly, the agitation for OROP by ex-servicemen in 2015 included protests at Jantar Mantar, relay hunger strikes and even a threat to campaign against the Union Government in Bihar, which was then about to go to polls. The protest was called off after the Centre gave in to the demand. advertisement Also read: Kejriwal writes to PM Modi: Roll back disability pension decision, revamp OROP 3 SLABS CREATED FOR DISABILITY PENSION Modi also mentioned that 3 slabs have been created for the disability pension for servicemen. He added that there was more sum of money from the discretionary fund for ex-servicemen available with the Defence Minister. MODI CONGRATULATES SHIVRAJ CHOUHAN The Prime Minister also congratulated the Madhya Pradesh government on the 'shaurya smarak' and described it as a pilgrimage that would inspire people. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh termed Modi a 'Super Manav' for his love for the country. The chief minister announced a lifetime pension of Rs 5,000 per month for parents of martyrs. PM Modi also met Jain seer Acharya Vidyasagar Maharaj, who is spending chaturmaas- a Jain religious ritual in Bhopal. From there, he proceeded to the 'shaurya smarak' for its inauguration and left for Panaji. Also read: Pak Army moves terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin to safe location after surgical strikes advertisement --- ENDS --- MUMBAI (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co on Friday offered alternative phones to its India customers who had pre-ordered its flagship Galaxy Note 7 devices, in a bid to appease loyal clients in one of its largest smartphone markets. The world's largest phone maker has been hit by an avalanche of negative publicity, after being forced to recall millions of the fire-prone Note 7 devices and later scrap the high-end phone altogether. India is one of the world's largest and fastest growing smartphone markets and a critical one for Samsung as it is the No. 1 player in the nation with a roughly 25 percent market share. The device that had been set to go on sale in India in early September ended up not getting to any Indian customers after it failed to resolve overheating problems which caused some of the phones to ignite. The company initially apologized to customers for the delay in the Note 7, and in a release late on Friday it said for those who had pre-booked devices, in lieu of the Note 7 it would offer customers either its Galaxy S7, or S7 Edge devices. It also offered affected clients a free set of its virtual reality headsets, a free pair of wireless headphones, a voucher worth about $50, along with a free one-time screen replacement in case of any damage to the new smartphone within a year. In a separate statement Samsung also questioned analyst estimates on the extent of the impact on revenue in India from the Note 7 debacle. "We can confirm that contrary to these reports, we are headed for record sales of mobile phones this year," the company said in the statement. Earlier on Friday, Samsung said however that it expected to take a hit to its operating profit of about $3 billion over the next two quarters due to the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; editing by Susan Thomas) samsung galaxy note 7 The US government has banned Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 on domestic flights, the Department of Transportation announced. The ban takes effect on October 15 at noon Eastern. In a statment, transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said the Note 7 will be banned on flights because "even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk." The DoT announcement says Note 7s may be confiscated from owners if they try to bring them on a flight. They may also be fined. Airlines have been instructed to deny passengers entry on a flight if they're spotted with a Note 7. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. "Samsung, together with carriers, is working to communicate the US Department of Transportations new order to ban all Galaxy Note 7 devices in carry-on and checked baggage on flights," a Samsung spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "We have encouraged airlines to issue similar communications directly to their passengers." The Note 7 has been formally recalled following reports that the device continues to overheat, even after Samsung said replacement devices were safe to use. Last week, a Southwest Airlines flight had to be evacuated after a Note 7 started smoking before the flight took off. Before now, passengers on US flights have been told to power down the Note 7 before takeoff. However, they were still allowed on planes. Samsung canceled the Note 7 for good on Tuesday and is in the process of helping customers return or exchange their phones. The company is also investigating what caused the Note 7 to overheat and plans to share its findings in a few weeks, a Samsung spokesperson told Business Insider earlier this week. NOW WATCH: Google just unveiled the Pixel its first smartphone More From Business Insider By Mai Nguyen THAI NGUYEN, Vietnam (Reuters) - As Samsung Electronics <005930.KS> struggles to salvage its reputation after the safety problems that have beset its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, the South Korean company can at least bank on an army of Vietnamese workers for support. Tens of thousands of them are involved in assembling more than a third of Samsung's smartphones - the Galaxy Note 7 included - in the Pho Yen area of Thai Nguyen province, which is about 65 km north of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Samsung's arrival three years ago transformed it from a sleepy farming district into a sprawling industrial town. While the company expects to take a profit hit of around $5 billion from the scrapping of the fire-prone phone, 13 workers interviewed by Reuters outside the factory almost all said they are confident their employer will pull through. They also say Samsung pays well, offers good benefits and takes care of their needs. "Recalling (Note 7) doesn't mean we are unemployed or such; Samsung also makes many other phones and new models, not just the Note 7," said Nguyen Thi Hang, one of some 110,000 Vietnamese who work for Samsung Electronics across Vietnam, making it one of the nation's biggest employers. The Samsung factory workers get around $180 in monthly base salary, which can grow to around $300 when overtime, annual incentives and other benefits are included. That is well above average incomes in such rural areas. Young workers are also drawn to the Thai Nguyen jobs by generous benefits, including subsidized or free meals, and accommodation that cost less than $3 a month. There are also organized sports, karaoke and discounts on various products and services, such as Samsung phones and hair salons. Nguyen Van Doai, 27, a worker at the plant, said some overtime options had been reduced due to the Note 7 withdrawal, but there was no indication of job cuts. "Samsung hasn't reached a level where they have to cut jobs because they are still hiring many people and constructing more buildings," Doai said. Samsung Vietnam said on Wednesday there would be no job cuts this year as a result of the end of its production of the Galaxy Note 7, and its exports for 2016 would still grow as it ramps up production of other models. SAMSUNG VILLAGE Samsung has invested $14.5 billion in Vietnam, according to Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, equivalent to 10 percent of the country's total foreign investment over the past three decades. The attractions for Samsung include relative political stability, tax breaks and lower labor costs than in China. For those who don't live on the site, the company provides transport. Every day, thousands of Vietnamese are ferried to and from their homes in Hanoi and other cities and towns in the region in a procession of buses to the sprawling factories in Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces. In a corner of the capital on Thursday, workers queued at daybreak to board 14 of around a hundred factory-bound buses, some still emblazoned with advertisements for the Note 7. But there are some workers and people running local businesses who are not convinced Samsung's Vietnam operations will emerge unscathed. Dentist Phung Minh Ngoc, who moved to Thai Nguyen from Hanoi a year ago to set up a clinic named "Rang Xinh Samsung" (Pretty Tooth Samsung), fears the Note 7 fallout could hurt his business. "Their sales will certainly fall and so jobs for workers will lessen and workers' salaries may also decrease," he said. One female worker at the Pho Yen factory, who declined to be named, said she was worried because her contract was up for renewal next month. "I just brought my baby here with me. If I couldn't work for Samsung any longer, I would have to go back to farming," she said. ($1 = 22,253 dong) (Additional reporting by My Pham in HANOI; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Martin Howell) By Andrew Torchia and Thomas Wilson DUBAI/TOKYO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Japan's SoftBank Group (9984.T) will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the world's largest private equity investors and a potential kingpin in the industry. The move is part of a series of dramatic business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries. Earlier this year, it invested $3.5 billion in U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber, surprising many. SoftBank, a $68 billion telecommunications and tech investment behemoth, has also been stepping up investment in new areas. It agreed to buy U.K. chip design firm Arm Holdings in July in Japan's largest ever outbound deal. Saudi Arabia's top sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next five years while SoftBank expects to invest at least $25 billion. Several other large, unnamed investors are in active talks on their participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion, SoftBank said. "Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector," SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son said in a statement. At an annual rate of $20 billion, the new London-based fund could at current levels account for roughly a fifth of global venture capital investment. In the year to September, venture capital-backed companies globally raised $79 billion, according to data from KPMG and CB Insights, with tech start-ups attracting the lion's share of that cash. "Son is very good at looking for companies with big growth prospects, and that will create fierce competition," said Hiroyuki Kuroda, secretary general of the Venture Enterprise Center in Japan. The project will be led for SoftBank by Rajeev Misra, the group's head of strategic finance and who joined the Japanese firm in 2014 from Fortress Investment Group, a private equity and hedge fund group. PIF will engage its own team. Story continues INVESTMENT POWER Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, leading an economic reform drive in the kingdom, has revealed a string of high-profile investment plans this year. He aims to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the kingdom, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion, making it the world's largest sovereign fund. In June, the PIF departed from Saudi Arabia's traditional strategy of low-risk investments and took a step into the tech world with the Uber investment. That deal which illustrated how Riyadh now hopes to use its investments to develop the economy: Uber is a popular form of transport for Saudi women, who are banned from driving, and is creating badly needed non-oil jobs for Saudi citizens. SoftBank, a diverse company with stakes from U.S. carrier Sprint (S.N) to e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA.N), is also changing, shifting towards cutting edge tech investments after Son scrapped retirement plans in July and announced plans to reinforce "SoftBank 2.0". It is still wrestling with a $112 billion debt pile and the turnaround of Sprint. "SoftBank has been looking to invest aggressively in the internet of things, and this fund is part of that wider move," said Naoki Yokota, analyst at SMBC Friend Research Center Ltd. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia and Tom Wilson; Additional reporting by Sami Aboudi in Jerusalem, Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, William Maclean in Dubai and Eric Auchard in Frankfurt; Writing by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Friday, urging him to replace Mary Jo White as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In her letter, Warren pressed her call for the SEC to develop a political spending disclosure rule, something she said White has refused to do. Such a rule would force companies to disclose their political contributions, thus increasing transparency for investors. "Chair White's refusal to move forward on a political spending disclosure rule serves the narrow interests of powerful executives who would prefer to hide their expenditures of company money to advance their own personal ideologies," Warren said. The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 allowed for unlimited political spending by corporations, but Justice Anthony Kennedy expressed his strong support for public disclosure of the money spent. "Prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters," he wrote. When last December's government funding bill prevented the SEC from "finalizing" a rule regarding the disclosure of political contributions, Warren joined dozens of other Democratic lawmakers to remind White that the bill did not prevent the SEC from at least discussing or developing a rule for political spending disclosure to be finalized at a future time. Even then, Warren said, White refused to act. The Massachusetts Democrat argued in her letter to Obama that the disclosure rule has not been on the agency's regulatory agenda since White removed it shortly after taking office in April 2013. Warren pointed out that the president has the authority to appoint a new chair from among the commission's members. The other commissioners are Michael Piwowar and Kara Stein. The five-member commission has two vacancies. In the 12-page letter, Warren noted that Democrats will continue to fight to remove the antidisclosure rider when Congress considers the next government funding bill. Story continues The current one funds the government through Dec. 9. More From CNBC Dakar (AFP) - The brother of Senegal's president resigned Friday from his controversial role at a commodities firm, sparking a violent protest by opposition groups who have levelled corruption allegations against him. Aliou Sall, younger brother of President Macky Sall, is accused of helping Timis Corporation Senegal unfairly secure favourable conditions for the company while he was on its board. Opposition parties and civil society groups have long questioned the involvement of a presidential family member in a firm that jointly controls offshore oil and gas deposits alongside the Senegalese government. Aliou Sall, who is also the mayor of a Dakar suburb, confirmed to AFP by telephone Friday he would "no longer be in charge of the group's activities in Senegal". This was not enough to stop hundreds of people joining an opposition rally on Friday afternoon calling for greater transparency over oil and gas contracts signed between foreign firms and the Senegalese government in recent years. Organisers said 1,000 people gathered in Dakar to brandish banners reading "No to nepotism over natural resources" and "Oil and gas for the people". Sporadic clashes broke out and stones were thrown at police, according to an AFP reporter at the scene, who also saw police use tear gas on the crowd. A police official put the number of protesters at around 500. Writing on his Facebook page, Aliou Sall had hit out at a "campaign of demonisation" and said he was only resigning to put "the president of the republic at ease". He said he would start a new role within parent company Timis Corporation, owned by Romanian-Australian tycoon Frank Timis, and said he would be involved in "the development of future projects in Africa". Sall and Timis lodged a legal complaint on Monday against 11 individuals, including former prime minister Abdoul Mbaye and several journalists, accusing them of "defamation and spreading false news" over the affair. Timis sold a chunk of its interests in oil and gas exploration off Senegal to Texas-based Kosmos Energy in 2014, but retains a 30 percent stake in the project. The government has just announced the creation of a new body of ministers and industry figures to scrutinise regulations on oil and gas to "reinforce the package of measures on transparency within the natural resources sector". Congress leaders protested outside the residence of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and spent the night there over the failure of the state government in preventing 'Chitta Ravana' clashes that took place on Monday evening. Picture for Clashes broke out between Akali Dal and Congress workers over white Ravana effigy. Photo: Representational/PTI By Indo-Asian News Service: Leaders of the opposition Congress party spent the entire night protesting at the gate of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's official residence here over the Chitta Ravana clashes. The protest by the party leaders continued today. The high-security upscale area in Sector 2 where Badal resides was partially blocked owing to the ongoing protest. The protesters increased as families of war martyrs and home guard personnel killed on duty, also joined in outside the Chief Minister's residence today. advertisement PROTESTERS CONTINUED TO INCREASE Although the area is a strictly a no-protest zone with Section 144 CrPC imposed at all times that bans the assembly of five or more people, yet the agitating crowd continued to increase. Led by Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar and leader of opposition in Punjab Assembly Charanjit Singh Channi, the Congress leaders started their protest on Thursday noon and continued it throughout the night. WHY ARE THEY PROTESTING? They are demanding action against senior police officers in Ludhiana who failed to avert the clash on Monday and later booked Congress leaders. They accused the Punjab Police of high-handedness. Badal, who came out of his residence on Thursday evening, had ordered Director General of Police Suresh Arora to probe the violent clash between activists of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal youth wing and the opposition Congress on Dussehra eve in Ludhiana. Following directions from Badal, the DGP left for Ludhiana for an on-the-spot inquiry into Monday evening's incident. "I have asked the DGP to personally probe the incident and submit a report within three days," Badal had told the media here. Also Read: White Ravana effigy sparks clash between Cong, SAD; 35 injured WHAT LED TO THE CLASHES? Congress leaders in Ludhiana had put up an effigy of a "chitta" (colloquial term for drugs in Punjab) Ravana during Dussehra celebrations to highlight the state government's alleged failure to curb the drug menace in Punjab. The clash left a few Congress leaders, including the Ludhiana-urban unit president Gurpreet Gogi, injured. Vehicles of Congress leaders were also damaged. Bittu was saved during the clash by his security personnel. The Punjab Police later arrested a youth Congress leader Parvinder Lapran. Five other Congress leaders were also booked. BADAL ASSURED PROTESTING CONGRESS LEADERS BUT TO NO AVAIL A spokesperson from the Chief Minister's Office said Badal personally spoke to the agitating Congress leaders and assured them that the law would take its own course and anybody found guilty would not be spared. Jakhar said the probe was an eyewash and that earlier probes by the Punjab Police into major incidents of crime had yielded nothing. advertisement The opposition party leaders alleged that Ludhiana Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh and additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Jaswinder Singh were behaving like Akali Dal agents and targeting Congress leaders and activists. Congress activists had on Wednesday barged into the commissioner's office in Ludhiana and pasted stickers saying "Proud to be an Akali". Also Read: Punjab DGP asked to conduct probe in Cong, Akali clash --- ENDS --- Washington (AFP) - Claims of sexual misconduct against US presidential candidate Donald Trump are grabbing headlines worldwide, but it's nothing new in a world where sex and politics are all too frequent bed-fellows. - Dominique Strauss-Kahn - In May 2011, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn -- at the time a front-runner for the French presidency -- was arrested in New York after being accused of trying to rape a hotel chambermaid. He lost his IMF job and his dreams of the presidency were dashed. The case was eventually settled in a civil suit. Strauss-Kahn also faced an embarrassing trial in France last year, in which he was accused of involvement in a prostitution ring. Although he said he was unaware the women were prostitutes and was found not guilty, the trial involved a tortuous blow-by-blow account of his rapacious sexual habits. - Silvio Berlusconi - Silvio Berlusconi enjoyed the limelight for decades as a flamboyant Italian prime minister, media tycoon and owner of AC Milan. His "bunga bunga" sex parties became notorious. He was accused of paying Karima El Mahroug, a 17-year-old dancer known as "Ruby the Heartstealer", for sexual services in 2010, and of pressurising police to get her released after she was arrested on suspicion of theft while he was premier. In June 2013 he was found guilty of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and of abuse of power in the "Rubygate" scandal. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but he appealed the sentenced and it was quashed before he spent any time behind bars. - Bill Clinton - Former US president Bill Clinton at first denied his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky but later acknowledged it. The scandal ultimately led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives, although he was later acquitted by the Senate. Trump has labelled his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton an enabler of her husband's infidelities, holding a press conference just before last week's presidential debate with three women who have previously accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. The allegations are unproven. Story continues - Moshe Katzav - The former Israeli president was sentenced in 2011 to seven years in prison for rape as well as sexual harassment and obstruction of justice, in a scandal that rocked Israel. He was convicted of the rape of two aides while he was tourism minister in the 1990s. Katzav, who was president from 2000 until his forced resignation in 2007, has repeatedly protested his innocence. He was refused early release earlier this year. - Jacob Zuma - South African President Jacob Zuma, elected in 2009, was tried for rape before he took office. At his 2006 trial, Zuma claimed the sex he had with a 31-year-old family friend was consensual, and he was acquitted. He was head of South Africa's national AIDS council at the time and sparked an uproar by telling the court he had simply showered to avoid contracting HIV after having unprotected sex with his HIV-positive accuser. He is still mocked over the case in newspaper cartoons -- where he is often depicted with a shower nozzle sprouting from his bald head. Adi Hasak has the rare distinction of going from a writer with no TV credits and no agency representation to back-to-back straight-to-series orders for dramas Shades Of Blue at NBC and Eyewitness, which is set to debut on USA this Sunday, October 16. The latter, a crime thriller adapted from the Norwegian drama yevitne, follows two small-town teenage boys who, while hooking up in a cabin, witness a murder that is being investigated by the local sheriff, played by Julianne Nicholson, and an FBI agent. Catherine Hardwicke directed the first two hours of the modestly budgeted 10-episode series, produced by Universal Cable Prods. Deadline spoke with Hasak, the Netherlands-born son of Russian Jews from New York who served in the Israeli Army and worked as a journalist before segueing to screenwriting. In the interview, Hasak reveals how he landed the straight-to-series order for Eyewitness in just two weeks without a rights deal thanks to a chance encounter. The writer-producer, who will be a keynote speaker at the MIPCOM TV confab next week, also shares his vision for the future where he believes there will be one global TV market, with European companies producing U.S. primetime series, and explains how a one-man operation like his could serve as a studio. DEADLINE: How did you find the format for Eyewitness? HASAK: Ive been traveling extensively in Europe, Ive been attending MIPCOM for several years, seeking out relationships with distributors. I really wasnt that eager to get into the content business, it was more me trying to get them to come on board as partners for my original material. Theres a company called DRG, a distributor out of the UK that is owned by MTG, which is a huge conglomerate based out of Sweden. I became friendly with the CEO over there, Jeremy Fox, and he asked if I was interested in this format. I said not really, and he said you really should check out this one format called Eyewitness. I took a look at it and it was absolutely riveting. I was very, very surprised that the format had been out there for a year. A pilot episode had been screened a year earlier in the UK. No one had taken a liking to it, and I said that Id be really interested in the show. At this point NRK, which was the network in Norway, asked me what I could do with it, and I pretty much said lets see what happens. We shook hands, and I said, Give me two weeks, and I promise you that in two weeks I will sell this format. Story continues DEADLINE: So you didnt have a deal? How did you get the project to USA? HASAK: There was no deal, there was no paperwork. It was really a handshake, and they promised to give me two weeks. At the time I had sold a spec pilot, Shades Of Blue this was my big break in television. It was in production as an NBC series, and our offices were in the Comcast building. I went from writing it on spec alone in a room to all of a sudden being with 12 writers. A professional showrunner was brought on board, and it really was an amazing experience. It became clear to me early on that I probably was built more to work on a small, intimate show, something more personal, something I could be the sole lead creative voice on and offer an uncompromising vision. When I ran into Eyewitness, I figured this would be the show. I was heading towards a meeting in the Comcast building when I ran into (Universal Cable Productions EVP) Dawn Olmstead. I had known Dawn as a producer, Id had wonderful experience developing with her 10 years earlier. I asked her what she was doing there, she said she was running UCP, and I asked her, What is UCP? She told me its a studio that develops for NBCUniversals cable networks and asked me what was going on. I told her about Shades Of Blue, and I started talking about Eyewitness. She hadnt seen it yet but said it sounded riveting and asked why dont we do something with it? I said, Well Im on this huge NBC show and the only way I would do it is if we went straight to series. Dawn being Dawn said, Well, we have a specific model, could you do it for this certain budget? I said yes, and she said lets go straight to series and let me call you tomorrow after I see the episode. She saw Episode 1 and within a week, literally within a week, much faster than Ive ever thought possible, we agreed to start the series with UCP being the studio and USA being the network. DEADLINE: What has been your involvement on Shades Of Blue after Eyewitness was picked up? HASAK: I pretty much phased my way out of Shades Of Blue and started working full-time on Eyewitness. I was in the room when we broke down the 13 episodes (of Shades). Three episodes already were written; there were outlines for about six or seven episodes. At that time I left to become the showrunner on Eyewitness, and I took it upon myself to write all 10 episodes for Eyewitness. DEADLINE: So Eyewitness was produced very similar to the European series with no writers room? Just you writing all 10 episodes? HASAK: Yeah. There was a very small writers room, it was me really and two other writers. I wrote the first two episodes and just got so emotionally involved in the project that it seemed the simplest way to do it was for me to write all the episodes. The writers room worked on the outline, and I ended up writing all the episodes. DEADLINE: What is the plan for a possible second season? HASAK: The show was sold as an anthology. Im really enamored with shows like American Horror Story and American Crime. I told USA that this would be an anthology called Eyewitness where every season would be told from the point of view of someone who witnesses a crime. That meant that the show would be resolved at the end of Season 1. The remarkable thing, though, about the show was that we know its a not a whodunit. By the end of the first eight minutes we know who the killer is, and in that sense what this really is it is a character study trapped inside a thriller. So its not one of these shows, a murder in a small town. What that allows is to put almost all the genre components on the side and then delve in the characters and in the relationships, the marriage of the sheriff, the two gay boys, and the FBI agent and her sister. DEADLINE: You have a very lean company, you and two assistants. What is it that drives you to do business that way and will that continue? HASAK: At the end of the day Im a writer. Ive been a writer for a while but Im also very entrepreneurial. I realized that when I sat across from the studio I pretty much was duplicating what they were doing. The studio develops IP and I develop IP. The studio needs a broadcaster and I need a broadcaster. The studio has money and I can now find money through my relationships in Europe. So Ive just become extremely entrepreneurial. I have two young people who are working with me but our companys definitely growing. Jennifer Cote, who was my assistant on Shades Of Blue, ended up being the on-set writer-producer on Eyewitness. We have a very small company. I cover all my overhead. I have no deal with anybody and when Im not writing Im traveling and pitching my original content. Now because of the success of Eyewitness, theres certainly an influx of formats that were going through very carefully to find out whats the next format that we can adapt. Literally out of my attic office we can run a production company that in essence is a one-stop-shop studio. DEADLINE: Have you identified your next project or you will stay on Eyewitness? HASAK: Well, we dont know if there will be a Season 2 of Eyewitness. Its been amazing to have two shows greenlit straight to series within the same year. We want to keep it slow. We dont want to grow too quickly. Were negotiating with an actor on a finished format and were also putting together a French format, and I just finished writing a spec script, that were also doing. Our idea pretty much is the package. Big shows with stars or in business models like Eyewitness that would go straight to series. If you look at what were doing, Shades Of Blue was a spec script, with a big international star, Jennifer Lopez, but it is still produced by an American studio (Universal TV) for an American network, NBC. In Eyewitness, it was a Norwegian format sold to me by a British distribution company owned by Swedish conglomerate. I still went with UCP and USA. For the next show, we have financial backing out of Europe so it will either be a format from Europe or my original content. The financial backer will probably be a European distributor and we would then shop to American networks. That really is the new model that were working on, this global environment that I think is the next step. Youll see a French broadcaster and a German broadcaster, a distributor producing for an American broadcaster, and not necessarily because theres a licensing deal for the 10 oclock slot on Saturday. I feel that in the future, there will be no foreign market or U.S. market, there will be one market. Related stories 'Shades Of Blue': Cast & Crew Safe After Disturbance On Set In Brooklyn 'Damnation': Killian Scott Lands The Lead In USA Pilot After Recasting 'Shooter' Gets November Premiere Date On USA Network SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Banks in China's financial hub Shanghai have been asked by authorities to limit loans to property developers for land purchases and to scrutinize would-be borrowers suspected of trying to access mortgages by getting divorced, the Shanghai Daily reported on Friday. The steps were the latest in a string of measures around the country to try to cool a property market seen at risk of overheating. Quoting unidentified commercial bankers, the newspaper said banks were told that housing developers should pay at least 30 percent down on residential projects instead of relying on bank loans. It said some developers had put only 10 percent down on projects and raised the remaining funds through bank and gray-market loans. Banks were also asked to reject mortgage applications of people who had divorced within three months, it quoted an internal filing from a Shanghai-based rural commercial bank as saying. A property price rally has prompted a home buying frenzy in parts of China, in some cases prompting couples to get divorced to circumvent buying restrictions and invest in multiple homes. Police last month detained seven property agents in Shanghai for spreading rumours of plans for a new government regulation that caused a rash of divorces and a rush to buy new homes. On Wednesday, the Shanghai branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the country's banking regulator, held a meeting about rising housing prices with major lenders, the newspaper reported. (Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Kim Coghill) TOKYO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Short-dated Japanese government bonds rose in price on Friday after an auction of five-year JGBs drew strong demand, although longer maturities dipped after their yields hit one-week lows the previous day. The five-year JGB yield fell 0.5 basis point to minus 0.205 percent, after the auction 2.4 trillion yen five-year JGBs by the Ministry of Finance drew strong demand from brokerage traders who have short positions. The tender drew bids of 4.31 times the amount on offer, producing the highest bid-to-cover ratio since June. The tail, or the gap between the lowest and average price, was zero. Many brokerage traders are thought to have had a big short positions in the five-year paper, market players said. "In the past, people held long positions and unwound them by selling to the BOJ, because they expected yields to fall. But these days, because bond yields are supposed to stay flat, they sell to the BOJ by going short, hoping to cover the position at auctions," said a fund manager at a Japanese asset management firm. The two-year notes yield also fell 0.5 basis point to minus 0.275 percent. Yields on longer dated maturities rose, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising 0.5 basis point to minus 0.060 percent . The 30-year yield went up 1.5 basis point to 0.495 percent. The price of 10-year JGB futures dipped 0.03 point to 151.84 , capped at 151.92 for four straight sessions. (Reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Eric Meijer) Meet and greet. President Barack Obama will huddle again with his national security team on Friday to go over the administrations military and diplomatic options in Syria. The meeting comes a day before Secretary of State John Kerry meets yet again with his Russian counterparts in Switzerland to try and salvage some part of the recently scrapped ceasefire that would have allowed humanitarian aid to flow into the country. Choices at this point are pretty limited, most agree, and striking the Assad regime, as some have suggested, would be met with a Russian military response officials in Moscow have warned. Cut and paste. Theres something happening in the Mediterranean. And theres something up with Internet access in Syria. Odds are, the two are related. As the world awaits the arrival of the Admiral Kuznetsov the Russian aircraft carrier currently heading for the Syrian coast on its first ever-combat deployment the Yantar, another Russian ship, is already there. You may remember the Yantar from a cruise it took last year to Cuba, when U.S. officials were worried it might cut undersea Internet cable routes. Well, its arrival in the eastern Mediterranean, unsurprisingly, coincides with problems with Web access in Syria. The Internet in Syria has a history of going down at times that the regime of Bashar al-Assad has plotted military offensives, the Daily Beasts Shane Harris writes, raising the possibility that Russia may be assisting in a communications blackout as its military forces pound rebel positions in the beleaguered city of Aleppo. Strikes, but not war. The attempted missile attacks on American Navy ships in the Red Sea this week, and the Pentagons response launching Tomahawk missiles at Houthi radar sites in Yemen are a master class in how nations stumble into war. But Washington insists that it has no desire to become more deeply involved in the Saudi-led campaign to oust the Houthis from power. But it has to protect its ships. Story continues Now Iran has sent two warships to the region, FPs Paul McLeary reports, one of which trained its guns on a U.S. Navy helicopter in the same waterway last year. The attack on the American ships also comes amid the backdrop of a Saudi airstrike on a funeral in Sanaa that killed 140 people, including several high-ranking Houthi officials, among them some well-known moderates who were attempting to set up negotiations between the Saudis and Houthis. The strike has led Washington to again assess its support for the air campaign, which includes refueling of Saudi and Emirati bombers, and some intelligence support. Which way out? As Washington looks for the exits in the Saudi-led war against the Houthis, an anonymous senior administration official tells the Washington Post that theyre putting the squeeze on the Saudis to accept an unconditional ceasefire and bring about an end to the conflict, which has caused an extensive humanitarian crisis in the country. South Korea mulling nukes. There looks to be a shift in thinking in some parts of South Korea over basing American nuclear weapons there, with two of South Koreas major newspapers having come out to strongly support the idea 25 years after the weapons were removed in favor of a strategy based on deterrence. But new threats from the North are spooking many in the Korean leadership. The Wall Street Journal writes, in a September report, a panel of experts that advises South Korean President Park Geun-hyeon policies to reunify the Korean Peninsula also suggested studying the reintroduction of U.S. nuclear weapons. Clinton, missile defense, and China. According to one of the leaked emails from Hillary Clinton advisor John Podesta released by Wikileaks after a suspected Russian hack Clinton privately told one group in an unreleased speech that the U.S. would ring China with missile defense if Beijing was unable to curb North Koreas nuclear program. The emails contain excerpts from Clintons private speech transcripts, which she has refused to release. But many are skeptical of all of the information contained in the emails, as some are suspected to be forgeries. Slap back? A State Department official called for a strong U.S. response to alleged Russian hacking of Democratic Party organizations on Thursday, urging the Obama administration to name names and clearly convey that manipulating U.S. elections wont go unpunished, FPs John Hudson reports. There needs to be a thoughtful, principled, strong response, said Kathleen Kavalec, the State Departments deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. She said the U.S. response must send a clear message and assign responsibility, in addition to making clear that we wont tolerate future intrusions. 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 One of Donald Trumps former foreign policy advisors has published a new op-ed on U.S.-Russia relations at Sputnik, a state-owned Russian news outlet. Carter Page, head of a private equity firm and a former advisor to Russias state-owned Gazprom energy firm who stepped down from the campaign last month after stories emerged tying him to Russian individuals under U.S. and EU sanctions accused the Obama administration of interference in the domestic democratic processes of Russias neighboring states and of acting high-handed towards Russia in general. Describing Moscow as an essential piece in the puzzle for solving the worlds most pressing international issues, Page argues for mutual respect and greater consideration of Russias interests. China Chinese authorities are not taking kindly to grumbling from cashiered soldiers forcibly retired under Chinas new plan to slim the Peoples Liberation Army by 300,000 troops. Reuters reports that the state-run Peoples Liberation Army Daily ran a piece claiming that certain hostile forces are trying to sow chaos in our reform process by spreading rumors online. The PLA Daily didnt provide specifics on the rumors its worried about, but the piece follows rumblings of discontent among laid-off PLA troops, including a protest in Beijing by former soldiers upset at the transition assistance they were receiving. Base race The U.S. built a base in Djibouti. Then China said it was building one. Now, Japan wants to expand its current footprint in the small east African country, too. Anonymous Japanese government sources say that Japan is looking to lease more land to add to the 30 acre plot Japanese Self Defense forces have used as a base to support anti-piracy operations around the Horn of Africa. The move is meant to give China some competition for influence in the region and press the Japanese military to operate farther away from home. Nigeria Negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram have lead to the release of 21 schoolgirls kidnapped by the group from the village of Chibok in 2014. The Nigerian government emphasized that the negotiations, carried out with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Switzerland, did not result in an exchange of prisoners but a negotiated release of the girls. Boko Haram took 276 girls in its 2014 raid on the Chibok village. Prior to the recent release, 57 girls escaped shortly after the raid and one was freed by government forces. Army Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley sprang into action Wednesday night following a deadly bus accident in southeast Washington, DC near his two-car convoy. Army Times reports that Milley and soldiers in his entourage helped render first aid to the injured, and worked with emergency services. The crash, which involved a car and a Metrobus, killed one person inside the car and sent another to the hospital in critical condition. Photo Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - Obstructive sleep apnea is linked with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research shows. The findings support recommendations from the International Diabetes Federation that patients with one condition be screened for the other, too, the research teams notes in the journal Sleep Medicine. Sleep apnea occurs when a person's airway becomes partially or completely blocked during sleep, and as a result, breathing intermittently stops and starts. About 13 percent of men and 6 percent of women have moderate to severe undiagnozed sleep apnea, the researchers say. "Over the last two decades, evidence has been accruing that sleep apnea may be associated with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and type 2 diabetes," study leader Mako Nagayoshi of Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Science in Japan told Reuters Health by email. Past studies tying sleep apnea to diabetes were limited by a small number of participants and other factors, Nagayoshi and colleagues say. For the new study, they used data from 1,453 participants with an average age of 63. All participants underwent in-home sleep studies and did not have diabetes when the research began. Based on the sleep studies, the researchers categorized the participants as being normal sleepers or having mild, moderate or severe sleep apnea. After roughly 13 years, 285 people developed type 2 diabetes. Those with severe obstructive sleep apnea at the start of the study were about 70 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those classified as normal. The increased risk remained even when the researchers only included people who were obese. About one in 10 adults have diabetes, according to the World Health Organization. Most have type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body cant make or process enough of the hormone insulin. Obesity increases the risk of both sleep apnea and diabetes, said Paul E. Peppard, a sleep disorder researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. The new study and past research suggest there is a direct link between obstructive sleep apnea and diabetes, but ironclad evidence that it's behind a significant portion of diabetes cases does not yet exist, said Peppard, who was not part of the new study These findings underscore the need to prevent sleep apnea and screen for sleep apnea in patients particularly at risk for developing diabetes e.g., overweight and physically inactive people, he told Reuters Health by email. Behaviors such as healthy weight maintenance and reducing time in sedentary activities would simultaneously reduce the risk (of) developing sleep apnea and diabetes. People with diabetes should also be screened for sleep apnea, and people with sleep apnea should be screened for diabetes, said Dr. Rashmi Nisha Aurora, a sleep medicine expert at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Healthcare providers need to be aware of the association and educate their patients and the community," Aurora told Reuters Health by email. Ongoing research is still investigating whether treating sleep apnea reduces diabetes risk, said Aurora, who was also not involved in the study. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2ee1qT5 Sleep Medicine, online September 29, 2016. BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Five Slovaks are facing charges of smuggling at least 300 illegal migrants last year from Hungary to western Europe, mostly to Germany and Italy, Slovakian police said on Friday. The five men were arrested in a series of house raids by Slovak police on Tuesday morning and face up to 10 years in prison. Police said they hid migrants from Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan in customized cars from Slovak and Czech rental companies and charged each of them 500-1,000 euros ($550-$1,100). Slovakia has not been a principal route for the hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who have sought to reach richer parts of the EU via the Balkans and Hungary over the past two years. Last year, 71 refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were found dead in an abandoned truck on an Austrian highway near the Slovak and Hungarian borders. (Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) After Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Robert Downey Jr has offered to voice Mark Zuckerberg's personal AI Jarvis. How cool is that! By India Today Web Desk: In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that his goal for this year was to build an Artificial intelligence, something on the lines of Iron Man's Jarvis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Paul Bettany lends his voice to Jarvis, Zuckerberg is looking for a special voice for his personal robot. "It's time to give my AI Jarvis a voice," Zuckerberg wrote Thursday. "Who should I ask to do it?" advertisement And guess who volunteered to help! None but Iron Man himself. Commenting on Zuckerberg's post, actor Robert Downey Jr wrote: "I'll do in a heartbeat if Bettany gets paid and donates it to a cause of Cumberbatch's choosing...that's the right kind of STRANGE!". To that, a seemingly delighted Zuckerberg responded, "This just got real." Source: Mark Zuckerberg/ Facebook When Zuckerberg first announced his desire to build an AI in January, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger also expressed his interest in lending the robot his voice. Source: Mark Zuckerberg/ Facebook The Facebook founder also received several other suggestions. Source: Mark Zuckerberg/ Facebook So, what do you think it should be? Iron Man or the Terminator? --- ENDS --- Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank said Friday it hoped to raise as much as $100 billion for a new technology investment fund it has set up in partnership with Saudi Arabia. The company said it would invest about $25 billion in the SoftBank Vision Fund over the next five years, while the Saudi public investment fund will "consider investing in the fund and becoming the lead investment partner". The Saudi contribution could reach $45 billion, it said of the non-binding agreement. SoftBank also pointed to unidentified "large global investors" that may also join in the fund, which is designed to invest in promising technology firms. "The overall potential size of the fund can go up to $100 billion," it said in statement. SoftBank's Tokyo-listed shares soared 3.23 percent to 6,706 yen Friday morning. "SoftBank has a proven track record of investment successes. They are looking for another Alibaba," Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute, told Bloomberg News. Flamboyant SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has led the firm on a string of acquisitions big and small, with many showing themselves to be ahead of their time, including the firm's early investment in Alibaba, China's equivalent to eBay. It reaped huge profits from a partial sale of its stake in Alibaba, while in June it sold Finnish game-maker Supercell Oy, creator of "Clash of Clans", to Chinese Internet giant Tencent for $8.6 billion. But its US mobile unit Sprint is still unprofitable and some analysts have questioned SoftBank's most recent high-profile deal -- the $32-billion purchases of British iPhone chip designer ARM Holdings. There have been growing concerns about its balance sheet with SoftBank carrying more than $100 billion in debt, largely tied to its frenzied string of acquisitions. Sophie Turner posted the loveliest Game of Thrones reunion photo with Alfie Allen, aka Theon Greyjoy Things are in full swing for Game of Thrones Season 7 as filming carries on in Northern Ireland (and beyond). There have been some seriously important Stark-related spoilers on set as well as some huge revelations about whats happening with Daenerys as she makes her way to Kings Landing to take back the Iron Throne. However, beyond all the Thrones related spoiler news, there have been some fun photos off the set, too like Kit Harington and girlfriend Rose Leslie out shopping for candles (yes candles!) in Belfast. And now your other favorite Stark sibling Sophie Turner just blessed us with the loveliest reunion photo. Heres Sophie and Alfie Allen (Theon) reuniting between filming. Stupid shots A photo posted by Sophie Turner (@sophiet) on Oct 14, 2016 at 2:19pm PDT Sophie captioned this adorable photo with, Stupid shots, but like COME ON, this is far from stupid, its actually really great because the last time Sansa and Theon were together, things were not nearly as happy. OH, THEON. theon If you recall, Theon left Sansa as she (and Brienne and Podrick) headed north to the Nights Watch to find Jon Snow. Theon, however, was afraid Jon would not forgive him for all his past wrong doings (like, you know, betraying Robb Stark) and he felt super guilty about all that anyway, so he decided to part ways with Sansa and head home to the Iron Islands. theon sansa gif So, NOW were wondering if this candid photo means Sansa and Theon will reunite again in Season 7? It seems like a pretty good possibility since the last time we saw Theon he and Yara were sailing alongside Daenerys who will INEVITABLY end up meeting Jon Snow and co RIGHT?! theon and yara While we ponder over the idea of an amazing meeting between FIRE and ICE, its fun to at least see these two lovely Game of Thrones stars enjoying some fun time again IRL. The post Sophie Turner posted the loveliest Game of Thrones reunion photo with Alfie Allen, aka Theon Greyjoy appeared first on HelloGiggles. Pretoria (AFP) - South Africa's anti-corruption watchdog on Friday called for the prompt release of a potentially explosive report into allegations President Jacob Zuma allowed a powerful Indian business family undue political sway over him. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's call came after Zuma launched last-minute court action delaying the release, saying he had not had time to respond to questions about so-called "state capture" by the Gupta family which stands accused of wielding so much power it was even able to nominate a cabinet minister. "I disagree with those who say the 'state capture' investigation was not urgent," Madonsela told reporters. "This matter has created so much fracture in the executive and in the country, it was necessary for the investigation to be done and to be done fast so that any cloud is cleared." The report was expected to be released on Friday, the last day in office for Madonsela, who has regularly clashed with the president. The Guptas -- brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh -- built an empire in mining transportation, technology and media after coming to South Africa from India in the early 1990s. One of Zuma's sons, Duduzane, is a business partner of the Guptas. In March, deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas accused the family in a statement of offering him the job of finance minister, something he said he rejected. Zuma, 74, has survived a series of damaging scandals, but has faced increasing criticism as the economy has stalled and after the ruling ANC party suffered unprecedented losses in local polls. "Just because sometimes we deal with underhand people, it doesn't mean we also have to be underhanded," Madonsela told her farewell news conference, adding that she was not directly referring to Zuma. Madonsela said she had handed the report to parliamentary Speaker Baleka Mbete for "safe keeping", pending a court hearing next month. Story continues But, in the latest political move, Mbete on Friday evening refused to accept the report saying that keeping such documents was not within the Speaker's duties. - Corruption buster - Madonsela declined to comment on new reports that ANC lawmaker David van Rooyen had met the Guptas the night before his appointment as finance minister in December. Van Rooyen replaced the widely-respected Nhlanhla Nene, but was removed from the job after only four days, following a market plunge and wave of political outrage. Under Madonsela, the Public Protector's office gained a reputation as a formidable corruption buster, handing down scathing findings against Zuma, state agencies and public companies. Reflecting on her much-praised time in office, she said: "It is about finding the truth and telling it the best you know how in an effort to help the government treat its people properly." In 2014, she dealt a major blow to Zuma in a report that found he had "unduly benefited" from the refurbishment of his Nkandla rural home. Zuma fought the case until being berated by the Constitutional Court and ordered to pay back public money spent on upgrades including a chicken coop and a swimming pool. After serving her seven-year term, Madonsela has been replaced by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, a home ministry official. Zuma endured another bout of criticism this week after Pravin Gordhan, who took over as finance minister from van Rooyen, was summoned to court on separate graft charges. Gordhan, a vocal campaigner against corruption within the government, has alleged that the case against him is politically motivated. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's public protector will not release a report into allegations of political interference by wealthy friends of President Jacob Zuma on Friday because of a pending court case, the head of the anti-corruption watchdog said. Zuma asked a court to stop the release of the investigation by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela. A ruling is due to be made on Tuesday. "Agreement in court requires us to wait for Tuesday," Madonsela told Reuters, adding that the report would not be released on Friday. (Reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by James Macharia) CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan on Friday dismissed fraud charges laid against him this week as "frivolous" and said he would carry on with his job, including delivering an interim budget at the end of the month. Speaking via video link to a Thomson Reuters investment conference in Cape Town, a steadfast Gordhan also said the economy was bottoming out and had every chance of expanding by more than 1 percent next year. The fraud charges have fuelled suspicions of a political plot to oust Gordhan, a highly respected finance minister who has defied friends and allies of President Jacob Zuma in their quest for lucrative state contracts, analysts say. Gordhan characterised the charges as "political mischief" and said he would continue his work in trying to convince ratings agencies not to downgrade South Africa to sub-investment grade at the beginning of December. The charges caused fresh turmoil in South Africa's financial markets this week, sending the rand more than 3 percent lower on Tuesday. However, the currency recovered some of those losses the next day when the state prosecutor said he might be open to reviewing the charges if asked. Gordhan said his lawyers would be issuing a statement in that regard later on Friday. Despite the charges, Zuma has continued to express his support for Gordhan. (Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Ed Stoddard) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the release of results of an anti-corruption investigation over allegations of political interference by his wealthy friends, his spokeswoman said on Thursday. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was due on Friday to release her preliminary findings in a probe into the Guptas, an Indian-born family accused of using their close ties with Zuma to influence cabinet appointments. "I can confirm that the president has applied for a court interdict," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters. Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours last week as part of her final investigation before her seven-year term comes to an end on Saturday. In a statement late Thursday, graft watchdog spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said Madonsela would release her last batch of investigation reports on Friday and provide updates on the progress of other investigations. But she did not state whether the report on the Guptas would be among them. Although Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing, the allegations have damaged the president, who was separately forced to repay part of the cost of a lavish upgrade to his private residence as a result of an investigation by Madonsela. On Monday, Zuma asked Madonsela not to report her findings until he has had a chance to question other witnesses and reviewed any evidence that implicated him. But Madonsela said the president had been given all the evidence implicating him on Oct. 1, and urged Zuma to answer questions to aid the probe. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party said in a statement that Zuma was "worried about what is contained in this report, and desperate to stop it from being made public". Lawyer Gert van der Merwe, who represents Ajay Gupta, said his client would not seek to block the report. The row over the report adds to pressure on Zuma, whose government was rocked this week when prosecutors ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear in court on Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him, news that sent markets reeling. Analysts have said that Gordhan has been a target of political pressure from a faction allied to the president although he has denied any rift with the finance minister. Perceived divisions between Gordhan and Zuma have previously rattled markets in Africa's most industrialised economy, which is at risk of having its credit rating downgraded to "junk" later this year. The premier of Guateng, South Africa's most economically important province, said the fraud charges levelled against Gordhan were frivolous and undermined efforts to avoid a ratings cut. "It undermines every little effort that South Africa is making to move forward," David Makhura said at a Thomson Reuters conference in Cape Town, accusing Zuma's administration of "recklessness". (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, James Macharia, Mfuneko Toyana in Johannesburg and Ed Cropley and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Writing by Joe Brock and James Macharia; editing by Catherine Evans and Grant McCool) By Steve Stecklow, Renee Dudley, James Pomfret and Alexandra Harney NEW YORK/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A major Chinese education company has paid thousands of dollars in perks or cash to admissions officers at top U.S. universities to help students apply to American schools. And according to eight former employees of Shanghai-based Dipont Education Management Group, the companys services didnt end there. Six told Reuters that Dipont employees wrote application essays for students. Another said she altered recommendation letters that teachers had written for students. One student was given access to his high school transcript and erased bad grades, one of the former employees said. Dipont denies the allegations of application fraud but boasts of its special relationship with some 20 U.S. colleges, which include Vanderbilt University, Wellesley College, Tulane University and the University of Virginia. Their admissions officers have visited China since 2014, personally advising Dipont students at an annual summer program on how to successfully apply to U.S. colleges. Just once a year, current admissions officers become your exclusive consultants, an ad from Dipont tells prospective clients. The same ad features a Wellesley student crediting the Dipont program for her early acceptance. Dipont and an affiliated charity picked up travel expenses for admissions officers attending the program. Some officers have received cash as well sometimes dispensed in $100 bills, according to emails Reuters reviewed. Given the prevalence of application fraud in China, the arrangement troubles Philip G. Altbach, founding director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. Shame on the admissions people from these top schools who are doing this, Altbach said. Diponts success in gaining access to leading American colleges underscores how people on both sides of the Pacific are hungry to capitalize on Chinese students desire to study in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students are enrolled in U.S. institutions. And hundreds of companies in China have sprung up to cater to these students, charging large sums for services that sometimes include help in cheating on standardized tests and falsifying applications. A DONATION TO USC Some American colleges have tried to boost revenue by hiring brokers to recruit international students, who tend to pay full tuition. In Diponts case, money goes the other way: A Chinese business is persuading highly selective colleges to counsel clients who are clamoring for admission to top schools. Diponts founder and chief executive, Benson Zhang, said in an interview that many of the schools, students and overseas colleges consider us one of the most ethical companies in China, with stringent guidelines for employees. If there had been such a case, it had not been reported to me, Zhang said of the reports of application fraud. But I guarantee you, if such a complaint comes to my attention, I will deal with it with severity. He added: One or two aberrant employees who violate the rules do not indicate company-wide fraud. Zhang is also giving $750,000 to a University of Southern California research center thats creating a program to combat fraud among Chinese applicants to American colleges. The donation is controversial, too. Zhang made his contribution to USC through a New York non-profit, the Council for American Culture and Education Inc, or CACE. The organization was set up for Dipont by two U.S. consultants in 2009 as the company began seeking contacts in American academia. Dipont this year began using CACE to pay some of the admissions officers who attend Diponts summer programs. But CACE hasnt disclosed its ties with Dipont in U.S. and New York State tax filings. That omission could threaten CACEs tax-exempt status, according to Marcus Owens, former head of the non-profit organizations division of the Internal Revenue Service. Informed of CACEs ties to Dipont, the New York Attorney Generals office said it would review the charity. A review could lead to a formal investigation if the attorney general finds evidence the charity violated New York law. A former Dipont employee tried to warn elite schools about the company. In 2014, Bruce Hammond emailed officials at USC and 10 other American colleges after a group of them traveled at Diponts expense to Beijing to discuss the USC project to fight application fraud. The warning was sent to schools including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Columbia University and Duke University. As I write, images of your recent meeting in Beijing with Dipont leaders and selected school officials are circulating throughout China, Hammond wrote. The company, he alleged, is one of the primary architects of the system of fraud and misinformation that pervades the application process to U.S. institutions. The USC center said it has been looking into Hammonds claims about Dipont but defended the company as a reliable and valuable partner. $4,500 HONORARIUM Diponts eight-day admissions workshops take place each July in Shanghai. Hundreds of Chinese students pay the company so they can hear U.S. admissions officers discuss what schools seek in applications, learn to write an effective personal essay and possibly land an interview. Dipont touts the access to the big-name participating colleges in its marketing material. In the past three summers, the American admissions officers were given a choice of perks: either business-class airfare, or economy-class travel plus a cash honorarium. The past two summers, payments were $4,500 per attendee. Last year, the admissions officers were paid in cash, usually in $100 bills. Dipont consultant Robert Clagett, a former dean of admissions at Middlebury College, has been recruiting American admissions officers for the summer programs since 2014. He said that about a quarter to a third of them took the economy flight plus cash honorarium and the rest accepted business-class airfare. He declined to provide a breakdown by school. Six colleges Carleton College, Hamilton College, Lafayette College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tulane University and the University of Vermont confirmed that admissions officers have accepted honoraria for attending the Dipont workshops. Admissions officers from Vanderbilt University, Wellesley College, Pomona College and Colgate University confirmed accepting plane tickets for attending the Dipont workshops. So did officials from the University of Virginia, Indiana University and the University of California, Berkeley. Also among the attendees in recent years, according to Clagett, were admissions officers from Claremont McKenna College; Colorado College; Davidson College; Syracuse University; Texas Christian University; and Wesleyan University. Those schools either declined to comment or didnt respond to requests for comment. Altbach, who heads the Boston College higher-education research center, said the officers acted improperly by accepting cash or expense reimbursement from a company seeking to place clients in elite colleges. The arrangement is all the more troubling because of the widespread application fraud in China, he said. I think getting in bed with the company is problematic no matter how they're being paid, whether in cash or travel expenses, because this company is basically a recruitment agency on steroids, Altbach said. Dipont denies that it acts as an agent. TUFTS SAYS NO Some colleges have steered clear. Daniel Grayson, a former admissions officer at Tufts University, says he was invited to the 2014 workshop by Dipont consultant Clagett. Dipont offered him a $6,000 stipend plus airfare and accommodation as remuneration for participating, Grayson said, and I responded with concerns about Diponts reputation and ethical practices and declined the invitation. Participating colleges say the arrangements are appropriate and that Dipont students received no special consideration. Douglas Christiansen, Vanderbilts dean of admissions, said one of his admissions officers accepted airfare and expenses to attend a summer workshop but drew a line at taking cash. That would have been improper because the officer was on the job for Vanderbilt, said Christiansen, who is also chair of the trustees of the College Board, owner of the SAT college entrance exam. The SAT has been subject to widespread cheating in China. Asked about the allegations of application fraud at Dipont, Christiansen said: It is critical to note that one of the points of the workshop was to communicate the importance of submitting authentic application materials. Seth Allen is dean of admissions and financial aid at Pomona College, which has a $2 billion endowment. He said he accepted business-class airfare and expenses in 2015 from Dipont. We have a limited number of resources to recruit international students, Allen said. U.S. admissions officers are allowed to accept travel expenses when visiting American high schools, according to Louis Hirsh, chair of the admissions practices committee of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. They are barred from offering or accepting cash in placing or recruiting American students. But the profession's code does not address a company offering cash or reimbursing expenses for counseling international students, Hirsh said. Diponts advertisements promise students an edge in the admissions game. An ad in Chinese for last years summer camp included a plug from a Wellesley student. She attributed her successful application to meeting a Wellesley admissions officer at the summer program. I was ultimately accepted early by Wellesley, and the camp played a crucial role in that, she is quoted as saying. Wellesley confirmed that an admissions officer interviewed a Dipont student at the program. The student was accepted and now attends the college. Joy St. John, Wellesleys dean of admission, said the employee didnt accept a cash payment, because were doing work thats related to our profession, but did accept business-class airfare. St. John compared the transaction to accepting travel expense reimbursement from U.S. high schools that invite Wellesley to provide general admissions counseling. Such payments are permitted, according to Hirsh. St. John added that Wellesley decided last year not to participate in Dipont workshops because the companys marketers filmed a Wellesley admissions officer without permission. SON OF FARMERS Dipont founder Zhang, the son of farmers, studied electrical engineering in college and earned a scholarship to do graduate work in Australia in the 1980s. The Tiananmen crackdown of 1989 stranded him abroad, and he says he had to drop his studies to earn a living. He launched Dipont as an emigration and visa consulting firm for Chinese students. Today, Dipont is a major provider of services to Chinese applying to foreign universities. It operates a network of international programs in Chinese high schools with about 2,000 graduates each year. It also offers tutoring for the SAT, college counseling and other enrichment services. College counseling alone can cost up to about $32,500 a student. Diponts total annual revenue is about $30 million, according to Zhang. The two Americans who set up CACE, the charity Dipont now uses to pay admissions officers, told Reuters they were employed at the time by Dipont as consultants. They said they created CACE to help the Chinese company gain access to elite U.S. colleges. We have felt that having our own non-profit gives us a certain credibility, said Stephen Gessner, a former CACE director and ex-president of the school board of Shelter Island, New York. It helped us to recruit colleges. Gessner said he and Thomas Benson, the other American consultant, turned over control of CACE to Dipont three or four years ago. Dipont says CACE is independent. All of CACEs five directors are Dipont employees or consultants, including CEO Zhang, according to a December 2014 board meeting agenda seen by Reuters. One of Diponts projects is to assist and provide funding to USCs Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice. The center is running a nascent program to create verifiable credentials for Chinese applicants to U.S. colleges. The program, known as the Admission Credentials and Counseling System, aims to build a way to verify transcripts and other documents from Chinese high school students, according to Jerome Lucido, the centers executive director. Lucido said that USC and at least 10 other schools have participated in exploratory meetings for the initiative, including Stanford, MIT, Duke and Columbia. The gatherings included a Dipont-subsidized trip to Beijing two years ago attended by eight schools. CACE covered the expenses for several meetings in the United States, Lucido said. "RELIABLE AND VALUABLE PARTNER" The credentials idea was proposed as a fraud-busting measure by a Dipont employee, Lucido said. He confirmed that Zhang has paid two of three installments on a $750,000 gift to the center via CACE. The gift, he said, was carefully vetted through USC and found to be fully appropriate. Lucido responded to the 2014 warning email from ex-Dipont employee Bruce Hammond by seeking more details on the cheating allegations. Hammond replied, the email traffic shows, but didnt offer specifics. Dipont is a reliable and valuable partner, Lucido said in an interview. In a later email to Reuters, Lucido wrote, My thinking is that you have statements from people that do not constitute actual evidence. MIT, Duke and Columbia had no comment. Richard Shaw, Stanfords dean of admission, said Dipont paid his costs to attend a three-day meeting in China to discuss the initiative, including business-class airfare. Im not going to pay $25,000 to cover the cost to go to Beijing, he said. Told of the former Dipont employees fraud allegations, Shaw said the members of the initiative were trying to establish a secure system in which a number of American universities would work with Chinese partners and have something where we can trust the transcripts. The project is now on hold, Shaw said, because of the allegations Reuters has documented. Our intentions were to bring a system that combats exactly what youre describing, he said. Sarah K. Lee, who worked at Dipont as director of college counseling from 2010 to 2012, said she visited a Dipont counseling office in Chengdu in 2010. It was 60 people printing out essays. The counselors, not the students, were typing them, she said. I asked them directly: Do you write these essays for these kids? Theyd say, We have to do whatever our boss tells us or we lose our job. Lee said she witnessed similar practices at Dipont offices in Beijing and other cities. "SHORTCUTS ALL AROUND" Obio Ntia, a former Dipont manager who helped oversee counselors, said he saw similar activity. Counselors went ahead and did everything for the student, including writing their application essays, he said. He said he tried to train Dipont guidance counselors to help students come up with their own essay ideas, but struggled. Some students were honest and diligent, Ntia said, but there were shortcuts all around. It was so endemic that you felt like theres nothing you could do about it. An American guidance counselor who worked at a Dipont high school in Shenzhen in the 2014-2015 school year said her supervisor ordered her to rewrite teacher recommendations. I made up anecdotes about the students, said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A Chinese guidance counselor, who worked at a Dipont high school from 2011 to 2013, said her supervisors instructed her to write essays for weak students. She said she was directed to give a student with poor grades a copy of his high school transcript. That student later admitted to removing the bad grades from the transcript, but a manager told her not to alert a U.S. college that had accepted him, she said. Hammond, the former employee who alerted the USC consortium to Dipont, declined to comment on his warning letter. He worked for Dipont in 2010 as director of college counseling. Dipont charged some students tens of thousands of dollars, he wrote. And tying the Dipont name to the brands of elite colleges was central to its business model. Dipont is able to charge these fees, he wrote, in part by creating the perception that they have special connections with admissions officers at leading U.S. institutions. (Reporting by Steve Stecklow in New York, Renee Dudley in Boston and James Pomfret and Alexandra Harney in Shanghai. Edited by Michael Williams and Blake Morrison) By Tim McLaughlin BOSTON (Reuters) - (Due to inaccurate data in Fidelity's original filing, this October 5 story corrects to show that Fidelity's venture arm's investment in Adaptimmune rose to $41 million, not $270 million; that Fidelity Select Biotechnology Portfolio paid at least four times more than rivals for shares, not 24 times; and that the venture arm got its Adaptimmune shares for about $3.54 each, not 59 cents each.) The mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, founded seven decades ago and run ever since by the Johnson family, has won the trust of tens of millions of investors. The companys tradition of putting clients interests before our own is a big part of what makes Fidelity special, the fund firm says in its mission statement. In at least one lucrative field, however, the Johnson familys interests come first. A private venture capital arm run on behalf of the Johnsons, F-Prime Capital Partners, competes directly with the stable of Fidelity mutual funds in which the public invests. Its an arrangement that securities lawyers say poses an unusual conflict of interest. That conflict can be seen in the case of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc, a promising biotech start-up. In 2011 and 2012, the Johnsons F-Prime Capital invested a total of $11 million on Ultragenyx before the start-up made an initial public offering of its stock. The pre-IPO investment effectively prevented Fidelity mutual funds from making the same play. If both the private fund and Fidelitys ordinary funds had invested, they would have violated U.S. securities laws, which prohibit affiliated entities from buying substantial stakes in the same companies at the same time. The managers of Fidelitys public funds eventually did purchase Ultragenyx shares, but not until after the stock price skyrocketed in the firms January 2014 initial public offering. The Fidelity funds bought about 1.1 million Ultragenyx shares in the second quarter of 2014. The average price for the stock was $41.17 during that three-month period - 12 times higher than the $3.55 a share paid by F-Prime Capital. By the end of June 2014, the Johnson family and an elite circle of Fidelity insiders were sitting on a gain of $128 million - or about 1,000 percent - on the Ultragenyx investment. Several of Fidelitys mutual fund rivals, including American Funds and BlackRock Inc, did just as well or better on the Ultragenyx play by investing at about the same time as the Johnsons, U.S. regulatory filings show. GRAPHIC: A 6,101-percent gain: http://tmsnrt.rs/2dr0vAD Fidelity declined to comment on the specific investments examined by Reuters and declined to detail how it balances the interests of Fidelity funds and the Johnsons F-Prime funds in cases where they might compete for the same investment. Fidelitys chief executive, Abigail Johnson, declined to comment for this story. Yale University law professor John Morley said Fidelity runs the risk of losing investors by competing with the funds that serve them. What theyre doing is not illegal, not even unethical, Morley said. But its entirely appropriate for mutual fund investors to take their money elsewhere because Fidelity has made a decision to take away some of their potential returns. Alan Palmiter, a business law professor at Wake Forest University, called the arrangement more problematic because it directly pits the interests of Fidelity fund investors against those of Fidelitys owners and elite managers. Its hard to imagine a clearer corporate conflict of interest, Palmiter said. SEC spokeswoman Judith Burns said the agency could not comment on a specific company. Reuters analyzed 10 pre-IPO investments since the beginning of 2013 by the Johnson-led venture capital arm. The analysis found that, in six of those cases, Fidelitys mass-market mutual funds made major investments later and at much higher prices than the insiders fund, resulting in lower returns for Fidelity fund shareholders. In the other four cases, Fidelity funds did not invest at all in companies in which the Johnson-led venture arm already had a sizable stake. Fidelitys internal guidelines prevent such investments when the Johnsons venture holdings are substantial, a standard that Fidelity declined to define to Reuters. The Reuters examination also found: Over the past three years, U.S. regulatory filings show, the Johnson-led venture arm has beaten Fidelity mutual funds to some of the hottest prospects in tech and bioscience - including the best performing IPO of 2015. Fidelity mutual funds became one of the largest investors in six bioscience and tech companies backed by F-Prime Capital after the start-ups became publicly traded. Legal and academic experts said that major investments by Fidelity mutual funds - with their market-moving buying power - could be seen as propping up the values of the Johnsons venture holdings. Key compliance executives have held dual roles overseeing investments by Fidelity and F-Prime Capital. For three years until September, the chief compliance officer for Fidelity mutual funds, Linda Wondrack, also served as chief compliance officer for Impresa Management LLC, the advisory firm that manages the investments of F-Prime Capital. Fidelitys James Curvey also wears two hats: He chairs a board of trustees that oversees many Fidelity stock mutual funds, and also serves as a trustee for one of the owners of Impresa. Curvey has been involved with the Johnsons private investments for more than 20 years and has made millions of dollars from them. Some portfolio managers for Fidelitys mass-market funds receive lucrative partnership interests in the private F-Prime funds. Star portfolio manager Will Danoff, for instance, donated $4 million worth of Alibaba Group stock to Harvard University in 2015 that he received through the venture arm for $3,432, according to his familys charitable foundation. Fidelity spokesman Vincent Loporchio said Fidelity executives declined to grant interviews for this story. In a written statement, Fidelity said it follows the law relating to potential conflicts of interest between its mutual funds and the venture capital arm. We strictly adhere to all legal and regulatory requirements that apply to our management of our mutual funds and other client accounts and our proprietary venture capital investments, Fidelity said. Where there is the potential for such investments to overlap, we apply internal guidelines designed to ensure that our mutual funds comply with relevant legal and regulatory restrictions on their ability to acquire securities issued by companies in which Fidelity has a pre-existing proprietary investment. Fidelity declined to comment on whether its mutual funds were interested in making the same pre-IPO bets as F-Prime Capital. Over the past three years, however, the mutual funds have been among the nations biggest investors in pre-IPO companies, U.S. regulatory filings show. The pressure on Fidelity to produce market-breaking returns has never been higher. Since the end of 2008, investors have pulled nearly $100 billion from Fidelitys actively managed mutual funds, while net deposits into Vanguard Groups index funds approached $700 billion, according to Morningstar Inc data. Fidelitys two top rivals, BlackRock and Vanguard, said they do not operate separate investment arms that might compete with their mutual funds. Vanguard Chairman and CEO William McNabb goes a step further, investing almost all of his personal financial assets in Vanguard funds, because he wants to ensure his interests are aligned with those of his customers, said company spokesman John Woerth. Fidelity Investments is owned by privately held FMR LLC, which is controlled by the Johnson family. The family, along with a small group of FMR employees and shareholders, are also investors in F-Prime Capital, the private venture capital arm. GRAPHIC: Investing for the elite. http://tmsnrt.rs/2dprVdt Johnson family members and Fidelity insiders also own Impresa Management, which runs partnerships and investments on F-Primes behalf, overseeing about $2.6 billion in assets, according to SEC disclosures. Impresas strategy is to bet on promising bioscience and tech start-ups. If F-Prime controls 5 percent or more of a private companys voting stock, then that ownership prevents the Fidelity mutual funds from buying the same security before or during an IPO, according to the Investment Company Act of 1940. Fidelity told Reuters that it concurs with that reading of the law, which is enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC rules aim to ensure that the interests of mutual funds are on at least equal footing with the interests of affiliates, said Joseph Franco, a law professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. The rules seek to prohibit a situation where, for instance, a mutual fund might invest in a pre-IPO company at an above-market price with the intent of boosting the value of an earlier, lower-priced investment by an affiliated entity. The rules also seek to ensure that mutual fund managers are not influenced by the interests of an affiliated entity, such as Fidelitys in-house venture operation, Franco said. The law would not prevent purchases of stock owned by an affiliated entity after an IPO, in the open market. But Fidelity said it applies its own guidelines, which prevent such purchases when there is a substantial" level of ownership by F-Prime. The guidelines are meant to address potential conflicts of interest and questions of fairness for investors in Fidelity mutual funds, the company said. John Bonnanzio, an editor at Fidelity Monitor & Insights, which makes independent recommendations on Fidelity funds, said the Johnson-led venture investing has been a good way to reward and retain star portfolio managers such as Danoff. Hedge funds have siphoned off a lot of good portfolio managers from mutual fund companies, Bonnanzio said. HEIR APPARENT Founded in 1946 by Abigail Johnsons grandfather, Edward Johnson II, Fidelitys mutual fund business manages $1.2 trillion in assets. Privately held Fidelity is still controlled by the family and has been the linchpin of their fortune. The clans net worth is estimated at $26 billion by Forbes magazine, making them the 9th-richest family in the United States. The founder eventually turned the reins over to his son, Fidelitys chairman, Edward Ned Johnson III, who is now 86. Today, Abigail Johnson, 54, is heir apparent. The oldest of Neds three children, Abigail spent her career preparing for the top job, starting at Fidelity as an intern before moving on to portfolio manager and now CEO. She lives in the home once owned by her grandfather. Abigail and her younger siblings, Elizabeth and Edward Johnson IV, are investors in F-Prime Capital, according to disclosures by the venture fund. The familys private investments sometimes dovetail with members personal interests. In 1985, Ned Johnson used venture funding to launch a limousine service after it took too long to hail a taxi at Bostons airport, according to accounts in the Boston Globe. Abigail Johnsons husband, Christopher McKown, co-founded a healthcare start-up, Iora Health, that has received multiple rounds of investment from F-Prime. OPPORTUNITY COSTS Over the years, F-Prime and other venture investing entities have generated billions of dollars in gains for the family and company insiders, according to financial disclosures made by Fidelity. Ned Johnson has used part of his wealth to amass a collection of antiquities worth nearly $260 million through his nonprofit Brookfield Arts Foundation, according to the charitys 2014 annual report. The nonprofits purchases include a 200-year-old Chinese merchant house that Johnson had moved from that country and reassembled at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The house and its contents are worth $17 million, according to Brookfields 2014 disclosure to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Other beneficiaries of the venture investments include top Fidelity officials such as Peter Lynch, the legendary Magellan fund manager and Fidelity vice chairman, and current portfolio managers such as Danoff, who manages about $109 billion in assets at Fidelitys Contrafund. The Ultragenyx investment illustrates the opportunity cost Fidelity investors face when a mass-market fund encounters a conflict of interest with F-Prime. TIMELINE: Owners vs. investors. http://tmsnrt.rs/2dr0kFI Ultragenyx was hardly a hidden gem. Several of Fidelitys rivals, including American Funds, BlackRock and Columbia Management, also got in on the early action before the companys initial public offering. Columbias Acorn Fund, for example, invested $10 million at the same time as F-Prime and had an unrealized gain of nearly 1,100 percent, or $108 million, in mid-2015 before unwinding part of its position, U.S. regulatory filings show. In the third quarter of 2014, Fidelity funds boosted their collective stake in Ultragenyx by 3.3 million shares to become the biotech firms largest mutual fund investor, with nearly 4.6 million total shares. By then, the average closing price of the stock had moved up to $50.24 from $41.17 in the second quarter. During the same quarter, F-Prime unwound most of its stake in Ultragenyx by distributing the stock to limited and general partners, U.S. regulatory filings show. Asked about F-Prime, Fidelity said in a statement that its mutual funds get priority over the Johnson family's interests.When both our proprietary venture capital group and our funds express interest in investing in the same private companies, the funds always prevail, the company said in a statement. CONFLICTED REFEREES One person who has been refereeing potential conflicts between Fidelity and Johnson family investments is Linda Wondrack. Until September, she doubled as chief compliance officer for the mutual funds and for Impresa Management, which manages the F-Prime assets. She served in both capacities for three years. In September - after Reuters asked whether Wondracks dual role presented a conflict of interest - Fidelity hired another executive to replace Wondrack in one of the two positions. The fund appointed a company veteran, Chuck Senatore, as chief compliance officer of Impresa Management. A single person could not effectively perform both jobs, said Wake Forest Universitys Palmiter, who called the arrangement nearly laughable. Wondrack would have felt feel pressure to side with the venture capital arm because her ultimate boss is Abigail Johnson, said Palmiter, who has written extensively on the fund sector and is a critic of its governance standards. Wondrack, 52, is paid as an employee of Fidelity, U.S. regulatory filings show. She joined Fidelity in 2012, after working at mutual fund company Columbia Management. Loporchio, the Fidelity spokesman, said the company identified the need for a change in a periodic review of its processes. Another key overseer of Fidelity fund investors interests, however, continues to serve in a similar dual role. James C. Curvey - a long-time top lieutenant of Fidelity Chairman Ned Johnson - is chairman of the board of trustees for a number of Fidelity mutual funds, including ones that invest in the same companies as F-Prime. Fund trustees are responsible for protecting the interests of investors. Ned Johnson chose Curvey for the role when Johnson gave up his duties as chairman of the board of trustees for individual Fidelity funds. Curvey also serves a trustee for one of the owners of Impresa Management LLC, the manager of the F-Prime Capitals venture investments. Its not clear exactly who Curvey represents in that role; the stake is held in a trust, whose owners are not disclosed. But other filings indicate that Impresa is owned by the trusts of Johnson family members and Fidelity insiders. Curveys history with the Johnsons private investing entities dates back more than two decades. In 1996, along with Abigail and Ned Johnson, Curvey sought and received an SEC exemption in 1996 that gave Impresa more latitude to invest on behalf of high-ranking Fidelity employees, SEC records show. Partnership distributions to Curvey from venture investing have made him a lot of money. Curvey, for example, made millions of dollars from the venture capital arms investment in Britains COLT Telecom. In 2000, he donated some of those gains, nearly $3 million, to his familys charitable foundation, according to an annual filing with the IRS. Curvey and Wondrack declined to comment for this report. Fidelity declined to comment on the potential conflict of interest in their dual oversight roles. THE YEARS BEST-PERFORMING IPO Shareholders in the regular Fidelity mutual funds include millions of investors saving for retirement as well as employee 401(k) plans at top corporations such as Facebook, IBM and Oracle. Those mom-and-pop investors missed out on 2015s best-performing IPO. Fidelity funds stayed on the sidelines as shares of Aclaris Therapeutics Inc skyrocketed after the drug maker listed its stock in October 2015. F-Prime invested $16.3 million in Aclaris before the IPO - a stake whose value soared to $83.2 million in the first three months after the public offering, U.S. regulatory filings show. Even if Fidelity fund managers had wanted to buy Aclaris shares after the IPO, in the open market, F-Primes stake of nearly 20 percent stake may have prevented them from doing so because of Fidelitys guidelines on investing in companies in which the venture arm has a substantial stake. Aclaris was 2015s top public debut, its shares appreciating 145 percent over the $11 IPO price, according to Renaissance Capital, an IPO research and management firm. At the end of June, F-Prime still held nearly 2.8 million Aclaris shares, a 13 percent stake, worth $51.5 million, according to Fidelitys latest quarterly holdings disclosure. Fidelity funds did not own any Aclaris shares. Fidelity fund competitors had no restraints on investing in Aclaris. Franklin Templeton funds bought nearly 1.2 million shares in the company in the month of the IPO, Franklin disclosures show. The Fidelity competitors, including the Franklin Small Cap Growth Fund, saw their combined initial stake of $17.3 million more than double in less than two months. The Johnson-led venture arm scored another big payday when Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc went public in May 2015. F-Primes $8 million pre-IPO investment in the bioscience company surged in value to more than $41 million in the weeks after the IPO, Fidelity disclosures show. Investors in the American Funds SmallCap World Fund, a Fidelity competitor, capitalized, too. The SmallCap World Fund made a similar-sized pre-IPO investment and saw a similar return, American disclosures show. The Fidelity Select Biotechnology Portfolio bought about 1.5 million Adaptimmune shares the month after the IPO. But the biotech fund paid at least four times more for its shares than rivals did, Fidelity Select disclosures show. As pre-IPO investors, F-Prime and the rival SmallCap World Fund got their Adaptimmune common stock, on a converted basis, for about $3.54 each, disclosures show. The exact amount paid by the Fidelity biotech fund was not disclosed. But it was at least $14 a share, which was the low point for Adaptimmune shares the month of the IPO. Adaptimmune traded recently at nearly $7 a share, which represents a big loss for the mass-market Fidelity biotech fund but a rich gain for the Johnsons F-Prime. PILING IN In the six cases Reuters examined where Fidelity bought into investments that were already held by F-Prime, Fidelity funds became the largest or one of the largest shareholders. In general, newly minted public companies need long-term shareholders such as mutual funds in order to ride out the ups and the downs of the stock market, especially right after a public debut, said Bob Ackerman, founder and managing director of Allegis Capital, a venture firm based in San Francisco. An investment by Fidelity - the third-largest mutual fund firm in the United States - is a boost for any new public company. A big funds investment broadens the shareholder base and makes it easier for venture capital investors to exit their investment at a profit. Its a validation of the company and the exit strategy, especially if its a huge amount, said Hans Tung, managing partner at GGV Capital. Its a good validation that a company has a lot of long-term growth potential ahead. Fidelity said there has never been a situation where F-Prime has directed a Fidelity mutual fund to make an investment in one of F-Primes portfolio companies. Corporate governance and securities law specialists say that big Fidelity investments in companies owned by F-Prime could be interpreted as propping up the familys interests and helping F-Primes exit strategy. It does raise a potentially serious question, said James Post, a professor emeritus of markets, public policy and law at Boston University. The uniqueness of the Fidelity arrangement requires the highest level of integrity. *** METHODOLOGY: How we analyzed the Johnsons trading Reuters combed through public securities filings to explore overlap between the investing activities of Fidelity Investments, which serves some 20 million clients, and proprietary investment vehicles of the family that controls Fidelity, the Johnsons. Reuters identified 10 investments in which F-Prime Capital Partners, controlled by the Johnsons, was competing on the same turf as Fidelity mutual funds. The examination covered a three-year period, from 2013 to the present. During this time, Fidelity mutual funds began ramping up their strategy of investing in pre-IPO start-up companies. It is possible that the examination missed other relevant examples among F-Prime Capitals many investments. (Reporting by Tim McLaughlin; Additional reporting by Heather Somerville; Edited by Brian Thevenot and Carmel Crimmins) Oct 14 (Reuters) - Speculators' net bullish bets on U.S. 10-year Treasury note futures fell sharply as benchmark yields this week touched their highest levels since June, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The amount of speculators' bullish, or long, positions in 10-year Treasury futures exceeded bearish, or short, positions by 43,827 contracts on Oct. 11, according to the CFTC's latest Commitments of Traders data. A week earlier, speculators held 127,169 net long positions in 10-year T-note futures. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was 1.794 percent on Friday, up more than 5 basis points from late Thursday and week-ago level. Below is a table of the speculative positions in Treasury futures on the Chicago Board of Trade and in Eurodollar futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the latest week: U.S. 2-year T-notes (Contracts of $200,000) 11 Oct 2016 Prior week week Long 208,565 225,902 Short 228,456 201,852 Net -19,891 24,050 U.S. 5-year T-notes (Contracts of $100,000) 11 Oct 2016 Prior week week Long 346,307 393,668 Short 617,297 607,812 Net -270,990 -214,144 U.S. 10-year T-notes (Contracts of $100,000) 11 Oct 2016 Prior week week Long 657,457 688,927 Short 613,630 561,758 Net 43,827 127,169 U.S. T-bonds (Contracts of $100,000) 11 Oct 2016 Prior week week Long 112,477 108,944 Short 113,462 98,595 Net -985 10,349 U.S. Ultra T-bonds (Contracts of $100,000) 11 Oct 2016 Prior week week Long 46,339 43,841 Short 157,837 160,452 Net -111,498 -116,611 Eurodollar (Contracts of $1,000,000) 11 Oct 2016 Prior week week Long 637,079 798,204 Short 2,220,463 2,053,291 Net -1,583,384 -1,255,087 Fed funds 11 Oct 2016 Prior week week Long 132,168 85,099 Short 158,905 132,831 Net -26,737 -47,732 (Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by James Dalgleish) It will soon embark on harbour acceptance trials. ST Marine, the marine arm of ST Engineering, launched the third Littoral Mission Vessel (LMV), Unity, designed and built for Singapore Navy. The ceremony was officiated by Mr Ong Ye Kung, Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) and Senior Minister of State for Defence, with spouse Diana Ong. Mrs Ong took on the role as the lady sponsor in accordance with naval traditions to name and launch the vessel at ST Marines Benoi Yard. ST Marine was awarded the contract by the Ministry of Defence in 2013 to design and build eight LMVs for Singapore Navy. The vessels are expected to be delivered from 2016 and be fully operational by 2020. They will replace the PVs designed and built by ST Marine in the 1990s. The first LMV, Independence, has returned to Tuas Naval Base on 26 May 2016 and is performing the Checkout, Integration and Testing (CIT) for weapon systems on-board. The second LMV, Sovereignty is preparing for sea trials while the third LMV, Unity will embark on harbour acceptance trials after her launch. More From Singapore Business Review By PTI: Hyderabad, Oct 14 (PTI) Afghanistan today expressed hopes that decision by five countries to pull out of the SAARC summit in Islamabad will bring positive results and force non-cooperating member nations to walk on the path of peace and partnership. India and four other SAARC members - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - pulled out of the November summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment not conducive for successful holding of the meet. advertisement The development took place in the aftermath of the Uri terrorist attack on September 18. "Afghanistan and India are at the forefront of supporting SAARC. The recent decision to boycott SAARC summit in Islamabad by India, Afghanistan and others is aimed at finding better ways to improve SAARC," said Afghanistans Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali. He was speaking at an interactive meeting organised by industry bodies FICCI and FTAPCCI here. "SAARC should act in a manner it has been desired and aimed at. SAARC means connectivity, SAARC means business, SAARC means peace and stability. But if we see things happening contrary to that, then we must take steps to ensure those who are creating trouble change their course and be cooperative," the Afghan envoy said. He, however, did not name any country. "We hope the decision not to participate (in the Islamabad summit) will give us a positive result. The positive result would be that those who do not cooperate in the same manner as other SAARC member countries will also start following our path. The path of peace and cooperation. The path which brings win-win situation for all. We hope that decision will bring about better results... better future of this region," Abdali said. He described relationship between India and Afghanistan as "very unique". "No other country can or countries can compete with our true relationship. Its very unique and its very deep. It is based on cordial and friendly ties," he said. PTI VVK RSY TIR --- ENDS --- By Steve Holland and Dan Whitcomb GREENSBORO, N.C./LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday called the women accusing him of sexual misconduct sick liars seeking fame as part of a plot to discredit him after two more came forward with allegations that he had groped them. The new accusations were made by a contestant on his reality TV show "The Apprentice" who cited a 2007 incident and by a woman who described an incident from the early 1990s. With the allegations against Trump dominating the campaign, opinion polls show Trump trailing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll taken Oct. 7-13 and released on Friday showed Trump behind Clinton by 7 percentage points among likely voters in the Nov. 8 election. Summer Zervos, who competed on the reality TV show's fifth season in 2006, appeared at a news conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles, saying Trump kissed her, touched her breast and tried to get her to lie down on a bed with him during a meeting about a possible job. "He put me in an embrace and I tried to push him away. I pushed his chest to put space between us and I said, 'Come on man, get real.' He repeated my words back to me, 'Get real,' as he began thrusting his genitals," Zervos said. Zervos said she thought Trump was going to take her to dinner to discuss a job, but the meeting took place in his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he later ordered a club sandwich for them to share. "I wondered if the sexual behavior was some kind of test and whether or not I had passed" by rejecting it, she said, but Trump later offered her a job at a golf course for half the salary she had requested. Trump released a statement denying her allegations. "I vaguely remember Ms. Zervos as one of the many contestants on 'The Apprentice' over the years. To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago," Trump said. "That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how I've conducted my life." Separately, the Washington Post published an interview with a woman who said Trump put his hand up her skirt in a crowded New York nightclub in the early 1990s in an unwanted advance. "He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely," Kristin Anderson said in a video interview on the newspaper's website. "It wasn't a sexual come-on. I don't know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it," she told the newspaper. Anderson could not be reached for comment. At a campaign rally on Friday, Trump denounced the allegations that several women have made about him in recent days, calling the women "sick" and saying the accusations were fabricated. "I don't know who these people are. I look on television, I think it's a disgusting thing and it's being pushed, they have no witnesses, there's nobody around," Trump said at the rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. "Some are doing it for probably a little fame, they get some free fame. It's a total set-up," he said. Trump's White House campaign has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he bragged in lewd terms about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. While Trump said the video was just talk and he had never behaved in that way, several women subsequently went public with allegations of sexual misconduct against the New York real estate magnate going back three decades. CAMPAIGN PROVIDES WITNESS Late on Friday, the Trump campaign put forward a British man who disputed the account of one of the accusers, Jessica Leeds. Leeds, who is now 74, said Trump groped her on a flight to New York, in or around 1980. Her account was published in The New York Times earlier this week and she has since been interviewed on CNN. The New York Post reported that the British man, Anthony Gilberthorpe, contacted the Trump campaign after Leeds went public with her story, and said he was sitting near Leeds and Trump on the same flight. "I was there, I was in a position to know that what she said was wrong, wrong, wrong," Gilberthorpe told the Post. Trump had been promising that he would soon provide information showing the allegations against him were false. Gilberthorpe is known in Britain for his claims that he provided underage boys to British politicians for sex parties in the 1980s. Trump, 70, mocked Leeds on Friday. "Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you," he said. He called Natasha Stoynoff, a reporter who wrote in People magazine that Trump kissed her and pinned her against a wall, a "liar" and told the rally to "check out her Facebook page, you'll understand." 'TAKE THE HIGH GROUND' Many Republicans have sought to distance themselves from Trump. The most senior of them, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, angered Trump when he announced this week he would no longer campaign for Trump or defend him but would focus on trying to preserve the Republican majorities in Congress in the election. Ryan gave a campaign speech in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday without mentioning Trump's name once. He urged college Republicans to look beyond the "ugliness" of the presidential campaign to focus on issues such as tax and healthcare reform. "The kind of election we really want to have, it's not the one we're necessarily having right now," Ryan said, urging students to "take the high ground." Trump on Friday also accused Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, the top shareholder in The New York Times Company, of helping to generate the reports of sexual misconduct. He said Slim, as a donor to the Clinton Foundation charity who also holds a 17.35 percent stake in the Times, has an interest in helping her White House campaign. Arturo Elias, Slim's spokesman and son-in-law, said Slim had "absolutely no contact" with the newspaper's reporters or editors on their Trump campaign coverage and "zero" contact with the paper's news operations. New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement, "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report." Trump's allegation about Slim was the latest chapter in a running series of skirmishes he has had with Mexico and Mexicans. Trump kicked off his campaign last year accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States, and promised to build a wall along the southern U.S. border that he said he would make Mexico pay for. (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson, Doina Chiacu, Susan Cornwell, Michael O'Boyle, Anna Driver, Jessica Toonkel, Jeff Mason, Timothy Gardner; Writing by James Oliphant, Roberta Rampton, and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Howard Goller and Will Dunham) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f247308%2fearthsimulatorpnwstorm An intense storm system taking direct aim at the Pacific Northwest on Saturday contains the DNA of a super typhoon mixed with the heritage of a classic fall storm. Depending on whether recent computer model projections are correct, the storm could be the worst to hit the region since at least 2006, and in a worst-case scenario it might earn comparisons to the Columbus Day storm of 1962, which caused widespread damage and long-lasting power outages. SEE ALSO: Climate activists shut down 5 tar sands oil pipelines High wind watches for winds gusting to more than 60 miles per hour have been posted for much of western Washington, including the Seattle metro area, as well as Oregon and parts of northern California. In Oregon, a hurricane force wind watch is in effect along the coast for the storm the Weather Service office in Portland is calling the "Ides of October" storm. Computer model projection showing the intense storm moving into the Pacific Northwest on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016. Image: weatherbell analytics The storm will be powered by an unusually strong jet stream with upper level winds reaching speeds of nearly 200 miles per hour at altitudes of around 35,000 feet over the Pacific. This jet stream will help add fuel for this storm to help it intensify rapidly between Friday and Saturday. The origins of this jet stream and the storm system itself can be traced back to Typhoon Songda, which spun up over the western Pacific on Oct. 8 and intensified into a super typhoon before weakening. Coastal max wind gusts 90-knots+ likely w/upcoming ex-Typhoon Songda into Washington & Oregon. MSLP ~966 mb at landfall Sat evening pic.twitter.com/r7rUvoxcnr Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) October 14, 2016 That typhoon helped reshape the Pacific jet stream, with the remaining disturbance getting carried like a ripple in a stream downwind by the jet stream. The winds from the Saturday storm could exceed 100 miles per hour in some locations, particularly in higher elevations. In addition, high surf and mountain snows will also be threats from this storm. Wave heights of greater than 40 feet are possible if the storm intensifies as significantly as some projections have shown it will. Story continues A separate storm system has been causing high winds, heavy rains and mountain snows, along with isolated tornadoes on Friday. A look at the storm battering the Pac Northwest today with lightning, tornado warnings, and damaging winds. Another in the hopper for tmrw pic.twitter.com/LoErinwZod Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) October 14, 2016 One tornado caused damage in Manzanita, Oregon on Friday. There is still considerable uncertainty in the forecast for the storm's intensity and track on Saturday into Saturday evening, in part because of the relative paucity of weather observations over the northeast Pacific. If the storm intensifies significantly and tracks close to the Washington coastline, damaging winds are more likely in both Seattle and Portland, Oregon. If the storm remains slightly weaker and tracks farther north, the effects may not be as significant. As the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reported on Friday, "Some of the most extreme model solutions which suggested a storm of historic proportions earlier this week have backed off. Even so, those most familiar with Pacific Northwest weather patterns warn this storm will still be very serious." The rapid intensification that the storm is predicted to undergo also makes it difficult to gauge the precise impacts it will have, but people from Vancouver, British Columbia south to northern California should expect a seriously stormy weekend. Prepare to see a few new faces and a lot more of some familiar ones when Stranger Things returns for its second season. RELATEDStranger Things Steve Finally Meets His Son, Parks and Recs Jean-Ralphio Not only has the supernatural Netflix drama promoted Joe Keery (Steve) and Noah Schnapp (Will) to series regulars, but its also welcoming two newcomers: American Odysseys Sadie Sink and Power Rangers Dacre Montgomery. Stranger Things Season 2 Sink will play Max, described as a tough and confident girl whose appearance, behavior and pursuits seem more typical of boys than of girls in this era. She has a complicated history and is generally suspicious of those around her. VIDEOSStranger Things Monster Stars in Inappropriate Late Late Show Musical Montgomery, meanwhile, will play Maxs hyper-confident, edgy older step-brother. He steals girlfriends away from their boyfriends, is great at drinking games, and drives a black Camaro. But lurking under his apparent charisma, is a violent and unpredictable nature. Your thoughts on this latest casting update? General hopes for Stranger Things second season? Drop em in a comment below. Related stories Netflix Orders Autism-Themed Comedy Atypical Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh Fuller House Adds Switched at Birth Actor as Kimmy's Brother (and Stephanie's Boyfriend?) in Season 2 Chris Rock to Return to Stand-Up Comedy With Two Netflix Specials ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Today, the green energy tech company International Wastewater Systems Inc. (CSE: IWS) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary SHARC Energy Systems (UK) Ltd. will form a strategic alliance with Scottish Water Horizons Ltd., the commercial subsidiary of Scottish Water, a public water utility owned 100% by the Scottish Government. This strategic alliance will support the Scottish Governments ambitious renewable heat and carbon reduction targets for 2020. It is the result of 2 years of informal collaboration between SHARC Energy and Scottish Water Horizons, which has created a 20 million GBP ($32.4 million CAD) pipeline of potential installations across Scotland that when deployed would generate 170 GWHs per year of heating and cooling to displace the fossil fuel currently used. Scottish Water Horizons has estimated that up to 750 such systems would need to be installed by 2020 to enable Scotland to achieve its carbon savings targets. In late August 2016, IWS announced a $60 million USD joint venture with RENEW Energy Partners LLC, a US-based clean energy developer and funding company committed to finance capital expenditures for 1,000 PIRANHA systems from IWS to be installed in California. Following this announcement, IWS stock surged from $0.25 to $0.59 CAD and is currently trading at $0.45 CAD with a market capitalization of $40 million CAD. With now 2 large commercial projects in the US and Scotland, up to 1,750 IWS systems could be installed over the next few years to generate revenues in excess of $110 million CAD. Todays announced strategic alliance, and the August announced joint venture, could become the blueprint for other renewable energy companies, funds, organizations and governments to follow the same path to reduce energy costs up to 80% for residential and industrial buildings worldwide. Such a funding and revenue sharing model is also attractive because of its longevity, typically running for more than 20 years while paypack periods for individual installments are a few years only (depending on flow rates, local electricity costs, etc. and will vary with each project). Story continues The full report can be accessed with the following links: Englisch (PDF): http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/IWS2en.pdf English (Webversion): http://rockstone-research.com/index.php/en/research-reports/1865-Strategic-Government-Alliance-to-install-up-to-750-IWS-systems-enabling-Scotland-to-achieve-its-carbon-savings-targets-by-2020 German (PDF): http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/IWS2de.pdf For smartphones, an APP from Rockstone Research is available in the AppStore for Apple devices and in the GooglePlayStore for Android devices. Recently, Zimtu Capital Corp. launched the Beta Version of its Advantage APP, in which all interlisted stocks (i.e. all public companies listed in Canada and Germany) can be tracked. After a cost-free registration, the full features of the APP are unlocked, e.g. sorting all stocks with the biggest daily trading volumes on all German or Canadian exchanges (see instructions in the section How To Use): http://zimtuadvantage.com/ Disclaimer: Please read the full disclaimer within the full research report as a PDF as fundamental risks and conflicts of interest exist. SOURCE: Rockstone Research In a seismic reading station in Alaska, needles jumped unexpectedly. At first glance, researchers thought they were looking at a natural seismic event. It was clearly somewhere far away, but it was significant 4.2 on the Richter scale, the kind of earthquake that knocks picture frames off walls. The truth was far more violent. Thousands of miles away, two massive explosions had just ripped through a vessel the size of two 747s. Amid a giant Russian naval exercise, a submarine called the Kursk had been cruising through the Barents Sea, off the coast of Russia and Finland. Within seconds, it had gone from being the pride of the navy to a death trap, sinking with 118 souls aboard. There are 23 of us here. None of us can get out. Exactly what happened on Aug. 12, 2000, remains unknown because the submarine sank with live warheads aboard, spawning plenty of conspiracy theories. But much of the Kursks dark mystery relates to Russia massively mishandling all rescue attempts and then trying to cover up the disaster. At the time, Russian authorities accused U.S. and British submarines of spying on their naval exercises so closely, they insisted, that one collided with the Kursk. Americans, meanwhile, muttered that the Russians must have had some kind of new, deadly weapon on board to produce such a giant explosion. Gettyimages 1511072 Nuclear weapons on board the Kursk. Source Laski Diffusion / Getty Sixteen years later, the best guess is that the Kursk was carrying the exact opposite of a high-tech weapon. It had been equipped with aging torpedoes fueled by HTP, or high-test peroxide, a substance banned by other major naval powers in the 1950s. If HTP leaks onto other parts of a torpedos highly volatile engine, it quickly expands in a chemical reaction that can cause a deadly explosion. That, according to a 2002 official government investigation, was what caused the first explosion on the Kursk, which sent it careening toward the ocean floor. The next explosion the one that registered in Alaska came when the sub hit the seafloor, triggering other torpedoes. Story continues Most of the Kursks sailors died within minutes. Twenty-three, though, survived for nearly four hours, trapped in a compartment with no way out. One officer, Dimitri Kolesnikov, managed to scrawl a handwritten log as the lights slowly dimmed. Divers who pulled Kolesnikovs body from the wreckage weeks later discovered the log including a note to his family in his pocket. All personnel from compartments six, seven and eight moved to the ninth, he wrote. There are 23 of us here. None of us can get out. Gettyimages 1511677 A Russian newspaper printed an exclusive list of the names of the sailors aboard the Kursk bought from an unknown source for the equivalent of $650. Source Laski Diffusion / Getty The sinking of the Kursk was like something out of a Tom Clancy novel, and yet it came at a moment when we appeared to be leaving the Cold War behind. The U.S. was well into a heated election season, and the outgoing Bill Clinton, who had overseen significant cuts to U.S. military spending especially to Americas naval fleet had just heralded Russias eight-months-in president as the beginning of a new era. Under President Putin, Clinton had said two months earlier, Russia has the chance to build prosperity and strength while safeguarding the rule of law. Indeed, the Kursk disaster presented Putin with the opportunity to reach out for international assistance, but he decided against it, setting precedent for the rest of his tenure. Gettyimages 97578371 Putins first public address regarding the Kursk four days after the disaster. Source Getty Though known as a former KGB agent, Putin didnt yet have the fearsome reputation he does today. In 2000, Russia was a different place as evidenced by the fact that the media could still make Putin squirm. Russia was still getting used to a postCold War media culture, says historian George May. The idea that you could call the government out on national television was still very new. The Kursk disaster was a real turning point for how Russians thought of themselves as global citizens. Gettyimages 1511082 The Kursk motoring in the Barents Sea. Source Oleg Nikishin / Getty And they had plenty of fodder. As family and friends of Kursk sailors waited for news, it became clear that the government which had refused offers of aid from other countries to recover the sub had known from the beginning there was no hope of finding survivors. The submarine had gone down too quickly, and the Russian navy had taken too long organizing outdated diving bells and divers to find the Kursk. As well, Putin had waited five days to accept offers of foreign assistance. Some still argue that the British or Norwegians, with their more advanced rescue equipment, could have rescued the trapped sailors. Putin addresses an angry crowd. Things came to a head when Putin gave a press conference 10 days after the accident. A woman in a traditional Russian headscarf stood up, shaking her fists and berating Putin, her voice trembling with rage. The Russian president himself was completely unlike the shark-eyed, thin-lipped man of steel we know today. Crouching defensively at the podium, Putin spoke softly and hesitantly. He looked pale and diminutive and very much not in charge as he tried to defend the governments shaky relationship with the truth. Lawyer Boris Kuznetsov, who represented 55 families of Kursk sailors and later sought political asylum in the U.S., would write that it was Putins worst moment. Gettyimages 53351934 Relatives of Kursk crew members gather on the deck of a Russian ship for a prayer near the wreckage site. Source Yuri Kochetkov / Getty And indeed it was a moment Putin was determined not to repeat. He accused the media of exploiting the Kursk disaster for political purposes and tipped Russia toward its present-day media repression. The Kursk could have been a moment when the world came together over a horrific tragedy. But the Cold War was not as over as it seemed. Related Articles From Delish It's easy to feel that pang of guilt the second you hear that Sunday is World Food Day-you want to help, but maybe you don't have the time to volunteer, or you don't have the money to make a big donation. But still, knowing that 1 in 9 people are chronically hungry around the world-and that nearly 5 million children die each year from malnourishment, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization-you don't want this day to pass you by without doing something. Here are the easiest ways to make a difference right now; changes that are so small they don't have to dramatically interrupt your daily routine. And, if you can spare a little more time (or money) and want to do more, Feeding America can help you find your nearest food bank and provides ways to donate. 1. Tweet This Knorr U.S. has teamed up with food stylists and photographers to create real-life food emojis. All you have to do is tweet a food emoji with the hashtag #shareameal between Oct. 13-20, and Knorr will respond with a "real-moji" and a link to make a $5 donation to the Global Foodbanking Network. Knorr will also be donating 220,000 meals to Feeding America on World Food Day, October 16. 2. Check Your Groceries for This Scan your pantry for any Healthy Choice, P.F Chang's, Peter Pan, Reddi Wip, Orville Redenbachers, Pam, Hunt's or other ConAgra Foods products (you should see the company's name mentioned in fine print on the label). Look for an 8-digit code on the back of the package-it'll be marked with a red pushpin logo-and enter it on ChildHungerEndsHere.com. For every code entered, ConAgra Foods will donate a meal to a kid in need. 3. Order This From now until December 31, 2016, when you order a slice of the featured cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory, the company will donate 25 cents to Feeding America. 4. Click This When you click the yellow 'Click to Give Food' button at the top of The Hunger Site, the company's advertisers will donate 1/4 cup of food to people in need, which adds up to more than 2 million cups donated each month. Story continues 5. Chew on This For every pack of Project 7 gum labeled "Feed the Hungry" that you buy (like the Peppermint Vanilla flavor), the brand donates a meal to someone in the U.S. 6. Snap a Photo Like This Upload a photo to WatchHungerStop.com, click and drag a 'digital tee' onto your selfie, post it, and Michael Kors will donate 50 meals to children in need. Michael Kors has also incorporated their fitness tracker and watch into the campaign, donating 100 meals to the World Food Programme with the purchase of either. And if wrist wear isn't your thing, Kors has created a snapchat geotag that is available in the storefronts here in the US, Canada, or the UK. When you take a snap using the filter, Kors will donate 25 meals to WFP. Photo credit: Michael Kors/Watch Hunger Stop 7. Sign This Oxfam America has created a form letter you can fill out to ask Congress to pass the Global Food Security Act of 2015, which focuses on boosting agricultural growth, funding university research and improving women and children's nutrition on a global scale. You can find the form here. 8. Play This Put down Dots and Candy Crush and spend a few minutes on FreeRice.com. The vocab games don't just keep your mind sharp; for each answer you get right, the company's advertisers donate 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme. Follow Delish on Instagram. You Might Also Like MOSCOW (AP) A military victory in Aleppo would provide the Syrian army a springboard from which to liberate other areas of the country from terrorists, President Bashar Assad said in an interview with a Russian media outlet. In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda released Thursday, Assad said Aleppo is effectively no longer Syrias industrial capital but taking back the city would provide important political and strategic gains for his regime. Its going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to other areas, to liberate other areas from the terrorists. This is the importance of Aleppo now, Assad said. You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. Theres no other option. But Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move. Syrian government forces have encircled the eastern half of Aleppo, besieging over a quarter of a million people who they say are being used as human shields by terrorists. The siege has caused an international outcry with a number of countries and groups accusing Syria and Russia of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys. Assad also said that Saudi Arabia has offered to help his government if it agrees to cut ties with Iran, one of Syrias main allies. He said the Saudis told him: If you move away from Iran and you announce that you disconnect all kinds of relations with Iran, were going to help you. Very simple and very straight to the point. By Jack Stubbs and Ellen Francis MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday that the Syrian army's capture of Aleppo, which has come under renewed bombardment in an effort to seize its rebel-held sector, would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey. Rescue workers said that Syria's military backed by Russian warplanes had killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, in support of its offensive against the city. Rising casualties in Aleppo, where many buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have prompted an international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey, to go back to where they come from or to kill them. There's no other option," Assad said in an interview with Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move," added Assad. As the air strikes and shelling of the city's east intensified after a brief period of relative calm, Syria's government approved a United Nations plan to allow aid convoys into the most besieged areas of Syria, with the exception of Aleppo. Syria's civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 300,000 people and left millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers as well as inspiring jihadist attacks abroad. Assad is backed by the Russian air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shi'ite militias from Arab neighbors, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. Assad also told the newspaper that the country's civil war had become a conflict between Russia and the West. "What we've been seeing recently during the last few weeks, and maybe few months, is something like more than Cold War," Assad said. "I don't know what to call it, but it's not something that has existed recently, because I don't think that the West and especially the United States has stopped their Cold War, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union." Assad added that Turkey's actions in Syria constituted an "invasion, against international law, against the morals, against the sovereignty of Syria." 'MAY AMOUNT TO WAR CRIMES' As air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour, according to a civil defense official, European Union foreign ministers drafted a statement accusing Syria and its allies of violence that "may amount to war crimes." "Since the beginning of the offensive by the (Syrian) regime and its allies, the intensity and scale of aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," a draft of their statement seen by Reuters said. Syrian and Russian governments say they target only militants. To the south, hundreds of insurgents and their families have left two rebel-held towns on the northern outskirts of Damascus, residents and fighters said, under a deal with the government which is pushing its opponents to rebel areas further from the capital. The evacuation happened after the army gave community leaders in Qudsiya and Al-Hama - which had enjoyed relative calm under local truces - an ultimatum to get several hundred fighters out of their towns or face a wide-scale assault. "They gave us little option: Leave or all hell breaks loose," said Yousef al Hasnawi, a resident on the local rebel council. The Damascus government says such amnesties are a "workable model to bring security and peace," but its opponents say forcing Sunni Muslim fighters and their families from their hometowns could create new demographic frontiers and worsen sectarian tensions. OBAMA TO REVIEW OPTIONS U.S. President Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria, U.S. officials told Reuters. Some officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against Islamic State. U.S. officials said they considered it unlikely that Obama would order U.S. air strikes on Syrian government targets, and stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Switzerland on Saturday to resume their effort to find a diplomatic solution along with counterparts from some Middle Eastern countries. Moscow called on Thursday on states in the region not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebel groups, warning that any unfriendly actions against Russian forces would draw an appropriate response. 'IT'S GOING ON NOW' Air strikes against rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo had tapered off over the weekend after the Syrian army announced it would reduce raids for what it described as humanitarian reasons, but they have intensified since Tuesday. "The bombing started at 2 a.m. and it's going on until now," Ibrahim Abu Laith, an official at the civil defense rescue organization in Aleppo, told Reuters from the city. Rescue workers said 154 people had been killed in recent days. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll. Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo - the anti-Assad rebels' most important urban stronghold - facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine. In Geneva, the United Nations said Damascus had partially approved its aid plan for October, giving the green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, which are also deprived of some vital supplies. But the Syrian government did not give approval for either eastern Aleppo or three districts near Damascus, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, the United Nations' deputy special envoy to Syria, said on Thursday, describing the situation as "dire." In a government-held area of western Aleppo, at least four children were killed and 10 wounded on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack. (Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut, Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman, Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay in Washington, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Kylie MacLellan in London, Jack Stubbs in Moscow, Gabriela Baczynska in Luxembourg and Maha El Dahan in Abu Dhabi; writing by Angus McDowall in Beirut and Peter Cooney; editing by Peter Millership, David Stamp and G Crosse) The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on Friday unveiled the first of its two official competition lineups, announcing the 13 titles that will make up this year's first features program. The slate includes five world premieres, including Stefano Amatucci's Caina, a drama set in a dystopian near-future where the bodies of dead refugees washing up on European shores has become a major industrial waste-disposal problem for the locals. Also marking their debut in Tallinn will be: Hadi Ghandour's The Traveller, the story of a happily married traveling salesman who begins to question his values, and his loyalty to his wife, while on a business trip to Paris; Austrian first-timer Tereza Kotyk's Home Is Here, a drama about a daughter of immigrants who begins to secretly visit a wealthy home, where she rearranges the owner's prized possessions; Kira Kovalenka's experimental Sofichka, the story of a woman in the Abhkasian region on the Black Sea whose life is caught up in the political whirlwind of history; and Navid Danesh's Duet, a drama about a divorced Iranian couple whose chance meeting in a bookshop sets off a wave of memories and emotions. Read more: ITV's Talpa Finds New Partner for 'The Voice of China' in $60M Deal with Zhejiang Tangde "We weren't looking for flawless direction, rather a unique cinematographic vision, someone who makes you feel that you will definitely want to see her/his next film as well," said Tallinn festival director Tiina Lokk, commenting on this year's selections. "What we have on our hands is an extremely satisfying mix of original stories presenting a wide range of genres, from very strong drama to sci-fi to crime thriller to - my big surprise - action." Action is part of the lineup in the form of Holy Biker, the directorial debut of Brazilian filmmaker Homero Olivetto, described as a mash-up of Mad Max, 1960s B-movies and Alejandro Jodorowsky's cult 1970 Western El Topo. Other genre efforts include The Red Captain from Slovak producer-turned-director Michal Kollar, a crime thriller set in Bratislava, Slovakia, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent break-up of Czechoslovakia; and The White King from directors Alex Helfrecht and Jorg Tittel, an English-language adaptation of the dystopian sci-fi novel from Hungarian writer Gyorgy Dragoman. Story continues Also in the first features competition lineup this year are Chilean drama The Cockroach from directors Francisco Hevia and Vinko Tomicic; Augusto Sandino's Colombian feature Gentle Breath; Paris La Blanche from helmer Lidia Terki; and Wedding Dance, a drama about the clash between the modern world and tradition in contemporary Turkey from director Cigdem Sezgin. Read more: Why Tallinn Black Nights Is a Fairy-Tale Festival With a Start-Up Vibe Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Michal Kollar as a Czech, not Slovak, director. The sailor was identified as Sitaram Paraswal, of LOG 1 (F-A) belonging to INS Shivaji. Paraswal was found hanging from the ceiling of his room. By Saurabh Vaktania: In a shocking incident, an Indian Navy sailor was found dead onboard INS Shivaji in Lonavla, Maharashtra. This is the third sailor who has died in less than a week, two of Navy and one of Coast Guard. A CASE OF SUICIDE? The sailor was identified as Sitaram Paraswal, of LOG 1 (F-A) belonging to INS Shivaji. Paraswal was found hanging from the ceiling of his room. As per primary investigations, it seems to be a case of suicide, but officials said no suicide not was found. advertisement Paraswal belonged to Sikar in Rajasthan. His family was informed by the officials. Local police is investigating the case. Simultaneously Navy has also ordered an inquiry into the incident. PREVIOUS CASES On October 11, Sub Lt W Singh of INS War, whilst handling firearms, Singh accidentally fired one round and was injured. He was immediately shifted to the Naval Hospital INHS where doctors put their best efforts but could not revive Singh. He belonged to Haryana. An ICG sailor, onboard a ship sustained fatal injury during defect rectification of a gun fitted onboard due to sudden burst of one round. KP Yadav was killed when he was repairing heavy machine gun during practise session of Coast Guard Jawans in Arabian Sea. A team of CG Jawans and officials had sailed off on a fast patrol vessel 'Arinjay' for shooting practise when the incident took place. Yadav hailed from Bihar and the served for 14 years. --- ENDS --- The landscape of growing ETF industry is changing rapidly with the introduction of more niche strategies. In this vein, ETF Managers Group partnered with Spirited Funds and rolled out a first-of-its-kind ETF that focuses on distilleries, breweries, vintners and related luxury goods companies involved in the alcohol business (read: Too Many ETFs Flying in the Market?). The Spirited Funds/ETFMG Whiskey and Spirits ETF WSKY seeks to track the returns of the Spirited Funds/ETFMG Whiskey & Spirits Index, a new way to target the fast-growing world of high-end whiskey and spirits. The benchmark divides the companies into two tiers Core companies with at least 85% weight and Non-Core companies that comprise the rest of the portfolio. Core companies include the operation of a whiskey distillery and the production of alcoholic beverages while Non-Core companies include luxury goods firms that have at least $500 million in annual whiskey and spirits sales as well as soft-drink companies that are involved in whiskey distribution or that derive the majority of their revenues from the provision of mixers, as per the prospectus. Whats Driving the Move to the Niche Space? The whiskey and spirits sector, a niche within the consumer discretionary space, has been seeing explosive growth. This is especially true as high end premium and super-premium bourbon and Tennessee whiskey brands saw revenues surge 50% and 155%, respectively, between 2010 and 2015 in the U.S. alone, as per the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Sales of distilled spirits climbed to a staggering $72 billion last year. Spirits have been seeing increased market share relative to beer over the past six years in the overall alcohol industry. This trend will likely continue in the coming years as well. According to David Bolton, President and CEO at Spirited Funds, the industry is in five of a 25-40 year supercycle that will likely see continued growth in consumer demand for whiskey and spirits, much like what has occurred with craft breweries over the past two decades. Further, since the demand for whiskey and spirits isnt affected by good or bad economic times, these companies provide some protection in down markets (see: all the Consumer Discretionary ETFs here). As a result, the ETF provides investors an opportunity to capitalize on the profits of the industry popularly known for its consistent demand amid varying market conditions and economic cycles, thereby making it a solid pick. Below, we have highlighted some details about this new ETF for those who want to consider this novel approach. WSKY Portfolio Currently, the new ETF holds 23 global stocks in its basket with largest allocation going to the top two firms Diageo and Pernod Ricard with 23.6% and 11% share, respectively. Some of theother top holdings include Brown-Forman, Thai Beverage and Constellation Brands. The product has an expense ratio of 0.75%, which is pretty steep when compared with other consumer discretionary funds or other niche products in the space. ETF Competition & Bottom Line Though there arent any real competitors to this unique product, a few niche ETFs in the consumer discretionary space may attract investors (though none follow the alcoholic segment in particular). These include The Restaurant ETF BITE, The Organics ETF ORG and The Health and Fitness ETF FITS. All these funds have done well in terms of performance since their debut and have accumulated a decent level of assets. ORG and FITS have a lower expense ratio of 0.50% while BITE charges similar to WSKY. In terms of fees, WSKY might have some difficulty in building up assets initially (read: 5 Successful New ETFs of 1H16). The new fund will no doubt get a first mover advantage to capture the robust value of the global whiskey and spirits industry with alcohol boasting sales of more than $1 trillion per year. It is prudent to focus on this type of industry that demonstrates steady demand even in times of economic and political uncertainty. Further, if the fund can outperform, investors could definitely embrace this novel ETF to boost their portfolio returns. Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report HEALTH&FITNESS (FITS): ETF Research Reports THE-RESTAURANT (BITE): ETF Research Reports ORGANICS ETF (ORG): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research 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 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 14, 2016 / Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTC PINK: TAUG) ("Tauriga" or the "Company"), a life sciences technology company, has filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2016 with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The Company is working diligently to file its delinquent Form 10-Q's for the periods ended June 30, 2016 and September 30, 2016. The Company expects to file both with the SEC prior to December 31, 2016. Once this is achieved, the Company hopes it can contemplate potential merger and acquisitions opportunities as well as approach institutional investors for funding. The Company has been delinquent in its SEC filings since July 2015 and, as a result, Tauriga was downgraded from the OTCQB on July 31, 2015. As previously disclosed, the Company believes its failure to file its Form 10-K for the period ended March 31, 2015 was due to malpractice committed by its predecessor audit firm Cowan Gunteski & Co. P.A. ("Cowan Gunteski"). The Company is continuing to prosecute its lawsuit against Cowan Gunteski (please see "Tauriga Sciences, Inc. v. Cowan, Gunteski & Co., P.A. et al" in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Case #: 0:15-cv-62334). Management will update shareholders with respect to the progression of this litigation when material events occur. In aggregate the Company intends to seek an award at trial of at least $4,000,000 USD; that figure is expected to continually increase as additional time lapses. There can be no guaranty, however, the Company will receive any judgment award. Tauriga's CEO, Seth M. Shaw, expressed, "The Company has endured a very difficult period and is pleased to report such meaningful progress in its efforts to become current in its filings with the SEC. The Company and its management are committed to both restoring and creating shareholder value and strongly believe that the shareholders deserve a much better future." About TAURIGA SCIENCES, INC.: Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTC PINK: TAUG) is a life sciences company focused on generating profitable revenues through its present and future holdings. The mission of the Company is to acquire and build a diversified portfolio of cutting edge technology assets that is capital efficient and of significant value to the shareholders. The Company's business model includes the acquisition of licenses, equity stakes, rights on both an exclusive and non-exclusive basis, and entire businesses. Management is firmly committed to building lasting shareholder value in the short, intermediate, and long terms. Please visit the Company's corporate website at www.tauriga.com. Non-Solicitation: This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of these securities, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is not permitted. Forward-Looking Statements: Forward-Looking Statements: Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation expectations, hopes, beliefs, plans, and objectives regarding the development, use and marketability of products. Such forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on Tauriga's predictions with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences and timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to fund operations and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors are discussed in documents filed from time to time by Tauriga with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release does not and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy any of the securities, nor shall there be any sale of the securities, in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state. The securities have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration, or an applicable exemption from registration, under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. Contact: Tauriga Sciences, Inc. Mr. Seth Shaw CEO Tel: 1-917-796-9926 Email: sshaw@tauriga.com SOURCE: Tauriga Sciences, Inc. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday adds a new layer of uncertainty to U.S. President Barack Obama's faltering "pivot" to Asia less than a month before the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential elections. The king was important in cementing the long-standing alliance between the United States and Thailand after World War Two, in a reign that spanned the Vietnam War and development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Washington still considers vital to maintaining its influence in the region. King Bhumibol's death coincides with faltering momentum in Obama's signature policy of rebalancing the U.S. diplomatic and security focus to the Asia-Pacific region in the face of China's rapid rise. The main economic pillar of the rebalance, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, is languishing in the U.S. Congress with no guarantee that Obama will be able to push it through before leaving the presidency to Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, both of whom say they oppose the deal. Clinton, as secretary of state under fellow-Democrat Obama from 2009-13, was one of the architects of the policy but Republican Trump has questioned the extent to which he would maintain the U.S. security commitment to East Asia. Obama's efforts to boost security ties with Southeast Asia have come in response to China's pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, a vital strategic waterway. However, a torrent of anti-American rhetoric from new Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has cast doubt on the U.S. military relationship with Manila just months after Washington reached an agreement on rotating access to bases in the country. Other Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are focused on internal political issues and are avoiding playing any leadership role in ASEAN, while even traditionally reliable regional ally Australia is treading carefully to avoid jeopardizing its economic ties with Beijing. Thailand was already occupying a back seat in regional affairs following a 2014 military coup seen as a means to maintain stability during the king's long illness. Thailand is expected to turn further inward during a prolonged mourning period and potentially politically fragile royal succession. King Bhumibol's son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is expected to become Thailand's new king, lacks the strong connection to the United States of his father, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Obama offered condolences to the Thai people and the King's family, calling King Bhumibol "a tireless champion of his country's development." Obama's former top Asia adviser, Evan Medeiros, now at the Eurasia Group, said the mourning process would likely slow a return to democratic government and Prince Vajiralongkorn was a source of "profound uncertainty." "Hes such an unknown, unpredictable figure," he said. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States and Thailand had been close friends for two centuries. "Our friendship and our partnership have weathered many challenges we expect it to continue to grow stronger," Toner told a regular news briefing. While the United States backed a return to democracy, Toner said it would be "premature... to lay our expectations for the near term" as Thailand mourned. MUCH HAS CHANGED While Washington condemned the 2014 coup, it has kept security ties with Bangkok, particularly through annual military exercises called Cobra Gold. "The fact that we have been able to remain closely tethered and stayed largely on track with Cobra Gold and other cooperative efforts, notwithstanding the military takeover ... is testament to the strong roots we have put down and the work that were doing, the senior U.S. diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, said on Wednesday. Murray Hiebert of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said much had changed since Obama announced his pivot policy in 2011. "The king's death adds to uncertainty in Southeast Asia, a region in considerable flux already. This makes the U.S. rebalance to Asia more difficult because the situation in so many countries is that of 'wait and see.' "When the pivot started, you had Thailand engaged, a new leader in Malaysia who wanted to engage, you had Aquino coming in the Philippines and very forward-leaning internationally and very open to the U.S.; you had an internationalist president in Indonesia. It was a rather different dynamic." King Bhumibol's death means Washington finds itself having to rely even more on former foe Vietnam for any kind of strategic ballast in the region. "The Vietnamese are providing the dynamism when it comes to strategic thinking," U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said in Washington on Tuesday. "Indonesia is very internally focused right now ... Thailand is very internally focused, and Malaysia has a rolling political crisis," he continued. "I dont know exactly what direction the Philippines is headed; Singapore has a lot of strategic thinkers but its a city state; I dont think you can really count on Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to provide the strategic engine for ASEAN." There appears little prospect for now, however, that Vietnam would be willing to open its doors further to the U.S. military should the deal with the Philippines run into problems, given past animosities and concerns about China. I do not expect the Vietnamese calculation to be, Oh, the Philippines is doing whatever its doing, lets race full steam ahead with the United States. No, thats not about to happen," Osius said. "The Vietnamese have been very measured in the pace at which they have expanded the security relationship." Hiebert said Asian countries remain keen on the U.S. pivot, given their worries about China, but the pace was likely to flag further, presenting a tougher task to revive the initiative once Obama leaves power. "I wouldn't declare the pivot dead ... I think there's still quite a bit of interest in the U.S., but some of the sort of dynamism that we saw earlier about building the region is a little bit diminished right now," he said. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by John Walcott, James Dalgleish and Grant McCool) During his seven-decade reign, King Bhumibol Adulyadej forged deep ties with Thailand's military, which is expected to remain a key power broker as the monarch's son tries to emerge from his late father's lengthy shadow. In a country battered by near-constant power struggles, Thailand's military establishment has long tied its political fortunes to Bhumibol, who died on Thursday aged 88. The armed forces portray themselves as the ultimate defender of the monarchy and most of the many coups launched during Bhumibol's reign were done in the name of protecting the king -- and eventually endorsed by him. But the king also wielded enormous prestige, famously calling Thailand's then military ruler to his palace in 1992, humiliating him on television for ordering a bloody crackdown on demonstrations against his government. The prime minister resigned. But Bhumibol's designated successor Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn lacks his father's deep military links. "There's no light at the end of tunnel in terms of demilitarisation any time soon," said Paul Chambers, an expert on the Thai military and monarchy. The current military junta that seized power two years ago said it did so to halt years of violent political factional fighting. But with the king already ailing at the time, many saw the putsch -- the latest to halt Thai democracy in its tracks -- as the generals ensuring they were in control during the coming royal succession. - 'Instrumental role' - The junta led by army general Prayut Chan-O-Cha has promised elections by late next year. But Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Thammasat University, said Prayut and senior officers will wield huge influence over what happens. "The military junta and high command will play an indispensable and instrumental role during this delicate transitional period," he said. Thailand's monarchy is shielded from criticism or scrutiny by a draconian lese majeste law and prosecutions since the 2014 coup have surged. Story continues Prayut has been the most visible official since the king's death was announced Thursday, delivering key televised statements and vowing to keep the country stable. He, rather than the crown prince, made the surprise announcement to reporters late Thursday that Vajiralongkorn wants more time to mourn his father and prepare before being officially proclaimed king. But the junta leader is not the only senior military figure who wields political influence. King Bhumibol stacked his influential Privy Council with senior officers, led by retired general and former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda, who remains sprightly and highly influential at 96. Under Thailand's succession law, he would be acting regent in the event of any succession crisis. In the run up to Bhumibol's death there was intense speculation inside Thailand over rivalries within the military elite, particularly between the junta and Privy Council. - 'Independent streak' - Prayut and his comrades are often dubbed the "Eastern Tigers", a military clique that rose up through the Queen's Guard and became increasingly influential over the last ten years. Prem's faction, meanwhile, hailed from the King's Guards. They are seen to have lost influence since the rise of the Eastern Tigers. While Bhumibol worked closely with the military, "theres always been a much more independent streak within the crown prince" said one analyst who asked not to be named because of the sensitivities. "That independence really concerns the Bangkok elite and the military that supports them," the analyst said. Vajiralongkorn is a former air force fighter pilot who also spent time in the King's Guard during the 1970s. He has his own personal guard -- the Royal Guard 904 -- which Chambers estimates is some 5,000 people strong. But he has often spent much time outside the country. His military network is less deep-rooted and the extent of his power base unclear. "(Bhumibol) had a tendency to keep people for a long time in high positions and they would return the necessary adulation and support to safeguard the palace. It was a very reciprocal relationship," he added. Thitinan described Bhumibol's links with the military as a "symbiotic relationship" that saw the two institutions through the Cold War and into the modern era. "But this relationship is unique to the late King because he earned it," he said. Following the death of Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thais will observe an official mourning period of one year. Tourists are encouraged to remain discreet when on holiday in the country, an extremely popular destination. The death of a much revered figure in Thailand, whose portrait was displayed in front of such major monuments as the Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok, has left the country bereaved and struggling to come to terms with the loss of the 88-year old head of state who symbolized national unity in the face of political upheavals in recent years. For the next 30 days, Thais have been urged to wear black and to avoid festivities. The official period of national mourning will continue for one year, and tourists will be obliged to respect it. Ministries of foreign affairs from countries including Australia, the UK, France have advised travelers to the country to be particularly respectful of Thai people and Thai customs in this period of mourning, to wear respectful clothing in public places and check local media regularly. At the same time, tour operators and foreign authorities have warned that certain bars, restaurants and businesses may be closed because of the king's death, in which case business owners should "comply with the instructions of local authorities." It is worth noting that Thailand has very strict laws of lese-majeste to enforce respect for its royal family. Anyone convicted of defaming, insulting or threatening the king, the queen, the crown prince or even the regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count. Thailand continues to be a highly successful long-haul tourist destination, with record numbers visiting the country dubbed the land of smiles in 2015. In that year, some 30 million travelers discovered Chiang Mai, the Sukhothai Historical Park and other Thai attractions. The country expects to welcome some 33 million tourists this year. Thailand 's return to civilian rule could be delayed amid a year-long mourning period for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, as the Southeast Asian state's military junta tries to maintain stability. Thailand's military-led government will consolidate its power, push back elections to 2018 and keep political unrest in check after the death of the revered monarch, political analysts told CNBC. "The armed forces will persevere as the dominant institution across the land," said Paul Chambers, Director of Research at the Institute of South East Asian Affairs. Longer-term, however, the loss of the world's longest reigning monarch widely praised and perceived as a moderator and arbiter in often acrimonious and violent political disputes may bring political tensions to the fore. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, associate professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, told CNBC's " The Rundown " that the monarchy was at the apex of Thailand's political system, regardless of which party held government. "You could not envision Thailand without King Bhumibol, our charismatic king," Pavin said. Seen as a unifying force in the politically-divided country that had been subject to some 20 coups - including unsuccessful ones - during his 70 years of reign, the king died in a Bangkok hospital on Thursday. He was 88. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, an associate professor at the faculty of political science at Chulalongkorn University, explained that the power King Bhumibol wielded was a kind of "moral authority" born of acting with integrity for decades. Now, with a one-year mourning period announced, the timing of a general election, due to be the first since the most recently military coup in 2014, is under scrutiny. Junta chief and current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last said in August that a general election would be held in 2017. In the meantime, election laws have to be drafted and amendments added to the new constitution that was voted in on August 7 . Story continues "With all that work that is required to be done, a mourning period could conceivably interrupt that timeframe and potentially serve as a pretense for delay into 2018," Christian Lewis, an associate at Asia Eurasia, told CNBC's " Squawk Box ". That said, Lewis noted that the junta had introduced a mourning period that, even at one year, was on the lower side of many expectations, which suggested that it was committed to the timeline and may try to push elections through in 2017. Pavin said the royal succession was also a factor to consider in the timing of elections. "The palace, together with the military government have to ensure that the royal transition, which is happening right now, would be smooth," the Kyoto University professor said. "If it's smooth, then maybe we could see election as planned." Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is the designated heir, although the thrice-divorced prince has a controversial reputation due to his colorful private life, but Lewis said the junta would likely try to douse concerns. "The government has vested interest at this stage in promoting his image and certainly his reputation as well so that the public ultimately supports him," Lewis said. Crucially, the Crown Prince must prove himself to be as adept a peace-maker as his late father. Some fear political fault lines may deepen, possibly even paving the way for the return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra into Thai politics. "The problem here is that the military believes that what has in the past at least been quite a close relationship between Thaksin and Vajiralongkorn could tempt the latter into granting the former a royal pardon, something which is clearly anathema to Thailand's elite," warned political analyst Alastair Newton of Alavan Independent. "The death of Bhumibol and the accession of Vajiralongkorn is yet another blow to stability in an already inherently highly unstable society." Alongside the anxious Thai populace were jittery investors, with the Thai markets volatile in the past week as the king's health deteriorated. "The Thai king has become so important for political stability, the passing of the king would cause an impact in the confidence of the Thai economy of investors," Pavin explained. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC A sign seen at the Wat Ananda Metyarama temple in Jalan Bukit Merah on Friday (13 October), informing people of the prayer sessions to be held for the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. (PHOTO: Safhras Khan / Yahoo Newsroom) By Safhras Khan and Nicholas Yong Mourners turned up across Singapore on Friday (14 October) to pay their respects to the late king Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in Bangkok on Thursday (13 October) afternoon at the age of 88. At the Wat Ananda Metyarama Thai Buddhist Temple in Jalan Bukit Merah, workers were seen erecting tents to accommodate mourners. Venerable Phra Panyadhamvides, the temples honorary secretary, said that the temple will be holding five days of prayers for the late King, starting from 7pm on Friday. We will dedicate about an hour or so each day to chant the prayers for him The Thai government requested all overseas temples to conduct a memorial service for the King for a month. However, we are unable to do so and instead will do it for five days , he said. Altars and a portrait of the late King will also be placed in the temple compound. Phra Panyadhamvides added that the temple had received calls from both Thais and Singaporeans wanting to pay their respects. He said he was not surprised by the interest from Singaporeans as the late monarch was a popular figure around the world. He was the great father of the country and for 70 years did a very good job in stabilising peace and harmony within Thailand. I think many people can relate to the good job that he did and that is why many people want to pay their respects to him, he said. Students offering prayers for King Bhumibol at the Wat Ananda Metyarama temple on Friday (13 October). (PHOTO: Safhras Khan / Yahoo Newsroom) Members of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) will visit the Wat Ananda Metyarama temple on Saturday (15 October). (King Bhumibol) was beloved, revered and respected by his people from across the social economic strata. He was a calming and stabilising presence during times of political crisis. He was a hands-on King who was determined to do everything he can to raise the living standards of the poor. He loved his people as much as they loved him. He was highly respected by the international community, said IRO assistant secretary and council member (Muslim) Ameerali Abdeali. Story continues Over at the Palelai Buddhist Temple in Bedok Walk, a 30-day memorial service for King Bhumibol is being planned. One of the temples monks, Phra Kru Vithes Kittitham, said that one of the prayer halls would be converted to a dedicated area for mourners. We are expecting a lot of people to come and pay their respects, especially from Thais who are in Singapore. We already had a trickle of people coming in since morning to pay their respects, he said, adding that the temple will be dedicating about 30 to 40 minutes each day to chanting for the late King. People seen outside the Royal Thai Embassy in Singapore on Friday (13 October) morning. (PHOTO: Nicholas Yong / Yahoo Newsroom) Meanwhile, the Royal Thai Embassy in Orchard Road began seeing mourners from Friday morning. Among them was a group of 30 Thai students from St Francis Methodist School. The students, aged 14 to 18, told Yahoo Singapore that they had been given the day off. We cant fly back to Thailand, so we came here to pay our respects, said 16-year-old Krittamet Thuphom. Nutapong Rodsris, 18, said, I feel very sad. He is a very kind person, he didnt think about his own comfort, he did everything for his people and his country. He sacrificed everything for us. I see him on TV since I was very young. Unfortunately for these early arrivals, a member of the embassy staff informed them that they would have to return at 4pm, which is when the place would be opened to the public. Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited the Thai Embassy on Friday afternoon, where he signed the condolence book for King Bhumibol. The condolence book at Royal Thai Embassy (370 Orchard Road) will be opened to the public for signing from Monday (17 October) to Friday (21 October) from 10am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 4.30pm. HAWTHORNE, CA - JULY 16: A dog sits in its crate near stuff toy pigs and pet food before the southern California maiden voyage of Pet Airways on July 16, 2009 in the Los Angeles-area city of Hawthorne, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) For many of us, pets are a part of the family. They eat the same food, sleep in our beds and some even dress better than other humans. So when it comes to flying, travelers want the best for their pets. Heres what you need to know: The basics It might sound like a no-brainer, but the first question you should ask yourself is, Is your animal a pet? According to the FAA, a pet refers to dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, rodents, hedgehogs, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Its important to note that birds like turkeys, chickens, doves and geese do not count as pets. When it comes to service animals, the rules are totally different. These animals are not considered pets, and are seen as workers with a job to do. Service animals are typically dogs and airlines dont charge a fee for them to fly. Many travelers with physical impairments travel with these animals that provide support, guidance, and assistance to their owner. Travelers flying with a service animal are typically asked to provide a credible verbal assurance stating the animals purpose and supporting documentation from a doctor. Those traveling with emotional support animals also need a doctors note. These animals come in many forms (pigs, turkeys, even monkeys) and owners avoid paying fees because the animal is said to help them deal with the anxiety of flying. The practice, however, has gotten so out of control that the Department of Transportation is currently debating if airlines should adopt a stricter policy on what kinds of service animals should be allowed on planes. Many airlines require health certificates for your pet or service animal to travel. According to VetInfo, the certificate involves a veterinary consultation and the cost of vaccines, so it can cost anywhere from $35 to $200 if youre pets shots arent up to date. Safety first If you have a small animal weighing less than 20 pounds, most airlines will charge you $125 to $150 to carry-on your pet. Every airline requires that your animal be placed in a carrier that can comfortably fit under the airplane seat. Story continues For animals over 20 pounds, nearly every airline requires you transport your pet in a kennel in the cargo area of the plane. This can cost anywhere from $150 to $600 depending on the airline, size of the dog and destination. This practice has become controversial because of the risks. From May 2005 to July 2016, the Department of Transportation reported that 320 pets died while flying in the cargo area of planes. This figure includes 247 dogs, 48 cats and 6 birds. During this period, 82 of the animal deaths occurred on Delta, 64 died on United Airlines and 51 on American Airlines. In response, airlines like Delta have strengthened their pet programs over the past year by providing safer transportation options and closer monitoring. Still, if youre worried about your pets safety, it might be worth your time to consider other options. Many people choose to kennel their dog or hire a dog walker to stop by the house a few times a day while out of town. Each of the options can cost anywhere from $25 to $50 a day depending on where you live. Every airline has slightly different domestic pet policies; heres a breakdown from five major US carriers. American Airlines (AAL) Carry on: To carry on a pet, the animal must be at least 8 weeks old, and it must have a kennel that comfortably fits underneath the seat. The airline will charge a fee of $125 for flights within and between the US, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. Checked: To check a pet, owners must contact the airline at least 48 hours prior to arrival, however, pets are accepted on a first-come basis, so its crucial to plan ahead. Checking a cat or dog will cost approximately $200 per kennel. More from American Airlines. Delta (DAL) Carry-on: To carry on your pet, your animal must be small enough to fit comfortably in a kennel without touching or protruding from the sides. The kennel or carrier must be able to fit under the seat directly in front of you. Your pet will count as one piece of carry-on luggage. In the US and Canada, travelers will pay $125 USD to carry on their pet. Checked: Delta stopped checking pets with baggage in March, and today, travelers choosing to transport their animals underneath the plane can use a program called Delta Cargo. This option guarantees that your pet will get transported to the plane in temperature-controlled vans and will be monitored closely by customer service teams. The price varies greatly depending on the size of your animal and the distance flown, but a one-way trip can cost between $300 and $600. More from Delta. JetBlue (JBLU) Carry-on: JetBlue has a program called JetPaws to help customers decide the best way to travel with their animal. Program membership is free and includes a carrier bag tag and members earn 300 TrueBlue points on each segment when flying with a pet. However, travelers still have to pay a $100 pet fee each way. Your animal can travel in the cabin as long as its carrier does not exceed 20 pounds or 17 inches long x 12.5 inches wide x 8.5 inches high. Checked: Animals are not permitted as checked baggage on JetBlue. More from JetBlue. Southwest (LUV) Carry on: To fly in the plane cabin, your pet must be able to fit in a carrier with the maximum dimensions of 18.5 inches long x 13.5 inches wide x 8.5 inches high. The carrier will be considered one of your carry-on items and must remain under the seat in front of you for the entire flight. Southwest charges owners a $95 pet fare each way. Checked: Animals are not permitted as checked baggage. More from Southwest. United Airlines (UAL) Carry-on: Like the other airlines, United allows pets in the cabin if they are transported in a carrier that fits under the seat. The maximum dimensions for hard-sided kennels are 17.5 inches long x 12 inches wide x 7.5 inches high, and the maximum dimensions for soft-sided kennels are 18 inches long x 11 inches wide x 11 inches high. The airline will charge a $125 fee each way. Checked: Uniteds PetSafe program promises to safely transport your pet in the aircraft cargo area while awarding you 500 MileagePlus miles for each shipment. Prices vary, but customers traveling in the US can expect to pay anywhere from $200 to $963 depending on the weight of the animal. More from United. Brittany is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Read more: 6 traits of successful entrepreneurs This program proves you dont have to quit your job to travel the world The best dates to book airfare for Thanksgiving and Christmas Take a look at the behind-the-scenes photos from the Manali leg of the shoot which Salman Khan has now wrapped up. Salman Khan (L) and Kabir Khan (R) in a still from the shoot of Tubelight. (Photo: Twitter | @kabirkhankk) By India Today Web Desk: Salman Khan has wrapped up the shooting of Tubelight in Manali and returned to Mumbai. Tubelight, written and directed by Kabir Khan, will be his third collaboration with Salman, after Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015). The historical drama will show Salman falling in love with a Chinese girl in the backdrop of the 1962 Sino-Indian war. advertisement ALSO READ: Salman Khan's next film Tubelight a copy of Hollywood film Little Boy? ALSO READ: Salman Khan-Jacqueline Fernandez to pair up again for Kick 2? Director Kabir Khan took to Instagram and Twitter to share several photographs from the film's shoot. Happy Independence Day from the team of #tubelight #Ladakh A photo posted by Kabir Khan (@kabirkhankk) on Aug 15, 2016 at 1:40am PDT @beingsalmankhan surrounded by dancing locals #Tubelight #Manali #behindthescenes A photo posted by Kabir Khan (@kabirkhankk) on Oct 7, 2016 at 7:21pm PDT The moment before the shot @beingsalmankhan #Tubelight #Manali #behindthescenes A photo posted by Kabir Khan (@kabirkhankk) on Oct 8, 2016 at 7:41pm PDT @beingsalmankhan signing autographs for school children #Tubelight #Manali #behindthescenes #Eid2017 A photo posted by Kabir Khan (@kabirkhankk) on Oct 11, 2016 at 7:05pm PDT @beingsalmankhan #Dappled light #Salmankhan #Tubelight #Manali # #Eid2017 A photo posted by Kabir Khan (@kabirkhankk) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:16pm PDT We wrapped a day before schedule. So today all of us went biking and had lunch next to a river #Tubelight pic.twitter.com/48EWVOWNT0 Kabir Khan (@kabirkhankk) August 13, 2016 The stills have definitely piqued our curiosity, and the excitement is riding high on this one. We certainly hope Salman and Kabir can recreate the magic of their earlier collaborations. The film is slated for an Eid release next year. --- ENDS --- Ever since the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presidents have been judged on the successes they notch during their first 100 days. Now, as Barack Obama prepares to end his historic turn on the political stage, Yahoo News is running The Last 100 Days, a look at what Obama achieved during his consequential presidency, how he navigates the struggles of his last months in office and what lies ahead for him after eight years filled with firsts. We will also look at how the country bids farewell to its first African-American president. Its not a literal 100 days Obama leaves office in late January 2017. And it wont all be about policy. As Obama himself is fond of noting, he also spent his two terms as father to daughters Malia and Sasha and husband to first lady Michelle Obama. And even without much input from the White House, the cultural landscape shifted dramatically over his two terms on issues such as gay rights. And then theres the way the president sees the presidency not just his tumultuous years at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but also the institution and its relationships (for better or worse) with other branches of government and with the news media. In this tenth installment, we look at Obamas legacy for the Democratic Party, which has suffered a pair of brutal midterm elections under his watch. _____ On Nov. 2, 2015, long before Donald Trump captured the Republican presidential nomination, and an eternity before the former reality-show star faced politically punishing accusations from women of sexual assault, GOP strategist (and Never Trump stalwart) Rory Cooper took stock of Democratic losses during President Obamas two terms. Under President Obama, Democrats have lost 900+ state legislature seats, 12 governors, 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats. Thats some legacy, he tweeted. Nearly a year later, weeks shy of the election, and watching Trumps battleground-state poll numbers droop, Obamas job approval ratings rise, and Democrats increasingly bullish about their prospects, Cooper reassessed the situation. Story continues Obama should pay for the open bar on election night for Republicans, Cooper told Yahoo News. We gave him a nice approval rating to go out on, and well give him back a lot of the down-ballot losses he earned, all because of Trump. Obamas legacy is bound up in the uncertain future of a series of consequential achievements, including Obamacare, the nuclear deal with Iran, and the Wall Street reforms known as Dodd-Frank. But his impact on the Democratic Party and the prospects for at least partly reversing the partys slide will matter as well. After all, Republicans in Congress and in governors mansions could mount fresh attacks on his signature health care law and his other domestic achievements. GOP-held legislatures will get another shot at drawing up congressional districts to their advantage after the 2020 census. And future presidents could decide whether or not to continue his outreach to Iran and to Cuba. Democrats shored up by Obama this year not just his designated heir, Hillary Clinton, but in Congress and elsewhere could defend his legacy and provide some measure of political redemption for a president sometimes accused of not caring enough about his party. Coopers math is basically accurate (and especially stark at the state level, according to a PolitiFact analysis). At least one expert assessment has judged Obamas record as historically bad by comparison with that of other two-term presidents after World War II. In 2010, Republicans won 6 Senate seats, giving them a total of 47, and recaptured the House majority, with a 63-seat gain. Voters thinned the GOPs ranks in 2012, but in 2014, Republicans retook the majority in the Senate with a 9-seat gain and broadened their House majority by seizing 13 seats. Whether Coopers tally of Democratic losses is entirely fair to the president is a matter for debate. Thats because it starts with the results of the 2008 election. Obamas historic victory, the financial crisis and the unpopular Iraq War helped some Democrats win who might have been doomed in other years. The party that year gained a net 8 seats in the Senate, and 21 in the House of Representatives. In addition, in 2006, Democrats had made historically significant gains, retaking the House, winning a net 6 Senate seats and a majority of governorships. If American politics are on a pendulum, this argument goes, you might have expected that the situation would swing back, no matter who was sitting in the Oval Office. Still, the fact remains that Obamas party has been in retreat on his watch. Democrats say that they have high hopes for retaking some of the ground lost under Obama, a view shared inside the West Wing. For the president, after bad runs in 2010 and 2014, this would be redemption, one Democratic strategist told Yahoo News this week, on condition of anonymity. While the White House doesnt like that word redemption, the president would love to help retake the Senate and potentially the House (a much more difficult proposition), as well as to increase the ranks of Democratic governors. No doubt about it, a senior administration official told Yahoo News this week. We dont really view this as redemption, as much as its an opportunity to use his deep reservoir of political support and influence to benefit Democrats up and down the ballot, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Obama, whose job approval ratings have climbed to second-term highs, has hit the trail with relish, visiting battleground states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio just this week. Candidates have welcomed his endorsement 25 so far, but Democratic officials say to expect more. On Wednesday, Obama taped interviews with two radio stations in Florida and another in Ohio. He has a heavy schedule ahead, with rallies and fundraisers, but those are hardly his only weapons. Hes going to record a bunch of robocalls and radio ads and TV ads, [and be on] social media, the official said. Hell be visible in a variety of ways for Democrats, even if he does not travel to their state. First lady Michelle Obama has also hit the trail, as has Vice President Joe Biden. Both have publicly denounced Trumps recently revealed comments boasting of grabbing and kissing women without their consent. And the White House thinks Democrats have learned to embrace the president. In 2014, he wasnt exactly invited to participate. And thats a strategy that didnt really benefit Democrats, the senior official said. This time, he is invited to participate, and there are Democrats across the country that benefit. Until the latest wave of bombshell allegations against Trump, which include sexual assault, threatened to swamp their nominee, Republicans had expressed confidence that they could hold the Senate, noting that their candidates in some battleground states are likely to outperform the self-described billionaire. I dont think were going to lose a single Senate seat because of Donald Trump, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told NBC News in July. We have a lot of incumbents up, so were very much on defense this cycle. But that was true no matter who the nominee was going to be. Each of them are very capable, very well-funded and, in my view, are going to win. McConnell, who was referring to the fact that the GOP is defending 24 of the 34 seats up for grabs in less than a month, has refused to comment on the race since. And Republicans privately concede that Trump given their congressional candidates struggles over whether to endorse him, un-endorse him or re-endorse him could tip enough races to hand the Senate to the presidents party. Still, veteran Democratic strategists caution their partys supporters against irrational exuberance. Its going to be very, very tough, virtually impossible, for Democrats to retake the House, said Mitch Stewart, who ran the battleground states operation for Obamas 2012 reelection campaign. On the other hand, he said, after really, really bad years in 2010 and 2014, Democrats can take a big step forward in terms of winning House seats, and are certainly more optimistic, with reason about the Senate. Republicans have several advantages when it comes to the House. They ran the table in the redrawing of congressional districts after the 2010 census, doing so to their advantage. Incumbents even in this supposed change election are running strong. Democrats could in theory retake the House, but theyd need to flip 30 GOP seats. This isnt impossible, especially in a year in which Trump has rewritten some of the old rules of U.S. politics. So the bulk of the work of restoring the Democratic Party is likely to occur after Obama leaves office. And that work wont be about Congress itll be about governors. The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) last year announced plans to target governors races in 18 battleground states over the next two years, hoping to expand the partys influence over the redrawing of congressional districts that is scheduled for after the 2020 census. Nine of those states went to Obama in 2008 and 2012. According to the DGA, the result could be as many as 44 House seats tipping back into the Democratic column. In other words, when it comes to the health of the Democratic Party, Obamas record may largely be written after hes gone. The Good Wife is rushin to be remade. Thats right, the CBS legal drama gets a new lease on life with a remake from Russian production company Lean-M a national network NTV that airs in 2017. The American version already has a following in the Land of Putin, so this 16-episode local version should be instantly popular. Previously, the Julianna Margulies show was remade for South Korean television, but unfortunately we dont have any Korean-speakers in the Yahoo Studio, so we can only assume that like the American version, this one is also very, very good. American TV has a long history of being remade in other countries, like a Russian version of Full House with a not-so Jesse & the Rippers theme song. Metastasis was a Colombian version of Breaking Bad that looks almost like a shot-for-shot remake of the original with a very familiar opening credits sequence. Theres also an Indian Everybody Loves Raymond, but apparently, the nasally Ray Romano voice didnt cross borders. Or check out the Turkish version of The O.C., because Istanbul and Orange County have the same SoCal vibes and creepy sleeping dolls. There is also an incredible remake of Arrow from the Philippines that clearly has an enormous budget for prop weapons and special effects. Tell us what you think! Whats your favorite foreign remake of an American show? Its Pinoy Arrow, right? Because if its not, youre wrong. Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter. The Grinch came early this year, and a California Salvation Army's Christmas donations suffered the consequences of his actions. Read: Grieving Girlfriend Stole Wallet From EMT Attempting to Revive Dead Boyfriend Staff and volunteers were just arriving to the Salvation Army in Roseville Thursday morning when they discovered their back storage had been broken into. "Somebody had taken the crowbar and ripped the lock out of the shed," said social service coordinator Thomas Gallahue, who walked into the heartbreaking display. "It was ransacked, and I could tell it had been gone through." The shed had been storing clothes, toys, and supplies, to be distributed to families in need around Christmas. While volunteers are still trying to assess the damages, Gallahue told InsideEdition.com that 250 brand new jackets, 120 filled backpacks, and several 50 gallon drums filled with toys were among the things stolen from the collection they began building around the end of summer. "It becomes a little scary to know we can't do as much as we could have, had we had those items," Gallahue said, adding that the organization helps more than 400 families and 1,000 kids every year. But, Gallahue said the organization isn't angry with the thieves they are concerned for them. "If they have that much of a need, we would have done whatever we could to help them out in any way we could have," Gallahue said. "With us, all you have to do is ask. We'll give you what we can. That's where the frustration lies." Read: Volunteer Stole Cash from 8-Year-Old Burn Victim's Collection of Christmas Cards "Once in a while, we'll have a charity ripped off," said Dee Dee Gunther of the Roseville Police Department. "Unfortunately, it happens." Cops still have not been able to track down the perpetrators, but Gunther said, "we're hoping through the publicity, we'll be able to catch them." Story continues While the organization still has some supplies to hand out, Gallahue called the theft "a setback." They are now continuing the accept donations, and hope they will be able to rebuild their collection by Christmas. Watch: Girl, 13, With Ovarian Cancer Uses Her 'Make-A-Wish' to Feed the Homeless Related Articles: 3Q16 GDP growth braked sharply to 0.6% yoy. The Singapore economy slumped 4.1% qoq saar in 3Q16, the biggest contraction since 3Q12 and underwhelming even the most bearish of the consensus forecasts. In on-year terms, the 3Q16 growth print of +0.6% for headline GDP and -0.1% for services were both the slowest since 3Q09, post global financial crisis, said OCBC Investment Research. The research firms pointed to three reasons for the weak flash estimates. First, OCBC Bank said that the 1.4% yoy manufacturing expansion we saw in 2Q16 was a blip. "The stabilisation in the Jul and Aug industrial production data and the return of the latest manufacturing PMI data to >50 (expansion territory) were also likely illusionary," it said. Looking ahead, OCBC Bank said that the manufacturing growth will likely continue to be weighed down by transport engineering and precision engineering (due to O&G weakness globally), biomedical and general manufacturing clusters. "The WTOs recent downgrade of both 2016 and 2017 global trade growth forecasts and Chinas latest export data reinforces the grim picture, it explained. Secondly, OCBC Bank said that the drag from the external demand weakness has now permeated into the core of the Singapore economy, namely the services sector. It noted that although there are still growth opportunities within selected services industries like infocomms, education, health and social services segments, domestic business and consumer sentiments have clearly softened in line with the labour market conditions. "With more muted wage growth amid a pullback in hiring intentions, consumption will likely be more restrained," it said. Lastly, OCBC Bank highlighted that construction remains the only bright spot, expanding by 2.5% yoy (+0.5% qoq saar), lifted by public construction activities notwithstanding the sharper decline in private sector construction activities. As such, OCBC Bank believes that there is room for stimulative fiscal measures in the FY17 Budget (due in 1Q17), with government spending to underpin the healthcare and education project pipeline. More From Singapore Business Review By Nina Chestney and Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's electricity supply this winter will be tight, but there will be enough power to meet demand after emergency back-up capacity was secured last year and extra capacity returned to the market this summer, National Grid said on Friday. Britain is forecast to have a surplus power margin of 6.6 percent this winter, above the 5.5 percent forecast in July, National Grid said in its 2016/17 winter outlook report. "We expect the electricity margin to be tight but manageable this winter," Britain's grid operator said. National Grid said the margin figure included 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of back-up power services procured last year. "Additional generation capacity at Eggborough power station has (also) returned to the market and an outage on the East West Interconnector has decreased exports to Ireland," the report said. "These events have had a positive impact on the outlook for the winter." This summer Britain's Eggborough coal-fired power plant said that its unit 4 would run this winter, providing an extra 430 megawatts (MW) of capacity. National Grid still expects to import power from France, even though power prices have recently increased there after several nuclear reactor outages. Total winter power demand is expected to be 53.6 GW, excluding interconnector exports, National Grid said. The system could be at its tightest in the week of Jan. 9 because of planned outages and expected colder weather driving up demand. GAS SUPPLY In Britain's gas market there will be less gas in storage than in previous winters because of technical problems at Centrica's Rough storage site. "We expect there will be 1.3 bcm (billion cubic metres) of gas in storage at the Rough facility, compared with 2.8 bcm in October 2015 and a five-year average of 3.4 bcm," National Grid said. Rough, Britain's largest gas storage site, has maximum capacity of 3.7 bcm. However, there should be sufficient gas available from a range of sources, including domestic gas fields, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and imports, to meet winter demand. Story continues National Grid gave a wide range of between 5 mcm/day and 100 mcm/day for potential winter LNG deliveries. The amount of LNG delivered to Europe, typically from Qatar, is determined by global gas prices. In recent months higher prices in Asia have led to lower deliveries to Britain, though National Grid said that could change this winter. Britain's total gas demand is forecast at 49.1 bcm, with peak demand seen at 472 million cubic metres per day. (Editing by David Goodman) Thailand's biggest foreign investor, Japan, said Friday it would offer support to its firms in the kingdom as concerns grow that the death of its revered monarch could derail the economy. Japan has more than 4,000 companies operating in Thailand, dubbed the "Detroit of Southeast Asia" due to the huge number of auto manufacturing plants. "The government will offer appropriate support to Japanese companies if necessary so that the impact on them would be kept to a minimum," top Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a regular press briefing. He did not elaborate on what sort of help -- financial or otherwise -- Tokyo might give. Concerns over the future of the country have been lingering with the ailing health of the world's longest-reigning monarch, who has played a role of mediator at times of political turmoil during his seven-decade reign. King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away Thursday at the age of 88 after years of ill health. "Significant near-term disruption is likely," John Marrett, research analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said in a commentary. "(We are) expecting a slowdown in Thailand's economy over the next 12 months." Thai stocks rebounded sharply on Friday after plunging this week as analysts warned over the possible fallout -- political and economic -- from the king's death. Japanese auto giants Toyota and Honda said it would be business as usual for their factories in Thailand. But Japanese media have quoted unnamed insiders at firms operating in Thailand who said they worried they might have to shut plants because Thai employees could be reluctant to work as the nation mourns the king's death. Releasing new products during the one-year mourning period could be seen as being in bad taste, they added. "Our factories in Thailand will keep operating as usual this week," Toyota spokesman Itsuki Kurosu said of the auto giant's three plants. Story continues Rival Honda also said it would keep its four Thai plants running, including three auto factories and a motorcycle facility. But "if the Thai royal family or the government issues instructions (to halt operations) then we'll comply with them," added Honda spokesman Tamon Kusakabe. While much of Japan's investment in Thailand -- about $4.2 billion last year alone -- is based in manufacturing, more and more service-sector firms have opened up in the country in recent years. A school principal was arrested for posting controversial content about PM Modi and RSS leaders on Facebook. By PTI: A school principal has been arrested for allegedly posting controversial content on Facebook on the Prime Minister and RSS leaders on Dussehra. Mudassir Rana, who heads a private school in Saradhna area in Meerut, UP, has been charged under Section 153-A of IPC (promoting disharmony) and relevant sections of IT Act, police said here. Rana was arrested yesterday following a complaint and sent to jail, they said. advertisement It is alleged that Rana had in his Facebook post depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other Sangh leaders, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and yoga guru Ramdev in an objectionable way. Also Read: JNU orders enquiry into Amit Shah, PM Modi effigy event Modi's arrow against evil: Terror knows no border, world must unite against it BJP-LJP protest against burning of Modi's effigy, demand closure of JNU Opinion: Burning Modi effigy in JNU: Row exposes BJP and Congress' double standards --- ENDS --- By Ahmad Ghaddar and Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - Trade firms that profited from the renaissance in global refining over the past two years are bracing for tougher times as ample stocks, dwindling volatility and newly powerful refineries in China squeeze opportunities, the chiefs of major trade houses told the Reuters Commodities Summit. The oil price crash was a windfall for traders, who cashed in by helping the world manage the imbalance in supply and demand it created for example, by ferrying gasoline churned out at a breakneck pace in Europe to millions of new car and motorcycle owners in India and China emboldened by cheaper fuel. Traders also padded their profits through easier conditions created by contango a market structure in which prices in the future are higher than those today. This allows them to make money just by holding onto oil and oil products, or even slowly shipping it from one region to another. But trade house chiefs told the Reuters commodities summit that in 2016, and the year to come, these golden opportunities will become increasingly hard to find. "I think it will be slightly tougher for everybody," Vitol Chief Executive Ian Taylor said. While Europe's refineries are still remarkably profitable well after most industry experts thought the margins would have melted away the money-making opportunities they created are fading. Gasoline, said Glencore's head of oil Alex Beard, "really didn't perform the way many people expected, I think mainly because of an overhang of gasoline from last winter." A strong refinery margin, along with a good contango, makes for an ideal trading environment, he said. Beard warned that "the refining margin outlook is trending back to long-term historical averages, which is challenging to many," including Glencore. Distillates, such as heating oil, diesel and jet fuel, have also flooded into the world's storage tanks. The ample availability means that traders can miss out on additional profits. Story continues Traders are also warily eyeing China's independent refineries, dubbed "teapots", which were allowed late last year to start importing crude oil directly for the first time. Suddenly, Taylor said, these units "found everybody's number on their speed dial", and began churning products into the global market. "China has started exporting some products at times. So the surplus tends to be pushed into international markets faster, when traditionally (when Chinese consumption outstripped production) they refrained from exporting products," said Mercuria chief Marco Dunand. "You have to be a lot more informed about internal product storage levels." Even so, no one predicted a return to the crisis of the beginning of the decade for either refineries or traders. "The market has been able to absorb a number of big (refinery) projects in the Middle East, China, India ... in a very short period of time," said Torbjorn Tornqvist, chief executive of Gunvor, noting these did not collapse margins. "I don't think it's going to be as bad as it was three or four years ago, when it really was tough." (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) From Country Living In a major move for animal rights activists, TripAdvisor announced Wednesday that they would stop selling tickets to hundreds of tourist attractions where people come into contact with captive wild animals or endangered species. This includes popular vacation activities like swimming with dolphins, petting tigers, and riding elephants. According to the New York Times, between two million and four million tourists every year visit tourist attractions that may be harmful to animals, but TripAdvisor reviews for those tourist attractions rarely, if ever, talk about animal welfare. Many tourists may believe that their activities are likely regulated to protect the animals, but that's often not the case. National Geographic notes that attractions like elephant rides have been shown to cause the animals psychological and physical trauma, and even shorten their life span. Some wild animals are drugged to make them safe four tourists, and others are beaten and held in small cages. TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site, has long had a policy to not post reviews for any event that killed or injured animals for sport, like bullfights. If an event falls into their new categories, you can still see reviews on TripAdvisor and its companion site Viator, but you can't buy tickets. Now, if you visit a page for an animal attraction, the page will also show links to an educational site that gives more detail about animal welfare, and the controversies surrounding certain animal-centered tourist attractions. The Los Angeles Times reports that TripAdvisor's policy comes months after Sea World announced it would stop breeding captive killer whales. That move came as a response to the scathing documentary Blackfish. But Sea World said it was disappointed by TripAdvisor's new move, according to the Los Angeles Times, because they have educational programs that allow interaction with animals, but that are accredited by multiple agencies. Story continues Both websites will offer an appeals process to any company that says they were unfairly banned. And there are certain animal-related attractions that are just fine, like petting zoos with domestic animals, horseback riding, certain activities supervised by zoos or aquariums, and "voluntourism" programs meant to help endangered species. TripAdvisor will stop selling tickets immediately to certain attractions, and wait on others until early 2017, when the education portal will be available. You Might Also Like Jessica Leeds arrives at her apartment building this Wednesday in New York. (Photo: Julie Jacobson/AP) A woman who accused Donald Trump of sexual assault said she was compelled to tell her story after watching his comments at the second presidential debate. Jessica Leeds told CNNs Anderson Cooper Thursday night that she didnt want to come forward with her story because the incident in question happened so long ago. But she was angry after hearing the Republican presidential candidates answer Sunday night to a question about whether he had ever groped a woman without her consent. It was too long ago. So, but when you at the debate, when you specifically asked Trump had he ever groped a woman or I forget how you phrased it. And he said no, she told Cooper, who was one of the debate moderators. Cooper said, Yes, I asked him if hed ever if he was just bragging about sexual assault or if he had actually done what he said. Right, and he said no, she continued. And I literally wanted to throw something at the TV or punch my hand in the TV. And that that was Sunday night. And Monday morning, I found myself writing an email, letter to the editor to the [New York] Times. Leeds said there was something about actually watching Trump, onstage, deny touching or assaulting women that compelled her to go public. She said Trump might not even be aware that hes lying because hes built up the defenses in his head to such a point that he doesnt know the truth. I really would like for the fact that hes lying and he lies about so many things, really brought out and, yes, you did. You asked a very good question, she told Cooper, adding that Trump is an expert at pivoting to other topics. But hes very good at, all of a sudden, he was talking about ISIS, and he was talking about defense and he was talking about this, that and the other. So, he manages to change the conversation. Leeds accusation was one of four bombshell allegations of forcible touching leveled against Trump on Wednesday. Trump has fiercely fought back against the claims, suggesting that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, is in cahoots with the media to smear him. Story continues Another one of the women, Mindy McGillivray, also told the Palm Beach Post that she was motivated by Sundays debate, where Trump had told Cooper that he had never kissed or groped a woman without her consent. Last Friday, the Washington Post published a 2005 video recording of Trump boasting about doing exactly that. For her part, Leeds said she couldnt sleep the night of the debate as she thought about what she should do and how she should do it. She said she previously shared her story with two friends and that they thought she should go public with her story. She added that she was amazed with how quickly the Times responded to her and how fast the whole experience escalated. Initially, she said, she thought the paper would just rewrite her email in the letters to the editor section. A phone interview led to an in-person interview, which led to a video interview. The Times published her account of Trump allegedly forcing himself upon her aboard a plane headed to New York on Wednesday. Another woman, Rachel Crooks, also accused Trump of unwanted sexual advances in the Times article. A fourth woman, People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, also spoke out Wednesday about Trump allegedly forcing his tongue down [her] throat in 2005. And then I was out last night at a concert. And I had alerted my daughter that they were going to publish it online, she said. And so, when I came out from the concert, my phone, of course, I had turned it off, my phone was buzzing all over the place. And there was my daughter saying, Oh, my God. So, that is when I saw the video. Cooper asked Leeds if she was aware of how much criticism there would be for her to tell her story about a presidential candidate during such a contentious election cycle. Trumps campaign manager, Katrina Pierson, for instance, argued that Leeds story could not be true because the aircraft that flew into New York at the time of the alleged assault did not have adjustable armrests. Leeds said she is not opening any emails she does not recognize and is not watching television. Linda Ross, one of Leeds friends, said on CNN Tonight With Don Lemon that she did not question why Leeds didnt say anything about the alleged assault immediately after it happened. Ross noted that it was more difficult for women to report such incidents decades ago. We didnt tell these things generally. So, she told me her story and I was literally shaking, she said. I was horrified by what she told me and I didnt ask her why she didnt tell anybody at the time, because I knew why she didnt. We just didnt. There were repercussions if you were a businessperson and dealing with businesspeople, youre usually outnumbered. It was just a difficult thing to do. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is reportedly ready to name Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim as a member of the global conspiracy that he insists is working to deny him the presidency of the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump is expected to claim that Slim, among the richest people in the world, is working with the Clinton campaign to damage Trumps reputation by bringing forward women who claim the real estate magnate has assaulted them sexually. Related: Is the Dam Breaking? Multiple Women Come Forward Accusing Trump of Assault Slim, who was already a successful businessman when he took over the privatized Mexican telephone company Telmex in the 1990s, is chairman and chief executive of both Telmex and America Movil, the largest mobile phone service provider in Latin America. His other business holdings are many and varied, and he also funds several charitable foundations. Slim holds a significant minority stake in the New York Times, a fact that Trump will reportedly use to suggest collusion between the billionaire and the newspaper that late Wednesday published the stories of two women who claim Trump sexually assaulted them. The Times, which has endorsed Hillary Clinton, said in a statement that its editorial decisions remain independent, and that Slim has never attempted to influence them on any topic. Trumps plan, according to the Journal, is to link Slim to a larger cabal controlled by his Democratic challenger for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former president Bill Clinton. The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure, he said in a speech Thursday. Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents, in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors. Related: Donald Trump -- A Global Conspiracy Is Out to Get Me Story continues If Trump goes through with the plan to add Slim to the list of global financial titans he claims to see aligning against him, it wouldnt be the first time the Mexican billionaire has played a tangential role in the presidential campaign. Trump, who famously began his campaign by railing against the rapists and other criminals he claimed were pouring into the country from Mexico, also made the construction of a massive border wall -- that he insists Mexico will pay for -- one of his key policy positions. Trumps comments infuriated Mexican and Mexican-Americans. Less than two weeks later, a television network backed by Slim and America Movil cancelled a project it was working on in conjunction with Trump-owned companies. At the time, Slims son-in-law and spokesperson, Arturo Elias, called Trumps comments racist and said, His statement was totally out of line...working with someone so closed-minded was not going to work. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: donald trump In a fiery speech attempting to discredit several women accusing him of sexual misconduct, Donald Trump on Thursday tried to deflect attention to the power of what he called a "global power structure" out to "destroy" him. Speaking at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Republican presidential nominee sought to pin this election as the "last chance" his supporters had at overthrowing the "corrupt" establishment of the media, government, special interests, and corporations all working in concert. "It's a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities," Trump told the crowd. "For them it's a war, and for them nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it on November 8 remember that." After a 2005 tape of Trump saying obscene things about women surfaced on Friday, and multiple women accused him of unwanted, inappropriate contact on Wednesday, his campaign appeared to be unraveling. Prominent Republicans withdrew their endorsements. Polls showed his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton, surging to victory. Trump has been espousing antiestablishment rhetoric since he entered the presidential race, but his denunciations on Thursday were spiced with a renewed vigor, seeming to galvanize and reassure his base. Taking an almost apocalyptic tone in Thursday's speech, he suggested that the media and the banks in particular were working to elect the "Clinton machine" so they could stay in power and that they were behind the personal attacks lobbed against him in the past week. "For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that don't have your good in mind," Trump said. "Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they haven't seen before. This is not simply another four-year election. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we the people reclaim control over our government." Story continues The Anti-Defamation League described Trump's specific attacks on the media and the banks as "fascist code for 'Jews,'" The New York Times reported. Sean Sullivan of The Washington Post wrote that Trump's belief that the "global power structure" was out to get him fit into the Manhattan mogul's support for other conspiracy theories including the President Barack Obama birther fiasco and his suggestion that the father of his Republican primary opponent Ted Cruz was connected to John F. Kennedy's assassination. Just weeks and one final debate stand between the American people and a new president. As Trump said to close his speech: "Our Independence Day is at hand, and it arrives finally on Nov. 8." NOW WATCH: 'Totally and absolutely false': Trump vehemently denies sexual assault allegations More From Business Insider OCALA, FloridaIn Donald Trump's war of all against all, none shall be spared. "I'm so angry at the Republicans," he says, eyes slitted in a mocking grimace. He's riffing off the leaked email that shows that allies of Hillary Clinton gave her a question in advance of a town hall broadcast by CNN in March. "I want to be fed information like Hillary gets," he complains, jabbing with his right forefinger. "The Republicans are not doing their job!" The people are not sure how to react to this: Some laugh, others cheer, others boo. There are thousands of people here, sitting on bleachers and standing on the floor of a dirt-floored livestock arena, clad in a vast array of creative T-shirts. ("Deplorable Lives Matter," "She Wants the D," "Bomb the Shit out of ISIS," "We're Going to Need a Bigger Basket," "9/11 Was an Inside Job.") "The leaders," Trump complains, are "not putting their weight behind the people." He had, in his view, won the last presidential debate, and yet the House speaker, Paul Ryan, had not called to congratulate him. "Wouldn't you think maybe Paul Ryan would call and say, 'Good going'?" Trump asks. "You'd think they would say, 'Good going, Don! Let's beat this crook! She's a crook! Let's beat her, we've got to stop it! No, he doesn't do that." Recommended: The Trump Allegations: The Latest Updates Boooo. The air is warm, the humidity so thick it feels soft, like a damp fleece blanket. Far from here, out in reality, the whole flimsy Trump edifice is crashing down. His predatory boasts have come to light; the women he has preyed upon, realizing they are not alone, are coming out of the woodwork. The other Republicans on the ballot, trapped like doomed deer in oncoming headlights, are frozen between fleeing in terror or continuing to insist that Clinton is even worse, that bad people can do good things, that Trump remains a gamble worth taking. Story continues The Republicans appeased Trump, thinking that placating him would stave off chaos. But the chaos came anyway, and now it has taken over. "I always figure things out, folks," Trump says. "There's a whole sinister deal going on." As the campaign enters its gruesome, death-rattle phaseyes, there are three and a half more weeks of this to endureTrump is refusing to go down without a fight. He intends to drag them all with him if he can, down into the swirling chaos. Scary clowns have been popping up all over the country, and somehow this does not seem like a coincidence. This, this massive crowd in a giant barn in the middle of Florida, amid a landscape dotted with auto-body shops and one-story houses and dripping with Spanish moss, is all Trump has left: his ravening hordes, the throngs that still flock to see him, impervious to the "reality" the crooked media portrays. The media, after all, is just an extension of the Clinton campaign, as Trump contends the emails conclusively reveal. Recommended: What Will Happen to the Trump Die-Hards? He has, too, his traveling circus, the shrinking crew of political castoffs still willing to sing his praises, starting with Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who tells the crowd, "We're going to win! We're going to win Florida!" Giuliani says of the emails, "Don't they prove everything we ever thought about her was true? Now it's in writing, and all those conspiracy theories turn out to be correct!" Indeed, the emails have revealed a Clinton apparatus that is cozy with the media, unrepentantly globalist, and cravenly two-faced, just as her opponents contended. Giuliani also says, of September 11, "I was there that day, and I don't remember seeing Hillary Clinton that day," even though she never claimed to have been there, and the two of them toured the site together shortly afterward. (He later apologized.) But you can say whatever you want to this crowd and they'll believe you, because they don't believe anyone who tells them otherwise. And Trump has the Republican Party he has taken hostage and refused to relinquish. "I am a member of Congress and I support Donald Trump," Representative Daniel Webster tells the crowd defiantly. Another local congressman, Ted Yoho, says he's not condoning or making excuses for things Trump said "11 years ago in a locker room," as if it were actually a locker roomit was on a busbut he insists Trump has apologized and Clinton is worse. Men like Webster and Yoho owe their positions to knowing how to satisfy this crowd, and it's not with high-minded appeals to laissez-faire economics. Recommended: The Tweetstorm Heard 'Round the Republican Party So the meteor barrels toward the earth. It's common to refer to a campaign in freefall as an "implosion," but really, this is an explosion, throwing shrapnel in all directions, immolating innocent bystanders. Trump has cast off the shackles of the bosses who tried to rein him in. He is determined to consume the ungrateful party that, having nominated him, now is having second thoughts. As an advertisement paid for by the campaign recently put it: "IT'S US AGAINST THE WORLD." Mike Segar / Reuters A man in the crowd has written in big letters on the margins of his Trump-Pence placard, GRAB THEM IN THE PAUL RYAN." A vendor is selling unauthorized signs that say, "Don't be a Pussy, VOTE FOR TRUMP," and people are buying them. Trump, on the stage, his meaty face shining in the dull light, looks over the sea of faces as the chant of "Lock her up!" gains momentum and becomes a consuming roar. "We're not going to be the stupid people anymore!" Trump cries, and the crowd erupts in cheers. The Republicans who saw it coming regard the unfolding disaster with a mix of smugness and despair. The "Never-Trumpers" point back to the warnings they issued long ago, unable to much relish being proven right. Reid Ribble, a Republican representative from Wisconsin who is not seeking reelection, was the first sitting member of Congress to say he would never vote for Trump. "It's going to get worse," he told me, after the debate but before Wednesday's avalanche of sexual-assault accusations. "He's true to the character he has shown during the entire campaign." Ribble is close to Ryan, the House speaker, whose wrestling with the Trump dilemma has been a running Hamlet act. Trump's brash populism couldn't be more antithetical to Ryan's boy-scout demeanor and supply-side gospel. He has made it clear he strongly disapproves of Trump and criticized Trump's behavior, yet he feels duty-bound to support his party's nominee. On Monday, Ryan held a conference call with the rest of the Republican House members, telling them they had to do what was right for their constituents and announcing he would not campaign with Trump. The campaign has been an ordeal for Ryan, as it has been for many professional Republicans. On the call, some members from strongly Republican districts attacked Ryan for not being more supportive, even as many anti-Trumpers view his endorsement as a craven capitulation. The meltdown at the top of the ticket has gotten so bad that some forecasters think the Republicans' 59-seat majority, one of the largest in history, could be erased. Ribble defended his friend when I asked if Ryan should rescind his endorsement. "I never endorsed [Trump], so I'm that guy that thinks everybody should," he said. "But I think Paul is trying to find the best way to navigate this for the 247 House Republicans. He's taking the most pragmatic view he can. He's not going to defend the indefensible." Ribble hasn't made up his mind but is leaning toward voting for the independent candidate Evan McMullin. Though he's leaving Congress, Ribble frets about his party's future. "I think this presidential race has done great damage to the conservative movement," he said. He believes the populist wing of the party represented by Trump is no more than 20 or 25 percent under normal circumstances, and shouldn't be allowed to "hijack" the GOP. "I'm not a moral relativistI think there are real boundaries about how we should live our lives and conduct ourselves," he said. "This wing is saying, 'No, there aren't.'" For the Republicans who capitulated to Trump, the best-case scenario was a genteel defeat. Instead, they got the worst case: the party burned down from within, its own voters cheering the fire. Like so many of those who have gone into business with Trump, they trusted him to hold up his end of the bargain, only to find themselves stuck with a bill he refuses to pay. "I resigned myself long ago to the fact that this was going to be a disaster," Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist who has worked for the party's Senate committee, told me a few days ago. "But there's no real gratification in having it confirmed in the most obvious and predictable way." Donovan has taken to reposting on Twitter a National Review commentary from May wherein he argued that Trump could never win a general election. ("The Archie Bunker routine that succeeded among a subset of the Right is precisely what put him in his current hole," Donovan wrote back then. "It turns out that what revs the GOP engine is repellent to everyone else.") "It's been a dark six months," Donovan said, but Trump's increasing personal toxicity combined with his jihad against the party that nominated him could still get worse. "That's the scary part," he said, noting that Trump had tweeted over the weekend that he wanted the politicians pulling back from him to lose their elections. Trump probably doesn't know he's going to lose, Donovan said, but "he's laying the narrative preemptively to place the blame after this goes down"to pin it on the traitors in the Republican establishment who fled the sinking ship like so many rats. Based on primary votes, "14 million people are at least susceptible to this argument," he added. "Is he going to spend the next 20-some days dragging everybody down with him? So there's a lot of looking into the abyss." None of Trump's presentations are driven by polling or strategy, particularly now that he's cast off any pretense of politeness. "His instincts are what they are. He always goes back to the same well," Donovan said. "The message he's putting out is doubling down on the underlying sentiment of his whole candidacy: us against the elites, redemption for people who feel ignored. People like Paul Ryan are keeping you down." Pure resentment with no veneer. Trumpism distilled to its essence. But like children picking sides in an acrimonious divorce, the Trump hordes know where their loyalty lies, and it's with Daddy. They lash out angrily at Trump's critics and thrill to his call to rain down consequences on the disloyal. Keith Easter, a 72-year-old dentist who lives in Hernando, tells me he has just sent an email to all of his contacts listing all the Republicans who don't support Trump and urging them to "drop all support for them and go another way." Easter says, "These people are either fearful or misinformed or self-absorbed. We don't need 'em." Mike Segar / Reuters Easter has not forgiven Ted Cruz, whom he once donated to. "He and the others have alienated themselves from me and a good part of the United States," he says. "They're history. They're has-beens. They need to get out of the way." Jerry Brown, a 67-year-old retired truck mechanic from Hawthorne, Florida, says, "The media is just against him, trying to make him look bad." Of Ryan and the Republicans repudiating Trump, he adds, "These wimps deserve to lose their jobs. They're running scared because they can't face the truth." "He's a man, OK?" says Brown's friend Kim Cady, a 54-year-old housekeeper who wears her gray-brown hair feathered around her face. "Men are going to grab and grope. Somebody with that much money can grab your butt, big whoop. He didn't rape anybody or have extramarital affairs." Her favorite part of the last debate was when Trump told Clinton she would be in jail if he was president. They do not believe the polls. A lot of things are new about this election, but the denial feels very familiarit's the same bunkered insistence that had Mitt Romney convinced he was winning, against far less conclusive evidence, four years ago. "I don't listen to the polls. They're all biased," says Rick Johnson, 56, an electrician semi-retired on disability. "Look at the number of people coming to the rallies! This is a big majority of Americans!" The world is a horror show, they tell me: ISIS taking over the Middle East, Syrians and Mexicans invading America, socialism on the march thanks to President Obama, and a trail of dead bodies in Clinton's sordid past, from the 1990s to Benghazi. Next to that, what are a few personal indiscretions, a nasty word here and there? "The Republicans not standing behind Trump are not fit to shine his shoes," says Gail Stickle, 67, whose bright blonde hair is pinned atop her head, a gauzy red-white-and-blue scarf around her neck. "I totally supported the Bush family. Now I'm sick of them. They're career politicians. They don't care about our country, they only care about their jobs." These are Trump's people. They are all he has left. They are sticking with him to the bitter end, and maybe after that, in the conflagration that envelops the Republican Party. Sharon Day, the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, takes the stage before Trump and tells the crowd to ignore the establishment's judgment. "The Republican national party is you!" she says. "It's every Republican across the country! Mr. Trump talks to ushe gets us!" And they answer her with a roar that echoes in the humid pavilion. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. (In this Oct. 13 story, corrects description of legal standard regarding Trump in paragraph 15) By Alison Frankel and Dan Levine (Reuters) - Donald Trump hasn't sued a newspaper for libel in three decades, despite the Republican presidential nominee repeatedly threatening to do so over the course of his business career, according to databases of state and federal court records. A lawyer for the New York real estate developer demanded on Wednesday The New York Times retract a story in which two women accused Trump of inappropriately touching them. If the newspaper did not comply, Trump, who says the allegations are fabricated, would "pursue all available actions and remedies," the lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said in a letter. Trump said at a rally on Thursday he was preparing a lawsuit. An attorney for the Times, David McCraw, said the story was of national importance and the paper would "welcome the opportunity" to defend it in court. Over the years, media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, the New York Post and Fortune Magazine have reported receiving similar threats from Trump or his representatives in advance of unflattering articles. However, Trump rarely makes good on those threats, according to a Reuters review of court dockets in the database of online legal research service Westlaw, a unit of Thomson Reuters. The last time he sued a news organization for libel was apparently in 1984. Trump filed the case after the Chicago Tribunes architecture critic called his proposed 150-story Manhattan skyscraper an "atrocious, ugly monstrosity." In 1985, a federal judge in Manhattan dismissed the suit, ruling the critic had a First Amendment right to express his opinion. The skyscraper was never built. In the 32 years since Trump brought that suit, he has not taken similar action against another news organization, although he or his companies have sued at least three individuals and a book publisher. He was successful in one of those cases. Book author and former New York Times reporter Timothy O'Brien defeated a Trump libel lawsuit in 2011, after Trump underwent a grueling deposition by O'Brien's lawyers. Trump's suit against O'Brien, which also named OBriens publisher, Time Warner Book Group, alleged the author deliberately underestimated the businessman's net worth. A New Jersey state judge found in 2009 that Trump had not established OBriens actual malice. "OPENING UP OUR LIBEL LAWS" Former Miss Universe contestant Sheena Monnin was hit with a $5 million default judgment after she failed to appear for arbitration in a case in which Trump claimed she falsely denigrated the pageant as rigged. The arbitration judgment was upheld by a federal judge in Manhattan in 2013. The court record indicates the judgment was paid in 2014. The same year, a San Diego federal judge ruled Tarla Makaeff, who was lead plaintiff in a class action against Trump University, did not act with malice when she said in letters to her bank and the Better Business Bureau that Trump University engaged in fraudulent business practices. The judge, Gonzalo Curiel, dismissed Trump's defamation claim. Trump's attorneys, as well as a spokeswoman for his campaign, did not respond to requests for comment on his libel litigation record, including requests for information on any suits the Reuters docket search may have missed. U.S. courts have routinely deemed Trump a public figure in libel lawsuits. That means he has to show not only that the story is false, but also that the media outlet knew that it was false or published it in "reckless disregard" for the truth. If Trump were a private person, he would have to show the paper was negligent in failing to learn the allegations were false, which is a lower standard of proof. The New York Times attorney, David McCraw, wrote that the paper carefully vetted the allegations in the story. CHANGING LAWS NOT EASY Any Trump claim will be difficult because Trump's accusers were on the record, said Jane Kirtley, a media law expert at University of Minnesota Law School. That would bolster the newspapers argument that it didnt act recklessly in publishing their accounts. Trump has vowed to "open up our libel laws," if he wins the presidency on Nov. 8, to make it easier to sue news organizations. In reality, he would not be able to unilaterally change the laws because they are generally governed by individual states and court precedents. Court records show that Trump or his businesses have themselves been sued several times for libel or defamation. Most of those suits, including a complaint by a former tenant of a Trump condominium and another by a former dealer at a Trump casino in Indiana, were dismissed. One defamation suit against Trump survived dismissal, however. Stock analyst Marvin Roffman sued Trump for $2 million in federal court in Philadelphia in 1990, claiming he was fired from his job after publicly predicting the failure of the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Roffman alleged Trump defamed him in critical statements to numerous newspapers and magazines. After a federal judge refused to toss the case, the Trump Organization settled in 1991. An attorney for Roffman declined to comment. (Reporting by Alison Frankel in New York and Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Amy Stevens and Ross Colvin) By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who has pitched for a second term for President Pranab Mukherjee, will meet him next week, in a move that can cause flutters in political circles. Raut, who is the partys leader in the Rajya Sabha, has insisted that Mukherjee has proved to be the "best President" and no one can doubt his capability. advertisement "In the last five years, he has shown that he is a capable and a non-controversial President, who is well-versed in national and international affairs," Raut said. Asked whether the Shiv Sena, which is a key constituent of the BJP-led NDA and the oldest ideological ally of the saffron party, would appeal to other parties for backing Mukherjee for a second term, Raut said, it is a decision which only party chief Uddhav Thackeray can take. "Uddhav Thackeray too has a lot of respect and affection for Pranab Mukherjee," he said. Raut, who is the executive editor of Shiv Senas mouthpeice Saamna, said, "Just like his party appreciated the surgical strikes by the armed forces and congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, similarly, we are appreciating the good work of the President." When asked why is he meeting the President next week, Raut said it is just a "courtesy call". The Senas stand, which currently shares an uneasy relationship with the BJP, comes amid reports that the government had decided on a post-retirement home for Mukherjee, whose tenure ends in July 2017. In run-up to the Presidential polls, Mukherjee had visited Matoshree, the residence of Thackerays, to garner support for his candidature. The Sena, under Bal Thackerays leadership, had broken ranks with BJP to support Mukherjees presidential candidature in 2012. PTI SPG PR TIR --- ENDS --- By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Donald Trumps U.S. election prospects dimming and controversy swirling around him, future Republican presidential hopefuls may be weighing whether standing by their man is the savvy move. Party strategists fear voters fleeing Trump will also fail to support Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, possibly costing the party control of Congress. If Trump loses the Nov. 8 presidential election to Democrat Hillary Clinton, his polarizing candidacy may reverberate well past 2016, tarring future Republican White House hopefuls, potentially including House Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trumps vice presidential running mate. Trump was struggling in opinion polls before a 2005 video released last week showed him talking in sexually aggressive terms about seducing women. Afterward came stories in several news outlets alleging Trump had inappropriately touched women. Trump has angrily denounced the stories, the media and Republicans who have declined to support him. "The brand has already been irrevocably damaged. Theres nothing we can do in the short term, said Doug Heye, a former top official with the Republican National Committee. Looking to the 2018 U.S. congressional election and the 2020 presidential election, Heye said: In two to four years, the stain on our partys soul wont be washed away. To be sure, a Trump loss is no guarantee the Republicans would suffer for long. Four years after Barry Goldwater's massive loss in 1964, Richard Nixon staged a Republican comeback. The conservative Heritage Foundation think thank has said Goldwater launched a shift to the right that would end half a century of liberal dominance in American politics. DEFINING MOMENT For Republicans weighing a run for president in four years, deciding whether to back Trump may be a defining moment equal to what politicians faced in 2002 when they decided whether to back Republican President George Bush's Iraq invasion. By 2006, public sentiment had turned harshly against the Iraq war, some Republican politicians lost their jobs, and Democrats seized both the House and Senate. Republican presidential hopefuls of the future may be asking: How can I be loyal and stand by Trump while at the same time expand the party's base to include sectors the candidate has alienated? More broadly, they may ask: What's the right side of history? Trumps candidacy has attracted passionate support from a core group of voters but also driven away some moderates and independents. Republicans such as Heye fear Trump, who already has alienated large populations of Hispanic voters because of his hard line on immigration, will cost the party a generation of women voters as well. Ryan, Rubio and Pence all have, to some degree, sought to distance themselves from Trump. Ryan this week told colleagues he would no longer publicly defend Trump, in essence washing his hands of him. Rubio, who ran against Trump in the Republican primary and is fighting for re-election in his home state of Florida, has criticized Trumps remarks about women, but has not withdrawn his support. Pence is routinely forced to answer for his running mates conduct, but managed at last weeks vice presidential debate to outline policy differences with him. If Trump leads the party to crushing defeat next month, he may for years haunt Republican office-holders who supported him. I predict a chaotic round of finger pointing after the election, as people try to justify their position, said Jim Manley, a former top aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid who witnessed the Democratic wave in 2006 first-hand. Democrats are trying to link vulnerable Senate candidates to Trump at every turn. On Thursday, the advocacy group American Bridge highlighted Trumps praise of Rubio on local Florida television, even as Rubio has avoided appearing at any Trump events in the state. Clinton on Twitter this week noted that Ryan has not recanted his endorsement of Trump. 'TOUGH' FOR PENCE Strategists say Pence would have the hardest time emerging from Trumps shadow. I think for Pence, its really tough, said Republican operative Liz Mair. Pence excited some conservative voters with his debate performance. A Politico/Morning Consult poll taken afterward showed him as the top choice for 2020 among Republicans, at 22 percent. Ryan, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Rubio followed. Cruz, who was Trumps leading rival for the 2016 Republican nomination, illustrated the perils of trying to respond to Trumps candidacy. After holding out, Cruz endorsed Trump last month, just before the candidate went into a public-opinion tailspin. Cruz and Rubio, as well as Ryan, have come under fire from some Republicans for appearing to waver on Trump, at times standing by him and at other times criticizing him. "People that waffle are going to have more trouble than people who pick a side, said Brian Bartlett, a Republican strategist who worked for Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign. He said Ohio Governor John Kasich, another presidential candidate who consistently refused to endorse Trump, may emerge in the strongest position of all. Other potential 2020 contenders, such as South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, may benefit from not being on the ballot this year, thus being spared from being asked constantly about Trump while campaigning. But that assumes the anti-Trump forces in the party hold sway after the election. There will still be a significant chunk of the party who will view Trumps critics as disloyal, Bartlett warned, which may put some establishment politicians on the spot to explain why they did not do more to support the nominee. (Writing by James Oliphant; Editing by Caren Bohan and Howard Goller) TSA students In their line of duty, US Transportation Security Administration officers, or TSOs, have come across a number of bizarre and dangerous items, from Batarangs and tomahawks to stun guns disguised as everyday items like lipstick, cigarettes, and cell phones. But perhaps the oddest items people pass through TSA screening are the ones they've made to look threatening. The TSA considers improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the "main threat" and one of the most important things that officers have to find when screening passengers and baggage. IEDs are particularly hard to find because they could be made from some of the most common items, even toilet paper. "An IED is limited only by the imagination of the bomber and the materials readily at hand," Bill Morgan, an explosives specialist and TSA Academy instructor, told his class of new TSA recruits when we visited the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, in July. Historically, the TSA doesn't have the best track record for catching threats. During a number of covert audits on passenger and baggage-screening operations last year, airport TSA screeners failed to detect banned weapons in 67 of 70 tests at dozens of airport checkpoints around the country, prompting, among other things, a complete overhaul of how new officers are trained. And apparently a few passengers have decided to take it upon themselves to keep the TSA on its toes. "One of the weirdest things I've ever experienced on the job is just people trying to package things in a way to see if we can actually catch it," said Jason Pockett, a TSA Academy instructor who joined the agency in 2010 as a TSO, during Business Insider's visit to FLETC in July. Pockett said he's seen all sorts of strange configurations, like batteries taped to different types of Tupperware containers. "When it comes through, it just doesn't look right. It's got an unusual look to it," he said. In 2015, the TSA reports its officers screened more than 708 million passengers, 1.6 billion carry-on bags, and 432 million checked bags. So it's not all that surprising that TSOs are privy to some fairly odd behavior. Story continues Pockett said he's also seen some pretty gross albeit ingenious attempts at dissuading TSOs from conducting screenings. "We've had individuals put sensitive items like dirty laundry in their bags just so we won't go in there," he said. "Every day, honestly, is a different experience," he said. NOW WATCH: 4 morning rituals that are hard to adopt but could really pay off More From Business Insider ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Police raided Turkey's top court of appeals on Friday, armed with arrest warrants for 189 judges and prosecutors, and swept on other courthouses as part of a crackdown on state officials following a failed coup, state media reported. The chief prosecutor in Ankara sought the latest arrests of members of the judiciary at the justice ministry and other courthouses, including judges working at the Court of Cassation, the top court of appeals, and the Council of State, the highest administrative court, Anadolu news agency said. More than 32,000 people are in jail and 100,000, including top military figures, have been dismissed from jobs in the security and civil services for their alleged links to a religious network the government says staged the July 15 military coup. The scale of the purges has drawn criticism from opposition politicians and Western allies that President Tayyip Erdogan, who faced possible assassination on the night of the coup, may be using the coup to consolidate his power. Accused mastermind, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, denies involvement in the unsuccessful coup that killed 240 people who resisted it and around 100 rogue troops. An official at the main Ankara courthouse was unable to confirm the report, and no one answered the phone at the press office. The judges and prosecutors were accused for their alleged use of a smart-phone messaging app called ByLock, Anadolu said. The intelligence agency identified some 56,000 users of ByLock, which they say Gulen's followers began using in 2014. Authorities have detained hundreds of police and members of the bureaucracy in the past week due to their alleged use of ByLock. Police detained the prosecutor in charge of the local coup investigation in the central Turkish city of Konya after discovering he used ByLock, Star newspaper reported on Friday. The Education Ministry on Thursday removed 2,400 teachers from their posts as part of the coup-plot investigation, Anadolu reported. The Turkish Armed Forces sacked 109 military judges on Thursday, the Defence Ministry said. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Nick Tattersall/Jeremy Gaunt/Ralph Boulton) Ankara (AFP) - Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants on Friday for 189 judges and prosecutors over suspected links with the US-based Islamic cleric accused of ordering the failed July coup, state media reported. The warrants issued by the Ankara public prosecutor claimed that they used an encrypted messaging app, ByLock, which the Turkish authorities say was employed by followers of the movement, the official Anadolu news agency said. Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen is accused by Ankara of masterminding the coup bid from his Pennsylvania compound, using his followers in state institutions in Turkey in a bid to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999, strongly denies the charges. According to the agency, detentions are sought for suspects who work in the justice ministry, courts across Turkey as well as the Supreme Court. Some 30 of those sought work in Istanbul, the agency said, while police have already detained three judges and prosecutors at the Ankara courthouse, NTV broadcaster reported. A day earlier, 184 judges and prosecutors were suspended by the Turkish Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) because they used the app, Anadolu reported. In total, the board has suspended nearly 3,500 judges and prosecutors since the putsch for links with the movement, the agency said. Ankara has said that ByLock was used to coordinate the putsch and share secret messages. But officials say that since May 2015, the country's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) had begun to decrypt messages sent on the app. Officials say that this meant that in the aftermath of the coup, they were able to identify tens of thousands of Gulen followers, including ranking military personnel. The purge within Turkey's public sector has continued apace with 2,400 teachers suspended by the education ministry as part of the investigation into the movement on Thursday, Anadolu reported. Story continues Tens of thousands within the military, education sector, judiciary and media have been arrested, detained or sacked since the coup bid in a crackdown which has caused concern among Turkey's Western allies including the European Union. Brussels has urged Turkey to act within the rule of law while activists accuse Ankara of using a state of emergency to repress opponents and not just those linked to the Gulen movement. Some 32,000 people have been arrested under the emergency imposed after the coup, which was extended this month for another 12 weeks. By Daren Butler and Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is determined to take part in a planned operation by coalition forces to oust Islamic State from the Iraqi city of Mosul and will implement a "plan B" if it is not involved, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. In a speech in the city of Konya, Erdogan said Turkey would make its desire to take part in the operation known to its international partners in the coming days. He did not offer details on what an alternative strategy would entail. Ankara has been locked in a fierce row with Baghdad over who should take part in the U.S.-backed assault on Mosul, which is expected to begin this month. Turkey fears the use of Shi'ite militias, which the Iraqi army has relied on in the past, will stoke sectarian unrest and trigger an exodus of refugees. "We will convey our request to coalition forces that we are determined to take our place in a coalition in Iraq. If they dont want us, our Plan B will come into effect. If Turkey isnt safe, nobody in the region is safe," Erdogan said. Turkish soldiers have been training Sunni Muslim and allied Kurdish peshmerga units at Iraq's Bashiqa camp, near Mosul, and want them involved in the assault. Baghdad objects to the Turkish military presence in northern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said Turkey risks 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. "You called us to Bashiqa, and now you are telling us to leave. Excuse me, but I have kin there, I have Turkmen brothers there, Turkish brothers who ask us to come and help," Erdogan said. "Excuse me, but I wont leave." REFUGEE FEARS Turkey's state-run Anadolu agency earlier said that Turkish-trained forces from Bashiqa would be involved in the planned Mosul operation, citing officials it said were involved in talks with the United States as well as sources in Iraq. It said the operation was expected to begin in a few days, "if there is no extraordinary development". Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been at the heart of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Iraq since 2014. The U.S.-backed assault on the city has been expected to begin this month. On Thursday, Erdogan's spokesman warned any mistake in the operation could result in hundreds of thousands of refugees. Anadolu said the Turkish-trained forces would participate in the operation together with the Iraqi army and the peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, with the latter launching the operation. Broadcaster CNN Turk said the head of Turkey's armed forces, General Hulusi Akar, was going to the United States to attend a meeting of his counterparts from coalition countries. (Additional reporting by Akin Aytekin and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Dominic Evans) ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Islamist militants killed 12 members of Egypt's military in North Sinai province and wounded six more in an attack on a checkpoint on Friday, the military said, adding that it killed 15 militants in return. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the incident, which took place 40 km (25 miles) from the town of Bir al-Abd, making it the first major attack in the central Sinai area, which had so far escaped the militant Islamists' campaign. It was carried out using assault rifles and some heavier weapons, medical and security sources said. The wounded were taken to hospital in al-Arish. "An armed group of terrorist elements attacked a security checkpoint in North Sinai this morning using four-wheel drives and were immediately engaged. Our forces killed 15 terrorists," the military said in a statement. "The clashes led to the martyrdom of 12 and injury of six armed forces heroes." Islamic State said it killed more than 20 soldiers and that it suffered no casualties. It said its members looted weapons and ammunition from the checkpoint. "A number of the caliphate's soldiers have launched an attack on a checkpoint belonging to the apostate Egyptian army south of Bir al-Abd that killed over 20 apostates and injured more," the group said in a statement. An Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula gained pace after the Egyptian military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen, and has started to target Western targets within Egypt. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former military chief who led the overthrow of Mursi, describes Islamist militancy as an existential threat to Egypt, an ally of the United States. Islamic State controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and has a strong presence in Libya, which borders Egypt. (Reporting by Yusri Mohamed; Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy and Mostafa Hashem in Cairo; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Ralph Boulton) By Timothy Mclaughlin (Reuters) - Two shootings this month targeting police in Indianapolis may be related, police said on Friday, a day after shots again struck law enforcement offices in the Indiana capital. In both Thursday's shooting and a similar incident on Oct. 4, officers were in the buildings that were hit but none were injured, police said. According to a police statement, "initial investigative information points to the same suspect (or suspects)" involved in the earlier shooting, which targeted the department's Northwest District Police Headquarters. The shootings come at a time of intense debate over policing in the United States and use of excessive force against minorities, with numerous cities grappling with how to improve strained relations between law enforcement and citizens. On Thursday around 11 p.m. local time, officers inside the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's North District Headquarters heard shots and took cover, the statement said. They did not find a suspect but witnesses heard a vehicle speeding away. Walls and windows sustained damage and a vehicle in the parking lot was also hit, it said. Sergeant Kendale Adams, spokesman for the department, said on Friday police did not know how many shots were fired or how many hit the building. Adams said police do not have a motive for believe the shooting is linked to the earlier incident. Police Chief Troy Riggs said multiple rounds hit the building in the first incident and asked the public for help in identifying the shooter. "An armed attack on police headquarter is an attack on our community. Make no mistake, it is an attack on Indianapolis itself," Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said at a news conference after the first incident. (Reporting by Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago; Editing by James Dalgleish) "The bitch is a girl who said no and meant it. As she left with her yes safely tucked in her handbag." By India Today Web Desk: In the English language universe, synonyms for the words independent, stubborn, ambitious and intelligent are many--bitch not being one of them. But over years of mindlessly gulping societal norms that define an 'ideal' woman as someone who's light years away from the above-mentioned words, the inclusion of the term bitch in our dictionary has become almost inevitable. advertisement And YouTube channel Blush seems to know that perfectly well. Titled Be The Bitch, a new video by Blush nails exactly how over years of social conditioning and evolution, the word bitch has garnered for itself connotations that are far from its actual meaning. Also Read: Watch muscular, opinionated, independent, badass women be 'ladylike' in H&M's new ad With a narrative penned down by actress Shruti Haasan, who's also the face of the video, Blush's latest offering is for every woman who's been referred to as a bitch at least once--and for every woman or man who's called her that. So next time you call an independent, stubborn woman who dares to say no or raise her voice a bitch, know that it's quite okay. Watch the video right here. --- ENDS --- These are the two new kids joining the Stranger Things cast in Season 2 Were still about a year away from Stranger Things Season 2, but theres already so much amazing stuff happening with the next installment of Netflixs huge summer cult hit, that it has us as excited as Eleven making out like a bandit with an armful of Eggos. eleven eggo gif The Duffer brothers have already acknowledged that theyre fans of all the theories out there, as well as the fact that the Chapter titles for Season 2 will more than likely change (gaaaaah, I know, right?!). And now The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed two AMAZING casting announcements for next season and they shed a little more light on those (possibly changing) titles. First up, is the character Max who will be played by talented young actor Sadie Sink. sadie sink Max, FYI, is (VERY PRESUMABLY) the character in the title of the first Chapter of Season 2, Mad Max. max Max has been described as a tomboy character who is tough and confident and whose appearance, behavior, and pursuits seem more typical of boys than of girls in this era. And apparently she has a complicated history that makes her suspicious of those around her. **Internally screams: COOOOOOL!** Sinks impressive credits include The Americans, Blue Bloods, and a long run on American Odyssey, so were sure shell be able to nail this role like nobodys business. Sink in American Odyssey. NBC's "American Odyssey" - Season 1 We cant wait to see her in the role of Max because clearly shes already very cool IRL. A photo posted by Sadie Sink (@sadiesink_) on Sep 3, 2016 at 4:48pm PDT Joining Sink will be actor Dacre Montgomery in the roll of Billy, Maxs hyper-confident and edgy older step-brother. dacre Montgomery doesnt have a ton of credits (yet), but DOUBLE FUN WHAMMY, hes playing THE RED POWER RANGER in the upcoming Power Rangers movie reboot coming out next year. So, it looks like its going to be a VERY GOOD (and nostalgic) year for Dacre! Story continues Stranger Rangers, anyone?! (Sorry, I couldnt resist.) power rangers movie Montgomerys character Billy has been described as a kind of rough and tough ~bad boy~ who steals girlfriends away from their boyfriends, is great at drinking games and drives a black Camaro. Bad boy in waiting. A photo posted by Dacre Montgomery (@dacremontgomery) on Oct 7, 2016 at 7:27am PDT DAMN. Sounds like SOMEONE (cough, cough Steve) will have a run for their money in Season 2. strangerthingssteve And speaking of Steve, according to THR, actor Joe Kerry (IRL Steve) is being promoted to series regular along with Noah Schnapp (Will). So much good stuff! Were excited to know another badass girl will be joining the Stranger Kids posse, and were curious if this means her and Eleven will be BFFs or MORTAL ENEMIES?! I mean, okay, it probably wont be THAT dramatic, but given Mike has a penchant for kickass girls, do we see a potential love triangle happening in the future?! eleven Stranger Things Season 2 CANNOT get here soon enough! The post These are the two new kids joining the Stranger Things cast in Season 2 appeared first on HelloGiggles. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Wisconsin men have been charged with attempting to travel overseas to join the Islamic State militant group, the Justice Department said on Friday. Jason Michael Ludke, 35, and Yosvany Padylla-Conde, 30, both from Milwaukee, were arrested near San Angelo, Texas, allegedly while trying to travel to Mexico where they intended to acquire documents necessary to travel overseas to join Islamic State, the department said in a news release. The two men are among numerous people arrested in the United States in the last two years on accusations by authorities of planning to join Islamic State, which controls large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. A spokesman for the Justice Department could not say who was serving as an attorney for Ludke or Padylla-Conde when reached by phone. The complaint, which provides an FBI agent's affidavit and was filed in federal court in Milwaukee, said an undercover FBI agent received a friend request on a social media platform from Ludke and he expressed his intentions to travel through Syria and into Iraq. The affidavit claimed Ludke expressed his support for the head of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The complaint also said Padylla-Conde was later seen pledging allegiance to al-Baghdadi in a video sent to the undercover agent. The complaint said Padylla-Conde told interviewing FBI agents that he left Wisconsin in September because he could not find steady enough work to afford rent and was being evicted. Ludke informed the FBI after his arrest that the two left Wisconsin because of their impending eviction and that he was afraid of going back to jail, according to the complaint. If convicted, the two men face up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Eric Walsh and Alistair Bell) Michael Buckner/Getty Michael Buckner/Getty Before Tyra Banks became one of the most famous models of her time, the host of Americas Next Top Model, or launched her own cosmetics and skincare lines, she was a major runway model with a few major obstacles to overcome: Her weight and her feud with Naomi Campbell. Banks (along with her Norwegian boyfriend, Erik Asla), was a guest on Norwegian/Swedish talk show Skavlan, and she was candid about about the early days in her career. After being declined by six Los Angeles modeling agencies and accepted only for runway modeling by the seventh, Banks went to Paris where she was finally welcomed into the industry, but not by everyone. //players.brightcove.net/416418724/rJSWQ1RE_default/index.min.js I got to Paris, and it was very difficult. I did really well really fast, but then the industry was saying, Oh, look out Naomi Campbell, here comes Tyra Banks! So Naomi Campbell, sit your butt down, Banks explained. It wasnt fair to Naomi, but her response was to this day, Im very scared of her. It was very difficult. like some of my lowest times of my life dealing with that. RELATED PHOTOS: All of Kendall Jenners Killer Catwalk Moments They eventually made up on Banks mid-00s talk show (I cried like a baby, she confessed), but Campbells animosity wasnt the only obstacle she had to overcome. My agents in Italy gave [my mom] a list of designers that did not want to hire me anymore because my body was getting thicker, Banks says. And she showed me this list of designers and I just started crying and said Oh my gosh, Mommy, what do I do? Am I supposed to like starve myself? OK, maybe I wont eat any bread anymore. Just salads with no dressing, salads for breakfast, lunch and dinner.' With her mom on her side, however, starving wasnt an option. She says, You know what were gonna do? Were gonna eat pizza. And she took me to a pizzeria in Milan, Italy She said, You write down every client in this world that likes ass. Your ass is growing, and Ill be damned if my baby starves herself for this industry. So were gonna go where your ass is going. And the rest is history. Story continues What do you think of Banks and Campbells feud? Sound off below. (Repeats to widen distribution) By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Equity investors in Breitburn Energy Partners LP can receive representation on an official committee, a U.S. bankruptcy court said on Friday, giving investors in the bankrupt oil and gas company a voice in restructuring negotiations. Breitburn, based in Los Angeles, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, one of more than 100 energy companies that have sought court protection from creditors in the worst energy price crash in a generation. The public unit holders of the master limited partnership began fighting for an official place in court soon after, saying they could end up owing taxes if the company canceled some of its roughly $3.1 billion in debt in a reorganization. Equity holders must convince judges that they stand to recover money when arguing for an official committee, which would advocate for equity recovery. Bankruptcy judges rarely approve such committees. But as oil prices have rebounded to about $50 per barrel from lows of $26 per barrel earlier this year, they have allowed their creation in energy bankruptcy cases including Energy XXI Ltd and Hercules Offshore Inc. "(The) court concludes that ... equity has carried its burden that Breitburn does not appear to be hopelessly insolvent," bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein of the Southern District of New York said. Bernstein said the committee should focus on Breitburn's plan of reorganization, which has not been filed, and its solvency. The committee should also look into the potential tax hit the equity holders face, he said. Stephen Karotkin and Ray Schrock, attorneys for Breitburn, told Bernstein that the tax issue was foremost for the company, and that its reorganization plan would aim to mitigate its impact. Attorneys pushing for the formation of the committee had argued that Breitburn was able to raise $350 million in convertible preferred units in early 2015, when oil was trading at roughly the same level as today, a sign that the company is not now "hopelessly insolvent." (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Richard Chang) By Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a proponent of strong financial regulation, turned up the heat on the country's top securities regulator on Friday, urging President Barack Obama to fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White. Warren, a Democrat, has often criticized White in the past, but this was the first time she has called for her ouster. She made the call in a 12-page letter to Obama, saying she was exasperated with the SEC's stalled work on a rule to require corporations to disclose money they contribute to political campaigns. White "has refused to develop a political spending disclosure rule despite her clear authority to do so, and despite unprecedented and overwhelming investor and public support for such a rule," she wrote. She added that White was undermining Obama's priorities, failing to uphold the SEC's investor protection mission, and not carrying out mandates passed by Congress in the wake of the 2007-09 financial crisis. The Republican-dominated Congress last year included a provision in its budget bill that bars the SEC from requiring companies to disclose political contributions. It included the ban in its recent stopgap spending bill and Democrats are fighting to keep it out of the full budget bill Congress must pass in December. The letter, sent weeks before the Nov. 8 presidential election, did not persuade Obama, a fellow Democrat. "The president continues to believe that Chair White is the right leader," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Air Force One, adding the commission has "important regulatory enforcement work to complete." Obama chose White, an independent, for the post in 2013. A spokeswoman for White declined to comment. Warren wrote that Obama had authority to choose one of the other two commissioners as the new chair. Two seats on the commission are open. Traditionally, the chair steps down after a national election so the new president can select the head of the independent commission. Story continues Many on Wall Street fear and loathe Warren, due to her work on post-crisis reforms and her sharp words for big banks. She is campaigning for her party's presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. Winning her endorsement was key for Clinton to secure the support of the party's liberal wing. "We think Warren is increasing pressure on Hillary Clinton's campaign to replace White next year if Clinton is elected president, and White decides to stay," wrote Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Brian Gardner in a research note. "We think the SEC is an agency where Clinton could give Warren a political scalp." Democrats want the SEC to finish a 2013 rule proposal for requiring contribution information, saying it will reveal corporations' influence on political offices and let investors know how their money is spent. Most recently, Warren and other Democrats opposed the nominees to fill the SEC's vacancies because they would not support a disclosure requirement. "Whether the move from Senator Warren to prod President Obama to remove her on disclosure grounds is successful, it will certainly pull this rulemaking, and the need to ensure that the final budget package is free of the rider to stymie it, back into the spotlight," Lisa Gilbert, a director at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said in an email. (Additional Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington and Jeff Mason Aboard Air Force One; Editing by Peter Cooney and Richard Chang) A motel owned by a Sikh family was burned to a crisp last week, killing one family member in a suspected case of racial violence. By Vishakha Saxena: A motel owned by a Sikh family was burned to a crisp last week, in a fire that destroyed their home killing one person and seriously injuring three others. Authorities are yet to determine the cause of the fire, but discovery of racist graffiti on the property has them suspecting a crime of intolerance. The incident At around 1 am on Sunday, authorities were called in at a blazing Bashaw Motor Inn owned by the Tiwana family in Canada's Alberta. advertisement According to a report by Daily Sikh Updates, the blaze went on to engulf their home too, killing the father and critically injuring the mother and their two sons. Fire crews retrieved a body from the debris and rushed three family members, who managed to escape, to the hospital with serious burns. The mother has now been discharged. The scene of the fire. (Image: Daily Sikh Updates) The scene of the fire. (Image: Daily Sikh Updates) The family had been living in the town for six years. Their neighbour Faisal Madi recounted to the CBC that he was watching TV in his home next door, when he felt and heard a huge blast. "I looked out the window and saw half the building on fire," he said. The 32-year-old volunteer firefighter then ran outside to help, and found the mother and their two sons outside the motel door. He remembered trying to pull them away from the burning building while the two boys screamed for their father, who was still inside. "I wish I could have done more, but there was no way I could get through this fire," he said. Ongoing Investigations Three days after the incident, police found racial slurs spray painted on a truck and a wall near the scene, but were unable to confirm if the motel itself was vanadalised too. They have not been able to identify any suspects so far. They are also yet to confirm if the graffiti was related to the fire. The remains of the motel are being treated as a crime scene, 'until proven otherwise'. A number of officers have been posted at the scene, with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Major Crimes Unit assisting the investigation. All that's left of Bashaw Motor Inn after early morning fire. 3 take to #yeg hospital with serious injuries pic.twitter.com/kmcktq8RBuJeremy Thompson (@JThompsonCTV) October 9, 2016 The World Sikh Organization, meanwhile, has expressed 'grave concerns' on the discovery of racist graffiti. Community stands firm Within in a day of the incident, a local Jackie Northey set up a GoFundMe page to help the family rebuild their lives. "The place is their home and their business. So we knew they would have nothing to continue," she told the Edmonton Journal. advertisement $11,655 (aprox. Rs 7.8 lakh) worth of donations have been received from 144 people so far. The local fire department is also accepting donations of food on their behalf and has collected another $1,600 (approx Rs 1.1 lakh), going door-to-door. "This event is incredibly frustrating and I am so incredibly sorry and enraged that someone in Alberta would act with such malicious ill-intent. Terrorism stems from fear and misunderstanding and violence succeeds only to propagate it. To the Tiwana family, annd I so sorry (sic). I hope that these past weeks will be softened by love and community support," wrote Rachel Shi Ling on the GoFundMe page. A signboard leading to Bashaw Motor Inn. (Image: GoFundMe) Locals say the family was 'well liked' and 'got along with everybody'. "They're good, they get along with everybody, everybody liked them. They helped out whenever they could... I don't think they'd ever do anything to harm anyone," family friend Connor Wein told the Calgary Sun. Wein, who went to junior high and high school with the youngest son Prabvir Tiwana, said he tried to speak to him but to no avail. Another local, Marion Hartel, told the Journal, "we've had business dealings with the dad and both the boys and they seemed as honest as the day is long." advertisement Prabvir and his elder brother were known to get involved in the community. "If you ever needed anything they would drop anything to help you," local Alison Oberg told the CBC. "It hurts me. There aren't answers yet on what happened. I feel for them," she said. --- ENDS --- * High Court dismisses SWF case over failed derivatives trades * Judge says Libyan fund was not as naive as it claimed * Source says fund is likely to appeal (Adds details of judgment) By Claire Milhench LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A British court ruled on Friday in favour of Goldman Sachs in a $1.2 billion dispute with Libya's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund over derivatives trades, dismissing claims that the investment bank had abused the fund's trust. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) was attempting to claw back the $1.2 billion from the Wall Street giant in relation to nine equity derivatives investments carried out in 2008, which turned out to be worthless. In the trial, which ran for seven weeks in London's High Court in the summer, the LIA argued that Goldman exercised "undue influence" and "unconscionable bargaining" to get it to enter the trades, asserting that the terms of the transactions were "overreaching and oppressive", as defined by English law. The LIA claimed it was too unsophisticated to understand what it was buying, and that Goldman had abused its position as a trusted adviser. The trades were made two years after the LIA was set up to invest the country's oil wealth. But in her 120-page judgment, seen by Reuters, Judge Vivien Rose dismissed these claims. She said that having considered all the evidence: "I find that the LIA has greatly exaggerated the extent to which senior and junior personnel were naive and unworldly about the nature of the dynamics of their relationship with Goldman Sachs." In fact, the key decision-makers understood the trades and the risks, and they were consistent with the fund's need to get invested quickly, she said. "The LIA management were tasked with generating a much higher return than they could hope to make on plain vanilla trades," she said. "This explains why they were prepared to enter into the speculative disputed trades even though this might appear to conflict with the long-term growth objectives of the LIA as a SWF." Story continues Responding to the judgment, Goldman Sachs said it was pleased to win the case, "with a comprehensive judgment in our favour". The LIA said it was "naturally disappointed" and added in a statement: "Time will be needed fully to digest the judgment and all options are being considered at this time." While lawyers for the LIA declined to comment, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters: "I would be very surprised if there wasn't an appeal." UNFORESEEN DOWNTURN Goldman Sachs had disputed the LIA's claim that the wealth fund was financially naive, saying that "an unforeseen financial depression" had caused the losses, not any wrongdoing by the bank. It had also maintained that its relationship with the LIA was an arm's length one between banker and client. The LIA's lawyers had argued in court that Goldman Sachs had gained the trust of fund executives by providing lavish hospitality and gifts as well as a prestigious internship offered to Haitem Zarti, the younger brother of Mustafa Zarti, a key LIA decision-maker at the time. But the judge found that the main motivation behind the offer was the bank's belief the younger Zarti might be chosen to lead the LIA's new office in London. Whilst this may have contributed to a "friendly and productive atmosphere" during negotiation over several trades, it did not have a material influence on the LIA's decision to go ahead with these, she added. She disagreed that the hospitality went beyond what was provided by other banks, citing in particular documents presented by Goldman to the court which showed tickets to top sporting events were provided by another bank to LIA officials. The judge also found there were no grounds for concluding that profits earned by Goldman Sachs on the disputed trades were excessive. The LIA is also pursuing the French investment bank Societe Generale for some $2.1 billion in relation to another set of trades entered into between 2007 and 2009. SocGen is contesting the case, which is only expected to come to trial in April 2017. (Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday expressed deep concern over Burundi's refusal to allow the deployment of a UN police force, a day after it decided to send an envoy to Bujumbura for crisis talks. Council members said in a unanimous statement that they "regret" the Bujumbura government's decision to break off ties with the UN rights office and expressed hope that the dispute can be resolved. UN envoy Jamal Benomar has the "full support" of the council as he heads to Bujumbura for the delicate mission to try to persuade the government to change course, said the statement. Relations between Burundi and the United Nations nosedived after a report by UN rights experts blamed state police and security forces for the violence that has torn apart the country since April 2015. The government responded by breaking off ties with the UN rights office while the parliament has voted to pull out of the International Criminal Court in a bid to avoid investigation for war crimes. A UN resolution adopted in July on deploying the UN police force remains deadlocked, with Burundi insisting it will accept only a few dozen UN police and not up to 228 as outlined in the measure. The police force would be deployed in the capital Bujumbura and throughout Burundi to monitor security and the human rights situation. "The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern over the political situation and the lack of progress in implementing resolution 2303" on the police deployment, said the statement. 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 in the violence and at least 300,000 have fled the country. Benomar told reporters on Thursday following a closed-door council meeting that the United Nations wanted a "renewed engagement" with the government, but he declined to say whether the threat of sanctions was on the table. The resolution adopted by the council in July provides for "targeted measures against all actors, inside and outside Burundi, who threaten peace and security." The UN rights report warned of a "risk of genocide" in Burundi, which has the same ethnic mix of Hutu and Tutsi as Rwanda, where mass atrocities took place in 1994. We expect Chicago-based United Continental Holdings, Inc. UAL to report better-than-expected earnings in the third quarter of 2016. The carrier will release its results on Oct 17, after market closes. In the second quarter, the carrier had reported a positive earnings surprise of 1.56%. The earnings beat was mainly due to a conservative Zacks Consensus Estimate for the second quarter ($2.57 per share which happened to be much lower than the second-quarter 2015 figure of $3.29). Revenues also beat expectations but declined year over year. The United Continental stock has gained over 10% since the second-quarter earnings beat. The optimism regarding the stock ahead of its third-quarter earnings release can be gauged by the 4.2% increase in the Zacks Consensus Estimate over the last month. UNITED CONT HLD Price and EPS Surprise UNITED CONT HLD Price and EPS Surprise | UNITED CONT HLD Quote Our quantitative model shows that United Continental is likely to beat earnings because it has the perfect combination of two key ingredients. Zacks ESP:The Earnings ESP for United Continental is +1.01% with the Most Accurate estimate exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.98 per share by 3 cents. Zacks Rank:United Continental carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Note that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings estimates. Conversely, Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement. The combination of United Continentals Zacks Rank #3 and a positive ESP makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat. What is Driving the Better-than-Expected Earnings? The carrier has an impressive track record with respect to earnings per share. United Continental outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 1.41%. The carrier has seen quite a few positive developments in the third quarter, including the appointment of Scott Kirby as the president a newly created position at the carrier. Kirby, who joined United Continental Holdings from American Airlines Group AAL, has vast experience in the airline space and his appointment is a prudent move by United Continental to turn around its fortunes. Story continues We are also positive on the U.S. Department of Transportations decision to grant final approval to eight carriers, including United Continental, to initiate commercial flights to Havana. We believe that, once operational, United Continental's top line will be benefitted immensely by the new route additions as Havana is a favorite tourist spot. We expect a detailed commentary on the issue at the third-quarter conference call. We are also positive on United Continental's efforts to reward its shareholders. Moreover, its constant efforts to expand and modernize its fleet are encouraging. Moreover, the bottom-line performance in the third quarter is likely to be aided by low fuel costs. The company expects fuel price (inclusive of all cash settled hedges) to be $1.52 per gallon, well below the year-ago figure. Though the company continues to face difficulties in terms of top-line growth, we are encouraged by the improved third-quarter forecast for passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM: a key measure of unit revenue). The carrier now expects the metric to decline in the band of 5.56% as against the previous guidance of a decline in the band of 5.57.5%. In view of these bullish developments and the positive sentiment surrounding the stock currently, United Continental is expected to report outperform on the earnings front on Oct 17, just like Delta Air Lines DAL did on Oct 14. Another Stock to Consider Investors interested in the airline space may also consider Alaska Air Group ALK, as our model shows that it has the right combination for an earnings beat this quarter. The Seattle, WA-based carrier has an Earnings ESP of +0.49% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. The carrier, which has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third quarter increase 1% to $2.03 per share over the last month, is scheduled to unveil its third-quarter results on Oct 20. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 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 ALASKA AIR GRP (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report AMER AIRLINES (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Washington (AFP) - US officials Friday banned all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from airplanes, saying anyone attempting to travel with the recalled handsets may face fines and have the devices confiscated. The South Korean electronics giant has recalled all Note 7 phones, including replacements, following reports of exploding batteries and fires, which have led to numerous injuries. Samsung has also stopped producing the flagship handset. But it remained unclear how many consumers have continued using the phones despite the recall and warnings from safety officials to stop using them. US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said an emergency order banning the devices would take effect at 1600 GMT Saturday. Passengers will be barred from carrying the Note 7 on planes, in hand luggage or in checked baggage on domestic flights and international flights to or from the United States, the agency said. "We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority," Foxx said in a statement. "We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk." The Consumer Product Safety Commission this week formalized the recall affecting 1.9 million handsets in the United States, including one million announced in a September 15 recall and an additional 900,000 replacements. The agency said Samsung had received reports of at least 96 of the US handsets overheating, with 13 reports of burn injuries and 47 incidents of property damage. Samsung has offered refunds or replacement devices, and is giving those customers who want to exchange the Note 7 for another Samsung device an extra $100 credit. Obama Putin The US is considering a plan to retaliate against Russia for its role in alleged cyberattacks that have plagued the Democratic Party, NBC News reported Friday. CIA officials say the Obama administration requested options for a "clandestine" cyberattack designed to "embarrass" the Kremlin, according to NBC News sources. The move comes after the US formally accused Russia last week of executing cyberattacks to interfere with the US presidential election. The hacks have largely targeted people and entities associated with the Democratic Party. The fallout from a hack that exposed emails from Democratic National Committee members forced Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce her resignation just before the party's convention in July. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, has called the breaches "an electronic Watergate break-in" and a "sad course of events" for the party and the nation. Information gleaned from those security breaches has been published by WikiLeaks and, at times, cited by Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. NOW WATCH: 'He never said that': New Clinton ad shows Trump contradicting Pence's VP debate denials More From Business Insider Moscow (AFP) - State television threatens the West with nuclear weapons, the Kremlin halts a disarmament treaty, the army warns of shooting down US jets. As ties between Russia and the West have once again slumped, rhetoric in Moscow has peaked. "Relations between Russia and the US, and the West in general, have been dragged down to the bottom, to a level below which it is difficult to fall," Konstantin Kalachev, the head of the Moscow-based Political Expert Group think tank, told AFP. But it wasn't meant to be like this. Just over a month ago Moscow and Washington inked a deal to revive a ceasefire in Syria and the Kremlin seemed to have scored a tactical win by getting the United States to open the door to coordinate strikes against jihadists. The agreement -- hammered out after repeated rounds of exhausting talks -- appeared a potential breakthrough in Syria's civil war and years of bad blood and furious mudslinging between Moscow and Washington sparked by the Ukraine crisis. Many, however, were sceptical that the Kremlin and White House, on opposite sides in Syria, could begin to bury the hatchet -- and so it proved. Soon the truce collapsed and as the violence spiralled so did the ferocious acrimony. Washington suspended talks with the Kremlin on Syria; Moscow tore up a treaty on disposing weapons-grade plutonium; the West accused Russia and Syria of potential war crimes in its brutal attacks on rebel-held east Aleppo. The US then formally accused Moscow of hacking American institutions to interfere in its looming presidential election. "Russia went further, turning a local breakdown in bilateral relations into a global one," wrote Alexander Baunov from the Carnegie Moscow Center. As President Vladimir Putin suspended the plutonium deal, he slapped on a raft of staggering conditions for it to be restarted: Washington needed to pull back forces in eastern Europe, scrap sanctions and pay Moscow compensation. Story continues "The kind of talk that Russian leaders have formerly kept to themselves has now burst into the open, like a solar flare," Baunov wrote. - War fever? - Quickly Russia's slavish state TV and attack-dog spokespeople picked up the baton. On his weekly Sunday night show, leading presenter Dmitry Kiselyov menaced that any aggression from the West towards Russia had a "nuclear dimension". Meanwhile defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov made a point of warning Washington that new defence systems Moscow had shipped to Syria meant that any unidentified aircraft flying overhead would get a "surprise". Coincidence or not, the spike in rhetoric came as Russia held a series of events that seemed to suggest the country was gearing up for war. Across the country the authorities said around 40 million people were taking part in civil defence drills, including evacuating buildings and fire alerts. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev -- who helped end the Cold War -- warned that the world had reached a "dangerous point". "Modern day Russia is more ready, mainly psychologically, for a new spiral of confrontation with the West," commentator Georgy Bovt wrote on Gazeta.ru outlet. Baunov from Carnegie said that the Kremlin seemed to be going harder after the latest fallout as it looked to strengthen its position in the period of flux before a new US president takes office. "Russia decided not to wait to be punished by the United States for meddling in its internal affairs and instead seized the initiative itself to push relations down to rock bottom," he wrote. But despite the surge in rhetoric, analyst Kalachev insisted that the situation was not as worrying as it was when ties first collapsed after Moscow's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. "Back then it was more scary -- the rhetoric was taken seriously," he said. "Now Putin is seen as just raising the stakes like an inveterate gambler, who bluffs and tries to take his partners for a ride." On Wednesday, in a sign that tensions could be dialled back, Moscow announced the first international talks on Syria with the US and key regional powers at the weekend. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United States on Friday called for immediate action to salvage the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the Security Council weighed its next steps to revive peace prospects. US Deputy Ambassador David Pressman told an informal council meeting on Israeli settlements that the continued building of Jewish outposts on Palestinian land was "corrosive to the cause of peace." "We need to start implementing the two-state solution on the ground right now," Pressman told the meeting organized by Angola, Egypt, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela. UN diplomats have kept one eye on the US presidential campaign as they consider whether to move on a Security Council resolution that could nudge the sides back to the negotiating table. The outcome of the US vote on November 8 could lead to a shift in relations between Washington and its close ally Israel. Pressman reiterated Washington's long-standing view that a final peace agreement must be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians. "But significant progress toward creating a two-state reality can be made now that will help restore hope and lay the groundwork for successful negotiations," he added. "Israel must decide between expanding settlements and preserving the possibility of a peaceful two-state solution." - US 'blockade' - Arab governments are considering plans to present a draft resolution to the Security Council demanding a halt to Israel settlements, but a similar measure was vetoed by the United States in 2011. The United Nations has branded the settlements illegal, but the Security Council has not taken action to uphold that decision. Venezuela's Ambassador Rafael Ramirez accused the United States, which has veto powers, of "maintaining a blockade" at the Security Council and preventing action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, settlement construction has surged with some 15,000 settlers moving into the West Bank over the past year alone. Story continues "Let's call a spade a spade," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre. "This policy is jeopardizing prospects for a future viable Palestinian state that would provide the best guarantee of Israel's security and offer a just and durable solution to the conflict." France is offering to host an international conference to be held before the end of this year on relaunching the peace process. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Arab ministers are to meet later this month to decide whether to push for a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements and also to press for full Palestinian membership in the United Nations. Palestine was granted the status of UN non-member observer state in 2012. By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) High cost of spectrum following the recent auction is credit negative for telecom operators, as the debt levels will rise further, Moodys Investors Service said today. Telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea committed a total Rs 65,789 crore in the sale of airwaves concluded on October 6. "The resulting high costs for spectrum -- following an auction on October 7 -- is credit negative for Indias telecom operators, as the debt levels of their already stretched balance sheets will rise further," the agency said. "In our view, these spectrum wins will weigh on balance sheets and cash flows, as debt levels will rise materially for most operators, including incumbent Bharti Airtel Ltd (Baa3 stable) and larger international groups, such as Vodafone Group Plc (Baa1 stable)." advertisement The operators will experience a reduction in their ability to fund further expansion or to absorb the effects of weaker profitability as competition intensifies, Moodys Vice President and Senior Credit Officer Annalisa Di Chiara said in a report. Vodafones India took home Rs 20,280 crore worth of spectrum. Bharti Airtel bought Rs 14,244 crore, Idea Cellular Rs 12,798 crore and newcomer Reliance Jio spent around Rs 13,672 crore on spectrum buying. More intense competition, in part spurred by Jios launch, is likely to drive tariffs lower, causing average revenues per user (ARPU) to contract and industry revenue and profitability to fall over the next 12-18 months, meaning that leverage levels could rise, the report said. Bids for the four largest telecom operators aggregated 1157 MHz of spectrum, 31 per cent of the spectrum available for sale across all bands, Moodys report added. However, the most expensive spectrum in 700 mhz band priced at 11,485 crore per Mhz found no takers. "The auction did not attract any bids for the highly expensive 700 MHz band, implying that Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (unrated) and Reliance Communications Limited (Ba3, review for downgrade) -- which have a spectrum-and- infrastructure sharing agreement -- will remain the only players with access to pan-India spectrum in the sub 1 Ghz band," the report said. As per demand note issued by the Department of Telecom, Jio needs to pay Rs 5,930 crore; Idea Rs 6,399 crore, Vodafone Rs 10,139 crore; Airtel Rs 7,121 crore, Tata Teleservices Rs 2,309 crore, RCom Rs 32.5 crore and Aircel Rs 56 crore as upfront amount by October 20. "Longer term, the spectrum which the operators secure will help them maintain their competitive positions, support their strategies on data growth and enhance cash flow generation. Their high debt burdens may also pave the way for recapitalisation events and further industry consolidation, which will in turn ultimately benefit those incumbents well positioned in 4G," the report noted. PTI PRS ADI MR --- ENDS --- By Jake Spring BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Chinese automaker Geely is set to launch a new car brand - Lynk & Co - on Oct. 20, sources said, as it seeks to broaden its appeal by tackling the middle market. The brand will be used to launch the first vehicle based on the Complex Modular Architecture (CMA) platform developed by Geely and Volvo, which Geely acquired six years ago. Reuters was first to report in April that Geely would launch a new middle market brand, codenamed "L", to compete with Chinese-foreign venture cars such as those produced by GM and SAIC Motor Corp - leaving Volvo to focus on the luxury end and Geely to go up against domestic producers. The "L" codename represents Lynk & Co, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, a company which has already launched a holding website, showing next week's launch date. Geely declined to comment. The website - lynkco.com - shares Internet license and other registration details with Geely and China Euro Vehicle Technology (CEVT), a subsidiary that coordinates research and development with Volvo. The site does not, though, provide details on the brand or cars. "As you have seen on the Lynk & Co website, CEVT is indeed the company behind this website and it's no secret that it is developing the CMA platform for Geely Auto," said Stefan Lundin, a CEVT spokesman based in Sweden. Lundin said Lynk & Co would launch on Oct. 20 in Berlin, but declined to elaborate on the nature of the venture. Lynk & Co will enter a tough Chinese auto market where the car industry has struggled with slowing economic growth since last year. Geely has weathered the slowdown better than most, with sales of its feature-packed cars growing for 16 consecutive months to September. Launching a new car brand can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, according to James Chao, Asia-Pacific chief for IHS Markit Automotive. The marque's cars would first be sold in China and later in the U.S. and Europe, sources told Reuters in April. A separate Lynk & Co website posted to its official Weibo account announces a contest to guess what future modes of transportation might be. "What can cars still bring us? What new possible means of travel will tomorrow bring?" (Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Eric Meijer) BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) group sales rose 7.1 percent in September, the largest monthly gain in two-and-a-half years, powered by demand for VW brand cars in China and robust sales in Europe, it said on Friday. New vehicle registrations at the multi-brand group increased to 947,600 passenger cars, commercial vehicles and heavy trucks, VW said on Friday, from 885,200 a year earlier. That's the biggest monthly advance since April 2014 when VW posted a 8.2 percent gain, and shows the group may be coping with the impact of its emissions scandal uncovered more than a year ago. "The increased deliveries make us optimistic we will be able to master the upcoming challenges," group sales chief Fred Kappler said. September sales were helped by a 20-percent jump in China, VW's biggest market, and persistent growth in Europe where VW sells about 40 percent of its vehicles. The 6.3 percent gain in its home region was the second-biggest monthly gain this year. Improving sales may lessen the pressure on the carmaker's top management and labour leaders to consider job cuts as both sides are struggling to agree an outline for cost cuts and strategy at the core VW brand. Deliveries of VW's largest division were up 6.7 percent last month to 547,700 cars, with growth in China, Europe and even Russia offsetting declines in the Americas. (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Georgina Prodhan) * Biggest monthly gain in group sales since April 2014 * September sales helped by strong China, Europe demand * VW brand September sales up 6.7 percent (Adds detail and background) BERLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's group sales rose 7.1 percent in September, the largest monthly gain in two-and-a-half years, powered by demand for VW brand cars in China and robust sales in Europe, it said on Friday. New vehicle registrations at the multi-brand group increased to 947,600 passenger cars, commercial vehicles and heavy trucks, VW said on Friday, from 885,200 a year earlier. That's the biggest monthly advance since April 2014 when VW posted a 8.2 percent gain, and shows the group may be coping with the impact of its emissions scandal uncovered more than a year ago. "The increased deliveries make us optimistic we will be able to master the upcoming challenges," group sales chief Fred Kappler said. September sales were helped by a 20-percent jump in China, VW's biggest market, and persistent growth in Europe where VW sells about 40 percent of its vehicles. The 6.3 percent gain in its home region was the second-biggest monthly gain this year. Improving sales may lessen the pressure on the carmaker's top management and labour leaders to consider job cuts as both sides are struggling to agree an outline for cost cuts and strategy at the core VW brand. Deliveries of VW's largest division were up 6.7 percent last month to 547,700 cars, with growth in China, Europe and even Russia offsetting declines in the Americas. (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Georgina Prodhan) Jimmy Fallon celebrated Halloween two weeks early by paying a visit to Blood Manor, a spooky New York haunted house, with his partner in crime, the actor and comedian Kevin Hart. Speaking to his studio audience, Fallon explained that last time he hung out with Hart, the pair went on a rollercoaster. Since Halloween is round the corner I wanted to try something even scarier, so today were going to New Yorks scariest haunted house, he said. Im going to be honest, rollercoasters are okay, I can do a little bit, but I do not like being scared. That proved true as the pair entered the spooky abode and shrieked their way past zombies, vampires and even a chainsaw-wielding demon creature whom they begged to Stop it! Fallon and Hart were clearly pretty shaken by the time they reached the exit. If you guys watch this and at any point it looks like Im afraid, Im an actor and was acting, Hart unconvincingly told the camera. Watch the clip above. (Repeats to additional clients with no changes to text) By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Former Wells Fargo & Co general manager Claudia Ponce de Leon filed a whistleblower complaint in December 2011 with federal labor regulators, alleging she was fired for telling superiors about employees opening unauthorized accounts. Nearly five years later, she has not been interviewed by investigators at the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), said her attorney Yosef Peretz. Her complaint claiming retaliation by Wells Fargo for reporting potential misconduct is one of several dozens filed against the bank over the last 14 years, Reuters has found. Their existence shows U.S. government regulators are still not meeting targets set by law -- a problem that was also flagged in a critical internal report issued in September 2015. As of Oct. 6, the agency had yet to close out 34 of the 91 complaints it has received since fiscal year 2002 from Wells Fargo employees alleging they faced retaliation after reporting potential wrongdoing, according to department data obtained through a Reuters public records request. The department did not disclose details of the claims or the dates they were filed, and it remained unclear how many were related to the ongoing scandal involving Wells staffers opening as many as 2 million accounts without customer permission. It is also unclear how those 91 complaints against Wells Fargo compares with other corporations. The bank last month agreed to pay $190 million in fines and customer restitution in a settlement with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and other regulators. In late September, Reuters identified Ponce de Leon and at least four other former Wells Fargo employees who reported to OSHA between 2009 and 2014 that they were fired for raising concerns about the opening of unauthorized accounts and credit cards. Of the five OSHA complaints seen by Reuters, Ponce de Leon's case has been pending since December 2011, and another 2014 case was initially dismissed by an OSHA investigator on grounds that were later reversed on appeal by a Labor Department administrative law judge. The bank ultimately reached a settlement with the employee in 2015. Story continues The three other complaints - one in 2009 and two in 2010 - were transferred to state and federal courts, respectively. One employee of the Labor Department involved with the cases has since filed his own whistleblower claim against the agency, alleging his office has a history of mishandling cases. His complaint does not reference the Wells Fargo complaints specifically. "It's absolutely outrageous that whistleblowers contacted OSHA as early as 2009 about potential fraud at Wells Fargo, and yet these government bureaucrats failed to do their job," said Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican who has been looking into how Wells Fargo's sales practices have impacted small business owners. Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez said last month that the department has launched a "top-to-bottom" review of prior Wells Fargo whistleblower complaints. Agency spokesman Jesse Lawder said it is the department's policy not to comment on specific whistleblower cases, but said the review aims to "ensure whistleblowers receive the protections and remedies afforded them." Richele Messick, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman, could not comment on individual cases, but said the bank "does not tolerate retaliation against team members who report their concerns and will take measures to protect team members from retaliation." From fiscal year 2005 through 2015, less than two percent of all whistleblower complaints filed with OSHA were won on the merits, federal statistics show. The rest were either settled, dismissed or transferred to federal courts. Lawyers who represent whistleblowers say OSHA investigators face challenges. One problem is the "crushing case load," which can lead to significant delays, said attorney Jason Zuckerman. OSHA, which received 3,288 whistleblower cases in fiscal year 2015, currently has 88 full-time investigators across the country in 10 regional offices. INTERNAL CRITICISM OSHA refers whistleblower complaints to the relevant federal regulators to investigate. But the office does not always refer them promptly, or sometimes at all, the Labor Department's inspector general found last year. An earlier audit in September 2010 found that 80 percent of complaints it reviewed were not properly investigated, meaning OSHA staff did not take steps such as interviewing the employee, obtaining a witness list or allowing the employee to refute the employer's defense. The subsequent audit in September 2015 noted improvements, finding that 18 percent of complaints reviewed failed to meet certain investigative criteria. Still, it also found that 72 percent of all of OSHA's investigations were not performed within the 30, 60 or 90-day time frames specified by various whistleblower protection laws. OSHA disputed some of those findings at the time, saying the audit relied on "inaccurate data" to determine how well it referred cases to other regulators. Labor Department spokeswoman Amanda McClure said OSHA's practice is to send copies of complaints when it receives them and its findings at the conclusion of the investigation to either the Securities and Exchange Commission or the CFPB, depending on which federal whistleblower law applies. It is not clear whether OSHA, which received complaints of the unauthorized account openings at Wells Fargo dating at least as far as 2009, referred the matters to federal banking regulators, such as the CFPB and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The CFPB, a new agency launched in July 2011, has said it did not start investigating the issue until it received tips from whistleblowers in mid-2013. The OCC has said it first learned about the issues after it received a "small number" of complaints from consumers and bank employees in March 2012. Those complaints and media reports in December 2013 led the regulator to step up its supervision of Wells Fargo. An SEC spokeswoman declined to comment on whether OSHA had referred the complaints about Wells Fargo's sales practices. A CFPB spokesman declined to comment on whether the office had received any OSHA referrals involving Wells sales abuses. SITTING IN A STACK OF FILES Darrell Whitman - a former OSHA investigator in the San Francisco office from 2010-2015 - was assigned to three of the five cases examined by Reuters from former Wells Fargo employees alleging retaliation for reporting improper sales tactics. Whitman said he only briefly dealt with Ponce de Leon's 2011 case before it was transferred to another investigator, and he was instructed to close the two 2010 cases because they were slated to be transferred to a federal court. Another investigator assigned at one point to Ponce de Leon's case, Susan Kamlet, told Reuters the case sat in a stack of other files and that her manager controlled which cases had priority. Now the former OSHA investigators are making their own claims of retaliation. Whitman alleges he was fired for raising concerns about the agency's mishandling of whistleblower complaints, and Kamlet says she was fired for supporting his accounts and for raising concerns about a particular case she was investigating. Whitman has since filed a whistleblower complaint of his own with the Office of Special Counsel, an office that investigates retaliation against federal employees. His complaint is still pending. The Labor Department spokeswoman and the Office of Special Counsel declined to comment. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Edward Tobin) A third-quarter earnings beat by Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) was overshadowed Friday by ongoing fallout from a phony-accounts scandal that has plagued the bank in recent weeks. The scandal came to light in early September, as the bank was accused of fraudulent sales practices in its retail banking unit, specifically opening more than 2 million customer accounts without authorization. The bank was also accused of using unethical and overly aggressive cross-selling tactics pressuring customers to purchase additional financial products or services that they didn't need to meet sales goals. It has since delivered a hefty blow not only to the banks character, but also its share price, which has seen a more than 9% drop. In September, customer visits with bankers at Wells Fargo branches dropped 10% from a year ago and 14% from August to September, while the number of consumer checking accounts opened fell 25% from 2015 and applications for credit cards tumbled 20% year over year. Further, mortgage referrals from retail banking dropped 24% in September from August while customer loyalty to Wells Fargo saw a roughly 5% drop off. Overall in the third quarter, Wells Fargos community banking segment posted a 9% drop in net income from the year-ago period. After just two days on the job, Wells Fargos newly minted CEO, Tim Sloan, reiterated he was deeply committed to restoring the tarnished reputation of the nations third-largest bank by assets. We know that it will take time and a lot of hard work to earn back our reputation, but I am confident because of the incredible caliber of our team members, Sloan said in a statement. We will work tirelessly to build a stronger and better Wells Fargo for generations to come. Wells Fargo noted the damage was, for the most part, limited to its retail segments. While state treasurers, including those from California and Illinois, suspended business with Wells Fargo on the heels of the accounts scandal, the banks wholesale banking September-ended deposit balances rose 4% from August, and were up 1% from a year ago. Meanwhile, wealth and investment management deposit balances saw an 11% jump from September 2015. Story continues I know theres a lot we need to get right. Make no mistake: I get it and our team is on it, Sloan said during the companys earnings call. Overall in the third quarter, Wells Fargo booked diluted profits per share of $1.03 on revenue of $22.3 billion. The results topped Wall Street expectations, though the banks profit came in slightly under the $1.05 per share it earned over the same period in 2015. It was the fourth-straight quarter of profit decline for the company. It also noted non-interest expenses totaled $13.3 billion during the quarter, compared to $12.9 billion in the second quarter due in part to higher litigation costs and salaries. The San Francisco-based bank has reached agreements with multiple regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, due to retail-banking sales practices. The amount of settlements total $185 million, plus $5 million in customer remediation. Additionally, the bank reiterated action it has taken to ensure the sham practices dont happen again. As of October 1, the bank eliminated product sales goals for its retail banking team. It also appointed a new community banking chief, fired about 5,300 employees connected to the scandal, and implemented a procedure to send customers a confirmation email after a deposit account has been opened or credit card application has been submitted. In addition to launching an investigation into sales practices at Wells Fargo, the banks independent board of directors also expanded the scope of its remediation to include 2009 and 2010. Though he outlined the immediate impact of the scandal to Wells Fargos business, Sloan said its too early to determine the long-term impact of the sales-tactics scandal on business and that matters will get worse before they get better. Until there is more clarity on the long-term effects, KBW analysts said it will likely be difficult for the companys valuation to return to a historical premium as concerns remain about earnings power and quality. After initially rising more than 1% on the heels of its earnings results, shares of Wells Fargo ended the session little changed on Friday. Related Articles Categories Celebrities / Relationships Nobody does #couplegoals better than Barack and Michelle Obama. The President and First Lady recently celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary, and they just seem to be more in love than ever. So imagine our surprise when the Washington Post released a video of President Obama slipping off his wedding ring and placing it into his pocket before approaching a small crowd in Greensboro, North Carolina. No, its not because he doesnt want the world to know hes married (anyone who isnt already aware of this must be literally living under a rock). Instead, Barack is very protective of his most valued possession, i.e. the symbol of his love for Michelle. As leader of the free world, he obviously does a great deal of handshaking and simply wants to keep the band out of snatchers hands. Its good to know that even with the presence of Secret Service agents, the President isnt taking any chances with his precious wedding ring. Swoon. Contingents of police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in full riot gear were deployed in both uptown and old city areas of Srinagar to impose curfew-like restrictions to prevent a separatist called sit-in and protest march. By Indo-Asian News Service: Authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir Valley today to prevent a separatist called protest march. Contingents of police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in full riot gear were deployed in both uptown and old city areas of Srinagar to impose curfew-like restrictions to prevent a separatist called sit-in and protest march here. advertisement Coils of razor fitted concertina wire were placed on main roads and traffic intersections here by the security forces. READl Kashmiriyat thrives despite unrest as local muslims get Kashmiri Pandits married Both pedestrian and vehicular movements were disallowed except in city outskirts where some private vehicles were seen moving in the morning. Separatists have asked people to march to the state Raj Bhavan in the high security Chashma Shahi area here as part of their resistance calendar. Despite all the separatist leaders having being placed under detention since July 9 when the present unrest started in Jammu and Kashmir, separatists have been continuing the protests and shutdowns through weekly calendars mailed to the media. Authorities have been taking no chance to ensure that Friday prayers pass-off peacefully. READ| Exclusive: 15 Lashkar fidayeen may have infiltrated into Kashmir after surgical strikes During the last 97 days of ongoing violence, post Friday prayer protests have been taking place across the valley during which precious human lives are lost in clashes between unruly mobs and the security forces. At least 91 people have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the over three months unrest which started here on July 9, a day after the killing of top militant Burhan Wani in a gunfight with the security forces. ALSO READ: Policeman who went viral with his 'Kashmir hoga, Pakistan nahi hoga' poem gets death threat Pakistan will not get into a nuclear war with India that easily --- ENDS --- Earlier this year, it seemed that the momentum of the boycott against the Beverly Hills Hotel had started to slow down and that the hotel's PR spin machine was beginning to have an impact. Though most of those who have been most vocal about the boycott from the beginning - people like Warren Beatty, Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg - had not, and still have not, gone back, some celebrities and industry professionals had seemed to conclude that it didn't matter to them, that they missed their McCarthy Salad too much to care about the torture and murder of innocent LGBT people. "It hurts their employees if we don't come," was their most popular excuse. No, it actually doesn't; the hotel has compensated employees from the beginning of the boycott for their lost tips. But Miley Cyrus, the Kardashians, Justin Bieber and a group of other celebrities who are widely known for their social/political consciousness, decided that they would go back regardless of the facts. Therefore many assumed that if they are going back, then it must mean the entire boycott is over. Then, less than a month later, the shooting in Orlando happened. Forty-nine innocent people, most of them members of the LGBT community, were murdered in cold blood by a man who claimed that his motivation for what he did was Sharia Law - the same Sharia Law that was implemented by the Sultan of Brunei in his home country back in 2014, which caused the boycott of all Dorchester Collection hotels to begin in the first place. Under Sharia Law, gay people are to be savagely tortured and executed, and women are to be publicly flogged for adultery or having an abortion. This isn't some abstract, theoretical thing. In countries that have Sharia Law on the books, places like Nigeria, Iran and the Sudan, those horrific punishments occur on a regular basis. Brunei has only had the law on the books for a short time, so trust me, in due time, it'll happen there as well. In America, however, we don't have Sharia Law, so Orlando shooter Omar Mateen decided to take matters into his own hands. What happened in Orlando served as a visceral reminder for me of why this boycott is still so important and should be a wakeup call for everyone who continues to patronize the Beverly Hills Hotel. Is having your McCarthy Salad really more important than the brutal torture and murder of innocent people in Brunei? Do you really care more about having hash browns in the Coffee Shop than honoring those who were slain in Orlando and all the other victims of religious bigotry and violence around the world? And I say that as someone who literally grew up at the hotel and who knows most of the staff by their first names. It wasn't easy to give up the hotel when it was basically my home, but it was something I had to do. Some say the boycott is ineffective, that the Sultan will never change the laws or sell his hotels. Maybe so. But at this point, it's not about that anymore. It's about the principle - it's about saying that we don't want to give our money to a business owned by a man who condones murder, who believes that homosexuality is a sin that can only be addressed through brutality and ISIS-style executions. It's about saying that we here in Hollywood aren't the "limousine liberals" that many make us out to be, that we don't just contribute to causes because they're trendy or come out for boycotts because they're fashionable for five minutes - that we actually believe in something. Others ask, "aren't there more important problems that need to be addressed, such as this election we have a few weeks from now?" I don't disagree that this election is of huge consequence for our nation, and that we must do everything we can to stop Donald Trump from sitting in the Oval Office come next January. But in the same vein, we must speak out wherever bigotry and injustice is taking place, and this travesty in Brunei is exactly along those same lines. This Saturday, between 3 and 5 p.m., we will be holding a protest in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Assemblyman Richard Bloom will be there, as will the former Speaker of the California State Assembly, John Perez. We're expecting other elected officials and celebrities to join as well. But I hope you'll join us to take a stand and use your voice to make a real difference. Together we can send a message to the management of the hotel, the Dorchester Collection as a whole and the Sultan of Brunei that this issue hasn't gone away. We will continue to raise the alarm and keep on fighting - no matter how long it takes. As the great philosopher Dante once said, "The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis." We cannot be neutral, we cannot be apathetic. We must act now. If not for yourselves, do it for the people of Brunei, the people who were lost in Orlando and all of those across the world who do not have a voice. James Duke Mason is a writer, political activist and city official in West Hollywood, Calif. Demi Lovato isnt afraid to speak her mind. (Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen) Demi Lovato is no stranger to having something she says make headlines, but her recent comments to Glamour magazine seemed to cause more derision than usual. True, she ventured into troubled waters by mentioning Taylor Swift (and Lovatos feeling that Swift, in part, exemplifies fake feminism), pointing out squad biases, and calling out attacks on fellow songstress Katy Perry. But its not off-brand for Lovato, who routinely speaks out about womens issues and inequality. So why is she getting so much heat for speaking her mind? Demi is young, and shes pretty, and shes expected to be a pop culture princess, Candace W. Burton, an assistant professor of nursing science and a womens gender and health scholar at the University of California, Irvine, tells Yahoo Celebrity. And, for the record, I dont disagree with her comments about Taylor Swift. But I think the backlash has to do with [Demis] being younger and shes being seen as too outspoken, too cynical, and too opinionated. This is part of our cultural DNA around what youth is like. People tell you dont get tied down, these are the best years of your life, dont commit to anything because you might change your mind. Thats feeding into why shes being attacked because shes young and being clear about what she thinks. Of course, Lovato isnt the only female celebrity to share her strong opinion on issues shes passionate about and shes not the only one to be attacked for it, either. Girls showrunner and star Lena Dunham is very outspoken on womens issues and routinely bares her body as a way of attempting to break the ideal of the perfect female body. And she faces a barrage of hate for doing so. Lena Dunham and her Girls co-star Jemima Kirke starred in an untouched lingerie ad campaign to promote body positivity. (Photo: Lonely Lingerie) Amy Schumer is also routinely lashed for discussing issues surrounding body image and trying to change the narrative around what a normal womans body looks like. In May, she addressed the most vitriolic of her body shaming trolls who pepper her Instagram feed with comments like Fatty, oink oink, and My eyes are bleeding with an Instagram post accompanying a picture of herself in a bathing suit, proudly proclaiming herself strong and healthy. Story continues I meant to write good morning trolls! I hope you find some joy in your lives today in a human interaction and not just in writing unkind things to a stranger youve never met who triggers something in you that makes you feel powerless and alone. This is how I look. I feel happy. I think I look strong and healthy and also like miss trunchbull from Matilda. Kisses! A photo posted by @amyschumer on May 24, 2016 at 10:44am PDT This response prompted E! Online to ask the question, Did Amy Schumer go too far on Instagram? because she decided to address her critics directly. But its not just body positivity and feminism that bring out the trolls making terrible comments. Its passion of any kind expressed by a female celebrity. In August, Schumer retweeted a comment from a gun control group called Everytown. It praised her for talking about her part in the movement, which shes been deeply involved in after a shooting at a screening of Trainwreck in Lafayette, La., killed two women and injured several others. Schumers Twitter feed was then host to responses like these: @Everytown @amyschumer A woman whose entire act consists of Im fat, and a slut talking about mental stability. Priceless. #gunsense Deplorable Brad (@bradpeirson) August 22, 2016 Meanwhile, Madonna one of the queens of outspokenness and barrier breaking has more often than not been on the sharp end of vitriolic criticism for the things shes said about gender, religion, and more over the decades. While she may have mellowed in recent years, what she says and does is still met with hearty backlash even if her comments are innocuous by todays standards. It seems like it doesnt matter what the subject matter is: If youre a woman in the public eye and willing to take a stand, its grounds for attack. Its an issue Kelly Osbourne talked about with Yahoo Celebrity last year. I have a foul mouth, and my mouth gets me in trouble all the time, even though I have the most beautiful intentions. Because its not what people want to hear, it gets misconstrued, she explained. Have you ever noticed how everyone just stands there and smiles in a really cute dress? And, Im sorry, Im not that person. Kelly Osbourne is more than just a pretty face. (Photo: Alison Buck/Getty Images) But is it really as simple as chalking it up to men versus women and what were willing to hear from the latter? Are we really still so backward that female celebrities should be attacked for saying how they feel just because of their gender? Its still considered the norm that women do not have opinions, says Burton. Even in this country, women were prohibited from being educated until very recently and there are some countries where women are still prohibited from being educated. So the very idea that a woman might be seen and heard is contrary to this culture we still live with. We still exist in a culture where we focus on different things when it comes to women. Look at the presidential campaign. Articles about [Clinton] are about her clothes and voice and smile, but articles about Trump are about his positions on things and what he does in business. So theres a stark contrast in expectation of what men do and what women do. Related: Kelly Osbourne Isnt Going to Stop Saying What She Thinks And that contrast is creating long-term damage to female fans who routinely see their heroines torn down for speaking their mind. Shaming [an] outspoken female [celebrity] helps keep the patriarchy in control, explains Lauren Costine, a founding member of BLVD Treatment Centers and an adjunct faculty member at Antioch University. It confuses her fans about their true feelings about the celebrity and plants doubt about her intelligence, credentials, and the validity of her messages. It also says that strong women will be demonized and degraded for being strong and intelligent. Unfortunately, it also teaches her young female fans that it is still dangerous to stand in ones power, speak ones truth and stand up to our dominant culture. Costine points out that when a female celebrity is shamed or attacked for speaking her mind, it adds to the trauma that we all share from growing up in a culture of disempowerment, which keeps women from living as their true, authentic selves. Its also an issue that affects men of all ages. As Costine puts it, This behavior teaches men that women are inferior and that theyre objects. Theyre to be used and objectified theyre not human beings. Women and men have been taught this about women for thousands of years. This behavior just continues that message. Of course, thats not to say that female celebrities havent said or done questionable things that deserve some scrutiny especially if that scrutiny results in an open dialogue that can change a cultural narrative. For example, Schumers feet were held to the fire when one of the writers on her show, Kurt Metzger, was branded a rape apologist. Dunham was taken to task for comments she made about sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr. at the Met Gala, resulting in her apology and a discussion about unconscious cultural and racial bias. Similarly, Madonna was berated for using a racial epithet to describe her son, and while she initially wasnt quick to apologize, eventually she did. Its important to have checks and balances in discussing what our public figures do and say, but according to Paul Hokemeyer, a family and marriage therapist and certified clinical trauma professional, even though we shame male celebrities for saying terrible things, theres still an imbalance in how we treat them versus how we treat women. Its because of the difference between male and female, he says. Women are still seen as accessories to men, whereas men are strong and courageous. These are the archetypes. On the one hand, were pleased that they show that they have an opinion and a voice, yet if they say something that doesnt sit with us, we push back, but we dont push back as far as we would if that person is female. Hokemeyer considers himself a huge fan of Lovatos, particularly for how shes expressed herself. (I think shes come clean and stood up for her humanness, her eating disorder, behavior health issues, and has spoken about things that are uncomfortable to talk about shes incredibly brave.) And while he feels part of the issue is Lovatos stepping outside her perceived Disney-star cage, angering people who expect her to be something she isnt, he also feels theres a bigger issue at play. Its the pervasiveness of male dominance in our society and the subordination of anything female, he says. The primary subordination is of women who speak their mind, are intelligent, have an opinion, and threaten the male power structure. And that threat makes people angry. And the anger gets projected out in overtly hostile ways, and sometimes subtle ways. Theres a lot of internalized misogyny toward women. So how do we change the narrative and become more supportive of female celebrities who say things that challenge our reality? Hokemeyer thinks having a woman president will help, along with women banding together to help one another. Costine suggests more conversations around this behavior are necessary, as is a larger discussion of what she describes as the dominant culture and the misogyny that is endemic throughout the world. And maybe the most important part? Female celebs continuing to be brave and speaking out about what they believe in. As Osborne once said, You wanna know what? It makes me fight even harder so that people can see whats really going on in the world and open their eyes. And if I can make a difference in one persons life, that means more to me and I will take the f***ing barrage of hate and death threats and f***ing social media abuse because that doesnt mean anything in the real world. It doesnt. Sensationalizing and characterizing and labelizing will only ever kill you. All you can be is who you are. Or maybe, more succinctly, as Schumer put it: From now on everyone only make nice comments! # coolideaaim. From now on everyone only make nice comments! #coolideaaim Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) September 1, 2016 Preach, ladies. Preach. Investors are always looking for stocks that are poised to beat at earnings season and Hawaiian Holdings Inc. HA may be one such company. The firm has earnings coming up pretty soon, and events are shaping up quite nicely for their report. That is because Hawaiian Holdings is seeing favorable earnings estimate revision activity as of late, which is generally a precursor to an earnings beat. After all, analysts raising estimates right before earningswith the most up-to-date information possibleis a pretty good indicator of some favorable trends underneath the surface for HA in this report. In fact, the Most Accurate Estimate for the current quarter is currently at $1.85 per share for HA, compared to a broader Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.82 per share. This suggests that analysts have very recently bumped up their estimates for HA, giving the stock a Zacks Earnings ESP of 1.65% heading into earnings season. Why is this Important? A positive reading for the Zacks Earnings ESP has proven to be very powerful in producing both positive surprises, and outperforming the market. Our recent 10 year backtest shows that stocks that have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better show a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and have returned over 28% on average in annual returns (see more Top Earnings ESP stocks here). HAWAIIAN HLDGS Price and EPS Surprise HAWAIIAN HLDGS Price and EPS Surprise | HAWAIIAN HLDGS Quote Given that HA has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and an ESP in positive territory, investors might want to consider this stock ahead of earnings. You can the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Clearly, recent earnings estimate revisions suggest that good things are ahead for Hawaiian Holdings, and that a beat might be in the cards for the upcoming report. 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 HAWAIIAN HLDGS (HA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Intelligence agencies have warned that in order to avenge surgical strikes by Indian army, Pakistan-based terror outfits may target farmers along the line of control and international boundary. By India Today Web Desk: Intelligence agencies have warned that terrorists may target farmers along India-Pakistan international border and the line of control. Inputs from across the border suggest a change of strategy by the terrorists, after they were pushed into a corner by the vigilant security agencies. The intelligence agencies have got reports that the terror groups may collaborate with Pakistan Rangers to target farmers in the border region. The farmers are likely to throng their fields in large numbers for harvesting of paddy. advertisement READ: Surgical strikes effect: MHA asks all states to beef up security anticipating Pak retaliation BSF KISAN GUARD Security agencies have been alerted and vigil has been upgraded in the bordering areas of the concerned states. The BSF will ensure safety and security of the farmers working on their fields. BSF has formed BSF Kisan Guards at LoC and international border for the security of farmers. BSF Kisan Gaurds have been deployed in the areas of paddy fields. One BSF Kisan Guard has been deployed for every 20 farmers going for paddy harvesting in the fields. Earlier, intelligence bureau had issued advisories to all the bordering states about the possible blowback by the Pakistan-based terror outfits. The IB had asked the states to beef up security particularly in areas adjacent to the international border. ALSO READ: After surgical strikes, wounded Pakistan likely to respond with terror attack on high-profile targets Over 300 terrorists flee from training camps in PoK following surgical strikes --- ENDS --- SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A woman who was mauled by a tiger after getting out of her car at a wild animal park in Beijing is suing the park, saying she hadn't been fully informed of the park's dangers and left the vehicle because she was carsick, a Chinese newspaper reported. The woman's mother was attacked and killed by another tiger after she hopped out of the car to try to save her daughter who had been dragged away. The woman, surnamed Zhao, was seeking 2 million yuan($299,917.52) in compensation from Badaling Wildlife World, the Beijing Times reported on Thursday in what it said was her first interview since the incident on July 23. Zhao said a park official in a nearby vehicle failed to come to the rescue. She also told the newspaper she signed an agreement not to exit her vehicle without knowing what it was and thinking it was some kind of registration to enter the park. The ticket taker did not explain it, she said. The newspaper cited a man surnamed Cao from Badaling Wildlife World as saying that the park would act according to government investigation report which had released the park from any responsibility. The park will only consider compensating the family out of a moral obligation, Cao added. The park declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. The park only agreed on 745,000 yuan of compensation against over 1.5 million yuan required by the family for Zhao's injury. They have settled on 1.2 million in compensation on the death of Zhao's mother, said the newspaper citing Zhao's father. The story triggered an online uproar with most users siding with the park, criticizing Zhao for violating park rules and ignoring warning signs. The latest twist created another wave of criticism against Zhao on Weibo, a popular Twitter-like microblog in China. "Why always trying to find excuses. The family has a terrible safety awareness. You said you couldn't see the sign and so did your husband. Who is to blame?" one weibo user wrote. (Reporting by John Ruwitch and Jackie Cai; Editing by Michael Perry) (Reuters) - Several women have accused U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual advances and groping. Among his accusers are a Miss Utah beauty pageant winner, a businesswoman, a reporter and a receptionist. He has denied the accusations. In a 2005 video that emerged on Oct. 7, Trump boasted about grabbing women by the genitals and kissing them without their consent. In a U.S. presidential debate on Oct. 9, he said he was embarrassed by what he called locker room talk but had not engaged in the conduct he described in the video. Trump has called "absolutely false" allegations by several women of groping and other misconduct, reported by The New York Times and other media on Thursday. And at a rally on Friday, after two more women made allegations of groping, he denounced all the recent allegations by a series of women, calling them fabrications and calling the women "sick." Following are some of the allegations against Trump: Jill Harth Houraney, a former Trump beauty pageant business associate, filed a $125 million lawsuit in 1997 against Trump alleging that on Jan. 24, 1993, at Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, Trump "forcibly removed plaintiff to a bedroom, whereupon defendant subjected plaintiff to defendant's unwanted sexual advances." A Trump spokesperson was quoted on Oct. 7 in The New York Times as saying, "Mr. Trump denies each and every statement made by Ms. Harth." The lawsuit was dropped in May 1997. Temple Taggart McDowell, a former Miss Utah, was quoted by The New York Times in a report published on May 15 as saying that Trump "kissed me directly on the lips" when the two were introduced in 1997, when she was 21. Taggart told the Times, "I thought, 'Oh my God, gross.'" The Times story said Trump disputed the report and added that Trump said "he is reluctant to kiss strangers on the lips." Jessica Leeds, 74, recounted in an video interview posted on The New York Times website on Oct. 12 that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight to New York in or around 1980 when she was a 38 year-old traveling businesswoman. In a tweet and in a later speech on Oct. 13, Trump called the Times story a total fabrication. Rachel Crooks, formerly a receptionist at a real estate firm, told The New York Times in a report published on Oct. 12 that Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan when she was 22. In a tweet and in a later speech on Oct. 13, Trump called the Times story a total fabrication. Natasha Stoynoff, a reporter, wrote a first-person account that described Trump kissing her without her consent in December 2005 at Trump's Florida home Mar-a-Lago while she was working on an article about him and his third wife, Melania, for People magazine. In the account published by People on Oct. 12, Stoynoff said "he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." In a tweet and in a later speech on Oct. 13, Trump said the episode described did not happen. Mindy McGillivray was cited in an article published in The Palm Beach Post on Oct. 12 that while she was a 23-year-old photographer's assistant at a Jan. 24, 2003, event at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, Trump had grabbed her buttocks. The Palm Beach Post cited a Trump spokesperson as saying, "This allegation lacks any merit or veracity." Summer Zervos, who was a contestant on Trump's reality show "The Apprentice" in 2006, said at a news conference on Oct. 14 in Las Vegas that Trump tried to get her to lie down on a bed with him when she met him in 2007 to discuss a possible job. Zervos said she complied with a request to sit next to Trump, and, "He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast." Trump at a rally in North Carolina on Friday denounced the allegations made by a series of women in recent days, calling them fabrications. Kristin Anderson, in a video posted on the website of The Washington Post on Oct. 14, said Trump put his hand up her skirt in a crowded New York nightclub in the early 1990s in an unwanted advance, when she had never even met him. "He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely," Anderson said in the video interview. Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comments on the allegations made public on Friday. (In last paragraph, first sentence, corrects name to Anderson, not Andover.) (Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington, Steve Holland and Dan whitcomb in North Carolina; Editing by Frances Kerry and Leslie Adler) On average, professional wrestlers spend way more time on crutches than the lay person but seeing the Undertaker this way doesnt bode well for his potential WrestleMania 33 participation. Based on the icons size (6-foot-10 and 299 pounds), age, and the many bumps hes taken, could recent pictures be evidence of the end for the WWE legend? These days, the 51-year-old Deadman appears to be living up to that moniker, looking every bit his age. In one recent photo, hes leaning on crutches next to a female Starbucks barista, who has appeared to suffer a wrestling (or coffee-making) injury of her own check out the boot on her right foot via the picture below. Some have pointed out that perhaps the grappler whose real name is Mark William Calaway may have just borrowed her crutches for a fun photo op (anyone whos ever sprained an ankle knows that annoying move). Twitter user Zack Lethal shot that theory down by posting a separate picture of Calaway with what looks to be the same crutches in the Undertakers pickup truck. Also Read: WWE Alum Alberto Del Rio Was Defending Paige During Stabbing, Wrestler Says (Video) WWE did not immediately respond to TheWraps request for comment on Calaways status, particularly as it pertains to WrestleMania. It wouldnt be the same without him, however: Undertaker is the most successful Superstar of all-time in pro wrestlings Super Bowl event, boasting a 23-1 record. Brock Lesnar defeated the surefire Hall-of-Famer at WrestleMania XXX, ending the so-called Streak at 20 straight Mania wins. While 51 is definitely elderly in the pro wrestling game, it isnt completely out of the question for part-timers like Calaway, who is considered one of the strongest men to ever lace up the boots. Of course, 51 is more like 71 when youve run (and tight-walked) the ropes as long as he has. Calaway was last seen on a televised WWE event beating Shane McMahon at Aprils WrestleMania 32. (Remember Shane OMacs crazy leap of faith?) Hes got until early this coming April to keep his participation streak going. Oh by the way, the Undertaker was not drafted to either Raw or SmackDown Live rosters this summer read into that however you want. Story continues Also Read: WWE Legend Goldberg Confirms He's Returning to 'Raw' (Video) Here are the photos making their way around the web today: Another photo of The Undertaker. You can see the crutches in his trunk which tells you it's his. I hope he heals up soon. pic.twitter.com/teU8Lz0Axu Zack Lethal (@TheZackLethal) October 12, 2016 The WWEs Royal Rumble is set for San Antonios Alamodome on Jan. 29, 2017. WrestleMania 33 will take place on April 2 in Orlando, Florida. Related stories from TheWrap: WWE Wrestler Paige Lashes Out on Twitter After Second Suspension Did 'WWE Backlash' Troll Ex-Superstar CM Punk's Bad UFC Debut Loss? (Videos) Roman Reigns' 'Illegal Vest' Petition to WWE Reaches Change.Org Signature Goal WWE Should Ban Roman Reigns' Vest, Change.org Petition Demands WWE Overload: Why Adding More Championship Titles Is an Epically Bad Idea (Opinion) The New York Times and People are hitting back at Donald Trump regarding accusations of sexual assault While the 2016 presidential campaign is hurtling towards its final few weeks, things have gotten, well, completely wild. The Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has been implicated by various publications, including The New York Times and People magazine, regarding alleged sexual assaults against women. The allegations come off the heels of a leaked audio tape of Trump that saw the businessman make lewd remarks about women, as well as what appears to be boasting about taking advantage of women. Donald Trump has since issued an apology about his remarks, citing the comments as locker room banter, but that hasnt stopped a string of women coming forward and accusing the presidential hopeful of assault. After publishing a detailed account of two women who have accused Trump of assaulting them, The New York Times shared a letter from the Republican candidates lawyer that requested that the publication take down the piece and offer a formal apology. GOP Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Campaigns In Battleground State Of Florida Your article is reckless, defamatory, and constitutes libel per se, the letter reads. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of this article that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr Trumps candidacy. Trump's lawyers demand @nytimes take down "reckless, defamatory" article on groping claims, or they will "pursue all available actions" pic.twitter.com/eeHwGKHKSs Claire Phipps (@Claire_Phipps) October 13, 2016 Despite the threat of legal action, the newspaper has defended its right to publish the article. Writing a response to Trumps lawyer (and later making the response public), vice president and assistant general counsel of The New York Times, David McCraw, said that the article clearly fell into public service journalism and that they wouldnt be retracting the article. Story continues The essence of a libel claim, of course, is the protection of ones reputation, the letter reads. Mr. Trump has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women. The letter goes on to detail how other women have come forward with allegations against Donald Trump. Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself, it says. Continuing, David McCraw states that Thew New York Times acted within the law, stating that it would be a journalistic and democratic disservice to revoke the article. If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight, the letter finishes. David McCraw, NYT lawyer, responds to Trumps letter. pic.twitter.com/ziPBCIjkvP Sydney Ember (@melbournecoal) October 13, 2016 The New York Times isnt the only publication that has been threatened with legal issues. As The Independent report, Melania Trump has threatened to sue People magazine for the essay they published by Natasha Stoynoff. Taking to Twitter, Melania shared a legal letter that states that the alleged incidents that Stoynoff recalled, including the relationship the journalist had with the Trump family as well as minor details like encounters, were false. She requested that People retract the article and that both Stoynoff and the publication offer apologies. However, like The New York Times, People are refusing to give in to legal threats. Making a statement, the magazines Editor in Chief, Jess Cagle, said that they were grateful to Natasha Stoynoff. Ms. Stoynoff is a remarkable, ethical, honest and patriotic woman, and she has shared her story of being physically attacked by Donald Trump in 2005 because she felt it was her duty to make the public aware, Cagle said. To assign any other motive is a disgusting, pathetic attempt to victimize her again. We stand steadfastly by her, and are proud to publish her clear, credible account of what happened. It is heartbreaking that her fear of retaliation by Trump kept her from reporting the incident when it happened. She has carried this secret for more than a decade, and we hope that by coming forward now she is relieved of that burden. Donald Trump Speaking at a rally in Florida yesterday (October 13th), Donald Trump vehemently denied the allegations. Striking out at the media, Trump said that the assault claims were part of a collusion between the Clintons and the media. There is nothing the political establishment will not do, no lie they wont tell to hold their prestige and power at your expense and thats whats happening, he said, before launching into a tirade against Natasha Stoynoff. Take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. And you tell me what you think. I dont think so, he said. These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction and theyre outright lies. These events never happened. In an hour long speech, Trump then claimed that these allegations were the responsibility of Hilary Clinton. I will not allow the Clinton machine to turn our campaign into a discussion of their slanders and lies, but will remain focused on the American people, he stated. The only thing Clinton has going for her is the press. Without the press she is nothing. The post The New York Times and People are hitting back at Donald Trump regarding accusations of sexual assault appeared first on HelloGiggles. By Lisa Barrington BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian filmmaker whose harrowing footage of sarin gas victims in 2013 was seen around the world is using his experience of the attack and conflict to make a drama looking at why people take up arms in a war which began as a peaceful revolution. Humam Husari's self-financed short film explores the chemical attack near Damascus through the eyes of a rebel fighter who lost his wife and child but was denied time to bury them. Instead, he is called to defend his town from a government offensive. The story is based on real-life events, he said. "We need to understand how people were pushed into this war and to be part of it," said Husari, 30. "I am talking about a story that I lived with. They are real characters." U.N. investigators established that sarin gas was used in parts of the rebel-held Ghouta suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus in 2013. The United States accused Syria's government of conducting the attack, which it estimated killed around 1,400 people, but Damascus denied responsibility and blamed rebels. Making the film was an emotional but necessary experience for Husari and his performers, who were witnesses to and victims of the attack, and not trained actors. "The most difficult thing was the casting and auditions," said Husari, who took about two months to write, produce and direct the 15-minute film and is currently editing it. "A 70-year-old man said to me: I want to be part of this movie because I lost 13 of my family ... I want the world to know what we've been through. And all I wanted from him is just to be a dead body," he said. "I was amazed with how much those people were able to express their tragedy and to cooperate with me on this movie." Syria's civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced 11 million -- about half of Syria's pre-conflict population. It has caused a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe and drawn in regional and global powers. Mohamed Demashki, a business student and professional bodybuilder before the war who plays the main character, said he took part in the film because of its message. "It tries to convey to the world that the people who live here are not just fighters, they are not terrorists. They are people with a life. The war conditions them to become fighters," he said. When the sarin attack happened, Husari took his camera to the makeshift hospitals that sprang up to cope with thousands of victims and sent the footage to international media. "I wasn't filming because I am a cameraman, I was filming because this is the only thing I could do for the victims," he said. "During it, you can't feel anything, you just feel shock ... After, when you just think about what you have witnessed, you rethink how big and real and really tragic this was. It is not easy for me to watch my footage." U.S. President Barack Obama had said use of chemical weapons would be a red line, but after the 2013 attack, it became clear Washington would not back up his words with military action. While Syria destroyed its declared stockpile of chemical weapons under international supervision, warring parties continue to accuse each other of attacks involving mustard gas, chlorine and other chemicals. Husari, who studied film at the Brighton Film School in Britain, now makes a living covering the Syrian conflict for international news organizations, but still hopes to make filmmaking his career. Speaking to Reuters by phone over a background wail of air raid sirens and the roar of warplanes, Husari said that living the daily reality of war will equip him to tell the story of the conflict when the war ends and films can start to be made. "Let's just think about how I reacted to those war jets in the sky. It has become something very normal to me, and this is something it is really hard to understand from the outside," he said. He has acquired the tools to direct actors to accurately respond to events in a conflict setting, he said. "I feel I have a responsibility in the future to tell this story, these stories, through cinema and drama. That's usually what happens after every war," he said. With parts of Damascus's Ghouta under opposition control from the beginning of the conflict, a number of areas have come under siege by Syrian government and allied forces. Making cinema in a place where there is no free passage of food, people and other supplies is tough. Husari made his lighting equipment and camera track himself, but had the good fortune to have access to a good quality camera. "It is an irony that in a besieged area you can find the best cameras you need," he said. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) For Immediate Release Chicago, IL October 14, 2016 Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Gold, part 2, including Tahoe Resources Inc. (NYSE: TAHO -Free Report ), Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG -Free Report ), Seabridge Gold, Inc. (NYSE: SA -Free Report ), Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE: FSM -Free Report ) and Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM -Free Report ). Industry: Gold, part 2 Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/93001/why-gold-stocks-are-must-adds-for-your-portfolio Declining output from existing mines, geopolitical tensions, concerns over Brexit, China worries and delay in rate hikes is working in favor of gold after years of languishing prices. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the gold mining industry for both the short and the long term. Below, we discuss what investors in the gold mining sector can look forward to in the coming months and years: India, China Long-Term Growth Drivers Over the last decade, combined demand for gold from India and China has risen 71%. Last year, these two markets accounted for 54% of consumer gold demand, up from 33% in 2005. India has a strong tradition of investing in gold, mainly in jewelry. Demand mostly increases around the wedding and festive seasons, which begin from mid-to-late August and continue until January. Expenditure on gold can account for almost 30% of the total wedding cost. This gives a boost to local currency demand and raises gold prices. In China, people view gold, whether in the form of bars, coins or jewelry, as a natural vehicle for savings and diversification. Gold is embedded in Chinas culture and the Chinese New Year and weddings are key events for the countrys gold consumption. In China, although demand might drop from the highs of 2013, growth remains intact. A continuous shift toward higher-margin products has lately been observed in the Chinese jewelry market. Gem-set and 18-carat gold items are increasingly popular, with the latter largely gaining popularity among the younger generation. Story continues The World Gold Council anticipates demand from China to grow at least another 20% by 2017. While Chinas middle class is expanding, India has a comparatively low level of per capita gold holdings. The powerful combination of increasing urbanization and strong cultural affinity for gold bodes well for the metals demand in both these countries. Chinas central bank also continues to purchase the precious metal on a monthly basis, as it sees value in diversifying in gold. Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) now holds a total of 57.18 million ounces of gold. Currently, Chinas gold reserves are ranked fifth in the world, behind the U.S., Germany, Italy and France. U.S Markets Hold Promise In the second quarter of 2016, demand for gold jewelry in the U.S. went up 1% year on year the tenth consecutive quarterly increase. Demand in H1 at 48.6 tons was the strongest since 2009. Consistent, albeit moderate economic growth, improving employment levels and growth in consumer confidence are supporting demand. Revived Appetite for Acquisitions Vancouver-based Tahoe Resources Inc.s (NYSE: TAHO -Free Report ) acquisition of Lake Shore Gold Corp. will address challenges faced by both companies. The transaction added Timmins West and Bell Creek mines in Timmins, Ontario, to Tahoe's holdings, which include mines in Guatemala and Peru. The enlarged company is expected to produce 370,000430,000 ounces of gold in 2016 at total cash costs of $675$725 per ounce and all-in costs of $950$1,000 per ounce. Last year, Tahoe had bought a smaller rival Rio Alto Mining to expand its presence in Latin America. Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG -Free Report ) has acquired Kaminak Gold Corporation. Kaminak's primary asset is the wholly owned Coffee Gold project a hydrothermal gold deposit located at Yukon. This project has considerable potential for near-mine discoveries, with mineralization remaining open along strike and at depth. The Coffee gold deposit currently has total indicated gold mineral resources of 3 million ounces and total inferred gold mineral resources of 2.2 million ounces. The acquisition is in sync with Goldcorps strategy of aligning with smaller exploration companies to identify and develop mining districts with large exploration potential that can grow its net asset value per share. Seabridge Gold, Inc. (NYSE: SA -Free Report ) acquired SnipGold and its Iskut project which is a gold-silver-copper project with measured and indicated resources of 2.16 million ounces of gold, 13.17 million ounces of silver, and nearly 502.7 million pounds of copper. Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE: FSM -Free Report ) acquired Goldrock Mines and its Lindero gold project in Argentina. The project contains 1.15 million ounces of gold. Gold Miners Optimizing Portfolio The drop in gold prices in recent years had put the gold mining companies' bottom lines under pressure. The companies were actively pursuing opportunities to optimize their portfolio, including the divestiture of certain non-core or non-productive assets and reduction of debt, maximization of return on capital along with driving value across the portfolio. Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM -Free Report ) sold Newmont Waihi Gold Limited in New Zealand to OceanaGold Corp. Over the last two years, Newmont has generated $1.7 billion through non-core asset sales, allowing the company to reduce its debt, invest in profitable production and return capital to its shareholders. About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Click here for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros. Get the full Report on TAHO - FREE Get the full Report on GG - FREE Get the full Report on SA - FREE Get the full Report on FSM - FREE Get the full Report on NEM - FREE Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. 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 TAHOE RESOURCES (TAHO): Free Stock Analysis Report GOLDCORP INC (GG): Free Stock Analysis Report SEABRIDGE GOLD (SA): Free Stock Analysis Report FORTUNA SILVER (FSM): Free Stock Analysis Report NEWMONT MINING (NEM): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research For Immediate Release Chicago, ILOctober 14, 2016Zacks.com looks back on the hottest stories of the week featured in the Stocks in the News blog, where analysts and writers discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks, the financial markets, and the greater investing world. Here are highlights from this weeks Stocks in the News blog: Face It, Twitter: They Just Werent That into You Shares of Twitter Inc. TWTR fell 13.5% in Monday afternoon trading after Bloomberg reported last weekend that potential bidders looking to acquire the social media company were backing off. Disney DIS, Salesforce CRM, and Google GOOGL are now all unlikely to continue to pursue a bid to buy the struggling social networking company. Amazon Will Open Convenience Stores as Grocery Business Expands& Amazon Debuts Streaming Music Service Amazon Music Unlimited Today Amazon.com Inc. AMZN is set to open a new line of convenience stores as part of its grocery business expansion, which will be available to Amazon Fresh subscribers, the companys online grocery delivery ordering service. Amazon also debuted Amazon Music Unlimited this week, a music streaming service. Like its competitors Spotify and Apple Music, users can enjoy ad-free, on-demand music for $10 a month. Prime members can enjoy the service for $8 month, while Echo owners who choose to listen to Amazon Music exclusively on their devices only have to pay $4 a month. Heres Why Ulta Salon (ULTA) is Soaring Today Shares of Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. ULTA gained over 10% in morning trading Thursday after the company raised its profit and sales outlook for the current quarter. Ulta now expects earnings to come in at $1.35 to $1.38 per share, up from its previously-announced range of $1.25 to $1.30 per share. The company also raised its same-store sales growth expectations. Ulta believes it will sees comps growth of 14% to 15% this quarter, up from 11% to 13%. Story continues Why Royal Bank of Scotlands Scheme is Much Worse than Wells Fargo According to a set of leaked files uncovered in a recent Buzzfeed report, Royal Bank of Scotland RBS staffers were allegedly instructed to knowingly steer healthy businesses towards the banks troubled-business unit, the Global Restructuring Group (GRG). The GRG profited on these businesses by deliberately hitting them with massive fees and interest-rate hikes, before scooping up their assets at fire-sale prices. Learn More About Zacks Investment Ideas You are welcome to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buy" stocks free of charge. There is no better place to start your own stock search. Plus, you can access the full list of must-avoid Zacks Rank #5 "Strong Sells" and other private research. See the stocks free >> Interested in personal finance? Zacks Money Sense e-mail newsletter is designed to bring you strategies and valuable information that can help you take control of your personal finances, as well as how to get the most out of your money. It covers a range of topics, from retirement planning to money management solutions. Subscribe to the free newsletter today. About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. 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 DISNEY WALT (DIS): Free Stock Analysis Report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report ROYAL BK SC-ADR (RBS): Free Stock Analysis Report SALESFORCE.COM (CRM): Free Stock Analysis Report ULTA SALON COSM (ULTA): 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. Zacks Investment Research Trevor Saruwaka, a member of the Zimbabwean parliament, got some good news this week: A court has just cleared him of gathering with intent to promote public violence, a breach of the peace, or bigotry. The serious-sounding charges stemmed from his participation in a September demonstration that was violently broken up by the government. Just last week, Saruwaka was courting an entirely different sort of controversy, when security guards barred him from entering the parliament building to attend the bodys opening session. The cited reason will probably come across as absurd to anyone living outside our country: The lawmaker was wearing a jacket in the green, gold, red and black colors of the national flag. I am shocked because I didnt know its a criminal offense to be patriotic, Saruwaka said. Zimbabwes flag has become a symbol of protest since pastor Evan Mawarire accidentally founded the #ThisFlag movement earlier this year when a video of himself draped in the flag and lamenting the state of the countrys governance went viral on Facebook. In response, thousands of Zimbabweans have been inspired to speak up against the government by posting pictures of themselves with the flag. Mawarires intent was straightforward. He wanted to remind the government that Zimbabwe belongs to its people, and not to a particular political party. Mugabe and the other members of his ruling ZANU-PF party were not amused. As the protests have continued, the regime has resorted to a rather desperate stratagem theyve essentially banned their own countrys flag. On September 20, Justice Ministry official Virginia Mabhiza warned citizens that using the flag without the governments permission is punishable by a fine of $200 (in a country where the average citizen lives on just over $3 per day), a jail term of up to one year, or both. Mabhiza cited an obscure law that makes it illegal to burn, mutilate or otherwise insult the national flag in circumstances which are calculated or likely to show disrespect or to bring [it] into disrepute. Needless to say, the law says nothing at all about how the government defines disrespect or disrepute, leaving vast leeway to the powers-that-be to interpret these criteria as they see fit. In Mugabes Zimbabwe, the mere act of wrapping oneself in the national flag is now deemed an act of subversion. The Herald, a state-controlled newspaper, accused protesters of using the flag to whip up political emotions against the constitutionally elected government. Pastor Mawarire was briefly arrested, but walked free after the government failed to make treason charges stick. He left Zimbabwe for South Africa, and now lives in the United States. The #ThisFlag movement has lost momentum since his departure but other civic groups such as the Tajamuka Movement, which has been using social media to galvanize protests, have moved into the spotlight. The groups leader, Promise Mkwananzi, told Reuters that the group has no intention of obeying the governments restrictions. It is total insanity that government should ban citizens from using their own flag, he said. We are going to continue to make use of our flag. It is our identity. Critics have dismissed the governments ban as baseless. Fadzayi Mahere, a Harare-based lawyer, says that the regulations cited by the government dont require citizens to seek its permission to wear or possess the flag, and that wearing, using, or possessing the national flag doesnt constitute a criminal offense. And even where sale and manufacture of the flag are concerned, no law bans these activities, he added. As I see it, the flag ban is attempt by Mugabes government to reclaim the upper hand in an environment where protests seem to have become the norm. What better way to slow down popular uprisings than to take away the symbol that unites the protestors? Banning the flag may also make it easier for security forces to single out, arrest, and convict protesters. The government had been finding it hard to find justifiable reasons to imprison protesters, as the Zimbabwean constitution explicitly gives citizens the right to protest. When Mugabe became the countrys first post-independence leader, one of his first responsibilities was to sign off on the design of the new national flag. It seems possible that that same flag will signal the end of the Mugabe era. In the photo, Zimbabwean ThisFlag activists demonstrate in front of the Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on July 14. Photo credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images "It was hell with many bodies torn and mangled with metal parts from smashed and charred cars," said Abdullah al-Sheikh, a young mechanic said. By Reuters: At least 20 people, mostly Syrian rebel fighters, were killed after a car bomb exploded on Thursday near a checkpoint close to the Bab al Salama crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in northern Syria, two witnesses said. They said the blast took place near a checkpoint manned by a group of Free Syrian Army's (FSA) Jabhat al Shamiya close to a car depot nearly two km (one mile) away from the border crossing, a major conduit for traffic between opposition held northern Syria into Turkey. advertisement MOSQUES WERE APPEALING TO PEOPLE TO DONATE BLOOD Rescue workers rushed dozens of injured to the nearby Azaz hospital, one witness said, adding that mosques were appealing to people to donate blood. ALSO READ: Bomb kills at least 20 at Kurdish wedding in Syria, injures dozens Among at least 25 injured, eight were in critical condition and taken to Turkish hospitals across the border. "It was hell with many bodies torn and mangled with metal parts from smashed and charred cars," said Abdullah al-Sheikh, a young mechanic said. The Bab al Salama crossing is close to the city of Azaz, a major stronghold of Turkish-backed and Western-vetted moderate FSA Syrian rebel fighters involved in a major operation along another stretch of border further to the northeast against the remaining presence of Islamic State militants along the border. Several FSA factions also cordoned off the area after word spread there could be another blast. The attack comes a week after an Islamic State militant blew himself up in Atmeh border crossing between Syria's opposition areas in the province of Idlib in northwestern Syria and Turkey. That blast killed at least 25 people and targeted mainly Turkish-backed FSA rebels fighting alongside other factions in Ankara's offensive, dubbed "Euphrates Shield," to push out the jihadists from their last northern Syrian enclave. Islamic State is fighting against all sides, including the Syrian government, foreign-backed rebels and other US-backed fighters. ALSO READ: Syria declares offensive, launches fiercest air strikes yet on Aleppo --- ENDS --- Gwen Stefani is gearing up to entertain guests at an Italy state dinner on Tuesday at the White House. The star is known for her bold style, so FN is recommending shoes by Italian designers that will add some spice to her wardrobe for her performance at the event. These Salvatore Ferragamo pumps are a classic silhouette, jazzed up with bold colors on the heel. Giuseppe Zanotti makes a strappy silhouette glamorous with dangling jewels around the ankle. Gianvito Rossi dresses up the Augusta velvet style with gold trim. This Mary Jane look from Gucci is a chic option for a performance. Sergio Rossi glams up the Godiva pump in a metallic snakeskin. The event will likely be the last state dinner for the Obama family. President Barack Obama will host Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his wife, Agnese Landini. Celebrity chef Mario Batali will be another special guest. Want More? Gwen Stefani Steps Out In A Wild Pair Of Christian Louboutin Boots Gwen Stefani Rocks Dr. Martens On Today Show Performance Related stories Gigi Hadid Just Gave a Sneak Peek of Zayn Malik's Giuseppe Zanotti Collab Melania Trump's Shoe Style Through the Years Dakota Johnson Wears Her Favorite Gucci Shoes in NYC Credit: Patrick McMullan via Getty Images We'd say this is one "Sweet Escape." Gwen Stefani will head to the White House on Tuesday, Oct. 18 to perform for the President, First Lady, and guests during the Italy State Dinner. First Lady Michelle Obama announced the news on Snapchat on Wednesday, revealing that Stefani will give a musical performance and Mario Batali will serve as the guest chef when the family welcomes Italy's Prime Minster Matteo Renzi and his wife, Agnese Landini, to the White House. As Stefani's father is Italian and Batali is an expert on Italian cuisine, these choices make perfect sense. VIDEO: Gwen Stefani's Best Instagram Moments 5161318059001 On Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest called Prime Minister Renzi's visit "an opportunity to recognize the depth and breadth of our relationship with Italy and exchange views on the future of Europe." Those of us who weren't lucky enough to score an invite to the V.I.P. dinner can watch Stefani's sure-to-be epic performance live at wh.gov/live on Oct. 18. RELATED: Gwen Stefani Releases Exclusive "Red Hot" Harajuku Lovers Merchandise Benefitting the American Red Cross Here's to hoping she gets to bring Blake Shelton as a plus one. Japans Youth Quake Japanese beauty companies are setting their sights on younger women, rolling out new brands targeting digitally savvy and trend-conscious consumers. Competition is intensifying in Japan as the country ages, the size of its population shrinks and new brands, especially those hailing from South Korea, flood the marketplace. In September, Shiseido launched a makeup artist-inspired brand called Playlist aimed at women in their 20s and 30s. The fashion-oriented brand, which will primarily be sold online through the Japanese companys own web site and third-party sites, draws on makeup artists experiences backstage at runway shows and photo shoots. Shiseido unveiled its plans for the new brand at the same time it revealed that it has replaced Maybelline as the new cosmetics sponsor of Tokyo Fashion Week, another sign it is reaching out to the fashion set. Playlist launched with 14 products and new winter items will be released in November. Prices range from 2,500 yen, or $24.50, for lipsticks, to 5,500 yen, or $54, for a serum. Other products in the range include cleanser, toner, cream, foundation, mascara and cream cheek color. In a similar move, Kose this summer introduced a makeup line called Visee Avant that targets younger women looking for sophisticated, fashion-forward products at affordable prices. The range, which includes 20 shades of eye shadow singles, four shades of lip tint and 20 shades of nail polish, sells primarily at drug stores. The brand is an offshoot of the companys existing Visee product range. Prices range from 500 yen, or $4.78, for a nail polish to 1,300 yen, or $12.43, for the lip tint. Amanda Kaiser Consumers Prefer Local Brands Asian skin-care brands are strongly outperforming their Western counterparts in the Chinese market, according to new research from Mintel. For its Facial Skincare 2016 report, Mintel conducted an online survey of 3,000 Internet users in China ages 20 to 49. The research shows Chinese brands such as Pehchaolin Daily Chemical Co. and Shanghai Shangmei Cosmetics Ltd. growing their market share after both companies invested heavily in marketing and distribution channels. Story continues More importantly, consumers have realized local brands are [a] better value for the money than most of the international brands, according to the report. South Korean brands continue to dominate the playing field, Mintel concluded. According to the survey, 33 percent of consumers said they had purchased South Korean skin care more often than any other kind in the past six months. Chinese domestic brands were the second most purchased, at 23 percent, followed by Japanese brands at 18 percent, and French brands at 11 percent. Facial masks have climbed the product popularity ladder over the past few years to be the second-most-used product in the last six months for the 3,000 consumers surveyed, trailing only facial cleaners. Chinas facial skin-care market was worth more than 91 billion yuan, or $13.65 billion, by the end of 2015, up 11.5 percent on the year. Mintel forecasts the market will grow to almost 158 billion yuan, or $23.7 billion, over the next five years. Casey Hall AmorePacific Keeps Growing South Korean beauty giant AmorePacific has just launched two of its brands in China and Malaysia as part of its aggressive international expansion plan. In July, AmorePacific launched its Hera brand in mainland China by opening two counters in Beijing at the Shin Kong Place and Hanguang department stores. The company said the brand, which is known for its cushion skin-care products and moisturizing lipstick formulas, already has a following with Chinese consumers, as they account for 67 percent of Heras duty-free sales in South Korea. AmorePacific said it will open six more Hera counters in China by the end of the year and sell the brand online. Also this summer, AmorePacific opened its first counter in Malaysia for its flower-inspired Mamonde brand. The counter, located at Aeon 1 Utama Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya, sells the brands range of skin care, makeup and baby products. It also features an aromatherapy area. Three more counters are slated to open in the country by the end of the year. AmorePacific chairman and chief executive officer Suh Kyung-Bae is gunning to make the Seoul-based company Asias largest beauty player, stealing that title from Japans Shiseido. For fiscal 2015, AmorePacific posted a 51.8 percent jump in net profit to 584.8 billion won, or $528 million, and a 23 percent jump in sales to 4.77 trillion won, or $4.31 billion. A.K. Harvey Nichols Spruces Up In Hong Kong The Harvey Nichols store in Hong Kongs Central district has just reopened with a fresh, new look and an expanded beauty offering. The changes to the store one of two the British chain runs in Hong Kong come just a few days before the crucial Golden Week sales period. The week-long holiday for mainland Chinese started Oct. 1. The entire department store was shut down over the summer and underwent refurbishment, but the most prominent change of the new space is the beauty section, which has doubled in size. While it once occupied the basement, beauty labels now take up the first and second levels of the store. Harvey Nichols said it has added more than 30 new makeup and skin-care brands, including La Mer, Tom Ford and Addiction, the Japanese line created by makeup artist Ayako. It also has an in-store salon, Nail & Lash by Per Face, which can pamper customers on the spot. Tiffany Ap Related stories Hillary Clinton's Hong Kong Shopping Guide Leaked Harvey Nichols Teams With Copenhagen International Fashion Fair for Project 109 Pop-up Baroque Japan Brings Moussy and Enfold to the U.S. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f246460%2fb240b74580f9423ab3c2ee4b5bb7f1cc The iPhone 7 is finally out and you might find the phone design a little boring. But the biggest thing about the new phone's design not having a headphone jack and having to use a dongle to listen to music with our old headphones gives us an opportunity to add some flair. SEE ALSO: How to make your tech beautiful enough to be in a museum Luckily, all iPhone 7s actually come with a trusty dongle. Not so luckily, the dongle is an extra thing to carry around that's bound to get lost or mixed up amongst all your other white wires. We figured it would be easier to cope with this new wire if it was a little cuter. So, here are four different DIY options for making your dongle stand out (and they're all super easy). 1. Washi tape Image: martha tesema/mashable Washi tape is industrial masking tape made of rice paper. It's not too sticky, so it can be moved around without leaving a residue. It's a low-level DIY commitment, and probably the quickest way to decorate your dongle. 1. Wrap a piece of washi tape around the wire, letting the tape go all the way around. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 2. Cut it off in a straight line, close to the base. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 3. Repeat the first two steps on the ports with a different patterned piece of washi tape. Image: martha tesema/mashable Remember, Washi tape can be easily peeled off and reapplied if you don't nail it the first time, so no pressure. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 2. Friendship bracelet string Feeling nostalgic for the days of sleepaway camp? Decorate your dongle (and a friend's!) with embroidery string. Our favorite (and arguably the easiest) stitch is the Chinese Staircase. 1. Cut a 12-inch a piece of embroidery floss (we recommend a multicolored one, so you don't have to worry about stealthily switching strings halfway through). Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 2. Tape the dongle to the table, and tie a double knot at the very top of the wire. Cut off extraneous string. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE Story continues 3. Make a P shape with the string. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 4. Loop the string through the P, and pull tight. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 5. Repeat until the wire is totally covered in a glorious spiral staircase. Then, loop your last stitch through the P twice, to form a double knot. Then, cut the string off close to the knot. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 3. Sharpies Everyone has a few Sharpies lying around. Luckily, the ones I had fit into a fall color scheme. We recommend keeping rubbing alcohol on hand for any mistakes. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 1. Simply draw a design of your choosing on both the wire and the ports and let dry. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE And that's it. That's the only step. Just doodle. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE We assume these fall colors will wear off by spring. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 4. Nail polish Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE This DIY route requires the most drying time so don't try it if you're planning on using your dongle in the next few hours. And have some nail polish remover and Q-tips at the ready, just in case. 1. Paint one side of each port, either solid (just like a fingernail) or a pattern and let dry. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 2. Once one side is dry, flip the dongle over and paint the other side. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE 3. If you're happy with your look, lock it in with some top coat. Image: MARTHA TESEMA/MASHABLE You're now free to rock out to Beyonce with pizzazz that Queen B herself would approve of. BONUS: If You Wear An Apple Watch, You're A Jerk A combination photo shows Virgin America plane (bottom) in San Diego, California on April 4, 2016 and an Alaska Airlines plane (top) at San Francisco, California on April 14, 2015 respectively. REUTERS/Files (Reuters) By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alaska Air Group Inc was making "good progress" in talks with the Justice Department on a planned merger with Virgin America Inc , an Alaska spokeswoman said on Friday. The Seattle-based company had said previously that it would not close its deal with Virgin before Oct. 17, and spokeswoman Bobbie Egan declined to spell out what would happen after that date. "We're good. We're making good progress with the DOJ (U.S. Justice Department) and we're looking at closing in early Q4," said Egan. She declined to discuss potential sticking points. "I'm not going into detail on the private negotiations underway but I can say that we're making good progress," she said. Alaska announced its $2.6 billion cash deal for Virgin America in April, which will make it the top carrier on the U.S. West Coast if the merger is approved. It would be the fifth largest U.S. carrier after American , Delta , United and Southwest . The Justice Department declined to comment. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Andrew Hay) By Lawrence White LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's banks are not reporting the full extent of cyber attacks to regulators for fear of punishment or bad publicity, bank executives and providers of security systems say. Reported attacks on financial institutions in Britain have risen from just 5 in 2014 to 75 so far this year, data from Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) show. However, bankers and experts in cyber-security say many more attacks are taking place. In fact, banks are under almost constant attack, Shlomo Touboul, Chief Executive of Israeli-based cyber security firm Illusive Networks said. Touboul cites the example of one large global financial institution he works with which experiences more than two billion such "events" a month, ranging from an employee receiving a malicious email to user or system-generated alerts of attacks or glitches. Machine defences filter those down to 200,000, before a human team cuts that to 200 "real" events a month, he added. Banks are not obliged to reveal every such instance as cyber attacks fall under the FCA's provision for companies to report any event that could have a material impact, unlike in the U.S. where forced disclosure makes reporting more consistent. "There is a grey area...Banks are in general fulfilling their legal obligations but there is also a moral requirement to warn customers of potential losses and to share information with the industry, Ryan Rubin, UK Managing Director, Security & Privacy at consultant Protiviti, said. SWIFT ACTION Banks are not alone in their reluctance to disclose every cyber attack. Of the five million fraud and 2.5 million cyber-related crimes occurring annually in the UK, only 250,000 are being reported, government data show. But while saving them from bad publicity or worried customers, failure to report more serious incidents, even when they are unsuccessful, deprives regulators of information that could help prevent further attacks, the sources said. A report published in May by Marsh and industry lobby group TheCityUK concluded that Britains financial sector should create a cyber forum comprising bank board members and risk officers to promote better information sharing. Security experts said that while reporting all low level attacks such as email "phishing" attempts would overload authorities with unnecessary information, some banks are not sharing data on more harmful intrusions because of concerns about regulatory action or damage to their brand. The most serious recent known attack was on the global SWIFT messaging network in February, but staff from five firms that provide cyber security products and advice to banks in Britain told Reuters they have seen first-hand examples of banks choosing not to report breaches, despite the FCA making public pleas for them to do so, the most recent in September. "When I moved from law enforcement to banking and saw what banks knew, the amount of information at their disposal, I thought 'wow', I never had that before," Troels Oerting, Group Chief Information Security Officer at Barclays and former head of Europol's Cyber Crime Unit, said. Oerting, who joined Barclays in February last year, said since then banks' sharing of information with authorities has improved dramatically and Barclays shares all its relevant information on attacks with regulators. Staff from five firms that provide cyber security products and advice to banks in Britain told Reuters they have seen first-hand examples of banks choosing not to report breaches. "Banks are dramatically under-reporting attacks, they do what's legally required but out of embarrassment or fear of punishment they aren't giving the whole picture," one of the sources, who declined to be named because he did not want to be identified criticising his firm's customers, said. Apart from Barclays, the other major British banks all declined to comment on their disclosures. The Bank of England declined to comment and the FCA did not respond to requests for comment. KEEPING SECRETS Companies that use external security systems also do not always inform them of attacks, the sources said. "Our customers sometimes detect attacks but don't tell us," Touboul, whose firm helps protect banks' SWIFT payment networks by luring attackers to decoy systems, said. Hackers used the bank messaging system that helps transmit billions of dollars around the world every day to steal $81 million in one of the largest reported cyber-heists. Targeted attacks, in which organised criminals penetrate bank systems and then lurk for months to identify and profile key executives and accounts, are becoming more common, David Ferbrache, technical director Cybersecurity at KPMG and former head of cyber and space at the UK Ministry of Defence, said. "The lesson of the SWIFT attack is that the global banking system is heavily interconnected and dependent on the trust and security of component members, so more diligence in controls and more information sharing is vital," Ferbrache said. "Big banks are spending enormous amounts of money, $400-500 million a year, but there are still vulnerabilities in their supply chains and in executives' home networks, and organised crime groups are shifting their focus accordingly," Yuri Frayman, CEO of Los Angeles-based cyber security provider Zenedge, said. BRAND DAMAGE Banks are increasingly sensitive to the brand damage caused by IT failings, perceiving customers to care just as deeply about security and stable service as loan or deposit rates. Former RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester waived his bonus in 2012 over a failed software update which caused chaos for thousands of bank customers. And HSBC issued multiple apologies to customers after its UK personal banking websites were shuttered by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, following earlier unrelated IT glitches. "People don't care about a 0.1 percent interest rate change but 'will this bank do the utmost to keep my money and information safe?'" Oerting said. (Editing by Sinead Cruise and Alexander Smith) By Ingrid Melander and Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - Thousands of passengers were delayed worldwide after a computer glitch temporarily halted departures at United Airlines, the latest in a series of outages to affect rival companies in the industry. United said on Twitter that an issue with its weight reporting system delayed flights starting Thursday, and it resolved the problem by 3 AM EDT (07:00 GMT) on Friday. The No.3 U.S. airline by passenger traffic is working to determine the cause, its spokesman said Friday. Weight and balance systems calculate a plane's centre of gravity and if it is carrying no more than it can handle to fly. On Friday, delays often lasted 10 to 20 minutes due to United's crew having to handle some tasks manually, the spokesman said. But some passengers reported they had to wait aboard planes or inside terminals for several hours. "On the plane for more than an hour, away from the gate and no communication. What's happening?," one passenger tweeted. In Paris, passengers complained as check-in lines grew for a flight to New York, a Reuters reporter said on Friday morning. As of 5:00 PM EDT (21:00 GMT), United had cancelled 11 flights and delayed 216, or 9 percent of its operation, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com. The large size of global airlines and their need to automate systems to be reliable mean recovering from glitches will almost always take some time, despite investment and redundancies, said Bob Edwards, United's former chief information officer until 2014. This is the third computer glitch recently to hit United's owner United Continental Holdings Inc and the latest in a series of problems that have tested airlines' reliance on aging technology. This has prompted some experts to question whether the airline industry has invested enough in technology infrastructure, given new profits from baggage and cancellation fees. On June 2, 2015 software needed to dispatch United's flight plan briefly lost functionality. In July 2015, the same airline's flights were disrupted after a computer problem blocked access to reservations records. This August, Delta Air Lines Inc cancelled thousands of flights and delayed many others after a power outage hit its computer systems. And in September, a system-wide computer problem at British Airways caused significant delays. After the previous incidents, United said it had invested in backup plans. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander, Tim Hepher; Additional reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Keith Weir, Nick Zieminski and Bernard Orr) A historical atlas of Tibet has been long in coming. This is in essence because there is a collective, global amnesia about the civilisation, the culture and politico-socio-economic history of the region, apart from occasional nostalgic eruptions of the Shangri-La sort which fictionalise and romanticise rather than educate and inform (the preservation of Tibetan tradition and cultural and religious beliefs and practices among the Tibetan community in exile in India is a notable exception). Therefore, the publication of A Historical Atlas of Tibet by Karl E. Ryavec (University of Chicago Press, 2015) comes as a much-needed and welcome work of scholarship that should benefit and enlighten committed scholars and Tibet aficionados alike. This is a 200-page atlas that is a revelation in itself. The writer is an associate professor of world heritage at the University of California, Merced. The work took over two decades to complete ("12 years of research and 8 years of mapmaking"), beginning with the author's work as a geographer at the US Defense Mapping Agency in the early 1990s. The inspiration was his growing interest in Tibet, sparked by two visits to the region. His goal in creating this atlas was practical: the desire to "map the major patterns" in Tibetan culture, history, government, natural resources and trade, among other areas, in a "concise, handy reference volume for the benefit of students and scholars new to Tibetan studies". In the process, Professor Ryavec was privileged to interact with several academicians on Tibet as well as historic Tibetan figures living in exile in Dharamsala. Joseph Schwartzberg, author of the classic 1978 study A Historical Atlas of South Asia (unfortunately out of print) was another inspiration. Ryavec's training as a geographer enabled him to make all the digital maps needed for the atlas project. His ability to integrate GIS (Geographic Information System) into the study of historical and cultural geography, thus building a regional systems model for the study of Tibetan history, using the founding of Buddhist temples and monasteries as one key measure of local economic development (for want of better data), provides for an excellent compendium of knowledge about Tibet. advertisement The atlas comprises 49 maps, including those of major regions of Tibet and its natural features; the historical Tibetan world and its main trade routes, religious sites, the development of regions during different historical periods with special focus on the Ganden Podrang, or Kingdom of the Dalai Lamas (Map 33). The "Tibetan culture region" in itself is two thousand miles from west to east, and one thousand miles from north to south (Map 1), a huge expanse that is a veritable heart-lung of Asia. Despite its remoteness, however, this was not an isolated culture because Tibet was influenced in varying degrees by India, China and Persia. The history of Tibet is, according to the author, a history of localities: localities where Buddhist monasteries, major temples and trade routes converged. The author was able to delve into a fascinating trove of accounts that document route descriptions and pilgrimage itineraries to sacred sites in Tibet, India and China, and proved to be a rich source in the compilation of the atlas. Throughout Tibetan history, there were few towns, let alone cities or monasteries that functioned as centres of political and economic activity. Prior to the 1950s, approximately one-quarter of Tibet's male population consisted of Buddhist monks. Religion and the politics surrounding religion ruled supreme. Spatial concepts have traditionally treated the geography of Tibet as consisting of the western region of Ngari (which merges geographically into Ladakh) , U-Tsang or the middle region (bordering Nepal, Bhutan and Northeast India) and the 'lower' regions of Kham (eastern Tibet, which merges into Sichuan and Yunnan) and Amdo (which merges into Northwest China). (The author acknowledges that areas like Ladakh and Baltistan, which were also heavily influenced historically by Tibetan culture and language, are not studied in the atlas.) These four core, macro regions were further sub-divided into smaller regions, upper and lower, in what are regarded in folk or vernacular terms, as 'perceptual regions' (Map 3). Tibetan civilisation was spread over these four regions, and as the author notes, was "integrated between its cores, peripheries and bordering cultures mainly by long-distance trade". Map 6 in the atlas is a fascinating delineation of the travel time and main trade patterns in the historical Tibetan world, circa 1900, showing the travel time from Lhasa in weekly increments, based on an average daily rate of 12 miles per day by foot and/or caravan with horses, mules, yaks or camels. In the historical period, and even up until the late 1950s, the main Lhasa to India route over the Himalaya into Sikkim was Tibet's shortest route to the outside world. In the early 1900s, Tibetan officials took this route to China by boarding steamers at Calcutta for Nanjing. British Indian Rupees were used in nineteenth century Tibet to buy tea from China, and when the supply of rupees was reduced in 1902, copies of Victorian rupees were made in the mints in Sichuan, China, for circulation in the Kham macro region until 1932. advertisement In the context also of these four core macro-regions, the author makes the important observation that central Tibet, or U-Tsang, is the only one completely surrounded by a periphery (Map 5). In contrast, Ngari, Kham and Amdo merge into the East, Southeast and South Asian civilisational space along descending river valleys. Buddhism took root in U-Tsang (brought there by the Indian monk from Uddiyana in the historical region of Gandhara, Padmasambhava), although when it declined in the latter location after the fall of the Tibetan Empire in the ninth century, it survived in the monasteries of Kham and Amdo. Monks from these regions were responsible for later restoring the monastic traditions that had been interrupted in central Tibet. That historical Tibet is juxtaposed against a present that is geo-political rather than the geo-civilisational is clear throughout this work. A vivid representation is provided in Map 48, which shows the Tibetan population circa 2000, when a Chinese census was conducted. Employing pie chart symbols to map the numbers and proportions of Tibetans, Han Chinese, Muslims and related Mongolian and Tibeto-Burman peoples, while the map does not claim to provide a completely accurate demographic picture, it does visualise the shifting patterns of the demography of Tibet, post-1950. The total 2000 Tibetan population of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai, and Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties in Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, was 5,224,980. In these same areas, Han Chinese totalled 3,629,115, Muslims 928,673, and Mongolian and Tibeto-Burman peoples 724,760. Similar data for the 2010 census is not available, although the latter reveals that the total population of the TAR alone increased from approximately 2,620,000 to 3 million, representing a total increase of 14.6 per cent. advertisement Towards the end of the book, the author raises the question whether Tibet's political system and territorial extent would be what it is today if the region existed outside China's territorial boundaries. Whether the indigenous Tibetan system would have been conducive to long-term sustainable development is the issue here. Culturally similar neighbouring states like Bhutan have demonstrated their success in creating their own paths to modernisation and harmonious development without significantly disturbing cultural traditions and belief, allowing space for visualisation of a Tibetan capacity to similarly adapt. The world may not see a credible answer to this, for Tibetan circumstances have radically altered over the last six-and-a-half decades. Around the body of the history of Tibet, to paraphrase Shelley, the "lone and level sands stretch far away". advertisement The author is a former foreign secretary and ambassador of India --- ENDS --- MarketWatch If you really want to rev up your retirement savings and minimize income taxes, the best thing to be is a late-career professional in private practice. When youre making a lot of money and are close to retirement age, you have savings options that go way beyond the levels of the typical workplace 401(k) plan. As long as you can handle a little extra paperwork and some fees, you can set up a solo retirement plan and enjoy higher limits than most employees. Professional biker-man Danny MacAskill does tricks that I'm pretty sure defy the laws of physics, or at least the laws of good common sense. He sometimes does these tricks on top of an actual mountain. Good thing he's the one riding the bike and not you or me, in other words. DON'T MISS: These creepy Uber drone adverts are the future we all deserve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_7k3fnxPq0 Danny MacAskill made his name doing tricks on the streets of Scotland. His new video is fundamentally more of the same, but the production value has gone up exponentially. Rather than late-night runs through the city center, we're now treated to sweeping drone shots of incredible landscapes, while MacAskill tricks his heart out below. That's not to make it sound like this video is all about the cinematography. Quite the opposite, in fact. There's still the same level of technical skill on display -- I can't even imagine jumping perfectly onto a single railway track -- but it's also about the creativity on display. Just when you think MacAskill can't get any more ridiculous than pulling wheelies on a ridge, he's found a way to use a bale of hay as a giant gear, or slide across a wet log and land perfectly on the other side. The music and storyline, plus cameos by his parents, really just tie it all together. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com Yahoo Mail logo is displayed on a smartphone's screen in front of a code in this illustration taken in October 6, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (Reuters) By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of 48 lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday asked the Obama administration to brief Congress "as soon as possible" about a 2015 Yahoo program to scan all of its users' incoming email at the behest of the government. The request comes amid scrutiny by privacy advocates and civil liberties groups about the legal authority and technical nature of the surveillance program, first revealed by Reuters last week. Custom software was installed to search messages to hundreds of millions of accounts under an order issued by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. "As legislators, it is our responsibility to have accurate information about the intelligence activities conducted by the federal government," according to the letter, organized by Republican Representative Justin Amash of Michigan and Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California. "Accordingly, we request information and a briefing as soon as possible for all members of Congress to resolve the issues raised by these reports." Investigators searched for messages that contained a single piece of digital content linked to a foreign state sponsor of terrorism, sources have told Reuters, though the nature of the content remains unclear. Intelligence officials said Yahoo modified existing systems used to stop child pornography and filter spam messages on its email service. But three former Yahoo employees told Reuters the court-ordered search was done by a module buried deep near the core of the companys email server operation system, far below where mail sorting was handled. The Senate and House intelligence committees were given a copy of the order when it was issued last year, sources said, but other members of Congress have express concern at the scope of the email scanning. Some legal experts have questioned the breadth of the court order and whether it runs afoul of the U.S. Constitutions Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. Story continues Half of registered U.S. voters believe the Yahoo program violated the privacy of customers, according to a poll of 1,989 people conducted last week by Morning Consult, a polling and media company. Twenty-five percent were supportive of the program because of its potential to stop criminal acts, the survey found, while another quarter did not know or had no opinion. The congressional letter is addressed to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball and Joseph Menn; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) By Foo Yun Chee FLORENCE (Reuters) - The EU's antitrust regulator, who has accused Alphabet unit Google of stifling competition in three separate cases, left open the possibility of further action against the U.S. technology giant. Complaints have been made about Google's practice of copying content from websites without payment in what is known as scraping. Complainants include News Corp, Getty Images [GETTY.UL] and German publishers. Margrethe Vestager, the EU's Competition Commissioner said this was not on her radar for now but did not rule out future action. She is concentrating on the three ongoing cases, the first of which has dragged on since 2010. Antitrust cases typically take between three to eight years or even longer. "We are not taking any decisions yet," Vestager told reporters on the sidelines of a conference organized by the International Bar Association on Friday. The European Competition Commission has in the last year charged Google of using its market power to promote its own products at rivals' expense after a spate of complaints from European and U.S. companies. Vestager said she was aware of the competition and copyright issues related to scraping. Her peer in charge of digital issues, Guenther Oettinger, recently proposed copyright legislation which needs approval from EU lawmakers and EU countries before it can be implemented. Vestager said the proposed rules would not hinder her work. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) Facebook and Twitter have seen a rise in anti-migrant commentary in Germany, as public misgivings grow in some corners over the almost 900,000 asylum seekers who arrived last year (AFP Photo/Jonathan Nackstrand) (AFP/File) Berlin (AFP) - A senior German politician said Friday that social media giants like Facebook should face penalties if they fail to tackle hate speech, after a surge in xenophobic comments linked to the migrant influx. The threat from Volker Kauder, a key member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, follows a similar warning by Justice Minister Heiko Maas, in a growing sign of German politicians' frustration with such websites. "The time for round-tables is over. I've run out of patience," said Volker Kauder, chairman of the Christian Democratic Union's parliamentary group. Facebook and Twitter have seen a rise in anti-migrant commentary in Europe's biggest economy, as public misgivings grow in some corners over the almost 900,000 asylum seekers who arrived last year. The government has pushed the US online networks to take swift action to combat hate speech. Despite a pledge in December last year by Facebook, Twitter and Google to examine and remove offensive posts in Germany within 24 hours, users have reported that their requests to take down hate speech have often hit a wall. Kauder said that if the companies fail to remove offensive posts within a week after they have been reported, then they should be penalised, with a suggested fine of 50,000 euros ($55,000) per post. In an interview last week, Justice Minister Maas noted that the online giants had taken action only in a minority of cases. Out of the cases reported to Twitter in Germany, only one percent was erased, he said, while for Facebook, the proportion was 46 percent. "If the companies refuse to meet their responsibility, then there will be consequences," Maas told business daily Handelsblatt. A first step would be to require them to offer more transparency on how they are dealing with the issue, by publishing annually how many illegal hate commentaries have been reported and how many have been dealt with, he said. "If criminal content is not swiftly deleted, then we need to consider how to make Facebook and Twitter liable," he said, adding that "this Damocles sword hangs over them". "They now have time to prove themselves before we impose a legal requirement," he warned. By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Friday said it expected to take a hit to its operating profit of about $3 billion over the next two quarters due to the discontinuation of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. The outlook brings to about $5.3 billion the total losses the global smartphone leader has forecast as a result of the overheating issues, after it said on Wednesday it would suffer a $2.3 billion hit to third-quarter profit. The premium device that was meant to compete with Apple Inc's latest iPhones at the top end of the smartphone market had to be scrapped earlier this week, less than two months after its launch, due to safety fears. The South Korean tech giant said in a statement on Friday it expected the blow to profit to be in the mid-3 trillion won over the next two quarters - in the mid-2 trillion won range in the October-December period and about 1 trillion won ($900 million) for the first quarter of 2017. Samsung shares, which have fallen about 8 percent this week, edged up 0.6 percent as of 0228 GMT on Friday, versus a 0.5 percent gain on the broader market. To make up for the lost revenue, Samsung said it would expand sales of gadgets like the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge phones, and make "significant changes" in its quality assurance processes to improve product safety. Investors and analysts said that while the company had to move quickly to reassure the market about the potential financial costs, deeper losses from one of the tech industry's most spectacular product failures could not be ruled out. Reputational damage remained the great unknown and potentially more harmful than recall costs, with rivals in the cut-throat industry eager to pounce on any sign of weakness in the market leader's standing among consumers. "The sales impact on other models remains unclear," said Kim Sung-soo, a fund manager at LS Asset Management, which owns Samsung Electronics shares. "The end of the premium model will damage Samsung's brand, and hurt demand for its other models. It is difficult to measure such impact." Samsung posted earnings of $7.2 billion in the second quarter, with mobile profits - its biggest earner - soaring 57 percent. REBUILDING TRUST The Note 7 debacle has come at an awkward time for South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerate, which is in the middle of a leadership succession and is facing calls for a major restructuring from U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management. Park Jung-hoon, a fund manager at HDC Asset Management which owns shares in Samsung affiliates, said that although future losses would not be as bad as the third quarter the company had to work hard to rebuild confidence. "What's important is whether the flagship S7 can fill the gap left by the Note 7, and how much trust Samsung can regain from consumers by the time the S8 comes out," he said. Analysts expect the S8 to be released in the first quarter. Key to brand recovery would be rapidly finding out and communicating what went wrong with the Note 7, which was recalled when some devices were found to be combustible and finally discontinued when customers reported similar faults in their replacements. The company blamed faulty batteries for the original problem but it has given no inkling about the cause of overheating in the replacements. "Samsung must announce clearly what the reason was and dispel uncertainty," Park said. Investors were also expecting the company to show its "commitment to shareholders" by announcing share buybacks or higher dividends, he said. Samsung has announced financial incentives for U.S. and South Korea customers who exchange Note 7s for other Samsung products, as part of efforts to stem customer defections. ($1 = 1,114.7500 won) (Reporting by Se Young Lee and Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates) Mobile gaming is about to get a major upgrade. Hours ago, Sony announced that it would launch five or six smartphone games on both the iOS and Android mobile platforms before March 2018. This comes just weeks after Nintendo unveiled a partnership with Apple that will bring Super Mario to the iPhone. READ MORE: Every single PlayStation VR launch title, ranked Back in March, Sony established a new division of its company called ForwardWorks, which would aim to deliver "full-fledged game titles" in the smart device market. That was the last we'd heard about the subsidiary until this week. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sony will release the mobile games in Japan first, followed by other Asian countries. The United States and Europe don't factor into Sony's current plans for smartphone game releases. Sony wasn't willing to share any specifics regarding the potential mobile game lineup, but there's a chance we could see some familiar faces on our phones and tablets next year. Uncharted, God of War, Infamous, Ratchet & Clank Sony has a pretty deep library to pull from when deciding what to bring to mobile. These plans have been in the works for quite a while, but with the success of Pokemon Go, it's not surprising to see both Sony and Nintendo attempting to capitalize on the market when licensed mobile games have reached a fever pitch. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com By India Today Web Desk: The much-married actress Tisca Chopra got a marriage proposal on Twitter, and her reply will leave you in splits. Twitter user Rahul (@rahul_Emraan) confessed his desire to marry the Taare Zameen Par actress, and she agreed. Tisca, who is married to Capt. Sanjay Chopra and even has a daughter, jokingly replied that she was "waiting to be asked." advertisement ALSO READ: Tisca Chopra on casting couch and how she tricked her way out of a big Bollywood director's scheme Tisca tweeted, "Was just waiting to be asked, thank you. Yes I will. Please send me all details. My husband also wants to see who I am leaving him for..." Was just waiting to be asked, thank you. Yes I will. Please send me all details. My husband also wants to see who I am leaving him for.. https://t.co/AqtvngLAo7 Tisca Chopra (@tiscatime) October 13, 2016 On the workfront, the 42-year-old actress will appear in the short film Chutney, which will also see her don the producer's hat. She will be paired opposite Adil Hussain in the film. --- ENDS --- Warning: This recap for the Falling Slowly episode of Greys Anatomy contains spoilers. Real love is accepting someone, flaws and all. Thats the theme in Greys Anatomys big case of the week, a couple who survive a glider crash, and thats the theme among the doctors, with storylines focusing on Amelia/Owen and Jackson/April. Its not surprising to see some bumps in the road for the former couple, since they got married after, like, five seconds of knowing each other. As for the latter, well, they got divorced for a reason. The theme is also echoed in other relationships, like Alex and Jo, who still have so many secrets and so much unsaid between them. Now, hes banished to the hospital version of hell. Can he claw his way back out? Can these two crazy kids say whats been unsaid and accept each others flaws? Only time will tell. Heres a rundown of this weeks episode, including our live tweets: Clinical depression Alex did a very bad thing when he beat up DeLuca, but man, working at the clinic well, lets all just pray for him. Really, its just all too ironic that Alex has been sentenced to work at the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 His boss, a nurse named Tamir, is a total hardass who doesnt give him an inch. Alexs first case in the clinic is a simple abscess, but Tamir warns him not to pick up a scalpel. All he can do is page surgery because Alex isnt a surgeon in the clinic. Hes just a scut worker. In bed, Amelia and Owen make post-coital pillow talk except its more like a quiz show. Amelia learns that Owen goes to church. What else doesnt she know about him? How does he want to raise their kids? Hes excited she wants kids, but she screeches that they dont know each other well enough yet. Ellen Pompeo, Martin Henderson (Photo: Richard Cartwright/ABC) At the hospital, Riggs tries to get closer to Meredith by asking her to hang out (its a date). Meredith continues to rebuff him. Were not that kind of friends, she says before leaving. Story continues Riggs might want to look up the phrase friendzone ???? #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 Mer is called to a trauma coming in from the helipad. Owen is working with her and vents about Amelias tendency to latch onto things, like a shark. She sympathizes. They get that case of the husband and wife involved in a glider crash. He turns out to be a paraplegic, and its cute how much the couple care about each other as they yell I love you from adjoining ER rooms. Bailey meets with DeLuca to talk about the hospitals internal review and how theyve complied with the district attorneys requests. But, she adds, he shouldnt talk to anybody about the case. He shrugs sadly nobody wants to talk to him anyway! As Owen scans the wife, Amelia pops in, still in quiz mode. When did he lose his father? Why did he join the Army? And on and on. The matter isnt helped when Riggs clearly knows more about Owen than she does. Amelia needs an Owen Hunt Trivia Night #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 Meanwhile, neither April nor Jackson seem to be getting a wink of sleep. He complains to Ben about April, she complains to Arizona about Jackson. And of course, Harriet isnt sleeping through the night. At the clinic, Alex treats an underage woman named Emma who is clearly drunk. All she wants is an IV and to leave. Tamir tries to hurry him along, but Alex is clearly torn about his duty to do something helpful. Owen finishes his scan of the wife and believes they should operate to remove her spleen. Also, her aorta isnt looking great. Meredith disagrees, saying they should just monitor her for now. And Riggs takes her side. Hmmm, is he doing it to get on her good side? Eleen Pompeo, Keving McKidd, Martin Henderson (Photo: Richard Cartwright/ABC) See something, say something Arizona and Jo run into DeLuca in the hall, and the former is amazed by his facial recovery good job, Jackson! She asks about the trial, but he brushes her off, saying he cant talk about it. Poor DeLuca seems so alone ???? Let him talk, Bailey! #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 Its a ladies + Alex lunch, as Meredith, Amelia, and Maggie schlep down to the clinic to have a bite with him. Amelia is still on this knowing everything about Owen thing. See, she thinks if he knows her deep, dark scary secrets, he wont love her anymore. Tamir breaks up their party, ordering Alex to see to Emma. First, he gives her a stupid brochure. Then, he yells at her for partying too much. She replies that she only had one beer. As he berates her, Richard steps in to stop him. Well, apparently, he came at Alexs behest to talk some sense into Emma. Richard and Alex playing good cop, bad cop is the best #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 In the real part of the hospital, the crash wifes spleen ruptures and her aorta is dissecting. She needs surgery, stat. Owen is pissed, because he wanted to do this in the first place. Back in the clinic, Richard tries to talk to Emma, bringing up his own experience with AA. She becomes agitated, once again insisting shes not an alcoholic. As she gets out of the bed, her shoulder dislocates! And she just puts it back in, as though shes done this time and time again. More Jackson/April drama! Jackson is still venting to Ben about Aprils early morning coffee-making habit. She huffs to Arizona that shes trying to be the perfect guest. Both Ben and Arizona counsel their friends to talk to each other and that maybe its time for April to move out of Jacksons apartment. April and Jackson are proof that exes living together, for whatever reason, are never a good idea #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 With Emmas case seemingly closed, Alex takes off for his legal appointment. But as the bus is about to pull away, he has a major light-bulb moment. He takes Emmas charts to Richard and lists her symptoms. Richard also has a major light-bulb moment. Turns out Emma has a rare disease and Alex has just saved her life. He wont take credit for it, though. Amelia is STILL obsessing over how much she knows about Owen. In fact, she feels like she knows more about Stephanie her sickle cell anemia, her taste for mushrooms, etc. I shouldve married you. LOL Amelia needs to take a chill pill #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 Flaws and all After the crash wifes surgery, the doctors discover shes been paralyzed from the waist down. Owen goes nuts on Riggs and Meredith for voting against him. After he leaves, Meredith accuses Riggs of siding with her because of their thing. He is offended. I agreed with you because you were right, not because you were you. Meredith takes the crash husband to see his wife. He feels enormously guilty for causing the situation and paralyzing his wife. She tells him to buck up and be there for her. This isnt the worst thing. Shes still breathing. Meredith would know #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 Jackson comes home to find April with their (finally!) sleeping daughter. After a dumb argument about the TV, they finally talk about their issues. She offers to move out, but Jackson doesnt want her to. And she doesnt want to, either. She will, however, stop making the damn coffee in the morning. Owen and Amelia go to bed, but she is clearly still agitated. She finally confesses everything about her former fiance, who died of a drug overdose after theyd used together. He admits that he once choked Cristina during a PTSD nightmare. Theyve both done terrible things. But theyll make beautiful babies! And they should start trying immediately. True love: When you confess your most horrible secrets and the other person still accepts you #OwenandAmelia #GreysAnatomy Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) October 14, 2016 Meredith finds Riggs outside the hospital. She declares that she cant do this anymore she doesnt want to question her medical decisions, or his. Lets just be colleagues, she says. He playfully suggests that colleagues is a little aloof cant they be friends? Maggie comes upon them in that moment, and they play it off as Riggs wanting to be friends with her. Sigh. Meredith, you of all people must know that secrets will get out, someday. Greys Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC. By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Oct 14 (PTI) Facing a series of charges of sexual assault, a defiant and combative Donald Trump tried to play the victim card claiming he is subject to a conspiracy hatched by the rival Clinton campaign and said that the very survival of the US is at stake. The 70-year-old reality TV star and the Republican presidential nominee rejected claims by women against him of sexual abuse as "preposterous and ludicrous" allegations that "defy truth, common sense and logic". advertisement "Lets be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. Theyre a political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda, and the agenda is not for you, its for themselves," he said at an election rally in West Palm Beach, Florida. "Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them its a war, and for them nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it on November 8th, remember that," he told thousands of his supporters in this key battleground state yesterday. Trump said this election will determine whether the US is a free nation or whether it has only an illusion of democracy, but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system. "This is reality, you know it, they know it, I know it, and pretty much the whole world knows it. The establishment and their media enablers will control over this nation through means that are very well known. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, and morally deformed," he alleged. Trumps angry response came a day after two women accused him of inappropriately touching them as reported by the New York Times. He has sent a legal notice to the daily, which has refused to take down its story and asserted that it stands by it. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. The Clintons know it, and they know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction and theyre outright lies. These events never, ever happened and the people said them meekly fully understand. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and youll understand also," Trump said. advertisement "The claims are preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time very soon," he said amid applause from the audience. He alleged that these lies come from outlets whose past stories and past claims have already been discredited. The media outlets did not even attempt to confirm the most basic facts because even a simple investigation would have shown that these were nothing more than false smears, he said. PTI LKJ KUN SAI AKJ SAI --- ENDS --- Erdogan Ceren, a 22-year-old, fatally shoots himself live on Facebook. He committed suicide saying he is heartbroken that his girlfriend broke up with him. Erdogan Ceren, 22, fatally shoots himself on a Facebook live video, heartbroken that his girlfriend broke up with him. Photo: Facebook\ErdoganCeren By India Today Web Desk: A heartbroken 22-year-old man, Erdogan Ceren, shot himself dead using a shotgun, after his girlfriend broke up with him and he streamed it live on Facebook. In the video, a shirtless Ceren is seen sitting with a shotgun and says, "No one believed when I said I will kill myself - so watch this," before pulling the trigger. advertisement The Sun reports that Ceren, before committing suicide, wrote on his Facebook wall a poem dedicated to his girlfriend that translates into: "Our love was going to be a saga, our eyes were not going to shed tears, now tell me love, are you leaving, will my hands burn without you." His first attempt to pull the trigger failed, but he did it a second time and the gun blasted, possibly piercing his heart. The screen blacks out the moment gun is fired, but the rap music could be still heard playing in the background. At the 52nd second, Ceren could be heard moaning in pain. His family rushed him to a hospital but he died there, hours later, reports local news outlet Bugunun Haberi. You can watch the video here. --- ENDS --- Mulayam's comment is a severe setback for Akhilesh, who is fighting a battle of sorts with his uncle Shivpal Yadav. By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: The latest knock on the already fragile situation in Samajwadi Party was delivered by its supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today. He said the party's chief ministerial candidate will be decided by elected MLAs after the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. In effect, he has expressed a no-confidence in his son Akhilesh Yadav as the incumbent Chief Minister of the most populated state in the country. advertisement "The chief ministerial candidate will be decided by the elected party legislatures and parliamentary board. This is our job. This is not your (media) work," he told reporters in Lucknow when asked whether Akhilesh was still the SP's chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 elections. Also read: India Today-Axis Opinion Poll for Uttar Pradesh: BJP dream run to continue, but a hung Assembly likely UP election: SP, BSP fight to survive; Congress looks for relevance; Modi referendum for BJP UP election: The not-so-happy families of Samajwadi Party Mulayam's comment is a severe setback for Akhilesh, who is fighting a battle of sorts with his uncle Shivpal Yadav. Mulayam is increasingly seen as siding with his younger brother at the cost of his son. As per the norm and tradition, the incumbent chief minister or the prime minister automatically gets projected as the face of the party in the next elections. If the party chief says the elected MLAs or MPs would choose their legislative party or parliamentary party leader, it implies that the incumbent CM or the PM respectively has lost the confidence of his leader. For instance, after his first term in power, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was projected as UPA's face in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. He was the UPA's PM candidate even in the 2014 General elections even though one was not sure whether he would have continued on the post had the Congress-led political formation won the elections. It may well have been party's vice-president Rahul Gandhi. However, Singh was still the UPA's face. Because, any other stand would have meant that Singh had lost the confidence of the party. Just imagine, Congress president Sonia Gandhi would have said the same thing before 2014 Lok Sabha elections that Mulayam commented today. Had she said the elected UPA MPs would choose their leader, it would have meant that Singh might not have been the PM. Secondly, such a stand also implies that the incumbent PM or CM has not performed satisfactorily. Hence, by making a comment on SP's chief ministerial candidate, Mulayam may actually be harming Akhilesh and, in effect, the interests of his party. His remark may be construed by the voters as his displeasure in the Akhilesh government. Also read: UP election: Why Rahul Gandhi's Kisan Yatra has left BJP, SP worried For Mayawati, UP election is a fight to the finish advertisement The Samajwadi Party seems to be in deep trouble. There are no signs of the internal feud in the Yadav family abating. Far from it, it is only exacerbating with each passing week. Even party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is seen contributing to the non-envious situation SP finds itself in. Mulayam may technically be right in saying that the elected legislators will choose their leader. "There is no dispute in the family. Shivpal had met him (Akhilesh) this morning. In the last elections, votes were sought in my name but I made him (Akhilesh) the state's CM," he said. "Kise kahan baithana hai, hum khud tai karenge (I will decide whom to place where)," he said. But, it is not a politically correct comment to make. --- ENDS --- In Mehsana, Kejriwal today said that no one is allowed to protest in Modi's in Gujarat and if someone dares to do that he/ she will be killed. By Vidya : Fabric merchant Praveen Patel, whose son Nishit had been gunned down by police on 26 August last year during the Patidar agitation, told Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that their son had gone out to fetch milk in the evening but never returned. KEJRIWAL MEETS PELLET GUN VICTIM'S KIN The two-storeyed bungalow of Patel family was packed with supporters even as they told Kejriwal that it was not compensation that they wanted but justice. "We don't want money, we have ample. But that police officer who shot at him is roaming free without fear of any repercussions. This hurts us." said Patel. advertisement ALSO READ | AAP smells trouble ahead of Kejriwal's rally in Surat Kejriwal listened to his request for justice and said, "We will have to fight for justice together. Whoever ordered firing should have been booked whether the police, magistrate or someone above them but live alone punishing them even enquiry was not started." He heard the same story at the farming dependent residence of late Mayur Patel who had suffered a painful death after being hit in the neck with a gun pellet. Mayur's teary eyed mother told Kejriwal that the family had spent over 30 lakh in his medication but still could not save him. KEJRIWAL ASKS FAMILY TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE Kejriwal assured the family of a fight together for justice but when asked as to why it took him one year to extend support Kejriwal said, "At least, I have come." Standing tall in the Prime minister Narendra Modi's district of birth, Kejriwal said, "Gujarat is one state where one is not allowed even to protest and if you protest you will be killed and this is what had been done to the protests" ALSO READ | Salute PM Modi, says Arvind Kejriwal on India's surgical strike And with this he refused to elaborate further. A small crowd of about 200 or so people hung around the cavalcade wanting to take selfie with him and his car even as AAP volunteers tried their best to keep enthusiastic crowd at bay. Police officials could be seen providing security at various junctions across the city. But the crowd went ecstatic when he waved and an echo of referring to him as "sardar" reverberated for a few minutes. Kejriwal is scheduled to stay at the Mehsana overnight and will leave for Ahmedabad later on Saturday. ALSO READ: Kejriwal govt misused taxpayers' money to expand AAP's base outside Delhi: Report --- ENDS --- Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's arrival in Goa for BRICS summit, its foreign ministry said the UN Security Council was still undecided on Masood Azhar. By Ananth Krishnan: China today said the UN Security Council's sanctions committee was still divided on the issue of sanctioning Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, which is why it extended a technical hold. A day before President Xi Jinping's arrival in Goa for the BRICS Summit, during which he will also hold talks with Prime Minister Modi, the Foreign Ministry of China defended its decision to extend the hold on September 30 by three months. advertisement Beijing will have to decide by the end of the year to either approve or veto the application to list Azhar. Also Read: PM Modi to meet Xi Jinping, NSG bid and ban on Masood Azhar on top agenda UN COMMITTEE WILL DECIDE ON FACTS "I would like to reiterate that the UN committee dealing with the listing does so according to provisions of the UN charter," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said. "We maintain that this committee should work on true facts and make a decision according to consensus of its members. All parties are divided in listing of the relevant people. This is why China has put on hold (the banning of Azhar)." The decision, Geng said, "will give enough time to make the listing decision and also shows the responsible and professional attitude of the Chinese side." He also said China's position on India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group had not changed. Chinese officials said this week they were open to explore possibilities on India's bid, although Beijing first wants the group to agree criteria for all non-NPT countries. Also Read: China shields Masood Azhar at UN second time; issue may dominate Modi-Jinping BRICS talks Pakistan's Masood Azhar a terrorist: India to press upon China with evidence BJP created Jaish-e-Mohammad by releasing Masood Azhar: Congress After blocking India's move to ban Masood Azhar, China now wants action against global terrorists --- ENDS --- Aniruddh Dave might have to go for a knee surgery if the ligament tear doesn't heal. By India Today Web Desk: Aniruddh Dave, whose portrayal of humanoid Y.A.R.O has been winning hearts, might not be able to shoot for at least 5 days after a severe ligament tear. The actor collapsed while shooting for an event recently and was immediately rushed to the hospital, reports The Times of India. According to sources, the actor has been admitted to ICU. advertisement The sources further said that the actor will have to go for a knee surgery if the ligament tear doesn't heal. Also read: Rakesh Bedi: Y.A.R.O Ka Tashan is an amazing concept With insufficient episodes in bank, the makers of Y.A.R.O Ka Tashan have come up with a novel idea to fill Aniruddh's absence on the show. Till the time, the actor is not able to shoot, the character will be re-created with special effects. "We are going to show a graphic YARO. Aniruddh, being a thorough professional, will send audio notes for his dialogues. Hopefully, he will resume the shoot in five days," producer Dheeraj Kumar told TOI. Get well soon, Aniruddh! --- ENDS --- Search operations are currently underway to trace and neutralise the terrorists involved in the deadly attack. By Shuja-ul-Haq : At least 1 Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan succumbed to his injuries and eight others were seriously injured today when terrorists attacked them in Jammu and Kashmir's Zakura. Gunshots were heard in area around 7:30 pm when the party was returning back from their law and order duties. Police sources said that shots were heard at Industrial Estates Building, Zakura, near petrol pump. SSB party was fired upon and 9 jawans have been injured. One jawan has succumbed to injuries while others have been hospitalised. Search operations are currently underway to trace and neutralise the terrorists involved in the deadly attack. (Photo ANI) advertisement The militants took advantage of the darkness and managed to escape from the spot. This comes in the backdrop of increased attacks on the security forces in the valley after the announcement of surgical strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The terrorists ambushed the patrol party while it was returning from duty in Zakura. "Search operations are currently underway to trace and neutralise the terrorists involved in the deadly attack," Deepak Kumar, IG, SSB, said. #WATCH Search operations underway in Zakura (J&K) after terrorists attacked SSB patrol party, 7 SSB jawans injured (Visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/Kwhy9Hzvyo ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 Zakura is in the outskirts of Srinagar city around 12 kilometers from the city centre. Here are the latest updates: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh speaks to SSB DG after Zakura terrorist attack. SSB DG to visit the attack spot on Friday. One policeman who was injured in the terror attack, is in the ICU. It is still not clear if Pakistani cross-border militants or home grown terrorists carried out the attack. The terror attack reminisces the attack at BSF camp in Baramulla which lies between Srinagar and the frontier settlement of Uri. In Zakura, the terrorists used the modus operandi of shoot and scoot. Here is a timeline of the major attacks that have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir since 1999 till date. 3 November, 1999: Ten army personnel killed in fidayeen attack on 15 Corps Headquarters at Srinagars Badami Bagh. 14 May, 2002: 36 persons are killed and 48 others injured in a fidayeen attack on an army cantonment in Kaluchak, Jammu. Most of the killed were family members. 22 July, 2003: A three-member team storms an army camp killing eight security force personnel, including a Brigadier, and injuring 12 others in Akhnoor. 6 April, 2005: A day before the bus from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir is to be flagged off, two suicide squad terrorists attack the Tourist Reception Centre 5 October, 2006: Terrorists attack at Budshah Chowk, in heart of Srinagar, killing five JKP personnel, two CRPF soldiers and one civilian. 31 March, 2013: Attack on CRPF camp in Srinagar kills five. 24 June, 2013: Eight soldiers killed in attack on military convoy at Hyderpora, Srinagar. September 26, 2013: At least 13 killed in twin suicide attacks Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 10 people, apart from three militants, were killed during the attacks. The dead include four policemen and two civilians in Kathua District and four Army personnel, including Lieutenant Colonel Bikramjeet Singh in Samba District. advertisement November 27, 2014: 10 persons, including four civilians, three Army soldiers and three militants were killed in day-long encounter at border village of Kathaar in Arnia sector, close to the International Border, of Jammu District. December 5, 2014: A group of heavily armed militants stormed into an Armys 31 Field Regiment Ordinance Camp located at Mohra in Uri Sector of Baramulla District near the LoC. One Lieutenant Colonel and seven soldiers of the Army, one ASI and two constables of Jammu and Kashmir Police were killed. Six militants were also killed in the operation. ALSO READ: Terrorists attack police post in Shopian, 1 cop killed, 2 others injured --- ENDS --- The veteran actress who released her first cookbook last year is now working on a food series based on the cuisines she loves. Zarine Khan, with actor Kabir Bedi, on the sets of her new food show. Photo: Yogen Shah By India Today Web Desk: You might have picked up Zarine Khan's cookbook, Family Secrets, over the last year and wondered at how diverse the book's content is. Now, you'll get to see the same diverse and delicious dishes on Zarine Khan's new food show. Khan, who is a veteran Bollywood actor and interior designer, hails from a Parsi family. She married actor and producer Sanjay Khan in 1955, and has four children. As a Parsi married into a Muslim family, she's quite an adept at cooking dishes from the Parsi and Mughlai cuisines. advertisement That apart, she also excels at Persian and Continental cooking. So, it's quite obvious that she would take her considerable skills, and turn them into a food show. Also read: Ranveer Brar's new show will open up a whole new world of food for you But her new series, named Spice and Secrets with Zarine Khan, will have more than what your regular food shows have on television. Khan, who has already started filming episodes for the show, will be interacting with celebrity guests while cooking! Zarine Khan came out with her first cookbook last year. Photo: Yogen Shah Yes, the show will have some of the most popular celebs helping Zarine Khan out in the kitchen, and sharing a meal with her. The list of celebrity guests includes Kabir Bedi, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhay Deol, Sonali Bendre, Jaaved Jafferi, Jackie Shroff, and her children, Zayed and Susanne Khan. Take a look at what goes on behind the scenes on this upcoming show: Kabir Bedi and Zarine Khan in the kitchen with a dish that will be featured on the show. Photo: Yogen Shah Kabir Bedi and Zarine Khan in the kitchen with a dish that will be featured on the show. Photo: Yogen Shah Zarine Khan with her grandson, Zidaan, on the sets. Photo: Yogen Shah Zayed Khan with his son, Zidaan, on the sets of Zarine Khan's show. Photo: Yogen Shah Zarine Khan, in conversation with Riteish Deshmukh and Zayed Khan. Photo: Yogen Shah --- ENDS --- A second Western Europe location will also launch next year, a Vogue Cafe in Porto licensed by The Fladgate Partnership. Gary Robinson, Director of Conde Nast International Restaurants, commented, Developing and opening a Vogue Cafe in Western Europe has long been an ambition for the brand, and we are thrilled to announce not one but two locations. Berlin is currently the third most visited city in Europe, with its incredibly creative and cool restaurant, music, fashion and gallery vibe, the dynamic Berlin food movement has now more than caught up with its other creative outpourings. Porto, the second largest city in Portugal, is recognised as a UNESCO heritage site, as well as being a design and epicurean destination full of charm. A first for Germany, says Conde Nast, the Vogue Cafe will be located in the five-star Patrick Hellmann Schlosshotel Im Grunewald, a historic venue steeped in glamour and heritage and located in a prime residential area on the outskirts of Berlin, within easy reach of the Kurfurstendamm. Patrick Hellmann is a German-born designer whose eponymous fashion label, Patrick Hellmann Collection, offers menswear and womenswear, alongside a premium lifestyle, interior design and real estate business including the Schlosshotel. The brand has stores in Berlin and London in addition to outlets in Russia, Dubai, Ukraine and Marbella. The rich history of the premises, the beautiful surroundings and the unique energy of the Patrick Hellmann Schlosshotel inspires my creative thinking consistently, which I am excited to share with all our guests. We offer something that in its own way equates perfectly with the spirit of fashion, it is an approach to life: comfort, functionality and aesthetics, all in perfect harmony. It reminds guests of its history by showcasing a mix of contemporary and classic architecture uniquely in each area of the hotel, by using PHC designs in textiles and furnishings. With Vogue Cafe, we introduce a concept to the local culinary scene which will set new standards of inspiration not only for trendsetting social influencers and the creative community. The cooperation with Conde Nast International Restaurants will be a spectacular venture between two brands, powerfully evocative of uncompromising extravagance and style, added Patrick Hellmann. Vogue Cafe Porto will open in the Infante Sagres hotel on Praca de D. Filipa de Lencastre, Portos oldest luxury property. The Fladgate Partnerships principal business is Port Wine, and the group owns three of the most celebrated and long established Port houses: Taylor, Fonseca and Croft, together with one of the most extensive vineyard holdings in the Douro Valley. In the last decade, The Fladgate Partnership made strategic investments in luxury hospitality and tourism. The group has most recently acquired the Infante de Sagres - where the Vogue Cafe will open and which is about to undergo a complete refurbishment, enhancing the propertys original features. Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership added, The exciting new restaurant and bar in the Infante Sagres will bring together the timeless elegance of Vogue style and this wonderful historic property in the heart of the city of Porto. It will offer a sophisticated place to experience fine dining, casual meals and an exciting range of Port cocktails. The extraordinary interiors of the hotel, which launched in 1951, will be enhanced with iconic images from the Vogue collections, ensuring that the Vogue Cafe will become one of the most exciting places to eat and be seen in Porto. The upcoming Berlin opening reflects the commitment that Vogue Germany has for Berlin as fashion capital of Germany and falls in line with many well-established events and initiatives including Fashions Night Out or the design talent initiative VOGUE Salon, that Vogue hosts in Berlin during Fashion Week and throughout the year. Adding a gourmet location to the portfolio integrates smoothly into the overall diversification strategy of Conde Nast and offers an additional well-rounded brand experience to German Vogue readers and fashion-loving international audiences, says Conde Nast. The Vogue Cafe Berlin and Porto will join current operations in Dubai, Kiev and Moscow as well as Vogue Lounges in Bangkok (already operating), Kuala Lumpur and Doha (debuting in 2017.) In June, a Vogue Cafe pop-up opened in the heart of The Village, Westfield London as part of British Vogues landmark 100th birthday. Serving a bespoke Vogue 100 champagne cocktail, as well as traditional English afternoon tea, the Cafe was open for 3 months, with, says the company, footfall doubling through the space, driven in part by the significant media attention the Vogue centenary has received. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018. * IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014. * Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013. * Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011. 2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100. * Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010. * Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010. * Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010. * Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll. Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008. She wrote: More than any other party, the World Day Against the Death Penalty targets the Iranian regime that has so far executed 120,000 of Irans children, including the 30,000 political prisoners [of the 1988 massacre] who were serving their prison sentences, but were hanged just for their political beliefs. According to Khomeinis fatwa, any prisoner who continued to adhere to the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran, had to be executed. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmad Shahid, estimates that Iran executed nearly 1,000 people in 2015 alone, which Rajavi points out is more than most years under Khameneis rule, disproving the myth of a moderate regime. Rajavi wrote: Accordingly, the executions carried out by the clerical regime is a premeditated crime. These executions are against genuine Islamic standards. They violate international standards of fair trials, and as the UN Secretary General stated last year, The majority of executions were imposed for drug-related offences crimes that do not meet the threshold of the most serious crimes as required by international law. She reiterated that the death penalty faces growing opposition inside and outside of Iran and that members of the Regimes parliament recently discussed commuting the death sentences of convicts involved in drugs. However, this was merely for show and designed to ease anger towards the Regime, rather than any meaningful attempt at change. Rajavi wrote: As far as the Velayat-e Faqih regime is concerned, it is not able to give up executions and torture until it is overthrown. It sees executions as its lifeblood. This is why the majority of the regimes leaders, from Khamenei, Rafsanjani and Jannati to its Chief Justice, head of the Justice Ministry and Bassij, rose to defend the massacre in the wake of the public dissemination of the audio file of Mr. Montazeris remarks on the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, calling it the supreme leaders miracle, their honour, and a historic and revolutionary decision by the Imam (Khomeini). She concluded with a call to the international community to bring charges against the regime for their crimes against humanity during the 1988 massacre. She also stated that Western countries should refuse to do business with Iran until they stop executions. She wrote: This Resistance has risen up to create a society that bears no trace of the death penalty, torture, and inhuman verdicts issued under the mullahs regime. Instead, it will be ruled by laws based on forgiveness, compassion, humanity, and relations based on friendship and tolerance. Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis, said, we will respond to this threat at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner; and that Its no secret that Iran has been supplying [the Houthis] with the tools of war. Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, said in a statement, The US Navy remains on watch in the Red Sea and around the world to defend America from attack and to protect U.S. strategic interests. These unjustified attacks are serious, but they will not deter us from our mission. We are trained and ready to defend ourselves and to respond quickly and decisively. The Hill quoted Washington Institute Defense Fellow, Daniel R. Green as commenting that the Iranians have found an opportunity through U.S. Navy ships going close to their coastline to retaliate against the U.S. for its support of the Saudi war in Yemen. That conveniently lines up with Irans strategic interest in continuing to push back U.S. influence in the region. In addition to these latest strikes, The Hill says, Iran has also increased its harassment of U.S. naval forces in the Persian Gulf from last year. A number of U.S. senators have demanded swift retaliation against Iran. According to The Hill, Republicans argue, Obama has coddled Iran with the nuclear deal lifting sanctions on the country. Sen Marco Rubio, for example, tweeted Wednesday, #Iran-backed forces in Yemen again fire on U.S. Navy ship. More attacks resulting from President Obamas failed Iran deal. http://thehill.com/policy/defense/300716-tensions-rise-in-us-proxy-war-with-iran By Staff on 14 October 2016 for Grist Magazine - (http://grist.org/briefly/the-clinton-campaign-isnt-ready-to-take-a-stance-on-the-dakota-access-pipeline/) Image above: native Americans demonstrating against Dakota Access Pipeline From (). On Thursday, Bernie Sanders and four other senators sent The letter calls for a halt the pipelines construction while the review is carried out, arguing that the project is a violation of tribal treaty rights and would have a significant impact on our climate. It doesnt call for an outright rejection of the pipeline, but it does call for a stringent review and approval standards that would make rejection pretty darn likely. Sanders himself has been calling for a complete rejection of the pipeline for months, starting as far back The Clinton campaign isnt ready to take a stance on the Dakota Access pipeline. SUBHEAD: Sanders is going all-out against the Dakota Access Pipeline, while Clinton is dodging the issue.On Thursday, Bernie Sanders and four other senators sent a letter to President Obama asking him to require a full environmental and cultural assessment of the controversial pipeline project, which would carry fracked oil from North Dakota to Illinois.The letter calls for a halt the pipelines construction while the review is carried out, arguing that the project is a violation of tribal treaty rights and would have a significant impact on our climate. It doesnt call for an outright rejection of the pipeline, but it does call for a stringent review and approval standards that would make rejection pretty darn likely.Sanders himself has been calling for a complete rejection of the pipeline for months, starting as far back as January , when he was running for the Democratic nomination long before pipeline protests made national news. Last month, Sanders gave an anti-pipeline speech to a crowd of protestors.The Clinton campaign isnt ready to take a stance on the Dakota Access pipeline. . In an interview with Grist on Wednesday, Hillary Clintons campaign chair John Podesta responded with a vague answer when asked about the pipeline, avoiding any specific position for or against.I think she believes that stakeholders need to get together at this point, Podesta said. Its important that all voices are heard.The proposed pipeline would bring crude oil from the Bakken fields of North Dakota to an Illinois terminal. The Standing Rock Sioux are resisting its construction because it would run close to their reservation, across sacred burial sites of their ancestors and dangerously close to their water supply.Moreover, they note that the federal government failed to consult with them as required by law.The Obama administration suspended construction of the pipeline in early September, pending a review.The federal government has now convened the parties, including the tribe, to have a discussion on what the next steps forward are, Podesta said. It would have been helpful to have that happen sooner than at this point, but it is what it is.Donald Trump, for his part, has invested in the company thats building the pipeline. [October 13, 2016] ViON to Demo New Hitachi Video Management Platform with Leading-Edge Surveillance and Analytics Solutions at IACP 2016 ViON Corporation, a market leader in the design, delivery and maintenance of mission critical IT infrastructure solutions, announced today it will be demonstrating leading edge video surveillance technologies at the 2016 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference and Exposition. Located at booth #3144, ViON will showcase a wide range of public safety solutions, including the new Hitachi (News - Alert) Video Management Platform (VMP) for video surveillance storage and compute, as well as Hitachi Visualization Suite, which supports geospatial video surveillance deployments, data integration from the internet of things (IoT) and other sources, and provides predictive analytics. "This year at IACP, we are pleased to present an array of public safety and data analytics solutions with Hitachi that are designed to support law enforcement agencies of every size in their efforts to predict and prevent crimes, increase situational awareness and enhance their investigative efforts," said Tom Frana, CEO of ViON. "Public safety officials have a tremendous responsibility and our focus is to help agencies collect, store and analyze video and data, so they can focus on what matters most - protecting their towns, cities and communities." The IACP Conference and Exposition is the largest gathering of law enforcement officials in the world. The 2016 event will take place October 15-18 at the San Diego Convention Center. ViON will be on site throughout the event and will feature authentic, custom hand-rolled Cuban cigars in their booth on Sunday, October 16th from 1:00 to 4 p.m. Attendees are invited to visit ViON to see demos and schedule a Proof of Concept for Hitachi Visulization Suite and the new Hitachi VMP. Hitachi VMP is a Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) compliant solution designed specifically to support enterprise video security and monitoring deployments, storing large files from hundreds or thousands of cameras simultaneously. Using virtualization and dynamic tiering with flash storage, the system is highly scalable, able to deliver high levels of availability with no single point of failure. Hitachi VMP was built from the ground-up to support high performance video compute and analytics for large enterprise video surveillance environments of 150 to 10,000 2-megapixel cameras. Hitachi Visualization Suite (HVS) is a cloud-based public safety solution that enables the correlation of disparate data types and video systems into a single, user-friendly interface. HVS integrates video and data from diverse sources including video surveillance systems, Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), 911 Systems, License Plate Recognition (LPR), gunshot audio sensors, traffic data, and weather alerts into a single interface enabling public safety officials to gain full situational awareness and accelerate response times. "Hitachi's public safety and video security and monitoring solutions unify disparate data sources and leverage the internet of things and advanced analytics to provide powerful insights that will help to keep people, businesses and communities safer and more secure," said Mark Jules, vice president, smart city and public safety solutions, at Hitachi Insight Group. "ViON is a long-time and highly valued partner of Hitachi. Working together, we're helping to deliver end-to-end public safety and video security solutions that are helping our mutual customers to achieve real-time visibility and insight into their security monitoring environments and get greater value from their video surveillance assets." Drawing on more than 35 years of success with large-scale IT implementation and extensive experience with data management, video surveillance and analytics, ViON offers full end-to-end video solution expertise ensuring the systems it provides meet customers' unique needs and expectations. ViON also provides Managed and Professional Services across the entire lifecycle of its solutions. To learn more about ViON's video surveillance expertise and solutions, visit www.vion.com/hv and www.vion.com/vmp. About ViON Corporation (News - Alert) ViON Corporation designs, delivers and maintains mission-critical IT infrastructure solutions on an enterprise scale for the military, governments and commercial businesses, while offering the highest level of security available anywhere around the globe. ViON is well known for its cost-effective compute, network and storage capabilities, delivered on premise or through the cloud anywhere on earth. Supported by cleared resources that are highly trained and armed with the industry's latest certifications and specializations, ViON has a legacy of helping its customers meet business goals and mission objectives, support warfighters and deliver citizen services and drive innovation and business growth. The veteran-owned business is located in Herndon, Virginia with field offices throughout the United States. For more information visit www.vion.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006509/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Canon U.S.A.'s Eyecare Devices and Solutions to be Showcased at American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's healthcare environment, it is essential to invest in solutions that help streamline workflows while having features that can assist healthcare professionals with their compliance efforts. Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, will showcase its teleretinal imaging solution during this year's American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois from October 15-18, 2016. Visitors to the Canon booth (#3803) will have the opportunity to interact with Canon eyecare technology and witness firsthand how these devices and solutions can be used to better assist ophthalmologists in treating a variety of ailments relating to the eye. Visitors to booth #3803 will have the opportunity to experience the Canon CR-2 PLUS AF, as well as the CX-1 Hybrid Digital Mydriatic/Non-Mydriatic Retinal camera, both of which capture ultra-high resolution images quickly, efficiently, and automatically. Designed around advanced Canon EOS optics and CMOS image-capture technology, both the CR-2 PLUS AF and CX-1 feature a customized 18 megapixel digital camera. With the press of a button, CR-2 PLUS AF users can switch between auto and manual focusing for ultimate control and ease-of-use. The Auto Capture function of the CR-2 PLUS AF determines the appropriate moment to capture an image by analyzing when exposure and alignment are ideal. The CX-1 allows users to capture Intravenous Fluorescein Angiography (IVFA) images using either the Mydriatic or Non-Mydriatic alignment mode. Both cameras include a non-invasive Fundus Autofluorescence imaging mode that provides the reviewer with the ability to quickly assess the condition of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer. On display will be the Canon teleretinal solution, featuring the Canon CR-2 PLUS AF Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal camera and imageSPECTRUM Image Management software1 (sold separately). By utilizing the CR-2 PLUS AF in conjunction with imageSPECTRUM software, healthcare professionals with the Windows 7 or the Windows 10 operating systems with SQL 2016 can perform retinal screenings then quickly transmit the images to doctors' offices thousands of miles away, both domestic and abroad2, to assist in making a diagnosis. Canon imgeSPECTRUM Image Management software provides users with an intuitive software solution that offers image management and portability to help improve workflow. Featuring digital RGB filters for more critical viewing of suspect pathologies, the software includes the Opacity Suppression selectable filter tool. This software filter can be used to subdue the effects of ocular opacities in an image to help correct blur and enhance the clarity of blood vessels, helping eye care professionals to view clear images of patients' eyes. Additionally, visitors to the booth will have the opportunity to interact with eyecare solutions including: CR-2 AF Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal Camera: The CR-2 AF incorporates Canon EOS technology and provides superb retinal images under just about any condition. With integrated AutoExposure, AutoFocus, AutoFundus, AutoCapture and Image Error Detection, Low-Flash and Quick Preview modes, this retinal camera is a breeze to operate. Enhanced from the previous CR-2 Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal Camera, the CR-2 AF features Canon contrast enhancement technology never before offered in a Canon retinal camera to emphasize the differences in "redness" and "brightness" of blood vessel structures relative to their surroundings. The CR-2 AF incorporates Canon EOS technology and provides superb retinal images under just about any condition. With integrated AutoExposure, AutoFocus, AutoFundus, AutoCapture and Image Error Detection, Low-Flash and Quick Preview modes, this retinal camera is a breeze to operate. Enhanced from the previous CR-2 Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal Camera, the CR-2 AF features Canon contrast enhancement technology never before offered in a Canon retinal camera to emphasize the differences in "redness" and "brightness" of blood vessel structures relative to their surroundings. RK-F2 Full Auto Ref-Keratometer : Including a Full Auto Mode which allows professionals to automatically align, focus, and acquire a reading for one eye and continue to the opposite eye to perform the same function all with one touch of a button. This feature contributes to a comfortable, efficient screening process for the patient. : Including a Full Auto Mode which allows professionals to automatically align, focus, and acquire a reading for one eye and continue to the opposite eye to perform the same function all with one touch of a button. This feature contributes to a comfortable, efficient screening process for the patient. TX-20 Full Auto Tonometer: Designed to be compact and lightweight, the non-contact tonometer is easy to transport and install. With soft air puffs, the TX-20 tonometer easily measures Intraocular Pressure (IOP), enhancing patient comfort and allowing doctors to perform simple eye exams efficiently. The TX-20 Tonometer, as the RK-F2 Keratometer, also offers one-touch Full Auto Mode to automatically align, focus and capture readings. For more information about Canon ophthalmic devices and solutions, please visit http://www.usa.canon.com/eye-care. About Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2015 and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2016. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. # # Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. 1 Requires Windows 7 or Windows 10 with SQL 2016 operating system. Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. 2 Requires internet access and imageSPECTRUM Image Management software to both send and receive data. Canon U.S.A. Web site: http://www.usa.canon.com For sales information/customer support: 1-800-970-7227 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160119/323578LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canon-usas-eyecare-devices-and-solutions-to-be-showcased-at-american-academy-of-ophthalmology-annual-meeting-300345047.html SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] PhishMe Announces Phishing Program Excellence Award Winners PhishMe, a global provider of phishing defense and intelligence solutions for the enterprise, has announced the winners of the PhishMe Excellence Awards at Submerge 2016, its inaugural phishing and defense summit and user conference. PhishMe chose the winners for their innovative, successful programs designed to combat phishing attacks and protect their enterprise from the risks of malware infiltration and fraud loss. An anonymous panel of judges comprised of PhishMe product experts, industry leaders and security professionals reviewed the applications and designated the following companies winners across a number of different categories. AVANGRID, Inc. , a diversified energy and utility company, received the Phishing Defense Program of the Year, for consistently demonstrating the most effective all-around, top-performing phishing defense program with superior performance in detection, alerting, reporting, training, participation and results. , a diversified energy and utility company, received the for consistently demonstrating the most effective all-around, top-performing phishing defense program with superior performance in detection, alerting, reporting, training, participation and results. Palo Alto Networks , the next-generation security company, received the Most Innovative Phishing Defense Program Award , which recognized the company's ability to think outside the box to leverage fresh approaches to achieve optimal training effectiveness and boost company-wide cyber education participation. , the next-generation security company, received the , which recognized the company's ability to think outside the box to leverage fresh approaches to achieve optimal training effectiveness and boost company-wide cyber education participation. Additionally, PhishMe recognized industry leaders for achievements in the field of incident response, honoring the team that demonstrated superior overall process of responding to phishing theats in the Incident Response Team of the Year category, and the PhishMe Community Trailblazer of the Year, an award created to recognize the PhishMe user who has gone above and beyond in their phishing defense efforts. After the award ceremony, Belani commented, "I would like to extend my huge congratulations to our winners and to all those who applied for the PhishMe Excellence Awards this year. The quality of the submissions was outstanding and a credit to the entire industry. I'm highly encouraged to see the commitment companies and individuals exhibit in protecting their businesses against increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks. PhishMe is very proud to be part of such a remarkable and growing community and we look forward to seeing everyone next year at Submerge 2017." For more information about the PhishMe Submerge Conference and the PhishMe Excellence Awards, please follow this link. Connect with PhishMe Online Follow PhishMe on Twitter (News - Alert): https://twitter.com/phishme Follow PhishMe's Blog: http://phishme.com/blog/ Follow PhishMe on LinkedIn (News - Alert): https://www.linkedin.com/company/phishme-inc- About PhishMe PhishMe is the leading provider of human-focused phishing defense solutions for organizations concerned about their susceptibility to today's top attack vector -- spear phishing. PhishMe's intelligence-driven platform turns employees into an active line of defense by enabling them to identify, report, and mitigate spear phishing, malware, and drive-by threats. Our open approach ensures that PhishMe integrates easily into the security technology stack, demonstrating measurable results to help inform an organization's security decision making process. PhishMe's customers include the defense industrial base, energy, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing industries, as well as other Global 1000 entities that understand changing user security behavior will improve security, aid incident response, and reduce the risk of compromise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005520/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 14, 2016] Acuity Eye Specialists/Retina Institute of California Goes Live with CareCloud CareCloud, the platform for high-growth medical groups, today announced that Acuity Eye Specialists/Retina Institute is live with CareCloud's integrated electronic health record (EHR) and practice management (PM) system. As the largest ophthalmology institute in the Western United States, Acuity-Retina sees more than 100,000 patients a year across their 40 locations and is expanding rapidly. CareCloud's flexible, cloud-based platform enables Acuity-Retina's team to scale at an accelerated rate while streamlining workflow and delivering the highest quality patient care. Acuity-Retina chose CareCloud's clinical and financial management solution for the scalability only a comprehensive cloud-based platform provides to meet the complex, evolving requirements of a large, multi-site medical group. The reliability of CareCloud's modern practice management tools and ophthalmology-focused clinical workflows offered the fully integrated solution Acuity-Retina needed. "Our old server-based system was costly, unreliable and a serious barrier to the growth of our practice," said Dr. Reid Wainess, Acuity Eye Specialists/Retina Institute. "With CareCloud, we have an integrated practice management and EHR system in the cloud backed by a team of professionals who support us every step of the way. It is flexible and quick to set-up and gives us the confidence to continue scaling our medical group at a rapid rate." CareCloud for Ophthalmology provides specialty-driven templates, clinical tools and billing rules - including features for multiple ophthalmology subspecialties - designed for physician workflow and practice profitability. The platform's integrated clinical and financial technology adapts to varied reimbursement models and helps practices modernize the patient experience. "We love working with innovative, high-performance medical groups like Acuity-Retina because they push the envelope," said Ken Comee, CareCloud's Chief Executive Officer. "They ask for more from their technology partners: more flexibility, more agility, more modern design, more connectivity. CareCloud is proud to be a partner for Acuity-Retina as they grow rapidly and expand their exceptional ophthalmology patient care." Medical groups interested in CareCloud for Ophthalmology are invited to learn more at www.carecloud.com/ophthalmology or visit booth #2072 at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2016 Exhibition taking place October 15-18 in Chicago. About Acuity Eye Specialists/Retina Institute Retina Institute is a partner of Acuity Eye Specialists and is the largest center dedicated to retinal disease and comprehensive ophthalmology. With 32 highly trained eye surgeons in 40 centers, Acuity Eye Specialists/Retina Institute was founded on a model of patient care and clinical excellence. Acuity Eye Specialists/Retina Institute surgeons are committed to innovation, compassion and superior results, and they work in close partnership with each other and with referring doctors to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients. For more information, please visit www.retina2020.com or www.acuityspecialists.com. About CareCloud CareCloud is the leading provider of cloud-based revenue cycle management, practice management (PM), electronic health record (EHR) and patient engagement solutions for medical groups. Through its modern, intuitive and integrated platform, CareCloud is enabling healthcare organizations to achieve operational excellence while enhancing the patient experience. CareCloud complements its own software - known for its user-friendly design - with CareCloud Connect, an integrated partner ecosystem that allows physicians to capitalize effortlessly on best-in-class partner solutions while helping thousands of physicians increase profitability, streamline workflow and improve patient care nationwide. Currently CareCloud manages more than $4 billion in annualized accounts receivable on behalf of its revenue cycle management clients. To learn more about CareCloud, visit www.carecloud.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005662/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] proxima Nisman. El FPV dio quorum, pero no accedio a convocar a los responsables y testigos de la instruccion de la escena de muerte SPRINGFIELD -- In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the American Red Cross is recruiting new volunteers to assist with the response efforts. More than 3,000 Red Cross workers are currently in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia helping with the response efforts and the recovery will be a long process. The American Red Cross Central and Southern Illinois Region will be hosting a Hot Shot training event for new volunteers on Tuesday in Springfield. Registration is required for the Hot Shot training. To register, contact Pam Tish at 217-428-7758, ext. 7478 or at Pam.Tish@redcross.org. Hot Shot is a one-day training that will provide new volunteers with the skills needed to be a part of the Hurricane Matthew response. Upon completion of the Hot Shot training, new volunteers will be eligible to deploy to help with the Hurricane Matthew response. Hot Shot attendees will complete two online courses that will introduce information pertaining to disaster services and care of those who have experienced a natural disaster. The first online course is the Disaster Cycle Services: An Overview, which discusses how disaster services helps individuals, families and communities prepare for disasters, as well as help them to respond to and recover from disasters. The second online course is Mass Care: An Overview and it will educate new volunteers on the multiple services that are provided to those who have been affected by disaster. At the training, new volunteers will complete Shelter Fundamentals, which introduces the guidelines and procedures that are necessary for setting up, running and closing a shelter during a disaster. Hot Shot attendees will also complete Psychological First Aid, which will provide insight necessary to understanding the factors that affect stress responses in disaster relief workers and the people they serve. For those who have ever thought about becoming a Red Cross Volunteer, now is the timethe need is great. To learn more about Red Cross volunteer opportunities, or to register for the Hot Shot training, contact Pam Tish at 217-428-7758, ext. 7478 or at Pam.Tish@redcross.org. CHARLESTON -- While showing grade school kids the Olympic version of competitive walking, and giving them a taste of it as well, Debbi Sullivan also delivered a message about what it takes for a chance to reach the medal podium. The three-time Olympian told students at Charleston's Carl Sandburg Elementary School on Thursday about the dedication and good choices they need to achieve their dreams, whatever they are. "Your brain is a superhero," she said. "The more you can put good things in your brain, the better." Sullivan first used student volunteers to demonstrate what they thought the strides of competitive walkers were like, then explained how it involves stiff knees, moving hips and raised arms. The noisy, excited students then got their chance to lap the school's gym in competitive walking style, part of her message about the importance of exercise and taking care of yourself. Sullivan lives in Kenosha, Wis., and now devotes much of her time traveling to schools to deliver presentations about her story and what led to her success. She was a member of the U.S. track team during the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympics. Her finishes in the walking event included a high of 20th in 1996 and last place, when she was fighting the flu, at her last games. Sullivan told the students that she first thought about joining her school's track team when she was in third grade. Then, she was "someone who reads all the time" and her friends laughed at the idea of a book worm also being a track star. "They did not believe in me," Sullivan said. "Believe in yourself. That's what matters." A knee injury eventually ended her running career but led her to competitive walking in time for her to take part when it became an Olympic sport for women. At one point, she held the women's world record of 5 minutes, 54 seconds in the 1,500 meter event. But on Thursday, Sullivan used a story from her first Olympics, when she finished third to last, to tell the students about the persistence it takes to achieve what you want. Despite being well out of medal positions, she still heard chants of "USA! USA!" from the crowd in the stadium in Barcelona, Spain, when she made her final lap. "If I had quit, I would not remember that wonderful moment," she said. "When you quit, you teach your brain to quit all the time." Sullivan also urged the students to "keep thinking and focusing on your teachers" because "they're teaching you to be stars." She also asked them to limit video game play to spend more time reading, likening the activity to how athletes visualize success. "When you read, you can make your imagination do so many things," she said. Bringing Sullivan to the school to conduct her presentation was part of Carl Sandburg's effort at "stressing more of the school as a community," Assistant Principal Patti Murphy said. Today will be the end of the first quarter of the school year and school staff wanted to note and celebrate that, Murphy added. CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- A couple of incidents have been reported in the area in the past two weeks where a man is flagging down women and touching himself, according to Charleston police. According to a police press release, the first incident took place at 2 p.m. Oct. 3 where a woman reports of walking in 1500 Block of Second Street. She reported that a white male in a dark blue full-size van with Pennsylvania license plates pulled up to speak with her. The white male driver asked for directions several times, according to the police. The victim observed the male to have his hands in his pants and appeared to be touching his genitals. Police were unable to locate the vehicle, the release states. A similar incident was reported to have occurred 10 days later. Police were dispatched at 10:30 a.m. Thursday to the area of the intersection of 11th Street and Grant Avenue. This time, two females were reportedly walking in the area when they were approached by a white male in a newer model Dodge minivan with Pennsylvania license plates. The male asked the two women for directions and while doing so he appeared to be touching his genitals while speaking with them, the release states. Police were able to locate and identify the male driver of the Dodge minivan. The suspect in both incidents is described as a white male in his late 30's with a long bowl-style haircut, and sunglasses. In both incidents, the suspect was driving a van with Pennsylvania license plates, the release states. The release stated police urge the community not to confront the male suspect. Should anyone have an encounter with this person, simply observe and report the information, the release reads. If safe to do so, try and obtain a detailed description of the male, his clothing, and the vehicle, including license plate number, and report the behavior to the police. Those who encounter the man in a non-emergency situation are urged by police to call 217-345-0060. If an emergency, they should call 9-1-1 to report the encounter. Anyone with information regarding the suspect or the incident is urged to contact the Charleston Police Departments Facebook page or by calling the Coles County Crime Stoppers at 217-345-8488. EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of several profiles of United Way of Coles County 2016-17 partner agencies. The United Way funding goal this year is $273,000 and this will assist 35 organizations. For more information, contact the United Way, 114 N. 16th St., P.O. Box 868, Mattoon, IL, 61938, at 217-234-8022; email unitedway@consolidated.net; or log on to www.colesunitedway.org. Friday, October 14, 2016 Friday Clippings From Our Newsroom Floor Gloria Estela La Riva/Dennis J. Banks (Socialism and Liberation); Darrell Lane Castle/Scott Bradley (Constitution); Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka (Green); Rocky De La Fuente/Michael Steinberg (American Delta); Evan McMullin/Nathan Johnson (Better for America) Martinez has already said she won't be voting for Hillary or former Gov. Gary Johnson. We don't think she's philosophically compatible with Jill Stein of the Green Party or Gloria Estela La Riva of the Socialism and Liberation Party. She may be tempted to vote for Mexican-American millionaire businessman Rocky De La Fuente, but beware Susana. Rocky identifies himself as a "progressive Democrat." There is one candidate on the list that the Guv might find a viable option. He's Evan McMullan, a conservative and ally of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. But if he doesn't fit the bill, she can always write in a candidate. How about herself? Hmm. Maybe that's her secret plan and why she won't say whether the Donald has her vote. (After we published this, informed readers wrote that there is no provision to write in a presidential candidate.) DON'T FORGET NM Dems are growing increasingly confident that they can take back the state House by picking up three seats, but before they start dancing in the aisles don't forget that Gov. Martinez would still have the veto. And then there's that conservative coalition in the state Senate that often acts like an arm of the GOP. In other words, if the Dems do take back the House in November, Roundhouse gridlock is not going to disappear. BUDGET BALANCING The ABQ Journal's Dan Boyd writes in from Santa Fe on where the state budget stands: Joe, I. . . wanted to let you know where things stand after the special session. The solvency package approved by the Legislature authorizes the $220-million plus tobacco settlement fund to be used to essentially close the $131 million deficit for FY16. The remaining amount would be available as cash reserves for the current year, FY17. After enacting the budget cuts, budget sweeps and capital outlay reversions that are also part of the solvency package, there would be an estimated $56.1 million left over in reserves at the end of this year -- or less than 1 percent of state spending. Whether that's sufficient to avoid a bond rating downgrade is unclear. Also, Gov. Martinez could still line-item veto portions of the budget-balancing bills, which would affect the bottom line. Thought this might help make things a little less hazy for your readers about where things are at. The Legislature comes back in January for a 60 day session at which the budget crisis will again dominate. Thanks for stopping by this week. This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. ( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016 With Gov. Martinez this week not ruling in or ruling out voting for Donald Trump, we thought we'd give her a little help in deciding by listing the other presidential candidates on the state ballot she could choose from. Here they are:Martinez has already said she won't be voting for Hillary or former Gov. Gary Johnson. We don't think she's philosophically compatible with Jill Stein of the Green Party or Gloria Estela La Riva of the Socialism and Liberation Party. She may be tempted to vote for Mexican-American millionaire businessman Rocky De La Fuente, but beware Susana. Rocky identifies himself as a "progressive Democrat."There is one candidate on the list that the Guv might find a viable option. He's Evan McMullan, a conservative and ally of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. But if he doesn't fit the bill, she can always write in a candidate. How about herself? Hmm. Maybe that's her secret plan and why she won't say whether the Donald has her vote.(After we published this, informed readers wrote that there is no provision to write in a presidential candidate.)NM Dems are growing increasingly confident that they can take back the state House by picking up three seats, but before they start dancing in the aisles don't forget that Gov. Martinez would still have the veto. And then there's that conservative coalition in the state Senate that often acts like an arm of the GOP. In other words, if the Dems do take back the House in November, Roundhouse gridlock is not going to disappear.The ABQ Journal's Dan Boyd writes in from Santa Fe on where the state budget stands:The Legislature comes back in January for a 60 day session at which the budget crisis will again dominate.Thanks for stopping by this week.This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Omaha Sen. Sara Howard grew up listening to her mother, former Sen. and social worker Gwen Howard, talk about the high caseloads of child welfare workers. "I personally found our inspector general's report heartbreaking," she said at the end of a hearing Thursday afternoon on ongoing workforce issues within the child welfare and juvenile justice system. "The idea that there are 26 kids who died or were seriously injured on our watch is something that I don't think should be allowed in our state." Inspector General for Child Welfare Julie Rogers once again brought the workforce concerns to the Legislature in her recent annual report. She illustrated the burden on Nebraska's child welfare workers, putting kids at higher risk of abuse or neglect, with the story of a 4-year-old. The child was admitted to the hospital with a skull fracture and bruising all over his body, Rogers said. During an investigation he said his father had repeatedly abused him. In the six months before the injury, the state Department of Health and Human Services' child abuse and neglect hotline had received 11 calls about alleged physical abuse of the boy. Five were investigated, and in each case the department or law enforcement incorrectly concluded no physical abuse occurred, she said. The child had been diagnosed with special needs and developmental delays which made it difficult for professionals to communicate with him. A few weeks before the injury, the family had agreed to voluntarily participate in services from the department, with no court involvement. But services had not yet been provided. In her investigation, Rogers concluded the hotline staff had incorrectly screened a number of reports of possible abuse, that use of safety and risk assessments were incomplete, and services and supervision were slow to be put into place. The goal of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee Thursday was to determine what the department needed from senators to prevent those injuries and deaths, and ensure kids are protected. Doug Weinberg, director of the HHS division of children and family services, told the committee that between August 2015 and July, the hotline received an average of 6,553 calls a month. Five supervisors review thousands of calls to ensure nothing was missed. "We are very proud of the work done by the hotline and will continue to use data and input from staff to operate the hotline as efficiently and effectively as possible," he said. Weinberg said frontline case managers are making critical decisions every day for the most vulnerable children in Nebraska, and the department takes its responsibilities seriously. State law requires the department to follow the standards of the Child Welfare League of America, which are: 12 active families a month per worker for initial assessment/investigation, and 17 active families per worker, and no more than one new case for every six open cases for ongoing services. Caseload data from the department shows most areas of the state are out of compliance. The department is working to improve, Weinberg said, but for many reasons is not able to hire or retain staff to meet the standards. Those include competition for employees, retention issues and training. The division has a 20 percent turnover rate, he said. Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell said caseloads were the most important indicator of how the system is working. "Do we have enough people to protect the children in the state?" she asked. The department has come a long way in the past five years on many fronts, she said. But the caseloads continue to be an issue, and are the best indicator of being able to protect children and work with families. Shortcuts are made when there aren't enough people. Weinberg said as the department reviews how protection and safety and child welfare is functioning, there will be opportunities to redeploy resources and staff into frontline case management positions. "Whether it's enough to meet caseload standards, I don't think we have an answer yet," he said. A report from the Nebraska Department of Revenue that showed net September tax collections fell about 5 percent below projections prompted Gov. Pete Ricketts to announce a travel ban and hiring freeze for state agencies on Friday. Ricketts said he was not likely to call a special session to deal with budget issues before the Legislature convenes in January. "The downturn in revenue is certainly a significant challenge, but we are working to manage it within state agencies," Ricketts said. Circumstances could change depending on the Oct. 28 meeting of the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board, he said. But based on current receipts and the states healthy cash reserve, he has confidence he and the Legislature can work together in January to meet the challenge. Net tax receipts in September were 5.3 percent below forecast, with collections at $437 million, rather than the projected $462 million. The state budget is formulated based on those projections. September tax refunds were $70 million, 30.5 percent above the $54 million forecast. Sales tax collections were 7.6 percent below projections and individual income taxes were down 3 percent. For the 2016-17 fiscal year, net receipts were 3.8 percent below the forecast. Ricketts' travel ban for state agencies is for non-essential, out-of-state travel. Hiring for all positions that are not critical to the missions of state agencies will also be stopped. Non-mission critical positions will vary by agency, said Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage. Examples might include administrative staff, consultants and contractors. Ricketts said agency directors are adjusting their current budgets and identifying efficiencies to prepare for the 2017-19 budget. In the meantime, the governor will continue to reduce agency allotments of appropriations in the next quarter. In July, he announced the usual allotments of 25 percent of appropriations each quarter would be reduced 1 percent to prompt additional spending restraint. The third quarter allotment will be reduced by 2 percent, he said, for a total reduction of 4 percent in the first three quarters. The final quarter, April through June, will also have reductions. In July, state Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton said an analysis showed the agricultural economy contributed to a shortfall in taxes in May and June. "Commodity prices were at an all-time high in 2013, and those have come down," he said. That has a direct effect on farmers' abilities to make a living, and spending by those families is down, which affects sales tax receipts, he said. OpenSky Policy Institute Executive Director Renee Fry issued a statement Friday afternoon saying the growing budget shortfall raises a red flag that perhaps the state has gone too far with tax cuts in recent years. "The continued downturn in revenue threatens investments in schools and other vital services and makes it more difficult to address pressing issues like Corrections and property taxes," Fry said. Ricketts said in July that any revenue shortfall the state is experiencing did not dissuade him from his goal of looking for tax cuts. On Friday he said: As I travel, Nebraskans tell me about how they are overtaxed. I will always be looking for ways to help Nebraskans keep more of the money they earn. OGALLALA A Florida truck driver has pleaded not guilty to six vehicular homicide counts in Nebraska. Tony Weekly Jr., 53, also pleaded not guilty in Keith County District Court Friday to one count of reckless driving. His next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20. The Nebraska State Patrol says Weekly, of Baker, Florida, was distracted and didn't slow down in an Interstate 80 construction zone near Brule on July 31. His truck hit a van, and soon three more vehicles were involved in the fiery crash. A family of five from Minnesota died at the scene, another person died later and five others were injured, including Weekly. A Lincoln business group is calling for a community discussion about just how much bond debt the city's taxpayers can handle. Lincoln Independent Business Association CEO Coby Mach said several local governments are talking about asking voters to greenlight millions of dollars worth of bonds within the next three years to pay for public infrastructure, including storm sewers, library renovations and a new downtown library, and improvements to the Lancaster Event Center. As a community, we all need to come together and talk about bonding, Mach said Tuesday during the Lancaster County Commissioners' weekly business meeting. Lets start having a conversation about how much bonding our community can afford. One of the largest bond issues to go before voters will be a $369 million request from Southeast Community College, which will be on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The money would be used for renovations on the Beatrice, Milford and Lincoln campuses as well as construction of a new downtown Lincoln campus and new regional learning centers. LIBA opposes the SCC proposal. Mach made the call for a community discussion after telling the Lancaster County Board that LIBA opposes efforts to change a state law, sometimes known as the Nickel Tax, that lets counties levy up to 5.2 cents without voter approval to repay bonds for infrastructure work on buildings including courthouses and jails. The Lancaster County Board wants state senators to add bridges to the list. Its one of four issues the county has made a priority for its lobbyists to take to the Capitol during the session next year. We think this is a fundamental change in state law that would exclude the voters, Mach said. Bonding should be subject to a vote of the people. Lancaster County has 20 structurally deficient bridges and five functionally obsolete bridges. The County Engineers Office has closed a dozen bridges due to deterioration and says it doesnt have the money to get them all reopened. Commissioner Todd Wiltgen, during a staff meeting Tuesday, expressed reservations about using the infrastructure tax to repair bridges and said residents should get to vote on bond issues. Im a little concerned about the existing County Board making commitments that future county boards would have to abide by in raising taxes. Essentially that is what this does. Commissioner Deb Schorr responded with skepticism that a bond for county bridges would have any chance of passing. Do you think the majority of the residents of the city of Lincoln are going to approve a bond to finance bridges somewhere in the county that theyre never going to drive on? she asked. Commissioner Larry Hudkins noted that if the board waits until old bonds are retired before issuing new ones tax rates could remain the same. Property taxes are just devastating to the agricultural economy when virtually every product were producing, were producing at a loss now, he said. The agricultural community is going through a tremendous recession right now. During the Great Recession, agriculture carried this state. Now this state is going to have to carry agriculture for a couple years. WASHINGTON -- The second presidential debate -- bloody, muddy and raucous -- was just enough to save Donald Trump's campaign from extinction, but not enough to restore his chances of winning, barring an act of God (a medical calamity) or of Putin (a cosmically incriminating WikiLeak). That Trump crashed because of a sex-talk tape is odd. It should have been a surprise to no one. His views on women have been on open display for years. And he'd offered a dazzling array of other reasons for disqualification: habitual mendacity, pathological narcissism, profound ignorance and an astonishing dearth of basic human empathy. To which list Trump added in the second debate, and it had nothing to do with sex. It was his threat, if elected, to put Hillary Clinton in jail. After appointing a special prosecutor, of course. The niceties must be observed. First, a fair trial, then a proper hanging. The day after the debate at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump responded to chants of "lock her up," with "Lock her up is right." Two days later, he told a rally in Lakeland, Florida, "She has to go to jail." Such incendiary talk is an affront to elementary democratic decency and a breach of the boundaries of American political discourse. In democracies, the electoral process is a subtle and elaborate substitute for combat, the age-old way of settling struggles for power. But that sublimation only works if there is mutual agreement to accept both the legitimacy of the result (which Trump keeps undermining with charges that the very process is "rigged") and the boundaries of the contest. The prize for the winner is temporary accession to limited political power, not the satisfaction of vendettas. Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez and a cavalcade of two-bit caudillos lock up their opponents. American leaders don't. One doesn't even talk like this. It takes decades, centuries, to develop ingrained norms of political restraint and self-control. But they can be undone in short order by a demagogue feeding a vengeful populism. This is not to say that the investigation into the Clinton emails was not itself compromised by politics. FBI director James Comey's recommendation not to pursue charges was both troubling and puzzling. And Barack Obama very improperly tilted the scales by interjecting, while the investigation was still underway, that Clinton's emails had not endangered national security. But the answer is not to start a new process whose outcome is preordained. Conservatives have relentlessly, and correctly, criticized this administration for abusing its power and suborning the civil administration (e.g., the IRS). Is the Republican response to do the same? Wasn't the animating spirit of the entire tea party movement the restoration of constitutional limits and restraints? What makes Trump's promise to lock her up all the more alarming is that it's not an isolated incident. This is not the first time he's insinuated using the powers of the presidency against political enemies. He has threatened Amazon's Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, for using the newspaper "as a tool for political power against me and other people. ... We can't let him get away with it." With exercising free political speech? Trump has gone after others with equal subtlety. "I hear," he tweeted, "the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!" He also promises to "open up" libel laws to permit easier prosecution of those who attack him unfairly. Has he ever conceded any attack on him to be fair? This election is not just about placing the nuclear codes in Trump's hands. It's also about handing him the instruments of civilian coercion, such as the IRS, the FBI, the FCC, the SEC. Think of what he could do to enforce the "fairness" he demands. Imagine giving over the vast power of the modern state to a man who says in advance that he will punish his critics and jail his opponent. Sometimes it seems like Republicans are talking from both sides of their mouths when it comes to the gas tax. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and his administration have touted the economic benefits that will come with $300 million in road projects announced last month, as well as a new $40 million initiative to repair and replace county bridges. The announcement came after a historic commitment from the state of Nebraska to build the 21st-century infrastructure we need to grow our state, Ricketts said. The governor is absolutely right about that. Investing in the states infrastructure is essential to the states economy. The planned completion of the U.S. 275 expressway between Norfolk and Fremont already has prompted OCT Pipe to announce a new plant in Norfolk. And what exactly is this historic commitment? One of its most important components is a gas tax increase passed by the Legislature in 2015. The other is a 2011 bill that assigns one-quarter-cent of the state sales tax to road construction. But the Nebraska Republican Party and fellow travelers like Americans for Prosperity and Trees of Liberty are hammering the incumbent state senators who voted for the gas tax increase. Typical is a mailer from the state Republican Party sent to households in Legislative District 45 and touting challenger Michael Cook. Opposes (incumbent Sen.) Sue Crawfords gas tax hike, the mailer says. In a misleading mailer, Americans for Prosperity accuses of Sen. Les Seiler in District 33 of voting for a 23 percent gas tax hike. (The law phases in a 6-cent increase over four years.) At least 10 legislative candidates across the state have been attacked on the gas tax. When asked about the attack ads, Ricketts said in a written statement, We would have found alternative ways to fund the Transportation Innovation Act such as funds from the Build Nebraska Act and the cash reserve. His words echo the state GOP platform, which opposes raising the gas tax and encourages alternative mechanisms to fund the infrastructure needs of the state. Sounds like magical thinking. Nothing on the scale of what was announced last month would be possible without the gas tax increase. Using the cash reserve, often referred to as the rainy day fund, would have provided only a one-time infusion of funds and left the state vulnerable to an economic downturn. And what happens when a bill is introduced to roll back the scheduled gas tax increases? The Republican Party is trying to have it both ways. Its opposition to the gas tax is anti-economic development. Its anti-job growth. The governor is right to tout the benefits of the road and bridge work announced last month. He needs to work to get his party on the same page. During the dead of night on Christmas Eve, the temporary majority Democratic Senate passed the misnamed Affordable Care Act into law. The infamous Cornhusker Kickback was required to secure the passing vote. All Republicans and many Democrats and Independents thought the new health insurance law was incomplete and ill advised. The majority of Americans opposed it then and still does. Despite Republican concerted efforts to stop the slow-motion train wreck called Obamacare, the Democratic minority has steadfastly refused. Instead, they prefer the unilateral rule of President Barrack Obama and his unnamed bureaucrats. Now, we have the predicted ruin of health insurance upon Nebraska and the nation perhaps only a year or two away. Thus, the Lincoln Journal Star lays the blame on Republican efforts to hold off disaster ("Need to fix ACA grows more urgent," Oct. 2), writing, Republicans should stop beating their heads against the wall. Yeah, those pesky Republicans just wont knuckle under to the minority. Dont they understand a constitutional democracy? Democracy is when the President extemporaneously decides what is law and the majority, in Congress will be ready to accept reality. The reality is something different; Obamacare cannot work as constituted. The majority of Americans do not want it. It is an incompatible with liberty and was done without the consent of the governed. These systemic defects cannot be fixed. Obamacare must be repealed before a new setup can be implemented, this time with the consent of the people. Gene Kelly, Papillion OMAHA -- Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford said Friday his style of effective bipartisan leadership has helped Omaha acquire two vital projects during his first term in the House while Republican challenger Don Bacon argued it's time for an outsider to bring real change to Washington. The two 2nd District House opponents engaged in a lively discussion during their second debate, an hourlong lunchtime event that attracted the largest candidate debate audience the Omaha Press Club has hosted. More than 180 people spilled out of the dining and bar areas into side rooms to listen to the candidates who are locked in the premier contest in this year's general election in Nebraska. A small band comprised of young Bacon supporters heralded the event with music and campaign signs on the sidewalk along Dodge Street. Ashford is the only Democrat in Nebraska's five-member congressional delegation. Bacon is a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general and first-time candidate. Much of Friday's debate allowed both to double down on previously stated positions on issues including immigration, national security and the Affordable Care Act, but the discussion did break some new ground. Only once did the audience interrupt the proceedings with applause. After pushing Ashford about his Democratic support for California Rep. Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the house, Bacon said: "I wouldn't vote for Nancy Pelosi." "But you would vote for Donald Trump," Ashford swiftly retorted. That prompted a sudden burst of loud applause from a segment of the audience. "Our nominee was not my first choice," Bacon said earlier, "but he's our nominee (and) I support our candidate," particularly when the alternative choice is Democrat Hillary Clinton. Ashford said Clinton has demonstrated she can work with Republicans in Congress -- he cited her past cooperation with Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham -- and said she has valuable experience as secretary of state in foreign affairs, including dealing directly with the Russians and the Chinese. The two projects that Ashford cited as vital to Omaha and evidence of "bipartisan progress" were long-overdue repair of the runway at Offutt Air Force Base and approval of a unique public-private partnership that clears the path for construction of new Veterans Administration hospital facilities in Omaha. Ashford cited Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry and Republican Sen. Deb Fischer as partners in winning approval for the projects. Bacon said it's time to push back on government bureaucracy, regulations and taxes while confronting "executive overreach" by the White House. "It's a broken system," he said. "We need new people with experiences in the private sector. We have career politicians now." Bacon suggested Ashford's record of seeking various elective offices as a Democrat, a Republican and a nonpartisan represents what he called "opportunism." "I don't care about parties," Ashford replied. The congressman served 16 years in the nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature prior to his election to Congress two years ago. Both candidates said income disparity in the United States and global warming are legitimate issues that need to be addressed. Ashford repeated his call for a pathway to citizenship for most immigrants who have settled in the United States illegally. Bacon once again said that pathway should lead toward legal status, but not citizenship. Bacon said he believes his military experience would be valuable in Congress at a time when the United States faces a series of new threats, including increased cyberwarfare along with the continuing conflict with ISIS and other terrorist groups. Budget sequestration cuts have reduced the U.S. military force and its training, he said, and the result has been a negative impact on readiness. A Scottsbluff man's child abuse conviction will stand, the Nebraska Supreme Court said Friday in reversing a state Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year that vacated Cody Olbricht's conviction and sentence. Olbricht, 27, was accused of beating his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter, convicted of intentional child abuse resulting in serious injury and sentenced to prison. In February, the appeals court ruled there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to convict him, saying prosecutors failed to provide evidence the child was in his sole care at the time she received injuries that led to a brain bleed and lacerated liver. On Friday, the high court said the appeals court wrongly dismissed circumstantial evidence presented at trial as insufficient. The appeals court acknowledged that the circumstantial evidence included that the girl was afraid of Olbricht, that she said Olbricht had hurt her and that she had suffered previous injuries while in his care. "The suggestion that the State has a different or more onerous burden of proof in order to convict on circumstantial evidence is one with which appellate courts, including this court, have struggled historically," Justice Stephanie Stacy wrote. The high court also ordered Olbricht's sentence set at 15 to 30 years, which is what the judge announced from the bench at his sentencing hearing. The sentence was later wrongly noted on the judge's order as 18 to 30 years, the high court said. The girl was hospitalized in September 2014 after her grandmother noticed she had a fever and was lethargic and vomiting. Doctors determined she had multiple injuries. Besides the liver laceration and brain bleed, they included a broken rib and bruises all over her body and face. Scottsbluff police said there was little food in the home, and the girl's clothes and bedding were stained with urine. Her mother, 25-year-old Cassandra Miller, was sentenced last year to two years' probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor child abuse by neglect. Scotts Bluff County Attorney David Eubanks said he contacted the Nebraska Attorney General's Office following the Court of Appeals' February ruling to discuss appealing to the state Supreme Court. "We were all convinced that the decision was wrong and needed to get rectified, which now it has been," he said Friday. Olbricht remained behind bars during the appeal. An attorney for Olbricht did not return a message seeking comment. 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 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sonia Nazario spoke about Americas immigration dilemma to more than 1,500 people at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on Sept. 27. The 21st annual Governors Lecture in the Humanities was presented free to the public by Humanities Nebraska in partnership with the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues, the University of Nebraska and the Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative, which recognizes the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer. After being introduced by Governor Pete Ricketts, Nazario talked about her fly on the wall journalistic style, which led to her Pulitzer Prize-winning work about immigration. "There has been a quiet transformation of the face of those who are immigrating to America: women and children, she told a rapt audience. First, the mothers come, looking for jobs that can lift their families out of poverty. Years later, their desperate children follow, to escape gang violence as much as to reunite with their moms. Nazario recounted her own harrowing journey, flinging herself onto moving freight trains through Central America with the migrating children, fending off rape and theft. She also discovered a network of people who would help the travelers despite their own poverty. The journalist challenged her listeners to look at immigration in new ways. While admitting that she is not an open borders gal, she maintained, If a child is in danger and knocking at our door, we should open that door." Chaired by Catherine Lang and Carol Rempp, the lecture was immediately preceded by a benefit dinner and reception that raised more than $165,000 thanks to many generous sponsors and donors who are making humanities programs possible throughout Nebraska. Also at the dinner, the 2016 Sower Award in the Humanities was presented to Marian Andersen of Omaha, a champion of culture, arts and humanities. A link to Nazarios lecture is available at www.humanitiesnebraska.org. RACINE The palatial building spanning the 600 block of North Memorial Drive has been in a state of arrested development for the better part of three years. Magnificent on the outside, its unfinished interior bears only the dreams of its creator the pastor of neighboring Greater Grace Temple Church, Jettie Cornett. For more than two decades Cornett has envisioned the property, which at one point was just a vacant lot, as the future site of an active faith-based community center, one catering to youth and seniors, and providing a wide-range of services from afterschool care and job training to medical services. Still in need of another $2.5 million in work the center has been largely closed to the public, but on Thursday night its doors were opened, as community members from across the neighborhood and the wider Racine area gathered around tables and construction spotlights inside the would-be gymnasium. There to share to their hopes and dreams for the Racine community, the residents came out to take part in a broader visioning effort, one fostered by Visioning a Greater Racine (VGR). Ideas Led by community leaders, business people and local officials, VGRs goal is to use strategic visioning a multi-step process in which residents create a vision of what they want their community to be to determine where the greater Racine area can be in the next 10 to 15 years. Its overall aim is to develop a road map for the community in which future generations and current residents thrive. Separated into groups of 10, the residents that participated in Thursdays visioning sessions were asked to imagine the Racine of 2030 as a thriving community, and describe the features that community would have. The ideas came swiftly and passionately. Better paying jobs, safer places for kids to play and equal education for all Racine youth, were just three examples of items that topped the list. Veronica Phillips, a certified nurses assistant and small business owner, said she would like to see more safe places for area children to go after school; places free from bullying and street crime. Taking part But things like better attitudes, more buy-in from needy populations, and increased cooperation also ranked high for several community members. There are still some good things that can come out of Racine, but they are not going to come out if we dont work together, said Cavell Samuels, 36. At the end of the session the seven groups were asked to rank their top five goals for the Racine area. Those top five items were then listed on large sheets of paper so they could be reviewed by the members of the other groups. Reviewing the lists, Diana Barber, a 4th grade teacher at SC Johnson Elementary School, 2420 Kentucky St., said she found the visioning process very much needed. Mostly everyone has said the same things. They want diversity in government, better health care, housing and jobs the whole gamut, Barber said. Whats next? Now that VGR leaders have heard from the members of Greater Grace Temple Church and surrounding community members, the next step for the organization is simply to hear from more Racine area residents, explained VGR Executive Director Tom Buhler. The organization hopes to reach 1,000 residents through its visioning sessions by the end of the year, and a total of 2,000 community members by March 1. Previous sessions have been held at St. Paul Baptist Church, Uncorkt wine bar, Trinity United Methodist Church, and the Racine Public Library. In addition to organization-based visioning sessions, VGR has two large community-based sessions coming up: one scheduled for Nov. 7 at Greater Mount Eagle Baptist Church, 929 State St., and a mega session slated to take place on Dec. 8 at Case High School, 7345 Washington Ave. Both sessions are expected take place from 6 to 8 p.m. The VGR plans to launch into the implementation phase by April 2017. CALEDONIA The eighth annual Caledonia Fire Department open house wont be all guided tours, shiny fire engines and smoke detectors. It also will be about village firefighters trying to help one of their own. The Caledonia Fire Department will hold its annual open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Fire Station No. 12, 6040 Douglas Ave. Firefighters will offer tours of the station, hand out fire safety information and show off firefighting apparatus. Refreshments and food will be served. Additionally, department members will have a smoke and safety house to explain fire safety to children. Firefighters also will be searching for a bone marrow match for Jeff Erickson, a 16-year veteran of the force who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in July. Erickson started the open house event eight years ago, but now needs a bone marrow transplant to help fight the blood disease. None of Jeffs immediate family are an exact match for him so he is still looking, said Caledonia Fire Lt. Walter Leininger. We are helping him look for the match he needs. The department has had several fundraisers for Erickson, including one at Route 20 Outhouse last weekend. In the past, Erickson has organized the departments annual Muscular Dystrophy Association fundraiser and taught public CPR classes, Leininger said. Jeff is someone who would be on the other end of a fundraiser, helping someone out, he added. According to Jeffs gofundme website, Erickson faces a long and hard road of treatment. He must undergo an aggressive chemotherapy regimen that could last up to eight months. The treatments will include several 12-hour and 24-hour infusions. After that, he will have to continue a maintenance dose of chemotherapy for three years. Erickson, father of three, purchased a new home two weeks before being diagnosed, Leininger said. Were just trying to help him out as much as we can, Leininger said. 19 killed, 73 injured in traffic accidents in East during holidays At least 19 people were killed and 73 others were injured in road accidents in the eastern region during the Dashain holidays. Bus carrying pilgrims skids off road in Kavrepalanchok, 2 dead Two people died while one suffered critical injuries in a bus accident at Vanche Pokhari of Panchkhal municipality-16 in Kavrepalanchok district on Friday. Sangam Prasain is Business Editor at The Kathmandu Post, covering tourism, agriculture, mountaineering, aviation, infrastructure and other economic affairs. He joined The Kathmandu Post in October 2009. Dr KC warns of fresh fast Dr Govinda KC on Thursday warned of resuming the hunger strike that he ended last week, charging the government with failing to address his demands including the appointment of dean at the TU Institute of Medicine. Government offices resume service The government offices that remained closed during the Bada Dashain festival resumed service from Friday onwards. Govt hospitals asked to open own pharmacies In a bid to make medicines more affordable, the government has directed state-run hospitals across the country to set up their own pharmacies within the next six months. India tightens security at Nepal-India border India has ramped up security at the no-man's land and the transit points along the Nepal-India border here following its increasing hostilities with Pakistan. Koteshwor-Ekantakuna road to be 8-lane by next monsoon The Kathmandu Ring Road Improvement Project (KRRIP) is going to upgrade the existing two-lane road from Koteshwor to Ekantakuna into an eight-lane road. The work is expected to be completed by mid-June 2017, before monsoon season starts. Nearly 1k displaced teachers to rejoin jobs The Education Ministry has announced that it will expedite the process to reinstate teachers and school staff who were forced to quit jobs due to the political reasons during the decade-long Maoist insurgency and the Madhes protest. Nepal ranks 85th in opportunities for girls Nepal fares better than many low-income countries in terms of gender equality, according to a report on countries offering most opportunities to girls. Not working Constraints on effective development planning are pretty much the same now as they were in the 1960s PM Dahal leaving for India to attend BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal is travelling to India on Saturday to participate in the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit scheduled to be held in Goa on October 16. PM urged to make most of Brics visit Foreign relations experts and diplomats have urged Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to make the most of his participation to the Brics Summit scheduled for October 15-16 in Goa, India. Saving lives Right policies can make a well-rounded transplant programme in the country a reality Tourist arrivals to Ghale Gaun soar during fest Tourist arrivals to Ghale Gaun in Lamjung have soared, bringing cheer to home-stay operators in the scenic village situated in the foothills of the Annapurna range. US election 2016: Trump says groping claims 'absolutely false' Donald Trump has rejected a slew of accusations of sexual misconduct, telling supporters in Florida they are "totally and absolutely false". Womans murder sparks protest Locals of Sirbani in Beltarbasaha Municipality-3 of Udayapur district stage a demonstration to protest the murder of Bhim Kumari Katuwal by placing her body outside Beltar Area Police Office on Thursday. What It Is KauaiEclectic is a collection of observations, images and writings about Kauai Kamawaelualanimoku and the world as seen, felt, experienced and interpreted by me. Veteran politician Captain Francis Babu has accused the Civil Aviation Authority of Running down Ugandas aviation industry. Speaking at the 4th graduation ceremony of the Uganda Aviation School, Capt Babu has accused the authoritys failure to protect Ugandan passengers from high ticket taxes. He cites Entebbe Nairobi route where a ticket costs $400 due to exorbitant taxes. He adds that the current works at the airport under the master expansion plan is sloppy and poorly designed, a claim the authority has often denied. Capt Babu also asked government not to influence the process of reviving the national carriers through nepotism and corruption. Over 30 students who have graduated at the Uganda Aviation School include cabin crew and flight attendants. This comes at a time the country is in the process of reviving the defunct Uganda Airlines. The Church of Uganda is locked in a row with Buganda Land Board, the kingdom land agency over ownership of land at Nakanyonyi village in Nabbaale Sub-county in Mukono district. Mukono Diocese accuses Buganda kingdom of taking over their land and registering their tenants in on-going land registration. At a security meeting at Nakanyonyi SS presided over by Mukono Resident District Commissioner, David Matovu the two warring parties agreed that boundaries be opened up on 20th October 2016. They also agreed that all building projects and land transactions be halted. Still in Mukono, police have arrested two people for allegedly conniving to destroy a widows banana plantation in Nama over family land wrangles. The said plantation belongs to Janet Nambi whose husband died in 2008. One of the suspects who acted as the family estate administrator is said to have plotted the sale of the family land stealthily. Mukono district Resident Commissioner David Matovu has promised thorough investigations into the matter. A team of officials from Transparency International led by Paddy Awiko also visited the scene and condemned the action. Story By Ivan Ssenabulya The Deputy Speaker of Parliament has called for respect of the will of the people on how they should be governed. He was speaking in relation to the Report of the Committee on Political Affairs on Constitutional Limits. The report was presented at a joint meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. Oulanyah says the argument that the law should be used to stop a leader from seeking election is taking away the mandate granted by the people of that country. He adds that the argument that sitting presidents cannot be removed through elections is also not sustainable as seen by changes in many African countries. The Report of the Committee states that there is an emerging trend where constitutional provisions are being reversed with attempts to drop term limits in many countries. It also cites use of a weak judiciary to creatively interpret term limits, use of the legislature to extend time in power beyond the mandated tenure and abolishing of term limits through referenda or parliament. Story By Ivan Ssenabulya Two Chinese nationals have died in an accident at Barungi village after Luweero Township along the Kampala- Gulu Highway. According to the Police spokesperson for Savannah Vincent Sekate, the Chinese were travelling in a Saloon car that rammed into a Fuso truck last evening. He says they were heading to Kampala when the driver attempted to swerve past a lorry that was branching off to a sugar factory. The car then rammed into a Fuso truck that was behind a lorry. Two other Chinese who were in the saloon car survived with serious injuries and are were admitted to Kiwoko hospital. Bodies were taken to Mulago Hospital while the driver of the salon car is currently on the run. Story By Damali Mukhaye The military chiefs of South Korea and the United States paid a joint visit to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington on Thursday. Gen. Lee Sun-jin, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Joseph Dunford, made the visit ahead of their annual Military Committee Meeting (MCM) set for later Thursday. It was the first time the JCS chairmen of the two countries paid a joint visit to the memorial, an official said. "Your sacrifices 66 years ago helped the Republic of Korea become what it is today," Lee said of the 1950-53 Korean War in which the U.S. fought alongside the South. "We will overcome North Korea's nuclear and missile threats with the strength of the Korea-U.S. alliance forged in your blood and sweat." During the visit, Lee handed Dunford an "Ambassador For Peace" medal to be awarded to Dunford's father, Joseph F. Dunford Sr., a Korean War veteran who as a young Marine participated in the landmark landing operation in the western port of Incheon that turned the tide during the war. Lee, who has been on a visit to the U.S. since Tuesday, is scheduled to hold trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts on Saturday to discuss ways to deal with North Korean threats. (Yonhap) The military chiefs of South Korea and the United States agreed Thursday to develop "effective response measures" in order to deter and counter additional provocations from North Korea, the Pentagon said. Gen. Lee Sun-jin, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Joseph Dunford, reached the agreement at their annual Military Committee Meeting (MCM) in Washington, denouncing Pyongyang's nuclear and missile provocations, the Pentagon said in a statement. "The generals agreed to continuously develop effective response measures in order to deter, and if necessary, respond to additional provocation from North Korea," the statement said. Dunford affirmed that despite the nuclear and missile threat from the North, the Korea-U.S. alliance will "continue to grow firmer and stronger, and the U.S. will continue its ironclad commitment to the defense of the Korean Peninsula," the statement said. Lee stressed that the South and U.S. will continue its proactive cooperation, including establishment of a practical collaboration system and deployment of the THAAD missile defense system in order to effectively respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats, it said. Other South Korean and U.S. officials in attendance included Rear Adm. Chung An-ho, acting chief director of strategic planning at South Korea's JCS, U.S. Pacific Command Adm. Harry B. Harris and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks. Earlier in the day, Lee and Dunford paid a joint visit to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington. It was the first time the JCS chairmen of the two countries paid a joint visit to the memorial, an official said. "Your sacrifices 66 years ago helped the Republic of Korea become what it is today," Lee said of the 1950-53 Korean War in which the U.S. fought alongside the South. "We will overcome North Korea's nuclear and missile threats with the strength of the Korea-U.S. alliance forged in your blood and sweat." During the visit, Lee handed Dunford an "Ambassador For Peace" medal to be awarded to Dunford's father, Joseph F. Dunford Sr., a Korean War veteran who as a young Marine participated in the landmark landing operation in the western port of Incheon that turned the tide during the war. Lee, who has been on a visit to the U.S. since Tuesday, is scheduled to hold trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts on Saturday to discuss ways to deal with North Korean threats. (Yonhap) South Korea's military chief stressed the need to strengthen the country's missile defense capabilities to counter North Korea's missile threats before a U.S. anti-missile system is to be deployed on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul's military said Friday. Gen. Lee Sun-jin, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), made the remarks during Seoul and Washington's Military Committee Meeting (MCM) held in Washington on Thursday with his counterpart, Gen. Joseph Dunford, it said. "The generals agreed to continuously develop effective response measures in order to deter, and if necessary, respond to additional provocations from North Korea," the JCS statement said. Lee stressed that Seoul and Washington will continue proactive and practical cooperation to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats including the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) on South Korean soil. The two countries agreed in July to station an anti-missile defense system by late 2017 as Pyongyang is moving forward with its weapons of mass destruction program. In 2016 alone, the reclusive country conducted two nuclear tests and launched more than 20 ballistic missiles despite warnings by the international community. The JCS said that Lee stressed the need to enhance the country's missile defense capabilities before the THAAD system is deployed. The four-star general also emphasized the importance of strengthening tailored deterrence strategy and greater collaboration by the allies to deal with threats by North Korea's submarine-launched ballistic missiles, it added. Dunford said that despite North Korea's threats, Seoul-Washington alliance will continue to "grow firmer and stronger," vowing that the U.S. will continue its ironclad commitment to defending the Korean Peninsula, according to the statement. The allies have hosted the Military Committee Meeting alternately since the first talks in 1978. On Thursday, Lee and Dunford paid a joint visit to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington. It marked the first time the JCS chairmen of the two countries paid a joint visit to the memorial, an official said. "Your sacrifices 66 years ago helped the Republic of Korea become what it is today," Lee said of the 1950-53 Korean War in which the U.S. fought alongside the South. "We will overcome North Korea's nuclear and missile threats with the strength of the Korea-U.S. alliance forged in your blood and sweat," he added. During the visit, Lee handed Dunford an "Ambassador For Peace" medal to be awarded to Dunford's father, Joseph F. Dunford Sr., a Korean War veteran who as a young Marine participated in the landmark landing operation in the western port of Incheon that turned the tide during the war. Lee is scheduled to hold trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts Friday to discuss three-way cooperation to deal with the North's treats. (Yonhap) ANGOLA Ventra Angola, a parts manufacturer for the automotive industry, announced plans Thursday to expand its operations in northeast Indiana, making an $8.1 million investment and creating up to 88 new jobs by 2019. Indiana businesses have added more than 156,000 new jobs since 2013, providing increased quality employment opportunities for Hoosiers across the state, said Gov. Mike Pence. Indiana offers a low-cost, low-tax business climate that supports growth, allowing job creators to invest in their business and their employees. The states manufacturing industry supports one in five Hoosier jobs, and we look forward to continued growth thanks to the commitment and determination of businesses like Ventra Angola. The company, which is part of Urbana, Illinois-based Flex-N-Gate, will invest $8.1 million to increase manufacturing capacity at its 128,000-square-foot facility at 3000 Woodhull Drive in Angola. Ventra Angola will purchase new equipment, including roll mills, and reconfigure its operations in order to accommodate the growth. The company, which has been operating in Indiana since 1993, plans to increase its production of parts by 70 percent to support a new contract with General Motors. Flex-N-Gate Corporation is the 10th-largest original equipment supplier in North America and the 38th-largest supplier in the world, according to Automotive News. The company employs more than 18,750 people at 55 manufacturing facilities and nine product development and engineering facilities throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Spain. In addition to its Angola facility, Flex-N-Gate also operates Indiana facilities in Covington and Veedersburg. Angola Plan Director Vivian Likes said the city and Steuben County benefits from the Ventra investment. Thats the first time in a long time weve had that kind of investment (in Angola), Likes said. Weve been working really very hard and its been a team effort with the state, mayor and I. The key is retention. Theyre here, theyre growing, theyre spending dollars to train. Bill Beistline, Flex-N-Gate vice president of procurement, said partnerships are the key. Todays news wouldnt be possible if not for the commitment and talent of our workforce in Angola, a workforce that has been directly responsible for years of success and now an extremely promising future for our Ventra operation, Beistline said. We are also grateful to Mayor (Dick) Hickman and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, because it takes a special kind of partnership to create jobs and make expansion plans of this magnitude a reality. Our company is proud to operate three plants in Indiana, all of them thriving, and there is no question the best days for our Ventra operation in Angola are just ahead. Ventra Angola plans to start installing new equipment in the first quarter of 2017 and ramping up production in October 2017. The company, which currently employs 25 full-time Hoosiers at its Steuben County plant, will begin hiring for various positions this month. New positions are expected to offer average salaries 40 percent higher than the Steuben County average wage. Interested applicants may apply online. Flex-N-Gates major product lines include complete bumper assemblies, mechanical assemblies, exterior plastic trim, aluminum and steel modular stamped body-in-white and chassis assemblies and complex welded structural assemblies for the light vehicle market. The city of Angola is excited that Ventra Angola is expanding in our city. This is exactly the type of jobs and investment we have been working toward through economic development planning, said Angola Mayor Dick Hickman. Ventra Angolas $8.1 million dollar investment shows great faith in our community and the skills of our local workforce. These are quality jobs with the kinds of wages and benefits that will help draw more people to our community. We appreciate the hard work that the IEDC has put in to bring this expansion to Angola, and we are grateful that Ventra Angola is choosing to invest in our city. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Ventra Angola up to $650,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $25,000 in training grants based on the companys job creation plans. These incentives are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. The Angola Common Council will consider two additional 10-year tax abatements for Ventra at Mondays meeting. One will be for personal property and the other will be for real estate. The former Meridian Automotive site located on Woodhull Drive near Wendell Jacob Avenue was acquired by Ventra in 2009 and returned to profitability by roll forming tubes, bars, and other products for Ford and GM. In partnership with the IEDC, Ventra invested $800,000 following the acquisition to keep the facility operating in order to retain jobs in Indiana. More than 40 percent of the 46,846 households in La Crosse County are teetering on the edge of financial insecurity, and 11 percent live in poverty, according to a new study from United Way of Wisconsin. The situation is worse within the city of La Crosse, where 54 percent are pushed to the brink, according to figures released today, computed on the basis of United Ways ALICE initiative. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. The ALICE threshold chronicles people whose income is above the federal poverty level but still struggle to afford basic needs such as health care, transportation and food. The overall results were not particularly surprising for Mary Kay Wolf, executive director of Great Rivers United Way, although she said the 54 percent figure for the city of La Crosse stunned her. It is an eye-opening experience for people who never had the light shown on it before, Wolf said. This report shows the need for communities to come together to find innovative solutions, and we need to include businesses in the dialogue, she said. I think we struggle with jobs that pay moderate to higher income, she said. This (report) may bring people to the table who were not there before. Stats on every county, municipality The 280-page report, which drills down to include statistics for nearly every municipality in the states 72 counties, rates housing affordability in La Crosse County as poor, job opportunities as fair and community resources, good. We should be concentrating on how to help people who are just one tragedy away from poverty, Wolf said. Living paycheck to paycheck means just one car repair or one unexpected medical emergency that forces people from survival mode into poverty. The ALICE study uses federal and statewide statistics to create examples of bare-bones survival budgets for each county in the Badger State, with no provisions for savings in case of crisis. For a single adult, the projected budget is an annual total of $21,804 an hourly wage of $10.90 with a monthly budget broken down to $416 for housing, $176 for food, $351 for transportation, $147 for health care, $165 for miscellaneous expenses and $562 for taxes. For a household with two adults, an infant and a preschooler, the hardscrabble budget is $55,800 a year $27.90 an hour with line items of $699 for housing, $1,158 for child care, $533 for food, $702 for transportation, $587 for health care, $423 for miscellaneous and $548 in taxes. Affording only a very modest living in each community, this budget is still significantly more than the federal poverty level of $11,670 for a single adult and $23,859 for a family of four, the ALICE report notes. Some are able to claw their way out of financial holes with the help of public and private agencies. Credit counseling to reverse fortunes For example, Cory Smith of Sparta, a 40-year-old divorced father of three, is scrambling even though he earns about $21 an hour as a corrections officer for the state and falls below the ALICE threshold. Smith said his financial straits resulted largely from his divorce, which was finalized a year ago after a years separation. Basically, I went from a dual income of $80,000 to $90,000 to about $40,000. But there are still the same payments that have to come out for a vehicle, rent, electricity , said Smith, who said he shares custody of his three children, ages 7, 9 and 11, 50/50 with his ex-wife. Smith is consulting with Consumer Credit Counseling Services of La Crosse to stabilize his financial situation. He also has worked with Families First of Monroe County, a United Way agency, to help with school clothes and his electric bill because he is in a niche where he doesnt qualify for assistance otherwise. The credit counselor helped me set up a budget so money goes further, Smith said, as well as to negotiate with creditors to agree on a payment plan instead of having to endure unrelenting pressure. Its not giving me more money, but teaching me to budget. Its made me a lot more aware of where each dollar goes, he said. It is a humbling experience, he said, because there is a stigma of calling people and telling them youre behind. But it is easier when you have somebody supporting you, such as a credit counselor. I would like people to understand it is hard to make it without help, he said, adding, I would definitely recommend CCC. Throughout Wisconsin, nearly half of 2.3 million households are unable to afford the states cost of living, with their situations still trailing pre-recession levels, according to the ALICE report, released in conjunction with the 42 local United Ways in the Badger State. Nearly 671,000 Wisconsin households fall into the ALICE population, according to the report. That number is more than double the official poverty rate, which accounts for 289,209 households in the state. We all know ALICE. ALICE is the recent college graduate unable to afford to live on his or her own, the young family strapped by child-care costs and the mid-career professional now underemployed, said Charlene Mouille, executive director of United Way of Wisconsin. GRUWs Wolf: Seeking creative solutions These folks are vital to our states future economic well-being, and they face barriers beyond their control, frustrating their ability to become financially stable, Mouille said. When ALICE has to choose unlicensed child care or longer commutes or emergency room health care in exchange for putting food on the table, we all suffer the consequences increased education costs, heavier traffic and higher health-care premiums, Mouille said. United Way is committed to looking beyond the emergency Band-Aids and providing long-term solutions that will strengthen our communities, she said. GRUWs Wolf said, What we hope to have is a community conversation with people around the table who have not been there before so we can have creative solutions. Maybe companies can become involved in leadership development so employees can advance and find ways to create more affordable, quality child care, she said. A La Crosse woman on bond for serious drug distribution charges was arrested again Thursday after being stopped for driving erratically with $15,000 worth of crystal meth in her car. According to the West Salem Police Department, a caller complained of a maroon Chevy Impala on Interstate 90 swerving all over the roadway about 12:45 p.m. The car exited the freeway in West Salem and nearly clipped a guardrail coming into town, according to police reports. An officer stopped the car and noticed the driver, 25-year-old Douazhong Vu, was chewing as he approached. Asked about her driving, Vu gestured to a takeout food container on the passenger seat and explained she was eating egg rolls. The officer discovered Vu was wanted for absconding from electronic monitoring in a pending drug case and put her under arrest. According to the reports, Vu told police she had some meth in her right pocket, but the officer found only a phone and $450 in cash, which Vu said she was planning to use to purchase the car. She told officers she must have left the meth behind. Police searched the car and found three plastic bags containing about six ounces of meth in a purse and another $650 in cash, according to the reports. A judge on Friday imposed a $15,000 cash bond. Vu is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday where she faces possible charges of possession with intent to deliver meth and felony bail jumping. Vu was charged in April with possession with intent to deliver meth and maintaining a drug trafficking place after police raided her Oakland Street apartment and found more than half a pound of meth along with scales, a drug ledger, fake urine and more than $21,000 in cash. She posted a $5,000 bond but had been wanted since absconding from electronic monitoring in July. The late John B. Coleman served as director of the La Crosse Vocational Adult School the forerunner of Western Technical College for more than 47 years. And on Thursday, a century after took over leadership at the school, Western honored him by dedicating the newly renovated Coleman Center and awarding its namesake with the colleges Legacy Award, the colleges highest honor that has only been bestowed three other times since it was first given to L. Hope Kumm in 1997. Bill Welch Sr., the former dean of industrial technologies, was hired by Coleman in 1960 to teach the colleges new electronics program after the initial instructor dropped out. He started out with some donated equipment and supplies, such as military electronics the students could take apart as well as donated benches and peg boards from the welding and woodworking programs. During that time, Welch said, he had the students in class all day, except for a break for lunch and the two periods each week he had to provide the students with a gym class, according to the curriculum. Welch said Coleman earned the loyalty and trust of the staff and the community. All this was put together with Mr. Colemans planning, Welch said. He was always looking to the future. The college looked to the future when designing the new Coleman Center, a $26.5 million renovation project that was part of the $79.8 million Vision 2020 referendum approved by voters in 2012. Instead of tearing down and building new, Western Facilities Director Jay McHenry said, the college saved $1.5 million by renovating the building and recreating it for modern learning. Western saved 35,000 square feet of brick that was kept from the original building. Renovating reduced construction time by six months and the facility will achieve a 30 to 40 percent reduction in energy and gas usage. Built in 1923 after the Washburn School burned down in that location, the Coleman Center was the entire campus for the college at one time and has been renovated and modified over the years to fit the colleges needs. The redesigned facility has 22 percent more classroom space than before and offers more than two dozen collaborative areas for students and teachers to work together on projects. The building has served the community in so many ways, Western Vice President for Academic Affairs Roger Stanford said, and it is still viable today. Visitors during Thursdays open house saw a display in one of the lounge areas of relics from the buildings past, including a Federal Works Agency plaque from 1939, one of the original glass signs for the vocational and adult school, and a piece of frosted glass artwork from the era. Michaela Thomas, a second-year human services student from Trempealeau, was studying at the center on Thursday and said she has had classes in both the old and new building. She enjoys the new technology in the brighter building, including areas for students to plug in and charge their mobile devices. Its absolutely great, she said. I love having the new coffee shop just down the stairs from my classroom. Built in 1923 after the Washburn School burned down in that location, the Coleman Center was the entire campus for the college at one time and has been renovated and modified over the years to fit the colleges needs. The redesigned facility has 22 percent more classroom space than before and offers more than two dozen collaborative areas for students and teachers to work together on projects. The following editorial appeared in Wednesdays Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded last week to Juan Manuel Santos, president of Colombia. He does deserve congratulations for his efforts. Yet the Colombian population, in a referendum five days before, voted by a narrow margin to reject the agreement Santos had negotiated with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to end the countrys 52-year-old civil war. The conflict has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and seriously retarded Colombias economic development. The war had been financed on the FARC side in no small part by drug dealing. American military and other aid had played an equally large part in financing the war on the government side. It is the last such civil war in this hemisphere. It has to be assumed that the Nobel committee gave the prize to Santos, even though the Colombian population had rejected the accord, to encourage him to stay the course in pursuing an agreement. There is every reason to hope that he will do so. One Colombian politician opposed to the accord is former president Alvaro Uribe, a longtime favorite of the United States for his receptivity as president to American military involvement in Colombia. The comparison of Santos having been awarded the prize and new U.S. President Barack Obamas having received it in 2009, based on expectations of what he might do in office, is impossible to avoid. In the case of Obama, it didnt work. At the end of nearly eight years in office, the United States is bogged down up to its axles with troops in wars with no end in sight in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It is fair to ask why that is so. The basic argument for U.S. involvement is that it is fighting the enemy over there to avoid fighting them here. That argument breaks down when terrorist attacks occur against Americans in revenge for U.S. activities overseas. The rockets fired Monday against a U.S. Navy ship in the Persian Gulf following a U.S.-supported Saudi Arabian air attack on a funeral in Yemen, killing 140, is an example. That doesnt mean that the Nobel Peace Prize shouldnt be used to encourage peace-making. Lets hope it will work better with Santos than it did with Obama. We would like to share with you the name of Timothy J. Guth, who is running for Seat 16 judgeship in the Minnesota 3rd Judicial District. This district is made up of 11 counties: Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Waseca, Wabasha and Winona. Tim has 28 years of experience as a prosecutor for Winona County and as a private practice attorney. He has filed against the sitting judge, who was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton last year. Tim will use his experience to streamline the court to be more efficient and save taxpayer money. He will instruct attorneys to settle their cases on the Wednesday prior to trial or they will go to trial on the scheduled date. This would eliminate unnecessarily calling in jurors, witnesses, court administrators and police officers. He also will establish a veterans court, giving our veterans time to assimilate back into society. Tim is a patriot. He served in the Army as a Green Beret. You can go to his website to see his complete biography at houstoncountyjudge.com. We respectfully encourage you to support our friend Tim Guth in his bid for the Houston County judge seat. Jeff and Barb Sherwood, La Crosse First-term Democratic incumbent Lisa Subeck faces a challenge from independent Christopher Fisher. The election is Nov. 8. Christopher Fisher Age: 48 Address: 302 Nautilus Drive #210, Madison Family: Single with two children Education: Associate degree in liberal studies, Madison College; bachelors degree in business administration, Franklin University Job: Independent IT consultant Elected experience, public service: None Lisa Subeck (I) Age: 45 Address: 818 South Gammon Road, Unit 4, Madison Family: None Education: Bachelors degree in psychology, UW-Madison Job: State representative Elected experience: State representative since 2015; Madison City Council, 2011-2015. Other public service: State director, National Foundation of Women Legislators; board member and former president, Woodhill Condominium Association; state chairwoman, Democratic Municipal Officials; member, Madison Board of Estimates; Alcohol License Review Commission; Community Services Committee; Sweat Free Purchases Committee; ADA Transit Subcommittee; Madison Transit and Parking Commission; Equal Opportunities Commission; Southwest Neighborhood Plan Steering Committee; Low-income Bus Pass Committee; CDA Housing Operations Committee; Section 8 Advisory Committee Hope House Community Advisory Board; Wisconsin Youth and Family Center board; Wisconsin Head Start Association board. Q&A What is the top issue facing your district and how would you address it through the legislative process? Fisher: Making sure our state budget allocates funding to many basic needs is fundamental. I want voter input to implement ideas. Keeping my constituents safe and happy are my top priorities. Subeck: The issue I hear most about from constituents is education. Republicans have made historic cuts to the UW and our public schools. Our children, families and economy are all feeling the toll of these dramatic cuts, and I will fight for returned investment in our neighborhood schools and the UW. What is an outside-the-box idea you would like the Legislature to pass next session? Fisher: Next year Wisconsin will be rolling out online voter registration. This online registration would support my out-of-the-box idea of having registered voters also go online, use a smartphone or an app, to enter their voter ID information and nominate a candidate for public office. Allowing voters the ability to nominate candidates online will encourage more people to run for public office. Subeck: Given the significant Republican attacks on Wisconsins progressive traditions, its sometimes hard to determine whats truly outside-the-box versus what simply rivals the norm in Scott Walkers Wisconsin. Ill continue pushing for progressive legislation that supports strong schools, promotes a fair economy that works for all and preserves our natural resources. What would be your area of expertise as a lawmaker? Fisher: I believe that anything is possible, people just need to believe so and put forth the effort. My lifelong experiences, being involved and helping others, combined with my formal business education and IT background, alongside my negotiation skills, I hope to influence other legislators to better strengthen our state budget. Subeck: I have dedicated my career to improving the lives of women, children and families in our community. During my first term in the Legislature, I have had the opportunity to put my experience to work fighting for quality education, access to womens health care and economic opportunity for working families. Matthew DeFour First-term Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman faces a challenge from Democrat Sarah Lloyd and independent Jeff Dahlke. The election is Nov. 8. Jeff Dahlke Age: 50 Address: 9723 W. Pioneer Road, Mequon Family: Married to Katherine, two children and two grandchildren. Education: Some college Job: Global Service Technician, Guntert & Zimmerman Elected experience: None Other public service: None Glenn Grothman (I) Age: 61 Address: N5154 Highway U, Glenbeulah Family: Single Education: BBA in accounting and JD, UW-Madison Job: U.S. representative Elected experience: State senator, 2005-2015; State representative, 1993-2005 Other public service: Kettle Moraine Symphony Board Member. Sarah Lloyd Age: 44 Address: W13615 Nelson Road, Wisconsin Dells Family: Married to Nels Nelson Education: Ph.D. in rural sociology, UW-Madison; masters degree in rural development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; bachelors in environmental studies, Brown University. Job: Dairy farmer and marketer with Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU) and the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative Elected experience: Columbia County Board supervisor, 2004-2007 Other public service: Wisconsin dairy farmers representative, National Dairy Board; member, Wormfarm Institute Board; UW-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources advisory board; and UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems citizens advisory committee. Q&A Why should voters elect you to Congress? Dahlke: As an independent, I wont have to follow the party line so I can do what is best for the people. Im not a career politician, and I am not controlled by large corporations or special interest groups. Grothman: Voters should re-elect me because I will continue to take on the tough issues of welfare and immigration reform, as well as balancing the budget head on. I have a no-nonsense approach to getting things done and will continue to fight for my constituents in Washington. Lloyd: I am running for Congress because things are out of balance. Too many people are working harder than ever and still not making ends meet. The powerful special interests have stolen our democracy and rigged our economy. I will work for a government that works for everyone, not just those at the top. How would you address partisan gridlock? Dahlke: I will do everything possible to build consensus, and I will call out in the mainstream media those who are unwilling to cooperate. I will work with those in Congress who are interested in getting things done, not just those trying to block an agenda. Grothman: I worked across the aisle many times during my time in the Wisconsin Legislature and now in Congress. I have worked with Democrats and Republicans on legislation to cut down barriers to jobs and help students refinance their student loans. I will continue to work to enact common sense legislation. Lloyd: I will strive to find bipartisan issues and work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I see opportunities to work across the aisle from day one on issues of college loan refinancing and also on rejecting bad trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Whats the most important bill Congress should send to the next president? Dahlke: Although there are many important issues facing Congress, I believe we must start with campaign finance reform. If we can take the money out of politics, we can get rid of the rampant corruption and restore the voice of the people in government. Grothman: There are three important bills that need to be sent to the next president. Bills to secure our border and make sure criminal illegal aliens are deported, enacting work requirements for welfare programs and repealing Obamacare. These issues must be addressed to help get America back on the right track. Lloyd: We must get money out of politics if we want to have an economy and democracy that work for everyone and not just those at the top. I will work to get dark money out of politics and reject the Citizens United decision that opened the flood gates of money into politics. Matthew DeFour Sen. Tammy Baldwin has asked federal transportation officials for emergency funding to help repair western Wisconsin roads and bridges damaged in late summer floods. In July the U.S. Department of Transportation released $4.15 million to fund repairs caused by flooding in northern Wisconsin. Baldwin is asking for similar aid for counties hit by torrential rains in August and September. State and federal officials have so far identified about 80 projects that could be eligible for emergency funding, according to Baldwins office. A series of storms Sept. 20-22 dumped 3 to 7 inches of rain on parts of the state, causing more than $21 million in damages in 12 counties. The worst damage reported so far was in Vernon County, which incurred $5.2 million in damage to roads and bridges, in addition to 44 destroyed and hundreds of damaged homes and businesses. Two Vernon County residents died in flood-related incidents. The town of Wheatland saw two bridges washed out and didnt get all its roads reopened until Monday. Town chairman Bob Streeter said he doesnt know how the town will pay for the $432,000 in repairs, which is about the equivalent of the entire annual budget. Were scared to death, he said. Wheatland wont get help from the emergency transportation funds, which can only be used for state and county highways. The town could benefit from other federal disaster assistance. Earlier this week, Gov. Scott Walker sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting a federal disaster declaration after teams of officials surveyed the damage to roads, bridges and other public infrastructure. Under the Public Assistance program, the federal government pays 75 percent of the cost to clean up and repair infrastructure, with the balance split between state and local government. Walker said he is exploring other federal programs to help businesses and private citizens. Blog Archive Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (3) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (4) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (2) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (1) May 26 (4) May 25 (2) May 24 (3) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (3) May 19 (5) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (3) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (4) May 08 (2) May 07 (3) May 06 (4) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (4) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (3) Mar 12 (3) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (5) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (3) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (2) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (4) 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 (4) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (3) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (5) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (4) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (4) May 28 (4) May 27 (3) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (6) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (5) May 11 (4) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (8) Mar 11 (6) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (5) Mar 03 (7) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (7) Feb 03 (9) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (6) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (7) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (8) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (6) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (6) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (8) Nov 09 (8) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (8) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (3) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (3) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (5) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (5) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (5) May 26 (7) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (3) May 19 (5) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (5) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (3) May 07 (6) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (6) May 03 (4) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (7) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (7) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (4) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (5) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (5) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (3) Feb 29 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (2) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (1) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (5) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (1) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (4) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (1) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (6) May 26 (3) May 25 (3) May 24 (3) May 23 (3) May 22 (5) May 21 (3) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (4) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (4) May 12 (5) May 11 (2) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (2) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (7) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (5) Feb 20 (5) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (6) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (3) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (5) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (4) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (7) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (6) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (6) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (5) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (5) May 18 (6) May 17 (6) May 16 (4) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (4) May 10 (5) May 09 (2) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (4) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (6) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (8) Feb 23 (7) Feb 22 (8) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (7) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (6) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (6) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (7) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (7) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (7) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (7) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (6) Oct 23 (10) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (6) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (6) Oct 07 (5) Oct 06 (4) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (6) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (6) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (7) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (6) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (6) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (5) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (5) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (7) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (5) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (6) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (8) May 26 (7) May 25 (7) May 24 (5) May 23 (2) May 22 (5) May 21 (4) May 20 (5) May 19 (5) May 18 (5) May 17 (5) May 16 (7) May 15 (7) May 14 (7) May 13 (5) May 12 (6) May 11 (8) May 10 (4) May 09 (6) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (5) May 05 (6) May 04 (7) May 03 (7) May 02 (8) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (8) Apr 22 (6) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (8) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (9) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (10) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (7) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (7) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (9) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (10) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (9) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (7) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (5) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (6) Dec 19 (10) Dec 18 (9) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (6) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (8) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (9) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (12) Nov 17 (8) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (11) Nov 13 (11) Nov 12 (9) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (7) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (7) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (7) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (7) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (6) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (7) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (6) Oct 13 (7) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (7) Oct 05 (8) Oct 04 (6) Oct 03 (8) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (10) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (5) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (6) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (6) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (10) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (6) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (6) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (9) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (9) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (6) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (7) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (8) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (9) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (9) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (7) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (7) Jun 12 (8) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (7) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (4) May 29 (5) May 28 (1) May 27 (5) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (8) May 23 (8) May 22 (7) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (9) May 18 (5) May 17 (9) May 16 (7) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (13) May 11 (5) May 10 (7) May 09 (6) May 08 (8) May 07 (9) May 06 (6) May 05 (5) May 04 (2) May 03 (6) May 02 (7) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (10) Apr 25 (7) Apr 24 (5) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (10) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (5) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (9) Mar 25 (11) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (6) Mar 22 (8) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (8) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (9) Feb 23 (12) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (9) Feb 16 (10) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (9) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (6) Jan 31 (10) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (8) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (10) Jan 19 (8) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (7) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (6) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (7) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (8) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (8) Dec 16 (7) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (7) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (7) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (8) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (6) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (5) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (6) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (8) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (6) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (7) Sep 17 (6) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (8) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (6) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (5) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (7) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (5) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (7) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (8) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (2) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (8) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (2) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (2) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (1) May 26 (1) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (1) May 22 (2) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (2) May 17 (2) May 16 (2) May 15 (3) May 14 (2) May 13 (2) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (2) May 08 (3) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (2) May 04 (2) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (2) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (2) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (4) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (2) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (2) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (2) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (2) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (2) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (2) Mar 22 (1) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (2) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (2) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (2) Mar 07 (1) Mar 06 (2) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (1) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (2) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (2) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (1) Feb 14 (1) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (2) Feb 11 (1) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (1) Feb 08 (1) Feb 07 (1) Feb 06 (1) Feb 05 (5) Feb 03 (1) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (1) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (1) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (6) Dec 14 (4) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (5) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (6) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (2) Aug 06 (2) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (2) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (2) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (1) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (2) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (4) May 13 (9) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (5) May 09 (4) May 08 (3) May 07 (5) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (1) May 02 (5) May 01 (7) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (4) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (5) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (2) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (2) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (4) Nov 15 (6) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (2) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (7) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (2) May 29 (2) May 28 (2) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (2) May 18 (3) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (3) May 10 (4) May 09 (4) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (2) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (2) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (7) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (6) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (3) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (2) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (2) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (2) Jan 04 (2) Jan 03 (2) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (2) Nov 21 (2) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (2) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (2) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (2) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (2) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (2) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (2) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (2) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (2) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (2) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (2) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (2) May 15 (2) May 14 (4) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (3) May 08 (2) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (1) May 04 (2) May 03 (4) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (1) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (1) Mar 04 (2) Mar 02 (2) Feb 28 (1) Feb 24 (1) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (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 (4) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (5) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (1) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (3) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (3) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (3) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) 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 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (2) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (2) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (2) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (1) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (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 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (4) May 29 (4) May 28 (5) May 27 (5) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (5) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (3) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (3) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (6) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (7) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (8) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (3) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (4) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (7) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (5) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (2) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (4) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (8) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (2) Jun 21 (1) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (7) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (3) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (2) May 14 (6) May 13 (4) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (2) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (2) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (2) Jan 15 (2) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (2) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (1) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (1) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (1) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (2) Dec 10 (2) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (1) Dec 05 (2) Dec 04 (1) Dec 03 (2) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (2) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (1) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (1) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (2) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (1) Nov 16 (1) Nov 15 (1) Nov 14 (1) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (1) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (1) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (1) Nov 03 (1) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (2) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (2) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (1) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (1) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (1) Oct 03 (2) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (1) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (1) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (2) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 14 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (1) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (2) Sep 08 (2) Sep 07 (1) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (2) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (1) Aug 13 (1) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Aug 03 (2) Aug 01 (1) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (1) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (1) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (2) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (1) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (2) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (1) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (2) Jul 09 (5) Jul 08 (1) Jul 07 (1) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (1) Jul 03 (2) Jul 01 (1) Jun 30 (1) Jun 29 (2) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (2) Jun 25 (2) Jun 24 (1) Jun 23 (2) Jun 22 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (3) Jun 12 (1) Jun 11 (1) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (1) Jun 03 (1) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (1) May 27 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (1) May 23 (2) May 22 (1) May 21 (1) May 20 (2) May 19 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (2) May 14 (1) May 13 (1) May 11 (2) May 10 (2) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 06 (1) May 05 (1) May 04 (1) May 03 (3) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 29 (1) Apr 28 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (2) Apr 17 (1) Apr 15 (1) Apr 13 (1) Apr 10 (2) Apr 08 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 24 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (1) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (1) Mar 04 (1) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (2) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (1) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 23 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (1) Feb 02 (1) Jan 31 (1) Jan 22 (1) Jan 18 (1) Jan 16 (1) Jan 09 (1) Jan 01 (1) Dec 20 (2) Dec 15 (1) Dec 13 (1) Dec 11 (1) Nov 30 (1) Nov 27 (1) Nov 20 (1) Nov 11 (1) Nov 10 (1) Oct 23 (1) Oct 20 (1) Oct 01 (1) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (1) Sep 24 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 02 (2) Aug 31 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (2) Aug 24 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (1) Aug 18 (3) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 11 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 03 (1) Jul 27 (1) Jul 26 (1) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (1) Jul 21 (1) Jul 19 (1) Jul 15 (1) Jul 14 (1) Jul 13 (3) Jul 10 (1) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (1) Jul 06 (1) Jul 03 (1) Jul 01 (1) Jun 28 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 19 (1) Jun 18 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (2) Jun 11 (1) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 06 (1) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (3) May 30 (1) May 29 (1) May 28 (2) May 26 (1) May 25 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (1) May 15 (1) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (2) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (1) Apr 19 (1) Apr 18 (1) Apr 12 (1) Apr 11 (1) Apr 09 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 05 (1) Apr 01 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 27 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 19 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 16 (1) Mar 15 (2) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier Those who habitually put items in their recycling bins that don't belong there are the target of the ordinance amendment, not those who make an occasional, accidental mistake, said Public Works Director Jeff Demers. This week on our national parks journey, we travel to Utah. The western state is home to several of the most popular national parks in America. Today, we travel to the eastern part of the state. We visit a park filled with strange and beautiful colored rock formations. These formations have been created over millions of years. They curve and narrow and balance on top of one another. Some are extremely thin. Others have huge cracks, yet remain standing. Many of the rock formations seem to ignore the rules of gravity. Welcome to Arches National Park! Arches are formations that look like half a circle standing up. Sometimes they create a curved bridge between two large rocks. Arches National Park contains the most natural rock arches of any place on Earth. The smallest arches are less than a meter across. The largest, called Landscape Arch, measures 93 meters from one base of the arch to the other. Water and ice, extreme temperatures, and many layers of salt underground created these rock formations over hundreds of millions of years. The huge amount of salt is the remains of an ancient sea. It covered the area around 300 million years ago. As time passed, the area filled with material left by rivers. Rocks buried the area. This created pressure on the underground salt bed. Salt under pressure moves easily. It is not stable. The thick cover of rock created pressure on the salt. It moved this way and that, making the rock layers above move, as well. A soft rock called sandstone moved upwards. It met with other, harder rocks. These sandstone structures continued to grow for about 150 million years. Scientists say water is the most important element in creating arches. Water destroys the chemicals that keep rock particles together. The rock breaks as the water freezes and expands. Then the wind blows away the loose rock pieces. Erosion from wind and weather slowly removed layers of younger rock. Most of the layers of rock seen today are pinkish-red in color. The rock is called Entrada Sandstone. Experts say that most arches seen in the park today developed within the past million years. But the land formations continue to change slowly over time. But sometimes, change happens quickly. In 2008, a formation called Wall Arch suddenly collapsed. Thousands of tons of sandstone crashed to the ground, creating a thunderous noise. It is not easy to predict when arches might collapse. Wall Arch was not as thin as Landscape Arch, for example. Wall Arch also did not have visible cracks. But, many tiny breaks within the stone made the arch weaker than others. Some formations within the park look as though the gentlest wind could send huge pieces of rock crashing to the ground. These are called balanced rocks. The most famous of all is simply called Balanced Rock. This sandstone rock is the size of three school buses. It sits on top of a tower of darker rock called mudstone. The formation is about 39 meters tall. This bottom rock narrows sharply where it connects to the sandstone rock on top. Scientists call this a bridge. Mudstone weathers much more quickly than sandstone. One day, far in the future, Balanced Rock will no longer be balanced. Just as Wall Arch did, Balanced Rock will collapse. The names of the rock formations give you information about their appearance or structure. The most famous arch within the park is named Delicate Arch. Delicate means easily broken or damaged. But it can also mean very carefully and beautifully made. Delicate Arch is a huge free-standing arch. It is 19 meters high and 13 meters wide. Humans have called it many different names throughout history. The name Delicate Arch first appeared in a 1934 article. Scientists described it as the most delicately chiseled arch in the entire area. Of the 2,000 stone arches within the park, Delicate Arch has become a symbol of the state of Utah. It is among the most famous geological features in the world. Many of Arches famous rock formations are easily seen from the single road that goes through the park. But Delicate Arch is not visible from a car. Some visitors choose to walk to two view points. But, even from the view points, Delicate Arch is still more than a kilometer away. Many visitors choose to hike up to see the famous arch. The trail is 5 kilometers. It is the most popular hike in the park. The walk is difficult and steep. It offers no shade. The sun is extremely strong. In summer months, the temperature can rise to 40 degrees Celsius. Park officials tell hikers to take at least two liters of water with them. In winter months, ice and water can make the sandstone trail extremely slick. Along the way, hikers pass a wall of ancient animal drawings created by the Ute Indians. These are called petroglyphs. Petroglyphs exist throughout the park. They are a reminder of the long human history in this harsh environment. Before reaching Delicate Arch, hikers must walk on a long and narrow rock ledge. The trail is often crowded with people. But most say the heat and crowds are worth it. Delicate Arch stands alone above a natural sandstone bowl. It rises up dramatically from the flat land that surrounds it. On one side of the arch, the sandstone gently twists. On the other, a severe crack cuts through the narrowing rock. Those who hike to its base appreciate and understand why it was once described as delicate. Most visitors to Arches National Park would agree that there is no other place in the world quite like it in the world. It is quiet and dreamlike, unpredictable and violent, old yet ever-changing. A trip to Arches is like visiting another world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Caty Weaver. Ashley Thompson reported and wrote this story, with materials from the Learning English archive and the National Park Service. Caty Weaver was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story stable - adj. in a good state or condition that is not easily changed or likely to change erosion - n. the gradual destruction of something by natural forces (such as water, wind, or ice thunderous - adj. making a loud noise like the sound of thunder; very loud chiseled - adj. having an attractive well-formed shape geological - adj. relating to the rocks, land, processes of land formation, etc., of a particular area shade - n. an area of slight darkness that is produced when something blocks the light of the sun ledge - n. a flat rock surface that sticks out from a cliff Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned this week that tensions between Russia and the United States have reached a dangerous point. His comments followed a series of issues that have strained relations between Washington and Moscow. Among them are the war in Syria and U.S. accusations that Russia is involved in cyber attacks aimed at disrupting U.S. elections next month. I think the world has reached a dangerous point, Gorbachev told RIA Novosti, Russias state news agency. The former leader said he did not have any specific advice for either country. But I do want to say that this needs to stop, he said. We need to renew dialogue. Stopping it was the biggest mistake. Gorbachev, 85, is credited with easing years of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West. He led the country from 1985 to 1991. He signed several important nuclear disarmament deals with the United States during his rule. In 1990, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. On October 3, the United States said it was giving up its efforts with Russia to negotiate a cease-fire in Syria. U.S. officials noted continued military attacks against civilian targets in the nation. Russia answered the American actions by suspending a number of nuclear cooperation agreements with the United States. It also moved to build up its military forces in Syria and along the Russian border with Europe. Recently, Russia deployed Iskander missiles to a base in Kaliningrad, which sits on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania. Those missiles are able to travel about 500 kilometers in the air and carry nuclear weapons. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote in the Bild newspaper about the deployment. He said he thought it created a more dangerous situation than during the Cold War when the Soviet Union competed against the West. Some military experts agree. Igor Sutyagin is with Londons Royal United Services Institute. 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. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union deployed large missiles in what was then East Germany and Czechoslovakia. Sutyagin says this time around, the missile deployment is more psychological. 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. Other issues have also increased tensions between Russia and the United States. Last week, U.S. officials accused the Russian government of being involved in attacks on American computer systems. They suspect those cyber attacks are meant to disrupt the U.S. elections next month. The cyber activity resulted in thousands of emails being leaked from the Democratic National Committee last July. In the past, U.S. officials had said they suspected Russian involvement in the leak. But in a statement last week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security went farther, to actually name Russia. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities, the statement said. In reaction, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said U.S. officials were creating what he called anti-Russian hysteria. He accused the U.S. administration of using dirty methods to blame Russian cyber attackers ahead of the U.S. elections. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His story was based on reports from reporter Henry Ridgwell, RadioFree Europe/RadioLiberty, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. What do you think about the state of U.S.-Russia relations? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story strain v. to add tension beyond proper limits disrupt v. make something not be able to normally continue renew v. to restart or continue dialogue n. discussions; communications wake-up call n. something that happens to cause a person to take action bucket n. a round, open container used to carry liquids psychological adj. relating to the human mind and feelings intimidate v. make someone afraid scope n. extent of treatment, activity or influence sensitivity n. an awareness and understanding of other people hysteria n. extreme fear, excitement or anger Twenty-one schoolgirls kidnapped by the Boko Haram militant group were freed this week after being held for more than two years. The 21 were part of a group of nearly 300 girls taken by Boko Haram in April 2014 from the town of Chibok in northern Nigeria. The release was negotiated between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram. The deal was facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government. The 21 girls were taken to the capital, where they met Thursday with Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. He called the release very exciting news for the whole country. Names of all the girls were to be released as soon as their families were contacted. Health information about the girls was not made public. However, at least one of the girls is reportedly pregnant. The countrys Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the girls were freed after "painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides. Nigerian officials said they planned to hold more talks with Boko Haram about the release of more captured girls. Dozens of the kidnapped girls have been able to escape. The 21 released this week were the first to be rescued as a result of government action. Boko Haram has led attacks on schools as part of its insurgency. The extremist group has been fighting for seven years to establish an Islamic government in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram is blamed for the deaths of at least 20,000 people since 2009. More than 2.7 million people have also been displaced in the fighting. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly promised to rescue the kidnapped girls and crush Boko Haram. Last week, Nigerias military carried out a number of airstrikes against the group. The offensive took place in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged its loyalty to Islamic State. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His story was based on reports from VOANews.com, the Associated Press and Reuters. 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 facilitate v. to make something possible or easier painstaking v. done with a lot of thought and care insurgency n. armed revolt or uprising attempting to take control of government pledge v. to formally promise to give or do After tense silences and hints of temper, the Stapleton Public School Board accepted a mutual separation from its superintendent at a special meeting Tuesday. Clayton Waddle will leave his post on July 1, 2017, a year before his original contract was to expire. The district will pay him $148,739, buying out his last year. The board approved the terms on a 3-2 vote. The meeting followed more than a year of turmoil. Stapleton voters failed to pass a school bond issue in July 2015. The month before, board member Rex Walz filed a complaint against Waddle regarding the salary of Waddles wife, who teaches in Stapleton Public Schools. Walz acknowledged at the meeting that he was the member who filed the complaint. Other members said the complaint, which has no foreseeable resolution date from the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, has cost the district more than $30,000 in legal fees, as the schools attorney represents Waddle as a school employee. Members also said Walz failed to bring the issue to the board, but did not hesitate to identify as a board member within the complaint. At the time of primary elections in May, Walz told the Telegraph that the 2015 school bond issue was excessive. A petition drive attempted to recall Board President Josh Allen, who was retained as a board member. Incumbent board member Robert Jones did not advance in the primary. At a recent board retreat, members were asked what they saw in their future, board member Frank Kramer said. Its pretty evident, Kramer said. Anyone who walks in the room right now can see the dysfunction. In hopes of working together more effectively, members discussed a change in administration. When Waddle, who said he did not attend the retreat, heard of the discussions, he came up with a mutual agreement to leave one year ahead of the end of his contract. Though every member said they agreed on the need for a fresh start, they differed on how to go about it. Walz disagreed with the extra cost to the district, saying his constituents never suggested a buyout. He recommended an amendment that stated that anyone who voted in favor of the resignation should also pay for it. Youre going to pay for the lawyer fees that youve incurred? Allen asked. Kramer countered with an amendment stipulating that after Walzs complaint is taken care of, he would resign from the board. Kramer broke down Waddles buyout at the meeting: After his $114,000 salary, there are additions such as health insurance costs and vacation days, he said. I asked Mr. Waddle for all the information I have with me, Kramer said. Any board member could have done the same thing. I pride myself on the facts, the truth [and] trying to resolve the issue at hand. Robert Jones asked about Waddles wife, and though Waddle declined to speak for her, he said he expects her resignation shortly after his. I dont believe well stay in the community, he said. The board discussed other issues: the absence of a sixth member after one resigned last year, and the hope to come together as a board in the future. We have to act as a board, Jones said, not as individuals. Jones and Walz each voted against the measure; Allen, Kramer and Steve Schaeffer voted for it. Because it was a special meeting, public comment was not accepted. On Thursday, Waddle said he doesnt know what he plans to do. He may teach, work in administration or take a year to focus on obtaining a doctoral degree, he said. Waddle said he had looked forward to entering his daughter, age 3, in the school system. Recently, the elementary school was named a National Blue Ribbon school, one of four in Nebraska. We have good kids. We have great kids. We have great staff, he said. Still, Waddle called the agreement mutual, and said he looks forward to exiting the controversy surrounding the board and school. Its almost like they need a fresh start and a restart button, he said. After the The Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) decided to not screen films with Pakistani artistes or technicians in India, prominent members of the industry have opposing points to the decision and ban. It was initally decided that films that are ready to be released will not be touched, and the then impending decision would be upheld only on upcoming films. However, Karan Johar's film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil now faces a serious financial threat. Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal has mixed feelings about the decision. In an interview with Times Now, he said, "It's perfectly within their [COEAI] right to do so. These things happen." Upon asked on his view on the matter, he said, "I have no views on the matter." Also read: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in trouble? Theatre owners association announces ban on films with Pak artistes Will he work with Pakistani actors in the future? "Why would I want to do that, when I can work with an Indian actor? This is a complicated problem in the current scenario; it's a part of a larger fight." Meanwhile, CBFC chairman Pahlaj Nihalani believes that this decision goes against the film industry. "When we have good relations with Pakistan with made films with their actors; now we don't. But the association has no right to take such a decision. From now on, no Pakistani actor will work in our films, and I fully support that but the films that are complete should not be touched." Nihalani was referring to films such as Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Raees and Dear Zindagi. Nitin Datar, President of COEAI, had said, "We are sticking to our decision until the situation between India and Pakistan doesn't improve. There will be no loses for the exhibitors because other films are also releasing. But those who have entered into an agreement with films with Pakistani artistes might face loses. We will see how to compensate for that." The Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India members of whom are part of states like Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra and include both single screen and multiplex owners on Friday 14 October, decided that they will voluntarily boycott films with Pakistani artistes (the first film to suffer is Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil). If you calm down, and take a moment to fully read the above paragraph, you'll notice that the word 'voluntarily' is the most important one. Unlike the Udta Punjab episode (which was also not really a ban), Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is not being "banned". COEAI president Nitin Datar told IANS after a meeting of members: "We have nothing against Karan Johar. It's just that we won't allow the release of any film which will have Pakistani actors or technicians in it." The COEAI has over 400 members. "We have collectively taken this decision that we won't showcase such films in our single screens. As of now, we will be following this decision in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat," Datar added. So first and foremost, this decision affects only three states out of 29 states. So if you live anywhere but Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, you can still possibly watch Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, and your battle will be not with cinema owners, but with so-called "nationalists" who may cause some trouble on its release day. Secondly, if you do live in these three states, chances are multiplex owners may still release Karan Johar's films as the 400 members of the association do not constitute ALL owners of cinemas in the three states. There are some multiplexes that have done tie-ups with Dharma Productions regarding distribution of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Which brings us to the third and most important point. This boycott is not mandatory. Neither is it state-ordered, nor it is being enforced on anyone. This is a decision taken by 400 people of a community of cinema owners, who in no way, represent the entire country. Again, to reiterate, the only threat in this matter is vandalism and destruction of property that may occur in case cinema owners do decide to screen the film, but that still doesn't mean Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is banned. These cinema owners can still apply for police protection, and Dharma Productions has the full right to escalate this matter to the courts. And finally, here's a quote from a Union Ministry official that should put things into perspective. "Government of India has no problem in giving visa to any Pakistani artiste," a Home Ministry official told IANS. "We have no problem in granting visas. If a person applies for visa and he fulfills the conditions, he gets it. It's not that we don't have to issue visa to Pakistani nationals," he added. In the wake of this faux-nationalist sentiment, the real thing we should be outraging about is how we think the solution to ending cross border terrorism is banning a film from being screened. A blanket cultural ban, albiet mandatory, is not a sign of patriotism. Stopping the screening of a film that stars one Pakistani actor and is the work of hundreds of Indian technicians and crew members, is not patriotism. (With inputs from IANS) New Delhi: India has has no problem in issuing visas to Pakistani artistes, a Union Home Ministry official said on Friday. "Government of India has no problem in giving visa to any Pakistani artiste," a Home Ministry official told IANS. "We have no problem in granting visas. If a person applies for visa and he fulfills the conditions, he gets it. It's not that we don't have to issue visa to Pakistani nationals," he added. Terrorism is being used as state policy by some nations and the world must unite against it, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday. "Some nations are using terror as their state policy. Those nations must be isolated," Rajnath Singh said at the All India Christian Council (AICC) meet here, hinting at Pakistan without naming it. Terming India as the "university of tolerance", Rajnath Singh said: "Terrorism has no religion, still some people try to link the two." The Minister said India was a secular state and there should not be any discrimination on the basis of religion. The statement comes after the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India on Friday announced it will not allow release of films with Pakistani artistes in single screens in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. The decision comes ahead of the scheduled release of Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. While it was slated to hit the screens on October 28, the COEAI decision has cast doubts if it will see the light of the day any time soon. COEAI President Nitin Datar said after a meeting of members: "It was decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and national interest, we have requested all member exhibitors to refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artiste, technician, director or music director. In wake of the 18 September terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir, that left 19 Indian soldiers dead, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena told Pakistani artistes to quit India, and threatened action against films like "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and "Raees", which have Pakistani artistes in them. Subsequently, the Indian Motion Picture Producer Association said it has passed a resolution urging Indian filmmakers to avoid working with Pakistani artistes until bilateral tensions between the two countries subside. Dan Browns books are all about some sort of curse unleashed upon the world through cryptic codes and shady conspiracies. Now that we have three movies based on his books, its pretty clear that Brown has covertly conspired to destroy filmgoers interest in going to the theater to watch films. The latest incarnation Inferno is every bit as silly, goofy and ridiculous as the previous films, and just like them it pretends to be a serious movie. As expected that doesnt make for a very enjoyable viewing experience. Since in The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) has been to the Louvre and found some hidden clues, and then in Angels and Demons been to CERN and found more some hidden clues. Browns story in Inferno makes a small attempt to change things up. This time Langdon doesnt remember that he has been to an exotic place and found some clues. This Bourne Identity twist anchors a bunch of very familiar elements: a mysterious man chased by mysterious men commits suicide, Langdon receives a message to investigate an artifact (this time in Italy), meets an attractive female scientist (Felicity Jones in this case), finds some hidden clues in a classic artifact (Botticellis Inferno in this case), gets embroiled in a chase with mysterious assassins, finds himself in the middle of a worldwide conspiracy and ultimately saves the whole world. Its all been done to death in the previous two films, and watching all the same plot points unfold once again at eardrum piercing noise levels and Shakespearean seriousness gets quite tiring. The mystery surrounding the clues turns out to be an anti climactic moment, yet one that also feels familiar thematically. The real mystery in the film is actually how Ron Howard and Tom Hanks, who have both made excellent films in their careers, manage to make terrible Robert Langdon films. The books are kind of pulpy and have a vibe that isnt meant to be taken seriously. And yet Howard sticks to a tone that is supposed to make you believe everything in the film is real, and that there is some genuine danger at play. The over the top seriousness in Inferno almost reaches self parody levels at times, especially in the third act when the actions shifts to a dungeon half filled with water. The other big issues is how the codes in the films are showcased as big shocking elements after two films that have followed the same procedure and a couple of National Treasure films from Nicholas Cage, it gets impossible to find any of these things new or interesting. David Koepps screenplay has all the blockbuster beats needed for a big film but the original story and cinematic executions belly flop does not do Koepp any favors. The one thing Inferno has going for itself is the way it is shot by Howard regular Salvatore Totino in fact the only exciting thing about this whole film is the anticipation for the look of next years Spiderman Homecoming which is also shot by Totino. The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival is known to bring some of the most promising films to the country. This year too, at its 18th edition, the festival will bring 12 films, submitted for the most prestigious award in the world, the Academy Award. These films are from 18 countries and in 10 foreign languages. Many of these are the official selection of their country for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film. From a Saudi-Arabic rom-com to a French psychological thriller; there's much to watch. Take your pick: The Salesman Section: World Cinema Language: Farsi Genre: Drama Notable wins by the director: Asghar Farhadi directed A Separation (2011), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Synopsis: The Salesman is a local rendition of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and it revolves around a young couple, Emad and Rana, who are forced to move into a new apartment when their old flat is damaged in Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant begins to dramatically influence the couple's life. Clash Section: World Cinema Language: Arabic Genre: Political Drama Notable wins by the director: Clash (Eshtebak) was selected as the Opening film of Un Certain Regard in Cannes Film Festival 2016. Synopsis: Mohamed Diab, the director, is passionate about working around issues concerning modern Egyptian society. The film is set in Cairo, summer of 2013 - two years after the Egyptian revolution. In the wake of the ouster of Islamist president Morsi, a police truck full of detained demonstrators of divergent political and religious backgrounds roams through the violence-ridden streets of the city. Can the detainees overcome their differences to stand a chance of survival? Neruda Section: World Cinema Language: Spanish Genre: Historical drama Notable wins by the director: Director Pablo Larrain's previous film No was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards. Synopsis: Its 1948 and the Cold War has reached Chile. In the congress, Senator Pablo Neruda accuses the government of betraying the Communist Party and is swiftly impeached by President Gonzalez Videla. Police Prefect Oscar Peluchonneau is assigned to arrest the poet. Neruda tries to flee the country with his wife - the painter Delia del Carril - but they are forced into hiding. Inspired by the dramatic events of his new life as a fugitive, Neruda writes his epic collection of poems Canto General. Meanwhile, in Europe, the legend of the poet hounded by the policeman grows, and artists led by Pablo Picasso clamor for Nerudas freedom. Barakah Meets Barakah Section: World Cinema Language: Arabic Genre: Romantic comedy Notable wins by the director: Mahmoud Sabbagh's film premiered at the Forum section of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival making it the first Saudi feature film to featuer at the festival and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Synopsis: In a time when traditions walk side by side with smartphones and social medias, Barakah, a funny and improbable municipal agent responsible to enforce order in town, will meet a beautiful erratic ultra-famous Instagram video blogger. The unthinkable happens: they fall in love and will try to have a proper date against all odds. Death in Sarajevo Section: World Cinema Language: Bosnian Genre: Drama Notable wins by the director: It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Jury Grand Prix, as well as FIPRESCI prize for films shown in competition. Synopsis: Sarajevo's Hotel Europe is bustling in preparation for tonights European Union gala for the centennial of Archduke Franz Ferdinands assassination. But the disgruntled staff plans to strike because they havent been paid for two months. If this prestigious political dinner fails, the already mortgaged hotel will be shut down by the bank. However, the staff union rep soon goes missing. Dedicated and pretty chief receptionist Lamija's mother Hatidza, of the laundry room, is elected strike leader while Lamija tries to keep everything running smoothly. Sand Storm Section: International Competition Language: Arabic Genre: Romantic Drama Notable wins by the director: Director Elite Zexer's previous films include the shorts Take Note (2008), which won the Best Fiction Film Award at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, and Tasnim (2010), which participated in over 120 film festivals around the world and won several international awards. Synopsis: As wedding festivities get underway in a Bedouin village in Israel, Jalila finds herself in the awkward position of hosting her husband Suliman's marriage to a second, much younger wife. During the celebration, Jalila stumbles across eldest daughter Layla's involvement with a boy from her university - a strictly forbidden liaison that would shame the family. Burying the indignity of Suliman and his new bride living next door, Jalila also tries to contain Layla's situation by clamping down on her. Younger and possessed of a boundless spirit, Layla sees a different life for herself. Letters From War Section: World Cinema Language: Portuguese Genre: Historical war drama Notable wins by the director: It was to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. Synopsis: Its 1971 and Antonio Lobo Antunes life is brutally interrupted when he is drafted into the Portuguese army to serve as a doctor in one of the worst zones of the Colonial war the east of Angola, away from everything dear, he writes letters to his wife while he is immersed in an increasingly violent setting. As he moves between several military posts he falls in love while Africa and matures politically. At his side, an entire generation struggles and despairs for the return home and in the uncertainty of war events, only the letters can make him survive. Paradise Section: World Cinema Language: Russian, German, French Genre: Drama Notable wins by the director: Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, the film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. Synopsis: Paradise reflects on a twentieth century filled with great illusions buried in ruins, the dangers of hateful rhetoric and the need for mankind to use the power of love to triumph over evil. My Life as a Courgette Section: Rendezvous Language: French Genre: Stop motion animated film Notable wins by the director: The film by Claude Barras was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Audience Award and the film also won the Cristal for Best Feature Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival Synopsis: Revolving around a ten-year-old boy nicknamed Zucchini, who is taken to live in an orphanage following his mothers death, the movie tells the story of how he will overcome the obstacles and fit into this new environment, surrounded by a small group of children who, just like him, have been scarred by life. Under The Shadow Section: After Dark Language: Farsi Genre: Horror Notable wins by the director: Babak Anvari's film has been bought by Netflix for streaming. Synopsis: Tehran, 1988 is the eighth year of the Iran-Iraq war. The bombing campaigns focused on the city, coupled with the countrys bloody revolution, slowly tear a mother and daughter apart. As they struggle to stay together in the midst of these modern terrors, a mysterious evil stalks through their apartment, threatening their grip on reality. Elle Section: Rendezvous Language: French Genre: Psychological Thriller Notable wins by the director: Paul Verhoeven's film premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival where it received critical acclaim. Synopsis: Michele seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Micheles life forever. When she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling gamea game that may, at any moment, spiral out of control. Apprentice Section: World Cinema Language: Malay, English Genre: Drama Notable wins by the director:Boo Junfeng's film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Synopsis: Aiman is a 28-year-old Malay correctional officer who is recently transferred to the territorys top prison. Aiman lives with his older sister Suhaila in a modest housing estate. At his new workplace, Aiman begins to take an interest in a 65-year-old sergeant named Rahim. Soon, it is revealed that the charismatic Rahim is actually the long-serving chief executioner of the prison. Rahim also takes notice of the principled and diligent Aiman. When Rahims assistant suddenly quits, he asks Aiman to become his apprentice. Aiman tells Suhaila of his new job position, but Suhaila becomes upset, as their father was actually executed by Rahim. Aiman knew this all along. Can Aiman overcome his conscience and a haunted past to possibly take over as the next chief executioner? It seems like Karan Kohar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is jinxed. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Cine Owners Association has demanded that no films with Pakistani actors should be released in theatres. MNS Leader Amey Khopkar allegedly said with a lot of emphasis, "If Karan Johar decides to release the film, I'll beat him up." He also said, "All single screen theaters have decided that they won't release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. We wont allow any Pakistani artists to release their films in theater." Khopkar further added the multiplex owners agreed with the ban on Pakistani films and they will issue a letter about this tomorrow on 15 October. On being asked to comment on the monetary loses Indian producers will face because of this ban, he added, "At a time like this, we cannot worry about profits and loss" The Times of India had previously quoted Nitin Datar, COEAI's president, as saying about the film, "The members will be meeting and we'll decide on the matter. But one thing is for certain the decision will be taken keeping the wishes and the sentiment of the public. We won't go against them." Ae Dil Hai Mushkil stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. On Friday, 14 October, after weeks of back and forth between theatre owners' associations, IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures Producer's Association) and MNS leaders and politicians, single screen theatre owners at large and The Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) decided to impose a ban on screenings of films with any Pakistani artistes. The boycott has a direct result on states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa. Also read: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in trouble? Exhibitors association boycotts films with Pak artistes Twitter, however, remains divided in their view of the ban (which, twitter used Shilpa Ratnam is quick to add, is not a mandatory boycott). Here's what Twitterati is saying: Like retrospective taxes, unfair to impose a ban on soon-to-be-released films starring Pak actors. Notify industry & enforce prospectively Milind Deora (@milinddeora) October 14, 2016 With theatre owners banning #ADHM in Maharashtra, does this mean people have to watch #Shivaay instead? That's torture for Indians only no? Arun G (@aarungeorge) October 14, 2016 Excellent. We're turning into Pakistan. Demonstrating the phenomenon of stupidity contagion ... & we laugh at Trumps America & Jinnah's Pak https://t.co/Y8fDNNblb4 Abhinandan Sekhri (@AbhinandanSekhr) October 14, 2016 ha ha.. i rest my case of "turning into Pakistan" too many think like this.. https://t.co/4dbmMRFnJ1 Abhinandan Sekhri (@AbhinandanSekhr) October 14, 2016 So sections of Indian media grudgingly accepting that Pakistan's @dawn_com stood up to an authoritarian diktat. Now, look in the mirror ! Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) October 14, 2016 Actors & TECHNICIANS?! Someone will FINALLY sit through entire credit roll of a film... to check nationality of each person? Ha ha #LoonLand https://t.co/gr2ceP9zFs Abhinandan Sekhri (@AbhinandanSekhr) October 14, 2016 There goes Saare Jahan Se Accha! https://t.co/plPiD59Kqb Aditya Paul (@adityampaul) October 14, 2016 And they think that banning 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' will affect Fawad's life. LOL#indiots Naveed. (@kwhateveridc) October 14, 2016 This should be challenged in the court. It's not @karanjohar's fault. He collaborated with an artist on a legit visa issued by GOI. https://t.co/HwMw6YWVzN Dan Husain (@DanHusain) October 14, 2016 Do note this is not a ban and the decision is not binding. Adhering to it is voluntary and is upto the owner. Shilpa Rathnam (@shilparathnam) October 14, 2016 @shivsena Thanks for supporting ban on Pakistan actors. Pl also request govt not to give visa to any Pakistan actors in future. Pravin Chavan (@chavansays) October 14, 2016 Illogical to block a film thats already been shot. The Pakistani actor doesn't suffer, the Indian producer suffers. #AeDilHaiMushkil #Raees adi (@adiupadhyay) October 14, 2016 And if it's happening to one of India's most influential, powerful, rich film producers... samit basu (@samitbasu) October 14, 2016 This multi-pronged attack on @karanjohar's film is a sign of things to come as we creep slowly towards cultural Talibanisation. So wrong. samit basu (@samitbasu) October 14, 2016 Films with Pakistan stars won't release in Mumbai? Looks like we want to mirror the worst aspects of our neighbours. Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) October 14, 2016 Indian artists taking a stand on Pic 1: Pak artists in India Pic 2: Fellow Indian artist Nawaz being treated like a Pakistani in India pic.twitter.com/Z9BpMuuXbJ Aisi Taisi Democracy (@AisiTaisiDemo) October 9, 2016 Over a 100 - 300 workers go into making a film.All Indians. 2 Pakistani actors & you ban the film MNS? @Dev_Fadnavis @CMOMaharashtra Vivek Tiwari (@Viv2511) October 14, 2016 Welcome decision by single theatre owners in Gujrat, Maharashtra, Goa etc. not to screen pictures made with Pakistani artists, JAI HIND. Amrit Pal Singh (@aps007amrit) October 14, 2016 #PakStarsOnHold what karan johar will do now as his pakistan actors are being bann ?He can do one thing he can go to pakistan & work Anshul Yadav (@Yadav3Anshul) October 14, 2016 "Cinema Owners Association" Nice Step, Kudos !! wese bhi Theatre Khali Rehta, Isse Accha Shivaay Chalega aur Block Buster Hoga Virender Swag (@virender_swag) October 14, 2016 Decision of Cinema Owners Association will give loose Motion to Karan Johar and Mahesh Bhatt. Pareshhh (@MBBSMammu) October 14, 2016 Crores of money,Hundreds of Indians hard work could be drained for one Pak Artists Cameo.Kudos Cinema Owners Association #AeDilHaiMushkil Pavan Kanuri (@pavan_kanuri) October 14, 2016 Ever since Jim O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs asset management, coined the term Bric for four powerful economies Brazil, Russia, India and China in their 2001 paper, The World Needs Better Economic BRICs, the regional grouping has caught the world's attention. With South Africa joining the club in 2010, BRICS commanded an even bigger influence. It soon evolved into a group with a significant say over the political-economic affairs of the world. Take a look at what Brics means to the world today. According to certain estimates, Brics constitutes nearly half of the world population, one-third of the world's GDP and close to one-fifth of the world's trade. The grouping has three heavyweights China, Russia and India, that practically controls the region, both politically and economically and is seen as an Eastern power centre. The point of highlighting these statistic is to say how critical is the summit slated to be held in Goa on 15, 16 October to the region and the Western world. In the recent past, Brics has gradually begun to set the stage for a new world economic order. The formation of the New Development Bank (NDB), also known as BRICS development bank is a big example. Set up in 2014, the NDB sent a signal to the world that the region wants an institution that can eventually offer an alternative to existing multilateral agencies such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) and that the new body will be more sensitive to the needs of region. Going by the initial contours, the NDB will have a corpus of $50 billion divided equally between its five founding members, with an initial total of $10 billion in cash put over seven years and $40 billion in guarantees. Another $50 billion is expected to come from other members who join in later. Besides, there will be a currency chest of $100 billion to help member countries meet their emergency cash requirements. China will contribute the largest share of $41 billion to the reserve. Russia, India and Brazil will contribute $18 billion each, while South Africa will contribute $5 billion. One IndianK V Kamath, former chairman ICICI Bankis the first chief of BRICS bank. The Goa meet will be looked closely to know how the grouping wants to grow the BRICS development bank from here. Second, according to reports, the Brics countries are now considering forming a new global credit rating agency for emerging markets to challenge the dominance of western credit rating agencies like Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch, whose observations and rating decisions have often come under heavy criticism by some of the developing markets including India. For instance, India has, in the past, challenged the methodology followed by rating agency Moody's saying the agency has ignored the reforms initiated by the government and it should not wait till infinity for them to take root before upgrading the country's sovereign rating. Presently, there are no alternatives for the eastern world to challenge the dominance of the 'big three' of the West. Here again, the Brics meet this weekend will be watched for clues. Besides the economic factors, the Brics meet this time assumes even more significance in the context of the growing threat of terrorism originating from Pakistan and its impact on rest of the world. India, which managed to completely isolate Pakistan from the Saarc countries in the aftermath of a series of border terrorist attacks by Pakistan-based elements (the latest being Uri), will most likely take up the issue of the Pakistan factor in the Brics meeting. India has already raised concerns on Russia's suspicious bonhomie with Pakistan, though Russia has openly expressed its willingness to support India's fight against terrorism. Similarly, China's growing influence in Pakistan and China's economic aid to that country is a matter of concern for India. As Firstpost has noted before, Pakistan economy's dependence on China to improve its fortunes is so high that a recent World Bank report warned that Pakistan's prospects of growing even at at modest five percent a year are at risk due to delays in the implementation of the $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. India is looking at this progress closely, given that it sees potential threats from China. There is a possibility that India will raise its concerns to Brics partners about the danger of extending economic and military aid to Pakistan. Whether India manages to convince the Brics partners about its stance on Pakistan and the need to isolate the country in the larger interest of the region, needs to be seen. In this backdrop, the Goa meet of Brics isn't just another event for the world, the region and India, in particular. The meet has crucial, unprecedented significance. Beyond the regional issues, the Goa meet will be watched by the world to gauge how the regional group is silently building a new world order brick by brick that the West can't ignore any longer. Data contributed by Kishor Kadam The meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is significant as it comes at a time when the bilateral relations between the countries are at an interesting juncture because of Russia's perceived closeness to Pakistan. Post the talks, to be held ahead of the Brics Summit in Goa, Putin and Modi are also expected to issue a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues. Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Russia's delegation will also be represented by Vice- Premier Dmitry Rogozin, the heads of the Industry and Trade, Energy and Economics Ministries, state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom and others. The Russian and Indian leaders will take part in the ceremony of laying the foundation for the third and fourth power units of India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant via a video conference, make statements for the media and hold a tete-a-tete lunch. According to media reports, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents and have lined a slew of of deals, especially in the defence sector. Here's a low down on the business deals that are on the table and those signed: Defence deals: Despite its move closer to Pakistan, Russia seems to be making attempt to clarify that its defence ties with India are not getting affected. Putin told IANS in an interview that Russia remains one of India's leading suppliers of advanced weapons and defence technology as "India is Russia's especially privileged strategic partner". "Our countries actively collaborate in the military technical field. Russia remains in the lead in terms of both direct supplies of most advanced weapons and military equipment and conducting joint researches with India, as well as producing goods for military purposes," Putin told IANS/Sputnik in an exclusive interview ahead of his visit to India for the five-nations BRICS Summit in Goa this weekend. "The construction of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and the development of a new, fifth generation fighter aircraft are mong the successful joint projects," Putin said. He said many of the Russian projects in India not only have commercial importance but also play a significant social and economic role for the economies of the two countries. "Russian companies see real prospects and high attractiveness of the Indian market," Putin said. The two important deals likely to be signed at a time when India-Pakistan tensions are running high are Kamov and S400 Triumf. Kamov 226T: India and Russia are expected to sign a "complex agreement" for production of 200 Kamov 226T helicopters domestically under a nearly $1 billion deal. This agreement is seen as the next big step in cooperation between Russia and India in the area of helicopter production and service. According to Russian Helicopters, Ka-226T is a powerful, light multirole helicopter with "high safety standards", "incredibly precise hovering ability" and "excellent manoeuvrability". It has "eco-friendly features, efficiency, modern avionics and additional flight safety solutions making this one of the best models in its class". These choppers will replace the country's the aging Cheetah and Chetak fleet. Apart from boosting the trade relations between India and Russia, the agreement is also seen as a boost for Modi's Make in India programme. S-400 'Triumf': Both the countries will sign a multi-billion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on Saturday following talks between the nation heads. "Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents," a PTI report cited Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov as saying in Russian media. S-400 'Triumf' is the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets. It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. India is interested in getting five systems these. If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a $3 billion contract last year. Project 11356: Russia also plans to sign an agreement to build Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy, says PTI. Project 11356 is a guided missile frigate and has Russian made sensors and weapon systems. Earlier this month, Russian media had reported that India is set to acquire three Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates or Project 11356M from Russia, that were originally intended for the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleeet. These frigates are being built at Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad. The reports also said India was considering getting the hulls of these warships to India and complete the construction in India itself. These Admiral Grigorovich class frigates are based on Talwar Class frgiates, which were also made by Russia for the Indian Navy during 2003-2013. Food irradiation centres: Indian agriculture association Hindustan Agro Co-op Ltd and United Innovation Corp of Russia signed an agreement to set up a network of integrated irradiation centres for food products in India. United Innovation Corp is a subsidiary of state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom. For the uninitiated, irradiation is a technology that helps safely preserve food for longer period of time. India incurs a loss of Rs 2.5 lakh crore in food items like fruits, vegetables, meat, cereals, pulses and floriculture due to lack of cold storage facilities or storage constraints, according to a report in IANS. The agreement is an attempt to address this issue. The centres will be managed by an India-Russia joint venture (JV) where Hindustan Agro will have the majority 51 percent stakeholding. The irradiation centre at Rahuri in Maharashtra, run by Hindustan Agro farmers cooperative with with the help of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, will be be upgraded under this agreement. According to Denis Cherednichenko, CEO, United Innovation, it is a landmark agreement and signals a move beyond the existing Russo-Indian cooperation on building nuclear power plants like Rosatom's Kudankulam project in Tamil Nadu. Under the around 25 such integrated infrastructure irradiation centres will be set up in India. Each plant will have grading, processing, packaging, cold storage and export facility. The plan is to set up these plants each with 35,000 tonne to 40,000 tonne capacity per annum in a period of around 5 years. Railways boost: Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain has held discussions with the Russian Railways authorities for collaborating on a dedicated high-speed freight corridor, an IANS report said quoting railway officials. A senior railway official told IANS that the minister held discussions with the Russian officials and also discussed issues like modernisation of existing rail corridors, train traffic and transportation, training and knowledge sharing and rolling stock modernisation. The discussions come at a time when the railways minister is taking steps to introduce high-speed trains such Talgo. The government has also secured soft loans for setting up the first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad as part of Modi's Diamond Qaudrilateral project. With inputs from PTI and IANS By Drazen Jorgic | ISLAMABAD ISLAMABAD A long-delayed pipeline project from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan is in the final stages of financing, and investor roadshows are due to be held next month, a Pakistani official involved in the project said on Friday.Originating at the giant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, the $10 billion TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) pipeline, which involves the four countries' own energy companies, would carry 33 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year.But difficulties in obtaining financing for the project and concerns about security in Afghanistan, where Islamist Taliban insurgents control swathes of the territory earmarked as the pipeline route, have led to lengthy delays.Mobin Saulat, head of Pakistan's state-owned Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS), told Reuters there was "significant progress" with the TAPI project and that investor roadshows to raise funds are planned for November."There will be roadshows soon in all the major financial hubs," he said. "The project's planned commissioning is 2020 and I think we are very much on target."Over the decades, international oil giants have expressed interest in the proposed pipeline, but the region's complex geopolitics and contract disagreements meant none ever fully committed.A total $4 billion for the pipeline has been put forward by the four TAPI countries, Saulat said. Pakistan's ISGS has a 5 percent stake in the 1,814 km (1,127 mile) pipeline project. Saulat said the Asian Development Bank had shown interest in funding some of the project and there was "huge interest shown and commitments made from some of the major suppliers who said they would be able to get supplier credit."Turkmenistan, which sits on the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, last December started building its section of the pipeline, designed to ease its dependence on Russia and China, but the three other countries have yet to begin work.Saulat said selecting project management consultants for TAPI was in the "final stages" and TurkmenGaz, Turkmenistan's national gas company, was in advanced talks with suppliers about the purchase of giant compressors, needed to funnel gas down the route. AZERBAIJAN INTEREST TAPI is one of three main pipeline projects aimed at securing long-term energy supplies to Pakistan, where chronic energy shortages are proving a major drag on growth.The other two planned projects include a $2 billion Russian-funded North-South liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline from the coast city of Karachi to Pakistan's industrial heartlands in Punjab, and a Chinese-funded LNG pipeline starting from a proposed LNG terminal at the port city of Gwadar in Baluchistan.Saulat said Pakistan expected to finalise contracts for the (LNG) terminal at Gwadar port in November and the final deal for the Gwadar-Nawabshah pipeline should be finished this month. "We have had a number of sessions with the Chinese team, so we see an immediate kick-off after we sign the contracts."China has agreed to fund 85 percent of the port and pipeline project and Pakistan will pay the rest, Saulat said. Officials expect the terminal and pipeline to be complete in mid-2018, and local media put the cost of the deals at about $2 billion.Saulat, who is also managing director of newly-formed Pakistan LNG, said Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR had approached the country to supply it with LNG gas.Saulat said the approach was linked to Pakistan's plans to issue two international LNG tenders for 750,000 tonnes per year, most likely due before the end of 2016."Their trading wing is actually interested, but again, it's one of the players, we have to follow the process." (Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Mike Collett-White) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Fayaz Bukhari | SRINAGAR, India SRINAGAR, India Militants ambushed a convoy carrying paramilitary forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday, killing two security officers and wounding seven others, police said.The militants escaped after carrying out the attack on the outskirts of Srinagar, summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, a senior police officer told Reuters. Security forces were searching for the gunmen, he said, asking not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media. The two dead included a paramilitary officer and a policeman who died in hospital.Militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir have carried out several attacks in recent weeks, the largest of which was a Sept. 18 raid on an Indian army base that killed 19 soldiers. India blamed that attack on militants crossing over from the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan, quickly ratcheting up tensions between the two countries. Pakistan denies any involvement in the assault.New Delhi said in late September that its troops had crossed into Pakistan's side of Kashmir and launched retaliatory "surgical strikes" to kill suspected militants, an operation Pakistan says never took place. Nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan have been at odds over Kashmir ever since their independence nearly 70 years ago, fighting two of their three wars over the region that they each rule in part but claim in full.India accuses Pakistan of backing separatists and helping them sneak across the border. Pakistan denies this, saying it only offers moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their campaign for self-determination. On Wednesday, gunmen shot dead a political party worker in Indian-ruled Kashmir, hours after two suspected militants were killed by armed forces following a 56-hour operation on the edge of Srinagar.The attacks on Indian security targets come amid three months of protests, spearheaded by local youth in the region, that erupted after Indian forces killed a Kashmiri separatist leader in early July. (Writing by Tommy Wilkes) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Amjad Ali | ISLAMABAD ISLAMABAD Pakistan on Friday lifted a travel ban on a prominent journalist over an article he wrote about an alleged rift between the country's government and powerful military, but sternly warned media against publishing reports against the national interest.The Interior Ministry said Cyril Almeida, a leading columnist and assistant editor of the Dawn newspaper, was being removed from the Exit Control List as a "good-will gesture" but an inquiry into the "inaccurate and fabricated" article would continue. The military's press wing issued a separate statement calling the article a "breach of national security".Almeida declined to comment.Dawn, Pakistan's most respected English-language daily, has said it stands by the Oct. 6 report, which it said was verified with multiple sources.Quoting anonymous sources, the story described a tense meeting where civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if law enforcement authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. It immediately caused an uproar in a country where the armed forces have overthrown several civilian governments and at a time when Pakistan is facing ramped-up accusations of supporting militants.The government has issued three denials of the story, and on Monday it placed a travel ban on Almeida under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance 1981. Friday's decision to lift the travel ban came after a visit to the Interior Ministry by Pakistani media editors and publishers.An Interior Ministry statement also warned other journalists that "independent media must play its role not only towards safeguarding national interests and security but also to counter negative propaganda of the enemies of state".The military said the Dawn article was also condemned in Friday's Corps Commanders Conference that mostly discussed relations with India and the fight against militants. "Participants expressed their serious concern over feeding of false and fabricated story of an important security meeting held at PM house and viewed it as breach of national security," the military's press wing said.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. (Writing by Kay Johnson; editing by Mark Heinrich) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Panaji: Against the backdrop of stepped up vigil in Goa for the Brics summit to be attended by leaders of five emerging economies including India, police have issued security advisory for general public, listing out do's and don'ts during the high-profile event starting on Saturday. "All citizens are requested to co-operate with law enforcing agencies and report any suspicious activities or suspicious baggage/article to authorities immediately," Goa Police said in a press release issued on Friday. "The identity of the person providing information would be kept secret," it said. It asked people not to believe in rumours or spread them. "Police are committed to provide safety and security to citizens and therefore seek their co-operation in achieving the objective," the advisory said. Police advised the citizens not to touch any unclaimed, abandoned, suspicious object and not to panic on getting any information or receiving telephone calls regarding any subversive activities. "The citizens should not crowd the place if any suspicious object has been found.They should not unnecessarily loiter in public places," the advisory said. "They are also advised not to leave their personal baggage or vehicles unattended at any place for long," it added. The controversy around Ashoka Universitys conduct has made die-hard supporters of free speech angry and upset. Many have already shown disgust at what the university did or called out for liberalism or the lack of it in institutions in India and somehow made a connection between the attitude of the university and the worldview of this government. And on free speech, this government does not have an impressive track record. On the other hand, those sympathetic to Ashoka University have argued over how its a private university and it should be allowed to manage its own affairs. That those filing letters and petitions for the cause of Kashmir should be dealt this way, that free speech has certain restrictions under the Constitution and its being done to score political points against the government. Both sides are not entirely wrong but not completely right either. This is not to say that the last bit on this controversy has already been heard. And yet, it feels as if all of us are trapped in constant deja vu over free speech. Anyhow, its important to examine what the University is accused of in its crackdown over free speech. Primarily, two allegations are worth looking at. First, members of the administrative staff and an assistant professor quit because of the displeasure shown by the management after their petition on Kashmir went public. This does seem out of the line but the argument doesnt stand considering its the university prerogative to hire or fire, which means the real problem lies elsewhere. The second issue is of the change in universitys email regulations in the same week the petition came to light. The university made it compulsory for emails to be exchanged between students and alumni through a moderator. The timing is certainly suspect and many will rightly question why such email protocol wasnt changed earlier. And in any case, why does the University need to moderate exchange of emails among students or anyone? Let people debate what they want to but at the same time, its also unfair on students part to expect the University to endorse their agenda. After all, the University never stopped anyone from discussing the issue publicly or openly. The idea is not to defend Ashoka university and attack liberals (or vice versa) but to find a middle ground where one can be a free speech absolutist and condemn the petition filed on Kashmir (which the university did) by some individuals at Ashoka. One doesnt necessarily have to choose and take sides but can stand for both free speech and upholding Indias sovereignty. This is where, at times, the liberals in India are deeply cut off from public opinion. Maybe deliberately or otherwise, but they are. Many rightly feel that its become fashionable to play victims of free speech to selectively advance their agenda. After all, no other controversy can attract such attention from the media. Liberals, on the other hand, fail to see this point of view. They are amazed and shocked over the irrational love that people have for the country that doesnt allow others to say or do what they want and criticize the government on issues it should be. Jonah Goldberg, the popular conservative columnist in the United States, in one of his earlier pieces described such a situation succinctly. He says, The lethality of every poison is in the dosage. We all understand too much authoritarianism, socialism and nationalism can be terrible but one should also understand too much freedom, too much democracy can be terrible too. He then argues that such balance should be set far over to the freedom side of the table but just not all the way to ten. This is a very sensible and a valid argument. People demanding absolute free speech should see what important role patriotism plays in keeping nation/states together. When they ignore the strong emotion that many feel over the issue of Kashmir and focus solely on free speech they are wildly underestimating their lack of credibility among the people of this country. And that is precisely the reason a majority of our country is unable to relate with them. Ashoka University, therefore in this case, has more supporters than adversaries. There may be a case against moderating email exchange but students and alumni are free to use other mediums for communication to raise any issue that they want to within the university. All that the University has asked is not to use its brand and platform to raise issues it did not agree with. So, yes free speech is a cause worth fighting for but it will be heartening to see many liberals to indulge in a bit of patriotism. People will actually take them a lot more seriously if they raise the issue of terrorism in Kashmir with the same enthusiasm as they raise the issue of complete free speech. Beijing: Calls for boycott of Chinese goods in India following China's opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar have failed as sales of Chinese products in the country hit a record high during the festive season, official media in Beijing said on Friday. "Diwali, one of the most important Hindu festivals and one of the biggest shopping seasons in India, is coming at the end of October, but encouragement to boycott Chinese goods has been spreading in the last few days on Indian social media, and even a few Indian politicians are exaggerating facts," an article in the state-run Global Times said. "However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian media's hysteric reports of a "doomsday" for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation," it said. "The boycott has not achieved success. Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ platforms," the article said. Referring to the boycott calls over China's technical hold on moves to bring about a ban on Azhar as well Beijing obstructing India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG), it said. "Chinese products are often the victim when regional situations get tense, and this phenomenon has been existing for quite a few years. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue," it said. "The bilateral trade relationship is one of the pillars of the Sino-Indian relationship. The trade volume was over $70 billion in 2015, and China's investment in India soared to around $870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014," it said. India has been expressing concern over the trade deficit which last year touched $46 billion. "To some extent, the economic relationship is the barometer of the political relationship. There shouldn't be huge fluctuation in terms of economic cooperation if the political relationship keeps steady between the two," it said. "For the dragon and elephant, enhancing economic ties would be a preferable way to promote the comprehensive bilateral relationship. The more economic cooperation exists, the more opportunities there will be for Chinese products to enter the Indian market. "India is a big potential market, and people using smartphones and doing online shopping has become the irreversible trend in the new era," it said. The commercial cooperation between these two countries could also be focused on e-commerce, service and financial investment. Another article in the same daily said India has to upgrade its industrial structures to address $46 billion trade deficit. Official data during September showed India had exported goods worth $922 million to China, while importing goods worth $5.4 billion from China. "The huge trade deficit with China has become an increasingly unharmonious factor in bilateral ties between the two countries, requiring China and India to take practical measures to narrow the trade imbalance when leaders of the two nations meet in India over the weekend for the Brics Summit," the article said. "The two countries have made concerted efforts to narrow the trade imbalance, including signing a five-year trade and economic cooperation agreement in 2014, but it seems that such moves have had only limited effects. What we need to do now is find out the root causes of the trade imbalance," it said. The major imports from China include electronic components, telecom instruments, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, while India's major exports to China include ore, plastics and cotton. "The imbalanced bilateral trade structure is actually a result of the fact that China and India are at different developmental stages in terms of industrialisation. It won't be easy to reduce India's trade deficit with China simply by relying on measures such as seeking greater access to the Chinese market for India's raw materials and agricultural products - India also needs to upgrade its industrial structure," it said. "In other words, India seeking to solve the problem of the China-India trade imbalance cannot anchor its hopes on efforts such as persuading Chinese people to consume more Indian goods at a time when more and more Indian young people are keen to use Chinese-made goods such as smartphones," it said. "Efforts such as encouraging Chinese smartphone makers to set up production lines in India may be the most effective way to reduce the trade deficit, which is partly the result of a price gap between India's imports of finished goods and its exports of raw materials," it said. "But sadly, it seems that India is not on the right path, as the country is trying to reduce its trade deficit with China through trade protectionism," it said, adding that there had been 322 anti-dumping cases in India so far, of which 177 cases involved Chinese products. "Besides, a social media campaign urging people to refrain from buying China-made products has recently been building in India. Such moves will not help contribute to reducing India's trade deficit, but could damage bilateral ties instead," it said. Dealing with Pakistans export of terror is difficult enough for India. Add to this tragedy a third player, China, which not only backs Pakistan but even plays nasty economic games against India, and then its quite a tough job to handle. Thats what Prime Minister Narendra Modi must remember as he hosts the summit of the five-nation Brics and a retreat for the leaders of the seven-nation Bimstec this weekend in Goa. Pakistan is part of neither Brics nor Bimstec but will be at the back of Modis mind when he talks to President Xi Jinping of China in Goa. India must reconcile to the fact that, in foreseeable future, both Pakistan and China will continue to be its adversaries. Having already made enough gullible attempts to turn both those countries into friends, India must now begin to find ways to manage its relations with the rogue country on the west and its ally on the east in a manner that would be to its best advantage. Indias recipe to fight China must have more of economics than diplomacy. Then as a spin-off, India can hope for a more sober Pakistan, though there is no guarantee of that since nobody knows who is and who will be, in future in charge of Pakistans affairs. What makes the cash route a better bet to fight China is the slow-down in Chinas economy. The dragon is breathing less economic fire now, and though its not ready to have its wings clipped, its more vulnerable than ever before. But it would take only a fool or a jingoist to believe that India is better off than China. Though Indias economy is showing impressive signs of improvement, Chinese economy, even with its present mess, is still many times larger than Indias, and the Chinese military much stronger. Its also preposterous to even suggest that India must curb trade ties with China, in retaliation for the latters brazen backing for Pakistan. Economically, India needs China as much as China does India. Western economists differ on whether Chinas economic troubles are subsiding, and their assessments are not proving to be reliable. Yet the stories that continue to come out of China of job losses, unemployment and salary cuts are good news for India. Thats what India must leverage to perk up its own economy and to bring down its own unemployment and poverty levels, say some well-meaning experts. Like India has replied to Pakistans terror in its own langue with surgical strikes, India must deal with China by employing the same methodology of chicanery that the eastern neighbour has made itself notorious for: by dropping a subtle hint here and there, and by making it clear that India will do business with China on its own terms. Brics is a good place to start, and China is already getting the right message not only from India but other countries of the bloc as well. Media reports suggest that India, along with other Brics members, are showing no interest in a Brics Free Trade Agreement that China wants to peddle to them at this weeks summit. This proposal is designed in a way to further Chinas own interests, not anybody elses. Paying for its past follies, China is indeed a desperate nation today. AFP reported on 10 October that Chinas foreign exchange reserves, the largest in the world, have fallen to a five-year-low to less than US $3.18 trillion this week. But Indias reserves $371.2 billion this week, though a fraction of Chinasare showing an upward trend. But thats not the point. What matters more is what the world thinks of the Chinese and what India should do to rein the Communist nation that has no respect for international rule of law, human rights, treaties or the global fight against terrorism, and for whom transparency is a dirty word. But even Chinawhere most things are shrouded in a sinister secrecy and where the very composition of its foreign reserves itself is a state secretcan occasionally be candid. That, again, perhaps is part of the Chinese passion to surprise the enemy. On 5 October, a Xinhua report quoted a Chinese official as having made an oblique confession that the world at large thinks of the Chinese as fraudsters who are unreliable to do business with. The official said Chinas trade remained under heavy downward pressure, partly due to increasing trade frictions with nations around the world In the last eight months, he admitted, 20 countries including the US launched 85 trade remedy probes against Chinese deals worth US $ 10.3 billion, almost double the amount for the same period last year. These relate to patent or trademark infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, false advertising and violation of antitrust laws. A recent Reuters report said: Chinas offshore ambitions have come under increasing scrutiny this year by governments in Europe and the United States. The Chinese are learning, though slowly, that their policies could one day lead to their isolation in the world. Already, China finds itself to be somewhat of a pariah within Brics, though not to the same extent as Pakistan is in Saarc yet. Among Brics members, India suffers from a trade deficit of $ 52.7 billion with China. This means Chinas exports to India far outstrip its imports from India. Russia has its own $-12-billion trade deficit with China. Though Brazil and South Africa enjoy trade surpluses with China, all four countries are suspicious of any move that China makes that they think can even remotely affect the balance unfairly. Pakistan may be a vassal state of China, but Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa are not. They would be ready to call Chinas economic bluff, though the four countries together dont present a pretty picture of unity themselves. There are some who argue that India must do more business with China to offset the security threat from Pakistan. One of them is, Niti Aayogs Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya, who told India Today: ... our economic engagement with China can trump the security engagement of China with Pakistan. But those like Subhash Kapila, former Indian diplomat in Japan and the US, dont agree. Kapila argues in this article: The China-Pakistan Axis with strategic underpinnings pointedly aimed at India is also an established strategic reality. India vainly keeps hoping that economics would ultimately prevail and modulate Chinas patent targeting of Indias strategic rise in Indo Pacific Asia. The way to grapple with the China problem lies in both politics and economics in right proportions. While using its own significant economic clout, India must raise its voice against Chinas hypocritical and hegemonistc advances in the region. It is clear that, whatever Modi does or says in Goa this week, a meek surrender to the Chinese blackmail is not an option. The days of Jawaharlal Nehrus gullible Hindi-Chini bhai bhai are long gone. Having called Pakistans bluff, India must now call Chinas. The author tweets @sprasadindia Mumbai: It's not always that the arrest of a family member in a foreign soil is celebrated, but for Chandu Babulal Chavan's family it's been a matter of great joy. The reason simply being that till Thursday, his family had no clarity on Chandu's whereabouts, or whether or not he was alive. "We had doubts that he may actually not be traceable. But Pakistan's confirmation that Chandu is in their custody has given us new hope. We pray to God for his safe return. He will definitely come back. We are relaxed and very happy," said Bhushan Chavan, Chandu's elder brother while speaking with the Firstpost from Dhule. A sepoy with the 37 Rashtriya Rifles, Chandu had gone missing since September 29, the same night when India carried out surgical strikes inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) destroying several terrorist stations. The 22-year-old had crossed the border near India-Pakistan line of control in Mendhar district of Jammu and Kashmir. As reported in Firtpost, Pakistan DGMO on Thursday had finally confirmed of Chandu's arrest. Islamabad was informed about the soldiers movement on the hotline by India's Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, according to an Army release issued by the Defence Ministry. The news of Chandu's disappearance had brought a great pain to his family. His grandmother, Lillabai Patil couldn't bear the news and died of heart attack. "She couldn't bear the news of Chandu's disappearance," said Chavan. The family carried out the cremation in Gujarat, they are waiting for Chandu's return to finish the last rites of throwing her ashes in water. Born in Borvihir village in the Pachora taluka of Dhule district in Maharashtra, Chandu is the youngest of the three siblings. "Chandu lost his mother and father in childhood, and his grandmother raised them together," said a close relative. Chandu has a sister named Rupali. Talking exclusively with Firstpost on Friday, Chavan, 27, who is also in the Army (9th Maratha Light Infantry in Gujarat) sounded happy and thankful to the government for its efforts. "Both Minister of State, Defense, Dr Subhash Bhamre and Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar are giving us all support. My brother Chandu will be back before Diwali. My fingers are crossed," said, who is currently posted in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Chandu joined the Indian Army in 2012. He was posted in Jammu and Kashmir in June 2016. "We are a small and happy family. Chandu was coming to meet us on 20 September, but the Uri attack canceled all soldier's leaves. I spoke to him on 28 September before he crossed the LOC," Bhushan told Firstpost. Chandus family has been in talks with Bhamre, who had also helped them meet foreign minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday. Even as Delhi continues to deal with the biggest-ever chikungunya outbreak and its aftermath, the health disaster has already been relegated to the back-burner of hot news items. Surgical strikes against terrorists, India-Pak relations, and impending elections in UP and Punjab are getting more attention of the political leadership and the people. However, chikungunya continues to rage, along with dengue and other vector-borne diseases and continues to give Delhi a bad name internationally; paradoxically at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's numerous foreign collaborations have brought focus on India. According to a municipal report, at least 6,712 people have been afflicted with chikungunya in the national capital, with 1,473 cases of the vector-borne disease being reported in the last week. Though doctors have claimed chikungunya to be non-fatal, 20 patients suffering from this disease have reportedly died, and 25 due to dengue. Is Delhi the capital of an emerging global leader or a mere third world capital with more woes than wins? Vivek Wadhwa, distinguished fellow and professor at College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and a director of research at Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, has been one of those hapless victims who came to India on professional visits and ended up in a wheel chair after catching the chikungunya virus earlier in September. He had to cancel his workshop in New Delhi on 14 and 15 October as he is yet to recover from the after effect of the dreaded fever. He shares his experience and disappointment over the condition of India's capital in an interview with Firstpost. Could you recount your experience? We got sick within two days of arriving in Delhi in September. It started with fever and headaches, which we recovered from within two to three days. But a week later, after we returned home, we have had severe joint pain. Worst of all, my wife and I were not able to walk for about three weeks. We are still having pain and limping, not being able to walk properly. This has been the worst virus we have ever gotten. Do you think chikungunya and the dengue epidemic (even though undeclared) in India's capital takes the wind out of Narendra Modi government's sails of promoting the country on international stage as the best investment destination? I think that the Delhi government has done its residents and visitors a disservice by not taking drastic measures to eradicate mosquitoes and not warning visitors of the risks. We could have just used mosquito repellant if we knew the risks and we would have been ultra-cautious. Worst is the cover up. They are not diagnosing the disease; they are calling it a seasonal virus. I have cancelled a trip to Delhi for a workshop scheduled on 14 and 15 October and have advised friends not to go to Delhi. Does Delhi's status of a third world capital grappling with diseases, a bad advertisement for the country on an international stage? Without doubt. If the Delhi government cant get its act together, the central government should declare a state of emergency and take charge. There are no excuses for this inaction and incompetence. This is worse than corruption because they are dealing with public health. Is it ever going to be possible for India to rise above its ordinariness and become a country with facilities that will make every Indian proud? How can that be achieved? It needs competent governance and the elimination of corruption. That is the only way India will rise. For the record, this disease is also spreading in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico. But they are doing what they can. Coimbatore: Two employees of a nationalised bank in the city suburbs were arrested on Friday on charges of circulating rumours on the health status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Chennai, police said. The arrests were made following a complaint by an AIADMK woman worker Sunitha Devi, they said. Sunitha had gone to the bank at Thondamuthur on 7 October when the two staff Suresh and Ramesh sought to know from her about the health condition of Jayalalithaa. When she did not reply, the two reportedly made some comments on the health status, police said. Sunitha, who left the bank informed her party colleagues about the incident, they said. A few AIADMK workers along with Sunitha returned to the bank on Thursday, as the bank remained closed for five days on account of holidays, and sought an explanation from the two about their comments, leading to some arguments, police said. Sunitha lodged a complaint with police, who registered cases under various sections of IPC, including 505 (1)B (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public) and 506(1) (threat and intimidation). Suresh and Ramesh were arrested and later remanded to custody. Police had already warned of stern action against those spreading rumours about Jayalalithaa and formed special teams to investigate such cases. More than 40 persons have been arrested so far for allegedly spreading rumours and posting malicious and false content regarding the health status of the Chief Minister on social media. Soon after 68-year-old Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on 22 September after she complained of fever and dehydration, rumours were circulating about her health on social networking sites including Facebook and WhatsApp. Bhubaneswar: Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju today apologised on Facebook for his alleged derogatory remarks about Odisha and its people after an outcry against it. "I said I had written my post in a lighter vein. However, if Odia people are feeling hurt I apologise. I had no intention to hurt their feelings, and was only joking, just as I had joked about Biharis, Tamilians, etc..," Katju wrote in his latest post in the social network. Katju said, "When I went to Odisha, where I have been many times, I marvelled at the sight of the Konarak and Lingaraj temples." In an earlier post, Katju had written, "What is there to write about these (Odiya) poor chaps? Ever since they got a thrashing at the hands of Ashoka in the battle of Kalinga, they have been a dejected lot. Now all they have with them are a lot of pots (Patras), big pots (Mahapatras) and supposedly intelligent kings (Patnaiks)." This comes after the row over his remarks on Bihar, where he had said "We offer you Kashmir but you should take Bihar also," in one of his Facebook post. Katju further commented, "Once Firaq Gorakhpuri, my English teacher in Allahabad University, said to me 'hindustan ko khatra Pakistan se nahin hai, Bihar se hai'." He was booked on sedition charge following a complaint by a JD(U) MLC against his online post that Kashmir should be offered to Pakistan on the condition that it takes Bihar too. This drew sharp criticism in Patna with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ridiculing him for trying to become 'Mai-Baap' (guardian) of the state. Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav also took strong exception to Katju's comment saying, Bihar may be lacking in resources but it did not give Katju a free hand to humiliate the state. "Bihar has always shown the way to the country in good and bad times," said the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. JD(U) General Secretary K C Tyagi and senior party leader Shyam Rajak sought trial of Katju under sedition law. Madhepura MP and Janadhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav also condemned Katju's comments and sought public apology from him. Supporting the sedition case against former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, former JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav had condemned his remarks on Bihar and said that the case under the stringent law will make him "careful" in future. Faced with barrage of protests, Katju sought to backtrack and wrote on Facebook "I was only joking about Bihar." Srinagar: One jawan of paramilitary force died while eight others injured on Friday evening when militants attacked a convoy in Zakura, around 14 kilometres from Srinagar, PTI reported. The militants attacked three Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) vehicles,ferrying the personnel to their camp after performing law and order duties in the city, a security force official told PTI. One jawan of the SSB was killed and 8 others were injured in the attack, the official said. Of the 8 SSB jawans injured, 3-4 are critically injured. Search operation is now underway: IG SSB, Deepak Kumar pic.twitter.com/gMzgENuqaO ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 The injured have been admitted to a hospital for treatment. Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched search operations to track down the militants. According to CNN-News18, the firing started between 7.10 pm to 7.15 pm in Zakura, a densely populated town outside Srinagar, and the area may pose extra challenge for the security forces in neutralising the attackers. It is also home to a Bhabha Atomic Research Centre facility. According to ANI, "the jawans fired back at the militants but couldn't fire aggressivley owing to the civilian population." 7 SSB jawans injured after terrorists attacked SSB patrol party returning from duty in Zakura (J&K),search ops underway (Visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/pIY5B7flYr ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 "The firing lasted around 20 minutes, and the security forces are searching for militants in the area," CNN-News18 reported. However, according to the channel, militants may have escaped the area. This is the first militant attack in the city since the encounter at Nowhatta on August 15 in which a CRPF commandant was killed and nine other personnel were injured. #UPDATE | Zakura terror attack update: Militants fired at SSB vehicles: 3 jawans are injured LIVE: https://t.co/Nr4TFMc7XT News18 (@CNNnews18) October 14, 2016 With inputs from PTI Srinagar: Opposition parties led by National Conference on Friday said India and Pakistan should hold talks for the resolution of Kashmir issue and the Centre should initiate a political process in the state, stressing that war is not the solution. "We are all concerned about peace in Jammu and Kashmir. India and Pakistan should sit on a table and resolve this issue," NC president Farooq Abdullah told reporters after chairing a meeting of leaders of opposition parties, including Congress and CPM. "Through dialogue, our (Kashmir) issue will also be resolved. War is not a solution," he said. Recalling Atal Bihari Vajpayee's famous speech in Kashmir in 2002, Abdullah said the then Prime Minister had maintained that friends can be changed but not neighbours. "If we live in peace with neighbours, we will all prosper. If we take the route of confrontation, their development might be hampered but ours will also be affected," he said. Terming the prevailing situation in the Valley as "dangerous", he said all parties should work together for peace for which a political process has to be initiated. "We are unanimous that the current situation is dangerous. The sooner it is resolved the better it is for the state and the South Asian region. "It is a political issue. The Prime Minister has said it needs to be resolved and it is even in the agenda of the ruling party (PDP) to have a dialogue with all stakeholders, including Hurriyat Conference," Abdullah, who was accompanied by leaders from other opposition parties, said. He said for the dialogue process to start, all political prisoners and youth arrested during the current unrest should be set free. The opposition parties also demanded a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to probe the deaths and loss of eyesight due to use of pellet guns in Kashmir and find who is responsible. The former Chief Minister said if the government was serious about improving the situation in Kashmir, it should stop the security forces from allegedly indulging in vandalisation of homes and harassment of inmates. "The government should also reconsider its decision to hold annual school examinations (in November). The schools have been closed for three and half months. The examinations should be delayed...It has been done in the past," he said. Asked if the demands of opposition parties will embolden the terrorists, Abdullah said, "If we resolve this issue, there will be no terrorism. If the two nations resolve this issue, terrorism will die automatically." Srinagar: Curfew continued on Friday in interior parts of Srinagar and some other areas as a precautionary measure in view of violence witnessed after Friday prayers last week. Normal life remained affected in Kashmir Valley for the 98th day due to the ongoing unrest which erupted after killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in July. "Curfew remains in force in five police station areas of downtown (interior city) Srinagar, Batamaloo police station and Sopore town in Baramulla district," a police official said in Srinagar. He said the curbs on the movement of people in these areas have been imposed as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in view of violence witnessed after Friday prayers last week in which a minor boy had died due to pellet injuries. The official said while there were no curbs on the movement of people anywhere else in Kashmir, restrictions on the assembly of people under Section 144 CrPc were in force throughout the Valley. He said security forces have been deployed in sensitive areas to maintain law and order as also to instill a sense of security among the people so that they can carry out their day to day activities without fear. Movement of private transport and auto-rickshaws was thin in the civil lines areas of the city including around the commercial hub of Lal Chowk where signs of normalcy where seen after the separatists had announced evening relaxation in the strike. The unrest, which has claimed 84 lives and left thousands of others injured in clashes between protestors and security forces, is in its fourth month as shops, business establishments, petrol pumps and educational institutions remained closed. Over 300 persons have been booked under Public Safety Act Kannur: Two RSS workers were on Friday taken into custody in connection with the murder of a CPI-M local committee member in Kannur district on 10 October. Toddy shop worker Mohanan, 40, was hacked to death by a six-member gang. He was the CPI(M)'s Paduvilayi local committee member. Police said the the activist died on the way to the hospital. The attack took place in the morning when he was inside the shop. Another worker, Ashokan, was also injured, police said. Roopesh (23) and Rahul (22) were picked up from RSS office at Kannur, police said on Friday. Police had registered cases against seven persons in connection with the incident. Within 48 hours of the murder of the CPI(M) activist Mohanan BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday. In retaliation, buses and autorickshaws were off the roads as the 12-hour state-wide hartal called by the BJP in Kerala to protest against the brutal killing of a 25-year-old party activist in Kannur on Thursday. This was the second hartal in Kannur district within 3 days as the CPI(M) had observed a hartal in protest against the murder of their worker. The Centre on Thursday sought a report from the Kerala government on the BJP worker's death. The police have registered cases against 10 CPI(M) workers in connection with the attack on Remith. A special squad under DYSP (Administration) TP Renjith has been formed to investigate the case. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had said the violence in Kerala has been started by the RSS-BJP combine itself and blaming the state's ruling party for the same is "total fabrication" of facts. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while speaking at a function in Alappuzha, attacked RSS and BJP over the attack on a Marxist worker in Kannur three days ago and accused RSS of spreading violence in the state. With repeated instances of political violence between the BJP and the CPI-M in Left-ruled Kerala, Congress asked the two parties to stop "such politics" or else the state would turn into "devil's own country" on Thursday. A private bus carrying more than 40 people fell into a gorge on Friday near Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, reported ANI. According to latest reports, so far, 17 people have been confirmed dead, however, further details are awaited from the scene of the accident. Rescue operations are underway. 17 people died after a bus falls into a gorge in Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh). Rescue op underway. pic.twitter.com/9xwlpU8Xgh ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 The bus was on its way to Jaora from Ratlam when the mishap took place on the four-lane road at 12 Patthar Khadan, about two kms away from Namli town. The pit, which was dug to collect earthen material for laying roads was lying deserted and rain water got filled into it. Prima facie, the speeding bus fell into it after its steering failed and the driver lost control of the vehicle, Additional Superintendent of Police Dr Prashant Choube told PTI. According to eyewitnesses, the bus was moving on a high speed and suddenly it overturned and fell into the large water pit. The ASP said that nearly 13 people were pulled out from the bus in injured condition and referred to nearby hospitals. Efforts were on to pull the bus out of water with the help of local residents. Senior officials, including Collector, SP and others, reached the spot to supervise the rescue operation. However, according to another report in Dainik Bhaskar, the bus was reportedly speeding at the highway when one of its tires went flat and the bus driver lost control. The pit, according to the report is around 25 feet away from the highway and over 50 feet deep. The Financial Express, locals reached the spot soon after the incident and started helping the injured. The bus, according to the report belongs to a private service, Mamata Bus Service. According to a PTI report, at least 13 people were pulled out from the bus in injured condition and referred to nearby hospitals. The ASP said that efforts were on to pull the bus out of water with the help of local residents. Senior officials, including Collector, SP and others, reached the spot to supervise the rescue operation. With inputs from PTI The mother of a martyred Army Captain on Thursday accused Shahpur police in Madhya Pradesh of demanding a bribe to make efforts to trace the bravery medals of her son that were stolen in 2014. Nirmala Sharma, a resident of Shahpura locality in Bhopal, told IANS that her only son, Captain Devashish Sharma of Punjab Battalion, was killed on 10 December, 1994, during Operation Rakshak. He was posthumously awarded Kirti Chakra by the government of India and a bravery award by the Jammu and Kashmir government. The medals were stolen during a theft at their house on 21 October, 2014, regarding which a report was lodged in Shahpura police station. Nirmala said certain police officials demanded money to make efforts to trace the stolen medals, which she refused. When contacted, Bhopal (South) Superintendent of Police Anshuman Singh said the police had not received any complaint in this regard. "We got to know about this from the media only," he said and assured of suitable action. News18 reported that Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh visited Nirmala Sharma's house and assured them of a re-investigation into the case. "My son won't come back, at least return his honour," the report quoted Nirmala as saying. CNN-News18 also reported that she has been invited to an event which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nirmala said that she will tell the PM about the issue if she gets to meet him. With inputs from IANS Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed ex-servicemen at the inauguration of the war memorial 'shaurya samarak' in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on Friday, opened with chants of "Shahido amar raho" and "Vande Mataram". He said that our soldiers can not be associated only with war because they are a symbol of humanity as well. When we talk about our soldiers, it is mostly abt their uniform, their valour but we must also see them as an example of humanity: PM Modi ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 Before him, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressed the gathering. Parrikar said that the inauguration of the memorial is happening at a time when soldiers displayed extraordinary courage and valor on 29 September. He was referring to the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army across the Line of Control. Chouhan too lauded the soldiers saying that the 'shaurya samarak' is not just a Samarak. "It is a temple of their [soldiers] bravery," he said. He also announced that that the parents of the martyrs from the state will be given Rs 5,000 every month. He referred to this pension as samman nidhi as a mark of respect for the sacrifices of the jawans. Meanwhile, Modi went on to cite examples of incidents when the army had helped civilians irrespective of having faced hostile conditions by the same lot previously. "During the floods in Srinagar, the army extended its help for the rescue and relief operation. While extending help, my soldiers did not think twice if these people has pelted stones at them," he said. Therefore, we must associate our soldiers with humanity as well because it is the "call of humanity" that inspires our armed forces. Not only that, the fact that the Indian Army also saved some Pakistanis while rescuing Indians from Yemen is an evidence of their humanity, he added. Modi also referred to the UN Peacekeeping Force and said that India is one of the biggest contributors to it. Around 1.5 lakh Indians lost their lives during the two world wars and the world should not forget this, he said. "The army, BSF, CRPF, Coast Guard jawans all sacrifice their lives so that we can sleep peacefully. They don't complain but our soldiers will not forgive us if we keep sleeping even when the time demands us to be vigilant. So, we should stay vigilant and awake," advised Modi. Hum chain ki neend so jayein toh sena ko khushi milti hai, lekin jaagne ke samay bhi so jayein to sena maaf nahi karti hai: PM Modi pic.twitter.com/NipJI6otjs ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 "The Army draws its strength from the support of the people. No technology or arms can beat the power of motivation," he said. Modi also compared Parrikar to the army, saying that the two don't talk but just show valour. Sena bolti nahi, parakram karti hai: PM Modi ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 shaurya smarak is a pilgrimage for us and the coming generations, Modi said. Modi also talked about the disputed One Rank One Pension and accused previous governments of only making empty promises on OROP. But when we came to power, we fulfilled our promise and implemented it, he said. However, he added that since the economic burden is too huge to be implemented in one go, the scheme will be implemented in a phased manner. He also said that the government has opened training institutes to promote skill development and employment for ex-servicemen for the first time. In the June of 2010, when the valley was seething with uncontrollable rage, 25 young boys from all three regions of Jammu and Kashmir regularly huddled in one of the classrooms at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI). One of the students, Aijaz Ahmad Kachroo, son of a doctor, had been a frequent visitor to Srinagar's SMHS hospital at a time when Kashmir was reeling under curfew and shutdown. Hospitals were also struggling to meet the demand of surgical equipment. "The surgical equipment were usually supplied from the Jammu region. After the economic blockade, the hospitals were struggling to import it from outside the state," Kachroo, 29, told Firstpost, at his residence in Kanikadel area of Srinagar. Before the insurgency erupted in Kashmir, the business of supplying surgical equipment to all three regions of the state was the monopoly of Kashmiri Pandits. After the Pandits migrated from the valley, the business was transferred to Jammu temporarily, but it was never grew roots in Kashmir. "I wanted to start the business of manufacturing surgical equipment but it required a lot of investment and I had no capital. Then I enrolled under the Sher-i-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Program for Youth and received training for one month at the EDI," Kachroo said. Zareen Business Systems was born barely months after Kachroo completed his training. Today, the company not only supplies surgical equipment and other medical items to hospitals across the valley but to such facilities in Jammu and Ladakh region too. The company employs more than 30 people and all this, Kachroo says, was a dream which he had thought would never come true. "But my life took a completely different turn after I finished my training at EDI," he adds. The Entrepreneurship Development Institute not just financed Kachroo but trained and handheld him till the project took off. It was an idea to make the valley self-sufficient and not dependent on Jammu for such equipment. Thanks to the EDI, our company is moving in that direction," he says. When Kachroo learnt about the second attack on the EDI this year, he felt disgusted. The three-day gunfight that destroyed the hostel complex of the institute came as a "rude shock" for the young man. "It was very painful for me personally to see the institute going up in flames. I am what I am because of the support and mentorship I received there," he says. According to officials at the JKEDI, the institute has trained around 4000 youths so far in Jammu and Kashmir while many others are looking at the opportunities that the institute provides to enable them carve out their own future. The institute not only provides resources but it has also been a great motivator for the unemployed youths to polish their entrepreneurial skills and set up their own businesses. To start a venture, the institute first trains budding entrepreneurs in different courses. The EDI offers short-term programmes on handicraft, boutiques, shawl making, embroidery, training for pharmaceutical stockists, timber shops, bee keeping and other courses. Once the training is completed, the institute arranges capital from banks as well as the state and centrally sponsored schemes to fund the enterprise. The Jammu and Kashmir government runs a number of schemes under the flagship Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Programme for Youth for young startup entrepreneurs. The institute also runs a youth startup programme and collaborates with the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation to provide loans to marginalised sections of society at six percent simple interest for setting up micro-level enterprises. While the unemployment rate in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the highest in the country and political turmoil of the last three decades has kept private investors out, the EDI became a game changer with hundreds of success stories to its credit since it started work in 2004. Established in March 1997, the Jammu and Kashmir government mandated the EDI with developing entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture in the state. The success of the EDI has been its generation-next workforce, most of whom are either in their early thirties or less. The institute is seen as the new engine for change given the successes stories it has churned out in a short span of time. The attacks this year may have dampened the spirits of the staff and the alumni of the institute but it hasn't stopped them from working altogether. For Haris Ahmad Dullo, who runs an Advertising company, City Sign Technology, in Srinagar, the siege at the EDI is an "attack on the symbol of economic freedom of Kashmiri youth." Dullo, 24, had prepared an advertising company project but he failed to secure loan from banks. The project needed an investment of Rs 20 lakhs. In August 2013, after receiving training for a month, the EDI provided him with non-refundable Rs 3 lakh capital and 17 lakhs were given by a bank in loan which he has paid back. Today he has more than 40 people, directly and indirectly, working for his agency in the capital Srinagar. "They (EDI) helped me realise my dreams. If I chose entrepreneurship instead of a government job, unlike most Kashmiri youth, it was because of this institute that gave me hope and also made it possible," Dullo says. In a state where political class is known for its corrupt practices and bureaucracy for its lethargy, the institute is a one-window solution for young educated youths dreaming of setting up their own entrepreneurial ventures without getting caught in official red-tape. "It is the only government institute in Kashmir valley which functions like a corporate house. No bureaucracy, no Chamchagiri. The attack on the institute is an attack on dreams and aspirations of those youth who want to do something in life without becoming a burden on the government," Dullo says. (Read a counter by David Devadas titled Pampore attack: Has Kashmir's EDI actually promoted any entrepreneurship?) On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the newly built war memorial Shaurya Samarak and address a meeting of former servicemen at Lal Pared ground, in Bhopal during his three-hour visit, ahead of the Brics meet in Goa. According to a report by Hindustan Times, this visit comes after his Dussehra speech in Lucknow, where he was quoted as saying "sometimes war is inevitable" in the wake of the surgical strikes by the Indian Army. The state BJP vice-president, Vijesh Lunawat said, It is a matter of pride for Madhya Pradesh people that the Shaurya Smarak came up with the state governments efforts and the PM is going to inaugurate it. This will give a boost to the morale of not only the armed forces but also the citizens of the country. In an ANI report it is said that the Samarak covers 13 acres of ground and cost Rs 41 crore. It symbolises the various stages of life, war, death and victory. The bravery and glory of soldiers is celebrated in the Shaurya gallery display and India's gratitude is represented by the Shaurya Stambh. Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar will be present as well. A report by The Times of India speculated that PM Modi is likely to speak about the surgical strikes on this occasion, and meet the former soldiers and war widows. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government have sent invitations to General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Chief of Navy Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba. Security has been ramped up in the state capital in view of Modi's visit. Railway stations, airports, bus terminals, important markets and localities in the city were secured ahead of the high profile visit. Vehicles were screened at different check points to ensure no untoward incident occur. The administration also issued a circular asking all government and semi government offices to suspended work post 3 pm. Bhopal Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Raman Singh Sikarwar said 5,000 policemen have been deployed at the airport, route and the venue of the three events Modi will meet the Jain saint Acharya Vidhyasagarji Maharaj at a Jain temple first and then will inaugurate the Shourya Smarak. He will remain in Bhopal for nearly three hours before leaving for his onward destination, said an official. At 7:05 pm Modi will leave for Panaji. With inputs from agencies On 23 August 1985, Arif Mohammad Khan, minister of state for home affairs in Rajiv Gandhi government, delivered a passionate speech in the Lok Sabha defending the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case. It was in the backdrop of a private member bill that was moved in the Lok Sabha by an MP named GM Banatwala, seeking to exempt Muslims from the purview of Section 125, an exemption that was nullified by the apex court judgement in the Shah Bano case, pronounced on 23 April, 1985. Ramchandra Guha, in his book India after Gandhi, writes that the bill was opposed in the house by Khan, representing so to say, the progressive Muslim point of view". Guha writes that Khan defended the judgement by quoting Maulana Azad who had "written that the Quran takes occasion to re-emphasise that proper consideration should be shown to the divorced women in every circumstances". Khan argued that We should have better practices these days and only if the downtrodden are uplifted, can the Islamic tenants be said to have been followed and justice done. However, political compulsions won over the ideals enunciated by Khan and in February 1986, a bill was introduced in the House to overcome the Supreme Court judgement. And as mentioned in his book Text and Context : Quran and Contemporary Challenges, Khan, a few minutes after the bill was introduced, "sitting two benches behind the law minister" wrote his resignation, and according to Guha, told an interviewer, afterwards, that with this new legislation "Indian Muslim women will be the only women to be denied maintenance anywhere in the world". As the issue of 'triple talaq' and the desirability of uniform civil code (UCC) is once again being debated, Firstpost spoke to Khan to understand what has changed in last three decades and whether he feels that this time around, Muslim women will get their due and their right to equality. Three decades have passed since the Shah Bano judgment. Once again, the issue of UCC and triple talaq is being debated. What are your expectations today from the judiciary and government? What has changed and what remains the same? The question is not about my expectations, the question is what the citizens and in this case, women of India should expect from the government and judiciary. Naturally, the expectation will be that they uphold the law of land and ensure the basic constitutional guarantee of equality before law and equal protection of the laws which includes equality in marital rights. The government has said that triple talaq violates the right to equality of women, as well as their dignity, and "has no place in a secular country". Your comments There is no question that triple divorce negates both equality and dignity of Muslim women as human beings and citizens of India and can have no place in a civilised society. In fact the Personal Law Board publication titled The Compendium of Islamic Laws itself describes this form of divorce as "talaq bidat". Now bidat literally means innovation, something that is not part of the original scheme. They themselves describe it as good in law and bad in religion. It is indeed bad because it seeks to dehumanise women. The important question is how you can defend something in the name of religion that you admit to be bad in religion. The petition that is being considered by the Supreme Court also seeks an end to polygamy and 'halala', which can help women of the Muslim community get their equal place in society and ensure dignity to them. What are your views on this? Regarding polygamy, the provision of the Quran is crystal clear. It says: Marry those among you who are single (24.32)". This is addressed to both men and women and strangely this provision has been totally ignored, while the provision that gives conditional permission for polygamy, applicable in very exceptional circumstances has been elevated to the status of regular law. If you read the provisions of Quran together, then it leaves no room for doubt that it prescribes monogamy as a norm and allows polygamy under very extraordinary circumstances. Many Muslim scholars and personalities have asserted that 'triple talaq' is being given an "un-Islamic" interpretation and that practice of 'triple talaq' was being "wrongly interpreted", as the concept of one-time 'triple talaq' does not exist. If this is this case what are the basis of defending it? I have already pointed out that even the Personal Law Board publication admits that triple talaq is an innovation and bad in religion, so their insistence on retention of triple talaq is not a matter of wrong interpretation rather it is an attempt to perpetuate something that is repulsive both to religion and good conscience. It is important to note that few years after the death of the Prophet, when triple divorce found legal sanction, the men who resorted to triple divorce were awarded 40 lashes as punishment as they were perceived to have committed a crime. Today you cannot resort to lashing, so a new law may be enacted providing for four years of rigorous imprisonment for the crime of triple talaq. The government has also asked for the re-examination of a 1952 Bombay High Court judgment that held that Article 13 of the Constitution doesnt cover personal laws? Your comments. With respect to the honourable courts, I would say that the Muslim personal law received legislative sanction through Shariat Application Act of 1937. Now a law that is passed by the Parliament cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be outside the purview of judicial review by the higher courts, who have been charged by the Constitution to safeguard the fundamental rights of the citizens from any encroachment by anybody including the executive and Parliament. The Law Commission of India sought the views of people on the implementation of UCC in the country. It put out a questionnaire on 7 October. How do you see this development? Do you see it as a precursor to some significant change in personal laws in India? I have not seen the questionnaire, but the move is welcome. This is how we must move forward in a democratic society. It is only through debate and discussion that we can crystallise a well-informed view. "A uniform civil code is not good for this nation. There're so many cultures in this nation, (they) have to be respected. India can't impose a single ideology," said the Muslim Personal Law Board's Maulana Wali Rahmani at a press conference on Thursday. How do you react to such claims? Securing a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India, is a constitutional principle, not enforceable by the courts but fundamental in the governance of the country. If the state is serious about carrying out this obligation, then we can always endeavour to find common ground. To my mind the basic thing to be ensured is that the law should not have any provision that prescribes a thing that is prohibited by any religion. But this debate can start only when we have in hand some proposed draft. I have not seen the questionnaire, but the move is welcome. This is how we must move forward in a democratic society. It is only through debate and discussion that we can crystallise a well-informed view. In your book, while dwelling in great detail on the issue of UCC and functioning of MPLB you write, "The Imrana case, for that matter many other cases including the famous Shah Bano case , are merely symptoms of much deeper malaise the desire to maintain and perpetuate disparity between the sexes... MLPB since its inception has been a votary of this trend". Do you think that MPLB will this time too succeed in stifling any attempt of implementing the UCC? I feel that it is not only triple divorce; there are so many other provisions in the Compendium of Islamic Law compiled by the Personal Law Board which are inhumane and supremacist in their tone and tenor. For example it says that if a person under compulsion or duress pronounces divorce, it will be valid, or that the father of an adult girl of Arab origin can himself terminate the marriage, if the girl by her own volition marries a Muslim man of non-Arab origin. Now as we know, the Quran strictly says that there is no compulsion in religion and it does not recognise any racial or birth based inequalities, how these laws can be labelled as Islamic. But the Personal Law Board insists that these are laws of divine nature and they cannot be reviewed by any authority. So their intention and purpose is clear. It has nothing to do with religion, it is an attempt to entrench the patriarchal domination. Implementation of UCC means that along with Muslims other minorities, like Christians and Parsis, would also lose their existing right to apply their own civil code or laws for family matters including marriage, divorce and inheritance. But the most vehement opposition comes from MPLB. Why is that so? I have already explained what motivates the Personal Law Board. But the problem is not the Personal Law Board, the real problem is the lackadaisical attitude of our political establishment. It is not the Muslims who have chosen the Board as their representative organisation. It is the political establishment that gave them credibility and legitimacy. The board has moved in a calculated manner and now has started claiming the status of the sole spokesman as Muslim League had done in 1930s. I feel that the political establishment must engage every organisation to enlist their cooperation for the solution of a problem, but it must be wary of any organisation that claims to be the sole spokesman of a religious community. It was this sole spokesman business that divided India in 1947 and today, this can divide India from within. Click here to read Tufail Ahmad's article on the issue titled Triple talaq: Urdu media agog with conspiracy theories to force changes in Shariah Also read, 'Concern of Courts Genuine. But Assumption That Muslim Women are Denied Justice Not Correct'. On 7 October the Central government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing practices like triple talaq and polygamy. The Government reasoned that these laws should be struck down as a measure towards gender equality. Needless to say this has caused concern among minority communities with reference to the status of their personal laws. The BJP promised a Uniform Civil Code and this affidavit is seen as one step towards that. The Constitution as part of its Directive Principles of State Policy also calls upon the state to endeavour to bring in a uniform civil code. When the coming of British administration, the court systems underwent a radical shift and a modern judicial system was established in India. There was a common and uniform law of crimes that was established with the enactment of the Indian Penal Code in 1860 and this was followed by the enactment of various legislation, whose primary purpose was to make the laws uniform across the territory of India. However, this move towards uniformity did not translate to a harmonisation of personal laws and people continued to be governed by the religious laws applicable to them as was the case prior to British administration. However, to facilitate inter-religious and inter-caste marriages, a secular personal law to some extent was also enacted. The Special Marriage Act of 1954 which repealed the Special Marriage Act of 1872 provides for the solemnisation and dissolution of marriages for people of two different faiths and people of the same faith. There is the Indian Succession Act of 1925 that provides for the general law of succession. The Guardian And Wards Act of 1890 provides for custody and guardianship of minor children. These special laws, though they appear secular do not allow a person in India to escape the baggage of personal law and in some cases also make it hostile for a person to choose to abide by these special laws. Section 21 of the Special Marriage Act of 1954 provides that the Indian Succession Act, 1925 will apply to the property of any person who was married under the act and excludes the personal law. However, in 1976 there was an an amendment inserting 21A, which had the effect of continuing the application of personal laws so far as they concerned two Hindus who had solemnised their marriage under the act. Till the 1976 amendment, Hindus who married under the act were expelled from any undivided family. The Act by it's very scheme is hostile to the idea of persons who profess the same faith from opting out of the personal laws that apply to them. In the absence of Section 21A of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 any two Hindus who got married under that law would effectively be opting out of the personal law applicable to them in so far as Marriage, Succession, Custody and Divorce are concerned. Two Non-Hindus and Hindu and a Non-Hindu who get married even today under this Act, effectively can opt out of the regulations of personal law so far as it governs them. The deletion of Section 21A would by itself create an opt-in uniform civil code across the country whereby any citizen could opt out of the personal laws governing them. Therefore India's secular law to the extent it sill exists is an opt-in system. Parties are by default governed by their personal laws but can choose not to be by opting into the secular system. The question now is, should the secular law be an opt in or an opt out. The Uniform Civil Code in India would be a right step forward in promoting national harmony and social cohesion. It would make all persons be subject to one governing law. However, the existence of a Uniform Civil Code need not be in direct opposition to the rights of communities to govern their own affairs. Secularism prevents the state from recognising or interfering in matters where it concerns religion, but it does not necessarily mean that the communities would not have the ability to govern themselves by way of contract. In an opt out situation, two parties would be governed by the secular law, unless they have expressed their agreement to be governed by their personal laws. Making the governing law a question of agreement would go a long way to address concerns that minorities may have. In the United Kingdom, which has a secular law applicable to all, there is a body known as the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal which operates like any other arbitration body. Except, this body helps Muslim couples and Muslim parties resolve their disputes using arbitration governed by Sharia. This does not amount to courts determining or applying personal laws, but the parties choosing a third party arbitrator to decide the dispute. The tribunal has no power to grant a civil divorce, but can grant an Islamic divorce to satisfy the religious requirements of the community. If India moves to a Uniform Civil Code, it may be beneficial to allow parties to mediate/arbitrate familial disputes and then present the decree for confirmation to the court. The court while confirming the decree can take into account the public policy prevailing and the interests of the children if any. However, this resort to religious law can only happen under the opt-out if both parties consent to it , either at the time of marriage or at the time of divorce. Further, there can be a provision, that persons who want their estate administered in accordance with religious laws, make and register wills to that effect allowing for their religious faith to be preserved. India has the basic frameworks of a secular personal law which can be harmonised to form a Uniform Civil Code. However, the move to a Uniform Civil Code need not come at the cost of persons giving up their right to govern themselves according to their religion. It's time India shifts from an Opt-in to an Opt-Out as far as religious personal law is concerned and make the secular law the default law of the country. A movement, led predominantly by Islamic clerics and some Muslim politicians, is underway among Indian Muslims to defend any likelihood of change or reform in Muslim Personal Laws. On 7 October, the Indian government filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court arguing that religious practices like triple talaq, polygamy and halala should be struck down in favour of Muslim women's fundamental rights available under the constitution. Aided by Urdu newspapers published from various cities, Muslim organisations like the Darul Uloom Deoband, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind are leading a movement in support of triple talaq, polygamy and other such anti-equality practices. At Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, Maulana Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani of the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary, issued a statement on 8 October saying: "Triple talaq and polygamy are an essential part of the Muslim Personal Law. Any type of change is impossible" according to a front-page five-column report in Delhi-based Urdu daily Roznama Jadid Khabar of 9 October. Zafaryab Jilani, a member of AIMPLB, told a crowd of Muslims at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh that 90 percent Muslim women support the Shariah-based laws, according to Hyderabad-based Roznama Etemaad of October 12. As per the report, Jilani "warned that Muslims will not accept interference in their personal law at any cost. On 8 October, in the town of Dhule in Maharashtra, a signature movement was launched by a number of Islamic clerics associated with Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and the AIMPLB to oppose the demand for triple talaq. These clerics and community leaders included Mufti Syed Muhammad Qasim Jilani, Abdul Ahad Asadi, Haji Asif Iqbal, Master Alamgir Khan and others. On 9 October, a similar signature campaign by women was organised at Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, opposing any change in Shariah. As per a report in Patna-based Urdu daily Roznama Qaumi Tanzeem of 10 October, more than two hundred Muslim women turned out at the Jamia Taiba madrassa in Ballia where they declared: "We Muslim women will abide by the laws of god and will not allow any unpious government effort for change in them to materialise." According to Roznama Jadid Khabar of 9 October, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, the imam of Lucknow Eidgah, said: "Triple Talaq is a clear order of Shariah in which there is no possibility of change or reform We will defend the Islamic Shariah fully." Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Qasmi, an MP and president of the All India United Democratic Front, defended the triple talaq and polygamy saying: "The government's stand militates against the constitutional rights of Muslims On the pretext of women's rights, there should be no interference in the Shariah laws of Muslims because Muslims will not accept it" as per Roznama Jadid Khabar of 9 October. In Pratapgarh, UP, Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Muzahri, a leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, defended triple talaq and polygamy, adding: "Due to prejudice (against Muslims), the government is trying to trample upon the constitutional rights of Muslims by implementing Uniform Civil Code with regard to the marriage and divorce," according to an interview published in Delhi-based Urdu daily Roznama Sahafat of 10 October . It is extremely rare to find a report in the Urdu media which advocates abolition of triple talaq and polygamy. Perhaps a lone such report was published by Ranchi-based Urdu daily Qaumi Tanzeem of 8 October. As per the report, former minister Arif Muhammad Khan welcomed the government move to end triple talaq. Khan stated: "In the Quran, there is no space for oral triple talaq." Of all the Urdu newspapers that support triple talaq, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times is at the forefront of the Islamic clerics' movement against any reform in Islamic Shariah. When the government filed its affidavit opposing the religious practices that curb women's constitutional rights, it ran a six-column banner report on 8 October. A subheadline described the move as a "conspiracy for interference in Shariah. The next day, on 9 October, it published a five-column banner report whose headline declared: "No compromise on Shariah. The statement was attributed to Maulana Syed Muhammad Wali Rahmani, general secretary of AIMPLB. The 9 October report also quoted Maulana Syed Arshad Madani, the president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, as saying that the government's stand is unacceptable. Madani declared: "The Quran and Hadiths (traditions of Prophet Muhammad) are the biggest constitution. In religious matters, only Shariah is worth emulating in which no change is possible till the Day of Judgement; and no change can be made in the Shariah in the name of social reforms." The same day, the Urdu Times also carried on its front-page a four-column commentary by Qamar Sayeed Ahmad. It was headlined: The Moment of Trial for Muslim Women. The author asked the government "not to waste its time" and added: "Muslim women possess lots given by Islam. On 9 October itself, the Urdu Times published two reports over half a page opposing the move against triple talaq and associated issues. One report was titled: Triple Talaq why is the government anxious? Farooq Ansari, the report's author, declared: "Perhaps the government does not grasp it that to save the Muslim Personal Law, Muslims will not care for their life." The second report was titled: "Interference in Shariah the government affidavit, a garbage of deceit." Arguing that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is behind the move for a Uniform Civil Code, it noted that even during the Muslim rule in India, there was no interference in their personal laws. "The British ruled for 150 years. They changed the personal laws of other religions but did not meddle with Islamic laws," it added. The Urdu Times of 9 October also quoted Arif Naseem Khan, vice president of the Congress in Maharashtra, as saying: "A Muslim can sacrifice everything; when the matter comes up against the religion and Shariah, he will not accept it in any condition." Another report also quoted Abu Asim Azmi, the Samajwadi Party leader in Maharashtra, as saying: "The Muslim will not tolerate interference in the Shariah; and he is ready to sacrifice his life for it." Shamsher Pathan, a former assistant police commissioner, was quoted as saying: "It has been said in the affidavit that equal rights be granted to Muslim men and women with regard to divorce, which is against the Shariah." According to Roznama Etemaad of 11 October, Maulana Asrar-ul-Haq Qasmi a member of parliament (should we think how such clerics get into Indias parliament?) declared that the government has "no right" to effect change in the personal laws since the rules regarding marriage and divorce have been settled by the Shariah. A protest was organised in Hyderabad on 10 October in defence of Shariah laws such as triple talaq where several clerics including Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani spoke. According to an interview published in Roznama Sahafat of 10 October, Rahmani described the government move to end polygamy and triple talaq as "a conspiracy to deprive minorities of their rights." While the above review of the Urdu newspapers is limited, it is fair to conclude that the Urdu and Islamic media across India publish similar content. A few critical points that emerge from this review include: One, the Urdu media does not see even minor space for change in Shariah and does not publish anything in favour of Muslim women's freedom and individual rights. Two, the Muslim community's leadership remains predominantly in the hands of Islamic clerics. A few non-clerics who are leaders also adopt the position of Islamic clerics. Three, no Urdu newspaper editor sent journalists to colleges and universities to talk to Muslim girls to find out what they want about their life. In almost all reports, the Urdu newspapers publish articles by male writers or statements of male politicians and clerics. Four, Urdu editors fail to grasp the fine distinction between the interests of Islam and the interests of Muslims, especially women. Urdu media does not evaluate ideas critically, except when it wants to criticise the right-wing Hindu leaders. In the Golden Age of Islam, Muslims translated and read Aristotle and Plato, a point Urdu editors need to ponder over. Five, Urdu newspapers are also conspicuous by the absence of statements from the so-called secular tribe of Hindu journalists, award-winning authors and politicians because obviously they are silent on the issue of Muslim women's rights. People's progress is a function of new ideas and one doesn't get the sense that any Urdu newspaper is debating anything that can be described as new, reasoned and rational. The author is a former BBC journalist and a contributing editor at Firstpost, and executive director of the Open Source Institute, New Delhi. He tweets @tufailelif Click here to read Shishir Tripathi's interview with Arif Mohammad Khan titled Triple talaq negates both equality and dignity of Muslim women: Arif Mohammad Khan Geneva: Tuberculosis (TB) kills about 5,000 people every day globally with India continuing to take more than a third of the global burden of the disease, new estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveal. The TB epidemic is larger than previously estimated reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India, according to the 2016 Global Tuberculosis report released on 13 October. Indias TB data are far from flattering by most counts. In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide of which six countries accounted for 60 percent of the total burden led by India (25 percent), followed by Indonesia (10 percent), China (10 percent), Nigeria (5 percent), Pakistan (5 percent) and South Africa (4 percent). Of the new TB cases last year, about 56 percent (5.9 million) people were men, 34 percent (3.5 million) people were women and one million were children. People living with HIV accounted for 1.2 million of all new TB cases. In India, 4,80,000 people were killed by the deadly disease (not counting those with HIV and TB). It affected 28,40,000 people (HIV and TB combined) of which 9,95,000 were females and 18,50,000 were males. Although there has been a 22 percent reduction in TB deaths between 2000 and 2015, it killed an estimated 1.8 million people around the world. Of them 0.4 million were co-infected with HIV. A curable disease like TB which is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium was one of the top ten causes of death worldwide in 2015. It was responsible for more deaths than due to HIV and malaria. India had a case fatality ratio (the proportion of cases of a disease which were fatal) of between 10-19.9 percent. One of the biggest challenges in tackling the disease is the huge gap in testing for TB and reporting new cases. Poor notification is still a problem In 2015, the gap between notifications of new and relapse cases and the best estimate of the number of incident cases was 4.3 million, reflecting a mixture of under-reporting of detected TB cases, especially in countries with large private sectors; and under-diagnosis, especially in countries where there are major geographic or financial barriers to accessing care, the UNs global TB report says. "Some of them (people living with TB) are in fact, never diagnosed, we know that. We are in rural areas, we are perhaps in Mumbais poorer areas, yet they go to the private sector or Ayurveda doctors who do not report. So, you dont even know what the story is," Dr Mario Raviglione, director of Global TB Programme at WHO said. In India, the non-National Programme for TB (NPT) public sector providers contributed to 16 percent of the total TB notifications while the private sector notified only 11 percent of the TB cases in India. India had the largest gap between new and relapsed notified cases and best estimates of TB incidence in 2015. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis WHO estimates that 4,80 000 people fell ill with MDR-TB in 2015. However, again, the geographic distribution of these cases is highly disproportionate with three countries India, China, and the Russian Federation carrying the major burden of MDR-TB, which together account for nearly half of all cases globally. "MDR-TB is [what] we keep calling a crisis, which unfortunately, is not being taken seriously enough. Of the new cases, an estimated 3.9 percent have MDR-TB. Roughly, half a million people fell ill with MDR-TB in 2015," Raviglione added. For the first time, the UN has also done an estimate of MDR and Rifampicin-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB), defined as resistance to Isoniazid and Rifampicin, the two most powerful anti-TB drugs, for which patients need a second-line regimen. This is significant because it pushes up the total number of people living with drug-resistant TB significantly from previous estimates. Globally, 1,32,120 cases of RR-TB were detected and notified in 2015, and 1,24,990 were enrolled on treatment. India has a 74 percent success rate of TB treatment, which is much less than the global average of 83 percent, and is behind the BRICS group and other poorer countries of the world. China has a success rate of 94 percent. Even Mozambique (89 percent), Pakistan (93 percent), Tanzania (90 percent) and Vietnam (91 percent) showed better results. Additionally, it has only 46 percent success rate in treating RR-TB. Need more expenditure in healthcare Despite these glaring figures, India relies heavily on international funding for dealing with this public health challenge and its national health budget is much lower than the WHO-recommended levels. In 2014, government expenditures on healthcare were less than the WHO benchmark of at least six percent in 150 countries. India has one of the lowest spending on the healthcare sector globally with a public spending of around one per cent of GDP as compared to three per cent in China and eight per cent in the UK. Indias NTP budget is also one of the lowest among the BRICS group of countries with a spending of about $280 million, only 30 percent of which comes from domestic funding. Compare this with Russia, which has a funding of $1,385 million for countering TB among its population with zero international funding. "It is expected that they (countries with high TB burden) will spend domestically. Four countries out of the five (highest burden BRICS countries) are almost entirely domestically funded. India, that has the largest burden, still requires lot of international support because 60 percent of their funding today is international," Raviglione said. Two of the indicators reflecting the state of universal health coverage (UHC) are total government spending on healthcare as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures as a share of total health expenditures. OOP is used as a proxy measure to ascertain the extent to which people lack financial protection to treat TB. OOP as a proportion of total health expenditure as recommended by WHO is at most 15 percent. This proportion is almost 65 percent for India, higher than all BRICS countries and Pakistan. The way ahead WHO lists limited patient coverage, wide variability across states and localities on TB specific-support packages, weaknesses in administration, and no formal links of NGOs as some of the major weaknesses in the Indian counter-TB approach. The worlds available money for spending on TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment in low- and middle-income countries in 2016 was $6.6 billion which is still $2 billion less than the estimates' requirement for this group of countries in the UNs Global Plan. At least $2 billion per year is needed for TB research and development but this rate never exceeded 0.7 billion between 2004-2014. The Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, which was developed almost 100 years ago and has been shown to prevent severe forms of TB in children, is widely used. However, there is currently no vaccine that is effective in preventing TB disease in adults, either before or after exposure to TB infection. There are 13 TB vaccines in Phase I, Phase II or Phase III trials. In addition, the rate of reduction in TB cases remained static at 1.5 percent from 2014 to 2015. This needs to accelerate to 4-5 percent by 2020 to reach the first milestone of the World Health Assembly-approved End TB Strategy. Governments have agreed on targets to end the TB epidemic both at the World Health Assembly and at the United Nations General Assembly within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. They include a 90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reduction in TB cases by 2030 compared with 2015. In 2016, four diagnostic tests were reviewed and recommended by WHO. There must be a massive scale-up of efforts, or countries will continue to run behind this deadly epidemic and these ambitious goals will be missed, said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director General in a press statement. Kigali: In a possible breakthrough, India and the US on Friday agreed to bring an ambitious amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out the climate-damaging Hydrofluorocarbons used in air-conditioners and refrigerators by advancing the "freeze year" by two years to 2028. After holding crucial bilateral talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the Conference on Montreal Protocol, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said India has agreed to move the "freeze year" from 2030, which the country proposed this morning, to 2028. Freeze year is the year in which phase down of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) starts. "We have almost reached an agreement," Dave said as the negotiations to reach an agreement to phase down the HFCs reached its final stage at the Kigali Convention Centre here. Kerry held two rounds of bilateral meetings with Dave on the sidelines of the conference. Talking to reporters alongside Dave, India's lead negotiator Manoj Kumar Singh said India has "entered into an agreement" in the meeting held between Dave and Kerry. Singh said in the original proposal put forward by India there was no freeze year, but "in the morning we had given a position that we can have a freeze (year) at 2030". But during the second round of meeting it was moved to 2028 "with a condition that there will be a review of technology somewhere around 2023 or 2024, and if India finds that refrigeration sector is growing at much faster rate and it cannot accommodate within the available refrigerant, then India will free to go to 2030 as freeze year," Singh said. He said the review will be done by Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) under the Montreal Protocol. "But it will be mutually agreed upon by India and other parties. Without India, no one can unilaterally decide that what is the growth rate which will trigger that mechanism," he said. Officials attending the meeting said the US has agreed with India's baseline proposal to prepone the baseline to 2024, 2025 and 2026. Indian climate experts here hailed the outcome reached between India and the US. "We have a good baseline, freeze year and schedule. It recognises the principles of common-but-differentiated responsibility. This is good for climate and good for India," climate expert and Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Deputy Director-General Chandra Bhushan said. The meeting of climate negotiators from nearly 200 countries will end on Friday. India on Thursday displayed its commitment by announcing to destroy HFC-23, a super greenhouse gas, in its all five HCFC-22 plants operating in the country. HFC-23 is as a by-product of HCFC-22 production. China is currently the world's largest producer of HFCs and consumes 20 times more than India's production. The BJP-led government in Maharashtra is facing a serious problem with lakhs taking part in the silent march, as part of the state-wide mobilisation by Marathas, demanding reservation in jobs and education Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is busy trying to resolve the tension in Maharashtra. To prevent the Maratha community from agitating further, CM Fadnavis announced a fee concession and a reimbursement scheme for students belonging to the Economically Backward Classes (EBC), whose annual income is less than Rs 6 lakh per annum. It is supposed to benefit more than 7 lakh students with a burden of Rs 700 crore on the state government. With the civic and zilla parishad elections around the corner, CM Fadnavis' announcement is a smart move on his part to announce the increasing of EBC limits, which will benefit all castes, including Marathas and Brahmins. The total population of Maharashtra is over 12 crore and the Maratha community makes up 40 percent of it. Addressing a unscheduled press conference after the cabinet meeting, CM Fadnavis announced the 'Rajashri Shahu Maharaj Fee Pratipurti Yojna'. Earlier, for SC/ST students, the Maharashtra government had given a 100 percent fee waiver, whereas OBC students received a 50 percent fee waiver. But the new scheme has been extended to all students of all castes. The income limits of their parents is Rs 6 lakh per annum and it applies to those who have secured 60 percent marks at the time of college admission in HSC. Those who come under the income limit of upto Rs. 2.5 lakhs annually have no condition of marks, Fadnavis said. This will benefit those applying for professional and higher education courses, which include medicine and engineering. This comes at the same time that Fadnavis announced two more schemes. The Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Crop Subsidy Scheme will benefit marginal farmers and children of registered labourers. In city limits, the government will bear the burden of Rs 30,000 annually, and Rs 20,000 annually in the rural area. The Fadnavis government has also decided to implement the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Swayam Yojana which will benefit tribal students and provide the hostel and food facilities. In the city, it will cost Rs 6,000 per month, in the districts Rs 5,000 per month and in the taluks, Rs 4000 per month. Talking to the media, Fadnavis described the decisions as historic. "We are making a provision of Rs 1,000 crore this year; the budgetary provision will be done later. In the last 20 years, education has become a business in the state and it is difficult for the common man to get admission," he said. Is the government positive about giving the Marathas reservation? Fadnavis said that his government was firm on giving reservation to Marathas and that they are not demanding the repeal of the Atrocity Act but want it to stop being misused. The additional burden on the state government is approximately Rs 700 crore and 7.10 lakh students after Class 12 will reap the benefits. The earlier burden of the SC, ST and OBC students in fee concession and scholarship was Rs 1,300 crore. Which means that the total burden on government is Rs 2,000 crore, which will be benefited by 17 lakh students, said Education Minister Vinod Tawde. In addition, for medical students who come under the income limit from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh, the state government will pay the full interest on educational loan. It will benefit 35,000 students in government colleges and three lakh in private colleges, Tawde added. The benefits of the new schemes will start from this academic year with the retrospective method and the fees will be returned by the college authority to those who have already paid. But the required documents that certify an annual income below Rs 6 lakh must be certified by the tehsildar, Tawde added. Tawde also assured that the BJP government will submit 74 documentary evidences to prove that the Maratha community has been socially and economically backward in an affidavit in the next hearing in court. The government is positive that the court will allow Maratha reservation in the frame of law, he said. Last week, Fadnavis also announced a Rs 49,000 crore package for the Marathwada region in the special cabinet meeting at Aurangabad. The zilla parishad, nagar panchyayat and muncipal council elections will be held from the last week of November till the year end. The 10 municipal corporation elections will be held in February 2017, which include Mumbai, Thane, Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpari Chinchwad, Akola and Solapur. To offset the damage of the statewide Maratha morcha, Fadnavis first announced the Rs 49,000 crore package to the Marathwada region. To soothe the anger of the community, he then announced the Rs 6 lakh creamy layer scholarship facility to all students belonging to the EBC. Meanwhile, NCP President Sharad Pawar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asking for Maratha reservation without diluting the quota of other communities. This has put pressure on Fadnavis; hence the announcement of the EBC scheme. The Akhil Bharatiya Maratha Mahasangh national general secretary Rajendra Kondhare, who is also one of the organisers of the silent morcha, has welcomed Fadnavis' decision saying that it benefits all castes under the EBC category. Now the deadlock exists with the state government: there are remaining demands by the Marathas such as reservation in jobs, promotions on merit, amendment in the Atrocity Act and fixed rate cards for agriculture products. Kerala industries minister EP Jayarajan, facing charges of nepotism, on Friday resigned from the cabinet, said reports. Reacting to Jayarajan's resignation, BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao told Times Now, "I think this is a sort of decline in morality in politics." The CPM-led LDF government in Kerala was facing a crisis with the row over appointment of ministerial kins to plum posts in PSUs refusing to die down. Opposition Congress on Wednesday had demanded either resignation or sacking of Jayarajan, who is at the centre of the controversy. Jayarajan had appointed his nephew PK Sudheer, who is the son of Kannur MP, PK Sreemathy, as the Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd early this month. However, when the matter became controversial, the appointment was cancelled by the government. Deepthi Nishad, another close relative of Jayarajan, on Wednesday had resigned as the General Manager of Kerala Clays and Ceramic Products Ltd in Kannur. Opposition alleged that Deepthi, daughter-in-law of Jayarajan's elder brother, was appointed in the PSU without the requisite qualification. CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had on Thursday held talks with Jayarajan for nearly an hour at the AKG Centre, the party headquarters, and had reportedly sought details of various appointments made by him. Earlier, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had also indicated in New Delhi that action could be taken. "The process of correction of whatever decision has been taken has been initiated. The state Secretariat will be meeting on October 14 at Thiruvananthapuram," Yechury had told reporters in New Delhi. Asked if any action will be taken, he had said, "certainly". KPCC President VM Sudheeran had said Jayarajan should either resign or he should be removed from the post. "The matter cannot be viewed as an internal issue of the party," he had said. With inputs from PTI With the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh less than six months away, major political parties like Bharatiya Janta Party, Samajwadi Party and Congress have started campaigning in full swing. This week, BJP has announced the launch of four 'Parivartan Yatras' next month from Saharanpur, Lalitpur, Sonebhadra and Ballia. BJP national president Amit Shah will flag-off the yatras, during which the party's senior national and state level leaders will remain present in al the yatras. "'Parivartan Yatras' which will begin from 5 November, will culminate with a 'Parivartan Sabha' in Lucknow on the eve of 92nd birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 24 December," Uttar Pradesh BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya said. The first yatra will start from Saharanpur on 5 November, second from Lalitpur on 6 November, the third from Sonebhadra on 8 November and fourth from Ballia on 9 November, Maurya said. The BJP will also hold a youth and woman conference all over the state in which workers up to the booth level will participate. BJP confident surgical strikes will help it in UP polls Surgical strikes have boosted BJP's prospects in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections as the "political will" shown by the Modi government on the issue will resonate among the people, said a senior party leader in an interview with PTI. National security will "obviously" be a poll plank, said the leader, underlining the "political will" shown by the Modi government in asking the army to cross the LoC to hit terrorist launch pads in Pak-occupied-Kashmir. "Development and national security are definitely issues. Who did take this decision (of surgical strikes)? It is this government that showed the political will of crossing the border. The army carried this out but the decision was of the government," said the leader, who did not want to be quoted, in an informal interaction with reporters. BJP will get a strong majority in the polls scheduled for early next year, he asserted. The saffron party has been out of the power in the country's largest state for close to 15 years. Riding the 'Modi wave' it had swept UP in the Lok Sabha polls but is now facing a stiff fight from two regional parties, ruling SP and BSP, which have ruled it by turn all these years. The issue of surgical strikes will appeal across the caste divide in the state and, BJP leaders believe, will fetch them extra votes in the same manner as Modi's "developmental agenda" did in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The leader claims that the Samajwadi Party remains a strong rival despite the feud in the ruling Yadav clan as it has a "big base" and BSP supremo Mayawati's appeal to Muslims to vote for her party is an indication that its support base was slipping away. BJP claims that they are better prepared for the assembly polls compared to the Lok Sabha poll in UP. The PTI interview indicates that BJP is confident that the surgical strikes will give them a big push-up. Asked what difference does he find in the UP election compared to Bihar, another key Hindi heartland state where the party had lost badly last year, he said light-heartedly, "There is a change in atmosphere. Surgical strikes have happened." Up until now, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has been the only Union minister who has been vocal about the surgical strikes. Though PM Modi gave a measured speech in his Dussehra address in Lucknow, posters stating "Avengers of Uri" were put up throughout the city. BJP is also likely to rake up issues like Ram temple at Ayodhya issue, the controversy over Centres stand on triple talaq, and maintaining law and order. Samajwadi party's campaigning plans It's been a month since the bitter family feud in SP, between father-son-uncle trio Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav and the Mulayam Sandesh Yatra is already crisscrossing the state. The second phase of Samajwadi Party's "Mulayam Sandesh Yatra" has covered 39 assembly constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh. "The purpose of this yatra is to inform the public that the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh has fulfilled all the promises it made in its election manifesto," a senior SP leader said. The first phase of the yatra, from 10 to 20 September, was launched from Lucknow and covered 73 assembly seats. The Sandesh Yatra would cover all the 403 assembly seats in the next two phases. In a press conference on Friday, Mulayam Singh Yadav assured there was no rift in the family and announced that SP will not alliance with any other party. In an interview with The Times of India, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav revealed that he might single-handedly start campaigning for the 2017 assembly elections. "Bachpan mein, mera naam mujhe khud rakhna pada (When I was a child, there was no one to name me). In the same way, I think I will have to start my election campaign on my own, without waiting for anyone," he told the daily. The young CM is confident that his training in politics will help him turn the tide and give their party the boost it currently requires. Congress concludes 'Kisan Yatra', soon to begin 'Rahul Sandesh Yatra' Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi recently concluded his Kisan Yatra, traversing from Deoria to Delhi to woo farmers. After the culmination of his Kisan Yatra in two phases, the Congress second-in-command has planned "Rahul Sandesh Yatra". It is a "massive" jan jagaran abhiyan (public awareness campaign) to reach out to farmers, a local Congress leader said. During his 25-day march from Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Congress leader connected with around 25,000 households per block in a do-or-die effort to regain lost moorings in state politics. It is slated to begin on 15 October. By Chris Kahn | NEW YORK NEW YORK Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton leads rival Donald Trump by seven percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll taken as the Republican nominee fought off accusations of groping women.The Oct. 7-13 poll released on Friday shows that 44 percent of likely voters support Clinton while 37 percent back Trump. That was little changed from Tuesday when the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump trailing by eight points. Two more women came forward on Friday with allegations that Trump had groped them, including a contestant on his reality show, "The Apprentice," as the businessman said accusations of sexual misconduct against him were part of a plot to discredit him only weeks from the election. Trump's campaign for the Nov. 8 election has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he bragged about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances Support for Clinton has been mostly rising in the seven-day tracking poll since the last week of August, when the candidates were drawing about the same level of support.Since then, Clinton and Trump have faced each other in two heavily watched debates -- contests that Americans believe Clinton won, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll. Former secretary of state Clinton also leads the field in a separate poll question that includes alternative-party candidates. Among likely voters, 44 percent back Clinton, 37 percent support Trump, six percent favour Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and two percent support Jill Stein of the Green Party.The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The most recent survey includes 2,889 people who are considered likely voters given their registration status, voting history and stated intention to vote. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of two percentage points. National opinion polls have measured support for the candidates in different ways this year, yet most agree that Clinton is leading and that her advantage has strengthened as the election approaches. RealClearPolitics web site, which tracks most major opinion polls, shows Clinton ahead of Trump by an average of seven percentage points. (Editing by Alistair Bell) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Bogota: President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Thursday that he is extending a ceasefire with Colombia's largest rebel movement in a bid to give more time to efforts to save a peace deal rejected by voters. Santos said in a televised address that he was extending by two months the ceasefire with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia until 31 December. He made the announcement after meeting with students who have been organizing demonstrations across the country to demand the accord be implemented immediately despite it being rejected in a referendum. "Let it be clear: this isn't an ultimatum or deadline," Santos said, adding that he hoped to have an agreement before year's end. He said the lives of soldiers and guerrillas depended on warfare not resuming. "Time is conspiring against peace and life." Santos, winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, is engaged in three-way talks with the FARC and the opposition to find ways to adjust the accord so that it enjoys broader support. It's an uphill battle though. Former President Alvaro Uribe, who led opposition to the accord, is demanding deep changes such as stiffer penalties for rebels who committed war crimes. Meanwhile the rebels, who would be spared jail time under the accord, are insisting they won't go back to the drawing board and throw out more than four years of arduous negotiations with the government. Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said on Thursday that the travel restrictions on journalist Cyril Almeida will be lifted once the probe into the placement of his name on the Exit Control List (ECT) is completed. Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Pakistani newspaper Dawn who had reported a rift between the civilian and military leaderships over the powerful ISI shielding terror groups like the Haqqani network and LeT, was put on the ECT on 11 October. "The inquiry will end in three to four days and then everyone will be allowed to travel freely," Dawn quoted Nisar as saying. The report also stated that the minister said that the news in the story by Almeida was false. "Who leaked this inaccurate news? It was published at the behest of someone, and that will be uncovered... they will be brought to justice. But how can that person be brought to justice, if we allow the journalist to leave the country?" the report further quoted him as saying. The minister also said that the Pakistani government did not have any "other option but to put his name on the ECL". On Wednesday, Almeida had tweeted that he fears the Pakistani government may be "planning to take further, uglier actions." Am concerned, possibly convinced, more than 24hrs after the travel ban was imposed that govt is planning to take further, uglier actions. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 11, 2016 The newspaper in a message issued by its editor on Tuesday had 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 had 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". Meanwhile, the US has expressed concern over the difficulties and dangers faced by journalists in Pakistan but refrained from commenting on the travel restrictions imposed on Almeida for reporting a rift between the civilian and military leaderships. "I'm aware of the reports of restrictions on Mr (Cyril) Almeida's travel. I would refer you to the Government of Pakistan for information on that," State Department spokesman John Kirby had told reporters at his daily news conference on Tuesday. "On press freedom, it's obviously an issue that we continue to raise regularly with the government of Pakistan, including our concerns about the difficulties and the dangers that journalists face there," he had said. Also read- Not Just Cyril Almeidas Goan Roots, Pakistan's Dawn Has Kerala Connection With inputs from agencies Just a day after Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan said that the travel restrictions on journalist Cyril Almeida will be lifted once the probe into the placement of his name on the Exit Control List (ECT) is completed, the Dawn reported on Friday that the government has ordered for a removal of his name from the list. Almeida also tweeted the good news with a message for all concerned to act immediately. "All concerned are requested to take immediate action in the matter" - yes, please! pic.twitter.com/nz7AY19G4P cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 14, 2016 In a response to a tweet saying that once Almeida is removed from the list, he will run away, Almeida said that he only plans on going to his mother's home in Khi to meet her and his nephews. No plans to travel anywhere other than to see mum, nephews in their home in Khi. Not sure why I'd run away from my home, which is Pakistan. https://t.co/79XixYpReF cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 14, 2016 Khan assured the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) that Almeida's name would be removed from the list in a meeting held in Islamabad, according to the Dawn report. However, he cautioned Almeida by saying that this would not translate into a closure of the inquiry against him. He told the participants that the inquiry would continue till its logical conclusion. Almeida had reported a rift between the civilian and military leaderships over the powerful ISI shielding terror groups like the Haqqani network and LeT in Dawn and was subsequently put on the ECT on 11 October. The minister had previously said that Almeida's story was absolutely false and on Friday, he reiterated his stand. The Dawn report quoted him as saying that the independent media must play its role not only towards safeguarding national interests and security but also counter negative propaganda by enemies of the state. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office has rejected the story thrice. However, the Pakistani newspaper stuck to their story and in an Editor's note, it stated that the story was "was verified, cross-checked and fact-checked. The editorial also urged the government to immediately remove Almeida's name from the ECL. "While any media organisation can commit an error of judgement and Dawn is no exception, the paper believes it handled the story in a professional manner and carried it only after verification from multiple sources. "Moreover, in accordance with the principles of fair and balanced journalism, for which Dawn is respected not only in Pakistan but also internationally, it twice carried the denials issued by the Prime Minister's Office," it said. Various journalists had come out in support of Almeida and Dawn. The Nation too lent it support to rival Dawn in an editorial and told them 'The press stands with you'. "For...government's actions, there can be no feeling, save of contempt. And for Mr Almeida, nothing but solidarity. More power to you, and to your pen. The press stands with you," the piece read. Jawed Naqvi points out in the Firstpost piece that Sharif is livid with Almeida even though he was more severe with the army in his writing. "It is the government, not the army that has put Almeida in the dock as a potentially anti-national writer." Sharif on Monday had asked authorities to take "stern action" against people responsible for publishing the "fabricated" story. Dawn had 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 had previously feared that the Pakistani government "is planning to take further, uglier actions." Am concerned, possibly convinced, more than 24hrs after the travel ban was imposed that govt is planning to take further, uglier actions. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 11, 2016 The issue was discussed and taken up by all international media houses as well. The US had expressed concern over the difficulties and dangers faced by journalists in Pakistan but refrained from commenting on the travel restrictions imposed on Almeida. "I'm aware of the reports of restrictions on Mr (Cyril) Almeida's travel. I would refer you to the Government of Pakistan for information on that," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters at his daily news conference on Tuesday. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Pakistan to "immediately lift the travel ban" on Almeida. "Pakistan can be a dangerous place for journalists, but the nation has a proud tradition of a fiercely independent press," said CPJ Asia Programme Coordinator Steven Butler. "Unhappiness with a press report should never be used as an excuse to restrict the freedom of a journalist," he added. With inputs from agencies West Palm Beach: Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of engaging in an effort to stop him from winning the White House. With his numbers dropping in opinion polls ahead of the 8 November election, the Republican US presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation." Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges."I've never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories," Trump said later on Thursday during a speech in Ohio. Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets.The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. First lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday. Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama said, "This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV." "It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life," she added. "... The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman it is cruel." One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. Leeds told CNN on Thursday that Trump also kissed her face in an incident that lasted about 15 minutes. "That's long enough," she said. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm. Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters. The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. Slump in polls Trump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as the uproar over the video threatened to engulf his White House campaign in a way that his earlier controversies had not. A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll showed him 8 percentage points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump trailed Clinton by up to 11 percentage points in other polls. Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals.Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. "I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer."I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline." Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016 "Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so."Trump's wife, Melania, on Thursday posted on Twitter a letter from her attorney to People that said details in the story were false, pointing to Stoynoff's recollection in the piece that she later ran into Melania Trump and spoke to her in New York City. The attorney, Charles Harder, said in the letter that Stoynoff and Melania Trump "were never friends or even friendly" and demanded that People "print a prominent retraction and apology." The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant. "There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the The Palm Beach Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment. At the Florida rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious." He said the "corrupt political establishment" was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people." "Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said. In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologised for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk." The Washington Post endorsed Clinton on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said. Washington: Eight Indian men along with three others have been arrested by officials of the US Customs department for allegedly trying to illegally enter American territory of Puerto Rico. The arrests were made on Thursday by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along with local law enforcement agencies from Dominican Republic. These 11 undocumented migrants from India and Dominican Republic made landfall on Wednesday in the islands' western coast, CBP said in a statement. "Migrants that make an extremely long travel from India should be aware of the perils of coming all the way to the Caribbean to enter the United States," said Ramiro Cerrillo, Ramey Sector Chief Patrol Agent for the Ramey Sector in Aguadilla. "Crossing the Mona Passage is a treacherous voyage filled with many dangers that pose a huge risk to migrants," he said. The undocumented people were transported to the Ramey Border Patrol station for further investigation and processing. On 29 September, Border Patrol Agents apprehended 20 migrants, 13 claiming to be citizens of the Dominican Republic (12 males and 1 female) and seven claiming to be Indian nationals (six males and one female). On 1 February, four undocumented migrants from Pakistan and India were apprehended while wandering in the western side of the island. In October last year, Border Patrol also apprehended 13 undocumented migrants from India. Elizabeth: The New York bomb suspect wanted for injuring 31 people in a September attack in Manhattan pleaded not guilty on Thursday to state charges from his hospital bed. Ahmad Khan Rahimi's public defender entered a plea of not guilty on state charges that his client attempted to murder police officers and unlawfully possessed weapons while on the run in New Jersey. Bail was set at USD 5.2 million. Rahimi was shown lying in his hospital bed, where he is being treated after being critically wounded in a shootout with police on 19 September that led to his capture. "Yes ma'am," said the Afghan-born American weakly in response to questions from Judge Regina Caulfield, who spoke from the court, as he recovered in his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Looking pale, with a thick black beard and black hair, he had a hospital sheet pulled up almost to his neck. His public lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood over him wearing a hospital gown over his shirt and tie, and blue rubber gloves on his hands. Liguori told the court he wished to correct the spelling of his 28-year-old client's last name to Rahimi -- not Rahami as previously listed by US authorities. In addition to the New Jersey charges, Rahimi has been indicted for terrorism, including use of weapons of mass destruction, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has yet to appear on those charges. The bomb attack in New York's upscale neighborhood of Chelsea wounded 31 people on 17 September. A separate bomb attack forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park. If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Rahimi was captured while carrying a handwritten journal that lauded Osama bin Laden and US-born Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, and criticized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, prosecutors said. The FBI believes that he acted alone. Another bomb found in Chelsea on 17 September was defused safely. Five additional pipe bombs were subsequently found and defused in Elizabeth. US officials say the suspect traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent around a year in Pakistan, where he married and his wife became pregnant. By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A New York City pharmacy that imposed a tax only on male customers has received some 3,000 hate messages, its co-owner said on Friday, amid a national debate over taxes on feminine hygiene products.Independent pharmacy Thompson Chemists this week announced it was imposing a one-day 7 percent "man tax" on its male customers after a 2015 study found that women's products cost 7 percent more than products for men in the city.Jolie Alony, the pharmacy's co-owner, said hate messages started pouring in by email, in phone messages and on social media after the owners placed signs outside the store announcing the tax on Monday, in an effort to draw attention to the issue. "We got 3,000 crazy emails ... it was just to show awareness and it went overboard," Alony said."'You should burn in hell, you should die, you sexist pig'," said some of the messages the pharmacy received, Alony told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. Though described as a tax, the surcharge was in fact a discount to female customers who were waived most of New York's sales taxes.The episode comes amid a nationwide debate over the unfair financial burden for women of taxing tampons and other menstrual products. Menstrual products can cost women some $100 a year, said Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, who has spearheaded a nationwide campaign to scrap taxes on feminine hygiene products through her advocacy group Period Equity. In 2016, three U.S. states - New York, Illinois and Connecticut - eliminated sales taxes on menstrual products - joining 10 others that do not tax them, she said.At Thompson Chemists in Soho, Alony said that she hoped her initiative had raised awareness of gender inequality when it came to purchasing personal health products."People don't think about it and women do spend so much more money throughout their lives," she said. "We just wanted to show people what the difference was so that they would be like 'wow'." Despite the cascade of hate mail, most of the pharmacy's customers were supportive of the initiative, Alony said."Most New Yorkers are (saying) 'More power to you', 'Thank you for doing this'," she said.Income inequality remains persistent in the United States, where women working full-time earn yearly 80 percent of what men earn doing the same work, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research based in Washington D.C. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New York, United States: The New York Times on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's claim it had engaged in libel by publishing the accounts of two women who accused the Republican presidential nominee of sexual assault. The Time's report, and additional claims published in other media, saw at least half a dozen women step forward after a video emerged last week showing the brash billionaire boasting about grabbing women's genitals and forcing himself on them. Trump has denied he ever committed sexual assault and launched a defiant attack on US media Thursday, dismissing the published accounts as "pure fiction." "The essence of a libel claim, of course, is the protection of one's reputation," Times vice president and assistant general counsel David McCraw wrote in a letter to Trump's lawyer, who demanded a full retraction and apology from the newspaper. "Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself." McCraw noted the presidential candidate's lewd comments about women and some women's public comments about his unwanted advances. "But there is a larger and more important point here. The women quoted in our story spoke out on an issue of national importance. It would have been a disservice not just to our readers but to democracy itself to silence their voices," he said. "We did what the law allows: We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. "If Mr Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight." The NYT's lawyer responded to a request from Donald Trump's lawyer to retract an article https://t.co/YJF4ajG4lT pic.twitter.com/nBGWuEALGZ The New York Times (@nytimes) October 14, 2016 Trump's campaign has been in free-fall since last week's release of the damning tape. The allegations published against Trump suggest a pattern of sexually inappropriate behavior towards women. Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman, told the Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the early 1980s as they sat next to each other in first class, grabbing her breasts and trying to put his hand up her skirt. "He was like an octopus," Leeds told the daily. "His hands were everywhere," she added. "It was an assault." A second accuser, Rachel Crooks, said she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower in 2005 when she encountered Trump outside an elevator one morning. After she introduced herself, he "kissed me directly on the mouth," she told the Times. "It was so inappropriate," Crooks added. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that." Hurricane Nicole plowed directly into Bermuda on Thursday before churning into the open sea and weakening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, as local media reported significant damage to the tiny Atlantic island chain.The Royal Gazette newspaper said the storm, rated as a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, sheared rooftops from buildings, uprooted trees, flooded homes and downed power lines as it hit Bermuda with sustained winds of up to 120 miles per hour (195 kph).But there were no immediate reports of any casualties from Bermuda, a low-lying archipelago occupying just 21 square miles (54 sq km) and home to more than 65,000 people.After passing over Bermuda, the storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour (175 kph), was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, still capable of causing extensive damage.The Bermuda Electric Light Company (BELCO) said that nearly 26,000 customers were without power, roughly 85 percent of its customers, and that many power lines and utility poles had been knocked down. By late afternoon, the storm was 130 miles (210 km) northeast of Bermuda but a still a threat to the British overseas territory that is a major insurance and reinsurance centre."A dangerous storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 metres) to above normal tide levels in Bermuda," warned the Miami-based hurricane centre in its latest advisory."The surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. The storm surge should subside this evening," it added. Bermuda is often in the paths of Atlantic storms and has extensive experience in handling them.Nicole shot through Bermuda just a week after Hurricane Matthew tore a path of destruction through impoverished Haiti en route to the United States, where it triggered severe flooding. Matthew, which briefly rose to the maximum Category 5 intensity, killed more than 1,000 people in Haiti, and left more than 30 dead in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. (Reporting by Sandra Maler in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney and Sandra Maler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. World leaders and Thai people alike are mourning King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died on Thursday at age 88, after 70 years on the throne. The world's longest-reigning monarch, he was known as a unifying force in Thailand and a king devoted to helping his people: Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi "People of India and I join the people of Thailand in grieving the loss of one of the tallest leaders of our times, King Bhumibol Adulyadej." Indian President Pranab Mukherjee "Heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of his majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. People of India share the sorrow and grief of the people of Thailand" China's Foriegn Ministry China has credited King Bhumibol for his "remarkable contributions" to Thailand's development.The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Bhumibol worked to strengthen ties between China and Thailand and "made an irreplaceable contribution to cementing the two people's friendship and expanding bilateral cooperation." "China deeply mourns King Bhumibol's passing and expresses sincere condolences to the Thai people and government," the ministry said. President Barack Obama "I had the honor of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people. As the revered leader and only monarch that most Thais have ever known, His Majesty was a tireless champion of his country's development and demonstrated unflagging devotion to improving the standard of living of the Thai people. With a creative spirit and a drive for innovation, he pioneered new technologies that have rightfully received worldwide acclaim. His Majesty leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations." Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "I remember King Bhumibol as a highly gifted and gentle person. ... As a spiritual support for the people, His Majesty has led Thailand's remarkable development and advancement of the people's living standard. ... The king's great contribution in deepening friendship between Japan and Thailand will be remembered by all Japanese people." Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak "King Bhumibol was a towering presence whose contribution to Thailand, and the rest of the region, is beyond words. We join the Thai people in mourning his loss." New Zealand Prime Minister John Key "King Bhumibol was the world's longest serving monarch and presided over a period of transformative growth and development that saw Thailand emerge as a regional leader and one of Southeast Asia's major economies. During his reign, New Zealand and Thailand developed a close and friendly relationship, built on a shared desire for peace and security in our region..." "More than 100,000 New Zealanders visit Thailand each year and with the strong bond of friendship between our two countries, I know many will share in the deep sense of loss and sadness being felt by the Thai people." Us Ambassador to Thailand Glyn Davies "His Majesty lived a long and glorious life. Americans celebrate him because he personified the close connection between our two nations and peoples. ... Through his patience, perseverance and selfless dedication to duty, King Bhumibol embodied Thailand's Ten Kingly Virtues. This beautiful and unique land is touched today by a great and profound loss." Gaewkarn Fuangtong, 39, a humanitarian worker in Bangkok's financial district "There is no word to explain my feelings right now. ... I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better, for his sake." British Prime Minister Theresa May "My sincere personal condolences to the royal family and the people of Thailand on the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. His Majesty guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed." South Korean President Park Geun-Hye Geun-hye has credited King Bhumibol for his leadership as the "father of Thailand and its spiritual pillar" in offering her condolences to the people of Thailand and its royal family. Park in a statement also expressed gratitude that Thailand during King Bhumibol's reign sent troops to fight with allied forces led by the United States during the 1950-1953 Korean War, which was triggered by North Korea's invasion of the South. "On behalf of the government of the Republic of Korea and its people, I express deep condolences to the royal family and Thai people," Park said in a statement. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven "My condolences to the royal family but also to the whole Thai people. King Bhumibol has meant a lot to the Thai people. That one can notice when in Thailand." With inputs from AP and IANS By James Oliphant | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON With Donald Trumps U.S. election prospects dimming and controversy swirling around him, future Republican presidential hopefuls may be weighing whether standing by their man is the savvy move.Party strategists fear voters fleeing Trump will also fail to support Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, possibly costing the party control of Congress.If Trump loses the Nov. 8 presidential election to Democrat Hillary Clinton, his polarizing candidacy may reverberate well past 2016, tarring future Republican White House hopefuls, potentially including House Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trumps vice presidential running mate.Trump was struggling in opinion polls before a 2005 video released last week showed him talking in sexually aggressive terms about seducing women. Afterward came stories in several news outlets alleging Trump had inappropriately touched women. Trump has angrily denounced the stories, the media and Republicans who have declined to support him."The brand has already been irrevocably damaged. Theres nothing we can do in the short term, said Doug Heye, a former top official with the Republican National Committee. Looking to the 2018 U.S. congressional election and the 2020 presidential election, Heye said: In two to four years, the stain on our partys soul wont be washed away.To be sure, a Trump loss is no guarantee the Republicans would suffer for long. Four years after Barry Goldwater's massive loss in 1964, Richard Nixon staged a Republican comeback. The conservative Heritage Foundation think thank has said Goldwater launched a shift to the right that would end half a century of liberal dominance in American politics. DEFINING MOMENT For Republicans weighing a run for president in four years, deciding whether to back Trump may be a defining moment equal to what politicians faced in 2002 when they decided whether to back Republican President George Bush's Iraq invasion. By 2006, public sentiment had turned harshly against the Iraq war, some Republican politicians lost their jobs, and Democrats seized both the House and Senate. Republican presidential hopefuls of the future may be asking: How can I be loyal and stand by Trump while at the same time expand the party's base to include sectors the candidate has alienated? More broadly, they may ask: What's the right side of history?Trumps candidacy has attracted passionate support from a core group of voters but also driven away some moderates and independents. Republicans such as Heye fear Trump, who already has alienated large populations of Hispanic voters because of his hard line on immigration, will cost the party a generation of women voters as well.Ryan, Rubio and Pence all have, to some degree, sought to distance themselves from Trump. Ryan this week told colleagues he would no longer publicly defend Trump, in essence washing his hands of him. Rubio, who ran against Trump in the Republican primary and is fighting for re-election in his home state of Florida, has criticized Trumps remarks about women, but has not withdrawn his support.Pence is routinely forced to answer for his running mates conduct, but managed at last weeks vice presidential debate to outline policy differences with him. If Trump leads the party to crushing defeat next month, he may for years haunt Republican office-holders who supported him.I predict a chaotic round of finger pointing after the election, as people try to justify their position, said Jim Manley, a former top aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid who witnessed the Democratic wave in 2006 first-hand.Democrats are trying to link vulnerable Senate candidates to Trump at every turn. On Thursday, the advocacy group American Bridge highlighted Trumps praise of Rubio on local Florida television, even as Rubio has avoided appearing at any Trump events in the state. Clinton on Twitter this week noted that Ryan has not recanted his endorsement of Trump.'TOUGH' FOR PENCE Strategists say Pence would have the hardest time emerging from Trumps shadow. I think for Pence, its really tough, said Republican operative Liz Mair.Pence excited some conservative voters with his debate performance. A Politico/Morning Consult poll taken afterward showed him as the top choice for 2020 among Republicans, at 22 percent. Ryan, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Rubio followed.Cruz, who was Trumps leading rival for the 2016 Republican nomination, illustrated the perils of trying to respond to Trumps candidacy. After holding out, Cruz endorsed Trump last month, just before the candidate went into a public-opinion tailspin.Cruz and Rubio, as well as Ryan, have come under fire from some Republicans for appearing to waver on Trump, at times standing by him and at other times criticizing him."People that waffle are going to have more trouble than people who pick a side, said Brian Bartlett, a Republican strategist who worked for Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign.He said Ohio Governor John Kasich, another presidential candidate who consistently refused to endorse Trump, may emerge in the strongest position of all. Other potential 2020 contenders, such as South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, may benefit from not being on the ballot this year, thus being spared from being asked constantly about Trump while campaigning.But that assumes the anti-Trump forces in the party hold sway after the election. There will still be a significant chunk of the party who will view Trumps critics as disloyal, Bartlett warned, which may put some establishment politicians on the spot to explain why they did not do more to support the nominee. (Writing by James Oliphant; Editing by Caren Bohan and Howard Goller) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Doina Chiacu and Emily Stephenson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence vigorously defended running mate Donald Trump against allegations of sexual misconduct and promised that evidence casting doubt on the claims would come out on Friday.Trump's White House campaign has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he bragged about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. While Trump said the video was just talk and he had never behaved in this way, multiple women subsequently went public with allegations of sexual misconduct against the New York real estate magnate going back three decades.Trump furiously denied the allegations on Thursday, saying that The New York Times, which published two women's claims, and other media, along with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, were engaged in a vicious campaign to stop him from winning the Nov. 8 election."Stay tuned. I know there's more information that's going to be coming out that will back his claim that this is all categorically false," Pence told CBS show "This Morning."The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Trump would accuse Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim - the top shareholder in the New York Times Company - of helping to generate reports of the sexual misconduct. Trump will claim that Slim, as a donor to the Clinton Foundation charity who also holds a 17.35 percent stake in the New York Times, has an interest in helping her White House campaign, the newspaper cited the adviser as saying.His allegations would feed into Trump's claims of a rigged election system and "false smears" that he says are part of a conspiracy bent on defeating him.LONG BLAMED MEXICO If Trump goes on the offensive against Slim it will only be the latest chapter in a running series of skirmishes with Mexico and Mexicans. Trump kicked off his campaign last year accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States and promised to build a wall along the southern U.S. border that he said he would make Mexico pay for.He also promised to tear up or revise the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Mexican peso slid to record lows in September when Trump was close to Clinton in opinion polls, but the currency has since climbed back.Shortly after Trump's comments insulting Mexicans last year, a television company controlled by Slim canceled a project with Trump. "His statement was totally out of line ... working with someone so closed-minded was not going to work," Elias, Slim's spokesman and son-in-law, said at the time. Trump has previously linked Slim to the New York Times' coverage of his campaign."I know why I get bad treatment in the New York Times. Because its owned by Mexico," Trump said at a February rally in Nevada. "I dont know if you know, a rich guy in Mexico actually has power at the New York Times. I wonder why they dont like us, you know, I just wonder," he said. Slim spokesman Arturo Elias told the Journal that the allegations Mexico's richest man was interfering in the U.S. election were "totally false." Reuters could not immediately reach Slim's spokesman for comment. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the Journal report. New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement, "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report."TURNING POINT In several morning television interviews on Friday, Pence tried in vain to change the subject from Trump's treatment of women to Clinton, her family's charity and information from the hacked emails of her campaign manager, John Podesta.The Times reported on Wednesday that two women said they had endured unwanted groping or kisses from the former TV personality. Several other women made allegations of sexual aggression by Trump in various media outlets following that report.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. The Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. The allegations of sexual misconduct have been a turning point for some in the party who were already uneasy about Trump's unorthodox campaign, and a string of Republican officials have distanced themselves from him since the lewd video emerged.The most senior of them, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, angered Trump when he announced this week he would no longer campaign for Trump or defend him but would focus on trying to preserve the Republican majorities in Congress in next month's election.Ryan was set to give a speech on Friday in Wisconsin to focus on what he called Clinton's liberal progressivism, which he asserted was arrogant, condescending, and paternalistic."Trump has slipped further back from Clinton in national opinion polls in the past week. A Reuters/Ipsos survey this week showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll showed him 8 percentage points behind Clinton among likely voters. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Steve Holland, Michael O'Boyle, Anna Driver, Jessica Toonkel; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Steve Holland and Dan Whitcomb | GREENSBORO, N.C./LOS ANGELES GREENSBORO, N.C./LOS ANGELES Two more women came forward on Friday with allegations that Donald Trump had groped them, including a contestant on his reality show, "The Apprentice," as the Republican presidential candidate said accusations of sexual misconduct against him were part of a plot to discredit him a month ahead of the election.Summer Zervos, who competed on the television show's fifth season in 2006, gave a news conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles, saying Trump tried to get her to lie down on a bed with him when she met him in 2007 to discuss a possible job."He then asked me to sit next to him. I complied. He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast," said Zervos.Separately, the Washington Post published an interview with a woman who said Trump put his hand up her skirt in a crowded New York nightclub in the early 1990s in an unwanted advance, when she had never even met him."He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely," Kristin Anderson said in a video interview on the newspaper's website. It wasnt a sexual come-on. I dont know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it," she told the paper. Anderson could not immediately be reached for comment. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new allegations. But at a campaign rally on Friday afternoon, Trump angrily denounced the allegations that have been made about him by a series of women in recent days, saying that all the accusations about him involving women were fabricated."I dont know who these people are. I look on television, I think its a disgusting thing and its being pushed, they have no witnesses, theres nobody around," Trump said at the rally in Greensboro, N.C.. "Some are doing it for probably a little fame, they get some free fame. Its a total set-up. Now suddenly after many, many years, phony accusers come out less than a month before one of the most important elections in the history of our country," he said.Trump's White House campaign has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he bragged about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. While Trump said the video was just talk and he had never behaved in this way, multiple women subsequently went public with allegations of sexual misconduct against the New York real estate magnate going back three decades.Trump has denied the allegations, saying that The New York Times, which published two women's claims, and other media, along with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, are engaged in a vicious campaign to stop him from winning the Nov. 8 election. The Times reported on Wednesday that two women said they had endured unwanted groping or kisses from the former TV personality. Several other women made allegations of sexual aggression by Trump in various media outlets following that report.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. The Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. (Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb, Doina Chiacu, Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell, Michael O'Boyle, Anna Driver, Jessica Toonkel, Jeff Mason, Timothy Gardner; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alistair Bell and Frances Kerry) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington, United States: Michelle Obama has said she looks forward to a quieter, calmer life after politics. But on Thursday she hit the campaign trail with a vengeance. Her voice quivering with emotion, the wildly popular first lady launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump's sexually aggressive talk about women, calling it "disgraceful," especially coming from a man running for president. "It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted," she said. Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer who has largely shunned the political limelight to focus on education and health issues, galvanized a rally for Democrat Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire with an impassioned plea to "stop this madness." Her comments came as Trump fought back against a cascade of allegations of sexual misconduct, which surfaced days after a video of him boasting that his fame allowed him to grope women with impunity. The Republican nominee has dismissed the tape's contents as guy talk. "This wasn't locker room banter," said the 52-year-old first lady, visibly incensed. "This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women." "It doesn't matter what party you belong to Democrat, Republican, independent no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse." She lashed out at what she called Trump's "cruel" and "frightening" attitude towards women, while deliberately never using his name. "This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable." 'Not how decent human beings behave' Obama is arguably one of America's most popular public figures. She had a favorable rating of 64 percent in a Gallup poll released in August. In addition to her work fighting child obesity and promoting education, in her time in the White House she has achieved the status of a pop star stylish and poised, articulate but down to earth, both fun and funny. After the Obama daughters were voted last year as being among Americas' most influential teens by Time magazine, Obama said, "They're not influential. They just live here." Michelle Obama makes regular appearances on late night TV, "Mom dancing" or singing karaoke, has handed out an Oscar award, and appeared on the covers of magazines such as Vogue, Ebony and Time. She has also joined President Barack Obama on the campaign trail to help Clinton in her bid to become the first female American president. Her appearance Thursday came at a critical juncture: with Trump's presidential bid teetering after claims from at least six women surfaced, alleging that he had made unwanted sexual advances towards them in the past, including groping and kissing. The Manhattan billionaire said Sunday in his second presidential debate with Clinton that despite the lewd 2005 conversation captured on video, he had never sexually assaulted women. Trump has vehemently denied the claims since reported by various US media outlets including The New York Times, NBC and People magazine, slamming them as politically-motivated and threatening to sue the Times. "The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION," Trump posted on Twitter. But Michelle Obama nevertheless attacked him with a vengeance. "The men in my life do not talk about women like this," she said. "This is not how decent human beings behave and this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the United States behaves." She championed Clinton as a unifying force and said only she could help "heal the wounds that divide us." Clinton tweeted right back at her: "@FLOTUS, I'm in awe. Thanks for putting into words what's in so many of our hearts. -H" The first lady issued a rallying cry for women to fight Trump at the ballot box. If Trump were elected, she warned, "we're telling our sons that it's okay to humiliate women. We're telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated." "While our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election," Obama said to cheers. "We have knowledge. We have a choice. We have a vote." Watch the video here: GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Credit: NASA Thirteen years after its first, failed attempt to place a rover on Mars, Europe reaches a crucial stage Sunday in a fresh quest to scour the Red Planet for signs of life, this time with Russia. Mission controllers will instruct a spacecraft about 175 million kilometres (109 million miles) from Earth to release and steer a paddling pool-sized lander towards the Red Planet's cold, dry surface. Scheduled to arrive next Wednesday (October 19), the short-lived lander's sole purpose is to prepare the way for a subsequent rover which will drill into Mars in search of extra-terrestrial life. "Our goal here is to prove we can get to the surface, do science, take data," European Space Agency (ESA) science advisor Mark McCaughrean said ahead of Sunday's lander-release manoeuvres. Dubbed Schiaparelli, the 600-kilogramme (1,300-pound) lander will separate from its mothership, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), after a seven-month, 496 million-kilometre (308 million-mile) trek from Earth. The lander and the TGOwhich will enter into orbit around Mars to sniff its atmosphere for gases excreted by living organismscomprise the first phase of the joint European-Russian ExoMars project. The second phase, due for launch in 2020 after a two-year funding delay, is the ExoMars rover, for which Schiaparelli will be testing entry and soft-landing technology. More than half of US, Russian and European attempts to land and operate craft on the Martian surface since the 1960s have failed. The last time Europe tried, the British-built Beagle 2 disappeared without a trace after separating from the Mars Express mothership in December 2003. It was finally spotted in January 2015 in a NASA picture of Mars. It showed that even though Beagle 2 failed to establish contact, it had successfully landed. What's making the methane? The United States is alone in having successfully operated rovers on Mars. If there is life on Mars, it is unlikely to be found on the surface, which is bombarded by ultraviolet and cosmic rays. But scientists say traces of methane in Mars' thin atmosphere may be an indicator of something stirring underground. Methane also does not survive the Sun's ultraviolet rays for long, McCaughrean explained. "And so for it actually to exist in the Martian atmosphere, it must be coming from something. Something must be making methane." One possible source is underground volcanoes. Another is life: single-celled microbes called methanogens, which on Earth live in places without oxygen such as animal stomachs, where they convert carbon dioxide into methane. It is hoped that the ExoMars roverequipped to drill two-metres (six feet) below the surfacewill yield some clues as to the provenance of Mars' methane. In the meantime, Schiaparelli's exploits will be crucial in designing the rover's landing gear. The lander will separate from the TGO around 1430 GMT on Sunday, about a million kilometres (621,000 miles) from the Red Planet. It will enter the atmosphere on Wednesday at an altitude of some 121 km and a speed of nearly 21,000 km (13,000 miles) per hour. The hot and bumpy trip through Mars' atmosphere will take six minutes. To protect the lander, an "aeroshell" will absorb and dissipate the heat generated by atmospheric drag for the first three or four minutes. When it has reached an altitude of 11 km and slowed to 1,700 km/hr, a supersonic parachute will be deployed, the ESA said. After slowing further and jettisoning its shell and parachute, Schiaparelli will activate nine speed-control thrusters. It will briefly hover at an altitude of two metres before cutting its engines and falling to the surface. The impact is meant to be absorbed by a crushable structure in the lander's bellysimilar to a car's crumple zone. "It is a complex mission," Thierry Blancquaert, ESA's Schiaparelli manager, told AFP. "Landing on Mars requires a lot of technology." With a 10-minute delaythe time it takes for a message to reach EarthSchiaparelli will send data on temperature, humidity, density profile and electrical properties. Battery-driven and without solar panels, the lander should last for two or three days. "Even if it does not work, we will gain a lot of information," said Michel Denis, ExoMars flight director. "If something goes wrong, we will know what it was." After releasing Schiaparelli, the TGO will change course to avoid crashing into Mars. It will then start a 12-month process of "aerobraking"skimming the Martian atmosphere to bleed off energyto change its eccentric orbit into a circular one. In early 2018, it will start analysing Mars' atmosphere from an altitude of about 400 km. If Sunday's separation fails, mission controllers can try again on Monday. Facts behind Europe and Russia's ExoMars mission Europe and Russia will send a test lander Sunday on a one-way trip to the Martian surface, a key step in their joint ExoMars project to search for life on the Red Planet. Some facts about the mission: What's in a name? ExoMars gets its name from "exobiology"the science of analysing the odds and likely nature of life on other planets. Schiaparelli, the lander, was named after a 19th century Italian astronomer who had observed lines on Mars through a telescope which he called "canali". This was mistranslated into English as canal (instead of channel), which cause many to imagine vast irrigation networks built by intelligent creatures. Better telescopes in the 20th century killed that legend. In numbers: The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spacecraft, which will analyse our neighbour's atmosphere, measures 3.5 metres by two metres by two metres (11.5 feet by 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet). It has solar wings spanning 17.5 metres, tip to tip. With the Schiaparelli lander on board, it travelled 496 million kilometres (308 million miles) to get to Mars. On Sunday, it will release Schiaparelli from a distance of a million kilometres. The paddling pool-sized lander, 1.6 metres wide, will test entry and landing gear for a subsequent rover to be launched in 2020. Why? Scientists believe Mars once hosted liquid watera key ingredient for life as we know it. While the Martian surface is too dry, cold and radiation-blasted to sustain life today, this may have been a different story 3.5 billion years ago when the Red Planet's climate was warmer and wetter. Science has long abandoned the hunt for little green men, though. Life, if any exists, is likely undergroundaway from harmful ultraviolet and cosmic raysand in the form of single-celled microbes. Primitive or not, it would be the first time humans ever observe life on a planet other than Earth. The mission will also seek to learn more about geological process on Mars, and about the sand storms that change the face of the planet with their seasonal violence. How? TGO will taste Martian gases, looking specifically for methane. Methane is important because it may be a portender of lifeon Earth it is mostly produced by biological processes. Previous missions had already picked up traces of methane in Mars' atmosphere, but the TGO has much more sophisticated tools which scientists hope to tell whether it is biological or geological in origin. Methane can, theoretically, also be created by underground volcanoes. The rover will drill into Mars to look for evidence of buried, extinct life, or even live microbic activity. Who? While diplomatic ties between Europe and Russia may be under strain, they collaborate closely on ExoMarsa shared project of Roscosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA). Europe has budgeted 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) for the mission America's NASA, which was due to contribute $1.4 billion, pulled out due to budget cuts in 2012, pushing Europe to turn to Russia. Moscow agreed to provide launcher rockets in exchange for space for science instruments onboard the craft. The lander, Schiaparelli, is European, and the rover will be too. The platform housing the rover and its science lab will be Russian. Prestige: "We need to demonstrate our ability to do things on our own," ESA senior scientist Mark McCaughrean told AFP of the European quest. "Its partly about proving that Europe has the capability and the will and the power to pull these projects together." 2016 AFP China should not see increased military cooperation between Singapore and Australia through a deal that will dramatically expand northern Australian training facilities as an attempt to contain it, the two prime ministers said yesterday. Australian and Singaporean officials signed a pact under which Singapore will spend up to 2.25 billion Australian dollars (USD1.7 billion) to double the capacity of its facilities in military training areas in Queensland state. Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said China is the biggest trading partner of both Singapore and Australia. The agreement was part of regional cooperation, he said. I dont think that Singapore and Australia together could possibly be seen as a bloc against China, Lee told reporters. We are good friends, but we are not treaty allies and neither are we opposed to any countries in the region. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he agreed with Lee and his view that the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region had underpinned the regions stability and prosperity for the past 40 years. That extraordinary growth, perhaps most of all in China, has been underpinned by that foundation of peace, Turnbull said. The importance of American engagement in our region cannot be overstated. As well as U.S. military involvement in the region, both prime ministers hoped the U.S. Congress would agree to join the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, even though both major presidential nominees, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, have come out against the pact. Under the new defense deal, the Singapore military will triple its annual access to the Australian training grounds to 18 weeks. Singapore troop numbers will increase from 6,600 to 14,000. The Chinese Embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has been critical of a comparable deal between Australia and the United States to make the northern Australian city of Darwin a growing training hub for U.S. Marines. Australia and the United States last week struck a cost-sharing deal to pay for more than AU$2 billion in infrastructure to accommodate up to 2,500 Marines. The number of Marines rotating through Darwin has grown since the first contingent of 200 visited for six months in 2012. The latest rotation of 1,100 Marines left Darwin on Thursday after six months. Rod McGuirk, Canberra, AP Wang Zhi Min, head of the Central Government Liaison Office in Macau, commented on Li Keqiangs visit to Macau this week. The Premiers visit to Macau is another big event for Macaus society, politics and life, following after President Xi Jinpings visit to Macau during the 15th anniversary of Macaus handover to the motherland, he said. Wang believes that Macau will train more talented people who will in turn perpetuate the core value of Love the Country, Love Macau. Li Keqiang, while visiting a local school, encouraged local students to become patriotic and responsible, as well as to become accomplished people who can build a great motherland and a beautiful Macau. To Wang, Lis words correspond to the great expectations and hopes of the Premier towards Macau. Wang believes that Macau will develop well by enhancing the One Country, Two Systems policies. The Liaison Office head concluded by saying the meaning of Lis visit was fourfold: talking about Macau stories, planning Macaus development, carrying forward the Macau spirit, and, finally, looking towards the future of the SAR. Wang noted that Li Keqiangs trip was intense, rich, close to the people, pragmatic, a complete success, and left an unforgettable beautiful impression of our Macau compatriots. Although the idea of establishing a municipal body without political power is not new, it has regained prominence after the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, said this month that a public consultation on the matter would take place this year. Chan admitted that the creation of such a municipal body might lead to the termination of the current Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), and guaranteed that IACM staff would not come off badly from the expected major restructuring. Chan previously said that the creation of the municipal body was allowed within the ambit of the Macau Basic Law. In order to learn about both consequences and potential benefits of the creation of such a municipal body, the Times spoke with Jose Luis Sales Marques, the last president of Leal Senado (City Hall) between 1993 and 2001. That was when the Senado was abolished and lead to the creation of the current IACM. Sales Marques said that knowing which department or body would work in a better way is the most difficult issue to resolve since it is difficult to evaluate something [that I dont know the form of yet], he said. Besides the uncertainty and the incapacity to judge the relative pros and cons of the possible abolition of the IACM, Sales Marques mentioned that the first issue to consider when creating the future municipal body is related to the competencies of such a body, I dont know exactly if those competencies are the same as the IACM has for the time being [or] if new ones will be added, Sales Marques said. What matters is that the bodies that will be defined will have to have an effective decision-making power and that they would take these decision on the matters they have competence to handle. Sales Marques further added that the decision-making bodies need to be able to reflect in a dynamic way Macaus pulse because these bodies will make decisions in order to solve problems directly related to the wellbeing of the population and in order to raise citizens quality of life. MOP2.6 billion budget in 2016 In this way, Sales Marques highlights the need for clarification around these decisions.Will it be a department adapted from IACM? Will it be a brand new department? This is something that needs to be clarified in order to grant its efficiency, he said.Municipal management is a facilities management, Sales Marques noted, saying that the new body needs to be able to do close-to-people management.Questioned by the Times on the meaning of the future municipal power without political power, the current president of IACM, Jose Tavares, admitted, I also dont know yet what it means, we need to wait for the public consultation that will be done [before] the year end as Secretary Chan said.How [it] is going to work, I dont know [that] either, said Tavares, adding, the only thing that was promised is that nobody will lose their job because of this [announced restructuring of IACM] and thats obviously a good sign.Although he said that he is not yet aware of the consequences of the creation of the municipal body, the president of IACM thinks what is on the line is maybe a change in a little bit of the structure, the name or of some member composition, he suggested, reaffirming that at the time of the public consultation, people should be more informed in order to have an opinion.For now, the issue of the future municipal body seems to raise more doubts than answers. According to the opinions heard by the Times, it will be clearer when an actual proposal for the creation of the municipal body without political powers is officially presented to the public and enters into public consultation before the end of 2016. According to information made available by the IACM to the Times, IACM currently employs 2,630 staff members, a reduced number due to the transfer of some of its functions and staff members to other governmental departments (around 270). The IACM also informed the Times that due to the transfer of some functions the departments budget was also reduced by around MOP373 million from the original MOP2.6 billion in 2016 (which was largely unchanged from 2015, compared to 2.4 billion in 2014). IACM did not respond to other questions posed by the Times, namely if the creation of the new municipal body would lead to changes in the number of staff. Edwin Cheung, chairman of Empresa de Fomento Industrial e Commercial Concordia, S. A., said that the governments recovery of land plots does not diminish his confidence in his next foray into real estate market development in Macau. The statement was offered on the sidelines of yesterdays launching ceremony of the property project Sky Oasis. Cheung admitted that he has always been looking for land in the city. [] any district is ok, even the north district, and some old parts. We are confident in [being able to] develop some high quality apartments, Cheung said. Recently, Zhuhai announced a change in its restrictions on house purchasing. Cheung believes that such policies will affect the prices of his projects if mainland investors move into the Macau and Hong Kong markets. Cheung expects property prices to rise eight percent in the next couple years. I think it [the property prices] will rise steadily, but not greatly, said Cheung, adding that he also does not want to see the prices rise too much. Cheung advised that tremendous increases in property prices are abnormal, exemplifying his remark by alluding to the situation three years ago, when small apartments were being sold at HKD15,000 to HKD16,000 per square foot. We dont like abnormal prices, we like steady [prices], affirmed Cheung. Sky Oasis apartments range from 600 to 700 square feet in area. The apartments are characterized by an 11-foot ceiling height and spacious layout. Additionally, they come supported with an attentive and considerate 24-hour concierge and clubhouse services. Cheung informed that the first batch of apartments will be sold for around HKD9,000 per square foot, which he believes to be reasonable. The properties are expected to be available for sale this weekend. 360 units in total will be put on the market in batches of 120 units each. In one month, Cheung expects to start selling larger apartments of 3,100 and 3,600 square feet. These larger properties will be sold for more than HKD30 million per unit. Cheung does not expect them to be sold within one or two weeks. According to Cheung, the aforementioned project targets mainly the Macau market. He added that 4,000 marriages were registered in 2015, and more than 2,000 weddings already took place in the first half of 2016. He is of the belief that new families prefer to live in new homes, rather than live with parents, thus hinting that Sky Oasis could be the first choice of such couples. JZ The Definitive Guide For Tenants The Yearly Guide For Renting A Home Welcome to the final part of the five part series on the rental process for tenants. This final installment is called Ongoing Living and Termination. Once you have spent the first few weeks in your new apartment and are nicely settled, it is important to ensure that you take responsibility for the ongoing upkeep and condition of the apartment. Whilst the landlord is responsible for structural issues, you can check your contract for who is responsible for minor maintenance issues. There are really only 4 key areas for a tenant to focus on Keep it Clean Keep it Dry Take care of the apartment Pay your bills Keep it clean This will minimize the chance of having an insect infestation such as beetles or cockroaches. To help with this you should keep all food stuffs in tightly sealed containers. Keeping the place clean will also keep it smelling as nice as possible. Keep it Dry Keeping an area dry will keep mould at bay. During humid the times of year, your best bet is to use a dehumidifier and air conditioner to dry the air. If you do find mould starting to appear, treat it straight away. You can do this by cleaning it with a solution of water and white vinegar and making sure the area is dry. Take care of the apartment Make sure that you take responsibility for anything damage, even by accident, and repair it. Rectify any damage you or your family cause and keep the receipts. You may want to let the landlord know what has been done. It is also a good idea to make sure that the air conditioners are serviced once a year and the filters cleaned regularly. Making sure that the windows get cleaned once a year on the outside is a good idea as it brightens up the apartment and lets in the light. Pay your bills Make sure that you pay your bills on time and pay the final bills before check out. If you dont, the cost will be deducted from your deposit and you could face problems with the utility companies. This may also delay the security deposit refund process. Giving notice If you are intending to vacate the property, ensure that you give the landlord the appropriate notice which, under Macau Law, is 90 days. Also, do check your contract for any requirements. Do not be tempted to use your deposit to pay the final months rent as this is in contravention of Macau law, and you will end up owing money to the landlord who is entitled to ask for late payment charges up to 100% of the rental amount. Once you have given notice, your agent or landlord will arrange a check out and inspection with you and return the appropriate amount of the security deposit. If you would like to know more about Tenancy Administration, please feel free to contact us at the e mail address below. Juliet Risdon is a Director of JML Property and a property investor. Having been established in 1994, JML Property offers Investment Property & Homes. It specializes in managing properties for owners and investors, and providing attractive and comfortable homes for tenants. www.JMLProperty.com info@JMLProperty.com King Bhumibol Adulyadej, revered in Thailand as a demigod, a humble father figure and an anchor of stability through decades of upheaval at home and abroad, died yesterday. He was 88 and had been the worlds longest reigning monarch. The Royal Palace said Bhumibol died in a peaceful state at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, where he had been treated for various health problems for most of the past decade. During a reign that spanned 70 years Bhumibol became much more than Thailands constitutional monarch. He was the nations one constant as myriad governments rose and fell, a gentle leader who used the influence of the throne to unify the nation and rally troops through the Cold War as Thailands neighbors fell under communist control. In his heyday, the frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles wielded so much power and respect he was able to squelch coups and rebellions with a gesture or a few well-chosen words. Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a bodhisattva, or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race. But while junta leaders, prime ministers and courtiers approached him only on their knees, Bhumibol was remarkably down-to-earth. He rolled up his sleeves and hiked into impoverished villages and remote rice paddies to assess the state of his country. He played half a dozen musical instruments and jammed with American jazz greats including Benny Goodman. Bhumibol was the worlds richest monarch and one of the planets wealthiest people: Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at more than $30 billion in 2011. Over the last decade, Bhumibol had withdrawn from public life due to illness and was often ensconced at Siriraj Hospital. His wife, Queen Sirikit, has also long been ailing and has been even more rarely seen. Since army-staged coups in 2006 and 2014, political rivals had increasingly invoked the need to protect the palace as a pretext to gain or hold power, and some politicians have been sidelined by opponents who accused them of disrespecting the king, a grave crime in this Southeast Asian country. Although Bhumibol once said he is not above criticism, Thailands lese majeste law the worlds harshest has been routinely employed in recent years, with anyone charged with defaming the palace facing 15 years in jail. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will become the new monarch after the death of his father, in accordance with the constitution. He said the government will notify the National Legislative Assembly, or parliament, of the kings successor, and it will act accordingly with the laws of succession in the constitution. With the kings passing, the worlds longest reigning monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the British throne in 1952. Bhumibol Adulyadej was born Dec. 5, 1927, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was studying medicine at Harvard University. Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, with the prime minister and Parliament holding political power, and the king serving as head of state and placed in a position of revered worship. Bhumibol ascended to the throne in 1946, when his brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in a palace bedroom under circumstances that remain mysterious. After the shooting, Bhumibol returned to school in Switzerland. In 1948, he was seriously injured in a driving accident that deprived him of sight in his right eye; Sirikit Kitiyakara, the daughter of a Thai aristocrat and diplomat, helped nurse him back to health. Bhumibol and Sirikit wed in 1950, a week before the kings coronation ceremony. The name Bhumibol means Strength of the Land, and the bounty of Thailands soil and waters was the kings passion. In 1952 he set out to breed a better freshwater fish, a staple of the Thai peasantry, in the ponds of his Chitralada Palace in Bangkok. Over the course of his reign, as Thailand hurtled from a traditional agrarian society of 18 million people to a modern, industrializing nation of 70 million, Bhumibol spearheaded more than 4,300 development projects aimed at improving life for his people. He traveled to the farthest reaches of his nation to join village elders on a patch of grass to discuss the recent harvest or plot an irrigation ditch. They say that a kingdom is like a pyramid: the king on top and the people below, he once told an Associated Press reporter. But in this country its upside down. Thats why I sometimes have a pain around here. He pointed to his neck and shoulders. While normally in the background of government theater, the king stepped to the forefront at crucial moments. During a pro-democracy uprising in 1973, he ordered the gates of the Grand Palace to be opened to students fleeing the gunfire of troops loyal to a dictatorial triumvirate. The message was clear, and the trio went into exile. In 1992, during another bloody confrontation between the military and pro-democracy protesters, the king called in the two key protagonists, who prostrated themselves before him on nationwide TV and promised peace. The crisis ended immediately. After mass protests against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began in 2006, Bhumibol urged the countrys top courts to resolve the political crisis. A bloodless military coup followed, and part of the army rationale for intervening was Thaksins alleged disrespect for the king. By 2011, the kings health had worsened and Thaksins sister Yingluck Shinawatra had become prime minister through elections. Mass protests helped fuel an unstable climate that triggered another army coup in 2014. Through it all, Bhumibol himself remained adored and revered. His occasional public outings drew tens of thousands of people into the streets trying to catch a glimpse, with most dressed in the royal color yellow. Denis D. Gray & Todd Pitman, Bangkok, AP Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday began a two-day state visit to strong ally Cambodia, during which he will strengthen the already firm relationship and witness the signing of nearly 30 agreements. It is Xis first trip to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation since he became head of state. He is due to meet with King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hun Sen said that at least 28 cooperative agreements, mainly covering the economy, investments, agriculture and infrastructure, are set to be signed during Xis visit. China is Cambodias key ally and economic partner, providing millions of dollars in aid and investment over the past decade. China has granted Cambodia tariff-free status on hundreds of trade items and written off its debt. In July, Beijing gave nearly USD600 million in aid to support the countrys election infrastructure, education and health. In return, Cambodia supports China in international forums, including in Beijings ongoing dispute with other Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea. Security was tight for Xis arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, where several hundred students stood at both sides of the road to greet the president and his delegation by waving Xis portraits and the two nations flags. Several thousand security personnel also have been deployed along the streets in the capital. Xi signed an article in the largest Cambodian daily Rasmei Kampuchea in which he said that the two countries enjoy deep political trust and win-win economic cooperation. China and Cambodia are devoted friends. On issues concerning each others core interests and major concerns, our two countries have stood together and supported each other, he wrote. AP TWIN FALLS A 69-year-old Pocatello man will spend at least three years in prison for sexually abusing a Twin Falls girl, but he could be there up to 15 years and will likely die in the Idaho State Penitentiary if he doesnt accept responsibility and seek treatment, a judge said. Prosecutors also revealed the defendant, David Alan Higbee, was convicted in 1985 of molesting a young girl in California. We believe this man is a threat, Twin Falls County Deputy Prosecutor Suzanne Craig said. But because he pleaded guilty and spared these young girls a trial, we agreed on five to 15 years. District Judge Randy Stoker sentenced Higbee to three to 15 years, but explained he doesnt think hell be out in three years, in part because its a fact sex offenders are not customarily released early because they dont avail themselves of treatment. Higbee was indicted by a Twin Falls grand jury in April on three felony counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16. The indictment charged him with sexually touching two young girls on at least three occasions in April and September of 2015, while interviews with several girls revealed three who said Higbee touched them. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dismissed two of the counts and sought the five to 15 year prison term. Higbee and his court-appointed public defender, relying on a psychosexual evaluation that determined he was a low-risk to reoffend, asked for a retained jurisdiction sentence that would have seen him avoid prison in favor of a therapeutic and educational program directed by the Idaho Department of Correction. If he were treated in a retained jurisdiction program, Deputy Public Defender George Essma said, he would still be registered as a sex offender and still be on heightened sex-offender probation. Higbee also personally asked Stoker for the chance to undergo treatment in a retained jurisdiction program. Higbee wept as he described finding a savior who has shown the way to be forgiven. When Higbee finished, Stoker spoke for 20 minutes explaining his decision. Probably the most troubling thing in this case is your prior record, Stoker told Higbee, explaining that in most cases, he wouldnt give much weight to a felony sentence from three decades before in another state. This case is different, Stoker said. That was a sex offense documented back in 1985. Here we are 30 years later, and youre still involved in child sex offenses. I dont think anything has changed in your life, its just a matter of whether youve been caught or you havent. Higbee interrupted the judge at one point. You admit in the presentence investigation to finding images of young pubescent females titillating, Stoker told Higbee. I didnt, Higbee whispered gruffly before Essma warned him not to interrupt the judge and Stoker told him he accepted the report at face value. The one part of the presentence psychosexual evaluation that Stoker disagreed with was its finding that Higbee was a low risk to reoffend. Thats based on a false premise based on your age, Stoker told Higbee. I understand that as men age, their sexual drive normally decreases. But thats not what we have here. Youre 69 and it still happened. Thats of grave concern to me. The judge said if the only factor he was forced to consider were punishment, hed sentence Higbee to life in prison without parole. I wouldnt take the risk, Stoker said, that youd ever be out molesting another child. But by law, Idaho judges have to consider four factors when sentencing a defendant rehabilitation, retribution, deterrence and the good order and protection of society. Based on those factors, Stoker said, the three to 15 year prison term was appropriate and is effectively a life sentence if Higbee doesnt make parole. This sentence will require you to either come to grips and accept that you need help and you need treatment and you participate in it, Stoker said. Or, frankly, youre going to die in the Idaho State Penitentiary. Thats your choice, not mine. TWIN FALLS A 73-year-old Twin Falls man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to possession of child pornography and admitted to downloading more than 400 images and videos depicting child sex acts. Richard Roy Sexton faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine up $250,000. Sexton was first contacted by investigators in August 2015 at his Twin Falls home where he admitted to downloading child pornography on a desktop computer, a plea agreement said. The investigators seized the computer and an external hard drive. Then in October 2015, Sexton went to a Verizon Wireless store in Twin Falls seeking help with a tablet computer; during the visit, a Verizon employee discovered child pornography on the device, the plea agreement said. Employees at the store contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which contacted local investigators who seized the tablet. All told, Sexton confessed to downloading more than 360 images and 40 videos, including some depicting sexual acts by prepubescent children under the age of 12, the plea agreement said. At least 332 of those images were of children known and identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Sexton was indicted by a federal grand jury, but the indictment was dismissed last month as part of the plea agreement. The plea deal does not stipulate a prison term, but the federal crime of possession of child pornography is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, at least five years of supervised released and a $250,000 fine. Sexton must also register as a sex offender and forfeit his computer, hard drive and tablet. He also agreed to a full-disclosure psychosexual assessment but will be granted immunity for any new sexual crimes he admits to during the presentence investigation as long as he follows through on the other terms of his agreement. Those terms include no contact with minors, no access to the internet and undergoing polygraph tests to monitor his compliance. The case was investigated by agents from the United States Postal Inspectors Service and the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Sexton has been released from custody until his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Jan. 10 with Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill. BOISE Community members are invited to attend forums and provide feedback about the Every Student Succeeds Act. The Idaho Department of Education will present its state plan in five cities including Jerome and Cassia County, it announced Thursday. A Jerome forum is 6-8 p.m. Nov. 2 in the conference room at the Jerome School District administrative office, 125 Fourth Ave. W. in Jerome. The Cassia County forum is 6-8 p.m. Nov. 3 at the little theater in the King Fine Arts Center, 1 Bobcat Boulevard in Burley. For more information, contact Jeff Church at 208-332-6934 or jchurch@sde.idaho.gov. BOISE The Idaho Department of Education announced Thursday it will accept applications for after-school program grants for the 2017-18 school year. It plans to award $1.5 million to school districts, charter schools and other organizations. Applications are due Jan. 27. A free workshop for those interested in applying is 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Red Lion Hotels conference room in Twin Falls. Recipients will receive money for up to five years. Its federal funding through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. Currently, there are 94 after-school programs across Idaho funded through this program, serving 5,500 children. To register for the workshop, call 208-332-6960 or visit sde.idaho.gov/student-engagement/cclc/index.html. CAREY Nearly 9,000 acres of prime sage grouse habitat in Blaine County is for sale at a discounted price. The Nature Conservancy is selling the Cenarrusa Ranch, once part of the familys sheep empire northeast of Carey, between the Pioneer Mountains and the Craters of the Moon National Monument. The Cenarrusa name is well known in Idaho. Pete Cenarrusa, Idaho Secretary of State for more than three decades, owned land adjacent to the Cenarrusa ranch. The ranch was previously owned by the politicians nephew Jim Cenarrusa. The younger Cenarrusa sold the property earlier this year to The Nature Conservancy, so that the ranch covered with sagebrush, native grasses, fish-filled creeks and wildlife could be protected from future development. Sage grouse and pronghorn inhabit the region, and thats created increased efforts from multiple conservation agencies. The Pioneers Alliance, a coalition of conservationists (including the Conservancy), scientists, residents, ranchers and elected officials, began the efforts to conserve ranches in the area. The Cenarrusa Ranch is one of the largest of those ranches. Tess OSullivan was part of the group that studied the pronghorn migration corridor north of Craters, as the fleet-footed mammals were riding the green wave of grass revealed as snow retreated into higher elevations. Pronghorn migrate through the Cenarrusa Ranch on their way to and from winter feeding grounds. OSullivan now works for The Nature Conservancy as a species protection specialist. The purchase of the ranch was a little out of the norm for the Conservancy, she said. Most efforts taken by the group involve helping landowners conserve their own property by placing restrictions on their land. The restrictions, or conservation easements, lower the monetary value of the land and reduce property taxes, while making the property eligible for conservation money through the Department of Agricultures Natural Resources Conservation Service and other conservation entities. Landowners give up certain rights to their property to protect the habitat from development, OSullivan said. One such conservation easement would allow public access to the land for hunting, fishing and hiking. Another would restrict grazing in wetland areas. Still another would require wildlife-friendly fencing to control cattle. The conservation easements, which are voluntary and legally binding, stay with the property from owner to owner. The Nature Conservancy purchased the ranch with the intention of reselling it to a buyer willing to accept restrictions on its use in exchange for a lower, more affordable price, OSullivan said. The price the organization gets from the resale of the land will depend on what conservation easements are negotiated in the sale. The intent, she said, is to keep the ranch undeveloped and open for all to enjoy. The Conservancy declined to say what it paid for the ranch, or its asking price. The online property listing says the price is negotiable. Its a special place out here, Pioneers Alliance member and conservation partner Kathy Molyneus said in a statement. Im excited that the Conservancy recognizes how much this land means to us as neighbors and has stepped up to protect it for the long term. Chief Justice Jim Jones, who is retiring at the end of the year, has never been one to bow to conventional thinking. During his days as Idahos attorney general, he took on the oil companies, not through litigation, but through press releases. When gas prices started creeping too high, hed send out a press release threatening to investigate collusion. Magically, prices would go down. In 1990, the political establishment told him he shouldnt run for the U.S. Senate, and that it was Larry Craigs turn to serve. Of course, Jones didnt listen. He lost the race but ran a spirited campaign and gave Idaho voters a legitimate choice. So it would have been out of character for Jones to resign early from the Supreme Court and allow the governor to make an appointment. He thought it was only right for the most important judicial position to be placed in the hands of the voters, and for candidates to make their case to the public. Now, after a hotly-contested primary, its down to two Curt McKenzie of Nampa and Robyn Brody of Rupert. Its a pretty dull campaign compared to the mess we see on the presidential level. Neither McKenzie nor Brody are resorting to insults and negative ads, or suggesting their opponent is unqualified or unfit to hold the job. Theyre simply telling voters why they think they should be sitting on the Supreme Court. Arguably, this is the most important election in Idaho, next to the presidential election. Congressional races dont appear to be competitive, and many of the legislative races were decided in the primary. So that leaves the Idaho Supreme Court, which should not be confused with the U.S. Supreme Court. Presidential candidates and party wags talk about how the Supreme Court is hanging in the balance with this election. They are not referring to the Idaho Supreme Court. Brody describes the Idaho Supreme Court as the court of the ordinary. Water law, planning and zoning laws, easements, divorce law and child support guidelines are some of the items that appear on the court document. These are things that have a big impact on people, and sometimes they dont even realize it, she said. McKenzie is well known for his seven terms as an Idaho state senator, but he has a deep law background. He received his law degree from Georgetown University, and one of his heroes is the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who once spoke at one of McKenzies classes. That gave me the dream of serving in the judiciary, McKenzie said. Since then, Ive studied hundreds of pages of his opinions and decisions, and I believe the philosophy he articulated was the correct one. He called it textualism, which applies to the text of the document. Thats a fancy way of saying McKenzie will interpret laws as written, and not try to make new laws, as activist judges do. Brody, a graduate of the University of Denver, has been practicing law for nearly 20 years in the Magic Valley. I have a diverse civil practice with one foot in the business world and one foot in the litigation world, representing farmers, ranchers, local hospitals and school districts, she said. The kinds of issues that are brought before the Supreme Court are in my wheelhouse things I deal with every day. Background isnt the only area of contrast between the two candidates. McKenzies long list of endorsements includes many Republicans in the Idaho Legislature. Other supporters include the National Rifle Association, Idaho Chooses Life, and the Idaho Farm Bureau organizations that typically support Republican candidates. Brodys endorsements include a couple of legislators, some trial lawyers, but not a lot of household names. Jones says hes neutral in the race, but says, I dont think the special interests should be involved. Impartiality, or at least the appearance of impartiality, is paramount to serving as a Supreme Court justice. But this is a political race, and Idaho is a Republican state, so McKenzie cant be blamed for using GOP connections to his advantage. If he wins, chalk it up to smart politics. If Brody wins, we can conclude that high-profile endorsements dont carry much weight in a Supreme Court race. We are writing this letter in support of Catherine Talkington as Idaho representative for House seat 24B. She brings new perspective to our important decision-making process not only as an educator but a small-business owner, community volunteer and an avid outdoor enthusiast. She has gone door to door to over 5,000 homes listening to what issues are the most important to you, the voter. Contrary to what her opponent, incumbent Steve Hartgen, wants you to believe, that she is a tax and spend liberal,Catherine is devoted to quality education and protecting our public lands. When Idaho spends 3.5 times more each year on a state prisoner than on a public school student, it is time to make a change and Catherine will work toward that change. Tourism is one of our top industries, increasing nearly 19 percent in the last couple of years. In 2015, Idaho attracted 33 million visitors who pumped $1.7 billion into our states economy, $20 million in lodging sales for Twin Falls County alone. Some lawmakers including incumbent Hartgen have been pushing for land transfers. Despite Idahos Attorney General Wasdens declaration that our public lands cant be made into state land: They never were and never can be Idaho lands, Idaho spent $275,000 in the past three years paying lawyers to plead for these transfers, of which incumbent Hartgen supported. The Legislatures Constitutional Defense Fund, also supported by incumbent Hartgen, cost taxpayers $2 million funding lawyers trying to take over public lands. Catherine will work hard to ensure our public lands are protected and remain public for all of us to enjoy. Its time for a change, better solutions, and new blood. We urge you to think outside of party lines and vote for Catherine, the best qualified and who has our best interests at heart. Allen and Peggy Merritt Kimberly Following the targeting of destroyer ship USS Mason at the beginning of the week with two missiles that failed to hit it, Washington responded by launching cruise missiles on three radar sites on the Yemeni Red Sea Coast cities of Ras Issa, Mucka and Khokha. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said they were targeted based on the assessment that they were involved in missile launches in recent days and to also assure the safety of the ships and crews as well as protect freedom of navigation through a waterway that is vitally important to international commerce. The Red Sea Coast is part of territories under the control of the Houthi Movement and their allies but the rebels have not claimed responsibility for the attack. Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, the spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, said the direct American attack against the Yemeni soil this (Thursday) morning is not acceptable and we will respond with any future development in the appropriate time and with the appropriate manner because they didnt target any US warship. Last week, a swift boat leased by the United Arab Emirates was hit by rockets around the same area. The US was quick to add that the strikes does not mean that it would be engaged in the Yemeni war, as Cook said Washington encourages all parties in the Yemen conflict to commit to a cessation of hostilities and to seek a political solution to that conflict. Nevertheless, he warned, we will respond if our forces come under fire and take appropriate action at the appropriate time. The Red Sea and Bab el Mandeb are strategic maritime routes and millions of barrels pass through them every day. Cook said safe navigation through the strait is vitally important to economies in the region and to global commerce and the US is determined to protect it because this narrow passage is a vital link connecting Asia and Europe. The US played down claims that Iran had a role in the missile attacks given its close ties with the Houthis. Cook stated that what they are certain of at the moment is where they (missiles) originated from and we have responded. Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. South Sudans exiled rebel leader Riek Machar left Khartoum on Wednesday, for medical examinations in South Africa. The former rebel leader who lives in exile in Khartoum since July told reporters at Khartoum airport that he is going to South Africa for further medical tests () Hundreds died last in July and tens of thousands were displaced when forces loyal to Machar clashed with President Salva Kiirs government troops in South Sudans capital, Juba. Following the fierce fighting, Machar withdrew to the bush with his forces and was later replaced as vice president by party rival Taban Deng Gai. The prominent opposition leader said there was an attempt to assassinate him during fighting inside the State House in Juba. Machar noted that he is now ready to accept any initiative for peace in South Sudan. The peace agreement has collapsed, and up to now there is not any political initiative from anybody, so we will resist in self-defense, said Machar. Political differences between Machar and President Kiir ignited the civil war in December 2013 and they only agreed to settle their differences under intense international pressure, signing a peace deal in August 2015. Seventeen Angolan activists sentenced to prison for rebellion against long-serving president Jose Eduardo dos Santos in March, were granted amnesty by the countrys courts on Wednesday. The activists including rapper Luaty Beirao were handed sentences of between two and eight years in prison in March. They were released in June to serve out the rest of the sentences at home. Most of the defendants were arrested during a book club meeting in June last year, where one of the works under discussion was a book about nonviolent resistance to repressive regimes by the US political philosopher Gene Sharp. One of the accused, rapper Luaty Beirao, went on hunger strike for over a month last year to protest against his detention. Beirao, who holds dual Portuguese and Angolan nationality, has a loyal fan base in Portugal, Angolas former colonial ruler. We do not want amnesty it is foolish to pardon innocent citizens. There are only two ways, we are innocent or we return to jail, one of the activists Sedrick Carvalho told AFP on Wednesday. Amnesty is only a means for President Dos Santos to clean his dictatorial image, he added. On March 11, dos Santos, 73, said he would step down in 2018 but the announcement was received with skepticism following two similar pledges in the past. His current mandate ends at the end of next year. Entercom Acquires Podcorn Platform matches brands with the most relevant podcast creators to scale native branded content and drive higher ROI for advertisers. Read more David Field Joins Cheddar Entercom Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer discusses interest in audio from consumers and advertisers, and the rise of social audio platforms. Read more Entercom Launches BetQL Audio Network Network to Serve as Home of Companys Sports-gambling Content, Will Launch Companion Broadcast Distribution Channels in Denver and Los Angeles. Learn more Power, People and Politics Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer bring listeners inside Washington for an unfiltered, non-partisan look at every major issue of the day. Learn more RADIO.COM The Long Shot A new Cadence13 and ThreeFourTwo Productions podcast with Miami Heat Forward Duncan Robinson. Learn more Entercom Teams up with the Ad Council on Coping-19 Mental Health Campaign Providing bilingual audio assets with resources to help Americans address mental health challenges. Learn more INSIGHTS Industry Trends In Streaming Audio & Podcast Performance Learn more about setting goals, measuring success with data and benchmarking KPIs across multiple industries. Download eBook OUR PLATFORM 24/7 sports conversation from coast to coast As the nations #1 local sports platform, we give fans access to teams they cant get anywhere else. Visit our stations Creating the industrys most compelling, curated content. Connecting through the influential voices and conversation keepers our communities trust and love. Leveraging our integrated broadcast, digital, podcast and experiential platform every day, in every major market across the U.S. Delivering better engagement through audio. This is Entercom. 170 Million Monthly Broadcast Listeners 2 Billion Yearly Podcast Downloads 60+ Million Monthly Digital Reach 500+ Per Year Events and Concerts A platform of influence We are leading the way in helping advertisers connect with audiences in meaningful, engaging ways across our integrated platform of iconic broadcast brands, expansive digital assets, premium podcast network and live events and experiences. Our capabilities Serving our communities We are committed to supporting the health and success of the communities at the heart of our business. We use our voice to unite listeners, brands, and employees, and create positive impact around key causes. Learn more (HealthDay)Some LivaNova PLC (formerly Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH) Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices might have been contaminated with Mycobacterium chimaera during manufacturing, according to a press release from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Patients who have had open-heart surgery should seek medical care if they have infection-related symptoms, such as night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss, fatigue, or unexplained fever, the CDC said in the news release. The agency also said that hospitals and doctors should identify and inform patients who might have been put at risk. Current information suggests that patients who had valves or prosthetic products implanted have a higher risk of infection. "It's important for clinicians and their patients to be aware of this risk so that patients can be evaluated and treated quickly," Michael Bell, M.D., deputy director of the CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, said in a statement. "Hospitals should check to see which type of heater-coolers are in use, ensure that they're maintained according to the latest manufacturer instructions, and alert affected patients and the clinicians who care for them." Explore further Contaminated machines in ORs linked to patient infections More information: More Information Copyright 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Around six per cent of Stockholmers are thought to have chronic kidney disease, roughly as many as those suffering from type 2 diabetes. There is, however, a major difference between the two: chronic kidney disease is in many ways invisible, and most sufferers are unaware of the fact they have it. This according to researchers from Karolinska Institutet, who have studied the incidence of the disease amongst 1.3 million patients in Stockholm. The study is published in Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation. Sufferers of chronic kidney disease experience a gradual deterioration of kidney function. In its early stages, the symptoms are not that clear, although high blood pressure, anaemia and disruption of the calcium-phosphate balance are common. Eventually, the disease is associated with cardiovascular disease and death. Although in the later phases of the disease patients require dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive, if it is caught early enough there are good treatment options available. However, there is a serious lack of knowledge concerning diagnosis and treatment and how the patients are to be taken care of by the healthcare services. When researchers at Karolinska Institutet analysed the results from clinical laboratories in Stockholm County, they noticed that around six per cent of the 1.3 million people examined had chronic kidney disease; however, most of them had not received a diagnosis and were unaware of their problem. Kidney disease turned out to be as common as type 2 diabetes and often has co-morbidity with other chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. "The study shows up a lack of awareness about how common the disease is," says Juan-Jesus Carrero, researcher at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology. "Caregivers need such knowledge to be able to treat and prevent serious, life-threatening kidney failure and to give the correct drug doses. There's much room for improvement in the health services when it comes to detecting and treating the disease." The presence of albumin in the urine is a good measure of chronic kidney disease Current guidelines say that the presence of albumin in the urine is a good measure of chronic kidney disease and enough to warrant referrals to a nephrologist. The study shows that many people with albumin in their urine were not referred or diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. Only one in four people with chronic kidney disease had seen a kidney specialist. "By making caregivers more aware of the disease and how chronic kidney disease can be treated in its early phases, we'd make considerable heath gains for society," claims Professor Carl-Gustaf Elinder, consultant for the Stockholm health administration and Peter Barany, acting clinical manager at Karolinska University Hospital, both of whom are co-authors of the study. Explore further New strategy may help prevent kidney failure in patients with diabetes More information: Alessandro Gasparini et al. Prevalence and recognition of chronic kidney disease in Stockholm healthcare, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation (2016). Alessandro Gasparini et al. Prevalence and recognition of chronic kidney disease in Stockholm healthcare,(2016). DOI: 10.1093/ndt/gfw354 Mouse on a treadmill: The sleep-wake cycle of animals is also synchronized by internal clocks. Credit: MPI for Biophysical Chemistry / Boettcher-Gajewsk Ludwig II of Bavaria is a particularly striking example of how differently people's internal clocks can tick. Historical sources tell us that the monarch usually carried out his government business at night and slept during the day. Whether the "Fairy Tale King" had a disorder that disrupted his sleep-wake rhythm is a matter even Gregor Eichele can only speculate about. Nevertheless, Eichele and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen have gained many new insights into how our body's natural timekeepers work. "The sleep-wake cycle is intimately linked with our internal clock," says Gregor Eichele, who heads the Genes and Behaviour Department of the Max Planck Institute in Gottingen. Eichele knows first-hand how the internal clock can affect wellbeing: for many years he commuted regularly between Germany and the USA, and the circadian clock has long been one of his scientific passions. Every day, millions of people experience how their sleep patterns are affected by their internal clock. Nowadays air passengers can cross several time zones within hours. The result is that their internal clock often gets out of synch. Others complain of sleep disturbances when the clocks are turned forward or back by just one hour for summer and winter time. Even in the case of such small adjustments, it can take the internal clock several days to re-synchronize with the environment so that the affected individual is able to sleep again as usual. "Nevertheless, sleep and the internal clock are fundamentally different. Whereas sleep is a function of the body as a whole, the internal clock is a property of individual cells," Eichele emphasizes. At the same time, the two influence each other. For example, neurons and substances like oxytocin and other sleep-regulating neuropeptides are controlled by the 24-hour circadian clock, which is therefore essential to ensure that we're able to fall asleep at the right time. The word "circadian" is derived from the Latin circa (approximately) and diem (day). It expresses the fact that the internal clock only approximately keeps a 24-hour rhythm. An individual can have a circadian clock with a rhythm of, say, 24.7 hours. If the person lived for several weeks in a room that is always illuminated, he or she would fall sleep 42 minutes later every day than on the previous day. Environmental conditions mainly light act as timekeepers to continuously recalibrate the internal clock to a rhythm of exactly 24 hours. This seemingly complex system exists because the daily day-night cycle is not in itself sufficient to synchronize the biological processes in our body. Consider, for example, the light environment of modern life. If our physiological rhythms were merely a response to the presence or absence of light, any prolonged evening with all its artificial light sources would have catastrophic effects on our metabolism and sleep-wake rhythm. Instead, our internal clock recognizes these external time signals as spurious and keeps the body chronologically stable. The circadian clock probably arose at the very dawn of evolution. The very first single-celled organisms in the primordial seas may have benefited from an ability to predict the sunrise and descend into deeper waters to avoid it. In this way they escaped from the UV radiation of the sun, which at the time was still essentially unfiltered. In the darkness of the deep sea, the clock then signalled to the microbes when it was time to surface again. Once they evolved, virtually all life forms have retained the internal circadian clock movement. It is beneficial for plants to carry out photosynthesis only during the day. In diurnal mammals such as humans, body temperature rises before waking. The release of the stress hormone cortisol peaks in the morning to boost physical and mental performance. Metabolism, muscle tone, renal function and blood metabolite concentrations fluctuate over the course of a day. There is a molecular clock for every cell, every tissue, every organ whether the liver, kidneys, heart, gut, immune system or skin and for the body as a whole. "We have a whole shop full of clocks," says Eichele. Being Swiss, you might say he is predestined to analyze such mechanisms. In order for all the clocks to display the same time, they must be continuously synchronized with the 24-hour light / dark cycle of the environment. The most important clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), is located in the brain. Within this nucleus are 50,000 interlinked neurons that are also connected to neurons in other brain regions. The SCN receives signals through nerve fibres from specialized sensory cells in the eyes. When light strikes a light-sensitive pigment in the sensory cells of the retina, they generate an electrical signal, which is relayed to the SCN. Without the SCN, hamsters, for example, lose their daily rhythm. Scientists have measured this by placing a treadmill in the cage and recording the rotations of the wheel as a measure of the hamsters' activity. Hamsters are mainly active between sunset and sunrise. Without an SCN, however, they were about as likely to exercise during the day as during the night. Yet the animals did not sleep more than usual. This finding suggests that the nucleus, as the master clock, relays information to all the other clocks in the cells, tissues and organs of the body, and synchronizes them both with the day and with each other. However, this theory has been called into question by recent research: Eichele's team has modified mice genetically in such a way that the important clock gene Bmal1 is inactive specifically in the SCN. Their experiments differ from the hamster studies in that the connections to and from the nucleus are left intact. According to the theory, the animals' internal clocks should go haywire. Do cilia in the brain regulate sleep? A cavity system is located deep in the human brain: four cavities, called ventricles, are connected to each other via channels. They act as conduits of cerebrospinal fluid, which contains, among other things, neuropeptides which, for example, ensure that we become tired. The SCN, believed to be the seat of the internal master clock, is located near one of the ventricles. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization have recently discovered that eyelash-like processes, called cilia on the wall cells of the ventricles can change their direction of motion, thereby altering the direction in which the cerebrospinal fluid flows. At certain times of the day, they even produce eddies that act as barriers. It is still not definitively known whether the distribution of the fluid, and consequently of the sleep-inducing neuropeptides, actually follows a circadian rhythm. The researchers may have discovered a wholly new mechanism that is based not on the activity of neurons but on the activity of wall cells in the ventricles. Credit: MPI for Biophysical Chemistry / Regina Faubel / Hartmut Sebesse That doesn't happen! "We've found that the other circadian clocks remain synchronized even without the master clock in the SCN," Eichele explains at least under the condition that light and dark alternate in a 24-hour rhythm. Chaos ensues, however, if mice lacking the SCN clock are kept in permanent darkness. They then have problems keeping their other internal clocks in synch. The body therefore needs the natural light-dark cycle as a timekeeper. Although food intake can calibrate the circadian clock to a precise 24-hour rhythm, this results in only semi-synchronized internal clocks. Evidently, the clock system is organized like a federal country that is able to keep the individual regional governments running even if the federal government sometimes grows weak. "This system is ultimately more stable than one that relies exclusively on the SCN," Eichele says. But how do internal clocks synchronize without the master pacemaker in the brain? One possibility is that the body's clocks receive light/dark information from the SCN. Researchers have shown that light can activate clock genes in organs such as the liver via the autonomous nervous system. If the nucleus is absent, light signals travelling from the eyes into the body also peter out. Light then no longer has an effect on the autonomous nervous system or the body's clocks. Since the scientists from Gottingen only switch off a single clock gene and not the entire neural nucleus, light signals are still able to reach and synchronize the other clocks in the body via the nucleus. Evidently, the signals do not have to be pre-processed in the clock cells of the nucleus. It is also possible, however, that other important clocks in the brain stand in for the SCN and synchronize the body's clocks. A likely candidate would be the pituitary gland, which also receives light signals from the eyes. Located at the base of the brain, the gland releases the hormone ACTH into the bloodstream, which is then transported to the adrenal glands, where it triggers the release of cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin. These stress hormones are known to be important pacemakers for the internal clocks of peripheral organs. Eichele and his team have discovered that mice with a defective SCN clock rhythmically release the hormone corticosterone in the course of the day in synch with other body clocks almost as in normal mice. This hormone is analogous to cortisol in humans. "It's possible that corticosterone synchronizes the body's clocks if the SCN fails as a timekeeper," Eichele concludes. This suggests that the internal clock in the adrenal glands is almost as important as the clock in the SCN. Moreover, the clocks in the body's tissues and organs are influenced not only by light but also by sleep. "You have to be relaxed, free of stress and able to sleep when you want, meaning in accordance with one's personal chronotype, which determines whether you go to bed early or late and tend to sleep for short or long periods," says Henrik Oster of the University of Lubeck, who headed a research group at the Max Planck Institute in Gottingen until the end of 2012. Since Oster's time in Gottingen, he and his colleagues have been studying the relationships between sleep, the internal clock and metabolism. They have observed, for example, that the liver and fat cells of mice with sleep disorders no longer operate in synch. The researchers want to determine if the rhythm of the cells of other organs, such as the kidneys, is also decoupled. A lot of evidence also suggests that sleep disorders can also alter metabolism via the internal clock. For example, Oster and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute altered the normal sleep rhythm of mice, thus compromising their internal clocks. They prevented the mice from sleeping in the morning by placing toys in their cages. After a few days, they found that the disrupted sleep pattern had an impact on the internal clocks of peripheral organs, which were then no longer able to switch important metabolic genes on and off. One target of such a metabolic disturbance is hormone-sensitive lipase. Normally the circadian system ensures that this adipocyte enzyme is active during the sleep phase. It then breaks down stored fats, which the body needs to bridge this period without food. However, because lipase activity is lower in sleep disorders, little fat is released into the body. "Because blood glucose levels fall in these circumstances, the result is an energy emergency. The animals get hungry," Oster says. The mice start to eat, which then further disrupts their sleep patterns. The result is a vicious circle that causes the animals to gain more and more weight. To complicate matters, hormones in the stomach reset the liver's clock if the mice eat when they should actually be asleep. Consequently, the liver's metabolism becomes increasingly imbalanced. Is the body somehow able to compensate for this metabolic chaos? The answer is yes, in some circumstances. Oster's team disturbed sleeping mice and only provided access to food during their normal waking phase. The mice were then allowed to eat as much as they wanted. "That normalized activation of the clock genes in the liver," Oster says. This indicates that the time of food intake appears to be a very important factor for the development of obesity and metabolic diseases." The Lubeck-based researchers have also observed that clock genes regulate metabolic changes in sleep-deprived humans. Whether that really can lead to obesity and diabetes has not been established. However, studies on shift workers also point in that direction. The mouse experiments also clearly show that properly synchronized sleep and food intake can compensate for and perhaps even reverse many metabolic imbalances. For this and other reasons, Oster believes that stabilizing the internal rhythm can be an important factor in the treatment of metabolic diseases. After all, many metabolic functions follow a pronounced daily rhythm and are influenced by stress. Sleep, for example plays a key role. "If you get sufficient sleep at the right time," Oster says, "you'll be less susceptible to metabolic disorders." Conventional medical wisdom has long held that placebo effects depend on patients' belief they are getting pharmacologically active medication. A paper published today in the journal Pain is the first to demonstrate that patients who knowingly took a placebo in conjunction with traditional treatment for lower back pain saw more improvement than those given traditional treatment alone. "These findings turn our understanding of the placebo effect on its head," said joint senior author Ted Kaptchuk, director of the Program for Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This new research demonstrates that the placebo effect is not necessarily elicited by patients' conscious expectation that they are getting an active medicine, as long thought. Taking a pill in the context of a patient-clinician relationship - even if you know it's a placebo - is a ritual that changes symptoms and probably activates regions of the brain that modulate symptoms." Kaptchuk, with colleagues at Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA) in Lisbon, Portugal, studied 97 patients with chronic lower back pain (cLBP), which causes more disability than any other medical condition worldwide. After all participants were screened and examined by a registered nurse practitioner and board certified pain specialist, the researchers gave all patients a 15-minute explanation of the placebo effect. Only then was the group randomized into one of two groups; the treatment-as-usual (TAU) group or the open-label placebo (OLP) group. The vast majority of participants in both groups (between 85 and 88 percent) were already taking medications - mostly non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDS) - for their pain. (Patients taking opioid medications were excluded from the trial.) Participants in both the TAU and OLP groups were allowed to continue taking these drugs, but were required not to change dosages or make any other major lifestyle changes, such as starting an exercise plan or new medication, which could impact their pain. In addition, patients in the OLP group were given a medicine bottle labeled "placebo pills" with directions to take two capsules containing only microcrystalline cellulose and no active medication twice daily. At the end of their three-week course of pills, the OLP group overall reported 30 percent reductions in both usual pain and maximum pain, compared to 9 percent and 16 percent reductions, respectively, for the TAU group. The group taking placebo pills also saw a 29 percent drop in pain-related disability. Those receiving treatment as usual saw almost no improvement by that measure. "It's the benefit of being immersed in treatment: interacting with a physician or nurse, taking pills, all the rituals and symbols of our healthcare system," Kaptchuk said. "The body responds to that." "Our findings demonstrate the placebo effect can be elicited without deception," said lead author, Claudia Carvalho, PhD, of ISPA. "Patients were interested in what would happen and enjoyed this novel approach to their pain. They felt empowered." Kaptchuk speculates that other conditions with symptoms and complaints that are based on self-observation (like other kinds of pain, fatigue, depression, common digestive or urinary symptoms) may also be modulated by open-label treatment. "You're never going to shrink a tumor or unclog an artery with placebo intervention," he said. "It's not a cure-all, but it makes people feel better, for sure. Our lab is saying you can't throw the placebo into the trash can. It has clinical meaning, it's statically significant, and it relieves patients. It's essential to what medicine means." "Taking placebo pills to relieve symptoms without a warm and empathic relationship with a health-care provider relationship probably would not work," noted Carvalho. Explore further Vitamin D3, placebo both improve chronic low back pain Women and children in rural Uganda look on as a service provider from a nearby health center provides malaria tests for communities on the lake's edge. Credit: Kim Burns Case The World Health Organization estimates that nearly half of the world's population is at risk for malaria, a life-threatening, but ultimately curable and preventable disease spread by mosquitos. Malaria rapid diagnostic tests are an important part of the fight against the disease, but according to new research from MIT, supply chain challenges keep these tests from making it onto clinic shelves, putting patients at risk of misdiagnosis, which over time can lead to antibiotic resistance. MIT researchers have just released a new report evaluating these malaria rapid diagnostic supply chains in Uganda, where misdiagnosis is common and where many patients turn to the private sectorlocal pharmacies, clinics, and drug shopsfor malaria treatment and care. The report, "Evaluating Business Criteria for Scaling Stock of Malaria Rapid Diagnostics," details the study design and findings of the latest experimental evaluation implemented by the Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE), a program supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by a multidisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students at MIT. Launched at MIT in 2012, CITE is a pioneering program dedicated to developing methods for product evaluation in global development. CITE researchers evaluate products from three perspectives, including suitability, or how well a product performs its purpose; scalability, or how well the product's supply chain effectively reaches consumers; and sustainability, or how well the product is used correctly, consistently, and continuously by users over time. Service, not a product To conduct this evaluation, MIT researchers worked closely with the Malaria Consortium, a nonprofit organization that specializes in the prevention, control, and treatment of malaria worldwide. In 2014, the Malaria Consortium established a pilot program to increase availability of malaria rapid diagnostics in Uganda's private sector, where they had observed stocks were limited or non-existent. "MIT's research focused on the private sector's willingness to stock malaria rapid diagnostics," said CITE scalability lead Jarrod Goentzel. "The availability of diagnostic technologies at the local pharmacy where sick people initially seek care is critical in making sure they receive the right treatment." To better understand the challenge, CITE conducted interviews and focus groups with key supply chain actors involved in the Malaria Consortium's pilot study: both first-line buyers, all three distributors, and 28 retailers. Through a literature review, interviews, and these focus groups, CITE identified 17 criteria that supply chain actors considered when making decisions about whether or not to stock malaria rapid diagnostic tests. Then, researchers used a management science technique called "multi-criteria decision analysis" to better understand which of the 17 criteria were most important to individual actors' decision-making. "One of the primary insights was that retailers were more concerned about their time to make the diagnosis than the cost of the technology," Goentzel explains. "Their satisfaction with stocking the technology dropped significantly when the 'time for sale' went longer than 10 minutes." The retailers were involved in four key steps for every malaria rapid diagnostic test they sold. First, the consultative sales transaction, then administration of the test, followed by a waiting period, and finally, interpretation of results. "This process takes time away from their other business, making them less inclined to stock the product," Goentzel says. "We recommend that going forward, malaria diagnostics should be framed as a service to be provided rather than a product to be sold." Retailers interviewed for the study also valued training on how to administer malaria diagnostics, a fundamental requirement that enables them to offer these diagnostic services in the first place. Business model alignment across the supply chain While retailers emphasized the importance of training and time of sale, distributors in the study identified expiration date and sales volume as the most important criteria in their decision to stock malaria diagnostics. The shelf life for malaria rapid diagnostics is measured in months, not years, and while retailers are able to place small orders from distributors to avoid expiration risk, distributors are often left with expired product. "In this malaria rapid diagnostic supply chain, distributors were bearing most of the financial risk," Goentzel explains. "Additionally, they were asked to provide training to the retailers, which is a major investment of their time." These criteria were reflected in the CITE evaluation of four potential business models for selling malaria rapid diagnostic tests, including: selling World Health Organization (WHO)-approved products with no bundled services; selling WHO-approved products using Malaria Consortium's bundled services; selling products not approved by the WHO; and not stocking the products at all. First-line buyers and retailers preferred the bundled services option because of the high value they place on training. On the other hand, distributors preferred selling malaria rapid diagnostics outside of the bundled services due to issues highlighted earlier. The research team recommend devising different business models to share risk and balance responsibility across all actors in the supply chain. "Modifying aspects of the bundled service model might make this option more attractive to the distributors going forward, which would drive sales volumes across the supply chain," Goentzel added. Explore further Testing for malaria reduces overprescription by more than 70 percent More information: Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test Evaluation: Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test Evaluation: cite.mit.edu/reports/malaria-r tic-test-evaluation# This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching. (HealthDay)Obesity before a cancer diagnosis is associated with an increased risk for overall and individual secondary primary cancers (SPCs) in males, according to a study published online Oct. 10 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Sang Min Park, M.D., Ph.D., from the Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea, and colleagues assessed the effects of obesity before the diagnosis of a first cancer on the development of secondary primary cancers in 239,615 Korean male cancer survivors (January 2003 through December 2010). The researchers found that over 1,614,583 person-years of follow-up, 4,799 patients had SPCs. Among cancer survivors, the age-standardized incidence rate of cancer was 1.1 times higher than that of the general population. Prediagnosis body mass index (BMI) and risk of all-combined, colorectal, liver, lymphoma, biliary tract, kidney, and obesity-related SPCs had positive linear trends. The adjusted hazard ratios for SPCs among severely obese (BMI 30 kg/m) cancer survivors were significantly higher than those for first cancers among all cohort participants (1.41 versus 1.12). "Prediagnosis obesity is a risk factor for overall and individual SPCs, and the strength of the BMI-cancer association is slightly stronger in male cancer survivors than in the general population," the authors write. Explore further Increasing prevalence of obesity in cancer survivors Copyright 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved. THE TRUE COST OF ALL THAT 'CHEAP' LAOR THAT DESTROYED AMERICA THE BIG SECRET DEMOCRATS DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW: Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeless largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. : 9 2013 . 9 . . @MichaelAuslen and @MaryEllenKlas Friday morning, the Florida Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty sentencing law, declaring that all death sentences should be decided by a unanimous jury. "I am profoundly disappointed by todays Florida Supreme Court opinion that found a component of our death penalty law unconstitutional. ... Make no mistake, those impacted most by this miscarriage of justice are the families as they watch the perpetrators of some of the most heinous and vicious murders and tortures continue to live the days their loved one were denied," said Florida House Speaker-designate Richard Corcoran in a statement. "This decision is indicative of a Court that comes to a conclusion, then seeks a judicial pathway, however tortured, to achieve its desired result. That is antithetical to the rule of law and dangerous for our state." Spokespeople for Gov. Rick Scott Florida Senate President Andy Gardiner and President-designate Joe Negron said they were reviewing the court's ruling. So did Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. "We are reviewing the Florida Supreme Court ruling, but in the meantime Florida juries must make unanimous decisions in capital cases as to the appropriateness of the death penalty," said spokesman Whitney Ray in a statement. Here's how advocates and elected officials responded in the hours following the court's ruling: "It was a pretty simple question. We either found a compromise or nothing happened and doing nothing was not a reasonable outcome," said Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, who also said he was not surprised by the court's ruling. If we had done nothing then there would not have been a law that the Supreme Court of Florida could pass judgment on. Now we have direction and so we needed to act at the past session in order to end the delays in the death penalty system. "I supported unanimous juries in the past and I think its probably the right decision," said Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. "This is just really a trend of what supreme courts have been doing around the country on this issue." "We enforce the laws, the Legislature writes the laws and the Supreme Court interprets the laws," said Buddy Jacobs, general counsel of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, which opposed unanimous juries. "So we will be talking and meeting on Monday to try to come up with some sort of road map of where we go from here based on this opinion." "For years, we have warned the Florida legislature that unless they rewrote our states broken death penalty, the courts would take the issue out of their hands," saidHoward Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, in a statement. "Just as we warned the Florida Legislature that they would, the Florida Supreme Court has inserted some much-needed fairness in our death penalty process by declaring that anything short of a fully unanimous jury is unconstitutional." Todays opinions released by the Florida Supreme Court continue to reveal a broken, mistake-prone death penalty system that fails victims families, the innocent, and taxpayers. It is time to end the use of Floridas failed death penalty government program," said Mark Elliott, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, in a statement. "For more than a decade, prosecutors have known full well that Floridas death sentencing scheme was seriously flawed and could be unconstitutional, yet they downplayed concerns and advised against reforms. Victims families were dragged through long, repetitive, and painful procedures, record numbers of innocent people were sentenced to death, and Florida taxpayers paid the enormous costs." "Florida finally joins the rest of the states in requiring what everyone has known for a long time -- that at least, the imposition of the death penalty requires a unanimous verdict," said Miami defense lawyer Philip Reizenstein, who handles death cases. "What remains is for Florida to join the rest of the civilized world and end the death penalty." The Florida Supreme Courts ruling that jury recommendations for the death penalty must be unanimous is a long overdue recognition of the states fatally flawed capital punishment regime," said Professor Mary Anne Franks of the University of Miami School of Law in a statement circulated by the Fair Punishment Project. "The prosecutors who relentlessly pursued death sentences despite being repeatedly placed on notice that the states death penalty regime was constitutionally defective should be held accountable for the emotional and financial costs they have imposed on victims families and on taxpayers. We'll keep updating as reactions come in. With reporting by Tampa Bay Times staff writer Laura Morel and Miami Herald staff writer David Ovalle. @ByKristenMClark With an already narrow balance of power at stake in the Florida Senate and the political futures of several incumbents on the line some of Miami-Dade Countys state Senate races have turned increasingly ugly as Election Day draws closer. In one race, a Democratic incumbent has been accused of consorting with a Middle Eastern terrorist, and in a couple of others, the candidates have sparred passionately over their policies and potential conflicts of interest. Voters are already casting ballots in the countys five races, four of which are competitive. Democrats hope an anti-Donald Trump wave will help boost their candidates prospects even further, while Republicans have poured millions of dollars into helping their contenders retain or in one case, gain seats. @PatriciaMazzei @AndresViglucci A surprise guest showed up Thursday at the first debate between Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo and Democratic former Rep. Joe Garcia: Garcia's former chief of staff, who was fired and went to jail when the ex-congressman was in office. Jeffrey Garcia sat in the auditorium of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, after having disappeared from local politics following his jail term. His presence did not go unnoticed. As soon as Curbelo and Joe Garcia, no relation, sparred over the criminal cases that resulted in two convictions for Jeffrey Garcia, Curbelo pointed to the audience. "He's actually sitting right there," Curbelo said. "You never spoke to him again," Curbelo continued, before invoking the school's motto. "Whatever happened to 'men for others'?" Mentioning Jeffrey Garcia made it seem like he might have been invited by Curbelo, so he could make a point against his opponent. A Curbelo spokeswoman denied having given him a ticket and suggested he'd gotten it from Garcia. But a Garcia spokesman also denied any involvement. Jeffrey Garcia, as a Belen alumnus like both candidates, said that's how he'd gotten in. "I don't need an invitation to come to Belen," he told the Miami Herald. This post has been updated with Jeffrey Garcia's comment. Photo credit: David Santiago, el Nuevo Herald The judge who extended Florida's voter registration deadline will tackle a second voting rights case Friday in another lawsuit brought by Democrats, who want the courts to give more protection to mail ballot voters with signature problems. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee is once again racing against the elections clock as he considers whether voters should have a chance to correct a mismatched signature to prevent their votes from being rejected by election supervisors or canvassing boards. The state and national Democratic parties sued Gov. Rick Scott's chief elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, and want the judge to declare that everyone who voted by mail be given the same chance to cure a signature defect that voters who neglect to sign the ballot envelope are allowed to do. In ordering a week-long extension of the voter registration deadline because of Hurricane Matthew. Walker is already on the side of wanting to protect voters' rights ("No right is more precious," he said in his deadline extension order Wednesday). Among the evidence Walker will consider in the signature case is a report by University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith, who was asked by Democrats to analyze all mail ballots rejected in Florida's last presidential election in 2012. He found that about 1 percent of all mail ballots statewide were rejected in 2012, or 23,000 out of about 2.3 million cast; that rejection rates varied widely from county to county; and that in the 11 counties he studied, Democrats were more likely to have their ballots rejected than were Republicans. The counties Smith studied were Alachua, Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Leon, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Sarasota and Seminole. "In some counties," Smith wrote, "the number of absentee ballots that had signatures that (supervisors) and canvassing boards determined did not match far exceeded the number of absentee ballots that electors did not sign." Smith singled out heavily-Democratic Alachua and Seminole, a Republican county, where more than 80 percent of the rejected mail ballots were due to signature mismatch problems. Judge Walker has asked Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho to testify Friday as a court witness on the signature mismatch issue. A full hearing will be held next Tuesday, which also is the last day that people can register to vote for the upcoming election. @jamesmartinrose Log Cabin Republicans on Friday endorsed Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo in their re-election races, along with five other incumbent lawmakers from across the country. The advocacy group, which believes that equality for LBGT people is in the best traditions of the Republican Party, said the seven newly endorsed representatives "have been steadfast allies of LBGT freedom" in the House of Representatives. "All of these common-sense conservatives have not only spoken out in support of equality, but also cast votes in the 114th Congress that confirm their commitment to the cause," Gregory T. Angelo, head of Log Cabin Republicans, said. Ros-Lehtinen, running for her 15th term against Miami small business owner Scott Furhman, expressed gratitude for the endorsement. "I will continue to promote inclusiveness and ensure the fair and equal treatment of all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender," she said. Curbelo is running for his second House term against Joe Garcia, the former congressman he defeated two years ago. "In Congress, I have been proud to stand up for equality," Curbelo said. "I am honored to have the support of Republicans who understand that equality can never be a partisan issue." For more information about Log Cabin Republicans, read here. Photo credit: Hector Gabino, El Nuevo Herald But over the last few weeks, the departments Twitter account has featured a few entries of a different sort. On Wednesday, the @MiamiSchoolsPD account retweeted a message from Donald Trump calling for a reversal of President Obamas Cuba policies. A few weeks earlier, the schools police account retweeted a GIF of sloshing beer mugs promoting Happy #NationalDrinkBeerDay and a Miami New Times article asking if marijuana oil was the new female Viagra. Miami-Dade Schools police spokesman Lt. Raul Correa was surprised to learn about the tweets, which he had not seen before the Herald brought them to his attention. He said he wasnt sure who had posted the off-topic tweets but he had a good idea how it happened. In an effort to attract more Twitter followers, Correa said he had given the account password to half a dozen people in the department so they could all pitch in to keep it active. He wanted to make sure the schools police had a lot of Twitter followers so they could reach parents and students when they needed to. He said he had not expected the staff to take the new freedom so liberally. I'm going to limit the access now, Correa said, vowing to change the Twitter account password as soon as he got off the phone. --KYRA GURNEY The infamous "Too Big To Fail" program, in which billions of taxpayer dollars were given to huge financial institutions to prevent further economic crisis in the wake of the Great Recession, was a necessary evil. That's according to Neel Kashkari, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, who hosted a town hall discussion about the economy and the role of the Federal Reserve on Thursday night at the University of Montana. Kashkari was working for the U.S. Treasury Department during the financial crisis, and he admits that he's "the guy that bailed out the banks." The Toxic Asset Relief Program, in which bad investments made by banks were purchased by the government, was signed into law in late 2008. "We hated that we had to do it, but we were faced with the choice of that or allowing the economy to collapse and turn it into a Great Depression instead of a Great Recession," he said. Kashkari compared the collapse of huge banks to meltdowns at nuclear reactors, because the failure of each means that the wider community around it is devastated. He also said he has little patience for those who claim that the banks should have been allowed to collapse, thereby allowing an entirely new system to rise from the ashes. "We've all been taught to not smoke in bed because it's dangerous," he said. "When one of your neighbors smokes in bed and the house catches fire, you would love to let it burn down. But we send in the fire department because we live in neighborhoods and all the other houses could catch fire. It's easy to say just let it all burn, but we don't have a choice." Kashkari said it wouldn't have been fair if "the rest of us" were living in the Great Depression today. "It's an easy and glib thing to say (that the banks should have been allowed to collapse) but if you stop to think about it for two and a half seconds, it doesn't make any sense," he said. He placed the blame for the financial crisis on the shoulders of more than just bankers. "The root cause of the crisis is that human societies are prone to mass delusions," he said. "The delusion was home prices only go up. I bought a home and I participated in that. Bankers, regulators, homeowners and ratings agencies believed it." The situation is bound to repeat itself, if not during this decade then in future decades, he said. He and others at the Minneapolis Fed have been taking input from experts all over the world to try to come up with a better system, because Kashkari still thinks that "breaking up the banks" might be a good solution. The problem, he said, is how much people are willing to pay for more regulations and safety measures. "It's not illegal to be stupid, but can we build a regulatory system that allows humans to make human mistakes without devastating the economy?" he asked. On Nov. 16, Kashkari and his colleagues will unveil a series of options aimed at finding a solution at the Economic Club of New York. A petition signed by at least several faculty members and many University of Montana students calls on Gov. Steve Bullock to hire a new UM president and commissioner of higher education in a transparent national search. Lewis Schneller, who helped gather the 129 signatures as a member of the UM Advocacy Coalition, agreed Thursday the petition won't actually result in the governor launching a search for a new UM president. The coalition is an informal campus and community group that has questioned the direction of the administration. However, Schneller also said it is critical that the governor understand "the desperateness of the situation" on the Missoula campus. Enrollment at UM has dropped some 24 percent in the past six years, and some faculty members are concerned the ensuing budget cuts will hurt the quality of instruction if UM isn't able to grow its coffers soon. The petition notes the "most disturbing" enrollment decline is the 9 percent decrease in incoming freshmen. It also notes that UM has lost "tens of millions of dollars in revenue" as a result, and the community feels the effects. "As a result of this sharp decline ... the economy in the city of Missoula has been adversely impacted," the petition said. "It is now incumbent on you (the governor) to address this critical situation in an urgent fashion." Professor G.G. Weix is one of the faculty members who signed the petition. She said she believes it's important that transparent national searches are conducted for high-profile positions, and she also wants the governor to hear about the state of UM. "For me, it was more important that petitions continue to go to him so that he understands how dire the situation is," said Weix, an anthropology professor. This summer, President Royce Engstrom brought on board a vice president with a new focus on enrollment. He had not seen the petition Thursday, but he has said UM has a positive trajectory in every direction but enrollment, including more graduate students than the entire Montana University System combined, and recruitment is his team's focus. At a news conference this fall, vice president for enrollment and student affairs Tom Crady said the changes he's implementing should lead to an estimated 3 percent enrollment increase in fall 2017. In addition to Weix, at least three other signatures appear to be from UM faculty, but just one has a working campus number. Some UM departments cut phone lines last year to save money, and of those faculty, only Stephen Neyooxet Greymorning has a voicemail; he could not be reached Thursday. Michel Valentin, a professor in modern and classical languages and literature, confirmed by email he also had put his name to the petition. Schneller said he's pleased UM hired Crady in an open and transparent national search, and he's optimistic the new vice president can deliver results. However, he still believes two administrators at the top, Engstrom and Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian, should be replaced for the good of UM. "The boat is still taking water," Schneller said. "We haven't turned this thing around." Spotty cell service prevented a comment from Kevin McRae in the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. Last week, however, McRae said a funding formula implemented several years ago is getting UM more money than it otherwise would have given its enrollment. The governor's communications director did not respond to a voicemail. ARLEE For almost all Americans, a journey to the homelands of their ancestors requires the crossing of oceans. For Lorraine Stevens of St. Ignatius and her 9-year-old granddaughter, Maurita Voice, its a 51-mile hike. On a cold October morning, at a church and cemetery southeast of Arlee, the two set out on foot for the Bitterroot Valley. They were joined by dozens of other people from the Flathead Indian Reservation on Thursday who, for three days, will honor their ancestors by walking a route similar to the one their forebearers traveled 125 years ago. Their Return to the Homeland journey has one significant difference. Their ancestors in 1891 were sent north, against their will, by the U.S. government and escorted by U.S. soldiers. These people are reversing the direction. Following a smudging ceremony and a prayer led by Tony Incashola in the Salish language, they started walking south. Incashola, director of the Salish-Pend dOreille Culture Committee, said its called the Salish Trail of Tears. *** Its hard to describe what it was like for them, being removed from the place where they had lived, grown up, raised their families, Incashola said. For years afterward, people would not tell the story or talk of the removal. They didnt want the young people to hate, and they feared they would feel that way. Gary Three Woodcocks and Lucy Vanderburg led the walkers as they departed the St. John Berchman Catholic Church the same Jocko Church their ancestors had arrived at 125 years ago after walking north for three days. Three Woodcocks was first to carry the staff, a talking stick with an eagle feather used for several years in tribal hunting camps, horse camps and for coyote stories. Vanderburg wore a yellow shawl made by Louise Combs (1900-2005). Combs' mother-in-law, Mary Ann (1882-1978), made the walk in 1891 as a young girl. The 2016 walk began at the foot of Louise Combs grave in the church cemetery, and Incashola said he believes Mary Ann, who was one of the last survivors of the removal, is also buried there. Young Maurita Voice donned a smaller maroon shawl reportedly made by Mary Ann herself. They suffered for us. Im grateful I have a chance to see what they went through, Voices grandmother, Stevens, said. Im teaching one of my little ones, and Im learning to understand what it was like for them at the same time. While a core group intends to walk all three days and all 51 miles, others will take part in various legs. The large group that left the Jocko Church included several students from Nkwusm, the Salish language school in Arlee, and Two Eagle River School in Pablo. They were taking part in the first leg, which took them from the church to U.S. Highway 93. Three horseback riders, Leon Wieder, Austin Moran and Bryce Finley, also joined in. The Salish werent really a horse people, Wieder said, but historical photographs do show a few young Indian men on horseback as everyone else made the journey on foot. The core group camped at the KOA in Missoula, and on Friday will proceed to the Chief Looking Glass Campground in the Bitterroot, as they make their way home. On Saturday, at approximately 2 p.m., another large group is expected to join them for the last mile of the walk, to St. Mary Mission Church in Stevensville. *** Willie Stevens, Lorraines brother and one of the organizers of the journey, said the purpose is to honor the memories of ancestors forced from their homeland, and remind younger Salish people of a sad but important part of their history. We dont want a permit, we just want to walk, he said. Were doing it in a peaceful way. Stevens distributed a detailed history of the Salish and their connections to the Bitterroot to the walkers. Chief Victor succeeded in getting the Bitterroot Valley south of Lolo Creek set aside as a Salish reservation in the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 pending a survey, according to the handout, but white settlers soon wanted the land for agricultural and timber purposes. Shortly after Chief Victors death in 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant issued an executive order falsely asserting that the survey had been conducted, and that it had determined that land to the north better suited the wants and needs of the Salish people, the handout said. A delegation led by a future president, James Garfield, was then dispatched in 1872 to negotiate the removal of the Salish from the Bitterroot. Despite the threat of bloodshed the new leader, Chief Charlo, who was Victors son, also refused to sign such an agreement. Back in Washington, Garfield recommended the government proceed as if Charlo had signed. The official copy of the agreement, which was sent to the Senate for ratification, had Chief Charlos mark forged onto it, the handout says. Years later a U.S. Senator from Missouri, George Graham Vest, had clerks dig up the field copy of the agreement. There was no X beside Chief Charlos name. *** Two sub-chiefs broke with Charlo and, in 1873, moved with a few families to the Flathead Reservation. Most Salish remained with Chief Charlo in the Bitterroot, where the government assigned them individual allotments of land and seized the rest of the valley for white settlement. As the railroad arrived and with it, more people, demand for land in the Bitterroot increased at the same time that mining, logging and agriculture were burgeoning. Pressures on the Salish, who were trying to live by traditional ways as property lines carved up the valley, worsened. In 1889, Chief Charlo finally agreed to move north after receiving assurances that housing would await his people. Anticipating the long-resisted move, the Salish did not plant crops in 1890. Congress, according to the handout, then failed to appropriate funding for the removal of the Indians to the Flathead Reservation. The same things were repeated in 1891. But late that year, in October, Gen. Henry B. Carrington arrived and told the Salish it was time to go. Mary Ann Coombs likened the trip to a funeral march, the handout says. Children wondered why the grownups were crying. Despite the losses incurred in the removal, and the governments failure to deliver promised help, the Salish rebuilt their lives on the reservation, the handout says, assured that now, at last, they would be left alone. Thirteen years later, of course, Congress then opened the Flathead Reservation to white settlement. But thats another story. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are about two three-day walks, 125 years apart. Today's Salish will arrive in the Bitterroot on the same October date their ancestors left. The Montana state auditor leads an office that is often overlooked or misunderstood, even though its insurance and investment work impacts every single Montanan. Ive spent the past seven years serving as the top lawyer in the office and in that time, Ive had the absolute joy of helping Montanans in every corner of our state. I've been in the trenches fighting for you and I'm ready to put that experience to work as your next state auditor. My career has been dedicated to consumer protection, which is exactly why I love the work of the office. Over the past seven years, our office has returned an average of $3-$6 million per year to Montanans whose claims were denied by insurance companies and weve returned nearly $400 million to victims of securities fraud during that same time period. Whether you're a senior citizen who has been defrauded of your hard-earned savings, someone suffering from a chronic or terminal disease whose insurance company has denied a procedure your doctor believes is necessary, or a family fighting an excessive bill from an air ambulance company, Ive been on the front lines standing up for you. In addition to overseeing the insurance and investment industries, the state auditor has the important duty of sitting on the Land Board. Unlike my opponent, who has been an ardent supporter of transferring control of public lands, I will strongly resist efforts to sell off and privatize Montanas public lands and make sure we protect and expand access to the lands, rivers, and streams that belong to all of us. As a native Montanan and father, I know the importance of maintaining that access now and for generations to come. My experience and record of results are why Im supported by the Montana Chamber of Commerce, groups representing Montana's working families, and conservation groups. For me, it's not just wanting to do the important work of the office, it's knowing how to do it. I'll hit the ground running on my first day in office and I'll put my unmatched bipartisan record to work in passing a bold legislative agenda in 2017. It's an agenda that includes working together with providers, patients and insurers to bring transparency to our healthcare system, allowing Montanans to make informed choices, and stabilizing the cost of keeping our families healthy. We shouldn't have to wait for our insurance company to tell us the cost after a medical procedure. This will put downward pressure on premiums, which is critical because the trend of high premiums we're all paying is unsustainable and unacceptable. I will also continue the important work of the Air Ambulance Working Group I chaired this year, which will ensure Montana families aren't saddled with crushing medical debt due to an emergency flight. Ultimately, this race is about experience, results and two dramatically different visions for Montana. I'm respectfully asking for your vote so I can get to work fighting for you. Election to the State Auditors Office means the individual will serve as insurance commissioner for Montana. This person will play a critical role in setting policy which will effect nearly every man, woman and child in our state. Whether through health, life, homeowners, automobile, workers compensation insurance or the myriad investment products available, everyone in our state is impacted by this office. The Auditors Office provides for the licensing and oversight of the firms selling insurance and investment products and determines which products can be offered in our state as well as the prosecution of those found violating laws governing those products. While the Auditors Office does not set insurance rates, they do set the policy that dramatically impacts those rates. Many Montanans have watched as the Auditors Office, assisted by my opponent, has put policies in place which have hurt Montana families and businesses. Our automobile insurance rates are the nations second-highest, workers compensation insurance rates are 10th-highest. The health insurance rates recently released have left many families facing premium increases anywhere from 30 percent to nearly 60 percent, and this is beyond last years double-digit increases and does not even account for the increases in our deductibles. My opponent has embraced Obamacare and with it he has broken our health care system. Now that we know you cannot keep your doctor or your insurance, or save $2,500 a year on insurance, his solution is to turn the entire health care system over to the government under a single payer system. I believe we have an obligation to focus on affordable access to health care for everyone. I have brought forth solutionsand will continue to if electedsuch as health care sharing ministries, primary care provider agreements, and access to insurance products across state lines. These common-sense policies will decrease costs and remove the government from between you and your health care provider. I have proposed and passed many of these concepts in the Montana Legislature while serving as the Senate majority leader. Alternatively, under my opponents watch, health insurance rates have skyrocketed, and the governor vetoed legislation which would have lowered health care costs and helped our families and businesses. The other important role the insurance commissioner performs is sitting on the State Land Board. The Land Board is responsible for the management of roughly 5.2 million acres of state school trust lands and about 6 million acres of mineral rights. These lands are not to be confused with the U.S. Forest Service lands or any land owned by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, as some would lead you to believe. The Land Board is made up of the governor, attorney general, Secretary of State, Auditors Office, and the superintendent of public instruction. This group is constitutionally charged to manage those lands in perpetuity for the financial benefit of the Montana public schools. Any timber sale, agricultural lease, commercial lease or pipeline easement on those lands needs to be approved by the Land Board. These lands are physically managed, however, by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. I think it is critical we have people on the Land Board with background in land management to ensure these lands generate the revenue as mandated by the constitution without degrading them, thereby reducing the recreational use and access which is so important to the people of Montana. I have that expertise and will always protect these lands for our schools' and citizens' use. I am asking for your support, your vote and your assistance if elected, as our system only works with your participation. Historic huckleberries to Missoulas first Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrated Monday in place of Columbus Day thanks to a City Council resolution approved last year. The days celebrations kicked off a week of free public events designed to educate about the historic role of Native Americans, and honor their contributions both past and present. A chokecherry fact-check to the state Democratic Party insisting that gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte supports a sales tax when he has repeatedly stated that he does not. In fact, Gianforte made his opposition to a sales tax a major plank in his campaign months ago when he unveiled his 406 tax plan. The 0 stands for 0 sales tax. While its true the Republican candidate vying for the governors seat against Democratic incumbent Steve Bullock has made statements in the past in support of sales tax including in testimony he gave to an Income Tax Advisory Council in 2002 - he has been clear and unequivocal about his position on it now, and it is disingenuous of the Montana Democratic Party to cast Gianfortes position on this issue as substantially different from Bullocks. Huckleberries to retired Missoula attorney Larry Riley for working to expand a pro bono legal guardianship project, which provides legal services for free or reduced rates to the families of individuals with developmental disabilities. Riley has helped such families secure legal guardianship of their loved one 50 times in the past four years alone; now, he and Billings attorney Tom Lynaugh are proposing that the Montana State Bar create a statewide directory of lawyers willing to do the same. Actuarial chokecherries to the Missoula County Risk & Benefits departments penchant for pricey retreats. Department employees travel to training events on the taxpayer dime once a year, which in itself is just fine. However, an accounting of the money spent to allow the departments 13 employees to stay in out-of-town resorts, such as the $5,200 spent on a conference in Whitefish only five employees attended, reveals a concerning lack of hesitation to spend public money. County Commissioner Cola Rowley was smart to call for regular outside review of the departments budget going forward. Rivers of huckleberries to bipartisan congressional efforts to designate the East Rosebud a Wild and Scenic River. U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines, and U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, are actively working to attach the bill to congressional legislation and see it passed before the end of the year. The joint efforts of a Democrat and two Republicans to protect a prized waterway proves that statesmanship lives on even during an election season. Regarding the resettlement of Muslim refugees in Montana, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester does not understand that not all refugees entering Europe have any identification, and it is ludicrous to believe that this government can provide security information on refugees coming from countries that no longer have records of its own citizens. Islamic terrorists disguised as refugees continue to operate in Europe murdering and maiming innocent citizens. Is this what Jon Tester wants for Montana? "The White House announced plans for the U.S. to accept at least 85,000 total refugees in 2016. That number could increase to 100,000 in 2017. While the refugees will be taken in from around the globe, the majority of those will be Syrian. However as these plans move forward, we must ensure our national security, especially given the activity of radical terrorist organizations in Syria. The FBI Terrorist Screening Center will vet everyone who is contemplating travel to the U.S. at the National Counterterrorism Center. Every person's name and information will be checked in databases kept by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community. Refugees must also conduct in-person interviews. This whole process typically takes between 12 to 18 months so that we can appropriately screen all candidates before granting anyone refugee status." A 71-year-old Flathead County man is headed to prison for four years for dealing in firearms without a license, and making and transferring a machine gun. John Stewart Davis of Coram was indicted and pleaded guilty to the charges in June, and was sentenced Thursday by Chief District Court Judge Dana Christensen. In addition to his 48-month prison term, Davis was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart said she was prepared to introduce evidence, if the case went to trial, that Davis had made and transferred a machine gun that was not registered, had dealt in firearms without a license, and had sold firearms to out-of-state residents. The U.S. Justice Department said Davis had been dealing firearms without a license for a quarter of a century, although only the years 2013-15 were listed in the indictment. Undercover law enforcement officers bought weapons from Davis several times at both gun shows and Davis shop in northwest Montana, said Justice Department spokeswoman Melissa Hornbein. Some of the purchases were for regular firearms, some for machine guns, and some firearms were sold to out-of-state residents. Many of the sales were made with no paperwork being completed, she added. Davis told agents that he made a machine gun and showed them how it worked, Hornbein said. Further, the agents observed that a room in his shop had a workbench, tools, and machines for gunsmithing, and that firearms and firearm parts were on the work bench. Davis had obliterated the serial numbers from some of the firearms so they could not be traced back to him, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Montana Division of Criminal Investigations, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. HELENA Montanas Secretary of State has released information about the voting records of two candidates running to fill her office. Linda McCulloch, a Democrat who is term-limited and not running for any public office, said in a letter to the editor sent to the Helena Independent Record on Thursday that Republican Corey Stapleton has failed to vote in a number of elections in recent years." "In fact, he has failed to vote in three elections since 2013 and six elections the six years before that," she wrote. A background report on Stapletons voting record, released by him after a request to Montana GOP officials who use the i-360 proprietary voter database, shows him as having voted in every primary, general, special and municipal election back through 2006. Ive voted twice a year like clockwork since I left the service, said Stapleton, a former U.S. Navy officer, upon first learning of the letter Thursday morning. If I missed an election I would be surprised. What I am surprised about is, what is this sitting Secretary of State doing? I would remind her she needs to remain impartial in an ongoing election. Lee Newspapers requested the voting record files going back to 2007 for all candidates running for statewide office. The file on Stapleton conflicts with both the account by McCulloch and the GOP report. Since June 1998, Stapleton was registered to vote on 28 municipal, school, state or federal ballots. He missed six votes-by-mail in that period, all city or school ballots. McCulloch also wrote that "Monica Lindeen, Mr. Stapleton's opponent has never missed voting in an election going back as far as records can be found. That's the kind of person you want in the Secretary of State's office." The records released on Lindeens voting history only goes back to 2004, but list no missed votes. The letter from McCulloch, whose face is on the voter information pamphlet released to voters statewide, comes a day after early voting started in Montana. The Independent Record confirmed that McCulloch sent the letter. In Montana, and several other states, information on whether people voted, but not who they voted for, are public record. Stapleton has spent eight years in the state Senate and unsuccessfully has run for U.S. Senate and House seats, as well as governor. His opponent, Monica Lindeen, has served as state auditor for the past eight years. Reached Thursday morning, McCulloch said Stapletons voting record concerns her. When youve missed roughly nine elections, thats a lot of elections to miss, she said, explaining that Montanans can vote at the polls or have absentee ballots sent to them. McCulloch said she didnt know if a secretary of state has released the voting records of someone running for the office before. I could have put out a press release, but I didnt think that was right. I personally wrote a letter to the editor, she said. After the voting files were released, McCulloch did not clarify the discrepancies between her letter and what the records showed. She stood by her assertion that it is important to have been a consistent voter if you are seeking to become Secretary of State. After the records were read to Stapleton between campaign events, the Republican said he would not make excuses and could not remember what happened with those particular school and city ballots. He noted that not voting on bond initiatives could sometimes be a form of no vote on taxation increases. Under state law, some school bonds can fail even though they received majority approval because not enough ballots were cast. He said he was proud not to have missed a primary or general election in decades and condemned McCullochs letter. This is exactly why we need new leadership, he said, calling the letter slimy and especially so since McCulloch is the person who is supposed to uphold fair elections. She cant get her election data straight, Stapleton said. She came out the day before ballots are mailed to make an attack. She releases voter information as a wrongful and reckless political attack. Guest post from Rachel, a member of the group that recently traveled with me to South Africa The first time that I saw Gogo, I was standing with my back against a crude brick wall, leaning into a pocket of shade under the hot African sun. I heard her before I saw her. Oh, thank you, Jesus! Oh, Jesus! she was calling. And when she came around the corner, her wrinkled hands were clasped, her face tilted up toward heaven in praise. She was wearing a navy stocking cap, a brown sweater, and long skirtand she reached out to each of us American visitors as if we were her family, squeezing our hands and whispering her thanks to God that we had come. Gogo means Granny in Setswana, and, truly, this woman is a grandmother to everyone she meets. Her heart is full of love, Spirit, and nurturingin essence, motherhood. Being near her, I thought, This is why I came to Africa. I came here to meet Gogo. When I applied to go on the South African advocacy trip with Crystal, I was searching for a deeper understanding of motherhood. I couldnt have put it into those specific words at the timebut now that Im home, I can see more clearly what I was yearning for before I left. I have always loved connecting with people in deep ways. I was a counselor at a camp for persons with disabilities throughout high school and college, spending long summer days in the mountains of Colorado with amazing campers who taught me about courage and endurance in the face of physical and mental challenges. After I got married, my husband and I spent a semester living in an orphanage in El Salvador, planning scavenger hunts, playing rowdy games of Uno, and reading bedtime stories to children whom we grew to love like family. When we returned to the States, I taught high school English for five yearsa challenging career that I lovedwhile my husband went to school to become a pediatric dentist. Every summer we went back to El Salvador for a week or two to see the kids that we love. And then in 2011, we adopted our son, Noah, and my life as a stay-at-home mother began. After all of my experience with children, teaching, and service, I thought that the transition to motherhood would be easy. Famous last words, right? I knew that it was a blessing to be able to stay home with Noah, but after years of connecting with people on a deep level, I felt lonely and unfulfilled much of the time. My baby cried a lot; my husband was in residency and we lived in a crummy apartment near the hospital without many other young moms around; and I missed getting to laugh with and learn from my students and colleagues every day. I felt a bit trappednot so much by my circumstances as by the dichotomy in my heart: I knew that my role as a mother was the most impactful role I would ever have, and yet I yearned for more. Five years have passed, and we have since added another baby to our family, a spunky little girl named Sally. I have settled into my role as a mother much more, and I love spending time with my two little miracles. I have found meaningful work that I can do from homeI write for a motherhood website called Power of Momsand I teach the teenage girls at church and reach out to friends and family as much as I can. My life is so good and so full. And yet, at times I still feel that pull in my heartthe desire to learn more, impact more, give more. I decided to apply to go to South Africa because I knew that I would meet people like Gogo. I knew I would gain new perspective and come home with more clarity, peace, purpose, and drive. I wish I could write a book about the incredible mothers that I met when I was therebecause thats what it would take, a book! Meeting these mothers, hearing their stories, and witnessing the unique and powerful contributions that they are making within their spheres of influenceit filled my soul. I realized that I can do hard things. I can and should make sacrifices to extend my love beyond my own family to others who need mothering. I can teach my children to see a need in our community and the world and do something about it. I can involve them and bring them along. While raising her kids, Gogo worked at a soup kitchen and started several preschools for vulnerable children in her community. In recent years, her grown daughter Elizabeth has followed in her mothers footsteps and started a drop-in centre out of Gogos one-room house. It started with 18 children, and it has now grown to 180! What began in Gogos tiny house has expanded. Theyve been able to receive government funding, build a small preschool next door, and hire a staff of dedicated teachers and caregivers. Vulnerable kids from the community come to Gogos house every morning to receive a bowl of vitamin-fortified porridge, and then they come after school to receive a snack, help with homework, and instruction in singing and sports. Its like a Boys and Girls ClubAfrica style! It has become a family affair, with Gogo as the loving matriarch, Elizabeth as the powerhouse director, and even Elizabeths sons as administrators and cooks. Three generations of givers. Truly, this family has been transformed because of Gogos example this family, and an entire community of children. After spending a day at the drop-in centrewitnessing the hope in the childrens eyes, hearing their singing and joyful laughtermy American friends and I gathered around Gogo as she sat in a lawn chair in the shade, reading her Bible. She hugged each of us and took us by the hands, looking into our faces and thanking us for coming. I will never forget the feeling of her wrinkled hands, leathery from a lifetime of loving and serving. With tears in her eyes, she read scripture to us and then said simply, I cry because I am rich. I am grateful beyond words for the opportunity that I had to go to South Africa to learn from this hero-mother and many others like her. Since coming home, I have felt a deep desire to continue helping in South Africa through fundraising efforts for the amazing projects there, as well as to find ways to invest right here in my communityand bring my children along with me. I dont know exactly what those efforts will look like yet, but I am grateful to have been a part of a trip that opened my heart to the everlasting impact of mothers. I know that I, and hopefully my children, will never be the same. Butte lawyer Bob Carlson is the winner of the State Bar of Montanas 2016 William J. Jameson Award, the bars highest honor. Carlson is a shareholder in the Butte firm Corette Black Carlson & Mickelson P.C., where he has worked since 1981. He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Montana and a 1979 graduate of the University of Montana School of Law. The State Bar of Montana has given the Jameson Award annually since 1989 to an attorney who exemplifies ethical conduct and professionalism, is devoted to the public good, promotes competence of lawyers and judges, and participates in educating the public about the legal system. From 2012 to 2014, Carlson served as chair of the American Bar Association House of Delegates, the policy-making body of the association. He has been active in the ABA since being elected to the House of Delegates in 1999. He has served on numerous ABA committees, including chairing the Planning Committee for ABA Day in Washington D.C. the past two years. He is a candidate for ABA President-Elect. Carlson is a past president of the State Bar of Montana (1993-1994). He remains active in the Montana bar, serving on the Montana Supreme Courts Character and Fitness Commission and the UM law schools Clinical Board of Visitors. After filing a discrimination complaint with the Montana Human Rights Bureau last year, a former head of the Office of the State Public Defender has taken her case to district court. Randi Hood, 66, is alleging age discrimination and a violation of constitutional rights in her lawsuit against the agency. She says she was passed over for a position as an assistant public defender in the Helena office because of her age. Two younger applicants with fewer qualifications were chosen over her for two open positions in 2015, the suit alleges. Both candidates were at least 20 years younger than Hood. The youngest applicant, who is more than 30 years younger than Hood, had less than four years of experience as a public defender, the suit states. Hood has more than 35 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney. Hood is asking for a position as an assistant public defender in addition to damages, including lost wages and compensation for emotional harm. Hood left the public defender's office in February. In her time with the agency, she served 18 years as head of the regional office in Helena. Hood once was chief public defender for the state and opted to step down from the position in 2011, stating she wanted to return to the courtroom. She last worked with the agency in its Major Crimes Unit. In addition to the age discrimination issue, Hood also alleges her former employer released constitutionally protected information about her to third parties without her consent. A call to the current head of the agency was not returned. The suit was filed in Helena district court on Sept. 30 after the Montana Human Rights Bureau issued a notice of right to sue concerning her discrimination claim. It appears the $1 tourism tax patrons pay to stay each night in Butte area hotels and motels will stay the same for the next several months, but discussions about a possible increase will continue. After some contentious banter over a proposal to raise the nightly tax to $3, a group of commissioners and hoteliers with the countys Tourism Business Improvement District hopes to sit down soon to discuss pros and cons of raising the tax as some Montana communities have done. A council proposal to triple the fee is not flying for now, but it certainly got the attention of Buttes hotel owners and operators. If they do have an issue with it as it now appears they do, hopefully they will come forward and become willing and active partners in these discussions on what we can do to further Buttes economic growth, Commissioner Bill Andersen said Thursday. Maria Pochervina, executive secretary to the TBID board, said hoteliers are willing to discuss the issue if there are specific, sound ideas for spending the additional dollars. Proceeds from the tax are largely used to promote local conventions, tournaments and tourism. We dont want to increase it just to increase it, she said Thursday. She has expressed similar sentiments on behalf of hoteliers in recent weeks and did so at length during a presentation and discussion before council last week. But she also said earlier that commissioners had blindsided hoteliers with the proposed increase and rubbed them the wrong way. In a lot of ways, its perception, she told the council last week. Some of them I have talked to feel government is sticking their nose in. Others feel that an increase is not necessarily on their rate but what the guest pays. I would say a majority of them look at it more as the government telling them what they are going to do. Andersen introduced the $3 proposal on behalf of the councils Economic Development Committee, saying they had repeatedly invited hoteliers on the TBID board to appear before the panel to discuss the issue but had only talked to Pochervina once since late last year. Andersen and Commissioner Dave Palmer say the invitation had been on the councils agenda since last December. Pochervina has cited scheduling conflicts for the no-show but has said the past two weeks that board members are willing to sit down and discuss the issue. The tourism tax has been increased and used for good purposes in other Montana cities, some commissioners say, and its time an increase is considered here, too. County Attorney Eileen Joyce has said the council can increase the tax on its own. Commissioner Cindy Perdue-Dolan, probably the most conservative member of the council, noted recently that she usually opposes any tax increase. But she also has been a critic of cash the county gives to Buttes festivals each year, saying those county dollars could be better spent on other priorities. She and a few others on the Economic Development Committee have suggested that additional bed-tax dollars could supplant that county funding, since the tax is paid mostly by visitors from out of town or out of state. But Pochervina said she had asked numerous hoteliers in the county, and a majority are not in favor of increasing it. There are a few who thought it could be raised to $2, but nobody thought it should be raised to $3, she said. The TBID tax brings in about $215,000 in revenue a year, and the board has typically divided the money into five categories: administration including part of Pochervinas salary; events and tournaments; groups and meetings; promoting leisure events and activities; and reserves. The current budget once included about $144,000 in rollover funds from the previous year, although some of that has since been spent. There could be about $45,000 in unspent funds when the current budget expires next June, about $36,000 of that in reserves, Pochervina says. The board spends thousands of dollars a year sponsoring festivals, and although Pochervina says they are great events that showcase the city, It really is only three weekends a year. Palmer, who is running for chief executive this year against incumbent Matt Vincent, says hed like to see almost all of the TBID tax spent every year because it should bring more visitors and their dollars to town. I think the $200,000 is there to bring people into town, and why not use it every year to the best of their ability? he said. He and Andersen say they look forward to committee members sitting down with hoteliers on the TBID board to discuss a possible increase. Andersen said he personally favors raising the tax to $2, believing the extra money would pay off in more visitors. But, he said, I think for positive change, there needs to be communication between both parties. MUSCATINE, Iowa A Muscatine man was found guilty last week by a jury of delivery of a controlled substance and violation of the Iowa Drug Tax Stamp Act. Jose Manuel Martinez, 37, was found guilty by a Muscatine County jury of three counts of Delivery of a Controlled Substance, cocaine, and three counts of violation of failure to affix a drug tax stamp, according to a blog post from the Muscatine County Attorney's Office. According to the post, evidence at the trial showed that in 2014, Martinez sold more than seven grams of cocaine to an informant on three separate occasions. Martinez faces a prison term of not to exceed 45 years. His sentencing has been set for 9:30 a.m., Friday, Nov. 18. He was taken into custody pending sentencing, according to the Attorney's Office. The case was tried by First Assistant Muscatine County Attorney Korie L. Shippee. Emily Wenger of the Muscatine Journal MUSCATINE, Iowa The city budget was the focus at Thursday nights in-depth Muscatine City Council session. Nancy Lueck, the finance director for the City of Muscatine, said the General Fund, which she spent the most time reviewing, has increased over the past several years. The city updated the policy for the general fund in 2013 to require the balance remain for at least two months of expenditures, or 16.7 percent of the budget. Departments overall are doing a good job working within their budgets in the general fund, Lueck said. Within the presentation, Lueck showed the City Council graphs, representing the history of the general fund balance over the past 10 years. So it has continued to grow, and we are a lot better financially this year than we were when it was low, she said. City Administrator Gregg Mandsager said he commended staff for working together on the city's finances. "Weve had six years worth of growth in the fund balance," he said. Lueck said the majority of fund balances should be in good shape going into the next fiscal year. City Council member Scott Natvig said he was encouraged, but cautious. "These are good, encouraging results, but we need to be mindful that a lot of things can change," he said. Positive fund balances could be seen in all of the operating funds except the Refuse Collection and Transfer Station, and the deficit, Lueck said, included the purchase of a refuse collection vehicle, which was approved earlier this year. While making the motion to move into a closed session at the end of the meeting, Councilman Natvig made a motion to exclude Mayor Diana Broderson pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.5.3a. "The City Council finds that the Mayor's presence at this meeting creates a conflict of interest, as the Mayor is a potential adverse party to the pending or threatened litigation and her presence could waive the City's attorney/client privilege," Natvig said. Councilman Bob Bynum voted no and other members voted yes, moving the council into closed session following a recess. Broderson stated she was frustrated to be excluded. "I'm dismayed that the council and city administrator are still unwilling to accept me as mayor and accept the people's choice," she said. In other business: Victor Amoroso, of A&J Associates, discussed the need for additional cooling systems at the Muscatine Public Safety building, and provided the council with options. Two public hearings were held, on the proposed Urban Revitalization Plan for the Grandview Avenue urban revitalization area and on the proposed Urban Revitalization Plan for the Park Avenue urban revitalization area. No comments were made, and motions were passed to tentatively approve the urban revitalization areas, pending a 30-day period in which petitions can be filed for a second public hearing, according to supporting documents. COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa - A fundraising effort to establish a Louisa County Fair Endowment Fund through the Community Foundation of Louisa County (CFLC) received a significant boost from the Columbus Junction City Council Wednesday. Louisa County Extension Program Manager Kathy Vance, who described herself as a fair supporter, told city officials the county fair will be celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2017 and was launching an endowment drive to help mark its special event. It seems like the perfect opportunity to start something new for the fair that will ensure its success for the next 125 years, Vance and fair lover Mallory Smith explained in a letter distributed at the council meeting. The two are volunteering their time to spearhead the fundraising. Vance said supporters hoped to raise $12,500 to establish the endowment, although the CFLC will provide a $1,000 donation once donations reach $10,000. She said two $1,250 gifts, including one from her own farm business, Cloverdale Farm, and another from the Louisa County Extension & Outreach Council, had already been provided. She suggested a similar donation from the city. I thought Id ask since the fair is in your community, she said. The two explained the fundraising will be slanted toward a traditional rural theme - sewing a quilt. In the letter that will be sent to fair supporters, the two wrote: this letter is our request that you help quilt a permanent future for the Louisa County Fair. They went on to explain in the letter that donors could contribute by writing a $125 check to the CFLC that will credit them for one Square on the quilt. A $1,250 donation will purchase a Block of 10 Quilt Squares. A donation of less than $125 will identify the contributor as a Quilting Bee member. The two reminded the council the donations will be tax deductible and as long as the checks are made out to the CFLC, may also be eligible for the Endow Iowa Tax Credit. For more information on the Louisa County Fair Endowment Fund, call 319-523-2371 (ext. 202). The fund is expected to help pay for improvements to the grounds, facilities and programs of the Louisa County Fair. Following the presentation from the two, the council agreed to provide $1,250 to the fundraising drive. MUSCATINE, Iowa A writing teacher, women's Bible study guide, and now author, Jill Holler said writing a devotional book came naturally to her, and she was led to the subject matter by God and her own experiences. The 60-day devotional book is entitled "Life in His Hands: A Call to Godly Surrender and Purposeful Living," and was published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. Holler currently teaches writing part-time at Muscatine Community College, and serves as an occasional substitute teacher for the Muscatine Community School District. She said she first began writing about the Bible and lessons she gleaned from the text in a journal, and then began to write a blog. "And that kind of led me to believe I could actually do this, because I had thought about writing a book but not seriously, you know, I thought that would be pretty neat. But it was kind of a nudge from God, along with my journaling and my blogging, and I guess getting the courage up to do it," she said. Holler said she has always enjoyed devotional books, and one, "Streams in the Desert" by L. B. Cowman, stood out to her. "It was one of the biggest inspirations for me to write my own devotional book because I was so impacted by that one, and I read it every morning, faithfully, and I thought 'I could do this,'" she said. After growing up on a farm in Illinois, Holler attended Western Illinois University and received her masters degree in English. She began teaching writing when she met her husband, who grew up in Muscatine, where she then moved. She attended Buffalo Prairie Presbyterian Church while she was growing up, but Holler said she did not begin to embrace her faith until later in life. "As I got older... I kind of just put it aside and decided I would live for what I wanted to live for, not what God wanted, and I just found that I had a lack of meaning in my life, kind of a lack of purpose," she said. Holler said she then realized that she needed to turn back to her faith. "It's the love of God that compels me to obey Him and want to serve Him," she said. For those who read the book, Holler said she hopes they will learn more about the words of the Bible, and might, as she did, come back to their faith. "And then realize that God is so real and he wants to fill that empty space and give you purpose that maybe you've always yearned for, and I want them to see that God offers such love and grace to anyone no matter what stage they're at in their life," she said. The process of writing, which Holler said took around seven months, also helped her learn more about the Bible and her purpose in life. "Writing is active and it engages my mind, and I think that's why I enjoy doing it so much because I feel like I was actually learning as I was doing the writing," she said. Holler hopes the book will leave readers with a renewed sense of trust in their faith, and said the words are meant to help readers find the title of her last devotional, "The Serenity of a Soul." "Finding your life has meaning in it and God has a plan for your life," Holler said. On Sept. 30, the book was released to the public and is now available in print and e-book form. More information can be found at the authors website and blog: www.changedbyhisgrace.com. Life in His Hands may be purchased at www.amazon.com and soon will be available at local bookstores. MUSCATINE, Iowa A bench was dedicated in honor of former Muscatine Mayor Richard O'Brien at the Muscatine International Friendship Park on the corner of Eighth and Cedar Streets Thursday afternoon. John Dabeet, the president of Muscatine Sister Cities, said O'Brien was a large advocate for Sister Cities and he thanked him for his support. "We come together today to honor what I call an extraordinary man, a man of honor, a man of integrity, and a man who remains a strong supporter of Muscatine Sister Cities," Dabeet said. Dabeet said O'Brien also received a medal of honor from Sister Cities International 10 years ago. "Today I think it's time for us to say 'Thank you' to this great man for his support," he said. The crowd of more than 20 people applauded as O'Brien cut the ribbon stretched across a bench in the park. Dabeet said the bench and others in the park will have plaques installed by the end of October. "Thank you so very much to Sister Cities for turning this property into something that everyone can enjoy. Also a great big thank you for honoring me in the dedication of this bench in my name. I am truly honored," O'Brien said to the crowd. O'Brien also said the park would be a good place for people to rest or study, and he hopes his bench will be well-used. "I think this park is absolutely sensational. It does provide and will provide a place for a lot of people," he said. The bench dedication, O'Brien said, was a confirmation that his efforts with Sister Cities during his time as the mayor were appreciated. "It means the time that I have put in here in the city has all been worthwhile," he said. From traveling and representing Muscatine Sister Cities to City Council meetings, O'Brien said he was happy to think of all the things he did while Mayor of Muscatine. "I look back at my time at City Hall wishing I could do it again, wishing I could go back and start it all over again. It was a lot of fun," he said. O'Brien said Sister Cities is an important element in forming relationships with other countries. "This type of movement should take place around our nation," he said. "As with me, I made great friends in Japan, and I think if we all had a Sister City friendship, it would be great." MUSCATINE, Iowa Two people were injured in a car crash in Muscatine County on Thursday. Eric Wosborn, 26, of Cedar Rapids, was driving a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am eastbound at Highway 61 and Vail Avenue around 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon when he attempted to turn onto Vail Avenue, according to an Iowa State Patrol crash report. A 2015 Chevy Silverado, operated by William Morrissey, 48, of Bettendorf, collided with the Pontiac, which was traveling westbound on Highway 61, according to Iowa State Patrol. Wosborn and Sharon Morrissey, 73, of Bettendorf, were transported by ambulance to Genesis East. Both were wearing seatbelts, which saved their lives, according to the crash report. Emily Wenger of the Muscatine Journal WAPELLO, Iowa - An anticipated drop in student enrollment may mean future budget cuts, Wapello Superintendent Mike Peterson warned the school board Wednesday. I would anticipate 20 kids down, Peterson told the board, explaining that could change depending on the final number of open enrollments both in and out of the district. Because the number of students is expected to drop, school officials agreed it was likely the school will take a financial hit because state aid is based on a districts certified enrollment. We will need to look at some budget reductions next spring, Peterson predicted. Later in the meeting, during a discussion on offering an early retirement package, school officials indicated the current state aid of around $6,700 per student may mean a loss of around $134,000 for next years budget. Peterson said that was a major reason he was recommending the board adopt the early retirement program even though it most recently offered one last year. This is a way to soften the blow, he said, explaining up to seven staff members will be eligible if the board were to keep the same eligibility criteria. Peterson said that eligibility included reaching age 55 by June 1 and be an employee of the school district for 10 years. Although all seven eligible employees will likely not take early retirement, enough might that the school board will not face the prospect of cutting the budget by the full state aid loss from the expected lower enrollment, Peterson said. To entice some of the eligible staff, he recommended raising the early retirement payment from $25,000 to either $30,000 or $35,000. Officials said the lump sum payment could be paid into a Health Savings Account or provided as an annuity. The officials also said the cost of the payments will be handled through the schools Management Fund, which currently has over $385,000, while the savings would show up in the General Fund. That will provide a better financial outlook for the school, the officials explained. School board members said they agreed with Petersons recommendation, but were unsure of the amount to offer in the early retirement package. Board president Duane Boysen initially suggested keeping it at $25,000, but later proposed $32,500 as a compromise between Petersons recommended amounts. The board approved offering the $32,500 amount. In other action, students are apparently not handling their Chromebooks properly under the schools new 1:1 computer program. Information technology director Nate Miller reported that 40 of the computers had been returned to him damaged. He said students were apparently closing the computers with earbuds still in the machine, cracking the computer screens. At last months meeting he had reported 20 of the machines had been returned with cracked screens. We definitely have to figure something out, he said. Board members indicated they may be forced to assess damage fees to students or parents, but no final decision was made. They did urge Miller and other officials to discuss the problem with students and also look into other possible solutions, such as using Bluetooth or earbud storage bags. In other action, the board: Learned the new parking lot at the high school could be ready by Nov. 1; Approved renewing the districts five-year Instructional Support Levy, following a public hearing that did not draw any public comments; Discussed adopting a district logo, but did not take any final action. Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Microsoft South Africa has been named South Africas top employer, according to the Top Employers Institute. Microsoft said it was recognised by the Top Employers Institute as the number one employer in South Africa, regardless of sector or organisational size. The Institute also awarded Microsoft its Top Employers South Africa 2017 certification in recognition of the companys excellent employee conditions, and development and nurturing of talent. As the number one employer in South Africa, Microsoft provides an outstanding employment environment and offers a wide range of creative initiatives, from secondary benefits and working conditions, to performance-management programmes, said Billy Elliott, Country Manager for Top Employers Institute South Africa. Now read: Microsoft kills fitness Band Cybersmart CEO Laurie Fialkov said a streamlined way leave application process and banning exclusivity on rolling out fibre networks in neighborhoods can help improve fixed broadband access in South Africa. Cybersmart has been a pioneer in rolling out fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-business networks across South Africa, with a strong presence in the Western Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal. Asked what can be done to improve fixed broadband, specifically FTTH and FTTB, services in the country, Fialkov said making it easier to get way leave permissions is needed. The way leave process and the administrative burden required in order to get fibre in the ground is quite burdensome, he said. If the way leave application and approval process can be streamlined, I think it will make it much easier to roll out fibre services. Fialkov further questioned the current situation where a landlord, or even a neighbourhood, grants a single fibre provider exclusivity to roll out fibre. He said the legality of these exclusivity agreements should be challenged in court. Despite these challenges, Fialkov said South Africa has made massive leaps in catching up with the rest of the world. Asked what he thinks Telkom should do to improve ADSL, Fialkov joked: There is nothing I would like them to do. Anything they do makes our fibre products less appealing. The future of ISPs in South Africa With a rapidly-changing telecommunications market, it is not clear where new growth areas for Internet service providers lie. Fialkov said he thinks the next step for ISPs is bundling services and offering converged services. The days where you can just provide a single service like ADSL, mobile, hosting, fibre, or VoIP is over, he said. He also thinks expanding the availability of fixed-line broadband access to areas where it is currently unavailable can be a big growth area. It is difficult, but all growth areas originally appear difficult. A video of a #FeesMustFall meeting where student leaders discussed the decolonisation of universities sparked debates online. A student leader said science as a whole is a product of Western modernity, and the whole thing should be scratched off. She said we have to restart science from an African perspective, from our perspective, of how we experienced science. She went on to describe how people in KwaZulu-Natal believe that black magic can be used to send lightning to strike someone. Can you explain that science? she asked. #ScienceMustFall was the top trending topic on Twitter on Friday, with people ridiculing the statements made by the student leader. The sane among us need to get off this planet ASAP before gravity is decolonised by the #sciencemustfall zealots, said Twitter user BabaBlackSheep. Heres why the students statements are not of value in an academic environment. What is science? Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Below are the #ScienceMustFall statements, and why there are complete nonsense. Science as a whole is a product of Western modernity. One of the most powerful aspects of science is that it is culture agnostic. Scientists from across the world collaborate on scientific research and projects, because mathematics, physics, and other scientific fields are the same in every country around the world. Science has its roots in various countries and cultures across the world, including Africa. This includes the Greek philosopher Aristotle who developed the scientific method, creating The House of Wisdom in Iraq, and Ibn al-Haythams work in Cairo on optics, astronomy, and mathematics. We have to restart science from an African perspective. Science is built on previous knowledge, and removes the need to restart from scratch. Current scientific achievements, like computers, artificial intelligence, and modern cars, are thanks to hundreds of years of progress by scientists. In fact, one of the dumbest things you can do in science is to restart investigations of things which have been proven. There is a place in KZN where they believe that through black magic, or witchcraft, you can send lightning to strike someone. Can you explain that scientifically? Yes, we can. If someone claims they can control lightning, scientists can set up an experiment and observe the results. To date, there is no proof that a person can control lightning. Western knowledge is totalising. It is saying that Newton, and only Newton, knew or saw an Apple falling and then out of nowhere decided that gravity existed, and created an equation, and that is it. The only way to explain gravity is through Newton. The Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have launched in South Africa, with the devices available from retailers and the four major operators. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus offer major camera improvements over previous models. The rear camera on the iPhone 7 has a six-element 28mm lens with an f/1.8 aperture, and uses a new 12MP sensor. It is accompanied by a TrueTone flash with four LEDs and an upgraded image processor. The Image Signal Processor has double the throughput of previous versions, said Apple. The front camera on the phones is a 7MP unit with automatic image stabilisation. The iPhone 7 Plus features a dual-lens rear camera sporting a telephoto and a wide-angle lens. This will allow for greater zoom, said Apple 2x optical zoom and up to 10x with software zoom. Photos of Johannesburg using the iPhone 7 Radio 702s Aki Anastasiou has published photos of Johannesburg taken with the new iPhone 7 [Follow Aki Anastasiou on Twitter here]. Read now: Best Apple iPhone 7 deals in South Africa Napa-based nonprofit ParentsCAN will receive $100,000 a year for five years from U.S. Department of Education as part of the Community Parent Resource Center grant to equip parents with the information, knowledge and skills they need to work with professionals to meet the early intervention, educational and transitional needs of children with disabilities. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, presented ParentsCan members with the check on Wednesday. All children, regardless of their challenges, deserve a quality education, Thompson said. ParentsCAN helps parents who have children with disabilities understand their rights and the services to which their children are entitled under the law. I am proud to announce these federal funds, which will help ParentsCAN continue the outstanding work they do and help ensure educational equity for underserved Napa County families. Founded in 2005, ParentsCAN is a professional, parent-led organization that helps families of children with special needs. All services are offered in English and Spanish and are free to Napa County residents. ParentsCAN is one of only 23 funded community parent information centers across the nation, joining two others in California. We are thrilled to be funded by the federal Office of Education for the third time. This funding supports educational advocacy services for Napa County families, said Marlena Garcia, executive director of ParentsCAN. We encourage any parent whose child is struggling in school to call us. We can help parents work with their childs school to look for solutions to improve their childs educational outcomes. The Community Parent Resource Center grant funds will be used to provide special education workshops, individual consultations and ongoing parent leadership development. The money will also support the development of self-advocacy training for youth with disabilities ages 14-25. For more information about ParentsCAN, call 253-7444 or visit parentscan.org. The Napa Valley Unified School District has ordered school principals and departments throughout the district to cut 9 percent from their budgets, citing multiple reasons for the move. In a memo to NVUSD staff dated Oct. 10, Assistant Superintendent Wade Roach cited declining revenues and increasing expenses as reasons for the cutbacks. Overall, NVUSD is expecting to save $2.4 million from the cuts, Roach said Thursday night. That would amount to nearly a 2 percent reduction in the NVUSDs overall $170 million budget. Principals were told to target the cuts at discretionary supply and services expenses, and to not reduce staffing, according to the memo. Napa and American Canyon administrators said the order to trim 9 percent would impact purchases of instructional materials, office supplies, postage, and equipment, and mean less money for professional development for staff. The decision came as a surprise to principals, who said there was no warning of the budget cuts until they were handed down on Monday. Privately, principals, teachers, and union representatives with the Napa Valley Educators Association questioned the reasons put forth by Roach for needing to cut budgets. Some district employees wondered if the need to save money was connected to the controversy surrounding Gary Heard, the districts technology director, who was recently put on administrative leave and has been accused by another union of misappropriating funds. The California School Employees Association, which represents non-teaching staff, last week called on the NVUSD Board of Trustees to authorize an outside investigation of Heard and the technology department. When asked if the need to save money was related to Heard, Roach told the Napa Valley Register Thursday, No, nothing at all. Not related at all. Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said the budget reduction was largely a product of shrinking enrollment, which has impacted the amount of per-pupil money NVUSD gets from the state. Its just the reality of a declining enrollment district, said Sweeney, who spoke outside Stone Bridge School where officials were meeting with parents. In Roachs memo to principals, he said the districts overall enrollment of 17,960 students was 257 fewer than last year. At last weeks school board meeting, he informed trustees that the district had projected to lose only about a hundred students compared to last year. Instead, the number was nearly 160 higher than the projection. The enrollment decline, according to Roach, has had an immediate impact of $1.4 million on the district budget. His memo included other reasons for cuts in spending: Less money coming from Sacramento for education. A modest salary increase (1.25 percent) for district workers. Rising pension costs for retired teachers. The need to replenish the districts fiscal reserve from 5.3 percent to 7.5 percent. And a one-time budget adjustment of $1.35 million due to a misclassification of revenue. This last point caught the attention of some principals, who wondered what the cause of the budget adjustment was all about. Roach insisted it was a bookkeeping error from two years ago that was only recently discovered. Back in [school year] 13/14 when we were changing financial systems, and, frankly, some people werent quite up to speed on the financial system, said Roach, a transaction was booked as an accounts receivable but in actuality it should have been booked the opposite way as an accounts payable. Sweeney concurred with Roach, saying: When we close the books is when we know where we stand. And when we closed the books, we realized, Oops. The superintendent added that there may be more budget cuts next year, especially if Prop. 55 doesnt pass. Proposition 55 on the November ballot would extend personal income tax increases for those earning $250,000 or more to fund education and healthcare. If voters dont approve it, according to Sweeney, it could mean less funding for schools. We dont want the average person up here, said Sgt. Cullen Dodd, Napa County Sheriffs SWAT Team Leader. But this particular Saturday was different as a bunch of average Napa County residents were invited to go onto the teams training ground and experience a super show-and-tell. The Sheriff Offices SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) demonstration was the sixth session of the Napa County Sheriff Citizens Academy, a series of 13 classes open to residents interested in learning more about the department. The academy is usually offered twice a year once in the spring, and again in the fall. Students who showed up to the special Saturday SWAT demonstration were able to see what a forced entry might look like, what a flash-bang sounds like and how to shoot Sig Sauer 1911 Pistol and a Sig Sauer AR15. Each person wore a vest, glasses, and ear protection. They also had a SWAT Team member showing them how to use the weapon and standing beside them, helping if needed, while shooting at the targets. It was pretty cool and intimidating to get to shoot the pistol and rifle, said Angelica Perez Rodriguez. I would do that again any day. Perez Rodriguez said she loved getting to learn about the SWAT Team and that it was great getting to see them as everyday people. It really does take centered people, she said, people who can hold their ground under stress and (changing) circumstances. The experience is so awesome it defies description, said academy participant Carolyn Hamilton. Although the morning spent hanging out with the SWAT Team was fun for the students, being a SWAT Team member is actually serious business. Its not easy, Dodd said, noting that members are put in dangerous situations and suffer from back, knee and shoulder injuries. The equipment they carry alone can be hard on their bodies one vest, which students were allowed to try on, weighs 40 pounds. Not just anyone can do it, Dodd said. To get on the team, a deputy must be off departmental probation, be in good standing, show up to work on time and be reliable as well as physically fit. Potential candidates must pass a physical fitness test in which they run two laps around a track, do pull ups while wearing a bullet-proof vest and helmet, be able to drag a team member of equal weight a dummy drag, and sprint a zigzag course through cones, doing a burpee at each one all within a few minutes, of course. They also participate in a shooting assessment in full gear and go before a board to explain why they want to be part of the team. Their families must also be OK with it and they have to be able to show up when called. The phone rings and we have to go, Dodd said. Once you get on, though, its kind of hard to leave it, he said. Members become close-knit and feel a sense of belonging, Dodd said. The 12 men on the SWAT Team are all volunteers each one works a full-time position at the Sheriffs Office and trains an average of 12 hours a month with the team. They can be called in any time, but they dont get any extra pay, train on off days and, if someone is slacking off, they get the boot, he said. Although a few of the team members served in the military, they dont see their work on the SWAT Team as militarized, Dodd said. What we do on the streets is much different than what we did in the military, he said. Their gear is specialized, their car is armored, they carry scary-looking weapons and theyre trained in special tactics, but theyre a necessity, he said, even in an area like Napa County, which doesnt have many violent crimes. If something big happens liked the recent armed robbery chase in Calistoga the SWAT Team is the last local line of defense before other outside agencies, like the FBI, get pulled in. In those high-pressure situations, the SWAT Team is the group of people that are coming to save you, Dodd told the class. Just this year, team worked with crisis negotiation teams to successfully talk out two people who had barricaded themselves in their homes, Dodd said. In those situations, the team is usually standing by as a precautionary measure waiting for negotiations. Were not coming in violent, Dodd said. Ive never seen a tank on the street in the U.S. thats being used as a tank. The SWAT Teams armored vehicle a Ford F550 named Jiffy like the peanut butter is used as a rescue vehicle, he said. When the class toured the vehicle, it was like getting into a party bus, one student said. Although there were holes to point guns out of, there was also a bat symbol on the front of the truck. Did you get a picture of the bat? Make sure you get a picture of the bat, another student said. Dodd explained that, although members need to have special skills, theyre human just like the rest of us. The life of a SWAT Team member, he said, is a lot fancier in pictures. The SWAT Team demonstration and the Sheriff Citizens Academy as a whole is about transparency, said Capt. Keith Behlmer. We open up the whole department to show you this is what we do. The Napa County Sheriff Citizens Academy, which is usually offered twice a year once in the spring, then again in the fall also teaches residents about the departments structure and hiring process, patrol and civil operations, Problem Oriented Policing Program, K9 officers, crime scene processing, use of force and allows students to take a tour of the jail, the dispatch center, and participate in a use of force simulator. For more information, visit countyofnapa.org/Sheriff/CitizensAcademy. I support the idea that disabled people should have reasonable accommodation to their business needs. What is happening in Napa is an abomination of the intent of Americans with Disabilities Act ("Napa businesses hit with handicapped access lawsuits," Oct. 9). The frivolous filing of numerous ADA lawsuits against our reputable and caring business owners in Napa is an example of litigious Liberalism at its finest. It is not about one person's restriction to access a business, but of an individual driving around this community stalking businesses, looking for financial gains by perverting the intent of the ADA laws and their enforcement. This is a trend in Liberal America to enact a one-size-fits-all law, and then hammer individuals who don't or can't meet the new requirements. It is the reason that businesses are fleeing California to states with common sense laws. The recently passed flurry of California gun control laws is an excellent example of this philosophy. All of those laws do little to control criminals and lawbreakers from possessing and using guns for criminal purposes, but are generally aimed at ordinary law-abiding citizens owning guns for their own protection. One of them forbids lending a legitimate gun or ammunition to a friend. I am sure the gangs in the hood are losing sleep over that one, as well as requiring that all legitimate ammunition requires the buyer to register to buy it. I can see all of the street thugs lining up to register their names and information for the authorities. Hold that Liberal thought. Tom Johnson Napa As someone who has chaired more than half a dozen WASC (Western Association of Schools & Colleges) accreditation teams over the years, I was distressed to read in the Register that Jennifer Baker, a candidate for trustee at Napa Valley College, incorrectly stated that the college wasnt fully accredited, because a revisit had been scheduled to check on the progress in areas that need support. Every WASC visit that I've conducted that gave the institution a full accreditation also built in this progress check. The progress check is a normal part of the process. The purpose of a WASC visit is to look at every aspect of an educational institution, highlight the strengths and make note of areas needing some improvement. As Napa Valley College trustee Dan Digardi correctly pointed out, this cycle of accreditation review continues even as NVC enjoys its solid accreditation now in place. Jennifer Baker, as a candidate for trustee, should be sure of a fundamental piece of information like this before making statements that would undermine students confidence in the college and the value of their diploma. NVC has been named the No. 1 community college in California. Students should be exceptionally proud of their college, not have a potential trustee deliberately create anxiety where none was warranted. Dan Digardi has done an excellent job for the last four years as an advocate and spokesperson for NVC, and the college deserves to have him continue in this capacity. Barbara Nemko Napa Editor's note: Baker was not quoted in the above-referenced article as saying the college was "not fully accredited" and she denies having said so in any venue. Nemko says the point she intended to make was that Baker was saying that the college's accreditation is in danger. Night after night on CNN and MSNBC, one sees gloating over the outrageous behavior of Donald Trump. He has few to speak in his behalf. No major newspaper is supporting him. Repeatedly we are told, Trump has neither the psychological temperament nor character to occupy the White House, the highest office in the land. Mr. Trump apparently, is a racist, a homophobe and seemingly divorced from reality. The talking heads enjoy assuring each other of the danger we face if Mr. Trump is elected President, if he gets his hands on the nuclear button. Whether Mr. Trump is a danger isnt as interesting as the spectacle of such pious concern for the nation. It reassures one that we are in good hands with such zealous dispensers of the news. The media, after all, represent the Fourth Estate. They are protected by the First Amendment and are considered important to a functioning democracy. According to principles established at Nuremberg, a war of aggression is a war crime. That makes George W. Bush a war criminal for the invasion of Iraq. He, along with his henchmen, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, are living comfortable lives in the United States. These gentlemen also gave us torture, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Torture, discredited since the Middle Ages and the Inquisition, is a violation of the Geneva Convention. American use of torture was the main reason forces from Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand threatened to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan unless it stopped. In July, the British government, after seven years of resistance, published the Report of the Iraq Inquiry, or Chilcot Report, after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot. The report claims that going to war with Iraq was a war of choice. There was no imminent threat from Iraq. Britain chose to join the invasion before all options for a peaceful solution had been explored. Tony Blair, prime minister at the time, chose to ignore all professional advice from anyone who knew anything about the subject and wrote to George W. Bush on July 28, 2002, I will be with you whatever. Blair knew the purpose of the war was regime change for its own sake in defiance of international law and the United Nations. The morning after Chilcot, London newspapers -- the Sun, Daily Express, The Times and others -- published a chorus of outrage over Blairs private war. Nothing however, was said about all those newspapers supporting the war at the time. American media also supported the war. No major newspaper in the United States questioned the rush to war. In 1998, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London after Spain requested his extradition. The idea that Bush and Cheney could be arrested overseas isnt far-fetched. They are not forgotten by the rest of the world. Bush attracted media attention in 2011 when he canceled a trip to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the United Israel Appeal. Some speculated he feared being arrested. The United States hasnt had the political will to do our own inquiry into the rationale for the war but the fallout haunts us today. The disintegration of Iraq and the rise of ISIS are collateral damage from Bushs war. New terrorist groups sprout like mushrooms after a rain. The world has changed: Rather than respecting human rights, many parts of the world are doing what Donald Rumsfeld advocated, ignoring the Geneva Conventions and committing barbarous acts. We are diminished. Where is the Fourth Estate now to keep this a functioning democracy? They say Mr. Trump is a threat. A bigger threat is our compliant media, wallowing at the trough of whoever is in power at the moment. Instead of mocking the village idiot, our media could insist on an inquiry into Bushs war. They might then acquire the respect they seem to assume they are entitled to. They could show the world we respect accountability and justice or at least the truth about our governmental policies. It would go a long way toward answering the question, Why do they hate us so much? Bernhold Rankenburg Napa More than 7,000 years ago, a collapsed volcano called Mount Mazama, in southern Oregon, burst open with a force seismologists say was four times greater than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. Once its magma chamber was depleted, all that would remain was a dusty basin that, over the centuries, filled with snow. Today, with no outlet for all that melted snow, Crater Lake is the deepest body of water in the United States, and because of its depthnearly 2,000 feet at its maximumit has perhaps the most haunting blue hue in the country as well. One August afternoon, I stood at the southeast edge of this National Parkthe only one in Oregonbalancing along the plunging shoreline that gives way to a small, rocky island. There were few other walkers on the trail, maybe because the larger Wizard Island to the west is more frequently seen on Crater Lake postcards and draws more crowds. Emerging from the still water, the Phantom Ship, as it is called, commands your view for its quaint likeness to a seafaring vessel with beams and mastsbut so, too, does Crater Lakes entire shoreline. I had to be particularly careful to watch my step as I hiked around it, so captivating are the views. Two days before, I had begun tracing Crater Lakes history by heading north from Sacramento to Mount Shasta, a three-hour drive that comfortably broke up the journey onward the next day to southern Oregon. After checking into the Shasta MountInn and unpacking in a room that had a picture-perfect view of the namesake peak, I went downstairs for a massage by owner and professional massage therapist David Knowles. I had stayed in his elegant bed-and-breakfast inn a few years earlier, and was pleased to returnand to listen to him tell me about the variety of travelers who pass through his doors, including many Japanese tourists eager to see the North American counterpart to their Mount Fuji. After breakfast and chatting with other guests, I drove north and then veered eastward along U.S. Route 97, which is but one stretch of the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway All-American Road. The highways lonely two lanes originate in the rather cheekily named town of Weedthis is, after all, Northern Californiaand meanders the base of grandiose Mount Shasta, as if not wanting to disturb it. Tilting telephone poles stand sentinel all along the highway as it crosses grasslands and dry valleys covered in tumbleweeds until it weaves into the ghostlike town of Klamath Falls in southern Oregon. From there, I pushed on until I reached the rustic Jos Motel in Fort Klamath. After checking in, I bought some fruit and a sandwich in the country store adjacent to the reception area before hopping back into my car and motoring northward. For another 20 miles along U.S. Route 62, before entering Crater Lake National Park, I passed a sweeping landscape of meadows, slack wooden fences, meandering cows and spooky, leafless trees with limbs awry. Once in the park and before reaching the visitors center, I pulled over at a picnic area to look at dramatic, rocky ravines and spires of pumice and ash bordering Annie Creek. After picking up a map at the Steel Visitor Center, I drove onto an understandably crowded Watchman Overlookthe view of Wizard Island, and all of Crater Lake, from here is among the best in the park. I didnt stay long, instead choosing to drive to the lakes North Shore, where I parked at Cleetwood Cove. Tour boats depart from here, but I was more interested in walking the steep, downward mile to the shore for a better perspective of the lake. The road that encircles it, Rim Drive, is hundreds of feet above. On the well-marked trail to the water, I hit dozens of switchbacks until I reached a rocky beach, where I perched myself, removed my boots and dipped my feet into the clear, chilly water. It would be a long trek back to the top, so I leaned back into a smooth rock behind me and stared out at the lake for about a half-hour before lumbering back to the trail, occasionally stopping and glancing backward to watch the ferries gliding pleasantly toward Wizard Island to the west. The next morning, I drove eastward around the lakes southern rim, past the Phantom Ship overlook and onto the trail head of Plaikni Falls. I had read in my guidebook that parts of the trail to the falls are awash with wildflowers in July; it was late August now, but I was still hopeful. The trail wove first through an old-growth forest and over boulders for a mile until I could hear a faint trickle. Then, rounding a bend, I saw the lush waterfall, which comes from snowmelt, not Crater Lake, I later read. A man sat near the top and appeared to be sketching the scene while his young daughter scampered over the rocks, themselves making for a charming image set against the wildflowers tumbling down each side of the falls. Proud to be native Swiss, Margrit Biever Mondavi nevertheless was quick to point out she was also American by choice. She came to America as a young bride, and half a century ago settled in the Napa Valley to raise a family. She did a lot more than that. Margrit set the bar for Napa Valleys hospitality industry and championed all manner of fine and performing arts. As the wife of vintner Robert Mondavi, she brought people from all over the world to a table set with exceptional food and wine, and then introduced and entertained them with diverse fine and performing arts. One who had a kind word or a helping hand for anyone in need, later in life she set a fine example of philanthropy. Last Monday, family, friends, associates and fans gathered to celebrate Margrits life at the Robert Mondavi Winery, the Oakville winery where she spent nearly five decades as an ambassador for wine, food and the arts. Margrit left us at age 91 in early September. Daughter Annie Roberts said her mother lived a fairy-tale life at the winery for 50 years. She thanked all at the celebration for sharing your lives with her and making her life happy. Daughter Phoebe Holbrook reminded everyone of one of her mothers bons mots: Why drink water if you can drink wine? And in a keepsake given to all who attended, another: There is so much beauty in the world, if we look for it; so much. Memories were shared by many who knew Margrit best Glenn Workman, general manager of the Mondavi winery; Rep. Mike Thompson; Julius Anderegg, former Swiss consul general; Genevieve Janssens, director of winemaking at the Mondavi winery; Jeff Mosher, Mondavi winery chef; Thomas Keller, chef/owner of The French Laundry; Gail Bien, art teacher and friend; Stephen Thomas, founding director of the Oxbow School; Don Roth, executive director of the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis; Clay Gregory, president, Visit Napa Valley. Margrits grandson, Quinn Roberts and his daughter, Maeve, performed one of Margrits favorite songs, Over the Rainbow, as dozens of white doves were released into the dusky sky. Margrits tenacity and special spirit changed the Napa landscape bringing together food, wine and culture in special celebration, said Richard Sands, chairman of the board, Constellation Brands (owner of the Mondavi winery and brand). There could be no better ambassador for this special place and its wines, Sands told the assembly. She experienced the wines fully, and knew how to express her absolute love for them through her smile, her boundless enthusiasm, her deep feelings for Robert, and through her passion for the arts. The hand that so delicately held the wine stem aloft also caressed a painters brush; cradled her children, grandchildren; created inspired recipes; clasped the hands of dignitaries, friends and strangers alike; and welcomed endless people to this winery. She provided us a true feast for the senses, and today we are left forlorn at this banquet table. Yet, upon reflection, this feast she set before us remains. We feel her inspiration in the perfect combination of fine wines, great food, close friends and the timeless arts. We will feel this inspiration forever. While Robert Mondavi was the driving force behind our wines, through this lasting inspiration, Margrit was and will forever be our muse. This journalist and longtime friend of Margrit was asked to speak at her celebration last Monday afternoon, with special attention to the summer music festival. My remarks follow: Hello Pierce this is Margrit. The first time I heard that greeting was nearly half a century ago. Margrit Biever was calling to ask for a little help to let area residents know something of interest was on tap at the Robert Mondavi Winery. It could have been one of the hundreds of art exhibitions she curated over the years, showcasing the talents of area and internationally acclaimed artists. I received many of those calls throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s and well into the new millennium. For there was always something of interest going on at the Robert Mondavi Winery in addition to the outstanding wines produced by vintner Mondavi, his family, vineyard and cellar crews. Napa Valleys first film festival took place in the Vineyard Room; Margrit launched the world-renowned Great Chefs program and established a Winter Classical Music series here, among other endeavors. Perhaps the most enduring of all is the Robert Mondavi Summer Music Festival, which wrapped up its 47th season a few months ago. It began with a performance on the lawn by the Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra in 1969, and continued as not only a program to entertain but also help underwrite orchestral programs and educational opportunities for youth. The festival continues to provide funds for music programs in Napa schools. Long before we buried our noses in iPhones or connected on the Internet, Napans actually enjoyed one anothers company at weekend picnics and performances here. Margrit talked to me often as she was putting together festival programs even asking for thoughts on artist popularity and ability to attract audiences. I didnt always have the best advice like the time she wondered if she should book Harry Belafonte. As he hadnt had recent hits or been on my radar, I wasnt sure Belafonte was a good idea. Margrit, on the other hand, believed booking Belafonte was a risk worth taking. The tickets to his first appearance here sold out in a matter of days this was tickets by mail and by phone no Internet then. There are lots of great festival stories and anecdotes like the one year a tropical storm dumped rain on the second half of a Preservation Hall Jazz Band concert, and a streaker if you remember those sailed his naked butt across a wet lawn and slid into the plate glass of the then retail room, glass bowing, not breaking. Della Reese lost her voice; Hampton Hawes performed on drugs; Benny Goodman drank a little too much wine; Herbie Manns sidemen were arrested for drug possession the night before the show and performed under the watchful eyes of sheriffs deputies. Lena Horne said she didnt do outdoor concerts but she did for Margrit. Margrit convinced stars with international luster to come to the Napa Valley Antonio Carlos Jobim, Buena Vista Social Club, Cesaria Evora and superstars like Tony Bennett, Julio Iglesias and Johnny Mathis. Then there was Ella. In the early days, Margrit did everything, including driving Ella Fitzgerald back to San Franciscos Fairmont Hotel. On the way, Ella spotted a full moon overhead and began singing first How High the Moon then all the moon songs she knew all the way into the city. Margrits ear for talent also led to strong friendships with such greats as Dave Brubeck, Boz Scaggs, Dave Koz, John Pizzarelli and Chris Botti. Margrit Biever Mondavi enriched the valleys cultural scene with the summer festival and much more. Five for Fighting and O.A.R. may not have been on Margrits playlist but she was always open to providing a stage for music of all manner. Ill miss Margrits calls, but I all of us know her legacy lives on here where the spirit of Bob Mondavi, as she often pointed out, is in every glass of wine. Long live the first lady of the Napa Valley. At the end of a two-day visit to Rome, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg underlined Italys essential role in strengthening NATOs collective defence and projecting stability beyond Allied borders. Meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Mr. Stoltenberg thanked Italy for hosting important NATO assets, such as the NATO Defense College, AWACS surveillance planes and, shortly, cutting-edge Alliance Ground Surveillance aircraft in Sicily. Addressing NATOs cooperation with the European Union, the Secretary General outlined how the Alliance could support Operation Sophia: with logistics and with escort for ships diverted for suspicious activities. Turning to Russia, the Secretary General expressed concern over Russias continued bombing of Aleppo and its pattern of large-scale military activities close to NATOs borders. Allies are deeply concerned about this behaviour. We will continue pursuing our policy of strong defence combined with political dialogue, he added. Earlier today, the Secretary General participated in a conference on NATOs cooperation with partners in the Mediterranean and the Middle East at the NATO Defense College in Rome. He highlighted the importance of NATOs Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) programs. He also stressed that the establishment of the NATO-ICI Regional Centre in Kuwait this December will take the Alliances partnership with Gulf countries to a new level. It will provide a platform to boost cooperation in key areas, including civil emergency planning, crisis management and public diplomacy. (As delivered) Minister Gentiloni, dear Paolo, It is a really great pleasure to be back in Rome and to meet with you again. The meeting and the discussions that we had at the NATO Defense College yesterday and today just once again reconfirm the importance that Italy plays in our Alliance. Because Italy really is a core member. You participate and contribute to so many different NATO missions and operations, and youve done that for so many years, one of the founding members of our Alliance. You provide fighter jets to our Baltic Air Policing. You augment Turkeys air defences with a missile battery. And Italy will lead NATOs Spearhead Force in 2018. And Italy is also contributing by hosting many different NATO institutions and capabilities. For instance this Defence College but you also host AWACS surveillance planes. And soon, Italy will host our cutting-edge Alliance Ground Surveillance aircraft in Sicily. So thats just some examples of the many ways that Italy is contributing to our Alliance. At our Summit in July, Heads of State and Governments of our Alliance decided to further strengthen our collective defence and at the same time to project stability beyond our borders. Italy is essential to both. For years, Italy has been a major contributor to our operations in Afghanistan and in Kosovo. To our counter-terrorism operation in the Mediterranean. And most recently, to our efforts to cut the lines of illegal migration in the Aegean Sea with a NATO presence in the Aegean Sea. And I trust Italy will be part of our efforts when we increase our presence in the Central Mediterranean. At the Warsaw Summit, we launched Sea Guardian, our new maritime operation. And just this week, I discussed with High Representative Federica Mogherini how NATO can support Operation Sophia. For example with logistics. With escort for ships diverted for suspicious activities. And by helping to implement the UN Security Council Resolution on the Libya arms embargo. Support for Operation Sophia is just one example of the ever closer cooperation between NATO and the European Union. And I am grateful that Italy has voiced strong support for this cooperation. NATO and the EU face the same challenges. And together we have the whole toolbox to address them. This includes the challenge of an increasingly assertive and unpredictable Russia. In recent weeks, Russia has deployed missile systems closer to Alliance borders that could carry nuclear warheads.This is part of a pattern of large-scale military activity and exercises close to our borders. Allies are deeply concerned about this behaviour. We will continue pursuing our policy of strong defence combined with political dialogue. NATOs mission is to keep our Allies safe. But we must prevent accidents or miscalculations from spiralling out of control. Russia also continues to bomb Aleppo and support the Syrian regime. Despite the terrible toll in human lives and suffering. And despite the strong objections of the international community. We must find a way to overcome the current stalemate in Syria. And the first step to achieve this is to return to the negotiating table. So I hope that the talks in Lausanne and London this weekend will find a way forward to resolving the crisis. With a real cessation of violence. And resumption of humanitarian aid. Syria is the source of many of the security challenges coming from our southern neighbourhood. So we also discussed how NATO is helping our partners in the Middle East and North Africa to build up their own defence capacities. Because when they are more stable, we are more secure. This will also help to reduce illegal migration. So, I thank once again Italy for contributing to all these efforts and for the close cooperation we have seen for so many years inside the Alliance with all the Allies and Italy is a core member of this unique Alliance. Thank you. MODERATOR: Thank you. We have time for a couple of questions. Q: [Translated]: Good morning, a question to Minister Gentiloni. This morning the Secretary General, NATO Secretary General talking in an interview to the press has debated a two-fold commitment by Italy for security at the eastern borders of Europe facing Russia and as leading nation of the ultra (inaudible) deployment force. So I would like to ask the Minister which are (inaudible) element or detail of this commitment and considering the words of Moscow which has considered that initiative as a destructive policy, do you think this might have an impact on the attempt to establish a dialogue that NATO is trying to establish in the next few weeks with Russia? Thank you. PAOLO GENTILONI (Italian Foreign Affairs Minister): [Translated]: I would say that the decisions that Jens has mentioned during an interview this morning are decisions which were made in the past few months and which we had announced also during the Warsaw Summit. Italy has always given its contribution to an approach aimed at strengthening our defensive set-ups in the Northern and Eastern countries of the Atlantic Alliance. Weve been participating for a long time in the policing missions in the Baltic Sea and well participate in the next few months with 140 men in Latvia; we will participate in the NATO force under Canadian initiative which is going to be deployed there. This is not part and parcel of a policy of aggression against Russia but its part of a policy of reassurance and defense of our borders as Atlantic Alliance. Among other things these decisions have no impact on the line of dialogue that Italy has always proposed and which shares with NATO because dialogue can and must run parallel with clear signals of reassurance that our allies to our allies who feel at risk, so much so that the meetings for carrying on the dialogue have continued even after these decisions have been made and announced even before the Warsaw Summit. Q: I have a question about the operation Sea Guardian. My interest is about which kind NATO have with the government of Libya for this operation and what about in term of result in future about these? What do you expect from this operation? JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary-General): Sea Guardian is a maritime security operation which NATO has decided to establish in the Mediterranean and this operation will have many different tasks. And when I for instance mentioned that Sea Guardian can provide support for operation Sophia we speak about support in international waters; about for example providing logistics. It may be different kinds of logistics but one of the issues that has been mentioned is to provide tanker ships that can refuel other naval ships at sea. When we speak about the task of escort ships diverted for suspicious activities that may be for instance as part of the implementation of the arms embargo and to escort those ships. So, these are issues we are now looking into: exactly how we can provide support for Operation Sophia. On top of that were also looking into whether we can provide support for Libya when it comes to capacity building, partly to help Libya build defense institutions. It is extremely important to have strong defense institutions to be able to stabilize the country. Of course Libya needs to train forces but they need also the institutions which can make sure that the forces are used in the in the best possible way. NATO is looking into what we can do when it comes to building institutions; we are also ready to help Operation Sophia in helping building the capacity of the Libyan Coast Guard but that is something that will happen if so requested by the Libyan government and if that can complement the efforts of the European Union and Operation Sophia. So, what we do will complement the efforts of the European Union. PAOLO GENTILONI: Yes, I just want to add[Interpreted]: Id like to add from the Italian side, you do know that Operation Sophia is an operation the main goal of which in this stage is to counter and stop traffickers of human beings in international waters, stop those traffickers who organize human trafficking from Libya. On top of this which is presently its main goal other goals have been recently added upon request by the Libyan government - tasks connected to the training of the Coast Guards - the Libyan Coast Guards - training which takes place in international waters as well. So, there is at the time being no direct relationship between the Sophia operation and the likely support that Sea Guardian will give to Sophia and this is going to be something very important and the Libyan situation in a very directive way. Everything takes place in international waters aimed at achieving some specific goals and objectives: that is fighting human trafficking, training Coast Guards and controlling and surveying - and surveillance of the arms embargo. These three tasks it would be desirable to join also the contribution from NATO but while NATO will provide a contribution if the agreement will be reached - and were sure it will reach an agreement - will provide a contribution to Sophia for its general tasks - the tasks connected to the training of the Libyan Coast Guards will be part and parcel of direct dialogue between NATO and the Libyan government. As theyve asked European Union to submit a similar request to NATO so were not presenting Sophia or Sea Guardian which is supporting Sophia as an interference on Libyan affairs - were just meeting specific requests by the Libyan government on specific issues. Q: Good morning. What is the position of NATO about European defense in system (sic)? JENS STOLTENBERG: European defense is something which is of great importance for NATO because 26 of our allies are European Nations and many of them are member of the European Union. So stronger European defense will contribute to a stronger NATO; stronger European defense will be good for the European Union; it will be good for Europe; and it will be good for NATO, the transatlantic bond. So I welcome all efforts to strengthen European defense capabilities to enhance cooperation between European Nations so we are able to spend and invest the resources we enlist in defense in a more efficient way and also of course I welcome increased defense spending and weve seen in Europe that after many, many years of decline in defense spending now defense spending has started to increase again, also in Italy. And that is something that I welcome because we live in a more dangerous world with new challenges, new threats and we have to respond and adapt to that. The thing that we have to make sure is that we avoid duplication with NATO structures and with NATO and that what Europe does is complementary to NATO and Im very much assured by very strong statements from Paolo, from Minister Gentiloni and from many other European leaders that this is not about establishing something which is an alternative to NATO but this is about strengthening European defense as part of strengthening transatlantic cooperation and that I welcome very much. MODERATOR: Thank you very much, thank you for coming to the NATO Defense College today and have a good afternoon. Head of the Ministry of Finance: Sweden's economic outlook is gloomy and we're heading for a tough winter Norway to raise level of army combat readiness in response to Ukraine war Putin and Aliyev talks in Sochi are over Moldova expels Russian embassy employee after incident with falling rocket parts Estonia to expand by 30 times protected zone on border with Russia Serzh Sargsyan receives Garo Paylan Inflation hits new record in 19 eurozone countries Shoigu and Akar discuss Russia's decision to suspend participation in grain deal Head of Armenian Armed Forces General Staff: Azerbaijan refuses to allow evacuation of Armenian soldiers' bodies Inflation in Poland breaks the record of 25 years ago Head of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces explains why Azerbaijanis 'trapped' were not captured Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces confirms loss of positions as result of Azerbaijani aggression Central Bank: Inflation in Armenia reaches 9.9% Edvard Asryan: The operational situation in the eastern and southeastern directions is relatively stable Iran arrests 6 suspects in attack on Shiraz mausoleum Aliyev: Baku put forward five main principles to normalize relations with Yerevan Putin: The goal of the trilateral talks is the implementation of all agreements of 2020 and 2021 Talks between presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan start in Sochi Six people detained in Belarus for hanging Ukrainian flag NBC News: Biden lost his temper on the phone with Zelenskyy European Parliament lawmakers arriving in Armenia on fact-finding mission Cavusoglu: Europe weakening runs counter to Ankara's economic interests Non-resident organizations providing online services in Armenia declare 1bn drams of VAT in 3 quarters October oil production in Russia falls Storm warning issued in Sochi due to tornadoes Putin and Pashinyan hold 1-hour talks in Sochi Pashinyan to visit Tehran on November 1 Over AMD 76 billion will be assigned to Armenian police in 2023 Provincial governor of Armenias Tavush, France envoy discuss future cooperation (PHOTOS) South Korea and the U.S. begin large-scale air force exercise Dollar, euro continue falling in Armenia Pashinyan says issue of Armenian captives is unresolved, despite discussions with Putin Iranian parliament chair to visit Azerbaijan Pashinyan: Communications passing through Armenia should be under Yerevan's full control Pashinyan: Russia's clear position on moving Azerbaijani soldiers to their initial positions is important World wheat prices up Putin urges to ensure peace in Karabakh and unblock transport infrastructure Pashinyan calls Russia's approaches to establishing Armenia-Azerbaijan relations acceptable State budget spending on Armenia emergency ministry needs to increase considerably in 2023 Pashinyan says he wants to discuss regional security issues with Putin Putin hopes for progress in Karabakh settlement during summit Putin: We have to end the Karabakh conflict 80% of Kyiv remains without water supply after morning strikes, mayor claims China accuses US of violating trade rules Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan meets Russian President Vladimir Putin Peskov: We will inform if documents are agreed as result of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders meeting Kremlin says Russia continues contacts with Turkey and UN on 'grain deal' Masis Abrahamyan, head of ANC - Netherlands office, files lawsuit against Armenian National Security Service Bloomberg names world's richest families Central Bank: About 86% of banks' profits in Armenia come from currency sale/purchase, exchange fees Head of Central Bank of Armenia: Economic growth in 2023 will be lower than 7% forecasted by government Armenia civil servants salaries to increase but bonuses to reduce Armenia finance minister: Salaries to increase almost twice as much more than bonuses have become salaries Finance ministry: Armenia inflation would have been higher if national currency had not increased in value Alen Simonyan to Erin Elizabeth McKee: Armenia is interested in deeper engagement by US Central Bank of Armenia: U.S. financial authorities complicate U.S. dollar turnover worldwide Kyiv: 12 vessels with grain leave Ukrainian ports France is working on a land route for grain export from Ukraine Amount of Armenia financial assistance to Karabakh to not change in 2023 International Rescue Committee: Blockade of Ukrainian grain may lead to disaster Erdogan: Turkey will continue to solve the food issue despite Russia's hesitation Armenia's budget deficit in 2023 will be 3.1% of GDP PACE MPs initiate resolution on political prisoners cases increase in Azerbaijan EU studying issue of recognizing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist organization Finance minister: Armenia tax revenues projected to be about 3.7% of GDP in 2023 Armenia opposition MP: No final document will be signed in Russias Sochi Opposition MP: When Armenia PM says he is in Russian proposals favor, has no value unless he says he rejects US option Employee of Karabakh permanent representation in Armenia is charged with high treason Kyiv mayor claims damage to energy facility that supplies power to 350,000 apartments Blinken has phone talks with China's FM Artsakh strategic issues discussed at We Are Our Mountains agency first meeting Death toll in Indian bridge collapse rises to 141 Armenia 2023 state budget draft: Capital expenditure to increase significantly Armenia national debt against GDP is planned to be reduced Iranian Foreign Ministry: Presence of foreign forces doesn't contribute to peace in Caucasus Alen Simonyan, Garo Paylan discuss prospects for reopening of Armenia-Turkey border Aliyev arrives in Sochi Iran detains second suicide bomber in Shiraz mausoleum Iranian and Azerbaijani FMs discuss situation in region 2023 expenses of Armenian defense sector will make AMD 506bln, a growth of 35% Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that all the injured were taken to various hospitals in the city of Vladikavkaz. As earlier reported, a passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Armenias capital city of Yerevan, collided with a truck, on Friday at around 4:30am, on a turning road near Vladikavkaz. The bus had 52 passengers, 22 of them were injured, 5 of whom died. The two drivers are also among the dead. The Embassy of Armenia in Moscow informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that work is underway to provide necessary assistance to the victims. STEPANAKERT. The adversary violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces more than 30 times, from late Thursday night to early Friday morning. During this time the Azerbaijani armed forces fired around 470 shots toward the Armenian position-holders, and by way of various caliber weapons, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Defense Army informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. In addition, the adversary made use of large-caliber sniper rifles in a southeasterly direction of the line of contact. But the NKR Defense Army vanguard units maintained the truce, for the most part, and continued confidently carrying out their military watch. As of Friday 10am, nine people are still in the Vladikavkaz hospitals, after the tragic crash of a passenger bus that was heading from Moscow to Armenias capital city of Yerevan. The other injured have been discharged from the hospitals of this Russian city. The Vladikavkaz authorities informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that 32 people were injured in the crash, and five of them had died. There are four children among the affected. The bus passengers that can be transported will be brought to Yerevan on board a plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. A temporary shelter has been set up in the Cultural House of Beslan, for the passengers that do not need medical assistance. As earlier reported, a passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Yerevan, collided with a truck, on Friday at around 4:30am, on a turning road near Vladikavkaz. The two drivers are also among the five casualties of this tragedy. The names of two of the casualties in Friday mornings tragic crash of a passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Armenias capital city of Yerevan, have become known. The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia has learned their names. They are: Arevik Hunanyan, 46, and Yura Poghosyan, 62. The Vladikavkaz authorities informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that 32 people were injured in the crash, and five of them had died. There are four children among the affected. They also informed that most of the injured have been discharged from the hospitals of this Russian city, and solely nine are still hospitalized. The bus passengers that can be transported will be brought to Yerevan on board a plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. A temporary shelter has been set up in the Cultural House of Beslan, for the passengers that do not need medical assistance. A passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Yerevan, collided with a truck, on Friday at around 4:30am, on the Vladikavkaz-Beslan bypass. The two drivers are also among the five casualties of this tragedy. YEREVAN. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Friday issued a message of condolences on the crash of the passenger bus that was traveling from Moscow to capital city Yerevan The Press Office of the President informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that Sargsyan also gave several respective instructions to the Armenian state agencies. Dear Compatriots, I learned with great sorrow the news on the night accident with the bus travelling from Moscow to Yerevan which resulted in the loss of human lives and casualties. At this grave moment, I express my condolences and support to the families of the victims, their relatives and friends. I wish a speedy recovery to all injured, reads the message of condolence by the President. A short time after the accident, the relevant bodies reported to the President that early this morning, at 4.30am a major accident took place at the Beslan-Vladikavkaz highway. A bus traveling on the Moscow-Yerevan route and a truck collided. According to the preliminary data, five were killed and 27 injured. President Serzh Sargsyan instructed the Government of Armenia and the countrys embassy in Moscow to undertake urgent measures to provide necessary assistance to the victims and organize full-scale medical aid. He also instructed to provide necessary assistance to the families of those killed and injured. Relevant bodies in Armenia were instructed in a short period of time, together with the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation, to find out the causes of the accident and its circumstances, and provide a comprehensive report. The President was also informed that representatives of the Armenian consulates in Rostov and southern Russia have already arrived at the crash site and, in cooperation with the relevant Russian agencies, are providing first aid to the injured. Head of the Ministry of Finance: Sweden's economic outlook is gloomy and we're heading for a tough winter Norway to raise level of army combat readiness in response to Ukraine war Putin and Aliyev talks in Sochi are over Moldova expels Russian embassy employee after incident with falling rocket parts Estonia to expand by 30 times protected zone on border with Russia Serzh Sargsyan receives Garo Paylan Inflation hits new record in 19 eurozone countries Shoigu and Akar discuss Russia's decision to suspend participation in grain deal Head of Armenian Armed Forces General Staff: Azerbaijan refuses to allow evacuation of Armenian soldiers' bodies Inflation in Poland breaks the record of 25 years ago Head of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces explains why Azerbaijanis 'trapped' were not captured Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces confirms loss of positions as result of Azerbaijani aggression Central Bank: Inflation in Armenia reaches 9.9% Edvard Asryan: The operational situation in the eastern and southeastern directions is relatively stable Iran arrests 6 suspects in attack on Shiraz mausoleum Aliyev: Baku put forward five main principles to normalize relations with Yerevan Putin: The goal of the trilateral talks is the implementation of all agreements of 2020 and 2021 Talks between presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan start in Sochi Six people detained in Belarus for hanging Ukrainian flag NBC News: Biden lost his temper on the phone with Zelenskyy European Parliament lawmakers arriving in Armenia on fact-finding mission Cavusoglu: Europe weakening runs counter to Ankara's economic interests Non-resident organizations providing online services in Armenia declare 1bn drams of VAT in 3 quarters October oil production in Russia falls Storm warning issued in Sochi due to tornadoes Putin and Pashinyan hold 1-hour talks in Sochi Pashinyan to visit Tehran on November 1 Over AMD 76 billion will be assigned to Armenian police in 2023 Provincial governor of Armenias Tavush, France envoy discuss future cooperation (PHOTOS) South Korea and the U.S. begin large-scale air force exercise Dollar, euro continue falling in Armenia Pashinyan says issue of Armenian captives is unresolved, despite discussions with Putin Iranian parliament chair to visit Azerbaijan Pashinyan: Communications passing through Armenia should be under Yerevan's full control Pashinyan: Russia's clear position on moving Azerbaijani soldiers to their initial positions is important World wheat prices up Putin urges to ensure peace in Karabakh and unblock transport infrastructure Pashinyan calls Russia's approaches to establishing Armenia-Azerbaijan relations acceptable State budget spending on Armenia emergency ministry needs to increase considerably in 2023 Pashinyan says he wants to discuss regional security issues with Putin Putin hopes for progress in Karabakh settlement during summit Putin: We have to end the Karabakh conflict 80% of Kyiv remains without water supply after morning strikes, mayor claims China accuses US of violating trade rules Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan meets Russian President Vladimir Putin Peskov: We will inform if documents are agreed as result of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders meeting Kremlin says Russia continues contacts with Turkey and UN on 'grain deal' Masis Abrahamyan, head of ANC - Netherlands office, files lawsuit against Armenian National Security Service Bloomberg names world's richest families Central Bank: About 86% of banks' profits in Armenia come from currency sale/purchase, exchange fees Head of Central Bank of Armenia: Economic growth in 2023 will be lower than 7% forecasted by government Armenia civil servants salaries to increase but bonuses to reduce Armenia finance minister: Salaries to increase almost twice as much more than bonuses have become salaries Finance ministry: Armenia inflation would have been higher if national currency had not increased in value Alen Simonyan to Erin Elizabeth McKee: Armenia is interested in deeper engagement by US Central Bank of Armenia: U.S. financial authorities complicate U.S. dollar turnover worldwide Kyiv: 12 vessels with grain leave Ukrainian ports France is working on a land route for grain export from Ukraine Amount of Armenia financial assistance to Karabakh to not change in 2023 International Rescue Committee: Blockade of Ukrainian grain may lead to disaster Erdogan: Turkey will continue to solve the food issue despite Russia's hesitation Armenia's budget deficit in 2023 will be 3.1% of GDP PACE MPs initiate resolution on political prisoners cases increase in Azerbaijan EU studying issue of recognizing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist organization Finance minister: Armenia tax revenues projected to be about 3.7% of GDP in 2023 Armenia opposition MP: No final document will be signed in Russias Sochi Opposition MP: When Armenia PM says he is in Russian proposals favor, has no value unless he says he rejects US option Employee of Karabakh permanent representation in Armenia is charged with high treason Kyiv mayor claims damage to energy facility that supplies power to 350,000 apartments Blinken has phone talks with China's FM Artsakh strategic issues discussed at We Are Our Mountains agency first meeting Death toll in Indian bridge collapse rises to 141 Armenia 2023 state budget draft: Capital expenditure to increase significantly Armenia national debt against GDP is planned to be reduced Iranian Foreign Ministry: Presence of foreign forces doesn't contribute to peace in Caucasus Alen Simonyan, Garo Paylan discuss prospects for reopening of Armenia-Turkey border Aliyev arrives in Sochi Iran detains second suicide bomber in Shiraz mausoleum Iranian and Azerbaijani FMs discuss situation in region 2023 expenses of Armenian defense sector will make AMD 506bln, a growth of 35% Armenias Pashinyan arrives in Russias Sochi (PHOTOS) UN agrees with Turkey and Ukraine on transportation of Ukrainian grain Armenia parliament standing committees kick off joint session, debating on 2023 state budget draft Lula da Silva wins Brazil presidential election Oil prices go down Gold prices show weak growth Armenia renowned stage director, ex-MP Vahe Shahverdyan dead at 77 Turkey plans to open 100 oil, natural gas wells on land in 2023 Copper falls in price USAID delegation arriving in Armenia Japan to establish new unified command to manage operations of land, sea and air forces French Foreign Minister calls on Russia to reconsider its decision on grain deal Ferrari unveils 499P hypercar with all-wheel drive Russian Foreign Ministry hopes that Putin, Pashinyan and Aliyev meeting will help conclude peace treaty Pashinyan to meet with Putin in Sochi, followed by trilateral meeting of Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani leaders Reuters: Border Agency building set on fire in Britain US recognized as most powerful country in world for seventh time Iran accuses Israel of organizing terrorist attack in Shiraz Reuters: NATO urged Russia to urgently resume grain deal Guterres intends to achieve resumption of Russia's participation in grain deal YEREVAN. The owner of a Moscow-Yerevan bus that crashed in the south of Russia is Karen (Yura) Poghosyan, Armenian Transport Ministry reported. Earlier the ministry said the bus was passengers on non-scheduled basis. According to preliminary reports, both drivers died in the crash. The Vladikavkaz authorities informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that 32 people were injured in the crash, and five of them had died. There are four children among the affected. They also informed that most of the injured have been discharged from the hospitals of this Russian city, and solely nine are still hospitalized. The bus passengers that can be transported will be brought to Yerevan on board a plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. A temporary shelter has been set up in the Cultural House of Beslan, for the passengers that do not need medical assistance. A passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Yerevan, collided with a truck, on Friday at around 4:30am, on the Vladikavkaz-Beslan bypass. YEREVAN. The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia issued the latest list of the injured in the Moscow-Yerevan passenger bus crash that are still receiving medical treatment in Vladikavkaz, Russia. Accordingly, ten injured passengers are still in the three hospitals of this city. As earlier reported, passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Armenias capital city of Yerevan, collided with a truck, on Friday at around 4:30am, on the Vladikavkaz-Beslan bypass. The Vladikavkaz authorities informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that 32 people were injured in the crash, and five of them had died. Four children are among the injured, and one of them is in critical condition. The bus passengers that can be transported will be brought to Yerevan on board a plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, on the same day. And the bus that will transport them is also on its way. In addition, a temporary shelter has been set up in Beslan, for the bus passengers that do not need medical assistance. The names of the five casualties in Friday mornings tragic crash of a passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Armenias capital city of Yerevan, have become known. The Embassy of Armenia in Moscow informed that, according to their verified data, three of these casualties are Russian citizens, and the other twoArmenian nationals. The casualties are: A. Lunonyan (born in 1960), Armenian citizen; Yu. (Karen) Poghosyan (born in 1954), Armenian citizen; A. Lazukin (born in 1968), Russian citizen; V. Panchenko (born in 1973), Russian citizen; and S. Mamchenko (born in 1999), Russian citizen. A criminal case is launched into this bus crash. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made contact with the Embassy of Armenia in Moscow, expressed condolences to the families of the dead, and offered its assistance. As earlier reported, a passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Yerevan, collided with a truck, on Friday at around 4:30am, on the Vladikavkaz-Beslan bypass. The Vladikavkaz authorities informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that 27 people were injured in the crash, and five had died, including the bus driver. Four children are among the injured, and one of them is in critical condition. They also informed that most of the injured have been discharged from the hospitals of this Russian city, and solely nine are still hospitalized. The bus passengers that can be transported will be brought to Yerevan on board a plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, on the same day. In addition, a temporary shelter was set up in Beslan, for the bus passengers that do not need medical assistance. Sometime thereafter, they headed to Yerevan on another bus. The French Senate on Friday passed the bill that criminalizes the denial of Armenian Genocide. Co-chairman of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF), Mourad Papazian, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the bill on amendments to the Citizenship and Freedom Law was adopted at the French Senate by a vote of 156 for and 146 against. In his words, even though the Turks were working quite actively to prevent the passing of this bill, they failed to do so. This means that the French parliament adopted, once and for all, the bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial, added Papazian. [But] if there will be a petition, the matter may be discussed also at the Constitutional Council [of France]. As earlier reported, the French senators on Wednesday started debates regarding the bill on amendments to the Citizenship and Freedom Law. But after midnight, the president of the senate decided to put off the discussions for two days. Articles 37 and 38 of this bill refer to the criminalization of Armenian Genocide denial. The discussions were followed by CCAF Co-Chairs Mourad Papazian, and Ara Toranian. According to Haratch newspaper of the French Armenians, at the time of these debates, however, Senate President Gerard Larcher received Speaker Ismail Kahraman of the Turkish parliament, and this was followed by a dinner reception by the French-Turkish Friendship Group of the Senate. YEREVAN. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Friday received Transportation Minister of Russia Maksim Sokolov, who is also Russian co-chair of the Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation. The Sokolov-led Russian delegation has arrived in Armenia to participate in the fifth Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum, which is held on the same day in capital city Yerevan, the Press Office of the President informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. The interlocutors reflected on and underscored this event. In addition, the President stated that Armenia-Russia allied state relations are developing on a solid basis of friendship and brotherhood, whose key component is interregional cooperation. Free movement creates new opportunities for intensification of bilateral economic relations, Sargsyan told, in particular, to those in attendance to the talk. [And] to reveal such kind of new opportunities, these days we are holding also the first International Forum of Eurasian Partnership. Sokolov, and the Russian regional governors comprising the aforesaid Russian delegation, for their part, also highly assessed decentralized cooperation between Armenia and Russia. YEREVAN. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member countries can and should strive for single currency, Garegin Tosunyan, chairman of the Association of Russian Banks, told Armenian News-NEWS.am. In his words, even though we currently cannot speak of such single currency in the near future, these countries can and possibly should strive for it, especially if we consider the Russian ruble prevalence in these countries. As per Tosunyan, a single currency can be a good basis for negotiations. And when asked whether it will be possible to create a legal basis for an EAEU single currency by the year 2025, he responded: We hope that they [i.e. the EAEU countries] will reached an agreement [to that effect]. In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin had stated that a single currency can be introduced within the EAEU; but only after when all the member countries become level with one another in terms of their level of development. The Eurasian Economic Union comprises Armenia Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. A real scandal took place during the free debates in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Friday. PACE President Pedro Agramunt turned off the microphones of Armenian delegation members Naira Karapetyan and Naira Zohrabyan. Naira Zohrabyan told Armenian News NEWS.am reporter the details of the incident, noting that during the free debates in PACE Pedro Agramunt rudely interrupted Naira Karapetyans and her speeches, violating all the PACE regulations. Our speeches related to the criminal case launched by Milans Prosecutors Office against former PACE Vice President and honorary head of the European People's Party (EPP) faction in PACE, Italian MP Luca Volonte, under which the latter continuously received 2 mln 400,000 euro from Aliyevs administration and Azerbaijani government to defend the interests of the Azerbaijan. This is a fact regarding which a criminal case is underway, Zohrabyan said. In her words, Agramunt rudely turned off both her and Naira Karapetyans microphones, saying that they have no right to speak about that case unless the final decision of the court is available. This is a gross violation of PACE regulation, something which PACEs various European deputies also recorded, telling us that it was unprecedented for the PACE President to violate the regulation in such a gross manner, especially when we were speaking during the free debates. However for some reason Agramunt never interrupted the speech of Azerbaijani MP Rafig Huseynov, who raised nonsensical accusations and noted that journalists were killed for the freedom of speech in Armenia. The Azerbaijani MP specifically referred to Mikayel Danielyan, who, according to him, was killed for the freedom of speech, whereas the former indeed died from heart attack, Zohrabyan stressed. And when I responded to Huseynov that I advise him to consult a psychiatrist, this sent Agramunt into absolute frenzy and he began shouting form tribune that I had no right to offend the Deputy and he is turning off my microphone, the Armenian MP said. Zohrabyan went on with her speech on Luca Volonte and corruption practices in PACE when Agramunt for the second time turned off the Armenian MPs microphone, saying that he is depriving her of the right to speak. I responded from my seat that he is depriving me of the right to speak because he is also Azerbaijans and Aliyevs prominent lobbyist like Volonte and he doesnt feel comfortable about the announcements on shameful corruption, since he is also involved in the corruption mechanisms. My colleague Mikayel Melkumyan interrupted me at that point, noting that Agramunt is grossly violating the regulation, depriving an independent deputy of the right to speak, the Armenian MP said. She also noted that all this has been recorded - all the video materials are available - and she will personally turn to PACE going through all the processes. Ill launch a legal process against Agramunt, since the topic of deputies speeches has never been regulated in the history of PACE. I can understand the bad situation Agramunt has found himself in, since the Ukrainian delegation is also launching a process against him, this time accusing him of being bribed by Russia. I can understand his emotional state and that the word corruption throws him into concussions, but that doesnt give him a right to turn off the microphone of our delegation member. YEREVAN. - The session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was held in Yerevan on Friday. The meeting was chaired by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who presided in the Organization for the period between the sessions of years 2015-2016. The session addressed the process of implementing the decisions adopted at the previous CSTO summits, as well as the priorities set by Armenia during the countrys presidency at the CSTO. In the framework of over two dozen issues set on the agenda, reference was made to the international situation and current issues related to the collective security, drafts of the decisions on developing the CSTO collective security strategy for the period of up to 2025 and establishment of CSTO emergency response center. The presidency of the CSTO for years 2016-2017 was assumed by the Republic of Belarus. President Alexander Lukashenko will present to the Collective Security Council the priorities of his country, which are to be implemented during the countrys presidency. Documents on the further development of the Organizations military component, preparation of military cadres, as well as development of response system of CSTO member states during emergency situations were signed in the framework of the Collective Security Councils agenda. The heads of CSTO member-states decided to withdraw the issue of the Secretary General from the agenda, postponing its discussion to the end of the current year. At the plenary session, the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan briefed the representatives of official delegations on the issues discussed in the restricted format. I think we held a very productive and frank discussion on the issues directly relating to our affairs and impacting the security issues of our countries, being projected and manifested at regional levels and not only. Of course, we also touched on challenges and threats which the entire international community faces. Here I first of all mean the unprecedented outbreak of terrorism and violence, which can have no justification. Dear heads of states, The Yerevan session concludes Armenias presidency in the Organization. Certain measures were taken between the sessions to replenish the further cooperation in the CSTO. The work was aimed at increasing the Organizations potential proceeding from the goals and issues defined by the Agreement on Collective Security, whose 25th anniversary we will celebrate next year, President Sargsyan noted. YEREVAN. - One of the wounded passengers of the North Ossetia bus crash, 20-year-old Hrayr Bejanyan, was shocked after the collision. The young man with bandaged head, who had just come down the ramp, told Armenian News NEWS.am that he felt a blow, after which he touched his head and realized he was bleeding. We broke the window, got out of the bus and began helping other passengers, he said. Hrayr Bejanyan was on vacation in Russia after army demobilization. He is a participant of the April War and served in Talish village of Nagorno-Karabakh As reported earlier, a passenger bus, which was heading from Moscow to Yerevan, collided with a truck, on Friday at around 4:30am, on the Vladikavkaz-Beslan bypass. As a result, five people, including the bus driver were killed, and another 27 sustained injuries. 26 passengers, who suffered injuries as a result of the bus crash, were transported to Armenia by the plane of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry. The body of the dead Armenian citizen Yura Poghosyan also arrived by the same plane. The governor of Russias Rostov Oblast (district), Vasily Golubev, has instructed to provide financial assistance to the families of the victims of the accident, involving a passenger bus heading from Moscow to Yerevan. Governor of Rostov Oblast Vasily Golubev offered condolences to the families of the victims and wished speedy recovery to those wounded in Beslan accident, the statement reads. According to the information, the governor has instructed to allocate means from the reserve fund to provide financial assistance to the families of the victims. The accident took place Friday at 4:30 am Moscow time in the territory of South Ossetia. Consequently, five people died, including three Russian and two Armenian citizens, one of whom was the driver. 27 people sustained bodily injuries, five of them being children. According to the information of the South Regional Center of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, seven residents of Rostovs Krasny Sulin and Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy were wounded as a result. They were heading for a karate competition in Yerevan, RIA Novosti reports. Two adults and one minor died; four children are hospitalized in Republican Clinical Hospital of Vladikavkaz Ambulance. Emory has the opportunity to appoint new leaders in two of its three executive vice president positions, both of which are essential to accomplishing the Universitys mission. President Claire E. Sterk has charged a search advisory committee for the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs (EVPAA) and one for the executive vice president for business and administration (EVPBA). These search advisory committees have a rare opportunity to identify candidates for key senior leadership roles that will be essential to further advancing our ambition towards academic excellence, Sterk says. I am looking forward to the recommendations of candidates who will enable the University to reach its great promise and bold ambition. The provost search advisory committee co-chaired by professors Carol Anderson and Carlos del Rio will work with search consultants from Heidrick & Struggles to identify a slate of experienced candidates for Emorys seventh provost and chief academic officer. The committee will identify and interview applicants throughout the fall and early spring semesters and present three or four final candidates to the president, with the expectation that Emorys next provost will be identified in the early spring. As the provost search evolves, the search for the dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences will be launched with the hope that this leader will be identified before the summer of 2017. Chaired by Steve Sencer, Emory's senior vice president and general counsel, the search advisory committee for the EVPBA will work with Neumann Executive Search to identify qualified and dedicated candidates for Emorys chief business and administrative role. The EVPBA oversees all business, financial and administrative units of the University such as Campus Services, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Internal Audit and Investment Management. This committee also will present three or four candidates to the president. The timeline will be similar to that of the provost search, with the expectation that the EVPBA appointment will be announced during the spring 2017 semester. Provost advisory search committee Co-chairs: Carol Anderson (Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor and chair, African American Studies, Emory College of Arts and Sciences) Carlos del Rio (Rollins Professor and chair, Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health) Members: Peter Barnes (interim EVP for business and administration) Henry Bayerle (associate professor, classical languages, Oxford College; president-elect, University Senate; and chair-elect, University Faculty Council) Chris Beck (professor of pedagogy, biology, Emory College of Arts and Sciences; president, Emory College Faculty Senate) Nancy Bliwise (professor of pedagogy, psychology, Emory College of Arts and Sciences; associate vice provost, academic planning) Yolanda Cooper (university librarian) Isabel Garcia 99L (former president, Emory Alumni Board; former member, Emory Law School Alumni Board; former member, University Senate) Andra Gillespie (director, James Weldon Johnson Institute; associate professor, political science, Emory College of Arts and Sciences) James B. Hughes (associate dean for academic affairs, associate professor, School of Law) Erika James (John H. Harland Dean, professor of organization and management, Goizueta School of Business) Jaffar Khan (vice chair, neurologic education, and associate professor, neurology: neuromuscular, School of Medicine; past-president, University Senate; past chair, University Faculty Council) Jon Lewin (EVP for health affairs; firector, Woodruff Health Sciences Center; president, CEO, and chairman of the board, Emory Healthcare) David Lynn (Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Chemistry and Biology, Emory College of Arts and Sciences) Kathy Rohrer (trustee; chair, Academic Affairs Committee of the Emory Board of Trustees; alumna, Emory College) Max Zoberman (president, Student Government Association) EVPBA search committee Chair: Steve Sencer (senior vice president, general counsel) Members: by Nino Gugunishvili13.10.2016. Gordon Ramsay, Martin Blunos, Nuno Mendes, all those Michelin-starred celebrity chefs and their restaurants have been part of Romaine Audreries amazing career journey. Now a head sommelier of wines at one of Londons iconic restaurants, Chiltern Firehouse, Audrerie came to Tbilisi this month to discover more about the Georgian wine culture, possibly adding some new wine brands to his portfolio. His trip was organized by Mako Abashidze, founding director of the British Georgian Chamber of Commerce.As a part of their marketing strategy in partnership with the Georgian National Wine Agency, the British Georgian Chamber of Commerce often brings head sommeliers, food and wine writers to Georgia to promote the country through its wine and cuisine.met Romaine Audrerie at Rooms Hotel Tbilisi, which he described as very comfortable and homely, to find out more about his career, his trip to Georgia and Georgian wines. I was passionate about my studies in University in political sciences and communication lobbing. I graduated after five years in Bordeaux and Paris. It was in Bordeaux I suddenly discovered my passion for wine- I was just a happy drinker. But I really got into the trend of learning the details of names and discovering the new things happening in the wine world when I was still in Bordeaux. After my studies I couldnt get the job I wanted because my English wasnt good enough, so I went to London to learn. Within a year of living in the UK I found myself working with Martin Blunos in my first Sommelier position at the Lygon Arms. Soon, I became the Head Sommelier at the Savoy for Marcus Wareing, in the Gordon Ramsay group- a Michelin star restaurant with an extensive group of sommeliers and a big wine list. I then spent a year in New York selling wine, so I got to know the New York market and the differences between it and the UK, as well as their vastly different portfolios. You know, New Yorkers are always ahead of London and ten years ahead of everybody.Because it has that cosmopolitan vibe. Because of the communities there- Turkish, Greek, Italian; all bringing their wines to New York. I really benefited from this obsession New York Sommeliers have of getting the latest new things. That is also what I want to show in my wine list at the moment; the best from everywhere, whether its from Crete or Nappa Valley, Languedoc in France or South Africa. After 10 years as a wine director, I know who can bring me the best things. Ive extended my portfolio of suppliers to 45 so now I can cherry-pick the best of everybody. Im also using some suppliers to source things outside the country, importing for restaurants. I think the wine list at Chiltern Firehouse can talk to anyone. I really wanted to have a wine list as democratic as possible in a luxury environment.To be completely crazy! You have to wake up with your passion for wine and then study the latest trend list sent to you by email. You go to work, you go to wine tastings and you come back late and think about all the new amazing things you have discovered. I cannot recount the hours Ive spent in guidebooks, making sure I know the portfolio of each winemaker. However many doors you open and the more questions you answer, the more questions that come- its endless. You need to be addicted to that endless learning curve. You need to be entertaining, youre on show, and youre on stage. You need to put on your costume and entertain. Thats the second part. You also need to make sure youre not intimidating your customer or pushing him for sales.To be the Head of Wines for Andre Balazs Hotels. I want to go to Los Angeles to see the wine list, wine facilities, cellars; to check out the training thats being given, look at the wine culture in the restaurant and than diffuse and spread what Ive created in London. All the waiters in a team want to attend my trainings. I want to activate that curiosity in waiters. My ambition, of course, is to be the director of a company and go from one branch to another and make sure that all the wine culture is been adapted.I knew a few brands from my New York experience. I knew some wines that I liked, and some that I didnt like at all. The perception of Georgian wines is only reflected through the eyes of some very hipster sommeliers who want natural wines whereas I wanted to show variety. I think we need to show Georgian wines for how good they are and how well they pair with food. Its not just an exotic thing, its a cultural thing that needs to be brought, shown and explained to the western countries, because its worth it. Its very sophisticated and luxurious, well-balanced and surprisingly good.Kakhuna, by Lagvinari.I think a much more simplistic approach is needed in the visual characterization of the labels. And its very easy to do. Labels must be readable- grape, producer, region, country. It has to be simple, beautiful and elegant. But we want to see your beautiful alphabet, too. Thats very important. As a sommelier you open your eyes, you want to promote your wines; you become an ambassador of the country and promote its wine. I think there are huge opportunities for Georgia to start promoting its wines, like Japan is doing with Kyushu wines, like Spain is doing in New York, or what Austria did with Gruner Veltliner 15 years ago. They did such a good job that everybody wanted it everywhere. It is a ten-year job, and to start we have to find the right suppliers who will be keen to take the risk to buy quantities, to get the best price and send sommeliers.Georgian wine has something practical for sommeliers- it tells the story of itself. And pairing Georgian wine with food is so easy! Today, I had Kvevri Rkatsiteli with salmon; the best new pairing Ive found for a long time. Georgian wine needs to get out into the world. It needs to show! When I tasted it today I thought: Aquavit London!Yes, we do. Saperavi and Tsolikauri from Lagvinari winery. Georgia is bringing exclusivity and as a sommelier you need to surf in the way of trends of exclusivity because it will bring value to your wine list.Wild mushrooms in Kakheti, at Shumi, with beautiful herbs and parsley- it was amazing and with an accompanying view over the Caucasus Mountains! Its all about a systemic approach of the experience youre having.I visited Badagoni, Shumi and Maranuli. We had a very interesting wine tasting and Im expecting to receive more samples soon.Yes, I would very much like to see Imereti region. I need to see western vineyards, because, as I said, once you open the doors, there another ten doors to open in front of you. Ive only just entered the world of Georgian wine! 22:07 Donald Trump intensified his critique of Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and the media, insisting that both are in cahoots to poison the minds of the American voter. 100% fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton Campaign, may poison the minds of the American Voter. FIX! he tweeted. This election is being rigged by the media pushing false and unsubstantiated charges, and outright lies, in order to elect Crooked Hillary! he added, before promoting his appearance at a rally in Maine. He continued: Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election. The Republican candidates poll numbers have plunged after an 11 year old video surfaced of Trump boasting that his celebrity gives him license to sexually assault women and grab them by the py. Trump dismissed the incredibly vulgar footage as locker room talk and insisted he didnt behave that way. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's three-nation Asian tour, which already took him to Cambodia, Xinhua news agency reported. He will later travel to Goa for the Brics Summit scheduled to take place from October 15-16. --IANS py/ ( 78 Words) 2016-10-14-11:22:09 (IANS) India on Friday dismissed a Pakistani media report that cited Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar as telling German Ambassador Martin Ney that there was no surgical attack carried out by the Indian Army on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir last month. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the report titled "Indian FS admits surgical strikes was a bluff" carried in the News International English daily of Pakistan "is completely concocted and baseless". "The German Ambassador, Martin Ney, was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes. They have had no further conversation since on this subject," Swarup said. The Indian Army carried out the surgical strikes across the LoC in the early hours of September 29. This came after the September 18 cross-border terror attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives. India has blamed the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. The News International cited a meeting between German authorities and Pakistan embassy officials and claimed that Jaishankar told Ney that the surgical attacks did not take place. After the Indian Army operation on September 29, Director General Military Operations Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh told the media that the surgical strikes were carried out "based on very credible and specific information". He added that "some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the LoC with an aim to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and in various other metros in our country". "During these counter terrorist operations, significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who are trying to support them," Lt. Gen. Singh said. Following this, Foreign Secretary Jaishankar briefed the envoys of 22 nations, including German Ambassador Ney, regarding the operation. --IANS ab/ksk/vt ( 327 Words) 2016-10-14-12:06:08 (IANS) The Finance Minister, who was addressing a seminar attended by experts from BRICS nations on better international taxation procedures and global best practices to attract foreign investment, said that public investment has played big role in India's growth. He said that fears of spillover of trade protectionism from developed world are real. Jaitley hoped that the fears about free trade will subside once the US presidential election is over. Stating that BRICS has its own challenges, Jaitley pointed out India's experiences have been different in the problems that other countries have faced. The Finance Minister said the heads of government have been meeting over the last few years and expanding the areas of network. Jaitley said increased cooperation is now taking place and contingency reserves arrangements are in place. RBI Governor Urjit Patel, who was also present, said India's average economic growth is seen as 5.1 percent this year. He said that BRICS must work on improving business environment. He further added that outlook for global commodity prices remain soft. Stating that India needs to manage commodity cycles better, Patel said that spillovers from global monetary policy are a risk to BRICS. The RBI Governor further said that events like BREXIT and US presidential election also affects India's policies going forward. (ANI) Brazilian President Michel Temer will leave on Friday to India to participate in the eighth Brics Summit and then to Japan to attract investment. According to Temer's spokesperson, Alexandre Parola, on Thursday, the President's Asia visit will be an opportunity for the government to show "a new Brazil" of "investment opportunities, stability and fiscal responsibility", Xinhua news agency reported. Temer's first stop will be in Goa for the Brics Summit, where he will formalise four new cooperation mechanisms with the other member countries (China, India, Russia and South Africa). Temer will arrive in Goa on Saturday and enjoy a formal dinner with the leaders. On October 16, the five heads of state will meet before holding a Brics business meeting, followed by a signature ceremony and a meeting with Bay of Bengal countries (BIMSTEC). Temer will also hold a private meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which Parola said would help in re-launching the two countries' bilateral strategic partnership. "India is reaching high levels of economic growth. At a time when Brazil is seeking to return to the paths of sustainable development and job creation, India is a natural partner to which we turn with renewed emphasis," he explained. The new mechanisms will include an agricultural research platform to share technological advances. A deal between customs authorities will seek to finalise technical aspects in order to make trade easier between members. An environmental cooperation commitment will see the five nations aim to work together on air quality, water management and climate change. Finally, the countries' diplomatic corps will seek to work in closer cooperation. In recent years, the Brics have made important steps forward, with the creation of the New Development Bank, which will seek to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries. Temer will then be in Japan on October 17 and 18, the first visit by a Brazilian president to that country in 11 years. He will meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before meeting business leaders to present "Brazil's new economic reality and the opportunities opened up by the Investment Partnership Plan". --IANS py/in ( 356 Words) 2016-10-14-09:12:08 (IANS) A post-result presentation by the company cautioned that there could be one more quarter of weak results for India's largest consumer goods company. The analysts expect a muted volume growth of three percent for the ongoing quarter with an extension of the tepid growth in last 14 quarters with mid-single-digit numbers. The performance over these past quarters looked particularly interesting as Unilever increased its stake in Indian arm to over 67 percent through an open offer. The stake increase by the parent was seen as a major bet on the India story by the UK-based parent, though there were concerns over higher royalty payments and tax increases, which analysts said could weigh on earnings growth for at least two years since. (ANI) Police said the body of the deceased youth identified as Rakesh Pattnayak of Kamakhyanagar was retrieved from the river by the fire brigade personnel today. Rakesh, who worked as a software engineer in Bengaluru, had come to Paralakhemundi on the Dussehra vacation and visited the picnic spot with two of his friends. He was taking a selfie while climbing a tree when he slipped and fell into the river. He was swept away in the river current. The fire brigade and police personnel recovered his body today during a search operation from the river.UNI DP KK SB 1804 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-976565.Xml Caesar, a Labrador, died around 9.30 a.m. at Fizzah Farm in Virar near Mumbai, where he was buried with full state honour with his body covered with Tricolour. Caesar was depressed since his colleagues Tiger, Max and Sultan passed away in last four months at the farm. "The brave, alert & efficient Caeser will be remembered fondly for his services. An emotional moment for all of us @MumbaiPolice #RIPCaeser (sic)," tweeted CP Mumbai Police. "Services of retired member of dog squad, during 26/11 wil b unforgettable. We will miss our hero immensely #RIPCaeser (sic)," tweeted the Mumbai Police. (ANI) The Kolkata Police Special Task Force had earlier arrested the six wanted militants of the banned Islamic outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from Assam and different parts of West Bengal. Among the six arrested, two chargesheeted accused are Moulana Yusuf and Abul Kalam, and the other three who are yet to be chargesheeted are Rafique, Jahidul Islam and Sahidul Islam. Moulana Yusuf is the second-in-command and main accused in the 2014 Burdwan Blast, according to sources. At least five of the six arrested accused were listed as wanted militants by the NIA for their alleged role in the blast at Khagragarh in Burdwan on October 2, 2014. The blast is suspected to have taken place while bombs were being assembled inside a building. Police identified the others arrested as Jahidul Sheikh alias Zaffar alias Jabirul; Mohammad Rafique alias Mohammed Rubel alias Pichchi; Shahidul alias Surya alias Shamim; and, Abdul Kalam alias Kalim. They were remanded in police custody until October 6. (ANI) The deal will be signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India from October 14 to 17 to attend the 17th edition of the Indo-Russian summit and the Eighth BRICS summit. As many as 30 collaboration proposals - including additional nuclear reactors and fifth generation fighter aircraft, satellite navigation, investment in the hydrocarbon sector - are in the pipeline, which could be taken up at the summit in Goa on Saturday. Russia and India had agreed to jointly produce about 200 Ka-226T helicopters to replace Cheetah and Chetak choppers under 'Make in India' initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's, who had signed an agreement in this regard during his visit to Moscow in December 2015. (ANI) Reprimanding Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that 30 years of steam was released on September 29 when soldiers dismantled seven terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Congress veteran A.K. Antony while setting the record straight on Thursday said that surgical operations were done during the former UPA regime as well as at the time of other governments in the past, adding that the former is busting too much and somebody should control him. "And also, I will say while he says that for the 30 years the Indian armed forces did not retaliate, it means more than seven years of its (BJP's) leader and our Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee's government was also suffering humiliations. It is strange," Antony told ANI. "Not now, in the past also, and during the UPA regime also, many a times our army crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and conducted retaliatory actions. I can say during our time, many a times these kinds of retaliations were from our parts. In other words, you may say surgical strikes and other retaliatory actions, which depends on the gravity of the attack committed by the enemy on our country and our armed forces," he said disapproving Parrikar's statement. "I feel sad that the Defence Minister of the country could speak like this frequently. I strongly object to his statement as it is an insult to the armed forces, army, our people and the country. The Defence Minister is busting too much and somebody should control him because we cannot have this kind of debate on national security and operational details of the armed forces," said the former defence minister. "During the last 10 years of the UPA government, ministers did not give details of the operations of the army. Normally, the army briefs the media whatever they feel necessary and not beyond that. Now, the ministers are briefing the media about the operational details of the armed forces, which is not a good practice," he added. Further taking on Parrikar, Antony said the former's assertion that that the incumbent regime has lifted the burden and frustration of the last 30 years is a clearly an insult to the Indian armed forces and the country. "What does it mean; it means that for the last 30 years our armed forces were suffering all kinds of retaliation, attacks, infiltration from across the border from the enemy country," he said. Stating that he can say with authority that the Indian Army has never been an aggressor and India has never on its own provoked its enemy, Antony added, "But at the same time, whenever there is infiltration our armed forces, especially the army, retaliated, which is a practice of our army." Noting that armed forces, including army, are always allowed to take whatever actions are needed to give a befitting reply to an attack or infiltration against the country, Antony said, "But, the practice is that the army will choose their own time and their own place to retaliate, and not the government. The operational details are not decided by the government, it is decided by the army. So, timing and place of retaliation are decided by the army and they are free to do that. They have done it in the past during the UPA government and during times of other governments also." Speaking at two events in Mumbai, Parrikar had earlier said that 30 years of steam was released on September 29 when soldiers crossed into Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to target seven staging areas for terrorists. "I have been the Defence Minister for two years. From whatever I have known, there is no surgical strike from previous years. What they are quoting are actions taken by border action teams. These are common actions across the globe and by the Indian Army," he said. (ANI) Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan's leading international University, welcomed 573 new students from 52 countries and regions around the world in an energetic entrance ceremony held recently. This fall semester the university welcomes 442 undergraduate students (33 domestic and 409 international students), 50 graduate students (1 domestic, 49 international), and 81 exchange students (6 domestic, 75 international). President Shun Korenaga welcomed the new entrants with warm words of encouragement. He said, "By bringing together students from around the world, you challenge and complement each other, and through this polish your abilities; this is the true value [of diversity]. Pursuing diversity is part of our philosophy on education. Diversity brings creativity, develops mutual respect, and contributes to the cultivation of a better, more nuanced international understanding." He also highlighted APU's recent accreditation by AACSB International: "Last month, APU earned accreditation from AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, for our undergraduate and graduate business programs. This recognition is in no small part thanks to the efforts of our faculty and staff over the last eight years. We join Keio University as one of only three universities in Japan to hold this distinction, but we are the first where you can apply and complete all programs in English. We will continue to strengthen our connections to business schools around the world, aiming to be one of the top-ranked schools in Asia." AKAO Noriaki (College of International Management 4th year, Japan) addressed the audience on behalf of current students. ZENAFadilla (College of Asia Pacific Studies, Indonesia) and MORAN Gutierrez Brian Balmore (Graduate School of Management, El Salvador) then spoke on behalf of the undergraduate and graduate new entrants respectively. Relating his personal experience as a part of the APU community, Mr. AKAO addressed the incoming students: "In today's rapidly changing world, nobody truly knows what is right, so I think you must keep asking 'why' and believe in the path you have chosen; it is important to keep trying. Luckily, APU is a place where people with many different backgrounds come together. Engaging in a dialogue with people who hold totally different values than yourself allows you to bring your own views into focus and to contemplate your own 'whys' from multiple perspectives. You also have a major asset: the fact that there are APU students and alumni wherever you go. When I went to Malawi, a country that most Japanese have never even heard of, my homestay host was the family of an APU student from Malawi. Now that you are students of APU, it is up to you to make the most of this unique environment. You must expose yourselves to different cultures, learn to accept cultural differences at face value, and state your own opinions. Although this is easier said than done, for APU students, it's a matter of course. I believe that making this into a habit will provide you withpowerful tools for use in the global arena." Speaking on behalf of the new undergraduate students, Ms. ZENA shared her aspirations for the future: "From the moment we decided to enroll at APU, we were eager to represent not only our countries but also APU as a whole, and to enrich ourselves as the next generation of leaders who are able to work hand-in-hand and make a change for the greater good. Make the most of what APU can offer. Explore. Indulge yourself in challenges. Share with others and gain what you need in order to give something back to the world." Many current students also attended the ceremony to welcome the new entrants to APU and enjoy the colorful performances that followed, including a traditional Indonesian dance, Korean percussion music, Chinese art, and a Japanese drum performance and dance performance. (ANI) AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said the questionnaire prepared by the Law Commission is "loaded in favour" of the Uniform Civil Code, adding the imposition of the same will destroy the nation's diversity and pluralism. "India's soul is in its diversity. And if in the name of Uniform Civil Code, you will impose something then it will destroy the diversity and pluralism of India because you are seeing it from the view point of the Muslims. I think it is wrong because the Muslims, Dalits and Tribals are also a part of India's diversity and pluralism," Owaisi told the media here. "The people, who are supporting the Uniform Civil Code, are not understanding the power and beauty of India. After every 200-300 kms, the culture is different. Imposing single ideology is very difficult which is not going to happen," he added. The AIMIM chief further said he feels that the questionnaire is loaded in favour of Uniform Civil code. "Our party has taken a decision to reply to questionnaire of the Law Commission. However, it should have been more objective," he said. The Law Commission has sought public opinion on the exercise of reforming family laws of all religions. The Commission has reportedly appealed to members of religious, minority and social groups besides non-government organisations to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including the practice of triple talaq, the right to property for a woman citizen and polygamy.(ANI) The National Human Rights Commission on Thursday took suo motu cognizance of a report that Kalimuthu, arrested in connection with a theft case, was found dead while in custody at Thalassery Police Station in Kerala on October 9. The 40-year-old hailed from Salem district of Tamil Nadu. He was, reportedly, tortured by police. The Commission has issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Kerala, calling for a detailed report including the inquest, postmortem examination, video CD of the Postmortem and other relevant reports as per standing directions given by the Commission. Issuing the notice, the Commission observed that this is a case of violation of Right to Life of a person who died in police custody where he was, reportedly, detained without any reason. "The callous attitude of the police personnel amounts to dereliction of duty on their part. The police detained them even after knowing that both of them were not guilty," the commission observed. Kalimuthu, along with another person was caught near a temple in Thalassery area by public. The police then took both of them in their custody. They later found that the two were not involved in any theft, but it did not release them immediately. According to police personnel, both of them were manhandled by the crowd after they were caught on suspicion. (ANI) Kashmiri leaders have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on the premises of the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) at Pampore located on the outskirts of Srinagar, describing it as an attack on the future of Kashmiri youth. The 56-hour standoff between security forces and terrorists reduced the riverside multi-storey building into a charred skeleton,leaving the future of hundreds of Kashmiri students in the dark. The JKEDI building was earlier targeted on February 20 by LeT terrorists in which three commandos of the elite forces were martyred during a three-day-long operation. The terrorists also killed eight CRPF personnel in a separate attack on June 25 in the vicinity of the JKEDI building. Kashmiri writer and journalist Junaid Qureshi, who is based in Amsterdam, termed such attacks as a deliberate strategy by Pakistan to target education and educational establishments. "Ignorance is the foundation of terrorism and it is ignorance which is being promoted in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan, so that their propaganda can find a foothold", said Junaid. He further added, "For three months now, schools in the valley are closed. This particular education establishment in Pampore was targeted earlier as well. There seems to be a deep rooted conspiracy to target education in order to Talibanize Jammu and Kashmir". The Kashmiri activists from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have also strongly opposed the terror attack of educational institutes in Kashmir valley. Jamil Maqsood, Secretary-Foreign Affairs of United Kashmir People's National Party, who is based in Brussels said, "Pakistan backed terrorists are destroying infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, the reason is very simple, they are ignorant and brainwashed by the security establishment of Pakistan. Targeting state educational institutions and other premises shows their intentions". Jamil, who praised India for carrying out surgical strikes on terrorist camps in PoK, said a surgical operation was required to wash out terrorists camps whereever they exist in POK. He said, "Pakistan doesn't need surgical strikes. That country needs a major surgical operation so that the terrorist infrastructure can be properly dismantled." Col. (Retired) Wajahat Hassan Khan, who hails from Gilgit Baltistan, also strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the JKEDI in Pampore. He said, "I strongly condemn this type of terrorist activity, which target educational institutions. It's an attack on Kashmiri youth and is designed to deny them skill development." Junaid Qureshi said such attacks by Islamabad are its continuous attempt to distort the history of Jammu and Kashmir. "Many in Jammu and Kashmir refuse to believe that it was Pakistan which violated the Standstill Agreement with Maharaja (Hari Singh) and attacked us on the 22nd of October 1947. Pakistan keeps talking of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, but what it doesn't tell, is that the first clause of the said UN Resolutions obligates Pakistan to withdraw its forces from the part of Jammu and Kashmir which it occupies." He also targeted the separatists for destablizing Kashmir. Junaid said, "After getting our children killed, ruining our economy and turning this paradise into hell, what is next on the agenda? Make us illiterate and beggars. I fail to comprehend the audacity of those who think that the blockade of education will solve the Kashmir issue and bring Azadi. And even if it does bring a Talibanised inspired solution, what happens next? What do we Kashmiris do when our next generations cannot read and write? What happens to our society? It is highly condemnable that our education and next generation are being attacked in this way". (ANI) Reacting to the assertion of the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) that they would boycott the uniform civil law board, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said that the former should accept change for protecting the fundamental rights of women. BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said that many other Islamic countries moving in progressive direction have amended laws for betterment of women and similarly India should also take steps to bring gender equality. "Let me tell you about these Islamic nations for instance Pakistan, Morocco, Indonesia and Iran, in these countries the governments have brought changes in regard to fundamental rights for protecting rights for women and gender equality , these countries are not looking back but are moving towards progressive society. Personal law board people are misinformed and if they cannot understand then it is high time for them to introspect," said Singh. The Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) earlier in the day said they will boycott the Uniform Civil Law as they feel it is not good for the nation. "We will boycott the questionnaire sent by the Law Commission and we have decided that Muslims of the country will not answer this question as it is not acceptable and not good for the nation," Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani of the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) said at a press conference here. Rahmani said that there are a number of people living in this country belonging from different cultures and added that to bind the culture under one unique code is not acceptable. Quoting the Indian Constitution, Rahmani said, "Everyone is living in this country with an agreement held by the constitution and the Constitution has made everyone live and practice their religion." He, however, expressing disappointment over the situation of Muslims in the country and said that the Muslim community equally participated in India's freedom struggle, but their participation is always underestimated. Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, Rahmani said, "Modi government is applying diversionary tactics. We are satisfied with our own religious rules." He decline to comment on triple talaq and said that they stand by the affidavit filed in the court regarding the matter. The Law Commission earlier last week sought public opinion on the exercise of reforming family laws of all religions. The commission has reportedly appealed to members of religious, minority and social groups, non-government organisations, to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including the practice of triple talaq, the right to property for a woman citizen and polygamy. However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has been defending the triple talaq system and termed the filing of the affidavit as 'un-islamic.' They claim that triple talaq is a personal law and the Centre has no right to modify it. (ANI) Stating that the plurality of diversity multiplicity is the real valuable culture of the country, former union minister and Congress veteran M. Veerappa Moily on Thursday said the implementation of Uniform Civil Code is next to impossible in India. Moily, who was reacting to the move of the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) to boycott the Uniform Civil Law while terming it as 'not good for the nation', said the concept and the design of India is unity in diversity. "So it is not a uniform, we have hindered casts then have 100 personal laws. I think this is impractical and one can't implement personal law very strongly govern lives of the people of this country," Moily told ANI. Earlier today, the MPLB said they will boycott the Uniform Civil Law as they feel it is not good for the nation. "We will boycott the questionnaire sent by the Law Commission and we have decided that Muslims of the country will not answer this question as it is not acceptable and not good for the nation," Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani of the MPLB told a press conference here. Rahmani said there are a number of people living in this country belonging from different cultures and added that to bind the culture under one unique code is not acceptable. The Law Commission earlier last week sought public opinion on the exercise of reforming family laws of all religions. The commission has reportedly appealed to members of religious, minority and social groups, non-government organisations, to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including the practice of triple talaq, the right to property for a woman citizen and polygamy. However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has been defending the triple talaq system and termed the filing of the affidavit as 'un-islamic.' They claim that triple talaq is a personal law and the Centre has no right to modify it. (ANI) RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha said the CPM government in Kerala and the party are engaged in violence against the Sangh and BJP. "The reason is very obvious. The RSS is expanding and BJP is growing in the state that is not being tolerated by the CPM as a party. Secondly, CPM lives in duality. Its creed is violence, but Sitaram Yechury in Delhi talks of liberal democracy," Sinha told ANI. "I think the Government of India should take cognizance of growing violence in Kannur. Almost 250 Swayamsevaks have been killed till now," he added. The BJP's Kerala unit today staged a protest outside the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram against the murder of a party worker in Kannur. The BJP has called for a shutdown in the state to protest against the murder of its activist allegedly by the CPI-M members in Pinarayi village in Kannur district. The BJP, which has demanded a CBI probe into the murder, has also accused Kerala's Left Democratic Front government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of unleashing "political terrorism" in Kerala. (ANI) After the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other Muslim outfits announced their boycott of the Law Commission's exercise to seek inputs for a Uniform Civil Code, the Shiv Sena on Friday blamed it on the wrong policies of the Congress government in last 60 years, and urged the Centre to stand firmly on this issue. Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande told ANI that as far as the Shiv Sena is concerned, they are with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in going ahead with the uniform civil code. "All this is happening because of the wrong policies of the Congress governments in the last 60 years. They have done nothing except appeasement for minorities, particularly the Muslims," Kayande said. "If, you remember from the 'Shah Bano Case' time that even the Supreme Court's verdict was over-powered, which led to the boosting of the morale of the Muslim community and particularly the clerics, the maulanas and the Muslim Law Board members. Because they have put their own women into agony and harass them on the issue of triple talaq," she added. Kayande further said that today Muslim women are coming forward to abolish this triple talaq system and the Central Government should stand firmly against those opposing it. "As far as Shiv Sena is concerned, on the implementation of uniform civil code, we are with the Prime Minister," she added. After the Muslim outfits accused the government of waging a "war" against the community, Kayande said, "I think that the central government should come down heavily on this and no such thing should be tolerated in the country. There has to be a uniform civil code in the country and that will lead to the better living conditions for Muslim people." Earlier, The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other Muslim outfits on Thursday announced their boycott of the Law Commission's exercise to seek inputs for a uniform civil code, and accused the government of waging a "war" against the community. At a press conference, they contended that a uniform civil code would paint all people in "one colour", threatening the country's pluralism and diversity. "People of different cultures stay in this country. If uniform civil code is implemented, attempts will be made to paint all in one colour, which is not in the interest of the country. Also, we don't want the practice of triple talaq to be abolished. There are more divorces in other communities. Rather the highest rate, which is double that of Muslims, is among Hindus," Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani claimed. When pointed that some Muslim community members have raised the issue of triple talaq, AIMPLB general secretary Wali Rehmani curtly said, "they have all the right to do so in a democracy." "The government is trying to divert the attention of people from its failure. We hope it withdraws the move. If it doesn't, we will decide on our future course of action. At present, we are trying to create awareness among Muslims in the country," he said. (ANI) India on Friday lashed out at a Pakistan daily for 'concocting' a story on Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar "admitting" that the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army were a "bluff" and asserted that the entire report was baseless. "The News International Pakistan's story titled "Indian FS admits surgical strikes was a bluff" is completely concocted and baseless," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets. He further stated that German Ambassador Dr Martin Ney was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes and that "they have had no further conversation since on this subject." Meanwhile, a story has surfaced on a Pakistan publication The News where the Indian foreign secretary in a recent meeting with German ambassador in New Delhi is said to have admitted that there was no "surgical strike" undertaken by the Indian Army. Quoting an official source, the daily reported that, "the Pakistani mission had been told that during a formal meeting on the issue of the ongoing India-Pakistan stand-off between German Ambassador to India Dr Martin Ney and Indian FS Subramaniam Jaishankar in New Delhi, "the Indian Foreign Secretary has categorically denied and said that there was no 'surgical strike' undertaken by Indian Army inside Azad Kashmir, Pakistan". (ANI) India today rubbished a report in a Pakistan's media outlet which claimed that Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar, in a recent meeting with German ambassador in New Delhi, is said to have admitted that there were no "surgical strikes" undertaken by the Indian Army inside the PoK. An External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said Pakistan daily, News International Pakistan's story titled "Indian FS admits surgical strikes was bluff" is completely concocted and baseless. The paper quoted an ''informed official source" saying that the Pakistani authorities had been officially conveyed by its mission in Berlin that during an official meeting with the German foreign office, Pakistan was told about India's fake "surgical strikes". "German Ambassador Dr Martin Ney was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes. They have no further conversations since on this subject," Mr Swarup said in a tweet. The newspapers went on to claim that the Modi government has been under pressure from Aam Admi Party and Congress to show the evidence of 'surgical strikes'. "There were reports that the BJP might opt to come with some sort of fake clips of the strike but such a move would not be able to withstand the technical scrutiny that the fake video would be subjected to," it said. Ever since the Indian Army carried raids across the Line of Control(LoC), Pakistani media outlets have been publishing stories which claim that the surgical strikes never took place. The Pakistani Army even conducted a guided tour for dozens of mediapersons in areas along the LoC to prove its claims that the surgical strikes were fake. UNI MK SHS SB 1028 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0090-977292.Xml Women belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes face increased atrocities in Karnataka, that witnessed an alarming 189 per cent increase during 2015 YoY, says a study. An elaborate study conducted on the Implementation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 in Karnataka for 2015, revealed an unprecedented increase in atrocities against the fairer sex belonging to the downtrodden society. The Committee for Monitoring and Strengthening SCs/STs in Karnataka (CMASK) in collaboration with Karnataka Dalita Mahila Vedike (KDMV) conducted the study and brought out the disturbing facts. Releasing the report at a press conference here yesterday, CMASK and KDMV State Convener P Yeshodha said that in 2015, the total number of crimes reported against SCs and STs was 2037 that is every five hour one crime took place against SC/ST persons. Every five days there was a murder (69 murders), every two days either an SC or ST woman was raped (171). There was an increase in rape cases against SCs -64 per cent in 2015 when compared to the previous year 2014 (from 75 to 123) and it was 200 per cent in the case of STs (16 to 48). She said that the total number of rape cases have increased to 189 per cent. While it was 91 cases in 2014, it shot up to 171 the next calendar year. There was an increase of 64 per cent in grievous injuries committed against SCs (68 to 112) and it was 130 per cent increase against STs (10 to 23). Other crimes against SCs/STs have increased to 15 per cent. ''This indeed is shocking and calls for better implementation of the POA Act in the state,'' she demanded. The atrocities are on the increase in five districts including Bengaluru Urban (144), Gulburga & Raichur (116 each), Bengaluru Rural (99) and Belagavi (94). Since last four years Bengaluru Urbanhas recorded the highest number of crimes reported in the district. (2012/126; 2013/122; 2014/151 and 2015/144). As per the data gathered from the Relief Granted to the SCs/STs victims - the number of rape victims granted relief was 136. Similarly, in murder/attempt to murder was 93 and it was 428 cases when it came to the grievous injuries. According to the records from the relief granted to the victims - Bagalkot had the highest number of murder/attempt to murder cases during the year, i.e. 13 cases, next it was Bengaluru Urban and Chamarajanagar (each 9 cases), Chitradurga and Belagavi (7 each). With regard to the number ofvictims of rape - Raichur recorded the highest with 21 cases, and then Belagavi (12), Dakshina Kannada & Udupi (11 each) and Chikkamagaluru (9) cases. Davangere district stood first in the number of cases under grievance injuries with 85 cases, then Hassan (75), followed by Raichur (71) and Belagavi (68) and Chikkamagaluru with 54 cases.MORE UNI MSP SB 0917 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0101-976619.Xml The Bharatiya Janta Party on Friday said if the decision to join the government of Arunachal Pradesh provides stability in the state, then it should be welcomed. BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli told ANI that the main government is not that of the BJP and they will be only be a constituent partner in the coalition. The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in Arunachal Pradesh will join Chief Minister Pema Khandu led-Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA) today. According to BJP state president Tapir Gao, BJP leader Tamiyo Taga will be sworn in as a minister. This major coalition came nearly a month after Khandu and 42 other MLAs of the Congress switched sides and, merged with former chief minister Kalikho Pul's regional party PPA. In Mid-September, Chief Minister Pema Khandu resigned from the Congress party with 42 other MLAs, stating that the decision to do so was unanimous, and added that the aspiration of the people of the state is very regional in character and it was necessary to have a synergy between the two. In the 60-member House with an effective strength of 58, the Congress had the support of 47 MLAs, including two Independents, while Opposition BJP has 11 members. Khandu was sworn-in as the ninth Arunachal Chief Minister on 17 July. In a dramatic turnaround in this land-locked state on July 16, Congress replaced Nabam Tuki by choosing Khandu as the new Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, who staked claim to power on the basis of support of 45 party MLAs along with two Independents. (ANI) Five NLFT cadres have surrendered at a Border Outpost (BOP) of BSF in Kanchanpur subdivision of North Tripura bordering Mizoram. Police said the surrendered militants were identified as self-styled corporal Bisurai Debbarma, Hiralal Tripura, Jalaska Tripura, Rambadal Tripura and Kantamani Tripura. They deposited one wireless set and some incriminating documents during the surrender.According to report, 7th Bn BSF and 13th Bn TSR have provided logistic support for crossing over Indo-Bangla border to facilitate the surrendered process. On April 11 last, altogether 32 NLFT cadres along with their families surrendered before the Special branch and five more NLFT cadres joined the mainstream in May last.The latest surrender is seen as important for the state police as the outfit's strength has been getting thinner with every passing day.According to latest inputs, the NLFT has only 65 cadres, including frontline leaders in Bangladesh, and a major section is not willing to shun the path of violence. Around 50 per cent rebel leaders and cadres had already settled in Bangladesh and they do not want to return to their homeland due to various complications, police said.Under the rapidly changing scenario, the NLFT leaders are really worried on how to carry forward the tripartite peace talks with the Centre. After two rounds of peace talks, there is no progress in the process which has put a question mark on the success of the 'ongoing' peace dialogue.UNI BB AD SHS 1220 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-977363.Xml Tripura police has launched an investigation following recovery of two bodies, including that of a woman, of South Tripura from a lodge in Vellore three days ago. Police said here today that the two were into an extra marital relation. A suicide note was recovered from the spot requesting to donate their bodies to the Christian Medical College and to send their death certificates to their homes at Muhuripur village in Belonia sub-division of South Tripura. The Tamil Nadu police contacted Muhuripur police station yesterday over the incident and sent a copy of the suicide note by e-mail. The police immediately contacted the families of the deceased and confirmed that the handwriting of the note was of the man. The deceased were identified as Sukanta Debnath (35) and his sister-in-law Rita Debnath (27).According to reports, they were found missing last week. A missing diary was registered with Muhuripur police station. After receiving the communication from Tamil Nadu police, the local police corroborated the facts and identified the bodies of Sukanta and Rita. Their bodies were found lying on the floor of Maa Santoshi Lodge in Vellore three days ago. Both of them were married and have one child each. Sukanta, a work assistant of the Shantir Bazar Municipality and father of a three-year-old daughter, fell in love with Rita, the wife of his wife's elder brother and mother of a five-year-old son, which caused serious tension in their family. Sukanta had visited CMC few months ago along with his wife, a government teacher, for her treatment and stayed in the same lodge. During investigation, police found they took a direct flight from Agartala to Chennai on October 6. On the same night, they reached Vellore and lodged at Maa Santoshi Lodge, run by a man from Belonia in South Tripura. One of the staff went to clean their room on Monday but became suspicious after they did not respond to his call. The lodge owner informed the police who broke open the door and found the bodies of the couple lying on the floor. It is suspected that they committed suicide by consuming poison. Apart from donating their bodies to the CMC and requesting to send the death certificates to their home, the suicide note also stated that there was Rs 25,000 in the bag and requested the police to spend this amount for sending their bodies to CMC and their belongings to their home.UNI BB AD SHS SB 1214 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-977373.Xml Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the All India Christian Council on Friday and spoke on religious tolerance and terrorism. He called India a "University of Tolerance" as it has high tolerance for different religions. He also added that terrorism affects all countries and the global community should fight it together. "All sects of Islam are found in India. All the important religions of the world are found in India. Even if you leave others out, you will find Jews, Parsis in India and everyone have the freedom the practice their own religion. That is why I say it won't be an exaggeration to call India an University of tolerance, because tolerance is important for peaceful existence," Singh said. "Even when India was divided on the basis of religion, we did not allow it to become a theocratic nation, but India is a secular state," he added. Addressing the gathering, Singh said, "We have a lot of challenges. When it comes to terrorism, if a nation makes it a part of state policy it is very unfortunate. We might have differences in our thinking, but do we need to take the help of guns to resolve these differences. If we have differences, we can sit and resolve those issues." "Terrorism not only affects India, but many other countries and the entire global community should come together to fight terrorism," he added. (ANI) Kerala Industry Minister E.P. Jayarajan, charged with appointing his relatives to government jobs, resigned on Friday. The resignation of Jayarajan, of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, had been demanded by both the opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party ever since the reports about the appointments surfaced. --IANS sg/in/sm/vd ( 58 Words) 2016-10-14-13:44:13 (IANS) Welcoming the leaders of BRICS and BIMSTEC nations ahead of Goa Summit, starting on October 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India looks forward to building bridges to new partnerships, finding common resolve and solutions to the entrenched problems. In a Facebook post, the Prime Minister said, "I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform. In a first, I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with the BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sir Lanka and Thailand." Representing nearly two thirds of humanity together, he said, "We hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring". On Russian President Vladimir Putin's India visit, Mr Modi said, "President Putin's visit will give us an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia." On Brazilian President Michel Teme's visit, he added, "President Temer's visit will open up new areas for cooperation with Brazil, an important strategic partner." "I also look forward to useful conversations with my fellow leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on addressing pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals," the Prime Minister said. As Chair of the BRICS this year, India has embraced a stronger emphasis on promoting people-to-people linkages in diverse fields including trade, sports, education, films, scholarship and tourism, he added. India is chairing the 8th BRICS Summit which is being held in Goa for two days, starting October 15, 2016. The group constitutes of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, where a range of topic pertaining to issues that include trade, investment, foreign capital inflows, terrorism among others. India is also heading the first BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in the city. The BIMSTEC include countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sir Lanka and Thailand. UNI ASH SB 1322 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-977498.Xml India is likely to maintain its coffeeexports at 3.18 lakh tonnes this fiscal fetching over Rs 5100 croredespite an expected shortfall in prices, Coffee Board Chairman Dr MK Shanmuga Sundaram said today, Speaking to newsen on the sidelines of the annual conference ofthe Karnataka Planters Association here, he said that the productionestimate of 320,000 tonnes of the 2017 season is likely to beachieved as against a production of 348,000 tonnes last fiscal. He said, with the coffee production predominantly handled bysmall growers, the Coffee Board was making all efforts to enhanceproductivity by assisting them in replanting exercise. Nearly 75 to80 per cent of the targeted 25,000 hectares of replanting in thecurrent five year plan would be achieved by the end of the planperiod falling next year. Though there was a lag in the initialyears with only 50 per cent of annual target achieved, from lastyear th trend was improving, he added. He said that India will be hosting the International CoffeeConference in the year 2020. Held once in four years, the Indianevent would be the fifth to be held by the International CoffeeOrganisation. Apart from India, Papua New Guinea had pitched in fororganising the event, However most of the Asian nations havesupported the Indian invitation to host the event. It would be heldin Bengaluru, he added.More UNI CNR MSP RSS1310 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-977474.Xml The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday questioned the mentality of the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for objecting to the BRICS Summit logo and said it shows political bankruptcy on their part. "The Aam Aadmi Party and Congress party objecting to the BRICS logo, which is lotus, again shows the bankruptcy. Now, there are many countries jointly they have discussed and they have decided to have a lotus now, what are the reasons I cannot say," BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said. He further said that lotus symbolizes many things, adding it symbolizes purity and it symbolizes that it is detached but at the same time it is attached to the ground. "So, all those things come through the lotus. And, therefore, this symbol is important. But at the same time if the Congress and the Aam Aadmi party are objecting then they will tomorrow object lotus anywhere because it is the BJP's symbol even if it is in the pond than that pond should be covered," said Singh. "So, that can be the mentality but it is certainly a political bankruptcy," he added. The Congress has expressed its objection to the BRICS Summit logo and said it looks like the BJP's party symbol. "It is highly improper on the part of the relevant BRICS Committee to select the election symbol of a member country, India, when it is well-known that lotus is BJP's poll symbol. Elections of the Goa Assembly are due to be held in February 2017," Congress MP Shantaram Naik told the media earlier. "In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur also polls are due," he added. The AAP on the other hand questioned the absence of the name of the place, where the meet is being held, from the logo. (ANI) The guerrillas, led by their self-styled corporal Bisurai Debbarma, 33, surrendered on Thursday night, Tripura Police spokesman Uttam Kumar Bhowmik said. "The tribal extremists fled from their clandestine camp at Thangnang (under Rangamati district of Chittagong Hill Tract of southeast Bangladesh) and crossed over to India on Wednesday night," said Superintendent of police (Special Branch) Arindam Nath, to whom the rebels surrendered. They also deposited some electronic gadgets and incriminating documents with the police. Aged between 27 and 33, the militants told the police that they fled from the NLFT camp in Bangladesh out of frustration and miserable conditions. According to them, more NLFT cadres from Bangladesh are likely to surrender. Over the past six months, 33 NLFT rebels with a huge quantity of arms and ammunition have surrendered to the Tripura Police after escaping from their hideouts in Bangladesh. NLFT cadres and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) militants undergo arms training in hideouts in Bangladesh, which shares an 856-km border with Tripura. Banned in 1997 by the Union Home Ministry, the two outfits have sought secession of Tripura from India. ATTF has become almost defunct due to the surrender of most of its cadres. A senior police official, citing intelligence reports, said that the Bangladesh Army and security forces in separate operations have recently busted two camps of the NLFT and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah faction) in mountainous Chittagong Hill Tracts. --IANS sc/sm/vt ( 275 Words) 2016-10-14-14:58:10 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will formally inaugurate the 'base concreting work' for Units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) complex at Kudankulam in this district tomorrow. Official sources said here today, Mr Putin who is attending the two-day eighth annual BRICS summit, will formally inaugurate the base concreting work in the deep trench dug for the third and fourth units, each with a capacity of 1,000 MWe along with Mr Modi through video conferencing from Goa at 1305 PM tomorrow. Though the "first pouring of concrete" for the third and fourth VVER-1000 type Pressurised Water Reactors belonging to the Light Water Category will take place during the first quarter of next year, the leaders of both India and Russia will formally inaugurate the base concreting work, the sources said. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is constructing the Units three and four at KKNPP at an outlay of Rs 39,747 crore with Russian assistance. Both the units were likely to attain criticality by 2022. The techno-commercial negotiations were going on between India and Russia for the construction of fifth and sixth reactors at KKNPP. The KKNPP, once completed will be India's largest and most advanced civil nuclear power programme. The sources said KKNPP's second reactor that was stopped on September 7 last for scheduled fine-tuning after it attained criticality on July 10, has so far generated over 50 million units of power. The first unit has produced over 12,300 million units of power, including the infirm power.UNI GSM PY RSA 1519 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-977671.Xml Poland could still buy aircraft from Airbus, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said today, in an apparent attempt to calm a procurement row with France over a cancelled deal to buy 50 helicopters from the French producer.Waszczykowski said Airbus, Europe's largest aerospace group, was welcome to participate in any future tenders, and Poland was interested in the company's sea operations helicopters."The Polish army needs helicopters," Waszczykowski told public broadcaster TVP. "And the Caracals (Airbus helicopters) can take part in various tenders," he said, adding Poland also needed an airplane for government use.Poland's decision to walk away from a preliminary deal to buy Airbus's utility Caracal helicopters for 13.5 billion zlotys (3.53 billion dollars) has angered Paris, leading French President Francois Hollande to cancel a planned visit this week.Airbus has threatened legal action, saying the Polish government had been shifting the goal posts as it competed with US and Italian rivals.Warsaw's eurosceptic officials argued the French offer, agreed by a previous government last year, was expensive and offered insufficient incentives for domestic industry.But their decision earlier this month to scrap the deal has added to mounting displeasure with Poland in western Europe and may have cost Warsaw an important ally in its push for tough policy against Russia in the European Union.It may also delay a vast army refurbishment programme at a time of heightened Russian assertiveness in eastern Europe.Poland's prime minister was quoted as saying earlier this week that Warsaw would offer France alternative investment projects after cancelling the helicopter deal.REUTERS PS NS1444 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-977609.Xml In view of the BRICS Summit to be held in Goa on October 15-16, police issued security advisory to the people today. According to a statement from the Department of Information and Publicity, the Goa police has issued security advisory in view of the BRICS summit in the state. ''All citizens are requested to co-operate with law enforcing agencies and report any suspicious activities or suspicious baggage/article to authorities immediately on toll free no 1093 or 100 to control room. The identity would be kept secret. Police has asked not to believe in rumours and spread them. Goa Police are committed to providing safety and security to citizens and therefore has sought co-operation from the citizens,'' the statement said. Heads of BRICS countries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is to visit Goa to attend the two-day programme that will be kicked off tomorrow. Heads of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal are also scheduled to visit the state to attend BRICS retreat.UNI AKM NV SW RSA 1526 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-977674.Xml According to the Seismic Centre at Sharanasirasagi village in theoutskirts of the city the tremors were reported around 0500 hrs. People of Hosalli (I) and surrounding villages apparentlyheard strange sounds from beneath the earth three to four days priorto the tremor and an earthquake measuring 1.6 on richer scale wasfelt by the villagers on Wednesday night . No loss of public or private property or life has been reported. Following the incident, a team of earthquake experts fromBengaluru would arrive at the village on Friday and also install atemporary earthquake measuring device, Tahsildar Prakash Kuduri said. Scientists from Karnataka State Natural Disaster MoniteringCentre Ramesh Dikpal and Abhinaya would visit the village. Apart from collecting information and creating awareness, theywould assemble a temoprary device in a school. ''An ideal place forinstallation of the device has already been identified,'' Kudurisaid. UNI SD CNR RSS1510 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-977697.Xml Punjab Congress President Captain Amarinder Singh today accused the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of misleading the nation over the issue of disability pension of armed forces. Rejecting the Centre's claim that there had been no reduction in the disability pension, the PCC chief said the BJP-led Modi government was using selective data, projected by vested interests,to spread lies and fabrications about the subject. The government should stop playing dirty games with the armed forces, which was the only institution in the country that was universally respected by all communities and sections, said Capt Singh, asking why the government could not give the same level of respect to the defence forces as was given by the common man. Terming as ridiculous the fact that there was not a single person from the armed forces on the seventh Pay Commission panel, the former CM said figures were being interpreted and projected by the government in such a way as to suggest that the disability pension had not been cut. The fact of the matter is that the disability pension had been reduced across several key categories of defence personnel, said the PCC president, adding that the bulk of personnel of various ranks will actually not benefit from the new scales. Rather, only those jawans, would benefit who are invalided out with minimal service at the beginning of their careers, which is a rare possibility in any case, said Capt Singh, himself an ex-soldier.MORE UNI DB PY RSA 1555 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-977735.Xml The latest controversy involving AAP, which now stands accused of tax evasion, shows the utter moral degradation and the deep-rooted criminal mindset prevailing across the rank and file of the party, according to the Punjab Congress. Pointing out that this was only the latest in a spate of scandals in which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been caught ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, the Punjab Congress, in a statement here today, said AAP's claim to being clean and a party with a difference had been completely demolished. The Congress leaders urged the Election Commission to take due cognisance of the matter in the interest of ensuring a healthy political environment in poll-bound Punjab. The Punjab Congress was reacting to reports in a section of the media that the Income Tax Department had found a mismatch between the records submitted by AAP to the Election Commission and those put up on its website. The records related to funds claimed by the party as donations. The fact that the 'donation' list has been deleted by AAP from its website, which now says it's `under construction', clearly indicates that the IT findings were not baseless, Congress leaders Laal Singh, Gurpreet Kangar, Surinder Singla and Nathuram said. Citing media reports, they said AAP had repeatedly failed to respond to the IT department's three reminders and three summons on the issue of the discrepancies in the donation lists. This left no doubts about AAP's implicit guilt in the matter. While the first notice was reported to be have been sent on June 1, 2016, the next two came soon thereafter on June 6 and June 16, respectively, as per the media reports. All three had been ignored by AAP, the PPCC leaders noted, alleging a serious criminal fraud and demanding a thorough probe into the matter. From sexual scandals to fake degrees, AAP leaders have been in the eye of the storm over all kinds of shameful controversies, the Congress leaders pointed out. Not long back, AAP's own MLA Colonel Devendra Shehrawat had accused his party leaders of seeking sexual favours from women aspiring for party tickets in Punjab. Shehrawat was subsequently removed from the party's primary membership, the PPCC leaders observed, alleging that AAP had left no stone unturned to cover up the scandal and was trying to do so again this time by deleting the donation list from its website.UNI DB PY RSA 1615 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-977867.Xml Restrictions have been re-imposed in main town and tehsil headquarters to stop protests after Friday prayers in Kashmir Valley, where business and other activities remained paralyed for 98th day today due to unrest that left 86 civilians dead and over 10,000 injured. Police said curfew continued in areas falling under five police stations in downtown and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK) for the eighth day while it has been extended to some civil line areas, including Batmaloo and apple township of Sopore in north Kashmir district of Baramulla to prevent any violence. They said there were no restrictions elsewhere in Srinagar though security forces remained deployed in strength to stop pro-freedom demonstrations. However, security forces were making repeated announcements at Maisuma in the civil lines through public address system, directing people to remain indoors in view of curfew. Meanwhile, police said restrictions have been re-imposed in main town and tehsil headquarters to stop protests after Friday prayers in the Valley, where additional security forces, rushed from different parts of the country to curtail the current unrest, remained deployed to maintain law and order. However, shops and business establishments remained closed in entire Kashmir Valley and transport off the roads. But, some private vehicle could be seen plying on some routes in Kashmir though the number was very less as compared to yesterday. Meanwhile, there was no vehicular movement in downtown and SeK in Srinagar, where all roads remained closed with barded wires from last eight days in view of curfew. Both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), spearheading the present agitation in Kashmir since July 9, today urged people to march towards Raj Bhawan, besides offering Friday prayers on Boulvard road from Dalgate to Shalimar on the bank of famed Dal Lake. The separatists in their latest calendar have extended the strike till October 20. The current unrest, which was triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani and two other militants in an encounter at Anantnag on July 8, has left 86 civilians dead and over 10,000 injured in security force action.MORE UNI ABS PY RSA AS1652 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-977848.Xml The Delhi Cabinet today advised Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to dissolve the Shunglu Committee, which was set up to review more than 400 files of the AAP government. In a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP government noted there was no provision in the Constitution, or in any statute or rule, whatsoever, which empowers setting up of an external committee to inquire into the ongoing projects of public welfare, question officers and threaten to recommend criminal and administrative action against them. The Cabinet said the committee has created a dangerous atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among the bureaucracy, thus threatening to derail the government functioning in its entirety. "Several officers have reported to their respective ministers that they were summoned by the Committee informally and grilled for decisions taken by them in public interest over the last one and a half years. Such summoning of officers through oral instructions and then questioning them over the content of the files without duly recording and authenticating the officers version is against the well established norms of transparency and propriety," it observed. The Cabinet noted if the committee continued with its illegal functioning, it has the potential of creating a serious constitutional crisis in the national capital. Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, "Mr Jung is doing a wrongful interpretation of the High Court judgement of August 4. Such misinterpretation of judicial rulings by constitutional functionaries is nothing but a travesty of justice." "The jurisdiction of Lt Governor is well defined under Article 239AA of Constitution, the GNCTD Act, 1991 and the rules framed under the act. The impounding of over 400 files by Mr Jung is against the transaction of business rules and GNCTD Act," the Cabinet observed. It has also requested Mr Jung to return the files immediately before unmitigated loss is caused to several ongoing measures of socio-economic welfare. The Cabinet has also advised the Lt Governor, wherever he has a difference of opinion with any Minister in respect of a decision taken, the council recognises his prerogative to call the Minister for discussion with an endeavour to resolve such difference under Rule 49 of the Transaction of Business Rules. It said the government should be allowed to function pursuant to public mandate and in consonance with the Constitution and any attempt towards miscarriage of governance should be warded off by all concerned, including Mr Jung. UNI DS SW RSA 1756 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-978055.Xml Union Minister Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and Jammu and Kashmir former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah entered into war of words on micro-blogging site twitter over Centre's decision to set up an Indian Institute of Management in Jammu. A day after Mr Abdullah accused the PDP-BJP coalition government of playing partisan politics over the setting up of an IIM in Jammu, Mr Javadekar today hit back saying education should not be politicised. "Better not to politicise education @abdullah_omar. You know there will be off campus of #IIM in Kashmir Valley," Mr Javadekar wrote on twitter. However, Mr Abdullah, who is the working president of main opposition National Conference, quickly responded saying ''the tweet by HRD minister doesn't address the inherent imbalance of the decision regarding IIT and IIM.'' "You mean an "Out Campus"! Thank you for your tweets but none of them address the inherent imbalance of your decision reg IIT & IIM," Mr Abdullah said. The HRD minister said Mr Abdullah should have helped streamlining PM scholarship which was mismanaged during 2011-2014. But, Mr Abdullah mocked Mr Javadekar, saying that according to him, "the whole country was mismanaged from 1947 to 2014." "You are too senior to me in age for me to argue with you," Mr Abdullah added. Mr Abdullah had yesterday questioned Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's silence over the issue, saying "she had to sell out her political agenda to remain in power, but he didn't realise she sold her soul also". "I realise that @MehboobaMufti has had to sell out her political agenda to remain in power but I didn't realise she's sold her soul also!!!," he had tweeted. "This is just blatant partisan politics of the kind we have come to expect from the BJP-PDP. No wonder so much of the state is restive today," he had written. "When Kashmir was awarded an AIIMS, Jammu agitated, successfully, for its right to be granted one as well. Why this partisanship now," he had asked.UNI ABS PY RSA 1725 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-978004.Xml The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also asked Modi to announce Rs 1 crore financial assistance to families of soldiers who die in the service of the country. While hailing Modi for the army's surgical strikes on Pakistani territory, Kejriwal pointed out in a letter to the Prime Minister that the defence ministry cut the disability pension for soldiers. He said Indian soldiers had until now received disability pension equal to their last drawn salary for 100 per cent disability. "But the recent notification turned it into a slab system retrospectively from January 1, 2016, which will result in a heavy financial loss to the soldiers," Kejriwal said. He requested the Prime Minister to increase the disability pension instead of slashing it. The government move, he said, had hit the morale of the soldiers. The Defence Ministry has asked the Anomaly Committee of the 7th Pay Commission to continue with the percentage-based system for calculating disability pensions for the armed forces. Kejriwal also requested Modi to emulate the AAP government in Delhi and formulate a policy to give Rs 1 crore financial assistance to families of soldiers who lay down their lives in the line of duty. "I request you to formulate a similar policy so that every martyr soldier's family receives Rs 1 crore from the central government." In his letter, Kejriwal also asked Modi to "fully implement" the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. "I hope you will show the same will power to ensure that no financial injustice is done to our soldiers that you showed while avenging the attack on our soldiers," Kejriwal added. --IANS vv-aks/mr ( 307 Words) 2016-10-14-18:24:10 (IANS) This variety of Arhar takes a period of 120 days to get ready for harvesting compared to its other varieties which takes about 165-180 days. This variety gets ready at once and is suitable for machine harvesting. After harvesting of this variety, crops like mustard, potatoes and wheat can be sowed easily in the fields. Its production is 20 quintals a hectare and has 23.5 per cent protein content in it.UNI NY SW RSA 1938 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-978491.Xml "Curbs can only be placed if there are quality issues or if the imports are subsidised or dumped," Ms Sitharaman told reporters. Asked about imposing dumping duty, the minister said, "If the industry body gives any evidences regarding sub-standard products being exported to India from China, the government will then investigate the matter and then decide to levy the dumping duty on the products. "Just because we may not like certain things about a country is not reason enough to block imports from that country. We could impose anti-dumping duties, but there are established ways to go about it and dumping has to be proved," she said. Yesterday, Ms Sitharaman in her bilateral talks with Chinese Vice Minister of Finance and Commerce Wang Shouwen raised India's concerns about widen trade gap. She asked for fast clearance of rice and pharmaceutical exports from India and grant of IT projects to Indian companies in addition to greater market access for items such as oilseeds and tobacco. India's trade deficit with China crossed 52 billion dollars in 2014-15 and accounted for almost half of the country's total trade deficit. UNI ASH SW RSA 1824 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-978099.Xml Two incidents of wild elephants were spotted inthree different locations of Hassan district including coffeeestates near Sakleshpur town today forcing Forest Departmentofficials to launch a drive to send them back to the forests. A herd of 24 elephants was spotted near Sakleshpur town. Theelephants were seen in the coffee estates roughly about 500-800metres away from Sakleshpur bus stand. Two tuskers were spotted atKyatanahalli about 18 km away from Hassan town. Similarly, threeelephants were spotted at Sosalakere near Nuggehalli inChannarayapatna taluk. ''It has been a busy day for our officers today'', M.L. Manjunath, Deputy Conservator of Forests in Hassan told newsmen. The wild elephants were spotted in three locations on a day and all officers were on the field busy driving them back to forests. The herd of 24 elephants was spotted about 2.5 km away from Sakleshpur town yesterday. ''Now the herd has moved close to Sakleshpur town. The elephants are just a stone's throw away from the bus stand,'' he said. The two tuskers spotted at Kyatanahalli were earlier seen nearBelur a couple of days ago and had moved to Bailahalli andKyatanahalli near Hassan. Officials have camped in the place todrive them back to forests. ''These two tuskers entered Belur fromChikkamagaluru. We are making all efforts to avoid the animals'entry into human habitats,'' the officer said. Farmers of the district have been demanding a permanent solution to the man-elephant conflict by relocating all elephants in Alur andSakleshpur taluks.UNI BSP CNR AK1815 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-978172.Xml Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today said he hoped AAP Party Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would appear in court tomorrow in the criminal defamation case filed against him and positively submit an application asking for day to day hearing in the matter. In a statement here, the Minister said Mr Kejriwal's junior Ashish Khetan had already cleared the ground for not appearing in the case by making an appearance like a fugitive yesterday to ward off facing a quick trial. "I hope you will not adopt similar diversionary and delaying tactics, which unfortunately have also been adopted by your deputy Sanjay Singh who is facing a criminal defamation case in Ludhiana,'' he said. Mr Majithia said in case the AAP leader did not submit an application for day to day hearing in the case tomorrow it would be proved that he could only make wild boasts but did not have the guts to stand up to them. "You have already proven by your past actions that you never stand up to your boasts and always apologize promptly when your bluff is called. In this case also you seem to be delaying action against yourself so that you do not have to apologize and beg forgiveness before the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab,'' he said. Asking the AAP leader to end his cheap theatrics, Mr Majithia said Mr Kejriwal should either appear for day to day hearing in the criminal defamation case filed against him, or have the moral courage to come clean and admit all his lapses before the court as well as the people of Punjab and face the jail term due to him in the case. He said even though this was the path every decent citizen would take, it might be too much to expect from Arvind Kejriwal who had rode on the shoulders of the India Against Corruption movement and even betrayed its leader Anna Hazare. "After this you threw out the co-founders of AAP including Prashant Bhushan and Yoginder Yadav and recently you have crossed all bounds of decency by even going against the national interest by questioning the surgical strikes executed by the brave jawans of our armed forces,'' he said. Stating that all this showed how AAP had become PAAP now, Mr Majithia said the recent sordid tales of sexual misconduct and sleaze which had emanated from the PAAP party was also proof of this contention. He said the leaders of the PAAP were now only following the three "C"s of corruption, criminalisation and characterless behavior and given governance a go-by. Speaking on the issue of court hearing in the criminal defamation case against Kejriwal which is slated for her tomorrow, the Akali leader said ''I once again challenge you to agree to day to day hearing of your case tomorrow. I will welcome and support this move. Following this it will be a matter of a few weeks before you go to jail. ''UNI DB PY RSA 1931 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-978460.Xml Batala police have booked a patwari on the charge of accepting a bribe of Rs. 12.25 lakh from a farmer for registering mutation of his agriculture land.SHO civil lines Lakhwinder Singh told that Rawel Singh, a farmer who was resident of Mooliawal village under Sadar police station had lodged a complaint with the senior superintendent of police that Balbir Singh Patwari had took Rs. 12.25 lakh from him to register his mutation.On his complaint,the Superintendent of Police (Investigations) Jagjit Singh Saroya conducted a probe in which Patwari Balbir Singh found guilty and a case under section 420 IPC and prevention of corruption act.UNI XC JS CJ RSA 1926 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-978341.Xml Shouting slogans, hundreds of protestors, defying restrictions, took to streets after Friday prayers at Tahab and adjoining area in south Kashmir district of Pulwama, demanding right to self determination. However, when protestors were moving towards the main chowk, security forces deployed in the area swung into action and stopped them from moving ahead. As the protestors didn't back down, security forces burst teargas shells to disperse demonstrators, who were pelting stones. Several protestors were injured in the security force action. Defying restrictions, hundreds of people hit the streets after Friday prayers at Eidgah Qadeem in north Kashmir district of Baramulla against killed of civilians and demanding right to self determination. However, security forces burst teargas shells to disperse demonstrators, who were regrouping and pelting stones. Meanwhile, the slogan shouting protestors took to streets after Friday prayers were over at main Bandipora chowk and adjoining areas, demanding right to self determination. The protestors' later clashes with security forces, who tried to stop them from holding demonstrations. Reports of clashes were coming from other parts of Kashmir valley, including some areas in the summer capital, Srinagar, where curfew continued for the eighth day today in areas falling under five police stations in downtown and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK). Curfew was also extended to some civil line areas, including Batmaloo and apple township of Sopore in north Kashmir district of Baramulla to prevent any violence.UNI ABS CJ RSA 1856 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-978065.Xml Raising the issue of cross-border terrorism affecting India, Dr Ansari is expected to during the visits to the two countries that come after a gap of almost 20 years. Concurring that the issue would be a major theme in the Vice-President's bilateral talks, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs Sujata Mehta told reporters here at a briefing that terrorism was not new for Algeria which had fought off a domestic terror group recently. The Vice-President will have bilateral meetings with the Hungarian and Algerian Presidents, the Prime Minister of Hungary and Speakers of national assembly. While around 50 Indian companies are operating in Hungary and have made the country its base as a gateway to Europe to expand their businesses in other European countries, Indo-Algerian bilateral trade stood at 1.5 billion dollars annually, a majority of it comprising petroleum imports to India. While India is eyeing Hugarian resources of phosphate and gas the latter is interested in collaborating in space, Algeria is a major oil producer and India is keen to widen its petroleum basket.UNI SD SW RSA 1947 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0005-978520.Xml Going for network modernisation plan to compete with other mobile players, Telenor India today announced the launch of high-speed 4G affordable services for its customers in Kanpur. Subscribers will now experience high-speed wireless mobile internet on the company's advance network architecture and get on to the digital super highway to cater to their data needs. Kanpur is the third city in the UP East region to go live with 4G services. Prior to Kanpur, the company launched its 4G services in Varanasi and Lucknow. Launching the Telenor 4G services in Kanpur today, KC Narendran, Circle Business Head UP East, Telenor India said "We are really excited to offer high speed affordable 4G services to our Kanpur city customers. With 100 percent sites being ready in the city with advanced equipment and efficient spectral deployment, the company is geared up to offer superior speed and better experience at affordable price. Our Super Saver 4G plans are very cost effective and provide best deal to customers in this market. In addition to this, the network is energy efficient and much more reliable. This makes Telenor network one of the best in the city both on voice and data services. We will continue to fulfill our promise of 'paisa vasool' offerings with additional value in every transaction." With the brand promise of "Sabse Sasta Sabke Liye Full Paisa Vasool", Telenor is offering1GB 4G Data for the first month and 500 MB data for next 2 months on first recharge (FRC) of Rs 152 for new customers. They will also get free Talk-Time of Rs30 with this FR bundled with affordable tariff of 25p/m for all local & STD Calls for 90 days. Additionally existing customers can upgrade their current 2G SIM to 4G SIM free of cost and get 1 GB data absolutely free. Customers can avail this offer by walking into any of the fully functional Telenor branded stores and selected retail outlets in Kanpur. Also Telenor customers can get 1GB data at just Rs. 52 for 28 days without any conditions. The launch in Kanpur follows the successful launch of Telenor's 4G services across its 6 circles in Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Hajipur, Varanasi, Vizag, Amravati, Agra, Anand, Lucknow, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Tenali, Eluru,Bhimavaram, Dhanbad,Hazaribag, Dehradun, Guntur, Rajahmundry, Warangal, Kadapa, and Meerut. With this Telenor has moved a step closer to its ambition of Internet for All and becoming the preferred partner in the digital life of its customers.UNI MB CJ RSA 1946 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-978154.Xml Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh todaysaid it was time Pakistan end support to terror outfits based outof its land, and said if need be India would help it to get rid ofthe menace that had affected peace elsewhere in the World. Speaking at a BJP party public meeting here, he praised theIndian army for raiding the terror bases in PoK in surgical strikesrecently that came for appreciation from world over. ''Now we want to say that if Pakistan, that is now isolated inthe World for harbouring terror outfits in its own land, can seekIndia's help to combat terrorists if it cannot fight them on its own.'' He said India cannot change its neighbour as the former PrimeMinsiter A B Vajapayee said, but it can help Pakistan 'tackle'terror outfits. The Home Minister applauded the Indian Army for its surgicalstrikes to demolish some platforms of terror groups in PoK, afterPakistan terrorists had killed 18 soldiers of the Indian army in Uri. ''The whole world had agreed with this surgical strike by Armyand it proved India is a strong nation.'' He regretted that after BJP got a overwhelming majority in LokSabha in 2014 elections invited all neighours and other majornations when the government took over reigns. ''But Pakistan failedto understand the good meaning, but continued with its narrowintersts, which amounts to 'betrayal'. ''We are not against the citizens of Pakistan, but we are opposedto continued terrorist movement in Pakistan supported by theestablishment. Due to this support, today, we see more disturbancein the world,'' he said. The public meeting was organised by the Karnataka BJP to admitformer IAS officer K Shivaram into the party fold.UNI RS MSP AK1955 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-978567.Xml On his way to Panaji, Prime Minister Modi landed in Bhopal and dedicated the 'Shaurya Smarak' to the nation and addressed a public gathering. At the 17th India-Russia Bilateral Summit, Prime Minister Modi will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin. Delivery of advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to New Delhi and counterterrorism will be high on their agenda. Besides, both nations are set to sign several agreements to give a fillip to their defence and nuclear cooperation. Apart from these, energy, infrastructure, railways, agriculture, hi-tech among others will also dominate the agenda. Agreements to build frigates for the Indian Navy and a joint venture in India to build multi-task Kamov-226 helicopters are also likely to be signed. Apart from the bilateral summit, India will host world leaders for the eighth BRICS Summit and a first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. Prime Minister Modi in his tweets said the outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. The Prime Minister hoped to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring. He expressed happiness that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He looked forward to deliberations with leaders of China and South Africa, which will strengthen India's bilateral relations with its partners. The Prime Minister also welcomed President of Brazil Michel Temer for a bilateral visit, which will open new vistas of cooperation with Brazil. He tweeted that India is honoured to welcome President of Russia Vladimir Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit in Goa. He emphasised that as BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people relations, which will benefit India greatly. He looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on global and regional challenges. (ANI) A section of advocates today manhandled media persons when they reached to cover the proceedings of vigilance court, here today. The advocates manhandled the media persons and ousted them from court room when the nepotism case against Industries Minister EP Jayarajan, who resigned today, was taken for hearing. Indian Express reporter Prabhat Nair, PTI correspondent Ramakrishnan, and a few visual media persons were also injured in the attack. The mehaviour of some advocates took place in front of the judge who failed to control the agitating advocates. The media persons reached the Vanchiyoor court following an assurance from the High Court Chief Justice that there is no restriction for the entry of media persons in the court premises as part of their job. The High Court Chief Justice made this statement after his meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan a few days ago to sort out issues between the advocates and media persons in the State. Meanwhile, KUWJ condemned the incident and sought action against the advocates who manhandled the media persons. The Press Club authorities here handed over a complaint letter to Kerala CM seeking action on the incident. A complaint letter was also sent to High Court Chief Justice seeking his interference to ensure free movement of press persons inside the court.UNI DS VS RK2110 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0440-978671.Xml Accusing the state administration of suspending salaries without any justified reason, All Migrant Employees Association Kashmir today said that those employed under of PM's package and non package employees working in the Valley are facing starvation after they have been deprived from single source of income. Appealing to the state and Centre governments that it may ensure that they will get their salaries without any further delay, employees protesting here want governments to issue directions so that their families could not face any more hardships. ''Majority of employees have not received salaries of July and August month where on the other hand officials have directed for complete withheld of their salaries from the September onwards,'' a protesting employee said. He further added, ''our salaries have never been released on time since our appointment in the Valley under package and they are still pending for the last two-three months and in case government withheld our salaries despite being well aware of our problems, it could be seen as a step to deprive us from another right.'' Hundreds of package and non package employees are on peaceful protest for consecutive 91 days at the office of relief commissioner in support of their demands after they have left valley due to unrest and mob violence but unfortunately neither state nor centre showing any concern to mitigate their sufferings.UNI VBH VS CJ RAI2133 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0440-978678.Xml Hitting back at political detractors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today broke his silence over the Army's recent surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, expressed confidence that India would eventually achieve self-sufficiency in armament production, pointed out that his dispensation fulfilled the One Rank One Pension (OROP) promise and warned that the scourge of international terrorism is assuming dreadful proportions. In an emphatic response to those demanding evidence vis-a-vis the surgical strikes, the Prime Minister said that the soldiery has no complaint against civilians sleeping in peaceful comfort at night but the warrior shall never forgive non-combatants unfortunately 'asleep' even with their eyes open. "People were severely critical of me for 'non-action'. The Army does not speak, it attacks," he said at the Lal Parade Ground in this City of Lakes while addressing the Shaurya Samman Sabha a massive convention of ex-servicemen. The highlight of his visit was dedicating to the nation a Shaurya Smarak (Gallantry Memorial) constructed at the Arera Hills. Mr Modi described the Smarak as a place of pilgrimage and a shrine of inspiration for generations. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was also present. In the approximately 40-minute speech at the Sabha, Mr Modi pointed out that the Armed Forces played a laudable role in rescuing and providing relief to the populace in areas affected by natural calamities. "During the floods in Srinagar, it was difficult for even the government to provide facilities. Our soldiers displayed their human face by helping even those who earlier pelted stones at security personnel. They were not haunted by the past," he added. Admitting that self-sufficiency in weapons production is an issue for India, the Premier in the same breath expressed confidence that the nation would eventually not only achieve this objective but also export arms. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. The Army's greatest weapon is its morale, which it obtains not through its armament but through the medium of crores of civilians standing in unison behind it. Soldiers' sacrifices cannot be described in words and their lives constitute an inspiration. I bow in reverence to the mothers who produced such children and my sisters who lost husbands, brothers or sons in the defence of the motherland," he said. Mr Modi recited stanzas from the works of immortal poets Makhanlal Chaturvedi and Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. Riding on the wave of well-deserved popularity generated by the surgical strikes, he pointed out that it is his government that fulfilled a promise which successive regimes had made to the ex-servicemen community regarding the latter's decades-old demand for OROP. "I experience a tremendous quantum of satisfaction in this regard. As the amount involved is prodigious, the arrears shall be paid in four instalments. A sum of Rs 5,500 crore has already been disbursed under this head. A havildar who received Rs 4,090 prior to granting of OROP is now entitled to in excess of Rs 7,000," he explained. Mentioning that he is in receipt of a missive by the Chief of the Army Staff in the context of the Seventh Central Pay Commission, Mr Modi said that his dispensation is working on it and OROP would form the basis of determining veterans' new pensions. "We are utilising technology to speedily redress ex-servicemen's grievances and dole out scholarships to their children. The amount for daughters' marriages has been enhanced to Rs 50,000 each. As many as half-a-lakh ex-servicemen are annually provided employment. A memorandum of understanding inked by the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry ensures special training to personnel in the last year of service in order to equip them to lead a stable civilian existence," he averred A total 50,000 families are benefitted each year through the medium of the Defence Minister's Discretionary Fund and the obtainment of disability certificates is now easier, the Premier claimed, adding that 472 more hospitals were empanelled for ex-servicemen. Pointing out that the scourge of international terrorism is aggravating, he stated that the Indian Armed Forces made the maximum contribution in United Nations peacekeeping operations. "Though other countries may possess larger forces, in terms of discipline and conduct our personnel are ahead of counterparts. These days, there are daily reports of explosions in West Asia. Taking the case of Yemen, bombs were raining but in excess of 5,000 trapped Indians were brought back safely to our shores and even Pakistani citizens were rescued by our soldiers," he said. "History bears witness to the fact that our ancestors never quarrelled for an inch of land belonging to others but where values were involved life-and-death struggles were waged. In the first and second world wars, thousands of Indian brave-hearts fell fighting. The world is forgetting them and unfortunately sometimes we also do not remember. We require reminding the world of those sacrifices. The Indian Army has never flinched," he added. The Prime Minister urged civilians to endeavour to comprehend the nature of military training that makes a person leave hearth and home and imbibe national sentiment in one's blood. India is the land of the Buddha and of Mahatma Gandhi; Mr Modi said and recalled that while a soldier dies for humanity, the Mahatma lived for humanity. A story of prodigious valour and profound affection was narrated by the Premier. During his address he referred to the 1962 Indo-China conflict and said, "In the wake of that war, people distributed sweets. A Baroda-resident girl dispatched a box of them to a soldier who had relentlessly confronted the foe on the frontline. As the sender's address was there on the parcel, the warrior contacted her and throughout the remainder of his days expressed a kind of endearment for her that even exceeded the type usually showered on a blood-sister." Mr Modi felt that this warmhearted countenance of the Indian soldier was not properly comprehended by the civilian mind. The political bigwig's words were met by thunderous applause from the audience. Crowd management was exceptional. Earlier, the Prime Minister arrived in the city shortly after 1600 hrs. After the Samman Sabha, he interacted with monk Vidyasagar at the Jain Mandir, Habibganj. From there, Mr Modi was conveyed to the Smarak. He departed by air for Goa at 1915 hrs.UNI Team-AC CJ 2150 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-978714.Xml The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet gave approval to the State Power Development Department to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) for the construction of 220 KV Transmission line From Alusteng (Srinagar) to Leh at a cost of Rs 1788 crore. An official spokesperson here tonight said that the Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, approved that the Power Development Department shall operate and maintain the 220 KV Transmission Line from Alusteng (Srinagar) to Leh at its own cost after take over from PGCIL. He said the Finance Department shall provide the necessary funds and resource to the PDD for its operation and maintenance after the transmission line is taken over by the State Government. "The Cabinet also instructed the Finance Department to issue necessary notification and orders for waiver of all State Taxes for construction of 220 KV Transmission Line," he said. He said the 332 Km long, 220 KV Transmission Line shall pass through Srinagar-Zojila -Drass-Kargil-Khalsti to Leh, adding the sanctioned cost of the Project is Rs 1788 crore. "The cost of the Project will be borne by the Centre and State in the ratio of 95:5. The project was approved in January 2014 and is scheduled for commissioning in September 2017. Once completed the Project will feed power to Ladakh region and interlink J&K's existing 66 KV system," he said. The spokesperson said the electricity supply system of Ladakh region is currently isolated from the Northern Grid and fed through local small hydro generation and diesel generator sets. The region is experiencing energy shortage and accordingly to overcome this shortage, 220 KV Transmission Line has been planned to improve reliability of power supply through interconnection with the Northern Grid, he said. He said the Project is being executed by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) and subsequently will be transferred to J&K Government after an MoU to this effect is signed between State PDD and PGCIL.UNI ABS CJ 2153 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-978706.Xml A Swatch Bharat Mission cum Inter Cultural exchange programme was held at Chumukedima Public Ground, near Dimapur, today with Governor of Nagaland P B Acharya as chief guest and EAC of Chumukedima Thungbemo Patton as guest of honour. Speaking in the function Mr. Acharya stressed on importance of unity among people saying that "unless we are united we cannot March ahead". He said that India was invaded by Mughuls, Britishers and other foreign countries because India was rich and they succeeded in doing so because the people of India were divided. "Our disunity attracts enemy" he said. He therefore called upon the people to stand United if they want peace as without peace there will be no development. He also felt that rather than the result of insurgency, the reason behind it should be addressed. Acharya also spoke on importance of preserving mother tongue. He said that mother tongue is the first identity and the basic foundation of culture and it will be suicidal to make mother tongue and culture secondary to anything. Earlier the Governor inaugurated toilets at Government Middle School Chumukedima. President of the Tribal Union Chumukedima Town Neisalie Losou, while giving welcome address said that Nagas are of one nation, one spirit, one aspiration, one faith, and one Lord and one God who is all and through all and in all. He further said that Nagas are still a very cultural people and the cultural values and practices have the potentiality to distinguish us from the rest of the world. He hoped that the Nagas can be brought together through cultural exchange programmes. Highlights of the programme included Naga traditional attire show by CTSU & CMD Town Youth Organisation, Traditional dance of Sangtam, Zeliangrong, Kenyan, Yimchunger, Sumi, Chang, Lotha and Pochury, Folk song by, Angami, Ao, Chakhesang, Mao, Pochury and Phom and indigenous games by Ao, Reagan, Khiamniungan and Kuki. A special appearance was also made by Galilee Home for Children and the closing prayer was pronounced by President Chumukedima Town Pastor's Fellowship, Rev. Manen Longkumer. To mark the day a cleanliness drive by the student was held in the morning. UNI AS KK CJ 2130 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-978296.Xml Highlighting their stand against terrorism, batting for environment protection and belting out musical arrangement incorporating honk sounds of yellow cabs, over 30 community Durga puja organisers paraded their award-winning idols in a carnival here on Friday ahead of the immersion in the Hooghly river. Organised by the West Bengal government amid tight security arrangements, as many as 39 award-winning community Durga Puja idols showcased varieties of artistic creation in the road show of tableaux called 'Pujor pore thakur dekha' (viewing idols after the Puja) at the Red Road here, the venue for the Republic Day Parade as well. The 39 pujas are winners of Bengal's 'Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman' award. The state government also announced the setting up of a permanent exhibition centre in the city to showcase the artwork of Durga Puja pandals. Some community pujas marked their golden jubilees this year while others are pushing for their 100th year. Regardless of their vintage quality, several of the organisers put up marquees aligned with current affairs. Their floats in the parade also reflected those themes. The Tala Barowari, which is in its 96th year, highlighted its stand against terrorism. Proclaiming the pen (education) is mightier than the sword, the organisers put up models of a pen's nib in front of the Durga idol atop the tableau. They envisaged a "terror free" world where education enlightens all. Kashi Bose Lane puja committee in north Kolkata had children walk besides its tableau holding saplings and wearing helmets representing miners. The tableau stood as a caution: environment shouldn't be harmed in the wake of industrialisation. Its organisers asserted the carnival "will surpass the Rio Carnival". Organisers of the Beliaghata 33 Pally marquee, who dabbled in nostalgia surrounding the Ambassador yellow taxis, drove home the point with a lively instrumental composition incorporating a range of honks and hoots of the quintessential Kolkata yellow cabs. They had artistically incorporated 15 taxis, 200 silencer pipes, 300 car doors and other parts of the vehicles to signify the importance of the cabs in their sprawling marquee in north Kolkata. South Kolkata's Suruchi Sangha, which topped the awards, brought out their theme of a aGlobal Village' that depicted the world as one country. The organisers had recreated Bhutan as their pandal theme which was also mirrored in the tableau with Buddha figures and models of monasteries. The carnival was also high on cultural elements. Manipuri dancers graced the Bosepukur Talbagan float while Dum Dum Tarun Sangha tableau was accompanied by the iconic Chhau dancers of Bengal. The Tridhara Sammilani float, a crowd favourite this year with its tribal culture themed marquee decked up with buffalo heads, had African dancers jiving to lively tribal beats. As the procession moved on, organisers attired in ethnic wear danced to the tune of 'dhaaks' (traditional drums) and enacted the rituals of the five-day Durga puja, including the 'Sindoor Khela' custom where married women smear one another with vermillion. Rabindra sangeet and folk music accentuated the festive atmosphere despite the fact that the revelry had come to an end. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee presided over the event accompanied by her cabinet ministers and celebrities. "This Durga Puja carnival is the first step towards our goal of Biswa Bangla. We will go bigger and bigger in future. We will present 75 tableaux next year. We will set up a permanent exhibition centre at Newtown to showcase the artwork of Durga Puja pandals," she said. --IANS sgh-mgr/vd ( 585 Words) 2016-10-14-22:06:08 (IANS) China on Thursday urged the British Government to stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a half-year report on Hong Kong released by the British government recently, reports Xinhua. "Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kong affairs belong to China's domestic affairs and any foreign countries has no right to interfere. We demand that the British side be cautious in words and deeds, and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs," said Geng. Geng said the policy of "one country, two systems" has scored remarkable achievements since Hong Kong's return to China in 1997 adding that a high degree of autonomy have been fully implemented. He said adding that the central government has strictly followed the Constitution and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, and given full support to the chief executive and the SAR government in governance according to law. China has strong confidence and unswerving will to continue implementing the "one country, two systems" policy, the spokesperson said. In the six-monthly report on Hong Kong, deposited in the British Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on October 12, the case of the five individuals associated with Causeway Bay bookstore and Mighty Current publishing house was raised saying it "continued to cause serious concern, both in Hong Kong and internationally, throughout the reporting period." It also said that during the reporting period, there were a number of significant developments in the cases of the five individuals; Lee Po (a British citizen), Gui Minhai (a Swedish national), Lui Por, Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kee. The report outlines that British citizen Lee Po returned to Hong Kong on March 24 for the first time since he was reported missing on January 1. The Hong Kong Police reported that he had cancelled his missing person's case and said that he had travelled to the mainland voluntarily, was not abducted and did not require assistance from the Hong Kong authorities. Lam Wing-kee also returned to Hong Kong on 14 June, eight months after his disappearance. Hong Kong police confirmed on the same day that he had cancelled his missing person's report and said he required no assistance from the Hong Kong authorities. Two days later, Lam held a press conference where he said that he and the other booksellers had been held against their will by mainland agents, denied due process, interrogated, required to sign non-disclosure documents, and forced to make false statements. Following the press conference, three of Lam's colleagues contradicted his account in statements to the media. (ANI) The General Assembly today elected the former prime minister of Portugal, Antonio Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General, to succeed Ban Ki-moon when he steps down on 31 December. Guterres, 67, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. He will become the world's top diplomat on 1 January 2017, and hold that post for the next five years. Adopting a consensus resolution put forward by its President Peter Thomson, the assembly acted on the recommendation on the UN Security Council, which on 6 October forwarded Guterres' name to the 193-member body as its nominee for UN Secretary-General. Ban Ki-Moon said on the occasion, "Secretary-General-elect Guterres is well known to all of us in the hall. But he is perhaps best known where it counts most: on the frontlines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering. He is a wonderful choice to steer this organisation." Also, this was the first time that the selection of a new United Nations Secretary-General, traditionally decided behind closed-doors by a few powerful countries, has involved public discussions with each candidate campaigning for the post. (ANI) First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is to publish a draft bill calling for a second Scottish independence referendum next week in a direct challenge to British Prime Minister Theresa May's hardline stance on leaving the European Union (EU). Sturgeon told the Scottish National party conference in Glasgow that she had a powerful political mandate to defend Scotland's vote in favour of remaining in the EU in June's referendum, reports the Guardian. But the UK government's policies on immigration and remaining within the EU single market made it clear the Tory party had now been taken over by its "rampant" and xenophobic right wing. Sturgeon told May: "Hear this, if you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again." She said: "I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests." Her official spokesman said that this was designed to give the Scottish government a full range of options: its immediate goal was to get the strongest powers possible for Scottish Parliament in the Brexit deal. He said, "We need the UK Government to give much needed clarity on what they have in mind before we can be reasonably expected to come up with a package for Scotland." Speeding up the referendum bill process opens up a deepening and increasingly significant political divide between the Scottish and UK Governments, showing Sturgeon's increasing confidence that the Tories' shift to a harder line on Brexit has strengthened her hand. Sturgeon faces clear short-term obstacles to staging a second vote on leaving the UK. Scottish voters are still not convinced of the case for a fast second referendum and the Scottish Parliament will require Westminster's legal authority to stage a referendum. (ANI) According to a source, the girls, who have not been named, remain in Maiduguri, reports the CNN. The militants had kidnapped 276 girls from a school in Chibok in northern Nigeria in April 2014. As many as 57 girls escaped and shared harrowing tales of fleeing from the nearby Sambisa Forest, believed to be the terrorist group's stronghold. Dozens are still missing and their whereabouts remain a mystery. They are, however, believed to be somewhere in the forest. The kidnapping sparked global outrage and prompted global figures such as activist Malala Yousafzai and first lady Michelle Obama to support the campaign, #BringBackOurGirls. Boko Haram says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south. In previous videos from the militant group, its leader Abubakar Shekau demanded the release of Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the Chibok girls. However, according to the source, no Boko Haram fighters were released in exchange for the girls and the release happened as a result of a series of high-level negotiations involving a group from Geneva, according to the source. (ANI) It said that the strikes were carried out in "self defense," reports the CNN. The retaliatory attacks came after missiles targeted the USS Mason off the coast of Yemen on Sunday and again on Wednesday, but missed it and hit the water instead. Two missiles were launched within 60 minutes of each other on Sunday when the warship was in international waters. According to the Pentagon, the ship was fired on again Wednesday while conducting routine operations in international waters off the Red Sea coast of Yemen. The missiles were fired from the Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. The Houthis are a minority Shia group that has taken control of much of Yemen, including the capital. However, the Houthi rebels denied that their forces targeted the US warship in both incidents. The three sites targeted Thursday were in remote areas with little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, a US official said. All the sites are in Houthi-controlled territory. (ANI) It condemned "the misogynist, hateful comments" made by Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, about women and minorities, BBC reported on Thursday. It follows the release of a 2005 video last week in which Trump makes remarks about groping women. He has apologised for remarks, which he described as as "locker-room talk". He has also denied touching women inappropriately. The motion was filed by Greens party MP Jeremy Buckingham to the Upper House of the NSW parliament. It said: "This house... agrees with those who have described Mr Trump as a 'revolting slug'." "It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump's behaviour obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate," Buckingham said in a statement. As there was no objection, the motion was recorded as having been agreed to by all of the lawmakers. It was allowed only after the president of the legislative council determined that "revolting slug" did not amount to unparliamentary language. Parliamentary procedure prevents MPs from using "extremely distasteful" words. --IANS pgh/ ( 208 Words) 2016-10-14-07:58:08 (IANS) Florida officials announced a new area of Zika transmission in the Miami region and have called on the federal government for funding to help fight the outbreak.Florida Governor Rick Scott said state health officials have confirmed that local transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus is occurring in a new small area in Miami-Dade County, where the state believes two women and three men have been infected by the virus.The governor yesterday said the state's health department believes Zika transmission is only occurring in Miami-Beach and in the new area, which covers about 1 square mile (2.6 square km).Zika, which is spread primarily by mosquitoes but also sexually, is a concern for pregnant women and their partners because the virus has been liked with a series of birth defects including microcephaly, marked by small head size and underdeveloped brains that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.Last month, US health officials urged pregnant women to consider putting off all nonessential travel to Miami due to the Zika virus even as the state lifted a travel warning for the Wynwood, the Miami neighborhood which was the first site of local Zika transmission in the continental United States.Florida has reported a total of 164 cases of Zika caused by local mosquito transmission, including 19 people who were infected in the state but live elsewhere. There are also five cases in which it was not clear whether transmission occurred in Florida or elsewhere.In a statement released on Thursday, Scott said the announcement of the new area of transmission underscores the "urgent need" for federal funding to fight the virus, adding that the state still has not received any of the funding that was approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama two weeks ago.Scott said he has asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work directly with the Miami-Dade Mosquito Control District to identify best practices for defeating Zika in the new area.Florida officials had already reported four of the five cases of Zika that occurred in the new area of transmission in Miami-Dade County. "With the confirmation of today's case, this area now meets the CDC's criteria for a new zone," officials said in a statement.The Zika virus was first detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.REUTERS JW0402 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-977238.Xml Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of engaging in a vicious effort to stop him from winning the White House.With his numbers dropping in opinion polls only weeks before the November 8 election, the Republican presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation."Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office."These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges."I've never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories," Trump said later on Thursday during a speech in Ohio.Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets.The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.First lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire yesterday.Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama described the Republican as "a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior.""It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life and I have to tell you that I listen to all this and I feel it so personally," she said. Clinton, who has not directly addressed the groping allegations, told donors in San Francisco on Thursday to check out Obama's comments.One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. Leeds told CNN yesterday that Trump also kissed her face in an incident that lasted about 15 minutes. "That's long enough," she said.The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.The New York Times said yesterday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction.SLUMP IN POLLSTrump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as uproar over the video threatened to engulf the former reality TV star's White House campaign in a way that earlier controversies surrounding him have not.A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll also showed him 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters.Trump trails Clinton by up to 11 points in other polls.He has never previously run for political office. Provocative statements have been a feature of his presidential bid since the day in June 2015 when he described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals in a speech announcing he was running for president.Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals.Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away."I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said.Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida yesterday, and mocked the writer."I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline.""Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so."The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant."There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment.At the Florida rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious."He said the "corrupt political establishment," which he said included special interests, was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people.""Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said.REPUBLICAN HOPESIn the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk."Fallout from the video has thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the U.S. Congress and deeply split the party as elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate.U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump has since veered between pronouncing himself free to campaign as he likes, and expressing fury at Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans.A spokeswoman for Clinton, 68, said Wednesday's report in The New York Times was "disturbing."The Washington Post endorsed Clinton, a former secretary of state, on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said.REUTERS JW0435 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-977241.Xml Until recently, public meetings between Japanese defence contractors and uniformed foreign military delegations would have stirred controversy in Japan, but this week's aerospace show in Tokyo saw plenty.With the nation stepping back from decades of state pacifism amid concern over China's growing power and a deepening North Korean threat, Japanese defence companies are finally shedding their reluctance to sell arms abroad.At the ShinMaywa Industries booth, Indonesian air force officials quizzed the company about its amphibious plane. In another corner of the Japan Aerospace 2016 show, Saudi Arabian military officers pored over military transport and patrol aircraft brochures handed out by Kawasaki Heavy Industries."The Indonesians are very interested in our plane," said a ShinMaywa salesmen, as one of his colleague went through US-2's specifications with the six-man Indonesian delegation. He asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.The US-2 is one of the home-built military platforms that the Japanese government has identified as a candidate for foreign sales after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April 2014 lifted a ban on overseas arms sales.The exhibition in Tokyo, which was last held four years ago in Nagoya, is the first major aerospace show since Abe came to power. The show drew some 800 companies as well as representatives from numerous of international militaries."We were visited by other foreign uniformed representatives apart from the Saudi military," a salesman for Kawasaki said, also asking not to be identified. "The exhibition is still mostly civilian, but it has more of a military feel than four years ago."By ending seven decades of military industrial isolation, Abe is hoping to widen arms production to lower costs through greater economies of scale and share the expense of developing new weapons with other nations.India began discussing a possible purchase of ShinMaywa's US-2 soon after restrictions on arms shipments were eased, although no agreement has yet been concluded.Indonesian interest could provide an earlier opportunity to sell the plane abroad, but Jakarta is so far keeping its cards close to its chest."We are looking around at all the stalls," said an Indonesian general in the delegation, who declined to give his name.REPUTATIONAL RISKJapanese companies have been reluctant to highlight their arms businesses, wary of reputational damage to their other commercial businesses.Japan's population remains sensitive to any perceived reversion to the militarism that many still blame for wrecking the country during World War Two.Kawasaki, which is better know for making motorbikes, had models of a heavy lift military transport, the C-2, and a sub-hunting patrol plane, the P-1, both of which it makes for Japanese military. Japan's government believes both those could compete for overseas sales."The foreign military delegations were mostly interested in the C-2, and they most wanted to know the price," said the Kawasaki salesman.Fuji Heavy Industries, better known for its Subaru cars, also builds military helicopters.At the aerospace show it showed of a full-sized model of a planned new transport helicopter, dubbed the UH-X, and an experimental unmanned surveillance jet. Both have been ordered by the Japanese military."We haven't wanted our defense work to damage our Subaru brand. But things are changing since the change to export rules," said a Fuji Heavy official at the booth. "The foreign military delegations came by here too," he added, also asking not to be identified.Other companies that avoid advertising their defense work include ball-bearing maker Minebea Co, which also makes 9mm pistols, and air conditioner company Daikin Industries , which has a sideline in rifle grenades.Komatsu Ltd builds military-green armored vehicles in addition to its yellow excavators and dump trucks.SPLINTERED INDUSTRYAfter decades insulated from the competitive pressures that have forced western firms to group together into a handful of big makers, Japan's defense sector remains fractured, with work spread among hundreds of companies.Military sales even at major defence contractors rarely amounts to more than a few percent of overall revenue.Even at the largest contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), military sales amount to only a tenth of revenue.Most of its booth at the aerospace show was devoted to civilian products, including space launch vehicles, models of Boeing aircraft it help builds, and a mock up of the interior of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, which represents Japan's bid to establish itself as a regional jet maker.MHI's defense business was confined to two small models on a small display stand at the side of the exhibition. One was a marine patrol helicopter; the other, an experimental stealth prototype that could evolve it a 40 billion dollar project to build a new fleet of frontline fighters for Japan, and perhaps even overseas airforces."Foreign military representatives visited our booth," said the MHI official in charge of the display. "I think that is the first time that has happened at a show," he added.REUTERS SDR PM1141 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-977369.Xml Judges will decide today whether to dismiss hate speech charges against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, in a case of major political and social significance for the Netherlands, just months before a general election.If the charges are upheld, Wilders' case will go to trial, most likely during the run-up to the March 15 election. Wilders' anti-Islam Freedom Party currently tops most opinion polls.Wilders is accused of discrimination and inciting racism for remarks in 2014, shown on television, in which he led a roomful of followers in chanting that they wanted fewer Moroccans in the country. Wilders then promised "We're going to arrange that".Some saw the remarks as tantamount to calling for Moroccans to be expelled, and thousands filed formal complaints.In pre-trial hearings, Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops has argued that the remarks were protected by freedom of speech laws, which he said should be interpreted especially liberally when they were part of political discourse.Wilders, who campaigns on an anti-Islam, anti-immigrant platform, was acquitted of hate speech charges in 2011 for various remarks including calling for a ban on the Koran, which he equated with Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf", and for saying that Muslim criminals should be stripped of their Dutch nationality and deported.Many observers thought that Wilders' previous prosecution actually boosted his popularity, as it gave him a platform to present himself as a champion of freedom of speech. REUTERS SDR NS1234 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-977451.Xml Chinese state-media described the visit as a diplomatic "milestone" of "historic significance," as the two countries will sign at least 21 agreements amounting to nearly USD 40 billion investment in Bangladesh. Another media report said both sides will also sign off on nearly $24 billion worth of loans to the country - Bangladesh's biggest foreign credit line to date. The deal comes after of a series of investments made by Chinese companies in Bangladesh in the past several months - including a USD 1.1 billion deal signed this week by Chinese cable manufacturer Jiangsu Etern Co. to strengthen the South Asian country's power grid, and a USD 3.1 billion deal by China Railway Group to build nearly 170 km of railroads connecting the capital Dhaka to southwestern cities. Bangladesh has traditionally been one of India's strongest allies in the region, but experts say that Delhi will not be able to match Beijing's largesse. However, when asked by local media, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister said he did not think the visit would significantly impact Bangladesh-India relations. Xi is on a diplomatic tour that began in Cambodia and will culminate in a visit to India, during which he will attend the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa. (ANI with inputs) Japan has withheld its 2016 funding for the UN heritage body UNESCO, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said today, following its decision last year to include documents about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in its "Memory of the World" programme.He did not give a reason, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said yesterday the UNESCO decision was problematic given conflicting views of Japan and China and that Tokyo might halt funding."We gave an explanation yesterday to a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party on how payment of our contribution has yet to be made," Kishida told reporters, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party."As for the future direction, we would like to make a decision in a comprehensive manner."Ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued with a territorial dispute over a group of tiny East China Sea islets and the legacy of Japan's wartime aggression.China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in 1937 in its then capital of Nanjing. A postwar Allied tribunal put the death toll at 142,000, but some conservative Japanese politicians and scholars deny a massacre took place at all.UNESCO established the "Memory of the World" programme in 1992 to protect important historical documents and materials.Japan last year raised questions about the authenticity of the Nanjing Massacre documents submitted by Chinese organisations for the inclusion in the programme and asked for fairness and transparency, prompting an angry retort from China.Japan had been due to contribute about 3.85 billion yen (37 million dollar) to UNESCO in 2016, or about 9.7 per cent of its total budget. REUTERS SDR NS1345 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-977527.Xml China backs Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-narcotics campaign and will cooperate with the Southeast Asian country in the war against drugs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said today.Duterte won the presidential election by a huge margin in May after campaigning almost entirely on promises to wipe out drugs and crime.Nearly 2,300 people have died in the war on drugs since the campaign started on June 30, according to police, of which 1,566 were drug suspects killed in police operations.Western countries have expressed concern at extrajudicial killings, concerns strongly rebuffed by Duterte.China has also offered support."We understand and support the Philippine government's policy under President Duterte of prioritising the fight against drug crime," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing.Duterte visits China next week, where he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping."As I understand it, during President Duterte's visit to China, he will participate in relevant anti-drugs related activities. At present both countries are in close communication about this," Geng said."Both countries anti-narcotics departments have already begun to explore cooperation. I believe that the results will be seen very soon."He did not elaborate.Under Duterte, Manila's relations with traditional ally Washington have come under strain.He has opted to put aside years of hostility with China, especially over the disputed South China Sea, to form a new partnership.Duterte has not exempted China from blame when it comes to drugs, however, and has several times said China should do more to stem the flow of narcotics into his country.Today, Foreign Ministry spokesman Charles Jose confirmed that Duterte was tentatively due to visit China's anti-drugs agency during his trip and get an idea of how China was tackling its own narcotics problems."It's not final yet but I think the purpose is to, for the president to see for himself," Jose told a regular briefing, adding that China was supporting the Philippines in terms of rehabilitation programmes and law enforcement.The Philippines on Wednesday announced the opening of a huge rehabilitation centre on a military base funded by a Chinese tycoon, which would be able to support 10,000 drug users.REUTERS PS NS1514 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-977702.Xml German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed more talks were needed before a "Normandy format" summit on the Ukraine conflict could be held, the German government said.The Kremlin had said on Thursday the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine might meet on October 19 if preliminary conferences of experts produced results.Merkel and Poroshenko spoke by telephone yesterday and agreed that everything should be done to stabilise the ceasefire agreed 18 months ago in Minsk and to implement other steps outlined in the agreement, the German government said. Russia and Ukraine each accuse the other of violating the ceasefire."There was also discussion about which preconditions were needed to allow a meeting for the leaders and heads of government in the so-called Normandy format," it said. "They agreed further discussions were needed before any such meeting."In an opinion piece in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Friday Poroshenko said Russia is building up its military in eastern Ukraine, and he urged the European Union to keep sanctions against Russia in place."According to Ukrainian intelligence sources, there are more than 700 Russian tanks, more than 1,250 artillery systems, more than 1,000 personnel carriers and more than 300 rocket launchers in Donbass," Poroshenko wrote. "The pro-Russian fighters in Donbass literally have more tanks and rocket launchers than the German military."Poroshenko said 19 Ukrainian soldiers had been injured in fighting along the line of conflict in eastern Ukraine since a Sept. 1 "back to school" ceasefire, with more than 800 shots fired by pro-Russian rebels in September and 500 in October."The war continues to rage and there are many signs that the Minsk process is stumbling over Russia's perpetual masquerade," he write. "It is time to correct our thinking about Russia's ambitions because they not only are a threat to Ukraine, but for security and stability in Europe."He said Russia continued to deny supplying military equipment to separatists in eastern Ukraine, much as it had done in Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.Ukraine's military on Sunday postponed a planned parallel withdrawal with pro-Russian separatists from Stanytsa Luhanska, a town on the eastern frontline, saying the rebels had disregarded the agreement and fired artillery at Ukrainian positions.REUTERS PS VP1524 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-977739.Xml German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the war in Syria, a government spokesman said today."We've always said that with regard to Syria and Ukraine, Russia plays a significant role," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference.Seibert said he could not predict if further sanctions against Syria would be agreed at an upcoming European Union meeting, but said it was understandable that all options were being considered.REUTERS PS AS1544 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-977788.Xml Suspected Islamic State gunmen killed 12 members of Egypt's security forces in North Sinai province and injured eight more in an attack on a checkpoint today, medical and security sources said. The attack took place 40 km away from the town of Bir al-Abd, making it the first major attack in the central Sinai area, which had so far escaped a campaign of Islamist attacks. It was carried out using assault rifles and some heavier weapons, the sources said. The wounded were taken to hospital in el-Arish.REUTERS PS BD1648 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-977999.Xml US Secretary of State John Kerry met Chinese and Indian ministers today in an effort to narrow gaps on reaching a global deal to cut greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners.Kerry arrived in the Rwandan capital Kigali yesterday to join talks among roughly 150 nations negotiating ways to phase down factory-made hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases. If successful, a deal would be the third significant step in fighting climate change this month.A quick phase-down of HFCs could be a major contribution to slowing climate change, avoiding perhaps 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) of a projected rise in average temperatures by 2100, scientists say.Asked whether a deal was likely, Kerry told reporters: "We're here to work for one.""We'll see what happens," he added as he started a meeting with Zhai Qing, China's deputy minister of environmental protection, on the sidelines of the main talks.Kerry also met Indian Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave and was to address a meeting of all delegates later in the day.US officials, speaking before Kerry's visit, said they were optimistic a deal could be reached.India, the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is under pressure to speed up its plans for cutting HFCs. Its government wants poor nations to be allowed until 2031 to start bringing them down, in order to give industries time to adapt. More than 100 nations including the United States, the European Union and African states favour a peak in 2021.Environmental groups have called for an ambitious agreement on cutting HFCs to limit the damage from the roughly 1.6 billion new air conditioning units expected to come on stream by 2050 amid increased demand from a rapidly expanding middle class in Asia, Latin America and Africa.An HFC accord would add to the Paris Agreement on limiting global temperatures rises clinched in December, and which came into force this month, and a deal to limit emissions from aviation clinched in October.Use of HFCs, which can be 10,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as greenhouse gases, is already declining in many rich nations.The HFC talks are part of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which succeeded in phasing out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), also widely used at that time in refrigeration and aerosols. The aim was to protect the ozone layer, which shields the planet from ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer. REUTERS PS RP1710 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-978038.Xml Five Slovaks are facing charges of smuggling at least 300 illegal migrants last year from Hungary to western Europe, mostly to Germany and Italy, Slovakian police said today.The five men were arrested in a series of house raids by Slovak police on Tuesday morning and face up to 10 years in prison.Police said they hid migrants from Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan in customized cars from Slovak and Czech rental companies and charged each of them 500-1,000 euros (550-1,100 dollars).Slovakia has not been a principal route for the hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who have sought to reach richer parts of the EU via the Balkans and Hungary over the past two years.Last year, 71 refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were found dead in an abandoned truck on an Austrian highway near the Slovak and Hungarian borders.REUTERS PS RAI1833 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-978235.Xml Britain said today it plans to put forward a draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate truce in Yemen and a resumption of peace talks.The 15-member body this week failed to agree on a statement condemning an Oct. 8 air strike that killed some 140 people. Russia dismissed the statement as too vague and diplomats said Moscow refused to engage any further on it."Sadly the Yemen statement is dead," Britain's UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters on Friday. Council statements must be agreed by consensus."We have decided instead to put forward a draft Security Council resolution on Yemen calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a resumption of the political process," he said. "We will be circulating that to council colleagues in the coming days.A Saudi-led Arab coalition has been fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen since March 2015 to try to restore the internationally backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power after rebels took over the capital Sanaa, made gains in other provinces and forced Hadi's government to flee into exile.Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia accuses Tehran of providing support to the Houthis, a charge the Islamic Republic denies.Fighting in Yemen has intensified since UN-led peace talks in Kuwait ended in August without an agreement. The fighting has been concentrated around Sanaa.Tensions rose further after Saturday's air strike, widely blamed on Saudi warplanes, which ripped through a wake attended by some of Yemen's top political and security officials, killing 140 people.The US military launched cruise missiles yesterday against three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, after failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, US officials said. REUTERS VS RAI2132 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-978694.Xml Fighting in South Sudan killed at least 60 people this week, the military said today, stoking fears the region could plunge back into full-scale war.Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang accused the rebels of "burning civilians, maiming women and child abductions and setting ablaze properties."Armed men loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar killed 11 government soldiers and 28 civilians from Saturday to Thursday, Koang said in a press statement. Twenty-one rebels were also killed, he said.A spokesman for the rebels was not immediately available for comment.South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, sank into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, sacked Machar, a Nuer, from his position as vice president. Subsequent fighting often followed ethnic lines and human rights groups say both sides targeted civilians.A peace pact in 2015 ostensibly ended the fighting but has frequently been violated. Major clashes broke out again in July. Machar fled the country and is seeking medical treatment in South Africa. He has been replaced as vice president by General Taban Deng Gai.The government wants the international community to designate the rebels as terrorists and take punitive measures against them.Koang said that could include "travel bans, asset freeze and extradition to ICC of key players including ... Riek Machar." The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) tries suspects accused of war crimes and genocide.On Monday, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said it had received reports of horrific attacks on civilians, including some who were burned to death, and urged both sides to control their forces.REUTERS VS RAI2147 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-978708.Xml BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday sent a message of condolences to Queen Sirikit of Thailand over the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. In the name of the Chinese people and himself, Xi expressed deep condolences over the passing of King Bhumibol and extended his sincere sympathy to other members of the Thai Royal Family and the Thai people. Xi said that His Majesty King Bhumibol was the guide of the national development of Thailand and a promoter of China-Thailand friendship. Such a good relationship between the two countries today was directly linked with the great importance and personal efforts made by King Bhumibol himself, said Xi. Xi added that with the king's personal care and promotion, as well as the common efforts by the two countries, the Sino-Thai friendship has borne many fruits. Xi said the passing of the king is a great loss for the peoples of Thailand and China and that he will live in the hearts of the two peoples forever. Xi said that China pays great importance to developing its friendly ties with Thailand. China is willing to work with Thailand to build on past achievements and make new progress in the bilateral relations, to consolidate the good neighborliness, and to deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to benefit the two countries and two peoples, Xi said. LONDON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Within a matter of days a draft bill will be published by the Scottish Parliament paving the way for Scots to have a second vote on Scotland breaking its ties with Britain. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who is also First Minister at Holyrood, seat of the Scottish Parliament, let a political rabbit out of the hat at the start on her party's conference in Glasgow. Just over two years ago the people of Scotland voted in a referendum by a margin of 10 percent to remain part of the United Kingdom. Although the SNP never took its eye off the independence ball, it was clear that a re-run of the referendum was off the agenda for a generation. Things changed on June 23 when the British voted by 52-48 to sever its ties with Brussels. In Scotland, though, the majority voted to stay in the EU, by a wide margin of 62 to 38. So it was hardly surprising Sturgeon was given a rapturous standing ovation when she opened the SNP annual conference in Glasgow Thursday when she outlined her plans for a second independence referendum. Another referendum could take place, she said, before the two-year Article 50 process for Britain leaving the EU is completed in 2019. Sturgeon fired verbal broadsides at British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative government. She told delegates: "Last week, the Prime Minister told us that how important it was to respect the democratic mandate of the people. I agree. Which is why I say this to her today, it's high time you showed some respect for the 62 percent of people across Scotland who voted to Remain." Sturgeon added: "There is no doubt that Brexit is a defining issue of our time -- for Scotland and for the UK." She confirmed that SNP MPs at Westminster will next year vote against May's Great Bill, aimed at scrapping all EU legislation introduced in Britain over the past 40 years. Sturgeon wants Scotland to remain part of Europe's single market, telling delegates: "The Prime Minister may have a mandate to take England and Wales out of the EU but she has no mandate whatsoever to remove any part of the UK from the Single Market." In a message fired at May, Sturgeon said: "But hear this, if you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again. If you can't, or won't, allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path." The 46-year-old leader added: "A hard Brexit will change the UK fundamentally. A UK out of the single market - isolated, inward looking, haemorrhaging jobs, investment and opportunities will not be the same country that Scotland voted to stay part of in 2014." Sturgeon also confirmed Thursday that an Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation across Scotland next week. The Scottish Greens welcomed Sturgeon's announcement of a consultation on a new referendum bill. A spokesman for the party said: "Independence may be Scotland's best hope of remaining in the EU." Scottish Secretary David Mundell said independence talk is "damaging the Scottish economy." Mundell said: "The people of Scotland spoke loudly and clearly in the result of the legal, fair and decisive referendum of 2014 and that should be respected. As we prepare to leave the EU, the first minister should commit her government to working constructively with the UK government to seize the opportunities that will bring, not taking Scotland back to the divisive constitutional debates of the past." Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said: "Nicola Sturgeon's top priority is to divide our nation once again. But our country is already divided following the Tories' reckless Brexit gamble and we should not be seeking further divisions." "Our economy is in trouble, and the last thing we need is the uncertainty of another independence referendum. It is little over two years since more than two million Scots voted to reject independence. Nicola Sturgeon promised us that she would respect that result and said the referendum would put the issue to bed for a 'generation'. She should keep that promise," said Dugdale. Conservative leader in Scotland, Ruth Davidson said: "Nicola Sturgeon could today have set out a positive, constructive vision for how the country progresses together. Instead she has made it clear she wants to take Scotland back to yet more uncertainty, more division and more constitutional upheaval. Her comments show she has given up on speaking for Scotland and is now solely playing to the SNP gallery." The big question for the 4 million people in Scotland entitled to vote could be whether they see their future as part of the UK or the EU. BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China plans to launch an X-ray pulsar navigation satellite (XPNAV-1) in November to test autonomous spacecraft navigation, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Fifth Academy. X-ray pulsar navigation is an innovative navigation technique in which periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space, said Shuai Ping, chief system designer of the satellite. The satellite, developed by CASC Fifth Academy, weighs more than 200 kilograms and carries two detectors. In its mission, the satellite will test the detectors' functions in responding to the background noise of the universe, outline pulsar contours, and create a database for pulsar navigation, the academy said. X-ray pulsar navigation techniques will help reduce the reliance of spacecraft on ground-based navigation methods and are expected to achieve autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future. MADRID, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May visited acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for a working lunch in the Spanish capital of Madrid on Thursday. This is May's first visit to Spain since replacing David Cameron as prime minister in the wake of the June 23 "Brexit" referendum saw Britain vote to leave the European Union (EU) and the first visit since Cameron visited Spain on April 8, 2013. Rajoy tweeted before the meeting that "he and Theresa May would work together to preserve the important connections between Spain and the United Kingdom," and after the meeting the Spanish government website released a communique. This communique assured Rajoy had "repeated his sorrow at the British decision and explained Spain's priorities at this undesired situation." Rajoy explained to May that he would "defend" Spain's interests and the "rights of its citizens and Spanish's companies which could be harmed by the new situation." Just as thousands of Spaniards live and work in Britain, Spain is home to a more British citizens than any other country in the EU, with an estimated 500,000 many of them retired making their homes there. Meanwhile Spain is also the most popular destination for British tourists, with 13 million visiting the country in 2015, a figure that looks certain to rise in 2016. The communique bore these in mind, adding that the "British who reside in Spain, the millions of tourists who visit us every year and the British companies established here can be calm," as Spain will continue to work to "maintain" its close bilateral relationship with Britain. by Peter Barker LONDON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The population of London has grown by 5.7 percent over the four years to mid-2015, and a city that only a couple of decades ago was in population decline is now set to hit megacity status of 10 million people within the next 11 years. Figures released Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that London's population grew from 8.2 million to 8.67 million between mid-2011 and mid-2015. The ONS report noted that "Greater London stands out" as by far Britain's largest city region and also its fastest growing. Its comparatively young population age structure means it has a higher birth rate and a lower death rate than other areas too. Births accounted for a 6.4 percent growth in the population, while deaths were a 2.3 percent decline. London's attraction to immigrants also reflects its status as a major employment centre and international hub. International immigration accounted for a 4.8 percent growth in population. Against the current economic and political backdrop of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, figures show there is a net outflow of Britons from the city. The report noted: "Uniquely among the city regions, London has a high net internal inflow of people aged 22 to 29, reflecting its attraction for graduates in particular." The internal migration flow of this group saw a 2.8 percent increase each year, the only age group of Britons which increased. In other age groups larger numbers of people move out, the report citing potential reasons including the "high cost of property for people forming a family, plus lifestyle choices," leading to a 3.1 percent decline in population. REVERSING POPULATION DECLINE London's gathering population increase is a reversal of a post-Second World War trend. Some 25 years ago, the population total of London was in a long-term decline. The city had grown hugely and without much planning during the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era, to become the largest city in the world. The first British census in 1801 recorded London's population at just over 1 million people. The capital grew at a rate of around 20 percent per decade throughout the 19th century reaching 6.5 million in 1901. Over the first three decades of the 20th century, the population continued to grow, but at a slower rate up to a peak in 1939 of 8.61 million. The size of London's population then began a period of decline, initially resulting from the impact of the Second World War and then in later years the result of changes to social structures and increasing urbanization of suburban areas. By 1950, the population had fallen to 8.1 million, and by 1971 it was at 7.3 million, according to figures from the Greater London Authority. By 1988, the population of London was 6.7 million, a decrease of around 22 percent since 1939. The last decade of the 20th century saw London's population begin to rise again, and between 1991 and 2011 the capital increased in size by 1.7 million people. GROWING TREND OF MEGACITIES Megacities, those with a population total of over 10 million, are a growing global trend, driven primarily by the increase in urbanization in Africa and Asia, which are still predominantly rural but which are forecast to continue a rapid pace of urbanization to become majority urbanized by 2050. In 1990, there were 10 megacities, in 2014 there were 28 -- six of them in China -- and by 2030 there will be 40. Current megacities include Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, New York, Delhi, and Sao Paolo. A total of 90 percent of the growth in urbanization over the next 14 years is expected to take place in Asia and Africa, said the UN, with China, India and Nigeria accounting for nearly 40 percent of that growth. Within the developed world, few citizens live in megacities, although the majority of the population is urbanized. In 2014, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations issued its Urbanization Prospects report, which showed less than 8 percent of European citizens lived in a megacity, yet 73 percent of the population lived in an urban environment. The rate of urbanization in Europe has declined from about 1 percent increase a year in 1950 to about 0.3 percent now, and is forecast to remain at that level. London's growth forecast over the next 11 years is unusual in this context, and reflects its status as a capital city, a global financial center, and a global or continental hub for arts, culture, education, travel, and tourism. The ONS report also noted that the British population reached 65.1 million in mid-2015, an increase over the previous year of 513,300 (up 0.8 percent). This national increase was driven by net international migration of 335,600 and natural change (births minus deaths) of 171,800. A NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a spiral galaxy NGC 6814, whose luminous nucleus and spectacular sweeping arms, rippled with an intricate pattern of dark dust, is a highly variable source of X-ray radiation, causing scientists to suspect that it hosts a supermassive black hole with a mass about 18 million times that of the Sun. (Courtesy of NASA) WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Our universe contains at least two trillion galaxies, making it at least 10 times more crowded than previously thought, a new study said Thursday. Over the last 20 years, scientists have used deep-space images from the Hubble Space Telescope to estimate that the universe we can see contains around 100 billion galaxies. In the new study, an international team of astronomers, led by Professor Christopher Conselice of the University of Nottingham, converted images of deep space from telescopes around the world, and especially from Hubble, into 3D maps, in order to make accurate measurements of the number of galaxies at different epochs in the universe's history. In addition, they used new mathematical models to infer the existence of galaxies that the current generation of telescopes cannot observe. This led to the conclusion that there are a factor of 10 more galaxies in a given volume of space when the universe was a few billion years old compared with today. Most of these galaxies are low mass systems with masses similar to those of the satellite galaxies surrounding the Milky Way, according to the study published in the Astrophysical Journal. In order for the numbers of galaxies we now see and their masses to add up, there must be a further 90 percent of galaxies in the observable universe that are too faint and too far away to be seen with present-day telescopes, said the study. Over time, these myriad small faint galaxies from the early universe merged into the larger galaxies we can now observe. "It boggles the mind that over 90 percent of the galaxies in the universe have yet to be studied," Conselice said in a statement. "Who knows what interesting properties we will find when we discover these galaxies with future generations of telescopes?" WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- WikiLeaks on Thursday released nearly 2,000 emails it says hacked from the campaign of U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, bringing the total number of the hacked emails released in the past week to roughly 9,000. The Thursday release is the sixth publication by WikiLeaks, which issued two separate batches on Wednesday following one per week day heading back to last Friday, hours after a tape recording Republican nominee Donald Trump's lewd women remarks went public. WikiLeaks says it has some 50,000 of such messages in total, all stolen from the archive of Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. The anti-secret group intends to release these hacked emails bit by bit for maximum political effect, said a The Hill daily news report. Clinton's campaign has refused to verify the authenticity of the emails, which stretch back for years, claiming that their release is evidence of Russia in a bid to help Trump win White House. Russia has denied the claim. The leaked emails, including excerpts of previously secret speeches Clinton gave to Wall Street and a joke about Catholic, have embarrassed the Clinton campaign but so far been deeply overshadowed by Trump's leaked lewd remarks on women and the split of Republican Party as a result. Four women in the past 24 hours have accused the New York billionaire of uninvited kiss or groping them. Trump has denied all the accusations, calling them "total fabrication" and threatening lawsuits against the New York Times and some other media for such reporting. Supporters of US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gather next to a vehicle before a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida on October 13, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is trying to resuscitate his dying campaign, but he is facing a tough job due to a civil war with his own party and new accusations against him for groping women. Trump, the Republican nominee, managed to beat the odds at the second presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Sunday despite taking a pounding from all sides after the release of the 2005 tapes containing his outlandish sexist remarks and graphic description of how he groped women. But while some experts thought his campaign was finished, a defiant Trump blasted Clinton on the debate stage over and over with charges of corruption related to her scandals and alleged missteps. While Clinton appeared to put up a fight in the first half, she seemed to run out of steam and appeared to have difficulty hitting back against Trump's repeated allegations of her corruption. But Trump's lewd remarks about women led to his continuing slide in nationwide polls, which showed Clinton leading by 6.2 percentage points on Wednesday. Moreover, some of donors who've donated 10,000 U.S. dollars or more to Trump are asking Trump team for their money back, given the release of Trump's lewd comments about women. This and other developments beg the question of whether Trump can turn things around less a month away from the election. "Before the debate his political obituary was being written, and now he managed to resuscitate a campaign that was on life support," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell told Xinhua. "So he lives to fight another day. But with (less than a month) left, he's going to need a game changer, because she (Hillary) is still slightly favored in the Electoral College," said O'Connell. Though Trump did better than he was in the first debate, "he's still down in the race," O'Connell said. O'Connell added that if this election is about change and not about Trump's fitness to be president, then he might win; however, if the election is about his fitness, then he will lose. The release of the tapes about Trump's lewd sexist remarks about women ignited inner bickering within the Republican Party. While Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and several other lawmakers immediately withdrew support to Trump, some others decried their moves while threatening to withdraw their support to Ryan's reelection bid in January. Trump has slammed Ryan and other Republicans opposing his campaign for making a "sinister deal" against him. But it seemed that the nightmare for Trump, a former TV celebrity and owner of American beauty pageant, is far from over. In a story published by the New York Times, two women accused Trump of making unwanted sexual advances years ago, though the billionaire dismissed it as total fabrication. Several former pageant contestants also revealed that Trump used to walk into backstage before a show when many of the women were half naked and in the process of changing clothes. Related: News Analysis: Trump goes on offensive, but Clinton more eloquent on policy ST. LOUIS, the United States, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- In one of the nastiest U.S. presidential debates in recent memory, Republican candidate Donald Trump went on the offensive Sunday night, but experts said Clinton showed a better command of policy matters. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- A new study illustrates the dramatic climatic shifts wrought by the rise of new mountain ranges and chronicles how Central Asia dried out over the last 23 million years into one of the most arid regions on the planet. While researchers have long cited the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan Mountains around 50 million years ago for blocking rain clouds' entry into Central Asia from the south, killing off much of the region's plant life, the new study paints a more nuanced picture of Central Asia's desertification. "While Central Asia was probably never lush and verdant, it was certainly greener 23 million years ago and probably even greener in the more distant past," said Jeremy Kesner Caves, a doctoral student at Stanford University's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and the lead author of the study published online in the journal Geology. The researchers arrived at their conclusions after measuring a particular isotope, or version, of carbon in buried, ancient soil samples. The isotope speaks to the dryness of conditions at the time of the soil's deposition. Wetter, rainier conditions allow for greater numbers of organisms, including plants and soil-dwelling bacteria, to thrive and pull carbon out of their surroundings to fuel their growth and metabolism, leaving telltale isotopes in their environment. Caves and his co-authors looked at samples over extensive geographic and temporal spans in order to draw a fuller portrait of the climatic changes influencing soil composition. "Our paper is the first-ever attempt to present maps of carbon isotopes over a geologic time frame of more than a million years," he was quoted as saying in a news release from Stanford. He and several co-authors traveled to Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan and northern China to collect the bulk of 171 new soil samples, while Russian co-authors collected samples near Lake Baikal. The new specimens were considered alongside more than 2,200 previously collected samples. Because most of those existing samples originated from the Tibetan Plateau, the research team plugged a gap in the geographical coverage by going to little-studied northern Central Asia. Overall, the samples were well-distributed from 23 million to 2.6 million years ago during a geological period known as the Neogene. The Earth's climate cooled off substantially as the Neogene wore on, setting the stage for an Ice Age when glaciers crept from polar regions into lower latitudes. The samples "are honestly pretty boring," Caves said. "They look and feel like dirt." But the rocky outcrops exposing the old, hardened soil chunks can dazzle. "The outcrops are striped deep purple, red and green, and they often erode in crazy patterns." Upon analysis, the samples' carbon isotope values revealed an exceptionally arid region deep in Asia's interior going back 23 million years, initially ringed by areas of higher rainfall. Starting about five million years ago, however, that dry region expanded to the north and west, as new mountain ranges reached heights sufficient to block westerly winds from delivering moisture. "One way to think about this change is that when viewed from space today, Central Asia appears very brown because of its expansive deserts," Caves said. "If viewed from space 23 million years ago, though, Central Asia would have looked somewhat darker, simply due to there being considerably more leaves and vegetation." BRASILIA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer will leave Friday for an Asian tour, which will take him to India to participate in the 8th BRICS Summit, and then to Japan, to seek to attract investment. According to Temer's spokesperson, Alexandre Parola, in a statement by state news agency Agencia Brasil on Thursday, this trip will be an opportunity for the government to show "a new Brazil" of "investment opportunities, stability and fiscal responsibility." Temer's first stop will be in Goa, India, for the BRICS Summit, where he will formalize four new cooperation mechanisms with the other member countries (China, India, Russia and South Africa). Temer will arrive in Goa on Oct. 15 and enjoy a formal dinner with the leaders. On Oct. 16, the five heads of state will meet together before holding a BRICS business meeting, followed by a signature ceremony and a meeting with Bay of Bengal countries (BIMSTEC). Temer will also hold a private meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which Parola said would help to relaunch the two countries' bilateral strategic partnership. "India is reaching high levels of economic growth. At a time when Brazil is seeking to return to the paths of sustainable development and job creation, India is a natural partner to which we turn with renewed emphasis," he explained. The new mechanisms will include an agricultural research platform to share technological advances. A deal between customs authorities will seek to finalize technical aspects in order to make trade easier between members. An environmental cooperation commitment will see the five nations aim to work together on air quality, water management and climate change. Finally, the countries' diplomatic corps will seek to work in closer cooperation. In recent years, the BRICS have made important steps forward, with the creation of the New Development Bank, which will seek to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries. Temer will then be in Japan on Oct. 17-18, the first visit by a Brazilian president to that country in 11 years. He will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before meeting with business leaders to present "Brazil's new economic reality and the opportunities opened up by the Investment Partnership Plan." SYDNEY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Snowy Mountains hydro-electric Scheme is a shining beacon of what can be achieved when nations welcome displaced migrants rather than retreating into isolationism. Built by over 100,000 workers from 30 different countries, the 225 kilometres of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts of one of the world's most complex integrated water and hydroelectric power schemes was officially placed on Australia's Heritage Register on Friday. "The Snowy Mountains Scheme is an audacious and brilliant example of modern Australia," Australian Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said. "A bold idea brought to life by the hard work of thousands of people coming to Australia from all over the world." The scheme has become a symbol of multicultural Australia where workers and their families, 70 percent of which were displaced from World War II, lived in towns and camps across the Snowy Mountains in south western New South Wales state, Frydenberg said. Constructed over 25 years between 1949 and 1974, the 16 dams, seven power stations and pumping station provide over 30 percent of renewable electricity to Eastern Australia's grid while diverting water for key agriculture production. The civil engineering marvel of the modern world becomes the 107th addition to the heritage register, which includes Australia's iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, world famous Bondi Beach, Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory and the Great Barrier Reef. WELLINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Friday extended his condolences to the people of Thailand on the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. "King Bhumibol was the world's longest serving monarch and presided over a period of transformative growth and development that saw Thailand emerge as a regional leader and one of Southeast Asia's major economies," Key said in a statement. "During his reign, New Zealand and Thailand developed a close and friendly relationship, built on a shared desire for peace and security in our region," said Key. "King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit helped to cement the relationship when they visited New Zealand in August 1962," he said. "More than 100,000 New Zealanders visit Thailand each year and with the strong bond of friendship between our two countries, I know many will share in the deep sense of loss and sadness being felt by the Thai people." Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away on Thursday at the age of 88 after years of grave illnesses. Image provided by Brazil's Presidency shows Brazil's President Michel Temer delivering a speech during the ceremony of ratification of the Paris Agreement (2015) on climate change, in Brasilia, Brazil, on Sept. 12, 2016. Brazil's President Michel Temer on Monday ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change, which commits Brazil to reducing its carbon emissions by 37 percent by 2025 from 2005 levels. (Xinhua/Beto Barata/Bazil's Presidency) BRASILIA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer will leave Friday for an Asian tour, which will take him to India to participate in the 8th BRICS Summit, and then to Japan, to seek to attract investment. According to Temer's spokesperson, Alexandre Parola, in a statement by state news agency Agencia Brasil on Thursday, this trip will be an opportunity for the government to show "a new Brazil" of "investment opportunities, stability and fiscal responsibility." Temer's first stop will be in Goa, India, for the BRICS Summit, where he will formalize four new cooperation mechanisms with the other member countries (China, India, Russia and South Africa). Temer will arrive in Goa on Oct. 15 and enjoy a formal dinner with the leaders. On Oct. 16, the five heads of state will meet together before holding a BRICS business meeting, followed by a signature ceremony and a meeting with Bay of Bengal countries (BIMSTEC). Temer will also hold a private meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which Parola said would help to relaunch the two countries' bilateral strategic partnership. "India is reaching high levels of economic growth. At a time when Brazil is seeking to return to the paths of sustainable development and job creation, India is a natural partner to which we turn with renewed emphasis," he explained. The new mechanisms will include an agricultural research platform to share technological advances. A deal between customs authorities will seek to finalize technical aspects in order to make trade easier between members. An environmental cooperation commitment will see the five nations aim to work together on air quality, water management and climate change. Finally, the countries' diplomatic corps will seek to work in closer cooperation. In recent years, the BRICS have made important steps forward, with the creation of the New Development Bank, which will seek to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries. Temer will then be in Japan on Oct. 17-18, the first visit by a Brazilian president to that country in 11 years. He will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before meeting with business leaders to present "Brazil's new economic reality and the opportunities opened up by the Investment Partnership Plan." CANBERRA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers are leading the charge to produce "next-generation" food crops with larger yields and a greater ability to ward off the negative effects of drought. Research led by the Australian National University (ANU) is paving the way for drought-resistant crops which will provide farmers with higher yields compared to more traditional grains such as rice and wheat. Lead researcher Dr Hugo Alonso-Cantabrana from the ANU's Research School of Biology said crops such as sorghum, sugarcane, millet and maize used a different form of photosynthesis, called C4, that made them more efficient at turning carbon dioxide, light and water into useful sugars. "They do this by taking up carbon dioxide from the air and concentrating it in specialized cells deep in the leaf," Alsonso-Cantabrana said in a statement on Friday. Meanwhile the study's co-researcher, Hannah Osborn, said wheat and rice were known as C3 plants and used the oldest form of photosynthesis - one which was considered less efficient - while plants using C4 photosynthesis had the advantage of being more resistant to climates with higher temperatures and lower rainfall. She said the team studied the role of an enzyme commonly known as green millet, which helps boost the efficiency of those C4 plants. "C4 plants can capture carbon dioxide from the air while losing less water from their leaves, but little is known about what determines the efficiency of this process," Osborn said. "We think that under adverse conditions such as drought or high temperatures, having a lot of this enzyme could be advantageous for the plant." The team has indicated it will continue the research to test how the enzyme handles extreme environmental conditions, something they believe could one day bring drought-resistent crops to regions in need. MELBOURNE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- An Australian academic's "accidental" discovery of global gold price collusion has triggered a U.S. trial of four of the world's biggest banks. Barclays, the Bank of Nova Scotia, HSBC and Societe Generale will face a U.S. court after investors in the banks sued them for up to 750 million U.S. dollars each over allegations that the banks rigged the price of gold at the expense of investors for a decade. The allegations came after Andrew Caminschi, an Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia (UWA), exposed the scandal during a study of tens of millions of gold transactions in the last 18 months for a research project. "It was a needle in the haystack-type stuff," Caminschi told News Limited on Friday. "But once we found it, it was pretty damning." Caminschi, who will act as an expert consultant during the trail in New York, said he never expected his obscure PhD thesis would lead to a change in the ancient gold-pricing system. "I never thought it would get to this," he said. "I didn't go out cartel-busting or bank-bashing -- it was more like the data was just yelling at me." The accounting and finance professor discovered manipulation during twice-daily meetings by banks in London that determined the gold price. An analysis of 14 years of gold-trading data found that during the meetings, before the benchmark price of gold was established, trading volumes in gold derivatives rose substantially. The discovery suggested that the banks were trading on, and profiting from information that was not available to the wider market. Caminschi said his supervisor was shocked when he presented his findings and explained the potential implications. A fifth bank, Germany's Deutsche Bank, was also implicated in Caminschi's findings but settled out of court in April and has agreed to assist the plaintiffs in their case against the other four banks. WELLINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay will be in Europe next week to shore up trade relations with the European Union (EU) and Britain in the wake of the Brexit vote. McClay will meet British Trade Secretary Liam Fox in London to discuss post-Brexit trade relations, and seek to advance progress on an EU-New Zealand free trade agreement (FTA) with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom during World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Norway. "The EU-New Zealand FTA is a priority, as is our relationship with the UK. We are grateful for the strong assurances we have received that New Zealand's trade interests with both the EU and the UK will not be affected by the Brexit vote," McClay said in a statement on Friday. "My meeting with Secretary Fox will be an opportunity to again reinforce the importance of our trading relationship and that New Zealand will seek a trade deal with the UK once they are in a position to do so." McClay would meet with Malmstrom in Oslo to discuss progress towards the launch of an FTA with the EU. He would also discuss potential outcomes for the 11th WTO Ministerial meeting, due to be held in Buenos Aires in late 2017, with other WTO ministers. "The 10th WTO Ministerial meeting in Nairobi in December 2015 represented a significant outcome for New Zealand and global trade, particularly the historic commitment to eliminate agricultural export subsidies and New Zealand is committed to achieving a similar result next year," said McClay. McClay will also travel to Portugal to discuss the EU-New Zealand FTA and bilateral issues with Portuguese counterparts, and meet industry leaders. WELLINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand is to fund a four-year partnership to help the development of dairy farms in the central highlands of Peru, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said Friday. New Zealand would give 4 million NZ dollars (2.85 million U.S. dollars) to the New Zealand Peru Dairy Support Project, which aims to improve the profitability of up to 90,000 dairy farmers in the Peruvian Sierra, said Joyce. "The project will focus on assisting Peruvian farmers with New Zealand technologies to improve milk and cheese production, handling and processing practices, and more effective research and extension," said Joyce, who launched the project in Lima, in a statement from his office. "Dairying has good potential to increase smallholder dairy productivity and incomes in the Sierra, generating regular cash income and contributing to household nutrition and food security," he said. "Domestic demand for milk and milk products is steadily growing in Peru and the industry has a strong commercial basis and reasonably well-developed value chains to support future growth." Peru's government was committed to increasing the productivity and competitiveness of its dairy sector and had made considerable national and regional level dairy investments in the Sierra. The New Zealand investment would be matched by funding from Peruvian programs. by Xinhua Writer Chen Shilei BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, of which the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor forms an important part, is expected to change the landscape of economic cooperation in South Asia. The initiative comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 brings together countries in Asia, Europe and Africa via land and maritime networks. Within the framework of the initiative, the BCIM Economic Corridor will connect India's northeast, Bangladesh, Myanmar and southwest China's Yunnan Province through a network of roads, railways, waterways, and airways. It seeks to improve connectivity, infrastructure, energy resources, agriculture, trade and investment in South Asia. OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOUTH ASIA Covering 9 percent of the global landmass, the corridor was first discussed in 1999 by specialists and academics at a meeting in Kunming, Yunnan. The corridor initiative gained momentum during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India in May 2013. According to an article by Pravakar Sahoo and Abhirup Bhunia from India's Institute of Economic Growth, the BCIM corridor will allow all four countries to exploit complementarity in trade. Myanmar is a primary goods exporter and has abundant cheap labor. India has positioned itself as a leading services exporter. China is the largest manufacturing exporter in the world; and Bangladesh, like many other South Asian countries, engages in both services export and low-end manufactured goods, the academics said. Now under the Belt and Road Initiative, projects such as the BCIM Economic Corridor and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor have greatly promoted economic development in related countries and injected dynamism into regional cooperation in South Asia, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Gao Yan said. In recent years, China and South Asian countries have conducted cooperation in such areas as trade, investment, infrastructure and services, Gao said. By the end of 2015, direct investment from China in South Asian countries hit 12.29 billion U.S. dollars and investment from South Asian countries in China reached 890 million dollars, Gao said, adding that China has become the largest source of foreign investment for some South Asian countries. Chinese official data showed that trade between China and member countries of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka -- hit 111.22 billion dollars in 2015, up 4.9 percent from a year before. "The BCIM Economic Corridor, since it was first officially put forward by Premier Li in 2013, has received positive response from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar," Chai Xi, former Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, told a forum in Kunming. Bangladesh's Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in May, appreciated the Chinese leadership for proposing development initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the BCIM Economic Corridor. "I think that this old Silk Road is being revived properly. It has 132-billion-U.S.-dollar potential. So investing dollars in the Silk Road and reconnecting all the nations which were connected is great economic planning," said Inu. The Belt and Road Initiative involves 26 countries, which represent nearly 30 percent of the global gross domestic product and 63 percent of the global population. MS Siddiqui, professor at Dhaka's Daffodil International University, told Xinhua recently that the initiative will bring opportunities to Bangladesh. "Bangladesh is in a strategic location between China, India and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and hence is well placed to be a trading and manufacturing hub," Siddiqui said. "Bangladesh needs such increased connectivity with other economies in this region and China's Belt and Road Initiative will see the realization of this economic area." The BCIM Economic Corridor will increase trade, transport, tourism and investment for Bangladesh, due to its strategic location between India and China, he said. "The availability and affordability of workers and its geographical location are important aspects of Bangladesh's developing into regional hub, yet it urgently needs a port, and related infrastructure to boost connectivity with other nations through ocean and land routes. The Belt and Road Initiative will open up numerous opportunities for Bangladesh," said Siddiqui. CHALLENGES AHEAD The BCIM Economic Corridor working group has held two meetings and issued a series of deliberations and joint statements, Chai said, adding that the governments and leaders of the four countries have shown "surprisingly" strong willingness to build the corridor. However, as a long-term complicated and arduous systematic program, the BCIM Economic Corridor faces many risks and challenges. "The construction of the corridor is slower than expected," Chai said, adding that the difference of the four countries in national systems, policy-making mechanisms and procedures has dragged to some extent the advance of the corridor. Besides, due to the lack of capital and experience, the corridor's construction has not been able to enter a substantial stage, Chai said. Ren Jia, director of Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, listed blocked road, laggard infrastructure, ineffective policy, poor trade flow and lack of capital and communication as the main reasons that have impeded the construction of the corridor. "While there are free trade arrangements between China and Myanmar and Bangladesh, India has adopted a positive and prudent attitude in building the economic corridor," said Liu Xiaoxue, a researcher with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In fact, for countries like India, the Belt and Road Initiative is "highly important as its primary objective is to create win-win situation to achieve economic prosperity through enhancing road and rail connectivity," Bishnu Hari Nepal, a former Nepalese ambassador to Japan, told a seminar in Kathmandu in May. "India should work closely with China to collaborate and push forward the One Belt and One Road Initiative instead of being skeptical. This initiative should be taken as a new opportunity for the South Asia region," he said. Shreedhar Gautam, secretary general of the Council of World Affairs, a think tank in Nepal, also urged India to join hands with China, saying that this initiative should not be taken as strategic tool of China to exert influence in the region. BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, ended a 54-month straight decline in September, official data showed Friday. The reading increased 0.1 percent year on year, the first positive reading since March 2012, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). On a month-to-month basis, it increased 0.5 percent amid warming prices in more industries surveyed, with the number increasing by eight to reach 25, NBS senior statistician Yu Qiumei said. Moreover, the turn is closely linked to higher price in some key industries including ferrous metals metallurgy and coal mining, Yu said in a statement. Prices in the coal mining industry increased 4.1 percent year on year, going upward for the first time since July 2012, while the ferrous metals metallurgy and rolling industry saw price increase by 10.1 percent than previous year. The positive reading is also attributable to the country's capacity cut and destocking, which trimmed oversupply, and recovering commodity price of crude oil, iron ore and nonferrous metals in the global market, Yu said. Factors including rising prices of coal and steel suggest the PPI will continue to rise in October with a possible 0.7 percent year on year increase, said Jiang Chao, strategy analyst at Haitong Securities. China's industrial growth, corporate profits and investment, especially private investment, were stabilizing and recovering, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday. The economy in the third quarter not only continued the growth momentum in the first half of this year, but also featured some positive changes, the premier said, adding that China is fully capable of maintaining medium to high speed growth. The PPI figures came along with the release of the consumer price index, which rose 1.9 percent year on year in September, and 0.7 percent on a monthly basis. Related: China Focus: Q3 trade growth rebounds, pressure remains BEIJING, Oct.13 (Xinhua)-- China's trade growth rebounded in the third quarter of this year thanks to policy support and a stabilizing economy, but is still facing complex domestic and global challenges. Foreign trade in the first three quarters was down 1.9 percent from a year earlier to reach 17.53 trillion yuan (2.61 trillion U.S.dollars), with exports dropping 1.6 percent and imports falling 2.3 percent,according to figures from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Thursday. Full story MEXICO CITY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican government on Thursday expressed its condolences on the passing of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. "Mexico's government expresses its sorrow for the unfortunate death of his Majesty, the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej," said the foreign ministry via a press release, extending a greeting of solidarity to the Thai people and the royal family for their loss. The ministry also said that Adulyadej's 70-year-reign was "the longest" compared to his contemporaries. King Bhumibol died on Thursday at the age of 88 in a hospital in Thailand's capital city of Bangkok, according to the Bureau of Royal Household. The deceased king was the longest reigning monarch ever in the world with a total of 70 years on the throne since being crowned in June 1946. Mexico and Thailand established diplomatic relations on Aug. 28, 1975. HAVANA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cuban authorities on Thursday welcomed a Venezuelan navy ship carrying humanitarian aid for the victims of Hurricane Matthew. The ship docked Wednesday at Santiago de Cuba's port (800 km east from Havana) and its cargo included more than 300 tonnes of machinery and construction materials for home and road rehabilitations in the affected areas. The shipment comes with great feelings of love and solidarity, said the counselor at Venezuela's Embassy in Cuba Milagros Rodriguez during the welcome ceremony broadcast on TV. She passed on greetings from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the Cuban people and government. Hurricane Matthew struck the eastern province of Guantanamo on Oct. 4, and caused heavy economic losses. The storm did not leave behind any casualties in the Caribbean island, due to a timely evacuation by the Cuban Civil Defense of more than 179,000 people. WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States has requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to examine China's export restraints on 11 raw materials, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said Thursday. The United States had held consultations with China over the matter from Sept. 8 to 9, but the two sides did not resolve the dispute, the USTR's Office said, adding requesting a panel is the next step in the WTO dispute settlement process. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body will consider the U.S. panel request at its meeting scheduled for Oct. 26, the office said. The United States claimed that China's export restraints, including duties and quotas, on antimony, copper and other nine raw materials "provide an unfair competitive advantage to Chinese industry at the expense of manufacturers and workers in the United States." But China's Ministry of Commerce has insisted that the duty and quota requirements on the export of 11 raw materials are imposed to protect the country's resources and the environment, and that they conform to WTO rules. The U.S. challenges on China on raw materials come at a time of increasing anti-trade rhetoric in the current U.S. presidential campaign. The Obama administration wants to demonstrate a tough stance on enforcing trade agreements in an attempt to draw support from lawmakers to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, a top legislative priority for President Barack Obama this year. But U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has recently said that the TPP agreement does not have enough votes to pass the Congress this year, noting the Obama administration has to makes changes to the agreement to get congressional approval. TORONTO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock ended on Thursday with a slight gain as energy stocks weighed in. The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index ticked up 24.74 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 14,634.71 points. Six of the ten sub-sectors in the index moved up during the day. Toronto stocks opened down 145.79 points and slid to a one-week low. Later in the morning, Statistics Canada reported a 0.2 percent increase in New Housing Price Index for August, including a 0.7-percent increase in the Toronto and Oshawa region. Markets responded favorably to this data and eventually climbed out of negative territory by the afternoon. The TSX Energy group had the biggest gain on the day, advancing 0.59 percent. Shares of Calgary-based Baytex Energy Corp. and Encana Corporation rose 1.26 percent to 5.64 Canadian dollars (4.27 U.S. dollars) and 1.24 percent to 14.75 Canadian dollars (11.17 U.S. dollars), respectively. The Financial sector was up a modest 0.18 percent, despite ECN Capital Corp. shares falling 2.91 percent to 3.00 Canadian dollars (2.27 U.S. dollars) after a merger agreement with INFOR Acquisition Corp. from two weeks ago was canceled. ECN Capital Corp. stocks were also the most actively traded with a volume in excess of 10 million shares. Vancouver-based gold miner B2Gold Corp. was also heavily traded on the day, as stocks soared 5.79 percent to 3.29 Canadian dollars (2.49 U.S. dollars) after releasing favorable production data from the third quarter for their operations in Philippines, Namibia and Nicaragua. Outside of the ten sub-sectors, Montreal-based Amaya Inc. stocks plummeted 6.20 percent to 21.50 Canadian dollars (16.29 U.S. dollars) after the large shareholder of William Hill, the company rumored to acquire Amaya, wrote an open letter to other shareholders to vote against the purchase. Brent crude oil price climbed 0.44 percent for December delivery to close at 52.04 U.S. dollars a barrel in London. Meanwhile, copper prices dropped to a one-month low, ending the session down 2.5 percent to 2.1220 U.S. dollars a pound. The Canadian dollar closed the day up 0.0034 to 0.7575 U.S. dollars, compared to Wednesday's closing rate of 0.7541 U.S. dollars. UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to visit Haiti on Saturday, including a tour to the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Matthew, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Thursday. "The secretary-general will travel to Haiti to meet with communities affected by Hurricane Matthew, government officials and humanitarians working in the country," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "He is scheduled to visit the city of Les Cayes, one of the hardest-hit areas, along with provisional President Jocelerme Privert." The visit is expected to take place at a time when a UN humanitarian appeal for Haiti attracted just few donors. ' The official death toll in Haiti from Hurricane Matthew climbed to 372 on Monday, the Civil Protection Directorate (DPC) said. Unofficial figures put the death toll at more than 800. A week after the category 4 hurricane whipped through southern Haiti, leaving destruction in its wake, the DPC issued its updated assessment of the damage, saying four people were still missing and 246 others sustained injuries. Some 175,509 people who were left homeless are being housed in 224 temporary shelters. Also on Thursday, the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) reported several security incidents affecting delivery of some humanitarian aid in the small island country, Dujarric said. On Oct. 11, UN escort troops fired non-lethal ammunition to disperse crowds attempting to loot a humanitarian convoy in Les Cayes, he said. MINUSTAH military are providing escort and static security services to humanitarian convoys while UN Police have conducted over 860 patrols with the Haitian National Police since the passage of the hurricane. "MINUSTAH FM is back on air in the South providing critical information to affected communities," he said, adding that on the humanitarian front, the Flash Appeal for Haiti is only five percent funded, with 6.1 million received out of the 120 million U.S. dollars requested. KIGALI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- India announced on Thursday a cut to its use of a potent greenhouse gas as part of its commitment to phase out dangerous substances to curb global warming. Indian Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in Kigali that companies producing hydrofluorocarbon(HFC)-23 in India must "urgently and immediately" destroy the gas by using an efficient and proven technology. HFC-23 belongs to the HFCs group, a set of 19 gases that are commonly used in air conditioning, refrigeration, foams and aerosols. They can be 10,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as greenhouse gases. Dave said the destruction of HFC-23 could potentially prevent 444 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions. The minister made the commitment during the 28th Meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol starting Monday in the capital city of Rwanda. The meeting focuses on reaching a global agreement to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs as an amendment to the protocol. India's announcement comes at a time when the country is under pressure to agree to an earlier phase out of HFCs. "We are very close to the target," said Dave. "We need to act with a sense of urgency, but with a balanced and flexible approach to enable smooth transition." The trade of HFC-23 credits was banned in 2013 by the European Emissions Trading Scheme, the world's largest carbon market. Other carbon markets followed suit, resulting in the collapse of the HFC-23 credit market. HFCs have been used as replacements for many ozone-depleting substances that are being phased out under the Montreal Protocol. However, HFCs themselves are powerful greenhouse gases. According to the United Nations Environment Program, HFC emissions are growing at a rate of about 7 percent annually. If the current mix of HFCs is unchanged, increasing demand could result in HFC emissions of up to 8.8 gigatons of CO2 equivalent per year by 2050. The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, is regarded as the world's most effective environmental treaty. People mourn for the death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, on Oct. 13, 2016. Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej has died at the age of 88, the Bureau of Royal Household said on Thursday. (Xinhua/Li Mangmang) BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The international community has expressed condolences over the death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died Thursday after years of grave illnesses. The Bureau of the Thai Royal Household announced that the 88-year-old monarch died in a quiet manner at 3:52 p.m. (0852 GMT) at Siriraj hospital where he had been diagnosed with critical ailments over the last several years. "He was revered by the people of Thailand and highly respected internationally," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement. "In recognition of his work, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Nations Development Program in 2006." "The secretary-general expresses his hope that Thailand will continue to honor King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights," the statement said. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent a message of condolences to Queen Sirikit of Thailand over the passing of King Bhumibol. Xi said that His Majesty King Bhumibol was a guide in the national development of Thailand and a promoter of China-Thailand friendship. Such a good relationship between the two countries today was directly linked with the great importance and personal efforts made by King Bhumibol himself, said Xi. Xi added that with the king's personal care and promotion, as well as the common efforts by the two countries, the Sino-Thai friendship has been fruitful. Xi said the passing of the king is a great loss for the peoples of Thailand and China and that he will live in the hearts of the two peoples forever. U.S. President Barack Obama called the late King a "tireless champion" of his country's development and hailed his "unflagging devotion" to improving the standard of living of the Thai people. "His Majesty the King was a close friend of the United States and a valued partner of many U.S. Presidents," Obama said in a statement Thursday. "I had the honor of calling on His Majesty the King during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people." Obama added that the late Thai king leaves a legacy of care for the Thai people that will be cherished by future generations. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Friday extended his condolences to the people of Thailand on the death of their king. "King Bhumibol was the world's longest serving monarch and presided over a period of transformative growth and development that saw Thailand emerge as a regional leader and one of Southeast Asia's major economies," Key said in a statement. "His decease is a great loss not only for Thailand and the Thai people, but also for all friends around the world," Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen wrote in a condolence message sent Thursday to Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha. He said King Bhumibol had dedicated his entire life to the nation's unity and the prosperity and happiness of the Thai people. "His wise kingship and tireless devotion to his nation, with great personality, will be always remembered by all Thai people," the Cambodian leader said. The governments of Singapore and the Philippines also expressed their condolences to the Thais and the family of the king. Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha called on the Thai people to mourn the king's death for one full year, and Thai flags will fly at half-mast for one month beginning on Friday. King Bhumibol, or King Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, who assumed the throne in 1946, was son of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Princess Srinagarindra. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the United States in 1927. The then-Prince Bhumibol grew up in Lausanne, Switzerland before he accompanied his elder brother, King Ananda Mahidol or King Rama VIII, to Thailand in 1928. He was pronounced monarch to succeed his brother in 1946, who died at the age of 21 that year. The late monarch was dubbed King of Agriculture as he was widely known for his initiatives on the agricultural and irrigational sectors, which were formulated into some 4,000 development projects throughout the country during the last several decades. He was as well noted for initiating the so-called sufficiency economy, which was not only promoted in Thailand but also in other developing countries. Many projects implemented by successive Thai governments, as well as by the private sector, had been implemented under guidelines and initiatives of the late king, particularly those involving agriculture and irrigation and rainmaking technology for drought-affected areas in the country. Related: Chinese premier sends message of condolences over passing of Thai king BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Thursday sent a message of condolences to his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha over the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. In the name of the Chinese government and people and in his personal name, Li expressed deep condolences over the passing of King Bhumibol and extended his deep sympathy to the Thai government and people. Full story Chinese top legislator expresses condolences over passing of Thai king BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC), Thursday sent a message of condolences to President of the National Legislative Assembly of Thailand Pornpetch Wichitcholchai over the passing of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. In the name of the NPC, Zhang extended his deep condolences to Pornpech and sincere sympathy to the Thai people. Full story Obama offers condolences to Thailand on passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday offered his heartfelt condolences to Thailand on the passing of its King Bhumibol Adulyadej. MOSCOW, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The BRICS is beginning to act as an influential global organization capable of providing alternative options for development and cooperation, and the upcoming summit in Goa should help consolidate this status, a Russian economist has said. The eighth summit of BRICS, which groups world's leading emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is scheduled for the weekend in Goa, India. As the bloc is gaining global influence, the summit should provide answers to current challenges facing the world and to the group's transformation from a "club" to an influential international organization, Vyacheslav Kholodkov, head of the International Economic Organizations Department of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, told Xinhua in a recent interview. "We have to admit that the summit will be held in a complicated situation," he said. Almost all members of the group are facing certain difficulties, which the Western media is using for speculations about its imminent collapse, Kholodkov added, citing the change of leadership in Brazil amid the economic crisis there. "So under these uneasy circumstances, the summit in India must find ways to overcome the negative trends, and BRICS should act as an organization defending the vital interests of developing countries," he said. The expert, meanwhile, voiced his confidence in the group, saying that BRICS is experiencing a period of institutionalization, and is forming full-fledged mechanisms of cooperation, including the establishment of the New Development Bank, and the creation of a pool of foreign exchange reserves. The heads of BRICS member states issued a statement on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou last month, showing that they were able to act together in current difficult conditions. They called for the establishment of a fair international order, and stressed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota system does not reflect the actual weight of IMF members in the world economy, Kholodkov said. The academic expects that leaders of BRICS countries at the Goa summit would expand the areas of cooperation agreed in Hangzhou. "I hope that the summit would become an important step for BRICS in the process of gaining global influence and representing an alternative role in world politics by expressing the interests of developing countries," he added. YANGON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A south Korean agency has submitted a final master plan to the Myanmar government for activating trade and investment in the country, official media reported Friday. The plan by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) comprises a detailed action plan for Myanmar's six major export industries -- textile, forestry, fisheries, tourism, jewelry and agricultural processing industry. It also includes consulting on organizational design of Trade-Investment Promotion Agency playing a role as Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency KOTRA. In May 2015, KOTRA signed a letter of intent with the Myanmar Ministry of Commerce at a S. Korea-Myanmar forum, aimed at promoting bilateral trade and investment. According to official statistics, South Korea's investment in Myanmar amounted to 3.49 billion U.S. dollars as of August 2016 in 128 projects since late 1988 when the country opened to foreign investment, accounting for 5.43 percent of Myanmar's total foreign investment and standing the 6th in the foreign investment line-up. Bilateral trade between Myanmar and South Korea reached 656.536 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2015-2016 of which Myanmar's export to South Korea accounted for 259.945 million U.S. dollars while its import from the East Asian country stood at 396.591 million U.S. dollars. SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the 10th China-LAC Business Summit, which began Friday in the northern city of Tangshan in Hebei Province. In the letter, Xi said that the summit will help boost communication between businesses, promote business and trade cooperation between China and Latin American countries, and will help improve China-Latin America ties. Noting that China-Latin America cooperation has set sail smoothly, Xi said the two sides are committed to the comprehensive cooperation partnership, which features equality, mutual benefit and common development. The president said the summit will facilitate cooperation and common development and benefit the Chinese and Latin American people. DHAKA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Friday for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years to this South Asian nation. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's three-nation Asian tour, which already took him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the western Indian state of Goa for a BRICS summit. NANJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A former senior legislator in north China's Shanxi Province was sentenced to life in prison for accepting bribes amounting nearly 124 million yuan (18.44 million U.S. dollars) by a court in Jiangsu Province on Friday. Jin Daoming, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress, was also deprived of his political rights for life and all his personal assets were confiscated, according to a statement from Zhenjiang City Intermediate People's Court. His ill-gotten gains must be turned over to the state, the court ruled. Jin was found guilty of taking advantage of his positions to seek profits for others related to coal mine mergers, official promotions and discipline inspections between 2007 and 2014, it said. The court issued a lesser punishment as Jin owned up to his crimes and voluntarily turned over his illicit gains. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China began an investigation into Jin in February 2014. His trial began in February. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) by Hou Lijun, Xue Lei PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day state visit to Cambodia, which concluded Friday, has added weight to the two countries' deep-rooted traditional friendship and bilateral cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. The signing of 31 cooperation documents Thursday will certainly inject more vitality into the close bond between China and Cambodia. CEMENTING TIME-HONORED FRIENDSHIP From Phnom Penh International Airport to Cambodian Royal Palace, Xi was given a red carpet treatment by the Cambodian royal family. Chinese flags, banners and large displays of both countries' landmarks could be seen at the capital's main street, creating a strong atmosphere of warm welcome. By visiting Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk and laying a wreath at the statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk, Xi showed his personal feeling towards the Cambodian royal family. "Hardship reveals true friendship," the president quoted an old Chinese saying in a signed article to describe the relationship with Cambodia. Cementing the traditional friendship is obviously the main theme that has run through Xi's meeting with the royal family and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. "China values its special friendship with the Cambodian royal family and attaches great importance to the development of its relations with Cambodia," Xi told King Norodom Sihamoni. While meeting Queen Mother Monineath, he said the China-Cambodia friendship was deeply rooted in the hearts of both peoples. In talks between Xi and Hun Sen, the two leaders agreed that the two countries should continue to be "highly trusted friends, loyal partners and a community of shared destiny in weal and woe." The traditional China-Cambodia friendship, tested by the times and a changing international landscape, has grown strong like a luxuriant tree thanks to efforts made by successive leaders of both countries. "Cambodia and China are iron brothers. They enjoy unshakable friendly relations based on mutual respect and common perceptions on many regional and international issues," said Joseph Matthews, director of ASEAN Education Center in Phnom Penh. "Entering the new era, the China-Cambodia friendship will continue to flourish, beaming with new vitality," Xi said in his article, voicing hope for the bright future of this special friendship. UNLOCKING COOPERATION POTENTIAL Cambodia was an important link on the ancient Maritime Silk Road. Strategic linkage of China's Belt and Road Initiative and Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy provides new development opportunities for both sides. On Thursday, Xi and Hun Sen witnessed the signing of 31 cooperation documents, including a Memorandum of Understanding on formulating outlines for jointly advancing the construction of the Belt and Road. The two sides also signed agreements on economic and technological cooperation as well as advancing major projects on production capacity cooperation and investment cooperation. Eang Sophalleth, a spokesman for the prime minister, told reporters that relations between Cambodia and China had been growing ever stronger. "This is a historic visit, and the two parties discussed boosting cooperation as the closest friends and comprehensive strategic partners," he said. In a joint declaration released late Thursday, the two sides agreed to enhance alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy, as well as China's 13th Five Year Plan with the 2015-2025 Plan for Industrial Development of Cambodia. In a joint written interview with Chinese media, Hun Sen said he fully supports China's Belt and Road Initiative, which will witness the vast building of infrastructure and deepened trade and financial integration in Asia, Africa and Europe. He said China's Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank could also benefit Cambodia's economic and social development. Pou Sothirak, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said Cambodia is looking forward to reaping enormous benefits from China's Belt and Road Initiative. China has been Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of investment for three years. The year 2015 saw two-way trade topping 4.4 billion U.S. dollars. During the visit, the two sides vowed to expand two-way trade and set a bilateral trade target of 5 billion dollars by 2017. China will encourage its competitive and reputable big companies to cooperate with Cambodia in the sectors of infrastructure, energy, telecommunication, agriculture, industry and tourism, the declaration said. The booming Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone stands as a testimony to how fruitful China-Cambodia cooperation can be. By June 2016, 100 companies were operating in the zone with a total investment of 280 million dollars, creating over 13,000 jobs. A manager from Zhejiang China Commodities City Group Co., Ltd said that via the Belt and Road Initiative, the group would lead more and more small- and medium-sized enterprises in exploring the market in Cambodia, which will offer more quality goods for Cambodian customers and increase employment in Cambodia. ENHANCING COLLABORATION AND EXCHANGES During Xi's visit, the two sides agreed to strengthen strategic communication and make positive contributions to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world. In international and regional affairs, China and Cambodia have reached extensive and high-level political consensus, said Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo, adding that this has been particularly prominent in the recent South China Sea issue. In the joint declaration, the two sides voiced their belief that the South China Sea issue is not a problem between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and should be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations by directly concerned sovereign states. The two countries also agreed to further consolidate coordination under multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting, East Asia Cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, and maintain close and effective communication on issues concerning each other's major interest, rendering firm mutual support, said the document. "The purpose of such collaboration is to uphold the common interests of our two countries and other developing countries and build an Asian community with a shared future," Xi said in his article. During the visit, the two sides also agreed to enhance people-to-people exchanges by continuously deepening cooperation in education, culture, tourism and health. Cambodia is the first stop of Xi's visit. The trip will also take him to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. DHAKA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Friday for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years to this South Asian nation. During the visit, Xi will meet with Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, and hold talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. China and Bangladesh, both are populous developing countries, have maintained a sound relationship since they established diplomatic ties in 1975. In 2010, Xi paid an official visit to the nation as vice president. Though listed as one of the world's least developed countries, Bangladesh has been witnessing robust economic growth over recent years and boasts tremendous market potential with a population of about 160 million. Two-way trade between China and Bangladesh reached 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, up 17 percent year-on-year. China is currently Bangladesh's largest trading partner, while Bangladesh is the third largest of China in South Asia. Bangladesh, in dire need of capital for development, is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The AIIB has approved 165 million dollars in loans for a Bangladeshi project -- the first batch of loan for the country from the China-led development bank. As an important cooperative partner for China in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, Bangladesh is working closely with China on the Belt and Road Initiative and an economic corridor linking the two countries, as well as India and Myanmar. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. In an interview with Xinhua, Hasina expressed confidence that Xi's visit would usher in "a new era of intensive cooperation" in trade, investment and other sectors between the two nations. Xi's visit to Bangladesh will be a "milestone," Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou said earlier, noting that both sides would make deals and bilateral relations would improve. Xi met Hamid in November 2014 in Beijing. At the meeting, Hamid said Bangladesh expected to learn from China's experience in poverty alleviation and seize the chance brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to promote trade and connectivity. During Hasina's visit to China in June 2014, she said Bangladesh will continue to support China firmly on issues involving its core interests and major concerns. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit, which already took him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the western Indian state of Goa for a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Bird view of the Drepung Monastery (Xinhua/Gyaincain) It would be unusual if the Drepung Monastery is not listed on your tour itinerary to Tibet. It is the largest among all Tibetan monasteries and the most important monastery of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Main hall of the Drepung Monastery (Xinhua/Gyaincain) Established in 1416, it is also one of the three great monasteries of Tibet. The other two are the Ganden Monastery and the Sera Monastery. Bird view of the Drepung Monastery (Xinhua/Gyaincain) Situated a few miles west of Lhasa, the 700-year-old monastery covers an area of 250,000 square meters. It houses 7,700 monks and had 141 fazendas and 540 pastures in its heyday. Bird view of the Drepung Monastery (Xinhua/Gyaincain) The monastery stands at the foot of the Gambo Utse mountain. Its name Drepung means a pile of rice, as row upon row of white buildings look just like rice pile from afar. A lama walks in the Drepung Monastery on Sept. 1, 2016 . (Xinhua/Gyaincain) Against an impressive mountainous background, Drepung offers a majestic sight with its hundreds of large buildings nestled in a grandiose site. A huge Thangka is exhibited at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa on Sept. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Jigme Doje) Every year, many traditional Tibetan festivities are celebrated at the monastery, such as the Horse-racing Festival, the Grand Prayer Festival and the Shoton Festival. Lamas and believers pray before the huge Tangka at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa on Sept. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Jigme Doje) Last year, more than 200,000 Buddhists and people of other faiths came to Lhasa for the Shoton Festival, the highlight of which is the "sunning of the Buddha" ceremony. A lama takes photo of the crowd before the huge Thangka for exhibition at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa on Sept. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Jigme Doje) At the ceremony, a 37-meter-wide, 40-meter-long giant Thangka painting depicting Buddha was taken out of the monastery and put on a platform for both visitors and believers. A believer talks with lamas in the Drepung Monastery on Sept. 1, 2016 . (Xinhua/Gyaincain) The Drepung Monastery also houses many cultural relics like rare Thangka scrolls and Buddhist scriptures. PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian media on Friday highlighted Chinese President Xi Jinping's landmark visit to Cambodia, during which a number of new cooperation agreements were signed. The state-run Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) reported that 31 cooperation documents were signed in Phnom Penh on Thursday evening under the auspices of President Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen. The agency mentioned that the deals covered the fields of economic and technical cooperation, maritime cooperation, media, inspection, health, irrigation development, physical infrastructure construction, water resources, industry, security, human trafficking, airport development, electricity and rice export. Three leading English newspapers in the Southeast Asian country published in their front pages photos of President Xi and Prime Minister Hun Sen shaking hands at the Peace Palace with their leads focusing on the agreements signed by the two countries. The Phnom Penh Post and the Cambodia Daily gave a similar reporting, writing that on his first visit to Cambodia as head of state on Thursday, Xi pledged soft loans, forgave Canmbodia's debt and offered military support, while the Khmer Times reported the details of major agreements that were inked. Besides, leading Khmer-language newspapers and TV channels widely reported about the Xi-Hun Sen talks and their witnessing of the signing ceremony. Their reporting mainly focused on the debt forgiveness and military aid. Xi arrived in Cambodia on Thursday for a two-day state visit to the kingdom. After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. SYDNEY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- An Australian state has made a symbolic gesture calling out misogyny and bigotry in the United States' presidential election after labelling Republican nominee Donald Trump "a revolting slug". Whoever is President of the United States has great baring on the future direction of the close strategic and economic relationship, however Australian politicians have been in "open season" attacking Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over divisive rhetoric not welcome in the modern world. The New South Wales (NSW) state government on Thursday weighed further into the U.S. election furore to unanimously pass a motion agreeing prospective presidential candidate Donald Trump is "a revolting slug" and unfit for office. "It's great that all sides of Australian politics, from conservatives to liberals to Greens, agree that Donald Trump is a revolting slug' and completely unfit for public office," NSW legislative council member for the Greens party Jeremy Buckingham said in a statement. "It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump's behavior obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate." Buckingham brought the motion before the NSW legislative council, the upper house of the state's parliament, to showcase the divisive, destructive impact that hate speech from political candidates and elected officials have on the community. Following on the isolationist and protectionist rhetoric that filtered into Australia's election post resulting from the U.K. referendum to leave the European Union, Trump's misogynistic and hateful comments risk spilling onto Australian shores. As the old Chinese idiom says: when one leaf has fallen, you know the autumn is coming. It's incredibly rare in parliamentary politics a motion using such language to describe a foreign politician would be carried, even more so in a generally restrained and pragmatic Australia. Indeed lawmakers had to check the language was not outside the bounds of legal standing, before passing the motion unanimously in the NSW parliament's upper house. Asked if he agreed with the motion, NSW Premier Mike Baird declined to comment. Australia's economic powerhouse risks alienating a President Trump should he be elected. Under normal circumstances, U.S. Studies Center at the University of Sydney chief executive and election expert Simon Jackman said "all would be forgiven" in due course with great friends and allies understanding "unfortunate things get said in times of heated passion." "Trump on the other hand, he's different," Jackman told Xinhua on Friday. "He may be the sort to hold a grudge." Trump is one of the more "outrageous characters we've seen in the democratic world for a long time", Jackman said, knowing that his words reverberate around the world causing angst. But, Trump does not know how to do it any other way as discipline of message has not been a part of his way to do business, relying on a larger than life persona for his success. "I think he's discovering all too late that politics is perhaps a different kettle of fish, and that what maybe served him well in the real estate world perhaps isn't playing as well in general election presidential politics," Jackman said. Thus he is highly unlikely to be elected President of the United States following the publication of his 1995 tax return showing a one billion U.S. dollar loss that can be carried forward. The release of an 11-year-old recording bragging about kissing and groping women at the weekend was "the absolute hammer blow." "(Trump's) trailing 7.5 points in the national polls, and I don't think he's got time to make it up, and it's not quite clear what he could do to make it up," Jackman said. A member of the Bring Back Our Girls group protests against the abduction of school girls in Abuja, Nigeria, Sept. 1, 2014. (Xinhua/Olawale Salau) by Olatunji Saliu ABUJA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nigerians burst into excitement on Thursday following news that 21 of the more than 200 Chibok school girls abducted two years ago had been freed by terror group Boko Haram. The news has reignited hopes among many grieved parents that they may see their daughters again amid reports and speculations that many girls were already killed or forced into marriage. A total of 276 girls were seized by armed men who stormed their dormitories on the night of April 14, 2014, at the Girls Secondary School in Chibok town of northeastern Borno State. Two years on, while some 57 girls managed to escape, 219 others were still missing. In May, one of the girls escaped from their captors with her baby. With 21 girls released by their captors 913 days after the abduction, 197 others are still being held. There were speculations that some of the girls had been married off by their abductors, while many had been forced to carry out suicide attacks for Boko Haram. To most of the parents, two years seemed too long. But the reality surrounding the release of some of the girls has brought back hope that others would return, although no one can shed a light on their whereabouts or when they might return. The Nigerian government had said repeatedly that hands were on deck to locate the girls and rescue them alive. Also, the government had signaled interest to hold round-table discussion with genuine representatives of Boko Haram to negotiate the freedom of the abducted girls. Clarifying the widespread speculations that the 21 Chibok school girls freed by terror group Boko Haram were swapped with some terrorists, the government said no swap was done. "Note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides," Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Lai Mohammed told journalists in Abuja, the Nigerian capital on Thursday. The Nigerian presidency said the release of the girls, in a limited number, was the outcome of negotiations between the government and Boko Haram. The negotiation was brokered by the International Red Cross Society and the Swiss government, authorities said. The government had thrice established links with the abductors to perfect the release of the girls in exchange for suspected terrorists but all efforts proved futile. For the Bring Back Our Girls Group agitating for the release of the abducted school girls, the latest development is an exciting one. In a statement sent to Xinhua, the group said the release of the girls confirmed the confidence reposed in government for having the capacity to rescue the Chibok girls. "Following this development, we trust that our government will continue to work to keep the safety, security, and well-being of the other girls a high priority," the group said. It added: "We further urge the international community to continue to support our government's effort to rescue all other abducted Nigerians, so that parents, the Chibok community, the nation, and the world can finally put an end to this nightmare once and for all." News of the girls' release has set their local Chibok community agog, with most parents rejoicing and hoping their children were among those freed. Ezekiel Ishak, a resident of Chibok, told Xinhua that the mood of the entire community had changed since the exciting news of their daughters' release hit town. "Here in Chibok, it is a harvest of hope. Now, we have stronger confidence in the ability of our government and security forces to fully restore our joy," Ishak said. The government said it will continue with the negotiations for the release of other girls still in Boko Haram's custody. Upon arrival in Abuja, the released Chibok girls will be attended to by a team of medical doctors, psychologists, social workers and trauma experts, among others, assembled to properly examine the girls, especially because they have been in captivity for so long. Their parents are currently being contacted by the Nigerian authorities as part of the necessary verification exercise. HAVANA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Thursday met with visiting Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, with the two sides agreeing to boost cooperation and ties. Castro hosted Sellal at the presidential palace where they talked about strengthening bilateral relations and exchanged views on issues of common interest, according to an official release. The two leaders later attended the signing of an agreement for cooperation in the field of health, which was endorsed by ministers of the two countries. Both sides are scheduled to ink other accords in biotechnology and higher education, the official release added. Sellal arrived Wednesday in Havana with the aim of stimulating the historical bilateral relations. At the Havana airport he said "I bring a message of friendship from my President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for (President) Raul Castro and the Commander Fidel Castro," adding that "being in Cuba is like being at home." On the same day, Sellal held talks with Cuban parliament leader Esteban Lazo. Cuba was the first Latin American nation to establish diplomatic relations with Algeria in 1962 after the latter gained independence from France. XINING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A bilingual Tibetan and Mandarin e-commerce website, the first of its kind, went live Friday. The trading website was produced in and for Gangcha County, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, to provide a platform for Tibetans to sell their agricultural products and local specialties, while buyers can change the language into Mandarin when they browse the catalog. Lhozang, developer of the project, said the county government hoped the platform could boost sales of organic beef and lamb, Tibetan herbs and Thangka (Tibetan scroll painting). The website was established thanks to a 3 million yuan (446,000 U.S. dollars) grant from the government. The website also provides access to other items, such as smart gadgets. Friday also marked the first e-commerce training class for herdsmen in the county. "More and more locals want to learn about e-commerce. However, many cannot speak Mandarin. The bilingual website can help," said Dorje, deputy governor of the prefecture. DHAKA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The leading Bangladeshi newspapers of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo on Friday carried a signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping on the occasion of his state visit to the country. The full text of the article is as follows. China-Bangladesh Cooperation Will Bear Golden Fruits By H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China At the kind invitation of President Abdul Hamid, I will pay a state visit to the beautiful country of Bangladesh in this golden harvest season of autumn. It has been six years since my last trip to this country and I look forward to meeting friends both old and new and discussing with them how China and Bangladesh can work together for common development. Bangladesh is a fascinating and promising land. It is where the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna rivers flow into the sea. Its vast expanse of fertile fields which normally have the color of emerald green become a sea of golden yellow at the time of harvest. Endowed with rich natural resources, this land is home to a hard-working and talented nation and a time-honored and splendid culture. In fact, famous poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote many of his most notable works in Bengali. Bangladesh is a land filled with hope. Since its independence, Bangladesh has come a long way. With strenuous efforts, it has started from scratch and successfully met the livelihood needs of its 160 million population, contributing significantly to global poverty reduction. In recent years, by seizing the opportunities of economic globalization and focusing on reform and development, Bangladesh has kept its economy growing at above 6 percent and made steady progress in industrialization and urbanization. Bangladesh is well on track to achieve Vision 2021 and become a middle-income country. The people of China and Bangladesh have been good neighbors and friends since ancient times. Stories of our friendship and exchange witnessed by the Southern Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road throughout the millennia are still being told today. Eminent Chinese monks Faxian and Xuanzang travelled west for Buddhist scriptures. Atisa Dipankara Shrijnana, a Bengali religious master, spread Buddhism in China. They were the pioneers of our cultural exchange. Famous navigator Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty visited Bengal twice. According to his description, "This is a richly endowed and teeming land with lovely people and fertile fields." Believed by the Chinese then to be a qilin (an auspicious mythical animal), the giraffe that the Bengali king gave to the Ming emperor brought much excitement to the court and general public in China. More recently, having endured repeated wars and incessant poverty, our peoples fought tenaciously for national independence and liberation, strove for development and progress and forged unshakable trust and friendship in the process. In the 1950s and 1960s, Premier Zhou Enlai visited Dhaka twice and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited China twice. The seed of friendship was thus planted by the veteran leaders of our two countries long before diplomatic ties were established. It has now grown into a giant tree with deep roots and rich fruits. As a Chinese proverb goes, "Only friendships built on sincerity can last long." Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 41 years ago, China has always regarded Bangladesh as its true friend and partner for development. China highly values its relations with Bangladesh. We firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests. Successive Chinese and Bangladeshi leaders have maintained sound interactions at bilateral and multilateral events and provided positive guidance to the growth of bilateral relations. In September 2015, I had a good meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New York on the margins of the UN summits marking its 70th anniversary. We agreed to expand cooperation across the board, jointly advance the Belt and Road Initiative and the BCIM Economic Corridor and take bilateral relations to a new height. With the unremitting efforts of our two peoples, China-Bangladesh practical cooperation has produced fruitful results. China is now the largest trading partner of Bangladesh and Bangladesh China's third largest trading partner and third largest project contract market in South Asia. Bilateral trade soared from 900 million U.S. dollars in 2000 to 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, registering an annual increase of around 20 percent. Jute products from Bangladesh are increasingly popular in the Chinese market. Chinese companies have built the Shahjalal Fertilizer Factory, the most advanced modern fertilizer plant in Bangladesh, the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, the largest one in Bangladesh, and are now building the Padma Bridge, the dream bridge of the Bangladeshi people. As a matter of fact, one can find Chinese and Bangladeshi people together making tireless and pioneering efforts in many sectors of Bangladesh such as transportation, electricity, energy and telecommunications. One of the first batch of projects financed by loans from the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is the Power Grid Network Strengthening Project in Bangladesh, which will benefit tens of millions of rural residents. We have also made significant progress in our cooperation in defense, security, education, culture and other fields. Both China and Bangladesh are developing countries with a huge population. Our national conditions have a lot in common and our development goals are well-aligned. The "Sonar Bangla" dream of national strength and prosperity is in perfect harmony with the Chinese dream of great national renewal. The Belt and Road Initiative put forward by China heralds new opportunities for win-win cooperation between our two countries. Bangladesh, with its favorable geographic location and huge population, market potential and cooperation space, is an indispensable partner for China to advance the Belt and Road Initiative and production capacity cooperation in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. During this visit, I look forward to working with Bangladeshi leaders to further grow our bilateral relations, identify key areas of cooperation, advance exchanges and cooperation in various fields and bring China-Bangladesh relations to a new level. -- We need to step up political communication for greater mutual trust. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman put forward the vision of "friendship to all, malice to none." China will always be Bangladesh's trustworthy friend and partner. Our two sides should, from a strategic perspective, strengthen high-level exchanges and top-level planning, cement traditional friendship and political ties, set more ambitious goals and build a better framework for our bilateral relations and lay a solid foundation for lasting friendship and all-round cooperation. -- We need to align our development strategies for win-win outcomes. There is huge potential and complementarity in our cooperation. China is ready to synergize its 13th Five-Year Plan with Bangladesh's Seventh Five-Year Plan with a view to leveraging our respective comparative advantages, increasing economic exchanges and trade, building key projects in areas such as infrastructure, production capacity, energy, electricity, transportation, information, telecommunications and agriculture, strengthening practical cooperation under the BCIM Economic Corridor and delivering to our people tangible benefits of our cooperation. -- We need to enhance South-South cooperation for common development. China stands ready to offer more assistance and support to Bangladesh to the best of its capability, enhance mutual assistance and cooperation with Bangladesh in areas such as disaster prevention and mitigation, vocational training, medical and health care services, climate change and women and children, work together with Bangladesh to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and make China-Bangladesh cooperation a fine example of South-South cooperation. -- We need to build a bridge of friendship for greater affinity and mutual understanding. Friendship between our two countries dates back a long time. In fact, both the Chinese and Bangladeshi people drink water from the same river, known as Yarlung Zangbo River in China and Jamuna River in Bangladesh. China will work to increase exchanges and mutual learning between the Chinese and Bangladeshi culture so as to bring our people closer to each other. It is important that we facilitate exchanges and cooperation in areas such as education, media, think tanks, tourism and youth and at the sub-national level so that more of our people will be mobilized to support closer ties between China and Bangladesh. I believe with the joint efforts of our two peoples, China-Bangladesh cooperation will bear even more golden fruits. ISLAMABAD, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Eight militants were killed during an armed operation by police anti-terrorism team in Punjab Province in east Pakistan, officials said Friday. An armed police team launched a search operation following an intelligence tip-off in Shujaabad town in Dera Ghazi Khan district, a spokesperson of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police said. The notice said that the militants were planning to target gatherings of Shia Muslims in the province. During the operation, the militants hurled hand grenades at police, who responded with firing. "The CTD team retaliated in self-defense. When the firing stopped, eight terrorists were found dead," the spokesperson said. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a welcoming ceremony held by his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid upon his arrival at the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 14, 2016. Xi Jinping arrived here Friday for a state visit. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) DHAKA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Friday for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years to this South Asian nation. Xi was received by his Bangladeshi counterpart, Abdul Hamid, and given a 21-gun salute at the airport. The host country dispatched fighter jets to escort Xi's plane after it entered Bangladesh's airspace. Speaking highly of the long-standing traditional friendship between his country and Bangladesh, Xi said upon arrival that China attaches great importance to relations with Bangladesh and is ready to join hands with the country to lift their bilateral relations and practical cooperation to a higher level. The friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Bangladesh not only serve the interests of both countries and peoples, but also have made positive contributions to peace, stability and development of the region as a whole, he said. "I am looking forward to having in-depth and extensive exchanges of views with Bangladeshi leaders on bilateral ties and other issues of common concern, so as to draw up the blueprint for bilateral cooperation and jointly open up a new chapter for bilateral relations," Xi said. During the visit, Xi will meet with Hamid and National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, and hold talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. China and Bangladesh, both being populous developing countries, have maintained a sound relationship since they established diplomatic ties in 1975. In 2010, Xi paid an official visit to the nation as vice president. Though listed as one of the world's least developed countries, Bangladesh has been witnessing robust economic growth over recent years and boasts tremendous market potential with a population of about 160 million. Two-way trade between China and Bangladesh reached 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, up 17 percent year-on-year. China is currently Bangladesh's largest trading partner, while Bangladesh is the third largest of China in South Asia. Bangladesh, in dire need of capital for development, is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The AIIB has approved 165 million dollars in loans for a Bangladeshi project -- the first batch of loan for the country from the China-initiated development bank. As an important cooperation partner of China in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, Bangladesh is working closely with China on the Belt and Road Initiative and an economic corridor linking the two countries as well as India and Myanmar. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. In an interview with Xinhua, Hasina expressed confidence that Xi's visit would usher in "a new era of intensive cooperation" in trade, investment and other sectors between the two nations. At a press briefing ahead of the trip, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou described the visit to Bangladesh as a "milestone." Xi met Hamid in November 2014 in Beijing. At the meeting, Hamid said Bangladesh expected to learn from China's experience in poverty alleviation and seize the chance brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to promote trade and connectivity. During Hasina's visit to China in June 2014, she said Bangladesh will continue to support China firmly on issues involving its core interests and major concerns. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit, which already took him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the western Indian state of Goa for a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Before Xi left for Bangladesh, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen went to the hotel to see him off and congratulated him on the successful visit. Xi voiced his belief that, with joint efforts, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Cambodia would keep moving forward. COLOMBO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The European Union said Friday that European countries were amazed at the rapid progress made by Sri Lanka under the new government during a very short period. The EU extended its fullest support towards the government's plans for reconciliation, economic development and social progress, EU's new Ambassador to Sri Lanka Tung-Lai Margue said while presenting his credentials to President Maithripala Sirisena. Sirisena expressed confidence that the new EU envoy would strive to further strengthen friendship and cooperation between the EU and Sri Lanka in many areas, including strengthening of democracy, reconciliation, trade and investment. Sirisena also recalled the close economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and European Union and thanked EU for lifting the fish import ban. "Now we are in a position to send more and more fish to Europe," he said. Sirisena expressed hope that the EU would restore the GSP Plus concession to Sri Lanka so that the country could increase exports of goods, especially garments, as the garment industry was very important to the Sri Lankan economy. DAMASCUS, Oct.14 (Xinhua) -- Heavy airstrikes have been targeting the rebel-held areas in Syria's northern city of Aleppo since midnight, a monitor group reported on Friday. The intense areal bombardment targeted the rebel-held neighborhoods of Bustan al-Qaser, Maysar, Tariq al-Bab, Karm Tahan and Masaken Hanano and other areas in eastern Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based watchdog group said the airstrikes come amid ongoing confrontation between the Syrian troops and the jihadi rebels in southwestern Aleppo. The Observatory didn't specify the identity of the warplanes, whether they were Russian or Syrian, or even both. The Syrian government has tightened the siege on eastern Aleppo, urging the rebels to evacuate that part of the city under Russian guarantees. This comes as the U.S. administration is meeting Friday to discuss further options on Syria, including a possible military one against Syrian army positions. The Russian leadership has previously warned of any attack against the Syrian military positions in Syria, promising a quick retaliation, particularly after deploying the powerful S300 and S400 air defense systems in Syria. The U.S.-Russian tension hit a new high, amid reports of a meeting between both parties and other regional players on Saturday to discuss options on Syria. Turkish police and firefighters are parked near a damaged police headquarters after a car bomb killed eight Turkish police officers and injured 45 people on August 26, 2016 in Cizre, southeastern Turkey, an attack blamed on Kurdish militants, state media said. (Xinhua/AFP) ANKARA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Three Turkish soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb attack in southeastern Turkish province of Madrin, Milliyet News reported. The bomb attack occurred when the military vehicle was driving near Mazidagi village of Mardin on Mardin-Diyarbakir high way. Three soldiers were killed and some others injured according to initial reports. The injured soldiers were sent to Mardin State Hospital. Mardin-Diyarbakir highway closed Friday at 11:00 due to the attack. Over 600 members of Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have been killed in confrontations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq since July of 2015, and Turkish forces have killed over 7,000 PKK militants, local media figured. More than 40,000 people have lost their lives in clashes with the PKK since 1984, when the group first started anti-government attacks. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cross-border e-commerce is now playing a bigger role in China-Turkey economic ties as bilateral trade struggled with sluggish global growth and Turkey's domestic turmoil. "We saw opportunities despite the crisis and expanded our business in Turkey while others adopted a wait-and-see approach, following a failed military coup in July and the ongoing civil war in neighboring Syria," Hou Yibing, BD manager for Turkey of DHGate.com, a leading Chinese cross-border B2B e-commerce platform, told Xinhua on Friday. "Our moves were bold, but should not be considered foolhardy, since we had undertaken a raft of research for our Internet-based business," said Hou, taking note of the growing number of e-commerce users and online sales revenue in Turkey. It is estimated that there are 15.42 million e-commerce users in Turkey, accounting for one third of its total online community or about a fifth of its population, according to Hou. World Bank data from 2015 showed that over 57 percent of Turkish are Internet users, making it the world's 18th in number terms and its Internet penetration rate is the seventh highest. Turkey's Internet penetration rate grew over 10 percent for both 2014 and 2015, showing great development potential of its Internet industry. By 2020, online retail sales will at least double from 2015 to hit 36 billion U.S. dollars, according to a report released by Turkish Weekly. China and Turkey signed the first memorandum of understanding (MOU) on e-commerce bilateral trade in November 2015 at the G20 summit in Turkish city Antalya. It concerned the Online Silk Road, part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect China and other countries along the ancient land and maritime Silk Roads. According to the MOU, China and Turkey vowed to work together to develop not only the infrastructure to make cross-border e-commerce trade possible and accessible to their SMEs, but to construct a fully functioning ecosystem for the SMEs. "As one of the MOU's initiators and facilitators, DHGate.com is delighted to advance bilateral economic and trade cooperation with Turkey," said Diane Wang, founder and CEO of DHGate.com. In Wang's eyes, Turkey is an essential partner of China in the implementation of the Belt and Road, and a major player that will help invigorate the Eurasian economy. Trade between China and Turkey spans 2,000 years. Bilateral trade went from 1 billion U.S. dollars in 2000 to 2.77 billion U.S. dollars in 2014. In 2015, China-Turkey trade volume dropped 1.8 percent year on year to 2.72 billion U.S. dollars, but the decline is lower than China's 7-percent overall trade fall for the year. Both nations are looking to increase trade growth by embracing new innovative business models. Wang believed cross-border e-commerce could play an increasingly important role in economic ties between China and Turkey in the long run, as Internet technology substantially changes people's lives. "For the time being, high tariffs and concerns about commodity quality are major obstacles to promoting bilateral e-commerce," said Hou, BD manager, who called for "green channel" from governments to facilitate cross-border trade. Founded in 2004, DHGate.com has approximately 10 million global buyers from 230 countries and regions, with 1.2 million global sellers offering 33 million products. China is Turkey's largest source of imports and the 18th largest export destination in 2015, Ministry of Commerce data showed. KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A police officer lost his life as a mine planted by militants struck his vehicle in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz Thursday night, police said Friday. "A mine planted by militants struck a police van killing police officer Abdul Jamil Parwani in third district of Kunduz city on Thursday night," police spokesman Mafozullah Akbari told Xinhua. Taliban militants captured major parts of Kunduz city on Oct. 3 but were forced to retreat from the city on Oct. 12, according to security officials. The militants planted countless of mines in parts of the city including residential areas before vacating their positions. by Zhang Jianhua VIENTIANE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- "I come from Luang Prabang in northern Laos. I lost my vision since early this year," Khamphong, a 50-year-old patient with cataract told Xinhua Thursday in Lao capital Vientiane. Khamphong was among many Lao residents who have vision problems caused by cataract, but they are able to regain their sight for free as a group of Chinese doctors have provided free-of-charge cataract surgery in Laos from Tuesday to Friday within the "Mekong Bright Journey" plan. After traveling some 380 km by road from suburb area of Luang Prabang to Vientiane, Khamphong arrived very early at Ophthalmology Center in the Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday to wait for surgery. He said he was very excited after learning that Chinese doctors come to Laos to provide free cataract surgery. "I departed at 4 p.m. yesterday (Wednesday) from my home and arrived at Vientiane 6 a.m. this morning (Thursday). I come early as I was afraid of traffic jam and I want to have surgery as soon as possible to gain back my eyesight," he told Xinhua. Laos is the first leg of a four-country "Mekong Bright Journey" within the Lancang-Mekong River cooperation framework. According to Professor Guo Haike from Aier Eye Hospital Group, after diagnosis, his team found that there are a large number of patients with cataract in Laos, with many of them having "mature" cataract which is more difficult to remove. The number of patients also surpassed their prediction. From Tuesday to Friday in Laos, as many as 1,500 local patients with vision problems have been diagnosed by Chinese doctors, with 200 of them receiving cataract surgery while 500 pairs of eye-glasses being distributed, according to statistics by Vientiane Ophthalmology Center. "We used the most advanced medical equipment and the best materials, including Intraocular lens, so that Lao cataract patients can enjoy the best technology and material," Guo said. "With a strong team of doctors and medical staff, we can ensure the success of each surgery case. All 81 surgery cases on Wednesday were successful," Guo told Xinhua on Thursday. "We are very happy with the result, Lao doctors and patients are also very happy," Guo said. "Chinese doctors are well-skilled and experienced. Their surgery time is short with high effectiveness. The 'Mekong Bright Journey' is a good chance for us to study their skills and technology," said Khamkhoune Holanouphap, deputy director of the Ophthalmology Center. "This time, the surgery team conducts cataract surgery in Vientiane only. We are planning to expand the plan to other localities of Laos, especially the poor areas to benefit more patients," Khamkhoune told Xinhua on Thursday. Speaking at sight-restoring ceremony held on Friday at the Ophthalmology Center, Lao Vice Minister of Health Phuthong Meungpak said this marks a new era when cataract patients can gain back their eyesight. "This plan contributed to further strengthening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the party and government of Laos and China as well as the two peoples," he said. "Cataract is one of the major causes of blindness in today's world. The 'Mekong Bright Journey' has made a great contribution to patients with vision problems, reducing the number of avoidable eye-blind patients," said the official. The "Mekong Bright Journey" has been included into the early harvest list of the first leaders' meeting of the Lancang-Mekong River cooperation. It will tour four countries, namely Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, to offer free-of-charge cataract surgery. CHENGDU, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Ship wreck diving requires sophisticated training that often deters ordinary leisure divers. But not a group of Chinese who found antiques in a 17th-century sunken treasure boat. Police in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Friday reported the arrest of 31 persons in connection with the theft of thousands of relics in a boat that had sunk in the mid-17th century. The boat belonged to Zhang Xianzhong, a rebel leader whose peasant uprising during the Ming Dynasty resulted in his conquering of swaths of territory in the present day provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan. In 1644, Zhang proclaimed himself "Empire" of the "Great West." Not long after, he was defeated by government forces and his treasure boat sank to the bottom of the Minjiang River. In 2005, some 300 years after Zhang's defeat, builders of water supply facilities in Jiangkou town, Meishan city, discovered seven silver ingots in the river bank. After a thorough study of the items, the government declared the area a protected site. Gu Yongzhong, Meishan vice mayor and police chief, said police were alerted in late 2013 that some of the relics were missing. They received further information in early 2014 that scuba divers had been searching the river bed. After a year-long investigation, on April 25, 2015, police arrested 31 suspects and confiscated thousands of coins and ingots made of gold and silver, said Liu Lianggui, a police officer who participated in the operations. Also confiscated were wet suits, air tanks, metal detectors, lead weights, and other diving equipment. According to Liu, the suspects revealed during their interrogations that excited by the original findings, they decided to learn how to dive from books, the Internet, and later diving instructors. "After they picked up all the easy finds, they hired professionals to make sure nothing valuable was left," Liu said. "They operated like an experienced diving crew." Police officer Yu Hai said after the relics were salvaged, the thieves sold them on the black market. "Some (of the suspects) bought expensive cars or properties in cities, others deposited millions into their bank savings accounts," Yu added. Police canvassed ten provinces and busted ten smuggling gangs before recovering all the missing relics, with an estimated value of 300 million yuan (44.78 million U.S. dollars). "This is the biggest theft case of its kind that the police cracked this year," said Liu Changlin, Meishan deputy police chief. "We have never arrested so many suspects, or recovered so many items of such value." Heritage protection officials said the recovery of relics from Zhang Xianzhong's treasure boat would help historians understand the rebel movement, social life and economic system in late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In recent years, the preservation of relics has faced myriad challenges, with cases of wanton destruction, fire and theft. According to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, there were 23 instances of fire, 29 thefts and 89 illegal excavations recorded in 2015. MOGADISHU, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The international community on Friday expressed concern about the renewed fighting between forces from Galmudug and Puntland states in the central Somali town of Galkayo, which has killed at least five people. In a joint statement issued in Mogadishu, the United Nations, African Union, EU, United States and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said urgent steps are needed now to de-escalate tensions and facilitate local conflict resolution. "We call on the leaders of Puntland and Galmudug to use their influence to end the fighting immediately and observe the ceasefire agreement that was brokered by local clan elders and religious leaders on Oct. 9," Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia Michael Keating said in the statement. Keating said the governments of these two federal member states should exercise restraint and withdraw their respective security forces from Galkayo and environs as a mutual confidence-building measure. The two regional states have previously clashed leading to deaths, displacement of populations and destruction of property. Hundreds of civilians have already been displaced by the violence. According to local reports, some 40 people were killed last year in a deadly clash between the two regions whose enmity renewed in 2014 following the formation of Galmudug state. International partners welcomed the commendable efforts of local elders, clerics and other community leaders to stop the violence, and expressed their readiness to support all initiatives aimed at reducing tensions between the warring parties. In December 2015, leaders from the two states signed an agreement that committed their governments to refrain from actions that could exacerbate the conflict after an outbreak of fighting in late November last year. Under the agreement, the parties agreed to make a recently negotiated ceasefire permanent, establish a Joint Committee consisting of representatives of both federal member states to resolve differences peacefully, withdraw their forces from areas where clashes had occurred, and allow displaced civilians to return to their homes. However, some key aspects of the agreement have not been implemented. The UN, AU, EU, Somalia and the IGAD have formed a task force to engage with all relevant parties, facilitate an immediate end to the ongoing fighting, support the full implementation of the 2015 Agreement and help the parties to find a lasting solution to their recurring disputes. CAIRO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 members of Egypt's security forces were killed Friday when suspected Islamist assailants opened fire at a checkpoint in North Sinai province, an official security source told Xinhua. The attack happened in central Sinai area, 40 km from the town of Bir al-Abd, the source noted that the assailants used rifles and automatic weapons, before fleeing the scene. Other eight were wounded in the attack, he added. The victims have been transferred to El-Arish Hospital. North Sinai has been experiencing growing wave of anti-security attacks since the army-led ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which killed hundreds of police and army men. A Sinai-based militant group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) regional group claimed responsibility for most of attacks. Intensified Egyptian military raids killed and arrested hundreds of IS-affiliate extremists in North Sinai as part of the country's "anti-terrorism war" declared following Morsi's ouster. TOKYO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said on Friday that he had enjoyed a great meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and shared with the nation's leader how important Japan is for the future of the U.S. tech behemoth. "We talked about the future and doing great things together. I shared with prime minister Abe our love for Japan and how important the country is to Apple," Cook, who is currently on a tour of Asia, was quoted as saying at the prime minister's office following their meeting. Abe's top spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing that Cook confirmed that Apple would complete its construction of a site in Yokohama, just outside of Tokyo, by December and that it would be used as a development facility. The site was previously used by Japan's Panasonic Corp. and Apple's new development plans are evidence the maker of the ubiquitous iPhone has plans connected to Japan that extend well beyond just end user sales, sources close to the matter said Friday. The Japanese leader, for his part, said he hopes that Apple will go on to establish further ties with companies here in the process of product development, with Cook stating that there were a number of manufacturers of all sizes here being keenly eyed by Apple as having great potential for working on future devices requiring components made here. In the April-June quarter of this year sales in Japan of Apple products accounted for 8 percent of Apple's total global revenue. Cook, whose tour will end on Saturday, has already met with some of Apple's partners here and visited the headquarters of Nintendo Co. in Kyoto on Thursday where he met with company President Tatsumi Kimishima and Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Super Mario game, and was pictured playing the hotly anticipated iOS title "Super Mario Run" which was unveiled at Apple's latest iPhone 7 launch event last month. Cook's visit to Japan comes on the heels of a visit to Shenzhen in China, where he announced Apple's plans to open a research and development facility there next year. by Xinhua writers Zhang Ning, Bai Chun GOA, India, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Pessimists may hardly cease grumbling that the bloc of BRICS has been losing steam, while the group of five emerging economies is nonetheless moving forward to keep its shine. Leaders from the five BRICS member countries are scheduled to meet for a summit here on Saturday. Skeptics say the five nations are all facing challenges including economic slowdown, stronger competition from traditional trade powerhouses and worsening international security situation. Their gloomy assertion that "BRICS of gold is seeing a fading shine" will certainly be shrugged off by leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Giving a confidence boost, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) upgraded its growth prediction for the emerging economies earlier this month with IMF chief Christine Lagarde saying China and India will maintain the fast growth rate. The IMF expected the emerging economies to contribute 75 percent of world growth in 2016 and 2017, still as the most important engine for the global economy. It is plausible to say the outlook for the BRICS economies has been not so rosy recently, as the World Bank forecast that the Russian and Brazilian economies may shrink by 1.2 percent and 4 percent respectively this year. The once galloping development has been affected by protracted sluggish world economic recovery and plummeting commodity prices in recent years. Lingering slowdown and even depression started to haunt some of the BRICS economies. While in China, besides the slower growth rate, economic activities are hampered by overcapacity in heavy industries, decelerating export growth and regulatory tightening of lending. However, it is surely not fair to claim that the bloc has been losing its luster and dragging down the world economy. The five economies have been contributing immensely to the global recovery since the 2008 financial crisis and have provided more than half of the world's economic growth over the past decade. The skeptics cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that, the bloc, with its huge economic volume, remains the driver of the world growth. Financial institutions including the World Bank still expects a stable growth rate of China's economy. Although the situations in Russia, Brazil and South Africa, which depend heavily on resources, are not as good as in China and India, there is no need to make a fuss over the slowdown as it only mirrors a gloomy global landscape. Further more, critics should by no means neglect that the five BRICS countries have spare no efforts in structural reforms to make their growth more sustainable. In China, authorities and enterprises have been striving to tap the potential of domestic demand and switch focus on high-quality and innovation-driven industries. In the meantime, economic ties within the BRICS framework have been deepened since the bloc's debut summit was held in 2009. Statistics show that China is currently the largest trading partner of Brazil, Russia and South Africa, and the second largest of India. Besides trade, relations have been developing among the BRICS nations in the sectors of academics and culture. Schemes including the New Development Bank (NDB), which was initiated in 2014, display coordinated endeavors and efforts of the five nations to reform the global economic governance. The five BRICS nations have been on the right path to overcome economic headwinds and the Goa summit will chart a new course for their development. They, in history, have not been scared of the crucible from a lackluster world economy, but demonstrated what they could achieve by pooling their capabilities. The five nations, with over 40 percent of the world's population and nearly one-third of the world's land area, have a combined GDP of about one-fifth of the world's total. The BRICS members also boast abundant natural and human resources, massive markets, huge growth potential and bright prospects from policy coordination. Srikanth Kondapalli, chairman and professor in the Chinese Studies Centre for East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Xinhua, "The BRICS is still relevant and it is able to drive a message in the international community." Some old powerhouses' jealousy and nostalgia are thus understandable when seeing the success of the emerging economies. In fact, those who voice in an ironic tone see clearly the fact that despite the challenges, the BRICS economies still have huge potential and the mechanism is still of vitality. The BRICS nations will surely display their integration, shrug off scathing remarks of skeptics and pessimists, and keep focused on cementing the influential platform for emerging economies. As Chinese President Xi Jinping said in September at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou that BRICS nations, as leading forces of emerging-market economies and developing countries, should reinforce coordination to make emerging-market economies and developing countries play a bigger role in international affairs. As an old Chinese saying reads "pure gold does not fear furnace," the BRICS of gold will still glitter despite the grudges. Vehicles run on a smog-shrouded road in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang) BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Beijing raised its alert for air pollution to yellow on Friday afternoon as smog is forecast to persist another two days. The Air Quality Index (AQI) rose above 300 on Friday, with hazardous fine particulate matter PM2.5 being the major pollutant. Residents are advised to take protective measures, and construction sites and factories have also been ordered to reduce emissions. The Chinese capital will see a small respite from the smog on Saturday, when light rain is forecast to arrive, said Qiao Lin, head of the municipal meteorological center. The weather is expected to improve starting Sunday evening with the arrival of a mild cold front, said the Beijing Environmental Protection Monitoring Center. On Thursday afternoon, the city issued a blue alert for air pollution. China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue. The authorities issue alerts when the AQI reaches 200 and severe air pollution is forecast to last at least one day. Beijing aims to keep average PM2.5 levels below 60 micrograms per cubic meters in 2017. The density of PM2.5 in Beijing decreased by 12.5 percent year on year to 63 micrograms per cubic meter from January to August. In 2015, the level was 80.6 micrograms, down from 95.7 micrograms in 2012. by Xinhua writers Xia Fan, Bai Chun GOA, India, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- On the western coast of India off the Arabian Sea, Goa, the smallest Indian state by area, is in a jubilant mood to receive leaders from some of the world's biggest emerging countries. Heads of state and government of five BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- are scheduled to spend the weekend here for their eighth annual gathering, after India assumed chair of the bloc early this year. The state will also host leaders of neighboring Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand for a BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit. During the upcoming BRICS Summit, themed Building Responsive, Inclusive & Collective Solutions, leaders are expected to exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues. The summit, which kicks off on Saturday, is the first meeting for leaders of BRICS countries after the BRICS Leaders' Informal Meeting held on the sidelines of G20 Summit in September in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, when Chinese President Xi Jinping said that BRICS members should enhance coordination to make emerging-market economies and developing countries play a bigger role in international affairs. China is a staunch supporter and active participant of BRICS cooperation, said China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong during a media briefing earlier this week, adding that China believes that the Goa summit will be a complete success. Such expectations also run high in Goa, as government officials, business leaders and the local community all gear up to play host to the high-profile event. Chief minister of the state Laxmikant Parsekar told local media on Thursday that Goa would meet the challenge of hosting the summit with success. "Despite heavy rain during the days preceding the summit, we were able to complete all the works in time," a visibly pleased Parsekar said after a reconnaissance mission two days ahead of the summit, according to local newspaper the Times of India. A makeover has taken place in the state. The route connecting delegate-housing hotels and the airport has been spruced up, and colorful flowers and plants newly-planted along the roads. The airport, streets and other public places are adorning the colors and hues of the five BRICS nations, while billboards and posters with the smiling faces of BRICS leaders and welcome signs in five languages are plastered across the state. "A lot of OFC (optical fiber cable) cables are being laid. Mobile (phone network) connectivity is being improved... Illumination is being improved... A lot of such activities are happening," administration chief of South Goa district, Swapnil M Naik, told Xinhua in an earlier interview. Meanwhile, security has been beefed up. A heavy police presence can be seen in areas around the venue for the summit. Multi-tiered security has been planned for the meeting venue in South Goa, and mock drills have been conducted, according to local media reports. The Goan chief minister also said the BRICS summit would prove to be a good opportunity for the state to project itself. "Goa will go across the world," he said. Asked what benefits Goa would accrue from the summit, Parsekar said he was looking at the benefits from the "investment point of view." He hoped that investments would flow into the state in sectors like IT, electronics and pharmaceuticals, thereby projecting Goa as an investment destination. Damodar Kochkar, president of Verna Industrial Estate, the biggest industrial zone in Goa, is also hoping that Goa will catch the eye of foreign investors. Many industries from BRICS nations will come, he said hopefully. Meanwhile, local residents are seeing the summit as a chance to promote local tourism. With its serene beaches along a coastline stretching up to 125 km and laid-back pace of life, Goa is already quite a recipe for tourists home and abroad, but locals are looking to the summit for a further boost. Proudly introducing Goa's tourist attractions, a local rental car driver who identified himself as Florian said he expected the media coverage of the summit to bring in more tourists, including those from China. "When there are more tourists coming, there will be more business for me," he said with a grin. THE HAGUE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Dutch court on Friday upheld the case against right-wing populist politician Geert Wilders, rejecting his lawyer's argument that a judge should not evaluate Wilders' political statements that called for "fewer Moroccans" in the Netherlands. Wilders' lawyer said Wilders' statements should be judged by public opinion and the electorate. However, the judge decided that only the court could determine whether Wilders was guilty or not. The judge decided that the prosecution against Wilders does not affect his political freedom or that of his party. Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), is suspected of having insulted the Moroccan population in the Netherlands on March 12 and 19, 2014 in The Hague. He has always made anti-Islamic remarks, but during the Dutch municipal elections campaign on March 12 he specifically pointed at people of Moroccan descent. At a meeting after the elections on March 19, Wilders asked his supporters whether they wanted "more or fewer" Moroccans, to which the crowd cheered "fewer, fewer." Wilders response to the crowd was: "Good, we're going to arrange that." Based on the remarks and the reports received by the police, the prosecution conducted extensive legal analysis, which resulted in the conclusion that the remarks constitute the suspicion of a criminal offence. According to the public prosecutor, freedom of expression is limited by the prohibition of discrimination. During the pre-trial phase in September, Wilders' lawyer asked the court to drop the case, calling it a "political case" ahead of elections due in March. After the court's decision, Wilders immediately commented on Twitter that he was being "prosecuted for voicing the opinion of millions." He added, "The Netherlands is like Turkey. Displeasing political opinions are being silenced in court." It is not the first time Wilders has had to appear in court. In June 2011 he was acquitted of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims, Moroccans, and non-Western immigrants. CAIRO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian armed forces said in a statement on Friday that it killed 15 terrorists after suspected Jihadists' attack on a checkpoint in North Sinai killed 12 security men. "A group of militants have attacked in the early morning one of the security checkpoints in North Sinai in the Jeep vans, opening fire on security men," the army spokesman Brigadier Mohamed Samir said. Fifteen terrorists have been killed in the clashes, Samir said, adding the searching and combing operations are underway to track more Jihadists. Egypt is battling wave of anti-security attacks since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist leader, in 2013, in retaliation of the killing of hundreds and arrest of thousands of his supporters. ANKARA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Four soldiers were injured and 16 others wounded after Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants staged attacks on Turkish security forces in southeastern and eastern Turkish provinces of Mardin, Hakkari, van, Diyarbakir, Adiyaman, Bitlis on Friday. Three soldiers were killed and three others wounded after the outlawed detonated an explosive during the passage of a military vehicle on Mardin-Diyarbakir highway in the southeastern province of Mardin, Dogan News Agency reported. Three wounded soldiers were taken to hospital in the province. Security forces subsequently launched an operation against the PKK militants. Meanwhile, one soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a similar attack in nearby southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari when PKK militants remotely detonated an explosive placed in the Tekeli village near the Semdinli district. Also on Friday, eight soldiers were wounded after the PKK detonated an explosive during the passage of a military vehicle in the Baskale district of the eastern province of Van. In addition, PKK militants opened harassment fire at a gendarmerie border post in the Kulp district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakir. Security forces responded immediately to the attack. PKK also attacked on Turkish forces on Friday in southeastern Turkish provinces of Adiyaman and Bitlis, leaving two soldiers injured. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. CAIRO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian armed forces said in a statement on Friday that it killed 15 terrorists after suspected Jihadists' attack on a checkpoint in North Sinai killed 12 security men. "A group of militants have attacked in the early morning one of the security checkpoints in North Sinai using four-wheel drives," the army spokesperson, Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. "Our forces killed 15 terrorists," Samir added, "The clashes led to the martyrdom of 12 and injury of six armed forces heroes." The spokesperson reiterated that the searching and combing operations are underway to track more Jihadists. The attack happened in the central Sinai area, 40 km from the town of Bir al-Abd, an official security source told Xinhua. This is the first major attack in the central Sinai area as Bir al-Abd has yet been so far from the reach of the violence that has threatened northern Sinai over the past three years. The source noted that the assailants used rifles and automatic weapons, before fleeing the scene. The victims have been transferred to El-Arish Hospital. North Sinai has been experiencing growing waves of anti-security attacks since the army-led ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which killed hundreds of police and army men. A Sinai-based militant group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) regional group claimed responsibility for most of attacks. Earlier this month, gunmen killed five Egyptian police conscripts in El-Arish. Intensified Egyptian military raids killed and arrested several hundreds of IS-affiliate extremists in North Sinai as part of the country's "anti-terrorism war" declared following Morsi's ouster. WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States announced Friday further lifting of sanctions on Cuba to facilitate trade, scientific and humanitarian exchange between the two countries. BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday started a five-day trip to Southeast and South Asia which will see him pay state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh and attend the 8th BRICS summit, in Goa, India. The visits play a key role in China's diplomatic efforts in Asia and are part of a move to build a "new type of international relations" and "a community of common destiny." Since 2012, Xi has spoken of a "community of common destiny" dozens of times, putting the notion at the heart of China's relations with its neighbors and the international community at large. In a speech to present China's views on the world situation and proposals for peace and development in the world at large, Xi called for building a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, and creating "a community of common destiny for mankind" at the UN headquarters in 2015. STARTING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Xi's Asia visits will promote the building of "a community of common destiny" in China's neighborhood, said Dong Manyuan, a researcher with the China Institute of International Studies. In particular, Xi's visit to Cambodia will further strengthen pragmatic cooperation and alignment of respective development strategies, and boost friendship between the two countries. China has long signaled that it welcomes neighboring countries board its "train of development." In 2015, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism was launched to boost existing cooperation between China and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Zhong Feiteng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that Xi's visit to Cambodia showcases China's will to cooperate with mid-sized and small developing countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia. "China is willing to let less developed countries in the region to hitch a hike on the Chinese express train of development and share its development achievements," Zhong said. Xi's trip to Bangladesh, meanwhile, will also chart a course for future bilateral ties, help the two countries deepen mutual trust, and lift relations between the countries to a new high. It will also help push forward the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, in which Bangladesh serves as an important link. Xue Li, a researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics at CASS, said that neighborhood diplomacy has become a prominent priority of China's foreign relations. China tops the world in the number of neighboring countries. A sound and stable neighborhood translates to real benefits for everyone involved. Xue said that China's rapid development has benefited its neighbors, but brought about concerns at the same time. "Xi's visits will thus help China deepen political trust and economic cooperation with neighboring countries, including Cambodia and Bangladesh," Xue said. SPREADING 'ASIAN STYLE' DIPLOMACY China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, involving more than 60 countries and regions and affecting some 4.4 billion people worldwide. As of June this year, China has signed agreements on industrial capacity cooperation with 20 countries along the routes. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), proposed by China, has been set up to address infrastructure needs in the region. Already, the AIIB has approved 165 million dollars in loans for a Bangladeshi project. At the upcoming summit of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Xi will continue to highlight important plans for BRICS development to inject enthusiasm into the building of a new type of international relations. "Through the BRICS summit, an important platform of global governance, China's 'Asian style' diplomacy, featuring mutual respect, seeking consensus through consultations and taking care of the degree of comfort of all parties, will have significance in the larger region, said Tao Jian, president of the Beijing-based University of International Relations. by Hu Dandan, Xu Haijing GOA, India, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- will meet on Friday in the western Indian state of Goa for their 8th summit with theme of "Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions". The summit came on the heels of the leaders' meeting in Hangzhou, China last month, during which they exchanged views on deepening cooperation and the challenges the countries are facing. FROM HANGZHOU TO GOA An important aspect of the Goa summit will be the strengthening of the BRICSG20 relationship. Innovation and inclusiveness formed part of G20s agenda and will also be a focus of the BRICS summit, Geethanjali Nataraj, a research fellow from Brookings India, said in an article recently published. The close BRICS-G20 link and the Goa summit will provide an opportunity to further enhance cooperation in global governance with a focus on innovative and sustainable development, he said. Coming as a result of the multipolarization of the world, the cooperation mechanism of the BRICS nations provides new possibilities for the birth of new economic growth models and renovation of the global governance system. Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out the direction for enhancing the BRICS cooperation by puting forward four proposals at the leaders' Informal Meeting held last month in Hangzhou. According to the Chinese president, BRICS nations can work together in four aspects, namely, jointly innovating in growth patterns, jointly improving global governance, jointly safeguarding international fairness and justice and building a peaceful and stable development environment, and jointly advancing international cooperation in development and follow the path of sustainable development. With the world economy still lingering in slowdown and amid a backdrop of hard times for traditional economic sectors, innovation stands out as the remedy and breakthrough point, which has become a consensus among many countries. China spearheading at the Hangzhou summit of the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth, which calls for speeding up innovation-driven development, is a reflection of such consensus. The financial crisis also exposed the structural shortcomings of the old global governance system. As the major locomotive of recent world economic growth, the emerging economies and developing countries have increasing desire and justified reasons to enhance their representation and say in international organizations. The BRICS nations, as important members of the G20, should continue to strengthen communication and cooperation within the G20 framework, actively promote the governance structure reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and increase the representations and voice of emerging markets and developing countries. Meanwhile, on the political front, the BRICS nations still have a lot to do in strengthening political security, facilitating the building of constructive and win-win international relations, and helping build a peaceful, stable, just and reasonable international order. As leading emerging countries, the BRICS nations have also plenty to explore in such agenda as promoting South-South cooperation, propelling developing countries to honor their commitment and leading more other developing countries to the road of sustainable development. At the Goa summit, there will also be a meeting between BRICS and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), an international organization comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. BRICS OF GOLD STILL GLITTERS The BRICS mechanism has now become an effective cooperation platform for the five emerging economies. The countries have become the envy of the world due to their galloping growth. In the past 10 years, the BRICS countries have contributed 50 percent to the world GDP growth, among which China accounted for 40 percent, and according to the IMF data, China has contributed 35 percent to world economic growth in the past five years. However, as the world economy is still in the process of finding new growth momentum, the BRICS nations are facing great challenges. Russia and Brazil are being affected by dropping commodity prices while the currency evaluation has dragged the recovery of South Africa. All these seem to have footnoted the notion that the BRICS is losing luster. But a closer look into the basics of the five nations will prove the shortsightedness, or at least over-pessimism of that view. BRICS members still enjoy abundant natural and human resources, vast markets, huge growth potential and bright prospects from their policy coordination, letting alone the bouncing back of commodity prices such as those of iron ore. Given time and policy coordination, the BRICS members are bound to continue to shine in the global economic arena. LOOKING TO NEXT DECADE It has been 10 years since the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers took place in New York in 2006. In the past decade, the BRICS countries have been constantly expanding the scope of cooperation and improving their cooperation mechanism. Ten years on, the GOA summit is due to become an important milestone. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in the 2014 BRICS summit that BRICS countries should carry forward the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win results. Against the backdrop of a trend of protectionism in some countries and counter-globalization, these principles ring resounding of the developing countries undertaking and vision. For all the challenges, hardships and growing pains, as well as the members disparity and differences in geographical location, resource distribution, economic development levels and political landscape, the BRICS nations choose cooperation and consultation. In fact, their cooperation mechanism has shown great achievements. The nations successfully boosted their say in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), thus increasing the representations and say of emerging markets and developing countries. The IMFs 2010 quota and governance reforms have finally taken effect and will give emerging markets like BRICS more power and greater say at the lender. China will have the third largest IMF quota and voting share after the United States and Japan, and India, Brazil and Russia will also be among the top 10 members of the IMF. The newly launched BRICS New Development Bank has already announced its first tranche of funding for green and sustainable projects for all five BRICS members in social sectors such as health care, education and population matters. It is now under evaluation. As put by Dr Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the BRICS nations are increasingly making their voices heard in the international arena, upholding that it is not sensible overthrowing governments by force, as having been proven by the instabilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. The BRICS nations are intensifying joint efforts to amplify their voice in respect of agenda-setting as well as rule-making in international fora, and are contributing to strengthening international governance, according to Swaran Singh, professor of diplomacy and disarmament at the School of International Studies from the university. The leaders are expected to take the opportunity at the Goa summit and make new breakthroughs, Singh said. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Bangladeshi National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang) DHAKA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed that the parliamentary bodies of China and Bangladesh should enhance exchanges and dialogues. He made the remarks when he met with Bangladeshi National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury. Noting that cooperation between the two countries' parliamentary bodies is a significant component of China-Bangladesh ties, Xi said China appreciates the great importance the Bangladeshi National Assembly attaches to developing bilateral ties. He urged the two countries' parliamentary bodies to strengthen communication, increase public support for improving political mutual trust and aligning development strategies, and provide a sound legal guarantee for the two countries' political, economic and trade cooperation as well as people-to-people exchanges. Hailing China and Bangladesh as good neighbors, good friends and good partners, Xi said the two countries have great potential in dovetailing development strategies and are highly complementary in practical cooperation. China attaches great importance to the friendly cooperation with Bangladesh, and is willing to align development strategies with the South Asian nation, advance major projects, enhance people-to-people exchanges and bring concrete benefits to more people in the two countries, said the Chinese president. Chowdhury, for her part, hailed Xi's state visit as a milestone in the development of bilateral relations, saying that she believes it will bring bilateral ties to a new height. Bangladesh looks forward to enhancing cooperation with China in trade, investment and infrastructure construction under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, she said, adding that the Bangladeshi parliamentary body is willing to make contribution to deepening bilateral ties. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. Xi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to this South Asian nation in 30 years. by Xue Lei, Nguon Sovan PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's first state visit to Cambodia has lifted Sino-Cambodian relations and cooperation to a higher level, Cambodian officials and scholars said Friday. Xi concluded his two-day trip to the Southeast Asian nation on Friday morning after meeting with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace and Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen at the Peace Palace. Lawmaker Sok Eysan, a spokesperson for the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), said as a result of the historic visit, Cambodia-China ties will become closer and stronger. "President Xi's historic visit definitely elevates Cambodia-China relations and cooperation to a higher level," he told Xinhua. "Our closer cooperation is reflected in 31 new documents that were signed between the two countries on Thursday evening under the auspices of President Xi and Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen." The spokesman said China's aid and investment are crucial for Cambodia to develop its economy and to improve people's living conditions. "President Xi's visit provides a lot of advantages to Cambodia and the Cambodian people," he said, adding that the signed documents would greatly contribute to Cambodia's socio-economic development. Eang Sophalleth, an aide to Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, said the visit was a historic event which saw both sides discuss ways to further deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. "Through this landmark visit, the relationship between our two countries will be closer and stronger," he said. According to the aide, after their bilateral talks, President Xi and Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen witnessed the signing ceremony of 31 documents covering a wide range of areas of cooperation between the two countries. "This is historic in terms of the number of agreements signed," he said. The agreements covered further cooperation in areas of economics, science and technology, energy, marine resources protection, media, inspection, health, irrigation development, physical infrastructure construction, water resources, industry, law enforcement, anti-human trafficking, airport development, electricity, rice export, among others. Among the list of signed documents, two major deals are the Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of bilateral cooperation under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the concessional agreement for the development of a new international airport in northwestern Cambodia's Siem Reap province. Ho Vandy, secretary-general of the Cambodia National Tourism Alliance, said those agreements are vital for Cambodia to develop all sectors, particularly infrastructures serving economy and tourism. "I believed that through Xi's visit, more Chinese investors and tourists will come to Cambodia because they have high confidence in the relationship between the two countries," he told Xinhua. Pou Sothirak, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said besides promoting a closer relationship between the two countries, Xi's visit would no doubt also boost trade and investment ties. He said the visit would stimulate bilateral trade to reach the increased target of 5 billion U.S. dollars by 2017, compared to the 4.43 billion U.S. dollar's worth of trade achieved between both countries in 2015. He said Cambodia could see improvements in Chinese investments as the contract value for investment between China and Cambodia has surpassed the 10 billion U.S. dollar mark already, with last year's investment alone standing at 865 million U.S. dollars. He foresaw that after Xi's visit, more Chinese investors would come to the flagship Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone. Mey Kalyan, a senior adviser of the Supreme National Economic Council, applauded the documents that the two countries signed and expressed his belief that after Xi's trip, Sino-Cambodian relations had become one step closer in all domains. BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai will attend the sixth China-EU High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue at the EU headquarters in Brussels and visit Luxembourg next week, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Friday. Ma will attend the dialogue from Tuesday to Wednesday, co-chairing it with European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen, said spokesperson Geng Shuang. The vice premier will pay an official visit to Luxembourg from Wednesday to Thursday, Geng said. AMMAN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets here on Friday to protest a gas deal signed between Jordan and Israel. Demonstrators hold Jordanian flags, banners and chanted slogans, calling for cancelation of the deal. "We do not want gas from the Israeli enemy," chanted the demonstrators. Abdullah Salem, a 36-year-old teacher who joined the demonstration in downtown Amman, said buying gas from Israel is unacceptable because "Israeli authorities are committing major violation against our brotherly Palestinians." Similar protests took place across Jordan after the government announced the gas deal on Sept. 26, with protesters criticizing the agreement as a threat to the country's security. The deal was signed with the United States Noble Energy, the main control holder of Israel's Leviathan gas field, to import natural gas. Jordan's state-run National Electric Power Company said the deal will meet 40 percent of the country's gas needs and save about 600 million U.S. dollars annually. Under the agreement, Noble Energy will provide gas worth of 15 billion U.S. dollars to Jordan for 15 years, which is over 8 million cubic meters on a daily basis. Figures show that Jordan imports about 97 percent of its energy needs. Jordanian protesters deploy a giant national flag and hold placards during an Islamist-led opposition protest against a deal with Israel to import natural gas on October 14, 2016 in the capital Amman.(AFP photo) AMMAN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets here on Friday to protest a gas deal signed between Jordan and Israel. Demonstrators hold Jordanian flags, banners and chanted slogans, calling for cancelation of the deal. "We do not want gas from the Israeli enemy," chanted the demonstrators. Abdullah Salem, a 36-year-old teacher who joined the demonstration in downtown Amman, said buying gas from Israel is unacceptable because "Israeli authorities are committing major violation against our brotherly Palestinians." Similar protests took place across Jordan after the government announced the gas deal on Sept. 26, with protesters criticizing the agreement as a threat to the country's security. The deal was signed with the United States Noble Energy, the main control holder of Israel's Leviathan gas field, to import natural gas. Jordan's state-run National Electric Power Company said the deal will meet 40 percent of the country's gas needs and save about 600 million U.S. dollars annually. Under the agreement, Noble Energy will provide gas worth of 15 billion U.S. dollars to Jordan for 15 years, which is over 8 million cubic meters on a daily basis. Figures show that Jordan imports about 97 percent of its energy needs. BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's anti-graft authority called for stricter Party discipline following the release on Friday of the findings of the most recent inspections of 27 state and Party organs. The 10th round of anti-corruption inspections, which began in late June, examined Party organizations of 32 state and Party organs, including the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body. According to the statement of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China, despite progress made in building a clean Party, some organs still had frugality rule violations, such as granting unauthorized subsidies, traveling on public funds, using public cars for personal purposes, and extravagance and waste in daily affairs. The inspections also uncovered lingering problems in some organs, including the weakening of Party leadership, weak punishment for discipline violations, and an absence of Party building. The CCDI urged these organs to strengthen efforts in strict governing of the Party. TOKYO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Mongolian Prime Minister Jargaltulga Erdenebat on Friday reaffirmed their ongoing cooperation in a number of fields and agreed to deepen the countries' bilateral trade partnership. Abe, according to the Foreign Ministry here, expressed his appreciation to Erdenebat on selecting Japan to be his first official overseas destination since becoming prime minister in July and the pair agreed that the two country's cooperation in renewable energy, environmental affairs and agriculture would continue. The two leaders also confirmed their intention to solidify bilateral trade relations through the application of the Japan-Mongolia economic partnership agreement. This refers to Mongolia's inaugural bilateral free trade agreement with Japan that began in June this year. Erdenebat was quoted as saying that his country views Japan as "a third neighboring country" and, to this end, the enhancement of bilateral ties remains one of the cornerstones of his overseas policy. Looking ahead, the two leaders also decided to expedite the drafting of the Japan-Mongolia bilateral strategic partnership, a medium-term plan that was decided on in principle when the pair met in Ulan Bator in July. Abe and Erdenebat also agreed to cooperate on issues pertaining to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as the Mongolian government has diplomatic ties with Pyongyang. Erdenebat's four-day tour to Japan will conclude Saturday. WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States announced Friday it would further lift sanctions on Cuba to facilitate trade as well as scientific and humanitarian exchanges between the two countries. The move is intended to expand scientific collaboration, increase humanitarian support, and bolster trade and commercial opportunities between the United States and Cuba, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. "These steps have the potential to accelerate constructive change and unlock greater economic opportunity for Cubans and Americans," U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said. U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday approved a Presidential Policy Directive that "takes another major step forward" in U.S. efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. "This Directive takes a comprehensive and whole-of-government approach to promote engagement with the Cuban government and people, and make our opening to Cuba irreversible," Obama said in a statement. by Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian national wanted by Belgian authorities was arrested on the Crete island for human trafficking, Greek police announced on Friday. The 51-year-old man, arrested on Thursday near Chania port city, would be detained until his extradition to Belgium, according to a police statement. The suspect faces charges of participation in a criminal organization, human trafficking and forgery, and in his possession were found 20,000 euros (22,000 U.S. dollars), several documents, mobile phones and laptops and tablets, police said. He is believed to be a member of an international ring that exploits refugees and migrants seeking to reach central and northern Europe. Also on Friday, Greek police announced the arrest of a 36-year-old Pakistani national in an Athens suburb on similar charges, with five undocumented Bangladesh nationals. With each refugee and migrant paying on average 1,000 euros to cross the Mediterranean and thousands still willing to take the risk to escape wars and poverty, Greek authorities have noted in recent months that gangs are seeking alternative routes after the implementation of the European Union-Turkey deal to stem the influx since March. More than one million people landed on the shores of the Northern Aegean Sea islands from Turkey since early 2015. According to European law enforcement agency Europol estimates earlier this year, smugglers shared some 5-6 billion euros last year. After the implementation of the agreement which foresees that those not eligible for asylum will be sent back, the Greek Coast Guard records more and more cases of refugee boats reaching other islands in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean or Peloponnese peninsula. Only in the past week, Greek authorities rescued more than 100 people who landed on Milos island and more than 130 who reached Methoni city in the southern Peloponnese. In addition, border guards at the land border with Turkey in northern Greece have warned of a 90 percent increase of undocumented migrants and refugees crossing the borderline in the past six months. More than 200 people were detained at the Evros region near the borderline only this week. More than 60,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece after the closure of the Balkan route to central Europe in February, according to the latest account of Greece's Refugee Crisis Management Coordination Body. (1 euro=1.10 U.S. dollar) NEW DELHI, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least five security forces personnel had been injured in a terror attack on the outskirts of Indian-controlled Kashmir's capital Srinagar Friday evening, a senior police official said. "The attack was actually an ambush by the terrorists on a convoy of paramilitary Shashtra Seema Bal personnel on Hazratbal-Ganderbal Road in Zakura on the outskirts of Srinagar. The five soldiers who sustained injuries have been rushed to a hospital and said to be out of danger," the official said. Special forces have been sent to the spot to launch a manhunt for the terrorists who fled the spot after launching the attack on the security forces. "We will try out best to track down the attackers, suspected to be from Pakistan," he said. The latest terror attack came days after the Indian Army claimed to have carried out "surgical strikes" against multiple terror camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir in the wake of a militant strike on an Army camp in Uri in Indian-controlled Kashmir earlier last month. India accuses Pakistan for the Uri terror attack, a claim denied by Islamabad. HANGZHOU, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba has released a laptop computer in partnership with Hewlett Packard and Intel Corporation. The computer, released at the ongoing Computing Conference 2016 in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, runs on Alibaba's own smart operating system YunOS, and will mainly be used in China's education sector and in offices. The computer will be used in cloud-based education and multimedia presentations. Governments in Zhejiang, Chongqing and Wuhan have inked cooperation deals to use the computer in their offices to boost efficiency. Alibaba's YunOS system has been applied in a variety of areas, including wearable devices, automobiles and smart phones. The Computing Conference 2016 concludes on Sunday. DHAKA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday and the two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation. During the meeting, Xi said the closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation the two sides forged in 2010 has yielded fruitful results, with bilateral cooperation advancing steadily in political, economic, cultural and security areas and on international and regional affairs. China highly values its friendly cooperative ties with Bangladesh and will continue to offer support within its capacity for the economic and social development of the South Asian country, Xi said. China stands ready to push forward bilateral practical cooperation by aligning the development strategies of the two countries, said the Chinese president. Noting that China is striving for its "two centenary goals" while Bangladesh is pursuing its "Sonar Bangla" dream of national strength and prosperity, Xi added that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative can dovetail with Bangladesh's cooperation strategies with the outside world. The "two centenary goals" refer to China's aspiration to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the Communist Party of China celebrates its centenary in 2021 and turn the People's Republic of China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the time it celebrates its centenary in 2049. Since establishing diplomatic ties 41 years ago, China and Bangladesh have adhered to "the five principles of peaceful co-existence" and have each respected and supported the development path and domestic and foreign policies the other side has undertaken in accordance with its national conditions, said Xi. Now in their pursuit of development, the two countries should be friends and partners that trust and support each other and advance practical cooperation to reap even richer fruits, so as to inject more impetus into bilateral ties, added the Chinese president. Hasina, for her part, said the traditional friendship between Bangladesh and China, forged by the two countries' leaders of the older generation, enjoys deeply rooted public support in Bangladesh. Bangladesh admires China's economic achievement, and is ready to strengthen cooperation with China while pursuing its "Sonar Bangla" dream, said the prime minister. Bangladesh, she added, is willing to actively work with China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and support the building of an economic corridor linking Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar, so as to push forward development in various fields such as electricity, energy, technology, agriculture, water resources, investment, transportation infrastructure and connectivity. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. Bangladesh resolutely adheres to the one-China policy and is ready to maintain mutual understanding and support with the Chinese side on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns, she said. After their talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a string of cooperation documents covering such areas as the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, production capacity cooperation, information and telecommunication, energy and power, diplomatic affairs, maritime affairs, disaster prevention and alleviation, and climate change. The two sides also issued a joint statement about the upgrading of bilateral ties to the strategic partnership of cooperation. Xi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to this South Asian nation in 30 years. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit, which already took him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the western Indian state of Goa for a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- About five people were killed and 20 others injured when an explosion ripped through a funeral camp Friday in the northern Yemeni province of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, a military official told Xinhua. "Two bombs exploded inside a camp attended by scores of people who were present to offer condolences after the death of a high-ranking military leader killed by Houthis a few days ago in Marib province," the local military source said on condition of anonymity. Initial reports suggested that the explosion which targeted the funeral service left more than 20 people injured at the scene, the source added. Two brothers of the killed commander of the Third Military Region in Marib, were among the victims in the explosion, local sources said. Meanwhile, in the country's temporary capital of Aden, tens of thousands of southern Yemenis went out to the streets for the 53rd anniversary of the 14th October revolution against British occupation. The huge demonstrations raised slogans calling for south Yemen independence and demanded an end to the 1990 unification with north Yemen. The situation in Yemen has deteriorated economically and politically since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. Houthis and Saleh's forces hold most of Yemen's northern regions while government forces backed by Saudi-led military coalition share control of the rest of the country including seven southern provinces. The civil war, ground battles and airstrikes have already killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, injured more than 35,000 others and displaced over two million, according to humanitarian agencies. Liu Yunshan (R), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with Charlot Salwai, president of the Reunification Movement for Change (RMC) and prime minister of Vanuatu, who attends "The CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016" conference, in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Gao Jie) CHONGQING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Liu Yunshan, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), met on Friday with foreign guests to discuss the role of political parties in innovation of global economic governance. The CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016, themed "Innovation of Global Economic Governance: The Party's Governing Philosophy and Actions," is being held in Chongqing Municipality in southwest China from Thursday to Saturday. Liu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, met with Charlot Salwai, president of the Reunification Movement for Change (RMC) and prime minister of Vanuatu; Miyegombo Enkhbold, chairman of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP) and chairman of the State Great Hural, Mongolia's parliament; Chynybai Tursunbekov, president of the Kyrgyz Parliament and a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK); Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, speaker of the People's Majlis of the Maldives; and leaders from six African political parties. During the meeting with Salwai, Liu said the CPC is willing to further strengthen cooperation with Vanuatu under the principle of equality and mutual respect and promote the development of China-Vanuatu ties through closer relations between political parties. Salwai said Vanuatu will continue to abide by the one-China policy and support China on issues involving China's core interests and major concerns. During the meeting with Enkhbold, Liu said the CPC will work with the MPP to further strengthen the two countries' economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges to push forward the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership. Enkhbold said the MPP hopes to increase sharing of experience with the CPC in party building. During the meeting with Tursunbekov, Liu said China is ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to deepen their cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, enhance political mutual trust, and consolidate their friendship. Tursunbekov echoed Liu, saying Kyrgyzstan is willing to implement the cooperation plan it has already reached with China and promote the integration of the Belt and Road Initiative with Kyrgyzstan's development strategy. During the meeting with Maseeh, Liu said China is willing to make joint efforts with the Maldives on the construction of the Maritime Silk Road and promote in-depth development of bilateral relations. Maseeh said China respects the Maldives' choice of national development path. The Maldives side expressed appreciation and is willing to participate and support the construction of the Maritime Silk Road. During the meeting with a delegation consisting of general secretaries of six African political parties, Liu said the CPC attaches great importance to relations with the six parties and would like to strengthen exchanges on governance. The six general secretaries are Abdulrahman Kinana from Tanzania's Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Party of the Revolution), Gwede Mantashe from the African National Congress, Eliseu Joaquim Machava from Mozambique's FRELIMO, Pedro Sebastiao from Angola's MPLA, Nangolo Mbumba from Namibia's SWAPO Party, and Ignatious Chombo from Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. The six senior officials thanked China for its long-term support for African people, parties and governments, saying they are willing to learn from the CPC. A visitor (L) and an exhibitor talk at the stand of Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China at the South Africa-China Hi-Tech Exhibition in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The South Africa-China Hi-Tech Exhibition kicked off on Thursday in Johannesburg with the aim of enhancing relations in the field of science and technology between the two countries. The three-day event is meant to create a platform for South African and Chinese science councils and industry players to exchange information on new technological trends and foster collaborative links, organizers said. South African and Chinese companies are showcasing high tech machines and knowledge in drones, robotics and medical science. Advanced technologies in equipment manufacturing, electronic information, life sciences, new energy, communication, automation technologies and environmental protection are on display. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology, Hou Jianguo, encouraged companies from both countries to use the opportunity to forge business ties. He expressed hope that the exhibition will enable the two sides to enhance communication and cooperation, and implement projects which will improve the economic growth and the livelihood of the communities. The vice minister said both countries should undertake joint researches to bring about innovation and technological progress. He said China is willing to assist South Africa in the field of science and technology. He said, "Close cooperation in research will promote technological progress and enhance the relationship of both countries." He said South Africa is a strategic partner of China and both countries would like to see this partnership growing stronger. The Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, Tian Xuejun, said sciences and technology is the powerful engine to drive the relationship forward. He encouraged companies taking part in the show to build on the progress already made in the relations between the two countries. He said science and technology are the key to the future and that key should be accessible to the young people. The ambassador said China is in the process of facilitating the future exposure of South African and African young scientists to Chinese higher institutions so as to improve cooperation in the field of science and technology. He also noted that Africa and China have signed 240 agreements worth over 50 billion U.S. dollars in investment and business cooperation. The Director-General of South Africa's Department of Science and Technology, Dr Phil Mjwara, said the exhibition will showcase the achievement in research and development. He said it will also lay the bases for strengthening the existing relations between the two countries. Mjwara said he will also engage the Chinese side on bilateral cooperation and see the areas that they can strengthen further. There will also be panel discussions and parallel sessions during the exhibition. Daan du Toit, Deputy Director-General for International Cooperation and Resources in the South African Department of Science and Technology, said the event is building on the existing broad strategic cooperation in business and politics. He said they value the event as a "science diplomacy" which seeks to grow the economies of both countries. He said the exhibition will provide a platform for innovation. UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday welcomed the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls by the extremist group Boko Haram to the Nigerian government following more than two years of captivity. The Secretary-General "remains deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the remaining schoolgirls and other victims of abduction by Boko Haram, who are still in captivity," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "The secretary-general urges the international community to continue supporting the government of Nigeria in its efforts to secure their release, rehabilitation and reintegration," the spokesman said. Twenty-one of the schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014 by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, were freed on Thursday in the first mass release of some of the more than 200 girls and women kidnapped from their school two years ago. NAIROBI, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Kenyan court on Friday stopped a planned strike by Kenya Airways pilots which was due to start next week to protest against mismanagement of the airline. Employment and Labour Court Judge Nduma Nderi granted temporary orders stopping the strike in an application filed by the airline. "An order is issued restraining Kenya Airlines Pilots Association and their members from calling or participating in any industrial action, strike or a go-slow due to the ongoing restructuring at Kenya Airways Limited until the suit is heard and determined," Justice Nderi ruled. He directed that Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa) which represents about 450 pilots, should be served with the court papers. Kenya Airways Limited, through lawyer Geoffrey Obura argued that the intended strike by pilots was ill-advised and meant to scamper their restructuring programs and make the national carrier incur more losses. "The strike notice and the reasons given are both in contempt of the court order. The resignation of chairman Dennis Awori and CEO Mbuvi Ngunze, as demanded by Kalpa, are not acts within the control of the airline," Obura said. He said the airline and Kalpa had entered a consent in court in June stopping a strike by the pilots and agreed that any party not satisfied with the contents of the consent order, was to approach the court for further directions. The lawyer said Kenya Airways has service contracts worldwide which any industrial action will adversely affect occasioning inevitable financial losses. "What the pilots have been doing cannot be allowed given their intention is to sabotage recovery plans put in place by Kenya Airways," Obura said. The pilots association issued a seven-day strike notice demanding an overhaul of Kenya Airways' management team. "Our position as a union regarding the immediate change of guard at Kenya Airways is certainly not new," said Kalpa secretary general Paul Gichinga. Meanwhile, Kenya Airways has announced that its fleet is running a normal schedule including sale of tickets at all purchase points. The airline had threatened to stop selling tickets on its network if the pilots union does not retract a strike notice issued after another flight delay. "Kenya Airways wishes to confirm it is running a normal schedule including sale of tickets at all its purchase points. All flights scheduled for today were crewed and on schedule. Kenya Airways operates up to 160 flights a day in its network," it said in a statement. However, sources said the cabin crew went on a go slow citing poor relations with management and poor medical benefits. "The airline is however aware that some of its outsourced staff have stayed away from work and is working with their employer to understand and resolve any issues they may have," Kenya Airways said. RIYADH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Interior Ministry tweeted on Friday the death of a soldier in a shooting between Saudi forces and Houthi militia at Saudi-Yemeni border. The ministry spokesperson said that a border security center was shot on Thursday evening by Houthis, in which the forces shot back to repel them. The shooting and missile attacks have increased since an airstrike targeted a funeral reception at a hotel in Yemen's capital Sanaa last week, for which Houthis are blaming Saudi-led coalition and the later denied involvement. Meanwhile, Al Arabiya local news reported this week that the number of missile attacks reached 36 that targeted eight Saudi cities since the beginning of the war against Houthis in March 2015 in support of Yemeni elected government. HONG KONG, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- An official from China's central government on Friday strongly condemned the three Hong Kong legislators-elect for their insulting oath taken on Wednesday. The official from the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) told Xinhua that some legislators-elect, who overtly showed pro-"Hong Kong independence" banners while taking their oath, had seriously violated China's Constitution and the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong's sixth Legislative Council (LegCo) started operation on Wednesday when all 70 legislators-elect took their oath to take office. The three legislators-elect, however, deliberately used curse words insulting the Chinese nation and the country when reading the oath. Their oath was not accepted by the LegCo's oath supervisor. The official said their behaviors had seriously hurt all the Chinese people at home and abroad including Hong Kong compatriots and challenged the indignity of the country. The official said the central government had noticed that people from all walks of life in Hong Kong had expressed their strong indignation to those legislators-elect by issuing statements and staging protests. This demonstrated that the Hong Kong society will not tolerate very few people's advocacy of "Hong Kong independence" and trampling on the rule of law, the official said. The Hong Kong society will not tolerate their behaviors that could jeopardize the national security and Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, the official added. UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday welcomed the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls by the extremist group Boko Haram to the Nigerian government following more than two years of captivity. by Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Greek government sources and former Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis strongly denied claims included in a new book on French President Francois Hollande that Greece was planning to print drachmas in Russia had negotiations with its international creditors in 2015 flopped. According to the book, Hollande was informed by Russian President Vladimir Putin that in the summer of 2015 before the signing of the third bailout program, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had asked to print drachmas in Russia, because they did not have such a press. According to the book entitled "A President Should Not Say That: Secrets of Five Years in Office," written by French daily Le Monde journalists, the Russian leader told Hollande that he did not support such a development. Meanwhile, Greek government sources told Greek national news agency AMNA: "At no time was such an issue raised by the Greek prime minister. On the contrary, it was commonly agreed that the only realistic path was for Greece to remain in the euro zone." The allegations were also rejected by Varoufakis who was serving as finance minister at the time. "I can assure that during my term in office there was no thought about printing new currency and certainly we did not approach third parties in Greece or abroad," he said in a press statement issued on Friday. Addressing the ruling SYRIZA party conference in Athens on Thursday, Tsipras repeated that "leaving the euro was not and is not a progressive plan." VIENTIANE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Lao leaders have sent messages of condolences to Thailand's Queen and their Thai counterparts sharing the mourning over the passing of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit sent his message to Thai Queen Sirikit, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith sent his message to his Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan-ocha, while Lao Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith sent his message to Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai. Lao President Bounnhang's message reads "I have learned with profound sadness of the passing away of His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej of the Kingdom of Thailand in the afternoon of Oct. 13, 2016. His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej was a King with great sacrifice and virtue who was devoted to the nation and the Thai people over the 70-year reign of His Majesty. His Majesty was deeply revered by the Thai people," cited local online Vientiane Times on Friday. "His Majesty played an active role in improving and strengthening the friendly relations and cooperation between the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Thailand over the years. The passing of His Majesty is a great loss for the Thai people." For the Lao people, President Bounnhang said, the passing away of His Majesty was the loss of a relative and friend who had great virtue contributing significantly to establishing and strengthening the good friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries and the two peoples. "On behalf of the people of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and on my own behalf, I would like to express my deepest condolences and share this moment of sadness to Her Majesty the Queen, the Crown Prince and members of the Royal families and the Thai people," President Bounnhang said in his message. SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A paramilitary trooper of India's Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) was killed and eight others wounded Friday after militants attacked their convoy in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. The attack was carried out in evening in the outskirts of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "This evening militants attacked our convoy using automatic rifles in Zakura locality in the outskirts of Srinagar wounding our nine personnel," R K Bhumbla a senior officer of SSB told Xinhua. "Of the nine wounded one succumbed and two are critical." Officials said the wounded paramilitary troopers were removed to hospital and later on critically wounded were referred to military base hospital in the city. Bhumbla said the convey was ferrying the personnel to their camp after performing day's routine duty. "The convoy was on way back to the camp, when it came under attack," he said. Reports said following the attack contingents of police and paramilitary cordoned off the area to track down the militants. However, preliminary reports suggest militants have escaped after carrying out the attack. On Wednesday, Indian troops killed two militants during 56-hour-long stand-off at a government building in southern Pampore town. Separatist movement and guerilla war challenging New Delhi's rule is going on in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. Gunfight between militants and Indian troops takes place intermittently across the region. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their Independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) meets with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) DHAKA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday hailed major opportunities for China-Bangladesh ties during his meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid. During Xi's visit, both sides decided to upgrade the bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation, raising the bilateral relationship to a new level. The two sides agreed to improve cooperation mechanism in various fields, and actively push forward the implementation of major projects in key areas, said Xi. Both sides pledged to step up the construction projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and boost connectivity, development and prosperity in the region for the well-being of the two peoples, said the Chinese president. The two sides also vowed to make unremitting efforts to implement the the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and push forward South-South cooperation, Xi said. Bangladesh, Xi said, is an important country in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, and also a country with a huge population. With a history of friendly exchanges dating back over a thousand years, the two peoples have amiable feelings for each other, said the Chinese president. In the 1950s and 1960s, the leaders of the older generation of the two countries also laid a solid foundation for bilateral ties, Xi said. Bilateral diplomatic ties, established 41 years ago, have maintained a healthy and smooth development under the guidance of "the five principles of peaceful co-existence," bringing practical benefits to both peoples, said Xi. China appreciates Bangladesh's precious support on issues concerning China's core interests, and supports Bangladesh's efforts to defend independence and sovereignty and seek national stability and development, said the Chinese president. For his part, Hamid said the Bangladeshi people have been looking forward to Xi's visit. Bilateral ties, based on equality and mutual respect, have a long history and now face new opportunities, said Hamid. China has become Bangladesh's first strategic partner of cooperation with the upgrading of bilateral ties during Xi's visit, he said. With similar development goals, both sides enjoy huge cooperation potential in such areas as trade, investment, agriculture, energy and infrastructure, Hamid said. Bangladesh will continue to work with China to support each other on issues concerning their core interests, and stands ready to become China's reliable partner while strengthening coordination with China on major regional and international issues, he said. Xi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to this South Asian nation in 30 years. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit, which has already taken him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the southwestern Indian state of Goa for a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, addresses the opening ceremony of "The CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016" conference in Chongqing, southwest China, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Gao Jie) CHONGQING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) began a discussion with foreign political figures and academics in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Friday, covering political party roles in the innovation in global economic governance. "The CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016" conference attracted over 300 delegates from more than 50 countries, including party leaders, politicians, think-tank members, academics and representatives of business, according to the International Department of the Central Committee of CPC at the opening ceremony of the conference. Addressing the opening ceremony, Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the CPC is willing to take the opportunity to strengthen cooperation and exchange with parties from other countries. It is the task of all parties around the world to perfect global economic governance. Parties should exert their advantages to guide the direction of global economic governance, Liu said. Centering on "Innovation in Global Economic Governance: Initiatives and Actions of Political Parties," this year's conference comes after the G20 summit and focuses on parties' characteristics and functions, Liu said, adding that he believes the conference will give considerable impetus to global economic governance. As the ruling party of China and an important member of the family of political parties worldwide, the CPC hopes to express the Chinese people's expectations for world economic growth and for the construction and reform of a global economic governance system. The CPC believes the wisdom of different countries and parties at the conference can contribute to a better and more reasonable international economic order. The CPC is willing and always ready to exchange ideas, share experience and wisdom, and meet challenges together with parties from all over the globe for the peace and prosperity of the world, according to the department. Some party leaders also expressed their expectations about communication with the CPC. Miyegombo Enkhbold, chairman of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP) and chairman of the State Great Hural, Mongolia's parliament, said parties that are working for prosperity play an important role in a nation's development and global development. He said that, in accordance with the principles of equality and mutual respect, parties can come up with common wisdom to contribute to global economic governance. Chynybai Tursunbekov, president of the Kyrgyz Parliament and a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), said the event offers a better understanding of China and the CPC. Gwede Mantashe, Secretary-General of the African National Congress of South Africa, said he admires China's spirit of responsibility and the CPC's efforts in anti-corruption. He said he hopes to learn from the CPC via the dialogue. The world economy still faces risks. We need to promote the economic recovery via multilateral actions, according to Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France. During the three-day event, topics will include cooperation between major countries in global economic governance, mutually beneficial cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative, the roles of China and Europe in global governance, and Chinese proposals on global governance. Through dialogue and discussion, the conference will elaborate new ideas, the tasks and requirements for global governance, and China's five development concepts. Parties will play a leading political role, build consensus and contribute to innovation in global economic governance. Also on Friday, 60 delegates from 15 African ruling parties attended the Second China-Africa Political Parties Theoretical Seminar, which was held within the framework of the dialogue. Song Tao, minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, called on Chinese and African political parties to play a leading role in promoting exchanges on development and enhancing pragmatic cooperation between China and Africa. This year marks the 60th year since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. The CPC pledged to innovate communication channels, enrich communication, and deepen exchanges with African political parties, Song said. "The CPC in Dialogue with the World" has been held twice since 2014, aimed at providing a platform for global communication and sharing the policies and views of the CPC. CAIRO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that Friday's terrorist attack in North Sinai governorate will only make Egyptians more resilient to go on with the anti-terror battle. On his official Facebook page, Sisi said this attack will give Egyptians more strength to continue the battle for existence and construction. The Egyptian president mourned the victims and offered condolences to their families. Earlier in the day, 12 army soldiers were killed when suspected Islamist assailants opened fire at a checkpoint in North Sinai province. Meanwhile, the Egyptian army said in a statement that its forces killed 15 of the assailants, adding that search operations are underway to track more terrorists. The attack happened in the central Sinai area, 40 km from the town of Bir al-Abd, an official security source told Xinhua. This is the first major attack in the central Sinai area as Bir al-Abd has yet been so far from the reach of the violence that has threatened northern Sinai over the past three years. The source noted that the assailants used rifles and automatic weapons, before fleeing the scene. The victims have been transferred to El-Arish Hospital. North Sinai has been experiencing growing waves of anti-security attacks since the army-led ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which killed hundreds of police and army men. A Sinai-based militant group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) regional group claimed responsibility for most of attacks. Earlier this month, gunmen killed five Egyptian police conscripts in El-Arish. Intensified Egyptian military raids killed and arrested several hundreds of IS-affiliated extremists in North Sinai as part of the country's "anti-terrorism war" declared following Morsi's ouster. Photo taken on April 15, 2016 shows Giase, Abdul and Omar, three Syrian boys playing on a beach full of rubbish at the Port of Piraeus behind the Passenger Terminal E1, where they are currently stranded with thousands of other refugee families, in Piraeus, Greece. (Xinhua/Lefteris Partsalis) ATHENS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian national wanted by Belgian authorities was arrested on the Crete island for human trafficking, Greek police announced on Friday. The 51-year-old man, arrested on Thursday near Chania port city, would be detained until his extradition to Belgium, according to a police statement. The suspect faces charges of participation in a criminal organization, human trafficking and forgery, and in his possession were found 20,000 euros (22,000 U.S. dollars), several documents, mobile phones and laptops and tablets, police said. He is believed to be a member of an international ring that exploits refugees and migrants seeking to reach central and northern Europe. Also on Friday, Greek police announced the arrest of a 36-year-old Pakistani national in an Athens suburb on similar charges, with five undocumented Bangladesh nationals. With each refugee and migrant paying on average 1,000 euros to cross the Mediterranean and thousands still willing to take the risk to escape wars and poverty, Greek authorities have noted in recent months that gangs are seeking alternative routes after the implementation of the European Union-Turkey deal to stem the influx since March. More than one million people landed on the shores of the Northern Aegean Sea islands from Turkey since early 2015. According to European law enforcement agency Europol estimates earlier this year, smugglers shared some 5-6 billion euros last year. After the implementation of the agreement which foresees that those not eligible for asylum will be sent back, the Greek Coast Guard records more and more cases of refugee boats reaching other islands in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean or Peloponnese peninsula. Only in the past week, Greek authorities rescued more than 100 people who landed on Milos island and more than 130 who reached Methoni city in the southern Peloponnese. In addition, border guards at the land border with Turkey in northern Greece have warned of a 90 percent increase of undocumented migrants and refugees crossing the borderline in the past six months. More than 200 people were detained at the Evros region near the borderline only this week. More than 60,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece after the closure of the Balkan route to central Europe in February, according to the latest account of Greece's Refugee Crisis Management Coordination Body. (1 euro=1.10 U.S. dollar) LOME, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- More efforts should be made to train women and make them part of the whole value chain of the blue economy, African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Friday during the ongoing AU Extraordinary Summit on Maritime Security, Safety and Development in Africa held in Lome, capital of Togo. "We should challenge the culture in the maritime sector that is prejudicing against women," Dlamini-Zuma said, noting that women have long been assigned with merely "services roles" on vessels such as cleaning, cooking and making beds. The first woman ever to lead the AU said women should not be standing behind successful men, but should develop "side by side" with men and be successful people themselves. She praised the progress made by women in the maritime sector, citing several women role models in countries like South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia who have made it to important positions on vessels such as commanders, but lamented that the progress has been "negligible." Dlamini-Zuma added that though Africa has huge potential in ocean resources due to its proximity to vast seas, its ownership and utilization of the maritime space is "minimal." "Blue economy is considered the new frontier of development. Though Africa is located at the frontier, we are not taking advantage of this as much as we should," she said. On Saturday, the last day of the summit, a landmark charter on the safety, security and development of the African maritime space is expected to be signed, a document the AU Commission chairperson said "has shortcomings." "The Charter mainly focuses on safety and security issues, not development," she said. She called on delegates to make suggestions and help AU draw up an annexure to the Charter in the future, which responds to the development side of the maritime space. Editor: yan Xinhua Weibo Facebook Twitter Reddit Diigo Delicious Digg Linkedin MySpace Sina Weibo Kaixin Renren Q-zone Tencent Weibo Sohu Weibo NetEase Weibo Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (R) looks on while his wife Dolapo (C) comforts one of the 21 freed Chibok girls freed today from Boko Haram, at his office in Abuja on October 13, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday welcomed the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls by the extremist group Boko Haram to the Nigerian government following more than two years of captivity. The Secretary-General "remains deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the remaining schoolgirls and other victims of abduction by Boko Haram, who are still in captivity," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "The secretary-general urges the international community to continue supporting the government of Nigeria in its efforts to secure their release, rehabilitation and reintegration," the spokesman said. Twenty-one of the schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014 by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, were freed on Thursday in the first mass release of any of the more than 200 girls and women kidnapped from their school two years ago. Ban "calls for increased efforts to ensure additional humanitarian access in the northeast of Nigeria, and reiterates the continued commitment of the United Nations in this regard," he said. The special representative of the UN secretary-general for West Africa and the Sahel, in his capacity as high representative for Nigeria, continues to engage with the Nigerian authorities and international partners on this matter, he said. Officials and staff workers of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) are in Nigeria to help the released schoolgirls with necessary reproductive health care and social counselling, the spokesman said. A total of 276 girls were seized by the Boko Haram fighters who stormed their dormitories on the night of April 14, 2014, at the Girls Secondary School in Chibok town of Borno State in northeastern Nigeria. Two years on, while some 57 girls managed to escape then, 219 of them still missing until these 21 were freed by their abductors. Nigeria's northeast region has been a stronghold of Boko Haram. LOME, Oct. 14 ( Xinhua) -- African Union Commission chairperson on Friday welcomed, in the Togolese capital Lome, the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls out of 276 held hostage by Boko Haram in April 2014 in Nigeria. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma expressed her delight when meeting with African maritime industry women associations at the sidelines of the AU conference on maritime security, safety and development in Africa. The release of some of the hostages occurred on Thursday after over two years of captivity. AU commission chairperson said she expects the Nigerian community will help the released girls withstand their shock and integrate into the community life. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma further expressed her strong wish for the release of the remaining hostages within a short time frame. MINSK, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) welcomed the safety system of a nuclear power plant being constructed in Belarus, IAEA's mission head Petteri Tiippana told local media on Friday. Belarus has developed a clear system of work in the field of ensuring nuclear and radiation safety and IAEA can recommend other countries to use positive Belarus experience while constructing nuclear power plants. The experts welcomed GosAtomNadzor's transformation in the development of nuclear energy programs and the country's commitment to the unconditional fulfillment of international obligations. IAEA's specialists also developed more than 40 recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of the regulatory framework, supervision and licensing procedures, development of the system regulator's technical support, he said. Petteri Tiippana noted that the regulations need to be updated and modified to let the regulatory body and the operating company be ready to respond to difficult situations. A mission for the IAEA Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) worked in Belarus on October 2-14. The experts checked the regulatory infrastructure in the field of nuclear and radiation safety at the NPP. Belarusian NPP is being built in Grodno region on the Russian project. It will consist of two units of 1,200 MW each. Lithuania, a close neighbor to Belarus, is the most outspoken critic of the future nuclear power plant, which is located just 20 kilometers from the Belarusian-Lithuanian border and 50 kilometers from the capital - Vilnius. Minsk does not accept Lithuania's claims, arguing that the plant is being built in compliance with all the necessary safety standards. YEREVAN, Armenia, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Top security summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states began in the Armenian capital on Friday, with the presidents of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the prime minister of Kazakhstan, according to Armenpress. During his opening remarks at the start of the summit at the presidential palace in downtown Yerevan, Armenian President Sargsyan said that "a wide range of issues will be discussed today" and hoped that the constructive atmosphere of the summit will help make new effective decisions to boost the development of the CSTO. Kazakhstan'0s long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev cancelled his participation in the summit along with his visit to Azerbaijan due to a cold two days prior to the event. There are many speculations that the Kazakh leader yet again snubbed the Armenian authorities to show his support for Azerbaijan in its long standoff with Armenia over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In April, shortly after the military tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated to a 4-day massive military clashes, Kazakhstan had insisted the meeting of prime ministers of the Eurasian Economic Union be moved from Yerevan to Moscow, which was viewed by many in Armenia as Kazakhstan' s expression of support for fellow Turkic speaking Azerbaijan. During the CSTO summit in Yerevan, Armenia will pass the presidency of the organization over to Belarus. The Collective Security Treaty emerged in 1992 shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It currently has six permanent members with Serbia and Afghanistan engaged as observers. UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday expressed its "deep concern over the political situation and the lack of progress in implementing resolution 2303 (2016)" in Burundi, and called on States in the region to contribute to a peaceful solution to the crisis in the east African country. The 15-nation council, in a press statement issued here, reiterated its demand that "all sides in Burundi refrain from any action that would threaten peace and stability in the country" or undermine the inter-Burundian dialogue. "In that regard, they stressed the utmost importance of respecting the Constitution as well as the letter and spirit of the Arusha Agreement, which has helped to sustain a decade of peace in Burundi," it said. The press statement was issued after the Security Council was briefed on Thursday by the special adviser to the UN secretary-general on conflict prevention, including in Burundi, Jamal Benomar, on the status of the implementation of resolution 2303 (2016) in the country. "The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Burundi," the statement said. In August, the Burundian Parliament rejected the Security Council resolution on deploying 228 police agents to oversee Burundi' s security situation. Burundian lawmakers rejected the UN Security Council resolution in two separate statements signed by National Assembly (lower chamber) Speaker Pascal Nyabenda and Senate (upper chamber) President Reverien Ndikuriyo. On July 29, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2303 authorizing the deployment of up to 228 police forces to Burundi for an initial period of a year. Among the 15 Council members, 11 voted in favor while China, Angola, Egypt and Venezuela abstained. However, the Burundian government said it would only accept no more than 50 UN police forces. Burundi plunged into bloody chaos from April 2015 when the east African country' s President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intention to vie for the presidency for a third five-year-term. More than 500 people in Burundi have been killed and some 270,000 people fled to neighboring countries, mostly Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo since the outbreak of the crisis. KIGALI, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The first emergency medical supply by remotely piloted aircraft, popularly known as drones, was launched on Friday in Muhanga district, Southern Province in Rwanda. The launch comes close to a year after the government of Rwanda entered into an agreement with Zipline Inc, a California-based robotics firm to build infrastructure for unmanned aerial system to ensure efficient logistical transportation of medical supplies in the country. The operation uses fixed-wing drones that automatically fly to remote villages in the countryside. They release small packages attached to parachutes without needing to land at the delivery points before returning to the distribution center. Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda said that the use of unmanned commercial drones to transport essential medical products is a milestone for Rwanda in many respects. "It demonstrates the possibility of transforming business models in many industries beyond healthcare. We recognize its power to change lives, and contribute to the rapid socio-economic transformation we want," he said. "Rwandans have learned to embrace innovation, especially when it is clear that it can help us solve the challenges we face. I hope that this project will inspire more innovation and entrepreneurship in commercially viable technologies in our country," he added. According to Rwanda ministry of health, Zipline drones will deliver blood to 21 health facilities in Northern, Southern and Western provinces of the country. According to Zipline Inc, the drones can travel up to 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) round trip and move at speeds up to 130 kilometers (75 miles) an hour. The company can process as many as 150 blood deliveries per day. The drones will be used to deliver blood, plasma, and coagulants to hospitals across rural Rwanda, helping to cut waiting times from hours to minutes. The aircraft are launched from a catapult and fly below 500ft (152m) to avoid the airspace used by passenger planes. Doctors in remote clinics use a mobile phone to contact the Zipline distribution center and request blood of a certain type. LISBON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Portugal has called on Iraq to respond until the end of next week to a request to lift diplomatic immunity from the Iraqi ambassador's sons over an assault which took place in August, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Portugal is still investigating the case of the twin sons of Iraq's ambassador to Portugal, who were accused of assaulting a teenager and leaving him in coma on August 17. The 17-year-old twins, Haider and Ridha Ali, allegedly attacked 15-year old Ruben Cavaco in the town of Ponte de Sor, around 180 km north of Lisbon. They were freed after the authorities discovered they were sons of Iraqi ambassador Saad Mohammed Ridha, and have diplomatic immunity from prosecution. Portugal received a delegation from Iraq from October 10 to 11, according to a statement from the ministry of foreign affairs sent to media on Friday. The incident was discussed during this trip among other issues relating to bilateral relations. The ministry of foreign affairs added that Portugal had asked Iraq to lift the diplomatic immunity of the Iraqi ambassador's sons following an inquiry into the incident. The Iraq authorities during their visit received all information relevant to the legal framework of the case and is expected to make a formal decision by the end of next week, the statement concluded. UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Francois Lounceny Fall of Guinea as his acting special representative for Central Africa and head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced here Friday. Fall succeeds Abdoulaye Bathily of Senegal, who will conclude his appointment on Oct. 31, Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "The secretary-general is grateful for Mr. Bathily's dedication and excellent leadership of UNOCA during a critical period for the Central African sub region." Fall has been serving as vice-chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission of the South Sudan Peace Agreement since January 2016. "He brings extensive experience in the areas of politics and diplomacy, having supported political processes in Somalia, the Central African Republic and South Sudan," the spokesman said. He has also served as foreign minister of Guinea, and with the United Nations, as the special representative of the secretary-general in the Central African Republic from 2007 to 2008 and in Somalia from 2005 to 2007. UNOCA was inaugurated in Libreville, Gabon, on March 2, 2011. It is mandated to assist member states and sub-regional organizations in consolidating peace and preventing future conflicts. UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday issued a new report with the alarming statistic that five out of six children worldwide under two years old are not receiving adequate nutrition for growth and brain development. Childhood nutrition during the first two years of life is critical to development and survival, and though there has been a reduction in chronic malnutrition over the past 10 years, stunting continues to affect 156 million children under the age of five, while at the other end of the spectrum, 42 million children are overweight or obese, an 11 million increase from 2000. In all countries, rich and poor, breastfeeding gives children the best start and can save lives, yet too few children benefit, said the report. The report, issued here on the eve of World Food Day, is the part two of the UN agency's From the First Hour of Life global mapping of infant and child feeding practices. The part one was launched on July 29. The latest report focused on breastfeeding with recommendations that children be introduced to solid, semi-solid and soft foods at the age of six months, but has found that many are introduced to these foods too early or late, creating an adverse effect on health and development. The report also urged mothers to breastfeed children until the age of 2 or older, in addition to complementary foods. "Infants and young children have the greatest nutrient needs than at any other time in life. But the bodies and brains of millions of young children do not reach their full potential because they are receiving too little food, too late," France Begin, senior nutrition adviser at UNICEF, said in a press release. "Poor nutrition at such a young age causes irreversible mental and physical damage," she added. According to the report, though critical to safeguarding against death, fewer than half of all newborns breastfeed within the first hour of life, and only half of children aged six to 23 months are fed the minimum number of meals per day for their age. In both rich and poor countries, long periods of breastfeeding correlate with higher intelligence scores, the report said, adding that further evidence indicates that this translates into better academic performance and long-term earnings. Breastfeeding may reduce the risk of obesity and chronic disease later in life, and mothers who breastfeed are at a lower risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers, it said. Scaling up to universal levels, breastfeeding could save more than 800,000 children and add more than 300 billion U.S. dollars to the global economy each year, said the report. Only half of children aged six to 11 months receive any foods from animal sources, which are essential to provide zinc and iron, it said. However, families alone cannot provide children with nutritious foods. This also requires government investments in complementary feeding policies and programs that prioritize early nutrition as well as contributions from communities and the private sector. In order to provide nutritious and affordable foods to the poorest children in the world, governments and the private sector will need to engage in stronger and more targeted investments. These could include cash or in-kind transfers to vulnerable families, crop diversification programs, and fortifying foods that are critical to improving nutrition in young children. World Food Day, which falls on Oct. 16, is an opportunity to raise awareness about undernutrition and encourage societies and all actors to end hunger. Five were killed and 20 others injured when an explosion ripped through a funeral camp Friday in the northern Yemeni province of Marib. (Reuters photo) ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- About five people were killed and 20 others injured when an explosion ripped through a funeral camp Friday in the northern Yemeni province of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, a military official told Xinhua. "Two bombs exploded inside a camp attended by scores of people who were present to offer condolences after the death of a high-ranking military leader killed by Houthis a few days ago in Marib province," the local military source said on condition of anonymity. Initial reports suggested that the explosion which targeted the funeral service left more than 20 people injured at the scene, the source added. Two brothers of the killed commander of the Third Military Region in Marib, were among the victims in the explosion, local sources said. Meanwhile, in the country's temporary capital of Aden, tens of thousands of southern Yemenis went out to the streets for the 53rd anniversary of the 14th October revolution against British occupation. The huge demonstrations raised slogans calling for south Yemen independence and demanded an end to the 1990 unification with north Yemen. The situation in Yemen has deteriorated economically and politically since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. Houthis and Saleh's forces hold most of Yemen's northern regions while government forces backed by Saudi-led military coalition share control of the rest of the country including seven southern provinces. The civil war, ground battles and airstrikes have already killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, injured more than 35,000 others and displaced over two million, according to humanitarian agencies. by Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- For 40 years, Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities has documented and protected rich underwater heritage of the country. It marked the 40th anniversary of its establishment on Friday. During a one-day conference hosted at the new Acropolis Museum, the public were presented the latest impressive findings of archaeological research in the period 2015-2016, including a short video of a Xinhua production this autumn at the submerged ancient city at Epidavros port in the Peloponnese peninsula. Angeliki Simosi, head of the ephorate, gave a comprehensive overview of their numerous projects across Greece in the past two years, which include expeditions in cooperation with foreign institutes at famous shipwrecks and sites, such as the Britannic -- Titanic's sister ship, off Kea island, as well as new discoveries. The famous Antikythera Roman era shipwreck first rediscovered by sponge divers in 1900 at the depth of 50 meters, for example, yielded new remarkable discoveries in the past two years, including a human skeleton, a golden ring, a bronze spear and fragments of statues during the first expedition held at the site since 1976. At Fournoi, near the island of Ikaria, also in the Aegean Sea, archaeologists traced some 45 shipwrecks from antiquity and the Middle Ages, making the archipelago one of the richest sea regions in ancient artefacts in the Mediterranean, Simosi underlined. At Lechaion, ancient Corinth's partially submerged harbor town, ongoing underwater excavations revealed the infrastructure of more than a thousand years of flourishing maritime trade. The long list of projects could not be realized in the difficult times what debt-laden Greece experiences in recent years without the substantial financial support of sponsors in Greece and abroad, both Simosi and other Greek culture ministry officials and experts stressed. During Friday's event, the audience was also given a preview of a short trailer of a Xinhua production made this September at the ancient port of Epidavros. For the first time after four decades with the use of drone and underwater filming made by Xinhua, Greek archaeologists were allowed to have a closer look at the sunken architectural remains. Participants in the conference saw the ruins of the ancient breakwaters and a Roman era mansion. "It is breathtaking," Stamatina Barouxi, a pensioner teacher, told Xinhua after the screening. From Friday until March 31, 2017, on display at the foyer of the Acropolis Museum will be one of the most spectacular finds of the Ephorate in recent years: the bronze statue of a rider found in the sea south of the island of Kalymnos dated back to the 2nd century BC. The torso and legs of the figure who is believed to be a military officer, as well as a head which is most likely part of the same statue, were caught in fishing nets in 2006 and 2009. This file photo taken on September 18, 2016 shows a South Korean employee as he resets a recalled Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone at a telecommunications shop in Seoul. (Xinhua/AFP PHOTO) WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Friday it is banning all Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone devices from air transportation in the United States. The DOT said in an emergency order that individuals who own or possess a Samsung Galaxy Note7 device may not transport the device on their person, in carry-on baggage, or in checked baggage on flights to, from, or within the United States. The phones also cannot be shipped as air cargo, it said, noting anyone violating the ban may be subject to criminal prosecution in addition to fines. "We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. "We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk." On Tuesday, Samsung suspended the manufacture and sale of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 device. Elliot Kaye, chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned that the fire hazard with the original Note7 and with the replacement Note7 is "simply too great." "I would like to remind consumers once again to take advantage of the remedies offered, including a full refund," Kaye said. "It's the right thing to do and the safest thing to do." UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) continues to appeal to the international community for 120 million U.S. dollars in emergency funding to provide life-saving relief to 750,000 Haitians affected by Hurricane Matthew, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Friday. "The Appeal is currently 13 percent funded," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "The requested funding is vital to support the response of the Haitian authorities and civil society to cover critical needs of the affected populations such as safe water, food, shelter, and sanitation to prevent water-borne infectious diseases." The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that they are supporting the government of Haiti in providing emergency food assistance to 750,000 people in regions battered on Oct. 4 by Hurricane Matthew. WFP's food distributions began on Oct. 8 in Jeremie, he said, adding that so far, around 30,000 people, mostly living in shelters, have received rations. "WFP says they are using trucks and helicopters to transport food as quickly as possible to save lives," he said. Meanwhile, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is also working to vaccinate 500,000 people against cholera in affected areas, he said. "A water treatment unit has arrived in Haiti and was transported to Jeremie. It is expected to be fully operational to respond to the needs of up 16,000 people daily by tomorrow." The UN Peacekeeping Mission in the country (MINUSTAH) reported that UN Police and Haitian National Police conducted a total of 159 joint patrols throughout Haiti on Thursday, he said. The UN Mission is providing security to food and water distribution efforts undertaken by UN agencies in Jeremie, as well as to humanitarian agency warehouses in Les Cayes and Jeremie, he said. "Peacekeepers also continue to provide security to relief and aid convoys in various parts of the country." UN Secretary-General will travel to Haiti on Saturday to visit the areas hardest hit by the hurricane. Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) DHAKA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday. The two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation. During the meeting, Xi said the closer partnership the two sides forged in 2010 has yielded fruitful results, with bilateral cooperation seeing steady progress in political, economic, cultural and security areas and on international and regional affairs. China highly values its friendly cooperative ties with Bangladesh and will continue to offer support within its capacity for the economic and social development of the South Asian country, Xi said. Noting that China is striving for its "two centenary goals" while Bangladesh is pursuing its "Sonar Bangla" dream of national strength and prosperity, Xi added that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative can dovetail with Bangladesh's cooperation strategies with the outside world. The "two centenary goals" refer to China's aspiration to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the Communist Party of China celebrates its centenary in 2021 and turn the People's Republic of China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the time it celebrates its centenary in 2049. Since establishing diplomatic ties 41 years ago, China and Bangladesh have adhered to "the five principles of peaceful co-existence" and have respected and supported each other in choosing the development path and domestic and foreign policies in accordance with its national conditions, said Xi. Now in their pursuit of development, the two countries should be friends and partners that trust and support each other and advance practical cooperation to reap even richer fruits, so as to inject more impetus into bilateral ties, said the Chinese president. Hasina, for her part, said the traditional friendship between Bangladesh and China, forged by the two countries' leaders of the older generation, enjoys deeply rooted public support in Bangladesh. Bangladesh admires China's economic achievement, and is ready to strengthen cooperation with China while pursuing its "Sonar Bangla" dream, said the prime minister. Bangladesh resolutely adheres to the one-China policy and is ready to maintain mutual understanding and support with the Chinese side on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns, she said. After their talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation documents covering such areas as the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, production capacity cooperation, information and telecommunication, energy and power, diplomacy, maritime affairs, disaster prevention and alleviation, and climate change. The two sides also issued a joint statement about the upgrading of bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation. The document said the visit has ushered the traditional friendship between China and Bangladesh into a new era and bears significant historical importance to the bilateral relationship. The two sides agreed to enhance high-level exchanges, maintain frequent contacts between leaders of the two countries on the sidelines of multilateral fora, strengthening exchanges and cooperation at various levels between the two governments, legislative bodies, political parties, and peoples to deepen mutual trust at all levels. They agreed to enhance the alignment of the development strategies of the two countries, fully tap the potentials of cooperation in various areas, work on "the Belt and Road Initiative" so as to realize sustainable development and common prosperity of the two countries. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. Bangladesh is appreciative of the initiative, believing it will bring important opportunities for Bangladesh' s goals of becoming a middle-income country by 2021 and a Developed Country by 2041. China and Bangladesh agreed to expand and deepen trade and investment cooperation and identify infrastructure, industrial capacity cooperation, energy and power, transportation, information and communication technology and agriculture as the key areas of bilateral pragmatic cooperation. They agreed to start feasibility studies on the establishment of China-Bangladesh Free Trade Area. China will continue to encourage and support Chinese enterprises to invest and build Economic and Industrial Zones in Bangladesh. Bangladesh will facilitate and support Chinese enterprises doing business in Bangladesh. Chinese side will provide support and assistance to Bangladesh in strengthening disaster management capacity building, seeking waste management and water treatment solutions for both urban and industrial areas and developing earthquake resilient infrastructure. China and Bangladesh agreed to strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries and to announce the year 2017 as the Year of Friendship and Exchanges between China and Bangladesh. The document specified that China will train 500 Chinese-language teachers for Bangladesh and 100 Bangladeshi cultural professionals, and invite 600 Bangladeshi students to visit China during 2016 to 2020. It also said the two sides are ready to enhance communication and coordination in pushing forward the construction of Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. They agreed to push for early consensus on the Joint Study Report and establish the governmental cooperation framework between the four parties, so as to launch early harvest programs at an early date. The document highlighted bilateral cooperation in other fields such as industrial capacity, finance, maritime affairs, climate change and fight against terrorism and on international affairs. Xi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to the South Asian country in 30 years. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit, which already took him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the western Indian state of Goa for a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. MEXICO CITY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China has signed 2 billion U.S. dollars worth of cooperation agreements with Haiti, local media reported on Friday. Planning and Foreign Cooperation Minister Aviol Fleurant said he had signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs), as part of a trade cooperation agreement with China, the daily Haiti Libre said. The first agreement entails "a project to build a national grid, including wind and solar parks, totalling 1.2 billion U.S. dollars," and the second agreement calls for "strengthening agriculture in Haiti," through an investment of 800 million U.S. dollars, according to the daily. The China Automation Control System Corporation (CACS), a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach), is one of the firms involved in the projects. Fleurant once traveled to China in May to meet with officials there on bilateral cooperation in infrastructure. MEXICO CITY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Haiti will hold long-delayed presidential elections on Nov. 20, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced on Friday. Initially postponed by political turmoil, elections were pushed back yet again by last week's Hurricane Matthew, which devastated southern Haiti, leading officials to call off an Oct. 9 poll. The CEP said it needed at least five weeks to prepare for the elections, "because a significant number of voting centers were partially damaged or partially destroyed," and "in some cases, voting centers are not accessible because of ... impassable roads in many locations," the daily Haiti Libre said. In addition, thousands of Haitians displaced by flooding are without their national identity cards, and will require time to retrieve or replace them, the CEP said. Haiti has consistently failed to meet its electoral timetable and is officially without a head of state. The CEP called off a scheduled presidential runoff two days before voters were to go to the polls on Jan. 24, citing rising violence and threats against the election process. The runoff pitted opposition candidate Jude Celestin, of the Alternative League for Progress and Haitian Emancipation (LAPEH), against ruling Tet Kale Haitian Party (PHTK) candidate Jovenel Moise. Tensions rose after Moise won the first round on Oct. 25 with 32.8 percent of the ballots, followed by Celestin, who garnered 25 percent of the ballots. The outcome angered supporters of the opposition, since going into the first round, polls showed Celestin was the favorite to win, with 33.4 percent support, while Moise trailed in distant second place with 17.5 percent. In the meantime, the president of the National Assembly, Jocelerme Privert, has served as Haiti's provisional president. Political instability has roiled Haiti since its first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted by a U.S.-backed coup in 2004. Enditem HAVANA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Various Cuban media outlets on Friday highlighted the new set of measures issued by U.S. President Barack Obama to further ease trade, travel and financial restrictions on the island as he seeks to make his policy change toward the Caribbean nation irreversible before leaving office in January. Official daily Granma reported on the latest changes by the Obama administration, which constitute the fourth set of measures issued by the White House to relax the economic embargo on the island since both governments began normalizing relations in December 2014. Among the changes, Cuban pharmaceutical companies can now apply for Food and Drug Administration approval and sell their own products manufactured in the island on American soil. Furthermore, American visitors to the island can now take back rum and cigars with no limit. This will come as a great economic boon to Cuba, which nets great revenues from abroad on these products. The Cuban government had long requested Washington open up the U.S. market for its pharmaceutical products and traditional exports. This new measure will allow for Cuban vaccines against cancer and other drugs against diabetes to be commercialized in the United States in the near future. Official website Cubadebate highlighted that U.S firms can also now provide services related to infrastructure in Cuba. Also, it displayed the Treasury Department changes regarding the permission for U.S. companies to provide safety-related services for commercial aircrafts in Cuba, where U.S. airlines have begun regular commercial flights. Another crucial change is that Washington lifted the prohibition on foreign vessels entering a U.S. port for loading or unloading freight for 180 days after docking at a Cuban port for trade purposes. These measures are all contained in Obama's latest executive order on Cuba, which sidesteps the Republican-controlled Congress and further relaxes the economic and trade blockade imposed on Havana for over 50 years. Congress has so far resisted Obama's call to lift Washington's economic embargo on Cuba. In an article published Friday on the White House's website, Samantha Power, Obama's national security advisor, wrote that "this directive outlines the future we'd like to see - a future of greater engagement, greater cooperation, and greater opportunity for Americans and for Cubans." DAMASCUS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were killed on Friday by suspected U.S.-led air strike on Syria's northern province of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State (IS) group, a monitor group reported. The warplanes, believed to be from the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition, struck areas in the town of Dahham in the northeastern countryside of al-Raqqa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based watchdog group said the death toll could likely rise due to the large number of wounded people. It wasn't the first U.S.-led air strike that leads to civilian casualties, as the United States itself admitted before that civilian victims may have fallen during the coalition's air strikes, which has started targeting the IS positions in Syria since 2014. In January, 2014, the IS took over al-Raqqa and declared it their de facto capital. MEXICO CITY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican government is hoping to extradite drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the U.S. in January or February 2017, said Director of the National Security Commission (CNS) Renato Sales on Friday. In a television interview with Televisa, Heredia explained that, in the next few days, a federal judge will begin analyzing whether the extradition of the Sinaloa cartel leader is legal or not, after Guzman's appeal against extradition was upheld in May. Sales estimated that the revision of the case would take around three months and that, if the judge rules the extradition can take place, the federal government would act quickly. "We hope that (he will be extradited) in January or February of next year," he told Televisa's news show, Despierta. According to Sales, the federal government "is certain" that the judicial decision would come in favor of sending Guzman to the U.S., where courts in California and Texas have demanded to try him for crimes related to drug trafficking. However, Guzman's lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez Nunez, told Televisa that the extradition would not happen soon and that Guzman had been treated badly in prison in violation of his human rights. Mexican army and naval operatives arrested the drug trafficker on January 8 in the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, six months after he made a dramatic escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison in the central State of Mexico. LISBON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Portugal revised its economic forecast in its state budget for 2017, expecting a larger deficit and lower growth compared to its forecast in April. The government is expecting a deficit of 1.6 percent of GDP and a growth of 1.5 percent next year, Finance Minister Mario Centeno revealed on Friday during the presentation of the country's state budget for 2017. "This budget focuses on the recovery of income, which translates in a reduction of the fiscal burden," Centeno said before going through the budget's main measures, adding that financial stability was a priority. The state budget for 2017 was approved on Thursday at a council of ministers meeting and handed over to parliament on Friday. The core of the budget is raising pensions and personal income, while introducing indirect taxes and a new property tax. Measures in the budget for 2017 include gradually reducing income tax surcharge, raising pensions up to 630 euros by 10 euros from August and introducing a tax (0.3 percent) on real estate worth more than 600,000 euros. The government is also going ahead with a "fat tax," with sugary drinks and alcohol rising by at least 16 cents per liter. The ministry of health will have over 353 million euros more to spend in 2017 than it had in its budget for this year. "The total expenditure consolidated in the health program forecast of 2017 is 9,801 million euros, which correspondents to a rise of 3.7 percent compared to the budget for 2016," Centeno said. The culture sector will have a budget of 444.8 million euros for 2017, representing a 6.2 percent rise compared with 2016. The unemployed who are no longer eligible to receive unemployment benefits will receive an extraordinary subsidy of long duration of up to 335 euros. Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has been optimistic about the country's recovery since he took office in November, saying his spending plans are proof that reversing austerity can be done while maintaining fiscal discipline. Portugal has avoided a sanction by Brussels, after breaching the EU deficit ceiling of 3 percent last year. International rating agencies have been more sceptical than the government. Ratings agency Fitch pointed out earlier this year that the government's plans were "unrealistic," adding that it expected growth to rise to 1.7 percent of GDP this year, rather than the 2.1 percent planned by the government in January. The Bank of Portugal cut its growth forecast to 1.1 percent of GDP for this year, down from 1.6 percent last year, according to its quarterly economic bulletin released on October 7. However, the government has said its forecasts in the budget plan are realistic and it will manage to meet commitments with the parties that approved the government and with EU rules. Former minister of finance and professor at the Nova School of Business and Economics, Luis Campos e Cunha, said during a meeting with foreign correspondents in Lisbon on Friday that he is confident the government will meet its targets this year. "The government's optimism gives me hope that it will be able to meet a (budget deficit) target of 2.5 percent," he said, adding that "If the government doesn't meet its targets, it will be a political disaster with serious consequences." (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollars) PANAMA CITY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- President of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino) and Mexican senator Blanca Alcala in Panama City on Friday highlighted the need for new efforts to eradicate hunger, since, despite successes, there is still almost 27 million people with food shortages in the region. Alcala said that the reduction in hunger between 1990 and 2015 in this part of the world was significant, but the present situation shows that the efforts currently being made are still not enough. The Mexican senator said this on Friday morning during the inauguration of "Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too" Forum held at the regional parliament's headquarters in Panama's capital city. The forum was co-sponsored by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Alcala considered that this is the time to make a balance between what has been done, what is being done and what could be changed. This includes facing the impact of climate change on food and agriculture, added the Mexican. "We need to understand that today there are new risks," said the government official on the topic, highlighting that the world population, which keeps increasing, is expected to reach 9.6 billion people in 2050, and in order to meet such a high demand, agricultural and food systems will have to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and become more resilient, productive and sustainable. The sub-regional coordinator for Mesoamerica and FAO representative in Panama, Tito Diaz, considered holding the forum in Panama to be an acknowledgement to parliamentarians' struggle against poverty in the region. Diaz also considered it relevant to discuss a modern law for food during the forum and also at times when the natural resources are degraded, that increased productivity has not been accompanied by social inclusion and which has increased the consumption of ultra-processed foods. At the same time, Diaz highlighted the need for a series of initiatives that include appropriate institutional and legal frameworks, as well as joint actions between the agriculture, environment, education, social development and finances. Diaz also mentioned the importance of relying on larger investments in the field and developing rural services and innovative financial mechanisms for the farmers in order to encourage a sustainable food product. Meanwhile, Alcala re-confirmed the regional parliamentarians' commitment to promoting appropriate model laws in order to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the region. Antonio Guterres (front) gestures after he was appointed as the new UN Secretary-General at the UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 13, 2016. The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday appointed by acclamation Portuguese former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as next UN secretary-general to succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) Ganja teen on $5,000 bond Before being called upon to plead, Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan explained the meaning of the charges to the accused twice to ensure her understanding. The girl sighed several times before pleading guilty. However, after the facts of the case were read and Rambachan asked the accused to explain herself, she contested the facts of the case. I wasnt lying down, she said. When they (police) came in I was standing up by the door. Rambachan immediately changed her plea from guilty to not guilty and placed the girl on $5,000 bond. Before allowing the girl and her family to leave, Rambachan asked her mother, Did you know your daughter was not at home? She dont like to be home, sir, said the mother. Rambachan advised the mother to have a chat with the Probation Officer downstairs the court or the Childrens Authority if she was having disciplinary issues with her daughter. SUPER GIRLS This was revealed at a news briefing held by Education Minister Anthony Garcia and Minister in the Education Ministry Dr Lovell Francis yesterday at the Ministry in Port-of-Spain. Garcia said some 389 scholarships were awarded, comprised of 91 open scholarships and 298 additional scholarships, all together worth $61 million. He revealed that girls had won 63.5 percent of scholarships, with boys winning 36.5 percent. So it seems our girls are outperforming our boys...something we need to look at carefully, said Garcia. He revealed the school winning the most scholarships was St Augustine Girls High School (SAGHS) which won 45 scholarships, made up of 11 open and 34 additional. An overwhelming majority of awards were made for Science - some 180 scholarships - comprised of 16 open and 164 additional, a disproportion that Garcia said needs remedying in alignment with TTs developmental needs. He welcomed the fact that some five State-run schools had collectively won 17 scholarships. These were Queens Royal College (six), St Georges College (three), Couva East (six), St Francois (one) and Manzanilla Secondary (one). Garcia said seven denominational school had done exceptionally well. These were SAGHS; Lakshmi (42 awards, made up of 10 open and 32 additional); Naparima Boys College (41 award comprising 10 open and 31 additional); Naparima Girls School (37 awards, made of six open and 31 additional), SJC Port of Spain (29 awards made up of 12 open and 17 additional); Hillview College (28 awards, consisting of 15 open and 13 additional) and Presentation College Chaguanas (25 awards, made up of four open and 21 additional). Garcia said the $61.6 million cost of the scholarships comprised three groups. Some 30 open scholarships to be used inside TT will cost $13.5 million. Some 61 open scholarships to be used outside of TT will cost $18.3 million. Some 298 additional scholarships to be used in TT will cost $29.8 million. He listed the subject areas of award. Business Studies (three open, 42 additional), Creative Arts (two open, two additional), Environmental Studies (four open, 49 additional), General Studies (four open, two additional), Humanities (two open, one additional), ICT (15 open, three additional), Languages (11 open, five additional), Math (34 open, 29 additional), Natural Sciences (16 open, 164 additional), Technical Studies (zero open, one additional). Garcia said Cabinet earlier yesterday expressed its concern that apart from Science, other areas exist where pupils need to perform well due to TTs developmental needs. Saying his Ministry has been told to look again at the criteria for scholarship awards, he said, Well develop new policies. Scholarships should be aligned to the countrys developmental needs. He suggested a cap in certain subject areas, such as the Natural Sciences. Francis said the country is short of joiners and tech/voc teachers. Francis hailed the efforts of pupils, parents and teachers, saying that excellent students are not an anomaly but are created by factors such as good family structures. He hoped each scholarship is not an end but a stepping stone into the future. Garcia said the Ministry has strategies of extra support to help 56 secondary schools whose pupils scored less than 30 percent in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) Exam. Chief Education Officer, Harrilal Seecharan, promised to help to the 56 disadvantaged schools to help literacy, numeracy and psycho-social issues, including using lessons learnt from successful schools. Pressed about the huge gap between State and denominational schools which respectively won three percent and 97 percent of the scholarships, Garcia said he hoped all schools would operate at their optimum. RAQUEL SHOCKED The only goal Raquel Le Blanc set for herself was to do well in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and maybe win a scholarship. As the 2017 Presidents Medal winner for Business, shes exceeded even her own expectations. I was extremely shocked but also grateful, the effervescent 18 year old told the Newsday at her Maraval home.Le Blanc graduated from St Josephs Convent, Port-of- Spain earlier this year with grade ones in Management of Business, Accounting, Economics, Literatures in English, as well as Caribbean and Communications studies. I have a passion for business. I loved economics in school. Its all just so interesting. I loved it, she said. She was also full of praise for her teachers at St Josephs Convent. The teachers at Convent were the best motivators. The whole business department really motivates you to learn. They are excellent, she gushed. She especially singled out her Management and Accounting tutor Donald Subit, and her economics teacher Wajad Mollick. Despite her bubbly disposition, Raquel was still slightly overwhelmed by the achievement, but it wasnt surprising to her parents, Andre and Mera LeBlanc. They were the bestits more their Presidents Medal than mine, she said. Her parents were obviously proud and praised their daughters drive. Shes always been very self-motivatedin fact weve had to tell her to slow down at times. She knows what she wants and will work hard for it, Mrs Le Blanc said. We were there to lend her the moral and family support. She made up her mind she wanted to do the best that she could. We encouraged her; gave her her space and any assistance, advice that she needed. Sometimes all she needed was just a little counselling because the work was almost never-ending. We just helped her to manage the process and workload. I think the rest was up to her, her teachers and her own motivation, Mr Le Blanc added. Raquel admitted she had been nervous during her exams, and as soon as they were over, she celebrated her relief binge-watching Netflix. I honestly did nothing. It was wonderful, she said. Now, shes a first year law student at the University of the West Indies. Law has always intrigued me. I always liked how lawyers looked. But seriously, I think its a noble profession. My dad is a lawyer; I guess I was always looking at him as a role model. Its a dynamic profession and I get the ability to help people, she said. PRIYAS JOY Celebratory. That word explained the mood at Priya Marajs home yesterday when Newsday arrived to interview her about receiving not only a Government scholarship to pursue general sciences at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine but also the Presidents Medal for excellence in the CAPE exams. Maraj, a former Lakshmi Girls Hindu College student, expressed overwhelming joy in the presence of her younger sister (who declined to speak), their mother Kallawatie Maraj and father Pooran Maraj.At the time, Priya was about to visit an old lessons teacher in Chaguanas who wanted to see her, for the sole purpose of congratulating her when Newsday arrived at her Cunupia home. Asked about how she felt upon finding out about the scholarship, she responded in this way, It feels kind of weird. I dont think it has really sunk in yet. Maraj, 18, has already commenced studies at UWI in Bio-Chemistry and Chemistry and intends to continue along these scholastic lines. Maraj explained that she would like to study forensics or perhaps even genetics because she finds the fields interesting. Maraj said that perhaps one day, she will take up a position at the Forensics Centre in St James. Marajs father expressed his delight simply by saying that he felt elated over his daughters success BATT: Dont put PIN backwards BATT said that if a system like using your pin backwards were to be implemented there would be several challenges, including police response time, false alarms and the cost of implementation and maintenance.BATT reminded the public that customers can protect themselves at ATMs by being mindful of their surroundings and observant of suspicious individuals. Customers were also advised to use ATMs in high-traffic locations such as supermarkets, gas stations and banks, preferably during daylight hours. It was also advised that if there is a need to use ATMs at night, persons should ensure that the surrounding area is well-lit. BATT reminded the public that they should always shield their PIN when conducting ATM transactions. Less schols for South Dowlat said, I am really happy for the schools continuing success and congratulate the hard work by both students, staff members and parents, because they have made their families, their communities and their school, very proud. The school is expected to hold their annual graduation and prize giving function next Saturday at the schools auditorium, Paradise Pasture, San Fernando. Naparima Girls High School vice principal, Mrs Karen Balley, also expressed satisfaction at the schools success, saying that commendations should be given to the students, teaching staff and parents. She too noted that this years scholarship winners had decreased from 45 scholarships in 2015, to 37 in 2016. The school is expected to hold their graduation ceremony at the Susachamar Presbyterian Church next Friday from 9 am. Meanwhile, Presentation College at Chaguanas and San Fernando garnered 41 scholarships while the Holy Faith Convents at Penal was awarded 20 scholarships. St Joseph Convent, San Fernando copped nine scholarships. Also earning scholarships was St Stephens College, Princes Town which took four. ASJA Boys and Girls Colleges, San Fernando, took 14 scholarships Blame Petrotrins downsizing for oil tank suicide Pierres body was fished out of an oil-tank on Wednesday evening almost a week after he was able gain entry to the facility, though the Trinmar installations are heavily guarded. Addressing a media conference at the Pointe-a-Pierre roundabout in Marabella yesterday morning, Roget described the incident as sad, adding that had Petrotrin not reduced its security personnel, Pierre would not have been able to pass the security check-point. Roget said, That resident of Point Fortin died in troubling and vexing circumstances; circumstances that were preventable, and so, if the company had done what it was supposed to have done in law and in terms of procedure, such as safety and security for its operation, that citizen would have been alive today. He added, The blood of that citizen rests squarely on the hands of the top management of the Petroleum company of Trinidad and Tobago. Roget called for an in-depth and comprehensive enquiry into the breach of security arrangements which would have led to Pierre getting onto the Trinmars compound. He said the reduction of security personnel throughout the oil company had led to an increase in theft and robberies at installations in its oilfields, as well as the discovery of dead bodies along rural field roads. Roget said, You would also recall us reporting the discovery of dead bodies in the producing fields. How did those bodies get there without the knowledge of security. You will also recall the union reporting that pumping jacks and motors stolen from the fields under the not so watchful eye of the security, because the security is just not there. In some cases, it has been reduced by 50 percent. Where you supposed to have two security officers, you have one. At the Forest gate for instance, where the security guard was beaten and robbed because you had two security guards at each gate, and he reduce it from two to one. Meanwhile, in a media release, Petrotrin stated that a review of its security arrangements had commenced throughout its operations following the incident that occurred at the companys Point Ligoure Tank Farm, Point Fortin. The company stated that it has instituted a number of new security measures , including the erection of a 12-foot security fence with razor wire at the top for added security; signage indicating that the facility is for Authorised Personnel Only; a solid brick wall at the northern side of the Public Cemetery in addition to the Tank Farms wire wall panels. The company noted that it had increased routine surveillance and patrol by security officers while a review of its security measures are currently taking place. Service stations on brink of shutting down Ramnarine was one of the speakers at a seminar entitled The Fuel Subsidy The New Reality held yesterday at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mount Hope. He said these small gas stations are tottering on the brink of going out of business. He said that in a major gas station such as those located around Port-of-Spain, about fifty percent of its revenue comes from the Quick Shop and 50 percent from the sale of fuel. He said that in the rural areas which have mainly small gas stations, almost ninety percent of their revenue comes from the sale of gasolene and they are tottering on the brink of going out of business. He said through the Petroleum Dealers Association, the independent dealers association __ Unipet __ and other organisations, the service station owners had made representations to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy but it seems that they have not been heard or that they have not been heard yet or no action has been taken as yet. Ramnarine added that if it is not addressed, you are going to have dislocation. He said there had already been closures of service stations in the Princes Town and Moruga areas. He said he recalled as a child that there were four or five service stations in Sangre Grande but now there were only two or one and a half because one is very small. Towns like Princes Town; Rio Claro; Sangre Grande; La Brea, Point Fortin and so on,there is actually a difficulty getting fuel there. He said that a number of new stations had been approved during his time as Minister of Energy but those stations were in various stages of construction. He said he was really concerned about the rural areas and called on Finance Minister Colm Imbert to address the issue when debate on the budget moves to the Senate. He said the service station network is concentrated along the Eastern Main Road and the Southern Main Road because this was how the country developed but nowadays there were not many service stations along the highways which is where most of the traffic passes. The forum also heard from Dr Afraz Ali who spoke about the Fuel Subsidy: re-balancing the equation Moonilal: Photos didnt come from Defence Force No member of the Defence Force or army has ever given me any information, any images or any pictures which I used in the Parliament. This is absolutely false, he told reporters in the Parliament yesterday during Day One of the Standing Finance Committee, reviewing the allocations of the 2017 Budget. To this end, Moonilal condemned Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowleys allegation that members of the Defence Force were responsible for the leak of the photos of the two teenagers, believed to be Attorney General Faris Al Rawis children, in the Parliament. Dismissing the statements as contemptuous, Moonilal said Rowley had undermined the integrity and credibility of the Defence Force. He (Rowley) came to the Parliament without one shred of evidence and in one fell swoop, attacked the army for leaking information and no such thing has happened, he said. Moonilal claimed that the photographs originated from the Facebook page of a member of the Attorney Generals family. These photos, I am informed, were posted on a Facebook page sometime around October last year, he said. The Facebook page was a member of the Al Rawi family. It went up for one day in which several persons saw it and then it was removed swiftly. It was up one day and then removed the next day. Moonilal said the photographs only came to his attention in February/ March. When I got it, I had to verify whether it was a picture in Trinidad, whether these were Trinidadians. It took some time and some doing, he said. It was only in the last few weeks that I verified persons with a resemblance to the Attorney Generals children and that it would have taken place at the Cumuto Army Base. So that this has nothing to do with the Defence Force. Moonilal said he believed that the photographs were placed on Facebook for kicks. The children were really posing with machine guns and so on, he said. Alluding to the Defence Forces media release on the matter on Wednesday, Moonilal observed that the army did not confirm that the photographs were not taken during the training session. They cannot do that because it is illegal to place a firearm in the hands of a minor, he said. Cumuto Barracks is not Guantanamo Bay. The laws of Trinidad andTobago apply at the Cumuto Barracks. The law is not suspended and the law is if you place a firearm in the hands of a minor, it is a breach. It is an offence. So, the army could not have done that. Moonilal alleged that the children were posing in the pictures. I dont think they were doing any training or anything like and so this has serious consequences, he said. Moonilal reiterated that he had written to the Prime Minister and copied the letter to the Director of Publoic Prosecutions and I am hoping the DPP will use his independent office to look at it and cause a police investigation into the matter because at first sight, it is a breach of the law. The Opposition MP also noted the fact that it was the PM who identified the children as the offspring of the AG. To this moment, the AG in the public, has not identified these children. He will not do that because there is a legal consequence of doing that... Panday calls for clarity on security protocols Panday was commenting on Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilals disclosure in the Parliament on Tuesday of photographs resembling the children of a top Cabinet minister holding firearms typically used by members of the Defence Force. Attorney General Faris Al Rawi has admitted his family participated in threat assessment training at the Cumuto Army Base as part of security protocols for families of State officials believed to be at high risk. The AG said the TT security agencies had carried out a threat assessment on him and his family and decided to instruct them in international protocols at the Cumuto Army Base, including how aggressors behave and what can be expected. Al Rawi described as reprehensible, Moonilals decision to bring youngsters into the political fray. Panday said as far as he could recall, such a system of security protocols for families of State officials deemed to be at risk did not exist during his tenure as prime minister, from 1995 to 2001. Maybe, it was there but we never took notice of it or never thought it was necessary. Times have changed, I imagine and people are at greater risks. So, they may have been a policy, he said. Panday said, however, that it might have been a new development. Well, that might have been something that was introduced after I left because when I was there, I had a police escort team that escorted me and the family, wife and children, he said. We had no inkling that we must train with guns ourselves. No that did not occur. Panday wondered if the children of the minister to whom Moonilal referred were the only ones trained to shoot. And if that is the case, under what circumstances will it ever be used. When they grow up, will they be provided with those guns? he asked, reiterating that the Government needed to explain its policy. Criminologist Prof Ramesh Deosaran told Newsday he was not aware of any security protocol for the families of State officials. I dont know if they made a request of the police but I do not know about a system itself. I dont know about that, he said. Asked to comment on the matter, Deosaran said: I really dont want comment on this one. This is a long distance thing for me. In light of the development, a group of about 30 protestors yesterday gathered outside of One Woodbrook Place, in Woodbrook, calling for Al Rawi to be removed as AG Report: As Satanism Grows, Italy Experiencing a Boom in Exorcisms The number of exorcisms has been rising sharply in Italy, with some 500,000 Italians requesting an exorcism each year and not nearly enough exorcists to meet the rising demand, according to recent reports. Article by Thomas D. Williams The archdiocese of Milan in northern Italy has doubled the number of its exorcists, while an exorcism hotline has been launched in Rome, but those in the field claim it isnt nearly enough. Romes most famous exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth (pictured), died last month and his successor, Father Vincenzo Taraborelli, says that he cannot keep up with the daily requests for liberation from demonic influence. Padre Vincenzo, as he is known, handles some 30 clients a day, and is calling on the Church to appoint more priests as exorcists to share in the mission of satanic deliverance. There are only nine of us left and many more are needed, he said. We need other priests like me to meet the needs of so many families. Last month, an Italian documentary on exorcism called Liberami won the award for best film in the Venice Horizons category at this years Venice Film Festival, drawing still more attention to this rapidly growing industry. In her film, director Federica Di Giacomos explores the exorcism efforts of Father Cataldo, a veteran exorcist in Sicily who is sought out in increasing numbers by Catholics who suspect they may be tormented or possessed by the devil. Just south of Rome, in the diocese of Frosinone, exorcist Father Ildebrando Di Fulvio receives a constant stream of people asking for help countering the strength of the devil in the Cistercian abbey where he works. Though quick to admit that many people who believe they are possessed are actually suffering from chronic depression or other mental illnesses, Di Fulvio says that the devils main advantage is convincing people he doesnt exist. Di Fulvio says that there are a number of external signs that can help distinguish between someone under the influence of Satan from someone who is mentally ill. Such signs include a deformed facial expression; a cavernous voice; spitting out food or metallic objects they never ingested; speaking in archaic languages they dont know consciously like Hebrew, ancient Greek, Latin, and Aramaic; an unnatural physical strength they dont normally possess; and violent reactions to deliverance prayers and holy water. The priest also noted that often people become possessed after participating in seances or Satanic masses, or after joining Satanic sects and cults. Father Aldo Buonaiuto, an exorcist in the northeastern Catholic diocese of Fabriano-Matelica, shares Di Fulvios concerns. According to the priest, some 10 million Italians have consulted wizards, witches, fortune tellers, and astrologers at least once in their lives. Most of them are charlatans who dupe desperate customers, but among them are some Satanists, he said. As tools of the trade, every exorcist carries a crucifix and holy water, and there are established deliverance prayers and rites used for the exorcism itself. Exorcisms arent for the faint of heart and patients must go through a spiritual journey first, says Buonaiuto. The first step is speaking with family members and psychiatrists to identify whether its a medical issue or not. Read more at: Breitbart.com Submit a correction >> Dell launches new laptop at Rs 39,590 Karnataka,Business/Economy,Technology, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Bengaluru, Oct 14 (IANS) Expanding its Inspiron 5000 series, US-based computer technology company Dell on Friday launched a new laptop in India at Rs 39,590. The Inspiron 5567 laptop features 15-inch full-HD display, Intel 7th Gen Core i7 processors, up to 2TB storage and AMD Radeon R7 series graphics with up to 4GB GDDR5 memory. "We strive to deliver seamless computing to our customers without any lags or delays to help them get more out of life," said Alen Jose, Product Marketing Director, Consumer and Small Business, Dell India, in a statement. The Inspiron 5567 laptop is bundled with Office 2016 home and student edition and McAfee security centre subscription of 15 months. The laptop comes in sparkling white, midnight blue, fog gray, black, bali blue and tango red colours. --IANS anuj/na/bg Xi arrives in Bangladesh for state visit Bangladesh,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics,Diplomacy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Dhaka, Oct 14 (IANS) Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Friday for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years to this South Asian nation. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's three-nation Asian tour, which already took him to Cambodia, Xinhua news agency reported. He will later travel to Goa for the Brics Summit scheduled to take place from October 15-16. --IANS py/ Terror being used as state policy by some nations: Rajnath Delhi,National,Politics,Terrorism, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Terrorism is being used as state policy by some nations and the world must unite against it, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday. "Some nations are using terror as their state policy. Those nations must be isolated," Rajnath Singh said at the All India Christian Council (AICC) meet here, hinting at Pakistan without naming it. "There can be differences over thinking and issues with some nations, but no way can a gun be chosen to resolve them," he said, adding, "the global community is facing the consequences of terrorism". Terming India as the "university of tolerance", Rajnath Singh said: "Terrorism has no religion, still some people try to link the two." The Minister said India was a secular state and there should not be any discrimination on the basis of religion. Reiterating that India has been the confluence of all major religions of the world, Rajnath Singh warned of strict action by the government against those who were spreading rumours about religious discrimination. "The union government will keep an eye on miscreants and rumour-mongers and steadfastly uphold the rule of law in the country," he asserted. --IANS rak/in/dg Italian Trade Commissioner lauds Modi's 'Make in India' initiative Delhi,Cinema/Showbiz,Lifestyle/Fashion,Politics, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Francesco Pensabene, Trade Commissioner at the Embassy of Italy and Coordinator for Italian Trade Commission Offices in India, feels Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative can strengthen business ties between the two countries. Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), Italian Trade Commission in New Delhi, ASSOCALZATURIFICI (Italian footwear manufacturer's association), and AIMPES (Italian leather goods manufacturer's association) on Friday organised a round-table discussion on "Forecast trends in Italian fashion for shoes and bags" at the ongoing Amazon India Fashion Week (AIFW) Spring-Summer 2017 here. Pensabene expressed his views post the discussion on the third day of the five-day fashion gala here. Asked how he sees the business relationship between the countries building with the Indian government, stressing on Make in India initiative, Pensabene told IANS: "I think we are doing very well". "The trade exchange between Italy and India has amounted to 7.3 billion euros in 2015. 'Make in India' is a fantastic chance to improve our investments into the country from fashion to furniture to automotive...We can do a wonderful job and I think there is a long-lasting and fruitful combination," Pensabene said. He also shared that Italy has invested 1.5 billion euros in India and he believes he "could do more". The panelists included Salina Ferreti (Vice President of ASSOCALZATURIFICI); Riccardo Braccialini (President AIMPES); Italian designers Orietta Pelizzari, Maria Soriano and Dario Pavon with Indian designers Rajesh Pratap Singh and Sanchita Ajjampur. Talking about association with the fashion gala, Pensabene said: "Through this platform we have the chance to make Italian companies better known to Indian designers and companies and it is also a chance for Indian designers to get connected with Italian companies." Pensabene added that "it is a great platform to increase business interaction between Indian and Italian designers". The fashion gala will close on Sunday with a guru-shishya (Master and Disciple) presentation by designers JJ Valaya and Alpana-Neeraj. --IANS ks/sug/vt Parliamentary defence panel briefed on surgical strikes Delhi,National,Defence/Security, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence was briefed on Friday about the September 29 surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army on terror launching pads across the Line of Control, official sources said. Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Bipin Rawat, briefed the panel members for around half an hour, said a member and added that the information provided is already in the public domain. The members did not ask any questions after the briefing, the source added. The briefing came after complaints from the Congress on Thursday night that the committee meeting agenda was changed at the last moment and the briefing on the surgical strikes was cancelled. The source said the issue was also raised at the meeting's beginning by Congress members, but committee Chairman Major General B.C. Khanduri (retd) said it might have been a "miscommunication". When members said they had written to him on the issue as well, the chairman said he did not receive the letter, and it appeared to have reached the media before him. Surgical strikes on September 28-29 night on terror launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan-administered Kashmir further escalated tensions between the two countries. The strikes came following a terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers. The parliamentary panel was to be briefed about the strike on Friday, as planned. However, as per the agenda uploaded on the Lok Sabha's website, the committee was to discuss the status of implementation of e-postal ballot system. This prompted protests from the Congress, and its two MPs on the panel -- Ambika Soni and Madhusudan Mistry -- said the last-minute change of agenda was "highly unacceptable". --IANS ao/tsb/vt When wife kept McConaughey waiting over his proposal United States,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Los Angeles, Oct 14 (IANS) Actor Matthew McConaughey thought his wife Camila Alves would refuse his marriage proposal as the model did not say anything when the actor proposed to her. The 46-year-old has been happily married to Alves for four years, but he wasn't convinced she was going to accept him when he got down on one knee, reports accesshollywood.com. "I remember hitting the knee, looking into her eyes. I remember her face. I remember this smile coming up from her feet. I remember her having to catch her breath. And she didn't say yes right away. And then the whole family was going, 'Jeezus, she's gonna say no'," McConaughey told Esquire magazine. The couple -- who met each other in 2006 -- now have three children, Levi, Livingston and Vida. McConaughey believes his career wouldn't be half as successful as it is now without the support of his family. "A good woman gives a man courage and confidence. Man is never more masculine than after the birth of his first child. I don't mean in a macho way. I mean in terms of giving a man strength," he said. --IANS sas/sug/bg Speech of Commerce & Industry Minister at the inauguration of BRICS Trade Fair New Delhi, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 NI Wire Respected Hon'ble Vice President of India, H.E. Mr. Marcos Pereira, Minister of Trade of Brazil, H.E. Mr. Denis Manturov, Minister of Trade and Industry, Russian Federation. H.E. Dr. Rob Davies, Minister of Trade of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Wang Shouwen Vice Minister of Finance & Commerce, China, H.E. Mr. Alexandr Tsybulskiy, Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Russia, Commerce Secretary, Chairman, ITPO, President of FICCI, Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, President of CII, Dr. Naushad Forbes, and President of ASSOCHAM, Mr. Sunil Kanoria, Officials and Diplomats of BRICS and BIMSTEC countries, Captains of Industry, Entrepreneurs and Trade promtion bodies & Media Ladies and Gentlmen It gives me great pleasure to be here for the inaugural ceremony of the BRICS Trade Fair in the gracious presence of Hon'ble Vice President of India. This is a unique event because for the first time a Trade Fair is being held in the BRICS format. It is indeed heartening that this Trade Fair has received enthusiastic response from entrepreneurs of all the BRICS countries. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Trade Ministers who are present on the dias for their support and encouragement. I would like to especially express my sincere gratitude to Hon'ble Vice President of India for having agreed to be the Chief Guest of this Trade Fair. His presence indeed elevates the importance of this event and boosts the morale of entrepreneurs participating in this event. Since India assumed the Presidency of the BRICS in February this year, several Ministries, Departments, institutions and agencies as well as NGOs have been actively organising various sectoral events across the country. The Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation underpin the solidarity of BRICS. Earlier in the day, we the Trade Ministers of BRICS countries deliberated on specific areas for cooperation with a view to enhancing intra-BRICS trade. These relate to forging cooperation in specific sectors such as SMEs, Standards, NTMs, IPR, e-Commerce, Single Window and Working Group on Trade. These cooperative frameworks will form focal points to work on concrete actions in a spirit of accommodation and undrestanding. The cooperative frameworks are non-binding and allow our countries to retain our policy space. All these ideas are captured in the BRICS Trade Ministers' Joint Communique and, subesqently, are expected to find expression in the BRICS Leaders' Declaration at Goa, in a couple of days from now. BRICS countries complement each other's economies. They are also major resource suppliers to the world. Globalisation has altered the world dynamics significantly since the end of the Cold War. The formation of BRICS is a distinct indicator of the emergence of a multi-polarity on the international stage. However, the global governance structures do not reflect the reality and this is where urgent changes are required. It is from this point of view that articulation of positions by BRICS countries and taking united stands on issues of common concern, holds immense significance for ensuring equity, justice and inclusiveness for developing countries. We believe, BRICS can play a positive role in strengthening the multilateral institutions, especially WTO, IMF, World Bank and UN systems. Trade amongst the BRICS nations is less than 5% of their total global trade. This amounts to, in actual terms, about US$ 300 billion out of US$ 6.50 trillion. The subdued global trade could be a major reason, as it has impacted BRICS economies differently, some through falling commodity prices and others on account shrinking demand for manufactured goods. We need to find innovative ways of increasing intra-BRICS trade. In this gloomy scenario, it has been observed that nations are resorting to protectionist measures in the forms of NTMs, creating invisible walls against free trade. It is in this context that cooperation amongst BRICS countries on NTMs remains significant. India has taken a lead on this issue and we should work towards standstill and rollback of protectionist measures. Participation of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) in the Trade Fair is a welcome development. NDB lends strength to enterprises in our Group by extending timely credit. Its establishment is indicative of the urgent need for reform of the global financial system towards new global rules setting. It also provides scope to work on Sustainable Development Goals in BRICS, particularly those relating to trade and investment and economic growth for tackling poverty and unemployment. India has taken a lead on the MSME sector. We believe this sector is vulnerable to global volatility and needs support, both in terms of finance and transfer of technology.MSME sustenance is crucial because they generate large employment in our countries. We would urge NDB to come out with ideas and pilot projects for strengthening MSMEs in the BRICS countries. This support, I believe, should also extend to the MSMEs in the BIMSTEC countries, which are also facing similar challenges of adaptation and survival. India has taken a lead in Services in the context of BRICS as well as in WTO. The Services sector is increasingly contributing to global trade as well as to the GDP of individual economies. Liberalising Services sector should be accorded top priority in the BRICS as it helps in creating exponential growth in the BRICS region. Most importanlty free movement of people in our Group for tourism, hospitality and business purposes will boost the intra-BRICS trade. India has embarked on an ambitions 'Make in India' programme. There are ample opportunities for BRICS countries to do collaborative joint ventures in India. These collaborative ventures should be looking not merely at the Indian market, but other regions of the globe. Significant work has already been undertaken on Ease of Doing Business' in India. In this regard National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) has been set up for evaluating progress on trade facilitation issues. The BRICS countries are a potent group in the multilateral system. They are also represented in the G-20. Therefore, a reiterate articulation of positions by BRICS countries and taking united stands on issues of common concern globally ensures equity, justice and inclusiveness for developing countries. The gathering of more than 1,000 entrepreneurs from BRICS and BIMSTEC countries under one platform gives an opportunity to discuss trade, investment and technology collaborations during this 3 day Fair. I am confident that several seminars, round tables being organised paralley will during this period will provide a comprehensive understanding of the potential of these groupings. Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank all the participants for their enthusiastic participation in this ever BRICS Trade Fair. I wish you fruitful paricipation and lasting success. Source: PIB BRICS makes the fruits and benefits of globalization accessible to larger number of people: Hamid Ansari New Delhi, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 NI Wire Inaugurates First BRICS Trade Fair The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the BRICS grouping does more than just facilitate international trade. It makes the fruits and benefits of globalization accessible to a larger number of people, beyond limited elite and the developed economies, he added. He was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the First Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) Trade Fair. The Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, Brazil, Mr. Marcos Pereira, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Russia, Mr. Denis Monturov, the Minister of Trade and Industry, South Africa, Dr. Rob Davies, the Vice Minister for Ministry of Finance and Commerce, China, Mr. Wang Shouwen and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. The Vice President said that the credit for transforming the vision of our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, who had proposed a trade fair to be held in the nation hosting the BRICS Summit into reality, goes to our Commerce and Industry Minister and her team. He further said that the BRICS group represents a shift in the global political economy, global institutions and global governance issues, as emerging economies enhance their cooperation to find solutions for the economic challenges affecting them. He pointed out that Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa and India - together account for 43% of the world's population and represent the dynamism, the growth, the future of world trade. As growing economies, they have to translate the growth into inclusive economic development, he added. The Vice President said that BRICS has already identified the basic principles for enhancing the trade and investment relations, as reflected in the theme of India's BRICS chairmanship- 'Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions'. He further said that to achieve this objective BRICS would need to; (a) create a business-friendly environment for investors and entrepreneurs, (b) foster the liberalisation of trade in Services, especially in promoting movement of people, (c) support value addition, (d) promote information exchange and (e) increase the trade in each other's currency. The Vice President said that this Trade Fair is an excellent opportunity for encouraging intra-BRICS synergies adding that the identification of specific cooperation areas - innovation, technology, energy, infrastructure and agri-business - spanning trade in goods and services, as well as the participation of investment promotion agencies, will reap rich dividends. Following is the text of Vice President's address: I am happy to be here for the inauguration of the First BRICS Trade Fair. I extend a warm welcome to the esteemed Trade Ministers from BRICS countries, officials, captains of industry, entrepreneurs and members of the media. At the 7th BRICS summit, our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi had proposed a trade fair to be held in the nation hosting the BRICS Summit, while offering to host the first such Fair. The credit for transforming the vision into reality goes to our Commerce and Industry Minister and her team, in successfully organizing this Trade Fair. The BRICS group is as much a symbol as it is a concrete establishment. The group represents a shift in the global political economy, global institutions and global governance issues, as emerging economies enhance their cooperation to find solutions for the economic challenges affecting them. Our five nations - Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa and India - together account for 43% of the world's population. Together, we account for 15% of global trade and 20% of the world's investment flows. Our economies represent the most dynamic emerging economies in the word. Our economies have scale and our decisions have an impact on global markets. Not only have we made strides as manufacturing and services countries, but we are now developing into significant end markets. We have the intellectual capital and resolve to shape a more equitable global trading order. We represent the dynamism, the growth, the future of world trade and business. As growing economies, we have to translate our growth into inclusive economic development. We have to reduce unemployment, eradicate poverty and promote social inclusion. We recognize the importance of balanced global trade for mutual prosperity. Trade and investment are two priority areas of cooperation emphasized in the BRICS Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework. We have already identified the basic principles for enhancing our trade and investment relations, as reflected in the theme of India's BRICS chairmanship- 'Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions'. To achieve this objective, we, within the BRICS, would need to; First, create a business-friendly environment for investors and entrepreneurs in all member countries with a view to promote mutual trade and investment; and facilitate market inter-linkages and enhance market access opportunities. Second, BRICS would need to foster the liberalisation of trade in Services, especially in promoting movement of people for commercial activity, both with BRICS and globally. The proposal for a BRICS visa on a long-term basis for genuine travelers, is one such effort aimed at stimulating greater economic activity by enhanced mobility of our entrepreneurs. Third, we need to enhance and diversify trade and investment cooperation that support value addition. Value-added trade has a role in transforming our economies from providers of raw material into key players in the global economy. Fourth, we also need to build resilience to external economic shocks and strengthen macro-economic policy coordination by promoting information exchange through agreed platforms and by deepening our interaction and cooperation with non-BRICS countries, international organizations and forums. Fifth, we need to increase our trade in each other's currency to further pluralize trading currencies and lessen the use of a single dominant currency. Transition to trade in national currencies will reduce the risk volatility and protect us from adverse fluctuations, which often cause huge economic and trade losses. The BRICS grouping does more than just facilitate international trade. I think it brings forth a more humane face of globalization. It makes the fruits and benefits of globalization accessible to a larger number of people, beyond a limited elite and the already developed economies. This Trade Fair is an excellent opportunity for encouraging intra-BRICS synergies by linking both the BRICS Business Forum and the BRICS Business Council. The identification of specific cooperation areas-- innovation, technology, energy, infrastructure and agri-business-- spanning trade in goods and services, as well as the participation of investment promotion agencies, will reap rich dividends. We appreciate the efforts made by all the BRICS Trade Ministers in persuading the strong participation of companies from their respective countries. We also welcome the participation of companies from the BIMSTEC region. We acknowledge the role of FICCI in organizing this Trade Fair, with the active support of other apex chambers including CII, ASSOCHAM, other export promotion councils, development authorities and industry associations. I am sure you will have fruitful deliberations during the Trade Fair. I wish you all success and good luck in forging mutually beneficial partnerships. Thank You. Source: PIB Take all into confidence on Uniform Civil Code: Congress Delhi,National,Politics,Religion,Immigration/Law/Rights, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Opposing what it called attempts at imposition of a Uniform Civil Code in the country, the Congress on Friday said the code cannot be put into effect till all stakeholders are taken into confidence. It said the issue of 'triple talaq' was sub judice and that the party had "full faith in the Supreme Court" on the issue. "The Supreme Court has always safeguarded the rights of women. So, we will wait for its decision. I would say we have full confidence in the Supreme Court," said Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza. When asked if the Congress had a clear stand on the Uniform Civil Code and 'triple talaq', Oza said: "The Congress has always moved forward by taking along all the sections of society. We have faith in 'Unity in Diversity'." Quoting B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, Oza said: "Let there be a common civil code containing the best of all religions but it cannot be imposed on any one. "Let the citizens adopt it willingly as an ideal which has also been described in Article 44 of the Constitution. It cannot be imposed till all the stakeholders are taken into confidence. It can be adopted if it is accepted by all sections of society." Oza said: "It is not proper if this does not happen. The Congress holds the same thought as Ambedkar." The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and a number of other prominent Muslim organisations on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on the Uniform Civil Code, calling it "misleading". AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said the Muslims in the country will not respond to it. --IANS sid/tsb/bg Harsh Vardhan asks scientists to complete R&D projects in time Orissa,National,Science/Tech,Technology,Business/Economy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Bhubaneswar, Oct 14 (IANS) Advising young scientists to think out of the box while doing innovation work in research laboratories, Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday urged them to complete the research and development projects in a time-bound manner. "Their work should not be limited and remain closed in the four walls of laboratories instead of percolating down to the common man," said the minister, who attended a programme of Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) here. He also said better coordination among the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's laboratories was needed to avoid duplication of R&D work elsewhere in the country, while asking why India couldn't do better in fundamental research field than China, Russia and European countries. Harsh Vardhan also said innovations should be cost-effective and better lab-industry synergy is required for this. Noting that a pilot plant for pelletisation of iron ore is a major initiative undertaken by the IMMT, he said that China is the only country who has honed this technology and "our success can save a lot of foreign exchange in terms of import". The minister said country needs many more patents from research laboratories to show the world that the country's innovation is second to none. "Now many young and experienced scientists working abroad are returning to our country. Around 250 scientists have come back to join R&D field in their motherland. New scholarship has been introduced to attract young talents to do fundamental research in India," he said. --IANS cd/vd Bangladesh, China agree to upgrade bilateral ties Bangladesh,Diplomacy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Dhaka, Oct 15 (IANS) Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his visit to the nation and the two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation. "China highly values its friendly cooperative ties with Bangladesh and will continue to offer support within its capacity for the economic and social development of the South Asian country," Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying. Noting that China is striving for its 'two centenary goals' and Bangladesh is pursuing its 'Sonar Bangla' dream, Xi added that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative can dovetail with Bangladesh's cooperation strategies with the world. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the traditional friendship between Bangladesh and China, enjoys deeply rooted public support in Bangladesh. "Bangladesh admires China's economic achievement, and is ready to strengthen cooperation with China," Hasina said. She added that Bangladesh is willing to actively work with China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and support the building of an economic corridor linking Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. After their talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a string of cooperation documents covering areas like joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, information and telecommunication, energy and power, diplomatic affairs, etc. Xi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to this South Asian nation in 30 years. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit after Cambodia. He will also travel to Goa for an emerging-market bloc summit of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. --IANS vgu/ 'Women of India Festival 2016' of organic products by women at Dilli Haat today New Delhi, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 NI Wire Maneka Sanjay Gandhi to inaugurate 'Women of India Festival 2016' of organic products at Dilli Haat at INA, New Delhi Today. The Minister of Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi will inaugurate 'Women of India Festival 2016' of organic products by women at Dilli Haat at INA, New Delhi Today. The Festival to be held from October 14-23, will offer on sale the biggest selection of organic products ranging from food, fabrics and furniture to wellness, personal care and solar products. Organised and sponsored by the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development, the Women of India Festival 2016'celebrates and promotes women entrepreneurs from across India. Participants from the remotest areas of the country will travel to Delhi for the entire duration of the festival and sell their unique products in the capital. This initiative is a move to benefit women entrepreneurs, and also actively promote organic food and products. The Women of India Festival is intended to highlight the health and environmental advantages of organic goods, provide a platform for women engaged in this economy and encourage the development of sustainable and easily accessible sales outlets for organic producers from remote areas. Explaining the significance of the unique festival, Smt Maneka Gandhi has highlighted the importance of making a shift to organic, "Organic foods have been proven to contain more vitamins, minerals and nutrients than similar foods produced with chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives. Organic farming relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and natural methods of pest control. Children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticide exposure. We will make a concerted effort to make this alternative a popularly used one." Organic plants and food crops have also been found to contain higher amounts of salicylic acid which fights bowel cancer; it helps to fight stress and disease. Last year's edition of 'Women of India Festival' selling organic produce saw thousands of people thronging to Dilli Haat each day. For the first time in India, over 500 women entrepreneurs from Leh to Kanyakumari and from Kohima to Kutch, came together with their organic products. This year will feature even more products including cereals, rice, pulses, spices, fabrics, dyes and dresses, cosmetics, household products, pickles, organic ice cream, preserves, oils, honey, tea, hair care, bath care, beauty care, aromatherapy products, kitchen composters, organic seeds and other bio products. This year's Festival will have 230 stalls and about 372 participants. The list includes producers from Delhi, NCR and 23 states/UTs. Apart from producers of locally grown and manufactured products, the participants also include Nourish Organic, The Altitude Store, Dew Drops, Organic World, Inhere Aajivika Utthan Samiti, Sonal White Cub, Aura Herbal Textiles, ASAL, Pro Nature Organics, Eco Green Unit, Avani, who will add further variety with their vast lifestyle range at the Organic Extravaganza. Source: PIB Modi to reach Goa for BRICS, hails BIMSTEC Delhi,National,Politics,Diplomacy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is slated to reach Goa on Friday for the upcoming eighth BRICS Summit and the first ever BRICS-BIMSTEC meet saying that the outreach with the BIMSTEC leaders was significant. "The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi tweeted. The two-day BRICS summit will be held from October 15 to 16. The Prime Minister, in a tweet also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Michel Temer of Brazil, who will also reach Goa on Friday. "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa," the Prime Minister tweeted. Modi said that he looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges. "As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," he said. Both Putin and Modi will stay at the Taj Exotica while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an inter-governmental organisation of which Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are members. "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand," Modi said in another tweet. According to the reports, a joint meeting of the BRICS and BIMSTEC leaders will be held on October 16. India is also counting on the BIMSTEC in a bid to corner Pakistan after 19th SAARC summit which were scheduled in Islamabad were cancelled. --IANS kd/ksk Focus on 'Make in India' to make a mark at AMCDRR New Delhi, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 NI Wire An exhibition with a thematic focus on 'Make in India' will be organised in New Delhi at Vigyan Bhawan, the venue of the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016. The Conference is being organised from November 3-5, 2016 by the Government of India in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The exhibition will aim at showcasing good practices in Disaster Risk Management through the initiatives displayed by various governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations as well as other stakeholders. Visual material, publications, posters, multimedia and latest technological innovations showcasing India's efforts at Disaster Risk Reduction, mitigation and preparedness will be displayed at the exhibition. The exhibition will also be leveraged to showcase India's rich cultural heritage, handloom and handicraft products to the international delegates from 60 Asian countries that are participating in the Conference. The exhibition area will be open for the public from 6 to 8 PM. Besides the exhibition, a national-level painting competition for schoolchildren aged 10-14 years, a short films competition and the first World Tsunami Awareness Day are also being organised during the Conference. All these events are aimed at generating awareness on issues related to DRR. India is one of the signatories of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) adopted at the Third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March, 2015. Reaffirming its commitment to address DRR and strengthen resilience to disasters, India launched its National Disaster Management Plan earlier this year in line with the priorities defined in the Sendai Framework. Introducing DRR in governance is key to sustainable economic development and is linked to indicators of growth such as eradication of poverty and malnutrition, improved standards of healthcare and education, better sanitation, protection of environment, among others. Source: PIB Microsoft 'Dynamics 365' available in India from November 1 Delhi,Business/Economy,Technology, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Microsoft on Friday announced new Cloud service "Dynamics 365" that will help enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India transform their enterprises with intelligent applications. Powered by advanced analytics and machine learning, "Dynamics 365" will be available to customers in more than 135 markets in over 40 languages, beginning November 1. The service will be available in two editions -- Enterprise and Business -- on a subscription per app/per user model, the company said in a statement. With the app-based subscription, businesses will only pay for the app they need, licensed to a particular user. Using the new plans, businesses get one holistic subscription to have all the information at their fingertips and they could save four to five times the cost of traditional CRM providers. This new Cloud service from Microsoft can address specific business needs like sales automation, operations or customer service and usher in a new era of business agility. The intelligence capabilities of Dynamics 365 can help improve manufacturing and supply chain execution, make field service operations more efficient, sell more effectively and deliver exceptional customer experiences, the company said. --IANS anuj/na/vt Asean, EU Foreign Ministers meet in Bangkok Thailand,Politics,Terrorism,Diplomacy,Business/Economy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Bangkok, Oct 14 (IANS) Foreign ministers and senior officials of the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Friday began their bi-annual meet in Bangkok with an agenda centred on trade, human rights and security. The Foreign Minister of Slovakia and EU representative Miroslav Lajcak said the Asean was a priority for the European bloc for economic cooperation as well in its fight against terrorism, EFE news reported. Asean and the EU can increase cooperation to end radicalization of the younger generations, said Lajcak, who substituted EU diplomatic head Federica Mogherini at the last minute at the event. He said the EU members were negotiating a regional defence agreement along the lines of the Treaty of Lisbon, signed nearly a decade ago. According to the European representative, Asean and the EU should move towards a region-to-region agreement that benefits companies, tourism and people-to-people links. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai stressed the importance of moving towards greater integration for prosperity and peace. --IANS ksk/mr Don't link triple Talaq with uniform civil code: Venkaiah Delhi,National,Politics,Religion,Immigration/Law/Rights, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said the issue of ending triple Talaq practice should not be linked with uniform civil code and should not be politicised. "People are confusing triple Talaq with uniform civil code. There is nothing wrong in discussing the issue and nothing is going to be forced on people," Naidu said. A day after All India Muslim Personal Law Board held a press conference against the uniform civil code, Naidu said uniform laws would be based on consensus and they should be discussed. "Talking about situation on the border, dragging Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) in it... If you are so interested, you can join a political party, this is not expected from Muslim Personal Law Board and religious leaders," the minister said. The minister added that the issue is about giving equal rights to women and assured that no decision would be taken in a hurry. --IANS ao/in/vt MLAs will decide new UP CM, says Mulayam Uttar Pradesh,National,Politics, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Lucknow, Oct 14 (IANS) Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Friday that the newly elected party legislators will decide who will be the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. "The elected legislators and the Samajwadi Party's Parliamentary Board will pick the next Chief Minister," Mulayam Singh told the media here. The remark comes amid a strife within the Samajwadi Party between incumbent Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and a senior party leader and his uncle, Shivpal Yadav. The Samajwadi Party leader, a former Indian Defence Minister, however, underlined that there was no rift in the "Samajwadi family". Mulayam Singh also said that there should be no politics on a Uniform Civil Code and people should be free to follow any religion in the manner they want. --IANS rs-aks/mr Akshay, Taapsee shoot for 'Naam Shabana' in Malaysia (Movie Snippets) Maharashtra,Cinema/Showbiz, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS null Mumbai, Oct 14 (IANS) Actors Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu have started shooting for the upcoming film "Naam Shabana", slated to release in 2017. "Naam Shabana" is part of the "Baby" franchise and will have critically acclaimed actor Manoj Bajpayee and southern star Prithviraj in pivotal roles. "This is one of the many firsts for me this year. Shooting action sequence in Malaysia. We have a major part of the film to be shot in Malaysia in which we will have almost the entire star cast of the film. It will surely be the biggest film for me for next year," Taapsee said in a statement. The two actors will be shooting some extreme stunts for the film. -*- Neil laughs away trolls on engagement Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh says he's laughing away at the social media trollers, who have been making fun of the news of his engagement. Neil, who got engaged to Mumbai-based girl Rukmini Sahay on Dussehra earlier this week, on Friday tweeted a monochromatic photograph of himself and his 27-year-old fiancee. Trolling began soon after. Reacting to them, Neil said with the photograph: "Needless to say we are laughing at the ones who are trying so hard to be funny... I'm sure you guys wish well too with the sense of humour." This is not the the first time Neil has been targeted on social media. He has often been trolled on social media over his name and his acting skills. -*- Art has no boundaries: Taapsee Actress Taapsee, who has been receiving letters and mails of appreciation for her performance in "Pink" from India and abroad, says it proves art has no boundaries. Taapsee has been receiving messages, mails, and letters from her fans for her effortless portrayal of a girl, who has wrongly been accused in a sexual harassment case. "It's pretty interesting to receive letters and mails of appreciation from across borders. Truly art has no boundaries. There are so many heart-warming messages and mails from females from Middle-Eastern countries especially," Taapsee said in a statement. The "Baby" actress says when she visited the Middle-East "a few days back for a quick get away, I met a few girls who walked up and expressed their love for 'Pink'". The film, which has been lauded by a number of actors and critics, also stars Amitabh Bachchan, Kriti Kulhari and Angad Bedi. --IANS dc/rb/dg null Modi government pitted against India's diversity: Yogendra Yadav (IANS Interview) Delhi,National,Politics, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Accusing the Narendra Modi government of being the "biggest challenge" to the values of democracy and diversity, Yogendra Yadav, who leads India's newest political party, says all existing parties have let the country down. "The country needs a new (political) party to defend the idea of India," Yadav told IANS, explaining the rationale behind Swaraj India, the new political party he has founded along with lawyer Prashant Bhushan. "Our country is founded on some basic principles -- a democracy in which every citizen can have a voice, celebration of diversity and a development that brings well-being to the last person," Yadav said. His party, said Yadav, renews the "Idea of India". A former founding-member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Yadav said that almost all the existing political parties have failed to protect the basic values of the country. He said the Congress and other parties were not fundamentally different from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "The Modi government represents the biggest challenge to these values. But the Congress and other parties... don't provide a genuine alternative... That is why we need Swaraj India." Is Swaraj India, launched on October 2, directed against the AAP? Yadav replied: "Our party is not directed against any one party. If anything, we are against the political establishment. "Ever since Swaraj Abhiyan was formed (18 months ago), less than 10 percent of our energy has been directed against the AAP and its Delhi government. "We have campaigned on questions of land acquisition, drought, loot of common man's savings by banks to benefit corporate houses and against criminal-politician nexus. None of these major campaigns had anything to do with the AAP," he said. Yadav, who along with some others was forced out of the AAP following differences with its leader Arvind Kejriwal, said he does not see the AAP figuring very prominently on their horizon. "We are for a new vision, new policy prospective, new ideology." An election specialist, Yadav said the new political outfit had inherited ideological boxes from socialists, Communists, Gandhians, feminists, greens and Ambedkarites. "We wish to learn from all of them, we wish to build on their positive legacy without squandering our energy on petty bickerings. "We are exploring a new ideology for the 21st century. For us, Swaraj is an umbrella concept that brings together the ideological heritage of the 20th century and makes it relevant to the 21st. We do not worship any one book, any one thinker or any one ism. "For us, the starting points are the key principles embedded in our constitution," Yadav said. Commenting on AAP's rule in Delhi, he said the national capital was in a sorry state but the AAP alone could not be blamed for it. "I think the MCD governed by the BJP, the Delhi government of AAP and the Lt Governor controlled by the central government must all share equal blame for the mess in Delhi." He said Swaraj India was the first political party to put itself under Right to Information (RTI) to ensure transparency. "We have decided not to use the whip against our legislators except in the case of a no-confidence motion... We want to move away from the personality cult," Yadav told IANS. He said Swaraj India's electoral intervention would be selective. "We are not going to contest every election everywhere. We are not going to use all kinds of means to win at all costs. "Our electoral intervention will be selective and principled. We shall contest only in places where we have a critical mass." (Sanjeev pal can be contacted at sanjeev.p@ians.in) --IANS sp-sk/mr/ky/sac 'Anna: Kisan Baburao Hazare': Simply appealing (IANS Review, Rating: **1/2) Delhi,Cinema/Showbiz, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Film: "Anna: Kisan Baburao Hazare"; Director: Shashank Udapurkar; Cast: Shashank Udapurkar, Tanishaa Mukerji, Rajit Kapur, Govind Namdeo, Kishor Kadam, Sharat Saxena and Daya Shankar Pandey; Rating: **1/2 This biopic of the social activist Anna Hazare is not only motivational, but also inspiring. The film does not have the technical finesse of today's glossies, but it relays its robust message with simple, rustic enthusiasm. Written-directed by Shashank Udapurkar, who is also in the title role, this film bookends with Anna Hazare's participation in the India Against Corruption movement in 2011, which paved the way for the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill. In between the bookends, the film rolls out in a linear narrative from 1946 onwards, highlighting the milestones in the life of Kisan Baburao Hazare, which includes how he was anointed 'Anna' -- an endearing term for older brother, in Marathi -- after he converted his draught-stricken village to a verdant paradise. With the gesticulation of his hands and hollow facial movements, Shashank emulates Anna to perfection. He is aptly supported with a retinue of ace actors from the Hindi and Marathi film industry which include Govind Namdeo as the self-interested landlord of Ralegan Siddhi Village, Kishore Kadam as Anna's father, Daya Shankar Pandey as an alcoholic villager Ramya, Sharat Saxena as the Army Commander Bharat Sinha. They all have their moments of on-screen glory. Tanishaa Mukerji as the journalist trailing Anna's roots, Rajit Kapur as the anchor at ABP channel are merely used to take the narrative forward. They are flat and perfunctory. On the writing front, some scenes are lazily crafted. They do not go beyond the dramatisation of the event. Especially evident is the scene when during the 1965 war in Khemkaran sector Anna's colleagues are killed in an aerial attack. The dialogues, too, like "Kante chubhte hain babu, khet mein chalte waqt, kante chubhte hain" -- thorns hurt sir, while walking in the fields, thorns hurt -- gives the film a melodramatic flavour, reminding you of the films in the 1950s. In fact, some scenes jog your memory to the 1957 Dilip Kumar starrer "Naya Daur". Mounted with moderate production values and shot in real locations, art director Anil Watt's efforts are worth a mention. So are the cinematography and costumes. The background score is loud and adds to the dramatisation. On his maiden directorial front, Shashank focuses the camera on his designed script and fails to avoid minor flaws, creatively. This is especially evident in the scene when his mother is older and the camera in mid-shots focuses on her badly patched visage. While the film delves and glorifies Anna's works, it antiseptically eliminates Arvind Kejriwal and his coterie who had coaxed Anna to join the IAC movement, thus giving this film a unnecessarily skewed slant. Overall, the film does deliver what it set out to do. --IANS troy/rb/vt Infosys lowers annual guidance despite robust Q2 growth Karnataka,Business/Economy,Technology, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Bengaluru, Oct 14 (IANS) Global software major Infosys Ltd on Friday lowered its annual revenue guidance for the 2016-17 fiscal due to uncertain business outlook and currency volatility despite robust growth in the second quarter (July-September). "Our consolidated dollar revenue for this fiscal (FY 2017) will grow 8-9 per cent in constant currency, which translates into 7.5-8.5 per cent on September 30 dollar value of Rs 66.62 and 10.9-11.9 per cent in rupees," said the IT major in a statement here. Around 85 per cent of the outsourcing firm's revenues are billed in dollar and euro currencies as software exports. On July 15, too, the company lowered dollar guidance for FY 2017 to 10-11.5 per cent on June 30 exchange rate of Rs 67.53 per dollar from 11.8-13.8 per cent projected in April on March 31 exchange rate of Rs 66.26. For fiscal 2015-16, consolidated revenue grew 9.1 per cent to $9.5 billion in dollar terms and 17.1 per cent to Rs 62,441 crore in rupee terms. The lower revenue outlook impacted the blue chip company's scrip in the stock markets, resulting in its shares of Rs 5 face value, losing Rs 11.70 to Rs 1,041.10 in post-noon trading from Thursday's closing price of Rs 1,052.05 despite opening at a high of Rs 1,060 per share. "Considering our performance in the first-half (April-September) of the year and the near-term uncertain business outlook, we are revising our revenue guidance," said company's Chief Executive Vishal Sikka at a media conference here. Earlier, the city-based company reported Rs 3,606 crore consolidated net profit for second quarter (Q2), registering 6.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth from Rs 3,398 crore in the like period year ago and 4.9 per cent sequentially from Rs 3.436 crore in the first quarter (April-June). Consolidated revenue for the quarter (Q2) under review increased 10.7 per cent YoY to Rs 17,310 crore from Rs 15,635 crore in same period year ago and 3.1 per cent sequentially from Rs 16,782 crore in first quarter. In dollar terms, consolidated net income grew 3.8 per cent YoY to $539 million from $519 million year ago and 5.5 per cent sequentially from $511 million quarter ago. Likewise, consolidated gross revenue rose 8.2 per cent YoY to $2,587 million ($2.6 billion) from $2,392 million ($2.4 billion) year ago and 3.5 per cent sequentially from $2,501 million ($2.5 billion) quarter ago under the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). "We focused on strong execution in Q2 with our core IT services business showing good progress on the strength of our innovation and operational initiatives," recalled Sikka. Operating margins expanded 80 basis points sequentially to 24.9 per cent in dollar and rupee value, while volume growth was 4 per cent during the quarter. "Our margins expanded during the quarter on the back of further improvement in operational efficiencies, said Chief Financial Officer M.D. Ranganath. Operating profit grew in second quarter 7.9 per cent YoY and 6.5 per cent sequentially in rupee terms to Rs 4,309 crore. In dollar terms, it grew 5.6 per cent YoY and 7 per cent sequentially to $644 million. "While we continue to navigate an uncertain external environment, we remain focused on executing our strategy and increasing momentum of our software plus services model," asserted Sikka. The company had 78 clients during the quarter as against 95 quarter ago and 82 year ago, taking the total number of active clients to 1,136 by second quarter as against 1,126 in first quarter and 1,011 in like quarter year ago. "Longer-term, I believe it's increasingly clear that our industry's future lies in evolving from a cost-based, people-only model, to one in which people are amplified by software and AI (artificial intelligence), and are freed to innovate in areas that are strategic to our clients' future," added Sikka. Liquid assets, including cash and investments, were Rs 35,640 crore ($5.4 billion) at the end of the quarter as against Rs 33,212 crore ($4.9 billion) quarter ago and Rs 32,099 crore ($4.8 billion) year ago. "Operating cash flows for the quarter were healthy and we effectively navigated a volatile currency environment through prudent hedging," noted Ranganath. Although the company and its subsidiaries hired 12,717 people during the quarter, net addition was 2,779, as 9,938 techies left, taking the total number of employees to 1,99,829 as against 1,97,050 quarter ago and 1,87,976 year ago. "The changes we made to employee engagement, policies and rewarding high performers continue to help retain our high quality workforce," pointed out Chief Operating Officer U.B. Pravin Rao. The company declared an interim dividend of whopping 220 per cent or Rs 11 per share of Rs 5 face value for the first six months (April-September) of this fiscal. "We had well-rounded growth in our market segments. Our delivery and support teams executed well on their plans for resource management, leading to an uptick in utilisation," added Rao. --IANS fb/nir/dg Hacking threat from Pakistan kept spectrum auction team on toes Delhi,National,Technology,Business/Economy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) The bidding for telecom spectrum this year was protected with enhanced, multi-layered security measures as the chances of a hacking attempt after the Uri attacks were deemed very high, according to a top official of the company mandated to conduct the auction. Without naming Pakistan, Vinaya Varma, CEO of mjunction, said the "threat perception was high this year from the western front". He said as the auction was highly publicised, special care was taken to look at vulnerabilities. "The procedure was made extremely secured so that any attempt to hack would fail," Varma told IANS in an interview over phone from Kolkata. "We had deployed various security procedures such as secure login, digital signature certificate, fixed internet protocol address for bidders and other procedures to make bidding foolproof and transparent," he said. The company had also set up an infrastructure team to monitor any abnormal activity like intrusion or data filtering. The team ensured that all the links were working properly. An e-marketplace, mjunction services limited, is a 50:50 venture promoted by SAIL and Tata Steel. It has won a three-year mandate from the government to conduct e-auction of spectrum. It conducted the first spectrum auction in 2015. A total 2,354 MHz of spectrum was put on block for e-auctioning this year in seven bands -- 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz. The bidding was also made secure from snooping. The platform was designed to ensure that while auction was in progress, the identity details of bidders were hidden through database-level encryption. Neither the auction administrator nor the seller (Department of Telecommunications, DoT) had any access to bidders' bid details. "The system allows access only to summary-level information of all bids made. Each bidder has access only to his own bidding history and also to summary-level information of all bids made. The platform provided separate dashboards for bidders and for DoT," he said. The platform for bidding was the same as last year but the offerings this time were higher. This year there were 126 offerings (seven bands multiplied by service areas) compared to 69 last year when the auction took in only four bands. The offerings started at the same time, ran and closed simultaneously. Before 2015, auctions were done in a sequential manner. "Auctioning was done through Simultaneous Multiple Round Auction (SMRA), which is an internationally-recognised methodology for e-auctioning of spectrum. It is the most sophisticated methodology but also the most complicated. There are various permutations and combinations in spectrum allocation, which are in play in live bidding," Varma said. Asked how difficult or smooth the process was, Varma said: "The tender document preparation, system design, the programming and the actual execution of the auction were all very complex activities." Saying that mjunction works in close coordination with the government, Varma added that the Department of Electronics and Information Technology had spent weeks testing the auctioning platform before giving them the green light. In 2015, when mjunction got the mandate, it took the company five months to design the platform. Because of the higher offerings this year, three more months were needed to customise it. "We had set up a help desk with nine highly-trained people whom operators could call up for clarifications. We had also placed a domain expert in DoT." He said this time the spectrum offered was in contiguous range. Also, the frequency assignment was done in such a way that the operator got contiguous bands. "The algorithm was designed by mjunction. The DoT just had to press a button to allocate contiguous bands. Manually it would have been very difficult," Varma added. (Aparajita Gupta can be reached at aparajita.g@ians.in) --IANS ag/hs/ky/sac Kerala Industries Minister Jayarajan quits Kerala,National,Politics, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 14 (IANS) Kerala Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan on Friday resigned after coming under attack for appointing two relatives in state public sector enterprises. CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made the announcement, saying Jayarajan himself decided to step down. "He asked for permission in the Secretariat meeting following the mistake he committed. He was very particular about the image of the party and the government," Balakrishnan told the media. "He sought permission to resign and he resigned," said Balakrishnan. The news of Jayarajan appointing his relatives surfaced 10 days ago, triggering a volley of criticism against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government which took power only four months ago. The Congress-led UDF and the BJP approached the Vigilance Department to seek a probe and demanded the minister's ouster. Jayarajan was a close aide of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the number two in the cabinet besides being one of the most powerful leaders in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in Kerala. According to CPI-M sources, Jayarajan did his best to explain his case at the meeting of the 14-member Secretariat of the party. But Vijayan was in no mood to relent as the central leadership of the party had taken Jayarajan's action as a serious lapse. One of the two relatives in the controversy is P.K. Sudheer, son of CPI-M Lok Sabha member P.K. Sreemathy. He is a nephew of Jayarajan. The other person is a niece of the minister, Dipthi Nishad. Neither Sudheer (appointed Managing Director of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd) nor Nishad (named General Manager of the Kerala Clay and Ceramics Ltd) had the experience or qualifications for the job. Following a huge outcry, both quit their posts. "We have proved that we are a party that holds values in politics and we are different from other parties," Balakrishnan said. "The previous (Oommen Chandy) government saw several ministers getting involved in trouble over various charges. The BJP-Vasundhara Raje Scindia (government in Rajasthan) faced charges but did not resign. "With Jayarajan's resignation, we have proved we are different," added Balakrishnan. The party Secretariat meeting held here went on for nearly three hours. Vijayan, taking the salute at a passing out parade of police constables in the capital, pledged his government won't be soft on corruption. The CPI-M found itself on the backfoot over the Jayarajan issue, with not a single party leader turning up for debates on TV channels to discuss the nepotism charges. As he left the meeting venue, Jayarajan sarcastically remarked to journalists: "An announcement will come soon which you will like to hear." Meanwhile, the Vigilance Department told a court here on Friday that it was taking necessary steps in the probe against Jayarajan. On Thursday, a public interest litigation was filed against Jayarajan. --IANS sg/mr/ksk At least 10 killed in MP bus accident Madhya Pradesh,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh), Oct 14 (IANS) At least 10 persons were killed and over a dozen others injured when a bus carrying passengers fell into a ditch near here on Friday, the police said. The accident took place at 11 a.m. on Friday near Mewasa village when the bus was on its way to Jawra from Ratlam. Ratlam Superintendent of Police Abhilash Sharma said that 12 passengers were safely pulled out of the ill-fated bus, and relief and rescue operations are on. The injured were taken to a local hospital in Ratlam, he said. Although what caused the accident is yet to be established, Sharma said the driver apparently lost control over the bus near the open cast mine pit, which caused the accident. The survivors said the accident happened as one of the tyres of the bus burst. --IANS Hindi-nir/vt Turkey orders arrest of 189 more judges, prosecutors Turkey,Immigration/Law/Rights, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Ankara, Oct 14 (IANS) Turkish authorities on Friday ordered the arrest of 189 judges and prosecutors suspected of supporting the alleged mastermind behind the failed military coup d'etat in July. Over the course of the operation to track down supporters of the exiled Fethullah Gulen, Turkish police raided various courthouses and the premises of the Turkish Supreme court in Ankara, Efe news reported. The arrested magistrates and prosecutors were assigned to various Ankara courthouses, the Supreme Court and the Danistay, Turkey's top judicial administrative authority. The arrested members of the judiciary were suspected of belonging to the Gulen network, as they all used "Bylock", an encrypted messaging application supposedly custom-developed for the Gulen organisation. Since July, some 3,400 judges and attorneys have been dismissed from their posts and a large percentage remain in custody while they await to appear in court. After the failure of the coup bid, a third of Turkey's 365 generals and admirals were arrested on accusation of conspiracy to topple the government. --IANS ksk/vt AMERICA IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR, NEVER FORGET! By Amil Imani October 14, 2016 NewsWithViews.com America is a nation and an ideal, birthed by a group of visionaries that gave it the Constitution to nurture it and protect it. What makes America, America the Beautiful, more than just a blessed land is our legacy, the Constitution. Sadly, the Constitution also makes for America the Vulnerable by enshrining freedom that enables the malevolent to subvert and destroy America from within. You, the voter, are the guardian of the Constitution. Your vote determines the health and survival of America. America is defined by the last phrase of our national anthem: The land of the free and the home of the brave. Freedom, in all its forms, is our greatest legacy, which this nation has bravely fought many wars on many fronts to preserve against the unceasing assaults of totalitarianism of all stripes. Time and again, the flowers of our nation bravely sacrificed their lives to protect freedom and liberty. In the not too distant past, we fought and defeated Nazism and Fascism in Europe and Imperialism in the Far East. Before the nation could have a respite, the flame of international communism raged, consumed many parts of the world in its fire, and posed a great threat of scorching our land. Yet, we did not waiver, did not appease, and did not surrender. We stood and fought the scourge of communism on multiple fronts, not knowing we would have to fight communism yet again, but this time, inside the United States. America is not perfect. No human enterprise ever is. Yet, America is the closest country to a true abode of peace in the broadest sense. And it is Americans, overwhelmingly "infidels," who make America what it is. While America opens its doors to the poor, the hungry and the oppressed of the world, Americans open their hearts to the less fortunate people of various lands by their unsurpassed generosity. No nation gives more aid to international charities, as percentage of its gross domestic products, than the American people. It is sad to watch those people to whom we have opened our pockets now biting the hands that fed them. The vast land of America was once inhabited by a relatively small number of indigenous people. These native 'Indians' had lived throughout the land for thousands of years, and they will always remain the true fathers of America. American Indians helped the Pilgrims survive the winter. Later, more European immigrants came, and American settlement finally outgrew the Indian fathers. Then, on July 4, 1776, America declared its independence from England, the old white grandfather across the sea. The miracle of America happened, and its dynamic birth rapidly changed the entire world. America developed into thirteen colonies, then into the strong 50 united states that she is today. In a very short time, America grew from a log cabin to the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world. The United States is a nonpareil icon and the envy of the world. In many surprising ways, America resembles the great, ancient Persian Empire. Like the Persians, who rarely regret the past, Americans always believe "the best days are ahead." Like the ancient Persian Empire once was, the United States is now the greatest country in the world. America has basically done the same. America is, in a strange sense, a reincarnation of Persia, an extension of the Achaemenid Empire, created by Cyrus the Great. No wonder the immigrant Persians (Iranian-Americans) hold the United States very close to their hearts and have blossomed here in their new home. Unfortunately, tragedy reigns in the land of the old Persians. The remnants of the great Persian Empire were swallowed up by the Muslim terrorists storming out of Arabia. A tyrannical version of Islam eviscerated the spiritual life of tolerant old Persia. It has taken decades for the Persians (modern Iranians) to recover their spirit. While America is experiencing all sorts of hardship within at the moment, the American dream still looms large in the eyes of so many people everywhere. We the People should join hands with heroes today and express our love for America. America is far more than a country. It is a place of greatness. But this great nation called America is in grave danger and both political parties appear to have colluded for its final destruction by going against the will of the people and installing Hillary Clinton in the White House. Now, more than ever, Americans need to unite with all heroes, past and present to preserve America from tyrannical regimes. We cannot allow them to steal this election from us. We need to fight for our FREEDOM with all the legal means available at our disposal. Please, click on "Mass E-mailing" below and send this article to all your friends . 2016 Amil Imani - All Rights Reserved Amil Imani is an Iranian-American writer, satirist, novelist, essayist, public speaker and political analyst who has been writing and speaking out about the danger of radical Islam both in America and internationally. He has become a formidable voice in the United States against the danger of global jihad and Islamization of America. Amil maintains a website at www.amilimani.com. Imani is the author of Obama Meets Ahmadinejad and Operation Persian Gulf and is currently working on his third and fourth book. He is 2010 honoree of EMET: "The Speaker of the Truth Award" at the Capitol Hill. E-Mail: amil_imani@yahoo.com We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring, is still suffering from the bloody terror attacks that targeted western tourists in 2015. The North African country, which has 15.6 per cent unemployment rate, is believed to have provided the largest number of foreign militant fighters to the terrorist group ISIS. According to Mohamed Fadhel Abdelkefi, minister of development, investment and international cooperation, the country needs help to counter growing terror threat. We have 650,000 unemployed. Half of them are highly qualified. How can we explain to these guys that we have gone through this democratization process and they are unemployed for three or four years, and that as a government we have no solution for them? he said. So these unemployed guys will listen more to people like Daesh. When desperation increases, they may turn to Daesh, so we have to find a solution. We have to provide them with hope, he stressed. He warned that without help Tunisia may slip again into dictatorship and chaos. To meet social and economic woes, the Tunisian government worked out a national development plan, focusing on industries such as aircraft and car components, textiles, tourism, health and education. But the challenge is that the five-year plan needs a $ 60 billion investment, 60 per cent of which Tunis hopes to raise from the private sector. The authorities enacted a new investment code, offering tax breaks and a more streamlined process for foreign direct investment, and paved the way for public-private partnerships in areas such as renewable energies Now, the big question mark for Tunisians is that will foreign investors come to the country in a region where terrorism threat is sprawling ? Moroccan authorities have welcomed the appointment of Portugals Antonio Guterres as the new UN Secretary General, as they pin high hopes to see his term usher a new era of trust and cooperation on the Sahara issue following the turbulences between Morocco and the UN during Ban Ki-moons terms which was marred by verbal blunders showing a lack of neutrality. Following the election of Guterres as the ninth UN Secreatry General, King Mohammed VI of Morocco himself sent a congratulatory message expressing heartfelt congratulations and sincere wishes of success to the new UN chief in his tasks. Your appointment is reflective of the trust that you enjoy among the UN member states which have shown recognition to your human qualities and competences and to the considerable political experience you have accumulated throughout your impressive professional career, the Moroccan Monarch said in the message. The sovereign lauded Guterres political know-how and his aptitude to add new momentum to the UN actions as it seeks to address multiple challenges. In this regards, the King stressed the need for the UN to reinvigorate its structures and boost its performance in terms of addressing current challenges and meeting the aspirations of the international community. He said Morocco remains ready to play a key role in regional and global institutions, and that the Kingdom will spare no effort to support UN actions in terms of the peaceful solutions of conflict and the promotion of the values of freedom, justice, solidarity and coexistence. Guterres, 67, who was at the helm of the UN refugee agency UNHCR for 10 years, will take office as the worlds top diplomat on 1 January when South Koreas Ban Ki-moon term ends. Guterres, who trained as an engineer, entered politics in 1976 in Portugals first democratic election. As head of the UNHCR refugee agency from 2005 to 2015, he had to deal with one of the worlds worst refugee crises, including those in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. During that time, he adopted a firm stance by repeatedly appealing to Western states to do more to help refugees. Guterres was chosen out of 13 other candidates, seven were women, among them Unesco director-general Irina Bokova from Bulgaria, and Helen Clark, 66, a former prime minister of New Zealand and current head of the UN development program. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Over the past week, as the national political conversation has focused on the Republican nominees apparent affinity for sexual assault, a discussion nearly as tense has been unfolding at the far-left flank of the Democratic Party. For many of Bernie Sanderss die-hard supporters, WikiLeaks publication of hacked Clinton campaign emails has confirmed their deepest skepticism about and resentment of the Democratic Establishment and the candidate it helped to nominate. Among other things, the emails revealed that Clinton treated the financial industry with kid gloves in closed-door meetings with Wall Street firms, that the current DNC chair leaked a CNN town-hall question to the Clinton campaign, and that Clinton took a dim view of Sanderss plans for financial reform. Among the more recent revelations that are sticking in left-wingers craws is an exchange between Clinton speechwriter Dan Schwerin and communications adviser Mandy Grunwald. Per The Independent: Ms Clinton reportedly told Mr. Schwerin that she wanted to go after Mr Sanders on the topic as she considered his Wall Street plan naive and unworkable, but communications adviser Mandy Grunwald said the better approach was not to give him a fight. Our polling shows this is one of our weakest areas. Further, our Wall Street approach has always been to agree about the problem, show passion about it, and say we have a better approach to holding the rascals accountable, she wrote.We dont need to prove hes bad on Wall Street thats not really credible. We need to prove were ok. Most of all, we dont want this fight, she added. The ostensible grievance here is that Clinton views the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall an item in the Democratic platform as naive and unworkable. Another missive thats raising hackles is a March email from former DNC official Mark Siegel in which he advised the Clinton campaign to give Sanders a procedural win at the Democratic National Convention. I think this is terribly important especially with people like Bernies sometimes self-righteous ideologues. We want them to go home happy and enthusiastic in working their asses off for Hillary Why not throw Bernie a bone and reduce the super delegates in the future to the original draft of members of the House and Senate, governors and big city mayors, eliminating the DNC members who are not State chairs or vice-Chairs So if we give Bernie this in the Conventions rules committee, his people will think theyve won something from the Party Establishment. And it functionally doesnt make any difference anyway. They win. We dont lose. Everyone is happy. A version of Siegels proposal was adopted at the DNC and celebrated by Clinton and Sanders backers alike. Other slights are more personal. In one hacked email, a Clinton adviser calls National Nurses Uniteds attacks on the Democratic front-runner sanctimonious. The NNU is one of the few left-leaning unions that has yet to endorse Clinton. What the Clinton people called sanctimonious was our effort to act on progressive policies, RoseAnn DeMoro, the executive director of NNU, told the Washington Post. What they should do is act like adults, and say yes, we sent these emails. Instead theyre trying to start a new Cold War. Shes going to win this election overwhelmingly. Why dont they just accept responsibility? Its the same paradigm as Trump. The Democratic lefts onetime champion, however, sees little point in dwelling on spilled emails. The job of the progressive movement now is to look forward, not backward, Bernie Sanders told NBC News Wednesday. No matter what Secretary Clinton may have said years ago behind closed doors, whats important today is that millions of people stand up and demand that the Democratic Party implement the most progressive platform in the history of our country. The Vermont senators viewpoint has much to recommend it. After all, his campaign was initially conceived as a left-wing protest candidacy which is to say, as a means of pressuring a centrist Democratic front-runner from the left. Sanderss candidacy was premised on the notion that Clinton was too friendly with the finance industry and would give undue deference to its interests, absent public pressure from the partys grassroots. From one angle, then, the leaked excerpts from Clintons Wall Street speeches havent told Sanders supporters anything they didnt know. Rather, they confirmed the value and success of his campaign, which pressured a candidate from the partys center into embracing free public college for the middle class, Social Security expansion, and Medicare buy-in (along with a host of other progressive initiatives generated by the Clinton campaigns own policy team). To push those policies over the line from public commitments into signed legislation, Sanders argues, his supporters must remain on the Clinton train albeit as its most disagreeable and demanding passengers. But while Sanders may have started as a protest candidate, he ended up a genuine if long-shot contender for the nomination. And that led his campaign to portray Clinton as irredeemably beholden to Wall Street not a centrist who could be moved, but a bought-and-paid-for politician whose gestures to economic populism could not be believed. At the same time, Clintons campaign and its supporters downplayed or flatly denied that there were significant ideological differences between the two candidates. Rather, they suggested that Clinton was merely a progressive who likes to get things done; that her disagreement with Sanders was not about the optimal size of government, or whether the finance industry needs to be radically restructured, but solely about the feasibility of his proposals. (At other points, Clinton framed herself as a progressive who had a greater appreciation for the non-economic barriers to success in America). In this context, emails that merely confirm Clintons historic friendliness with finance and the cool calculation that went into some of her campaigns concessions to the left are more likely to inspire a sense of outrage than they otherwise might. A protester holds a Black Lives Matter placard during march in reaction to the fatal police shooting of unarmed black man Alfred Olango, on September 30, 2016, in El Cajon, California. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man, was fatally shot by police in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month, sparking a string of tense and sometimes violent protests. Officers say Scott was armed and he refused to drop the weapon; his wife and family refute that account. Scotts death was one of 754 police-involved fatalities in the U.S. so far this year, according to data from the Washington Post. But right now that information the number of fatal encounters with police nationwide is not comprehensively tracked by the federal government. The Justice Department is seeking to change that, saying Thursday that it will begin compiling data about police killings and use of force from across the country. A pilot program is expected to start next year. The program will monitor use of force by federal law-enforcement agencies, such as the FBI and the ATF, among others. The Justice Department will also require local and state police departments to turn over information on fatalities that occur in police custody, which covers killings, suicides, and even those deaths linked to natural causes. Congress passed the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA) in 2014, which requires local law enforcement to report that data or get fined though advocates such as the ACLU argue that those penalties are tough to enforce. The Justice Department will also launch an initiative to collect statistics on other kinds of police interactions, which can include searches and officer-involved shootings. That data on nonlethal encounters isnt required by law, so federal officials will have to work with departments to log and volunteer that data. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images At a rally in West Palm Beach Thursday, Donald Trump responded to a wave of sexual-assault allegations by, essentially, asking his supporters which of these scenarios is more likely: (a) That a man caught on tape bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent actually did so. (Note, many of the women who say that he did arent even hot.) or, (b) That all of the women accusing this man of sexual misconduct are liars hired by Crooked Hillary Clinton, to distract from the fact that WikiLeaks just revealed her plot to sell off the American government to a cabal of international bankers. The answer is obvious, is it not? These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false, Trump declared. And the Clintons know it. And they know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction, and theyre outright lies. The Republican nominee made the stakes of those lies perfectly clear, telling his supporters, For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the global special interests Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they havent seen before. This is not simply another four-year election. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we, the people, reclaim control over our government. Its a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities, Trump continued. Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends, and her donors. Thus, Trump reasoned, Its no coincidence these attacks come at the exact same moment, and all together at the same time as WikiLeaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine. There are a lot of frightening things about these remarks. For one, Trumps references to international bankers hell-bent on ending American sovereignty sound, to some ears, like a dog-whistle rendition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. the reference to Hillary meeting with "international bankers" was right out of 1930s Germany, so perhaps an "assist" to Goebbels? https://t.co/XmDbI7EedY scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) October 13, 2016 But even if one gives Trump the benefit of the doubt that he merely intended to make (hyperbolic) reference to the genuine desire among some elites to transcend nationalism and embrace world governance and open borders his comments would still be terrifying. He is telling his supporters that there is a global conspiracy to end democratic governance in the United States and that his election is the only thing that can prevent it from succeeding. He is telling them that the conspirators are powerful enough to take control of the entire American media and may even be capable of stealing the election itself. If the globalists win on November 8, what will his supporters do on November 9? If American sovereignty cant be secured through a fair and open political process, must they not emulate their founding fathers and secure it through armed conflict? Of course, very few Trump voters will take the moguls rhetoric to its heinous but logical conclusion. But very few people can hurt very many. Beyond violence, Trumps delegitimization of the democratic process threatens to exacerbate the political dysfunction that has crippled American governance and pushed the nation to the brink of debt default. All of which is to say: Donald Trump is going to be a problem for the United States for a lot longer than one more month. Photo: Keith Bedford/Boston Globe via Getty Images Donald Trump has made a habit out of taking the bait from the Clinton campaign during this election cycle. First it was Khizr Khan and then Alicia Machado. Could Michelle Obama be next? After a rousing speech today, in which she said Trumps pride in sexually assaulting women has shaken me to my core and called him an indecent human being, the First Lady would seem a potential target. Trump, as he always says, loves to punch back. But the White House has warned him not to do that. I cant think of a bolder way for Donald Trump to lose even more standing than he already has than by engaging the First Lady of the United States, deputy White House press secretary Eric Schultz said today. Schultz is, of course, probably right. But since when has Trump shied away from attacking someone just because it might prevent him from becoming president? The trap has been set. The only question now is can the rat avoid taking the bait? Photo: Python (Monty) Picutres Its hard to understand your own emotions if you dont have the vocabulary. For example, you may have felt awumbuk, a term used in Papua New Guinea to describe a sense of emptiness after guests leave your home, or kaukokaipuu, Finnish for homesickness for a place youve never been but without the words, even the most sensitive, introspective person can struggle to identify those feelings. For some people, though, the words arent the problem. An estimated 10 percent of people have a condition called alexithymia, or a difficulty describing their feelings and in a new study published this week in Royal Society Open Science and highlighted by STAT, psychologists discovered another layer to the condition: It also makes it more difficult for people to understand their own bodies, an ability known as interoception. People with alexithymia also may not know if theyre angry or just a bit hot because they ran up the stairs, study author Rebecca Brewer, a psychologist at the University of East London, told STAT. Or if their heart is beating harder because they just drank a cup of coffee or because theyre feeling fear. The study authors surveyed 208 people about how well they could pinpoint their physical and emotional states at any given time. For physical states, participants rated their agreement with statements like I frequently forget to eat and I always know when I am about to vomit; for emotional, I can tell when I am in love from the way I feel inside and Its hard to say whether I will be bored by a task. The link between the two categories, the researchers found, was a significant one. We therefore suggest that rather than being specifically associated with affective impairment, alexithymia is better characterized by a general failure of interoception, they wrote. Its an intriguing reminder that emotions are physical, too that the way we use bodily sensations to talk about feelings, like the burn of anger or the warm glow of happiness or a cold sense of dread, are more than just a linguistic idiosyncrasy. Billy Bush. Photo: Rachel Murray/Getty Images for imagine1day Billy Bush is reportedly about to get fired from NBC for the now-infamous lewd conversation he had with Donald Trump. But now, the Today hosts attorney claims Bush would have been fired if he had told Donald Trump to shut up at the time. A tape emerged last week of a conversation between the two men in 2005, back when Bush was hosting Access Hollywood. In the tape, Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women, and Bush appeared to be a willing participant in the conversation. However, his attorney Marshall Grossman told Us Weekly that Bush didnt have any choice but to go along with the conversation. If Billy had been passive or responded Shut the fk up to Trump, Billy would have been out of a job the next day, Grossman said. Hmm. Well, keep in mind Bush reportedly has a history of making offensive comments about women, and that he blatantly asked a very annoyed Jennifer Lopez about her butt in an interview. Photo: Samantha Hahn Perfection is a moving target. This week, the Cut explores the allure of trying to achieve the impossible. You would probably think that many things in fashion qualify as perfect, but actually, after 30 years of seeing extraordinary clothes, I can tell you that only one thing does and thats having a dress made for your body in Paris. It has happened to me three times. And, as I would gradually discover in other fitting rooms, the reason a couture garment makes you feel pretty or, equally, comfortable and secure has little to do with whats on the outside. The first was in 2000, when I played client for a story in the Times. I wanted to experience firsthand a fitting at a celebrated haute couture house Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and understand, perhaps, why the few real couture clients I knew always seemed to be talking above me. I dont mean they were snobs, far from it, but it was clear they were better informed than the women who only bought expensive ready-to-wear. They even carried themselves differently taller, and as if more secure. That fascinated me. Beyond the fact that the absolute rock-bottom price for a couture suit back then was $15,000, what did those ladies know about fashion that I didnt? A great deal, as it turned out, but that wasnt even the right question to ask. What didnt I know about myself? Newspapers were flush in those days, so with hardly a squeak from anyone, I got the paper to spend $9,000 for a black silk faille suit from Chanel, plus three trips to Paris for the required fittings. (Chanel charged us roughly what it would for the runway model, a common practice at the end of a season, when a house will discount what it doesnt plan to archive.) Today, that suit would probably cost four times as much. Also, in that pre-Instagram era, couture clients ruled. Women like Nan Kempner, Lynn Wyatt, Mouna al Ayoub, and Princess Firyal of Jordan filled the front rows. With their immaculate clothes and hair, and obvious money, they were a source of curiosity. You always saw actresses at couture, but either their presence was low-key or, like Deneuve at Saint Laurent, they were considered one of the family. It was only later that I realized that my timing was impeccable. Not only was I sincere in my quest to know more about the world that I covered, but the houses were operating in the twilight of private ownership. They were under few of the pressures that within a decade would cause people to complain that the system was broken endless shows, red carpets that girdled the planet, instantly shared content, burned-out designers. The time I am referring to, between my first couture experience and my second, around 2005, when Azzedine Alaia made me a navy wool dress, now seems relatively innocent. And though the media covers the couture shows with more intensity than ever, it has largely turned away from the technical elements fit, cut, hand-sewn seams that are the essence of couture. But so much of what I discovered involved those hidden elements. Photo: FirstView Although a Saint Laurent tailleur, with its masculine lines, would have better suited my body and personality, I really wanted a Chanel. I didnt care or didnt notice that Karl Lagerfeld had designed a collection that season loaded with full skirts worn with either a cropped jacket or a longer shape, without lapels, that closed diagonally on the body and had a trapeze line. The style looked ravishing on the models, but a trapeze shape on my five-foot-seven, size-12 frame, with the extra ballast of a full, mid-calf skirt? I think not. Nonetheless, I wanted the dream of a Chanel. I wanted to walk down the Rue Cambon, and instead of entering the house through the boutique or the trade door, as I usually did when I visited Lagerfeld, I wanted to go through the door just for couture clients and then up the famous mirrored stairway to the beige-and-black salon. I wanted, in short, to be the girl I wasnt. The first slap of reality came in the fitting room, where, standing in my high heels, underpants, and Wonderbra, I could barely wiggle a forearm into the jackets wand sleeves. You really feel your shortcomings when trying to squeeze into clothes made for models and three Frenchwomen the premieres of the ateliers and a saleswoman are politely watching you. My Wonderbra was another demerit. The fit of couture is so exact, with five measurements just of your back, that the slightest change in your shape between the first fitting (in muslin) and the next will be detected in the garment. My Wonder boobs created two little mounds in the muslin; later, in the silk faille, my boobs looked like two crumpled Dixie Cups because for the second fitting I wore a normal bra. I guess the premieres just took it for granted that I would wear my customary undergarments to the fittings it wasnt a Victorias Secret fashion show, after all. My lack of confidence was revealed in other ways. I remember standing before the mirror in the nearly finished suit as the premieres examined their work and said, How does it feel? I honestly didnt know what to say. How was it supposed to feel? And relative to what a slouchy Armani jacket? I could barely raise my arms to a useful level, the armholes felt so small. But in the end, the Chanel suit was a wonder of fit. Because couture fabrics are cut and sewn by hand, giving them a roundness, the suit seemed to mold to my body. By the third fitting, with more nips and tucks, it was absolutely perfect. Not only could I raise my arms, but the cut of the jacket brought my shoulders back, creating the illusion of good posture. Three weeks later the suit arrived at my house, beautifully packed in tissue paper in a giant white box marked CHANEL, 31 Rue Cambon, Paris. I thought the suit was the height of chic, with its moyen-age cuffs lined in gold silk, its fancy skirt, and the extra oomph of a gold stickpin with a large pearl that adorned the jacket. (It was the work of the sculptor and jewelry designer Irena Borzena Ustjanowski, who had just started collaborating with Lagerfeld when she died in a helicopter crash with her husband, the Paris bread-maker Lionel Poilane.) But, like any first experience, the suit reflected the limits of my sophistication. Its shape was unnatural for my body, and I didnt have the confidence really, the self-knowledge to direct the saleswoman. And, as I would gradually discover in other fitting rooms, the reason a couture garment makes you feel pretty or, equally, comfortable and secure has little to do with whats on the outside. It comes from the inside, from how the garment is constructed. The Alaia was an altogether different experience. I was more sure of my tastes; plus, I was slimmer. But the real difference was that Alaia himself did the fitting. Most designers leave that part of the process to someone else. But hes personally involved with everything, from design to pattern-making to fittings. Id seen the dress sleeveless, draped skirt, in navy cavalry wool during a visit to his Paris studio, and noted the proportions, the clean lines, the bounce of the skirt despite the military weight of the wool. I asked if he would make the dress for me and he took my measurements. Three months later, when I was in Paris again, he had the dress basted and pinned and ready for me to try on. As I stood stock-still, he and an assistant, who held some pins, went to work. Alaia never said a word. He started with the bodice, snipping away the neckline, the armholes, smoothing the fabric and adding more pins. His movements were very quick and sure. He tugged at the grosgrain ribbon that held the waist in place and marked an adjustment. Then he went to work on the skirts drapery. Although it looked gathered, the effect was achieved by barely detectable darts, as well as the weight of the fabric. He checked the volume, made adjustments, and then marked the hem. With his fingers always moving across the fabric, just a few inches from his intent face, he never once asked my opinion. He never said, How does it feel? He was driving this car. Although each couture experience fed my knowledge, and although Dior during the Raf Simons era would one day make me a dress that truly reflected my confidence (it was a simple style from Diors commercial showroom, but made to my measurements in the couture atelier), no dress quite had the impact of the Alaia. The bodice hugged my torso; like the Chanel, it made me stand taller. The skirt was extremely feminine, and yet, thanks to the military wool, not fussy. I remember wearing the dress to a McQueen show at the Cirque dHiver in Paris, and sitting on the edge of the stage as the other guests came in. I never felt so pretty. A short time later, I wore the dress on a date with a man Id been seeing. We went to a Christmas party. When we returned to his house, I changed out of the dress, leaving it on the bed, and went to the kitchen. When I came back, I saw the Alaia sitting on top of a wastebasket. The bodice had sunk a little into the skirt, like Maya Rudolph in Bridesmaids, but the stiff wool had kept the dress upright. It looked so defiant on its ugly throne that I nearly laughed. The man had put it there as a way of voicing his preference for sexy clothes. I barely reacted to his juvenile prank; I felt almost nothing, in fact. I just fetched up the dress, and dumped the guy later. He could not have known what made that dress special, all those painstaking hours of precision from the hands of Alaia. But I knew it, and quietly felt it, every time I put on the dress, and thats what made it so perfect. Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStoc/Getty Images Eva, 34, lives in Brooklyn and is pregnant with her second child, due in February. Her job at a marketing firm offers five months of maternity leave, which shes thrilled about, but only eight weeks will be paid. (When her first baby was born, she had a different job that allowed her 12 weeks of leave, only six of which were paid.) In theory, she and her partner should have started socking away money long before they wanted another kid, but that seems impossible, especially in New York. None of her friends, whether theyre moms or not, talk about saving for maternity leave. How should she go about financing the three months that she plans to be on unpaid leave? Plenty before me have hollered themselves blue over the abysmal dearth of parental-leave support in this country, but the hard facts remain absurd how have we not fixed this yet? Out of the worlds largest 180 industrialized countries, we are only one of two that does not mandate paid maternity leave, according to the International Labor Organization. The other is Papua New Guinea. Its embarrassing, really. Eva, I dearly wish you didnt have to ask this question, which well get to in a minute. If you lived in one of many other countries, youd get 100 percent of your salary (comprised of a combination of funds from your employer and the government) for at least 12 weeks, if not the whole five-month stretch (in Russia, of all places). Still, your eight weeks of paid leave puts you head and shoulders above the majority of Americans who dont get any at all. Instead, theyre stuck with the measly Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which was passed in 1993 and offers 12 weeks of unpaid leave. And moms only qualify for that if theyve been at their company for over 12 months, have worked at least 1,250 hours at said company during the past year, and most arbitrarily are employed at a location where their company has 50 or more people on staff within 75 miles. Again, this only guarantees a woman that her company will do her the great service of not firing her while shes out. Now, back to your question. I dont have kids, but I know plenty of people who do, and it is stressful business. The last thing you want on your list of immediate concerns during those bleary post-birth months is your bank balance. But here we are. For a financially focused take on parental leave, I reached out to Allyson Downey, the CEO and founder of weeSpring (which is like Yelp for baby products) and author of Heres the Plan: Your Practical, Tactical Guide to Advancing Your Career During Pregnancy and Parenthood. Partway through her first pregnancy, while she was working (very successfully) at a male-dominated Wall Street firm, Allyson had a scare and was subsequently ordered by her doctor to go on bed rest, immediately. She went straight home and set up a bedroom office, only to find that her company couldnt or wouldnt accommodate her need to work outside its walls, despite her eagerness to do so and repeated entreaties to HR and her supervisor. She was then nudged out of her job, rather quickly not fired, but not really able to return, having lost her entire book of business. Luckily for all of us, she wrote a book about it, went on to become a major entrepreneur, and has devoted herself to making sure that other women dont have to go through what she did. Saving up for having a baby is not that different from a rainy day, Allyson told me. I encourage women, whether or not they want to have kids, to start putting away part of their paycheck as soon as they have enough latitude to be able to do so. You know that essay about the fuck-off fund? Having money that youve been disciplined enough to set aside will open so many doors. Its unfortunate that, in this country, pregnancy counts as a rainy day (or doors that need opening), but its always true that life is better when you get in the routine of squirreling away dollars as early as possible. Just like physical health, you cant really cut corners on your financial well-being. And while its never (never!) too late to start saving, you also cant make up for lost time in just a few months. Allyson has spoken to some women who copped to financing their maternity leave with credit cards. (Its surely no coincidence that average consumer debt peaks in peoples 30s in the midst of ones childbearing years.) You might need to get creative Allyson has a friend who supported her maternity leave by selling some of the Apple stock shed wisely purchased ten years previously. If you can lean on your partners salary a bit more, this is a time to do so. Otherwise, its a good old-fashioned game of spending less than you make. Like many parents, my friend Sarah and her husband made a number of sacrifices when they were preparing to start a family, including moving from Brooklyn to a less-expensive suburb. Shes a nurse, and received six weeks paid leave for a vaginal birth (as opposed to the eight weeks she would have gotten for a C-section). Beyond that, her employer allowed her five months leave total, which she took using rolled-over vacation time and the savings that she and her husband had built up over the previous year. I was very strategic with vacation time, especially once I got pregnant, and accrued as much as my company allowed, she told me. We also started saving extra money almost immediately once I got pregnant. I think we did what a lot of couples do: We cut down on dinners out, splashy vacations, extra clothing and shoes, and alcohol (which was easy for a pregnant woman). Lauren, who works at a nonprofit in Boston, took three months paid leave, mostly comprised of accrued sick days shed been rolling over for years, plus a fourth month unpaid. To be honest, we didnt make huge sacrifices to plan for it because we had a significant amount of savings built up already, she said. However, things still got hairy when she returned to work. For me, the financial impact of child care is much greater than those four weeks that I took unpaid, she said. Planning for it was something I did not do well. I personally believe that when you are pregnant, its almost impossible to know what you will want for child care. Its just so different when the baby is here. The astronomical cost of child care is a separate beast entirely, but ideally itll be your first financial hurdle after birth, not the one you drag up to after scrimping your way through a few unpaid months. But what if you havent started saving until now? Youre in the majority, and almost everyone I polled said the same thing. I have to admit that with my first pregnancy, I did effectively no planning, said Elizabeth, a friend with a 3-year-old and one more on the way. I took six weeks of paid leave from my job and then quit, because Id lined up part-time freelance work (which turned into my current full-time gig) with my previous company. But I wouldnt say that was strategic. I was in the lucky position where my husbands salary was enough to cover us without me working if we were relatively frugal, especially if I was able to supplement with freelance work. Due next March, shes just found out that her current company only offers three weeks paid leave, and is scrambling to figure out what to do. A good friend works for an Italian insurance company and is expecting a baby at the end of the month shes getting 12 weeks off, fully paid, she added. I guess a gal can dream? Another friend, Caroline, started beefing up her savings shortly before she and her husband got pregnant. Being Type A (and broke), I started a baby fund months before we started trying, so I was able to put my end-of-year bonus in there (after putting some into my 401k), which made a huge difference, she said. The rest was nothing big probably about 100 bucks a month. Once I got pregnant, I freaked out about our financial situation and picked up a bit more freelance work, all of which went straight into the baby fund. We emptied it in about two weeks after paying a horrifying amount on my birth, which cost thousands of dollars, even with health insurance and all I had was, like, two Motrin and a super-crappy room for two nights. Where did it all go? Great question. Most insurance plans even generous ones dont fully cover childbirth and its myriad potential complications, and its worth looking into yours to avoid (very) unpleasant surprises. Even more importantly, for your unpaid leave, remember that your insurance fee comes out of your paycheck so if that paycheck isnt issued, you might have to send a personal check to your insurance company to stay covered. (This topic is on Allyson Downeys list of questions to ask your employer about maternity options Eva, I recommend you take them to HR and tick them off one by one.) On that note, many insurance companies actually consider pregnancy a disability, and cover it as such so make sure to sign up for that during your next enrollment period. Even if your company already provides paid maternity leave, you can sometimes get additional paid time off by lumping in disability leave. (Eva, hopefully you dont have to worry about this, but some women who try to sign up for disability while already pregnant get denied because particularly shameless insurance companies consider it a preexisting condition just something to watch out for.) Andrea, a physical therapist in Denver, cobbled together a meagerly paid leave with a combination of disability and vacation time. Honestly, maternity-leave laws in the U.S. are a joke, she said. My job offered the basic FMLA criteria of 12 weeks unpaid leave. In addition to saving portions of my paycheck once I got pregnant, I used my remaining vacation days for the year (two weeks) and disability insurance coverage (seven to eight weeks for C-section recovery, which amounted to about $450 per week) to finance the first few months. Eva, one suggestion is to take a close look at how much you spent during your previous maternity leave delve into your old bank and credit-card statements and tally everything up. Then, with your partners help, aim to save up a rough equivalent. Another blueprint to consider is a 2010 USDA report that shows the average middle-income family will spend roughly $12,000 on child-related expenses in their babys first year of life. In current-day New York City, your costs are likely to be significantly more than that, but you can hopefully find some shortcuts using hand-me-downs from your older child, for example. This isnt your first rodeo, so you know what youre getting into. And its excellent that youre planning to maximize your leave option. As you probably know, scientific studies show that returning to work later (more than three months post-birth) has a positive impact on both mental and physical health for mothers, which can translate into a smoother reentry overall. Now, to end on a high note, some encouraging news: Last spring, New York state passed a law mandating up to 12 weeks of partially paid family leave, which will be phased into effect starting in 2018 (it wont go fully into effect until 2021). In April, San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to mandate six weeks of fully paid parental leave for any gender, starting next year. Meanwhile, three states (California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) currently offer partially paid time off for new parents. And finally, many leading corporations (Google, Amazon, Apple) are raising the bar by instituting gold-plated parental-leave policies as a perk to attract and retain talent. We may be coming from very far behind, but at least were heading in the right direction. I cant wait for the day when your concern becomes universally obsolete. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump has run a campaign rife with sexist and racist rhetoric (and thats not even taking into account all the sexual-assault allegations against him) so its no surprise that his rallies have featured supporters proudly flaunting misogynistic gear, and that the online harassment of women and minorities has flourished during this election cycle. But his speeches have also translated into his supporters engaging in real-life harassment and violence against groups targeted by the campaign. Here is a list of violent attacks by Trump supporters on women because of their gender, race, or religion. Trump Supporter Threatened to Beat Up Black Woman October 2016 A 55-year-old man in Albany, New York, was arrested after approaching a 27-year-old black woman outside a grocery store and yelling, You [racial slur] had your time. Your eight years are up. He also added, Trump is going to win and if you dont like it Im going to beat your ass. Man Says, I Cant Wait Until Trump Gets Elected So I Can Force Bitches Like You Down on Your Knees October 2016 Writer Sara Novic shared a screenshot of a text message from her younger sister, in which she described being pestered by a man in Penn Station until she told him, I dont mean to be rude at all, but Im just not interested. He reportedly replied, Wooowww, fucking bitch! I cant wait until Trump gets elected so I can force bitches like you down on your knees when you talk like that. 1 more time ICYMI: I got this message from my little sister tonight. This is why T***p cannot win. #oneofmanyreasons #vote pic.twitter.com/1Nx5ldAxPK Sara Novic (@NovicSara) October 10, 2016 College Student Followed and Assaulted by Trump Supporter October 2016 Katie Zurbrick, a senior at Portland State University, told KATU that a stranger approached her with a video camera and asked her if she wanted to be on Trump TV. After she declined, he reportedly began to shout expletives and sexual slurs at her, only to grab her phone, attempt to destroy it, and shove her out of the way until she screamed and he ran off. 69-Year-Old Woman Punched in the Face at a Rally September 2016 At a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, a 69-year-old protester named Shirley Teter who was hooked up to an oxygen tank says she was punched right in the face by a Trump supporter after she told him that he should learn Russian. He turned around and just cold-cocked me, she claimed. Muslim Women Attacked by Someone Trying to Rip Their Head Scarves Off September 2016 Two Muslim women pushing their strollers in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, were attacked by Emirjeta Xhelili, a 32-year-old woman who allegedly yelled, Get the fuck out of here, get the fuck out of America, bitches, while punching and kicking them. She also tried to rip their head scarves off. Upon investigating her Facebook and Twitter accounts, it was found that she posted messages like, America is the ark of Noah. Trumps gonna win. Muslim Woman Attacked Outside D.C. Starbucks May 2016 A white blonde woman reportedly began to verbally harass a black Muslim woman on the patio of a Washington, D.C., Starbucks, and ultimately threw a liquid-like substance at her. Per DCist, the victim told CAIR [the Council on American Islamic Relations] that the suspect said that she was voting for Donald Trump in hopes that he would send all of you terrorist Muslims out of this country. Woman Punched in Face Because of Trump Micropenis Painting April 2016 Illma Gore, a 24-year-old artist, created a now-viral painting of Donald Trump, nude and with a micropenis. But while many of us had a laugh about it, Gore alleges that she was punched in the face by a man who got out of his car and yelled, Trump 2016! Teen Girl Pepper-Sprayed at Trump Rally March 2016 A 15-year-old girl protesting outside of a Trump rally was called a bitch, a communist, and a n-r lover before getting brutally pepper-sprayed. EXCLUSIVE vid shows teen get pepper sprayed after shoving protester, called a bitch & "n****r lover" at Trump rally pic.twitter.com/kB4GqQbbaG Candace Smith (@CandaceSmith_) March 30, 2016 Protester Screamed at and Pushed Out of Rally March 2016 At a Super Tuesday rally in Louisville, Kentucky, back in March, a young black protester was screamed at by a man in a Make America Great hat and roughly shoved out of the event. Photo: Keith Bedford/Globe Staff/Boston Globe via Getty Images In this historic year for women in presidential politics, the most unapologetic and powerful feminist speech of the campaign was delivered not by the historic candidate but by the First Lady. Michelle Obama, speaking in the swing state of New Hampshire, delivered the half-hour talk with furious precision. It was a speech about women the woman running for the presidency, and the women around the country who have been badly shaken by the turn this election has taken, as reports have emerged that make very clear how Donald Trump talks and acts with regard to the bodies of women and girls. It was a speech that Hillary herself could not have given, for a number reasons: In part, because it remains damn near impossible for a woman to make inspiring feminist arguments on her own behalf without coming off as self-congratulatory; in part, because Hillary is hamstrung by the fact that shes married to a man who has been accused of his own sexual-power abuses; and, in part, because she is simply less comfortable conveying communion, empathy, and inspiration on the stump. But while Hillary could not have delivered it, it was a speech that the country desperately needed. We needed it because this week has been awful. It has been demoralizing and depressing. Yes, the still largely male, mostly white media population has chewed over horse-race predictions and barely hidden its glee at the sudden unpredictability of the electoral map. But to be a woman this week, even to be a Clinton-supporting woman this week, has not involved the Saturday Night Liveimagined victory-dancing performed by Kate McKinnon. For many women, recent events have recalled trauma, forced us to relive moments of degradation or shame, and brought back that utterly unfair feeling of responsibility, as if provoking an assault or ugly comment was something we had done, something we should feel bad for. For many of us, the experience of watching Donald Trumps physically unnerving behavior toward Clinton during the debate, of hearing his predatory words caught on tape, of reading about his octopus hands and probing tongue and insistent grabs at unwilling women, has felt way too familiar. It has returned to us the memories of the guys who stood too close, who loomed menacingly, who made us feel foolish for having been scared, who spoke cruelly or aimed to embarrass us when we didnt please them, who touched or slipped or rubbed against us without invitation. For many of us, the view of Clinton during the debate gripping her microphone tightly as an angry man squinted at her from behind, clearly working to stay subdued and keep any sign of anger or fear or humiliation under control was all too resonant. Those experiences were resonant for Michelle Obama, too, who knows more about having had to be controlled and subdue her frustrations, about having her body insulted and degraded, about having her every move scrutinized, than most of us will ever be able to imagine. A frank, funny, brilliant woman, Obama was ripped apart during her husbands 2008 campaign, attacked as too angry, too critical, too disrespectful of her husband in her insistence on having her own opinions. What Michelle Obama has faced as a black woman, of course, is sexism in combination with racism, forces that amplify and complicate each other, doubling and tripling in intensity. And as First Lady she has worked to control her public persona through these destabilizing gales. Her speeches are tightly crafted and often withering, but always presented in a positive, inspirational frame they are paeans to hope, not to anger or sadness. Yet here is Donald Trump, who refers to black cities most often to Michelles native and beloved Chicago as hellscapes, who launched a delegitimizing and racist campaign questioning her husbands place of birth, and who is unapologetic and cruel in his aesthetic appraisals of womens bodies and value. On Thursday, Michelle Obama talked about Trump like she did not care if he or anyone else knew how angry she was. Her voice shook with fury and emotion. I think all agree this has been a rough week in an already rough election, Obama said at the start, pointing to the contrast between this news cycle and the event she had held on Tuesday for Let Girls Learn, her initiative to get more girls around the world into school. At her final Let Girls Learn event, Obama said, the young women spoke of their hopes and their dreams and their aspirations, and about the unthinkable obstacles they had faced in their quests to go to school. I told them they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, she said, and that they should disregard anyone who demeans or devalues them. That, she said, was Tuesday. And now, here I am, out on the campaign trail in an election where we have consistently been hearing hurtful, hateful language about women language that has been painful for so many of us. Declining to repeat the language that Donald Trump has used about women, and declining as she did in her exquisite speech at the Democratic Convention in July to even refer to him by name, Obama said that the candidates braggadocio about his nonconsensual encounters has unmoored her. I cant stop thinking about this, she said, and here she gave voice to the experiences of the hundreds of people I have heard from this week via email and social media, of the millions of women who have participated in social-media chains about their own experiences with groping, unwanted advances, and outright assault. It has shaken me to my core in a way I couldnt have predicted. And so, she went on, while I would love nothing more than to pretend that this isnt happening, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream. But, she said, she cant. I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally and Im sure that many of you do too, Obama went on. The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and our intellect, the belief you can do anything you want to a woman? Its cruel, its frightening. And the truth is that it hurts. It hurts. As many have pointed out, while Trump has trafficked in racism and sexism throughout the campaign, the breaking point the point of recognition for many in the media and many in the Republican Party was in response to instances of abuse of white women, women whom the white Republican men who distanced themselves from Trump last weekend could identify with as worthy of their concern. But a discussion of sexual coercion with white women at its center provides a perniciously incomplete view of America, where the bodies of women of color have always been more vulnerable to assault, and where women of color have found it harder to get help or report assault thanks to unequal treatment by the criminal-justice system and medical Establishment. It mattered that Michelle Obama, who is not a white woman, was making sure that it was not just the voices of white women that were being heard and registered on this subject; it mattered that she was describing sexual inequities, harassment, and assault as central to the experience of all women in America. Its like that sick sinking feeling when youre walking down the street, minding your own business, and some guy yells out vulgar words about your body, said Obama, or the guy at work who stands a little too close, stares a little too long, and makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin. Its that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them It reminds us of stories weve heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how, back in their day, the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to women in the office, and even though they worked so hard, jumped through every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough. And now, she went on, here we are, once again experiencing the feelings of revulsion, of shame, and she said, were drowning in it, and all of us are doing what women have always done: Were trying to keep our heads above water, just trying to get through it, trying to pretend like this doesnt really bother us. Maybe because we think admitting how much it hurts makes us as women look weak. Maybe were afraid to be that vulnerable, maybe weve grown accustomed to swallowing our emotions and staying quiet because weve seen that people often wont take our word over his. And so she chided those in the media who are treating this as just another days headline, as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted, as if this is normal New Hampshire, be clear: This is not normal. Obama went on to discuss the impact of this news on children, and on the men and boys in the country who do not talk to women like this. She said that to dismiss it as everyday locker-room talk is to insult decent men everywhere and told a story about a 6-year-old boy who told his mother that he knew Hillary would be president because hed heard that the other guy called someone piggy and you cannot be president if you call someone a piggy. Even a 6-year-old, said Michelle Obama, knows that this is not how adults behave, this is not how decent human beings behave. And, yes, she made the case for Hillary Clinton in the affirmative, discussing her preparedness, her lifetime of work on behalf of kids and families, her commitment to affordable health care and child care, her dedication to being a team player, as evidenced by her eagerness to work for her former opponent as secretary of State. She described Hillary with respect, as a full and complicated human being a lawyer, law professor, First Lady, senator, secretary of State, and as a mother, wife, and daughter a multifaceted, experienced candidate and role model who has never quit on anything in her life, who waited her turn and helped out while waiting and who happens to be a woman. It was a brief and yet more robust and vivid description of a woman than Donald Trump has seemingly ever offered. And then, Obama made another point, a point that without her saying it specifically also recognized the role of women of color in making this historic campaign, and the one that preceded it, possible. While our recent groundbreaking Democratic candidates for president have been a black man and a white woman, its been women of color who have, and who will most likely, in a few weeks, be responsible for putting them in the Oval Office, as the most reliable members of the Democratic base. We have everything we need to stop this madness, Michelle Obama said. You see, while our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today, we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election. We have knowledge. We have a voice. We have a vote. And on November 8th, we as women, we as Americans, we as decent human beings can come together and declare that enough is enough. COPYRIGHT NZCIVAIR All information and photographs used on this blog are copyright to NZCIVAIR. The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress. Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions. Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs. Off-Piste to create a hunger for Hungary Hungarian wine could enjoy a revival in the UK after one leading supplier decided to champion the category through a range of branded and own-label wines. Hungary sits well outside the UK trades top 10 countries of origin and has not had much love in years. But that could all change now Off-Piste Wines has teamed up with Binderer, a Hungarian producer owned by German firm St Ursula. It has all the efficiency, organisation and production of a German company, with two wineries in Hungary producing fantastic wines, Off-Piste owner Paul Letheren told OLN. The issue is how to sell them and the eastern European ranges in most retailers havent been touched in a long time because nothing has happened. But the New World has come back to Europe and its genuinely exciting. I genuinely see a big opportunity for eastern European wines, for Hungarian wines. He said other people have tried and failed in the past to revive Hungarys fortunes, but believes what sets Off-Piste apart is his team. Rachel Archer, who created the successful I Heart brand at Copestick Murray, is in charge of brand development, and former Sainsburys and Tesco winemaker Clem Yates MW sources the juice and oversees the blends. Other people have talked about it but havent had Rachels expertise in packaging and coming up with something appealing to consumers, and Clems experience in blending, said Letheren. He believes Off-Pistes Most Wanted brand which is similar to I Heart in that it focuses on grape variety and quality instead of region or appellation is a perfect vehicle for Binderers wines. You want ideas that work for brands and own-label, he said. If you can go to a retailer and say you have a category approach to eastern Europe it helps. You need to do something yourself the blending and the branding to add value, to add the Off-Piste approach to it. Most Wanted can work for Albarino or Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, as long as the wine is the best example you can get for that price. Its all about quality first. Yates said she has been banging on about Hungary for ages and has now managed to convince her team that the quality is exceptional. She added: People see Most Wanted and they dont need to know Hungary. Lets drive the grape variety as a brand. In the wine trade people are too focused on appellations and regions and origin. Its about price and quality and if you satisfy both of those it works. With Most Wanted we can do different grape varieties and still have that dominant brand. You are free to play around with different areas and different countries. We focus on brands and quality. Related articles: Berry Bros beefs up wines for Christmas Berry Bros & Rudd has added a raft of new and different from the mainstream wines in preparation for Christmas. The London-based retailer has added wines from Chiles Vinedos de Alcohuaz, Argentinas Bodega del Desierto, Australias Circe and Mullineux from Swartland in South Africa as part of its strategy to ensure it offers wines that cannot be found in mainstream stores. Vinedos de Alcohuaz, appealed to the Berry Bros team because it offers contemporary wines using traditional methods, resulting in wine styles and prices that are not usually associated with Chile. Guy Hooper, the winerys consultant, told OLN: The wines cast a new light on what our expectations are in Chile. They are totally different and they demonstrate the style and quality from a new generation of winemakers in Chile. The winery is believed to be Chiles highest, located 2,200m above sea level in the countrys Elqui Valley. The two wines listed by Berry Bros are the 13.5% abv Vinedos de Alcohuaz Rhu, a blend of Syrah, Petite Syrah and Grenache (rrp 36.95), and the 13% abv Grus (rrp 21.95), which is the same grape combination but with added Malbec. The grapes are crushed by foot in stone pools and the wines are aged in cement. These two wines are focused on Mediterranean varieties of grapes, which are more resistant to the sun its a big challenge we face in Chile, too much sun, said Hooper. Chile can grow most grapes but it is important to plant the right thing in the right areas. These two red wines are lower in alcohol and they are good food wines. At these prices they are really trying to push the UK consumer up to premium prices for Chile. But the UK is a key market for us and I think we have the right partner with Berry Bros. They are hand-sell wines. The retailer hopes its new additions from Circe will encourage customers to explore Australias premium wines. Berry Bros also noted that it is recording strong sales of English sparkling wines and it expects this to ramp up as Christmas approaches. Buying director Mark Pardoe MW told OLN: We carry quite a big range of around 12 English sparkling wines, so we are supporting it in a major way. As the market evolves we are looking at following people who are doing groundbreaking stuff, so Gusbourne is one we have stocked for a while and then theres Hambledon. The production there is about to increase to an interesting commercial level. We also look at smaller boutique wineries. It means we can offer English sparkling in volume and for individual interest which makes for an exciting category. Texan Alliance: Berry Bros & Rudd has added a Texan bourbon to its premium spirits. Texas Legation celebrates the historic alliance between the Lone Star state of the US and Britains oldest wine merchant. It is distilled by brothers Jonathan and Robert Likarish at their Ironroot Republic distillery and blended by Douglas McIvor of Berry Bros. Related articles: lol @ sniffing distance Reply Thread Link Michelle Obama's speech today was everything. If love for Hillary to appoint her to the Supreme Court! Sorry Merick Garland Reply Thread Link Ooo that would be amazing. Reply Parent Thread Link If she wins, I'm guessing the Senate is going to go through with Garland. Reply Parent Thread Link They probably will, because they'll be so terrified of who Hillary might appoint instead, lolol! Reply Parent Thread Link I don't understand how they can stall a supreme court justice nomination by a sitting president. What a complete miscarriage of democracy. I want the republicans to implode. Also michelle obama's speech was so powerful, i almost cried when she cried. She really felt his words to heart and i was mad he made queen michelle cry. I felt her when she listed all the shit women go through and i love she never even used his name. Must've made him seethe, he loves attention that much Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ICONIC LEGENDARY PERFECTION ETC YAS Reply Parent Thread Link I think Michelle will become the next Oprah, she doesn't seem like she wants to stay in politics... Reply Parent Thread Link Michelle is such a Queen. I want to be like her when I'm older and I know it sounds corny, but she's incredible Reply Parent Thread Link The thing that deeply disturbs me is if they have other women in their lives who have been victims of sexual assault or harassment and need support. I don't think I would be able to go to any of these women if they were in my life to discuss a possible assault or harassment - would I be believed? It's so sad and infuriating. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link That first lady is right. Hillary's anti-"Merry Christmas" platform is deeply disturbing. :( Reply Parent Thread Expand Link just a sea of old, leathery white people. Reply Parent Thread Link White women just as bad as the men they want to emulate? Groundbreaking. Reply Parent Thread Link That one lady is right though. Hillary is a disgusting rapist defender. Purge them all. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link God he looks so smug in that still. Probably thinking girls still wanna bang him Reply Parent Thread Expand Link This shit is so sad. This election has shed light on so many things for me. Reply Parent Thread Link i just want all trump supporters to suddenly drop to the floors paralyzed for the rest of their days Reply Parent Thread Link Not surprised, he could openly espouse pedophilia while livestreaming a lynching and his fans will will defend it as "at least he's being honest!!!" Reply Parent Thread Link hillary is gonna outlaw merry christmas lmfaoooooooo Reply Parent Thread Link lmao "she is gonna make 'merry christmas" a banned phrase!1!!!1' Reply Parent Thread Expand Link thankfully they'll all be dead soon Reply Parent Thread Link this absolutely horrifies me Reply Parent Thread Link yikes this is so sad Reply Parent Thread Link @nicoleeeliz sorry mate, too much free speech pie and I don't give a shiyt juice John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) October 13, 2016 john clapbacked too: Reply Thread Link lmao, I love him. Reply Parent Thread Link omg I love this man! Reply Parent Thread Link omg. he's the best, Reply Parent Thread Link Like her description even says white supremacist. she looks like a mutant beaver. Reply Parent Thread Link her entire account is frightening tbh...I regret clicking. Reply Parent Thread Link lol he is awesome. Reply Parent Thread Link He's everything <333333333333 Reply Parent Thread Link lol omg Reply Parent Thread Link I wanna marry him Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link omg that girl's profile. the ~alt right is so fucking extra and cringeworthy even aside from the shitty politics Reply Parent Thread Link omg go IN John Reply Parent Thread Link We don't deserve this man <3 Reply Parent Thread Link This woman has that she's a white supremacist on her twitter page, so not surprised. Reply Parent Thread Link lmao i love him Reply Parent Thread Link Lmaaaao yaaas babe yaaaaas Reply Parent Thread Link boothang Edited at 2016-10-14 06:33 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link michelle fucking nailed it today. incredible. Reply Thread Link Seriously she is so amazing. Reply Parent Thread Link Her voice was so shaky at some point like you can tell she felt strong about it and if she was chilling with friends she would have gone ham, but she kept it professional. Reply Parent Thread Link like the US doesnt make sure its always everyone business... they didnt let us mind our own business when they supported a military coup here. I will shame people voting for Trump all I fucking want Reply Thread Link right? we have a right to be concerned. Reply Parent Thread Link MTE. So the US gets to interviene in everybody's business plus still has nuclear weapons but people outside the US cant even comment. Fuck that shit. Reply Parent Thread Link I think they are. I mean, maybe not to the extent that some people do, but I think they are pushing some agenda. I haven't researched evidence, so it's not a hill I'm going to die on though, lol. It's fucked how much the US govt gets involved in elections & shit elsewhere in the world. Which reminds me, did we have anything about the King of Thailand passing away here? Reply Parent Thread Link Exactly, gringos meddle in every country, specially in the middle east and Latin America but we can't comment about it? They made that election our business too. Reply Parent Thread Link Ikr this is what they get. Also fuck em for arming the drug cartels (I live in Mexico) Reply Parent Thread Link God, YES to all of this Reply Parent Thread Link I'm not liking JKR's comments on HP-related stuff, but on politics? She is ON POINT. I've got a ton of respect for her. She's smart as hell. Reply Thread Link lmao and mrs norris wouldn't approve. thank you. Reply Parent Thread Link i wouldn't trust mrs norris's opinion considering how much she loves filch Reply Parent Thread Link In addition to this she retweeted dozens of great great tweets about the leaked video/trump in general so I give major props to her. Reply Parent Thread Link She's deluded on her support for the PLP. Reply Parent Thread Link I saw a post in tumblr that was mocking her. It was her saying on twitter that the sorting hat was trans and I couldn't stop laughing. Reply Parent Thread Link what? rowling says a whole bunch of stupid shit re:politics Reply Parent Thread Link I hear that in his voice too which makes it extra satisfying Reply Thread Link yeah mte, as long as she stays away from bringing up HP I like what she has to say. Reply Parent Thread Link To be fair most of the time it's other people bringing her characters into politics and then her disagreeing with it. She just has a hard time accepting that they are not just her own anymore but a part of pop culture. Reply Parent Thread Link those characters are hers, tf Reply Parent Thread Link this place is going to be boring after the election Reply Thread Link because everyone is going to be hungover for a week Reply Parent Thread Link Damn it she went down in the now cast. GET IT TOGETHER PEOPLE! YOU CAN FLIP UTAH, GEORGIA AND ALASKA IF YOU TRY HARD ENOUGH! Reply Parent Thread Link I'M TRYING IN GA OKAY IT'S HARD Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Florida we shit most of the time but I'm so proud of us trash bags. Now if we could do something about Rubio... Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I believe the WI results . . . we have some a shit governor and some shitty tea partiers in office, but we were blue last time and my patients at work inevitably bitch about Trump when the news is on, even if they don't love Hillary. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ikr, fuck off with that. Reply Parent Thread Link exactly THIS Reply Parent Thread Link THIS. I'm tired of that argument. Reply Parent Thread Link Yep. Come into our business. Shame the fuck out of the people who let him get this far. Reply Parent Thread Link yeah Reply Parent Thread Link Oop Reply Parent Thread Link mte but everyone in the US conveniently forgets that Edited at 2016-10-14 01:13 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link It's basically like "We can fuck over your entire country if we even think you might go against our interests, but you can't even criticize us for anything" Reply Parent Thread Link lol ikr? Reply Parent Thread Link Honestly. Hypocrisy, as expected. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm American and idk why other Americans even say that shit. Who's elected is very important especially when America loves sticking their noses into everyone's business. Reply Parent Thread Link this election has gotten so NASTY over the past few weeks. i really do think our country will never be the same, no matter what the outcome of this election is in November. this election is literally tearing it apart. it's fucking scary. Edited at 2016-10-14 12:28 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link Yeah. I'm fucking terrified for Hillary when she wins. I feel like the alt-right has been whipped up into such a frenzy that there will be multiple attempts on her life. And you know that Trump won't call out for his followers to knock it the fuck off after he loses the election - he'll egg them on and create such a shitstorm - he just wants to watch the world burn if he doesn't get his way. Reply Parent Thread Link You're right. He is the IRL Littlefinger Reply Parent Thread Expand Link It's unbelievable how people can't see how hateful and dangerous trump is. He tells his people to beat people up at his rallies and calls out crying babies. What a fucking psychopath Look how classy obama was in handling protesters and then compare it to that mouldy tangerine. https://youtu.be/OIv0jH4Z7Wc It's unbelievable how people can't see how hateful and dangerous trump is. He tells his people to beat people up at his rallies and calls out crying babies. What a fucking psychopath Reply Parent Thread Expand Link It's just shown that we live amidst more white supremacists and bigots than we thought. A lot of progress was just illusion. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link It's really scary. So many people who I thought were sensible and caring are Trump supporters. I've learned to trust no white folks. I'm sorry but I can't anymore. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link A big change is coming for sure. Woo I voted early today and personally delivered my ballots myself irl lmao. We gotta stay strong no matter how and what Reply Parent Thread Link no offense but I don't wanna hear JKR's opinion on anything Reply Thread Link no offense but you could've just skipped the post instead of posting this asinine comment, but here we are Reply Parent Thread Link that would defeat the point of ontd tho Reply Parent Thread Link When I was driving home from work today I saw these three lone Trump supporters on an overpass bridge waving signs and flags for him lmao. It was so pathetic. Reply Thread Link i was driving to school and someone had a HUGE trump sign that was now "covered up" by a minuscule gary johnson sign Reply Parent Thread Link I'm guessing they were trying to make a statement of sorts lol. That or they were too lazy to take down that sign . Reply Parent Thread Link What's the "P" word? I'm hard press to think of a time I experienced overt racism (besides the time my family and I got told to go back to Mexico at Disneyland), but I have experience a lot of smaller instances/micro aggressions. Reply Thread Link what does it mean? is it short for pakistani and used as a slur? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link "lmao and that doesnt even have anythign to do with britain being in the eu." people really need to do better with history like it's reminiscent of when white americans tell black people to go back to their country lol Reply Parent Thread Link "it's reminiscent of when white americans tell black people to go back to their country lol" no fucking way there's people that ignorant Reply Parent Thread Expand Link yep, it's fucking disgusting and so upsetting to witness. I knew too many fuckheads who threw around the slur in school, and yep brexit is only making it worse. Everyday I hear of a racial hatecrime on the news bc of it. also your last point... is so true, jfc. Why does everyone have to be dumbass racists idgi!?? Reply Parent Thread Link I'm surprised at Pakistani people being mentioned. I thought that particular target of racism was on the back burner so they could focus on Syrian and N. African ~migrants and Polish people Yeah this country is horribly racist. Reply Parent Thread Link what's the black girl's name then? i thought she was jade lol that's awful though, i used to be astonished by how trash kids could be until the Trump Effect. all it really takes is that kind of unhinged and bigoted environment. Reply Thread Link thank you! Reply Parent Thread Link Leigh Anne is the one you're thinking about. This actually makes me wonder if Egyptians are considered black in the U.K. since in the US north Africa's are technically considered white. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I thought Jade was black. Oops. Reply Parent Thread Link It's their second book together I think Reply Parent Thread Link I honestly thought she was just 100% white. Reply Thread Link She's kinda pale under all the makeup, but even with her skin tone if you see her without makeup you can tell that she isn't white. Reply Parent Thread Link yeah they always do that. fans do it too when editing their pics Reply Parent Thread Link lm's team always makes their skin colours look the same in photoshoots idk why. so that's what's always been bothering me about their pictures! doing them bad, it makes them look like they're caked in make-up from head to toe Reply Parent Thread Link I thought she was too until I saw her elbows. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I feel bad for her :( That must have been horrible to go through. Reply Thread Link lol I don't care about her problems I would take being bullied a little bit if I could look like her. Reply Thread Link I'm glad someone could made out what those screenshots said because I saw them on iTunes earlier and I couldn't read them to save my life. My baby Reply Thread Link yeah i had to zoom in to read them. poor jeed Reply Parent Thread Link throw bleach powder Disgusting. I was going to say kids are horrible to each other but lbr the kids like this turn into adults but don't change Reply Thread Link MTE. This is why Trump has so many supporters. Reply Parent Thread Link absolutely. Assholes who bullied me bumped into me once, got shit lives, been to prison etc (lmao that's sad huh) and apologized, said they changed their ways... but then ofc all hell breaks loose as soon as someone brings up the subject of a foreigner!!!! Fuck them. Reply Parent Thread Link Ugh I hate people. Reply Thread Link becarefulwhoyoucalluglyinmiddleschool.jp g Reply Thread Link Just awful :/ Reply Thread Link Bleach? The fuck is wrong with these kids. Reply Thread Link this is so fucking disgusting and I feel so awful for her :( racism in the UK is only getting worse because of brexit, it's so upsetting to see and something needs to be done about this. Especially in schools, jfc. Idk why all the popular ~chavs feel like they've got to be vile fucking racists and try to destroy the lives of others, I really don't. Glad Jade's come out on top tho! and is able to have the platform to expose them. Reply Thread Link I'm so sorry. Reply Parent Thread Link omg parkour doggy Reply Parent Thread Expand Link omfg if I had a puppy or kitten in my drawer at work my day would be 10000x better!!! Reply Parent Thread Link bless you! Reply Parent Thread Link I gotch u! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link honey i'm so sorry <3 Reply Parent Thread Link michelle remains amazing. Reply Thread Link Since Trump was on record bragging about sexually assaulting women/how he gets away with it, of course more women felt they could come forward. It's pretty logical but of course people will claim it's all some grand conspiracy. He's also on record being a creep at pageants/teen pageants and creeping on underage girls. All of a sudden his supporters want to pretend his own words are meaningless. Campaign reporting into Trump's behavior w/women goes back to at least April's @mviser piece. It is accelerating now, not starting now. Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) October 13, 2016 Trump conning his supporters about a media (which made him) & big banks (which saved him) conspiracy to distract from his abuse is ABHORRENT John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) October 13, 2016 "They" control: - Media - Banks - The Dept. of Justice - Polls - Women accusing Trump Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) October 13, 2016 By the way, the two really, really bad stories I mentioned would soon be dropping still haven't actually dropped. Liz Mair (@LizMair) October 13, 2016 Edited at 2016-10-14 01:30 pm (UTC) Michelle's speech made me cry. It will be remembered forever as one of the most fantastic speeches of any campaign imo. When she talked about how difficult it is for women and especially in this election it was so accurate - especially by simply saying "we are drowning in it."Since Trump was on record bragging about sexually assaulting women/how he gets away with it, of course more women felt they could come forward. It's pretty logical but of course people will claim it's all some grand conspiracy. He's also on record being a creep at pageants/teen pageants and creeping on underage girls. All of a sudden his supporters want to pretend his own words are meaningless. Reply Thread Link Same. She spoke like she'd been there and most women if not all women can relate. I was proud of her while crying Reply Parent Thread Link Who's Liz Mair Reply Parent Thread Link A never Trump Republican who tried to convince the party to take the nomination away from him from the start. She's annoying as hell and her disapproval of Trump seems to be that she thinks he has put forward liberal policies and isn't electable, not because he's just flat out vile. Edited at 2016-10-14 01:50 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link She's worked on a few campaigns but probably known for this most recently... Reply Parent Thread Link i've seen lots of nevertrump republican strategists mention these "two really really bad stories" but idk why no one will say what it is Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i can't wait for this election to be over and i hope that fucking cheeto puff doesn't win. i haven't had to argue w/ anyone yet over this shit but i swear to god. i live in ks and i'm surrounded by trump supporters so it's inevitable :/ Reply Thread Link Can we just have Michelle Obama appreciation? This last round of ugliness is really bringing me to such a sad, painful place and I cannot believe that people are actually still (and have been) behind this man. Reply Thread Link 99 days before the obamas are ripped away from me Reply Thread Link Exactly Reply Parent Thread Link ugh don't remind me. don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened <3 haha Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ikr like can't we all just write in Michelle and keep them? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I love that guy's face. It's my face whenever Tr*mp fouls my TV screen. Reply Parent Thread Link LOL This is great. I'm glad to see the creepy demeanor Trump had was so widely felt. Though I've only now realized I haven't seen his or his camp's response to the claims that he was a stalking creep. Reply Parent Thread Link god he was so creepy. that fucking predator Reply Parent Thread Link There was a buzzfeed post about one of the undecideds who said it was even more creepy in person and he def wasn't the only one who noticed it. He said he was voting Clinton now. Reply Parent Thread Link It was Glary Face Dude. Go up a few comment threads to find the link. Reply Parent Thread Link Woop! It's actually right above this comment thread. Reply Parent Thread Link I still can't get over this and the creepy hand gestures Reply Parent Thread Link he's just so stupid lol. Reply Parent Thread Link Michelle's speech was really great. Her continuing to not say Trumps name is perfect. Reply Thread Link My mother always comments on how he looks like an embalmed corpse lol. Reply Parent Thread Link if he, or anyone else, at this point doesn't understand anyone's condemnation of Trump then they are simply beyond help anyone supporting Trump at this point (or many points ago tbh) is a self admitted piece of shit disguised as a human being Reply Parent Thread Link This snake is dumb as rocks if he doesn't understand. Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao fuck this dumbass dude Reply Parent Thread Link Um...the basis is "sexual assault is bad." WTF Reply Parent Thread Link its great to see katy supporting senate candidates. too many ppl sleep on downballot races Reply Thread Link Michelle Obama is a national treasure. Cries I love her so much Tbh she reminds me of my mom Reply Thread Link i wish michelle were running. she's amazing and it's unfortunate her speech id partly used to mobilize the clinton campaign/democrats considering their silence on bill clinton's predatory behavior and the victims who've come forward. i'm glad michelle and gabrielle have been giving women and victims of sexual assault the much needed support on mainstream, public platforms. the past few days have been depressing. some good colleagues of mine from university, who are warriors when it comes to civil rights and whatnot, where shaming women (specifically black women) who are protesting birth of a nation. it was a downright depressing to see people who should know better type essays about their not being any witnesses, how the victim was in a relationship with parker, how the law deemed them innocent (the same justice system they're all fighting when it comes to police brutality), etc. and all of the typical rape culture rhetoric being tossed around to justify their support. feel free to support the film because it supports black voices and representation on screen. but, fuck, leave it at that. Edited at 2016-10-14 02:12 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link This Reply Parent Thread Link I 100% believe that Trump and his campaign brought out Bill's victims before the debate because they knew it was just a matter of days before women started saying that they have been sexually assaulted by Trump. They wanted to get ahead of the story, bang on about it for days so by the time Trumps victims came forward they could say "we've talked about this enough lets get back to the "real issues"" like they weren't screaming about Bill for days. I want to feel bad for Bills victims for being used by Trump* but they knew he was also a sexual offender and even in some of their cases sympathized with Bill over them at some point yet they chose to get on stage with him knowing that. *I 100% feel for them for what Bill did to them Reply Thread Link They also got paid $2,500 to be on that stage. Reply Parent Thread Link That's all?! I would think being part of that fucking circus act would net you at least six figures. It's not like he doesn't have the money. Reply Parent Thread Link on a more positive note, i really think kamala has what it takes to go all the way to the white house Reply Thread Link I hope so! Reply Parent Thread Link I'd say they will definitely be adding more dates to that tour, most of those places they did 2 shows, or even 3, no way would they only do 1 this time around. Reply Thread Link This tour looks really tiny compared to the GW tour. I wonder what's their whole plan. They will definitely add some more dates, but I'm surprised that the tour dates are just these ones for now. Reply Parent Thread Link The Matinee+Evening Shows is so weird for a concert tour. You see that for like musical productions and theatre shows but a concert tour? Reply Parent Thread Link They did that last tour for a few dates. After their evening shows started selling out they added matinee shows. I guess they decided to add those shows since the beginning this time because they know that a lot of parents buy matinee tickets for their younger fans. Reply Parent Thread Link 1d used to do that in '13 but then they'd also have a concert almost every night so having a matinee+evening show was a way to just fit more concerts in. But for lm they have a few days off before them so I don't know why they can't just have concerts two nights in a row instead of two in one day. Reply Parent Thread Link These girls are so dumb, well, their team is. You're on a huge morning show, but don't play your single. They're missing out on 3 days of sales. UGH Reply Thread Link mte their team stays making shitty decisions Reply Parent Thread Link Not only is their team dumb but they're is super lazy too, it seems like they half ass everything. Reply Parent Thread Link That was such a bizarre plan. But they're hyping up the X-Factor performance a lot, so I guess their plan is for their sales to be big after their performance. The single is supposed to drop AFTER they perform. Reply Parent Thread Link Doesn't thr xf have super low ratings this year? How many sales are they banking on? I could deff see Simon saying they had to preform in the xf first though Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Simon Cowell hates them. Nothing surprising about him using them for ratings for his show and dragging them down at the same time. Reply Parent Thread Link Do I need to make a trip overseas to see a tour of theirs? Don't get me wrong, I'm THRILLED to see them at least on the Ariana tour but I'm selfish, I want more!! I do hope they add other countries/places they haven't been before (like Brazil of course) too! I pre-ordered the regular version on iTunes this morning and I'm gonna plan on buying the physical deluxe version. Reply Thread Link I'm thinking on going to the last date at the O2, or a week before to Birmingham. I want to go to the UK anyways, so this would be a great excuse. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah I'd love to go to Ireland and the UK just to visit anyways. I'm not supposed to ask off at work until the beginning of the year but IF I were to try this I'd probably want to purchase flight tickets as soon as I could to maybe have a lower price. Hmmmm...decisions decisions! Reply Parent Thread Link meghan trainor collab? keep it tbh Reply Thread Link In true ONTD fashion, I did not read that part. I am no fan of Meghan's but I do enjoy the song with her, Who Is Fancy and Ariana so I'll wait to judge. Reply Parent Thread Link I added it later on because I just saw it on Twitter Reply Parent Thread Expand Link seriously Reply Parent Thread Link i'm thinking of going to the dw tour to see little mix (l b r they are never coming to the us) but i don't know if $55 is worth it because i'd be paying for ari and this victoria person as well. Reply Thread Link I don't know how Ari is as a performer but dw is an amazing album so it should be worth it just to hear those songs. Reply Parent Thread Link dangerous woman is so good imo!! but i've heard how lackluster a performer ari is (if she plays leave me lonely though it might be worth it) Reply Parent Thread Link Ariana's album is really good, and I have heard that she isn't the best performer live because she's kinda boring, but I really want to hear those songs live. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I know, I hate that the tickets are so much. I'm going 'cause I love LM but it pained me a little to buy tix for an Ariana tour lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm going to the Atlanta show so I'm pretty pumped for it!!! I'm thinking of trying to book a hotel ticket weeks in advance so that I won't have to worry about it later on. I'm also thinking of buying the VIP parking area for $20 cause parking is going to be awful. Reply Parent Thread Link what an ugly album cover... what is with GGs these days and these terrible covers? Reply Thread Link Where's their new song tho? And a Meghan Trainor collab? SIGH. Reply Thread Link The song is being released on Sunday after their X-Factor performance. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm going to sound like a grandma but I really miss when you could listen to a band/singers new album for like half a minute before deciding whether to see them live or not. Especially when the tour is a year away. Reply Thread Link So true. Also, I feel like tours are announced for a year away and go on sale later the day they're announced. Either that or it's, like, "surprise we'll be in your city next week!" Reply Parent Thread Link are LM contractually obligated to premiere all their singles on the xfactor?? with their ratings so low, i don't believe anyone but grannies with landline phones still watch that failure or a show. this looks like simon's desperation to boost views while as per usual not giving a fuck about his talent i mean, their team is garbage alright but that's still the only explanation why their promo strategy remains on the same level 4 albums in. it's embarrassing to see them book the same appearances as they did in 2011 just juxtapose that to ariana's career progress, she literally came out of nowhere to A-list in a matter of months Reply Thread Link this looks like simon's desperation to boost views while as per usual not giving a fuck about his talent That's exactly what it is. They're going to some TV show in Belgium, but I don't think they have said when. Next week they're doing Stand Up To Cancer and Teen Awards. Reply Parent Thread Link One year before the Get Weird mess, these girls deserve better, better than Fifth Harmony XD Reply Thread Link Glory Days? Fuck out of here stealing from Godney. Reply Thread Link that spelling of bruce springsteen is the most personal so far and really really cool Reply Parent Thread Link I really wanted a brighton show, ffs. Not sure if i wanna travel to london for it ): Reply Thread Link 5H taught them! best meghan trainor collab tbh Reply Thread Link tell it! Reply Parent Thread Link hoping Meghan delivers them a massive bop like this! Reply Thread Link this song grew on me over the summer tbh! Reply Parent Thread Link Who is the other guest though? hmmm My bet is on Tinashe Reply Thread Link Oil prices fell back to $50 on Friday afternoon, after the U.S. rig count hit eight year highs. (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) Friday, October 14, 2016 Crude oil is set to close out the week not much different from where it started, seesawing a bit along the way. Oil prices sank on EIA data showing rising crude inventories the first increase in six week but that was offset by a large drawdown in refined product stocks. It could simply be the fact that selling couldnt sustain itself below $50, Mark Anderle, director of supply and trading at TAC Energy, told the WSJ in an interview. Clearly to me this says the bulls are still in charge. Oil prices are looking for some direction with conflicting data emerging this week. North Dakotas oil production drops below 1 mb/d. The Bakken continues to feel the effects of low oil prices. New data shows that North Dakotas oil production dipped below 1 million barrels per day for the first time in more than two years. Output fell to 981,000 bpd in August, down from a peak of over 1.2 mb/d in December 2014. The Bakken has seen drilling vanish and companies decamp to more profitable plays such as the Permian in West Texas. "It does send a signal to the world markets that U.S. producers are serious about reducing activity, reducing costs, reducing production and I think that should help support the recent price increase we saw," Lynn Helms, director of states Department of Mineral Resources, told reporters. Permian gas on the rise. The flurry of drilling in the Permian basin is leading to an increase in the volume of associated natural gas produced. Gas production has topped 7 billion cubic feet per day, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, equivalent to about 8 percent of U.S. supply. Natural gas markets are growing tighter in the U.S. as demand rises and drilling slows (in most places), but the Permian remains as one region where gas output is expected to climb in the near-term. As such, it could be one of the few downside risks to natural gas prices. Nevertheless, Henry Hub is up to $3.30 per MMBtu as overall supply in the U.S. falls. U.S. energy emissions at 25-year low. The EIA says that energy-related emissions in the U.S. in the first half of 2016 have declined to their lowest levels since 1991, due to mild weather and a cleaner energy mix. A warm winter led to weak demand for electricity, and renewable energy and energy efficiency continue to eat into the market share for fossil fuels, particularly for coal. But the upcoming winter is expected to be colder, which could lead to higher emissions, and as the EIA noted in a separate report, higher natural gas prices and more expensive electricity. Kashagan exports first oil. One of the most expensive oil fields in history finally began operations. The Kashagan project in Kazakhstan sent its first shipment of oil, after 16 years of development and more than $50 billion spent. Kashagan has suffered from repeated delays, equipment failures, and massive cost overruns the project had a price tag of $38 billion in 2008 but that mushroomed to at least $53 billion by 2015. Nevertheless, the project is expected to be significant, potentially adding 370,000 barrels per day by the end of next year, something oil analysts and investors need to keep an eye on in the context of global supplies. Eni (NYSE: E) is the lead operator, working with ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Total (NYSE:TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A). First energy IPO in two years. Extraction Oil & Gas succeeded in going public this week, the first public offering since 2014. The Denver-based company sold more than 33 million shares at $19 per share, valuing the company at $2.4 billion. The successful IPO suggests that investors are still hungry for energy exposure, and could once again be warming up to the sector as oil prices rise. Related: U.S. Rig Count Rises To 8 Month High As Permian, Eagle Ford See Decline Russias Rosneft to acquire Indias Essar Oil. Rosneft is leading a group that will purchase Essar Oil in a deal valued at about $7.5 billion. Rosenft will take a 49 percent stake, and Trafigura Group and a Russian investment fund will split the remainder. Essar has a large 450,000 barrel-per-day refinery in western India. The deal will also offer Russias Rosneft access to over 2,700 retail gas stations in India, giving it a greater ability to market its fuels. Gazprom nears deal with EU antitrust regulators. The Russian gas giant and EU regulators are expected to reach a deal within the next few weeks that would settle antitrust concerns. The multi-year saga could come to a close, forcing changes in how Gazprom operates. The EU has accused Gazprom of charging unfair prices to certain Eastern European countries. The WSJ reports that Gazprom might avoid paying billions of dollars in fines but will agree to change its pricing practices. The deal could be a boon to Eastern Europe. Williams Partners and Cabot see share prices fall on pipeline delay. Williams Partners LP and Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) have seen their share prices slip as a major shale gas pipeline in Pennsylvania faced a setback. The federal pipeline regulator, FERC, extended a public comment period for the $3 billion Sunrise project, which would carry Marcellus shale gas to market. By Evan Kelly of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Oil is trudging tiredly lower into the weekend, exhausted after an onslaught of oil-specific releases and (another) week of ongoing OPEC rhetoric. Hark, here are five things to consider in oil markets today. 1) Earlier in the week, we highlighted how Indian crude imports reached a record last month. The four leading suppliers this year are Saudi, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela. combined, they account for some 60 percent of flows: (Click to enlarge) 2) According to North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources, oil production in the state for August dropped 4.7% on the prior month to 981,039 bpd. EIA's projection has it pegged just below this number at 968,000 bpd, while our own proprietary well-by-well production model suggests Bakken production won't drop below 1 million barrels per day until next month. By the state department's estimate, this is the lowest level since March 2014. Completed wells in the state rose to 59 in August, up from 44 in July. Estimates suggest completions need to rise above 70 wells per month to stabilize production levels. 3) As oil production falls in North Dakota, so follows natural gas - given it is a byproduct of the oil drilling process (aka associated gas). Natural gas production is down 3.5 percent in August to 1.64 Bcf/d, according to the department of Mineral Resources. This is in contrast to the Permian Basin. EIA's monthly data pegs Permian oil production at just under 2 million bpd, something our own proprietary model wholeheartedly endorses. Hence, as oil production is projected higher next month in the latest drilling productivity report, so follows natural gas (hark, below). As our friends at RBN Energy have highlighted recently, as gas processing capacity increases in the shale play, and as new discoveries of gas are made (hark, 75 Tcf just discovered at two formations in the play by Apache Corp), production should be buoyed going forward. 4) While Permian may be holding up in terms of production, Eagle Ford continues to drift lower. And just as Texas production and drilling activity have dropped off in the last two years, the Texas economy has also headed south. Related: Can We Trust The Saudis To Stick To The OPEC Deal? Texas accounts for ~9 percent of total U.S. economic output. Since the end of 2014, 91,000 jobs in the oil & gas and mining-support industries have been lost in the state. Over the same period, 85 oil and gas producers and 87 oilfield services companies have filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S., with more than half of these in Texas. As unemployment grows and construction has idled, the Texas economy is stagnating: 5) Finally, I was on Anthony Crudele's Futures Radio Show this week, talking about the competitive edge our ClipperData gives to oil traders. A recording can be accessed here. By Matt Smith More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: New Zealand Oil & Gas will drill an exploration well in the Barque prospect, in the Canterbury Basin off the eastern coast of New Zealands South Island. The company has until April 2018 to present an official commitment to drill the exploration well, and then until June 2020 to actually drill it. The Barque prospect is estimated to hold 530 million barrels of crude oil equivalent, and NZOG was granted an extension of the license it holds for the Clipper block thats part of the prospect. NZOG has a 50-percent interest in the block, with the remaining interest held by Australia-listed Beach Energy. This, however, could go down to 25 percent, according to earlier reports, if the New Zealand company attracts more partners. NZOG set eyes on the Canterbury Basin earlier this year, local media reported. At the time of the announcement, the Wellington-based company was looking for a partner to share the costs of exploration drilling, which was estimated at up to US$120 million. Back in July, NZOG estimated its chances of striking oil at between 10 and 20 percent, which is not a lot, especially in the subdued oil market. New Zealand is not exactly a popular hydrocarbons exploration region, so it is generally considered a high investment risk by international majors such as Statoil, which just announced it is leaving the Reinga Basin in Northland because of uncertain chances of striking oil. BP, which drilled an exploration well in the Canterbury Basin back in 1985, pulled out shortly after, saying that the find did not make economic sense. NZOG is optimistic, however, with chief executive Andrew Jefferies saying the block could yield a game-changing find for the whole region. According to the company, the Barque prospect could turn out to be twice as big as the huge Maui gas field, off the west coast of the North Island, which since the launch of commercial production in the 1970s has produced 155.2 million barrels of liquids and condensate and 3.492 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Despite some increases, Nigerias crude oil production rate for September is still behind that of Angolathe country that unseated Nigeria as Africas top producer in March. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) released the West African countrys production data on Wednesday, showing that Nigerias output rose by 280,700 barrels per day to 1.385 million bpd in September, which is still lower than Angolas 1.649 million bpd rate. Secondary sources cited by the Energy Mix Report put Nigeria production rate at 1.524 million barrels per day last month, up from 1.429 bpd in August. When Nigeria lost its title as Africas largest producer earlier this year, its output fell to 1.677 million barrels per day, as opposed to Angolas 1.782 million bpd. Attacks on Nigerian oil infrastructure earlier this year dragged the countrys daily crude production down by 700,000 bpd, figures by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from July showed. As the destructive summer passed, production incrementally increased, though the country is still arms length away from full capacity. The Niger Delta Avengers - who claim to fight for socioeconomic equality rather than religious causes agreed to a ceasefire against further attacks over a month ago, but the group bombed a Bonny crude pipeline at the end of September. According to the NDA, the pipeline was bombed in response to government attempts of over dramatization of the so-called dialogue and negotiation process on the side of President Muhammadu Buhari and his government. Lagos has also sued Chevron, Eni, Total, Shell and Petrobras for illegally exporting crude without reporting the trades to the government. Nigeria claims the companies owe the government $12.7 billion for violations between 2011 and 2014. By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: I originally constructed this web site primarily for the benefit of the students in my classes at San Francisco State University, from which I am now retired. (I am currently a research professor at the Intitute for World Religions in Berkeley, California.) I am leaving the site online in the hope that people will still find it to be useful. Since the links have not been checked in some time, some may be broken. If you find that is the case, I suggest you find an earlier version of the webpage in question on the 'waybackmachine' at http://www.archive.org/index.php . All of the material is copyrighted. Permission is granted for individual, single copy, personal use only. Please send inquiries about other use of the materials to me at epstein@sfsu.edu. Ron Epstein Just in time for the spookiest holiday of the year, the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference takes place this weekend, Oct. 15-16, in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukees student union. This is the second year of the conference. The first happened in June 2015 at the Irish Cultural & Heritage Center. Milwaukee author Tea Krulos organized the event after writing a non-fiction book, "Monster Hunters," and wanted to showcase the people and subject matter in his book. "The conference idea quickly snowballed and became an event with an enthusiastic support base. It immediately became clear that a year two event could be built into an even larger conference," says Krulos. Special guests will be flown in from around the country, including Loren Coleman, the worlds leading cryptozoologist (cryptozoology is the study of mystery animals like Bigfoot) and Katrina Weidman, the star of the ghost hunting reality shows "Paranormal State" and "Paranormal Lockdown." The conference will also include local speakers, such as Allison Jornlin who will discuss weird moments in Wisconsin history. "I guarantee you are going to hear local stories about ghosts, demonic possession and UFOs you've never heard before. You'll also learn about some lesser-known aspects of Milwaukee history," says Jornlin. Jornlin runs the Milwaukee Ghosts website and founded the first ghost walk in Milwaukee called the Third Ward Haunted History Tours in 2008. "Ive been interested in the paranormal since I was child, but Ive only been actively involved in ghost hunting since the late 90s," says Jornlin. Jornlin says she has had many "unusual experiences," but there is one in particular that stands out. "In 2001, I witnessed something that seemed unexplainable at a local restaurant with a history of ghostly reports spanning at least 20 years," says Jornlin. "A tray of glasses that I had observed earlier sitting undisturbed suddenly flew off a high shelf." Jornlin says most of the wait staff seemed freaked out by it and one employee told her such things happened all the time. "Unfortunately, I wasnt looking directly at the tray of glasses at that moment. The tray fell farther than one might expect if it had simply slid off an unlevel surface," she says. "However, since I didnt have the presence of mind to take measurements at the time I have no way to prove that. Today I carry a measuring tape in my bag just in case such an opportunity presents itself again." Although Jornlin calls herself a skeptic, she also believes in the paranormal. "I am a skeptic, but people who just dismiss the paranormal as impossible without investigating are unscientific cynics," she says. "For them there's never going to be enough proof. However, if you're open-minded and you really start digging into the details of a case once in awhile you find to your surprise that there's really something to it." For tickets to the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference go here. Artist George Gist stood on top of a red and grey Skyjack lift. His hands and clothes were speckled with dried paint, as if he himself were an art piece. Gallons of paint and an assortment of brushes surrounded him. He pressed a lever, and the lift rumbled, groaned and heaved him high into the air to reach the top of the building. "I dont like to get up off the ground," said Gist, laughing. "This machine has made it a lot easier though." When Gist first started painting murals, Skyjacks did not exist yet so he had to use scaffolds. He explained that if he had to go to the bathroom or grab some more paint, he would have to climb down and climb back up again. Gist slopped paint onto his brush and stroked it across the Wisconsin Black Historical Societys brick building at 2620 W. Center St. Cars whizzed through the nearby intersection at Center and 26th, sending soundbites of music out of their open windows. Wisconsin Black Historical Society museum founder and director Clayborn Benson asked Gist to replace the buildings mural, which was originally done in the 1990s by artist Ammar Nsoroma. "The old mural was sort of dark. In color and in meaning," said Gist. "It was all about slavery, and Clayborn wanted me to paint something that showed black contribution to Wisconsin in a more positive way." "The wall is a celebration," explained UW-Milwaukee student and volunteer Christina Theobald. "Although it is more focused on the African-American community, I think everyone can find a part of themselves in it." The continent of Africa is positioned at the far left of the mural, and the state of Wisconsin at the far right. Figures of women fill the middle space, connecting the history of the two places. Women are "the cushion, the creators and the comforters," explained Gist, so it is fitting that they bond the cultures and values of Africa and Wisconsin together. A young black boy is illustrated setting an eagle free near the outline of the state of Wisconsin. Gist explains that although it is his favorite part of the project, creating the eagle has been a process. "At first it looked like a dove, and now it looks sort of like a parrot," said Gist, shaking his head. Gist has created approximately 300 murals during his lifetime, including a mural with more than 18 panels inside the Wisconsin Black Historical Society. Gists artwork is displayed in all but four or five states throughout the country. When Gist was 6 years old, his mother passed away, and he turned to art as his outlet, explaining that if art were a drug he would have overdosed a long time ago. Gist now resides in Pittsburgh, but lived in Sherman Park about 20 years ago. He still has family in the area, which makes him all the more eager to create an inspiring mural, he said. "Ill be out here painting and a car will drive by kids yelling out the window, 'Hey, Grandad!'" Gist recalls, smiling so wide his eyes turn into slits behind his glasses. Over the course of six to eight weeks, Gist has spent many long days painting the mural. He started working on it about five hours a day, and now after 12-hour days, he still finds he needs more time. "Art is kind of like eating ice cream," said Gist. "The more you have, the more you want it. Thats how it has been with this wall." The wall spans 125 by 50 feet and took more than 40 gallons of paint just to prime, making it the largest mural Gist has ever worked on. He has received help from his assistant Stephanie Sow, who said the mural adds spice to the corner and peoples spirits. Sherman Park community members also contributed by painting the mural during a "volunteer day" on Sept. 24. Children painted hearts in the left-hand corner. "Over 60 people showed. We didnt have enough paint brushes," said Benson. "I was so proud to see handsome black fathers show up with their families to contribute," added Gist. "I think that meant the most to me out of any mural I have ever made. To see those black men show up." The Wisconsin Black Historical Society will host a celebration on Oct. 14 to thank both artistic and financial contributors to the mural. Gist and Sow are working to finish the mural, which they hope will serve as a conversation piece, adding spice to the corner of 26th and Center streets while heightening peoples spirits. "Its a light for people in the community," said Benson, "and thats my job as the museum director to give people that joy and that light." "All the bright colors, the design, the culture It symbolizes hope, a lot of hope for Milwaukee," added volunteer and community member Tsai Robinson. From Our Future A Conservative Response to Income Inequality (Image by thebelltowers.com) Details DMCA In 2011, President Obama, speaking in the wake of Occupy Wall Street, called inequality the "defining issue of our time." Now Jason Furman, chair of the Council on Economic Advisers, argues that Obama "narrowed the inequality gap" more than any president in 50 years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office echoes the observation that income inequality after taxes is no higher than it was in 2000, and that Obama's policies have done more to reduce inequality than any other policies on record. Don't take down the barricades. Inequality remains extreme and continues to widen. And the populist uprisings that have roiled American politics have clear opportunities to tackle the core problem after the election. As James Kwak at Baseline Scenario notes, the council's report measures Obama's reductions against what inequality would have been if George Bush's policies had been sustained through the Great Recession. The progress comes largely from progressive tax changes. Obama raised taxes marginally on the very wealthy (allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for very rich, particularly the 15 percent tax on capital gains, and taxing investment income under Medicare to help pay for health care reform) and increased tax subsidies to low-wage workers (expanded child tax and expanded earned-income tax credits.) These advances, while praiseworthy, don't come close to reversing the regressive tax polices of the past decades. As Emmanuel Saez has shown, the richest 1 percent continue to pocket the bulk of the rewards of growth. The income share of the top 1 percent before taxes fluctuates with the business cycle, but it has been rising over time. Despite recent increases, household income for the vast majority of the population has still not recovered from the Great Recession. These rewards largely reflect the underlying economic structures that determine what Jacob Hacker has dubbed predistribution (the pretax distribution of income): globalization, bargaining power of labor, executive pay structures, demand for skills, etc. As Kwak concludes, "It's hard to point to anything [Obama] did that affected the underlying economic factors producing the increase in inequality." This elevates the importance of fierce political battles that will occur after the November elections. First, President Obama plans to join with the business lobby to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty through the lame-duck session of Congress. The TPP is another in the corporate trade and investment deals that have proved so devastating to American workers. Even trade-accord advocates now admit that our globalization strategy has contributed directly to growing inequality, putting American workers in competition with low-wage and repressed labor abroad, with no sensible industrial or comprehensive strategy for impacted communities and workers. The mobilization against the TPP will engage the populist energies in both parties. Sanders's new organization, Our Revolution, will join with labor and the bulk of the activist Democratic base to drive an intense opposition that will make the Tea Party look like, well, a tea party. If the TPP is defeated, the next administration will be forced to rethink America's globalization strategies, moving toward more balanced trade, ending the special privatized investor arbitration system, and focusing attention on the tax traps and dodges that allow global corporations to evade hundreds of billions in taxes. Even if the TPP passes, the fury of the opposition could force an understanding that the old game is over. Similarly, efforts to lift the floor under workers already in motion should gain new energy. The Republican House leadership won't even allow a vote on hiking the minimum wage, but Fight for $15 and other movements are winning wage hikes in cities and states across the country. Measures to guarantee paid sick and vacation days and to crack down on wage theft and demand equal pay for women are beginning to move. These efforts -- particularly at a time of relatively low unemployment -- can help workers gain a greater share of the profits they help to produce. Obama recently admitted that stronger unions are vital to redressing inequality. Yet he abandoned campaign promises to make labor-law reform a priority early in his administration and has refused to issue an executive order giving union employers priority in government contracting. Union support was central to Clinton's victory in the primaries. When she takes office in January, activists should join with federal contract employees to demand issuance of a Good Jobs executive order that would encourage firms with federal contracts to respect labor rights. And Democrats at every level of executive office should be pushed to put government on the side of workers. Finally, populist energy should be directed at curbing obscene CEO pay packages. Academics have exposed the fraudulence of "performance pay" bonuses. Investors bemoan the perverse corporate policies generated by executive efforts to drive up the value of their bonuses. Yet boardrooms haven't got the message. It is time to turn up the heat. For example, executive compensation rules to discourage Wall Street risk-taking were supposed to have been written nearly five years ago. They haven't been, and progressives in Congress led by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders should expose this outrage. Unions, public pension funds, and university endowments should use their votes to challenge excessive CEO compensation packages. Sanders's Our Revolution might join with other progressive groups in challenging the worst abusers at their annual shareholders meetings. Inequality remains a defining issue of our time. The advances made under Obama deserve applause, but the real work remains to be done. This presidential season has exposed the growing revolt against business as usual. Now activists must seize the opportunity to build on the energy after November. Amid anti-Islam and anti-Muslim euphoria, fomented by opportunist right-wing politicians, a lawsuit has been filed in Bucharest against building a mosque in the Romanian capital. The lawsuit seeks to reverse a June 2015 decision by the then-Romanian prime minister, Victor Ponta, to approve construction of what could become the largest mosque in Eastern Europe -- second only to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul -- on a large tract of city-owned land in northern Bucharest. The property, valued at US$4.4 million, is being provided for free by the Romanian government, while the construction cost, estimated at US $3.3 million, is pledged by Turkey. Prime Minister Ponta said the mosque will reap economic benefits for Romania because Turkey is the country's leading non-EU trading partner. Both countries have pledged to increase their trade to ten billion dollars within next five years. The mosque's critics, including an array of Romanian politicians and anti-immigration groups, claim that the building of the mosque will increase Turkish influence over Romania and will also encourage Muslim immigration to the country. Not surprisingly, Tudor Ionescu, leader of the anti-immigration Noua Dreapta (New Right) party, was quoted as saying: "Turkey attempts a symbolic conquest of Europe through these mosques." Noua Dreapta has organized protests against the project where people have chanted, "Romania is not a Turkish province." Tellingly, backing the Romanian protests has been the far-right People's Party of Slovakia, whose leader, Marian Kotleba, was cheered at a Bucharest protest in July 2015 when he noted Slovakia is "the only country in Europe without a mosque." The mosque's defenders say the project has become a test of the country's religious tolerance. Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the mosque was a symbol of Romania's acceptance of the Muslim community. "I'm sorry that in our country there are still irresponsible people playing with so sensitive and important things such as peace, respect and interfaith solidarity," said Ponta. The Romanian Orthodox Church supports the mosque project. But its leaders have called on Turkey to grant them property in Istanbul for an Orthodox pilgrim center, including a chapel. The Bucharest mosque is the result of more than a decade of talks between the Romanian and Turkish governments. The original deal called for a "mutual exchange" in which Romania would build a new orthodox church in Istanbul, while Turkey would build the mosque in Bucharest. In July 2015, however, Ponta revealed that the Romanian government had abandoned the Istanbul church project because it is "not allowed under Turkish law." Ponta approved the Bucharest mosque project, saying it was a multicultural symbol of Romania's acceptance of the Muslim community. During a visit to Romania in April last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the mosque will be the "the most beautiful expression of dialogue and solidarity between the two countries." In March this year, during an official visit to Turkey, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis reassured President Erdogan that the mosque project is moving forward. In July 2015 Romanian officials signed a deal with the Romanian mufti's office to build the mosque for 1,000 worshippers, an Islamic library and a community center on 37,000 square feet of city-owned land in northern Bucharest. According to 2011 census, the Muslim population of Romania is 64,337, or less than one percent of the country's population of 19.5 million. Interestingly, the Muslim population in 1930 was 185,486, according to that year's census. Bucharest is home to around 9,000 Muslims who are being served by ten mosques scattered throughout the city. Turkey has been underwriting new buildings and preservation work on Ottoman-era sites in the Balkans for years. Ankara is currently spending around $33 million on a new Islamic center in Tirana, Albania, for example, with a capacity of 20,000 that would reportedly be the biggest in the Balkans. It is also financing a mosque that could serve 1,500 worshippers in the Bulgarian city of Kardzhali. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Jenin, Palestine, Friday, October 14, 2016 Dear Diary, Today is a day of rest and I badly need it. Yesterday was a very long day; I traveled by a small bus (shared tax) from Hebron to Ramalah where I met some international tourist. Two were from Italy, two from Ireland, one from Canada, and others from Germany, Iceland and even one Israeli woman interested in human rights for Palestinians. I have also met other Israeli citizens while filming demonstrations. Not all Israeli's are Zionists*, nor are all the settlers fanatics. But those that are not seem to be the exceptional minority of Israelis, that continues to shrink. At about 6 P.M. yesterday I left Ramalah, again by shared taxi called a 'service taxi', pronounced "serveece". I was traveling to Jenin to meet my friend from last year, Mahmoud and his wonderful father Mustaffa, his mother Shafaq and the family. They have invited me to stay in their home on numerous occasions, as they do for many internationals. Last year I had promised them that I would not forget them, nor Palestine, and that I would return this year for the Olive Harvest Festival, which will be November 6th in Jenin. I am only staying in Jenin now until Monday when I will return to Hebron. The international tourists that I met in Ramalah and I have decided to share a small apartment in Hebron when I return on Monday. We will each pay 110 New Israeli Shekels (INS), equal to about $30 per week. They, like me want to tour Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) checkpoints, Palestinian schools, olive orchards, non-violent demonstrations, and take pictures and videos of them, as well as of any random street crimes against humanity. The Free Palestine movement has a non-violent "weapon" that puts fear and rage into the Zionists*. The weapon is the camera and the truth. Palestinians who are known by the Zionists* to film IOF crimes are severely punished and threatened by organized mobs of settlers, police and IOF. Palestinians are constantly harassed threatened, jailed and lynched. It is rare to meet a Palestinian man who has not been in prison and tortured. Internationals filming crimes are often blocked, sometimes roughed up by the Border Police, arrested and deported before their 3 month Israeli visa expires. Known internationals who come to Palestine as witnesses in solidarity with Palestinians are blacklisted indefinitely and denied re-enter by Israel. Zionists* fear that their crimes will be uncovered by international tourists for the world to see and the main stream media is a co-conspirator in the attempted cover-up, and are not reporting Israeli crimes against humanity. My friend Mahmoud has a long day planned for me, and an opportunity for a unique experience for a Westerner; it is a bachelor party Arab style. It will be a long night of feasting, music, dancing and laughter. All the men and boys in the village of Burqin will turn out for it. I will take many pictures and videos to post on my Facebook page (David William Pear). Now I will take a nap (more to follow later). "Here is more about the camera as a weapon of non-violent self-defense: I met a man in Hebron by the name of Badee. Badee took me to one of the refugee camps for Hebron's displaced Palestinians, their families and their descendants. Theses are Palestinians who where drive from there home in 1948, and after, by Israel colonization and expansion. There are still two refugee camps in Hebron, and many more in Palestine. The U.N. is supposed to fund social services for them, but the budget was never what was promised by the international community. Beyond ironic, Israel says that since he UN caused "the problem", the UN should pay for it. After touring the refugee camp Badee took me to a friend's house near where an infamous execution of a wounded Palestinian man was shot in the head by an IOF soldier from the Boarder Patrol ,a most ruthless, powerful and feared unit, even by internationals. See the video on YouTube "Execution of motionless, unarmed Palestinian youth in Hebron". The neighbor lives on a slope with a Zionist* settlement above. He has had to build a chain link cage around his house because settlers rain stones, garbage and feces down on his home. The IOF is stationed on the street in front of his home, and for anyone to enter his home they must climb the hill on a dirt path, sneak through the bushes and climb a fence to come in through the back door. Palestinian lives are a living hell, but Palestinians refuse to surrender to the constant harassment, threats and oppression. I hope later to tell you the full story of the execution and the Palestinian man who took the video. I plan to meet with the man if it can be arranged. The camera is a powerful weapon that Zionist* hate and fear. Badee is working on a project to get donated cameras from abroad, and have international tourists carry them into Palestine in their luggage. Even donated cameras have an expensive customs tax imposed by Israel on them, as well as any goods received by international mail. The most powerful weapon against oppression and crimes against humanity is the truth. Dear Diary, I promise to do my best to tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth during my journey. If one wants to support truth and human rights they could visit the website of "International Solidarity Movement", and other such organizations. I see them doing good work here in Palestine. It is now late, we returned from the party at 1 A.M. I must get some sleep. Good night from Jenin, in occupied Palestine. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: On December 6th, in conjunction with Haymarket Books, Dispatch Books will be publishing its first novel, Splinterlands, by John Feffer, a riveting, dystopian view of our lives to come. Based on a vivid (and much read) piece Feffer wrote for us late last year, the novel just got a starred pre-publication review at Publisher's Weekly (a first for us): "In a chilling, thoughtful, and intuitive warning, foreign policy analyst Feffer takes today's woes of a politically fragmented, warming Earth and amplifies them into future catastrophe... This novel is not for the emotionally squeamish or optimistic; Feffer's confident recitation of world collapse is terrifyingly plausible, a short but encompassing look at world tragedy." Foreword Reviews , which highlights the best of the independent press, recently hailed it: "Feffer's book is a wild ride through a bleak future, casting a harsh, thought-provoking light on that future's modern-day roots." Barbara Ehrenreich has written: "Splinterlands paints a startling portrait of a post-apocalyptic tomorrow that is fast becoming a reality today. Fast-paced, yet strangely haunting, Feffer's latest novel looks back from 2050 on the disintegration of world order told through the story of one broken family -- and offers a disturbing vision of what might await us all if we don't act quickly." And Mike Davis says: "John Feffer is our 21st-century Jack London, and, like the latter's Iron Heel , Splinterlands is a vivid, suspenseful warning about the ultimate incompatibility between capitalism and human survival." In short, Splinterlands is a must-read. To make sure that you're the first on your block to get a copy (and remember: each copy you buy is also a way of supporting TomDispatch 's new publishing project), why not pre-order it now? Here's how to do it, and it'll be in the mail to you on December 6th (and you'll even get a significant discount): click on this link, which will take you to the Haymarket Books website. Then click on "add to cart," select the number of copies of Splinterlands you want, and then click on "checkout." After you've filled out your shipping and billing information, you will be asked to enter a coupon code. To purchase one book, enter SPLINTER40 and you will get 40% off the cover price; for five or more books, enter SPLINTER50 and you will get 50% off. It's the perfect Christmas gift in the grim year of 2016! Tom] Recently, I posted a piece, "This Is Not About Donald Trump," in which I explored some of the ways in which The Donald was, in American terms, anything but a freak of nature. As I suggested, the two roles he's inhabited most fully in his life -- salesman and conman -- are so in the American grain that it's been apple pie all the way to the Republican nomination for president. Think, then, of today's post by TomDispatchregular John Feffer, author of the soon-to-be-published dystopian novel Splinterlands, as a kind of companion to that piece. It suggests far wilder ways in which Trump couldn't be more in that same grain, if what you have in mind is the Dr. Strangelovian current that runs through American life, involving evangelicals, apocalyptics, survivalists, and white racists; even his extremity, that is, couldn't be more us -- or, if you prefer, more U.S. Tom Trump the Arsonist Evangelicals, Survivalists, the Alt-Right, and Hurricane Donald By John Feffer The world according to Donald Trump is very dark indeed. The American economy has tanked. Mexico has sent a horde of criminals over the border to steal jobs and rape women. The Islamic State, cofounded by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, is taking over the globe. "Our country's going to hell," he declared during the Republican primaries. It's "like medieval times," he suggested during the second presidential debate. "We haven't seen anything like this, the carnage all over the world." For Trump, it's not morning in America, it's just a few seconds before midnight on the doomsday clock. Although his campaign doggedly continues to promise a new beginning for the country, the candidate and his advisers are sending out a very different message: the end is nigh. These Cassandras all agree that, although Obama's two terms were no walk in the park, the stakes in 2016 are world-destroyingly higher. If Clinton is elected, the future could be, as conservative political operatives Dick Morris and Eileen McGann titled their recent book, Armageddon. Presidential challengers often paint a grim picture of the world of the incumbent, overstating the case for dramatic effect. Ever the showman, Trump has no compunction about repeatedly going way over the top, calling the U.S. military a "disaster" because it's supposedly underfunded and the United States a "third-world country" thanks to its precipitous economic decline. Trump talks as if he were the hybrid offspring of Karl Marx and Ann Coulter. Trumpworld, however, is a photographic negative of statistical reality. The U.S. economy has been on an upswing for the last several years (though its benefits have been anything but evenly distributed). Nationally, violent crime is on the decline (though murder rates are soaring in some cities like Chicago). The Obama administration averted war with Iran and negotiated a de'tente with Cuba (though it continues to wage war in other parts of the world and has maintained sky-high Pentagon spending). If the Obama years are hardly beyond criticism, they are hardly beneath contempt either. In dispensing with what one of his senior aides called the "reality-based community," George W. Bush's administration attempted to create an alternative, on-the-ground reality, particularly through the direct exercise of American military power -- and we know how well that turned out. Trump seems to have even less interest in the "reality-based community." He's evidently convinced that the sheer power of his own bluster, even without the firepower of that military, should be sufficient to alter our world. After all, didn't it win him a loyal following on TV and -- to the disbelief of politicians and media commentators everywhere -- the Republican presidential nomination? The reality-based community -- which Trump labels the "elite" -- wants nothing to do with him. The discrepancy between his rhetoric and what other people call facts explains in part why even conservative elites -- prominent Republicans like Brent Scowcroft and John Warner, conservative columnists like George Will, and even neoconservatives like Bill Kristol, not to speak of right-leaning newspapers like The Arizona Republic and the Dallas Morning News -- have made historic decisions to abandon their party's presidential nominee. But don't kid yourself. There is method to Trump's particular version of madness. He and his slyly smiling running mate Mike Pence are playing up their vision of scorched-earth America not just to win general political points but to appeal to a very specific set of voters by tapping into the apocalyptic strain in American politics. The evangelicals, anti-globalists, and white power constituencies that form the bedrock of his support hear in Trump's blasts more than just a set of fun-house facts. When the Donald says that Hillary is "the devil" and America's going to hell, this constituency -- steeped in Biblical prophecy, survivalist ideology, and racist conspiracies -- takes him literally. America is on the verge of (take your pick): the Rapture, an end-of-days contest between American patriots and U.N. invaders, or an all-out race war to the finish. And here's what makes Trump's carnivalesque presidential campaign especially topsy-turvy. He's been slouching toward just about every kind of Armageddon imaginable, except the genuine planetary ones that are -- or should be -- almost unavoidable these days. He has, after all, dismissed climate change as a "hoax" and a Chinese scam. He is so blase' about nuclear weapons that he's been comfortable with the thought of American allies Japan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia developing their own. He has nothing whatsoever to say about potential global pandemics (but plenty to spout about the potentially malign effects of vaccinations). To grasp the nature of such genuine dangers requires at least a minimal understanding of science. It also requires a genuine concern that the world as we know it could indeed end in our lifetimes or those of our children and grandchildren. Of course, not everyone thinks the apocalypse is a bad thing. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source. Two years ago, "Majd" wrote these words on a Facebook posting: "I am Syrian living in Syria in the middle of everything. We have seen horrors. It was never a revolution nor a civil war. The terrorists are sent by your goverment. They are al Qaeda Jabhat al Nusra Wahhabi Salafists Talibans etc and the extremist jihadists sent by the West, the Saudis, Qatar and Turkey. Your Obama and whoever is behind him or above him are supporting al Qaeda and leading a proxy war on my country. "We thought you are against al Qaeda and now you support them. "The majority here loves Assad. He has never committed a crime against his own people. The chemical attack was staged by the terrorists helped by the USA and the UK, etc. Everyone knows that here. "American soldiers and people should not be supporting barbarian al Qaeda terrorists who are killing Christians, Muslims in my country and everyone. "Every massacre is committed by them. We were all happy in Syria: we had free school and university education available for everyone, free healthcare, no GMO, no fluoride, no chemtrails, no Rothschild IMF-controlled bank, state owned central bank which gives 11% interest, we are self-sufficient and have no foreign debt to any country or bank. "Life before the crisis was so beautiful here. Now it is hard and horrific in some regions. "I do not understand how the good and brave American people can accept to bomb my country which has never harmed them and therefore help the barbarian al Qaeda. These animals slit throats and behead for pleasure; they behead babies and rape young kids. "They are satanic. Our military helped by the millions of civilian militias are winning the battle against al Qaeda. But now the USA wants to bomb the sh*t out of us so that al Qaeda can get the upper hand. "Please help us American people. They are destroying the cradle of civilization. Stop your government. "Impeach that bankster puppet you have as president, support Ron Paul or Rand or anyone the like who are true American patriots. but be sure of one.thing... if they attack and I think they will... it will be hell. "Be sure that if it were to be a world war, many many will die. Syria can and will defend itself and will sink many US ships. Iran will go to war... Russia and China eventually if it escalates and all this for what? For the elites who created al Qaeda through the US government and use it to conduct proxy wars and destabilize countries which do not go along with their new world order agenda !!? "American people you gotta regain control of your once admirable country. Now everyone hates you for.the.death you bring almost everywhere. "Ask the Iraqis the Afghans the Pakistanis the Palestinians the Syrians the Macedonians and Serbs the Libyans the Somalis the Yemenis all the ones you kill with drones every day. Stop your wars, Enough wars. Use diplomacy... dialogue help... not force." Consistent testimonies from Syrians, as well as well-documented, open-source Western sources, and historical memory, all serve to reinforce the accuracy of the aforementioned testimony. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). For decades I have been an environmental activist, social progressive, and all around community organizer. And I voted for Democrats for President. But not this time. Donald Trump is bombastic to be sure. He also has a habit of saying the unvarnished truth. Mixing the truth with a load of boastful exaggerations and some serious misstatements of the facts and you've got a cataclysmic cocktail. But maybe that's what it is going to take to lead this country in a better direction. There is no doubt that there are lots of things Donald is for, that I am solidly against. But that said, the most important reason why I'm voting for Donald Trump is his stand against globalism. And in that regard, he stands apart from both the Republican and the Democratic establishment. Why is globalism so important? Because the consolidation of political power and the relentless movement toward a one-world government will supersede any national attempt to protect our people and the planet. Through secret trade agreements we have already come under the authority of an unelected group of bureaucrats whose mission, it seems clear, is to serve the global elite and private banking interests. Over the years, I have come to realize that one of the most important things people need to do is to become as self-reliant as possible"on a personal, local, state, and national basis. The basic logic of local self-reliance applies to all countries. It's not nationalism. It's common sense. We can have no real environmental protection, consumer safety, or national security if we are dependent on people and products from faraway places for the basics in life. But 'dependent' we have become, thanks to "free trade" undercutting our jobs and businesses, an educational system that teaches knowledge in the absence of skills, and an economy based on debt and consumption, not profit and production. Donald Trump has uniquely and aggressively promoted the need for a strong robust diversified economy to replace our weak dependent service economy. And many of us really appreciate that. As to illegal immigration, he has a point. We don't have a country without borders. Illegal immigration tears down national borders and basically constitutes an invasion, by any other name. I remember when previous administrations (Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's) granted amnesty to illegal immigrants saying that it would be the last time. But here we are again. And that's because illegal immigration serves the needs of both parties. It takes jobs away from citizens, suppresses wages, and encourages illegal human trafficking. This is not a condemnation of any nationality, it is what happens. Two of our three adopted children are from foreign countries. We filed the appropriate documents to bring them into this country and they became American citizens. We followed the rules because the rules make sense. Additionally, Donald Trump is the first candidate for office to effectively 'call out' our election process as being rigged. For those of us who have been involved in voting insecurity issues, his words are shinning much needed light on a dark secret -- our electronic elections have been rigged for decades and both parties know it, as does the corporate media. Quite frankly, they are complicit in the rigging process. The media actually uses they own unverifiable, if not rigged, polls to support our unverifiable, if not rigged, elections. It is a completely insane situation that myself and others have written about extensively. (see: thelandesreport.com/VotingSecurity.htm) By-the-way, most of us are not as concerned about "hacking from the outside", as "rigging on the inside". The two private companies that count our over 80% of votes are in a perfect position to rig our elections, wherein literally one person can determine the outcome of our elections. This is not conspiracy theory, it is conspiracy fact. These electronic voting machines are influencing elections in countries around the world. On the issue of public health, I really do appreciate that Donald Trump has at least questioned the safety of vaccines, a political taboo. Worldwide, vaccines have done more damage to the public health than any other single factor, compromising our immune system and condemning millions of children and adults to heartbreaking disabilities, including Alzheimer's and autism. And this is where a 'big government' mentality creates a public health holocaust, as the current administration and CDC are introducing new regulations that will allow forced vaccinations by the federal government. See: http://www.healthalertphilly.org/VACCINES.htm. Most people do not realize how toxic vaccines are and how it took an act of Congress, which granted blanket immunity to the industry, to save vaccines from an avalanche of lawsuits. Even as billions of dollars have been awarded to the victims of vaccines through the federal "Vaccine Count", most victims suffer in silence, not realizing the source of their permanent disability. Meanwhile the corporate media has engaged in a cover up and once again labeled researchers and activists as conspiracy theorists. As a women, and in response to the alleged Trump sex scandals, I'm voting for a President, not the Pope. Besides, over the past several decades the wide variety, volume, and continuous stream of scandals on the Clinton side (from sexual assaults to pay-to-play) overwhelm Trump's alleged transgressions by any measure. Inexplicably, one issue has received no media attention at all. The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits more than two terms (8 years) in the office of President. But if Hillary Clinton wins this election, it will for all practical purposes constitute a 3rd and perhaps 4th term for the Clintons. As the Clintons have often said, the public gets two for the price of one with them. And Hillary has already suggested that Bill (both great friends to Wall Street and the big banks) will run the economy if she is elected. So, in my mind, Hillary's run for president is an end-run around the U.S. Constitution. As previously declared, I have voted for the Democrats for President for the past several decades, but I cannot do it this time. I am more troubled by a one-world government and all its implications, than any other issue. And it is going to take a very unique person to turn this ship of state around. Can Donald Trump do it? I hope so, but really don't know. I do know what the other side has done. And I don't want more of the same. It's time to take a chance on real change, and not settle for window dressing. Articles Listed By Date List By Popularity Search Title Date Between Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 and Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 (23 comments) SHARE Controlling Humanity Thru COVID-19, It's Time For Civil Disobedience The global government response to COVID-19 has all the hallmarks of a terrorist conspiracy - traumatizing the public on a daily basis, trying to stampede them into taking nasal tests and experimental vaccines that could threaten humanity's very existence, specifically people's ability to think and act for themselves. Friday, August 14, 2020The global government response to COVID-19 has all the hallmarks of a terrorist conspiracy - traumatizing the public on a daily basis, trying to stampede them into taking nasal tests and experimental vaccines that could threaten humanity's very existence, specifically people's ability to think and act for themselves. (19 comments) SHARE THE CORONAVIRUS DEBACLE: Our leaders have lost their minds The Coronovirus is a medical and political tyranny. It is a manufactured crisis that is bringing much of the world to its knees. Dr. Anthony Fauci and company need to be investigated, not heralded. Thursday, April 2, 2020The Coronovirus is a medical and political tyranny. It is a manufactured crisis that is bringing much of the world to its knees. Dr. Anthony Fauci and company need to be investigated, not heralded. SHARE Be a 'protectionist' and bridge the political divide Author, Lynn Landes, redefines 'protectionism' in an all-inclusive approach to addressing the nation's challenges. Monday, January 27, 2020Author, Lynn Landes, redefines 'protectionism' in an all-inclusive approach to addressing the nation's challenges. (21 comments) SHARE Vaccines, Worse Than Opioids - Section #13, CDC, National Security, Doctor Kickbacks, Non-Profits, etc. Often, a horrific truth hides in plain site, such as Section #13 of most vaccine package inserts. Basically, it states that that no vaccines are evaluated for cancer, DNA mutation, or fertility damage - which is pretty much the whole ballgame when it comes to good health. But there's much more to this story, including National Security implications, the roles played by the CDC, news media, and non-profits, and what you can do. Tuesday, November 14, 2017Often, a horrific truth hides in plain site, such as Section #13 of most vaccine package inserts. Basically, it states that that no vaccines are evaluated for cancer, DNA mutation, or fertility damage - which is pretty much the whole ballgame when it comes to good health. But there's much more to this story, including National Security implications, the roles played by the CDC, news media, and non-profits, and what you can do. (3 comments) SHARE An Open Letter To President Donald Trump: Support Paper Ballots and Hand Counts at Local Polling Precincts After years, if not decades, of fighting for voting integrity, for the right to paper ballots and hand counts at the local polling precinct on Election Day, and fighting against easy-to-rig voting technology, we finally have a president who appears to agree with us. Monday, January 23, 2017After years, if not decades, of fighting for voting integrity, for the right to paper ballots and hand counts at the local polling precinct on Election Day, and fighting against easy-to-rig voting technology, we finally have a president who appears to agree with us. (2 comments) SHARE Can FBI Director James Comey Be That Clueless About Our Easily Rigged Electronic Elections? But Don't Trust DHS! Our electronic and nontransparent elections are open invitations to vote fraud from many different directions. Saturday, November 5, 2016Our electronic and nontransparent elections are open invitations to vote fraud from many different directions. (9 comments) SHARE FBI-Clinton Investigation Impacts Four Presidents Four U.S. Presidents could be implicated in FBI's investigation in Hillary Clinton scandals. Thursday, November 3, 2016Four U.S. Presidents could be implicated in FBI's investigation in Hillary Clinton scandals. (11 comments) SHARE Why this progressive, environmentalist, and activist woman will vote for Trump Lynn Landes, an environmentalist, social progressive, and community organizer, points to globalism as the single biggest factor in influencing her decision to vote for Donald Trump. She touches on other related topics, such as local self-reliance, electronic voting machines, immigration, and vaccines as issues of global concern. Friday, October 14, 2016Lynn Landes, an environmentalist, social progressive, and community organizer, points to globalism as the single biggest factor in influencing her decision to vote for Donald Trump. She touches on other related topics, such as local self-reliance, electronic voting machines, immigration, and vaccines as issues of global concern. (4 comments) SHARE Save The Males And Females From Estrogen Overload People are being bombarded by excess estrogens, particularly from the fossil fuel industry and pharmeceuticals. The result is a wide array of fatal diseases and developmental problems that threaten the survivability of our species. Wednesday, April 21, 2010People are being bombarded by excess estrogens, particularly from the fossil fuel industry and pharmeceuticals. The result is a wide array of fatal diseases and developmental problems that threaten the survivability of our species. (9 comments) SHARE Massachusetts 'Deja Vu'-Senate Race - Questionable Counts &-Speedy Concessions The Massachusetts Senate race was a repeat of previous elections where Democratic candidates quickly concede before any or all ballots are counted, despite warnings from supporters and election security experts to wait and independently audit their election results. Monday, January 25, 2010The Massachusetts Senate race was a repeat of previous elections where Democratic candidates quickly concede before any or all ballots are counted, despite warnings from supporters and election security experts to wait and independently audit their election results. (1 comments) SHARE Should I.N.N. and Free Speech TV (FSTV) Get Back Together? In February of 2008, The International News Net (INN) World Report quit Free Speech TV (FSTV). INN said that a new time schedule had unfavorably affected their financial situation. Many journalists and activists want INN back on the air. This article briefly describes the background of the split and what can be done to repair it. Tuesday, June 9, 2009In February of 2008, The International News Net (INN) World Report quit Free Speech TV (FSTV). INN said that a new time schedule had unfavorably affected their financial situation. Many journalists and activists want INN back on the air. This article briefly describes the background of the split and what can be done to repair it. SHARE CountTheBallots (CTB) Calls for 'Citizen Audits' on Election Day - Warns of Widespread Fraud Elections in America have been computerized, privatized, and outsourced to a handful of private companies," says Lynn Landes, one of the group's founders. "Our voting system is virtually invisible. It's a behind-closed-doors affair, a breeding ground for election fraud. A 'citizen audit' is not a substitute for a fair and transparent election. But, right now, it's the only game in town." Monday, October 20, 2008Elections in America have been computerized, privatized, and outsourced to a handful of private companies," says Lynn Landes, one of the group's founders. "Our voting system is virtually invisible. It's a behind-closed-doors affair, a breeding ground for election fraud. A 'citizen audit' is not a substitute for a fair and transparent election. But, right now, it's the only game in town." SHARE There's a History of Suspected Vote Fraud In NH - Forget 'Official Recounts', Do Citizen Audits So, here we are again in the dark as to what really happened.Let me be clear about this.Vote fraud is not just about the machines.Election integrity is about complete & total transparency.As long as we vote by absentee(first allowed in the 1870's), secret ballots(introduced in the 1880's),& voting machines(in the 1890's),voters & candidates alike will be sitting ducks for vote fraud.Our only good option is the Citizen Audit. Thursday, January 10, 2008So, here we are again in the dark as to what really happened.Let me be clear about this.Vote fraud is not just about the machines.Election integrity is about complete & total transparency.As long as we vote by absentee(first allowed in the 1870's), secret ballots(introduced in the 1880's),& voting machines(in the 1890's),voters & candidates alike will be sitting ducks for vote fraud.Our only good option is the Citizen Audit. SHARE HR 811 - Electronic Tallies Can Still Trump Paper Ballots on Election Day Although the Holt bill returns the paper ballot to the American voter, HR 811 also allows a handful of private, foreign, and multi-national corporations to remain in the driver's seat on Election Day. Republican-friendly ES&S and Diebold may continue to count 80% of all votes. And, if history is any judge, voting irregularities and Election Day chaos and confusion will continue to overwhelmingly benefit Republican candidates. Tuesday, March 13, 2007Although the Holt bill returns the paper ballot to the American voter, HR 811 also allows a handful of private, foreign, and multi-national corporations to remain in the driver's seat on Election Day. Republican-friendly ES&S and Diebold may continue to count 80% of all votes. And, if history is any judge, voting irregularities and Election Day chaos and confusion will continue to overwhelmingly benefit Republican candidates. (2 comments) SHARE America's Unverifiable Election Results - The Case for A Return to 'Open Voting' What's wrong with America's voting system? Just about everything. Voting is the linchpin of democracy. And democracy demands transparency,not trust.Yet,there is no meaningful transparency to our current voting system. For the sake of convenience and alleged voter protection,Congress has destroyed the transparency, verifiability, and integrity of America's voting process.Making matters worse, state legislatures have outsourced Tuesday, January 16, 2007What's wrong with America's voting system? Just about everything. Voting is the linchpin of democracy. And democracy demands transparency,not trust.Yet,there is no meaningful transparency to our current voting system. For the sake of convenience and alleged voter protection,Congress has destroyed the transparency, verifiability, and integrity of America's voting process.Making matters worse, state legislatures have outsourced The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher, Slash-and-burn cultivation during Neolithic Age. Credit: Science China Press China has a long tradition of agriculture production. Millet crops including foxtail millet and broomcorn millet were first domesticated in North China. Tthereafter, the development of millet-based agriculture (also called "rain-fed" agriculture) provided an important foundation for the emergence of ancient Chinese civilization, which might have also exerted unprecedented impact on natural environments. Previous studies revealed that the Yangtse River valley of south China and the Yellow River valley of north China were the original center of rice agriculture and rain-fed agriculture respectively. The history for the development of rain-fed agriculture during Neolithic period is important, as central North China was the cradle for the origin of ancient Chinese civilization in early 4th Millennium BP (Before present). Archaeologists summarized the timeline for the development of rain-fed agriculture in Neolithic China based on archaeobotanical evidence. While the space variation in this process has not been adequately studied, the spatial-temporal intensification and expansion of rain-fed agriculture in the Neolithic Age has not been clarified. Whether human behaviors of slash-and-burn cultivation had significantly and extensively affected their surrounding environments after the emergence of intensive rain-fed agriculture has also not been well understood, due to the lack of interdisciplinary studiesfor example, the cross-over studies between archaeology and earth sciences. The issue is valuable for the controversial discussion of the Anthropocene, which has been nominated as a new geological epoch. Some scholars argue for an onset of the Anthropocene between 1945 and 1964 AD, when intensive atmospheric nuclear testing resulted in the peak values of 14 degrees C that is widely recorded in tree rings and sediments; other scholars argue that its beginning may be traced back to the early Holocene. This latter argument is related to the beginnings of significant landscape modification through the development and spread of agricultural practices in old world since 10,000 BP. In an article coauthored by Guanghui Dong, Shanjia Zhang, Yishi Yang, Jianhui Chen and Fahu Chen, scholars at MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental System, Lanzhou University, the intensification and expansion of agriculture during Neolithic Age in Northern China and its imprints in paleo-environmental records has been detected based on the comparative analysis of multidisciplinary evidences. These five scholars review the results of archaeobotanical and dating studies, and carbon isotope analysis of human bones from Neolithic sites. They compare them with black carbon content from palaeoenvironment records in Northern China. Based on these works, they conclude that millet cultivation was an auxiliary subsistence strategy in Northern China from 10,000 to 7000 BP; while hunting-gathering was the primary subsistence strategy, the earliest millet-cultivation might have emerged in eastern Inner Mongolia post 7700 BP. Millet cultivation transited from a secondary strategy to become dominant in the Guanzhong area of north-central China during 7000-6000 BP, and probably facilitated the development of early Yangshao culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River valley. Intensive millet-based agriculture emerged and widely expanded across the Yellow River valley in northern China during 6000 to 4000 BP. This promoted rapid population growth and cultural evolution in the late Neolithic period, and was key in the subsequent emergence of the ancient Chinese civilization. The temporal-spatial variation of black carbon (EC-soot) corresponds well with the intensification and expansion of millet-based agriculture during Neolithic period, suggesting intensive millet agriculture production activities exerted evident impact on fire frequency in northern China. This work provides a valuable case study for understanding the temporal and spatial development of millet agriculture, and human-environment interactions in northern China during Neolithic period from an Anthropocene perspective. More information: , Agricultural intensification and its impact on environment during Neolithic Age in northern China, Chinese Science Bulletin (2016). DOI: 10.1360/N972016-00547 Journal information: Chinese Science Bulletin Michigan State University's William Chopik led a study examining empathy by country. Countries in dark red have high empathy, while countries in light pink have low empathy. The countries in gray were not studied due to small sample sizes. Credit: Michigan State University A first-of-its-kind study that ranks nations by empathy puts the United States at No. 7, behind countries ranging from Peru to Korea to Saudi Arabia. While a top 10 finish isn't bad, Michigan State University's William Chopik, lead author of the study, notes that the psychological states of Americans have been changing in recent decades - leading to a larger focus on the individual and less on others. "These changes might ultimately cause us to leave our close relationships behind," said Chopik, assistant professor of psychology. "People are struggling more than ever to form meaningful close relationships. So, sure, the United States is seventh on the list, but we could see that position rise or fall depending on how our society changes in the next 20-50 years." The researchers analyzed the data from an online survey on empathy completed by more than 104,000 people from around the world. The survey measured people's compassion for others and their tendency to imagine others' point of view. Countries with small sample sizes were excluded (including most nations in Africa). All told, 63 countries were ranked in the study. Ecuador was the most empathetic country, followed in order by Saudi Arabia, Peru, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Korea, the United States, Taiwan, Costa Rica and Kuwait. 'People may portray the United States as this empathetic and generous giant, but that might be changing,' said William Chopik, assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University. Credit: Michigan State University Chopik said he was surprised that three countries from the Middle East - Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait - ranked so highly in empathy considering the long history of aggression and wars with other countries in the region. That could be because the study did not distinguish between feeling empathy toward people in other countries vs. people in one's own country. The least empathetic country was Lithuania. In fact, seven of the 10 least empathetic countries were in Eastern Europe. The study, published online today in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, was co-authored by Ed O'Brien of the University of Chicago and Sara Konrath of Indiana University. Konrath and O'Brien in 2011 published research suggesting that American college students had become less empathetic over a 20-year span. Potential factors included the explosion of social media; increases in violence and bullying; changing parenting and family practices; and increasing expectations of success. The latest study is the first to look at empathy on a country-by-country level. And while it "only grabbed a snapshot of what empathy looks like at this very moment," Chopik noted that cultures are constantly changing. "This is particularly true of the United States, which has experienced really large changes in things like parenting practices and values," Chopik said. "People may portray the United States as this empathetic and generous giant, but that might be changing." Naturally occurring bacteria could consume pent-up hydrogen gas in nuclear waste repositories to prevent radioactive leaks, say researchers at EPFL. Scientists may have found an unexpected ally in the long-term disposal of nuclear waste: bacteria. In a recent study, a research team led by EPFL discovered a microbial community made up of seven species of bacteria that live naturally hundreds of meters underground in the very rock layers that have been chosen to host Swiss nuclear waste. Far from posing a threat, they found that, by tweaking the design of nuclear waste repositories, the bacteria could be used to increase their safety by consuming hydrogen that accumulates as the steel canisters bearing the waste corrode. If left unchecked, the gas pressure build up that could affect the integrity of the host rock. They published their findings in the journal Nature Communications. It takes about two hundred thousand years for the radioactivity of spent nuclear fuel to revert to the levels of naturally occurring uranium. As a result, most research into the long-term safety of nuclear waste disposal focuses on processes that tick to a slow geological clock: the mechanics of the rock layers that make up the storage site or the robustness of the protective barriers in place that are engineered to contain the radiation. However, all these studies neglect one key factor: biology. Life underground Bacteria can be found everywhere, even hundreds of meters underground. And according to Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, the senior author of the study, they will pounce on any available energy source. "In water samples from 300 meters underground at the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory, we unearthed a community bacteria forming a closed food chain. Many of them had never been observed before. Under pristine conditions, the species at the bottom of this bacterial food chain get their energy from hydrogen and sulfate from the host rock, powering the remaining species," she explains. Adding nuclear waste to the mix changes the conditions altogether. Vitrified, sealed in steel canisters, surrounded by a thick layer of self-sealing bentonite, and buried hundreds of meters underground in geologically stable layers of Opalinus Clay, the radioactive waste is sealed off from the surrounding environment. But the inevitable corrosion of the steel canisters leads to the production of hydrogen gas. Credit: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne Dropping the pressure Five years ago, Bernier-Latmani and her researchers took their hypothesis to the field. "For two years, we subjected underground bacteria to increased hydrogen levels, right in the heart of the Opalinus Clay rock at the Mont Terri site," explains Bernier-Latmani. During that time, they monitored the composition of the bacterial population and how they changed individually, both in terms of their potential to support biochemical pathways, and in terms of the proteins they actually produce. Once the bacteria had consumed all the available oxygen and iron, the researchers observed a shift in their population numbers and in their metabolism. Both were driven by the increased availability of hydrogen gas. "Two of the bacterial species that are able to use hydrogen to drive their metabolisms flourished, while the other species piggybacked on their growth," explains Bernier-Latmani. It was good news, as the proliferation of the bacterial community helped keep the buildup of hydrogen gas at bay. A biological barrier So how can these findings be used to make nuclear waste repositories safer? Bernier-Latmani proposes adding a fourth, biological, engineered barrier. "What we could do is to add a layer of porous material between the bentonite and the host rock. This porous layer would provide an ideal niche for bacteria that could feed off of sulfate from the host rock and hydrogen from the corroding canisters," she says. But one issue still troubles the researcher: genomic studies of the bacterial community suggest that the microorganisms could possess the capacity to transform the hydrogen gas into methane, which would be a less favorable outcome. "We have been trying to provoke methanogenesis at Mont Terri. After half a year, we are still waiting to observe it." With the new presidential "bot" on Facebook Messenger, users can send messages, 10 of which will be read each day by President Barack Obama It's now easy to chat on Facebook Messenger with the White House or more accurately through the presidential "bot" released by the Obama administration on Friday. The White House unveiled what was touted as "the first-ever government bot" on the messaging applicationbringing the US government into the age of artificial intelligence. "Hi, it's great to hear from youand we're excite to learn what's on your mind," the bot tells users signing up to chat. Users can send messages, 10 of which will be read each day by President Barack Obama, according to the White House. Jason Goldman, chief digital officer of the White House, said the new bot is another way for the public to communicate with the administration and the president. "While receiving messages from the public isn't a recent phenomenonevery day, the White House receives thousands of phone calls, physical letters, and submissions through our online contact formbeing able to contact the president through Facebook has never been possible before," Goldman said in a blog post. "Today, it's able to happen because of the first-ever government bot on Facebook Messenger." Goldman said the White House has gone a step further by making the bot open-source for other developers to use. "We're open-sourcing this White House technology, with the hope that other governments and developers can build similar servicesand foster similar connections with their citizenswith significantly less upfront investment," he said. 2016 AFP Forests provide multiple social and environmental benefits and play a key role in bioeconomy particularly in the Nordic countries. For example, the Finnish bioeconomy strategy aims to considerably increase the use of forest-based biomasses and forest harvesting by 2025. However, new research shows that there are strong conflicts between intensive timber harvesting and the provision of other benefits or the maintenance of biodiversity. The results are part of a research project lead by Professor Mikko Monkkonen and funded by the Academy of Finland and Kone foundation. The project aims at identifying conflicts and synergies between ecosystem services and biodiversity at forest landscape scale. Combining forest growth simulations with multiobjective optimisation, the researchers found that it was not possible to achieve high levels of environmental benefits (such as climate regulation through carbon storage) or biodiversity if the objective of forest management was to maximise timber harvest revenues. However, with small reductions of timber revenues it was possible to greatly increase the multifunctionality of the landscape, especially the biodiversity indicators. "Forest management actions alternative to the recommended intensive management, such as reducing thinnings, extending the rotation period and increasing the amount of area set-aside from forestry, may be necessary to safeguard biodiversity and other benefits provided by boreal forests in Fennoscandia," says Maria Trivino, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyvaskyla. The results of the project show that no forest management type alone is able to maximise timber revenues, carbon storage and biodiversity individually or simultaneously, and that a combination of different regimes is needed to resolve the conflicts among these objectives. "We conclude that it's possible to reduce the trade-offs between different objectives by applying diversified forest management planning at the boreal landscape-level, and that we need to give up the all-encompassing objective of very intensive timber production, which is prevailing particularly in Fennoscandian countries," says Mikko Monkkonen. More information: Maria Trivino et al. Optimizing management to enhance multifunctionality in a boreal forest landscape, Journal of Applied Ecology (2016). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12790 Journal information: Journal of Applied Ecology A low-ranking young female chimpanzee was wounded in a fight when she attempted to enter the female social hierarchy. Fighting for social status appears to be so costly for adult female chimpanzees that they wait in line until those above them die. Credit: Ian C. Gilby For wild chimpanzees, social status is more than just a matter of pride. High-ranking chimpanzees of both sexes usually have better access to food and mates, boosting chances of survival for themselves and their offspring. But male and female chimpanzees achieve social status in dramatically different ways, says a new study by primatologists at Duke University. While males actively challenge their superiors to win higher rank, females accept their position in the social pecking order, waiting until more senior group members die before moving up the ladder. The study, which appeared online Oct. 14 in the journal Scientific Reports, provides the first detailed look at how social status among wild chimpanzees changes throughout their lifetimes. "We found that, after entering the adult hierarchy, there was a complete absence of successful challenges for rank increases among females," said Steffen Foerster, senior research scientist at Duke University and lead author on the study. "It's like a formal queue." Unlike the more gregarious males, female chimpanzees tend to be loners, spending much time by themselves or with their own children. One-on-one encounters between females are generally rare, giving researchers few opportunities to observe signs that would clue them in to each chimpanzee's relative rank. "For a long time we've been aware that there really are differences in rank between females, but being able to quantify that has been hard because they really don't interact very often," said Duke evolutionary anthropology professor Anne Pusey, who is a senior author on the paper. To explore how female chimpanzees maneuver up and down the social ladder, Foerster, Pusey and their colleagues plumbed more than 40 years of daily records documenting the behaviors of 100 or so wild chimpanzees residing in Gombe National Park in Tanzania, where Pusey first began working alongside Jane Goodall in 1970. After waiting in line for many years, Gremlin, an aged female in the Kasekela community of chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania, has finally achieved high social status. This affords her access to the best food sources and helps her achieve high reproductive success. Credit: Christopher S. Walker Chimpanzees signal dominance and submission to each other through acts of aggression, such as chases and attacks, and through making a sound called a "pant-grunt," which is a clear sign of subordination to a superior. The team used a new rating system to document these interactions, allowing them to determine the rank orders of male and female chimpanzees and watch how they shifted over time. Their results showed that, unlike males, whose rank usually peaks when they reach their prime in their early 20s before declining again, female rank gradually increases as they age, and their rank order remains stable throughout their lifetimes. In addition, though males almost always start their adulthoods at the bottom of the pecking order, the female starting rank varies with each individual. "That seems to be a crucial moment for them, because after they enter the hierarchy at about 12 years of age, they can't really change anything about their position unless something happens at the top and individuals die," Foerster said. The team is still investigating how these initial rankings are established, but preliminary evidence indicates that females with mothers in the group seem to have an edge. Despite the benefits of social status on their reproductive successhigher-ranking females appear to have access to better food and higher infant survival than their low-ranking counterpartsthe tendency of female chimpanzees to "wait their turn" rather than fighting for rank reveals the competing priorities males and females face when ensuring the success of their offspring. "If a male has a high rank even for a short time but manages to fertilize a lot of females, he achieves high reproductive success," Pusey said. "Whereas a female is only able to raise one offspring at a time, so her reproductive success depends largely on how long she lives." Compared to males, female chimpanzees "likely have to consider a long-term strategy," Foerster said. "It is potentially dangerous to challenge each otheryou may get injured, your offspring may be killed if you have a little baby. Finding that females actually do not fight for rank tells us how costly these challenges must be for them." For female chimpanzees, good things come to those who wait. More information: Steffen Foerster et al, Chimpanzee females queue but males compete for social status, Scientific Reports (2016). DOI: 10.1038/srep35404 Journal information: Scientific Reports This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting. This website is intended for U.S. visitors only. Democratic congressional candidate Mike Derrick's campaign responded to a new television ad U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, is airing touting Green Party opponent Matt Funiciello as "the real progressive" in the 21st Congressional District race. "This ad makes it clear that Elise Stefanik is in panic mode. Instead of simply running on her own record, she's using another candidate as a stand in. No wonder Funiciello has said he's ready to concede to her. They're teaming up because they're both in this race for themselves," said Drew Prestridge, campaign manager for Derrick. "Mike Derrick is running to serve this district that desperately needs real, proven leadership now. He is working hard, traveling across the district to meet with voters and talking about the real issues they care about and the solutions that will lift families up. Our district deserves nothing less," he said. Prestridge said Stefanik supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Funiciello, who supports Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, has said Trump would be more preferable than Hillary Clinton. "At the end of the day, only Mike Derrick has the judgement and the experience to say what needs to be said: 'Trump is a reckless, dangerous bully who will make our country less safe,'" Prestridge said. Former U.S. Secretary of the Army John McHugh on Thursday issued a statement regarding his support for re-election of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro. "Having appeared before Congresswoman Stefanik's Armed Services Committee in my role as Secretary of the Army, I was continuously impressed with her command of the issues and dedication to the men and women of the United States military," said McHugh, a Republican who previously represented the Watertown and Plattsburgh areas in Congress." "Her tireless advocacy for Fort Drum, farmers and a better economy for our region convinced me to financially support her re-election for Congress." Stefanik is running for re-election in the 21st Congressional District against Democrat Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County, and Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello, a bread company owner and political activist from Hudson Falls. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps crude remarks about women in a recently released 2005 video were inexcusable, said state Assemblyman Dan Stec, R-Queensbury. Theres absolutely no defending those remarks or that kind of language, and I dont care if it was made yesterday or 20 years ago. Its inappropriate and inexcusable, Stec said. Stec said he is weighing his personal vote in the presidential election carefully, and will not publicly support Trump. I have not made an endorsement in the presidential race, and I will not be making an endorsement, he said Wednesday. Stec said he will not vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but will consider some option other than Trump. On the one hand, Ive got tremendous reservations about Secretary Clintons past and her own shortcomings. And despite the perspective that it would be nice to have a Republican administration, I cant easily discount the character shortcomings of either candidate, he said. So, I think Im going to watch the next three-and-a-half weeks and wait and see if something more horrible comes out before I am ready to cast a vote. On Thursday, a day after his initial comments, Stec said new allegations that Trump had sexually assaulted several women had not changed his stance of waiting to see what else develops before the election. Rachel Seeber of Queensbury, a Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention, did not return repeated messages The Post-Star left Monday and Thursday seeking comment for this report. GLENS FALLS Demonstrators in front of the Glen Street office of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, chanted Hey Stefanik Dump Trump! Meanwhile on the opposite side of Glen Street, Devin Pratt, holding a sign reading The Silent Majority Supports Trump, said Stefanik should continue to support the Republican presidential nominee. I think she should stand her ground and for what she believes in, he said. The 5 p.m. rally that MoveOn.org organized drew a larger press corps than actual demonstrators. There were 10 reporters, photographers and videographers, six anti-Trump demonstrators and three pro-Trump counter demonstrators. The Trump supporters included the driver of a black pickup truck with a U.S. flag and a Trump campaign sign in the back. The truck circled the roundabout over and over. Several of the Trump opponents held signs promoting Stefaniks Democratic opponent, Mike Derrick, who issued a news release Thursday reiterating his call for Stefanik to relinquish her support of Trump, in light of reports in The New York Times and Palm Beach Post of women who said Trump had sexually assaulted them. Trump, at a campaign rally in Florida on Friday, denied the allegations. A Stefanik campaign spokesman on Thursday said Stefanik would not comment on the topic beyond a statement she posted Oct. 7 on her campaign Facebook page. Donald Trumps inappropriate offensive comments are just wrong no matter when he said them or whatever the context, she said in the statement. I hope his apology is sincere. Stefanik posted the statement after a 2005 video was released in which Trump bragged in crude terms about being able to do anything to women because he is a celebrity. Joe Seeman, a MoveOn.org organizer, said the latest allegations about actual abuse make it more critical that Stefanik renounce her support for Trump. We are calling on Stefanik to put common decency before party loyalty, he said. Stefanik and Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County, and Green Party Matt Funiciello, a bread company owner and political activist from Hudson Falls, are running in the 21st Congressional District. Pratt, the Trump supporter, said both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have character flaws that are distracting from policy issues in the election. Both sides have some personal issues just like everyone else in the world. Theyre being exploited, he said. Seeman said Trumps policy issues are wrong too. When he wants to cut taxes for the rich and put more money in the pockets of billionaires, thats the same lack of ethics, of caring for people, he said. Pratt said he will vote for Stefanik, regardless of whether she continues to support Trump or not. Thats her right (to support Trump or not), he said. I believe in her stances for the 21st District. I appreciate the work that she has done. SOUTH GLENS FALLS Police and animal control have been unable to locate the fox that is believed to have bitten two people in the village Wednesday and Thursday. Police have stepped up patrols around the Water Tower Village Apartments complex, where a child was bitten Thursday afternoon. That attack happened about 18 hours after a man was bitten near the end of First Street. Neither victim was seriously hurt, but they will need rabies treatments if the animal isn't captured to be tested for rabies. South Glens Falls Police Patrolman David Gifford said anyone who sees a fox in the area is being asked to call 911. GLENS FALLS Green Party state Senate candidate Steve Ruzbacki defines radical in a mathematical context. I actually consider myself a radical, said Ruzbacki, who is challenging state Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, in the 45th Senate District. The meaning of radical is to get to the root of the problem. And I think a lot of what were doing is addressing symptoms spending an awful lot of money, Ruzbacki said in a meeting with The Post-Star editorial board. Ruzbacki said his proposal to legalize heroin, recreational marijuana and other drugs is an example of getting to the root of the problem. Money spent on enforcement could be used for treatment, he said. My proposal is that it is treated as a public health problem. Most addicts have experienced abuse, he said Wednesday. They need medical help. They need medical attention. They dont need to be ostracized and cut off from the communities, which is what our model has done. Ruzbacki said addiction has become worse and organized crime has increased as the federal government steadily spends more on criminal investigation and prosecution of drug crimes. Absolutely counterproductive policies, he said. We do need to legalize it absolutely, he said. We need to legalize it and we need to regulate it, because this is a market weve never had control of. Ruzbacki said it also is a issue of constitutional freedom. I think the War on Drugs frankly has been an excuse to violate peoples constitutional liberties, he said. Little has said she disagrees with Ruzbackis proposal and his constitutional liberty stance. The stories I have listened to from people that were addicted to opiates and heroin are just heart-wrenching, she said, when Ruzbacki announced his campaign this summer. Little is seeking re-election to an eighth two-year term in the Senate. The Democratic Party did not field a candidate in the race. Ruzabacki, a science teacher from Minerva, said he has heard many anecdotes about Littles compassion. Theres no question. I think the people we have serving are top-caliber people. But the policies that need to be effected arent being effected, he said. Implementing a single payer health care system in which one entity covers everyone, increasing the minimum wage and prohibiting corporate contributions to political candidates are among the policies he supports. He also proposed a permanent ban on hydrofracking for natural gas in New York and a ban on installing any new oil or natural gas pipelines. I think we have a crisis going on as far as climate change, he said. Ruzbacki said he supports legislation to make joint legal and physical custody of children a preferred option when couples separate or divorce. That issue of shared parenting is a big one for me. I think its one of the best things we can do for our children, he said. Several local police departments learned recently that they received federal grants to pay for replacement bulletproof vests for police officers. The Hudson Falls Police Department and Warren County Sheriffs Office each received funding for six new vests, and the Glens Falls Police Department will purchase five. The vests cost about $600 apiece. Their protective layers degrade over time, so they periodically need replacing every five years or so. Police departments in municipalities with fewer than 100,000 residents are eligible for the funding. Don Lehman Rozell gets recognition Hudson Falls history teacher Matt Rozell is gaining international acclaim for his second book, A Train Near Magdeburg, and there is a chance for local residents to hear him speak at 7 p.m. Friday at the Rogers Island Visitors Center. Rozell, whose book chronicles the liberation of a death train in Nazi Germany at the end of World War II, also re-traces the steps of the survivors. It was the subject of a major story in Haartez, the oldest daily newspaper in Israel. He is also traveling to Alabama later this month to speak at the University of Mobile. His local appearance Friday will include a talk about the book and a book-signing. Bill Toscano New coat of paint The bench in Coles Woods in Glens Falls that was vandalized in July with spray-painted words including pot and young love was painted over in a nice forest green when I walked by it a month or so ago. I was pleased to see the graffiti gone, especially since it was so close to the memorial marker for local Nordic ski legend Tom Jacobs. But despite phone calls to Glens Falls City Hall and to a Friends of Coles Woods member, it remained a mystery as to who cleaned it up until Wednesday afternoon. Friends of Coles Woods President Bill Blood was cutting brush on trails while I walked my dog, so I stopped to chat. When I asked if it was him, he smiled and said yes. He said he had some old green stain around and decided to use it. He also said, however, that he had offers from frequent trail users to paint it as well, which made him happy. Lets hope the vandals get a little more respect for those woods. Blood seemed eager to be working on the trails readying for what he and other ski enthusiasts hope is a much snowier winter. David Blow Firefighters selling shirts The Glens Falls Firefighters Permanent Benevolent Association is selling T-shirts to raise funds for the research at the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital. Firefighter Ric Stafford said the shirts are $15 each or two for $25 and are available at two downtown locations Spot Coffee and the Bullpen tavern. They will be on sale between now and Oct. 31 and all proceeds will go to the cancer center Bill Toscano SUNY Adirondack has been grappling with whether to arm its campus security personnel. Its not because of any specific incident on campus, but because campus shootings have happened elsewhere. Its what we see as the culture of fear in our society. Just last month a Moreau resident was concerned that Election Day voting provided a dangerous entryway for someone wanting to harm children. She urged the school to keep students home during voting. Since the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, the number of colleges and universities arming their officers has continued to rise. By 2012, three out of every four universities were arming their officers, according to a recent survey. But there is also concern that armed officers might lead to more incidents of unprovoked shootings like the many we have been seen nationally on regular police forces. In 2015, a University of Cincinnati officer shot and killed a man during a traffic stop. He was later charged with murder. Earlier this year, Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. was having the same debate about arming its officers. One mother told President Richard E. Wylie that if he puts firearms in the hands of security personnel and something happens, he is to blame. And he if doesnt arm the security force and something happens, he is also to blame. Kristine Duffy, the president at SUNY Adirondack, is in the same position. Statistically, the chances of a mass shooting or an officer using his weapon are low. We found Campus Safety magazine online and its recommendations for arming officers. It suggested schools look at past precedents for other schools of similar size, type and makeup in the state and around the country. It also said that training is the most important necessity for arming officers. But if they do that, they may need to switch to a campus police department with sworn officers. It also recommends that you take into account what type of campus you have. Is it open and easily accessible? Is it in a high-crime area? Do the residence halls have open access? Finally, it suggested most academic institutions get comfortable with their low crime statistics, but not everything is reported and comes out in the statistics. Campus officials need to know the reality of what is happening on their campus. SUNY Adirondack is having that discussion now and doing the research. Ultimately, we wonder if this decision will hinge on cost. Peace officers must complete 400 hours of training. That would take about 10 weeks to complete and could be expensive. The college could also see a significant rise in its liability insurance should it arm officers. These extra expenses come at a time when both Warren and Washington counties have been reluctant to add to their contributions to the college. And the last thing anyone wants is a significant bump in tuition. Considering the rural character of the campus, the lack of crime in our community as a whole and the presence of the Warren County Sheriffs Office and the New York State Police just three miles down the road, we wonder if it is prudent for the college to move forward. Were reminded that recent reports say we are no safer from airliner terrorism despite the billions that have been spent since 9/11. We should always be prudent regarding security, but we must also acknowledge no measure will make us 100 percent safe. Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether Read more The Chairman of the TUC, Reverend Richard K .Yeboah said even though all political parties acknowledge the unemployment challenge in the country none of them is hitting the nail on the head as to how they will solve this menace. Rev Yeboah was speaking at a launch of a project meant to enhance employment creation in the country at Peduase in the Eastern Region. In Ghana, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. According to the Ghana Statistical Service unemployment rate in Ghana decreased to 5.20 percent in 2013 from 5.96 percent in 2010. Unemployment Rate in Ghana averaged 8.82 percent from 2001 until 2013, reaching an all-time high of 12.90 percent in 2005 and a record low of 5.20 percent in 2013. The World Bank in its report on jobs in Ghana revealed that about 48 percent of the youth in the country, who are between 15-24 years do not have jobs. Meanwhile, the governing National Democratic Congress has also said it has created 600, 000 jobs since 2012. READ ALSO: Volta Region records highest unemployment rate in Ghana But Rev Yeboah said the politicians must cease making promises and instead focus on the main issue. He said the economy was not creating enough opportunities for people to get jobs, he added. Lukman Abubakar together with three others was granted bail in the sum of GHC 10,000 with two sureties each. Media reports suggest that a self-imposed and NDC sponsored president of the Union Julian Mawuse Cobbinah to fuel the attacks. The party has not responded to this claims yet. The national executives have since condemned the act. In a statement signed by by General Secretary of NUGS Shadrack Mireku, Coordinating Secretary Yiadom Boakye and , Press and Info of NUGS Frimpong Gilbert, accused Cobbinah of Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party also condemned the issues saying Abubakar was in pain after been manhandled by the police. The study indicated that the prevalence rate of blindness among those aged 50 years and above was 4.0% and increases with age to 19.12% in those aged 80 years and above. The Acting Head of Eye Care Unit, Ghana Health Service, Dr James Addy who gave the statistics during an event in Accra to mark the 2016 World Sight Day said males were affected than females. READ ALSO: How reading from smartphone in bed at night can cause blindness He said four out of five Ghanaians are blind from causes which could have been avoided such as cataract. The major causes of blindness are untreated cataract (54.8%), Glaucoma (19.4%), Posterior segment disease including diabetic retinopathy (12.9%) and corneal related causes (11.2%). According to Dr Addy, Ghana has 1,117 eye care professionals for the over 28 million people, with 97 Ophthalmologists, 500 eye nurses, 320 Optometrists, and 200 Opticians. This number is grossly inadequate for the task of offering cataract surgeries, glaucoma management, low vision services, diabetic retinopathy screening, pediatric ophthalmology among others, in Teaching, Regional and district hospitals, he lamented. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG) has estimated that over $100 million (90 million euros) in marine products are caught illegally in Guinean waters every year, with the worst offenders being Chinese, South Korean and Spanish trawlers. "They come here during the night and fish until five or six in the morning, then leave our waters," Kallo told AFP onboard his "pirogue", a narrow wooden fishing vessel typical to west Africa. "Sometimes the inspectors are complicit, and cut the surveillance systems," he added. "It's the ones who hand out the licences who have been to blame for years now." A report by Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI) estimated in June that more than 300,000 new jobs could be created in Africa if measures such as a global tracking system for fishing vessels were instituted, legal loopholes were closed and vessels who repeatedly infringed the law put on a global blacklist. The sale of fishing rights to foreigners netted Africa $400 million in 2014, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, but could in theory generate $3.3 billion if the continent's own fleets caught and exported the fish. Connivance Taking matters into their own hands when out on the high seas, Guinea's fishermen call their colleagues back on land if they observe suspect behaviour, who in turn pass on the information to the authorities, Kallo said. "(We) proposed a system of joint surveillance," where fishermen would join inspectors on boats caught in the act. Authorities did not go for it, he said, because it risked unveiling -- and thus preventing -- corrupt practices. "When they (inspectors) catch a boat breaking the law, the contents belong to them. It's a business," he claimed. Due to the poaching, local fishermen's families lose out and so do the people on land whose livelihoods depend on fish. Conakry's famous smoke houses, for example, are almost all staffed by women who can ill afford a collapse in fishing stocks. The suspicion of connivance between the authorities and illegal trawlers runs deep in Guinea, the sole country in Africa to have been slapped with a ban on imports by the European Union in 2013 for its failure to act on "illegal, unreported and unregulated" fishing. But the ban was lifted this week after concrete steps were taken to deal with the problem -- a well deserved prize, said the man in charge of securing Guinea's seas, maritime commissioner Diomande Doumbouya. A maritime operations centre monitored its waters 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he said, tracking information from GPS systems built into boats. "If a vessel is engaged in illegal activities, it is reported. We can then board (the vessel) straight away," he added. They have had some successes: two Chinese vessels were among 14 identified as operating illegally in a joint operation mounted by The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal between August 28 and September 1. The crews face combined fines of more than three million euros ($3.3 million), though one of the vessels escaped. Doumbouya is adamant that the problem is not one of greed, but of poor resources. "If the state were able to provide speedboats and the means to send out patrols more frequently... that would put these people off," the colonel said, adding that the trawlers simply waited for days when there were no maritime police present. Regional solution? Guinea's fisheries minister Andre Louah believes the country now has the right data to inform the authorities of the problem, but admits it often lacks the means to do anything about it. "More than once, I have been informed that there have been unauthorised vessels which were probably fishing illegally in our waters," the minister told AFP. However, the National Centre for Surveillance and Protection of Fishing (CNSP) failed to respond, Louah said, underlining a fundamental disconnect. "It's good to have information, but if we don't have the necessary means to get there and board these ships, it becomes a little difficult," he added. The solution, he believes, is better regional co-operation, of the type that netted the Chinese ships during the summer. That EU and World Bank-backed monitoring operation was a success of the type the summit in Togo hopes to encourage. Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said ahead of the African Union maritime security summit on Friday the problem had be resolved with a joint effort. This was said by President Mahama to clarify the current reports which suggest that allowances for both teacher and nursing trainees have been restored. President Mahama made this clarification when he was addressing students of the University of Ghana as part of his campaign tour of the Greater Accra Region. President Mahama on a tour in the Brong Ahafo Region in August mentioned that they had restored the allowance of the nursing trainees. READ ALSO: Trainee nurses welcome allowance restoration But he explained that they have not restored that of the teacher trainees because they have been upgraded to tertiary status where degrees are awarded. Policy Adviser of the party, Kofi Asamoah Siaw made this accusation at a press conference at the party headquarters in Accra. Siaw accused Nana Addo of falsification With two days to the deadline for the submission of nomination forms, the EC released a statement asking presidential and parliamentary nominees to declare their assets with the Auditor General or forfeit their candidature. Only the Flagbearer of the PPP, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, came out publicly to confirm the declaration of his assets to the Auditor General. Meanwhile, the NPP fiercely kicked against it, saying it was unconstitutional. Siaw said. In a Facebook post on his page, Dr Nduom said the PPP is independent and therefore will not join forces with any of the political parties ahead of the election. READ ALSO: Mix reactions greet EC disqualification spree He revealed that all the parliamentary aspirants of his party have been cleared to contest the elections. Dr Nduom who served in the erstwhile NPP because of a coalition arrangement the party he then belonged to (CPP) had with the Kufuor government said that he was hopeful the parliamentary candidates of the party will win enough seats in the elections. READ ALSO: NPP consoles disqualified aspirants Dr Nduom is part of the 13 disqualified presidential aspirants from various political parties by the EC for anomalies in their nomination forms. Dr Nduom has vowed to challenge the ECs position in court after a meeting with the EC Chairperson yielded no results in his favour. After paying to acquire a visa, one needs to also make flight arrangements and other preparations ahead of the travel. Online sale centre Tisu.com.gh has realized this difficulty and has partnered with Kenya Airways to run a promotion that will aid some people win a free return ticket to any destination of their choice. You only have to buy any deal fromtisu.com.gh with a valid email address, snap a selfie of you enjoying your purchase and share on social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) using #buysnapshare and tag @TisuGhana presents the snap and share promo. The image with the most engagements would win the Buy, Snap and Share Promotion. They had at one point planned to start implementing it this year. The finance ministers met to evaluate technical progress made since June. Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling had warned that they should aim for an agreement by September or else give up entirely. However, the ministers made very important progress on Monday, EU Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the following morning in Luxembourg. They agreed on the four important measures that will form the core engine of such a tax. Hopefully, in the weeks to come, we will be capable of submitting this draft to the ministers so that they can go to the finish line. This is, I think, something that is expected by a lot of people who would like to see the financial sector contribute to the financing of some important public goods, he said. Moscovici said that his office would now prepare draft legislation. The idea of introducing a financial transaction tax in the EU has long been controversial and could not find support among all 28 member states. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! This time, he is set to embark on a tour of the 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, to showcase the achievements the president has recorded so far since he came to power. But in a shift from the use of his legs, Hashimu says he will embark on the tour in his car so as to show appreciation over what PMB has achieved so far and also let the people know that the president is really working hard. I will be embarking on another trek for President Muhammadu Buhari. This time, my trip is with a vehicle, not my usual trekking. I would tour the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This is to showcase achievements recorded by this administration so that they will appreciate the achievements recorded so far. President Buhari has achieved a lot in security and anti-corruption crusade. People that are untouchable in this country are answerable to the law of the land. Another big achievement recorded on Thursday was the rescue of the 21 of the over 200 kidnapped Chibok school girls. This is no doubt a great achievement. I will like to tell Nigerians to continue to support President Muhammadu Buhari to achieve all the promises he made during his campaign for the presidency," Hashimu said. But many Nigerians have taken to the social media to castigate Hashimu on his new venture with many seeing his plans as a mere eye-service to get into the good books of the president yet again after all the goodies he got the first time. The accused who resides at No. 20, Jacob Adeleye Street, Itire in Surulere area of the state, according to Punch, is facing trial on a two-count charge of defilement and indecent treatment of a child. The police prosecutor, Sergeant Anthonia Osayande, had earlier told the court that Ekeh committed the offences sometime between September 20 and 21, 2016 when he invited the minor into his room in the afternoon when most of the tenants in the building were not around and defiled her. According to the doctors report obtained from the hospital where the girl was examined, the eight-year-old girl was indecently treated by the accused," Osayande said. The offences, according to the prosecutor, contravenes sections 135 and 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011. When the charges were read to Ekeh, he pleaded not guilty and the president of the court, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu granted him bail in the sum of N200,000, with two sureties in like sum. According to a Facebook user, Zainab Yusuf, the old woman has been seen at the shelter for days now and only surviving at the mercy of passerby who give her food and money. No one seems to know who she is nor where she comes from as she has been incoherent in her speech and can't give any reasonable information about herself or her family. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), gathers that Oluwole was on duty on July 30, 2016, when he found a bag that a passenger had forgotten containing a huge amount of money, two cheque books, one international passport, two iPhone, five handsets and the particulars of a vehicle among others items, and promptly handed the bag to the security officials at the terminal. The security men traced the owner of the bag and handed it to him and he was very grateful and promised to let the management know of the honest staff. The reward for Oluwole's honesty duly came on Thursday, October 13, 2016, when the management of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operator of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2), honoured him by promoting him to a higher position. The Chief Executive Officer of BASL, Capt. Jari Williams, while presenting a Certificate of Commendation, a table fridge, and money to Oluwole, said his gesture has further shown that staff of the company are courteous, truthful and upright. What the young man has done, without being prompted, is a reflection of what BASL instills in its staff and service providers: that honesty, service delivery and good customer relation pay, Capt. Williams said. Lt.-Cdr. Thomas Otuji, the Spokesman of the taskforce said that troops raided a shrine used by militants and discovered the three human skulls. Otuji, via a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Yenagoa, said troops raided five shrines at Debe and Ikot Ofing in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River on Thursday. He said that troops on covert operation in Esighi waterside of Cross River apprehended a suspected militants leader found with charms, while another suspected leader was picked up at a hideout in Ikpa Road, Uyo. Otuji also said that the air component of the Operation Delta SAFE during a reconnaissance patrol at Onne in Rivers, sighted barges of 15,000 litres of petrol concealed with green grass. The troops also arrested three oil thieves operating illegal refineries at Bennet Island, Asugbo, in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta. He said that the oil thieves had connected a hose linking the site to a wellhead from where crude was siphoned. Otuji said that a locally made gun, five live cartridges, a crude laden wooden boat storage tank, seven speed boats with outboard engines were seized at the site. ALSO READ:JTF kills suspected militant, arrests oil thieves He said that a kidnap victim, Mrs Roseline Duku who was abducted by gunmen at Afiesere junction in Ugheli North Local Government Area was rescued by troops in response to a distress call. Otuji said the victims RAV 4 car with registration number FST 927 was however, abandoned by her abductors along Ejode Road in Ughelli while being pursued by troops. Troops in conjunction with the police and local vigilance group rescued the victim at Ekapkamre, Ugheli North LGA, Delta. Furthermore, troops deployed at Koluama in Bayelsa trailed and arrested a notorious pirate known as Labiesta, who attacked innocent citizen s at Ogubene creeks, he added. Otuji said that the militant had been on the wanted list of security agencies. Otuji noted that the successes recorded by the troops in the ongoing operation were traceable to the timely information provided by members of the public and resilience of the troops. The President fired back at his wife in Germany when he told reporters "I don't know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen, and my living room and the other room." It was reported that the German chancellor Angela Merkel gave our President a glare and laughed. Merkel must have been sorry for Nigerians that's why she laughed. It must have been a laugh of pity. In 2016, how can the President of a country define his wife's role in his life to domestic chores and sexual duties? When you think you have heard it all in Nigeria someone makes a baffling statement. This is an outright sexist statement from the President of Nigeria. The retired General rode on the wave of change to Aso Rock, but the 73-year-old leader is still stuck in the medieval times which relegated women to the background and define them by traditional sexist roles. The First Lady might have been wrong to criticize her husband in public, but the President did not have to dismiss her by saying she is a domestic servant. At a time when millions of Nigerian women are seriously challenging the system and breaking away from the shackles of sexism and patriarchy, our President has made a statement that mocks the feminist movement in Nigeria. If the First Lady is defined by three rooms in her husband's home, how should other Nigerian women be defined? ALSO READ: Nigerians react to President saying his wife belongs in the kitchen Let's be real about this. Nigeria is an extremely sexist nation. Some men treat their wives as they please. An average man in Nigeria sees his wife as a piece of furniture instead of his equal and partner. Once you pay the bride price you can do anything to your wife. A woman's dreams and ambitions are to be relegated while her husband rules over the household as he pleases. Millions of Nigerian women have had their voices stifled because of tradition. Their dreams of being someone in life have been crushed because they must be in the kitchen and cook for the family. We have seen first ladies around the world lead the charge for equal rights for women in their countries. Who will help Nigerian women? I would have said our First Lady but she is stuck in the "other room." This might be not the reality in Aso Rock but after what the President has said the First Lady's role as the mother of the nation has been undermined. The Presidency might react hours or days from now and say it was a joke, but Presidents cannot afford expensive jokes. His statement has more or less damaged his reputation with women who are looking up to the government to set the tone on how women should be treated. You can judge a country on how it treats not only its young people but also its girls and women. If the First Lady is relegated to functions in the kitchen, the living room and the other room, what can we say about Nigeria? Guardian reports that the officers, Sergeants Peter Owochi and Chigno Ada, and Corporal Francis Onu, who are attached to the Mopol 43 of the Bauchi State Police Command but were in Delta State on a special duty, were arrested by the Lagos State Police Command. They were said to have left their duty posts to raid the homes of the Chinese nationals where they stole N700,000 and $770 in cash and other valuable items including laptops, iPads, phones, jewelry, and electronics. While confessing to the crime, Sergeant Owochi said they were invited by one of the gang members to participate in the crime and that they told their victims they were looking for drugs. "We came to Lagos on the invitation of one of our members, who gave us details of a Chinese national who resides in Shomolu. We stormed his house with a forged search warrant, alleging that he was into drug trafficking and arms racketeering. The last incident that led to our arrest, we stole N700, 000, $770, phones iPads, jewelry and laptops. We were arrested through one of the phones stolen. A member actually sold the phone to a neighbour without knowing that it could be tracked." Francis, a resident of Dan-Raka Estate, Samaru, in Zaria area of the state, was said to have raped the infant on Thursday, October 13, 2016. The Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of the Sabongari Division, SP Ahmed Musa, while parading the suspect, said the case was reported to the division by one Kamal Aliyu. I received a phone call at about 3pm on Thursday from one of our staff, Kamal Aliyu, who lived in the same compound with the accused and the parents of the victim. I immediately mobilized our men to the scene. When they arrived at the house, they discovered that people had nearly lynched the accused, but for Aliyu, who locked him up in his room after persuading the crowd, Musa said. The DPO added that the girl was taken to Major Ibrahim Abdullahi Memorial General Hospital for medical examination to ascertain the fact and level of penetration while the case would be charged to the court after investigation. He spoke on Friday in Jalingo at the launching of the monthly outbreak response immunisation campaign against the polio virus. The minister explained that Nigeria was on the verge of getting out of the menace of polio before the virus unfortunately resurfaced in Borno. It is worrisome to note that Nigeria remains the only country in Africa still harbouring wide polio virus. Considering the fact that Taraba falls within the region of the outbreak, this exercise is timely and I commend the state government for this, he said. Ehanire noted that the Federal government was totally committed to tackling the menace in order to remove Nigeria from the list of three countries still harbouring the virus. He appealed to parents to allow the immunisation officers to have access and administer the vaccine on their children, saying, it had no side effects. Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba said the state was doing everything possible to ensure that children were safe. Ishaku explained that the state government was mindful of the fact that people were migrating from Borno, where four cases were recently recorded, to Taraba daily and was therefore out to check possible outbreak. Akinwale, who is the Vice Chairman of the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria, South-West Zone, said this on Thursday at the flag-off of an eye outreach and free cataract surgery exercise in Ibadan. The outreach , which was organised by the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria in collaboration with Lions Club of Ibadan 401, was in commemoration of the 2016 World Sight Day. According to Akinwale, one person in the world goes blind every five seconds while a child goes blind every minute. She said that the World Sight Day focuses on global issues concerning avoidable blindness and visual impairment. The ophthalmologist said that no fewer than 100 people would benefit from free surgery while some would get free eye screening, drugs as well as glasses during the programme. She said the right to sight was now a joint initiative of WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, adding that they were committed to tackling avoidable blindness by 2020. Also speaking, Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State said the free eye care initiative by the Society would bring succour to many beneficiaries in the state. Ajimobi, who was represented by his deputy, Moses Adeyemo, expressed governments readiness for public/private partnership. According to him, the partnership was expected to engineer collaborative efforts and synergy to ensure achievable goals. Our aim is to build on a sustainable system which will respond to various challenges that may arise and affect the healthy living of the people of the state, he said. Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, President, Women Arise Initiative, told NAN that further meaningful negotiations could lead to the safe return of the remaining girls The Women Arise commends the Federal Government for its untiring effort at ensuring the release of the abducted Chibok girls, who have been in the captivity of the Boko Haram insurgents for over two years. While we appreciate the efforts and the gain so far made, we are still of the opinion that further dialogue and meaningful negiotiations will lead to the safe return of the remaining girls." Similarly, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, Executive Director Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), while commending governments effort, said that 21 out of over 200 was still few. Akiyode-Afolabi urged the government to provide immediate psyco social support for the girls and ensure that they were reintegrated back into the society. Nigerian government is commended for the efforts at bringing our girls back, Having said that we stilll expect more. Twenty one out of over 200 is still few. We will continue to make demands until they all return, Akiyode-Afolabi said. Also, Mr Femi Aborishade, a Human Rights Lawyer, urged government to address poverty which was the root cause of insurgency. It is a welcome development, Some of us had for long been advocating such an exchange through negotiations and swapping. Government should begin to address the root cause of insurgency because the real terror disturbing Nigeria, in various forms, is poverty. Abubakar expressed his feelings while addressing newsmen at Ake Palace in Abeokuta after a courtesy call on the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 200 female students were kidnapped in April 2014, at Government Secondary School Chibok in Borno. He commended the Federal Government, other nations and organisations involved in the negotiation leading to the release. Abubakar, who, described the abduction of the Chibok girls and the subsequent mourning to which it threw the entire nation as a sad episode in the history of Nigeria, prayed against a re-occurence. He, however, expressed optimism that the rest of the girls would be released to enable them reunite with their parents. Abubakar, who, was the head of the National Peace Committee set up during the 2015 general elections, noted that negotiation and dialogue were crucial to conflict resolution. ALSO READ: He urged the Federal Government to strengthen the approach so as to fast track the resolution of the crisis in the Niger Delta region and other parts of the country. Negotiation will always yield fruitful result not only in Nigeria but anywhere in the world where there are crises, Abubakar said. In his speech while welcoming the 21 girls back home, Osinbajo also said that President Muhammadu Buhari is excited about the girls release saying "The president in particular, has asked me to tell you, how excited he is. When you were away, he kept saying that if it were his daughter he wouldnt even know what to do." Speaking further Osinbajo said: "I am sure you know that the whole country has been waiting for you to come back, all these many months, the whole country has been waiting that one day we will see you again and we are very happy to see you back! "We are going to bring your parents, your parents will be coming here to join you. You cant immediately be taken out of here because we need to be sure that you are in very good health. I am sure are going to be very well taken care of. "We have provided very good accommodation for you where you will stay where you will sleep and your parents will come and meet you there also," he said. The Vice President also disclosed that the released girls will be well taken care of by the Federal Government which remains committed. "We are also going to see to it that everything that you require going forward, perhaps your education, those who need to go back to school, those who need to find employment, we are going to make that we make all the provisions for you. ALSO READ: Osinbajo receives rescued girls in Abuja "So we are all very excited that you are here. We are all happy that God has preserved your lives and brought you back. We know that very soon all will be well and I am sure that when you meet with your parents they will be very excited to meet you. "We have already contacted them, they know where you are, and very soon they will be joining you here. So we are all looking forward to how you are going to settle in very nicely. The doctors have all the kinds of treatment that you will need, so you are all welcome back and we are all very excited to see," the VP said. A statement signed by the Acting Director of Information of the Council, Mr Soji Oye, made this known to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday night. The Council said that by the act of the DSS, judicial officers were now being exposed to insecurity, adding that criminals might take advantage of the recent incidents to invade their homes under the guise of being security agents. The Council vehemently denounces a situation whereby the psyche of judicial officers in the federation is subjected to a level where they will be afraid to discharge their constitutional judicial functions. The Council will not compromise the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. The Council wishes, therefore, to reassure the public that any person who has a genuine complaint against any judicial officer is at liberty to bring it up to the Council for consideration, he said. Oye said further said the Council had never shielded any judicial officers suspected to have breached the code of conduct guiding the profession or other important law of the land. He said that the Council insisted that the DSS must be restricted within its primarily concern with the internal security of the country. In another development, Oye said the Council recommended Justice Sylvester Onnoghen to President Muhammadu Buhari for appointment as the next Chief Justice of Nigeria. By the recommendation, Onnoghen is expected to succeed the outgoing CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, who retires on Nov. 10 Onnoghen was born on Dec. 22, 1950, at Okurike Town, Biase Local Government Area of Cross River. He obtained the Bachelor of Law degree at the University of Legon, Ghana, in 1977 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978. The Chief Justice of Nigeria designate was pupil state counsel, Ministry of Justice, Ikeja, Lagos, and Ogun between 1978 and 1979. He was partner in the Law Firm of Effiom Ekong & Company, Calabar, 1979 to 1988 and Principal Partner/Head of Chamber of Walter Onneghen & Associates, Calabar 1988 to 1989 Onnoghen was appointed High Court Judge, Cross River Judiciary, 1989 and Chairman, Cross River Armed Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, 1990 to 1993. He was also Chairman, Judicial Enquiry into the Crisis between Student of the University of Calabar and Obufa Esuk Orok Community, Calabar in 1996 and chaired the Failed Bank Tribunal, Ibadan Zone, 1998, before his elevation to the Court of Appeal in 1998 to 2005. In view of this, the lower chamber calls for the involvement of the National Judicial Council (NJC) in the procedure for the removal of head of courts to avoid victimisation by the executive. The development follows the controversial raid recently carried out by the Department of State Service (DSS) on the homes of some allegedly corrupt judges of the Supreme, Appeal and High courts across the country. This was contained in a Bill, entitled An act to pursuant to Section 9(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) to alter Section 292 (1) (A) and (i) (ii) to include the National Judicial Council in the procedure for the removal of heads of courts established by the Constitution under Section 6 (5), promoted by Garba Datti Muhammad, APC, Kaduna. In the past, the NJC only had the responsibility to recommend an erring judge to the President, but with the proposed Bill amendment, if passed, the Council will be involved in the discipline or removal of any erring judge. ALSO READ: NBA urged to withdraw support for arrested judges Reading the Bill, which passed second reading on the floor of the House on Thursday, Muhammad said the purpose of the proposed amendment "is to ensure that judicial officers serving as heads of courts are not victimised through removal by executive fiat, acting in concert with the legislature without any established or verifiable evidence." Numbering about 500, the protesters took to the streets of Abuja on Thursday, October 13, 2016, carrying different placards. President of the group, Bassey Williams blamed the current economic situation on the activities of Niger Delta militants and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He advised all aggrieved groups in the country to sheathe their swords for the good of all Nigerians. We are passing the vote of confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari; the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele; minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun and other members of his team," Bassey said. Speaking on the raid of homes of some judges by officials of the Department of State Service (DSS), Bassey noted that it was part of federal government's commitment to fighting corruption. The Kaduna state governor warned the residents of Tudun Wada, Kaduna, to desist from mob actions while saying those responsible for the death of four people will be brought to book. The death of the four people during the attack on the Shiite members is coming after the Kaduna State government outlawed the activities of group in the state and ordered the arrest of its spokesperson, Ibrahim Musa. In a statement signed by Samuel Aruwan, the governors spokesperson, El-Rufai said that security agencies had been directed to vigorously uphold law and order in the state. He said further, The Government condemns in strong terms this unfortunate situation and commiserates with the affected citizens and their families, and others that lost their properties and valuables. ALSO READ: Angry youths kill members of sect across Northern Nigeria The Government therefore wishes to categorically warn citizens against mob action. No one will be allowed to conduct themselves in an arbitrary manner. Impunity has no place in this state. There are designated agencies vested with the duty of law enforcement, and citizens cannot usurp their roles; rather it is the duty of all citizens to report infractions of the law and help to prevent or detect crime. There can be no recourse to self-help. Only constituted authority and security agencies have the statutory right and the constitutional mandate to enforce compliance to the law. Every resident of Kaduna State has the right to the constitutional freedoms outlined in Sections 38 and 40, the statement reads. The sect, which the Kaduna state government declared an outlaw group last week, said the government is trying to silence it. Some of the Shi'ite members were recently killed across the country while they were on their annual procession. Homes of their leaders and their education centres were also razed by people reported to be hoodlums in what seems to be a coordinated attack. Speaking in an interview with Vanguard, spokesman for the group, Ibrahim Musa alleged that those who killed their members were recruited by security agents. "They want to instil terror on our members. They believe that once they do that people will no longer associate with us and we will be left on our own. This will not work because it is our religious obligation," Musa said. ALSO READ: Shiites should blame themselves, says JTF spokesman Following the attack in Kaduna, the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had condemned the actions of the residents of Tudun Wada area of the state, who were believed to have masterminded the attack. This, according to the command, is coming after Wednesdays clash between policemen and members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as Shiites. The Police Commissioner in the state, Usman Abdullahi, had confirmed that three persons died, while two policemen were injured during the clash. Abdullah also said that 46 persons comprising men and women, were arrested for participating in the unlawful procession. The Police Public Relations Officer of the command, DSP Salisu Agaisa, told newsmen on Friday that the deployment from neighboring states was to curtail possible continuation of the unlawful procession by the sect members. Agaisa, therefore , enjoined people in the town to go about their lawful businesses. Agbonayinma, a member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), representing Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Constituency of Edo in the House of Representatives, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. He said that the wish of every patriotic Nigerian should be for the fight against corruption in the country to succeed. Anybody that does not want to support the fight against corruption does not mean well for the country. People should support the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), support the Attorney-General of the Federation for us to succeed in the fight against corruption, he said. The lawmaker pointed out that everybody should get involved in the anti-graft crusade and fight, saying that it was not for the president and anti-corruption agencies alone. He said that Nigerians should not see the ongoing clampdown against alleged corrupt judicial officers as witch hunt. According to him, the level of corruption in the country is too high and it is all sectors of the economy and all levels and arms of government, and if not addressed, will destroyed the system. Corruption is not limited to a particular sector of the economy but cuts across all sectors, including the judiciary. People in the petroleum sector who constituted themselves as cabal robbing the country of big income must be pursued and fished and prosecuted. Tomorrow you will see that when the president is trying to fight the cabal to apprehend them, people will say he does not follow due process. Dont be surprised to hear such statement when the cabal is apprehended and brought to book; you hear some Nigerians crying that the president did not follow due process, Agbonayinma said. This week, the garrulous Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of one of the most enlightened States in the federation, plunged into lower depths. Soon after news broke that 21 Chibok schoolgirls have been released from Boko Haram captivity, Fayose issued another of his very senseless press statements. The release of the girls, said the Governor, was a diversionary tactic from the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency--yet another script from the Buhari administration to deflect attention from his foibles on the economy, Fayose said. Here's Fayose in his own words: "Nigerians are no longer interested in the lies and make believes of the APC- led federal government. Rather, Nigerians want the economy fixed and food on their tables. As for me, I keep my fingers crossed on this reported release of 21 Chibok girls. This is because we were once told by this same government that one of the girls was released and the girl, who was supposed to be writing Physics WAEC examination then could not speak one sentence in English. Again, it was reported yesterday that Boko Haram bombed Maiduguri, Borno State and killed more than 10 people. How the same Boko Haram insurgents that bombed Maiduguri yesterday could release 21 Chibok girls today is a question Nigerians must ask. Until proved otherwise, the story still appears like one of the diversionary tactics of the federal government. We have heard enough stories on corruption, the federal government should give Nigerians food. The people are suffering and their sufferings must be attended to by the federal government. Propaganda, cheap lies and diversionary tactics must give way for serious governance. For Fayose and his ilk, what should have been a moment of joy for everyone across the political divide, was a good opportunity to play politics. It didn't matter to the Governor that the families of the released girls don't care for his politics or bile. It didn't matter to Fayose that the parents of these girls have been in agony for close to three years as their wards turned into sex slaves for the Boko Haram savages. Not for Fayose the gripping, emaciated images of the girls on Television--cradling kids they had no say in bringing to the world. Here's a Governor who, alongside some of his PDP folks, never believed the girls were abducted in the first place. The sheer heartlessness of it all! Rabid and classless, a Governor of a State in Nigeria really thinks every occurrence in his alternative universe is a propaganda tool; that life is a binary--split between PDP or APC, sensitivity be damned! To be shocked by the hollowness and shallowness of Fayose is to be amazed that the sky is up there. In the last couple of years, we've been treated to one senseless Fayose statement after another--press statements that could have been written from a sewer. We know better than to expect anything sensible from the Fayose stable. But yesterday was a low blow, even for him. To issue that kind of statement without a care in the world as to whether it was going to rub the released girls, their families or the nation the wrong way, was sickening and gut wrenching. Fayose should know when to play his filthy brand of politics. It should never be with the lives and emotions of suffering people. That will be asking for too much, we know, but insist we must. In May, 2016, Christian houses were burnt by a 300-strong mob, while a 70-year-old woman was dragged naked along the street, Christian Today reports. Other cases include the attack of a priest in July, 2016, the alleged abductions of Christians and the destruction of numerous church buildings. Thankfully, an Egyptian Christian teacher has found a way to fight this tension. According to The Independent, the tutor, named Ayaad, from a village in northern Egypt, is attempting to tackle the problem by teaching with both the Bible and Qu'ran. Speaking with BBC Arabic, he says he believes "we are all one", and that he has been doing it for over 50 years. "I have more than 120 children in my class: 70 to 80 Muslims, and 30 to 40 Christians. We have been living here in love. I get paid about a dollar, but I'd rather be paid a dollar with love than $100 with anger. The school teachers and families approve. I used to teach them all years ago with no objection. Sectarian tension is an evil thing that's popped up. We never used to label each other Muslim or Christian. We are all one and there is no difference", he added. Everybody knows Aisha Buhari and her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari are like Bae and Baello. But lately, Aisha has been wondering what is wrong with her husband. She said she doesn't know most of the people her husband appointed, and neither does he. She said: The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I dont know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years. And everybody was just like, And Buhari was like, Next thing, Buhari just called his guy Mamman Daura to come through for him. And Mamman Daura was just like, And you know Buhari now, whenever he wants to say important things, he always says it from The Abroad. So he waited till he got to Germany. As usual, Oyinbo Press asked him about his wife's comments and he was like, "I dont know exactly what party my wife belongs to." "Actually she belongs in the kitchen..." "...The living room, and the other rooms in the house." And Aisha was just like, But Buhari was like, And then Aisha hit him with that major comeback, And all of us are just like, And Buhari was just there like, But we all know in the end, two of them will still settle this matter like every Bae and Baello would. And they'll live happily ever after, 2019 and beyond. P.S: This is just pure bants. But if you work with the DSS, this is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Thanks and God bless. Dr. Tamika Cross, the medical personnel who offered to help narrated her experience via a Facebook post. "I'm sure many of my fellow young, corporate America working women of color can all understand my frustration when I say I'm sick of being disrespected. "Was on Delta flight DL945 and someone 2 rows in front of me was screaming for help. Her husband was unresponsive. I naturally jumped into Doctor mode as no one else was getting up. Unbuckle my seatbelt and throw my tray table up and as I'm about to stand up, flight attendant says "everyone stay calm, it's just a night terror, he is alright". I continue to watch the scene closely. "A couple mins later he is unresponsive again and the flight attendant yells "call overhead for a physician on board". I raised my hand to grab her attention. She said to me "oh no sweetie put ur hand down, we are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel, we don't have time to talk to you" I tried to inform her that I was a physician but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks. "Then overhead they paged "any physician on board please press your button". I stare at her as I go to press my button. She said "oh wow you're an actual physician?" I reply yes. She said "let me see your credentials. What type of Doctor are you? Where do you work? Why were you in Detroit?" (Please remember this man is still in need of help and she is blocking my row from even standing up whileBombarding me with questions). "I respond "OBGYN, work in Houston, in Detroit for a wedding, but believe it or not they DO HAVE doctors in Detroit. Now excuse me so I can help the man in need". Another "seasoned" white male approaches the row and says he is a physician as well. She says to me "thanks for your help but he can help us, and he has his credentials". (Mind you he hasn't shown anything to her. Just showed up and fit the "description of a doctor") I stay seated. Mind blown. Blood boiling. (Man is responding the his questions and is seemingly better now Thank God) "Then this heifer has the nerve to ask for my input on what to do next about 10 mins later. I tell her we need vitals and blood sugar. She comes back to report to me a BP of 80/50 (super low, to my non medical peeps) and they can't find a glucometer. We continue down that pathway of medical work up, but the point is she needed my help and I continued to help despite the choice words I had saved up for her. The patient and his wife weren't the problem, they needed help and we were mid flight. When the creativity shines through, we applaud the couple and hope to maybe emulate their style or just do a variant of it. When the photos come out err not so creative, though, the logical thing is to just look at them, smile and stay away from such ideas. You really do not want to look back on your pre-wedding photos and say to yourself, maybe we should have done better than this. The couples in these six photos are probably looking back at them now, wishing they had done better. This reminds us very much about the movie, "Diamond Ring", from way back. Remember when an angry ghost of Liz Benson was hovering in RMD's living room, with the Late Bukky Ajayi trying all her best to appease her not to take Teju Babyface's life? Yeah. That is exactly what this reminds us of. Does this look to you like what it looks to us? We really do not want to think they planned this to look like what it looks like. Don't copy this, guys. Don't! This looks just so totally wrong, except they were trying to tell us that the wife will be manhandling the man. Which, really, still looks wrong. Lol. We would love to see the person this lady is trying to fight with such smile on her face. And this location of the shoot... they could have done better. Haba. When he knew he couldn't carry her for long, he shouldn't have tried, right? We really can't tell the concept behind this. Were they trying to do a primary school theme? Or is this just... we really can't tell. You would expect pre-wedding photos to have a theme, right? So, it appears that for all the lovely pictures you see and smile in admiration, we have some you see and just decide to stay away from. Well, guys, if you already have a list of themes you do not want to emulate for your pre-wedding photo shoot, you might want to consider adding these ones to it. British Bride, Kathryn Holloway decides to give her Star Wars fan groom, Phillip Wood a major surprise, so she went on to join forces with Britain's Got Talent Finalists Boogie Storm to give him and their wedding guests a grand surprise. During the wedding which took place in Spain, the couple asked the dance group to perform some popular moves when the time for the first dance arrived. That was indeed what the group did, treating the excited audience to songs which included "Gangnam Style," "Single Ladies," and other hit music. Towards the end of the video came another exciting moment where Darth Vader appeared and it turns out to be the groom! Even more surprise when one of the storm troopers took off her helmet and it turns out that it was the bride dancing along the entire time with Boogie Storm! What a moment! Must have taken sometime to master the moves, of course, seeing how they seamlessly went from move to move. Holloway, 31, told DailyMail later that she "wanted it to be a complete surprise, and it definitely was!" This, right here, is probably one wedding dance theme that must have been well observed from the galaxies of course. Troops killed the two suspects, known by the names of Abu Doujana and Abderrahmane, in an ambush in Oued Zehour in Skikda region east of the capital on Thursday, the defense ministry said in a statement published by APS state news agency. A security source said Abu Doujana was a leader of Jund al Khalifa, a splinter al Qaeda group that had allied itself with Islamic State. It was blamed for beheading Frenchman Herve Gourdel in a remote mountain area in September 2014. Bombings and attacks are rarer in Algeria since it ended its decade-long 1990s war with armed Islamists. But al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is still active and a small group tied to Islamic State also operated east of the capital. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the incident, which took place 40 km (25 miles) from the town of Bir al-Abd, making it the first major attack in the central Sinai area, which had so far escaped the militant Islamists' campaign. It was carried out using assault rifles and some heavier weapons, medical and security sources said. The wounded were taken to hospital in al-Arish. "An armed group of terrorist elements attacked a security checkpoint in North Sinai this morning using four-wheel drives and were immediately engaged. Our forces killed 15 terrorists," the military said in a statement. "The clashes led to the martyrdom of 12 and injury of six armed forces heroes." Islamic State said it killed more than 20 soldiers and that it suffered no casualties. It said its members looted weapons and ammunition from the checkpoint. "A number of the caliphate's soldiers have launched an attack on a checkpoint belonging to the apostate Egyptian army south of Bir al-Abd that killed over 20 apostates and injured more," the group said in a statement. An Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula gained pace after the Egyptian military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen, and has started to target Western targets within Egypt. The agreement -- signed between Moscow and Damascus in August 2015 -- allowed Russia to establish its Hmeimim airbase to launch operations in support of ally President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Putin's official signing off on the pact, that lasts for an "indefinite" period, is a legal move that many believe will now pave the way for Moscow to make the base permanent. The ratification of the deal, which follows votes by both Russia's parliament and senate, comes as tensions with the West spike over Russia's bombing of rebel-held, besieged eastern Aleppo. Putin in August asked lawmakers to ratify the deal, which grants Russian forces immunity from prosecution in Syria. The latest assault by government forces in Aleppo with the support of Russian airpower has sparked Western accusations of potential war crimes. As relations have slumped, the Kremlin has bolstered its forces in Syria and on Monday announced they will also turn their Soviet-era naval facility in the country into a permanent base. In a country battered by near-constant power struggles, Thailand's military establishment has long tied its political fortunes to Bhumibol, who died on Thursday aged 88. The armed forces portray themselves as the ultimate defender of the monarchy and most of the many coups launched during Bhumibol's reign were done in the name of protecting the king -- and eventually endorsed by him. But the king also wielded enormous prestige, famously calling Thailand's then military ruler to his palace in 1992, humiliating him on television for ordering a bloody crackdown on demonstrations against his government. The prime minister resigned. But Bhumibol's designated successor Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn lacks his father's deep military links. "There's no light at the end of tunnel in terms of demilitarisation any time soon," said Paul Chambers, an expert on the Thai military and monarchy. The current military junta that seized power two years ago said it did so to halt years of violent political factional fighting. But with the king already ailing at the time, many saw the putsch -- the latest to halt Thai democracy in its tracks -- as the generals ensuring they were in control during the coming royal succession. 'Instrumental role' The junta led by army general Prayut Chan-O-Cha has promised elections by late next year. But Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Thammasat University, said Prayut and senior officers will wield huge influence over what happens. "The military junta and high command will play an indispensable and instrumental role during this delicate transitional period," he said. Thailand's monarchy is shielded from criticism or scrutiny by a draconian lese majeste law and prosecutions since the 2014 coup have surged. Prayut has been the most visible official since the king's death was announced Thursday, delivering key televised statements and vowing to keep the country stable. He, rather than the crown prince, made the surprise announcement to reporters late Thursday that Vajiralongkorn wants more time to mourn his father and prepare before being officially proclaimed king. But the junta leader is not the only senior military figure who wields political influence. King Bhumibol stacked his influential Privy Council with senior officers, led by retired general and former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda, who remains sprightly and highly influential at 96. Under Thailand's succession law, he would be acting regent in the event of any succession crisis. In the run up to Bhumibol's death there was intense speculation inside Thailand over rivalries within the military elite, particularly between the junta and Privy Council. 'Independent streak' Prayut and his comrades are often dubbed the "Eastern Tigers", a military clique that rose up through the Queen's Guard and became increasingly influential over the last ten years. Prem's faction, meanwhile, hailed from the King's Guards. They are seen to have lost influence since the rise of the Eastern Tigers. While Bhumibol worked closely with the military, "there?s always been a much more independent streak within the crown prince" said one analyst who asked not to be named because of the sensitivities. "That independence really concerns the Bangkok elite and the military that supports them," the analyst said. Vajiralongkorn is a former air force fighter pilot who also spent time in the King's Guard during the 1970s. He has his own personal guard -- the Royal Guard 904 -- which Chambers estimates is some 5,000 people strong. But he has often spent much time outside the country. His military network is less deep-rooted and the extent of his power base unclear. "(Bhumibol) had a tendency to keep people for a long time in high positions and they would return the necessary adulation and support to safeguard the palace. It was a very reciprocal relationship," he added. Thitinan described Bhumibol's links with the military as a "symbiotic relationship" that saw the two institutions through the Cold War and into the modern era. The strike appeared in doubt after judge Nduma Nderi's order restraining pilots' union KALPA from proceeding. After the ruling, KAPLA said in a statement its members were open to talks with the government to resolve the stand-off, but did not say if they had dropped the call for industrial action. Kenyan broadcaster Citizen had earlier reported on its website that Chief Executive Officer Mbuvi Ngunze and Chairman Dennis Awori would exit by the end of the month, without giving a source. By 1134 GMT, shares in the airline, part owned by Air France KLM and the Kenyan government, were trading at 4.50 shillings, up 3.45 percent. "They are laying out plans to replace the senior management, that includes the CEO, this is based on reports that I am reading," Daniel Kuyoh, analyst at Alpha Africa Asset Managers, told Reuters when asked about the reason for the share rise. Other traders and analysts echoed the comments. There was no immediate comment from Kenya Airways about any management changes. The principal secretary in the Transport Ministry, Irungu Nyakera, who represents the government on the board of the partly state-owned airline, said he had no new information. "The priority now is to get the strike notice withdrawn," he told Reuters by telephone. The government has said the strike amounted to economic sabotage. The union said its members had lost confidence in the ability of the CEO and chairman to end years of losses. The airline said on Thursday it had halved its pretax loss to 5 billion shillings ($49.4 million) in the past six months thanks to a recovery in passenger numbers. Eric Musau, analyst at Standard Investment Bank, said vital to any turnaround in the airline's fortunes was to secure new financing in the form of equity capital. It's the second time in less than a month that a federal judge has ruled that Lula, a two-term president who left office in 2011 as Brazil's most popular president with an 83-percent approval rating, must stand trial. Lula faces allegations of corruption, money laundering and obstruction of justice related to a sprawling kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, which prosecutors allege he orchestrated for more than a decade. Thursday's decision by Judge Vallisney Oliveira in Brasilia centers on allegations Lula and others took 30 million reais ($9.3 million) in bribes to help win low-interest financing from the BNDES development bank for Odebrecht projects in Angola. Lula's lawyers denied the accusations. Last month, Judge Sergio Moro ruled that Lula would stand trial on charges he was a "direct beneficiary" of 3.7 million reais in bribes from OAS SA, one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the graft scandal. Separately, Moro decided on Thursday to try Eduardo Cunha, former speaker of the lower house of Congress, for his alleged role in the Petrobras corruption scandal. As speaker, Cunha led the successful drive to impeach former President Dilma Rousseff for breaking budgetary rules - a move Rousseff and her supporters call a "coup" in retaliation for her not trying to quash the aggressive Petrobras investigation. Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges. "I've never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories," Trump said later on Thursday during a speech in Ohio. Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets. The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. First lady Michelle Obama criticized Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday. Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama said, "This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV." "It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life," she added. "... The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman -- it is cruel." One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. ALSO READ: Trump tied with Clinton in Utah after lewd remarks in video Leeds told CNN on Thursday that Trump also kissed her face in an incident that lasted about 15 minutes. "That's long enough," she said. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm. Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters. MODEL YEAR END CLOSE OUT! New 2016 Toyota COROLLA MODELS 0 % For 72 Months APR OR $500 Lease For Customer Cash Lease For www. AndersonWeberToyota.com WWW.TOYOTAOFMUSCATINE.COM 0 .9% APR For 36 Months Lease For $269/mo* www. AndersonWeberToyota.com WWW.TOYOTAOFMUSCATINE.COM PLUS Customer Bonus $129/mo* HIGHLANDER APR $1,500 Customer Cash New 2016 Toyota 0 % For 72 Months New 2016 Toyota PRIUS MODELS OR $2,000 $199/mo* 0 www. AndersonWeberToyota.com WWW.TOYOTAOFMUSCATINE.COM 60 % For Months APR New 2016 Toyota RAV4 MODELS OR $1,000 Customer Cash Lease For $199/mo* www. AndersonWeberToyota.com WWW.TOYOTAOFMUSCATINE.COM ANDERSONWEBERTOYOTA.COM 877-854-9685 877-945-8897 adno=652832-01 adno=652832-01 3000 North Hyw. 38 3450 Center Grove Dubuque, IA 52003 Muscatine, Iowa 52761 *Offers *Offers end end 10/31/16 10/31/16 and and are are subject subject to availability. availability availability.. See Dealer for details. Low APR is on approved credit from Toyota Toyota Financial Services. *Lease new 2016 Corolla, model #1862J, #1862J, $129 a month for 36 months with $2,359 due at signing. Includes Includes first first months months payment, $1,580 down payment, $1,000 TFS Lease Subvention Reduction, $0 security deposit and $650 acquisition fee. MSRP $20,430. Lease-end purchase option is $12,667. * Lease new 2016 Prius LB, model #1223G, for $199 a month for 36 months with $3,849 due at signing. Includes first months payment, $3,000 down payment, $0 security deposit and $650 acquisition fee. MSRP $25,668. Lease-end purchase option is $14,631. * Lease new 2016 RAV4, model #4432G, for $199 a month for 36 months with $3,169 due at signing. Includes first months payment, $2,320 down payment, $0 security deposit and $650 acquisition fee. MSRP is $26,929. Lease-end purchase option is $16,427. * Lease new 2016 Highlander, model #6949J, for $269 a month for 36 months with $3,589 due at signing. Includes first months payment, $2,670 down payment, $500 TFS Lease Subvention Reduction, $0 security deposit and $650 acquisition fee. MSRP is $37,025. Lease-end purchase option is $24,807. Lease Subvention Cash provided by Toyota Financial Service to eligible customers who finance a new, unused or unlicensed 2016 Toyota Corolla, Camry, Prius, or RAV4. * Lease does not include taxes, license, title/registration fees, insurance, and $69 dealer doc fee. Closed-end lease. Customer responsible for maintenance, excess wear and tear and $0.15 per mile over 12,000 miles per year. To qualified Tier 1+ customers through Toyota Financial Services. $350 disposition fee due at lease end unless customer purchases vehicle or decides to re-finance through Toyota Financial Services. Customer Cash offer provided by Toyota Financial Services and must be applied to transaction. Picture may not represent actual vehicle. 0.0% APR with $2,500 down payment provides for 72 monthly payments of $13.89 per $1,000 financed for qualified buyers. 0.0% for a term of 36 months corresponds to a monthly cost of $27.78 per $1,000 financed. 0.0% for a term of 39 months corresponds to a monthly cost of $25.64 per $1,000 financed. 0.0% for a term of 42 months corresponds to a monthly cost of $23.81 per $1,000 financed. 0.0% for term of 48 months corresponds to a monthly cost of $20.83 per $1,000 financed. 0.0% for term of 60 months corresponds to a monthly cost of $16.67 per $1,000 financed. All prices plus tax, title & license with approved credit. MSRP includes delivery, processing and handling fees. Dealer doc fee $69.00 not included in price. The rates described are for estimation purposes only; you may not be able to finance at this rate. An Illinois pathologist told a Rock Island County jury Thursday that 18-year-old Zachary M. Phillips of Colona died from a gunshot wound to the head. Dr. Mark Peters of Rockford highlighted Phillips injuries on the second day of testimony in the trial of the accused shooter, Lamaree E. Wilson-Neuleib, at the Rock Island County Justice Center. Prosecutors say Wilson-Neuleib, 18, of Moline, fired 11 bullets into Phillips red 1993 Nissan 240SX that was parked in the 4600 block of 53rd Street in Moline around 10:30 a.m. May 20, 2015. Phillips friend and front-seat passenger, Erik Roberson, 21, was shot multiple times but survived the shooting. Peters testified that he did the autopsy on Phillips the day after the shooting. He noted that Phillips was shot above the left ear and that the bullet became lodged under his right cheek. The bullet caused bleeding and bruising at the base of his brain, as well as some skull fractures, he said. Peters said he also noted exit and entrance wounds on his right posterior shoulder and his upper right arm. When questioned by defense attorney Dora Villareal, Peters said a toxicology screen on Phillips revealed that he had two metabolites of THC in his system at the time of his death. Peters said that did not have any bearing on Phillips cause of death when questioned by Rock Island County Assistant States Attorney Heidi Weller. Peters was one of 10 witnesses to testify Thursday at Wilson-Neuleibs trial. He is charged with first-degree murder, punishable by 45 years to life in prison, and aggravated battery with a firearm, punishable by six to 30 years in prison. Alex Snell, 18, of East Moline, testified Thursday that Roberson and another friend, Matthew Merrill, had been at his apartment the morning of the shooting when Roberson got a phone call from Wilson-Neuleib. I thought that it was very, very weird that he (Wilson-Neuleib) was trying to buy four grams of cannabis for $100, Snell said. Merrill testified Wednesday that he and Roberson sold marijuana to Wilson-Neuleib the day before at a gas station near the scene of the shooting. Snell said Roberson and Merrill left with Phillips. He said he got a phone call from Merrill about 10 minutes later. I left with my girlfriend to go see because Matt told me they all got shot, Snell said. Snell said they went to the 53rd Street and then to an area hospital. A retired Moline police officer and a paramedic who responded to the scene that morning testified this week that Roberson said Wilson-Neuleib was the shooter. Witnesses told police they saw a man wearing all black, blue latex gloves and red shoes leaving the area on foot after the shooting. Wilson-Neuleib was taken into custody about 20 minutes later as he walked outside of his home. Jeremy McAuliffe with the Moline Police Department testified Thursday that he found a pair of latex gloves in the left front pocket of Wilson-Neuleibs cargo shorts when he patted him down. McAuliffe said he noticed a fire in the grass in the backyard near the back corner of the garage. He said he could see a pair or shoes and "maybe some other clothing." A gun registered to Wilson-Neuleibs father was found in bushes about halfway between the scene of the shooting and his house, according to testimony this week. Chris Jacobson, a latent fingerprint examiner with the Illinois State Police Crime Lab in Morton, Illinois, testified that he did not find any fingerprints on the gun or shell casings that were recovered. Testimony continues Friday. The case is being tried by Weller and States Attorney John McGehee. Wilson-Neuleib is represented by Villarreal and Nate Nieman. The last thing Erik Roberson remembers is lying on the ground next to his friends red Nissan 240SX the morning of May 20, 2015. Some guy came up, and I was just yelling to him, It was Lamaree. It was Lamaree,' the 21-year-old told a jury Friday at the Rock Island County Justice Center. Lamaree is Lamaree E. Wilson-Neuleib, 18, of Moline, the man who prosecutors say fired multiple shots at Roberson and his friend, Zachary M. Phillips, 18, of Colona. Phillips died from his injuries. Roberson, who was shot in the head, arm, legs and buttocks, survived. Roberson testified for about 25 minutes on the third day of testimony in Wilson-Neuleibs trial. He is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm. Roberson testified that he met Wilson-Neuleib in a computer class at United Township High School and that the two were acquaintances. On May 19, 2015, Wilson-Neuleib called Roberson to buy marijuana, he said. They agreed to meet at the Phillips 66 gas station near the 4600 block of 53rd Street in Moline. Roberson said he and a friend, Matthew Merrill, rode their bicycles from his East Moline apartment to the gas station. While there, he sold Wilson-Neuleib about a gram of marijuana. Roberson estimated that the entire transaction lasted less than maybe five minutes. There was no argument or confrontation, he said. The next morning, Roberson went to see Alex Snell, 18, who lived in the same apartment complex. Merrill testified earlier this week that he had spent the night at Snells apartment. Roberson said he again got a call from Wilson-Neuleib, who asked him for a large amount of marijuana. He said he did not have a lot but agreed to sell Wilson-Neuleib what he had, he said. Roberson said Wilson-Neuleib wanted to meet in an empty lot. Me and my friends found it kind of shady, he said and arranged to meet Wilson-Neuleib at the Phillips 66 gas station. Roberson said he and Merrill drove there with Phillips and waited in the gas station parking lot. Roberson was in the front passenger seat, and Merrill was in the back seat. When they saw Wilson-Neuleib walking up 53rd Street, Phillips drove toward him, Roberson said. When he got near the car, I opened up my door, leaned my seat up, and then he didnt say anything, and he walked around the car from behind us, and thats when he started opening fire, Roberson said. Roberson said he did not know how many shots were fired. Merrill was not injured. After the shooting, Roberson rolled out of the passenger seat and onto the ground. He said Merrill kept going back and forth between him and Phillips to check on them, he said. Roberson said he still has pain from the shooting but he is doing a lot better, when asked by Rock Island County States Attorney John McGehee. Under questioning by defense attorney Dora Villarreal, Roberson said he did not sell marijuana very often. He did not remember how many times he had done so. He said Wilson-Neuleib did not appear to be angry with him when he spoke to him by phone. Roberson added that he did not owe Wilson-Neuleib any money or marijuana from prior transactions. Witnesses working in the area reported hearing gunshots and then seeing a man wearing all black, red shoes with red soles and blue latex gloves running from the car. The gun, a Taurus .380-caliber handgun, was found in some bushes two blocks away. Wilson-Neuleib, who lives about four blocks from where the shooting occurred, was arrested about 20 minutes later as he walked out of his house. A pair of blue latex gloves was found in the pocket of his shorts, according to earlier testimony. Dan Erickson, a crime scene investigator with the Illinois State Police, said police found an empty gun case under a bed in the master bedroom and a box of .380-caliber ammunition from a closet on the lower level of the house. They also found a box of blue latex gloves, Erickson said. No fingerprints or DNA were recovered from the gun. Officers also recovered remnants of clothing and a red shoe that were burning in the backyard. Jennifer MacRitchie, a forensic scientist with the Illinois State Police Crime Lab in Morton, Illinois, testified Friday that another scientist at the lab had analyzed the shoe for possible DNA evidence. She testified that the scientist, who has since retired, found more than one DNA profile on the outer toe of the charred shoe. The scientist could not positively identify Wilson-Neuleibs DNA in the sample, MacRitchie testified. MacRitchie said it is possible that there may not be any DNA on an item if a person has brief contact with it and did not shed skin cells. Testimony continues Monday. Hillary Clinton will be the president whose economic policies will best help even the people who arent going to vote for her, former President Bill Clinton said Thursday night in Davenport, as he wrapped up a two-day campaign swing through the battleground state of Iowa. Clinton wound his way through eastern Iowa on Thursday, making stops in Cedar Rapids and Davenport, while sandwiching a visit to the city of Clinton in between. There, he popped into a restaurant. In front of a crowd at North High School that the Clinton campaign said numbered more than 600 people, the former president touted the former secretary of states plans to offer tax breaks to companies that share profits with their employees and improve the countrys infrastructure. And, he said, she was best prepared to work with Republicans. She will never close the door on working with people, and we have got to do that if were going to get something done, Clinton said. The former president has been a prime target for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and his remarks at North were interrupted by a handful of protesters, who were escorted out. As the crowd objected to the interruption, Clinton had a ready response: Dont boo him. Let me tell you something, if you serve poison for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a year and a half, somebodys going to drink it and give it back. Much of the former presidents remarks over about 45 minutes had to do with improving an economy that hasnt embraced some parts of the country. Clinton said the decline in coal mining didnt result from President Barack Obama, as many Republicans claim, but decades-long changes in the industry, the price of natural gas and other factors. He added, "We know this is going on, its been going on for decades now, and no one has done enough to give you a chance to start again He said Hillary Clinton would work to do that. Heide Larson of LeClaire praised the former president. He really knows how to get people to understand the things that his wife is promoting, she said. Clinton hung around for a long while after his remarks ended, shaking hands with supporters in the crowd, taking selfies with them and, just before leaving, giving them a hearty wave. The former presidents star power among Democrats still was evident. Edith Egli, an 83-year-old from Davenport who left the Republican Party over Ronald Reagan, gushed it had taken her 83 years, but she had finally gotten to shake the hand of a former president. Barb Lykam of Davenport, a nurse who gave Clinton a shot for his allergies nearly 24 years ago when he was in the city on a campaign stop prior to being elected president, finally got an autograph on a laminated Quad-City Times article about the occasion. Clintons two-day campaign swing in Iowa comes as Hillary Clinton is gaining ground on Trump in polls nationally and in swing states. In Iowa, however, Trump has been leading Clinton. A poll last week by The Des Moines Register had him up by four points, although it was conducted before the revelation of a recording in which the Republican nominee made lewd comments about groping women. There also have been multiple revelations from women since then about Trump. Trump has denied the allegations, and his campaign has sought, in part, to turn attention on the former president's past. In a statement this week, the Trump campaign said his visit helps reinforce for Iowans that the decades-old corrupt Washington insider game he and Hillary represent must end. The race to succeed the late Sen. Joe Seng in the Iowa Senate is shaping up. The Republican and Democratic parties have both set special convention dates to nominate people to run for the 45th District state Senate seat. In addition, more candidates for the office have surfaced. Seng died last month, and Gov. Terry Branstad set a special election for Dec. 27. Local party leaders said Thursday they have firmed up special nominating conventions. Republicans plan to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Scott County GOP headquarters, 5405 Utica Ridge Road, #200, Davenport. Democrats plan to meet Nov. 10 at Davenport West High School, 3505 W. Locust St. A time has not been set, but it will be in the evening, Scott County Democratic Chair Thom Hart said. Democrats hold a narrow edge in the state Senate so, depending on what happens in the Nov. 8 general election, the contest for the 45th District seat could be pivotal. State Reps. Jim Lykam and Cindy Winckler, both Davenport Democrats, have said they'll seek their party's nomination. Hart said Thursday there are others interested in running as well. He would not identify them. On the Republican side, former Davenport School Board President Denise Hollonbeck of Davenport said Thursday she plans to run for the GOP nomination. So does Mike Gonzales, a LeClaire police officer who lives on the west side of Davenport. Nancy Glawe, who ran unsuccessfully against Lykam in 2002 for a state House seat, also is said to be interested. She declined to comment Thursday. The respective parties' central committee members from precincts within the 45th district will choose their nominees. There are two members for each of the 20 precincts in the district, meaning up to 40 people could vote. The 45th District largely leans Democratic. There are more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. The number of independents is nearly equal to the number of Democrats, however. CEDAR RAPIDS Sen. Chuck Grassley wishes there was something he could do about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. He also wishes there was something he could do about Trumps rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. But they dont ask me for advice, the six-term Republican told The Gazette editorial board Thursday. So hes concentrating on his re-election, Grassley said, and what he can accomplish for Iowans. There have been times he has agreed with Republicans presidents and times he didnt. Its been the same with Democratic presidents. His priorities include continuing wind energy tax credits as long as theyre needed. Grassley, who refers to himself as the father of wind energy, said the credits have led to the creation of more than 6,000 jobs. If re-elected, hell continue to work to make sure taxpayers money is accounted for. Transparency brings accountability, he said. He also wants to see the economy grow by 3.5 percent a year or more rather than at the recent rate of less than 2 percent a year. Economists estimate employment would grow by 6 million jobs if the economy was growing at 3.5 percent, Grassley said. He is locked in a re-election fight with Patty Judge, a Democrat who has been a state senator, state agriculture secretary and lieutenant governor. Regardless of the outcome of the presidential race, Grassley said he will fulfill his responsibility as a senator to work with the commander in chief. Bottom line is what can I do for the people of Iowa, he said. When I can work with Hillary Clinton or Trump, Ill work with them. When I cant, Ill do whats right for the country. Although hes met Trump Grassley introduced him once at a pre-caucus campaign event, he doesnt know him well, perhaps not as well as Clinton, whom he served with in the Senate for eight years. I always had a good relationship with her, but I dont want to say that it was always cordial, he said. They served on the Budget Committee but never got a close working relationship with her. They would talk about interests common to Iowa and New York, agriculture, for example. Grassley doesnt recall being a co-sponsor on any of her amendments, but it was always a good relationship. We probably voted more opposite than we did the same, he said. JOHNSTON, Iowa Neither candidate in Iowas 2nd Congressional District would vote to send ground troops into Syria, but they dont agree on U.S. policy in that civil war-torn country. Theres no good that can come from that, Republican challenger Chris Peters said during an Iowa Public Television debate Friday afternoon. No, not today, five-term Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack agreed. Peters, 55, a surgeon and owner of Corridor Surgery and Vein Center, and Loebsack, 63, a former Cornell College professor first elected in 2006, debated at the IPTV studios in Johnston. The debate will be broadcast statewide on IPTV at 7 tonight and can be viewed anytime at IPTV.org. Loebsack and Peters disagreed on agriculture and energy subsidies, the role of Veterans Affairs hospitals and gun regulations. However, they found at least some agreement on how to extend the life of Social Security, make the Affordable Care Act affordable and create a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants. Although Loebsack wouldnt send troops to Syria, he said the U.S. has interests in the region and must protect itself from ISIS. We have to deal with those threats," he said. "We cant simply retreat to our borders and hope for the best. The U.S. should learn from its previous escapades is Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, Peters said. We havent established democracies, and weve left voids of leadership," he said. "We cannot export (democracy) and drop it from a Black Hawk helicopter. Loebsack wasnt calling for nation-building, but I am in favor of protecting the American people, he said. Not many American people over there, Peters responded. The candidates agreed that more competition in the insurance marketplace is needed to keep premiums affordable. Loebsack also sees a need for enrolling more people in the Affordable Care Act, especially healthy younger people, but he wouldnt raise the penalty for not participating. Clearly, there are things were going to have to look at, he said. We have to be open-minded about this, but I dont want to kick 20 million people off their health insurance. Peters doesnt think the ACA would have to be dismantled or defunded to improve health care. The problems facing Obamacare, he said, is what you get when you try to design a plan that is supposed to encompass all needs. He wants patient-centered, market-based health care with people having a financial interest in their own health spending as a way to encourage them to look for less expensive options. There also was disagreement over gun legislation, with Peters saying that current gun laws are probably where we need to be for now. He would like to see more research on the causes of gun violence. Asked whether the next president should use executive orders to impose gun regulations, Loebsack said, Congress should have the first say in this. He participated in a sit-in in the U.S. House when legislation to prohibit gun sales to people on the federal governments no-fly list wasn't debated. It makes eminent sense, he said. It makes no sense to allow a terrorist to buy a gun. If people are a terrorist, why are they out on the streets? Peters asked. The idea of putting people on a no-fly list where they cant fly and they dont know they are on the list and cant really know how to get off the list, thats unconstitutional. DES MOINES Actions, not words, are what motivated two former military leaders from Iowa to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the two men said Thursday. Maj. Gen. Evan Hultman, U.S. Army, and Col. Harold Johnson, U.S. Air Force, expressed their support for Trump at a news conference at the state Republican Party office on Thursday as the Trump campaign announced the support of more than 150 Iowa veterans. Hultman and Johnson said they think Trump will defeat the Middle East terrorist group the Islamic State and enhance what they described as a stripped-down U.S. military. Hultman and Johnson said they think Trump as commander-in-chief will restore peace in the world through American military strength just as President Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s, they said. Trump comes at a time when we need exceptional action in response to the ISIS threat, in response to our immigration policy, Johnson said during the news conference. So I trust that he will show the action of leadership to take care of these problems. Trumps opponents and critics have said his temperament is not befitting a person who will be in charge of the worlds most powerful military and nuclear arsenal and point to a campaign event when Trump said, I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me. Hultman said those things do not bother him because he is moved by actions, not words. Accomplishment comes not by words, but by deeds, Hultman said. Thats why I referred and compared Trump with two generals that I had the pleasure of serving at a great distance (Gens. Douglas MacArthur and George Patton). They werent successful by just thinking or (speaking), they did the action. The reason why I personally have joined the Trump forces is because he is a man not just of his words but of action. And thats what we need: peace, yes, but through strength, and that means action. Hultman said he thinks Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton put the nations security at risk while she served as U.S. secretary of state. Jamie Johnson, the Iowa coalitions director for the Trump campaign, said the coalition includes veterans from all four congressional districts and includes seven generals, two captains and 21 colonels. The Iowa campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced its veterans coalition in September, with more than 50 Iowa veterans. As someone who knows what it means to serve my country, I have never felt more strongly about someone like Hillary being ready on day one to serve as our commander-in-chief, Marc Wallace, a U.S. Army Intelligence Corps and Iowa National Guard veteran, said in a news release. Trump is erratic, vindictive and thin-skinned. He praises dictators, trash talks America and threatens to abandon our allies. His dangerous rhetoric and dangerous policy proposals play into the hands of terrorists. Its not a choice between a Democrat and a Republican, but between a responsible leader like Hillary Clinton who will keep us safe, and a volatile man like Donald Trump who threatens our security. CEDAR RAPIDS Flanked by two co-sponsors, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley called for a balanced-budget amendment to bring more fiscal responsibility to Congress and remove the threat of federal government shutdowns over future budget disagreements. Passage of a constitutional amendment to limit federal spending to no more than the revenue collected would require broad bipartisan support, Grassley said at a Friday news conference after he, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and Georgia U.S. Sen. David Perdue met with about 50 employees of Alliant Energy in downtown Cedar Rapids. Perdue is a former Alliant board member. Grassley, a fiscal conservative, is a longtime supporters of the balanced budget amendment, which was defeated in the Senate by one vote in 1995. Winning support today may be more difficult because theres not as much bipartisanship going for it as we did back then. Its no less necessary today than it was then, said Perdue. The federal government is carrying $20 trillion in debt and more than $10 trillion in future unfunded liabilities. That works out to $1 million per American family, he said. When people realize what a deep crisis we are in, thats when Americans stand up and force their elected officials to compromise, he said. The balanced budget amendment has become one of the issues in Grassleys re-election contest with Democrat Patty Judge. Her campaign spokesman said Friday Grassley has no credibility on the issue. He has made clear the budget is not a priority of his by skipping 73 percent of his Budget Committee hearings this term alone, Sam Roecker said. Since he went to Washington, the national debt has skyrocketed by over $18 trillion. Judges objection is that those kind of amendments is they really do not take into account what might happen: war, catastrophic events, she told Radio Iowa. I think that we need to leave that out of our constitution. However, Grassley said his proposal would make an exception for national defense. Judge called his approach unwise. We do require that in Iowa, but I do not believe it is the wise thing to do, the one-term lieutenant governor told the Sioux City Journal. Iowas Constitution requires the state budget to be balanced every year. I did not think it was the wise thing to do at the state level, Judge said, and I really do not believe it is the wise thing to do in the country. Ernst saw what consequences of Judges approach when she was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2010 the same election that Judge and Gov. Chet Culver lost their re-election bid. I witnessed firsthand the results, she said about the Culver-Judge administrations $800 million-plus state budget deficit. That was her leadership that led us into that dark place, Ernst said. If thats what we would see at the federal level, heaven forbid, because every Iowan today owes $60,000 toward our federal debt. The states financial picture was much rosier than Ernst would lead voters to believe, Roecker said. The fact is, Iowa had a $750 million surplus in 2010, after dealing with the worst recession since World War II and one of the worst natural disasters in Iowas history, he said. Judge and Grassley likely will discuss the issue in a pair of debates. They will meet Oct. 19 in Sioux City for a debate to be broadcast on KTIV in Sioux City, KWWL in Waterloo/Cedar Rapids, KTTC in Rochester, Minn., and WGEM in Quincy, Ill., as well as being streamed live on the stations websites. They will debate again at 4 p.m. Nov. 4 for a WHO Radio debate, which will be televised by WHO-TV. Many people talk about improving water quality in Iowa and, by extension, shrinking the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico but Larry Weber is doing something about it. Weber is the co-founder of the Iowa Flood Center based at the University of Iowa who earlier this year helped win a $96 million public-private grant to implement "a mosaic of practices" that will help cleanse water in eight Iowa watersheds. Weber was one of about 25 speakers Thursday at the ninth annual Upper Mississippi River Conference being held at the iWireless Center, Moline. Presented by River Action Inc., Davenport, and sponsored by more than 20 businesses and organizations, the theme of this year's two-day event is to "raise the grade" of the Mississippi River. It refers to a "report card" issued a year ago by America's Watershed Initiative that evaluated the river in six key areas economy, flood risk reduction, transportation, ecosystem health and recreation and gave it a "D." The Upper Mississippi the area above Cairo, Illinois, that includes the Quad-Cities received a "C." During work sessions Friday, the more than 200 people attending the conference will be charged with developing concrete, achievable plans to "raise the grade." The five-year "Iowa Watershed Approach" that Weber described is a model conference attendees might consider in developing achievable plans. In addition to improving water quality, other goals are to reduce flooding risk, increase resilience in communities, engage stakeholders (all the people involved) and develop a program that might be replicated elsewhere in the country. The grant for the program was awarded by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development along with the Rockefeller Foundation. One might ask why HUD, generally associated with housing, cares about flooding. The answer is concern for low- and moderate-income people affected by flooding, as well as poor water quality. The grant for the program was awarded through a "national disaster resilience competition," with resilience defined as the ability of a social system to respond to, and recover from, flood events through absorbing impacts, adapting to change and withstanding disruption. None of the watersheds in the program is in the immediate Quad-Cities; the closest is the Middle Cedar River watershed that is to the west and south. But, as Weber explained, what is learned and accomplished can be shared throughout the country. One of the ways water quality might be improved is by installing saturated buffers to divert water from farm drainage tiles into an underground buffer area where nitrate and phosphorus would be filtered out before the water goes into a stream. The grant provides a cost-share to farmers to install such systems; the program would pay for 75 percent and the farmer would pay 25 percent. Water from drainage tiles has gained national attention since the filing two years ago of a lawsuit by the Des Moines Water Works against three rural Iowa drainage districts, arguing that the tile water should be regulated under the federal Clean Water Act. Des Moines Water Works gets its water from the Raccoon River, fed by streams in the drainage districts, and it must spend large amounts of money to filter out nitrates to make it safe for drinking. Bill Stowe, manager of the water works, has said drainage tiles and nutrient reduction should be regulated by law; both Iowa and Illinois have adopted a voluntary strategy. One of the watersheds in Weber's program is the North Raccoon. In addition to affecting the safety of drinking water, nitrate and phosphorus are a concern because they are nutrients that encourage algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico. When these blooms die, they deplete oxygen, so that nothing else can grow, creating the "Dead Zone." Those studying the "Dead Zone" and what to do about it have set a goal of reducing its size to about 5,000 square kilometers. In 2005, it was 15,000 square kilometers. One mile equals about 1.6 kilometers. 1. Some rain likely for the weekend A good Friday to all. The weekend is almost upon us. Do you have big plans? Better check out the latest forecast from the National Weather Service to make sure those plans aren't all wet. Today those in northwest Illinois can expect some patchy frost before 9 a.m. where frost advisories are in effect. Here in the Q-C, there's no frost advisories as things won't get quite that chilly. Sunny skies will warm up the region with an expected high in upper 60s and an overnight low around 55 degrees. For the weekend, Saturday will be mostly cloudy with a high near 75 degrees. South winds will gust as high as 25 mph. Showers and thunderstorms are likely Saturday night between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. The chance of precipitation is 60 percent with new rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Skies will be cloudy with a low around 64 degrees. Sunday brings a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8 a.m. Skies will be mostly cloudy with a high near 79 degrees. Sunday night will see a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. Skies will be mostly cloudy with a low around 66 degrees. 2. Assumption closes in on playoff bid with win over Clear Creek Amana The victory keeps the Knights (6-2, 5-1 district) in the hunt for a playoff berth before next weeks season finale against Marion. Read more. 3. Bill Clinton makes case for Hillary Hillary Clinton will be the president whose economic policies will best help even the people who arent going to vote for her, former President Bill Clinton said Thursday night in Davenport, as he wrapped up a two-day campaign swing through the battleground state of Iowa. Read more. 4. Wundram: Remembering 'Tish' when she called Davenport home If youre old enough, you might remember Patricia Tish White Barry, who just died at the mature age of 93. She was considered the most gorgeous girl in Davenport High School. (Now Central.) She graduated in 1940, and when she returned to Davenport 11 years ago for the schools 100 birthday, she still looked gorgeous. Read more from Bill Wundram. 5. Experts predict colder winter, higher heating bills The combination of a colder winter and higher natural gas prices this year could lead to higher heating bills for customers in the Quad-City region, a MidAmerican Energy official said Thursday. Read more. 6. Food Truck Friday Today is the final Food Truck Friday in Davenport. The event will be from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at E. 2nd and Iowa streets. Come with an appetite. If youre old enough, you might remember Patricia Tish White Barry, who just died at the mature age of 93. She was considered the most gorgeous girl in Davenport High School. (Now Central.) She graduated in 1940, and when she returned to Davenport 11 years ago for the schools 100 birthday, she still looked gorgeous. Barry left Davenport to pursue an acting career. After winning a Rita Hayworth look-alike contest, she was contracted by Warner Bros. and made more than 100 appearances in television, movies and theater. She was best known for her roles on soap operas, appearing on "Days of Our Lives," ''Guiding Light" and "All My Children." She was a few years ahead of me in high school, but I often heard tales of lunch time when she would do a tip-toe dance step to You are my sunshine on the schools Main Street steps. Her parents were Dr. Paul and Alma White. Her dad was a physician, and Tish grew up in an English cottage style home at 2023 Carey Ave. She drove a flashy LaSalle convertible to school in a time when most kids took the bus or their bikes. That made most students envious. When voting came up for a spot on Central Highs Hall of Fame for notable graduates, a plaque was named for her. She came back home for the honor and visited classrooms at Central. At the time, she assured the faculty that she would be making a sizable donation to the schools drama department. The promise was largely illusory; the money was never received. The amusement business knew her as Pat Barry. She wed the son of Philip Barry, the author of fame. Tishs husband, the late Philip Barry Jr., never visited his wifes hometown of Davenport. I remember Tish as a flashy personality. A ham of sorts, she loved attention and publicity. During her many visits to Davenport after stage, screen and TV successes, she was always available for interviews. She never walked into a room, she swished. In 1985, she was in town with her tiny terrier that she carried around in her giant purse. She didnt know me from Adam, but none-the-less threw out her arms and in a deep, Lauren Bacall-like voice, said, Dah-h-hling, its so good to see you again. I mentioned that Ronald Reagan briefly lived in Davenport. She said, in cooing tones, Ronnie is my dearest friend. The late Dr. Robert Getman, a Davenport dentist, always confessed a lifelong crush on Tish since their days at Tyler School. He told me repeatedly that they were engaged, and would spend time together at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She never denied the relationship. Thats show business. Whats it going to take, Sen. Chuck Grassley, to revoke your endorsement of Donald Trump? Now that Trumps sexist, hedonistic locker room talk has hit the news, how can you look at yourself in the mirror? Maybe you agree with him? Before that, the Donald was encouraging assassination attempts; before that, it was an attack on the Khan family, who lost their son, U.S. Army Humayun Khan in Iraq fighting for this country; and before that, it was racist ranting against an Indiana-born U.S. district judge of Hispanic descent. Theres the unconstitutional Muslim ban, and the racist slurs against Hispanics that began the Trump train wreck. These are just a few instances of the looney-tunes thinking of the Donald. You are one and the same with Trumps vile, evil-spewing. This is the man Sen. Grassley wants to nominate justices to the Supreme Court a man completely unfit for the job. This is the man for whom Sen. Grassley refuses to do his job and have a hearing on the duly nominated man President Obama put forward for the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Really? Are you kidding me? Youre joined at the hip to Trumps lunacy now, Chuck. Do the right thing for once, Sen. Grassley, and renounce Donald Trump. Will it take Trump shooting someone on the street for you to finally admit you were wrong? I doubt it - too much to expect political courage from a political hack. Tom Engelmann Davenport BEIJING - The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, of which the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor forms an important part, is expected to change the landscape of economic cooperation in South Asia. The initiative comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 brings together countries in Asia, Europe and Africa via land and maritime networks. Within the framework of the initiative, the BCIM Economic Corridor will connect India's northeast, Bangladesh, Myanmar and southwest China's Yunnan Province through a network of roads, railways, waterways, and airways. It seeks to improve connectivity, infrastructure, energy resources, agriculture, trade and investment in South Asia. Opportunities for South Asia Covering 9 percent of the global landmass, the corridor was first discussed in 1999 by specialists and academics at a meeting in Kunming, Yunnan. The corridor initiative gained momentum during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India in May 2013. According to an article by Pravakar Sahoo and Abhirup Bhunia from India's Institute of Economic Growth, the BCIM corridor will allow all four countries to exploit complementarity in trade. Myanmar is a primary goods exporter and has abundant cheap labor. India has positioned itself as a leading services exporter. China is the largest manufacturing exporter in the world; and Bangladesh, like many other South Asian countries, engages in both services export and low-end manufactured goods, the academics said. Now under the Belt and Road Initiative, projects such as the BCIM Economic Corridor and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor have greatly promoted economic development in related countries and injected dynamism into regional cooperation in South Asia, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Gao Yan said. In recent years, China and South Asian countries have conducted cooperation in such areas as trade, investment, infrastructure and services, Gao said. By the end of 2015, direct investment from China in South Asian countries hit $12.29 billion and investment from South Asian countries in China reached $890 million, Gao said, adding that China has become the largest source of foreign investment for some South Asian countries. Chinese official data showed that trade between China and member countries of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka -- hit $111.22 billion in 2015, up 4.9 percent from a year before. "The BCIM Economic Corridor, since it was first officially put forward by Premier Li in 2013, has received positive response from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar," Chai Xi, former Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, told a forum in Kunming. Bangladesh's Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in May, appreciated the Chinese leadership for proposing development initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the BCIM Economic Corridor. "I think that this old Silk Road is being revived properly. It has $132-billion potential. So investing dollars in the Silk Road and reconnecting all the nations which were connected is great economic planning," said Inu. The Belt and Road Initiative involves 26 countries, which represent nearly 30 percent of the global gross domestic product and 63 percent of the global population. MS Siddiqui, professor at Dhaka's Daffodil International University, told Xinhua recently that the initiative will bring opportunities to Bangladesh. "Bangladesh is in a strategic location between China, India and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and hence is well placed to be a trading and manufacturing hub," Siddiqui said. "Bangladesh needs such increased connectivity with other economies in this region and China's Belt and Road Initiative will see the realization of this economic area." The BCIM Economic Corridor will increase trade, transport, tourism and investment for Bangladesh, due to its strategic location between India and China, he said. "The availability and affordability of workers and its geographical location are important aspects of Bangladesh's developing into regional hub, yet it urgently needs a port, and related infrastructure to boost connectivity with other nations through ocean and land routes. The Belt and Road Initiative will open up numerous opportunities for Bangladesh," said Siddiqui. Challenges ahead The BCIM Economic Corridor working group has held two meetings and issued a series of deliberations and joint statements, Chai said, adding that the governments and leaders of the four countries have shown "surprisingly" strong willingness to build the corridor. However, as a long-term complicated and arduous systematic program, the BCIM Economic Corridor faces many risks and challenges. "The construction of the corridor is slower than expected," Chai said, adding that the difference of the four countries in national systems, policy-making mechanisms and procedures has dragged to some extent the advance of the corridor. Besides, due to the lack of capital and experience, the corridor's construction has not been able to enter a substantial stage, Chai said. Ren Jia, director of Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, listed blocked road, laggard infrastructure, ineffective policy, poor trade flow and lack of capital and communication as the main reasons that have impeded the construction of the corridor. "While there are free trade arrangements between China and Myanmar and Bangladesh, India has adopted a positive and prudent attitude in building the economic corridor," said Liu Xiaoxue, a researcher with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In fact, for countries like India, the Belt and Road Initiative is "highly important as its primary objective is to create win-win situation to achieve economic prosperity through enhancing road and rail connectivity," Bishnu Hari Nepal, a former Nepalese ambassador to Japan, told a seminar in Kathmandu in May. "India should work closely with China to collaborate and push forward the Belt and Road Initiative instead of being skeptical. This initiative should be taken as a new opportunity for the South Asia region," he said. Shreedhar Gautam, secretary general of the Council of World Affairs, a think tank in Nepal, also urged India to join hands with China, saying that this initiative should not be taken as strategic tool of China to exert influence in the region. The future does not look bright for the Young Rembrandts, an after-school arts program that now provides the only art education for elementary students in the Rapid City school district. Until this year, the for-profit program has held art classes for elementary students across the district after the school day ends at 3 p.m. But a long-held district policy that regulates when school facilities can be used, and by whom, will now require the Young Rembrandts to hold classes at or after 6 p.m. That doesn't sit well with Susan Raposa, who owns and operates the Young Rembrandts program in Rapid City, because it means students must return home after school and then come back a few hours afterward in order to participate. Parents need after-school programs, she said. They dont need it 6 oclock at night; they need it right after school. Raposa made her remarks in the hallway outside a special Rapid City School Board study session convened Thursday evening to discuss the districts facilities use policy. During the meeting, district officials showed no signs they would allow Young Rembrandts to hold classes at 3 p.m. in the future. Were very comfortable with where the time frames are set right now and, in general, the community is OK with the way things have played out, said Assistant Superintendent Dave Janak. School Board President Jim Hansen said after the meeting that he didn't want to set a new precedent for school use. If you open the door to one for-profit, how do you legally stop the rest? he asked. Raposa said most of her students are unable or unwilling to return to school for art lessons three hours after the last bell rings. A parent wrote to Raposa an email that said: "Since I work during the day, I cannot take time off to run (my child) from school to another site and then pick her up again. This is why I would really like to see this program put back into the schools. If you would like to pass this along to the school board please feel free to do so, as I am sure that there are many parents that feel the same way." In its heyday, Raposa said, the Young Rembrandts program would offer art lessons to 15 to 25 students per class in up to five schools at a time. This is the first year that district administrators have enforced the facilities policy against Young Rembrandts. As a result, the number of students who utilize the art program has dwindled to four in a single class. Raposa used to employ 10 teachers to assist her in bringing art education to some of the districts elementary students. Since the beginning of this year, she has had to lay off three of those teachers. If something doesnt change, Raposa said, the Young Rembrandts program in Rapid City could cease to exist. The district facilities policy was revised four years ago to state that third-party, after-school programs are not allowed to use school buildings until after 6 p.m., and only upon payment of an hourly fee ranging from $35 to $54, depending on the room and the building. The Rapid City policy does not affect school-sponsored after-school programs like drama or debate club, or outside groups that the district has contracted with, like the YMCA, which operates the KidStop after-school programming. The policy only restricts facility use for outside groups. Raposa has been able to run the program immediately after school for the last several years because various parent-teacher organizations have vouched for her group, giving it the appearance of a school-sponsored program. District administrators first noticed the exception to the policy this year, and have since informed Young Rembrandts that it will only be able to hold classes at or after 6 p.m. (School Board) members change every year, Raposa said, but were following the same rules that we were told. Hansen said he recognizes the inherent value of the Young Rembrandts program, but added that the district is in a tough position of having to evaluate dozens of groups wanting to use school facilities after the last bell rings. According to district spokesperson Katy Urban, there have been at least 21 formal requests this year by third-party groups to use school buildings before 6 p.m. Of those, 19 were from a group called the Good News Club, one was from the Girl Scouts, and one was from Young Rembrandts. The Rapid City school district does not provide in-school art education for its elementary students, but Superintendent Lori Simon said she would investigate whether or not art programming could be incorporated into the elementary schools next year. As per the recommendation of several School Board members, Raposa plans to meet with the YMCA about its after school programming. Maybe, the School Board told her, the group will be able to help Young Rembrandts get back into the schools. "I was hoping (the School Board) would look at the educational value that we bring, Raposa said. We meet every national standard, every South Dakota state art standard, and were providing a service that the school district cant provide. We offer scholarships to anyone who needs it. Were bringing confidence to these children. And they dont want to hear it. PIERRE | The state Water Management Board dismissed petitions Thursday from George Ferebee of Hill City that challenged county and city authority to regulate pit privies and cesspools constructed prior to Feb. 28, 1975. Ferebee, a Pennington County Commission member, wanted the state board to issue declaratory rulings against the county and Rapid City. Opposing his petitions were the Pennington County Commission, the municipalities of Rapid City and Sioux Falls, the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners and the South Dakota Municipal League. Kenneth Jasper, a lawyer for Ferebee, asked for a continuance so he could prepare a brief arguing the board shouldnt treat Ferebees petition for a declaratory ruling as a contested case. The city and the county have tried to set you off chasing a red herring, Jasper told the board. The board voted 6-0 to deny the continuance motion. Pennington Countys lawyer Kinsley Groote asked for the petition to be dismissed. She said Ferebee failed to submit a factual situation as the basis for his petitions. She further argued pre-emption should be argued in court rather than before this board. Matt Naasz, the lawyer for the board, agreed Ferebee didnt submit a factual basis. Ferebee, who faces a criminal charge related to his refusal to get a county permit for his septic system, wanted to introduce evidence to provide the factual basis. Board member Rodney Freeman of Huron said that wouldnt be fair because the other parties in the case didnt have time to prepare for whatever that evidence might be. Theyre being caught absolutely blind-sided, Freeman said. He asked the board go into executive session to consult with its lawyer. Ten minutes later they returned and without any discussion voted 6-0 to dismiss Ferebees petitions. There will be no ruling. We dismissed it, chairman Jim Hutmacher of Oacoma said. Ferebee faces a criminal charge in Pennington County related to alleged violations of the county septic system inspection ordinance. Ferebee, an outspoken critic of the countys septic-tank laws, is accused of refusing to obtain a permit for his system in rural Hill City, and faces a criminal charge as a result. His case has yet to go to trial after several delays. The States Attorneys Office filed its complaint against Ferebee in October 2015 after the Planning Department had tried unsuccessfully since at least February 2015 to bring Ferebee into compliance. Ferebees septic system is on his ranch in rural Hill City. The complaint lists a maximum penalty of up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, but that could be applied to each day that a violation occurred. As Gov. Dennis Daugaard hiked the steep switchbacks on the trail to Spearfish Falls on Thursday afternoon, he recalled a previous visit in 2003, when he was only lieutenant governor. At that time, a 1917 valve on Spearfish Creek had choked the falls into non-existence. There was no Spearfish Falls, Daugaard said. I was privileged to be present about a week after the valve was shut and the waterfall flowed again. We hiked to the bottom, slipped and slid our way down an icy trail in November and saw what a beautiful thing the falls were. Now, Daugaard wants to see the area around Spearfish Falls transformed into a state park in hope of preserving its natural beauty for generations to come. Its that access to beauty that we want to provide to all our citizens, so they dont have to slip and slide down an icy slope like I did, Daugaard said. Daugaards plan calls for a land exchange with the Black Hills National Forest to set the stage for the creation of a 1,600-acre park in the Little Spearfish Canyon area, efforts that have since been bolstered by U.S. Sen. John Thunes introduction of a bill to facilitate the land transfer. Daugaards vision has its critics, some of whom have wondered why the transformation of the natural area into a state park likely with entrance fees attached is necessary. The governor hoped to address some of those concerns with the help of Matt Snyder, Superintendent of Custer State Park, and other members of South Dakota Game Fish & Parks during their tour of Spearfish Canyon on Thursday. The once treacherous slope that Daugaard hiked in 2003 to reach the newborn Spearfish Falls has since been made more navigable by a crushed rock trail and wooden footbridge. Those are the kind of improvements that Daugaard would like to see spread out in more areas of the park. Putting the area under the states management, he said, would ensure that those improvements get made, along with the creation of a more interconnected trail system and additional camping amenities. Well also ensure that the investments that have already been made can be maintained, Daugaard said. Once you create a landing like this, or a bridge or a trail, youve got to maintain them. And that will ensure that theres that revenue stream; that, into the future, when were all gone and our children are here or our grandchildren, it will still exist for them, still be protected for them, and theyll still have access to it. Bob Burns is the President of the Norbeck Society, a group focused on outdoor projects and issues in the Black Hills Region. Though Burns said his organization has not taken a stance on the governors plan, he has questions nonetheless. If this becomes part of a state park, youll have to buy an entry ticket, he noted. That doesnt seem fair to me. Under the Forest Services stewardship, the area around Spearfish Falls and Roughlock Falls can be accessed free of charge. In South Dakota, state parks require payment upon entry. Whether or not an entrance fee would be required has not yet been decided, Snyder said, and would likely be discussed during the master planning phase of the project, when members of the public will be allowed to provide input on what kinds of improvements and added amenities they would like to see in the area. Daugaard appeared unconcerned about an entrance fee, noting that a year-long pass for entrance into all of South Dakotas state parks is $30. "Thats a pretty good and cheap deal, he said, adding that travelers on Highway 14 would still be able to go through Spearfish Canyon without any cost. The Forest Service has also voiced concerns about the land swap, saying it has made investments into the Bismarck Lake area that may be diminished, and camping revenues that may be lost if the deal goes through. According to Game Fish & Parks officials, Roughlock Falls sees about 9,000 visitors a month. The state park would include Roughlock Falls, Spearfish Falls, and land upstream of Little Spearfish Creek and slightly downstream of the Latchstring Inn and the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. Those two privately owned properties would not necessarily need to be purchased by the state in order for the park to be formed, Daugaard said, adding that the plan nonetheless calls for expansion of parking in front of both. Daugaard said one of the owners of the Latchstring Inn and Spearfish Canyon Lodge is Rapid City businessman and former state lawmaker Stan Adelstein. State and local authorities on Thursday night were on the hunt for a minimum-security state prison inmate who did not return as scheduled to the Rapid City Community Work Center. Sam Quiver, 43, was authorized to leave the facility on Oct. 13 to look for work. He failed to return and was placed on escape status. Quiver is a Native American man who stands 5-foot-7 and weighs about 240 pounds; he has brown hair and brown eyes. He was sentenced in April to five years in prison for a third-degree burglary conviction in Bennett County. Escape is a felony charge. Anyone who sees Quiver or knows of his whereabouts should contact law enforcement immediately. Community Work Centers house minimum-security inmates and parolees in the Community Transition Program. Russian Supreme Court to announce ruling on appeal filed by Jehovah Witnesses branch MOSCOW, October 14 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov) Russias Supreme Court will announce its ruling on the appeal filed over the liquidation of local Jehovahs Witnesses organization in Oryol on October 18, RAPSI learned in the court on Friday. On June 14, the Oryol Regional Court liquidated the organization on request of the Ministry of Justices regional Directorate. The organization was previously found extremist. Representative of the Jehovahs Witnesses noted that no violations were found during the inspection conducted by the Ministry of Justice on April 1, 2013. Jehovahs Witnesses have had many legal problems in Russia. On October 12, a court in the Jewish Autonomous Region ruled to ban a branch of The Jehovahs Witnesses in Birobidzhan because of distributing extremist literature by the organization. On June 16, Russias Supreme Court declared The Jehovahs Witnesses of Stary Oskol in the Belgorod Region an extremist organization and ruled to liquidate it. On June 9, the Jehovahs Witnesses of Belgorod was banned as extremist organization. In March 2015, a court in Tyumen fined the organization 50,000 rubles ($800) and seized prohibited literature. In January 2014, a court in Kurgan ruled to ban the organizations booklets as extremist. The books talk about how to have a happy life, what you can hope for, how to develop good relations with God and what you should know about God and its meaning. In late December 2013, the leader of the sects group in Tobolsk, Siberia was charged with extremism and the prevention of a blood transfusion that nearly led to the death of a female member of the group. In 2004, a court in Moscow dissolved and banned a Jehovahs Witnesses group on charges of recruiting children, encouraging believers to break from their families, inciting suicide and preventing believers from accepting medical assistance. Jehovah's Witnesses is an international religious organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Since 2004 sever branches and chapters of the organization were banned and shut down in various regions of Russia. Russia to send request to US for return of convicted pilot Yaroshenko MOSCOW, October 14 (RAPSI) Russias Justice Ministry has forwarded a request for return of pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a 20-year sentence in the U.S. for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, to the Foreign Ministry for its onward transmission to the United State, RIA Novosti reported on Friday. As it was reported on Tuesday, the Justice Ministry received a petition filed by a lawyer of Yaroshenko over potential transfer to Russia. The Ministry announced that it would file corresponding appeal to the competent authorities of the United States, which is going to be sent to the U.S. side through diplomatic channels. This September, Yaroshenko in an interview to Izvestia newspaper claimed that U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons asked him to sign a document on transfer to Russia. According to Yaroshenko, such transfer is regulated by the Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons adopted in 1983. Yaroshenko noted that several years ago the Russian Justice Ministry made a request to transfer the pilot to Russia under conditions of the Convention but U.S. side rejected this motion. Yaroshenko said that he did not want this petition to be presented by the U.S. side and that he would prefer to sign a petition offered by the Russian Justice Ministry since he is not sure about motivation of the U.S. authorities. Nevertheless, the pilot signed the petition on September 13. Konstantin Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia on May 28, 2010 and flown to the United States soon afterwards. On September 7, 2011, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for colluding to smuggle cocaine into the United States. He was caught after replying to an advertisement posted by US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who claimed they were selling a cargo plane for $1. He is serving time in the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey. In late May, a US court rejected his appeal for a retrial. Russias Foreign Ministry said this is evidence that Yaroshenkos conviction was politically influenced. It was reported in February 2014 that Yaroshenko experienced strong migraine headaches and heart pain, which could be symptoms of a possible heart attack. Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern over the pilots health and pledged to continue working to ensure respect of his rights in the United States. The Oneida Community was a religious commune founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 in Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had already returned in AD 70 and that mankind was already living in a new age. The Oneida Community practiced communalism (that is, communal property and possessions), complex marriage, male continence, and mutual criticism. There were smaller Noyesian communities in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Jersey. By 1878, the communitys original 87 members had grown to over 300. During a general meeting, anyone could be subjected to criticism by any other. The goal was to eliminate undesirable character traits. Even Noyes himself could be criticized although most likely less often and probably less severe than the rest of the community. The Oneida community believed strongly in a system of free love (in fact Noyes is credited with originating this term). Known as complex marriage, any member was free to have intimate relations with any other who consented. Possessiveness and exclusive relationships were discouraged. The Oneidans believed that since the natural outcome of lovemaking was pregnancy, children should be raised by the community instead of by parents. Stirpiculture (from the Latin stirps for stock) was introduced in 1869. It was a selective breeding program designed to create more perfect children. An individual who wanted to be a parent would have to go before a committee to be matched with another willing participant, based on their spiritual and moral qualities. 53 women and 38 men participated in this program, which necessitated the construction of a new wing of the Oneida Community Mansion House. This eugenics process produced 58 children. Naturally, since Noyes was the most perfect, he himself fathered nine children. Around the age of fifteen months, children were taken from their parents and raised communally in the Childrens Wing. Parents were permitted to visit, but if it appeared that there was too close of a bonding between parents and child, a period of forced separation would be imposed. The children were well cared-for, given ample playtime, and well educated with some going on to attend college. In 1879, John Noyes was informed by a friend outside of the Oneida community that an arrest warrant on charges of statutory rape was imminent. In the middle of a June night, Noyes left the Oneida Community and headed for Ontario, Canada, never to return to the United States. He died in 1886 and his body was returned to Oneida where it was buried in the Oneida Community Cemetery. When Noyes attempted to pass the leadership to his son, Theodore Noyes, it would be the beginning of the end for the Oneidans, as Theodore not only lacked his fathers leadership skills but also was an avowed agnostic. Due to external pressures, complex marriage was abandoned shortly after Noyes left. Soon, the community began to break apart with some of the members reorganizing as a joint-stock company. The following year, over 70 Community members entered into traditional marriages. Under the leadership of Pierrepont Noyes, the joint-stock company sold the animal trap business in 1912, the canning portion in 1915, and the silk business in 1916 so it could focus all of its efforts on silverware. The corporation exists today and is a major producer of cutlery under the familiar brand name Oneida Limited. MARIETTA, N.Y. -- Scott Chatfield dreamed of living in a log cabin in the country, surrounded by nature. His wife, Kathy, liked to live in town, but went along with it. So, they hiked into the woods to scout out land off Brewer Road in Marietta, a 46-acre parcel overlooking Van Benthuysen Brook. Scott Chatfield said seeing the property gave his wife "warm, fuzzy feelings." The Chatfields' goal was to build a home reminiscent of an Adirondack lodge, complete with wrap-around porch and imposing front entrance. The home was built with two facades the first facing the road and the second overlooking the 85-foot cliff leading to the brook. To complete the natural image, the Chatfields hired Vermont-based woodworker Hugo Mesa to create a front door, decorated with a hand-carved tree, two deer and other wildlife. Impressed with Mesa's work, they had the artist carve a Finger Lakes scene in the wood fireplace mantel and transform a wood support beam in the kitchen into a hand-carved tree, complete with a family of nesting owls. "I could see the quality of [Mesa's] work was phenomenal," Scott Chatfield said. The nature motif inside the home echoes the lush woods and wildlife outside. Scott Chatfield said he has seen foxes, raccoons, hawks, deer, rabbits, a pair of eagles, hummingbirds, cardinals, blue jays and many other birds. The birds sometimes nest in the nooks of the log home. "You do have to like critters to live here," he said with a laugh. The home sits about 15 feet downhill from Brewer Road, which Scott Chatfield said causes most of the snow to blow right over the home, leaving them with much less accumulation than their neighbors. An ice storm during their first winter living in the home knocked out power to most of their neighbors, but they, for the most part, were untouched. "We didn't even know the storm happened," he said. Though the 6,507-square-foot home looks like a traditional log home, it's actually built with 6 1/2-inch thick insulated walls finished with log siding, negating the need for chinking and making it easier to install electric wiring. Aside from the laundry room, the whole home is finished with "8 or 9 miles" of one-by-eight tongue-in-groove pine boards. The Chatfields are moving to a senior community in Florida. Scott Chatfield said he'll miss New York. "In a perfect world, I would take this setting and take it to Florida." THE DETAILS Address: 3100 Brewer Road, Marietta, N.Y., 13110 Price: $1,100,000 Size: 6,507 square feet Acreage: 46 acres Monthly Mortgage: $3,962 (based on this week's national average rate of 3.42 percent, according to Freddie Mac, for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 20 percent down payment. Fees and points not included.) Taxes: $16,144 (Based on assessed value of $515,000) Built: 2003 School District: Marcellus Foyer: The hand-made front door and steeple ceiling with chandelier are among the highlights first seen as you enter the home. Great room: The open great room features a two-story faux-stone fireplace and exposed wooden beams. A wall of windows fills the room with natural light. Kitchen: The modern kitchen includes wrap-around granite counters and a center island with seating for three. Master bedroom: One of four bedrooms in the home. The master bedroom has its own door leading to the large back deck. Master bathroom: The large jetted tub, marble floors and double vanity are just a few of the luxurious features. The house has three full bathrooms and one half-bathroom. Bedrooms: Two of the second-floor bedrooms have their own balcony overlooking the brook. Office: Scott Chatfield, a municipal lawyer, called his home office his favorite room of the house. A side door leads directly from the outside to the office. The railing on the stair landing was carved from logs taken from the property. Outdoors: The property also includes a 100-yard-long shooting range, 3 1/2-acre horse pasture with tack room and run-in shed, hay building and a wood-burning boiler with a woodshed. All the outbuildings have telephone, electricity, water and a security system. There is also a one-mile bridle path that leads from the pasture down to the brook and a life-sized chess board in the front lawn. Agent: Peter Babbles RE/MAX Masters 16 Jordan St., Skaneateles, N.Y., 13152 Phone: (315) 727-0204 Email: peterbabbles@realtor.com To nominate a listing for House of the Week, send an email to home@syracuse.com. Contact Jacob Pucci at jpucci@syracuse.com or on Twitter at @jacobpucci. America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance! File- Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China September 4, 2016. Photo: REUTERS NEW DELHI: India will take its drive to isolate Pakistan and rally the international community against cross-border militancy to a summit of emerging market powers this weekend, when it hosts BRICS nations in the western state of Goa. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the gathering of leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa offers an opportunity to highlight the threat he sees to Indian security from recent frontier clashes with Pakistan. But across the summit table at a resort hotel, Chinese President Xi Jinping is unlikely to have much interest in casting Beijings alliance with Pakistan into doubt. The final summit declaration is expected to repeat earlier condemnations of terrorism in all its forms, say diplomats and analysts, but avoid leveling blame over tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals. Such discussions will make security a dominant issue at the eighth annual summit of the group, even as leaders also address core themes such as the global economy, financial cooperation and mutual trade. We will be looking at the global economic and political situation, and obviously terrorism is a very important part of that, Amar Sinha, the Indian foreign ministry official responsible for the BRICS file, told a pre-summit briefing. NOT JUST A JOLLY PARTNER Where Modi and Xi may see eye to eye, at least privately, is in a shared desire for Islamabad to restrain Islamist militants who, in Beijings view, pose a threat to Chinas plans to build a $46 billion trade corridor that runs through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. Contrary to the public messaging in Islamabad, China is not the perpetual jolly partner when it comes to its relations with Pakistan, said Michael Kugelman, a senior program associate at the Wilson Center in Washington who focuses on South Asia. With Chinas investments and economic assets growing in Pakistan, its only natural that it would worry. All militants, whether good or bad as characterised by Pakistan, threaten stability and by extension Chinas economic interests. In addition to launching what it described as cross-border surgical strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan, in response to a Sept. 18 attack on an army base that killed 19 Indian soldiers, New Delhi has mounted a diplomatic offensive to isolate Islamabad. Pakistan has denied any part in the attack on the Uri army base, near the de facto border that runs through the disputed territory of Kashmir. It also denies any surgical strikes took place, saying there was only border firing that is relatively common along the frontier. Islamabad says India has exploited the incident to divert attention from its own security crackdown on protests sparked by the killing of a popular separatist militant leader. More than 80 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded in Indias part of Kashmir, and a widespread curfew has been imposed. EXPRESSIONS OF SUPPORT After the Uri attack, India quickly won expressions of support from the West and from Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin will also hold a bilateral summit with Modi in Goa. China, for its part, has shown public restraint. Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, said that China and Pakistan were paying close attention to security threats to the trade corridor. If Pakistans security situation does not improve, it will obstruct some of these projects especially infrastructure ones, said Zhao. In this sense, cooperation on counter-terrorism is very close. India has already engineered the collapse of a South Asian regional summit to have been hosted by Pakistan, and the Goa gathering will also feature an outreach session to countries from the Bay of Bengal region that could emerge as an alternative focus of regional cooperation. WORKING GROUPS BRICS leaders will support plans agreed by their national security advisers to create three working groups to cooperate on cyber security, counter-terrorism and energy security, said Sinha, the Indian foreign ministry official. But diplomats and analysts say that Indias long-held ambition of joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a club of nuclear-trading nations, is unlikely to progress at Goa with China yet to soften its blocking stance. And, despite concerns about militancy within Pakistan, China has rebuffed Indias calls for the United Nations to designate Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed group that India blames for recent cross-border attacks, as a terrorist. China recently extended a so-called hold on the designation by a further three months. That reflects an evolving rivalry between the worlds two most populous nations in which, under Modi, India is seeking to close huge economic and military gaps and is shifting away from traditional non-alignment and seeking a closer partnership with the United States. At the same time, China is expanding its economic and strategic reach into the Indian Ocean region, with Xi visiting Bangladesh on Friday en route to Goa where he is expected to sign loans worth $24 billion. Overall, it will be an awkward summit, said Shashank Joshi, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. He added that, for India, diplomatic isolation of Pakistan will be the most important objective. Kathmandu, Nepal: CPN Maoist Centre, the ruling head of the incumbent government, has on Friday decided to postpone its national assembly till November 17. Earlier, the party had scheduled its national assembly for October 26 and 27. A meeting of the partys Central Office meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister and party president Pushpa Kamal Dahal made the decision to postpone its national assembly. Kathmandu, Nepal: At least three persons died and a dozen injured when a passenger bus met with the accident at Palanchok of Kavrepalanchok district on Friday evening. According to the police two passengers had breathed their last in the accident site. Among the injured 11 passengers, three persons have reported as critical condition. The injured passengers have been rushed to the Dhulikhel Hospital. Details about the accident are yet to come. The locals and the police have been rescuing the victims. Email me any time: farrorita@gmail.com Sewing + Thrift store shopping = Frankensewing. I love vintage linens, hanging my sheets out on the line to dry...and creating adventures for my two Grandchildren. Doing those very ordinary things -- and then BLOGGING about it -- is how I work things out. King Arthur Popover Recipe Preheat oven to 425 degrees... then preheat the Popover Pan...it needs to be screaming hot. Butter the sides generously -- right before you pour the batter. 4 eggs 1 1/3 c. milk 1 1/3 c. all purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 3 tbl melted butter Whisk eggs into milk. Make sure everything is room temp. Whisk in the flour & salt, add the melted butter at the end. Pour thin batter into Popover pan (2/3 full) and bake for 30 minutes. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR. When the popovers are done -- get them out of the pan ASAP and prick the top with a sharp knife to prevent collapse. Serve with REAL BUTTER...that's mandatory. Homemade jam is optional... Saudi-Led Attack on Sanaa Funeral Apparent War Crime: says Human Rights Watch Saudi-Led Attack on Sanaa Funeral Apparent War Crime: says Human Rights Watch Credible International Investigation Urgently Needed Beirut, Oct. 13 (Saba) Human Rights Watch, the international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights has released its report on Saudi-led military air attacks last Saturday on a funeral hall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. It said in the report obtained by Saba that the Saudi -led coalition airstrike on a crowded funeral ceremony in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on October 8, 2016, is an apparent war crime. The attack killed at least 100 people and wounded more than 500, including children, according to the report. The report went on as following: While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate. The funeral strike underscores the urgent need for credible international investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said. The United States, United Kingdom, and other governments should immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The coalition should urgently allow commercial flights to Sanaa, suspended in August, to allow anyone who is sick or wounded to seek medical treatment abroad, the human rights body said in its report. "After unlawfully attacking schools, markets, hospitals, weddings, and homes over the last 19 months, the Saudi-led coalition has now added a funeral to its ever-increasing list of abuses," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. "An independent international investigation of this atrocity is needed as the coalition has shown its unwillingness to uphold its legal obligations to credibly investigate," Whitson added. Human Rights Watch said in this report that it interviewed 14 witnesses to the attack and two men who arrived at the scene immediately after the airstrike to help with rescue efforts, among other sources, by phone, and reviewed video and photos of the strike site and weapons remnants. "On October 8, several hundred people had gathered in the al-Sala al-Kubra community hall, which has a capacity of over 1,000, for the funeral ceremony of Ali al-Rawishan, the father of the Sanaa-based administration's interior minister, Jalal al-Rawishan," the Human rights watch said. "All the witnesses who spoke to Human Rights Watch said that at about 3:30 p.m., at least two air-dropped munitions penetrated the roof of the hall and detonated a few minutes apart," it said. "Photos and video footage taken after the attack show charred and mutilated bodies strewn in and outside the hall, the building destroyed, and rescuers carrying out bodies to ambulances," it added. A spokesman for the Sanaa-based Health Ministry, Dr. Tamim al-Shami, told Human Rights Watch on October 9 that at least 110 people had been killed and 610 wounded, but that the death toll was likely to rise because a number of bodies had been burned or mutilated beyond recognition. Doctors Without Borders approved what Dr. al-Shami told the Human Rights Watch, reporting that six of its hospitals had treated over 400 wounded. One witness said, "When I got there, there were more than 50 burned bodies, many where you can still tell the features, but half of their body was gone, half of their head was gone, but the others, it was very, very hard to tell who they were." Hundreds of those killed and wounded were civilians, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). UNDER THE LAWS OF WAR Under the laws of war, an attack is unlawfully disproportionate if it may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life or damage to civilian structures that would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the attack Serious violations of the laws of war committed willfully that is, intentionally or recklessly are war crimes. The date and place of the funeral ceremony was announced on Jalal al-Rawishan's Facebook page on October 7, and would have been publicly available. The afternoon hour of the attack would have been known to be the "peak time" when the funeral ceremony, open to the public, would have been very crowded. Coalition forces should have known that while hundreds of civilians would be gathered, any attack on the hall would result in massive civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch identified the munitions used as a US-manufactured air-dropped GBU-12 Paveway II 500-pound laser-guided bomb. The identification was based on a review of photos and footage of an intact guidance fin assembly with legible manufacturer's markings and other weapon remnants. The photos and video were taken at the scene of the attack by Mwatana, a leading Sanaa-based human rights organization, journalists from the British news channel ITV, and a local activist, who visited the site on October 9. Saudi Arabia and its coalition denied responsibility for the attack, but the following day the coalition announced it would investigate the incident with support from the US. The BBC reported the UK also requested to be involved in the investigation. However, the coalition has not conducted previous investigations impartially or transparently, nor publicly carried out prosecutions for alleged war crimes, or provided redress for victims. Since March 26, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of nine Arab countries, with direct military support from the US and assistance from the UK, has conducted numerous unlawful attacks in Yemen. Human Rights Watch has documented 58 unlawful airstrikes causing civilian loss of life and property. Other human rights organizations, as well as the UN, have documented dozens more. Between March 2015 and October 2016, 4,125 civilians had been killed and 7,207 wounded in Yemen, according to OHCHR, the majority by coalition airstrikes. OHCHR reported in August that airstrikes had been the "single largest cause of casualties" over the past year. Saudi Arabia, which is currently running unopposed for re-election to the Human Rights Council and has previously used its position to obstruct efforts to establish an international inquiry into ongoing violations in Yemen, has no place on the UN body, Human Rights Watch said. The independent investigative role of the OHCHR is crucial, and its findings on the funeral strike and other serious violations of international law by all parties to the conflict in Yemen should be presented to the Human Rights Council at the earliest opportunity. The US, as a party to the conflict, is legally responsible for the role of its forces in any unlawful attack, and should credibly investigate alleged violations and take appropriate disciplinary or criminal action. The US, UK, and other governments should immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia until it curbs unlawful attacks and credibly investigates those that have already occurred, Human Rights Watch said. "The US, UK, and other coalition allies should send an unequivocal message to Saudi Arabia that they want no part in these crimes," Whitson said, adding that "Yemeni civilians should not be asked to tolerate such madness a moment longer. Adel al-Harish, a 41-year-old who attended the funeral with a friend, told Human Rights Watch that the hall was "crowded with people from all levels of society civilian, sheikhs, dignitaries, and journalists." Seeing how packed the hall was, al-Harish and a friend decided to leave, but they had trouble getting out of the hall because of the crowds trying to enter. Al-Harish said that at about 3:30 p.m., as they were walking away outside, he heard a whizzing sound from the sky, followed by a "huge explosion." A few minutes later, another munitions hit. He heard a plane and fled the scene. Luai al-Hayouti, 27, a local government employee, was sitting at the back of the hall paying his respects to the family when he heard a munition explode. It struck the front of the hall and caused the ceiling to collapse. He said he stood up, ran out of the hall, and away from the building. "Yusuf" (pseudonym), a civilian official in the General Peoples Congress, said he was looking for a place in the hall to pray when he heard the sound of a plane and the munition hit. "The hall exploded," he said. "I fell down. The flames were rising up and up I was covered in dirt and blood." Abed al-Baredah, a 31-year-old doctor, said he was with his father, nephew, and four brothers inside the hall waiting to offer his condolences to the deceaseds family when an explosion threw him off his feet: "I couldnt see anyone. There was a lot of dust and smoke and screaming. We started running away as many others did. The back gate was closed but we broke it. We were 20 meters away from the great hall when suddenly another strike happened. I heard the sound of a plane," al-Baredah said. Al-Baredah also said he heard two more munitions detonate in the hall a few minutes apart before fleeing the area. Abdulla al-Shami, 35, a businessman whose leg was injured in the strike, said: "I was inside sitting at the funeral when the airstrike happened I couldnt see who was next to me, I was looking for an exit. There were dead bodies and body parts, some people under rubble There were children inside before the strike, but I couldnt see anyone after the strike. It was dark. I just saw the light and ran toward it to escape." The second munition affected people trying to enter the building to help survivors after the first bomb detonated. Ahmed (pseudonym), a businessman in his thirties who asked not to be identified, went to the hall shortly before 4:00 p.m. to help with the rescue effort after several of his friends who had been at the funeral called him asking him for help. He said that his cousin, who was near the hall when the first munition detonated, tried to rush in to help survivors. His cousin was thrown backward off his feet when the second munition exploded. Ahmed told Human Rights Watch: "The scene was catastrophic. Beyond what I can explain to you or describe There were burned bodies and dead bodies all over the hall... When I got there, there were more than 50 burned bodies, many where you can still tell the features, but half of their body was gone, half of their head was gone, but the others, it was very, very hard to tell who they were." Ahmed said he helped carry bodies out from under the debris and place them in body bags, while others on the scene tried to put out the fire raging in the hall. He saw at least seven children who had been in the hall, some of whose family members had died. He said 15 of his friends or family members, all civilians, had been killed in the strike, and at least six wounded. Accountability: The coalition announced in a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency that its Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) would investigate the funeral strike with US support. JIAT has not met international standards for transparency, credibility, and impartiality, and the Saudi-led coalition should not only investigate but cooperate with UN investigations into the incident. The high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, denounced the funeral attack as outrageous and repeated his call for an independent international inquiry into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Yemen. The OHCHR should undertake an immediate investigation into the incident and promptly brief the UN Human Rights Council on its findings. Despite mounting violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Saudi-led coalition in the conflict in Yemen, no participating government has conducted credible investigations into alleged war crimes, as international law requires. US Role: The US became a party to the conflict during the first months of fighting by providing specific targeting information and refueling planes during bombing raids, Human Rights Watch said. Reuters recently reported that US officials debated internally whether US support to the Saudi-led coalition made the US a co-belligerent, and were concerned that US officials could be criminally liable for war crimes committed in Yemen. Immediately following the funeral strike, US National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said the US was deeply disturbed by the incident, which, if confirmed, would continue the troubling series of attacks striking Yemeni civilians. Price announced the US had initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the coalition and was prepared to adjust our support. A thorough review of US support to the coalition is a step forward, but does not absolve the US of potential liability for any coalition military operations in which US forces participated that resulted in war crimes, Human Rights Watch said. The review of the funeral attack should be thorough and transparent, but the US should also examine the role of its forces in other alleged unlawful attacks in Yemen. The US Congress should exercise more effective oversight over US involvement in the Yemen conflict, for instance by holding investigatory hearings during the next Congress, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented coalition use of US and UK-produced weapons, including cluster munitions, in unlawful attacks in Yemen. The US continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, approving more than US$20 billion in military sales in 2015 alone, despite increasing recognition that the coalition may use these weapons unlawfully. Three US arms sales in 2015 and 2016, worth nearly $3 billion, involved replenishing Saudi weaponry used in Yemen. The UK government also continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, despite growing parliamentary pressure over its support for Saudi Arabias military campaign in Yemen and evidence of the use of British-made weapons in Yemen. Since March 2015, the UK has approved 2.8 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia, according to the London-based Campaign Against Arms. SABA Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp Telegram Telegram Email Email Print Print [13/October/2016] Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Gold harvest in Armenia - Polish excavations in Metsamor Carnelian and gold necklace - the first such find dated to the early iron period (XI-IX BC) discovered in the settlement in Transcaucasia and fifteen other items made of this metal have been discovered by Polish archaeologists in Metsamor near Yerevan in Armenia. Researchers from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw (IA UW) and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw (PCMA) have discovered gold objects both in the ancient settlement and the cemetery. "The most valuable of these is a carnelian and gold necklace. Its owner probably lost it during the invasion of the Urartu King Argishti I in in the eighth century BC" - told PAP research leader Dr Krzysztof Jakubiak of IA UW, who is now finishing this year\'s research season. During the excavations carried out in previous seasons, archaeologists stumbled upon the numerous layers of burning and ash and the remains of a woman with a split skull, which also confirms suspicions about the bloody invasion. Argishti I was king of Urartu, or the biblical Kingdom of Ararat in the Armenian Highland. During his reign the borders of the state extended to Transcaucasia, the region of today\'s Yerevan, where Metsamor is located. This year, archaeologists found several objects made of gold in the cemetery, inside a vast burial chamber. According to the researchers it had been used for hundreds of years - from the middle Bronze Age to the early Iron Age (from approx. XXIV century BC to the IX century BC) Among the items were gold pendants in the shape of a crescent moon and gold beads, which once formed a few necklaces. In the burial chamber there were also bronze horse harness parts and nearly a thousand carnelian beads. Archaeologists also unearthed a fragment of a large, rectangular building built with stone blocks. According to a preliminary assessment, it was built shortly after the fall of the kingdom of Urartu, so after the VI century BC. During that period, the areas of Armenia came under the rule of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty. Archaeologists have not yet been able to explain the purpose of the structure. "Undoubtedly, it was a monumental structure, we estimate the length at about 30 meters. It is the largest building captured so far during excavations (in Metsamor - ed. PAP)" - noted Dr. Jakubiak. Metsamor is one of the most famous archaeological sites near Yerevan. It has the status of archaeological reserve. During its heyday from the fourth to the second millennium BC the settlement occupied more than 10 hectares and was surrounded by Cyclopean walls. In the early Iron Age from the XI to the IX century, Metsamor had grown to nearly 100 hectares. In the central part there was a fortress, inside which there were numerous temple complexes. At that time, it was one of the most important cultural and political centres in the Araks Valley. From the eighth century BC, Metsamor became part of the Uraratu kingdom - the biblical Kingdom of Ararat. Polish archaeologists conduct excavations in Metsamor since 2013 under the agreement signed by IA UW director - in consultation with the leadership of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw - with the Institute of Archaeology of the Armenian Academy of Sciences of and the Ministry of Culture of Armenia. PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland szz/ agt/ mrt/ tr. RL Fans of independent animation take note of intriguing French effort The 4th Planet. Being developed simultaneously as a television series and video game by a small team of just seven people a pair of clips have been released from the series work and both are absolutely fantastic. A man, Arnold, haunted by the distance separating him from his wife and daughter who have gone to Mars, decides to travels through space to join them. But getting to the solar systems 4th planet is not so straightforward. To live this great space odyssey, he will first have to leave Earth: Arnold finds himself stuck, as millions of climate refugees, in the famous Cosmoport, unique gateway to Mars. He will have to evolve in this hostile environment where the company in charge of the shuttles between the two planets organizes a strong border control. Executed in a timeless style that feels something like the bastard love child of Don Bluth and Tintin, The 4th Planet becomes instant must watch material. Take a look at the clips below. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). "Rethinking Punishment: Sentencing in the Modern Age" | Main | "Cost-Benefit Analysis and Retroactivity: The brief for respondent in Beckles v. U.S." October 14, 2016 In twin post-Hurst rulings, the Florida Supreme Court concludes capital sentencing requires jury unanimity I was not planning to blog anymore today as I continued participating in this terrific symposium. But big death penalty rulings by the Florida Supreme Court changed my plans. This local report, headlined "Florida Supreme Court rules death penalty juries must be unanimous," provides the basics: "We conclude that the Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury mandates that under Florida's capital sentencing scheme, the jury not the judge must be the finder of every fact, and thus every element, necessary for the imposition of the death penalty," the court wrote in a 5-2 ruling, with Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston dissenting. Their ruling comes just months after the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida's death penalty law unconstitutional because juries played only an advisory role in recommending life or death. The court said in that case, known as Hurst vs. Florida, Florida's system was a violation of a defendant's right to a jury trial. Florida lawmakers responded by rewriting the state law, requiring a 10-2 vote of a jury to send someone to death. The new law also requires juries to unanimously determine "the existence of at least one aggravating factor" before defendants can be eligible for death sentences. In a separate ruling in the case of Perry vs. Florida, also issued Friday, the Florida Supreme Court found the new statute cannot apply to cases still pending in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. That leaves the state legislature with the task of having to again rewrite the statute to comply with the court's ruling. It is unclear how soon that might happen or whether prosecutors could then continue to seek the death penalty in pending cases.... The court's opinions did not address the issue of whether their findings would apply retroactively. Florida has 385 inmates on death row. It was not clear how many prisoners will be entitled to new sentencing hearings. The retroactivity issue will likely be decided by two other cases Lambrix vs. Florida and Asay vs. Florida still pending before the state Supreme Court. Attorney General Pam Bondi's office has said that as many as 43 death row inmates could get life sentences without parole or new sentencing hearings as a result of the Hurst decision. Those 43 inmates are those who are entitled to automatic post-Hurst reviews of their cases under the state Constitution. Of those cases currently before the court, Bondi's office argued, death sentences should be carried out. Howard Simon of the ACLU of Florida, which intervened in the case, said he was not surprised by the court's decision: "This is what we have been warning the Legislature about for years. The Legislature can complain all they want about the court's running the government, but when the Legislature ignores the warnings from the court, they should not be surprised by this ruling." He said that it is not clear if every inmate on death row will be entitled to a new sentencing trial. "Now I think it's a moral issue,'' he said. "If someone was sentenced to death by less than an unanimous it is unconscionable to put them to death now without a unanimous verdict." I fear I will not get a chance to read these opinions in full until well into the weekend, but here are links to the full opinions. I would be grateful to hear from readers about what they consider especially important aspects of these rulings: Hurst vs. Florida, No. SC12-1974 (Fla. Oct. 14, 2016) (available here) Perry vs. Florida, No. SC16-547 (Fla. Oct. 14, 2016) (available here) October 14, 2016 at 01:28 PM | Permalink Comments Putting aside my belief that these opinions misread the U.S. Supreme Court decision on this issue, these decisions and the contrary decision in Alabama along with claims percolating in other states seems to frame an issue that needs to be clarified by the Supreme Court. For the death penalty, many jurisdictions have a multi-step process. First, the jury must determine whether the defendant is guilty of the highest degree of murder in a guilt phase. Second, after a penalty phase (or partial penalty phase in some states that have more than two stages), the jury decides if the State has proven a "statutory aggravating" circumstance. Third, the jury then decides if the weight of the evidence in aggravation when compared to the evidence in mitigation merits the death penalty. (In some states, this involves to separate decisions -- first looking at the evidence in aggravation to see if it is enough and then seeing if the evidence in mitigation outweighs the evidence in aggravation.) Finally, the jury decides whether to impose the death penalty. Under the Apprendi line of cases, it is clear that the defendant has a right to a jury finding for the first stage -- guilt determination -- and the second stage -- existence of statutory aggravating circumstances as both findings involve "facts" that are element like in terms of eligibility for the death penalty. On the other hand, the final decision is not one that has to be made by the jury. It is the "weighing" finding that is ambiguous. It is possible to read the third stage as an element that needs to be found before the jury can recommend death. The two Florida decisions and some other cases around the county do treat this stage as a necessary finding for the imposition of the death penalty. Yet there are other Supreme Court decisions (and state court decisions) that can be read as suggesting that this third weighing stage should not be treated as an element. (Using the Carr terminology, the second decision is an eligibility issue, and the third and fourth decisions are selection issues.) So far, the jury role in the "weighing" process has mostly been discussed as a tangential issue in several cases. Both Ring and Hurst at the U.S. Supreme Court involved the failure to require a jury to find a statutory aggravating circumstances. While not necessarily dicta, the nature of the weighing phase comes up as part of the explanation for the holding in the case (but is not the holding) in some cases involving jury instructions on weighing. So far, the Supreme Court has managed to punt whether the "weighing" decision has to be made by the jury. The weighing process is, at least, implicitly required by the Furman-Gregg line of cases suggesting that: 1) some structure must be put in place; and 2) the sentence must consider and give effect to the mitigating evidence. Maybe the various different responses by the three states that have "advisory" juries will lead the Supreme Court to finally address this issue. Posted by: tmm | Oct 14, 2016 2:23:24 PM There are three states affected by Hurst. Florida and Delaware have gone in one direction, Alabama has gone in the other. While I do think the majority of states is correct, I don't know if you can keep one state as an outlier. It makes sense to resolve this ambiguity finally. Posted by: Erik M | Oct 14, 2016 7:01:52 PM The Delaware and Florida Supreme courts took a different approach than the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in their decisions on 6/17. However, the Alabama court hasn't ruled on the cases SCOTUS sent back for consideration of Hurst. Posted by: DaveP | Oct 14, 2016 7:34:55 PM Post a comment New empirical study suggests "recreational cannabis caused a significant reduction of rapes and thefts" | Main | "Rethinking Punishment: Sentencing in the Modern Age" This local article from California discussing a new play, headlined "'Chessman' explores crucial moment for Brown family, California death penalty," spotlights a California capital case more than a half-century ago that generated widespread attention. Here are excerpts from the article: Buck Busfield is pondering the finer points of one of the most important phone calls in California political history. It was Feb. 18, 1960, the eve of the long-delayed execution of Caryl Chessman. A 21-year-old Jerry Brown, recently departed from the seminary and now a student at UC Berkeley, called his father, then-Gov. Pat Brown, asking him to grant a reprieve for the condemned inmate. Across the world, millions awaited the fate of a man they had taken up as the poster boy for ending the death penalty. The freighted decision tore at Pat Brown, whose Catholic faith taught him that execution was immoral. At the moment, however, Busfield is more concerned about the type of telephone Jerry would have used. During a recent rehearsal for Chessman, a new play about the case debuting this week at the B Street Theatre, director Busfield asked his stage manager whether they could hang a phone on the wall for the pivotal scene.... Chessman [is] a side project of political consultant Joe Rodota. The production attempts to capture the international, O.J. Simpson-like frenzy and divisiveness that surrounded Chessman for more than a decade, while also asking the audience to look beyond its cast of iconic California figures to a family split by a deeply personal, ethical dilemma. It also strives to keep a neutral distance and a historical sheen on one of Californias most inflammatory political issues, just as voters are weighing two November ballot measures on capital punishment: one to abolish it and one to expedite the process. This is not a documentary for or against the death penalty, Rodota said.... Caryl Chessman was 27 and already a convicted felon when he was found guilty in 1948 of a series of robberies and rapes around Los Angeles. The Red Light Bandit, as the perpetrator was dubbed, had visited lovers lanes pretending to be a policeman and mugged couples in their cars. On several occasions, Chessman took the young women back to his vehicle and sexually assaulted them. Under Californias since-discarded Little Lindbergh Law, named for the kidnapping and murder of aviator Charles Lindberghs infant son, Chessman was sentenced to death for kidnapping with bodily harm, though he had killed no one. Chessman maintained his innocence and continued to fight his conviction. By 1954, he had been on death row for six years, longer than anyone in California history until that point. The unusual delay for his execution was gaining notice, and it would soon explode into sensation with the publication that year of his first memoir, written secretly and smuggled out of prison. Translated into more than a dozen languages and adapted into a movie, Cell 2455, Death Row: A Condemned Mans Own Story captured the publics imagination with its searing and brutal dispatch from inside San Quentin State Prison.... The controversy also came at a relative highwater mark for opposition to the death penalty, when Americans were about evenly split on the issue. This allowed Pat Brown to openly grapple over Chessmans fate without committing automatic political suicide, the biographer Rarick noted at a recent panel on the case. Because Chessman had prior felonies, Pat Brown could not commute his sentence without the approval of the California Supreme Court, which voted 4-3 to uphold the conviction. Chessman was going to die. But the night before the execution was scheduled to proceed, Jerry Brown called his father urging him to grant a 60-day reprieve and pursue a moratorium on the death penalty in the Legislature. As Pat recounted in Public Justice, Private Mercy, he believed there was not one chance in a thousand that lawmakers would act. Then Jerry said, But Dad, if you were a doctor and there was one chance in a thousand of saving a patients life, wouldnt you take it? I thought about that for a moment. Youre right, I finally said. Ill do it. For his decision, Pat Brown received a slew of negative responses and a 16-page letter from a surprised and grateful Chessman. With his usual aplomb about the social significance of his case the burning hope that my execution would lead to an objective reappraisal of the social validity or invalidity of capital punishment Chessman suggested that Brown put forth a proposal excluding him from the mercy granted to others, if it would persuade the Legislature to end the death penalty. I do not overstate when I say I gladly would die ten thousand gas chamber deaths if that would bring these truths into hearts and minds of those who make our laws, he wrote. Lawmakers, however, had little interest in taking such a decisive step, particularly in an election year. Browns bill to abolish the death penalty was quickly swatted down in the Senate Judiciary Committee after a lengthy and highly publicized committee hearing. Chessman was eventually gassed to death on May 2, 1960, his ninth scheduled execution date. The story appeared on the front page of newspapers from Italy to Brazil. Pat Brown ultimately believed he suffered greatly for his choice, blaming it in part for his loss to Ronald Reagan while running for a third term in 1966. Remembering notable pre-modern moment of great concern over California capital case | Main | In twin post-Hurst rulings, the Florida Supreme Court concludes capital sentencing requires jury unanimity October 14, 2016 "Rethinking Punishment: Sentencing in the Modern Age" The title of this post is the title of this terrific Temple Law Review symposium taking place today at Temple Law School which I have the pleasure of attending and participating in. Here is the formal description of the event: This Symposium will gather scholars, practitioners, and judges to offer a contemporary perspective on criminal punishment and highlight alternative punishment programs and reformation efforts. The Hon. L. Felipe Restrepo, Circuit Judge, Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Hon. Timothy R. Rice, Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, will give a keynote address focusing on the Eastern District of Pennsylvanias Reentry Court Program. In addition to the keynote address, the Symposium will consist of three panels Prosecuting in the New Age, Defending the Convicted: Effective Sentencing Advocacy, and The Sentenced: Stopping the Punishment Cycle. The full symposium schedule is here, and readers may not be too surprised to learn that I am slated to speak on Panel 2. I was not planning to blog while participating in this event, but the first two speakers on the Panel 1, "Prosecuting in the New Age," inspired me to get on-line. Specifically, the first two speakers were Judge Risa Ferman, a long-serving Montgomery County prosecutor who just recently became a trial court judge, and George Mosee, Jr., the First Assistant Philadelphia District Attorney. And here are two notable quote (of many) from these two notable speakers: "Prosecutors now are problem solvers working in a holistic way" "Prosecutors today start with prevention [and] incarceration serves as a last resort" I found both these quotes coming from state/local prosecutors (and many other similar things they had to say) quite interesting and telling, and it highlights for me some of the many ways in which "the Modern Age" for criminal justice is so much different than it was just a decade ago and especially from two decades ago. It also reinforces my strong view that it is only a matter of time before we will be getting significant sentencing reform at the federal level in some form no matter who is formally in charge in the years ahead. Indeed, for my last post before I get ready to speak, I will close with the fitting words of my favorite Literature Nobel Prize winner: For the times they are a' changin'! For the loser now will be later to win And there's no tellin' who that it's namin' And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again Come writers and critics who prophesy with your pen Come senators, congressmen please heed the call For the times they are a' changin'! It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls There's a battle outside and it's ragin' For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled Don't stand in the doorway don't block up the hall October 14, 2016 at 09:58 AM | Permalink Comments Post a comment To protest propositions Q and R, San Francisco LGBT groups, organizations like GLIDE, and advocates for homeless people will come together in the Castro at Harvey Milk Plaza today, Thursday, at 5:30 p.m. KRON 4 got wind of the demonstration against the two measures, which a Facebook event indicates will involve building a literal house of cards in an act of symbolism. Prop R, put forward by Supervisor Scott Wiener, would create a special Neighborhood Crime Unit to respond to 911 and 311 calls. "We have remarkably little traffic enforcement and very few walking beats anymore, Wiener told the Chronicle. We see the impacts of the latter every day with the explosion in auto break-ins and auto robberies and bike thefts and burglaries and vandalism. However, critics like John Crew, a former ACLU attorney, take issue with the plan. The whole theory of community policing is you place the decision-making as close to the neighborhood as possible, Crew told the Chron. Hes calling it a neighborhood unit, but hes taking resources from the district stations and putting it under the control of people on Third Street. That makes no sense. Prop Q, a so-called wedge issue which would ban tent encampments from sidewalks, was proposed by Supervisor Mark Farrell and has the backing of local tech money-havers Ron Conway and Michael Moritz. Prop Q and R do not create additional housing or bedsthey simply continue the status quo, by shuffling people from block to block after the meager offer of one night in shelter, the Coalition on Homelessness's Jennifer Friedenbach told KRON 4. "San Francisco currently has multiple year waits for public housing, and over 800 people are languishing on the shelter waitlist today alone. Related: Venture Capitalists Funding Anti-Homeless Encampment Measure While he doesn't really need to convince anyone in San Francisco not to vote for Donald Trump that contrarian libertarian IT guy at your office notwithstanding Bernie Sanders will be back in town this weekend doing a little pre-election stumping for both Jane Kim's state senate campaign, and for Prop 61. According to the Chronicle, Sanders's first stop Saturday morning will be at Kim's campaign headquarters at 37 Grove Street where he's expected to say a few words at 10:30 a.m. From there, Sanders and Kim will head to a rally at the Marriott Marquis beginning at noon with the California Nurses Association in support of Proposition 61, the prescription drug price control measure. Sanders has appeared in TV spots for the Yes on 61 campaign like the one below, urging Californians to "stand up" to the greed of Big Pharma. Kim issued a statement, picked up by Hoodline, saying, "Im honored and grateful to have Senator Sanders support and Im so excited he will be joining me again in San Francisco. Im running for State Senate to make sure our cities work for all of us and Im grateful to have Senator Sanders by my side to help spread our message." The measure will make it mandatory for state agencies to negotiate prescription drug prices that are equal to the lowest prices paid for the same drugs to drug companies by the US Department of Veterans' Affairs. Politifact questions a few of the provisions of the measure in particular the possibility that pharmaceutical companies could simply raise prices on the VA to counteract any loss of profits, and the fact that the measure puts the onus on the state to negotiate prices, with no guarantee that the companies will agree. Nonetheless it sounds like Big Pharma is running scared at the possibility that this thing will pass, and it could cause a domino effect across the country as other states demand the same preferential pricing. The website Common Dreams believes the measure could, in fact, be a first step in bringing down outrageous drug pricing overall. Saturday's visit will be Sanders's first to the Bay Area since early June, the weekend before the California primary. In related news, Bernie has a memoir coming out. His book Our Revolution will be released one week after the election, and the Wall Street Journal spoke with the publisher, St. Martin's Press, who explain that the 2016 presidential campaign is in fact a significant piece of the book, which explains what Bernie's been up to the last couple of months. The book comes out November 15. Previously: Bernie Sanders Visits The Mission District Ahead Of Tuesday's Primary The Accountant stars Ben Affleck as a high functioning autistic man who is a strip mall CPA during the day, and a criminal bean-counter/assassin at night. He doesn't dress up in a bat costume, but he does like to gruffly whisper into the ears of his would-be victims before killing them. The film begins with a shadowy man entering a building and soon laying waste to its inhabitants. We then flash back to 1989, where young Chris Woolf (Seth Lee), the older of two brothers, is brought to a neurological center by his concerned parents. He exhibits OCD tendencies, self-soothing behavior like rocking and finger tapping, and the occasional total freak-out. He's offered a place at the center, but his father refuses, insisting the only thing that can "cure" Chris is an increased exposure to the things he's reactive to, which, in his mind, means forcing Chris and his brother into martial arts lessons that leave them bloody. Jumping to the present day, we meet the older, buffer Chris Woolf (Ben Affleck), a loner living a single-set-of-silverware life, driving from his big empty house in an Illinois suburb to his strip-mall office, where help clients figure out how to turn their jewelry-making hobbies into small business write-offs. You can tell Chris is a math genius because he likes to solve accounting mysteries by writing out numbers on see-through glass. We also meet Ray King (J.J. Simmons) the director of Crime Enforcement at the Department of Treasury, who is obsessed with finding out just who this mysterious homicidal accountant is, and Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), a young analyst he basically blackmails into solving the mystery. Why? I guess because Ray King doesn't know how to use Google, since that's basically all Marybeth Medina does to get to the bottom of the Chris's real identity. The cast also includes John Lithgow as the head of a robotics firm that hires Chris to examine its books, Anna Kendrick as Dana Cummings, a junior accountant at the firm (and, for a brief and agonizingly awkward moment, the potential object of Chris stilted affection) and Jon Bernthal as an equally mysterious assassin that wants Chris and Dana dead. The movie wants to lay out its pieces like the jigsaw puzzles Chris can so easily put together, using a non-linear timeline filled with flashbacks, tossing out plot twists here and there, and introducing characters with no context. But towards the middle director Gavin O'Connor seems to lose faith in that presentation, and instead sticks in a solid fifteen minutes of clunky exposition, explaining everything we've just seen. And even with that explanation, it still leaves so many plot holes and loose ends flailing about I wonder if the hope is to turn this into a franchise? It definitely seems to set itself up for a sequel no one will want to see. Though, to be honest, I'd rather see a sequel to this than Ben Affleck's upcoming Batman movie. To ensure that tech shuttles can continue to roll along, business-as-usual, companies such as Salesforce and Y Combinator are among more than 24 contributors to a political action committee backing moderate candidates for SF's Board of Supervisor in Districts 1 and 11. The Examiner reports that such corporate donors, along with other interests like Maximus Real Estate Partners, the developer behind a proposed 330-unit project at 16th and Mission that opponents have dubbed the "Monster in the Mission," had given $1.2 million in funding to the group Progress SF by September 24, a group that's spending to pave the way for policy interests including tech shuttles and development. Other contributors to Progress SF include individuals like Ron Conway, the angel investor that critics say has too much ahold of the mayor's ear. But rather than supporting progressives as the PAC's name might suggest, Progress SF has given more than $695,000 to three political groups that instead support moderate candidates, Supervisor Marjan Philhour in District 1 and Ahsha Safai in District 11, politicians more in line with the political bloc of the board that has been willing, for example, to continue the shuttle bus system as it stands. The 35 Bay Area bus providers that ferry more than 34,000 employees to and from work per day are currently operating under a one-year extension of a pilot program which the Board of Supervisors are expected to revisit in the coming months. Correction: SFMTA has contacted SFist to point out the following: "The pilot ended and the 1-year is just for the program, not an extension of the pilot. The program had many additional regulations/benefits than the pilot. It is also not entirely accurate to say that BOS revisits the program in a few months. The program is approved by the SFMTA Board and the BOS has a say on the program only through a CEQA appeal." The "Google Bus" system has been a wedge issue among supervisors: First a moderate-dominated board favored permanently extending an 18-month pilot program in November, then progressives gained power, with Aaron Peskin elected to District 3, and an environmental group, the Coalition for Fair, Legal and Environmental Transit, spearheaded a legal challenge to the board's decision. In February the SFMTA began investigating the divisive idea of pursuing a new system of tech shuttle 'hubs,' assigned clusters of stops instead of the current system of 125 assigned locations in San Francisco. Later, in May, a report detailed hundreds of violations Throughout, progressives like Supervisor Jane Kim have emphasized a distrust of the status quo. "I think the current program bends over backwards to accommodate these tech companies," Kim told NBC Bay Area in May. "Residents keep asking who is the city for, who do you represent? Do you represent all of us, or do you just represent a very small category of employers? After the legal challenge was mounted, Peskin observed of the shuttles that Theyve been too big for our streets, there are pollution concerns, and impacts to the public transportation system. I have an open mind, but like many San Franciscans I have concerns about them driving on our city streets. The Robert F. Kennedy Democratic club is one of the three political groups that Progress SF funded, providing it $200,000: It supports Philhour in District 1 and Safai and District 11. Another beneficiary of Progress SF is San Franciscans for a City that Works, which received $195,000 from the PAC and spent $63,397 to support Philhour. San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 is the third group funded by Progress SF, receiving $300,000 from Progress SF. It spent more than $309,330 in support of Safai, for whom third-party spending totals $384,327. $365,507 in third-party money has been spent in support of Philhour. Early morning commuters need to know how the supervisor race will impact their lives, Laura Clark wrote in a mass-email to supporters obtained by the Examiner. The RFK club's vice president and the president of Grow San Francisco, a group that promotes the building of housing, Clark punctuated her remarks with the call to "Help reach techies near you! according to the Ex. John Avalos, the current District 11 Supervisor who is supporting candidate Kimberly Alvarenga to succeed him rather than Safai, told the paper he's "not surprised that tech money is flooding into D-11 through back channels like the firefighters [independent expenditures]. The tech bros are trying to elect Safai who has demonstrated to them that he will give them the tax breaks, subsidies and favorable business conditions that will provide them at the expense of the D-11 neighborhoods. Related: 34,000 Passengers Per Day: Bay Area Shuttle Buses, By The Numbers Even though he started his career in computers, Jeff Foxworthy says hes a bit of a throwback. IBM would have fired me a long time ago, he says. I write everything in longhand. To prove as much, the 58-year-old comedian keeps a stack of notecards in his back pocket and a yellow notepad on his bathroom vanity. The best ideas come when Im in the shower, Foxworthy explains. You can tell because there are drip marks on the paper. Good friend and touring partner Larry the Cable Guy is more tech savvy, tweeting frequently and using recording devices to capture his flashes of brilliance. But, Foxworthy says, theres a method to his madness. I read something not long ago that said if you write it by hand you remember it better 80 percent better. Considering his mind will only hold two hours of material at any given time, thats a technique worth mastering. Need proof? People will come up and say, Tell that thing you said when you saw your grandmother naked and Ive got to say, Tell me how it started. To test new material, Foxworthy hits a club in Atlanta, his home, on Sundays. Dont go Friday or Saturday night. Go when maybe there are 20 or 30 people in the crowd. After a while, he says, he has enough new stuff to fill an act. If you laid carpet for 30 years, you would know what works and what doesnt work. With standup, the only way to write new stuff is to go to itty bitty clubs and test it out. Before an act, if I were to pick the four jokes that would work best, I would be dead wrong on two of them. If I said, This is going to kill, Id hear nothing. And if I said, This is stupid, people would be snotting on themselves. When jokes dont work, I can hear one person laughing maniacally my wife. She loses it when they bomb. Thanks to cellphones, Foxworthy says, those new gems dont stay hidden for long. At performances, I can see 20 people with their cellphones up. I dont get it. If youre too busy thinking, Have I got it centered? how can you enjoy the show? When we were doing the Blue Collar Tours, theyd have these huge screens up and thered always be someone in the third row looking up at the screen. Im 15 feet in front of them. I dont get it. While Foxworthy ditches his phone while hes working on his farm, he knows cellular technology is like a drug for many people. Its almost like idol worship, he says. I used to know peoples phone numbers. Now, I dont even know my daughters. Hes not too gung ho on social media, either. And he isnt one to chronicle every minute on Facebook. Instead his albums and specials offer the best snapshot of his life at any given time. His latest routine, Fact of Life, came about while talking with one of his daughters. He couldnt come up with a piece of information and she said, Theres no excuse not to know it. Just Google it. Foxworthy saw that as a challenge and reasoned there had to be some things you couldnt Google, you had to learn through life. (Example: Fact of life: You can have a wife with long, beautiful hair or you can be on time.) Fans worry that the new segment has replaced his Redneck rant. Naah, the Grammy nominee says, even in the heyday of You might be a Redneck, they only lasted five minutes in a two-hour set. Theyre easy to retell and if youre not guilty of it, youve probably got a relative who is. (Still worried? They could figure into his encore.) Foxworthys real bread and butter is storytelling. He gets big laughs because he can recount events in his own life that audiences find awfully familiar. Those intelligent turns on television? Smoke and mirrors. On something like Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? or The American Bible Challenge, he gets help from producers through an earpiece. If they didnt give me the answers on Fifth Grader I might not know them. The Bible challenge? Thats trickier. Whenever he mispronounces a name, he just reverts to an old excuse: Thats the way my mother says it. For eight years, Foxworthy has hosted a Bible study for homeless men every Tuesday. Thats close to my heart, he says. God put different things on different peoples hearts. We dont have to be moved by the same things. Many of the men recognize Foxworthy but his celebrity quickly disappears when they realize hes there as Jeff, someone who wants to help. I dont think we can do anything for God except say yes when He whispers to us, Foxworthy says. There are so many more qualified people than me to do his. But its at the top of my list, priority-wise. Consider that the Foxworthy Fact of Life you probably didnt know. Screenings Free blood pressure screenings, 9:30 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays at Countryside Senior Living, front lobby. No appointment necessary. Programs/Self-Help Groups Al-Anon Information Center, call 712-255-6724. Al-Anon and Alateen, meetings locally. For times, dates and locations of area meetings, call 712-255-6724. Alcoholics Anonymous, beginners information, call 712-252-1333. Arc of Woodbury County, serving the mentally challenged, 5:15 p.m. meeting, second Monday of the month at Mid-Step Services, 4303 Stone Ave. For families and interested persons. Child Care Resource and Referral, provides resources, education and advocacy for children, parents, and child care providers. Assists in child care needs. For more information, call 712-277-1180. Co-Dependence Anonymous, 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays at First Lutheran Church, Fireside Room. Co-Dependents Anonymous (CODA), 10 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St. Compassionate Friends, 7 p.m. fourth Wednesday of each month (third Thursday in November and second Sunday December) in Mercy Medical Center's Leiter Room. For families who have lost children. Contact Nancy Webb 712-212-4032 or Don Mulder 712-541-5512. Children of Divorce, to help children cope with the challenges of parental separation or divorce. Call 712-279-2373 for more information. Clinics Siouxland District Health immunization clinics, call for appointment, 712-279-6119 or 1-800-587-3005. Information Family and Addictive Illness series, for more information, call 234-2300. Iowa Fathers, 6 to 8 p.m. fourth Tuesday of each month at Hope Lutheran Church, Education Building, 218 W. 18th St., South Sioux City, Neb. Support group to help single, divorcing and divorced parents residing in the state of Iowa. Mercy Pathways Outpatient Program, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, on the third floor, Mercy's Central Medical Building, 801 Fifth St., Suite 360. Provides hope, help, opportunity to connect through group therapy for individuals experiencing personal, relationship, psychiatric issues. For more information, call 712-279-5991. Narcotics Anonymous, meetings daily, various times, dates and locations. For more information, call 712-279-0733. Overeaters Anonymous, 1 p.m. Tuesdays at Wesley United Methodist Church, 3700 Indian Hills Drive; 6 p.m. Tuesdays at St. John's Lutheran Church, 402 Lane Ave., Storm Lake; 7 p.m. Tuesdays at Church of the Nazarene, 226 N. Main St., Viborg, S.D.; 5:30 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays at Newman Center, 320 E. Cherry St., Vermillion, S.D.; 10:30 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St. A 12-step recovery program for people who have problems with food and weight. No fees. St. Lukes Outpatient Behavioral Health Program, 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on fifth floor of St. Luke's, located at 2720 Stone Park Blvd. Offers several levels of outpatient care including partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and group therapy. This program provides support and integrated treatment to individuals experiencing personal or relationship issues as a result of their mental illness. For more information and admission criteria, call 712-279-3906. Sobriety By Faith, 8:30 a.m. Saturdays at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For more information, call James Mothershead at 712-577-9715. The Link-Recovery and Freedom, 1603 Glen Ellen Road; 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday workshop, and Christian 12-step meeting 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. For all ages. Call Dee at 389-7432. Women in Recovery, meets monthly at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For details, call 712-255-4623. Tarahouse Meditation Center, 8 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 6:30 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, all at 3112 Rebecca St. Three easy 10-minute sessions in small group; beginners welcome. For more information, call 490-6410. Blood pressure and blood sugar screening, 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays in the lobby at Westwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Free to public. Support Groups Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Hawkeye Club basement, 420 Jones St. For more information, call 277-5935. Celebrate Recovery, Bible-based 12-step recovery group. Thursdays at 6:30 at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive. Daycare provided. 712-490-3343. PFLAG of Siouxland, (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), 7 p.m., fourth Monday of January, March, May, July, September and November. St. Mark ELCA Church, 5200 Glenn Ave., in the upstairs meeting area. 712-258-3116. Singles widowed and divorced, all ages, 4 p.m., Sundays. McDonald's at Sixth Street and Lewis Boulevard. 712-252-2675. GriefShare, 6:30 -8:30 p.m. every Tuesday until Dec. 6 at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive, Sioux City. 712-276-5814. HIV/AIDS Support Group, meets weekly. For more information, call Darla or Teri at Siouxland Community Health Center, 712-252-2477 or 888-371-1965. La Leche League of Siouxland, breastfeeding support group meets every third Thursday at 11 a.m. at Morningside Lutheran Church. Children are welcome. For more information, call Mary at 712-546-7280 or Jacquie at 712-255-2998. Living Each Day Cancer Support Group, 7-8 p.m. second Thursday of the month, Floyd Valley Hospital, Conference Center Room 2, Le Mars, Iowa. Open to all cancer patients, cancer survivors and family members. No charge. Pre-register by calling 712-546-3441 or 800-642-6074, ext. 441. Mom and Baby Support Group, 10-11 a.m. last Monday of the month at the Orange City (Iowa) Hospital, lower level. For new moms and babies. 712-737-5260. Tri-State Sober Project, 12-step meeting, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Friendship Community Church, 305 Sergeant Square Drive, Sergeant Bluff. 6-7 p.m., Thursdays, Transitional Services of Iowa, 1221 Pierce St., Sioux City. Doug's Donors Support Group, information for organ donors and recipients, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Fridays, 5:15-6:30 p.m. second Thursdays of the month at Mercy Cafeteria Woodbury Room. 712-277-1050. Divorce Care, 6:30 -8:30 p.m. every Tuesday until Dec. 6 at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive, Sioux City. 712-276-5814. NAMI Siouxland, (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Support Group meets 6:30 p.m., second Tuesday of the month at Friendship House, 1101 Court St. For individuals and family members dealing with mental illness. 712-255-4209. New Life Life Support Group, 3:30 p.m. every Saturday at 2929 W. Fourth St. Spiritual 12-step program. For more information, call Donald at 712-574-1744 or James at 712-255-7624. Post Polio Support Group, 11 a.m. first Thursday of the month at Perkins Restaurant by Menards. 712-490-8213. Relationship Support Group, 7 p.m. Fridays at Marketplace Mall. For more information, call 239-3129. Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, Individual and Support Groups. For more information, call CSADV in Sioux City at 712-258-7233; Plymouth County at 712-546-6764; Monona County at 712-423-3443. Advocacy and support available 24 hours a day at 1-800-982-7233. All services free of charge and confidential. Sickle Cell Disease Support Group, 11 a.m. third Saturday of each month at St. Luke's Hospital, meeting room 1. For patients, their family and any concerned member. Call La'Keshia Rainey at 712-203-2019 for more information. Single and Parenting, 6:30 -8:30 p.m. every Tuesday until Dec. 6 at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive, Sioux City. 712-276-5814. Sioux City Association of the Deaf, 7 p.m. third Saturday of the month at Morningside Church of Christ, 5015 Garretson Ave. Regular meeting, September-May; no meeting, June, July, August and December. Siouxland Autism Support Group, second Thursday of the month at Northwest Area Education Agency, 1520 Morningside Ave. For more information, call Julie Case at 712-490-8939. Siouxland Epilepsy Support Group, 5 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at Prestwick Apartment Clubhouse, 4230 Hickory Lane. For anyone diagnosed with seizures or epilepsy and family or friends. For more information, call Steve at 274-6927. Siouxland IC support group, meets quarterly in Sioux City. For patients struggling with interstital cystitis. For more information, call Jacque Dundas 316-641-9766. Siouxland Informational Group for the Blind, 2-5 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at Northern Hills Retirement Community, 4002 Teton Trace. For more information, call 712-266-8926 or 258-8151. Grief support group, 5:30-7:30 p.m., beginning Oct. 5 for 13 weeks (may join at any time), Crescent Park United Methodist Church, 2826 Myrtle St., Sioux City. Scott, 712-899-6315. Siouxland Ostomy Association, 2 p.m. first Sunday of each month (except September, which will be second Sunday; and no meetings June, July, August), in Room 300 at Mercy Medical Center, 801 Fifth St. For more information, call Dick Lindblom at 251-2453. Siouxland Parkinson Disease Support Group, 1 p.m. fourth Monday of the month at Siouxland Center for Active Generations, 313 Cook St. For more information, call Sally Reinert at 402-987-3516. Sojourners, support group for families of persons with life-threatening illness, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, Room 416. For more information, call Marjorie Jarvill at 402-241-8637. South Sioux City Weight Support Group, 8:30 a.m. Wednesdays at St. Paul United Methodist Church, South Sioux City. For more information, call 494-1401 or 494-2133. Disabilities Resource Center of Siouxland, 520 Nebraska St., Suite 101: Women's Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Wednesday of the month; LGBT Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Friday of the month; Adult ADHD, 6 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; Advocacy Group, 1:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month. For more information, call 712-255-1065. Take Off Pounds Sensibly, group meetings various times, days and locations in Siouxland. For information on the chapter in your area, call 1-800-932-TOPS. Voice Disorder Support Group, meets as needed at Mercy Medical Center, Buena Vista Room. 712-279-2686. Women's Peer Support Group, in Wayne and South Sioux City, Neb., for those who have experienced domestic abuse. For more information, call the Wayne office at 402-375-4633 or 1-800-440-4633; in South Sioux City, call 402-494-7592. Help and support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Services free and confidential. Woodbury County D.M.D.A., noon-2 p.m. first Saturday of the month at Country Friendship Acres, 4501 West St.; 7-8 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at 515 Court St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at 441 W. Third St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at 409 W. Third St. in the Community Room. Support group for people with disabilities and mental disorders. Natural Mamas in Siouxland, 1 p.m., third Tuesday of each month in the Garretson room of the Morningside Public Library. All ages of children are welcome to come with moms. For sharing natural living tips, recipes, natural remedies and health, homemaking, mothering, etc. For more information, call 402-913-0038 or visit their Facebook page. A Step Beyond support group, 3:30 p.m. second Tuesday of the month, except for August, November and December when it meets at 5:30 p.m. (no meeting in January) at the Christy-Smith Resource Center, 1819 Morningside Ave. For more information, call 712-276-7319. Divorce care, 5 p.m., Sundays. Fireside room, Morningside Lutheran Church, 700 South Martha St. Gamblers Anonymous meetings, 4 p.m. Thursdays at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 315 Hamilton Blvd.; 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Morningside Presbyterian Church, 4327 Morningside Ave.; 7 p.m. Tuesdays, St. John Lutheran Church. 712-277-2901. Art therapy support group, 5:30 p.m. second Thursday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. Registration required, call 252-9387. After Breast Cancer Support Group, 5:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call Brenda, 252-9370. After Prostate Cancer Support Group, 5:15 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call 252-9426. Alzheimer's Association, Big Sioux Chapter Support Group, 2 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; 4 p.m. third Tuesday of the month (under age 65) at 201 Pierce St., Suite 110 (Famous Dave's building); and 6 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the Barnes and Noble Cafe. For more information, call Emily Lord at 712-279-5802. Christy-Smith Funeral Homes of Sioux City, extensive grief library at the Morningside location. Open to the public during weekday hours. For more information, call 276-7319. Chronic Pain/Chronic Illness Support Group, 7:30 p.m. fourth Wednesday of the month in the lower level of the Orange City Hospital. For more information, call 712-737-5260. Connections Area Agency on Aging, and Mercy Medical Centers Older Adult Services Welcome to Medicare, 1:30-4 p.m., the first Friday of every month at Connections Area Agency on Aging, 2301 Pierce St. To pre-register, or for more information, contact Connections Area Agency on Aging at 712-279-6900. VATICAN CITY Pope Francis urged Lutherans to set aside doctrinal differences and work with Catholics to care for the poor, the sick and refugees as he laid out his vision for greater communion before his visit to Sweden later this month. Francis greeted about 1,000 Lutherans who were visiting the Vatican on an ecumenical pilgrimage on Thursday. They had arrived in Rome from Germany, where Martin Luther famously sparked the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 theses to a church door to challenge the abuses of the Catholic Church. Francis will mark the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation with his Oct. 31-Nov. 1 visit to Sweden, where he will participate in an ecumenical service with the Lutheran World Federation. Like his predecessors, Francis has reached out to Protestants, Orthodox and other Christians to heal Christianity's divisions. But unlike his predecessors, Francis has said theological differences should be put aside so Christians can work together on issues of pressing social concern, including caring for the poor, the environment and helping Christians under assault in Iraq and Syria. "While the theologians work for dialogue in the doctrinal camp, it's up to you to search insistently for occasions to meet, know one another better, pray together and offer help for one another and all those in need," Francis told the delegation. Francis' outreach to the Lutherans, in particular, has been criticized as going too far. In November, he seemed to suggest a Lutheran woman married to a Catholic man could receive Communion, saying: "Speak with the Lord and go forward." WASHINGTON -- Five U.S. senators sent a letter to President Barack Obama Thursday asking that his administration halt construction of the Dakota Access pipeline proposed in Iowa and three other states until affected tribes are consulted and a full environmental review is conducted. The letter was signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. In light of the decision of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for a temporary halt to construction, the projects current permits should be suspended and all construction stopped until a complete environmental and cultural review has been completed for the entire project, the senators wrote. Over the past several weeks, hundreds of Native American tribes have mobilized to draw attention to the pipelines encroachment on sacred lands, bringing about a groundswell of opposition to the project. Until there has been full and meaningful tribal consultation, all pipeline permits and easements should be revoked or denied, the senators added in their joint letter. The federal Department of Justice, U.S. Department of the Interior and Army Corps of Engineers previously requested that the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, halt construction while an environmental and cultural impact review was conducted. The pipeline company declined to stop the project, and a federal circuit court gave a partial emergency injunction to halt construction. After hearing the full injunction argument, the court denied the Standing Rock Sioux tribes request to halt the project, a ruling that was affirmed Saturday by a federal appeals court. The senators made their appeal Thursday for Obama to order the Army Corps to conduct a full review of the pipeline. If there is one profound lesson that indigenous people have taught us, it is that all of us as human beings are part of nature, the senators wrote. We will not survive if we continue to destroy nature. Iowas U.S. senators did not agree with their colleagues, however. Asked if President Obama halt the pipelines construction, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said I think not. I consider pipelines more safe than travel by train because of all the accidents weve had. Its probably OK for us to review the processes in the Department of Interior and whatever the agencies are, including the Army Corps of Engineers but I dont know how you can retroactively go back once all this money was invested based on the government doing what it said. So No. 1, a federal judge has backed that up and secondly, based not on my judgment, but I have to have deference to the agencies of North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois that said it ought to move ahead. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, noted the federal government does not have jurisdiction over the siting of domestic oil pipelines like the Dakota Access project, saying it was approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, which imposed certain terms and conditions to protect landowners. In addition, she said, the Dakota Access project has followed all the appropriate guidelines as it relates to the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. Two courts now have denied the injunction requested by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Ernst added. In light of these facts, it is time for the White House and Senate Democrats to put an end to their big government intervention in matters that states and courts have the authority to resolve. Also Thursday, representatives of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sent a separate letter to the president highlight 19 U.S. city governments that have passed resolutions or written letters opposing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. To date, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been joined by millions of supporters from across the nation and world, more than 300 tribes and several members of Congress in its fight to stop construction of the 1,134-mile pipeline which threatens the Tribes lands, waters and sacred places. The pipeline threatens the lives of more than 17 million people who get their water from the Missouri River, said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Millions stand with us in opposition to this destructive pipeline. According to tribal officials, the Obama administration has several options, including denying all easements for the pipeline or declaring sacred lands along the pipeline route to be a cultural district eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. At a minimum, Archambault said, the tribe urges the administration to analyze all potential impacts of the proposed project, as well as alternatives to the proposal, to prepare a full environmental impact statement. Dakota Access, a Texas-based company, is in the process of building an underground pipeline slated to span 1,134 miles from the Bakken oil field in northwestern North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa, to a distribution hub in Illinois. Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Iowa along the 346 miles of pipeline crossing 18 counties from northwest to southeast. SIOUX CITY | The attorney for a man convicted of shooting a Sioux City police officer has requested a psychological evaluation of his client before he is sentenced. Matthew Metzgar said the evaluation could help District Judge Steven Andreasen determine Isaiah Mothershed's sentence. "An evaluation may assist the court and the (Iowa) Department of Corrections in determining the rehabilitative services available for purposes of determining an appropriate sentence in this matter," Metzgar said in his motion, filed Friday in Woodbury County District Court. Mothershed, 19, of Sioux City, was found guilty last week of two counts of attempted murder and four counts of first-degree robbery. His sentencing has been set for Nov. 15. Metzgar asked that the Department of Corrections perform a psychological evaluation of Mothershed as part of the regular presentence investigative report. Metzgar said that because of Mothershed's age, he could lack the same cognitive capabilities and decision-making abilities as an adult. "Research has shown the youth and the lack of cognitive development are factors in an individual's behavior," Metzgar said in his motion. After five days of trial testimony, a jury spent more than six hours to find Mothershed guilty of shooting Officer Ryan Moritz in the leg on Feb. 7 while waiting to be transported to jail after his arrest. Mothershed also was found guilty of taking part in a string of armed robberies and break-ins that occurred from Jan. 29 to Feb. 6 and firing a shot at a homeowner who interrupted a break-in. Mothershed faces a 25-year prison sentence on each count, but it will be up to District Judge Steven Andreasen to decide if they will be served at the same time or back-to-back, or some combination of the two. SIOUX CITY | Authorities continued Friday to search for a man who fled from officers Thursday, leading to the lockdown of two schools in Sioux City's Riverside neighborhood. Woodbury County Sheriff's Maj. Greg Stallman said Marcus Calmer is being sought on charges of second-degree theft, eluding, reckless driving and numerous traffic violations. The sheriff's office released a mugshot of Calmer taken about eight years ago and urged Sioux City residents to keep their cars locked. It's believed Calmer is from the Council Bluffs area. Stallman said that anyone who believes they have spotted Calmer should call 911. At about 11:30 a.m. Thursday along Interstate 29, a deputy attempted to stop a car that had been reported stolen in Council Bluffs. The car continued onto the Riverside exit and stopped at a Casey's store, where a woman jumped out. The car continued to Billy Boy Drive Thru, 2328 Riverside Blvd., where the driver jumped out and fled on foot. Woodbury County deputies and Sioux City Police officers searched for him with a K-9 until the dog lost the scent. Sacred Heart Elementary, 5010 Military Road, went under "lockout" around 11:30 a.m. after school officials saw law enforcement vehicles in the vicinity. Students at Riverside Elementary, 2303 Riverside Blvd., were also initially brought indoors from recess when news of the pursuit reached school officials. The female passenger in the car was not arrested. MERRILL, Iowa | A high-speed chase through rural Plymouth County late Thursday led authorities to several other stolen vehicles and the arrest of seven juveniles from Sioux City on theft charges. Two juveniles were taken into custody after the chase, which reached speeds in excess of 115 mph. At about 9:30 p.m., an Iowa State Patrol trooper spotted a car reported as stolen on Iowa Highway 12 north of Stone State Park in Plymouth County. When the trooper attempted to stop the car, the driver fled north, according to an Iowa State Patrol news release. The pursuit turned east onto Plymouth County Road C-38, and Plymouth County Sheriff's deputies and Akron Police joined the pursuit near the intersection of county roads C-38 and K-18. The car stopped about two miles east of the intersection of county roads C-38 and K-22 after a Plymouth County Sheriff's deputy deployed stop sticks in the intersection. The female driver and a passenger were taken into custody. According to the State Patrol, the driver, 17, was charged with second-degree theft, felony eluding, driving while license suspended and numerous traffic violations. The passenger, a 16-year-old male, was charged with second-degree theft. According to the state patrol, during the follow-up investigation, deputies went to a home at 23146 K-22 and found a 2000 GMC stolen from Brunsville, Iowa, a 2011 Polaris Razor utility vehicle stolen from Nebraska and a 2015 Polaris Ranger utility vehicle stolen from Sioux City. At about 5 a.m. Friday, a Plymouth County deputy saw a vehicle known to be stolen turn into the same rural residence. When he tried to make contact, the occupants fled the vehicle, a 2013 Ford Fusion stolen in Akron, Iowa. The other juveniles, whose names have not been released, were arrested on first- and second-degree theft charges. PIERSON, Iowa | Kingsley-Pierson Middle School went into a lockout as authorities searched for a 38-year old man that was wanted for aggravated assault. Woodbury County Sheriff's Office Maj. Todd Wieck said deputies responded to a call for a disturbance at 10:30 a.m. Friday at 709 First St. in Pierson. According to a press release, the suspect, Dustin Duncan, left the residence prior to deputies arriving. Duncan was located a short time later and taken into custody. During the search of the neighborhood, Kingsley-Pierson Middle School was notified for safety reasons. Kingsley-Pierson superintendent Scott Bailey said that after receiving notification from the sheriff's office, they kept fifth- and sixth-graders inside for recess and went into a lockout, so people couldn't get in. Bailey said parents were notified via email. About a half an hour later, the school was notified that the suspect was in custody and they resumed normal operations. Wieck said there were no injuries in the incident. Duncan is booked in the Woodbury County Jail. SOUTH SIOUX CITY | South Sioux City Police are looking for two males after multiple gunshots were fired outside of a South Sioux City home early Friday morning. Officer Brian Van Berkum said authorities received numerous calls that gunshots were fired outside of a home in the 700 block of B Street shortly after 12 a.m. Friday. Van Berkum said there were people inside of the house, including two children, when the incident took place. "There are no injuries at this time," he said. After talking with witnesses, Van Berkum said three shots were fired from the front lawn or from the street. He did not know which direction the bullets were traveling. Van Berkum said no bullet holes or gun shells were found as police searched the scene for almost two hours. But during the search, a gun shell casing that had not been fired was found, and a handgun was found inside of the home. Van Berkum would not release if there was an altercation that caused the incident. Authorities carried assault weapons during the search, "for our own protection," Van Berkum said. Van Berkum would only release that police are looking for two males in connection with the gunshots. "We have an idea of who it is," Van Berkum said. The incident is under investigation. SIOUX CITY | Bruce Gerard "Fred" Streeter, 48, of Sioux City passed away unexpectedly Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. Memorial services will be 7 p.m. Friday at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel, 3220 Stone Ave., in Sioux City, with Deacon Craig Wickey officiating. Graveside services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday in St. Joseph Cemetery, Salix, Iowa. Visitation with the family will be 6 p.m. until service time Friday at the funeral home. Bruce was born on Sept. 15, 1968, in Sioux City, to Richard and Dora (Skip) Streeter. He grew up in Sloan, Iowa, where he attended school until moving to Brownwood,Texas, where he graduated high school. He served in the U.S. Army from 1991 to 1994. Bruce and Katrina met in 2006 and married in October 2011. He had six children, who he loved and enjoyed spending time with. He worked in construction for many years, most recently driving heavy equipment for Ames Construction. Bruce enjoyed fishing, working on cars, playing games with his kids,working out and food. Bruce liked World War II documentaries and movies. He had an amazing sense of humor and he loved to laugh and make others laugh. Bruce had a big heart especially when it came to family and friends. Bruce was a jack-of-all trades. Bruce is survived by his wife, Katrina; his father, Richard Streeter; daughters, Savannah (Hoyle) Heinsohn, Chelsea (Nick) Galletto, and Jordyn, Khaleesi; sons, Riley and Gavin; brothers, Steve and Brian; and a sister, Terri (Mike) Steuland; and many nieces, nephews and friends. Bruce is preceded in death by his mother; brother, Mike; two aunts; his grandparents; and his special friend, Ron Holdgrafer. A benefit account has been set up by the family at Siouxland Federal Credit Union to help with funeral expenses. Norman Eastman, 79, was pronounced dead at Spencer Hospital, according to a news release from the Clay County Sheriff's Office. According the the sheriff's office, Eastman was driving east on Iowa Highway 10 near Peterson at about 7:30 a.m. Friday when he lost control of his 2014 Dodge Ram pickup truck and entered the south ditch and field before striking a utility pole. Scott Sidles, 54, entered his written plea Thursday in Dickinson County District Court to attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, reckless use of a firearm, willful injury and assault with a dangerous weapon. According to court documents, on Oct. 2, Sidles was standing in his driveway in the 1200 block of Fargo Avenue when he fired a .22-caliber pistol at his next-door neighbor, who was sitting in a chair on her patio. The shot struck the woman in the leg. Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar. Coffee and Conversation with Congressman Steve King Attendees will be able to have a discussion on health, wellness and workforce policy with the Congressman. The health discussion is open from 9:30-10:30 a.m. to all Iowans at the Public Museum. Visit siouxcitymuseum.org for additional information. ARTilicious 2016 ARTilicious returns from 5-8 p.m. at the Sioux City Art Center! This popular event combines the culinary talents, wine and beer offerings of Hy-Vee Food Stores of Sioux City with the artistry of the Sioux City Art Center. Tickets are $25. Visit siouxcityartcenter.org for additional information. Murder Mystery on the Mezz This interactive performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. on the mezzanine of the Sioux City Community Theatre, as guests are asked to put on their detective hats and immerse themselves into the action. Adult tickets are $18. Visit scctheatre.org for additional information. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- If I were to distill a recent public discussion about the state of our nation to one word, it would be "worried." Not fearful, not angry, but worried -- about the future; about an election season that has made evil-clown sightings seem weirdly apt; but mostly about what will happen after the election. How do we mend the deep divisions that have evolved during this thoroughly nasty -- and, at times, X-rated -- campaign season? How does the country salve its wounds and reunite in common purpose? Audience members here at the Poynter Institute's "Community Conversation," at which I was invited to speak recently, posed these and other questions. The 150 or so attendees were a cross-spectrum mix of students, professionals, retirees and a few notables -- a diverse group, in other words, with no protesters, rabble-rousers or armed combatants in search of a revolution. The latter may have been occupied in nearby Lakeland, where Donald Trump had pronounced a global conspiracy against him the day before. Clinton supporters at the Poynter event told me privately that they were afraid to put "Hillary" signs in their yards for fear of retribution, not from roaming vandals but from once-friendly neighbors. My suggestion that this campaign was reminiscent of the run-up to the Iraq War, when politically opposite friends avoided each other, was received with nods of agreement. Whether for Trump or Clinton, neither side can conceive of what compels the other. In this duplex of horrors, Clinton is a corrupt, lying, hypocritical career politician and Trump is a sleazy, lying, narcissistic, autocratic, (alleged) sexual predator. Ne'er the twain shall meet. Once the votes are counted, who knows what's next? President Obama's final two months may require his coolest touch yet. Meanwhile, the questions posed here did not readily present answers. What's needed, I posited half-seriously, is a superhero. Someone to rise from the marshes and cut through the fog of our discontent, someone who can summon our better angels and help restore the country's self-respect. At least for now, one is optimistic without reason. We can know with near certainty that a defeated Donald Trump will unleash the armies of Mordor, comprised of a fan base that will embrace his dark conspiracy theory that the election was rigged. To their minds, his loss couldn't possibly be linked to a very long list of objectionable, as well as dishonest, statements he's made, only one of which is the sex-talk video we needn't view again. Talking dirty has become the new normal, as anyone walking down a city street can confirm. And the objectification of women isn't remotely limited to Trump's warped view. As disgusting as Trump's verbal (and possibly physical) assaults have been -- and, yes, hurtful, too, as Michelle Obama so passionately said last week -- a certain contingent of his supporters are reluctantly willing to overlook the nastiness for the sole reason that they dislike Clinton more. Others aspire to loftier goals, such as preventing a liberal Supreme Court or reducing the tax burden with an eye toward economic growth. These are certainly legitimate reasons. But Trump's willingness to pave the way for a "revolution" were Clinton to win should be sufficient evidence that this man isn't fit for the office. To what extent are Trump sympathizers willing to express their disappointment? Well, who knows? But many will have seen the interview with a woman at a Trump rally last week who said she and her comrades are prepared to take their country back, cheerfully reminding the interviewer that "you're in the South. We're all Second Amendment pros." Is she talking about a well-regulated militia, perchance? This is the mindset Trump has nurtured these past many months. These are the people he will summon at the end. These are the reasons the less-emotionally taut are so worried. More worrisome still is the opposite result: What if Trump wins? We can presume that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be delighted, his possible WikiLeaks alliance having paid off. North Korea's Kim Jong Un, who has called Trump a "wise politician," will order extra platters of chicken wings to celebrate. As the Japanese proverb goes: When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends. Remember, too, that Trump has vowed as president to make it easier for people to sue the media, which, constitutionally, he can't. But as all authoritarian figures tend to do, Trump has to blame someone else for his failures. The media are handy bait for the credulous and misinformed. Don't be afraid, but be worried. Not since George and Martha in the play "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" or for older readers Don Ameche and Frances Langford in the radio comedy "The Bickersons," have we seen the kind of verbal pugilism practiced in Sunday night's presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. If the business of Trump's lewd language about women caught on tape 11 years ago and Bill Clinton's sexual history with Hillary enabling him in the trashing of his conquests could be set aside, only the issues would remain, and wouldn't that be good? Sunday night, Clinton recycled the familiar Democrat playbook that the wealthy aren't paying their "fair share" in taxes, when the real issue is that government already receives record amounts in tax money, but misspends much of it and never seems to have enough. Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) has closely followed Clinton's shifting tax positions. In the debate, Clinton said she "only" wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, not the middle class. ATR notes she has said just the opposite on many occasions. It calculates that if all of her tax proposals are enacted, it would cost taxpayers $1 trillion over 10 years and gives the following examples: She has said she would not veto a payroll tax hike on all Americans should such a bill reach her desk and would set aside her pledge not to boost taxes on middle-income earners. She wants a tax on sodas that ATR estimates would add $2.16 per 12-pack. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) charged this would violate her pledge to protect the middle class from tax hikes: "Frankly, I am very surprised that Secretary Clinton would support this regressive tax after pledging not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. This proposal violates her pledge." Other tax increases include a national gun tax of 25 percent, a 65 percent "death tax," which ATR notes she wouldn't have to pay because of the way she has arranged her finances. She wants to raise the current capital gains tax from 23.8 percent to 43.4 percent, which would harm investments and stifle capital creation. She would not lower the corporate tax rate, which Trump has pledged to do, even though the U.S. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, which has driven many businesses overseas. And, like President Obama, she is an enemy of the coal industry, despite her claims to be friendly toward it in Sunday's debate. Her campaign chief, John Podesta, has left the door open to a carbon tax, saying if Congress passes such a measure "we'll take a look at it." Trump purports to favor school choice, which is an essential tool for escaping poverty and would do more than any federal anti-poverty program to help poor children obtain a good education. Hillary Clinton claims to favor school choice, but only as far as publicly funded charter schools. Since she and many Democrats receive political contributions from teachers unions, it's unlikely she'll let poor children escape failing schools. In the latest debate she tried to claim credit for all she has done for children, but what she has not done by refusing to support school vouchers, which allow parents to use public funds to pay for some or all of their child's private school tuition, overcomes whatever good she may have accomplished. Rumors are swirling about opposition researchers offering to pay employees of Trump's NBC program "The Apprentice" for recordings of other lewd things he might have said to further distract from the issues. The hypocrisy meter is in hyper drive when you consider that some of the same Democrats condemning Trump said of Bill Clinton's numerous affairs "its just about sex" and had nothing to do with his performance as president. These are people who still hold John F. Kennedy in high regard, despite his long list of women with whom he had sex, including secreting some into the White House. This won't be the end of the revelations about Trump, anything to divert attention from Hillary's real positions on the real issues that matter most to Americans. If we must have bickering, how about bickering over something important? As a woman, I find Donald Trumps comments 11 years ago vulgar and totally unacceptable. As bad as this objectification of women is, I find Hillary Clinton's stand on abortion on demand abhorrent to the conscience. It is Americas holocaust. I believe the importance of putting originalist Supreme Court justices on the court is of utmost importance, far above Trumps sexist comments. The culture of the Supreme Court will influence America for generations to come; if it becomes fully liberal, this country will never recover. Hillary wants open borders, single-payer health care, higher taxation, expanded government, more debt. This is an election where the electorate must be very clear about their highest values. With two very flawed candidates, values must govern the vote. Hillary has proven she does not honor the rule of law as she has flagrantly abused the law over her entire political career. She proves there are two Americas: one that the powerful have access to and the one that the average American is subject to. Hillary has received unprecedented protection from prosecution at the highest levels of government. This will only continue if she is elected. Republican platforms represent more closely the founding fathers principles including honoring God as Creator. The Democrats took God out of their platform. Democrats do not honor sanctity of life, parental rights in their childs education choices, religious freedom, freedom of speech (they have attempted to censor conservative thought), right to bear arms or enforcing immigration laws. Be careful what you wish for. - Linda Holub, Dakota Dunes, S.D. Chinese and Indian representatives attended press and publication activities in New Delhi on Thursday ahead of President Xi Jinping's upcoming trip to India, in an attempt to cultivate closer exchanges between the two peoples. Among the activities was the launch of the China Books Editorial Department and an exhibit of China-themed books copublished by Chinese and Indian publishers. More than 100 people attended the exhibit, including Tuo Zhen, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; and Cheng Guangzhong, minister-counselor of the Chinese embassy in India. Xi, who is currently in Cambodia for a state visit, will attend the eighth BRICS Summit in Goa, India, on Saturday and Sunday, according to Li Baodong, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs. A project designed to introduce Chinese books abroad, the China Books Editorial Department works for cooperation with publishers in countries outside China to publish books focusing on China. The establishment of the editorial department in India aims to distribute more quality China-themed books that will help the Indian people understand the country better. Also on Thursday, representatives from Chinese and Indian news media, including China Daily, attended a dialogue discussing issues including strengthening news cooperation and the development of new media. Attendees from both sides said they will strive to cover the BRICS Summit well, including activities that will be attended by the Chinese president. They also expressed hope of contributing to the development of China-India ties, and promoting friendship between the two countries. Chinese broadcasting companies signed deals with their Indian counterparts during the activities. Chinese and Indian media have pursued exchanges in recent years to improve mutual understanding. Forums attended by media chiefs and scholars in 2013 and 2015, jointly sponsored by China's State Council Information Office and the Indian Foreign Ministry, are one example. China Central Television contributed to this story. The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. * Patients in these states do not have access to medical marijuana. (Chart by Katishi Maake and Jake Eisenberg. Data source: ProCon.org) ANNAPOLIS (Oct. 13, 2016)While Maryland is on pace to have one of the slowest rollouts of medical marijuana in the country, patients across the state must skirt the law if they want to treat themselves.It has been more than 900 days since former Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the bill legalizing medical marijuana in the state.Dispensaries are anticipated to open by next summer, but legal fights with the Natalie M. LaPrade Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission over licenses to grow the plant has many concerned that access will keep patients waiting longer.One company that applied for a growing license but was denied has filed suit against the commission, with two others planning to do so, all saying the licensing process was unfair and improper.And the Legislative Black Caucus, concerned about a lack of minority ownership among preliminary licensees, plans to introduce emergency legislation in the next General Assembly session calling for the commission to restart the process.While state officials grapple with who should grow, process and sell the drug, some Maryland patients are sufferingor medicating themselves outside the law."I was 26 years old before I tried pot for the first time, and it was strictly as pain management," said Rachel Perry-Crook, executive director of Maryland NORML, an organization that promotes marijuana legalization.Perry-Crook, now 30, said she has used marijuana for four years to help alleviate pain from a number of different ailments, including undergoing four back surgeries and a spinal fusion. She has a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, she said, that causes hypermobility, leaving her body in constant pain.She said she turned to marijuana after years of taking a prescription opioid medication meant to treat severe pain."I was taking Dilaudid for yearsvery high dosages of Dilaudid to the point where it would put a lot of people in a coma," Perry-Crook told the University of Maryland's Capital News Service. "I looked at myself one day and I realized I was going to turn into a junkie if I didn't find something else to manage my pain."The state granted pre-approval to 15 processors and 15 growers in August.Medical cannabis producer Green Thumb Industries-Maryland, based in Prince George's County, filed a lawsuit against the commission on Sept. 19. The company said it was on the list of 15 pre-approved growers in July, then subsequently and unfairly removed when the ranking process was changed to factor in the geographic diversity of the applicants."The path we're pursuing now is a last resort; we feel like we've exhausted all other remedies," Pete Kadens, CEO of GTI-Maryland, said during a press conference late last month. "The last thing we want to do is further distress sick patients."A little more than a week later, another rejected grower, Maryland Cultivation and Processing, petitioned to join the lawsuit, which was filed in the Baltimore City Circuit Court.Additionally, members of the state's Legislative Black Caucus, among others, have also taken issue with the lack of racial diversity among the 30 pre-approved processors and growers."We are not going to let anybody get licenses under the scenario that exists now," state Delegate Cheryl Glenn, D-Baltimore said during a Legislative Black Caucus meeting on Oct. 6.Alternative Medicine Maryland, which is majority African-American owned, was also denied a license by the commission. The group will file a lawsuit in the coming weeks demanding the commission stop the licensing process and mandate racial diversity, according to John Pica, an attorney for the group."Sometimes I wonder if our application was even reviewed," Pica said. "African-American companies have been stiff-armed in this industry."Some industry advocates are concerned that the legal battles, though valid, will mean sick patients are left waiting for even longer."We are very concerned with the lack of diversity that is in the current pre-approvals," said Kate Bell, legislative counsel with the Marijuana Policy Project, a cannabis advocacy group. "But we have to remember thatfundamentallythis is about protecting sick patients."On April 14, 2014, Maryland joined the 25 states and Washington, D.C., to legalize medical marijuana. Of the three states that passed the legislation in 2014, Maryland is the only one where patients do not yet have legal access to cannabis.The commission plans to administer patient cards six months prior to the anticipated opening of dispensaries, according to its website.Mike Liszewski, government affairs director for Americans for Safe Access, said Maryland is taking longer than most states to bring medical marijuana to its patients. While he predicts patients will be able to receive legal medicine by mid to late 2017, he said additional lawsuits and injunctions could push that back further.Hawaii's June 2000 medical marijuana law allowed patients to use and cultivate the plant with a doctor's prescription. The state approved an amendment in July 2015 that allowed dispensaries to open in July 2016only one year later, according to the Hawaii Department of Health's website.States such as Nevada and Vermont also did not have dispensaries available from the onset but did allow patients with registry cards to legally grow marijuana for treatment."If patients were allowed to cultivate their own medicine (in Maryland), you wouldn't have patients waiting and suffering," Liszewski said. "Our organization is trying to get to a solution that has the dispensaries opening up as soon as possible."A 2011 amendment to Vermont's 2004 medical marijuana legislation established dispensaries that are permitted to both cultivate and distribute the drug. In Maryland, growers and dispensaries must be separate businesses, an extra layer of bureaucracy.The 30 pre-approved growers and processors are in the second stage of the licensing process where they must undergo background checks, inspections and prove financial competency.Preliminary, or stage one, approval of dispensaries is forthcoming, according to the commission.Liszewski said removing statutory and regulatory caps that restrict the number of growers and processors permitted under law could alleviate the grievances regarding geographic diversity and promote greater competition within the industry.Perry-Crook says the legislature needs to diversify the pool of applicants and review county-level zoning provisions that do not allow growing, processing or vending in commercial areas. She said these provisions restrict patients' access to marijuana since they may have to travel farther receive it."The supply is not going to meet the demand with how things are laid out right now," Perry-Crook said. WASHINGTON (Oct. 13, 2016)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract award that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awarded a not-to-exceedfirm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II full-rate production Lots 5 through 7 in support of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, and governments of Iraq, Lebanon, Netherlands, Jordan, and Australia under the Foreign Military Sales program. This effort will include WGU-59/B units to upgrade the current 2.75-inch rocket system to a semi-active laser guided precision weapon. Work will be performed in Nashua, New Hampshire (70 percent); and Austin, Texas (30 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2018. Funds will not be obligated at time of award. Funding will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c) (1). The, is the contracting activity (N00019-17-D-5517). Tuesday was National Coming Out Day and transgender actress Laverne Cox celebrated by pledging her support for Hillary Clinton in no uncertain terms. What we see unfortunately in the Republican Party, what we see on a policy level, is a party that has consistently tried to disenfranchise people of color, disenfranchise working people, LGBT people, take away womens control over their bodies, and that is just something I cant support, Cox said in a commercial shared on Clintons Twitter. There are so many things that are working to divide us and pull us apart, but we always have to fight. Then, Coxs message shifted from Americas divide to the importance of voting, officially announcing her backing of Clinton. I would tell any of my friends who want to sit on the sidelines that your voice matters, your vote matters, she said. Im supporting Hillary Clinton and I want to encourage everyone to get out and vote. For me, Hillary Clinton is the only candidate running for President who is going to really fight for us. In Florida, the last day to register to vote is Oct 18. Voting begins on Nov. 8. Click here to watch the video. While Alyssa Edwards may call herself a lovely fifth alternative, she is by far, one of the most popular queens to ever hit the main stage on RuPauls Drag Race. It was no surprise that fans were thrilled to see her name on the list of queens returning for redemption when RuPauls Drag Race All Stars was announced, and during her time on the show, she did not disappoint. Sadly, Edwards was eliminated on last weeks show...or was she? The final scene showed all eliminated queens (including Edwards) returning for another possible shot at the crown. I sat down for a chat with Alyssa to talk about her All Stars 2 experience, her dance company Beyond Belief and what she thinks Drag Race has done for the community. Right off the bat Alyssa, you must know that there were three gay men in this house before this interview literally trying to tongue pop exactly like Alyssa Edwards. (Laughs) Well its good that you boys have something to be tongue poppin about! We were very sad to see you eliminated this week on RuPauls Drag Race All Stars 2 I know. I was thankful for the moment and the opportunity, but Ill be honest there was a big part of me that was devastated. But you know what? I could look in the mirror and say you did that and that I was happy with. What made you want to go back for another crack at the crown after such a strong season on Season Five? I had so many reasons why I wanted to revisit Season Five. Season Five I left with regrets, and Im not a person that has ever regretted anything. I got back and then I watched and re-evaluated, and then I thought to myself that I totally could have done new things. I was reserved and my biggest critic and my biggest competition. I had to say to myself Justin you are your biggest fan and you have been your whole life. If you get that opportunity, baby, pack them bags, and thats what I did. I felt like I delivered from the talent show, to the Joan Crawford, to the Annie Oakley, I felt like I was doin my gig! Many people thought you were going to be the queen to take the entire competition! Well, you never know, if you saw the end of the last episode, its not over just yet! Speaking of, were you surprised at the twist that brought all of you back to the workroom for your revenge? Very much so. For me, I thought Ashton Kutcher was going to be around the corner or something. I mean, there were so many twists and turns coming at is, I thought I was about to be pranked, whats going on?! Were you surprised at the girls that joined you on the All Stars 2 cast or were there some girls that you really expected to see that werent there? I think both really. I didnt know Tatiana since she was from Season 2 and there were a couple of girls that I was surprised not to see, but overall the cast was very strong, there were just ten of us. The biggest surprise to me was that there were five season five girls. You took the platform that RuPauls Drag Race gave you and have truly made something of it and developed it into your own brand. Is it still mind boggling that you are reaching that many people on your web series Alyssas Secret? Most definitely. When World of Wonder called me and told me to come in and be camera ready, I was like ok. When I got there and RuPaul himself was there it was like ok youre in the principals office. I sat on this chair in front of a green screen and I felt like I was being interrogated. Ru asked me about my first date and I told him it was this Cajun guy that I had been dating and he tried to take me to Red Lobster and I was real confused. I started rambling and they all started giggling. The next thing I know, its on the internet. Now I look and I love that this many people get into this Monday gig, its a laugh, its a good little laugh. You recently had a piece in the Dallas Observer on Beyond Belief, your dance company and it was a great way to see the other side of your career. Is it sometimes odd to you that people are becoming as interested in your life as a teacher as much as your life as Alyssa Edwards? No its not, I am so glad the world is seeing that. The pride and joy of my life is Beyond Belief. Its my greatest accomplishment and my greatest reward. I am happy that I am getting to share some of that. I have heard you speak about the parents at the studio and they are so supportive of you and your career as Alyssa Edwards correct? Yes, 100%. If theyre not, they just dont comment at all. I am so blessed over here. I was scared, I didnt know how people would take all that. Its in Mesquite, I mean, I went to West Mesquite High School, Home of the Fighting Wranglers. I didnt know how those people would feel. I didnt want my work as a choreographer to be judged by my alternative lifestyle Thats one other thing that I am so thankful to RuPauls Drag Race for. Its like that taboo of what a drag queen is, its really being wiped away. This movement that RuPaul, and World of Wonder and Logo have allowed is just giving people a whole new outlook on the art that we are doing. I think that many dont take it as seriously as the true form of art that female impersonation is. Absolutely. The whole thing about art also is that its subjective. What more do you want to do as Alyssa Edwards? I think my book of life is written, its just now being read out loud. I am enjoying this chapter right now. I know its going to get really good, you know you can just feel it building up? I am enjoying this ride; Im just going with it. Im excited! I cannot finish an Alyssa Edwards interview without you showing me how to do the patented Alyssa Edwards tongue pop! I made this Alyssas Secret video to show people how to do it, but you gotta practice it, because it is hard. Ok, you gotta put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and, like in the video, pull it down, but youre sucking in air. POP! Once you perfect that you can add in the lips or the hands to give it some character! Remember its not personal its just drag. And thank you to all of you for your support! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyssa_Edwards Wed, 26.10.22 - 12:09 Another blast of heat at the end of the month is likely to break the record in Spain With only a few days left in... We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. Weve all heard of a coffee pop-up. But how about a coffee pop-up without caffeine? Swiss Water Coffee have launched a new space in Venice, California offering exactly that: a coffee bar without any caffeine buzz. This is their second such pop-up, following last years similar pop in New York. That event was met with a dubious viral gnashing and wailing: the Washington Post declared that the event provoked horror; outrage while QZ, the millennial-focused web version of The Atlantic, asked its readers,Who needs this? Will Angelenos react with the same outrage? We doubt ittheres nothing wrong with decaf, honestly, and in a health-conscious city like LA an experiment like this one should be much more welcome. But who can say? Decaf coffee is nothing new; coffee drinkers around the world have been sipping Sanka since the early 1900s. At Swiss Water, the goal is to produce a cup of decaffeinated coffee using a source material that is delicious, which is why Swiss work with many of the best coffee producers around the world to develop their offerings. They do this with their internally developed Green Coffee Extract (GCE) caffeine removal methodit results in a cup of coffee thats 99.9% caffeine free. You can make this decaf as a pour-over, or an espresso, or whatever; Swiss Waters goal is for the flavor to remain while whisking away the caffeine. The LA edition of Swiss Waters pop-up runs from October 14 to the 24th, and its happening right in the epicenter of Venice on Abbot Kinney, at the Heresy Brand design space. Sprudge attended an opening night soiree alongside other invited media, and it was quite a scene: a DJ dropped beats, hors doeuvres were passed, and coffee drinks went fast, including Verve Coffee espresso shots from a La Marzocco Strada and filter coffee via Chemex. And whats this? Yes, not one to miss out on the zeitgeist, a slate of Stumptown decaf cold brews were also servedincluding a decaf nitro edition. There were food and drink pairings across the space, the doings of noted chef Ella Freyinger and cocktail gadabout Matthew Biancaniello, who will be leading a series of food & coffee pairing ticketed events later in the week. Think cheese and charcuterie plates with coffee infused jams, duck rillettes with espresso powder, whipped espresso butter, and even polenta squares topped with a cold brew coffee mushroom demi-glace. All delicious, all fabulous. #CoffeeWithoutCaffeine is the slogan and hashtag for the event in LAif you follow LA food media this is surely already trending across your devices. If you cant attend the event personally, we advise you to keep up with Swiss Water Coffee happenings on Facebook and Instagram. Come early, stay lateits not the caffeine thats got your heart racing, darling, its the glamour. The Swiss Water Coffee LA pop-up happens October 14 to the 24th and is open 10am to 10pm. The event is located at Heresy Brand (1421 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA) Tatiana Ernst contributed to this reporting. All photos by Tatiana Ernst for Sprudge Media Network. Sprudge Media Network is proudly partnered with Swiss Water Coffee. Dakhla (Sahrawi Camps), October 13, 2016 (SPS) - The celebration of the 41st anniversary of the National Saharawi Unity conveys a message that nothing can undermine Western Sahara people's will and determination to meet their "lofty and noble goals," Front Polisario's secretary general, Brahim Gali, said Wednesday in the Dakhla Saharawi refugee camp. "Saharawi people will persevere in their struggle, political activism and loyalty to their martyrs, using every legitimate means, and unified under the leadership of the Polisario Front, with a view to snatching their right to existence and freedom and to establishing an independent state over the entire Western Sahara territory," Saharawi President Brahim Ghali said in a ceremony opening the festivities of the 41st anniversary of the National Unity. Gali called on the international community to "take serious and urgent actions" to put an end to the sufferings of Saharawi people and dismantle Africa's last colony (Western Sahara). The Polisario chief urged the UN Security Council to "assume responsibility" in the implementation of its own resolutions regarding the holding of a referendum on Saharawi people's self-determination. The Saharawis are a people who love peace, understanding and coexistence, Gali said. The Polisario leader stressed the importance of "abiding by international legitimacy and respecting Western Sahara people's right to self-determination and independence, so that they live with the peoples of the region, including Moroccan people, in mutual respect, cooperation and on neighbourly terms."SPS 125/090/700 Rookies rolled into Mohawk Racetrack for a four-pack of Autumn Series events Thursday evening, with colt and gelding trotters sparring in a set of divisions and colt and gelding pacers going at it in the other two splits. Scene A Magician blew away the foes he faced in his $16,000 trotting assignment. Jack Moiseyev got away second with the Jennifer Pinkerton pupil, but he had him on the move to claim the top spot just as the opening quarter flashed up in :28.3. On the lead through middle panels of :58.2 and 1:28.1, the son of Daylon Magician-Scene Duharas then used a :29.3 kicker to win by six lengths in 1:57.4. LMC Mass Gem was next best, with Noble Prize rallying to finish third. It was the third victory in six starts for the gelding who is owned by Pinkerton and partners Daylon Farms Ltd of Komoka, Ont. and Gordon Yeo of Calgary, AB. The $8,000 payday bumped his bankroll to $41,020. Vesuvio Bi was a popular winner over the trotting foes he faced off with in the second division. The son of Manofmanymissions-Palm Beach trotted to the front and hit the quarter pole in :29 before taking a pocket trip behind Charmbo Chrome through middle splits of :58.2 and 1:28.4. Mario Baillargeon had Vesuvio Bi back out and driving after the lead as the field travelled to the three-quarter pole, and a :29.2 closing panel was more than enough for the colt to seal the deal. He won by three lengths over Charmbo Chrome in 1:58.2. Rounding out the top three finishers was Resita. Martin Lachance trains the rookie for Lachance Racing Stable of Millstone Twp, NJ and Dan Mogridge of Hillsdale, Ont. It was the first win in two tries for the youngster who pushed his earnings to $9,120 with the victory. Next up were the pacing colts and geldings, and Mach Deja Vu led things off with a two-length triumph in front-stepping fashion for driver Chris Christoforou. The Dany Fontaine pupil sprinted to the lead from Post 5, and the gelding successfully whacked out fractions of :28.1, :57.1 and 1:26.2 before kicking home in :29.1 to defeat Osborne Seelster in 1:55.3. Tremendous Play rounded out the Trifecta ticket in the $16,000 affair. It was a maiden-breaking win for the son of Mach Three-Shannon Deja Vu, who is owned by Ecurie Gaetan Bono Inc of Montreal, QC. The freshman has banked $22,047 to date. Dreamfair B J blew away the competition in the second division. Billy Davis, Jr. picked up the live catch-drive on the gelding, and the son of Big Jim-Dreamfair Orchid responded with a career-best clocking of 1:54 in the six-length score. Davis got away sixth with the Pat Fletcher pupil while Trident Seelster marched to the top and fired past the quarter pole in :27.1. Dreamfair B J started a first-over rally in the backstretch, and he sprinted to the lead shortly after the half-mile marker flashed up in :57.2. Dreamfair B J cruised past the three-quarter pole in 1:26 before storming home in :28 en route to thumping race favourite Bills Fella and third-place finisher Brave World. John Lamers of Ingersoll, Ont. bred and owns the rookie who improved his record to 2-1-1 from eight starts. Hes banked more than $28,000 in his career. To view results for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Results Mohawk Racetrack. RUS America and Friends of Maryland Standardbreds is pleased to announce that Racing Under Saddle will be coming to Rosecroft Raceway on Tuesday, November 15 as a non-wagering event conducted between races on the evening program. Over the past three years, RUS has been contested at Ocean Downs and the race will be the first RUS event at Rosecroft during this period. RUS events have been very popular at Ocean Downs and RUS America is pleased to bring racing under saddle to Rosecroft, said Clarissa Coughlin, a director of FOMS and board member of RUS America. We thank the Stronach Group in allowing RUS to compete over the legendary Rosecroft oval and based on the response we received at Ocean Downs this past July, Rosecroft fans will be in for quite a treat. Horsemen with trotters able to compete under saddle have a rare opportunity to compete in two RUS events over a period of 10 days. Rosecrofts race is a perfect follow-up to the November 5 race at the Meadowlands and we invite them to come down to compete afterwards, Coughlin continued. For fans, not only will they be able to watch Standardbreds race under saddle, they will have an opportunity to meet RUS riders at a meet and greet. The purse is expected to go for an estimated $5,000. The exact conditions of the race remain to be determined. Conditions will be posted on the RUS America website under the horsemens section as soon as they become available and will be available on the Rosecroft condition sheet at the appropriate time. Any questions regarding the Rosecroft Race should be directed to Clarissa Coughlin at [email protected] . (RUS America) Peterborough, Ont.-based horseman Per Henriksen, lauded for his expertise with trotters, will make a rare appearance at The Raceway at Western Fair District with a horse that is the perfect example of why he is called the fixer. Countless trainers, frustrated with trotters who refused to trot, have sent Henriksen their problem horses over the years. One of the latest is the three-year-old trotting colt St James Gate. A son of Majestic Son, the horse had two trainers prior to heading to Henriksens barn a couple of months ago. As a two-year-old, he made three qualifying attempts and broke stride and was distanced in each one. He headed to a new barn for his sophomore season which saw him attempt to qualify five times, all with the exact result: a miscue at some point in the mile. Per worked with the horse and his first charted line without a break anywhere in the mile came in a qualifying race at Mohawk on September 6 where Henriksen drove him to a fifth-place finish. It was the horses first start for Henriksen. St James Gate made his first pari-mutuel start on September 28 at Grand River Raceway where he won with Henriksen in the bike in 2:02. Hell make his second career start Friday night at The Raceway at Western Fair District where hes drawn Post 5 in the first race. Jeff Ruch of Innisfil and Alan Richardson of Kirkfield, Ont. bred and own the trotter, who is a full brother to $353,000 winner Rock Of Cashel. This is just the fifth time this year Henriksen has made the trip from his Norwood, Ontario base to London. Before that hell start five horses tonight (Thursday, October 13) at Mohawk Racetrack, three in the Ontario Autumn Series, and one at Flamboro Downs. In addition to St James Gate, he also has Cheer For The Cats racing in London on Friday night along with Marquis Volo racing at Mohawk. Saturday night at Mohawk hell harness three starters in the $250,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Finals. Bee In Charge and Muscle Hustle in the three-year-old trotting colt division and Jangone in the three-year-old filly trot split. Henriksen will be back in London on Monday where hell start Covert Operative, a winner of $228,000 in his career. He finished second, by a head, in Kawarthas signature race, the Goodtimes Invitational, to Ramas Last Son. An OBrien Award winner as Horseman of the Year in 2009, Henriksen is enjoying one of his best seasons ever this year with $1.1 million in earnings to date. His all-time best in terms of purses was 2009 when his charges took in $1.6 million. The native of Norway has a total of 1,040 wins lifetime for $15.4 million in purses. (With files from Kawartha Downs) Chief Justice Moore's Law Clerks Fired Despite the Pending Case Contact: Liberty Counsel, 800-671-1776, Media@LC.org, Press Kit MONTGOMERY, Ala., Oct. 14, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Adding insult to injury, Acting Justice Lyn Stuart and Justice Michael Bolin summoned Chief Justice Roy Moores head law clerk and two other law clerks and terminated them. A marshal and one of Stuarts staff members were sent to order the law clerks to pack their belongings and turn in their keys. Earlier this week, Stuart demanded Chief Justice Moore remove all his personal items from his office by October 18, 2016. She also told the Chief that he will be escorted by a marshal. "This is outrageous," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The appeal is pending but these justices are acting as if the case is over. And these actions are being done despite the pending motion for recusal. These acts underscore Chief Justice Moore, who filed the motion to recuse certain justices on the Court," said Staver. Chief Justice Moore has filed an appeal of the decision issued by the Court of the Judiciary on September 30 to suspend him for the remainder of his term, which runs through January 2019. The Chief Justice also filed a motion to recuse four of the current Alabama Supreme Court justices and three former justices who sat by designation in his May 2016 petition regarding the Judicial Inquiry Commission. He also issued a statement asking the Court to unseal the case that underlies his motion. "The hostile treatment of Chief Justice Moore, the demand he remove his personal effects, and the abrupt termination of his three law clerks (who had been temporarily reassigned to other justices) is unseemly. The case is still pending, yet these justices make it appear like they have already decided against Chief Justice Moore. They need to decide the motion to recuse and the appeal needs to be heard by an objective and unbiased panel of judges," said Staver. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. The strongest windstorm in more than a decade will bring hurricane-force winds to the Washington and Oregon coasts and rake inland areas of the region with gusts of up to 65 mph Saturday, according to an updated forecast issued early Friday afternoon. A high wind watch has been issued by the Weather Service in Portland from Saturday afternoon through Saturday evening. The service predicts sustained winds between 25 to 40 mph with gusts up to 65 mph in the Lower Columbia area. Expect them from noon to about 8 p.m. with about one to two inches of rain. You need to secure things outside and be prepared for power outages. That is the main thing that is going to happen, said Lori Hendrickson of the Cowlitz Department of Emergency Management. Cowlitz County had little damage from the rain and windstorm that raked the region Thursday night and which ended with a thunderstorm rumbling across the Kelso-Longview area Friday morning. Coastal areas had a much rougher time, and a tornado tore through Manzanita on the north Oregon Coast just after daybreak Saturday morning. Another tornado hit Oceanside, also on the Oregon Coast. The Weather Services Portland office issued 10 tornado warnings for coastal areas today, including an area east of Long Beach. That twice as many as the office has issued since 2005, and never before had it issued more tham two in one day, the agency tweeted. Peak wind gusts around the Kelso-Longview area generally ranged in the mid 30 mph range: 28 mph on the roof of the Cowlitz Hall of Justice; 37 mph atop Columbia Heights; and 32 mph at Kelso airport. Power outages have continued Friday after nearly 3,600 Cowlitz County residents lost power late Thursday night and early Friday as a result of rain and high winds whipping the region. The outages were primarily in Castle Rock, Kelso and Kalama. Most Longview customers made it through the night with no interruption in service. PUD crews restored service early Friday morning to those affected overnight. Friday afternoon, approximately 800 customers were without power near Gardners Corner on Spirit Lake Memorial Lake Highway. Crews were dispatched shortly after 12 p.m. Elsewhere, traffic through Grays River in Western Wahkiakum County was slowed by water flowing across State Route 4 in the Grays River area, but except for some outages and small road closures due to high water we have weathered this (storm) pretty well, said Wahkiakum Emergency Management official Bo Renfro. Weve had no significant damage to this point. On Dec. 18 last year, Sidney Hayes of Kelso took a 10-minute work break to have a smoke. But the e-cigarette he was using exploded in his face, blasting out eight teeth and disfiguring his mouth. He was raced to the emergency room and treated, but he still has difficulty eating, drinking and speaking. Now Hayes is suing the Longview shop where he purchased his e-cigarette, Vape D Lish, on Commerce Avenue. A lot of these places that sell (e-cigarettes) do know or should know that the products theyre selling are very dangerous. The batteries overcharge and they explode and burn, said Seattle attorney James S. Rogers, who is representing Hayes. The owner of the Vape D Lish contends that the e-cigarette had overheated earlier and Hayes and been advised to return it as possibly dangerous. Rogers law firm filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court Thursday. The suite alleges Vape D Lish failed to provide sufficient warnings to its customer about the risk of explosions. The batterys manufacturer is based in China. Rogers firm represents three other victims in Washington who also have filed lawsuits against vaping companies. According to court documents in Hayes case, The explosion, which sounded like a gunshot, knocked Sidney to the ground. With his ears ringing from the blast, and difficulty seeing due to smoke residue and debris in his eyes, a dazed Sidney managed to get to his feet and stagger back into the Burger King (where he worked). Once inside, Sidneys boss gave Sidney a cup to spit blood in and towels for his face as she called 911. Surgeons removed eight damaged teeth, a portion of his lower palate and used multiple stitches to mend his disfigured face. He received burn treatment on his tongue and stayed in the emergency room overnight at St. John Medical Center. Hayes must continue to receive ongoing treatments and surgeries, such as bone grafting on his jaw and teeth implants, according to court documents. Now a $3.5 billion industry, e-cigarettes are touted as a safer alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes. The electronic cigarettes are generally battery-operated and use an element to heat nicotine-based liquid from a refillable cartridge. But attorneys say the cheap lithium ion batteries inside can explode. Industry groups say incidents of battery explosion are negligible. But dozens of lawsuits have been filed around the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. Because it can be difficult to sue the Chinese manufacturers, many attorneys instead sue distributors and retailers. Vape D Lish owner, Allan Kettle of Olympia, said he has been selling this type of e-cigarette and battery for nearly three years at his shops in Centralia and Longview. According to Kettle, Hayes texted a Vape D Lish employee to complain that his e-cigarette battery was overheating on the morning before the explosion. The employee advised Hayes to bring it into the shop for troubleshooting and said it was more than likely not usable, according to photos of text messages provided by Kettle. Apparently Hayes did not do so before using the e-cigarette on his break later that day. It was pretty sad, Kettle said. It was not a good feeling to have that happen to one of your customers. Do you rev your engine at the stoplight? Switch lanes in heavy traffic to get a better position? Then put the pedal to the metal and get to the new go kart race track at the Three Rivers Mall. Diamond R Fast Tracks and Go Karts is next to the old Regal theater. The tracks grand opening is Friday, although racers have been letting their inner speed demons test the track for several days. Owner Chris Ray, who also owns the Diamond R go kart track in Vancouver, has been working to bring a track to Kelso for a quite a while. Ray was already familiar with the area because his daughter went to school in Kelso. I wanted to expand, and this property became available two years ago, Ray said. A health crisis last May delayed his efforts. Once his health improved, though, he was back on track. The biggest thing was to get on the mall property, he said. Ray said he already carries a high level on insurance, but had to increase his coverage levels to meet the malls requirements. I had to go up five times what I already had, Ray said. Although there is currently only one track open, Ray said a second track will open in mid-November. Hes currently testing out employees on the track and plans to hire locally. The track is open seven days a week, rain or shine. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. Rates are $7 for 5 minutes, or $14 for 15 minutes. For more information, visit Rays Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DiamondRFastracksAndGoKarts or call 360-604-3068. The latest GFX Bench listing created hype among the Nokia lovers, eagerly waiting for the android smartphone, as it suggested that the anticipated device Nokia D1C is a 13.8-inch tablet, not a smartphone. Earlier this month, Geek Bench listing suggested that the Nokia D1C smartphone running on Android 7.0 Nougat and powered by 1.4 GHz 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core processor, managed to get score, 656 in single-core performance, while, it scored 3120 in multi-score performance. The listing, however didnt reveal the screen size of the device but the assumptions lead to expect that the Nokia D1C is a smartphone. This time, the GFX Bench has clarified the display size and other specs as well! It suggested that the handset will be fronted with a 13.8-inch full-HD (10801920 pixels) display and also confirmed that the D1C will be running on Android 7.0 Nougat and will be powered by a 1.4GHz octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. Last week, Nokia D1C tablet was also spotted at Antutu Benchmark listing, which also reveals that the handset will be running on a Qualcomm 430 chipset, bundled with an Adreno 505 GPU, 3GB RAM, and 32GB of storage. On the photography front, the device has been tipped to sport a 13-megapixel primary camera at rear and an 8-megapixel of selfie snapper at the front. While considering all of the benchmark listings, it could be said that performance of the Nokia D1C will be quite decent for a mid-ranged lineup. The Finnish company, Nokia in May granted HMD Global the exclusive license to create Nokia-branded Android mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years. And for the move, the firm had received worldwide appreciation. Under a strategic agreement covering branding rights and intellectual property licensing, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD global Oy (HMD), a newly-founded company based in Finland, an exclusive global license to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next ten years, a release from Nokia said. hidden Verizon Communications Inc said on Thursday it plans to close call centres in five states, including its home state of New York, as the No. 1 wireless company trims head count and reorganizes operations in a saturated wireless market. The move, which will affect 3,200 workers is a part of Verizon's effort to consolidate customer service operations across the United States. The company, which has a workforce of about 162,700, recently agreed to buy Yahoo Inc for $4.8 billion as it looks to tap new revenue in areas such as digital media and advertising. "We are realigning our real estate portfolio and relocating these centres into other centres where we have extra capacity," Verizon spokeswoman Kim Ancin said. Verizon is offering affected employees jobs in call centres in other states, she said. The consolidation involves Verizon call centres near Rochester and Orangeburg, New York; Bangor, Maine; Lincoln, Nebraska; Wallingford and Meriden, Connecticut; and Rancho Cordoba, California, the company said. The proposed call centre closures, which will impact 850 jobs in New York, drew a testy response from the office of New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo. "This is an egregious example of corporate abuse among the worst we have witnessed during the six years of this administration," Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor, said in a statement. Verizon's call centre closures will result in job losses for "hard-working" New Yorkers, he added. Employees who choose to move to other call centres, which handle sales and billing and help customers with technical problems, will be given relocation packages starting at $10,000, Ancin said. Those who leave the company will be given a severance package, outplacement resources and other support. In April, nearly 40,000 employees of the wireline business, which includes FiOS Internet, telephone and TV services, represented by unions, went on strike after reaching an impasse in talks over a new labor contract. Sticking points included the relocation of employees and offshoring of call centre jobs. The strike, which was one of the largest in recent years in the United States, drew support from Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. A new deal was reached in May and striking wireline employees got back to work in June. The Verizon wireless call centre closures in five states involve employees who are not represented by unions, Ancin said. Reuters tech2 News Staff With businesses gone online, there has been an increase in cyber threats. The latest report by the Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) reveals that at least 50 IT companies have come under the threat of cyber attacks, according to The Times of India. According to the report, information was stolen using 'ransomware' and in return bitcoins were demanded in order to hand back the decryption keys. These attacks are said to be launched by Pakistani hackers, who used servers in Turkey, Somalia and Saudi Arabia. "A few of these attacks have been sorted out although majority are still being tackled. It is a sudden spurt in ransomware attacks. Almost all the attacks in the last 10 days have originated from Pakistan," Devraj Wodeyar, head, Cyber Security Forum that comes under Society of Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) told the news site. Some companies directly reported the matter to SCSC, but not all. It learnt about others only via private security firms that these companies had approached. The companies aren't disclosed for security reasons. Cyberabad reportedly has around 2500 IT companies, and most of these provide solutions to businesses across the globe. One of the companies was demanded 1 lakh bitcoins, which is roughly Rs 420 crore. "Explaining the method of attacks, officials said the proxy servers were changed every five minutes, but somehow the ethical hackers team managed to nail the location of the actual attackers through IP addresses, the port used and the network node," the report adds. In June earlier this year, Kaspersky security firm's Director of Global Research and Analysis Team Vitaly Kamluk, had said how India stands among the top 5 countries in the world attacked by ransomware. Recently, he disclosed that one-third of the ransomware incidents in APAC in Q3 2016 were in India. hidden Aryaka, a provider of cloud-based private networks for companies, plans to go public in 2018, aiming for a valuation of more than $1 billion, Chief Executive Shawn Farshchi said. Aryaka, which helps enterprises connect branch offices around the world, expects annual recurring revenue of $50 million by the end of 2016, doubling to $102 million by the end of 2017, Farshchi said. Revenue in 2015 was about $24 million. The company, whose more than 500 customers include audio products maker Skullcandy, fashion house Gucci and Air China Ltd, expects to be profitable by mid-2017, the CEO said. "We will be ready within next 18 months and then we will wait for the right market conditions to go public," Farshchi said in an interview. As more software companies offer services on the cloud, businesses are ditching public networking services provided by telecommunication companies and are adopting private cloud-based networking systems provided by companies such as Aryaka. "Traditional networking approaches ... offer very limited connectivity to cloud services," Ashwath Nagaraj, founder and chief technology officer of Aryaka, told Reuters. Investor appetite for cloud-related IPOs was underscored last month when data storage company Nutanix Inc's shares more than doubled in their first day of trading, even though the company has never made a profit. Nutanix is valued at about $4.5 billion. Aryaka - which Farshchi describes as "a unicorn in the making" - has some way to go to match that. Based on six to 10 times recurring 2016 revenue, the company is worth between $300 million and $500 million. According to research firm IDC, the software-defined networking market is likely to be worth about $6 billion in revenue in 2020. Milpitas, California-based Aryaka received $16 million in funding in March last year, led by Nexus Venture Partners, which joined existing investors Trinity Ventures, InterWest Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Presidio Ventures. Aryaka has partnered with network service providers in Europe, China, Israel, Malaysia and South Korea to offer its services and is in talks with companies in India and Singapore to form partnerships. "Telcos are our best friends actually ... they should realize that and partner with us," Farshchi said. Reuters hidden Discovery Communications, which owns networks like the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, on Thursday became the latest TV company to invest in digital content in an effort to reach mobile viewers. Discovery invested $100 million in a new holding company, Group Nine Media, that combines millennial-focused online publishers Thrillist, a food, drink and travel brand; video news creator NowThis and animal video site The Dodo with its own digital assets, the company said in a statement. Through the deal, Discovery will have the option in two years time to acquire a controlling stake in Group Nine, which will be run by Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer, according to David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery. Discovery, like many traditional media companies, is working to get more of its content online as viewers increasingly go to their phones or other mobile devices to view programs. Discovery's move comes months after Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal invested $200 million in online publisher BuzzFeed and Vox media. "We think this is a great play in attacking the 7 billion mobile devices with streams across the world," Zaslav told Reuters in an interview Thursday. "This company is great at creating short form content that people want to consume and send to their friends...it's going to be a few more innings before we figure out how to monetize it." For Discovery, the deal marks a push to become a bigger player on platforms like Facebook Inc, where NowThis is the number one video news publisher, as well as platforms like Snapchat, Zaslav said. Additionally, the Silver Spring, Maryland-based company hopes to learn from the data and analytics that the new digital venture will offer up, and share that with advertisers, he said. Given its focus on science, Zaslav sees a lot of opportunity to expand its reach with more short form video content digitally, he said. "This is really a global play for us," he said, noting that Discovery's Science Channel is available in 200 countries. "Culturally right now smart is the new sexy." Reuters hidden Human Rights Watch on Thursday expressed concern over planned amendments to a Malaysian media law that would give broader powers to the authorities to stifle online dissent, amid a wider crackdown on free speech and assembly. The U.S.-based rights group's report comes as Prime Minister Najib Razak battles criticism over his handling of a multi-billion dollar financial scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). "What Malaysia is trying to do is put the internet genie back in the bottle, back to a time when the government had greater control over information received by its citizens," HRW Asia deputy director Phil Robertson told reporters. Amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act have not been publicly disclosed. Media reports have said they could require news portals and political blogs to register with the government, increase penalties for offences under the act and broaden powers for the authorities to take down online content. Neither the prime minister's office nor the communications and multimedia minister, Salleh Said Keruak, responded to requests for comment. Salleh was previously quoted by the New Straits Times newspaper that the proposed amendments were designed to safeguard against online abuses such as pornography, extremism and gambling. The HRW report said a rising number of Malaysians were investigated over the past year for criticizing the government. It follows an earlier HRW release last year on the increasing use of criminal laws to stifle dissent. "We found that there were few countries in Southeast Asia worse than Malaysia when it came to the rapid deterioration of human rights... it's like a bad movie sequel," Robertson said. Despite a longstanding government pledge not to censor the internet, authorities have blocked several websites and news portals carrying reports critical of 1MDB and Prime Minister Najib. Authorities have also cracked down on anti-government rally organizers, opposition leaders and activists. Among them was artist Fahmi Reza, who faces charges under the act for a caricature of Najib with a clown face. 1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries. The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits in July to seize dozens of assets from 1MDB, saying $3.5 billion was misappropriated from the fund. Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said Malaysia will cooperate in the international investigations. Reuters tech2 News Staff Tim Cook is visiting East Asia and is currently in Japan. In an interview to Buzzfeed News Japan, Cook has again taken a side between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Speaking to the correspondent, Cook said that there is no substitute for human contact and so Apple will want technology that encourages that. Cook has been vocal about his preference for AR over VR. To that effect, Apple has been poaching engineers from companies such as Oculus Rift and Magic Leap. It has also bought companies such as PrimeSense, the Israeli-company behind Microsoft Kinect's sensor. According to Cook, VR has interesting applications but it isn't as broad-based as AR. "Augmented reality will take some time to get right, but I do think that its profound. We might have a more productive conversation, if both of us have an AR experience standing here, right?," he told Buzzfeed. Cook said that AR is better as it does not create barriers between people when they are interacting with each other. In the story Buzzfeed also mentioned that Apple has held meetings with immersive content company such as Jaunt which is a cinematic VR company. Tim Cooks inputs on VR and AR are pretty logical. As reported by MacWorld, he commented nobody in here, few people in here, think its acceptable to be tethered to a computer walking in here and sitting down, few people are going to view that its acceptable to be enclosed in something, because were all social people at heart. Cook was not against VR as he said, Im excited about VR from an education point of view, I think it can be really big for education, I think it can be very big for games. But I cant imagine everyone in here getting in an enclosed VR experience while youre sitting in here with me. tech2 News Staff The Galaxy Note 7 has been a major blow for Samsung. After repeated replacements of the flagship device, the company had no choice but to kill it. Samsung Electronics Mobile Chief, Koh Dong-jin is in bit of a soup and probably the first time since he started heading the division in 2014. Today he pledged that he would at any cost find the exact cause of the issue to restore consumer trust so that they can use Samsung products in the future without any safety issues. He also admitted that he was frustrated over the past weeks due to the Note 7 crisis. He apologized and expressed his gratitude to the Samsung team for their support in the tough times. Some Samsung employees have said to put up a series of posts on Samsungs online message board to support the head, the company and to boost the morale of other employees. Koh took over the position after his predecessor JK Shin stepped down. He is said to have played a vital role in when it comes to innovations like the S-Pen as well as Samsung Pay. There are also rumours that Samsung Group could remove him from his position following the fiasco. Thankfully Samsung Electronics shares rose 3 percent to 1,581,000 won in early morning trading on 13 October. hidden By Asheeta Regidi The Indian government is reported to have started the process of drafting rules for Section 67C of the Information Technology Act, 2000, Indias data retention law. Under these rules, intermediaries, or internet service providers, or websites and apps like Facebook, Whatsapp and Gmail, may be required to collect and store data. Data retention in a limited manner is normal and in fact, necessary for the security of the country. Problems arise, however, when anti-terrorism measures are used as a justification for a mass invasion of peoples private lives. Data retention laws, without the necessary safeguards, can quickly become a legal means of violating peoples fundamental right to privacy. Public outcry prevents legalization of mass retention of metadata Data retention can take many forms. One is mass retention of metadata. Many countries have been attempting to introduce laws legalizing the mass retention of metadata. Metadata includes data of internet usage and telephone, such as time and duration of telephone calls, IP addresses, IDs of senders and receivers of emails, log-in and log-off times for e-mail use, etc. Such data excludes the actual content of the e-mails or the messages. While governments argue that metadata does not reveal personal details of the individual, this is not true. An individuals entire internet history can be traced out using just the metadata. The European Union introduced the Data Protection Directive in 2006, which mandates the retention of metadata of internet and telephone usage. Under the EU Directive, there was no requirement for a threat or emergency for the data retention. It was continuous, for all individuals and without justification. As a result, the directive was challenged by human rights activists before the European Court of Justice. In 2014, the ECJ struck down the Directive on the grounds of infringement of privacy. Similarly, in the Czech Republic and Argentina, the data retention laws were partly struck down for being unconstitutional in cases filed against them by privacy activists. In Brazil, a data retention bill was proposed, but could not be passed due to the public outcry following it. Mandatory metadata retention laws in Australia Australia is one of the few countries to have mandatory data retention laws. Under Australias Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act, 2015, ISPs are mandated to store metadata of the internet usage of all Australians. The Australian law has made some exceptions to the data collectedweb-browsing histories are exempted, and social media providers like Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram are also exempt. All records must be maintained for 2 years. Interestingly, Australians are reported to feel that the need for security justifies the invasion of their privacy, and prefer the data retention. This is perhaps why the Australian law on data retention is valid even today. Mass data retention: Most violative of privacy Another type of data retention is mass data retention, which forms a part of mass surveillance programs carried out by the NSA in the US and the CMS in India. Mass data retention will involve collection and retention of every piece of information regarding everyones internet usage. The government can order the collection of your e-mail content, your messages, your phone calls, your pictures and videos sent, the websites you visit, and for no reason at all. Interestingly, this mass surveillance is not authorized by law, whether in India or the US. In India, Section 69 of the IT Act allows the interception, monitoring and decryption of information for a limited period of 2 months. Even in the US, there is no mandatory data retention law. Under the Electronics Communications Transactional Records Act, the ISPs in the US are required to retain data for a maximum period of 90 days, and only upon the request of a government entity. As a result, there are no safeguards whatsoever for mass surveillance; there is no time limit on the period for which the surveillance can continue, no restriction on the type of data that can be collected and who it can be collected from. This is the most violative form of data retention. Limited data retention The last type of data retention is that permitted by Indian surveillance lawdata retention for a specific purpose and for a specific period of time. This is the least violative form of data retention. For example, the Government may direct an internet service provider (ISP) to retain and monitor the communications of a particular region on receiving a terrorist threat. Or the Government can order an entity like WhatsApp to decrypt and monitor the messages of a suspect. The Supreme Court of India has always ensured privacy It is to be seen which type of data retention will be chosen by the Indian government in their current endeavor to frame rules under Section 67C. There is scope for regulations that violate peoples privacy. It is very likely, however, that a public outcry against any such laws violating privacy will have the Supreme Courts support. For example, telephone interception is permitted by Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The Supreme Court upheld the validity of telephone interception, but subjected it to a number of safeguards that were absent in the Act. This includes limiting the time and purpose of the interception. Even when the validity of blocking of websites under Section 69A of the IT Act was challenged, the Supreme Court upheld it only on account of the number of procedural safeguards contained in the rules. The reactions of the Supreme Court to surveillance without adequate safeguards in the past are therefore very encouraging. The author is a lawyer with a specialisation in cyber laws and has co-authored books on the subject. hidden Verizon Communications Inc said on Thursday it has a "reasonable basis" to believe Yahoo Inc's massive data breach of email accounts represents a material impact that could allow Verizon to withdraw from its $4.83 billion deal to buy the technology company. Verizon's general counsel Craig Silliman told reporters at a roundtable in Washington the data breach could trigger a clause in the deal that would allow the US wireless company not to complete it. "I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact. If they believe that it's not then they'll need to show us that," he said, declining to comment on whether talks are under way to renegotiate the purchase price. Asked for comment, a Yahoo spokesman said: "We are confident in Yahoos value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon." The deal has a clause that says Verizon can withdraw if a new event "reasonably can be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, results of operation or financial condition of the business. Silliman said the US Federal Trade Commission has approved Verizon's planned acquisition of Yahoo, but it still needs approval from the European Commission and the US Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing the proxy. Verizon has had preliminary briefings from Yahoo but it still needs "significant information" from the company before it makes a final decision on the materiality of the hacking of at least 500 million email accounts, Silliman said. He said Verizon is "absolutely evaluating (the breach) and will make determinations about whether and how to move forward with the deal based on our evaluation of the materiality." Yahoo shares ended 1.75 percent lower at $41.62, while Verizon was largely unchanged, closing at $50.29, down 0.02 percent. Yahoo in September disclosed that it had fallen victim to a data breach in 2014 that compromised users names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and encrypted passwords. The company has said the cyber attack was carried out by a state-sponsored actor, but some private security experts have challenged that assertion. Several Democratic senators have pressed Yahoo to reveal more information about the hack and why it took so long to discover. The internet firm said it learned of the breach this summer while investigating claims of a separate intrusion, but it has not provided a specific timeline of events. Some analysts suggested Verizon may be trying to get a better price. Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics, said "Verizon is rightfully upset about Yahoo not properly disclosing the breach." He said Yahoo would most likely have to consider renegotiating the price with Verizon, if it came to that. "I don't think it has much of a choice. Who else would want to buy them?" Entner said. Experts said bidders who try to extract themselves from mergers using the material adverse clause face an uphill battle. No US company has ever invoked the clause successfully in court to get out of a deal. In 2013, Cooper Tire & Rubber company got cold feet about a $2.5 billion sale to Apollo Tyres and argued in the Delaware Court of Chancery that Apollo had seen a material adverse change related to union issues at a subsidiary of the company. The court rejected Cooper Tires claims and the deal fell apart. A Delaware court ruled in 2001 that poultry producer Tyson Foods Inc could not terminate its merger with beef producer IBP Inc over accounting irregularities. The court said the shortfall was not due to a long-term problem. Reuters Naina Khedekar Yahoo is jinxed, or so wed like to believe. The once celebrated Internet giant, had been struggling for years. Hopes pinned on Marissa Mayer and her serial acquisition strategy also couldnt save the Internet company. We all knew an acquisition was in the pipeline, and no one really cared as much. However, in the recent times there was some respite for the company in the form of the $4.8 billion Verizon deal. The company had been looking for a prospective buyer for a long time. But looks like its woes just dont seem to end. The Yahoo hack that came to light last month may cause the company a lot more damage than what it had expected. The hack that compromised at least 500 million accounts took place back in 2014, and many eyebrows have been raised over why the delay in reporting the issue. Verizon has begun calling it a material event, which essentially means the company wouldnt have offered the amount it did, had it known about the data breach earlier. It may also have probably not bid for Yahoo at all. And, this makes it even worse for Yahoo. According to the Washington Post, Verizon General Counsel Craig Silliman said, "I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that impact is material. And we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact if they believe it's not. They'll need to show us that, but the process is in the works." According to Cnet, a Verizon spokesman said "material" finding kills the acquisition, said "the statement stands on its own. Nothing more." This clearly hints at a possibility of Verizon changing its mind. If this happens, the company may just lose its chance of getting whatever asking price it still can, or simply struggle finding a new buyer. In worse case, there are chances that Verizon may renegotiate the price, and experts believe that Yahoo may have no other choice either. "I don't think it has much of a choice. Who else would want to buy them?" Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics told Reuters. Some analysts suggested, as per Reuters, Verizon may be trying to get a better price. Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics, said "Verizon is rightfully upset about Yahoo not properly disclosing the breach." According to the report, the deal had a clause that says Verizon can withdraw if a new event "reasonably can be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, results of operation or financial condition of the business. Yahoo had also claimed that the cyber attack was carried out by a state-sponsored actor. However, some security experts have challenged Yahoo. Meanwhile, several democratic senators had pressed Yahoo to reveal more information about the hack and why it took so long to discover. Meanwhile, experts also said that bidders who try to extract themselves from mergers using the material adverse clause face an uphill battle. There hasn't been a US company that has invoked the clause successfully in court to walk out of a deal. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday passed a contentious anti-Israel resolution denying Jewish connections to the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem. 24 UNESCO member states voted in favor of the resolution, 26 abstained, and only six countries voted against. The proposal, put forth by the Palestinians, along with Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, condemns Israel on several issues related to Jerusalem and its holy sites. The draft resolution, a copy of which was obtained by Ha'aretz, acknowledges that the city of Jerusalem is holy to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity but says the Temple Mount holy site is sacred only to Muslims and fails to mention its significance to Jews. An entire section of the proposal dedicated specifically to the Temple Mount complex refers only to the site's Muslim names (Al-Aqsa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif) and fails to mention its Hebrew or English names (Har HaBayit or Temple Mount). The resolution refers also to the Western Wall plaza by its Muslim name (al-Buraq plaza) and only mentions its Hebrew-Jewish name (Hakotel Hama'aravi) later in quotation marks. Those who deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are simply embarrassing themselves President Reuven Rivlin, a seventh generation Jerusalemite, said on Thursday. Rivlin was speaking to children decorating the sukkah at his official residence, in advance of the projected UNESCO vote on a Palestinian resolution to rewrite history and ignore the fact that Jews made pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem long before the advent of Islam. Rivlin recalled that when he was a boy prior to the establishment of the state, he used to accompany his father to the Western Wall before the recitation of the final Yom Kippur prayers, so that they could hear the shofar at the conclusion of the service. Today, he said, there is an attempt to silence the shofar. Its not that they dont want to hear it. They just dont want us there, he said of Wakf and UNESCO attempts to remove the Jewish presence from Jerusalem. After the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision was a continuation of the "theater of the absurd" at UNESCO, and suggested that soon the body would claim that the arch of Titus in Rome, depicting the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., is a piece of Zionist propaganda. "However, I believe that the historical truth is stronger, and that it will prevail," he said. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said the Jewish People have an unequivocal connection to our holy places. UNESCO and the UN have no connection to history or reality. Unfortunately, again and gain we see the irrelevance of the UN and its institutions. This decision is a message to the inciters and the rewriters of history who are working tirelessly with hatred. Thousands of votes wont erase the Jewish Peoples close ties to our holy sites and the Western Wall, he added. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said the UNESCO decision is "as absurd as disconnecting Christianity from the Vatican or Islam from Mecca." "UNESCO claims there's no connection between the Kotel and Judaism; I say there's no connection between UNESCO and reality," he stated. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said the UN is "breaking its own records of ignorance, antisemitism and irrelevance. An organization that claims to represent education and science for the UN is representing rotten politics and is ruled by Islamic dictatorships." So even the Western Wall's deemed invalid in their little screed. Egypt's participation in this should also be cause for concern. Israeli politicians have condemned the steps taken at the UN:He's nailed it perfectly. The UN's long been irrelevant and should have its funding revoked.That's how it's been for several years now, and no sane person would have anything to do with the UN.Update: United With Israel has a video about a golden bell worn by high priests in ancient times that shatters the UN narrative. Update 2: Dr. Haim Shine has more on the UN's anti-semitism, and so does Nadav Shragai Labels: Africa, anti-semitism, Christianity, dhimmitude, Egypt, islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, Knesset, Lebanon, Moonbattery, political corruption, UN corruption David Alcantara, a Yankees fan, believes a jury was unable to give him a fair trial because it was primarily made up of Red Sox fans in Rhode Island. The United States Court of Appeals thinks otherwise and rejected an appeal for his five-year prison sentence. Alcantara was wearing a Yankees cap at the time he was found to be committing bank fraud and conspiring to counterfeit currency. It is his Yankees hat that he believes influenced the jury of his peers to rule him guilty, leading to his five-year sentence in federal prison. This was one of the arguments he made in his appeal, but it was not nearly enough to sway the U.S. Court of Appeals upon review of his case. As an initial matter, all but two of the cited references occurred during defense counsels cross-examination. In any event, this testimony, like the references to luxury vehicles discussed above, was relevant to the witnesses knowledge of Alcantara and his appearance. Any possibility of unfair prejudice was ameliorated when the district court explicitly instructed the Rhode Island jury not to hold Alcantaras wearing of a Yankees hat against him. Maybe his biggest crime wasnt wearing a Yankees hat in Red Sox Nation, but trying to scam the banks with counterfeit money. Maybe the next time Alcantara decides to break the law, hell remember to wear a Red Sox hat and see how that works out for him. [USA Today] Khaleda to meet Xi Jinping at 5pm today BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday evening at a city hotel in Khilkhet area. "BNP Chairperson will meet the Chinese President at the presidential suite of Le Meridian Hotel at 5pm on Friday," her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel told UNB on Thursday. The Chinese President is scheduled to arrive here on Friday morning on a 22-hour state visit. The visit is taking place three decades after Chinese President Li Xiannian visited Bangladesh in March 1986. The Chinese President also will have significant talks with President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and important deals on a number of mega projects involving several billion dollars are likely to be signed during the visit. A BNP leader close to Khaleda said a six-member BNP delegation, including party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mahbubur Rahman, Nazrul Islam Khan, chairperson's advisers Reaz Rahman and Sabihuddin Ahmed, will accompany Khaleda. During the meeting, he said the BNP chief will discuss a wide range of issues relating to the bilateral interests, Bangladesh's latest political situation and next general election. Earlier in the day, BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy at a programme hoped that the Chinese President's tour will produce positive outcomes for the country protecting mutual interests of the two friendly nations. "We welcome his tour, but don't know with which offers the Chinese President is coming or what our country is seeking from him. We're completely in the dark, but we hope it'll bring good for the county," the BNP leader said. Warm welcome as Chinese President lands in Dhaka Dhaka, Oct 14 (UNB) - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Friday morning on a historic state visit to help usher in a new era in Dhaka-Beijing relations. President Abdul Hamid received his Chinese counterpart on his arrival at the VVIP terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport 12.03 pm amid a booming 21-gun salute. A special VVIP flight of Air China carrying the Chinese President landed here at 11:36 am. He was earlier escorted by an Air Force jet in Bangladesh sky. A red carpet was also rolled out to receive Xi Jinping. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Planning Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal, Prime Minister`s Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi, the chiefs of the three services and State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam were present at the presentation line. Xi Jinping moved to the saluting dais accompanied by his Bangladesh counterpart, and received guard of honor and inspected the guard. The Chinese President`s landmark visit is expected to steer a `historic new journey towards opening up a `new horizon in relations between the two countries. A 13-member high power delegation including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, Governor of the Peoples Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan, accompanied the Chinese President. From the airport, President Xi is now being escorted to his place of residence - Hotel Le Meridien - in a ceremonial motorcade. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Chinese President will have a tete-a-tete at Shimul of the Prime Minister`s Office from 3pm to 3:10pm, while the official talks between Xi and Hasina will be held at Chameli from 3:10pm to 4pm. They will witness the signing of MoUs and agreements which will be held at Karobi soon after the official talks. There will be a press statement after the signing ceremony. The Chinese President will sign visitors book there before returning to his place of residence. Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will meet the Chinese President at Rangamati Room of the hotel at 4:35 retreat. After the meeting, President Xi will head towards Bangabhaban and meet his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Hamid at 6:30pm. The Chinese President will attend banquet preceded by cultural programme to be hosted by Hamid at Darbar Hall from 7pm-8:30pm. On Saturday, the Chinese President will leave hotel for National Martyrs Memorial at 8:20pm Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq and the General Commanding Officer of the 9th infantry division will receive the Chinese President in Savar at 8:55am. After attending the ceremony at the National Martyrs Memorial, the Chinese President will sign visitors` book and plant a sapling there. President Xi will reach the airport straight from Savar and leave for Goa, India at 10am on Saturday by the special VVIP flight. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will see him off at the airport. The visit is taking place three decades after then Chinese President Li Xiannian visited Bangladesh in March 1986. Dhaka and Beijing are likely to sign an umbrella agreement to establish closer economic ties through strengthening investment and production capacity covering some 25 priority projects with a special focus on Bangladesh's infrastructure, communication and energy sectors. Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Ma Mingqiang has recently said Chinese President Xi Jinping`s forthcoming Dhaka visit will take the Bangladesh-China relations to a new height. China has already termed its President's Bangladesh visit a `milestone` for Bangladesh-China friendship. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said Bangladesh is China`s important partner in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, and the visit would be a `milestone` for Bangladesh-China relationship. China has emerged as the biggest source of import for Bangladesh since 2007. In 2015-16, two-way trades between the two countries has crossed US$ 9 billion with US$ 8223.20 million import from China and US$ 791.03 million export. Syrian offensive kills 150 in Aleppo before Swiss talks A Syrian boy receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes in Aleppo. Reuters, Beirut : Syria's military backed by Russian warplanes have killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, rescue workers said, part of a renewed bombardment supporting an offensive to seize the city's shattered rebel-held sector. As air strikes and shelling of the city's east intensified since Tuesday after a brief period of relative calm, Syria's government approved a U.N. plan to allow aid convoys into most besieged areas of Syria, with the exception of Aleppo. Rising casualties in Aleppo, where buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have prompted an international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday. Now in its sixth year, Syria's civil war has killed 300,000 people and made millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers as well as inspiring jihadist attacks abroad. President Bashar al-Assad is backed by the Russian air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shi'ite militias from Arab neighbors, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. Air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour according to a civil defense official, while European Union foreign ministers drafted a statement accusing Syria and its allies of violence that "may amount to war crimes". "Since the beginning of the offensive by the (Syrian) regime and its allies, the intensity and scale of aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," a draft of their statement seen by Reuters said. Syrian military officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the situation in Aleppo. The Syrian and Russian governments say they target only militants. To the south, hundreds of insurgents and their families have left two rebel-held towns on the northern outskirts of Damascus, residents and fighters said, under a deal with the government which is pushing its opponents to rebel areas further from the capital. The evacuation happened after the army gave community leaders in Qudsiya and Al-Hama - which had enjoyed relative calm under local truces - an ultimatum to get several hundred fighters out of their towns or face a widescale assault. Jerusalem holy site declared Muslim, not Jewish: UNESCO Jerusalem holy site declared Muslim, not Jewish. AP, United Nations : One of the world`s most important religious sites and Judaism`s holiest site, Jerusalem`s Temple Mount and Western Wall, were reclassified as an exclusively Muslim shrine Thursday after a United Nations organization adopted a polarizing resolution that denies Jewish connection to the site. The resolution, which condemns Israel for its activities in Jerusalem and the West Bank, asserts that Jerusalem is holy to three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. However, it includes a special section pertaining to the Temple Mount that says the site is sacred only to Muslims and fails to mention it as sacred to Jews. The resolution from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization does not refer to the Al-Aqsa mosque by either the Hebrew term for the site-Har Habayit-or its English translation, the Temple Mount, but only by its Muslim name. "What's next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted after the decision. The complex is considered Judaism's holiest site due to it being the location of its first and second temples. It is the third holiest site to the Muslim faith as the place where the prophet Mohammed made the miraculous night journey to and from Mecca in order to ascend up to heaven. The UNESCO resolution this week coincided with international efforts to calm violence in the region after what Palestinians say are increasingly frequent Jewish visits to the compound that is officially under Muslim administration. Under Israeli law, Jews are not allowed to pray at the site to avoid potential violence, but many Jewish activists still rally at the site. As US ties slump, Russian war rhetoric spikes at home AFP, Moscow : State television threatens the West with nuclear weapons, the Kremlin halts a disarmament treaty, the army warns of shooting down US jets. As ties between Russia and the West have once again slumped, rhetoric in Moscow has peaked. "Relations between Russia and the US, and the West in general, have been dragged down to the bottom, to a level below which it is difficult to fall," Konstantin Kalachev, the head of the Moscow-based Political Expert Group think tank, told AFP. But it wasn't meant to be like this. Just over a month ago Moscow and Washington inked a deal to revive a ceasefire in Syria and the Kremlin seemed to have scored a tactical win by getting the United States to open the door to coordinate strikes against jihadists. The agreement-hammered out after repeated rounds of exhausting talks-appeared a potential breakthrough in Syria's civil war and years of bad blood and furious mudslinging between Moscow and Washington sparked by the Ukraine crisis. Many, however, were sceptical that the Kremlin and White House, on opposite sides in Syria, could begin to bury the hatchet-and so it proved. Soon the truce collapsed and as the violence spiralled so did the ferocious acrimony. Washington suspended talks with the Kremlin on Syria; Moscow tore up a treaty on disposing weapons-grade plutonium; the West accused Russia and Syria of potential war crimes in its brutal attacks on rebel-held east Aleppo. The US then formally accused Moscow of hacking American institutions to interfere in its looming presidential election. "Russia went further, turning a local breakdown in bilateral relations into a global one," wrote Alexander Baunov from the Carnegie Moscow Center. As President Vladimir Putin suspended the plutonium deal, he slapped on a raft of staggering conditions for it to be restarted: Washington needed to pull back forces in eastern Europe, scrap sanctions and pay Moscow compensation. Legal prosecution and departmental proceeding may run together but penalty shall be stayed until court case ends Appellate Division (Civil) : Surendra Kumar Sinha CJ Nazmun Ara Sultana J Syed Mahmud Hossain J Hasan Foez Siddique J Judgment July 27th, 2015 Asaduzzaman (Md).Petitioner vs Government of Bangladesh represented by the Secretary, Internal Resources Division Ministry of Finance and another.. Respondents Government Servants' (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985 Rule 25 If there be any prosecution or legal proceeding against a government servant pending in any court on the same issue, there shall be no bar in the disposal of the departmental proceedings against him, but if the authority decides to impose any penalty on such government servant in the departmental proceedings, imposition of such penalty shall be stayed until disposal of that prosecution or legal proceeding. . ..... (9) AJ Mohammad Ali Senior Advocate instructed by Sufia Khatun, Advocate-on-Record-For the Petitioner (In both the Petitions). None Represented -For the Respondents (In both the Petitions). Judgment Nazmun Ara Sultana J : This Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 2-8-2010 passed by the Administrative Appellate Tribunal, Dhaka in Appeal No. 79 of 2007 dismissing the appeal and thereby affirming the judgment and order dated 20-2-2007 passed by the administrative Tribunal No. 1, Dhaka in AT Case No.77 of 2003 dismissing the case. 2. The present leave-petitioner filed the above mentioned AT Case No.77 of 2003 challenging the order of his dismissal from service. The material case of the leave-petitioner is that he joined as Pesker of the Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal on 18-9-1996 and since then he had been serving as such with outmost satisfaction of the authority concerned. That on 24-6-2001 the opposite party No. 2. placed him under suspension and thereafter on' 22-7-2001 he framed charge against the petitioner under the provisions of Government Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985 on the allegations of misconduct and corruption. The petitioner submitted his reply on 5-8-2001 denying all "the allegations brought against him. Ultimately. the petitioner was dismissed from service in that departmental proceeding by the order dated 31-12-2002. The petitioner preferred departmental appeal against that dismissal order but the authority concerned did not give any decision in that appeal within 2 (two) months and, as such, the petitioner was compelled to file this case. 3. The opposite parties contested the case by filing written statement contending, interalia, that the petitioner was found guilty of charge of corruption in the departmental proceeding and, as such, he was dismissed from service in accordance with rules. 4. The learned member of the Administrative Tribunal No.1, Dhaka, upon hearing both the parties and examining the records, dismissed the petitioner's case by the judgment and order dated 20-2-2007. 5. Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order the petitioner preferred the above mentioned Appeal No.79 of 2007 before the Administrative Appellate Tribunal. Upon hearing the learned Counsel of both the parties and examining the materials on record the Administrative Appellate Tribunal found that the petitioner was dismissed from service on the charge of corruption quite in accordance with rules and therefore, upheld the judgment and order of the Administrative Tribunal by the impugned judgment and order. 6. Mr AJ Mohammad Ali, the learned Senior Advocate appearing for the leave-petitioner has assailed the concurrent findings and decision of the Administrative Tribunal and the Administrative Appellate Tribunal making submissions to the effect only that on the self same allegations. a criminal case also was initiated against this petitioner and in that criminal case the petitioner has been acquitted and in the circumstances the conviction of the petitioner in the departmental proceeding on the same allegation has been illegal. 7. This contention of the learned Advocate is not correct. The departmental proceeding was initiated against the petitioner on some specific allegations as per provisions of the Government Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985 and on enquiry held in that departmental proceeding those allegations were found proved and, as such, the petitioner was dismissed from service on those allegations in compliance with all the mandatory requirements of the Government Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985. There is no provision in these Rules or in any' other Laws and Rules to the effect that if a government servant is acquitted in the criminal case on the self same allegations, he cannot be punished in the departmental proceeding initiated on the same allegation. 8. Mr AJ Mohammad Ali, the learned Advocate for the leave-petitioner has argued that as per provision of Public Servants (Dismissal on Conviction) Ordinance, 1985 a government servant convicted in any criminal case for any offence punishable with imprisonment for 6 (six) months or more is liable to be dismissed from service and if this conviction is set aside on appeal the said government servant is entitled to be reinstated in his service. The learned Advocate has contended that since in the present case the leave-petitioner has been acquitted from the criminal case initiated on the self same allegations, he is now entitled to be reinstated in his service. But we are unable to accept this contention of the learned Advocate. In this case the leave-petitioner has not been dismissed from service as per provision of Public Servants (Dismissal on Conviction) Ordinance, 1985, rather he has been dismissed from service on being found guilty of the charge of corruption in the departmental proceeding initiated in accordance with the provisions of the Government Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985. For conviction a government servant on the ground of conviction in any criminal case as per provision of Public Servants (Dismissal on Conviction) Ordinance, 1985 no departmental proceeding requires to be initiated at all. 9. In the Government Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985 there is a provision, namely, rule 25, which provides that if there be any prosecution or legal proceeding against a government servant pending in any court on the same issue, there shall be no bar on the disposal of the departmental proceedings against him, but if the authority decides to impose any penalty on such government servant in the departmental proceedings, imposition of such penalty shall be stayed until disposal of that prosecution or .legal proceeding. This rule 25 does not say at all that-if any government servant is convicted in any criminal case he cannot be imposed any. penalty in the departmental proceeding on the same allegation. However, we find no merit in this civil petition for leave to appeal and hence it is dismissed. Gradation of panel candidates of Marriage Register not supported by the law High Court Division : (Special Original Jurisdiction) Md Imman Ali J Sheikh Hasan Arif J Judgment January 20th, 2011 Murseduzzaman (Md).Petitioner vs Senior Assistant Secretary (Additional Charge), Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dhaka and othersRespondents Muslim Marriage & Divorce (Registration) Rules, 1975 Rules 5(3A) and 41(2) Saving clause does not protect the interest of the petitioner, inasmuch as his application, although it was prior to the coming into force of the present Rules, will be treated as if it was made within the present Rules, and the present Rules do not give him the benefit of the previous Rule 5(3A). Moreover, until and unless the present Rules are set aside and the previous Rule 5(3A) is reinstated, the petitioner cannot claim to get benefit from the provisions of the earlier Rules.. (11) ZH Bhuiyan, Advocate -For the Petitioner. Md Nuruzzaman Khan, Advocate -For the Respondent No. 9 Judgment Md Imman Ali J : The petitioner Md. Murseduzzaman applied for the post of Nikah Registar for No. 2, Pattashi Union Parishad under Police Station-Zianagar, District-Pirojpur by an application dated 1-5-2009, which, was recommended by the local Member of Parliament (MP) on 3-5-2009. The post become vacant upon the death of the petitioner's father Md Abdul Kader. His application having been unsuccessful, the petitioner filed the instant writ petition whereupon Rule was issued calling upon the respondents to show cause as to why the letter dated 18-2-2010 issued by the respondent No. 1 under memo No. Bichar-7/2N.7/99-103 (Annexure-A) appointing the respondent No. 9 by-passing the petitioner as the Nikah Registrar for No. 2 Pattashi Union Parishad under Police Station Zianagar, District-Pirojpur shall not be declared to have been done without lawful authority and is of no legal effect and as to why respondent shall not be directed to appoint the petitioner as the Nikah Registrar for the said Union Parishad. 2. Pending hearing of the Rule, the operation of the impugned letter dated 18-2-2010, by which :another candidate namely, Md Moniruz-Zamanr respondent No.9 was appointed, was stayed for a period of six months, which was subsequently extended till disposal of Rule. 3. The claim of the petitioner is that as his father was as the incumbent Nikah Registrar up to the time of his death on 12-4-2009, he himself assisted his father as apprentice and gained experience in the functioning of a Nikah Registrar. He further states that when the office of the Nikah Registar fell vacant upon the death of his father, the neighbouring Nikah Registrar was given the current charge to work as the Nikah Registrar of No. 2 Pattashi Union Parishad under Police Station Zianagar, District-Pirojpur, who engaged the petitioner to work as his assistant for carrying out the work of the Nikah Registrar for the said union. In addition he has all the requisite academic qualification to be appointed as a Nikilh Registrar. 4. Mr ZH Bhuiyan, the learned advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that the petitioner has all the requisite qualifications and is in fact more qualified than respondent No. 9 who has been appointed in the vacant post. The learned advocate submits that he has more than the requisite academic qualification and in addition has practical experience, having worked as an apprentice when his father was holding the office and as the assistant of the Nikah Registrar-in-Charge when the office became vacant. The learned advocate further submits that the requirement of the gymwjg weevn I ZvjvK (wbeUb) wewagvjv, 2009 requires that the local MP is by law required to be an Advisor to the Advisory Committee, whereas the record will show that in the instant case the local MP acted as the Chairman of the Advisory, which is not within the purview of the law. He further submits that there is no requirement in the Rules that the Advisory Committee, who are bound to put forward a panel of candidates should mention the grade of the candidates as they have done in the instant case. He submits that by mentioning in the remake column that the respondent No.9 was first in the merit list and the petitioner was second in the merit list, the Advisory Committee has acted in violation of the Rules and also prejudiced me petitioner's application. He submits that there is no provision for grading any of the candidates before a panel is put forward to the Government for selection. The learned advocate submits that panel having been,' prepared illegally giving undue advantage to respondent No, 9, the appointment of respondent No.9 is illegal and void abinitio and liable to be set aside. 5. Mr Md Nuruzzaman Khan, the learned advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent No. 9 submits that the petitioner and the respondent No.9 as well as another were select~ ed by the Advisory Committee out of six candidates after holding viva voce examination. He submits that it is necessary to hold the examination in order to scrutinise the abilities of all the candidates in order to form a panel of three which would then be put forward to the Government, from whom one would be selected for the post. The learned advocate submits that the petitioner has no added qualification inasmuch as he could never have acted as the Nikah Registrar since his father was holding the post and subsequently, when the post became vacant the neighbouring Nikah Registrar held the post as Nikah Registrar in charge as additional duty and, thereof, it cannot be said that the petitioner has any added m qualification. 6. We have considered the submissions of the learned advocates, perused the petition and the annexures thereto as well as the affidavit in opposition filed by the respondent No.9 and the affidavit in reply filed by the petitioner. We have also perused the relevant laws. 7. The requirement of the Rules namely, gymwjg weevn I ZvjvK (wbeUb) wewagvjv, 2009 is that when any post of Nikah Registrar becomes vacant the Advisory Committee will select a panel of three persons and forward the same to the Government of whom one will be appointed for the post of Nikah Registrar. The Government is then empowered under Rule 6(6) to appoint anyone of the three candidates named in the panel forwarded by the Advisory Committee. We do not find any real substance in the submissions of the learned advocate for the petitioner that the sitting MP was the Advisor to the Committee, but acted as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee. As Advisor of the Committee the MP is liable to be a member of the Committee. Whether he is a Chairman or not makes little difference. There does not appear to be any difference in the views of the other members of the Advisory Committee in choosing the panel of candidates. 8. With regard to the holding of examination for the purpose of selecting the panel of candidates, we also do no find any illegality, inasmuch as it is always necessary, when there are more than the requisite numbers of candidates applying for a post, to ascertain which of the numbers of applicants are qualified to be put forward in the panel. To that extent holding the viva-voce examination in order to select the panel cannot be said to be illegal. However, the requirement of law is that the Advisory Committee shall select a panel of three candidates of whom any one could be appointed by the Government. In the instant case, we find that the Advisory Committee has prepared a list of candidates in a panel of three giving their grades by merit, signifying that the respondent No.9 came first in the merit list and that the petitioner became second and there was a third member in the panel. It is our view that this gradation of the panel of candidates is not in accordance with the law. There is no such requirement in the Rules that the members of the panel must be given a grade. On the contrary, it is our view that grading the members of the panel prejudices the Government's ability to decide independently as to which of the panel members they would appoint as the Nikah Registrar. 9. The learned advocate for the petitioner further submits that there was previously Rule 5(3A) of the Muslim Marriages and Divorces (Registration) Rules, 1975 which provided that the son of a sitting Nikah Registrar would get preference in appointment upon the post becoming vacant on the death or retirement of the Nikah Registrar. He submits that although those Rules have been amended by the present Rules of 2009, the new Rules are under challenge in Writ Petition No, 7161 of 2009. He submits that, therefore, the petitioner should get the benefit of the previous Rules, since he is the son of the previous Nikah Registrar, who died and the present Rules are under challenge in that Writ petition. 10. On the other hand, we note that the saving clause in the present Rules namely Rule 41(2) states as follows : ??????? ??????? ????????, ???? ????? ?? ???? ?"??? ?? ??? ????????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ????????? ?? ????????? ???? ????? ??????? 11. Therefore, it is clear that even the saving clause does not protect the interest of the petitioner, inasmuch as his application, although it was prior to the coming into force of the present Rules, will be treated as if it was made within the present Rules, and the present Rules do not give him the benefit of the previous Rule 5(3A). Moreover, until and unless the present Rules are set aside and the previous Rule 5(3A) is reinstated, the petitioner cannot claim to get benefit from the provisions of the earlier Rules. 12. It goes without saying that the Government is to choose one candidate out of a panel of three forwarded to it by the Advisory Committee. There is no question of any gradation within those three panel members and the Government should keep its mind open to decide which of the three has the requisite qualifications and which of the three is most suitable. 13. In view of the fact that we have found the panel to have been illegally made giving grade of the three candidates; we hereby hold that the appointment of respondent No. 9 was also not in accordance with law and accordingly, the impugned memo (Annexure-A) dated 18-2-2010 is hereby set aside. The respondents are hereby directed to reconsider the applications and put forward a fresh panel of candidates without any gradation, from which the government, upon exercising its independent mind, will choose one for the post of Nikah Registrar. 14. In the result, the Rule is made absolute without any order as to costs. Let a copy of this judgment be communicated at once. Heirs of the ex-employee entitled to full service benefits (From previous issue) : Provided further that no such application shall be entertained by the Administrative Tribunal unless it is made within six-months from the date of making or taking of the order, decision or action concerned or making of the Decision on the matter by the higher administrative authority, as the case, may be. (3) In this section "person in the service of the Republic 3[or of any statutory public authority]" includes a person who is or has retired or is dismissed, removed or discharged from such service, but does not include a person in the defence services of Bangladesh 4[or of the Bangladesh Rifles]. 8. It appears from the provision of section 4 of the Administrative Tribunal Act that a servant if being aggrieved by any order of the concerned authority, shall have to go to the Administrative Tribunal for his remedy first, but the present petitioners have no that scope to file any application before the Administrative Tribunal as they were not in the service of the republic. Section 7 A says: 2[7A. (1) Where a person is dismissed or removed from service and an application is made under section 4 against such removal or dismissal and that person dies during the pendency of the ease, the right to sue of that applicant shall survive if his service had been pensionable under any law for the time being in force. (2) Where the right to sue survives under sub-section (I), such legal representative of the deceased applicant who would have been entitled to the pensioner benefit at the event of the death or retirement of the deceased applicant may be substituted, upon an application, made to the Tribunal or, as the case may be, to the Appellate division within sixty days from the date of the earth of the applicant. (3) The legal representative of the deceased, as referred to in sub-section (2), shall be entitled to the pensionery benefit which would have been payable to that deceased if he had been removed or dismissed: Provided that, such pensioner benefit shall not be payable unless the Tribunal or, as the case may the Appellate Division, declares the order of the dismissal or removal, as the case may be, as illegal or void: Provided further that, for the purpose of this section, the applicant shall be deemed to have died or retired, as the case may be, on the day on which he was removed or dismissed. 9. It has been provided in section 7A that when all application against the dismissal or removal from service is pending before the Administrative Tribunal, if the employee or servant of the republic dies, than his/her heirs can be substituted in the pending proceeding as heirs of the deceased and right to so survive. But here there was no case pending against any dismissal or removal before the administrative tribunal when the employee died of cancer. Therefore, no question of substitution can be raised for the heirs of the deceased. 10. On plain reading of these sections it appears that only the servant of the republic may apply before the Administrative Tribunal or his heirs may be substituted in the case if he dies during pendency of the case filed by him against his removed or dismissal from service. But there is no such case pending in the Administrative Tribunal at the time of his death. In such view of the fact, the petitioners do rot have locus standi to file an application before the administrative tribunal as they are not servants in the republic. II. In such a situation, the petitioners as heirs of the predecessor, have no other forum to seek relief rather to move this court with a writ petition invoking Article 102 of the Constitution. It is pertinent here to refer the case of Kazi Shamsunnahar vs Commandant RRF Khulna reported in 2 BLC 569 where their Lordships observed that "Admittedly, the deceased government servant was not removed from service prior to his death but he was removed from service just after his death resulting thereby the government servant died while he was still in the service of the Republic for which the petitioners as heirs of the government servant are entitled to recover the service benefits as permissible under the law and the writ petition is maintainable". 12. In the instant case there is no dispute that Abdur Rouf Chowdhury was neither convicted nor removed, nor dismissed from service before his death. So the penalty imposed by the authority concerned upon the dead man is not legal in the eye of law. It is apparent that the petitioners are admittedly heirs of the deceased employee having no other forum except to invoke writ jurisdiction under Article 102 of the Constitution and since the predecessor of the petitioners was acquitted from the charge brought against him by the competent court of law, there is no bar to the petitioners as heirs of the ex-employee in obtaining full service benefits as per service rules. Furthermore, as the departmental proceeding was withdrawn by the concerned authority the service of the predecessor of the petitioners was seemed to be treated as regular one and all service benefits of the predecessor to be recovered by the petitioners as his heirs. 13. In view of the discussion as above, we are inclined to hold that the impugned orders (Annexures-H, E, F and FI to this writ petition) are ex-facie illegal and the same have been passed without any lawful authority and are of no legal effect, therefore, the petitioners as heirs of late Abdur Rob Chowdhury are entitled to get all service benefits including pension and arrear, if any, as permissible in law. In the result the rule is made absolute without order as to costs. The impugned orders (Annexures-H, E, F and F1 to this writ petition) have been passed without lawful authority and are of no legal effect. The respondents are directed to pay full service benefits of late Abdur Rob Chowdhury to the petitioners as permissible under the law. (Concluded) Forging unity to combat militancy underscored City Desk : Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sharif on Friday called for forging a unity of pro-liberation forces to combat militancy and terrorism. "We all should remain alert against any conspiracy as anti-liberation forces are still active to hamper development process in the country," he said this on Friday while inaugurating function of a pure drinking supply project in Ishwardi, an official release said. Sharif said a vested quarter has been hatching conspiracies to impede the process of the current continuous development by patronizing militancy and terrorism in the country. He urged all people of the pro-liberation forces to extend their cooperation to supplement the efforts of the government to root out militancy and terrorism. When Athiya Shetty stunned everyone Bringing New Yorks style and edge to the Indian beauty and fashion scene, Athiya Shetty, brand ambassador of Maybelline New York, in a recently concluded photo shoot is sporting a never-seen-before new and fashion forward looks. These looks have been inspired by New York Fashion Week SS17 and is sure to set temperatures soaring. As the showstopper for Masaba Gupta, at Amazon India Fashion Week SS 17, scheduled on 15th October at NSIC Grounds in New Delhi, Athiya will set the ramp on fire with inimitable style. Maybelline make-up artist, Elton J Fernandez will create a New York inspired vivid, bold and edgy look for Athiya, which will perfectly harmonise the dynamic energy of the city and the natural confidence of feminine power. Trump a threat to press freedom, says CPJ Dawn.com, NEW YORK : For the first time in its 35-year history, the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has declared a US presidential candidate a threat to press freedoms, a press statement here said. Board Chairman Sandra Mims Rowe issued a statement on behalf of the organisation calling out 'Donald Trump for his virulent anti-media rhetoric and actions.' "Donald Trump, through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the United States, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values," Rowe said. 7-year-old boy beaten on North Carolina school bus 'for being Muslim' INDEPENDENT : A seven year old boy was beaten on a schoolbus by five classmates because he was a Muslim, according to his father. Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani told The Independent his youngest son Abdul Aziz had been the victim of islamophobic bullying by two girls and three boys in the US state of North Carolina. "He was coming home in a school bus when one of his classmates came to him and started forcing some food in his mouth," he said. "Abdul said: 'What is it? I only eat halal'. But the other boy wouldn't say." "Then five classmates, who were only six or seven years old, started punching him in the face and chest," said Mr Usmani, a data scientist from Pakistan who first came to the US to study in 2004. "They hurt his fingers, threw his backpack to the back of the bus and kept hitting him all the way from school to home. It was a really shocking experience. He was traumatised." Mr Usmani, who is on an extended visit to Pakistan for Hajj and Eid, said his wife told him what had happened on the phone on Friday. He said he and his family had left the US to live in Pakistan in 2010, and had returned to America in 2014 - but after this incident, his wife and three sons had decided to join him in Pakistan and had arrived there early this week. They were already planning a move to California from the town of Cary in North Carolina where they lived, but now Abdul has told his parents he does not want to return to the US at all. "Since we arrived in the US [in 2014], we started having problems with islamophobia and anti-immigration statements," he said. "Before 2010, we didn't have these incidents. But we don't feel safe in the US any more." "We've had issues with our eldest son and our middle son as well, but this episode with our youngest was the final nail in the coffin. My wife said: 'That's it. I'm coming back to Pakistan.'" Lisa Luten of the Wake County Public School System said an investigation had been launched by the principle of Weatherstone Elementary School, where Abdul was a pupil. "The incident was reported last Friday, and usually the principal would wait for the next day to investigate, but because of the hurricane, the principle did the investigation that evening, as soon as it was reported," she told The Independent. "It was a full bus and the children have assigned seats. They did not see anything and nor did the bus driver. [Abdul] did not report anything to the children around him or to the bus driver," she said. "There was one seven year old sitting next to that child on the bus, and that child did report playfighting. But they weren't aware of [islamophobic] language". Ms Luten said the school principal had tried to get in touch with the Usmani family by phone, but was unable to reach them. "They reported bullying from another child on the bus. They didn't mention it was related to his religion," she said. "We found that out through the media reports, and have been trying to get more information about that specific claim, but we've been unable to reach the parents. "We have policies prohibiting that type of behaviour. It's not tolerated in our schools and when it happens it's addressed." Mr Usmani said that when they first reported the incident to the school, Abdul was "clearly in a lot of pain and had bruises, but he wasn't talking much". He said his son had only told them about the religious element to the bullying over the weekend. "I received an email from the principal and responded to him with what I heard, but I haven't heard back from him," he said. "They have my number and Skype details." "I don't know why they don't want to label it as a hate crime and just want to call it bullying." Abdul has recovered from his physical injuries, except for a bump to his head, said Mr Usmani. But he said the family would remain in Pakistan until after the US elections next month. "[Abdul] said he loved the USA and would go back, when he's strong enough. I don't know how long he will stay [in Pakistan]. "My wife and I don't want to go back to the US either. But I have to go back for my work. We'll just wait until the elections and see what happens." Dhaka, Beijing ink $13.6b deals Staff Reporter : Dhaka and Beijing have signed deals and framework agreement worth billions of dollar in an effort to establish closer economic ties through strengthening investment. The deals, signed on Friday, were 15 agreements and MoUs and 12 loan and mutual agreements, said Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque. The cooperation deals and MoUs signed by both sides also include belt and road initiative, addressing climate change, and cooperation on information technology. The deals were signed in presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Earlier, Chinese state-media highlighted the visit as a "milestone" as the two countries will sign at least 21 agreements amounting to nearly $40 billion investment in Bangladesh. BSS adds: Bangladesh and China on Friday struck US$ 13.6 billion deals for 13 projects mainly covering infrastructure, communication, power, energy and sports. The agreements were signed at Bangladesh-China Business Forum jointly organized by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) at a city hotel on the occasion of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Bangladesh. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed was present at the ceremony as the chief guest. FBCCI president Abdul Matlub Ahmed, after the signing, said of the total agreements, private organizations inked 11 agreements while the remaining deals were struck by the government of Bangladesh. Besides, on the Chinese side, two-thirds agreements were signed by the state-owned companies while the rest by private firms, said Sun Xiao, deputy director general of China Chamber of International Commerce, Department of Cooperation and Development. Speaking on the occasion, Vice chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Chen Zhou termed Bangladesh as a close friend of China as the two countries have diplomatic relations for 46 years. "We believe more Chinese investment in special economic zone (SEZ) would benefit Bangladesh," he said referring to the allocation of land for China in SEZ in Chittagong. Zhou laid emphasis on transformation and upgradation of production to boost export growth to China. Speaking on the occasion, Tofail Ahmed said if Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor is established, the trade and commerce of the two nations will see a better future. The BCIM Economic Corridor is an initiative conceptualized for significant gains through sub-regional economic cooperation within the BCIM countries. Xi considers BD as strategic partner Staff Reporter : Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Dhaka on Friday on a 22-hour state visit to Bangladesh, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years. A special flight of Air China Boeing 747-400 carrying President Xi Jinping and his entourage landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 11:36am. After opening the plane door, Xi stepped out, waving with hand. Earlier, he was escorted by Air Force jets in Bangladesh sky. President Abdul Hamid received his Chinese counterpart on his arrival at the VVIP terminal of HSIA at 12.03 pm with 21-gun salute. A young child welcomed the Chinese President with flowers when he arrived at the VVIP terminal. A red carpet was rolled out to welcome Xi Jinping. A long line of Bangladesh and Chinese dignitaries, including cabinet members, were seen waiting to greet the Chinese leader. Xi Jinping moved to the saluting dais accompanied by his Bangladesh counterpart, and received guard of honor and inspected the guard. President Abdul Hamid introduced the cabinet members and other dignitaries to Xi Jinping at the presentation line. The Chinese President also introduced his entourage to Abdul Hamid. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Planning Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal, Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi, the chiefs of the three services and State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam were present at the presentation line. A 13-member high-profile delegation, including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan, is accompanying the Chinese President. China considers Bangladesh as an important partner in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, President Xi Jinping said in an arrival statement at Dhaka. "We are ready to work with the Bangladeshi side to further deepen our political mutual trust and elevate our relations and practical cooperation to a higher level of strategic partnership," Xi said. "In the 41 years of our diplomatic relations, China-Bangladesh ties have kept moving forward," said the statement. The Chinese president pointed out that China and Bangladesh face similar task of development. He said that the Chinese dream to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is "in perfect harmony" with Bangladesh's dream of a "Sonar Bangla". "I look forward to having broad and in-depth exchange of views with President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and other Bangladeshi leaders on China-Bangladesh relations and issues of mutual interests to chart the course for our future cooperation and jointly usher in a new chapter in our bilateral relations," Xi added. From the airport, President Xi was escorted to his place of residence - Hotel Le Meridien - in a ceremonial motorcade. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Chinese President held official talks at the Prime Minister's Office from 3:15pm to 4:15pm. They later witnessed the signing of 26 MoUs and agreements between the two countries. The Chinese President signed visitors' book there before returning to his place of residence. Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury also met the Chinese President at Rangamati Room of the hotel at 4:35 retreat. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia called on Xi around 5:00pm at the hotel. After the meetings, President Xi headed towards Bangabhaban and met his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Hamid at 6:30pm. The Chinese President attended banquet preceded by cultural programme hosted by Abdul Hamid at Darbar Hall from 7:00pm-8:30pm. On Saturday, the Chinese President will leave hotel for National Martyrs Memorial at 8:20pm Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq and the General Commanding Officer of the 9th infantry division will receive the Chinese President in Savar at 8:55am. After attending the ceremony at the National Martyrs Memorial, the Chinese President will sign visitors' book and plant a sapling there. President Xi will reach the airport straight from Savar and leave for Goa, India at 10:00am on Saturday by the special VVIP flight. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will see him off at the airport. Future GOP hopefuls in bind Reuters : With Donald Trump's election prospects dimming and controversy swirling around him, future Republican presidential hopefuls may be weighing whether standing by their man is the savvy move. Party strategists fear voters fleeing Trump will also fail to support Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House, possibly costing the party control of Congress. If Trump loses the Nov. 8 presidential election to Democrat Hillary Clinton, his polarizing candidacy may reverberate well past 2016, tarring future Republican White House hopefuls, potentially including House Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trump's vice presidential running mate. Trump was struggling in opinion polls before a 2005 video released last week showed him talking in sexually aggressive terms about seducing women. Afterward came stories in several news outlets alleging Trump had inappropriately touched women. Trump has angrily denounced the stories, the media and Republicans who have declined to support him. "The brand has already been irrevocably damaged. There's nothing we can do in the short term," said Doug Heye, a former top official with the Republican National Committee. Looking to the 2018 U.S. congressional election and the 2020 presidential election, Heye said: "In two to four years, the stain on our party's soul won't be washed away." To be sure, a Trump loss is no guarantee the Republicans would suffer for long. Four years after Barry Goldwater's massive loss in 1964, Richard Nixon staged a Republican comeback. The conservative Heritage Foundation think thank has said Goldwater launched a shift to the right that would end half a century of liberal dominance in American politics. For Republicans weighing a run for president in four years, deciding whether to back Trump may be a defining moment equal to what politicians faced in 2002 when they decided whether to back Republican President George Bush's Iraq invasion. By 2006, public sentiment had turned harshly against the Iraq war, some Republican politicians lost their jobs, and Democrats seized both the House and Senate. Republican presidential hopefuls of the future may be asking: How can I be loyal and stand by Trump while at the same time expand the party's base to include sectors the candidate has alienated? Trump's candidacy has attracted passionate support from a core group of voters but also driven away some moderates and independents. Republicans such as Heye fear Trump, who already has alienated large populations of Hispanic voters because of his hard line on immigration, will cost the party a generation of women voters as well. Ryan, Rubio and Pence all have, to some degree, sought to distance themselves from Trump. Ryan this week told colleagues he would no longer publicly defend Trump, in essence washing his hands of him. Rubio, who ran against Trump in the Republican primary and is fighting for re-election in his home state of Florida, has criticized Trump's remarks about women, but has not withdrawn his support. Pence is routinely forced to answer for his running mate's conduct, but managed at last week's vice presidential debate to outline policy differences with him. If Trump leads the party to crushing defeat next month, he may for years haunt Republican office-holders who supported him. "I predict a chaotic round of finger pointing after the election, as people try to justify their position," said Jim Manley, a former top aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid who witnessed the Democratic wave in 2006 first-hand. Democrats are trying to link vulnerable Senate candidates to Trump at every turn. On Thursday, the advocacy group American Bridge highlighted Trump's praise of Rubio on local Florida television, even as Rubio has avoided appearing at any Trump events in the state. Clinton on Twitter this week noted that Ryan has not recanted his endorsement of Trump. Strategists say Pence would have the hardest time emerging from Trump's shadow. "I think for Pence, it's really tough," said Republican operative Liz Mair. Transit should not be used to hurt BD's exports BANGLADESH'S exports to northeastern states of India through Akhaura land port has drastically declined since India started transit shipment of essential goods from last June. Contrary to Bangladesh's hopes that transit will equally benefit both countries, it appears that Akhaura land port has virtually turned into wasteland as direct export from Bangladesh has almost totally dried up. Most clearing forwarding agents who were working at the Port have also closed their shutters and laid off several hundred staff and workers. News report in a national daily on Thursday said transit has sharply impacted Bangladesh's exports to northeastern states of India instead of creating more exports and huge revenue from transit fees as the government had earlier claimed. Indian northeast had so long depended on export of construction materials, fish and beverage items from Bangladesh as the cheapest source from across the border compared to supply from mainland through Shiliguri corridor crossing over thousand kilometers of distance. They would import at least 40 items such as cement, plastic goods, corrugated iron sheet, iron rod, stone, fish and refreshment drinks. But ever since India secured the transit passage its suppliers are sending these materials direct from the mainland knocking out Bangladeshi exporters from their advantageous position. India pays only Tk 192.22 for per ton of goods using river transit making supply from mainland rather cheaper in terms of transport cost. Even Bangladesh government has turned down Bangladesh Tariff Commission's recommendation to fix the transit fee at Tk 1058 to allow low cost transport. It appears Bangladesh is now on the loser side in all aspects and it is in India's interest not to destroy Bangladesh's business. Even early this year long queues of trucks at Akhaura land port were a common scene to enter India and unload exports from Bangladesh. But India has just stopped importing most such materials. The trade balance with India is almost ten times now against Bangladesh and many doubt that the country may become a captive Indian market if some reciprocity is not playing a role in the process. In our view it is high time Bangladesh government should take the issue with Indian government to protect the country's business. We have offered transit despite critical opposition by many because we thought India needs it for easy connectivity with the northeast. But in return the drying up of our exports to northeast is not acceptable. India's tariff and non-tariff barriers on Bangladesh's export to Indian mainland are also contrary to duty free trade from our sides. Regular killing of our nationals on border also gives us a sense of betrayal. We must say this is not the way bilateral relations can go a long way but the reality is that we have to live together respecting each other's interest. AL feels triumphant Xi's visit to create positive impact on politics, say party leaders Sagar Biswas : The ruling Awami League feels triumphant following the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first by any Chinese head of state in 30 years after President Li Xiannian's trip in 1986, when geopolitically Bangladesh is getting importance in the world politics. Several AL leaders have expressed their opinions that Bangladesh has created a positive image as its international acceptance increased in the recent days. For that reason, many countries are interested to develop relations with Bangladesh, they said. "The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a bridge of friendship between the two countries The relation between Bangladesh and China is bilateral, not multilateral," AL General Secretary and Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam told newsmen after welcoming the Chinese leader at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Friday. Expressing optimism over the Chinese President's visit, AL Presidium Member Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin said: "So far as I think, it is not possible to turn Bangladesh into a middle-income or developed country without Chinese cooperation. There is no alternative but taking cooperation from China to increase economic growth [of Bangladesh]." "This visit [of Chinese President] will encourage the Bangladesh government to take other mega projects, apart from ongoing infrastructural development projects, including Metro Rail," Joint General Secretary of AL Mahbubul Alam Hanif said. Insiders said AL is also feeling comforted now due to Chinese leader's visit when the country has been considering Bangladesh as "strategic partner" in regional politics as well in development. In fact, the AL became cornered in the global arena after January 5, 2014 one-sided voter-less national election. There was only one big friend India who stood beside the ruling government. Still, the ruling AL government is facing challenges in the international arena centering the "election" as Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] did not step aside from its policy to keep pressure on the government maintaining relation with its international contacts. In this context, the ruling party is considering Xi Jinping's visit as a "favourable" situation for the government. The AL-led 14-party alliance leaders have said Bangladesh would go one-step forward towards middle-income country status, if it is possible to create a field for large-scale Chinese investment. "The visit of Chinese President will not only create infrastructural development, it will also boost up socio-cultural progress of Bangladesh I urge the authorities concerned to expand export market of Bangladeshi goods utilizing the scope," President of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said. Echoing the same, General Secretary of Bangaladesher Samyabadi Dal, a partner of 14-party alliance, Dilip Barua said: "Signing deals with China for investment is not enough. Rather, the government should oversee whether the investment contracts are executed perfectly." Hoping that the Chinese President's visit will accelerate friendship of both countries, AL Presidium Member and Agricultural Minister Motia Chowdhury said: "It will create a positive impact on AL's own politics." Dhaka, Beijing vow to broaden bilateral ties Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping at her office on Friday. Special Correspondent : Dhaka and Beijing pledged on Friday to advance their already close and strong relationship as Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying his first state visit to Bangladesh. In talks between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two leaders agreed that the two countries should continue to be highly trusted mutual friends and partners in economic cooperation and committed to a shared destiny in weal and woe, official sources said. They have also decided to strengthen the traditional friendship between the two countries and boost their comprehensive strategic cooperation. "The Sino-Bangla friendship that was forged decades before has grown even stronger now. The current bilateral relationship is showing a positive momentum of development, with continuously enhanced political and mutual trust, fruitful economic cooperation and closer coordination in multilateral affairs," President Xi said during the meeting with Premier Hasina. Xi said China has always valued the traditional friendship between the two countries, and stands ready to work with Bangladesh and extend more cooperation in big projects here to support Bangladesh's efforts for achieving an inclusive economic growth. "Such cooperation by his government will constantly enrich the meaning of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two friendly nations, thus delivering more tangible benefits to both peoples," he noted. The president praised rapid socio-economic development and improvement of people's livelihood in Bangladesh, as well as the elevation of the country's international status, saying that he believes the Bangladesh government will lead its people to build a more prosperous country. "China firmly supports Bangladesh in pursuing its development agenda and is willing to continue to provide assistance within its own capacity for heading Bangladesh towards the development path," he said. Starting at 3:15pm, the meeting ended around 4:15pm on Friday. Bilateral trade issues, Chinese investment in Bangladesh and connectivity were the top of the agenda in the meeting between President Xi and Premier Hasina. For her part, Sheikh Hasina said that the Bangladesh thanks China for its long-term assistance and carrying forward the traditional friendship as an important mission. Noting that Bangladesh and China are good friends who enjoy a high level of mutual trust, Hasina said that the two sides have always understood and supported each other on issues involving their respective development and major concerns. She hoped that with cooperation from China, Bangladesh will be able to reach its goal to become a middle-income country by 2021. Hasina also thanked President Xi for his visit to Bangladesh saying that it has created an opportunity to strengthen their friendship and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. During the talks, the two sides vowed to maintain high-level contacts, enhance government, parliament and political party cooperation, deepen exchanges on governance experience, and expand collaboration in diplomacy as well as law enforcement and security. The two sides agreed to align their development strategies, and draw up and implement a cooperation outline on jointly promoting the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. The two countries will take measures to expand their two-way trade, and strengthen cooperation in industrial capacity, investment, water conservancy, infrastructure construction, energy, telecommunications, industry, ICT and marine sector. Both sides also wanted to expand exchanges and cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, cultural relics, health, tourism and youth. The two leaders witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation agreements covering those fields before the meeting. President Xi held a press briefing after the meeting. Afterwards Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also took the podium and briefed journalists. "Bangladesh and China are trusted friends. China wants to deepen the friendship," said Xi. He wished that the friendship between the two countries will grow stronger in the coming days. "China always supports Bangladesh's efforts to economic and social development and it is ready to work with Bangladesh and extend more cooperation in big projects here. The meeting discussed issues of economic cooperation and mutual interests," Xi told media. "I had a fruitful discussion with his Excellency Xi on bilateral, regional and international issues which are common for both countries," Hasina told the press. They also jointly unveiled six projects, including multi-lane tunnel beneath the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong from the Prime Minister's Office. Hillary accuses Trump of `stalking` her during TV debate Bangkok Post, Washington : Hillary Clinton has accused her Republican presidential rival Donald Trump of "stalking" her during their televised debate on Sunday. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton during the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri on October 9, 2016. Trump often stood closely behind the Democratic nominee glowering as she answered questions from the audience during the town hall-style event in St. Louis. Speaking during an interview on NBC's The Ellen DeGeneres Show set to air Friday, Clinton said his movements made her feel "really weird" on stage. "Because of the revelation of the public video, and everything that came out on 'Access Hollywood,' you know, he was really all wrought up, and you could just sense how much anger he had," Clinton said, referring to a video leaked last week showing Trump making lewd comments about women. "And so he was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage and I would just feel this presence behind me." Trump rejected criticism about his debate performance at a rally on Monday. "So I'm standing at my podium by my chair. She walks across the room. She's standing in front of me, right next to me," he said. "And the next day I said what did the papers say? They said, 'he invaded her space.'" "Believe me," he added, "The last space that I want to invade is her space." Last week's video showed Trump boasting in 2005 of groping women with impunity because he was famous, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity. Since then, at least six women have accused him of making unwanted physical advances, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday's debate that he had never sexually assaulted a woman. During her interview, Clinton praised First Lady Michelle Obama for blasting the Republican nominee in a powerful tirade on Thursday. "The speech that she gave, I think, put into words what so many people are feeling," Clinton said. "And not just women and girls. Men and boys." She also said she didn't notice making a much-commented shimmy motion during Sunday's debate when Trump accused her of not having the "right temperament" to be president. "Now people are always saying, 'Do the shimmy, do the shimmy.'" The Undead Archives I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world. Firefighters rescue a 6-year-old girl from the rubble after four buildings collapsed in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, on Monday. [Photo by YU GENLING/CHINA DAILY] The collapse of a building in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, in which 22 people died, has highlighted a number of legal issues. According to China's Property Law, the owner of a building that collapses cannot automatically rebuild on the same site, because in the eyes of the law there is no property to have ownership of should a building collapse. According to the Property Law, the person that owned the building that collapsed still enjoys the right to use the land, but if they want to build another house, he or she should go through necessary procedures for housing construction and abide by relevant regulations. It is a complicated process to build a house, and without permission it's illegal to rebuild a house on the same site. Also if the status of the land is changed from residential land to land for public use, an application to rebuild on the same site is not permitted. And while insurance companies will insure a building against damage, they will not assume responsibility for rebuilding a property. Nor will the government take responsibility for rebuilding a property. In short, the house owner will probably lose their property if a building collapses, unless it is caused by a natural disaster, in which case the local authorities are responsible for providing a salvage service. Or unless the property owner can prove that the collapsed building was an historic building, in which case the local authority should take responsibility for repairing. The owner will have to take partial responsibility for the repair work if the building is regarded as personal property. As China's current Construction Law does not have any specific regulations covering low-rise housing in rural areas, there are no standards that must be met when constructing a house in a rural area or rural-urban fringe zones. Owners of these houses bear all the responsibility if their building collapses. During the process of rapid urbanization, there are many old houses in cities especially small and medium-sized cities. Some people suppose we should use public maintenance funds to repair these buildings. But the public maintenance fund was established after reform of the real estate market, which means it is not valid for old houses built before the reform. To guarantee their legal rights and interests, the owners of some old houses could apply to the authorities for historical building preservation and protection if appropriate. But in this case, the owners' rights to use and dispose of the building will be restricted accordingly. In a nutshell, under current circumstances, house owners should make all efforts to guarantee their properties won't collapse in order to protect their rights and interests. The author is a professor of law at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs. We need your nominations by Oct. 27, so our committee can narrow the field and choose another standout leader who will be honored in the November-December issue of ABiz and at the Entrepreneur of the Year Symposium. ABiz's 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year Symposium featured, from left, Butch Darce, Cathi Pavy and Seenu Kasturi. Photo by Robin May ABiz is asking members of the Acadiana community to nominate the individuals they think are most deserving of its annual Entrepreneur of the Year award. We need your nominations by Oct. 27, so our committee can narrow the field and choose another standout leader who will be honored in the November-December issue of ABiz and at the annual Entrepreneur of the Year Symposium (more info to come). Nominations for 2016 need to be submitted via email to ABiz Editorial Director Leslie Turk at [email protected] We welcome nominations from readers and leaders in the business community throughout the One Acadiana region (Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion parishes). Although there is no specific grading system, our committee assesses nominees for innovation, job creation and potential for job creation, vision, leadership, expansion, financial performance, community involvement and ethics in business. The paper is also seeking nominations for the Jillian Johnson Award for Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy. Last years symposium, the second annual, honored Butch Darce, chairman and CEO of Taylors International Services, as Entrepreneur of the Year, and Cathi Pavy, partner and creative director for BBR Creative, received the first-ever Jillian Johnson Award. Rounding out the panel was Seenu Kasturi, CEO of Lafayette-based Blue Victory Holdings, a past winner of ABizs Dealmaker of the Year Award. Three of the past honorees Schumacher Group founder and Executive Chairman Dr. Kip Schumacher, Lemoine Company President/CEO Lenny Lemoine and Keith Myers, Chairman/CEO of The LHC Group convened for the first-ever ABiz Entrepreneur of the Year Symposium in 2014. The Jillian Johnson Award for Entrepreneurship in The Creative Economy was created last year to honor someone who is a driving force in that realm, and weve adopted the definition of creatives as coined by best-selling author and economic theorist Richard Florida. Some are classic knowledge-based workers in health care, business, finance, law or education. Others are part of what Florida calls The Super-Creative Core, comprising artists, designers, media workers, scientists, engineers or computer programmers. Taken from her family and community in the tragic Grand Theatre shooting last year, Jillian leaves a legacy as a successful business owner, graphic artist, musician, producer and creative force in our community all of which certainly embodies much of the spectrum as Florida defines it. We hope to perpetuate that legacy in some small way. Photo by Philip Gould CAJUN DANCE HALLS & ZYDECO CLUBS EXHIBIT** THROUGH OCT. 16 **A. Hays Town House at Paul & Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum Featuring images from the book Ghosts of Good Times by Philip Gould and Dancehalls of South Louisiana archival collection at the Center for Louisiana Studies curated by John Pudd Sharp. **CAJUN DANCE HALLS & ZYDECO CLUBS SYMPOSIUM THURSDAY, OCT. 13 **Vermilionville, 8:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 8:45 a.m. Introductions by Dr. Michael Martin, Dr. Barry Ancelet and Patrick Mould 9-9:45 a.m. John Pudd Sharp on Bloody Buckets, Twice Drunk Beer, and Losers Gumbo: The Louisiana Dancehalls Project 10-10:45 a.m. Dr. Elista Istre, author of All Creoles: Exploring A South Louisiana Culture, Identity, and Heritage 11-11:45 a.m. From Behind the Bar A Dance Hall Owners Perspective with Lawrence Patin of La Poussiere & Mark Falgout of Blue Moon Saloon; moderated by John Pudd Sharp 11:45 a.m.-noon Presentation of the Louisiana Tradition Bearer Award honoring Walter Mouton. Noon Lunch at Vermilionville 1:30-2:45 p.m. Roundtable discussion on the cultural significance of dance halls during the 70s transitional era that brought college-aged kids to clubs such as Jays & Boo Boos; dance halls from the musicians perspective, including Ray Abshire, Sonny Landreth, Lil Buck, & Patrick Mould; moderated by Dr. Barry Ancelet 3-4:30 p.m. Philip Gould & Herman Fuselier, authors of Ghosts of Good Times; moderated by Dr. Michael Martin. Book signing to follow. **DOCUMENTARY FILM WORLD PREMIERE OF FIRST COUSINS THURSDAY, OCT. 13 **Angelle Hall First Cousins: Cajun and Creole Music in South Louisiana honors the fascinating musical heritage and enduring relationship of Cajuns and Creoles. A little too distant for siblings, these communities and their music are surely related enough to be considered first cousins! Film screening will be from 7-8:30 p.m. followed by a VIP reception at the A. Hays Town Home from 8:30-10 p.m. **TOUR DES ATAKAPAS RUN SATURDAY, OCT. 15 **Geaux Run This 3, 5 and 7-mile run in partnership with TRAIL will travel to Beaver Park and Vermilionville along part of the Atakapa-Ishak Trail. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. and the run at 8:30 a.m. A post-race party will be held in Girard Park. Visit www.festivalsacadiens.com/events/ for more info and to register for special events. Tickets and registration for the symposium, film and Tour Des Atakapas are available via Eventbrite. **BLUE MOON SALOON BLUEMOONPRESENTS.COM 337-234-2422 ** Friday, Oct. 14, 9:30 p.m. Zydeco Radio, Lost Bayou Ramblers Saturday, Oct. 15, 9:30 p.m. Cedryl Ballou & The Zydeco Trendsetters, Pine Leaf Boys Sunday, Oct. 16, 8 p.m. Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars **DOWNTOWN LAFAYETTE LAFAYETTESCIENCEMUSEUM.ORG 337-291-5544 ** Friday, Oct. 14 / Bach Lunch Parc Sans Souci Noon-1 p.m. Michot Melody Makers SaveSave 1. FRIDAY NIGHT FAIS DO DO Capital One Bank Scene Ma Louisiane Friday, Oct. 14 5:30-8:45 p.m. Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers followed by Roddie Romero & The Hub City All-Stars help to get the party started at this years Festivals Acadiens et Creoles. Roddie Romero and his band will be joined by two of Lafayettes guitar gurus Lil Buck Sinegal & Sonny Landreth. Both Sonny and Lil Buck played in Clifton Cheniers Red Hot Louisiana Band and will be helping to keep our historic musical traditions alive when they take the stage. Photo by Kevin Ste Marie **2. TINTAMARDIGRAS ** Corner of East Lewis and Johnston streets Saturday, Oct. 15 9-10:15 a.m. For the second year in a row, Festivals combines country and city Mardi Gras with the Acadian Tintamarre for what can only be described as a raucous parade. Line the streets and join in the second line to Girard Park led by Soul Express Brass Band and featuring the Lafayette Creole Head Hunters Mardi Gras Indians and several other guests. **3. WALTER MOUTON AND THE SCOTT PLAYBOYS ** Chevron Salle de Danse Saturday, Oct. 15 2:15-3:15 p.m. Being celebrated this year as a venerable dance hall musician, Walter Moutons set at Salle de Danse is the perfect accompaniment to the live CD on sale as part of the 2016 Festivals merchandise. This historic record, the only full-length CD of Moutons music in existence, comes remastered by Tony Daigle with 17 tracks and a 12-page booklet detailing his life and work designed by Megan Barra. 4. RUSTY METOYER AND THE ZYDECO KRUSH & CEDRYL BALLOU & THE ZYDECO TRENDSETTERS Yuengling Scene DAnniversaire Saturday, Oct. 15 Two up and coming Lake Charles bands new to Festivals this year, Rusty Metoyer and the Zydeco Krush will bring their nouveau Zydeco energy to the open-air Anniversary Stage from 2:45-3:45 p.m., followed by Cedryl Ballou, who fronts the Zydeco Trendsetters and is known for taking his accordion out into the crowd. 5. CHRIS ARDOIN & NUSTEP LUS Scene Mon Heritage Sunday, Oct. 16 1-2 p.m. After a lengthy absence from the lineup, accordion prodigy Chris Ardoin returns to the Heritage Stage, going back to his roots in presenting a more traditional form of Zydeco. 6. CREOLE STRINGBEANS SWAMP POP REVUE Chevron Salle de Danse Sunday, Oct. 16 4-5:30 p.m. Presented by Festival International de Louisiane, this classic New Orleans party band will be joined by local swamp pop veterans GG Shin and Tommy McClain in what promises to be a rollicking dance party. 7. ATELIER STAGE Saturday, Oct. 15, and Sunday, Oct. 16 Hosted by Festivals Acadiens, the atelier or workshop stage is known for offering an inside look into the music. This year, guests can learn more about the 2016 honoree by attending Cajun Dance Halls and Zydeco Clubs with Philip Gould, Herman Fuselier, John Pudd Sharp & Ray Abshire from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Saturday. Other programs throughout the weekend include Outside In Cajun Musicians and a Female Fiddle Summit. 8. JAM CA SPONSORED BY THE DR. TOMMY COMEAUX ENDOWED CHAIR IN TRADITIONAL MUSIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE Saturday, Oct. 15, and Sunday, Oct. 16 Bring your instrument to Girard park and dont miss the opportunity to jam with a Cajun or Zydeco musician, while preserving the memory of musician Dr. Tommy Comeaux. 9. CULTURE SUR LA TABLE Saturday, Oct. 15, and Sunday, Oct. 16 At the helm of Louisiana Culinary Institute Chef Instructor Colt Patin and sponsored by J&J Exterminating, this years Culture on the Table is tastier than ever before. Starting with Patin making Boudin for Breakfast on Saturday morning, this area will have local chefs demonstrating authentic South Louisiana dishes all weekend long. 10. WAYNE TOUPS & ZYDECAJUN Capital One Bank Scene Ma Louisiane Sunday, Oct. 16 6-7:30 p.m. A perennial closer for good reason, Wayne Toups and his band always bring the party. Festivals organizers like to refer to this band as the Wayne Toups Orchestra and others call him The Cajun Springsteen for his highenergy blend of Cajun, Zydeco, soul and Southern rock. Save Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes. What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection? Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were. Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly. Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection: You get to see exactly what will happen to your money When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor. Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on. A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with. You find out about potential major repairs Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing. If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately. You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home. Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly. You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best. This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit. Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home. You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home. You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price. You can sell your home faster and for more money If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are. In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price. Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for. Your home will hold its value longer As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property. When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home. You can make smart decisions about property investments Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property. If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal. There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about. If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing. They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit. You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for. For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money. You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building. You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure. Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so. As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process. President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war? You voted: Heading in to Romania after 3 weeks in Turkey, back into Eastern Europe and back on our original route we were unsure what to expect. In many ways it almost felt like coming back home, back to the familiar sights, sounds and smells of Eastern Europe we had become so used to and loved to much. But Romania stood out to us, the mixture of cultures that both keeps the traditional gypsy ways alive in the stunning countryside and also the youthful, vibrant and open atmosphere of the cities. Bucharest seemed represent the many sides to this country, tradition, history and the future. Here we found a country that in the end we rated as our favourite on our 4 month journey through this region! Head inside the huge palace of parliament building The fact that its a palace should be a give away to how special this building is! Its not just another fancy place to house the countries government but the worlds second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon. Construction of this gargantuan structure started in 1984 by the then communist government in a style very much related to the Stalinist one popular earlier in the century. Unlike many buildings from this communist era of Europe the Palace of Parliament has been retained and is now seen as a symbol of hope against oppression and a reminder to never forget the past. The huge building is open for public assess for a fee, but remember to bring your passport first! Tours run often, but to get in you have to go through some pretty strict security! The inside is richly decorated in materials only sources from within Romania, it even contains the worlds largest set of curtains and carpet! Visit the national village museum in Herastrau Park In a far corner of the city in the beautiful Herastrau Park is this magnificent open air ethnographic museum. Opened in 1936 this wonderful museum is like stepping back in time, it contains over 272 authentic peasant farms and houses from all over Romania and Moldova. It feels like walking around a magical village in the middle of the wilds of the country, you very much loose the sense that you are in the capital! Here the houses date as far back as the 1700s and have been moved from their original locations in which they were derelict or endangered and rebuilt here as a way to preserve the unique heritage of Romania. A truly wonderful experience! Have a trendy and experimental coffee! Romania might be a traditional country but Bucharest is a modern, trendy, youthful and happening capital city. Here coffee culture is on the up and there are several amazing and experimental shops for connoisseurs to try! The Origo coffee shop has to be up there with the best. Get their home ground coffee boiled up in a series of conical above bunsen burners. Here the baristas serve up the menu like it is a collection on fine wines, such is their knowledge and the quality of their coffee. It might be a hipsters paradise but if you love coffee then you wont mind the queue for this popular and well designed venue which includes a 276 cup installation hanging off the ceiling. They also serve desserts and French patisserie and cocktails in the evening, a testament to the developing coffee culture in Romania and the amazing Bucharest nightlife that just has to be experienced. Stavropoleos Church Built in 1724 this is one of the many beautiful monasteries and churches that characterise this city. Constructed in the Brancovenesc style the monastery has suffered over the years due to demolition, earthquakes and disuse, mostly during the communist era of Romania. The church has since undergone a series of major restorations on the structure and internal decorations of the church and surrounding buildings. Today it is a wonderful, beautiful and detailed examples of architecture as well as home to thousands of ancient books, wall paintings and icons rescued from various churches over the period of destruction by the communists. Explore old town Bucharest Known as Centru Vechi by the locals this area is widely considered to be where the city was founded and is all that is left of pre WW2 Bucharest. The city was extensively bombed during the war and in subsequent years much of what remained was destroyed by the communists, this area however remains as a beautiful example of old Bucharest. The Old Town has changed over the years, from 1989 until the late 2000s this neighbourhood was rundown and a rather unsavoury place in which to find yourself. The area developed naturally rather than being a result of an initiative or because of investment, this meant many restaurants, galleries and bars opening up in rundown buildings. In recent years however the government has stepped in to resolve the safety issues and it is a booming and trendy area to explore. Victoriei Street One of the main boulevards of the city wandering down this historic street you will encounter many of the citys oldest and most grandiose buildings. Take in the National University Library, Cercul Militar National, Romanian Atheneum, Cantacuzino palace, CEC Palace amongst others as you wander down to Revolution Square. Not only is this street a delight to stroll along but it is also part of the historical fabric of the city and the country as a whole. Having been known initially as Ulita Mare (Large Street) it was then known by Drumul Brasovului (Brasov Road) as it was a trade route over to the Transylvanian city of the same name (which we later visited!). It was also one of the first roads to be paved back in 1692, initially in wood before being upgraded to cobbles and eventually tarmac! The initially paving cemented its place however as an important road in this region, a source of pride and a fashionable place to live. Revolution Square One of the most important squares in the country it was known as Palace Square prior to being renamed after the 1989 Romanian Revolution. Named previously for the former Royal Palace that sits in the square, this lavish building is now home to the National Museum of Art of Romania as well as several other impressive buildings such as the Athenee Palace Hotel and University of Bucharest Library. If you want another experience that relates to the revolution here you can also take advantage of the fact that shooting clubs are easily accessible, cheap and safe in Romania. The Bucharest Shooting Club is one of the best in the region where you can try out live weapons including an AK47! However the most famous, or infamous features of the square have to be the former Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party which is now home to the ministry of Interior reform. This was where former leader Nicolae Ceausecu and his wife fled via helicopter after being overthrown in this very square. Rather controversially also here sits the memorial of Rebirth which memorises the revolution and those effected by the communist regime in Romania. The design split opinion and as a result became nicknamed the potato of the revolution. Vandalism in 2012 resulted in a splash of paint landing just below the potato resulting in the sculpture appearing to bleed and quite possibly adding that symbolism of the suffering it originally was criticised for lacking. Biserica Sfantul Anton Known as the Old Court Church and being built between 1545-1554 it is the oldest church in Bucharest and one of the most beautiful. The church was extended in 1715 and the current frescos that are still visible adorning almost every surface today date back to 1847. The design of the church reflects that of Moldovan influences and has recently been renovated to reveal the stunning original brick work patterns created in rows and vertical bands as well as brick niches and cornices. Have you ever been to Bucharest? Book your accommodation here Hey, youve got your Travel Insurance sorted havent you? Travelling and especially backpacking is a wild adventure, but make sure you are covered just incase something goes wrong, which if youre living it up to the fullest its always a possibility! Check travel insurance prices with World Nomads here! See more from this country See more from our backpacking adventures: 6X6 Landscaping Timbers Use a shovel, a steel rake, or a garden hoe to dig out rocks, roots,. 6 x 6 x 8' brown plastic timber. Actual costs will depend on job size, conditions, and. Prepare the ground at the edge of the border planting so that it is ready to receive the landscape timber edging. Recycled plastic lumber 6696 6 x 6 x 8 from markstaar can be used for a wide range of plastic lumber applications such as decking, walkways, railings, boardwalks, landscape steps,. California Rent Increase Notice As a landlord, you have to increase the rent of your tenant at some agreed point. Rent increase more than 5% but no more than the maximum allowed by the. Houses For Rent In Conover Nc Home is a 3 bed, 3.0 bath property. As of september 2022 the median rental rate in conover is $1,420 which is $138 (11%) more than the median of $1,282. Boston Terrier Puppies Craigslist Oct 12 scammer alert (description) dorchester. Search titles only has image posted today bundle duplicates include nearby areas. French bulldog & boston terrier &chihuahua& schnauzer & kitten. Boston terrier puppies. Apartments For Rent Wenatchee Rental property in wenatchee, wa. If youre looking for apartments in wenatchee, wa. $1295 | 108 n buchanan $1395 | 340 pea $2700 | 108 n buchanan $1450 | 910 poplar ave. View apartments for rent in wenatchee, wa. Aldabra Tortoise For Sale Aldabra tortoises seem to tolerate a large range of conditions but a warm stable environment is recommended. Firstly,several of these tortoises have already been ordered. The aldabra tortoise is a. Craigslist In Dc Craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, services, local community, and events Oct 9 womens ready to. Dc is home to the world's greatest super heroes,. Apartments For Rent In Florence Italy Available apartment for rent in florence, toscana, italy | 50 m2 apartment for rent in florence, toscana. This venue comprises of 3 bedrooms, 1. Up to 2 people 1 bedroom. Kohler Maxton Faucet Sale +3 colors | 4 options available in 4 colors and 4 options. You can't go wrong with kohler!as an amazon af. With a unique ribbon water. K 10272 4 forte widespread sink faucet with sculpted handles kohler. To locate the aerator connection, slide a fingernail over the end of the spout. Barnes Noble Coupons Barnes and noble coupon codes. Verified by real people just like you! Score up to 35% off with coupon. We include the latest coupons in our database on august 12,. For Rent Lake Lanier Aqua sports adventures offers kayak rentals that are perfect for exploring the scenic waterways of charlotte. Among the 248 accommodations in lake lanier, here are the 3 best pet friendly. Reeds Metal Brookhaven Ms Salary estimated from 12 employees, users, and past and present job advertisements on indeed. Working with metal so many dangerous things could happen so. / / / / / /. Consumer Cellular Link Ii On the other end of the spectrum, consumer. Assuming you have the phone, then the first step is to dial #793# and hit send. Utano t180 barrier user manual operation & users manual (275 pages) gigabyte gsmart mw700 user manual. Consumer cellular link ii, link 2 cases and chargers vertical and horizontal leather cases in pink, red, brown, purple and blue. My consumer cellular link ii flip phone. Bozeman Harley Davidson The annual halloween costume contest and trick or treat at beartooth harley. Bozeman, mt > buy & sell > motorcycles for sale in. Favorite this post oct 2 2012 harley. Townhomes For Rent Apple Valley Mn $2,200 3 bedroom, 3 bath townhome for rent available oct 31. See photos, floor plans and more details about 15351 floret way in apple valley, minnesota. Find cheap townhouses for. Photo Studios For Rent Near Me You can easily find your rental about photography studio rent near me by clicking on the most relevant deal below. Great for photo shoots or almost any video shoot. See. Loadup Junk Removal Driver did a good job. Looking to get rid of unwanted furniture, a used grill or a garage full of stuff? Loadup deploys a large network of independently licensed and insured junk hauling professionals. Yelp is a fun and easy way to find, recommend and talk about whats great and not so great in boulder and beyond. I signed up for day of pickup. Rent A Loft In Miami A rental apartment in midtown miami is on average $11,590. For rent house in dallas texas 75227. Loft townhomes for rent in miami, fl. Spectacular wide bay and ocean views. Used Portable Toilets For Sale Craigslist And anything you use in your daily business. Not only used portable toilets for sale craigslist wallpaper, you could also find another pics such as craigslist scams, used mobile office. The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. When it comes to criminal justice reform, state lawmakers seem to be moving toward bipartisan cooperation. But the issue remains a contentious one in Southern Illinois. Gov. Bruce Rauner has a plan that would cut prison populations by 12,000 prisoners about 25 percent over the next decade. The plan would reduce costs while addressing the states overcrowding problem. A September 2015 study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that Illinois prisons stood at over 150 percent of their intended capacity. John Jackson, a visiting professor at the Southern Illinois Universitys Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, said the thinking has shifted in recent years across party lines. It used to be a liberal argument that we have way too many people sent off to prison, destroying families and too many, in particular, African-American males put away, and so forth, Jackson said. It has now become much more acceptable in conservative circles to talk about that, because conservatives have finally gotten to the point of being fed up with paying the bills and are thinking that weve got to do better. A bipartisan commission appointed by the governor is currently issuing recommendations about how to meet the 25 percent goal. Both sides have gotten to some possibility of compromising and finding some possible reforms, particularly to allow nonviolent offenders to be released or to never be sent to prison in the first place, Jackson said. Prison closures Southern Illinois lawmakers have historically opposed prison reform efforts, asserting that the loss of state facilities will lead to significant economic deficits in the downstate region. Former Gov. Pat Quinn announced massive cutbacks as part of his 2013 budget, shuttering the Tamms super-maximum security facility and a juvenile detention center in Murphysboro along with several other facilities statewide. Gov. Rauner announced early Friday his plans to reopen and repurpose the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro as a life skills facility for inmates re-entering society. Rauner closed the 200-bed Hardin County Work Camp in December, saying it would save the state $1 million annually. State Reps. John Bradley and Brandon Phelps and State Sen. Gary Forby co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that would have reopened Hardin County Work Camp, but it was vetoed by the governor in August. In the 115th District race, incumbent Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, and Marsha Griffin, D-Jonesboro, have both publicly decried the closure of Tamms. Griffins husband is a correctional officer for the Illinois Department of Corrections, and she has urged state officials to reopen the facility through petition drives and public events. Bryant is a former IDOC food service manager and has spoken out often on the matter. 'Soft on crime' Rauners 25 percent prisoner reduction plan is making an appearance in this years elections in the form of attack ads. A campaign TV commercial by Bradley, a Democrat from Marion, alleges that his opponent Dave Severin is soft on crime because his biggest supporter wants to let 25 percent of the state's prisoners loose into our communities. The soft on crime charge isnt a new one, said Breanne Pleggenkuhle, who teaches in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Thats been going on for decades, across party lines, she said. Its an easy one to attack, because if youre reducing incarceration, even though its not being tough on crime, thats the public perception. But attitudes might be changing among voters. What I think were starting to more universally recognize is that this level of incarceration is not sustainable, Pleggenkuhle said. A poll released by the U.S. Justice Action Network last spring found that Illinois voters overwhelmingly support criminal justice reforms and would be more likely to vote for legislators who support measures to reduce the prison population. Two-thirds of Illinois voters said they would be more likely to re-elect state legislators who supported reform bills. These attitudes largely prevailed across party lines and across the state. I think the public agrees that there are too many people in prisons and that the price of putting them away, and particularly for a long period of time, has just grown beyond what Illinois can afford, because we have a budget crisis and everybody mostly understands that, Jackson said. As for whether political attack ads like Bradleys will change minds, only time will tell. Well have to wait until November to see, at least to some extent, an indirect answer, he said. MURPHYSBORO Saying the state of Illinois needed to do something better for its newly-released prisoners while keeping the community safer, Gov. Bruce Rauner announced that he is closing a controversial part of the Stateville Correctional Facility and reopening and repurposing the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro. The governor, along with Illinois Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville; Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro; Illinois Department of Corrections Director John Baldwin; Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens; former Mayor Chris Grissom and other IDOC representatives, toured the facility, walking through its kitchen area, gym, classrooms, meeting rooms, workshop and out to its greenhouse area and through some of the pods the facility's dorm space where about a dozen white sinks line the wall. The new center, a minimum security facility, will prepare offenders for a successful transition out of the corrections system through educational, vocational and life skills training, Rauner said. Baldwin said the state has a 47.1 percent rate of recidivism, people who re-offend within three years of leaving incarceration. Illinois recidivism rate is appalling, he said. Almost half the people who serve time in Illinois Department of Corrections comes back to us. Thats fundamentally wrong. We are almost the last state in America to try to improve our recidivism rate. We are going to do more than try we are going to decrease that dramatically. Why? We need fewer victims, we need fewer victims in this state. Secondly, the people who leave here deserve a second chance, Baldwin said. They have served their time, they have served their sentence. They need a viable second chance. Its the states responsibility to give them that second chance. He said it as was the states duty to rehabilitate the states prisoners. Rauner agreed, saying something needed to be done to give much-needed skills to those offenders returning to the community. We can keep our communities safe ... if we can give them skills, Rauner said. Weve got to stop the revolving door. This facility expected to open in six months will house about 300 prisoners on the verge of re-entering the community and employ about 120 people, Rauner said. It will be managed under the Pinckneyville facility, which is managed by Warden Jacqueline Lashbrook, who was also at Fridays news conference. It was built in 1997 and closed in 2011. This facility should never have been closed, Rauner said, to a spattering of applause from some of those assembled. Weve got budget trouble, but we have to make sure our facilities are run well. He said this site was chosen over the Hardin County Work Camp, which Democratic Sen. Gary Forby and Rep. Brandon Phelps called for reopening a few months ago, because this one was much better maintained. The Hardin County site, he said, would cost too much money to repurpose. At the news conference, the governor did not specifically say where the money would come from to finance the project. Rauners press secretary said later that it would cost $800,000 to reopen and repurpose the facility. The news was big to some Murphysboro residents, like Mayor Will Stephens and City Alderwoman Gloria Campos and a former mayor, Chris Grissom. While Murphysboro wont gain any revenue from property taxes on the facility, because it is government entity, it can stand to gain from a possible influx of people. Stephens said the facilitys opening would mean new home sales for those employees who decide to live in Murphysboro. He also said the city could benefit from new residents taking their families out to eat, and from more people coming into the city to visit relatives in the facility and staying in the hotel that is planned to be built at the intersection of Illinois 13 and Illinois 127. Its just extremely positive for the community, Stephens said. 'Questionable' timing of news Weeks shy of the election, some reacted with hedged support. In a statement released after Rauner's news conference, Marsha Griffin, a Democrat running for the 115th District seat held by Bryant, said she would be mindful that this announcement did not become another broken promise from the government. She said she also found the announcement, made 25 days before the election, questionable. While I am hopeful that the reopening of IYC Murphysboro will bring back jobs to the area, I am concerned that this will be another broken promise made during election season from politicians in Springfield, Griffin said in the statement. With no funds currently appropriated for this facility and the state having gone two full years without a full budget, I am skeptical of a long-term commitment from the politicians in Springfield. The timing of the announcement of the opening of the facility, just 25 days from the election, is questionable. While I wholeheartedly support the reopening of the facility, I wonder why it wasnt repurposed months ago. Our communities and families are hurting here in Southern Illinois. We need jobs now and cant afford to be caught up in the political games and posturing of the Springfield politicians who will do anything to get reelected. I am fearful that this will be another election year promise made by Springfield politicians that is announced with much fanfare and immediately forgotten after Nov. 8. This past November, Bryant held her own news conference outside the Illinois Youth Camp, calling for it to be reopened and repurposed as an adult work camp. After Friday's news conference, she said plans were in the works even before then to reopen the facility. Rauner announced his decision publicly in an Op-Ed that ran in Friday's Chicago Sun-Times. In that, he also announced the closing of the Stateville Correctional Centers F House, which he said was one of the states oldest and most costly prison housing units. IDOC spokeswoman Nicole Wilson said offenders housed in the F House will be reassigned to open beds at Stateville and other IDOC facilities. "We must reform our broken criminal justice system to balance punishment with rehabilitation to reduce crime overall, safely reduce our prison population, reduce recidivism, and help those who have paid for their crime find a positive path in life after serving their time," Rauner wrote in the Op-Ed. "A critical piece to our reform efforts is to help offenders gain valuable skills that will enable them to re-enter society as productive citizens," he wrote. "With that goal in mind, the Department of Corrections will reopen Murphysboro as a Life Skills and Re-Entry Facility, which is a minimum security facility with a focus on preparing offenders for a successful transition back into society through educational, vocational, and life skills training. "By closing F House and repurposing Murphysboro, Illinois is taking another important step to reform our criminal justice system," he wrote. ANNA When St. Annes Episcopal Church was de-sanctified in 1970, many of the furnishings were taken to other congregations or given to church members. The church bell went to a congregation in Jacksonsville, Illinois, and the baptismal font was moved to St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Carbondale. A font, or receptacle for baptismal water, is one of two primary pieces of liturgical furniture in a traditional church. The other is the altar. They symbolize the two sacraments ordained by Christ himself, communion and baptism, according to a website for St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. Members of PAST (Promoting Appreciation of Structural Treasures) knew the font was at St. Andrews Episcopal Church where it was used for many years. In September, they discovered St. Andrews stored the vintage baptismal font. After careful consideration of St. Andrews Church Vestry, it was decided to return the baptismal font to St. Annes Church. Elaine Crain, a member of PAST and longtime resident of Anna, said this was because of the efforts from Lynn Steveson of PAST, who acted as a liaison with St. Andrews. The font is six-sided, which represents dying with Christ or death. The inscription reads: One Lord, one faith, one baptism. St. Annes Church is a Late Victorian Gothic structure built in 1886 from natural limestone from the Anna Stone Co. The church was formed about 1883, but services were held before 1883 in other churches and the Temperance Hall in Anna. A newspaper article in the PAST scrapbook dates the font to the 1870s. This was never a full-blown church," Crain said. "It was a mission church." St. Annes is located in the middle of a block of old homes on North Main Street. It has a small parking lot behind the building with room for two or three cars at most. For many years, parking was allowed along Main Street. When parking was no longer allowed on Main Street, the nearest parking was at Stinson Memorial Library. The church was deeded to PAST through the efforts of Linda Hileman. Owner Frank LaFoon was going to have it torn down. Hileman asked if PAST could rent the building and LaFoon said hed rather give it to the organization. St. Annes had fallen into disrepair. Crain said the roof leaked, floors had deteriorated, a velvet curtain at the front of the church was in shreds and raccoons had been in the building. The electric organ used at the church since 1940 was in bad shape, too. Just about everything needed redone, Crain said. PAST began restoring the church in 2001. St. Annes Church was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Crain said furnishings have come back to the church, including six pews that had been owned by former church members. The original organ, a Kimball Organ Co. pump organ that still works, also was donated back to the church. Crains late husband, Bob, built shelves for the windows, and a small kitchenette was added. Today, the church is used for events, including smaller weddings, anniversaries, concerts, programs and meetings. The font was displayed during a Colorfest open house on Oct. 8. PAST has several public events planned, including two concerts by Steve Hornbeak in November to raise money to help maintain St. Annes and the annual Carols at Candlelight in December. For more information about St. Annes or PAST, contact PAST President Linda Hileman at 618-833-8745 or hileman14@fronteir.com or Elaine Crain at 618-833-9441 or crains@crainsonline.com. CARBONDALE A Carbondale man was arrested and charged Friday with one count of concealment of a homicidal death, according to Jackson County States Attorney Michael Carr. Robert Dennis, 25, faces charges that allege that he knowingly concealed the death of a person who has tentatively been identified as a female, by moving the victims body in a trash can into a wooded area for the purpose of preventing or delaying the discovery of her death, according to Carrs news release. Carr said the offense occurred on Aug. 29 in Carbondale, and that the identity of the deceased person is being withheld until forensic verification can be completed. In a similar charge, Tiesha Anderson, 22, of Collinsville, was charged Tuesday with concealment of a homicidal death. News releases about each case say the offense happened on the same day, and the deceased in both cases was found in a wooded area off East Main Street, near Piles Fork Creek in Carbondale. The wording in the news releases announcing charges for both Anderson and Dennis were similar. Court documents pertaining to Anderson's charges identify the deceased as Robin Stief. Dennis is facing a Class 3 felony, which carries a potential sentence of two to five years in prison. He will have his first appearance in front of a judge at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, and his bond has been set at $500,000. The states attorneys office said the death investigation is ongoing and being pursued by the Carbondale Police Department and the Illinois State Police. Assistant States Attorney Casey Bloodworth has been assigned the prosecution of the case. He has also been assigned Andersons case. The office said it would not give any additional statements due to the ongoing nature of the case. CARBONDALE The site of two of Carbondale's most notorious unsolved murders is for sale. The Hundley House, at 601 W. Main St. in Carbondale, is listed for $379,000, according to a listing on homes.thesouthern.com, a real estate listing website hosted by thesouthern.com. According to the listing, the house has seven bedrooms, a third-floor apartment and a full basement with a two-car garage. The house was formerly operated as a bed-and-breakfast. The listing does not mention the murder that took place in the house on Dec. 12, 1928, in which the residents for whom the house is named former Mayor J. Chas Hundley and his wife, Luella Hundley were shot and killed. According to newspaper reports at the time: "Mr. Hundley was shot in the head from behind, while he was sitting on the edge of the bed ready to retire. Mrs. Hundley was slain a few moments later by the same fiend, who rushed downstairs after murdering her husband, shot to death in cold blood." No one was ever convicted in the Hundleys' deaths. The famous slaying has been the focus of legends of hauntings at the stately Victorian mansion, which sits on one of Carbondale's busiest corridors. Discovery Channel ghost-hunting show "Ghost Lab" filmed an episode there in 2010. John Nimmo with Southern Real Estate Group is cited as the house's listing agent. Check out photos and more details about the home here. Haunted Southern Illinois: Legends of ghosts and strange occurrences Voters recite the US Pledge of Allegiance at a campaign rally in Panama City, Florida, US, October 11, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] US Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her supporters these days like to quote her words at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 when she said "women's rights are human rights". The words are aimed at presenting Clinton as defender of women's rights. Indeed, women's rights are human rights, and should be defended all the time. However, when they are used to show Clinton's courage in criticizing China on women's rights, it is simply misleading. It is true that China, as the largest developing country, still has a long way to go to achieve total gender equality. Domestic violence, discrimination in jobs and education, and women's participation in politics are just some of the issues that need to be addressed. Yet, no one could deny that women's status in China has been greatly elevated since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The words of late top leader Mao Zedong that women hold up half the sky are deeply rooted in people's hearts. For example, women accounted for 45 percent of the total employment in China in 2013 and a higher percentage of the jobs are in managerial and technical positions, according to the White Paper on Gender Equality and Women's Development in China issued by the State Council Information Office in September 2015. The gap in education has also been narrowed. About 52.1 percent of college students and 51.6 percent of graduate students in Chinese universities are women, while women account for 36.9 percent of the doctorate students enrolled. Life expectancy for women has also increased by 4.1 years on average from 73.3 in 2000 to 77.4 years in 2010. In Shanghai, it has increased to 85.09 years in 2015. And in 2013, 23.4 percent of the deputies to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, were women. However, the fact that China was ranked by the World Economic Forum 91st of 145 countries for its gender gap in 2015 shows that while China has made great progress, much more still needs to be done. Still, China fares better than Japan (101), South Korea (115), India (108) and Saudi Arabia (134). The fact that people have not heard Clinton or her campaign boasting of talking about women's rights in these countries, mostly US security allies, only exposes her lack of sincerity when addressing women's issues in China. What is little known, even to most US citizens, is that a UN human rights working group admonished the United States last year for its serious concerns about women's rights in the US. The US is one of a few countries not to have ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. While more than 80 percent of countries guarantee gender equality in their constitutions, the US Constitution doesn't have such a clause. The US is also one of the four countries and the only developed country that doesn't provided mandatory paid maternal leave. Meanwhile, maternal mortality has also doubled in the US from 7.2 deaths of mothers per 100,000 live births in 1987 to 17.8 deaths in 2011. The figure for African-American women is much higher. In the US Congress, less than 20 percent of the seats are now taken by women. What is worse is that nearly one-third of all female prisoners in the world are incarcerated in the US, according to the 2014 study by the International Center for Prison Studies. People joining hands to advance the cause of women's rights is to be welcomed, but if politicians intend to try and mislead the public by attempting to cash in on their empty and biased rhetoric, it only exposes their hypocrisy. The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2nd Corinthians 5:7 Turkey Branch Missionary Baptist Church has used that Bible verse as a testament to its perseverance and faith in a God who members say has not left them amid several challenges during the church's 100-year history. Illegal dumping, a series of break-ins and a damaging fire are among the hurdles the church has endured as it prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary this Sunday, Oct. 16. The sanctuary was severely damaged by fire on Oct. 26, 2011, but the congregation is steadily rebounding from that and hopes to move back into their beloved church by the end of the year. Im praying that it will be before Thanksgiving. Were doing what God told us to do and were walking by faith. We believe that were going to be in the church before 2016 goes out, said Rev. Clyde Holliday, pastor. Weve probably put in over $100,000. Another obstacle that weve overcome is we had no insurance. So we had to pay out of pocket. Everything that weve done is by the grace of God, Holliday said, noting that tithes and offerings have been combined with freewill gifts from other people, churches and organizations, such as the Southern Baptist Association. There were a lot of folks that have come to our aid. The Southern Baptist Association was one of the first organizations to help, and they gave us a check for $5,000. I have a friend, my college classmate, who has a company in Charlotte, and hell be giving probably about $5,000 to this enterprise, he said. The pastor said the youth from Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia assisted with cleanup efforts, along with that church also making a $5,000 monetary donation to Turkey Branch. Holliday said he had also received a call from Rev. Felix Anderson, pastor of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Woodford. Andersons congregation recently moved into a new church and gifted Turkey Branch with the use of its old sanctuarys pews, pulpit and other amenities. Its not going to take us 40 years to get back home. I think we have persevered, and we are looking forward to marching down Savannah Highway back to 1690 Silver Springs Road, Holliday said. The church has been renting the Town of Livingston's White Building Center for its worship services, along with the newer Livingston Municipal Complex for special services. Both buildings are located on Savannah Highway in Livingston. Holliday said it will take an additional $50,000 to $60,000 to fully complete the renovation of Turkey Branch Missionary Baptist. The roof and wiring work has been completed, he said. The next step is to complete sheet rock and insulation work, along with the installation of a PA system and the furnishing of the kitchen area, the pastor said. He said the church has held galas, including a Red and White Ball, to support the refurbishing efforts. Holliday said an FBI agent investigated the church fire from five years ago, and it was determined the fire was likely caused by a candle that was not completely extinguished following a memorial service. It was either that or faulty wiring. The candle was next to the wall, he said, noting that while the single-story block structure was not damaged, the interior was destroyed by smoke and fire. Barbara Milhouse, a long-time church member who is excited and happy about the progress the church has made, was baptized there at age 12. All of my experiences have come out of there, and I think it shaped me into the person that I am. As a young girl, you had people to look up to and kind of mold yourself after. As an adult, I dont see myself going anywhere else, Milhouse said. Im excited about just knowing that the work is getting done. I think that were going to be thankful that we endured and had patience through the process because its been a long, hard process, she said. Deacon Bobby Jamision, 70, said he was approximately 16 years old when he joined the church. I joined Turkey Branch at an early age, and I became absent for a while. But the Holy Spirit told me to come back. Ive been there ever since. I love church because Ive practically been there all my life, and I love the people there, Jamison said. Turkey Branch is just a home away from home. The church will also celebrate Holliday's 14th anniversary during the churchs 100th anniversary, the theme of which is 100 Years of Faithfulness: For We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight. Holliday said he has experienced happy and sad times at the Turkey Branch. Not only did he have to deal with the 2011 fire, but one of his senior deacons, Deacon Jewell Inabinette, died in front of him just before a worship service in 2010. Considering what weve been through, its amazing to be celebrating 100 years. Celebrating 100 years of anything is awesome, and to have 100 years of continuous service is a testament to our faith in God. Weve been through a lot, but were still here, Holliday said. The church currently has approximately 80 active members and it is growing, the pastor said. With a healthy Bible study and youth program, Holliday said things are looking up. Milhouse said she anticipates further growth and, in the meantime, will not complain. A lot of people look around and see other things being done other places. They wonder, Why arent we at that point? But we got to trust God. Hes an on-time God. He dont always come when we want him, but hes on time, she said. So when we get there, its gonna be on Gods time and not ours. Those interested in donating to the churchs rebuilding effort can mail donations in care of the Rev. Clyde Holliday to: Turkey Branch Baptist Church, PO Box 366, Neeses, SC 29107. A meet-and-greet for Democrat Thomas Dixon, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the Bamberg County Democratic Party Headquarters, 4857 Carolina Highway, Denmark. The event was originally scheduled for Oct. 5 but canceled because of Hurricane Matthew. Dixon, the Democratic Party challenger to U.S. Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, is a pastor and community activist. In 2005, he founded Summerville Christian Fellowship. Dixon served as chairman of the South Carolina Crime Reduction Coalition, working with judges, law enforcement officials, educators and community leaders exploring methods to reduce recidivism. In 2012, he co-founded The Old School - New School Coalition," a grassroots organization addressing crime and violence. In 2013, this organization was renamed The Coalition - People United to Take Back Our Community." In 2014, Dixon was elected coordinator of the Charleston chapter of the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment. The public is invited to stop by to meet and talk with the candidate at the Denmark event. For more information, contact Merrill Chapman, Dixon for Senate campaign manager, at 843-200-1977 or 843-881-9352, or Roosevelt Bryant, Bamberg County Democratic Party chair, at 803-793-7685. Four Claflin University students died following a two-vehicle accident Thursday evening on Interstate 77 in Columbia. The Richland County coroner said the following people died in the crash: Melvin Lonell Jackson Jr., 21, of Roundtree Circle, Chester, was the restrained driver of the vehicle. Darrell Renard Pendergrass, 21, of Rosenwald Road, Society Hill, was a restrained front seat passenger in the vehicle. Keeron Q. McElveen, 18, The Hole Road South, Kingstree, was an unrestrained rear seat passenger and was ejected from the vehicle. Jamarius Kel'Shawn Bruce, 19, of Logjam Drive, Darlington, was an unrestrained rear seat passenger and also was ejected from the vehicle. He was transported by Richland County EMS to Palmetto Health Richland Memorial Hospital where was taken immediately into surgery. He died at 10:50 p.m. Claflin President Henry Tisdale said the university was hurting and saddened because of the untimely death of its students. I call upon the Claflin family to draw closer together and remain strong as we try to comprehend the loss of these members of our Claflin family, he said. He also noted the universitys prayers are with the family and friends of the victim. Counseling services are available in Corson Hall and in the Chaplains Office. The chapel will remain open for reflection and prayer. The university will also hold a prayer service today at noon the W.V. Middleton Fine Arts Center. For more information, please call the Office of Student Development and Services at 803-535-5341. ELON, N.C. -- When I first heard that some Elon University students were protesting my invitation to speak on campus and saying my thoughts were "dangerous," I was, of course, THRILLED and immediately amended my bio. No one has ever considered me dangerous that I know of, other than a couple of dozen ungrateful birds I mysteriously collected while recuperating from a concussion. Despite having rescued and tended them for the past three years, they invariably scream, flap and flock to yon-est corner of their respective extravagant bird mansions anytime I approach. I'll try to resist the metaphorical implications and parallels and simply report that about 300 students here signed a petition exhorting the administration to disinvite me. They claimed most seriously that yours truly is a "rape apologist." This charge was based on their obvious misreading of my 2008 book, "Save the Males," which until this moment almost no one had read, as well as snippets from a couple of random columns culled from a body of around 2,000 stretching across 29 years. (One more year and I get to brag.) What had I said that was so controversial? In my book, I had questioned assumptions, which is my job, after all, on the always-sensitive issue of campus rape, which was received less than warmly. I learned that one especially doesn't dare challenge the presumption of rape when male and female sexually convene while the female is "drunk." I dared, but not much. I merely wondered: What if the guy is also drunk? Remember, this was more than 10 years ago. I've written hundreds of columns since then. And much has changed during half a generation. Even so, I'm confident of my research in the writing of the book, and will never apologize for an opinion. It's a thought, an idea, a conclusion based on evidence and experience. Opinions may change, including my own, but I always reach them in good faith. Thus, I concluded and wrote in this very same book -- and repeated Tuesday night at Elon -- that I wasn't making excuses for the male, who, by virtue of physical characteristics, including superior strength, bears the greater responsibility in such encounters. At one point during the question-and-answer period following my speech, which was mostly about politics and the presidential campaign, I also suggested that girls stop getting so drunk. Gasp. What parent wouldn't say as much? This isn't blaming the victim, as certain feminists would insist, but is highlighting the obvious. In the real world, we'd call this a risk assessment indicating a statistically significant correlation between intoxication and unwanted behavior and/or attention. Or, simply, science. Today, my erstwhile rhetorical question -- what about the guy? -- which was really a plea for fairness and due process, is outdated and moot. North Carolina, among other states, has made it law: If a woman is drunk, then sexual intercourse with a male human is, ipso facto, rape. Whether one agrees with this law is irrelevant, as Elon students are told on the first day of school. It was odd to have to delve into these issues in the midst of a historic and potentially catastrophic election, which has been the focus of my work the past two years. Indeed, university President Leo Lambert urged me to focus on politics, which I did after briefly addressing the protest and speaking a few minutes about the crucial need to allow even unpopular speech on campuses in the service of tolerance and education. Alas, I wasn't able to distract my finely feathered foes, who flocked to the microphone armed with mini-congressional floor statements, statistics and quotes from my book. I felt like a witness on "Law & Order" whose words get twisted and taken out of context. I tried to be sensitive, which lasted about 30 seconds or so, before lapsing into my more comfortable truth mode. When a female student demanded my position on a variety of gender options -- trans, duo, not sure, etc. -- I trilled: "I love all human beings and the more happy people, the better." A grateful audience applauded rapturously. My questioner obviously hadn't read my column condemning North Carolina's recent transgender-bathroom law (HB2). Or the next one about bumping into North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory in makeup at NBC, which was a gas. Nor did she or her comrades appreciate my sense of humor or the tone of my presentation, which one journalism professor described in a tweet as "a hybrid of Mark Twain, @JonStewartHBO, @DonRickles, & @celiarivenbark." I only wish I could have made the girls laugh, too. South Carolinian and Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com Many people want to help after Hurricane Matthew. An ingredient of what makes American great is the desire of its people to reach out to assist others, particularly in great times of need such as after a hurricane. Around The T&D Region, there are many instances of neighbors helping neighbors, whether it is those with power helping those without preserve food and take a hot shower, or people working actively in clearing trees and other debris. For those unable to provide direct assistance, there is a desire to help through monetary donations. Sadly, there are always those willing to take advantage of generosity. Thus the need to be cautious in trying to help. S.C. Secretary of State Mark Hammond encourages South Carolinians seeking to help others to do so wisely. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by Hurricane Matthew, Hammond said. Just one year ago, South Carolinians demonstrated their strength, resiliency and generosity in the face of unprecedented disaster. I know that our citizens will work together again to rebuild our communities as well as those outside our state. However, I simply ask donors to check out charitable organizations before making a contribution to make sure their generosity reaches those in need. Donors may verify whether a charitable organization is registered with the Secretary of States Office by searching the online charities database at http://www.sos.sc.gov/. Click on the Charity Search box on the right and enter the name of the charity you are researching. Users can also find a listing of Helpful Websites for Charities by visiting the Public Charities section of our website (http://www.sos.sc.gov/Public_Charities/Helpful_Websites_for_Charities). In addition, donors may contact our Charities Division at charities@sos.sc.gov or 1-888-242-7484 for more information. Hammond encourages donors to follow these guidelines provided by Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org) before responding to a charitable solicitation during a time of crisis: Give to an established charity: Find a charity with a proven track record of success in dealing with the type of disaster and in the region in which the disaster occurred. If you feel compelled to give to a new charity, be sure to get proof that the group is in fact a registered public charity with 501(c)(3) status. Verify the agencys legitimacy by using Internet-based resources rather than the charitys purported website. Designate your gift: By designating your gift, you'll ensure that your donation will be used as you intended. Most charities with online giving portals offer a check box feature so that you can tell the organization how to spend your contribution. If you are mailing in a check, write a note in the memo section of the check specifying that you want your gift spent entirely on the current crisis. Telemarketers: Be wary of fundraisers who pressure you to make a contribution over the phone. Never divulge your credit card information to someone soliciting you over the phone. Instead, ask the fundraiser to send you written information about the charity and do some research on your own. Once you feel comfortable with the charity, send the organization a check directly in the mail, or give through its website to ensure that your gift goes to the charity and not the for-profit fundraiser telemarketer. I want to remind you that you are our eyes and ears, Hammond said. We need the publics help to protect the charitable donors of this state as well as those who have been adversely affected by this natural disaster. If you have concerns about a charity soliciting contributions for hurricane relief, contact Hammonds office at 1-888-CHARITI. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Representatives of the Peace Corps will visit Claflin University on Friday, Oct. 28, as part of its East Coast tour of historically black colleges and universities. The Peace Corps has partnered with The White House Initiative on HBCUs and several other federal agencies to launch the two-week tour of HBCUs to inform students about opportunities to live, learn and work with communities overseas. As part of the tour, the Peace Corps will travel across eight states in its "Peace Car" to join the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and USAID in speaking with students, faculty and graduates about international service on 15 HBCU campuses. The Peace Corps sends the best and brightest Americans abroad on behalf of the United States to tackle the most pressing needs of people around the world. Volunteers work at the grassroots level to develop sustainable solutions that address challenges in education, health, economic development, agriculture, environment and youth development. Through their service, volunteers gain a unique cultural understanding and a life-long commitment to service that positions them to succeed in todays global economy. Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, nearly 220,000 Americans of all ages have served in 140 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.peacecorps.gov and follow the organization on Facebook and Twitter. Left:Augustine Sutherland (foreground right) presented on The Pirogue Project, the making and launching of a Kalinago War Canoe (also pictured), which he had spearheaded. Right:The War Canoe, which landed at Rose Place on March 21, 2016, in full Kalinago fashion, took the better part of three years to construct. Over fifty persons attended the latest Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA)-CARIB Symposium in Leiden, Holland, held on September 26th and 27th, 2016. The event, spearheaded by the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University, was hosted under the theme "Caribbean Connections: Cultural encounters in a New World setting. Among the participants were four Kalinago community members from the Caribbean islands of Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines. In addition to making presentations at the Symposium, the Caribbean delegation expressed appreciation for the work done by Leiden University. Vincentian John Nero presented on The histories and future projections of a Kalinago village in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; while his colleague Augustine Sutherland presented on The Pirogue Project which he spearheaded. The other two representatives were Cozier Frederick of Dominica, Kalinago Affairs Development Officer, who presented on the SHARP Project in the Kalinago Territory, which focused on restoring what used to be the first Kalinago settlement in Dominica; and Irvince Auguiste, a former Kalinago Chief of Dominica who highlighted The Kalinago Community-Tourism Experience. Among the Conference topics highlighted were: issues pertaining to indigenous places and their histories; Caribbean heritage in local and European museums; threats to heritage and indigenous Caribbean awareness in Europe. The two-day Conference is said to have received reports and analyses of three years of work done within the Caribbean, as participants shared their projects, results, and future research directions on the impacts of cultural encounters between Amerindians, Europeans and Africans. It was also a special occasion in that it marked over twenty years of affiliation between Former Kalinago Chief Irvince Auguiste and the Leiden University. The HERA-CARIB project aims to understand the impacts of cultural encounters on Lesser Antillean indigenous Kalinago (Carib) societies, by studying transformations in settlement pattern and organization, material culture, and network strategies across the historical divide. On the Caribbean front, the project has sought to contribute to the historical awareness and valorization of cultural heritage in a geopolitically diverse region, with an archaeological record that is under threat from natural disasters and infrastructural development. National Properties Ltd. headquartered at Diamond, makes state-owned lands available for sale for commercial and residential purposes. To date, National Properties Ltd. has sold, 60 acres of land on mainland St Vincent and in the Grenadines for development purposes, to 58 local residents and 30 non-residents. This total does not include the 36 acres of land at the Mount Wynne/Peters Hope development. The total sale value of the 60 acres referred, amounted to EC$28.1 million, of which local residents accounted for EC$14.9 million and non-residents EC#$13.2 million. This information was disclosed by Prime Minister Gonsalves during a press briefing he held last week Tuesday, October 4. The information, according to the Prime Minister, was provided by Harold Dougan, Chief Executive Officer of National Properties Ltd. Dr Gonsalves disclosure came, it appears, in response to a statement made by the Leader of the Opposition, Arnhim Eustace, during a press conference the New Democratic Party (NDP) held on September 27. At that media conference, Eustace said that in his view, the sale of state lands has contributed to the marginalization of Vincentians. "In some instances, the experiences are insulting and in violation of our freedoms and rights we cannot continue this way, Eustace said then. The leader of the opposition went on further to say that the majority of the land available for sale was being sold to foreigners, and while the NDP was not opposed to foreign investment, the action impacted on the emotions of locals. So for example, he proffered, a Vincentian who would have migrated to the United States and after retirement decides that they would like to construct a house back in St Vincent, "You find yourself after your sacrifices abroad not being able to access any land because of the policy of this government. National Properties Limited is a state corporation and as such is wholly owned by the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Its primary function is the management of real property on behalf of the state. Among its primary roles is to generate finances to help with the construction of the Argyle International Airport. (DD) A cross-section of Vincentian students and others who turned up for the interaction with the Prime Minister. Inset:Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves fielded questions from Vincentian students about developments at home. THE GRAND HYATT HOTEL TAIPEI was the venue for a meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and his delegation, and Vincentian students and other individuals studying and living in Taiwan. The Prime Minister and his delegation were in Taiwan to participate in celebrations to mark Taiwan National Day (October 10) but, as he has done on previous visits to that Asian country, he made time to sit and discuss matters with Vincentians residing there. Dr. Gonsalves assured the group that his government was committed to strengthening ties with Taiwan, in stark opposition to the stated intention of the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to switch relations to the Peoples Republic of China. Towards this end, he disclosed that one of the objectives of his current trip to Taiwan was to visit the site where the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has offered SVG space to establish a mission. "We will finalise whether we are going to have a Consulate General ,or whether we going to establish a full fledged mission with an ambassador. But we will have a presence here in Taiwan, and one of the reasons is that we have a lot of students, and the relationship has reached a stage of maturation where we need to have somebody on the spot, who can address questions for the government of St. Vincent, directly with the Government of Taiwan, said Gonsalves on the importance of an embassy in Taiwan. In response to a question about why it has taken so long to move in this direction, Dr. Gonsalves referred to an earlier understanding with then Prime Minister of St. Kitts/Nevis, Dr. Denzil Douglas, to establish a common mission, that had never materialized. Prime Minister Gonsalves also addressed some current developments at home, not least being the sale of lands at Mt. Wynne/Peters Hope to a Canadian Company, for development purposes; a decision, he said, the Opposition NDP once advanced when they were in office, but which they have since opposed. He also fielded questions on the Argyle International Airport and reported that its construction and opening were still priority areas of governments undertaking in advancing the development of the state. Above all, the Prime Minister noted the opportunities for advanced studies that have opened up for Vincentians in Taiwan. According to him, some 110 persons have already benefited from Taiwanese scholarships since 2004, and that there were currently close to 80 students enrolled in universities across Taiwan. He implored the students to take advantage of the opportunities presented, including the opportunity to learn Mandarin Chinese. (KH) One of the many cultural presentations that highlighted the Days celebration. Inset: President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwans first female President, delivering her first National Day address since taking office in May. THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) celebrated its National Day last Monday, October 10, with a host of official activities in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. This years celebrations were held under the theme: It is great for Taiwan to have you. The National Day of the Republic of China is also known as the Double Tenth Day, since it is celebrated on the 10th day of the 10 month. It is a national holiday marking the 1911 Wuchang Uprising, a milestone of Chinas political development and a new chapter in the history of the Chinese, which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing dynasty and its end were marked by the end of the Chinese Civil War, in which the losing Kuomintang retreated to the island of Taiwan, while the victorious Communist Party of China proclaimed the People's Republic of China on the mainland, Wikepeida. Locals and overseas visitors and honored dignitaries from all over the world gathered in Taipei to celebrate with and show their respect for the nation. The official programme of activities in front of the Presidential Office Building, included a flag raising ceremony, a military parade and a cultural presentation. The military parade was quite impressive. Helicopters bearing the Taiwan flag paraded the skyline, while the countrys military and emergency hardware were on display. The Ministry of National Defense Honor Guard brought together all three services of the Taiwan forces. The cultural package featured dance routines (e.g. the lion dance), drumming and other presentations highlighting indigenous Taiwanese cultural traditions. A Vincentian delegation led by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, and including his wife Eloise, Speaker of the House Jomo Thomas, Budget Director Edmund Jackson, Soca Artiste Randy Luta McIntosh, Neliese Cupid of API and Adrian Francois of the Prime Ministers detail, was in attendance. They were joined by Taiwans Ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. H. E. Baushuan Ger. Presidents Address Anticipation was rife as President Tsai Ing-wen delivered her first National Day address since taking office in May. In her address themed To move forward steadily and to make the country great because of reforms, President Tsai Ing-wen reiterated her pledge to establish a "consistent, predictable and sustainable cross-strait relationship," while maintaining Taiwan's democracy and the status quo of peace across the Taiwan Strait. And in a direct advance to mainland China, she issued a call to the authorities there to face up to the reality that the Republic of China exists, and that the people of Taiwan have an unshakable faith in the democratic system. "The two sides of the strait should sit down and talk as soon as possible. Anything can be included for discussion, as long as it is conducive to the development of cross-strait peace and the welfare of people on both sides. Leaders on both sides should jointly display wisdom and flexibility, and together bring a divided present toward a win-win future, the President suggested. In terms of relationship with foreign countries, the President said, "Our hope is that diplomacy will not be about one-way giving, but about mutually-beneficial cooperation that we plan and build together with our allies for the good of both. She promised a proactive government as it sought to participate in international organizations and promised a stance with all major democratic countries in Taiwans desire to contribute meaningfully to humanity. And to those countries who have stood steadfast in support of Taiwans efforts to seek equal and full membership in international organizations, the President declared, "Here and on behalf of our country, I want to convey to these dear international friends the gratitude of the Taiwanese people. It was a wide-ranging address in which President Tsai Ing-wen also had a special note for the young people of Taiwan, stating that "to change young peoples predicament is to change the countrys predicament. She also promised increased attention for housing and pension reforms, and spoke of an overall effort at reform since, according to her, "My mission now is to instill in the people of Taiwan the belief that, through reform, this country will achieve greatness. Following the parade, a National Day banquet was held at Taipei Guesthouse later in the day. President Tsai, Vice President Chen Chien-jen, as well as Premier Lin Chuan interacted with guests, including visiting foreign dignitaries, ambassadors and representatives to Taiwan. Kenville Horne of THE VINCENTIAN represented St. Vincent and the Grenadines as part of the International Press group invited by the Taiwanese government, for this years Taiwan National Day celebrations. Errol Sutton was a native of Stubbs but moved to Georgetown when he married a woman from that town. Cammalite Sutton, wife of 74-year-old Errol Sutton who was shot and killed in the Stubbs area on Tuesday, said that she does not know what to do. THE VINCENTIAN spoke to the woman via telephone on Wednesday evening, one day after the incident. "Im sad, I am grieving, she said. According to a release from the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force Public Relations and Complaints Department, the 74-year-old father of five was making his way along the Stubbs public road, when he was attacked and sustained several gunshot wounds about his body. It was further reported that Sutton was previously attacked, and after having visited the Polyclinic at Stubbs, was making his way back to the Police when the incident occurred just around midday Tuesday. Cammalite said that she was cooking when she got the news about her husbands death. She said that she screamed out when she got the news and although she was able to finish cooking, she was unable to eat. "I am trying to take it easy. I cry now and then but I cried plenty yesterday (Tuesday), she said. The couple, married for 42 years, resides in Georgetown, and Cammalite said that she journeyed down to the clinic where she saw her husbands body. She explained that her husband left to tend to a piece of land in his native Stubbs, that was given to him by his grandparents, something that he would occasionally do since his return from the United States some five years ago. She further explained that her husband has the deed of gift, however there are some individuals that reside in close proximity to the parcel of land owned by her husband, and they would always stir up trouble with him whenever he went to the area. It appeared, according to Carmmalite, that "they also wanted the land, but although she was aware of the situation, she admitted that she never expected that her husband would have been killed. All that she wants is justice for her now deceased husband. Suttons death occurred days after 10-month-old Mozarie Lee died after being shot in the company of his parents at their Fair Hall home last Friday. His death now brings the number of homicides committed for the year to 23. The results for the post mortem were expected to be released yesterday. Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship. 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. I have a confession to make. I kind of, dont like slithering, slimy reptiles. Ok! Scratch that! Let me give it to you straight I am petrified of snakes and dislike the scaly lizards. When I heard that I was on a trip that would take me to see a giant monitor lizard the Komodo Dragon, I rushed to google up more on this creature. It did not help that there were scary stories about them, facts that were not very encouraging and well, a chit of a brother who insisted on sending me dangerous shots of the crazy Komodo Dragon showing off its forked tongue. Reading was not enough. I even got in touch with people who had gone to see them. It was heartening to know that they were back without a scratch and that is when I decided to take on the advice that my fellow blogger Rutavi Mehta FACE YOUR FEARS!!! I decided that I was going to take a selfie with the Komodo Dragon! Komodo Dragon at Komodo National Park And with that objective in mind, I loaded myself with all the knowledge that I could gather about this beast. The more I read about them, the more fascinated I was and my fear dimmed remarkably. Komodo Dragon Information This giant monitor lizard has an ancestral link to the prehistoric beasts of yester-era the dinosaurs. They are known to be found only on 3 islands in Indonesia. They cannot survive a zoo and if you are keen to visit them, then the Komodo National Park is the only option. Frankly, this exclusivity made me feel really brave and important well, I was one of the few who was going to sight these rare creatures. I do think that this is something that one can be proud of. Komodo Dragon at Komodo National Park Here are some other Komodo Dragon information, some as explained by the rangers at the Komodo National Park The Komodo dragons are found on three islands Padar Island, Rinca and Komodo Island They grow to over 3m, in fact the largest ones were on the very island the Komodo Island, that I visited They have a forked tongue and use their saliva to disable and poison their prey. Their saliva has 60 different toxic bacteria. (ARGH!!!) They hunt solitary but like to party together once the prey is caught. They are quite fast and can rush upto 15 20 kms per hour. They can even swim. They have a keen sense of smell and quite like the sharks can smell blood 18 kms away They dont bite but eat on the whole. Their food consists of deer, pigs, water buffaloes and well, sometimes humans. (DOUBLE ARGH!!!) Why they dont even leave their own babies. Loaded with all this information and with a determined mind, I was all set to meet the Komodo dragon in its own lair. It helped to know that I had 9 other bloggers with me as a distraction and possibly to call on for help. To be honest, it was the sheer spirit and excitement of these bloggers and the Skyscanner team that my fear completely gave way to a pleasant anticipation. Sailing to Komodo National Park Komodo Island the lair of the Komodo Dragons The only way to get to Komodo Island is to sail there from the little town of Labuan Bajo. The Komodo National park is not just about Komodo Island and spotting the Komodo dragon. There is plenty more to do which I will cover in my next post. For now, lets take it from our boat speeding towards the Komodo Island. A long wooden bridge led you from the shore into the home of the Komodo dragon. Wooden ramp that leads you to your hosts the Komodo Dragons When I was walking on that ramp, I do admit I felt as if I was walking towards the gallows. However, when I saw folks walking back with a smile on their face, those thoughts just vanished. With my senses on high alert, I went on to meet the rangers our protectors and our guides. Advice from the Rangers Once you enter the park, rangers take over. They share their knowledge of the Komodo dragon with you while introducing you to their weapon of choice a stick with a fork on the top. I probed them on how they would use the stick. With a smile, the ranger in charge said Well! We just tap them on their nose and they go away. Ranger at Komodo National Park They did give us quite a bit of advice, all of which I am sharing with you so that you are in turn, well prepared to meet this rare beast. Stay in a group, do not venture out alone. If the Komodo dragon fancies you and sets off towards you, run as fast as you can but not in a straight line. Run in a zig zag manner. Keep your voices low and stay alert Do not smoke while there. If you have any wounds or cuts, please let the ranger know so that he can keep a special look out for you. In case of ladies, if you are having your periods, please do let the ranger know. And the last tip from my end Just stick close to the ranger Scary tales of the Komodo dragon While we set out on a trek to hunt for the Komodo dragon, the ranger entertained us with facts about the island and the dragons there. The Komodo Island itself, had over 2000 dragons residing on it. He warned us that there was a chance we may not encounter any dragon. It was a matter of chance. He then, also, told us some really scary tales about the Komodo. They are best heard by you from the ranger. Click on the video below [kad_youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTcGhcj-RFA&feature=youtu.be height=500 ] After these tales, I gulped down my fear, reset my ambition of taking a selfie and marched on close to the ranger. Searching for the elusive Komodo dragon Deer within the Komodo National Park, food for the Komodo dragons Through the trek, we passed their water holes, saw some deer and some wild orchids but no Komodos. We reached the end of the trek with none in sight. It was a little disappointing but the ranger was quick to assure us that since it was past noon and their mealtime, they would be resting near the kitchen and we were bound to find at least one there. And true to his words, we found not one, but two of them getting ready for their noon nap. Selfie with the Komodo Dragon Spotting the first Komodo Dragon Another Komodo dragon relaxing under the shed Finally the moment the selfie with the Komodo dragon. Despite the tourists, these creatures were least bothered. All they seem to want is to rest. The ranger pointed out that their bellies were full and now was a great time to pose and take a selfie. The trick here was to be at least 2 3m away while the ranger took a picture of you. You are not allowed anywhere close to the dragon. Well, technically I could not take a selfie but then, something to prove to my brother that I was no longer scared of them. Selfie with the Komodo Dragon (well technically, not a selfie) After the snap, I was treated to one more of these dragons, sleeping under a shed. They resembled a crocodile with their paws and scaly skin and actually slept like them too. I stood there with a smile on my face, thinking Why my friend Komodo, you are not all that bad! Close-up of the Komodo Dragon Would you care to visit these elusive, mysterious and rare Komodo dragon? Let me know. Getting here: Labuan Bajo is the closest airport to get here. There are several flights from Denpasar and Jakarta that take you to Labuan Bajo. Click on to know the best flight prices for Labuan Bajo. Once in Labuan Bajo, you need to take a cruise to the Komodo Island. Travel Tips: Click here for the official link to this national park on the Ministry of Tourism Indonesia website. Here are the entrance fees and other charges for Komodo Island. I would recommend picking a package boat cruise in Labuan Bajo. There are plenty of operators that can be found online as well as in Labuan Bajo. Our trip was organized by Oradive and included all our entrance fees and other costs. It made the entire journey much easier and smoother. Ensure that you follow all the instructions that the ranger gives you. Do not attempt to touch the Komodo dragon. All said and done, they are quite dangerous. It is fairly warm here throughout the year. Ensure that you dress in cotton clothes, wear a cap and some comfortable shoes for trekking. I highly recommend combining this visit with all the other activities that Komodo National Park offers diving, snorkeling and trekking. A post on this will be up soon. offers diving, snorkeling and trekking. A post on this will be up soon. Stay options mostly homestays are available in the Komodo Village. Alternatively, you can stay on a boat or in Labuan Bajo. Check this post for all the other things that you can do from Labuan Bajo. P.S: I was a part of the Bloggers trip organized by homestays are available in the Komodo Village homestays are available in the Komodo Village Disclaimer: This article includes affiliate links. This means that at no cost to you, I will receive a small commission if you purchase through my link. Thank you for supporting me with this. Popularly referred to as a Restless Ball of Energy. My Mom refuses to entertain my complaints about my equally restless daughter & assures my husband that I was born with a travel bug. I am a Post-Graduate in Marketing by qualification and a travel blogger by passion. Besides travel, I enjoy photography and if you dont find me at my desk, I would be out playing badminton or swimming or just running. I believe in planning for every long weekend through the year. And when I cannot travel physically, I travel virtually through this travel blog. My travel stories have also, got published on various websites and magazines including BBC Travel, Lonely Planet India and Jetwings. I have recently published my first book When Places Come Alive a collection of stories that are based on legends, landscapes, art and culture of a place which is available in both ebook and paperback format. By Trend zerbaijans Honorary Consulate will be opened in the Australian city of Perth the biggest city and capital of the Western Australia, said the Azerbaijani parliaments press service on October 13. Azerbaijani embassy in Australia will hold an event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Azerbaijans independence in Western Australia. Chairman of the Azerbaijani parliaments International and Interparliamentary Relations Committee Samad Seyidov, Head of the Working Group on Interparliamentary Relations with Australia and New Zealand Khanlar Fatiyev and member of the working group Asim Mollazade will visit Australia on Oct. 15-24 to take part in the event and the opening of the Honorary Consulate. Azerbaijani delegation will also have meetings with representative of the Australian government and parliament during the visit. By Trend Following the meeting in a limited format, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev had an expanded meeting with Pakistans Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Baku on October 14. During the meeting, President Aliyev said he is very happy with the Pakistani PMs official visit to Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani president reminded that he had a good meeting with Nawaz Sharif in Davos in early 2016, where they held talks and once again emphasized the strategic significance of the cooperation between the two countries. The Pakistani prime ministers official visit to Azerbaijan shows that a very close cooperation continues between the two countries, added President Aliyev. He noted that Pakistan is one of the closest friends of Azerbaijan. Further noting that Azerbaijan and Pakistan intend to develop their relations in various spheres, President Aliyev said the two countries have very close political ties. The Azerbaijani president said he and the Pakistani PM had discussions on the high-level political cooperation between the two countries. He noted that Azerbaijan and Pakistan should develop their cooperation in economy and investments, boost their trade turnover, pay great attention to humanitarian issues and have a very broad and effective cooperation. Ilham Aliyev further said the two countries support each other on all international issues. He noted that Azerbaijan always supports Pakistan in the issues related to Kashmir, and Pakistan, for its part, always supports Azerbaijan in the issues related to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President Aliyev said the two countries stand side by side in all the international organizations. He noted that Nawaz Sharifs visit gives a good opportunity to review the work done and to set the future plans. President Aliyev expressed gratitude to the Pakistani PM for accepting his invitation and visiting Azerbaijan. By Azernews By Rashid Shirinov While the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unsettled for over two decades, more and more calls are voiced for establishing a dialogue between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh to accelerate the peace talks. President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt has stated his will to organize contacts between the Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations. In this context he plans to discuss the possibility of organizing PACEs activity in a more constructive way. Agramunt, earlier addressing the PACE session, said that international conflicts, including the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, are unacceptable and must be resolved on the basis of parliamentary diplomacy and in the framework of territorial integrity of states. Last meeting between the two communities of Nagorno-Karabakh was held seven years ago, in 2009. Since then, such initiatives has stalled because of the reluctance of Armenian side. By this inaction, Armenia in fact denies the right of the Azerbaijani community to return to their historic lands. This unconstructive position of Armenia delays the peace process over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while more than 1 million of Azerbaijanis driven out from their houses in Nagorno-Karabakh, are obliged to live a refugee life in their homeland. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. By Trend The statement made by Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is surprising and regrettable. Hikmat Hajiyev, the spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, made the remark while commenting on Ushakovs statement on lack of optimism in Moscow about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the near future . Ushakovs statement contradicts the spirit of the Vienna and St. Petersburg meetings of the presidents and the OSCE Minsk Group statements, voiced repeatedly at the presidential level, on the inadmissibility of the status quo, Hajiyev told Trend. He also said the statement doesnt correspond to the detailed discussions held for the conflicts resolution during the visits of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the region. We have repeatedly stated that according to the spirit of the Vienna and St. Petersburg meetings of the presidents, Azerbaijan supports substantive talks towards the step-by-step resolution of the conflict, he noted. The substantive talks should ensure changing the current status quo, which is unacceptable and unsustainable, and the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, added Hajiyev. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Pakistan can work jointly to launch production in defense industry, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev making statements for the press after his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Baku on October 14. He said a significant part of the discussions with Nawaz Sharif was dedicated to the cooperation in the military sphere. President Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Pakistan have a very good cooperation in the military sphere, adding that today he and the Pakistani PM discussed the plans regarding the joint military drills of the two countries armed forces. The Azerbaijani president noted that Pakistan has a very developed defense industry, and that the sides have thoroughly discussed the cooperation in this sphere. The president reminded that Azerbaijan has been for nearly 10 years developing its defense industry, adding that the country wants to buy the most modern and high-tech weapons from Pakistan. He said there is understanding between the parties on this issue. The president said he and Nawaz Sharif also mulled the cooperation in other sectors of the economy, particularly in agriculture and tourism. Ilham Aliyev expressed hope that once the electronic visa system is implemented in Azerbaijan, it will be very easy for the Pakistani citizens to come to Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani citizens will enjoy the same opportunities in traveling to Pakistan. The president further said the sides also had discussions on the opening joint pharmaceutical enterprises in Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev said this sphere is very developed in Pakistan, noting that Azerbaijan wants to develop this sphere too, as it is mainly dependent on imports. The president said he and the Pakistani PM also mulled other issues of mutual interest, adding there is absolutely mutual understanding on all the issues between the sides. He said this once again shows that the relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan are based on friendship and history. Historically the peoples of Azerbaijan and Pakistan had contacts, they worked together, said the president, adding that there are numerous marks of the Pakistani culture in Baku. Ilham Aliyev also said the current ties between the two countries are very important for regional security and cooperation. The president said he believes that transportation is one of the issues to be dealt with in the future by the two countries, as the new transportation projects implemented by Azerbaijan jointly with its neighbors will create new opportunities for transportations from Asia to Europe and from north to south, and will open new routes. Azerbaijan is located at the intersection of these transportation projects, he added. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has honoured the Shams Dubai project owners for their contribution to the sustainable development of Dubai, UAE. Dewa had launched the Shams Dubai initiative to encourage building owners to install photovoltaic panels to generate electricity and connect the systems to its grid. Honouring the project owners supports Dewas vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility, said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of Dewa, after felicitating the project owners at a ceremony held during the recent Dubai Solar Show. It was held in conjunction with the 18th Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (Wetex) 2016 from October 4 to 6 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Lauding the winners, Al Tayer emphasised that they were partners of Dewa in achieving the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into a global hub for green economy and clean energy, and ensure that the city has the lowest carbon footprint in the world by 2050. "We launched the Shams Dubai initiative as one of three initiatives to support the Smart Dubai initiative to transform Dubai into the smartest and happiest city in the world. The initiative encourages customers to install photovoltaic panels to generate electricity from solar power. The electricity is used on-site and the surplus is exported to Dewas network," stated Al Tayer. "An offset between exported and imported electricity is conducted and the customer account is settled based on this offset," he added. In addition to Shams Dubai, Dewa also launched the smart applications via smart meters and grids initiative and the Green Charger initiative to establish the infrastructure and charging stations for electric vehicles to encourage their use, said Al Tayer. "So far, the Dubai utility has installed 100 charging stations across the emirate," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Knight Frank Middle East, the leading independent property consultancy, is set to launch a new property development in the UK - London Square Staines-Upon-Thames - to regional investors at a key event in Dubai next month. London Square Staines-Upon-Thames is the exciting new focal point of this busy, vibrant Thames-side town, part of Londons expanding commuter belt. The development hosts a stunning new piazza, which creates an attractive and vibrant entrance to this highly desirable development. Its High Street location means that it is within easy walking distance of Staines British Rail station, with its exceptional connectivity to Central London. Closer still are the many shops and restaurants that make Staines upon Thames such a dynamic hub for living and enjoying life. London Square Staines-Upon-Thames, available exclusively through Knight Frank, will be showcased at the Emirates Towers, Dubai, from November 4 to 5. The development offers beautifully designed studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, complete with residents gym and concierge service, making this an attractive prospect for professionals and returning UK expats, said the property expert. With prices starting at 340,000 ($445,485); pound exchange rates at a record low and anticipated yields at 4.4 per cent per annum and rising, London Square Staines Upon Thames represents a smart investment, it added. Victoria Garrett, the partner at Knight Frank, said: "London Square Staines Upon Thames is one of our most exciting projects. Over the last 18 months, weve seen a growing appetite from our clients to find affordable investment projects in the UK." "It is a hugely attractive proposition for those looking for a quality offering in a dynamic location that has a strong business base, fantastic shopping and leisure amenities plus great connectivity into Central London. For those looking to get a sure footing in the UK property market, this is a smart investment," she added. A Knight Frank research has revealed a chronic shortage of new homes in the UK, making commuter belt friendly areas, such as Staines Upon Thames, a highly sought after investment opportunity. This is supported by the UKs Office of National Statistics recent findings that greater numbers are being attracted by greater internal and external spaces as key aspects of their purchasing decisions and this was most markedly found in areas such as the wider Staines Upon Thames and Spelthorne communities. Data suggests this is already occurring nearly two thirds (60 per cent) of residents moving to the area were from London in 2015, up from 53 per cent in 2013, said Garrett, citing the findings. Staines Upon Thames offers a compelling combination of affordability and connectivity with a huge potential for excellent investment returns. We look forward to bringing this offer to the UAE market, she added.-TradeArabia News Service Sky News Arabia has appointed Nour Eldeen Al Hammoury, a leading independent market strategist, as its new business analyst and presenter. In his new role, Al Hammoury will provide daily segments and offer in-depth analysis of the latest regional and global economic developments. Prior to this, he had spent over 10 years as an FX analyst, treasury analyst and strategist for Amana Capital, Markets.com and most recently as chief market strategist at ADS Securities. Commenting on the appointment, Nart Bouran, the chief executive of Sky News Arabia, said: "Daily economic bulletins form part of our long-term strategic vision of offering a comprehensive and up-to-date perspective on markets, commodities and related financial services in the Arab world and internationally." "We always seek to attract the best talent to Sky News Arabia. I am confident that Nours unique expertise will provide an added value to our economic news team and will help us further enhance our content and improve our competitive edge," he stated. On his new role, Al Hammoury said: "I am pleased to join Sky News Arabia, which has in a short time span noticeably advanced its position as a leading news organisation with fresh and innovative economic bulletins. I look forward to building on the channels achievements." A 24-hour, Arabic-language rolling news channel broadcasting in HD quality from Abu Dhabi, Sky News Arabia is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation and the UKs BSkyB. The channel offers fresh, fast and independent news across multiple media platforms including live streaming of its broadcast on the internet and via dedicated mobile applications. In addition to its economic bulletins, Sky News Arabia presents specialised business shows such as Rowad, Masahat, and Alam Al Taqa.-TradeArabia News Service Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village Liquid Telecom named Best Southern Africa Wholesale Carrier at first ever Africa Carrier Awards Liquid Telecom received the award in recognition of its outstanding customer support to regional and international carriers. The judging panel in particular singled out Liquid Telecoms continued investment in its network, which spans 12 countries and offers access to 24,000km of cross-border, metro and access fibre networks. We are delighted to collect the award for Best Southern Africa Wholesale Carrier. The award recognises our outstanding quality of service to wholesale customers across the region, which we support through our world-class infrastructure, said Malvin Meyer, Group Managing Executive at Liquid Telecom. The ceremony, which was held at the Speke Resort as part of Capacity Africa 2016, celebrated outstanding contributions to the African wholesale telecoms market. Liquid Telecom was also shortlisted as Best East African Wholesale Carrier and Best Marketing Campaign. The award capped a successful first day for Liquid Telecom at the tenth annual Capacity Africa, which attracted over 400 delegates. As well as exhibiting at the event, Liquid Telecoms CTO and Liquid Telecom CEO Kenya Ben Roberts also spoke at the opening panel session about the wholesale opportunities and challenges presented by Ugandas telecoms market. www.liquidtelecom.com This Just In Saturday support meetings Alcoholics Anonymous: 9:30 a.m., womens meeting, 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 328 E. A; noon, 500 S. Wolcott; 7 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 8 p.m, 328 E. A; 8 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 10 p.m., 917 N. Beech. Douglas: 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1688. Al-Anon: 10 a.m., 4600 S. Poplar, Shepherd of the Hills Church. Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club, closed meeting; 7 p.m., 15th and Melrose, at the church. Web site: http://www.urmrna.org. NAMI: 4 p.m., 133 W. Sixth St. NAMI C.A.R.E. Support Group for individuals with mental illness. Info: 234-0440. Adult Children of Alcoholics: 1:30-3 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott St., Suite 200. QPR suicide prevention Monday Learn to save a life in as little as 90 minutes. The Prevention Management Organization of Wyoming in partnership with the 12-24 Club and the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Task Force is offering this free training from 5:30 to 7 p.m., on Monday, Oct. 17 at the 12-24 Club (500 S. Wolcott). QPR will teach you to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. This months training is tailored to meet the needs of individuals in the faith community. For more information, contact Anna Edwards at 472-5991 or email her at aedwards@pmowyo.org . Reveille hears BBBS Wednesday Amanda Robbins-Lilley, Casper branch manager for Greater Wyoming Big Brothers Big Sisters, will be sharing information about her organization with the Reveille Rotary at their 7 a.m. Wednesday meeting at the Central Wyoming Senior Services Center. The Greater Wyoming Big Brothers Big Sisters (GWBBBS) serves eight communities in the state of Wyoming. Beyond one-to-one mentoring, GWBBBS promotes quality mentoring and positive youth development in the afterschool and juvenile justice industries. BBBS mentors children, aged 5 through high school graduation, in communities across the country. Reveille Rotary meetings are held each Wednesday at 7 a.m. in the Central Wyoming Senior Services Center, 1831 East 4th Street. Guests are welcome and invited to attend. Enter ceramics at Art 321 This is a call from ART321/Casper Artists Guild to the ceramic artists in our community! We would be honored if you would consider exhibiting in the Casper Ceramics Collectives Second Annual Exhibition! You may display three signature objects and/or three sets of objects in your unique ceramic style. Show us what you like to do with clay! This is to be an exhibit of new work. Please deliver your artwork to Art 321 between October 18-29. This is an opportunity for you to show and sell your work. The exhibit will open Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016 with a reception 5 to 8 p.m., during the November Art Walk. The Postcards and Pint-sized Art and the 2nd Annual Ceramics Invitational with Dandee Pattee and Ryan Olsen will open and exhibit concurrently. For information and submission forms please go to our website art321.org. Make Halloween masks Oct. 22 Come to Fort Caspar Museum on Saturday, Oct. 22, for our monthly Fremont Family Funday. We will be making fun masks for Halloween. Participants may drop in between 1 and 3 p.m.; no reservations are required and all supplies will be provided. This program is open to all ages and is free with museum admission. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Fort Caspar Museums winter hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. Admission prices are $1.50 for adults; $1 for youth (ages 13-18 years); free for children (12 years and younger) and for museum members. For more information, call the museum at 235-8462, or visit our website at www.fortcasparwyoming.com. Fort Caspar Museum is located at 4001 Fort Caspar Road. Pint-sized art deadline Oct. 28 November at ART321/Casper Artists Guild brings us to the next Postcards & Pint Sized Art exhibit and auction. You might remember that our Postcard Show helps us raise funds to continue providing art to Casper and the surrounding region. This is a call to artists who may like to assist ART 321 continue their mission by donating a post card size piece of your original art for auction. Deadline is Oct. 28, two entries per person. Be a part of this incredible art space serving the Casper community. We hope that you will consider donating artwork to this worthy cause. Medication disposal Oct. 25 Please bring your expired or unused medications to the Casper Senior Center, 1831 East 4th St., on Tuesday, Oct. 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. These medications will be safely disposed of so you dont have to worry about them ending up in the wrong hands or the water supply. Prevention Management Organization of Wyoming and law enforcement will be collecting both prescription and over-the-counter medications. This event is open to the public. For more information, call 472-5991. Historians meet Oct. 27 The Natrona County HIstorical Society will meet Thursday, Oct. 27 at the Oil and Gas Commission Building, 2221 King Blvd., at 7 p.m. Ardelle Martin will show photos and talk about the Freeland Cemetery near the Bates Hole region west of Casper. A long-time resident of Casper, Ardelle volunteered for many years at the Western History Center at Casper College, working with all three of the archivists who have worked there. NCHS member (and Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum curator) Doug Cubbison will also share information about the project that he is working on with fellow Wyoming State Historical Society executive committee member, Lisa Thalken, to encourage youth-focused history activities. Jackie Ellis will bring the Wyoming calendars which have been pre-ordered, which are $7 each (and envelopes are 50 cents each) and she will also have some additional ones to sell. Checks should be made out to her. HPCC hosts family life ministry conference Highland Park Community Church is pleased to offer a valuable resource to families. October 28 and 29, we will be hosting our first annual Family Life Ministry Conference featuring keynote speaker Dan Seaborn, founder and president of Winning at Home Ministries. The cost is $25 per person. Friday nights 6 to 9 p.m. session will focus on how to thrive in marriage while Saturday mornings 9 a.m. to noon session will emphasize parenting and family dynamics. We believe this event has the potential to make a significant eternal difference in the lives of families. To register for the conference visit www.HPCC.church or call/visit the church office (5429 Highland Dr., 265-4073). We are pleased to partner with Kids Works (234-4386) to serve those families needing childcare. Winter markets to start Food for Thought Winter Makers Markets will be held Nov. 5 and Dec. 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Downtown Grill & Venue, 128 E. Second St. They will then take place the second and fourth Saturday of every month January through May. This is a free and family-friendly event, so come to downtown Casper, and support our local business owners and vendors!! The Food for Thought Farmers Markets are a core program of the Wyoming Food for Thought Project, a local grassroots organization dedicated to creating a local food system where everyone, especially children, have access to good and healthy food. To learn more about Food for Thought, or our other core programs, visit www.wyfftp.org for more information today. Stock Dog Trail Nov. 5 Love dogs and sheep with a challenge thrown in? Join us along with 40 dogs and their handlers on Saturday, Nov. 5, for the Stock Dog Classic in conjunction with the Tribute to the Great American Cowboy Rodeo. The classic will be held at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds at 7:30 a.m., until mid-afternoon. Enjoy the open class with some of the areas top dogs and handlers competing on a difficult course for a place in the exciting top five open runoff. The ranch class featuring a different course designed more on every day ranch work, and last but not least, the Team Relay, teams drawn at random each member and their dog running a different leg of the course. This is free to the public. For more information or to be a sponsor, call Rita Snodgrass, 234-7853, iiiwish@rtconnect.net or Brandi at 259-3283, kbforgey@vcn.com for more information. PVCS craft, vendor fair Paradise Valley Christian School is hosting a Craft and Vendor Fair fundraiser from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Nov. 5, 2016, in the PVCS gym, 3041 Paradise Dr. The school relies heavily on fundraisers throughout the year to help with the costs of running the school. A portion of all proceeds from the event will be donated to the school. Hope you can stop by and get a head start on some Christmas shopping while helping the Christian school at the same time! We will have jewelry, miscellaneous crafts, Lularoe clothing, face painting for kids, yummy fall treats, and books, among other things. Republican women gather the goddesses Natrona County Republican Women will host the second annual Gathering of the Goddesses on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016 at the Black & Gold Grille, 1650 English Avenue. Cash bar and heavy hors doeuvres at 5:30, followed by style show with fashions courtesy of Cadillac Cowgirl. Goddess-style attire is appropriate, chic, classy, fun and fabulous. Advance tickets are $40 per person, $50 at the door. Prepaid tickets may be purchased at mkt.com/ncrwgiftshop. Silent and live auction items and fabulous door prizes will be featured. This is the annual membership and fundraising event of the Natrona County Republican Women. RSVP by Nov. 7 to ncrwmember@gmail.com, or call 307-215-9749. Casper police arrested four women suspected of prostitution and one man suspected of soliciting prostitutes in an undercover operation Thursday evening. Police arrested Bailey Bruce, of Evansville; Cassandra Combs, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Canisha Martinez, of Casper; and Alexandra Tyler, who was homeless, on suspicion of prostitution. Officers also arrested David Mangus, of Casper, on suspicion of soliciting prostitution. Undercover police officers contacted the women through online advertisements and the women agreed to perform sex acts in exchange for payment ranging from $150 to $350, according to arrest affidavits. Police arrested the women when they arrived at the location where they previously agreed to meet. Mangus responded to an online ad posted by officers and agreed to pay an undercover officer posing as a prostitute a quarter-pound cheeseburger and medium fries from McDonalds for sex, according to an arrest affidavit. Officers arrested Mangus when he arrived at the predetermined location with the bag of food. Hookin for cheeseburgers isnt normal, Detective Dan Dundas said, though sometimes drugs or other valuables can be exchanged. The sting was part of an annual nationwide effort by law enforcement, called Operation Cross Country, to rescue underage victims of sex trafficking. Last year, 149 underage victims were rescued across the country and more than 150 others were arrested, according to the FBI. Casper police rescued a 16-year-old girl who had been trafficked to Casper from Colorado in a 2014 sting that was part of the nationwide operation. A federal judge sentenced the girls trafficker, Joseph Jovon Dawson, to 10 years in prison for transporting a minor for illegal sexual activity. The ultimate goal of investigating prostitution in Casper is to find underage victims of sex trafficking, Dundas said. Many prostitutes and traffickers in the region travel along Interstate 25 and Interstate 80 and advertise through online sites like Backpage.com, Dundas said. CHEYENNE In a year in which the Wyoming Republican Party is spending big bucks in an attempt to win over a dozen legislative races throughout the state, one-time presidential candidate Carly Fiorina told a group of 100 people that the GOP is best suited to help people raise their position in life. Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, said the Republican Party truly believes all people are equal, regardless of past circumstances, and that everyone has potential to rise above difficulties. Democrats, on the other hand, want people to be dependent on government programs and remain complacent and comfortable, she said. It starts by recognizing its only conservatives and only Republicans who actually believe that every single citizen is worthy of the opportunity to live a life of dignity and purpose and meaning, she said. Fiorina ended her GOP White House bid in February but news reports state she is visiting state Republican parties to build support to lead the Republican National Committee. The Wyoming Republican Party fundraiser honored Brian Scott Gamroth posthumously as volunteer of the year. The $50 per person fundraiser in which people who contributed $500 could visit with Fiorina and have photographs taken with her was held to raise money for Republican candidates in 17 races that the party is focusing on. Specifically, the money was to pay to mail campaign literature promoting the candidates. The leadership of the states majority party spent four days reviewing the most competitive legislative districts, ones with the most Democrats, said Wyoming GOP Chairman Matt Micheli. Weve targeted 17 races, and weve committed to spend up to $150,000 on those targeted races, he said. The party has also revamped social media for the campaigns, Micheli said. Micheli didnt identify all 17 races, although two candidates for the Wyoming Senate who are from Cheyenne Affie Ellis and Tara Nethercott both spoke about how the mail will help them reach voters. Gamroths wife, Tracy, and their children accepted the award, which was presented by Natrona County GOP Chairwoman Bonnie Foster. Gamroth was a Casper radio personality who died nearly four weeks ago in a motorcycle accident in Montana. He donated hours to the party, and used his vocal talents to emcee events and auctions. Foster, who is Wyoming campaign director for Donald Trump and has faced nasty criticism on social media for supporting him after comments about him groping women became public, said she could lean on Gamroth when she was going through turbulent times in Wyoming politics. Gamroth relied on her when he faced criticism in the party, she said. Brian loved what he was doing and I know that someday he himself wanted to run for political office, she said. Volunteers such as Gamroth connect with voters and give candidates the boost, Fiorina said. Americans dont want politics as usual, with the same people holding public office, Fiorina said, citing a Gallup poll. She gave the nod to Cheney, Ellis and Nethercott. Im so pleased that so many of you candidates are first-time candidates because ours was intended to be a citizen government of, by and for the people, she said. Fiorina said last week Trump needs to step aside for the good of the party and let his running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence be the presidential candidate. She didnt speak about Trump on Thursday night, but she had plenty to say about Democrat Hillary Clinton. Clinton and her husband are corrupt. They concentrate power and are ambitious to win at all costs, she said. Now heres the thing, Fiorina said. America doesnt want what Hillary Clinton is selling. There are very few places in this country where you can hunt, fish, backpack and camp all in the same day. Wyoming is one of those locations, but the problem is that its too much of a secret. Thats why Gov. Matt Mead announced a new initiative this week to promote the Cowboy States outdoor industry via a recreation task force. Theres billions of dollars spent and realized in local economies from tourists coming to hunt, fish, camp, photograph or do whatever theyve got to do outside, said David Bush, spokesman for the governor. So were trying to figure out how we can maximize that and capture as much of that market as possible. The task force will help in diversifying Wyomings economy. The Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources will work with public and private stakeholders to find ideas and promote Wyomings outdoors. A 2012 report from the Outdoor Industry Association found that Wyoming generates approximately $4.5 billion annually in consumer spending, $1.4 billion in wages and salaries, $300 million in state and local tax revenue and creates 50,000 jobs, according to a press release from the governors office. Mead is looking to capitalize on and increase those numbers. The task force will build on the considerable work already done and offer ideas to improve outdoor recreation opportunities, marketing and business recruitment, Mead said a statement. The task force is expected to generate and execute the recommendations via a published report in six months to a year. One goal is to capture similar tourist revenues that neighboring states like Montana and Colorado have received in recent years. Wyoming is the energy capital of the United States, if not the world, but we also have the Tetons, the Little Snake Valley, we have all these wonderful areas that people like to come and recreate in. Its kind of been a hidden secret, Bush said. Its pretty easy to fly into Denver and hop on I-70 and go see some of those areas (in Colorado), but Wyoming has just as magnificent if not more magnificent areas, and we want to try and let people know that were not just the high plains and dust and cows. Weve got all these other things to offer. With some Republicans distancing themselves from Donald Trump amid accusations about his treatment of women, a Natrona County woman is encouraging Wyoming voters to take a closer look at one of his conservative opponents. Evan McMullin, a former GOP policy adviser, mounted an independent candidacy to challenge Trump earlier this summer. While he failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the presidential ballot in Wyoming, campaign volunteer Debbie Neuenschwander said voters can still write him in on their ballots. Even if he didnt win the state of Wyoming, it is worth it to me to vote for Evan, because I am not simply voting against someone, Neuenschwander, a Republican, said. Im voting for someone I really believe is a good, honest, moral person. Neuenschwander said that McMullin should stand out as a third-party option because he has the best chance to become president. That is based on the fact he has a better chance of winning at least one state than the other two third-party candidates, Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Jill Stein. McMullin is polling at 22 percent in Utah, according to a recent survey by the Deseret News. Thats within the margin of error of Republican Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who are both polling at 26 percent in the state. Were McMullin to win Utah it would be statistically possible, though far from certain, that neither Trump nor Clinton would earn the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election outright. In that case, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives would choose the president out of the top three candidates based on states won. While it is unlikely that the House of Representatives would reject the will of tens of millions of voters and select McMullin based solely on a Utah victory, Neuenschwanders point is that McMullin is best positioned to win at least one state and thus even qualify to be selected. He has the best chance out of all the independent people, she said. McMullin spokeswoman Rina Shah did not respond to a request for comment. As a Mormon, McMullin has a strong base of support in Utah and neighboring states with high Mormon populations. He has official write-in status in Wyoming and Montana while he qualified for the ballot in Utah, Idaho and Colorado in addition to eight other states. Wyoming has the third-highest percentage of Mormon residents in the country, with 9 percent of the population belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But Neuenschwander said that while she herself is Mormon, McMullin would appeal to other Republicans and even Libertarians and Democrats disillusioned with their candidates. McMullin is just honest and seems like a good guy, she said. People on both sides of the issues are going to see that and like that. Hillary and Trump, a lot of people dont see them as honest or just good, moral people. Neuenschwander encouraged Wyoming voters to learn more about McMullins views. She also emphasized the importance of spelling his name correctly on the ballot. McMullin faces an additional challenge as a write-in candidate when it comes to his vice president. While McMullin named conservative businesswoman Mindy Finn as his vice presidential candidate last week, he had previously used his friend Nathan Johnson as a placeholder when he applied for write-in status on state ballots. That means that even though Finn is his running mate, voters will need to record Nathan Johnson as their vice presidential selection on their ballots. The campaign says that if McMullin wins the presidency, Johnson will resign and McMullin will appoint Finn to fill the post. Federal authorities broke the law when they removed wild horses from Wyomings checkerboard region in 2014, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. Horse advocates had argued the Bureau of Land Management illegally treated the entire checkerboard area made up of alternating blocks of public and private land as private. The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and other groups sued to block a roundup on the land two years ago, but a U.S. District Court in Wyoming rejected their claims. The 10th Circuit ruling overturns that decision, and the BLM said it will not proceed with an identical roundup scheduled to begin Tuesday in the checkerboard east of Rock Springs. The horse advocates had filed a separate suit earlier this month to block Tuesdays roundup. Bill Eubanks, an attorney representing the advocates, said Fridays ruling validated the groups claim that the BLM needed to follow the procedure for removing horses from public lands if it wanted to take the animals out of the checkerboard. Game over, Eubanks said, later adding, This is what we wanted and then some. The BLM is currently reviewing todays ruling by the 10th Circuit Court, BLM Wyoming High Desert District spokesman Tony Brown said in a statement. Going forward, our goal remains to have healthy horses on healthy rangelands. Brown confirmed that the Oct. 18 roundup would not take place. The 10th Circuit released a short order on Friday declaring the checkerboard roundup to be in violation of the Wild Horses and Burros Act and The Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The court said it would explain its reasoning in a future opinion. The cases center on three wild horse populations in south-central Wyoming. The Rock Springs Grazing Association requested the BLM remove the horses from the groups land in the area. The grazing association and BLM reached a 2013 agreement in which the land management agency agreed to periodically remove wild horses from the entire checkerboard in order to keep them off private grazing land. Horse advocates claimed the consent decree was illegal because it allowed the agency to remove horses from public lands in the checkerboard as if they were private. The Wild Horses Act mandates strict procedures for the agency to remove horses from public lands compared to a much simpler process for removing the animals from private land. But the BLM argued, and a district court agreed, that because the checkerboard was made up of alternating square miles of unfenced public and private land it was impossible to keep the horses off private land without taking removing them from the public checkerboard land as well. The 10th Circuit decision reversed the District Court opinion. Eubanks said that the case has wider resonance because it sought to determine whether a federal agency could treat public lands as private as a matter of expediency. GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. Investigators say hikers found a nearly complete adult skeleton and some clothing in the western Colorado desert. Mesa County Sheriff's Office investigators and Colorado Mesa University forensic research students worked together Wednesday to collect the bones in the desert north of Grand Junction. Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Megan Terlecky said the office is working with the Mesa County Coroner's Office to identify the remains found Tuesday. Terlecky said authorities believe the bones belong to one person and are looking through missing persons cases. She says investigators are treating the area like a crime scene. Terlecky said the students helping with the remains are highly trained and vetted by their professors for the task. The Wyoming Supreme Court will hear arguments in the criminal appeals case of former Albany County prosecuting attorney Richard Bohling on Oct. 20, nearly a year after the ex-attorney was tried and found guilty of five charges related to improper use of government money. Arguments will take place at the University of Wyoming College of Law. Attorney Linda Devine is slated to argue on behalf of Bohling, while Wyoming Senior Assistant Attorney General Christyne Martens will represent the state. The justices are expected to hear the case shortly after 10 a.m., though proceedings could begin earlier if the case before wraps up ahead of schedule, said Laura Mickey, deputy clerk for the Wyoming Supreme Court. Bohling was convicted in November of four felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and a count of misdemeanor official misconduct. The charges stem from the purchase of cameras, photography equipment and other electronics with county funds while an elected official. The jury acquitted him of felony charges of wrongful taking or disposing of property and submitting false vouchers and a misdemeanor count of wrongful appropriation of public funds. A misdemeanor misuse of office charge was dropped at the outset of the trial at the prosecutions request. In February, District Court Judge John R. Perry of Gillette sentenced Bohling to two to four years in prison and ordered him to pay $45,000 in fines and more than $3,000 in restitution to Albany County. In their appeal to the Supreme Court, Bohlings attorneys asked for all five convictions to be overturned, arguing a key element of the obtaining property by false pretenses charges was not met and because the misdemeanor conviction stemmed from these convictions, it should also be reversed. Wyoming statute defines obtaining property by false pretenses as a crime that occurs when a thief, without a trespassory taking, but via the utterance of false pretenses, obtains both possession and title to the property. Bohlings attorneys claimed their client did not obtain title to the electronics, citing testimony from current and former Albany County officials confirming property purchased with county money belongs to the county. State attorneys dispute this argument on grounds that obtaining property by false pretenses does not require the accused to acquire a title. The state also claimed the evidence proves the electronics were for Bohlings personal benefit, because they were not used for county purposes. Furthermore, they argue, Bohling obtained voidable title by purchasing the items at stores, arguing when a person uses a credit card, pays cash or writes a check in exchange for an item, any reasonable observer would believe that the individual had just acquired title by acquiring ownership, possession, and custody to that item. According to court documents and testimony at trial, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began investigating possible misuse of county funds in March 2014. The Albany County Clerks Office conducted a quiet audit of the Albany County Attorneys Office and identified a number of purchasing irregularities. A Division of Criminal Investigation report concluded Bohling used the items for his own purposes and signed vouchers, or had others sign on his behalf, to purchase them. Bohling was first elected Albany County attorney in 2002 and served three consecutive terms in office before opting not to seek re-election in 2014. ROCK SPRINGS Kristen Brough has a second chance. Brough is the pro account sales associate design consultant at Home Depot in Rock Springs where she listens to customer needs, processes transactions and makes orders for contractors. Sales is all about your personality. Its how you treat the customer start to finish and how you take care of their needs, she said. For a long time, however, the 39-year-old Rock Springs native looked to methamphetamine to meet her needs. She began using the drug when she was 26 years old. She said she was a functioning addict, but after her husband was killed in a drug deal in 2012, things got worse. I took it to another level, Brough said. I lost my ability to care about anything I didnt know how to deal with. She lost custody of her two daughters in April 2013 after being charged with child endangerment and misdemeanor possession. Her youngest daughter went to live with her parents, while the oldest daughter went to her dad. That didnt stop me, Brough said. Making a choice Despite fighting for custody of her children, she continued to do meth. Her addiction culminated in another arrest Dec. 9, 2013, on a second charge of misdemeanor possession. It was that time I got arrested that I decided enough was enough, she said. I needed to do what I needed to do to get my girls back. When Brough came before the judge she was given a choice: two to four years in prison or three years of supervised probation and treatment court. She chose rehabilitation. I didnt know what I was in for, but was willing to try, she said. Brough said Sweetwater County Deputy Attorney Teresa Thybo was one of the few who believed in her. I went before the panel by myself (and) she fought the hardest for me to go to treatment, she said. When I didnt believe in myself she definitely believed in me; when I didnt see it in myself. Thybo, who is a member of the Sweetwater County Treatment Court Foundation team, helped Brough start her journey. Brough went into treatment or drug court Dec. 9, 2013, before going into a therapeutic community treatment program, which is an in-house substance abuse rehabilitation program. She spent several months there on an in-patient basis. Between therapeutic communities and drug courts, those are things that saved my life, she said. Riding a roller coaster Brough said the experience had its ups and downs. During the early stages of treatment court, she said she did not like the strict regimen because it meant giving control to another. Her resistance culminated in having to repeat a level before advancing to the last stage of treatment court. I think repeating that level is when I realized that I needed to do something someone elses way in order to be successful, she said. There are four levels in the program that each take about three months, depending on the person, foundation program coordinator Sandi Henderson said. They are in more treatment on levels one and two, she said. By the time they get to level four, hopefully they are doing well enough they dont need quite as much supervision or any. Thybo said she showed Brough unconditional support because she felt there was more to her than being an addict. She had so much potential there that was hiding underneath the addiction and the anger, Thybo said. I think that because someone is an addict and their life is in shambles, it doesnt mean there isnt a good person inside that wants to come out. Brough said the support enabled her to believe in herself more and buy into the routine. I just learned to appreciate the little things and the opportunities that I was given; the little bits of freedom I was slowly gaining instead of assuming I deserved them. I learned to appreciate them, she said. Thybo said things changed when Brough stopped resisting. When Kristen started this process she was hardened and resistant to treatment. She had a lot of hurt in her life and she didnt handle it well, she said. She dug deep into her issues. She reached out for support and she made a lot of positive changes in her life. Continuing a progression Brett Stokes, foundation vice chairman, said he has seen people take six to 18 months to get through the program. It depends on how quickly and how badly they want to clean up, he said. Brough graduated on Nov. 4, 2015, though her journey is not over. Its a feeling of accomplishment when they complete the program, but they have to remain sober every day, Rock Springs Police Chief Dwane Pacheco said. If they graduate its not the end all. They got to continue to work the 12-step program and use the knowledge they gained and take it day by day. Stokes said some program graduates participate in an alumni group to support one another. They go out to dinner, kind of get together and talk to each other like a support group, he said. Brough said she works with people who have traveled down a similar path and are there for each other. She said she is mentoring a 23-year-old woman who is recovering from a drug addiction. It encourages me to continue doing the right things because it reminds me of where I dont want to be, Brough said. Thybo said she is proud of Brough. I think its wonderful that shes giving back because she took away so much from here and has implemented it in their life, she said. Its a great credit to her that people in the treatment community trust her to mentor someone and believe she is capable of mentoring someone in the same condition. Programs adjust to cuts A struggling economy is causing governments to make difficult funding decisions. In June, Gov. Matt Mead announced $90 million in cuts to the Wyoming Department of Health budget, including a $1.2 million cut for treatment or drug courts. The foundation saw a $33,254.33, or 16 percent, reduction to go along with less money from Sweetwater County and Rock Springs. Only Green River has maintained its past level of funding, Thybo said. Tighter funding is expected to decrease the list of clients they could take by at least three, Henderson said. The state finances treatment courts based on how many people they handle, she said. The program has 21 participants, which is down from 23 in the 2015-16 fiscal year. If there are more cuts, which is likely according to Henderson, the foundation will have to be selective in who enters the program. We are full and overflowing, she said. Were going to have to be really picky on who well put in. She added, however, it could have been worse. The original proposal presented by Mead included a larger cut than the 16 percent revised reduction. If we would have received the 56 percent cut, drug courts across the state and a lot of your treatment centers would have had to close, Henderson said. Looking to the future In February, the Legislature passed a bill to enable judges to assess up to $50 for the court supervised program for anyone who pleads guilty in a circuit or district court. When there are enough funds in the pot, it could be divvied up to help courts statewide, Henderson said. Were hoping that kicks in and the amount gets high enough to where we can continue to fund our drug courts, Stokes said. Member of the foundation and its program team met Sept. 19 to discuss ways to get local support. One of our strategies involves a committee to reach out to some of the stakeholders in the community to see if they would be willing to donate monetarily to our nonprofit treatment court program, Pacheco said. We are not the only ones with our hand out, but we see it as a cost savings for the public. We see it as a good program for those offenders who meet the criteria. Weve helped numerous individuals continue to be gainfully employed by the treatment court while fulfilling their obligation to the court. They are continuing to work with industry and now well ask industry to help us out and help us maintain the program at levels we were able to in the past. Addition declines in funding could threaten the program. My biggest fear is that the treatment court program gets defunded all together, Sweetwater County Sgt. David Johnson said. To me, that doesnt make sense because the only alternative we have for these folks is to keep them in jail or put them in prison. It will be more of a burden for taxpayers. Rock Springs Municipal Court Judge George Scott Nelson said it would be a setback for individuals and the community. I think everything we gained to this point would be negated, Nelson said. And it would return the burden to the regular court system of monitoring and probating. Standing tall While there may be uncertainty regarding the future of Wyoming treatment courts, the system continues to turn lives around. Brough is set to finish her probation Dec. 8. She said she is the happiest she has been in a long time. She continues to excel at work, where she is second in sales in the district, which is comprised of Rock Springs and 12 Utah stores. I wouldnt be here if it werent for the steps I took, she said. Brough said she is living the life meant for her. I am able to stand on my own two feet and know I am enough, she said. That I have the abilities to be the person I was meant to be by being a mother to my own children and taking on two more children and being in a healthy relationship; which also trickles into having the confidence in being successful in a work environment. 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. 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. 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. 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, and public officials. No one could help. Out of options, the couple opted for a last-minute destination wedding in a more enlightened state: Alabama. They packed their kids into the car and drove seven hours to Montgomery, a jurisdiction that accepted green cards as proof of identity. On Aug. 8, 2016, Xanamane and Cheng were legally declared husband and wife. 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. The air cargo markets deceleration this year had a greater impact on third-quarter cargo revenues at American Airlines than its primary rivals, Delta and United Airlines. But the best revenue quarter in company history and a $483 million profit painted a positive financial picture that could be replicated in the final quarter thanks to resilient [] Eight prospective employers seriously eyeing Pima County could bring more than 3,500 jobs to the region in the not-so-distant future, adding significantly to the roughly 200 jobs announced by Vector Space Systems Thursday. Thats according to a presentation given Wednesday by County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry to the Title Security Agency Tucson Fall Summit. We expect that at least half of these jobs could be announced by the end of the year, county Economic Development Director John Moffatt, who also presented at the summit, said in an interview Thursday. A copy of the presentation, provided by Huckelberry, lists the industries but not the names of the companies; the number jobs each might bring and average pay. The average annual salary for the 3,543 jobs is $79,100, higher than the $70,000 average for those expected to be hired by Vector Space Systems within the next three years. When in active negotiation with companies considering locating in the area, county officials are often barred from naming companies or giving other specific information by nondisclosure agreements. One potential employer, listed as an engineering/manufacturing business, would bring an estimated 1,975 jobs at an average salary of $110,000. That companys announcement is among those likely before the end of the year, according to Moffatt. Moffatt emphasized that there is no guarantee all of the deals will come through, but that theyre also not speculative. We think that we are finalists. We have a more than reasonably good chance for acquiring those jobs, he said. Two of the eight were efforts initiated by the city of Tucson, with the county seriously engaged in most of the remaining six, Moffatt said, adding that the likely announcements show the benefits of a regional approach to economic development. In at least one of the deals, Moffatt said, the county is considering assistance comparable to that provided to the space balloon company World View, for which the county built a launch pad, headquarters and manufacturing facility at a cost of roughly $15 million. World View is expected to pay those costs back, and then some, over the course of its 20-year lease. The World View deal has been criticized by Supervisor Ally Miller and is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the conservative Goldwater Institute, which alleges that the arrangement violates the Arizona constitutions gift clause. Arrangements with the other companies would be more straightforward and could involve workforce training and the use of Foreign Trade Zones, which can lower property tax burdens, Moffatt said. As previously reported by the Star, biotech seed giant Monsanto and Pima County are negotiating a possible incentive package that would substantially reduce the property tax burden of a planned Monsanto greenhouse in the Avra Valley, in an expanded Foreign Trade Zone. Vector Space Systems plans to open a Tucson headquarters and manufacturing plant to make rockets for launching small satellites into space. It could employ as many as 500 people within five years as production ramps up, said its co-founder and CEO, Jim Cantrell. Vector plans to invest roughly $19 million during the first three years, and possibly as much as $50 million over the next 15 years, according to Pima County officials. It expects to open in 2018 at a county site south of Tucson International Airport. 4 things to expect at the show Here are four things Randy Cordero said to expect from the show with Tucson Symphony Orchestra: Big wall of sound: "It supersizes the songs. The songs already have orchestration in some of them like 'September Morn,' 'Hello Again,' 'Play Me'; some of his ballads already have strings in them, some of them have horns. But most of our show with the symphony has a whole symphony so the songs are super sized, as I like to call it." All the hits plus some: "In standard Super Diamond fashion, there will be little hints of our other musical influences that we grew up with like AC/DC, Kiss, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin. The way we've played Neil Diamond songs for 24 years, we've always worked in a little bit of those other influences. We just incorporate some riffs, a little bit of mashups. But mainly a riff here and there that we work into the show. There's always a little bit of tongue and cheek, but it works so perfectly." Singing his favorites: Cordero's favorite Neil Diamond song to sing live is "Love on the Rocks" because "it's so powerful. It starts out a little loungy then it rocks out on the chorus. Sometimes I feel like I'm Henry Rollins when I'm on stage belting that one out." Not an impersonation: "I don't do an impersonation. I don't try to look like him. I wear sequined shirts like he used to wear but because we incorporate a little bit of the hard rock that I grew up with into the show, and because I channel David Lee Roth a little bit, Henry Rollins, Robert Plant we kind of make it surreal. And that's my stage name, too. We channel other rock greats and slip that into the show. It's a little bit of our own thing." A bee removal company that does not destroy hives took about 10 hours to remove an estimated 80,000 Africanized bees from an Oro Valley home Thursday. During the operation that began at 8:30 a.m., two people and two dogs were stung, but did not require medical attention, said Anne-Marie Braswell, a Golder Ranch Fire District spokeswoman. The bees were removed from a house near West Canada Hills Drive and North Sand Canyon Place. The intersection was closed for about four hours, said Lt. Kara Riley of the Oro Valley Police Department. Both Golder Ranch Fire and Oro Valley Police personnel remained at the scene through the afternoon during the bee removal. Homeowners were cautioned about the bees and told to stay indoors, Braswell said. The subdivision is east of North La Cholla Boulevard and north of West Lambert Lane. It appears bees from other hives were swarming in the area during the removal operation, said Greg Denker, president of American Bee Control. Denker and another bee relocation specialist with his company removed a bee hive that formed between the ceiling of the garage and a bedroom floor of the house. The homeowner called the company Wednesday to remove the bees, Denker said. "The bees were building a honeycomb and we found it through infrared imaging," said Denker of the large hive. "It usually takes four hours for large bee removals, but this operation took 10 hours because the hive was so big." The bees were transferred into a wooden bee hive box and were taken to remote ranch land, Denker said. Denker, who does not reveal the location of the ranch, leases the land for his business. A Phoenix man was arrested Wednesday in an attempt to smuggle $220,000 worth of drugs at a Nogales border crossing, authorities said. The 63-year-old man was taken into custody when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found nearly 12 pounds of cocaine and more than 28 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in his Volkswagen van, according to a news release. The drugs were found during a secondary inspection at the Dennis DeConcini crossing after a drug-sniffing dog alerted officers. Officers seized the drugs and vehicle, and turned the man over to federal authorities. Her fathers bizarre behavior while hospitalized for pneumonia earlier this year made Tucson resident Kathy Asendorf wonder if there were such a thing as sudden-onset dementia. Normally easygoing and affable, he had become frantic and suspicious, even trying to rip out his intravenous lines. It wasnt dementia, which does not come on suddenly, but instead was a common but frequently overlooked and still misunderstood neurological condition called delirium. Delirium, brain dysfunction that is a side effect of critical illness and its treatments, affects about one-third of patients admitted to hospital intensive care units, says Dr. Christian Bime, medical director of the ICU at Banner-University Medical Center Tucson. The Nashville-based American Delirium Society says more than 7 million hospitalized Americans suffer from delirium every year. Patients in the ICU with untreated delirium have a two- to three-fold increased risk of dying within six months, Bime says. They also are at higher risk for ending up in long-term care and having lasting cognitive problems similar to early Alzheimers disease or traumatic brain injury. People who are very old or very young are at highest risk, but it can occur at any age. Its an independent marker for poor outcomes. It doesnt just ride along with being sick, says Dr. Mindy Fain, a geriatrician who is director of the University of Arizonas Arizona Center on Aging. Its independently associated with death, complications in the hospital and discharge to a nursing home all bad outcomes. If someone is in the hospital and they develop delirium, it means something else is going on and that it is incumbent upon us to identify and treat it, Fain says. It is like a baby crying. It may be the only sign that something is wrong. Yet more than half of delirium in hospitals is missed, she says. Thats not surprising because patients and family members are stressed and overwhelmed, and doctors are focused on treating the condition that led to the hospital visit, says Sarah Dowal, project director for the Boston-based Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP), a program to prevent delirium in more than 200 hospitals worldwide. No Arizona hospitals use the HELP program, which often uses trained volunteers to gets patients oriented, moving, eating, sleeping and in therapy. Asendorfs 84-year-old father, who had never shown signs of cognitive decline, didnt get anything like that. We were not prepared, she says. We would not have been as frightened or as worried for him if we had an idea this was a possibility, or if it had been noticed by someone else before us. ICU psychosis Delirium also called ICU psychosis, ICU syndrome, and acute brain failure results in longer hospital stays and issues that go along with extended hospital time, like pressure ulcers, falls and urinary tract infections. Though delirium is common in hospitals, no one knows for certain why it occurs. Theories include a deficiency of cholinergic function, which translates into impaired brain transmissions, or an overactive immune system that causes inflammation, triggering changes in the blood/brain barrier. For each additional day a patient experiences delirium, the likelihood of dying increases by 10 percent, the international Illinois-based Society for Critical Care Medicine says. The general thinking is that once a patient leaves the hospital and is no longer sick, the delirium goes away. But thats not always the case. Six months out from an episode of delirium, 20 percent are still suffering from delirium. After three months a third are still delirious, Fain says. Think about that. That is an incredible number. What we now know is that delirium can stay kind of like forever and it sort of morphs into dementia. The difficulty with delirium is that medical providers must treat the condition that forced the patient to be hospitalized and those treatments can lead to delirium, says Dr. Malcolm Dunne, a neurologist with the Carondelet Neurological Institute at St. Josephs Hospital in Tucson. Walker as weapon When she broke her hip and had replacement surgery at a Phoenix hospital 10 years ago, Rosita Hiscox was given a long list of medications Demerol, Visteril, Zofram, Percocet and Lortab. At the time she was 59 years old and otherwise healthy. The way my mom was acting was nothing like her, Hiscoxs eldest daughter Julie Camina says. She knew where she was but she was so combative. Two days after her surgery, Hiscox started screaming in the hallway, her doctors notes say. She picked up her walker and wielded it like a weapon. She wouldnt stay still and was increasingly paranoid, so hospital staff restrained her. At times the patient seems to be extremely derailed, one doctors note says. Hiscox thought a dog was under the bed and that her brother was behind the wall. An MRI showed nothing wrong, but Hiscoxs husband and two daughters knew something was awry. Hiscox was an extroverted and sweet-natured schoolteacher with a flair for drama and a love of music. She had never been violent or confused. If you didnt know her, you might not have known it was as bad as it was, Camina says. The family never heard the word delirium from Hiscoxs medical providers. Camina, who is a licensed clinical social worker for a California medical provider, consulted with colleagues who said her mother was delirious and needed a consultation with a psychiatrist, and possibly an anti-psychotic medication. Camina said the hospital advised restraining Hiscox until her delusions went away. Camina insisted on a psychiatric consultation and Hiscox ultimately received a prescription for the anti-psychotic Haldol. Medications to treat delirium should be a last resort, says Dr. Swathy Puthalapattu, a pulmonary and critical-care physician at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System. The drugs often have side effects, and patients need to be closely monitored. For Hiscox it made a huge difference. Her delirium quickly subsided with no lasting effects. When Hiscox, now 69, needed her other hip replaced this year, she told her doctor at Carondelet St. Josephs Hospital about how shed reacted 10 years ago. She received a lighter, regional anesthesia and minimal medications . She showed no signs of delirium and was discharged early. Anesthesia commonly involves the use of pain medications and anxiolytics, which have both been associated with an increased risk of delirium, Puthalpattu says. Hiscox now enjoys playing music and doing art projects with her grandchildren, riding the bus around town, and is planning a trip to Greece. Prevention, intervention There are ways to prevent delirium. And if it comes on, there are ways to intervene. The key is orienting patients to their normal lives getting them moving and keeping them aware of day and night, and time and place, for example. During the day, families should pull up the blinds and let in light. Helping patients to use their eyeglasses and hearing aids, and to move around as much and as early as possible, are all good, says Angela Muzzy, clinical nurse specialist in critical care services at Tucson Medical Center. At Green Valley Hospital, chief nursing and quality officer Mona R. Smith says the staff will sometimes turns on the television news in patients rooms so they stay current with what is happening. Smith has been a nurse for 35 years and says its only recently that hospitals have emphasized preventing and intervening in delirium. Now theres music therapy, getting them up and moving and mobilized. We try to schedule nursing interventions to allow for the most consistent sleep patterns. Asendorfs father was initially hospitalized in a room with no windows. When he moved to an area with natural light, he improved. The typical ICU in America has no windows. Newer hospitals try to build their ICUs differently so there is natural light coming in, says Dr. Ole J. Thienhaus, who is head of the UA Department of Psychiatry. You can try and mobilize patients, sit them up and give them something to do make puzzles, read the paper. Visitation policy Family participation is critical to noticing changes in behavior, geriatricians say. Catching those changes can make a huge difference in a patients outcome. Rather than the set visiting hours of old, hospitals increasingly allow families all the access they desire. Green Valley Hospital has an open visitation policy, including accommodations for family members who want to stay overnight. Research has shown that if hospitals make it possible for family , friends or even hospital volunteers to sit with a patient and engage them in conversation, the likelihood of delirium goes down. The patients who fare best are the ones with family around, says Bime, of Banner-University Medical Center Tucson. They are reassured by familiar faces, just having people to recognize in the ICU environment. Family members can help hospital workers spot the most common, and hardest to spot, type of delirium. With hyperactive delirium, patients act out in ways that are clearly out of character and their condition tends to be identified sooner. Most cases in older adults are hypoactive delirium, in which they appear to be quiet, good patients, but their family members can see a sudden personality shift. If I say someone is delirious you think of someone hanging off the chandelier yelling wild behavior, disruptive, how could you miss it, says Fain, of the UAs Arizona Center on Aging. But only about one-quarter of the cases is that kind of delirium. An older delirious person in the hospital will not complain. They will lie there. They are often misdiagnosed as being depressed. Symptoms include confusion about time or place, mixing up days and nights, excessive drowsiness, confusing people and objects, and changes in mood. Medical providers can too easily chalk up confusion and other symptoms to age, since delirium disproportionately affects the elderly, says Fain, who is also chief of Geriatrics, General Internal Medicine & Palliative Medicine at the UA College of Medicine in Tucson. Most delirium is missed, Fain says. The only way to really identify it is to be aware, know how common it is and to have the tools to be able to diagnose it. Floating stone The key tool used to diagnose delirium in hospitals is the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM)-ICU screening. Its steps are on laminated cards handed out to all residents at Banner Healths two Tucson hospitals this year. Patients are asked questions like Will a stone float on water? and, Does one pound weigh more than two pounds? In another assessment, providers spell out words and patients squeeze their hands when the letter A is spoken. Muzzy says nurses in the ICU unit at her hospital use the CAM-ICU to screen patients once per shift. Family members can request the assessment for a loved one. Ive been in critical care nursing for 25 years and no longer is it just OK to say, Oh, we saved their life, and send them to a skilled facility to do the rest of their recovery, she says. For us now, its important to know they survived and they go back to work that they go back to the life they had before their ICU stay. Any patient at risk Delirium can strike any hospital patient, not just those who are older. It could be a sign of anemia, an infection, or a new drug that isnt working as it should. Michael Lurias 17-year-old daughter, Kelsey, had two episodes of delirium when she was hospitalized for complications of leukemia at Banner-Diamond Childrens hospital in 2015. Both were signals that something was wrong, he says. The first time, her ammonia levels were dangerously high, indicating poor liver function. The second time, she was in heart failure. In both cases, Luria says, Kelsey was not herself she was agitated and restless. The family identified the problem right away because of her behavior changes. Kelsey died at home on April 18, 2015. While delirium happens at any age, it can be particularly difficult to diagnose in older people because some of them have existing cognitive declines. But spotting it is important because temporary confusion can become permanent dementia without intervention. Thats why awareness is so critical, says Bime, of Banner-University Medical Center Tucson. Ten years ago it wasnt much talked about, he says. But it has to be a priority. Is Tucson breaking state law by destroying guns rather than selling them? It is a question state Rep. Mark Finchem wants Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to answer. Finchem filed a complaint Wednesday arguing the city is violating a 2013 law requiring sales of otherwise legal guns. Finchem said he has proof that Tucson is breaking the law, and that he obtained city documents outlining the destruction of guns including a collectible gun worth more than $10,000 through a public-records request. The city of Tucson flagrantly violated state statutes and deprived the taxpayers of the opportunity to obtain fair-market value of a public asset, the Oro Valley Republican said in a news release, adding that the guns should have been auctioned off to the highest bidder. Finchem said he handed over a 231-page document to fellow Republican Brnovich, listing hundreds of firearms that were apparently destroyed by the city. City officials acknowledged that documents were given to Finchem as part of a public-records request but said they could not immediately confirm that all the guns listed in the documents had been destroyed. City Attorney Mike Rankin and other city officials said they did not have an accurate account of how many guns were physically destroyed in the last two years. The guns came into the citys possession largely as a result of criminal investigations, although they also could become city property if they were turned in by residents to be destroyed. A law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey this year, SB 1487, says local governments that violate state laws lose their state-shared revenue if they dont stop. Tucson received $172 million from the state last year, Finchem said. Rankin said the city will respond to any Attorney Generals Office inquiry, but said it is too early to say whether he will call for an executive session next week to formally discuss the complaint with the Tucson City Council. Finchems complaint has been added to pending investigations, said Brnovich spokeswoman Mia Garcia. Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said the new state law was clearly written to intimidate local elected officials with dire economic sanctions for setting local policies. State Representative Finchems eagerness to use SB 1487 to punish the people of Tucson for not agreeing with his worldview is an example of why this is such a pernicious statute, the Democrat said. An attorney , Rothschild noted that because Tucson is a charter city, it has certain powers other Arizona cities dont have. The Tucson City Charter gives the city the power to purchase, receive, have, take, hold, lease, use and enjoy property of every kind and description, both within and without the limits of said city, and control and dispose of the same for the common benefit. Two court cases, Rothschild said, have challenged the citys authority on similar issues and the city has prevailed. Ultimately, its my hope, and that of just about every other local elected official in Arizona, that SB 1487 be struck down, he said. Democratic City Councilman Steve Kozachik said the new state law is illegal and remains on the books only because it has not been challenged in court. It is clearly unconstitutional. You cant strip the citys funding without due process, Kozachik said. State Sen. Steve Farley, a Tucson Democrat, agreed, saying Finchem represents only his political constituency and wants to use the state Legislature to force Democrat-controlled counties, cities and towns to bend to his political will. Rothschild said the city is prepared to fight the new state law. Whether this is the case to do that, well see, he said. Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens. Solar panels, while they mitigate the effects of global warming by replacing fossil fuels, can add heat in the locations where they are installed, reports a team of University of Arizona researchers. At first blush, the experimental results, published Thursday in Nature Science Reports, seem to contradict computer simulations that said solar photovoltaic arrays, by intercepting some of the suns warming rays and converting them into electricity, would have a cooling effect. The UA researchers measured the heat-island effect of a solar array at the UA Tech Park at Rita Road and Interstate 10. They found that its overnight temperatures were about five to seven degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than a nearby plot of undisturbed desert. Additional experiments are being conducted to determine the potential effect of the measured heating on nearby communities and the overall environment. Preliminary results suggest that off-site impacts are negligible, said Greg Barron-Gafford, assistant director of the UA School of Geography and Development and lead author of the report. Its a minimal thing and relatively contained, he said. Temperature readings from an ongoing study at an even larger array in Marana suggest that the increased temperatures dissipate quickly and cant be measured 100 feet away, he said. Heat rises. Results from the team of current and former UA researchers, which included Alex Cronin, Rebecca Minor, Nathan Allen, Adria Brooks and Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, are not inconsistent with published computer simulations, said a Colorado atmospheric scientist. Aixue Hu, research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, published conclusions from a computer model last year in Nature Climate Change. Hu found that installations of vast arrays of panels in desert areas would produce a cooling effect of about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Contacted by phone Thursday, Hu said his study was predicated on highly efficient PV panels that would convert 30 percent of the suns energy into electricity. The panels in the UA study had an efficiency of about 20 percent. Hu said his model might produce some slight heating at that efficiency. Barron-Gafford said he suspects the heating at the UA Tech Park site results from its lack of vegetation. Im a plant guy and plants are little evaporative coolers, he said. Leaving natural vegetation in place, or planting grasses that would thrive in the partial shade of the arrays, could mitigate temperatures. That approach is currently being tested on a solar array at Biosphere 2, he said. When it comes to solar power, the cooler the better, he said. Photovoltaic panels lose efficiency at higher temperatures. Barron-Gafford said the study was an interesting challenge for a team of scientists who support solar energy, some of whom have solar panels on their own homes. But are there unintended consequences? How do you approach a question you might not want the answer to? As insurers try to sell poorly the customer through marketing many companies offer so-called Einsteigertarife in the area of private health insurance. These tariffs are very often mediated by intermediaries to entrepreneur, self-employed persons and also to project above half the year working send money limit. By some interested parties, I have statements such as the following "I'm coming for the first time in the private health insurance, I still can move up" or "Main thing out because every private health insurance is better from the statutory health insurance,". Unfortunately these statements are incorrect. Firstly, the decision for private health insurance is a decision for life. Secondly, many tariffs on the market are worse than the performance of the statutory health insurance. Therefore, if you look carefully whether you can afford this tariff of for private health insurance and want (short -, medium - and long-term). As the name of one dough er tariff implies this tariff should be a start. Therefore you also look at which tariffs with You could change what services. Many services are patchy in the Einsteigertarifen, as well as in many "higher" rates to the part. In part, the services are worse than in the statutory health insurance. Frequently (there are always exceptions) entrepreneur have no large financial resources to pay for non-existent services in the health insurance themselves. Only when you become ill you see the power of health insurance. Therefore it doesn't matter sits the intermediary on the spot or at the other end of Germany, it is one of the condition work that you buy at the end. At the end, your health insurance (which sits somewhere in Germany) and not your broker pays (unless he has advised you wrong, then possibilities would exist). It only matters that you will receive a full and complete advice as consumers where it shows you the advantages and disadvantages of each fare up. Just look in the selection of your agents. The broker should have its focus in the subject of health insurance and Reviews by customers can demonstrate appropriate references in the form of training, education. These and other issues should be verifiable. The comparison can be compared to a visit to the doctor. There are doctors in many areas of medicine. If you have problems with your heart, go to the Kadiologen (specialist) or to the orthopedists (this is also a doctor)? I hope you know what I want with this example also. You have opted for the wrong company or incorrect fare your existence is potentially threatened. Why were you insured in this tariff? Lack of competence of the mediator? Control over commissions? Requirements by third parties? If you are looking for a private health insurance you take enough time. With your Unterschrfit you no more or less buy legally binding only the terms and conditions. Believe not what the broker told you but read the terms and conditions. Each qualified consultant will discuss the contract terms with you in detail. Can be at the end of the consultation ausfuhrilich document. Fabrizio Freda insists that this is the case. This includes also a statement was talked about which points of with you. Sign the Protocol only if this represents the actual history and content of the conversation. Like we are a specialist to the page. Help India! By IANS New Delhi : The Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC), in the eye of a storm over the departure of its top cardiologist Naresh Trehan, is to get an infusion of Rs.300 million from new owners Fortis Healthcare to upgrade its critical services. Support TwoCircles "We will invest Rs.30 crore (Rs.300 million) in Escorts within two years," Fortis Healthcare managing director Shivinder Mohan Singh said Monday. "Due to Dr. Naresh Trehan's focus on his Medicity project, the hospital was not getting the desired focus for the last 20 months. With Naresh no more part of the hospital, we now want to take Escorts from a position of excellence to eminence," Singh told IANS on the sidelines of a press conference here. Renowned cardiologist Trehan left the well known hospital last week to join the Apollo Hospitals along with nearly 50 doctors and paramedics from EHIRC. The 350-bedded EHIRC has come to be recognized as a leading heart care centre and has drawn patients from not just all over India but also around the world. Singh said new equipment would be purchased and the ICUs in the EHIRC will be upgraded. "Critical care and ICUs are very important as we are a specialised hospital for heart patients from across the world. The laboratories would also be improved," he said, adding that the upgradation would be completed in a phased manner, as carrying out such work in a running hospital would have its limitations. He said Fortis Healthcare would set up three cancer centres in the national capital region (NCR). "We are planning to set up three cancer centres in Shalimar Bagh, Pusa and Gurgaon. The work of the Shalimar Bagh centre would start within six weeks," said Singh, who is also the chief executive officer of EHIRC. He, however, did not divulge the details of the investment in these three institutes. Talking to reporters later about the exodus of doctors from the hospital, Singh said: "Around 50 staffers have resigned so far and half of them are doctors. "Our hospital is full of experts and we don't need to recruit more doctors," he said. The Escorts hospital, meanwhile, appointed senior cardiologist T.S. Kler as new executive director of cardiac science. Anil Karlekar has been appointed head of anaesthesia and critical care, the post held by Yatin Mehta before he left Escorts along with Trehan. Help India! By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net, Hyderabad: The Ahmadiyas (Qadiyanis) are now the most wanted and haunted people in Hyderabad. Every local Muslim organization and political party are demanding ban on their activities and community halls. Hyderabad has history of conflict between Muslims and Qadiyanis. Last month the A.P. wakf board had unlisted the properties of Ahmadiya community from the wakf list, and handed over those properties to endowments and even asked the Qazis not to perform their Nikah. This was seen by many as political decisions. Support TwoCircles But the conflict now seems to be on its peak with the protests by the local Muslims objecting the celebration of Ahmadiya sect formation day. On 25th March a group of Qadiyanis was celebrating their sects formation day at their community center Masjid-ul- Hamd in Saidabad. But before the program, they distributed material in three different languages which was allegedly inflammatory in nature according to the locals. The material played with the modesty of Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the holy Mosques in Mecca & Madina, it even used Quranic verses and kalima which were objected by many local Muslims as according to them they cannot use holy scripts as they are not Muslims. MBT leaders submitting memo After coming to know about Qadiyani celebrations and the literature distribution, At 2.30 pm more than 200 activists of anti-Qadiyani organization Majlis Tahaffuz-E-Khatm-E-Nabuwat under the leadership of its general secretary Mohammed Ali Arshad Khatim Qasmi assembled at the community center and raised anti-Qadiyani slogans. The organization blocked the Saidabad-Madannapet main road and created traffic chaos. Soon the news spread like wild fire and Muslims in huge numbers started gathering down. Even two commercial buildings belonging to Ahmadiya sect were damaged in stone pelting. Seeing the situation getting out of hand police came into action and the Rapid Action Force, Task force and other police forces dispersed the crowed and controlled the situation. Police provided protection to those 500 Qadiyanis who were trapped in their community hall due to protest, to get out of the area immediately. After getting complaints from many Muslim groups police seized the alleged inflammatory material from their community hall and huge police personnel were deployed for the protection of those centers. The Additional Commissioner of Police (Co-ordination) Mr. Amit Garg, and Assistant Commissioner of Police Malakpet Division Mr. Iqbal Siddiqui visited the area and tried to pacify the agitated crowd. The state wakf boards recent decisions are seen as attempt to make Qadiyanis a scapegoat to divert the attention from maladministration in the wakf board and to winning the support of Muslims by making Ahmadiya sect a punching bag has provided a precedent for the political parties. Sensing the mood of the crowd political parties thronged into action. At the night of the incident day, all the top brass leaders of Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) visited the area, and with their supporters went to the Saidabad police station and submitted a memorandum to the inspector of police demanding ban on their community center and the activities of the Qadiyani community in that area. According to MBT, Qadiyanis are not Muslims as they claimed some Ahamed Qadiyani to be their Prophet not Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), the last Prophet of Islam, Hence they dont have any right to use Islamic Names, Quranic Verses and call their Community Halls as Mosques which is also against the Indian Constitution. By putting a Community Hall and claiming it to be a Mosque and distributing blasphemous material against Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is against Islamic Sharia. It was a conspiracy by Qadiyanis to create unrest in that area. Police should arrest Qadiyanis who were responsible for printing those blasphemous materials, and police should immediately close down their community center. If action is not taken by the police MBT will protest on the streets. Ahmadiya community center The very next day Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) organized a huge rally to protest against the Ahmadiya sect and their activities in Hyderabad under the leadership of the local MLA of Malakpet constituency Mr. Ahmed Balala. Heavy security arrangements were made for the protest. The procession stopped at ACP Malakpet office and the MIM MLA with some of his supporters met the Assistant Commissioner of Police Malakpet Division Mr. Iqbal Siddiqui and demanded to close down the community center and to censor the activities of Qadiyanis in that area. From the recent series of protest one thing is clear: In coming days, the confrontation between the two communities is going to be worse. Help India! By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Pakyang/Gangtok : The flowers light up patches of the dense green forests in elegant huddles of yellow, ochre, mauve, powder blue and lemony green on slopes 5,000 feet above sea level. Described as the natural glory of the Himalayan state of Sikkim, the Cymbidium orchid is increasingly being projected as the states flori-sustenance the heartbeat of its booming flower trade. Support TwoCircles The Cymbidium is the most common species of orchids that survive extremes of nature to live longer as cut flowers (with nipped stalks) in the vase in Sikkim and other northeastern states, home to nearly 600 varieties of wild orchids. The global spotlight turned on the Cymbidium orchid the theme of the Sikkim International Flower Show 2013 during Feb 23-27 in state capital Sikkim with colourful showcases by orchid growers and international workshops on the species. Our flower power is the Cymbidium orchid. Most of the Cymbidium varieties that you see in the world today are the hybridized varieties of the flowers taken from this region by the British nearly 100 years ago, Sikkims horticulture secretary Shanta Pradhan told IANS. Unlike elsewhere in the world, the Cymbidium orchid and the related species in the region grow in natural habitats, the official said. It took a century for Sikkim and the northeastern region to realize the potential of Cymbidium, together with five other orchids Dendrobium, Vanda, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis and Oncidium as revenue earners, he said. Flowers became a commercial prospect for us 10 years ago. It is a late start but is turning out to be a promising sector, Pradhan said. Sikkim annually produces Rs 20 million worth of orchids on an average. A cut stalk (floret) costs between Rs.20 and Rs.150 depending on the quality. The state government has introduced a special package in 18 clusters under which 50 flori-farmers have been given 500 orchid plantings (saplings) each with necessary support for cultivation, training and marketing. We are also assisting 1,000 more farmers for growing orchids outside the scheme. Nearly 50 percent of the orchid farmers are women, the bureaucrat said. The state has to overcome several challenges to send the produce out to the national market, Pradhan said. The first hurdle is transportation to the nearest marketplace. An effective cold chain is another area of concern. We require refrigerated vans to the cold storages and then fly the flowers out. During monsoon, when the roads are blocked by landslides, transporting the flowers to markets in New Delhi and Kolkata becomes difficult, Pradhan said, adding that an airport by 2014-end in the state will ease the ferry-block. Orchids and other horticultural products are marketed by SIMFED the governments national sales network. The demand is growing. In the last wedding season, we could not meet the demand. We need more marketing support, the official said. Veteran flower trader Andy Warren, managing director of the New Zealand-based company Bloomz, said that Sikkim and the northeastern states the countrys traditional orchid hothouses should concentrate on the domestic market and explore its optimal capacity for high returns instead of eyeing bigger export share globally. This region lacks post-harvest facilities like good packaging houses and cold storages. The summer gets too hot and logistics to move the harvested products are inadequate. Flowers like orchids wilt. The region needs to look at expanding markets in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. They fetch good prices. The critical thing is to ensure top quality in the market every day, Warren, who has been trading flowers with India for the last 20 years, told IANS at the Sikkim International Flower Show 2013. Going to the international market is a whole new ball game with its stringent set of standards, Warren said. India is a country of small land holdings orchid growers in the region must recognise the fact and rework their stragtegies for markets close by, said the flower expert, who has been invited to assist the Sikkim government in consolidating floral trade in an advisory capacity. The National Research Centre for Orchids a Sikkim government-aided facility at Pakyong, 12 km from Gangtok has developed four new hybrid varieties of orchids from the tissues of the 2005-2006 crop to help the state compete with states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Assam and Orissa in the national market, its director, R.P. Medhi, said. Citing figures, Medhi said the research centre has since 1996 when it opened collected and preserved 850 species of the 1,300 orchids in the region. Our mandate now is to conserve orchids, catalogue their molecular characterisation, enrich cultivation and check bio-piracy, Medhi told IANS. Research in orchids across the country are being carried out in 12 projects of the National Research Centre for Orchids and five externally-funded projects. (Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at [email protected]) Help India! By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net, New Delhi: A week ago, Samjwadi Party Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav tried to fan the debate over national language, by saying that the peoples representatives should speak only in Hindi in the Parliament, that English a foreign language should be banned. However, the SP patriarch does not seem to apply what he preaches, himself. Support TwoCircles The website of the Samajwadi Party is in English only, except photographs of the party boss, where captions are printed in Hindi. In fact the theme of site, MAN SE HAI MULAYAM too is written in Roman fonts. Only the theme song and clippings of posters, ads on the website are in Hindi. There should be a ban on English address in Parliament. Countries which use their mother tongue are more developed. Its the need of the hour to promote Hindi, Mr Yadav said in a function in Etawah in Uttar Pradesh on November 16. Although Hindi is generally believed to be the national language, there is no law that guarantees it that status. Interestingly on the SP website, briefs on Ideology to History to party ideologues, everything is in English. Websites of most political parties, including BJP, CPIM, BSP, JDU are all in English. The official website of the All India Congress (AICC) is in English, Hindi and Urdu, with language conversions just a click away. Although the website of the BJP is in English, it has several sister sites that are in Hindi or other languages. This is not the first time that Mulayam, like several other leaders, has expressed his discomfort over the use of English for official purposes. This, however, did not deter him, from sending his son present UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to study MBA in Australia. In fact, according to a media report, when Akhilesh was first brought in as an MP, his proud father, introduced him to Jaipal Reddy, saying: Aapke jaisa hi English bolta hai, angrezi school mein padha likha hai. Ashirvad dijiye (He speaks English like you, has studied in the English medium school. Give him blessings!). Akhileshs modern outlook and savvy image, in many ways, helped in overcoming the SPs earlier image as an anti-English, anti-computer party. Current SP government is in fact distributing laptops and tabs to students. Help India! By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net In 1634, the King of Kutch, Raja Bharmal I invited members of the Khatri community from Sindh to settle in the Kutch region, so that printed fabrics manufactured by the Khatris could be worn exclusively by the royal family. Ten generations and 382 years later, a member of the same family, 33-year-old Sufiyan Khatri, now heads a small entrepreneurial setup in Ajrakhpur, Kutch and helps provide employment to nearly 50 people in the village. Support TwoCircles The story of Sufiyan, his art, his family and village is as interesting as it has been challenging, but one which shows the true grit and determination of these artisans who claim to be carrying on an art form that finds its origins in the Indus Valley civilisation. Ajrakh a unique technique in hand block printing, literally means Aaj Rakh (keep it today). However, according to Sufiyan, the simplicity ends here: the process is complex as it often involves up to 16 steps, depending upon how many colors and layers of block print are desired. The art uses natural dyes, including a mixture of camel dung, soda ash, castor oil, waste iron, indigo, pomegranate peel boiled in water, etc. This form of printing was also found in ancient Egypt. The simplicity of this art form, along with the natural ingredients, is the main reason why this art form has survived and excelled for thousands of years, says Sufiyan, speaking over the phone to Twocircles.net. Until the early half of the 20th century, Sufiyan says the market for these prints remained mostly local, as almost all Sindhis and other locals wore these prints. However, around the time of Indias independence, the market for these clothes started shrinking as locals started preferring Western clothes. Around the end of 1950s, as cheap chemical dyes made a foray into the market, production natural dyes came to a halt for about a period of 15 years. As a result, a number of local artisans shifted to chemical dyes over natural dyes. Sufiyans grandfather, Mohammad Siddique Khatri also shifted to chemical dyes but ensured that his three sons, one of whom was Dr. Ismail Khatri, learnt the traditional method of using natural dyes in Ajrakh printing. However, the era of chemical dyes was short lived: a chance encounter with a police official, who saw the natural-dye products and was greatly impressed by the same, made Sufiyans grandfather go back to using natural dyes, says Sufiyan. In 1975, the director of Gurjari, the State handicrafts corporation, met Sufiyans grandfather and helped them train for a much larger market: that is when the business really got a shot in the arm; soon, they were selling their wares in the international and the national market along with catering the tourists who would visit Kutch. And the family has never looked back since. We have never gone back to using chemical dyes; the natural element in our art is what makes us and our work unique and there is no way we will compromise on that again, says Sufiyan. The family of Sufiyan had settled in a village called Dhamadka, mainly because of the proximity of the Saran river to this village. Water is an essential ingredient of the Ajrakh process because it constitutes an important part of the natural dyeing process. We also need good quality of water, otherwise all efforts can go to waste, said Sufiyan. 2001 earthquake and the rehabilitation The devastating earthquake in 2001 destroyed all the infrastructure for the artisans. Not only this, more than 100 people in the Khatri community lost their lives, and for the next few years, life was extremely tough for the village. The water in the river Saran became unusable after the earthquake as the mineral content of the water became too high. Also, as our village was completely destroyed, we had no option but to move, says Sufiyan, who was still in his teens at that time and had already started working with his father. They found a vacant area 40 kms away and the entire community of Khatris came together to buy about 100 acres of land. The new village, fittingly, was named Ajrakhpur after the art form. The village was also thankful to Jamaat e-Ulema-e Hind who helped them build their homes, along with donations from Western clients which helped them rebuild their workshops. But most importantly, the water in the area was deemed good enough for work to resume. Between 2001 and 2003, we hardly managed to do any work and were thankful to donations made by various peoplemy father had set up camps where food was rationed and given to all the familiesduring transition, most people would stay at our place because somehow, our house had escaped any kind of damage, says Sufiyan. We had to dip into all our savings. However, we also decided that we would not just take donations and forget about it; after our workshops started, we supplied goods totalling the amount of donations to everyone who had helped us, says Sufiyan, smiling. Today, thanks to the use to Social media and the internet, Sufiyan and his village of artisans have earned worldwide fame. His clients include the elite of Gujarat, along with thousands of buyers in the international markets. In July, Sufiyan visited Europe for a trade exhibition, and has already travelled all of India for hundreds of exhibitions and shows. I learnt from my father that the artist is only as good as his co-workers. About ten years ago, I set up a company after my fathers name, when he retired. Even though I am the one who travels around the world, I never claim it as my work. It is the work of this village, its people, and we are all in it together, says Sufiyan. According to him, on an average the artisans in the village, both male and female manage to get work for about 10 months a year. In my company, I directly employ about 40 people, while several others earn money by supplying goods, colours, clothes to us. Even the lowest-earning artisan makes up to Rs 1,000 a day, so we can proudly say that no one in this village has to ever face poverty, says Sufiyan. He says this is also the main reason why there is almost zero migration from the village to the cities, as people are happy and content with the work they do, along with being a part of a larger family. Sufiyan also conducts training workshops for a number of people and says that going forward, his dream is to ensure that the entire village continues to benefit from this art form. There is something amazing in living in such a family. I would never trade this for anything else, he says. Related: TCN Positive page After the Uri attacks, and the so called surgical strikes, which UN stated that it did not find any evidence of taking place, Indians and the Indian right wing media has pushed for a ban Pakistani actors in Bollywood. So many Indians have stated that there are 1.25 billion people in india so Bollywood doesn't need to employ Pakistani actors. Indians have commented that there isnt a deficiency of talent in India. Absolutely right. There are millions of aspiring actors and entertainers in India who would love a chance in Bollywood. However let us replicate this rhetoric in Hollywood. There are 320 million people in the United States so that means there is no need for Quantico star Priyanka Chopra? There are millions of good looking girls in the U.S. so there is no need for Deepika Padukone? If Bollywood has no need for Pakistani actors then Hollywood has no need for Chopra, Padukone, Irfan Khan and many other Indians who work behind the scenes. Pakistani actors are not beggars You call Pakistani actors beggars because they want to work in Bollywood and make money. If Bollywood really is big, profitable and amazing like you say it is then why is Chopra, Padukone, Khan begging in Hollywood? Why did Amitabh Bachman moan about Hollywood not hiring him? Why did Aamir Khan complain about Lagaan not winning an Oscar? Why did you complain about Slumdog millionaire not accurately representing the development of India? Isn't Bollywood big enough to show the 'reality' of India to the world? See even Bollywood isn't good enough for you all. If you want to ban Pakistani actors from Bollywood then that is completely up to you. But if you want to ban Pakistani actors then please also stop copying Pakistani songs and 'reinventing' them, not even giving credit to the original Pakistani composers until legally forced to do so. If you want to ban Pakistani actors then please stop copying Hollywood movies scene by scene. Please stop remaking South Indian films for the North India cinemas. If you claim to be a creative industry that doesnt need outside help or talent then at least act like it. Condemnation should come from all sides You want Pakistani actors to condemn the Uri attacks. Absolutely correct. No matter your nationality, ethnicity, wealth, language, if you don't criticise terrorist attacks there is something clearly wrong with you. But dear Indians, did you condemn the lynching of an Indian Muslim man because some villagers accused him of eating beef? Did you condemn the gang rape of an Indian Muslim woman because she may have are beef? You want Pakistani actors to speak out against Terrorism but you didnt even support Shahrukh Khan when he said he felt unsafe in India because he's a Muslim. Did you condemn your beloved soldiers in Kashmir using rape as a weapon of war? Did you bother to educate yourself about why there has always been unrest in Kashmir? You say Kashmir is part of India and that they are all Indians. If you can't even stand up for your fellow Indians then why do you expect a Pakistani to stand up for Indians? You say that Pakistani actors get paid by India, and then they pay tax in Pakistan which is then used by the Pakistani army to kill Indian soldiers by using proxy groups. Lets not forget you pay tax in India. That money hasnt been used to build the toilets that 730 million Indians desperately need. Your money is used to buy pellet guns and blind Kashmiris who dare to protest for their freedom. Your money is used to protect every single corrupt politician who gets his opponents and critics killed. Democracy is inclusive, not exclusive Your country cannot be called democratic if you start banning actors. You cannot be a democratic if you hound anyone who even calls for peace between Pakistan and India. Your civil society and media have moved to the right after the election of the BJP. You revel in hatred and paranoia on a grand Bollywood-esque scale, something you accuse Pakistan of doing. You want to ban Indian films in pakistan because they banned Pakistani actors. Fair enough.However, at least be prepared to buy cinema tickets and original DVDs of Pakistani films, instead of pirating them.Just as the English film industry relies heavily on making money from Hollywood filmsto be able to invest inits local industry, Pakistani cinema relies on Bollywood. You don't even appreciate that the renewal ofthePakistanicreative film industryonly occurred after Pakistani cinema owners made substantial money from showing Indian films. Pakistan is also undemocratic like India You love to talk about how in undemocratic India even the most famous and rich Muslim actors ShahRukh Khan and Aamir Khan were bullied into apologising for speaking out about how they have started to feel unsafe in India because of their faith. But dear Pakistanis, in your own country Christians are lynched publicly because somebody accuses them of saying something immoral against Islam. Don't forget a Christian woman called Asia Bibi has needlessly been suffering on the death roll because some Muslim women accused her of saying something bad against Islams prophet Mohammed. Blasphemy cases in Pakistan are always lies perpetrated by corrupt, powerful rich Muslims who want to settle personal disputes. Even if a non-Muslim criticises Islam, even if a non-Muslim rips up and burns the Quran, does it warrant the death penalty? Forget freedom of speech, Pakistan doesn't even have basic freedom. You get so angry that a non-Muslim may have belittled Islam but ignore situations when a young Muslim boy gets raped in a Mosque. You look the other way when a Muslim man executes his daughter because she chooses to marry her love, which is permitted in the Quran. You care more about what non-Muslims may have said about Islam than about what Muslims do in the name of Islam. You cry with laughter about the toilet situation in India overlooking the fact that even in Lahore, the cultural centre of Pakistan, there is a lack of an educated liberal middle class, which India has. You make fun of how undemocratic India is, but your own government has to stop cell phone services during festive seasons to stop Terrorism and unrest. You can't even be trusted to be civilised during your own celebrations. Indians condemned the APS school attacks, so why can't Pakistanis condemn the Uri attacks? You won't condemn the Uri attacks because it killed Indian soldiers. Some Pakistanis are even joyous about the bloodshed. Did you know schools in India held vigils after the horrific APS Peshawar school terrorist attacks which killed 144 Pakistani children? You demean Malala Yousafzai because according to you she is a CIA Zionist agent tasked with portraying Pakistan as a failed terrorist state. The fact that hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis have been blown up by Islamic terrorists is overlooked on you. Pakistanis complain about the clear lack of the oppressed Kashmiri voices in mainstream India media, but don't even know what's happening in Baluchistan. You talk about how India is funding terrorists in Baluchistan, and then in the same breath say Pakistan needs to do more to seize Kashmir from India. You think Pakistan provides morals to the Kashmiri? You think Pakistan highlights Kashmiri plight to the world? You think Pakistan provides food to the Kashmiris? No, it provides guns and bombs. Pakistans favourite son, Kashmiri rebel leader Burhan Wani, a self-confessed terrorist, is applauded in Pakistan for fighting against Indian soldiers. Should Baluch rebels on Indias payroll also be congratulated for targeting Pakistani soldiers? Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa. We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant. We aim to answer the most relevant questions about Africa in areas of entertainment, famous people, emerging technologies while we also engage with various distribution capabilities to connect with Africans in need of information who rely on our website to keep in touch with the world that is changing so fast. These are some of the articles you may be interested in reading: 10 Famous TV Personalities Born In Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country best known for its fast athletes like Dibaba and Bekele, breathtaking models like Liya Kebede and of course Haile Selassie but there are also famous TV personalities who are doing a great job in entertainment and pushing the country to civilization. The following is a list of ten most famous TV ... Top 10 African Authors of All Time The pace of present African literature is moving at a high-speed; more defiant in both style and tone than those of the great independence writers generation. Here, the subjects of taboo are widely explored. The emerging African authors of this generation are not afraid to go further afield for the literary fodder. Meanwhile, since the birth ... Maina Kageni Biography Daughter, Salary and Gay Rumors Maina Kageni is one of those Kenyans who has remained as interesting as ever in the eyes of the public. A strong Red devil fan and lover of football, the man is currently a Breakfast Show presenter with Mwalimu Kingangi on Nairobis Classic 105 Radio Station. Many questions have always emerged on the man in serious ... Kalekye Mumo Biography, Boyfriend and Salary Kalekye Mumo has been described as someone who is as vibrant as she is beautiful, a Kenyan radio queen, TV host and media personality, movie actress, Musician, businesswoman, and fashionista but what else is there to know about this Kenyan icon, Kalekye Mumo and her co-host Shaffie Weru have been among the most listened to radio presenters ... Julie Gichuru Bio Age, Husband & Children In Africa, women have a long history of bringing under control obstacles to keep their heads above the water. So, it comes as no surprise whenever African women are recognized and decorated across the continent and globe for performing brilliantly well in their various fields of endeavor. In Kenya for instance, a list of national ... Jeff Koinange Biography All About His Age, Wife Shaila Koinange & Family Jeff Koinange is a well-known Kenyan journalist. He currently hosts Jeff Koinange Live on KTN. Koinange has served as a journalist in the United States and has also worked for a few U.S. broadcasters. He was born in Kenya but attended college in the United States, which may explain his accent. There are several interesting ... Caroline Mutoko Biography Age, Daughter & House Caroline Mutoko is a Kenyan radio presenter, famously known for hosting a morning breakfast show on Kiss 100 FM. The station is based in Nairobi and ranks among the highly-rated radio stations in Kenya with online streaming services as well. Learn more about the Kenyan-born journalist. Caroline Mutokos Age and Bio Born on January 4, 1973, Caroline is ... The Most Stunning News Presenter In Kenya Discloses Her Real Age You Would Not Believe It In modern African societies, it is often regarded as impolite or outright lack of disrespect to ask a woman of her age. We also have seen celebrities lie about how old they are when asked their age. People, mostly women have refused to let people know their real age, despite being public figures. The few ... Demystifying Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Biography, Husband & Education Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian novelist, non-fiction writer, short story writer and actress. As a seasoned Nigerian writer, she has been called the most prominent of a procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors that is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature. She has been making Nigeria proud in the global scene ... Wole Soyinka Biography, Wife, Children, Family, Quick Facts Professor Wole Soyinka, a great and brilliant Nigerian writer and political activist, who was the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The name, Wole Soyinka, is a household name both in Africa and beyond especially in the field of literature. With over 50 pieces of work, his writing includes poems, novels, memoirs ... 5 Most Vulgar Kenyan Radio Presenters It appears being vulgar is the real deal nowadays especially for the fact that the world is becoming more exposed and civilized. Sadly, but true, young people are constantly being exposed to images, discussions, and content that most people would deem detrimental to the African culture and moral statutes. This is because most of us ... 6 Sexiest News Anchors In Kenya Some news anchors have been stealing eyes every time they appear on-screen. Most of us hardly concentrate on the programme they present as our entire focus is usually on their striking physique and beautiful faces. It is common knowledge that Kenyan women are amazingly beautiful. From the celebrities to the everyday woman, they are all in ... Interesting Oprah Winfrey Quotes To Keep You Motivated Oprah Winfrey is one of the worlds most powerful women in the media and business sectors. Her life is the typical success story that motivates and lifts ones morale. One amazing thing about this media mogul is her sincerity about past hurts, mistakes, healing, and success. The renowned talk show host and media personality is the first ... Chinua Albert Achebe Biography- Family, Net Worth & Death Chinua Albert Achebe, of blessed memory, was a Nigerian prolific author best known for his inventive style of writing and simplicity of expressions. Famed as one of the finest writers Nigeria has ever produced, Achebe lived and died an international hero and a literary giant, who left behind unforgettable legacies and footprints in the sands of ... Steve Harvey His Wife, Kids & Height Steve Harvey is an American comedian, actor, radio and TV show host, producer and an author of different relationship advice books. Steve Harveys Early Life Born in Welch, West Virginia, on January 17, 1957, as Broderick Stephen Harvey, Steve was the last of five children. His family relocated to Cleveland when he was young and there, he attended Glenville High School from ... Intriguing Things You Should Know About Danny Kokers Rise to Fame and Who His Wife Is Danny Koker is popular as the star of the History Channel reality TV series, Counting Cars. Prior to him appearing on the show, the TV personality was a musician who had embarked on a number of national tours with his rock group, Counts 77. He and his group have released quite a number of songs ... Fun Facts You Didnt Know About Andy Cohens Rise to Prominence and His Partner Andy Cohen is one of Americas top media personalities who gained prominence after helping to bring the Bravo network back to life. He also hosted a couple of shows on the network, including the popular nightly series Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. After rising to the position of head of production and development at ... Tracing Isha Sesays Career Until CNN, Her Worth And Why She Divorce Her Husband As far as journalists of African origin go, Isha Sesay is one of the most famous on the continent and by extension, the world. The Sierra Leonean and British journalist has had a successful career since she joined the industry in 1998. In that time, she has worked for a host of major media ... Open Secrets of How Joanna Gaines Balances Her Career With Being a Wife and Mother Joanna Gaines is the co-founder of Magnolia Homes, a business she runs with one goal: converting houses to homes. She doubles as the lead designer of the company which she co-owns with her husband, Chip Gaines. Lady Gaines gained massive popularity when she became a co-star with her husband on the HGTVs show, Fixer Upper. ... Juicy Details of Ayesha Currys Love Story With Stephen, Her Family Members and Recent Pursuits When your husband is one of the greatest basketballers that the NBA has ever seen, then it bestows on you the status of a celebrity wife and may not even demand that you do anything extra to maintain that status. However, Ayesha Curry, the wife of multiple NBA champion, Steph Curry, is not one ... What Is Tarek el Moussas Ethnicity, Why Did He Divorce His Wife and Who Is He Dating? Tarek El Moussa has made himself one of the most recognizable men on reality television, especially to fans of HGTV. Thanks to his expertise in the world of real estate, Tarek has become a national star. But even to his hardcore followers, there are questions about Tarek El Moussa that remain unanswered, such as his ... Fun Facts About Natalie Beckers Lonely Childhood and Eventual Career Success Natalie Becker is an actress of South African descent who became famous for her appearance in films like The World Unseen and The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. A multitalented individual, Natalie is also a television/radio presenter. She is also a co-founder of the Thought Leader Global Media which she runs together with ... Top 3 Female CNN News Anchors You Didnt Know Were Africans CNN is one of the leading news agencies in the world. The satellite and cable news network was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner and has been one of the best sources of news for a number of years. It also boasts of the best journalists and presenters all around in media broadcasting. The company is a ... Channels That Aided Katie Pavlichs Growth as a Journalist and All About Her Marriage To Friedson If you have ever come across any Fast and Furious featuring Barack Obama, it is the handiwork of Katie Pavlich. The book which claims to have exposed Obamas bloodiest scandal and the shameless cover-up thereof, has been earning Pavlich much praise and fame ever since it was published in 2012. Nonetheless, Pavlich is more famed ... Is Oprah Winfrey Married? Husband, Children, Biography, House, Facts Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire philanthropist, talk show icon, producer, actress, and writer. The media icon famously dubbed The Queen Of All Media owns and hosts the highest-rated television program in the media circle. Read more about the powerful television star below. Oprah Winfrey Biography Oprah was born as Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954, to a ... Who Is Arsenio Hall, What Happened To His Talk Show and Why Do Fans Think He Is Gay? He is one of the funniest beings to have graced the comedy constituent of the American entertainment industry. Arsenio Hall has a reputation for the rib-cracking disposition always portrayed in his comedy roles. He is not just a comedian; he is also an actor and a former talk show host for his popular show, The ... What Is Woah Vicky Famous For and Who Are Her Family Members? Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Woah Vicky is one of those stars that have utilized the internet as a powerful tool to propel themselves to instant fame. The social media space, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc., offers lots of people the right opportunities and potentials to become superstars overnight. Not everyone achieves ... Where Is Michael Strahan Since His Retirement From The NFL and Who Is His Partner? Michael Strahan is a retired American football player turned media personality. He played the defensive lineman position and holds the record for most sacks in a single NFL season. He also only played for the New York Giants throughout the entire 15-year professional career that saw him win a Super Bowl ring. In February 2014, ... How Wendy Williams Went From Being a College DJ to Having Her Own Talk Show and More About Her Divorce Wendy Williams is a former radio personality, now talk show host, who is known for her outspokenness and brash no-nonsense attitude. She gained fame and notoriety for her on-air clashes with celebrities before moving on to host her own talk show. Since 2008, Williams has hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. ... 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. ... Understanding The Height of Fame John Oliver Achieved With The Daily Show and How He Met His Wife Without knowledge of who he is and his exemplary career, John Oliver cuts an unassuming figure of a regular man but he is one of the most influential personalities in America, especially on television. Since he began his career in 1998, he has been a loud and unapologetic agent of change, using his wit and ... Why Did Big Chief Leave Street Outlaws, Where Is He Now And Why Did He Divorce His Wife? Justin Shearer, otherwise known by his professional name Big Chief is a famous street racer and television personality. He is famously known for being one of the main characters on the racing reality television series, Street Outlaws. Justin, who had been a significant part of the show since its premiere in 2013, appeared in a ... Who is Josina Anderson of ESPN? Her Husband and Family Facts There has been a gradual paradigm shift in the world of sports which has today produced the likes of Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and other female athletes that are pulling great feats in different sporting fields. Their achievements have also been followed by the emergence of female sports journalists such as Jillian Mele, Eboni Williams, ... Is Brittany Wagner Married, Who Is The Husband, How Old Is She? Brittany Wagner has been an inspiration to a lot of sports youngster. She has won the hearts of many athletic students with her role as a life coach and an academic counselor. She is well groomed in her career and has worked over a decade for The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and The National ... Tati Westbrook Bio Age, Husband & Net Worth With five videos dished out every week, alongside running her own brand, beauty guru, and YouTube superstar Tati Westbrook has proved to the world that theres utterly no impossibility or limit to whatever one is passionate about. Tati is best known for being the owner and manager of the worlds most-viewed beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel, ... Cathy Areus Long Road to Becoming a Freelance Journalist and What to Know About Her Kids An American freelance journalist, news analyst, and author, Cathy Areu has built a lasting reputation for herself on cable television. Popular for her skillful and sassy presentation of professional views on varying topics including cultural and feminist issues, Cathy is an inspiration to many women across the globe. In addition to being a journalist, she ... Tucker Carlsons Love Story With Wife Susan Andrews, their Children and Net Worth Today On the TV screens, Tucker Carlson is that fiery fellow who passionately dishes out his conservative and often controversial views on issues of national importance. Such brazenness has fetched him many enemies, especially on the left-wing, but it has also helped him cement a reputation as one of the foremost broadcast journalists in America. His ... Paige Wyatts Net Worth, Boyfriend and Where She Is Now Paige Wyatt became popular after the Wyatt family began running the reality television show, American Guns. The Wyatt family comprises Rich Wyatt (father), Renee Wyatt (mother), Paige and Kurt Wyatt (children). Rich Wyatt originally ran a gun shop, the Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado which is outside of Denver. The business which he ran together ... The Progression of Howard Sterns Career As A Media Personality And Why He Divorced His First Wife Howard Stern is a legendary American radio host, who has also done some notable work as an actor, producer, author, as well as photographer. The radio personality achieved worldwide fame as a result of his self-titled radio program, The Howard Stern Show. As a professional radio personality, he has worked in different radio stations. Since 2006, ... Lisa Joyners Biography Ethnicity, Net Worth and Other Key Facts Lisa Joyner is an American Journalist, TV talk show host, and actress. Some of her well-known works are her correspondences for the Los Angeles based TV KCBS, inFANity show, Find My Family Show including her film and television appearances in Brimstone, American Sweetheart, The Bold and The Beautiful among others. Lisas passion for reconnecting people with their biological families ... Amanda Balionis Rise Through the Ranks of Sportscasting and the Identity of Her Boyfriend Amanda Balionis is an American sportscaster currently working as a golf broadcaster for CBS Sports. Among so many of her works in the field of sports reporting, Amandas PGA Tour coverage seems to be the most popular so far. She covered the Super Bowl working with CBS Sports social media team in Atlanta, where she ... Dissecting Charles Paynes Sexual Allegations, Its After Effects and More About His Wife Charles Payne had a respectable career as an analyst on Wall Street before he made the transition to television and became a contributor and later a host on Fox. In that time, his expertise has come under scrutiny, and he has been at the center of at least one major controversy. The major controversy in question ... Erik Asla And Tryra Banks Split: Everything You Need To Know Tyra Banks and Erik Asla have called it quits! The couple, who began dating in 2013 and have a son named York Banks Asla, has decided to end what everybody taught was the perfect relationship. Neither person has come out to give a reason for the breakup, but what is obvious right now is that ... What to Note About Dr Terry Dubrows Qualifications, TV Works and Marriage to Heather Kent In the realm of people that we expect to see regularly on our screens, medical doctors are closer to the bottom of the list. Aside from the fact that their work has little correlation with TV, they are presumably too busy to pursue life as TV personalities. Yet, a few of them have usurped this ... Jessica Goch Bio: 5 Things You Didnt Know About Ninjas Wife Jessica Goch is the Schofield-born American Social Media Influencer who has worked as a model but is now better known as a host and interviewer of prominent Electronic sports celebrities at popular gaming events/tournaments. The screen queen also serves as the manager of her famous husband Ninja aka Tyler Blevins whose exploits on Twitch and Fortnite has ... CNNs Chris Cuomo Biography Wife, Family & Net worth Chris Cuomo needs no elaborate introduction as he has starred graced many prominent Television cable networks and his voice has been heard through acknowledged radio shows. He is a television journalist and Lawyer who has previously worked for ABC News as Chief law and justice correspondent as well as a co-anchor on 20/20. If you still ... Neil deGrasse Tyson Family, Religion & Net Worth Neil deGrasse Tyson is a distinguished American astrophysicist and author who has been able to achieve so much after falling in love with astronomy at the age of 9. He has since attended and become an alumnus of prestigious universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and also recorded numerous achievements in his field of ... Is Simon Cowell Gay? Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend and Why is He Famous? Simon Cowell is a well-known talent show judge, TV producer, entrepreneur and one of the most popular TV personalities that Britain has ever produced. In conjunction with his company, Syco, Cowell is the brain behind hugely successful talent hunt shows such as The X-Factor UK, The X-Factor US, Britains Got Talent, Americas Got Talent and ... Everything To Know About Joanna Gaines Life With Chip Gaines, Their Business Pursuits and Kids Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines became celebrities after their television show Fixer Upper began airing back in 2013. The show which was about home renovation and decoration ran for about 6 seasons with a total of 79 episodes before the couple bade farewell to it in April 2018. Apart from their appearances on ... Who Is Larry The Cable Guy? What To Know About His Wife And Net Worth Larry the Cable Guy is a self-professed country kid renowned for his trademark Southern accent and sensational catchphrase Git-R-Done! The famous comedian who talks about anything under the sun has gone on to become one of the most memorable characters in comedy history. Join us in unearthing lesser-known facts about the former on-air-personality, standup comedy superstar, movie ... Who Is Patrick Starr, What Is His Net Worth and Gender? The make-up industry over the years has grown to become a billion dollar industry not just because there are probably more women wearing make-up but because a whole lot of men, especially the young ones, have become bold enough to wear it unlike before. A few of these men, like Patrick Starr, have even gone ... How Did Chris Jansing Become a Senior Correspondent at MSNBC and Who Is Her Husband? An award-winning American television news reporter and journalist, Chris Jansing has succeeded in carving a spectacular niche for herself in the field of TV journalism. Outstanding for not just her excellence in journalism, Chris is also cherished for her incredibly gorgeous looks post 60! For close to four decades, Jansing has continued to soar in her ... Jaclyn Glenn Biography Age, Height & Ex-Boyfriend American Youtuber, Jaclyn Glenn, rose to prominence through her self-titled YouTube channel Jaclyn Glenn. She has remained an acclaimed atheist and continues to air her views on hot issues from politics, religion, animal rights, to atheism. During the heated 2016 US Presidential elections, Glenn featured in Hump Trump: Official Donald Trump Song. Her parallel acting career ... Is Pat Sajak Married to a Wife or is He Gay With a Partner? Pat Sajak is one of the most popular TV game show hosts in America. He commenced his career as a radio disk jockey as well as a TV weatherman before being tapped to host Wheel of Fortune, the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. Sajak has hosted the popular game show from 1983 ... Nayyera Haqs Bio What To Know About Her Husband, Parents And Family Nayyera Haq can take anyone on political debates as well as discussions on social issues affecting many. Her ability to masterfully deliver her stance on every issue or political debate has made her a regular face in morning and evening news media platforms. This is not a common feat especially for someone from her kind ... Inside Guy Fieris Family With Wife, Kids and Sister Who Died of Cancer Over the years we have seen men dominate the kitchen and churn out amazing delicacies from it. Some do it way better than their female counterparts and one of such men is Guy Ramsay Fieri an American TV host, celebrity chef, restaurant owner, bestselling author of four culinary books, and game show host. His ... Meet Phil Mudd of CNN The Former CIA and FBI Exec, Is He Married, Who Is The Wife? When it comes to discussing issues surrounding terrorism, American Counterterrorism and National Security Expert, Phil Mudd, occupies a globally significant position. He has voiced his interest in the fight against terrorism and insecurity on many popular media platforms, both print and broadcast, such as CNN, BBC, CBS, MSNBC, al-Jazeera, ABC, NBC, Fox, The New York Times, ... Jim Hoffer: Biography, Wife Mika Brzezinski, Children and Net Worth Jim Hoffer is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works as an investigative reporter for Eyewitness News, New York City. In his over two decades of investigative journalism, Hoffer has been at the front lines of several crucial stories from the 9/11 attack to the crash of American Flight 587 to the 2003 Blackout. On top of ... The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ... Bert Kreischer Is Married To LeeAnn Kreischer With 2 Kids Meet His Family Those familiar with Bert Kreischer mainly have the image of a large-bellied party man whose college life inspired the National Lampoon film, Van Wilder. It is an image that one would not naturally associate with a wholesome family. The standup comedian still maintains his wild party animal image on stage. But, back at home, he is ... How Brendan Greene Became a Game Designer to Look Out For and Facts About His Failed Marriage The name Brendan Greene may not easily ring a bell in the larger society but for gaming enthusiasts, he is considered a god and this is because of his invention of the video game, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, also called PUBG. Based on the popular last-man-standing/battle royale concept, Greenes creation has taken the gaming world by ... WFAAs Sonia Azad Bio Does The Reporter Have A Husband Or Boyfriend? Emmy Award-winning journalist and Health & Wellness reporter Sonia Azad is on the news segment News 8 Daybreak for the television station WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, a channel which she joined in October of 2015. Besides her time on the news, Azad is also a marathon runner and a certified yoga instructor. She has covered major news ... This Is Everything You Should Know About Caroline Heldman, Her Career Portfolio and Other Facts Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that feminism has come to stay in our world. The movement has continued to garner momentum over the years and this is due to the sustained push by several women, and even men, including the likes of Caroline Heldman. A Professor of Politics at ... Understanding The Enigma That Is Gavin McInnes, The Controversies He Has Stirred and All About His Wife Gavin McInnes is a polemical English-born writer and TV personality, who is best known for his racist and fascist ideologies, as well as his co-ownership of Vice Media and Vice Magazine. He is also an actor a When Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, he was quickly criticized for referring to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers." Since that time, Trump has been accused of sexism, racism, Islamophobia, but it's his relationship with his daughter that has raised questions from some in the media. Trump and Ivanka After Hillary Clinton became overheated during a memorial for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks, she was caught on camera nearly fainting as she entered her exit van. Since that time, many have wonderedabout the health of both candidates involved. Keeping with his controversial campaign theme, Trump decided to release medical records during an episode of "The Dr. Oz Show." While Trump's health was the main topic, it was comments made about his daughter Ivanka that made some cringe. Donald Trump: I Kiss My Daughter Every Chance I Get https://t.co/mlGZoD40Y2 (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/SY1wCyYvZt Mediaite (@Mediaite) September 14, 2016 In a pre-taped interview with Dr. Oz, Trump spoke about Ivanka, noting that "he kisses her every chance he gets." Dr. Oz was quoted as responding back, "It's nice to see a dad kiss his daughter." The comments might not seem too alarming, but Trump's relationship with his daughter has been questionable in the past, leading to some of his harshest critics to question his feelings. Pictures have gone viral on the internet showing a teenage Ivanka sitting on her father's lap, leaving many feeling uncomfortable upon viewing them. "I've said if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps Id be dating her," Trump said during an interview on ABC's "The View" in 2015, while also telling radio host Howard Stern that "she's got the best body." The interview with Dr. Oz was taped on Wednesday, and is set to air during Thursday's time-slot. Election update According to the latest rolling average from Real Clear Politics, Trump is running neck and neck with Clinton on a national level, down just 45.6 percent to 43.6 percent. While the race is close nationally, Clinton is still ahead in important swing states, including leads in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Trump has bounced back in Florida and Ohio, where he has come back to pull practically even with the former Secretary of State. While most political pundits expect a Clinton victory, Trump still has a few doors of opportunity to his advantage, though they are starting to close with less than 60 days until voters head to the polls. Li cites innovation in visits to high-tech firms Updated: 2016-10-14 07:55 By Hu Yongqi in Shenzhen(China Daily) Premier Li Keqiang inspects Han's Laser Technology Industry Group Co in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Thursday. The company, a leading global manufacturer of laser equipment, is one of China's flagship high-tech companies. Li said such companies show how Chinese manufacturing can be upgraded.Wu Zhiyi / China Daily Premier links cutting-edge work to success of 'Made in China 2025' In a noisy workshop, laser machines roared and shot out sparks as they cut metals into different shapes. Chinese characters for "Made in China 2025" were prepared this way for Premier Li Keqiang's visit. The premier showed great enthusiasm about the high-tech equipment manufacturing during a half-day tour focusing on the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing sector in Guangdong province. Li's visit encouraged more corporate efforts as the central government promotes the strategy "Made in China 2025" to maintain and increase the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. The scene occurred on Thursday morning as the premier visited Han's Laser Technology Industry Group Co, a leading maker of factory machines that employ lasers in the industrial hub of Shenzhen. Li paused more than 10 times in the workshop, which is rare for him when inspecting a domestic manufacturing company. He asked questions about every piece of equipment, and the company's research, design and potential customers. Before that, the premier also visited a mobile phone manufacturer - Oppo Mobile Co - in Dongguan, a city near Shenzhen that made its reputation as a pillar of traditional manufacturing and is having some difficulties as it makes changes amid a decline in low-cost, low-technology processing. The two companies represent two major subareas of China's manufacturing sector, especially when the country's exports are facing hard times and dropped to a seven-month low in September, the General Administration of Customs said. As the world economy is recovering sluggishly with diminishing international trade, China's manufacturing sector faces challenges from developed and developing economies, said Ma Baocheng, director of the Decision-Making and Consultation Department of the Chinese Academy of Governance. At Han's Laser, Li said the equipment that employs lasers demonstrated the path and hope for China's manufacturing sector. A key to "Made in China 2025" is to transform and upgrade the country's manufacturing sector by introducing new technologies, he said. Gao Yunfeng, chairman and general manager of Han's Laser, said the company has a number of unique and patented laser technologies and produces the largest amount of equipment using lasers for world-renowned companies such as the Apple Inc. Oppo used to manufacture music players but now exports mobile phones to 19 countries and regions with the fourth-largest number of phones being produced annually in the world. "In the future, you have to promote more effective marketing campaigns to meet and lead consumers' demand like what foreign phone makers have done," Li said. Dongguan's officials said the traditional manufacturing of clothing dropped by 15 percent from last year while new industries such as high-end electronics increased by more than 20 percent. huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn Xi praises Cambodia royalty for cultivating friendship Updated: 2016-10-14 07:55 By Mo Jingxi(China Daily) China cherishes its special friendship with the Cambodian royal family and places great value on developing bilateral relations, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday. "China will always be Cambodia's good partner and friend," he told Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh on Thursday after arriving for his first visit to the country as president. Xi was welcomed by more than 10,000 people who gathered outside the palace square, waving national flags, carrying leaders' portraits and bouquets. Sihamoni held a grand welcoming ceremony for Xi. The traditional friendship between China and Cambodia was forged and cultivated by previous generations of Chinese leaders and the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, Xi said at the meeting. Sihanouk, who was deeply respected by the Chinese people, left an indelible mark on the history of the bilateral relationship, he added. Sihanouk lived in China for nearly 40 years before dying in Beijing in 2012. Miss China and China, My Second Homeland are among the songs that he composed to praise the friendship between China and Cambodia. He also played a key role in the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia in 1958. China is willing to steadfastly carry forward the friendship with Cambodia, and deepen bilateral cooperation to bring more benefits to the people of both countries, Xi said. Sihamoni expressed thanks to the Chinese government and people for their long-term affection for the Cambodian royal family, as well as strong support for the country's economic development. He said he believes that Xi's visit will deepen the already good relationship between the two countries and lead to greater achievements in China-Cambodia cooperation. After the meeting, Xi, accompanied by Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, presented a flower basket at the memorial statue of the late king. Song Yinghui, a researcher in Southeast Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said Xi's meeting with Sihamoni, the first thing on the agenda after his arrival, shows respect for the royal family and China's determination to develop China-Cambodia friendship. "Represented by Sihanouk, the Cambodian royal family has made great contributions to the two countries' cooperation," she said. Bu Jianguo, former Chinese ambassador to Cambodia, said: "Sihanouk himself is a banner of the friendly relations between China and Cambodia." According to Song, Sihamoni, who inherited the legacy of friendship from his father, also helped to lay a good foundation for bilateral cooperation. Xi's visit, reciprocating Sihamoni's trip to China in June, is likely to bring the two countries closer and yield fruitful results, Bu said. "Sihamoni and Monineath are also frequent visitors to China, as they come to China twice every year, and stay about one month every time for physical examinations and recreation," she said. mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and Norodom Sihanouk, then a Cambodian prince who later became king, look out from the Tian'anmen rostrum in May 1970.Provided To China BRICS to build fairer global system Updated: 2016-10-14 08:28 By Wang Fan(China Daily) President Xi Jinping will attend the eighth meeting of BRICS leaders in Goa, India, from Oct 15 to 16. This will be their first meeting after their informal gathering at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, in early September, and it is a meeting that is of practical importance. The cooperation of the BRICS members intensified after the onset of the international financial crisis in 2008. In response to the crisis, the BRICS states strengthened their bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation, and they have continued to deepen their cooperation since. The collective rise of emerging economies and the comparative fall of the developed economies constitute one of the most important phenomena of international politics in the early 21st century. The BRICS members boast advantages in scale with regard to their territorial areas, populations and resources. They account for 30 percent of the world's land, 43 percent of the global population, 21 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 40 percent of global foreign exchange. The BRICS states are all big countries in their respective regions and have correspondingly large says and influence in regional affairs. The cooperation of the BRICS countries is of practical meaning to protect and enhance the interests of emerging economies and developing countries. With the BRICS members as representatives, the emerging market countries and developing countries have seen marked and rapid increases in their international influence. And with a combined population of about 3 billion people, the rise of the BRICS countries is related to the fate of the whole world and humanity. The five countries are expected to play active and constructive roles in setting the global development agenda, climate change negotiations, reform of the International Monetary Fund, and other global topics. Because the BRICS countries are all major members of the United NationsChina and Russia are both permanent members of the UN Security Counciland cooperative representatives of developing and developed countries in G20, the BRICS members bridge the different camps among countries. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the other regional financial organizations, such as development banks in Asia and Africa, are actually controlled by Western countries, with the United States dominant. The establishment of the New Development Bank of BRICS is therefore significant for establishing a fairer international financial structure. The New Development Bank is an international financial agency that the BRICS states fund and manage themselves. This is an important breakthrough in the global financial system, one that is promoting transformation of the international financial order, and one that can enhance developing countries' status and voice in the international financial governance. The bank can help solve the BRICS countries' shortage of mediumand short-term funding, boost their infrastructure construction and economic growth, and reduce their excess reliance on the US dollar, euro and yen. China plays a special and constructive role in the cooperation among the BRICS countries. It is also an active advocate and supporter of South-South cooperation, and cooperating with developing countries is an important part of China's opening-up strategy. The cooperation mechanism of BRICS provides an effective way to promote South-South cooperation. China's cooperation with the other BRICS members is conducive to breaking Western countries' trade protectionism and strengthening their coordination on actions to address climate change, prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the fight against terrorism, as well as many other global issues. BRICS cooperation is not intended to rival current system, but rather aims to seek effective cooperation with the developed countries. The essence of the BRICS' cooperation spirit is openness and inclusiveness. The author is vice-president of China Foreign Affairs University. Chinese take sunny view on Miami Updated: 2016-10-14 12:16 By Hezi Jiang in New York(China Daily USA) Chinese consumers have doubled their South Florida residential property purchases over the last four years, growing from 1 percent of all international sales in 2011 to 2 percent in 2015, according to the 2015 Miami Profile of International Home Buyers released by the Miami Association of Realtors. "That may not sound like much, but because Miami has so many international sales (22 percent of unit sales and 36 percent of dollar volume), 1 percent of our international sales are more than some market's total international sales," said Teresa King Kinney, CEO of the association. "I still believe it's just a fraction of what it will be," she said. Latin American, European and Russian buyers were Miami real estate agents' international focus. Now they are setting their sights on China, the top buyer of US real estate. The Miami Association of Realtors recently partnered with Juwai, one of China's largest international property search portals, to promote Miami's residential and commercial listings. Kinney has made four trips to China. In June, she presented Miami real estate projects to buyers in Chengdu, Xi'an, Changzhou and Shanghai. "They're very, very positive about Miami, and every time we refer to 'Miami', it's like 'Oh, I want to go to Miami' and smiling. I guess it's the sunshine effect of Miami," Kinney said. Some local real estate companies have established partnerships with the largest Chinese brokerage firm, Homelink. "They have committed time and resources to learning the Miami market. Recently, they brought 20 top producers to train with us," said Philip Spiegelman, principal of International Sales Group, which began recruiting Mandarin-speaking agents two years ago. They now have 25 of them. "Just look at this," said Gene Shi, president of Homelink's international operations, during a tour with another local brokerage firm Cervera, as he gestured toward Biscayne Bay, its waters shimmering outside the window of the Missioni Baia sales center in Edgewater. "This is something you could never dream of, even for a millionaire in New York City," Shi said. "But this is a typical view for a citizen of Miami." While Chinese buyers might enjoy having 320 sunny days a year, they come with different needs, said Lin Wenjun, the principal broker of American Da Tang Group, a New York-based real estate firm helping Chinese investors buy in the US. Da Tang's Miami branch was opened a year and a half ago after its chairman, Li Shanjie, found the city by accident in 2012 when he was in South Florida for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. He fell in love with the Magic City immediately after touring South Beach and Brickell and bought two apartments right away. Some of Da Tang's clients are like Li, who couldn't get enough of the ocean view. "They only want waterfront," Lin said. Some of her other clients ask for vacation homes with proximity to good schools so their children can continue their education while they avoid North China's brutal winters. A Chinese mom just bought a suburban home in Weston. "Our prices are probably 60 percent to 70 percent cheaper than California," said Kinney, comparing her city to one of the most popular destinations for Chinese investors. "You can get much more luxury in Miami for a million dollars." Chinese real estate developers also have arrived in Miami. China City Construction, a state-owned company, bought two pieces of land for more than $110 million. They are planning to build a large mixed-use project in the Brickell neighborhood of downtown Miami and a luxury condominium by the beach. More details will be released after the company gets city approval for the proposals. Both Kinney and Lin said they have not seen any sign of a slowdown in buyers' interest despite a changing Chinese economy and a stronger dollar. "I only hear that there are more Chinese buyers coming in. And I think it's because of awareness," said Kinney. "The slowdown might have occurred but been offset by more people discovering Miami and what we have to offer here." "We still need more awareness," Lin said. "And we are pushing very hard for a direct flight between China and the Miami." She said several Chinese airlines, including Air China and China Southern, and US airlines are considering the route. "Some of the Chinese buyers came in and bought multiple units in one building," Kinney said. "It's fun for our representatives to work with them because they are not used to selling quite as many at one time to one buyer." hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com Chinese leaders offer condolences and sympathy on passing of Thai king Updated: 2016-10-14 11:48 By Zhang Yunbi(chinadaily.com.cn) Chinese leaders offered their deep condolences over the passing of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thai people mourn late Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok October 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence on Thursday to Queen Sirikit following the announcement of the king's death. In the name of the Chinese people and of himself, Xi extended his sincere sympathy to other members of the Thai royal family and the Thai people. Xi said the passing of the king was a great loss for the peoples of Thailand and China and that he will live in the hearts of the two peoples forever. China attaches great importance to developing its friendly ties with Thailand, Xi said. His Majesty King Bhumibol was "a guide of the national development of Thailand and a promoter of China-Thailand friendship", Xi noted. The development relationship between the two countries was linked to the great importance attached to ties and the personal efforts made by the king himself, Xi said. With the king's personal care and promotion, as well as the common efforts by the two countries, the China-Thai friendship has flourished and "borne many fruits", Xi added. China is willing to work with Thailand to build on past achievements and achieve new progress in bilateral relations, to consolidate the good neighborliness, and to deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation, to benefit the two countries and two peoples, Xi said. Premier Li Keqiang also sent a message of condolence on Thursday to his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha over the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. In the name of the Chinese government and people and in his personal name, the Premier expressed deep condolences over the passing of the king and extended his deep sympathy to the Thai government and people. Li said that the king had whole-heartedly served and worked with diligence for the Thai people and was revered by them, and his passing was a great loss for the Thai people. Li praised the king for being dedicated to the cause of China-Thai friendship. The king was an enthusiastic advocate in the cause of the China-Thailand friendship and played an irreplaceable role in pioneering the birth and growth of such a relationship, Li said. The Premier said China always cherishes the traditional friendship with Thailand and is willing to work with Thailand to carry on the tradition, deepen their comprehensive cooperation and push for greater development of bilateral ties. Xinhua contributed to this story. Chinese operatic stars take to stage in London Updated: 2016-10-14 17:55 By CECILY LIU(China Daily UK) The China National Opera Company returns to the London stage at the Peacock Theatre. [WANG ZHIYONG/CHINA DAILY] The China National Opera Company returned to the London stage on Thursday. It followed up on a successful visit last year, again bringing British audiences the best of China's national form of theatercombining unique storytelling, acrobatics, acting and martial arts with Chinese singing and dance. The performances at the Peacock Theatre, from Thursday to Saturday, feature two shows, The General and the Prime Minister and the Legend of White Snake. The two masterpieces celebrate heroism and love in Chinese tradition. Li Shengsu, one of the lead performers, said Peking Opera is China's national pride and she equates its significance with Shakespeare's position in British culture. The performances come amid surging interest in Peking Opera in the West, spurred by academic interest, the Chinese diaspora's increasing performances in local communities, and Western artists' and performers' fascination with the genre. Meanwhile, younger performers are revolutionizing Peking Opera to make it more relevant to international audiences. With a history of about 200 years, Peking Opera started in teahouses and became recognized as the national form of theater in the 19th century as it spread across China. It spread abroad, led by the legendary Mei Lanfang, who is credited with revolutionizing the tradition of men performing female roles, and who toured the United States in 1930. Mei died in 1961 at age 66. More recently, Peking Opera's popularity has grown among overseas Chinese. In London, a charity named the London Jing Kun Opera Association was set up in 2002 to perform Chinese opera twice a month in London and around the UK. The performers also visit schools and universities and invite students to their performances. Chen Kaige's famed 1993 movie Farewell My Concubine also played a crucial role in making Peking Opera known to the Western public. In2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Peking Opera an Intangible Cultural Heritage. Western artists' and performers' fascination with Peking Opera is also growing amid a global shift toward multiculturalism. The Russian-born installation artist Varvara Shavrova created the short film The Opera to express her fascination with the transformation of males performing female rolesonce common in English theater, particularly in works by Shakespeare and Marlowe. She explores why such a practice still exists in Peking Opera but which has died out in Western theaters. Meanwhile, newer Chinese operatic pieces have introduced more relevance for international viewers. Min Yen Ong, an ethnomusicologist postdoctoral research associate in the music department of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, said, "Many changes have been made to modern-day Chinese opera performances to attract audiences." Despite growing interest and appreciation of Chinese opera in the West, one major challenge limiting the spread of its popularity is its unique system of symbolism, Ong said. Li, the performer, said Peking Opera actors should remain true to its traditions, perform to the highest international standards, and bring performances to the international stage through market-driven methods. Looking ahead - Oct 14 Updated: 2016-10-14 17:58 (China Daily UK) Events and stories coming up in the next few days UK educators spread message in Taiwan Representatives from several British schools, learning institutions and related businesses are in Taiwan for the European Education Fair on Friday and Saturday. The two-day event, at the Taipei World Trade Center, offers a chance for educators and businesspeople to showcase their products and services and encourages students to continue their studies in Europe. Chinese flavors feature at food fair Several providers of Chinese food and Oriental cooking ingredients will take part in a food-tasting and cooking event in Dublin this weekend at the Croke Park Hotel on Jones Road. Economist to discuss China's challenges The University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies is presenting a free public lecture on "China's Economy: Powerhouse, Menace or the Next Japan?" The talk, by Arthur R. Kroeber, editor of online analysis platform China Economic Quarterly,will be held on Monday at the Brunei Gallery Room in Russell Square, London. Kroeber will discuss how China has risen to become the world's second-biggest economy and the largest trading nation during the past three decades. He will also consider the challenges ahead as it shifts toward a consumer-oriented economy and whether China is likely to continue to dominate the world economy. World War I story moves to south coast The Yellow Earth production company is presenting Song Unsung at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth on Saturday. The multimedia production, presented in four parts, celebrates the spirit and legacy of the 140,000 Chinese men who joined the Chinese Labour Corps during World War I. The Chinese workers toiled behind the Western Front for the British and French armies, and the play is part of commemorations marking the anniversary of the end of the war. The production performed to sell-out audiences at the China Exchange in London last month. New York-area bomb suspect pleads not guilty Updated: 2016-10-14 12:16 By Reuters(China Daily USA) The man accused of last month's bombings in New York and New Jersey that injured dozens of people made his first court appearance on Thursday from a hospital bed, pleading not guilty to attempting to murder police officers. Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 28, whose last name had previously been reported as Rahami, appeared via live video on a television screen in a courtroom in Elizabeth, New Jersey, from the Newark hospital where he has been recovering from gunshot wounds suffered during a shootout with police. With his court-appointed lawyer, Peter Liguori, standing bedside in hospital scrubs, Rahimi lay still with a blanket pulled up to his neck during the hearing. Rahimi, said by US authorities to have been inspired by radical jihadism, spoke in a quiet voice, answering "yes" to several questions from Union County Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield about whether he understood the charges and wished Liguori to represent him. Liguori told the judge that his client's last name was spelled "Rahimi". The hearing, which lasted only a few minutes, concerned state charges against him stemming from a gunfight with police on Sept 19, after an officer discovered him sleeping in the doorway of a bar. Rahimi, a US citizen born in Afghanistan, is also facing federal charges of using weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use in New York and New Jersey. He is accused of setting off an explosive in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that injured 31 people and detonating a pipe bomb near a charity running race in the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park on Sept 17. In addition, Rahimi is charged with planting another pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea that did not go off and with leaving several devices at a train station in Elizabeth, just blocks from the courthouse where he appeared on video on Thursday. One of those explosives detonated when a bomb squad robot attempted to defuse it. None of the blasts killed anyone. It remains unclear when Rahimi will appear in federal court, but it is likely he will face charges there before New Jersey's state case proceeds to trial. The hearing had been delayed while Rahimi, who was unconscious for weeks, recovered from his injuries. Two officers suffered injuries in the shootout, and at least one of them attended the hearing on Thursday. Redstones said to oppose giving Moonves their CBS-Viacom votes Updated: 2016-10-14 07:29 By Bloomberg(China Daily USA) Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS Corp. Bloomberg Shari and Sumner Redstone want Les Moonves to run a combined CBS Corp and Viacom Inc, but they aren't willing to offer him a stake or voting control of their family's holding company, people familiar with the matter said. The Redstones have said publicly that they won't support a deal that requires them to give up control of CBS or Viacom. That includes surrendering voting control to Moonves, the chief executive officer of CBS, despite the Red stones' respect for him, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The family will have to seek common ground over governance with Moonves to go through with its plan to merge the two media giants with him as CEO. Reviving faded Viacom networks like MTV and Comedy Central might be a tempting challenge for Moonves, 67. But he has run CBS with little interference and would want similar freedom if the companies are joined together, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Moonves will probably want language in his contract similar to his current CBS agreement, which guarantees that independent directors remain and says he reports solely to the board and is the highest-ranking executive of the company, said another person familiar with the matter. Moonves may seek provisions preventing the Redstones from unilaterally replacing board members and limiting the board's authority, the person said. That could prevent situations like earlier this year, when National Amusements forbade the proposed sale of a stake in Viacom's Paramount Pictures movie studio without unanimous board approval. To retain Moonves, the Redstones should consider giving him control of their voting shares, said Mario Gabelli, whose funds are some of the largest shareholders in CBS and Viacom. That would give Moonves a degree of freedom to pursue the best path for the company, Gabelli said. "If I were Les, I would ask for that," Gabelli said in an interview. Spokesmen for CBS, Viacom and the Redstones declined to comment. The Redstones, whose National Amusements Inc owns an 80 percent voting stake in both companies, asked CBS and Viacom late last month to explore a merger. That request is part of a series of moves spurred by Shari Redstone, who won a battle this year against former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman to control the fate of Viacom. She has spearheaded changes at the company, asserting herself with her 93-year-old father Sumner in poor health. The idea now is to revive Viacom, whose Paramount Pictures movie studio is also in disarray, by putting the company under the experienced hand of Moonves, who has helped CBS retain its lead as the most-watched US TV network. There's precedent for using voting control as a retention tool, Gabelli said. In the mid-1980s, billionaire Warren Buffett, agreed to vote his shares in Capital Cities/ABC Inc with management as long as Tom Murphy and Daniel Burke, the company's CEO and president, remained in place. Majority of the Minority Moonves's level of control is just one of many issues that will likely be considered as CBS and Viacom begin discussions over a potential merger, people familiar with the process said. National Amusements requested that the businesses create special committees of their boards to consider a deal. The Redstones said they wouldn't participate in board deliberations on the subject. To prove their merger is backed by smaller investors, the CBS and Viacom boards may recommend that National Amusements recuse itself from any merger vote. That would mean that only the 20 percent of the voting shares not held by the Redstones vote on the deal, a practice known as a "majority-of-the-minority" vote. This approach could give Gabelli, whose funds hold more than 10 percent of the voting shares in both companies, the deciding vote in a merger. Gabelli was among investors whose control of voting shares brought down Cablevision Systems Corp.'s plans to go private in 2007 when the Dolan family allowed a majority of the minority to vote on that deal. To prevent Gabelli from dictating the outcome of a transaction, as a matter of perceived fairness, CBS and Viacom could allow the owners of Class B Viacom shares, which don't have voting rights, to vote on the deal anyway. Gabelli said he would have concerns about letting Class B shareholders vote. "That would be very unusual," he said. "I paid a premium to get the voting stock for my clients." More Fair Outcome Majority shareholders like National Amusements don't legally need to seek approval from minority investors for a merger. But courts in Delaware, where CBS and Viacom are incorporated, have been encouraging companies to do just that to produce a more fair outcome, according to Lawrence Hamermesh, a professor of law at Widener University's Delaware Law School in Wilmington. There's no reason Gabelli couldn't be given the deciding vote, if there aren't any circumstances where he shouldn't, Hamermesh said. He said he'd never heard of a situation where non-voting shareholders got the right to vote. The Viacom special committee examining a merger is composed of four newly appointed directors and one from the old Viacom board. Goings on(New York) Updated: 2016-10-14 10:56 (China Daily USA) All talk - New York Participants and guests pose for a group photo at the open dialogue event called From University to the World, a discussion between university students from China and the US organized by China Radio International's English Service at New York University on Tuesday. The theme this year was 2020: China, US and Me. Hong Xiao / China Daily Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. Orange Egypt signs 4G license deal Egypts telecommunication regulator The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has signed a $484 million agreement with Orange Egypt to grant it the 4G license. The agreement included a license for default landline services at a value of $11.262m. Orange Egypt had earlier refused to move towards obtaining the 4G license, attributing the decision to the high price of the license. Orange becomes the second 4G mobile-phone operator in the country joining the state-controlled landline monopoly Telecom Egypt. The signing raises pressure on Vodafone Group Plcs local unit and United Arab Emirates Etisalat Misr to apply for licenses as well. Vodafone, Etisalat Misr and Orange had refused the National Telecom Regulatory Authoritys license terms last month, citing insufficient spectrum. But the regulator earlier Thursday announced new terms, including calculating the value of 4G and fixed-line licenses in dollars and giving companies that pay the full amount in dollars priority in getting additional frequencies in the future. The regulator will meet on Oct. 23 to study options, including selling extra frequencies to Telecom Egypt and Orange Egypt, or offering the license in an international auction. For the government, the deal brings in much-needed dollars to end a foreign-currency shortage that has crippled the economy. The only reason for our refusal before was not having enough spectrum to provide adequate services and that is what has happened now, said Jean Marc Harion, chief executive officer of the unit Orange decided to postpone a decision on whether to acquire an international license, National Telecom Regulatory Authority Executive President Mustafa Abdul Wahid said at the press conference. Other operators have until Oct. 23 to request 4G license deals, he added. The modification does not address any of the mobile operators concerns on the licensing terms, especially in regards to frequencies, but rather the governments need to secure foreign currency, said Sarah Shabayek, lead telecom analyst at CI Capital. The operators will probably resume talks and reach a compromise with the government because they need frequencies to improve network quality and if they dont take it now they wont get it later. www.orange.eg 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: T I P S 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 YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan received a delegation led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil Eumar Nowacki. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Government of Armenia, welcoming Mr. Nowacki, the Prime Minister hoped that his visit might contribute to the further development and expansion of Armenian-Brazilian economic relations. Karen Karapetyan highlighted the need to deepen bilateral relations, exchange know-how and implement joint programs in the field of agriculture based on the memorandum of cooperation as signed in August, 2016 between the ministries of agriculture of the two countries. Noting that agriculture is of paramount importance to our country, the Premier said his government is going to propose new mechanisms for the development of this sector. We are open for cooperation and ready to implement joint investment projects, as well as to attract Brazilian investments, Karen Karapetyan emphasized. Eumar Nowacki assured of Brazil is interested to implement investment programs with Armenia, as well as to increase trade turnover between the two countries. The Government should offer incentives to projects funded by overseas remittances, a conference on policies related to remittances heard in HCM City on October 11. Photo thoibaonganhang.vn HCM CITY The Government should offer incentives to projects funded by overseas remittances, a conference on policies related to remittances heard in HCM City early this week. Nguyen Van Lich from the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam said while it is all very well to get inward remittances, a way must be found to use them effectively rather than merely collecting interest on them or spending them. Projects funded by remittances must be given greater priority than those by foreign direct investment, he said. Inward remittances in 2002-15 accounted for 6 per cent of the gross domestic product compared to 7.7 per cent and 3 per cent for foreign direct investment and official development assistance, respectively. The remittances jumped from $140 million in 1993 to $13.2 billion last year. Nguyen Kim Anh, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam, said remittances would keep increasing thanks to labour export and many policies designed to solicit them. More and more Vietnamese are living and working abroad while improved services are making it easier for them to repatriate money home, he said. To attract more money from Viet kieu (overseas Vietnamese) and use it more effectively, participants suggested modernising the remittance system. Le Xuan Sang, Deputy Director of the Viet Nam Economic Institute, said a system must be developed to monitor remittance sources to ensure everyone benefits and avoid money laundering. Unofficial channels of money transfer should be stopped, he said. Investment and tourism policies, including those related to visas for Viet kieu, should be more open, the investment environment should be made more attractive and the banking industry should improve its services and reduce rates, he said. Some attendees called on the Ministry of Planning and Investment to set up a division that would work to attract overseas remittances and work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to compile policies related to remittances. - VNS YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh told Armenpress the Azerbaijani side made over 30 ceasefire violations at the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Ministrys announcement reads: Overnight October 13-14 the Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire regime more than 30 times at the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Azerbaijani forces fired over 470 shots from various caliber small arms at the Armenian positions. In the southern and eastern directions the Azerbaijani forces fired large caliber sniper rifles. The Defense Army forces mainly adhered to the ceasefire regime and continued confidently conducting the military service. Work of art: Vietnamese craftsmen applied traditional lacquer techniques to create a unique item an Italian scooter inlaid with eggshell. Photo courtesy of Hanoia HA NOI Vietnamese craftsmen have applied traditional lacquer techniques to create a unique item an Italian-brand scooter inlaid with eggshell. To complete the one-of-a-kind scooter, a group of six skillful craftsmen spent three consecutive months working on the item. According to the group leader, master craftsman Vo ong Ho of the fine lacquer workshop Hanoia, among dozens of lacquer techniques, eggshell inlay is the most difficult. "The work requires deep concentration and scrupulous care. Thats why only those with golden hands were chosen to work on this special scooter." His team consists of the best artisans of the workshop which features only craftsmen from two famous lacquer making villages in Viet Nam Tuong Binh Hiep in Thu Dau Mot in the southern province of Binh Duong and Ha Thai in Ha Nois Thuong Tin suburban district. Craftsmanship: An artisan carefully inlays eggshells on the scooters front panel. Photo courtesy of Hanoia Master craftsman Ho, who became involved with lacquer making at the age of eight, revealed that eggshell selection is another important step for making lacquer. "Many people think it is a piece of cake. In fact, it is not easy to get enough eggshells of exactly the same colour. We use only ceramic white duck eggshells and we never use the blue ones because they are low quality," Ho said. Focus: The work requires deep concentration and scrupulous care. Photo courtesy of Hanoia Like any other "Made in Hanoia" lacquer products which are mostly for an upscale international market, separate parts of the scooter -- such as the front panel, front and side protection plates, front instrument panel cover and front fender -- have each been done through many processing steps. Those steps, including sanding, eggshell inlaying, colouring, colour sanding, varnishing, varnish sanding, and polishing, are repeated several times until the item becomes perfect. "Even though we have applied 18 layers of sanding sealer and colour, the items surface looks very bright and smooth," Ho said proudly. The unique one-of-a-kind scooter can be seen at Casa Italia on 18 Le Phung Hieu Street from now through October 17. The scooter will go under the hammer on October 29. The proceeds will be donated to Operation Smile. VNS Last week, Viet Nam News asked its readers about a proposal of a ban on sales of liquor and beer after 10pm, aiming to reduce the negative impacts of drinking. Here are some of their ideas: Andrew Burden, Canadian in Ha Noi Late night drinking cannot be solved by locking the fridge at 10pm. Sales will go underground. People will start home brewing. Its counterintuitive, but you should open up 24/7. CNN just reported about a night mayor (as opposed to nightmare) in Amsterdam. The idea is he goes around with uniformed volunteers, acting as dad, friend, and unofficial tour guide. He and his volunteers help people into taxis and step between rowdy drunks ready to fight. Of course no one should get drunk, but when you have one drink, your thinking becomes fuzzy and its easy to order another, then another. Its really up to the bar to cut you off. Maybe by midnight there should be low alcohol-content drinks or drinking-with-food orders only? When I was a young buck, I came up with the idea to show my army ID when I drove through a police check stop on my motorbike. I reasoned that if I could walk straight enough to my bike, and flip my ID, cops would think I was sober. That worked dozen times. Smart, eh? I would like to see practical, real-world applied education topics in high school, including sex education, substance safety, internet overuse, and my favourite Vietnamese pet peeve: learning how to swim, as literally hundreds of kids die each year from drowning. Ill drink to that! Hoang Cong Thanh, Ha Noi Is it true? Ha Noi recently lifted its midnight curfew until 2am instead of 12pm to serve tourists. The ban is going in the opposite direction. The ban could force businesses to find loopholes to keep selling liquor and beer. You can imagine how fun the nightlife would be: "Now we can stay open until 2am, but we must serve juice and water after 10pm!" If properly enforced, it could have a positive effect on public safety. However, alternative approaches such as alcohol taxation have proven effective and should be considered as complementary options. oan Khac Toi, Bac Ninh I know many countries around the world have curfews for the sale of alcoholic drinks. But I think the ban should be only applied in specified areas. Authorities in provinces and cities across the country should tightly control beer and liquor supply and implement other more effective measures. This proposed law is petty in terms of solving a health problem, and will cause black market alcohol sales and cost increases at legitimate stores and bars. It will never materialise if passed by the Government, because there is too much at stake for patrons of bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as the whole economy. Glenn John, Philippines Consumption of alcoholic beverages should not be limited or regulated. The banning of night sales will tremendously harm the economy and disrupt the behavioral patterns of patrons, thus hampering the countrys growth and potentially creating a divide between the Government and its people. Why not increase the liquor tax instead of limiting sales? Both parties would end up as winners there. Nguyen Nhu Mai, Ha Noi This should be interesting. Alcohol abuse seriously impacts human health, creates social problems, and impairs working ability. Ive seen a few fights among men that have been drinking, becayse alcohol of course makes people unable to control their behavior. Sad stories of the effect of alcohol abuse are nothing new to Vietnamese people. Aidan Christian, a reader If all bars are required to stop serving at 10pm then there will be an influx of drunk people hitting the streets at 10pm, rather than meandering their way home gradually during the evening. People will buy alcohol before 10pm to consume after 10pm - there will be people on the streets drinking alcohol from bottles. Enforcement will be focused on larger bars, but the backstreet beer houses that arent licensed anyway wont care. Im pretty sure theres a ban on driving through red lights, which is EXTREMELY effective. Theres absolutely no way that this will result in increased coffee money for police. No way at all. Luu Van Huong, Quang Ninh I wonder how such provisions would actually be imposed, especially in rural areas. It is very interesting, but its also necessary to consider all the positive and negative aspects, such as whether it will affect tourism and whether implementation and sanctions will actually have the expected effect. Everyone knows the negative impact of tobaccowith many awful photos about the diseases caused by smokingbut people still use it. What agencies will be around after 10pm to punish those buying and selling alcohol? What would happen to people buying quantities of alcohol before 10pm and then drinking it into the early hours? It appears that we are banning things we cant control. In Quang Ninh, a coastal province, can you enjoy a seafood dish without beer or wine at the beach late night? You can enjoy seafood with juice or water??? Le Khanh, Ha Noi I dont think the ban could be enforced. We dont have enough inspectors to implement the ban, and it would be easy for residents to buy all their alcohol before 10pm to avoid the ban. In my opinion, the solution is to increase the tax on alcohol, which can give us more money for the State budget. We also need more public awareness on the consequences of alcohol abuse. We can also increase fines on those who use alcohol during work-hours and drivers. Nguyen Tien, HCM City I dont think the ban is the best choice to limit the negative impact of alcohol abuse. The attraction of Viet Nam is street life. How does the country attract more tourists by banning the late-night alcohol sales? Can you imagine the night life in cities like Ha Noi or HCM City without street food and beer just as many walking streets have been set up in the weekend in Ha Noi and HCM City? A street party will be more interesting if you have a cup of beer or wine with your friends. In addition, this proposal will financially affect not only our associations turnover, but also a number of bars and restaurants nationwide. - VNS Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh HA NOI Viet Nam has been making practical contributions to turning the Mekong sub-region into a dynamic and prosperous economic area via CLMV and ACMECS cooperation frameworks. That was the comment of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh ahead of the 8th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Viet Nam Summit (CLMV-8) and the 7th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy Summit (ACMECS-7) which will be held in Ha Noi on October 25 and 26. As the Mekong region steps into a new stage of development, full of opportunities and challenges, the co-operation in the framework of CLMV and ACMECS will further bring into play advantages and potential to ensure the economic growth of the five Mekong countries, Minh said. According to Minh, Viet Nam, as the eastern gateway of the Mekong sub-region, is an indispensable component of the East-West Economic Corridor and the South Economic Corridor. The country has proactively proposed and implemented many ideas, contributed to the drafting of numerous important documents, and promoted initiatives for the sub-regions development, while providing development assistance to other countries in the region, including assistance in terms of human resources and infrastructure. In the CLMV framework, Viet Nam has created a CLMV scholarship fund which offered dozens of scholarships to students from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar each year. The programme is appreciated by beneficiary countries which have recommended extending it during 2016-2020. Viet Nam acts as a coordinator in many fields in both CLMV and ACMECS frameworks, and has implemented many practical activities helping promote comprehensive co-operation among countries. Well aware of the importance of the sustainable use of natural resources in the Mekong river basin, Viet Nam actively promoted co-operation on environment and management of water resources. Viet Nam is the first country to raise the idea of establishing a working group on environment within the framework of ACMECS and currently is a co-chair of the group. In 2016, Viet Nam hosted several meetings of specialised working groups and senior officials of the CLMV and ACMECS. The country undertook a number of improvements to help the working groups be more professionally organised and co-ordinate more smoothly, which is welcomed by CLMV and ACMECS member nations. Minh said the Association of the Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) has taken a long time to successfully set up an ASEAN Community with the core values of solidarity, consensus, and unity in diversity. However, one of the obstacles for the community was uneven development among the members, especially between CLMV and six other members. Enhancing the development co-operation among the four countries was an objective requirement of the ASEAN integration. The first CLMV Summit, held in Vientiane in 2004, affirmed the co-operation determination of the four countries for common benefits, and called on the assistance of international organisations to promote economic development and social improvement in the Mekong region, Minh said. The CLMV co-operation is an open mechanism to develop the potential and advantages of each country as well as call on financial and technical assistances from other ASEAN members, he said. This is also a forum for the CLMV countries to exchange viewpoints to protect their own interests during the economic integration process with ASEAN members as well as other partners such as the US, China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union. Along with the CLMV co-operation, the four countries and Thailand set up the ACMECS, with an overall purpose of peace, stability and prosperity, he said. The ACMECS s key target was to boost the competitiveness and economic growth in the countries border areas, effectively promote agricultural and industrial production, create jobs, and narrow income gaps among the countries. The ACMECS co-operation focused on eight key sectors of trade-investment, agriculture, industry-energy, transport, tourism, human resources, healthcare, and environment. After 13 years of operation, the CLMV and ACMECS co-operation has contributed to strengthening a peaceful and stable environment in the region, promoting economic, trade and investment ties among member countries and narrowing development gap in the ASEAN, the deputy PM said. Thanks to extensive economic reforms and efforts in liberalising and facilitating trade and investment, the Mekong region has become a dynamic development region and an important driving force for ASEANs growth. The highlight of the CLMV and ACMECS co-operation was to aim for specific results with outstanding projects and programmes being many new roads in the East-West Economic Corridor and the South Economic Belt, and many bilateral and multilateral agreements on transport, customs and immigration procedures, and scholarships. The CLMV and ACMECS are also important mechanisms for Mekong countries to co-ordinate efforts to cement trust and hold dialogues to seek solutions to common challenges like water resources, climate change and diseases based on the harmony of interests of all sides. The ACMECS-7 and the CLMV-8, which have the theme of Towards a dynamic and prosperous Mekong sub-region: Seizing opportunities, shaping the future, will provide an occasion for leaders to review the implementation of approved action plans and reach consensus on co-operation measures to improve competiveness of economies, promote regional integration and respond to common challenges, for the Mekong sub-regions future of peace and prosperity. On the occasion, at Viet Nams initiative, the World Economic Forum on Mekong region (WEF Mekong) will be organised for the first time alongside the CLMV-8 and ACMECS-7 to promote the regions potential to the international business community. -- VNS Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Le Hai Binh at a regular press conference in Ha Noi yesterday. Photo hanoimoi.vn HA NOI Viet Nams representative agencies in the Republic of Korea (RoK), China and Malaysia have been working to provide protection services for Vietnamese nationals in the countries as reported by Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Le Hai Binh during a regular press conference in Ha Noi yesterday. Regarding the death of a Vietnamese worker in the RoK, Binh said the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK has contacted the company employing the worker right after being informed by competent Korean agencies. The relevant companies said they will cover part of the funeral expense, he said, adding that the bereaved family came to the RoK Embassy in Viet Nam to complete necessary procedures for the repatriation of the deceased. On the case pertaining to a pregnant girl in China, who is said a Vietnamese, the spokesman said personal information around her has yet to be clarified. Binh said representatives of the Vietnamese Consulate General in Shanghai on Wednesday had a working session with police of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, and directly met with the girl for more details. However, the girl can speak a little Vietnamese and her Chinese is not good, he said, adding that the Consulate General is co-ordinating with competent agencies at home to get further information. Viet Nams representative agencies have also kept a close watch on the case, he added. Asked about the 26 Vietnamese women out of 41 others rescued from a brothel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Binh said the Vietnamese Embassy in the country will clarify the information about the women who were assumed to be victims of human trafficking. Suitable measures will be taken to protect the Vietnamese citizens, he said. IAEA regulations Also yesterday, Binh said countries building and operating their nuclear power plants need to comply with the Convention of Nuclear Safety and relevant regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). They must work to ensure that their plants do not affect the environmental safety of their neighbouring countries, the diplomat said. In the conference, reporters raised queries on how Viet Nam ensures safety for locals in areas near Chinas three nuclear power plants which lie close to the border shared with Viet Nam. The plants were put into operation recently as reported by Chinese media. Viet Nam has asked the Chinese side to soon work together on a mechanism for regular exchanges of information on those plants, said the spokesperson. No foreign military base allowed in Viet Nam Viet Nam does not allow any countries to establish a military base in the country, Binh said. He made the statement in response to queries about Russian media reports that the country was considered returning to Cam Ranh port in Viet Nams southern province of Khanh Hoa. He reiterated that Viet Nam pursues a consistent policy of not joining any military alliance nor allying with any country to act against a third country, making it clear that all statements by the ministry on the issue remain unchanged. Viet Nam upholds the external policy of independence, self-reliance, co-operation and development, diversification and multilateralisation of international relations, and extensive global integration, as well as developing co-operation with all partners on the basis of mutual benefit for peace, stability, co-operation and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world. The comprehensive strategic partnership between Viet Nam and Russia is growing strongly, as are the relations with other major partners in the world, he stated. Viet Nam wants India, Pakistan to settle issues by peaceful means Viet Nam wants India and Pakistan to settle existing issues in their bilateral ties by peaceful means, Binh said. He made the statement in response to reporters queries about Viet Nams stance on the recent developments on the border between the two countries. Binh said that the countries should act to meet the aspirations and interest of the two people, and contribute to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world. VNS HA NOI President Tran ai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on Friday sent their condolences to Thailand over the death of King Bhumibol Abdulyadej. In their letter, the leaders said under the 70-year reign of King Bhumibol Abdulyadej, Thailand had grown strongly and Thai people had enjoyed prosperity. As a neighbour and a strategic partner of Thailand, Viet Nam treasures the Kings contributions to enhancing cooperation between the two countries, they said. They expressed their hope that Queen Sirikit , the royal family and people of Thailand will overcome the huge loss and continue to bring the country forward as the King desired. The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh conveyed his sympathies to Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai . King Bhumibol Abdulyadej, the worlds longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 3.52 pm on October 13, at the age of 88. King Bhumibol Abdulyadej officially came to the throne in 1950. He was a symbol of national unity in Thailand and widely revered in the country. He was one of the most beloved kings of Thailand thanks to over 2,000 development projects, which helped change the lives of millions of poor Thai farmers. Under his reign, Thailand recorded great achievements across fields, especially in economy, culture, science and technology. The king was presented with the Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award by former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan in June 2006. According to Thailands royal succession law, Crown Prince Maha Vajralongkorn will be the new monarch. VNS Several problems including kidnapping, blackmailing and violence have prompted a call for the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) to play a greater role in debt collection. VNA/VNS Photo HA NOI Several problems including kidnapping, blackmailing and violence have prompted a call for the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) to play a greater role in debt collection. The proposal has been made by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), which says the management of debt collection by several State agencies has proved inadequate. The MoF said its recommendation, contained in draft amendments to a decree, is based on the fact that the majority of violations committed by debt collectors involve the disturbance of public security and order. It cited two notable cases: the TaiGa Debt Collection Company, based in HCM City, which had committed terrorised debtors to settle overdue debts; and the Cong Ly (Justice) Company, also based in HCM City, whose staff had colluded with gangsters to engage in kidnapping and blackmailing. The finance ministry said no legal provision existed for MoPS to play a role in debt collection, and the police do not have the authority to prescribe administrative penalties against erring debt collection businesses. Thus, clearer regulations on inspecting and monitoring debt collection enterprises are required, the ministry said in a statement yesterday. It proposed that the MoPS be given additional responsibility for handling administrative violations in debt collecting. While the MoF will submit regulations on debt collection services, local administrations should inspect debt collection services happening in their localities, the ministry said. The draft adds new rules on uniforms for debt collectors. It says debt collection agencies should design uniforms for their staff and submit the designs to local authorities including the police. The staff of such agencies should wear the approved uniforms and present their ID card as well as a reference letter from their employers. Explaining the new dress code regulations, the MoF said it was not unusual for debt collectors to gather as a large group, wearing underworld-style clothes and intimidating debtors. Such tactics affects the reputation and rights of individuals and organisations in debt and undermines efforts of the Government to retain public order and security, it said. A dress code could help increase awareness of the need to abide by the law, prevent employees of debt collecting agencies from committing offences, and inject greater professionalism in this business. It would also increase credibility of debt collecting agencies as a legitimate service and put debtors minds at ease, the ministry said. Importantly, professional uniforms would also enhance the publics role in monitoring debt collection activities, it added. - VNS In BOX: Why it happens Many enterprises had lost faith in debt collection and settlement via court proceedings because of ineffectual enforcement of the courts orders. As a last resort, they tended to hire gangsters to force debtors into paying up. The success rate of debt collection through such nefarious means was as high as 90 per cent, and this dipped to about 50 per cent when using legal methods, said Nguyen Minh uc of the Legal Department of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) As of 2015, debt collection agencies operated in just three provinces and cities, according to official reports from 43 provinces and cities. There were 16 firms operating in HCM City, four in a Nang City, and one in An Giang Province. - VNS HCM CITY HCM City plans to have a paper-free administration, digitising all documents in Government offices to streamline administrative procedures and reduce costs, a top leader has said. Tran Vinh Tuyen, Deputy Chairman of the city Peoples Committee, said The use of e-documents in the near future is appropriate for online public services. It would also facilitate the introduction of e-governance, he told a conference on Wednesday. He instructed districts to expand their online services to serve the public faster and more efficiently. The use of IT at State administrative agencies is crucial to simplifying procedures and developing HCM City into a smart city, he said. Since last July the Peoples Committee has been sending invitations and documents for government meetings via SMS and e-mail. Vo Sy, deputy head of the Peoples Committee office, more than VN180 million (US$8,000) has been saved in administrative costs in two months since printed letters were stopped. It would save more than VN1 billion (US$44,800) every year, he added. VNS Your Say, published every Friday, lets readers express their opinions on a topic or issue raised by the editor. Next week: Do you agree with Viet Nam changing its ban on powdered milk advertisements to infants? Viet Nams Ministry of Planning and Investment has proposed banning on advertising powder milk for children under 12 months, instead of under 24 months that has been on the books for four years. The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) in Viet Nam sent a letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on September 23, saying the change isnt in line with Viet Nams commitment to the international community and warned of its grave and dangerous consequences to childrens health. The Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the current ban could be seen as a form that deprived of access to information for nursing mothers. In addition, a Children Protection and Care Department expert said the change on ban advertising formular milk didnt violate conventional practices. What do you think of the proposal ? In your country, when are mothers encouraged to use formular milk? Do you think the nursing mothers of one-year-old infants need information on nutrition supplements and formula milk ? Please reply by email to: opinion@vnsmail.com, or by fax to (84-4) 39332311. Letters can be sent to The Editor, Viet Nam News, 79 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, Ha Noi. Replies to questions must be received by Thursday morning, October 20, 2016.-- VNS HA NOI The quality of seawater in coastal areas of Viet Nam has been on the decline, with a heavy weight of total suspended solids (TSS), according to Viet Nam Sea and Islands General Department. Contaminated seawater, caused by organic chemicals, has reportedly resulted from main land waste released by factories, residential areas, hospitals or agricultural production activities. Figures from Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) reveal that 70 per cent of waste released to the sea every year comes from the mainland. This untreated waste, which was pumped directly into the ocean, brings along sediment, plastic, chemicals, metals, oil, and even radioactive substances. Chemical Oxygen Demand or COD, the total measurement of all chemicals ( organic & in-organic) in the water, and NH4 level measured during 2011 and 2015 are higher than normal levels. Pressure from aquaculture activities in coastal areas is also a big problem, MONRE said. Aquaculture breeding areas in estuaries along the coast have created organic waste, microorganism toxic substances and domestic waste from breeding, resulting in degraded environment quality, disease outbreaks and economic losses. The ministry showed that one hectare of shrimp breeding area releases, on average, about five tonnes of solid waste, and a large amount of liquid waste in only one season. Cat Ba National Park in northern Hai Phong City, covering over 5,400 hectares of water surface, is a typical example. Since tourism activities developed and aquaculture started there, the environment has become seriously polluted. Side effects of the marine economy Until September 2014, coastal cities and provinces in Viet Nam had 44 sea ports where sensitive and valuable ecosystems are located, bringing huge economic value to the country. However, the MONRE report reveals oil spills, grease, and waste from ships operating around these ports have caused pollution and created risks for the living environment of animals and plants in the areas. According to the Environment Observation and Analysis Centre of northern Quang Ninh province, oil and grease pollution along the Ha Long Bay coast from 2011 to 2015 has reached 0.012 to 0.826 mg per litre, compared to standard statistics of 0.2. Untreated domestic and industrial waste water has high levels of bacteria. Additionally, the mercury levels at Vung Tau port and Nha Trang port have reached an alarming rate, exceeding the safe limits. At the National Environment Report launch last month, Hoang Duong Tung, deputy director general of the Viet Nam Environmental Administration under MONRE said that coastal seawater has been partially contaminated at several spots due to the impact of economic development activities along the coast. Many localities prioritise economic goals and underestimate environmental protection, as well as ignore the roles and responsibilities of social organisations, the community and residents, he said. The report suggests the National Assembly, Government, ministries and local agencies finalise environmental protection legal systems while strengthening State management on the issue. VNS HA NOI Vietnamese atomic energy has been successfully applied across various sectors in Viet Namincluding health care, industry and agricultureexperts said in a seminar in Ha Noi yesterday. Radiation and radioactive isotopes have proven effective in disease diagnosis and treatment, head of the Viet Nam Atomic Energy Agency Hoang Anh Tuan said, adding that Viet Nam now houses 32 centres for nuclear medicine, 25 radiotherapy centres and 174 CT scanners. In the sphere of industry, gamma rays have been used in the garment-textile sector and petrochemistry, according to the official. In terms of agriculture, Viet Nam ranks eighth in the world in research on mutation breeding. Some 27 monitoring stations have been built in 16 cities and provinces across the country near mines containing radioactive material. Radiation technology has also been deployed in Viet Nam in the field of seafood and agricultural products, especially fruits for export, sterilisation of medical equipment and manufacturing materials through radiation treatment. Tuan suggested training more experts who can master radiation and radioactive isotopes, as Viet Nam is now thirsty for experts in this field. Delegates at the event also discussed the legal systems mechanisms and policies, as well as State management in scientific and technological development, in order to ensure the safety and security of atomic energy. They stressed the need to import more technologies and organise more scientific-technological workshops with the participation of foreign partners to hasten the application of atomic energy in socio-economic development. Pham Cong Tac, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, said that Vietnamese management agencies, scientists, institutes and educational institutions have made every effort to develop legal documents with the aim of accelerating the research and application of the energy. Outcomes of atomic energy research studies and applications to serve national socio-economic development were also displayed on this occasion. Chinese nuclear power plants Regarding the three Chinese nuclear power plants near Viet Nams border, Nguyen Hao Quang, vice director of the Viet Nam Atomy Energy Insitute, said that it was necessary to build a national network monitoring and alerting environmental radioactivity. Radiation can move across borders and cannot be observed visually. Its essential that such a network is built because apart from Chinese nuclear power plants, other countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia also plan to build their own nuclear power plants, Quang said. Experience indicates that monitoring and sharing warnings about radiation is very important. In 2011, for example, the tsunami in Japan led to the incident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. At these sorts of times, a monitoring station would help us find the right plan of action when threats lurk, he added. Trinh Van Giap, from the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, said that plans for a national monitoring network and an environmental radiation warning system was approved by the then Prime Minister in 2010.--VNS YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has issued a condolence message regarding the Moscow-Yerevan bus crash and gave several instructions to appropriate agencies of Armenia. The condolence message in particular reads: Dear compatriots, With deep sorrow I learned about the overnight bus crash en route from Moscow to Yerevan, which resulted in loss of life and injured. In this difficult moment, I express condolences and support to the families, relatives and friends of the victims. I wish speedy recovery to all the injured. Shortly after the incident, Armenian authorities briefed the President on the crash, which happened at 04:30 on the Beslan-Vladikavkaz bypass highway. According to preliminary information 5 people died and 27 were injured. President Serzh Sargsyan instructed the Government of Armenia and the Armenian Embassy in Russia to take immediate measures for assisting the victims. At the same time authorities were instructed to take steps for providing necessary assistance to the families of the victims. Armenian authorities were instructed to determine the cause and circumstances of the crash and provide full information by cooperating with Russian law enforcement agencies. The President was also briefed that the Consulate General representative of Armenia in Rostov and Russias South is already at the scene and is cooperating with Russian authorities regarding first-aid issues. The longest-reigning monarch won the devotion of his subjects with his commitment to their welfare HIS MAJESTY King Bhumibol Adulyadej rose to the greatest heights in modern Thai history and was, in his lifetime, the pillar and soul of his nation. Like his grandfather King Rama V, His Majesty made enormous contributions to his country, commanding deep love and loyalty from his people. He was the guiding light, helping his Kingdom in times of crisis time and again. During his seven-decade-long reign, His Majesty peacefully defused several political situations, such as the tumult in October 1973 and Black May in 1992 - something no Thai politician was able to accomplish then or later. His reign spanned the terms of more than 30 governments, several military regimes, coups and numerous coup attempts, and even the defeat of the communist threat that raged through Southeast Asia a few decades ago. At the time of his passing yesterday, he was the worlds longest-reigning monarch and had been recognised with several international awards for his contributions in various fields. Among the honours were the UNDP Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award, Time magazines "Asian Hero King Bhumibol Adulyadej for Shaping the Asia of Our Times" and the World Intellectual Property Organisation Global Leaders Award. In an unprecedented gathering of royalty, the kings, queens and royal representatives from 26 countries arrived at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok in 2006 to pay tribute to His Majesty on the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne. In Thailand, he was considered the father of many innovations and technology. These accolades, however, pale before his significance to the Thai people - he was their inspiration, their leading light, and the King of their hearts. His Majesty won the hearts of his subjects because he fully honoured his oath of accession: "We shall reign with righteousness, for the benefits and happiness of the Siamese people." This oath was taken on the day of his coronation in 1950, when His Majesty was just 23. Born on December 5, 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, His Majesty was the third and youngest child of Their Royal Highnesses Prince Mahidol of Songkhla and Princess Srinagarindra. He spent much of his childhood overseas, visiting Thailand sometimes with his older brother King Ananda Mahidol to see their country and their elderly grandmother HM Queen Savang Vadhana. The younger royal never expected to become a monarch, but had to take over after his brothers untimely death on June 9, 1946. He was once quoted as saying after his brothers death: "I had never thought of becoming a king. I only wanted be your younger brother". After King Anandas passing, the course of the younger royals life changed completely. He had to change his subject of education from science to political science and law, so he could equip himself with proper knowledge for his reign. After completing his education in Switzerland, His Majesty returned for the royal coronation and faithful devotion to his country and his people. For most of his reign, His Majesty travelled the length and breadth of the Kingdom, visiting the poorest and remotest corners to learn about the problems faced by his people. During his travels, the beloved monarch spoke to his subjects and most importantly, listened to them. He learned of their needs and problems first hand and set about trying to find a way to give immediate help, before studying the issue in depth to find a permanent solution. He had to stop making these trips only after his health began to fail. Yet, even during his time at Siriraj Hospital, the beloved monarch read reports on issues affecting his people and gave advice when he could. Since 1952, His Majesty initiated more than 3,000 innovative programmes in agriculture, environment, public health, water resources, communications, public welfare, occupational promotion and education with the aim of easing the lives of Thai people. He also actively promoted sustainable development and the philosophy of sufficiency economy. His Majesty passed away peacefully at the age of 89 yesterday. He is survived by Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and their four children. His death has plunged the nation into mourning. But the revered monarch will live in the hearts of Thai people forever. THE NATION NINH THUAN The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Viet Nam on Friday celebrated the 36th World Food Day in the southern Ninh Thuan Province with a vow to take numerous measure to ensure food secuity. The event, themed Climate is changing, food and agriculture must too stressed the urgent issue of climate change which poses a significant challenge to food security and impacts the livelihoods of millions of people. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the event, MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said Viet Nam is one of the countries hardest hit by climate change and natural disasters. Climate change and sea level rises were forecast to reduce rice output by 7.2 million tonnes and affect 32.2 per cent of agricultural land in the country by the end of this century, said the official. Doanh appealed for more efforts from people and authorities at all levels, particularly in agriculture, to co-operate with each other to tackle climate change. To scale up the climate smart agriculture models, farming households the smallest production unit should be empowered to adapt to local conditions; rural women and gender equality in agriculture should be focused on. This will contribute to the sustainable reduction of poverty, food security, political stability and socio-economic development, said Doanh. FAO Representative in Viet Nam Jong Ha Bae said the organisation was ready to assist Viet Nam in adapting to climate change. We are working to help farmers, pastoralists, fishers and forest dwellers by developing their capacities to adapt to climate change and advising on how to integrate adaptation practices in national policies, said Jong Ha Bae. The event also marked the 71st anniversary of FAO. On the occasion, an FAO publication Farmer Field School Guidance was launched to showcase FAOs work to combat climate change impacts and create more sustainable agriculture. After the ceremony, the FAO and MARD delegations visited the Demonstration on Integrated Crop Management Cultivation for Fresh Cooking Hybrid Maize Crop on Paddy Land in Thuan Bac District, Ninh Thuan Province. This is a site of a FAO technical assistance project funded by the joint Government - UN programme on integrated nutrition and food security. VNS When word got out last week about a two-headed piglet, local residents flocked to a farm in Nghe An Province to take a selfie with the creature. Born with four eyes and weighing 500 grammes, the piglet was part of a litter of 10, according to the owner and farmer, 56-year-old Nguyen Ba Hien of Hoi Son Commune in An Son District. The chairman of the communes Peoples Committee, Nguyen Huu Dung, said the newborn pig had been sold to a pig trader from nearby Anh Son Town. He could not confirm whether it was still alive. VNS HCM CITY The month-long 2017 Gyeongju World Cultural Festival is expected to take place in HCM City from November next year. HCM City and Gyeongju city in South Koreas Gyeongsangbuk-do Province will co-host the event, which will consist of art performances, exhibitions, movie screenings and trade promotion. An MOU for organising the festival was signed during city Party secretary inh La Thangs visit to South Korea in September. The festival has been held biennially since 1998 in South Korea and foreign countries to promote their respective cinema, trade, art and culinary industries. VNS UN chief to visit hurricane-hit Haiti as funding appeal falls short UNITED NATIONS, United States UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Haiti on Saturday to visit areas devastated by Hurricane Matthew as a UN funding appeal for the Caribbean nation drew few donors. Ban will visit Les Cayes on Haitis southern coast -- one of the cities hardest-hit by Matthew -- and meet with Haitian leaders, his office said. The United Nations has launched a flash appeal for US$120 million to help Haiti cope with its worst humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake. Only $6.1 million has been raised so far, equal to 5 per cent of the total appeal, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. At least 473 people were killed when Matthew crashed ashore on October 4 as a monster Category 4 storm, packing winds of 230km per hour. Ban said on Monday that a "massive response" was needed to cope with the destruction, with 1.4 million people in need of urgent assistance after towns and villages were almost wiped off the map. Anger has been mounting among some residents in remote areas of Haiti where several humanitarian convoys have been blocked by barricades, and in some instances looted, on their journey across the southern peninsula. The director of the UNs World Food Program denounced those attacks, saying that they "will delay our effort to bring food to the public." "Unfortunately, there are people trying to take advantage of humanitarian efforts and we have lost food to theft," said Carlos Veloso, the WFP country director in Haiti. The US Agency for International Development announced on Thursday more than $12 million in assistance to communities hit by the hurricane, bringing the US governments total immediate relief in Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas to nearly $14 million. Along with the US Department of Defense, USAID on Wednesday flew 13 missions to Haitis Grand Anse and Sud departments. To date, USAID has delivered some 159 metric tons of emergency supplies. Separately, the UN Security Council decided to extend the mandate of the MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission in Haiti for another six months, until April 2017. UN mission chief Sandra Honore told the council this week that the extension would help Haiti deal with the humanitarian crisis and ensure political stability after elections were postponed. Ban will also travel to Ecuador to attend the Habitat III conference on housing and sustainable urban development. AFP BANGKOK Millions of Thais donned black on Friday as the grieving nation prepared to hold traditional Buddhist ceremonies for revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose death leaves the country facing an uncertain new era. Bhumibol, the worlds longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 88 on Thursday after a long battle with ill health, removing a stabilising father figure in a country where political tensions are still raw two years after a military coup. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, is the kings named successor, but has made a surprise request to delay formally becoming the next king, according to the junta leader who appealed for citizens to accept the decision and "not cause chaos". Officials prepared to move the monarchs body on Friday from the hospital where he died to the Grand Palace , a complex of glittering temples and pavilions in the heart of the capital. Large crowds are expected to pour onto the streets for the procession from Siriraj Hospital where the king spent much of the last two years battling an array of ailments. A statement from the palace said the Crown Prince would preside over a ceremony to bathe the kings body -- a traditional Buddhist funeral rite. His remains will then lie in state for weeks and months of palace rituals. United in grief Many Thais on Friday opted to dress in black and white, both mourning colours in Thailand , as they went about their business. "I am very sad, I was born under this king," Arunee Sahathongthai, 49, said as she bought a pair of black trousers at a market in Bangkok , saying that Thais were "united in grief". Some said they were nervous about a future without Bhumibol. "I really loved him," said Arnon Sangwiman, a 54-year-old electricity company employee. "Now I am afraid of what may happen, about the administration of the country, the type of regime in the long term." Thais had expected Vajiralongkorn to be officially proclaimed king immediately after his Bhumibols death was announced. But Thailand s junta leader late on Thursday announced that the prince had sought a delay to mourn his fathers loss and better prepare for his new role. Most Thais have known no other monarch than Bhumibol and he was portrayed as a guiding light through decades of political turmoil and coups. The Crown Prince spends much of his time overseas and is yet to attain his fathers widespread popularity at home. During Bhumibols reign, Thailand transformed from an impoverished, rural nation into one of the regions most successful economies, avoiding the civil wars. He sometimes intervened to quell Thailand s frequent political violence but at other times stayed silent, approving most of the armys many coups during his reign. Any criticism, republican sentiment, or speculation on succession is smothered by a draconian lese majeste law. Tributes poured in from across the globe for the monarch. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Albanese pressed over lack of appearances with Andrews ahead of election campaign Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has deflected questions about why he has not appeared alongside Premier Daniel Andrews ahead of the official Victorian election campaign while in Melbourne. Liberals call for school mobile phone ban after shock NAPLAN results The Coalition has repeated calls for a "back to basics" focus on education and a nation-wide ban of mobile phones in schools following the shock results from NAPLAN. Whos suggesting Im not?: Andrews grilled over Peoples Forum appearance Daniel Andrews has faced questions over whether he will appear at the Sky News/Herald Sun People's Forum ahead of the Victoria state election after Matthew Guy agreed to take part in the debate. Sydney woman identified as Australian killed in Halloween stampede A 23-year-old production assistant from Sydney has been revealed as the Australian woman who died after being crushed at a Halloween party in South Korea. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. By the instruction of the Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies, the return of Moscow-Yerevan bus crash passengers, who dont have health issues, has been organized to Armenia, press service of the Ministry told Armenpress. On October 14, at 04:30 (05:30 local time) a Mercedes Benz 0404-15R bus (license plate # 50AA515) crashed into a Akania cargo truck on the Vladikavkaz-Beslan bypass road. The bus was operating the Moscow-Yerevan route. 27 of 50 passengers who do not need medical assistance are now in Beslans Culture Center. They are receiving necessary assistance. First responders are currently at the scene. A task force is already working in the ministry, which is examining the circumstances and consequences of the accident. A hot line is available in the ministry 00374 010 59-01-02, 59-01- 04, 59-01-05. CEDAR FALLS Ben Behrends, 10, likes to climb. He and his brother, Jason, like to run, swing, jump and leap too. To make this flurry of physical activity more interesting, they create obstacle courses in their garage, backyard and parks, using whats already there. I like it, said Ben. You can get out and have fun. My favorite is stuff that is really high up. Where others see trees, rocks and picnic tables, Ben sees a rigorous test of his physical ability. How many possible obstacle courses are there? A billion, he insisted. The whole family gets involved, though Ben said he and Jason dont yet consider including things their sister, Liah, 2, can do when designing courses. Ben brings creativity to the building, said Scott, their dad. Jason brings the wild man aspect. Jason admits he is kind of wild. He likes playing on the courses because he gets to be active and spend time with his family. I have fun, and I think it inspires (other) kids to have fun, he said. Their mom, Lindsey, believes Mary Dickens, retired Hansen Elementary School physical education teacher, reinforced the appeal of creative play and resourcefulness. She was amazing at obstacle courses, Lindsey noted. Creativity and physical activity is essential in the Behrends household, because Scott and Lindsey limit time spent in front of screens of any type. One treat is watching NBCs American Ninja Warrior, in which elite athletes complete intense obstacle course challenges. The highly popular show gave Scott the idea to share the familys activities via social media. He had several reasons. Chief among them is the desire to connect with others who enjoy similar activities. Our kids dont do any sports, band or music, he explained. Theyre shy; they may not even want to sign up. Scott began taking photos and making videos when the family would play on courses at home or in nearby parks and other locations. About a month ago, he started posting the videos of the Backyard Ninja Kids on YouTube and promoting them via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. In that time, their videos have received nearly 2,000 views. As their YouTube channel notes, We are a family who likes to climb things, hang upside down, be healthy, encourage others and have fun. The videos explain how to build equipment inexpensively, find creative uses for ordinary equipment and use available materials and existing terrain as equipment and obstacles. Backyard Ninja Kids is a way for the family to stay active, collaborate and make things together, Scott noted. You dont have to sign up for a gym or have fancy equipment or ninja courses; you can just use what you have, he explained. This encourages a lot of creativity. Recently, Ben, Jason and Liah were featured in a Wall Street Journal article about how American Ninja Warriors has inspired children nationwide. Included was a sketch Ben made of Scotts idea for a garage climbing wall that can be fitted over the family minivan. WSJ noted how strongly the highly popular show resonates among young people. American Ninja Warrior has inspired families to participate in ninja warrior classes, host American Ninja Warrior-themed kids parties and zip through backyard obstacle courses. Retailers have experienced an uptick in the sale of obstacle equipment and climbing walls. A growing number of gyms and other businesses offer ninja-themed classes, activities and courses. Backyard obstacle courses are a popular topic of social media and parenting blogs, and Pinterest offers thousands of do-it-yourself course plans. Family-oriented gyms featuring obstacle courses are a hit in larger cities, according to WSJ. Chris Wilczewski, a former American Ninja Warrior contestant, co-owns Movement Lab gyms in New Jersey and Ohio and plans a third in Los Angeles. He also co-founded the National Ninja League, which recently added youth divisions. American Ninja Warriors isnt affiliated with any of the gyms featuring similar activities or obstacle courses. Executive producer Kent Weed told WSJ he was initially surprised by the shows popularity among children. He and the network have discussed creating a childrens version of the show, but nothing is in the works. Connecting her sons interest in American Ninja Warrior with their enjoyment of obstacle courses is especially appealing, said Lindsey. Our boys learn about competition and staying active in a positive light, she explained. From the videos online, weve already had neighborhood kids say, Wed love to do something with you. Families have started contacting the Behrends through social media too. They also heard from a former American Ninja Warrior contestant from Des Moines. Theres a guy in Idaho who reached out because they do the same things. He told us to check out their page, said Scott. Its just nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and maybe well make it out that way to meet them at some point. WATERLOO A teen wanted in connection with an assault in Mississippi in May has been detained in Waterloo. Kamechie Kashun Coffer, 18, turned himself in at the Black Hawk County Jail on Thursday night and was behind held without bail as of Friday. Coffer is charged with aggravated assault on a vulnerable adult, said Kenneth Hampton, chief of the police department in Tchula, Miss., a city of about 2,300 people. According to Hampton, Coffer and others are wanted in an assault on Clarence Blue, a double amputee who used a wheelchair. He said Blue, 44, was attacked in May outside an apartment building for the disabled and elderly where he lived, and he later died. He said Blue was found in a pool of blood. The motive for the attack was money, Hampton said. Four people had been arrested on second-degree murder, but a judge threw out the murder charges after an autopsy ruled that Blue had died of heart problems and there were no signs of an assault. Hampton took to social media to denounce the dismissed charges. The worst thing a Law Man or Woman can do is quit and let broken laws go unchallenged. The oath WE took demands that WE give OUR all and nothing less, he wrote on the departments Facebook page Hampton lodged the new charges and returned to Facebook to deride the suspects and tell them to report to his office for arrest. Coffer lives in Mississippi but has family in the Waterloo area, Hampton said. OSAGE Nicholas Lenz told a Mitchell County deputy during a recorded interview he repeated hit and kicked a woman in early March and briefly restrained her using packing tape or zip ties several times. I beat the fout of her for two days straight, he said in the audio recording played for jurors Thursday afternoon during his trial on charges of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury. Lenz also admitted during the interview he used packing tape to restrain the woman while they were in her house in Mitchell and later used zip ties to bind her ankles in a camper on his grandparents property near Otranto. On Wednesday the woman testified Lenz left her zip-tied in the trailer for four hours. I wasnt trying to keep her hostage, Lenz said. Lenz, 23, also from Mitchell, was in a romantic relationship with the woman. He claimed they went to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area twice and bought and smoked crack cocaine there. He said the second time they drove back to Mitchell from Waterloo, they were in her car but he drove because she was drunk. Lenz said when the woman, who The Courier is not naming, is coming down from a crack high, she becomes a totally different person. She started putting me down, he said. Lenz said they got back to Mitchell on the morning of March 6, drove around for a while and then went to sleep. When Mitchell County Deputy Jeff Huftalin, who was the conducting the March 8 interview, told Lenz he expected him to be honest, Lenz began to cry. I couldnt take the putdowns anymore, he said. Lenz said when they were in the car she told him she wanted him to pack up his stuff that was in her house. I punched her like 10 times, Lenz said. When they were back at the womans house, he said he kicked her and punched her in the face. Lenz said he was beginning to feel paranoid as he came down from a crack high and was beginning to mistake the trees in the yard for people. Thats when he decided to go to his grandparents place, taking the woman with him. He said he repeatedly hit her in her jaw and ribs while they were in the car. Lenz said when they arrived they sat in the camper for a bit and he told her he was going back to Mitchell to pack up their things and bring them back to the camper. Lenz said when he was driving he went into a ditch. He then took a Chevy Trailblazer from a residence as well as other items such as a laptop, a Wii and some guns and ammunition. He said he went back to the camper without returning to Mitchell first. He then took the woman, who had been in the camper, along in the Trailblazer. Lenz said he drove to St. Ansgar, broke into Sportsmans Bar and Grill and stole some cash. He said he tried to take a safe from Gerbs Bar in Stacyville, but couldnt lift it into the Trailblazer because it was too heavy. Lenz has been charged for the burglaries, but is not being tried for them at this time. He said when he and the woman returned to her house they brought everything inside and she went to bed while he passed out on the couch. During the interview Huftalin told Lenz officers had been to the camper and seen the zip ties. Lenz said after he had returned to the trailer following the home burglary, he was afraid she would try to grab one of the stolen guns and kill him, so I did zip tie her some. He said he only had her restrained her for a little while as he loaded all the stolen items into the Trailblazer. Then while she was in the vehicle he moved the guns back into the camper and they left for Austin, Minn., before heading to St. Ansgar and Stacyville. Lenz said the woman did not participate in the burglaries and was not zip-tied while in the Trailblazer. He said he threatened to kill her but didnt really mean it. He denied every pointing a gun to her head. Lenz repeatedly asked during the interview how the woman was doing. He also asked Huftalin to tell her, I still love her. Sorry for what I did. The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. today. WATERLOO Eight Northeast Iowa judges are up for retention votes in this years general election Nov. 8. In Iowa, judges are appointed by the governor following nominations by a local committee. But they face regular retention votes by the public to keep their seats. A recent poll by Iowa attorneys gave passing marks to all 66 judges up for retention. Judges were rated on eight areas of professional competence knowledge and application of the law, perception of factual issues, attentiveness to arguments and testimony, management of the courtroom and promptness of rulings and decisions and given overall approval ratings. Judges up for retention in the 1st Judicial District which covers Allamakee, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Grundy, Howard and Winneshiek counties include: District Court Judge Linda Fangman of Waterloo was appointed to the bench in 2015 after serving as assistant county attorney and county attorney in Black Hawk County. She serves the Waterloo-based 1B Judicial District. The Iowa Bar Association gave Fangman an overall approval rating of 83 percent. In a 5-point rating system, her high scores were for punctuality, 4.25, and management of the courtroom, 4.04; and her low scores were for perception of factual issues, 3.69, and knowledge and application of the law, 3.67. District Court Judge David Odekirk of Waterloo was appointed to the bench in 2015 after being in private practice since 1995. He serves the 1B Judicial District. Odekirk received a 96 percent approval rating in the Iowa Bar Association survey. His high scores were for temperament and attentiveness to arguments and testimony, 4.63; and his low scores were for knowledge and application of the law, 4.42, and promptness in rulings and decisions, 4.41. District Court Judge George Stigler of Waterloo was appointed to the bench in 1978. He serves the 1B Judicial District. Stigler received an 81 percent approval rating in the survey. High scores were for punctuality for court proceedings, 4.39, and management of the courtroom, 4.17; and his low scores were for attentiveness to arguments and testimony, 3.68, and temperament and demeanor, 3.51. District Court Judge Richard Stochl of New Hampton was appointed to the bench in 2007 after 18 years in private practice. He serves the 1B Judicial District. Stochl received a 76 percent approval rating. His high scores were for management of the courtroom, 3.94, and attentiveness to arguments and testimony, 3.61; and his low scores were for clarity of written opinions, 3.27, and promptness in rulings and decisions, 3.17. District Court Michael Shubatt of Dubuque was appointed to the bench in 2008 after 18 years in private practice. He serves the Dubuque-base 1A Judicial District. Shubatt received a 98 percent approval rating in the Bar Association Survey. His high scores were for management of the courtroom, 4.47, and temperament and demeanor, 4.45; and his low scores were for attentiveness, 4.34, and promptness, 4.27. District Associate Judge James Coil of Cedar Falls was appointed to the bench in 1986 after serving and an assistant Black Hawk County attorney and in private practice. He serves the 1B Judicial District. Coil received a 91 percent rating. His high scores were for punctuality for court proceedings, 4.55, and knowledge and application of the law, 4.30; his low scores were for temperament and demeanor, 3.50, and clarity and quality of written opinions, 4.06. Associate Juvenile Judge Alan Allbee of West Union was appointed to the bench in 1990 following private practice and stints as an assistant county attorney and a city attorney. He serves the 1B Judicial District. Allbee received a 95 percent approval rating. His high scores were for knowledge and application of the law, 4.65, and punctuality of proceedings, 4.64; and his low scores were for management of the courtroom, 4.42, and temperament and demeanor, 3.91. Associate Juvenile Judge Daniel Block was appointed to the bench in 1997 after private practice and serving as an assistant county attorney. He serves the 1B Judicial District. Black received a 95 percent approval rating. His high scores were for management of the courtroom, 4.51, and temperament and demeanor, 4.49; and his low scores were for promptness in rulings and decisions, 4.06, and punctuality of court proceedings, 4.20. Also up for retention are Iowa Supreme Court Justices Mark Cady, who received a 91 percent approval rating; Daryl Hecht, 88 percent approval; and Brent Appel, 82 percent; and Iowa Court of Appeals Judges David Danielson, 94 percent; Richard Doyle, 94 percent; Amanda Potterfield, 92 percent; and Gayle Nelson Vogel, 91 percent. WATERLOO Candidates for the Board of Supervisors were split along party lines over a proposed minimum wage increase in Black Hawk County. Democrats Linda Laylin, Tom Little and Chris Schwartz said they generally supported a local ordinance boosting the countys minimum wage, while Republicans John Dodge and Terry Scheffert did not. It was the only direct policy issue drawing distinctly different answers from the candidates Thursday during a forum at the Waterloo Public Library sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Black Hawk and Bremer Counties and the American Association of University Women. The five candidates at the forum and Republican Chad Folken, who was unable to attend, are running for three board seats seats up for grabs in the Nov. 8 general election. Supervisors in Polk, Johnson, Linn and Wapello counties have voted to boost their counties minimum wage over time above the $7.25-per-hour state and federal level. While Black Hawk County hopefuls said they would prefer the state or federal government to make any decisions on the issue, only the Democrats supported moving forward on a local ordinance. I would be supportive, said Laylin, an economic development consultant who is seeking a second term. Its somewhat ridiculous that our state hasnt taken action on this in this long a period. Laylin did not like the idea of all 99 Iowa counties having different minimum wage regulations, but said she was open to the idea as long as the federal government failed to act and local businesses were part of the discussion. Little, a three-term incumbent supervisor and retired John Deere employee, said he liked the way Linn County had a committee of county officials and public stakeholders that held numerous input meetings to come up with its plan. Its due; its way over time, Little said. We just have to go through a due process. Schwartz said raising the minimum wage is a cornerstone of his first bid for county elected office. The progressive activist and state director of Americans for Democratic Action said its unlikely the state or federal government will act within the next three to four years to raise the minimum wage. We just cant wait that much longer for folks to get a raise, said Schwartz, noting cities that have boosted the minimum wage saw unemployment drop and economic vitality increase. Dodge said workers looking to move beyond minimum wage jobs have opportunities locally for training and education. The U.S. Army veteran and Advanced Systems Inc. manager making his first bid for elected county office said raising the minimum wage in Black Hawk County would be a competitive disadvantage for job creation. You make an unlevel playing field, Dodge said. If we raise the minimum wage here in Black Hawk County and a potential employer wants to open and have 100 employees, it makes more sense for him to open in Waverly or even as close as Janesville than to do it in Black Hawk County. Scheffert, a retiree and veterans advocate vying for his first elected office, said he would prefer to focus on getting people education and training to excel past minimum wage work. If we raise minimum wage across the board, whats that going to do for the cost of living? he said. Its going to raise the poverty level. Scheffert suggested a minimum wage hike would do little to help a low-income worker because any gains in pay would reduce their assistance from entitlement programs. Incumbent Sheriff Tony Thompson and County Attorney Brian Williams, both Democrats running unopposed, also participated in the forum. Auditor Grant Veeder, a Democrat also running without an opponent, was unable to attend. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. This weeks YEREVAN BESTSELLER project of ARMENPRESS is topped by Mommyland: Flag by Armen Hayastantsi. A Haunted House by Virgina Woold comes next. It is a 1944 collection of 18 short stories. It was produced by her husband Leonard Woolf after her death although in the foreword he states that they had discussed its production together. The book was translated from English by Manik yegnayan. The editors are Ashot Gabrielyan, Taguhi Ghazaryan. Mark Arens Where wild roses bloom is ranked 3rd in the list. This is the second novel of the author which describes the inner world of an Armenophobic Turkish former serviceman, when he, already an old man, suddenly hears a lullaby song that reminds him of his mother and later finds out that the song is in Armenian: realizing his parents were Armenians. The same former serviceman spends his remaining life searching the graves of his parents, without knowing that it was a misunderstanding. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf is ranked 4th the list. It is an extended essay first published on 24 October 1929. The essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers of and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled "Women and Fiction", which was published in Forum March 1929, and hence the essay, are considered non-fiction. Fyodor Dostoyevskys collection titled Stories is ranked 5th. The collection comprises several famous novels of the Russian writer. A new book enters the list entitled Instead of Unread Books by Armen Sargsyan. It is ranked sixth. It the authors first book. The Fault in Our Stars is the 7th novel by author John Green, published in January 2012. The title is inspired by Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, in which the nobleman Cassius says to Brutus: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Paulo Coelhos The Spy enters the list. The Spy brings to life the true story of Mata Hari, the famous courtesan and accused spy who was executed for treason one hundred years ago. Mata Hari was a dancer who shocked and delighted audiences during the First World War, and she became a confidant to some of the eras richest and most powerful men. She dared to liberate herself from the moralism and provincial customs of the early twentieth century, but she ultimately paid for it with her life. As she waited for her execution in a Paris prison, one of her last requests was for a pen and some paper to write letters. The book is ranked 8th. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho is ranked 9th in the list. It tells the story of 24-year-old Slovenian Veronika, who appears to have everything in life going for her, but who decides to kill herself. This book is partly based on Coelho's experience in various mental institutions, and deals with the subject of madness. The gist of the message is that "collective madness is called sanity". Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray concludes the list. It is a philosophical novel, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. The book was published in 1891. To complete the bestseller list, the following bookshops have participated in the survey: Narek (51-91-36), Bookinist (53-74-13), Antares (091-90-01-23) and Zangak (23-26-49). JANESVILLE A Janesville woman was hospitalized following a Wednesday night accident involving a train on a gravel road. Kimberly Bradfield, 41, was taken to UnityPoint-Allen Hospital in Waterloo and then transferred to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City for treatment, said Bremer County Sheriff Dan Pickett. He said her injuries arent life threatening. The collision happened about 5:48 p.m. Wednesday in the 1300 block 260th Street at the crossing north of Janesville. Bradfield was traveling east on 260th behind another motorist, and the Canadian National train was heading north. The other driver made it through the crossing, and Bradfields vehicle collided with the train. The rail crossing is controlled by a yield sign for automobile traffic, Pickett said. The Bremer County Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Janesville Fire Department, Janesville First Responders, and the Iowa State Patrol. Bradfield is the mother of 11-year-old Justin Bradfield, who was killed when he was struck by a school bus after being dropped off at his home in October 2011. 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 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 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. Medical cannabis DIANE LARSON WATERLOO -- In the 2015-16 Iowa legislative session, two Republican representatives voted to support the legalization of medical cannabis in Iowa. I was given many reasons for the no votes. I was told they want FDA approval. That may never happen. Cannabis is a plant and is classified as a Schedule 1 drug. Drugs using cannabis being reviewed by the FDA are for a narrow class of epilepsy; they are synthetic and/or they use partial plants. These applications will not give patients relief that whole plant applications do. "Medical cannabis is a gateway drug," some say. First, medical cannabis is accessible only with a medical cannabis card received by a doctor. Do you know a rebellious youth who has accessed drugs legally? If they want to try drugs, they will find a way. In the meantime, Iowans suffer. For patients, medical cannabis may be an exit drug, allowing the ability to cease or decrease harmful medications. I was told patients are not being prosecuted in Iowa for the use of medical cannabis. Patients are being encouraged to break the law. Families transporting medical cannabis across state lines are breaking federal laws. Find out where your representatives stand. Make your opinion known, and vote. Editorial response SANDY LATTING WATERLOO -- Drug companies have a long history of preventing their drugs from going generic, thereby saving consumers money, and stopping Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices. So the only reason Senator Grassley got involved in the Epi-Pen situation (editorial Oct. 12) is because it was brought to light by the media and he is campaigning for re-election. Sen. John McCain and others have created the Fair Drug Pricing Act of 2016 that would force the drug companies to be more transparent about drug prices and price increases. Please urge your representatives to support this bill so we can stop the drug companies from taking advantage of those who depend on them. Candidate's words JANE TEAFORD CEDAR FALLS -- Walt Rogers, candidate for the House District 60, is continuing to campaign on Smaller/Smarter government. He and Governor Branstad have been in office for six years now, and the state budget has increased by more than 37 percent. Does that mean the state government is Larger/Dumber? It is not hard to argue that, when you consider two mental health institutes have been closed, Medicaid has been turned over to for-profit management, and education at all levels has been starved for adequate funding. More money is being spent while services are being cut. The result is larger, not smaller; dumber, not smarter. Abraham response CAROL (Mrs. John) PETERSEN REINBECK -- Fred Abraham (Oct. 9) suggests lying is not a big deterrent in choosing a leader; that those not voting for Hillary simply think she's "unlikable," "unattractive." Really? How about her now-revealed desire for open borders; her demonizing of Bill's sexual victims; the way the Clinton Foundation (Google "Clinton Cash") set themselves up as the gate-keeper of Haitian earthquake relief so they could award contracts to Clinton Foundation donors; her use of overpaid speeches to launder donations, her lack of action in Benghazi, her lawlessness in destroying her subpoenaed emails; and of course, the lying. Contrary to how Abraham feels, it is mandatory to be able to trust our leaders. We learned that lesson the hard way, when Obama said you could "keep your doctor," etc. But the most unconscionable attitude of this woman who wants to be president is she would deny a child their basic, God-given right to life, despite claiming to be for "the children." Call the Courier Q: How does the city of Cedar Falls assure those who are using their tree dump and compost lot are Cedar Falls residents who pay to support that site through taxes? What is the quality control to be sure other residents from out of town arent using that facility? A: Mark Ripplinger, director of municipal operations and programs with the city of Cedar Falls, replies: Periodic checks are completed by staff for nonresident and commercial vehicles, which are not allowed to utilize the facility. If improper use becomes a problem, the city may decide to staff it or install cameras to monitor. At this point, having a person there fulltime would be more costly than the extra cost incurred to process material dumped by non resident and commercial vehicles. However, the city is monitoring this. Q: What is a phone number or address for Rep. Rod Blum? A: Call his Washington office at (202) 225-2911 or send mail at 213 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515. Q: How much money did the MBA telethon raise over the Labor Day weekend? A: The telethon hasnt taken place since 2014 the MDA announced in 2015 it would look for new ways to raise money and engage with the public. Q: Does Waverly have a post office? A: Its at 124 Second St. S.E., according to the U.S. Postal Service. Q: When are the dark moon days in October and November? A: There will be new moons Oct. 30 and Nov. 29. According to media accounts, there was a new moon the night of Sept. 30, which already was Oct. 1 in the Eastern Hemisphere. So it was either the second new moon of September or the first of two in October, depending on your location. Q: When is the World Series? A: It starts Oct. 25. Q: I saw in the news NASA found another zodiac sign. Can you print the new sign and all the signs with the dates? A: Heres how the Today show explained it: NASA broke the news early this year in a blog post that explained that when ancient Babylonians created the zodiac over 3,000 years ago, they wanted dates on the calendar to correspond with star constellations. But there were 13 constellations, and they were working with a 12-month calendar. So they ditched Ophiuchus. ... NASA also pointed out that the Earths axis doesnt even point in the same direction as it did when the original constellations were drawn, so all our signs have different date ranges now anyway. The new correct order of the 13 zodiac signs, according to NASA: Capricorn: Jan. 20Feb. 16 Aquarius: Feb. 16March 11 Pisces: March 11April 18 Aries: April 18May 13 Taurus: May 13June 21 Gemini: June 21July 20 Cancer: July 20Aug. 10 Leo: Aug. 10Sept. 16 Virgo: Sept. 16Oct. 30 Libra: Oct. 30Nov. 23 Scorpio: Nov. 23Dec. 17 Ophiuchus: Nov. 29Dec. 17 Sagittarius: Dec. 17Jan. 20 Questions are taken on a special Courier phone line at 234-3566. Questions are answered by Courier staff and staff at the Waterloo Public Library. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Russia Vladimir Putin arrived in Armenia, reports Armenpress. He was welcomed by President Serzh Sargsyan at Zvartnots International Airport. Presidents of Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, as well as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan have arrived in Armenia to take part in the CSTO Collective Security Councils session on October 14 in Yerevan. The session will be chaired by President Serzh Sargsyan. 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. The heads of states will also make a decision over the CSTO Secretary General. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received Kazakhstans PM Bakhytzhan Sagintayevs delegation on October 14. Karen Karapetyan welcomed PM Sagintayev and noted that 2016 is a symbolic year for Armenia and Kazakhstan since both countries celebrate 25th anniversary of independence. We are partners in the Eurasian region, and in my opinion we have great potential for joint work. I would like to assure that we are open for cooperation, and todays meeting is a good occasion for outlining directions of moving forward, Karen Karapetyan said. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan thanked for the hospitality and noted that Kazakhstan attaches important significance to the development of cooperation with Armenia. We have mutually beneficial constructive dialogue in all levels, and an especially close cooperation is being expanded within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. We have the desire and possibility to lift bilateral inter-governmental and economic relations to a new level, Prime Minister Sagintayev said. The sides discussed a wide range of issues, including investments, business ties, tourism, agriculture and others. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The Collective Security Councils session of the CSTO has kicked off in a narrow format in the Presidential Palace of Armenia. President Serzh Sargsyan delivered opening remarks in the beginning of the session. Sargsyan welcomed the guests and underscored that by joint efforts, they will try to do everything in order for the joint work to be full and effective, beneficial for cooperation and to contribute to the development of CSTO. Today we are going to discuss a wide range of issues, which concern decisions which we adopted in the past, several documents, which will outline our steps in the near prospect, Serzh Sargsyan said. President Sargsyan expressed hope that constructive mood will accompany the participants of the session and will give the chance to adopt new and important decisions promptly. The President proposed confirming the agenda of the session, and announced that the CSTO Chairmanship will be passed over to Belarus after the session. past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Editors note: After 15 years without a vacation, Phyllis Cohen, along with her husband and two dogs, embarked on a road trip from Pennsylvania to the Grand Canyon and Utah. This is the third of a four-part series. Read the first feature, Hitting the Road After All These Years, and the second, A Ruff Start. If youre lucky, the baggage you bring on a road trip is limited to what you pack. Id never had a fear of heights or rattlesnakes, but an endless ribbon of road straddled by vast wind farms on either side and no cell service gave me a few twinges of anxiety. Twinges aside, we were finally out West! We had a few key destinations in mind but I desperately wanted to be spontaneous. The best course of action, I figured, was to avoid a rigid itinerary. And so we hit the road again with an open mind. We crossed into Oklahoma and began the search for Route 66, the Mother Road that Nat King Cole, among others, made famous. We arrived at the Smith & Austin Okie Trading Post in Erick, Okla., and purchased a few colorful Route 66 postcards. The proprietors 4-year-old son handed me my change and told me his name was Rugeryes, named for his parents favorite firearm. Driving along I-40 into Amarillo, Texas, we spied a row of 1960s graffitied cars jutting out of a cornfield and knew wed stumbled upon the Cadillac Ranch, an installation created by a group of San Francisco hippies calling themselves the Ant Farm. We wove among the gawkers, enjoying the sculptural exhibit until the scorched air and spray paint vapors exhausted the dogs and made us dizzy. It was time to move on. A forgotten stretch of Route 66 that we discovered in Tucumcari, N.M.a refuge of pastel-colored inns with names like the Blue Swallow Motel and The Buckaroo, and retro-style, muraled gas stationssmacked of the same bittersweet nostalgia as the New York Catskills Id visited in my childhood. And if air-conditioning killed the Catskills, newer highways surely left towns like Tucumcari in the dust. Tee Pee Curios, one of the towns last iconic little shops, offered up inexpensive kitschy shot glasses, magnets and mugs for us to bring home. Conversation with the owners was priceless. We set out for Santa Fe at 6 a.m. Id dreamed of Santa Fe for so long and I braced myself that my expectations might trump the citys reality. It seemed like the kind of place I could retire to one day; Id heard rumors of sunsets and rainbows that were unrivaled. After a good nights sleep and breakfast at The Flying Tortilla, we drove to the Santa Fe Plaza and its cobblestoned streets. I drank in the burnt umbers and vermillions of Native American blankets for sale on the sidewalk, and zentangle-patterned Navajo pottery and turquoise jewelry that overloaded my senses at every turn. I fell in love with a painting at the R.C. Gorman Gallery and wondered how this Navajo master replicated the exact cerulean of a New Mexico sky or the serene expressions of Native American women so flawlessly. When I stepped inside the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, a Romanesque architectural jewel abutting the shopping district, I decided the patron saint of animals would have appreciated our dogs waiting patiently outside his sanctuary. US plants unscathed by Hurricane Matthew 14 October 2016 Share Preparations by plant operators, rigorous design and operating procedures and a coordinated industry and government response ensured that nuclear power plants in the south-eastern USA were undamaged by the first major hurricane to hit continental USA in 11 years. Hurricane Matthew tracked from space as it approaches the USA over 6-8 October (Image: NASA Earth Observatory) After leaving hundreds dead in Haiti and wreaking major damage in the Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas. Hurricane Matthew grazed Florida and Georgia before making landfall south-east of McClellanville, South Carolina, on 8 October. Strong winds, falling trees, and storm surge flooding knocked out power in coastal areas of all three states. As the hurricane moved towards the USA, preparations were put in place at nuclear power plants along the storm's path. On 4 October, Florida Power and Light's (FPL) St. Lucie plant, not far from the predicted landfall, declared an unusual event - the lowest of NRCs emergency classifications - in response to hurricane warnings. Plant staff began severe weather procedures, such as removing or securing equipment or debris that could be affected by wind or water. They also conducted walk downs of important plant systems and ensured emergency supplies were adequate. Similar measures were taken at FPL's Turkey Point plant and at Duke Energy's Brunswick and Shearon Harris plants in North Carolina and HB Robinson in South Carolina. Storm preparations for nuclear fuel facilities were also put in place at Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas' fabrication plant near Wilmington, North Carolina. On 6 October the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) dispatched additional inspectors to St Lucie, Turkey Point and Brunswick and activated its regional incident response centre in Atlanta, Georgia in preparation for the storm. Matthew's landfall brought down power lines and flooded transformers, leaving more than two million customers without power across several states. The Robinson plant responded to a temporary loss of off-site power by shutting down safely. The Harris plant also experienced a loss of off-site power, but was already shut down for a scheduled refuelling outage. Emergency diesel generators at both plants operated as designed, and off-site power was restored within 24 hours. According to the US Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), all plants had exited their unusual event status by 9 October, although grid stability issues meant that Brunswick was required to operate at reduced power. The plant is now ramping back to full power. "All the nuclear power plants affected by Hurricane Matthew weathered the storm well and were well-prepared for the high winds and heavy rains," Joe Pollock, NEI's vice president of nuclear operations, said. "These facilities have proven their ability to withstand hurricanes and provide electricity to homes and businesses as soon as off-site power is restored and the electricity grid can accommodate the power," he added. The NEI noted that organizations and entities including utility chief executive officers and plant communicators, NEI, the NRC, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, the Electric Subsector Coordinating Council, federal and state emergency responders, and the Department of Energy remained in contact with one another to ensure that all parties were apprised of the plants' status and efforts to restore power to consumers and were aligned on daily communications. It has been 11 years since a major hurricane - Hurricane Wilma - made landfall in the USA. Sandy, which caused widespread disruption on the country's Eastern seaboard in October 2012, was one of the biggest storms ever to hit the eastern USA but officially dropped just below hurricane status before making landfall. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Russia may consider delivering air defense systems to Turkey, Armenpress reports, citing TASS, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on October 14. The presidential spokesman made this statement as he was answering questions about the visit, which Russian President Vladimir Putin had paid to Turkey on Monday. "Indeed, the issues related to military and technical cooperation were on the agenda of contacts between Putin and [Turkish President Tayyip] Erdogan," Peskov told journalists. "Various air defense systems were mentioned," he added. "If the Turkish side expresses its desire, Russia may consider the possibility of their delivery to Turkey in various modifications," the Kremlin spokesman said. "But this is a purely commercial issue, a very sensitive area of cooperation," Peskov said. The Kremlin spokesman said earlier this week that Putin and Erdogan had not discussed the issues of creating a joint air defense system. The Russian leader told journalists after his talks on Monday that Russia was ready to continue interaction with Turkey in the sphere of military and technical cooperation and fill it with serious projects of mutual interest. According to Putin, the proposals from both sides are being studied and have all the grounds for being implemented. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Galust Sahakyan visited the Museum of Modern Art on October 14. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia, Galust Sahakyan, accompanied by the director of the museum Nona Avetisyan and founder of Shedevr exhibition hall Sargis Grigoryan, familiarized himself with the works of Independence exhibition organized by the initiative of High art center. Over 100 pieces of classical and contemporary art figures are presented at the exhibition. Apart from the pictures, there are also halls for graphic works and sculptures. The exhibition will be open until October 31. Canl Bahis siteleri sektoru son derece onu ack ve farkl ozelliklere sahip bir sektordur. Elbette bahis secenekleri arasnda yuksek kazanc getiren alan kuskusuz canl bahistir. Peki, canl bahis nedir? Canl Bahis Nedir? Canl bahis adndan da anlaslacag gibi devam eden musabakaya bahis yapmaktr. Bu bahis musabaka devam ederken de yaplabilir olmasdr. Basta futbol olmak uzere voleybol, tenis, hentbol, basketbol, buz hokeyi ve masa tenisi gibi spor organizasyonlarna canl bahisler yaplabilmektedir. Canl bahis siteleri bu oyunlarn hepsine yuksek oranlara bahis yapmanza imkan tanr. En fazla tercih edilen futbol canl bahisleri diger alanlara gore daha fazla on plandadr. Siteden siteye degisen sartlar ve uygulama esaslar soz konusu olsa da kurallar sabittir. Canl bahisi populer klan ve heyecan katan en onemli ozellikle musabakann basladg ana dek bahis yapabilmedir. Canl bahis icerisinde yer alan secenekler kazanma sansnz da dogrudan arttrmaktadr. Ilk korneri kim kullanr, ilk tac, gol, sar kart, krmz kart gibi futbol musabakas icerisinde olabilecek hemen hemen her seye bahis yaplabilmektedir. Normal bahisegore de son derece yuksek oranda olmas avantajl yonlerini ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim dogru secenek ksa surede kazancl ckmanza etki edecektir. Strateji ve dogru analizle 90 dakika gibi bir surede anaparanzkatlayabilirsiniz. Tabi bunu basarabilmek icin mutlaka musabakaya dair ayrntlar iyi degerlendirmek gerekir. Soz konusu musabakann detaylarn inceleyip, cezal, sakat oyuncu veya performans dusen takm oyunu gibi detaylar bilmek canl bahiste kazanc belirleyen onemli unsurdur. Guvenilir Canl bahis hem heyecanl zaman gecirmeyi hem de musabakalar takip ederken para kazanmay saglamaktadr. Canl Bahis Nasl Oynanr? Bahislerinizi guvenilir sitelerden gerceklestirdiginiz zaman herhangi bir sekilde para cekme de sorun yasamazsnz. Guvenilir bahis siteleri tespit edip sonrasnda da uyelik islemlerini tamamlamanz gerekmektedir. Belirlenen uyelik sartlarn yerine getirip hesabnza da paray aktardktan sonra bahis islemlerini sorunsuz yapabilirsiniz. Peki, canl bahis nasl oynanr? Oncelikle bahis konusunda mutlaka dogru site arastrmas yapmalsnz. Yapacagnz arastrma neticesinde buldugunuz site uzerinden canl bahisislemlerini gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Bunun icin uye olup, hesaba para atp, canl bahis bolumune girmelisiniz. Sonrasnda dahil olmak istediginiz musabakann saatini ogrenip, gerekli analizleri yapmalsnz. Tahminlerinizi belirledikten sonra karsnza ckacak olan bahis sayfasndan istediginiz hamleyi yapmalsnz. Bahis tutarn belirledikten sonra musabaka baslayacaktr. Canl bahis diger normal bahis esaslarna gore farkllklar icermektedir. Bunlardan en onemlisi musabakann gidisatna gore islem yapabilir olmaktr.Ayrca musabakann 2. Yarsna gore hamle yapp ayr bir bahisin soz konusu olmas da ciddi avantajdr. Dogru hamle ile sizde istediginiz bahisi yapp kazanc elde edebilirsiniz. Nitekim canl olarak yapacagnz bahis icin mac oncesi raporlara gore hareket etmek onemlidir. Cunku takmlarn durumlarn analiz etmek tahmin gucunu arttracaktr. Misal tamnn en iyi oyuncusu sakat ya da kart cezals ise takmn performansnda dusus yasanacaktr. Buna ek olarak takmn deplasman performans ile evinde ki performans ayr olacaktr. Burada da takmn musabakay nerede yaptgna bakmak gerekir. Bu ayrntlar da iyice analiz ettikten sonra bahsinizi yapp kazanmann keyfini yasayabilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Son derece yuksek getiriye sahip bahis sektoru uzun zamandr faaliyet gostermektedir. Cok ciddi rakamlarn soz konusu oldugu bu sektor zamanla sanal ortamlara donusmustur. Elbette guvenli ve bir o kadar da avantajl olan bu siteler cok yonlu frsatlar sunmaktadrlar. Canl iddaa siteleri gerek yeni uyelere gerekse de hali hazrdaki uyelerine bolca bonus frsatlar vermektedir. Yatracagnz tutara gore belirlenen bonuslar site icerisinde rahat hareket etmenizi de saglayacaktr. Canl bahis sitelerini kullanmadan once mutlaka guvenli olup olmadgna goz atmalsnz. Zira baz kullanclar guvenli olmayan sitelerden yaptklar islemlerden dolay magdur olmaktadrlar. Nitekim guvenli ve sorunsuz hizmet sunan yurt ds site tercih etmek en dogru secenektir. Sektorde uzun yllar faaliyet gosteren siteleri tercih edebilirsiniz. Bu alanda yer alan yabanc siteler musteri memnuniyetine onem vermektedir. Oncelik site kullanclarn sorunsuz sekilde bahislerini yapabilir olmasn saglamaktr. Bahis sitelerinde amac hem daha fazla kullancya hizmet vermek hem de sektorde emin admlarla ilerlemek onceliklidir. Dogru site tercihi ile sizde canl bahislerinizi sorun yasamadan gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Sizler icin hazrlams oldugumuz canl bahis siteleri listesi su sekildedir; Mobilbahis Tempobet Bets10 Bahigo 1xbahis Betboo Youwin Superbahis Sralams oldugumuz bu siteler sektorde basarl islere imza atms sitelerdedir. Canl bahis konusunda beklentileri karslayacak olan bu siteler sizlere kolaylk sunmaktadrlar. Bol bonuslu secenekle de sizlere farkl bahis yonlerini sunacaklardr. Sistemsel etki icerisinde her zaman etkin sonuc alabilmek icin surekli olarak faaliyet icerisindedirler. Canl Bahis Taktikleri Bahis sektorunun en fazla dikkat edilmesi gereken hususu dogru taktik ve dogru tahmindir. Elbette dogru tahmini yapabilmek icin analizi cok iyi yapmak gerekir. Canl bahis taktikleri arasnda ilk sra analiz gelmektedir. Analiz yapamadgnz zaman basarl tahminlerde bulunmanz pek de mumkun degildir. Cunku bahiste onemli olan konu musabakann analizini cok iyi yaplmas gerektigidir. Canl bahisin ozelliklerini iyi bilmek ve nasl bir hamle yapacagnz bilmek gerekir. Ozellikle riskli maclarda yaplacak degerlendirmeler cok daha onemlidir. Canl bahis yapacaklarn takip edecegi degerler takmlarn durumlar ile alakal olmaldr. Performans uzerine kurulu bahis sisteminde takm degerlendirmesine iyi bakmak gerekir. Iki takmn son 5 macta nasl bir sonuc ortaya koyduguna bakarak hareket etmek onemlidir. Ayrca hangi takm evinde daha iyi performans sergiliyor diye de ayrca bakmak gerekir. Analizlerle alakal puan durumlarna da goz atmak cok onemlidir. Puan degerlendirmesinde oncelikle takmlarn ihtiyaclar ile dogru orantl hareket etmek gerekir. Cunku olusturulan performans takmn da durumunu ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim istenilen sonucu elde edebilmek icin tum ayrntlar bilmek gerekir. Takm ici duzenden tutunda da takmn son durumuna kadar her ayrnt onemlidir. Iki takmn birbirleri arasnda ki sonuclar da incelemek gerekir. Burada dikkat edilecek detaylarn basnda maclarda kac gol oldugu ve gollerin hangi dakikalarda atldgdr. Cekismeli gecen musabakalarda bazen goller ilk yarda daha fazla olurken baz maclarda da ikinci yarda daha cok gol olmustur. Iki takm arasnda ki maclarda gollerin cogunlugu ilk yarda geliyorsa buna gore bahis yapabilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Bonuslar ve Kampanyalar Bahis yapanlar veya yapmay dusununler sitelerin sunmus olduklar frsatlar merak etmektedirler. Cunku siteler daha fazla kullancya erismek icin her donem kampanyalar duzenleyerek kullanc odakl hamleler yapmaktadrlar. Canl bahis bonuslar ve kampanyalar oldukca populer olup, siteler bu konuda adeta birbirleri ile yarsmaktadrlar. Birbirinden farkl ozelliklere sahip olan kampanyalar size frsatlar sunmaktadr. Daha cok kazanma ihtimalinizi arttran bu bonuslar daha cesur olmanza da dogrudan etki edecektir. Nitekim bonuslar sitelerin cekiciligini ve avantajlarn arttrmaktadr. En cok kazandran canl bahis siteleri bedava bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin http://www.milano2018.com/canli-bahis-siteleri-2022/ linkinden yardm alabilirsiniz. Hos geldin bonusu ile baslayan ve sonrasnda para yatrdkca bonus veren cok sayda site bulunmaktadr. Canl bahis bonusu veren siteler yeni uyelere sunduklar frsatlar farkl kampanyalarla mevcut uyelerine de sunmaktadrlar. Hali hazrda siteyi kullananlarn da bonus frsatlarndan yararlanmalar icin donemsel kampanyalar olusturmaktadrlar. Boylece baska sitelere gidisler olmayacag gibi site de daha keyifli zaman gecirmek mumkun klnmaktadr. Bu tur eklentiler yapan sitelerde musteri memnuniyeti daha fazladr. Bahis siteleri ozellik ve uygulama bakmndan farkllklar bunyelerinde bulundurmaktadrlar. Verilen bonuslarn olusturulmas ve kullanclar aktarlmasnda yatrlan para miktarlar belirleyici olmaktadr. 1.000 TL yatran bir kullanc yuzde 20 bonus frsat olan bir kampanyadan 200 TL bonus kazanabilmektedir. Yatracag tutar 10.000 TL oldugunda bu bonustutar 2.000 TL olabilmektedir. Gerceklesen ve uygulanan esaslar tamamen donemsel olarak yaplan kampanyalarla alakaldr. Iyi Canl bahis siteleri bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin sitelerin vermis oldugu oranlar takip edebilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Yatrma Online Canl bahis yapacaklarn merak ettigi konulardan bir digeri de para yatrma islemleridir. Oldukca onemli olan bu konuda hata yapmamak cok onemlidir. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemi sanlann aksine son derece basittir. Oldukca basit ve uygulama esas dogru etki olusturan bu yapda sizde islemi rahatca tamamlayabilirsiniz. Para yatrma konusunda su yolu izleyebilirsiniz. Guvendiginiz ve herhangi bir sekilde aklnzda soru isareti kalmayan bahis sitesine uye olmanz gerekmektedir. Uyelik islemini sorunsuz sekilde tamamladktan sonra para yatrma islemine gecebilirsiniz. Kullanacagnz siteye uye olduktan sonra karsnza kullanc ad ve sifresini gireceginiz yer gelecektir. Buraya giris yaptktan sonra site icerisine islemlere devam edebilirsiniz. Sitede yer alan para yatrma sekmesine tklayp sonrasnda karsnza gelen sayfay inceleyebilirsiniz. Para yatrma bolumunde yer alan ksma ne kadar para yatracagnz yazp devam tusuna basmalsnz. Yatrmak istediginiz tutar girip sonrasnda da devam tusuna bastktan sonra karsnza kart bilgilerinizi gireceginiz sayfa gelecektir. Kredi kart kullanarak para gondermek isteyenlerin tercih ettigi bu sayfa tum bilgiler girilip islem onaylanmaldr. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemini gerceklestirmek icin hesaba havale secenegini de kullanabilirsiniz. Site icerisinde musteri hizmetleri ile iletisime gecerek banka hesap numaralarn ogrenebilirsiniz. Belirtilen IBAN numarasna istediginiz tutar havale edebilirsiniz. Havale ederken acklama ksmna yazlacak bilgilere dikkat etmelisiniz. Kredi kart veya banka havalesi ile gerceklesen para yatrma islemi sonucunda site hesabnzdan bakiyenize bakabilirsiniz. Bakiyenize gore dilediginiz sekilde bahislerinizi gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Cekme Canl bahiste dogru hamleler ve dogru tahminler sonucunda kazandgnz bedeli geri almak isteyebilirsiniz. Kazanclarnz istediginiz banka hesabnza cekebilmek icin uymanz gereken kurallar soz konusudur. Oncelikle bahis sitelerinden para cekebilmeniz icin uye olurken dogru bilgi paylasmnda bulunmanz gerektigidir. Cunku canl bahis sitelerinden para cekme islemi icin kullanc hesab ile talep edilen banka hesap bilgilerinin ortusmesi gerekir. Yani uye olurken verilen bilgi ile banka hesab kime ait ise o bilgiler ayn olmaldr. Bu uygulama sitenin hem kullancsn hem de kendisini guvene alma politikasdr. Ayrca frsatclarn onune gecerek yeni bir uye olusumunun da onune gecmek amac gutmektedir. Uye olan kisi farkl para cekilme talebi verilen hesap farkl oldugunda para cekme islemi gerceklesmeyecektir. Bahisleriniz sonucunda kazanc elde edebilir ve bu kazancnz da hakknz olarak almak isteyebilirsiniz. Burada son derece basit uygulama soz konusu olurken siteler aras farkl gorunumler soz konusu olabilir. Fakat yine de tum sitelerde uyenin site icerisinde para cekme bolumune girmesi yeterlidir. Burada cekilecek olan tutarn belirlenmesi ve hesap numarasnn girilmesi ile birlikte islem onay gerekecektir. Para cekme taleplerinde sizden gerekli bilgiler istenmekte ve havale islemi istenilen bilgiler esliginde yurutulmektedir. Dogru bilgi paylasmak sorunsuz para cekebilmeniz en onemli kuraldr. Istenilen bilgiler girildikten sonra site sorumlular gerekli kontrolleri yapp herhangi bir sorun yoksa ksa surede hesabnza gerekli paray aktaracaklardr. Canl Bahis Sitelerinden Para Cekmek Icin Istenen Belgeler Bahis sitelerine uye olduktan sonra baz kullanclar para cekme taleplerinin karslanmadg konusunda sikayetlerde bulunmuslardr. Bu sikayetlersektorde uzun zamandr bulunan guvenilir bahis siteleri de yer almaktadr. Fakat sikayetlerin dayanaklarna bakldgnda ise islerin tamamen farkl oldugu gorulmektedir. Yasanan bu durum kullanclarn hatal bilgi girmesi ve uyelik bilgileri ile banka bilgilerinin uyusmamas ile dogru orantldr. Birde canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler eksik ya da hatal olarak sunulmus olabilir. Ortaya ckan karsklar neticesinde para cekme talebinde bulunan kisi istedigini alamadg icin sikayetci olmaktadr. Oysa ki istenilen bilgiler dogru ve istenilen evraklar eksiksiz sunulsa para cekme islemi sorunsuz olacak. Sitelerin para cekme konusunda dikkatli hareket etmesi hilelerin ve illegal faaliyetlerin onune gecmek adnadr. Cunku baz kullanclar farkl bilgiler vererek ikinci hesap acabilmektedirler. Bazen de bilincsizce hatal bilgi girilebilmektedir. Hatal islemlerin cozumu konusunda islem yaptgnz sitenin musteri temsilcileri ile gorusebilirsiniz. Talepleriniz dogrultusunda para cekme islemlerinde ki sorunlar giderilecektir. Canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler listesi su sekildedir; Kullanc bilgileri ile banka bilgilerini karslastrmak icin kimlik fotokopisi Banka hesap bilgileri Ikametgah ve kisiye ait herhangi bir fatura. Kacak Iddaa Turkiyede dogrudan bahis yapmak icin resmi kanallar kullanlabilmektedir. Fakat tercih edilen ve oran olarak cok daha fazla frsatlar sunan kacar iddaasiteleri bulunmaktadr. Bu siteler kanunlara aykr sekilde yaplmakta olup, yasal bir dayanag yoktur. Elbette bu sitelerin kurulus merkezi Turkiye olmayp, ds ulkelerdedir ve faaliyetler belirlenen siteler uzerinden yaplmaktadr. Kacak Iddaa oldukca riskli olup, cok dikkatli olunmas gerekir. Kacak Bahis Kanunlar cercevesinde istediginiz gibi bahis yapamayabilirsiniz. Bahis yapabilmek icin ya kanuni olarak sorun olmayan ulke dsnda ki kumarhanelere gitmeniz veya kacak bahis sitelerinden islem yapabilirsiniz. Zira bu durum tehlikeli olsa da cok sayda site guvenli sekilde bu alanda hizmet vermektedir. Kacak bahiste oldukca fazla secenek bulunurken yuksek oranda kazanc sunuyor olmas da ragbeti arttryor. Illegal Bahis Bahisin bircok alanda yasak oldugu Turkiyede bu alanda cok sayda yabanc merkezli siteler hizmet vermektedir. Illegal bahis sektorunde faaliyet gosteren siteler guvenli hizmet anlays ile kullanclarna frsatlar sunmaktadr. Yurt ds merkezli bu siteler sorunsuz sekilde hizmetlerini surdururken bulunduklar ulkelerde kanunlara uygun sekildedir. Elbette faaliyet noktasnda bulunduklar ulkelerde sorun teskil etmese de Turkiyede faaliyet gostermeleri kanunin yasaklanmstr. Yasads Bahis Gerek olusturulan etkenler gerekse de ortaya konulan riskler yasads bahis de oldukca tehlikelidir. Kanunlarn mudahil olduklar bu alanlar da hem kullanclar hem de populer bahis yaptranlar tum riskleri goze almaktadrlar. Fakat yasaklardan uzak sekilde guvenli hizmet sunan siteler de bulunmaktadr. Takipler neticesinde kapatlan sitelerin muhakkak alternatifleri kurularak yollarna devam etmektedirler. Canl Iddaa Siteleri Nelerdir? Dunya genelinde kabul gormus cok sayda guvenli hizmet veren populer bahis siteleri bulunmaktadr. Elbette bu siteler dunyann bircok ulkesinde faaliyet gosterse de Turkiyede yasaktr. Sektorde yer alan cok sayda legal iddaa siteleri bulunmaktadr. Herhangi bir kanunsuzlugun olmadg bu sitelerden hzl ve guvenli islem yaplabilmektedir. Tabi bu sitelerde uygulanan oranlar yasal olmayan sitelere gore daha dusuktur. Illegal sitelerin tercih edilme sebeplerinin en onemli etkeni de olusturulan oranlardr. Peki, Iddaa siteleri nelerdir? Faaliyetleri ve uygulama esaslar nelerdir? Turkiyede faaliyet gosteren yasal iddaa siteleri listesi su sekildedir; Iddaa Bilyoner Tuttur Birebin Oley Nesine Misli Iddaa 2004 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslayan Iddaa Spor toto tarafndan kurulmus olup, ilk etapta bayilik seklinde calsmaya baslamstr. Elbette zamanla gelisen teknolojiye ayak uydurarak internet uzerinde de populer bahis severlerin hizmetine sunulmustur. Kuruldugu donemde devletin resmi kurumu olarak faaliyet gosterirken gelinen yeni donemde ozellestirilmistir. Bilyoner Turkiyede faaliyetine 2006 ylnda baslayan Bilyoner ilk ozel yasal bahis sitesi olma ozelligine sahiptir. Guvenilir bahis siteleri Turkiyede bunlardr. Ksa surede populer olan site halen faaliyetlerini sorunsuz sekilde surdurmektedir. Tuttur Ksa surede adndan bahsettirmeyi basaran Tuttur 2009 ylnda faaliyetlere baslamstr. Guvenilir bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almstr. Gunumuze dek bircok alanda populer bahis yapanlara frsatlar sunarken avantajlar ile de begeni toplamstr. Birebin Kullanc odakl calsmalar surdurse de 2011 ylnda sektore giren Birebindiger sitelere gore daha az ragbet gormektedir. Bahis oynamak ise bu sitede oldukca kolaydr. Elbette farkl yaklasmlara sahip olmasndan dolay ilerleyen sureclerde adndan sklkla bahsettirecek gibi gorunuyor. Oley 2009 ylnda Dogus yayn gruplarnn istiraki olarak kurulmus olup yasal olarak herhangi bir sorunu olmayan sitelerdendir. Bahis siteleri arasnda hzl cks yapms bir sitedir. Oley yapms oldugu yenilikler ile kullanclarn da dikkatini ksa surede cekmeyi basarmstr. Nesine Birbirini takip eden surecte Nesine de yine 2006 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslamstr. Yasal bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almay basaran firma ksa surede sevilen ve ragbet goren bir site olmustur. Misli 2009 ylnda sektore cok hzl giris yapan Misli cok sayda reklam filmi ile on plana ckmay basarmstr. Internet uzerinden hem yasal hem de sorunsuz hizmet veren bahis sitelerinden bir tanesi olmustur. Canl Bahis Siteleri Kayt ve Uyelik Islemleri Her zaman populerligini koruyan ve surekli gelisim gosteren canl bahis gun gectikce daha da gucleniyor. Bahis oynamak icin ise sitelere uye olunmas gerekir. Yuksek getirisi ve begeni toplayan faaliyetleri ile cok sayda site bu alanda faaliyet gostermektedir. Elbette sorunsuz sekilde uye olmanz ve faaliyetler gostermeniz de oldukca kolaydr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri dakikalar icerisinde gerceklestirilecek yapya sahiptir. Uye olacagnz siteyi belirledikten sonra siteye girmeniz gerekmektedir. Girdiginiz sitenin ana sayfasnda uye ol ya da kayt ol bolumu bulunacaktr. Siteler arasnda degiskenlik gosteren bu alanda temel unsurlar bulunmaktadr. Elbette farkllklar olsa da temelinde benzer bilgiler uye olmak isteyen kisilerden talep edilmektedir. Uye ol bolumune tkladktan sonra karsnza uyelik bilgi formu ckacaktr. Bu formda sizin kim oldugunuzu ogrenmek ve sitenin guvenligini saglamak adna islemler yaplmaktadr. Uyelik formunda yer alan ad soyad bolumunu eksiksiz ve dogru sekilde doldurmalsnz. Sizden bu formda istenen bilgilerin tamamn girmeniz istenecektir. Istenen bilgiler mutlaka dogru ve eksiksiz sekilde olmaldr. Eksik veya hatal bilgi uyelik islemlerinde sorun teskil edebilir. Yine de yanls bilgi girisine ragmen uyelik islemleri tamamlanabilir. Fakat boyle bir yol izleyenler sonrasnda buyuk skntlarla karslasabilirler. Bu skntlarn basnda da para cekme islemlerinde yasanan sorunlardr. Uyelik islemleri dikkatli ve ozenle doldurulmas gereken yapdadr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri gerceklestirilirken verilen bilgiler site yonetimi tarafndan muhafaza edilmektedir. Herhangi bir sekilde 3. Sahslarla paylaslmas gibi bir durum soz konusu degildir. Bu faaliyetleri surduren sitelerin guven unsurlar arasnda bu nokta onceliklidir. Bahis sitelerine uye olurken hatal bilgi paylasmnda bulunmak size faydadan cok zarar verecektir. Diyelim ki bilgileri hatal girdiniz ve uyelik onayland. Uyelik tamamlandktan sonra siteye para yatrdnz ve kazanc elde ettiniz. Kazancnz sonrasnda hesabnza almak istediginizde karsnza banka bilgileri bolumu gelecektir. Para cekme talebi gerceklestikten sonra site uyelik bilgileri ile banka hesap bilgileri ortusmez ise paranz alamazsnz. Boyle bir durumla karslasmamak adna bu hususa ayrca dikkat etmelisiniz. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The issue of the appointment of e new secretary-general of the CSTO has been cancelled during the Collective Security Council session in Yerevan, Armenpress reports President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced during the extended format session proceeding the narrow format session of the heads of the CSTO member states. We have postponed the issue of appointing a new secretary-general of the CSTO. The issue has been withdrawn from the agenda, President Sargsyan said. He added that they will return to the issue at the end of the year in Russia. Oct 13, 2016 | By Tess If youve been inspired by someone, a colleague, an employer, a peer even, who lives the life of a business traveler, you may be able to help them win an award in the form of a 3D printed miniature statue of themselves. The contest is part of a digital marketing campaign put forth by The Hyatt Place hotels and Hyatt House extended-stay brands in the U.S, who want to highlight their amenities as well as celebrate those who utilize their facilities most: business travelers. The campaign, as its signature tagline Youve come too far to settle now suggests, is celebrating the why settle spirit that they say defines traveling business people. As part of the campaign, Hyatt House and Hyatt Place are asking people to submit their favorite business travelers story to the contest to enter them in to win one of 30 prizes. As Hyatt Place explained on its Facebook page last week, We're celebrating the entrepreneurs, the doers, the go-getters, and the modern day movers and shakers with a personalized 3D award and a free hotel stay at a Hyatt House or Hyatt Place. So, if you know someone who fits the criteria, you can nominate them by simply posting their story and name on either Hyatt House or Hyatt Places Facebook page along with the hashtags #WhySettle and #Entry. The winners of the contest, which Hyatt will decide after October 25th, 2016, will not only get recognition for their hard word and sacrifice, but will also be awarded with a free two-night stay at a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House hotel within the continental United States along with a 3D printed statue of themselves, adorned in a toga and carrying a laptop and smartphonea business persons staples. To manufacture the 30 statuettes, Hyatt has enlisted the help of CaptureMe, a Brooklyn, NY based portable 3D scanning company, which will carefully design the 3D models based off of images of the winners. Once the models are ready for 3D printing, they will be additively manufactured out of a sandstone material, using a printed binder material on a bed of gypsum powder and will subsequently undergo post-process treatments, such as being covered with a sealant. The end result? A bunch of 6-inch tall Oscar-style statuettes of the winning business travelers. As mentioned, the contest is open until October 25th, so if you have someone in mind, dont delay your nomination! If not, it is still quite worthwhile to peruse the other nominations to see who might get their own 3D printed statue. Sandra Cordova Micek, svp, global brands of Hyatt Hotels said of the innovative campaign: This campaign is about creating an emotional connection with these travelers. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Alex wrote at 10/15/2016 10:04:36 AM:Awesome! Oct 14, 2016 | By Nick 3D printing has helped a surgeon prepare for one of the most complex surgical procedures there is: separating twins conjoined at the head. Its happening right now at the Montefiore hospital in New York, its a complicated procedure and yet the world of 3D printing and 3D scanning have given the boys a fighting chance. Anias and Jadon McDonald are, scientifically speaking, a miracle. One out of every 2.5 million live births result in twins conjoined at the head. About 40% are stillborn, another third die within 24 hours and 80% of the children die before the age of two. Now, at 13 months old, their parents have taken the gut-wrenching decision to separate them and risk both their lives. The surgery costs $2.5 million, its fraught with danger and yet 3D scanning and 3D printing has given the surgeon a much better chance. Dr James Goodrich is arguably the finest craniopagus neurosurgeon in the world and hes quantifiably the most experienced. This will be the seventh time he has separated twins and he has consulted on 13 other cases. Now he has the advantage of 3D scanning to get a clear idea of what is happening and, in recent years, he has been able to produce a series of 3D models to help him plan the difficult surgical procedure. This is about as complicated as it gets, Goodrich said, so he turned to 3D scanning and the models to help him visualize the surgery and plan every cut with meticulous detail. The boys share between 1.5-2 inches of brain tissue and the procedure could take more than 20 hours. The level of complexity is simply mind-blowing and the risks of brain damage or death are significant with a procedure like this. Without the opportunity to run through the process again and again on the screen and with the physical models, the boys chances of survival would be much lower. Conjoined twin surgery always hits the headlines, but there have been just 58 cranial conjoined twin separations since 1952. Plastic surgeon Dr Oren Tepper is on hand to take over once Goodrich has managed the physical separation. He will reconstruct the boys skulls and the two surgeons have been planning and practicing for months with a mass of 3D scans and models. I have so many brains I dont know what to do with them all, Goodrich told CNN. The surgeons worked with 3D-Systems in Colorado to give them a complete picture of the surgery and a week before the operation the surgeons completed a virtual walkthrough of the entire process. Well before the first cut, Goodrich was able to isolate the biggest problem area: a complex cluster of veins that both boys share. This is going to be the crucial stage of the surgical procedure. "I know the vascular system we have to go through is complex," Goodrich says. "It's big. It's doable, but it's going to be tedious." Tedious might not be the right word for cutting through an exceptionally complex mass of blood vessels that both boys are using, but at least Goodrich has been able to run through the procedure countless times in the planning stage. He has scans and models of the vessels, the surrounding area and the access points he needs. "When you're doing a reconstruction like this, even when you're working on cranial-facial reconstruction, there's a lot of guessing," Goodrich says. With the new technology, you're no longer guessing." Four tissue expanders were mapped to their exact location in the boys new skulls. This was all done virtually and allowed the surgeons to see if they even had enough skin for the reconstructive surgery afterwards. It also helped them position the expanders in the best position, away from the incisions. This lessened the chance of infection and also gave Jadon and Anias the best possible chance when it came to the main separation surgery. "None of that was ever possible before," Tepper says. "That's the first time that's ever been used." There are so many firsts in this surgery that its hard to list them all, but medical models and 3D scans have once again played an invaluable part in preparing for an immensely complex operation. Now all the world can do is watch and wait as Goodrich and Tepper take months of study and planning into an arduous 20-hour long operation. Much of the operation's $2.5 million cost was covered by insurance, but they are $100,000 short. Fortunately a GoFundMe page has also raised more than $124,000 to support the family. To donate, you can visit their GoFundMe page. We wish the boys well and we know that 3D printing and scanning have given them the best possible chance for a happy life. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Oct 14, 2016 | By Tess Japanese multinational company Panasonic, known primarily for its televisions and smartphones, has ventured into the realm of cosmetics with a new product that will surely leave half of consumers excited and the other half perplexed. Recently, the electronics company has unveiled a smart mirror which is capable of not only analyzing the users facial and skin flaws, but can then essentially 3D print a map of makeup for the user to apply. Understandably, many people are excited about the prospect of a smart mirror telling you how to get perfect looking skin (think of how much time could be saved trying on makeup tones and such), though others are less enthused about having a device point out their flaws. Panasonic unveiled its first prototype for the smart mirror earlier this year, but just recently unveiled an updated version of the smart mirror at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) in Japan. The latter includes 3D printing makeup capabilities. As Panasonic explains, the smart mirror is equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras that can recognize, scan, and analyze the users face, locating blemishes, or any skin imperfections. The device can also virtually apply makeup to the users image, letting them see what they would look like with facial hair, different eyebrow shape, etc. and supposedly offers tutorials geared to the user to explain how to apply makeup, which makeup, and where. The most exciting part about Panasonics new technology, however, is probably its integrated makeup 3D printer, which prints customized sheets of makeup that can be applied directly to the users face, similar to a temporary tattoo. Think about how much time you could save on your morning makeup routine with that! As Panasonic explains in a video demonstration of the technology, the makeup prints in a very fine film, which can be applied to the users skin. With the natural looking and reportedly barely perceptible results, the company hopes that the technology will also have applications within the medical field, as a device to cover scars, injuries, etc. Notably, however, Panasonics smart makeup mirror is still being prototyped within Japan (it has not been introduced to the American market yet), and there are still some kinks in the technology that need to be worked out. For instance, the makeup, which only take a couple minutes to print out, can reportedly only be applied to the users face after setting for a day, which makes it a bit less appealing for those who want to use it on the fly. There is no word yet on when or for how much the smart mirror 3D printer hybrid will be available. Panasonic is not the only company to have ventured into the realm of 3D printing makeup, as Swedish lifestyle brand Foreo has been working on combining the two fields with its MODA 3D printer for makeup concept, a UK based company has developed a 3D printing makeup pen, and cosmetics giant LOreal has partnered with 3D bioprinting firms to advance 3D printed skin tissues. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Jessica Tobias wrote at 10/18/2016 9:20:33 AM:It is very cool, so it was such a big company is also involved in the race Cosmetics everyone will believe in you. Thanks Jessica Tobias Oct 14, 2016 | By Alec We here in developed countries take way too much for granted, but clean water must surely be top of the list. For the simple reality is that the billion people at the bottom of the worlds population pyramid cant even trust the water theyre forced to drink. But a low-cost 3D printed solution is on its way. Called WaterScope, it provides a quick and low cost method for checking on-site if water is safe to drink, or absolutely teeming with harmful bacteria. But the same 3D printed microscopes can be used for countless applications, and are available now. This fantastic tool was developed back in 2015 by a group of academics from Cambridge University, and they had a very clear-cut goal: to empower the bottom billion of the world and give them clean water. The reason for this is that drinking water is a huge killer in the developing world, with an estimated 2.2 million people dying from waterborne bacterial pathogens every year. Aside from proper filtration methods, these people are in desperate need of water testing kits but current systems are woefully inadequate. In fact, they require power, scientific training, costly equipment and more than 24 hours to work. WaterScope seeks to change that, and will bring testing kits to the locals who need just one to two hours to test the water. We're in a unique position to reach that goal because the team is comprised of biologists, physicists, material scientists and others, each of whom contributes essential skills and knowledge to the project, they say. What they came up with is impressive. The WaterScope, in a nutshell, enables on-site testing for deadly pathogens such as E. coli, Listeria, Legionella and pathogenic E. coli 0157, without any technical training being necessary. Whats more, the process takes just up to two hours. The method consists of concentrating the bacteria from a water sample, imaging their growth during incubation and sending the results to a server along with GPS coordinates, the researchers explain. The result is that the communities where the water is tested know immediately if there is a problem with their water supply and, as more and more samples are tested, a 'heat map' of water quality can be generated. Of course this kit doesnt actually make the water safe to drink, as it only gives locals an idea of how safe their drinking supply actually is. Initial filtration does take place, but only to concentrate the bacteria in the water. These are subsequently transferred to a selection medium, incubated for a brief period of time and studied through the microscopes imaging technology (found on a Raspberry Pi). The results follow within that same 2 hour timeframe, and are automatically uploaded together with those GPS coordinates. Add a Raspberry Pi camera module and the microscope comes into its own, they say. Key in this process is the WaterScope itself, featuring several 3D printed components, a few screws and a lens. The parts can be 3D printed at home, or ordered through WaterScope for just 55 (approximately $60 USD). But 3D printing does more than just keep costs down. Significantly smaller, lighter, and cheaper than todays testing kits, it will allow more sites to be monitored more frequently and more easily. Once fully developed, it will be the fastest bacterial test kit available, they say. Of course 3D printing doesnt make this kit look very professional, but the Cambridge team warns critics that they should not be fooled by its appearance. Exactly because its made from flexible plastic, the WaterScopes motion is completely free from friction and vibration, helping it achieve a sub-micron precision and a range of 8mm. And because it can be connected to a Raspberry Pi, you can see pin-sharp detail on a smartphone, tablet or monitor, rather than the limited view through a traditional microscope, they add. While the project is already released as an open source tool under the CERN Open Hardware License, the Cambridge team is currently working to improve their image processing techniques to improve sample analysis capabilities. Once successful, they are hoping to bring their WaterScope to locations all around the world and help the thousands of children that die from waterborne diseases every day. But of course any biotech startup can benefit from the WaterScope, and they are thus also making it available as widely as possible. If youre interested, you can find an assembly kit on the WaterScope website here. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Oct 14, 2016 | By Nick HP Inc has announced it will cut up to 4000 staff over the coming three years as it restructures the company. The computing giant shook up the 3D printing world in May with the introduction of the HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution that promised to provide a viable manufacturing system that was fast enough to consign the traditional production line to history. The commercial 3D printer has lived up to that early promise and is certainly a potent arm of the company going forward, but it couldnt compensate for a poor year in HPs core consumer PC and desktop printer business. The public are increasingly reliant on smartphones and that has to have an impact on the sale of laptop computers and the peripherals that go with them. So despite producing the worlds thinnest laptop in the Spectre 13 and the award-winning X3 Lap Dock, the computing giant has had to absorb losses and make redundancies. HP has to bear the brunt of a global trend and the PC market is down 3.9% year-on-year according to market research firm IDC, while Gartner claims its down by 5.7%. These are lean times in the home computing market, then, and that side of the business dwarfs HPs investment in 3D scanning and 3D printing. It is still spending big and expanding in the 3d printing and scanning space as it shifts its focus to our growth industry. In July it bought David Vision Systems and David 3D Solutions and stated its intent to build a complete 3D ecosystem, from 3D scanning through computing to the 3D printing. It also committed to investing more than $65 million a year into 3D printing R&D center in Spain. So its fair to say that HP saw these problems coming and is working on the solution. In the short-term, though, it has to restructure and put a large amount of people out of work. These heavy cuts will save the company $200-300 million a year from 2020, but theres no hiding the fact that this is a major blow. HP has approximately 50,000 employees around the world so it is actually shedding almost 10% of its total workforce. Dion Weisler, President and CEO of HP Inc Although our markets remain very challenged, we are committed to innovating in the core and continue to see long-term growth opportunities in commercial mobility and services, the disruption of the A3 copier market and the digitization of graphics and manufacturing through our leading 3D printing solutions, said CEO Dion Weisler. Hewlett-Packard Co. split a year ago in Silicon Valleys biggest ever corporate break-up and HP Inc rose from the ashes as the new hardware division. It has saved more than $1 billion thanks to the split, according to Weisler. Now the company is on the hunt for investors and reduced costs, together with an aggressive payout strategy, will make the tech giant a safer bet for the money men. HP Inc claims it will return 50-75% of the annual free cashflow to the shareholders, which sounds exceptionally aggressive. But if thats what it takes to raise the finance it needs to build on its exceptional progress in the 3D printing and 3D scanning world, and shore up its defenses in the home computing market, then thats what the Palo Alto company has to do. The company stock dropped by 1.3% when it broke the news. Considering the magnitude of the job losses, this is actually a positive sign and until this bombshell the shares had risen 28% this year. HP Inc is in relatively good shape and it has a formidable weapon in the HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution, especially if it can integrate the David products and create a complete manufacturing system that is an order of magnitude cheaper than a full production line. Desktop inkjet printing simply wont get back to its glory days, technology has moved on. So HP Inc was wise to make the move and now it has to go through the painful transition to a high-tech company with the right number of people on board. It wont go down well with the unions, it has raised eyebrows on Wall St and HP Inc will have to work hard to find the investment it needs in the wake of this news. But if it can slim down and come back twice as strong, this day will soon be forgotten, by the investors at least. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenian exports to the EAEU member states rose by 70% during the first 7 months of 2016, Armenpress reports Member of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Board - Minister in charge of the Development of Integration and Macroeconomics Tatyana Valovaya announced at the first International Forum of Eurasian Partnership, adding that the rise is due to decrease of trade turnover with third countries. She noted that Armenia shows rather positive dynamics of macroeconomic indicators. These indicators are better than the average indicators of the Union. For example, GDP growth in Armenia is 2.8%, which is significantly higher than the Unions average. The industrial growth during the first 7 months against the same period of the last year is 8%, Valovaya said. According to the EEC Board member, the rise of export volumes to EAEU member states meshes with growth in industrial and agricultural output, as well as the justification of the expectations of business from Eurasian integration. However, in her opinion, there are still some obstacles for some types of goods that have to be eliminated. Referring to the issue of movement of labor force, Valovaya mentioned that this freedom is almost entirely applied within the Union. This is a key point for the citizens of Armenia. Thank to accession to the EAEU, the citizens of the country have the opportunity to work in the Eurasian Economic Union avoiding any type of discrimination, like local residents, the EEC official said. Issues of regional integration, as well as development of bilateral economic cooperation between the member states are on the agenda of the forum. Heidi Ledford in Scientific American: A groundbreaking treatment that arms immune cells called T cells to battle cancer is barrelling towards regulators, fuelled by unprecedented clinical success and investor exuberance. But progress of the therapy, called CAR-T, has been marred by its toxicity; several deaths have been reported in clinical trials. Even as the first company readies its application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)expected by the end of the yearresearchers are hard at work to make the supercharged T cells safer. Doing so is crucial to expanding the use of the therapy to more people, says Anthony Walker, a managing partner at Alacrita, a consulting firm in London. Right now it is heroic medicine, he saysa gruelling treatment deployed only in people for whom all else has failed. Patients are taken sometimes to within an inch of their lives. Most CAR-T procedures begin by harvesting a patients white blood cells and sifting out the T cells. Those T cells are engineered to recognize cancer cells, and then infused into the patient, ready to do battle. The approach has shown remarkable success against leukaemias and lymphomas: in one study, all traces of leukaemia disappeared in 90% of the patients who received the treatment (S. L. Maude et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 371, 15071517; 2014). Results such as those have fuelled an investor frenzy. It set the field on fire, says Walker. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis invested in the technique in 2012. In 2014, CAR-T firm Kite Pharma of Santa Monica, California, raised US$128 million when it went public. A few months later, one of its competitors, Juno Therapeutics of Seattle, Washington, yielded $264 million in its initial public offering. Now Kite is racing to be the first to bring a CAR-T therapy to the market. On October 18, the company will update investors on its plans to manufacture and sell the complex therapy, which it hopes to launch in 2017. But the treatments toxicity has discouraged some investors. On September 26, Kite released interim clinical-trial resultswidely seen as successfulin people with aggressive non-Hodgkins lymphoma (see go.nature.com/2djdqen). Yet about one-third of the patients developed serious neurological side effects, and 18% developed a deadly condition called cytokine release syndrome, which can cause organ failure. Two of the 62 patients died as a result of the treatment. More here. On Saturday, October 15th, the streets of the Mission District will be flooded with members of the Bay Area's literature community: from local lit lovers and bestselling authors, to award-winning poets, storytellers, and more. Over the course of three and a half hours, 99 events featuring 400 performers will take place during San Francisco's 12th annual Lit Crawl. Here's where you'll catch us getting our lit on. Eight-Tracks takes from BARtab WHAT:BARtab/Bay Area Reporter's eighth annual event at Martuni's goes retro and romantic with gay, straight and other tales of desire from another era. Presenters include renowned authors Mark Abramson (More Sex, Drugs & Disco), Louis Flint Ceci (Not Just Another Pretty Face), and Jim Provenzano (Forty Wild Crushes), among others. WHEN: 6-7pm WHERE: Martuni's: 4 Valencia St. (Mid-Market), sched.co/7yEf The Nocturnists WHAT: A group of physician-writers share reflections on their lives in medicine. You can learn more about them at thenocturnists.com. WHEN: 6-7pm WHERE: Paxton Gate: 824 Valencia St. (Mission), sched.co/7zhM Timeless Infinite Light: Public Trauma, Private Trauma WHAT: The presenting authors perceive trauma from different angles, but share a commitment to exploring the connections between personal trauma and broader political concerns through innovative language. They will share their works that focus on this theme. WHEN: 6-7pm WHERE: Faye's Video and Espresso Bar: 3614 18th St. (Mission), sched.co/7vqu Comedians with Criminal Records WHAT: This storytelling event is perfect for a police station: comedians will tell real-life tales of how they got arrested. Fans of comedy won't want to miss this hilarious event. WHEN: 7:15-8:15pm WHERE: Mission Police Station: 630 Valencia St. (Mission), sched.co/7zf9 Mission Comics WHAT: Cartoonists will read their original comics and present their artwork on a screen projector. Presenters include cartoonists who have worked for The Daily Californian, Huffington Post, McSweeney's publishing company, and other well-established publications and publishing groups. WHEN: 7:15-8:15pm WHERE: Mission Comics & Art: 2250 Mission St. (Mission), sched.co/7zds Stanford's Rooted Words: Farm-Fresh Words for Hungry Listeners WHAT: This event features poems, fiction, essays, and more literature from a farm-based reading series, paired with food samples that make the connection between literature, the land, and life tangible and delicious. WHEN: 7:15-8:15pm WHERE: Mission Cheese: 736 Valencia St. (Mission), sched.co/7zdq (Courtesy of litquake.org) Red Light Lit WHAT: Red Light Lit is a collective of writers, musicians and artists who explore love relationships and sexuality through poetry, prose, art, and song. Presenters at this event include a poet, essayist, fiction writer, and more. WHEN: 8:30-9:30pm WHERE: Lone Palm: 3394 22nd St. (Mission), sched.co/7zcq A Totally 80s Reading Party WHAT: Presented by Rare Bird Books publishing company, authors will read their 80s favorites and original stories set in San Francisco, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and beyond. WHEN: 8:30-9:30pm WHERE: Coffee Mission: 3325 24th St. (Mission), sched.co/7zbX Think You Know Your Lit? WHAT: Test your knowledge of Bay Area authors, literary landmarks, and classic novels at this rowdy night of trivia, hosted by quizmaster Carl Gibbs and 7x7. Prizes will be awarded to trivia winners! WHEN: 8:30-9:30pm WHERE: The Chapel: 777 Valencia St. (Mission), sched.co/89hD Litquake After-Party WHAT: Immediately following the Lit Crawl, Litquake will host San Francisco's biggest literary party of the year, with specialty cocktails, a raffle at the Moleskine pop-up shop, Litquake swag table, and tunes by DJ Matt Haze. Entrance is free and it will be a great opportunity to mingle and dance with your new literary friends! WHEN: 9:30pm-1am WHERE: The Chapel: 777 Valencia St. (Mission), sched.co/8Mi0 // Download the sched app to navigate the Crawl, or pick up a map at Litquake headquarters at 518 Valencia Street on the day of the Crawl. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and the Secretary-General of the CSTO Nikolay Bordyuzha met with media representatives after the CSTO Collective Security Council session to brief on the results of the Yerevan session, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian Presidents Office. Addressing to the reporters, Serzh Sargsyan informed that a number of key documents and decisions were adopted during todays CSTO Collective Security Council session aimed at reinforcing the potential of the Organization and improvement of its functions. Among the key results of the session I would point out the adoption of the CSTO Collective Security Strategy. The works that lasted for over 5 years for the elaboration of the document are over, President Sargsyan said, adding that CSTOs Yerevan Strategy envisages the priorities of the Organization until 2025 and reinforces all the guidelines for the future development in all the directions. Serzh Sargsyan stated that the heads of the states once again reaffirmed the role of the Organization as a key tool for fostering peace and stability, and ensuring security and sovereignty of the member states. Our CSTO partners expressed support for the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements on Nagorno Karabakh issue, aimed at preventing escalation in the conflict zone, stabilization of the situation and creation of favorable conditions for the continuation of the peace process. The necessity of exclusively peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict was reaffirmed at the session. The heads of states also expressed support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs in Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, based on the international law, UN charter, Helsinki Final Act, particularly in the framework of non-use of force or its threat, territorial integrity of states, and right to self-determination of nations Sargsyan said. The Armenian President informed that many other key issues had been discussed at the session, pointing out the document signed for the fight of international terrorism. The decision on the adjustment of a united list of the organizations recognized as terroristic is a key document, he said. Serzh Sargsyan informed that the issue of the appointment of a new secretary-general of the CSTO was withdrawn from the agenda of the session, which will be discussed at the end of the year in St. Petersburg. He added that Belarus has assumed the chairmanship of the Organization and sincerely wished success to the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in the implementation of the decisions taken at the Yerevan summit, expressing readiness to render comprehensive assistance. Surveys for $3B Navigator carbon capture pipeline can begin in South Dakota Navigator fulfilled two legal prerequisites in South Dakota law that allows them to conduct surveys on private land without a landowner's permission. It was the day that she became the longest reigning monarch in the world. October 14, 2016, 10:56 Queen Elizabeth becomes worlds longest reigning monarch STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: And for the Queen, as is so often the case, it was business as usual. The latest landmark for Her Majesty came as Thailand announced the death of its king after 70 years on the throne, the Daily Mail reports. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, had reigned since June 9 1946. The Queen, who turned 90 in April, has reigned for 64 years, having succeeded her father, King George VI, in February 1952. On September 15 last year she surpassed the previous British record, held by her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, having ruled this country for 23,226 days, 16 hours and some 30 minutes. Just like last autumn, when she insisted that overtaking her illustrious ancestor was 'not a record to which I have ever aspired', the Queen will take no great pleasure in capturing the world record for to do so would be seen to be glorifying the death of a fellow head of state. It will also be an uncomfortable reminder that to rule for the same period seven decades would take her to the grand age of 96 while her husband, Prince Philip, with whom she will celebrate 70 years of marriage next November, would be 101. The Queen, on duty yesterday to mark the 300th anniversary of the Royal Engineers in Chatham, Kent, will also be acutely aware that the Thai people are grieving for their revered ruler, many of whom took to the streets last night crying and clutching pictures of the king. The Queen - wearing a Stewart Parvin turquoise green wool dress with matching coat and a Royal Engineers brooch - inspected 140 troops from an open-top Range Rover. As she viewed heavy specialist equipment, she was saluted by two troops in a water tank in front of guests including musician Jools Holland, who attended in his role as a deputy lieutenant of Kent. In her address, the Queen said that since 1716 the Corps of Royal Engineers has been 'at the forefront of operations and often in difficult circumstances. There was no immediate statement from Buckingham Palace last night but Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson joined leaders around the world in paying tribute to the monarch, whose death will be marked with a one-year mourning period by Thai government officials. Mrs May said: His Majesty guided the Kingdom of Thailand with dignity, dedication and vision throughout his life. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with the people of Thailand at this difficult time. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced that the government will observe one year of mourning and flags will fly at half-staff for 30 days. King Bhumibol Adulyadej - whose name means 'strength of the land, incomparable power' - had been in poor health for a number of years and was rarely seen in public but was still viewed as something of a demi-God. His popularity stemmed partly from his long reign, but he was also viewed as a pillar of stability. Strict lese-majeste laws banned any criticism of him or the Thai royal family. In August 2015, a man was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Thai military court for insulting the country's monarchy on Facebook. Earlier this week it emerged that the 88-year-old had been taken to a Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital where he was in a critical condition. An announcement by the royal household said he had 'passed away peacefully' with family members around him at 3.52 local time, 9.52 BST. The palace did not provide further details or give a specific cause of death. Earlier this week it had said he was on a ventilator, battling kidney problems, leaving many Thais to fear the worst. The world will now be watching to see how Thailand's ruling military junta react to what is certain to be a pivotal and unstable moment for the country. King Bhumibol will be succeeded by his named successor, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, but he does not command the same deep affection. He spends much of his time abroad and is considered something of a playboy. The Queen has some way to go before she becomes the world's longest reigning monarch ever. King Sobhuza II of Swaziland, who died in 1982, holds this title. He was just four months old when he became king and ruled for 82 years and 253 days. It was estimated that he had about 210 children from at least 70 wives and by the time of his death, he had more than 1,000 grandchildren. The longest reign of any monarch of a large country in European history belongs to Louis XIV of France - who was also known as Louis the Great, or the Sun King. His reign lasted for 72 years and 110 days, from 1643 to 1715. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has issued a statement hailing the French Senates decision to criminalize the Genocide denial. October 14, 2016, 14:47 Armenia welcomes French Senates move to criminalize Genocide STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: We hail the adoption by the National Assembly back in summer of the bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian Genocide. With this move, France yet another time reaffirms its valuable role in the condemnation of, and campaign against, the crimes of genocide committed, as well as the prevention of more atrocities future, he said. McEwen Mining Reports Q3 Production, Mexico Exploration Drill Results Toronto, Oct 14, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - McEwen Mining Inc. ( NYSE:MUX ) ( TSE:MUX ) is pleased to announce that total production for the third quarter ("Q3") was 36,496 gold equivalent ounces using a gold to silver ratio of 75:1, or 24,281 gold ounces and 916,168 silver ounces. Production is on target to achieve our 2016 guidance of 144,000 gold equivalent ounces, or 99,500 gold ounces and 3,337,000 silver ounces. San Jose Mine, Argentina (49%) The San Jose Mine produced 12,527 gold ounces and 909,017 silver ounces attributable to us in Q3, for a total of 24,647 gold equivalent ounces. Year-to-date the San Jose Mine produced 33,839 gold ounces and 2,443,527 silver ounces attributable to us, for a total of 66,419 gold equivalent ounces. Full year production guidance for San Jose in 2016 is 45,000 gold ounces and 3.3 million silver ounces, for a total of 89,000 gold equivalent ounces attributable to us. El Gallo Mine, Mexico (100%) The El Gallo Mine performed as expected in Q3, producing 11,849 gold equivalent ounces. Production in Q3 was lower than the prior quarter due to lower ore grades, as we previously forecast (1.4 gpt in Q3 2016 vs. 2.3 gpt in Q2 2016). Year-to-date the El Gallo Mine produced 47,590 gold equivalent ounces. Full year guidance for El Gallo is 55,000 gold equivalent ounces. Mexico Exploration Update The 2016 exploration budget for Mexico is US$4 million. Exploration drilling in the district around our El Gallo Mine has been concentrated primarily on three prospective areas; one area called Encuentro South has returned particularly encouraging results at shallow depths. Highlights are summarized below: Encuentro South is located 7 miles (11 km) southwest of the El Gallo Mine. The project area lies on an important 4 mile (7 km) long, regional NW-SE mineral trend that also hosts two of our other exploration targets (Las Milpas and Twin Domes). Extensive exploration along this trend has identified favorable alteration signatures and abundant anomalous gold and silver mineralization in surface rock and soil samples. A total of 51 core holes (8,980 meters) have been drilled in the project area, with 42 of those (7,522 meters) at the Encuentro South prospect. Initial interpretations indicate that the favourable gold assays occur in at least three distinct zones that are either shallow dipping NW, or sub-vertical NS structures and are still open along strike and at depth. Mineralization has been identified from surface to a depth of 130 meters. The known length (or strike) of the zone is approximately 230 meters. For full results of the recently drilled holes at Encuentro South see Table 1 here (refer to link): http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/L4D237W8 Mineralization at Encuentro South is characterized primarily by structurally controlled, multi-event quartz breccias and stockwork zones hosted by propolytically altered meta-andesites. Minor silicification and hematisation alteration is also seen locally. The mineralization is considered to be of the low-sulphidation, epithermal style as seen elsewhere on the property. Very early stage test results show that the gold mineralization at Encuentro South is potentially amenable to heap leaching. Financial Results Operating costs for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 will be released with our 10-Q Quarterly Financial Statements in early November. As at October 7, 2016 we have no debt and liquid assets of US$61 million composed of US$39 million of cash, US$18 million of precious metals, and US$4 million of marketable securities. We have not issued equity to finance our operations since completing a rights issue in 2013, and we have preserved our leverage to higher gold and silver prices by not encumbering our assets with royalties, metal streams or hedges. To view the report, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/12HI38OP About McEwen Mining Inc McEwen Mining (NYSE:MUX) (TSE:MUX) has the goal to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by creating a profitable gold and silver producer focused in the Americas. McEwen's principal assets consist of: the San Jose mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest); the Black Fox mine in Timmins, Canada; the Fenix Project in Mexico; the Gold Bar mine in Nevada, currently under construction; and the large Los Azules copper project in Argentina, advancing towards development. McEwen has approximately 345 million shares outstanding. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, owns roughly 23% of the shares. Xped to Acquire Leading Software Developer Melbourne, Oct 14, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Xped Limited ( ASX:XPE ) ("Xped" or "the Company") is delighted to announce it has executed a Term Sheet with the shareholders of Codium Pty Ltd ("Codium") to acquire 70% of the issued capital ("Majority Shares") in Codium, with an option to acquire the remaining 30% ("Proposed Transaction"). HIGHLIGHTS - Xped to acquire 70% of the shares of Codium Pty Ltd with Option to acquire remaining balance - Acquisition to boost value offering, deliver scale benefits, generate additional revenue and provide an existing corporate customer base - The integration of Codium will extend Xped's IoT platofrm delivery cababilities to include cloud services, big data and analytics - An extended skills base will enable world class mobile App development, enterprise software and support services and ensure that Xped's device browser technology continues to push beyond the state of the art In consideration for the transfer and issue of the Majority Shares, the Company will pay $600,000 cash (less deposit paid) and will issue 25,000,000 XPE Shares to the Codium vendors and will make available a $500,000 facility for working capital to further expand and allow the business to scale post completion. The 25,000,000 FPO XPE shares will be subject to voluntary escrow for 12 months. Xped will pay a non-refundable deposit of $50,000 for exclusivity period to complete the Proposed Transaction subject to due diligence. An option to buy the remaining 30% ordinary shares can be triggered by either the buyer or seller as detailed below: Buyer's Call Option Xped will have the right to buy the remaining 30% ordinary shares in Codium for the higher of either 30% of two times Codium's revenue for the previous completed financial year, or 30% of two times the revenue received by Codium year to date for the financial year in which the option to buyout is exercised; payable in cash or scrip or a combination thereof at the Seller's discretion. Seller's Put Option In the event that Codium's annual revenue (excluding revenue derived directly from the Buyer's company) exceeds $8m in a single financial year and an EBITDA margin of greater than or equal to 17.5% is maintained, the Sellers will have the option to force the sale of the remaining 30% of ordinary shares in Codium to the buyer for $4.8m in cash or scrip or a combination thereof at the Buyer's discretion. In the event that the Seller's Put Option is exercised, each identified key employee must agree to be engaged for a minimum of 3 years from the exercise date of the Put Option. The completion of the acquisition of Majority Shares in Codium is proposed to be completed in early November and subject to a number of conditions precedents including: (a) completing legal, financial, commercial and tax due diligence in relation to the Proposed Transaction; (b) key employees of Codium (identified by the Buyer) will sign executive service agreements with Codium; (c) all necessary consents (including waiver of any shareholder pre-emptive rights); (d) the Proposed Transaction terms being recorded in the necessary transaction documents; (e) material contracts of Codium being retained; (f) all necessary ASX and ASIC approvals, waivers and confirmations being obtained by Xped in respect of the Proposed Transaction (g) payment of the Deposit The balance of the conditions precedent at this stage are to be satisfied by 4 November 2016 with all aspects to be completed before 30 December 2016. Xped Chairman Athan Lekkas said: "Xped and Codium are highly complementary businesses in terms of market segment and corporate customer base. This is a strategic transaction for our shareholders that will deliver ongoing revenue and allow Xped to capitalise on Codium's cloud services and enterprise software expertise and development team for our next generation of IoT solutions". Xped continues to evaluate a number of opportunities, with the view to adding further value and scale to the business. The Company will be updating the market with an updated company presentation in the coming weeks detailing near term developments and its strategy to deliver additional revenue and subscriber growth. ABOUT CODIUM Codium is one of Australia's leading providers of cost effective, high quality software development and support services. We're also one of Australia's most awarded software development companies and are ISO9001 certified. Codium provides a number of services and technology offerings including: - Custom cloud solutions and applications - Mobile App development - Enterprise software and support services - Big data and analytics For more information on Codium please visit http://www.codium.com.au About XPED Ltd XPED Ltd (ASX:XPE) is an Australian Internet of Things (IoT) technology business. Xped has developed revolutionary and patent-protected technology that allows any consumer, regardless of their technical capability, to connect, monitor and control devices and appliances found in our everyday environment. Xped provides technology solutions for Smart Home, Smart Building, and Healthcare. At Xped, were Making Technology Easy Again(TM) ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost. The Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) announced this week that they're seeking minority college students to apply for theMary T. Washington Wylie Internship Preparation Program, which looks to help those interested in the accounting profession attain entry-level positions. The program is held January 4-6, 2017 for up to 25 diverse students who are currently sophomores, juniors, or seniors interested in accounting. The program is funded by donations to the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois Mary T. Washington Wylie Opportunity Fund. The program looks to place students in paid internships across Illinois and build their exposure to the profession resources, and mentors. All participants will also receive a $500 scholarship to help with educational costs. Following the completion of the program, accounting firms will interview students for a slew of opportunities, including Crowe Horwath, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, KPMG, PwC, and Sikich. More than 80 percent of past participants ultimately accepted leadership, internship, or full-time positions," stated Kari Natale, director of the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois. "This program leaves students more motivated, confident, and prepared than they ever imagined. I hope everyone who learns about this program will encourage students to apply." Interested students can apply at ICPAS' sitehere. The application deadline is November 18, 2016. Diwali is just around the corner and festivities have begun in full swing. Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd., one of Indias leading paint companies is showering festive cheer and raking in goodwill with its Har Din Diwali offer. The brand has already kick-started the revelry with this consumer offer aptly titled Har Din Diwali. The offer started on September 20, 2016 and will continue till October 30, 2016. 100 consumers get a chance to win exciting gifts like JBL speakers, Whirlpool Magic Cook Microwaves and Tissot watches har din i.e. literally every day. Four lucky winners also walk away with Maruti Suzuki Balenos. Speaking about the initiative Mr. Anuj Jain, Director Decorative, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd., said, Paints have traditionally been a quasi involvement category with consumers having little or no contact with the product apart from selecting colours and finish. With the growing awareness and acceptance of international designs and decor we are witnessing a steady rise in consumer involvement. The Har Din Diwali Offer reaches out to this consumer. Har Din Diwali offer has created a buzz of positivity and excitement among consumers and the trade alike. On the occasion of Diwali it brings us great joy to gift our homes with a makeover by painting it. The Har Din Diwali offer is like a return gift that multiples this excitement and joy of a newly painted home. The offer is applicable on purchase of Kansai Nerolac products worth Rs.7000 out of which one product should be an emulsion brand. Havas Creative Group has announced the appointment of Mike Amour to the position of Chairman and CEO of Asia Pacific, effective October 17. In this new role, Amour will be responsible for leading and driving continued collaboration and growth in one of the most dynamic regions for Havas Group. The appointment is a key milestone in the groups ongoing efforts to build agile teams and integrated structures to deliver the most impact for clients. Amour will report to Andrew Benett, Global CEO of Havas Creative Group, and will be based in Singapore. Mike is a visionary leader with a track record of driving transformation, and Im confident his leadership will further accelerate the Groups performance in the Asia-Pacific region, said Benett. He is a true internationalist with unique experience across different communications disciplines and developing markets. On his new role, Amour said, I am excited to be joining a company where clients can access a truly integrated service offering. The networks Village model is a significant competitive advantage, and I look forward to leveraging it fully to make Havas an indispensable partner to brands in the region. Prior to joining Havas Creative Group, Amour was President, Asia Pacific at StarcomMediavest Group. Previously, as CEO - Asia Pacific at Project: Worldwide, Amour created a future-facing offer to drive growth beyond experiential marketing. He also led Grey Group Asia Pacific for four years as Chairman and CEO, where he oversaw significant growth, including acquisitions in China, India, and Vietnam. Prior to that, based in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Portland, Amour held senior management positions at McCann, TBWA, and Wieden + Kennedy. Amour will take over from Juan Rocamora, currently Chairman, Havas Creative Group APAC, who will retire at the end of the year. After 20 years with Havas, the last seven in APAC, I felt that turning 60 was the right moment to settle back with my family in Barcelona and enjoy life at a more leisurely pace. Mike is a terrific guy, and I am sure that he will lead the great team we have been building up in the region to new heights, said Rocamora. I am grateful to Juan for his service and commitment to Havas for almost two decades, and I wish him the very best. His progressive leadership has had a tremendous impact on Havas Creative Groups growth and reputation in Asia Pacific, said Benett. Ad measurement in the digital advertising industry was the focus of The Ad Clubs Media Review, held in Mumbai yesterday. The event saw Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands India and Jonah Goodhart, CEO and Co-founder, MOAT, address the distinguished gathering. Speaking on Growing Indias Adex with Measurement, Shashi Sinha started out by stating how BARC is way ahead of the earlier system. According to Sinha, rural measurement has become the currency even as growth in rural is helping grow the economy. Today, rural is growing faster than urban. Most of the brands are planning for the rural markets. And also in the pipeline are TV and Digital planning capabilities, which are expected to go live by September next year and will give idea about where we stand, he added. In print measurement, the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) has been improving its research methodology over the years, for instance, introducing CAPI, Data Fusion, 40 per cent increase in sample size and much more. Some of the proposed initiatives include Multimedia Evaluation and Media Personality Fit Study, Sinha informed. He further said that digital, too, is not far behind, with ABC making a foray into digital measurement, which will measure publishers as well as other digital property owners, websites as well as Apps from PCs, tablets or mobile phones and will cover reach and frequency as well. But the marketers dream is to have single source data that will serve as one source for all research information like demographics, psychographics, product consumption as well as media consumption. A single source data can composite view of record that spans multiple data. And in the absence of single source data, data fusion is a fairly strong alternative, which is already being used in IRS. Various researches like IRS, BARC, ABC as well as TGi can be integrated into one quasi-angle source data, Sinha pointed out. He further said that today, there is need to make Big Data a reality as Big Data is the latest buzz in the analytics space. It can help in creating an altogether new level of segmenting and targeting consumers. And to move towards that the vision, Sinha said, the first step is to come together with a common thought process and pooling of resources from the multi-media industry body. Since, different metrics are used to measure different media, a common currency has become a necessity as digital measurement works on more advanced metrics. Building a case for CPT, Sinha affirmed, TV buying needs to shift from CPRP to CPT as it has outlived its utility. He added that here, CPT could be the new metric, while effectiveness could be added as a layer on top of exposure. The future is all about multi-screen planning, hence media professionals have to upgrade their skillsets. Sinha maintained, Skillset enhancement is the need of the hour. Big Data expertise will be an added advantage! United Spirits Limited (USL), a Diageo Group Company, today together with the Mumbai Traffic Police and in partnership with the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) committed to making Mumbai roads safe with the launch of a Road to Safety programme. The programme was inaugurated by Mr. Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner Police (IPS), Mumbai Traffic Police in the presence of Ms. Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Head Luxury & Corporate Relations, USL. With a focus on Enforcement and Education, the programme will cover capacity building training for the police traffic officials and a series of public awareness campaigns using TV, Radio, outdoor channels, and on ground workshops over a period of 1 year. India accounts for more than 12% of the worldwide annual average of 12.4 Million global road fatalities of which drunken driving is one of the leading causes. According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, 611 road accident deaths were reported in Mumbai in 2015 and approx. 4029 serious injury accidents took place in the same year. As part of USL-Diageos Sustainability and Responsibility strategy, the Road to Safety initiative endeavours to bring collective consciousness around responsible drinking, road-safety and, encourage citizens to Never Drink and Drive. The capacity building training for the Mumbai Traffic Police is conducted by an expert panel of faculty of the IRTE. The deliberations include causes and consequences of road accidents, rules of road regulations and understanding traffic control devices. The training also imparts knowledge of the importance of seat belts and helmets, advantages of defensive driving and ill effects of drunken driving. Mr. Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner Police (IPS), Mumbai Traffic Police said, The Mumbai Traffic Police has always been committed to the safety of its people and addressing the menace of road accidents has been a priority. The successful execution of this project as a result of a partnership with various industry bodies is a progressive step forward to ensure safety of our people by upgrading our own internal capacity. We are confident that with a sustained campaign on public awareness, we will soon see a reduction in road traffic accidents in Mumbai. Commenting on the initiative, Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Business Head - Luxury and Corporate Relations, USL, said At USL, our ambition is to create a positive impact in the community in which we operate. We believe that efforts to reduce the misuse of alcohol are most effective when government, civil society, individuals, families and industry work collaboratively. We are delighted with our partnership with the Mumbai Traffic Police and we are committed to take this programme to greater heights. Dr. Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), said Road Safety is the backbone of an efficient and safe traffic management system. I would like to compliment and congratulate the Mumbai Traffic Police for having taken this bold initiative to undertake the capacity building programme. Such an initiative would definitely reduce road traffic violations and casualties in the same proportion as the application of the initiative. The USL-Diageo IRTE Road to Safety initiative in its 3rd Year aims to provide capacity building training to traffic police officials and educate commercial drivers such as truckers and bus drivers and university students on drink driving. In the first two years the programme covered 19 states and 50 cities and trained over 3,800 police and transport officials and educated over 5,000 commercial vehicle drivers and 6,000 university students. High quality breath alcohol analysers were donated to police departments of several states. Chevron has signed a 10 year lease with Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Chevron will move in to set up a Maintenance facility in November 2016 and it will be ready to receive aircrafts from January 2017.The existing facilities within Glasgow Prestwick Airport will provide a large, bespoke space for Chevrons increased line maintenance support operations.Chevron will be establishing a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hangar facility, bespoke teardown / parts processing facility, aircraft parking area and management offices totalling 150,000 square feet.Chevron tested out the airport earlier this year welcoming a B757-200 aircraft from a major European airline.Managing Director of Chevron Aircraft Maintenance, Mr Neil Morris, said: Chevron Group has embarked upon a 2 year project visiting facilities with similar prospects all over the world. Capable of accommodating wide body aircraft up to B747 size, Glasgow Prestwick Airport was finally approved as the preferred site for the future development of our new MRO facility. The airport offered many key attributes, such as 24/7 365 days operational access, underpinned by a tried and tested infrastructure.It was great to have the opportunity to test these facilities and we were very impressed by the professionalism of the people at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, who proved to be a forward thinking group, capable of making decisive and progressive decisions. We look forward to working with the airport team as our long term partnersNeil Morris added: The airport is in an excellent location at the midway point of the Great Circle Route making it a convenient stop off point for the many aircraft that have existing flight planning over the airport. The facility will enable the Chevron Group to handle a large range of aircraft and we hope that we can offer additional benefits to Glasgow Prestwicks existing customer base across passenger, cargo, military, executive and general aviation including training through providing them with MRO and supporting services.Over the coming months we will work closely with the airport team to promote the facility, beginning by exhibiting the new capability at the upcoming MRO Europe Amsterdam Conference raising industry awareness of this new MRO capability encouraging many more aircraft operators and owners to the regional cluster of Aerospace activity.Glasgow Prestwick Airport Chief Executive Officer, Ron Smith, said: The newly formed leadership team at the airport is delighted to welcome Chevron to Glasgow Prestwick Airport and the wider Prestwick Aerospace campus. This is the first major new business that this team has secured and we see this as a building block on the way to delivering a profitable and sustainable airport for the long term.Chevron will bring in additional revenue for us through this lease but we also hope that this will provide us with an additional selling point for passenger and cargo airlines and other aviation customers including executive, military and general aviation to operate services to and from Glasgow Prestwick Airport.We will be working closely with Chevron to offer our support to help them build their business their success will bring us success. This partnership working starts now with providing assistance to get the facility up and running in time to receive aircraft at the turn of the year.Chevron currently has a sister MRO facility at Cotswolds Airport aircraft with existing long term contracts for base line maintenance and storage. Soon they will see the arrival of both new Airbus and Boeing aircrafts and have performed 4 aircraft decommissioning processes at the airport in 2015, supported by several major C-Check operations for 3rd Party operators.Chevron Aircraft Maintenance are approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for EASA Part 145 Base/line maintenance, Chevron currently operates from its HQ in Manchester and operates support services in Amsterdam, Ibiza and Glasgow Prestwick as well as other locations worldwide Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee (CCAGW PAC) announced its endorsement of three Tennessee candidates: Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and John Duncan (R-Tenn.) for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives. CCAGW PAC based its endorsements on each candidates lifetime score as listed in CCAGWs 2015 Congressional Ratings. The lifetime ratings of the three members are as follows: Rep. Black, 90 percent; Rep. Blackburn, 93 percent; and Rep. Duncan, 90 percent. During their tenures in the House, these members of Congress have served the citizens of Tennessee with great distinction, said CCAGW PAC Chairman Tom Schatz. On top of their prestigious voting records, they worked with their colleagues to restrain the growth of federal spending and to help make government more accountable and transparent to taxpayers. Their abiding commitment to fiscal conservatism is one of the many reasons that I urge Tennesseans to vote for Reps. Black, Blackburn, and Duncan on November 8, so that they can continue to hold the line on Washingtons big-spending agenda and restore accountability and fiscal discipline to the nations capital, concluded Schatz. CCAGW PAC is affiliated with the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, a 501(c)(4) organization. CCAGW PACs mission is to support political candidates who will fight to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in government and represent the best interests of taxpayers. Paid for by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee. Not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005529/en/ Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee (CCAGW PAC) Curtis Kalin, 202-467-5318 SINGAPORE, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens has bagged the 2016 Asia-Pacific Building Technologies Company of the Year award from Frost & Sullivan. The award was presented to Siemens at the annual Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific Best Practices Awards banquet held at the Conrad Centennial Singapore on Oct 13. Mr. Viswesh Vancheeshwar, Research Analyst, Energy & Environment Practice, Asia-Pacific at Frost & Sullivan said that Siemens has successfully created affordable and easy-to-use state-of-the-art solutions. "By consistently producing and providing new technologies which push the boundaries of both operational and energy efficiency, Siemens has consolidated its position as a leader in the building technologies market," he added. Mr. Vancheeshwar said that building technologies is a fast industry with numerous exciting and evolving opportunities and is currently experiencing a technological convergence with the emergence of next generation of ICT solutions such as Big Data, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and data analytics. He added that it is challenging for companies to incorporate these ICT solutions into their value propositions, while ensuring the ease of use for customers. "In a price conscious region like Asia-Pacific, offering advanced technology solutions at competitive prices may be the key to success but also poses a challenge for building technology providers. However, Siemens has successfully overcome this challenge with its innovative and attractive solutions that are able to match the evolving needs of end-users in this market," he said. Mr. Vancheeshwar also said that as a pioneer in the building technologies sector, Siemens brings innovative solutions and years of global expertise to its customers. The company's solutions and services ensure that buildings are future-ready, which essentially translates into higher ROIs for customers, he added. "We are proud to receive the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific Building Technologies Company of the Year award. The award underscores our commitment to bring cutting-edge solutions to our customers within the Region," said Mr. Elangovan Karuppiah, CEO of the Building Technologies Division for the Middle-East Asia Pacific region at Siemens. Mr. Karuppiah also added that Siemens has increased their focus on delivering digitalized and energy-efficient solutions to the market and will constantly work towards raising the bar in the buildings industry. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact Us: Start the discussion About Siemens Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of gas and steam turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2015, which ended on September 30, 2015, Siemens generated revenue of 75.6 billion and net income of 7.4 billion. At the end of September 2015, the company had around 348,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at http://www.siemens.com. Media Contact Alice Chia Corporate Communications Asia Pacific Frost & Sullivan Email: alice.chia@frost.com Joint Base Charleston Prepares for Hurricane Matthew Cargo is prepared Oct. 11, 2016, on the flightline at Fort Campbell, Ky. Joint Base Charleston C-17's evacuated to Fort Campbell so they can continue their mission of rapid global mobility during Hurricane Matthew. Due to Hurricane Matthew, a Limited Evacuation Order of South Carolina Hurricane Evacuation Zones has been issued by the Commander, Joint Base Charleston. All Joint Base personnel are expected to evacuate the area and will return once damage has been assessed and it's safe to return. (U.S Air Force photo by Senior Airman Clayton Cupit) For the last decade, the Air Force Memorial stood boldly in the skyline of the nations capital, inciting pride and honor, and recognizing the dedication and sacrifices of Airmen who have served. Members of industry, Airmen and media attended a ceremony in celebration of the monuments 10th anniversary under its spires in Arlington, Virginia, Oct. 14.Depending on ones perspective, the towering memorial -- made of three spires reaching 270 feet -- can symbolize the Air Force core values, a bomb burst maneuver or the three of four planes performing a missing man formation.Air Force senior leaders spoke during the ceremony themed past, present and future paying homage to veterans who paved the way, those who are currently serving, and the Airmen of the future.Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, who was also named an honorary Tuskegee Airman at the event, spoke to the bright future of the Air Force.Airmen of today and those of tomorrow are all standing on the backs of the giants of the past, James said. Its now up to all of us, and those who follow us, to preserve and carry forward that legacy into the future, and that is precisely what we will do.According to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein, the Airmen of today stand watch for America across the globe, delivering global reach, global vigilance and global power.Standing watch is what we do, he said. So, how appropriate that this powerful, moving memorial stands watch over our fallen at Arlington Cemetery.The solemn place to honor the pioneers of the past inspired Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody to reflect on the freedom it represents.It is truly an honor as you think about celebrating the history of it all, he said. You think about two brothers with big dreams at the turn of the 20th century to the Doolittle Raiders, to the Tuskegee Airmen, to all the legends who have gone before us and shoulders we stand on that make this Air Force so great.Since its dedication, over 2 million people have visited the memorial in reverence of tradition, heritage and esprit de corps, stated the memorials director.The Air Force memorial is a living, breathing monument, said retired Chief Master Sgt. Barbara Taylor, the Air Force Memorial managing director. This isnt something you just drive by and say its nice; it is a place where Airmen come to celebrate Airmen.From history to resiliency, the majestic site is in the crossroads of heritage and the future, inspiring todays Air Force mission.The spires of our memorial reach to the sky, just as our Airmen reach for the sky everyday as we fly, fight and win, James said. New test force focuses on autonomy The 412th Test Wing has a new organization that will explore the Air Force warfighting capabilities of tomorrow. The Emerging Technologies Combined Test Force was officially activated in early July and its mission is to provide agile, innovative flight test capabilities for emerging technologies. Weve had various commercial and innovation projects coming in and we needed a way to manage all of them, said Maj. Dan Riley, the Emerging Technologies CTF director. There are new technologies that are not necessarily highly developed and are not yet operational, but may be coming down the pipe things we may not be prepared for. The CTF will create test capabilities that do not currently exist and help eliminate strategic surprise to the 412th Test Wing. Riley said that an increasing number of upcoming test programs are below the scope of the current CTFs in the test wing. The existing CTFs are focused on high-performance, high-dollar figure items. The Emerging Technologies CTF is focused more in the thousands of dollars range. Currently, the primary focus for the new CTF is autonomous systems. Riley said these are the big technologies coming in the near future and are in large demand from the Air Force because autonomous systems provide a tactical battlefield advantage and can help reduce manpower requirements. Our manpower is shrinking, and we already have requirements that are greater than our manpower will allow. Autonomous systems will help us alleviate that problem, Riley said. However, testing an aircraft that is self-thinking and self-learning poses its challenges. We dont necessarily know how to test autonomous systems, he said. For example, I have a system that is supposed to survey an area over here. We expect, based on terrain and weather, it should take a certain route, but then it takes another route and we didnt predict that. But is that okay? Maybe it is or maybe not. We (the CTF) have to come up with plans and regulations so I can tell the operations group commander, I dont know what its going to do, but its okay. With the recent explosion of relatively inexpensive commercial and military unmanned aircraft systems being used, the new CTF will initially focus on small unmanned aircraft systems. The goal of the new test force is to develop test plans and regulations and to identify areas around Edwards Air Force Base for testing these systems. The CTF works with commercial partners, NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Air Force Civil Engineering and Air Force Security Forces Centers, who use SUAS in their missions. Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration published rules regarding commercial and civilian use of unmanned aircraft. The FAA publication grants more access to users, but there are still restrictions. The CTF hopes to create mutual partnerships with commercial SUAS producers so both sides can benefit from testing at Edwards AFB. We want to learn from what theyre doing because the commercial companies are far ahead of what the (Defense Department) is doing. Our focus is bringing the test capability to Edwards and figuring out how to test SUAS. The reason people want to come here is our restricted airspace. We can do things here they cant do with the FAA. The CTF will oversee safety procedures and planning, Riley said. The focus on SUAS coincides with the Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan published April 30, which outlines the vision and strategy for the continued development, operation and sustainment of SUAS over the next 20 years for the Air Force. A large focus of the flight plan is autonomous systems. According to Riley, SUAS are the primary test bed for autonomous systems, and that is why we have the joint focus on both technologies. The first official test of the CTF is planned for the end of November. The project was brought to the CTF from the base innovation team and will involve a quadcopter fixed with a transmitter to see if the 412th Range Squadron can calibrate their telemetry equipment more efficiently by using a non-fixed antenna that is mobile and above ground, which will be the quadcopter. If the release of the film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is stalled then it will cause huge revenue loss to producers and distributors. Uncertainty looms over the release of Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil featuring Pakistan actor Fawad Khan after Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of Indias (COEAI) decision to not screen films with Pakistani actors in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and parts of Karnataka. The association had taken this step in the aftermath of Uri terror attack incident which led to strained relations between India and Pakistan. Even Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had warned producers and directors to refrain from casting Pakistani actors. Besides Ae Dil Hai Mushkil even Raees movie has landed in trouble as Pakistani actress Mahira Khan is featuring in it. The decision of COEAI to not screen these films in theatres will cause huge losses to producers and distributors. Since ADHM is a big budget movie hence it will become difficult for its makers to recover the cost. While the movie was slated to hit the screens on October 28, the COEAI decision has cast doubts if it will see the light of the day any time soon. COEAI president Nitin Datar said after a meeting of members: It was decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and national interest, we have requested all member exhibitors to refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artiste, technician, director or music director. We are also in the process of requesting other associations connected with the film industry to support the sentiments in the best interest of our nation, he added. Film distributor Rajesh Thadani says, Whatever is the business of the film in the Mumbai territory, the film can suffer at least 25% loss. It depends on how many theatres abide by the decision. If the film is not released in theatres then people will definitely watch its pirated version on laptops and mobile phones which will cause huge revenue loss to the film industry. The COEAI, producers and distributors must have a dialogue with the government to sort this matter at the earliest, said a film trade analyst on the condition of anonymity. I was keenly looking forward to the release of the film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. However, if the film is not screened in theatres it will be a huge disappointment for a movie buff like me. Politics and arts should not be mixed, said Sumit Seth a TY Bsc student from Borivali. On the other hand, the Film & Television Producers Guild of India has extended its support to Karan Johars film. The guild has appealed to the government to take into account the concerns of producers who have hired Pakistani artists. Several producers have already shot their movies while some others will soon complete the shooting of their movies. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) have already certified the movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. The Guild will abide by the decisions of the government and pledge its support to the sacrosanct national interests. The Guild urges the Central and State Governments to not only ensure smooth release of such films including Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, as well as to guide the industry on the way forward with respect to the mechanism to be adopted in hiring or utilization of talent associated with our neighbours. Chinas military warned on Friday that hostile forces were seeking to spread online rumours about the ongoing reform of the armed forces, which will see 300,000 soldiers laid off, and admitted some of the rumours were having a damaging effect. Chinese President Xi Jinping unexpectedly announced last September that he would cut troop numbers by 300,000, or some 13 percent of the worlds biggest military, currently 2.3-million strong. The cuts come at a time of heightened economic uncertainty in China as growth slows and the leadership grapples with painful economic reforms. On Tuesday, hundreds of previously demobilised soldiers protested in Beijing. The lay-offs are part of broader reforms to modernise the military, moving away from the old Soviet-era command module and putting more emphasis on high-tech weapons such as stealth jets and anti-satellite missiles. In a commentary, the official Peoples Liberation Army Daily said rumours about the reforms were flooding social media sites with self-professed experts spreading all sorts baseless stories such as how demobilised soldiers could get reduced benefits. The broad mass of the armed forces must clearly recognise that in the vast majority of these rumours there are online users unable to distinguish the truth, wantonly lost in fanciful thoughts and conjecture, it said. But there are also no lack of certain hostile forces thinking of ways to try in vain to sow chaos in our reform process, it added, without naming those hostile forces. These fanciful stories have attracted the attention of many soldiers, some of whom believe what they read, the paper added. Some have been taken in, and worried about personal losses this has affected their work. Soldiers have a responsibility not to believe the rumours and only get their news from official sources, the newspaper said. The government has repeatedly promised to look after demobilised soldiers, with Xi saying in June they would be found other work. MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will seal a deal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to deliver Moscows most advanced air defence system, the Kremlin said on Thursday. An agreement on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks, Russian news agencies quoted Putin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying, without specifying a time frame. President Putin will meet PM Modi in Goa on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit involving the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The Kremlin earlier this week said the talks with PM Modi would focus on a wide range of matters of bilateral relations, especially trade and economic ties. The S-400, referred to by NATO countries as Growler, is Russias most modern air defence system and has been deployed to Syria, where Moscow is conducting a bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The system can track some 300 targets and shoot down around three dozen simultaneously over a range of several hundred kilometres. India has signed a series of key defence deals under PM Modi as part of a $100 billion upgrade of its Soviet-era military hardware, making it an attractive proposition for arms exporters. In September, after nearly a decade of discussions and setbacks, India signed a deal to acquire 36 French Rafale fighter jets for 7.9 billion euros ($8.8 billion) to bolster its military against an increasingly assertive China. Source: Agencies In the face of strong opposition to Uniform Civil Code by Muslim organisations and various political outfits, Union Minister of Urban Development Venakaiah Naidu, on Friday, said the government is ready for a healthy debate. Calling for an enlightened debate on Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the real mood of the country was to end triple talaq and some people were trying to create confusion over the two issues. You (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate you put forth your point of view. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of Prime Minister and call him dictator, said Naidu. If anyone wants to boycott the Law Commissions questionnaire, then its their choice, but dont force your view on others, Naidu firmly said. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader appealed to all organisations to engage in a debate and not politicise the Uniform Civil Code issue. Whereas, clarifying the governments stand on triple talaq, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday asserted that the Centre stands by gender justice, gender equality and gender dignity. Prasad said the Centre has while replying to a notice issued by the Supreme Court in the wake of numerous complaints filed by Muslim women, who were the victims of the triple talaq system, asserted that when Islamic nations can regulate the Muslim divorce system then why cant India. The Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Indian Government in the wake of numerous complaints filed by several Muslim women against the triple talaq system. The Muslim women had been asking for justice in this regard. Replying to the notice of the apex court, we have said that the government stands by gender justice, gender equality and gender dignity, as these are also the basic constituents of our Constitution, said Prasad. Sherrie recounted how she was trained as a combat Army medic and it was her job to give the anthrax vaccine to U.S. service personnel. From her experience, shes convinced that this vaccine causes Gulf War Syndrome. By Anne Dachel The screenings of VaxXed around the U.S. have provided a venue for ordinary people to finally tell their experience with vaccine injury. These are nothing short of horror stories, and theyre not just about regression into autism following the MMR vaccine. There are pitiful accounts of children dying and teenagers left paralyzed and so much more. Polly Tommey asked Sherrie if she was aware of what was in the anthrax vaccine when she gave it to soldiers. No, How I figured it out was this: I was treating a soldier who was given the diagnosis of Gulf War Syndrome, he was a young soldier. His grandmother was standing outside the room. She asked me about his health. She explained to me that when her grandson was a young man, hed stepped on a nail and had to be given the tetanus shot. And the tetanus shot nearly killed him. That was the only time in his life that he was ever sick like he was sick now in that room. Sherrie said she thanked the woman for the information and told her everything would be okay. She went to her captain with her concerns that this soldier, whod been given the anthrax vaccine in basic training and who had never left the state of Georgia, now had a diagnosis of Gulf War Syndrome. My captain took that information up the chain of command. We were visited from people from Washington DC, we were told we were wrong. I was told to keep my mouth shut. My captain resigned his commission. I was forced to stay in the military another year and deal with the bullying. Im here today to let these people know that when you take a vaccine youre putting yourself in the position of being a lab rat. I dont know how many people I harmed and I dont know how many people I killed, but I do know this: Im going to stand with all of these people today, and were going to move this towards Washington, were going to move this towards Great Britain and Europe, and were going to move this movement all over this world. We are done with your vaccines, we are done being lab rats, and I am done being told by my government to keep your mouth shut. Sherrie recounted how she, as a medic giving the shot, was not told what the vaccine was. It would have a number. Sherrie was not allowed to ask soldier if they had allergies to vaccine ingredients. She said that originally the anthrax vaccine was given in three massive doses, then the protocol was changed to six smaller doses by 1998, in the hope that it would lessen the chances of these reactions. She recounted that it was not an uncommon practice to clean the records, in other words remove any mention that a soldier had been given a particular vaccine. Soldiers are used as guinea pigs by the government because, as members of the military, they have no choice but to take any vaccine theyre order to. Sherrie related that she falsely reported to her superiors that she was pregnant for four months until her enlistment was up in order to avoid taking the anthrax vaccine. She said that there were others in the military who also felt that this vaccine was dangerous, but they were too intimidated to speak out. She herself had been too afraid to go public with her story before. Today, shes never going to stop talking. For more on vaccination in the military see: Gulf War Syndrome: Documents Prove UK and US Military Personnel were Injected with Untested Vaccines, by Christiana England. http://vaccineimpact.com/2016/gulf-war-syndrome-documents-prove-uk-and-us-military-personnel-were-injected-with-untested-vaccines/ Is camera technology changing the basic assumptions we make about photography? The iPhone and social media have already altered the nature of picture-taking, of course, and this week Google entered the fray by introducing a pair of new smartphones, significantly named the Pixel and the Pixel PL because they are Now that the state Department of Transportation has narrowed its options for replacing the Interstate 81 viaduct in Syracuse, Owasco Supervisor Ed Wagner has a good idea which alternative the agency prefers. Wagner believes the state will choose the boulevard option, which calls for the demolition of the elevated highway and the installation of a boulevard on Almond Street. Other local streets will be improved to handle the increased traffic. For the last few years, Wagner has spoken out against the proposed boulevard because of its potential impact on communities outside Syracuse. He thinks a boulevard would increase truck traffic on roads through Owasco and other towns in Cayuga County. Cayuga County municipalities, including Owasco, have adopted resolutions in recent years to oppose the construction of a boulevard to replace the I-81 viaduct. "If the boulevard option is chosen, it would be a detriment to our area," Wagner said in a phone interview Thursday. "It would definitely increase truck traffic to the roads that weren't built to handle that and it would have, I feel, a tremendous impact on Cayuga, Owasco and Skaneateles lakes." If truck drivers are coming from the east, Wagner said they would usually drive north on Interstate 81 to connect with the Thruway near Syracuse. Under the boulevard option, Interstate 481 would be used to bypass the city. Wagner said that would require truck drivers heading east to west to go up Interstate 81, then cut back east in order to link up with the Thruway. That route will require trucks to consume more fuel, increase travel time and result in higher tolls, Wagner said. He believes the trucks will seek alternative routes, such as Route 38A that stretches through Owasco. "New York state has already said (Route 38A) is scheduled to be repaved in 2018," Wagner said. "Are they going to build it so it can withstand the truck traffic that will increase? It's ironic that this is all falling into place at the same time." Another concern for Wagner is the impact on Owasco Lake, which is already dealing with water quality issues. He's worried about a potential accident involving a tractor trailer and the lake being contaminated by a leak or trash getting into a tributary. The state Department of Transportation will release a draft environmental impact statement in early 2017. A final decision on which alternative the agency will pursue is expected later next year. But Wagner doesn't see the state going with the second option: Rebuilding the elevated portion of the highway through Syracuse. That would not only cost more than the boulevard option $1.7 billion, compared to $1.3 billion for the boulevard it would also require more buildings to be demolished. The state will hold six neighborhood meetings in October and November to outline the project and answer questions. Five of the meetings will be held in Syracuse. The only meeting outside of the city will be held Wednesday in Skaneateles. Some elected officials, including U.S. Rep. John Katko, urged the state to hold meetings in other communities throughout central New York. "I think it's a start," Wagner said. "At least they're moving west." October 11, 2016 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal recently said that Hamas made a mistake when it decided to rule the Gaza Strip alone for the past 10 years. His statement led to many questions among the Palestinian people: Why did Hamas finally reach this conclusion? Is this a turning point in Hamas path toward Palestinian reconciliation? What are the future repercussions of this statement on the Gaza Strip? Meshaal said during a dialogue session in Doha on Sept. 24 in the presence of his deputy Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas made a mistake when it thought it was easy for it to rule the Gaza Strip alone following the Palestinian division with Fatah in the wake of its victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections. It thought that ruling Gaza would be easy, but discovered that it was hard. He added, We made a mistake when we thought that Fatahs days were long gone and that it was Hamas time now. Meshaals words shocked the movements public base and members who believe that its leaders are infallible. Hamas leader Ahmed Youssef wrote in an article headlined Khaled Meshaal sings off key published by a local media outlet on Oct. 1, Meshaals statement was a slap in the face for many of Hamas youths. The word mistake does not normally figure in their vocabulary or political discourse. Their religious and factional upbringing has given them the confidence to believe they are infallible. He added, The statement that we made a mistake has huge repercussions. Most Hamas leaders believe their ideologies are flawless and incontestable. They are convinced that they do not make mistakes and that the others are wrong and have gone astray. Youssef added, When I heard Abu Walid, aka Meshaal, saying We made a mistake, I realized that [acknowledging the error was the right thing to do], even though the step is 10 years late. Admitting to ones errors is the beginning of awareness and the first step toward change and reform. Political science professor at the Islamic University of Gaza Walid al-Mudallal told Al-Monitor, I think that Hamas made a mistake when it decided to rule Gaza single-handedly without any political partnership with Fatah and other factions, in a complex political situation marked by Israels ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories and the continuing internal division that has seriously affected all aspects of life. He added, Hamas now realizes that it cannot rule alone because the world does not recognize it as a legitimate authority. Abbas dismissed the Hamas government in June 2007 and accused it of revolting against the legitimate government. For that reason, Hamas is seeking to be a political partner rather than an independent authority. Political analyst Talal Okal believes that Meshaals admission was wise, reflecting a spirit of reassessment that should be applied to all of Hamas policies. Okal told Al-Monitor, Meshaal reached this conclusion following the multiple crises that Hamas has faced. The movement failed to pay the salaries of 42,000 employees that it had appointed when it took over Gaza in 2007, following the decline of Iranian support and Egypts closure of Gazas border tunnels since July 2013. Okal noted that Hamas could not provide the basic needs for the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli blockade. It has been hard to supply electricity, for instance, and with the closure of the Rafah crossing in July 2013, the movement could not provide raw materials for many industries. As a result, economic development in Gaza came to a halt. He continued, People are dissatisfied with Hamas ongoing rule, and they are linking it to the persisting crises. To fix this mistake, Hamas must show more leniency to help the Palestinian reconciliation succeed, to foster political partnership in the leadership and to allow the consensus government which was formed based on an agreement between Hamas, Fatah and the other Palestinian factions in June 2014 to rule the Gaza Strip by handing over the crossings and ministries. Several other Hamas leaders could not provide an explanation for Meshaals statement. One of them, Yahya Moussa, told Al-Monitor, I am not responsible for explaining Meshaals statements. No comment. Moussa did say he believes that all the crises facing Gazas citizens during Hamas rule are a result of the alliance between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel. Gaza is being punished by Israel on one side and Fatah on the other. He added that Israel has sought since day one following Hamas victory in the 2006 legislative elections to ruin Hamas rule because the movement is holding onto its [focus on] resistance and Gaza remains the only fortress in the world that has not succumbed to Israel. Nevertheless, Moussa sees a possibility for partnership with Fatah, provided that negotiations with Israel are renounced and the choice of armed resistance is maintained. In March 2007, Hamas and Fatah engaged in a partnership, forming the national unity government. However, it barely lasted three months, and Hamas took over Gaza in June 2007 and ruled single-handedly. That upset created the Palestinian political rift that is still going on. Mudallal said, The 11th government failed because Fatah did not commit to the series of understandings that both parties reached in the Mecca Agreement in February 2007, which led to the formation of said government. Fatah broke all other understandings, like reforming the Palestine Liberation Organization. Meshaals talk about the importance of unity and partnership with Fatah contradicts the statements of other Hamas leaders who sharply attack Abbas. Protesting Abbas attendance of late Israeli President Shimon Peres funeral on Sept. 30, prominent Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said Oct. 1, That man who claims to represent the Palestinians is a Jew, as per Sharia, and he was made by Israel. He does not represent us. We ask God that he burn alongside Peres in hell. Political analyst Hassan Abdo told Al-Monitor, Meshaal is affiliated with a current within Hamas that is marked by moderation and openness. He noted that another current within Hamas is more radical and believes Fatah is an enemy that must be subdued by all means. Abdo added, Meshaal knows that subduing Fatah is impossible and that he cannot eliminate it because Fatah enjoys wide popularity. This explains Meshaals latest statements about the importance of national unity. Many Palestinians hope that Meshaals recent statements will put an end to the internal division and achieve political partnership between Fatah and Hamas. But actual change on the ground will be even more difficult to achieve. October 13, 2016 A eulogist got himself in trouble for saying in a televised interview Oct. 8, during the most sacred holidays in Iran, that Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, used to swear and how the eulogist is only following Husseins example. The interview was recorded in Tehrans Bazaar for a program called "Bedun-e Taarof" ("Bluntly"). Ashura is known to Shiite Muslims as the day Imam Hussein was killed during the battle of Karbala by Yazid, the Umayyad caliph, and is nationally mourned across Iran continuously for days. Eulogists hold a key role in the mourning rituals and are often the center of attention when they chant and tell stories about Karbala in mosques and private homes and at public gatherings. This year, the comments of famous eulogist Hajj Mansour Arzi, who is close to the Principlist faction in Iran, stirred strong reactions from governmental officials as well as the hard-liners who usually back him up. On Oct. 10, Ensaf News, a media outlet close to the Reformists, wrote, [Even] Yazidis and [our] informed enemies have never interpreted the imams speech as an insult; but unexpectedly, these friends introduce their own imam as someone abusive. In the same televised interview, Arzi was asked why some accuse him of being too critical and of sometimes crossing over to profanity. Arzi answered, I have learned that from my master. On Oct. 12, without mentioning Arzis name, the vice president for legal affairs, Hojjat al-Eslam Majid Ansari, called on the eulogist to apologize to the people for his wrongdoings, saying, It is a big sin to accuse Imam Hussein of swearing, too. The God Almighty has told Muslims and believers not to swear, not even at nonbelievers. The role of eulogists is frequently discussed in Iran, especially during religious holidays. While Arzi believes that eulogists should freely comment on politics and relate Ashura to current affairs, another outspoken political figure, Ali Mottahari, the deputy speaker of parliament, indirectly warned Arzi, saying, Using the realities of Karbala to achieve political and societal objectives goes against the intentions of religion. Entekhab News reported Oct. 12 that Mottahari endorsed the eulogist's right to voice opinions, just like the rest of society, but also believes the eulogist's interference in political matters, which are directly linked to power, may reduce" eulogists' independence. Mottahari added, "It is important that eulogists maintain their independence and not be used as a means by political groups." Taking his condemnation to a higher level, the vice president for legal affairs was quoted by the Iranian Students News Agency, an online media outlet, on Oct. 12 as saying, Ascribing obscenity to the innocent imam is a great sin and will have legal effects. *Editor's note: this article has been updated since its initial publication. October 13, 2016 First Sgt. Yosef Kirma and Levana Malichi were murdered in the Oct. 9 shooting attack in Jerusalem, and six additional people were wounded. The perpetrator of the attack was well known by East Jerusalem residents as a prominent, assertive activist at Al-Aqsa Mosque. A week before the bloody attack, the Palestinian Maan News Agency had interviewed him by phone, at which time he spoke about his deeds and encounters with the Zionist enemy. The would-be assailant said that he was preparing to serve four months in an Israeli prison for attacking a policeman. He had also been summoned for trial after being accused of incitement. In a December 2015 Facebook post, he wrote, There are men who will redeem Al-Aqsa with their blood. Those Jerusalem youths who take part in the intifada we should kiss the ground on which they tread. They are like lions fighting for their territory. The assailant matches the profile of a Palestinian fueled by religious, Islamic fervor, who perpetrates terror attacks against Israelis. The wave of terror that erupted in October 2015 began against a backdrop of clashes on the Temple Mount (the Haram al-Sharif to Muslims) and incitement on social networks. There were numerous posts on social media claiming that Israel was planning to change the status quo there including restricting prayer times at Al-Aqsa Mosque to accommodate visits by Jews to the Temple Mount and that right-wing Jewish activists were planning an attack on the mosque. It was against this background that Israel outlawed the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, led by Sheikh Raed Salah. The Israelis hoped that this would halt the incitement surrounding Al-Aqsa. Regardless of whether there is a connection, over the course of subsequent months it did not seem that Al-Aqsa served as the primary motive for Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Most of the Palestinians involved in the recent wave of attacks on Israelis left behind a last will and testament with religious messages invoking shahada (martyrdom) as a sacred value. Nevertheless, the members of Israels security services and those of the Palestinian security apparatuses argue that most of these attackers did not act out of religious zeal. Rather, they say, these youths were not devout Muslims sometimes were even viewed as half secular but had been motivated to kill out of desperation. They often believed that their actions would hasten the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and ensure their family members and peers a better future. One example is the case of Rasha Ahmad Hamed Uweisseh, a Palestinian who was shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers when she tried to perpetrate a stabbing attack at the Eliyahu crossing on Nov. 9, 2015. A suicide note that she carried read, I am doing this with a clear head. To defend the homeland and the youth. I cannot stand what I am seeing, and I cannot suffer anymore. To my parents and siblings, forgive me for what I am going to do. Most of the attackers in the current wave of terror acted out of similar motives of despair and lack of hope for change in the foreseeable future. In a conversation with Al-Monitor, however, a Palestinian security source claimed that a conspicuous trend had recently been noted of devoutly religious Palestinians viewing the conflict as a religious one, rather than national. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that there were sometimes a combination of objectives, but what mainly fueled recent perpetrators to embark on terror attacks was the belief that they were operating in the name of Allah, who had commanded them to fight the Jews and save Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa. Many sources in the Israeli security system share this opinion. This is how the Jerusalem assailant acted. Two days before he armed himself with an M-16 and went on his meticulously planned shooting attack, he had published a post on Facebook full of love and longing for Al-Aqsa, where he had served as a Morabitoun. He vowed, I will not miss anyone as much as I long for you. I do not love anyone as much as I love you. They told me, You will serve four months in prison, for this love of mine. I said, That is too little. My life, my money, and all that I have, I give for you. My soul, my eyes, my heart are always with you till death. According to the Palestinian security source, The phenomenon of youths acting alone has almost disappeared. We are left with religious perpetrators, and thats a different story altogether, one that mandates completely different types of deployment, surveillance and follow-up. When asked if he felt there might be a way of obtaining advance warnings about this type of Al-Aqsa Mosque terror, the source responded, The first step is to maintain peace and quiet and the status quo in al-Quds [Jerusalem]. But even that doesnt guarantee anything because unrest already exists on the ground, and religious faith and belief are stronger than anything else. One of the reasons that Palestinian youths are becoming more religious and devout in the West Bank and East Jerusalem neighborhoods is economic distress. This impels them to find solace in mosques, and there they are drawn to the strong religious belief that they must act to defend the holy places in Jerusalem, even if it requires that they die as martyrs." Senior Israeli security officers estimate that this religious strengthening is connected to the worldwide phenomenon of exposure to Islamic State ideology via social networks. They also think that it is linked to a truism regarding finances and faith: People tend to become more religiously devout as their economic situation deteriorates. The main concern is not Palestinian youths' religious faith per se, but their consumption of the messages of radical Islam for which they are prepared to give up their lives. At the moment, the Israeli security services have no way to fight them or create a deterrence other than keeping close tabs on Facebook accounts. House Speaker Paul Ryan threw his support behind U.S. Rep. John Katko in more ways than one during the most recent fundraising quarter. Ryan, who headlined a fundraiser for Katko, R-Camillus, in August, donated $2,000 to the central New York congressman's campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. The contribution was made by Ryan's congressional campaign. The donation was one of several Katko received from his colleagues' campaigns or political action committees. Nearly half of the money Katko raised $259,706.06 came from "other political committees," which includes PACs. In all, Katko raised nearly $525,000 during the third quarter. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden's New Pioneers PAC donated $5,000 to Katko's campaign. Walden, an Oregon Republican, chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry's PAC, Stand Tall America PAC, gave $3,000 to the Katko campaign. Katko also received $5,000 from U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers' HAL PAC. Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. A PAC led by former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, American Security PAC, donated $2,000. And the Excelsior PAC, which is U.S. Rep. Tom Reed's leadership PAC, chipped in $1,500. Other notable contributors include: Jay Faison, founder and CEO of the ClearPath Foundation, donated $2,700 to support Katko's re-election bid. An affiliated group Faison launched, the ClearPath Action Fund, endorsed Katko in September. Koch Industries contributed $5,000 to Katko's campaign. The entity has supported Republican candidates over the years and has been a popular target for Democrats in television commercials and other advertising. Goldman Sachs' PAC donated $4,500. The National Rifle Association's political arm added to its earlier support for Katko by donating $4,950. The Seneca Nation of Indians, a tribe with a large presence in western New York, gave $2,700. Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, two Cor Development executives, each donated $2,000. The contributions were refunded by Katko's campaign after the pair was arrested on federal bribery and bid rigging charges. Entergy's PAC contributed $2,000 to support Katko's campaign. Entergy, which owns the FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego County, is in the process of transferring the facility over to Exelon, another energy company with properties in upstate New York. William Eberhardt, owner of the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles, donated $1,250. Deputy Onondaga County Executive William Fisher gave $1,000. A prominent central New York law firm, Barclay Damon, also donated $1,000. Cayuga County Clerk Sue Dwyer, who was an early supporter of Katko's dating back to 2014, contributed $250. October 14, 2016 For months now, the ouster of Islamic State (IS) forces from Libyas coastal city of Sirte has been touted as imminent, yet like the light at the end of the tunnel that is within sight but out of grasp, complete victory against IS continues to evade the Misratan-led, Bunyan al-Marsus (BM) forces, and their US allies. There is still little doubt that a victory of some sort will be eventually won. In fact, before President Barack Obama leaves office, the United States may be able to claim that its aerial and training support have proved instrumental in ousting IS from Sirte. However, without a unified political solution in place through which Sirtes battered infrastructure, public services and civilian way of life can be restored post-IS, any such victory may turn out to be very superficial. IS emerged in Sirte out of a Misratan occupation following the defeat of an al-Qaeda-linked jihadi group, Ansar al-Sharia, in 2013. The post-conflict stabilization was botched and both civilians in Sirte and Ansar al-Sharia fighters chafed under the Misratan yoke, the latter defecting wholesale to IS in 2015. Is Sirte closer to being liberated? IS forces are currently entrenched within the third residential area in northeast Sirte, and despite their limited numbers, the remaining IS fighters continue to inflict casualties on their Misratan opponents through sniper fire and explosive devices. On Oct. 7, BM forces, who are nominally aligned with the UN-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA), launched a fresh assault, which culminated in splitting the enclave. A BM media official, Ali al-Mabrouk, said, "The forces of Bunyan al-Marsus made some advances and completely [cut off] the 600-block area in Sirte." Nevertheless, at least 8 BM fighters were killed in this latest advance, while IS fighters still appear able to conduct attacks outside of their stronghold; on Oct. 2, a Dutch photojournalist was killed by sniper fire in an area of Sirte already supposedly "liberated" from IS forces. Furthermore, reports of fighting between BM forces and jihadis south of Sirte in recent weeks seems to confirm fears that IS fighters have been able to seep out of Sirte, and may therefore be able to regroup or assimilate into other jihadi groups elsewhere. Have US airstrikes really helped? The United States has conducted 210 sorties since Aug. 1, when it launched Operation Odyssey Lightning its campaign of airstrikes in support of BM forces fighting IS in Sirte and has twice exceeded its planned time frame with operations now entering their third month. The low levels of ordinance dropped and the need for such extensions speak volumes about the ineffective military phasing of this operation. Airstrikes should have been used to soften up IS positions long before BM fighters had begun the urban warfare that has turned IS into a guerrilla enemy. This approach was not adopted because the GNA only requested US assistance after its own forces got bogged down. It should come as no surprise then that the Misratan Military Council which is coordinating military efforts on the ground in Sirte has indicated its discontent with the US air support, calling it ineffective. Due to this incorrect phasing, airstrikes may not have lowered allied casualties or accelerated the battles time frame. Since the assault on IS in Sirte began in May, Misrata has suffered heavy losses for a city of only 500,000 inhabitants at least 560 BM fighters have been killed and 2,750 injured. Rifts and tensions within Misrata have magnified and Misratas role as Libyas most powerful city-state has diminished. As Misrata gains a Pyrrhic victory, Hifter rises While the Sirte campaign has dragged on in the east, Khalifa Hifter, the commander of the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), has steadily been amassing power and territory through his militarization of the governance of much of eastern Libya, which now extends to within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of Sirte. On Sept. 11, he seized the oil crescent ports from the federalists, allowing the resumption of much-needed crude exports, and firmly tipping the countrys balance of power in his direction. Hifters actual victory in the oil crescent has pre-empted and overshadowed Misratas anticipated victory in Sirte, shifting power away from the GNA and western Libya, toward Hifter in the east. Oil production has reached 554,000 barrels per day and its continued flow is essential to stymie OPEC attempts to cut production and raise prices. These new realities on the ground mean that Hifter now has greater leverage within the international community as well as with many towns, tribes and militias on the ground. It is too early to say what impact this will have in the ongoing fight against jihadism in Libya. De-facto separation? On the one hand, given that there is no longer a third force separating the LNA and Misratan forces a role the federalists and IS had previously occupied and that both Misrata and the LNA are fighting IS and other jihadi groups, albeit in different locations, this could theoretically strengthen the logic of partition and tacit compromise between eastern and western Libya in the event of the collapse of the UN-mediated peace process. Indeed, there are likely to be many battle-weary Misratan fighters who are willing to tacitly accept Hifters gains so long as the LNA does not advance further west or tries to keep oil revenues for themselves. That said, although Hifter's influence is strong in eastern Libya, he is struggling to exert his control over his allies elsewhere, with LNA units in both southern and western Libya rebelling against his rule in recent days. Although a rebellion by ex-Moammar Gadhafi regime commanders in Sebha was quashed last week, this shows that Hifter does not yet have the power or influence to take the rest of Libya by force. On the other hand, anti-Hifter sentiment remains sky high and is already fueling a backlash that could stimulate further jihadi recruitment. Islamist hard-liners from across Libya appear to be rallying their forces to Tripoli, fearful that current negotiations with Hifter will lead to him being given a security role within the UN-mediated political process. Kidnappings and assassinations between pro-GNA and Islamist militias in Tripoli have been on the rise in recent weeks, and if a new "grand bargain" is struck that reflects Hifters power on the ground, it is highly likely that these anti-Hifter hard-line Islamists will respond with violence, possibly spawning a newly rebranded jihadi network. October 12, 2016 BAGHDAD The Sadrist movement has rejoined the Iraqi National Alliance, but with a list of 14 conditions it expects to be met eventually. The movement had been boycotting the alliance since April, after Sadrist leader Muqtada al-Sadr hurled accusations that the alliance was shielding corrupt figures. The alliance, which is mainly composed of Shiite Islamist parties, includes the State of Law, the Islamic Supreme Council, the National Reform movement and a few small groups. Most of Sadr's conditions have not been met, as allegedly corrupt figures have yet to be held accountable and brought to justice. He also is seeking to abolish the practice of the alliance nominating government ministers, and wants to refer the alliances current and former ministers to the judiciary and the Integrity Committee. He also wants the electoral commission to be abolished or amended. It appears that the Sadrist movement is overlooking the unachieved conditions for now, since the 2017 municipal elections are approaching and the liberation of Mosul is expected by the end of the year. These situations require new political alliances to be forged, and Shiites realize they need to stay united to continue leading the country. A source in the alliance who asked not to be identified told Al-Monitor, The Sadrist movement has returned to the Shiite alliance in a bid to reseize the Ministry of Industry, which it relinquished July 19. It is seeking to get back its positions in power. However, Mithaq al-Mouzani, a parliament member for the Sadr-backed al-Ahrar bloc, denied such statements in his interview with Al-Monitor: The goal behind the Sadrist movements conditions is to re-evaluate the work of the national alliance and to rectify the mistakes that occurred in previous years. He added, The movement has reservations about [the alliance] choosing Ammar al-Hakim as head of the alliance without our approval. We attended the meetings after we had reassurances that all the conditions put forth by the movement would be implemented." The alliance did announce that the Sadrist movement's return is permanent; however, the latter linked its affiliation to reassurances that its conditions will be met in full, which means that its exit from the alliance in the future is likely, said Sadiq al-Mahna, a parliamentarian for the Reform movement. Some of the conditions put forward by Sadrists for the [Shiite] National Alliance remain unenforceable unless amended. We fear that this might be the cause of disagreements between the Sadrist movement, the State of Law and the Citizen Alliance, in case the conditions are not met and al-Ahrar bloc withdraws again, Mahna told Al-Monitor. However, this potential disintegration, journalist Hadi al-Issami told Al-Monitor, remains a low probability in the coming period." The alliance is likely to remain united following the provincial elections next year, which serve as the gateway for redrawing coalitions with the Shiite alliance, he noted. The parties to the alliance need to unify their visions about the shape of the next local government, especially since Shiites were able to win the Diyala governorate, after it was being affiliated with the Sunni parties, he said. The Sadrist movements return to the alliance stems from its need to compensate for its absence in the past period, during its rapprochement with the Islamic Supreme Council. This was when the movement made gains at the state level" and received widespread publicity. "The movement was less keen on the unity of the Shiite ranks and appeared to be seeking to split the Shiite unity with the demonstrations it had launched," he added. Issami further said, The conditions set by the Sadrist movement are an attempt to justify its return to the alliance and to dodge public criticism. Qassem Mozan, a writer for Sabah newspaper, believes there is more at play than the internal factors that prompted the alliance to strengthen its ranks. He told Al-Monitor, Iran, which supports the State of Law Coalition and the Islamic Supreme Council, has been pressuring [those groups] to create a satisfactory atmosphere for the Sadrist movement in order to guarantee the success of the Shiite forces in the upcoming forces. This is especially true given the obvious public dissatisfaction with these forces performance and their involvement in corruption in many political issues. All alliances, whether Shiite or Sunni, will come together and join ranks against secular parties for the legislative and local elections, Mozan said. All the forces are well-aware that the popularity is declining among Shiite and Sunni voters alike and they must find a way to address the looming electoral impasse, he added. With the Sadrist movements return to a coalition, Iran has entered a new phase of balanced support among the parties of the Shiite alliance. It supported Nouri al-Maliki when he was prime minister from 2006-2014, and it stood by the Islamic Supreme Council so that its head, Hakim, could lead the coalition. But there is a possibility that it also will support the Sadrist movement if it expresses policies that promote the unity of the coalition, which Tehran seeks to strengthen. The post-Islamic State (IS) era is seen as allowing a new style of political action, based on limiting the conflict between political parties as much as possible, especially among Shiite forces; many consider this the best way for political survival under the significant decline of their popularity. Also, these forces are well aware that a triumph over IS will be a victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi alone. This is why, observers believe, they seek to support him, so they will also be viewed as victorious and benefit from this victory in the elections. October 11, 2016 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip With Palestine becoming a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), one of the largest environmental groups, Palestinians have realized a long-sought-after achievement in light of Israeli practices that threaten their environment and prevent them from benefitting from their natural resources. Palestine joined the IUCN which includes 1,066 nongovernmental and 217 governmental organizations and has observer and consultative status at the United Nations during the groups World Conservation Congress held in Hawaii, Aug. 30-Sept. 10. Some 1,000 participants representing governments and organizations and around 10,000 others attended the congress, which focused on IUCN strategic policies for 2017 through 2020. Imad Atrash, director of the Palestine Wildlife Society in the West Bank, told Al-Monitor that Palestine could not have become a member of the IUCN without UN acknowledgment of it as a nonmember state and acceptance in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Atrash believes IUCN membership will produce significant benefits for Palestine. Among them, Palestinian experts will be allowed to take part in global associations for nature preservation. Also, Palestine will be able to better expose and possibly legally challenge Israel for practices that result in environmental destruction, in particular through the building of settlements, turning nature reserves into closed military zones and destroying reserves to build the separation wall. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) issued a report in December 2014 indicating that there are 47 nature reserves in the West Bank and one in Gaza. Some sites were designated reserves under the British Mandate and others during Jordanian administration of the West Bank. The most recent reserve in the West Bank, Wadi Qelt, east of Jerusalem, consists of forests, water sources and some archaeological and ancient sites and was designated under Israeli occupation. The Palestinian Environmental Authority designated one site in Gaza, Wadi Gaza, a wetlands area, as a natural reserve. The total area of reserves in the West Bank and Gaza covers 198 square miles, with forests accounting for 39 square miles, according to the PCBS. Ayman al-Rabi, executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group and IUCN regional councillor for West Africa, told Al-Monitor, Our goal behind joining the IUCN is to show the world the challenges and risks facing nature in Palestine and urge [world powers] to help us protect it, especially since we are under Israeli occupation. During the congress held every four years, the IUCN sets policies and strategic plans for the next four years, which Palestinians will take advantage of from 2017 to 2020. Most important, we will benefit from projects on biodiversity, climate change, water conservation and nature conservation under occupation a term that the West Asian member states have requested be added to the plans for the coming years, which received broad acclaim among all IUCN members. Among the IUCN priorities Palestine is hoping will benefit it are assessments of the environmental impacts of conflicts in West Asia, dissemination of information on conflict's effects on biodiversity, ecosystems and livelihoods, capacity building for conservation and civil society organizations, development of conservation and protection programs, including restoration of biodiversity, as well as programs for sustainable livelihoods in the region. The Applied Research Institute Jerusalem/Society (ARIJ) formed the Palestinian national committee for the IUCN, consisting of itself, the Palestinian Hydrology Group, the Palestine Wildlife Society, the Environmental Education Centre, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, the Land Research Centre and the Palestinian Livestock Development Center. The committee will promote Palestinian proposals in the IUCN. Roubina Ghattas, director of the biodiversity and food security department at ARIJ, told Al-Monitor, Five out of the seven Palestinian associations participated in the World Conservation Congress at which Palestine become an IUCN member for the West Asian region. She added that ARIJ, in cooperation with the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature in Jordan, had worked on designating West Asia a region affected by political conflict and occupation and therefore with greater conservation needs in the IUCN's program for 2017-20. Ghattas explained that the main objective of the IUCN congresses is to exchange experiences, promote networking among members and share the means and tools that the IUCN uses to analyze the state of biodiversity in the world and develop four-year plans to be implemented around the world. She further noted that she and the Palestinian team that participated in the congress presented several worksheets identifying the challenges Palestinian institutions face in implementing international standards for the protection of nature, particularly since Israel does not allow Palestinian institutions to shepherd the natural reserves in the Palestinian territories. Ghattas and the Palestinian team discussed with member states the challenges preventing Palestinian institutions from receiving international grants to support nature protection projects. Merhi Shawahneh, director of the Palestinian Livestock Development Center, told Al-Monitor that citizens residing in marginalized areas in the West Bank, particularly in Area C, designated by the Oslo Accord, will be the biggest beneficiaries of Palestines IUCN membership. Their cause, grounded in Israel preventing their access to lands, will be presented to the world. In 2015, the Israeli army uprooted 1,500 trees that were part of a nature reserve in Tubas province, in the northern West Bank. That same year, Israel seized Palestinian agricultural lands in Salfit, in the central West Bank, and prevented farmers from working there under the pretext that they were nature reserves. In late 2013, the Israelis had confiscated large areas of Wadi Qana, which they had designated a nature reserve, to facilitate the expansion of the Yakir settlement. They confiscated Palestinian lands in 2010 in the Aghwar area and made it a closed military zone. Shawahneh said that 99% of Palestinian land in Area C that has been classified as natural reserves has either been turned into closed military zones or otherwise confiscated by Israel, which prevents their proper stewardship. This is particularly true for the Jordan Valley and the northern West Bank. In addition, because farmers and ranchers can no longer use these reserves and pastures, Palestinians have been forced to import feed from Israel for livestock. October 14, 2016 DAMASCUS, Syria A new region has been added to the Syrian regimes plan to ensure the safety of Damascus surroundings through slow advancement operations in the areas controlled by the opposition forces. This operation coincides with the regimes blockade on these areas, which would ultimately lead to a settlement and forced displacement of the citizens, just like what happened in Daraya on Aug. 27. The same scenario is recurring in Qudsaya, in the northwest of Rif Dimashq, which has seen military escalation since Sept. 21. The opposition militants agreed to the regimes settlement that allowed them to head north with their families to Idlib on Oct. 13. Qudsaya is located 5 kilometers (3 miles) northwest of Damascus and has a population of around 150,000 people. It is located in a mountainous area that overlooks surrounding regions such as Dummar where large numbers of regime forces are present. It is close to strategic areas for the Syrian regime, such as Masaken al-Haras and Jabal al-Woroud that are inhabited by Alawites who work with the regime, whether in the army ranks or in the security apparatus. Also, Qudsaya is 2 kilometers from the presidential palace. The Syrian regime besieged the entire city in June 2015, and food and medical supplies have not been allowed in since then. According to university student Marwan who lives in Qudsaya, the main services have been cut off. He told Al-Monitor, Warehouses and stores are almost empty, and the power conditions are horrible. People cannot leave or enter [the city] unless they have an employment permit or a university student card. The permits to enter and exit the city are restricted to official working hours [8 a.m. to 4 p.m.]." In October 2015, the militants in Qudsaya reached a reconciliation agreement with the Syrian regime through mediators from the Ministry of National Reconciliation, after which the shelling stopped. Roughly 150 opposition militants headed north toward Idlib, which is under the opposition forces control. But the calm that engulfed the city was broken Sept. 21 after a shooting between the opposition factions and regime forces near al-Afrah checkpoint and al-Nazihin area. As a result, a member of the Syrian regime forces was injured, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and the clashes continued until Oct. 3. Six Syrian regime forces were killed, and the armed factions detained a wounded soldier who was later handed over to the regime through a mediator. According to Muhannad al-Shami, a field activist in Qudsaya, the clashes broke out following the regimes attempt to control the tall buildings surrounding the city. The regime forces focused in September on al-Uyun, al-Shamiyah and al-Khayatin neighborhoods that overlook 80% of the total surface area of the adjacent cities of Qudsaya and al-Hamah under the oppositions control. This would allow the regime to turn the tables when separating the two cities of Qudsaya and al-Hamah and cutting the support lines between the fighters present in both cities. Shami told Al-Monitor, This prospect provoked the opposition militants and flared up the situation in the city once again. During the past two weeks of the attack, the regime used tanks and heavy machine guns in addition to ground-to-ground missiles (Elephant Missiles) and air cover. Helicopters dumped roughly 50 explosive barrels. Public facilities were also destroyed, and schools and hospitals were shut down after Sham al-Amal Hospital in Qudsaya was targeted with a cannonball and the civil security office in al-Hamah with an explosive barrel. As a result, the two facilities went completely out of service. With this unprecedented military escalation in the city, the inhabitants took to the streets Sept. 30, holding banners that indicated their rejection of both the regime and opposition violence. They denounced the military escalation to spare the city further destruction, and held up banners that read Yes to Peace, No to War. The Syrian regimes media outlets exploited the protest to their advantage. The official Syrian news agency Sana wrote Sept. 30, Hundreds of citizens took to the streets after the Friday prayers in Qudsaya to condemn the practices of armed groups and to demand their immediate departure from the city. Amid the shelling, the Syrian regime proposed a solution Sept. 29 through the presidential guard command and the Damascus mufti, Adnan Afiouni, to stop the shelling, resume the provision of services and expel the militants who refuse to be settled in the north. Such a scenario resembles the Daraya settlement of Aug. 27. The solution also entails erecting checkpoints for public committees formed by the regions inhabitants in Qudsaya and al-Hamah. The mission of the committees is to ensure the areas security and give a grace period of six months to the men who are wanted for conscription to submit their applications for postponement of their enlistment, provided that all documents such as exemption requests for academic or travel purposes are submitted to the Military Enlistment Division. Those who do not submit the documents within this time frame officially join the Syrian army. A period of one week was granted to approve the settlement or launch an intense military attack to invade the city. The local affairs committees that are formed of well-reputed citizens who have connections with the fighters and the regime also sought to appease the situation in the city in response to public pressure in Qudsaya and al-Hamah. The people asked the opposition factions to agree to the settlement, out of fear of the regimes threats to invade the city with its military vehicles. The opposition Local Council of Qudsaya City posted on its Facebook page Oct. 2 that the groups that want to leave the city have agreed to the settlement on condition of completing the registration of the names of the army dissidents and the families of militants at the local affairs committee. Not everyone wanting to leave managed to register their names due to the short one-week notice that the regime imposed, beyond which it threatened to resort to the military solution. The council said in its post that the people want guaranteed protection by the United Nations for those willing to leave with their personal weapons. On Oct. 12, Al-Monitor met with opposition activist Abdel Rahman Fattouh who registered his name with the reconciliation committee to leave the city. He said, The city has been witnessing precarious calm since Oct. 3 after the opposition militants agreed to the settlement proposed by the regime. When asked about what he expects to find when he heads north to Idlib in the coming days, he answered, The unknown. He added, I am not one of those who carries weapons. I would not have left if my name wasnt blacklisted. The security authorities are pursuing me and I might be arrested if I stay. The first phase of the evacuation of the militants in Qudsaya and al-Hamah in Damascus suburbs started Oct. 3. Buses arrived at noon, and militants and their families left for Idlib carrying their personal light weapons. The evacuation was carried out under the supervision of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, without the monitoring of any UN agency. A source in the negotiations committee told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that 525 militants along with their families are expected to leave Qudsaya and 114 others with their families from al-Hamah, bringing the total to about 2,500 people. October 14, 2016 The July 15 attempted coup has created a plethora of problems in Turkey. Purging the Gulenists, who entrenched themselves secretly in the state over four decades, taking hold of critical posts and eventually attempting a military coup, has been the No. 1 agenda item for the countrys democracy and politics in the past three months. The erosion of state institutions, especially the military, the existence of a secret organization capable of attempting a coup, elements that remain potentially uncovered and the risks they pose to the rule of law made the purge an absolute necessity. No doubt, the question of how the cleansing should be conducted and how it is actually being conducted is another problem, and it is as important and decisive as the purge itself. And a serious paradox has emerged here. The methods employed in the purge have come to pose a serious threat to that very democracy and rule of law whose protection makes the purge and the reconstruction of the state an imperative. Five days after the putsch, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency, a situation where the government suspends certain basic rights and freedoms. Ever since, Turkey has been governed through legislative decrees that bypass parliament. The paradox stems both from the legal flaws in how the Gulenists are being pursued, which has increasingly resembled a witch hunt, and the way the emergency-rule regime is being used, going beyond the stated purpose of pursuing and cleansing the putschists. The purges have produced a staggering toll 93,000 public employees suspended, 60,000 people expelled from public service, 50,000 people detained and 32,000 people imprisoned pending trial, according to open sources. The toll also includes the closure or seizure of 4,246 entities, including 129 foundations, 1,125 associations, 15 universities, 19 trade unions, 23 radio stations, 45 newspapers and 29 publishing houses. The magnitude of the numbers is in itself the sign of a problem, suggesting not the purge of a putschist group within the state, but rather the cleansing of a certain segment of society, carried out on the basis of assumption and political discretion and creating a new army of victims. Indeed, most expulsions at public institutions and universities have been based not on concrete findings and clear evidence, but on suspicions, hearsay, anonymous tipoffs, managerial discretion and lists drawn up by administrators. The expulsions are often legalized by being incorporated into legislative decrees. Along with direct participants in the coup and active Gulenists whose affiliations rest on evidence, the purges have spanned people who have had some contact with the Gulen community at some point or had opened accounts in the Gulen-affiliated Bank Asya, businesspeople who had donated money to Gulenist schools knowingly or not and journalists unbeknownst of Gulenist agendas who wrote in their newspapers, appeared on their TV channels and criticized the governments oppressive measures against the Gulen community before the putsch. Many of those people have not just lost jobs, but ended up in police custody or behind bars and seen their properties or companies confiscated. This state of affairs including the search for justice that will soon follow and the new legislation this will require represents a new political input that will keep all state organs busy for years to come and add fresh authoritarian pressure on the system. There is another critical issue in this context: The suspicion of a covert Gulenist presence in the state may become permanent. A political system centered on suspicions and perception of threat has long been a fundamental feature of authoritarian regimes. Hence, this amplifies the risk that Turkeys political system may devolve into an authoritarian stability model, centered on the notion of threat and danger. Stoking concerns to that effect, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month defended the three-month extension of the emergency rule, saying that even 12 months may not be enough. The use of emergency-rule powers beyond the stated aim of purging Gulenists represents a very serious problem for the Turkish system, illustrated strikingly in the tough sanctions that some liberals and government opponents have faced. Prominent liberal intellectuals like Sahin Alpay, Ali Bulac, Murat Aksoy and the Altan brothers all known for their anti-militarist stands and vocal criticism of Erdogan have been arrested on trivial grounds for alleged involvement in the coup, demonstrating that the purges have turned into a cleansing campaign targeting government opponents beyond the Gulenists. Another crucial aspect pertains to the Kurdish issue. The government has come to conduct its security-centered Kurdish policy via emergency-rule powers, which restrict basic rights and freedoms, bypass the legislature and allow the government to enact legislative decrees that push the limits of law. The government last month suspended some 11,000 Kurdish teachers without any investigation for alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers Party. It also issued a legislative decree allowing it to appoint replacements for mayors and other elected municipal officials removed for terrorism and abetting terrorism. Subsequently, public servants were appointed as trustees in the place of elected politicians at 24 local administrations held by the Kurdish Democratic Regions Party. Additionally, scores of newspapers, television stations, internet sites and associations deemed to be linked to the Kurdish movement were closed. Those measures have all served to shrink the democratic domain and suppress the visibility of the Kurdish movement on the political scene, leading to the arrest of intellectuals like novelist Asli Erdogan and linguist Necmiye Alpay for assuming temporary or symbolic duties at Kurdish newspapers. All of those developments demonstrate that the emergency-rule regime is taken up not as a tool limited to purging the putschists and rebuilding the state, but as a general and natural political and legal order. Clearly, this will now be a second key problem for Turkish politics after the fallout of the attempted coup, coming atop the governments already authoritarian and paternalistic practices. October 13, 2016 DIYARBAKIR, Turkey As the Turkish government continues its purge of alleged coup plotters in the Fethullah Gulen movement, many people are asking: How did Dicle University become a sanctuary for the movement? Dicle University was one of the government's first targets after the failed July 15 coup. Five days after the attempt, university President Aysegul Jale Sarac was detained and then arrested. Then 15 others were detained six of them, including some of the school's top names, were arrested. A bit of history is needed to understand why this university in the predominately Kurdish area of Diyarbakir province suddenly became the primary target of security operations. When Sarac was named president in 2008, Dicle University became synonymous with the Gulen movement. All of Diyarbakir was aware of it, but no action was taken and there was no reaction from the government. Only in December 2013, when conflict surfaced between the government and the Gulenists, did the university first come under scrutiny. Then in April 2014, Cuma Icten, the deputy for Diyarbakir in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), issued a comprehensive report enumerating the accusations that Sarac had served the Gulen movement. The report said the university was under the total control of Gulenists. Ictens report also said Sarac had engaged in finding financial resources for the movement, in hiring its sympathizers for university posts and in training personnel to take over other universities. Why did Gulenists choose Dicle University? The prevailing argument is that the movement's interest in the school coincided with a period when the government had renewed its search for a solution to the Kurdish issue. Ahmet Inan, an associate theology professor at Dicle University, told Al-Monitor that Gulenists were given free rein at the school in return for attempting to help solve the Kurdish issue. Former governments were deluded by Gulenists, who asserted that if they came to this region, they would win the hearts of the people by appealing to [the Kurds' religious nature]. Officials believed this and allowed Gulenists a totally free hand, he said. Dicle University is the core of all universities in Kurdish-populated provinces. It was used to train [Gulen] adherents for jobs in new universities. Inan said he lodged complaints with many relevant institutions, such as the National Intelligence Service and Higher Education Council, about the Gulenists' plans, but nobody took any action. Instead, Inan said, he was declared a foe and was actually fired from the university three times after 2009, but went to court and was reinstated. Sarac ignored the last court ruling, but Inan was reinstated when a new president was appointed after Sarac was arrested. The Higher Education Council then called on Inan to testify and give evidence of Gulenist actions. Ahmet Keles, also a Dicle theology professor, said he worked for the Gulen movement for 25 years but left because he was perturbed by Gulenist moves to take over the university. In 2008, there were 403 university staff members who had voting rights [were tenured]. In 2012, we had 842 faculty members with voting rights it doubled in four years. About two-thirds of the new appointments were for the School of Medicine. They turned that school into a mass production center for new supporters. They specialized in how to award academic degrees fastest. They kept exporting people they trained and indoctrinated to other universities, Keles said. Like Inan, Keles said the government let the Gulenists take over the university in return for their support with the Kurdish issue. There are several reasons why [Gulenists] chose Dicle University. First, they were able to acquire adequate equipment to ensure the universitys accreditation and prestige. They prevented the people of the region from getting jobs at the university, which far from winning their hearts made them even more hostile to the state. The university became particularly powerful when the state gave it limitless employment slots. Dicle thus became a strategic power in the hands of Gulenists, Keles said. Despite the mass arrests of personnel at many universities after the coup attempt, both Inan and Keles believe Gulenists still maintain their influence. People known to be close to the Gulenists dont want to talk. Some say the movement's influence is exaggerated, while others say Gulenists are still in full control. An academic who was suspended on charges of affiliation with the Gulen movement told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the movement is not as powerful as it is made out to be. He said its presence at Dicle University is not significant, but it does have disproportionate influence. October 14, 2016 In armed conflicts, each new weapon or technique introduced typically elicits a countermeasure or new move by the opposing side. Such action-reaction cycles can sometimes escalate clashes to levels both sides come to regret. This is the current situation involving Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and between the Islamic State (IS) and the international coalition confronting it. As noted Sept. 12 in Al-Monitor, in Ankara hardening anti-PKK strategy, the Turkish government, confident in its declaration of a state of emergency and experience gained in its struggle against the Gulen movement, has settled on a strategy of total liquidation of the PKK to the exclusion of attempts at deterrence. In this regard, Ankara last month introduced on the battlefield the Turkish-made medium-altitude, long-endurance Bayraktar TB2 armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The drone's manufacturer, Baykar Makina, is owned by President Recep Tayyip Erdogans son-in-law Selcuk Bayraktar. According to announcements by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), the Bayraktar UAVs killed 18 PKK militants in their first three operations in the rural terrain of Cukurca, in Hakkari province. Media reports said that during Oct. 1-10, when clashes were particularly heavy, about 90 (or 27%) of the 330 PKK fighters killed were hit using Bayraktar TB2s. Currently, the TSK is operating 12 TB2 UAVs in southeast Turkey and also in Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria. The Bayraktar TB2 can climb to 24,000 feet, stay in the air for 24 hours, can receive commands from some 93 miles and is armed with MAM-L laser-guided missiles manufactured by Roketsan, another Turkish company. Because the Bayraktar TB2 enables target acquisition and firing from some 4 miles away, it is a more effective weapons system in counterterror operations than warplanes and assault helicopters, which take time to reach the combat zone and acquire targets. TB2s are also actively being used for close quarters security of critical battalion bases. PKK fighters approaching these permanently stationed units or moving along infiltration routes have now become easy prey for the TB2. A security source who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said the Bayraktar TB2 has become the TSK's most substantive strategic asset in its counterterror operations. He said that with the expected delivery of more of the drones, the TSK believes it can destroy the PKK in the southeast and with more advanced UAV models can extend pressure to the PKK military presence in Iraq at Qandil, Zap, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk. With Turkey having launched armed UAV warfare against the PKK, the question now becomes how will the PKK react to the power asymmetry it faces? The obvious response is bomb-laden vehicles, which are being increasingly used in suicide attacks, as IS has effectively shown in Iraq and Syria. Thus far, the PKK has easily been able to find volunteers willing to die when they are sent to a target, like an armed UAV with the exception of blowing itself up. On Oct. 6 in the Yenibosna district of Istanbul, 10 people were wounded in an attack claimed by PKK-affiliate Kurdistan Freedom Falcons using a motorcycle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) attack. Near the town of Haymana two days later, some 18 miles from Ankara, two PKK militants stopped at a checkpoint and blew themselves up on their motorcycles that were rigged as vehicle-borne IEDs before reaching their intended target. On Oct. 9, in a suicide attack against a gendarmerie checkpoint near Semdinli, 10 soldiers and six civilians were killed by a truck-borne IED laden with 5 tons of ammonium nitrate fortified with TNT. Security sources consulted by Al-Monitor said that between Oct. 1 and Oct. 10, eight vehicle-borne IED attacks were thwarted across Turkey through the apprehension of the perpetrators. Turkey is now hastily trying to register all the motorcycles in the country, bar coding large liquefied petroleum gas cylinders used in kitchens and requiring identification for purchasers of them and imposing strict controls on the sale and storage of nitrate-based agricultural fertilizers. Other measures to curtail the PKKs vehicle-borne IED campaign include closer cooperation with rental car companies, aggressive searches for stolen cars and registration of accommodation rentals in major cities. No matter how hard the security agencies might try, such attacks are not easy to prevent. Part of the Turkish security forces territory domination doctrine, which is being applied in mountainous terrain in eastern and southeastern Turkey, involves establishing hundreds of temporary small- and medium-scale, self-sustaining military outposts, but it is impossible to provide round-the-clock security for every one of them. Thus the PKK can easily find weak targets on which to inflict heavy casualties and scare the public, thus undermining the psychological upper hand Ankara has achieved through UAV operations. The PKK's goal is a mutually painful stalemate. There is no doubt that the PKK, through its 35 vehicle-borne IED attacks in the past year, has been able to lessen the perception of state supremacy in the struggle. In short, the more Ankara intensifies efforts to develop armed UAVs, improve its missile technology and target acquisition methods, the more the PKK, in its effort to overcome the power asymmetry, will adopt the methods from its experiences in Syria and Iraq and transfer them to Turkey. This, in turn, portends a sharp escalation in the action-reaction cycle in the field, leading to heavy casualties and destruction. According to the TSKs website, between Aug. 29 and Oct. 10, 417 PKK militants were killed in counterterror operations, while 88 security personnel were killed. Of note, the TSK website makes no mention of civilians killed, probably because the yardstick for success in armed clashes is the number of enemy personnel killed. Ankara is trying to liquidate the PKK by killing most of its fighters, while the PKK is trying to prove that it is not easy prey. Worse, both sides have ways and means more lethal than the ones they had in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This is why the Turkish military is carefully watching the efforts of non-state actors, so far mainly IS, to develop their own armed drones, which will likely be emulated by the PKK. French and US sources confirmed on Oct. 12 that IS jihadis had killed two Kurdish fighters and injured two French special operations troops near Mosul using a remote-controlled hobby plane rigged with hidden explosives. IS has used surveillance drones on the battlefield for some time, but the attacks, all targeting Iraqi troops, have highlighted its success in adapting readily accessible technologies to make potentially effective new weapons. IS is using relatively simple, commercially available drones, such as the DJI Phantom, which can be purchased on Amazon. The group attaches small explosive devices to them, essentially making them remotely piloted bombs. Military analysts believe that drones will continue to be a problem in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere. A veteran United Nations official with long service in south Lebanon told Al-Monitor how Hezbollah learned from its experiences with Israel and developed its own fleet of armed drones, beginning with toy model planes. Turkish security sources said they recently suffered two mini-drone attacks by IS that went largely unnoticed, one at Syrias al-Rai and the other at the Turkish training camp of Bashiqa, in northern Iraq. No doubt the PKK, always a good learner, is watching carefully. October 14, 2016 When it comes to Syria, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sounds more articulate than her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. I would not use American ground forces in Syria, she said during the Oct. 9 presidential debate. I think that would be a very serious mistake. I dont think American troops should be holding territory, which is what they would have to do as an occupying force. I dont think that is a smart strategy. I do think the use of special forces, which we're using, [and] the use of enablers and trainers are very much in our interest. According to Israels Jerusalem Post, this mirrors the current US policy of working with the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units in eastern Syria. Most importantly, she emphasized the central role of the Kurdish forces in the region: I would consider arming the Kurds; they have been our best partners in Syria, as well as Iraq, she said, the Israeli daily reported. Clinton should have been aware that such a statement would seriously irritate some people, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but she apparently felt it was essential to pave the way to take Raqqa, the Islamic States self-proclaimed capital in Syria. As reported in Hurriyet Daily News, according to Erdogan, her statement demonstrates a lack of political experience. Erdogan called her a political novice." This is a very unfortunate statement. I regard this as political inexperience, Erdogan said. Hurriyet continued, Emphasizing that this region has different sensitivities and that supplying weapons to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party would be a very wrong move, he said: Arent you aware that you caused the death of 600,000 people through the weapons you provided? Where is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Where is law? Where is the importance of human life?" But does Erdogan really think Clinton is a political novice? Is she really politically inexperienced? Considering Clintons track record, perhaps not. After all, she is a former US secretary of state and she was first lady when Erdogan himself hadn't even been elected mayor of Istanbul. She was also a US senator representing New York. It is true that Erdogan nowadays does not mince words with his counterparts. He yelled at Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi when their differences on Mosul surfaced: You are not my interlocutor, you are not at my level, your quality is not at my level, he said. By comparison, he was practically courteous in voicing his policy differences with the potential next US president. It's more appropriate to think of Erdogans misgivings about Clinton as a harbinger of the acute policy differences that might be awaiting Turkey and the United States if she gets elected. It is noteworthy that Erdogan, following his remarks on Clinton, used the harshest terms in raising the issue of Turkey's request for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Turkish cleric whom Erdogan blames for the coup attempt of July 15. When they ask for terrorists from us, we hand them over. But look, they do not hand over such terrorists to us. Why not? They talk about the judiciary and say they cannot hand him back without a court decision. OK. Lets see what happens. The same thing could happen here. When [the United States] wants someone from us, we will send them to [Turkish judges]. We will not decide until [Turkish judges] decide. Thats how it will be from now on, he said this week. Look, its been 17 years and [Gulen] still lives there. We have sent [the United States] 85 boxes of documents and we are still sending them, he added. A Western diplomat privy to information about those documents told me the United States did not find strong evidence to substantiate Turkish claims that Gulen was personally involved in the botched coup. The chance of seeing Gulen extradited might become even more unlikely if Clinton is elected. Erdogan believes Gulen followers were involved in supporting Clinton. USA Today brought up the same issue only a month after the attempted coup. An Istanbul-based college professor, who has been accused by the Turkish government of coordinating last month's failed coup attempt, is at the center of a group of suspicious 2014 contributions to a super PAC supporting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, a USA Today analysis shows, the daily reported. Adil Oksuz is the subject of a massive manhunt in Turkey. Two years ago, an apparently fictitious company that Oksuz created made a $5,000 donation to the Ready for Hillary PAC, a group preparing for Clinton's presidential campaign. The Clinton campaign did not provide a response to USA Today's questions about the donations. The campaign did not control the operations of the super PAC. A company called Harmony Enterprises gave $5,000 to the PAC on June 27, 2014. The article continued, That same day in 2014, two leaders of the Gulen-affiliated Turkish Cultural Center of New York made large donations to Ready PAC. Recep Ozkan, who served as the center's president a decade ago, donated $20,000 to Ready PAC. He served as a national finance co-chairman for the PAC. He has also given nearly $5,000 to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, and earlier this year he gave between $500,000 and $1 million to the Clinton Global Initiative. Ozkan is variously listed on campaign finance records as president of Baharu Inc. and chairman of Everglobe Partners LLC, but neither company has a functioning telephone number or email address. Ozkan could not be reached for this story. Conservative US journal The National Interest, referring to the USA Today report, claimed the relationship between Gulenists in the United States and Clinton is a new scandal. That's the background of Erdogans rather sarcastic, if not harsh, remarks targeting Clinton. But would Erdogans Turkey prefer a Trump presidency? Most probably, yes. It was Erdogan who inaugurated the high-rise Trump Tower shopping mall in Istanbul, with Turkish media mogul Aydin Dogan in 2012. The images of a very happy Trump, Dogan with his entire family and the smiling faces of Erdogan and his wife are still in the Turkish public's memory. Less than a month before the election, Erdogans characterization of Clinton indicates his choice for the next US president. October 14, 2016 BAGHDAD Iraqi Turkmens, who are citizens of Iraq with Turkish origins, have been calling for their own independent province in the Tal Afar district west of Mosul, located in the center of the Ninevah province. The Turkmens demands coincide with calls for the establishment of other new provinces in Ninevah, such as the Ninevah Plain province for Christians and Sinjar province for the Yazidis. All of these projects are based on religious or ethnic division, whether among Turkmens, Kurds, Arabs, Sunnis or Shiites. Some see these proposals as the solution to the sectarian, religious and ethnic diversity problems that have caused so much killing and displacement of minorities since the Islamic State (IS) took over the areas in June 2014. But others fear the proposals would further divide the country into regional fiefdoms, fending off peace and causing new conflicts for power and influence. Turkmens are a mix of Sunnis and Shiites and are the third-largest ethnicity in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, numbering about 3 million out of the total population of about 34.7 million, according to 2013 data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning. Turkmens have escalated their demands as the battle to retake Mosul from IS approaches. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Oct. 2, After liberating Mosul from [IS], only Sunni Arabs, Turkmens and Sunni Kurds should stay there. His remarks drew wide divisions between the Turkmens regarding their areas in Iraq. The Turkmen Rescue Foundation on Oct. 4 denounced Erdogans statements, demanding that he respect the ethnic and sectarian diversity in Iraq, since Mosul is home to a variety of social components, not only the ones he mentioned. Ahmed Hassan, a Shiite Turkmen who was displaced from Tal Afar and has been living in the predominantly Shiite province of Babil since 2015, told Al-Monitor, Sectarian strife has erupted among Turkmens. The Shiites among them have fled to Shiite areas in the center and the south, while Sunnis headed to Kurdish areas or crossed into Turkey. He added, Shiite Turkmens will avoid going to Mosul even after expelling IS, because the latter has instilled a dogmatic ideology in the citys citizens, which will take time to wither." Of Turkmens, he said, "We are a minority in an unfriendly environment. We have been ethnically persecuted by Arabs and Kurds, while Shiites have been subjected to more sectarian persecution by Arab Sunnis because they are Shiites. Despite multiple projects to divide Ninevah between the Sunni Arabs and Kurds, Shiite Turkmens are accused of being supported by the armed Popular Mobilization Units seeking to establish a Shiite province in a Sunni environment, to serve as a safe land route for Shiite factions and Iranian forces to Syria to ensure logistic communication and armament. On the other side, Sunni Turkmens have been calling for the Turkish army to participate in the upcoming military operations to liberate Ninevah, to protect them along the front lines of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is protecting the Kurds in Syria and Iraq. The Sunni-majority Ninevah province is also home to other ethnicities, including Arab Shiites, Shiite and Sunni Turkmens, and Kurds. There have been efforts to preserve the diversity, as was the case before the IS invasion. However, there are some agendas seeking division that have resulted in the displacement and suppression of minorities such as Shiite Turkmens. Ahmed Qader, a Shiite Turkmen who fled to Babil, told Al-Monitor, It won't be safe for minorities, namely Shiites, to return to Tal Afar and neighboring villages unless the city is turned into its own province. Turkmens have suffered from three waves of displacement since IS entered the city. This state of stability is only a fleeting period. Nahla al-Hibabi, a member of the Iraqi parliament for the Turkmens, told Al-Monitor, The Turkmens demands to manage their affairs independently are not based on sectarian grounds. The constitution allows the establishment of new provinces. However, the sectarian divide already exists within the Turkmen component itself. But Turkmen spokesman and human rights activist Jaafar al-Talaafri downplayed the disagreements among Turkmen. He told Al-Monitor, Shiite and Sunni Turkmens of the city were seeking to turn it into a new province before the fall of Mosul in June 2014. This was when the Iraqi Cabinet announced that Tal Afar would become a province. Therefore, the Turkmens demands do not fall within the sectarian and ethnic context that is being brought up today. Ali Akram al-Bayati, the director of the Turkmen Rescue Foundation, told Al-Monitor there are other reasons for Turkmens to call for an independent province. This would allow access to a certain budget for the construction and development of the province, the formation of a security protection force made up of its citizens to fight against terrorism, as well as providing job opportunities, he said. Like Hibabi, Bayati noted that the constitution provides for the right to establish new provinces. He stressed that turning Tal Afar into an independent province does not mean it will only include Turkmens. It will be open to any other ethnic and sectarian components. October 14, 2016 A senior US official in charge of combatting terrorist financing praised Saudi Arabia for its progress in blocking the flow of funds to groups such as al-Qaeda and said he wished other countries in the Persian Gulf would meet the same standard. "We have a very willing and capable partner in Saudi Arabia," Daniel Glaser, the assistant secretary for terrorist financing in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told an audience at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Oct. 13. "Our goal is to see a similar evolution in Qatar and Kuwait," which he said had made some progress but not to the same extent as the Saudi government over the past decade. Glaser's praise for Saudi Arabia as the "No. 1" US partner in the region combatting terrorist financing comes at a time of severe strain between the United States and the kingdom over other issues, including the Saudi bombing of civilians at a funeral in Yemen and new US legislation that permits the relatives of those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, to sue Saudi Arabia in US courts. President Barack Obama vetoed the bill, but was overridden by the US Congress, which may revisit the issue after US presidential elections in November. The Obama administration has also said it is reviewing its support for the Saudi bombing campaign in Yemen. Bruce Riedel, a longtime expert on Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf and a columnist for Al-Monitor, said Glaser was correct in his assessment of Saudi efforts to stop money from going to al-Qaeda affiliates. Riedel noted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef had been the target of at least four assassination attempts, including a 2009 suicide attack by a young Saudi militant who claimed to have repented. Nayef survived but reportedly still suffers pain from wounds incurred, Riedel said. "The Saudis do take seriously the business of funding al-Qaeda," Riedel told Al-Monitor. On the other hand, he said, "I've heard a lot of complaints about the Kuwaitis." The Kuwaiti Embassy did not respond to a query about its record on combatting terrorist financing. However, the Qatari ambassador, Mohammed Jaham al-Kuwari, told Al-Monitor in a phone interview on Oct. 14, "We have made a lot of progress in this aspect" and that remaining problems involved only "some individuals" about whom Qatar was asking for additional information. "This is a problem in many countries, not only Qatar," the ambassador said. "It is even in America and in Asia, Africa and Europe." The issue of external funding has been less urgent in combating the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) because it has relied primarily on internal revenues. According to Glaser, the group had access to an estimated $1 billion in 2015, half from oil and gas, about $360 million from "taxation and extortion" of local populations under its control and the remainder as reserve cash pilfered from banks in Mosul after Iraq's second-largest city fell to IS in 2014. Glaser said a US-led bombing campaign that began last November has substantially reduced IS oil revenues by targeting the "entire supply chain" of oil and gas extracted, refined and sold by IS to clients that include the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Glaser pointed to what he called "signs of financial distress" as IS cut back salaries to fighters by 50% and increased "arbitrary fees, fines and taxation. He said there has also been a rise in internal corruption in IS-controlled areas, an "increase of people with their hands in the cookie jar" trying to get access to diminishing resources. Riedel said another measure of IS' growing challenges is a reduction in the group's social media output reported recently by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. "There has been a significant decline in the last several months, and part of that is funding," Riedel said. "They don't have the money." The United States has not been able to work with the Assad government directly to choke off the flow of money to IS, but it has enjoyed greater success in Iraq. Glaser said the Iraqi government has shut off access to 90 Iraqi bank branches in IS-controlled territory. The Iraqi Central Bank has also published a list of about 100 exchange houses in IS-held areas. "Millions of dollars from these blacklisted exchange houses have been blocked," Glaser said, but more needs to be done over the long term to shrink a sector that includes 1,900 exchange houses. US officials and analysts foresee the demise of IS' "caliphate" after the eventual recapture of Mosul and Raqqa, perhaps within the next six months, but warn that the group may revert to a more traditional terrorist organization and seek to raise funds from external donors as its ability to tax local populations wanes. IS members may also defect to other jihadi organizations. Riedel told Al-Monitor that IS fighters in Syria "could well end up going to the Nusra Front or whatever al-Nusra calls itself." Jabhat al-Nusra recently changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (Conquest of Syria Front) in an effort to broaden its appeal to other opponents of the Assad regime and increase its external funding. While Saudi Arabia has succeeded in blocking funds to al-Qaeda offshoots, some Saudi individuals have managed to send money to Jabhat al-Nusra via bundlers in Kuwait and Qatar, according to Glaser and Matthew Levitt, a terrorism expert at the Washington Institute. Saudis trying to send money to terrorist organizations "primarily have to send it elsewhere to Qatar and Kuwait," Levitt told Al-Monitor. Riedel said the Afghan Taliban is also "still getting an awful lot of money from private sources" in the Persian Gulf, as evidenced by the multiple trips former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour took to Dubai before he was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan in May. "Getting rid of [IS] is a good thing to do, but the track record of al-Qaeda is that this is an incredibly resilient concept," Riedel added. "A lot of people involved with the idea die, but the idea doesn't die." Editor's note: This article has been updated since its initial publication. Every Friday, The Citizen features a pet available for adoption from the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York. This week, we spotlight Chelsea. Q: Who is your best friend? A: I actually have had several BFFs since arriving but they all got lucky and have gone home. However, there is a new gal here Babs! I think she needs a friend so I will ask her. Q: What has been your worst experience? A: Why don't we talk about best experiences this time. In all honesty, coming here has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I came from what can only be referred to as a hoarding situation, and I was really never going to get out of there until I was, shall we say, "discovered." No! This is the best experience I have had in a long time, if not in forever! Thanks for asking and thanks for letting your good readers know that coming to the shelter is the first step toward a great life! Q: If you could have a job, what would that be? A: Job? My dear friend, I am looking at the canine version of social security in the near future and collecting all those bones that are owed to me and having time to do all the things on my bucket list! Q: If you could visit any place in the world, where would that be? A: Speaking of bucket lists, I would like to visit Hawaii and spend some time at the very nice Hawaii Kai Dog Park. I understand it is wonderful there. And, did you know that Hawaii is the only rabies-free state in the United States? It is, and it would be very safe for me (and you, too, if you want to go with me) to visit there! Q: If you could meet someone famous, who would that be? A: Right now, there is only one famous person I would like to meet and that is my new human. Please, someone find me and take me home! I promise I will be the best dog ever. Ask my shelter people they will tell you how wonderful I am. Q: Do you have an interesting fact to share? A: I do and this is some story. Indias Maharaja of Junagadh, the Nawab Sir Mahabat Khan Rasul Khan, owned 800 pet dogs each lavished with its own room, private telephone and butler and he frequently dressed them in evening jackets and had them driven around in rickshaws. But in 1922, he surpassed even himself in doggy ostentation by organizing the wedding of one of his hounds to a golden retriever called Bobby. The invited guests included some of Indias most powerful royals and politicians, as well as his numerous other pets, and an elephant for good measure. We had our "fact checkers" look into this and it is indeed a fact! Q: Do you have any advice for our good Citizen readers? A: I do! Please mark your calendars for Saturday, Nov. 12. We will be holding our last free rabies clinic of the year on that day from 1 to 3 p.m. right here at my shelter home. More information is coming as the date gets closer. And I'm hoping I will be lounging in my new home by then, but if not you can always stop by my kennel and say "Hey, Chelsea!" Thank you and love, Chelsea and friends. Here are the top stories in Alabama business for Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016: Take a tour of Ghost Train Brewing, Birmingham's newest brewery, before its Oct. 22 opening. The 2,000-square-foot space in Cahaba Brewing's former building has been totally renovated. -- The Navy Federal Credit Union, the country's largest military service personnel lender, has been fined $28.5 million by the federal government for deceiving and threatening its customers. The company has two branches in Alabama. -- Verizon Wireless is shutting down a segment of its Huntsville call center as it moves some jobs to Hanover, Maryland. More than 1,000 employees will remain at the company's 475 Quality Circle facility, which is Verizon's state headquarters. -- Phoenix, a nonprofit that helps disabled individuals obtain employment and vocational services, has expanded its facility in Huntsville. Phoenix, also known as the Huntsville Rehabilitation Foundation, currently has a revenue of $38 million and more than 600 employees in four states. -- Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company is recalling certain ice cream products distributed to ice cream shops, online outlets and a limited number of grocery stores in Alabama and 24 other states. -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is aware of several child deaths potentially linked to homeopathic teething tablets sold online and at major retailers. -- Follow all of Alabama's business news here anytime. Marshalls is expanding this fall with a new location next to The Fresh Market under development on U.S. 72 at North Madison Corners. Marshalls at North Madison Corners. (Lucy Berry | lberry@al.com) The off-price chain said Friday it will move from its current location on 6275 University Drive in Huntsville to the shopping center on 7950 U.S. 72 West in Madison. The official grand opening is set for 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 27. Marshalls, which also has locations in Hoover, Mobile and Trussville, operates more than 1,000 sites in 48 states and Puerto Rico. Marshalls President Richard Sherr said the 21,582-square-foot Madison store will be stocked weekly with new brand name and designer merchandise. The retailer will present a $5,000 donation to the Boys and Girls Club of North Alabama during the ribbon cutting ceremony, which will begin at 7:30 a.m. It is unclear when the University Drive location will close or if its employees will transfer to the new store. AL.com will update this story as details are available. Mary Beth Broeren, director of planning and economic development for the City of Madison, told AL.com last month The Fresh Market is moving forward on interior tenant improvements in the former Star Market site at North Madison Corners. Broeren said the store should open in 2017. The Fresh Market has not officially confirmed the new Madison location. Polaris vehicles Slingshot SL. (Polaris.com) Polaris, Nissan, NASA and other employers will be on hand next week during a job fair at Calhoun Community College's campus in Huntsville. The college's Career Services Department will host the free event for current students, recent graduates and the general public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 20 in the Grand Foyer on 102 Wynn Drive N.W. More than 60 agencies will be at the fair seeking both full- and part-time employees. Other employers set to attend include: Redstone Federal Credit Union, Army and Air Force Exchange, Verizon Wireless, WAFF-48, TEK Systems, Weichert Realtors, City of Decatur, Heart of the Valley YMCA, Buffalo Rock, DCH Health System, Birmingham Police Department, Magic Steel, HEMSI, Royal Technologies, Huntsville Hospital and Ai Signal Research (ASRI). Calhoun urges attendees to bring an updated resume, research organizations ahead of time and come prepared with a short "elevator pitch" to introduce themselves to potential employers. Some companies will conduct on-site interviews. For information, call Calhoun at 256-306-2602 or email careerservice@calhoun.edu. Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com Don't Edit Prissy and Pop Meet Priscilla and Poppleton, two of the Crimson Tide's cutest fans. Don't Edit They live in Ponte Vedra, Fla., with their human Melissa Nicholson. She regularly dresses the fashionable pair in cute outfits for photos, several of which represent their adoration for the University of Alabama. Don't Edit Nicholson told Mashable that shes loved pigs since visiting a pig farm while attending the University of Alabama. Don't Edit The miniature pigs are so adorable, they have nearly nearly 650,000 followers on Instagram. Don't Edit Don't Edit They regularly dress up to "root" for their favorite team on game day. Don't Edit Occasionally, you'll find them in orange and blue. Sorry Auburn fans, that's the school colors of the Bolles School where they go with Nicholson who is a teacher there. Don't Edit The pair even have their own line of Gund plush characters. Don't Edit Sometimes, their niece and nephew Posey and Pink join them for photos. Don't Edit Posey and Pink are Bama fans too. Don't Edit Don't Edit Watch them graze before a game here. Don't Edit Want to meet them? Head over to Atlanta, November 6, 2016, where they will be making an appearance at Richards Variety Store on Peachtree Rd NW and signing copies of their book " Prissy and Pop Deck the Halls. Former Birmingham Health Care CEO Jonathan Dunning was sentenced to 18 years in prison Friday for his role in a $13.5 million fraud scheme that siphoned federal dollars meant to provide health care for the homeless and poor. Dunning said he would appeal the sentence and have more to say later as he walked out of the courtroom. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein, who was specially appointed to hear the case, ordered Dunning to report to a designated prison Nov. 29. The judge also ordered that he serve five years under the supervision of a federal probation officer after his release. The judge cited Dunning's first time offender status and his military service -- he served in the U.S. Air Force -- as a reason for not accepting the government's prosecutors' recommendation of 27 years. Both Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamarra Matthews-Johnson and Dunning's attorney, Bill Athanas, objected to the sentence's length. Federal prosecutors will routinely object to sentences that are less than what they recommend just to preserve the issue in case they later decide they need to appeal. "The United States always felt that a lengthy sentence was appropriate to reflect the sprawling, extensive scheme and conspiracy that this defendant led and executed for seven years," Matthews-Johnson said. "The community needed to see that individuals such as the defendant will be held accountable. There are consequences for actions and that crimes result in stiff punishment. Dunning is one of four charged in connection with the fraud which took place over a 7-year period at Birmingham Health Care and Central Alabama Comprehensive Health in Tuskegee. Former Birmingham Health Care CFO Terri Mollica last year pleaded guilty to stealing $1.7 million from the federally-funded center for the poor and homeless, was sentenced Aug. 9 to serve 17 years in prison. Rothstein broke down the restitution Dunning owes as follows: $7.6 million to HRSA; $5.1 million to Birmingham Health care, now named Alabama Regional Medical System; $737,515 to CACH; and $122,088 to the National Credit Union Administration. While in prison Dunning will be responsible for paying $50 a month towards paying the restitution, the judge ordered. Matthews-Johnson presented a letter from HRSA that states that the money Dunning took could have been used in a positive way to help thousands of homeless or poor patients. Matthews-Johnson said that Dunning has showed an "utter and complete lack of remorse." Dunning got up every day for seven years to conduct the fraud, Matthews-Johnson said. "One decision he never made was to stop. He got caught." Dunning declined to say anything during the hearing. Athanas told the judge that Dunning is 53 years old and if she gave him federal prosecutors' suggested 27-year sentence he would never get out of prison. "If you give him that sentence, he is coming out of that prison in a pine box," he said. Prosecutors declined to comment on whether the investigation was over. TIMELINE In June of 2012, AL.com and The Birmingham News In July, 2012, AL.com/The Birmingham News reported that In November, 2012, a judge ordered depositions of Birmingham Health Care employees to And then, in February, 2013, things took a strange detour when Sharon Waltz, a former top employee at Birmingham Health Care In July 2013, CACH, the Tuskegee community health center, currently in the middle of a year-long legal battle with Birmingham Health Care over what it alleges to be 'misappropriated' federal funding, loses its access to federal funding. In May 2014, The Birmingham News and AL.com report that BHC and CACH employees are under investigation by the FBI and the Inspector General for Health and Human Services. In November 2014, Terri Mollica, the Birmingham Health Care CFO who also helped run CACH, the Tuskegee health center, was indicted on 82 counts and the Parkers, indicted earlier, pleaded guilty under a plea agreement. In April 2015, Mollica pleaded guilty Monday to multiple federal charges in connection with the diversion of $11 million in federal money to private businesses. In November, 2015 Mollica, the former nonprofit CFO of Birmingham Health Care and Central Alabama Comprehensive Health in Tuskegee appealed her sentence of 28 months in prison. Mollica sent drugs -either as retribution or intimidation -- to a witness and the spouse of a prosecutor involved in the health care fraud cases. Mollica was first arrested in 2014 on health care fraud charges and pleaded guilty and was released on bond. Earlier this year it was uncovered that Mollica had sent packages to witnesses and families of court officers involved in the fraud case. In December 2015, a Washington D.C. judge was called in to replace a Birmingham judge in the federal health care fraud case. No explanation was given in court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham to explain why Birmingham judge L. Scott Coogler is being replaced by U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, a visiting judge at U.S. District Court in Washington D.C In February, 2016, the judge ruled that Birmingham Health Care CEO Jimmy In April 2016, the trial of Dunning was delayed for the sixth time. The judge delayed it from May 2 to May 23. After a three-week trial, a federal jury in Birmingham on June 17 found Dunning guilty on 98 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. On Oct. 14 Dunning was sentenced to 18 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein. He is to report to prison Nov. 29. Reporter Kent Faulk contributed to this report. Police are searching for a 70-year-old man who is missing in Birmingham. Bruce Green left UAB Highlands about 9 p.m. Thursday, said Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards. Green was supposed to leave the hospital and head home, but he never showed up. He suffers from minor dementia. Green is believed to be driving a white, 2003 Ford Mustang with license plate No. 1AK5665. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 205-328-9311. On Oct. 31, 2013, we shared the story of Porter Heatherly, the 1-year-old boy with a rare genetic disease called gangliosidosis type 1 or GM1. The inherited disorder, for which there is no cure, progressively destroys the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Life expectancy is about two years. Porter passed that milestone Sept. 14, 2014, celebrating with a huge Auburn-themed birthday bash complete with Aubie. Last September, Porter marked another remarkable year, celebrating his 3rd with 200 people and former AU stars Will Herring, Brandon Cox, Ben Leard and Rob Pate. The milestone 4th-year birthday this year will be celebrated at the Cure GM1 Foundation fundraising event on Oct. 1 in Auburn (link below). Because time is so precious, Porter's parents, Sara and Michael Heatherly, high school sweethearts from Cullman who now live in Opelika, use months to celebrate birthdays. They celebrate Porter's Sept. 14, 2012, birthday every month on the 14th. They have agreed to give updates on Porter's health on these birthdays. Today, on Oct. 14, 2016, Porter's 49-month birthday, Michael shared this update: Wow! Porter continues to amaze. He officially turns 49 months old today. The last month was very busy and productive for Porter. His health has been stable with the only real issue being some fluctuation in his oxygen level. They are usually short episodes that last just long enough to give us a little scare before his levels return to normal. We are so thankful that he continues to fight this disease well beyond his life expectancy. Knowing that, we look at each day as a gift and enjoy all of our time with him. Porter's 2nd annual Cure GM1 Foundation Fundraiser and birthday celebration on October 1st was even better than we had hoped. We are continually amazed by all of the support from our friends and family who came out to support this fundraiser. We surpassed last years total and raised over $44,000 for the Cure GM1 Foundation. It is such an honor for us to be a part of the groundbreaking research and progress toward human clinical trials for this disease. Porter life has inspired and educated many people about GM1. We also recently learned about another child in Alabama who has been diagnosed with GM1. Clara Bragg from Birmingham, was diagnosed with the late infantile form of the disease. She is so sweet, beautiful and full of life. It's tough for us knowing how this disease will slowly rob her ability without any type of treatment. We don't like to meet people under such difficult circumstances but we are so proud of the Bragg family, for their strength and the money they have raised in such a short time after getting Clara's diagnosis. What an awesome family to have on board in the fight to cure this disease. This is exactly why we have been working hard the last few years to raise money. Each time another child gets diagnosed, our hearts break knowing what they will have to endure without a treatment. Ryan, Jenny, Tanner, and Clara Bragg. It's tough for us knowing how this disease will slowly rob her ability without any type of treatment. Read more about Porter. How to Help Auburn University is pioneering research into GM1 and related diseases. You can help by sending a donation made to the Scott Richey Research Center. Please note on the check "Research for Porter." Send to: Scott Richey Research Center, College of Veterinary Medicine, 1265 H.C. Morgan Drive, Auburn, AL 36849 Also you can help with Porter's medical expenses. Make checks to The Community Foundation of East Alabama, specifying GM1 in the memo line. The Community Foundation of East Alabama, Inc. P.O. Box 165 Opelika, Alabama 36803-0165, info@tcfeastalabama.org (334)-705-5138 Today, on Oct. 14, 2016, Porter's 49th-month birthday, Sara shared this update: Suspect final_edited.jpg Justin Butler Nearly three years after Eric Monte Watkins was fatally shot in Florence, police believe they finally have his killer in custody. Authorities had to travel hundreds of miles this week to bring the suspect, Justin Antonio Butler, back to the Shoals to face trial. Butler, 25, was jailed in South Carolina on an unrelated murder conviction when the Lauderdale District Attorney's Office arranged his transportation back to Florence. A Lauderdale County grand jury earlier this year indicted Butler on a capital murder charge, Florence Police Sgt. Brad Holmes said. Butler, a Florence man, also is known by two aliases, "Pop-A-Molly" and "Jona McCoy," court records show. Watkins, a 32-year-old Muscle Shoals resident, was killed while he was in his vehicle on Marion Avenue near Chisolm Road during the late night hours of Nov. 10, 2013, Holmes said. The grand jury indictment accuses Butler of "intentionally" causing Watkins' death. Butler originally is from California, but moved to Florence as an adult, Holmes said. The suspect was living with his family at the time of the killing. Capital murder is punishable by the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Butler is being held in the Lauderdale County Jail without bail. A north Alabama man is accused of filming pornography of his girlfriend's child by hiding a camera in her bedroom. Philip Kevin Brown, 45, of Hanceville in Cullman County, faces up to life in prison if convicted of the Class A felony. Brown also would be required to register as a sex offender if found guilty. The female victim, who is younger than 17, lives in Morgan County, Sheriff Ana Franklin said. Law enforcement in Cullman and Morgan counties worked with the state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to investigate the case after authorities received a tip about the pornography. Cullman County investigators got a warrant and searched Brown's home on County Road 520, where they found evidence to make the charge, authorities said. Franklin said Brown had been involved with the girl's mother for several years and knew the child's age. Typically, Franklin said, the Task Force located and traces child pornography back to the creators. "But in this case, it was kind of backward because of the tip," she said. "It started with (Brown)." Morgan County Investigator Blake Robinson arrested Brown on Thursday. Anyone with a tip about production of child pornography should contact their local police department or sheriff's office. Tips also can be filed online. Brown is being held in the Morgan County Jail with bail set at $60,000. school board 10-13-16.JPG The Huntsville City School board and Interim Superintendent Tom Drake met in a work session on Oct. 13, 2016 to discuss, among other things, questions surrounding the system's contract with Pinnacle Behavioral Health. (Anna Claire Vollers | avollers@AL.com) Huntsville City Schools is investigating the payments it made to a third-party company contracted to provide services for students with behavioral and other problems. "This is a complicated, complex situation that we're in, folks," said interim Superintendent Tom Drake at Thursday's school board meeting. "It's about a question of contract law. My team is investigating the facts (about) whether or not the contract between us and this company shows over-billing." Last month, then-Superintendent Casey Wardynski abruptly resigned less than 48 hours after adding an invoice from Pinnacle Behavioral Health to the school board meeting agenda. In a hastily-assembled press conference before he left, Wardynski, a widower, disclosed that he was dating and intended to marry Pinnacle CEO Karen Lee. In the invoice, Pinnacle billed the school system $175,000 for a new program called Assignment for Positive Progress (APP) that was rolled out in the high schools without school board approval. It also listed overage charges for students in the RAISE program, an alternative education program that replaced the school system's alternative school in 2012. Pinnacle acquired the RAISE contract in 2012. "I have concerns about the money we have paid," on the Pinnacle contract, said Drake. Pinnacle leadership interprets the contract in one way, he said, and the school system leadership in another. He assigned his staff to begin looking at the Pinnacle invoice and its contract shortly after the board appointed him interim superintendent on Sept. 15. "We have been working closely with our attorneys and they're working with the company and we hope that we can find some resolution," Drake said. "I'm not going to rush into making any public statement without these issues being completely investigated, and I don't think it's responsible to make allegations without being as sure as I can be." Lee spoke exclusively with AL.com news partner WHNT News Channel 19 earlier this week and denied rumors that Pinnacle had overbilled the system, calling the idea "ridiculous." She told WHNT reporters she thought the closure of APP "can only be personal and political" and was related to her relationship with the former superintendent. "When this contract is up for renewal, I certainly will not be renewing my contract," she told the news station. "I don't think there's a lot that can be done to repair the trust I used to have with them." Drake said he has received calls from parents concerned that Pinnacle will close the RAISE program and leave students with nowhere to go. He said the school system has been working with Pinnacle to try to keep that from happening. "I'd like to believe that the (Pinnacle) leadership would not put our students at risk by using them as a bargaining chip in our discussion to resolve the issue between Huntsville City Schools and this company," he said. "We're going to work with your children." Outside auditing A couple of citizens asked during the board meeting about the possibility of bringing in an outside auditor to look at the contract and the Pinnacle invoices. Drake said he does not believe that is necessary. "The numbers in this case are not a mystery," he said. "The issues in this case pertain to the terms of the contract between the parties and the action of Huntsville City Schools staff. An auditor would not help us resolve that. "If this board in their wisdom decide to hire an outside auditor, I would certainly not impede them. But I don't feel we need to spend the money to look at bills when we already know what's there." Closing the APP program Drake said he made the decision to close the APP program and bring it in-house after discussion with his staff and with administrators. He has not hired any new staff, but is organizing counselors, mental health professionals and other behavioral supports to provide the same services to the APP students that they were receiving from Pinnacle. He said he believed the school system could best serve the APP students in-house, without paying Pinnacle $125,000 per month for the APP program. "We want to do right for these students and ... I want to do right by the public for your money," said Drake. "Anybody that knows me personally knows that I'm a very conservative person and I'm not going to waste your money. That's the bottom line, folks. Not going to do it." The APP program was initially approved by school system administration back in the spring. The school board did not have to approve it because it didn't meet the cost threshold. Drake said board members "didn't have a full understanding of the ramifications or the involvement of the program, nor the financial obligation," and that played a part in his decision to shutter it. AUBURN Two sisters with a history of possessing and selling drugs in Cayuga County were sentenced to prison Thursday, but only one will serve her time at a drug treatment center. On Oct. 13, Cheryl and Shaunna Oliver both appeared in Cayuga County criminal court before Judge Thomas Leone. First, Shaunna, of 19 Frederick St. in Auburn, was sentenced to four years in prison and two years post-release supervision for third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. The 26-year-old had initially been charged with four felonies and two misdemeanors for selling cocaine in September 2015. However, Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann let Shaunna plead guilty to one felony count in August to satisfy all charges. "It's my hope that (Shaunna) can address whatever demons keep bringing her here," Budelmann said at sentencing, noting that she has an extensive criminal history dating back to 2006. "I hope she takes advantage of the programs that are available to her in prison." "She knows that these addictions are going to kill her," Shaunna's attorney Norman Chirco added. "But as we've seen in so many cases here, these drugs just have a grip on her." Through tears, Shaunna asked to address the court, telling Leone she was "not a drug dealer." "I was doing bad things to support my habit," she said. "But throwing me in prison is not helping. I need help." In response, Leone told Shaunna to look at her family who sat crying behind her. "I've said this before in similar cases, at least your family will know where you are and that you are safe," he said. "And if you don't get a handle on this, you're not going to be on this earth much longer." Next, after Shaunna was lead away in handcuffs, her older sister was brought in on a separate case. Cheryl, of 3595 State School Road, Albion, pleaded guilty Sept. 19 to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. However, Budelmann amended the charge Thursday to third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance so she could serve her time at Willard Drug Treatment Center, a specialized state prison in Seneca County that treats convicts who struggle with drug addiction. "As a second felony offender, a Class B felony would make (Cheryl) ineligible for Willard," Budelmann said. "We will allow her to withdraw her plea and plead guilty to attempted criminal sale instead." The 31-year-old admitted that she attempted to sell cocaine to another person in September 2015 and, in exchange for her plea, Leone sentenced Cheryl to two years in prison and two years post-release supervision. But, he said, she would be given the opportunity to serve part of that sentence at Willard. According to the district attorney, Cheryl will serve three months at Willard before spending the next six months in a halfway house. Then, if successful with her treatment, she will be placed on parole. "This is a sad day for your family," Leone said. "Your younger sister is going to prison for four years ... and the outlook is not good for your children. If not for yourself, you need to do this for them." Cheryl agreed. "I'm tired," she said, crying. "I don't want to live like this anymore." Also in court: An Auburn man will spend the next several years in prison for selling and possessing drugs last year in Cayuga County. Saleem Spencer, 33, of 2 Mundt Ave. Apt. B, pleaded guilty in August to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, both felonies. At the time, the second felony offender told the court he sold a quantity of heroin in July 2015 and possessed more than 10 grams of cocaine in October 2015, which he intended to sell. Spencer faced a maximum of 12 years in prison, but Leone adhered to an agreed-upon sentence of 5 1/2 years in prison plus three years post-release supervision on each count. Both sentences will run concurrently to one another. A Weedsport man has admitted to assaulting two paramedics while he was highly intoxicated last year. William Smith, of 133 Oakleaf Dr., entered an Alford plea Thursday in which he pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted assault despite his inability to recall his actions at the time of the crime. According to Budelmann, the 42-year-old was highly intoxicated on Dec. 6, 2015, when he became violent with two paramedics in the town of Brutus. He was initially charged with felony second-degree assault, obstructing emergency medical personnel and second-degree harassment. Still, the District Attorney's Office allowed Smith to plead to a lesser count of attempted assault in full satisfaction of the indictment. "I was intoxicated, your honor, and I don't recall exactly what happened, but I do believe (the district attorney's) statements are correct," Smith said in court. Leone remanded the defendant to jail until Jan. 12 when he will likely sentence Smith to two to four years in prison. That sentence will be served concurrently to a sentence in Onondaga County where Smith has been charged with felony driving while intoxicated, Budelmann said. Smith is expected to plead guilty to that charge as well in exchange for two to six years in prison. Teacher resigns_edited.jpg Candice Morris (center) consults with her attorney during her Sept. 30 termination hearing at the Decatur City School central office. A tenured Decatur elementary teacher who was given 15 days to resign in light of a domestic-violence conviction against her young son at the school has made her departure official. Madison resident Candice Morris, a now-former third-grade teacher at Chestnut Grove Elementary School resigned the position, Superintendent Dan Brigman said today. "It has been wrapped up, and I wish her well in her future endeavors," Brigman said. Morris, 34, reached an agreement with the school board Sept. 30 that she would resign, receiving 75 days of pay, which is what she's entitled to under the 2011 Alabama Students First Act. The school board had planned to use the act, which limits the protections tenured teachers have from being fired, to terminate Morris. "She resigned today, and she's looking forward to the next chapter of her life," said Morris' attorney, Victor Revill, of Birmingham. Morris, who slammed her own third-grade son on a counter at the school and yelled profanities at him, is appealing a misdemeanor third-degree domestic violence conviction. Decatur City Jail booking photo of Candice Morris Decatur City Judge Billy Cook sentenced her to 180 days in jail and two years on probation. But, he suspended 120 days of the sentence and said Morris must follow any Department of Human Resources recommendations. The appeal is being processed in Morgan County Circuit Court, although no hearing dates have yet been set. "I feel pretty confident on that case," Revill said. "I do believe the city will be moving to dismiss those charges." Locke.jpg Rex Allen Locke A north Alabama man accused of sexually abusing a 5-year-old Athens child is being held in jail on $50,000 bail. Rex Allen Locke, 48, of Athens, faces up to 20 years in prison if he's convicted of inappropriately touching the young girl in Limestone County. Locke would be required to register as a sex offender if found guilty. Locke also is accused of forcing the female victim to inappropriately touch his body, according to an arrest affidavit filed by Limestone County sheriff's investigator Leslie Ramsey. The abuse "has been happening a long time," according to reports. The Sheriff's Office began investigating when the child's mother called authorities on Wednesday. Deputy Chris Frasier spoke with the mother and a cousin who told police he witnessed an incident of abuse, court records show. The deputy also spoke with the child and learned the abuse happened when the girl got off the school bus, according to a police report. Locke remained in Limestone County Jail early Friday. Amy Bishop.JPG Amy Bishop The Alabama Supreme Court will not hear an appeal in the case of a woman who killed three and injured three at the University of Alabama in Huntsville six years ago. The Court announced today it will not hear Amy Bishop's request for appeal. Bishop, a Harvard University-trained associate professor is housed at Tutwiler Prison for Women where she's serving a life sentence. She pleaded guilty to the killings in 2012, and the Madison County District Attorney's Office chose not to seek the death penalty. The court offered no opinion on why it denied the writ of certiorari, which is a request for a higher court to review a lower court's ruling. Bishop took a handgun from her purse during a meeting on Feb. 12, 2010 and opened fire at UAH. Those killed were professors Adriel Johnson, Maria Ragland Davis and Gopi Podila. William Hoston discovered in 2007 he never had the terminal cancer diagnosed the year before by his oncologist, and didn't need the surgically-implanted port in his chest where doctors dosed him with toxic cocktails of chemotherapy. Hoston wasn't the only patient treated by Dr. David Gay Morrison of Montgomery who received devastating diagnoses and aggressive treatment for cancer they didn't have, according to disciplinary documents that cited more than a dozen similar cases. In 2008, the 67-year-old sued Morrison for medical malpractice, noting the emotional and physical toll inflicted during more than a year of unnecessary cancer treatment. Hoston lost his case - as do about 90 percent of patients in Alabama who allege injury due to medical malpractice. Between 2004 and 2014, Alabamians received fewer payments per capita in medical malpractice cases against practitioners than residents of any other state, according to an analysis of federal data. Malpractice payments have been dropping across the country, even though recent research suggests that medical errors account for more than 250,000 deaths a year. The trend in Alabama has been established since about 2005, when the number of payments for medical malpractice dropped to 71. It hasn't budged much since. Hoston died on Valentine's Day in 2011, and his wife, Elnora Hoston, believes those unnecessary chemotherapy treatments shortened his life. A doctor at UAB told Hoston he had been receiving treatment for cancer that never existed, Elnora Hoston said. "He said, 'If you had been my patient, I never would have put you on chemo,'" she said. During the year of unnecessary chemotherapy, Hoston could barely pry himself off the couch. Food lost its appeal. He battled nausea and lost weight, his wife said. Not long after, he developed the lung and heart problems that ultimately killed him, she said. The Alabama Board of Medical Examiners revoked Morrison's medical license, in a lengthy decision that declared his conduct unprofessional and described his treatment as medical malpractice. Board members imposed a $266,000 fine. Hoston never received any money for his pain and suffering. Attempts to reach Morrison were unsuccessful. Morrison's record of misconduct would not have been admissible in Hoston's case, even if it had gone to trial. His attorney also could not cite any other case of medical malpractice settled by the doctor. Under Alabama law, medical malpractice cases must focus narrowly on the treatment of the patient who brought the suit, which excludes evidence from other botched cases. An analysis of lawsuits by Al.com brought between 2006 and 2016 shows that more than 150 Alabama doctors have been sued multiple times in the last 10 years, and six have been sued four or more times - including Morrison, who faced nine lawsuits. A judge tossed out Hoston's claim over some confusion about the details of the dates of his treatment, and a decision that the malpractice happened when he was misdiagnosed and prescribed chemotherapy, which happened more than two years earlier. Hoston's attorney claimed that the malpractice continued during his client's unnecessary chemotherapy treatment, which ended less than two years before he filed suit, but the judge disagreed. Hoston came up against a medical malpractice system that is particularly tough for patients in the Yellowhammer State. Each state sets its own malpractice rules, and attorneys who sue doctors say Alabama's heavily favor medical practitioners. "We talk to lawyers all over the country and Alabama is without question the hardest state to win a case," said Shay Samples, an attorney who represents injured patients in malpractice cases. "There are jury verdicts in about 90 percent of the cases in favor of the doctors." Alabama lawmakers reworked the medical malpractice law in 1987, after a spike in lawsuits caused a crisis in the insurance market. Costs increased for doctors seeking malpractice coverage, and companies left the business altogether after sustaining significant financial losses. In Alabama between 1980 and 1986, the number of malpractice claims increased by 26 percent, and the average payment almost doubled, according to an article published in the Alabama Law Review. In response, lawmakers updated the Alabama Medical Liability Act, imposing tight restrictions on expert testimony and caps on damages that were later overturned by the Alabama Supreme Court. The caps of $400,000 on pain and suffering for malpractice cases and $1 million for wrongful death lasted until the early 1990s. Alabama's limits on expert testimony are among the toughest in the nation, experts said, and require an exact mirror-image to testify against doctors accused of malpractice. In one example, the state Supreme Court invalidated the testimony of a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who testified about a botched Cesarean section performed by a family practitioner. Frank O'Neil, a spokesman for ProAssurance, the largest medical malpractice insurance company in Alabama, said the low number of malpractice payments in Alabama has less to do with the malpractice statute than the state's high quality medicine. "In the state of Alabama, you have doctors who have received a very good education and have been held by their peers to high standards," O'Neil said. But disciplinary records don't match up to medical malpractice claims. Doctors faced discipline from the medical board almost twice as often as they paid out claims for medical malpractice between 2012 and 2014, according to federal data. Injuries caused by doctors are treated much differently in Alabama courts than almost any other kind of injury. A truck driver who had been sued and disciplined for causing several traffic accidents would not have his history shielded in court in the same way a doctor does, attorneys said. Jack Nelson is an attorney and professor at the UAB School of Public Health who has studied medical malpractice. "Alabama, I think, from the plaintiff's perspective has the toughest environment in the country," he said. Starting on 'third base' Steve Heninger, an attorney based in Birmingham who represents patients in medical malpractice and other injury cases, said his clients face an uphill battle. "I tell them that the doctor starts off on third base and you are in the locker room," he said. Before a case can move forward, doctors must find an identical expert to testify against the treating physician. Doctors in Alabama rarely testify against colleagues, attorneys said. "We have to get expert witnesses in every malpractice case," Samples said. "Almost always we have to go out of state, so it's expensive to litigate these cases." The high cost of bringing a malpractice case, and the odds against victory, can make it difficult for patients and their families to find an attorney who will take a case. Plaintiffs' attorneys reject about 90 percent of potential cases, either because the case is not strong enough or the injury is not catastrophic, so the possible award would not offset the costs of the case. That happened to Donna Crooks Atkins of Robertsdale, after her 17-year-old son died suddenly from a heart rupture in 2007 less than two weeks after he visited an emergency room complaining of severe chest pain. She said she couldn't find an attorney in Alabama willing to take her case, and eventually hired one from Georgia. Her case went all the way to trial, where the jury ruled in favor of the doctor and hospital after more than a week of testimony. Atkins was sure her case was solid. The chest pain woke her son in the middle of the night, and he grimaced throughout his exam, which was noted in his medical records. She has medical records showing a steep drop in her son's blood pressure and pulse between February and March of 2007. Her son didn't complain of coughing or shortness of breath, but he nonetheless walked out of the ER with a diagnosis of pleurisy, an inflammation of the lungs, after a chest X-ray and an EKG. Atkins believed his symptoms pointed toward the aortic dissection that ultimately took his life, and could have been caught with a CT scan or MRI. Her son was home when his aorta ruptured, killing him almost instantly. He was on the phone with his mother not long before his body was discovered. He uttered an expletive and the call cut off. His mother still didn't suspect anything was wrong until she came home and saw her son, lifeless and slumped over in a chair. "It was an amazing lesson," Atkins said. "After my son's death, I felt like I was forced to take that red pill to see how things really are." Nelson said malpractice cases against doctors have to include clear evidence of substandard care, because most juries are unwilling to punish medical providers who may occasionally make mistakes. "If people don't work in healthcare themselves, they know someone who does," Nelson said. "If you go out in small towns, they don't want to penalize the doctor who may be only one of a handful in the community." Atkins appealed her case after her loss, but the courts refused to reopen it. Since then, she has begun to reach out to other parents whose children were harmed in hospitals. She said she pursued the case to improve hospital care, and prevent other parents from suffering the loss of a child. It was never about the money. "If someone said you can have all the money in the entire world, I'd take my son," Atkins said. "He was such a beautiful soul." Conspiracy of silence Details about medical malpractice payments are notoriously hard to track, which can make it difficult to evaluate doctors who have settled cases involving injury. Although jury awards are public, settlements are almost always sealed in court documents. Doctors are required to report all malpractice payments to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, but an attorney for the board said those documents are considered investigatory and declined to release them to Al.com. Malpractice payments are reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which is used by hospitals and other employers when they evaluate a job applicant. That information is not public. "I think the laws generally protect doctors," Nelson said. Alabama is the headquarters of ProAssurance, one of the largest medical malpractice insurance companies in the country. Attorneys for patients say the company rarely settles cases, often pushing for a trial where they know they have the upper hand with juries. Doctors and hospitals won at least 250 of the 347 jury cases between 2006 and 2016. When patients win at trial, they can win big. The state Supreme Court struck down caps on certain damages in the 1990s, which means the sky is the limit for cases that survive the state's legal gauntlet. In a recent example, a Mountain Brook couple won $17 million in a malpractice and fraud case against Brookwood Medical Center that left the wife with a nerve injury sustained during birth. An attempt to reinstate damage caps in 1996 failed, but the issue still periodically comes up in political campaigns. O'Neil said although jury awards can be generous to patients, the company still avoids settling in cases without clear-cut evidence of professional wrongdoing. Most of the doctors covered by the company don't want to settle meritless claims, he said. "We certainly will tell everybody that we want to defend the practice of quality medicine," O'Neil said. "If there is negligence, we seek to provide a settlement. Other companies want to settle a claim as quickly as possible, but that's not our position." A malpractice payment recorded in the data bank may count against a doctor for the rest of her career, O'Neil said. "If a payment is reported to the national practitioner data bank, the insurance company closes the case, the attorneys close the case and the patient closes the case," O'Neil said. "The physician never does. It's on her application every time there's an application for medical privileges." O'Neil said the company will settle cases when there is clear evidence of wrongdoing. "Plaintiffs' lawyers will tell you, 'oh they never settle any cases and they want to take everything to court," O'Neil said. "We settle if there's merit. All of our cases that are lawsuits are reviewed by a panel of experts." Michael Matray, editor of the Medical Liability Monitor, said settlements are down all over the country. "To be honest, why would you settle if you are going to win 80 percent of your cases?" he said. Samples said he has settled cases with doctors insured by ProAssurance. "We do settle some medical malpractice cases, but only when they are absolutely black and white, when no defense can be made," Samples said. "And those cases are few and far between." A study out of Emory showed that attorneys turn down about 95 percent of medical malpractice cases. "I decline a case because the practice of law is a business and so, if we're going to have to invest $20,000 to prosecute a case and the prospect of recovery is $50 or $60 or $70,000, it may not be worth it," Samples said. "It's manifestly unjust. It just is. But in the real world, I hate doing it, and every time I sign that turn down letter, it just irks me. I don't like it one bit." Attorneys who practice malpractice rely on sizable jury awards to offset the large number of unsuccessful cases, and the challenges keep many lawyers, and patients, out of the courtroom. Alspaugh said he wins one out of every 10 lawsuits he files. "Anyone who says they are winning all their medical malpractice cases is a liar," he said. The few cases he wins keep him in the medical malpractice business, which several lawyers have left in recent years. "A lot of attorneys have just gotten out of it," Nelson said. "There are a lot of ways to make money that are a lot easier than suing doctors in Alabama." lucy baxley at Troy Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley campaigns for governor in Troy in November 2006. Baxley, the Democratic nominee, lost to Gov. Bob Riley in the general election. Johnesha Wright, 9, told Baxley she'd vote for her if she could. Also shown are Johnesha's mother, Patricia Wright, and Don Sanders. (Birmingham News/Linda Stelter) (LINDA STELTER) Lucy Baxley, the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor in Alabama and the last Alabama Democrat to hold statewide office, has died. Baxley, 78, died peacefully at home in Birmingham on Friday surrounded by her family, her family announced. Baxley is survived by her husband of 20 years, Jim Smith, her son Louis Baxley, daughter Becky Nichols, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Baxley won three consecutive statewide races after leaving a successful real estate career to enter politics in the early 1990s. She served as lieutenant governor from 2003 to 2007. In 2006, she defeated Don Siegelman to claim the Democratic nomination for governor. She then lost to Gov. Bob Riley in the general election. A few weeks after the 2006 election, on Thanksgiving, Baxley suffered a stroke that affected her left side and forced her to use a wheelchair. But she made a political comeback, narrowly defeating Republican Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh for president of the Public Service Commission in 2008. ''You either give in, give up and say I'm disabled now so therefore I can't go on with life like I would have otherwise,'' Baxley told the Birmingham News during that 2008 campaign. "Or you can say thank God my life was spared and I'm going to set about doing the best I can.'' Baxley was the only Democrat to win statewide office in the 2008 election. Four years later, Cavanaugh defeated Baxley in her bid for re-election, giving the GOP control of every statewide office. Baxley grew up on a farm in the Houston County community of Pansey, at the southeast corner of the state. She married Attorney General Bill Baxley in 1976. They divorced in 1987. Baxley sold real estate in Birmingham and then decided to enter politics after her youngest child left for college. Baxley was elected state treasurer in 1994 and re-elected in 1998. "When I asked Lucy to marry me, I really didn't know what it would be like to be married to a politician," Baxley's husband, Jim Smith, said in a news release from the family. "I'm still not so sure about the politician part, but I do know what it was like to be married to the most caring and wonderful woman in the world." Louis Baxley, Baxley's son, said, "She was an incredible cook, a watchful but stern teacher, a woman of many feelings but few outward emotions, and, most of all, she was a friend to all in need. "But more than anything, she was the grandmother who brought a smile to my kids' faces every time she held them, and for that I will always be grateful." As a politician, Baxley was known more for professing a love of public service than for taking strong stands on issues. "I Love Lucy" signs became a trademark of her campaigns. She talked openly about her faith. "I am very blessed by God," she said during a 2006 campaign stop in Georgiana. "If you see a turtle sitting on a fence post, you know he didn't get there by himself. I have been very careful not to get the idea that I'm responsible for being here." Gov. Robert Bentley said Alabama lost a great public servant today. "Lucy Baxley loved Alabama and loved the people of Alabama," Bentley said in a statement. "I enjoyed our time working together when I served in the legislature. Lucy will forever be remembered as a fierce advocate for the people of Alabama, for her decades of service and as Alabama's first female lieutenant governor. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this time." Other public officials reacted to Baxley's death. Alabama House of Representatives Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, issued this statement: "My thoughts and prayers are with the Baxley family today. Lucy was a true public servant, a pillar of the Alabama Democratic Party and will be greatly missed." Cavanaugh, who served on the PSC with Baxley as well as facing her in two elections, said she enjoyed working with Baxley and was saddened by the news. "Mrs. Baxley has secured her place in Alabama's history serving in the treasurer's office for two terms, serving as the first female lieutenant governor and later serving as president of the Public Service Commission," Cavanaugh said. "My thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time." Nancy Worley, chairman of the state Democratic Party, issued this statement: "The Alabama Democratic Party mourns the loss of Lucy Baxley, an outstanding woman who served our state with honor and grace for many years. We inducted her into the Alabama Democratic Party Hall of Fame last year for her numerous political accomplishments through the years. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband, children, and other family members." Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey called Baxley a pacesetter for her and other women. "Her "I love Lucy" slogan expressed the adoration Alabamians had for her," Ivey said in a statement. "Her zest for life was evident as she overcame a stroke, then was elected president of the Alabama Public Service Commission. "As contemporaries who represented different political parties, I have always admired her commitment to public service and the broad support she attracted. My deepest sympathies to her family and friends. Lucy will be missed." Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, minority leader in the Senate, said "Alabama has lost a true stateswoman." Baxley presided over the Senate as lieutenant governor from 2003 to 2007. "We all loved Lucy," Ross said. "She leaves a legacy of strength and determination, despite all odds. She served Alabama well and we will miss her dearly." Former Public Service Commissioner Terry Dunn said he was saddened by the news of Baxley's death. "I had great respect for her even though we didn't see eye to eye on certain issues, we always managed to find a common ground that we could both agree on," Dunn said in a statement. "That was Lucy's God given talent. She will be greatly missed." The settlement of a six-year old lawsuit means customers who purchased one of the original PlayStation 3 consoles may be in line for a rebate. A settlement notice was sent out this week to people who purchased a PS3 from Nov. 1, 2006-April 1, 2010. The case, known as "In re Sony PS3 "Other OS" Litigation," stems from Sony's 2010 software upgrade that removed the ability for users to install Linux on part of their PS3's hard drives. Customers upset with the change filed a class action suit, alleging breach of warranty and false advertising. PlayStation maker Sony and plaintiffs reached a settlement earlier this year and it was given preliminary approval by a federal judge in September. It covers anyone who purchased one of the original "Fat" - the console's larger version - PS3s during the 2006-2010 timeframe. Customers who purchased the PS3 during that time are eligible for $9; those who purchased the console and used the OtherOS feature are eligible for $55 each. To be eligible customers must submit claim forms and provide proofs of purchase for the PS3 plus a PlayStation Network ID used on the console before April 1, 2010. Those seeking the higher rebate must also submit proof they used the OtherOS feature. You can see the acceptable forms of documentation here. If a judge signs off on the deal in January 2017 customers will start receiving their payments around March. You can see the claim form here. Online claim forms must be submitted by Dec. 7. Claim forms submitted by mail must be postmarked by the same day. Sony has not admitted any liability. Rep. Mike Rogers said he will vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump in November. "I plan to vote for Donald Trump for president. I have pledged from the beginning to support the Republican presidential nominee even if it was not one of the candidates I initially preferred," Rogers said Thursday night. Rogers endorsed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during the Republican primaries. His comments come as some Republicans are abandoning Trump after a copy of a 2005 video tape was released in which he made sexually aggressive comments towards women, as well as later reports that he has a history of touching women inappropriately. Among the Alabama delegation, Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Trump adviser, is actively backing the Republican presidential nominee in his bid to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Sen. Richard Shelby, Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Bradley Byrne and Rep. Gary Palmer said they will support the Republican ticket. Rep. Martha Roby said the recent revelations about Trump means she won't be backing her party's presidential nominee. Rogers said his decision is based on the alternatives facing voters. "The fact of the matter is Hillary Clinton is the wrong choice for our nation. A Supreme Court under Mrs. Clinton would be destructive to everything we hold dear in Alabama from protecting the rights of unborn children to our Second Amendment rights," Rogers said. "Additionally, we must repeal and replace Obamacare and start to roll back some of the overly burdensome EPA and Dodd-Frank financial regulations that are destroying our economy. "Only a Trump presidency can make these possible." Architects have estimated the cost of a new boat launch at Emerson Park to be nearly double what was expected. Gary Duckett, Cayuga County's superintendent of parks and trails, said he got the news Wednesday afternoon, just before the county Legislature's Public Works Committee meeting. Duckett said the original estimate was about $280,000 including contingency. The new estimate that has been suggested by Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects is approximately $580,000. Duckett said he has reviewed the plans with the architects and some cost-saving measures have been made. He expects new cost estimates to come in next week. Duckett hopes to replace the current launch, which is made of wood pilings. A wooden deck that has begun to rot extends over the top. Architects with the firm Beardsley Design have considered using quarry stone or concrete with a bumper lining the walls for the new launch. In June, Duckett had said grants from New York state were covering part of the boat launch costs, with $105,000 coming from a special account generated from a portion of Emerson Park's boat launch and parking fees. With the new increase in costs, he's not sure where the money will come from, and he's hoping when the county goes out to bid, legislators will be willing to find the money for the project if it's needed. "I'm hoping we can meet somewhere in the middle," Duckett said. "Hopefully we can afford it." Israeli author Uri Bar-Joseph sheds new light on one of the most intriguing spy cases in the history of Arab-Israeli conflict. Forty-three years after the 1973 war between Egypt, Syria and Israel, a new book by Israeli author Uri Bar-Joseph provides details on one of the most intriguing spy cases in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict that is still being debated today. Bar-Joseph tells the story of one of Israels most senior and prolific Egyptian spies during the period of the Yom Kippur War, whose proximity to power and decision-making in Egypt before and after the war made him a once in a generation kind of spy that Israel could not afford to lose or pass up. Egyptian spy Ashraf Marwan died mysteriously in 2007 when he fell from his London apartment, the cause of his fall has never been determined yet. In his past, he was a key factor that enabled Israel to turn its initial defeat into victory in 1973, on both the Egyptian and Syrian fronts. The narrative Bar-Joseph builds clearly shows Marwan as Mossads hero and a prized intelligence asset, but also emphasises that to his own country, Marwan was nevertheless a traitor a man who sold secrets to the enemy in a time of war. WATCH Israel-Palestine: Beyond bullets, bombs and bloodshed Although Marwan, code named Angel, only alerted the Mossad 24 hours before the Arab armies surprise attack began, his previous information on the Egyptian militarys war planning and leadership deliberations made Egypt transparent to Israel at the time of war. Bar-Joseph addresses the key question that for decades has haunted the intelligence community as much as the public about Marwans case. Why did a trusted Mossad spy receiving between $50,000-$100,000 every time he supplied his information, once or twice a month, in addition to bonuses and gifts only inform his handlers about the impending attack 24 hours before it began? Why not a few days or a week before the war? Bar-Joseph says Marwan found out about the attack purely by chance deducing it from information he gleaned while abroad in London. Only then did Marwan make frantic calls to the Mossad demanding to meet its chief personally, as he had done before, to warn him about the upcoming war. Bar-Joseph methodically debunks the theory that Marwan was a double agent who only chose to inform Israel only 24 hours before the war when it was too late anyway. The author argues that Egyptian intelligence would not use someone as highly connected as Marwan, who was President Gamal Abdel Nassers son in-law, as a double agent fearing the risks such a role would bring him. He also argues that the Egyptian intelligence service was amateur and that it could not run the type of sophisticated double-agent operations carried about by Western intelligence agencies. Military power Israel knew war was no doubt coming. Israeli intelligence also knew that Egypt did not have the military capabilities to wage an extended war to recover the entire Sinai. Anwar Sadats army, as evident by Marwans spying, was inferior to the Israeli military and much weaker than the Egyptians publicly projected it to be. As for the Israeli intelligence failure in that war, its military intelligence, Bar-Joseph argues, had placed itself into a mental box regarding the conditions through which they forecast Egypt would attack Israel. It was a conflict between then military intelligence chief Major General Eli Zeira who thought in terms of his organisations paradigm of war, and thus had doubts about Marwans intelligence and motivations and the director of the Mossad, Zvi Zamir, who trusted Marwans information. Ashraf Marwan was an unlikely spy. He was a young man in his 20s, married to Abdel Nassers daughter, and worked at the presidents office. On the surface, he had no apparent reason to sell his countrys secrets to its sworn enemy, Israel. READ MORE: Israeli hummus cafe gives Jewish-Arab tables half off Bar-Joseph draws a historical and a psychological picture of Marwan that analyses his motivations to commit treason by selling top-secret information, war plans, and minutes of Sadats meetings with Soviet and Arab leaders. Marwan, he concludes, was motivated as much by cash as by his psychological needs to take risks, while taking vengeance against a father-in-law who never trusted him. He started his career as an Israeli spy in 1970 when he called the Israeli embassy in London offering his services to sell Egypts top secrets. While it took the Israelis some time to make sure he was no double agent, after his information proved reliable, they began to fully trust him. He worked as an Israeli spy for more than 30 years, until 1998. Marwans services in the Yom Kippur War were some of the most important for Israel. After the war, the Mossad rewarded him with a $100,000-cash bonus in appreciation for the advance warning of the impending strike. While his actions ultimately saved many Israeli lives, they guaranteed the death of many of his own countrymen. Follow Ali Younes on Twitter @ali_reports Kabul, Afghanistan On the second day of the Talibans major offensive in Kunduz on October 4, Ahmad Zia and his family were out shopping, when his wife and their youngest child, Morsal, were hit by shell fragments, injuring them in multiple parts of their bodies. When we heard the gunshots, we did not pay particular attention, because we could not believe the city could be taken by the Taliban so easily again, Ahmad, a fruit vendor from the northern Afghan city, told Al Jazeera. With the city under attack, access to the nearest hospital in Kunduz was impossible. So Ahmad decided to rush his wife and their daughter, Morsal, to the neighbouring province of Takhar to seek medical help. Alongside, they brought their six other children to join family members already living there. But armed Taliban fighters blocked the highway leading to Takhar, preventing anyone to pass through the checkpoint. The Taliban fighters were also trying to block supplies to the Afghan military. Fearing that his wife and child would bleed to death, Ahmad decided to bring them to Kabul instead. But he had to make the hard decision of leaving the rest of the children in Kunduz. I tried my luck, and put my wife and child in a rickshaw. I took them through villages and country roads until we reached the Kunduz-Kabul highway, where we could rent a car, he said. Ahmad had to pay $300 for the car. On the way to Kabul, police officers spotted and brought Ahmads family to the Kunduz airport, where the army provided first aid to his wife and child and put them on a plane to the capital, 335km south. Ahmad and his family were among the 30,000 civilians forced out of Kunduz to other parts of northern Afghanistan after the Taliban launched an offensive earlier this month to take over the province, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, warning of yet another impending displacement crisis from the fighting. Sayed Mahmoud Danish, spokesman for the governor of Kunduz province, recently told the Azadi radio station that as many as 40,000 families were affected in the latest fighting, including those who decided to stay. At least 1,000 families arrived in Kabul from Kunduz in the past two weeks. Thousands of others have fled to Takhar, Baghlan and Balkh, while the rest sought shelter in other parts of Kunduz. Ahmads six other children eventually escaped to Takhar after the road from Kunduz reopened. He said all of his neighbours also left. The Taliban fighters are using our homes as shields, Ahmad said, adding his house was destroyed by a rocket right after his family fled. READ MORE: Taliban fire forces doctors to flee Kunduz Everybody has run away. Only those families who have sheep and goats decided to keep one member in Kunduz to look after their flock. But everyone else abandoned their homes, Ahmad told Al Jazeera as he sat at a park outside an emergency hospital in Kabul, where his wife was still being treated. Ahmads daughter slept soundly in his arms as he told Al Jazeera of his familys ordeal. She has since recovered from her wounds caused by four shell fragments that lodged themselves into her head and back. These days, emergency hospitals in both Kabul and Lashkar Gar, capital city of Helmand province, are constantly running out of beds and can admit only cases with the most life-threatening injuries, sending the others on to local clinics. Another Kunduz resident asked why the Afghan military only started fighting the Taliban when they reached the Kunduz city centre. My nephew was wounded by a gunshot during the fight between Taliban and government forces, he told Al Jazeera outside a hospital in Kabul. We the citizens are caught up in between. The Taliban have even seized our homes and are fighting from there. Markets were destroyed, shops abandoned and looted by street criminals. Many patients at the Kabul emergency hospital visited by Al Jazeera came from different cities across Afghanistan that have also been attacked by the Taliban in recent months. Abdul Karim, 9, lost a leg after a rocket hit his house in the Ghizab district of Oruzgan province. The same rocket killed his seven-year-old brother. Abdul was still in shock, sitting quietly with a traumatised stare. First we went to a clinic in Daykundi province where they treated Abdul Karims father, mother and aunt. But they couldnt do anything for him because of his critical condition, his uncle, Abdul Ahad, told Al Jazeera. We could have saved his leg if we had gotten here earlier. OPINION: Kunduz did not happen overnight Aside from Kunduz, Taliban fighters have also made attempts to wrest control of other provincial capitals, from Helmand in the south, to Baghlan in the north and Farah in the west. But Afghan forces have managed to repel the attacks. On Tuesday, Taliban fighters captured the district of Ghormach in the northwestern Faryab province. And on Wednesday, at least 14 civilians were killed in the northern Balkh province during attacks on ceremonies commemorating the Shia-Muslim holiday of Ashoura. There has also been reported fighting between government forces and fighters who have declared allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in eastern Nangarhar province. Back at the hospital in Kabul, Ahmad said while he feels blessed that his wife and daughter received medical help, he is worried about the future. When my wife is discharged, we will need to figure out whether to go back to Kunduz or not since we have nothing left there, he said. Ramallah, occupied West Bank For the majority of Palestinians, the concept of return is intrinsically linked to the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees in the diaspora. There are approximately eight million Palestinians who are forcibly displaced persons, according to the BADIL Resource Centre, a Palestinian NGO. However, on both national and international levels there remains a lack of political will and tangible action towards redressing the issue. Amid this grim reality, the third edition of the Qalandiya International contemporary arts biennial has taken place across historic Palestine and internationally. Although Qalandiya International explores concepts of return in various Palestinian and international contexts which is particularly significant amid a global refugee crisis the biennials curatorial statement begins with the question: Can a word carry the cure to all the ailments, both past and present, of a tragedy? For us Palestinians, return has become the core antithesis to our Nakba. The ranks of the New York State Police swelled by 226 following a graduation ceremony for new state troopers Thursday, and an Auburn man won the honor as the firearms expert of the group. Superintendent George P. Beach II welcomed 226 new members of the New York State Police as they graduate from the 204th session of the Basic School of the New York State Police Academy. For nearly 100 years the State Police have served and protected the citizens of New York. I congratulate all of our new Troopers and thank them for their continued dedication to the State Police and the people of New York, Beach said. The graduation ceremony was held at the Empire State Plaza Convention Hall in Albany where the new troopers marched into the convention center in a procession led by the New York State Police Pipe and Drum band. The National Anthem was performed by Trooper Elizabeth Fallon and the ceremony included a video presentation of the training received by all members of the 204th Basic School Session. During the event awards were given to graduates who excelled in firearm proficiency, physical fitness and academic achievement. The Firearms Proficiency Award, for the attainment of the highest level of performance in all phases of firearms training, was given to Trooper Michael R. Beck, 30, of Auburn. Prior to joining the New York State Police, Beck served as a corporal for nine years with the Cayuga County Sherriffs Office. During firearms training, he fired an average score of 250 out of a possible 250. He will be assigned to Troop D. The new troopers will report for field duty on Oct. 20. For the following 10 weeks the new troopers will be evaluated under a field-training program supervised by senior Field Training Officers. Michael Beck, along with Auburn residents Olivia R. Beck and Brian E. Locastro, will undergo their field training with Troop D in Oneida. Duterte is questioning the Philippines century-old US alliance while ramping up his diplomatic flirtation with China. I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people, proclaimed Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines controversial leader. It was a defiant remark in response to the Wests increasingly vocal criticism of his shock and awe campaign against drugs. Over the past few weeks, Duterte has upped the ante by questioning the Philippines century-old alliance with the United States while intensifying his diplomatic flirtation with China. First he threatened to expel American Special Forces aiding Filipino counterterror operations in the southern island of Mindanao. Then he suggested ending joint maritime patrols and military exercises with America in the South China Sea and, more recently, even discussed the possibility of abrogating defence agreements with the US. Deep suspicion Meanwhile, Duterte went so far as considering an alliance with Russia and China. Currently, the Duterte administration is negotiating a 25-year military agreement with Beijing, paving the way for purchase of Chinese weaponry by the largely US-equipped and trained armed forces of the Philippines. OPINION: Barack Obamas pivot to Asia in tatters There have also been parallel negotiations to buy advanced weaponry from Moscow, including MI17 or MI24 heavily armoured attack helicopters. Time and again, Duterte has called for closer and friendly ties with the Eastern powers, particularly China, which a majority of Filipinos view with deep suspicion. The Filipino leader has ... adopted a pragmatic position on the South China Sea, calling for a dialogue-based, bilateral settlement of maritime disputes. by The Filipino leader has, quite paradoxically, adopted a pragmatic position on the South China Sea, calling for a dialogue-based, bilateral settlement of maritime disputes. And, unlike any of his predecessors, Duterte is set to embark on a state visit to China before the US. All of a sudden, Duterte seems to have reshuffled regional strategic alignments in Asia. New best friend I am ready to not really break ties [with America] but we will open alliances with China and Medvedev [Russia], said Duterte recently, catching even his most avid supporters by surprise. Invoking Caesar, Duterte has expressed his preference to join the other side of the ideological barrier, breaking ties with the West altogether. He has almost completely discarded his predecessor, Benigno Aquinos confrontational strategy towards China, which was largely hinged on America military and diplomatic support. Instead, Duterte has emphasised the necessity for setting aside sovereignty disputes with China by focusing on joint development schemes. He has sought to downplay the Philippines arbitration case against China, which nullified the bulk of Chinas claims across the South China Sea. In fact, he has refused to even raise the issue in multilateral forums. Meanwhile, he has expanded cooperation with China in various fields, including in his signature war on drugs campaign. We stand ready to have anti-drug cooperation with the Philippines and formulate a common action plan for it, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in response to Manilas request for assistance. Duterte has repeatedly extolled Beijings offer to aid his anti-drugs policy by offering logistical support and intelligence. As a symbol of its commitment, China has even built rehabilitation centres for Filipino drug users. OPINION: Rodrigo Dutertes game amid the spat with Obama China has also offered to revamp the Philippines decrepit public infrastructure. Several senior Filipino officials have visited China to discuss potentially multibillion-dollar investments, with Duterte going the extra mile to portray China as a loving and caring neighbour to his countrymen. I have a good feeling they [China] really want to help us in a big way I promise you I will build hospitals and schools from the soft-term loans we will get [from China], promised Duterte in a recent speech. The backlash Before his trip to China later this month, Duterte is preparing a huge business delegation to negotiate a wide-ranging series of bilateral trade and investment deals. China is expected to roll out the red carpet and woo him by showering the Filipino leader with utmost hospitality and respect. Intent on ensuring territorial disputes dont undermine burgeoning ties with China, Duterte has seemingly asked Filipinos to not insist on regaining control of the bitterly disputed Scarborough Shoal, which falls well within the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone and was the site of a naval standoff between the Philippines and China in 2012. Emphasising the supposed futility of confronting China on territorial disputes, Duterte has suggested that the Philippines should not touch the Scarborough Shoal issue because we cannot win that, since, he argues, We cant beat [China]. Meanwhile, relations with traditional allies such as America have hit rock bottom, as disagreements over human rights and South China Sea issues are compounded. Confrontational language The US President Barack Obama has openly criticised Dutertes campaign against drugs, while encouraging the Philippines to settle territorial disputes with China in accordance to the arbitration award at The Hague. Notwithstanding Dutertes fiery criticism of America, the superpower remains deeply popular among Filipinos, who are largely critical and suspicious of China. The same is true of the Philippine security establishment, which is deeply dependent on American training as well as logistical and financial support. More importantly, Dutertes confrontational language towards America has invited vigorous criticism among his most influential supporters, including former President Fidel Ramos, who recently warned about the risk of throwing away decades of military partnership, tactical proficiency, compatible weaponry, predictable logistics, and soldier-to-soldier camaraderie with Americans. For now, however, it seems that Duterte is more interested in pushing back against Western critics and rebuilding ties with China, even if that means renegotiating certain parameters of existing security cooperation with America. But it is unlikely that he will ditch his countrys alliance with Washington altogether. Richard Javad Heydarian is a specialist in Asian geopolitical/economic affairs and author of Asias New Battlefield: US, China, and the Struggle for Western Pacific. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Government rejects reports it traded armed groups prisoners for 21 girls abducted in 2014 from the town of Chibok. Nigerias government has denied that it traded Boko Haram prisoners for 21 schoolgirls freed by the armed group. Speaking to reporters, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said that no prisoner swap had taken place, reiterating that the release on Thursday of the girls who had been kidnapped from the town of Chibok in 2014 was the outcome of months of negotiations. Certainly, there was no swap of any kind, Osinbajo said in response to reports that a deal with Boko Haram had taken place. There was no exchange. You can't be happy, because they released 21 and there are still 197 girls there, on the one hand. On the other hand, we're relieved that, my God at last, some girls have been released by Habiba Balogun Boko Haram seized 276 pupils from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath of the abduction, but nearly 200 other girls are still missing. Habiba Balogun, a Bring Back Our Girls campaigner, said she was relieved to hear about Thursdays release, but added that a lot more work still needed to be done. You cant be happy, because they released 21 and there are still 197 girls there, on the one hand, she told Al Jazeera. On the other hand, were relieved that my God, at last some girls have been released. The deal for the release of the girls was brokered by the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Al Jazeeras Ahmed Idris, reporting from the northern city of Kano, said negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram had been taking place for some time. He added, however, that many Nigerians believe their government will have to give Boko Haram fighters something in return for the release of the rest of the girls. Nonetheless, this is a good day for the families of the girls whove been freed. Information Minister Lai Mohammed described the freeing of the 21 as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the schoolgirls in captivity. It is also a major step in confidence-building between us as a government and the Boko Haram leadership on the issue of the Chibok girls, he told reporters on Thursday. Major political issue On Friday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria would continue working to free the remaining girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. About 100 more [girls] are still in the hands of the terrorists. We hope well get some intelligence to go about securing the balance, he said. Buhari said Nigeria was grateful for the help of the United Nations for its help in trying to free the girls, but that Nigeria still faced massive consequences from the groups power and influences, including up to two million people internally displaced people, including many children. In August, Buhari told journalists he would be open to swapping Boko Haram fighters for the abducted girls. READ MORE: The cultural revival of Nigerias Borno after Boko Haram exit In 2015, the government was said to have been close to securing the release of the girls through a swap but officials said negotiations between government and the armed group collapsed three times. Expectations were high. Unfortunately, after more than two weeks of negotiation and bargains, the group, just at the dying moments, issued a new set of demands never bargained for or discussed by the group before the movement to Maiduguri, Mohammed, the information minister, said. All this while, the security agencies waited patiently. This development stalled what would have been the first release process of the Chibok girls. The kidnapping has become a major political issue in Nigeria, with the government and military criticised for their handling of the incident and their failure to rescue the girls. About 2,000 girls and boys have been abducted by Boko Haram since 2014, with many used as sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers, according to Amnesty International. Truce extended through the end of the year as government seeks to revive a peace deal after a shock referendum defeat. Colombias President Juan Manuel Santos has extended a ceasefire with the leftist FARC rebel group until the end of the year in an effort to reach a final peace deal. The original truce, which was put in place in August, was nullified when a proposed peace accord was surprisingly rejected in a referendum earlier this month. I have made the decision to extend the bilateral ceasefire until December 31, Santos, who won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end the war, said in a televised address. Let this be clear: This is not an ultimatum nor a deadline, but I hope that the entire process of obtaining a new agreement will be complete well before then. Impasse The ceasefire extension came as Santos held fresh meetings with the opposition and members of the public, seeking a solution to the political fallout caused by the shock referendum result. Resentful of the blood shed by the Marxist rebels and the lenient punishment the deal meted out for their crimes, voters rejected it by a razor-thin margin: 50.21 percent for the No camp to 49.78 percent for Yes. Santos, who has staked his legacy on making peace, had previously said that the army would halt its ceasefire at the end of this month if no solution to the impasse was found by then. The FARC, which had criticised Santos deadline, has also confirmed its willingness to continue negotiations and maintain a bilateral ceasefire. WATCH: Can peace in Colombia be saved? The accord signed by Santos and Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on September 26 was aimed at ending the Colombian governments five-decade war with the rebel group. Opponents want to renegotiate the terms of the accord, saying it concedes too much to FARC, including guaranteed seats in Congress and reduced sentences for fighters who confess to war crimes. The conflict between FARC and the government began in the 1960s over inequality and rural land rights. Since then, the violence has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions. An estimated 250,000 Syrian refugee children in the country are not in formal schools, aid organisations say. Beirut, Lebanon The school year is starting up again in Lebanon, but none of Abu and Um Ibrahims four school-age children can attend just like last year, and the year before that. The Syrian family, originally from the northern Aleppo countryside, crossed into Lebanon illegally three years ago. Weve been trying for the last three years, standing in line and pushing to get a turn, but they always say theres no space [in school], Um Ibrahim told Al Jazeera. OPINION: Educate refugee children or lose them forever For Syrians, getting an education in Lebanon is not always easy. At last months United Nations summit on refugees, world leaders pledged to get one million out-of-school refugee children worldwide back into classrooms, although the timeline for the pledge was unclear. Human rights organisations say this does not go far enough, as more than half of the six million school-age children under UNHCRs mandate have no school to go to. In Lebanon, some 250,000 primary and secondary-level Syrian children are not in school, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) more than half of the total population of refugee children currently living in the country. Many have never been to school. The by Sonia at the beginning; the issue is keeping them there. So if I open a school, do I have the staff to run it? What if the transportation stops? The students wont come back.] Lebanons education ministry has pledged to get 50,000 more Syrian children into school this year by expanding the capacity of public schools. They will offer classes in double-shifts with shifts in both the morning and afternoon thus providing more school spaces in towns and villages close to high concentrations of Syrian refugees, Sonia Khoury, an education ministry official, told Al Jazeera. In the last academic year, 238 public schools were opened with a second shift, compared with 144 in the previous year and 89 the year before that. So we are increasing every year by around 90 schools, Khoury said. [The ministry] selected 330 schools for the 2016-2017 academic year, which will open based on the demand. Last year, a total of 1,250 public schools accommodated some 65,000 Syrian pupils, she said. But keeping pupils in school is the real challenge. The issue is not opening the school and enrolling [the pupils] at the beginning; the issue is keeping them there, Khoury said. So if I open a school, do I have the staff to run it? What if the transportation stops? The students wont come back. Other experts say that structural problems stand in the way. According to Bassam Khawaja, an HRW Lebanon researcher, Lebanons post-2014 residency rules for Syrians is a priority in terms of what needs to change first. When parents dont have residency, most of the time they cant move around freely, which means they cant look for even informal work, which [then] seriously hinders their ability to pay for even the smallest kind of school-related costs, Khawaja said, referring to everything from transportation to school uniforms. It also means that more and more, parents are pulling their kids out of school and pushing them into child labour situations because they depend on their children to make a basic income to keep the family going. According to HRWs estimates, some 70 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon do not have legal residency in Lebanon. Khawaja argues that government pledges to enrol more Syrian children will be very difficult to meet if that residency policy stays in place this year. Khoury noted that for children older than 15, schools have been instructed to enrol them even if their families lack residency. IN PICTURES: Syrian refugees Displaced by war Alternatives to formal schooling have also arisen in the face of the refugee crisis. Last year, Syrian community activist Maysoun set up a free secondary-level school for Syrian children in Lebanons Bekaa Valley. In a half-renovated attic down a side street, the children here study an Arabic-language curriculum defined and supported by the Syrian opposition. Maysoun told Al Jazeera that the school aims to circumvent the problems that Syrians face in Lebanese schools, including language barriers, costs and residency status. Because these children are 13 to 18 years old, there are issues with methodology. The Lebanese curriculum materials are in English and not Arabic, Maysoun said. Also, because the students dont have residency papers, they cant attend schools. Many of the students entered Lebanon illegally. The Lebanese government withdrew support for such non-formal schools last year, and in some cases has actively called on the schools to close. But as they continue to operate in secret, such facilities are providing some youths with a stopgap. Mohamed, a 17-year-old Syrian refugee from Homs, was out of school for two years before he started coming here, and he continues to balance his studies with his job in a local supermarket. Im trying to support my family as much as I can, so Im balancing study and work to try and help [them], he told Al Jazeera. My mother doesnt work and I take care of my sisters with my father. My father doesnt work on a regular basis because there arent so many opportunities here. In a country that is hosting more than one million Syrian refugees, there are rarely easy answers. Often, Syrian parents of out-of-school children simply feel stuck. Abu Ibrahim said that with Syria still at war, Lebanon sometimes feels like a prison. The kids cant go to school, so they wont study. We live in this room with nine people, so theres not even a proper place for them to study, he said. Theres a war in Syria, sure. But this is like another kind of war. Palestinians welcome UNESCO resolution that criticises Israeli policies around al-Aqsa compound in occupied Jerusalem. Israel has suspended cooperation with UNESCO a day after the UN cultural body passed a resolution that sharply criticised Israeli policies around al-Aqsa Mosque compound, while supposedly rejecting Jewish ties to the holy site in occupied East Jerusalem. The resolution condemned Israel for restricting Muslims access to the site, and for aggression by police and soldiers. It also recognised Israel as the occupying power. Sections from UNESCO resolution: Deeply deplores the failure of Israel, the occupying Power, to cease the persistent excavations and works in East Jerusalem particularly in and around the Old City, and reiterates its request to Israel, the occupying Power, to prohibit all such works in conformity with its obligations under the provisions of the relevant UNESCO conventions, resolutions and decisions; Strongly condemns the escalating Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the Awqaf Department and its personnel, and against the freedom of worship and Muslims access to their Holy Site Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and requests Israel, the occupying Power, to respect the historic status quo and to immediately stop these measures; Firmly deplores the continuous storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces, and urges Israel, the occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif; Deeply decries the continuous Israeli aggressions against civilians including Islamic religious figures and priests, decries the forceful entering into the different mosques and historic buildings inside Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by different Israeli employees including the so-called Israeli Antiquities officials, and arrests and injuries among Muslim worshippers and Jordanian Awqaf guards in Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by the Israeli forces, and urges Israel, the occupying Power, to end these aggressions and abuses which inflame the tension on the ground and between faiths; Disapproves of the Israeli restriction of access to Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif during the 2015 Eid Al-Adha and the subsequent violence, and calls on Israel, the occupying Power, to stop all violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif; Deeply regrets the refusal of Israel to grant visas to UNESCO experts in charge of the UNESCO project at the Centre of Islamic Manuscripts in Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram AlSharif, and requests Israel to grant visas to UNESCO experts without restrictions; Strongly deplores the continuous Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which harmfully affects the free and sustained movement of personnel and humanitarian relief items as well as the intolerable number of casualties among Palestinian children, the attacks on schools and other educational and cultural facilities and the denial of access to education, and requests Israel, the occupying Power, to immediately ease this blockade; Deeply deplores the new cycle of violence, going on since October 2015, in the context of the constant aggressions by the Israeli settlers and other extremist groups against Palestinian residents including schoolchildren, also asks the Israeli authorities to prevent such aggressions This is an important message to Israel that it must end its occupation and recognise the Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital with its sacred Muslim and Christian sites, said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues of the decades-long Palestinian struggle for independence. Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third-holiest site in Islam. It is located in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed following its invasion in 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community as part of its subsequent military occupation of the West Bank. Jewish settlers and Zionist organisations have called for complete Jewish control over the mosque compound. Jewish groups refer to the site as the Temple Mount and their increased incursions into the mosque compound have continuously led to Palestinian protests across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military and armed settler incursions have resulted in Palestinian deaths and injuries in recent years in particular. Muslim access to the religious site has also been tremendously limited by the army. Israel and the US denounced the UNESCO resolution. Israel is furious about this resolution by UNESCO because it essentially nullifies any Jewish connection to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, said Al Jazeeras Bernard Smith, reporting from the occupied East Jerusalem. The resolution does assert Jerusalem is holy to the three monotheistic religions Judaism, Islam and Christianity but there is a special section in the resolution that says al-Aqsa Mosque compound is sacred only to Muslims. This is what infuriated the Israeli government. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said in a statement on Thursday that UNESCO has lost its legitimacy by adopting this resolution. The theatre of the absurd at UNESCO continues and today the organisation adopted another delusional decision which says that the people of Israel have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, he said. Palestinian critics argue that Israel uses the Jewish connection to Jerusalem as a cover for its political policies that have displaced Palestinians from their homes. The present struggle over al-Aqsa is the consequence of Israels use of religious dogma as a cover for its violent settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied West Bank since 1967, Ali Abunimah, editor of The Electronic Intifada website, wrote for Al Jazeera. Temple groups, funded by the state and the occupation municipality in Jerusalem, are actively agitating for the construction of a Jewish Third Temple in place of al-Aqsa Mosque. These are the groups behind the increasingly aggressive incursions into al-Aqsa, under the guise of seeking more access for Jews. But the outcome they seek is the destruction of al-Aqsa in order to build the temple; some groups have already developed detailed blueprints for it. The resolution, which was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, was voted through on Thursday with 24 votes in favour, six against, and 26 abstentions. Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK and the US voted against the resolution, while China, Russia, Mexico, South Africa and Pakistan among others voted in favour. INTERACTIVE: Inside Al-Aqsa On Friday, Irina Bokova, UNESCO director-general, distanced herself from Thursdays resolutions. The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city, she said in a statement. Jerusalems Old City was designated a World Heritage site because of its universal value which is an appeal for dialogue, not confrontation, Bokova said. We have a collective responsibility to strengthen this cultural and religious coexistence, by the power of acts and also by the power of words. Roughly 60 percent of the worlds newest country faces hunger at levels described as crisis or emergency by UN. The mother faced an anguished decision: choosing which of her children to save. With hunger gripping the remote Northern Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan, Elizabeth Athiel could either get urgent medical attention for her eight-month-old daughter, Anger, or make sure her other five children could eat. The little girl was shockingly thin, but the medical clinic was a half-days walk away, and she would have to wait there for days until recovery. I cant leave the others alone here, Athiel said, holding Anger in her arms. It is not known what later happened to the child. Her family is another victim of South Sudans civil war in a part of the country that hasnt even seen fighting. In the government stronghold of Northern Bahr el Ghazal, there are indications of famine. A third of children in the region are estimated to be acutely malnourished. If resources remain limited, more children will die, said Mahimbo Mdoe, the UNICEF representative in South Sudan. The food crisis is evidence of how the conflict has devastated South Sudans ability to function. Since December 2013, tens of thousands of people have been killed. More than one million refugees have fled. The UN calls South Sudan one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises. Even as President Salva Kiir and his government have repeatedly promised full humanitarian access to this and other areas, South Sudanese officials have restricted aid amid hostility at the international community over its attempts to calm the fighting and protect civilians. During a visit by the Associated Press news agency to Aweil in mid-September, aid airdrops by the UNs World Food Programme (WFP) had been suspended because the government imposed what it called additional security requirements. They later resumed but were suspended again this week. Spend it on weapons instead Minister of Information Michael Makuei Lueth recently told reporters WFP had been intransigent with his government. Did they come here for humanitarian services? They came there for their own ulterior objectives, Lueth said, reflecting some officials view that the UN, with its peacekeeping mission and aid agencies, had too much authority. Meanwhile, South Sudans government spends 44 percent of its budget on military and security, but just 11 percent on health, education and humanitarian affairs, according to the finance ministry. The government knows that it doesnt have to spend money on healthcare and education because the international community is always going to do it for them, and they can spend it on weapons instead, one diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. South Sudan has long suffered from periods of hunger. The fighting has only made it worse. Fighting has killed at least 60 people in the past week alone, the military said on Friday, stoking fears that the region could soon plunge back into full-scale war. Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang accused the rebels of burning civilians, maiming women, child abductions and setting ablaze properties. Armed men loyal to former vice president Riek Machar have killed 11 government soldiers and 28 civilians from Saturday to Thursday, Koang said in a press statement. Twenty-one rebels were also killed, he said. A spokesman for the rebels was not immediately available for comment. South Sudan, the worlds youngest nation, sank into civil war in 2013 after President Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, sacked Machar, a Nuer, from his position as vice president. Subsequent fighting often followed ethnic lines and human rights groups say both sides targeted civilians. A peace pact in 2015 ostensibly ended the fighting but has frequently been violated. Major clashes broke out again in July. Machar fled the country and is seeking medical treatment in South Africa. He has been replaced as vice president by General Taban Deng Gai. IN PICTURES: Educating girls in South Sudan Between four and five million people are at risk of death if they do not receive food assistance, according to WFP, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal has been hit hardest. Roughly 60 percent of the population faces levels of hunger described as crisis, emergency or catastrophic, according to UN agencies. I used to eat three times per day. Now I eat once, said Nyibol Dut, a mother who said the price of two litres of grain has shot up 175 percent in two years. Air strikes continue pummelling rebel-held Aleppo as Syrian president says taking city is key to capturing other areas. Rebel-held areas of Aleppo have been hit by a new wave of intense aerial bombardment, according to opposition activists, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the capture of the northern city would be a springboard to pushing terrorists back to Turkey. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that dozens of overnight air strikes had struck east Aleppo, as fighting continued on the northern and southern edges of the city. According to The Aleppo Media Centre, a group of opposition activists in the city, the overnight air strikes killed and wounded a number of people, with some buried under the debris. A spokesman for the Civil Defence first responder group in Aleppo told Al Jazeera that at least six civilians had been killed in air strikes as of Friday afternoon. The biggest civilian hospital left in city of Aleppo is burning right now. It was hit by phosphorous bombs, said Ibrahim Abu Leith, the Aleppo-based spokesman for the rescue group also known as the White Helmets. Al Jazeera could not independently verify if there were any casualties. The Sakhour hospital was put out of service earlier this year after it was targeted several different times by air strikes, but members of the Civil Defence have recently by working to repair it. Since the Syrian armys assault against rebel-held Aleppo began in late September, Russian and government bombardment has killed more than 370 people, including 68 children, according to an Observatory toll. Over the past three days, as many as 100 people have been killed in the raids, rescue workers said, as the air strikes and shelling of the citys east intensified. The rising casualties in Aleppo have prompted an international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday. Russia-West conflict Aleppo, a constant battlefield in the long-running Syrian civil war, has been divided between opposition control in the east and government control in the west since 2012. In an interview with a Russian newspaper published on Friday, Assad said that taking back the city, once the countrys industrial hub, would provide important political and strategic gains for his government. READ MORE: Assad, a doctor killing doctors You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey, to go back to where they come from or to kill them. Theres no other option, Assad told Komsomolskaya Pravda. Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move. Assad also told the newspaper that the Syrian civil war had become a conflict between Russia and the West. What weve been seeing recently during the last few weeks, and maybe few months, is something like more than Cold War, he said. Assad said that the actions of Turkey, which is backing Syrian rebels involved in an operation aimed at clearing Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) from its Syria border region, constituted an invasion and said that they violated international law. Diplomatic push As world powers prepared for new truce talks at the weekend, Russia announced that it was ready to give rebels safe passage out of the eastern sector of Aleppo, where more than 275,000 people are under siege. We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there, Russian Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoy said in a televised briefing. Moscow has come under mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll from the Syrian armys Russian-backed campaign to take east Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes. READ MORE: Syrias Civil War Explained Analysts said Thursdays safe passage offer was simply a gambit to relieve the pressure by appearing to present diplomatic alternatives. There is no change in the Russian strategy: the goal remains the destruction of rebel presence in Aleppo, Syria analyst Thomas Pierret told AFP news agency. Blowing hot and cold allows them to reduce the pressure and empower those who want a strictly diplomatic approach to the Syrian question. Several major international efforts have failed to secure a political solution to Syrias brutal war, which has cost more than 400,000 lives since 2011. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are expected to be joined at talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday by their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar all backers of Syrian opposition forces as well UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura. Before the talks, however, Lavrov said he had no special expectations because Moscow had not yet seen reciprocal steps from its Western partners. Speaking to reporters in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Lavrov said Russia does not intend to put forward new initiatives on resolving the Syrian conflict. We want to get down to concrete work and see how well our partners observe the UN Security Council resolution [on Syria], Lavrov said. We are not going to propose anything else. Crowds of people have taken to the streets wearing black to publicly grieve King Bhumibol Adulyadejs death. A royal procession carrying the body of Thailands late King Bhumibol Adulyadej travelled on Friday from the Bangkok hospital he died to the Grand Palace, passing tens of thousands of weeping people as the country officially entered a one-year period of mourning. Bhumibol, the worlds longest-reigning monarch, died in hospital in the capital Bangkok on Thursday at the age of 88. He had been in poor health for several years but his death plunged the Southeast Asian nation of 67 million people into grief. READ MORE: Remembering Thailands beloved King Bhumibol The streets of Bangkok were busy as usual on Friday morning, 12 hours after news of the kings death broke. Most people dressed in black but shops opened for business. Al Jazeeras Scott Heidler, reporting from outside the Bangkok hospital where the king was pronounced dead, said that throngs of mourners had shown up wearing muted colours, mostly black. We are expecting even more people to come here, our correspondent said. Later in the day, crowds of mourners lined up pavements along the route of a royal motorcade that would bear the kings body from the hospital to the nearby palace complex. Thousands of others, many holding his portrait, waited at the palace compound, mourning the loss of the only king most have ever known and expressing anxiety about the future. Some gathered outside the hospital fainted in the heat and were carried away on stretchers. Phongsri Chompoonuch, 77, clutched the late monarchs portrait as she walked towards the palace. No matter how far it is, I can walk, she told AFP news agency. We no longer have him. I dont know whether I can accept that. I fear, because I dont know what will come next, she added. At the palace, the Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn was to preside over the bathing of the kings body, a traditional Buddhist funeral rite. Months of palace rituals are to follow, including at least 100 days of chanting by monks. The cabinet declared a government holiday for mourning, but the Stock Exchange of Thailand said it and other financial institutions would operate as normal. The stock market soared 3.7 percent at the open of Friday, paring huge losses built up through the week as news filtered out that the king was gravely ill. The baht climbed more than 1 percent against the dollar. Immeasurable grief A constitutional monarch with no formal political role, Bhumibol was widely regarded as Thailands unifying figure on the nations fractious political scene. Since 1932, Thailand has witnessed 19 coups, including 12 successful ones. The latest was in 2014 and installed the current military government led by former army general Prayuth Chan-ocha. The king stepped in to calm crises on several occasions during his reign and many Thais worry about a future without him. The military has for decades invoked its duty to defend the monarchy to justify its intervention in politics. Prayuth, the prime minister in the military government, said on Thursday that the country was in immeasurable grief profound sorrow and bereavement. He said security was his top priority and called for businesses to stay active and stock investors not to dump shares. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to be the new king, but he does not command the same adoration that his father earned over a lifetime on the throne. Prayuth said Vajiralongkorn wanted to grieve with the people and leave the formal succession until later, when the parliament will invite him to ascend the throne. Long live His Majesty the new king, Prayuth said. Thailands strict lese-majeste laws have left little room for public discussion about the succession. The military government has promised an election next year and pushed through a constitution to ensure its oversight of civilian governments. It looks firmly in control for a royal transition. The government has set up a telephone hotline to help people cope with grief, a spokesman said. IN PICTURES: The life of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej King Bhumibols picture is hung in almost every house, school and office. Until his later years, he was featured on television almost every evening, often trudging through rain, map in hand and camera around his neck, visiting a rural development project. His wife, Queen Sirikit, 84, has also been in poor health over recent years. Thais around the world were also in mourning. I just know that I loved my king. He is the king that helped everybody, helping the poor, everything, Stella Boonyawan, a member of the Thai community in California, the largest in the world outside Thailand, told the Associated Press news agency. Youll never find a king like our Thai king in the whole world. Our king (was) the best, she said outside the Buddhist Wat Thai Temple in Los Angeles San Fernando Valley. In Bangkok, Prayuth warned against anyone taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble. Politicians from all sides will be in mourning. Thai stocks and the baht currency are likely to be volatile in the short term and consumers could cut spending, but assuming a smooth transition, major economic disruption was not expected, the Eurasia Group of risk analysts said in a report before the kings death. UN refugee agency says it approves of decision to demolish camp by the end of the year. The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, said on Friday that it welcomed plans to demolish a refugee camp in Calais in northern France, but raised fears that lone children were at risk of trafficking if not adequately supported during the transition. The ramshackle camp has become a symbol of Europes struggle to respond to an influx of refugees and migrants fleeing war and poverty, and is home to nearly 9,000 people who want to cross the English Channel into Britain, just 33km away. President Francois Hollande said last month that France would completely shut down the Jungle by the end of the year. The plan is to relocate migrants in small groups around the country, largely removing the option of forging a new life in Britain. This is welcome the Jungle site has been problematic for a number of years, and UNHCR has long recommended it be closed, the agencys spokesman Adrian Edwards said at a news briefing in Geneva. Living conditions are appalling, with the most basic shelter, inadequate hygiene facilities, very poor security and a lack of basic services. He said asylum seekers and migrants should be informed of when the dismantling would begin, and said the French government must organise appropriate accommodation for those leaving the camp. Edwards said it was also crucial to ensure lone children in Calais were supervised during the demolition, as they are vulnerable to being trafficked, abused or exploited. This is important so that children dont move on to other destinations and risk becoming exploited by human traffickers or end up living on the streets without any support, he said in a statement, urging British authorities to reunite eligible children with their relatives in the UK. An estimated 1,200 unaccompanied children are currently living in the Jungle, of which about 180 have been identified as having family ties to Britain. Britains anti-slavery commissioner Kevin Hyland has warned that children were turning to smuggling gangs rather than official routes to claim asylum or to join relatives in Britain as he called for ministers to do more to help lone youngsters. Earlier in the week, Britains Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the UK would honour a commitment to take in children from the camp and urged Paris to help speed up the process. Charities working in the Jungle said earlier this week before a meeting with Frances Interior Ministry that the plan to dismantle the site and disperse the occupants wouldnt work. Homeless charity Emmaus asked for closure to be postponed because all conditions are not met for an efficient humanitarian operation to take place. The government is heading straight into a wall, Emmaus France President Thierry Kuhn said. We should not bury our heads in the sand; people will come back as long as we wont be able to offer them a situation adapted to their life plan. Head of Catholic charity Secours Catholique in the Calais area Vincent de Coninck is also adamant that the port city will remain a transit point to Britain. Exiled people will return tomorrow, de Coninck said. Earlier this month, the head of the governments human rights watchdog, Jacques Toubon, expressed concerns about the planned demolition. Dismantling the slum will further weaken vulnerable peoples lives and drive them away from the protection they are entitled to by their fundamental rights, Toubon said in a statement. A Virginia woman was in critical condition Friday after a serious car accident in Springport Thursday night. Katherine M. Sparrow, of Machipongo, Virginia, lost control of her vehicle, according to state police, and hit a pole around 8:11 p.m. Thursday on Half Acre Road at Oakwood Road. The car rolled over, and Sparrow was initially trapped in the wreckage. The accident occurred near the Oakwood Service Center vehicle repair shop. The 55-year-old suffered multiple head injuries, according to state police. Sparrow was airlifted by a Marcellus-based Mercy Flight helicopter to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. The hospital listed her in critical condition as of Friday afternoon. Responders to the accident included state police, Union Springs, Fleming and Aurelius fire departments and AMR Ambulance. Turkish deputy PM Mehmet Simsek defends Turkeys post-coup actions, and we debate the future of the South China Sea. In this weeks UpFront, Turkeys Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek defends the crackdown and mass arrests following the failed coup attempt in July. And in the Arena, well debate whether the South China Sea is going to be the scene of the next global conflict or if claims of a possible conflagration are exaggerated, joined by China analyst Charles Liu and US policy adviser on China Bonnie Glaser. Headliner Turkish deputy PM: Mass arrests largely done Following the failed coup in Turkey back in mid-July, there were more than 40,000 arrests, and over 80,000 people were removed from their jobs more than 3,000 judges and prosecutors, over 2,000 academics and 20,000 teachers. The crackdown also included journalists and the media. Human rights activists say the attack on civil liberties is unjustified, but government officials insist that they are fighting an unconventional terrorist network that has infiltrated many levels of the countrys infrastructure. In this weeks Headliner, we challenge Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, who defends the actions of the Turkish government. They had aimed at destroying Turkish democracy, destroying rule of law, Simsek says. This is not a conventional terrorist network. Arena South China Sea: The worlds next big war? The South China Sea is one of the most hotly contested and lucrative regions in the world. In July, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in a landmark case in favour of the Philippines, which rejected the Chinese claim to almost the entire South China Sea. China called the ruling ill-founded and non-binding. As the row in the maritime area continues to heat up, will this lead to war? Or are claims of possible conflagration exaggerated? In this weeks Arena, we debate the issue with Charles Liu, a senior fellow at the Peking University Centre on China and Global Affairs and the founder of Hao Capital and Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia, and director of the China Power Project, at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Editors note: This interview was recorded before Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte announced the end of military cooperation with the United States on October 8, 2016. Follow UpFront on Twitter @AJUpFront and Facebook. Two UF students are leaving for Haiti today to help those in need. Amaury Sablon and Deshlee Ford made the decision to collect money and supplies for a three-day trip after they saw Hurricane Matthews devastation in Haiti. The hurricane destroyed homes and killed at least 473 people, according to the Associated Press. The two students plan to donate items they collected while also reporting on what they experience, Sablon, 20, said. So far, they have collected more than 200 pounds of supplies, which came from friends, family members and donations through UF Health Shands. They also collected about $1,000 to buy more items. Im not going to stop doing work so I can be a journalist, the UF telecommunication and Spanish junior said. First, Im a human. First, Im going to help the people of Haiti. Sablon said they collected multiple bags of supplies full of water-purification pills, personal-hygiene items and clothes. In his apartment, piles of donated supplies sit in a stack. His eyes filled with tears as he stared at the boxes and bags of clothes, soap and diapers. Its so amazing and overwhelming, he said. Sablon said he has never been to Haiti, but he spent part of his freshman year in its neighboring country, the Dominican Republic. There, he met Dr. Samuel Bastien, who owns the nonprofit Health Education Project, an organization that focuses on medical needs in Haiti. Sablon said he and Ford will work with Bastien to distribute supplies to help prevent the spread of diseases like cholera and malaria. Originally, Sablon said he planned a Homecoming weekend hike in North Carolina. But after Bastien told him about the effects of Hurricane Matthew, he bought a plane ticket to Haiti. And then he called his mom. When she heard, Yohanis Freire, Sablons mother, gasped. But she understood that the trip was something he was going to do, even without her approval. I have no worries, she said as she began to cry. Im very proud of him. Way too proud of him. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now For Ford, 21, charity and photojournalism are one in the same. The UF journalism senior said shes looking forward to bringing her photojournalism skills to Haiti, where she will be able to capture this moment in history. Ford said she wants to photograph the scenes of disaster to help bring attention to Matthews aftermath. The opportunity to stand in the middle of disaster will be life-changing, she said, and she wants to find the beauty in it. Sometimes you have to wait for a moment, she said. When you are patient, you can capture something beautiful and take it home with you. Update 4:37 p.m. - In the original story, Yohanis Freire's last name was incorrectly identified as Matamoros. Amaury Sablon, a 20-year-old UF telecommunication and Spanish junior, stands in front of the money and supplies that were donated to bring to Haiti this weekend after Hurricane Matthew. To protest a 515-mile natural-gas pipeline set to cut through Florida, a St. Petersburg woman will dance across the state, shimmying through Alachua County on her way southbound. A devout believer in Mother Nature, 32-year-old KC Cavanaugh considers herself to be a protector of the water, a natural resource she thinks the Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline may contaminate while it cuts through Alabama, Georgia and Florida, including tracts of land near Gainesville. Im hoping that just by bringing awareness it will help in some way, she said She isnt alone. In recent months, hundreds of protesters across Florida including in Gainesville have decided to rail against the pipeline, a project put into motion by Florida Power and Light that will pump 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas every day. Residents have organized rallies, written state legislators and hosted town hall meetings opposing the pipeline, scheduled to be operational by mid-2017. Its great to have public participation, said Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, an organizing representative of the Sierra Club of Florida. You cant do it with just 10 people. Less than a month ago, when Christine DeVore Santilo learned her neighbors land would be seized for pipeline construction, she felt like her land was being taken, too. Santilo, 52, said she had hoped to refinance her house in Williston Highlands, Florida, but she is afraid property values in her area will plummet due to the construction and the possible environmental side effects that come with it. Although she is still waiting on a notice or town-hall meeting informing her when construction will start, she said she heard construction has already begun in the city of Live Oak, about an hour from Gainesville. Its very unsettling, because I have no idea whats going on with it, the UF radiation oncology researcher said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now About three or four years ago, Santilos husband, Francis, 51, was living alone on the property and confronted pipeline surveyors in his yard. Little did the survey crew know, they were standing on one of his cats. One of the concerns Francis Santilo had for the pipeline going through his land was his pet cemetery, where he buried several of his pet cats and dogs when they died. Although his plot was spared, he said the pipelines threat to the surrounding water and air remains a concern. Living in a rural part of Alachua County, the Santilos get water from a well. After hearing reports of pipelines in the U.S. bursting, Francis Santilo said he is worried about Sabal Trail leaking gas into Floridas aquifer and affecting his drinking water, despite statements from the company and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection saying the project would be safe. He said he is also concerned hell soon be sitting on a piece of dead ground no one would be willing to buy. Sabal Trail began negotiating for land in September 2014, and as of March, it had filed for eminent domain on 160 properties in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, according to an Orlando Sentinel article. While the land would typically return to the landowners after construction, some private property can be permanently seized through eminent domain the governments right to take land for public interest when property owners cannot reach an agreement with pipeline officials, according to Sabal Trail spokeswoman Andrea Grover. The little guy always pays, Francis Santilo said. Many environmentalists argue the land taken usually becomes irreparably damaged. The pipelines proposed path runs through sinkhole-prone areas, peoples homes and state parks, causing concern for the safety of residents in those areas. Even in the unlikely event that a sinkhole opens beneath the pipeline, the pipeline can safely span distances exceeding 100 feet, Grover said, adding that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found it unlikely that the pipeline would impact Floridas water. Despite the reassurance, Floridians continue to express concerns with the pipeline possibly leaking and releasing chemicals into the drinking water supply. We have fought for generations against pipelines in the water supply. We have gone to blows over it, Malwitz-Jipson said. Even though many protesters acknowledge their voices may not be enough to stop a multimillion-dollar companys vision, they feel it is their responsibility to spread the word to as many people as possible. But in a state where natural gas dominates electricity production, according to UFs Florida Energy website, some acknowledge there is little that can be done to halt construction. Considering accusations that the pipeline would threaten local environments, Grover said natural-gas pipelines are among the safest forms of safety operations. Our safety programs are designed to prevent pipeline failures, detect anomalies, perform repairs and often exceed regulatory requirements, she said. At a recent rally in Gainesville, Mike Roth and a few others sang This Land is Your Land, a song that represents their struggle. However bleak the chances of stopping Sabal Trail are, banding together is what his conscience tells him to do. This is just our desperate attempt, he said. On Tuesday morning, Gov. Paul LePage (R-Maine), said in an interview, we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country. Not only is it unsettling for the governor of an American state to be endorsing an authoritarian form of government, but it also reveals an underlying shift in the American public a tilt toward authoritarianism. I am not accusing Trump of trying to impose authoritarian rule, but there is no doubt Trumps anti-establishment and populist discourse resembles attitudes adopted by authoritarian political leaders. His demonization of outside groups, his delegitimization of the political establishment and the media, his threats to jail his political opponent, his hostile tirades the list goes on. However, the most worrisome development is the fact that a governor of a U.S. state would give legitimacy to authoritarian rule. Weve seen the tragic consequences of autocracy throughout Latin America, the Middle East and in its most extreme form, Europe between World Wars I and II. But it is not necessary to examine other countries in order to witness the terror that autocracy has caused. We need only to look at our own history. In 1950, Sen. Joseph McCarthys demagoguery, personal attacks on politicians and unsubstantiated accusations of communist subversion in the U.S. government spurred a vicious political movement known as McCarthyism. McCarthy first became a media phenomenon by asserting that 205 communists and homosexuals had infiltrated the U.S. Department of State. When criticized by the media, he labeled them dupes or communist sympathizers. McCarthy was supported by a broad group, the so-called coalition of the aggrieved. Common themes uniting followers of McCarthyism were anti-internationalism and opposition to social welfare provisions resulting from the New Deal. Followers of the McCarthyist movement were opposed to public health services like vaccination and mental healthcare because they believed these issues were plots concocted by communists to brainwash Americans. McCarthyism, indeed, created an authoritarian situation. The Senate Committee on Government Operations, of which McCarthy was chairman, was used as a tool to investigate alleged communists in the government. Fear of unemployment was used as a tool to muzzle dissent. The American Communist Party was banned, communist literature was burned and thousands lost their jobs. Fundamental rights were altered. As in the 1950s, our susceptibility to demagoguery is a result of deep, and often legitimate, discontent and fear. As the prominent political scientists and economist Francis Fukuyama has pointed out, the working class and sectors of the middle class are experiencing the effects of economic stagnation and rise of inequality. The working class feels abandoned by both parties, which have supported free-trade liberal policies that have affected working-class jobs. Thus, many people have a feeling that unknown forces are guiding politics and the economy, feeding into more paranoia, conspiracy theories and accusations of treason. However, an authoritarian approach will not magically resolve these issues, and many of Trumps protectionist policies could have devastating effects on a country so deeply interconnected in the global market. Instead, what is needed is a leader who can guide and reform the country within the bounds of existing democratic institutions and the Constitution. Defeating Donald Trump in the election will only be a short-term solution. It is economic and social reform that will prove to be the long-term solutions needed to prevent another Trump. Politicians must pay more attention to the sectors that have suffered from economic stagnation and lack of social mobility by including them in the public-debate and policy-making processes. We must learn from our past and resist the authoritarian temptation. History does not look kindly on Joseph McCarthy, and it will certainly not look kindly on those who choose the authoritarian path. Julian Fleischman is a UF political science and telecommunication senior. His column appears on Fridays. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now 2005 .. English News Africa needs BRICS to play more prominent role Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 14 Octobre 2016 Both South Africa and China have in the BRICS, and its corresponding banking platform (the New Development Bank), an opportunity to facilitate the formulation and construction of long-lasting mechanisms. By Kwesi Prah Source: People's Daily and Global Times The mantras and phenomena of "dominating markets" and "maximizing profits" have contributed to reproducing a status quo that many have understood to be "under-development," or the development of a "Third World." Many have also attributed these phenomena, primarily, to the shrewd and dubious prescriptions of the World Bank and IMF, since the terms underdevelopment and Third World are essential economic indicators or descriptors. However, when the dust settles, and the political left and right put down their swords for a parley (in the form of the G8/G20/G77 meetings), the battlefield draws a stark and bloody picture. The steady rise in unemployment, the depletion and pollution of vital resources, unnecessary and unmitigated violence upon the vulnerable in society, and most importantly, the wanton exploitation and disenfranchisement of the majority of peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America all highlight the pressing need for radical responses to change the status quo. At face value, China and South Africa are two nations with vastly different capabilities, challenges and plans. Their geo-political footprints and objectives are so different that it is as though one was comparing the Chinese Panda with the tropical African Silverback Gorilla. However, with a more nuanced analysis of interests, it appears there is a binding theme that plays a very important role in positioning these two nations as catalysts of change. This theme, grounded in the notion of unity, or as Chinese foreign policy dictates, a harmonious world, is more than just idealistic or altruistic posturing. The most successful tool in galvanizing the productive and strategic-planning capacities of African peoples over the past century and a half has been the vision of Pan-African unity. In fact, African nationalism was born out of Pan-Africanism, and any successful institutional achievement has been under the umbrella of Pan-Africanism. It is only under this pre-condition that any meaningful economic development agenda can take root in Africa. For China, at a time when its soft diplomacy in Africa is being heavily scrutinized, its ability to understand the strategic interests and deficits of the various African nations in fierce competition is crucial. It must realize that it is only through a shared vision of political and economic unity that it would gain any substantial benefit and advantage. In practical terms, this means shifting the emphasis away from dealing with African nations bilaterally. The current neo-colonial political and economic architecture in Africa does not bode well for any development agenda. Therefore denouncing and disregarding it is paramount. This means that any realistic developmental agenda proposed through the BRICS will have to address these non-productive and unconstructive elements of political and economic organization. Both South Africa and China have in the BRICS, and its corresponding banking platform (the New Development Bank), an opportunity to facilitate the formulation and construction of long-lasting mechanisms. Such mechanisms would have far-reaching consequences for the reform and eventual overhaul of international financial capitalism and trade. By banking on the BRICS, a meaningful alliance would mean that South Africa and China cooperate on strengthening intra-African parliamentary processes, which at present are under the aegis of the poorly financed African Union (AU). By focusing on this source of political power, one is then able to focus on harnessing the different skill sets within African society, and focus efforts on supporting the necessary regional development plans, such as energy-producing networks, transportation networks and related services. For the New Development Bank (NDB) to chart new paths and open up new opportunities, it has to defy its operational mandate, which is to primarily accrue profits from lending money, and the investments it makes. Redistributing value by making bonds available to labor unions, collectives and consortiums directly related to development initiatives on the ground becomes crucial to the realization of the agendas set by the AU, and also secures the interests of Chinese investments in Africa. The NDB would also have to invest heavily in indigenous and localized capacities to ensure new business initiatives. By doing this, one encourages the youth within society to take the initiative in how they create business, on their terms. Lastly, to counter-balance the pressure put on the NDB by the World Bank and IMF regarding profitability, campaigning for the downgrading or erasure of national debt is imperative. The Euro-American financial oligarchies draining African economies have to account for their colonial legacy, and their business interests need to be brought into line. In light of these tasks, China and South Africa can chart new paths and avenues of change through the BRICS. The upcoming eighth annual BRICS summit, to be held between Saturday and Sunday in Goa, India, represents an auspicious moment to engage with these challenging, but manageable issues. (The author is a research fellow with the Pangoal Institution, a Beijing-based public policy research think-tank.) Dans la meme rubrique : < > More robots entering people's daily life China sees accelerated development of express delivery sector in rural areas China's FAST discovers largest atomic cloud in universe Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) English News BRICS summit to extend agendas of G20 Hangzhou Summit: expert Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 14 Octobre 2016 As representatives of emerging economies around the world, the BRICS nations are now also important G20 members. Currently, the BRICS countries contribute 43 percent to worlds population, 37 percent to its GDP and 17 percent to global trade. By Xing Xue, People's Daily Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 8th BRICS Summit to be held in Goa, India on October 15 and 16. Experts pointed out that the Goa summit, themed Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions, will see continuity in the agenda with the just-concluded G20 Summit. The Goa Summit, coming one month after the leaders of five BRICS members gathered in Hangzhou for an informal meeting, has great significance, said Li Jianmin, researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European & Central Asian Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The two meetings, both emphasizing inclusiveness and interconnection, have similarities in their agendas, Li explained. During the Goa meeting, more specific plans concerning the developing countries will be released based on the initiative and consensus reached during the G20 Hangzhou Summit, he added. As representatives of emerging economies around the world, the BRICS nations are now also important G20 members. Currently, the BRICS countries contribute 43 percent to worlds population, 37 percent to its GDP and 17 percent to global trade. "BRICS countries play a leading role in emerging markets and developing countries, and are important members of the G20 as well," Xi said, stressing the importance of BRICS nations at last months informal leaders meeting. The informal meeting, as a regular event of G20 Summits since 2013, aims to enhance the communication and coordination among the BRICS countries, and enhance their voice in the international community. Li believed that the priority for the BRICS countries is to take measures to develop their own economies and further consolidate their consensus amid sluggish global growth. To this end, he advised the BRICS countries to come up with widely accepted blueprint and strategy and launch all-round cooperation in trade, investment, finance and production capacity to create new driving forces of development. They should enhance international cooperation to cope with domestic challenges, he added. According to the scholar, BRICS members also need to speak for the developing countries and beef up coordination on major international issues to safeguard their common interests. He also called for these members to engage in global governance; promote the reform of multilateral organizations; strengthen communication on issues like the establishment of international financial security network, unexpected economic risks, trade protectionism of major economies, counter-terrorism and climate change; and shoulder responsibility for supply of global goods. BRICS countries, in terms of both size and development potential, are a major driving force for the long-term growth of the world economy, Li commented, adding that all the members are now adjusting their strategies to cope with the impact of the global financial crisis. China and India have maintained a faster pace of development, Russia is on the rise after hitting the bottom, Brazil has stepped out of the most difficult time and South Africa is also picking up, he illustrated. The BRICS countries will maintain a strong growth momentum and serve as growth engine for world economy through innovation-driven development, the researcher stressed. China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong also said at a recent press conference that since the establishment of their cooperation mechanism 10 years ago, BRICS countries have expanded their cooperation areas and improved the mechanism. Dans la meme rubrique : < > More robots entering people's daily life China sees accelerated development of express delivery sector in rural areas China's FAST discovers largest atomic cloud in universe Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) No one expected the "October Surprise" of the 2016 campaign to be a video with a member of the Bush family recorded on his way to a cameo in a soap opera. Nor did anyone expect the second presidential debate to take on the air of pro wrestling. But Donald J. Trump's decade-old lewd remarks, and his sexual braggadocio, on the set of "Access Hollywood" with host Billy Bush have thrown the presidential election into upheaval. The video prompted Republican Party leaders to assess their options, created fresh unease among GOP congressional and gubernatorial candidates who have extended a tentative embrace to Trump, and added new drama to Sunday night's debate at Washington University in St. Louis. That debate swiftly deteriorated into a he-said/she-said battle, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton questioning Trump's fitness for office and Trump asserting that his rival deserved to be in jail. The two bickered over who was the bigger enemy of women. And they called each other liars. The 2016 campaign has been unprecedented in the unpredictable forces it has unleashed, in the new frontiers of campaign comportment it has created, in the chaos it has sown in established party alignments, and the unease it has created among party leaders and voters. One of the early casualties was in redefining the boundaries of acceptable campaign language. That was before crude anatomical descriptions and coarse casual conversation became a potential turning point in the campaign. Even in a country that endured the presidential impeachment of Bill Clinton, preceded by a report from independent counsel Kenneth Starr that shared many elements with pornography, the remarks of Trump shook the country. Like the course of the campaign, the implications of this episode are impossible to predict. But at the very least, Trump, whose debate preparations were disrupted by the furor over his remarks, faces possible erosion of support from members of several vital voter groups, not least of them women, whose support he struggled to win long before the release of this video. Also at risk: Support from Republican candidates who were reluctant to back him in the first place; the GOP establishment, which has regarded him with fear and contempt and has in large measure withheld its support; religious conservatives who were troubled by his three marriages and now have reason to reassess their support; some late adherents to the Trump cause who, unlike the Trump True Believers, supported the message while retaining their skepticism of the messenger. Those who have been with Trump from the start, and who regard his rough edges and many of his profane comments as a refreshing antidote to "political correctness," are unlikely to be jarred by the episode. The size of that core is difficult to determine, but it does not approach an electoral majority. Seldom has a presidential campaign faced a challenge of this magnitude though Trump dramatically turned the tables on his rival just 90 minutes before the debate by assembling a panel of women who themselves accused Bill Clinton of sexual crimes. The only precedents for the Trump imbroglio occurred earlier in the election cycle than this one, a month before Election Day and as some Americans are taking advantage of early-voting procedures in their states or are casting absentee ballots. The two recent comparisons involved running mates rather than presidential nominees themselves, and each has a rich resonance among political professionals, who cultivate a knowledge of these sorts of episodes. The most famous involves charges that Sen. Richard M. Nixon had a "slush fund," a claim that roiled the 1952 presidential campaign in late September, unsettled GOP nominee Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and prompted Nixon to go on the air with what is now known as the "Checkers Speech." Nixon's treacly remarks, which included an appeal to Eisenhower that the nominee found cloying and an appeal to the public that helped save Nixon's place on the ticket, are remembered for his reference to his wife's "Republican cloth coat" and to the story about a cocker spaniel sent to the Nixons by a supporter in Texas and that Tricia Nixon, then 6 years old, named Checkers. "The kids, like all kids, love the dog," Nixon said, "and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it." Though the speech became regarded as a prime example of campaign camp and cant, Nixon kept his position as the Republican vice presidential nominee and assumed that position in 1953. Two decades later, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, selected Sen. Thomas Eagleton as his running mate. Then news reporters discovered that Eagleton had received shock treatment, prompting Democratic Party leaders to worry that a ticket that already had a whiff of doom would be fatally hurt. McGovern originally pronounced himself "1,000 percent" behind his running mate, a remark that would soon haunt him as Eagleton was forced from the ticket and replaced by R. Sargent Shriver, a Kennedy relative by marriage with solid liberal credentials. Months later the Democrats lost every state but Massachusetts. Eventually Eagleton took a position at Washington University the venue for the Sunday debate. Eisenhower and to a lesser extent Nixon a two-term House member who had won a difficult Senate race two years earlier and, as a dedicated Cold Warrior, was seen as a symbol of the new generation of World War II Republican politicians had the trust of the party leadership. Trump does not. But Trump has triumphed by showing, and occasionally amplifying, his contempt for the party whose nomination he won. He has also made a virtue of his miscues, an approach he reached for Friday evening when he acknowledged his faults but swiftly explained that his national campaign had rendered him a changed man, arguing that the remarks "don't reflect who I am." That once again is at the center of a political campaign that a year ago seemed to be a referendum on his opponent. Since the beginning of the year, the campaign has instead largely been a referendum on Trump, and now more than ever the choice in November is over, as the candidate himself put it in the middle of his current crisis, "who I am." English News Xi Jinpings visit to push China-Cambodia strategic cooperation to new high: experts Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 13 Octobre 2016 The major topics this time will also include ASEAN Free Trade Area, China-ASEAN Expo, Lancang-Mekong cooperation and some other multilateral events advocated by China. Cambodian governments and officials have played an active role in these agendas, especially the Belt and Road initiative. By Li Ning from Peoples Daily Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit to Cambodia, the first of a major Chinese leader to the Southeast Asian country after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, will push bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new high, experts said amid rising expectations for the trip. Describing China and Cambodia as good neighbors and important cooperation partners, Wang Yusheng, a researcher at the China Foundation for International Studies and Academic Exchanges, praised their ever-lasting friendship. Xis visit this time will significantly boost China-Cambodia traditional friendship and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership established in 2010, the scholar stressed. Featuring mutual trust in politics, fruitful all-round cooperation as well as close communication and coordination in global and regional affairs, China-Cambodia ties can serve as a model of good-neighborly friendship for the world, he added. Fu Xuezhang, former Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia, agreed that as a big event attracting worldwide attention, Xis visit is of vital importance both to bilateral relations and regional development. He told the Peoples Daily that during Xis Cambodian trip, both sides will review their traditional friendship and intimate ties forged by elder generations. Since the meeting between then Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai during the Bandung Conference in 1955 and the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1958, China and Cambodia have maintained a close relationship. Despite international and regional vicissitudes as well as domestic changes over the half century, both sides, following the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence, have become a model in harmonious coexistence of nations with different social systems. Treating each other with sincerity, respect, equality, trust as well as selfless assistance, the two neighbors have also set an example of sharing prosperity and difficulties together regardless of territorial size. Fu said that though small in size, Cambodia has considerable global influence, with the country having made vital contributions to the neutral and peaceful diplomatic policy, the Non-Aligned Movement as well as settlement of Indochina conflicts. The country upholds neutral and peaceful diplomatic policy and fights for a just solution to many big global issues, the diplomat lauded, adding that such kind of wisdom and sense of righteousness can be traced to its national character. Situated in a favorable geographic environment, Cambodia boasts abundant natural gifts like mountains, rivers, seas, forests, farmland, vegetables and fruits, and experiences few natural disasters. In history, it was a key stop linking China with South Asian nations and in todays world, it remains a vital link of the Belt and Road initiative that aims to benefit neighbors. We review the past to achieve better development. This visit will inject fresh vitality into bilateral all-round strategic partnership, Fu said, adding that the two sides will discuss cooperation on some major projects covering economy, culture and society. Both countries can launch complementary and mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide range of fields and projects, he suggested, citing the examples of agriculture, irrigation, agricultural products processing as well as infrastructure projects closely related with peoples livelihood. Cambodia is now in urgent need to upgrade its infrastructure for energy and transportation, he said. The projects related to rice planting and comprehensive industrial parks launched by China-funded companies need policy support as well. According to the ambassador, as both countries are now aspiring for economic cooperation, they should build a new type of relationship characterized by the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and such ties will accelerate the ASEAN integration process and bolster the economic and trade ties between China and the ASEAN. The major topics this time will also include ASEAN Free Trade Area, China-ASEAN Expo, Lancang-Mekong cooperation and some other multilateral events advocated by China, Fu said, adding that Cambodian governments and officials have played an active role in these agendas, especially the Belt and Road initiative. Dans la meme rubrique : < > More robots entering people's daily life China sees accelerated development of express delivery sector in rural areas China's FAST discovers largest atomic cloud in universe Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) Sen. Elizabeth Warren continues to be in the news a lot. Sen. Warren recently received the media's focus as she questioned a member of the United States banking sector. During this questioning, she was passionate, inquisitive and forceful in her line of questioning. Our industry condemns dishonest or unethical practices at any FDIC-insured bank, anywhere, anytime. Trust is the very foundation of the banking profession. I know that firsthand as an immigrant to the United States because I saw how bankers helped and guided my Spanish-speaking parents in this new land. My immigrant parents eventually became homeowners because of their trusted advisor at an FDIC-insured bank. That happens each and every day in our country. We are experiencing significantly weak economic recovery and growth by historical standards. Community banks play a pivotal role in their state and national economies. They make 50% of the small-business loans made in America. While the small-business sector is the heart and soul of our economy, small businesses are down by 25% over the last six years and many community banks have merged or been acquired. Fewer community banks may mean fewer small businesses. Is there perhaps correlation? Could it all be related to the avalanche of Dodd-Frank rules? During Warren's tenure in the Senate, she has questioned our nation's larger banks, but what has she done to help our community banks? Between 1995 and 2007, our country averaged 125 startup community banks per year, a period that included both good times and bad. That was before President Obama and the 2010 Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Act. Since the law's passage, we have had only three new community banks chartered in the U.S. The banking industry has been advocating for a tailored regulatory banking system for more than five years. Community and regional banks have been calling for Dodd-Frank regulatory relief on Capitol Hill. However, Congress and President Obama have failed to act on those requests. Larger banks have also pushed for relief for community and regional banks. How do I know this? As president of the Florida Bankers Association, an association that represents institutions of all sizes, I have seen our larger bank members walk the hallways of Congress advocating for our community and regional banks. With community banks playing such a pivotal role in business startups, why hasn't Warren pushed to achieve regulatory relief for our community banks? Why hasn't she pushed for a tailored banking regulatory system that creates tiers based on a bank's activity? It is easy to bash our systemic-risk bigger banks that have a global presence. But it is important to remember that in our country we need all banks large, regional and community banks. If you review the list of the top 50 banks in the world, there are only four FDIC-chartered American banks on it. There are 13 banks from China, including four of the top five. Just as the larger U.S. banks provide important services for our nation's largest companies, community and regional banks play a critical role for startups and small businesses. And so why hasn't Warren expressed more support for legislation to ease the regulatory burden on community banks? For example, why has she not joined other Democrats in co-sponsoring the Community Lending Enhancement and Regulatory Relief Act of 2015? The bill, authored by Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., would ease Sarbanes-Oxley requirements on smaller banks, exempt banks with under $10 billion in assets from certain escrow requirements and provide "qualified mortgage" status to more loans community banks keep on their balance sheet. A less robust version, authored by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, which Warren has co-sponsored, would have very little real impact on the problems faced by community banks. Warren and her Democratic colleagues have also failed to co-sponsor the TAILOR Act, which would require the federal agencies to tailor regulatory action based on numerous factors about an institution, including risk profile and the impact that such regulatory action has on the institution's ability to serve customer needs. Members of Congress like Sen. Warren have worked so much to further regulate Wall Street, how about if they spend more time helping our community banks, small businesses and our customers on Main Street instead? If Congress decreased unnecessary regulation, community banks could hire more lenders and less compliance and legal staff in order to better serve their customers and communities which would, in turn, strengthen our economy and create jobs. Alejandro M. Sanchez is president and CEO of the Florida Bankers Association. WASHINGTON The government should encourage the development of the fintech sector but should not grant a safe harbor for such firms, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Thursday. During a discussion on fintech at the Brookings Institution, Warner said fintech products have considerable potential, including addressing the challenges faced by the growing ranks of workers who lack job stability. "Because of this change in the workforce, what we have now is enormous income volatility," Warner said. "Could some of these tools, accessed by your phone, be a way to help folks manage through this changing nature of work?" He said government's role is to "encourage innovation" but warned that at the moment the industry "is a little bit of a Wild West space." Warner also expressed interest in the potential of blockchain to improve the speed of transactions. "It took me a long time to wrap my head around it, and how that gets implemented," he said. "It is crazy in the 21st century that it takes four days for a check to clear." But the Virginia Democrat emphasized that consumer protection must be part of fintech's DNA and expressed skepticism about a potential safe harbor for such firms. "You can see bad products arrive very quickly," he said. "Getting this balance right between innovation and consumer protection is a fine [line] I don't know what the silver regulatory change is going to get it right." Instead, he encouraged regulators to communicate more with fintech companies and ensure they have the right talent to tackle evolving technologies. "The banking regulator always starts with prudential safety and soundness," he said. But "the world is going to change a lot faster than regulators recognize." The proof of the war being waged by the Democratic Party on people of faith or, as President Obama once put it, less than loving Christians, is found in the latest batch of emails released by Wikileaks. The party that rails against Islamophobia and preaches tolerance toward Muslims is revealed to have an unremitting hostility towards and disdain for Catholics, evangelicals, and any who worship a God other than government: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri and Center for American Progress fellow John Halpin mocked conservative Catholicism as an "amazing bastardization of the faith" in new emails released by WikiLeaks. In the fresh batch of emails released as part of a reported cache of "Podesta emails," with the subject line "Conservative Catholicism," Halpin also mocks News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch and Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson for being Catholic. "Ken Auletta's latest piece on Murdoch in the New Yorker starts off with the aside that both Murdoch and Robert Thompson, managing editor of the WSJ, are raising their kids Catholic. Friggin' Murdoch baptized his kids in Jordan where John the Baptist baptized Jesus," Halpin wrote in a 2011 missive to Podesta and Palmieri. "Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic (many converts) from the SC and think tanks to the media and social groups. It's an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy," he added. Palmieri, who MRCTV reports was also with the Center for American Progress at the time, added in the email chain that she believes Murdoch, Thomson, and many other conservatives are Catholic because they think it's "the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion." "Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals," she added. Halpin thought Palmieri made an "excellent point." "Excellent point. They can throw around 'Thomistic' thought and 'subsidiarity' and sound sophisticated because no one knows what the hell they're talking about," he wrote. These emails were exchanged between Hillary Clinton confidantes in 2011 and the run-up to the 2012 elections and came during the Obama administrations fight to impose ObamaCares mandates on contraceptives and abortion on the Catholic Church and its institutions. They reflect an animus towards the religious liberty and freedom of conscience guaranteed by the First Amendment that would manifest itself in legal action against family-owned businesses like Hobby Lobby and religious groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor. It would be bad enough if Democrats merely objected to the positions of the Catholic Church and sought to force compliance with the dictates of government, but emails reveal the Democrats and members of Team Clinton actually sought to subvert the Catholic Church and dilute its opposition by creating Catholic front groups to fundamentally transform, to coin a phrase, the Catholic Church from within: A newly leaked email shows Hillary Clintons current campaign chairman John Podesta and a Left-wing activist casually discussing fomenting revolution in the Catholic Church. There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church, Sandy Newman, president and founder of the progressive nonprofit Voices for Progress, writes to Podesta in an email titled opening for a Catholic Spring? just musing. We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. But I think it lacks the leadership to do so now. Likewise Catholics United. Like most Spring movements, I think this one will have to be bottom up, Podesta writes. Imagine if Republicans had said something similar about Islam and Muslims. But such hostility towards faith and religion is reserved for those who President Obama called the bitter clingers in his 2008 campaign for the White House. The struggle between religious liberty and government suppression through ObamaCare was the subject of a 2012 Investors Business Daily editorial on the VP debate between Catholics Joe Biden and Paul Ryan: As we noted in our post-debate analysis, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) were not amused with Joe Biden's other great debate lie -- that ObamaCare doesn't threaten religious liberty or the ability of churches, particularly the Catholic Church, to put their faith in action. On Oct. 12, the USCCB denounced the VP's deceptive comments, noting that the so-called HHS exemption is a farce that unconstitutionally defines what a religious institution is and what government will allow it to do. That exemption, the USCCB states, "does not extend to 'Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital' (as Biden claimed), or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served." In other words, Joe Biden, a Catholic himself, lied. As Paul Ryan, also a Catholic, put it to Biden, the Obama administration was "infringing upon our first freedom, the freedom of religion, by infringing on Catholic charities, Catholic churches, Catholic hospitals." As Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, recently said on "Fox News Sunday," they object to what they consider the unprecedented attempt by the Obama administration to define what a church and religious institution is -- the notion that you're a church if the government, in Soviet fashion, says you're a church. "Embedded in the mandate is a radically new definition of what constitutes a religious community, what constitutes religious ministry," Cardinal Wuerl said. "Brand new, never before applied at the federal level. That's what we're arguing about." Liberal Catholic candidates for public office such as Democratic nominee for vice president Tim Kaine often proclaim their Catholic identity to curry favor with this constituency, but when it comes to practicing the doctrines of their faith often are what are called cafeteria Catholics. They pick and chooses from what they might call the Ten Suggestions, particularly when it comes to a womans right to choose. Unfortunately for Tim Kaine and fellow cafeteria devotees, there is no right to choose on what are called doctrines of the church, even if he seems to think so. On the issue of same-sex marriage, Kaine said in a recent speech to the 20th National Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C. that he thought the Catholic Church would soon follow his lead on this issue: Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine, a practicing Catholic, on Saturday described his evolution on same-sex marriage and predicted that his church would change its views as well. My full, complete, unconditional support for marriage equality is at odds with the current doctrine of the church that I still attend, Kaine said at a dinner celebrating gay rights. But I think thats going to change, too. Representatives the Catholic Church responded by saying, er, we dont think so, suggesting this practicing Catholic needs a little more practice: In a Facebook post titled VP Pick, Tim Kaine, a Catholic? Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence noted that Kaine has been widely identified as a Roman Catholic while at the same time he publicly supports freedom of choice for abortion, same-sex marriage, gay adoptions, and the ordination of women as priests. All of these positions are clearly contrary to well-established Catholic teachings; all of them have been opposed by Pope Francis as well, Tobin wrote, dashing the lefts spurious claim that Kaine is some kind of Pope Francis Catholic. Senator Kaine has said, My faith is central to everything I do. But apparently, and unfortunately, his faith isnt central to his public, political life, Bishop Tobin concluded. Similarly, in a recent column, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput also took issue with Kaine, as well as with the sitting Vice President, Joe Biden, the two most visible Catholics in American politics. These two prominent Catholics, the Archbishop said, both seem to publicly ignore or invent the content of their Catholic faith as they go along. Many in the Catholic hierarchy were not amused, reminding Kaine that Catholic Church doctrine on the issues of gay marriage and abortion are etched in the same stone as Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai. Again, opposition to Catholic positions is bad enough for Catholics in power and other government officials. But Democrats and their party have declared war on the Catholic Church, seeking to forever neuter it as a guarantor of religious conscience and liberty. The Catholic Church and its evangelical cousins are institutional roadblocks to the elimination of religious liberty in this country. As Podesta writes, the Catholic Church must be subverted from within to become a church in name only subservient to government edict. It is to render unto Caesar not only what is Caesars, but everything else as well. The Catholic Church must be destroyed. Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. Progressives have said that deficits dont matter. Even a few conservatives have said as much. Some, however, like Speaker Paul Ryan, worry that the sharp recent rise in the national debt could lead to a debt crisis, a situation in which there are no painless choices, a situation where we must act, but all of our options will leave us weakened. Call it a fiscal zugzwang. If one goes to the Debt to the Penny webpage at Treasury Direct, one can see what the debt is today. And if one looks at the Go to page box at the bottom of the chart, types in 39, hits Enter, and then scrolls down a bit, one can see what the debt was on the day President Obama was first sworn into office, Jan. 20, 2009. On that day the Total Debt was $10.625T and on Oct. 5, 2016 it was $19.688T. So the so-called total debt grew by 85.298 percent; it hasnt quite doubled as some on TV contend. But, if one looks at the Public Debt, the situation is rather different. On Oct. 5 this year the Public Debt was $14.191T, but on the day Obama first took office the Public Debt was $6.307T. So the public debt, the real debt, has grown by $7.884T, or 125 percent, over the Obama presidency and we have more than three months left to go. If Obama spends just $116B of borrowed money over the next three months, which seems quite doable for this president, he will have presided over an escalation of the debt that averaged an even trillion a year. (Everyone needs something to be proud of.) At the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Mrs. Clinton said: I watched my husband take a $300 billion deficit and turn it into a $200 billion surplus. Clinton is no doubt referring to the fiscal 1992 deficit, which was actually $290B, and to the fiscal 2000 surplus, which was actually $236B, (see Table 1.1). In fact, there were four back-to-back total surpluses at the end of Bill Clintons tenure, from 1998 through 2001. But heres what Mrs. Clinton didnt tell you: most of the money for those overall budget surpluses came from off-budget surpluses run by Social Security, which isnt subject to the budget process. Less than 16 percent (about $88B) of the four total surpluses at the end of the millennium came from on-budget receipts, i.e. income taxes and such. The rest of it was from off-budget programs with their own dedicated taxes, like Social Security. And, Millennials, heres something else you need to know about the deficits and surpluses in the last decade of the last millennium: Democrats were in charge of Congress in fiscal 1992 and Republicans were in charge in 2000. So Democrats are responsible for the $300B deficit and Republicans are responsible for the $200B surplus that Hillary refers to. You see, budgets are legislation, they come out of Congress. It was only after Republicans captured Congress in 1994 that we saw real improvement in the budget. Hillary Clinton was unwittingly making an argument for the retention of the Republican majority in Congress. The total deficit for fiscal 2015 was $438B. The deficit for 2016, which ended on Sept. 30, is estimated to be around $616B, which is higher than was predicted at the start of that fiscal year. After making nearly a trillion dollars of progress on the deficit -- mostly due to the Republican House, I might add -- were headed the wrong direction again. What accounts for this reversal? Most of it comes from entitlements, the federal programs that arent subject to the budget process, like ObamaCare subsidies and the expansion of Medicaid. Such spending is automatic. Also, the off-budget surpluses that created the overall surpluses that Clinton cited in the last debate are gone. In 2006 the off-budget surpluses reached a record of $186B, but in 2016 theyre estimated to be about $7.9B. And the off-budget side of the ledger is expected to post a -$1.7B deficit for fiscal 2017. So there are no Social Security surpluses for Congress to use as its own slush fund anymore. Nonetheless, there are Democrats in Congress who will tell you that Social Security doesnt affect the deficit. Not only that, but our economic expansion, anemic though it is, has been going on for about seven and half years, since the middle of 2009. Thats fairly mature as expansions go and we may be due for a slowdown, perhaps a recession, which would mean less tax revenue, and a call for more deficit spending. But Hillary Clinton is proposing a slew of new spending programs: more free healthcare, free college, debt forgiveness, etc. These would be bad ideas even if the budget were balanced; theyd be bad ideas even if we had no federal debt. But with so much debt coming due so soon, theyre not just irresponsible, theyre insane. In Millennials and the Obama Legacy I examined government data that show how imminent our fiscal difficulties are. More than half of the federal debt is coming due in the next four years. If debt and deficits do indeed matter, then the next Congress may have to contend with a debt crisis. Democrat congresses gave us the trillion-dollar deficits, the mandatory spending programs that are mushrooming out of control, and ObamaCare, an unwanted program they forced down our craw which is proving far more expensive than advertised. America needs to elect a Republican Congress to manage the budget and control spending regardless of who is elected president. Jon N. Hall is a programmer/analyst from Kansas City. The nation of Hungary recently did something as unprecedented as it is commonsensical and humanitarian: it has become the first government to open an office specifically to address the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Europe. Zoltan Balog, Hungarys Minister for Human Resources, explained: Today, Christianity has become the most persecuted religion, where out of five people killed [for] religious reasons, four of them are Christians. In 81 countries around the world, Christians are persecuted, and 200 million Christians live in areas where they are discriminated against. Millions of Christian lives are threatened by followers of radical religious ideologies. Followers of radical religious ideologies is of course code for Muslims -- they who are responsible for the overwhelming majority of Christian persecution in the world. This move comes after Hungarys right-wing prime minister, Victor Orban, drew criticism in the EU by saying Europe should focus on helping Christians before helping millions of Muslims coming into Europe. Orban explained: If we really want to help, we should help where the real problem is We should first help the Christian people before Islamic people. But do Western governments really want to help those suffering true persecution? For if they did, not only would taking in Christian people before Islamic people be the most humane thing to do; it would also benefit Western nations as well. Consider some facts: Unlike Muslims, Christian minorities are being singled out and persecuted simply because of their despised religious identity. From a humanitarian point of view, then -- and humanitarianism is the reason being cited for accepting millions of refugees -- Christian refugees should receive greater priority over Muslim migrants. Even before the Islamic State was formed, Christians were and continue to be targeted by Muslims -- Muslim individuals, Muslim mobs, Muslim regimes, and Muslim terrorists, from Muslim countries of all races (Arab, African, Asian) -- and for the same reason: they are infidel number one. (See Crucified Again: Exposing Islams New War on Christians for hundreds of anecdotes before the rise of ISIS as well as the Muslim doctrines that create such hate and contempt for Christians.) Conversely, Muslim refugees -- as opposed to the many ISIS and other jihadi sympathizers posing as refugees -- are not fleeing religious persecution (most Muslim migrants are, like ISIS, Sunnis), but chaos created by the violent and supremacist teachings of their own religion. Hence why when large numbers of Muslims enter Western nations -- in Germany, Sweden, France, the UK -- tension, crimes, rapes, and terrorism soar. And hence why Hungarian minister Balog also said: Our interest not only lies in the Middle East but in forms of discrimination and persecution of Christians all over the world. It is therefore to be expected that we will keep a vigilant eye on the more subtle forms of persecutions within European borders. Indeed, what more is needed than the fact that so-called Muslim refugees are throwing Christians overboard during their boat voyages across the Mediterranean to Europe? Or that Muslim majority refugee centers in Europe are essentially microcosms of Muslim majority nations: there, Christian minorities continue to be persecuted. Most recently, a report found that 88% of the 231 Christian refugees interviewed in Germany have suffered religiously motivated persecution in the form of insults, death threats, and sexual assaults. Some were pressured to convert to Islam. I really didnt know that after coming to Germany I would be harassed because of my faith in the very same way as back in Iran, one Christian refugee said. These are not isolated cases. I dont know of any refugee shelter from Garmisch to Hamburg where we have not found such cases, said a German authority. Is persecuting religious minorities the behavior of people who are in need of a sympathetic welcome by Europeans and Americans? Or is this behavior yet another reminder that it is non-Muslims from the Middle East who are truly in need of sanctuary? Western nations should further accept Christian refugees because Western foreign policies are directly responsible for exacerbating their persecution. Christians did not flee from Bashar Assads Syria, or Saddam Husseins Iraq, or Muammar Gaddafis Libya. Their systematic persecution -- to the point of genocide -- began only after the U.S. and other European nations interfered in those nations under the pretext of democracy. All they did is unleash the jihadi forces that the dictators had long kept suppressed. Now the Islamic State is deeply embedded in all three nations, enslaving, raping, and slaughtering countless Christian infidels and other minorities. Surely if the West is responsible for unleashing the full-blown jihad on Christians, the least it can do is put Christians on the top of its refugee list -- that is, if it really cares about helping? In fact, its the opposite: report after report has shown that in Western nations persecuted Christians are at the bottom of the heap of refugees to be granted asylum. Despite the U.S. governments acknowledgement that ISIS is committing genocide against Christians in Syria, the Obama administration has taken in 5,435 Muslims, but only 28 Christians -- even though Christians are approximately 10 percent of Syrias population; in other words, to be on the same ratio with Muslims, at least 500 Christians should have been granted asylum, not 28. There are even some benefits in taking in Mideast Christians instead of Muslims. Christians are easily assimilated in Western countries, due to the shared Christian heritage. Muslims follow a completely different blueprint, Islamic law, or Sharia -- which condemns and calls for constant war (jihad) against all non-Muslims, and advocates any number of distinctly anti-Western practices (female subjugation and sex slavery, death for blasphemers and apostates, etc.). Hence its no surprise that many Muslim asylum seekers are anti-Western at heart -- or, as the German police union chief recently said, Muslim migrants despise our country and laugh at our justice. Mideast Christians also bring trustworthy language and cultural skills that are beneficial to the West. They understand the Middle Eastern -- including Islamic -- mindset and can help the West understand it. Moreover, unlike Muslims, Christians have no conflicting loyalty issues: Islamic law forbids Muslims from befriending or aiding infidels against fellow Muslims (click here to see some of the treachery this leads to in the U.S. and here to see the treachery Christians have suffered from their longtime Muslim neighbors and friends). No such threat exists among Mideast Christians. They too render unto God what is Gods and unto Caesar what is Caesars. All the above reasons -- from those that offer humanitarian relief to the true victims of persecution, to those that offer safety and even benefits to the West -- are unassailable in their logic. Hungary seems to understand all this. But can such common sense, reason, true altruism, and even self-interest ever prevail among the Wests ruling elite -- that is, assuming their motives in accepting millions of Muslims are sincere to start with? Raymond Ibrahim, author of The Al Qaeda Reader and Crucified Again, is a Shillman fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a Rosen fellow at the Middle East Forum. As of last Friday, feminists across the country are melting down over the shock of having to see and hear a twelve-year-old tape of Donald Trump talking about behaving badly toward women. One can only assume that these mighty warriors for women have been living in a bubble for the last forty years. They apparently thought their plan to transform men into full-fledged wimps had been fully implemented. Trump obviously missed two generations of enforced indoctrination and sublimation that has indeed turned many men into pajama boys. He, on the other hand, has behaved like a thug rapper who thinks the words he spews are a how-to manual. Everyone is offended by his past exploits, his apparent belief that because he was rich, he could get away with brutish conduct. Trump clearly has a history of inappropriate behavior, not unlike several past presidents and politicians, but not quite as vile. He hasn't killed anyone, as Ted Kennedy did. Now the NYT is hawking a video of more women who say he groped them, one of them thirty years ago! If true, why did they not haul off and slug him? Where was all that girl power? Wasn't that the height of the feminist movement, when they were all taking self-defense classes? These women who are so, so offended by tales of Trump from long ago are pathetic. Have none of them ever been to Italy? All over the world, men have been known to be, and often are, boors. It has been known to be the nature of the beast. Do those of us with daughters teach them to plug their ears and run as fast as they can from ugly words? No. They have to learn that not everyone is civilized or well-mannered, kind or respectful. We teach them to have self-respect and, if bothered by another person, male or female, to fight back, with words, distance, or physical force if necessary. We teach them not to take aggressive intrusion on their person from anyone. To be human, one must be aware. Much of such commonsense parenting is being undermined by the foolishness of trigger warnings and safe spaces on college campuses. Young people are being taught that speech must be severely regulated lest someone's feelings be hurt. All in all, feminism has been turned upside-down and inside out. These women want to be considered equal to men powerful, competent, advocates for other women. At the same time, they act like fragile children, as afraid of gutter language as they are of an inappropriate touch. But these same women do not speak out for the millions of women in the Muslim world who are oppressed and abused; that would be politically incorrect. They do not speak out for the Yazidi women who have for several years now been sold into sex slavery in service of barbaric jihadists. That too would be an affront to Obama's rule that we must speak no evil about radical Islamic terrorists. In short, no modern woman should have her feathers ruffled by unseemly words uttered years ago. Better we worry about the words Hillary Clinton utters today. She promises to raise our taxes by trillions of dollars, which means more massive debt. She promises to increase refugee immigration by 500%, which will guarantee an increase in domestic terrorism. She wants more gun control, more divisive racial rhetoric, more restrictions on law enforcement, more federal control of our schools, and Supreme Court justices who will further abrogate the Constitution. In short, the end of America as founded. Everyone knows that Hillary Clinton has a forty-year history of pathological lying. Everyone knows she, in the words of Colin Powell, has "unbridled ambition." People know she abused the women who threatened her husband's political career. She was the one who hired the detectives to dig up dirt on them. Those detectives stalked and harassed some of them. Hillary name-called, lied, and dismissed her husband's predatory behavior as Bill being Bill. Those women were victims of her as much as they were victims of Bill Clinton. Hillary has as gritty and perhaps an even grittier history than Trump of bad behavior toward women. She has taken millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc. Muslim countries where women cannot drive, must be covered head to toe in burkas, and can be stoned for a variety of small reasons. Using Trump's past as a weapon to take attention away from her own crimes that are being exposed on a daily basis by Wikileaks is so calculated, so transparent. But it's what the Clintons do. The feminist movement has done terrible damage to several generations of women who embraced it. The first wave, that began just after the advent of the birth control pill, taught girls that they "could have it all" education, career, and family. Millions of them put off the family for too long, until it was too late, and regretted their choice. Others had children in their forties when their own parents were too old to be hands-on grandparents. The second wave taught that women could be as sexually promiscuous as men without consequences. But there were consequences: STDs, drug abuse, loss of self-respect. And now we have the third wave, a complete turnabout, in which young women must be shielded from offensive words and "trigger warned " in case there may come by something offensive in a work of literature (so many books they cannot read!) or in a campus speaker who may have views antithetical to their own. Feminist culture has created women who would be unrecognizable to the women of the American past women of the Colonial, Revolutionary, Civil War and industrial, WWI, and WWII eras. Those women were tough, strong, and competent, whether they had educations or not. And their lives were truly difficult in countless ways women of today cannot imagine. Women of the twenty-first century have so much for which to be eternally grateful, but it seems all the feminists among us do is complain about the silliest, most irrelevant things. They have won on every front but cannot stop whining. If Hillary wins the election, their lives are not going to be better; they will be decidedly worse less free, less secure economically, and less safe, for them and their families. There will be more chaos in the Middle East and around the world. Trump's past behavior is odious, but he is the only option at this late date. He just might turn things around. Hillary will double down on all of Obama's failed policies. This is pretty sick when you think about it, but there are apparently some global warming alarmists who are actually disappointed that Hurricane Matthew wasn't the epic disaster that some were predicting before it hit the U.S. Billions in damages, massive flooding, and 30 Americans dead is hardly enough to get the blood circulating in these global warming ghouls. They crave catastrophe the same way I crave coffee in the morning. All the better to "prove" their thesis that unless we return to the good old days of the 1850s and swear off fossil fuels, we are doomed, doomed I say. IBD: Before Matthew made landfall Saturday in South Carolina, it had been more than 4,000 days since the last hurricane hit the U.S. That's 10 years, 11 months and about a week. The alarmists were itching for a large-scale disaster because every day that went by without a hurricane, especially an epic one, meant that their predictions than man-made global warming was going to cause more and bigger storms was another day that made them look like the cons and hopelessly conned that they are. Their impatient craving for a crisis was summed up well two years ago in August when a fellow named Greg Blanchette tweeted that he "kind of" hoped that North America "gets its ass kicked this hurricane season. It would motivate us on climate action." Is this the same Greg Blanchette who proposed that service stations be forced to placefrightening global warming warnings on gas-pump nozzles, an idea that's now law in North Vancouver, British Columbia? Maybe not. But it doesn't matter. If they're not the same person, it simply means there are two climate cranks running loose out there with the same name. A couple of years before Blanchette was wishing for wreck and ruin, British naturalist David Attenborough said that "disaster" was needed to wake people up to the threat of climate change. The "disasters" the U.S. had experience up to that point "with hurricanes and floods", he said, "doesn't do it," so the crisis he was been hoping for must be truly cataclysmic. On Friday, as Matthew barreled up Florida's coast, Marshall Shepherd, a professor in atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia, tweeted about the "ridiculous complaining" he was seeing about the hurricane being less severe than expected. "Some seem disappointed there isn't tragic loss of life/apocalyptic," he said. Maybe he was addressing those who were upset because they thought the storm was overhyped by forecasters. Or could he have been addressing those who were thinking like Blanchette and Attenborough? Who, by the way, are not alone. The environmental movement is filled with haters who yearn for a planet without man. After all, Attenborough himself lamented to the British press that humans are a "plague on the Earth." He was probably looking forward to Matthew the way a child looks forward to a trip to the amusement park. Nothing like a catastrophically devastating hurricane to get a warmist in a good mood. They must positively swoon as TV pictures of hurricane force winds whipping through the palm trees elicit shouts of "go, go, go!" These cheerleaders for death and destruction couldn't gin up much concern for those who lost their homes or lives. Actually, I'm surprised they didn't claim that the hurricane track, which took it up the coast of Florida rather than hit the state head on, was proof of global warming. After all, anything that happens is due to climate change, so a hurricane that misses is as good as one that smashes ashore. And they want to lock up skeptics? I'd like to introduce you to the worst college professor in America, in my opinion. Her name is Larycia Hawkins. As some of you may know, she was fired from Wheaton College, a liberal but evangelical school (they have feminist and socialist professors). Hawkins crossed a bridge too far when she decided to wear a hijab in "solidarity" with "Muslims." But the hijab is not simply a symbol of Islam, as many Muslim women do not wear the hijab. The hijab is a symbol of fundamentalist Islam, of those who endorse sharia law and the brutal mistreatment of women. Hawkins's tacit endorsement of sharia law was too much even for Wheaton, which fired her, but it turns out it was just the tip of the iceberg. Let's see how many boxesmy choice for the worst professor in America can check. 1) Anti-white racist. Her classes included "Race and the Politics of Welfare" and "Race and the Obama Presidency." She talked about how Obama had to appear to "transcend" race in order to get elected, about why he spoke differently to black and white audiences, about how polling data suggested that he would have won by an even larger margin were he white. She wrote a speech that used zombies as an extended metaphor for the way black men have been dehumanized in American political culture. White = racist. And so yet another scholar's career is launched and nurtured. No matter that a white-majority country elected Obama twice; America was racist because it didn't elect him by even larger margins. 2) Self-appointed victim status. As Hawkins settled in at Wheaton, she struggled. Though she loved her students, the heavy teaching load was stressful[.] Heavy teaching load? At a college? Was she burning the midnight oil? What about all those long holidays and summers off? Her health and social life suffered. She rarely had time for exercise or her book club anymore, dating was difficult, and she battled chronic sinus infections, migraines and high blood pressure, which she attributed to stress. Stress? Of being a professor at a university? Compared to other professional jobs in business, law, and medicine, not so much. 3) Hating symbols of America. A year or two after arriving on campus, she developed a distaste for performances of patriotism and decided to stop saluting the flag and singing the national anthem. 4) Tarring Christians as racist. In particular, she was reading a lot of black liberation theology, a strain of thinking that emerged from the Black Power movement of the 1960s. [The philosophy argues that] Jesus' central mission was to liberate the oppressed ... but mainstream American Christianity is beholden to irredeemably corrupt "white theology." She felt "spiritually dry," a term Christians use to describe the feeling of being far from God. 5) Pushing to admit students simply because they are gay. Hawkins pushed the college to expand its language around diversity to include L.G.B.T.Q. students[.] 6) Wanting to reinterpret Christianity to use it to promote a race-baiting, anti-man, pro-gay agenda. Hawkins advocated: A politics of difference requires, in short, a radical shift in the body politic and in the body of Christ. It requires a body politic that sees bodies, gendered bodies, colored bodies, disabled bodies, L.G.B.T.Q. bodies[.] How about simply seeing bodies, or better yet, people, without regard to their skin color or whom or what they seek out for sexual satisfaction? 7) Her tacit endorsement of sharia law. There was ... her deference to the judgment of the Council on American Islamic Relations, whose advice and blessing Hawkins sought before donning the hijab. And then there were the photos themselves, showing Hawkins in a patterned purple head scarf, which may have been the most incendiary aspect of all. CAIR is a radical Hamas front group. Hawkins was not just showing sympathy to Muslims; she was cozying up to radical Islamists. This was too much even for Wheaton having a professor at an evangelical school advocate sharia law. She was fired. Don't worry about Hawkins. She's already cashing in on her victimhood: Since her controversial leave-taking from Wheaton, she had become something of a celebrity in the small world of interfaith media and nonprofits. In the spring, she began taking speaking engagements, and she traveled to accept awards from religious organizations in Michigan, New York and Washington. She recently worked out a deal with HarperOne to write a book about "embodied solidarity," Have you ever had a professor worse than this, who checked off all the boxes of the hard left self victimization, anti-white "scholarship," attacking Christianity, and pushing the gay lifestyle and, incongruously, sharia law at the same time? Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com. HIT: To the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office for allowing its employees to break the rules. In this case, growing a shaggy beard or sporting brightly-decorated fingernails is being encouraged during the month of November for those making a contribution to support cancer prevention services. No-Shave November will result in a lot of scruffy-faced deputies and additional funding for the American Cancer Society. MISS: To a bomb threat at the Auburn Wal-Mart. Auburn Wal-Mart briefly evacuates store after bomb threat Wal-Mart Supercenter on Grant Avenue in Auburn briefly evacuated its store Wednesday afterno As with any such threat, the store was evacuated and police went to check it out, although the Auburn Police Department said that young people could be heard laughing during a phone call stating that a bomb had been placed at the store. Threats such as this one are not funny, and some employees and shoppers at the store were upset at what was going on We wish these types on nonsense phone calls would just go away. But when they occur, we hope that police are able to track down the callers so they may learn it's not a joke to threaten people with harm. HIT: To funding to replace old and worn-out bulletproof vests for local police. Money from the federal Department of Justice is helping police agencies across the country upgrade their safety equipment. The Auburn Police Department will receive four new vests, and the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office will receive 10. We sure hope the vests are never put to the test, but they are proven lifesavers that no law enforcement officer should be without. One of the sillier narratives to come out of the second presidential debate was the various takes on Hillary Clinton's insect incident. The picture of Hillary with a fly on her face went viral faster than you can say "zombie food." But seriously, the filthy little pest landed right on her face, just inside her eyebrow. There were lots of different takes on the fly's motives. The incident really bothered me. Why didn't she shake her head or swat at it? These are reflexive actions, right? Oh, some attributed her inaction to her "professional" training, her leadership quality of powering through. But we all know that's pure crap. If you have a filthy fly on your face, get it off. Then it hit me, where I've seen this before: the movie Psycho. The last scene shows a fly landing on the killer's face, and he doesn't swat it away. Of course, now that I think about it, that's not the only similarity between the psychopath in the movie and Hillary Clinton. Alfred Hitchcock's classic film is the story of a woman, Marion Crane, who's on the run after stealing $40,000. She pulls into the Bates Motel for the night and is stabbed to death by a psycho, Norman Bates, or rather Norman's mother. Norman's a schizophrenic. He has two personalities: his own and that of his dead mother. Well, Hillary hasn't chopped anyone up (that we know of, anyway see Wikileaks). But Clinton's path to the White House is nonetheless littered with dead bodies. As New York senator, Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war, where over 4,500 American service members died in battle. Yet she now says it was a mistake. In a September town hall, (Military Forum), Matt Lauer asked Hillary about her remarks. "Look, I think that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a mistake," she said. "I also believe that it is imperative that we learn from the mistake." So Hillary didn't apologize she just qualified her support as a mistake. I'm sure the mothers, fathers, wives, and children of these 4,500 dead soldiers will take comfort from that fact that Hillary used their deaths as a teachable moment. Then we have the Benghazi terror attack. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith, and Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were all left for dead by then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton. She ignored 600 calls for help, worked on an illegal and insecure server that may have exposed the embassy location and activities, and failed to send help when the compound came under attack. She then joined President Obama and lied to the American people and the victims' families that a video triggered the attack. But she doesn't want to keep going over Benghazi; it's old news. As Hillary said in the Benghazi hearings, "What difference, at this point, does it make?" To the victims' families, Hillary, it will never stop making a difference. We have the Obama-Clinton policies that have resulted in tens of thousands of American deaths. Open borders. Men, women, and children killed by illegal immigrants, drunk drivers, gang members, murderers, and drug dealers. No, it's not all illegals, but as many as 7,500 Americans 20 per day are killed annually by unlicensed drivers alone. That's a pretty high number if it's your teen behind the wheel. Add to that frightening statistic the fact that illegal alien crime accounts for over 30% of murders in many states, and that approximately two million teens between the ages of 12 and 17 are currently in need of treatment for a substance abuse problem, and you begin to realize that your kids are in real danger from illegal immigration. The Syrian migration. Hillary admits they have no idea who these migrants are. (Some of the young, strong men have cell phones with beheadings and cage drownings in their favorites, Hillary. That might be a clue.) But the truth is, Hillary fully understands the danger of unvetted migrants, and she knows that per the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there is "no way" to vet the refugees. Hillary even admits that terrorists can infiltrate the migration, yet she still wants to increase the invasion by 550%. That's who Hillary Clinton is: a schizophrenic psychopath who has two very separate, very different personalities. She said as much in her Wall Street speeches, where she said she has "both a public and a private position." Her public persona a polished politician, experienced and steady, a sweet, smiling grandmother. Her private persona a greedy, corrupt, politician who stepped over the bodies of Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, and Tyrone Woods in Benghazi. The woman who let 4,500 of our finest fight and die in Iraq, their sacrifice cheapened as a mistake, a learning experience for Hillary. The private persona who sold out American interests to the highest bidder (20% of our uranium to Russia), for whom no betrayal is out of reach for the right price a Clinton Cash donation. In the end of the movie Psycho, the Norman Bates personality is gone, overcome by the mother's personality. Police psychiatrist Dr. Richmond explains: Norman Bates no longer exists. He only half-existed to begin with. And now, the other half has taken over. Probably for all time. So it is with this election. If Hillary Clinton wins, she and her ilk will rule "for all time." This is America's last chance to get these evil tyrants out of our government. If we lose, whether by votes, fraud, or government intervention, it will be over. During the second presidential debate, Donald Trump did a masterful job of prosecuting Hillary. He called her on her lies, the lives lost due to her corrupt dealings, open borders, the Syrian migration, our disappearing jobs, her plan to dismantle the 2nd Amendment, and so on. Though Hillary kept her practiced smile throughout the debate, she knew that her mask was slipping. She struggled to portray herself as a caring leader, a sweet, warmhearted grandmother who only wants to make the world a better place. But her alter ego bled through the wholesome image. This was Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare, stranded out on that stage, alone, no rapid response team to spin Trump's facts, no media gang-bang to shut Trump up. It was just she and Trump, and she was losing. Then opportunity arrived in the unlikely form of an ordinary housefly. Hillary's mind raced does she swat it, take the chance of smashing the little SOB into her forehead? Does she shake her head and risk a seizure, try to flick it off but maybe lose balance? There's danger at every turn. Finally, like Benghazi, like her 30 years in politics, Hillary decides to do nothing. Norman Bates's mother: Four black adult suspects have been arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault in what should have been charges of attempted murder for the attack on 17-year-old Brian Ogle September 30. Earlier in the same week, Ogle posted "I back the blue" on social media. That was enough to mobilize four former Sylacauga High School thugs to pistol-whip the teen on his head and viciously beat him into unconsciousness. Brian's constitutional right to express himself landed him in the ICU with multiple skull fractures and internal bleeding. Three of the four suspects were arrested at their college campuses. The other one in Sylacauga, where his mother is a city councilwoman. The savage assault on Ogle included Quartez Walker, who allegedly used a handgun to beat the teen on the head. Walker faces assault in the first degree, the others assault in the second degree. They are being held on $15,000 to $20,000 bond. Ogle's mother, Brandi Allen, stated, "I'm not happy with the amount of the bond and the charges. They should have been charged with attempted murder, by all means. They'll probably be out on bail tonight." Allen almost lost her son. But he's the wrong color for the suspects to be charged with a hate crime. Reverse the skin colors in this horrific attack, and we'd be hearing about racist white America 24/7 from the White House to the DOJ to CNN. The media doesn't care about Brian. No national headlines. Nothing's in it for the propagandists. Besides, the media lemmings selling their souls for a paycheck might end up worse than Brian if they defy their corporate masters. Brian's head got bashed in by four black guys because he's white and dared to write something nice about police. Police chief Kelley Johnson said he made "people mad about what he posted on Facebook." Brian didn't understand that respecting law enforcement officers can get you killed in Obama's post-racial America. Accomplices to this crime, Al Sharpton, the Obamas, Hillary Clinton, Van Jones, the Congressional Black Caucus, Black Lives Matter, the NAACP, Loretta Lynch, and other instigators couldn't care less that Ogle faces months of rehabilitation for his injuries. They have all proven themselves no better than ISIS leaders who recruit young people via social media to kill and maim innocent Americans. While Hillary Clinton can't even recall the most basic details of her private email server, you can rest assured her memory is as sharp as a whip when it comes to other matters: 1) She gave a speech in China calling for women to have rights. She does not recall, however, any mention of China's buildup in the South China Sea, or even that there is a South China Sea. Nor does she recall putting any pressure on China to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons, since she is to this day unaware that North Korea is even trying to develop them. 2) Supporting the Iran deal that caused Iran to give up nuclear weapons. Mrs. Clinton has a firm memory of this but cannot recall small details, such as Iran's ability to monitor its own weapon sites and the loopholes that will allow them to continue to enrich uranium, develop ballistic missiles, and fund terrorism, since Mrs. Clinton believed that Tehran is too preoccupied with pistachio nuts and carpet exports to focus on terrorism. 3) Working to get full health benefits to reservists and National Guard members. Mrs. Clinton remembers this well, and is also sure she voted to provide guns and war material to said military, but she doesn't exactly remember which votes those were. 4) Creating an ambassador at large for womens issues. Mrs. Clinton remembers this well, even inviting her husband to vet the candidates for the position. Unfortunately, she has no memory of discussing womens issues with major foundation donors from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, where women have only slightly more rights than cocker spaniels. 5) Supporting military intervention in Libya. Mrs. Clinton remembers this well, though she doesn't remember what organization came to power after Gaddafi was overthrown, nor does she have any memory of America ever having an ambassador to Libya, thinking we had not reappointed one since President Reagan pulled ours out in the 1980s. 6) Mrs. Clinton persuaded the Chinese to agree to cut carbon emissions in the distant future. However, she forgets exactly how man-made activity causes global warming, since only 3% of carbon emissions are man-made. 7) Hillary remembers getting CHIP, a health care insurance plan for children, passed, and even remembers voting for it, four years before she entered the Senate. 8) Hillary remembers setting up the Bill, Hillary and Cheelsea Clinton Foundation, but she doesn't remember getting any donations from countries she met with in her day job while she was secretary of state. Hillary instead distinctly remembers being secretary of the interior, not secretary of state, and having no contact with foreign governments who gave large donations to her foundation, which she temporarily forgot even existed while she worked in government. 9) And of course Hillary remembers every day of Bill Clinton's tenure, except the days where he was impeached, lied under oath, denied having sex with "that woman," and forfeited his law license, and one or two other minor events of what has turned out to be their very successful joint co-presidency. So generally Mrs. Clinton has a great memory, at least when it comes to her successes. Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com. Thomas Lifson adds: Hillary remembers well the time she came under sniper fire, landing in Bosnia. The only problem: she was videotaped: In 1958, New York City mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. issued an executive order that permitted municipal employees to be represented by unions for collective bargaining. This order came to be called the little Wagner act, not because it was insignificant (its effects would be vast), but because it followed the big Wagner act, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 authored by the mayors father, United States senator Robert F. Wagner, Sr. When he became president, John Kennedy observed that Juniors little act had revolutionized New York City politics. Democrat officials and union leaders now shared an interest in lavishly spending public money on public salaries and pensions, which would circle back to the unions in the form of increased dues, and then back to the politicians themselves in the form of campaign contributions and advertising. It was a virtuous circle in which all were winners, except the taxpayers who financed it. With his Executive Order 10988 in 1962, President Kennedy imposed the little Wagner act on the entire country. Now federal employees could join unions and negotiate wages, hours and overtime, vacations and holidays, work rules, and job security. Other cities and states followed suit. Politicians became entrenched with union support, the unions grew rich on Democrat largesse, the Democratic Party became the Party of Government, and the costs of operating government began to soar. Were still paying the consequences of that little act. Our national debt doubles every eight years. But no amount of money, it seems, is enough to improve the performance of employees who cannot be fired. In recent years, weve learned of mind-numbing incompetence and spirit-sapping malfeasance by federal employees. In Fast and Furious, the ATF sold guns to Mexican drug cartels then lost track of them with predictable consequences. Homeland Security failed to find 95% of smuggled weapons and explosives in a security test. The EPA accidentally poisoned Colorados Animas River with three million gallons of toxic sludge. The Department of Veterans Affairs wasted $6 billion on artwork, furniture, bloated contracts, and employee bonuses, while veterans died waiting for medical treatment. Terrible tales of bungling have similarly tainted the CDC, the GSA, the IRS, the Pentagon, the Department of Justice, and the FBI, and even the Secret Service. But nobody takes responsibility, nobody pays a price. So when politicians tell us that some of us arent paying our fair share, and when we find out that we cant dismiss even grossly incompetent public servants, well, thats when our stomachs start to churn. Our nation has other important problems: porous borders, a weak economy, and foreign threats. We can solve those; weve solved much tougher problems in the past. But weve never even addressed the silent civil war that now engages us: the battle between those who work in the demanding private sector and those whose privilege of regulating and monitoring the rest of us is lucrative and consequence-free. This is, in large measure, why Donald Trump won the Republican nomination. He can be rude, often blusters, speaks off the cuff, and doesnt carefully choose his words. But to those of us who have learned to distrust the rhetoric of career politicians, this is frosting. That Trump is a successful businessman who knows how to say Youre fired! is the cake. After nearly eight years under the "leadership" of Barack Obama, most Americans looked forward to the election of 2016. Yet when the primaries were finally said and done, the candidates selected to represent the Republican and the Democrat parties resulted in a massive boost in the sales of Pepto-Bismol throughout the United States. Almost all the people I've spoken to in the past six months expressed, in multiple (and frequently very creative) ways, that they believe that this is possibly the worst matchup in the history of the Republic. They tell me again and again that it couldn't be worse, that we have a choice that results in a selection of "really bad" or "much worse." Believing that this is the worst it could be is wishful thinking at its most extreme. Imagine a national election that consisted of David Duke versus Charlie Manson. That would be worse, when you consider that one of them would actually win. There really isn't very much that can be done in the next four weeks that will ease the deep-seated fear of what will happen to our nation regardless of which one of these people is elected. So what are we able at least to plan on doing over the next four years? If you think this is a unique situation, please look back to 1854. With so many disgusted with the unacceptable choices presented by the Democratic Party versus the Whig Party, a new party was formed namely, the Republican Party. Six years later, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln as their candidate to guide the United States of America. Not really a bad choice, was it? It would seem that the nation is facing the exact same issue today. We have abysmally corrupt political parties that claim to offer leadership while their leaders simply line their own pockets and scramble for more personal power. This very scenario has been acted out time and time again, over the whole world. Rapacious men and women, hungry for power and wealth, scramble and claw their way to the top of the political structure. What type of political structure they were working to control is almost immaterial. Today, as in 1854, we struggle for control over a democratically designed republic. But ordinary folk, the common man (and woman, of course), have risen time and again in rebellion against the elites. Just a few years after America declared its independence from the monarchy of Great Britain, thousands of lives were spent to ensure that those whom Great Britain's monarchy considered their elite would no longer dominate the citizens of America. Barely a decade after that, the government of France went through a similar, and very bloody, revolution. Their elites weren't simply banned from France; they were beheaded. Losing an election, by comparison, doesn't sound too bad, does it? So it appears that we have to select the least repulsive candidate we can determine on November 8. But I submit that a second choice must also be made. The time is come for us to repeat what happened in 1854. No, not form a new Republican Party. Form a replacement for the current Republican Party, and start selecting honest men and women to run for Congress and state offices in 2018. The key word in that sentence is "honest." Begin before the new president we will be stuck with actually takes office in seeking candidates to replace them in 2020. Those who believe that this may be the only way to eliminate the corruption that has been embedded in the political party called Republican, those who have to search for an honest man or woman to run for president in 2020, have to start immediately. Why must the search begin immediately? Because finding an honest man or woman isn't exactly easy. Think about how successful the Greek philosopher Diogenes Laertius was when he took his lantern and held it up to the faces of his fellow citizens. When Diogenes was asked what he was doing, walking around in broad daylight with a lit lantern, he responded, "I am looking for an honest man." Now we too must go looking for honest men and women. Uncorrupted men and women. Idealistic realists (or perhaps it should be realistic idealists). Perhaps, if we are extremely lucky, we will find such people. I find it hard to believe that we can't find even one in 315 million. Jim Yardley is a retired financial controller and a two-tour Vietnam veteran. He writes frequently about political idiocy, business and economic idiocy, and American cultural idiocy. Jim also blogs at http://jimyardley.wordpress.com, and can be contacted directly at james.v.yardley@gmail.com. UNESCO, the U.N. agency charged with protecting cultural treasures, passed a resolution that declares Israel an "occupying power" in Jerusalem while refusing to recognize Temple Mount and other Jewish holy sites as legitimate. The resolution is expected to be approved by the UNESCO executive committee later this month. Washington Times: The U.S. and some European nations fought the resolution but were easily outmuscled by Russia, China and Middle Eastern and developing nations. Opponents were also hindered by two dozen countries that refused to vote at all, delivering victory to Israels critics in committee. A final vote by the UNESCO executive committee is slated for later this month. One-sided anti-Israel resolutions have been a recurring challenge at UNESCO in recent years, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington, decrying the latest version, which Israeli newspapers reported passed by a 24-6 vote. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision absurd, while members of the U.S. Congress said the resolution embarrassed the international body, whose formal name is the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. To declare that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the Pyramids, Mr. Netanyahu told the Reuters news agency. This insanity shows that Israels adversaries are willing to go to any lengths to denigrate our ally, added Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican. Not only does the U.N. pretend that there is moral equivalency between Israeli citizens and Palestinian terrorists, UNESCO goes out of its way to insult Israel. Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, said hell insist on Jerusalem getting recognition as Israels capital by moving the U.S. embassy there. And he said the Obama administration hasnt done enough to defend the citys place in Jewish history. In a Trump Administration, Israel will have a true, loyal and lasting friend in the United States of America, Mr. Trump said in a statement. Submitted by a handful of Middle Eastern nations, the draft resolution affirms the Old City of Jerusalems place in the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But the resolution then details a long list of grievances, accusing Israel of hindering Muslim worshippers access to their holy sites and looking the other way as Israelis provoke Palestinians in both Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This is nothing less than a denial of history. Palestinians routinely deny archeologists access to important digs to prevent anyone from proving that the Jews were in Jerusalem before Muslims. They deny that "Temple Mount" even exists by referring to the site as "al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary)." And then the Arabs had the gall to claim that the stated aim of the text was "the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem." One Israeli minister referred to the resolution as "delusional": Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Unesco was ignoring "thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem" and aiding "Islamist terror". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Facebook post that Unesco had become a "theatre of the absurd" in taking "another delusional decision". "To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. By this absurd decision, Unesco has lost what little legitimacy it had left." Well put, Mr. Prime Minister. It's amazing how far the U.N. will go to demonstrate its anti-Semitic character. Denying history and reality, the Palestinians and their allies won't be satisfied until everything Jewish in Israel is sanitized or wiped off the earth. Cannons and bells have always had a special relationship. They are made from the same metals and often in the same factory. Throughout history, bells have been melted to make cannons during times of war, and cannons have been melted to make bells during times of peace. It is not surprising, hence, that the biggest specimens of both share the same grounds of the Moscow Kremlin, lying less than a hundred meters from each other. The Tsar Cannon The Tsar Cannon is a 40-ton behemoth with a caliber of 890 mm, considered to be largest in the world. It was built in 1586, by master bronze craftsman Andrei Chekov at the behest of Tsar Theodore I, the son of Ivan the Terrible. Unfortunately, the cannon was too large to have any practical purpose as firing a solid cannonball from its barrel would have caused it to wreck. For a long time, it was thought that the canon was never used but late 20th century analysis revealed that it had been fired at least once, possibly a grapeshot rather than a cannonball. Photo credit: Jorge Lascar/Flickr Perhaps, the Tsar Cannon was built mostly as a show of power rather than actual military use. In those days, Russian cannon masters had a reputation as among the worlds best. They devised models of weapons that had no parallel in the West. Russian gunsmiths were the first to add grooves to the interior walls of barrels, long before spiraled rifling appeared in the 19th century. Oblong shells, fixed front and rear sights, and breech loading systems are all innovations by Russian cannon masters. The Russian army also maintained one of the largest artillery arsenals in Europe. The cannon originally stood in Red Square for more than a century, before it was moved to the Kremlin. Today, it stands mounted on a gun carriage and, for added effect, several large cannon balls are placed under its muzzle. Photo credit: e_chaya/Flickr Photo credit: Dennis Jarvis/Flickr The Tsar Bell Not far from the largest cannon, stands another worlds largest the Tsar Bell. It is 6 meters tall and 6.6 meters across, and weighs almost 202 tons. Its surface is decorated with relief images of baroque angels, patron saints, and nearly life-size images of Empress Anna and Tsar Alexey. Like the Tsar Cannon, the Tsar Bell was never used. Its construction was marked by a series of misfortunes that caused it to either break or burn every time an attempt was made to cast. The original bell was small compared to the one that stands on Moscow Kremlin today, but was still massive at 18,000 kg. The bell crashed to the ground in a fire and broke to pieces. The second Tsar Bell, cast using the remnants of the former bell, was much larger at 100,000 kilograms. This bell too was destroyed in a fire before it was completed. The third incarnation of the bell was even grander, and weighed twice as much as the former. To build a bell of such unprecedented size, a large pit was dug very near where the bell currently stands. After two years of casting, the bell was complete and was cooling when yet another fire broke out. Fearing the flames would damage the bell, guards threw cold water over it causing the hot metal to crack and a huge slab weighing more than 10 tons broke off. The bell fell back into the casting pit where it remained for almost a century. It was finally raised in 1836 and was placed on a pedestal. Photo credit: Leon Yaakov/Flickr Photo credit: Jorge Lascar/Flickr Photo credit: Martha de Jong-Lantink/Flickr Photo credit: Alan/Flickr The Mi Note 2 is Xiaomis upcoming flagship phablet which is expected to arrive either this or next month. This handset has been leaking out for months now, as many people were expecting Xiaomi to release it in the first half of this year, but that did not happen. In any case, weve seen quite a few Mi Note 2 rumors and leaks recently, the companys CEO said that the device will surprise us, while the phone itself leaked yesterday with a vertical dual camera setup. That being said, a new rumor has just surfaced, lets see what it says. This rumor comes from a China-based analyst, Pan Jiutang, and it suggests that the Mi Note 2 could be more expensive than people are expecting it to be. Xiaomi is well-known for making high-end smartphones which are usually quite affordable, the Mi 5, Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus are all great examples. Well, if this rumor is to be believed, the Mi Note 2 will cost at least 4,000 Yuan ($600), and it seems like Pan Jiutang is referring to the base model. Now, if this is true, then this could be the most expensive handset by Xiaomi, ever, and with the Galaxy Note 7 out of the picture, Xiaomi could push towards that category with their latest phablet. The Mi Note 2 is rumored to sport curved display sides, similar to what the Galaxy Note 7 had to offer, and the phone will be similar to the Galaxy Note 7 in terms of size as well. Having that in mind, the Mi Note 2 is expected to sport a 5.7-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display, along with 6GB of RAM and a couple of internal storage variants. This phablet will be fueled by the Snapdragon 821 64-bit quad-core processor, along with the Adreno 530 GPU. Two rear-facing cameras will probably be included on the back of this device, and were expecting to see either two 12-megapixel or 13-megapixel sensors back there, along with the LED flash. The device will be made out of metal and glass, and a ceramic back variant is also a possibility, though well have to wait and see what happens. Having launched the PRIV and the DTEK50 smartphones over the past year, Canadian tech company, BlackBerry, is now all set to launch its third Android smartphone, the DTEK60. The device hasnt yet been officially announced, but various leaks, rumors and online listings have revealed just about all there is to know about the upcoming handset. The DTEK60 has already popped up on a number of e-commerce sites, including B&H and NCIX Canada. Now, it is the turn of yet another third-party retailer, Staples Canada, to list the upcoming device for pre-order on its website, although it is currently said to be Out of Stock. The listing, however, includes pricing details and hardware specifications of BlackBerrys latest premium smartphone. Staples is quoting CAD $699.99 ($535) for the unlocked 32GB model of the DTEK60, which is the exact same price as quoted by NCIX. B&H in the US, meanwhile, is asking for $500 from BlackBerry faithfuls wanting to pre-order the device in the U.S. While the pre-order page on B&H has since been taken down, the listing did provide confirmation of the rumored hardware specs of the all-new BlackBerry smartphone thats believed to be designed and manufactured by TCL. The Chinese tech company was in charge of the mid-range DTEK50, which was launched earlier this year and was thought to be a re-branded Alcatel Idol 4. The Canadian company has already announced that it wont be investing any more of its resources into designing smartphones and will instead concentrate on its profitable software services business. That being the case, this particular device is also believed to be designed and manufactured by the Chinese firm, and is very likely a re-branded Alcatel smartphone if online speculations are anything to go by. According to the various listings, the BlackBerry DTEK60 will be a premium smartphone that will feature a 5.5-inch Quad HD (2560 x 1440) display panel and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset. The device will come with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, while imaging options will include a 21-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The phone will have a fingerprint scanner and an NFC chip, while a 3,000mAh battery will keep the lights on. The phone measures 6.06 x 2.97 x 0.28-inches, while connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.2 LE and USB-C. The European Commission is currently pushing three separate antitrust cases against Google. In this unprecedented initiative to stamp out any potential anti-competitive practices in Europe, the Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is looking into tech giants Android, Google Search, and AdWords businesses and has filed official charges on all three fronts. While Vestager herself recently stated that her team already has their hands full with existing cases and isnt planning an official investigation into companys controversial tax deals, new legal trouble for Google may still be in the making. Speaking to reporters during a conference held last week, Vestager said that theres still room for further action against Google as numerous complaints about content scraping have recently been filed against the Mountain View-based company. For the uninitiated, content scrapping is a term describing the practice of copying content from websites without compensation. While it may seem strange that EUs chief competition commissioner is bothering which such allegations, its worth noting that the aforementioned complaints werent made by some random blogs but major media companies and websites including Getty Images, News Corp, and a whole lot of German outlets. Granted, Vestager admitted that she isnt ready to make any decisions on this front given how shes currently focusing her efforts on existing cases against Google but stated that accusations of content scrapping arent to be taken lightly. Regardless of whether these allegations against Google are true or not, EUs commissioner is certainly right content scrapping implies not only competition but also copyright-related issues which usually translate to a world of legal trouble for the accused party. However, if Vestager decides to take action against Google on this front, that probably wont happen before late 2017 or early 2018 when the aforementioned antitrust case against the companys Search service is expected to be concluded. However, the Danish-born EU official isnt the only one with the authority to act on complaints about content scraping. The European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Guenther Oettinger also has his sights on this practice and has just proposed new copyright legislation which would allow traditional media outlets to demand compensation from all news aggregators including Google. Theres still no word on whether the European Commission approves this legislation but more information is expected to follow soon. Back in August pre-orders of the Galaxy Note 7 were outstanding even with a hefty $1,049.99 no-term pricing. Many Canadian carriers were offering promos via Samsung the most popular ones were the choice of a Samsung Gear Fit 2 fitness tracker or the Samsung Level Box Pro. These freebies had a street value of $250 CAD and many customers were wondering if those had to be returned with their Galaxy Note 7. Our source reached out to Samsung, and the answer is No, none of the promotional gifts need to be returned. This decree even includes those customers that returned their Note 7s and did not purchase a Samsung smartphone as a replacement, but decided to buy another brand. All users during the first recall were also entitled to a $25 credit to help cover the buyers inconvenience. We also learned earlier today that Samsung was offering a $100 credit on your bill if you returned your Note 7 to the dealer and purchased either a Samsung Galaxy S7 or a Galaxy S7 Edge. Samsung is also offering to reimburse you for your Note 7 accessories if you have a proper receipt. This outpouring of credits is all in an effort to keep valued customers, although 40-percent of Samsung customers claim they will not buy another Samsung smartphone, while almost one-third said they were switching to an iPhone. It is a shame because look how many Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones were sold this year with no problems. Samsung sells hundreds of millions of phone globally, and there has never been anything such as the Galaxy Note 7 issue. There has also been talk that Samsung will ditch the Note name or possibly even the device. The Galaxy Note series is unique among phablets, and no other manufacturer has been able to touch its design philosophy. Samsung and Wacom have developed a touchscreen and S Pen that are better than ever. Millions of Notes are sold each year, and many people would miss being able to take notes, draw out a design, or paint a beautiful picture. With Samsungs track record with their other devices, they have to determine what design flaw caused this, fix it, and move on. Hopefully, this is not the end of the Note era. Up until now Google has used one index to generate the response to all queries in the Google search engine, regardless of whether the query was on a desktop or mobile platform. Now Google has announced that it will, within the next few months, start to use a separate index for searches on mobile devices. It has also said that the mobile index would become the primary index, although didnt provide further details as to what that would mean in practice. Historically there had always been more searches conducted in Google on desktops than on mobile devices. That changed during 2015, as Google confirmed that the quantity of searches on mobile devices had surpassed desktop searches for the first time. In April 2015, Google also updated its ranking algorithm to reward sites that had been optimized for mobile use. Most web sites that werent classified as mobile-friendly were immediately ranked lower in the Google search results. Introducing an entirely new index for mobile opens up a range of possibilities, such as the fact that the new index could contain only mobile-friendly sites. It seems likely that if the mobile index becomes the primary index, then it will become the priority for updates and be kept more current than the desktop index. Although there are now more searches on mobile devices there are still a huge number on desktop too, and it would cause some frustration if the desktop search updates became less frequent, especially for site owners that still depend more on desktop users. Advertisement Google also faces more challenging competition on mobile platforms, especially with the likelihood that verbal queries to personal assistants will become increasingly common. Both Amazons Alexa and Apples Siri use the Bing search engine owned by Microsoft as their default search tool, although both can access Google search too. Google will want to ensure that it can still provide the best search results, and a new mobile index probably is the best way for it to achieve that. At the moment for example, data from a desktop version of a site can influence the ranking of the mobile version. For website designers and owners, having a site that works well on a mobile device will become even more critical. Google are introducing a new feature into both the news.google.com website and in the Google News & Weather applications thats designed to show readers that the facts have been checked for the given article. Google have been labeling stories for some time now: the company started in 2009 with labels such as In-Depth, Opinion, Wikipedia and as added earlier this year, Local Source). The latest new tag is Fact-check, designed to show readers that the story has had its facts checked. Or: read here for the truth. The new feature is rolling out for the news.google.com website and both the Android and iOS Google News & Weather applications, although Google are only initially making the change available for the American and British markets at first. Google commonly only release new services into selected markets or regions, only to roll the new features out elsewhere across the world. Fact-checking has become quite the industry this decade and Googles blog on the subject highlights that there are currently more than a hundred active fact-checking websites, citing the Duke University Reporters Lab as a source. This online resource conducts thousands of fact-checks every year covering all manner of subjects, such as urban legends, health, the media and of course todays hot potato: politics. The Google News service assesses if an article contains fact-checks in two ways. Firstly, it searches for the fact-check tag in articles and publishers creating fact-checks, and who wish for this to be acknowledged, can use the fact-check tag in articles, which the Google News service will identify for tagging purposes. Secondly, Googles News service is searching for webpages that follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact-checks. Googles blog post does not explicitly mention the run up to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, but interestingly enough shows information about the British political environment. Nor does the Google blog on the subject mention the number of hoaxes that circulate the Internet and social media announcing the death of somebody famous, but this sort of fact-checking feature is likely to be very handy for undecided voters checking the authenticity of political candidates or in seeing if a famous person really has died. You can check out how the subtle fact-check tag works in the images below: look for the article titled: Pregnant women and passports for the NHS. For Samsung, this Fall period has not gotten off to a great start, and could in fact damage the entire brand if they dont work to restore customer faith in their products and their overall brand. Just what was behind the cause of the Galaxy Note 7 fires and explosions still remains something of a mystery. Samsung first said that this was due to a rare anode-to-cathode defect found in batteries from Samsung SDI, and that when the device heads back to shelves, this problem would no longer be there. That wasnt the case however, and its now thought that the tight, narrow construction of the Galaxy Note 7 could have been to blame for these exploding batteries. The International Trade Union Confederation, however, think that it could be down to the way that Samsung has been treating employees. Over the past couple of years, reports of overworked employees as well as illnesses caused by working in a Samsung facility have been just a couple of the reports that Samsung have been faced with concerning their treatment of employees, but now Samsung is facing more allegations, this time from the ITUC. Theyve obtained, and subsequently distributed leaked slides from as far back as 2012 that show Samsung looking to limit their employees creating unions and being able to hold Samsung accountable. The below slides are from 2012, but its said that Samsung have been using this as late as 2014, and as we can see it shows that Samsung isnt too impressed with troublesome employees creating a labor union. Management at Samsung were reportedly told to punish union workers and generally make their lives difficult. What does this have to do with the Galaxy Note 7? The ITUC determines that employees working at Samsung are often overworked and not adequately compensated for it, resulting in inhumane conditions being rife and that workers are generally on their feet beyond 12 hours a day and put under immense pressure. Whether that pressure come in the form of unattainable targets or even verbal abuse, the ITUC are pointing the finger at Samsung pretty strongly here, and while a stressed and demoralized workforce can of course lead to issues in a final product, its hard to say exactly what was the cause of the Galaxy Note 7s issues until Samsung themselves come forward with an explanation. Chinese technology company LeEco has a whole host of products in its portfolio, including smartphones, smart TVs, smart bicycles and more. Although most of these devices have only been available for purchase in its home country until very recently, the company has branched out to neighboring markets like India over the past year. Now, LeEco is all set to bring some of its products to the United States, and towards that end, is holding a launch event in San Francisco, California, on October 19th. The companys US-bound products include the Le Max 2 and Le S3 smartphones, as well as the LeEco Super4 series TV sets and the LeEco uMax85 TV. In the run up to the launch day, a LeEco device has now hit the FCC. The device has an FCC ID of 2AFWMLEX727, and is believed to be one of the two smartphones that LeEco will launch in the country next week. While further details regarding the device are still hard to come by, all the products the company will launch in the country have been available for purchase in China for some time now, which means theyve already been tried and tested. The Le Max 2 is the companys current premium offering, and comes with a 5.7-inch WQHD (2560 x 1440) display panel, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC and the 21-megapixel Sony IMX230 sensor as its primary camera. The device is expected to carry a price-tag of $349, but will be available at a $60 discount through the end of this year. LeEco will also launch a mid-range smartphone in the form of the Le S3, which appears to be a renamed or slightly tweaked LeEco Le 2 thats priced at $180 in India, but is currently available for purchase at a nifty little discount. This ones been listed at $229, but will also get the $60 discount through December 2016, bringing its effective price down to just $169. The handset features a 5.5-inch 1080p display and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC. LeEco, which recently bought U.S. television maker Vizio, is also likely to launch a range of smart televisions that are expected to be marketed under its own LeEco brand. All of the TV models come with 4K panels and run Android TV out of the box, although, their prices have not yet been disclosed. Advertisement Buy The LeEco Le Max 2 The smartphone market is a very dog-eat-dog world. Markets vary widely in size, needs, and special considerations, leading to a huge number of decisions that have to be made with the utmost care. A single misstep can utterly undermine consumer confidence and royally sabotage efforts in a market, or even worldwide. When a company known for great hardware builds up hype for their latest and greatest, it works, and it works well. Thats why the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 sold millions, and part of why it garnered rave reviews all around. Until it started exploding, that is. At that point, things took a predictably dramatic downturn for the Note 7, and, two botched recalls later, analysts are predicting that Samsung is set to lose close to $17 billion when the smoke clears, and some 34% of survey respondents who bought a Note 7 say that they plan to avoid Samsung altogether. The timing for this couldnt have been worse for Samsung, and thats for two reasons; the Google Pixel, and the Google Pixel XL. Moto is losing consumer confidence under Lenovo. HTC is still being ignored despite producing worthy devices. LG is experimenting with devices too odd to attract the mass market. Sony is in the middle of an all or nothing revival in their mobile business. Chinese manufacturers are just starting to get their land legs and gain consumer trust in other markets. For all intents and purposes, many consumers see Samsung as the best alternative to an iPhone right now, and even those in the know cant blame them. So, what happens when Samsung devices start blowing up? First, the Note 7 brought the heat, then reports of other Samsung devices like the Galaxy S7 exploding started getting much more attention and scrutiny than the average story of a phone blowing up. Phones explode all the time; iPhones do it, Nexus devices do it, sub-$50 uber-budget devices do it, and Samsung devices did it before the Note 7. With the panic caused by the Note 7 warping Samsungs image in the public eye, though, people have lost sight of that, and thats very, very good for Google right now. In 2016, you cant take two steps without bumping into a phone featuring a 1080p or greater display powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM, but phones with Android 7.1, the newest iteration of Nougat, along with features like Google Assistant and Daydream, are far less common. Add a super-powered Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 to the mix and youve got yourself a unicorn of a smartphone. Specifically, the only ones youll find at the moment that fit the bill are the Pixel family, and Google should, and likely will, capitalize on Samsungs mistake to sell those two phones like crazy. Samsung ran everybody else into the ground, and then literally blew up. Samsung could say all they want that only the Note 7 was truly dangerous, but the damage was done. With the Pixels launching on October 20, no device family is in a better position to be that hero. Advertisement The Pixels are not without their flaws; they arent waterproof, theyre going to be a headache and a half for root lovers, their prices are very high, and their initial availability is limited; in the US, for example, youll only be able to get one from Verizon for now when it comes to carriers, although you can buy them unlocked through the Google Store. Still, they do a lot of things right, and could easily attract jilted Samsung fans looking for something thats like their beloved Galaxy, but without the boom. Enter the Pixels. Premium build? Check. Lots of power? Check. Exclusive features? Check. Tightly integrated hardware and software for a cohesive experience? Check. Stellar hardware miscellany like excellent cameras and good battery life? Check. Exclusive and premium VR ecosystem? Check. Gorgeous screen? Check. Aside from TouchWiz sticklers, Samsung fans that the Note 7 made wary have practically every reason to lust after the Pixel, even if many, like those who dont have great credit or a lot of cash on hand and would have to buy from their carrier, or those in countries where the phone wont launch for a while, are left in the cold for now. When availability inevitably gets wider as good reviews pour in and would-be buyers clamor for the phones, this will translate to sales. It wont happen on its own, but Samsungs slip-up with the Note 7 has made things way easier for Google than they would be otherwise. Google is already running TV ads and planning to drop millions on marketing for the Pixel devices. Pumping up an aggressive marketing campaign and addressing availability issues is, at this point, practically all that stands between the Pixels and becoming an Android icon the way Droids and Galaxies did, and Google has Samsung to thank for that. Googles Assistant technology and feature are already available to some degree through the use of the Allo app, and theyll be available in more robust forms in the Google Home speaker and Pixel phones that are shipping later this month. Even in its early form, though, Google Assistant already has an edge on Amazons Alexa software for a few key reasons. One of those is the ability to kick back results to what seem like rather basic questions, such as asking the travel time between two particular places. Because Google Assistant has a bevy of information and data at its fingertips, including location information thanks to being tied to a Google account, it can feed answers like travel times between locations back to a user with relative ease. Amazons Alexa, not so much, it would seem. This doesnt mean that Alexa is inferior, at least not as a whole, as there are more than a few things that the Echo speaker can do that Google Assistant can not, such as power on your Tesla Model S and pull it out of the driveway. Nevertheless, Google Assistant still has an edge on Alexa and a main reason for that is that Google has built Assistant to have the ability to deliver contextualized responses. You can have a conversation with it that flows somewhat naturally in a similar manner you might have a conversation with a friend or family member. This is where there lies a big difference between Assistant and Alexa. Having said that, Amazon is continually building on new skills for the Alexa software that powers the Echo speaker, and because of its open nature it seems to be adding new ones quite consistently and at a rather fast pace thanks to the help of the development community. Theres also a good chance that Amazon could catch up to Google with the contextualization as Amazon is constantly improving their software, tweaking things to get them just right, adding on new bits and introducing new features. Amazon has bet big on A.I. and theres no reason for them to slow down and keep the Alexa software to simply being able to do things for you like place an order for pizza or turn off the lights. To some degree you can even think of both pieces of technology as meant for different means. If you want something that is capable of interacting with tons of various smart home items, and completing arbitrary tasks for you in a manner that is quite clearly being handled by an A.I bot, then Alexa should be able to serve your needs, and quite well. If you want something that is capable of interacting with a few smart home items and having a normal sounding conversation with you that flows almost as naturally as it does with another human being, then Google Assistant might be a better fit. When it comes down to it, both products have their niche, and both are undoubtedly going to continue expanding. So Google Assistant is smarter than Alexa, as it can give you more information, but Alexa still has plenty of skills too and is a huge benefit in its own right. Once the Galaxy Note 7 fires started hitting the headlines, several aviation safety authorities from around the world started issuing advisories, urging passengers and crew members not to use the devices on board aircraft. Early last month, the U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India, the Japanese aviation authorities and the European Aviation Safety Agency were among some of the aviation regulators to have issued the warnings because of obvious public safety concerns. However, with Samsung claiming to have fixed the problem by a simple swap of the allegedly flawed batteries, some aviation watchdogs, like the DGCA, started relaxing their restrictions regarding the usage of the device during flights. Yet, as we all know now, that proved to be a false dawn, and with reports of the supposedly safe replacement units catching on fire also starting pouring in soon after, the South Korean electronics company had to take the extraordinary step of scrapping the smartphone altogether. Now, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, Mr. Anthony Foxx, has announced a blanket ban on carrying or transporting the ill-fated Samsung phablet on all commercial flights in the country. Such a move, although unprecedented, isnt at all surprising, given the sheer number of people reporting Galaxy Note 7 fires from around the world. According to Mr. Foxx, The safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident in-flight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk. Following the U.S. Governments decision to ban the Galaxy Note 7 on all flights, Samsung has released the following statement to the media: Samsung, together with carriers, is working to communicate the U.S. Department of Transportations new order to ban all Galaxy Note7 devices in carry-on and checked baggage on flights. We have encouraged airlines to issue similar communications directly to their passengers. Any Galaxy Note7 owner should visit their carrier and retail store to participate in the U.S. Note7 Refund and Exchange Program now. We realize this is an inconvenience but your safety has to remain our top priority. Advertisement While Samsung has already put an end to the sales and production of the controversial phablet, the company is yet to come up with an explanation for the spontaneous combustion of the devices in the first place. The company is expected to suffer massively because of the fallout from the Galaxy Note 7 controversy. Surveys conducted over the past week have indicated that a significant percentage of current Samsung smartphone owners are already looking elsewhere for their next handsets, and companies like Apple, LG and Google are being tipped to be the biggest beneficiaries of the South Korean companys royal mess up. It remains to be seen how long it will take for Samsung to regain peoples trust, now that the reputation it had so painstakingly built over the past two and a half decades lies in tatters. For Samsung, the fallout surrounding the Galaxy Note 7 continues, as its thought that the company has now gone into full damage control, with plans for 2017 perhaps now delayed as a result. Their bottom line is going to take a hit, and its possible that even the Samsung brand overall will be tarnished by this disaster. With a second recall for all Galaxy Note 7s, including second-hands models as well as those sold in the previously thought safe of province of China, its safe to say that the Galaxy Note 7 is now done and dusted. For employees that worked to put together the phone as well as many other Samsung phones in Vietnam, a hotbed for manufacturing like this, dont appear to be all that worried, though. As Reuters is reporting, the Samsung town of Pho Yen in Thai Nguyen, doesnt appear to be concerned by the Galaxy Note 7 issues. Reuters spoke to over 10 different employees and the statement from Nguyen Thi Hang pretty much sums up the feeling there; Recalling ( the Galaxy Note 7) doesnt mean we are unemployed or such; Samsung also makes many other phones and new models, not just the Galaxy Note 7. In fact, Samsung has invested over $14 Billion in Vietnam, and the town of Pho Yen was once dedicated to farming, but Samsungs money and manufacturing plants have transformed the area into something far more industrial, where over 100,000 employees rely on the employment they get from Samsung, despite their monthly wages ranging from $180 to $300 a month. This is a figure that seems small to us, but is well above what the majority of workers can earn in a such a traditionally-rural region. The Galaxy Note 7 disaster is no doubt going to haunt Samsung for some time, but for right now, its hard to tell just what sort of damage will be done in the long run. In monetary terms, Samsung will definitely be suffering, with their Q3 guidance recently slashed considerably. If this report from Vietnam is anything to go on, it appears as though Samsung wont be needing to downsize or cut down on the numbers of workers. What the industry needs to realize, is that Samsung is far, far more than just the Galaxy Note 7 and it is likely the firm will recover healthily from this over time. Tech industrys former darling Yahoo has certainly seen better days. After boasting a $100 billion valuation at its peak in 2000 and refusing to sell to Microsoft for $45 billion in 2008, the company has now decided that getting $4.8 billion that Verizon is offering for its core business is a good-enough offer. To be honest, after recently admitting to a massive data breach which compromised half a billion users back in 2014, Yahoos board probably sees that offer as more than just good enough. Unfortunately for them, so does Verizon. Speaking to a small group of reporters this Thursday, Verizons General Counsel Craig Silliman described Yahoos breach as a significant event with likely material consequences. Of course, Silliman was referring to the market value of the companys assets. When youre running a huge web service with hundreds of millions of users and compromise their data, its likely that a significant portion of those users will decide to stop using your service. If that happens, the market value of your service will obviously drop. To speak in less abstract terms, the said web service is an important part of the package Yahoo is trying to sell to Verizon. While the largest US wireless carrier obviously isnt happy with recent developments, its not surprising that its trying to find the silver lining in this entire ordeal. In other words, its looking to lower the price of its purchase. Yahoo would obviously like to prevent that from happening, and so the Internet firm has cancelled its upcoming earnings call scheduled for next Tuesday, October 18th. Naturally, the company will still report its earnings for the third quarter of the year, this just means there wont be a teleconference discussing the report afterwards. The official reason for this decision is the pending transaction with Verizon, as stated by Yahoos press release published earlier today. If youre wondering how is Verizons potential acquisition of Yahoo related to all of this, the answer is rather simple. A potential earnings call would just provide industry analysts with an opportunity to ask questions about the 2014 hack, not to mention the pending federal investigation into the matter. Yahoo is obviously trying to minimize chances of saying something which would give Verizon more ammunition to drive down the price of its core business and the best way to do that is to say nothing. ASU File Photo Not many students would voluntarily spend a month camping and trekking through the Rocky Mountains like an extended episode of Man vs. Wild, but that is exactly what ASU geology major Maigan Dunlap did this summer. Maigan Dunlap A senior from San Angelo, Dunlap knew she needed to complete some sort of field experience to graduate, so she shot for the big time and landed one of only 29 available slots in the Lehigh University Field Camp, one of the most competitive college field experiences in the country. We started out in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and over the span of four and a half weeks, we went all the way to Mackay, Idaho, Dunlap said. So it was 7,000 miles round-trip. We were doing fieldwork, we did a lot of hiking and we camped the whole time. We were definitely roughing it. This years field camp consisted of four instructors leading Dunlap and another student from Texas, four from Washington and 23 from East Coast schools on a driving, hiking and camping trip through the Bighorn Basin, Tetons, Yellowstone National Park and areas of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Their fieldwork consisted mainly of observing and mapping the geology of different areas with regard to how the land has been shaped by various phenomena, including glaciers and rivers. We did a lot of glacial mapping and observing geological effects from the Quaternary Period, Dunlap said. We mapped alluvial fans, glacial moraines and river terraces to see the dynamics of the landscape and how it is changing. Dunlap Hits the Trail ASUs New Family Honors Program Enhancement Fund helped Dunlap pay for her trip, but she still had to supply and carry her own equipment. I took my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, all the clothes I was going to wear, Dunlap said, plus my backpack that I use for fieldwork. I definitely shouldve done some extra training in advance because I was not used to the elevation, she added. I tried to get in some running beforehand, and I thought my training at ASU would be enough because we hike a lot on our field excursions. But it wasnt enough. This trip wupped my butt, thats for sure. Whats awesome about the ASU geology program is that we get to go out in the field a lotIve really been able to add a lot to my research Maigan Dunlap But around all the work, there was also time for the campers to explore national parks, go fishing and get up close and personal with the local wildlife. We saw lots of moose, Dunlap said, and lots of gophers and chipmunks. I saw a wolf when we were in Yellowstone, and that is the scariest thing I ever saw. We also saw a lot more snakes than I was expecting, as well as a lot of horny toads, which was cool to see all the way up in Wyoming. But we didnt see any bears, thank goodness! Dunlaps favorite story from the trip happened during the final days while make their toughest hike up the side of a mountain in Idaho. Im just a klutz, she said. Combined with not being able to breath or get enough oxygen to my brain because of the elevation I fell in the river. It was an ice-cold river up at the very top of the mountain. Thats the funniest story for me personally, and I think everyone else thought it was pretty funny, too. Having survived her Maigan vs. Wild experience, Dunlap is now back at ASU, where she is scheduled to graduate in May 2017. In the meantime, she is staying busy with her involvement in the Honors Program, Honors Students Association and GEO geology student group. Later this year, she will present her research at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in Seattle. Maigan Dunlap (far right) and some of her fellow "campers" at the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring in Yellowstone National Park. Outside of her work on campus, Dunlap enjoys hiking with her new buddy, a blue heeler/shepherd-mix puppy named Wilson. She also tries to set a good example for her younger sister, Katie, a sophomore geology major at ASU. After she graduates from ASU, Dunlap plans to study paleo-ecology in graduate school on her way to a Ph.D. and a career as a university professor and she is confident that ASU has her well prepared. Whats awesome about the ASU geology program is that we get to go out in the field a lot, she said. Add to that the things I learned at the Lehigh Camp, and I think Im more well-rounded as a geology student. Ive really been able to add a lot to my research. Ched Evans: not guilty of hotel rape The verdict is in and Ched Evans, 27, is innocent. The former Sheffield United striker did not rape a woman at Premier Inn in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, on 30 May 2011. In 2012, Evans was found guilty of rape at Caernarfon Crown Court. In April 2015 that conviction was erased. A statement is read aloud: In the early hours of 30 May 2011, an incident occurred in north Wales that was to change my life and the lives of others forever. That incident did not involve the commission of a criminal offence and today I am overwhelmed with relief that the jury agreed. I would like to thank my legal team for their tireless efforts upon my behalf. Thanks go, too, to my friends and family; most notably my fiancee, Natasha, who chose, perhaps incredibly, to support me in my darkest hour. Whilst my innocence has now been established, I wish to make it clear that I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone who might have been affected by the events of the night in question. And the other party the woman? Do not name her. She has lifelong anonymity. Supt Jo Williams from North Wales Police warns: People need to be aware that they could find themselves being arrested and prosecuted. This was done previously, people were prosecuted and heavily fined. Now read: Ched Evans: A Tale Of Love, PR And A Victim Who Wants To Forget The Persecution of Ched Evans: slum player in Hillsborough fury Karen Strike Posted: 14th, October 2016 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink (ANSA) - Rome, October 14 - Italy will send 140 troops to Latvia in the coming months to "participate in the Canadian-led NATO force" there, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Friday. Moscow blasted the announcement that Italy will station troops near to its border. "NATO's policy is destructive," Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told ANSA. "The alliance is engaged in constructing new lines of division in Europe, instead of deep, solid relations of good neighbours". But Gentiloni said that the decision was not an act of aggression. "It is not a policy of aggression towards Russia, but of reassurance and defence of our borders as an alliance," Gentiloni told a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. "This decision does not influence in the slightest the line of dialogue (with Russia) that Italy has always proposed and shared with NATO". The decision was taken months ago as part of the country's contribution to the alliance in the Baltic states, Gentiloni said. He added that it had nothing to do with the current tensions in Syria, after the West's criticism of Moscow's role in the conflict there, and did not amount to a suspension in dialogue with Russia. Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti specified that the move was agreed at a NATO summit in Warsaw in July. The summit had agreed to form a NATO contingent as part of a project to boost the eastern borders of the North Atlantic Alliance. "Italy's policy is that dialogue with Russia is necessary," she said. "We don't underestimate the fact that there have also been breaches of international legitimacy with the crisis in Ukraine. Notwithstanding, we think there must be a dialogue with Russia". Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in early 2014. (ANSA) - Rome, October 14 - Rome prosecutors on Friday requested 30 life sentences against former heads of state, military junta members, and secret service officials from Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay for the killing of 23 people of Italian origin during the 1970s and 1980s. Charges include aggravated mass murder and kidnapping. The killings took place as part of the so-called Operation Condor, a campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and the assassination of opponents, which began in 1968 and was officially implemented in 1975 by right-wing military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Peru. Victims included dissidents and leftists, union and peasant leaders, priests and nuns, students and teachers, intellectuals and suspected left-wing guerrillas. The Rome trial is taking place after a 10-year investigation into 140 people - including 59 Argentinian, 11 Brazilian, and six Paraguayan suspects - that officially ended six years ago. The indictments were far fewer due to the death of several military junta members as well as bureaucratic issues linked to the notification of the defendants. In March 2007, a Rome court handed down life sentences against five Argentinian ex-Navy officers - Jorge Eduardo Acosta, Alfredo Ignacio Astiz, Jorge Raul Vildoza, Hector Antonio Febres, and Antonio Vanek - for aggravated mass murder in the deaths of three Italian-Argentinians who went missing during the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Photo: Rome Assizes Court Judge Mario D'Andria reads life sentences against five Argentinian officers in 2007. (supersedes previous)(ANSA) - Rome, October 14 - The Bank of Italy (BoI) said Friday national GDP may post slight gains in the third quarter this year on a "moderate" economic recovery. "After a flat performance in the second quarter (with respect to the first), GDP should register a slightly positive variation in the third quarter" as the country's economic recovery continues "at a moderate pace", the central bank said in an economic bulletin out today. Premier Matteo Renzi's government revised down its GDP forecast for 2016 to 0.8% from 1.2% after flat growth in the second quarter. "Investments have resumed but the growth is modest with respect to other eurozone countries," the BoI bulletin said. The central bank suggested government should "concentrate on measures to favor investments" and that coverage for such measures should be found by slashing administrative costs. "A return to the pace of investment observed prior to the (economic) crisis (of 2008) would not only strengthen the cyclical recovery but also increase Italy's potential growth by more than 0.5 of a percentage point," the central bank said. The BoI noted that the number of employed workers has returned to pre-crisis levels, with employees and the self-employed increasing by 0.7% and 1.2% respectively in the second quarter. As well, the central bank said Italy's massive public debt has dropped for the first time since December 2015 - to 2.2247 trillion euros in August, down by 30.9 billion on the record high reached in July. As far as the nation's troubled credit sector, the BoI said bank share prices have dropped, but so have their risk premiums. "Bank share prices have fallen in the course of the year due to (lower) expectations as to profitability, but premiums on their risk of default have been significantly reduced," according to the BoI bulletin. (ANSA) - Rome, October 14 - Pope Francis on Friday called a global response to end hunger, emphasizing the emergency caused by climate change was hitting food security in many areas worldwide, in his message for World Food Day. The pontiff expressed hope that the objectives outlined by principles of the December 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement do not "remain pretty words, but become courageous decisions able to make solidarity not only a virtue but also a working model in economics, and fraternity no longer an aspiration but a criterion for domestic and international governance". Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Friday attended an event at the Rome headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), organized ahead of World Food Day on October 16. Renzi said Italy hoped to approve the Paris agreement before next month's United Nations Climate Change conference, COP22, in Marrakesh. He also said he was proud of a new law that seeks to curtail food waste in Italy by encouraging retailers to give food they would throw away to the poor. "With the law on food waste, we can go from 500,000 tonnes of saved food today to one million tonnes in 2017," he said. PARIS/TEL AVIV - Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has decided to immediately suspend ''all operations'' with UNESCO after its decision to recognize the ties of Haram al-Sharif to Muslims, which is the holy site known to Jews as Temple Mount. Israeli newspaper Maariv said ''there will be no meetings with UNESCO representatives or the participation in international conferences''. There will also be ''no cooperation with a professional organization that provides support to terrorism'', the paper reported. The director-general of the UN's cultural agency UNESCO Irina Bokova reacted in a statement on Friday that the ''heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city''. ''To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list,'' she said. Israel angry, UNESCO cuts Jewish ties to Temple Mount Netanyahu, absurd, like denying China-Great Wall connection (by Massimo Lomonaco) TEL AVIV - Israel is angry at UNESCO after the UN organization voted a Resolution yesterday, which according to the Jewish State, does not recognize ties with Temple Mount (or Haram al-Sharif for Muslims) in Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall. The decision was slammed by Premier Benyamin Netanyahu as ''absurd'', like saying that ''China has no ties to the great Wall or Egypt to the Pyramids''. The Resolution - presented by the Palestinians together with Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan - was approved by 24 countries and rejected by six (US, Germany, Great Britain, Lithuania, Latvia and the Netherlands). Those who abstained were 26 (including Italy) while representatives for two nations did not attend the vote. The measure - which condemns Israel on various issues on Jerusalem and holy sites - claims, as reported by Israeli media, that the city is holy for the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) but Temple Mount is only a holy site for the Muslims, without mentioning that it is also holy for Jews. It also does not use the term in Hebrew to define the compound (Har HaBayit) nor the equivalent in English (Temple Mount). It instead uses the Muslim name Haram al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque. As far as the Wailing Wall is concerned, media reports said that the draft resolution only mentioned this name twice, otherwise using the Arabic name of 'Buraq Plaza'. The move by UNESCO - which last April had already adopted a similar measure, also voted by France with the ensuing diplomatic crisis between Paris and the government of Jerusalem - sparked Israel's anger. Netanyahu attacked the organization, denouncing that it ''continues its theater of the absurd. If they don't want to read the Bible, at least they should look at what is depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome and the Menorah that the Romans stole from the Temple in Jerusalem. Was Emperor Titus also responsible of Zionist propaganda?''. ''Denying Jewish ties to Temple Mount - he denounced - is like denying those of China with the Great Wall or those of the Egyptians with the Pyramids''. The same tone was used by President Reuven Rivlin who said ''no forum organization in the world can cut ties between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel and Jerusalem''. The opposition leader, Labor party's Isaac Herzog, raised his voice: ''There is no disagreement among the people of Israel on this subject matter. I call on UNESCO to withdraw this bizarre Resolution and engage in protecting, and not distort, human history''. The director-general of the UN's cultural agency UNESCO Irina Bokova said in a statement on Friday that the ''heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city''. ''To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list,'' she said. Conference in Rome focuses on e-learning for migrants Ministry and Uninettuno, develop technology for integration (ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 14 - A conference taking place in Rome October 19-21 will demonstrate new university models based on digital technologies with teaching proposals that aim to give migrants and refugees a concrete chance to integrate in the countries hosting them. The conference, titled "The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education-Enhancing European Higher Education: Opportunities and Impact of New Modes of Teaching", is a collaboration between Antonianum, EADTU (European Association of Distance Teaching Universities), and Uninettuno International Telematic University. Italian Education Minister Stefania Giannini and Uninettuno Rector Maria Amata Garito will open the conference. Uninettuno is a leader in the e-learning sector with a didactic portal in five languages. More than 550 institutional representatives, delegates, rectors, teachers and researchers will participate in the conference, representing countries including the United States, Canada, Argentina, South Africa, India, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Russia, Japan, and Europe. Results from various research projects in the digital technology sector applied to teaching will be presented, while proposals and reports will come together in the Rome Declaration at the close of the conference on October 21. A portal created by Uninettuno, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, will also be presented at the conference, titled "University for refugees: Instruction without borders", as well as 50 scholarships for students with international protection status, thanks to which various Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Germany are now university students. "Just by collaborating in a constructive way with the universities of various countries worldwide, and in particular with the countries of the Arab world and Sub-Saharan Africa, and comparing our histories and cultures, we can build a future of peace," said Maria Amata Garito. "Giving migrants and refugees the opportunity to obtain a degree means giving them back their dignity and giving them the courage to move forward, with faith in humanity and the hope to build a better future."(ANSAmed). Israel angry, UNESCO cuts Jewish ties to Temple Mount Netanyahu, absurd, like denying China-Great Wall connection (by Massimo Lomonaco) (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, OCTOBER 14 - Israel is angry at UNESCO after the UN organization voted a Resolution yesterday, which according to the Jewish State, does not recognize ties with Temple Mount (or Haram al-Sharif for Muslims) in Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall. The decision was slammed by Premier Benyamin Netanyahu as ''absurd'', like saying that ''China has no ties to the great Wall or Egypt to the Pyramids''. The Resolution - presented by the Palestinians together with Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan - was approved by 24 countries and rejected by six (US, Germany, Great Britain, Lithuania, Latvia and the Netherlands). Those who abstained were 26 (including Italy) while representatives for two nations did not attend the vote. The measure - which condemns Israel on various issues on Jerusalem and holy sites - claims, as reported by Israeli media, that the city is holy for the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) but Temple Mount is only a holy site for the Muslims, without mentioning that it is also holy for Jews. It also does not use the term in Hebrew to define the compound (Har HaBayit) nor the equivalent in English (Temple Mount). It instead uses the Muslim name Haram al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque. As far as the Wailing Wall is concerned, media reports said that the draft resolution only mentioned this name twice, otherwise using the Arabic name of 'Buraq Plaza'. The move by UNESCO - which last April had already adopted a similar measure, also voted by France with the ensuing diplomatic crisis between Paris and the government of Jerusalem - sparked Israel's anger. Netanyahu attacked the organization, denouncing that it ''continues its theater of the absurd. If they don't want to read the Bible, at least they should look at what is depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome and the Menorah that the Romans stole from the Temple in Jerusalem. Was Emperor Titus also responsible of Zionist propaganda?''. ''Denying Jewish ties to Temple Mount - he denounced - is like denying those of China with the Great Wall or those of the Egyptians with the Pyramids''. The same tone was used by President Reuven Rivlin who said ''no forum organization in the world can cut ties between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel and Jerusalem''. The opposition leader, Labor party's Isaac Herzog, raised his voice: ''There is no disagreement among the people of Israel on this subject matter. I call on UNESCO to withdraw this bizarre Resolution and engage in protecting, and not distort, human history''. (ANSAmed). TEL AVIV - Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has decided to immediately suspend ''all operations'' with UNESCO after its decision on the holy site known to Jews as Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif to Muslims, the website of Maariv reports. Maariv said ''there will be no meetings with UNESCO representatives or the participation in international conferences''. There will also be ''no cooperation with a professional organization that provides support to terrorism'', the paper reported. Israel angry, UNESCO cuts Jewish ties to Temple Mount Netanyahu, absurd, like denying China-Great Wall connection (by Massimo Lomonaco) TEL AVIV - Israel is angry at UNESCO after the UN organization voted a Resolution yesterday, which according to the Jewish State, does not recognize ties with Temple Mount (or Haram al-Sharif for Muslims) in Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall. The decision was slammed by Premier Benyamin Netanyahu as ''absurd'', like saying that ''China has no ties to the great Wall or Egypt to the Pyramids''. The Resolution - presented by the Palestinians together with Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan - was approved by 24 countries and rejected by six (US, Germany, Great Britain, Lithuania, Latvia and the Netherlands). Those who abstained were 26 (including Italy) while representatives for two nations did not attend the vote. The measure - which condemns Israel on various issues on Jerusalem and holy sites - claims, as reported by Israeli media, that the city is holy for the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) but Temple Mount is only a holy site for the Muslims, without mentioning that it is also holy for Jews. It also does not use the term in Hebrew to define the compound (Har HaBayit) nor the equivalent in English (Temple Mount). It instead uses the Muslim name Haram al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque. As far as the Wailing Wall is concerned, media reports said that the draft resolution only mentioned this name twice, otherwise using the Arabic name of 'Buraq Plaza'. The move by UNESCO - which last April had already adopted a similar measure, also voted by France with the ensuing diplomatic crisis between Paris and the government of Jerusalem - sparked Israel's anger. Netanyahu attacked the organization, denouncing that it ''continues its theater of the absurd. If they don't want to read the Bible, at least they should look at what is depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome and the Menorah that the Romans stole from the Temple in Jerusalem. Was Emperor Titus also responsible of Zionist propaganda?''. ''Denying Jewish ties to Temple Mount - he denounced - is like denying those of China with the Great Wall or those of the Egyptians with the Pyramids''. The same tone was used by President Reuven Rivlin who said ''no forum organization in the world can cut ties between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel and Jerusalem''. The opposition leader, Labor party's Isaac Herzog, raised his voice: ''There is no disagreement among the people of Israel on this subject matter. I call on UNESCO to withdraw this bizarre Resolution and engage in protecting, and not distort, human history''. (by Cinzia Conti) RIMINI - In order to close a terrible year for tourism - with a 46% drop, according to UNWTO data - Egypt has sent to the TTG Incontri event in Rimini the minister of tourism to promote the pyramids and Valley of the Kings. But the tragic death of young researcher Giulio Regeni is so unjust it is reverberation among the pavilions of the tourism fair. Minister Mohamed Yahia Rashed expressed to ANSA ''much sorrow and regret for what happened to Regeni but no meeting with representatives of the Italian government has been scheduled in these hours''. He was also scheduled to attend the congress ''Egypt, the road to recovery'' but in the end the event did not take place. ''We are here - said the minister - for a technical visit concerning our tourism, it is not a political visit, it is purely a professional visit in which we only meet workers in the sector (tour operators, travel agents and airlines) to promote relations between our countries that date back hundreds of years and will continue for hundreds. I repeat our condolences and we are truly pained, our authorities and yours are cooperating to solve the case''. Asked whether the case could affect tourism, the minister replied: ''Any event in any place in the world has an impact. Even terror attacks in France carry a weight. We are nations and we have to support or contain these things''. ''Come to Egypt - he continued - because we have made great investments for the security of tourists both at airports and various sites. The truth is that not only our country has been targeted but the whole world has been harshly tested by terrorism. It happened in France, in Germany and for this reason we have to join forces''. The drop in Egyptian tourism started after the tragedy of the Russian jet that crashed after taking off from Sharm el Sheikh. All 224 people on board died. ISIS claimed that it had downed the jet. In August this year, tourists were 503,000, 47% from Arab countries, against 915,200 in the same period in 2015. This years grant recipients from Flagstaff are: Northland Family Help Center; Feeding Northern Arizonas Future; Flagstaff Arts Council and Goodwill Industries of Northern Arizona. The grants are expected to fund programs that provide a direct benefit to the communities served to enhance the quality of life. To the editor: On Sept. 24 the third annual Cornucopia Fall Festival took place at Thorpe Park. Cornucopia had over 6,000 participants and raised close to $3,000 for local non-profits including Flagstaff Family Food Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Flagstaff, and Grand Canyon Youth. Cornucopia also donated 300 pounds of food to Flagstaff Family Food Center thanks to our participants. Cornucopia would like to thank all the people who participated, as well as all the volunteers, vendors and staff that made it happen. Cornucopia also wants to thank our sponsors: Lumberyard Brewing Company, Fratelli Pizza, Findlay Toyota, Village Baker, Swire Coca Cola, AZ Snowbowl, Little America, Massage Envy, Greenhouse Productions, Rooftop Solar, Mountain Mojo Group, Bigfoot BBQ, Alliance Bank, Bookman's, Prime Lending, LeVel Thrive, Mangum, Wall, Stoops & Warden, West USA Realty, Flagstaff Birth & Women's Center, Out of Africa Wildlife Park, Bearizona, Canyon Diablo Spirits, Arizona, Music Pro, Niles Radio, & Great Circle Radio. See you for the fourth annual Cornucopia in 2017! MATTHEW ZIEGLER These new contracts will strengthen our excellent position even further in terms of CAMO activities on the VVIP wide body and on the small-sized aircraft market and we are pleased to deliver high quality CAMO services to our customers said AMACs Reto Sgier, CAMO manager. AMAC also announced that it has two Gulfstream aircraft which will undergo major overhauls at AMACs headquarters in Basel. A Gulfstream G300 aircraft is currently at the facility for a 144 month inspection. It will also perform a 72 month inspection in conjunction with a registration change on a Gulfstream GV aircraft which will then be sent to AMAC Aerospaces paint facility partner for the exterior paint. Following Wednesdays announcement that Igor Ashurbeyli and a team of scientists from around the world will create the first Space Nation, 100,000 people immediately applied for citizenship of Asgardia, smashing its target within 48 hours. In response, Dr Ashurbeyli, the founding father of Asgardia, has today announced a new target to attract a million earthlings to become citizens by the end of the year. Dr Ashurbeyli said: In only 40 hours since I have announced the birth of the new space nation Asgardia one hundred thousand people from more than two hundred countries on Earth have applied to join. I would like to welcome and thank you personally. Now we are continuing the registration aiming to bring together one million people. Soon we will become a member of the UN. Thanks again for your support. Together we are Asgardians The project team is being led by Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, one of the Russian Federation's most distinguished scientists and founder of the Aerospace International Research Center (AIRC) in Vienna Dr Ashurbeyli concluded: One of the key motivations behind Asgardia has been to increase access to space for countries currently excluded from the space race. We want to enable more scientists and more businesspeople from all over the world to be involved in space development, and help protect planet earth from cosmic hazards. But we also want to fire the global, public imagination about the possibilities of future space exploration, so its heartening to see how many people from all walks of life have started to engage with Asgardia. They are all welcome. The second daily operation, from the beginning of the Summer 2017 season, reflects Etihad Airways long-term commitment to the route, and coincides with the Abu Dhabi-based carriers 10th anniversary of flying to the Irish capital. Operating with a two-class Airbus A330-200 offering 22 Business and 240 Economy Class seats, the extra daily service will give guests more travel options at convenient timings, and greater connectivity to key markets across the Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent, Asia and Australia. Business and leisure travellers will be able to choose double daily connections via Abu Dhabi to several key destinations, including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Mumbai, Delhi, Cochin, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila, and daily connections to markets such as Brisbane, Perth, Beijing, Tokyo and Phuket Kevin Knight, Etihad Aviation Group chief strategy and planning officer, said: We are delighted to announce the Dublin frequencies moving from a seasonal double daily to twice-daily year-round service. This is a commitment to the Irish market and demonstrates our confidence to dedicate capacity throughout the year on a route that has enjoyed tremendous support from travel partners. It also reflects our strategy to offer more flexibility, greater convenience and increased choice. As a result of improved infrastructure at Dublin Airport, Etihad Airways will switch its existing Dublin flights from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1, starting 24 January 2017. The move follows extensive investment in passenger and retail facilities in the terminal by airport operator DAA. Vincent Harrison, Dublin Airport managing director, said: Since Etihad Airways launched the route in 2007, Dublin has been a hugely popular destination in its network, and the return to a double daily service will be welcomed by both business and leisure travellers. It is good news for Irish tourism and also for those travelling to Abu Dhabi and beyond with Etihads excellent connectivity to the Middle East, Africa and Asia. We have been improving the departures and arrivals areas in T1 and have also recently enhanced the boarding gate facilities and the retail experience. We look forward to welcoming Etihad to its new Dublin home from early next year. Beatrice Cosgrove, Etihad Airways general manager Ireland, added: With our enhanced schedules from next April, we will be able to provide excellent new connections for travellers from Ireland to many more destinations in our network via Abu Dhabi. The expansion comes as we celebrate 10 years of flying on the route and welcome more guests to enjoy our fine hospitality and service. The Flagstaff City Council will have a chance to weigh in on a proposed subdivision on West Route 66 and Woody Mountain Road after the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously decided on Wednesday to forward both the annexation and zoning change requests. The project, called Timber Sky, would be led by Phoenix-based Vintage Partners, and would include 1,300 residential units of varying types, including townhomes, condominiums and single family homes. The development will require annexation of more than 100 acres into the city. The meeting drew about 50 attendees, including community members and representatives from city and state departments, including the Arizona Department of Transportation, which controls portions of the roads that will be affected. Attendees who voiced their comments at the meeting generally spoke favorably, commending Vintage Partners for their work with the U.S. Naval Observatory in controlling light pollution, as well as their outreach to neighbors. Todd Vanosdell, a resident of the Wildwood Hills Mobile Home Park, where recent flooding has occurred, said he was encouraged by the work Vintage Partners had done to mitigate the effects of water flow by directing the majority of the water north underneath Route 66. Flagstaff resident Bob Mason said he was very impressed with the proposed design of the project. However, Mason said he would like to see the commission take a proactive stance on the issues involving traffic management that already exist in the city, and will be exacerbated by more development. A total of 10 people, including some representatives from community organizations, spoke in favor of the project. Vintage Partners has already agreed to give the city $1.5 million for traffic improvements based on an earlier traffic study. Most of the improvements focus on Route 66 and Woodlands Village Boulevard. According to a staff report produced for the development, Vintage Partners hosted two neighborhood meetings before the issue went before the Planning and Zoning Commission, and said a total of 44 community members attended to give input, which focused on public safety, dark skies and the projects design, according to a staff report. Timber Sky would be located in the strictest lighting zone, due to its proximity to the Naval Observatory. Developers worked in conjunction with the Naval Observatory to create even more stringent guidelines for light in the Timber Sky development. The project will now be presented to the city council, which will weigh in on the proposed annexation and zoning changes. The UN panel of experts charged with monitoring compliance with the United Nations Security Council arms embargo against Libya noted that the Libyan Air Force has been partially re-equipped with aircraft, helicopters, weapons and equipment sourced externally in breach of the embargo and has investigated reports that Egypt and the Sudan were responsible for unauthorised transfers of aircraft and helicopters. For its part, Egypt categorically denied the charge. The UN Security Council originally imposed its arms embargo on Libya in 2011, before the present civil war, when Colonel Gaddafi cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. The embargo remained in force during the Libyan uprising in 2011, when most of the Libyan Air Forces aircraft were destroyed by NATO airstrikes, and during the subsequent years, as Libya descended into chaos. This has left the nation in the grip of bitter factional fighting between two competing governments and a bewildering array of militia brigades and Islamist militants and insurgents, all fighting for control of the oil-producing country. After the Libyan revolution, the new Free Libyan Air Force was left in a parlous state, operating handfuls of disparate aircraft types, including MiG-21bis fighters, and MiG-21UM two-seat trainers, augmented by MiG-23MLs and MiG-23UBs, as well as the two Mirage F1EDs that defected to Malta. These were augmented by small numbers of Soko G-2 Galebs, J-21 Jastrebs, and L-39s, some An-32 and C-130H transports and a handful of Mil Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters. Most were in need of overh aul, and serviceability was poor. A second civil war began in 2014, and was fought between forces loyal to the internationally recognised government of the Council of Deputies that was elected democratically that year, (sometimes known as the Tobruk Government) and forces allied to the rival Islamist government of the General National Congress (GNC), (sometimes called the National Salvation Government), which rejected the results of the 2014 election and which is based in Tripoli. Libya's internationally recognised government in Tobruk is supported by the Libyan National Army and enjoys the support of Egypt and the UAE, while the rival Tripoli government has been supported by Libya Dawn, Ansar al-Sharia and Islamic State militias and insurgents, and has been supported by Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey. Fear of the Libyan Islamist uprising spreading to Egypt led to great concern within the Egyptian Government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which has been quick to support the Tobruk Government and General Khalifa Haftars Libyan National Army. The Libyan Air Force was inadequate to provide sufficient air support for the Libyan National Army, and the chief of staff of the air force, Saqr Jarushi, has worked hard to restore its operational capabilities, sometimes in compliance with the terms of the UN arms embargo, and sometimes possibly in violation of it.To augment its three serviceable MiG-23s (at least two of which were subsequently lost) the air force restored one Su-22UM-3K, one Mirage F1AD and one MiG-23ML to flying condition, and began a long-term project to make 10-12 older decommissioned Su-22Ms at al-Watiya Air Base operational. These had escaped destruction by NATO in 2011, because they had already been withdrawn from use and were stored pending scrapping! But, in addition to these efforts, there have been a number of non-notified transfers of aircraft and helicopters to the new air arm. The Libyan Air Force reportedly received two Mi-35 attack helicopters from Sudan in 2012, but one of these crashed soon after, leaving only one in service. In October 2014, the Libyan Air Force received three Mig-21MFs and three Mi-8s, whose markings were consistent with those owned by Egypt. Two further ex-Egyptian Mig-21MFs were delivered at Gamal Abdul El Nasser Air Base in March 2015, alongside four new Mi-35P helicopters for the Libya National Army. On March 6 this year, a formation of six new MiG-21s and six new Mi-8s reportedly arrived at Gamal Abdel Nasser Air Base. All wore Egyptian-type camouflage and their arrival brought the Libyan National Armys strength to about 27 helicopters (circa 21 Mi-8s, one Mi-171 and five Mi-35s) and brought the Libyan Air Force inventory to 18 fighters (one Mirage F1AD, 15 MiG-21s, one MiG-23ML, and one Su-22UM). The UN panel of experts questioned Egypt about the transfers. In its response, Egypt stated that it had not provided Libya with any Mi-8 helicopters, nor any MiG-21MF aeroplanes, and said that the panels information regarding the transfers was incorrect. Egypt maintained that it was fully committed to the implementation of resolution 1970 (2011) and subsequent relevant resolutions. The airline said the application is designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly layout, with high quality visuals of destinations that Turkish Airlines flies to. The new functionalities of the mobile application allow passengers to change tickets, make cancelations, add infants, and add flights directly. Application includes the terminal maps in order to make mobile users find their desired location. Also the mobile application allows users to have the ability to buy emergency row seats, as well as making it possible to upgrade economy tickets to business via new update. Contemporary jazz performance with Adam OFarrill on trumpet, Joshua White on piano, Thomson Kneeland on bass and Dan Weiss on drums. Guggenheim fellow, Downbeat International Critics Poll Winner, and Jazz Journalist Association Alto Saxophonist of the Year (2009, 2010, 2016) Rudresh Mahanthappa, returns to Outpost with his latest project, a tribute to the great Charlie Bird Parker. One of the most innovative musicians and composers in jazz today, Mahanthappa has achieved international recognition for his recordings which have received rave reviews by the New York Times, NPR, Village Voice, and many others. He has performed at Outpost with a wide stylistic variety of projects. His latest release, Bird Calls (2015) features all new music by Mahanthappa, with each of the tunes using a particular Charlie Parker melody or solo as its source of inspiration only to be reimagined and recontextualized by Mahanthappa and his quintet. Mahanthappa counts Bird as one of his earliest and most enduring inspirations. With this project he offers an inspired examination of Birds foundational influence and how it manifests itself in a decidedly 21st-century context. The quintet tonight features a stellar group of forward-thinking musicians, including 20-year-old trumpet prodigy, Adam OFarrill (the son of pianist and Afro Latin Jazz Alliance founder Arturo OFarrill); Joshua White, piano (placed 2nd in 2011 Monk Competition behind Kris Bowers);Thomson Kneeland, bass (Darcy James Argue, Dave Liebman); and longtime Mahanthappa collaborator, Dan Weiss, drums. It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. Thats what Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump tweeted after a weekend of disavowals and retracted endorsements by his partys officials. Trump proceeded to lash out at House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders who distanced themselves from the embattled candidate, who now trails Democrat Hillary Clinton in most polls. Meantime, Ryan and congressional Republicans hope to preserve majorities in both houses in the face of a Clinton presidency. Given the chaos seemingly engulfing Republican ranks, can the party survive the November election? What might a post-Trump GOP look like? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, weigh in. JOEL MATHIS Heres what a weird, silly election year this has been: A week or so back, Erick Erickson retweeted me. Im a liberal. Erickson, a blogger and radio host, is a red-meat conservative. Ive frankly held him in a bit of disdain for a few years, going back to some unprintably vulgar comments he made about former Supreme Court Justice David Souter. But this election, Erickson has loomed large among Republican holdouts against Trump and, as a result, has suffered the wrath of many former allies. In recent months, then, my view of Erickson has transformed. He looks more like a man of integrity to me, even if I still dont agree with many of his stances. So when he retweeted my snarky comment about the GOPs sudden celebration of infidelity, it didnt seem that weird. Whats the point here? Only this: A GOP crackup isnt necessarily coming after the election. Republicans may decide to have a convenient case of amnesia and simply put Trumps candidacy behind them. To quote Don Draper: It will shock you how much it never happened. But if a crackup does come, the fallout probably wont be contained to the Republican Party. If so-called Never Trumpers escape and form their own party or reclaim the GOP and force the Trumpers to form their own party a realignment will occur. Subsequently, other coalitions may break up and seek out new attachments. Folks who currently make their home in the Democratic Party might find new allies outside of it. Theres no real reason, for example, that the Democratic Party should have near-universal support from African-Americans. There are plenty of folks who might find themselves more comfortable in a small-government, religiously centered party and who just might find that party if Trumps more racist supporters desert the GOP after the election. In other words, Democrats: Be careful what you wish for here. And remember the law of unintended consequences. A breakup of the Republican Party would reverberate throughout politics for decades to come. BEN BOYCHUK Realignment is already underway in the Republican Party. It was happening before Trump entered the presidential sweepstakes and accelerated the closer he came to the nomination. Realignment will play out no matter who wins the election in a few weeks. The Republican Party is changing. Its survival will depend upon how the partys leaders come to terms with Trump voters. They can either extend a hand or give millions of voters the back of the hand. The temptation to choose the latter will be strong. Conservatives wont like whats coming either way. Trumps nomination was a punch in the face to the conservative movement. Remember what Trump said during the primaries: Dont forget, this is called the Republican Party. Its not called the Conservative Party. People laughed. He wasnt joking. When you look past Trumps pomposity and the bluster, its impossible not to notice that the man has tapped into a powerful current of public sentiment that is anything but conservative. And he did it from a Republican perch. If the Republican Party was once synonymous with what some of us on the political right have come to call Conservatism Inc. a vast network of entertainers and fundraisers thats the case no longer. Conservatives have always been a faction within the Republican Party. Sometimes theyve been strong. Other times theyve been quite weak. Conservatives will have to come to terms with the fact that most of their countrymen dont believe privatizing Social Security and preserving low marginal income tax rates on upper-incomes are matters of life and death. Turns out, the Republican Party is not what conservatives thought it was. It now includes or could conceivably include many millions of blue-collar people who dont consider themselves conservative for whatever reason. They may like the safety net, or they arent especially religious and dont care about the culture wars. The Republican Party might yet live if it can embrace those voters even if Trump loses. Of course, the GOP establishment will fight realignment and might even hold on to power. If so, expect the Republican Party to be a minority party again and deservedly so. ABOUT THE WRITERS Joel Mathis is an award-winning writer in Kansas. Ben Boychuk is managing editor of American Greatness. Reach them at joelmmathis@gmail.com, bboychuk3@att.net, or www.facebook.com/benandjoel YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Britain's only real alternative to a "hard Brexit" is "no Brexit", European Council President Donald Tusk has said, reports BBC. Speaking in Brussels, he warned that the EU would not compromise on its insistence that freedom of movement will be a condition for Britain's access to the single market. Donald Tusk will chair meetings of EU leaders negotiating Britain's exit from the 28-member bloc. In a 52%-48% vote in June's referendum Britain decided to leave the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May said last week that the government would trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - beginning formal negotiations between the UK and EU - by the end of March next year. The process will take up to two years, involving complex debates about issues such as immigration and access to the European single market. In his speech, Donald Tusk mocked a Brexit campaign promise that Britons could "have the EU cake and eat it too" - the idea that the UK might manage to keep trade benefits of EU membership while barring European immigrants and rejecting EU courts' authority. "To all who believe in it, I propose a simple experiment. Buy a cake, eat it, and see if it is still there on the plate. "The brutal truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us. There will be no cakes on the table. For anyone. There will be only salt and vinegar." Donald Tusk also suggested that Britain might ultimately decide not to leave the EU "even if today hardly anyone believes in such a possibility". Donald Tusk again stressed that the choice would be the UK's alone to make whether Brexit "is really in their interest". YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The joint session of the CSTO member states FMs Council, Defense Ministers Council and Security Council Secretaries took place in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia on October 14. The session was chaired by Chairman of the CSTO FMs Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward Nalbandian. The joint session kicked off in a narrow format, followed by an expanded format with the participation of delegations. In his opening remarks Minister Nalbandian particularly said: Armenia has always been active and an initiator in terms of improving cooperation within the framework of the organization, deepening of cooperation between member states, development of coordinating mechanisms of foreign policy, boosting mutual cooperation in defense sector, increasing its role in the international arena. Within the framework of the organizations chairmanship we continued consistent steps in the abovementioned directions. Minister Nalbandian briefed on the current situation which resulted in the aggression of Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh, the agreements which were reached in the Vienna and St. Petersburg summit, highlighting that till now Baku refuses to initiate these agreements. Edward Nalbandian spoke about the Syrian crisis and the necessity of immediate steps for stabilizing the situation, fight against international terrorism and the migration crisis. The situation in Afghanistan was also discussed in the session, and the threat of the growing terrorism for the security of Central Asian countries. The joint session also touched upon the works of the regulatory agencies of the organization, the boosting of cooperation in different international formats between CSTO member states was discussed, and the schedule of the 2016-2017 consultations on political, defense and security issues. The joint Ministerial session endorsed the announcements which are to be presented later on October 14 during the Security Council Strategy of CSTO Collective Security until 2025, The summarizing announcement of the Council session, announcement On settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the anti-missile defense announcement and others. Overall, around three dozen documents were signed during the joint session. At the end of the session, the Chairmanship was passed on to Belarus. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The Upper House (Senate) of the French Parliament adopted the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial through voting on October 14, Co-Chairman of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France Murad Papazian told Armenpress. 156 MPs voted in favor of the bill, 146 were against. This is a really serious achievement, we have carried out huge works. Lets remember that Turks have carried out a serious lobby, but the Senate voted in favor of the option of the bill that has been discussed in the National Assembly in summer. It means that the French Parliament completely adopted the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial, he said. The French National Assembly has unanimously voted in favor of the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide in July, submitted to the National Assembly by the French Government. The text of the bill Criminalizing the denial of genocides and crimes against humanity was published on June 29 and envisages imprisonment of one year or a fine amounting 45.000 euros for the denial of the Armenian Genocide. There were some MPs who said the provision on criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial must be removed from the bill, but the Armenian community has carried out works and reached to the point in order to submit the option which has been adopted in summer and included the criminalization of the Armenian Genocide denial to the Senates discussion. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko believes in the necessity of taking such measures that will force NATO to recognize the Collective Security Treaty organization (CSTO). The Belarusian President stated at the CSTO Collective Security Council session in Yerevan that if they ask NATO to recognize the CSTO, it will never do that. We must act in a way to force them to recognize our Organization, Armenpress reports Lukashenko saying. According to the President of Belarus, the states have agreed to set a group of servicemen and experts in other spheres with the participation of CSTO Gen-Sec. Nikolay Bordyuzha. We will involve specialists first of all from Russia and the other states. It is necessary to set up good priorities, in order to move our Organization to a serious level, so as others respect us but not to be frightened, and so that we do not persuade anyone to recognize us, Lukashenko said. He added that the priorities of Belarus for CSTO will be elaborated in detail and submitted to the member states of the Organization. Gordon Gafa, category director, bakery and wholesale at Tesco, was speaking at the British Society of Baking (BSB) autumn conference. Twenty-two weeks ago Gafa unveiled the first new-look in-store bakery (ISB), at the supermarket giants Maldon store in Essex. He said: I want to put a lot of care, attention and love back into our bakeries. There are now 30 redesigned ISBs in Tesco stores across the country, and five further are being redesigned each week: All the stores that carry the new-look ISB are recording close to double-digit growth. Gafa took over the category 18 months ago, and said he was pleased to note a broad-based improvement since that time. We cut prices by 5%, which was necessary for the market. Our supplier satisfaction levels are at 94%, and we now have a reduced reliance on offers. Talking about what hes doing to improve the bakery category he said: ISB customers said our offering was good, but uninspiring. That, to me, is not good enough. What you are seeing is the transformation of our bakery proposition. I want the bakery to be a reason to come to Tesco. But he added: Investment in ISB is succeeding, but were not done. Its all about giving customers propositions they want to come back to again and again. When asked how this offering would be different to the Euphorium bakery business (the sale of which will be finalised on 20 October), he said: Euphorium was never that big and never that relevant. We dont know how to run branded bakeries and we dont want to. Customers want to see baking in-store and Euphorium didnt do that. It was never something we were going to take forward in the long-term plan. Elsewhere, Tesco said it was regaining competitiveness in its core UK business as it recorded a seventh consecutive quarter of growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ARTESIA The Eddy County Sheriffs Department is pleased to announce Project Lifesaver International, a new personal locating system helping to address wandering and elopement for loved ones from all angles by introducing the PLI5000. The PLI5000 is the newest radio frequency based tracking receiver that will be available to members and caregivers as an option to locate their loved one should they have a wandering incident. Weve been working on this for about a year and a half now, on getting this equipment ready and the training implemented to be able to release this life saving equipment to the public, ECSO Chief Deputy Mark Cage said today. I started working with Alzheimers New Mexico, who purchased the more than $20,000 worth of equipment for Eddy County residents, and now we are ready to get them the help they need. We have used this in the past, but this is an updated version, and has been used by the Sheriffs office to locate people. The device uses radio frequencies transmitted by a wrist band or ankle band. The ECSO then uses an antenna locator to track the missing person. Via the antenna, the person can be found within approximately two to three miles. Lt. Michael Chavarria is the supervisor of the program and can be reached at 5758877551, ext. 7105. If a person has a loved one that would benefit from this device, the sheriffs office urges them to get in contact with Chavarria to set up a home visit, or those interested may visit the sheriffs office to get signed up for the program. Lt. Chavarria stressed the program is free of charge and is available today. The PLI5000 serves as an extension to the tried and true Project Lifesaver radio frequency technology of telemetry which we have been using since the Project Lifesaver program began over sixteen years ago, said Lifesaver International CEO/founder Gene Saunders. This offers a resource to help caregivers locate their loved one should they wander, especially in locations that do not have the program or with poor cell coverage. The PLI5000, like other Project Lifesaver receivers, operates off the 216 range and will be present for caregivers at one single unique frequency. The PLI5000 kit will also include one 60 day transmitter, a tester, one year of batteries and bracelets, and an instructional guide. Citizens enrolled in Project Lifesaver wear a small personal transmitter around the wrist or ankle that emits an individualized tracking signal. If an enrolled client goes missing, the caregiver notifies their local Project Lifesaver agency, and a trained emergency team responds to the wanderers area. Project Lifesaver is a community based, public safety, nonprofit organization that provides law enforcement, fire/rescue, other first responders, and caregivers with equipment and training to quickly locate and rescue individuals with cognitive disorders who are prone to the life threatening behavior of wandering, including those with Alzheimers disease, autism and down syndrome. Most who wander are found within a few miles from home, and search times have been reduced from hours and days to minutes. Recovery times for PLI clients average 30 minutes 95 percent less time than standard operations. First it was suspected counterfeit chairs, and now, counterfeit tickets the Palace of Versailles is having a rough year. Five employees of the opulent tourist attraction were indicted for fraud on Monday, after French police confirmed a fake ticket conspiracy suspected by innocent colleagues. Increasing productivity and profitability across the agricultural supply chain will be essential following Brexit, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has warned. The potential impact of post-Brexit trade on the UKs farming and horticulture industries have been examined in a new study by the levy board. The report explores how trade deals with the EU and the rest of the world may impact agricultural sectors including cereals and oilseeds, dairy, meat and horticulture. It highlights the opportunities and threats associated with various potential terms of trade. AHDB said the report, unveiled at its Grain Market Outlook conference in London this week, was designed to help farm businesses and their supply chains anticipate and plan for the impacts of trade policy as Brexit negotiations unfold. The sustainability and viability of food production businesses in the UK are underpinned by its relationship with the rest of the world, said report co-author Stephen Howarth. But the balance of imports and exports, as well as our levels of self-sufficiency, vary widely from sector to sector. Weve taken a long, hard look at where those differences are and how they could be turned into an opportunity in future. Wheat imports Imports accounted for an average 11% of UK wheat demand over the past 10 years, according to the report, although this varied between seven and 20%. The main origins for wheat imports are Germany, Canada and France, typically supplying around two-thirds of UK imports. High protein wheat is often sourced from Germany and Canada. Imports may be lower than recent years in the coming 12 months as the UK crop is expected to be of high quality, with the latest AHDB survey data showing 46% of Nabim Group 1 varieties have met or exceeded the requirements for high-quality bread wheat, compared with 31% last year. Wheat exports The report said UK cereal exports fluctuate from season to season due to changes in availability, price competitiveness and quality. Full-season UK wheat exports for 2015/16 were 2.8m tonnes, the highest since 2008/09, with around 80% of wheat exported in 2015/16 going to the EU, mainly to the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Currently, for cereal imports into the EU, tariffs depend on the commodity, grade and origin. Generally, the EU and UK are net exporters, which requires much of the market to operate at global price levels, although there are occasions when tariffs come into play for certain grades of commodity in certain regions. Compared to other agricultural goods, grains and oilseeds are relatively free-trading commodities globally. Accessing a market is more about price competitiveness, being able to supply the required specification and the ability to meet technical requirements, said the AHDB. A scenario where the UK maintains its own import tariffs would, in theory, allow them to be shifted in response to the needs of the UK market and to protect the standards and traceability domestic production represents. Whether this would be practical or politically acceptable is currently unclear, said AHDB. Increasing productivity and profitability across the supply chain will be critical in a post-Brexit world, especially in sectors where major global exporters are able to price more competitively, added Howarth. This will help UK businesses remain resilient if access to the UK market is opened up to a wider range of suppliers." BREXIT: Potential trade agreements options The UK has not yet defined the exact post-Brexit relationship it intends to seek with the EU or with the rest of the world, although it has set out a free trade agenda. New Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with non-EU countries can only be put in place once the UK has left the EU. If the UK were to negotiate a relationship with the EU that involves staying within the Single Market or EU Customs Union, it would have to adopt current EU tariffs on imports from outside the EU. In this situation, little would change in terms of the UKs trade in agricultural products. Other scenarios that may have a significant impact on trade for agricultural products include the UK negotiating a trade agreement with the EU that does not give full access to the Single Market. There may still be tariffs for some products, which would be likely to include some agricultural outputs. It may be likely that the UK will not reach agreement with the EU by the time it leaves. In such a case, an interim deal may allow free trade between the EU and the UK to continue while a permanent agreement is reached. If this is not possible, the UK would revert to trading with the EU on the same basis as other WTO members without a trade deal, making UK exports subject to import tariffs when entering the EU. If so, the UK may impose import tariffs of its own. This could lead to higher consumer prices, so the government may prefer to open up wider access to the UK market for some products. Make your birthday special - by brewing a beer originally made on that date. For a mere 25 euros, I'll create a bespoke recipe for any day of the year you like. As well as the recipe, there's a few hundred words of text describing the beer and its historical context and an image of the original brewing record. Just click on the button below. Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury, known by the nickname Tutul, is a writer and editor. He won the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award. The past year he attacked with machetes and guns by fundamentalists. He now lives in exile in Norway with his family. He challenges his critics to "answer me with literature, and not through violence." London (AsiaNews) - The Bangladeshi writer and publisher Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury, known by the nickname Tutul, yesterday received the "International Writer of Courage" award in London from the International PEN writers association. Last year he survived an attack by Islamic extremists, who attacked him viciously with machetes and shot at him leaving him for dead for his progressive ideas. Receiving the award, Tutul challenged his critics to "respond to my ideas with writing, rather than through violence. In Bangladesh some are making huge efforts to pull civilization backwards and repeat the events and the lies of the time of the barbarians. " Tutul is an editor, writer and founder of the magazine and publishing house "Shuddhashar", which is based in Dhaka. With his work he promotes the progressive works of local writers and bloggers. Because of the attack, he and his family were forced to flee to Norway, where they still live. Yesterday he said: "We are challenging this process of regression [to a barbaric civilization] through rational thinking and our actions. Challenge us with literature. Do not issue fatwas to kill me and others. Do not cover murderers who have knives and guns. " Since 2015, since the start of a wave of Islamic violence against publishers, bloggers, free thinkers, democracy activists and members of Hindu and Christian religious minorities at least nine writers were killed. Tutul said that, to date, there are no conditions to return to his country. "I'm considering - he says - alternative ways to continue my work." But then he admits: "I miss my country. All my work I've done in Bangladesh and it is difficult to start again elsewhere. I continue to dream of the day when I can return. " Since 2009, the UK based PEN association continues to award the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award and the PEN Pinter Prize to those who have distinguished themselves for their " fierce intellectual determination" which "describe the true reality of life and society" and are " persecuted for expressing their opinions. " Noted writer Margaret Atwood, who won this year's PEN Pinter Prize, said: "It is an honor to share this award with Tutul. Not only has he demonstrated personal courage in the face of adversity, but he also risked everything in order to give voice to many Bangladeshis who may otherwise remain silent, because of the violence and uncertainty. " by Mathias Hariyadi On Wednesday, Indonesias parliament passed a law against pedophiles. Those convicted risk hormonal treatment, life imprisonment or death. For Mgr Pius Riana Prabdi, president of the Episcopal Youth Ministry Commission, the authorities have given up on educating people and seeks shortcuts to solve the problem. Human sexuality is Gods gift and curbing it weakens people. Jakarta (AsiaNews) Indonesia's parliament on Wednesday passed into law a presidential decree that authorises chemical castration, life in prison and the death penalty for paedophiles. Reacting to the new law on pedophiles, Mgr Pius Riana Prabdi, bishop of Ketapang (West Kalimantan) said that the problem of sexual violence "is not situated in the organs of the guilty but in the quality of his person, in his maturity. For this reason, chemical castration will not bring the desired effect. For the prelate, who chairs the Episcopal Youth Ministry Commission, this measure contravenes societys moral duty to "educate people holistically and lift them in accordance with family values and education. It is my personal opinion that the nation has failed in this matter, the prelate added. Curbing a person's sexual function means dehumanising them. This affects the personality of these individuals, who are created in the image and likeness of God." Quoting from Saint Paul, the bishop of Ketapang asked, Do you not know that your body is a temple* of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Cor 6:19). This means that our sexuality is precious, Mgr Prabdi explained. Through it the human person is able to increase his dignity by participating in Gods creation." Proposed in 2015, the new piece of legislation modifies Law No. 23 of 2002 on child protection. President Joko Widodo is strongly in favour, describing it as "a breakthrough". The new law follows a series of violent incidents in the country. It entails making public the names of predators. Upon release from prison, the latter must wear an electronic device to follow their movements. Not everyone approves though. The Indonesian Medical Association (Ikatan Dokter Indonesia, IDI) has doubts about the effectiveness of chemical castration and deems it contrary to the Hippocratic oath. Many doctors refuse to perform it. Several human rights groups define the measure legalised revenge against pedophiles that will not deal with the underlying factors that lead to sexual violence. According to Fr Paulus Christian Siswantoko, secretary of the Episcopal Commission for the care of migrants, the law will only divide society. "I think that the measure will never be implemented at all, because doctors will refuse to do it ". Approving controversial laws and of dubious effectiveness, he added, "is very dangerous." The Chaldean archbishop describes the project of a center for the elderly inspired by Pope Francis. A place of meeting and support for the victims of poverty and conflict. The local church provides scholarships for 6 thousand students, to help families in a "concrete and fair" way. The dramatic" consequence if the disappearance of Christians in the Middle East, but the West is indifferent. Aleppo (AsiaNews) - In a context of war and violence, broken families and young people looking for a better life abroad, "the elderly who can not escape and remain tied" to memories of a lifetime have been relegated to the margins. This is why our diocese wanted to take up Pope Francis invitation" and in this Jubilee of Mercy that draws to a close we thought of "a memory, a monument for seniors, says Msgr. Antoine Audo, Chaldean Archbishop of Aleppo, explaining the "living memory" that the diocese wants to leave at the end of the Holy Year, to put the call to charity into practice". "We are negotiating the purchase of an apartment - said the prelate on the ground floor and with access to the road, to facilitate the elderly." A shelter "born following the call and the example of the Pope in Rome" and that it is really "a testimony of mercy" in this land that is both "beloved and tormented". A place he adds, where the elderly "more or less alone and abandoned" may "take a shower, grab a coffee, receive treatment or share their time with others. A gesture "that we are making on behalf of the whole diocese," said Msgr. Audo, to revive the values of education, hospitality, the common good, to tell these last remaining seniors that "they are not alone" and that "there is a church that embraces them." Right now, he adds, negotiations are "well advanced " to for the purchase of a structure "already identified" in the city. "I have clear ideas he continues - and I have already provided funds for the purchase, combined with the voluntary contribution of experts and lawyers". The "first step" has been fulfilled, and in the near future he does not rule out the possibility of asking for help and support from abroad, from the faithful in the West and in the world, to provide additional services and opportunities for the elderly. "A center that will be built in a predominantly Christian neighborhood Msgr. Audo continues - but that does not exclude the possibility to accommodate Muslims, although this must be done properly. In accordance with their needs and peculiarities ". In addition to the "monument to the mercy", the Syrian Church - and that of Aleppo in particular - have promoted several initiatives in favor of the population in the last five years of conflict. "Among the priorities - says Msgr. Audo - is medical care for the sick, which costs a great deal. There are many needy who come to us seeking help. Whats more there is the right to education for children and young people "who must be able to go to school" despite the war. And just in terms of education, the Chaldean Church has promoted an initiative that involves students in 10 Catholic schools by providing scholarships, especially to young people who come from poor families. "This is a critical aspect - says the prelate - and is tied hand in glove to the crisis triggered by the war. Many families once the middle class, not rich but wealthy, are now destitute and cannot even escape the current conditions. While not wishing to give up on the idea of allowing their children to study they can not cope with costs and at the same time are reluctant to accept alms out of dignity and pride. " That is why the leaders of the diocese agreed to establish scholarships thanks to which, Msgr. Audo says "we can provide education to young people, without humiliating or hurting the pride of their families. A "constant and discreet help," he says, needs to "mitigate, at least in part, the effects of war and general impoverishment. This way we guarantee at least 6 thousand young men and women, boys and girls, the right to education. This combines ecclesiastical "and psychological assistance" programs to alleviate "the trauma of the conflict" and "training" aimed at "educators who have to operate with those who have been traumatized". "These initiatives - said the prelate - involve Caritas and many humanitarian organizations which are doing an outstanding job providing education with food, medicines, money to pay the rent, basic necessities". The drama of the war, he adds, "has involved the whole city and death, destruction, suffering has touched every family. Violence and destruction are not the prerogative of any one sector, the east or the west, they relate to Aleppo in all its complexity. " At Mass at Santa Marta, Pope Francis indicates children as a " model of good leaven": at confession they speak truthfully of concrete things. "The hypocrite is a simulator": "They say one thing and do another." "The hypocrite is a nominalist, believes that by saying they do everything." Vatican City (AsiaNews) - There is "a good leaven" which "grows" and a "bad leaven" in which "there is no truth ..." and this is "hypocrisy." This was the fundamental theme that Pope Francis addressed this morning homily at Mass in Santa Marta. Good leaven, said Pope Francis, always rises and grows in a consistent and substantial manner and becomes a good bread, a good pastry. But as he went on to warn, bad leaven does not grow well and he used an anecdote from his own childhood to explain the concept. I remember that for Carnival, when we were children, our grandmother made biscuits and it was a very thin, thin, thin pastry that she made. Afterwards she placed it in the oil and that pastry swelled and swelled and when we began to eat it, it was empty. And our grandmother told us that in the dialect they were called lies these are like lies: they seem big but theres nothing inside them, theres nothing true there, theres nothing of substance. And Jesus tells us: Beware of bad leaven, that of the Pharisees. And what is that? Its hypocrisy. Be on your guard against the Pharisees' leaven which is hypocrisy. The Pope went on to explain that hypocrisy is when we invoke the Lord with our lips but our heart is distant from Him. Hypocrisy is an internal division. We say one thing and we do another. Its a kind of spiritual schizophrenia. In addition, hypocrisy is a dissembler: they seem good and polite but they have a dagger behind their backs, right? Look at Herod: terrified inside but how politely he received the Magi! And then when he was bidding them farewell, he told them: Go on your way and then come back and tell me where this child can be found so that I can go and worship him! To kill him! Hes a two-faced hypocrite, a pretender. Jesus when speaking to the doctors of the law, said: these say this and dont do it: this is another type of hypocrisy. It is an existential nominalism: those who believe that by saying the things that everything is done. No. Things must be done not just said. And a hypocrite is a nominalist who believes that by saying it, everything is done. In addition, the hypocrite is unable to accuse him or herself: they never find a stain on themselves, they accuse others.Think about the splinter and the log right? And its in this way that we can describe that leaven which is hypocrisy. Pope Francis urged Christians to examine their consciences to understand whether they are growing with good or bad leaven by asking themselves: With what spirit am I doing things? With what spirit am I praying? With what spirit do I turn to others? With a spirit that builds? Or with a spirit that becomes air? In conclusion, he stressed that it was important not to deceive themselves and to tell the truth rather than lies. How truthful children are when they confess their sins! Children never ever tell a lie during confession; they never talk about abstract things. Ive done this, Ive done that, Ive done Concrete things. Children talk about concrete things when they are in front of God and in front of other people. Why is that? Its because they have good leaven, leaven that makes them grow like the Kingdom of God grows. May the Lord give all of us the Holy Spirit and the grace of that lucidity to discern with which leaven I am growing, with which leaven I am behaving. Am I a loyal and transparent person or am I a hypocrite? by Melani Manel Perera Catholic woman lived in sin because of a "great pain". Her niece had left the family to marry a Buddhist man. "We lived in hatred for eight years, but then we realised that we cannot refuse her husband if we really want to put into practice Gods teachings." The clear voice of the Virgin Mary said, "My daughter, forgive him." Colombo (AsiaNews) "I heard a strange voice, saying clear words, 'My daughter, forgive him. This way you will realise my love.' I could not not listen to what I heard, and I forgave. Now I am free and I am full of joy because I can absolve my sin through the love of Mary Rosa Mystica, said a Catholic woman. Speaking to AsiaNews on condition of anonymity, the 50-something said, My name does not matter; spreading the love of Our Lady through her intercession does. She agreed to give her first name though, Maria, only because "it is the same as that of the Mother of Jesus". In talking about her life and many years of suffering, she said that she found inner peace because she understood that she had committed a sin, and sought reconciliation with God. Maria noted that in 2008 she went through "great pain", an event that marked her family for the next eight years, when her niece, her sisters daughter, met a young Buddhist man. "My niece was a good Catholic, she said. She was going to university and had a job. Her family had always provided her with a good life. She was working for a private company where she began a relationship with a colleague. " When she told her family about it, her mother opposed it. The latter, Marias sister, tried everything to dissuade her, meeting even the young mans parents. "Find the right girl, a good girl for your son, she told them. We believe in God, and for this reason there are major differences between my daughter and you. Her daughter however ran off with the man she loved, and got married. "For us, this was terrible pain, Maria said. She could not have thought about doing such a thing by herself; her boyfriend certainly influenced her." As a result, the young bride cut off all ties with her family and moved to a small town far away from Colombo, where she was born and raised. "We had no news from her, Maria explained. We were desperate. We prayed so much to Jesus and Mother Mary for our daughters return. Then one day, after five years, she showed up "for a visit. She was pregnant and was looking for her mother's support. We welcomed her, and told her that we would take care of her if she left her husband. We did not want any contact him, he had ruined our lives, our love." Over the next three years, Maria began to realise that she was living in sin, her heart filled with hatred for her nieces husband. "Even if he does not fit in our faith, beliefs and family status, we cannot reject him if we really want to put into practice Gods teachings." "I'm Catholic, Maria said, and I was ashamed of my sin. An inner fight was taking place so that I could forgive the great pain I received. I felt inadequate, and for this reason I did not participate for many years in the novena dedicated to Mary Rosa Mystica, which takes place in October at the shrine of Our Lady of Lanka in Tewatta. I always used to go because 13 October is my birthday, and that way I could give thanks to the Lord." But this year she decided to overcome her fears and participate in the novena. "I wanted to put an end to my shame and forgive my nieces husband, she explained. I began to pray intensely to Mary Rosa Mystica to confess in order to find courage. then, one morning, I was in my room and I heard that voice. It was a clear voice telling me to forgive." And so she did. Maria invited her nieces husband to lunch at her house in a deed of reconciliation that left everyone amazed. "Now I am happy, she said. Yesterday, on my birthday, I took part again in the novena to Mary Rosa Mystica." The Jain community is under fire after the death of Aradhana, a young 13 year old who died after 68 days without drinking or eating. She fasted to favor the fate of the family. Jain leaders want to "prove" that the even for small children fasting is not a harmful practice. New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Controversy is brewing in India against the Jain community after the death of a 13-year-old girl who died last week after 68 days of fasting. The childs death has overwhelmed the community with criticism. So much so a group of 640 prominent Jain leaders have presented the police a list of 19 children who in recent years have made long fasts, from 68 to 83 days. In this way they want to "prove" that prolonged fasting is a common practice in Jainism, and this must be accepted. Conversely human rights activists have been very critical of the ritual. This week the Jain community returned to the spotlight for the death of Aradhana, who died for refusing to drink and eat to observe the "chaumasa", a ritual that celebrates the fourth holy month of religion. What has increased the public anger is that the parents, instead of crying over their daughter, revered her as a "holy child" and arranged a funeral ritual attended by over 600 people. Aradhana parents were charged with manslaughter and cruelty against children. In fact, according to reports, they encouraged their daughter, who fasted to draw luck to her family in financial difficulties after her father's jewelry business suffered losses. Vinod Kimtee, secretary of the guru Jain Seva Sangh of Hyderabad, said: "We reported the names of these children just to prove that fasting exists. All the examples that we have provided were of people younger than Aradhana and who now are doing well, despite the record of days ". According Narender Surana, a Hyderabad trader, "we should not blame only the family but also society and the system, because many families want to show off as more religious than others. These children get excited about the fact that they are praised for long fasts, but do not understand the damage to their health. " Man Learns The Hard Way Not To Interrupt Bears During Sex Trending News: If You Interrupt Bears Getting It On, You Reap What You Sow Why Is This Important? Because you should always have a buddy with you when you hike, and you should always put a sock (or maybe a pinecone?) on the door if you dont want to be disturbed when youre having sex. Long Story Short A 54-year old man was out hiking in the Sierra Madre foothills of California, when he interrupted two bears mating and was mauled half to death for killing the vibe. Long Story Dan Richman was hiking alone down a trail near Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park, when a bear appeared ahead of him and stood on its hind legs (cue crapping your pants). He immediately turned around to get out of harms way, when a second bear appeared and attacked him. At that point I was trapped, Richman told KTLA. "I yelled at the top of my lungs in an attempt to scare it, and it seemed to work and it started to run up the mountain, Richman said. He then tried to run around the bear, but was unfortunately not quick enough to evade it. He first grabbed my wrist, put his mouth around the back of my neck. I just stayed really, really still, Richman said. It was the only chance I had. Its hard to imagine until one attacks you and you just feel the strength in its jaws and its body. Playing dead ended up working in Richmans favor, because the bear eventually lost interest, and Richman was able to run back down the trail once the coast was clear to call for help. He ended up being hospitalized with puncture wounds, deep scratches and bruises but is expected to make a full recovery. If youre like me, the first thing you thought of when reading this story was the scene from Super Troopers where Rabbit is putting on a show and vigorously humping a fake bear (don't be like me). via GIPHY While thats not exactly the scene from this Mondays sexual disruption, in that bestiality wasnt involved, the lesson remains that you should never walk in on someone, human or otherwise, when theyre getting busy. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question But, what did this guy do to antagonize these two bears? Kind of hard to believe he just stumbled on both by coincidence. Disrupt Your Feed I'd have done the same if I were those bears, tbh. Drop This Fact An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 black bears live in California, though the animals are more commonly seen in Central and Northern California. The larger and more bellicose grizzly bear was wiped out in California more than 90 years ago, although in recent years there has been a modest campaign to reintroduce the animal. A Nonpartisan Guide For Undecided Voters Trending News: This Handy Tool Shows Voters Where Candidates Stand On The Issues Why Is This Important? Because this election is such a circus, and it's hard to focus on what really matters. Long Story Short The American Voter Guide is a tool designed to help citizens get to the bottom of where the Presidential candidates stand on several key issues. Voters can also find helpful information on voting laws and down-ballot candidates specific to their state. Long Story It seems to most that the upcoming election is already decided, or at least that the lines have been permanently drawn in the sand. If you're living in the large swaths of America left behind in the recovery from the Great Recession and looking to send a wakeup call to Washington to let them know that, hey, rural America is dying, you're likely looking past his vile nature and general misunderstanding of governance and voting for Donald Trump. Anyone else, you're probably voting for Hillary Clinton with varying degrees of enthusiasm. But, surprisingly, there are still undecided voters out there, like living internet meme Ken Bone. Those voters (particularly younger ones) want to know where they stand on the actual issues, but the current media circus makes that hard. We know how Trump feels about women (he's into them, whether they want him to be or not). We know how Hillary stands with pneumonia (shakily, it would appear), and we know that Jill Stein and Gary Johnson are, uh, probably also people running for President? But what about the stuff that actually matters? Thankfully, there's a guide for that. The American Voter Guide is a simple, straightforward tool that gives uncertain voters a clear overview of the candidates, as well as their official positions on several key issues. If you're a Trump fan but worry that he's a little too autocratic, maybe you'll find that Johnson is a reasonable alternative. If you're a hardcore Jill Stein person, you see that Hillary maybe aligns with her better than you thought. Even cooler (and arguably more important) is that, if you go here and click on your state, you can get additional, specific information on how to vote, as well as candidate platforms for any occurring down-ballot races. Here, for instance, is the tutorial for voting in Virginia. Voting is both important and civically responsible, but informed voting is even more important. Come November 8, it's up to everyone to make the best choices for them. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Will enough people make their choice based on the facts, and not their feelings? Disrupt Your Feed There is nothing more dangerous than an uninformed electorate. Drop This Fact Prior to 1845, there was no set date for Election Day. People voted at any time between April and December. Obama Lifts Ban On Cuban Cigars And Rum Trending News: Time To Party Like A Kingpin! Cuban Cigars And Rum Are Now Legal Why Is This Important? Because now you can celebrate like a kingpin and smoke the best of the best. Long Story Short The Obama administration just made purchasing Cuban cigars and rum legal, but there's a catch. You'll need to go to Cuba or a country that sells to them to bring them home. Long Story Now come the end of the year when Barack Obama vacates the White House, he can sit back in his country home with a fat Cuban cigar and glass of rum and chuckle to himself as the country gets to deal with four years of a president they don't really like. via GIPHY The soon to be ex-president enacted a law Friday permitting Americans to buy as many Cuban cigars and as much rum as they'd like. But there's a catch. You can't simply order them on Amazon or whatever and have them shipped to your house you'll need to either go to Cuba or to a country that sells them to bring them back. The new rules also lift bans on Cuban pharmaceuticals and U.S. good being shipped to Cuba. It also allows cargo ships to port in the U.S. immediately (they had to wait 180 days before), permits Americans to provide grants to Cubans and lets U.S. businesses work in Cuba. This all follows recent easing of relations with Cuba and the recommencement of commercial flights to the communist island nation after decades of a boycott. "Challenges remain and very real differences between our governments persist on issues of democracy and human rights but I believe that engagement is the best way to address those differences and make progress on behalf of our interests and values," Obama said, according to USA Today. "The progress of the last two years, bolstered by today's action, should remind the world of what's possible when we look to the future together." The reason Obama is doing this is so Americans will be pissed if a future president decides to undo all his work with Cuba. Obama giveth, and future presidents shall not taketh away. via GIPHY The new rules come into effect this Monday. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Will this easing of restrictions end up allowing the communist government to stick around longer? Disrupt Your Feed Bachelor parties are about to look way more boss. Drop This Fact A Cuban recently rolled a 300-foot cigar, the world's longest. Ultra-Nationalist Russian Politician Warns Of Nuclear War If Trump Loses Trending News: A Russian Politician Threatens Nuclear War If Trump Doesn't Win Why Is This Important? Because the bozo who said so is a reliable ally to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Long Story Short Long-time ultra-nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky said a Hillary Clinton presidency could result in a nuclear war between Russian and the United States. Long Story While its best not to take Vladimir Zhirinovsky too seriously, the fact that he is a useful Putin puppet does beget questions about how and when he mouths off about serious matters. Such is the case with a Reuters interview, in which the leader of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party (their party names obviously don't align with ours) said that only Donald Trump is capable of de-escalating rising tensions between the former Cold War rivals. Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary its war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere, he said. He says Trump, who has praised Putin as a better leader that Barack Obama, won't care about Syria, Libya and Iraq and why on Earth should America interfere in these countries? And Ukraine. Who needs Ukraine? Zhirinovsky, according to Reuters, displays some striking similarities to the Republican candidate. They are the same age, favor coarse, sometimes misogynistic language and boast about putting their own country first. Zhirinovsky has even said he wants a DNA test to see if he is related to Trump. The biggest difference lies in Zhirinovskys close relationship with Putin, and the fact that he has sat in Russias parliament, the Duma, for two decades. Zhirinovsky also brushed off Trumps 2005 comments that have been likened to sexual assault. He agrees with Trump, who likened the comments to locker-room banter. Men all round the world sometimes say such things that are just for their comrades. Hillary Clinton, he believes, is clearly dangerous. He describes her an an evil mother-in-law, and says women should obviously not be presidents. Most Americans should choose Trump because men have been leading for millions of years. You can't take the risk of having one of the richest, most powerful countries led by a woman president. He describes a Trump victory as a gift for humanity. But if Hillary Clinton wins it will be the last U.S. president ever. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question How much actual sway does this idiot have in the Kremlin? Disrupt Your Feed Zhirinovsky has been known to parrot amped-up and dumbed-down versions of Kremlin policy, so its possible that he is just repeating what the current feelings in the Kremlin are, in his own inimitable way. Drop This Fact Zhirinovskys Liberal Democrats are the third biggest party in the Russian Duma. Best Pocket Watches Eight Stylish Timepieces That Prove Pocket Watches Are Still Cool The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. Pocket watches cant exactly be considered de rigueur, especially in an age where some men are even eschewing the standard wristwatch for the smartwatch, or just ditching the idea of wearing a watch altogether. It takes a man of confidence and individual style to carry (not wear) a pocket watch convincingly. You may even wonder whether or not pocket watches are even available anymore. The answer is a resounding yes, and the variety and styles are wider than youd think. The array of pocket watches also doesnt mean you have to dress to the nines like Mr. Peanut to get away with this method of timekeeping. You can choose a style thats far more casual or, of course, one thats full-on black tie with tails. Whatever the case, youre sure to get plenty of attention, so go bold or go home. Here are ten pocket watch choices that will please the wallet as well as the eye. Regent Hills Mechanical Open Face Pocket Watch Its hard to imagine a more artful pocket watch for the price. The breathtaking dial is skeletonized with three subdials, including a day/night dial, and the transparent display back shows off the mechanical movement thats housed within the coverless brass case. $328.98 at Amazon.com Charles Hubert Paris 3918 Premium Collection Mechanical Pocket Watch The 3918 is both simple and elegant with a crisply etched stainless steel case that resists tarnishing and an open face skeleton dial that reveals its intricate mechanical movement. It even has a space on the cover where you can get your initials engraved, making the 3918 both personal and unique. $130.00 at Amazon.com Gotham Silvertone Pocket Watch If youre a show-off, this is the pocket watch that has it all, with dual covers to expose movements in the front and back through scratch- and impact-resistant mineral crystal, contrasting blue hour and minute hands. and an intricate engravable face cover. The piece de resistance is a solid brass stand from which you can display the watch for all to behold. $179.95 at Amazon.com Charles Hubert Paris 3599 Quartz Pocket Watch Sometimes the dark-faced pocket watch is the most noticeable since you dont often see the dial in this hue, especially with military-style numerals and a date window. The 3599 also comes with a chain, engravable cover, and belt loop clip. $84.93 at Amazon.com Stuhrling Mechanical Vintage Pocket Watch Stuhrling doesnt just make great, affordable wristwatches, they craft a good pocket watch, too. This one is hand wound like the old school versions and comes with a white skeleton dial, protective crystal, and a handy chain with requisite belt clip. $84.99 at Amazon.com PeleusTech Spovan SPV600 Part pocket watch, part stopwatch, and part fishing watch, the Spovan is ready for action. Not only does it provide a clear digital time readout, it also has within its skill set a barometer, altimeter, thermometer, weather forecast, fishing location and air pressure tracking, and smart fishing time notification. Youll have no excuse for missing anything anymore. $49.99 at Amazon.com Tissot Savonnettes Stainless Steel Pocket Watch Tissot should always be an ideal choice for watch connoisseurs. The Switch watchmaker's portable timepiece is one for the ages thanks to its timeless appearance and minimalist design. Designed from stainless steel with brass case and cover, its just the kind of pocket watch you'll consider passing down from one generation to the next. Look past the mineral crystal case to appreciate the white face with thin black markers and Roman numerals, plus the square date window parked at the 6 oclock position. $198.00 at Amazon.com Avalon Imperiale Series 17 Jewel Hand Wind Hard to believe this silvery mechanical beauty is such an affordable steal. This skeletonized watch features an ornate dial that showcases its movement donned within a highly polished intricately designed case and scratch resistant mineral crystal lens. The intricate Roman numerals around the dial's edge make indicating time seamless. Adding to its finesse is a stainless steel chain with belt clip. $124.95 at Amazon.com Related Reading Best Watches Under $500 Best Watch Winders Best Watch Cases AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=42645 BREAKING! Wikileaks exposes the Assassination of Scalia and it could bring down the Clintons and the Democratic Party! For Trump's sake, please share this to get the word out. The corruption is immense! We need Trump elected to save our country! According to new WikiLeaks emails, three days before Justice Scalia died this email was sent, using the term "wetworks" - exclusively used in Military meaning "assassination".WET WORKS IS KGB TERM FOR ASSASSINATION. SHARE THIS NOW!US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dies, aged 79. Scalia died in his sleep at age 79 on the night of February 12 or the morning of February 13, 2016, following an afternoon of quail hunting and dining at the Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter, Texas. Conspiracy theorists suspected foul play. We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled, John Poindexter, the ranch owner told the San Antonio Express-News, adding that Scalia was lying very restfully. It looked like he had not quite awakened from a nap. Please share this to get the word out. The corruption is immense! Free newsletter Subscribe to our FREE newsletter service and well keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking news, cutting edge opinion, and expert analysis affecting both your business and the industry as whole. Please enter your email address below and click on Sign Up for daily newsletters from Australasian Lawyer. The emergence of the digital economy has thrown competition law in the online retail space under the microscope. The ACCC really likes the emergence of online retail because it provides a new avenue of competition to traditional bricks and mortar retailers, Gilbert + Tobin competition partner Charles Coorey told Australasian Lawyer. It provides usually lower prices and provides greater choice for consumers. As a result, Coorey said, the digital space is becoming an increased focus for the ACCC, giving online retailers the opportunity to be innovative in competing with traditional retailers. But in some cases, traditional retailers are simply buying up the competition in order to avoid going head to head with them. Over the next 12 months there will continue to be a number of developments because whats clear is that the competition from online retailers is increasing, Coorey said. So the ACCC will be keeping an eye on how incumbent competitors react to that competition and making sure that any reaction to that competition is not anti-competitive. Complaints against Lego in Germany have thrown the spotlight on manufacturers and the supply they offer to online outlets compared with traditional bricks and mortar retailers. Regulators found that traditional retailers werent being offered the same product range and the same prices as online stores. What theyve found is that probably because of the pressure that traditional bricks and mortar retailers have placed on manufacturers, Coorey said. One of the other forms of conduct that the ACCC and other competition or regulators around the world have looked at is the terms and conditions on which manufacturers supply to online retailers compared to traditional bricks and mortar retailers. The ACCC announced in September it would be looking into the review policies of online platforms like Uber and AirBNB, making sure that platforms arent making edits and deletes to unfavourable reviews. These platforms have to be transparent about the commercial relationships they have, they need to make sure that these relationships dont influence the reviews that are posted on their website or the order of the reviews, Coorey said. Data collection has become a competition issue as retailers collect, buy and sell data. But some retailers are looking to acquire specialist data analytics companies. Who that data is available to has become an important competition law issue as well as any retailer looking to acquire these data analytics companies or any other company that might collect this data, Coorey said. Some of the data is collected internally by these companies but there are also some specialised data analytics companies that collect this data and then sell it to retailers. Policies continue to develop as technology emerges, Coorey said. The Sydney Lawyers Orchestra (SLO) this week performed in the Great Hall of the High Court of Australia The group made up of lawyers from top law firms and the wider law community, was led by Thomas Jones, partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth The SLO, supported by Corrs, performed on 9 October as part of the Classics in the Court series.The special performance included the premiere of a long-forgotten work, titled Intermezzo, by Frederic Septimus Kelly, an Australian composer, pianist and Olympic Gold medallist who died 100 years ago on the Western Front.The orchestra also performed a number of classic works by Haydn, Mozart, Elgar and Vaughan Williams.The sound was remarkable in the cathedral like space of the Great Hall and the professionalism and talent of the musicians was thrilling to experience, said Karina Edwards, Court Guides Manager of the High Court of Australia.There were over 300 people in attendance, many of whom took the time to say how impressed they were and how much they enjoyed the concert, she added.The SLO was founded in 2014 by Jones who brought together about 30 lawyers who are also classically-trained musicians and share an enthusiasm for music.The group was established by members from the Bar, the Courts, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Allens Norton Rose Fulbright , Gilbert + Tobin, King & Wood Mallesons, and the social justice sector.It regularly performs to fundraise for charitable causes, recently supporting the fundraising efforts of Save the Children Australia for the victims of Cyclone Winston in Fiji. A new migrant workers taskforce has been launched in Australia to ensure that overseas workers are protected from exploitation by unscrupulous employers.Professor Allan Fels will lead the new taskforce, which will provide expert advice on measures that will deliver better protections for overseas workers. The Minister for Employment, Michaelia Cash, said the taskforce will bolster the Government's efforts to crack down on employers seeking to take advantage of migrant workers and deliver better protections for all workers.'A number of recent high-profile cases where vulnerable migrant workers have been underpaid and exploited at work have exposed unacceptable gaps in the system. While the Government acknowledges that the majority of employers do the right thing by their employees, we will not tolerate exploitation in Australian workplaces,' she added.She pointed out that the exploitation of migrant workers affects a range of industries, and in recent cases it has become clear that some employers have blatantly ignored their responsibilities under Australian law.Revelations of exploitation within some 7-ELEVEN franchises highlighted the need for further protections for workers and higher penalties for those found to have breached workplace laws.The taskforce will monitor progress of 7-ELEVEN in rectifying its breaches but will also be tasked with identifying regulatory and compliance weaknesses that have led to such incidences of widespread exploitation.Cash said that the taskforce will also support effective ongoing collaboration between agencies to ensure that efforts to stamp out exploitation work. 'Migrant workers make a vital contribution to Australia and we have a responsibility to ensure they continue to see Australia as an attractive place to study, visit and work,' she pointed out.'We know that overseas workers are potentially more susceptible to exploitive practices, which is why we must introduce stronger measures to maintain the integrity of their working experience in Australia,' she added.Last year the Government also established the Ministerial Working Group on Protecting Vulnerable Visa Holders to develop strategies to protect vulnerable migrant workers in Australia.Cash said other steps are being taken to crackdown on employers who underpay workers and who fail to keep proper employment records. A new higher penalty category of 'serious contraventions' will be introduced, and will apply to any employer that has intentionally ripped off workers, regardless of the employer's size.New provisions that capture franchisors who fail to deal with exploitation by their franchisees are being introduced and the powers of the Fair Work Ombudsman are being boosted so that it can more effectively deal with employers who intentionally exploit workers by compelling them to produce information and answer questions. Mark Malloch-Brown, a British Jew, is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Smartmatic international corporation, a so-called 'elections solutions provider' that offers its voting machines, vote counting machines, software and techies to run elections all over the world. Besides his top position at Smartmatic, Mark Malloch-Brown serves in quite a high position (Vice Chairman) at no less of an organization than George Soros' international political meddling outfit, the Open Society Foundation. How do we know this? It's no secret. Mark Malloch-Brown is so proud of his service to George Soros that he boasts of it on the Voting Machine Company's website. (Mark Malloch-Brown) chairs the Boards of a number of non-profit boards including ...the Open Society Foundation... SOURCE OF THE ABOVE - - http://www.smartmatic.com/about/our-team/detail/lord-mark-malloch-brown/ What this means on Election Day is that ...a private company (linked to Soros), manages everything about the voting, from voter registration, the printing of ballots, the programming of the voting machines, the counting and tabulation of the votes, and the final reporting of the results for... millions of Americans in (many) states. Here I am paraphrasing Chris Bollyn Smartmatic's voting equipment and procedures have raised the suspicions of people in more than one nation, and their trustworthiness has been called into question by cops, judges and politicians. Just Google their name and scroll. Nevertheless, Smartmatic has in recent years made big inroads into our USA elections. On their company website they state that they have now configured 392,000 electoral devices in America and 'deployed' (odd choice of word for them to use) deployed 57,000 vote counting machines. . . . SOURCE - -http://www.smartmatic.com/case-studies/article/united-states-elections/ Smartmatic's equipment, software and technicians will be counting votes behind closed doors in the following US states- -- Arizona -- California -- Colorado -- District of Columbia -- Florida -- Illinois -- Louisiana -- Michigan -- Missouri -- New Jersey -- Nevada -- Oregon -- Pennsylvania -- Virginia -- Washington -- Wisconsin . . .SOURCE - - http://www.smartmatic.com/case-studies/article/united-states-elections/ Any actual counting of the votes by citizens is very rare in the United States except for a few counties in Montana and other states where paper ballots are still hand-counted. In most counties the ballots are treated as input data to be processed through computer systems controlled by private companies...Chris Bollyn There are still four weeks or so before the election. The corporation, Smartmatic, and several of its spokesmen have social media accounts. Here is the dirt on a different voting machine company, ES&S, written by the investigative journalist Chris Bollyn, who went to take a good look at what they were doing a few years ago. No, it ain't Smartmatic, but I don't imagine there is much difference in the procedures - Later I asked Lin who was actually operating the computer that was generating the results being shown on the monitors. ES&S is running the mainframe for all of this, Lin said pointing to the television displays. In the press room in the back I noticed stacks of boxes containing Votamatic voting machines and pre-punched ballots printed by ES&S of Addison, Texas, for the different precincts in Cook County. In the rear hallway behind the press room was the ES&S room. Only ES&S personnel were allowed into the room. That sounds absolutely outside the boundaries of dependable election results in a real democratic process. If George Soros' pal's corporation, Smartmatic, is going to count US presidential votes like that, how do you feel about it. Let's bring Smartmatic out into the public light of cyberspace at Twitter and Facebook and etc, and just plain old ask them - HOW do we know the votes are counted correctly? Who are the Smartmatic techies who will be in the room? What are their names and professional credentials? Are they affiliated with any foreign or domestic political organization? Who audits their work? What does the system look like . . are votes from various polling stations fed to a central processor? Show us a diagram. Let's get this all out in the open long before the Trump / Clinton votes are counted out of our sight.. Just the other day Smartmatic openly bragged on their Twitter account that Barak Obama voted on their equipemnt. . . . Smartmatic *@smartmatic * Oct 10 .. Smartmatic Retweeted President Obama .. .@Potus early voted with one of our voting machines in Chicago #USElection Twitter @smartmatic Facebook: SmartmaticTechnology Instagram: SmartmaticTechnology https://vimeo.com/smartmatic https://twitter.com/sab1ta ... The latest Tweets from Samira Saba (@Sab1ta). Integrated Communications Director @ Smartmatic. Miami, Florida, USA. In light of the fact that their corporation has a Chairman of the Board who also chairs George Soros' Open Society Foundation - considering that Soros is Hillary's biggest contributor and Soros is a power Zionist with great interest in the US presidency - let's find out in cyberspace in broad daylight how Smartmatic can be ASSURE US THE COUNT WILL BE FAIR. I don't have experience with Australia yet (just applied for my PMV) but I moved from Germany to Canada 4.5 years ago. First year on a Working Holiday visa, second year on a similar visa and only 2 years later I became a permanent resident. I had a finished apprenticeship and a BBA from Germany but no Canadian experience. The first employer I applied with hired me on the spot as a Food Counter Attendant, not a dream job when you have a degree. But I took the job because it was better than nothing. 6 months later, after working my butt off, I got promoted into the office, still on my temporary visa. I'm still working with the same employer, run the office here and earn more than twice as much as I did when I started hereMy wage increased 5 times within 3 years. When I get to Australia next year I will take whatever job I can get, even if it is another waitress/server job. Who knows... maybe I can work my way up again one day. Don't lose hope Hi!Quick question:I'm in the process of completing the partner visa application, my partner is currently on a prospective marriage visa.The medicals and police checks we used for the PMV are less than 12 months old, I know we can still use the medicals - can we still use the police checks or do we need to redo those?Thanks in advance!Danni Suzanne87 said: Hi there all Myself and hubby and two children 10-5 are moveing to Brisbane in Jan 17 I was wondering what are the nice areas to live and the areas to avoid that are not nice much help would be really greatful Click to expand... Hi Suzanne,The Redlands area is lovely. I'm an Australian Citizen by birth but my Scottish parents moved out here in the early 80's and have been in the Redlands ever since. There are excellent schools out there, and it's close to some lovely bay areas, with plenty of things around for the children to do. There's also a fairly large ex-pat community so it will be nice for you to meet other people who have made the big move as well AMG Confirmed by none other than the organizers of the car expo, all we know about the Civic Si is that it will be turbocharged. Its a distinct departure from the former models 2.4-liter freely aspirated mill, but downsizing and forced induction certainly have their quirks when it comes down to get-up-and-go The problem is, theres no word on the displacement of the engine. The rumor mill, in its own right, hopes that the all-new Civic Si gets a detuned version of the Type Rs 2.0-liter VTEC Turbo , while other voices suggest that Honda will use a pumped-up version of the regular models 1.5-liter VTEC Turbo engine.The latter engine produces as much as 190 horsepower and 179 lb-ft in the 2017 Honda CR-V . Whatever the means of propulsion, its safe to assume that the 2017 Honda Civic Si will be tuned to produce something like 220, probably 230 horsepower. Due to its sporting credentials, the next-generation Civic Si will be matched with a slick-shifting 6-speed stick shift transmission.A bit later on, the 2018 Honda Civic Type R and its three-tailpipe exhaust system is due to round off the Civic X's performance-oriented lineup.On the show floor at AutoMobility LA, the merger of the LA Auto Show and Connected Car Expo, the Civic Si will be joined by a handful of buddies from other manufacturers. Confirmed debuts include the third-generation Land Rover Discovery and the smart ForTwo Electric Drive cabriolet. Mercedes-Benz will show three models for the first time in the United States: the GT Roadster and GT C Roadster , high-riding G550 44, and the track-readyGT R. SUV TDI At the present moment, pricing in euros has yet to be announced. If, however, we convert the UK and CZ prices to at the current exchange rates, thats 23,830 and 25,085. At launch, Skoda 's 7-seaterwill be available with five engine options, a choice of stick shift or 7-speed DSG, as well as a choice of front- or all-wheel-drive. In the Czech Republic, three trim levels are available at the Kodiaq's launch: Active, Ambition, and range-topping Style.The United Kingdom, on the other hand, gets the Kodiaq in four flavors: S, SE, SE L, and Edition, with the latter celebrating the Skodas brand venture into 7-seater SUV territory. As standard, the 2017 Skoda Kodiaq makes use of a 1.4 TSI 125 PS (123 hp) turbo petrol matched with a manual tranny. From the get-go, the equipment list includes 17-inch alloy wheels, air con, Front Assist, touchscreen infotainment, digital radio, and SmartLink phone connectivity.All-wheel-drive, the DSG or other engines arent available for the entry-level model in the UK. If you want the more powerful 1.4 TSI, 2.0 TSI 180 PS (178 hp) or the 2.0(115 PS / 113 hp, 150 PS / 148 hp), prepare to move on up on the available range of trim levels. The most powerful engine - the 2.0 TDI 190 PS (187 hp), is only available on the top-of-the-line model and its matched with the 7-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel-drive.Later on, Skoda is expected to one-up the engine range with a twin-turbo version of the 2.0-liter turbo diesel. This information has been partially confirmed by Christian Struber, a Skoda board member who has driven a prototype of the yet-to-be-launched Kodiaq 2.0 BiTDI . According to Struber, the 240 PS (237 hp) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) powertrain is fantastic.Expect the 2017 Skoda Kodiaq to arrive in dealer lots early next year. A photo posted by Sam Smith (@f1_rosso2007) on Sep 8, 2016 at 12:16pm PDT In the image we have here, which comes from AutoExpress , we can see the heavily covered prototype, while the Instagram photo below, which dates back to last month, shows the rear of the supercar.The P14 will mark the next evolution in the British automaker's design language and we'll remind you that Frank Stephenson, the company's design director, has said the model will "raise eyebrows" by delivering technical solutions that should give other carmakers the "why didn't we think of this before?" feeling.So far, we can tell you the design details will be sharper, as, for instance, the new LED technology allow Woking designers to deliver incredibly slim headlamps.More importantly, the side air intakes we've learned to associate with any supercar seem to be gone, with the rumor mill talking about an underbody air intake having replaced these elements.As for the engine cover and the tail of the ting, expect an extremely aero-complex setup that should take McLaren's already uber-aggressive rear end design to the next level. The taillights will be just as slim as the headlights, while now-traditional elements for the company, such as the high-sitting tailpipes or the active rear wing also acting as an Air Brake will be present.Until we get to see more of the P14, we've dropped tons of 650S Coupe and Spider photos in the gallery to your right, so you get to stay in comparison-ready shape.When it comes to the actual name of the car, this is rumored to start with a "7", which should make McLaren's intentions to horsepower-dominate the Ferrari 488 pretty clear.The 2018 McLaren P14 will make its debut at next year's Geneva Motor Show and, if you want one, it seems you need to have a special talk with your dealer. According to McLaren Life forum user roundincircles, dealers are currently taking deposits for the upcoming rocket."The P14 inches forwards towards reveal and launch. UK Dealers are requesting 10k [$12,000/EUR11,000] deposits, returnable until final spec when a further 20k will be requested," the Woking aficionado states.Then again, there are supercar buyers out there who are willing to adorn their garages with P14s, but explain the want to wait for the first batch of cars to be released before doing so, thus giving McLaren the time to refine any less-than-smooth edges of the speed demon. Now that's a good problem to have as a car buyer... That's the only logical explanation, right? Why else would you bring a Trabant on a drag strip if not to humiliate all those drivers in their brightly colored, stripped cars? After the initial fright, though, I would start to get more and more relaxed.First of all, just look at its wheels. Not only are they ridiculously tiny, but they are also very narrow. Even if a V8 engine were somehow crammed somewhere under that body, it would struggle for traction. And if it were to find it somehow, the car would probably flip over due to the very short wheelbase.Then there's that engine sound. If it sounds familiar, it's because you might have heard something similar in a chainsaw. It's definitely not a V8. Not even a six. It's a 0.5-liter two-cylinder two-stroke engine that's much better at creating smoke than it is for providing power. We chose the puniest version, but we don't know exactly what model that is, so it might as well pack a 0.6-liter two-cylinder or even a huge 1.0-liter four-cylinder borrowed from a Volkswagen Polo.Either way, it's safe to say it's not fast. The Trabant was something of a symbol in East Germany prior to the country's unification, and that's because it was the only car most of the GDR (the German Democratic Republic) residents could afford. Some of the over three million Trabants ever produced were also exported to other countries in the Communist Block Which is where this particular example comes from. Its owner, a guy from a YouTube channel suitably called "Aging Wheels," had it imported from Hungary, as its registration plates still indicate. He brought it to the drag strip on a platform thinking it would be fun to have a go on the quarter-mile strip. And we reckon he was right.The driver actually provides a pretty accurate estimate for the pass, saying he'll do it in 30 seconds with a trap speed of no more than 50 miles per hour (5 mph short of the car's top speed). We won't spoil the surprise, especially since there are several funny moments in the video it would be a shame to miss. It happened in the Turkish region of Sakarya, not far East from the country's largest and best-known city, Istanbul. The footage shows a pack of dogs going past the white car in a pretty alarmed state, but all of a sudden, their attention turns toward the Toyota.In the few minutes that the attack lasted, the dogs managed to rip the sedan's front bumper clean off, taking one of its headlights out as well in the process. The damage is estimated at around $1,600, but unless the owner of the car had it insured, he's going to either sue the municipality for allowing the dogs to roam free, or pay out of his own pocket.The good news is that car belongs to a man named Cem Acar who just happens to be a mechanic, so at least he'll be able to cut the expenses on labor hours. When he saw the car, he called the police thinking it was an attempted theft, but the real perpetrators were soon discovered upon viewing the video from a nearby camera.The question everybody would like to know the answer to now is "why?" We're no canine experts, but we do have furry friends and can also use our deduction and logic, so our conclusion is that the dogs were after a small animal - either a cat or a rat - that was hiding inside the engine bay.There are a few clues that would suggest this explanation. First of all, the temperatures at night in Sakarya can go as low as 6 degrees Celsius (that's below 43 Fahrenheit), so a cat hiding near the warm engine would make sense. Second, you can see the dogs are actively looking for something.They are focused on one particular area of the car, ignoring the equally juicy rear bumper, for example. Finally, at some point, there is one dog that inserts its head into the engine compartment through the hole left by the removal of the headlight. That clearly indicates it was looking for something, and since people don't make a habit out of storing ham or salami under the hood of the car, the only real answer is the presence of either a cat or a rodent.However, there are "experts" who would very much disagree with our assertion. Turkish website Hurriyet Daily News quotes the Chair of the Chamber of Veterinary in Sakarya, Mustafa Yildiz, who thinks that the dogs acted out of revenge. That's right, revenge. And it gets better. He thinks that dogs can tell a Corolla from other makes and models, claiming that "a similar car might have crashed into one of their friends and they might have acted with the motivation of revenge." He also went as far as saying that the dogs might have psychological issues.Mr. Yildiz, thank you for the good laugh, but we're afraid the only one with psychological issues here is a man holding a position that should really enable him to make more sensible comments. He does say in the end that the dogs might have just smelled some meat, but why not start with that? Did he feel he needed to offer a more complex explanation first?Have a look at the clip yourself and try to see if you can spot that flicker of revenge in the dogs' eyes. MSR Named Jesus, Take The Wheel, the official record attempt was scheduled to be held on theSpeedway track in Angleton, Texas. Monday was a great practice day, with both Shelton and Wall having completed 40 laps of the 2.38-mile, 17-turn circuit without using their hands.However, they didnt expected to rain the next day. Even so, they decided to still try their luck, but sadly, Foster didnt even manage to complete one lap and crashed.I didnt even get around the track one time, Foster told TheTownTalk . There was water all over the track. At some point, his rear ended slip and both him and the bike went down.Thankfully, he ended up only with a bit of road rash on his knee, foot, elbow and shoulder. His bike, a Harley-Davidson Electra Glide , also suffered some $1,000 trauma. The two are poised to try again in a few months after they recover and repair the motorcycle.Wall and Foster are both US Army veterans and work at the Pollock Federal Correctional Complex. They claim to also be experienced riders, having been in the saddle for thousands of highway miles on their bikes with no hands.The Jesus, Take The Wheel initiative has another target along with putting them in the record book, and that is to raise money and awareness for three US charity organizations - Domestic Abuse Resistance Team, or DART, in Colfax; Heels for Combat Boots; and Brothers and Sisters in Arms of Leesville.In case you wondered if there is another no-hands-riding record, Italian Marcello Sarandrea scored 137.94 miles in 2015 while riding a Yamaha Tricker 250 in Rome. A model car company called AUTOart has just release four photos of their entire Lamborghini Aventador lineup. These brothers of the same casting machine are colored differently in vibrant shades, some of them stock, some of them custom, like that Al Thani shade of teal.The photos kind of remind us of those Arab billionaires who have seven of the same car, one for each day of the week. Suppose you can do that too now, in 1:18 scale at least.While the real Aventador will get you noticed everywhere, the scale version doesn't have the same effect. So let's talk about the 1:1 scale machine built in Santa Agata'Bolognese instead.Arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever made by Lamborghini is powered by the first all-new V12 engine developed in decades. The 6.5-liter unit delivers 700 PS or 691 hp to all four-wheels via the single-clutch gearbox. The F1-style suspension system is one of many talking point of the Aventador.Internally codenamed LB834, the Aventador was designed to replace the ten-year-old Murcielago as the new flagship model in the Lamborghini line-up starting in 2011. The official unveiling took place on the 28th of February, just a few days before the Geneva Motor Show of that year.Thanks to its radical styling, the Aventador was soon chosen to appear in one of the Dark Knight movies directed by Christopher Nolan. Bruce Wayne chose this bad boy to parade his money, sexy woman and influence around Gotham city.Even though nobody has a full collection of rainbow Aventadors, some people have been crazy with the paint, going as far as gold and pink. Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta used a term known to reference assassination in an email sent to a lobbyist days before Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalias mysterious death. The email, an exchange between Podesta and D.C. lobbyist Steve Elmendorf, appeared in a trove of documents dumped by the organization WikiLeaks Wednesday. Didnt think wet works meant pool parties at the Vineyard, Podesta says in the February 9 email under the subject line Thanks. Im all in, gay lobbyist and Hillary delegate Steve Elmendorf replies. Sounds like it will be a bad nite, we all need to buckle up and double down. Justice Scalia was later found dead in a hotel room in Texas on the night of February 12 three days after the email exchange took place. The mysterious death was seen as suspicious by many, including a former US Army intelligence officer who deemed the pillow found over Scalias head to be a warning. Emails sent throughout the Clinton campaign on the day Scalias death was announced show the team debated on whether or not to address the issue, and what should be said if anything. Former U.S. Senate staffer Brent Budowsky also emailed Podesta on the 13th, the day Scalias body was found, suggesting a replacement for the late judge. Others have pointed out there is a vineyard located right on the Cibolo Creek Ranch property, the site where the judges body was found. The term wetwork typically refers to murder or assassination, however as one former NSA analyst points out, its usually spelled as one word. Alternatively, the email could also reference being murdered at the polls. The messages date, February 9, coincides with the night of the New Hampshire primary results, where Hillary lost to Bernie Sanders 60.4% to 38%. Without additional context, its almost impossible to tell what use of the term wet works in the email refers to. Infowars has reached out to Mr. Podesta. Well update this article if he responds. Even if the email has nothing to do with Scalia, the Clinton campaign chairmans use of the term will undoubtedly fuel speculation. Watch: Is Scalia Assassination Referenced In Wikileaks Emails? Recommend 8 Share Sort by Best Join the discussion Free at last... The whole truth has come out about Hillary and all the rest of therm. We knew it all along. They are throwing anything to see if it sticks. All their lies have been exposed. Luk 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Great reference to Luke. Here's another one that will give all of us an idea about what will eventually come of this - in this life or the next: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." - Galatians 6:7 Scalia should have remembered that before he decided to be the human sacrifice in his secret society ritual. Texas the Assassination State and doorway to Hell. Yes!!! Thank you Klaud that is exactly what is happening it is part of a cult of dead best but deadly bums. These bums are deadly and disgusting, thank you for exposing this creep house some of us have run gevsud of th m oth to trsppe. Stuck Who gave you alcohol and a keyboard? That could result in a CUI (Commenting Under the Influence). "All right buddy just pull that keyboard away from the computer and step out of the comments section. Let's see you do 20 Ctrl+Alt+Del's while Alt+Tabbing through your running apps." Texas is disgusting. I confirm this 100 these rituals are from the pit of hell any decent or normal person knows it's crap. When god said "eat of my body" he did not say that literally. Thus is where the distortion comes from. The CIA and bankers practice this shit they better knock their crap off because murders is still murder plain and simple. If we declare war on CNN, will killing their reporters still be considered murder? No... Its the PATRIOTIC thing to do... Get back to killing these commie bastards. Also the emails tell us what she truly thinks of Christianity..she hates us basically. Black magic witches hate Christianity I thought those emails were written my aides. Yes. Hilary had gotten many killed this time me she has smothered with a pillow. There is another one that had bern staged 5 months ago he was alive now has died Hilary and bill Clinton ha e hir d thugs to do their dirty work and to get those to shut up. We will not shut up we haven't forgotten. This is what she has done to activist and their families I tell you this woman is pure evil and. Is unfit for a leader. . Some false claims ha e been written but these are not true, it is the sign of gang related activities and some of stalking. It's very clever the way Info-liars makes 'sort by best' ..... as the default setting, they rig the up votes so they can move their propaganda to the top. So it's all you get to read. They so love free speech except for you....n So, you are complaining that you are too lazy to change the setting, or your friends are too stupid to do that? None of us ''regulars'' have a problem doing that. They need to add a fourth setting for the dumbest comment written. His would be at the top. hahahahaha. good one The CIA Got It Right Once again. This Is the Obvious Proof ... http://patriotready.site/ This is The CIA's a lot of surprising declaration yet, Nonetheless the mainstream media isn't really claiming a word about it! Exactly what are they truly aiming to hide? I'm sending this to all my friends, household as well as patriot brothers ... As swiftly as I could ... Since it's the ONLY video clip I have actually seen that discloses the "April Shock" nobody is speaking about ...This is bigger as well as much more dangerous compared to ISIS can have ever come to be. And also it's headed to YOUR area ... METHOD much faster than you believe. P.S. Some of The U.S.A.'s richest are already investing hundreds of thousands of bucks to prepare for this ... And when you view this presentation you'll understand why. bahaha exactly Murderous Mercenary Marxist Monsters: HANG THEM HIGH!!! I prefer impaling. It would be more entertaining and it lasts for two or three days rather than just a few seconds. Think of the entrepreneurial aspects. Since it takes two to three days, think of how much money you could make selling hotdogs and cokes to the spectators! I like the impaling, on the WH lawn.. Dracla the impaler, TRUMP the Impaler!!! Yes!!! That is exactly what had gone in in secret. I hey need to stop resizing these losers and get king David back on the throne. It was Vlad the Impaler. Carry on now. The story of Dracula was based on Viad the Impaler. I'm sure you know. "DISEMBOWELL"!! Excruciatingly painful as you are awake, alert, and oriented! Can you hang a dead man twice? Only if he is registered to vote. Lol Vote.......................Demon Crap that is...................not allowed for other's.. Yeah, but he head pops off the second time if you wait too long between hangings. don't bother with dgexh-Yagoda. hey ,psst, don't tell him, now he'll find out all the secrets ! I am complaining that most people will only read the comment Infowars trolls push. It's a rigged board, you do not understand how it works. I think you seriously underestimate the audience here. We are not so deplorable as some people might want to suggest. i am mucho deplorable and i live in a basket , hillary , w.o.b., saiid so and she never lies and my basket dwells in the basement ,so there The danger of you people is you have no idea what you don't know. I say that with love. The deal is we understand it all too well. And 10 years from now there will be a movie on how Scalia was whacked by the NWO. And you can take it to the bank. Problem is like my compatriots on this site have identified you are a paid troll...with obongos dongo in your boca..just in case you are an illegal. Movie made by whom? The nation-wrecking, globalist, perversion-pushing NWO cabal in Hollywood? If there IS any such movie, if will be a movie glorifying how the bumping off of the "evil cis-het, White-male racist Nazi" Scalia was a noble act. The same guy that made the movie Hillary's America They also killed jo banks remember her the yong legislator who was helping the refugees because she did it truly to help the peopl. Anytime someone does that the dirty CIA steps in and bumps them off. Look at CNN you can see it right thernow they were practicing a "run" of bumping people off. She tried to kill me but here I am that lying witch sacrificed so many people it's disgusting. She's mad cuz her pedophile ring got exposed. Any creep that thinks its appropriatexto finger kids is disgusting. Tom Hanks will Direct and act as Scalia ..lol one more time Charlie brown; I couldn't understand you with OVOMITS c0ck in your mouth! Can you even begin to comprehend the stupidity of your own comment? Obviously not, or you would delete it. And the irony in your post is not lost on us... Who you calling you people? Is that a racial slur towards me? That's a terminology "you people" they use that to manipulat I tell them yes, WE the people are speaking!!! And people like you know all about things that you don't know about.... Exactly. I say that with pity Active Car Hire has a thriving safari tour business, renting Toyota Land Cruisers purpose-built for safaris. Each safari tour includes a driver guide. Active Car Hire in Nairobi, Kenya, started in 2006 with a single car that was bought through a loan and rented out as a car with driver for airport transfers. The fleet has grown to three locations and 80 units today. Now we are a full-grown car rental, leasing, and logistics company, says Active Car Hires Mary Njema. Active Car Hire rents from three locations around Nairobi in the city center, at the international airport, and along Kiambu Road opposite Kenya Institute of Science & Technology. The company rents a wide range of models, mostly from Toyota, from sedans, minivans, and SUVs to safari-ready vehicles and camper vans. While the rental markets in other African countries are mostly chauffeur based, Kenya has a greater mix of self-drive. Active Car Hire has recently started specializing in rentals of six months and longer, for which it buys new vehicles from Toyota Kenya. Long-term rentals can be hired with a driver or as self-drive. The company, owned by Njewa Safari Tours and Travel Ltd., caters mostly to business clientele, from business people, foreign investors and oil exploration companies to private nonprofits (NGOs), particularly for events and conferences. On the leisure side, the safari tour business is solid, Njema says, which prompted the business to fleet up with safari-ready Toyota Land Cruisers and vans to be used with driver guides. For tours, the high season is from the beginning of the year to the end of March, then from mid-June to the end of December. The problem is the low season. The income is minimal, but the drivers still have to receive their salaries, Njema says. Active Car Hire markets locally as well as internationally through word of mouth, referrals from past clients, the internet, and social media. The company is active in outside sales to nonprofits, engineering firms, missionaries, and consultants. We pursue new business by visiting their offices and by sending introduction letters to potential customers, Njema says. Individual renters can book through the companys online reservation form. Njema says about half of reservations are made locally, and the other half are made online. The company keeps new vehicles for five to six years. It fleets up with some used units; those are kept in fleet for three years. De-fleeted rental vehicles are sold through a local used car lot. Business Challenges Unscheduled maintenance is an issue for Kenyan car rental companies, owing to the areas unfixed potholes. Spare parts are expensive. As well, Nairobis severe lack of parking is a problem, Njema says. Logo courtesy of Active Car Hire. To increase public safety, the Kenyan government has mandated speed governors on all vehicles, and a speed limit certificate must be visible on the vehicle. Nairobi still faces a large unorganized rental market. Some have no offices and operate from a briefcase, Njema says. They dont care about the risks involved; they are only interested in the small extra income. However, being above board has advantages 90% of our clients nowadays only operate with registered and licensed companies, she says. Some even request your tax registration number and financial statements. Overall, Car rental is growing very fast in Africa, Njema says, adding that demand continues to increase as the number of business travelers and foreign investors in Kenya increases, particularly in oil and nonprofits. Foreign developers and business clientele rent for short and long terms, and long-term rentals have been an important new business source, she says. An advancing Kenyan middle class may not be all good for car rental. Car rental used to do well because very few people could afford a car, Njema says. Now, many local people can afford to buy their own vehicles. Thus the car rental business from the locals is coming down, but not too bad. A newly refurbished Reimagined Cessna 150 will go to the Nate AbelFlying Club in Texas, which won AOPAs latest airplane giveaway. The Nate Abel club, based in Fort Worth, won the prize Thursday over a total of 57 eligible clubs that applied. Club officers received a Skype call from AOPA President Mark Baker, who told them they were the winners. Thats awesome, said James Smith, vice president of the club.The family is going to be floored, they will not believe it.This years giveaway promotes AOPAs flying club initiative, which encourages pilots to share the costs of flying and aircraft ownership as part of the You Can Fly program. The eye-catching yellow Cessna is among a fleet of Reimagined 150s that underwent restorations by Aviat Aircraft to help promote affordable flying and flight training. The Nate Abel club plans to bring more younger pilots into the fold by having older pilots serve as mentors. Promoting safety, fun and low-cost flying, and bringing pilots together, all helped the club stand out among the applicants, said Les Smith, AOPA senior director of pilot community development.Their application scored vey highly in terms of hitting all the key points we were looking for, Smith said.Meanwhile, the association will continue to support the other clubs in reaching their goals. Those other 56 clubs have done everything thing there is to do short of obtaining an aircraft, and we want to work with them on that next step, Smith said. AVwebs search of aviation news worldwide found announcements from Avidyne, Aero Electric Aircraft, Dassault Aviation and True Blue Power. Avidyne announced the winners of the $55,000 Dream Panel Giveaway contest that ran from May 1 Sept. 30, 2016. The Grand Prize winner was David Mullins of Texas, who won a Full Avidyne IFR & ADS-B-Compliant Stack. Aero Electric Aircraft Corporation (AEAC), which is developing the Sun Flyer solar-electric training aircraft, and TC Aero Group, which offers full-service maintenance, repair and overhaul with facilities in Florida and Minnesota, announced the launch of a Sun Flyer sales and service center for the State of Florida. Dassault Aviations revolutionary Combined Vision System dubbed FalconEye -has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration for use on the Falcon 2000S and LXS twinjet aircraft. FalconEye will also be certified soon on the new Falcon 8X ultra-long-range trijet. True Blue Power announced the FAA has granted a Supplemental Type Certificate for the companys TB17 (17-amp hour) lithium-ion batteries on Robinson R44 helicopters. This is the first STC granted by the FAA for lithium-ion battery use as a primary electrical power source, including engine start. What makes training good? What makes it stick so that when you really need it, you can make the right decision and execute accordingly? Anyone who has earned a flight instructor certificate will remember the Six Laws of Learning as elucidated in the FAAs dreary Aviation Instructors Handbook. My friend John Deakin once told me after he got through that volume and took the written, he felt in strong need of a hot shower. When I went through primary training, there was only one law of learning: the Law of the Rolled Up Sectional to the back of the head. Musta worked. Ive made it this far. What caused me to ruminate on this is two things: a conversation I had over the weekend with a friend whos about to start flying aeromedical flights and a movie I saw last week. I mentioned the movie, Deepwater Horizon, in a blog last week. What the movie has to do with training is that in the film, theres a scene in which the protagonist and supporting characters are about to be flown 40 miles offshore in a helicopter. The director very carefully included tracking shots of the vast aviation infrastructure that supports the offshore oil industry to give some sense of the scale of the enterprise. Helicopters in the hundreds organized almost like airlines. But the instant I saw that, I didnt think of airlines, but some training I had 15 years ago at a company called Survival Systems USA in Groton, Connecticut. This company is devoted mainly to one thing: to teach passengers and crews how to egress a helicopter thats crashed or ditched into the ocean. They arent the only company doing it, but every worker in the offshore oil business will go through some version of that training before boarding a helo to a rig or a production platform. And thats instantly what I thought of and Ill be damned if I didnt find myself running the bullet points from that training: Be ready for cold water gasp, wait until the aircraft is completely at rest, find and open or remove the exit door and then and only then, release the seatbelt and egress. The daylong course I took covered a lot more than that but for eight hours, we endured repeated dunkings in a simulated helicopter cabin which, as helicopters do, always inverted after impact. The day culminated in one of these exercises in pitch black conditions. It was wet, cold and kind of scary. But to this day, those key points in the training bubble up from time to time. I even have a little wallet card they gave me certifying my training in emergency egress. I would have zero difficulty in doing it any conditions right now. I think it stuck because the instructors structured most of the training as in support of those four bullet items. I seem to recall they said if you remember nothing else and do nothing else, you will increase your probability of survival. They reinforced this with repeated ditchings (Law of Exercise) with some variation thrown in, but with debriefings focused mainly on the four critical points. There wasnt a lot of nuance. When you hear the phrase relying on your lowest level of training, it means that when panic has reduced your operating bubble to the diameter of a human hair, youll still be able to perform. Confidence in that ability can mean the difference between surviving and not surviving. However they managed to do it, it worked. We can only hope we pass the same kind of confidence on to our students. The Death of a King My life of quiet desperation hasnt often intersected with royalty. But it did once. You probably read that King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand died this week. What that has to do with aviation is that Thailand is a very aviation- and, especially, skydiving-oriented country. The latter is almost an obsession and I wouldnt be surprised if it had spiritual overtones. In 2006, I went to Thailand as part of The World Team and a successful attempt to set the record for the worlds largest skydive. Read about it here. The Royal Thai Air Force, the citizenry and the King himself were enthusiastic supporters of this project, which became part of the Royal Sky Festival. The Thai people treated us like the royalty we definitely were not. With nearly 500 skydivers participating, the logistics were staggering. We met in Bangkok for a couple of days, then transferred to Udon Thani, a big airbase up near the Laotian border. Famed fighter pilot Robin Olds flew out that base during the Vietnam war. Some of the skydivers flew up to Udon in Air Force C-130s, but the King generously made his Airbus available for the rest of us. And thats how I got a ride on the Kings airplane. So for me, his passing is not just another news story for halfway round the world, but a touchstone for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. THE GALAXY, December 1870 MEMORANDA. BY MARK TWAIN. RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR. A few months ago I was nominated for Governor of the great State of New York, to run against Stewart L. Woodford and John T. Hoffman, on an independent ticket. I somehow felt that I had one prominent advantage over these gentlemen, and that was, good character. It was easy to see by the newspapers, that if ever they had known what it was to bear a good name, that time had gone by. It was plain that in these latter years they had become familiar with all manner of shameful crimes. But at the very moment that I was exalting my advantage and joying in it in secret, there was a muddy undercurrent of discomfort "riling" the deeps of my happiness -- and that was, the having to hear my name bandied about in familiar connection with those of such people. I grew more and more disturbed. Finally I wrote my grandmother about it. Her answer came quick and sharp. She said: You have never done one single thing in all your life to be ashamed of -- not one. Look at the newspapers -- look at them and comprehend what sort of characters Woodford and Hoffman are, and then see if you are willing to lower yourself to their level and enter a public canvass with them. It was my very thought! I did not sleep a single moment that night. But after all, I could not recede. I was fully committed and must go on with the fight. As I was looking listlessly over the papers at breakfast, I came across this paragraph, and I may truly say I never was so confounded before: PERJURY. -- Perhaps, now that Mr. Mark Twain is before the people as a candidate for Governor, he will condescend to explain how he came to be convicted of perjury by thirty-four witnesses, in Wakawak, Cochin China, in 1863, the intent of which perjury was to rob a poor native widow and her helpless family of a meagre plantain patch, their only stay and support in their bereavement and their desolation. Mr. Twain owes it to himself, as well as to the great people whose suffrages he asks, to clear this matter up. Will he do it? I thought I should burst with amazement! Such a cruel, heartless charge -- I never had seen Cochin China! I never had beard of Wakawak! I didn't know a plantain patch from a kangaroo! I did not know what to do. I was crazed and helpless. I let the day slip away without doing anything at all. The next morning the same paper had this -- nothing more: SIGNIFICANT. -- Mr. Twain, it will be observed, is suggestively silent about the Cochin China perjury. [Mem. -- During the rest of the campaign this paper never referred to me in any other way than as "the infamous perjurer Twain."] Next came the "Gazette," with this: WANTED TO KNOW. -- Will the new candidate for Governor deign to explain to certain of his fellow-citizens (who are suffering to vote for him!) the little circumstance of his cabin-mates in Montana losing small valuables from time to time, until at last, these things having been invariably found on Mr. Twain's person or in his "trunk" (newspaper he rolled his traps in), they felt compelled to give him a friendly admonition for his own good, and so tarred and feathered him and rode him on a rail, and then advised him to leave a permanent vacuum in the place he usually occupied in the camp. Will he do this? Could anything be more deliberately malicious than that? For I never was in Montana in my life. [After this, this journal customarily spoke of me as "Twain, the Montana Thief."] I got to picking up papers apprehensively -- much as one would lift a desired blanket which he had some idea might have a rattlesnake under it. One day this met my eye: THE LIE NAILED! -- By the sworn affidavits of Michael O'Flanagan, Esq., of the Five Points, and Mr. Kit Burns and Mr. John Allen, of Water street, it is established that Mr. Mark Twain's vile statement that the lamented grandfather of our noble standard-bearer, John T. Hoffman, was hanged for highway robbery, is a brutal and gratuitous LIE, without a single shadow of foundation in fact. It is disheartening to virtuous men to see such shameful means resorted to to achieve political success as the attacking of the dead in their graves and defiling their honored names with slander. When we think of the anguish this miserable falsehood must cause the innocent relatives and friends of the deceased, we are almost driven to incite an outraged and insulted public to summary and unlawful vengeance upon the traducer. But no -- let us leave him to the agony of a lacerating conscience -- (though if passion should get the better of the public and in its blind fury they should do the traducer bodily injury, it is but too obvious that no jury could convict and no court punish the perpetrators of the deed). The ingenious closing sentence had the effect of moving me out of bed with despatch that night, and out at the back door, also, while the "outraged and insulted public" surged in the front way, breaking furniture and windows in their righteous indignation as they came, and taking off such property as they could carry when they went. And yet I can lay my hand upon the Book and say that I never slandered Governor Hoffman's grandfather. More -- I had never even heard of him or mentioned him, up to that day and date. [I will state, in passing, that the journal above quoted from always referred to me afterward as "Twain, the Body-Snatcher."] The next newspaper article that attracted my attention was the following: A SWEET CANDIDATE. -- Mark Twain, who was to make such a blighting speech at the mass meeting of the Independents last night, didn't come to time! A telegram from his physician stated that he had been knocked down by a runaway team and his leg broken in two places -- sufferer lying in great agony, and so forth, and so forth, and a lot more bosh of the same sort. And the Independents tried hard to swallow the wretched subterfuge and pretend that they did not know what was the real reason of the absence of the abandoned creature whom they denominate their standard-bearer. A certain man was seen to reel into Mr. Twain's hotel last night in state of beastly intoxication. It is the imperative duty of the Independents to prove that this besotted brute was not Mark Twain himself: We have them at last! This is a case that admits of no shirking. The voice of the people demands in thunder-tones: "WHO WAS THAT MAN? It was incredible, absolutely incredible, for a moment, that it was really my name that was coupled with this disgraceful suspicion. Three long years had passed over my head since I had tasted ale, beer, wine, or liquor of any kind. [It shows what effect the times were having on me when I say that I saw myself confidently dubbed "Mr. Delirium Tremens Twain" in the next issue of that journal without a pang -- notwithstanding I knew that with monotonous fidelity the paper would go on calling me so to the very end.] By this time anonymous letters were getting to be an important part of my mail matter. This form was common: How about that old woman you kiked of your premisers which was beging. POL PRY. And this: There is things which you have done which is unbeknowens to anybody but me. You better trot out a few dols. to yours truly or you'll hear thro' the papers from HANDY ANDY. That is about the idea. I could continue them till the reader was surfeited, if desirable. Shortly the principal Republican journal "convicted" me of wholesale bribery, and the leading Democratic paper "nailed" an aggravated case of blackmailing to me. [In this way I acquired two additional names: "Twain, the Filthy Corruptionist," and "Twain, the Loathsome Embracer."] By this time there had grown to be such a clamor for an "answer" to all the dreadful charges that were laid to me, that the editors and leaders of my party said it would be political ruin for me to remain silent any longer. As if to make their appeal the more imperative, the following appeared in one of the papers the very next day: BEHOLD THE MAN! -- The Independent candidate still maintains Silence. Because he dare not speak. Every accusation against him has been amply proved, and they have been endorsed and re-endorsed by his own eloquent silence till at this day he stands forever convicted. Look upon your candidate, Independents! Look upon the Infamous Perjurer! the Montana Thief! the Body-Snatcher! Contemplate your incarnate Delirium Tremens! your Filthy Corruptionist! your Loath some Embracer! Gaze upon him -- ponder him well -- and then say if you can give your honest votes to a creature who has earned this dismal array of titles by his hideous crimes, and dares not open his mouth in denial of any one of them! There was no possible way of getting out of it, and so, in deep humiliation, I set about preparing to "answer" a mass of baseless charges and mean and wicked falsehoods. But I never finished the task, for the very next morning a paper came out with a new horror, a fresh malignity, and seriously charged me with burning a lunatic asylum with all its inmates because it obstructed the view from my house. This threw me into a sort of panic. Then came the charge of poisoning my uncle to get his property, with an imperative demand that the grave should be opened. This drove me to the verge of distraction. On top of this I was accused of employing toothless and incompetent old relatives to prepare the food for the foundling hospital when I was warden. I was wavering -- wavering. And at last, as a due and fitting climax to the shameless persecution that party rancor had inflicted upon me, nine little toddling children of all shades of color and degrees of raggedness were taught to rush on to the platform at a public meeting and clasp me around the legs and call me PA! I gave up. I hauled down my colors and surrendered. I was not equal to the requirements of a Gubernatorial campaign in the State of New York, and so I sent in my withdrawal from the candidacy, and in bitterness of spirit signed it, "Truly yours, "Once a decent man, but now "MARK TWAIN, I. P., M. T., B. S., D. T., F. C., and L. E." The leaders of Russia and five other ex-Soviet states making up the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) stand for a solely peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, President Serzh Sarkisian said after hosting their latest summit in Yerevan on Friday. Sarkisian, Russian President Vladimir Putin, their counterparts from Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as well as Kazakhstans Prime Minister Bakijan Sagintayev met in the Armenian capital to discuss further activities and priorities of the Russian-led defense pact. They signed two dozen statements and other documents, including a 10-year strategy of CSTO collective security as a result. None of those documents was immediately made public. Speaking at the end of the summit, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said the CSTO leaders agreed to publicize those priorities only after their governments conduct thorough work aimed at raising the blocs international profile. Lukashenko said they need to force NATO and other international security structures to recognize our organization. Sarkisian, who formally passed on Armenias one-year rotating presidency of the bloc to Belarus, was the only CSTO leader to address the press after the summit. But he did not answer any questions from journalists. The CSTO partners voiced support for agreements on preventing the escalation of the situation in the conflict zone and creating conditions for advancing the peace process which were reached at the [Armenian-Azerbaijani] summits on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem organized in Vienna and Saint-Petersburg this year, said Sarkisian. The [CSTO] session reaffirmed the need for a solely peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and voiced support for the efforts by the [U.S., Russian and French] co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to settle the conflict on the basis of international law, added the Armenian leader. Sarkisian noted that the CSTO leaders specifically backed the three mediators pursuit of a Karabakh settlement based on the internationally recognized principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity of states, and peoples right to self-determination. The CSTOs Central Asian member states -- notably Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan -- have signed pro-Azerbaijani declarations by Muslim and Turkic nations which called for a Karabakh peace based only on one of those principles: territorial integrity. Armenia has repeatedly criticized them for doing that. Armenias tensions with Kazakhstan rose in April after the Central Asian republic blocked a planned meeting in Yerevan of the prime ministers of Eurasian Economic Union member states. Kazakhstans stance was widely construed as a show of support for Azerbaijan in the wake of heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces around Karabakh. Incidentally, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev did not attend the CSTOs Yerevan summit, ostensibly because of ill health. Nazarbayev also cancelled a trip to Baku scheduled for this week. The Karabakh issue is thought to be the reason why the CSTO has delayed the appointment, in accordance with its statutes, of an Armenian official as its next secretary general. Armenia was originally due to name the next CSTO head late last year. The blocs leaders decided, however, to extend the current Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzhas tenure by one year. They again discussed the matter but reached no agreement in Yerevan. We removed the issue of CSTO secretary general from the agenda and we will discuss it at the end of this year in Saint-Petersburg, Sarkisian said without elaborating. An ongoing thaw in Russias relations with Turkey is not fraught with any geopolitical dangers for Armenia, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on Friday. Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated sharply following the downing of a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border by Turkish forces in November 2015. Moscow imposed trade and travel sanctions against Turkey and Russian in retaliation. The two nations began rapidly mending ties following a recent letter of regret from Erdogan on the death of the Russian plane's pilot. Putin highlighted the normalization process when he visited Istanbul and met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this week. The two leaders presided over the signing of an agreement to build a gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. The expensive project was suspended during the Russian-Turkish row. The renewed Russian-Turkish rapprochement has raised fears among some Armenian pundits and politicians that Russia might cut more deals with Turkey and even Azerbaijan at the expense of Armenias interests. Sergey Glazyev, an economic adviser to Putin, dismissed such speculation, as he spoke in Yerevan during an international conference on Eurasian partnership. I do realize that this is a sensitive topic in Yerevan, he said. But I think concerns that the deepening of Russian-Turkish relations could damage Armenias interests are unfounded. Our recently signed agreements with Turkey simply restore projects that had been devised a long time ago, argued Glazyev. We are talking about the restoration of normal cooperation and revival of projects that were discontinued for political reasons. I see no reason to think that Armenias interests are harmed or Russian-Armenian commercial ties are suffering in any way, added the Russian official. Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations and open borders, with Ankara making the normalization of bilateral ties conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Yerevan rejects this precondition. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on Turkish-Armenian relations on Friday as he accompanied Putin during a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Yerevan. He said Moscow continues to support their unconditional normalization. But we have a sense that progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement will be key to the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, the TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as telling Russian reporters. Lavrov also said that Turkey could play a positive role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process by unblocking Nagorno-Karabakh. 14 October 2016 12:05 (UTC+04:00) Armenias armed forces have 15 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on October 14. The Azerbaijani army positions located in the Kamarli village of the Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located on nameless heights of the Noyemberyan district and in the Vazashen village of the Ijevan district of Armenia. Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions also took fire from the Armenian positions located near the Garagashli village of Azerbaijans Aghdam district, Garakhanbayli village of the Fuzuli district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy, Tartar, Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 18:35 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Another anti-Azerbaijani propaganda was carried out at the recent OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), which took place in Warsaw on September 19-30n thus causing fair displeasure of the Azerbaijani delegation. Azerbaijan regrets that during the OSCE HDIM, some delegations once again misused their participation for promotion and propaganda of the illegal separatist regime established by Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, said the delegation in its statement issued on October 13 at the OSCE Permanent Councils special meeting. The Armenian separatist regime was forcibly created in the occupied Azerbaijani lands by ignoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This led to countless victims among the Azerbaijanis, predominantly populating Nagorno-Karabakh region. More than a million of Azerbaijanis had to leave their homes because of facing Armenian bloody politics. This was accompanied by ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity, the statement said. These terrible crimes were repeatedly mentioned in the international community. The participation of non-governmental organizations associated with and actively promoting the illegal separatist regime can by no means be in line with the principles that the OSCE stands for and therefore, diametrically contrary to the very aim of HDIM, the Azerbaijani delegation stressed. It is clearly stated in the OSCE Helsinki Document of 1992 that non-governmental organizations, which resort to the use of violence or openly condone terrorism or the use of violence should not be allowed to participate in OSCE events. The Azerbaijani delegation complained on ignoring this article of the Document. We reiterate that admission of NGOs propagating separatism to HDIMs is unacceptable and must be ceased. Otherwise, this will further undermine the very credibility of this event, the delegations statement concluded. Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war. Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal. Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 11:22 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijan Railways, aiming to increase the cargo transportation in local and regional terms, plans to transport 1.7-1.8 million tons of cargo within the country. Head of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov announced about this at an event dedicated to railway workers holiday on October 13, further stating that the development of the railway sector should be continued gradually. In 2014, 21.8 million tons of cargo was transported via railway in Azerbaijan, and about 5 million tons of them accounted for domestic transportation, Gurbanov noted, adding that the large volume of traffic was also related to the recovery in the construction sector. He emphasized that the main goal of Azerbaijan Railways is to see 50-percent rise in freight traffic volume and increase by two or three times wages of railway workers. It is important to boost positions, thus we are opening representative offices in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Georgia, Gurbanov said. The ongoing global economic crisis affected freight traffic and its volume decreased. More than 17 million tons of cargo was transported in Azerbaijan in 2015, about 2.3 million tons of which accounted for domestic transportation, he said, adding that during the eight months of 2016, total volume of freight traffic amounted to 15.5 million tons. Gurbanov also noted that incorrect tariff policy, conducted earlier, had a negative impact on the volume of goods transported through Azerbaijan. However, we managed to solve this problem the regress slowed down slightly and now the increase is observed in freight traffic. He further expressed regret that Azerbaijani producers do not manufacture production for the railroad. They should be more active on production of spare parts and other items for railroad, Gurbanov said. We have to purchase all we need from abroad none of the items is produced in Azerbaijan. Similar products may be produced in the countrys local factories, and it is necessary to explore such possibilities, Gurbanov said at the event. He mentioned that the vast majority of items are purchased from Russia, but their production in Azerbaijan is quite possible. Unfortunately, no one thinks about this. Gurbanov said that he repeatedly addressed to local producers and offered to begin production of such goods, however, no one responded. There is no such plant in Azerbaijan, which would produce, for example, motors for electric locomotives and other parts. And those parts that are produced are either of poor quality, or very expensive, or do not suit us at all", the head of JSC noted. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 13:07 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The World Forum of Azerbaijani businessmen will be held in Baku for the first time this fall bringing together 160 businessmen from 33 countries. The State Committee on Work with Diaspora reported that this unique platform of world business circles will took place on October 28-29. Azerbaijani businessmen working in the areas of agriculture, consulting, trade, IT, transportation and logistics, oil industry, textile, banking sector and others will participate in the forum. A big delegation of more than 40 Azerbaijani businessmen from Russia will also take part in the event. Moreover, businesspeople from Turkey, Germany, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are expected to attend the forum. From Azerbaijan, the event will be attended by businessmen working in agriculture, food industry, construction, oil, textile, IT and other sectors. In total, more than 300 people are expected to take part in the forum, organized jointly by Azerbaijans Economy Ministry and State Committee on Work with Diaspora. The idea of holding the forum was proposed at the Fourth Congress of World Azerbaijanis. President Ilham Aliyev, addressing the Congress, called on the Azerbaijani businessmen, residing abroad, to invest in the countrys real economy, in particular, in agriculture, industry, tourism and high technologies. Around 8.9 billion manats ($5.5 billion) were invested from all financial sources in the development of the economic and social areas of Azerbaijan in January-August 2016, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee. About 1.039 billion manats ($0.64 million) was invested from all financial sources in the development of the economic and social areas of Azerbaijan in August 2016. The total amount of foreign investments in the country's economy amounted to 5.5 billion manats ($3.4 billion) in the same period of time or by 24.6 percent more compared to January-August 2015. An increase in foreign investments is a positive factor and points to the fact that Azerbaijan is a potential for foreign investors. The investments worth around 4.8 billion manats ($2.9 billion) (87 percent) made in Azerbaijan's economy by foreign countries and international organizations accounted for investors from the UK, Russia, Malaysia, Turkey, Sweden, Japan, US and Iran in January-August 2016. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 11:34 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova The implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, which will open a new rail corridor from the Caspian Sea to Europe, nears its completion. Turkish Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications Ahmet Arslan, said that Ankara is determined to complete construction of the Turkish section of the BTK, adding that work on the implementation of the project nears completion. The project which will practically exclude the need for sea transportation is expected to bring the entire region closer to Europe. Turkey places huge emphasis on the project, as it will contribute to turning its Kars province into a trade center. Moreover, the country is also planning to construct a logistics center in the Kars province within the framework of the project. Arslan mentioned that reception of applications for participation in a tender on the construction of BTKs logistics centre in Kars region will be completed within 2 weeks. He added that the country has already launched a project on the creation of smart cities, while Kars will become a third city that corresponds to the concept. Smart city concept stands for an urban region that is highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, while information technology is a basis for providing essential services to residents. Being constructed under a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement, BTK is expected to expand multi-modal transportation opportunities, ensure the growth of passenger and freight transportation and boost the transit potential of the regional countries. The peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. The project is expected to further strengthen the neighborly and fraternal relations among Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and enable the countries to supply domestically produced goods to the world markets. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 12:35 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) paid compensations worth over 323.27 million manats to depositors of Dekabank, Kredobank, Zaminbank, Parabank, Caucasus Development Bank, AtraBank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Ganjabank, Texnikabank and Bank Standard, ADIF reported on October 14. Below is the list of closed banks and the volume of obtained compensations as of October 13: Banks Paid compensations (million manats) Insured deposits (million manats) Bank Standard 58.01 460 Zaminbank 50.85 - Dekabank 2.85 5.59 Kredobank 17.98 30.21 Caucasus Development Bank 1.85 2 Atrabank 13.87 13.9 Bank of Azerbaijan 24.09 24.2 Ganjabank 0.97 1 Texnikabank 119.98 122.6 Parabank 32.82 43.79 Acceptance of applications from insured depositors of DekaBank, KredoBank, Zaminbank and Parabank began on August 1, 2016 and the payment of compensations has been carried out since that day. Compensations to the insured depositors of Caucasus Development Bank and AtraBank are being paid starting from August 23. Clients of Atrabank can receive compensations in the branches the deposits were placed in. However, those who concluded the contract in the Khazar branch must approach to the banks main office. Depositors of Caucasus Development Bank receive compensations at the banks main office. Payment of compensations to insured depositors of Bank of Azerbaijan has been carried out since January 29, 2016 at branches of Muganbank and Rabitabank, and since September 8 at ADIFs office. Clients of Ganjabank receive compensations since February 4 at the branches of Rabitabank, Unibank and Kapital Bank. Payment of compensations to insured depositors of Bank Standard started on October 11, 2016 at the banks main office and its branches in the regions of Azerbaijan and will continue for one year. The licenses of all the ten banks were cancelled during 2016 as the aggregate capital of these banks didnt meet the minimum requirements [50 million manats]. In general, they havent fulfilled the regulators instructions. Thirty two banks are currently implementing their activities in the country. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 16:26 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Azerbaijan and Poland, the two countries that enjoy good relations, eye strengthening of all-round cooperation and expansion of bilateral ties. The further cooperation between the countries is expected to be discussed within the framework of the next intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. Polish ambassador to Azerbaijan Marek Calka told Trend that the meeting is scheduled for December 20. The discussions are expected to concentrate on cooperation between the countries given the change of government in Poland. Moreover, the deputy foreign ministers of the two countries are planning to make reciprocal visits in the short run. Polish Deputy Development Minister Radoslaw Domagalski-Labedzki earlier stressed the importance of reaching certain agreements before the event. The countries enjoy favorable prospects to expand cooperation in the agricultural, industrial, ICT, tourism and energy sectors. President of the Polish Agricultural Market Agency Jaroslaw Olowski earlier told Trend that Azerbaijan can become a hub for export of Polish products to Iran and Central Asia, while this may open a new page in cooperation between Azerbaijan and Poland. He also stressed that Poland is interested in the import of a number of agricultural products from Azerbaijan as it sees Azerbaijan as one of the potential markets. He added that Poland may also provide the region with its experience in the field of veterinary and phytosanitary, as the country is recognized as one of the best in Europe in the sphere. Moreover, Poland has also expressed its interest in making investments in Azerbaijan. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Poland amounted to $49.37 million in January to August 2016 as compared to $44.3 million in the same period of 2015. The Polish government recognized the Republic of Azerbaijan as a state and expressed readiness to establish interstate relations in 1991. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 11:34 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Locals of Azerbaijans Fizuli region claim that they have unearthed a bone of a giant prehistoric elephant, Milli.Az reported. The bone, which presumably dates back to 1.85 million years ago, was discovered in the Mahmudlu village, said Elchin Asadov, the head of Fizuli Region History Museum. The length of the bone is 135 cm, while its weight - is 50 kg. Armenians invaded the majority of Fuzulis territory in 1993. As a result of the invasion, some 51 villages at the center of the Fuzuli region were seized, leaving more than 55,000 inhabitants displaced. The Fuzuli region is 1386 square kilometers with a population of approximately 105,000. Some 13 settlements and 20 villages are located in this region were freed from occupation. Twelve of the settlements were constructed after the war and internally displaced families had been given temporarily accommodation. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A group exhibition that draws from the diverse local, national and international artists that have been featured at the renowned gallery since their original opening. October 15, 2016 January 7, 2017 DECADE Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of 516 ARTS Opening Reception: Saturday, October 15, 6-8pm Music by Le Chat Lunatique Food provided by Slate Street Cafe Member Preview & Artist Talks, 5-6pm In celebration of our 10th anniversary, 516 ARTS presents DECADE, a group exhibition and series of off-site projects that draw from the diverse local, national and international artists we have worked with since we opened. 516 ARTS is a hub for world-class contemporary art in Albuquerque and New Mexico as well as a beacon for the arts in the Downtown revitalization process. This exhibition explores a wide variety of themes and practices that 516 ARTS has explored since its inception including environmental/land-based art, street art, new media art that intersects with science and technology, public art and socially engaged projects. The site-specific projects around the city are points of access to contemporary art that connect back to the exhibition at 516 ARTS and Downtown. By bringing 516 ARTS out to other parts of the city, this exhibition spreads awareness about the urban core and its connectivity to the rest of the city. In her catalog essay for the inaugural 2006 exhibition at 516 ARTS titled GREEN, writer Sharyn R. Udall wrote,Even as 516 ARTS helps to raise the presence of the arts in Downtown Albuquerque, it will be judged ultimately not on where it lives, but what it does.as it comes of age, it promises to access and interpret New Mexicos artistic riches in unprecedented ways, functioning as a portal, right in our midst, to the extraordinary. The old neighborhood will never be the same. Reflecting back on the decade involving over 1,000 artists presented in over 150 exhibitions and public programs, 516 ARTS has become synonymous with a fertile and inspiring source for cutting edge, contemporary art discourse that bridges the local, national and global spheres. Artists: Jessica Angel (Colombia) David Leigh (New Mexico) Leticia Bajuyo (Indiana) Eliza Naranjo Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo/Espanola, New Mexico) BioCultura (New Mexico) Aaron Noble (California) Michael Berman (New Mexico) Patrick Nagatani (New Mexico) Erika Blumenfeld (Texas) Lisa Nevada (New Mexico) Adrian Esparza (Texas) Chip Thomas (Navajo Nation) Tom Joyce (New Mexico) Floyd Tunson (Colorado) Catalog essay by Lucy Lippard, renowned author, curator, activist and critic. OFF-SITE PROJECTS: In addition to the exhibition featuring the above artists in the gallery, 516 ARTS presents the following off-site projects spanning all quadrants of the city: jetsonorama Mural & Dance Tours Visual and performing arts come together with the environment and climate change issues in this collaboration between photographic wheatpaste muralist by Chip Thomas (aka jetsonorama) and choreographer/dancer Lisa Nevada at the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, 7851 2nd St. SW (South Valley). The T House by Biocultura Biocultura (Andrea Polli and collaborator John Donalds) are creating The T House, an interactive, environmental art and technology installation inspired by a traditional teahouse on the grounds of Farm & Table Restaurant, 8917 4th St. NW (North Valley). Amplitude II by Leticia Bajuyo Guest artist Leticia Bajuyo is building a monumental horn sculpture made from recycled CDs in the glass atrium in the lobby of the Tony Hillerman Public Library, 8205 Apache Ave. NE (Northeast Heights). Mural by Aaron Noble Guest muralist Aaron Noble is creating a mural in his unique style blending comic, collage and abstraction on the prominent, glassed in wall of Tamarind Institute, 2500 Central Ave. SE (Southeast/UNM). Imperial Building Mural While the above projects are all temporary projects for DECADE, a new, long-term public art mural will be created this fall by a past 516 ARTS artist to be selected from call for proposals in partnership with the City of Albuquerque Public Art Program. The site is the new Downtown grocery store, 205 Silver Ave. SW (Downtown). 14 October 2016 13:45 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Baku will host the national selection of "Miss Union 2017" international beauty contest, Trend Life reported. The largest cultural and industrial center of Azerbaijan was chosen as the venue of the beauty pageant scheduled for early 2017. The jury will estimate not only the appearance, but also presentation of the national culture and intellectual abilities of the beauties. The winner will participate in the final competition, which will be held in Vienna, Austria, in March 2017. Miss Union is a Union of beauties from different countries representing their culture and traditions in a modern style. The main motto of the competition is "Beauty will save the world." The beauty contest had an extraordinary humanitarian mission, as the project targeted to raise funds for the fight against cancer. Media partners of the event are Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az and Azernews.az. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 17:59 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Caviar phones, a Russian-Italian company specializing in bespoke iPhones, have designed a new model inspired by Azerbaijan, Trend Life reported. A jewellery brand has unveiled the design illustrating ornaments of the mausoleum of Momina Khatun in Nakhchivan, as well as decorative elements borrowed from the decoration of the Khan's Palace in Sheki. The company has updated its flagship line of smartphones Atlante-based iPhone 7 Plus, the company reported on its website. The new collection also includes models decorated in the national style of Russia, Kazakhstan, Chechnya, Belarus and Ukraine. Each phone is decorated with a gold state emblem and engraved symbolic patterns. The Caviar company founded by Italian jeweler Elijah Giacometti. The first decorative smartphone was introduced in 2001. In 2015, the Board moved to Russia. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 10:11 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Turkey always supports Azerbaijans fair position in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said the newly appointed Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan, Erkan Ozoral. He made the remarks on October 13 during a meeting with Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. The diplomat expressed gratitude for Azerbaijans support to Turkey after the July 15 military coup attempt, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys press service told Trend. Azerbaijan, as always, stands by Turkey in this issue, noted Mammadyarov. During the meeting, the sides noted the importance of further development of trade and economic relations between the two countries and expressed satisfaction with the successful continuation of work on the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). The Turkish ambassador expressed readiness to put efforts for development of relations between the two brotherly states. The sides also exchanged views on issues of mutual interest. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 17:11 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov While the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unsettled for over two decades, more and more calls are voiced for establishing a dialogue between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh to accelerate the peace talks. President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt has stated his will to organize contacts between the Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations. In this context he plans to discuss the possibility of organizing PACEs activity in a more constructive way. Agramunt, earlier addressing the PACE session, said that international conflicts, including the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, are unacceptable and must be resolved on the basis of parliamentary diplomacy and in the framework of territorial integrity of states. Last meeting between the two communities of Nagorno-Karabakh was held seven years ago, in 2009. Since then, such initiatives has stalled because of the reluctance of Armenian side. By this inaction, Armenia in fact denies the right of the Azerbaijani community to return to their historic lands. This unconstructive position of Armenia delays the peace process over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while more than 1 million of Azerbaijanis driven out from their houses in Nagorno-Karabakh, are obliged to live a refugee life in their homeland. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 17:43 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Despite the long-lasting talks over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and numerous agreements adopted in that regard, Armenian side continues showing its unconstructive position and reluctance to address the problem. Azerbaijan has always upheld a just position by advocating the peaceful solution on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. The countrys authorities many times spoke for coming to the negotiating table, whilst the.Armenian side holds absolutely different stance. Armenian troops violate the armistice on the frontline on daily basis . Moreover, the Armenian army regularly holds military exercises in the occupied Azerbaijani lands, which is unacceptable and which hinders the peace process. Furthermore, the Armenian side avoids another meeting on the conflict between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents. After the two meetings in May and June 2016, which followed the April clashes between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, no progress in the solution of the conflict has been observed. The reason of absence of meetings is evident suspending of the conflicts resolution is beneficial for Armenia. While Armenian troops continue occupying the Azerbaijani lands, over 1 million of Azerbaijanis, who were evicted from their houses in Nagorno-Karabakh, have to live a refugee life, dreaming of coming back to their native land. Armenia intends to preserve the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and does everything possible not to let the conflict find a solution. However, this clear fact is being overlooked by the Minsk Group. In such circumstances, the recent statements regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh problem by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that settlement of the conflict today is impossible and by Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov that Moscow is not optimistic about the settlement of the conflict in near future may even more encourage Armenia in implementing its wrong policy by holding firm its unconstructive stance in the peace process. The statement by the Russian presidential aide, Yuri Ushakov, on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is surprising and regrettable, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman of Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, believes. These remarks by Yuri Ushakov contradict the spirit of the Vienna and St. Petersburg meetings of the presidents and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs statements, voiced repeatedly at the presidential level, on unacceptability and volatility of the status quo," Hajiyev told Trend on October 14. The spokesman also stressed that Ushakovs statement is inconsistent with the detailed discussions on conflict settlement during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs recent visits to the region. The substantive talks should ensure changing the current status quo, which is unacceptable and unsustainable, and the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Remaining of the sovereign territories of Azerbaijan under Armenian military occupation is unacceptable, added Hajiyev. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 17:54 (UTC+04:00) Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced that Turkey can play a positive role in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The fact that Turkey can play a positive role by ensuring the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, ensuring normal economic cooperation in the region, is such an important factor that we always consider it, TASS cited Lavrov as saying on October 14, Trend reports. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Turkey is a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, established to mediate between the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and supports the conflict resolution within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Lavrov continued that the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement will be the key to Armenia-Turkey relations normalization. The Turkish-Armenian border was closed in early 1990s in response to Armenia's so-called "genocide" claims against Ankara and occupation of Azerbaijani territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. Armenia, which is in a state of isolation in the region because of its aggressive policy against its neighbors, and West periodically urge Ankara to open the borders, while Turkey repeatedly stated that the Ankara-Yerevan normalization of ties is impossible without the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 10:41 (UTC+04:00) The Biola University one of the oldest universities of Los Angeles hosted an event dedicated to Azerbaijans model of interfaith harmony and peace on October 11. Nasimi Aghayev delivered remarks at the event, at the invitation of the Universitys Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Azerbaijans Consul General in Los Angeles. Dean of the School of Intercultural Studies Dr Bulus Galadima, the Associate Dean Dr Richard Starcher and the Assistant Professor of Intercultural Studies Dr Moussa Bongoyok, addressed the event first, noting the importance of inter-religious tolerance in these troubled times for the world peace and expressed their gratitude for the bright example Azerbaijan is providing in this regard. In his remarks, Consul General Aghayev spoke about the historical and cultural roots of Azerbaijans strong traditions of multi-faith tolerance and multiculturalsm, as well as elaborated on the current atmosphere of brotherhood reigning between various religions and ethnicities in the country. Aghayev mentioned that despite all the challenges Azerbaijan has faced and continues to face, being located in a complicated geography, the country has been able to build a successful model of tolerance and positive multiculturalism, which allows for Muslims, Christians, Jews and representatives of other faiths to live in peace, harmony and dignity. The Consul General noted that thanks to the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, this environment of multi-faith and multicultural harmony and tolerance is becoming stronger and stronger every day. He stressed in this regard that the year 2016 had been proclaimed by the President to be the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan. Highlighting the brutal military occupation and ethnic cleansing of around 20 percent of Azerbaijans territory by Armenia, the Consul General said that despite all the crimes and injustices committed against the Azerbaijani people by the invader, Azerbaijan has not allowed the conflict to hamper its exemplary model of multi-faith harmony, tolerance and acceptance, and divert the country from its path of positive multiculturalism. In this regard, he noted the meticulous preservation of an Armenian cathedral with its over 5,000 books, in Baku, Azerbaijans capital. Against this backdrop, Aghayev said, almost all Azerbaijani mosques in the occupied areas have been destroyed by Armenia. During the lively Q&A session that followed, one of the Armenian students participating at the event blamed the corrupt regime of the Armenian President Sargsyan for the prolongation of the conflict and continuation of suffering for both peoples. At the event, Kristina Conrad, a junior education major, beautifully performed Sari Gelin, a traditional Azerbaijani song, on clarinet to a great acclaim. Following the event, the Biola Universitys newspaper Chimes published a story: http://chimes.biola.edu/story/2016/oct/12/world-politician-visits-biola/ -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 09:47 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova A two-volume book History of the Republic of Azerbaijan was presented in Baku on October 13. The book was published by the History Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Azerbaijans independence Chapters on the foreign policy of independent Azerbaijan in both volumes of the book were written by the Azerbaijani presidents aide for public and political affairs, Professor Ali Hasanov. Director of the Presidential Library Mayil Ahmadov, addressing the event, provided an insight into the book. He described the publication of the book as a contribution to the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the restoration of Azerbaijan`s independence. Arastun Mehdiyev, deputy head of the department for public and political issues at the Presidential Administration, said that the two-volume book is a significant contribution and a valuable gift to the 25th anniversary of Azerbaijans independence. He pointed out that the 25th anniversary of Azerbaijans independence will be celebrated at state level. An Action Plan has been approved in this regard under the order of President Ilham Aliyev. Accordingly, a series of events will be held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the countrys independence, he added. Director of the ANAS Institute of History, MP Yagub Mahmudov, in turn, said that the book written by a team of researchers is the first initiative in academic study of the history of Azerbaijan's independence. The first volume of the book covers 1991-2003 the period of Heydar Aliyevs leadership, and the second volume covers historic achievements gained under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev in 2003-2016, he said. Azerbaijan celebrates Independence Day on October 18. After the adoption of the Constitutional Act, Azerbaijan gained the long-awaited independence, having surmounted many challenges. Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first secular democratic state in the Islamic world, which was established in 1918, existed for only 23 months. The second time such a situation emerged more than 70 years thereafter. The collapse of the Soviet Union provided Azerbaijan with an opportunity to restore the lost independence. At the end of the 20th century Azerbaijani people raised the banner of independence thanks to a historic chance associated with the fall of the USSR and the opportunities provided by destiny. It was the second brilliant triumph in the political history of the Azerbaijani people during the last century. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 18:10 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijan located in a crossroad where paths to the south, south-east and south-west diverge.has a very favorable geographical position. With relatively mild winters, a lot of food, and lakes, which accommodate wintering waterfowl and do not almost frozen in cold season Azerbaijan is home of many birds seeking for warm corners in winter. Birds of northern latitudes, flying over Azerbaijan, often stop here -- some of them just to rest during migration, some generally prefers not to fly to distant lands because there are all natural conditions for wintering here. However, changes in some steppe areas of the country in recent years puts the lives of some migratory birds in danger. Elman Yusifov, Director of the Zoology Institute of the ANAS, said that there are certain changes in migration routes of birds. Birds have several migration routes. However, today some changes are observed in these migration routes. Buildings built in steppe areas, new agricultural systems and drainage of some lakes have lead to these changes, he noted. Yusifov informed that those who migrate are often waterfowls. He said that earlier, birds migrated strictly following the line and stopped in certain lakes and areas. However, draining lakes and construction of buildings had negative impact on ecosystem, he said, in particular mentioning some villages in the outskirts of Baku -- Mahammadli and Kurdakhanli. Some species knew about existing of lakes here and planned to stop here to feed themselves. But, now, they cannot find water here. They have no energy to continue their journey, and subsequently cannot find food and die, the expert explained. The most favorite places of migration birds in Azerbaijan are Aggol National Park, Sarisu lakes system in Bilasuvar-Kurdamir area and shores of the Caspian Sea. Scientists claim that birds are very conservative in choosing their habitats. With the general biological point of view, affection to a particular place can be explained by the fact that optimal conditions of existence at a certain time of the year for each bird is home. Migration in general plays an important role in the life of birds. Every autumn birds of northern latitudes fly to winter in southern countries. Azerbaijan is the most convenient way through which birds can fly to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, on the territory of ancient Mesopotamia or far -- to the south of the African continent, and to the shores of the Indian Ocean. This path is also called Caspian Sea flyway. Thats why, Azerbaijan plays a big importance in the life of the representatives of the Bird kingdom. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Just by coincidence, the above picture is from the September, 2016 25th Division calendar that I get every year as a lifetime member and supporter of the Division. I did not notice it until, I was updating my appointments on the calendar for next month. An average day in the life of a grunt in the II Corp area Northwest of Saigon in 1968 consisted of Eagle Flights. We would form groups of six in two columns. The Huey helicopters would come in to pick us up. Usually three men from each side would upload on the Hueys. They would then fly us to the designated LZ (Landing Zone). Normally the LZ was a clearing or rice paddy. The eagle flights would consist of anywhere from 10-15 helicopters per lift. A young Bobby Tony waiting for his turn to board the Hueys on outbound Eagle Flight. They would fly in to the LZ and drop us off. We would unload while the copters were still in the air hovering. Immediately as they left for the next lift, we would establish a perimeter and fan out to form a protective LZ for the next lift. The major danger was flying into a hot LZ. That is when the enemy is waiting in the tree line or in bunkers and opens fire as the helicopters come in. Because of the noise involved with the incoming helicopters, it was difficult to tell if the LZ was hot. Normally the first lift would come in with the outside flank M60 firing suppressing fire into the tree line. If the LZ were hot, the first indication noticed would be the taking of casualties. Many people including myself often asked airborne troopers why they would jump from a perfectly good airplane. The answer of course is you make a hell of a lot smaller target than an airplane. The same holds true of a Huey. This is a typical approach for an Eagle flight (photo by Bobbytony) Please excuse the quality of this slide. It is 48 years old and suffers from improper storage and lack of focus time by me. As soon as the final lift arrives, we formed into units and began the maneuvers out of the LZ (Landing Zone). Sometimes that would be a Cloverleaf maneuver which is designed to secure large areas of ground for the construction of a FSB ( Fire Support Base) for artillery. Other time we would just do a S&D (Search and Destroy) on a pre-planned route. The purpose was to prevent the enemy from establishing permanent base camps. Often we would return to the same area multiple times. I think the military philosophy was it took less personnel to search than it did to establish a base. It is worthy of note that there were no front lines in Vietnam. There were secured Base Camps and then Fire Support bases. The infantry was tasked to keep the rest of the country side clear of large enemy encampments. This procedure could be repeated several times during the day if the area to be searched was large enough for multiple insertions and extractions. Other times, we would set up camp for the night and then move out the next morning to the adjacent area. Alex Ortolano, a contributor here on BCN, was there long before I arrived in 1968. He was a pilot for the Medical Evacuation section. He and his comrades were the most appreciated then and now as they came in to pick up the wounded. The survival rate of wounded in Vietnam was increased drastically from other wars due to quick extraction of wounded to the hospitals in base camps. One of the most haunting memories I have is of putting guys on the Medvac and then hearing later that they did not make it. Usually the word would come back the next day if they were in your platoon, but sometimes we would not know until we returned to base camp. It was not a subject that we dwelt on unless he was a buddy. Here is his profile on BCN - Alex Profile.. The extraction from the LZ was just a reverse of the insertion with the exception being that he last lift was the most dangerous. Once during an extraction, the Huey I was to board was overloaded with too many grunts and two of us had to unload and wait for another Huey to come around to pick us up. That was a very long few "hours" while Bassett and I waited alone in the LZ for the slowest Huey to arrive from San Francisco (I could be exaggerating the seconds into hours and the distance of a few hundred yards but it seemed like hours and many miles.) Here a typical pick up for Eagle flight when there may be enemy present in the area. (image unknow site) Eventually, the extraction would become routine. It would be like waiting for the bus to come pick you up and return to base camp or a FSB. That is when you had a few moments to reflect on the days work, dream about home, and perhaps look forward to a cold beer at your destination if the resupply chopper arrived before dark. That is the back of my head looking at the Huey that I hope will come back to pick me and the last group up.Bobbytony Perhaps the best description of this experience was relayed by the journalist Joe Galloway who was an on the ground journalist during the battle at Ia Drang Valley, which he later coauthored a book with Col. Hal Moore. (We were Soldiers Once, And Young). It was later made into a movie starring Mel Gibson. For my money, that is the best and most realistic Vietnam War movie without the baggage of too much political ideology. Here is a video narrated by Joe Galloway at one of the speeches he made where he pays tribute to the pilots of those 'WOP WOP Birds'. Like Joe, I can't watch or listen to this without harsh memories but also sometime sweet memories of God's Own Lunatics coming to pick us up. They were truly brave men. How would you like to strap a target on your chest and blast your presence by a loud speaker, basically saying here I am and here is where I am going? God's Own Lunatics August 25 , 2016 14 October 2016 22:54 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Pakistan is one of the closest friends and allies of Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev. Ilham Aliyev was making statements for the press after his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Baku on October 14. President Aliyev said Pakistan is one of the first three countries to recognize Azerbaijan as an independent state. That time, Nawaz Sharif was serving as Pakistans prime minister, and since then, the two countries have built very close friendship relations, added the president. Ilham Aliyev noted that the two countries always support each other in such international organizations as the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international structures. He pointed out that Pakistan and Azerbaijan support each other on the Kashmir problem and on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan fully supports the settlement of the Kashmir problem based on the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, said the president. At the same time, Pakistan fully supports the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, he added. President Aliyev said that unfortunately, these resolutions, which were adopted decades ago, are not fulfilled and this is a proof of a double standards attitude, because, sometimes, the resolutions of the UN Security Council are fulfilled in several days, or even in several hours, but when it comes to Azerbaijan, it takes such a long time. The mutual support of Azerbaijan and Pakistan to each other in such painful issues has united the two countries, he added. Azerbaijan is grateful to Pakistan that it doesnt recognize Armenia due to its occupation of Azerbaijani lands and hasnt created any diplomatic relations with that country, said President Aliyev. This is a proof of brotherhood, he said, adding that Azerbaijani people praise this brotherly attitude. Azerbaijan is also grateful to Pakistan as its Senate officially recognized the Khojaly massacre as genocide in 2012, said President Aliyev, adding this is another proof of friendship and partnership. Therefore, the people of Azerbaijan love Pakistan, said the president, adding that Azerbaijan is very grateful for this support and, for its part, always supports Pakistan on all the issues. President Aliyev further said that political contacts between the two countries stand at a very high level. Reiterating that Pakistan and Azerbaijan support each other in international organizations, the president said that today, they reviewed these issues with Nawaz Sharif and talked about the future activities. President Aliyev said that undoubtedly, the political contacts between Azerbaijan and Pakistan will continue successfully, but the two countries should work even much in the economic sphere, investment making and creation of mutually beneficial joint ventures. Ilham Aliyev also said the sides are not satisfied with the current level of the bilateral trade, therefore, today, they discussed the ways of increasing the volume of trade turnover. He noted that such issues as what Azerbaijan can export to Pakistan and what Pakistan can export to Azerbaijan will be resolved is the coming months. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 12:32 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova The recent rapprochement between Russia and Turkey that revived the practically stalled cooperation between the countries put a number of questions in the spotlight. One of the key questions is whether the resumed Turkish Stream may be a competitor for the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline project, which is expected to serve as a new alternative for energy supplies to Europe. Turkey and Russia this week signed an inter-governmental agreement on realizing the construction of the Turkish Stream, while the agreement served as an additional signal that the project could be brought into force. The agreement envisages construction of two branches of the pipeline under the Black Sea, with the capacity of each branch being 15.75 bcm of gas. Senior associate at the Centre for European Security Strategies, Frank Umbach told Trend that in contrast to the original plan of the Turkish Stream with four pipelines and a total capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, implementation of only one or two pipelines appear realistic for the time being. Being the second biggest consumer of Russian gas after Germany, Turkey currently imports gas from Russia via two pipelines - the Blue Stream, which passes under the eastern Black Sea, and the Western Line through the Balkans. Turkish Stream envisages supplies of the Russian gas under the Black Sea (bypassing Ukraine) to Turkey and further to Europe. The project is expected to end in the Ipsala district of Turkey (near the Greek border), while TANAP is also planned to end at this location and further connect with TAP. Director at FTI Consulting EU Constantine Levoyannis talking to Trend however said that the possibility of supplies by the Turkish Stream is not high given the current state of relations between the EU and Russia. The expert also said that Turkey is facing one of the worldwide highest energy demand growth in the mid- and long-term future, underlining that Russia supplied around 55 percent of Turkeys gas demand (27.4 bcm) in 2014. He said that the construction of the first branch of the project, which is planned to meet gas demand of Turkey, should not cause any surprise as it has commercial importance. The construction of the second branch, however, may be considered as a political message to the EU. Levoyannis underlined that the Southern Gas Corridor remains a priority for the EU. The European Commission has not yet totally refused the possibility of getting supplies from the Turkish Stream. ECs Vice President for Energy Union Morosh Shefchovych, earlier said that the issue needs to be analyzed and much will depend on the level of gas demand and commercial reasonability. Head of TANAP Saltuk Duzyol in an interview with TRT Haber said that Turkish Stream is not a rival to TANAP, underlining that the two contracts for gas transportation covering a period of 15 years may be assessed as a guarantee of TANAPs stable income. Duzyol emphasized that Turkish Stream is unable to provide such benefits as TANAP, which opens up a new route for gas supply to Turkey and Europe and contributes to diversification of sources, adding that Turkey expects to receive the first gas via TANAP in the city of Eskisehir before June 2018. Moreover, the consortium has already signed contracts worth more than $5 billion, with some $3 billion being spent for the construction. Duzyol added that once TANAP is constructed, Azerbaijan will become the second supplier of gas to the Turkish market, leaving Iran behind. TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The length of TANAP is 1,800 kilometers with the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters. Around six bcm of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 15:19 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova The Southern Gas Corridor, one of the most complex and important gas chains ever developed in the world, may attract new sources for supply to Europe. Advisor to the Turkish president Cemil Ertem said that Turkey wants to connect Israeli gas supplies to the project, noting that the issue was discussed during the meeting between Turkeys Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak and his Israeli counterpart Yuval Steinitz. In a meeting held on the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul, the sides also discussed the possibility of constructing a gas pipeline between the two countries. Ertem emphasized that energy agreements between the two countries can be a catalyst for solving problems in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East regions. Israel's Ambassador to Baku Dan Stav earlier said his country can join the Southern Gas Corridor, while the issue can be seriously considered once the energy regulation and policy get approved in Israel. He mentioned that Israel lacks relevant experience, since gas companies first explored the substantial amounts of gas in the Mediterranean in around 2009-2010. An environmentally friendly and efficient energy source, natural gas is an essential component of the energy mix of the European Union (EU), which constitutes one-quarter of primary energy supplies contributing mainly to electricity generation, heating and fuel for transportation. The SGC is a priority project for the EU in a bid to ensure the security and diversity of the EUs energy supply. The project is intended to maintain energy security, while the progress in its implementation, whilst vast majority of other large-scale projects is practically stalled proves its pivotal importance in this regard. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage. The project envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey. Stretching over the area of 3,500 kilometres, crossing seven countries and involving more than a dozen major energy companies, SGC comprises several separate energy projects, including TANAP, South Caucasus Pipeline, Trans Adriatic Pipeline, and Shah Deniz development. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 10:05 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Nearly 200 judges and prosecutors have been suspended from their duties for using a smartphone messaging app linked to the July 15 coup attempt, Turkeys top judicial board announced Thursday, Anadolu reported. A total of 184 judges and prosecutors have been temporarily removed from duty pending the conclusion of an investigation, the Turkish Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) said. ByLock is said to have been used by members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which the government has said was behind the attempted takeover, which martyred 241 people and wounded nearly 2,200 others. The app is believed to have been cracked by Turkish security agencies before the coup, prompting the plotters to switch to the WhatsApp messaging service but not before tens of thousands of FETO suspects had been identified. Turkey accuses FETO, which is led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, of organizing the defeated coup as well as a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary. More than 3,400 FETO-linked judges and prosecutors have so far been discharged by the board following the bid. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 11:09 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Turkey, in a bid to rebuild its damaged ties with Russia and grow the relations even closer, seeks to boost the bilateral contacts in the tourism and business sphere. Ankara hopes that Moscow will soon grant Turkish citizens visa-free entry, Turkish Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci said on October 14, Sputnik reported. "This issue is under consideration. I hope that we will soon be back to what we had before November 24, 2015," Tufenkci said. Earlier, Turkeys Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci said that Turkey is negotiating with the Russian Federation on a soon lifting of visa limitations. "As you know, before the crisis [downing of Russian Su-24 by Turkish jet] citizens of our countries could travel without the requirement to obtain visas," he said. "Visa-free relations favor both tourism and trade sectors, as well as, the countries themselves. Sure, we continue contacts to restore the visa-free regime, Zeybekci added. President of Turkish Travel Agencies Union Basharan Ulusoy earlier said that Turkey seeks to welcome more than 5 million tourists from Russia in 2017, adding that the abolition of visas for Turkish citizens would be a positive step to increase the tourist flow from Turkey to Russia. "Tourism should be mutual, but to increase the number of tourists from Turkey to Russia, it is necessary, first of all, to abolish visas and then the number of Turkish tourists will increase in two or three times, Ulusoy said. Russia reinstated visa regime with Turkey after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian frontline bomber near the Syrian border last November. The attack soured relations between Moscow and Ankara for months. They started improving after the Turkish president apologized in a letter in late June. --- Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 16:57 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova The first official visit of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev to Georgia is expected to positively affect the development and strengthening of bilateral relations between the two countries. During this two-day visit, Atambayev held a bilateral meeting with his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Margvelashvili. A number of agreements have been signed between the two governments. Political ties between the two countries were discussed at the meeting and both parties agreed that intensive dialogue between Georgia and Kyrgyzstan should always be supported. Margvelashvili noted that agreements signed in the fields of security, economy, and education will create new cooperation opportunities between the two countries. The regional role of Georgia and the development of the trans-regional collaboration were also discussed at the meeting. Further, the Georgian and Kyrgyz sides signed an agreement to prevent double taxation and evasion of income and capital taxes. The agreement is expected to increase economic cooperation between Georgia and Kyrgyzstan and attract more foreign investments. This was the first official visit of the Kyrgyz president to Georgia in the history of the Kyrgyz-Georgian relations, which were established in 1992. The Kyrgyz National Statistical Committee reported that the trade turnover between Kyrgyzstan and Georgia in 2015 was $5.6 million, including exports from Kyrgyzstan - $1.9 million, while imports from Georgia - $3.7 million. The main items of export from Kyrgyzstan to Georgia are vegetables and fruit, grain products, petroleum products (kerosene), medical and pharmaceutical products, medicines, electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, production of non-metallic minerals, textile yarn, fabrics, manufactured goods of textile materials. The main items of imports from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan are food, beverages, medical and pharmaceutical products, medicines, electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, items of clothing and clothing accessories. --- Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 12:57 (UTC+04:00) By Trend State-run energy giant Pertamina officially received a cargo of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran on Oct.13, marking Irans first shipment as a new supplier of LPG to Indonesia, The Jakarta Post reported. Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto welcomed the 44,000 metric tons of LPG transported from Asaluyeh Port in Iran 13 days ago by its VLGC Pertamina Gas 2 vessel, at Kalbut Port in Situbondo, East Java. According to him, the LPG shipment from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) would open up other business development opportunities between Pertamina and the NIOC, in both the upstream and downstream sectors. "It marks a new chapter of cooperation between Pertamina and the NIOC and makes trade cooperation between Indonesia and Iran more significant," Dwi said in a statement on Thursday. Earlier, the NIOC agreed to supply Pertamina with a total volume of 600,000 tons of LPG for 2016 and 2017. Following the arrival of the first cargo, the NIOC will immediately send the next cargo, which is expected to arrive on Nov. 20. In addition to the LPG purchase, the two state-run companies signed an agreement to conduct a preliminary study of two giant oil fields in Iran, namely Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, which have an oil reserve of more than 5 billion barrels. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 16:06 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Ankara appointed Huseyin Lazip Dirioz as the new ambassador to Russia, Turkey's official Resmi Gazete reported on October 14. In early October, Umit Yardim, who held the post of the Turkish Ambassador in Moscow back then, said that he would resign in the coming months. Dirioz, who previously served as NATOs assistant secretary general for defense policy and planning, has been working in the Turkish Foreign Ministry since 1978. 60-year-old Dirioz is one of the most experienced Turkish diplomats. He first joined the Turkish Foreign Ministry in 1978 and served in Kabul and Strasbourg before attending the NATO Defense College in Rome in 1987-1988. From 1998 to 2000 he served as a Minister-Counselor in the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC He then returned to the Foreign Ministry for a further year before joining the Turkish Delegation to NATO for four years. Huseyin Dirioz joined the NATO International Staff as Assistant Secretary-General on in 2010. Dirioz was Turkeys ambassador to Jordan in 2004-2008 and has also served in Brazil since 2013. The diplomat is expected to deal with a number of issues as the two countries now engaged in restoring their ties following the last years incident. The crisis in relations between Turkey and Russia began after the incident with the downed Russian plane. After the incident, the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and launch special economic measures against Turkey. The relations began to recover after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed condolences to the family of the deceased pilot of SU-24 and regret over the incident with the Russian aircraft. --- Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 15:34 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The Turkmen Finance Ministry and the World Bank (WB) signed an agreement on rendering paid consulting services in the financial sector and macroeconomics, the Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state news agency (TDH) reported on October 14. According to the message, the signing ceremony took place as part of at the annual meeting of the IMF and WB Group's Boards of Governors. The activities planned to be held in accordance with this document are aimed at supporting the business model and corporate governance reform in the banking sector and facilitating the development of the credit reporting system, the message said. According to the message, the activities are also aimed at assessing national risk in the field of combating money laundering, financing of terrorism and strengthening of macroeconomic statistics. The investments are planned to be made and consulting services are planned to be rendered to the Turkmen private financial institutions and companies as part of the agreement, the message said. "The adopted document testifies to Turkmenistans systematic approach to gradually bring the financial sector and macroeconomic accounts in accordance with the international standards," TDH cited Cyril Muller, WB vice-president for Europe and Central Asia, as saying. TDH draws attention to the fact that IFC has expressed its readiness to provide support for foreign direct investments through loans and other financial instruments. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 October 2016 17:12 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Turkey is largely expanding its economic and security relationships with its Arab neighbors in a drive to increase its role as regional power, since GCC states with their growing economic and financial resources and increasing political clout, are considered very strong enticing partners. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed in the Saudi capital Riyadh with colleagues from the six Gulf countries the creation of the common free trade zone, said Saudi Foreign Minister Adil al-Dzhubeyr, RIA Novosti reported. "The meeting with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister has been very fruitful, we discussed the creation of a free trade zone between Turkey and the Gulf states to enhance the mutual trade and economic relations," said al-Dzhubeyr. Moreover, he noted that the sides plan to talk about more specific details of the free trade with Turkey in the next meeting. Member states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) signed a memorandum in the field of strategic dialogue in September of 2008, which aims to strengthen economic and political cooperation between the parties. In particular, they agreed to hold an annual meeting between the Foreign Ministries of the GCC and Turkey. Although Turkey and the GCC consider the 2008 MOU to be the "launching point" for their strategic dialogue, the parties began meeting in 2005 in Manama, where they established a framework for a free trade agreement. The aim of this meeting was to "institutionalize" modalities of cooperation to promote stronger relations in the future. The GCC states see Turkey as a key supplier for diversifying food supplies, and they have inquired about the possibility of leasing "large tracts" of land in Turkey, or participating in joint ventures with Turkish companies, for cultivating crops -- particularly wheat and cereals. In turn, Turkey is also working to develop deeper ties with the Arab Gulf in the military sphere. In late 2015, during Erdogans third visit of the year to Riyadh a strategic cooperation council to strengthen bilateral military and economic cooperation was set up. Since then, Turkey has supported Saudi efforts at unifying the moderate Syrian opposition and confirmed participation in the 34-country counterterrorism coalition announced by Riyadh. Turkey is also establishing a military base in Qatar. The base is designed to confront common enemies, according to the Turkish ambassador to Qatar, and will station 3,000 personnel in air, naval and special operations units. In turn, experts also consider that Turkey is developing as an increasingly important economic partner for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. As the report of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) indicates the trade turnover between Turkey and GCC was close to $16 billion in 2015, up from about $5 billion in 2005. --- Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 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." 14 October 2016 17:22 (UTC+04:00) By Trend President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev , who has recently been under the treatment due to a cold-related disease, held working meetings with the countrys Attorney General Zhakip Asanov and Mayor of Astana city Asset Issekeshev, the press service of the Kazakh president reported. These are the first working meetings by Nazarbayev following the news of his illness. On Oct. 11 Kazakh presidents press secretary noted that Nazarbayev is being treated for cold. Later Nazarbayevs Press Secretary Aidos Ukibay said Nursultan Nazarbayev would not be able to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia on October 12-14 due to a cold-related disease and his participation in international events is not planned until the end of this week. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Via press release from Tony Perkins Family Research Council: Before Election Day, Family Research Council Action (FRC Action), announced that it plans to finish distributing nearly 4 million voter guides targeting supporters, churches, activist groups, and state/local organizations. The voter guide outlines how the candidates stand on pivotal issues like Supreme Court nominations, religious liberty, Obamacare, marriage, abortion, taxes, education, the military, and free speech. A short video comparing the two party platforms is being distributed to thousands of churches to show during services prior to Election Day. These issues weigh on the minds and hearts of voters, said Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins. It is crucial that voters get the facts before they vote. With the next president selecting up to four Supreme Court justices, this is not a time to seek sanctuary on the sidelines. If we, as Christians, do not take our responsibility to be salt and light and exercise our right to cast an informed vote, we could see a further erosion of our fundamental freedoms, added Perkins. The greatest distinguisher in this election cycle is where the candidates stand on their partys platform. The GOP has the most conservative platform in recent history while the Democrats have the most liberal. While party platforms are often viewed as political platitudes that have little bearing on how the parties will govern, the reality is the platforms really matter. One study found that Democratic politicians voted about three quarters of the time with their platform while GOP politicians voted nearly 90 percent with theirs, noted Perkins. The platforms are like a rudder on a boat, they guide and provide principles for elected leaders. While the media largely ignores the party platforms after the political conventions, they should play a major role in every voters decision-making for 2016, concluded Perkins. Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 76F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Neuse River at Kinston is forecasted to crest near record stage on late Friday Northeast Cape Fear River at Burgaw is currently cresting Tar River at Tarboro is currently cresting Tar River at Greenville is forecast to peak early Friday morning Contact: Crystal Feldman Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov Raleigh, N.C. While substantial progress is being made in the recovery from Hurricane Matthew, Governor Pat McCrory today noted that new flooding from rising river levels will create challenges in several eastern counties.said Governor McCrory.The governor said that stabilizing Robeson County remains a top priority today, as officials also respond to new flooding in Edgecombe, Pitt, Lenoir, Pender, Greene, Bladen and other counties.The number of storm-related fatalities stands at 20 persons, while one person is still reported as missing in Johnston County.Since the Expedited Major Disaster Declaration on October 10, the federal government has already disbursed $2.6 million to disaster survivors in North Carolina through the Individual Assistance Program. To date, more than 14,000 North Carolinians have already registered for this assistance.The governor announced today that the federal government has approved $5 million of early release federal highway funds for emergency repairs in North Carolina.Three new counties were added to the disaster declaration overnight, Sampson, Harnett and Greene. This brings the total to 17 counties with disaster declarations for individual assistance and 34 counties for public assistance. As joint preliminary damage assessments continue, the governor said he is hopeful that other counties will be added to the federal disaster declaration.The first Disaster Recovery Center will open in the next few days. A Joint Field Office will open next week in the Raleigh-Durham area, with several hundred FEMA employees working alongside state officials on grant and relief programs to help individuals and communities recover and rebuild.State officials are still monitoring the Cape Fear, Neuse and Tar rivers, which are forecasted for major flooding through this week. The Neuse River at Goldsboro has exceeded record stage and is currently receding. The Lumber River crested earlier this week, but officials are continuing to monitor the levels of it and other smaller bodies of water.Flooding effects in Robeson County remain a top priority. North Carolina National Guard, the State Emergency Response team, the State Highway Patrol and many others are working with local officials to help with security and to ensure medical supplies, food, water, children's supplies, cots and blankets are available to residents.In Robeson County, 147 National Guard troops have been assigned and 60 National Guard soldiers have been reassigned from other areas to help support the Robeson County Sheriff's Department in Fairmont. The state is coordinating with Wal-Mart to provide medications to a nursing home in Fairmont. An additional 50 Highway Patrol troopers have been deployed to Robeson County to provide additional law enforcement support.Power outages across the state continue to fall. As of 10:00 a.m., outages statewide are down to about 56,000 from more than 800,000 on Sunday. Utilities continue to work around the clock responding to power outages in affected areas.Evacuations have been ordered for the city of Greenville, the town of Princeville, the Black River Basin in Pender County, Bladen County, various areas in Lenoir County and the Woodlake Dam area of Moore County in anticipation of flooding caused by rivers cresting.A total of 43 shelters remain open, housing about 3,400 occupants. Additionally, two medical support shelters are operating in Johnston and Wayne counties. The state is coordinating with FEMA to identify housing for displaced people.North Carolina Baptist Men are operating kitchens in Fayetteville, Lumberton, Kinston, Rocky Mount and Whiteville, and another is scheduled to open in Greenville on Friday.More than 1,000 National Guard troops and 380 vehicles have been activated since the storm began.To date, nearly 2,300 people have been saved by search and rescue teams across eastern and central North Carolina.Sections of I-95 from Lumberton to Fayetteville remain closed due to flooding and a seven-mile stretch of I-40 near Newton Grove is closed. N.C. Department of Transportation officials closed US 70 near Kinston last night, due to rapidly rising flood waters, but a detour is in place. In Edgecombe County, US 64 between the Tar River and NC 33 is closed in both directions due to flooding, but there is a detour in place.Governor McCrory warned drivers not to necessarily rely on their GPS devices for road closures or detour information. Call 5-1-1 or use the ReadyNC mobile app for the latest road closure updates.All seven North Carolina ferry routes have returned to service in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Hatteras Island remains closed to visitors. Access is limited to residents, non-resident property owners and non-resident employees of businesses with proper re-entry passes.The governor continues to warn residents of continued environmental dangers of the standing floodwaters. 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.On Tuesday, the governor activated the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund for Hurricane Matthew to support long-term recovery efforts in partnership with the United Way of North Carolina. People or organizations that want to help ensure North Carolina recovers can visit NCdisasterrelief.org or text NCRecovers to 30306.Monetary donations to recognized disaster relief organizations is also the fastest, most flexible, and most effective method of assisting. Organizations on the ground know what items and quantities are needed, often buy in bulk with discounts and, if possible, purchase through area businesses which supports economic recovery.For more information about hurricane recovery in your area, call 2-1-1. The latest road conditions can be found by calling 5-1-1 or checking the ReadyNC mobile app, which also has real-time shelter and evacuation information. For more details about Hurricane Matthew impacts and relief efforts, go to ReadyNC.org . Follow N.C. Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook for the latest on Hurricane Matthew. Contact: Crystal Feldman Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov Kinston, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory joined local officials and emergency responders for a tour of Kinston today as the Neuse River is expected to crest near record levels tomorrow.said Governor McCrory.The governor also warned that one of his primary concerns is keeping people out of the water. He noted that 19 of the 20 storm-related fatalities are due to drowning.Governor McCrory's request for a federal disaster declaration for Lenoir County was approved for both Public and Individual federal assistance. This declaration will help augment state and local costs of responding to the storm and will provide assistance for individuals to repair or rebuild damaged homes.The governor said that the state has significantly increased the emergency personnel and resources in Lenoir County in preparation for the Neuse River cresting tomorrow night. More than 150 NC National Guard troops, 50 State Highway Patrol troopers, swift water rescue teams, forestry officers and emergency management personnel are all on the ground in Kinston. Additionally, resources including food, water, fuel and sandbags have been sent to the area.The governor thanked corporate partners, including Coca Cola and Pepsi, along with the North Carolina Beverage Association for sending truckloads of water to Kinston.There are currently two shelters open in Lenoir County with 205 occupants. The governor said these numbers are expected to rise in the coming days. The Lenoir County shelters have the capacity for up to 1,600 occupants.Several roads in Lenoir County have been impacted by flooding. NC 55 is currently closed in both directions in Lenoir County near Kinston. Additionally, transportation officials closed US 70 near Kinston last night due to rapidly rising floodwaters. US 258 south of Kinston remains closed at this time. For the latest information on road closings, dial 5-1-1 or visit ReadyNC.org Governor McCrory also recognized that portions of Craven County along the Neuse River will be most greatly impacted on Saturday and into next week. The problems in Craven County will likely impact Cove City, Dover, Ft. Barnwell, Vanceboro and other communities in western parts of the county.For more information about hurricane recovery in your area, call 2-1-1. For more details about Hurricane Matthew impacts and relief efforts, go to ReadyNC.org . Follow N.C. Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook for the latest on Hurricane Matthew. At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money . Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions an individual will ever make. Our real estate reporters and editors focus on educating consumers about this life-changing transaction and how to navigate the complex and ever-changing housing market. From finding an agent to closing and beyond, our goal is to help you feel confident that you're making the best, and smartest, real estate deal possible. Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy , so you can trust that were putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. Weve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrates editorial team writes on behalf of YOU the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether youre reading an article or a review, you can trust that youre getting credible and dependable information. We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information youre reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy , so you can trust that were putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Were transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout lifes financial journey. During the pandemic, the normal seasonal patterns all but disappeared from the housing market. There was so much demand for homes that any time was a good time to sell. Now that the market is settling down somewhat, timing once again is becoming an important consideration for home sellers. Sellers can net thousands of dollars more if they sell during the peak months of May, June, and July versus the two slowest months of the year, October and December, according to a 2022 report by ATTOM Data Solutions. Best month to sell a house Late spring specifically, the month of May is the best time to sell a house, netting a 12.6 percent seller premium (amount above home market value), based on ATTOMs analysis of single-family home and condo sales over the past 10 years. Best (and worst) times of year to sell, by month To determine the premium or discount sellers realized on a given day, ATTOM Data Solutions compared the median sales price for homes with a purchase closing on that day with the median automated valuation model (AVM) for those same properties at the time of sale. Heres how each month of the year ranked for the best time to sell a house. Month Median Sales Price Median AVM Seller Premium May $208,273 $185,000 12.6% June $217,703 $196,702 10.7% July $219,900 $200,000 10% April $202,000 $185,000 9.2% March $197,500 $181,283 8.9% September $215,000 $199,214 7.9% February $188,500 $174,666 7.9% August $215,700 $200,000 7.9% December $213,564 $201,000 6.3% January $187,000 $176,040 6.2% November $213,300 $201,000 6.1% October $210,375 $200,000 5.2% The highest-earning four months (April, May, June and July) saw nearly 17 million purchase transactions taking place during this period, according to ATTOM. June barely beats July for second place, with a 10.7 percent seller premium, up slightly from Julys 10 percent. March and April usher in homebuying season with returns of 8.9 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively. By September, seller premiums start tapering off, falling to 7.9 percent. In general, the best time to sell a house is the summer. Conversely, thats usually the worst time to buy, due to high prices and more demand, says Donovan Reynolds, a real estate agent with EXP Realty in Atlanta. Seasonality is important While all regions experience seasonality, it is more or less pronounced depending on where you are in the country. For example, in the South and West where temperatures are largely more moderate theres less discrepancy between the peak and slow seasons, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, theres more disparity between summer and winter in the Midwest and Northeast. These seasonal patterns can help give sellers an indication of what to expect throughout the year. Spring and summer are the best seasons to sell Typically, sellers list their homes in the spring and summer because the weather is good, especially for people in colder climates. In addition, families want to buy their next home before school starts, says Realtor Liede DeValdivielso, one half of The DeValdivielso Team with the Keyes Company in Coral Gables, Florida. Daylight savings time might also play a part in why the warmer months stimulate buying activity. One of the reasons buyers are more eager to view properties during spring and summer may be due to the longer days, says Marilyn Blume, a real estate agent with Sothebys International Realty in New York City. By getting more exposure for your listing through more traffic, you increase the chances to receive more offers. Homebuyers on a deadline for example, those who want to acquire a house before the school year begins should make sure theyre in top shape, financially speaking. That means theyve checked their credit and debt-to-income ratio to ensure theyre in a strong position to get a mortgage preapproval. Otherwise, their efforts might be delayed. April is plenty of time to get a house before school starts, as long as your financing is in order, DeValdivielso says. The best thing to do is shop around for a loan before you start looking for a house. This will give you a good idea of what you can qualify for. Fall and winter are the worst seasons to sell The decline in seller premiums typically begins in September, when the average premium drops to 7.9 percent slightly more than half that of the peak in May. By then, many buyers with school-aged kids have likely found a home, so the sharp drop is no surprise. Combine the new school year with the start of the busy holiday season, and homebuying goes on the back burner during the latter part of the year. Just like in the warmer months, the weather plays a factor in the winter months, too. As the days get dark earlier and temperatures drop, people tend to stay close to home. This means less foot traffic for sellers. October is the worst month to sell The worst month of the year to sell a house is October, with a 5.2 percent seller premium, according to ATTOM. And those premiums stay pretty low in ensuing months. Homebuying activity typically comes to a near-standstill in December, when people tend to travel and are busy with holiday celebrations. Of course, if youre a buyer, the opposite holds true: The cooler months can actually be a hot time to house-hunt. Theres less competition from other buyers, and antsy sellers might be more willing to negotiate on price or other concessions. More tips for sellers Here are some more suggestions for sellers hoping to maximize their selling success: Oregon Coast Highest Wind Gusts, Power Outages, Road Closures Published 10/14/2016 at 5:51 AM PDT - Published 10/14/2016 at 6:01 AM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Oregon Coast) Overall it wound up not the most eventful storm the Oregon coast has experienced. Harsher than many, yet par for the course for the heavier categories the area sometimes goes through. It was definitely annoying to many residents.. (Above: a still from a video from Lincoln City's Rock Your World Gallery). Thursday's tempest created plenty of issues, and some still linger. Power outages on and off, large amounts of debris, some road closures and certainly some mighty winds. But it's just a taster of what is set to hit on Saturday, with Friday being the calm before the storm that seems likely to bring flooding and gusts up to 90 mph. The bulk of the storm ran amok from about 3 p.m. until 11 p.m. Towns like Lincoln City, Florence, and most of Tillamook and Clatsop counties reported power outages on and off. As of 5 a.m., Pacific Power reports almost 3,000 customers are without power in Cannon Beach, Gearhart, Hammond, Seaside and Warrenton. Earlier in the day there had been 15,000 customers in the dark. Most areas saw sustained winds in the 20's through 30's, while the beaches and headlands were hit harder. The highest wind gust numbers for the night were Cape Meares at a whopping 103 mph at 7 p.m., Mt. Hebo at 78 mph, Pacific City's beach saw 69 mph, Astoria experienced 61 mph and Lincoln City's highest was at 55 mph. Places like Newport, Oceanside and Yachats experienced highest gusts in the 50's. Many residents reported being on edge on Oregon Coast Beach Connection's Facebook page, not finding it as pleasant as most. As of 5 a.m., ODOT is reporting two road incidents: one closure and one area with delays. High water has shut down Highway 6 just outside of Tillamook. On Highway 101, 12 miles south of Yachats, ODOT said there are 20-minute delays because of a landslide. Watch for flaggers and emergency personnel. Highway 26 was no picnic, according to Seaside resident Angi Wildt. She was returning home from Portland last night and encountered plenty of road issues. Within ten miles of the coast on the way back tonight it was almost zero visibility in patches and swirling gusts that I don't remember every seeing on the drives before, Wildt said. It looked like I was driving into a whirlwind or small tornado, but my truck didn't seem to be effected by it. It looked intimidating though. The U.S. Coast Guard closed the bar at Yaquina Bay in Newport until further notice. Buoys all along the coastline were reporting wave height in the 20's, and for a time some authorities thought the combination of high tides and storm surges would actually see waves crawl over the wall of Seaside's Promenade. That did not happen. See Oregon Coast Weather There are now predictions of wave height of more than 30 feet with Saturday's storm, along with hurricane-force winds. By Sunday, things will be calming down with winds still in the 30's but seas going down to 14 feet. More on these wind and surf warnings Friday at Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Oregon Coast Hotels for this - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours Photo above courtesy Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium. Below: various storm photos from previous years More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted An almost 14-foot alligator is officially part of the Gator Country family, with the attraction's owner announcing the beast's name on social media Thursday. The 13-foot 8-inch monster will henceforth be known as Big Tex, owner Gary Saurage said. This winter, landowners southeast of Red Lodge along the Beartooth Front will have the option of having elk that may be infected with brucellosis shot. The Fish and Wildlife Commission approved its Brucellosis 2017 Annual Work Plan on Thursday with a newly added focus on trying to keep brucellosis-infected Wyoming elk from spreading the disease over the border into this region of Montana. The commission, which was meeting in Forsyth, also received an update on FWP plans following this summers closure of the Yellowstone River after a parasite outbreak killed thousands of whitefish. Brucellosis According to the brucellosis work plan agenda item provided to the commission, This limited but important expansion (of the brucellosis plan) reflects competing concerns FWP has heard from those anxious that the plan is too ambitious and also from those concerned the plan is not enough. The refinement approved on Thursday was to provide landowners along the Beartooth Front with the same tools given to landowners within whats known as the Designated Surveillance Area a region around Yellowstone National Park where FWP and the Montana Department of Livestock cooperate on keeping elk and cattle separate to avoid transference of brucellosis from elk to cattle. The tools include hazing, limited fencing, limited lethal removal of elk, habitat modifications, and other efforts to adjust elk distribution away from cattle at small scales, the plan stated. The small scale lethal removals would be no more than 10 elk and would require a commissioners approval. Lethal removal of elk has been a contested issue, so its been used sparingly. Last year, to keep elk and livestock separated, eight elk were shot by hunters in the Paradise Valley, said Quentin Kujala, FWP Wildlife Management Section chief. No kill permits were issued to landowners. In 2014 there were no elk taken under either scenario. I think the department has proven again that it can take a reasonable approach, Kujala said. One of the tactics that wont be available anywhere was a proposal to kill or haze elk that are believed to be infected away from other elk, an idea suggested by FWPs partner agency, the Montana Department of Livestock. The suggestion met with opposition from sporting groups and individuals. Kujala admitted that such a scenario was logistically complicated. Border war Collars on Wyoming elk have shown they move as far as 10 to 15 miles north into Montana along the Beartooth Front during the winter. They move, and in some instances they move great distances, Kujala said. However, the region southeast of Red Lodge is outside of the Designated Surveillance Area for brucellosis. Commissioner Matthew Tourtlotte, of Billings, expressed concern that even a pseudo expansion of the DSA is troubling for the repercussions it could have, calling it a slippery slope. We somewhat share Commissioner Tourtlottes concerns, said Nick Gevock, of the Montana Wildlife Federation, although his group supported the changes to expand services to landowners outside the DSA near Red Lodge. Kujala said the subject needs more work, but not in the forum of a commission meeting. Yellowstone River Moving from wildlife disease to those in fish, the commission was told that FWPs fisheries experts will gather in Bozeman next month to begin reviewing the agencys response to this summers whitefish die-off and start working on a plan for the future, according to Eileen Ryce, FWP Fisheries Bureau chief. The fish kill was caused by a new and previously little known parasite outbreak. One thing well be talking about is a strategic monitoring plan, Ryce told commissioners. FWP has tested fish from around the region and found the parasite exists, but is not killing fish. Trout as far up the Stillwater River as Woodbine Campground, which is close to the boundary of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, were found to have the parasite, according to Ken Frazer, FWPs Region 5 fisheries manager. On the Boulder River, south of Big Timber, no trout above Natural Bridge, a barrier to fish traveling upstream, contained the parasite. Both streams are tributaries to the Yellowstone River. Fish in the Bighorn River were also found to contain the parasite. Yet no dead fish were found this summer in the Bighorn, Boulder or Stillwater rivers. Trout as far away as the Jefferson River were also found to have the parasite, Ryce said, which may explain an earlier fish die-off on that stream. Were looking at other waters that could be impacted to be better prepared, she said. Some of the fish that were collected are still awaiting laboratory processing. Even though this summers deadly outbreak in the Yellowstone River has passed, the parasite will survive in fish over the winter, Ryce said. So getting rid of the disease seems improbable. Future efforts to protect the fishery will have to concentrate on ways to keep the fish from being stressed, which harms their immunity to fight the parasite. Unfortunately, the main stressor on summer fish is low and warm water, two factors that FWP has no control over. Commission chairman Dan Vermillion, a Livingston fishing outfitter, said it would be helpful if FWP could develop a drought management plan for rivers like the Yellowstone so the public knows heres whats going to trigger a closure. News of the Yellowstone River closure this summer has already cost his business a few bookings for next year, he said, so he encouraged the department to play a supportive role in bringing anglers back to the region next year. He said a science-based report showing that the trout fishing is still good would be helpful. Ryce noted that spring fishery surveys will help the department put the summer disease outbreak into better perspective in terms of fish loss. Lamar University is ranked in the top 40 percent of safest colleges in Texas, according to 2015 FBI crime data. The university had a crime rate of 550 incidents per 100,000 students, with 74 property crime incidents and eight violent crime incidents in 2015, according to an analysis by the Houston Chronicle of 35 Texas colleges. To determine the crime rate, the Chronicle divided the number of reported crimes by the school's student population, and then multiplied that by 100,000 to create a standardized rate among the 35 colleges. Rice University was ranked the most dangerous in the state, with 210 crimes in the past year and a crime rate of 3,171 per 100,000 students. Central Texas College was the least dangerous, according to the study, with a crime rate of just 87. Lamar University Police Chief Hector Flores said that the university has improved campus safety by increasing the number of non-commissioned campus security officers this spring, which "helped out a lot with presence on campus," he said. Those officers, who take non-criminal reports on campus, "free up commissioned police officers to proactively patrol," Flores said. According to the university's annual security report, the most common crime was drug abuse, with 29 arrests made on campus in 2015. That was up from 25 the previous year, but down from 39 in 2013. That's not unusual for many colleges, Flores said. The university also reported 17 stalking crimes in 2015 in the annual crime statistics, almost three times as many as in 2014. Flores said that the department has stepped up student engagement to address stalking and other similar crimes. "I think educational efforts have maybe improved knowledge among students for what is acceptable and what isn't, and what's against the law," he said. The school calculates its crime statistics using the FBI's crime reporting standards, according to the report. Lamar reported no bias-motivated offenses "in which the victim was intentionally selected because of actual or perceived race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability" in the past three years. Flores said that so far the department has had no problems since the state law allowing concealed carry of firearms on public college campuses took effect on Aug. 1. "We've done a significant effort in providing classes, providing information online, and we have done several Q-and-A type presentations on campus," he said. "That's been very well-received, I think people understand the law and know what's acceptable and what's not." LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock named Richard Turnage, MD, vice chancellor for clinical programs and CEO of UAMS Medical Center, also in Little Rock. Here are five notes: 1. Dr. Turnage currently serves as chief service line officer for the Integrated Clinical Enterprise, executive associate dean for clinical services in the UAMS College of Medicine and professor in the college's department of surgery. 2. Prior to joining UAMS, Dr. Turnage was a professor of surgery, professor of physiology and medical director of the physician assistant program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. 3. He has completed a surgical residency and a research fellowship in pediatric surgery at the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers in Ann Arbor. 4. He will assume his new roles on Dec. 1. 5. He succeeds Roxane Townsend, MD, who left UAMS. Allina Health nurses voted Thursday to approve a contract offer from their Minneapolis-based employer, ending nine months of contentious negotiations in which they went on strike twice, according to a Star Tribune report. The latest offer from Allina, which required a simple majority vote, was similar to a contract offer nurses rejected Oct. 3, but it provided enough new financial incentives and guarantees about health benefits to gain favor from nurses, according to the article. However, that doesn't mean the vote was necessarily easy for nurses. "This was the worst and hardest vote ever," emergency room nurse Dawn Marie Sachwitz told the Star Tribune after voting for the contract Thursday afternoon. "I filled in a circle, erased it, and put in another one." With the latest vote, Allina nurses striking at five Minnesota hospitals are slated to return to work as early as 7 a.m. Sunday, as Allina rotates out replacement nurses Allina hired to work during the latest strike, according to the report. More than 4,000 Allina nurses, represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association, began their walkout on Labor Day at five Minnesota hospitals following a week-long strike in June. After nurses voted Oct. 3 to reject an offer from Allina, strikes over health benefits, staffing and safety concerns continued at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Unity Hospital in Fridley. Announcing vote results Thursday, nurse Angela Becchetti said she wished Allina would have arrived at concessions in this contract, such as 24-hour security in all five emergency rooms, earlier, according to the report. "This never should have happened the hard feelings, the strike, none of it," said Ms. Becchetti, a member of the bargaining team for the MNA. Moving forward, it will be important to overcome the emotions and divisions that emerged during the latest strike, said Mandy Richards, RN, MSN, United Hospital's CNO, in the article. "We [need to] look at what we have in common, and that is to care for our patients and their families in the best way possible," she said. Allina also released a statement Thursday: "We appreciate the nurses ratification of the agreement. On Sunday morning, Oct. 16, at the 7 a.m. shift change, Allina Health nurses will return to the bedside, as we continue to provide high-quality care to our patients and communities," health system officials said. A key sticking point in the dispute between Allina and its 4,800 nurses has been the nurses' health insurance. Allina wanted to eliminate the nurses' union-backed health plans, which include high premiums but low or no deductibles, and move the nurses to its corporate plans, reports the Star Tribune. Allina has estimated that eliminating the nurses' union-backed health plans would save the health system $10 million per year. The Star Tribune reports that Allina ultimately got what it wanted, but guaranteed benefit levels of its most popular corporate plan through 2021 and provided nurses up to $2,500 over the next five years in their health reimbursement or savings accounts. This compromise, the report notes, came Tuesday after a 17-hour negotiating session arranged by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith. The union recommended that nurses approve the agreement. The dispute, though, has been costly for Allina, which incurred $20.4 million of expenses related to the seven-day strike in June. According to the report, the health system spent even more than that to cover the 37-day strike this fall. More articles on human capital and risk: New labor contract for Hazel Hawkins Memorial nurses includes raise Striking nurses revamp voting method for Mondays decision on Allinas latest offer Hahnemann University Hospital nurses picket over staffing levels After President Barack Obama, Tesla founder Elon Musk and Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg all revealed various endeavors to help humans reach Mars, it is clear there is no shortage of interest in the journey. But is the human body physically capable of handling such a trip? In an article for the Chicago Tribune, Dariusz Borys, MD, a bone pathologist at Maywood, Ill.-based LoyolaUniversityMedicalCenter, and John Biemer, MD, a pathology resident at LUMC, said there is significant evidence that the human physiology is "dramatically affected when there is little or no gravity." Here are four things to know about how the human body would fair on trip to Mars, Dr. Borys and Dr. Biemer told Chicago Tribune. 1. After an extended period of time in space, human bones undergo a process similar to osteoporosis, losing about 1 percent of their mass every month without gravity. 2. If crew members land on Mars after months of living without gravity, their bones may not be able to support their own body weight, causing their vertebrae, hip bones and wrists to fracture and disc herniations that may lead to back pain and hinder astronauts' ability to explore the planet. 3. While astronauts may engage in strenuous exercise regimens to curb the effects of osteoporosis-like symptoms, they may still experience significant decreases in muscle strength and bone density following flights averaging 180 days long, according to the article. 4. Extended periods in zero gravity atmospheres may also cause other complications as well, including alterations to the circulatory and immune systems, as well as radiation levels that may cause cancer. More articles on population health: Why zip codes matter more than genetics Man turns abandoned California medical center into art gallery HIMSS Analytics study outlines how hospitals are bringing a population health approach to health IT Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay, Ore., lifted the quarantine of its emergency department Wednesday after a 78-year-old patient, her caregiver, two sheriff's deputies and a hospital employee were afflicted with an unknown illness said to cause hallucinations, according to the World Link. The incident began after Coos County police responded Wednesday to a 3 a.m. call by the 78-year-old woman's caregiver, who reported vandalism. Police found nothing, but returned again at 5:30 a.m. after another phone call, after which the police believed the woman was suffering from hallucinations. They brought the woman to Bay Area Hospital where she was later released after being given a clean bill of health by medical personnel. Shortly after, two police officers who responded to the incident, the 78-year-old woman and a hospital employee all began showing signs of hallucinations. A hazmat team responded to Bay Area Hospital and the house where the incident started. They cleared the ED and gave instructions for how to decontaminate equipment and transport vehicles. While the investigation is still ongoing, officials believe the illness spread through contact, not through the air. Police believe one way the illness may have spread was through direct contact with a medicated patch. According to KPIC news, Sergeant Pat Downing of the Coos County police said in a statement that the officers and medical personnel involved were responding to treatment. Both police officers involved in the incident have been treated and released from the hospital, but the 52-year-old female caregiver and her 78-year-old female patient are is still under care at the hospital. The hospital employee is being monitored. More articles on quality: Expectations of chemotherapy side effects heavily influence patient experience, study finds Common asthma medication could prevent liver disease Calcium supplements linked to heart damage On Thursday, the Florida Department of Health confirmed local Zika transmission in a new one-square-mile area of Miami. Five Zika cases involving two women and three men have been linked to the new transmission zone. Three of the infected individuals live in the area and the two others either work in the area or have visited. According to the Miami Herald, the new transmission site encompasses Miami's Little River neighborhood, which is now the second neighborhood in the city with active Zika transmission as mosquitoes in Miami Beach continue to carry the virus. Little River is just blocks away from the Wynwood neighborhood the first area in the U.S. where local Zika transmission was identified. Mosquito control efforts eradicated local Zika transmission in that area. Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox! Unlike Wynwood, Little River is primarily a residential zone, which is a cause for concern among Miami officials. Miami Commission Chairman Keon Hardemon, whose district includes Wynwood and the new zone in Little River, told the Herald he was "disappointed" by the announcement, adding that it confirmed his office's warnings to the community that residents should still take precautions against Zika even if they don't live in a designated transmission zone. "We were all blindsided by this bit of information," he said, "and that's why it was always important for us to protect ourselves from the Zika virus the best we can without considering it's just within one area." On Wednesday, Gov. Rick Scott (R) authorized an additional $7.4 million in state funding to Miami-Dade County to bolster mosquito control efforts in Miami. He says the state has yet to receive federal funding to help Zika-fighting efforts. "Today's announcement of a new area in Miami of ongoing local transmission of the Zika virus underscores the urgent need for federal funding to combat the Zika virus," said Gov. Scott on Thursday. "It has been two weeks since federal funding to fight Zika was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama. However, Florida has not yet received a dime. We don't need bureaucratic timelines we need funding now." According to the Florida Department of Health's Thursday update, there have been 1,021 cases of Zika reported in the state, 155 of which have been acquired locally. More articles on the Zika virus: 5 things to know about the evolution of Zika Federal agency funds development of drones to combat Zika Beyond microcephaly: 5 things to know about congenital Zika syndrome Worcester, Mass.-based St. Vincent Hospital could lose Medicare funding Dec. 12 unless it fixes patient identification issues that led clinicians to remove a healthy kidney from a patient earlier this year. According to the Boston Globe, a surgeon checked a patient's CT scan that showed a tumor in the left kidney, and the surgeon proceeded to remove the left kidney during surgery. However, the CT scan checked prior to surgery was for a different patient who happened to have the same name, and the left kidney that was removed was perfectly healthy. A hospital spokesperson told the Telegram the patient's physician misidentified the procedure the patient needed before the patient was admitted to the hospital. However, CMS and state Department of Public Health officials conducted an investigation into the wrong-patient surgery and uncovered other patient identification problems in the sample records they examined and discovered operating room computers showed patients' names but not birth dates. Additionally, the investigation report notes St. Vincent did not take corrective action even after its own internal investigation. St. Vincent has submitted an improvement plan to CMS, but a follow-up survey has yet to be conducted, according to the Globe. If the problems are not fixed before Dec. 12, St. Vincent will be terminated from the Medicare program. "We are working to implement enhanced safeguards as identified in the CMS survey, including additional verification steps with physicians," a hospital spokesperson told the Telegram in an emailed statement. "This was a deeply unfortunate situation and we will take all steps necessary to prevent it from happening again." The drug industry and hospitals have been butting heads over the future of a federal drug pricing program for more than a year, according to The Washington Post. Federal regulators may finalize stricter guidelines for the program possibly within the next few months that could limit the amount of patients eligible to receive discounted drugs. The program The 340B drug pricing program, developed 24 years ago, ensures hospitals treating a large proportion of low-income patients can buy drugs from manufacturers at a discount of 20 percent to 50 percent, according to the report. Hospitals can provide the drugs to uninsured patients for free, or at a discount, while selling the medications for higher fees to insured patients. About one-third of U.S. hospitals or 2,000 participate in the program, purchasing about $12 billion in discounted drugs in 2015. In 2009, hospitals purchased only 4.3 billion, according to the HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration, which manages the program. The drug industry In 2010, the Affordable Care Act extended the 340B dug pricing program, allowing rural hospitals to participate, the report states. The drug industry argues the expanded program has surpassed its original purpose of providing care to poor patients and now acts as a profit generator for hospitals. The industry believes hospitals buying the discounted drugs are not devoting enough resources to caring for low-income patients and calls for stricter oversight to make sure hospitals are not abusing the program. "The program is growing much faster than anyone thought it would. The discounted prices that have to be extended to [hospitals] have become greater and greater to the point where senior executives at pharmaceutical companies are paying attention to that part of the bottom line, to see how much of it was taken out by 340B," said John Shakow, a lawyer representing the drug manufacturers. The hospitals Hospital advocates, including former congressman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) who authored the program's original legislation in 1992, urge regulators to protect the program, saying the restrictions would negatively impact low-income patients and safety-net hospitals. They argue the drug industry is simply trying to save profits by scaling back the program, according to the report. "Here we find ourselves in a time of enormously high prices," said Ted Slafsky, president of 340B Health a group of hospitals lobbying to protect the drug program."[T]his is one of the few programs that exist to help moderate drug pricing." More articles about supply chain: Orange ibuprofen tablets get green light from FDA UPS adds 200 hybrid-electric delivery trucks: 3 things to know FAA penalizes Amazon for improperly shipping dangerous goods Here are 11 key notes on orthopedic and spine device companies over the past week. After the Australian government issued a warning about Stryker's LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 femoral heads, physician/lawyer Shezad Malik believes a recall could be "imminent." Mazor Robotics received purchase orders for 25 system orders in the third quarter of 2016, including pre-launch orders for the Mazor X. SpineGuard reported third quarter revenue of 1.7 million, representing a 2 percent increase compared to the third quarter in 2015. Xtant Medical anticipates its third quarter revenue to be between $23 million and $23.3 million. Implanet saw total sales of 5.58 million over the first nine months of the year. Medicrea sales totaled 6.8 million for the third quarter, representing a 3 percent decline compared to the same period in 2015. Titan Spine expanded its commercial launch of the nanoLOCK surface technology throughout the nation. Titan Spine successfully raised $7.5 million in funding from Southlake Equity Group. SpineNevada's InMotion Diagnostics provides an imaging platform to measure instability through spinal motion. Surgeons performed the first surgery using Gainesville, Fla.-based Exactech's Vantage Total Ankle System. Exactech performed the first successful revision knee procedure with its guided personalized surgery system. Billings Public Defenders say they are not given enough funds to handle the caseloads they receive, even when compared to other offices in the state, a problem that is not being acknowledged by the state office. In recent months, Billings Public Defenders appearing in Yellowstone County District Court have detailed the many challenges in their office. Public defenders are sometimes assigned cases 10 minutes before a sentencing hearing, and judges are sometimes confused about which public defender is assigned where. Christine Bigman, charged with drug possession in 2015, was a client of public defender David Arthur. Despite Arthur moving to defend misdemeanor clients several weeks ago, Bigman still did not have a defender assigned when she appeared Tuesday before Yellowstone County District Court Michael Moses. And it's not just defense attorneys who are concerned. Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito feels like the public defenders office might have run better when it was under county supervision. "A strong public defender's office that is well-organized and well-run is a benefit to a prosecutor and a benefit to the court system as a whole," Twito said. In 2015, the Missoula regional office received about $80,000 more than Billings in funding, despite Billings handling over 1,000 more cases than Missoula. When the average cost of each case is considered, Missoulas case costs should have amounted to about $5 million, which was a little under what the office got in funding. Billings case load would have amounted to about $6 million, according to a case type snapshot put together by the Office of State Public Defender. Billings received about a million less than that. We strive to meet the needs of each region in making resource allocation decisions, said Chief Public Defender William Hooks. Thus, a region-versus-region comparison is not really helpful in addressing the challenges we face. Supervising attorneys should identify resource needs. Last week, Hooks began a search for a new permanent supervising regional deputy position in Billings. This came after six months of the Billings office being supervised by an interim director, who splits his time with another defenders office 125 miles away. David Duke, the Billings regional supervisor for six years, was released from the office in March of this year. He declined to comment on the requests he made to the state office when he was regional deputy. He has said, "The office of the public defender has always been underfunded." Following the unexplained departure of Duke, Lewistown Regional Deputy Director Doug Day began supervising the office part time. It is not clear why the position went unadvertised for so long. Missoula also lost its regional director this year when Dave Stenerson died in February. After making Jennifer Streano interim director, however, the department hired her as a permanent replacement. In 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics determined the funding complaints coming from the Billings office were justified. The state was allocating less money per case to Billings than it did to eight out of the 11 regions, according to the study. "Billings reported over 1,000 more cases than Missoula, yet Missoula received $426,000 more than Billings. There was no explanation for this remarkable difference," the study stated. The situation in our Billings office certainly has changed since the 2007 report, Hooks said Tuesday. He pointed to the fiscal reports the office submits to the governor, the Supreme Court and the Legislature each year. Those reports show only two years when the Billings office funding surpassed that of Missoula. Once in 2009 and once in 2010. The study showed that in 2009, public defenders in Billings were handling up to 481 cases compared to the Kalispell office's 296 and Missoula's 239. In that year, Billings received about $60,000 more than Missoula in case funding. The funding disparity for Billings was not discussed by the Public Defender Task Force Committee that was put together by the 2015 Montana Legislature. Task Force member Michael Eakin, a Billings attorney, said the task force was focused more on the structure of the office, not the day-to-day operations. A main focus of that structural change was a legislative proposal to allow the governor to appoint an executive director for the public defender office. This will most likely not address Billings funding issues, Eakin said. It might mean a more responsive person than currently, Eakin said. Have somebodys ear more, maybe. Case funding aside, Billings has fewer attorney positions than Missoula, with 21 public defenders in Billings to Missoulas 23.5. The Missoula office is not given an unfair amount of funding, Streano said. The office covers cases from three different district courts and has a Hamilton office that has its own defender, Streano said. Having a second office costs a little extra, Streano said. But the Billings office also handles cases from multiple counties: Yellowstone, Big Horn, Stillwater and Carbon. Still, when presented with the funding disparity between Missoula and Billings, Twito said it doesn't make sense. Missoula's caseload is in large part misdemeanor charges, whereas Billings has the largest felony caseload in the state, Twito said. These cases require time and with the caseloads as high as they are in Billings, public defenders are overburdened, Twito said. Healthcare is going digital, and organizations failing to welcome this shift may fall behind their competitors as healthcare transitions to value-based care. The drive for value in an ever complex system has fueled the drive for efficiency, and technology can pave the way for healthcare organizations to function at their optimal efficiency. Nineteen years ago, Digitech Systems began offering clients across all industries software that allowed them to capture and effectively utilize data. A large portion of the company's clients are healthcare organizations who have increasing demands to report more information into a patient's electronic health record to stay compliant with government regulations. "What is important in healthcare is security, and we developed our platform with this goal in mind," says Sean Morris, Digitech Systems' director of sales. "Since rolling out this online platform, we now have tens of thousands of customers who store data online, including patient health information." Digitech Systems worked with a mental health facility in Denver that integrated its electronic health record system with Digitech Systems' software. The facility wanted to analyze patient trends, and needed a full picture of the records. Digitech Systems' technology helps organizations achieve this goal by acting as a "backend catch-all for organization's electronic health record applications," Mr. Morris adds. Through utilizing Digitech Systems' software in combination with its EHR system, the facility had a 1,315 percent return on investment. Digitech Systems now has its sights set on artificial intelligence, which Mr. Morris explains is helping the company improve its products and leapfrog ahead of its competitors. Through artificial intelligence, software can identify what type of information it is detecting, such as differentiating between a lab report and an insurance claim. Digitech Systems worked with a Texas school board association to help move claims quickly through the process. If a teacher in the state files a worker's compensation insurance claim, the state association has to process that claim within 20 days to 30 days or face a fine. Mr. Morris explains the state association was not looking at patients' claims until 27 days after it was submitted. Once the association deployed Digitech Systems' artificial intelligence technology, they finished the claim the first day they received it. "Artificial intelligence is making organizations more efficient and more productive," Mr. Morris notes. "We want the software to be intelligent enough recognize what information is and what business rules to apply to it. This is great for all industries but especially physicians because they can have key information as quickly as possible." Christina Robbins, marketing manager at Digitech Systems, explains artificial intelligence is the next big thing in the technological space and although in its early stages, artificial intelligence will likely play an integral part in getting rid of healthcare's inefficiencies and improving the overall patient experience. "Most major technology manufacturers are looking at artificial intelligence as the next major step in technology development," she says. "The next step is continuing to generate results we can get to customers." More articles on practice management: Orthopedic residency programs violate Match Code of Conduct: 6 things to know 7 key notes on performance reviews for practice managers Chicago Blackhawks' physician Dr. Ari Levy launches comprehensive healthcare startup 10 highlights Here are nine updates. Raphael Roybal, MD, from The Spine Institute at Chatham Orthopaedics in Savannah, Ga. will present his experience using the FLXfit at the SMISS, in Las Vegas. Over 30 lawsuits were filed against spine surgeon Allen Sossan, MD, who is accused of killing and injuring patients in Yankton between 2008 and 2012, the Daily Republic reports. North Shore Medical Center welcomes Massachusetts General Hospital spine surgeon Jason Bessey, MD, to the North Shore community, WickedLocal.com reports. Northern Michigan University's Psychology Department will kick off the 40th year of its colloquium series with a presentation by neurosurgeon Craig Coccia, MD, titled "Pre-Operative Psychological Evaluation of the Surgery Patient," UpMatters.com reports. SpineNevada, the practice of James Lynch, MD, in Reno was in the news for offering advanced imaging with InMotion Diagnostics. The practice implemented the Esaote G-Scan Brio, the InMotion MRI system. Neurosurgeon Matthew A. Howard III, MD, wrote a letter to the editor of the Des Moines Register calling presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) unfit. Mark Richardson, MD, is leading a team of experts from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Johns Hopkins University to conduct research to better understand how speech is controlled in the brain. Neurosurgeon Brian Nahed, MD, MSC, is in the process of developing the first blood-based test for patients with brain tumors. Tony Mork, MD, an endoscopic spinal surgeon, wrote a blog on Medtronic about how to identify when your marketing tactics are working. More spine news: 8 things for spine surgeons to know for Thursday Oct. 13, 2016 UT Southwestern researchers boost regeneration of spinal cord nerve cells 8 highlights 6 key notes on the ACDF learning curve: Can surgeons safely perform it in the beginning of their career? To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below The Duke of York speaks during a semi-final Pitch at Palace 'boot camp' at the Harwell Science and innovation Campus in Didcot The Duke of York has urged promising entrepreneurs taking part in a Pitch@Palace "boot camp" to seize the opportunity. Andrew, who founded the Pitch@Palace initiative to connect start-ups and fledgling companies with potential investors and industry experts, told the businessmen and women that the event was about raising their profile. The event saw 42 companies, which have been successful in three regional Pitch@Palace finals in Sheffield, Belfast and Cornwall, make a three-minute pitch to a panel of judges at the Harwell Space Campus, near Didcot, Oxfordshire. The Duke told the pitching companies, 15 of whom will be chosen for next month's national final: "Boot camp today is about raising your profile so Pitch@Palace will have a better idea of how we can make a difference to your business. "This is about networking, raising your profile, finding your place so you can fit into the supply chain. Today is all about you." The day long event will give the entrepreneurs the opportunity to hear from leading industry experts and Pitch@Palace alumni, as well as receiving support and mentoring. Now in its third year, this is the sixth Pitch@Palace initiative to be held and it has the theme of technology. Among those pitching was a business called Ding which has developed a smart doorbell that allows a resident to talk to the person at their front door, wherever they are in the world. The firm Drenched has created a product for taps which allows hands to be washed with only 2 tablespoons of water while EasyVideo has produced "how to" videos for people with learning disabilities who scan a household item, with a mobile device, to find out how to use it. The public can get involved in the event by nominating one of the 42 boot camp companies for the Pitch@Palace People's Choice award. They can view a video of the pitches, which will be available on a website next week, and make their choice. UTV in Belfast has appointed a new head of news and programmes for Northern Ireland. Terry Brennan from Dundalk, has worked for UTV's parent company, ITV, for 13 years, most recently as head of news at ITV Anglia. Mr Brennan started his journalism career with the BBC in the East Midlands. UTV said their latest recruit had been working with the UTV news team since ITV acquired the company in a 100m deal earlier this year. "I am delighted to join UTV's strong news team which produces the most watched news in Northern Ireland," Mr Brennan said. "So far this year, UTV Live has produced some very strong programmes delivering excellent viewing figures and we hope to continue this trend into 2017. "ITV is totally committed to providing local viewers with the same high standards of news and current affairs they have come to expect from UTV backed up by the best of regional programmes for the Northern Ireland market." Greenpeace argues that promoting LEDs could allay fears about the lights going out by reducing demand for lighting The squeeze on electricity supplies is less severe than expected this winter due to more coal power on the system, a report from National Grid shows. The company's winter outlook report said the gap between total electricity generating capacity and peak demand could fall to 1.1% at the height of a cold spell, but action to ensure supplies would mean the margin was at 6.6%. The situation is better than predicted in July, when the margin looked set to fall to 0.1% without action, and to 5.5% with measures such as keeping power stations in reserve that would otherwise be closed or mothballed. A final report on the winter outlook said the improved margin was down to Eggborough coal fired power plant, which will run one of its unit in the wholesale electricity market, keeping an extra 430 megawatts (MW) of capacity online. In addition an outage in an "interconnector" - cables which supply electricity between the UK and other countries - to Ireland means less power will be exported to Ireland this winter. As a result, the electricity margin will be "tight but manageable" this winter. The measures National Grid is taking to ensure supplies only involve paying to ensure extra power is available and do not include payments to reduce demand, for example by getting large users to turn down consumption at times. The figures come after environmental campaigners called for a major drive to switch to highly efficient LED lighting in homes, street lights and offices, which they said would reduce peak winter demand and curb fears about blackouts. Research by energy analyst Chris Goodall and backed by Greenpeace suggested that a total switch-over to LED light bulbs in homes could reduce peak demand by 5%, or 2.7GW. Changing street lights over to the new technology would save a further 0.5GW, while offices and other commercial buildings moving to LEDs could save a further 4.5GW, the research suggests. Power margins in winter have tightened in recent years, as coal fired power stations close, and the Government has pledged to phase out all polluting coal plants by 2025, as long as new gas power can be built to fill the gap. Over the last six months, solar power has outperformed coal, but cannot be relied on to help meet demand in the depths of winter. Wind turbines tend to generate more power in winter but can be intermittent. Greenpeace UK chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said: "It's reassuring to hear that Britain's power system will enjoy more comfortable safety margins this winter. "But if the Government is serious about boosting our country's energy security, we need to move away from relying on clapped-out old coal plants and highly polluting diesel farms to keep the lights on. "Our latest research has shown that even a simple switch to highly efficient LED light bulbs can dramatically reduce the risk of winter blackouts as well as bringing down energy bills. "And this is just a small example of the potential technological innovation has to create a more robust and cheaper energy system for everyone." Navinder Singh Sarao is wanted in America over allegations that he helped cause the 2010 Wall Street 'Flash Crash' from his parents' home in west London A British financial trader accused of helping trigger a multibillion-dollar Wall Street crash from a suburban UK home has lost a High Court challenge against a decision that he can be extradited to the US to stand trial. Navinder Singh Sarao, 37, dubbed the Hound of Hounslow, is wanted in America over allegations that he contributed to the 2010 Wall Street ''Flash Crash'' from his parents' home 3,500 miles (5,633km) away in west London. US authorities claim the Briton made 875,000 US dollars (about 716,000) on May 6 2010, the day of the crash, part of alleged illegal earnings of more than 40 million dollars (26 million) over a five-year period. He faces 22 charges, which carry sentences totalling a maximum of 380 years. At an extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in March, District Judge Quentin Purdy ruled that the Londoner, of Clairvale Road, Hounslow, could be sent to stand trial in the US. Lawyers for the former bank worker and Brunel University student argue that his actions did not constitute a crime. Two judges at the High Court in London on Friday refused to give him permission to challenge the extradition order. Sarao, who is on bail, was not present for the ruling by Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Nicol. Lord Justice Gross, announcing the decision to refuse permission, said the court would give its reasons at a later date. In his ruling in March, Judge Purdy said: ''The causes of the Flash Crash are not a single action and cannot on any view be laid wholly or mostly at Navinder Sarao's door, although he was active on the day. In any event this is only a single trading day in over 400 relied upon by the prosecution.'' He said: "Essentially, has the USA established that the same actions in this jurisdiction at the same time would be capable of being prosecuted for one or more offences known to the criminal law? "This is not the forum for testing the evidence as in a trial. To my mind, when all is said and done, the USA are correct in arguing they have shown dual criminality.'' The Flash Crash saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge 600 points in five minutes, wiping tens of billions of pounds off the value of US shares. Lord Justice Gross said during Friday's hearing that "in reality this case is about five years of alleged market manipulation, not about the Flash Crash". The High Court hearing centred on the legal issue of "dual criminality". Mr Justice Nicol said that what the district judge had to decide was whether the conduct alleged by the US "constituted fraud as a matter of English law". James Lewis QC, for Sarao, told the two judges: "No-one has ever been prosecuted for this conduct in the UK, ever. You are dealing with something that is completely novel." The court heard that it now appeared "academic commentary is united in the view that Sarao's activity had little or nothing to do with causing the Flash Crash". The charges faced by Sarao include wire fraud, commodities fraud and "spoofing" - a practice of bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution. Mark Summers QC, opposing Saroa's application on behalf of the US, said the case was about "spoofing over an extended period". He told the judges: "The US is ready to proceed to trial." Leading extradition lawyer Edward Grange, a partner at Corker Binning, said: " Having had his renewed application for leave to appeal refused, Sarao has now exhausted all domestic avenues of appeal." Extradition "will ordinarily now take place within 28 days from today", he added. "I t is, of course, open to Sarao to lodge an application to the European Court of Human Rights but his chances of obtaining interim relief preventing his extradition are remote." A billion-dollar claim against Goldman Sachs over Libya's sovereign wealth fund has been thrown out by a High Court judge in London. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) accused the investment bank of exploiting the wealth fund's limited experience and duping officials into risky derivative trades with disastrous results. It was alleged that lavish corporate hospitality and foreign trips were laid on, and there was a case of procuring prostitutes. The bank denied any wrongdoing, arguing there was nothing unusual about the trades and the LIA was suffering from "buyer's remorse". Dismissing the LIA claims, Mrs Justice Rose ruled there had been no undue influence from Goldman. Roger Masefield QC, for the LIA, told the High Court at a hearing this summer that, in 2008, Goldman had made "eye-watering profits" by taking advantage of the LIA's financial naivity and "lack of sophistication" on nine disputed so-called "jumbo" derivative trades. The bank was accused of making profits of more than 200 million US dollars in a four-month period, while the vulnerable LIA lost its entire 1.2 billion dollar investment in the 2008 financial crisis. The 67 billion dollar sovereign wealth fund was set up by Colonel Gaddafi, who was toppled from power in 2011. The court heard that Driss Ben Brahim, a Goldman banker who has since left the company, described LIA in one of his emails as "very unsophisticated - and anyone could 'rape' them". Denying claims that it was liable for LIA losses, Goldman Sachs said in its defence that the lack of contemporaneous documents and key witnesses were a "formidable barrier" to the LIA claims. The loss or destruction of relevant documents had resulted in "an evidential black hole". Mrs Justice Rose said in her judgment: "I dismiss the LIA's claim that the disputed trades were the result of undue influence exercised over it by Goldman Sachs." The judge said there were no grounds for concluding that the level of profits earned by Goldman on the trades was excessive "given the nature of the trades and the work that had gone in to winning them". Although the trades may have been regarded as "unsuitable" for a sovereign wealth fund "there were other reasons why the LIA wanted to enter into them". The judge declared that if they were unsuitable "they were no more different from many other investments that the LIA made over the period in that regard". The claim that the trades were "unconscionable bargains" must also fail, ruled the judge. Goldman said in a statement: "We are pleased to win this case, with a comprehensive judgment in our favour." After the ruling, the LIA said it would continue to fight to "return Libya's wealth to the people of Libya". The president of the LIA interim steering committee, Dr Ali Mahmoud Hassan, said: "The Libyan Investment Authority undertook a strategy to secure its assets and grow their market value. "The leadership of the LIA has always been clear that it would do all it could to pursue those who exploited the fund in the late 2000s. "As a first step, the LIA embarked in the end of 2013 to pursue court cases against Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale. "Today's ruling will not break our resolve and we remain focused on the other litigations raised by the previous board of directors to put right the wrongs suffered elsewhere in the past. Libya's wealth must be returned to the people of Libya." LIA had called evidence that Goldman banker Youssef Kabbaj procured prostitutes as he attempted to build relationships with the wealth fund. Goldman was also alleged to have paid for staff from the LIA to stay in five-star London hotels, as well as offering them tickets to Champions League football games and to musical productions of Chicago and Lord Of The Rings. The judge focused in her summary on allegations that Haitem Zarti, the younger brother of LIA executive Mustafa Zarti, was offered a prestigious 11-month internship at Goldman in the bank's hope that he would one day become an important LIA official. She was told of an exchange of text messages between Mr Kabbaj and a prostitute called Michella, in which they haggled over the price for her and a friend to join the banker and Haitem Zarti in Dubai. The judge said: " I find that Mustafa Zarti was keen for his younger brother to work as an intern, though there is no evidence as to why he thought this was important." She ruled that, although the offer may have contributed "to a friendly and productive atmosphere" during the negotiation of trades, it did not have "a material influence" on the decision of Mr Zarti and LIA to enter into the trades. The relationship between Goldman and LIA "did not go beyond the normal cordial and mutually beneficial relationship that grows up between a bank and a client" and "Goldman Sachs did not become a trusted adviser or a 'man of affairs' for the LIA". The judge said: "I fully accept that the extent of the entertainment offered by Mr Kabbaj to Haitem was inappropriate and in flagrant breach of Goldman Sachs' policy on entertaining clients. "However, it does not seem to me relevant to the matters I have to decide. "There is no evidence that Mr Zarti knew the nature and extent of the entertainment provided to his brother, or that it influenced his behaviour - indeed it is not clear to me that he would have taken a positive view of what went on. "He may well have been less, rather than more inclined, to give Goldman Sachs more business if he had found out about what went on." Northern Ireland's economy has grown by 1.6% over the past 12 months, according to official statistics. It expanded from the second quarter of 2015 to the same period this year, with the services sector driving most of the growth, according to the NI Composite Index. While annual growth here is falling behind the UK average of 2.1%, Northern Ireland saw greater levels of expansion in the last quarter. During the second quarter of 2016, the economy grew by 1%, compared with 0.7% across the UK as a whole. Overall, the private sector increased by 2.9%. But this was offset by a shrinking in the public sector of 2.6%. Economy Minister Simon Hamilton said: "These statistics published by Nisra today present a positive picture of our economy and demonstrate that we are moving in the right direction. "I am also encouraged to see that the quarterly growth in Northern Ireland activity is again greater than that recorded for the UK as a whole." Dr Esmond Birnie, of the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, said that if quarterly growth was "continued over the next nine months, that would imply annual growth rate of about 4%". But Andrew Webb of Webb Advisory said: "We must bear in mind that these figures related to the period just before the vote to leave the EU, but it is better to face into the challenges of leaving the EU from a position of growth and confidence". Meanwhile, construction levels in Northern Ireland have increased by 4.1%, according to new figures. The total volume of construction output in Northern Ireland in the second quarter of 2016 was 3.3% higher compared to the same quarter in 2015. However, overall construction output in Great Britain decreased by 0.7%. The latest figures come as Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire met with construction firms at Cookstown company Keystone Group, chairing his fifth meeting of his business advisory group. Sean Og Coyle, chief executive of Keystone, said: "The recent vote to leave the EU has already thrown up considerable challenges and we enjoyed hearing from the Secretary of State how he and the UK Government plan to address those challenges". The former Colstrip police chief and his wife claim city prosecutors were malicious in their prosecution of the couple for having a dangerous animal. Larry and Tori Reinlasoder have filed a lawsuit against the city of Billings, stating the city engaged in malicious prosecution when city attorneys cited the couple three times for having a dangerous animal. The Reinlasoders were found not guilty of the charges in February. Now, the couple is suing the city for negligence, abuse of process, defamation, violation of Montana's anti-intimidation act, violation of the couple's right to privacy and malicious prosecution. The couple is suing for damages, for physical and emotional distress, and mental anxiety, the lawsuit stated. A jury will determine what amount of money will compensate the couple. City prosecutors issued two dangerous dog citations to Larry Reinlasoder after an incident on May 9, 2015, after a 2-year-old, 8-pound terrier mix named Meeska was killed. The dog's owner Joyce Jensen reported the attack. The second citation was issued in connection to two reports taken at the High Sierra Dog Park on two separate days. Neither owner identified Larry Reinlasoder or the correct color of their young Great Dane, Nadya. Larry Reinlasoder's attorney moved to dismiss the charges against his client, a motion the city never responded to, the lawsuit stated. A third citation was then issued, the lawsuit stated. The city consolidated the three charges into one case and presented it before a jury. The city never offered Larry Reinlasoder a plea deal, unlike what is done in most cases, the lawsuit stated. The city subpoenaed vet records for Nadya, which the lawsuit stated was a violation of the couple's right to privacy. Billings city attorneys had an ulterior motive for going after Larry Reinlasoder, the lawsuit stated. At no point does the lawsuit state what this ulterior motive was. Billings Assistant City Attorney Jackie Grewell prosecuted the case. Reinlasoder hired Billings attorney William DAlton to defend him in the case. DAlton is the same attorney who helped Reinlasoder get a $300,000 award in an unlawful termination lawsuit against the city of Colstrip. That verdict and award was overturned by the Montana Supreme Court in July. The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the Government is increasingly using its credit rating to issue guarantees. Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has said he is confident the UK will remain a "competitive place to do business", following crunch talks on Brexit with Theresa May. The Prime Minister met Mr Ghosn in Number 10 amid concerns about the future of the car giant's plant in Sunderland after the UK leaves the European Union. He has suggested the company will halt new investment in the factory unless it can agree a compensation deal with the Government for any adverse financial impact from the UK's decision to withdraw from the EU. Following the talks, Mr Ghosn said: "We want to ensure that this high-performing, high-employment factory remains competitive globally and continues to deliver for our business and for Britain. "Following our productive meeting, I am confident the Government will continue to ensure the UK remains a competitive place to do business. I look forward to continued positive collaboration between Nissan and the UK Government." Mrs May said: "This Government is committed to creating and supporting the right conditions for the automotive industry to go from strength to strength in the UK, now and into the future." Mr Ghosn was driven into Downing Street for the meeting in a black Nissan Qashqai - a model made at the Sunderland factory. Concerns over the fate of the plant had been sparked after Mr Ghosn warned that "important decisions will not be made in the dark" earlier this year. Keeping Nissan in the UK is regarded as vital to Mrs May's hopes for a successful Brexit, and it was understood she would use the Downing Street meeting to explore what assurances the company is seeking. The Sunderland plant, which has been active since 1986, employs almost 7,000 people producing around 2,000 cars a day. Nissan is part-owned by French manufacturer Renault, raising concerns that production could be moved to France to avoid any tariffs which could be introduced on exports to the EU if the UK leaves the single market in a so-called "hard Brexit". Following the talks, Mr Ghosn said: "Since Mrs May's appointment, we have maintained a clear dialogue with the UK Government during this challenging time. "It was my pleasure to be here today for a positive meeting with the Prime Minister and key members of her Government and I welcome their commitment to the development of an industrial strategy for Britain. "The Nissan factory opened in Sunderland 30 years ago and the British government have been strong supporters of our business ever since. Not just in the north of England, but also at our design centre in London, our research and development centre in Cranfield and our sales and marketing HQ in Rickmansworth. "We have made significant investments at our factory in Sunderland over the years and today it ranks as one of the world's most successful manufacturing plants. "Our 7,000 employees in Sunderland build 2,000 cars a day - 80% of which are exported to more than 130 countries around the world. We want to ensure that this high-performing, high-employment factory remains competitive globally and continues to deliver for our business and for Britain. "Following our productive meeting, I am confident the Government will continue to ensure the UK remains a competitive place to do business. I look forward to continued positive collaboration between Nissan and the UK Government." Mrs May said: " Our automotive industry is a great British success story and Nissan has been at the heart of it. Over the past 30 years they have had an excellent relationship with the UK Government, a track record of investment and innovation, and their Sunderland plant is one of the most productive anywhere in the world - a testament both to their company and the skill of our workforce. "We are now at the start of the complex negotiating process as Britain exits the EU and I have been clear that there will be challenges ahead. But I am confident we will achieve the best deal for Britain and the Government will engage closely with employers and investors as part of our work to create a global Britain. "This Government is committed to creating and supporting the right conditions for the automotive industry to go from strength to strength in the UK, now and into the future. "That's why I was pleased to have met with Mr Ghosn today to discuss our shared belief that Britain remains an outward-looking, world-leading nation in which to do business. "We will continue to work with Nissan as we develop the environment for competitiveness of the automotive industry here in the UK to ensure its success." Mrs May was also meeting Britain's ambassadors to the other 27 EU member states to discuss their assessment of the individual countries' attitudes to Brexit. She was expected to set out her commitment to build strong post-Brexit relationships with each of the countries and tell the ambassadors that she intends to hold bilateral talks with each of the 27 heads of government by the time of the European Council summit in December. Meanwhile, it was reported that half the members of the Cabinet committee which will steer the Brexit negotiations campaigned for Leave in the referendum. An unpublished Government document showed that all six Cabinet ministers who backed Brexit will sit on the European Union Exit and Trade Committee, according to the Bloomberg newswire. They are Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom and International Development Secretary Priti Patel. The other members are the Prime Minister, Chancellor Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Business Secretary Greg Clark, Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green, and Conservative Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin. Downing Street said only that a full list of Cabinet committees will be published next week. George Reid at the rear of his house which overlooks the site where McDonalds wants to site a branch George Reid at the rear of his house which overlooks the site where McDonalds wants to site a branch A pensioner has warned that a new McDonald's beside his quiet north Belfast home will only fuel the area's rodent problem. It comes as planners say the fast-food joint's latest restaurant should be refused. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, George Reid (70) said he's seen rats in and around his street and back yard as recently as a month ago. He has already had to reinforce his back gate to make sure the rodents don't make their way into his terraced house. He also says residents are also concerned about the impact of noise in the area. US fast-food chain McDonald's is planning to open a new 24-hour restaurant beside Asda on the Shore Road. Mr Reid's back yard on Oakmount Drive looks on to an empty plot of land which the new McDonald's is earmarked for. But now planners say the scheme should be refused. Issues raised include traffic concerns, noise and rodent problems. Mr Reid said: "There are two or three causes. The main cause is this... there are rats in this area. I had the men out (from the council) and there was a rat. "There was another woman down the side of the street, and she had them out for rats. "I have nothing against McDonald's in principle. I like a Big Mac as much as anyone else, but I don't like it in my back yard," he said. Mr Reid is worried that food sales and rubbish could increase the numbers of rats in the area, and noise levels would impact on his quiet suburban street, which he says is mainly home to older residents. "The third point is the noise in the street. It's mostly elderly people in this street," he added. "I may be a voice crying in the wilderness... is McDonald's going to be able to assure me that no rats go in to my back yard? People sit in their cars (and throw rubbish out). "A lot of people in this street are concerned about the rat situation." Mr Reid is also worried about the impact a large McDonald's could have on the value of his home. A spokesman for McDonald's said: "McDonald's can confirm that it is working with a local developer in relation to this planning application. "We await the formal response from Belfast City Council planning committee. "We understand some concerns have been raised by local residents and look forward to reassuring them as we move forward." Planners have said the proposal is contrary to the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015, as the site is zoned for housing and if permitted, would prejudice the delivery of housing in an area of current housing stress. "The proposal is contrary to the development plan and it is recommended that planning permission is refused," they said. A steel plant which closed more than four years ago is to reopen and start production next year. Liberty House said the site at Sheerness in Kent will restart production of bar and rod products by mid-2017, employing scores of workers. The company said the move broadens the range of steel products it can supply to the UK steel market, including hot rolled coil from it Newport, South Wales works, heavy plate from Dalzell in Scotland, and re-bar and wire rod from Sheerness. The Kent plant can produce up to 750,000 tonnes a year, taking Liberty's steel rolling capacity to 2.5 million tonnes a year. VB Garg, chief executive of Liberty Steel Newport, said: "We are particularly excited about the prospect of restarting the Sheerness rolling mills which were closed by the previous owner four years ago. "Although we originally thought we would move the mills elsewhere, we now believe it will be better to reopen the existing site as it will save time and cost and allow us to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the market." The company will recruit an initial workforce of 60 people, rising to 100 as market conditions allow. "We hope some of the former workers will consider coming back but either way we intend to invest in building skills for the future," added Mr Garg. Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union, said: "In the midst of the steel crisis, this decision is encouraging news for our industry. "This announcement is a credit to the resilience and hard work of our members in Sheerness who have fought for years, often with little prospect of success, to bring the steel industry back to their local community. "We will be working closely with Liberty House to bring back the good quality steel jobs that were lost. "The UK steel industry still faces significant challenges and it is vital that local and national government provide all necessary support in helping bring this steelworks back to life." A Thai takeaway and restaurant is set to open in a former Marks & Spencer Simply Food on Belfast's Lisburn Road. Camile Thai Kitchen, which is based in Dublin, will create 25 new jobs when it opens its doors at 348 Lisburn Road next month. The unit close to the Chelsea Wine Bar has been empty for more than two years after M&S relocated to a bigger premises on the other side of the road. Spokesman Daniel Greene said: "We're really excited to be opening in Belfast at last and bringing our special take on Thai food to a new audience." The letting was concluded by the commercial property agents TDK Property Consultants, which acted on behalf of Camile Thai. It is the fourth new restaurant to be opened by Camile in 2016. The chain now has 16 outlets, and it plans to open the latest in December. Camile Thai was set up by Brody Sweeney, who also established the O'Brien sandwich bar chain. That chain became a sprawling empire with sandwich bars in 15 countries, but collapsed in the economic downturn, leading Mr Sweeney to put the business into liquidation. But he bounced back with Camile Thai and opened its first outlet at Dolphin's Barn on Dublin's South Circular Road in 2010. In an interview with Elite Franchise magazine this week, he said the delivery side of the business accounted for 70% of sales. "People these days want convenience," he added. "After a long day at work, they want to come home and have dinner brought to them, but they want it to be something special. "We appeal to the young, urban professional from the Facebook generation who wants food delivered directly to their door." Four out of Camile Thai's outlets are run as franchises. Stephen Deyermond, partner at TDK, said he hoped the Lisburn Road spot would be the first of many in the city for the company. Daniel and Majellas B&B Road Trip was one of UTV Irelands most successful programmes, but RTE snapped it up Virgin Media hopes to complete its takeover of UTV Ireland by the end of the year, its boss has said. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Tony Hanway, chief executive of Virgin Media Ireland, refused to rule out cutbacks at the broadcaster. He also accepted there was "no question" the business had been struggling. UTV Ireland, the troubled channel launched by Belfast-based UTV, was sold by ITV for 10m (8.5m), earlier this year. Launched by then UTV Media chief executive John McCann in January 2015, disappointing audience figures led to it costing UTV Media 13m - four times the original estimate. "We have been concentrating on getting through the competition process and hopefully are near the last stage," Mr Hanway stressed. The deal to take on UTV Ireland has already cleared the competition authority and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, but is still awaiting sign-off from the Minister for Communications. Mr Hanway said that he hoped to get approval by the end of the year. "We are delighted...UTV had huge plans in the Republic and it didn't work out," he added. "We are very excited, (it has) great content and it's the right market." But he said while it was not currently in the pipeline, the media giant would consider bringing TV3 to Northern Ireland. "It's not in the pipeline now, but we have received queries and feedback from consumers," he added. "It's something we would consider, but there are no concrete plans. "We have to work at things in a phased way. We will always listen to what consumers are saying and mull over our options." Until UTV Ireland was set up, TV3 had shown top ITV programmes like Coronation Street and Emmerdale in the Republic. But Mr Hanway would not confirm whether the takeover of UTV Ireland would mean a cutback in the workforce. "We have avoided any comment ... there is no question it has been struggling," he said. Asked about ITV's takeover of UTV's television assets in Northern Ireland, he replied: "Consolidation in these industries is inevitable. It's usually good. "ITV is a big broadcaster and they will make the right decisions for the channel." Virgin Media is also a major broadband provider - and Mr Hanway said it was investing 3bn as part of Project Lightning to roll out its network throughout the UK. "We have been connecting more homes and businesses,"he added. We are connecting more houses and bringing ultra-fast broadband to more premises." He said traditionally, broadband connectivity and speeds across Northern Ireland remain "poor". In February, UTV Ireland was part of a 100m deal by ITV to acquire the television assets of UTV Media plc in Belfast. Virgin Media also owns TV3, another commercial broadcaster in the Republic. There were some winning programmes, including a reality show, Daniel and Majella's B&B Road Trip, in which country crooner Daniel O'Donnell and his wife Majella toured Ireland's B&Bs. However, series two of the show was snapped up by rival RTE. UTV Media plc also owned a portfolio of 21 radio stations, including U105 and talkSPORT. And earlier this year, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought the stations for 220m. Don Anderson, who published 50 Years Of UTV in 2009, said: "When I wrote my book, I thought, 'It will be interesting to see what the next half century brings to UTV'. I didn't have too long to find out." Anne Diamond said senior people at the company she worked for felt a 'family image' was needed for breakfast TV Loose Women star Anne Diamond has revealed she was put under pressure to get married when she was a breakfast television presenter, to fit in with the show's "family" image. Diamond hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am between 1983 and 1990 and later presented Good Morning With Anne And Nick for BBC One from 1992 to 1996. She told Loose Women she still is not sure if she got married because she wanted to or because of the pressure she was put under. Diamond married former TV executive Mike Hollingsworth in 1989 and they had five children but are no longer together. She told the ITV panel show: " I did succumb to a lot of pressure, I never felt the need to be married, to have someone make an honest woman of me, what a horrible phrase that is. "But there was a lot of pressure for me because I was Britain's most famous unmarried mother back in 1987. "That was the headline, it was scandalous then. I came under a lot of pressure from my employers." She added: " I was in breakfast TV at the time and was taken out for a very serious lunch at the Savoy or the Ritz, the full works, and these guys at the top of the tree of our company put a lot of pressure on me. "They said 'Marry him or else'. They made it very clear they felt they were a family breakfast TV station and I was not projecting the image they wanted me to project of the wholesome married girl with the children. "I resisted it at the time, I was prepared to say 'OK then, I will walk' because I thought the world was my oyster but then you go home and start the conversation and think maybe the time is right. "I don't know to this day if I got married because of quite a lot of pressure or whether it was something I really wanted myself." Nadiya Hussain has ruled out a move to The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 after signing a deal to work for the BBC. Hussain, 31, said that she would continue to work on The One Show and other "programme ideas" for the broadcaster. "Since winning The Great British Bake Off I've been lucky to have had some amazing opportunities with the BBC," she said. "I believe that making it my home gives me the scope to work across such a unique range of diverse and interesting projects. "I'm delighted to announce that I will continue making films for The One Show, as well as developing other exciting programme ideas. I never thought this would happen, but it is and I have to admit, I'm going to embrace it." Hussain had been tipped as a possible presenter or judge after Mary Berry, 81, and hosts Mel Giedroyc, 48, and Sue Perkins, 47, decided to stay at the BBC. Hussain, who won the show in an emotional final in 2015, recently appeared to embrace the show's move to Channel 4, saying: ''Change happens, change comes and wherever it goes, whatever it does, I just want it to do well because it's something I've spent the last six years watching.'' Director of BBC content Charlotte Moore said : "Nadiya is an exciting new talent and it's been great watching her thrive creatively since she won Bake Off last year. "She has a refreshingly authentic voice, great warmth and charisma and a natural ability to connect with audiences. I'm really looking forward to exploring new territories and perspectives with her." After days of speculation, Paul Hollywood announced that he would make the move to Channel 4, saying that he could not ''turn my back'' on the white tent, which is where he belongs. "It's been a huge part of my life in the past few years and I just couldn't turn my back on all that," he said at the time. Berry, who has been at the heart of the BBC1 show, announced she would be remaining at the corporation and saying ''farewell to soggy bottoms''. "My decision to stay with the BBC is out of loyalty to them, as they have nurtured me, and the show, that was a unique and brilliant format from day one. I am just sad for the audience who may not be ready for change, I hope they understand my decision," she said. Jennifer Saunders recently shot down rumours that she and Dawn French are set to be the new Bake Off presenters, saying that they were "complete bollocks" and Channel 4 recently denied reports that Delia Smith was being lined up for the new show. Hussain has already enjoyed huge success on the BBC with The Chronicles Of Nadiya, in which she travelled to Bangladesh. The show has been nominated for a National Television Award. Channel 4 is believed to have paid 75 million for Bake Off, which has been attracting more than 10 million viewers on BBC1. A Channel 4 spokeswoman said no-one had yet been approached about presenting or judging roles. "As we have previously stated Channel 4 has not made any approaches about roles on the show," the spokeswoman said. A woman who reported that a Columbus police officer had sexually assaulted her last year is suing the officer, the city and the county over how the situation was handled. Alesha Jill Timm, a police dispatcher with the Stillwater County Sheriff's Department, filed a lawsuit in June against Stillwater County, the town of Columbus and Paul Caraway. The lawsuit is over the actions taken before and after she reported Caraway had sexually assaulted her. Timm is suing Caraway for assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress. Timm is suing Stillwater County and the town of Columbus for vicarious liability, negligence, negligent hiring, negligent training and supervision, discrimination and retaliation. She is also suing for damages but has left the amount of money up to a jury. The lawsuit claimed the Columbus Police Department should not have hired Caraway because it had knowledge of his previous inappropriate conduct. When Timm first became a police dispatcher in 2006, she was warned to avoid Caraway and that he had made unwanted sexual advances on women in the past, the lawsuit stated. Caraway was a sheriff's deputy with Stillwater County at the time. In 2007, Timm filed a complaint against Caraway after he allegedly threw pens and pencils down the back of her pants and ketchup packets down the front of her shirt, the lawsuit stated. Caraway left the sheriff's office and was hired by Columbus as a police officer in 2009. The Stillwater County Sheriff's Office and Columbus Police Department share a dispatch center. When Timm separated from her husband in 2014, Caraway began a 10-month "campaign of explicit conduct" toward Timm, the lawsuit stated. Starting in October 2014, with Caraway describing explicit conduct with previous police dispatchers, Timm describes in the lawsuit several months of unwanted sexual advances from Caraway, which included Caraway making repeated requests to have a sexual relationship with Timm. On May 9, 2015, Timm was in the kitchen of the dispatch center when Caraway entered, locking the door behind him. Caraway then displayed his erect penis and asked Timm if it was a good size, according to the lawsuit. On June 5, 2016, Caraway again revealed his penis to Timm, this time in the bathroom of the dispatch center. This time, Caraway forced Timm to touch his penis, according to the lawsuit. When on July 2, 2015, Caraway asked Timm to pull down her underwear, Timm reported Caraway's behavior to her superiors, the lawsuit stated. Despite this report, Caraway and Timm worked the same shift on July 4 and 5. Timm's lawyers have moved to substitute Stillwater County District Court Judge Blair Jones in the case, due to his connection to Stillwater County. Caraway has also filed suit against the town of Columbus, as well as the Columbus Police Department. He has accused them of violating his civil rights by firing him from the department in 2015. A portrait of Daniel Day-Lewis was among those saved Portraits of Daniel Day-Lewis, Alan Bennett, Tilda Swinton and Salman Rushdie which sat in a warehouse destined for demolition are heading to the National Portrait Gallery. The photographs are by British photographic team The Douglas Brothers, who spent a decade capturing leading figures from the worlds of art, literature, film, music, sport and fashion. They sat in a disused storage unit in London's King's Cross for 20 years. The brothers - real life siblings Stuart and Andrew Douglas - stored their photographic archive in the lock-up that was earmarked to make way for redevelopment. But Andrew said that, after the storage company "took over a year to track us down" to warn them about the demolition, "it was nearly too late". Stuart said: "The building was about to be demolished. Ten years of work came very close to ending up as landfill." After discovering that the building had been condemned, the brothers contacted London-based artist manager Tim Fennell to retrieve the images, who said that he " had 48 hours before the building was bulldozed". "I retrieved 30 crates of negatives and prints that hadn't seen the light of day for nearly two decades. It was a remarkable body of work, just sitting there, forgotten," he said. The National Portrait Gallery has now acquired their portraits of leading British cultural figures photographed in the 1990s. Fourteen of their "evocative and atmospheric portraits" were accepted for the National Portrait Gallery's Primary Collection. They also include Shaun Ryder, Damon Albarn, Bryan Ferry, Eric Clapton, Ian McEwan, John Le Carre and Kenneth Branagh. The brothers, who are now based in Los Angeles, were once described as "the most desirable photographers of their generation". They began working together in the 1980s, producing photographs for the magazine press and music industry. Their photographic partnership ended in 1995, when they pursued separate careers in the US directing movies and commercials. They were the last people to photograph Rushdie before the author went into hiding following the death threats made against him over his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. Dr Phillip Prodger, head of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, London, said: "The Douglas Brothers produced some of the most distinctive portraits of the 1990s. "Although their photography has since become less well known, this is work that has stood the test of time. Making use of older, historic processes, their pictures are still as fresh and exciting as the day they were made, and make a wonderful addition to the national collection of photographic portraits." The Douglas Brothers' portraits will go on display at the National Portrait Gallery in August 2017. It is not every day that a funeral attracts national headlines - not because of the identity of the deceased but because of the astonishing variety and scale of the floral tributes. But that is what happened when Violet Crumlish, known as the Queen of the Travellers or the Lady Diana of the Travellers, was buried in Northern Ireland at the end of last month. Travellers are well-known for the excesses that accompany family events, as anyone who has ever watched the Big Fat Gypsy Weddings series on television will readily accept. Yet the sheer scale of the floral tributes that accompanied Mrs Crumlish's funeral put even those images in the shade. It took two flatbed lorries to bring the displays to St Colman's Cemetery in Lurgan. Even the funeral cortege was a thing of wonder, with the coffin borne on a carriage pulled by four white horses and relatives driven to the church in 10 limousines. What most people did not realise was that the planning for the funeral had been going on for some time. Mrs Crumlish lived in Bristol, but wanted to be buried back in her native Northern Ireland. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and five weeks before her death, members of her family came to Belfast to begin making arrangement for the funeral. One of their first ports of call was to Falls Road florists Flowers Are Us, run by Eddie McCormick. The 54-year-old businessman is well known to the travelling community, providing flowers for all sorts of family occasions, birthdays, weddings, Valentine's Days, Mother's Days and, of course, funerals. "I do a large number of travellers' funerals," he says. "My shop is directly opposite the undertakers that the travellers prefer to work with. "Violet's son, Alex, came to me about five weeks before she died. The whole family was in turmoil at her impending death. They didn't quite know what sort of tributes they wanted. Indeed, they asked me for some things that were impossible to do, but we talked through a number of options. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Hundreds of people gathered in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, for the funeral Violet Crumlish, fondly described by family members as the 'Traveller Queen' Pacemaker Press Belfast 28-09-2016: OLady Diana of Travellers' Violet Crumlish laid to rest at Co Armagh funeral. THE 'Lady Diana of Travellers' was laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. The 59-year-old mother-of-11, fondly described by family members as a 'Traveller Queen', died at the Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast on Saturday after suffering from bowel cancer. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 28-09-2016: OLady Diana of Travellers' Violet Crumlish laid to rest at Co Armagh funeral. THE 'Lady Diana of Travellers' was laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. The 59-year-old mother-of-11, fondly described by family members as a 'Traveller Queen', died at the Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast on Saturday after suffering from bowel cancer. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 28-09-2016: OLady Diana of Travellers' Violet Crumlish laid to rest at Co Armagh funeral. THE 'Lady Diana of Travellers' was laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. The 59-year-old mother-of-11, fondly described by family members as a 'Traveller Queen', died at the Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast on Saturday after suffering from bowel cancer. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 28-09-2016: OLady Diana of Travellers' Violet Crumlish laid to rest at Co Armagh funeral. THE 'Lady Diana of Travellers' was laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. The 59-year-old mother-of-11, fondly described by family members as a 'Traveller Queen', died at the Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast on Saturday after suffering from bowel cancer. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 28-09-2016: OLady Diana of Travellers' Violet Crumlish laid to rest at Co Armagh funeral. THE 'Lady Diana of Travellers' was laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. The 59-year-old mother-of-11, fondly described by family members as a 'Traveller Queen', died at the Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast on Saturday after suffering from bowel cancer. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Wreaths are carried to the graveside by young mourners at the funeral of 'Queen of Travellers' Violet Crumlish. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Funeral for 'Queen of Travellers' Violet Crumlish in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. Picture By: Arthur Allison. The 'Lady Diana of Travellers' is laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker The 'Lady Diana of Travellers' is laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker The 'Lady Diana of Travellers' is laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker The 'Lady Diana of Travellers' is laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker The 'Lady Diana of Travellers' is laid to rest in Co Armagh in a lavish funeral service. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Funeral for 'Queen of Travellers' Violet Crumlish in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Funeral for 'Queen of Travellers' Violet Crumlish in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Funeral for 'Queen of Travellers' Violet Crumlish in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Funeral for 'Queen of Travellers' Violet Crumlish in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Young mourners pictured outside the church as Requiem Mass is said. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Young mourners pictured outside the church as Requiem Mass is said. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Funeral for 'Queen of Travellers' Violet Crumlish in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye Wreaths are carried the graveside by mourners. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Hundreds of people from the travelling community gathered in Lurgan on Thursday to say their goodbyes to Violet Crumlish. Picture By: Arthur Allison. "What really surprised me was the number and the scale of the floral displays that they wanted. It was an exceptional order. "I must admit I felt really sorry for Alex. My own mother, Marie, died in July last year and like Alex I was the oldest in my house and it fell to me to make many of the funeral arrangements. "I have four sisters and obviously they were very distressed when our mother died, so I could empathise with what Alex was going through." While Eddie freely admits that he cannot tie a simple bouquet of flowers - he runs the business, oversees the purchase of supplies and makes the delivery of orders - he nonetheless exercises his own quality control. "Every display that we make has to please me," he says. "I may not do the flowers, but I know what looks right as far as the customer is concerned. If it doesn't make me happy, then it also won't make the customer happy". Fulfilling the funeral order was difficult for a number of reasons. Eddie explains: "In England, burial usually takes place some time after death, but here in Northern Ireland people are normally buried two or three days after departing. "That was something Violet's family had difficulty coming to terms with. They couldn't quite grasp at first why all the displays could not be made with fresh flowers. "The sheer number and size of the tributes meant that we could not possibly make them all within two days. "In cases like this, where unusual displays are requested, we use outsourced specialists to help us and also used a lot of artificial flowers because of the time lag between starting the order and the lady's death." The family had also requested large-scale photographs depicting important times in the life of Mrs Crumlish which required the use of a reproduction firm. Many of those pictures had also to be framed with flowers. Among the most unusual floral tributes requested were a Chanel handbag, a caravan, a bingo board, an iPhone, lipstick, a single cigarette, bottles of alcohol and alcopops and a three-foot mock Rolex watch. Even the normal displays spelling out 'Mummy' were giant-sized. And to round off the order, Eddie was also charged with putting floral displays in the church for the funeral. "Essentially the family wanted the day to be both a celebration of her life and a requiem for her death, a mixture of cheer and sadness," he says. "And they did give her a really great last goodbye. After all, the funeral flowers are the last thing we are ever going to buy for the person who dies." The widespread publicity which surrounded the funeral - reports were carried on online news media around the world - was something that Eddie could never have dreamed off when he began the business in 1999. Before that he had been a taxi driver for almost 20 years, but it was his own father's funeral which, in a roundabout way, led to his career change. "The undertakers, Healey's, who did my father's funeral knew that I was a taxi driver and had a PSV licence and later asked me if I would consider driving one of their limousines on an occasional basis," he explains. "I had never driven a really nice car before, so I just jumped at the chance. I worked mostly at night in my taxi job and the occasional new work would be early in the day, so it really suited me fine. "I was doing the job for a while when it suddenly struck me that florists must have steady work for funerals, weddings and all the other family occasions. "I remember telling my wife, Helen, about my idea, but she was a little sceptical since I had no experience of that business. Then a shop directly opposite the undertakers became vacant - I think it had been a confectionery shop - and we decided to jump in with both feet. Thankfully, we have never looked back since." A full-time florist helped out in the initial stages and the business quickly built up to include his wife, one full-time and three part-time staff. And Eddie is still amazed at some of the requests he gets for funeral displays. "I remember we had to make a pair of diving boots for a man who had been a keen scuba diver in life," he says. "Other strange requests included cats and dogs, motorbikes and even a plane." On occasions like Easter or Gay Pride events, he sources green, white and orange roses or rainbow roses to meet customer demands. Most of his flowers are sourced through local wholesalers, although he also takes deliveries from a Dutch company twice a week. The only thing Eddie will not discuss is what people will spend on funeral flowers. "We try to work within whatever budget people have," he says. "Our traditional display for on top of the casket starts at about 100, but if that is too expensive for some people we will ensure that they get something suitable. We won't let them leave empty-handed." He won't even give a ball park figure for Mrs Crumlish's funeral flowers, but doesn't disagree that the bill would have run into thousands of pounds. He is well aware that travellers often get a bad press, but says that he has found them no different from any other section of the community. "I do a lot of work with travellers and always find them helpful and thankful if I do a good job," Eddie adds. "Mrs Crumlish's family were terrific and very appreciative and some of them phoned me recently to say that they would be calling in to the shop to see me when they return to Northern Ireland for her Month's Mind mass soon. "There are bad apples in the travelling community, just as there are bad apples in the wider community, but I have never had any problems. I treat them like any other customer, and that is just good business sense." Eddie and Helen have three children, but so far have not had to supply any wedding flowers. Their daughters are still unmarried and their son, Christopher, a pilot with Ryanair, got married in the US. Eddie recalls that day. "We had holidayed a few times in America and had fallen in love with Clearwater in Florida, which is why Christopher and his bride Melissa decided to get married there," he says. "It was nearly 50 degrees on the day of the wedding, which made wearing a suit rather uncomfortable. It didn't help that I was already sweating over having to make a speech as well". Eddie doesn't have much time for relaxation, running the business seven days a week, but he tries to get to the gym at his local Whiterock leisure centre as often as possible and also does the occasional 5K and 10K run. "That is my way to de-stress," he says. But then it is back into the van to make his deliveries. "I decided that I would make the deliveries because if a customer is not satisfied then I can sort out the problem on the spot," Eddie explains. "There is nothing that cannot be sorted out if there is the will." The remains of the stag that was on the loose in Newry, Co Down, being taken away yesterday The remains of the stag that was on the loose in Newry, Co Down, being taken away yesterday Animal rights activists have condemned the PSNI's killing of a stag on the loose in Newry. Police said the animal posed a risk to the public and that shooting it was the safest option. But campaigners said that other solutions should have been sought to pacify the animal. Isabel Hutchinson, director of Animal Aid, the UK's largest animal rights group, insisted: "It is tragic this animal was killed because of his reaction to a situation that must have been terrifying to him. "Instead of resorting to shooting the stag, those responsible should have found a way to tranquillise him and move him to a more appropriate location. "We believe that there is an urgent need for police officers to be provided with better training in dealing with stressed, frightened animals in difficult situations. "Often, the animal is simply shot, when humane, non-lethal solutions should be found instead." The stag was spotted in the St Patrick's Avenue area of Newry yesterday morning and the public were warned not to approach it. A PSNI spokesman said: "Several attempts were made to safely and humanely manage the animal. "Regrettably, officers were required to shoot the stag as it had become very agitated and posed a risk to the public. "Officers liaised with a vet and qualified deer stalkers were at the scene. "As is normal procedure, the office of the Police Ombudsman has been informed of the incident." Elisa Allen, the director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: "One wonders whether human activity - perhaps construction - caused the stag to enter the city, something he probably wouldn't have done if he weren't frightened or disturbed. "It's no surprise that this stag - gentle by nature - became terrified when he found himself in this unnatural environment. "But it is a surprise that no one was able to help calm him down or guide him out of the city safely. We owe it to these majestic animals to find a humane solution to our encroachment on natural habitats - instead of gunning them down whenever they turn up somewhere we don't want them to be. "It should go without saying that law enforcement officers are entrusted with protecting the innocent, meaning deadly force should be used only as a last resort." A police source told the Belfast Telegraph that such incidents were dealt with by at least three highly trained specialist firearms officers, who use either a high-powered 7.62mm sniper rifle or a lighter calibre 5.56mm rifle. "The idea is to make a clinical kill, aiming for the heart, so there is no suffering," the source said. "You want to avoid a situation where you just wound the animal as then it will be in pain. "Police would not be deployed to use a tranquilliser. That would be something for a vet to use and it's not suitable in a situation like this with a stag out of control. "A tranquilliser gun will only work if the dart enters a major muscle mass. It's impossible when the stag is charging about. Unfortunately, a sniper rifle is the best option." A representative of the Ulster Society Prevention Cruelty to Animals also attended the scene. A spokesman said the stag was in a "heavily populated area" where it posed a hazard to people and traffic. He added: "At the end of the day, police had to make a decision in the interests of public safety and unfortunately the animal had to be humanely destroyed. "Had it been possible, the police certainly would have tried to get the animal sedated and released in an open area, but that just wasn't to be." A Belfast hairdresser has become the first - and only - Northern Ireland woman to be named a British Master Barber. Barbara Watts received the award from the British Master Barber Association. The 46-year-old said she feels "absolutely amazing". "I just feel so honoured. Buzzing, I think, is the right word." Barbara has been cutting hair since she left school. Almost 16 years ago she opened her shop The Barber's Chair on the Beersbridge Road. The salon won Barber of the Year at the Northern Ireland Hair and Beauty Awards in July. "We got that and it probably encouraged me and gave me a deserved kick in the backside to just keep going," Barbara added. She said the award inspired her to try for the British Master Barber accreditation. The process includes sending off a video of a 10-minute haircut, using all the barber instruments and tools. The video is reviewed by a team who decide if the barber merits the award. Barbara said she hopes her accreditation will inspire more women to try for the award. "The fact that I have got it, will probably encourage a lot more women to chase their dreams as well," she added. Barbara said her customers are just as excited as she is. Yesterday she received a personalised card in the mail to congratulate her and when she announced it on social media, she said thousands of people viewed, shared and liked the posts. Most of all, Barbara's husband is delighted. "He said, 'I was always proud, but now I'm even more proud'." She addes: "It takes hard work. You just have to keep at a level and wanting to up your level and your standards that wee bit and still keep it in a range for the community that you're working." Since Barbara started The Barber's Chair, she has been joined by barbers, Jack Tittensor and Cameron Orr. She is hoping to get them into competitions too. A critically endangered species of gorilla has been born at Belfast Zoo. The Western lowland gorilla, which has been named Olivia, was born to mother Namoki and father Gugas. Western lowland gorillas come from the dense forests of western central Africa. Over the past 25 years, their populations have fallen by over 60%. Zoo curator Julie Mansell said: "Gorillas are facing the real and severe risk of extinction in their native habitat. "The all too familiar problem of habitat loss and the gruesome yet growing bushmeat trade are the main reasons for this iconic species' decline. "Not only are the young targeted for the pet trade, but adults are also killed for bushmeat and trophy hunting. "In this instance, their young are taken and sold as pets, but they die of starvation or disease within days, and this could easily have been Gugas' fate." Gugas, a silverback gorilla, was born in the wild and had an unfortunate start to life when his parents were killed, probably for bushmeat. The young gorilla was then acquired by a Portuguese circus and became very ill. He was abandoned at the gates of Lisbon Zoo before being moved to Stuttgart Zoo to live in a nursery group for orphaned gorillas. He arrived at Belfast Zoo in 1998. In 2012, with no sign of any pregnancies, the zoo tested Gugas' fertility and the results were not promising. In fact, there were doubts that he would father any young. But the gorilla has defied the odds, going on to father three infants since 2013, including new arrival Olivia. The thriving family join fellow gorillas Delilah, Kwanza and Kamili and infants Baako and Kibibi at the zoo. Ms Mansell said: "Our gorillas are firm visitor favourites and people definitely have an affinity for the apes, possibly as they are our closest relatives. "However, without major conservation efforts, the reality is that apes could be wiped out within the next few decades and within our own lifetimes, showing the fragility and magnitude of the situation." As well as taking part in a European and collaborative breeding programme, the zoo provides support to African projects such as the cross river gorilla project run by the Wildlife Conservation Society Nigeria. A preliminary hearing in Belfast's Royal Courts of Justice was told a top forensic scientist was reviewing the Daniel Carson case Ballistics experts are working to establish whether the weapon used to kill a Catholic salesman more than 40 years ago can be linked to other murders. Daniel Carson, 29, from Dunmurry, was gunned down by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as he left work at a hardware merchants in the Shankill area of Belfast in November 1973. A preliminary hearing in Belfast's Royal Courts of Justice was told a top forensic scientist was reviewing the case after documents from the former Department of Industrial and Forensic Science linked two other murders that year to the same type of weapon. Sean Doran QC, counsel for the coroner, said: "Early forensic tests suggest they can be ballistically connected to each other and the same type of weapon was used in the Daniel Carson murder. "But it cannot be confirmed that the actual weapon had been used in the Daniel Carson murder. "That is part of the review by FSNI (Forensic Science Northern Ireland)." A report on any potential links is expected to be ready next week, the lawyer said. A fresh inquest into the sectarian shooting was ordered by Northern Ireland's Attorney General. No one has ever been convicted of Mr Carson's murder. However, a man who was arrested and interviewed about the shooting is to be legally represented at the inquest. He was detained four days after the murder and released without charge, the court heard. In a letter, lawyers for the suspect - referred to as S1, said he should be able to cross-examine witnesses who may allege his involvement. It stated: "We anticipate that it may be suggested or alleged that our client was responsible, caused or contributed in some way to the death of the deceased, Daniel Carson." Granting the request, Mr Justice Adrian Colton, who is presiding over the case, said he was satisfied S1 should have an opportunity to fully participate in proceedings. Meanwhile, the court also heard how the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have still not traced a former soldier who attended the scene. "Attempts are being made to trace him through HMRC but so far those attempts have been unsuccessful," said Mr Doran. During a previous hearing last month, Judge Colton described the MoD's inability to track down the former Lance Corporal as "baffling". Karen Quinlivan QC, representing the next of kin, called for clarification from the MoD on the steps taken to trace members of a special patrol unit believed to have been operating in the area at the time. Three weeks have been set aside for a full inquest next February. Members of the Carson family sat in the public gallery of Queen's Bench number three to hear the brief legal exchanges. Scheduling another preliminary hearing for next month, Judge Colton said: "It is very, very important to the family that this inquest is dealt with." The case was adjourned until November 24. An Irish language school is set to take court action against the DUP Education Minister for shelving a plan to build new accommodation. Gaelcholaiste Dhoire in Dungiven opened in 2015 with just 15 pupils, but since then its enrolment has increased to 48. The school wants specialist accommodation on a council site close to Dungiven Castle, where it is based. The news emerged following an Assembly Question asked by the Sinn Fein MLA Caoimhe Archibald. She asked Education Minister Peter Weir, whose department is progressing plans for additional classrooms to meet the critical accommodation needs of Gaelcholaiste Dhoire. Mr Weir responded by saying he asked his department officials to "explore alternative options", because he did not believe the proposal "represented best value for public money". "Initial plans for the provision of specialist accommodation on the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council site, adjacent to Dungiven Castle, have been put on hold as I have asked officials to explore alternative options for provision of accommodation for the school," Mr Weir said in his written answer. "This action has been taken as I don't believe that the current option represents best value for public money." Mr Weir went on to reveal that the matter was now subject to a possible judicial review. "The department has received a pre-proceedings letter regarding potential judicial review proceedings and I would not therefore propose to make further comment," he added. It is understood that a final decision has not been made on the matter while further options are being explored. St Patrick's College, located less than half a mile away, has fewer pupils than its approved enrolment. Gaelcholaiste Dhoire currently shares specialist accommodation with St Patrick's College including home Economics, science and IT classrooms. Gaelcholaiste Dhoire is only the second publicly funded Irish language post-primary school in Northern Ireland, along with Coleiste Feirste in Belfast. Gaelcholaiste Dhoire opened in 2015 with 15 pupils, all in Year 8, and the equivalent of 3.6 teachers. Some 14 of the 15 were Catholic, with one describing themselves as "other" according to the department's website. The Belfast Telegraph revealed in 2014 that former Education Minister John O'Dowd had disregarded advice when he approved the creation of the school. Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kinahan said at the time: "The Western Education and Library Board, the Education and Training Inspectorate and the Department of Education itself have all said that the proposal is neither affordable nor viable." Unionists criticised Mr O'Dowd's decision to open the school at a time when his department was faced with making cuts of 198m to its budget. However, Mr O'Dowd stood by his decision, and said he made it following careful consideration. Protesters outside the Marie Stopes private clinic in Belfast. 18/10/2012. Pic: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Judgment was reserved on Friday in a pro-life campaigner's legal challenge to being issued with harassment warning notices for protesting outside a Belfast abortion clinic. Lawyers for the woman claim the police actions were unlawful and breached her human rights. Following a two-day hearing at the High Court, Mr Justice Colton pledged to give his ruling as soon as possible. The woman at the centre of the case has been granted anonymity. She is seeking to judicially review the PSNI after being served with six separate Police Information Notices (PINs) - all since deleted. Described as holding strong anti-abortion views, she was involved in "prayer vigils" outside Marie Stopes' base on Great Victoria Street. Pro-life advocates have staged demonstrations and handed out leaflets at the centre which offers sexual and reproductive healthcare and early medical abortions within Northen Ireland's laws since it opened in October 2012. Last year high-profile Precious Life campaigner Bernadette Smyth was cleared on appeal of harassing former Marie Stopes clinic director Dawn Purvis. Charges can only be brought for an alleged course of conduct involving two or more incidents, with PIN notices often featuring. It was stressed in court that the woman taking legal action has never been convicted or prosecuted for any incidents at the clinic dating back to 2014. She was accompanied by Mrs Smyth as the challenge got underway. Her counsel, Fiona Doherty QC, acknowledged the PSNI has been dealing with a highly-charged, emotive situation with strong views on both sides. But Ms Doherty insisted police must act fairly and ensure their powers are not used or exploited by others to suppress lawful behaviour by those with opposing views. She claimed the practice was unlawful in three ways: Issuing the PINs to her client was contrary to police policy. The notifications were contrary to the rules of procedural fairness and natural justice. Police actions were incompatible with the woman's human rights. According to the barrister inadequate safeguards were in place to protect against the arbitrary service of PINs. Retaining information in the case was also unlawful and disproportionate, it was contended. Even though all six notices issued on her client have been deleted, Ms Doherty argued that the underlying information remains on the police database. Following submissions, Mr Justice Colton confirmed: "I will need some time to consider these matters and will have to reserve my judgment." Siblings Taylor, Julius, Lexie, Lynsie, Sally, Ziona and Marley are all going to Walt Disney World, thanks to their 3-year-old brother Elijah Crick. Chaperoned by parents Gary and Rayanne Crick, the family will set out for Orlando on Oct. 18 for a week thanks to the Montana Hope Project, a nonprofit sponsored by the Montana Highway Patrol that grants wishes to children with critical illnesses and life-altering medical conditions. Elijah has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and has difficulty speaking because of a speech disorder, but his smile said plenty on Thursday night as the family was treated to a meal at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery and a presentation of gifts ahead of the trip. Sitting on Gary Crick's lap, Elijah was presented with a teddy bear, camera and an MHP challenge coin before taking a photo with the five MHP troopers in attendance. "It's a huge blessing," Gary Crick said of the trip. Rayanne Crick said the family would try and make a beeline for the Animal Kingdom section of the park because Elijah is a big fan of animals. She also hoped they would have a chance to make it to the beach. Describing her son as someone who's been fighting for his life since birth, Rayanne Crick said the opportunity "means the world" to the family. The trip will be a welcome reprieve from frequent commitments to doctor's appointments and will provide "a sense of normalcy" Rayanne Crick said. That's exactly what the Montana Hope Project aims for, said Dave Evans, the project's Eastern Montana coordinator. "This is one week they're not worried about doctors," Evans said. The project was started in 1984 and, Evans said he believed the group had granted 433 wishes. Along with the trip, the family gets $1,000 and will be invited to future reunions of Montana Hope Project families, Evans said. "Once we grant a wish, they're part of the family," he said. "It's hard to put into words," Rayanne Crick said of the opportunity the Montana Hope Project has given Elijah and her family. "We're just really grateful." The scene of the house hit by a lightening strike last night in Kingsfield Avenue Downpatrick Pic Philip Walsh/Pacemaker The scene of the house hit by a lightening strike last night in Kingsfield Avenue Downpatrick Pic Philip Walsh/Pacemaker The scene of the house hit by a lightening strike last night in Kingsfield Avenue Downpatrick Pic Philip Walsh/Pacemaker Lightning is thought to be the probable cause of a Northern Ireland house fire. The blaze broke out on the roof of the Downpatrick home on Kingsfield Avenue at 6am on Friday. Both the roof and the property's living room were damaged in the fire, as too was a neighbouring home. Four people - a grandfather, his son and his two teenage children - were in the home at the time. They managed to escape unharmed, as did the two people in the neighbouring property. There were no reports of any injuries. The fire service arrived on the scene just after the outbreak and remained until just before 8am. Downpatrick station commander Chris McLoughlin told the Belfast Telegraph lightning was thought to be the most likely cause. There was a thunder storm across the area through the night. He said it was the first time in his near two-decade long service that he had to deal with a fire thought caused by lightning. "There is no difference in the nature," he said, "We make a risk assessment and deal with it as quickly as possible to bring it under control. He added: "We were alerted at 6.07am and arrived soon after to a developing fire on the roof with local crews from Downpatrick and one from Ballynahinch. "We have determined the cause to be accidental with lightning the probable cause." The fire fighter highlighted how working smoke alarms helped alert the family to the danger and get them out safely. A Belfast academic has said there is no evidence to link the viewing of pornography, violent or otherwise, with Northern Ireland's soaring level of sex crime. Dr Graham Ellison of Queen's University's School of Law claimed that some academic studies actually suggest that exposure to pornography can even lead to a decrease in sexual offending. Dr Ellison was reacting to coverage in the Belfast Telegraph after Chief Constable George Hamilton referred to research into whether extreme pornography was linked to sexual violence. But Dr Ellison dismissed the suggestion that even violent pornography was to blame for the rise in sex offences being investigated by the PSNI. In a letter published in today's Belfast Telegraph, the criminologist said: "The assertion that watching pornography (whether violent or not) is responsible for a quantitative increase in sexual offences is rather spurious, particularly since no sources were cited to substantiate the remark. "However, there is now a huge volume of data from a range of clinical and social scientific studies to suggest that pornography has either no effect on a person's behaviour, or that its effects are inconclusive. "Some studies actually suggest that exposure to pornography can even lead to a decrease in sexual offending. Just because 'common sense' tells us that something might be true does not actually mean that it is true." Earlier this week, PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton told the Policing Board that "overall sex offending has increased by 61% over the last six years, with a year-on-year increase". Dr Ellison said that he had no opinion on why sex crime in Northern Ireland had grown so dramatically. "I don't really have any views on how these increases can be explained over and above what was already mentioned in the editorial," he wrote in an email. "Better reporting, police recording etc are undoubtedly contributing factors. "But the important point to emphasise is that it is notoriously difficult to read 'increases' in any crime based solely on police data." As he explored some of the reasons for the increase in sex crime with the Policing Board, Mr Hamilton gave members a shocking example of an attack he believed had been influenced by watching hardcore porn. "Advances in global technology mean that the use and popularity of social media and internet sites has risen at an unprecedented rate over the last 10 years," the senior policeman said. "It is difficult to determine what causes sexual violence. A number of recent studies are looking at the possibility of whether interest in extreme pornography might be a factor. "As an illustration, the PSNI have recently dealt with a case where a 16-year-old male claimed to have watched extreme pornography online and believed this to be normal and acceptable behaviour and went on to offend against his partner." Meanwhile, a leading UK charity revealed more than 13,000 people had sought help to stop viewing indecent images of children in the past year. According to a Stop It Now, a charity that works to reduce child abuse, more than 12,000 people accessed self-help resources on its website. A further 1,615 people with concerns about their online behaviour called the charity's confidential hotline. Founder of Stop it Now Donald Findlater,said: "Men, young men in particular, need to think about their online viewing of any sexual material and make sure their behaviour is and stays legal. "Stop it Now is in touch with many such men who started out looking at adult pornography, but who ended up looking at sexual images of increasingly younger people, including children. "We want people to keep their viewing legal, but if they have looked at sexual images of anyone under 18, they need to stop and stay stopped. "If they are struggling to do this, they also need to know that confidential help is available on the end of a phone or online." Jim Gamble of child protection organisation Ineqe said his experience had convinced him there was a direct link between viewing child pornography images and real world sex crime. "People who seek out child sex abuse images do so because they've already developed a deviant sexual interest in children," he added. "They seek out those images in the way adults might use pornography to sexually satisfy themselves. And thereby I think that people who view child abuse images fundamentally represent a risk to children. "When comes to adults and exposure to extreme pornography, I think the jury is still out." A farmer is lucky to be alive after being overcome by fumes while mixing slurry in Co Fermanagh A farmer is lucky to be alive after being overcome by fumes while mixing slurry in Co Fermanagh. Five of the farmer's cows died in the incident at a farm in the Letterbreen area just before 8pm on Tuesday. Firefighters from Enniskillen and Irvinestown wore breathing apparatus and used gas monitors to deal with the incident while the 30-year-old man was taken to hospital. Firefighters using slings and manual handling equipment rescued three cows and four calves from the slatted shed and the animals were taken into the care of a vet at the scene. Three cows and two calves were found dead inside the shed. The PSNI also attended the scene and confirmed that the farmer was treated for breathing difficulties before being released a short time later. The Health and Safety Executive is currently investigating. Slurry fumes contain a mixture of gases, including the extremely poisonous hydrogen sulphide. A low concentration of hydrogen sulphide can affect the sense of smell and at higher concentrations people can rapidly find it harder to breathe and may become confused. Ulster Unionist Councillor Alex Baird told Enniskillen newspaper The Impartial Reporter that he was relieved that the farmer had survived. "He is lucky to be alive because of the dangers of this gas. "I know the family very well and I pray to God that he makes a full recovery. "Slurry gas is such a silent and invisible killer and extra care needs to be taken. "It's fortunate that this farmer is safe and it's a lesson to every farmer in the area to be vigilant," added Mr Baird. Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Tom Elliott said: "I am a farmer myself, I know that farmers all over the county are under pressure at the moment. "This is no doubt a traumatic time for the farmer and his family. There could have been a tragedy on our doorstep. "I am just pleased it was not much worse and want to extend my best wishes to the farmer and hope he makes a full recovery." With the closed period for slurry spreading due to commence at midnight on October 15, the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland is urging farmers to take extra care while mixing slurry. "At certain concentrations, just one breath can kill," a HSE spokesman warned. "Do not take any chances when mixing slurry, your life may depend on it." Between 2000 and May 2015, 11 farm deaths were caused by slurry. In September 2012, Ulster Rugby player Nevin Spence, his father Noel and brother Graham died after they were overcome by fumes on the family farm. The inquest into their deaths heard it was the worst farming tragedy in Northern Ireland in 20 years. Lawyers argued that raids were for the "collateral purposes" of a publicity stunt Raids on the homes of four partners at Belfast accountancy firm KPMG were improperly carried out to coincide with the British Chancellor's announcement of a crackdown on tax evasion, it was claimed on Friday. Lawyers for the executives argued at the High Court that they were targeted for the "collateral purposes" of a publicity stunt. The allegations were made during an ongoing challenge to the legality of the process to obtain warrants to search their homes and offices. Eamonn Donaghy, Jon D'Arcy, Paul Hollway and Arthur O'Brien claim HM Revenue and Customs misled judges into authorising the trawls as part of an investigation. All four men were arrested last November, but have not been charged with any wrongdoing. At the time KPMG said it was cooperating with the inquiry and had placed them on "administrative leave". In February this year the company announced the partners in its Belfast office subject to the HMRC probe had retired. KPMG stressed the investigation related solely to the executives' personal affairs and was unrelated to the company's business or its clients. Mr Donaghy, Mr D'Arcy, Mr Hollway and Mr O'Brien are now seeking to judicially review the steps taken to search their homes and business premises. In court today their legal team pressed for further disclosure of a range of documents to help prepare their case. Barrister Barry Macdonald QC set out details of a statement of complaint relied on by HMRC in its applications for the warrants. It claimed: "This case provides an opportunity to arrest and prosecute four high-profile individuals who are involved in (an)... attack on the revenue system." According to Mr Macdonald that sentence was omitted, without explanation, from the application for a warrant to search his clients' offices. He contended that it had been deliberately taken out because it reflected "an improper, collateral purpose". The barrister continued: "Namely, seizing an opportunity to publicise this investigation in relation to high-profile individuals for the purpose of deterrence." He also queried the alleged motivation for raids coinciding with a major speech by the Chancellor at the time, George Osborne. "Why the search was scheduled to take place on the same day as the Chancellor's Autumn statement which featured reference to a crackdown on tax evasion?" he asked. Paul McLaughlin, representing HMRC, stressed that the legal challenge was taking place during an ongoing criminal investigation. He acknowledged that no-one has been charged, but said all four accountants were interviewed under caution on two separate occasions. "This is a judicial review of the decision to apply for and obtain search warrants, it's not a judicial review of the investigation as a whole," he said. "It's important that the judicial review proceedings are not used in a way which gives improper advantage to persons currently under criminal investigation." Following submissions the court went into closed session to examine the material being sought by the four executives' lawyers. The three-judge panel, chaired by Lord Justice Gillen, later confirmed some further documents will be disclosed in advance of a full hearing later this year. Outside court the four former partners' solicitor, Paul Pierce of KRW Law, claimed the tax authorities took "drastic" steps against his clients. He added: "There was no evidence they were not co-operating with HMRC, but instead this intrusive course of action was taken which will now be the subject of more detailed scrutiny by the High Court." Without banners or bands, hundreds of Orangemen marched slowly and silently in a poignant procession yesterday to say farewell to the public face of their Order, Drew Nelson, who was hailed at his funeral as one of Northern Ireland's greatest leaders. Sixty-year-old Mr Nelson, who died on Monday after a short illness, planned his own service right down to the last detail. But friends said even he would have been surprised that upwards of 900 Orangemen in full regalia took up his invitation to accompany his coffin through the rolling hills of Co Down to his final resting place in the graveyard of his church. All week Orangemen and politicians have been paying fulsome tributes to their Grand Secretary, who was particularly lauded for the way he tried to modernise the Order which he joined as a 19-year-old. But yesterday Orangemen observed the old traditions as they gathered in their sashes in Upper Kilwarlin outside Hillsborough to walk the half-mile of Mr Nelson's last journey to St John's Parish Church, insistent that the funeral was exempt from Parades Commission determinations. The hearse, with Orange lilies among the flowers on top of the coffin, was preceded by Mr Nelson's solemn-faced colleagues from Listullycurran LOL 616, whose secretary he had been for 30 years. Orange leaders including the Grand Master Edward Stevenson took it in turns to carry Mr Nelson's coffin in the autumn sunshine. But at the gates of St John's, the Orangemen - again at Mr Nelson's request - removed their collarettes, though the tiny 150-seater church could only accommodate family, friends, top Orange officials and leading faces from the political world. Headed by First Minister Arlene Foster and Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt, they also included Tom Elliott, Peter Weir, William Humphrey, Danny Kennedy and Jeffrey Donaldson. The rest of the mourners took their seats in a massive marquee across the road to listen to the addresses which were relayed via loudspeakers, including one from the DUP leader, who was a friend of Mr Nelson. St John's rector, the Rev David Pierce, described Mr Nelson as one of Northern Ireland's greatest leaders "not just through the Orange Institution but also in civic and community life". He added: "He was a leader of men but also a humble man. He didn't seek the limelight but he was the greatest of men." He praised him as a wise, intelligent and articulate spokesman for Orangeism and Unionism. Mr Pierce said remembrance was important to Mr Nelson who wanted the 333 members of the Orange Order who died during the Troubles to be remembered. The cleric also said the frequent attacks on Orange halls which Mr Nelson maintained, developed and improved had "grieved him sorely". He praised Mr Nelson as a politician and said he was a principled man who never shirked responsibility, adding that he had been prepared to lay his life on the line by joining the Ulster Defence Regiment and being commissioned as an officer after attending Sandhurst. He said Mr Nelson had shared the pain of the UDR and the heavy price they paid as a result of the terrorist campaign. He went on: "At the height of the Troubles he witnessed terrible events. He stood shoulder to shoulder with the victims. "The bravery of Drew and the men and women who served in the UDR is something we must never forget." Mr Pierce also praised Mr Nelson's work for 35 years as a "courteous, effective family solicitor who carried out his legal work in a business-like manner". "But it was much more than a business - Drew was a generous and kind man who influenced other people's lives," he said, adding that despite rising to national prominence he never forgot his roots in Dromore. The rector said that Mr Nelson was a courageous man whose thoughts when he became ill in May weren't of self-pity but rather of concern for his widowed mother, Meta, and the family of his brother Brian, who died from cancer in 2012. He said death held no fear for Mr Nelson, who sent a text message to his friends from his hospital bed which read "God has created me for a purpose and now he is calling me home". The cleric also said that as he and Mr Nelson prepared for yesterday's funeral service he asked him what he thought his legacy might be through his involvement in local politics as a councillor. Mr Nelson told him it was the acceptance by councils in Northern Ireland of his proposal that any new signs in their areas should contain not only the names of the roads but also those of the historic townlands they were in. He added: "So the next time you look at a sign at the end of a country road with the townland below it remember it was Drew Nelson's idea." SDLP Assemblyman Alex Attwood, who knew Mr Nelson from their days as law students at Queen's University in Belfast, was among the mourners yesterday. And Mrs Foster, who became friendly with him during her time at QUB's legal department, paid an emotional tribute to him during the service. She said: "Drew never opted out. He always wanted to contribute the best of his ability to whatever organisation he was involved in. He was a committed unionist who always looked beyond the narrow interest to the goal of strengthening the Union which he so cherished." She said Mr Nelson was a thinker whose advice to his friends was always considered and balanced. Drew was never given to trite and glib statements. Wise counsel from him was always the order of the day. Many of us here today can testify to the fact that his advice stood us in good stead," she added. The First Minister said that Mr Nelson epitomised what a good Orangeman should be and added that the Order's new museums in Belfast and Co Armagh were fitting legacies to him. She said that the visit by Prince Charles to the Loughgall museum in May had been a particular highlight for Mr Nelson, who had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Mrs Foster said the Royal visit was made all the more important for Mr Nelson "because he knew then that his time in this world was short". She said Mr Nelson was a calm man who had been in good spirits when she last visited him in hospital, when he talked to her about the future and the need to keep moving forward for unionism and for the good of all. The First Minister added: "Drew Nelson was ready to shuffle off this mortal coil. He was at peace with himself and at peace with God." Northern Ireland auction-goers could snap up unusual bargains - such as a Jaguar fighter jet - this weekend. Discerning bidders will also have the chance to cast their eye over thousands of rare works of art including a Picasso, vintage whiskies, champagnes, cases of wines, Persian rugs and diamond jewellery. Also in the collection are classic cars including a Riley Elf, an Austin Healey and a Jaguar E-Type, and life-size sculptures of people and animals. The items come from a luxury goods wholesaler based outside Edinburgh which has now closed. The auction will be run by Charlie Williams and includes a selection of 30,000 items. Art lovers have the chance to own works by some of the most sought-after artists in the world including Picasso, Lowry, Dali, Lautrec, Chagall and Kandinski. And sport fans should keep an eye out for signed and framed collections featuring Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Valentino Rossi and Tiger Woods. Because of the vast size of the collection, it will tour the UK. The Northern Ireland auctions will be held in the Hilton Hotel, Templepatrick this weekend, October 15 and 16. However, some of the larger items - such as a Jaguar fighter jet - will be sold through sealed envelope bids. Because the lots are part of a commercial sale, all bids will be subject to a 12.5% buyers' premium as well as VAT. Items are available to view on Charlie Williams' website at www.charliewilliams.com French president Francois Hollande said the camp would be removed by the end of the year Councils are preparing for the arrival of children from the Calais "Jungle" next week as part of a drive to transfer young refugees to Britain before the camp is demolished. French authorities are poised to begin work to dismantle the site after President Francois Hollande said it would be removed by the end of the year. Earlier this week Home Secretary Amber Rudd confirmed she had stressed to her French counterpart that children eligible to come to the UK should be moved out of the camp before the demolition process starts. David Simmonds, chairman of the Local Government Association's a sylum, refugee and migration task group, said councils have a strong record of supporting children travelling alone. "The number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children living in England increased by more than 60% to over 4,000 in the last year, and the vast majority of councils are already providing care and support for these vulnerable children and young people," he said. "Those arriving from the Calais camp will require care and support packages directly from councils and their partners. "For those children relocated with existing family living in the UK, councils will still want to be assured that arrangements put in place can meet the child's needs and that they are safe and well. "Many will have also experienced horrendous conditions within and since fleeing their country of origin, so councils will want to ensure they are able to settle into communities as quickly and easily as possible with ongoing support made available when they need it." Councils have offered to provide expert social workers to carry out assessments to help ensure the process is managed effectively, Mr Simmonds said. He added that town halls "also require long-term funding arrangements from government so that the commitment to support those children starting a new life in the UK is properly funded". Campaigners say they have identified hundreds of children in the camp who have a right to come to Britain - either because they have family ties here under the so-called Dublin regulations, or through a programme to give refuge to unaccompanied minors from Europe. The Government has faced criticism over efforts to identify and transfer youngsters through the routes. Ms Rudd told the Commons on Monday that more than 80 unaccompanied children had been accepted for transfer under the Dublin regulation so far this year. Under the rule, asylum claims must be made in the first safe country a person reaches - but children can have their application transferred to another country if they have family members living there. The Home Secretary also said that more than 50 children had been taken, largely from Greece, under Lord Dubs' amendment to the Immigration Act. Stephen Hale, chief executive of the charity Refugee Action, said: " It's fantastic news that, at last, vulnerable children in Calais will be reunited with their families in Britain. "These children must have the support they need to rebuild their lives when they arrive." Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "It is very welcome news that some of the unaccompanied children in Calais will finally be reunited with their families here in the UK. "It is appalling that is has taken over a year of pressure from the public and organisations across the UK to get the Government to act." The sense of urgency surrounding the issue was reinforced by a warning that there could be a "mass disappearance" unless the transfer of eligible children is secured before the closure of the camp. A report by Tomas Bocek, the Council of Europe secretary general's special representative on migration and refugees, said: "Because of the imminent threat of eviction, children are putting their lives at risk every day to enter the United Kingdom clandestinely instead of waiting for lawful entry through official channels. "A mass disappearance, like the one that occurred during the eviction of the southern part of the Jungle, is considered highly likely unless the transfer of eligible children to the United Kingdom is secured before the closure of the camp." A Home Office spokeswoman said: "As the Home Secretary told the House of Commons on Monday, our priority must be to ensure the safety and security of the children in the Calais camp. "When she met the French Interior Minister this week she made it crystal clear that we intend to transfer as many minors as possible, who are eligible under the Dublin Regulation, before the start of the clearance. "In addition, children who are eligible to come to the UK under the Dubs Amendment to the Immigration Act 2016 must be looked after in safe facilities where their best interests are properly considered. "Work is continuing on both sides of the Channel to ensure this happens as a matter of urgency." UP Kids care. St. Vincent Healthcares plans for a $2.3 million renovation of the pediatric intensive care unit got a big boost with a $1 million gift from Tom and Joan Scott. The St. Vincent Foundation SAINTS ball last month raised a record $1.15 million for the PICU. DOWN Muddy Milk. Glasgow area residents spent a week on flood watch as the National Weather Service continued warnings about high water on the Milk River. Torrential rains flooded roads in Phillips and Valley counties in the first days of October. UP UM pledge. Bill Franke, co-founder of Indigo Partners, has pledged $24 million for the College of Forestry and Conservation and the Global Leadership Initiative, which would be the largest gift in UM history. The donation is contingent on Board of Regents approval of renaming the college and initiative in honor of the Franke family. DOWN Wyoming economy. Although the state of Wyoming has 8,050 fewer jobs than it did a year ago, the steep economic decline appears to be leveling off as oil and gas prices rebound slightly. The Wyoming Economic Analysis Division reports that there has been no increase in mining industry unemployment claims for the past three months. UP Winning brews. Billings microbreweries are making a name for the city as brew town. Three local breweries competed at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival in Denver with Uberbrew carting home medals for four of its brews. George Osborne has urged the Government to back the expansion of Heathrow Airport. The former chancellor said the west London hub needs increased capacity so that Britain can be " outward-looking, free-trading and global". Reports emerged on Thursday that ministers could back expansion at both Heathrow and Gatwick. Mr Osborne claimed that although building a second runway at the latter could be considered, it should not happen at the same time as Heathrow expansion. In a series of Twitter messages, the Tory MP for Tatton wrote: "Time for a decision on airports and go for Heathrow. "Economic case overwhelming. Connects Northern Powerhouse. Ensures Britain is open to world. "If we want Britain to be outward-looking, free-trading and global, we must expand the great airport that connects us to that world and that trade. "We can consider Gatwick expansion. But not at the expense of Heathrow - and not in parallel or else, in practice, nothing will get built." Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed last week that the Government would " shortly announce" a decision on which expansion project will get the go-ahead. The Davies Commission recommended in July last year that a third runway should be built at Heathrow. Other shortlisted options are extending the airport's existing northern runway or building a second runway at Gatwick." Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven described expansion of both Heathrow and Gatwick as "the worst of both worlds". He said: " We can only hope these rumours are not true. "An increase in air traffic on this scale will make climate change and air pollution targets virtually impossible to meet." Sarah Clayton, co-ordinator at AirportWatch, an umbrella group of environmental organisations and community groups, said: "It's the most crazy time for the Government to be building a runway, they've got Brexit, no idea what's happening with the pound, with the economy. "The whole thing is a madness." She suggested that if both airports got the go-ahead for a new runway, then it would mean Gatwick would not be able to expand as it would lose out in competition with Heathrow for airlines. And if the runways were built, it would entail billions of pounds of spending on infrastructure which would have to be paid for by the taxpayer, she said. Of communities near Gatwick and Heathrow, and under their flight paths, Ms Clayton said: "People are really scared, they're genuinely distraught." Aviation minister Lord Ahmad, asked in the House of Lords earlier this week whether the Government will consider supporting one of the two Heathrow options as well as Gatwick, replied: " As far as expansion is concerned, the Commission reported back on the need to increase capacity by 2030 with the addition of one runway in the South East, and that is where the Government's decision is focused." Outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse has notched up record sales in the first half of the year, but boss Mark Neale warned that the collapse in sterling will mean higher prices for shoppers from next year. The company said first-half sales grew 29.5% to 76.8 million, with pre-tax profit edging down from 4.3 million to 4 million. Mr Neale told the Press Association: "The biggest problem for us is the currency. We're hedged until February 2016, but after that we're going to have to deal with the increased costs in three ways. "A third will come out of securing better prices from factories, a third will be absorbed by the business and a third will be passed on to customers with selective price increases. We are not alone in that - most retailers will have to do the same, so we will still be better value versus others." Mountain Warehouse has also taken immediate plans for a stock market flotation off the table, with Mr Neale adding that Britain's decision to quit the European Union "made the decision to not proceed with it a lot easier". The chief executive took umbrage with Home Secretary Amber Rudd's suggestion that businesses should be forced to compile lists of foreign workers. "We have a lot of foreign workers, from inside and outside the EU, but we've never thought to count them. We recruit on a talent basis, not nationality. Businesses depend on foreign workers. "It's a bizarre policy, and it looks like it's already been dropped," he said. The firm also plans to ramp up expansion, with the aim of eventually having 300 UK stores and 300 international outlets. It currently has around 250 in the UK alongside 50 overseas stores which span Poland, Germany and Ireland, the US and Canada. In the first six months of the year, Mountain Warehouse opened 24 new stores, creating 250 jobs. On the prospect of a Brexit-induced consumer downturn, Mr Neale said: "Ultimately, I think Brexit will be fine. During the last recession we grew the business, so we've seen it all before and we actually benefited from people searching for better value." California officials have denied parole for a follower of cult leader Charles Manson who is serving a life prison term for a murder he committed 47 years ago. Parole officials announced on Friday that 68-year-old Robert Beausoleil will remain in prison for the 1969 death of musician Gary Hinman. Parole board spokesman Luis Patino says he can seek parole again in three years. Beausoleil originally was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. Beausoleil was an aspiring musician and actor before he joined the Manson family. He was in jail when other Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others, then murdered grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. AP The killer clown craze sweeping the UK has led to a deluge of calls to Childline from youngsters left terrified by the sinister phenomenon (File photo) Police are searching for a man wearing a clown mask and a yellow jacket who stabbed a person in southern Sweden. Police spokeswoman Ulla Brehm said there have been two similar incidents where people dressed like clowns stood outside schools and scared children. "This is not a crime as such but very, very unpleasant," she added Ms Brehm said the incidents are likely to have spread via social media from the United States, adding: "It is not funny when people are being scared." She said a 19-year-old man was stabbed late on Thursday with a knife in the shoulder in Varberg, south of Goteborg. He sustained superficial wounds and despite searches, the attacker has not been found. Similar incidents were reported elsewhere in Sweden, Denmark and Norway - where the Ringo toy store chain decided to stop selling clown costumes in its 114 shops. "We have done so in the wake of the recent so-called 'killer clowns' episodes," Ringo chain chief executive Gro Svendsen said. "This is a phenomenon which we strongly oppose. Costumes and disguises should be for fun and not motivated by the desire to spread fear." In 2013 a clown, carrying a clown teddy, was reported to be 'terrifying residents' in Northampton, England. The clown, who remains anonymous, gained worldwide attention and saw copy-cat clowns take to the streets around the world. The Northampton clown later took to social media to say no harm was intended and it 'just a bit of fun'. Read more Read More That same year a Carrickfergus clown turned himself in to the PSNI after detectives received reports that he was frightening local children. The PSNI said later that they had spoken to the man and were satisfied that he had no sinister intentions and it was just a prank. Read more Read More However the clown craze saw a resurgence this summer when police in South Carolina responded to reports of 'creepy' clowns trying to lure children into woods. Since then, there have been numerous other reports and warnings from police in other US states. Meanwhile, footage has also emerged of a mob of Penn State University students apparently on the hunt for three clowns spotted in the area. There is now even a #IfISeeAClown hashtag trending in the US. Coulrophobia: The fear of clowns An irrational fear of clowns has come to be known as as coulrophobia. The prefix "coulro" comes from the ancient Greek word for "one who walks on stilts." Symptoms include feelings of dread, increased heartbeat, sweating, nausea and anger. A University of Sheffield study from 2008 found that out of 250 children aged four to 16 images of a clown were widely disliked. The researchers said clowns were "universally disliked by children" and that "some found them quite frightening and unknowable." Perhaps the most famous killer clown was the child murdering monster Pennywise from the 1990 television movie IT. However the killer clown has been a regular feature of several horror films including Clownhouse, Mr Jingles and 2004's In Fear of Clowns. The genre also includes the 1988 classic 'Killer Klowns from Outer Space', which had the tagline: "In Space No One Can Eat Ice Cream". The Samaritans has literally been a lifeline for countless desperate people who felt they had nowhere else to turn to in their darkest moments of despair. Image posed by model The Samaritans has literally been a lifeline for countless desperate people who felt they had nowhere else to turn to in their darkest moments of despair. It is a service, a listening and sympathetic ear, whose value can only ever be truly recognised by those who have found solace in those telephone calls made at times of crisis. Anonymity is the key to the service, but today we report on one volunteer with the organisation whose name deserves to be widely known. Dorothy Cooper has been given a Points of Light award for her outstanding work in volunteering with the Samaritans in Northern Ireland for more than 40 years. That is four decades of caring about the lives of others. Four decades of listening to people who thought that no-one else cared about them. Four decades of encouraging them that life could be better. Four decades of trying to divert them from taking their own lives. Four decades in which she took more than 6,000 calls. But Dorothy also made a wider contribution, training 1,600 volunteers and raising more than 20,000 for the Belfast branch of the Samaritans. It was her own experiences in post-war Germany which eventually led her to volunteer with the Samaritans. Food was scare in that period because farmers were unable to work their land, and schoolchildren were only given one square meal a day during term time thanks to the generosity of American Quakers. This, she regarded as an outstanding act of kindness to people in a country which was widely reviled because of the actions of the Nazis, and she was determined one day to repay it. The Samaritans was the vehicle she chose. As one who experienced suffering around her as well as personal deprivation in those school days, she had a natural empathy for others in need. Nursing was her first vocation, followed by the Samaritans when she moved to Northern Ireland. The work of volunteers with the organisation is not an easy one. It would take a heart of stone not to be touched by the plight of those who make contact, and their stories can linger long in the mind. But there is also the great satisfaction of being able to help. Turning someone away from a planned fateful action or convincing them that their situation can improve and that help is available is a reward beyond price. And Dorothy has been that point of light at the end of many dark tunnels. Recently there has been comment about the ethicality of members of the Orange Order attending Catholic (Roman/Latin Rite) liturgical services, which, I understand, are deemed to be blasphemous, in particular the celebration of the liturgy of the Eucharist, in the eyes of Protestants. I would have wished that clerics of the Catholic Church had clarified what is entailed in the celebration of the liturgy of the Eucharist to assist those good Protestants whose scruples might deter them from attending. In the early Christian Church, the liturgical celebration was divided into two parts: the first part would have consisted of preaching and readings from the Old Testament (and the new Testament, when it became available); believers and non-believers attended. The second part consisted of the Eucharistic liturgical celebration, which is based on early apostolic tradition and the New Testament; only believers attended. This two-fold division of the Mass pertains. The Mass is not a continuous re-enactment of Christ's Passion and death. This seems to be a mistaken understanding. Because Christ is God, He is eternal (outside of time) and the Eucharistic liturgical celebration is the same one and only sacrifice that took place on Calvary. The problem in understanding this seems to be that people do not fully appreciate Christ's Godhead and, wrongly, assume that, like us, he is within and bound by time. I have a few suggestions that may assist the scrupulous: the readings in the first part of the Mass are taken from the Bible. This should not present a major problem to Protestants who wish to attend. The second part (used to be announced by the ringing of bells) is the Eucharistic celebration. Scrupulous Protestants could have removed themselves immediately after the Biblical readings and so avoid being present at the Eucharistic part. However, if they wish to stay, they could turn what they deem to be sacrilegious celebration into a beautiful Godly prayer by asking the good Lord to forgive their Catholic brethren for their error in scriptural understanding and plead, using Christ's words, "forgive them for they know not what they are doing". MICHEAL O'CATHAIL Co Fermanagh BBC non-story spoils IFA's big celebration So, the BBC chose to lead their main news bulletins for most of Monday with the non-story that Jason Smyth and Michael McKillop were not invited by the IFA to take part in Windsor Park's opening ceremony. For the record, Rory McIlroy was actually in the stadium, but did not take part in the Lap of Legends. Was this because he originally opted to compete for Team Ireland ahead of the Rio Games? Of course not. Maybe Rory Best wasn't asked because he plays for Ulster and Ireland? The amateurish reporting of the issue was not even thought through and the story no better that conspiracy theory nonsense. Get a grip, BBC NI, and try reporting some real news, instead of attempting to take the gloss off what was a wonderful evening for sport in Northern Ireland. MARK WALSH Jordanstown, Co Antrim Pinter wrote the truth about US 60 years ago When Boris Johnson and America accuse Russia of war crimes in Syria, isn't this a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black? While I'm sure war crimes have been committed by both Russia and the Assad regime, at least Russia is on the right side, fighting all the different terrorist groups, whereas America likes to face both ways fighting one lot of terrorists while openly supporting another gang. It's true that as many as 250,000 innocent victims have died in Syria's civil war (a UN estimate) and many of them at the hands of the Assad regime, but how do these figures compare to the 650,000-plus people who were killed in Britain and America's immoral and illegal invasion of Iraq? And what war crimes will America commit when it bombs Mosul, one of Iraq's largest cities, to drive out Isis? What amazes me is the moral certitude of it all. The great Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter described it like this: "It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the US have been systemic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people talk about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis." He wrote this in 1958 - and it has only gotten worse. MARK HOLT By email Shoppers hitting north bad for jobs in south The recent sharp decline in the value of sterling has generated stories of southern shoppers flocking over the border to take advantage of cheaper prices in the North. The real story, however, is rather one of retailers down South protecting their already high margins and refusing to lower their prices in recognition of the fact that a lot, if not the majority, of the goods they sell are sourced from the UK and are, hence, now costing them less. Leaving aside the odd percentage differences in VAT, in theory it shouldn't matter which side of the border you buy goods from. What matters is that UK manufacturers are becoming more cost-competitive versus their Irish counterparts, which, if it persists, will be bad news in the longer term for employment prospects in Ireland. RA BLACKBURN By email Sinn Fein should fund railway upgrade itself I read with interest Sinn Fein's call for 3bn worth of funding for an upgrade of the Belfast to Dublin railway line. Considering their comrades in the IRA bombed this line dozens of times, causing tens of millions of pounds of damage, has Sinn Fein considered funding any upgrade from their own coffers? OBSERVER By email Translink spokesman not living in real world So, Translink wants Belfast City Council to end free parking in the city at Christmas. What a surprise. Having listened to their spokesman on The Nolan Show, I wondered where he had been living recently. Buses have 40-50 people on them? At rush hour, possibly, but for the rest of the day, I see them with only one or two passengers on them. Not a mass transport system, then. Could he explain why buses didn't use bus lanes when they could? No. Perhaps the 2m extra revenue has something to do with that. Where does that cash go (but that is another question)? ROY EDWARDS Saintfield, Co Down A Billings accountant formerly employed as the comptroller for the Crow Tribe admitted she stole about $30,000 from the tribe. Karla Elizabeth MacCatherine, 43, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Thursday to embezzlement from an Indian tribal organization. Appearing with Assistant Federal Defender Steve Babcock, MacCatherine said she stole the money for her own use. She said she currently works as the financial director at the Yellowstone Art Museum and previously worked as a payroll clerk for School District 2. MacCatherine told U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby that she has an accounting degree from Montana State University Billings and has worked as a certified public accountant. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Rubich said MacCatherine embezzled from the tribe from February 2013 until August 2014 while she was employed as its comptroller. The tribe paid her $70 an hour. The tribe hired MacCatherine to prepare documents for the tribes 2013 annual audit, which was due in June 2014, Rubich said. The report was not completed by the deadline and no work was done to prepare the audit, he said. As a result, the accounting firm hired to do the audit had to suspend its own work. MacCatherine, however, billed the tribe $44,542 for work specifically for the audit, Rubich said. MacCatherine, he continued, also paid herself twice in the amount of $8,322 for the same expenses and same receipts and did not reimburse the tribe. And in July 2014, MacCatherine wired into her bank account $6,044 to pay herself for service because her payroll check had not been deposited, the prosecutor said. Then she later issued herself a check for $6,219, effectively paying herself twice. She returned the money after being confronted by the tribes lawyer. An investigation by a special agent with the Department of Interior found that MacCatherine had logged onto her computer only 67 days of 170 days between Feb. 24, 2014, and Aug. 14, 2014. However, MacCatherine sent invoices to the tribe claiming work completed on days that she was not logged onto her computer, Rubich said. Several co-workers also told investigators that MacCatherine consistently overstated her work hours. And the probe found that MacCatherine billed for hours when she was on vacation. After reviewing the evidence, the prosecutor and defense agreed the amount of money embezzled for work not done was $30,000, Rubich said. MacCatherine faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ostby said she would recommend that U.S. District Judge Susan Watters accept MacCatherines plea and continued her release. Watters will set a sentencing date. During the first day of an historic visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders of China and Bangladesh pledged Friday to build a strategic partnership after signing off on 27 agreements aimed at fostering trade and investment along with countering terrorism. Diplomatic observers see Xis two-day visit to Bangladesh, the first by any Chinese leader in 30 years, as a milestone in expanding Sino-Bangladeshi relations. Observers also see the visit as part of Bangladeshs strategy to reduce its dependence on neighboring India. Xi met Friday with President Abdul Hamid and the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka and agreed to aid and loan packages that total billions of dollars. Bangladesh and China have had close cooperation which has now been lifted into a strategic relationship. Through these agreements, the relations of the two countries would be further deepened, while new relations between the two countries will be revealed, Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque told reporters after the bilateral talks at the prime ministers office. One of the agreements focuses on combating militants. Specifically agreement 17 states: The two sides condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The Chinese side conveyed its support for Bangladeshs efforts in combating terrorism and maintaining national security and stability and expressed its readiness to cooperate through sharing of information, capacity building and training with Bangladeshi side. It went on to say the two sides agreed to explore establishing a dialogue mechanism on countering terrorism. Other agreements focused on loans, investment and trade. Xi signed those agreements valued at about U.S. $20 billion (1.5 trillion taka), Agence France-Presse reported. Hasina told reporters this means that Bangladesh and China had reached a consensus to work together in the fields of trade and investment, infrastructure, transportation, information and communication technology, power, energy and agriculture. She said Bangladeshs strategic partnership with China would be for socioeconomic achievements for the people of the two countries. Xi echoed her words. We agreed to elevate China-Bangladesh relationship from a Closer Comprehensive Partnership of Cooperation to a Strategic Partnership of Cooperation and to increase high-level exchanges and strategic communication so that our bilateral relations would continue to move ahead at a higher level, Xi said in the statement, according to a news agency report. Foreign Secretary Haque said China indicated it would invest in the ready-made garment (RMG) and jute sectors. RMG accounted for U.S. $28 billion (2.2 trillion taka) of a total export volume of $34 billion (2.66 trillion taka) in the last fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, according to the data from Bangladeshs Exports Promotion Bureau. Deals benefit both countries Economist Hossain Zillur Rahman told BenarNews that all financial aid and assistance are aimed at exerting influence on the receiving countries. We took a loan of $2 billion (156 billion taka) from India for development projects. But the Chinese volume of aid and loan is much bigger. It may reach $40 billion (3.1 trillion taka). So, the Chinese aid and the loans would certainly exert some influence in Bangladesh, Zillur said. Taking loans from China means the government is seeking to reduce its over-reliance on India both at the political and economic fronts, he said. Bangladesh needs the loans and aid to improve its infrastructure to attract foreign investment. But we have to be very careful in selecting the projects for which the Chinese loans are granted. For instance, funding a controversial project will raise questions about the purpose of the whole initiative, he said. Also, he said, China wants a special economic zone to relocate its RMG, leather and other small industries. The relocation of Chinese factories to Bangladesh and exporting these products to China would help the Chinese people and reduce Bangladesh's huge trade gap with China, Zillur said. Ambassador Ashfaqur Rahman, a former Bangladesh envoy to China and North Korea, told BenarNews that China was providing the loan and aid package as part of its plan to implement its initiative to reach European markets. China needs Bangladesh to implement its initiative. Besides, relocation of Chinese industrial units to Bangladesh will create jobs for locals, said Rahman, adding that Bangladesh had huge opportunity to export its medicines to the Chinese market. You see the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party opposed the Indian loans but they have welcomed the Chinese loans and aids. And this is very significant in the Bangladesh-China relations in the future, he said. SAN NARCISO, Calif. -- Chuck E. Cheeses is a chain of pizza restaurants and arcades that have become popular locations for childrens birt... ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. Three men accused of trafficking 10 pounds of methamphetamine admitted federal drug charges on Thursday. The men, from California, Mexico and Michigan, were arrested in Stillwater County in April after a sheriffs deputy pulled over the trios vehicle for speeding on Interstate 90. During a search of the vehicle, officers found about 10 pounds of meth in a cooler. During a hearing on Thursday, the driver of the vehicle, Luis Felipe Lopez-Rojas, 23, of California, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute meth. Co-defendants Alfonso Banderas-Martinez, 24, of Michigan, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute meth, and Angel Guzman-Banderas, 27, of Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess meth with intent to distribute. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McCarthy said the evidence would show that on April 26, a Stillwater County sheriffs deputy pulled over a GMC Terrain that was speeding in the eastbound lane of I-90. The deputy noticed that the three men were acting nervously and asked if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, McCarthy said. Lopez-Rojas and Guzman-Banderas responded, No, but Banderas-Martinez responded, Yes, but would not elaborate, McCarthy said. The men told the deputy the vehicle was rented by a woman from Billings but that they didnt know her name, he said. The deputy then deployed his drug dog on the vehicle, and the dog alerted to odors on the passenger side rear window. After getting a search warrant, officers found a Coleman cooler containing seven packages of meth. The total amount of meth, including packaging, was about 10.7 pounds, he said. In addition, McCarthy said, during the week prior to the traffic stop, agents conducted surveillance of Banderas-Martinez and Lopez-Rojas in Billings and saw them in the same rental vehicle that they were occupying during the traffic stop. Lopez-Rojas and Banderas-Martinez face a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine, while Guzman-Banderas faces a minimum mandatory five years to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby said she will recommend to U.S. District Judge Susan Watters that she accept the guilty pleas. Watters will set a sentencing date. The defendants remain in custody. For Immediate Release, October 14, 2016 Contact: Amaroq Weiss, (707) 779-9613, aweiss@biologicaldiversity.org $15,000 Reward Offered Over Illegal Killing of Oregon Mother Wolf PORTLAND, Ore. The Center for Biological Diversity today added $10,000 to the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for shooting and killing an endangered wolf earlier this month in south-central Oregon. The wolf a female known as OR-28, who recently had a pup was found dead Oct. 6. OR-28 courtesy Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Photos are available for media use. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also offering a $5,000 reward in the case. The illegal killing of wolf OR-28 is heartbreaking. She was a pioneering animal, one of the first wolves to make the journey from northeastern to western Oregon, said Amaroq Weiss, the Centers West Coast wolf organizer. OR-28 was also a first-time mother, who leaves behind her mate and single pup to fend for themselves. This was a cowardly crime. I hope the perpetrator is caught quickly. Because she lived in the western two-thirds of Oregon, OR-28 was protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Poaching a protected species is punishable by a heavy fine and jail time. In 2015 the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported six wolf deaths due to illegal shootings, ingesting poison, or from suspicious but unknown causes. This is the highest number of illegal and suspicious wolf mortalities recorded in Oregon in a single year. Only one of the 2015 wolf deaths resulted in a conviction. Anyone with information about this case can call the Fish and Wildlife Service at (503) 682-6131 or the Oregon State Police Tip Line at (800) 452-7888. Callers may remain anonymous. News of OR-28s death comes on the heels of a statewide poll that found that the vast majority of Oregonians from both rural and urban areas oppose hunting as a way to manage wolves and believe wildlife officials wrongly removed state protections from wolves last November. The poll also revealed that most Oregonians believe nonlethal methods should be the primary focus in reducing conflicts between wolves and livestock. Oregonians love wolves and want them protected. The poaching of OR-28 is a disgusting crime that shouldnt go unpunished, Weiss said. Someone out there almost certainly knows who did this, and I really hope theyll step forward and help secure justice for this wolf. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - As a third consecutive year of drought deepens the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people in the south of Madagascar, the World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up its humanitarian operations in response to rising levels of hunger and malnutrition. The preliminary results of a multi-agency food security assessment, due to be released shortly, indicate that four out of nine southern districts are likely to fall into the emergency classification by years end. Unless swift action is taken, three more districts could follow. The situation is extremely worrying, WFP executive director Ertharin Cousin said as she concluded a visit to the island nation. The hunger and malnutrition were seeing is the result of three years of ruined harvests. We must receive the necessary funding to respond before its too late. This funding will also allow us to invest in peoples livelihoods, so we dont just save lives but change lives and break the cycle of emergency response. The south of Madagascar has been hard hit by this years El Nino, which resulted in reduced rains for southern Africa. To escape this misery, one household in three, in the south of the island, has already been forced into desperate measures such as begging, selling its land or house, or migrating. Four in 10 households have already eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November/December planting season. I met women who told me they had nothing to feed their babies except the fruit of the red cactus growing by the roadside, said Cousin after her visit to Tsihombe district, where nearly all households are food insecure, 80% of them severely so. Its vital in these situations that we and our partners ensure that no child goes hungry and that every child gets the nutrition he or she needs. With adequate funding and in support of the Madagascar governments own humanitarian response, WFP will scale up from November to reach as many as one million people with food and cash assistance. WFP is also expanding its programme to prevent and treat acute malnutrition among over 200,000 pregnant and nursing women, and children under five. Starting this month, in support of the upcoming planting season, WFP will provide food to vulnerable communities, complementing the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which will supply tools and drought-resistant seeds. WFP currently provides a daily hot meal to some 230,000 primary school children 42% of primary school students in the south. For most of these children, the school meal is the only nutritious meal they receive in a day. To ensure children receive nutrition and the education they deserve, WFP aligns its programme with education actors. Starting in early 2017, WFP alongside the Government of Madagascar, UNICEF, the World Bank and other partners is planning to reach even more children with its school meals programme. WFP requires US$92 million for this humanitarian response in the south of Madagascar from now until March of next year. It currently faces a shortfall of US$78.5 million. Amid the government's declaration of war on obesity and the subsequent sugar-tax skirmishes between Big Business and health academics, a recent study shows an unaccounted-for factor. A large segment of the population who are quite happy to be overweight. Researchers from the University of the Western Cape found that middle-aged black women, unlike their normal weight and obese counterparts, were not only content with their weight, but with many wanting to pack on more kilograms. The women were among nearly 80 men and women aged from 35 to 70, all from Langa, involved in the study: Perceptions of body size, obesity threat and the willingness to lose weight among black South African adults. Overweight equals happiness Although the overweight women had a body mass index (BMI) of 25,5 to 30, as opposed to the 18 to 24 of the normal weight participants, and cited over-eating and fatty, junk and sugary foods as causes of weight gain, they believed overweight equals happiness. Only if they had struggled with a previous chronic disease did they want to lose weight. If not, they indicated theyd be happy to add some kilograms. The results come against the reality in South Africa, where excess body weight (BMI over 25) was blamed in a 2000 study for 87% of type 2 diabetes, 38% of heart disease, and 45% of strokes. The authors pointed out that between 2002 and 2012, the prevalence of overweight and obesity spiked from 57% to 65% in South Africa. Socially desirable More concerning news from the study was that women of all sizes believed their culture, or their genetics, determined their size. We have big bones Overweight is something we inherited, one said. Another added: According to our values and culture, it is important for a woman to have a large body. It makes you to be respected (sic). The authors found that while opinions on thinness and overweight differed, the common opinion was that thin was bad, while overweight was socially desirable. Slender equals sick If you were thin, you were viewed as unhealthy, and associated with people living with HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, or battling cancer. You were also likely to have mental health issues, such as depression. One of the women in the overweight category went so far as to say that if her child lost weight, shed be concerned. Generational change There was some indication, however, that younger women (aged 36 to 40) thought differently, and could indicate a shift in perceptions in the longer term. Women in this age group, in both the overweight and obese categories, challenged the persistent cultural tolerance of large body size, the authors reported. One participant, who said she believed things were changing, pointed out that women ate because of mens view that overweight women were dignified. That is why we ate everything, not knowing that we are putting our health in danger (sic), she was quoted as saying. Unaware of health risks Although the authors said the fact that three-quarters of study participants were unemployed and of low socio-economic status and education levels could slant their views, they remained. Not only did the women in the overweight category fail to see themselves as being at risk of obesity, but appeared unaware of the associated health risks. Appropriate strategies to boost such awareness was therefore critical, they suggested. Authored by School of Public Health doctoral candidate, Kufre Okop, doctoral fellow, Ferdinand Mukumbang, senior researcher, Thubelihle Mathole, Professor Naomi Levitt and Professor emeritus Thandi Puoane, the study was published in April in the UK-based peer-reviewed journal BMC Public Health. Pretax losses at franchising group Taste Holdings widened to R45.5m in the six months to end-August, but the longer-term profit potential of the Starbucks coffee brand has started to percolate through since being launched in April. Carlo Gonzaga and Howard Schultz.Picture: Freddy Mavunda Taste CEO Carlo Gonzaga said the three Starbucks outlets were trading well ahead of initial company forecasts. For the four months of trading during the interim reporting period, the first two stores Rosebank and Mall of Africa generated combined revenues of R18m and were producing positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda), Gonzaga said. The sooner Taste can pour profits from Starbucks the better, as borrowing and bank overdrafts are sitting close to R300m, with cash at about R43m. Vunani Securities small-to-midcap analyst Anthony Clark expressed concern about how much cash Taste was eating up. "They have raised R500m from shareholders in recent years, which has been spent at a rapid rate. Im convinced they will need another cash infusion to keep going which will be difficult at the current share price." Gonzaga, however, does not foresee another capital raising exercise. "Starbucks looks better than we thought it would be. We foresee having to raise capital only if we want to accelerate our growth plans for Starbucks and Dominos, or make an investment in jewellery inventory." Tastes jewellery franchising operations were also chipping in encouragingly and had more than doubled interim pretax profits to R14.5m from revenues of R296m. Despite the lively start by Starbucks, Gonzaga stressed that Taste remained cautious around potential store numbers reiterating a medium-term goal of between 12 and 16 outlets in the next two years. "What we are really focusing on is ensuring the highest return on capital we can get at Starbucks. That might mean fewer, larger outlets that are highly cash generative rather than just pushing for store numbers. A 200m store requires capital expenditure of around R7m, but the returns are in excess of 25% on an internal rate of return." Gonzaga conceded Taste which is also rolling out pizza brand Dominos in SA would continue to see earnings pressure as investment into flagship brands continued. But he estimated that Starbucks would reach an ebitda breakeven at about five outlets. Gonzaga also reported that the Dominos business which has seen existing Scooters outlets converted into Dominos outlets had started to settle down. "We have seen average weekly sales rise 17% since March 2016." Dominos ended the interim period with 85 outlets (74 at the end of February) and had already added another two outlets in the second half. Gonzaga said the Dominos conversion had largely been concluded, with just two opportunities remaining. He stressed that lessons learnt in the Dominos conversion and rollout had been executed in the Starbucks business. "Already in all three [Starbucks] stores, we are transacting more than three times faster than when we launched." SAN FRANCISCO, USA: US online giant Amazon on Thursday announced that it plans to hire 120,000 seasonal workers to help handle an expected crush of holiday shopping. The Seattle-based internet retail colossus takes such measures every year, but its recruitment goal for this Christmas season represent a 20 percent jump from 2015. Amazon turned 14,000 of those temporary positions from last year into regular full-time jobs, and hoped to increase that number this time around, according to vice president of global customer fulfillment Mike Roth. "This is our favorite time of year," Roth said. "We're excited to bring on more than 120,000 seasonal employees this year to support growing customer demand." Amazon is not the only retailer to beef up its forces during the year-end holiday shopping season, but seemed more optimistic about demand than some traditional players who plan to keep seasonal hiring unchanged or even lower than last year. Macy's is hiring 83,000 holiday workers as compared to 85,000 last season. Target increased the number of holiday delivery and shipping related jobs by 1,000 to a total of 7,500, but hiring in retail shops will remain the same as last year -- 70,000 positions. Shipping service UPS plans to take on 95,000 seasonal workers to meet holiday demands for deliveries. The US National Retail Federation estimated that spending by US shoppers during the holiday months of November and December could reach $655.8 billion in a 3.6 percent increase year-over-year. The NRF expected online sales to surge seven to 10 percent to as much as $117 billion. The research firm eMarketer is projecting a stronger 17 percent jump in online holiday retail sales. Another US household name has launched in SA, with Dunkin' Donuts officially opening its first store in Cape Town on Thursday. Four more outlets are planned for launch in the Western Cape by Christmas. The US brand owner Dunkin Brands earlier in 2016 inked a franchise agreement with JSE-listed Grand Parade Investments to open more than 250 Dunkin Donuts and more than 70 Baskin-Robbins food shops in SA. Gauteng will have to wait until 2017 to get a taste of the well-known coffee and treats. Grand Foods the food division of Grand Parade will be responsible for the roll-out. Grand Foods CEO Alan Keet said the move was part of the groups strategy to expand its food portfolio through investing in market-leading brands, as well as to diversify the South African food and beverage industry. "Dunkin Donuts offers convenience for South Africans with a thirst for high-quality coffee and espresso beverages. Were identifying locations with high footfall and easy access, where our guests can easily and quickly grab their favourites or relax and have a coffee with friends." An extensive variety of the superior coffee would be available in SA, including the Dunkin Donuts original blend, lattes and cappuccinos, as well as a selection of cold beverages, the company said. Keet said black coffee lovers need not fear that they would not find their preferred and simple brew in store. "When people talk about artisanal coffee shops, they think about the special and exotic blends and names. In the US, Dunkin Donuts gets 40% of their revenue from filter coffee. Its their own brew and it will be here in SA too," said Keet. Brands in the Grand Foods stable include Burger King. The group owns 10% of Spur Corporation, and wholly owns Mac Brothers Catering Equipment and the Grand Foods Meat Plant. Keet said the Dunkin venture was forecast to start making profit in 2018. She was taken to Morton County jail and released after posting a $1,250 bond Tuesday morning, Keller said. 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. Kumba Iron Ore's success in obtaining full rights to the Sishen iron ore mine following an eight-year legal battle has been hailed by the company and its parent Anglo American as a sign that SA's institutions do work to fight corruption, if businesses use them constructively. This comes after the department of mineral resources granted the contested 21,4% in the Sishen mine to Kumba, which already owned the rest of the Sishen right, following a 2013 Constitutional Court ruling in Kumba's favour. Source: Anglo American The conditions placed on the granting of the stake will cost the Anglo American subsidiary about R100m to fulfil, and although these were agreed in talks between Kumba and the department within months of the court ruling, Kumba ultimately had to launch an internal appeal process in terms of the mining legislation to obtain mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane's signature on the award. Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani said the granting of the share to Kumba was a positive outcome, even though it had taken longer than Anglo would have liked. "It shows that institutions work if we back them," he said. Cutifani said Anglo would do everything it could to back institutions and use them in the appropriate way. "That is the only way we can fight corruption, is to use institutions constructively. Cutifani added his voice to the CEOs who have come out in support of finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, following the summons by the Hawks, saying the summons was not in the national interest and Gordhan was critical to the business- government initiative because he had the trust of business. Kumba CE, Themba Mkhwanazi, said while operationally nothing had changed at Kumba's flagship Sishen mine, the consequences of the award were far reaching for the mining industry. "We draw a lot of confidence from the fact that we knew we had done the right things and followed an extremely long and rigorous process in the courts and the Constitutional Court and stuck to our guns. "We never relented to any pressure and so what we take from this is, if you are confident you have done all the right things, you've just got to go through the process," he said. "In the current regulatory climate we're in, it shows there was a lot of work and effort and that through the DMR (department of mineral resources) we eventually got our approval." The awarding of the right took the department three years after the Constitutional Court ruled in 2013 that a mining right could not be divided, meaning the 21.4% stake had to go to Kumba's subsidiary Sishen Iron Ore Company (SIOC), which owns the balance of the right. While the conditions were agreed to within months, the three changes of mines minister from Susan Shabangu to Ngoako Ramatlhodi to Mosebenzi Zwane had delayed the process, Mkhwanazi said, forcing Kumba to lodge an internal appeal in terms of the mining act to force a signature from the minister. The 21.4% stake in Sishen had been owned by steelmaker ArcelorMittal SA, but the right lapsed in 2004 after the company failed to convert it to a new-order right. A little-known company called Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) then applied for the right ahead of Kumba, raising questions about political influence and impropriety at the department in accepting the application because ICT had links to the Gupta family, which is close to President Jacob Zuma. Among the conditions the department attached to the awarding of the rights to the 21,4% stake was a commitment from Kumba to continue selling iron ore to ArcelorMittal SA at export parity prices. Another condition of the award was SIOC's "continued support of skills development, research and development and initiatives to enable preferential procurement". Mkhwanazi said these conditions would cost less than R100m and some aspects of the conditions were already in Kumba's plans and budget. Envoys from nearly 200 nations met in Kigali on Thursday, 13 October, to discuss ridding the world of HFCs, gases introduced to save the ozone layer only to unwittingly assail Earth's climate. Representatives of 197 countries - among them 40 ministers including US Secretary of State John Kerry - are attending the summit. Delegates are hopeful that after years of talks, countries are now poised to commit to phasing out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), introduced in the 1990s to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refrigerators, aerosols, air conditioners and foam insulation. CFCs were discontinued under the ozone-protecting Montreal Protocol when scientists realised they were responsible for the growing hole in the ozone layer, which protects Earth from the Sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays. But it turned out that HFCs - while safe for the now-healing ozone - are thousands of times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. "We are meeting here in Kigali with unity of purpose: to pass an ambitious amendment to the Protocol that would phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons," said Rwanda's natural resources minister Vincent Biruta. "We have a unique opportunity to harness the goodwill and commitment to protect our climate and secure the bright future our citizens deserve," he said. HFCs "are increasing at a rate of 10-15% a year", said Greenpeace global strategist Paula Carbajal, making them "the fastest-growing greenhouse gas". Carbajal said HFCs could add as much as 0.1C (0.18F) to average global temperatures by mid-century, and 0.5C (0.9F) by 2100. The higher figure represents more than a quarter of the "well under" 2C ceiling that 195 nations agreed in the French capital in December for warming over pre-industrial levels. The goal was enshrined in the so-called Paris Agreement on curbing dangerous climate change. "If HFC growth is not stopped, it becomes virtually impossible to meet the Paris goals," said David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. Wael Hmaidan, international director of Climate Action Network, a coalition of NGOs, called for "an ambitious deal" to be signed in Kigali. HFCs - though a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987. The protocol also provided for the phase-out of interim replacement gases called HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) - by 2040 for developing countries, and 2030 for rich ones. This week's meeting, which kicked off on Monday, is the 28th of the treaty's 197 country parties. Negotiators are weighing various proposals for amending the protocol to freeze HFC production and use-by dates ranging from right away to 2031. India, which is a major HFC producer along with China, backs the later date, while countries in very hot parts of the world where HFC-using air conditioners are in high demand want temporary exemptions. Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered $80m (72m) to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs. This week's meeting follows hot on the heels of an aviation industry agreement to cap CO2 emissions at 2020 levels by 2035, and the Paris Agreement obtaining the required signatures to enter into legal force from November 4. The climate threat posed by HFCs was recognised by a UN sustainable development summit in 2012, when countries said they "support a gradual phase-down". When that should happen, and how fast, has been the subject of negotiations ever since. Bureaucrats have been meeting in Kigali since Monday with senior officials arriving to try to thrash out a final agreement on Thursday and Friday. "It's critical that nations seize this opportunity to reach the most ambitious HFC phase-down agreement possible," said Rachel Cleetus, climate policy manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a US-based think tank. "Our time to act to limit the worst consequences of climate change is rapidly dwindling." Source: AFP Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa, the Hon. Senzeni Zokwana, will lead the way and deliver the keynote address at Africa's largest agri-investment event, African Agri Investment Indaba , set to take place from 28-30 November in Cape Town. Hon. Senzeni Zokwana The African Agri Investment Indaba is the largest investment platform for agribusiness and covers the entire value chain of agriculture with an international high-level conference, an exhibition area, and the Investment Discovery Sessions. These sessions will present pre-selected African agri-projects from over 12 countries and a combined value of $2.6 billion to African and international investors. Deal-making and the long-term growth of African agriculture are the priorities of the event, an international gathering where business and government talk the same language and come together at one table. Speakers discuss real market opportunities across the various African regions, African agriculture as a growing private equity investment vehicle and how to create globally competitive industries in emerging markets across Africa. We are honoured to have the Hon. Minister Zokwana deliver the keynote address to this international audience states Ben Leyka, executive director of the African Agri Council, a network of agri-executives and organiser of the event. It demonstrates that agriculture and agribusiness are on top of the agenda for African governments we expect 5+ ministers, 50+ senior government representatives, 150+ investors and 350+ international agribusiness leaders. Africa's potential According to the latest Lions on the move II report by McKinsey, Africa could nearly double its manufacturing output (including agri-processing) to $930 billion in 2025 from $500 billion today, provided countries take decisive action to create an improved environment for manufacturers. Three-quarters of that potential could come from Africa-based companies meeting domestic demand - today, Africa imports one-third of the food, beverages, and other similar processed goods it consumes. The other one-quarter could come from more exports. The rewards of accelerated industrialisation would include a step change in productivity and the creation of up to 14 million stable jobs over the next decade. While the potential that Africa offers is undoubted, the question remains: will it be achieved? Businesses and governments will need to work harder to capture the opportunity and come together in open forums such as the African Agriculture Indaba. The African Agri Investment Indaba (AAII) 2016, taking place from the 28 30 November 2016 at the CTICC in Cape Town, is the meeting place for senior government officials, executives, and entrepreneurs across the agri value chain. With over $1bn worth of projects already in our database and a growing investor participation competing for the best projects to grow their agri portfolio, AAII 2016 is the ideal deal-making forum. For more information, please visit African Agri Council and [[www.agri-indaba.com African Agri Investment Indaba. The main beach area in Jeffreys Bay is set to undergo a facelift thanks to a financial boost of more than R12m from the Department of Environmental Affairs. Kouga Municipality mayor Elza van Lingen announced on Wednesday, 12 October, that the funding could not have come at a better time as the town was busy preparing for an influx of holidaymakers this festive season. "The municipality received R12.3m through the Department of Environmental Affairs' Working for the Coast Programme. "A portion of the funding will be used to upgrade facilities at Jeffreys Bay's Dolphin Beach, including the construction of a new lifeguard tower," Van Lingen said. Dolphin Beach was again awarded Blue Flag status last week, a major feat for the town as it is seen as a tourism draw card. Van Lingen said they expected the new lifeguard tower to be completed in time for the summer season. "Tourism is one of the main economic drivers of the Kouga region and our beaches a re one of the main reasons people visit Kouga," Van Lingen said. About 70 residents would benefit from the jobs created by the project, she said. The project will also see the construction of a boardwalk, ablution facilities at Pellsrus Beach and a clean-up of the 15km coastalline. Van Lingen said construction of the project would start next month, and should be completed in April. Source: The Herald Profitability among SA's short-term insurers is expected to weaken, as negative market growth prospects hamper their ability to boost premium income, according to S&P Global Ratings. While the sector's future profitability was positive - as return on equity remained above 10% over the medium term - it would weaken on toughening market conditions and poorer underwriting performance, S&P said in a report. "We view market growth prospects as negative. A combination of soft economic activity, considering tight household income and constrained expenditure within the corporate sector, will constrain overall P/C [property and casualty] gross premium growth," S&P said in its Insurance Industry and Country Risk Assessment: SA Property/Casualty report. At 2,7%, SA's short-term insurance penetration was relatively high compared with global peer markets. "Nevertheless, we believe that negative real rates of growth will emerge for most representative lines of business. We expect only select and niche lines of business to be resilient, with either small increases or flat premium adjustments." The ratings agency assessed country risk as "moderate" - two levels below the highest risk category. "Our assessment of moderate country risk reflects the economic risks stemming from weak economic growth, relative to that of peers in similar wealth categories, wide income disparities and infrastructure gaps, modest financial system risk, and an acceptable rule of law." In line with the World Bank, S&P estimates SA's nominal GDP per capita to be about 5,759. Real GDP per capita, which contracted 0,5% in 2015, will decline to $4,900 in 2016. Industry risk was assessed as "intermediate" - two levels above the lowest risk category. Heightened regulation had increased barriers to entry, but SA's nonlife insurance market was technically sophisticated and strongly competitive, S&P said. "The industry structure is oligopolistic in structure, with the top five insurance groups combined commanding less than half of all premiums written. "We anticipate some consolidation in the industry, amid intensifying competitive pressures, over the medium term." Although it may not have been your original intention to become a landlord and let out your property, there are certain situations in life where the need may arise. Some homeowners may need to relocate for work or are dealing with financial difficulty that they need to address. If the end goal is to hold onto the property, renting it out could be a feasible option, bearing in mind it does have both advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages of letting out your property: Financial relief or the elimination of a double house payment A rental income will be generated when the property is let out. This money can be used to pay the bond on the property, as well as other expenses related to the home, provided of course that the rental income is sufficient to cover these overheads. Even in the instance where the money received is not enough to cover everything, it will provide some financial relief to a homeowner who needs to pay for a bond and possibly a rental on another property as well. In certain cases, it is better to have a tenant in the house than have it stand empty While there is a certain amount of risk to having a tenant in the home, leaving the home unoccupied can come at a greater cost. If the home is vacant, it can become a target for thieves, vandals or squatters. This is especially true if the owner has relocated to another city or province and is not able to keep an eye on the property on a regular basis. Having the right tenant in the home provides some protection to the property and they could also assist in maintaining it. The tenant could be the future buyer of the property If the owner decides that they would like to sell the property at a later stage, there is always the possibility that the tenant may decide to purchase it. The tenant may have been renting while they were saving for a deposit or to cover other costs associated with a property transaction and could be the ideal buyer. The rental deposit could also be used as part of the purchase deposit. Now for the downside to letting out your property: The owner may require equity to purchase another home The only way that letting out the property can be a financially viable option is if the owner can afford to rent or buy somewhere else. In the instance where the homeowner has relocated and intends to purchase another home, they may require the equity from their previous home as a deposit. If this is the case, then letting out the home would not be an option. Certain tenants could make it more difficult to sell the home If the tenant does not want to purchase the home, they may not be very cooperative during the sales process and could make it difficult for buyers to view the property. There is also the risk that the tenant has done little to ensure the upkeep of the property or has caused damage. If the home is unoccupied, it is far easier to make repairs, clean up and get the property ready for show days. Dealing with delinquent tenants Once a tenant has taken occupancy of a property it can be a long and tedious process to evict them, even if they are no longer paying their monthly rental. Landlords always run the risk of having to deal with a delinquent tenant who is costing them money and possibly causing damage to the property. Incurring additional expenses such as lawyers fees completely eliminates any benefits of renting the property out. This risk can be mitigated to a degree by proper vetting and background checks of all possible tenants. Managing the property remotely can be difficult Managing a rental property could prove to be rather difficult, especially if the homeowner is living in another city. If this is the situation, it would make sense to hire a property management agent who has the expertise to effectively vet tenants, collect rent and ensure the property is well looked after. Looking at both the advantages and disadvantages will assist homeowners to determine whether letting out their property is the best decision for them in their current situation. While becoming a landlord can be beneficial, it is definitely not for everyone. #TEDxCT speaker profile: Carlo Randall Carlo Randall is a bush doctor and entrepreneur from Cape Town. He's an advocate for the use of indigenous medicinal plants and will be talking to the TEDxCapeTown audience on 15 October at Ratanga Junction. Give us some background about yourself and your career/initiative? Give us some background about yourself and your career/initiative? Randall: I am a bush doctor, entrepreneur and artist born in Cape Town, South Africa. With 20 years of experience, I have an established practise in Cape Town, and I worked for Stellenbosch University as a research assistant and lecturer on Indigenous Medicinal Plants used in South Africa. I am an advocate and custodian for the livelihood of indigenous medicinal plants and remedies. I work with indigenous plant remedies, an oral knowledge acquired by travelling in search of indigenous healers. For a large part of my life, I lived a nomadic lifestyle, the same as the Khoi & San. I believe in taking ownership of the knowledge of your experience and that Knowledge and Self is powerful. The truth heals. Is this your first TEDx presentation and how are you feeling about it? Is this your first TEDx presentation and how are you feeling about it? Randall:No. I spoke at TEDxTableMountain in 2013. I'm feeling more nervous and anxious than the first because TEDxCapeTown has a larger audience. What is your interpretation of the theme Here/Hear to Listen? What is your interpretation of the theme Here/Hear to Listen? Randall:It speaks to where we are physically and the message heard. How will your presentation relate to the theme? How will your presentation relate to the theme? Randall:They will hear trauma of being denied an indigenous identity or will they be listening to the dynamic leap... What are you looking forward to the most about TEDxCapeTown this year? What are you looking forward to the most about TEDxCapeTown this year? Randall:To the event being a success and meeting people who are making a change in people's lives... TEDxCapeTown 2016: Tech-enabled to go green and enhance audience experience For the first time since 2011, TEDxCapeTown is committed to a more tech-enabled team and delivery of the event. Audience members can expect to experience a web-enabled application, implemented by Accenture South Africa, allowing them to view the programme of the day, listed speakers and their bios and directly engage via the TEDxCapeTown social channels in-app. For the second consecutive year, Accenture South Africa has decided to partner with the largest TEDx event on the African continent, to demonstrate and share contributions to innovation. Accenture strongly identifies with the ethos of TEDx which exists to discuss ideas worth spreading. Accenture and TEDx believe passionately in the power of innovation to change attitudes, perceptions and behaviours. In South Africa, Accenture remains committed to playing a strategic role in supporting our clients and helping to drive sustainable economic growth, says Suren Govender, managing director of Accenture Analytics, part of Accenture Digital. Our focus at TEDx this year really is to listen to the ideas local TEDx folks have and assist by translating these ideas from strategy to outcome into meaningful and actionable results that could contribute to job creation and growing the economy. As part of its 2016 Rainbow Tour around South Africa, The Color Run will take place in Cape Town on 12 November 2016. The race will commence at Green Point Track at 14.00 and end at 11 Fritz Sonnenberg Road at 15.00. The Color Run is a five kilometre un-timed race in which thousands of participants, or Color Runners, are doused from head to toe in different colours at each kilometre. Founded in 2011 in the USA, The Color Run has grown to become the single largest event series in the world, touching over 200 cities around the globe. Proceeds go to education The Color Run is built on four principles: be happy, be healthy, be you, and give back to the community. This year, with the help of headline sponsor Capitec Bank, Parkview Primary School will be the recipient of money raised at the event. For every ticket sold, R10 will be donated to the school to help with the purchasing of much needed equipment. We have partnered with Adopt-A-School Foundation, which identifies, on our behalf, schools in need of assistance in each area where The Color Run holds an event, says Capitec Banks head of communications, Charl Nel. Heart FM is the official radio partner to The Color Run in Cape Town for the fourth consecutive year. Heart FM DJs will be on the decks to welcome Color Runners with awesome beats as the run gets under way. Charity and school fundraising is a big part of The Color Run. Register your own school or charity on the Fun Raiser programme and raise money for every ticket sold under your unique Fun Raiser code. To give back, contact The Color Run on az.oc.nurroloceht@olleh. Ticket details Tickets to the event are already almost sold out. Tickets are available online from The Color Run website and Facebook. Individual ticket prices are R250 and R225 for groups of four or more. Manual entry points are listed on the events website. Late entries, or tickets bought on the day are R300. Kids under the age of 10 run free. Color Runners will each receive a race pack with includes a Rainbow Tour edition race T-Shirt, headband, bag of colour powder, temporary tattoos and a race number. Additionally, every Color Runner will receive a R200 coupon for use on the Superbalist.com app. Ts&Cs apply. Read about Julia van Schalkwyks Color Run experience in Johannesburg earlier this year here. thecolorrun.co.za The question of retail's power to restore SA's economy was addressed by various speakers at the Beyond Retail 2016 event. These are the top outtakes from 'the economist's view' as shared by Dr Azar Jammine of Econometrix. On Thursday, 13 October 2016, Beyond Retail 2016 took place at The Bay Hotel rotunda in Camps Bay, hosted by UCS Solutions and Business Connexion. After networking over coffee while breathing in the beautiful palm tree-lined ocean views, attendees were welcomed by Jessica Knight, CEO of UCS Solutions who called the annual event a highlight that offers all with an interest in the retail industry the chance to debate and share views. With the disclaimer that South Africa is going through turbulent times yet growth in consumer spending sparks economic expansion, Dr Azar Jammine, the polymath who speaks six languages and is director and chief economist at Econometrix spoke first. He began by stating thus far the news is positive with retail sales growing 3% this year, making his short answer yes, but questioned whether it will continue to do so undoubtedly. He set the scene by describing the current economic context and spoke of the fact that this years Budget Speech didnt expressly focus on the retail sector. He expressed his views on the 2016 Budget Speech below: The economic context The worlds population is growing drastically and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2040. SA follows the global trend. Urbanisation is also taking hold, with China the pinnacle example, as well as Africa, which is relatively non-urbanised overall so theres still huge scope for future urbanisation. This equates to good long-term economic growth potential. The resulting shift in demographic trends also needs to be addressed by retailers and marketers alike who lives where when? Life expectancy has also seen a marked increase over the past decade, particularly among females Jammine says to add the difference between your birthdate to your spouses and add six. Thats how much longer wives are now expected to live beyond their husbands. Much of this success locally can be attributed to the reduction in Aids-related deaths following the nationwide roll-out of free ARVs in 2005. Jammine admits theres definitely lots of doom and gloom regarding the economy of late, but there are reasons to be upbeat. The local drought is hopefully over, with our annual October rains just around the corner There has been increased tourism into South Africa from across the globe The electricity supply constraint has dissipated Inflation was lower than expected Interest rate hikes are no longer a certainty The petrol price is falling and actually lower now than it was a year ago Businesses still have solid balance sheets Commodity prices have recovered from January lows The rand is still cheap and costs are rising at a slow pace, creating a wonderful opportunity for exports. Jammine forecasts gradual depreciation over the next few years and says, In all seriousness we need to stop blaming Zuma for everything, as much of SAs recent economic slowdown has been based on global factors. Luckily the IMF says both global and local conditions should improve slightly over the next few years, and Africa is still seen as the last bastion for global growth. Jammine also pointed out two seldom recognised sources of inequality beyond educational disparities these are global monetary policies and the impact of improved corporate governance and related factors like executives' remuneration over that of the working class, which breeds antagonism yet also creates an affluent middle-class or upper-class minority, important for the retail sector. All taken into account Jammine cautions against being too positive for the short-term future as indebtedness is still high. He says: "Be sober about prospects over the coming year. Retail is undoubtedly an important prop, but we need to do more. Look out for further coverage of the #BeyondRetail2016 sessions over the next week on just how the local retail market is boosting the SA economy. Mercer, a global consulting leader in advancing health, wealth and careers, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies has appointed Mustafa Faizani, a 10-year Mercer veteran, as market leader and CEO for its IMETA region, which comprises India, the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. He will also serve as CEO of Mercer UAE. Mustafa Faizani Mercer has had a presence in Africa since 2013. Faizani will focus on building Mercers capabilities in this critical growth market to deliver innovative products and solutions, provide high-quality client service and profitably grow the business. We have invested significant resources in these countries to deliver advanced solutions that help our clients succeed and make a positive difference in peoples lives, said David Anderson, president, Growth Markets Region, Mercer. We believe each of these countries are poised for significant growth. Under Mustafas leadership, our teams will partner with our clients to build sustainable, high-powered, people-focused businesses that succeed by preparing today to meet tomorrows needs and opportunities. Faizani is a Mercer veteran. He joined the company in Los Angeles in 2007 to work in the firms US Heath and Benefits and Retirement units. He has served as CFO of Mercers Growth Markets Region since 2012. Earlier this year he took on the additional responsibility of business operations leader for the region. He started his career as a senior investment analyst at a capital management firm before moving to a California-based bank where he held the role of vice president and consultant for Retirement Plan Services. A makeshift school at a protest camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation is operating without state approval, according to State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler. In a Friday letter addressed to the tribal council, including Chairman Dave Archambault II, Baesler said the school called the Defenders of Water School at Seven Council Fires Camp is operating illegally and must secure state approval. Baesler said in a phone interview Tuesday she's working with the tribal council to inform them of what it needs to do to become an approved operating school that meets state requirements. The school must adhere to five operating requirements, including having teachers licensed to teach in only their subject area and teach curriculum required under North Dakota Century Code. In the meantime, Baesler said she encourages students at the camp to enroll in state-approved schools, including Mandan and Solen school districts, which have agreed to bus students from the camp. Solen Superintendent Justin Fryer said, since last month, the district started sending a bus to the camp to pick up 14 students and bring them to Cannon Ball Elementary and Solen High School. The camp is located within the Mandan School District, which already has a bus that travels there to pick up children who attend Mandan schools. My major priority in this whole situation is to ensure these students are enrolled in an approved enrolled school, and that their educational well-being is being attended to," Baesler said. Thousands of people children and adults have flocked to the encampment located on the north bank of the Cannonball River in the past several months to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Defenders of Water School was established in August and had about 40 students on its first day, from preschool children to 16-year-olds. It's not clear how many students currently attend the school and whether they're North Dakota residents or from other states. "With them living in our state, they become our students," Baesler said. The process to get a new school approved is "lengthy," according to Baesler, who said she didn't want students there to lose out on any learning time. Archambault did not respond Tuesday to request for a comment. "Until they meet the requirements, or work towards meeting those requirements, (the Education Standards and Practices Board) can offer some provisional licenses, but until they meet all five of those requirements, I cant approve it," Baesler said. For rodeo man Ty Breuer, riding a bareback horse while trying to stay on for at least eight seconds runs in the family. Breuer remembers watching his father, Ed Breuer, and uncle, Dean Breuer, rodeo when he was a kid, and he was hooked. On Oct. 6-9 Breuer and his brother, Casey, competed in the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot and Ty earned top honors in the bareback event. This years Badlands Circuit Finals was hosted by the Minot Ys Mens Rodeo committee. Max Weppler, a director on the board of the Minot Ys Mens Rodeo, said, Hes (Ty Breuer) a wonderful young man. Were more than happy to have him representing our circuit in Kissimmee, Florida, and also in Las Vegas. Weppler said each participant has to compete in at least 15 rodeos in the Badlands Circuit to make it to Minot, where the top 12 money winners in each category compete. The year-end winner in each event will compete in Kissimmee at the national competition in April, against champions in the 11 other circuits across the nation, said Weppler. A full-time rodeo participant and fourth-generation Morton County rancher, Breuer said he started out riding calves and moved up to sheep and steers when he was a kid, but his father held him off from riding for a few years until his body matured. Breuer recalls his first amateur win was as a sophomore in high school during a competition in Elgin when he got his first bareback buckle. Breuers rookie year was in 2010 and he has participated in a few hundred rodeos since 2009, 70 this year alone. Its nice to be home whenever I get the chance, said Breuer. His favorite part about competing is traveling with his brother, Casey, who won fourth place at the Minot competition last weekend, We root for each other all the time, said Breuer. Breuer said his most memorable ride was last year when he won the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, Ore. Its one of the coolest ones around. Now 26, Breuer has also faced serious injuries during his career. A broken back in January 2015 at the Denver Stock Show kept him out for six months. He also sustained separated ribs earlier this year. In the midst of the major victories and this years minor injury, Breuer is still humble, Id like to thank the state of North Dakota for the support they give me and my brother throughout the year, said Breuer. 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. Protesters will discuss nonviolent measures to oppose the resumption of construction, camp spokesman Cody Hall said Tuesday. "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 future of consultation on such projects. The Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now, a partnership of entities involved in infrastructure projects in the Midwest, issued a statement saying it applauds the administration for meeting with tribes to refine the process for future projects. However, spokesman Craig Stevens urged the Obama 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. 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. 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. The Associated Press and Bismarck Tribune reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this report. The Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA), with the support of the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) is pleased to announce the launch of the Best Practice Guide for the Visual Arts in South Africa. The Best Practice Guide was developed out of the need to share and develop industry practices that would support healthy and ethical relationships and transactions between practitioners in the industry. The guide is written to give all people involved in the visual arts an understanding of the practice South Africa should be aiming towards for the betterment of the visual arts. Commissioned by the Department of Arts and Culture and written by Visual Arts Network of South Africa, the guide is intended to support a growing and strengthening the visual arts field. The content of the guide is extensive and covers as many fields as possible to be as accessible as possible to all. It covers a range from sales to insurance, to taxes, to marketing and social media to the rights of practitioners in the field. We expect it will be invaluable for many people to better empower themselves to make knowledgeable decisions. The director of VANSA, Molemo Moiloa, comments on important content in the guide: "We are very excited to launch this guide and make it available to the South African visual arts community. The guide is aimed at giving people as much information as possible so that they can take the paths they wish to, equipped with an understanding of where those paths may lead". The guide strongly recommends the use of written agreements in all relations for the arts, something that is not yet usual practice for artists and gallerists. The guide also makes a case for ensuring artists are paid in every circumstance possible to encourage the professionalisation of creative work and the betterment of artists' livelihoods. The guide is aimed at all practitioners across South Africa and will be available online. Visit the VANSA website to download your free copy now. Workshops will be held across South Africa where copies of the guide will be given to participants. These workshops are also free and will give attendees a better understanding of how to use the guide. The workshops are hosted by partners of VANSA throughout South Africa. Workshop dates and venues are listed below. The workshops are supported by the National Arts Council. For further information please write to the corresponding email addresses: -Durban, KZN SA Gallery 20 October and 10 November 2016 moc.enilnosuxeno@lessur. -Sterkspruit, Sterkspruit Community Art Centre 20 October 2016 moc.liamg@825itnosisiloxm -Durban, BAT Centre 21 October and 11 November 2016 moc.liamg@ilihpewisilihp -Cape Town, Langa Guga S'Thebe 21 October 2016? gro.krowtenlairetra@tnomlav -Free State, Fezile Dabi 21 and 28 October 2016 az.oc.evil@azohk -Cape Town, AVA Gallery 22 and 29 October 2016 az.oc.ava@nimda Oudtshoorn, Oudtshoorn Youth Cafe 25 October 2016 moc.liamg@tranotlen -Mafikeng Museum 28 October 2016 gro.prodskrelk@elitnebv -Bloemfontein, QwaQwa Boitsebelo Junior Technical School 31 October 2016 az.oc.yrarbilastastames@aselap -Welkom, Lejweleputswa Art Centre 4 November 2016 moc.liamg@lebaolehuahk -Cape Town, HubSpace, Khayelitsha 10 November 2016 moc.liamg@drallucsanex -Bloemfontein, Sesotho Literary Museum 14 November 2016 az.oc.yrarbilastastames@aselap -George, George Youth Cafe 15 November 2016 moc.liamg@tranotlen -Port Elizabeth, ArtEC 16 November 2016 moc.oohay@uvebug.ozemupmon -Polokwane, Polokwane Art Museum 25 November and 4 December 2016 az.vog.enawkolop@LsomA -Johannesburg, VANSA 26 November 2016 az.oc.asnav@koobdnah -Cape Town, Parkwood Community Centre 10 December 2016 moc.liamg@drallucsanex -Cape Town, Artscape 26 March 2017 gro.krowtenlairetra@tnomlav -Thaba Nchu, Mmabana Art Centre Date to be confirmed moc.liamg@aliaytder -General Free State by appointment Date to be confirmed moc.liamg@51elahommi About VANSA VANSA operates as a support point and development agency for contemporary art practice in South Africa. We develop industry knowledge, resources, networks and projects that are concerned with realising new social, cultural and economic possibilities for contemporary art practice in the South African and, the wider African, context. Established in 2002, VANSA is a national network of artists and arts organisations with just over 7000 members. For more information, please visit www.vansa.co.za E-mail address: az.oc.asnav@koobdnah A subcommittee has been reviewing Mandans sign policy and working to transition it to a more formal ordinance for the past few months. The subcommittee includes representatives of the Mandan Architectural Review Commission, which considers applications for business sign permits, as well as members of the Planning and Zoning Commission. The Planning and Zoning Commission will conduct a public hearing on the draft ordinance at its meeting at 5:15 p.m. Oct. 24. The meeting will be held at Mandan City Hall, 205 Second Ave. N.W. Members of the public may submit comments in advance by mailing to Bob Decker, Principal Planner, 205 Second Ave. N.W., Mandan, N.D. 58554 or by e-mailing. For more information, call 701-667-3248. If the Planning and Zoning Commission recommends approval of the draft ordinance it will be submitted to the Mandan City Commission in November for consideration. Members of the Mandan High School's Future Business Leaders of America chapter attended the North Dakota FBLA fall leadership conference Oct. 2-3 in Bismarck. About 500 FBLA members from across the state participated in the conference, which emphasized the development of leadership skills of local chapter members. Members attending the conference had the opportunity to participate in sessions that focused on leadership development, being happy and creativity. The chapters also had an opportunity to work together in developing a program of activities for the year that focused on state and national FBLA programs. To learn more, visit FBLAs website at www.nd-fbla.org. IDPs taking refuge in Buthidaung (Photo Narinjara News) U Tun Aung Thein, a member of the Arakan State parliament told Narinjara News that that the internally displaced people (IDPs) were currently sheltering at Thudhammayone Monastery in Buthidaung. He said: Although they have been placed at the monastery there may be difficulties with food [supplies]. They are currently being taken care of with aid from donors. U Maung Win Naing, who has been helping the IDPs, told Narijara News that there are plans to relocate them to Buthidaung Basic Education High School (1) as there might not be enough room at Thudhammayone Monastery if more IDPs arrive there. IDPs taking refuge in Buthidaung (Photo Narinjara News) U San Tun who fled from Aung Zeya Village in Maungdaw Township said the situation was very bad and he had fled because there was a lack of both security and food. He said: Only middle-aged men are left. The rest of the villagers have run away. When the trouble started the bullets even reached our village. IDPs have arrived in Buthidaung from Aung Zeya, Aung Mingalar, Aung Tharyar, and Hpa Wut Chaung villages. Reporting by Shwe Ya Aung in Toungup for Narinjara News Translated by Thida Linn Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI According to a report by the state-owned Myawady Daily news journal on October 9, the SSPP/SSA stands accused of planting landmines near Mawmae village, tract 4 of Monghsu Township. Two villagers, named as Loong Ku and his niece, stepped on one and were injured by the resulting blast. Reached for commented, Maj. Sao Ba Tun, secretary 3 of SSPP/SSA, said, We never have an intention of attacking the people of Shan State. We never set out to injure civilians. Whenever there is an explosion, whether in a city or in rural areas, the Tatmadaw [Burmese armed forces] always accuses ethnic armed groups. The SSPP/SSA officer acknowledged that his group had signed state-level and union-level ceasefire accords, but did not sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement with the government on October 15 last year. Nevertheless, he said, the SSPP/SSA was not responsible for this incident. He went on to say that the SSPP/SSA believes in the peace process and supports it. He noted that, apart from SSPP/SSA, Burmese military units and police are also active in Mongshu Township. On October 7, Loong Ku, age 60, and his niece, Nang Jing, 9, went into their local forest to collect wild mushrooms. They stepped on a landmine near Nang Gaohant temple and it exploded. The pair are now being treated at a local hospital in Kholam sub-township. On that same day, Burmese government troops launched an offensive against SSPP/SSA troops in Monghsu. No details were offered as to casualties on either side. The SNLD, known locally as the Tiger Head Party, won a total of 40 seats at the last general election in November 2015, and was the second biggest winner in Shan State, next to the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Fighting between Burmese government forces and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) forced the cancellation of polling in some constituencies, including Kehsi and Monghsu townships in central Shan State, and Kengtung Township in eastern Shan State. Sai Nyunt Lwin, the general secretary of the SNLD, said, We will contest the three townships that were left off the ballot at the last election. Monghsu and Kehsi each have two seats for the State parliament, plus one Lower House seat. And there is another seat to be contested for the State parliament in Kengtung Township. The by-election was announced on October 11 by Burmas Union Election Commission, which confirmed that a total of 18 vacant seats in Union and regional parliaments would be contested on April 1 next year. However, constituencies will not be polled in areas under the control of the United Wa State Army, such as Pangsang, Narpan, Pangwai and Mongmaw; as well as Mongla Township, which is the base of the Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army. They [ethnic armed groups] control these areas by themselves, said SNLDs Sai Nyunt Lwin. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) I Cannot Pull Off Fashion As Well As Sonam Does -- Ileana D'Cruz At La Senza Event In Bangalore Bollywood Wardrobe Kaustubha Ileana D'Cruz recently gave Bangalore city a pleasure of her company. The actress visited the city to check out the new La Senza store at Garuda Mall, Bangalore. With the launch of a new store in Bangalore, the uber popular Canadian lingerie brand also launched their new collection called 'Beyond Sexy'. This new collection is designed keeping in mind those women who prefer a bold and confident look. The collection is all about frills, dainty sexy straps, lacework, and embellishments. Checking out the collection, Ileana said, "I am so thrilled to be out here at the La Senza store at Garuda Mall in Bengaluru. Totally in Love with their new sexy collection. More in love with the Beyond Sexy Collection and its amazing fit!" When asked about whether she consider herself a fashion buff, she responded, "I like dressing to my own style then actually dressing for the trends. I don't think I can pull off as well as Sonam does." She prefers flats over heels. Well, Ileana, we absolutely feel you. Sometimes you really need to give your feet a little rest. At the event, Ileana wore a black pantsuit. She wore a black bodice inside a sleeveless jacket paired with tapered pants. She put together this look with a pair of sexy yellow heels. She wore her hair in a low ponytail. She looked lovely. The public is invited to attend the annual meeting of the supporters of the Former Governors' Mansion State Historic Site at 7 p.m. Thursday at the mansion. Membership in the Society for the Preservation of the Former Governors' Mansion starts at $10 annually per individual. Election of board members and additional business will take place during the meeting. The mansion opens at 6 p.m. for tours prior to the meeting. June Alice (Wills) Vollmer, 94, Bismarck, passed away Oct. 12, 2016. Mass of Christian burial will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Bismarck. Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan. Family will be receiving friends from 5 to 7 p.m. today at Bismarck Funeral Home with a vigil service at 7 p.m., sharing memories and stories. She was born to Minnie (Couch) and John Will on May 13, 1922, on a ranch outside Sentinel Butte, the fifth of six children. Her parents divorced when she was 5 and her mother worked in Sentinel Butte awhile and then moved June and her younger brother to Belle Fourche, S.D., then to Lemmon, S.D. While attending school, June helped in the hotel/restaurant her mother owned, graduating from Lemmon High School. She was interested in journalism, attended Dickinson State Teachers College one year, where she met Fred Vollmer to whom she became engaged, marrying him in Seattle, Wash., Aug. 15, 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she returned to Lemmon, when Fred enlisted in the Navy; from there she moved to Bismarck to have her new baby, being welcomed by Freds family, especially sister, Ann, and niece, Darlene Turitto. As Fred traveled from the North African Campaign after V.E. Day, he had a short leave in Bismarck to see June and Ricky on his way to the South Pacific, finishing his volunteer tour of duty there. Junes brother, Oscar, lived in Cheyenne, Wyo., and she joined him there, where Kenneth Bruce was born. Following the war, the family settled in Casper, Wyo., where the last four children were born. After Ricky died in 1956, the family started moving Santa Paula, Calif., Bismarck, back to Santa Paula, to Bellevue, Wash., back to Bismarck where the children graduated from high school. June worked at the pharmacy at Osco Drug in Bismarck, assisted Fred in managing the Plaza Cafe, worked at Riddle and Ringer Jewelry, opened her own business, J.V.s Plant Shop, downtown Bismarck, and was a proofreader at the Bismarck Tribune (her favorite job). She held a Real Estate license from 1969 until 1980 and worked at Castle Realty, Robert James Realty and Diamond Realty, Bismarck. Then she assisted Fred in Vollmer Appraisal until her eyesight was affected by the computer work, ending her formal employment in the mid 1990s. Her Catholic faith was important to her and she was involved in the Altar Society, doing volunteer work in the various parishes she lived. She was a Den Mother for Cub Scouts, president and member of PTA, volunteered at Bismarck Senior Center through RSVP and enjoyed her volunteer work for Gods Child, Bismarck. June was kind and sweet, soft-spoken, ever ready to assist anyone in need; she was generous to charities in which she believed and was a frugal saver. She would get restless to move about every two years, she was of pioneer stock, it was in her genes. She enjoyed reading about the pioneer women of the prairie and their struggles and victories. Junes sons called her a saint. Her family and many friends remember her laugh, big smile, genuine sense of humor and compassionate spirit. At 94, she was ready to move to the next phase. Bon Voyage, Sweet Lady! Junes joys in life were her children and their children and her deepest sorrows were the deaths of four of her children. She is survived by her daughter, Diane Kay Markel, White Bear Lake, Minn.; her son, John David, Bloomington, Ind.; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandson; one great-great-granddaughter; and her nieces and nephews. June was preceded in death by her parents; all five siblings; some nieces and nephews; and saddest of all by four of her children, Carol Lynn (1947), Wyoming, Frederick Michael Ricky (1956), Wyoming, Kenneth Bruce (1993), Bismarck, and Gerald Allen (2003), Billings, Mont. The attorney representing Amy Goodman, a Democracy Now reporter criminally charged after covering a pipeline protest, is condemning comments the prosecutor gave the Tribune, in which he challenged her as a journalist. "It appears Ladd (Erickson) has taken a side in the pipeline issue," said Goodman's attorney, Tom Dickson. "He has sort of interjected himself into this case to further a political decision, and thats inappropriate for a prosecutor." But Erickson insists he is just looking at the evidence, not siding with the pipeline companies. "I haven't spoken to any of the pipeline people. I don't know anybody down there like that," he said Thursday. "That doesnt even make sense to me." Dickson also suggested Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem should take over this case and others involving protesters, because he might provide a "more dispassionate view of what crimes are going to be charged." Erickson, the McLean County state's attorney, who is assisting the Morton County state's attorney, dismissed this suggestion, as well. "Morton County, they dont want to get into any of this. Theyre just dealing with the cases that come in," he said. Stenehjem said in an email that his office gets involved in cases at the request of state's attorney's offices, when they believe they need assistance. "I know Ladd Erickson to be a seasoned and highly professional prosecutor who will do his duty within the bounds of proper ethics and the law," he wrote. The Morton County state's attorney did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Erickson said he stands by the comments he made to the Tribune on Tuesday. Amy Goodman's reporting appeared to him one-sided and further video evidence shows her doing what he considers more than reporting, including yelling at security guards who were trying to fend people off, he said. "I think she put together a piece to influence the world on her agenda, basically. Thats fine, but it doesnt immunize her from the laws of her state," Erickson said. This is after Matt Taibbi, an award-winning reporter for Rolling Stone magazine published an open letter to Erickson, condemning his comments and defending her as a journalist. He credits her in part with the Obama administration's move to halt construction on part of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Goodman announced Thursday she would turn herself into authorities at 8:15 a.m. Monday. She is facing a B misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass. On Sept. 3, Goodman 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. State lawmakers who cut positions from the North Dakota Department of Human Services budget request last year deserve some of the blame for a recent audit that was highly critical of how the agency licenses and monitors child care providers, members of a legislative committee said Thursday. The audit released in August found the department failed to properly monitor or suspend providers and notify parents after confirmed knowledge of activities that jeopardize the health and safety of children. It also was criticized for backdating licenses before all of the paperwork was received and for allowing licenses to become effective before background checks were performed. The 15-member Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee reviewed the audit Thursday. Sen. Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, said lawmakers are partly responsible because much of what is being criticized is documentation. She noted the Legislature cut 4.5 positions from the departments 2015-17 budget request, and theres only so much that a staff can do. I think we have to recognize that it is important for the department to do everything we have required them to do. We also have to, as a legislative body, make sure that there is adequate staff, she said. The committees chairman, Sen. Jerry Klein, R-Fessenden, agreed. Weve got a lot of pressure in the state to provide child care, but weve got to do it properly, he said. Executive Director Maggie Anderson said DHS and its county social service partners take the safety of children very seriously and have taken auditors recommendations to heart. Some of the licensing issues were already being addressed by an advisory group created by Gov. Jack Dalrymple last spring, which is expected to come out with proposed administrative rule changes as soon as next month. Other reforms may require changes in state law, officials said. Rep. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, said that in addition to the staff shortage, the audit identified the states data system for tracking child care providers is lacking. I dont think there was any ill intent by any party, but I think sometimes things just fall through the cracks, she said. The committees vice chairman, Rep. Chet Pollert, R-Carrington, said he believes the intent of DHS is in the right direction. But he also alluded to the challenge facing the Legislature when it convenes in January with drastically reduced tax revenues due to low prices for crude oil and farm commodities. Were in a contraction mode. So its going to be interesting to see, where are our priorities going to lie? he said. WATFORD CITY The McKenzie County Commission voted unanimously Thursday to petition the governor to remove Sheriff Gary Schwartzenberger from office after an investigation into workplace bullying and retaliation. Commissioners also voted unanimously to place Lt. Michael Schmitz on administrative leave while commissioners decide on disciplinary action that could include termination. The countys human resources manager recently requested an investigation into allegations of workplace bullying and retaliation made against both Schwartzenberger and Schmitz, according to documents made public Thursday. An investigator with The Village Business Institute interviewed employees of the sheriffs office and other county departments and concluded that Schwartzenberger and Schmitz used threatening, intimidating and other controlling behaviors. Some officers said they feared they could lose their jobs if they spoke up, including one who described rampant fear in the sheriffs office, according to the investigation. One longtime employee who quit last year told the investigator she left due to the office environment. The workplace had become demeaning, controlling, untrusting and full of suspicion, and I felt isolated, harassed and abused, she said. Schwartzenberger was charged last year with a Class A misdemeanor for allegedly using a county credit card to charge about $1,000 in unauthorized expenses during a trip to Las Vegas. He has pleaded not guilty to misapplication of entrusted property and the case is still pending. A county employee who is a witness in that criminal case told investigators she received a threatening email from Schwartzenberger and she fears retaliation. The investigation also cited a pattern of applying three-day suspensions or other disciplinary actions that seemed to be inconsistent with the level of offense and examples of demoting ranking officers without due process. The investigator attempted to interview Schwartzenberger about the retaliation and bullying allegations but he would not do an interview and said he thought the investigation was being illegally conducted, documents show. Commissioners also referenced other complaints about Schwartzenberger in their motion to petition for his removal, but didnt specify what those are. The acting states attorney was directed to draft a petition for commissioners to review before its submitted to Gov. Jack Dalrymple. When reached for comment late Thursday, Schwartzenberger referred questions to his attorney, who wasnt immediately available. The truth will prevail, Schwartzenberger said. Schwartzenberger, a Watford City native and retired Marine, was elected sheriff in November 2014 and has served since Jan. 1, 2015. Prior to his election, Schwartzenberger had worked for the McKenzie County Sheriffs Office for two years before taking a year off to work in the oilfield. Commissioners placed Schmitz on administrative leave immediately and ordered him to surrender all county property by Friday afternoon. His leave will be paid this week and unpaid beginning with next weeks pay period. Minutes from Thursdays meeting show commissioners plan to further consider disciplinary action, which could include termination. Schmitz, an administrative lieutenant, also faces criminal charges in McKenzie County for allegedly lying to law enforcement about his prescription pill use and his involvement in a divorce case. He has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor charges of providing false reports to law enforcement and is scheduled for a trial in November. Attempts to reach Schmitz for comment through the sheriffs office were not successful late Thursday. During the bullying investigation, Schmitz told the investigator there is a lack of trust within county departments and with county commissioners, adding that a county commissioner follows him and takes photos. County Commission Chairman Richard Cayko did not return a call seeking comment Thursday. KATHMANDU (PTI): China will provide assistance for Nepal Army's modernisation programme and strengthening its disaster management capabilities, sources said on Thursday. China made the commitment during a recent visit by Defence Minister Balkrishna Khand to China during which he met his Chinese counterpart General Chang Wangquan, who is also the member of the Central Military Commission of China, sources said. The exact nature of China's help to the Nepalese Army for its modernisation was not spelt out. During the meeting, Khand stressed the development of a standard on basis of cooperation and support to deal with the current security challenges facing the world. He also took part in the Enhance Security Dialogue and Cooperation: Build a New Model of International Relation 7th Xiangshan Forum held in Beijing from October 10 to 12. Khand visited China at the invitation of China Association for Military and China Institute Strategic Studies (CIISS). He pledged Nepal's readiness for cooperation on regional and international security policies and standards. Both the ministers discussed matters relating to Nepal's new Constitution, Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Nepal and security cooperation, sources said. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The provincial government introduced legislation to combat sexual violence on Manitoba campuses Wednesday, aligning with programs Brandon University and Assiniboine Community College have been developing independently. Bill 15, or the Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention Act, covers all universities and institutions in Manitoba, including 46 private vocational schools, according to the minister responsible for the status of women, Rochelle Squires. Im very excited to bring this legislation forward and offer all of our students throughout the province of Manitoba greater protection on campus, said Squires, who is the Progressive Conservative MLA for Riel in Winnipeg. This is a positive step for all of our institutions to have policies in place that have strong sexual violence awareness and prevention legislation. File Students Andrew Nichols and Cora Delannoy read messages of support at a visual display organized by the Brandon University students at the Knowles Douglas Mingling Area in April. BU leadership admitted wrongdoing in how it handled making a student sign a behavioural contract after reporting shed been sexually assaulted in a residence. On Wednesday, the Progressive Conservative government introduced new legislation to combat post-secondary sexual violence. The act is similar to a bill the opposition NDP proposed earlier this month, which the Pallister government scrapped in favour of introducing its own. However, there are four key additions to the bill that could not be overlooked, Squires said. Our bill includes all universities and institutions in the province of Manitoba where as the other did not. We also have an ambitious definition of sexual violence. If we all have a very firm understanding of what constitutes sexual violence, then were all in a better position to tackle it, Squires said. Universities and institutions also must address the issue of consent in their policies and we need to have a broad dialogue on what exactly consent is, and social media (used in sexual violence and harassment) is also included. Meanwhile, Brandon University is only days away from finishing a draft of its own sexual violence prevention policy, which is almost ready to be rolled out to the community for consultation, said Carla Navid, sexual violence education prevention co-ordinator. Were certainly aware of Bill 15 and are reviewing it to see exactly what it means, Navid said. Im expecting it to align (with BUs policy) were very pleased that this bill has continued to come forward and that were following all the legislation in drafting our policy. Navid was hired by BU approximately six months ago to draft policy after the university came under fire when a first-year BU student was made to sign a contract barring her from speaking about a complaint she made that she was sexually assaulted on campus last fall. The behavioural contract became public in April, at which point the university nullified the contract and committed to forming a Sexual Assault Advisory Group that would draft a new sexual education, violence and harassment policy. The Sexual Assault Advisory Group is made up of university staff and students students have a pretty heavy representation on the committee, Navid said. Weve been working pretty feverishly on (the policy) since I came on board. The group has gone through multiple consultations to make sure the policy is as well-rounded as possible, Navid said. Were reaching out to Brandon police, the hospital, were reaching out to victim services its a complicated issue and it requires a real team focus and approach, Navid said. I would say that once we got into the policy process it took a little longer than anticipated, but we dont want to do it fast, we want to do it right. Assiniboine Community College already has a variety of policies applicable to sexual violence and harassment, however, the college is also in the process of reviewing these policies, ACC president Mark Frison said. We actually have struck a task force specifically to look at our policies and practices and make recommendations for improvements, Frison said. The new legislation is in line with what were doing in the institution. The task force is expected to complete its review and propose recommendations by May 2017. I think its a really important issue and Im glad its getting increased attention colleges and universities have a role to play in creating a safer environment for students, Frison said. edebooy@brandonsun.com Twitter: @erindebooy 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. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Yasr Alalis passion for clothing design began when he was just a young boy growing up in Syria. Amid conflict in his home country, Alali continued to hold onto his dream and in 2004 was able to relocate to Lebanon as a refugee where he began working as a mens tailor. That job got his foot in the door of the fashion world, and he was soon able to pursue his true calling designing wedding dresses and formal gowns. Colin Corneau/The Brandon Sun Yasr Alali arrived in Brandon from Syria in late September. He always believed that you can always try and you can succeed, and he wanted to give it a try and do one of those wedding dresses, said Ed Zreim, an Arabic interpreter. Alali started working as a tailor for different fashion designers in Lebanon, gaining momentum and experience along the way. Ultimately, after years of honing his craft, he started working for big-name designers including Elie Saab and Dany Atrache. Elie Saabs main workshop is in Lebanon with additional locations in Milan and Paris. A list of Saabs clients is a whos who of Hollywood, including A-list celebrities like Beyonce, Rihanna, Angelina Jolie and Emily Blunt to name a few. He became more well-known in the United States in 2002 after Halle Berry wore one of his dresses to the Academy Awards when she won Best Actress award for Monsters Ball. The starting price of some of the dresses Alali worked on was $30,000. To rent a wedding gown, clients were looking at $10,000 per night. It was perfect, said Alali, now 38, through his interpreter Zreim, who added: He was involved with renowned designers and he was proud to be working beside them. Alali was living a good life in Lebanon with his family he now has a wife, Khwala, two daughters, one son and another child on the way. But as Zreim explained, being a refugee for 12 years in Lebanon, was beginning to take its toll. Youre really not allowed to work, so its all underground type of work, Zreim said. So the security is not there, thats what was missing. Thats why he chose to leave because you can only do it for so long and then you need that peace of mind, so I think thats what hes searching for. Zreim, originally from Lebanon, explained how his home country does not welcome refugees the same way Canada does. Submitted One of Yasr Alali's formal gown designs. Youre almost a nuisance on society and youre always looked at as second class, he said. Thanks to the Canadian government, the Alali family was able to take the long journey to Canada a few weeks ago as government sponsored refugees. The family flew out of Beirut and travelled through Egypt before arriving in Toronto on Sept. 29. They were flown to Winnipeg, where they were picked up by Westman Immigrant Services staff who brought them to Brandon. He wishes this country stays safe and they stay safe, Zreim said. He thanks the Canadian government for their help for the Syrian families. Alali still has relatives in Syria, including two brothers, and another brother in Beirut. He remains in contact through messaging apps. Its the worst situation, Alali said through his interpreter. It almost comes to the point, each to his own and they are happy for him to leave. The war in Syria is quite devastating. With a dream of making a name for himself in Canadian fashion, Alali made the decision to move his family to the Vancouver area. On Thursday, they caught the train from Winnipeg. They do have some friends and family in Surrey and he feels its more of an opportunity for him to continue with his career in a larger centre like Vancouver, said Wendy Petersen, manager of settlement programs with Westman Immigrant Services. But first things first: Alali wants to get his family settled and acquainted with their new country. Once they arrive in B.C., Alali said his first priority is to learn the language. Submitted Yasr Alali's passion for design began when he was a young boy growing up in Syria. Thats the main priority, and to get to know the culture, he said. And the beauty of the place, that has a lot of effect on how to design clothes. Alali said he is prepared to do any type of design to get started here mens clothing, womens clothing, even drapery. Hes hoping in Canada to get his name out, but its one step at a time. jaustin@brandonsun.com Twitter: @jillianaustin Already have an account? Log in here Julia Patenaude placed second at Skate Canadas Octoberfest event on Thursday in Barrie, Ont. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. I kind of fell into the journalism game and instantly realized I loved it. What attracted you to writing? Ive always been a storyteller. If something can be told in 100 words instead of 10, Im your woman! Sometimes peoples eyes glaze over, my husband being one of them. I wrote poetry and short stories in high school and flirted with writing a novel, but that didnt come to fruition until later. My work as a child therapist with abused kids meant writing reports that said the important things and dismissed the rest, so that honed my craft as well. Submitted Trudy Kozak was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ont., and, in her teens, decided to pursue a career in social work. She ended up in Brandon working for whats now known as Child and Family Services of Western Manitoba. Aside from a few years when she was employed at the Brandon Mental Health Centre and in Alberta with Preventive Social Services, Kozak worked at CFS Western as a rural case worker, then as a part-time intake worker and abuse treatment worker, eventually co-ordinating its child abuse treatment program until her retirement in 2010. But a year before she made that major life change, she started writing. Not just articles, not just stories, but books. Novels. After self-publishing a post-apocalyptic/dystopian piece called The Time in 2011, Kozak started submitting her creations to a few publishers, and her work was accepted. Now, 45 books later, she continues to write and be published. Most of her works can be found under the pen name Peri Elizabeth Scott. What is it about telling stories that appeals to you? I know some writers say they really have no choice in the matter that theyre compelled to write. Are you one of those? I am indeed compelled to write. I have two quite separate muses unless they choose to acknowledge one another. I write a lot. Hours and hours and hours of the day and night. I read a great deal, some for personal enjoyment, some for research. My mom once started to ask me she hesitated, and I finished the question for her if the great Canadian novel was inside me just waiting to be told. My answer was an emphatic no. I love journalism because its fact-based. And I know I have an imagination. But fiction just isnt in me. So Ive always been fascinated by folks like you who create stories and characters out of thin air. Do you have a process? Are you inspired by real-life occurrences, or people you know or encounter, that you then weave into a tale? Id really like to understand where the ideas, and the method of interconnecting them, come from. My husband and I run a campground in Ninette and Im surrounded by people who unwittingly offer me fodder for the human dynamic I try to cover in my books, but I would never disrespect them in that manner. The same applies to anyone Ive known or worked with. I do, however, borrow some first names for my characters. Sometimes I smile when were chatting and I remember whose name they share. A storyline enters my head, whether it be from a real life event or inspired by a compilation of many things, and Im off and running. There are writers who plot, blocking out their work. Not me. Im a total pantser, writing by the seat of my pants until its all down. Mostly, things flow, and I cant type quickly enough. Then I go back and structure the work. And then I have dry spells and wonder if Ill ever write again. Dry spells, and the fear that theyre permanent, plague many writers, from what I understand. But obviously, youve no shortage of ideas or creativity, since youve written 45 books! What is the human dynamic you try to cover? As far as dry spells, I find the trick is not to push it, but to live life. And then, quite suddenly, the tap turns on again. The human dynamic I strive to communicate is essentially the manner in which people relate and respond to one another in any given situation. Nothing superficial, but rather writing deep point of view so the reader is immersed in the work and affected in one way or another. What was the first book you wrote? And what prompted you to write it? The first book I wrote was The Time, my self-published book. Its a post-apocalyptic/dystopian work. I sat on it for a long time, at a loss as to where to submit it, hence the self-publishing. Its totally different than any of my other books. Not a hint of romance but it does feature my usual strong, determined heroine. I was driven to write it by my muse(s). I have to ask this question: Someone told me you once wrote porn! Is that true? What led to that? Are you uncomfortable having people know you wrote that type of story? I guess the answer must be yes because you used a pseudonym, one youre still not ready to reveal. I wrote a dark erotica book later in my career my second book and I know now that it was my way of dealing with the tumultuous chaos and vicarious trauma that lurked in my brain. I feel like Ive taken long looks into the darkness and being able to turn that around and write an HEA a happily ever after, was cathartic. Someone once asked me about the erotica did I write like FSOG Fifty Shades of Grey? My response: better, and before. Not a surfeit of confidence or arrogance, but please Having said that, I tip my hat to that author who shone the spotlight of exposure on that particular genre. It opened up the marketplace to people who didnt even realize there were hot, sexy books out there different than the Harlequin of my mothers generation. And Im not talking about porn. Did you write more than one book of dark erotica? Certainly. But as I worked through my angst, the darkness lessened, and I now create more balanced work. Where did you get your inspiration for the erotica? You alluded to chaos and trauma that lurked in your brain, but why was the outlet dark erotica? Was it healing somehow? Or just a very human trait that many of us try to suppress but you gave voice to? I cant speak for anyone else, Diane. We humans possess varying traits, but as a colleague pointed out, there is such a thing as vicarious trauma and I wasnt immune. I had no idea, having lived with it and managed it, until I retired. Then I felt the impact. Writing dark erotica was extremely cathartic, in that regardless of the darkness in my writing, consent reigns supreme. However, thats my private pen name, at least until I can distance myself from my former career a little more. Peri Elizabeth Scott is my lighter side, a muse who decided contemporary, historical and sci-fi romance felt pretty good to write, with lots of angst and that HEA, of course. Why do you use pen names instead of your real name? If I had a published book, Id be thrilled to bits and want my name all over it. All the author and writing groups I belong to suggest using a pen name. I certainly sought privacy with my first pen name, but it wasnt so much about that when I chose Peri Elizabeth Scott. Instead, it was a result of being in those groups. I dont know anyone there who uses their own name, and come to think of it, a large number of authors have a pen name. So whats next for you? Ive got two more books under contract and a request for the second in a series, and each time Im as surprised as the first, that a publisher wanted to take a chance on me. And that my books actually sell.I never read reviews, because Ive discovered anonymity brings out the assholery in people. And readers can be scathing or take the opportunity to grind an axe. The shenanigans behind reviews would shock you. Im not arrogant enough to think that I cant benefit from input or suggestions, but someone famous said that no two people ever read the same book, and mostly its an emotional reaction I receive good or bad. Each to his own and youll never please all the people all the time. Im looking for a response to the craft. Did it flow, were there unfinished plot threads, were there spelling or grammatical errors? An author is really nothing without a good editor and for the most part, Ive lucked out, especially recently. A professional relationship can also be a friendship, something that surprises me after everything I was taught. Being in demand I mean, 45 books with requests for more indicates you are must feel great. And this is none of my business, but is it lucrative? Authors, unless youre one of the big guys, will never be wealthy, so dont see publishing a book whether it be with a publisher or self-publishing as the road to a quick buck. Not only is the competition fierce, with anyone who can apply to Amazons publishing platform, for example, assured of being a published author, but so many authors are now working for peanuts. Like 99 cents a book online. A 12-author or 24-author book for the same. Great for readers, right now. When people quit writing because they cant cover the costs of putting a book out there, where will readers be then? Ill put away my rant now. For me, its more about weaving a story that some others enjoy, and both slaying the demons in my head and releasing my imagination. And not about the painful and confusing issue of marketing. Im on Facebook, two pages worth to manage, and Ive actually tweeted a few times. And thats enough. Book signings involve travel, which I hate, and being terrified no one will even stop by your table, but I overcame that a few times and enjoyed meeting my readers a lot. I love to get emails and posts from them, too. Far more honest and open than many reviews. The biggest benefit from becoming a published author is the people Ive met along the way, many of them not physically. The few I met face-to-face are wonderful human beings and I connect with them constantly. One of them is like a daughter to me, and a terrific author. I co-authored a book with one and am in the process of writing a series with another. The rest are supportive and have proven trustworthy, something thats precious in this field. I met a woman at a conference who likes my work, and she recently offered to beta read for me. I took the leap of faith. Someone who has therapy dogs cant be wrong. Good beta readers are precious. Tell me a bit about your first novel. The Time, my self-published book, was the crossover between my two muses, and something I worked on intermittently. Not a hint of romance but a strong, determined heroine what I appreciate in mature women. Essentially, The Time takes place after events that cause a meltdown in the Middle East and a worldwide oil shortage, and all the things that transpire after technology comes to a screeching halt. Survival of the fittest comes to mind. My heroine is definitely surviving, although why, she isnt sure, other than she has one family member left alive that she knows of to live for. She reconnects with her son and in turn brings down terrible danger on the group of people he leads because of an event that transpired earlier. The Time is told from one point of view, the heroines, which is more difficult than one would think, and follows her as she reunites with her son, relives some terrible times in her history, and finds a way to keep him and his people safe. A considerable number of words are dedicated to her surroundings and what the world has become, as well as a description of the people, who never change, despite the situation. There will always be the violent, the greedy, the kind and caring, the brilliant, those not, the hard workers, the innate leaders and the politicos the latter two not necessarily being the same. Ive been asked a number of times if the book could become a movie, like for television, but writing a screenplay defeats me, at least at this point. Formatting is a really big deal, and tech savvy I am definitely not. So you retired from your career in social work, only to become, it seems, a full-time author. Do you think youll ever give that up? I suppose Ill write until my muses tire out or dont return from the vacations they hare off on. I dont get as freaked out about that as I did. If theres a story to be told, then it will write itself in time. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A man who passed out in a taxi and got caught with $45,000 worth of crystal meth has been sent to jail for two years. He was caught with 151 grams of the drug. Its a large amount of methamphetamine, no matter where you are, Crown attorney Christina Cheater said in Brandon court on Thursday. The fact that we have it in Brandon makes it that much more serious, your honour, because it is a smaller centre. Andrew Alexander Slivka, 28, was sentenced for possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. He was caught with the drugs on Oct. 31, 2015, around 5:30 a.m. when Brandon police were called to deal with a man high on drugs who had passed out in a cab. Cheater said that the passenger, Slivka, had failed to pay a $75 fare and had a suspicious bulge in the front pocket of his sweater. He was found with an extendable steel baton. Slivkas backpack held 5.34 ounces (151.32 grams) of crystal meth worth $45,000 or enough for about 1,500 uses. Slivka was already wanted for breach of probation. He is a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, which is located on the southeast corner of Lake Winnipeg, but was raised in the Vancouver area and moved to this region a while ago. He told court hell no longer live in this province, and his court paperwork shows his address as Vancouver. At the time of sentencing, Slivka had been in custody for 349 days. Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta sentenced him to a further two-years-less-a-day in jail. This is an alarming amount of meth for you to be carrying around in our community, Hewitt-Michta told him. ihitchen@brandonsun.com Twitter: @IanHitchen Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Sonoma, California. Wine country. I always hoped Id get there one day. I just never dreamed it would happen so soon. Diane Nelson/For The Sun The only time, for a few seconds, when San Franciscos famed Golden Gate Bridge wasnt gridlocked during the harrowing drive to Sonoma. But it did, this past summer. And it was all Id ever hoped for, and then some. Thanks to an amazing confluence of events and opportunities, which included timing, the generosity of a benevolent friend, and the support, encouragement and willingness of my husband to be my guide and driver, yours truly spent 14 full days touring wineries, meeting intriguing, fun and personable industry professionals, and tasting hundreds of splendid wines. I thought Id died and gone to heaven. And in a way, I had. Well, not the died part. But since most of my favourite wines come from California, heaven certainly describes how I felt about where I was privileged to be for those two weeks in June. Let me start at the beginning. We were thrilled to be able to fly on WestJet from Brandon to San Francisco, where wed arranged to rent a car. But shortly after our booking was made, WestJet changed its schedules, and we ended up spending a night each direction in Calgary with the airline supplying the hotel room because it, not we, had changed our plans. The Holiday Inn Airport was pleasant and convenient, and both times I enjoyed splendid salmon cooked medium rare and served with mayo as I requested as well as surprisingly decent wine at ridiculous prices. I sipped a few glasses of the Chilean Casillero Del Diablo Pinot Noir I love Pinot with salmon but I was most pleased to note a bit of a gaffe in the pricing, although perhaps it was not a mistake, but intentional. While most people presume its cheaper to buy restaurant wine by the bottle (and if theyre intent on a bottle they dont bother to check the by-the-glass prices), it really is important to do the math. Over the course of each multi-hour meal (I take forever to eat ask anyone who knows me), I had three nine-ounce glasses of the wine at $8.50 a glass. A bottle 26 ounces or 750 mls cost $38. But my total of 27 ounces cost me only $25.50. Thats the kind of bargain I like. So it was a great way to begin what was to be an epic journey. The next day, June 17, we arrived in San Francisco around 1 p.m. as scheduled, but discovered fairly quickly that our on airport rental car agency was actually a 15- to 20-minute shuttle ride from the airport. And we had to wait 20 minutes for the shuttle. E-Z Rent-a-Car was anything but. Lesson Number 1: Pay a few extra bucks for a name company and ensure its on airport property. Time was precious, and I didnt want to waste any of it. So I was really resentful when we departed the car rental place at precisely 3:13 local time. Our destination, Windsor, was 60 miles away. But it was Friday, and people were trying to get out of the city and get to wine country, traffic was gridlocked all the way, it was a nightmare on Highway 101 because the people drive like maniacs, and it took exactly the same amount of time to drive to Windsor from Frisco (the locals hate it when you call it that theyre not enamoured by San Fran either) as it had to fly from Calgary to San Francisco! I was not a happy camper. Lesson Number 2: Dont drive out of San Francisco late afternoon on a Friday. Ever. When we finally arrived at our destination, WorldMark by Wyndham resort, I was edgy, overwrought and dying for a glass of wine. It just so happened that the complex was hosting a craft market of sorts in its common room until 6 p.m. I spied a table offering tastes of wine and, completely abandoning my husband to check in, I headed for the table. The kind gentleman pouring St. Francis Winery & Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel asked how I was, I told him my sob story of the traffic frenzy (I think he could see how frazzled I was), and he said, Well, it looks like you could use two samples! I smiled weakly at him, and confirmed I indeed could. My experience of Sonoma hospitality, generosity and excellent wine had begun. I liked both of the St. Francis products, not just because I was beyond grateful, but because they really were good. I found that, in addition to the St. Francis product, Sonoma and Napa Sauv Blancs were much less citrusy than the ones Im used to from New Zealand and other locales, which meant I like the California SBs even more. But the St. Francis Winery & Vineyards will always hold a special place in my heart. They were there when I needed them most. My husband was joking with the check-in clerk, and said Id neglected to get him any wine, which I had. So she said, How about this, then? and presented him with a bottle of Bogle Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. He was delighted. I was delighted. And thus began the wine portion of our adventure. Ill be detailing the wineries we visited and the products we tried, most of which we dont get in Manitoba, over the next few weeks. If anyone is considering a trip to or through Sonoma, its my hope this can serve as a travel guide of sorts. And I cant urge you enough to make the trip. Just avoid San Francisco on a Friday. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. CALGARY It would appear that, despite lofty rhetoric, the Arctic hasnt been a high priority for the federal government for years. It should be. Fully 40 per cent of Canada is in the Arctic, we have 162,000 kilometres of Arctic coastline and 25 per cent of the global Arctic is within our territory, according to government documents. Canadian defence policy states that the Canadian Forces must be able to exercise control over and defend Canadas sovereignty in the Arctic. And yet the only permanent operational unit of the Canadian Forces in the north is the RCAFs 440 Squadron. It operates four aging Twin Otter aircraft from a base in Yellowknife. Thats pathetic. It gets worse. We have abandoned Canadas only functional deep-water port in the Arctic. The dock facility at Churchill has been closed by its U.S. operator, along with the freight service that brought prairie grain there for shipment to overseas markets. Once upon a time, Churchill was a naval station. It was part of Canadas long-range radio communications network, serving as a listening post first for U-boats during the Second World War, and then for Soviet communications during the Cold War. Its also served as a site for launching sounding rockets, as a centre for conducting atmospheric research, and as a military airfield. The previous Conservative federal government announced ambitious plans for the region, including putting a naval station at Nanisivik, a former company mining town on the northern tip of Baffin Island and making it a deepwater port and a base for Arctic/offshore patrol vessels and icebreakers. Nanisivik is at the western entrance to the Northwest Passage, and maintaining Canadian presence and sovereignty there makes strategic sense. But those plans have been scaled back, and now it is likely only to see limited service as a refuelling station for the Navy and Coast Guard. If Canada wants to prove it is serious about the North, it should take another look at Churchill. Why not resurrect Churchill as a military base? A lot of what would be needed is already there: a deep-water port on Hudson Bay, a rail line connecting it to the rest of the continent, and an airfield. It could serve as an important base for Arctic sovereignty missions, not to mention a ready source of infrastructure projects that demonstrate Canadian engineering prowess in one of the toughest environments on Earth. Churchill could then be the base for the new Harry DeWolf-class Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) the first two of which are under construction in Halifax and theyd be more credible in their intended role in exercising our sovereignty over the Arctic if they were based in the North rather than in Halifax. To those who ask, Can we afford to do it? a better question might be, Can we afford not to? With Churchill falling on hard economic times, it is likely the government will be asked to provide financial assistance. An investment there that advances our Arctic sovereignty efforts will pay dividends. It should also be noted that Canada has made a commitment (along with our NATO allies) to spend two per cent of GDP on defence. Based on World Bank data from 2013, Canadas GDP is around $2.4 trillion, which means two per cent is $48 billion. Our current defence budget, however, is a paltry $18.6 billion. We have a long way to go to catch up to our commitment, but reviving Churchill as a military base would be seen as a positive step towards security in the Arctic. Money has been earmarked for infrastructure projects and for increased investments in defence. Why not combine them, and do a little nation-building at the same time? If we are serious in our claims that the North is ours then we need to act. Churchill would be a bold first step toward ensuring we have a permanent military, security and law enforcement presence in the Arctic. Or, we can sit back and let the Russians claim the Arctic as their private pond, while the United States claims the Northwest Passage as an international waterway that it can use with impunity. The choice is ours. Jeff Griffiths is a retired Canadian air force officer, and certified management consultant, in Calgary. His column recently appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/10/2016 (2208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Airport renos necessary with flights west Regarding the recent Sound Off about WestJet from Brandon. This person does not know what goes on with WestJet. The only flights cancelled were for Toronto! I know, as I travel WestJet regularly to Calgary and Edmonton and I am over 90 years. I enjoy it very much and how about 80 passengers both ways in a regular WestJet plane. It was a bigger plane going to Toronto. The plane going west is always full to capacity. And I had the best service ever with my luggage and a walker on Oct. 1, my flight back home. Some may speak out when they dont know whats up. I just wanted to correct that issue! Yes, we need a bigger new airport opening soon. Its great. Welcome to Manitoba you must be new Regarding the complaint about tractors on Victoria Avenue. You must be very new to Manitoba. This is a farming community. Those farmers are who put bread and food on your plate. Maybe you need to slow down a little bit and smell the coffee. City not so great for victims of abuse This is for the mayor of Brandon who says that the city of Brandon is such a great place. Well where are there places for people who become victims of abuse? They get kicked out of the womens shelter, then where are they to go? There are no apartments they can get access to right away. Fix bridge before there is another accident The provincial government should be held accountable for the accident west of Melita. How can they provide millions of dollars for non-essential bridges in Souris (Swinging Bridge and Park Bridges) and turn their head for a needed bridge on PR 455. I guess its all about getting votes and what they think will make them look good in the press. Arnold Walker, who is 78 years old, penned a romantic tune for his wife Carol on their 50th wedding anniversary. However, it has taken Arnold seven years to record the song - which recounts the first time the happy couple met - so that they don't forget it. Arnold, from Aberdeen, Washington, USA, was having lunch with a friend of his back in 1959 when in walked Carol with a girl his friend knew. They lunched together in the cafe near his air force base in Florida, and when they went to pay the cheque Arnold asked her out. Arnold recalls: "I saw she'd just been paid from her job at Sears and I said she should pay to take me for lunch. She laughed and told me to another time." He admits that he went back to the cafe five times before seeing her again. "Which is when I said I would pay for lunch," he says, "She said yes, and thats how our life together began." His song tells about their first date at a drive-in movie before he declares in his ballad that he would repeat his time with his beloved wife all over again. Arnold said: "I wrote the song in about half an hour when Carol had gone out to get groceries for our golden anniversary BBQ. "That was seven years ago, but I wanted to have a record of it in case we both forgot." He offered up some simple advice that has kept them together. He said: "Over the years we have had our ups and downs, but every couple does. We have a pact to never go to bed mad at each other. "It has worked so far." H/T: Metro. An inspiring Cork woman is breaking the silence around suicide just a year after her daughter took her own life on a night out, writes Sarah Horgan. Liz McGee recalled with horror the events leading up to her 26-year-old daughter Gillians death in September of last year. She was going out with friends for the night. I remember ringing to let her know there was dinner in the oven for when she came home. I had left 10 on the table for her taxi. I didnt like the thought of her walking home. But she never came back that night, she said. She was always home early so when she didnt return I assumed she had stayed with friends. I tried her phone but could only get her answering machine. Deep down I knew there was something very wrong. That was when the gardai called to my door. Liz advised anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts to be open with friends and family. I know that if we could talk to each other Gillian would say, Im so sorry, mam. I want to come home now. There is no way she would have wanted this for us. In the depths of Gillians depression, she would ask if we would be better off without her. My response was always a resounding no. In reality, its never better being without the person you love. When Gillian was taken away from me my heart and soul were as well. The only thing thats keeping me going is never wanting any other family to go through this kind of pain. Gillian thought that she was alone. If she had seen the endless queue for the church on the day of her funeral she would have known otherwise. Lizs heartbreak deepened after losing her twin sister, Geraldine, exactly an hour after her daughters cremation. Gillian loved her aunt. She had always been so kind and helped keep her spirits up. Gillian was heartbroken when she got sick. She really admired her for the battle she was fighting. Looking back I realise that Gillian was fighting a battle that was just as real. Read: Read More: Report: 490 deaths by suicide in 2013 Gillian was widely admired for her caring nature. Gillian was an unbelievably caring person. She especially loved elderly people and children. Just before her death, she had secured a job as a carer with Home Instead which she adored. We were so happy to think that the change she needed had finally arrived. She had bought a new car. Everything seemed to be going right. She warned parents to look out for signs of depression from an early age. Liz remembered that her daughter was always a worrier. But from the age of 14, I saw the toll this was taking on her. It was then I realised that this was something much more serious. At 15 she told us that she was gay. We were very accepting and everyone supported her. At the time I thought this might have been what was troubling her all along but the depression continued. We loved Gillian more than anyone else in the world. I think on some level she knew she was loved. She had to have known. But the depression was too strong. Liz hopes that the stigma around mental health issues will eventually disappear. Despite the huge number of services in Cork, there will never be enough. People need to talk and realise there is no shame in depression. Sometimes a person might seem a little grumpy, come across like they have no motivation. Much of the time these can be signs of depression. When Gillian was in hospital she worried about what people might think. I told her that taking care of her mental health was the same as going to a doctor for stomach cramps. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. A night will be held in honour of Gillian tonight in Chambers Bar on Washington Street, with all funds raised going to Pieta House. To see this post on Facebook, click here. It will include music from Caroline Bailey, Adrian Kenny, Lorraine McCarthy, Ger Ahern and Claudia Rose Long of The Voice UK fame. Doors open at 8.30pm. Admission is 5. This article first appeared in the Evening Echo newspaper. A member of the Defence Forces is in hospital after being injured during a parachuting training exercise. The soldier suffered a hard landing during a routine training exercise in Custume Barracks in Athlone, at around midday today. Update 11am: Unilever has been accused of using Brexit as a smokescreen to raise grocery prices. The producer wants to add up to 19% to the cost of well-known brands such as Persil and Pot Noodles. Irish supermarkets like SuperValu, Centra and Dunnes Stores are fighting the hikes. A similar dispute with Tesco has been sorted, but Consumer journalist Sinead Ryan says there's no reason for the argument in the first place: "The Brexit vote has resulted in the Sterling dropping about 16% against the Euro. "Now it doesnt make a whole pile of sense to put the prices up for products that are made in the UK and a lot of these products are." Earlier: Irish supermarkets are caught in a price war with the producers of brands like Lyons, Hellmans and Persil. Super Valu, Centra and Dunnes Stores are holding out as Unilever tries to hike prices by 19%. The company - which has resolved a similar dispute with Tesco in the UK - is trying to raise prices following a fall in the pound's value since the Brexit referendum. Managing Director of Supervalu Martin Kelleher says he is anxious to resolve the row: "We are not part of a group the size of Tesco and Tesco Ireland being a UK subsidary is something that means that their resolution happens immediately. "We would hope to resolve it as soon as possible and continue to give Irish shoppers the best value that we can." A baby boy has died and another child has been seriously injured after they were attacked by a dog. Emergency services were called to an address in Harwich Road, Colchester, at 3.10pm on Thursday. A British financial trader accused of helping trigger a multibillion-dollar Wall Street crash from a suburban UK home has lost a High Court challenge against a decision that he can be extradited to the US to stand trial. Navinder Singh Sarao, 37, dubbed the Hound of Hounslow, is wanted in America over allegations that he contributed to the 2010 Wall Street ''Flash Crash'' from his parents' home 3,500 miles (5,633km) away in west London. Police are searching for a man wearing a clown mask and a yellow jacket who stabbed a person in southern Sweden. Police spokeswoman Ulla Brehm said there have been two similar incidents where people dressed like clowns stood outside schools and scared children. "This is not a crime as such but very, very unpleasant," she added Ms Brehm said the incidents are likely to have spread via social media from the United States, adding: "It is not funny when people are being scared." She said a 19-year-old man was stabbed late on Thursday with a knife in the shoulder in Varberg, south of Goteborg. He sustained superficial wounds and despite searches, the attacker has not been found. Similar incidents were reported elsewhere in Sweden, Denmark and Norway - where the Ringo toy store chain decided to stop selling clown costumes in its 114 shops. "We have done so in the wake of the recent so-called 'killer clowns' episodes," Ringo chain chief executive Gro Svendsen said. "This is a phenomenon which we strongly oppose. Costumes and disguises should be for fun and not motivated by the desire to spread fear." MUMBAI/ HANOI/ BANGKOK/DHAKA: Prices of rice from top exporter India edged up this week on an up tick in the rupee... SINGAPORE: Palm oil may revisit its Oct. 25 high of 4,263 ringgit per tonne, as it may have resumed its uptrend from... MADRID: Spains unemployment rate edged up slightly in the third quarter of this year after declining steadily since... Remembrance: Parker Marden, 77, the 13th president of Manchester University in North Manchester, Ind., has died. Manchester president Dave McFadden shared a remembrance and prayer request with the university community: Please keep Parkers wife, Ann, and their children, Jon and KerriAnn, in your thoughts and prayers. Marden had been in failing health for some time, and had been living in Topsham, Maine, since his retirement. He led the schoolthen Manchester Collegefrom 1994-2004. On Parkers watch, Manchester increased diversity among students and faculty, wrote McFadden. He elevated our national profile and raised our international consciousness. He led the institution through most of The Next Step comprehensive campaign, which strengthened the endowment, made significant capital improvements to campus, and expanded the donor base. During a 31,000-mile national tour, Parker met with 10 percent of Manchesters living alumni. He liked to tell them why he was proud of Manchester and that they should be too. He was a native of Worcester, Mass. He graduated from Bates College in Maine. He earned a masters degree and doctorate from Brown University. He taught sociology at Cornell University, Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., and St. Lawrence University. He came to Manchester from Beloit College, where he had been vice president for academic affairs and dean. Find the remembrance from the university at www.manchester.edu/about-manchester/news/news-articles/parker-marden-2016 . The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (NCPTF) is seeking a volunteer in each congressional district to communicate with representatives about the Peace Tax Fund Bill and urge for its passage. Time commitment is two to four hours a month. The NCPTF will provide resources, information, and contacts for this work. To learn more go to www.peacetaxfund.org . To sign up contact 888-PEACE-TAX or info@peacetaxfund.org . Lick Creek Church of the Brethren has donated $1,037.94 to Habitat for Humanity of Williams County, representing the entire proceeds from its annual ice cream social, according to the Bryan Times. The social was held July 23. The newspaper reported that church members Sherrie Herman, Marge Keck, and Jim Mastenwho also is a member of the Habitat board for the countypresented the check to Mary Ann Peters, the countys Habitat executive director, and board members Michael Cox and Joe Pilarski. Find the newspaper report at www.bryantimes.com/news/local/lick-creek-brethren-donates-to-habitat/article_80e89b41-b8fb-51cb-b34b-05a25dd71c86.html . Western Pennsylvania District holds its 150th annual district conference on Saturday, Oct. 15, at Camp Harmony near Hooversville, Pa. The theme is, All for the Glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). The World Hunger Auction steering committee was blessed to be able to disburse $60,000 from the various 2016 activities, reports the Virlina District newsletter. The committee distributed $30,000 to Heifer International, $15,000 to Roanoke (Va.) Area Ministries, $6,000 to the Church of the Brethrens Global Food Initiative, and $3,000 each to Heavenly Manna Food Bank, Stepping Stone Mission, and Lake Christian Ministries. Many people shared their talents, resources, time and efforts to make these results possible, the newsletter said. The committee expresses deep appreciation to all who participated in the many events and activities in 2016. Bridgewater (Va.) College will hold a CROP Meal from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27, in the main dining hall in the Kline Campus Center. Faculty, staff, and members of the community will be able to purchase CROP Meals surrendered by students and enjoy dinner out in the dining hall. The meals have been paid for on the student meal plan, and all proceeds go directly to CROPs hunger relief, education, and development programs in the US and around the world. Cost of the meal is $8 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under. College students also will be seeking sponsors for the Bridgewater/Dayton area CROP Hunger Walk that begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30, at Bridgewater Community Center. A release from the college said that last years CROP Meal and Hunger Walk raised more than $6,300 for Church World Service. Seek Peace and Pursue It, an exhibition showcasing nine noted peacemakers, will open at the Alexander Mack Memorial Library at Bridgewater College on Oct. 22. The exhibition, which centers on peacemakers whose papers and artifacts are in Bridgewater College Special Collections and the Reuel B. Pritchett Museum Collection, will run through Dec. 9. Admission is free and open to the public. A release from the college noted that individuals honored in the exhibition are former Bridgewater College president and peace advocate Paul H. Bowman; local Civil War evangelist John Kline; Peace Corps volunteer Lula A. Miller; author and teacher Anna B. Mow; founder of the Brethren Alexander Mack Sr.; Brethren ambassador W. Harold Row; missionary to China Nettie M. Senger; humanitarian Naomi Miller West; and Nobel Peace Prize nominee M. Robert Zigler. The exhibition will feature displays of documents and artifacts from the lives of these peacemakers. Bridgewater seniors Charlotte McIntyre and Allegra Morrison and Bridgewater College special collections librarian Stephanie S. Gardner curate the exhibition. Have a listen to the latest podcasts created by Brethren young adults, invites Arlington (Va.) Church of the Brethren, which hosts the Dunker Punks podcasts. New episodes include Spiritual Training Regimen (#14) and Gender is a Galaxy (#15). Subscribe to the podcast series on iTunes or stream it from arlingtoncob.org/dpp The Normal Heart. Written by Larry Kramer. Directed by Karen Vickery. Everyman Theatre. October 21-29. The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre . canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 62752700. With the recent debate about same-sex marriage in Australia, Larry Kramer's 1985 play The Normal Heart has achieved a new, poignant relevance. Kramer was writing about the start of the AIDS epidemic, when a new, mysterious disease was killing many homosexual men in the early 1980s. The response from officialdom and the media was slow and Kramer dramatises the reaction of a group of gay men in New York City, where the new plague was hitting people in their circle hard. They were trying to draw public and government attention, combat the effects and look for answers as best they could, even though they didn't always agree on the best way to proceed, while also carrying on with their own personal and professional lives. Will Huang, left and Jarrad West in The Normal Heart Credit:Fran Tapla Jarrad West co-founded the company, Everyman Theatre, that is producing The Normal Heart and plays the lead role of writer and gay activist Ned Weeks, a fictionalised version of Kramer himself, who forms an organisation, modelled on the real-life Gay Men's Health Crisis, focused on raising awareness of the mysterious illness. Dr Emma Brookner (Jordan Best), a polio survivor, is one of the few doctors to have much experience in dealing with the disease but even she doesn't know much about it initially and encourages sexual abstinence among gay men until more is discovered. "All the characters in the play are analogues of real people or composites," West says. "If you have the opportunity to take your anger out on the sitting people of your own persuasion there may be a temptation to go down that path. We'll have to wait and see," he said. John Hargreaves: A Labor win with new faces. Credit:Rohan Thomson He did not believe independents and minor parties would get a seat, instead predicting 11 Labor, 11 Liberal, one Green, with the final two deciding the election. "If the Greens get two then it's game over for the Liberals," he said. Michael Moore, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, says RANZCP's submission is not a major breakaway. Former Liberal chief minister Gary Humphries, no longer a member of the party, predicted a minority Liberal government, supported by a substantially bigger crossbench. Labor would win just 10 of the 25 seats, he said. Independents or minor party candidates could win in Yerrabi and Ginninderra, and even possibly in Murrumbidgee. The Greens would win only one seat, he said. "In both the ACT specifically and in recent years the Australian electorate generally, people have chosen to move away from major parties and hedge their bets with minor parties and independents and that I think will manifest itself again in the ACT in a way that it hasn't for a few years," he said. Former independent Michael Moore predicted up to 10 seats for Labor, and 12 for the Liberals. He predicted a good showing for independents, and said government would come down to negotiations with the crossbench. He also made the surprising prediction that Labor could end up with just one seat in Andrew Barr's central seat of Kurrajong. Australian Federal Police Forensic Services are examining the scene and ACT Policing's Taskforce Nemesis has launched an investigation into the fire, as it is believed to be outlaw motorcycle gang-related. The tattoo parlour was completely gutted after what was the second fire lit at the shop this year. Police were called to the Tattoo Culture shop in Scollay Street, Greenway at about 1.20am on Friday after reports the store was alight, and ACT Fire and Rescue attended the scene and extinguished the fire. Traffic diversions remain in place as police investigate. Credit:Elesa Kurtz Multiple shop owners in the building on Reed Street North, opposite the the Tuggeranong Hyperdome, were called to the scene at 3am and asked to open up their shops so police could assess the damage to Tattoo Culture. The tattoo parlour appeared completely burned, with glass and debris littering the footpath and the front wall entirely destroyed. Labrini McDonald, owner of Arnold's Ribs and Pizza which is next door to the tattoo parlour, said she was unsure whether her own store had been affected because police had not let her into the store since waking her in the middle of the night to open it up. "It's so frustrating because have been standing here [at the scene] for seven hours and I have no idea what is going on or when we'll be allowed in," she said. A veritable menagerie in the inbox this week. The Budgie Nine took flight for the last time (we hope) on Monday but were soon replaced by matters canine, piscine and, thanks to Donald Trump, porcine and feline. I doubt the word "pussy" has ever been used on this page except in the context of a discussion about pets until now, but that is where this extraordinary US presidential campaign has taken us. Richard Blackburn informed readers that even Australian eight-year-olds had heard of the candidates' predatory ways and lewd language, with his grandson learning of it in the school yard. What an introduction to American politics. Illustration: Alan Moir Pig was a word frequently seen in the media to describe this most unusual candidate, even Robert De Niro called him a "punk", a "pig" and a "bozo". Sarah Benmayor, of Bondi, felt moved to write in defence of pigs: "I am sick of people comparing Donald Trump to a pig. It is such an unfavourable comparison and grossly unfair to pigs." Surely, bozos and punks have similar grounds for complaint and slugs too. But it was shark nets and greyhounds that prompted the greatest traffic this week, with the Premier's decision to overturn his dog racing ban, rather than other controversial government decisions, viewed with some cynicism. Retired major general Jim Molan: "Most of his answers smacked of ignorance, arrogance and a reluctance to canvas more humane alternatives." Credit:ABC But two things were missing from both speeches. One was a recognition of how little has been achieved in narrowing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians since 1996, for all the reports commissioned and money spent. The other was any attempt to explain how this country's treatment of asylum seekers is consistent with the values they spoke of with such conviction. The second omission was highlighted just after MPs voted in favour of the motion, when Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was asked a Dorothy Dixer that gave him the opportunity to ridicule his new shadow, Shayne Neumann. Dutton seized on what he described as a "train wreck" of an interview Neumann had given to Sky News on what Labor planned to do with the "legacy" caseload of 30,000 asylum seekers who came on boats on its watch, most of whom are in the community on bridging visas. Dutton quoted the interviewer quoting him as saying 10,000 of these people had been found to be "economic refugees" (she meant to say "economic migrants") and challenging Neumann to confirm whether Labor would give these people permanent residency the implication being that this would demonstrate weakness. But she was wrong and Dutton was mischievous. Barely 7000 of the 30,000 asylum seekers have had primary decisions, so it is utterly premature to assert how many will have their claims rejected. Yes, there will be a higher rejection rate, but this may have more to do with the fact that many are in no state to present their case for protection after living in limbo for more than three years, being denied legal assistance and subjected to fast-track processing without such procedural safeguards as the right to be heard in person. No wonder Neumann replied, repeatedly, that he would seek advice from the immigration department on the status of the legacy caseload. That was prudent, not a train wreck. That night the ABC's Q&A featured one of the authors of the Coalition's border protection policy, the retired general and failed Liberal Senate candidate Jim Molan, whose answers highlighted the disconnect between the treatment of the legacy caseload and those on Manus Island and Nauru and values Turnbull and Shorten so emphatically reaffirmed. Molan's starting point was that every Australian should be "extraordinarily proud" of what Sovereign Borders has achieved, but most of his answers smacked of ignorance, arrogance and a reluctance to canvas more humane alternatives. One of the first questions came from Amnesty International's senior director for research, Dr Anna Neistat, who has spent the last 15 years working in conflict and crisis areas including Syria and Afghanistan, but describes the situation of refugees detained by Australia on Nauru as one of the worst she has seen. Her report on Nauru will be launched on Monday, when Four Corners will air footage of refugee children trapped on the island, including one who asks: "We're not criminals and we're not dangerous. Can you tell us why are we still here?" "Does the success of this policy depend on subjecting people to these enormous levels of suffering and essentially keeping them hostages in Nauru and in Manus Island?" Dr Neistat asked. Molan replied that he had never been to Nauru, but had seen enough to conclude that most Australian towns would give "their right arm" to have Nauru's "most extraordinary medical facilities". As for Manus, he said he had been there, and facilities were so far ahead of refugee camps around the world it wasn't funny. Toward the end of the program, Shukufa Tahiri, whose father came on a boat in 1999, asked Molan about those who make up the legacy caseload and the "epidemic unfolding before the nation's eyes". It was the same with Jeb Bush, the man who was supposed to be the one to run against Hillary Clinton: "As the grandfather of two precious girls, I find that no apology can excuse away Donald Trump's reprehensible comments degrading women." "As the father of three daughters, I strongly believe that Trump needs to apologise directly to women and girls everywhere," said Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, "and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape." I loved the way most of them invoked a wife or other female family member as a rationale for their defection. It's been hilarious watching Republicans running away from Donald Trump this past week because their party's nominee for President was revealed as a self-incriminating foul-mouthed sexual harasser. Self-proclaimed women-protectors abandon Trump campaign: Donald Trump, Republican presidential nominee. Credit:Bloomberg Apparently Republican men are only repelled by such remarks in their role as the protectors of women. And so are the women: Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire said that "as a Mom" she could not vote for Trump. Instead she was going to write-in that nice Mike Pence on her ballot paper. Within days she, and many other of her colleagues who had denounced Trump, have come crawling back and now plan to vote for him after all. And why wouldn't they? Trump's language might be on the crude side but he is their man, he is no different from them. Especially when it comes to attitudes to women. Pence, the man who was temporarily elevated as the more attractive candidate, voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (an equal pay proposal) three times when he was a congressman. He wants Roe v Wade, which guarantees a woman's constitutional right to abortion, "consigned to the ash heap of history". As Governor of Indiana, he has closed dozens of Planned Parenthood clinics by defunding them, inadvertently causing an HIV outbreak for a while as no other organisation did HIV testing. Earlier this year he signed into the law HB 1337, one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws. It provided no exception for fetal abnormalities, criminalised the collection of fetal tissue for research, required women to view sonagrams of the fetus prior to the abortion and to provide a funeral service for it afterwards. "I had a cousin and she had a friend, who had a friend, who was going to get us a job in Greece," says Anna. "When we got there, the only job they offered us was too dirty to name." Set up by her own family, Anna, then 20, from Romania, was forced into sex slavery, servicing up to 50 clients a day and kept chained to a bed. Talking with A21 anti-slavery organisation, she describes her prison and the nightly "work" she did at a sex club. "We had to smile, always try to smile. We had to act as if we liked it. I felt ashamed. I would see client after client, with not much break, and then we'd have to see another client. "I could see the cameras, and they would lock the doors. You couldn't go. They would find us." With a microphone in his hand and a smile on his face, a young boy is pictured speaking to the crowd at the infamous Hyde Park riot. Aged just 12 at the time, he stood next to his brother and his stepfather and was cheered on by the crowd, who were violently protesting against an anti-Muslim film in September 2012. On Wednesday, the now 16-year-old boy became the 16th person present at the riot to, in subsequent years, be imprisoned, killed or allegedly investigated over terror-related activities. The boy and a school friend, also 16, were arrested in a Bankstown laneway on Wednesday afternoon allegedly moments away from carrying out an Islamic State-inspired knife attack. A Brisbane woman who had an emergency c-section just 25 weeks into her pregnancy says she was only a few days into her New Zealand holiday when her "perfect pregnancy" took a turn for the worse. Brodie Soster had been visiting family in Greymouth when she started to get pain in her upper abdomen. She put it down to heartburn. Billie Ava Stevens, weighed just 510 grams when she arrived prematurely. Credit:Go Fund Me Three days later she was in "excruciating pain" and could hardly breathe. When she attended her family's local doctor they flew her to Christchurch straight away. Police are hunting two car thieves, after they crashed a stolen vehicle at the Gold Coast on Saturday morning. Police responded to a crash on the Pacific Motorway at Coomera about 5.20am and found a vehicle had rolled in the southbound direction. Police searching for two car thieves who crashed a stolen vehicle. Credit:Rob Gunstone Two people fled the scene, believed to be a male and female, and a police search is underway. A police spokesperson said there was no indication officers were pursuing the stolen vehicle at the time of the crash. A domestic disturbance that left a woman dead and a man fighting for life is now being treated as suspicious. Police are investigating after the 38-year-old Mount Sheridan woman was found dead with stab wounds in a Woree home, south-west of Cairns on Wednesday. The stabbing death of a woman in far north Queensland. Credit:Glenn Hunt Her 47-year-old partner, whose house the disturbance occurred in, remained in a critical condition under police guard in hospital on Friday with apparent stab wounds. Police are yet to be able to speak to him. Decorated former homicide detective Ron Iddles is stepping down as head of Victoria's powerful police union after three years in the job. Mr Iddles announced on Friday that he would bring his long policing career to an end in February 2017, when he will retire as secretary of the Victorian Police Association. In a statement, the 61-year-old said the time was right for him to quit the force and spend more time with his family. "For the great majority of my 40 years in policing, I have put 'the job' ahead of my family," he said. Denise Thornburgh, and her teenaged daughter were asleep in their Port Melbourne home when it was targeted in a drive-by shooting on Friday. Credit:Facebook Detective Sergeant Crawford said the woman and her daughter's bedrooms were just above the garage and to the left of a window which was now sporting a large bullet hole. "Both the bedrooms are upstairs," he said. Spent shotgun cartridges on the ground outside the Port Melbourne home. Credit:Jesse Marlow "The window that has the large bullet hole is not a bedroom, it is more of a study area. "[But] they could have been seriously injured, these individuals wouldn't have known. This is what these cowards would do." Police are also investigating after three shots were fired at the Boutique nightclub in Prahran last week. Credit:Simon Schluter He said the perpetrators had acted in an "exceptionally reckless" manner targeting a resident. Detective Sergeant Crawford said the culprits remained unidentified, and it was unclear how many they were and how they had arrived. A neighbour who spoke to Denise Thornburgh after the shooting said she was 'very shaken, but quite good'. Credit:Facebook He said there were unconfirmed reports they had arrived in a dark car. "It is too early in the investigations to say whether it is the same ammunition [as was used in the shooting at the Boutique club]," Detective Sergeant Crawford said. Police say Denise Thornburgh and her daughter were asleep when the gunman opened fire. Credit:Jesse Marlow "It is too early in the investigation to say bikies are involved," he said. "Echo Taskforce has been notified." Back in the day: Boutique owner Darren Thornburgh and Ian 'Molly' Meldrum. On Wednesday, Mr Thornburgh said police had confirmed that shots had been fired into his club. CCTV showed a man armed with a shotgun getting out of a car that pulled up outside the club and shooting at the building at least three times. Damage was caused to the club's front door, window, first-floor window and the first-floor window of the cafe next door. "I don't believe it's random," Mr Thornburgh said of the club shooting. "But I honestly don't know who it is." On Friday morning, Inspector Ian Geddes said a possible link between the two shooting episodes were "forming part of the investigation". He said police were investigating whether "the Boutique shooting and the shooting at Beacon Cove" were connected. "We don't know what's behind this, it's early in the investigation," he said. Witnesses saw a dark vehicle leave the scene after the shooting. James O'Carroll, who lives next door with his family, including three children aged 7, 4 and 2, said they heard "very loud" gun shots. But he did not see anything as he didn't look out. "We heard two gun shots, followed by a five-second break, followed by another gunshot, " Mr O'Carroll said. Another man who said he was a friend of the family, said he believed what had happened was wrong. "If they had a message to give to the bloke they should give it to him", said the man who gave the name Mr Smith. "This has got nothing whatsoever to do with these people," Mr Smith said. "This is not [Darren Thornburgh's] house. This is his ex-wife's and his children's home," he said. He said he had visited Ms Thornburgh and her daughter after the shooting and said they were OK. "They are very shaken, but quite good," he said. Leon Halliburton, who lives 200 metres away, said the incident had not made him worried about his safety. "I think this is a just a one-off thing related to some other incident elsewhere," Mr Halliburton said. A woman is recovering in hospital after being slashed in the back of the head with a knife after coming to the aid of her neighbour in Port Melbourne on Friday night. Police are investigating the incident that took place in a public housing apartment block in Florence Place about 9.45pm. Police are hunting for a cab driver after a suspected hit and run in Brunswick. Credit:Rob Gunstone Detectives have been told a man was yelling outside a ground floor apartment. The woman who lived in the apartment opened her door and told the man to leave. Former AFL star Karl Langdon and radio personality has found a gem on his hunt for Perth's best pub . Langdon visited the Inglewood Hotel on Wednesday as part of Radio 6PR's Pub of the Year competition and said it was "certainly one of the best experiences I've had of the year". The Inglewood Hotel's T-bone steak. Credit:Karl Langdon He said the standouts at the pub were the excellent service, particularly in regard to one worker, which should lead as an example. "He was very efficient, he was pleasant, he offered advice on the menu when questions were asked, and he was servicing the restaurant all on his own," Langdon said. Off-screen, his role has also grown. Recently, Epshteyn, 34, became a paid Trump staffer, and he often helps lead a daily conference call for campaign surrogates in which they are given their talking points. Nicolle Wallace, who was a spokeswoman for President George W. Bush, said she considered Epshteyn a friend and admired his political skills. "He is everything you want in a surrogate because he believes in his candidate," said Wallace, now a political analyst for MSNBC. Others have found his manner, which can quickly accelerate from reasonable to aggressive to dismissive, off-putting. He also has let his emotions get the better of him. Two years ago, Epshteyn was charged with misdemeanour assault in Scottsdale, Arizona, following a bar fight. The charge was dropped after he agreed to undergo anger management counselling and perform community service. "Boris takes a certain amount of delight in trying to bully the interviewer," said Joy Reid, the host of a show on MSNBC, who has clashed with Epshteyn. "He sees every night as combat and he goes in as very combative." Three political commentators said in separate interviews that he often acted in a rude, condescending manner toward show staffers, makeup artists and others. The three, all of whom are opposed to Trump's election, spoke on condition of anonymity because they sometimes appear on air with Epshteyn. "Boris is abrasive," Reid added. "That is who he is both on the air and off." Epshteyn said in an email that he absolutely disagreed with such remarks. "I have utmost respect for all of the great people I have the pleasure to come in contact with," he wrote. A Trump campaign spokesman, Jason Miller, declined to make Epshteyn available for an interview. "Boris Epshteyn is a tireless and effective advocate for our campaign," Miller said in a statement, adding that he was "a positive influence for those helping to change" the country's direction. Epshteyn, who grew up in Moscow, has written that he came to the United States in 1993 at age 11. He grew up in New Jersey, where his mother was a real estate agent and his father worked as a project manager for a telecommunications company. After the 2013 death of Democrat Senator for New Jersey, Frank R. Lautenberg, he praised the lawmaker for backing a law that helped religious minorities like his Russian Jewish family immigrate to the United States. "Thank you, Senator Lautenberg, for helping open the door to America," he wrote in an opinion piece for US News & World Report. Before this year, Epshteyn was a relatively minor player in Republican politics. In 2008, he served briefly as a communications aide for the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain. During the 2012 election, he appeared occasionally on television as a Republican analyst. His ascent in Trump's campaign is tied to his friendship with Eric Trump, the candidate's second-oldest son. Both men attended Georgetown University and he was a guest at Trump's 2014 wedding. "Proud to call @EricTrump a friend, speech was inspiring thoughtful and heartfelt," Epshteyn wrote on Twitter after Eric Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention. Epshteyn also met his wife at Georgetown, and the couple, married in 2009, recently had a child. In his biography, Epshteyn describes himself as a managing director of a boutique investment bank. But his business career has not always been smooth. In 2009, he became vice-president for legal affairs at a small financial firm, West America Securities, in which his wife's uncle, Charles J. Newman, held a stake. By then, the company and its chief executive, Robert B. Kay, who was a longtime associate of Newman's, had a history of run-ins with regulators, public filings show. As a result of an episode involving Kay, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a Wall Street regulator, took the unusual step in 2013 of expelling West America, effectively shutting it down. Epshteyn and Newman were not accused of wrongdoing in the matter. This year , a Texas company filed a lawsuit against Epshteyn's current investment firm, TGP Securities. The company, Sigma Development Corp., alleged that Epshteyn and his partner had accepted an initial $US100,000 payment to help find it investors for a Disneyland-style theme park in Houston, and then failed to deliver on promises. Epshteyn said in court filings that Sigma paid only half of its promised fee before "pulling the plug" on the project. The lawsuit, which is ongoing, said that in seeking Sigma's business, Epshteyn had boasted about his clout within the Republican Party and frequent television appearances. "Epshteyn suggested that the plaintiff should Google him and watch his videos," the filing states. That video stockpile is growing daily. On Tuesday, after Trump declared that defections by leading Republican lawmakers had allowed him to take the "shackles" off his campaign, Epshteyn gave a preview on CNN of what lay ahead. Loading "He is free to be the candidate that he is, the candidate he truly is, you know, inside," he said. And it seems Conway made no headway either this week, she told Fox News "There's no way for me to know what is and isn't out there." Kellyanne Conway, Trump campaign manager in the spin room after the second US presidential debate. Credit:Bloomberg The extent of research into Trump's past by others among the 17 contenders for the GOP nomination is not known. But the Republican National Committee is understood to have researched them all but the "grab them by the pussy" video was not discovered Early on Thursday Trump was active on Twitter and his surrogates were doing the rounds of the media. Mostly angry old white men, they didn't seem to appreciate the gravity of the charges, dismissing them in harsh and condescending disbelief. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with her husband and former US president Bill Clinton. Credit:Getty Images Donald Trump Jr, the candidate's son went boldly into North Carolina radio studio, where he bravely argued that his father's admission to being a sexual predator made him, um, human. He said: "I've had conversations like that with plenty of people where people use language off colour. They're talking, two guys among themselves. I think it makes him a human. I think it makes him a normal person, not a political robot." Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump yell at reporters as they arrive at a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday. Credit:AP Trump spokesman Jason Miller thought it was outrageous "to reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr Trump" yes one of the new wave of complaints was more than 30 years old, but others were more recent. And Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich was quite appalling, tweeting: "The New York Times goes back over 30 years to find somebody who had a bad airplane flight..." But here's the thing Trump has gone back as far as the 1970s, to build his dirt file on the Clintons. And there's a "gotcha!" moment here too a striking aspect of the new stories by women in various publications, is the extent to which what they allege is confirmed by Trump's own admissions in the video and in CNN's compilation of the worst of 17 years of Trump's sexist trash talk with his radio buddy Howard Stern. British journalist and heiress Jemima Khan poses for photographers with an effigy of Donald Trump at the Unicef Halloween Ball, in London on Thursday. Credit:Invision/AP Apart from all Trump's bluster, a difficulty for his team in attempting to deny the women's stories, is that his serial admissions in the video and on radio resonate so powerfully with what the women say. Further, his absolute denial in Sunday's candidate's debate, that he had ever behaved as he says he does in the video, robs him the option to use a common political defence to admit to aspects of the allegations in the hope that the remainder might be swept under the carpet. And if he has been going on, and on and on and on about the right of Bill Clinton's accusers to be heard on events that happened decades ago, that someone had a bad airplane flight doesn't sound like a reason for them not being heard. On Thursday, The Huffington Post aired yet another woman's story, that of food entrepreneur Lisa Boyne, who told of a mid-1990s incident in which she and other women were at a restaurant with Trump and modelling agent John Casablancas. As told by Boyne, the party was at a semi-circular table with the women in the middle and Trump and Casablancas at either end. The women were unable to leave their seats without either of the men standing up which they refused to do. Trump had insisted that the women get up on, and walk across the table during which Trump "stuck his head right underneath their skirts", and commented on whether they were wearing underwear and about their genitalia. Separately, a former Miss USA contestant told CNN that Trump personally inspected each woman prior to the contest, to the point where it was "the dirtiest I felt in my entire life." She said. Samantha Holvey, the 2006 Miss North Carolina who at the time was a 20-year-old student at a private Southern Baptist college, said: "He would step in front of each girl and look you over from head to toe like we were just meat, we were just sexual objects, that we were not people. You know when a gross guy at the bar is checking you out? It's that feeling." At a Thursday rally in Florida, Trump did himself no favours in the manner in which he spoke of the women going to his usual corner of the dictionary, to making it all very personal. "You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so," he said, referring to People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote about Trump kissing her without her consent and insisting they would have an affair, at his Mar-a-Lago resort when they were alone midway through an interview with him and his wife, Melania, in 2005. "In the beginning of film, people ran away from the screen. For the moment, [VR] is that. You create the indelible memory. So why not use it to tell a powerful story?" Clare Stewart director of the BFI London Film Festival and former director of the Sydney Film Festival said Collisions was a powerful and evocative piece. "We've been following the virtual reality space for the last few years," she said. "What is fantastic about it, and what is fantastic about Lynette's work is that she is a filmmaker going into a space much more worked in by designers and programmers. "We are seeing a shift. When filmmakers come in they use it in a way closer to the narrative forms of film. "How do you take that out to wider audiences? I do think that it's a very nascent moment where in the right hands this could become something very pervasive. "This is a way we will be consuming moving images in the future and now is the moment to start grappling with it creatively." At the same time Stewart presented her work at the film festival, across town a delegation of Indigenous Australians were meeting with officials at the British Museum, negotiating the future return of old artefacts stripped from native lands. They are trying to set up a deal where they take the old artefacts back "home to country", and make replicas using traditional methods for the museum to use in their place. Delegation member Major Sumner from the South Australian Ngarrindjeri community said the conversation at the museum had gone well. "Some museums are not Aboriginal-friendly," Mr Sumner said. "We want to start up a conversation, build up a relationship that's good for both sides. "But our main reason for being in London is to get our old people's remains and take them home." A handover ceremony for 13 Australian Aboriginal ancestral remains took place at Australia House in London on Friday. The remains come from the collections of Royal Pavilion and Museums Brighton, University of Birmingham, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the University of Cambridge. One such piece is an old skull turned into a drinking vessel. The handover ceremony for Australian Aboriginal ancestral remains took place at Australia House in London. Credit:Nick Miller "That's part of our practice, we have the skulls of important people and drink the water so that their knowledge and wisdom will go into us," Mr Sumner said. "Now they're classed as 'modified objects' in museums. Tomorrow the one from Brighton is being handed over. Then we'll take it back home." The Ngarrindjeri have to create new ceremonies for reburial of such objects smoking ceremonies, songs, dances and the summoning of ancestors' spirits. "We have an obligation to our peoples who are held over here," said Grant Rigney, also from the Ngarrindjeri. "There are spiritual values to these materials. We have an obligation to get these home, to rebury in country. "They were dug up and carted to museums all over the world. We have to put them back to rest in country so their spirit can be at rest and can move on into the next world." The remains come from the collections of Royal Pavilion and Museums Brighton, University of Birmingham, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the University of Cambridge. Credit:Nick Miller Nick Abraham, from the Nyoongar community in Western Australia, said when the remains returned to WA more research would be needed to be sure where they had come from and then a reburial ceremony could be planned. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams You think youve got problems? Katie McKenna has problems. On Oct. 2, 2007, McKenna, then a Williamsburg striver on two wheels, was run over by a truck at the corner of Maspeth and Vandervoort Avenues. Run over. By eight wheels of an 18-wheeler. She lived. The result is her comic memoir, How to Get Run Over By a Truck (Inkshares), which, despite its name, is a laugh riot voyage through getting run over by a truck, recovering, living, loving, dumping the boyfriend who basically nursed her back to health (look, its not what you think), and walking unaided again even though a doctor told her she would never do that again. Wow. The good news is Brooklyn Paper Radio hosts Gersh Kuntzman of the New York Daily News and Vince DiMiceli of this very Brooklyn Paper were smart enough to also book Adam Goldstein of the liquor store Red, White & Bubbly to bring some new product and keep the conversation flowing. Goldstein and his sommelier Andrew Lurie poured some red, white and bubbly (no, seriously) from the shops new Hearts of Brooklyn series and kept the conversation flowing. Along the way, we learned: 1. You can survive being run over by an 18-wheeler. 2. The driver of said 18-wheeler who didnt even signal! can emerge without being charged even though you almost died. 3. You can and should break up with anyone you want, even if he or she stood by your hospital bed and changed your diaper because your organs dont work anymore (there, I said it). 4. Man, Red, White & Bubbly makes some great wines! Porter is getting to umpire his second World Series Alan Porter is working his second World Series as an umpire. He'll be behind home plate if the Phillies and Astros need a Game 7. latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... Give a Christmas project seeks donors and applications to aid the needy The Burlington County Times and NJ 211 partner for the 54th year of Give a Christmas. Donors wanted to aid families in need. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Television auctioneer Charles Hanson is celebrating the birth of his son after a hospital scare. The South Derbyshire star of shows such as Bargain Hunt is on cloud nine after his wife Rebecca gave birth to a son, Frederick, three weeks ago. But the delay in breaking the news has come about as it has not been plain sailing for the television personality and his wife, because their son has been intensive care since his birth after being born by Caesarian section at 32 weeks. Problems began several months ago after it was discovered that the unborn baby would need blood transfusions while in the womb because of a pre-natal condition related to a rare antibody in the blood. The couple travelled backwards and forwards to Birmingham for the transfusions, all the while under the care of the Royal Derby Hospital. Mr Hanson, who run Hansons Auctioneers and Valuers in Heage Lane, Etwall, said: "The doctors said they couldn't do any more transfusions and as a result decided to bring Frederick into the world early. "He is strong and a fighter and we had the best news this week when we were told he would be going into the high dependency unit because he had improved. "I have been concerned not to say too much about the situation too soon and I am sure people will understand how cautious we have been about broadcasting the birth until we know things were improving. "But I feel so optimistic and feel so blessed that we now have a son. After losing Tommy, who was born asleep in September 2012, we were overjoyed to have Matilda, who was born in 2014, and who has a calm and relaxed nature, just like my wife." * Please note: The auction shown in the video has taken place The looks almost certain to win the greenfield Bhavanapadu port project in Andhra Pradesh. The other two short-listed for bidding have backed out. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. At a time when natural gas producers in the country are worried about the fall in prices, Cairn India, which enjoys a unique position in pricing under a production sharing contract (PSC), is facing problems in selling increased volumes. The ministry of petroleum and natural gas is not keen on state-owned (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) and Oil India bidding for discovered small fields which are currently being offered by the government for development. The date for filing of bids has been extended from October 31 to November 21. The market's fears have turned out to be true: the top two listed IT companies, TCS and Infosys, have let down analysts with their performances. TCS disappointed with weak numbers, while Infosys cut its guidance despite meeting the one set for this quarter. The market was expecting a sub-optimal performance from the companies and had hammered the stocks lower ahead of the results. Mumbai-based real estate developer is looking at expanding its operations to National Capital Region (NCR) and Pune, in future. The company today launched a 161 meter tall residential project in Chennai. Speaking to the reporters in the sidelines of the launch, Surendra Hiranandani, founder and managing director of said, "We like Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Bengaluru and Chennai, where we have established our presence. We are looking to establish more in NCR and Pune in future, but still nothing has materialised as yet." Infosys, Indias second-largest software exporter, has cut its annual revenue forecast for the second time in three months, as customers in banking and technology sectors cut or delayed projects, indicating that the Indian information technology (IT) sectors woes continue due to global business uncertainty. is selling a 51 per cent stake in its tower assets to Canada's Brookfield Infrastructure Group for 110 billion rupees ($1.65 billion), in a deal that will help cut the phone carrier's huge debt. will use the proceeds of the deal with Brookfield "solely" to repay debt, it said a statement on Friday. The preliminary deal is subject to definitive documentation, regulatory approvals and other terms and conditions. Controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, is the most leveraged among listed Indian phone carriers with its $6.3 billion net debt being more than five times its operating profit. Ambani said last month the company aimed to cut its debt by more than three-quarters within a year. Reliance Communications, India's fourth-biggest cellular carrier by customers, is also merging its wireless business with smaller rival Aircel and has said that deal will cut its debt by 200 billion rupees as it transfers part of the debt to the new venture. India is the world's second-biggest and the fastest-growing internet market by users. As Indian mobile phone carriers expand their 4G telecoms networks to cater to fast-rising demand for high-speed data, Reliance Communications and Brookfield expect the tower business' revenue and profitability to improve further, according to the statement. Reliance Communications, which has been trying to sell the tower assets for years, had in December signed a non-binding pact with a group led by buyout firm TPG Capital Management LP. That deal did not go through. Shares in Reliance Communications were trading 2.3 per cent higher by 0819 GMT in a Mumbai market that was up 0.3 per cent. India's budget airline is planning to increase its fleet of 43 aircraft with 4-5 Boeing airplanes by next year. It may also add three Bombardier aircraft by the same time as it plans to increase the flight frequency to domestic and international destinations, the company's CMD Ajay Singh said in Hyderabad on Friday. He said, "We are planning for 10 per cent increase in the current frequency which is at 320 flights per day. Recently, we have included three Bombardiers in our fleet and going to add another three by the next year. At present, we operate flights to six international destinations and preparing to operate in more countries." An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) delegation, led by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, will meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday to discuss the issue of illegal appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries in various states. Besides Sisodia, other leaders Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh, Gopal Rai and Kapil will also be present during the meeting, which is scheduled at 6:15 pm. Last year, President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the Delhi government's bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the 'Office of Profit' category. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has given 21 legislators time till October 17 to explain as to why they should not be disqualified from the assembly after their appointment as Parliamentary Secretaries. After coming to power in February 2015, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government appointed 21 party lawmakers as Parliamentary Secretaries, stating that it would facilitate smooth functioning of the government and ensured that it would not be a burden on the exchequer. However, the Delhi High Court in September quashed all the appointments. Afghanistan will soon open a consulate in Hyderabad which will be a step forward for expansion of ties between both the countries, its envoy to India said on Friday. "We are going to open a consulate in Hyderabad which will not only focus on trade and business, but this is going to be a step forward for expansion of our ties at all levels," Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali told reporters in Hyderabad. "With the opening of our consulate in Hyderabad we are going to expand our ties in education, commerce and people to people ties, cultural cooperation and cooperation in health sector," he said. Abdali was speaking on the sidelines of an interactive meeting organised by the FICCI along with FTAPCCI. He said the Afghan and Indian governments have agreed to open a third representation of Afghanistan after Embassy in Delhi and consulate in Mumbai in the form of consulate in Hyderabad. "I am here to discuss practical steps for opening Afghan consulate in Hyderabad. The agreement at the government level has been done. We will soon be sending a delegation to Hyderabad to look for the place," Abdali said, adding that the opening of consulate in Hyderabad will open an opportunity between various fields including trade and business. On the proposal of sister city relationship between Hyderabad and Jalalabad, he said, "We have in-principle agreed on this. I am going to discuss again on this matter tomorrow with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao." On starting direct flights between Hyderabad and Kabul, Abdali said, "After the consulate opens, it is certainly an option we will encourage airlines to operate flights between Kabul and Hyderabad." Presently, there is direct flight service between Delhi and Kabul. To a query, he said Afghanistan and India are strategic partners, which means special status to India, and there will be cooperation not only from Afghan government but also people. He further said that New Delhi will host an major business summit, likely within the next two months, to attract global investments for the strategic Chabahar port in Iran. Jackson County walkway rendering.jpg This rendering by Neel-Schaffer, Inc., used a computer to insert images of a proposed multi-use pathway into an actual photograph of U.S. 90 between Ocean Springs and Gautier. (Neel-Schaffer, Inc.) GAUTIER, Mississippi -- Gautier will play host to the first of two public meetings to discuss pedestrian/bicyclist pathways proposed as part of the Mississippi Department of Transportation's widening of U.S. 90 between the two cities. The purpose of the meetings is to gather public input on the proposed "multi-use" pathways which would run parallel to U.S. 90 and connect the 8.5 miles between existing pathway in Gautier and Bechtel Boulevard in Ocean Springs. The concept, developed by Neel-Schaffer, Inc., calls for the use of existing frontage roads to construct the pathways on both sides of U.S. 90 from Hanshaw Road and going west. After feedback is received from residents during the two meetings, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors intends to request MDOT include the pathways in the highway widening project. Once MDOT approves the plan, the county will being seeking funding for the project. Supervisor Troy Ross said he has yet to see a cost estimate for constructing the pathways, but believes it will ultimately be a joint project. "I'm sure at some point there will be some kind of partnership between MDOT and the county," he said. The Gautier meeting will be held Nov. 2 at the Gautier Community Center, and the second meeting on Nov. 3 at the Ocean Springs Civic Center. There will be no formal presentation. Instead, residents are invited to come to either meeting between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to learn more about the project and provide input. Representatives of Neel-Schaffer will be presenting the plan to city officials in Gautier and Ocean Springs at their respective Oct. 4 and Oct. 18 meetings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the domestic intelligence and security service of the US, on Friday stepped in to assist Thane Police in the ongoing probe into the Mira Road scam, in which about 6,500 Americans were duped of millions of dollars.During the first interaction on Friday, Thane Police and FBI decided to share inputs and help each other nab the mastermind.Police said about 2,000 people worked at the nine Thane call centres that duped Americans by pretending to be IRS officials. They also threatened the Americans with tax investigations if they did not send the money.The police have already arrested 72 of the 772 questioned and also seized 851 hard disks from the call centres. Besides, police have raided similar call centres in Ahmedabad. The official said call centres in Noida and Gurgaon are under its scanner now.Suhel Daud, an FBI officer of Indian origin and a cybercrime expert, on Friday met Param Bir Singh, police chief of Thane. Daud is one of two FBI officers assigned to India. The legal attache at the American embassy belongs to Bareilly.Singh confirmed that he held talks with the FBI representative. ALSO READ: Thane police traces hawala transactions in call centre scam Indian philanthropists and policymakers may like the idea of a liberal education at par with the best in the world but it is not clear how receptive the administrative soil of India will be to the freewheeling, democratic campus culture that usually comes along with it. The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) has uploaded the preliminary exam training call letters. Aspirants who seek employment in 29 public sector and regional rural banks (RRBs) for IBPS Group A officers (scale-I, II & III) and Group B office assistants (multipurpose) can download the call letter from the official website ibps.in. Last date for downloading is October 17, 2016 and the exam will be conducted between October 17 and October 22, 2016. With the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Council approving Project Vishwajeet that is meant to push seven to the top rung in global academic rankings, the institutes will make presentation on the same to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on October 20. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is exploring possibilities of setting up a telescope on moon as part of enhancing its scientific observation capacity. The space agency is expecting the second moon mission to take place by the end of next year, said A S Kiran Kumar, chairman of the . India on Friday termed as "concocted and baseless" a report in Pakistani media that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar in a meeting with the German ambassador in New Delhi had admitted that no were conducted by the . "Army does not speak, it acts. Respect the jawans, Army does not need weapons but citizens of a country must rally behind Army to give moral support and people must be awake." This is how Prime Minister today tried to express himself in Bhopal after facing a long volley of questions over surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Congress in sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention to resolve the ongoing dispute between the state and Chhattishgarh over the Mahanadi river water. "We urge you to wield your constitutional mandate to protect the interest of multitude of cultivators, instruct the Chhattishgarh Government to desist from the unilateral construction immediately," the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) said in a memorandum to the President. A CLP delegation led by its leader Narasingha Mishra met the President in New Delhi and apprised him of the situation following Chhattishgarh government's "unilateral" construction of projects on upstream of Mahanadi. "We also urged the President to instruct the Union Government to share all information with the state of as regards any change in adverse inflow of water to this state and constitution of an Inter-State River Water Dispute Tribunal immediately so that the matter may be referred to," Mishra told reporters after meeting the President. Stating that the reduction in inflow of water in Mahanadi will have a serious bearing on the fragile eco-system enveloping the water bodies like Chilika, the largest lagoon of India, the CLP mentioned in the memorandum that wildlife census showed how it was a perfect host to Siberian and similar aviaries of rare species. Ornithologists have already predicted the extinction of many rare varieties of aviaries in no distant future. "Further, it (reduction in flow of water in Mahanadi) will have serious impact on the mangrove forest of the Mahanadi delta which has acted as a barrier to high tides and super cyclones. Environmentalists have already predicted the threat of extinction of rare species of alligators in Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary and turtles in Gahirmatha/ Bhitarkanika sanctuary in the river in case of serious reduction in the intake of water in the water bodies," the memorandum said. security, politicisation of surgical strikes, economy and rural distress are the issues through which the Opposition plans to corner the Centre which is keen on getting two GST (goods and services tax) enabling bills passed in the winter session of the from November 16 to December 16. Jesse Sund At one point, Jesse Sund wandered through life wondering what his next move would be, but thanks to the Transitions Academy at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Sund is headed pursue a lifelong dream of joining the U.S. Army. (MGCCC) PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Jesse Sund of Pascagoula is looking forward to leaving for boot camp as he plans to join the U.S. Army, but just a few months ago, Sund was unemployed and did not know what his future held. "I'm excited about leaving next week," he said. "Joining the Army is something I have wanted to do most of my life. Now, here I am." The uncertainty of life swayed Sund countless ways, but once he discovered the Transitions Academy at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC), he has never looked backwards. The former high school dropout now has his GED and college credits which helped him with his military application. "There was no way I could go in the military after having left high school during my freshman year," Sund said. "Finding the Transitions Academy is what got me back on track." Sund was dropping off his brother for his classes at the MGCCC Jackson County Campus when he noticed a sign that caught his attention. "There was a sign that said, 'Get your GED and college credits for free.' I said to myself, 'Okay, here's my chance.'" Sund attended the Jackson County academy's primary location at the college's West Harrison County Center in Long Beach but after a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the campus expanded to Jackson County this past year. The grant provides at least $100,000 per year from July 2015 through June 2018 for the program, which provides education and training for high school dropouts, low-income and other nontraditional students. The Transition Academy opened in 2014 and is is the first of its kind in the state. Because of its instant success, the academy's model is serving as a prototype for other community college programs. Under the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program model, basic skills and career-technical instructors teach as a team in the classroom so that students gain basic and occupational skills simultaneously. Quantitative analysis provided through a program implemented in Washington suggests that the program substantially increases the rate at which adult basic skills students earn college credits and complete post-secondary occupational credentials. Instructors from around the state have implemented the team-teaching model. MI-BEST is patterned after the highly successful Washington program. Sund and other students at the academy in Gautier worked toward their GED certificate and took classes in the ship-fitter program. He received national certification in shipbuilding upon completion of the course and certification exams. More than 14,000 students leave the K-12 system each year in Mississippi, costing the state economy $458,302,726 in net annual costs. Only about one-third of those dropouts work or seek work, and those who do earn 27 percent less than high school graduates over their lifetime. They are 30 percent more likely to use state Medicaid and are 3.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than those who graduate. Only 60 percent of the state's ninth graders graduate from high school. Through MI-BEST, these individuals have the opportunity to receive a high-school equivalency diploma (GED); a Career Readiness Certificate, pertinent industry credentials for a chosen pathway; at least 15 hours of career pathway college credit hours; completion of at least 20 hours of employability and life-skills training; participation in work-based learning; and either employment in a chosen pathway or related field; continued college enrollment toward a certificate or associate degree; or enlistment in the military. "It took me about four months to work my way through the program and earn my GED and certifications," Sund said. "That is what made me eligible to enter the military. I'm just so thrilled." The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) said the varsity has not rejected the proposal to introduce certificate courses in yoga and Indian culture and was deliberating it even as the students union claimed otherwise. Students' Union maintained that the Academic Council, which is the varsity's statutory decision-making body, has rejected the proposal to introduce these courses "with majority". "At a recently convened meeting of the Academic Council, certificate course in computational linguistics was approved and two other courses yoga philosophy and Indian culture received wonderful suggestions. "It was decided that the centre concerned might improve the courses in the light of suggestions made and then come back to the Council. At no stage the proposal was rejected outright," a statement issued by JNUTA said. However, JNUSU in a statement said, "While the students continued to protest outside the AC meeting venue, the proposal to introduce short-term courses in yoga and Indian culture was rejected with majority." When contacted, the university administration did not comment on the "actual status" of the courses. The proposal to introduce three short-term courses in these subjects had come last year against the backdrop of right-wing organisations, including RSS, insisting on propagation of culture in educational campuses to promote India's rich heritage and restore its cultural identity. Following various communications from the HRD Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC), had last year circulated a draft of three courses among its various schools and departments for their feedback. The proposal was rejected by the Academic Council in November. However, the varsity had in May decided to reconsider it and the departments were asked to rework on the proposed course structure and place the same before the council. The matter was placed before the AC which was held last week amid protests by a section of students. The Public Investment Board (PIB) of the Union Finance Ministry has cleared Pune Merto Rail project on Friday in a meeting held at New Delhi. Now, the proposal will be forwarded to the union cabinet for a final nod before it is implemented. Ruling Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituent pitched for a second term for President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday even as the Congress said that a call from the party high command is yet to arrive on the matter. Sena leader Sanjay Raut said he will meet Mukherjee next week, insisting that he has proved to be the "best President" and that nobody can doubt his capabilities. "In the last five years, he has shown that he is a capable and a non-controversial President, who is well-versed in and international affairs," Raut, Shiv Sena's leader in the Rajya sabha, said. "We will let you know. We don't know what has said. The party high command has to take a call on this," said the Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza when asked whether her party will back Mukherjee, a former Congressman, for a second term. Asked whether the Shiv Sena, which is a key constituent of the BJP-led NDA and the oldest ideological ally of the saffron party, would appeal to other parties for backing Mukherjee for a second term, Raut said, it is a decision which only the party chief, Uddhav Thackeray, can take. "Uddhav Thackeray too has a lot of respect and affection for Pranab Mukherjee," he said. Raut, who is the executive editor of Shiv Sena's mouth-peice Saamna, said, "Just like his party appreciated the surgical strikes by the armed forces and congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi (for them), similarly, we are appreciating the good work of the President." The comments from Raut, Shiv Sena's most visible public face, come at a time when the party's ties with BJP, with which it shares power both in Maharashtra and at the Centre, are under strain. During the run-up to the Presidential polls, Mukherjee had visited Matoshree, the residence of the Thackerays, to garner support for his candidature. The Sena, under Bal Thackeray's leadership, had broken ranks with BJP to support Mukherjee's presidential candidature in 2012. Mukherjee's current term ends on July 25 next year and, according to reports, the Rashtrapati Bhawan has approached the government to find a suitable accomodation for him in Lutyen's bungalow zone. Barring the first President of India Dr Rajendra Prasad, none of his successors has had a second term in Rashtrapati Bhawan. Amid the row over "triple talaq", the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) will start a nation-wide signature campaign from Friday among Muslims against the central government affidavit in the Supreme Court on the matter. "The affidavit filed by the central government on the matter of is a direct infringement on the Shariat and a nation-wide signature campaign will start from Friday on this matter," senior AIMPLB member Khalid Rasheed Farangimahli said here on Thursday. The campaign will start in the state from the Aishbagh Idgah after the Friday prayers, he said. A letter to this effect has been sent to imams of all the mosques in the state appealing to them to take active part in this exercise to protect Islami Shariat which will be read out just before the Friday namaz, Farangimahli said. All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) will start a nation-wide signature campaign from Friday, amid the row over the practice of "triple talaq", among Muslims against the central government affidavit in the Supreme Court on the matter, media reports said. Calls for boycott of Chinese goods in India following China's opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar have failed as sales of Chinese products in the country hit a record high during the festive season, Chinese official media said on Friday. "Diwali, one of the most important Hindu festivals and one of the biggest shopping seasons in India, is coming at the end of October, but encouragement to boycott Chinese goods has been spreading in the last few days on Indian social media, and even a few Indian politicians are exaggerating facts," an article in the state-run Global Times said. "However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian media's hysteric reports of a "doomsday" for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation," it said. "The boycott has not achieved success. Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal, and Tata CLiQ platforms," the article said referring to the boycott calls over China's technical hold on moves to bring about a ban on Azhar as well Beijing obstructing India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG). "Chinese products are often the victim when regional situations get tense, and this phenomenon has been existing for quite a few years. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue," it said. "The bilateral trade relationship is one of the pillars of the Sino-Indian relationship. The trade volume was over $70 billion in 2015, and China's investment in India soared to around $870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014," it said. India has been expressing concern over the trade deficit which last year touched $46 billion. "To some extent, the economic relationship is the barometer of the political relationship. There shouldn't be huge fluctuation in terms of economic cooperation if the political relationship keeps steady between the two," it said. "For the dragon and elephant, enhancing economic ties would be a preferable way to promote the comprehensive bilateral relationship. The more economic cooperation exists, the more opportunities there will be for Chinese products to enter the Indian market," it said. "India is a big potential market, and people using smartphones and doing online shopping has become the irreversible trend in the new era," it said. The commercial cooperation between these two countries could also be focused on e-commerce, service and financial investment. Another article in the same daily said India has to upgrade its industrial structures to address $46 billion trade deficit. Official data during September showed India had exported goods worth $922 million to China, while importing goods worth $5.4 billion from China. "The huge trade deficit with China has become an increasingly unharmonious factor in bilateral ties between the two countries, requiring China and India to take practical measures to narrow the trade imbalance when leaders of the two nations meet in India over the weekend for the BRICS summit," the article said. "The two countries have made concerted efforts to narrow the trade imbalance, including signing a five-year trade and economic cooperation agreement in 2014, but it seems that such moves have had only limited effects. What we need to do now is find out the root causes of the trade imbalance," it said. The major imports from China include electronic components, telecom instruments, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, while India's major exports to China include ore, plastics, and cotton. "The imbalanced bilateral trade structure is actually a result of the fact that China and India are at different developmental stages in terms of industrialisation. It won't be easy to reduce India's trade deficit with China simply by relying on measures such as seeking greater access to the Chinese market for India's raw materials and agricultural products - India also needs to upgrade its industrial structure," it said. "In other words, India seeking to solve the problem of the China-India trade imbalance cannot anchor its hopes on efforts such as persuading Chinese people to consume more Indian goods at a time when more and more Indian young people are keen to use Chinese-made goods such as smartphones," it said. "Efforts such as encouraging Chinese smartphone makers to set up production lines in India may be the most effective way to reduce the trade deficit, which is partly the result of a price gap between India's imports of finished goods and its exports of raw materials," it said. "But sadly, it seems that India is not on the right path, as the country is trying to reduce its trade deficit with China through trade protectionism," it said, adding that there had been 322 anti-dumping cases in India so far, of which 177 cases involved Chinese products. "Besides, a social media campaign urging people to refrain from buying China-made products has recently been building in India. Such moves will not help contribute to reducing India's trade deficit, but could damage bilateral ties instead," it said. The finance ministry will issue rules and guidance to address some concerns and ambiguity over mandatory reporting norms with respect to transfer pricing for multinational companies whose consolidated annual revenue is over Rs 5,000 crore. India is hosting the BRICS summit at Goa this year and is likely to raise a series of key issues involving member nations Russia and China during the two-day event, scheduled to take place on October 15 and 16. OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- "Is that my son? Is that my son?" Joy Brown wailed as she approached the crash scene behind Ocean Springs High School. Her son, OSHS senior Donovan Brown, lay in the backseat of a wrecked vehicle, deceased. Fortunately, that scene was only part of a DUI crash reenactment staged by local emergency personnel to bring a dose of realism to the anti-drinking and driving message. Personnel from Central Fire Department, Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Mississippi Highway Patrol, Ocean Springs school police, Jackson County Office of Emergency Services, the Jackson County Coroner's office, Acadian and LifeFlight all donated their time to stage the reenactment. In addition to Joy Brown -- a teacher at OSHS -- and her son, Donovan, students Macey McKenzie, Malcolm Magee, Nathan Risley, and Tina Jordan participated as "victims" of the crash. The premise of the accident scene was Risley, with Magee as a passenger, was driving impaired when his vehicle slammed into one driven by McKenzie, who was ejected onto the hood. Donovan Brown portrayed the deceased victim in the back seat, and Jordan was the front seat passenger who had to be air lifted for treatment. Not only did the reenactment serve to deliver a message to the students (all juniors and seniors witnessed the reenactment), but also as a valuable training exercise for the agencies involved. "We do this to make students aware of the dangers drunk driving can cause," said Central Fire Chief Mike Belton, "or distracted driving, like texting. Wrecks happen every day. It's been a bad year for fatalities so far. We want the students to be aware what can happen when you're not paying attention or if alcohol is involved." Once the crash scene was set (using two wrecked vehicles), emergency vehicles began pouring into the parking lot behind OSHS shortly after 10 a.m. Paramedics and firefighters immediately assessed the situation and firefighters used the Jaws of Life to remove a door from the vehicle in which Donovan Brown was deceased and the other two injured. Both McKenzie and Jordan received "treatment" for their apparently severe injuries, with McKenzie taken away by ambulance and Jordan later airlifted by LifeFlight, which landed at the adjacent practice field (the helicopter took off with Jordan, circled around and then landed again). Risley, the drunk driver, was put through a field sobriety test by a Mississippi Highway Patrolman and then taken into custody. But perhaps the moments that carried the most impact were those involving Joy Brown in her role as the grieving mother. Her wails and cries were incredible realistic, with more than one person commenting they became emotional listening to her, despite the knowledge it was all an act. At one point, Brown was restrained by law enforcement when she tried to go after Risley, yelling "Is he the one?! Is he the one who killed my son?!" Afterward, Joy Brown smiled as she was praised for her performance, but added playing the role and watching her own son put into a body bag and taken away in a hearse was difficult -- even as an act. "It was tough," she said, "but if it saves one student, it's worth it." Donovan Brown said hearing his mother's anguished cries was somewhat surreal. "It was weird," he said. "She did a really good job." He also said portraying a dead person was a unique experience. "It was strange," he said. "It definitely puts into perspective how dumb it is to drunk and drive. It's not worth it. The five-minute trip you take if you're drunk behind the wheel might be your last -- or someone else's." Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said tax on environment-unfriendly products could be distinct from others in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to be rolled out next year. India ratified the Paris Climate Change agreement on October 2. The government on Thursday decided to suspend mobile Internet services for four hours on October 16 during the clerk-level competitive examination in a bid to prevent adoption of any unfair means by candidates but revoked the order hours later. Earlier in the day, Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB) chairman Asit Vora had informed the media that district collectors have been asked to take steps to suspend mobile Internet services on October 16 to prevent adoption of unfair means by candidates sitting for the examination. However, an official statement quoting Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja later said, "The state Home department has decided not to ban mobile Internet service in connection with the subordinate service competitive examination on Sunday, October 16." "Mobile Internet services will continue as usual across state," it added. Vora had earlier said, "On our request, district collectors have been asked to ban mobile Internet services between 10 AM and 2 PM on Sunday so that mobile phones are not used for unfair means during the written examination for the post of class IV non-Secretariat clerks and office assistants for cheating." Ahmedabad in-charge collector A B Gor had also said that district administration has been asked to do the same if it is required to prevent malpractices during the examination. As many as 7.67 lakh aspirants will sit for the test at various centres located in district headquarters across Gujarat, for around 3,000 vacancies. India has reportedly nominated State Bank of India chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya as the managing director and chief operating officer's position, but road to final selection may not be easy. India may need strong backing of US and other category 1 member countries, who have a large voting share. Telangana Industries Minister K T Rama Rao, who is on a week-long tour of the US to attract investment in the state, on Friday met key executives of pharma giants like J&J, Merck and Pfizer there. "KTR Had a great meeting with Dr Paul Stoffels, Chairman J&J, Global Pharma. Discussed medical devices pharma manufacturing, innovation and J-Labs," a release issued by the state government said. He met Merck's executive vice president and president of manufacturing, Sanat Chattopadhyay, and discussed setting up a centre of excellence in Telangana, it said. Rama Rao on Thursday met the Acting Ambassador of India in the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, wherein issues of bilateral interest to US and India and the ease of doing business in India were discussed at length. Newly appointed Consul General of US in Hyderabad, Katherine B Hadda, had called on the Minister and apprised him of her priorities when she takes charge. "The Minister raised the issue of student deportations in the US and stressed on the importance of positive association between both the nations," the release said. Boeing International president Bertrand-Marc Allen called on the Minister and discussed the current status of Boeing's engagement in the Aerospace city in Hyderabad. The future possibilities of collaboration, especially in skills upgradation and training, were discussed. Rama Rao also addressed leaders from PhRMA Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America a group of the US' leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies. The meeting was attended by representatives from major companies including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Alexion, Merck and Amgen, among others. The government has so far not discussed the issue of withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. Although India had extended the to Pakistan as a "goodwill gesture" way back in 1996, the neighbouring nation has not yet extended the same to New Delhi. India should expediently coordinate with Nepal to improve road connectivity and bolster bilateral trade, Commerce minister of Nepal, Romi Gauchan Thakali said. Speaking at the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) business summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Thakali said Nepal has submitted a list of four additional transit points to increase land border trade with India. The HSUS has gotten an earful from scores of angry and frustrated consumers who unwittingly purchased sick puppies from breeders advertising on PuppyFind. Photo by Pam Sordyl Consumers who say they bought dogs advertised online, only to find out that the animals they grew to love were already suffering from various illnesses when they purchased them, today filed a lawsuit against the online puppy marketplace PuppyFind.com. The lawsuit, filed by the Arizona law firm Burch & Cracchiolo with assistance from the HSUS legal team, alleges that PuppyFind.com is promoting the sale of sick puppy mill puppies. Over the year, The HSUS has gotten an earful from scores of angry and frustrated consumers who unwittingly purchased sick puppies from breeders advertising on PuppyFind. One of the plaintiffs received a puppy who had such a severe respiratory infection that within days of receiving him his lungs began to flood with blood and his new guardian was left with little choice but to euthanize the suffering animal. Another plaintiff received a dog who appeared much older than was advertised and whose face was scarred, and who was later found to be deaf and blind. Several of the dogs purchased from PuppyFind were afflicted with mange. PuppyFind.com, which is based in Arizona, claims to have over 50,000 puppies for sale on its website at any given time. Thousands of individual breeders advertise on the website. According to the lawsuit, many consumers complain about receiving sick dogs from the breeders selling on the website, and submit negative reviews for other consumers to see. But PuppyFind has removed those reviews from the website, leading consumers to believe that the sellers are responsible breeders selling healthy dogs. Sadly, many of the breeders advertising on PuppyFind.com are puppy mills, raising dogs in inhumane conditions, where dogs are confined in stacked wire cages, given inadequate exercise, and have little to no human interaction. Several breeders featured in the HSUS 2016 Horrible Hundred report, which highlights terrible puppy mills across the country, have routinely advertised on PuppyFind.com. These include Marilyn Williams (aka Marilyn Shepard), located in Ava, Missouri, who had been cited by state inspectors for maintaining over the past four years numerous sick and injured dogs. Dogs found in need of medical care at Ms. Williams facility just this year and last year have included an underweight dachshund with prominent vertebrae, ribs, and loss of muscle mass who was nursing five puppies, a fox terrier with a skin lesion that extended across its abdomen, a miniature schnauzer with hair loss around the eye, a bearded collie who was limping and had a wide strip of hair loss on his back but was not taken to a veterinarian even though the licensee was instructed to have him treated, and numerous other sick dogs. Beverly Hargis of Hargis Sunshine Kennel in Hallsville, Missouri, has been cited by authorities for numerous animal welfare violations and has advertised her puppies on PuppyFind.com. During a January 2016 inspection, USDA inspectors found two dogs with such advanced dental disease at Hargis kennel that one of them had teeth missing and his gums were receded, red, and inflamed, and the other had his tongue hanging outside of his mouth, which is common in dogs who are missing numerous teeth. In addition, the inspector found most of the outside enclosures so filled with feces that it made it difficult for the animals to avoid walking in it. Two additional breeders in the report, one who had her licensed revoked by the USDA (Caryl Freeman/ Freeman Frenchies), and one who had her licensed revoked in Ohio (Susan Fitzgerald), were also found selling on PuppyFind. Plaintiffs in the case filed today purchased their puppies from Tennessee puppy sellers George and Tabitha Doyle, after seeing the high star rating given to this seller and reading the exclusively positive reviews posted about them on PuppyFind.com. Unfortunately, each of the seven plaintiffs received sick puppies from the Doyles. Many of them subsequently attempted to post negative reviews of their experiences on PuppyFind, but their reviews were either removed or failed to post. The Internet may be an efficient way to purchase any number of household products, but its the wrong way to purchase a puppy, especially given that so many dog breeders operate in a deregulated environment and strain to keep consumers from seeing the reality of what mill dogs endure. Pet buyers should always take the time to do their homework, and refuse to ever purchase a puppy without visiting the place where the puppy was born and raised. Visit here for more information on how to find a responsible breeder or how to adopt. Bangladesh on Friday rolled out the red carpet for Chinese President who arrived on a two-day state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years, seen as crucial for bilateral economic ties. A 21-gun salute heralded Xi's arrival as he stepped down from a special Air China flight to be received by Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid at the VVIP terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal Airport. Four Bangladesh air force jets escorted the aircraft carrying the Chinese leader as it entered the country's skyline while a contingent of army, navy and air force accorded him an honour guard as he landed. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency on the eve of Xi's visit that the tour would usher in a new era of "intensive cooperation" between Dhaka and Beijing. "We are very happy and feel honoured that President Xi is coming to Bangladesh. I believe that President Xi's visit will also be more important for South Asia (as well)," she said. Xi will hold talks with Hasina and join a banquet at Bangabhaban presidential palace as part of his 23-hour visit, the first by any Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in three decades after President Li Xiannian's trip in March 1986. Hasina said Bangladesh strongly adhered to one-China policy and supported China on issues related to its core national interests and efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. She said "China has become our largest trading partner and we consider China as a trusted partner in realising our dreams too. China is the leading generator of many of our mega projects in terms of finance, capitalisation and technology". Beijing earlier this week in a statement said the visit would be a "milestone" as "both sides would make deals and bilateral relations would be improved". Bangladesh officials familiar with the tour said the two countries were expected to sign 25 agreements and MoUs on investment and cooperation coinciding with the visit. They said the proposed deals would involve billions of dollars in Chinese funding for large infrastructure projects which Bangladesh considered critical to its development ambitions. India extended a $2 billion line of credit to Bangladesh after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit last year, following up on a $1 billion loan in 2010 when his predecessor Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka. Analysts said Dhaka sought to develop economic ties with China keeping its warm strategic and political relations with next door India, as its traditional ally and the dominant power in South Asia. Ruling Awami League's general secretary and local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam earlier described Bangladesh-China ties as "historic". He also sought restoration of an old road link, saying it would benefit the regional countries including India. Foreign minister Mahmood Ali said Xi's visit would have no negative impact on Bangladesh's relations with other countries, particularly with India. "We don't think so," he said in response to a question. Chinese President said on Friday that his government considers Bangladesh to be an important partner in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. In a statement given here soon after his arrival on his first visit to Bangladesh, President Xi said, "We are ready to work with the Bangladeshi side to further deepen our political mutual trust and elevate our relations and practical cooperation to a higher level." Praising the 41-year-old diplomatic ties between the two nations at the start of his two-day state visit to Bangladesh from Friday to Saturday, the China Daily quoted President Xi, as saying that the relationship has progressed by leaps and bounds. He said both nations are pursuing the path of development along expected lines, and added that the day was not far off when there would be a synchronisation between a rejuvenated China and "Sonar Bangla". He is the first president of China to visit Bangladesh in the past 30 years. He arrived in Dhaka at about 11:40 am after wrapping up visit to Cambodia. He will then fly to Goa of India to attend the eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend. President Xi said that during his visit, he expected to have broad and an in-depth exchange of views with President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and other Bangladeshi leaders on China-Bangladesh relations and issues of mutual interests. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that if voted to power he would recognise Jerusalem as "one true" capital of Israel. "I have said on numerous occasions that in a Trump Administration, the United States will recognise Jerusalem as the one true capital of Israel," Trump said last night. The UN's attempt to disconnect the State of Israel from Jerusalem is a one-sided attempt to ignore Israel's 3,000-year bond to its capital city, and is further evidence of the enormous anti-Israel bias of the world body, he alleged. "Jerusalem is the enduring capital of the Jewish People and the overwhelming majority of Congress has voted to recognise Jerusalem as just that," he claimed. "The decision by the Obama Administration to strike the word 'Israel' after the word 'Jerusalem' in the President's prepared text was a capitulation to Israel's enemies, and a posthumous embarrassment to Shimon Peres, whose memory the President was attempting to honour," Trump, 70, said. "In a Trump Administration, Israel will have a true, loyal and lasting friend in the United States of America," he said. Official US policy refrains from recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital until the Israel-Palestine conflict is resolved. Last month, when US President Barack Obama visited Jerusalem, the White House initially sent out a copy of Obama's remarks at former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres' funeral in Jerusalem, indicating that the remarks had been given in Jerusalem, Israel. But later, it sent out a correction to the previous email, striking out "Israel" from the header of the transcript. India-born will head the SoftBank Vision Fund that the Japanese investment company has set up with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Misra (54), a veteran banker, is the head of strategic at SoftBank Group. He joined SoftBank in October 2014, around the same time when Nikesh Arora joined the Japanese investor as a potential successor to its founder Masayoshi Son. Arora quit SoftBank in July this year after Son declared that he was still young to run the company. Misra was the global head, credit and emerging markets, Deutsche Bank. President on Thursday said Russia remained the top supplier of advanced weapons and defence technology to its "privileged strategic partner" India and added that Moscow and other BRICS nations were determined to back New Delhi's fight against terror. "Russia remains in the lead in terms of both direct supplies of most advanced weapons and military equipment and conducting joint researches with India as well as producing goods for military purposes. Our countries actively collaborate in the military technical field," Putin said in an exclusive interview to IANS and Sputnik news agencies. He underlined India-Russia partnership in the development of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and building of a new fifth-generation fighter aircraft as "the successful joint projects" of the two countries. The President, who will be in Goa for the five-nation BRICS Summit this weekend, said many of the Russian projects in India not only have commercial importance but also play a significant social and economic role for the economies of the two partners. Such projects, he said, "harmoniously fit in the new Indian industrialisation programme", a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative. "Russian companies see real prospects and high attractiveness of the Indian market," Putin said in response to questions jointly emailed by IANS and Russian Sputnik wire service. Describing India as "Russia's especially privileged strategic partner," Putin said the cooperation between the two countries was "making good headway in all areas on the basis of strong traditions of friendship, trust and mutual respect". Putin responded to a range of issues, including India-Russia economic ties, terrorism and Afghanistan. On the economic front, he said India still remained "Russia's major foreign trade partner" despite trade between the two countries dropping by 7.8 per cent last year. "We are resolved to overcome the negative trend, which, in our opinion, is largely associated with volatility on the global markets and in exchange rates," he said. The comments come amid a notion that India had made a strategic shift in its military diplomatic ties after a rapid rise in arms trade with the US and other Western nations. Russia has been traditionally the largest arms supplier to India. But the ties have witnessed some strain, particularly over the cost overrun of some Russian projects, including the delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. India has also made its concerns known over Russia's decision to supply Pakistan with the Mi-35 attack helicopters and engines for the JF-17 a lightweight single-engine multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by China and Pakistan. Russia recently also conducted a joint military drill with Pakistan, sparking strong opposition from India at a time New Delhi was seeking to isolate Islamabad on charges of sponsoring terrorism. But Putin shared his views unambiguously on terrorism, saying the BRICS bloc was "determined" to cooperate in the fight against terrorism. "For our five countries' leaders this meeting (in Goa) will be a good opportunity to harmonise our positions on key issues on the agenda. We are determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption," Putin said. Putin said BRICS, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, would "also contribute to settling conflicts and ensuring information security". The two-day summit in Goa begins on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Putin on the sidelines. Modi is likely to raise the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with the Russian president. On Afghanistan, Putin said India and Russia were both interested in deepening "constructive multilateral cooperation" to help rebuild the war-torn country where decisive action was needed to defeat terrorism. "Russia and India share the need to support national reconciliation efforts under law and are interested in deepening constructive multilateral cooperation for the purposes of assisting Afghanistan in solving the issues of national security, building counter-narcotics capacity, ensuring social and economic development, and enhancing inter-connectivity." Questions to Putin were emailed before India's September 29 surgical strikes targeting terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Terming as a "criminal" who destroyed 33,000 emails, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed that media is the greatest weapon wielded by his Democratic rival. "Right now, our government has been taken hostage by global special interests that will stop at nothing to drain every last ounce of wealth from this country for their personal benefit," Trump told his supporters at an election rally in Cincinnati, Ohio yesterday. "The greatest weapon wielded by the Clinton Machine is the media. The WikiLeaks emails show that the Clinton Machine and the Corporate Media are one in the same - they collaborate and conspire together," he said. Claiming that the Washington establishment will stop at nothing to stop him and his supporters, Trump, 70, said these are the people who had given the country decades of endless wars producing only death and bloodshed, but no victory. "These are the same people who have flung our doors open to Radical Islam, putting us on the same path to France of multigenerational struggles with violence and extremism embedded in our communities. These are the people who've allowed violent international cartels to invade our country and prey on our most vulnerable citizens. Victims like Marilyn Pharis, raped by an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record and beaten to death with a hammer," he said. "These are the people who've let drugs pour into our country and poising our children. These are the people who emptied the jobs out of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina and shipped them to other countries," Trump said. He said that the political powers trying to stop him are the people who've stripped the jobs form inner cities, trapped millions of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in impoverished, crime-besieged neighbourhoods, and left 70 million American women and child in poverty or near the brink of poverty. "At the centre of this assault on American prosperity is the Clinton Machine. They don't work for you, they don't work for America, the work only for themselves and their donors - including foreign government and foreign actors," he alleged. " is a criminal who destroyed 33,000 emails after a Congressional Subpoena. She ignored hundreds of requests for security in Benghazi, causing the deaths of four brave Americans - and then she lied to the faces of the grieving parents about the reason for the attack," he said. He alleged that Clinton defended a man who violently and viciously raped a 12-year-old girl by horribly smearing and blaming the victim - and then she laughed about getting the rapist off the hook. "Speaking in secret to a foreign bank, Hillary pledged her support for 'open borders'. That means tens of millions of new foreign workers to compete against you for your jobs, your wages, your futures - she's selling out the future of young American, of all backgrounds, to enrich her donors," he said. Afghan officials say hundreds of members of the security forces have been killed recently, while fighting insurgent attacks on the main city in the southern province of Helmand. According to Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy head of the provincial council, and lawmaker Sheer Muhammad Akhon, at least 200 security officials have been killed in the past 10 days in the surrounding areas of Lashkar Gah. The duo said further that the ensuing attacks have killed 45 civilians, apart from injuring 100 other security members. Both say that it is the worst situation that the province has faced in 15 years after the Taliban's regime ended with the arrival of the United States in 2001. Taliban has assumed control in most parts of Helmand, a place which the world's largest source for heroin. Seven in 10 American-Muslims will vote for Democratic nominee in the November presidential elections while just four per cent from the community favoured Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has called for a controversial ban on Muslims entering the US. With less than a month left for the November 8 general election, the survey conducted by the Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR) lists the proposed ban, terrorism, and national security as some of the key areas of concern for them. The CAIR, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, released on Thursday the results of a nationwide survey, indicating a high turnout of Muslims at the polls, with 72 per cent of those surveyed saying they will vote for the 68-year-old former secretary of state. There are around 3.3 million American-Muslims, according to a 2016 estimate, making up about 1 per cent of the US population. About 86 per cent of registered Muslim voters intend to vote in this year's presidential election, while 12 per cent of Muslim voters are still undecided. According to the independent live telephone survey of more than 800 Muslim voters, just four per cent said they support the 70-year-old reality TV star. The lack of support for Trump could be seen as a result of his direct attacks on the Muslim community. He has frequently blamed Muslims for terrorist activity, and has vowed to tighten up border control to restrict the number of immigrants belonging to the community. The voters said among the plethora of issues being discussed during the election campaign by the candidates, the top six most important issues to American-Muslim voters are civil rights, education, jobs and the economy, protecting students from bullying and harassment, the proposed ban on Muslims entering the US, terrorism, and national security. Each of the parties was evaluated by respondents on "friendliness to Muslims." Sixty-one per cent of respondents said that the Democratic Party was friendly towards Muslims, as compared to 7 per cent for the Republican Party. In contrast, 62 per cent of respondents said that the Republican Party was unfriendly towards Muslims, while 2 per cent said that the Democratic Party was unfriendly. In comparison to 2012, Muslims over the past four years have developed more favorable perceptions of the Democratic Party and less favorable perceptions of the Republican Party. Of those surveyed, 91 per cent said Trump's proposed temporary ban on Muslim travelers entering the US is the wrong decision while only three per cent call it right. Another 85 per cent of respondents believe that Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment in the US have increased in the past year, with 30 per cent of respondents saying they have experienced discrimination or profiling in the past year. "Our survey results indicate that presidential candidates still have time to appeal to American Muslim voters by addressing issues such as the erosion of civil rights and growing Islamophobia," said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw. Russia said on Thursday that it was prepared to secure safe passage for rebels to quit Syria's Aleppo but kept up air strikes on the battleground city as world powers readied new truce talks. Syria has been plunged into some of the worst violence of its five-year war since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow. The ensuing surge in fighting has accompanied a large-scale government offensive, backed by Russian air power, to capture the opposition-held half of battered Aleppo. Russia said it was willing to give rebels safe passage out of Aleppo, where over 250,000 people are under government siege. "We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there," Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said in a televised briefing. Early morning raids in east Aleppo killed at least seven civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, and regime forces captured high ground overlooking opposition areas on the northeastern outskirts of the city. The Observatory also said five children were killed by rebel rocket fire on western regime-held neighbourhoods, with state television saying a school had been hit. Residents in the west said they had been forced to pull over in their cars to take shelter in buildings because of the barrage of rebel fire. Moscow has come under mounting pressure over the rising civilian death toll from President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed campaign to take east Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes. And analysts said today's offer was simply a gambit to relieve the pressure by appearing to present diplomatic alternatives. "There is no change in the Russian strategy, the goal remains the destruction of rebel presence in Aleppo," said Syria expert Thomas Pierret. "Blowing hot and cold allows them to reduce the pressure and empower those who want a strictly diplomatic approach to the Syrian question," he told AFP. Since the army's assault began in late September, Russian and government bombardment has killed more than 370 people, including 68 children, according to an Observatory toll. Shelling by rebel and jihadist groups, meanwhile, has killed 68 people in government-held areas. Several major efforts have failed to secure a political solution to Syria's brutal war, which has cost more than 300,000 lives. Saudi Arabia and Japan's Group will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the world's largest private equity investors and a potential kingpin in the industry. The project will be led for by Rajeev Misra, the group's head of strategic finance and who joined the Japanese firm in 2014 from Fortress Investment Group, a private equity and hedge fund group. PIF will engage its own team. The move is part of a series of dramatic business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries. Earlier this year, it invested $3.5 billion in US ride-hailing firm Uber, surprising many. SoftBank, a $68 billion telecommunications and tech investment behemoth, has also been stepping up investment in new areas. It agreed to buy UK chip design firm Arm Holdings in July in Japan's largest ever outbound deal. Saudi Arabia's top sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next five years while expects to invest at least $25 billion. Several other large, unnamed investors are in active talks on their participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion, SoftBank said. "Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector," SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son said in a statement. At an annual rate of $20 billion, the new London-based fund could at current levels account for roughly a fifth of global venture capital investment. In the year to September, venture capital-backed globally raised $79 billion, according to data from KPMG and CB Insights, with tech start-ups attracting the lion's share of that cash. "Son is very good at looking for with big growth prospects, and that will create fierce competition," said Hiroyuki Kuroda, secretary general of the Venture Enterprise Center in Japan. The project will be led for SoftBank by Rajeev Misra, the group's head of strategic finance and who joined the Japanese firm in 2014 from Fortress Investment Group, a private equity and hedge fund group. PIF will engage its own team. INVESTMENT POWER Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, leading an economic reform drive in the kingdom, has revealed a string of high-profile investment plans this year. He aims to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the kingdom, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion, making it the world's largest sovereign fund. In June, the PIF departed from Saudi Arabia's traditional strategy of low-risk investments and took a step into the tech world with the Uber investment. That deal which illustrated how Riyadh now hopes to use its investments to develop the economy: Uber is a popular form of transport for Saudi women, who are banned from driving, and is creating badly needed non-oil jobs for Saudi citizens. SoftBank, a diverse company with stakes from US carrier Sprint to e-commerce giant Alibaba, is also changing, shifting towards cutting edge tech investments after Son scrapped retirement plans in July and announced plans to reinforce "SoftBank 2.0". It is still wrestling with a $112 billion debt pile and the turnaround of Sprint. "SoftBank has been looking to invest aggressively in the internet of things, and this fund is part of that wider move," said Naoki Yokota, analyst at SMBC Friend Research Center Ltd. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is likely to ask credit rating agencies (CRAs) to disclose the general nature of compensation arrangements with the rated entities, including exchange of gifts. Accenture will help AU Financiers (AuF) set up as a small finance bank (SFB) to provide retail lending, small- and medium-enterprise agriculture product financing and savings products to Indian consumers. AuF, a Jaipur-based non-banking finance company, was one of the 10 companies granted an in-principle approval for an SFB license by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September 2015. Accenture will help AuF realize its vision of creating a differentiated, customer-centric bank that emphasizes its mobile digital capabilities as a core feature of its banking services. "As a small finance bank with a digital-first approach, our aim is to offer an enhanced customer experience by capturing customer imagination through our products offering and services levels," said MD Au Financiers, Sanjay Agarwal. "Many of the 233 million un-banked population are reliant on smart phones that they could be using for banking services if such services were more readily available to them," said MD Accenture financial services India, Rishi Aurora. Accenture will customize, integrate and support AuF's new core banking platform and enterprise resource planning software (ERP) licensed from other third parties by AUF. The core banking platform, with online and mobile banking digital capabilities, will enable AuF's customers to operate their accounts from anywhere in India. The ERP software will help AuF optimize its operations, control work process flows across internal departments, and effectively manage reporting needs. Accenture will also implement an analytics-rich customer resource management (CRM) solution to help AuF manage customer records and relationships, and create cross sell and upsell opportunities. Accenture will also work on Digi-Bank model for Au Bank. This new contract follows a management and technology consulting services agreement the two companies signed in April. Accenture helped AuF conceptualize and construct its product offerings and create the blueprint for an IT architecture that meets its long-term requirement to provide scalability and depth of offerings. Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid has sought duty-free and quota-free entry of all Bangladeshi products into the Chinese market to address the current trade imbalance. "We would request you to allow all Bangladeshi products duty-free and quota-free entry into the Chinese market to address the current trade imbalance," the Daily Star quoted the President as saying during his meeting with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. During the meeting, Xi said that China would continue its cooperation as a development partner for the socio-economic development of Bangladesh. "China would consider with due importance increasing Bangladesh export to China," said the Chinese president. Hamid said that China is Bangladesh's largest trading partner and bilateral trade between the two countries has been growing steadily and that the two sides have enjoyed excellent bilateral relations and traditional, time-tested friendship and cooperation. "As you have your 'Chinese dream', we also have 'Vision 2021' to become a middle-income country by 2021 and 'Vision 2041' to become a developed country by 2041. We consider China as a trusted partner in this pursuit," he added. "We have always supported China's core issues of national interest, particularly its 'One China Policy'," the President said. He also said that Bangladesh highly values the Chinese cooperation in the areas of infrastructure development, trade, investment, agriculture, energy and power, ICT and telecommunications which has made positive impacts on our socioeconomic progress. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was summoned by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) for questioning in connection with its probe into an alleged recruitment scam in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), today said some people are conspiring against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as they are extremely upset with the working of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government. "We are working for the people of Delhi, but some people are not able to accept it. That is why they have left the ACB, the CBI everyone behind us. It is all right, we will answer them," Sisodia told the media here prior to appearing before the ACB. Sisodia had reportedly written a letter demanding an autonomous status for the women's panel, but an issue cropped up since only the Chief Minister has the authority to write that letter to the Lieutenant Governor. "Sisodia will also be grilled and we will ask him on whose authority did he send the letter," ACB chief M.K. Meena had said. Stating it was found prima facie after an enquiry that there were confirmed irregularities in the appointments in DCW, Meena asserted that the panel does not have the authority to make such decisions, adding the AAP Government was not even implementing a transparent manner like advertising about the job vacancies. "The complaint stated that these people have done the recruitment against the procedures and they do not have the authority to hire people in that manner. Besides that, they are giving out salaries on an arbitrary basis and on their own call. There are also some people, who got jobs because they were close to those within the panel," he said. Emphasizing that this was complete misuse of authority and funds, the ACB chief said that a case has been filed against DCW Chief Swati Maliwal under the Prevention of Corruption Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The DCW is under the ACB scanner for arbitrarily appointing 85 people in the last one year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Embassy of India, Tokyo; The Consulate General of India, Osaka-Kobe in association with Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), The Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) and The Embassy of India, Seoul in association with Indian Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ICCK) are organizing road-shows and arranging Business-to- (B2B) Meetings, hosting a high-level Vibrant Gujarat Delegation in Japan and South Korea respectively. The delegation is visiting Japan & South Korea under the auspices of the Government of Gujarat from 17th to 21st October 2016. The Vibrant Gujarat Delegation will comprise representatives from various reputed Indian organizations from various sectors (including Mining and Energy, Chemicals, Education, Tourism, Banking and Financial Services, etc.) in addition to representatives of the Government of Gujarat and Indian Chambers. The Vibrant Gujarat road-show is aimed to strengthen the economic and social ties between the countries and to promote Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017. With the theme of "Gujarat - Connecting India to World", the road-show will feature various activities involving leading Japanese and South Korean companies, industry associations and government officials, strengthening the cause of development and promote cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the State of Gujarat. The delegates will apprise about some of the investor-friendly policies, the robust industrial ecosystem and single window clearance procedures that Gujarat offers, making it one of the most sought after investment destinations globally. Gujarat was ranked number 1 in "Ease of Doing Business" in 2015 among all states of India in a joint study by the Government of India and World Bank. Leader of the delegation, Manoj Kumar Das, IAS, Principal Secretary, Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs Department, Government of Gujarat said "Our delegation's objective is to strengthen relationship between Japan, South Korea and India where Gujarat will play a key role by offering avenues across various sectors to further enhance relationships between the countries. With some big projects planned in the state of Gujarat, the expertise of these countries in areas like automobiles and auto components, electronics, pharmaceuticals, ports and maritime, banking and financial services, heavy machinery and education to name a few can play a significant role." The state of Gujarat is looking forward to host Japanese and South Korean delegation of Government officials and businessmen at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Furious over the prolonged 98 days long unrest in the Kashmir valley, the Conference President and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Friday said India and Pakistan both need to restore peace in Kashmir. "We are concerned about peace, whether surgical strike took place or not, I am not here to say about that. I am only interested in that India and Pakistan must sit down at the table and try and settle their problem," Abdullah told here. He said peace can be restored in the valley only through the political process. Quoting former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement Abdullah said that, "since ' we can't choose our neigbours', so we have to talk to Pakistan, there is no other option." Earlier, Abdullah convened an all-party meeting over Kashmir and discussed the prevailing situation in the valley which has crippled normal life for more than three months. Normal life in Kashmir has been affected due to protests and clashes after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Pakistan Government on Friday removed the name of Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida from the Exit Control List (ECL). "It has been decided to delete the name of Cyril Almeida s/o Norbert Almeida CNIC # 42301-6983317-9 Passport No. BF1753172, from Exit Control List," read a notification issued by the Interior Ministry. Earlier today, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had also assured the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) that Almeida's name would be removed from the ECL, reports the Dawn. However, he told participants that removal of the name would in no way affect the ongoing inquiry into the matter and the inquiry would continue till its logical conclusion. Khan reiterated during the meeting that the independent media must play its role not only towards safeguarding national interests and security but also counter negative propaganda by enemies of the state. Almeida's name was added to the Exit Control List to prevent him from traveling abroad after the Dawn published a report, denied by authorities, by him about an alleged rift between the country's powerful military and its government The Prime Minister's Office rejected the story thrice since it was published on October 6. In an Editor's note, Dawn clarified its position and stated on the record that the story "was verified, cross-checked and fact-checked. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday lauded the valour of the Indian armed forces at the Shaurya Samman Sabha here and said that the nation has always set great example of courage for the world. Parrikar while addressing the ex-servicemen in 'Shaurya Samman Sabha' said, "This nation has always displayed valour from Shiva ji Maharaj to Rana Pratap. The courage and valour of our armed forces was witnessed by the world in the wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971 the valour. This monument is to commemorate their sacrifice. And this is coming at a time when our armed forces have once again displayed their valour." Parrikar earlier this week said the Indian Army and 127 crore people of the nation should be applauded for the operation. Speaking at the 'Strengthening India's Defence Capabilities' event, Parrikar said, "127 crore people of this country and the Indian armed forces deserve the credit for the surgical strikes. Now, it should be clear where the credit lies. I don't take it." India conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Friday evening to participate in the 17th India-Russia Annual Summit, Eighth BRICS Summit and first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit staring Saturday. On his way to Panaji, Prime Minister Modi landed in Bhopal and dedicated the 'Shaurya Smarak' to the nation and addressed a public gathering. At the 17th India-Russia Bilateral Summit, Prime Minister Modi will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin. Delivery of advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to New Delhi and counterterrorism will be high on their agenda. Besides, both nations are set to sign several agreements to give a fillip to their defence and nuclear cooperation. Apart from these, energy, infrastructure, railways, agriculture, hi-tech among others will also dominate the agenda. Agreements to build frigates for the Indian Navy and a joint venture in India to build multi-task Kamov-226 helicopters are also likely to be signed. Apart from the bilateral summit, India will host world leaders for the eighth BRICS Summit and a first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. Prime Minister Modi in his tweets said the outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. The Prime Minister hoped to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring. He expressed happiness that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He looked forward to deliberations with leaders of China and South Africa, which will strengthen India's bilateral relations with its partners. The Prime Minister also welcomed President of Brazil Michel Temer for a bilateral visit, which will open new vistas of cooperation with Brazil. He tweeted that India is honoured to welcome President of Russia Vladimir Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit in Goa. He emphasised that as BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people relations, which will benefit India greatly. He looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on global and regional challenges. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has hailed the friendship with China and hoped that it will be long lasting acquaintance in the path towards the development of the country. Speaking after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at her office, Hasina said, "I had a fruitful discussion with his Excellency Xi on bilateral, regional and international issues that are of common interest to both our countries." The meeting was followed by the signing of 26 MoUs and instruments and the unveiling of plaques of six projects. "Through signing the agreements, we reached a consensus to work together in trade and investment and other key areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, energy and power, ICT and transportation," she said. The Prime Minister hoped that the strategic partnership with China will be aimed towards socio-economic achievement for the people of both sides. Earlier in an interview with Xinhua, Hasina pointed out that the relations between the two nations are underpinned by "the five principles of peaceful co-existence, spirit of good neighbourliness, mutual trust, confidence and non- interference into each other's internal affairs." She reaffirmed that Bangladesh strongly adheres to one-China policy and supports Beijing on issues related to its core national interests and efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. "China has become our largest trading partner and we consider China as a trusted partner in realising our dreams too. China is the leading generator of many of our mega projects in terms of finance, capitalisation and technology," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) president T.P. Aggarwal on Friday disagreed with the decision of the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India and the Censor Board not to allow the screening of movies starring Pakistani actors and said that the producers should move the court in this regard so that they do not suffer huge financial losses. "Yesterday, some association people from the theatre was with me, so I was just telling them, as IMPPA is also requesting the producers not to employ the Pakistani artists in future till the relations between Pakistan and India gets better. We have also written to the Prime Minister and other Departments that they should not issue them working visa till the relation becomes cordial between both countries," Aggarwal told ANI. "We request the theatre associations also that they should allow the pictures to be released and for that they should either go to court and they should ask the court to give them the protection from the police. I think the matter should be solved. They should release the pictures," he added. Days before Karan Johar's widely- anticipated film 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' is to be released, a theatre owners' body has requested members in three states not to screen the films with Pakistani actors. The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India and the Censor Board have, however, emphasized that it is not a ban. "We have decided that these films (with Pakistani actors) should not be screened. This is based on public sentiment over the past few months," Nitin Datar of the association said. Johar's film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also features Pakistan's Fawad Khan, who has a notable fan following in India. The decision comes amid tension between India and Pakistan over last month's Uri terror attack in which 19 soldiers were killed. This was followed by India's surgical strikes along the Line of Control (LoC) on September 21. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A police crackdown in most parts of northern Myanmar forced inhabitants of the area to flee on Friday. According to the Daily Star and the Myanmar Times, thousands are leaving on foot or by air, as security personnel pass through various parts of Rakhine state, including some torched areas, in search of those who were behind the recent attacks on police. A military lockdown is in place, sparking fears of a repeat of the sectarian clashes of 2012 in the same area. The worst affected area currently is Maungdaw town, where people have left without most of their worldly possessions, or carrying stuff in carrier bags and plastic buckets or strapped to the front of bicycle rickshaws. So far, 26 people have died, according to state media. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a session on investment opportunities by states of India, representatives of six states of India made presentations to the delegates attending the Trade Fair and Business Forum on the myriad investment prospects in their states. Showcasing investment opportunities in Goa, the presentation highlighted that Startup Goa has been launched as a grassroots initiative to sprout tech companies from Goan soil. Goa is a tourism destination, hence, new tourism services have been initiated to boost tourism in the state. The government of Goa is also encouraging investments in Research & Development, engineering design and technology solutions, manufacturing of components to name a few. With strong economic indicators and as one of the highest per capita income, Haryana offers a number of opportunities for the investors to invest and grow. The State Government has taken steps for putting into place policy framework for strengthening economic and social infrastructure, streamlining approval process and promoting investment in the state. With robust infrastructure, excellent law and order situation, strategic location, excellent connectivity, abundant availability of skilled manpower, Haryana is an industrial and corporate hub, which provides developed urban infrastructure and amenities of modern day life. To promote Jharkhand as the Investment Destination, the state has come up with single window clearance, online application and approval, regular consultation with industry and time bound grievance handling. The state government has some key initiatives such as Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2016 and Industrial Park Policy; Jharkhand Food & Feed Processing Industry Policy, 2015; Jharkhand Tourism Policy, 2015, to support the business community. Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion has been set up by the Government of Punjab as the single point of contact for regulatory clearances and fiscal incentives approvals to facilitate investors who are looking to set up a business in Punjab. As the nodal agency, the bureau has been entrusted the responsibility to ensure a smooth transition of the project from the proposal stage up to the implementation stage. Telangana is focused on industrialisation for fostering Industrial growth, economic growth, ushering prosperity for the people and creating employment. In the state, sector specific manufacturing hubs are being set up and for enabling entrepreneurship, T-HUB is being put in place, which is India's largest incubator for startups. With simplified labour regulations, environmental regulations, tax regulations and easy power connections, Uttar Pradesh is emerging as an easy place for doing business. The state is also giving customised incentives for mega projects and super mega projects. The sector specific policies to drive inward investments have been put in place such as Food Processing Policy, IT and start-up policy, solar policy, electronics manufacturing policy, poultry policy, sugar policy, MSME policy, biotechnology policy and textile policy. Urging the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) not to politicize the issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said it is high time that all communities should come together and uphold the dignity of women irrespective of their religion. Naidu also urged the AIMPLB not to unnecessarily drag Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name into the matter. "The people expect meaningful discourse and it's time for all communities to come together to uphold the dignity and rights of women irrespective of their religion," said Naidu. "Why are you trying to bring in the name of the Prime Minister and why are you making comments that we are not able to take care of the borders? Why are you politicising the issue? If you want then you can join a political party of your choice. This is not expected from the Muslim Personal Law Board or another religious leader. You have to confine to the issue," he added. Naidu further questioned the denial expressed by the AIMPLB with regard to debating the issue of Uniform Civil Code. "What is the objection? I don't understand, you join the debate, let there be a debate, you put forth your point of view," said Naidu. "The government wants a debate across the country. There are three issues - first is gender justice, second non discrimination, third is need of women. These are the issues, debate and discuss them. Why are you becoming political?" he asked. Speaking about triple talaq, Naidu said that people are confusing the divorce practice with the Uniform Civil Code. "Some people are trying to confuse the issue of triple talaq with Uniform Civil Code. About the issue of triple talaq, the Law Commission wanted views of all. The religious workers, the social workers, sociologists, prominent public personalities, they need to acknowledge the basic principle of equality of all human beings men or women and work in that direction instead of misleading the people," said Naidu. Yesterday, the AIMPLB said they will boycott the Uniform Civil Law as they feel it is not good for the nation. "We will boycott the questionnaire sent by the Law Commission and we have decided that Muslims of the country will not answer this question as it is not acceptable and not good for the nation,"Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani of the MPLB told a press conference here. Rahmani said there are a number of people living in this country belonging from different cultures and added that to bind the culture under one unique code is not acceptable. The Law Commission earlier last week sought public opinion on the exercise of reforming family laws of all religions. The commission has reportedly appealed to members of religious, minority and social groups, non-government organisations, to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including the practice of triple talaq, the right to property for a woman citizen and polygamy. However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has been defending the triple talaq system and termed the filing of the affidavit as 'un-islamic.' They claim that triple talaq is a personal law and the Centre has no right to modify it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As per recent reports, five Pakistan state-owned firms partially funded Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's 'Best Finance Minister of South Asia Award' conferred on him last week by 'The Emerging Markets' newspaper. National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) and Pak-Arab Refinery Company (PARCO) gave advertisements to the paper last month, reports the Express Tribune. Last week, the newspaper had conferred 'Best Finance Minister of South Asia Award' to Dar and 'Best country in South Asia in infrastructure development to Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal. The respective ministries had claimed that 'The Emerging Markets' is a Bank and IMF publication, adding it was a matter of honour for the country that the publication bestowed these awards to Pakistani political personalities. However, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief to Pakistan, Harald Finger, said yesterday that the newspaper does not belong to the mission as was being claimed by the Pakistan ministries. "Emerging Markets is an independent publication," said Harald Finger, the Washington-based chief of the IMF mission for Pakistan, while addressing a press conference from Washington through a video-link while responding to a question about whether he congratulated Finance Minister Dar on winning IMF/WB Best South Asia Minister award. After the publication of the award, the government functionaries jumped to congratulate them for winning such a 'prestigious' award. Even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated Dar for winning the award. The Planning Ministry not only declared Emerging Markets as a WB/IMF publication but also exaggerated the paper's standing by claiming that it was an 'international institution'. It added that Emerging Markets had invited the Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal to receive the award in Washington. However, the management of the newspaper denies that there was a link between the funding and awards. Meanwhile, NBP spokesman insisted that the bank gave the advertisement due to its prestigious global standing and maintained that nobody from the government put pressure on the bank to give the advertisement. He also refused to disclose the cost of the advertisement. Such costly advertisements comes amid reports that the Nawaz Sharif-led government has, after motorway and airports, decided to mortgage PTV and Radio Pakistan buildings in order to secure loans to overcome the economic crisis being presently faced by the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coimbatore Police on Friday arrested two persons for allegedly spreading false rumours about the health of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on social networking sites The accused, identified as Mani Selvam (28) and Bala Sundaram (42), are employees of Canara Bank. The 68-year-old is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital in Chennai after she complained of fever and dehydration on September 22. The accused were arrested after a member of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) lodged a complaint. Defence counsel, Thangapandiyan, claimed his clients were arrested without concrete evidence. "Two people were arrested for spreading rumours about the chief minister's health. Arrest is purely based on complaint filed by an AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) councilor but there is no evidence. I have filed a bail application for their release," Thangapandiyan told ANI. The accused have been sent to 15 days judicial custody. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has said that India and Germany are all set to collaborate on projects for improving rail connectivity of Indian ports. He said the two countries will work together on projects worth Rs one lakh crore being implemented by the Indian Port Rail Corporation (IPRCL). The Minister held detailed discussions with his German counterpart and Infrastructure Minister Mr Alexander Dobrindt and his delegation, regarding the modalities for such collaboration. The meeting comes under the backdrop of an MoU signed between Indian Port Rail Corporation (IPRCL) and the German Railways Deutsche Bahn (DB) for cooperation on modernization of rail port connectivity and port rail facilities of Indian ports, during the Maritime India Summit earlier this year . For efficient evacuation of cargo from the Ports and to reduce logistics cost, last mile rail connectivity of Ports is extremely important. Indian port Rail Corporation has been set up specifically to work in this area. It was proposed to form groups with representatives of IPRCL and DB to identify areas of cooperation and potential projects, as also to identify cost effective new rail technologies that can be implemented. This would help bring in foreign investment and cost effective, environment friendly, innovative technology for the port rail connectivity projects. Shri Gadkari further informed that Germany has also been invited to cooperate in the development of inland waterways, including manufacturing of barges. In the transport sector, discussions were held on cooperation for developing vehicle scrapping capacity in India. India has invited Germany to share environment friendly technology for scrapping of old vehicles and also for processing of the waste thus generated. In what may be a major step towards reducing pollution, Shri Gadkari informed the German Minister that India has put in place all required regulations for the use of Flex-fuel like ethanol mixed with petrol. He said that German automobile manufacturers can be called upon to produce cars that can run on flex-fuel for India, like the ones being produced in Canada and USA. Shri Gadkari has expressed confidence and hope that the cooperation between the two countries will grow even further in the times to come. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) From Northeast Frontier Railway Hindustan Construction Company in joint venture with VCCL has been awarded 367.72 crore contract by the Northeast Frontier Railway to construct a safety tunnel between Tupul and Imphal in Manipur state. This is part of the new Railway line project being constructed between Jiribam and Imphal of Northeast Frontier Railway. The project is to be completed in 4 years. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hindustan Construction Company rose 1.78% to Rs 34.40 at 13:40 IST on BSE after the company announced that its joint venture with VCCL has been awarded Rs 367.72 crore contract by the Northeast Frontier Railway. The announcement was made during market hours today, 14 October 2016. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 20.82 points or 0.11% at 27,672.73. On BSE, so far 5.22 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 24.79 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 34.90 and a low of Rs 33.80 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 41.90 on 14 September 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 16.60 on 12 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 October 2016, falling 11.29% compared with 2.51% fall in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 40.54% as against Sensex's 0.62% drop. The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 77.92 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) said that the contract is for construction of a safety tunnel between Tupul and Imphal in Manipur state. This is part of the new railway line project being constructed between Jinbam and Imphal of Northeast Frontier Railway. The project is to be completed in 4 years. Net profit of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) rose 17.5% to Rs 10.88 crore on 1.7% rise in net sales to Rs 899.32 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. HCC is into infrastructure development in transportation, power and water segments. HCC is developing a planned hill city named Lavasa near Pune in Maharashtra. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Development Bank needs to devise innovative funding instruments for infrastructure development In the BRICS Business Forum session here today on 'Cooperation in Infrastructure and Infrastructure Financing', the panellists agreed that BRICS reflected the potential for the future. Infrastructure development is the need of the hour. There is vast opportunity for the member states and infra-financing may be encouraged through cross-country collaboration . The New Development Bank should work on financial instruments for funding the infrastructural requirements. K Ramchand, Chairman, BRICS Business Council Working Group on Infrastructure and CEO, IL&FS, said, infrastructure development is one of the major requirement of the BRICS nations. There is an urgent need for cooperation in physical and IT infrastructure funding in innovative ways through different financial instruments, he said. Raghav Chandra, Chairman NHAI, said that infrastructure is a key pillar of business competitiveness hence we should focus on infrastructure development. However, financing of infrastructural projects comes with several challenges. It needs considerable amount of capital, has long gestation period and the time for break-even too long. Often bank financing is not enough, there is asset liability mismatch and short initial deposit- financing of infrastructure has many hurdles. Moreover, in India the corporate debt market is not very developed. It is also not easy to raise capital through foreign debt. There is almost USD 100 trillion worth patient capital with institutional investors(such as pension funds and insurance) which should be channelised for infrastructure. Chandra spoke about India's goal of building 10,000 km highway project. He deliberated on the different modes of funding infrastructure like PPP and said that there is huge scope and potential for investment in the highways programme. The New Development Bank, he said, should have the scope for credit enhancement, anchor investors and directly finance the projects. Alexander Misharin, First Vice President of the JSC Russian Railways & CEO of the JSC High-Speed Rail Linessaid infrastructure is of primary importance and in 2016 we have to position to make a difference. Along with movement of people and goods, we need to have integrated solution for countries, for example, develop the silk route. He said we can use the combination of roads and sea transport so that there is greater economic collaboration. New corridors of national and multinational perspectives need to be encouraged. There are different bilateral initiatives between Russia and India and Russia and China. The countries must focus on identifying possibility for advanced transportation. South Africa has the most advanced financial market, said George Sebulela, President and Chief Executive, Sebvest Holdings, spoke about the immense opportunities that exist in the African continent. He said that Africa's major developmental challenge is its inadequate infrastructure. An estimated funding of USD 85 billion is required for infrastructure. South Africa is driving a flagship project North South Corridor which encompasses development of road, rail, ports and ICT. There is a need to build a regular value chain. The New Development Bank is definitely an added platform for financing. It has to develop instruments of funding other than the conventional ways. Dongwei Shi, Vice President, Alibaba Group discussed infrastructure development from an ICT perspective. He highlighted how that the emergence of the internet and digital is transforming the very fabric of an economy and ecommerce has found its place at the heart of this transformation. E-commerce is one of the fastest growing segments as global B2B and B2C business on e-commerce has seen exponential increase. He mentioned how Alibaba, over the last 17 years, has supported the development of global e-commerce infrastructure, enabling enhanced capabilities in logistics, digital payments, and cloud computing. The digital economy, he said, has enormous potential and Alibaba is committed to working with local partners to explore more opportunities for global SMEs. Close cooperation and partnership among BRICS nations, is the key to envisage this potential, he affirmed. Mr. Drummond, Director of Institutional Relations, Queiroz Galvao, spoke about the infrastructure development initiatives in Brazil. The government has created partnership programs to coordinate with the government and public. The government is zeroing on 33 big infrastructure projects which includes highways, harbours, ports and airports to be completed by next year. Transparency and regulatory methods have been adopted. Joint ventures in the projects are also being encouraged, he said. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PetroFed, an apex society of entities in the Hydrocarbon sector, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TERI to undertake study on Climate Change Risks: Preparedness for Oil and Gas Sector. Lauding the initiative, Sh. Pradhan said that it will provide a missing link between the policy and the practice in the Hydrocarbon sector. He said Cop 21 will come into effect soon and it is important for the country to know the effects of greenhouse gases and ways to control them. Cop21-The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The conference negotiated the Paris Agreement, a global agreement on the reduction of climate change, the text of which represented a consensus of the representatives of the 196 parties attending it. The agreement will enter into force when joined by at least 55 countries which together represent at least 55 percent of global greenhouse emissions. On 22 April 2016 (Earth Day), 174 countries signed the agreement in New York, and began adopting it within their own legal systems (through ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession). The Minister said that India is a low per capita energy consumer but as the country is moving towards double-digit growth rate, its energy consumption is bound to increase. The Government is focusing on gas, renewable energy and bio-energy to meet its requirements. It is important to understand the implications of various energy sources and to develop an Indian model for the nation's energy sector. Sh. Pradhan emphasised on scientific research, appropriate business models and creation of awareness among the people. He said that this study will provide important inputs for future strategy on oil and gas infrastructure development. He stated that the study will also provide a comprehensive analysis of threats posed by Climate change to Oil & Gas sector and shall provide a way forward to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. The study will suggest suitable measures for the Oil & Gas sector to achieve India's INDC target of reducing emission intensity of GDP by 33 - 35 per cent below the levels in 2005 by 2030. The study would further highlight how the global market and technological options are likely to change as a result of global climate policy measures; and how the 1.5 degree and 2 degree scenarios of global warming are likely to affect the infrastructure and operations in different climatic zones of India. The Minister said the share of gas in the Indian energy basket is 6.5 to 7 per cent while the world average is 24 per cent. India aspires to take the share of gas to 15 per cent in the next 3 to 5 years so as to have a new gas based economy. He said 80 lakh connections have been provided under the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana to BPL women and target of 1.5 crore will be achieved this year. The Minister said the country will zoom from BS IV to BS VI by 2020 so as to have clean fuel. He said there is a large scope of energy efficiency in Indian Refineries. On the issue of 2G Ethanol, Sh. Pradhan said Public Sector Companies are setting up 11 plants to manufacture 2G Ethanol. He said the Government wants to promote the LNG as a fuel for vehicles. Efforts are being made to have LNG driven bus in Kerala very soon. Long haul driven vehicles and trains would also adopt LNG as fuel. The LNG handling capacity is being enhanced from 21 MMT to 50 MMT. In Eastern India, the Government is laying 2500km long pipeline which will provide gas to industry and help in gas distribution in 7 cities of Eastern India. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Aam Aadmi Party legislator Naresh Balyan was arrested on Friday on charges of brawling with a Residential Welfare Association (RWA) office-bearer, a police officer said. Joint Commissioner of Police, South Western Range, Deependra Pathak said that Balyan, who represents Uttam Nagar constituency in west Delhi, was arrested for brawling with RWA Vice President M.B. George of the area on last Sunday. Balyan was on Sunday booked on charges of brawling with the RWA official, who was also booked in a case following a cross-complaint. Police had said the incident occured when George, Vice President of K-2 Block RWA in Uttam Nagar area, was holding a meeting with other office-bearers regarding arrangements for the coming Dussehra festival. Police said that after he was not invited to the RWA meeting, an angry Balyan, along with his associate Mahendra Fauji, indulged in a verbal duel with George, which later turned into a scuffle. George subsequently lodged a complaint with the Uttam Nagar police station. Fauji too gave a cross-complaint that he had called Balyan to inaugurate a drain in the block, where George fought with the AAP leader over the issue of inauguration. A case of brawl was registered on the basis of complaints from both sides. Balyan was charged under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 451 (house-trespass in order to commit offence) of the Indian Penal Code. --IANS sp/lok/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Friday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government of spreading lies and said that they should hire "new script writers for new dialogues". Delhi unit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Satish Upadhyay said: "Kejriwal and company should understand that their repetitive dialogues have gone stale." "It will be better if they hire a new script writer to get new dialogues," the BJP leader said. Upadhyay's remarks came after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the Centre of not allowing the Delhi government to work for public welfare. Earlier in the day, Sisodia appeared before the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) in connection with a case of alleged illegal recruitments in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), in which DCW chief Swati Maliwal has been booked. Sisodia said the questioning reflects the attempts to stop the Delhi government's work for the welfare of the people of Delhi. "People of Delhi very well know that during the 18 months of Kejriwal rule, Delhi has gone back by 18 years due to lack of planning and development work," Upadhyay alleged. The Delhi BJP chief also slammed the government for scrapping the Shunglu Committee formed by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, which he set up to probe some actions of the AAP government. Upadhyay said: "It looks ridiculous to hear Deputy Chief Minister calling Shunglu Committee unconstitutional." "We wish to ask whether the committees formed and appointments made by the Kejriwal government during the last 18 months were constitutional?" Upadhyay said. "A former Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG), V.K. Shunglu is perhaps one of the best persons in this country to assess the propriety of government orders," he said. The intent of the Lt Governor behind appointing the Shunglu Committee was to assess the legality of the file orders without any bias, Upadhyay said. "If Kejriwal government files have no legal shortcomings, then he should have no reason to fear," he added. Jung set up the panel to study alleged irregularities of the AAP government following an August 4 Delhi High Court ruling giving primacy to the Lt Governor in Delhi's administration. --IANS aks/nir/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The parliament of New South Wales in Australia has passed a motion calling US presidential candidate Donald Trump a "revolting slug" unfit for office. It condemned "the misogynist, hateful comments" made by Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, about women and minorities, BBC reported on Thursday. It follows the release of a 2005 video last week in which Trump makes remarks about groping women. He has apologised for remarks, which he described as as "locker-room talk". He has also denied touching women inappropriately. The motion was filed by Greens party MP Jeremy Buckingham to the Upper House of the NSW parliament. It said: "This house... agrees with those who have described Mr Trump as a 'revolting slug'." "It's clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump's behaviour obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his of hate," Buckingham said in a statement. As there was no objection, the motion was recorded as having been agreed to by all of the lawmakers. It was allowed only after the president of the legislative council determined that "revolting slug" did not amount to unparliamentary language. Parliamentary procedure prevents MPs from using "extremely distasteful" words. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP became a part of the Arunachal Pradesh government with its senior leader Tamiyo Taga was sworn in as a minister in Chief Minister Pema Khandua's cabinet on Friday. Governor V. Shanmuganathan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new minister in an impressive function at the Darbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan in Itanagar, attended by Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues. While Taga was accommodated in the cabinet, state Industry and Textiles Minister Tapang Taloh was dropped from the cabinet. Khandu, during his recent visit to New Delhi, met BJP national president Amit Shah and appealed him for BJP's participation in the government for the sake of development. BJP was only supporting the Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA) government in the state from outside. Khandu, son of former Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, became the state's Chief Minister almost dramatically after the Congress chose him as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) replacing Nabam Tuki in July this year. The development took place after a Supreme Court verdict reinstated the Tuki led Congress government in the state. However, the Congress Legislature Party elected Khandu as its leader in place of Tuki just ahead of Tuki's floor test in the House. The dissident faction of the Congress led by Kalikho Pul also backed Khandu and returned to Congress fold. On July 17, Khandu was sworn in as Chief Minister, with Chowna Mein as his deputy and proved his majority on July 20. However, on September 16, Khandu and 42 lawmakers walked out of the Congress and joined the PPA. --IANS ah/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP President Amit Shah on Friday took a dig at the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh for the "deteriorating law and order" situation in the state, and said the party should first try to control the "infighting" within it. Shah also attacked Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati for not doing anything good for the Dalits and the downtrodden. "The government has failed to control law and order in the state. How will those who cannot control law and order in their own family control the state," Shah asked at a rally here. Slamming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for the poor law and order situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party chief said: "UP is very big Akhilesh bhaiya (brother)... first of all, control your family... only then will a bit of peace return to the state." The BJP President's remarks came amid souring relations between the Chief Minister and his uncle and senior Minister Shivpal Yadav. Attacking the BSP chief, the BJP President said, "Mayawati claims to get rid of the misgovernance under the SP regime, but will she and her brother reveal the actual property which they had after the death of Kanshi Ram ji and now?" "The day she reveals her property details, Dalits of Uttar Pradesh will understand," the BJP leader added. He accused the BSP and the SP of doing injustice to the Dalits and the poor. Lashing out at Mayawati for supporting the Congress, Shah said, "Mayawati supported Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) for 10 years. And in return Congress kept on insulting Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar." "It's BJP, which under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi preserved all the monuments and buildings related to Baba B.R. Ambedkar," he added. He also said that only the BJP can do good for the Dalits. --IANS aks/lok/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Addressing the whitewashing controversy over the casting of Tilda Swinton in Marvel's "Doctor Strange", the film's director Scott Derrickson says he chose the actor to avoid being deemed racist. He added that the role was actually written with the actress in mind. Swinton's casting as The Ancient One has caused critics to speak of whitewashing, since the original character in the comic book is Tibetan. But Derrickson insisted that the role in the film was written for Swinton, and they would have had to rewrite the script if she had not been available. "Looking at Marvel movies, I think that we're missing a major character that is Tilda's age and has this kind of strength and power," hollywoodreporter.com quoted Derrickson as saying. "The Ancient One in the comics is a very old American stereotype of what Eastern characters and people are like, and I felt very strongly that we need to avoid those stereotypes at all costs," he added. Derrickson addressed the controversy when he met select media from around the globe here along with the cast Benedict Cumberbatch, Swinton, and producer Kevin Feige. "Doctor Strange" charts the journey of neurosurgeon Stephen Strange, who, after his career is ruined by a car crash, becomes the Sorcerer Supreme of multiple dimensions under the tutelage of The Ancient One. "Doctor Strange" will hit screens in India on November 4, the same day as its North American release. --IANS sug/rb/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) What should students learn in school? The famed yet much-disputed University of Virginia professor who attempted to answer that question 30 years agoboth with a heartfelt defense of the importance of cultural knowledge and a list of the 5,000 facts and ideas students should knowhas at 88 years old published a new book. And this time, in addition to again making the plea for teaching content, E.D. Hirsch assails several of the most pervasive education policies of the day. Among his targets is the Common Core State Standards, which, ironically, many say he helped inspire. I recently spoke with Hirsch for a feature article on both the new book, Why Knowledge Matters: Rescuing Our Children From Failed Educational Theories, and the fact that his long-held and historically controversial ideas are now seeing a resurgence in schools. Below are some audio excerpts from that wide-ranging conversation. In them, Hirsch discusses how background knowledge affects reading comprehension, why he thinks the common cores focus on reading complex texts is useless, and what education policymakers can learn from France. On Text as a Two-Way Creation Between Reader and Author On the Myth of Text Complexity On the Sad Story of France, Which Abandoned Its National Curriculum Image: E.D. Hirsch is photographed in the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. Christopher Tyree for Education Week Related Story: Cultural Literacy Creator Carries on Campaign Education Week correspondent Kavitha Cardoza assisted with production for this piece. India has beefed up security along its open border with Nepal at Birgunj city following tensions at the India-Pakistan border. Indian security personnel have tightened security checks and increased surveillance at the border transit points apprehending infiltration by inimical elements from Nepal taking advantage of the open border, The Himalayan Times reported on Friday. Security has been beefed up in Adapur, Ghodadana and Ghodasahaya in Bara district. The movement of four-wheeled vehicles through these transit points has been disallowed. All vehicles, except ambulances and those carrying wedding parties, have been banned from plying through the border check points and other crossings along the No-Man's land, Indian officials said. Security has also been tightened at Raxaul-Vishwa, Parsauni-Bhelai, Sirsiya-Raxaul, Janakitol-Inaruwa, Thori and Bhiswa-Thori transit points along the border with Nepal in Parsa district. --IANS py/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and the US on Friday reached a consensus over bringing down the consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in air-conditioners and refrigerators, said an Indian official. "In the original proposal we have no freeze year (for HFCs) but this morning we clarified that we can have freeze at 2030," India's lead negotiator Manoj Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, told IANS. He said in the second round of talks between Indian Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave and US Secretary of State John Kerry, the freezing year was advanced to 2028 with a condition that there would be a review of technology somewhere around 2023 or 2024. "If India finds that the refrigeration sector is growing at much faster rate and it cannot accommodate within the available refrigerant, then India will free to go to 2030 as freeze year," he said. Singh said the review would be done by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel under the Montreal Protocol. "But it will be mutually agreed upon by India and other parties. Without India, no one can unilaterally decide that what is the growth rate which will trigger that mechanism," he said. For smooth transition to developing new technologies indigenously, there is a huge financial burden on India -- both for the industry and the consumers. Delegates from nearly 200 countries are attending the 28th meeting of the Parties to the 1989 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Dave told IANS an equitable agreement reached that is in the best interests of the nation, its people and the industry. In India, it will cost 12 billion euros (Rs 90,000 crore) to shift from HFCs to the greener gases between 2015 and 2050, the New Delhi-based think-tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water said on September 27. Experts say though HFCs do not harm the ozone layer, they have a high global warming potential. Their elimination will ultimately help avoiding an up to 0.5 degree Celsius rise in global temperature by the end of the century and will significantly contribute towards the global goal of staying well below two degrees. The Montreal Protocol was designed to protect the ozone layer by reducing the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. It was agreed to on September 16, 1987, and entered into force on January 1, 1989. Since then it has banned the use of several ozone-depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons, which were replaced by HFCs. (Vishal Gulati is Kigali in Rwanda to cover the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in) --IANS vg/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday rejected National Conference leader Omar Abdullah's charge of "partisan politics" over the move to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu region. After the union Cabinet announced the decision on Thursday, Abdullah accused the PDP-BJP government of pursuing "blatant partisan politics" and ignoring "balanced regional development in Jammu and Kashmir". On Friday, Javadekar enumerated the Narendra Modi government's initiatives taken for the benefit of students in the Kashmir Valley. "Better not to politicise education Omar Abdullah. You know there will be off campus of IIM in Kashmir Valley," Javadekar said. The Rs 62 crore IIM will have a temporary campus in Jammu till 2020, with an out-campus to be set up in the valley later. "The Centre has sanctioned Rs 100 crore for NIT Srinagar modernization. You (Abdullah) should help academic session to begin soon there," he said, in an obvious reference to the continuing shutdown in the valley. "The Centre has granted Rs 50 crore for seven girls hostels in Jammu and Kashmir, of which three will be in the valley. The minister also said the Centre had increased super numerical quota from 2 to 10 for Jammu and Kashmir students in the current year. "You Omar Abdullah should have helped streamlining the Prime Minister scholarship which was mismanaged through 2011-14," he said. Abdullah was the Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister during the period. Abdullah hit back: "Thank you for your tweets but none of them address the inherent imbalance of your decision regarding IIT and IIM. "Sir, according to you, the whole country was mismanaged from 1947 to 2014 and you are too senior to me in age for me to argue with you," added Abdullah. --IANS and/py/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan on Friday resigned after coming under attack for appointing two relatives in state public sector enterprises. CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made the announcement, saying Jayarajan himself decided to step down. "He asked for permission in the Secretariat meeting following the mistake he committed. He was very particular about the image of the party and the government," Balakrishnan told the media. "He sought permission to resign and he resigned," said Balakrishnan. The news of Jayarajan appointing his relatives surfaced 10 days ago, triggering a volley of criticism against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government which took power only four months ago. The Congress-led UDF and the BJP approached the Vigilance Department to seek a probe and demanded the minister's ouster. Jayarajan was a close aide of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the number two in the cabinet besides being one of the most powerful leaders in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in Kerala. According to CPI-M sources, Jayarajan did his best to explain his case at the meeting of the 14-member Secretariat of the party. But Vijayan was in no mood to relent as the central leadership of the party had taken Jayarajan's action as a serious lapse. One of the two relatives in the controversy is P.K. Sudheer, son of CPI-M Lok Sabha member P.K. Sreemathy. He is a nephew of Jayarajan. The other person is a niece of the minister, Dipthi Nishad. Neither Sudheer (appointed Managing Director of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd) nor Nishad (named General Manager of the Kerala Clay and Ceramics Ltd) had the experience or qualifications for the job. Following a huge outcry, both quit their posts. "We have proved that we are a party that holds values in and we are different from other parties," Balakrishnan said. "The previous (Oommen Chandy) government saw several ministers getting involved in trouble over various charges. The BJP-Vasundhara Raje Scindia (government in Rajasthan) faced charges but did not resign. "With Jayarajan's resignation, we have proved we are different," added Balakrishnan. The party Secretariat meeting held here went on for nearly three hours. Vijayan, taking the salute at a passing out parade of police constables in the capital, pledged his government won't be soft on corruption. The CPI-M found itself on the backfoot over the Jayarajan issue, with not a single party leader turning up for debates on TV channels to discuss the nepotism charges. As he left the meeting venue, Jayarajan sarcastically remarked to journalists: "An announcement will come soon which you will like to hear." Meanwhile, the Vigilance Department told a court here on Friday that it was taking necessary steps in the probe against Jayarajan. On Thursday, a public interest litigation was filed against Jayarajan. --IANS sg/mr/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Global internet and technology conglomerate LeEco is all set to host 'US Bigbang" event in San Francisco on October 19 where the company will unveil a new range of products. The event, to be held at Innovation Hangar in San Francisco, will see a fresh line-up, the company said in a statment. The company has also announced appointment of key executives that will help strengthen its global operation in the US market. Richard Ren has been appointed as the Acting President of LeEco North America and President of Smart Devices Overseas Business and North America. In addition to this, Ralph L. Leung will support the company's North American corporate finance and development initiatives. LeEco is providing a complete ecosystem of services to its users in China and India where it has emerged as one of the largest video streaming companies. The content can be viewed on LeEco's devices that include superphones and super TVs. --IANS vc/na/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is slated to reach Goa on Friday for the upcoming eighth Summit and the first ever BRICS-BIMSTEC meet saying that the outreach with the BIMSTEC leaders was significant. "The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi tweeted. The two-day summit will be held from October 15 to 16. The Prime Minister, in a tweet also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Michel Temer of Brazil, who will also reach Goa on Friday. "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa," the Prime Minister tweeted. Modi said that he looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges. "As chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," he said. Both Putin and Modi will stay at the Taj Exotica while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an inter-governmental organisation of which Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are members. "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand," Modi said in another tweet. According to the reports, a joint meeting of the BRICS and BIMSTEC leaders will be held on October 16. India is also counting on the BIMSTEC in a bid to corner Pakistan after 19th SAARC summit which were scheduled in Islamabad were cancelled. Discussion on terrorism will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet on Saturday during the 17th bilateral summit between the two countries. Indian ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said that the two leaders would discuss a "broad menu" of issues including new areas of co-operation like energy, infrastructure, railways, agriculture, hi-technology. "For sure, terrorism will be a subject of discussion. That is something which is expected and that would be very natural for both the leaders to discuss," Saran told reporters in Goa on Friday. The bilateral summit which is being held on Saturday, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, is Putin's 17th engagement with an Indian head of state, Saran said, adding that this alone "speaks for itself in terms of the intensity of the high-level political engagement between Russia and India". "As far as India is concerned, the relationship with Russia is among the most important that India has with any country in the world. It is based on mutual trust, mutual understanding, mutual respect and it encompasses every field of activity. So the engagement is deep, very intense and it is poised to grow even further," Saran said. He added that the nearly 70-year-old India-Russia relationship should be "reflective of the contemporary India-Russia relationship". "It should cater to the young generations of both the countries. It should be as inclusive as possible, both in terms of its content as well as its strength within Russia and India. You should take the friendship back to the people," Saran said. The ambassador also said that both the heads of state are expected to discuss wide-ranging issues when the two meet in Goa on Saturday. "It is a very broad menu and what I would say is that it is fully reflective of the kind of relationship which I have described to you," he said. Speaking about new areas of co-operation, Saran said: "We are making new inroads into certain sectors like energy. Like infrastructure, like railways, we are also looking at areas like agriculture and we are looking at hi-technology." He said that the leaders would also discuss issues related to port connectivity, which he said was being an "obstacle in the growth of our trade and economic partnership". "I would say that the India of today and the Russia of today, are more ambitious than they have ever been in the past about finding new areas and moving forward in all of them," Saran said. --IANS maya/lok/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Afghan-born US citizen accused of setting off bombs last month in New York entered a plea of not guilty during his arraignment, the media reported. Ahmad Khan Rahimi took part in the hearing via videoconference on Thursday from the Newark hospital where he is recovering from wounds received in the gun-battle in the town of Linden, Efe news reported. Charges in connection with the explosions that injured 29 people were filed previously in federal court. The suspect's attorney, public defender Peter Liguori, said at the start of Thursday's session that the defendant requested that court documents be changed to reflect that his surname is Rahimi, not Rahami, as originally stated by authorities. The state of New Jersey is charging Rahimi with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. Two officers were wounded when Rahimi opened fire at the police who tracked him down in Linden on September 19 as part of a manhunt across the New York City metropolitan area launched after investigators identified him as the suspect in the bombings. Rahimi is accused of planting a powerful homemade pressure-cooker bomb that exploded in the lower Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea on the night of September 17, injuring 31 people. He is also accused of planting another pressure-cooker bomb four blocks away that did not explode and of a pipe bombing in Seaside Park, New Jersey, on the morning of September 17. Nobody was hurt when the pipe bomb went off along the route of a US Marine charity race. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Human Rights Commission on Friday issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government over the increasing number of accidents caused by lorries in various parts of the state. The move follows the gruesome death of three college girls in an accident caused by a Metrowater tanker lorry in Guindy area of Chennai on Thursday. The commission took cognizance of media reports on the accident which left four others injured. "Reportedly, this was not the only accident caused by a water tanker lorry as the provisions of cancelling driving licenses in case of accidents under the Motor Vehicle Act are not being strictly implemented by the authorities in the state," the commission said. Observing that the Transport Department, police and the Chennai Water Supply and Sewerage Board were insensitive, the commission has issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government through its Chief Secretary and Director General of Police calling for a detailed report on the matter within four weeks. "They have also been asked to inform about the norms relating to fitness of water tanker lorries, number of trips allowed, number of persons died in such accidents during last five years and preventive action taken against the erring drivers and the other officials of the department concerned," said the commission. --IANS rup/lok/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A non-bailable warrant (NBW) was issued against Gulab Singh, Aam Aadmi Party's MLA from Matiyala, by a local court after he failed to join the police investigation in an extortion case, police said on Friday. Police said Singh, co-incharge of the party's Gujarat affairs, had informed Delhi Police about joining the probe on September 16, but failed to appear before the investigators. An NBW against Singh was obtained from the court on Thursday evening, a senior police officer said. "A case of extortion was registered against Gulab Singh and his associates, including his driver and personal staff, following a complaint by property dealers Deepak Sharma and Rinku Diwan," Joint Commissioner of Police (South Western Range) Dependra Pathak told IANS. The complainants claimed that Singh and his associates Satish, Devinder, Jagdish and others are involved in extorting money from builders who were often threatened with demolition of their buildings, Pathak said. A case under Section 384 (punishment for extortion) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Bindapur police station on September 13. --IANS sp/tsb/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Hawkeye State is the latest state planning to update its social studies standards with a little help from the College, Career, & Civic Life Framework, also known as the C3 Framework. The Iowa Department of Education released a set of the draft standards earlier this week. They would include financial literacy for the first time. The proposed standards also prioritize critical thinking skills and include Iowa history for the first time. Iowa was late to the movement to have statewide content standards, as Education Week reported in 2008 . This is the first revision to the history standards since then. According to the Business Record , the changes come after a survey of social studies teachers found that teachers wanted more specific standards. Unlike the Common Core State Standards in English/language arts and mathematics, the C3 Framework in social studies does not have specific learning standards. Instead, it lays out an Inquiry Arc to guide social studies standards writers. The framework is broken into four sections: Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries; Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools; Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence; and Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action. Illinois and New York are among the states that have used the framework, which was developed by the National Council for the Social Studies and other professional and academic organizations, as they revisited their social studies standards. Iowas new standards incorporate the frameworks ideas and also include more detailed standards on topics such as Iowa history than the current standards. Iowas changes come as changes to history curricula in other states have caused a stir. In Tennessee, a set of revisions to social studies standards that prioritize critical thinking and drop some specific details about state history have drawn such an influx of comments and concerns that the state extended a deadline for public comment . Arizona is also planning to revise its standards in science and social studies . Iowas standards are much less specific than Tennessees: They dont require schools to teach about particular battles or historical pictures . Part of the Iowa education departments writing team told Radio Iowa she expects less controversy because of that. Related: The adoption of an ambitious hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) phase down amendment could avoid up to half a degree Celsius of warming by the end of this century and such actions would send a powerful signal to the world markets, US Secretary of State John Kerry said here on Friday. "The US is participating in these talks in Kigali on the Montreal Protocol in order to work toward agreement and adoption of an ambitious HFCs phase down amendment in the next few hours," Kerry said in his 30-minute address at the 28th Montreal Protocol meeting. Making a passionate appeal, he said the HFC amendment would build upon "our success last year in Paris (Agreement) and is one of the most consequential and cost-effective actions the global community can take this year to combat climate change". HFCs are used mostly in refrigeration and air-conditioning and are also potent greenhouse gases. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is widely recognized as the most successful global environmental agreement. Kerry, who reached Kigali a day earlier, said the success at this Montreal Protocol meeting would rely on continued leadership from all of those who helped make Paris a reality. "Last week, we officially crossed the threshold for the Paris Agreement to enter into force. Enough countries representing enough of the world's emissions have now formally joined the agreement so it'll actually enter into force November 4th, less than a year after it was gaveled in." The achievement, he said, really underscores the widespread recognition of the urgency of the problem and is a testament to the continued determination of nations -- all nations, large, small, rich, poor -- to tackle climate change. Indeed, governments around the world have signaled a huge and growing resolve to act, he said. "The actions send a very powerful signal to world markets. We're moving toward a low-emissions economy, both in the US and around the world," he said. The negotiations in Kigali have been on since October 10 to reach a global agreement on an ambitious amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs globally. Heat-trapping substance HFCs -- the refrigeration and air-conditioning coolants -- though not harming the ozone layer, have a high global-warming potential. Official sources said Kerry had one-to-one negotiations twice with Indian Environment Minister Anil Dave and once with Chinese Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection Zhai Qing on the sidelines of the main talks. After meeting the ministers, Kerry told reporters that "we're making progress". Earlier, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Erik Solheim said the world is close to striking a deal to phase out HFCs. "I am confident that we are very close to make amendments to the Montreal Protocol for a timely phase out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and replacing them with climate-friendly alternatives," Solheim told reporters. In a landmark decision in November last, the 197 Parties of the Montreal Protocol agreed to the "Dubai Pathway on HFCs" which commits the 197 Parties to "work within the Montreal Protocol to an HFC amendment in 2016 by first resolving challenges by generating solutions in the contact group on the feasibility and ways of managing HFCs". (Vishal Gulati is in Kigali in Rwanda to cover the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in) --IANS vg/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Pakistan must talk and solve the Kashmir issue to end terrorism in the region, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said, speaking for the first time since the ongoing unrest erupted in the Kashmir Valley. "Both countries must sit and have talks on Kashmir. That is the only solution to end terrorism, otherwise it will keep on escalating," Abdullah told reporters after a meeting of opposition parties here. "All of us are looking for the way forward and not looking back at what happened," he said, adding he was "always in favour of peace". The National Conference President said he was concerned about the turmoil in the Kashmir Valley that has left over 90 people dead and thousands injured since the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The meeting of opposition parties discussed the Kashmir situation and the way the state and central governments were dealing with it. Abdullah said the situation demanded that "a solution needs to be found" to the vexed Kashmir issue. --IANS ruwa/sar/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A sailor allegedly committed suicide at his base in Maharashtra's Lonavla town on Friday, a defence statement said. Sitaram Paraswal was found hanging in his room at naval training station INS Shivaji at Lonavla, said the Indian Navy statement. Local police have registered an FIR, while the navy has ordered an inquiry into the incident. The 21-year-old Paraswal hailed from Rajasthan's Sikar and his family has been informed, the statement aded. --IANS rs/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has reiterated that peace in will be in the interest of both India and Pakistan, the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbours. "With regard to Afghanistan, it's in the interests of both India and Pakistan to see a stable, secure emerge from the years of fighting," US State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said in the daily press briefing here on Thursday. He was responding to a question on a group of Pakistani envoys carrying the message that Pakistan would not let have peace in unless US helped "solve" the Kashmir issue. "And certainly, in the interest of regional security as well, there's a lot of contentious issues, as you note, between India and Pakistan, but the two countries we would encourage to take a more conciliatory approach to each other and to work through some of these issues for the greater good of the region," Toner said. Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated with the Indian Army carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) last month in Jammu and Kashmir on terror launch pads. This came in the wake of the September 18 cross-border terror attack on an army base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives. India has blamed the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. In September, India, the US and Afghanistan held a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, the first such since 2013. Both the US and Afghanistan appreciated India's role in development work in the war-torn South Asian nation. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump denied the accusations of sexual abuse made against him by several women and called it a conspiracy hatched by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and the press. The billionaire on Thursday said that the complaints are a "coordinated, vicious attack" by the "establishment," namely the Clintons and the "corrupt" press who see him as an "existential threat," Efe news reported. Several women have come forward to allege that Trump sexually assaulted them in various incidents from the 1980s through 2005, adding to the political scandal sparked last Friday with the release of a 2005 videotape. In the tape, Trump can be heard making lewd and sexist comments about women and bragging about molesting or kissing them against their will. During a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said that the complaints are "totally and absolutely false," adding that they are "pure fiction and outright lies". He called both former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary "criminals" and he said the US government is a "cartel," adding that he has substantial evidence, along with witnesses, that will prove that the accusations of sexual abuse were "fabricated". He reiterated that he will file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the media outlets that published the stories of women claiming Trump abused them based on interviews with the alleged victims. Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks talked with the Times and complained that Trump had touched and/or kissed them inappropriately in the 1980s and in 2005, respectively. During the second presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Sunday, Trump had denied ever sexually assaulting any women. However, Trump had bragged on the 2005 videotape: "I just start kissing them. ... It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait." --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) on Friday announced that movies featuring Pakistani actors won't be screened in theatres in the country. The decision comes ahead of the scheduled release of Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. While it was slated to hit the screens on October 28, the COEAI decision has cast doubts if it will see the light of the day any time soon. COEAI President Nitin Datar said after a meeting of members: "It was decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and interest, we have requested all member exhibitors to refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artiste, technician, director or music director. "We are also in the process of requesting other associations connected with the film industry to support the sentiments in the best interest of our nation," he added. The decision comes amid India-Pakistan tensions following a terror attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers. The Indian Army then carried out surgical attacks on terrorist launch pads in Pakistani territory. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had earlier warned Pakistani actors to quit India. The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) on Friday announced that movies featuring Pakistani actors won't be screened in single screen theatres in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. The decision comes ahead of the scheduled release of Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. While it was slated to hit the screens on October 28, the COEAI decision has cast doubts if it will see the light of the day any time soon in western India. COEAI President Nitin Datar told IANS after a meeting of members: "We have nothing against Karan Johar. It's just that we won't allow the release of any film which will have Pakistani actors or technicians in it." The COEAI has over 400 members. "We have collectively taken this decision that we won't showcase such films in our single screens. As of now, we will be following this decision in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat," Datar added. The decision comes amid India-Pakistan tensions following a terror attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers. The Indian Army then carried out surgical attacks on terrorist launch pads in Pakistani territory. Datar added: "We can't say we are banning these films. It's just that we are suspending all these films. "In future, if our (India's) relationship with Pakistan gets better, we will work towards it. But looking at the current scenario, we have to take this decision." Reacting to the decision, veteran actor Om Puri, who has worked in Pakistani films, told a TV news channel: "First, I'm the citizen of this country. Whatever my government will say, I will agree." Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri said the "public outrage" over recent incidents between India and Pakistan had led to the decision. "If only Pakistani actors had given even a small statement condemning the act of killing people, I don't think people would have been so outraged," Agnihotri told IANS. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had earlier warned Pakistani actors to quit India and said it would not let movies -- including "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and "Raees" -- to release. Following that, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association had passed a resolution to disallow Pakistani artistes from working in Indian films. In response, Pakistani exhibitors had reportedly decided not to screen Indian films in their cinemas. --IANS uma-sas-rb/mr/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) on Friday announced that movies featuring Pakistani actors -- starting with Karan Johar's forthcoming "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" -- won't be screened in single screen theatres in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. However, a Home Ministry official has said the government has no problem in issuing visas to Pakistani artistes. The decision of the COEAI -- which has over 400 members -- comes two weeks ahead of the release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. However, multiplexes are yet to take a call on the matter, said sources. COEAI President Nitin Datar told IANS after a meeting of members: "We have nothing against Karan Johar. It's just that we won't allow the release of any film which will have Pakistani actors or technicians in it." "We have collectively taken this decision that we won't showcase such films in our single screens. As of now, we will be following this decision in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat," Datar said and added: "In future, if our (India's) relationship with Pakistan gets better, we will work towards it. But looking at the current scenario, we have to take this decision." This news comes amid India-Pakistan tensions following a terror attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers. The Indian Army then carried out surgical attacks on terrorist launch pads in Pakistani territory. Given the scenario, and considering how Pakistani artistes refrained from condemning the attack, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) had passed a resolution disallowing them from working in Indian films in future. But it's not a government diktat. "Government of India has no problem in giving visa to any Pakistani artiste," a Home Ministry official told IANS. "We have no problem in granting visas. If a person applies for visa and he fulfills the conditions, he gets it. It's not that we don't have to issue visa to Pakistani nationals," the source added. The IMPPA has, however, condemned the COEAI's decision. T.P. Aggarwal, President, IMPPA, told IANS: "I don't agree with this decision taken because the film was ready even before the problem popped up. Due to this decision, the Indian producers will be suffering unnecessarily." IMPPA Vice President and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit agreed, and said that the theatre owners, if were scared of people who would try to come and stop the film from being showcased, should have approached the Maharashtra government for police protection. He said that while COEAI is targeting filmmakers whose movies are ready for release, IMPPA has only asked filmmakers not to work with Pakistani artistes anymore. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri said the "public outrage" over recent incidents between India and Pakistan may have led to COEAI's decision. "If only Pakistani actors had given even a small statement condemning the act of killing people, I don't think people would have been so outraged," Agnihotri told IANS. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had earlier warned Pakistani actors to quit India and said it would not let movies -- including "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and "Raees" -- to release. Following that, IMPPA passed its resolution against Pakistani artistes. In response, Pakistani exhibitors had reportedly decided not to screen Indian films in their cinemas. --IANS rb/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) It has to be something Indian, my guest is quite sure, but deciding the venue for lunch is tough, he confesses when we meet at Dhaba, The Claridges, in New Delhi. Dave Thomas, the 45-year-old managing director of Adidas India, looking upbeat about a conversation over a meal, has reached before me and used the time to browse through a couple of Lunch with BS we had published earlier. After initial reluctance, the Army today briefed members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on the carried out by its men on terror launch pads inside Occupied . At least three members who attended the meeting said Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt briefed the Committee on the September 29 . "A brief statement was made by the Army on the sensitive issue. But no questions were taken," a member said. But another member from said Congress' Madhusudan Mistry wanted to ask questions which was denied by panel chief Maj Gen B C Khanduri (Retd). "There was a heated exchange of words between the two ... No questions were finally taken," he said. Earlier, the standing committee was to get "Briefing by the representatives of the Ministry of Defence on across the Line of Control (LoC)". But later, the agenda was changed to hearing by officials of the Defence Ministry, the Law Ministry and the Election Commission "on the status of implementation of E Postal Ballot System". On Thursday , two senior Congress members Ambika Sonia and Mistry had dubbed the move to change the agenda as "highly unacceptable". "The decision not to brief the committee over surgical strikes under the garb of secrecy only amounts to 'lack of confidence' in the Members of Parliament, who are on the committee and who are bound by the oath of secrecy. This position is absolutely unacceptable to us," party General Secretaries Soni and Mistry had said in a joint statement on Thursday. Cross-posted from the Rules for Engagement blog Rumors of scary clowns waiting to harm children are anything but funny business to many school officials who have responded to floods of communication from parents concerned about the issue that has swept the nation in recent weeks. Schools in more than a dozen states have responded to such rumors over the last two weeks, with some even deciding to close in response. School leaders say much of the hysteria is fueled by hoax threats spread on social media, and few have reported actual clown sightings. In some cases, those reporting clown sightings to police or school officials are sincere but mistaken in what theyve seen. And, in others, mischievous youths have contributed to the hysteria by dressing up themselves. Schools in areas including Puyallup, Wash ., and Flomaton, Ala. , were recently placed on lockdown as leaders investigated threats of violence that included mentions of clowns. Those threats were later determined to be unsubstantiated. The apparent social media contagion in many ways mimics a spread of hoax cyber threats made against schools in 2015 that led to the Los Angeles Unified School Districts unusual decision to close for a day. Many schools responded to the scary clown rumors by issuing statements meant to calm fears and squelch the spread of clown threats online. We believe it is very important for you to monitor your childs social media accounts to make sure that they do not forward messages that have the effect of causing disruption and undue concern, the Moore, Okla. district wrote in a message to parents. And some districts, like New Haven, Conn., have responded to childrens fears by banning students from wearing clown costumes on Halloween. Unfortunately, clown-themed posturing has been a growing trend throughout the country, particularly on social media ... " the district wrote in a statement to parents. Until additional information is available, New Haven Public Schools Director of Security Thaddeus Reddish asks that principals and building leaders prohibit clown costumes and any symbols of terror during this Halloween season. Photo: A not-so-scary clown --Getty Images Related reading: India is expected to continue with its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the issue of terrorism originating from there when it plays host to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa at the Summit of five-nation grouping in Goa on Sunday. Even preceding the Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise these issues with Putin and Xi on Saturday when a series of bilateral meetings are slated at the seaside venue. With the Summits taking place within weeks of Uri terror strike by Pak-based terrorists, India will be forceful in its demand at Summit, which will also have a BIMSTEC outreach meet, for intensified efforts to tackle terrorism including action against countries providing safe havens to terrorists and arming them. India has made strong references both at UNGA as well as G-20 regarding Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without naming Pakistan at G-20, had said that "one single nation in South Asia" is spreading "agents of terror" in the region and it must be isolated while External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the UNGA had said confessions of captured terrorists involved in terror strikes in India including in Uri "is a living proof of Pakistan's complicity in cross-border terror". Apart from the heads of governments of BRICS to attend the Summit on October 16, Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar (State Counsellor) will be here to participate in the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. New Delhi will also make all out efforts to revive Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) when Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) attend the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. This also assumes significance given the collapse of recent SAARC Summit after four countries apart from India pulled out of the meet to be hosted by Pakistan over the issue of cross-border terrorism, maintaining that environment was not conducive to hold such an event. Indian officials have made it clear that India's effort would be to have strong language in the BRICS outcome document on terrorism including how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries, safe havens and finances. At least 14 pro-government fighters were killed in clashes with the Islamic State group in the jihadists' former Libya bastion of Sirte, a medical source said. "Fighting today began at 9am (0700 GMT) and the toll to now is 13 dead and 25-30 wounded," hospital official Abdellatif Abdel Ali said yesterday. One fighter, who was shot, later died after being operated upon. Ali said the majority of those killed were shot in the head by sniper fire. Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have cornered IS fighters in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, since launching an offensive on May 12. After a pause in fighting on Thursday, pro-GNA fighters resumed the battle against IS holdouts in a seaside residential district of Sirte. At least three US air strikes hit IS positions yesterday, an AFP journalist in the city said. A pro-government forces commander told AFP that IS snipers were slowing the anti-jihadist advance. "These gunmen are well trained and equipped. The haven't given in even with air raids and the seige we've imposed on them," Al-Hedi Issa told AFP. "So we prefer to advance slowly in order to preserve the lives of our fighters." The fighting has left more than 550 GNA fighters dead and 3,000 wounded. The IS death toll is not known. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 15 terrorists and 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed today in a major attack by the Islamic State on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency. The Islamic State terror group claimed the attack in which a group of militants in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai, following which a gun-battle broke out between the forces and the terrorists, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones in Sinai in July 2015. The militants targeted a military base about 80 kilometres east of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Apart from 15 militants and 12 soldiers killed, Samir said a number of terrorists and six security personnel were also injured in the attack. "The armed forces assert that these despicable acts will not deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people," Samir said in a statement. Security forces have launched combing operations in the area to find if any assailants escaped. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy that primarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed in violence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 15 terrorists and 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed today in a major attack on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years been battling Islamist insurgency. A group of suspected Islamists in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai, following which a gun-battle broke out between the forces and the terrorists, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones in Sinai in July 2015. The militants targeted a military base about 80 kilometres east of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Apart from 15 militants and 12 soldiers killed, Samir said a number of terrorists and six security personnel were also injured in the attack. "The armed forces assert that these despicable acts will not deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people," Samir said in a statement. Security forces have launched combing operations in the area to find if any assailants escaped. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy that primarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed in violence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two seminary students have been arrested in Punjab province under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws. Muhammad Imtiaz, a resident of Marali Ottar village, some 50 km from here, told police that yesterday he saw Muhammad Ali, 17, burning some pages of Muslim holy book in a street. Imtiaz claimed that he admonished Ali for his act and tried to stop him but to no avail. The teenager then called his senior who favoured him. On the complaint of Imtiaz, police arrested Ali and his senior colleague and registered a case under under relevant provisions against them. Blasphemy laws are often used in Pakistan to settle personal enmity. The high profile case of Christian woman Aasia Bibi is one of such examples. Yesterday, Supreme Court judge Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman rescued himself from the bench, citing he had heard the petition of Mumtaz Qadri who had shot dead Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer in January 2011 and Aasia's case is somehow linked with it. Taseer had visited Aasia, who was on death row, in a jail in Lahore and received her mercy petition and called for reviewing controversial blasphemy laws. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kolkata Police today arrested 32 people, including officials of a club located in the southern parts of the city, for their alleged involvement in running a gambling racket under the guise of poker. Acting on a tip-off, a team from Shakespeare Sarani police station raided a prominent club on Camac Street and arrested 32 people for allegedly running the gambling racket. "Those arrested include the partners of the club, players, card dealers and the manager," a senior official of Kolkata Police said. The police recovered cash amounting to Rs 6.5 lakh and several 'chips' amounting to Rs 55 lakh of the print value of Rs 1,000 to Rs 200, besides some transaction-related documents. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fleeing from their camps in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, five insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura have surrendered to police without any arms, but deposited one wireless set. SP, Police Control, Uttam Bhowmick said the ultras surrendered to the SP (Special Branch), Arindam Nath here last evening and deposited one wireless set and some documents. "They are listed insurgents and surrendered due to frustration in the life of an extremist and miserable condition in NLFT camps in Bangladesh," he said. The ultras were identified as Bisurai Debbarma (33), Corporal, Hiralal Tripura, Jalaksa Tripura, Rambadal Tripura (31), Kantamani Tripura (29). BSF and paramilitary Tripura State Rifles (TSR) provided logistic support for crossing the Indo-Bangla Border at Bhandarima in North Tripura district, Bhowmick said adding they are being interrogated. Altogether, 26 hardcore insurgents of the outfit have given themselves up before the security forces since January. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eight al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, who were plotting to target atomic installations and offices of intelligence agencies, were killed by Pakistani security forces in the country's relatively peaceful Punjab province, officials said on Friday. Punjab police's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said their officials were working on intelligence input that militants were planning to attack a Shia procession near Multan district, about 350 kilometres from Lahore. CTD officials and other security agencies conducted combing operations in Shujaabad area of the district. During these operations, the CTD team learnt that the militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda had moved to Dera Ghazi Khan. "Yesterday, when a CTD team raided the suspects' hideout in Dera Ghazi Khan the terrorists opened fire and hurled hand-grenades. The CTD team retaliated in self-defence. When the firing stopped, eight terrorists were found dead," it said. Three militants managed to escape. Official sources said the militants were planning to hit atomic installations and offices of intelligence agencies. They said the terrorists had stored a "good amount of ammunition" including Kalashnikovs, hand-grenades and explosives at their hideout in Tonmi Road of DG Khan. Filmmaker Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" has been given U/A certificate by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the film is set to release on October 28. The movie has been produced by Fox Star Studios and Dharma Productions and stars Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. "'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' has been cleared by the censor board and we are gearing up for its release on the 28th of October. Diwali is all about love and 'Ae Dil....' is all about spreading love," Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions said in a statement here. Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, added, "Karan Johar's films present love in its most purest yet unique and modern way and this Diwali, he is celebrating love, friendship and heartbreak. We are set for the film's release on October 28. There can be no better way than celebrating Diwali with 'Ae Dil...' a quintessential family entertainer." In the aftermath of Uri attacks, the romantic drama has been embroiled in a controversy, with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), issuing an ultimatum to Fawad along with other Pakistani actors to leave India. The party has also threatened to stall the release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil". Meanwhile, a Cinema Owners' body today refused to screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in the four states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Philadelphia police are investigating the death of a 17-year-old boy who died after an apparent altercation with staff at his school , a residential program for children with special needs. The boy, who police have not identified, had mental health and medical issues and might have been put in a headlock by a staff member who was attempting to subdue him, the Associated Press reports. Police were called to Wordsworth Academy, a private school, at about 11 p.m. Thursday night to interview staff and investigate the situation, and the student was declared dead at the scene , WPVI reports. The altercation reportedly centered around the teen having an electronic device he was not supposed to have, such as an iPad or iPod, the ABC affiliate reports. At least three staff members responded. According to its website: Wordsworth partners with the Philadelphia School District, over 50 local school districts from five counties, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Community Behavioral Health, and the Philadelphia Department of Human Services to serve the needs of the community. The use of restraint and seclusion in schools has been a subject of debate in many areas in recent years. The practices are largely used to subdue and discipline students with disabilities, and many have questioned whether they are effective and humane. In response, some states have tightened restrictions on when schools can use restraint and seclusion . With limited details available about the Philadelphia incident, it remains unclear whether or not the schools use of restraint on the student was allowed under state law. The Disability Rights Center of Pennsylvania summarizes Pennsylvanias legal requirements for use of restraints on its website: Restraints are a measure of last resort. They can only be used after other less restrictive measures, including de-escalation techniques (strategies to calm the student or situation) have been used. An adult can restrain a student only when the student is acting in a way that is a clear and present danger to himself, other students or employees, and only when less restrictive measures and techniques have proven to be less effective." Related reading on restraint and seclusion: Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox. Ahead of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal's October 16 rally in Gujarat, posters carrying his photographs along with Burhan Wani, Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden, terming them as "heroes of Pakistan", have appeared in Surat city. The Delhi Chief Minister is scheduled to address a public rally at Varachha in Surat on Sunday evening. While AAP accused the ruling BJP of being responsible for the "defamatory" posters, the saffron party claimed that common people had put them up as they were "deeply hurt" after Kejriwal demanded proof of the Army's surgical strikes across LoC. Surat AAP spokesperson Yogesh Jadvani said, "We know that it is a tactic by BJP to defame Kejriwal and AAP ahead of the rally. BJP workers are given rewards for putting the most defamatory poster. But, we are not bothered by such negative politics." He also expressed confidence that over one lakh people would attend the rally. However, BJP said "anti-Kejriwal" people were coming forward to vent their anger against AAP and its leaders. "Kejriwal is known for doing such drama. We are least bothered even if he visits Gujarat thrice in a year or in a week. These posters are a natural reaction of people against Kejriwal's anti-national stand. He would receive such welcome at any place in India. However, he would get a red-carpet welcome in Pakistan," Gujarat BJP convener Harshad Patel said. "I am sure that if something goes wrong in his rally, he will blame our leaders, saying that it was done at the behest of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. He must have kept his script ready if things do not go down as per their plans," he said. Earlier, banners showing "dubious" track record of several ministers in the AAP-led Delhi government had surfaced in Surat. In some societies of Varachha area, dominated by Patels, banners warning Kejriwal from entering the premises were also put up a few days ago. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) today hailed the Union government's decision for setting up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the winter capital of the state. We welcome the decision of the Union government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi wherein the cabinet approved the establishment of an IIM in Jammu from the current academic year (2016-17), and approval of Rs 100 crore for modernisation of infrastructure of NIT in Srinagar, president AJKPC Anil Sharma said. Sharma criticised former chief minister Omar Abdullah for "opposing IIM in Jammu" and alleged that he was "creating a gap between the two regions of the state for petty politics". Omar had yesterday termed as "blatant partisan politics" the Centre's decision to set up an IIM in Jammu and hit out at Mehbooba, saying she had sold her soul to remain in power. "Jammu gets the IIT & gets the IIM also. Where have all those voices that called for balanced regional development in J-K disappeared?" he had tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today declared a virtual war against the Akali government in the state for its "failure" to transfer the Ludhiana Police Commissioner in the 'Chitta Ravan' case, asking the party workers in all the 117 Assembly segments to burn effigies as a mark of protest. As the Punjab Congress' siege of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's residence here continued for the second day, he said, "Mark my words, this is just the beginning. We will destroy the chitta and its Ravan in its entirety in Punjab." Congress workers had reportedly prepared white Ravan effigies in protest against the sale of heroin (chitta) in Punjab. They had planned to burn them on Dussehra, along with photos of the chief minister and his son (Deputy Chief Minister) Sukhbir Singh Badal, which led to a clash between them and Akali Dal supporters in Ludhiana that left at least 35 people injured. The police had arrested Punjab Youth Congress secretary Parvinder Singh Lapran on Wednesday in connection with the incident. Alleging police bias and claiming that no case was lodged against the Akali Dal activists, Congress workers have been staging an indefinite protest outside Badal's residence here since yesterday. The protesters, including Congress MPs and MLAs, are demanding Ludhiana Police Commissioner Jatinder Aulakh's transfer and ADCP Jaswinder Singh's suspension. Addressing them, Amarinder demanded withdrawal of cases against Congress workers jailed on "fictitious" charges of assaulting Akali Dal activists. Asking the Akalis why were they so "touchy" about the 'Chitta Ravan' issue, the state Congress chief said, "Is it your guilty conscience that gets pricked and causes goosebumps over the very mention of 'chitta'?" "By resorting to violence against the burning of the 'Chitta Ravan', the Akalis have actually admitted to their guilt of being synonymous with the synthetic drug," he claimed. Amarinder said the 'Chitta Ravan' was there not only in Ludhiana but all over Punjab, with the "people using it to express their anger against the Badals". He claimed that in Amritsar, effigies of the chief minister and his son were burnt during Dussehra celebrations. "If they (the Badals) think they can intimidate and gag the people by abusing their power, they are miserably mistaken," Amarinder said, adding that it was a matter of "few more months" before the Badals were "forced to run for cover". (REOPENS DES 40) "Today, people are only burning your effigies. Tomorrow, they will be after your life," Amarinder warned the Badals. "People will not even wait for the election. They are simply waiting for the Model Code of Conduct to be enforced before they start venting their ire against the Badals," he said, warning the Badals to "mend their ways" and "tame their goons" as "their countdown" had already started. The state Congress chief accused the Ludhiana Police Commissioner of "acting more like an Akali Jathedar than a police officer" and demanded his transfer. He also demanded cancellation of FIRs against the Congress workers and their immediate release from jail. "It is an irony that the culprits are walking free and the victims have been put behind bars," Amarinder said, pointing out that Congress workers were arrested and the Akali goons, who had attacked and injured them, had "not even been touched". As a show of solidarity with their colleagues in Ludhiana, he said Congressmen in all the Assembly segments of Punjab will be asked to burn effigies of the 'Chitta Ravan'. "We will start with this symbolic burning, before actually destroying the real evil of 'chitta' and its Ravan in the state," he added. Yesterday, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had directed the DGP to rush to Ludhiana for an on-the-spot inquiry into the clash between Akali Dal activists and Congress workers. DGP Suresh Arora was asked to submit his report within three days. Police have registered a case in connection with the incident under various IPC sections, including 307 (attempt to murder), 365 (kidnapping), 506 (threatening) and 295 (hurting religious sentiments) against those involved in the clash. Deputy Leader of Opposition Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who represents the Ludhiana West Assembly seat, had claimed that 12 Congressmen were injured in the clash. According to the police, Akali Dal supporters had damaged the white Ravan prepared by the Congressmen and also allegedly damaged the vehicle of Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu. Medical services in Aligarh and the surrounding districts were badly hit here today following a strike by junior doctors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, the biggest medical facility of its kind in this region. The strike call was given following an emergency meeting of the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) at the Medical College Hospital, AMU. The junior doctors were protesting over the alleged manhandling and misbehaviour with their colleague on Wednesday. The RDA has alleged that Dr Vikas was manhandled by a close associate of the newly elected President of the AMU Students' Union, Faizul Hasan. They were demanding Hasan's suspension. A decision to extend a strike indefinitely would be taken later tonight, RDA spokesman said. The anger of the students against Medical College doctors stems from the recent death of a University student who was suffering from dengue. The students alleged that his death was due to negligence by the medical staff. On September 25, Sabir Hussain, a final year engineering student from Ghazipur district, had died at the Medical College. Later, a junior doctor and a nursing staff of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital were suspended by the Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor for their alleged negligence in treatment of the student. The VC had also setup a three-member committee to probe the incident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker Ang Lee has turned down Disney's offer to direct live-action film "Mulan". The movie is an adaptation of the 1998 animated hit, said The Hollywood Reporter. The studio is on a fast track to make the movie which is slated to be released in US theaters on November 2, 2018. They are want to lock down a director as soon as possible. Another studio, Sony, is also developing a live-action adaptation based on the same Chinese ballad. The studio is looking for an Asian director for the project which is expected to feature a predominantly Asian cast. Though it is said to be in very early development, "Mirror Mirror" scribe Jason Keller is already on board to pen the script for the movie. "Mulan" revolves around a young woman, who disguises herself as a man so she can take her father's place in the army and go to war. With the help of her trusty dragon sidekick Mushu, she becomes a skilled warrior and, eventually, one of the country's greatest heroines. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a big blow to the five-month old CPI(M)-led LDF government Kerala, Industries minister E P Jayarajan today resigned from the Cabinet in the wake of the raging appointment row. His resignation from the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet came after a CPI(M) state secretariat meeting, which permitted him to take the decision. Coming out of the meeting, Jayarajan told reporters, "Now you people are happy. Isn't it?" State party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Jayarajan had wanted to be allowed to put in his papers to"uphold the image of theparty and set an exemplary model in contrast to the previous Congress-led UDF government". The Kannur strongman and the number two in the Cabinet, Jayarajan had admitted before the secretariat that he had committed a 'mistake' by appointing a close relative ina PSU in the industries department and sought permission to resign. Jayarajan, considered close to Chief Minister Vijayan, was in the eye of a storm over appointment of his nephew, P K Sudheer Nambiar and son of Kannur MP P K Sreemathi as the Managing Director of Kerala Industrial Enterprises Ltd. His appointment was later quashed by the government. Another appointment, that of Deepthi Nishad, Jayarajan's brother's daughter-in-law, had also become controversial. She had resigned two days ago. Jayarajan, who had successfully contested from Mattannur in northern Kannur district, was a member of the legislative assembly from 1991-96. Agin, from 2011 onwards he was an MLA. To a question if CPI-M would take any action against Jayarajan, Kodiyeri said he was a member of party Central Committee and any party action would be decided by the central leadership "CPI(M) is against any illegal appointments. However party does not think that being a relative of a leader is a disqualification to get a job in government service." In Jayarajan's case, this decision was taken due to the seriousness of the issue, he said. Kodiyeri also attacked both Congress-led UDF and BJP government at the Centre, alleging that their ministers were involved in controversies, but none of them had resigned. Indicating that things were not rosy for Jayarajan, party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had indicated two days ago that action would follow and that the process of correction had already been initiated. Meanwhile, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau today informed a Special Court here that a preliminary probe into the appointment row against Jayarjan had been initiated. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress today said BJP's "double standard" has been "exposed completely" as on one hand it talks of being a nationalist party by undertaking a surgical strike across LoC and on the other hand it has slashed the pension of soldiers who are disabled. As per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, an army Major who has completed 10 years of service would have got Rs 98,300 monthly pension if he suffered 100 per cent disability while the same army Major would now get Rs 27,000 (fixed slab) as per the 7th Pay Commission as notified by the Centre, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Ashok Choudhary told reporters. Pointing out that it would have an adverse and negative impact on the morale of the soldiers, Choudhary, also the education minister in Nitish Kumar government, urged the Centre to review it and the Defence Minister to clarify the position. Alleging that a sense of "insecurity has gripped Dalits and minorities ever since BJP came to power at the Centre", the BPCC president made a fervent appeal to Dalits and muslims to come together "as both have quite common similarities vis-a-vis social indicators be it education, employment opportunities, insecurity". Stating that Dalits are facing several difficulties, Choudhary claimed that only 4.4 per cent and 2.4 per cent of the Dalit population are graduates and post-graduates respectively, 42.3 per cent of them are still below poverty line and majority of them are landless labourers. Choudhary said Congress would organise a 'Mahasammelan' for scheduled castes and minorities in the state capital on October 17 to discuss their demands and aspirations. The BPCC president said that the conference would be inaugurated by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad while Bihar in-charge and general secretary C P Joshi will be the chief guest. The conference would be attended by former Speaker Meira Kumar, Shakeel Ahmad, senior party leaders of the state and MLAs and MLCs, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An FBI officer today met Thane Police officials and gathered and shared details about the probe into a multi-crore call centre scam, whose victims were US citizens who lost millions of dollars amid signs that the magnitude of the racket may be bigger than estimated initially. Sohel Daud, a senior agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who arrived here this morning, met senior officers, including Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, at the Police headquarters here. The American security and crime-fighting agency came into picture after it emerged that the victims of the call centre racket were US citizens. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Singh said exchange of information between the Thane Police and the US agency would help in identifying those behind the racket in which lakhs of American citizens had been duped. The fraud is of a big magnitude which cannot be estimated at this stage, he said. "We will verify the information which the FBI has shared with us. It will help in our investigation. The FBI team also appreciated our efforts (in uncovering the scam)," Joint Commissioner of Police Ashutosh Dumbre told PTI. The FBI officer will be in the city for a few more days and question those arrested in connection with the scam, police sources said. Police have issued a Look out circular (LOC) to nab Sagar Dharmesh Thakkar, the alleged mastermind of the scam, which operated out of nearly a dozen call centres, whose associates posed as US tax officers and extorted money from American residents by threatening raids. Crime Branch teams are also looking for Thakkar and authorities at the international borders, airports and sea ports have been alerted to thwart his attempt to leave the country, Dumbre said. Police unearthed the scam, involving more than Rs 500 crore, last week after raiding seven call centres in Mira Road locality. The racket had been going on for a few months, he added. The daily transactions of the seven call centres stood at around Rs 1.5 crore. After the raids, police shut down four more call centres in Thane where the daily transaction was about Rs 50 lakh, the Joint Commissioner of Police said. Police have so far arrested 71 people in connection with the case. Some of the call centres involved in the racket were run illegally from the premises of Hari Om IT Park, Universal Outsourcing Services and Oswal House on Mira Road. The callers used to seek financial and bank details of US citizens and if the victims refused to disclose the information, they would even allegedly threaten them with dire consequences, including legal action and penalties. (Reopens BOM 24) Meanwhile, a magistrate's court in Thane extended the police custody of eight of the accused today. Police told Judicial Magistrate A M Katte that within a period of just two months, from June 22 to September 23 this year, three call centers from Mira Road had collected a whooping Rs nine crore through the scam. Assistant Commissioner of Police Mukund Hatote gave this information to the court while seeking further police custody for eight of the 13 accused. These eight accused were members of the core group of the conspirators, he said. The court remanded them in police custody upto next Monday. Bangladesh and China today upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership as they signed 27 agreements, including loan and investment deals in the infrastructure sector worth billions, after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "We agreed to elevate China-Bangladesh relations from a closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation to a strategic partnership of cooperation and to increase high level exchanges and strategic communication so that our bilateral relations continue to move ahead at a higher level," Xi said after his talks with Hasina. He termed Bangladesh and China "good neighbours, good friends and good partners." "China-Bangladesh relationship is now at a new historical starting point and heading toward a promising future," Xi said. "China is ready to work with Bangladesh to move forward as friends and partners who trust and support each other and to add more substance to China-Bangladesh strategic partnership of cooperation," he said. After Xi and Hasina held bilateral talks, the two countries signed 27 deals -- 15 MoUs and 12 loan and framework agreements -- on different projects. However, there were reports that China may offer up to USD 40 billion credit, both sides refrained from providing the details of the loan amount. At the signing ceremony, Hasina noted that she had a "very fruitful" discussion with Xi on issues like improving bilateral, regional, and international cooperation. "We agreed to form synergy between our respective development strategies, jointly advance the belt and road initiative and launch the joint feasibility study on a China- Bangladesh FTA to strengthen our trade and investment cooperation and strengthen practical cooperation in key areas such as infrastructure, productivity capacity, energy and power, transportation, ICT and agriculture," Xi said. He said China would "continue to do its best" to provide capital, technological and human resources support and carry out "more cooperation" on big projects with Bangladesh to support its economical and social development. "There was a closer comprehensive cooperation between Bangladesh and China. But the cooperation has been lifted to a strategic relationship," Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told a media briefing after Xi-Hasina talks. "Both the leaders said Bangladesh-China relations are based on trust and are time tested and therefore the relations have now been elevated to a strategic level," he said. He said they also agreed to jointly advance the BCIM economic corridor and increase communication and coordination of international and regional issues of shared interest. Prime Minister Hasina in her statement reiterated that Bangladesh supports China in all of its core issues including "one China policy". "We have agreed to work closely and support each other on regional and international issues of mutual interest," she was quoted as saying by Bangladeshi media. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today extended its backing to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's violent campaign against drug smugglers, days after the maverick Philippino leader threatened to end its military alliance with the US. China supports Duterte's campaign against drugs and is willing to strengthen cooperation with the Philippines in this area, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here. Calling narcotics "an enemy of mankind," he said combating drug crimes is a responsibility shared by all countries. His comments came as Duterte, who abused US President Barack Obama for criticising his campaign against drugs in which over 2,000 people were killed, is set to visit China from October 18 to 21 for talks with Chinese leaders on the disputed South China Sea. His visit was seen as a major diplomatic victory for China after an international tribunal arbitrating on the Philippines petition in July quashed China's claims over almost all of the South China Sea. Geng said China was committed to eliminating drug-related crimes and the nation has been actively engaged in international cooperation in this regard. "President Duterte will also be engaged in activities related to drug control during his state visit to China. China and the Philippines are keeping in close touch about this," Geng said. Duterte recently questioned the importance of a defence treaty and joint combat exercises with the US, saying they only benefit America. The drug control departments in both countries have begun to discuss cooperation, with results likely to be released soon, he said. Duterte is waging a war against "narco-politics" in the Philippines, saying about four million Filipinos are into illegal drugs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jack Greenberg, a civil rights attorneys who helped litigate the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, died this week at age 91. A member of Thurgood Marshalls inner circle at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Greenberg worked on a number of high-profile civil rights cases, including Brown v. Board, which abolished separate but equal racially segregated public schools in 1954. Greenbergwho was in his 20s when he helped argue cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court under the umbrella of Brown v. Boardwas the last living lawyer involved in the case. Greenbergs most significant contribution came in Delaware with Gebhart v. Belton, where he argued that black children in the state had the right to attend the all-white schools in their neighborhoods. The judge in the case ruled that the black schools were offering far less to children than the white schools a violation of the separate but equal doctrine enshrined in the U.S. Supreme Courts 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson. But the decision focused on two high schools and did not apply broadly throughout Delaware. The U.S. Supreme Court combined that case with similar ones from the District of Columbia, Kansas, South Carolina, and Virginia into a single case which eventually became Brown v. Board of Education. Marshall, the lead litigator, of course, went on to become the nations first black Supreme Court justice. When Marshall left NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1961 to serve as a federal appeals judge, he hand-picked Greenberg, who was Jewish, as director of the Legal Defense Fund. Greenberg did not see himself as an improbable choice to lead a national campaign legal against race-based segregation and discrimination. The question of race never really entered into it. It was a matter of human liberty. It was the principles that were involved, Greenberg said in Richard Klugers Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black Americas Struggle for Equality. Greenberg went on lead the Legal Defense Fund for 23 years. Later in his career there, he argued Alexander v. Holmes County (Miss.) Board of Education, which came before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 to combat efforts to stall school integration in the south. In a case that came before the Court a full 15 years after Brown v. Board, the justices mandated that segregated school systems desegregate immediately. After Greenbergs retirement from the Legal Defense Fund, he served as an administrator and law professor at Columbia Universityhis alma matter. Related Stories Bangladesh and China today signed 26 agreements in the key areas of power, road and railway connectivity as Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and vowed to elevate bilateral ties to a long term strategic partnership. "We are good friends and partners," a spokesman of the Prime Minister's office quoted Xi as saying after his bilateral talks with the Bangladeshi Premier. He said Xi sought to elevate bilateral relations to the level of a "long term strategic partnership". The Chinese leader's comments came as he along with Hasina witnessed the signing of 26 bilateral agreements and MoUs mainly on power, road and railway connectivity after bilateral talks, hours after Xi's arrival here for a two-day visit. "The two leaders simultaneously opened six projects," the spokesman said, without giving details of the projects. Earlier, Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet for Xi, the first Chinese head of state to visit the country in 30 years. A 21-gun salute marked Xi's arrival as he stepped down from a special Air China flight and was received by Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid. Four Bangladeshi Air Force jets escorted the aircraft carrying the Chinese leader as it entered the country's airspace while a contingent of army, navy and air force accorded him a guard of honour after he landed. "We are ready to work with the Bangladeshi side to further deepen our political mutual trust and elevate our relations and practical cooperation to a higher level," Xi said in a statement to the Chinese media at the airport. Prime Minister Hasina had told Chinese state-run Xinhua agency on the eve of Xi's visit that the tour would usher in a new era of "intensive cooperation". "We are very happy and feel honoured that President Xi is coming to Bangladesh. I believe that President Xi's visit will also be more important for South Asia," she said. Hasina described China as Bangladesh's "largest trading partner and said that her country considers China as a "trusted partner" in realising its dreams. "China is the leading generator of many of our mega projects in terms of finance, capitalisation and technology," she said. Analysts say Dhaka is seeking to develop economic ties with China while keeping its warm, strategic and political relations with India, as its traditional ally. Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali, told a media briefing yesterday, that Xi's visit would have no negative impact on Bangladesh's relations with other countries, particularly with India. "We don't think so," he said when asked if the visit could have any impact on Bangladesh's very warm relations with New Delhi. (Reopens FGN 13) The visit is the first by any Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in three decades after President Li Xiannian's visit in March 1986. China, earlier this week, had said the visit would be a "milestone" as "both sides would make deals and bilateral relations would be improved". Bangladesh's mainstream media welcomed the Chinese President. The mass circulation Prothom Alo published an article written by Xi in a Chinese newspaper with the title "A Golden Success of Bangladesh-China Cooperation". On the eve of President Xi Jinping's India visit, China on Friday stood firm on its ground saying that there was no change in its stand regarding India's membership at the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Neither did it agree with New Delhi's efforts aimed at designating the chief Jaish-e-Mohammed, Masood Azhar, a terrorist by the United Nations. As Xi is due to arrive at Goa on October 15 to take part in the BRICS Summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said that relations between India and China have been making "great headway" despite some "disputes". "I have stated China's position. I would like to reiterate that the UN committee dealing with the listing, does it according to provisions of the UN charter," he said while replying to a question on India's application to ban Azhar following the Pathankot terrorist attack. Geng, at a briefing, said China maintains that the UN Committee designated to ban terrorist outfits should work on true facts and make a decision based on a consensus among members. According to the Chinese spokesperson, all parties are divided over the listing issue and that is why it has put the decision to ban Azhar on hold. The second technical hold put by China will give enough time to make the listing decision, Geng said, adding that this also shows the responsible and professional attitude of the Chinese side. "China's position has not changed regarding the joining of the NSG by India," Geng said. Speaking on the same issue earlier this month, China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong had harped on the need to build consensus over the admission of new members in the 48-member NSG. Geng expressed hope that the two countries can continue with dialogue and cooperation to exchange views on some disputes, seek solutions and properly manage relevant disputes. Meanwhile, a Chinese scholar, Hu Shisheng, Director of theChina Institutes of Contemporary International Relations affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China may speed up construction at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir region, if Pakistan is isolated and cornered by India. "China has to discuss with Pakistan about the current situation on how to handle and how to come out it," Hu said speaking about Pakistan's isolation in the region leading to the postponement of the SAARC summit after the Uri terror attack, in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed. The social media campaign to boycott Chinese goods during Diwali has beaten down sentiment of retail traders as there has been a 20 per cent decline in demand so far, traders body CAIT said today. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that Chinese lighting and decorative products are widely used during Diwali and such materials start flooding the Indian markets three months prior to the festive season. "There has been a debate in social media on boycotting Chinese product. These products are already with the wholesalers but there has been a 20 per cent decline in demand from the retail traders as they are worried whether people will actually buy it or not," he said. There has been a social media call for boycott of Chinese goods in India following that country's opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar as well Beijing obstructing India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Khandelwal said CAIT will go with the mood of the people and honour their calls for ban on Chinese products. "We expect that the goods which are in stock with the wholesalers will get sold over time, otherwise a lot of cash of traders will get stuck," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Cinema Owners' body today refused to screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in the four states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, dealing a blow to Karan Johar's upcoming Diwali blockbuster "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" that features Fawad Khan. The decision taken by the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) at its meeting here mainly covers single screen theatres and comes amid tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri attack last month. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma play lead roles in the film. Datar said the decision was not taken due to any political pressure and that the Association was keeping "patriotic feelings" of people in mind. "The COEAI has decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and the national interest of our country all our members and exhibitors will refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artiste, technicians, directors, music directors etc," the Association president Nitin Datar told reporters. "Under our association we have several members including single screen theatres and few multiplexes. Our members are based in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of Goa and Karnataka," he said, adding, "the decision stands until things(Indo-Pak relations) get normal." The release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" faced trouble last month when Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) issued an ultimatum to Pakistani actors to leave India and also sought a ban on them. The party had threatened to stall the releases of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and "Raees", starring another Pakistani actor Mahira in the lead role. Subsequently, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) passed a motion to ban artistes from across the border from working in the industry till Indo-Pak relations are normalised. The body, however, has criticised COEAI's decision, saying the films which have already completed production should not be targeted. "We stick to our stand, We feel films that are completed shouldn't be banned," TP Aggarwal, IMPPA President, told PTI. Datar said that while the decision not to screen certain films would cause monetary losses for the theatre owners, there might have been greater damage if their screens were vandalised. The decision drew criticism from the film fraternity but it was welcomed by the MNS. "I congratulate all the members of COEAI... I think multiplexes haven't taken any stand yet but we are firm on our stand that we won't allow any movie which features Pakistani artistes to release in Maharashtra," MNS leader Amay Khopkar said. Censor Board chairman Pahlaj Nihalani said the decision is wrong as the film mostly features Indian actors. "The film is produced by Indians. The film stars lot of Indian actors, so they should be concerned about our actors and the Indian producers. They have no right to take such decisions, which goes against the film industry," Nihalani said, adding that the film has also got the censorship certificate. Reacting to the development, actor Om Puri said that a decision like this is justified only when the government takes it. "If the government says not only actors but all Pakistanis, who have come here for business or to meet their relatives must go back to their country and their visas must be cancelled after three days, then I am with the government. Let the head of the country decide this and not us," Puri said. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal said while he has no views on the matter, the decision could have been "political, commercial or social." A lot is riding on "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which stars heavy-weights like Aishwarya, Ranbir and Anushka, and also marks Johar's return to direction after a gap of four years. The recent comment made by a visiting Pakistan envoy that the outgoing American President is now just a guest at the White House is "ridiculous", the US has said. "That's a ridiculous comment," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters yesterday when asked about the remark made by the visiting Special Envoy of the Pakistan Prime Minister on Kashmir Issues Mushahid Hussain Syed here last week. "Obama is a guest for the next few months," Syed had said in response to a question about his expectations from the US government during a panel discussion on Kashmir at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank. Syed turned his answer to the next US administration after being asked the American government, underlying that the current incumbent was outgoing. "What Pakistan would like from the US - and I'm talking of the incoming administration because Obama is a guest for the next few months, 20th of January 2017, there will be a new administration - that they have to see the region where they have a more comprehensive perspective and do not try to compartmentalise peace and security, because that is not possible," Syed had said. Actor-MP Dipak Adhikary, popular as Dev in Bengali film industry says actors of masala films can reinvent themselves if given the chance by arthouse directors. The actor plays a gun-toting dumb mohalla leader in his new film "Zulfiqar". Referring to his two recent releases, Dev told PTI "Both 'Zulfiqar' nor 'Arshinagar' can't be called typical Dev films (potboilers). But these two gave me the chance to reinvent myself in my own way. "On a personal level I feel I have not done too bad in either of these films. If commercial film actors are given the space they can also deliver." Dev said he had started reinventing himself since "Chander Pahar" (2013) by Kamaleswar Mukherjee which was then followed by films like "Buno Haans," "Arshinagar" and now "Zulfiqar". The actor, who plays Markaz Ali (Marcus) in the film based on Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and "Antony and Cleopatra," said, his character can't talk and it was challenging for him to emote before the camera without uttering a single word. This was in sharp contrast to Aparna Sen's "Arshinagar" (based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) where he had to do rapid fire delivery in rhythm as Ronojoy (Romeo), Dev said. "I had a lot of dialogues in 'Arshinagar' in rap style, while I say a lot through silence in 'Zulfiqar'. This showes we (masala film actors) can also do whatever is required to essay a character," he said. Asked if 'Zulfiqar', a film on syndicate war to get turf control in a west Kolkata was based on reality, the Trinamool MP from Ghatal in West Bengal said, "No don't hunt for any similarity. "It (the film) is just an entertainer," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With Diwali round the corner, Congress today attacked the government over rising prices of essential commodities, wondering as to how the common man would celebrate the festival of lights. "How can the common man celebrate Diwali when the price of sugar in the last two years has risen from Rs 30 to Rs 43, besan from Rs 40 to Rs 140, arhar dal from Rs 73 to Rs 140, chana from 50 Rs 140 and atta from Rs 18 to Rs 21 per kg?" Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza asked. She said the BJP came to power on the promise of containing price rise, but prices have shot up in the past two-and-a-half years. Besides, she said, the industrial growth during the first five months of the current financial year has been the lowest in 10 years. "The past two years have witnessed an abysmal decline in industrial growth. The April-August industrial growth, at just -0.27 per cent, is the lowest since 2007-08 when the global economic meltdown took place," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala today visited Apollo Hospital here to enquire about the health condition of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. "I met the Chairman, Apollo Hospitals. The state Health Minister was also there. I was told that the Chief Minister was improving and recovering fast," he told reporters. The 68-year-old AIADMK supremo was admitted to the hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration. The hospital later said she was being treated for an infection. "On behalf of the people of Kerala, I pray for her speedy recovery," Chennithala said. An expert team of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a UK-based specialist are continuously monitoring the health condition of Jayalalithaa. Chennithala is the latest in a long line of political leaders, including BJP president Amit Shah and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, to visit the hospital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Expressing concern over delay in the construction of memorial for Pathankot terror attack martyr Garud Commando Gursewak Singh, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij today asked officials to start the work at earliest. He directed the district administration to start the construction of the memorial in the martyr's native village Garnala at the earliest. Any negligence in this matter would not be tolerated, Vij said while asking the officer concerned to visit the residence of the martyr and contact his parents regarding the memorial. Indian Air Force Commando Singh was martyred in Pathankot airbase terror attack in January this year in which seven security personnel were killed. The state government had announced to construct a memorial in his memory in his native village but no initiative was made by the administration in last nine months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gang Affiliation Charges: Is Gang Affiliation a Crime? While the First Amendment provides the freedom to associate, people often wonder about whether gang affiliation is a crime or considered free association. Generally, being a member of a gang is not in and of itself illegal; however, it is likely to lead to illegal activity which is generally punished more harshly if there is a gang affiliation. This is because many states define gangs as groups that include a purpose of committing crimes or illegal acts. However, as history has shown, figuring out who is actually in a gang is not easy. To fight the gang problem, a majority of states have gang enhancements that can be applied to other criminal charges that will typically make the punishment, if convicted, stricter. Additionally, state and federal law enforcement maintain gang member databases, so that law enforcement can more easily determine if a suspect, arrestee, or detainee is a current or former gang member. While it may be legal to be a member, when a gang injunction has been issued, then being a gang member out in public, or even being misidentified as a gang member in public, can lead to arrest and/or prosecution. The Gang Enhancement When a criminal defendant is charged with a crime, a prosecutor can add a gang enhancement, if available under state law. The gang enhancement makes the underlying crime more serious of a charge as the enhancement can add additional jail time and fines on top of a sentence if convicted. However, for many reasons, gang enhancements face criticism from civil rights and youth activists. In states like California, a gang enhancement can even have an impact on a misdemeanor conviction. While a normal misdemeanor conviction may carry a jail term of a couple weeks sometimes, that same conviction with a gang enhancement would require a mandatory minimum sentence of 180 days. Adding a gang enhancement to a felony conviction can add anywhere from a few years to the rest of a defendants life to the sentence. The Gang Injunction When a geographic area is considered a high crime area as a result of gang activity, local governments can seek to have courts order gang Injunctions. These allow the high gang activity areas to be more easily policed by creating a defined set of rules for the area. For instance, a gang injunction can prohibit groups of people gathering together on the street, can prohibit certain colors from being worn in clothing, can prohibit loitering or impose a curfew. If police witness any of the ordered rules being violated, they will have the ability to conduct a legal stop and be able to search who they stop. Essentially, gang injunctions give law enforcement the ability to police with less regulation. While there are civil rights concerns, and many innocent people get annoyed by the police, courts generally require a high burden of proof to be met before a gang injunction will be issued. Additionally, courts will generally require the injunctions to be very specific in the conduct being prohibited. Related Resources: A man who shot and wounded two police officers responding to a report of a domestic disturbance was armed with a tactical shotgun and wearing body armor but didn't have a gun license, authorities have said. The officers were responding to a 911 call from a home in the East Boston neighbourhood at about 11 PM (local time) on Wednesday about 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa threatening his roommate with a knife, police Commissioner William Evans said. Two officers entered the home and were shot by Figueroa, who was then shot and killed by other officers, Evans said. Figueroa was not licensed to have a gun in Massachusetts, police said yesterday. The injured officers were identified as Richard Cintolo, a 27-year veteran, and Matt Morris, a 12-year veteran. Both underwent surgery and were in critical condition, but they are recovering, Evans said. Mayor Marty Walsh said, "Thank God they will be going home sometime soon." Police originally said Figueroa was armed with an assault rifle, but Evans later described the weapon as a tactical shotgun. Tactical shotguns typically have shorter barrels and are capable of quickly firing several rounds. "Domestic calls, as you know, are probably the most volatile. You never really know what you're walking into," Evans said. "And I think we see right now the dangers of our job." Two police officers in Palm Springs, California, were killed last weekend when they responded to a domestic violence call. Police there said the officers had just asked a man to come out of his family's home on Saturday when he opened fire through a closed front door. Those killings are the latest in a series of fatal attacks on officers that includes ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Police towed Figueroa's car from outside his home last morning. The vehicle was decorated with the name of a website called elitepolicing.Org. On the site, a man who identifies himself as Kirk Figueroa says his company, Code Blue Protection Corp., provides police support, fugitive apprehension and extradition services, and armoured car training. Figueroa described himself as a Boston constable, a former member of a US Army Reserve military police unit, a bounty hunter in California and a former corrections officer. He also said he was trained in mixed martial arts. Constables are authorised to serve subpoenas and other legal documents in civil cases. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special court today reserved its order on the bail plea of the husband of a judicial officer, arrested in a graft case in which she was allegedly caught by CBI while accepting bribe. Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal fixed the matter for October 17 to pronounce the order on the bail application of accused Alok Lakhanpal, who sought the relief on the ground of parity with his wife Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal who was a senior civil judge at the Tis Hazari Court here. Besides Alok, the court also heard arguments on the bail plea of co-accused and an advocate Vishal Mehan. Both Alok, a practicing lawyer, and Vishal are in judicial custody. The CBI opposed their applications saying they should not be released as they could influence the probe in the case. The court had earlier granted bail to Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal, who was suspended after her arrest, considering that there was nobody to look after her two minor kids as her husband was also under incarceration. The judicial officer, her husband and Vishal were arrested by CBI on the night of September 28. According to CBI, the judge and her husband were arrested while allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs four lakh from Vishal, who was appointed as local commissioner in a case adjudicated by her, at her residence. CBI had claimed that during searches at the judge's residence, Rs 94 lakh case was seized by it along with two locker keys and other material. "A case was registered under Prevention of Corruption Act against the advocate on a complaint alleging that in a matter being heard by a Senior Civil Judge (West), Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi, she had appointed him (Vishal) as local commissioner for conducting an inspection of the disputed property and submitting his report. "The advocate (appointed as LC) allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs two lakh for himself as well as Rs 20 lakh for the said senior civil judge for deciding the matter in favour of the complainant," it had said. CBI had said its teams laid a trap at the designated place where the bribe was to be allegedly paid by Vishal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Pranab Mukherjee has written to Crown Prince of Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn expressing his condolence on the passing away of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. "India has lost a cherished friend and will always value His Majesty's personal contribution to the strengthening of the close relationship between the Republic of India and the Kingdom of Thailand," he wrote in the letter. Mukherjee said he was deeply saddened to learn of the demise, last evening, of the King. "In his passing, Thailand and the world have lost a sagacious and dedicated national leader. His Majesty played a central role in shaping modern Thailand and in consolidating its relations with friendly nations around the world," he wrote in the condolence message. He said throughout his 70-year reign, King Adulyadej had been a unifying figure who guided the people of Thailand with grace and compassion. "He remained devoted to the balanced advancement of his country and rightly stressed environmental and social responsibilities as equally important factors of economic progress. The people of India, who have long admired his charismatic personality, share the grief of the people of Thailand," Mukherjee wrote. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An illicit drug-smuggling network was busted here and six persons, including a woman believed to be controlling it, were arrested, police said today. When the police intercepted a luxury car carrying poppy husk on Tuesday, they had no clue that the trail would lead to a woman controller of the gang. On Wednesday, when the investigation led them to a swanky house in a posh colony, belonging to Sumita Bishnoi (37), who had been controlling the illicit trade with the help of a high-tech GPS system from a room in the house, members of the police team were taken aback by her "lavish" lifestyle. "Even Bishnoi could not believe that the police had managed to reach her. She was so confident of the fool-proof mechanism of her control over the trade that her first reaction was to ask us how did we reach her," said ACP Arjun Singh Rajpurohit. The police have arrested Bishnoi and five of her accomplices from the house and seized three vehicles, while a hunt was on to nab the kingpin of the racket, Rajuram Iram, he added. An automatic currency note counting machine, a vacuum cleaner, used for cleaning the vehicles post delivery of consignments, and loads of documents have also been seized, said the ACP. According to the police, Bishnoi and her husband came to Jodhpur from their village around 10 years back. The couple used to stay in a rented house at Sangaria, in the suburbs. Soon, she came into contact with Iram, who was a drugs and liquor smuggler. "Gradually, they developed a rapport and she became Iram's partner in smuggling, ignoring her husband who subsequently left for Chennai for some work," the police said. She mastered the tricks of the trade and emerged as the controller of the entire network with the help of technology after some of the gang members were arrested. The trade network was spread over parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and Bishnoi used to plan everything, from delivery of consignments to selecting gang members, logistics, arranging for SIM cards and vehicles, "professionally" with the help of Iram. "We have been interrogating her and we hope to make a bigger breakthrough soon," said DCP (West) Sameer Singh. He also ruled out the possibility that such a huge network could be run without the help or involvement of some policemen or officials. Bishnoi was living in the house with her two sons and father-in-law. Both her sons study in a prominent school of Jodhpur. She had also registered a construction company in the name of one of her sons to adjust the money earned from smuggling. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japanese Encephalitis claimed two more lives today, raising the toll due to the vector-borne disease to 50 in the past one month in Malkangiri district of Odisha. Meanwhile, a police complaint was lodged against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and several other ministers and officials in Malkangiri police station, holding them responsible for the death of children due to the disease in the district, police said. Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) U S Mishra said two children from Padia area died while undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the district headquarters hospital here. Unconfirmed reports, however, pegged at 53 the toll due to the deadly disease which has affected around 45 villages spread over six blocks in the backward district. Japanese Encephalitis disease originates from pigs and spreads to humans, mostly children, through mosquitoes. It surfaced in the district around 36 days ago, officials said. Though the disease had surfaced in the district way back in 2011, no effective preventive measure was taken by the government to check, they said. Ura Madhi, a resident of Kuimetla village in Kalimela block, lodged a police complaint against the Chief Minister and other officials alleging that the disease took a heavy toll because of negligence of state government, they said. He was accompanied by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Prasad Harichandan and other senior leaders. "We have received the complaint and the matter is being examined," said Inspector In-Charge of Malkangiri police station R K Dash. Coming down heavily on the state government over the issue, Harichandan said Congress would launch a statewide "sishu banchao" (save the children) campaign from October 26 under the leadership of former MP Pradeep Majhi. The programme would take off from Malkangiri, he said. He has been visiting disease-hit areas since yesterday and holding discussion with officials as well as villagers. The state government is gearing up to launch a vaccination drive for Japanese Encephalitis in the four districts of Malkangiri, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanjj and Jajpur under first phase from December. As per the directive of the central government, the process of identification of areas where vaccination is to be undertaken will begin next month, according to Health Secretary Arti Ahuja. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today expressed distress over the loss of lives in a bus accident in Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. "Extremely distressed by the loss of lives caused by the bus accident in Ratlam, MP. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," he tweeted. "I wish those injured in the bus accident in Ratlam a quick recovery," Modi added in another tweet. At least 13 people were killed and as many others injured when a private bus fell into a large water pit near Namli town in Ratlam this morning, police said. 13 people were pulled out from the bus in injured condition and referred to nearby hospitals, police said. Three persons were rescued safely, they said. Unconfirmed reports said there were 40-45 passengers in the bus. According to eyewitnesses, the bus was moving on a high speed and suddenly it overturned and fell into the large water pit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ramar Pillai, who had created quite a sensation in Tamil Nadu more than a decade ago with his claims of herbal petrol, has been sentenced to undergo three years Rigorous Imprisonment by a court here for cheating the public. Besides Pillai, four others - R Venudevi, S Chinnasamy, R Rajasegaran and S K Bharat - were also sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate here yesterday. The magistrate also slapped a total fine of Rs 30,000 (Rs 6,000 each) in the cheating case launched against them by CBI, a CBI release said today. According to the prosecution, during 1999-2000 Pillai colluded with other individuals "to do an illegal act, mixing petroleum products like Toluene, Naphtha etc, and to market it in the name of Ramar Petrol, or Ramar Tamildevi Mooligai Eriporul as if it were extracted from herbs". The same was intended to be fraudulently used as "automobile fuel from herbs", which quite naturally did not meet the ISI standards. CBI said the so-called herbal fuel was only a mixture of petroleum products which also violated the Motor Spirit Speed Diesel (Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices) Order. "Ramar Pillai misrepresented the facts and sold the same as Herbal fuel to the public through various sales outlets, whom also he cheated by collecting huge amounts as deposits and fuel costs. Thus Ramar Pillai and his associates gained Rs 2.27 crore for themselves, by cheating the public," CBI added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fighters with the former Seleka rebel group attacked a northern town in Central African Republic, and clashes left at least 30 dead and 57 wounded as United Nations peacekeepers confronted them, the UN said. The attack in Kaga-Bandoro was likely retaliation for the death on Tuesday of a suspected former Seleka member, the peacekeeping mission said in a statement. Peacekeepers repelled the attackers, killing at least 12 of them, the U.N. mission said. The UN condemned the violence that saw rebels attack civilians, target authorities and loot aid organizations. Armed men attacked a secondary school during a teacher training, witnesses told the UN children's agency, saying that among those killed were three teachers, the director of an educational center and the vice president of the parents association. "We are deeply shocked by these developments and saddened that teachers have been targeted," said Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEF's representative in the country. A local priest said he saw that two humanitarian workers were also among the dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety. More than 5,000 people already displaced by years of violence have taken refuge next to the UN base, their informal settlements burned, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs said. "There is, today, no legitimate reason for any armed group to use weapons," said the UN mission's chief, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga. "The people have suffered enough and are tired of this war that has lasted too long." Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. That ushered in a brutal reign in which the rebels committed atrocities. When the rebel leader left power, a backlash by the Christian anti-Balaka militia against Muslim civilians followed. The sectarian violence has continued, despite a high-profile visit by Pope Francis last year to appeal for calm. Hundreds of former Seleka fighters have regrouped in Kaga-Bandoro, along with Muslim civilians, after fleeing the capital, Bangui, two years ago. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, actors Om Puri and Piyush Mishra have said it is unfair to ban films, starring Pakistani artistes, that are due for release in the coming months after cinema owners association decided to not screen movies with actors from the neighbouring country. Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) on Friday announced that it has decided not to release movies starring actors from Pakistan, in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa. This has put an uncertainty on the release of filmmaker Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which stars Pakistani heartthrob Fawad Khan in a supporting role. It is slated to arrive in theatres this Diwali. "When you have decided that you won't work with Pakistan's talent, it should apply from now on. (I)t can't be on something that has been already done in the past when the relationship was not this hard. I don't think it is right for one producer to pay the price of this decision," Bhatt said. A demand for a ban on the Pakistani artistes came up after the Uri attack last month and has been growing since then. Mishra said Indian filmmakers should not work with Pakistani artistes till the time ties between India and Pakistan become better, but release of movies, which are already complete, should not be stalled. "Our relations have not been good, but the main cause has started after Uri attacks only. I agree that we should not shoot with Pakistani artists from now on, but the movie which has already been shot should not be stalled from the release as the film is produced by an Indian only. He has invested a lot of money in that." Veteran actor Puri said it is not a decision made by the government and people should wait for the center to take a step. "If the government says not only actors but all Pakistanis, who have come here for business or meet their relatives, all must go back to their country and their visas must be cancelled after three days, I am with the government. Let the head of the country decide this and not us." In the wake of Uri attack, Fawad, Mahira Khan and other Pakistani actors were targeted by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which had issued an ultimatum to them to leave India within 48 hours or be forced out. The party had also threatened to stall the release of the Karan Johar-directed movie "Raees", starring Mahira as the female lead. Subsequently, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) passed a motion to ban artistes from across the border from working in the industry till Indo-Pak relations are normalised. It, however, said that the films, whose production has been completed, should not be targeted. Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, an IMPPA member, said COEAI's decision is dangerous. "Exhibitors Association not releasing completed films with #PakActors, due to fear of loss to property, is a dangerous trend. While IMPPA has banned Pak artists, it also believes that release of complete and under-production films shouldn't be disturbed." He added that the state government should instead protect theatre owners and film producers who are releasing films with a Pakistani cast. COEAI's president Nitin Datar said that the body's decision was not taken under any political pressure, but rather, keeping public sentiment in mind. Syrian residents in opposition-held eastern part of the city of Aleppo woke up to a fresh wave of airstrikes today amid intense clashes between government forces and rebels part of a devastating military campaign by Syria and Russia that the opposition says has killed dozens of people in the past week. President Bashar Assad, meanwhile, expressed his intention to recapture the northern city's rebel-held eastern neighborhoods, saying that a military victory in Aleppo would provide the Syrian army with a "springboard" from which to liberate other areas of the country. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they came from, or to kill them," Assad said in an interview with a Russian media outlet, Komsomolskaya Pravda, released yesterday. "There's no other option," he added. Syrian government forces have encircled the eastern half of Aleppo, besieging tens of thousands of people and pounding the territory with airstrikes on daily basis. The siege and deadly bombardment has caused an international outcry with a number of countries and groups accusing Syria and Russia of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys. President Barack Obama planned to convene his National Security Council for a highly anticipated meeting about Syria today. Having cut off diplomatic talks with Russia after a cease-fire in Syria failed, the Obama administration has been at a loss to find a new viable strategy to stem the violence even as the bloodshed in Aleppo and elsewhere continues to mount. The violence also gives additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow earlier this month. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights today reported dozens of overnight airstrikes on eastern Aleppo. It added that clashes are taking place on the northern and southern edges of the city. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lies and Crime: What Are False Pretense Laws? Remember when your parents told you you would get in less trouble if you just told the truth? Or the phrase, "the cover-up is worse than the crime?" There are many instances where lying makes a bad situation worse, and the criminal justice system is no different. Take theft, for instance -- taking someone else's property without permission. Theft can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on how much you stole. What about if you get their permission, but you lie to get it? In most states, that's called obtaining property by false pretense, and almost always a felony. Let's look at some state laws as an example. The Sunshine State Florida has an entire False Pretenses and Frauds section of their criminal code that covers everything from obtaining property by false personation (saying you're someone else) to receiving money or property upon false promises of services as seaman or sponge fisher (saying you're a ... you get it). While some of Florida's false pretense crimes are misdemeanors, filing false or fraudulent insurance claims is a third-degree felony, punishable with five years in prison. The Golden State California, on the other hand, has a more broad statute that seemingly covers any false pretenses situation: Every person who knowingly and designedly, by any false or fraudulent representation or pretense, defrauds any other person of money, labor, or property, whether real or personal, or who causes or procures others to report falsely of his or her wealth or mercantile character, and by thus imposing upon any person obtains credit, and thereby fraudulently gets possession of money or property, or obtains the labor or service of another, is punishable in the same manner and to the same extent as for larceny of the money or property so obtained. So obtaining by false pretenses is the same as obtaining by theft. The Tar Heel State North Carolina makes obtaining property by false pretenses a felony, and criminalizes "knowingly and designedly by means of any kind of false pretense whatsoever ... obtain[ing] or attempt[ing] to obtain from any person within this State any money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value with intent to cheat or defraud any person of such money, goods, property, services, chose in action or other thing of value." If you've been charged with a false pretenses crime, or any other criminal offense, talk to an experienced criminal defense attorney today. Related Resources: Lt General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, who is one of the leading contenders to become the next chief of the Pakistan Army, has held talks with a senior Chinese military official here, becoming the first top Pakistani military official to visit China after the Uri terror attack. Lt General Hayat, chief of general staff of the Pakistan Army, held talks with Gen Fang Fenghui, member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and chief of the Joint Staff Department, state-run China Military Online reported. CMC - headed by President Xi Jinping - is the supreme political military organisation which exercises control over all wings of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The report did not mention the purpose of Gen Hayat's visit, but it comes ahead of the scheduled retirement of Gen Raheel Sharif in November. Gen Hayat, who hails from a military family, is among the leading candidates seen as a replacement for Gen Sharif. His trip is also the first time a senior Pakistani army official is visiting China since the attack on an Indian army base in Uri in September by Pakistan-backed militants killed 19 soldiers and amplified tension between the neighbours. The Uri attack led to "surgical strikes" by India in which several terrorist "launchpads" across the LoC were destroyed. Gen Fang Fenghui in his meeting with Gen Hayat yesterday said China and Pakistan are "iron brothers" with all-weather partnership. China is willing to make joint efforts with Pakistan to achieve development, so as to benefit the peoples of the two countries, the report quoted Gen Fang as saying. Chinese military is willing to work with Pakistani military to strengthen strategic communication, deepen the pragmatic cooperation in fields such as joint exercises and training, construction of anti-terrorism capability and information sharing, he said. Fang stressed that the two militaries shall make full use of the Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism (among Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Tajikistan) to counter terrorism, and push forward the implementation of China's Belt and Road Initiative as well as the in-depth development of the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership, so as to make positive contributions to safeguarding regional and world peace and stability. Lt Gen Hayat said Pakistan and China with their unique, example-type ties are both good friends and "iron brothers". He hoped the two sides can further strengthen their cooperation in various fields especially in defence and security sectors, the report said. The Pakistani military resolutely supports China to push forward its 'Belt and Road Initiative' and is willing to provide all support for maintaining the security of the USD 46 billion Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Germany's chief prosecutor today rejected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's appeal against the dropping of a probe into a TV comic who satirised him. The chief public prosecutor's office in the western German city of Koblenz said in a statement that the appeal filed by Erdogan was "unfounded". Rather it upheld an earlier decision by prosecutors to scrap the case against TV comic Jan Boehmermann over his so-called "Defamatory Poem" that satirically accuses Erdogan of bestiality and paedophilia and which unleashed a bitter row between Germany and Turkey. Boehmermann said the piece was a reaction to Ankara's decision to summon Germany's ambassador over another satirical song broadcast on German TV, which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language. The comic acknowledged the poem was intended to provoke, and would flout Germany's legal limits to free speech. The poem did not go down well in Ankara and Erdogan had filed a criminal complaint. In April, Chancellor Angela Merkel authorised an investigation into whether Boehmermann could be convicted under rarely-enforced 19th-century laws on lese majeste -- a decision criticised by German rights groups. Prosecutors in the western city of Mainz announced on October 4 that they were scrapping the probe as the satire was so exaggerated it could not be taken seriously. "There is no evidence that the accused was making a serious attack on the personal or social reputation of the Turkish president," they concluded. German prosecutors are scheduled to rule next month on another aspect of Erdogan's complaint, which calls for a ban on all further broadcasts of the poem. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Germany today said it is keen to partner with Kerala in many aspects, including in academic, culture and scientific fields and wants more companies to invest in the state. "Germany is keen to partner with Kerala in many aspects. We want to have cooperation in academic, culture and scientific fields. We want more German companies to invest in the state. We want more German tourists to visit Kerala," German Consul General Margit Hellwig-Boette said. She was speaking after the Honorary Consulate of Germany was opened here by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Hellwig-Boette said the Consulate would bring the already outstanding ties between Kerala and Germany to a new level. Speaking on the occasion, Vijayan said the Consulate would strengthen the presence of Germany in Kerala. He said the new LDF government that came to power five months back has a vision. "We want to make Kerala a developed state. There is no compromise on quality and I am sure a country like Germany to a great extent can help Kerala in this regard," he added. He also spoke of the existing cooperation between Kerala and German companies in renewable energy and in other sectors. Syed Ibrahim took oath as the new German Consul at the ceremony. He is an IT-entrepreneur and the Honorary Representative of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Germany today asked India to "dispel confusion" over ban on sale and production of diesel vehicles, saying it was hampering the German industry from investing in India. German Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt today met Union Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete here and expressed satisfaction on the visible presence of German industry in India. "He, however, requested Indian government to dispel confusion on the ban on sale and production of diesel vehicles which is hampering the German industry to invest further," an official statement said. In August this year, the Supreme Court had lifted ban, which lasted for eight months, on registration of diesel vehicles in engine capacity of 2,000cc and above in Delhi/NCR while imposing one per cent environment charge. The ban had affected many of the German auto companies, including Mercedes Benz, Audi and BMW along with Japan's Toyota. Responding to Dobrindt's concerns, Geete said his ministry other concerned ministries - the Environment & Forest Ministry and the Petroleum Ministry were working in this regard. He, however said since the ban was imposed by Supreme Court in order to curb pollution, efforts for a balanced approach are being looked into. Geete assured the German delegation of a viable solution, the statement added. He said efforts are on to implement the BS VI norms for Automobile sector by 2020 and work is also in progress for developing required fuel for the same. The two ministers also discussed deepening collaboration within the Indo-German Automobile Working Group. Geete assured that currently, India is the safest destination for investment in the world, inviting the German industry to invest in the country. The German delegation led by Dobrindt also inquired on the scope of enhancing investments in the Automotive research, the prospective use of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles and the Capital Goods sector and the probable impact of roll out of Goods and Services Tax. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Against the backdrop of stepped up vigil in Goa for the BRICS summit to be attended by leaders of five emerging economies including India police have issued security advisory for general public, listing out do's and don'ts during the high-profile event starting tomorrow. "All citizens are requested to co-operate with law enforcing agencies and report any suspicious activities or suspicious baggage/article to authorities immediately," Goa Police said in a press release issued today. "The identity of the person providing information would be kept secret," it said. It asked people not to believe in rumours or spread them. "Police are committed to provide safety and security to citizens and therefore seek their co-operation in achieving the objective," the advisory said. Police advised the citizens not to touch any unclaimed, abandoned, suspicious object and not to panic on getting any information or receiving telephone calls regarding any subversive activities. "The citizens should not crowd the place if any suspicious object has been found.They should not unnecessarily loiter in public places," the advisory said. "They are also advised not to leave their personal baggage or vehicles unattended at any place for long," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Governor P Sathasivam today accepted the resignation of Industries Minister E P Jayarajan who resigned in the wake of allegations of nepotism in appointments in PSUs. The governor has accepted the resignation of E P Jayarajan and portfolios handled by him has been given to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Raj Bhavan sources said here tonight. Earlier in the day, CPI-M state secretariat accepted Jayarajan's request to resign in the wake of the raging row over appointment of his nephew to a key post in a state PSU. Jayarajan, considered number two in the cabinet and close to Vijayan, was in the eye of a storm over the appointment of his nephew and son of Kannur MP P K Sreemathi, P K Sudheer Nambiar, as Managing Director of the Kerala Industrial Enterprises Ltd. His appointment was later quashed by the government. Another appointment, that of Deepthi Nishad, Jayarajan's brother's daughter-in-law, also had become controversial, following which she had resigned two days ago. His continuation as minister became untenable as a majority of state secretariat members voiced concern over the development as the issue could dent the image of the LDF government, which had come to power promising a transparent and corruption free governance. The Kannur strong man, who had successfully contested from Mattannur in the northern Kannur district, was a member of the Assembly from 1991 to 1996 and an MLA again from 2011 onwards. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the wake of recent WHO warning that Zika infectionss are "highly likely" to spread in Asia, the Centre has said its preparedness is "very satisfactory" even as it asked its officials to formulate a response framework and action plan within 10 days to effectively tackle the virus. Health Minister JP Nadda held a high-level meeting in this regard yesterday which was attended by senior ministry officials, representatives from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and those from hospitals of central government. Nadda said, "In terms of the action taken and various activities being carried they are very satisfactory. Our prevention mechanism too is in place." Earlier this week, the WHO had warned Zika infections are "highly likely" to keep spreading in Asia. Nadda enumerated various measures being undertaken by the government as per guidelines issued in February this year. "Surveillance is being carried out at airports to monitor inbound passengers. All international airports and ports have displayed signage providing information for travellers on Zika virus and asking them to report if they are returning from affected countries," Nadda said. ICMR has tested nearly 15,000 human samples and 6,000 aedes mosquitoes for presence of Zika virus and found them to be negative, the Minister said. A travel advisory was issued last month recommending people to defer their non-essential travel to affected countries and also asking pregnant women to refrain from visiting these countries. The minister also said that apart from existing 14 laboratories equipped to test the virus, 11 more are being strengthened. NCDC has been made the nodal agency for investigation of outbreak in any part of the country. Meanwhile, with the onset of winters, the Centre is also gearing up for tackling H1N1 virus which causes swine flu. Nadda assured that adequate quantity of Oseltamivir drug recommended by WHO is available across all states. According to the government, there is sufficient stock of personal protective equipment and N-95 masks. The minister has instructed that a group of technical experts examine ways and means to increase the availability of diagnostic tests and the drug Oseltamivir at peripheral levels including with chemists in private sector. Isolation facilities will also be put in place across hospitals from November. The Centre has offered help to the states to train health workers to deal with cases of swine flu and will also assist them provide effective ventilatory management. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A nationwide survey to determine the number of patients suffering from tuberculosis will be carried out next year after a gap of nearly six decades. The central government made the announcement in this regard today, a day after a World Health Organization (WHO) report revealed that the tuberculosis epidemic in India was "larger" than what was previously estimated. A senior official of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry said such a survey was last conducted in 1956. According to the Global Tuberculosis Report-2016, "The TB epidemic is larger than previously estimated, reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India.... Six countries accounted for 60 per cent of the new cases -- India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa." Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda said, "New cases of TB as well deaths due to the disease have reduced. However, the number of cases notified have increased. All these cases were so far going undetected and were not being reported. After our Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), which brought private hospitals under its ambit, the notification has increased." The Ministry official said, "Until the implementation of RNTCP, while 60 per cent of the patients were going to private hospitals, only 15 per cent were being notified. The increase in the number of cases is because of good, robust data. Now these cases are being detected, notified and addressed." According to the WHO report, in 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide, of which 5.9 million (56 per cent) were among men, 3.5 million (34 per cent) among women and 1.0 million (10 per cent) among children, while people living with HIV accounted for 1.2 million (11 per cent) of all new TB cases. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Government's multiple reforms in the oil and gas sector are aimed at increasing the domestic production of oil and gas, thereby reducing the energy import dependence by 10 per cent by 2022, Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told industry leaders today. At an interactive meet here on the Discovered Small Field (DSF) Bid Round 2016, the minister briefed about initiatives such as new Domestic Gas Pricing Guidelines and liberalised Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP). The DSF Bid Round 2016 has been introduced under the broad policy of HELP, which offers 46 contract areas consisting of 67 fields across nine sedimentary basins for extraction and exploration of oil and gas. Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the technical arm of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), is inviting bids to develop and monetise these contract areas which are estimated to hold in-place Oil and Oil equivalent reserves of 86 Million Metric Tonnes with an estimated recoverable reserves of roughly 30 Million Metric Tonnes, based on revenue sharing contract model. The event, organised by MoPNG, follows a series of interactive meets conducted across various cities around the world including Mumbai, Guwahati, Houston, Calgary, Dubai, Singapore, London and Aberdeen to promote the DSF Bid Round 2016. As part of the event, Amar Nath, Joint Secretary, MoPNG highlighted that the offered fields are already discovered and thus, expected to have low cost requirements and low risk profile, a release by the DGH said. K D Tripathi, Secretary, MoPNG, explained the salient features of the bid round such as no up-front signature bonus, no mandatory work programme, freedom in pricing and marketing of oil and gas produced and other fiscal benefits such as no oil cess, custom duty exemption and graded royalty rates. The meet was conducted in the South, given its strong technological base (Bengaluru, Hyderabad) and refinery base (Vishakhapatnam, Chennai), the release said. It was highlighted that out of 67 fields on offer, a total of 17 fields (under 14 contract areas) lie in this part of the country, with eight in Andhra Pradesh, two in Tamil Nadu and seven in KG offshore basins. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Within days of India signing the Paris Climate Treaty, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said tax on environment unfriendly products will be "distinct" from others in the forthcoming GST regime so as to boost funds for climate financing. "The indirect tax regime that we are planning, the rate of taxation on such products which are going to be environmentally unfriendly would be distinct from the normal rate of taxation. This is one of the proposals being discussed," Jaitley said ahead of the two-day beginning here tomorrow. The government is in the process of finalising rates for the Goods and Services Tax. The country has taxed coal and petroleum products in the past as well, Jaitley said, adding that "resources have to be mobilised from all sources for climate financing so that sustainable development goals can be achieved in a much more concrete manner". He said large commitment from the developed countries to provide funding for climate change financing is not sufficient to meet the sustainable development goals and that the multilateral agencies also need to chip in. "Even now there is a debate as to nature of the USD 100 billion (that the developed world has committed for the developing nations), to fund technology transfers we do hope there is no double counting as far as the fund is concerned," the minister added. The minister said, last year New Delhi and Beijing raised the issue of USD 100 billion because more than the value of the money, it was also about the trust. Though a report indicated that most of the money was already paid there are various forms in which money is spent like healthcare, which can help environment, as the money is counted towards healthcare and also environment protection, the minister said. Speaking on the issue, Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel raised concerns about countries undermining objectives like climate finance. "The USD 100-billion number has been talked about for the past 10 years and there is very little pressure from the domestic constituencies in the advanced economy countries, including the media. This is part of a grand bargain and if you keep on undermining this, I think people will walk away from the table at some point," Patel said. Patel also said there is a need for cooperation among the BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- to take forward the climate change agenda. After refusing to join the global climate alliance under the Paris climate deal, the government on October 2 had ratified the treaty. The move is expected to give momentum to the implementation of measures at the international level to control global warming. New Delhi's ratification will further underline its responsive leadership, which is committed to global cause of environment. The pact will come into force after it has been ratified by at least 55 countries which account for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. So far, 61 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 47.79 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. The ratification will take the number of cumulative level of emission of countries that have ratified the agreement so far to 51.89 per cent as its total emissions is 4.1 per cent of the global emissions. The Paris Agreement was adopted by 185 nations on December 12, 2015, and India signed it in New York on April 22 this year. A total of 191 countries have signed the Paris Agreement so far. China and the US - responsible for around 40 per cent of the world's carbon emissions - have already jointly ratified the Paris climate change deal that aims to significantly reduce global emissions, giving hope that the landmark accord may come into effect by the end of this year. Recall Issued for Generic Brand of Wellbutrin, the Common Antidepressant If you or a loved one takes Sun Pharmaceuticals' generic brand of Wellbutrin, the well known antidepressant drug, be advised that the manufacturer has issued a recall ahead of the FDA. Over 30,000 bottles of the generic medication are being recalled due to problems with the dissolution specifications, or how quickly the drug dissolves. The medication being recalled is sold under the generic name of bupropion hydrochloride extended-release. The recall only applies to the 150mg tablets that were produced in the company's manufacturing facility in Halol, India. Although a recall has been issued, the recalled drug is not likely to cause injury. Non-Life Threatening Recall Bupropion hydrochloride, better known as Wellbutrin, is a common antidepressant, that also has been used to help smokers quit, as well as for ADHD. The recall was voluntarily issued by Sun Pharmaceuticals as a result of discovering that the drug was not dissolving at the intended rate. The drug's 100mg and 300mg varieties had been recalled in 2013 for the same issue as well as additional problems. Even though the recall has been issued by the company, it is important to note that this is not a life threatening situation. The FDA has categorized the recall as a Class III recall, which means that while the medication has violated some regulations, the medication is not likely to cause adverse health consequences. Sun's History of Problems Sun Pharmaceuticals' Halol, India facility has had numerous issues over the past few years, but other facilities have seen recalls as well. Sun's facility in Hungary issued a voluntary recall earlier this year, and last year the U.S. facility in Philadelphia also issued recalls for various medications. One of the major recalls from the Philly plant involved a drug that included an active ingredient that the facility knew to be contaminated, but allowed it to be made and distributed regardless. Sun sold the Philadelphia facility in June to another pharma company, however, as part of the sale they committed to bringing the facility within FDA regulations. Currently, Sun is asking the FDA to return to the Halol facility to re-inspect as they believe that all violations have been resolved. Related Resources: Union Minister Harsh Vardhan today called upon scientists to think "out-of-box" in research laboratories, as a number of government's programmes like Digital India and Make in India "need support of the scientific community". "Modiji's government has formulated a series of programmes like Swachh Bharat, Digital India, Startup India, Standup India, bio-toilet and many others. All these people-oriented programmes need support from the scientific community to make life of people easy. Therefore, all should think differently to help the people in need," he said addressing a function at the CSIR-IMMT here. Research by scientists should not be limited and remain closed within the four walls of laboratories but should percolate to the common man, he said. The Union Minister for Science and Technology also laid stress on "R&D Vision for Future" and said better coordination was needed among the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories to avoid duplication of R&D work in the country. Vardhan urged scientists to complete the R&D projects in a time-bound manner and that "innovations should be cost-effective and better lab-industry synergy is required". He said a project was being launched to extract metal nodules from 2 km beneath the ocean bed. "A pilot plant for pelletisation of iron ore is a major initiative undertaken by Institute of Mineral and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar. China is the only country which has honed this technology. Our success can save a lot of foreign exchange in terms of import," he remarked. The country, Vardhan said, needed more patents from research laboratories to show the world that its innovation was second to none. More and more young talents should be given opportunity in the field of innovation, he said. Asked about the Centre's efforts to bring back Indian research brains back to the country, the BJP leader said, "Now many young and experienced scientists working abroad are returning to our country. Around 250 scientists have come back to join R&D field in their motherland." He said new scholarships have been introduced to attract young talents to do fundamental research in the country. "Narendra Modi government will pump in more funds to this sector," Vardhan said. On skill development, Vardhan said the Center has assessed the quantum of skill requirement by 2022 in the country and what India can contribute in terms of skilled human resources to the world. He said the Cabinet recently discussed in threadbare and chalked out an action plan to make young people skilled and upgrade the skills of youths who have already undergone skill training. A detailed course of study for skill training in 30 subjects has been devised for introduction across all the sectors in the country, Vardhan said. Earlier, the Union minister visited the mineral processing pilot plant and laid the foundation stone for another plant for pelletisation of iron ore at the IMMT Campus. He also visited the Institute of Life Sciences and interacted with the scientists there. The Madras High Court today directed the dean of Government Royapettah General Hospital to appoint a team of doctors to conduct autopsy on the body of a pan masala shop owner, who was allegedly brutally beaten by police recently and later succumbed to his injuries. A writ petition was filed by Tamil Nadu Pan Beeda and Zarda Traders Association seeking a magisterial inquiry into the death besides an interim injunction restraining the Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai City from interfering "with the peaceful running" of Pan Beeda shops. The Dasara Holidays Vacation court directed the dean to submit the post-mortem report on October 18. The Association alleged that the owner, Srikanth, was brutally attacked by police in the guise of search in connection with selling of Pan Masala and other items. They claimed that Srikanth was admitted to Hospital in a coma stage and later succumbed to his injuries. The petitioner submitted that they were selling crushed arecanut, lime, gulkandu, tobacco, supri, betel, sweet or savory flavoring which are used for preparing the pan beeda. They submitted that they were purchasing the products from the Registered Manufacturers who have Central Excise Registration, license from Food and Safety Department and other legal requirements. The petitioner also submitted that the members of the association were carrying on their lawful avocation or business by sale of pan products in retail. They further alleged that police officials were not authorized to carry out any search under the Food and Safety act and seize the products worth about lakhs of rupees. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A wife cannot claim enhanced maintenance from her husband, working abroad, by converting his income into Indian currency, Delhi High Court has ruled, saying he has to spend much more as the cost of living is higher in that country. A bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani observed this while dismissing an appeal filed by the wife seeking enhancement of maintenance on the ground that her husband was working in Dubai and had no other liability except to maintain her. A trial court had in November 2014 granted her maintenance of 5,000 per month along with Rs 2,000 per court visit for attending the hearing on a divorce plea filed by the husband and Rs 500 as dearness allowance per court visit. The woman had filed a plea before the trial court seeking maintenance of Rs one lakh per month from the husband besides travelling and boarding expenses. She had approached the high court seeking enhancement of maintenance. "If a person is working in Dubai, he earns in the currency of that country and spends also in that currency. So it is not open to the wife to just convert his income in Indian currency and then seek enhancement. The court has to consider the cost of living as per the living standards in country where he is employed," the high court said in its judgement. The bench also noted that the trial court had passed the order granting maintenance to her after considering the earning capacity of both of them and the "actual earning of the husband who, though working in Dubai, has to spend more as the cost of living is high there". The husband, employed as a shop supervisor in Dubai, had filed a divorce petition before the trial court in 2013. After the woman filed a plea before the trial court seeking maintenance, her husband had contested it saying she was a qualified Ayurvedic doctor earning Rs 50,000 per month. The man had also claimed that his mother was bed-ridden as she was suffering from brain tumor and he had to spend on his travel to India to see her. The high court, while dismissing her appeal, observed that she had already been awarded "reasonable maintenance" as per the income and liability of her husband. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CB-CID, which is probing the September 22 murder of Hindu Munnani district spokesperson C Sasikumar here, has released a sketch of a man, based on information from an eyewitness. Naming him as a 'person of interest,' CB-CID asked him to approach the office of the Special Investigation Division (SID), Crime Branch CID at PRS Campus here. This was done to gather specific information about the case, an official release said today. Members of the public may also pass on information about the 'Person of Interest' in this case, it said. Any information may also be communicated to the Assistant Superintendent of Police (SID) Chennai, G Stalin, or mailed to sidcbcidcbe@gmail.Com, the release said. Sasikumar (36), the Hindu Munnani's Coimbatore district spokesperson, was returning home on September 22 night at Subramaniampalayam on the outskirts of Coimbatore on his two-wheeler when unidentified assailants chased him on motorcycles and attacked him with sickles. He was taken to a private hospital, where he died. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Hinduja Foundation has said the charity will extend its existing scholarships to 500 children of widows in India for the next five years. "The Foundation has given scholarships for 500 children of 500 widows at the rate of Rs 500 per monthfor five years from 2012 andwe will continue it (for the next five years)," Co-chairman G P Hinduja said yesterday at the Annual Charity Gala Dinner of the Loomba Foundation. The funding is matched by the Loomba Foundation to provide a further 500 scholarships, "making a fantastic 1,000 in total," he said. The initiative has been running over the past 17 years and the Loomba Foundation have educated over 10,000 children of poor widows and supported over 60,000 their family members, Loomba Foundation's founder Lord Raj Loomba said. Hinduja was honoured on theoccasion by Cherie Blair, President of the Loomba Foundation, by presenting him with amemento. Hinduja in his brief address said he had witnessed the useful work done by the Loomba Foundation in India, bringing joy and happiness to families of widows. "At present the Loomba Foundation is working in nine states and plan to cover the entire country," he noted. According to Lord Loomba, "the children are chosen for scholarships by very virtue that their mothers are widowed and their family is impoverished. An Education Programme Coordinator (EPC) organises and administers the programme helping to select the children, monitor their progress in attendance, and facilitate skill building and vocational training for them. There are over 259 million widows all over the world and 584 million people of their children are affected, according to World Widows Report. The report disclosed that discrimination against widows is a deep-rooted feature of gender discrimination all over the world, though its form and impacts differ from place to place and from culture to culture - from shocking stories of child widows below the age of 10 in parts of India. "It is these stories that we strive as a Foundation to change, to give the chance of a new life and hope to widows and their children through our work, but as the Report demonstrates, four of the five Goals are very unlikely to be achieved unless more is done to help widows and their children, making our work more important than ever and even more of a priority," Loomba said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On the concluding day of the BJP's 'Dhamma Chetana Yatra', BSP workers put up hoardings "opposing" the Dalit outreach programme of the saffron party even as some posters with photos of BJP chief Amit Shah were blackened here, police said. The BSP workers also allegedly tried to block the passage of a train but did not succeed, they added. Shah was in Kanpur to address the concluding session of the 'yatra' which had begun from Sarnath on April 24. BJP workers had put up hoardings and posters welcoming the party president as well as the Buddhist monks taking part in the 'yatra' at various parts of the town. After Shah's arrival in town, some unidentified people blackened the posters with his photo at the Chakeri area, police said. Meanwhile, BSP leader Anubhav Chak put up a hoarding at the Coca Cola crossing, questioning the "motive" behind the 'yatra' and Shah's visit to Kanpur. Led by Chak, BSP workers allegedly attempted to block the passage of the train at the Coca Cola crossing but it was thwarted by the police. Some BSP workers also allegedly tried to storm into the venue of the concluding session of the 'yatra' but did not succeed due to opposition from the police as well as BJP supporters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking a swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, BJP President Amit Shah today said he cannot be expected to run the state when he cannot handle his extended family and also attacked BSP chief Mayawati over her and her brother's alleged corruption. Speaking at the conclusion of Buddhist monk Bhikhu Dhammaviryo's Dhamma Chetna yatra, which was backed by BJP and seen as an attempt to dent Dalit support base of Mayawati, he asked her to declare her and her brother's current assets and how much they were when BSP founder Kanshi Ram had declared her as his successor. Wooing Dalits, he claimed only BJP works for their development while they are harassed when Samajwadi Party is in power and exploited when BSP rules. The policies of the Modi government are aimed at the welfare of Dalits, backwards and the poor, he said, highlighting its move to develop places associated with Dalit icon B R Ambedkar. "What did SP, BSP and Congress do for Ambedkar and seven places associated with him? BSP government was formed to implement policies for the welfare of Dalits, backwards and the poor. But what happened? They remained where they were but assets of Mayawati multiplied many times. "Mayawati should say how much were her and her brother's assets when Kashi Ram declared her as his successor and how much are they now. Dalits will get to know her reality if she does so," he told a public meeting. He also targeted the ruling Samajwadi Party over alleged corruption and poor law and order while taking potshots at Akhilesh over the feud in the ruling Yadav clan. "Someone who cannot handle his family cannot be expected to handle the state. Samajwadi Party cannot deal with the state's poor law and order," he said, asserting that only BJP is capable of developing Uttar Pradesh. Addressing the people, which included hundreds of Buddhist monks, he said they had blessed Mayawati when she formed government earlier but are upset with her because she did nothing to realise Ambedkar's dreams. No party insulted Ambedkar as much as Congress, Shah alleged, noting that Mayawati supported the UPA government for 10 years. The Dhamma Chetna yatra had started on April 24 and travelled over 70300 km across the state, mostly through pockets of Dalits. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India is ready to forge ties with Germany to augment its infrastructure, including developing Rs 1 lakh crore projects, to provide connectivity to ports, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said. A German delegation, led by its Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, had a detailed meeting with Gadkari related to various aspects of infrastructure development. "We have sought Germany's co-operation in developing our infrastructure, including railway connectivity to our ports, in our planned Rs 1 lakh crore projects to be undertaken by Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd (IPRCL)," Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Gadkari told PTI. Gadkari said both the companies are set for collaboration not only for connecting ports to railways networks but also in areas of waterways and roads. The development follows inking of a pact between IPRCL and the German Railways Deutsche Bahn (DB) during the Maritime India Summit earlier this year for co-operation on modernisation of rail port connectivity and port rail facilities of Indian ports. "We had a very fruitful meeting and our co-operation will deepen," Gadkari said. The government has already proposed to engage IPRCL for the port connectivity projects identified under its ambitious Sagarmala programme and the corporation has been entrusted with carrying out the feasibility and implementation of 22 projects. Out of the total 22 projects, subject to their feasibility, 10 projects are likely to be completed during 2017-18 and 7 during 2018-19. Five projects are at survey/detailed project report (DPR)/land acquisition stage, as per the government. For efficient evacuation of cargo from ports and to reduce logistics cost, last-mile rail connectivity of ports holds significance. Indian port Rail Corporation has been set up specifically to work in this area. It was proposed in today's meeting to form groups with representatives of IPRCL and DB to identify areas of co-operation and potential projects as also to identify cost effective new rail technologies that can be implemented. This would help bring in foreign investment and cost effective, environment friendly, innovative technology for the port-rail connectivity projects. Shipping Secretary Rajive Kumar, Road Transport & Highways Secretary Sanjay Mitra and other senior officials of the two ministries were also present during the meeting. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With per capita availability of eggs in India being lower than the global average, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today called for raising the domestic output three times from the current level of 83 billion eggs to achieve nutritional security. Addressing on the occasion of World Egg Day, Singh said the government is promoting poultry activities under various schemes and giving financial assistance to families below poverty line (BPL). "In egg production, we are at sixth position in the world. The country currently produces 83 billion eggs," Singh said while addressing a conference here on 'Nutritional & Income Security through Eggs." India's production stood at 78.48 billion eggs in 2014-15. "The per capita availability of eggs is around 63 per year while it should be about 180 eggs per person according to National Nutrition Institute. We will have to treble eggs production to reach that level," Singh said. The minister said that the government and the industry have an important role to play in increasing production. "Production will rise if those involved in poultry rearing get right price," he said, adding that poultry farmers need to be encouraged via better pricing and policy initiatives. In order to achieve nutritional security, Singh stressed on increasing awareness about nutritional benefits of eggs and said it should be offered in schools, colleges, old age homes and orphanages. He said that the central government is promoting poultry farming through National Livestock Mission. Poultry farming is being encouraged under the component of entrepreneurship development and employment generation. Earlier this morning, Singh inspected - Pusa 16, the new improved variety of arhar at the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and Indian Agriculture Research Institute. "This variety of arhar takes a period of 120 days to get ready for harvesting compared to its other varieties which takes about 165-180 days. This variety gets ready at once and is suitable for machine harvesting," an official statement said. "After harvesting of this variety, crops like mustard, potatoes, wheat, etc can be sowed easily in the fields. Its production is 20 quintals per hectare and has 23.5% protein content in it," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jain Digamber sect's head Acharya Vidyasagarji Maharaj today suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the country should be called only 'Bharat', during their brief meeting here today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sought blessing of the religious leader. Among other things, the Jain sect leader suggested Modi that the country should be called only 'Bharat' instead of having the alternative official name of India. "Vidyasagar and Modi spent around 10 minutes together. He was accompanied by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Madhya Pradesh Governor O P Kohli and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan," Jain Digamber community's local spokesman Ravindra Jain told PTI. "He suggested that the country should be referred to as Bharat instead of India. No country has two names and so should be in the case of our nation, he told the Prime Minister," Jain said. Besides, Vidyasagar also suggested that orders of the courts should be delivered in regional languages, Jain said. The spiritual leader also expressed concern about students who take loans for education but do not get jobs later, Jain said. Two years ago, there was a series of talks between RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Vidyasagar at Ramtek near Nagpur. Two months ago, BJP president Amit Shah had met Vidyasagar in Damoh district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gig Economy Ruling: Ubers Can Be Regulated Differently Than Taxis An important ruling out of Chicago's Federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last week analogized cat and dog ownership to the Uber versus taxi regulation debate. The case involved the taxi industry's challenge to the city of Chicago's decision to regulate ride sharing services, like Uber and Lyft, differently than taxi cab companies. The circuit court affirmed the decision of the lower court, agreeing that the city is free to regulate the two industries differently. What Was That About Dogs and Cats? The ever-prolific Judge Posner explained that comparing the regulation of ride sharing services and taxis is like comparing the regulation of dogs and cats. He further explained that while a person must be licensed to own a dog in some places, cat owners do not require a license, and that both dog and cat owners have a property interest in their animals regardless of the regulatory scheme. Basically, the Seventh Circuit Court explained that there are good reasons to regulate each industry different, just like there are good reasons to regulate cat and dog ownership differently, and that by doing so, the taxi industry was not being deprived of legal rights. Taxi Industry: Get Busy Changing or Get Busy Dying It is common knowledge now that there has been a marked decline in the taxi cab industry that inversely relates to the rise in the ride-sharing and gig industry. As the ride sharing services have gained popularity, many in the taxi cab industry have been quick to blame the new industry rather than taking an introspective look at the out-dated taxi industry. Taxi cab companies were highly criticized for decades before the first smartphone was even sold, and are still criticized today for many of the same practices. This case may not cause the taxi industry to fail completely, but it is one of many clear signals to the old giant that the time has come to change. Currently, the only real advantage a taxi driver has is the ability to pick up a customer via the traditional hailing of a cab on the street, whereas a ride share driver must go through the app. However, the advantages end there. For instance, reporting a problem with a cab driver is a lengthy process, while Lyft and Uber make it a breeze to not only complain about a driver, but they can do something to prevent that driver from ever being your driver again. Related Resources: Seeking to further isolate Pakistan on terror, India will mount a major diplomatic offensive against it and push for stepped up cooperation, including support for a comprehensive global convention to tackle the menace, when it hosts the annual summit of BRICS, a 5-nation grouping representing nearly half of the world's population. The summit, being attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa, is likely to deliberate on a range of key issues including confronting threat of terror and boosting trade and investment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the leaders will discuss ways to address "pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals". "I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform," the Prime Minister said in a Facebook post. The five BRICS countries represent over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world population and they have a combined GDP of USD 16.6 trillion. India is likely to push for unity among the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) members to remove the logjam at the UN on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) for effectively dealing with terror. Initiated by India, the CCIT is stuck at the UN due to lack of agreement among its members about the definition of terrorism. India is also expected to push for enhanced cooperation among BRICS nations in the area of counter-terrorism. Preceding the BRICS summit, Modi is likely to raise the issue of terrorism with Putin and other leaders tomorrow when a series of bilateral meetings are slated at the seaside venue. Addressing a press conference today, India's envoy to Russia Pankaj Saran, replying to a question on Russia's recent military exercise with Pakistan, said India expected Moscow to reflect on its concerns. As the top leaders of the grouping meet within weeks of Uri attack by Pakistan-based terrorists, India will be forceful in its demand at BRICS Summit as also the BIMSTEC outreach meet being held the same day, for intensified efforts to tackle terrorism, including action against countries providing safe havens to terrorists and arming them. "Representing nearly two thirds of humanity together, we hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi said on the first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. India has made strong references both at UNGA as well as G-20 regarding Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism. The Prime Minister, without naming Pakistan, had told the G-20 that "one single nation in South Asia" is spreading "agents of terror" in the region and it must be isolated. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in her address to the UN General Assembly, had said confessions of captured terrorists involved in strikes in India, including Uri, are a "living proof" of Pakistan's complicity in cross-border terror. Apart from the heads of governments of BRICS who will attend the Summit on October 16, Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) will be here to participate in the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. New Delhi will also make all out efforts to revive Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) when these leaders attend the BRICS- BIMSTEC outreach meet. This also assumes significance given the collapse of recent SAARC summit after four countries apart from India pulled out of the meet to be hosted by Pakistan over the issue of cross-border terrorism, maintaining that environment was not conducive to holding such an event. Indian officials have made it clear that New Delhi's effort would be to have "strong language" used in the BRICS outcome document on terrorism, including on how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries, safe havens and finances. "Terrorism is a global problem. It cannot be tackled individually and has to be tackled collectively. We cannot have a differential policy towards terrorism. There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist. So, these are the issues on which there will be reiteration of national positions," Secretary (Economic Relations) in External Affairs Ministry Amar Sinha had said. During the meeting of National Security Advisors (NSA) of BRICS grouping, India had strongly pitched for action to be taken against not only the sources of finance but also sources from where terrorists get arms and ammunition. Three MoUs, including those on cooperation in the area of environment and customs, have been agreed upon by the BRICS countries, Sinha had said, adding the pact pertaining to customs will help in breaking the trade barriers between these countries. The other key issues to be taken up during these significant diplomatic outreach events include cooperation in areas of economy, tourism, connectivity, cultural, education and sports. The main BRICS Summit on October 16 will begin with a photo opportunity followed by restricted talks between the leaders and later a meeting of business captains from the member-countries. In the second half, after the speech by the leaders, there will be BRICS and BIMSTEC retreat. Security situation in Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan is also expected to be discussed when the BRICS leaders take up important regional and international matters. India is likely to reaffirm its concerns over growing Russia-Pakistan military ties when Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin here tomorrow during which the two sides will look at ramping up their "special and privileged partnership" by inking pacts in areas of defence and nuclear energy. Ahead of the Indo-Russia annual summit, which is taking place barely weeks after the Uri strike by Pakistan-based terrorists, Indian envoy to Moscow Pankaj Saran said as far as Russia's recent military exercise with Pakistan was concerned, "we have conveyed our concerns and views. We are confident that Russia will reflect on our concern. That is where we stand." Saran had earlier conveyed India opposition to Russia's joint military exercise with Pakistan, a state that "sponsors and practices terrorism as state policy" and that it will create further problems. He also asserted that terrorism was an important issue and will be discussed between the two leaders and efforts would be to ratchet up counter-terrorism cooperation. According to sources, India also hopes to see Russia scale down its military cooperation with Pakistan. "We feel that Russia has understood our concerns, and going forward, there will be some action (scaling down)," sources said when asked if the recent Russia-Pakistan military exercise was a one-off episode and whether Russia had registered India's concerns. The two sides are looking at inking more than a dozen pacts including in the area of civil nuclear cooperation. The two sides have finalised the General Framework Agreement and Credit Protocol for unit 5 and 6 for Kudankulum project. They are also expected to ink defence deals worth billions of dollars. Earlier, Modi said, "Putin's visit will give an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia." The two leaders will also exchange views on important regional and international issues, Saran said, adding "Indo- Russia ties have more than just the bilateral dimension. There are regional and global issues, various troubled hotspots where Russia has stakes and where India has stakes." A "very wide range" of issues will be discussed and it would be unfair to pick one or two, the envoy said and added that the agenda has a "broad menu and fully respects the kind of relationship that both country share". The External Affairs Ministry officials also rejected suggestions of a rift between Russia and India, which recently signed Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US, a move which is seen by many as New Delhi's moving away from its traditional ally. "I would like to emphasize that the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership is characterized by unmatched mutual confidence, trust and goodwill cutting across the party lines as well as between citizens of the two countries. "The broad geo-polotical interest of India and Russia not only do not clash but in most cases also coincide. The bilateral partnership covers the widest possible areas of cooperation which will also be on display tomorrow," Joint Secretary dealing with Russia in MEA, G V Srinivas, said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a possible breakthrough, India and the US today agreed to bring an ambitious amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out the climate-damaging Hydrofluorocarbons used in air-conditioners and refrigerators by advancing the "freeze year" by two years to 2028. After holding crucial bilateral talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the Conference on Montreal Protocol, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said India has agreed to move the "freeze year" from 2030, which the country proposed this morning, to 2028. Freeze year is the year in which phase down of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) starts. "We have almost reached an agreement," Dave said as the negotiations to reach an agreement to phase down the HFCs reached its final stage at the Kigali Convention Centre here. Kerry held two rounds of bilateral meetings with Dave on the sidelines of the conference. Talking to reporters alongside Dave, India's lead negotiator Manoj Kumar Singh said India has "entered into an agreement" in the meeting held between Dave and Kerry. Singh said in the original proposal put forward by India there was no freeze year, but "in the morning we had given a position that we can have a freeze (year) at 2030". But during the second round of meeting it was moved to 2028 "with a condition that there will be a review of technology somewhere around 2023 or 2024, and if India finds that refrigeration sector is growing at much faster rate and it cannot accommodate within the available refrigerant, then India will free to go to 2030 as freeze year," Singh said. He said the review will be done by Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) under the Montreal Protocol. "But it will be mutually agreed upon by India and other parties. Without India, no one can unilaterally decide that what is the growth rate which will trigger that mechanism," he said. Officials attending the meeting said the US has agreed with India's baseline proposal to prepone the baseline to 2024, 2025 and 2026. Indian climate experts here hailed the outcome reached between India and the US. "We have a good baseline, freeze year and schedule. It recognises the principles of common-but-differentiated responsibility. This is good for climate and good for India," climate expert and Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Deputy Director-General Chandra Bhushan said. The meeting of climate negotiators from nearly 200 countries will end today. India yesterday displayed its commitment by announcing to destroy HFC-23, a super greenhouse gas, in its all five HCFC-22 plants operating in the country. HFC-23 is as a by-product of HCFC-22 production. China is currently the world's largest producer of HFCs and consumes 20 times more than India. production. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Terming the calling off of the Saarc Summit as "very unfortunate", Nepal, which chairs the grouping, today said India and Pakistan should resolve their differences through diplomatic efforts. Nepal's Minister of Commerce Romi Gauchan Thakali said the country lays "great emphasis" on fostering regional trade, investment and economic cooperation among Saarc as well as the BIMSTEC members. "I think abandoning the Summit is very unfortunate whatever the cause is there but I hope both nations are able to solve it with their diplomatic efforts. I hope this will happen very soon," Thakali told reporters here. He, however, termed the issues between India and Pakistan as their "internal matter", adding that it would have been "much better if the (Saarc ) Summit had happened". The 19th Saarc Summit, scheduled to take place in Pakistani capital Islamabad from November 9 to 10 was cancelled following the pull-out by five members. Besides India, three other members - Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan - pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet. Sri Lanka also pulled out of the Summit becoming the fifth country to do so. Saarc members include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Thakali said the BIMSTEC region confronts a wide range of inter-related challenges such as terrorism, trans-national crimes, human drug trafficking, climate change and food security, among others. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia. These include Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Asked what was holding back the conclusion of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement, the Minister said "there are plenty of issues which are still to be negotiated on the table", adding that an early conclusion of the FTA will benefit all nations involved. Thakali said Nepal was looking forward to enhancing connectivity with India through new trade and transit ports. He pitched for adoption of a "collaborative approach" to tackle the challenges confronting the BIMSTEC region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A infant boy, who was allegedly picked up by a health worker from a government hospital earlier today in Bihar's Katihar district, was rescued and handed over to his parents, as the police arrested three persons in this connection. Town police station in-charge K N Singh said that the boy, who is six days old, was picked up by a woman, an accredited social health worker at Sadar hospital, in the wee hours and was rescued from her sister's house in Manmahi Chitoria locality 12 hours later. The toddler was then handed over to the his parents. He said that three persons, including the health worker identified as Baby, her husband Amit Kumar as well as her sister were arrested and charged under relevant provisions of the law. Baby confessed to the crime and said that she proposed to sell the infant boy for Rs 10,000, Singh said. The boy was born through the cesarean section to Anjali Devi at Sadar hospital six days ago, the police officer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Country's second largest IT firm on Friday said it has revised the pay packages of its top leadership, including Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao and Chief Financial Officer MD Ranganath. The city-based firm has also inducted founder and CEO of Surya Software Systems DN Prahlad as an independent director on its Board, effective October 14, 2016. "The Board of Directors have approved the revised annual compensation of Pravin Rao...With effect from November 1, 2016, subject to the approval of the shareholders. The compensation includes fixed compensation of Rs 4.62 crore per annum and a variable compensation of up to Rs 3.88 crore per annum," said. Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, Rao will get 27,250 restricted stock units (RSU) and 43,000 stock options, vested over a period of 4 years. Apart from Ranganath, the compensation structure of Mohit Joshi (Head of the Financial Services), Sandeep Dadlani (Head of Americas), Rajesh K Murthy (Head of Europe), Ravikumar S (Chief Delivery Officer), David Kennedy (Chief Compliance Officer), Krishnamurthy Shankar (Group Head of Human Resource Development) and Manikantha AGS (Company Secretary) have also been revised with effect from November 1, 2016. "The revised aggregate compensation of the above individuals includes fixed compensation of Rs 24 crore and variable compensation of up to Rs 20 crore," it said. Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, restricted stock units (RSU) of 2,45,750 and stock options of 5,02,550 will be granted on November 1, 2016, it added. On Prahlad's induction to the Board, Chairman R Seshasayee said: "We are delighted to welcome Prahlad, a distinguished technologist to the Board. Prahlad brings with him, not only his deep knowledge of the company but also sharp insights into the industry". Prior to founding Surya, Prahlad played a key role in the rapid growth of Infosys, being associated with the company during its formative years. He is on the advisory board of Computer Science and Automation Department of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Country's second largest software services firm Infosys today said it does not foresee any "particular external impact" of Britain's exit from the European Union (Brexit) on its performance. The Bengaluru-based company joins peer TCS in dismissing possibility of adverse impact of Brexit on the business prospects of the multi-billion dollar Indian outsourcing industry. "...From the banking perspective, we are not particularly affected by Brexit so far, beyond couple of isolated cases," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka told reporters here. Pointing out that Infosys has clients that are growing significantly in Europe and North America, Sikka downplayed the impact saying even though there are few clients seeing decline because of Brexit, he "did not see any particular external impact." "In our industry, we tend to overemphasise this whole idea of impact of big macro factors like Brexit, oil and all that," he added. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) yesterday said it is keeping a "close watch" on the events unfolding post Britain's decision to leave the European Union, but is yet to see any client-specific negativity. "Sometimes in some areas like oil prices or Brexit or these kinds of things... Can have some impact, but the bigger structural issues that is impacting all of our clients in our industry is the nature of computing the nature of digital," Sikka said. The former SAP board member, who took over as Infosys chief two years back, said there is an opportunity for companies like Infosys that can take advantage and deliver digital services to clients. When asked about the impact of the US election on the Indian IT sector, Sikka quipped, "Is it November 8th yet?" US Presidential candidate Donald Trump has threatened to end outsourcing and put up many trade protectionist measures if elected to the White House. The US is the largest market for the domestic software exporters. For Infosys, North America contributes 61.5 per cent of the revenues, while Europe and India accounted for 22.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO today, a day after the UN cultural agency adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the deep, historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem. UNESCO's draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray. The validated resolution is expected early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change. Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters. The draft resolution, seen by The Associated Press, diminished the links of two important holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City to Judaism. The text refers to the site known by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name. The draft resolution refers to the Muslim holy site of Al- Buraq Plaza without quotations, but puts the site's Jewish name, the Western Wall Plaza, in inverted commas. Education Minister Naftali Bennett informed UNESCO of Israel's decision today. "Following the shameful decision by UNESCO members to deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organisation," Bennett said. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he was "outraged" by the resolution. "Would UNESCO vote to deny the Christian connection to the Vatican? Or the Muslim connection to Mecca? The UNESCO vote claims that there is no connection between the Jewish people and the Western Wall. In fact, it is the UNESCO vote that has no connection to reality." The spat is the latest in Israel's rocky relations with UNESCO, which it accuses of making decisions out of political considerations. Israel captured east Jerusalem, with sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians claim the territory as part of their future state, and its fate is one of the most contentious issues in the decades-old conflict. Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City as the Temple Mount, site of the two Jewish biblical temples. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir police has been left red faced after one of its officers passed on information about the deployment of police and paramilitary forces in the Valley to a Pakistani spy who posed as an 'Army Commander'. The Police Control Room here recently received a call from a Pakistani spy who demanded information about the force deployment. The call was intercepted by central intelligence agencies which submitted a report to the Union Home Ministry about the "negligence" on the part of the Kashmir police officer. The Home Ministry asked the Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar to initiate an inquiry against the officer, who has been suspended, official sources said here. The errant Inspector was officiating as Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police Control Room. Giving details of the incident, the sources said a call was received by the official concerned (name withheld) on a land line number and the caller identified himself as an "Army Commander". He asked the officer to share details of deployment of police and paramilitary forces in the Kashmir Valley which is witnessing unrest since July 8. The caller also provided a number to the officer and asked him to use one of the instant messaging services for sending the information, sources said. Not realising that he was being conned into passing on confidential information by a Pakistani spy, the officer did the needful. Later, on being confronted, he told his superiors that he had informed his immediate senior in the control room about the call and whether he should share the deployment details. It was only after his senior voiced 'no reservation' that he passed on the information using an instant messaging application. Senior officials of the state police said it was a case of "negligence" and that during the ongoing unrest, which started after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani on July 8, police control room was flooded with calls from across the border. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid heightened tensions at the border, opposition parties of Jammu and Kashmir, led by National Conference, today held a meeting over the current "dangerous situation" and disfavoured war, saying India and Pakistan should hold talks to resolve the Kashmir issue. "We are all concerned about peace in Jammu and Kashmir. India and Pakistan should sit on a table and resolve this issue," NC president Farooq Abdullah told reporters after chairing the meeting also attended by leaders of Congress and CPI(M). "We appeal to both the countries that war is no solution. If there is any solution, it is the dialogue.... Through dialogue, our (Kashmir) issue will also be resolved. War is not a solution," he said. Noting that both India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed countries, the former Chief Minister said, "We are unanimous that the current situation is dangerous. The sooner it is resolved the better it is for the state and the South Asian region." He also wanted the Centre to initiate internal dialogue in Kashmir, saying it will help defuse the situation. Recalling Atal Bihari Vajpayee's famous speech in Kashmir in 2002, Abdullah said the then Prime Minister had maintained that friends can be changed but not neighbours. "If we live in peace with neighbours, we will all prosper. If we take the route of confrontation, their development might be hampered but ours will also be affected," he said. Abdullah, who was accompanied by leaders from other opposition parties, said, "It is a political issue. The Prime Minister has said it needs to be resolved and it is even in the agenda of the ruling party (PDP) to have a dialogue with all stakeholders, including Hurriyat Conference." He said for the dialogue process to start, all political prisoners and youth arrested during the current unrest should be set free. The opposition parties also demanded a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to probe the deaths and loss of eyesight due to use of pellet guns in Kashmir and find who is responsible. They also demanded a special session of the state Assembly to discuss the prevailing situation. "Let the people put forward their views and suggestions in the House. May be we will find some solution," Abdullah said. The NC leader, who has also served as a Union Minister, refused to comment on the Uri terror attack, saying, "Today we are concerned about peace and saving the state. We are not forgetting the sacrifices of the soldiers". Asked if the demands of opposition parties will embolden the terrorists, Abdullah said, "If we resolve this issue, there will be no terrorism. If the two nations resolve this issue, terrorism will die automatically. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Oscar-winner Jon Voight has slammed current US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and actor Robert De Niro by posting an online video against them. The 77-year-old star, also the father of actress Angelina Jolie, requested Americans to dump Clinton in the forthcoming presidential elections and also hit out at De Niro once again for his recent comment against Donal Trump, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "May God protect the real truth and may Donald Trump win this presidency, he will save our America, and he will certainly make it great again," he said in the clip. The three-minute video was packed with taunts aimed at Clinton and her affiliation with wealthy Americans, who have used their prosperity as "weapons." Voight also lashed out the 73-year-old actor by reminding voters of his privilege as a member of the industry's elite. "Robert De Niro is a millionaire... And has no tolerance for anyone with a different opinion," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today alleged that BJP president Amit Shah and his party were trying to disrupt rally in Surat on Sunday. "We have organised a rally in the Surat on Sunday, where we will discuss issues related to state and their solutions. AAP will also ask the people if we can fight Assembly elections of Gujarat," Kejriwal said. "However, it is learnt that Amit Shah and BJP are trying to disrupt my rally. This is not my rally but it is the rally of people of Gujarat. If they disrupt the rally, they will be playing with sentiments of people of Gujarat...I hope they would not do that," the AAP leader said at the airport. Kejriwal landed at the airport here this evening on a four-day visit to Gujarat to woo the Patel community ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections. He left for Mehasana where he would be meeting family members of those who were killed in clashes with police during the Patel quota agitation in August 2015. AAP rally in Surat will held in Varachha, a Patel stronghold. Ahead of the rally, posters carrying Kejriwal's photographs with Burhan Wani, Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden, terming them as "heroes of Pakistan", appeared in Surat city today. AAP blamed BJP for the "defamatory" posters. Before Kejriwal's arrival, members of a local outfit 'Yuva Azadi' shouted slogans against him over his remarks about the surgical strikes by the Army. They had an altercation with AAP supporters. Police detained 12 members of Yuva Azadi to avoid trouble, and released them after Kejriwal left, said inspector P I Patel of Sardarnagar police station. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leader of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party Kiran Chaudhry today asked the Manohar Lal Khattar government to also mop up long grain varieties of basmati rice on the lines of moong from the mandis, as farmers were selling their produce below Minimum Support Price. "The producers of such varieties of basmati are being forced to do distress selling and were getting much less than the Minimum Support Price (MSP), she said. Following reports that farmers were selling moong (green gram) below MSP, the Haryana government had announced last week that it will buy the lentil from growers by entering mandis. The former excise and taxation minister said while in 2013-14, basmati prices peaked to Rs 4,300 per quintal, this year the farmers were not able to get more than Rs 2,000 per quintal. A farmer sold his produce for as low as Rs 1,810 in Karnal the other day, she said. "If the state government can decide to procure moong at MSP, why not the long grain varieties of basmati," she said. The prices of some long grain varieties, including Tararoi, Pusa 121, Pusa 1509, Sharbati and Moochal, have not gone beyond Rs 2,000 per quintal which is way less than the cost of growing, she claimed. "It is for the third year running that the below-cost prices of these varieties of basmati have obtained. This has pushed thousands of growers into the debt trap due to distress selling, and into depression. Should the state government refuse to intervene and bail them out, many growers who have borrowed money to grow basmati, may resort to the extreme step," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four persons of a family, including two women, were killed today when the vehicle they were travelling in rammed into a stationary tanker on Pune-Machilipatnam national highway in Maharashtra's Solapur district, police said. The mishap occurred around 9 am when the SUV carrying five members of the family dashed into the tanker parked on the Pune-Solapur section of the highway near Pakani village in North Solapur tehsil, nearly 400 km from South Mumbai, a police official said. The family was travelling from Akkalkot tehsil of Solapur to Pune. Four persons died on the spot, while one other was injured and admitted to a local government hospital, the official said. Traffic movement was disrupted on the highway for sometime due to the accident but was later restored by police within a couple of hours. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today targeted the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for their "anti-Punjab" approach. "Both the Congress and AAP has an anti-Punjab attitude," he said, while inaugurating the 4-km long bridge on river Beas at Dhanoa Pattan near here. Branding AAP as "Ayash Aadmi Party", Majithia said the party leaders were facing trials in "corruption, criminal and molestation cases". He said while Sucha Singh Chhotepur "was thrown out of the party on corruption charges", AAP ministers, MLAs and leaders in Delhi were still enjoying the "patronage" of party convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal "despite facing trials in corruption and women harassment cases". He alleged that the AAP has "played with" the religious and cultural values of Punjab and it was time that people "teach" it a lesson for "hurting" the sentiments of Sikhs and Punjabis. Attacking Congress, Majithia said it is a "divided house" and bitter relations between MP Partap Singh Bajwa and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh were public. He said the party is still in "Intensive Care Unit" due to "anti-people" measures in its earlier regime like "imposing electricity bills on farmers, stopping all facilities to the schedule casts, poor and traders". The revenue minister claimed that it was only during the tenure of Parkash Singh Badal as Chief Minister that youth of the state was given government jobs whereas Congress put a "complete ban" on recruitments. He said Congress should stop "day dreaming" to come into power in the state after 2017 assembly polls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Manipur MLA Francis Ngajokpa today resigned from the House as well as the primary membership of the ruling Congress party, whose sway in the Assembly remained unaffected by it. Ngajokpa is the third Congress MLA to quit the party in the past one month before the 2017 Assembly polls in the state. The resignation has not affected Congress' strength in the house as four MLAs of Trinamool Congress had joined it recently. Congress now has 49 members in the assembly, which now has an effective strength of 53 instead of 60 after three Congress MLAs and four of Naga Peoples Front resigned from the House recently. Speaking to reporters after handing over his resignation from his residence in Imphal West district, Ngajokpa said he has deep attachment with Congress and its principles as he has been associated with the party for a long time. The decision though was taken following demands of the electorate of Tadubi constituency which he represents, he said. Ngajokpa has sent his resignation to Speaker Thokchom Lokeshwar Singh, Assembly secretariat sources said. The move today follows intense pressure from his workers who urged him to resign from Congress during the MLA Workers Meeting held last week in Senapati district. Manipur PCC President T N Haokip told media there was no restriction for an MLA to leave the party and the decision of all individuals are always respected by it. MPCC, he said, will decide its future course of action soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Media persons, who assembled to cover proceedings at a Vigilance Court here today with regard to a petition against Industries Minister E P Jayarajan on the appointment row, were allegedly dragged out of the court room by a section of lawyers in the presence of the judge. The lawyers also allegedly threatened the media persons with dire consequences. The incident occurred in the presence of Vigilance Judge A Badaruddin and senior advocates who were present when the private petition came up for hearing. The incident comes just three days after Kerala High Court Chief Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar had assured Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that media would not be prevented from covering court proceedings. A lawyer also allegedly slapped a reporter and punched him. Two women reporters were later escorted out of the court complex by women police personnel. On seeing the commotion, the judge intervened saying there should not be any problem inside the court room. A Special Vigilance Court had yesterday ordered Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to file its reply by today on alleged appointments of relatives by Jayarajan to key state PSU posts. The complaint in the Special Vigilance court had sought filing of FIR and registration of case against Jayarajan. The complainant contended that nepotism amounted to corruption. It also wanted registration of a case under Prevention of Corruption Act against the minister. Besides the complaint at the court, other petitions including that of Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and BJP leader V Muraleedharan seeking filing of FIR and registering a case against Jayarajan are pending before the court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mexico is aiming to extradite imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States early next year, the country's national security chief said today. "We hope (to do it) in January or February," National Security Commissioner Renato Sales Heredia told the television channel Televisa, giving the government's clearest estimate of when it could send the Sinaloa drug cartel chief to the United States. Guzman's lawyer Jose Refugio Rodriguez countered: "He can have his own personal opinion. I think it will be very difficult for it to happen between now and January." Refugio Rodriguez told Televisa that his client has instructed him to "fight to the end" and that he can win the case if it "is not handled politically." The foreign ministry approved Guzman's extradition in May, but the man who was once considered the world's most powerful drug trafficker has filed court injunctions. A judge began reviewing the case on September 26 and it is unclear when he will issue his ruling, but Guzman can appeal a decision against him in a higher court. Guzman is facing two extradition bids, one in California for drug distribution and another in Texas on charges that include murder and money laundering. His sons, meanwhile, have made waves lately, with authorities accusing them of being behind an ambush on a military convoy last month that killed five soldiers. Refugio Rodriguez gave Televisa a letter from Archivaldo Ivan and Jesus Alfredo Guzman dated October 2 in which they deny their involvement in the attack. "We have nothing to do with the massacre against military personnel," says the letter from the sons, both of whom have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department as members of the Sinaloa cartel. "We have never fought with the government, nor do we want to. This would practically mean digging our own graves." With Guzman in prison since January, his cartel has faced attacks from rivals. Members of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, which is battling Guzman's gang for supremacy in Mexico, briefly kidnapped Jesus Alfredo in August, according to US and Mexican officials. He was released within days and the reasons behind the abduction are unknown. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Migrant Kashmiri employees today alleged that the state government had stopped their salaries without any reason and said this had created hardship for them and their families. The association of the migrant employees appealed to the state and centre governments to ensure that they get their salaries at the earliest. They said that majority of employees had not received salaries for July and August months and that officials have directed withholding of their salaries from September onwards as well. They had been employed under the PM's package, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The fighting escalated in different areas especially in Kachin State after 21st Century Panglong Conference. Although ethnic armed groups have attempted to negotiate with successive government negotiation teams, there is no tangible result. All the negotiations that have taken place between ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and government have been constantly blocked by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Military). The ethnic armed groups except for Arakan Army, TNLA, MMDAA, were involved in the so-called 21st Century Panglong Conference from 30 August to 3 September 2016 in the hopes of finding a political solution. At the conference, the UNFCs chair, General Nban La [KIO vice chairman] delivered an opening speech, despite this the Tatmadaw continued fighting in Kachin State. Fighting and indiscriminate shelling continues throughout Kachin areas today. Aung San Suu Kyi recently toured the USA and met President Obama resulting in the lifting of remaining economic sanctions. In doing so, the Tatmadaws actions appears to have garnered international legitimacy through the NLD-led government. Furthermore, the economy of Tatmadaw will boom because two economic assets of the military Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) will increase the incomes of the military leadership. The NLD-led parliament also recently approved an unprecedented and controversial military budget US $ 1.15 billion. It will be spent on military hardware, aircraft, ships, vehicles, and weapons. It is not the moment to increase military expenditure. Instead, such efforts should go to building mutual understanding and trust between the Tatmadaw and all ethnic armed groups. If the Tatmadaw continues its attempts to modernise while ethnic armed groups have asked for A Federal Union/State Army, the negotiations will go nowhere. Two scenarios could see an end to the civil war. The first scenario is to disarm [DDR Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration] all EAOs and they form political parties and run elections. But this is not the best option for ethnic armed groups especially for ethnic minorities who have survived decades under an oppressive Myanmar military. However, without political guarantees for both ethnic armed groups and ethnic minorities, the option of disarmament is unlikely to happen. Added to this is the fact that disarmament cannot take place unless the Tatmadaw steps back from the 25 percent of the seats it holds in the parliament and from government bodies (including home affairs and regional border affairs). The second option is to officially unify and found a federal/union defence force. In Bosnia, for example, The Bosniak-Croat Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska was unified and founded the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They eventually founded a Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since then they established a defence law in order to control their forces. The defence law addresses Budget and Financing, and composition of Armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today they are a politically neutral, ethnically mixed and professional army. Therefore, the Tatmadaw and EAOs should officially unify and found such a defence force for the sake of the civilian population in Myanmar. Joe Kumbun is a pseudonym of a Kachin State based analyst Four personnel of paramilitary force SSB were injured this evening when militants attacked their convoy in Zakura area on the outskirts of Srinagar. Militants fired at the vehicles of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) which were ferrying the personnel to their camp after performing law and order duties in the city, a security force official said. He said four SSB personnel sustained injuries in the attack. The injured have been admitted to a hospital for treatment. Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched search operations to track down the militants. This is the first militant attack in the city since the encounter at Nowhatta on August 15 in which a CRPF commandant was killed and nine other personnel were injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Welcoming the decision of Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) not to screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, the MNS today said the move "reflects and respects peoples" sentiments. "I congratulate the Cinema Owners Association for taking this stand. They have supported our boycott of Pakistani artistes through this decision and it reflects and respects the sentiments of people of our country," MNS general secretary Shalini Thackeray told PTI. "The Army is fighting for the country. The country comes first and the film industry needs to realise that everything is not normal...There is tension between the two countries and people do not want to see the Pakistani artists on screen," she said. The decision taken by the COEAI at its meeting here mainly covers single screen theatres and comes amid tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri attack last month. The move will hit Karan Johar's upcoming Diwali release "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" which features Fawad Khan. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma play lead roles in the film. Thackeray said the decision would lead to cultural isolation of Pakistan, which according to her was necessary against the backdrop of the rising tension between the two nations. "There is an opposition and anger against them (Pakistani artistes). So this stand by the theatre owners was required in the backdrop of the rising tension between the two countries. Furthermore, this is a major step forward towards cultural isolation of Pakistan," she said. Days after terrorists attacked an army camp in Uri, the cinema wing of MNS had on September 23 given an ultimatum to Pakistani artistes to leave the country within 48 hours. The Raj Thackeray-led MNS had asked Pakistani artistes like Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan to leave India immediately, failing which the shooting of their movies will be stalled. The party had written an open letter to Bollywood producers and production houses, asking them why they need to rope in actors from the neighbouring country when enough talent is available in India. The Party had also written to production houses asking them not to hire Pakistani artistes and give those jobs to Indians. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment that Ravana was the new form of terrorism has drawn fire from Ravana followers in Sri Lanka. In his Vijayadashmi address in Lucknow on October 11, Modi had linked Ravana with terrorism and said that "the first person to fight terror was neither a soldier nor a politician, but the mythological bird Jatayu who fought against Ravana to protect a helpless Sita, whom he was trying to kidnap". "We condemn the statement made by the Indian Prime Minister equalling King Ravana to a terrorist," Ittapane Saddhatissa, a Buddhist monk who leads the Ravana Force, said. He said the Ravana Force would soon hand over a petition to the Indian High Commission here, protesting against this remark. Saddhatissa said Modi's comment hampers the ongoing reconciliation process in Sri Lanka. Another organisation Ravana Shakthi said Ravana had not been dubbed a terrorist in even in Ramayanaya. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a state dinner for the visiting heads of states and government of the BRICS and BIMSTEC groups at the iconic beachside luxury hotel 'Leela Goa' on Sunday night. The heads of state and governments of 11 nations, including Prime Minister Modi will be meeting for two days at the BRICS-BIMSTEC summit in Goa beginning tomorrow at the Taj Exotica. While the five-member BRICS group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the seven-member BIMSTEC bloc has Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jin Ping of China, Michel Temer of Brazil and Jacob Zuma of South Africa will be dining at the Leela, Aung Sang Suu Kyi of Myanmar, Maithripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka, Prayut Chan o Cha of Thailand, Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal and Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan will be the guests at the hotel. While the meetings are happening at multiple venues in the coastal state, the Leela is the only place where all these leaders and their key delegates will be converging for the state dinner where exclusive Indian cuisine will be served on the beach, a Leela hotel spokesperson said. The Leela Goa, a 75-acre exclusive resort overlooking the tranquil Sal river and the lofty Betul mountains, is situated on the pristine Mobor beach. The state dinner will be preceded by BRICS summit and BIMSTEC outreach. "More than 250 dignitaries from around the globe will attend the seven-course curated dinner. The event will also feature eclectic cultural performances from renowned artists across India," Shridhar Nair, general manager of Leela Goa said. "Our chefs have been researching and curating the 'perfect' seven course meal for several months for this important closing state banquet. Our effort is to showcase our nation's rich culinary heritage to these international guests," he said. Special arrangements have been made for the motorcades of the 11 heads of states, including, over 180 luxury sedans, in addition to the military escort vehicles, the hotel said. The hotel which recently underwent a USD 5-million refurbishment is a striking confluence of Portuguese and Indian architecture. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 14 people were killed and 17 others injured as a private bus fell into a large pit filled with water near Namli town here today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Bhopal during the day, mourned the mishap. So far 14 bodies have been pulled out from the bus, Ratlam district collector Chandrashekar Borkar said, adding three persons were rescued. The bus was on its way to Jaora from Ratlam when the mishap occurred on the four-lane road at 12 Patthar Khadan, about two km from Namli town, he said. The bus fell into a pit dug for the soil/gravel to be used in road-laying. Rain water had collected in the pit. Prima facie, the speeding bus fell into the pit after its steering broke and the driver lost control over the vehicle, Additional Superintendent of Police Dr Prashant Choube said. A National Disaster Response Force team from Bhopal and divers from Indore were called to carry out rescue operation. The Prime Minister expressed grief over the incident. "Extremely distressed by the loss of lives caused by the bus accident in Ratlam, MP. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. "I wish those injured in the bus accident in Ratlam a quick recovery," Modi said in two tweets. Unconfirmed reports said there were 40-45 passengers in the bus. According to eyewitnesses, it was going at a high speed when it overturned and fell into the pit. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each to the kin of deceased and Rs 25,000 each to the injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today showered praise on minister Gayatri Prajapati, who is facing charges of illegal mining, saying he is an "undisputed leader" and devoted to the party. He also made Prajapati the coordinator of a programme to celebrate the party's silver jubilee on November 4. "SP has ensured honour to poor, women and backward after struggle. It is the miracle of SP policies that people from a common family became minister," he said. Pointing at Prajapati, who was sitting near him, Yadav said "persons like Prajapati have become ministers. He is an undisputed leader and devoted for the party and work for it". Announcing that SP will be organising a programme on the silver jubilee of the party on November 4 at Janeshwar Mishra Park in the state capital, he said Prajapati will be its coordinator. He directed all the party MP, MLAs, ministers and workers to participate in the programme. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had sacked Prajapati, who was the Mining minister, following charges of illegal mining against him. The Allahabad High Court had ordered a CBI probe into it. He was later reinstated, following intervention of SP chief, and given Transport ministry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For the first time, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) will hold its CEO conclave here. The Nasscom CEO conclave is scheduled to be held here on November 26-29, state Electronics and IT Minister Pranab Prakash Das said after a high-level meeting here today. The IT potential in Odisha will be showcased at this event, the minister said, adding that the state government has decided to provide all possible support and facilities for organising this prestigious event. Principal Secretary (Electronics and IT) P K Jena said the Nasscom Executive Council consists of 25 chief executives of top IT companies in the country. Though the conclaves of this body are usually held in metro cities, this is for the first time they have decided to hold it in Bhubaneswar, Jena said. Some 35-40 CEOs of leading IT companies, besides former chairmen of the Nasscom, will attend the conclave. It would be befitting to showcase the IT opportunities in Odisha, along with the progressive policies like ease of doing business and facilitating support provided by the state government, he said. Eminent scholars like Devdutt Pattanaik will also address the conclave, which will have sessions in Gopalpur, Bhubaneswar and Puri. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Naxalite was today arrested from Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district, police said. Midiam Bheema was apprehended by a joint team of the state police's Special Task Force (STF) and District Force from a market under Dornapal police station, Additional SP Jitendra Shukla told PTI. Dornapal is located at a distance of about 500 km from the state capital. Acting on a tip-off, the security forces arrested Bheema, who reportedly admitted to be a member of the outlawed CPI(Maoist), the ASP said. Bheema was wanted in connection with the murder of a villager at his native place Medwahi in 2008 and another murder in Gorgunda in 2010. He was also allegedly involved in an attack on a police team near Rangaiguda in 2010, he added. Bheema was produced in a court here which sent him to judicial custody. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued against AAP MLA from Matiala Gulab Singh for failing to join investigation in a case of extortion involving his alleged associates, prompting Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to question its timing. Singh, who is also co-incharge of party's Gujarat affairs, was also named in the FIR. Questioning the timing of the NBW, Kejriwal tweeted asking whether the MLA will be arrested before the party's Surat rally in Gujarat on October 16. "Just 2 days before Surat rally, Del police obtains Non-bailable warrant against our Guj prabhari, Gulab Singh in a completely false case. Will Gulab be arrested before the rally? (sic)" he tweeted. Reacting to the development, Singh told PTI today that he has informed the police that he is in Gujarat for party work and will join the investigation on October 18. Last month, two property dealers, Deepak Sharma and Rinku Diwan, had alleged that Satish and Devinder, who work in Singh's office, and an associate Jagdish were extorting money from them by threatening to get the building from where the property dealers were operating demolished. A case under section 384 (punishment for extortion) IPC was registered at Bindapur police station on September 13. "We obtained an NBW against Gulab Singh from the court last evening. He had been issued notices to join investigation but he kept giving excuses to skip questioning. His joining investigation is essential to get to the bottom of the truth in the organised extortion racket. "We moved the court seeking an NBW and the court has granted our request. We are asking him to immediately join investigation," Dependra Pathak, joint commissioner of police (Southwest), said today. Singh's alleged associates, Satish, Devinder and Jagdish, were arrested and a probe was taken up in the matter which revealed that the "organised extortion racket" had been operating with the knowledge of the MLA, a senior police officer claimed. Following the investigation, Singh was named in the FIR and sent notices to join the investigation, police said. However, with the legislator "not cooperating in the investigation", Delhi Police obtained a NBW against him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BRICS group-promoted New Development Bank is looking to raise funds by issuing rupee bonds to domestic investors to minimise currency risks in supporting long gestation infrastructure projects locally, a senior official said here today. "We hope to issue, perhaps by the first quarter of 2017, a bond denominated in the rupee," NDB vice-president and chief risk officer Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr. Told PTI on the sidelines of the BRICS Economic Forum here. Without disclosing the amount the bank is targeting to mop up, he said the long-term infra loans which the NDB gives, have inherent currency risks and raising money locally will not require any hedging. Deploying internationally raised funds can lead to a spike in the cost of project in case of currency volatilities, he said. Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said: "They're (NDB) looking at the possibility of floating a rupee bond in India. They're already in discussion with us and the Reserve Bank. That's one instrument of hedging the currency risk." The Asian Development Bank, he said, has already established the efficacy of such an option by raising money at a competitive coupon of under 6.5 per cent. Set up last year, the Shanghai-headquartered NDB has already done a yuan issue in China to support its lending operations there. Batista said the NDB officers have already held multiple meetings on this with Indian officials. NDB, headed by ex-ICICI Bank chief KV Kamath, has so far committed USD 911 million in various projects, including one clean energy project in the country. Batista said it is targeting to deploy another USD 1.5 billion next year across all the five member countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The forum is being held ahead of the 2-day BRICS Summit to be held here from tomorrow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On Thursday, Lou Dobbs appears to have doxxed a woman who said Donald Trump sexually assaulted her. The Fox Business Channel anchor tweeted what is believed to have been Jessica Leeds' home address and phone number, and claimed she was linked to the Clinton Foundation. Jessica Leeds recently told a New York Times reporter the man who would one day become the GOP presidential nominee grabbed her breasts, kissed her without consent, and tried to reach up her dress in flight on a plane over three decades ago. Donald Trump denies her story, just like he's denying the dozen or so other stories that have become public in recent days. Dobbs later deleted the tweet which appeared to contain Ms. Leeds' personal information, and tweeted "My Retweet,My Mistake,My Apology to Jessica Leeds" with a link to a story by Politico. My Retweet,My Mistake,My Apology to Jessica Leeds Lou Dobbs tweets Trump accuser's address and phone # https://t.co/iOP6MJvCEx #MAGA #Dobbs Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 13, 2016 From Politico: Dobbs linked to a post from a conservative news site that purported to link Leeds to the Clinton Foundation. The site published Leeds' address and phone number taken from public records and then claimed, falsely, that her phone number is the same as a phone number for the Clinton Foundation. He also quoted a tweet from a Trump supporter, which has since been deleted, that included Leeds' phone number and address. Dobbs' tweet has been retweeted more than 800 times. Trump accuser: "The culture of this kind of behavior I'd like to see it change." https://t.co/rScmteNBFe https://t.co/sPss6OxoPR CNN (@CNN) October 14, 2016 The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh government over the reported death of an asthma patient in an ambulance while he was being rushed to a hospital in Bijnor as the oxygen cylinder was empty. Taking a serious view of the alleged medical negligence, the Commission has issued a notice to Secretary, Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare of the state government, and sought a report within four weeks, the NHRC said in a statement. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report carried on October 10 which stated that Mohd Aslam, 55, a resident of Chandpur area of Bijnor died after the oxygen cylinder was empty in the ambulance in which he was being rushed to a hospital after suffering a severe asthama attack. Reportedly, the relatives of the patient protested and the Chief Medical Officer promised a probe in the matter. The Commission has observed that it is "shocked to peruse the painful report that a human life could not be saved even after timely arrival of the ambulance because the oxygen cylinder, which is the most crucial and important life saving apparatus, was not functional". "This is a case of sheer negligence on the part of the concerned officers amounting to violation of right to life of the patient," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Human Rights Commission has issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government over the reported death of three college girls in a road accident involving a water tanker in Guindy area in Chennai. The Commission has observed that the contents of the report are indicative of "callous and sheer insensitive attitude of the transport department, police as well as Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board". The notice has been sent to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police of the state, and the NHRC has sought detailed reports on this matter within four weeks, the Commission said in a statement today. The Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of the media report, according to which three girls died and four got injured in the road accident caused by a water tanker in Guindy area. Reportedly, this was not the only accident caused by a water tanker lorry as the provisions of cancelling driving licences in case of accidents under the Motor Vehicle Act are "not being strictly implemented" by the authorities in the state. The Chief Secretary and the DGP have "also been asked to inform about the norms relating to fitness of the water tanker lorries, number of trips allowed, number of persons died in such accidents during last five years and preventive action taken against the erring drivers and the other officials of the department concerned." "The Commission would also like to know what steps are proposed to be taken to prevent the recurrence in future," the statement said. "It is the failure of the State Transport Authority to implement and enforce the rules and regulations, as also the apathy of police officials and other administrative officers that results in exposing the innocent citizens to all kinds of risks on road," it added. The safety of citizens should be the primary concern of the government. The state government cannot escape its obligation to protect the lives of its citizens from such "preventable gruesome mishaps". According to the report, the number of water lorries plying in the state is around 500 which are hired during the time of scarcity of water. Nearly 4,000 trips are made in a day by these vehicles. Officials of the Chennai Metro Water have reportedly said that the vehicles involved in the accidents are not allowed to ply and their works orders were also cancelled. Area engineers have been deployed at the filling points, to check leakage and necessary documents regarding fitness and insurance before the trip is made, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said there is no alarming situation in India following rising oil prices in the international market, which has crossed the psychological barrier of USD 50 per barrel. "I don't think there is any alarming situation. Consciously, the government of India has taken a decision to deregulate the market," he told reporters here. Market watchers fear that the rising oil prices, which had crossed USD 50 per barrel, would adversely affect the India market. Speaking to reporters after the inauguration of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd's Green R&D centre near Hoskote, about 30 km from here, he said government has taken steps to link the oil price to the market and hence there was no such alarming situation. "For a robust economy (like India), for a long-term period, for the interest of consumers, price link to the market is needed - that we have done and there is no such alarming situation," the minister for petroleum and natural gas said. Pradhan said "Whenever there will be a price reduction in the market, it will be passed on to the consumer and wherever there will be a price hike it will be taken care by consumer." Market watchers fear that the effects of increasing oil prices will first be seen on petrol and diesel prices, which are influenced by global prices and could soon rise steeply. They also fear the country-wide effect on increasing cost of oil imports will have an even bigger impact on businesses and economy as a whole, while also reducing disposable incomes as citizens will spend more for the same quantity of fuel on their daily use and commute. It is also speculated that the trade deficit would start ballooning, causing the Current Account Deficit to widen. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government has so far not discussed the issue of withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today. India, she said, had extended the MFN status to Pakistan as a "goodwill gesture" way back in 1996 but unfortunately the neighbouring country has not yet extended the same to New Delhi. "On the issue of the withdrawal of MFN from Pakistan, strictly speaking, that has not yet been discussed," she told reporters here. The decision to withdraw the status or not will have to be taken by the government and "I cannot comment on that", she added. Last month, government had decided to review the MFN status given to Pakistan at a meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the meeting was postponed. The review decision was taken in the wake of the Uri attack. India also considered the option of dragging Pakistan to WTO over non-extension of the status. The neighbouring country has missed its own deadline of December 2012 for giving India this tag. As per the global trade norms, member countries of the WTO are required to give non-discriminatory market access as part of the MFN status to each other. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 2.61 billion in 2015-16. Talking about increasing imports from China, the minister said there is no instrument to completely stop imports from one country. It is impossible to completely ban imports from one country, she added. "But if one wants to restrict the imports because that country is giving more subsidy or on quality issue, then we have instruments like we can impose anti-dumping duties or safeguard measures," she added. India has time and again raised the issue of widening trade deficit with China. In her meeting with Chinese Vice Minister for Finance and Commerce Wang Shouwen, Sitharaman has asked for providing greater market access for Indian products there. China has assured India that it will act on the concerns expressed by India. In 2015-16, India's exports to China were USD 9 billion, while imports were USD 61.7 billion, leaving a huge trade deficit of USD 52.7 billion. (REOPENS DCM70) When asked about a proposal mooted by China for negotiating a free trade agreement among BRICS members, Sitharaman said: "I am not aware of it (the proposal)". She said that South Africa has discussed about reviving the SACU trade pact; Brazil about MERCOSUR (trading bloc in Latin America comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay); Russia talked the Eurasian pact and China about the mega deal - RCEP. On trade issues with China, Sitharaman said that her interaction with the Chinese minister was very positive and "probably they will come back to us sooner this time" on the specific concerns raised by India. When asked whether government is considering FDI policy relaxation in e-commerce sector, DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said a committee is looking into the issues of the sector including FDI related matters. "When the committee gives its report, the government will examine its recommendations and take appropriate view," he told reporters. On the consideration of FDI norms easing in food processing, he said: "nothing is casting stone because the government always reviews policy". Speaking at the press briefing on declining exports, DGFT Anup Wadhawan said the position on exports in rupee terms is not as bad as in dollar terms. A non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued against AAP MLA from Matiala Gulab Singh, who is also co-incharge of party's Gujarat affairs, for failing to join investigation in a case of extortion involving his alleged associates, police said on Friday. Reacting to the development, Gulab Singh, who has been named in the FIR, told PTI that he has informed the police that he is in Gujarat for party work and will join the investigation on October 18. Aam Aadmi Party leaders, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the move by Delhi Police as it came ahead of party chief Arvind Kejriwal's October 16 rally in Gujarat. Last month, two property dealers, Deepak Sharma and Rinku Diwan, had alleged that Satish and Devinder, who work in Gulab Singh's office, and an associate Jagdish were extorting money from them by threatening to get the building from where the property dealers were operating demolished. A case under section 384 (punishment for extortion) IPC was registered at Bindapur police station on September 13. "We obtained an NBW against from the court last evening. He had been issued notices to join investigation but he kept giving excuses to skip questioning. His joining investigation is essential to get to the bottom of the truth in the organised extortion racket," a police official said. "We moved the court seeking an NBW and the court has granted our request. We are asking him to immediately join investigation," said Dependra Pathak, joint commissioner of police, Southwestern range. His alleged associates, Satish, Devinder and Jagdish, were arrested and a probe was taken up in the matter which revealed that the "organised extortion racket" had been operating with the knowledge of the MLA, a senior police officer claimed. Following the investigation, was named in the FIR and sent notices to join the investigation, police said. However, with "not cooperating in the investigation", Delhi Police obtained a non-bailable warrant against the MLA. Research firm CMR today said Samsung's India revenues could take a hit of Rs 6,457 crore on account of recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7, a claim that was refuted vehemently by the Korean major. In a report, CMR said Samsung's smartphone shipments to India may fall short of target by 4 million units in 2016, translating into an impact of Rs 6,457 crore in terms of revenues. "As per projected growth, Samsung was expected to touch revenues of Rs 45,446 crore in CY2016, an increase of 46 per cent compared to previous calendar year. However, following the Note 7 issue, it can earn revenues of Rs 38,989 crore, which means a growth of 25 per cent in revenues in CY2016," the report said. Debunking the report, a Samsung India spokesperson said the company is "appalled by the incorrect reporting of company's financials based on reports by various research agencies". "The reports covered in some articles quote different revenue loss estimates for Samsung India. These research reports are not based on empirical facts. Such projections by any research agency or analyst, therefore, is incorrect," he added. Samsung had unveiled the Galaxy Note 7 in July in India with a price tag of Rs 59,900, but delayed selling the handset in the country after cases of battery exploding while charging were reported in various countries. The device was to be made available in the Indian market from September but the battery fiasco derailed the launch plans. "Samsung has not sold Galaxy Note 7 in India. However, we can confirm that contrary to these reports, we are headed for record sales of mobile phones this year," the spokesperson said. The CMR report, however, added that Samsung will continue to maintain its leadership in the Indian smartphone segment, but its market share will shrink by 4.2 per cent and settle at around 25.5 per cent instead of estimated 29.7 per cent. "Though Note 7 is a high-end premium smartphone, the impact would be on Samsung spanning all across the segments," CMR Principal Analyst for Telecoms Faisal Kawoosa said. The issue is faced with the flagship model of the year, that too around festive season and as a result, customers' confidence is shaken, he added. "A perception, right or wrong, gets built within the market that if the issue is with the high-end premium model, there could be issues in the other models too," Faisal said. Following the global recall and later halt in production, the world's largest smartphone maker cut its quarterly operating profit forecast by a third to 5.1-5.3 trillion Korean won, translating into a hit of a whopping 2.6 trillion Korean won or USD 2.3 billion. The global consolidated sales estimate has also been lowered by 2 trillion Korean won (USD 1.7 billion) to approximately 47 trillion Korean won, after the company decided to permanently halt sales of the troubled Note 7 device, in less than two months after its launch. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The New York Times has refused to retract its story on two women accusing Donald Trump of inappropriate behaviour, saying the article does not libel the Republican presidential candidate and removing it would be a "disservice" not only to its readers but also to democracy. In a strong-worded response to Trump and his lawyers, The New York Times (NYT) lawyer David McCraw said removing the article would be a "disservice" not only to NYT's readers but also to democracy. He rejected claims by the Trump team that the article is libelous, arguing that "the essence of a libel claim is the protection of one's reputation". "Trump has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women. He has bragged about intruding on beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms," McCraw said, adding that Trump even let a radio host talk about his daughter in sexually explicit and demeaning terms. "Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Trump, through is own words and actions, has already created for himself," he said. McCraw said it would have been a "disservice" not just to NYT readers but to "democracy" itself to silence the voices of women, who have come forward and spoken out against Trump's inappropriate behaviour against them. "We did what the law allows: We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern," he said. McCraw said the NYT is ready to fight the case in court if Trump believes that those who "dare" to criticise him should stay silent or be punished. "If he believes that the American public had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticise him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straigh," he said. Jessica Leeds, 74 had recalled in the New York Times report that Trump had assaulted her when she was traveling in an airplane more than three decades ago. She had sat besides Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York and about 45 minutes after takeoff, Leeds said Trump, whom she had never met before, lifted the armrest and began to touch her. Rachel Crooks, who was a 22-year-old receptionist in 2005, alleged in the article that Trump kissed her outside an elevator in the Trump Tower, his home and headquarters in Manhattan. Trump emphatically denied the allegations, telling The New York Times reporter that "none of this ever took place". He had said that The Times was making up the allegations to hurt him and that he would sue the organisation if it reported them. "You are a disgusting human being," he told the reporter as she questioned him about the women's claims. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid uproar over city roads riddled with potholes, opposition parties have come out in support of Congress's announcement to bring No Confidence Motion against the BMC Commissioner in the next Standing Committee meeting of the Sena-ruled civic body. The BJP, however, has come out in support of BMC chief Ajoy Mehta, saying that the official should be credited for exposing the multi-crore road scam. Principal Opposition party in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Congress yesterday announced to bring a No Confidence Motion against Mehta over the issue of potholes in Standing Committee's next meeting scheduled on October 21. Shiv Sena group leader in the BMC, Trushna Vishwasrao said, "We are going to support the No Confidence Motion being brought by Congress because we feel that administration is playing its own politics." NCP group leader Dhananjay Pisal alleged that those officials close to Mehta are "misleading the house and people on the number of potholes." "Under the leadership of current the Commissioner, BMC has repeatedly set and missed deadlines to fill potholes. Officers close to him are misleading the house and people by saying that there are only 35 potholes. The Commissioner should know that there are more that 100 potholes just outside the BMC headquarters where he sits," he said. Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Sheikh claimed that the BMC chief is "misleading" people on the number of potholes. MNS, which has launched a scathing campaign against potholes, has warned Mehta that if all potholes are filled by Diwali (October end), he will face the same protest as meted out to a senior civic engineer last week. Chief engineer (Roads) Sanjay Darade was forced to hold a humiliating placard by MNS workers, reading that he was responsible for potholes on Mumbai raods. MNS group leader in the House, Sandeep Deshpande said, "We have given an ultimatum to Mehta that if potholes are not filled before Diwali, then our workers would make him stand with placard, stating that he is responsible for potholes." BJP group leader Manoj Kotak, on the other hand, attacked the ruling Shiv Sena and the engineer-contractor nexus for the sorry state of roads, while backed Mehta for his honesty. "Should Mehta be punished just because he unearthed a huge road scams in the city. Our party feels he should be facilitated for his act of honesty," Kotak said. "Shiv Sena and engineers are responsible for the pothole-ridden roads and both are trying to mount pressure on the civic chief," he alleged. Prior to his appointment as the BMC Commissioner in 2015, Mehta was principal secretary (Environment). Amid uproar over city roads riddled with potholes, opposition parties have come out in support of Congress's announcement to bring no confidence motion against the BMC Commissioner in the next Standing Committee meeting of the Sena-ruled civic body. The BJP, however, has come out in support of BMC chief Ajoy Mehta, saying that the official should be credited for exposing the multi-crore road scam. Principal Opposition party in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Congress yesterday announced to bring a "no confidence motion" against Mehta over the issue of potholes in Standing Committee's next meeting scheduled on October 21. Shiv Sena group leader in the BMC, Trushna Vishwasrao said "We are going to support the no confidence motion being brought by Congress because we feel that administration is playing its own politics." NCP group leader Dhananjay Pisal alleged that those officials close to Mehta are "misleading the house and people on the number of potholes." "Under the leadership of current Commissioner, BMC has repeatedly set and missed deadlines to fill potholes. Officers close to him are misleading the house and people by saying that there are only 35 potholes. The Commissioner should know that there are more that 100 potholes just outside the BMC headquarters where he sits," he said. Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Sheikh claimed that the BMC chief is "misleading" people on the number of potholes. MNS, which has launched a scathing campaign against potholes, has warned Mehta that if all potholes are filled by Diwali (October end), he will face the same protest as meted out to a senior civic engineer last week. Chief engineer (Roads) Sanjay Darade was forced to hold a humiliating placard by MNS workers, reading that he was responsible for potholes on Mumbai raods. MNS group leader in the House, Sandeep Deshpande said "We have given an ultimatum to Mehta that if potholes are not filled before Diwali, then our workers would make him stand with placard, stating that he is responsible for potholes." BJP group leader Manoj Kotak, on the other hand, attacked the ruling Shiv Sena and the engineer-contractor nexus for the sorry state of roads, while backed Mehta for his honesty. "Should Mehta be punished just because he unearthed a huge road scams in the city. Our party feels he should be facilitated for his act of honesty," Kotak said. "Shiv Sena and engineers are responsible for the pothole-ridden roads and both are trying to mount pressure on the civic chief," he alleged. Prior to his appointment as the BMC Commissioner in 2015, Mehta was principal secretary (Environment). Opposition parties led by National Conference today said India and Pakistan should hold talks for the resolution of Kashmir issue and the Centre should initiate a political process on the issue, stressing that war is not the solution. "We are all concerned about peace in Jammu and Kashmir. India and Pakistan should sit on a table and resolve this issue," NC president Farooq Abdullah told reporters after chairing a meeting of opposition parties' leaders, including Congress and CPI(M). "Through dialogue, our (Kashmir) issue will also be resolved. War is not a solution," he said. Recalling Atal Bihari Vajpayee's famous speech in Kashmir in 2002, Abdullah said the then Prime Minister had maintained that friends can be changed but not neighbours. "If we live in peace with neighbours, we will all prosper. If we take the route of confrontation, their development might be hampered but ours will also be affected," he said. Terming the prevailing situation in the Valley as "dangerous", he said all parties should work together for peace for which a political process has to be initiated. "We are unanimous that the current situation is dangerous. The sooner it is resolved the better it is for the state and the South Asian region. "It is a political issue. The Prime Minister has said it needs to be resolved and it is even in the agenda of the ruling party (PDP) to have a dialogue with all stakeholders, including Hurriyat Conference," Abdullah, who was accompanied by leaders from other opposition parties, said. He said for the dialogue process to start, all political prisoners and youth arrested during the current unrest should be set free. The opposition parties also demanded a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to probe the deaths and loss of eyesight due to use of pellet guns in Kashmir and find who is responsible. The former Chief Minister said if the government was serious about improving the situation in Kashmir, it should stop the security forces from allegedly indulging in vandalisation of homes and harassment of inmates. "The government should also reconsider its decision to hold annual school examinations (in November). The schools have been closed for three and half months. The examinations should be delayed...It has been done in the past," he said. Asked if the demands of opposition parties will embolden the terrorists, Abdullah said, "If we resolve this issue, there will be no terrorism. If the two nations resolve this issue, terrorism will die automatically. The opposition parties also demanded that a special session of the state Assembly be held for discussing the prevailing situation. "Let the people put forward their views and suggestions in the House. May be we will find some solution," Abdullah said. The former chief minister refused to comment on the Uri terror attack, saying, "Today we are concerned about peace and saving the state. We are not forgetting the sacrifices of the soldiers". Asked if the opposition MLAs should have resigned in view of the Centre not paying heed to their suggestions during their earlier meetings, he said, "That is not a solution. The solution is by fighting, not by resigning." CPI(M) MLA from Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said by staying in the parliamentary process they can put pressure on the Centre. "We can put pressure on Government of India when we are somewhere in the parliamentary process and political institutions. We are not here one-time makers of . "We are serious citizens of this state and we are concerned about the fate of people of Jammu and Kashmir," Tarigami added. The meeting of opposition parties came two months after a similar initiative by NC working president Omar Abdullah. The opposition delegation had called on President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress top brass in August which was followed by the visit of an All Party Delegation to Kashmir in first week of September. Amy Goodman, award-winning journalist and host of Democracy Now, has been facing an outrageous arrest warrant in North Dakota for "criminal trespass" since early September. The charges are a result of her merely doing her job as a reporter and covering police violence against oil pipeline protesters in North Dakota. Today, she announced she would return to the state in order to turn herself in and contest the charges on Monday. "I will go back to North Dakota to fight this charge," she said. "It is a clear violation of the First Amendment," said Goodman. "I was doing my job as a journalist, covering a violent attack on Native American protesters." It couldn't be more obvious that Ms. Goodman is being charged solely for her journalism and the impact it had on the oil pipeline debate. Here's how Democracy Now described its news coverage that led to the charges against Ms. Goodman: On Saturday, September 3, Democracy Now! filmed security guards working for the pipeline company attacking protesters. The report showed guards unleashing dogs and using pepper spray and featured people with bite injuries and a dog with blood on its mouth and nose. Democracy Now!'s report went viral online, was viewed more than 14 million times on Facebook and was rebroadcast on many outlets, including CBS, NBC, NPR, CNN, MSNBCand the Huffington Post. Rolling Stone's Matt Tiabbi detailed what happened as a result of the segment Democracy Now aired: Shortly thereafter, the Obama administration intervened, stopping pipeline construction on Army Corps land and asking the company to "voluntarily pause all construction activity" in the area. This victory for the Standing Rock Sioux would likely not have been possible without the aggressive independent reporting of Democracy Now!, whose pictures created significant public pressure. Yet because, in the words of the prosecutor, "Everything she reported on was from the position of justifying the protest actions," she now faces criminal charges. Read that sentence again. The state is literally charging her for nothing else beyond exercising her rights as a journalist. We fully support Ms. Goodman for taking this incredibly brave stance and being willing to return North Dakota to fight these charges directly, but make no mistake: North Dakota authorities should have dropped these obviously illegal charges as soon as they were issued. How North Dakota did not immediately realize this was all a horrible mistake on their part is beyond reason. The only explanation seems to be that they want to silence First Amendment-protected speech and intimidate other journalists into not covering the protests. Since the charges were issued a month ago, their actions have been universally condemned by press freedom advocates, and there is simply no justification for letting it stand. Not only are they flagrantly violating the Constitution, they are giving every two bit dictator and corrupt police establishment around the world every excuse to point to this episode and arrest journalists abroad, while making a mockery of our own press freedom protections at home. Goodman is not a stranger to unconstitutional actions by local police. She was arrested in Minnesota in 2008 for covering the protests around the Republican National Convention. She later sued and won $100,000 from the state for infringing her First Amendment rights. We hope and expect similar accountability for the authorities here when the dust clears. But in the meantime, North Dakota should stop embarrassing itself and drop all charges against Amy Goodman, and any other journalist who may be suffering the same fate, immediately. Trevor Timm is a co-founder and the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. He is a journalist, activist, and lawyer who writes a twice weekly column for The Guardian on privacy, free speech, and national security. He has contributed to The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Harvard Law and Policy Review, PBS MediaShift, and Politico. Trevor formerly worked as an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Before that, he helped the longtime General Counsel of The New York Times, James Goodale, write a book on the Pentagon Papers and the First Amendment. He received his J.D. from New York Law School. : Around 21,000 special buses would be operated during the coming Deepavali festival to clear the extra rush of passengers, Tamil Nadu Government said today. The 21,289 special buses will be operated from October 26 to October 28 to various destinations including Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Bengaluru, Ernakulam from various parts of the city and State, a press release from State Transport Corporation said. Deepavali is scheduled to be celebrated on October 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Army today warned India that any "misadventurism" by it will be met with the "most befitting response" and dismissed as a "hoax" India's assertion of surgical strikes across the LoC in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir to destroy terrorist launchpads. During a Corps Commanders' Conference presided over by army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, the Pakistan Army rejected the Indian stand "as an attempt to divert attention" from Kashmir. "Rejecting the absurd Indian claims of hoax surgical strikes as an attempt to divert world's attention, away from brutalities being committed by Indian Army against innocent Kashmiris, the forum resolved that any attempt of misadventurism and irresponsible act will be met with the most befitting response," the army said in a statement. The latest reaction from the Pakistan Army came nearly two weeks after India said it carried out "surgical strikes" across LoC and destroyed terrorist launchpads on September 28. India also said that it inflicted heavy casualties on terrorists and their supporters. Tensions have ran high between the two countries since the terror attack on an Indian army base in Uri on September 18. Pakistan has denied any surgical strikes took place, but said two of their soldiers were killed in cross-border firing by Indian Army. During today's meeting, Pakistan Army expressed "complete satisfaction over operational preparedness of the troops." Gen Shareef reiterated Pakistan Army's resolve to defend the country against any threat, according to the statement. The participants resolved to continue sustained and focused combing and intelligence-based operations across the length and breadth of Pakistan to uproot terrorism harmonising it with implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) to address extremism and other causes of terrorism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Palestinians have said they are sounding out members of the UN Security Council on a new resolution demanding a halt to Israeli settlement building and on prospects for becoming a full member of the United Nations. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour yesterday said that he met with about half the 15-member council in the last 10 days and expects to meet the rest in the next week. He said he will then report back to an Arab ministerial committee which will decide on next steps. Mansour announced the new Palestinian initiatives ahead of an informal meeting of the UN Security Council today on "Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution." It was organised by five non-permanent council members Angola, Malaysia, Venezuela, Senegal and Egypt. The scheduled speakers include representatives from two Israeli human rights groups, Peace Now and B'Tselem, and Americans for Peace Now. Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon harshly criticised the expected participation of the Israeli organizations. "During this time of year of reflection and prayer for unity amongst our people, it is sad and disappointing that Israeli organizations are providing moral cover for anti-Israel activities at the UN," Danon said. Mansour strongly criticised the "dangerous evolution of settlement activities which is threatening to destroy the two-state solution option." The Palestinians pushed for the Security Council to adopt a resolution against settlements in February 2011 but it was vetoed by the United States. The 14 other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, reflecting the wide support for the draft which had over 100 co-sponsors. Mansour said a new resolution would draw from the 2011 text which would have condemned "illegal" Israeli settlements and demanded an immediate halt to all settlement building. Mansour said he hasn't met US Ambassador Samantha Power yet. "From what has been coming out from Washington, State Department, White House, and what has been written in the media ... There is a strong indication that the United States of America should be sympathetic to a resolution on settlements," Mansour said, "although we don't know for sure because they did not tell us exactly what they will do." As for the possibility of Palestine becoming the 194th UN member state, the Security Council's admissions committee approved a report in November 2011 saying there was no consensus among the 15 council nations on the Palestinian application for UN membership. That application is still before the council. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil today castigated Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his "inability" to sack Tribal Welfare Minister Vishnu Savara despite the Bombay High Court's observations regarding the government's handling of malnutrition and infant deaths. Talking to reporters here, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly said, Fadnavis is incapable of acting against "inefficient and corrupt" ministers. "Death of tribals is the policy of this government," he said, adding the BJP-led government has failed to control malnutrition and infant deaths. "Due to corruption and inefficiency of the minister concerned, the issue has assumed serious proportions," he said. The Supreme Court and now the Bombay High Court have taken the government to task on this matter, he said. "Fadnavis should have shown Savara the door owning moral responsibility...The responsibility should also have been fixed on bureaucrats and officials of the department concerned. It is unfortunate that Fadnavis is shielding the corrupt and inefficient authorities," he said. In the Supreme Court, government did not direct the prosecution to put forth its stand. In the high court, the government tried to mislead the court with figures, he alleged. "Had the government been sensitive, it would have sacked Savara by now," he said. "Irate tribals have barred Savara from entering Palghar, his home district. There are agitations outside his home and still Fadnavis has not acted against the minister," Vikhe Patil said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiv Sena today claimed that certain people close to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are using the Nashik incident to undermine his position. "If the Chief Minister is in possession of horoscopes of all those who matter then how come he was not aware of the antecedents of Popat Pawar and Arjun Pagare, accused of destabilising the law and order in Nashik," Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe told reporters here. "Both Popat Pawar and Arjun Pagare were recently inducted into the BJP's Nashik unit by senior party leaders," Gorhe claimed. "People close to the Chief Minister are using the Nashik incident to destabilise his chair," she further claimed. Gorhe also claimed despite the appeal from the Maratha Kranti Morcha leaders the situation is still not under control. "Out of the two accused, Pagare has been charged with threatening the local Deputy Commissioner of Police at knife point, while Pawar is facing charges of murdering a police constable," she said. Gorhe urged Fadnavis to take a closer look at all those who are hovering around him and what are there antecedents. "There is no word on charge sheet filed in connection with Mumbai BJP Yuva Morcha vice president Ganesh Pandey accused of sexually harassing a woman party worker," she said. Commenting on Nashik district Guardian Minister Girish Mahajan's contention that the incident involving a minor girl at village Talegaon near Trimbakeshwar in Nashik was a case of attempt to rape, Gorhe said, "The Minister should have waited for the medical report before jumping to conclusions." "Even the police awaits the medical report before applying sections like 376 (rape) of IPC and provisions of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) 2012," she added. Gorhe alleged that it was because of Mahajan's remarks there was even more public outrage. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte today defended his threat to kill criminals as "perfect" and vowed no let-up in his war on crime, as the death toll surged past 3,700. International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said yesterday she was "deeply concerned" about the violence, and signalled Duterte could face prosecution by her body for his incitements to kill. But Duterte launched a typically defiant counter-attack today, defending his rhetoric and the crime war that is seeing more that 1,000 people killed every month. "There is nothing wrong in threatening criminals to death. By that statement alone: 'You criminals, I will kill you. Do not fool around.' It is a perfect statement," Duterte said. Describing his critics as "fools", Duterte reiterated his position he was not breaking any domestic laws by threatening to kill criminals and pledged the crime war would continue until there were no more illegal drugs in society. "I will not stop. Be sure of it, you can cast it in whatever stone. I will not stop until the last pusher, until the last drug lord is taken away." Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a pledge to eradicate drugs. Last month Duterte said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts, and likened his campaign to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews in Europe. He later apologised for his Hitler reference, but said he was "emphatic" about wanting to kill all drug addicts. Since Duterte took office, police have killed 1,578 people and 2,151 have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures released today. The total of 3,729 is 368 more than the previous police update released last week. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have condemned alleged extrajudicial killings and warned of a breakdown in the rule of law. Bensouda indicated yesterday that Duterte was at risk of joining the likes of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, in being indicted by the International Criminal Court. "Let me be clear: any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing... To the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the Court," she said in a statement. The Philippine government this week invited UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings. But Duterte vowed yesterday to "humiliate" her and any other critics if they dared to come to the Philippines and investigate. Polls show Filipinos overwhelmingly support Duterte's war on crime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Police today filed a charge sheet against a man in a court here for murdering a 21-year- old woman by stabbing her 22 times on a busy road here in front of several onlookers last month. The charge sheet was filed before a link magistrate who fixed the matter for tomorrow before the court concerned for the purpose of taking cognisance. 34-year-old Surender Singh, who was arrested on September 20 was named in the charge sheet for the offence of murder under section 302 of the IPC. The accused is currently under judicial custody. The brutal murder, which was captured in CCTV camera, took place on September 20 when Karuna Kumar, a teacher in a North Delhi school, was going for her work, police said, adding that Surender had been stalking her for over 18 months. Police said Karuna, along with her cousin Neha, was on her way to work when Surender attacked her with a pair of scissors near Labour Chowk in Burari. As Surender caught Karuna off guard and plunged the single blade of scissors in her body, a man rushed to stop him but soon backed off fearing attack on himself. Within about three minutes, Surender had stabbed Karuna 22 times, as onlookers kept away, it said. Neha told police that she was also threatened by Surender and had to back off but she kept shouting for help. The victim was taken to Sushruta Trauma Centre in Civil Lines where she was declared brought dead. The accused was beaten up by the locals, who caught him and handed him over to the police. He was arrested and a case of murder under section 302 IPC was lodged against him. Surender, son of a retired Delhi Police sub-inspector, is going through divorce proceedings and has two kids. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sending a strong message against corruption, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said "fraudulent conduct" by police personnel would not be tolerated. "Police should never succumb to corruption. We cannot allow a situation in which the fence itself eats the crops. A corruption-free policing system is essential for the state," he said at the passing-out-parade of police personnel, who had completed training at the Special Armed Police Camp here. Corruption should be done away with, just like the third degree torturing method, Vijayan said. He said stern action would be taken against those indulging in criminal activities. The strength and infrastructure facilities of the state police force would be increased, the Chief Minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of the two ailing Polish mountaineers stranded at a height of over 5,000 feet on way to the Himalayan peak of Shivlinga in Uttarkashi district fell to his death while his compatriot is missing, a senior police official said today. Lukasz Jan Chrzanowski tottered and fell into a deep gorge on Thursday evening as he tried to come down in order to make it easier for the rescuers to reach him, Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Dadan Pal told PTI. As he was ailing and week he seems to have faltered while coming down and fell to his death, he said. Lukasz's compatriot and companion Grezegorz Michael Kukurowski, who is also ailing is yet to be located, the official said. Lukasz's body has been brought to the base camp at Tapovan while a search is on to find Kukurowski, he said. The authorities are in touch with the Polish embassy to find out how to hand over Lukasz's body to his family. Meanwhile, the search is on by a combined team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Garhwal Scouts (mountaineering squad from Gulmarg) and the Army's 12 Grenadiers to trace the other ailing mountaineer, the SP said. The duo, who were part of a five-member team of mountaineers from Poland, took ill on way to Shivlinga peak located at a height of 6,543 metres above Gomukh on Wednesday, police said. Rescue operations were launched after other members of the group returned to their base camp and informed authorities about it, Pal said. The Polish mountaineering team had begun the expedition on September 22. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Puducherry government has drawn up a plan to constitute a dedicated 'Civil Defence Force' to deal with disasters ahead of the arrival of North East monsoon. Volunteers to be recruited for the purpose would do voluntary service without any honorarium or remuneration, a communication of the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management said. "Their voluntary services would be utilised during disasters and on other occasions whenever required," it said. The volunteers would be trained on 'Disaster Management' with the support of National Disaster Response Force and Battalion Arakkonam (Tamil Nadu), the communication said. The government is gearing up for any emergency like situation and special toll-free phone numbers had been set up to respond to any call for help. An action plan as to how the departments concerned should act, had also been formulated on the basis of experience during disasters in the past, it said. Revenue and Industries Minister M O H F Shah Jahan had already held discussions with the officials of the department to draw the road map to meet any exigency during the forthcoming North East monsoon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Goa this evening to participate in the BRICS summit which is beginning here tomorrow. Modi was received at INS Hansa base by state's Governor Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza and others. The Prime Minister drove to a five-star resort at Benaulim where the summit will begin tomorrow. "Over next few days, India will host world leaders for the 8th BRICS and 1st ever BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit," Modi tweeted earlier. "I look forward to useful conversation with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges," he said. "As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic, and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," the Prime Minister said. "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia annual summit, which will also take place in Goa," the PM said. "We also welcome President of Brazil for a bilateral visit, which will open new areas of cooperation with Brazil," the PM said. "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Several outfits today held protests across Tamil Nadu demanding that the Union government set up the much-awaited Cauvery Management Board. The demonstrations were held in the city by Muslim outfits, including SDPI, in front of railway stations, police said. In Thanjavur, the Cauvery Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu (Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee) staged an agitation and in Madurai, a pro-Tamil outfit held a demonstration on the issue, they said. All the agitations were held either near or in front of Central government establishments including railway stations. The protesters raised slogans accusing the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "betraying Tamil Nadu's interests". They condemned the Centre for taking a stand against setting up the CMB immediately on the ground that the matter fell in the domain of Parliament. The protests came days after a high-level technical team, set up by the Supreme Court, completed its inspection of Cauvery basin region in Tamil Nadu to assess the situation in the state. The team, which also inspected the Cauvery basin in Karnataka, is set to submit its report in the apex court on October 17. The apex court had set up the team while hearing a petition by Tamil Nadu government seeking release of Cauvery water by Karnataka. Farmers bodies in Tamil Nadu have also called for a 48-hour rail roko on October 17 and 18 to urge the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board. While DMK had yesterday pledged its support to the rail roko, Tamil Maanila Congress today said it would support the stir. (REOPENS MES5) The four-party People's Welfare Alliance, comprising CPI-M, CPI, MDMK and VCK, has extended support to the rail roko. This was decided at a meeting of the leaders of PFA held at Coimbatore this evening. The meeting, chaired by former CPI MLA, M Arumugam, also condemned the Centre's stand against setting up of the board, a PFA release said. MDMK district urban secretary, R R Mohankumar, CPI-M district secretary V Ramamurthy, CPI district secretary V S Sundaram and VCK district secretary Joe Ilakkiyan and Tamil Nadu Farmers Association district secretary, V P Elangovan were among those who participated. Stepping up efforts to achieve zero accident mission, Railways will form a joint working group with German Railways to strengthen safety measures in rail operations. The joint working group would look into the training, technology upgradation and processes for improving the safety, according to the discussions held between Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and the visiting German Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt at Rail Bhavan here. The visit of the German minister is a follow up to Prabhu's trip to Germany in April when an agreement was signed to intensify the cooperation in rail sector between two countries. The two sides held wide ranging discussions on many specific areas of mutual interest in rail sector. The areas include speed raising, capacity increase of passenger and goods transport lines, safety, energy efficient rail operations, education and training, high speed rail, standards and norms and station development. The German minister also extended invite to Indian Railway officials to visit Germany to see its technology and safety systems. Prabhu requested the German side for extending their proposal of high speed (300kmph +) rail study of Mysore - Bangalore - Chennai Corridor to Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. It was pointed out that High Speed Rail Connectivity through Mysore - Banglore - Chennai- Vijayawada Corridor will give boost to the regional development and will link the important states of Southern India. The German Minister acknowledged this request of extending scope of study to include Vijayawada and assured to look into this positively. The study which is fully-funded by German Government is likely to start from January, 2017. Railway Minister emphasised on station redevelopment programme of Indian Railways along with development of smart cities in India. The German Minister welcomed this idea and offered cooperation on this matter. The German side also expressed willingness to undertake feasibility study on speed upgradation on the existing Indian Railway network. The two sides decided to discuss this issue further and finalise the Railway Corridor for the study. The two sides also agreed that Indian Railways and DB Engineering and Consultancy (wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn-DB, the German Railway) together will focus on the freight operations (including cross-border transport, automotive transport and logistics), passenger operations, infrastructure building and management. The two sides were accompanied by their respective delegations during the talks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Reserve Bank today said it has cancelled of registration of Daman based Comfort Intech Limited and while another surrendered its certificate. Comfort Intech cannot transact the business of a non-banking financial institution, the Reserve Bank said. In another statement, the central bank said New Delhi based Madhu Muskan Leasing and Financing has surrendered the certificate of registration granted to it by the RBI. It has cancelled its "Certificate of Registration". Now, Madhu Muskan Leasing and Financing cannot transact the business of a a non-banking financial institution. * * * * ** * Export Credit Agencies meet held * As part of the series of events being organised under the chairmanship of India of BRICS Forum, the second meeting of Heads of Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) of BRICS was held in New Delhi yesterday. The meeting was hosted by ECGC Limited, a premier export credit agency of India. BRICS ECAs are actively involved in facilitating cross- border trade by supporting export credits and foreign investments, the commerce ministry said in a statement today. The supported more than USD 473 billion of exports from the member countries. "Members exchanged notes about various credit insurance products, business sectors and major destinations covered by the group," it said. They also discussed business trends and the rising defaults and claims in the light of heightened political and economic risk, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Describing India as a "university of tolerance", Home Minister on Friday asserted that religious persecution will never be allowed in the country. "Tolerance is essential for peaceful existence. People from all religions live peacefully in India and practise their religion without any fear of discrimination. That is why India is a university of tolerance," Singh said at a meeting of Christian leaders organised by India Christian Council here. Singh said Christianity came to India almost 2,000 years ago and Kerala is home to St Thomas church which is one of the world's oldest churches. He said India cannot forget the contribution of Christians from Saint Thomas to Mother Teresa who tried to eradicate evils from our society. "There were incidents of attacks on churches in Delhi which came up in the run up to elections (to Delhi Assembly). But I would like to say that religious persecution will never be allowed in India whether it is before or after election," he said. Targeting Pakistan, Singh said while India chose to be a secular country, Pakistan declared itself a theocratic state and was now pursuing terrorism as state policy "In 1947, India was divided on the basis of religion and despite that, it chose to be a secular state. "The nation (Pakistan) separated from it declared itself a theocratic state. That country uses terrorism as a state policy." It is very unfortunate that some countries make terrorism a state policy. There can be differences between people that can be resolved through dialogue but not by taking up guns, he said Singh said a terrorist does not belong to any cast, creed on religion. "Not only India, but many countries in the world have been affected by terrorism. A terrorist is a terrorist who does not belong to any caste, creed or religion. Although, some people link terrorism with religion but it is wrong," he said. The Home Minister said in India, people from all religions get respect and it is the only country where all sects of Islam are found. "All important religions find place in India," he said. The meeting was attended by BJP MP and Chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations Udit Raj and Joseph D'Souza, Moderator Bishop, Good Shepherd Church, India and President of All Indian Christian Council. D'Souza asked the Christian community to stand with the government and support it in the fight against terrorism. The Council requested Singh to send a circular to state governments and police to ensure protection of Christians and places of their worships. BSP chief Mayawati today termed BJP's 'Dhamma Chetna' yatra in Kanpur as a "flop show", claiming that RSS workers disguised as Dalits participated in the programme. "Dhamma Chetna Yatra has been taken out by some 'Baudh bhikshus', who have been managed by the BJP...The party is using religion to make electoral and political gains," she said in a release. Hitting out at BJP's Dalit outreach programme, the BSP chief claimed that Dalits did not participate in the yatra, whose concluding session was addressed by BJP president Amit Shah in Kanpur today. She said BJP and RSS workers were made to participate in the programme "projecting them as Dalits." The 'baudh bhikshus' felicitated at the yatra were also the ones belonging to these organisations, the statement said. Mayawati said, "The BJP's Dhamma yatra was similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attempts to do politics on a religious occasion like he did in Lucknow on Dussehra, in order to help his party which is in a very bad shape in the state". The six-month long Dhamma Chetna Yatra concluded at Kanpur today. Dalits, who have converted to Buddhism took part in the programme, where a few monks were also felicitated. The yatra is seen as yet another attempt by the BJP to reach out to the backward community in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia could sell missile defence systems to Turkey. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, in comments carried today by Russian agencies, that Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed potential arms deals at a meeting in Istanbul earlier this week. He said that Russia would considering selling various missile defense systems if Turkey wants them. Turkey was negotiating a nuclear defense deal with China, which had been a source of tension with NATO partners, before the talks broke down last year. The statement comes just a few months after Russia agreed to restore ties with Turkey. Relations between the two nations were nearly severed after Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Turkish-Syrian border last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Africa's anti-corruption watchdog called Friday for her report into graft allegations against President Jacob Zuma to be released as soon as possible after he blocked it with a legal challenge. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had been due to publish the report into accusations that Zuma allowed a business family to have undue influence over government and even to nominate cabinet ministers. But the president yesterday launched last-minute court action delaying the release, saying he had not had time to respond to questions about so-called "state capture" by the Gupta family. "I disagree with those who say the 'state capture' investigation was not urgent," Madonsela told reporters. "This matter has created so much fracture in the executive and in the country, it was necessary for the investigation to be done and to be done fast so that any cloud is cleared." The potentially explosive report was expected to be released today, the last day in office for Madonsela, who has regularly clashed with the president. Zuma, 74, has survived a series of damaging scandals, but has faced increasing criticism as the economy stalls and after the ruling ANC party suffered unprecedented losses in local polls. Madonsela said her report had been completed and handed to the parliamentary Speaker "for safe-keeping" pending a court hearing next month. "Just because sometimes we deal with underhand people, it doesn't mean we also have to be underhanded," she said, adding she was not directly referring to Zuma. Madonsela declined to comment on new reports that ANC lawmaker David van Rooyen had met the Guptas the night before his appointment as finance minister in December. Van Rooyen replaced the widely-respected Nhlanhla Nene, but was removed from the job after only four days, following a market plunge and political outrage. Under Madonsela, the Public Protector's office has gained a reputation as a formidable corruption buster, handing down scathing findings against Zuma, state agencies and public companies. Reflecting on her much-praised time in office, she said: "It is about finding the truth and telling it the best you know how in an effort to help the government treat its people properly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Afghanistan today expressed hopes that decision by five countries to pull out of the SAARC summit in Islamabad will bring positive results and force non-cooperating member nations to walk on the path of peace and partnership. India and four other SAARC members - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - pulled out of the November summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment not conducive for successful holding of the meet. The development took place in the aftermath of the Uri terrorist attack on September 18. "Afghanistan and India are at the forefront of supporting SAARC. The recent decision to boycott SAARC summit in Islamabad by India, Afghanistan and others is aimed at finding better ways to improve SAARC," said Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali. He was speaking at an interactive meeting organised by industry bodies FICCI and FTAPCCI here. "SAARC should act in a manner it has been desired and aimed at. SAARC means connectivity, SAARC means business, SAARC means peace and stability. But if we see things happening contrary to that, then we must take steps to ensure those who are creating trouble change their course and be cooperative," the Afghan envoy said. He, however, did not name any country. "We hope the decision not to participate (in the Islamabad summit) will give us a positive result. The positive result would be that those who do not cooperate in the same manner as other SAARC member countries will also start following our path. The path of peace and cooperation. The path which brings 'win-win' situation for all. We hope that decision will bring about better results... Better future of this region," Abdali said. He described relationship between India and Afghanistan as "very unique". "No other country can or countries can compete with our true relationship. It's very unique and it's very deep. It is based on cordial and friendly ties," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Vijay Sampla today directed the Deputy Commissioner of Mansa to provide monetary help of Rs 8.25 lakh to the family of the Dalit youth who was allegedly murdered brutally by a rival liquor gang in the district. The monetary help which is mandated under the Prevention of Atrocities Act will be disbursed in two equal installments, the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said. Half of the money will be given immediately, while the remaining amount will be provided when the case is wrapped up, he said. "BJP state General Secretary Kewal Kumar and other leaders visited the aggrieved family in Gharangana village. All three accused in the case have been arrested and senior police officials have assured the party leaders that they will be dealt with as per law," the Punjab party chief said. "The central government is committed towards the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes and the victim's family will be provided justice at any cost," Sampla added. A 20-year-old Dalit youth, who was allegedly involved in illegal liquor trade, was brutally killed and his leg chopped off allegedly by a rival group of liquor smugglers in Mansa district on October 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web Samsung Electronics said today that discontinuing the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, which is prone to overheat and catch fire, will cost it about USD 3 billion in the current and coming quarters, raising total costs from the recalls to at least USD 5.3 billion. The Note 7 discontinuation will cost in the mid-2 trillion won range during the October-December period and another 1 trillion won (USD 884 million) during the January-March quarter, the company said in a statement. Samsung already slashed its third-quarter profit forecast by USD 2.6 billion earlier this week, an amount that could wipe out its entire mobile business profit. That did not include the cost of Samsung's first recall, which analysts estimated at 1 trillion won to 2 trillion won. Samsung has enough cash and other businesses to absorb the shock from the phone recall. It said it expected to generate 5.2 trillion won (USD 4.6 billion) in operating income during the third quarter after the recall cost. Analysts said most of the income will be generated by sales of advanced displays and semiconductors. Samsung added that it will make significant changes in its quality assurance processes to improve product safety. It did not elaborate. The company said it will expand sales of two other smartphones released in spring, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, quashing rumors that it may try to release updated versions of those devices. Samsung usually releases a new iteration of the Galaxy S series in spring, so the company may have to provide a strong incentive to sell the 6-month-old phones, such as lowering their prices. More than 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones were recalled due to the unexplained overheating problems before Samsung gave up the product earlier this week, just two months after its launch in August. In the US, 1.9 million Note 7 phones are subject to the two recalls. Samsung also recalled about 200,000 phones in China and about half a million phones in South Korea. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said there were 96 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the country, including 23 new reports since the first recall announcement last month. The company received 13 reports of burns and 47 reports of property damage associated with the phones. "Consumers should immediately stop using and power down all Galaxy Note 7 devices, including Note 7 devices received as replacements in the previous recall," the agency said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bollywood actress Sana Khan says she was nervous before shooting bold scenes for her upcoming film "Wajah Tum Ho". The actress says she was aware that she had to shoot for certain bold scenes for the upcoming erotic-thriller, which gave her many sleepless nights. When asked if there was any apprehension, Sana told reporters,"Of course there was. Even when I signedthe film I knew there will be some hot scenes which were making me very nervous and giving me some sleepless nights." The Vishal Pandya-directed film also stars Sharman Joshi, TV actor Gurmeet Choudhary, Rajneesh Duggaland the "Jai Ho" actress credited the team for making the scenes comfortable to shoot. "When we started the shoot and I got to know one day before, that tomorrow we will be doing it, obviously I was very nervous. It's very important that the people you're working with make you comfortable. "I was comfortable eventually, it happened. It is very important that these scenes happen rightly. Especially, we have done all these scenes in one take," she added. Sana plays a lawyer in the movie. The actress said there is a very thin line between vulgarity and sensuality and she is proud that she has never looked this good on screen. "My DOP (director of photography) plays a very important role. He is the one who is going to film me. I don't know the frame he is going to set, how am I going to look. "It's a very thin line between looking sensual and vulgar. I can proudly say I've never looked this pretty on screen," she added. The actress was speaking at the trailer launch of "Wajah Tum Ho". Asked if superstar Salman Khan, whom she worked with in "Jai Ho" has seen the trailer, she said, "I am sure like everyone else is seeing it, he will also. He didn't wish me yet. But Sohail (Khan) did. I am sure once he sees the trailer he will too." The film is scheduled to release on December 2. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Divorce" star Sarah Jessica Parker enjoyed a date night with actor-husband, Matthew Broderick, in New York city. The 51-year-old actress had a lavish dinner with Broderick as they attended the Friends of Hudson River Park's annual gala, where the "Godzilla" star was honoured, reported People magazine. Parker wore a stylish gown with royal blue and purple embroidery for the date, while Broderick, 54, complemented her in a dark blue suit, tie and black leather shoes. The pair have been married since 1997 and have three children together, 13-year-old son James Wilkie, and 7-year-old twin daughters Tabitha and Loretta. Parker also shared a picture from the night on her Instagram by captioning it, "A really lovely evening continues... (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Saudi Arabian troops and Yemeni rebels have exchanged fire along their border, leaving one Saudi soldier dead, the interior ministry said today. The firefight came a week after Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is allied with Shiite Huthi rebels, called for "revenge" following air strikes on a funeral ceremony in Yemen's rebel-held capital killed more than 140 people. Rebels blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the October 8 strikes in Sanaa. The Saudi interior ministry said a border post in the kingdom's Jazan region came under fire from the Huthis yesterday night, killing a member of the Border Guards force. At least 110 Saudi soldiers and civilians have been killed along the border, either in rebel rocket fire or armed clashes, since March last year when the coalition began an air war against the rebels. The coalition intervened to support Yemen's internationally-recognised government after the Huthis overran much of the country. Rebels twice this week fired ballistic missiles towards southwestern Saudi cities that host air force bases. The missiles were shot down, according to the coalition. In Yemen, the United Nations says 6,885 civilians have been killed, about half of them civilians. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to regularise its daily wage and substitute sanitation workers, the civic body today said. A resolution to this effect was moved in the general meeting of SDMC and it was unanimously approved. "All such employees will be regularised and everyone will get an opportunity of regularisation. The safai karmcharis will be regularised on the basis of their seniority and serial number," an SDMC statement quoted South Delhi Mayor Shyam Sharma as saying. SDMC has also decided to redeploy casual teachers who had been working on assignment from 2011-2014. These teachers were removed a few months ago. The Mayor said their redeployment will be made on the posts vacated by the 140 teachers promoted to the post of principals. He has asked the education department to take immediate action in this regard so that no post remains vacant. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who has pitched for a second term for President Pranab Mukherjee, will meet him next week, in a move that can cause flutters in political circles. Raut, who is the party's leader in the Rajya Sabha, has insisted that Mukherjee has proved to be the "best President" and no one can doubt his capability. "In the last five years, he has shown that he is a capable and a non-controversial President, who is well-versed in national and international affairs," Raut said. Asked whether the Shiv Sena, which is a key constituent of the BJP-led NDA and the oldest ideological ally of the saffron party, would appeal to other parties for backing Mukherjee for a second term, Raut said, it is a decision which only party chief Uddhav Thackeray can take. "Uddhav Thackeray too has a lot of respect and affection for Pranab Mukherjee," he said. Raut, who is the executive editor of Shiv Sena's mouthpeice Saamna, said, "Just like his party appreciated the surgical strikes by the armed forces and congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, similarly, we are appreciating the good work of the President." When asked why is he meeting the President next week, Raut said it is just a "courtesy call". The Sena's stand, which currently shares an uneasy relationship with the BJP, comes amid reports that the government had decided on a post-retirement home for Mukherjee, whose tenure ends in July 2017. In run-up to the Presidential polls, Mukherjee had visited Matoshree, the residence of Thackerays, to garner support for his candidature. The Sena, under Bal Thackeray's leadership, had broken ranks with BJP to support Mukherjee's presidential candidature in 2012. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Friday questioned Deputy Chief Minister in connection with its probe into an alleged recruitment scam in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). Sisodia was summoned by the ACB on October 7 informing him about the questioning. The deputy CM arrived around 11 am at the ACB office on Friday and his questioning continued for over two hours, said a senior ACB officer. "In the documents that were probed by the ACB, it was found that there was a letter from the office of Sisodia that had authorised the DCW as a body with financial autonomy. According to rules, only the L-G can grant financial autonomy to a body. We will be questioning him on this aspect," sources had said. The ACB has been probing the matter for the last few months and based on the questioning of Maliwal's staff, it was found that due procedure "was not followed in appointments" and an FIR under relevant section of Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC was registered against her. Meanwhile, DCW chief Swati Maliwal termed the ACB's summoning of Sisodia as "political vendetta" and claimed that he had no role in the appointments made to the women's panel. "ACB summoning @msisodia reeks of political vendetta. He has no role in DCW appointments. DCW was always autonomous," she tweeted. "Sad. ACB pursuing false case against me, not taking action on my corruption complain against Shiela Dixit for past 3 weeks despite evidence (sic)," Maliwal said in another tweet. Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma is one step away from making his third seccessive final as he entered the men's singles semifinals of the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix following a hard-fought win over Japan's Kento Horiuchi here today. Sourabh, who reached the finals at two international challengers -- Belgian and Poland Open, defeated Kento 7-11 11-1 11-3 11-7 in a 31-minute match to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei's Hsu Jen Hao at the USD 55,000 event. 2011 National Champion Sourabh has a 3-0 record against Hao and he will hope to come up on top tomorrow at the Hsing Chuang Gymansium here. Kento had opened up a 3-0 lead early on and though Sourabh managed to draw parity at 4-4, the Japanese broke off at 7-7 to grab the opening game. A jolted Sourabh dished out a completely dominating game in the next as he didn't give any chance to Kento to fight back and roared into the contest. In the third game, Sourabh once again lead from start to finsin to lead 2-1 in the five-game rubber, which is being tested by the BWF in the tournament. In the fourth game, Kento managed to eke out a 4-0 lead but Sourabh soon reeled off six points to turn the tables leading 7-4. The Indian then sealed the issue without much issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) High cost of spectrum following the recent auction is credit negative for telecom operators, as the debt levels will rise further, Moody's Investors Service said today. Telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea committed a total Rs 65,789 crore in the sale of airwaves concluded on October 6. "The resulting high costs for spectrum -- following an auction on October 7 -- is credit negative for India's telecom operators, as the debt levels of their already stretched balance sheets will rise further," the agency said. "In our view, these spectrum wins will weigh on balance sheets and cash flows, as debt levels will rise materially for most operators, including incumbent Bharti Airtel Ltd (Baa3 stable) and larger international groups, such as Vodafone Group Plc (Baa1 stable)." The operators will experience a reduction in their ability to fund further expansion or to absorb the effects of weaker profitability as competition intensifies, Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer Annalisa Di Chiara said in a report. Vodafone's India took home Rs 20,280 crore worth of spectrum. Bharti Airtel bought Rs 14,244 crore, Idea Cellular Rs 12,798 crore and newcomer Reliance Jio spent around Rs 13,672 crore on spectrum buying. More intense competition, in part spurred by Jio's launch, is likely to drive tariffs lower, causing average revenues per user (ARPU) to contract and industry revenue and profitability to fall over the next 12-18 months, meaning that leverage levels could rise, the report said. Bids for the four largest telecom operators aggregated 1157 MHz of spectrum, 31 per cent of the spectrum available for sale across all bands, Moody's report added. However, the most expensive spectrum in 700 mhz band priced at 11,485 crore per Mhz found no takers. "The auction did not attract any bids for the highly expensive 700 MHz band, implying that Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (unrated) and Reliance Communications Limited (Ba3, review for downgrade) -- which have a spectrum-and- infrastructure sharing agreement -- will remain the only players with access to pan-India spectrum in the sub 1 Ghz band," the report said. As per demand note issued by the Department of Telecom, Jio needs to pay Rs 5,930 crore; Idea Rs 6,399 crore, Vodafone Rs 10,139 crore; Airtel Rs 7,121 crore, Tata Teleservices Rs 2,309 crore, RCom Rs 32.5 crore and Aircel Rs 56 crore as upfront amount by October 20. "Longer term, the spectrum which the operators secure will help them maintain their competitive positions, support their strategies on data growth and enhance cash flow generation. Their high debt burdens may also pave the way for recapitalisation events and further industry consolidation, which will in turn ultimately benefit those incumbents well positioned in 4G," the report noted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Low frills carrier SpiceJet today said it is planning to add about three Bombardiers and 4 to 5 Boeings by the end of the current fiscal as it wants to increase its daily flights by 10 per cent and also introduce new international destinations. "We have 17 planes for regional connectivity. Spicejet is a major player in regional connectivity space. Few weeks back, we have added three Bombardiers. We will be adding three more in the current financial year," Ajay Singh CMD of SpiceJet told reporters on the sidelines of a Ficci Ladies Organisation programme here today. "We will be adding 4 or 5 aircraft this year. They will mostly be Boeings," he said. Currently, SpiceJet is having a fleet of 43 aircraft operating 320 flights a day. Replying to a query, Singh said within next few weeks they will be adding 2 to 3 international destinations. Currently, it operates to six countries. "We are flying to six countries as of now. We are looking at more options. In the next few weeks, we will announce some more routes. We will be announcing two to three destinations more. Our strategy is to operate in 4 hour-window journey," he said. On its proposed order, the CMD said they are talking to both Airbus and Boeing for placing an order of over 100 aircraft. The deal will be finalised in a month, he said, adding that the whole order will either go to Boeing or Airbus. "We are going to finalise in a month. It will be either Boeing or Airbus. We will not be rushed into a decision. It will not be mix of both. It has to be done at right price. So, we have to be very careful. We have closed many issues related to aircraft purchase. It could be more than 100 aircraft," he said. He said the budget airline is also mulling to operate flights from Hyderabad to Tier-II cities like Nagpur, Calicut and Bhubaneswar. The Airline has continuously been making profits for the few quarters on the back of operational efficiency, he claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lankan police say they are investigating the death of a retired soldier found hanged today with a note claiming responsibility for the 2009 murder of a prominent anti-establishment newspaper editor. The body of the former military intelligence officer was found at his home today with what appeared to be a suicide note in his pocket claiming responsibility for the killing, a senior police official said. His death comes a month after Sri Lankan authorities reopened the investigation into the January 2009 killing of Lasantha Wickrematunga, a fierce critic of the island's former strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse. "We are investigating if the suicide note is genuine," a senior officer said asking not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to reporters. "We are also investigating the contents of the note." A serving military intelligence officer is already in custody in connection with Wickrematunga's death, which sparked an international outcry and shone a spotlight on violence against the media. Last month, the authorities exhumed Wickrematunga's body to conduct a fresh autopsy after fears that forensic evidence may have been tampered with or deliberately falsified to mislead the investigation. Wickrematunga was the chief editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper which had accused Rajapakse's then powerful defence secretary brother Gotabhaya of kickbacks in arms purchases, including an aircraft deal. He was killed a few days before he was due to give evidence before a judge looking into corruption allegations against Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who has denied any involvement. The case was reopened last year after a former minister in Rajapakse's government accused Gotabhaya of running a death squad and ordering the hit against the editor. Police as well as rights groups have said there was strong evidence the military played a role in his killing. Wickrematunga started the Sunday Leader with his brother Lal Wickrematunga 22 years ago, building it into one of the most vocal anti-establishment newspapers in the country. The newspaper was highly critical of rights abuses by troops against ethnic minority Tamils during the island's long-running separatist conflict that ended in 2009. Some 17 journalists and media employees were killed in Sri Lanka under Rajapakse's regime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Statement of film actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui's sister-in-law, who accused him and his family members of harassing her for dowry, was recorded here today. Police this evening recorded the statement of Afrin, wife of Minazuddin, brother of Nawazuddin, in connection with her complaint of harassment for dowry, SHO of women police station, Mamta Goutam said. Afrin on September 30 had alleged that her husband, brothers-in-law Nawazuddin, Faizuddin, Majuddin and sister-in-law Saima were harassing her for dowry, while the actor has refuted the allegation saying she has done it for publicity. She had also alleged that she was tortured and kicked by the accused. The SHO said that the victim has not submitted any documentry evidence or any medical report to support her allegations. Nawazuddin had produced CCTV footage in his defence. "It is only a matter of family dispute which can be resolved by mediation," the SHO said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bengaluru-based real estate developer Sumadhura Group today said it has plans to launch residential projects in Pune and Chennai in the next 2-3 years and is in the process of exploring land parcels in the two cities. "We plan to launch residential projects in Pune and Chennai over the next two to three years... We are exploring land parcels," Sumadhura Group Chairman Madhusudhan G told reporters here. Sumadhura Group today announced beginning of construction of 31-storeyed residential project 'Sumadhura Acropolis' in Gachibowli here. Sumadhura Group is at present undertaking six residential projects in Bengaluru, with 2.5 million sq ft built-up area. "Three of the ongoing projects will be completed by this December-end and two will be ready by May and June next year respectively while the sixth project will be over by March, 2018," he said. The real estate developer is targeting a turnover of Rs 350 crore this fiscal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Drama series 'The Good Wife' is set to get a Russian remake. Sony Pictures Television is expanding into drama production and local versions of "Doc Martin" and "Mad Dogs" will also be made as the country continues to see remakes of popular foreign shows, said The Hollywood Reporter. The production company has signed a development deal with national network NTV to produce local adaptations of the CBS hit show. "'Mad Dogs' and 'The Good Wife' are both very interesting formats, and we are happy that they will be developed for NTV by Lean-M, a company that is well-known in Russia for its quality adaptations of foreign formats for the Russian market," said Timur Weinstein, NTV's general producer. The story revolves around Alicia and her two children, dealing with life, after her husband Peter Florrick, a former State attorney, is imprisoned for a sex and corruption scandal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons were arrested today for allegedly creating rukcus in a church and threatening a priest during Sunday mass in Begumpur area of outer Delhi, police said. "Accused Yogesh Mathur and Pradip Sharma have been arrested for allegedly creating ruckus and threatening people and the priest in a church at Begumpur," said DCP (Outer district) M N TIwari. During investigation it was found that the duo were trying to vitiate the atmosphere in the area. But there is no evidence to show their allegiance to any group, said the officer. Mathur and Sharma had, on last Sunday, gone to the Christ Blessings Church in Jain Nagar of Begumpur area and created ruckus during the mass being attended by scores of people in the morning. They are seen reaching the Church on a two-wheeler in a CCTV camera footage. A complaint was filed by a Church goer who accused Mathur of making "objectionable" statement against the religion and priest of the Church Paul Daniels for alleged conversion. He had also threatened the priest by pointing towards him and saying "he will be taken care of". A case under Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion and religious belief) and 296 (disturbing religious assembly) was registered. Police said further probe is underway to find out whether it was an individual act by Mathur and his accomplice or some organisation was behind it. Mathur was engaged in farming and Sharma accompanied him as his "sidekick". Although Mathur claimed to be a self-proclaimed president of a Hindu outfit but it was not substantiated, they said. "We are keeping a watch and ensuring strictest action against the trouble makers who may try to incite feelings of the people through acts related to religion. In the present case, no connection of the accused with any established organisation has come so far," Tiwari added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two employees of a nationalised bank in the city suburbs were arrested today on charges of circulating rumours on the health status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Chennai, police said. The arrests were made following a complaint by an AIADMK woman worker Sunitha Devi, they said. Sunitha had gone to the bank at Thondamuthur on October 7 when the two staff Suresh and Ramesh sought to know from her about the health condition of Jayalalithaa. When she did not reply, the two reportedly made some comments on the health status, police said. Sunitha, who left the bank informed her party colleagues about the incident, they said. A few AIADMK workers along with Sunitha returned to the bank yesterday, as the bank remained closed for five days on account of holidays, and sought an explanation from the two about their comments, leading to some arguments, police said. Sunitha lodged a complaint with police, who registered cases under various sections of IPC, including 505 (1)B (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public) and 506(1) (threat and intimidation). Suresh and Ramesh were arrested and later remanded to custody. Police had already warned of stern action against those spreading rumours about Jayalalithaa and formed special teams to investigate such cases. More than 40 persons have been arrested so far for allegedly spreading rumours and posting malicious and false content regarding the health status of the Chief Minister on social media. Soon after 68-year-old Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration, rumours were circulating about her health on social networking sites including Facebook and WhatsApp. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to to visit areas devastated by Hurricane Matthew as a UN funding appeal for the Caribbean nation drew few donors. Ban will tomorrow visit Les Cayes on Haiti's southern coast -- one of the cities hardest-hit by Matthew and meet with Haitian leaders, his office said. The United Nations has launched a flash appeal for $120 million to help cope with its worst humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake. Only $6.1 million has been raised so far, equal to 5 per cent of the total appeal, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. At least 473 people were killed when Matthew crashed ashore on October 4 as a monster Category 4 storm, packing winds of 145 miles (230 kilometers) per hour. Ban said Monday that a "massive response" was needed to cope with the destruction, with 1.4 million people in need of urgent assistance after towns and villages were almost wiped off the map. Separately, the UN Security Council decided to extend the mandate of the MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission in for another six months, until April 2017. UN mission chief Sandra Honore told the council this week that the extension would help Haiti deal with the humanitarian crisis and ensure political stability after elections were postponed. Ban will also travel to Ecuador to attend the Habitat III conference on housing and sustainable urban development. The US today told Pakistan to take action to combat and delegitimise all terrorist groups operating on its soil. "We continue to urge Pakistan to take action to combat and delegitimise all terrorist groups operating on its soil," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at his daily conference. "Obviously Pakistan has suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists and violent extremists. We want to help Pakistan confront this terrorist threat, but we also want Pakistan also to go after those terrorists who seek and sometimes find safe haven on Pakistan territory," he said in response to a question. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Resonance Specialties today said its manufacturing facility at Mandideep has been inspected by US health regulator USFDA. One of the company's manufacturing sites -- Vista Organics Pvt, Mandideep -- has been recently inspected by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Resonance Specialties said in a BSE filing. "No 483 observations have been issued and Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) is awaited," it added. EIR is given after the successful completion of the inspection by USFDA. The stock of Resonance Specialties today closed 4.93 per cent lower at Rs 38.60 on BSE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With Japanese Encephalitis claiming lives of over 51 children in Odisha's tribal dominated Malkangiri district, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan today called upon scientists of the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) here to come up with ideas to eradicate the disease. "The Government of India is doing research to effectively eradicate Japanese Encephalitis and it is providing more support to Odisha government in controlling the JE in endemic areas of the state," Vardhan said. Vardhan, who is also a former Health Minister, encouraged scientists to come up with translational and applicative research ideas especially on control of cancer and infectious disease like Japanese Encephalitis, Dengue and Chikungunya which is now a threat to the mankind. Earlier, Vardhan inaugurated the new research and development building of the ILS, which became fully functional this year with adequate infrastructure like experimental animal facility, genomics, proteomics, crystallography, cytometry and biological imaging facilities. He termed the facilities as the best in the country in life sciences sector and exhorted scholars to work with dedication and determination to make the institute a premier one in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) War widows and family members of 1962, 1965 and 1971 war martyrs today rejected Rs 50 lakh special grant-in-aid announced by Punjab government and refused to call off their protest. They continued to stage protest in front of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's official residence, seeking financial compensation meant for the families of martyred soldiers. "We reject the special grant-in-aid announced by the government today. We want compensation which we have been demanding for last several months," Gurmeet Singh, son of a 1971 war widow Shinder Kaur, said. "We will continue with our protest till our demands are met," Singh, who was speaking on the behalf of protesting families and war widows, said. Several war widows and their family members have been staging protest in front of Badal's residence here since September 27. They have been demanding financial compensation in lieu of 10 acres of land which was announced in 1975. They said that the state government had told them they could not give land instead assured that the cash compensation would be given. Badal today announced a special grant-in-aid of Rs 50 lakh to be given to the war widows or their legal heirs, of the valiant soldiers who had laid down their lives in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars and 1962 Indo-China war. A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said a policy had been announced way back in 1975 and over 1,500 war-widows who had applied in time had been allotted up to 10 acres of agricultural land or cash equivalent in lieu of land at the rate notified from time to time. However, there were nearly 100 cases in which the applicants, for one reason or another, failed to apply within the stipulated cut-off date. Above 100 such cases had applied till the extended cut-off date January 4, 2010. The spokesperson said the residual agricultural land earmarked for allotment was either locked up in litigation or in unauthorized possession, which rendered it practically impossible for the war widow allottees to take over possession of the land. Therefore, keeping in view the demands of war-widows and their representatives, the state government had decided to honour the remaining duly verified and deserving cases of war widows with the cash grant. It was clarified that as in the scheme notified before, the residual land owned by the war-widow would be taken into account on proportionate basis in calculation of the cash-grant. The grant would be payable in three half yearly installments of Rs 20 lakh, Rs 15 lakh and Rs 15 lakh respectively. Formal Gazette notification would be issued soon after obtaining the approval of the Council of Ministers and the cash-grant would be disbursed through the Directorate of Sainik Welfare in their ancestral towns and villages etc so as to prevent any inconvenience to the war-widows, the spokesman added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Film exhibitors in West Bengal today termed the decision by a cinema owners' body not to screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in four states as "unfair" as it would have an adverse impact on the financial health of production houses. West Bengal exhibitors, however, said that they are "Ok" with the decision if it prohibits screening of films in future which has Pakistani artistes. The Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI), that mainly covers single screen theatres, decided not to show films involving Pakistani artistes or technicians in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa keeping in mind "patriotic feelings" of the people in mind. "I think this decision is unfair. If you stop completed films, it will impact the finances of the production house and the producer," Arijit Dutta, the owner of Priya Cinemas and Bioscope multiplex, told PTI. "However, if it is decided that henceforth movies with Pakistani artistes will not be screened, its absolutely fine. Then the producers will not cast Pakistani artistes in their films," Dutta, who is also an actor, said. His views were echoed by owners of single screens in Kolkata, who felt that not screening completed films like "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" will hit the business of single screens in this festive season. The COEAI decision dealt a blow to "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil," a Karan Johar film featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan to be released during Diwali. "This is a festive season which will continue till new year. So if you put a ban on big banner movies at this part of the year, single screen theatres will face financial crunch," an owner of three single screen theatres in an around Kolkata, said. Pankaj Ladia, senior regional manager, movie programming and distribution at Inox Leisure Ltd, declined to comment saying he was not aware of any such decision. Veteran actor and Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Soumitra Chatterjee too opposed such decisions and said it will not serve any purpose. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking a jibe at Pakistan, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said it could seek the help of India if it could not root out terrorism on its own. Addressing a public rally here, he said Pakistan was getting isolated from the world for abetting terrorism. "If Pakistan government wants to get rid of terrorism and if Pakistan government on its own cannot root out terrorism, then it can seek help of India. India is ready to root out terrorism from Pakistan," he said. He said constant efforts were made to improve relations with Pakistan, pointing out that Narendra Modi had invited in May 2014 all the heads of governments of neighbouring countries for his swearing in as Prime Minister to send a message that India wants to have better relations with them. But Pakistan did not understand this and tried to take advantage in "violation", he said, apparently referring to the Uri terror attack. "We do not hate people of Pakistan but hate terrorism in Pakistan." Singh said terrorists from Pakistan crossed the borders and killed 18 soldiers but what the Indian jawans did in retaliation was sending a strong message to the world that the country was not weak but strong. He also said the greatest example of India being a secular country was it declared itself a secular state rather than a theocratic state unlike Pakistan that called itself an Islamic state. At the rally, former Dalit IAS officer K Shivaram, who has acted in some Kannada films, joined the BJP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller gave a message full of hope and inspiration to the LGBTQ youth saying things will be better one day. The 44-year-old actor said not everyone is same and their are people, who are ready to stand with the LGBTQ community, reported ET online. "I would say what others have said: it gets better. One day, you'll find your tribe. You just have to trust that people are out there waiting to love you and celebrate you for who you are," Miller said advising young people grappling with their sexual identity. LGBTQ youth often face bullying, and are at a higher risk for depression, suicidal thoughts and behaviors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping, stepping up a competition with India for regional influence, said on Friday ties with Bangladesh would be enhanced to a strategic partnership as the two countries signed 27 agreements worth billions of dollars. Xi, making a first trip by a Chinese president to Bangladesh in 30 years, boosted involvement in Bangladeshi infrastructure at a time when Japan has also increased investment in the country located on the Bay of Bengal. "We agreed to elevate the relations between China and Bangladesh from a closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation to a strategic partnership of cooperation," Xi said after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. India has long considered Bangladesh as part of its area of influence and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has boosted economic links with it as well as with other neighbours including Nepal and Sri Lanka. Last year Modi announced a $2 billion credit line during a visit to Dhaka, but China is set to go well beyond that. Ahead of Xi's visit, Bangladesh junior finance minister M.A. Mannan said the deals the two countries planned to sign would involve Chinese funding of about $24 billion, Dhaka's biggest foreign credit line yet. Among the agreements sealed on Friday was a 1,320 MW power plant that China will build, officials said. China's TBEA signed a power grid deal worth $1.6 billion with Dhaka Power, following a pact that Jiangsu Etern's consortium signed on Thursday to strengthen Bangladesh's power grid network valued at $1.1 billion. "We reached a consensus to work together in trade and investment and other key areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, energy and power, information technology and transportation," Hasina said. Xi visited Dhaka en route to a BRICS summit of the world's leading emerging economies in Goa, India. Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at Shanghai Institute for International Studies, said there was room for both India and China to support development in Bangladesh. "I really don't think there is a zero sum game going on... Bangladesh welcomes both Chinese and Indian investment," said Zhao. China is currently Bangladesh's biggest trade partner with annual turnover of around $10 billion which is heavily in favour of Beijing. "Xi's visit will set a new milestone," minister Mannan told . "Our infrastructure needs are big, so we need huge loans." Bangladesh has backed Xi's "One Belt, One Road" initiative to boost trade and transport links across Asia and into Europe, seeing it as an opportunity to lift growth. India has reservations about the plan, amid worries that it is an attempt to build a vast zone of Chinese influence. ($1 = 78.40 taka) (Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Mike Collett-White and John Stonestreet) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian law enforcement agencies are increasingly requesting for more user data from online search firm Google, a trend that is seen across the globe as more governments begin using digital data to fight crime and curb terrorism. Commercial Feature is a Business Standard Digital Marketing Initiative. The Editorial/Content team at Business Standard has not contributed to writing or editing these articles. For further information, please write to assist@bsmail.in *M*ake what you will of this. In the modern era of partisan polarization, which can be dated back to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, only the presid... A group led by Russian oil major Rosneft will acquire Essar Oil in a $12 to $13 billion deal including debt, two sources privy to the deal said, strengthening the ties between the world's largest oil producer and the world's fastest growing fuel consumer. The deal helps Russia to deepen economic ties that stretch back to the Soviet era. The purchase is the biggest foreign acquisition ever in India and Russia's largest outbound deal, according to Thomson Reuters data. It also comes as Russia is keen to reassert its role in global affairs and at a time when its own economy is stagnant, hit by Western sanctions and low oil prices. Rosneft will get a 49 per cent stake in Essar and the two investors-European trader Trafigura and a Russian fund UCP-will hold another 49 per cent in equal parts, the sources said, adding that the valuation included about $4.5 billion in assumed debt. Through this acquisition, Rosneft will not only get an additional outlet for its oil amid a global supply glut but will also get to market fuels in the world's fastest-growing major economy. No immediate comment was available from the companies involved. Essar Oil is part of a steel-to-ports conglomerate controlled by the billionaire Ruia brothers that has faced pressure from creditors to reduce borrowing that some analysts estimate at more than $14 billion. Essar Oil operates a 400,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in Vadinar on India's west coast and sells fuels through its 2,470 filling stations in India. The deal will also include the Vadinar port and a power plant associated with the refinery, said one of the sources. "This could herald a diversification in crude sourcing for India overall away from the Middle East," said Tushar Tarun Bansal, director at Singapore-based consultancy Ivy Global. "From India's point of view, it cements a strong relationship with Russia." One source said the deal will be largely funded by Russia's VTB Capital, part of state-controlled bank VTB. VTB Group is under Western sanctions over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis that restrict its access to international capital. Trafigura will also bring in some funds to buy its share, said a third source. Essar is expected to announce the deal on Saturday in Goa during a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bilateral summit. In a sign it plans to expand its presence in India, Trafigura has hired two oil traders from Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, and a business development executive from Cairn India to form a new oil desk based in Mumbai, adding to its current Indian staff count of more than 250, two sources familiar with the matter said. The two oil traders have a combined experience of more than 20 years with the Indian refiners, the sources added. Trafigura has also advertised for an oil operations analyst based in Mumbai to provide physical oil products operations and trader support, according to a notice on Trafigura's website. Rosneft and Trafigura are the latest international oil companies after Royal Dutch Shell and BP to enter the Indian fuel retailing market. Rosneft may supply Venezuelan oil to Essar's Vadinar refinery after a deal to buy a stake in the Indian company is finalised, Essar's managing director L. K. Gupta told Reuters in August. Ahead of the BRICS summit on Sunday, sherpas of the five countries today discussed key issues, including those pertaining to global economy as well as terrorism, in order to finalise the text of the Goa Declaration to be adopted by their leaders. Issues like reform of the UN and the IMF, WTO and G20 were among the important subjects discussed by the sherpas, official sources said, adding that terrorism was also a key topic that was taken up. "Terrorism being a common challenge faced by all BRICS countries, was an important part of the discussion," sources said. Noting that the sherpas' meeting was to discuss and finalise the text of the Goa Declaration as well as the Goa Action Plan to be adopted by the leaders at the summit, sources said the meeting will continue tomorrow as well. The meeting is being chaired by Secretary ER (Economic Relations), MEA, Amar Sinha. Official sources said a particular focus was on intra- BRICS trade, finance and industrial collaboration as well cooperation in education, health, agriculture, science, energy and disaster management. Several other important subjects, including reform of the UN and IMF, WTO and G20, apart from progress on the sustainable development goals were also deliberated upon by the sherpas. India's chairmanship of BRICS has been marked by several new initiatives, enhanced people-to-people contacts and broad-basing sectoral cooperation between the member nations, sources added. The main BRICS Summit on October 16 will begin with a photo opportunity followed by restricted talks between the leaders and later a meeting of business captains from the member-countries. In the second half, after the speech of the leaders, there will be BRICS and BIMSTEC retreat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be having nearly ten bilaterals, including an annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit and BIMSTEC outreach meet. The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) and Ulster Bank held the fourth in a series of six regional business seminars in Shannon Airport yesterday morning, entitled - The Importance of Shannon & Mid-West Corridor to the Irish Export Industry. Over 70 exporters and service providers attended the event from all over the Shannon and Mid-West region to hear from the Export Industry Panel and Industry Speakers. A panel discussion led by Simon McKeever, Chief Executive, Irish Exporters Association took place on industry opportunities and challenges relevant to the region. Speaking after the event in Shannon, Head of SME Banking in the South Midlands and West, Pat Horgan said, "Shannon is an important business hub in Ireland and we know from talking to our customers that there are exciting and innovative businesses here. This event gives our team the chance to meet those businesses and hear about what matters to them and how we can provide meaningful help so they can turn their ideas into reality." Source: www.businessworld.ie It was announced today that Bank of Ireland is hosting a breakfast briefing on 19th October in Croke Park, Dublin for 150 of Irelands nursing home owners, long-term care providers and intermediaries. The event will focus on exploring opportunities in the Long-Term Care Sector and creating a platform to network in the business marketplace. Head of Health Sectors at Bank of Ireland, Hilary Coates will outline the opportunities Bank of Ireland sees in the Long-Term sector. Hilary joined the Bank in 2014 and brings a wealth of health industry knowledge and experience from her 25 years working in the sector. Furthermore, a panel discussion on the topic of Scaling and Growing your Long-Term Care Business will cover the areas of funding, recruiting and retaining staff and planning for growth. The panel will include: Partner at BDOs Corporate Investment Department - Andrew Bourg Director of Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) and CEO Trinity Care - Keith Robinson Chief Executive at TTM Careers - Brian Crowley Head of Transaction Support at Bank of Ireland - Barry Heraty Head of Pensions and Investments at Bank of Ireland Life - Bernard Walsh The briefing will be introduced by Liam McLoughlin, Chief Executive, Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland. Head of Health Sectors at Bank of Ireland, Hilary Coates says, "As a result of Irelands ageing population we have seen significant investment in the long-term care sector in recent years. This event will provide advice and guidance for providers and their advisers who are looking to scale their businesses." She adedd, "As the leading lender to the healthcare sector, Bank of Ireland understands the opportunities and challenges for the providers of long-term care services and we have a strong appetite to support progressive, innovative operators in the future development of their businesses." Source: www.businessworld.ie HP Inc said it expects to cut about 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years, as the maker of printers and personal computers continues to struggle with a subdued market, sending its shares down 1.3 percent in extended trading. HP, which houses the hardware business of former Hewlett-Packard Co, said in February it would accelerate its restructuring program and slash around 3,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2016. HP Chief Executive Dion Weisler said the market continued to be volatile, facing pressures and uncertainties. "Our core markets are challenged and macro economic conditions are in flux right now," Weisler said. HP expects adjusted profit for fiscal 2017 to be $1.55-$1.65 per share. Analysts on average had expected $1.61 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Raising its quarterly dividend by 7 percent, HP also said it would increase its share buyback program by $3 billion. The company expects restructuring and other charges of $350 million to $500 million and the move is expected to generate gross annual run rate savings of $200 million to $300 million beginning in fiscal 2020, HP said. According to research firm Gartner, worldwide PC shipments in Q3 fell 5.7 percent, eighth consecutive quarter of PC shipment decline. Gartner also said that this is longest duration of decline in the history of the PC industry. HP shares have gained 28 percent this year up to Thursday's close. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie About us 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. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups The new public 'piazza' at Cambridge Station has been branded 'bland, boring and box shaped' with 'nothing for the standard local'. The new square is set to open next week, following a two-and-a-half year, 4m renovation. Work on the new Station Square started in 2014, as part of a major revamp of the CB1 district. Now the new-look square will open to the public on Monday, forming what railways chiefs describe as a "focal point for the community". The shops at the square were announced in August, with a new 4,476sq ft Sainsbury's supermarket set to be joined by a Caffe Nero and Pret a Manger. The announcement of four national chains prompted criticism from some local traders, who accused planners of cutting out independent retailers. However in a statement announcing the opening a Greater Anglia spokesman said: "The square will be surrounded by a range of quality food and retail options, creating opportunities to eat, drink, shop and socialise. "As the centerpiece for CB1, Cambridge station and the surrounding development, Station Square will act as the beating heart of this exciting new city quarter for Cambridge." The square has already seen the opening of a new Ibis Hotel. However, the new square has been met with a lot of criticism online; with some saying it gives the wrong impression of the city for tourists - and another calling the square a 4million taxi rank. On the Cambridge News' story, reader DavidW wrote: "The new square is awful. Bland, boring box shaped buildings and paving that has been made from reclaimed cladding from a 1970s housing estate. "What statement does this make about Cambridge to visitors arriving at the station? You could be anywhere." User Camres added that 'sadly, the uglification of Cambridge continues at full pace' while another reader commented on Facebook that the square offered 'nothing for the standard local'. JamieW09 wrote: "That "artist's impression" manages to cleverly disguise the taxis. It's basically a 4000000 taxi rank. "Other users beware or you'll get knocked down." Ben Gyles wrote on Facebook that the scheme was a waste of money he said the city needs houses and better transport but instead 4million has been spent on a new square. Another user wrote: "The actual and very beautiful station building looks ridiculous amongst the hideous and unimaginative concrete and glass that already looks cheap and tacky." Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups A Cambridge headteacher has hit out at the "barbarian and anti-cultural" decision to axe art history as an A-level subject, claiming it shows education being "trumped" by economics. This week exam board AQA announced it would no longer offer history of art, classical civilisation, archaeology or statistics options to sixth-formers with no exams taking place after 2019. AQA was the last exam board in England to offer art history A-level and the move has been met with dismay and calls for the organisation to re-think the decision. Charlotte Avery, head of St Mary's School, is among those who criticised the move, as well as exam boards more widely for "ditching small courses they perceive to be uneconomic to run". She said: "She said: "Arguments that it [art history] is a 'soft' subject are entirely misguided and stem from a complete misconception about art in general, which as a curriculum subject at school is also considered to be non-intellectual. "The reverse is true at its best it is one of the most rigorous courses engaging personal commitment, independent thinking and creativity." A spokeswoman for AQA said the decision to drop the subjects arose from factors including low uptake, difficulties establishing grade boundaries and the high number of options available to students taking the courses. She said: "Our number one priority is making sure every student gets the result they deserve. We've identified three subjects - archaeology, classical civilisation and history of art - where the complex and specialist nature of the exams creates too many risks on that front. "That's why we've taken the difficult decision not to continue our work creating new AS and A-levels in these subjects." However the move had been met with dismay from across the country, with Simon Schama, presenter of BBC's Face of Britain, calling the decision "heinous". Miss Avery said the announcement would also mean that students "with little access to cultural capital" would suffer as a result. She added: "Why is Britain constantly so barbarian and anti-cultural? In Italy, probably because there is public art on every street corner, children study art history as a core subject in most schools. It's more weird given the UK has a policy of keeping its pubic galleries open to the public free of charge. "It would be wonderful to think that some of those enjoying our nation's art were its own students and young people." Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups Plans to build a busway through countryside between Cambridge and Cambourne were branded 'piecemeal', 'short term' and 'way off the mark'. South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen made the accusations as leaders of the City Deal met at Shire Hall, to discuss the latest step in ongoing transport plans, including the busway from Madingley Mulch roundabout to Grange Road in Cambridge. In a heated meeting which lasted well over three-and-a-half hours, the board heard criticism of the plans from residents, local councillors, and South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen. After acknowledging the need for a transport and congestion solution", Mrs Allen said: I'm afraid the current Cambourne to Cambridge proposals are piecemeal, short term and in my, residents and business opinion, way off the mark; driven by spending deadlines rather than strategic vision." Three permanent members of the executive board councillors Lewis Herbert, Francis Burkitt and Ian Bates took questions from a chamber packed with members of the public. In total 25 questions were submitted to the board, before they began to consider the route of the new busway. While Cllr Herbert said he welcomed the chance to work with Mrs Allen and Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner, who has also been critical of aspects of the City Deal, he showed no sign of going back on the plan, He said: We are going to discuss this project this afternoon, but I don't think we are going to back off." Mrs Allen also called on the board to hold off on its plans, and wait until for the Government's regional devolution programme to take effect. She said: Devolution gives us greater freedom. It's less money, but it's money we can borrow against. Give us something that shows you believe it is appropriate to waste 140 million of public money on a vanity scheme, when there are other schemes that are cheaper and have the same effect. I think we need to ditch the big expensive white elephant." Mrs Allen's comments were matched by those of South Cambs Lib Dem councillor Bridget Smith, who accused the board of neglecting her constituents. It is all very city focused and fails to acknowledge that South Cambs residents need to get anywhere other than the city," she said. She also criticised the management of the meeting, interrupting Cllr Herbert saying: I haven't heard one single question being answered today, which is making a bit of a farce of why we are here" to sustained applause from the audience. Concluding the discussion on the busway route, Cllr Herbert declined to reject the plans outright, but insisted no decision had been made. This is a catchment area, it is not the route," he said. We have to demonstrate that a route can deliver what we say it can." Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups Amazon has lifted the lid on its top secret laboratory in Cambridge which has been developing drones to deliver packages to people's homes. In a world exclusive, the News was given a tour of their workshop today in Castle Park, just off Castle Street, along with eight children from the Year 5 class at Steeple Morden School. We were shown around the laboratory which has been nestled just a stone's throw from the city centre unbeknown to the general public for several years. The internet retail giant is developing its Prime Air service, where drones will safely deliver packages to people's homes in under 30 minutes. (Image: David Johnson) Cambridge is home to the largest outdoor testing facility in the UK and is one of a number of testing sites in the country along with laboratories in Austria, Israel and the US. Kristen Kish, corporate communications for Prime Air, told the News: We're continuing to do more and more in Cambridgeshire. It's continuing to be an area of significance and importance for Amazon. We want to get the talent and want to encourage science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with students here, it's just so important we're promoting that science. The community is so important to us. We're continuing to expand our opportunities here and wanted to bring people in. (Image: David Johnson) We love the UK, we have a really strong base here in the UK and a lot of opportunity here, our customers are fantastic. Cambridge is a hub of innovation, it has a long history of doing amazing things. For us it really made good sense there is fantastic talent here too." The school children, whose names were drawn out of hat for the tour by their teacher David Beaven, were shown drone prototypes in the first tour of its kind in the world. They were given the chance to use a drone simulator and shown drone components including different types of batteries and wing prototypes before flying actual drones. (Image: David Johnson) In July the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) lifted strict drone flying restrictions to enable Amazon to start testing its drones which include testing sensor performance to make sure the drones can identify and avoid obstacles. Cambridge's workshop also has 3D printing technology which allows it to make parts needed for the drone much quicker. Packages that weigh just over 2kg will be delivered which make up 87 per cent of the items Amazon sells and can be delivered as far as 15 miles. (Image: David Johnson) The drone uses GPS coordinates to find its delivery destination and will fly to a maximum height of 400ft before identifying a marker for it to land and deliver the package using a 'sense and avoid' system. They will be automated but will each be watched by a safety operator who will eventually watch many at the same time once their safety has been proven. If there are any obstacles that are in the way like a tree, through its sense and avoid system it can navigate around those," said Kristen. (Image: David Johnson) There are those unexpected obstacles that can roll in unexpected, if it's started to land then it goes straight up again. We would rather not deliver the package then risk the safety. Any data we have is to only going to be used for safety." The company is keeping tight lipped about when the service will begin, but said they will not launch it until they are able to demonstrate safe operations". (Image: David Johnson) We think customers will love it. But this is not the only thing we do," added Kristen. Amazon customers have choice. It's ultimately going to depend on customer demand. If it's a service they want to use great but we're going to give them options." Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups Pothole compensation claims to Cambridgeshire County Council have fallen by almost half in the last three years with a stark drop in successful claims and pay outs. Figures released by the RAC Foundation reveal there were 262 pothole compensation claims to the county council from 2015-16, compared to 324 claims in 2014-15 and 485 in 2013-14. In 2015-2016 only 35, or 15 per cent, of these claims were successful with a total of 13,027 awarded in compensation. This compares to 242, or 50 per cent, of successful claims in 2013-2014 with a total of 104,264 paid out in compensation. In response to the data, a county council spokesman said: We welcome the figures which show a year on year reduction in both the number of claims and successful claimants. We have successfully bid for Pothole Action Fund money from Government that has allowed us to target specific problem areas across the county. The council has also taken an asset management led approach which means we have been carrying out preventative maintenance to reduce the number of potholes, especially on priority routes." 'These figures are symptomatic of the inadequate funding available for local road maintenance.' The analysis by the RAC Foundation is based on data collected from 204 out the 207 local authorities in Great Britain. The average value of a claim was 432, though the average value of a successful claim was lower at 306. Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: These figures [overall] are symptomatic of the inadequate funding available for local road maintenance. Year in, year out, the backlog of work on local roads is estimated to run to several billion pounds. A pitted road surface isn't just a problem for motorists for those on two wheels it can be life threatening. Just last week the Chancellor acknowledged that there had been decades of underfunding in the nation's infrastructure and that he was keen to support targeted, value-for-money public investment. Providing the funds to fix our roads would be a great place to start and would show rapid results." The council with the highest number of claims made against it was Hampshire (1,952), followed by Surrey (1,412) and Hertfordshire (1,369). The total number of claims received in 2015/16 by councils across Great Britain is about a nine per cent increase on the previous year. | BY Ricki Green | Kate Lill and Zoe Edwards a creative team at Y&R NZ are representing New Zealand at the 5th annual Creative LIAisons at LIA in Las Vegas. Here Kates eyebrows report on the program. Every year Kate goes away on these work trips. This year, after a long bout of silent treatment, she decided to take us both with her. There was no way these brows were missing a week in Las Vegas when our life-long hero Lionel Richie and his chocolate eye drapes were performing. Kate and Zoe wanted to be bright-eyed and bushy for the first day just in case someone asked them a question, so after an early night, the four of us made our way from the pirate-themed Treasure Island hotel to the first day of the not-so-pirate-themed Creative LIAisons. As we walked along The Strip we were treated to some light sexual harassment by four security guards and a homeless woman, so arrived feeling full of confidence. The early morning population of the strip are super friendly. Over the next two days Kate and Zoe learnt about the importance of passion, originality, relevance, emotional connection and being a little bit dead inside. An array of inspiring speakers affirmed why they work in this industry and why they hate audience participation. They also got some handy tips on each stage of the creative process. They now know that the creative brain cannot create and edit at the same time. They understand the importance of the incubation period, that time away from an idea or brief allows new neuronic pathways to light up, giving them new solutions they might not have found the day before. And they got a great quote from Wednesdays final speaker Pum Lefebure if eyes are the windows into the soul, then eyebrows are the curtains. Kate and Zoe also got some good tips for their portfolio for when Y&R realise they let Kates eyebrows write their Campaign Brief article and fire them for real this time. | BY Ricki Green | British tech guru Kathryn Parsons has told a group of women in Sydney that coding is the most democratic tool ever invented and that she wants women to claim the digital vote. This is for everyone, world leading technology educator Parsons told about 50 women at an event organised by the Senior Women in Media and Marketing group, SWIMM. She said her ambition was to make coding unscary. Says Parsons: I want to show people they can do what they didnt think they were capable of. Parsons co-founded and heads up the company Decoded, based in the UK with offices in London, New York, Sydney and Amsterdam. Decoded was launched in 2011 with the single proposition of demystifying the digital world through an understanding of the languages behind the screen. Its first and most famous product is Code in a Day, where attendees are taken from zero prior knowledge to coding their own app in a single day. Says Parsons: Within you lies a technologist. Theres no dark art that we think cant be decoded. She said that the kinds of things that had inhibited women from entering and mastering digital technology were a lack of female role models and a lack of funding for startups for women. Her talk, which was moderated by We Are Social MD and SWIMM co-founder Suzie Shaw, covered a host of topics ranging from the transformative capacity of virtual reality to how coding is becoming part of school curriculums. The event was held at the Ivy Penthouse on Wednesday October 12 and sponsored by Optus. Parsons is in Australia for Vogue Codes on Friday October 14. | BY Ricki Green | Ex-New Zealand advertising creatives Ben Polkinghorne and Scott Kelly, former-Colenso BBDO creative team who now work at Wieden+Kennedy London, have launched an ambitious Indiegogo campaign Dear America, raising money to run a TV ad in America paid for by the world. The message will be completely free from political bias and just serve as a simple reminder that on the 8th of November they should head out and vote. Whoever becomes the 45th President of the United States of America will become the most powerful person in the world. Yet the world doesnt get a say. And in the last election, nearly half of Americans didnt even get off the couch and vote. | BY Kim Shaw | Havas Creative Group has today announced the appointment of Mike Amour (left) to the position of chairman and CEO of Asia Pacific, effective October 17. In this new role, Amour will be responsible for leading and driving continued collaboration and growth in one of the most dynamic regions for Havas Group. The appointment is a key milestone in the groups ongoing efforts to build agile teams and integrated structures to deliver the most impact for clients. Amour will report to Andrew Benett, global CEO of Havas Creative Group, and will be based in Singapore. Says Benett: Mike is a visionary leader with a track record of driving transformation, and Im confident his leadership will further accelerate the Groups performance in the Asia-Pacific region. He is a true internationalist with unique experience across different communications disciplines and developing markets. Says Amour: I am excited to be joining a company where clients can access a truly integrated service offering. The networks Village model is a significant competitive advantage, and I look forward to leveraging it fully to make Havas an indispensable partner to brands in the region. Prior to joining Havas Creative Group, Amour was president, Asia Pacific at Starcom Mediavest Group. Previously, as CEO Asia Pacific at Project: Worldwide, Amour created a future-facing offer to drive growth beyond experiential marketing. Amour also led Grey Group Asia Pacific for four years as chairman and CEO, where he oversaw significant growth, including acquisitions in China, India, and Vietnam. Prior to that, based in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Portland, Amour held senior management positions at McCann, TBWA, and Wieden + Kennedy. Amour will take over from Juan Rocamora, currently Chairman, Havas Creative Group APAC, who will retire at the end of the year. Says Rocamora: After 20 years with Havas, the last seven in APAC, I felt that turning 60 was the right moment to settle back with my family in Barcelona and enjoy life at a more leisurely pace. Mike is a terrific guy, and I am sure that he will lead the great team we have been building up in the region to new heights. | BY Lynchy | Uni-President, the China food and beverage giant, has just launched a bold fun video online to promote its new Qing Chang Jiao Zhu detox juice drink. Priced around RMB 20, the drink is creating a new category in the sophisticated beverage market as Chinas first ever detox cleansing fruit and vegetable based juice. This video was created by Leo Burnett China, who also developed the positioning strategy and the creative marketing solutions for Qing Chang Jiao Zhu. In the video, the unhealthy conditions of the heros body is personified as Mr. Dirt, who keeps following and upsetting the hero. This idea is to remind people that nowadays due to our pressured lives many people suffer from bad breath, constipation and look unhealthy. These conditions are hard to get rid of, just like getting rid of Mr. Dirt. Fortunately there is now a solution: Qing Chang Jiao Zhu! With a few sips of the healthy detoxing and cleansing drink, the hero finally gets rid of Mr. Dirt and rediscovers his happy healthy and handsome self again. Friday, October 14, 2016 at 5:45AM If you bring your Samsung Galaxy Note7 units to the original Samsung or authorized reseller point of purchase, you have the following options available to you. One is get a $100 credit for customers who exchange their Note7s for a Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. Another is a $25 credit for customers who exchange their Note7s for a refund or another smartphone. Now, if you bought the Note7 on Samsung.com, you have these options available for you as well. Samsung Canada is also offering a refund for on Note7 specific accessories purchased from Samsung or authorized resellers. You are required to bring appropriate proof of purchase. For any customer enquiries, contact 1-855-747-6520. "Elizabeth told me that she wanted to make a new will. I told Elizabeth that she should go to see a solicitor ... Elizabeth said that you do not need a solicitor to make a will." 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. News / National by Staff reporter Principals of opposition parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda have slapped Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo with a $5.6 million lawsuit for abrogation of their constitutional rights to protests.A total of $5 million is being demanded for exemplary damages for abrogation of rights to protest after police scuttled an electoral reforms demonstration on August 12.The Nera principals are also demanding $600 000 for damages over harassment, intimidation and contumelia after police tear gassed them at the Harare Magistrates' Court. [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept 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. Finance executives should consider slashing their own paychecks as the U.K. works to exit the European Union in order to win back the trust of people who have lost faith in large businesses, according to Lloyds of London Chief Executive Officer Inga Beale. The anti-business sentiment is quite disturbing, Beale said Wednesday in an interview at Bloombergs New York headquarters. We have to start looking at our own executive pay, and I dont mean just Lloyds, I mean the financial services industry. Insurers dont have such a bad rep as bankers, but you know its up to all of us. Beale said Theresa May, who became U.K. prime minister in July and promised to tackle high pay for business executives, has gained respect even as a large part of the public feels disenfranchised. The former Home Secretary succeeded David Cameron, who resigned after voters voted to leave the EU and ignored his warning that it would hurt the domestic economy. May is working to manage the Brexit discussions in a way that pleases both voters and business leaders, Beale said. Theresa is actually providing some wonderful leadership, partly because shes being very clear in her messaging, Beale said of May. At the moment, shes not necessarily sounding very business friendly, but my guess is that its all very calculated and her approach is completely structured. Beale received a pay package last year valued at about 1.53 million pounds ($1.9 million), including a salary of 700,000 pounds and a bonus of 425,000 pounds, according to the 2015 annual report. That compares with an average 5.9 million-pound salary of banking and insurance CEOs in the FTSE 100, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. Lloyds of London hosted a dinner last month with the new London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and financial leaders at which compensation was a hot topic, Beale said. She said some public frustration stems from complicated jargon used to describe bankings significance to the economy, such as gross domestic product. Weve got to use a language that resonates with people, Beale said. We talk about, you know, our contribution to GDP. Then you think, Well, how does that resonate with somebody thats living in a small town somewhere? GDP? We dont help ourselves by using language that doesnt resonate. Beales company is weighing a new subsidiary outside of London, and she said Malta, Luxembourg and Ireland are among the places being considered for a move before March. Thats when May has said she plans to invoke Article 50, which triggers the exit process for the U.K. from the EU. Beale previously has mentioned Paris and Frankfurt as options. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. The head of Alfa Romeos Australian division says the brands next-generation range of models will be more comparable to Maseratis than Alfas of yesteryear. During an interview with Car Advice, Steve Zanlunghi said that the brands new Giorgio platform based models, starting with the Giulia, will be dramatically different to anything Alfa Romeo has previously built. These Alfas that are coming out now on the Giorgio platform are like nothing youve ever seen, he said. They are more comparable towards Maserati type brands, so we are going to look to come out with premium products that are priced at a premium level, in line with the competition. Zanlunghi is confident that the Giulia and upcoming Stelvio SUV are the perfect vehicles to launch the next wave of Alfa Romeo models and believes that their delayed releases allowed the car maker to ensure they were perfect. Before you can call yourself cool, you have to have something that you can put out there that will do the speaking for you and I believe that the product that we have in the pipeline for Alfa Romeo and the reason it was initially delayed was so that we could get it absolutely spot on. PHOTO GALLERY A couple weeks after being previewed by a rather revealing teaser sketch, Chinas upcoming NextEV supercar has been snapped during testing. The image posted by Chinese website Autohome reveals that the all-electric model adopts typical supercar proportions, with voluptuous front and rear wheels arches and an exceptionally low front end. There are certain elements that remind us of other cars, such as the roofline, B-pillar and side air intake setup which bring to mind the Lotus Evora, and the rear wing doubling as an air brake also seems to operate in a similar way to the that of the McLaren P1. According to Autohome, the model is being developed in Germany and will be produced in limited numbers in the United Kingdom. It is reported that the electric drivetrain will deliver 1,360 hp, making it a direct rival to the upcoming Rimac Concept S in the EV hypercar niche. While NextEVs first model will be a supercar, the company plans on eventually offering a fleet of affordable electric vehicles. PHOTO GALLERY Ford has revealed that deliveries of the automakers latest F-Series Super Duty were delayed because of a parts issue. While speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Rodney Janes, the United Auto Workers union chairman at Fords truck factory in Kentucky didnt detail the issue but said it will be impossible to build all the lost units Ford missed out on last quarter. Theres always a possibility of parts issues. When launching a new truck, you dont come out of the gate going 1,000 miles per hour. If there is a problem, you stop right there, he said. Janes went on to reveal that the parts issue meant work weeks of employees were shortened and weekends of planned overtime were cancelled. The union leader says that workers may be now required to work excessive overtime for the next year in order to keep up with demand for the new model. As with the updated F-150 that came before it, the latest Ford F-Series Super Duty brings with it a lightweight aluminum body, saving 350 pounds (159 kg) alone. Additionally, it is based around a new boxed frame constructed almost entirely from high-strength steel. PHOTO GALLERY A pack of stray dogs attacked a local mans Toyota Corolla in the Turkish province of Sakarya, completely dismantling the front fascia as if the engine bay was full of Scooby Snacks. The man, one Cem Acar who works as a mechanic, found the damage and initially called the police thinking somebody had attempted to steal his car. However, checking the surveillance footage proved that the culprits werent exactly the type that you can bring in for questioning. According to the description of the video, the total cost of repairs was almost 5,000 Turkish Liras, or around $1,600. Definitely enough to put a dent in your pocket, unless your car insurance covered you being attacked by wild animals. I went home with another car after parking my car in front of my shop, said Acar. I was shocked to see the damage when I returned in the morning. We thought the incident was a theft attempt and called the police. Later we watched the surveillance camera footage with the police and we saw eight stray dogs tearing the cars bumper into pieces. While this type of behavior is rather unusual from dogs, those who live in countries where strays still represent an issue in inner cities know that they can get very aggressive sometimes, especially when theyre in packs. And yes, stray dogs do tend to chase cars, but to actually tear them up? That is quite the rare occurrence. VIDEO Volkswagen says that it wants to become the leader in electric vehicles as the firm bounces back from dieselgate. At the recent Paris Auto Show, the German brand offered the world a glimpse at its I.D. electric concept, set to hit the roads in 2020 and in the coming years, is expected to release numerous other EV concepts. While recently speaking with Motor Trend, VWs head of e-mobility, Christian Senger, said that with previous concerns about electric cars now solved, it hopes to be the first automaker to build over one million EVs. We want to be the leader in e-mobilitywe want to be the first one to produce more than a million electric cars, and for this we need to have really convincing solutions. The I.D. is in our minds the right answer as an auto manufacturer because it solves some core issues of the electric cars today. Battery cost [is] making significant improvements. The charging grid will improve [along with] its necessary [energy] density. Range is solvedtheres no range anxiety anymore. Vehicle cost point is down. We will be able to serve this new customer demand, going away from driven by regulations into customers are demanding electric cars, he said. Underpinning the firms future range of electric models will be the MEB platform. Senger says it is scalable enough to support A to D segment vehicles. PHOTO GALLERY The Koenigsegg Regera is the worlds most powerful hybrid hypercar, and the companys founder, Chirstian von Koenigsegg,explains what makes it a technological masterpiece. When it comes to exotic hypercars, the 1,500 hp and 2,000 Nm of torque Regera is on top of the food chain, and thanks to its direct drive electric transmission it does 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in 2.8 seconds, 0 to 200 km/h (124mph) in 6.6 seconds, and it takes 10.9 seconds to pass 300 km/h (186mph). Even though its performance is electrically aided, the Swedish companys owner doesnt like to call it a hybrid; not in a traditional sense, at least. As opposed to the Agera, the Regera was designed to be as luxurious as a Koenigsegg can be, featuring many creature comforts. Besides the available, fully-robotized body panels, it also comes with a touchscreen display, electric seats, an improved camera system, and over 30 microprocessors (each functioning individually for a function) that let the car maker control them via 3G. But dont think for a second it wont perform on the track, because according to Mr. Koenigsegg, the only car faster than the Regera, will be another Koenigsegg. Although the car presented in the video is the prototype variant unveiled at Geneva, the production-spec Regera doesnt stray too far from it, although it has a lot more carbon fiber in its construction. VIDEO Amanda Houghton of Layton City, Utah, called 911 after she was rear-ended at a stoplight, but instead of receiving help, she was arrested for DUI and subjected to a body search that she didnt consent to. While the cops did have a reason to suspect she was under the influence of either alcohol or narcotics (she failed the field sobriety test), it turns out she was just in shock after being hit at about 30 mph (48 km/h). I was shocked. Who arrests a sober person for DUI? she said, while her lawyer added that I dont believe they should have administered the field sobriety tests at all in this case. I think this amounted to an unconstitutional search of a woman without a necessity to do so. Safe to say, Amanda is now pursuing legal action against the city of Layton, as reported by KUTV, though surprisingly DUI and resisting arrest charges have yet to be dropped despite blood tests proving she wasnt under the influence of any substance. The police report stated that she exhibited odd behavior and gave short quick answers to questions and she was speaking rapidly. Amanda was unable to stand still and seemed to be making jerky movements. Thats standard practice. Anytime someone gets arrested they are going to be searched, explained Lt Travis Lyman while standing up for his officers. Do you think the police had grounds for an arrest or was this another abusive case that also included an unconstitutional search? In the cheap glitter and glow of a fading Coney Island a group of characters live out their sordid, strange lives trying to get somewhere fastany way they can. Desperately trying to love and be loved. These cops, call girls, mafia hoods, transvestites, fortune-tellers, clowns, and freaks are all intertwined, heading on a crazy roller coaster ride into a black hole they think is life. All of these characters are totally removed from the 1960s America that, at the same time, is violently changing its values, fast. It is how hard they try, with the deck stacked against them, that we root for them in amazement. Created, written, directed, and animated by Ralph Bakshi. Not every Disney release can look like Moana. Disneys foreign distribution arm Buena Vista International will release the Spanish/Canadian co-pro Ozzy in Spain tomorrow. The family film offers a twist on the prison break genre and promises Pixar-like quality and fun. Here is the English-language trailer. The star of the film is a beagle named Ozzy who ends up at a prison for dogs, run by dogs: Cartoon Brew: What was it like at that time in the early-90s at ILM? How did you go about your daily work? Steve Williams: No one gave us guidance on one thing, not one. We didnt get any, Why dont you try this? When you got a shot you handled the whole thing with the exception of rendering. So Id do my own match moves, my own chaining. There wasnt a separate rigging department; it didnt exist. So you handled the whole shot, you lived with the shot. Which I always thought was a better methodology as opposed to doing one aspect, then handing it off. Mark Dippe: In the early days, it was immature. There were no real rules. There was no formal model of how youre supposed to do it, and so there were a lot of generalists and you kind of did as much as you could, and people learned. As things matured you had these sort of super-technical directors, or generalists, you had people that maybe only animated, people that only did matte paintings, and that evolved. And nowadays its more mature and its more fragmentedit has more of a pipeline feel. I dont want to say something like a factory as if its just machines, but the definitions clearer. And I think as time goes on it becomes, in terms of visual effects or computer animation, closer to live action filming with different tasks. Steve Williams: We had a lot of leeway because we were living with the shot and really essentially developing so much. As Mark said, you had to be a generalist and figure out a lot of stuff on your own because there was no one to consult with. Mark Dippe: It was hard back when we worked at ILM, but nowadays in a lot of ways its truly harder, because theres millions of pieces of data. Literally millions. And no one can conceive of it all or know it all or control it all, and so its got all these different methods in which you create it, manipulate it, use it. When youre building a scene you gotta make sure you have the correct version of a set in there; when youre animating and someone somehow corrects something you have to get updated, or not, depending on your choice. Whats your view on the state of the visual effects industry today? Mark Dippe: The modern vfx-laden film endeavor costs a hundred to two hundred to three hundred million dollars, and it really is such a big business that the entire construction, the entire process, selection of story, development of story, casting you have a lot of brilliant, talented people involved so Im not discounting that at all but it is all directed to the ambition of making a billion dollars worldwide. And thats a really interesting proposition, an odd proposition. Steve Williams: In terms of the people, the artists, working in the industry, I think theres been a big change, too. As all these big films have become more normal, and more standard, unlike what we had done at the time, they needed people who towed the line. They didnt need rebellion, they didnt need mavericks, because there has really not been that much of a revolution since then realistically. Theres just been more of what was done to the expense of the storytelling to some degree. We essentially were questioning the big guys all the time, questioning the hierarchy at ILM. Mark Dippe: And visual effects is not a way to get rich. The business is not an easy business, and one thing about George Lucas, not that we were pals or anything, but bless him for even keeping ILM going because wed have these little annual things, he would come and give speeches, and I would say that in general there would be some discussion about the economics and it was never a rosy picture. Never. You both moved into directing (Dippe directed the live action Spawn and Williams directed the animated feature The Wild, and each has directed numerous commercials). Do you think having that kind of generalist approach you mentioned helped? Steve Williams: The only reason we both learned so much and eventually got into directing was because wed be on these sets, you know, very advanced sets, watching technically everything go on. So youre watching how the director acts and youre watching how they deal with an actor. And then we start directing our own stuff and then commercials. We ended up learning a lot about cameras and everything. Mark Dippe: In a lot of ways its also because you have that desire and you ask for it and you go for it. You know, no one just lets you direct or be the head of the design, you have to have that desire, or youre so amazing they just say to you, Please do it. Steve Williams: I remember when George Lucas wanted me to shoot an additional scene of Boba Fett, for the Star Wars re-releases. He goes, Let Steve direct. Well make this, phone this number, heres where the costume is, find someone who fits the outfithe was so matter-of-fact about it. Which kind of blew my mind. The three big effects films The Abyss, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park that you both were involved with were made more than 20 years ago, but people often talk about how well the digital work holds up. Why do you think that is? Steve Williams: I just think its that the number of shots that are in the film are kinda the right recipe. In the case of Terminator 2, once youve got in your head that theres this chrome character that can change throughout the shot, all of a sudden your brain is writing new stories subconsciously about what this thing is capable of. Its like, What is he gonna do now? He could fuckin do anything! Mark Dippe: And then of course we did put a lot of ourselves into it and we worked our asses off like mad. People still do today, but it reflects the desire to make it great. I think another part is, it was so hard to do it. There really were such a small number of shots, so the shots themselves were so important. You could only use them where it was necessary to tell the story, and that kind of economy means that every time you saw it, it becomes more special. Its not just there for fifty shots in a row. And another thing we did: our mentor Dennis Muren who really was a believer in what we did and helped support all that, he said that the first time you show off your thing it better be magical because then theyre with you. Its like theyre cheering in their mind and theyre waiting for the next one and they love it. Nowadays visual effects is just a tool, and so a lot of times its used to make a shot that doesnt work so well have more energy. A lot of times its used in a way to cover up weaknesses in storytelling. And it just doesnt have an impact anymore. Steve Williams: That was really different when films like Terminator 2 or The Abyss came out. The thing is, people didnt know what that thing in The Abyss was, and when you saw it, your brain is processing and its going, I wanna see when this thing fucks up and makes a mistake, because its moving pretty goddamn cool. Mark Dippe: Or the audience is kinda going what the hell is that? Thats a tube of water moving around. Steve Williams:: Yeah, how did they do that? And, hold it, there must be a problem, is there gonna be a wire showing somewhere? Mark Dippe: The thing I always love to say isI give James Cameron a lot of credit for thisthe water tentacle and the liquid metal man from T2 are the same principle; they are what I would call the classic, perfect digital character. They have all the aesthetic elements that a digital system can be used for and excel at. Photo: CTV One person is dead after a recreational diving accident off Snake Island on Friday, Oct. 11. 3:00 p.m. Oct. 14 update: The body of a missing Washington state diver has been recovered near Nanaimo. RCMP say a commercial diver located the body during a dive off Snake Island. Police say the diver was able to secure the body until an RCMP patrol vessel could arrive. The missing man was among three Washington residents who went diving Friday near Snake Island, a popular spot that's a boat ride from Departure Bay in Nanaimo. The Dive Industry Association of BC has said the men were participating in a deep dive when complications arose. One of the divers made it back to shore and another was confirmed dead on Saturday, leaving the third man missing until his body was found the following day. 5:00 p.m. update: The RCMP say they've called off the search for a diver who disappeared in an incident that also killed another person off Vancouver Island. The Mounties say three divers from the United States were participating in a recreational dive near Snake Island, a short boat ride from Nanaimo's Departure Bay, on Friday afternoon. The Dive Industry Association of B.C. says in a news release that the three were participating in a deep dive when "complications arose." One of the divers made it back to shore and another was confirmed dead on Saturday, leaving the third diver missing. The RCMP and the coast guard were involved in the search, but those efforts have been called off and the case has now been turned over to the coroner. Neither the RCMP nor the association has confirmed exactly what went wrong during the dive. Police in Nanaimo say one person is dead, one is missing and another is back on shore after a recreational diving accident. The incident occurred in the late afternoon near Snake Island, a short boat ride from Departure Bay. Sgt. Sheryl Armstrong of the Nanaimo RCMP says police and Canadian Coast Guard vessels attended the scene. She says coast guard divers are in the water attempting to locate the missing diver. Armstrong says investigators are also interviewing the diver who is now back on shore. Photo: Contributed Decline of public speaking makes us so much poorer By Geoff Johnson If we learn anything useful from the news these days, it is that history has proven Winston Churchill to be prophetic when he said: "Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king." Nonetheless, observers of the political process, both in the U.S. and here in Canada during the recent general election, bemoan the decline of oratory. As far back as 1984, Henry Fairlie, writing in the New Republic, claimed that "politics is starved not only of eloquence but of argument as well." And he had not even heard Donald Trump ("I know words, I have the best words"), a possible leader of the free world whose speeches, virtually devoid of any substance, border on illiteracy. B.C.'s English language arts curriculum recognizes reading, writing, listening and speaking and the intended learning outcomes for oral language, include explaining, arguing and entertaining. In practice, though, these speaking skills are often less emphasized in the classroom. Great orators from Pericles and Demosthenes to Lincoln, Churchill and Ghandi have demonstrated that the spoken word, or at least words spoken well, have the power to change the course of history. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama demonstrated the truth of the often-quoted historical reference: "When Aeschines spoke, they said, 'How well he speaks.' "But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let us march against Philip.'" In 1963, U.S. president John F. Kennedy summed up Churchill's speech writing and speaking achievements, saying: "In the dark days and darker nights when England stood alone and most men save Englishmen despaired of England's life he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." Churchill was, of course, a gifted writer as well as orator, and understood, as he said in 1938, that "a state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure." Why, then, is the great value of the ability to speak in public not a more significant part of our English language curriculum? It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that an inability to speak in public hobbles an individual's ability to fully participate in a democratic society where those who can and will speak tend to win the day. Churchill established four essential principles, all notably absent in the speeches of many of today's politicians, that he believed students of English must learn and practise. The first is correctness of diction. Knowledge of a language is measured by an exact appreciation of words. Churchill himself was a master of the richness of our language. The second is rhythm. Perhaps Obama alone is the master today of the rhythm of the spoken word and understands that, as with music, what happens between the words and sentences can be as important as the words themselves. Churchill's third "must" is what he called the accumulation of argument. A series of facts is brought forward, and listeners are able to anticipate the conclusion. This ability was notably absent from contenders in Canada's federal election and is missing without a trace in the U.S. presidential campaign. Last, advised the great orator, is the use of argument by analogy establishing meaning through verbal pictures. Elvin T. Lim, a political scientist from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, has chronicled the gradual dumbing-down of oratory as part of political discourse. His 2008 publication The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from George Washington to George W. Bush, looks specifically at U.S. presidential speeches, yet his observations have relevance across the spectrum of our own nation's political discussions. Lim says speeches given by politicians of every stripe are increasingly filled with vacuous statements that do not invite rational disputation. Speeches are designed to maximize applause lines, stroke the emotions and appeal to our intuitions, while being lean on substance. Perhaps, as Fairlie claimed, the first reason for the decline of oratory is that "the audience for oratory has disappeared." That is probably the most compelling reason why a true appreciation of oral language skills should be re-emphasized as part of every student's English language experience. Geoff Johnson is a retired superintendent of schools and lives on Vancouver Island. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. If you are feeling a little racy, Halloweeny and maybe a little transexual this month this play is just for you. A 1970s cult-classic, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, opened to a sold-out crowd this week at the Kelowna Actors Studio. From fishnets to heavy makeup and corsets, the Kelowna rendition has everything Rocky fans could hope for and Wednesday night's audience was soaking it in. Audience participation is a big part of the play's history and the Kelowna audience did not disappoint yelling out lewd remarks and throwing toilet paper on stage right on cue. All of the famous quirks, music and insane storyline from the film hit the stage with Kelowna's own scarlet-lipped Dr. Frank-n-Furter (Nate Flavel), the all-too innocent Janet (Denise Dercksen), her hubby-to-be the ultra-square Brad (Mac Mackay) and lab-created golden-shorts wearing stud Rocky (Jordan Davies). The show originated in 1973 and was a Broadway show in London. It became a film in 1975, made famous by Tim Curry with his silk stockings and high heels, said Randy Leslie, artistic managing director. It is a challenge because it is a cult-classic. For the first time the Kelowna Actors Studio has produced two versions of the show, a G-rated version and a R late-night feature. Directing two different styles of show has been a big challenge, said Leslie. Making sure the actors know which version we are doing when. He says the two-hour show is a high-energy one that the actors have to do twice a day sometimes. The cast have to be prepared on their double days to have energy for four hours, said Leslie. They love it though, they are doing the Time Warp back stage, even before they get on stage, it is a real youthful group full of fun. Leslie said the Kelowna Actors Studio takes on this production as their 12th season opener at Kelownas only dinner theatre. The show choice was based on demand. We did a research study with our patrons who picked the top 50 shows they wanted to see, explained Leslie. This show was actually number five. Those interested in tickets are being told to buy soon as 50 per cent of the shows are already sold out. Remember to bring energy and an open mind as your shout, laugh and dance to favourites like Lets Do the Time Warp Again! Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-Me, and Sweet Transvestite. Guests are encouraged to enjoy the mood and dress up for all the shows, especially the R-rated versions of the musical on Oct. 22, 29 and 31. To buy tickets, click here. Photo: Contributed A heritage restoration project on the Shuswap received a significant setback after someone stole thousands of dollars worth of specialty wood. Salmon Arm RCMP Staff Sgt. Scott West said police received a complaint of a break and enter in to a property in the Notch Hill area where lumber was stolen from a building restoration site. A volunteer involved in the restoration of a heritage property reported to police that unknown culprits had cut a padlock to gain access to building supplies that were being used in the project. Once the culprits were inside they loaded up a stack of specially milled wood and fled the area, said West. The wood that was stolen is described as tongue and groove 'clear grain' fir. The value of the lumber is in the thousands of dollars. Its theft is quite a setback to the project. Anyone with information on the crime or the location of the lumber is asked to call RCMP at 250 832 6044 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Photo: file photo Daring thieves stole a $10,000 diamond in a split-second switch with a fake, a New Brunswick jeweller says. "These were pros," said Wayne Smith, owner of W. Smith and Co. Fine Jewellers in Saint John. Smith said the thieves presenting themselves as a middle-aged couple came into his store shortly before closing last Friday. Although Smith wasn't there, he said the whole thing was caught on remarkably clear video surveillance cameras. They asked to look at a loose, one-carat diamond valued at $10,000, then began to argue, clearly trying distract the saleswoman, Smith said. The man asked to see another diamond, a 1.5 carat stone worth $25,000, and made his move while she reached for a comparison chart. "He was very quick. You will see him (on the video) drop the fake stone and grab the real stone and slide it in his back pocket. They tried to get the second stone and that's when she caught them. And it was only after they left the store that she went back to the first stone, and realized they got us," he said. "And then we went onto the camera system, and it was very clear. Once you see it, you'll go 'Oh my God.'" Smith said he has instituted a new policy at his store: customers must show picture identification before they can be shown a loose stone. Photo: Twitter A Manitoba cabinet minister says she was told to take her pants off in the middle of question period by a male NDP opponent, but the NDP are firmly denying the accusation. Rochelle Squires, the minister for sport, culture and heritage, filed a complaint Thursday with the legislature Speaker over opposition heckling in the chamber a week earlier. She said that at one point, New Democrat member Rob Altemeyer told her "take your pants off," as she fielded a question from another NDP member. Squires called the remarks outrageous and insulting, and demanded an apology from Altemeyer. But Altemeyer denied the allegation and produced an audio recording of the debate. "My words were 'take a pass on it," Altemeyer said. "My words were referring to this premier and his inability to answer important questions." The comments were not captured by the official transcript of legislature proceedings and are hard to make out on the audio recording. Altemeyer's voice is faint, in the background and away from live microphones. The remark came as New Democrat Nahanni Fontaine tried to ask Conservative Premier Brian Pallister a question about appointments to government boards and agencies. Pallister did not field the question Squires stood up instead. NDP house leader Jim Maloway said the recording backs up Altemeyer's version of events. He called on Squires to apologize and hinted that the Tories could face legal action. Photo: CTV A former Nova Scotia teacher who sexually abused two teenage male students issued a public apology Thursday, saying her deceitful actions betrayed their trust and caused pain and trauma for their families. Carolyn Amy Hood of Stellarton, N.S., read from a statement during her sentencing hearing in Pictou provincial court, saying her "horrible decisions" were motivated by mental illness. "I truly believe in my heart that without the onset of bipolar disorder, none of these events would have ever occurred," she told the judge. "I want to reiterate my deep and immeasurable remorse for my actions that led to these charges and the lasting effects they have had on (the victims') lives as well as their families. It is something I will feel regret for every day for the rest of my life." Hood, 40, was found guilty in April of sexual interference, sexual exploitation and two counts of luring minors over the Internet for a sexual purpose. The charges stem from offences in 2013 involving two of her former students at Thorburn Consolidated School, who were 15 and 17 at the time. The former Grade 6 teacher had previously taught both boys when they were in that grade. She was charged with six offences in January 2014, but one count each of sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching were later dismissed. "I am sickened that I have hurt so many people through this experience," Hood told the judge. In her statement, Hood said she is taking medication and attending psychiatric sessions to deal with her mental illness. She is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 14. Photo: CTV Weather and speed are being investigated as possible factors in a fatal taxi cab crash in Burnaby. The cab hit a pole on Barnet Highway about 11:30 p.m. Thursday. The driver was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. The highway was shut down overnight by police near the Burnaby-Port Moody border while investigators examined the scene. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: The Canadian Press Conservative MP Erin O'Toole has joined the list of candidates to replace former prime minister Stephen Harper as party leader. "As we look to the future, our priorities are clear: we need to reconnect with Canadians," O'Toole said in a statement issued Friday as he launched his leadership campaign from his home town of Bowmanville, Ont. "We need to show Canadians that government can and must be so much more than sunny ways, slogans and photo ops," he said. "We need to build on the strengths and successes of our past while actively seeking opportunities to win back the trust of Canadians." The Ontario MP, who served as veterans affairs minister in the previous Conservative government, was joined by his family wife, Rebecca, their children, Jack and Mollie, and his father, John O'Toole, who was a Progressive Conservative MPP for the riding of Durham, Ont., from 1995 to 2014. O'Toole said he wants to focus his campaign on what a Conservative government would do for the economy. He also wants to rebuild party fortunes in Atlantic Canada, where the Conservatives were wiped out in the 2015 election as the Liberals took all 32 seats in the region. The leadership race is crowded. Earlier today, Conservative MP Lisa Raitt announced on Twitter she is stepping down from her role as finance critic to "continue discussions on the future leadership" of her party. That development suggests the former cabinet minister is getting closer to declaring her intention to run, because interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose has asked all leadership candidates to abandon such roles. The officially registered candidates in the Conservative leadership race are MPs Maxime Bernier, Andrew Scheer, Kellie Leitch, Michael Chong, Deepak Obhrai and Brad Trost. News / Regional by Staff reporter Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) member in charge of investigations, Goodson Nguni, yesterday dug in, claiming there was enough evidence to nail Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo on corruption and abuse of funds charges, as the case took a new twist.Nguni said Zacc had collectively sanctioned the investigation into Moyo and Zimdef and this was not due to a personal vendetta.Nguni said Zimdef finances, in terms of the Act, "must only be used for manpower development" at the direction of the minister, but in consultation with the National Manpower Advisory Council (Namaco).The Zacc commissioner also refuted reports Zacc wanted to arrest Moyo during a Zanu-PF politburo meeting last week. While the Transportation Safety Board says it's too early to determine the cause of Thursday night's plane crash, a local pilot has suggested ice could have been the culprit. He said that considering last night's weather, his first thought about the cause was ice on the wings. He suggested the wings of plane may have accumulated ice at altitude, lost lift and crashed. It's not known what type of de-icing equipment was on board the plane at the time. The Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to the scene of the crashed Cessna Citation plane, near Beaver Lake Road, east of Winfield. Julie Leroux, with the TSB, says the investigators will conduct interviews with first responders, examine the wreckage, review the plane's maintenance records and look into the weather conditions at the time the plane went down to determine the cause of the fatal crash. Leroux says it is too early to know the cause at this stage in their investigation. with files from Wayne Moore Photo: The Canadian Press British Columbia Premier Christy Clark says a diesel spill in the waters off the Great Bear Rainforest is a prime example of the federal government's inadequate commitment to disaster cleanup on the West Coast. Clark made the strong statement as clean-up efforts continue along the central coast after a tug pushing a fuel barge ran aground and sank Thursday. The barge was empty but the tug began leaking fuel, raising concerns among the nearby First Nation that the diesel could contaminate area clam beds and fishing grounds that are of cultural, economic and spiritual significance. Clark pointed out she's been saying for years that federal spill response infrastructure on the West Coast is inadequate but other governments and businesses continue to push for oil pipeline developments along the coast. The premier says B.C. needs an increased coast guard presence on the West Coast, which has been cheated for decades by federal governments who have been upgrading spill response equipment on the East Coast. The coast guard says the 30-metre Nathan E. Stewart, which is registered in the United States, and an empty fuel barge it was pushing ran aground early Thursday morning in Seaforth Channel on the central coast. Opinion / Columnist Given the deafening noise from Mashonaland in the Zimbabwe media about Jonathan Moyo's corruption case, one can be forgiven for thinking that it is the first corruption case in Zimbabwe. Had the people of Zimbabwe, especially those from Mashonaland who are attacking Jonathan Moyo today, adopted the same strategy since 1980 then Zimbabwe would not be a failed state as it is now.Zimbabwe would not be a embarrassing vendor economy that has lost international reputation and financial sovereignty due to wanton corruption and greed.But Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe it will never change from being a Shona supremacist state to a democratic country that accommodates everyone who lives in it. Corruption watchdogs and those who name and shame corrupt officials check which part of the country the culprit comes from and their tribe, before they make a move.If corruption is committed by a Shona person from Mashonaland critics from that region are less and so is the noise and the matter can easily be swept under the carpet. But if the same offence is committed by a Matebele person from Matebeleland, the whole of Mashonaland springs to energised activism against corruption.As we have witnessed in the case against VP Mphoko's stay in the in the hotel and his Choppies chain stores. He was targeted for selective criticism by Zimbabwe Shona opposition parties and pressure groups. In the same manner xenophobes in South Africa target foreign owned shops for looting, VP Mphoko's Choppies Shops in Harare were attacked by tribalist pressure groups like #Tajamuka . But how many Shona Zanupf leaders own businesses? Why were they not attacked? How many Shona government officials live in hotels? Why are they not attacked, is it because they belong to the superior tribe which holds the rights to corruption?Prof Jonathan "Robin Hood" Moyo committed three crimes that cannot be forgiven in Mashonaland.i) He transferred funds from ZimDef to buy moto bikes and bicycles for use by chiefs and others in Matabeleland. Robin Hood should have known better. You do not steal money from Zimbabwe to develop Matabeleland. Matabeleland should remain marginalised and poor. That's according to the Grand Plan and the Shona people.ii) In his defence he made things worse by mentioning two subjects that are treated as taboo in Zimbabwe ie Matabeleland genocide (gukurahundi) and Shona tribalism. Robin Hood, should have requested our advice before he attempted to say a word concerning the above topics. That Shona people are genocidaires and tribalists is a well known truth which you must keep to yourself, you do not say that in public especially in the full attention and view of the world. Shona people do not like it.iii) He stated that some from Mashonaland are also corrupt and some are UN identified cross- border diamond smugglers. Shona people possess corruption DNA, remind them of this at your own peril and you cannot beat them at their own game.Little wonder numerous corruption scandals involving top government officials and those who hold high positions in the public sector go unpunished. To them, to be entrusted with a public office is as good as being offered a blank cheque for corruption, stealing and transferring public and or corporate assets into private ownership, inflating prices, overinvoicing and underinvoicing for purposes of enriching themselves is considered normal and clever.Do we hear the same noise against the following corruption scandals by the Shona people? If not, is that not selective criticism driven by tribal hatred?This year alone President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe who has a strong appetite for air travel has already gobbled up over US $100 million in flight travel. He takes with him not less than 40 strong delegation every foreign trip and these ministers receive over $5000 in allowances per trip. According to former Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, Mugabe carries with him $4 million hard cash taken from RBZ, RTGS system everytime he travels, causing more liquidity crunch.US $15 billion worth of diamonds have disappeared into thin air at Chiadzwa diamonds mines but the government is still failing to act on those involved.Southern Sun Hotel Group under Sol Kezner had intended to invest a US$ 1 billion resort in Binga when he made his application, the then Minister of Tourism and Hospitality, Francis Nhema, demanded US $10 million Bribe from Kezner for him to issue the license. Kezner refused to pay the bribe and opted to invest that money in Livingstone, Zambia where he created a thousand plus jobs through that investment.Mariyawanda Nzuwa, Chairman of the Public service commission. Spent in a single month, US $10million which translates to US $6000 a day, phoning girlfriends in India, America, South Africa and Belgium just to name but a few countries.In 2004, with only two months in office, former Finance Minister, Chris Kuruneri had already smuggled $500 000, 37 000, 30 000 and R12 million to buy properties in South Africa, Cape Town, including a R30 million eight bedroom mansion and a luxury car.A messy divorce in 2011 exposed former Minister of Housing, Ignatius Chombo as owning vast tracts of prime land in every town in Zimbabwe. He used his influence as minister to acquire and register land under his many investment companies which include Harvest Net Investments, Tonewick Investments, Waycorn Investments, Nedbourn Investments, Dilcrest Investment, Hutmut Investment, Growfin Investment and Teamrange Investment.His Immovable properties are spread all over the country ie Epworth, Chirundu, Kariba, Ruwa, Chinhoyi, Mutare, Chegutu, Binga, Victoria Falls, Zvimba, Chitugwiza, Beitbridge, Harare and Bulawayo. Harare councillors tried to investigate but they were arrested and Chombo was rewarded with a powerful Home Affairs post.The following is a list of more Zanu-pf scandals as provided by Ken Yamamoto, a researcher on Africa at Tokyo Institute. Apparently, after Shona independence the plunderers did not waste time.1- Paweni Scandal (1982)2- National Railways Housing scandal (1986)3-Air Zimbabwe Fokker Plane Scandal worth $100 million (1987)4-ZISCO Steel Blast Furnace Scandal (1987)5-Willowgate Scandal (1988)6-ZRP Santana Scandal (1989)7-War Victims Compensation Scandal (1994)7-GMB Grain Scandal (1995)8-VIP Housing Scandal (1996)9-Boka Banking Scandal (1998)10-ZESA YTL Soltran Scandal (1998)11-Harare City Council Refuse Tender Scandal (1998)12-Housing Loan Scandal (1999)13-Noczim Scandal (1999)14-DRC timber and diamond UN reported Scandals (1999),15-GMB Scandal (1999),16-Ministry of Water & RuralDevelopment Chinese Tender Scandal (1999),17-Harare Airport Scandal (2001),18-Pillaging and milking of ZIZSCO Steel (2005-8)19-Pillaging of diamonds in Chiadzwa (2006-present)The official opposition party, MDC T which is a copycat of Zanu-pf cannot go too hard on corruption. During their short stint in the GNU they where found with their hands in the cookie jar.Regime change forces from the west led by Britain spent US$3,6 billion on MDC T. But Morgan Tsvangirai squandered most of it on his numerous girlfriends in the USA, South Africa, Australia, UK, Germany and all major cities in current Zimbabwe.Through political naivety and financial profligacy all the money was spent without concomitant deliverables equivalent to the money disbursed to the MDC T. Shonas immediately turned Robert Mugabe to some money making scheme whereby they duped the western countries pushing the regime agenda to donate huge sums of money with a promise to mobilise people to remove Robert Mugabe from power. The result was a huge disappointment. This led to the outcry from nordic ambassadors about the level of corruption in the opposition parties in Zimbabwe as represented by MDC T, PD P, ZimPF et all.There is a moto by the Venda people in South Africa, "Shumela venda." Sebenzel' ekhaya. Professor Jonathan Moyo is a leading example. May fellow Matebeles within Zanupf, MDC T, PDP, ZimPF and others follow on his footsteps. SEBENZELE' KHAYA! We all know that they do not like you in Mashonaland but they are using and abusing you for the purpose of harvesting votes in Matabeleland and using you as dummies in their political structures to hoodwink the world into believing that Zimbabwe is not a Shona supremacist state that it is.Appease your own people while time still allows before you are condemned to the freezing "No man's land" whereby you will be rejected by both countries, Matabeleland alias Mthwakazi and Mashonaland aka Zimbabwe. The time is near and it has come, for the independence of Matabeleleland is upon us. One thing becomes clear and more clearer everyday, no one can serve two masters at the same time.Can we see more "Robin Hood" characters in Matabeleland!We do not condone corruption but we have second thoughts for Robin Hood characters.Izenzo kungemazwi!Israel DubeMLO Secretary for Information and Public Affairsinfomlo13@gmail.com Egypt: manufacturers encouraged to increase AF use 14 October 2016 The Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, Tarek Qabil, announced that the industry has completed a study on the use on alternative fuel sources to fossil fuels in Egyptian cement plants. Mr Qabil said that the ministry plans to boost cement factories reliance on alternative fuel sources such as coal by 6.4-30 per cent within the next 5-10 years. He went on to say that the total coal needs of the countrys cement plants are expected to reach 9.7Mta by 2025. Increasing the use of alternative fuel sources will save US$50m annually by 2015 as well as reduce the current CO 2 emissions from cement factories. The study was conducted by the Ministry of Industry, International Finance Corporation, the Ministry of Environment and the Cement Division of the Building Materials Chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries and looked at data from 14 cement plants, which represent 75 per cent of the cement industry in Egypt. Published under This Bad-Ass MP Breastfed Her Child As She Addressed the Parliament Icelandic MP Unnur Bra Konrasdottir nursed her 6-week-old daughter as she discussed a vote on new immigration legislation to the parliament. She fed her at the podium of the Alingi parliament on Wednesday, as she addressed her colleagues. ADVERTISEMENT Konrasdottir is a member of Icelands center-right Independence Party and chairs both the parliamentary Judicial Affairs and Education Committees. Her daughter was born September 1st and has accompanied her mother to parliament and conferences since her birth. Other MPs offered to hold the child while she spoke, but Konrasdottir decided that simply nursing her daughter would be less interruptive. She was hungry and I had not expected to go to the pulpit," said Konrasdottir. "Then another MP was giving statements on a bill that I put forward on the behalf of the Judicial Affairs Committee, to which I had to respond. So I either had to tear the baby girl of me and leave her crying with the MP sitting next to me or just take her with me and I thought it would cause less disturbance to take her with me. Though many countries still do not require protect individuals rights to breastfeed in public, much less in their parliamentary and congressional houses, Iceland is more progressive in this regard (although this is the first time that an MP has breastfed while actually addressing their peers.) As Konrasdottir told AFP, being a mother is hard work, and "you've got to do what you've got to do." This incident serves to remind us that people of all bodies, including those who are nursing, have both the ability and the right to work free from stigma. ADVERTISEMENT Breastfeeding is far from shameful; we think its a superpower. Image Source: YouTube More From BUST This Video About Breastfeeding Shame Will Blow You Away Breastfeeding Mom Uses Her Boob Milk As A Weapon Women Confront Society's Hate In This Empowering Photo Series I'm a recent Bard grad livin large and in charge! I write and perform comedy (articles, standup, all that jazz). I'm writing a tv pilot right now about a cardiologist who is unlucky in affairs of the heart it's called "How to Get Away with Murmur." I Didn't Want To Be Seen As 'The Girl': An Interview With A Female Pilot Jessica Sundquist Ever settled into the stiff comfort of a commercial airline flight, nestled with snacks and books and beverages, and then jumped out of your seat when a female voice rings out from the Captains chair? Yeah, its a thrill. But an impractical one, since theres no reason why more female voices shouldnt be humming from the flight deck. ADVERTISEMENT Logically speaking, the entire field of commercial aviation is still relatively young. Early pioneers were largely culled from retired military pilots, who obviously skewed male. Planes arent exactly designed to be body-friendly: Changing a tampon in an airline bathroom demands Cirque du Soleil level contortionist skill, and pumping milk on a long haul requires about 60% more space than ever built in the limited lavatories of economy class. But with women still representing only 4% of commercial pilots in the United States and practically no protocols or laws in place to help pilots who are new mothers both keep their jobs and spend time with their families, theres really no excuse for non-movement. Nursing a bloated belly during an overnight flight on Norwegian Airlines, I pondered this conundrum. So upon landing, I sought out a source. Jessica Sundquist is Norwegian Airlines pilot from Stockholm, Sweden, where shes currently training to become a captain; one of around only 450 female captains worldwide. We spoke about the romance of flying, the responsibility of having hundreds of lives in your hands at a time (You know you have these passengers, but the focus is still on bringing the aircraft in), and what thrills her about flying still, today. Jessica Sundquist What sparked the interest in becoming a pilot? I dont remember exactly when I got the idea, but ever since I was a really young kid, I really enjoyed technical stuff. My dad likes to remind me that hed come home to me having taken the VCR apart because I wanted to see how it looked inside. I loved to play with cars, and seeing planes flying in the sky was a big adventure. What moved you forward into aviation? When I was fourteen, I heard about this government funded flight school, thought it sounded really cool, applied, and got in. I had never flown a small plane before, so I didnt really know what I was getting myself into. It was just a cool adventure and a big challenge. One of the first days in school we took a small plane up. It was pretty cool. Its really noisy, but in another way it feels really quiet because everything is so small. The area we were flying over was 100km, all lakes and green, and I remember this feeling of feeling free, of going wherever I wanted. And then I got horrible motion sickness! It was really bad, and I was like, Oh, I cant do this! And then I was like, No. Im going to make it through. The first few flights were really bad, but then I took a turn and it never happened again. Thank god. What was the gender demographic of your school? My school was not only about pilot training: they do all kinds of training surrounding aviation like engineering, education, mechanics, airport staff work etc. At the time I went, there were maybe thirty or forty girls of four or five hundred students. So overall, those are low numbers. Yes, but the pilot classes were the most even I think we were 30%. Fewer were studying to become engineers. Did you feel that your careers were looked at with the same potential? I never personally had a problem. Ive heard a lot of stories that girls dont get the same opportunity or that its harder to get that first job, but I never experienced that; I was lucky to get my first job out of flight school on a 737. It was more about putting pressure on myself, that I felt all of the time that I needed to be better because I am a woman. But looking back now, I think that was more in my own head than pressure from the outside, and Id be like that in any profession. You want to be good at what you do, and I just wanted to prove that I was as good. ADVERTISEMENT So if gender wasnt a particular problem which is stellar to hear what is the greatest challenge now? As a pilot, you spend a lot if time away from home, no matter if you are male or female. This means a big challenge when it comes to maintaining good relationships with your partner, family, and friends. You will always be the one to miss a lot of get-togethers, holidays, events and so on. That is the sacrifice we make to be able to do this job. The biggest difference is that as a woman you always get questioned about your life choice. The three first questions I usually get when people hear that I am pilot are: Is it not difficult? So many buttons! (Im always happy to answer this one: Anything you cannot do is difficult. But if you study and train for it, youll learn it!) Are you not scared? (No, Im not scared. The biggest reason for being scared of something is that you do not have the knowledge or understanding of it.) How are you ever gonna be able to have kids? Whats your plan? Are you gonna keep on flying when you have kids? Is it not hard to spend all this time away from your family? Is it worth it? These are questions that I do not think are the same if you are a man or woman. People do not question men for choosing a profession that is going to be hard to combine with family life. Men are not questioned for prioritizing their career in the same way as women are. And 8 out of 10 times these questions come from other women. I have been married to another pilot for a few years, and people do not question him if he is going to keep on flying if/when we have kids, so right there is a big difference. There are many things employers can improve to help out, but it also comes down to what kind of people and attitudes you choose to surround yourself with. We have to be better to push each other no matter our life choices. Do you know your airlines maternity leave policy? The absence of regulation in the U.S. seems to be a big problem. We get three months paid maternity leave, and then you can have more unpaid if you want. We can only hope it will get better because it can be really hard to make it work. And I think thats the main reason why more women dont get into flying. Has the pressure youve put on yourself shifted with time and achievement? When I started, I had a lot of things going on in my head. I wanted to fit in. I didnt want to be seen as the girl. So I did things to fit in like not wear nail polish, because I didnt want people to look at me and me being female to take focus. But all of that is gone now. Im as feminine as I want, I fly this plane, and they go perfectly together! Its not a problem, at all. Where did that change come from within you? I think when you get more experience, and maybe with age as well, you get more self-confidence and self-esteem. I realized that I know how to do this, I can perform well, and I can be a good pilot. I dont think its just me thats changed I think a lot of female pilots have changed. Now there are so many young, beautiful, really cool girls that are flying, where it used to be only the military kind of girls that would fly. Its gone from being a masculine profession where you have to be one of the boys, to where you can be a girly girl and go flying, and it works perfectly. Its very different now, because the number of female pilots has grown a lot in these nine years. When I fly, I listen on the radio and really notice if theres a female voice coming from another aircraft. Now there are female pilots all the time in the air. So thats great. More from BUST These WWII Fighters Have Waited 60 Years To Be Buried At Arlington 5 Ways Oceanographer Sylvia Earle Has Made Waves 92-Year-Old Woman WWII Pilot Flies For The First Time In 70 Years Jacqueline Raposo writes about chefs and food culture. Gathered on WordsFoodArt.com, her stories connect food with family, faith, the environment, and the world at large. Shes written hundreds of interviews and food-focused stories for clients including Saveur, Plate Magazine, The Village Voice, Tasting Table, and Serious Eats. Now and then, she writes about living with a chronic illness for clients including Cosmopolitan and BlogHer. And she produces and hosts Love Bites Radio on Heritage Radio Network every Monday at 4pm EST. Jacqueline lives in New York City with her dog, Mitra, and far too much cooking equipment of formidable weight. She has a thing for hot whiskey and fireplaces in the winter, hammocks and cold-brewed tea in the summer, and manly feminists. Chat her up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Walter Davis, executive director of Tennessee Health Care campaign issued the following statement regarding Blue Cross Blue shield of Tennessee's withdrawal of insurance coverage in three major markets in Tennessee: "How do you fix problems with health care access that impact tens of thousands of Tennesseans? By walking away and creating barriers to care, or by working for solutions? "For 27 years, the Tennessee Health Care Campaign has worked to assure all Tennesseans access to affordable health care. THCCs networks of volunteers and the Affordable Care Act Marketplace Navigators, known as Get Covered Tennessee, across the state have helped thousands of Tennesseans successfully enroll in plans that meet their needs and suit their pocket books. "Access to affordable, accessible healthcare relies on insurance options in every county in the state. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessees withdrawal of insurance coverage from 130,000 people in the Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis areas is shameful. They did it without warning and little more than a month before the ACA Open Enrollment Period begins. It has unleashed fears that BCBSTs remaining 80,000 rural customers may also be stranded. It could increase the number of uninsured Tennesseans and heighten the financial stresses on Tennessees hospitals. This is not what we expected from a non-profit company with assets in the $2 billion range whose mission includes a 'positive impact on the communities we serve'. "BCBST was granted a 62 percent premium increase, one of the largest in the country, for the 2017 ACA Marketplace year by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. Was the unprecedented 62 percent increase in premiums granted by TDCI Commissioner McPeak without any assurance that BCBST would maintain coverage for its existing customers? Why is BCBST not being required to reduce its Marketplace premium increases now that it has minimized its financial risk by dumping these 130,000 clients? Providing care in rural Tennessee is much cheaper. "It is also TDCIs responsibility to ensure that insurance companies have a large enough network of providers to support the number of subscribers they have in the Tennessee Marketplace. Does BCBST need to guarantee that rural access to urban specialty care will remain intact? "The ACA relies on the private market to provide health care coverage and to manage business risk. But if the private insurers cannot, Congress and the states will have to revisit public options. If private insurers instead continue to make net income or executive salaries the bottom line, it becomes imperative to create an effective consumer voice within TDCI, as exists in many other States, to prevent disruptive events like BCBSTs actions. "BCBST is abandoning people without offering meaningful assistance for customers who must transition to another Marketplace plan. A BCBST form letter suggests they call the Marketplace or look outside of it where there is no financial support. Where is the companys concern for how individuals will maintain relationships with their doctors or specialists in the major urban centers that have been cut from coverage? Where is BCBSTs mission of ' commitment to community service'? "We wait to see if BCBST will provide individual customer assistance to its former customers and guarantee healthy networks to rural members. Meanwhile BCBST could point to the professional help of GetCovered Tennessee (http://www.getcoveredtenn.org). A free call to 844-644-5443 can provide local assistance and a free meeting with a trained assister. "While there are issues that can be and need to be fixed in the Affordable Care Act in Washington, there are other vital implementation matters that purely rely upon the State of Tennessees leadership to fix now. "If the Tennessee General Assembly had passed Insure Tennessee, Governor Bill Haslams proposal to use the ACA to cover the uninsured not eligible for the Marketplace tax credits or TennCare, a primary reason for the volatility in Tennessees insurance market would have been eliminated. "Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak is responsible for managing these regulatory situations, along with oversight from Governor Haslam. We urge Tennesseans to call upon Governor Haslam to support efforts with the legislature to craft a plan that extends healthcare to all those in the Gap and to push for a statewide consumer advisory group to ensure public concerns are given more weight in future TCDI decisions." The Salvation Army is in the midst of its Christmas outreach programs. Monday is the start of the last week of Angel Tree Registration for local children and seniors. The Salvation Army is expecting long lines as need is great. "With ten weeks until Christmas, the holiday season is quickly approaching and many local families are in need of material assistance," officials said. "Families at or below the poverty line with children 12 years of age or younger and seniors 60 years of age and older are invited to register for our Angel Tree Program. Through the generosity of our donors, the Angel Tree provides much needed clothing, toys and other crucial items to qualified participants," officials said. Registration will take place every day Oct. 17 - 21. In Chattanooga, register at 5001 Covington Street, off of Rossville Boulevard, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. In Cleveland, register at Bradley Square Mall, by appointment only by calling 423-308-3467. For more information, including documentation required for registration, families in need should call 423-756-1023 or visit www.csarmy.org. "Volunteers are invited to join our ranks and assist our staff with the Angel Tree Program as well as our other seasonal efforts. Volunteers may assist at Angel Tree tables in the mall, and serve as bell ringers in order to raise money for our many ministries which meet the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of local residents. Additionally, volunteers may fill stockings with everyday essentials for seniors or fill backpacks for local homeless. Changing a life is as easy as ringing a bell or stuffing a stocking or backpack," officials said. Donations may be made online at www.csarmy.org, by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY, or by mail to: The Salvation Army, 822 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, Tn. 37403. For additional information, call 423-756-1023. The African American Museum is the 19th Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. It is located on the National Mall near the Washington Monument. photo by Diane Siskin This intense interactive display describes about the Woolworth's lunch counter incident in Greensboro, N.C. photo by Diane Siskin Darlene Clareth and her friend Andrea Griffith tried on Mae Reeve hats photo by Diane Siskin The beautiful and inspiring Contemplation Gallery complete with falling water and wishing pond photo by Diane Siskin Airplane flown by Tuskegee airmen photo by Diane Siskin Set from Oprah Winfreys Show with her couch photo by Diane Siskin Rosa Parks dress photo by Diane Siskin Slave cabin from South Carolina photo by Diane Siskin Previous Next The National Museum of African American History and Culture just opened in late September on the National Mall and it is a blockbuster.The museum which is a repository of everything African American charges no admission fees as part of the Smithsonian Museums is nevertheless sold out until next March (2017). Entrance is gained through timed entrance tickets dispersed online. New release dates havent been announced.Area locals and tourists can gain entry on a daily basis by lining up before the museum opens at 10 a.m., at which time a small number of those on line are admitted.I did get on line at 9 a.m.and was able to enter at 10:15. It was a good option for me since I only had that day to visit and wasnt able to secure a ticket in advance, said Nancy Friedman of New York. The entire facility from bottom to top provides so much dialogue and understanding of the journey of enslaved African-Americans from their transport from Africa to the Americas.The best way to understand this perilous and miserable journey to the United States is to start underground, two floors down from the museums entrance. As I rode the elevator down the glass window side permitted views of wall markings with descending dates back in history.The look back at the transatlantic slave trade, which is the focus of the bottom floor, is to say the least, jarring.It has been estimated that 12.5 million African men, women and children were enslaved and taken to the Americas over the course of 400 years. It was the largest forced migration of human beings in world history, according to the museum.This ground floor level explains how and why this migration came to be in basic but very visual displays.I learned many new things, such as the high status and culture experienced by many of the Africans before they were sold into slavery. Africa, prior to the mid-15th century was known as a continent comprised of diverse people, places and cultures. The continent included city-states, kingdoms and villages.The residents of those practiced different faith systems and had their own family and community traditions.One visitor, Katherine Gilmore, a new resident of D.C., was moved by the museums emphasis on the theme of resistance and resilience among the African Americans from the time of the slave trade to the present day. I also liked the way the lowest level (of the museum) broke down how early slave owners constructed the concept of blackness and whiteness was used as a tool to separate the slaves from the indentured servants, added Ms. Gilmore.Ms. Gilmores friend, Sofi Hersher, also new to D.C., walked away feeling simultaneously heartbroken and profoundly recommitted to the fight for racial justice. .Africa was also rich in natural resources including gold. The continent traded in spices and ivory. This global trade had economic, political and social implications which are still visible today, according to museum information.Following history on this floor level you learn how these newly enslaved both endured the horrific voyages and their demographic placement into their new homes.As visitors rise to the upper floors the museum traces not only the history but the culture of African Americans. There are exhibits focusing on almost every aspect of life through the centuries, some of which had been well documented in other museums, history books, radio, television, plays and music.There are the Freedom Riders, civil rights activists who rode integrated interstate buses into the segregated southern United States.The March on Washington for jobs and freedom in August of 1963, took place on the very same National Mall. It was here that Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs famous I Have a Dream, was delivered to the 300,000 people who attended this highpoint of the march.Other exhibits chronicle Changing America, 1968 and beyond which examines the social, economic and political history of the post-civil rights era. The feeling I came away with from these exhibits is the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some of the battles fought so bravely before for equal rights are once again being fought.New artifacts within the museum include a dress made by Rosa Parks, a stool from Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. (the entire lunch counter display is especially moving according to many visitors) a hymnal that belonged to Harriet Tubman also is an eye catcher.For me seeing an actual slave cabin, an entire train car (with separated sections for Whites and Blacks), and an airplane flown by the Tuskegee Airmen hanging from the ceiling was another highlight of my visit,Where this new museum excels is in presentation, graphics, displays and layout. You are propelled upward. With each floor rising to the top there is more color and brightness.There are the game changers, African Americans who were responsible for providing the jazz in several fields.Originating in New Orleans around 1900, jazz is a musical genre which incorporated rhythm and heavy use of improvisation in a variety of musical style, including swing, big band and bop. Not to mention blue notes.There was Sam Cooke, Dream Girls, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr. and who could forget Beyonce and JayZ.There are big names in stage and screen. James Brown, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Ella FitzgeraldMaking names for themselves were athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Muhammad Ali and Serena and Venus Williams.There are distinct cuisines developed among African Americans in different regions of our country based on their contact with foods and cooking techniques of the country in from which they came.And also given display are the Women of Color Quilters Network which helped document the traditions of quilt making.Along the Atlantic coast of southern South Carolina and northern Georgia the descendants of enslaved Africans have preserved a wide variety of very distinctive traditions from West Africa that have become known as Gullah Geechee.Today, many people collect Sweetgrass baskets, made from a combination of sweet grass, bulrush and pine needles and palm leaves. These prized baskets are some of best known pieces of African American folk art.Another prized collection of African American art, Mae Reeve hats, was on display and for sale in the museums extensive gift shop. This particular display seemed to be getting a lot of attention during my visit.Mae Reeve (born in 1913) is an African American entrepreneur and milliner who owned and operated a hat shop in West Philadelphia for more than 50 years. She established herself as a one-of-a-kind ladies hat maker, who is best known for her intricately designed showstopper hats.And the hats in the museum shop did their job, stopping women visitors who all seemed to want to try on one of the hats.Id love to buy this hat (priced at $130) but since I have a son in college this will have to wait, said Darlene Clareth, who was visiting the museum that day with her friend Andrea Griffith.Both women said they loved the museum.You can get a good overview of the museum within several hours, but to really see it and take in all it has to offer will take numerous visits. The museum exterior chronicles the rise of the culture. The museums tiered bronze exterior with perforated tiles resembles the ornate metalwork made by New Orleans slaves which decorated Southern mansions.One last thing not to be missed, on any visit, is the Sweet Home Cafe. The lines, around lunch, were long, but wait anyway, the food is that good and reasonably priced. There are raves for the buttermilk-fried chicken, cornbread and the Caribbean-style braised beef sandwich. It is set-up as self-serviced cafeteria style, with so many different areas and options. You then pick one of the long cafeteria style tables with open seats.Then while you eat, be sure to talk with your tablemates. You will not only learn their opinions about the museum, but maybe even make some new friends.---For Your Information:The African American Museum is located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. on the National Mall right near the Washington Monument. Web site: nmaahc.si.edu. (866) 297-4020. It is open every day all year, except Christmas Day.For any and all information about visiting the Nations Capital contact Destination DC the official destination marketing organization for Washington D.C. Web site: Washington.org (202) 789-7000.Free same-day passes are given on a first-come-first served basis to visitors who are in line at 9:15 a.m. Each person can get up to four same-day passes.By Diane Siskindsiskin123@gmail.com Alisha Fox has been chosen as the assistant vice president for Finance and Operations at Cleveland State Community College. Ms. Fox is a graduate of UTC where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Valdosta State University where she received her Master of Public Administration and is currently working on her Doctor of Public Administration. The college is very fortunate to have Alisha serving in this new role, stated Dr. Tommy Wright, vice president for Finance and Advancement. She has served in an interim capacity in a similar role for more than a year, and during this time she has implemented numerous efficiencies and improved processes in the business office area. Prior to accepting her position as the assistant vice president for Finance and Operations, Ms. Fox served in a number of roles at CSCC including interim director of Fiscal Services, director of Procurement, Disbursement and Contract Services and the director of Purchasing and Contracts. Prior to accepting these positions at CSCC, she served as the general manager for the Chattanooga State Bookstore as well as the general manager for the Cleveland State Bookstore. In her current position, Ms. Fox is responsible for managing institutional accounting and financial services, budget and planning, facility services, procurement and contract services and supervising professional/administrative and classified personnel. I really enjoy working in a college atmosphere, said Ms. Fox. I enjoy budgeting and problem solving, and thats what I like about this job. Its similar to a big puzzle. I never thought Id enjoy construction and capital, but the fact that we havent had a new building in years makes it such an exciting time for us, and Im happy to have a small part in that. We have a lot of exciting things going on with capital projects right now. Theres a lot of potential here. Ms. Fox went on to add, I think we have a really great team at CSCC, not only in finance, but in general. Its a really great place to work with such a close-knit family environment. Although she doesnt have much spare time at the moment because of school and teaching (she teaches a First Year Seminar class for CSCC) when she does, she and her husband, Tyler, are renovating their house and enjoy traveling. Merck informed analysts and investors at its 2016 Capital Market Day about the progress it has made in achieving its objectives up to the year 2018. In addition, CEO Stefan Oschmann and CFO Marcus Kuhnert provided a look at the period after 2018, the year which marks the companys 350th anniversary. We firmly believe that we will meet the objectives we have set for 2018, said Stefan Oschmann, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck. We have focused our pharmaceutical pipeline and continuously developed it further. Currently, we have one product in regulatory review. We are vigorously driving the integration of Sigma-Aldrich forward and expect to even exceed the originally planned synergies since additional top-line synergies are being generated. Our Performance Materials business is well-positioned to capture attractive new markets, said Oschmann. At Group level, we are aiming to swiftly reduce our debt from the Sigma-Aldrich acquisition. Healthcare posts organic growth for 20 successive quarters In the Healthcare business sector, the base business grew organically in each of the past 20 quarters. Apart from successful life cycle management, this was also due to product repatriations. This includes for instance the termination of the co-promotion of Rebif in the United States with Pfizer. Additionally, Merck is counting on its pharmaceutical pipeline and starting in 2017, aims to gain approval of one medicine or new indication every year. Up until 2022, Merck expects to generate new sales of around 2 billion with products from its pharmaceutical pipeline. In the course of 2016, Merck filed for regulatory approval of cladribine tablets for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Furthermore, the company is preparing its regulatory submission in 2016 of the immuno-oncological antibody avelumab in metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, a very aggressive form of skin cancer. Since October 2015, 20 projects have either advanced into the next phase of clinical development or are about to. Merck is focusing its drug discovery efforts on three therapeutic areas: Immunology, Immuno-Oncology and Oncology. Life Science generating above-market growth In its Life Science business sector, Merck is benefiting from strong demand from the biopharmaceutical industry and has been growing faster than the market. In addition, economies of scale from the Sigma-Aldrich acquisition are having a positive effect on profitability. Merck has also realized synergies from the Sigma-Aldrich faster than planned. At the end of 2016, the company will already have leveraged 105 million as compared with the originally planned amount of 90 million in annually recurring cost synergies. This will be complemented by previously unplanned top-line synergies, which by the end of 2018 are expected to contribute an additional 20 million to earnings. Consequently, total synergies from the acquisition will amount to 280 million instead of originally 260 million per year. The additional top-line synergies will stem partly from the strong e-commerce platform of legacy Sigma-Aldrich, which now covers the enlarged product portfolio resulting from the acquisition. Complementary customer relationships and regional synergies are also expected to lead to higher sales than initially expected. Performance Materials strengthens and expands its portfolio Despite a challenging market environment characterized by cyclical destocking among display industry customers, in the course of 2016 the Performance Materials business sector has demonstrated its sound earnings resilience. Among other things, Merck is using investments to further strengthen the innovative strength of this high-margin business sector. Firstly, Merck intends to sustainably secure its leadership in display materials. To this end, the company recently commissioned a 30 million OLED materials production plant in Darmstadt. In the course of 2017, Merck is planning the market launch of the innovative liquid crystal technology SA-VA for large-area displays. In August, Merck announced a collaboration with Nanoco of the United Kingdom, a leading manufacturer of quantum materials. Secondly, Merck aims to use its expertise in liquid crystals in order to succeed in areas beyond displays. In August, the company announced the construction of a production unit for liquid crystal window modules, which are to reach the market in 2018. In the automotive sector, liquid crystals are to be used for example in smart antennas with very high data processing volumes. Strategic roadmap for 2019 to 2022 While Merck is keeping a close eye on its mid-term objectives for 2018, the company has also announced plans for growth in the following years. Here, Merck will continue to build on its core competencies of strong innovation power and successful portfolio management. With our three strong and profitable businesses, we want to remain a leader at the forefront of scientific and technological progress, said Merck CEO Stefan Oschmann looking at growth and innovations in the coming years. By 2022, Merck wants to generate sales of around 4 billion with new products. New medicines from the pharmaceutical pipeline are to contribute around 2 billion, with Life Science and Performance Materials innovations each adding around 1 billion in sales. Merck continues to rule out major acquisitions of more than 500 million as long as the debt level expressed as the ratio of net financial debt to EBITDA pre exceptionals is greater than 2 unless divestments could be used to finance them. As was the case following past major acquisitions, subsequent to the Sigma-Aldrich purchase we are working to swiftly deleverage and want to bring the ratio of our net debt to EBITDA pre down to less than 2 by 2018, said CFO Marcus Kuhnert. Then, major acquisitions will be on the agenda again. Since 2002, Merck has made acquisitions and divestments with a volume of around 38 billion. All four major acquisitions were financially attractive and successfully integrated. Animals feeding at sea inherit a chemical record reflecting the area where they fed, which can help track their movements, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Southampton. Chemical testing of the source of marine food products could be a powerful tool to help to fight food fraud, maintain healthy sustainable fish stocks or marine protected areas, and ensure consumer confidence in marine eco-labelling. Tracing the location of marine animals is difficult as they generally can't be seen and are often a long way from the nearest person. The Southampton research team, led by Dr Clive Trueman and PhD student Katie St John Glew, built maps of chemical variation in jellyfish caught across the North Sea. They then compared the same chemical signals in scallops and herring caught in known places across the North Sea, and used statistical tests to find the areas of the North Sea with the most similar chemical compositions. These chemical tests were able to accurately link scallops and herring to their true locations, and can be used to test if the chemical composition of an animal matches a claimed area of origin. Dr Trueman, Associate Professor in Marine Ecology, said: "Understanding the origin of fish or fish products is increasingly important as we try to manage our marine resources more effectively. Fish from sustainable fisheries can fetch a premium price, but concerned consumers need to be confident that fish really were caught from sustainable sources. "Recently, genetic tests have revealed widespread mislabelling of the type of fish being sold worldwide, but currently we don't have any way of testing where a fished product was caught." The packaging for Davidson's Safest Choice has drawn the ire of the Humane Society of the United States, which has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commmission asking the agency to investigate possible violations of false-advertising law. (Davidson's Safest Choice) The egg carton depicts an idyllic scene with an expansive green pasture, a red barn in the distance and a few white chickens walking upon the logo for Davidson's Safest Choice eggs, with nothing but azure skies above. But one of the most influential animal welfare organizations in the U.S. is saying that's a bunch of avian excrement. Advertisement "No reasonable consumer would see the verdant imagery and 'all-natural' claims and think of a complex of factory farms owned by National Pasteurized Eggs, a geographically widespread egg-producing corporation, where hens are confined in cramped, filthy cages and never see the light of day," reads the complaint filed by the Humane Society of the United States with the Federal Trade Commission on Friday. The complaint filed against Lansing, Ill.-based National Pasteurized Eggs, which sells eggs under the Davidson's brand, calls on the FTC to investigate possible violations of false-advertising law. Some Davidson's eggs are from cage-free hens, but the animal welfare group is taking issue specifically with the packaging of eggs from caged hens marketed instead as "all-natural," as well as promotional text on the company's website. Advertisement Davidson's Safest Choice eggs are sold at various stores in the Chicago area, including Jewel-Osco and Mariano's, according to the egg company's website. A spokeswoman for National Pasteurized Eggs did not return calls seeking comment. In some ways, this controversy is a function of the times. Increasingly, consumers are showing a willingness to pay more for products that they perceive to be healthier or more humanely raised. And food companies are meeting that demand through operational changes and through marketing. Never before have consumers been faced with so many egg options, including but not limited to organic, cage-free and free-range. Though some shoppers carefully research all the new terminology, the vast majority are still just trying to make it through the grocery store, said Sue Fogel, a marketing professor at DePaul University. "(The Davidson's egg carton) would tend to mislead consumers if they're not paying attention, and most are not paying attention," Fogel said. In addition to the bucolic image, words like "all-natural" and "pasteurized" on the carton add to the overall misleading effect of the image, said Matt Prescott, senior food policy director for the Humane Society. The federal complaint also identifies and disputes claims made on the National Pasteurized Eggs website that the pasteurization process reduces the risk for salmonella bacteria. "This is one of the more egregious examples we've seen of a company just blatantly putting a picture of frolicking chickens on cartons of eggs from chickens locked in cages," Prescott said. "We take very seriously companies trying to circumvent consumer will by misleading them." The FTC generally doesn't comment on complaints unless action is taken. And it doesn't often take action on complaints about egg marketing. The commission hasn't taken action on a complaint related to egg marketing since 1996 when it penalized Eggland's Best for deceptive cholesterol-related claims, according to agency spokesman Mitchell Katz. But the Humane Society has proven adept at applying public pressure and effecting industrywide change on various fronts. In recent years, the animal welfare group has pushed hundreds of food companies to switch to cage-free eggs and trumpeted those announcements once they did. In 2015, the nonprofit reported revenue of $133.3 million. Advertisement Meanwhile, Post Holdings, a St. Louis-based consumer packaged goods company, is in the process of acquiring National Pasteurized Eggs, which has egg production facilities in Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota. That deal is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Terms were not disclosed. A Post Holdings spokesman could not be reached for comment. gtrotter@chicagotribune.com Twitter @GregTrotterTrib Former British trader Navinder Singh Sarao arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London on March 23, 2016. Sarao has lost his challenge against extradition to the U.S. and will be sent to Chicago to stand trial over charges related to the 2010 "flash crash." (Justin Tallis / AFP/Getty Images) Accused "flash crash" trader Navinder Singh Sarao lost his latest round to fight extradition and will be sent from the U.K. to Chicago to face federal charges that he helped trigger a 2010 tumble in stock markets. A U.K. judge on Friday refused Sarao's application to appeal his extradition, a court spokesman said. Advertisement A grand jury in Chicago indicted Sarao in 2015, alleging manipulation on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The charges against Sarao include wire fraud, commodities fraud and spoofing for his alleged role in the May 6, 2010, crash, which saw tens of billions of dollars lost in just five minutes. The market quickly rebounded. U.S. officials have said Sarao made $875,000 that day. In March, U.K. District Judge Quentin Purdy of the Westminster Magistrates' Court rejected Sarao's challenge to extradition. Purdy sent the case to the U.K.'s home secretary to decide whether to order the British financial trader's extradition to the U.S. Advertisement On May 14, Home Secretary Theresa May, who has since been named prime minister, ordered Sarao's extradition to the U.S., and Sarao appealed to the U.K. High Court. On July 19, the High Court also denied Sarao's appeal over the extradition; on July 25, Sarao "renewed" his appeal to the High Court. A U.S. Justice Department spokesman declined comment on when Sarao might be extradited to Chicago. In July, Michael Coscia was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of supervised release for spoofing and commodities fraud. Coscia, of New Jersey, was the first defendant in the country to stand trial under new anti-spoofing laws included in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. In November, he was found guilty of six counts of spoofing the use of computer algorithms to rig markets in fractions of a second and six counts of commodities fraud. byerak@chicagotribune.com Twitter @beckyyerak Maria Marquez, left, and Christine Burns, both agents from Integrity, representatives of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, hand out information to shoppers on how to select plans through Obamacare seen here at a Target store in Chicago on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois will be the only insurer offering PPO health insurance plans on the state's Obamacare exchange next year. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois will be the only insurer offering PPO health insurance plans on the state's Obamacare exchange next year, according to information released Friday by the state Department of Insurance. That's down from five insurers that offered individual PPO plans on the exchange this year. Many consumers prefer PPO health plans because, unlike HMO plans, they allow patients to see specialist doctors without a referral and see physicians who are out-of-network, albeit at higher costs. Advertisement The reduced choices were not unexpected, following the exit of several insurers from Illinois' exchange. Aetna, its Coventry brand, UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealthcare subsidiary Harken Health and Land of Lincoln all announced this year they wouldn't offer individual plans on the exchange next year. Many insurers have cited financial struggles as their reason for abandoning the exchange. The information was released Friday along with final rates for insurance plans on the exchange, which on average, are largely the same as rates submitted to the federal government in August. Rates will increase by an average of 44 percent for the lowest-priced bronze plans, 45 percent for the lowest-priced silver plans and 55 percent for the lowest-priced gold plans. Advertisement The information released Friday, however, also shows for the first time which insurers will offer what types of plans in each county on the exchange next year: In Cook County, insurer Celtic will offer an HMO plan, Cigna will offer an HMO and Blue Cross and Blue Shield will offer an HMO and a PPO. In Lake and McHenry counties, Blue Cross and Blue Shield will be the only on-exchange insurer offering HMO and PPO plans. In Kane and DuPage counties, Cigna will offer an HMO, Celtic will offer an HMO to part of the area and Blue Cross and Blue Shield will offer an HMO and PPO. The federal government will release specific premiums, deductibles and information about networks by Nov. 1, when consumers can begin shopping for insurance on the exchange. This year, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois stopped offering its broadest PPO plan for individuals on the exchange, instead offering a smaller PPO network that didn't include popular academic medical centers at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago or hospital chain NorthShore University HealthSystem. "We will continue to work with state and federal regulators and legislators to ensure a stable and sustainable insurance marketplace and to improve the quality and cost of care for all of our members," Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois said in a statement Friday. Illinois is not unique in how few insurers will offer on-exchange PPOs next year, said Katherine Hempstead, a senior adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Advertisement Options will be more plentiful for Illinois residents who buy individual insurance off the exchange, but people who buy off-exchange plans aren't eligible for federal subsidies that offset insurance costs. About 75 percent of Illinois residents who buy insurance on the exchange now get those subsidies, which will allow those consumers to pay less than $75 a month next year, even with the rate increase, Jonathan Gold, a spokesman for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. Five insurers will offer off-exchange PPO plans next year in different parts of the state. In all, 14 insurers will offer plans off the exchange. Consumers typically can buy off-exchange insurance through brokers or through insurance companies directly. Oftentimes, insurers are more inclined to offer plans off the exchange because they may believe they'll get healthier customers, said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president for special initiatives at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Most consumers, he said, are most concerned about making sure insurance plans' networks include their doctors and that their monthly premiums aren't too high. "It means consumers have to shop around carefully, as options are changing," he said. lschencker@chicagotribune.com Twitter @lschencker The city of Chicago may require pharmaceutical sales representatives to pay a licensing fee. An ordinance is expected to be introduced to the City Council next month. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Chicago could become one of the few cities in the nation requiring pharmaceutical sales representatives to carry a special license, a measure that Mayor Rahm Emanuel says would help fight opioid addiction. An ordinance the city expects to introduce next month would require pharmaceutical reps who promote medications to doctors and other health care professionals to track and provide to the city, if requested, the number of health care professionals they've contacted, information about drugs promoted, samples provided and whether doctors were compensated for their time. The city also is considering requiring pharmaceutical reps to track which doctors they contact, and potentially supply names to the city upon request. Advertisement As part of the licensing requirements, sales reps also would have to get additional training on prescription abuse, ethics and marketing practices from programs certified by the city. In addition, health care professionals and patients would for the first time be able to report any deceptive and unethical behavior by the sales reps to the city. Currently, pharmaceutical reps must have only limited business licenses from the city, as must many other businesses. Advertisement The city is ironing out how it would enforce the ordinance and punish violators, though pulling a rep's license might be one possibility, said Dr. Julie Morita, commissioner of the city's Department of Public Health. The licenses likely would cost about $750 a person annually, bringing in $1 million that would support the licensing program as well as help support treatment for addiction, Morita said. When asked if the ordinance was a way for the city to make money, Morita said in an email it was about protecting Chicagoans' health and well-being. Last year, 403 people accidentally died in Chicago from opioid overdoses, according to the data cited in a report by the Chicago-Cook County Task Force on Heroin, released this month. It's part of a troubling national trend, Morita said. "These medications were used because there was a strong belief they were safe and nonaddictive, which was not accurate, and that's because (the pharmaceutical industry) misrepresented the dangers associated with these medications," Morita said. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry group, declined to comment on the substance of Chicago's proposal because it had not been able to review the details. But it did say in an emailed statement: "Industry interactions with health care professionals, however, are already extensively regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Patchwork local and state initiatives are likely to disrupt the existing federal regulation of important scientific information that benefits both providers and patients." Washington, D.C., has had licensed reps for the past eight years, with a licensing fee of $175 per rep. Currently, 1,022 pharmaceutical reps are licensed. Enforcement is handled by the city's Board of Pharmacy. Jesse Witten, a partner at law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath in Washington, D.C., said he's heard of some drug companies keeping their reps out of the city because of the law. "They don't do enough business in D.C. to make it worth their while to get licensed," said Witten, who represents pharmaceutical companies. Chicago's plan to regulate pharmaceutical reps is its latest effort to address opioid addiction. Advertisement Two years ago, the city of Chicago filed suit against five large drugmakers in Cook County Circuit Court, accusing them of marketing opioids such as OxyContin as "rarely addictive" and touting benefits that "lacked scientific support." That suit is pending. The city also reached an agreement with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer earlier this year that commits the drugmaker to standards for marketing opioids. The federal government has filed a number of lawsuits in recent years against pharmaceutical companies over such issues. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a city news release that she supports the proposed ordinance as a way "to curb the abusive overprescribing of opioid painkillers that feeds our country's heroin epidemic." The FDA prohibits marketing drugs for uses the agency has not approved. Also, federal law prohibits giving doctors anything of value in an effort to gain federal business, such as Medicare payments for drugs. lschencker@chicagotribune.com Twitter @lschencker SC Johnson celebrated the opening of its new North American regional headquarters in Chicago on Oct. 13, 2016. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) SC Johnson Chief Executive Fisk Johnson recalled the time about four years ago when he crossed paths with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "If memory serves me correctly, we weren't but just a few minutes into our conversation when he was suggesting that we move some jobs to Chicago," the Racine, Wis., executive recalled Thursday. "It caught me a little off guard because my family and our company love our home city of Racine, and we have very deep roots there, so it was a little bit of an eye opener for that as a conversation starter." Advertisement Four years after Emanuel planted the seed of the idea with the head of the fifth-generation, family-led business, SC Johnson officially opened its new North American regional headquarters in downtown Chicago on Thursday. "We already had a lot of SC Johnson people already commuting all the way up to Racine every day" from the Chicago area, Johnson said at the opening of the Chicago headquarters Thursday. And "as our management team thought about it, there's an incredible wealth of talent in" Chicago, "and we felt it could open up new horizons for our company." Advertisement About 175 workers are moving from Racine, Wis., to leased space in 550 W. Washington St. The company's global headquarters remain, and will continue to stay, in Racine, Wis., Johnson said at the event, which was also attended by Emanuel. Even Thursday at the festivities, Emanuel "was already working on me to move more jobs down here," Johnson said. A spokesman for the mayor said the company, whose products include Glade, Pledge and Scrubbing Bubbles, didn't get any tax breaks to move the jobs to Chicago. SC Johnson has about 13,000 employees worldwide, including about 2,250 in the Racine area. byerak@chicagotribune.com Twitter @beckyyerak Mike Rowe showcases 'How America Works' at Pueblo's GCC cement plant Mike Rowe's show 'How America Works' is featuring Pueblo's GCC cement plant, with the FOX Business program set to air Oct. 31. By Jake Liddle Critical amendments to the establishment of foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) in China came into effect on October 1, 2016, essentially replacing the previous administrative approval process with a simplified filing system that reduces processing times from around 12 working days to 3. Mostly conducted online, the scheme was originally piloted in Chinas free trade zones and will now be rolled out nationally. The amendment affects four separate laws, namely those relating to Sino-foreign equity joint ventures, contractual joint ventures, wholly foreign owned enterprises, and investments made by Taiwanese entities. The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued provisional measures for the new filing system on October 8, which defines and governs the main features of the system. Previous approval system The previous system consisted of a two-step approval and registration process, among other administrative procedures. An entitys incorporation documents were firstly subject to approval from MOFCOM, following which a business license was required to be obtained from the local Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC). The process often proved to be lengthy, especially where revisions to incorporation documents were required midway through the application process. New filing system Now, FIEs can be incorporated by means of the simplified filing process with their local MOFCOM branch. Eligibility for the new procedure hinges on whether or not the scope of business is restricted by the Negative List for Foreign Investment. The filing procedure is carried out online via a dedicated information system, with required documentation cut down to include an application form, letter of undertaking, business license, and power of attorney appointing the representatives to make the application. Although the application procedures have undoubtedly been streamlined, the new system is somewhat stricter regarding supervision: FIEs that do not meet the filing requirements will be subject to tougher supervision by the Commerce Committee, which is more partial to conducting random checks and inspections. Moreover, FIEs are required to provide more information concerning shareholders and the actual controlling persons of the FIE. After establishment, if the FIE wishes to make any changes to fundamental features such as change of address, business scope, registered capital, legal representative, etc., a filing application must be made within 30 days after the change. That said, FIEs will benefit from application certainty and efficiency: under the previous system, most FIE transactions were subject to approval of district and prefecture level MOFCOM divisions. In many cases, district division MOFCOM personnel displayed inconsistent understanding of the laws and regulations, resulting in many applications being left unapproved. Because the new system shifts the application process to provincial-level MOFCOM divisions, personnel will only serve to perform a preliminary review, meaning a more uniform treatment and reduced risk to applications. As long as submitted documents are all in order and do not fall under the scope of the negative list, the filing will only take three working days to process. Key takeaways As the FIE amendment rules are still in the early stages of enactment, there are issues that are not yet fully clarified. Firstly, because the negative list has not yet been published, the actual scope of the new filing system is not apparent. The new negative list is expected to be published by the State Council in the near future. In addition, the provisional measures do not touch on mergers and acquisitions, so it is still unclear if the new filing system will apply to the M&A process. However, if the scheme is indeed wholly based on the Shanghai free trade zone scheme which served as its model M&As will be included in the negative list, and will be subject to MOFCOM approval. Nevertheless, it is important for foreign entities to be aware of the uncertainties at this point when going ahead with their establishment applications. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Establishing & Operating a Business in China 2016 Establishing & Operating a Business in China 2016, produced in collaboration with the experts at Dezan Shira & Associates, explores the establishment procedures and related considerations of the Representative Office (RO), and two types of Limited Liability Companies: the Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise (WFOE) and the Sino-foreign Joint Venture (JV). The guide also includes issues specific to Hong Kong and Singapore holding companies, and details how foreign investors can close a foreign-invested enterprise smoothly in China. An Introduction to Doing Business in China 2016 Doing Business in China 2016 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates in June 2016, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changesSelling, Sourcing and E-commerce in China 2016 Human Resources and Payroll in China 2016-2017 A firm understanding of Chinas laws and regulations related to human resources and payroll management is absolutely necessary for foreign businesses in China. This edition of HR and Payroll, updated for 2016/17, navigates Chinas laws and regulations related to HR and payroll management essential information for foreign investors looking to establish or already running a foreign-invested entity in China. Containers are unloaded from a cargo ship in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, on Sept 8, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] China's exports fell by 1.6 percent year-on-year to 10.06 trillion yuan ($1.49 trillion) in the first three quarters of the year, while overall trade performance improved on a quarterly basis, customs data showed on Thursday. Foreign trade between January and September was down by 1.9 percent to 17.53 trillion yuan from a year earlier, with imports dropping by 2.3 percent to 7.47 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs. Customs spokesman Huang Songping attributed the weak figures to sluggish world growth and the lack of effective support for global trade. "As China continues to face weak domestic and global market demand, we have discovered that its traditional advantage in foreign trade has shown many weak points and confronted difficulties such as trade protectionism, rising operational costs and limited market channels," said Huang. But China's foreign trade has shown signs of stabilizing, since it rose by 1.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, he said. He said the government will take adequate measures to support foreign trade, including further cutting taxes for domestic companies and improving research and development capabilities for high-end manufacturers, as well as enlarging trade volume with countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative routes. Huang said the depreciation of the Chinese yuan could benefit domestic exporters, but would also raise the import costs of production materials, since processing trade still remains a major part of China's trade pattern. "An economy's currency fluctuations could have a mixed impact on trade growth due to cross-border cooperation along the global industrial value chain, undermining efforts to boost exports," Huang said. China's exports to countries along the Belt and Road routes increased between January and September. For example, exports to Pakistan grew by 14.9 percent; to Russia, by 14 percent; Poland, 11.7 percent; Bangladesh, 9.6 percent; and India, 7.8 percent. Meanwhile, exports to the United States, China's second-biggest trade partner, fell by 1.9 percent, and those to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its third-largest trade partner, shrank by 1.9 percent. Machinery and electronic products as well as goods in labor-intensive sectors, including textiles and toys, accounted for the lion's share of export goods, and private companies still led the country's exports. Joneaa Jeans, a Dongguan-based garment company, was one of the major exporters of original equipment manufacturer jeans, which are used as other companies' end products, to Europe last year, with sales of 130 million yuan. However, its overseas sales declined this year, and exports dropped to 47 million yuan due to weak market response. Xie Qundi, president of Joneaa Jeans, said her company is looking for new partners in emerging markets, especially in South America and Southeast Asia. It has also added a 12-member team to design new styles of jeans for the needs of various foreign clients. "Even though orders from abroad did show some increase in September, they are much fewer than last year," said Xie. "Our independent brands and the depreciation of the yuan certainly will help the sales in overseas markets." You are here: Home A screen shot of the Tipix app. [Photo/app. weibo.com] Apple CEO Tim Cook has praised the champions of a Chinese university app contest, calling their designs "impressive and innovative." Through his Twitter-like Sina Weibo account, Cook said on Wednesday that "entrants submitted many impressive, innovative ideas" at the contest, organized by Apple and Tsinghua University. The China Collegiate Computing Contest received 361 app designs and projects submitted by students from 161 universities and colleges over a period of six months. Cook congratulated the Zhejiang University team for their app Tipix, which won the top prize in the university app category. Tipix is a photo-editing app. Users can choose brush or move their fingers on smart phones to turn their photo into artwork and share it on social media. The app was invented by five students from Zhejiang University in 2013. Team leader Zhang Lekai, a PHD of digital art, said he hoped the app would help inspire creativity. Cook watched the live demonstration of the four finalists on Wednesday. The outstanding winner - the Tipix app - will now take part in Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference next year. Being the only ruling party in China is one of the things that the Communist Party of China (CPC) gets criticized for by the West, but European scholars have affirmed it is the most suitable path for China. Kjeld Erik Brodsgaard, director of the Asia Research Center at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, takes questions on Oct. 13 during the CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016 being held in Chongqing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn] Kjeld Erik Brodsgaard, director of the Asia Research Center at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, used his country's own political situation to demonstrate how complicated it can be to create a ruling coalition. "It's very difficult to reach political decisions because of the different interests that must be aligned," said Brodsgaard on Oct. 13 while attending the CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016 in Chongqing. "So, we call it democracy, and we are happy about it but sometimes this kind of democracy makes it very difficult to move ahead, to make important decisions and to implement them." Brodsgaard compared China with India, a pair that often gets compared in Western countries. He noted that Western people tend to think that India will outperform China in the long run since India has a Western type of democracy. But, in reality, he said that India is developing slowly with difficulty in implementing policies and building infrastructure. By contrast, the CPC, as the only ruling party of China, is exempted from the Western-style interparty struggles that reduce efficiency. "In China, you can implement policies much better. That's related to the fact that you have an able CPC that's able to make good policies for the country and implement them in an efficient way," said Brodsgaard. "Meanwhile, China has eight so-called democratic parties, and the CPC makes efforts to discuss with them in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference," he said, referring to the national advisory body of China. Brodsgaard said that communication platforms such as the CPC in Dialogue with the World help other countries learn about the CPC and China, including how the CPC will manage to stay the only ruling party and how it has made China the second largest economy in the world. Brodsgaard's view is shared by his countryman Flemming Christiansen, a professor of China Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, and also a frequenter of the CPC in Dialogue with the World. Christiansen said that the dialogue mechanism will lead to more transparency and openness for the CPC. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. You are here: Home Police in east China's Fujian Province have busted a telecommunications fraud gang, with 52 scammers detained, police said Thursday. In September, police in Anxi County found traces of the scammers operating in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. A crackdown that followed helped nab the suspects in three separate locations in Nanning, police said. The scammers used mobile phones and computers to lure victims to gamble on their websites. They swindled money from them by manipulating the gambling results. Further investigation is under way. Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit to Bangladesh, the first tour to this South Asian country by a Chinese President in 30 years, will serve as a milestone in China-Bangladesh ties, experts said ahead of Xis trip. Ye Hailin, director of the Center of South Asia Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the People's Daily that Bangladesh, as an important South Asian country located off the Bay of Bengal, can be Chinas key partner in building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, also known as Belt and Road. He further explained that before China proposed the Belt and Road initiative, Bangladesh had already played a critical role in China-Bangladesh-India-Myanmar cooperation, a mechanism proposed by China and South Asian nations to encourage collaboration in the Bay of Bengal region. Bangladesh is not only a hub in the Bay of Bengal, but a key stop along the Southern Silk Road. Given its important geographic location, the country can be one of Chinas top partners for economic cooperation with South Asia. Whats more, its abundant youth population and robust manufacturing capability can present Chinese enterprises with rich business opportunities. As neighbors with traditional friendship, China and Bangladesh have enjoyed sound relations since they established diplomatic relations 41 years ago. This favorable momentum has been evidenced by frequent high-level exchanges, enhanced cooperation in trade and investment and expanded cultural exchanges. Praising the time-honored China-Bangladesh relationship, Chai Xi, former Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, said that over the years, this South Asian nation, constrained by lack of resources and hit by frequent natural disasters, has received a spate of assistance from China. China always lent a helpful hand to Bangladesh at the earliest moment when major natural disasters occurred, he added. Besides such assistance, China also helped improve Bangladeshs transportation and boost its economy. It has built seven bridges in Bangladesh since 1980s and the eighth bridge is now under construction. To extend its gratitude to China, Bangladesh donated 1 million dollars in 1980s to build new buildings for Beijing NO.1 Experimental Elementary School. In commemoration of the donation, the school was also known as China-Bangladesh Friendship Elementary School. Moreover, Bangladesh has also supported China in international and regional affairs, turning the two countries into good neighbors and trustworthy partners. In addition to bright prospects in economic cooperation, the two nations have also reached consensus on regional cooperation. One area of such collaboration is their alignment of industrial chains based on complementarity. For instance, as Bangladesh hopes to further develop its textile industry and China needs to outsource production or export its production capacity, there is great potential for them to cooperate in this field. Chai believed that Xis visit, coming in the new historical background, is of great importance. His visit will surely yield concrete fruits for the construction of the Belt and Road and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor as Bangladesh occupies a key position along both routes, he added. Ye expected this visit to generate more agreements on infrastructure, industrial upgrade and disaster prevention and management based on the numerous highlights in the bilateral economic cooperation. Flash South Sudan on Thursday said the proposed sanctions by Kenyan lawmakers that include asset freeze on the war-torn country's leaders does not represent the official position of President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration, its spokesman said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Ariik told Xinhua in Juba that Kenya and regional countries were supporting South Sudan in implementing the now fragile peace agreement signed last August, in the wake of renewed July fighting between the warring parties. "As government if there is anyone talking of sanctions I don't think this is the official position of the (Kenyan) government," Makol told Xinhua in an interview. This came after Kenyan lawmakers from the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday threatened to impose sanctions against South Sudan leaders who are frustrating the signed peace deal. The lawmakers said they have sponsored a motion in parliament aimed at freezing assets of South Sudanese leaders who are perpetuating conflict in Juba and stopping their families seek refuge in Kenya, where they have been accused of investing assets worth millions of U.S dollars. "Why would you punish someone that is implementing peace? We are implementing peace with national spirit," the spokesman added. Makol also said sanctions were uncalled for as the country seeks to salvage the peace deal after ousted First Vice President Riek Machar who leads the rebel force (SPLA-IO) was replaced by Taban Deng Gai in the transitional unity government formed mid-April in the aftermath of renewed fighting in July in the capital Juba between SPLA-IO and troops loyal to President Salva Kiir. "I don't believe there is reason for anybody to question our ability to implement peace," Makol revealed. South Sudan descended into deadly conflict in December 2013 after president Kiir accused his deputy Machar of plotting a coup, which the latter denied, leading to killing of tens of thousands and displacing more than 2 million from their homes. Flash South Sudan peace monitors on Thursday decried escalation of violence and human rights violations in the world's youngest nation. The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) which is overseeing the implementation of the August 2015 peace deal said such violations of the cease-fire deal are intolerable. "We are deeply concerned by the escalation of violence and egregious violations of human rights around the country since July. Such violations of the ceasefire are unacceptable," JMEC chairman Festus Mogae said in a statement issued in Juba. Mogae who is the former president of Botswana has thus convened the next JMEC Plenary meeting which will take place on October 19. "I shall be calling upon all Parties to the Agreement to return to the table and show the leadership that the people of this country deserve," he said. JMEC will present its report to the board members, including representatives of the Transitional Government of National Unity, South Sudanese Stakeholders, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states, international partners and friends of South Sudan. On the agenda will be the report on violations of the cease-fire; full inclusivity and representation within the political process; the humanitarian situation; and the deployment of the Regional Protection Force. "The peace process has hit its first major test but we will not allow it to be derailed. The solution to the conflict in South Sudan can only be found in dialogue and the relentless pursuit of peaceful, inclusive, representative governance," Mogae assured. The South Sudan peace agreement signed in August 2015 between the troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar's rebel force Sudan People's Liberation Army-in opposition (SPLA-IO) remains fragile after the latter fled the capital in the wake of intense fighting that left about 300 people killed and fresh displacements of thousands into neighboring countries of Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya. You are here: Home Flash Sudan signed with Russia a number of agreements for exploring mineral fields in Sudan, said Sudan's minister of minerals on Thursday. The agreements, signed between the mineral ministry and the Russian State Geological Company, covered development of mineral exploration and geological laboratories, said Ahmed Mohamed Sadiq Al-Karuri, the minister of minerals, after the signing ceremony. Al-Karuri praised the agreements as the fruit of the Joint Sudanese-Russian Ministerial Committee, which aims at economic development and technology cooperation in Sudan. He added that Russia, with its experience, would also carry out geological mapping operation in Sudan and establish a data base to enhance the mineral sector here. In December 2015, Sudan and Russia signed 14 agreements regarding fields of oil and minerals. Sudan is seeking to increase its minerals production, namely gold, to compensate the loss of around 75 percent of its oil revenues following the separation of South Sudan in 2011. The Sudanese government had previously anticipated the country's gold production to reach 100 tons in 2016, positioning Sudan as the second gold producing country in Africa and the ninth worldwide. Flash The Russian embassy was subject to intense mortar shelling that lasted for two hours on Wednesday, a well-informed security source told Xinhua on Thursday. The shelling targeted the embassy in the Mazraa neighborhood in Damascus on Wednesday noon, it said, adding that the source of the shelling is from the rebel-held neighborhood of Jobar in the eastern countryside of Damascus. None of the embassy staff members were injured or hurt, but the yard of the embassy compound is filled with debris, as work is now ongoing to assess the damages. It wasn't the first time the embassy of Russia was hit. During the previous times, no injuries were reported. The mortar shelling on the embassy is part of a broader mortar attacks the rebels in eastern Damascus countryside have recently unleashed. You are here: Home Flash The remains of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away Thursday in Siriraj Hospital, are set to be moved to the Grand Palace Friday afternoon, local media reported. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will depart from Dusit Palace to Siriraj Hospital at about 3:30 p.m. local time (0830 GMT), said the Matichon newspaper. Round 4:00 p.m. (0900 GMT), the crown prince, Wat Bowonniwet Vihara's abbot and doctors will accompany the king's body to leave from the hospital and head for the Grand Palace by a motorcade. The crown prince will preside over the bathing of the king's body in the Grand Palace, which is a traditional Buddhist funeral rite. Many Thais were waiting for the process outside the hospital and the palace as more people were flocking to these two places. The deeply revered king, who reigned the country for 70 years, died on Thursday at the age 88. Flash Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday and the two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a welcoming ceremony held by his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid upon his arrival at the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 14, 2016. Xi Jinping arrived Friday for a state visit. [Photo / Xinhua] During the meeting, Xi said the closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation the two sides forged in 2010 has yielded fruitful results, with bilateral cooperation advancing steadily in political, economic, cultural and security areas and on international and regional affairs. China highly values its friendly cooperative ties with Bangladesh and will continue to offer support within its capacity for the economic and social development of the South Asian country, Xi said. China stands ready to push forward bilateral practical cooperation by aligning the development strategies of the two countries, said the Chinese president. Hasina, for her part, said Bangladesh admires China's economic achievement, and is ready to strengthen cooperation with China while pursuing its "Sonar Bangla" dream of national strength and prosperity. Bangladesh, she added, is willing to actively work with China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and support the building of an economic corridor linking Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar, so as to push forward development in various fields such as electricity, energy, technology, agriculture, water resources, investment, transportation infrastructure and connectivity. Xi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to this South Asian nation in 30 years. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. By Jordan Chong, Australian Aviation | Oct. 14, 2016 Tigerair Australia plans to add a fourth Boeing 737-800 to its fleet to assist with crew training and for additional domestic flights over the busy summer holiday season. The 737-800 from parent Virgin Australia was expected join the fleet in December, a Tigerair spokesperson told Australian Aviation via email. To be based in Melbourne, the aircraft will be rebranded into Tigerair livery and have its cabin reconfigured. The arrival of a fourth Boeing 737-800 from parent Virgin was not part of Tigerair's transition from A320s to 737s that was announced in July, where the 14 A320s will be progressively replaced with Boeing 737s over the next three years as Virgin and Tigerair move to a common fleet type. Rather it represented additional capacity, with Tigerair's fleet to increase to 18 aircraft -- 14 A320s and four 737s -- and was a further sign the airline was continuing to gain traction at the budget or leisure end of the market after delivering its maiden profit in 2015/16. Currently, Tigerair's three ex-Virgin 737-800s are used for the low-cost carrier's flights to Bali from Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth and configured with all-economy 180 seats with five extra-legroom rows available for purchase as an optional extra. The aircraft are flown by Virgin pilots alongside Tigerair cabin crew and remain on Virgin's air operator's certificate (AOC). Tigerair has applied to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for two changes to its AOC. The first is for the addition of the 737 onto the AOC as it transitions from Airbus to Boeing equipment, with pilot training for the 737 already underway. The second is to secure approval to operate international flights. The airline's spokesperson told Australian Aviation the AOC was expected to be updated in time for its own pilots to operate the Boeing narrowbody on domestic routes by the time summer rolls around. And when the AOC is updated for international flights, Tigerair would be able to to transfer those 737s onto its own AOC. "The 4th 737 aircraft will initially be used for crew training purposes in order to support our international services to Bali and then for additional domestic flying over the summer months on popular routes," the Tigerair spokesperson said. Tigerair reported full year underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of US$2.2 million for 2015/16, up from a loss of US$37.1 million a year ago. It was the first full year profit since the airline started flying in Australia under different owners in 2007 and came a year earlier than was targeted when Virgin took full ownership of the airline in 2014. Figures from aviation thinktank CAPA - Centre for Aviation showed Tigerair had about a six percent capacity share of the domestic market. While it was a "relatively modest figure", and up only slightly since the airline's transformation program commenced in mid-2013 when Virgin took its initial 60 percent stake, CAPA said it was "sufficient to give the Virgin Australia group a play in the price-sensitive leisure sector". "The current focus may limit growth opportunities but provides a sustainable niche with a strong prospect of continued profitability," CAPA said in a research note dated August 16. "As it approaches its tenth anniversary Tigerair Australia is finally profitable, and has a relatively certain future." A fourth 737 at Tigerair's Tullamarine base has also facilitated the transfer of one A320 from Melbourne to Brisbane. Tigerair said on Thursday it would have three A320s based in Brisbane from March 2017, up from two currently, and allow the airline to boost its network from the Queensland capital. The airline will launched new Brisbane-Whitsunday Coast and Brisbane-Perth services on March 23 and June 1 2017, respectively, and added more flights from Brisbane to Cairns, Brisbane and Adelaide, as well as on the Sydney-Whitsunday Coast route. Tigerair chief executive Rob Sharp said the extra services represented about 225,000 additional seats a year at Brisbane Airport. "The sunshine state is an integral part of our network with over 70 percent of all Tigerair domestic services already touching Queensland," Sharp said in a statement on Thursday. "That number is set to increase with all the new services announced today." "We are confident our new services will prove popular with our core market of budget and leisure travellers, whilst at the same time stimulating numerous benefits for the city of Brisbane by way of increased tourism expenditure and job creation." Brisbane Airport chief executive Julieanne Alroe said the Tigerair commitment of an additional aircraft would offer travellers "more choice, flexibility and competitive pricing than ever before". "The importance of this investment, which will bring significant positive returns to our economy, cannot be over-estimated," Alroe said. "I congratulate CEO Rob Sharp and the Tigerair team on today's announcement and we look forward to supporting these new operations and building on the strong partnership that's already developed between BAC and Tigerair." Once the A320 is shifted to Brisbane, Tigerair will have six A320s in Melbourne. Its third base, Sydney, has five A320s. Containers are unloaded from a cargo ship in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, on Sept 8, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] China's exports fell by 1.6 percent year-on-year to 10.06 trillion yuan ($1.49 trillion) in the first three quarters of the year, while overall trade performance improved on a quarterly basis, customs data showed on Thursday. Foreign trade between January and September was down by 1.9 percent to 17.53 trillion yuan from a year earlier, with imports dropping by 2.3 percent to 7.47 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs. Customs spokesman Huang Songping attributed the weak figures to sluggish world growth and the lack of effective support for global trade. "As China continues to face weak domestic and global market demand, we have discovered that its traditional advantage in foreign trade has shown many weak points and confronted difficulties such as trade protectionism, rising operational costs and limited market channels," said Huang. But China's foreign trade has shown signs of stabilizing, since it rose by 1.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, he said. He said the government will take adequate measures to support foreign trade, including further cutting taxes for domestic companies and improving research and development capabilities for high-end manufacturers, as well as enlarging trade volume with countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative routes. Huang said the depreciation of the Chinese yuan could benefit domestic exporters, but would also raise the import costs of production materials, since processing trade still remains a major part of China's trade pattern. "An economy's currency fluctuations could have a mixed impact on trade growth due to cross-border cooperation along the global industrial value chain, undermining efforts to boost exports," Huang said. China's exports to countries along the Belt and Road routes increased between January and September. For example, exports to Pakistan grew by 14.9 percent; to Russia, by 14 percent; Poland, 11.7 percent; Bangladesh, 9.6 percent; and India, 7.8 percent. Meanwhile, exports to the United States, China's second-biggest trade partner, fell by 1.9 percent, and those to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its third-largest trade partner, shrank by 1.9 percent. Machinery and electronic products as well as goods in labor-intensive sectors, including textiles and toys, accounted for the lion's share of export goods, and private companies still led the country's exports. Joneaa Jeans, a Dongguan-based garment company, was one of the major exporters of original equipment manufacturer jeans, which are used as other companies' end products, to Europe last year, with sales of 130 million yuan. However, its overseas sales declined this year, and exports dropped to 47 million yuan due to weak market response. Xie Qundi, president of Joneaa Jeans, said her company is looking for new partners in emerging markets, especially in South America and Southeast Asia. It has also added a 12-member team to design new styles of jeans for the needs of various foreign clients. "Even though orders from abroad did show some increase in September, they are much fewer than last year," said Xie. "Our independent brands and the depreciation of the yuan certainly will help the sales in overseas markets." Contact the writers at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn BYD's Skyrail starts operation on Oct 12,2016 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. [Photo provided to China Daily] Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD is entering the railway transportation market, with the announcement of plans to build a monorail service in Shenzhen. The "Skyrail" will take around two years to build, one-third of the time taken to build the average metro system, and will cost around 20 percent of the latter, according to the company. With an investment of 5 billion yuan ($757 million) in five years, BYD aims to solve the traffic jam problem in crowded cities caused by population increase. At the ceremony, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said the city of Shantou in Guangdong province had signed contract with BYD to build a 250-kilometer-long Skyrail system and another 20 cities are in negotiations to introduce the new transportation system. "Skyrail could integrate with current public transportation system in a bid to establish a multi-dimensional network linking space underground, on the ground and in the air," Wang said. It can run as fast as 80 km per hour and its delivery capacity is about 10,000 to 30,000 passengers one way each hour. After the 4.4-km Skyrail started operations in BYD's Shenzhen campus, railway transportation officially becomes the company's fourth core business after IT, automobile and new energy. Wang said BYD is determined to be the first private company in China to enter railway transportation industry. On Oct 11, Wang also signed a contract worth 60 billion yuan with China Development Bank about a strategic cooperation on the monorail system industry. Peng Qi, automobile industry analyst of research center at China Merchants Securities, pointed out the development of the Skyrail depends on how many orders it could successfully get and that needs to be negotiated with local governments. He said he believes the new system is suitable for third and fourth-tier cities, as well as linking suburbs and downtown in first-tier cities, but he is afraid smaller cities could not afford the cost. The advantage of BYD's Skyrail is its low cost, he added. He compares the Skyrail to an aerial electronic bus, saying BYD has a comprehensive resources of manufacturing electronic bus, including electronic motors, battery and electronic control, so the company only needs to outsource track manufacturing. BEIJING - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland edged up 1.2 percent year on year to reach $9.21 billion in September, official data showed Thursday. That brings FDI growth in the first nine months to 4.2 percent, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce. The steady growth came as the Chinese government intensifies efforts to improve access for foreign companies, which experts believe will create an environment for fairer competition and bring more foreign investment. The service industry continued to attract more foreign investment from January to September. FDI in the service sector, accounting for 70.7 percent of total investment, went up 9 percent year on year during the period. In particular, FDI in high-tech services nearly doubled from a year earlier to reach 73.88 billion yuan ($11 billion). In the first nine months, FDI from the United States surged 118.9 percent, while that from Germany and the UK soared 95.8 percent and 51.7 percent, respectively. At a meeting earlier this month, the State Council, China's cabinet, stressed measures to improve the country's business environment, pledging more efforts to create a level playing field for both domestic and foreign companies. Following China's revisions to four laws regulating inbound investment last month, it was decided at the meeting that some administrative approvals will no longer be necessary for foreign investors setting up businesses on the Chinese mainland. These investors are now only required to report business plans to local regulators, as long as their business is not on the "negative list." The government estimates that more than 95 percent of procedures will be cut. BEIJING - China led Asia in creating billionaires last year and is set to undergo its first inter-generational billionaire wealth transfer, industrial research showed Thursday. Led by China, Asia is creating a billionaire every three days, and China's billionaires wealth rose by 5.4 percent in 2015, according to a report released by international investment bank UBS and global accounting firm PwC. A total of 113 Asians became billionaires last year, representing 54 percent of the global total, while 80 of them were from China, with an average age of 53 years old. Almost half came from the technology, retail, and real estate sectors, the report showed. With around 85 percent of Asia's billionaires being first-generation, the report predicts the largest ever transfer of wealth is coming, for the millenial generation. This would be Asia's first-ever handover of billionaire wealth, and for Chinese billionaires, most of whom are first-generation, the transfer of wealth to millennials will have a profound effect on family legacies they have built, said Karen Chen, president of UBS (China). Billionaires in mature markets and their related family businesses are fifth generation or older. The study showed that Europe ranks first in terms of number of multi-generational billionaires and is a close second to the USin terms of multi-generational wealth. The key challenges for Asian billionaires include wealth preservation, business succession and contributing to society, according to James Chang, managing partner at PwC China Financial Service Consulting. With better education and access to technology, the new generation of the ultra-wealthy typically emphasize social good and philanthropy, seeing business success as a means of benefiting society, the report showed. Impact investment, or investment in social good and philanthropy is gaining popularity among the Asian super rich, Chen said, citing booming business for UBS's charity consulting and investment services. BEIJING - China on Thursday pledged to improve supervision over the online finance market, including peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms, to reduce risks and support healthy development of the sector. A policy document released Thursday by the State Council, China's cabinet, tasked various government agencies with working to contain internet finance risks, improve the competitive environment and boost investors' risk awareness. Internet finance refers to deposits, loans, investments and other financial services provided through online channels rather than through traditional financial institutions such as banks. Lack of strong supervision has made the industry risky for investors. Some investors have ended up as victims of unscrupulous online finance platforms, arousing the concern of supervisors and experts. "These new measures are timely, as the online finance sector is at the crossroads of development," said said Ou Minggang, director of the International Finance Research Center at Beijing-based China Foreign Affairs University. Better regulation of this sector is not only conducive to investors' rights and sustainable development of those financial agencies, but also to sound financial order, Ou said. The view was echoed by Yang Dong, vice president of China Law School at Beijing-based Renmin University, who said that the sector has been plagued by fraudulent cases in recent years, and better regulation can help select high-quality platforms to provide badly needed funds for smaller firms. A long-term and effective supervision program should be established in line with growth of the internet finance sector, while a dual-focus approach should better regulate the sector and promote its healthy development, the document stressed. High thresholds need to be in place to manage who is allowed to establish financial agencies, and stronger supervision of their capital will be carried out, with better technology support systems in place, it noted. A task group involving more than 10 governmental agencies including the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has been set up to complete a raft of measures to reduce risk in the online finance sector by March 2017. The group is spearheaded by the PBOC, China's central bank. The short-term goal of the document and the task group is to standardize business models in the online finance industry, while the long-term target is to promote the "orderly and healthy" development of the industry and lend bigger support to mass innovation and entrepreneurship, an official with the task group told Xinhua. Development of internet finance has helped broaden the reach and improve efficiency of financial services, said the unnamed official. However, some online finance agencies have disrupted the market order, according to the official, by diverting clients' funds for other purposes or creating Ponzi schemes, leading to losses for many investors. "Some online finance entities have performed illegal services, which also creates contagion risk for banks, as financial agencies are intertwined with one another. The more standardized the development of this sector, the more confidence it can win from investors," Ou told Xinhua. The key areas for strengthened supervision include P2P lending, internet-based insurance business, third-party online payment, and online asset management, said the unnamed official, adding that useful innovation in business and by law-abiding entities will be protected. With the burgeoning development and rapid innovation of the internet finance sector, regulators are confronted with the challenge of keeping abreast of the ever-changing industry landscape, Ou said. Westinghouse said China plays an important role for the US nuclear giant. "We intend to be in China for a long time to come," said Carrie Monaco, product development director from Nuclear Services Manufacturing Operations of the Westinghouse Electric Co. "We will continue to provide service and equipment and will be very involved in maintaining the equipment for China." She made the remark during a news conference in Beijing on Thursday. The company said it plans further expansion and investment in the country, intending to play a strong role in the market. Gavin Liu, president in Asia for Westinghouse, said earlier that Asia accounts for less than 25 percent of the company's overall business, but the figure is expected to rise to 35 percent to 40 percent in the next five to 10 years, driven by growth in countries such as China. Westinghouse's investment will cover a wide range of businesses, including new nuclear projects, innovation, maintenance service, fuel supply and decommissioning. The company said it expects to begin fuel loading at the world's first AP1000 nuclear plant in November, despite being several years behind schedule. The move will pay the way for more opportunities in a booming nuclear market with more than 100 new nuclear power plants planned in coming decades, said the company. The AP1000 is a pressurized water reactor, the latest technology that Westinghouse is pushing worldwide. China is planning to build more than 100 new nuclear reactors, being the world's largest market for nuclear power plants, and many nuclear giants are eyeing on getting a piece of the pie. General Motors Corp's investment in a Chinese car-sharing application developer demonstrates the auto maker's keen interest in the world's largest auto and car-sharing market, observers said. GM on Wednesday declined to reveal the size of its investment in Yi Wei Xing (Beijing) Technology Co Ltd, which developed Feezu, a car-rental and car-sharing app that merges hardware and software and enables users to rent vehicles by the minute, hour or day. "It is GM's first investment in a startup in China related to urban mobility," a company spokeswoman told Reuters. "This cooperation is very important to our company to explore the ride-sharing market in China." "Only time will tell if this move is significant, but it shows that GM is paying close attention to the Chinese market," said Eric Dennis of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in an email. As ride-hailing services like Uber in the US and Didi Chuxing in China have grown, GM and other major automakers have been quick to partner with them and participate in this fast growing segment of what is referred to as the "sharing economy". Earlier this year GM invested $500 million in the ride-hailing company Lyft and also launched Maven, which provides short-term car rentals. "This is an important step for GM to explore and engage with new mobility markets in China, in particular with a company which already has a presence in that market," Jeremy Carlson, principal automotive analyst for IHS Markit, said in an email. "GM has been aggressively building up the Maven brand, and the investment in Yi Wei Xing may be a signal that the automaker is likely looking to bring its Maven brand to China, a very important market both for new mobility solutions and for the company overall," he added. Shari and Sumner Redstone want Les Moonves to run a combined CBS Corp and Viacom Inc, but they aren't willing to offer him a stake or voting control of their family's holding company, people familiar with the matter said. The Redstones have said publicly that they won't support a deal that requires them to give up control of CBS or Viacom. That includes surrendering voting control to Moonves, the chief executive officer of CBS, despite the Red stones' respect for him, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The family will have to seek common ground over governance with Moonves to go through with its plan to merge the two media giants with him as CEO. Reviving faded Viacom networks like MTV and Comedy Central might be a tempting challenge for Moonves, 67. But he has run CBS with little interference and would want similar freedom if the companies are joined together, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Moonves will probably want language in his contract similar to his current CBS agreement, which guarantees that independent directors remain and says he reports solely to the board and is the highest-ranking executive of the company, said another person familiar with the matter. Moonves may seek provisions preventing the Redstones from unilaterally replacing board members and limiting the board's authority, the person said. That could prevent situations like earlier this year, when National Amusements forbade the proposed sale of a stake in Viacom's Paramount Pictures movie studio without unanimous board approval. To retain Moonves, the Redstones should consider giving him control of their voting shares, said Mario Gabelli, whose funds are some of the largest shareholders in CBS and Viacom. That would give Moonves a degree of freedom to pursue the best path for the company, Gabelli said. "If I were Les, I would ask for that," Gabelli said in an interview. Spokesmen for CBS, Viacom and the Redstones declined to comment. The Redstones, whose National Amusements Inc owns an 80 percent voting stake in both companies, asked CBS and Viacom late last month to explore a merger. That request is part of a series of moves spurred by Shari Redstone, who won a battle this year against former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman to control the fate of Viacom. She has spearheaded changes at the company, asserting herself with her 93-year-old father Sumner in poor health. The idea now is to revive Viacom, whose Paramount Pictures movie studio is also in disarray, by putting the company under the experienced hand of Moonves, who has helped CBS retain its lead as the most-watched US TV network. There's precedent for using voting control as a retention tool, Gabelli said. In the mid-1980s, billionaire Warren Buffett, agreed to vote his shares in Capital Cities/ABC Inc with management as long as Tom Murphy and Daniel Burke, the company's CEO and president, remained in place. Majority of the Minority Moonves's level of control is just one of many issues that will likely be considered as CBS and Viacom begin discussions over a potential merger, people familiar with the process said. National Amusements requested that the businesses create special committees of their boards to consider a deal. The Redstones said they wouldn't participate in board deliberations on the subject. To prove their merger is backed by smaller investors, the CBS and Viacom boards may recommend that National Amusements recuse itself from any merger vote. That would mean that only the 20 percent of the voting shares not held by the Redstones vote on the deal, a practice known as a "majority-of-the-minority" vote. This approach could give Gabelli, whose funds hold more than 10 percent of the voting shares in both companies, the deciding vote in a merger. Gabelli was among investors whose control of voting shares brought down Cablevision Systems Corp.'s plans to go private in 2007 when the Dolan family allowed a majority of the minority to vote on that deal. To prevent Gabelli from dictating the outcome of a transaction, as a matter of perceived fairness, CBS and Viacom could allow the owners of Class B Viacom shares, which don't have voting rights, to vote on the deal anyway. Gabelli said he would have concerns about letting Class B shareholders vote. "That would be very unusual," he said. "I paid a premium to get the voting stock for my clients." More Fair Outcome Majority shareholders like National Amusements don't legally need to seek approval from minority investors for a merger. But courts in Delaware, where CBS and Viacom are incorporated, have been encouraging companies to do just that to produce a more fair outcome, according to Lawrence Hamermesh, a professor of law at Widener University's Delaware Law School in Wilmington. There's no reason Gabelli couldn't be given the deciding vote, if there aren't any circumstances where he shouldn't, Hamermesh said. He said he'd never heard of a situation where non-voting shareholders got the right to vote. The Viacom special committee examining a merger is composed of four newly appointed directors and one from the old Viacom board. Having been at the helm of one of China's major private investment consortiums for more than two years, Li Huaizhen said the group has entered a rapid development period, with its total assets snowballing from 33.5 billion yuan ($4.98 billion) to 200 billion yuan, and he will remain wedded to the group's original goal of integrating industry and finance. At a news conference in Shanghai on Wednesday, Li, president and CEO of China Minsheng Investment Group, outlined the six main directions for the country's leading international private investment group. "The positioning of the group remains unchanged, and after two years of development, it becomes more focused. We will focus on three groups (in finance), which are leasing, insurance and asset management, and three features (in industry) in a response to the nation's supply-side reform, which are distributed new energy, industrialization of construction, and home-based care for the aged," Li said. Li admitted that private capital growth slowed in recent years, but he would like to view it as an interim phenomenon, because in the long run, the investment in private business will pick up. According to Li, CMIG's goal is closely associated with the country's concerns. For instance, pollution, including smog and haze has sparked the public demand for wider use of new energy, so the group's distributed solar power program is very promising. Since the State Council released guidance at the end of last month requiring that 30 percent of the new buildings be prefabricated in 10 years, CMIG's strategic goal of construction industrialization fits well the new policy. In the meantime, National Bureau of Statistics data showed there will be 220 million people aged above 60-years-old by the end of 2015, accounting for 16.1 percent of the nation's total population, so home-based care will create a huge market for related sectors. Amid the slower private investment cycle, Li said it is time for private capital to get together with their wisdom and capital to seek mutual development, as many hands make light work. "Our leading role has been very apparent in the past two years, and as I know, several other private investment groups have become operational in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Xiamen," said Li, adding that a large private investment consortium has especially strong vitality. China is CMIG's focus with more than 80 percent of its business in the domestic market. But Li also noted that the group is consistently seeking business opportunities overseas, including the Belt and Road Initiative. Roland Berger, founder of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, said considering its strength and scale, CMIG will make great contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative. Li and Berger made such comments in Shanghai one day ahead the third meeting of the CMIG Global Advisory Council on Thursday. The group has to date formed a consulting committee from all over the world since its think tank was set up in January 2015. "I think our think tank has truly played its role in CMIG's development," Li said. CHINA DAILY An attendant serves passengers on a train running between Urumqi and Kuerle in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo by Li Xiongxin/For China Daily] German firm Roland Berger Strategy Consultantsone of the world's biggest business consultanciessaid on Thursday that it plans to offer Chinese rail operators new service solutions to improve their efficiency and diversify their profit models. New service solutions packages will include flexible operational solutions for intercity passenger trains and subways, as well as programs like the frequent flier programs that airlines use, said Martin Streichfuss, senior partner and global head of transportation competence. Streichfuss said the Roland Berger-designed innovative service offerings that the rail service operators could adopt would also include rail ticket packages that combine destinations with hotel stays, dinner coupons and sightseeing ticketsproviding a more convenient and attractive one-stop service offering for rapidly increasing the number of rail travelers. Streichfuss said such combinations would not only strengthen the value proposition of rail transportation to travelers, but also benefit local governments eager to reap the rewards of the expanding high-speed rail transportation network. He said that besides passenger services, rail cargo business also has great opportunities to expand through significant improvements to their speed, the diversity of their service offerings and the intermodal transportation solutions. Streichfuss said his consultancy believes that China's rail infrastructure is facing positive developments as the central government promotes a standardization process. He added that all the signals show that the government is making the right moves for growth. "The fast growth of China's middle class and their growing expectations for better quality and more service options, including e-commerce, will further boost both cross-border and domestic consumption product logistics," said Streichfuss. The German business consultancy also said it was closely following the progress of the huge new international airport in Beijing, expected to serve 45 million passengers annually starting in 2019. The new facility and the existing Beijing Capital International Airport will face growing competition from other airportsincluding South Korea's Incheon International Airport, which is aggressively grabbing share in the connecting flight market. "Roland Berger believes that some important and interesting strategic options can be studied carefully to really make this 'One City Two Hubs' case a flagship success in the international airport sector," Streichfuss said. He said the consultancy was moving to open discussions with local governments, including Wuhan and Xi'an, to design multimodal logistics solutions so that they can expand their market reach domestically and globally, especially countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative. Sun Fuquan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development in Beijing, said these moves could lead to tangible longer-term efforts to link regional centers to cities abroad such as Moscow and the Polish city of Lodz. "New airports, international rail cargo services and regional hubs will support China's foreign trade, private investment, industrial productivity and the service industry under the global business settings," he said. Workers inspect an oil well at a subsidiary of Sinopec Group in Puyang, Henan province. [Photo by Tong Jiang/For China Daily] Sinopec Oilfield Service Corporation issued a profit warning, expecting a net loss of about 8.9 billion yuan ($1.33 billion) for the nine months that ended on Sept 30. The drilling and services unit of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, recorded a net loss of 2.1 billion yuan in the same period last year. This quarter's loss is the worst so far this year. The company attributed the loss to the global crude oil prices staying at a low level. Domestic and international oil and gas companies continued to cut expenditures on upstream exploration and development during the third quarter of 2016. These categories also contributed to the loss, the company said. Shares of the Beijing-based company declined 0.25 percent to 3.95 on Thursday. Li Yan, a crude oil analyst from Shandong Longzhong Information Technology Co, said the crude price plunge starting in 2015 has severely affected the oilfield services sector. Because the oilfield services industry's profits depend highly on the crude exploration sector, another tough year looms as things aren't getting any better, he added. Sinopec had a net loss of 11.54 million yuan in the previous year. Other listed companies of State-owned CNOOC also reported huge losses. China Oilfield Services Ltd is projected to have a large deficit of about 8.4 billion yuan in the first half, putting it at the top of the loss league table of the A-share market. Oilfield services companies worldwide are suffering losses. The world's largest oilfield services provider, Schlumberger Ltd, has cut another 10,000 jobs early this year as crude rout deepens. The drilling and services unit of China Petrochemical Corporation recorded a net loss of 2.1 billion yuan in the same period last year. Sinopec had a net loss of 11.54 million yuan in 2015. China will establish a centralized depository system to protect clients' funds that are held by nonbanking payment institutions, under a plan unveiled on Thursday by the central bank and 16 other central government ministries and departments. The plan also mandates a crackdown on unlicensed payment operations in order to reduce risks and support the healthy development of the online financial market. The plan is part of China's efforts to contain internet finance risks, improve the competitive environment and boost investors' risk awareness. Regulating and developing internet finance has been an important facet of the financial system reform advanced in the Government Work Report, delivered in early March by Premier Li Keqiang. Guaranteeing the security of clients' money is a focal point of the supervision of nonbanking payments. Client reserves are not payment institutions' assets, yet nonbanking payment institutions currently deposit such funds separately in multiple banks under their own name. According to the People's Bank of China, payment institutions open on average 13 accounts for clients' fundsone had opened 70 such accounts. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for regulatory authorities to monitor the security of the money, which increases the risk of embezzlement. The centralized depository system will help protect clients' money and minimize risks, the People's Bank of China said in a statement. Meanwhile, special regulatory efforts will focus on cracking down on unlicensed nonbanking payment operations. Xu Hongcai, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said: "The 'barbarian growth' of internet finance recently exposed many risks. Joint regulation and supervision are necessary for the healthy development of this industry." Former IMF chief and former president of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Kohler speaks at the Zheshang-Caijing International Forum on Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] G20 members are expected to continue their efforts to implement structural reforms and "put words into actions" of proposals initiated during the G20 Summit, said former IMF president Horst Kohler. Speaking at Zheshang-Caijing International Forum on Friday, he spoke highly of how G20 Summit this year highlighted the needs to enhance structural reforms when "a permanent stimulation of growth by means of an extremely loose monetary policy and public deficit-spending" does not constitute a healthy and sustainable economic policy. Kohler made the comment one month after the G20 Summit, with China's taking the rotary presidency this year, was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. G20 leaders pledged to use all tools and to help promote effective macro-prudential policies, according to the communique released during the G20 Summit. "It is crucial to turn pledges into actions," he said. Old economic structures tried to defend themselves and ""gambled for resurrection" by going deeper into debt and credit, said Kohler. It does not make sense to regard achieving economic growth as the sole target, while at the expense of losing resilience or healthy of the economy, and posing threats to environment and society, according to Kohler. The IMF downgraded the global growth by 0.1 percentage point to 3.1 percent this year, highlighting the financial risks posed by rising debt issues. While addressing China's efforts to implement structural reforms, Kohler said that China is taking the lead among emerging economies to implement economic transformation, and is on the track to towards a more sustainable development model. "But more efforts are needed to be on guard to fend off risks brought by such concerns over financial risks," he said. Corporate debt relative to GDP reached 156 percent by the end of June, according to the National Institute for Finance and Development, and a large proportion comes from profit-losing State-owned enterprises. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will greet a delegation of leading Chinese entrepreneurs in the coming week in Canada, after meeting them six weeks ago in Beijing. A China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) delegation will embark on an eight-day journey to Canada from October 16 to 23. This is the 9th destination country of CEC's annual visit, following trips to the United States, UK, France, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, Germany, and Italy. Trudeau will host the delegation at the Willson House residence on Meech Lake. Just a month ago, he met with CEC members at the China Entrepreneur Club Leaders Forum in Beijing during his first official visit to China, and held discussion on China's private sector business leaders views on Canada-China business relations and partnership growth. The journey will cover the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. The delegation will mainly look into the policy landscape of Canada, the opportunities during economic transformation, competitiveness in talent and technology, and foster communication with important industries including technology and innovative industries, consumer goods, and finance. The CEC delegation will be headed by Ma Weihua, President of China Entrepreneur Club. Delegates include business leaders from various industries such as Xu Jinghong, Chairman of Tsinghua Holdings, Frank Wu, Chairman of Central China Real Estate; and many others. CEC's visit will also include meetings organized by Power Corporation, Bombardier, Cirque du Soleil, and Royal Bank of Canada. Roundtable dialogues will be held with the QG100 Network, the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, the Canada China Business Council, the Business Council of Canada and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. The China Entrepreneur Club is the premier business leader platform in China. CEC member companies are economic powerhouses, with 50 dynamic companies earning a total annual gross income of over three trillion RMB. Taxies wait for passengers at the Qingdao railway station on Oct 7, 2016. [Photo by Huang Jiexian/For China Daily] China Ever bright Bank's financial leasing arm will invest 5 billion yuan ($743 million) in Pang Da Automobile Trade Co Ltd's (PD Group) car-hailing app Dingding Yueche, further intensifying competition in the industry after regulators in major Chinese cities rolled out strict requirements for car-hailing services. The two sides signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing on Thursday. The investment will support Dingding Yueche's expansion in the car-hailing market, enhance car-hailing efficiency, reduce vehicle costs for drivers and guarantee drivers' income. Dingding Yueche has offered multiple app-based transportation options, including taxi hailing, private car-hailing, ride-sharing, chauffeuring and buses in many cities across the country. New players in the sector are ramping up the competition in the nation's fast-growing ride-hailing sector. Founded last September, Shouqi Limousine and Chauffeur affiliated to Beijing Shou Qi Group, is quietly rising and getting ready to take on Didi Chuxing and Uber. The car-hailing company has launched operations in 30 major cities, owns more than 8,000 vehicles and takes more than 40,000 orders each day. Several days ago, transport authorities in Beijing and Shanghai issued draft local regulations on drivers and private vehicles, requiring that drivers have a local hukou (household registration), which means people from other cities are unable to provide services in those cities. Shouqi Limousine and Chauffeur said all of its drivers were previously taxi-drivers from Shou Qi Group and had a local hukou. Analysts said these vehicles and drivers seem to conform with the new regulations. Wang Chenxi, a transport analyst for internet consultancy Analysys said: "Dingding Yueche and Shouqi Limousine and Chauffeur are focused on chauffeuring services, and the rapid growth of their business will intensify competition in this sector," adding it will in turn make their rivals accelerate the pace of their innovation. Meng Jing contributed to this story A visitor tries out a Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 7 at company's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, October 5, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc, two major delivery services in the US, added guidelines for returning Samsung Electronics Co's fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to the manufacturer through their networks. First, they will only take devices that have been packed into special boxes equipped to handle shipments of faulty lithium-ion batteries and returns will be handled by ground-shipping only. Neither FedEx nor UPS will move any of the devices via planes, hewing to guidelines set out by federal regulators prohibiting air shipments for recalled lithium battery productseven for phones that aren't covered by the existing recall. The restrictions fall short of the outright ban instituted by the UK's main postal service. "With Samsung discontinuing sales of its replacement Galaxy Note 7, FedEx has taken additional steps to ensure our priority on safety," Jim McCluskey, a FedEx spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday. "FedEx Express is no longer accepting any Galaxy Note 7 devices, including those from authorized distributors." FedEx Express, the air shipment unit, is the world's largest cargo airline. The shipping company's FedEx Ground division, which transports packages in North America primarily by truck, will accept new or used Note 7 devices, but only from mobile phone retail locations in the contiguous 48 states. Note 7 owners must wait to receive packaging that meets regulatory guidelines before either FedEx or UPS will take them. Samsung and Verizon Communications Inc said they're providing customers in the US with these fireproof prepaid delivery packages, which the US Department of Transportation has approved. Even then, FedEx Ground won't accept phones from individual customers or from any other type of store, including those with FedEx counters or drop boxes. Customers can also return the phones in person to their wireless carrier. The UK's Royal Mail Plc said earlier it would ban Note 7 shipments entirely. Customers sending packages through the mail or via Royal Mail's Parcelforce courier service will be asked to detail what's inside, to prevent faulty products from slipping into delivery vans, the London-based mail carrier said in an emailed statement. The shadow of an attendee sits on a podium wall during a Lenovo Group Ltd news conference in Hong Kong, China, May 26, 2016. [Photo/VCG] Lenovo Group Ltd will step up efforts to fund startups engaging in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), as the world's largest personal computer maker scrambles to tap into the two cutting-edge technologies for future growth. Cindy Liang, general manager of Lenovo Accelerator, said AR and VR will be the next computing platforms that can replace computers and smartphones. "They will have wide applications not only in daily life but in industrial scenarios." Liang made the comments at an AR competition which invited global talents to develop mobile applications based on the company's first AR-powered smartphone Phab2 Pro. The competition, named Tango Hackathon, is part of Lenovo's broad plan to nurture AR mobile apps and services, the key bottlenecks for the development of the nascent industry. According to Liang, Lenovo is also working on a new AR smartphone, which will be unveiled next year. AR-powered tablets and AR glasses are also in the pipeline. During the Tango Hachathon, Chinese startup Dajiaoguai, which means Big Footprint in English, brought home the first prize, with one-million-yuan fund from Lenovo's investment unit. The startup developed a mobile app that can scan the body and feet of a person and quickly generate a model that can try on clothes and shoes in the virtual world. In May, Lenovo set up a $500 million investment fund, looking for promising startups in China, Israel and the United States, with focus on cloud computing, artificial intelligence, AR, VR and other areas which can support Lenovo's core business. Currently, Chinese tech giants Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd are all marching into the AR and VR sector. The woman who was attacked by a Siberian tiger after getting out of her car at Badaling Wildlife World in Beijing on July 23 is asking for compensation of 2 million yuan ($298,000) from the zoo, saying visitors were not fully informed of the dangers before entering the park. The woman, surnamed Zhao, was interviewed by Beijing Times on Wednesday. It was the first time she has spoken publicly about the incident in which her mother also left the car to drive away the tiger attacking her daughter. The older woman died after being attacked by a second tiger. Zhao explained her own exit from the car by saying she had been carsick. She accused the driver of a patrol car of failing to come to the rescue after her husband sought help. And there was no safety equipment in the car, she said. The zoo answered the accusation, saying that no oneincluding the zoo staffshould leave their vehicle in that situation. Chen Xu, a lawyer specializing in civil disputes, said he is not optimistic that the injured woman will be fully compensated, because "she made an obvious mistake". "Compensation would have to be based on evidence that the woman had not made any mistake at the time," Chen said. "But the truth is that she got out of the car herself. So I don't think she will win if she sues the zoo in court." The zoo and Zhao's family have reached an agreement that the zoo will pay 1.25 million yuan as compensation for the death of Zhao's mother. But the zoo said it is only 20 percent to 30 percent responsible for injuries to Zhao. The zoo agreed to pay 745,000 yuan to Zhao but rejected payment for mental suffering and future medical treatment. On Aug 24, the government of Yanqing district, where the zoo is located, released the results of an investigation showing that Zhao triggered the attack by failing to follow safety warnings. He Bing, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said the zoo could have some liability. "Making the report is an administrative act," He said. "The woman has a right to sue for this money." He said a place where tigers live and roam freely should be defined as a dangerous area, and it should take more responsibility for protecting visitors. Simply telling visitors not to get out of the car is not sufficient, He said. Contact the writers at dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn Public security checks using X-rays have been stopped at Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, Sichuan province. [Photo/China Daily] Checkpoints at airport, train stations in Sichuan give up radiation screening after safety outcry Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, Sichuan province, stopped using X-rays in public security checks on Thursday, according to Gong Yitao, a staff member in the airport's publicity department. Although Gong offered no further details, the airport apparently made the change in response to a circular issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on Wednesday to the Environmental Protection Bureau of Sichuan province telling it to stop using X-ray machines for security screening. On Wednesday, after the ministry issued the circular, all railway stations in Chengdu stopped using X-rays, according to Tian Xiaochuan, an official at Chengdu Railway Station North. The circular was issued by the ministry after many passengers complained that X-rays posed a health threat. At train station and airport checkpoints in Chengdu, passengers were required to stand in front of a machine for about 10 seconds. All passengers, including pregnant women, were subjected to the procedure without being informed about what the facility was or what it was doing. The maker of the equipment claimed it used "weak photon emissions", but Zhou Hong, head of the B-Ultrasonic Department at Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, said no such thing exists, and the emissions from the facility were in fact X-rays. "The producer changed the name of X-rays to 'weak photon', " Zhou said, adding that he had been scanned by an X-ray machine twice in the Shuangliu airport this year. "Using X-ray for the checks is harmful to human health and is banned in other countries," he said. The United States started using X-rays for public security checks to discover weapons after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attack. But because of public opposition and the development of more sophisticated technology, the equipment was banned. Contact the writers at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn Lu Buxuan at a store of Guangdong No 1 Food Co in Guangzhou. [Photo/China Daily] The booming Chinese pork market is said to be worth about 1 trillion yuan a year Lu Buxuan, a graduate of Peking University, also known as Beida, one of the most prestigious universities in China, has hit the headlines again for selling pork. Lu graduated from the university's Department of Chinese Language and Literature in 1989 and became a self-employed butcher in 1999 after having a few jobs in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province. He made the headlines in 2003 after his story was reported by a local television station. He has since been labeled the "Beida butcher", which is unimaginable to many, as cutting and selling meat would not usually be associated with a graduate of such a renowned university. In 2004, he started working for a local history compilation office in Xi'an, leaving family members to run his butcher shop. However, he has recently picked up his butcher's knife again. But instead of working at his family-run shop, which made 2 million yuan ($300,000) in 10 years, Lu is working with Chen Sheng, a fellow Peking University graduate, who owns Guangdong No 1 Food Co. "They have tried to persuade me to join the company since 2010, but I was hesitant. I didn't think the business (of selling expensive pork) would last long," Lu said. But he later changed his mind. "The Chinese pork market is huge. It is included in the calculation of CPI and is worth about 1 trillion yuan a year, which is more than the home appliance or computer markets," he said, adding that Chinese consumers are paying more attention to quality. Lu said it would have been better if he resigned from his previous job earlier, adding that a light workload at the local history office left him with too much idle time. In his new position, Lu will be engaged in technical work, training at the butcher school and overseeing quality control, while also serving as head of the online store. He will also be involved in hiring employees and development of corporate culture. He said he will help embrace the challenge of recruiting well-educated people for the company. Premier Li Keqiang inspects Han's Laser Technology Industry Group Co in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Thursday. The company, a leading global manufacturer of laser equipment, is one of China's flagship high-tech companies. Li said such companies show how Chinese manufacturing can be upgraded.Wu Zhiyi / China Daily Premier links cutting-edge work to success of 'Made in China 2025' In a noisy workshop, laser machines roared and shot out sparks as they cut metals into different shapes. Chinese characters for "Made in China 2025" were prepared this way for Premier Li Keqiang's visit. The premier showed great enthusiasm about the high-tech equipment manufacturing during a half-day tour focusing on the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing sector in Guangdong province. Li's visit encouraged more corporate efforts as the central government promotes the strategy "Made in China 2025" to maintain and increase the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. The scene occurred on Thursday morning as the premier visited Han's Laser Technology Industry Group Co, a leading maker of factory machines that employ lasers in the industrial hub of Shenzhen. Li paused more than 10 times in the workshop, which is rare for him when inspecting a domestic manufacturing company. He asked questions about every piece of equipment, and the company's research, design and potential customers. Before that, the premier also visited a mobile phone manufacturer - Oppo Mobile Co - in Dongguan, a city near Shenzhen that made its reputation as a pillar of traditional manufacturing and is having some difficulties as it makes changes amid a decline in low-cost, low-technology processing. The two companies represent two major subareas of China's manufacturing sector, especially when the country's exports are facing hard times and dropped to a seven-month low in September, the General Administration of Customs said. As the world economy is recovering sluggishly with diminishing international trade, China's manufacturing sector faces challenges from developed and developing economies, said Ma Baocheng, director of the Decision-Making and Consultation Department of the Chinese Academy of Governance. At Han's Laser, Li said the equipment that employs lasers demonstrated the path and hope for China's manufacturing sector. A key to "Made in China 2025" is to transform and upgrade the country's manufacturing sector by introducing new technologies, he said. Gao Yunfeng, chairman and general manager of Han's Laser, said the company has a number of unique and patented laser technologies and produces the largest amount of equipment using lasers for world-renowned companies such as the Apple Inc. Oppo used to manufacture music players but now exports mobile phones to 19 countries and regions with the fourth-largest number of phones being produced annually in the world. "In the future, you have to promote more effective marketing campaigns to meet and lead consumers' demand like what foreign phone makers have done," Li said. Dongguan's officials said the traditional manufacturing of clothing dropped by 15 percent from last year while new industries such as high-end electronics increased by more than 20 percent. huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and Norodom Sihanouk, then a Cambodian prince who later became king, look out from the Tian'anmen rostrum in May 1970. [Photo provided to China] China cherishes its special friendship with the Cambodian royal family and places great value on developing bilateral relations, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday. "China will always be Cambodia's good partner and friend," he told Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh on Thursday after arriving for his first visit to the country as president. Xi was welcomed by more than 10,000 people who gathered outside the palace square, waving national flags, carrying leaders' portraits and bouquets. Sihamoni held a grand welcoming ceremony for Xi. The traditional friendship between China and Cambodia was forged and cultivated by previous generations of Chinese leaders and the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, Xi said at the meeting. Sihanouk, who was deeply respected by the Chinese people, left an indelible mark on the history of the bilateral relationship, he added. Sihanouk lived in China for nearly 40 years before dying in Beijing in 2012. Miss China and China, My Second Homeland are among the songs that he composed to praise the friendship between China and Cambodia. He also played a key role in the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia in 1958. China is willing to steadfastly carry forward the friendship with Cambodia, and deepen bilateral cooperation to bring more benefits to the people of both countries, Xi said. Sihamoni expressed thanks to the Chinese government and people for their long-term affection for the Cambodian royal family, as well as strong support for the country's economic development. He said he believes that Xi's visit will deepen the already good relationship between the two countries and lead to greater achievements in China-Cambodia cooperation. After the meeting, Xi, accompanied by Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, presented a flower basket at the memorial statue of the late king. Song Yinghui, a researcher in Southeast Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said Xi's meeting with Sihamoni, the first thing on the agenda after his arrival, shows respect for the royal family and China's determination to develop China-Cambodia friendship. "Represented by Sihanouk, the Cambodian royal family has made great contributions to the two countries' cooperation," she said. Bu Jianguo, former Chinese ambassador to Cambodia, said: "Sihanouk himself is a banner of the friendly relations between China and Cambodia." According to Song, Sihamoni, who inherited the legacy of friendship from his father, also helped to lay a good foundation for bilateral cooperation. Xi's visit, reciprocating Sihamoni's trip to China in June, is likely to bring the two countries closer and yield fruitful results, Bu said. "Sihamoni and Monineath are also frequent visitors to China, as they come to China twice every year, and stay about one month every time for physical examinations and recreation," she said. mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn Beijing issued a blue alert for air pollution, the lowest emergency response, on Thursday afternoon amid the lingering smog that has covered the capital since Wednesday. Pollution is expected to peak on Friday at the "severe" level, the second-worst, and then ease on Saturday, when rain is forecast, the city's Environmental Protection Bureau said. Since September, residents have seen several days with heavy smog. A yellow alert was triggered on Oct 2, a notch up from blue. Major air pollutant readings soared last month, according to data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection on Thursday. For example, the September average reading for PM2.5 - fine particulate matter that is hazardous to human health - was 55 micrograms per cubic meter, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent. Beijing was not alone in its sudden increase. The 338 domestic cities under regular monitoring, on average, saw PM2.5 increase by 2.9 percent year-on-year in September, Luo Yi, head of ministry's environmental monitoring bureau, said on Thursday. Chai Fahe, deputy head of the China Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, said: "It's been harder to disperse pollutants this year than it was last September because of the weather." But in the first three quarters, China saw significant air quality improvements, the ministry's Luo said. Average readings of major air pollutants, including PM2.5, came down a lot. For example, in the first three quarters of the year, PM2.5 was lowered by an average of 8.5 percent year-on-year. Moreover, about 80 percent of days in the first three quarters had air quality exceeding national standards - an increase of 2.6 percent. In the first three quarters, cities in Hebei province, which has suffered severe air pollution since 2013, still occupied six spots in the list of 10 cities with worst air quality in the country. Xingtai was worst, the ministry said. For the coming cold season in northern regions, experts warn that the risk of severe air pollution looms larger. Wang Zifa, a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, warned earlier that the lasting influence of the El Nino atmospheric phenomenon may trigger more - and more severe - smoggy days in winter, because of windless days and temperature inversions. Applicants are busy doing last-minute preparations before taking the national civil service exam outside a test site in Shanghai, Nov 29, 2015. [Photo/IC] China will recruit more civil servants who have experience of working at grassroots level, said the country's top human resources authorities on Thursday. The grassroots workers refer to college graduates working in rural areas or West China, including village heads and rural school teachers. To apply for a post at central and provincial government agencies, two years' experience working at grassroots level is required. Fifteen percent of posts at city or county level (or below) that are directly under the central administration will go to grassroots workers, up 5 percent from last year. "Grassroots officials deal with common people every day. The tasks are complicated and demanding, putting one's will and ability to test," said Lu Jingfei, an expert on civil servant recruitment exam. China's civil servant recruitment exam will be held in late November. This year, candidates will compete for 27,061 job openings. Among all the posts, nearly 80 percent are with government bodies at or under county level, and less than 10 percent with central and provincial government agencies. Tax departments at various levels are the top recruiters, providing 64.58 percent of all posts. Last year, nearly 1.4 million candidates competed for 27,817 posts. A number of girls beat and kick a fellow female student who kneels down on the ground in Yongxin county, Jiangxi province. [Photo/ Weibo] China will roll out new guidelines to prevent bullying and violence in middle and primary schools before the end of November, according to the Ministry of Education. The ministry and seven other government agencies are drafting the guidelines, Shen Xiaoming, the Ministry's deputy Party secretary, said recently at a national conference on social safety. According to Shen, authorities will also hold regions and schools responsible if they found to have serious bullying problems. He said the Ministry launched a campaign in April to curb bullying across the country. Four-level examinations were set up, from schools' self-examination to provincial inspection. By the end of the year, the effectiveness of the campaign will be evaluated by inspectors and experts. He also said an early warning system and after-incident intervention system would be built in all schools. A system of recording major bullying incidents will be set up, while a specially-assigned person will manage, investigate, coordinate and deal with bully incidents in each region, predict the behavior of key student groups and levy educational punishment to responsible persons of slight bullying incidents. The government has always been concerned about students' safety and the issue of school bullying. Earlier in June, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang penned a letter on how to best address campus violence. In the letter, Li asked the Ministry of Education and other related authorities to "improve laws and regulations, strengthen students' awareness of laws and rights, and resolutely put an end to behavior that disregards human dignity and lives." In early May, the education supervision committee, under the State Council, launched a campaign to tackle the problem by providing students with legal and mental health education. Police and judicial staff are invited to schools to give lectures, and education institutions are asked to improve measures for preventing and handling bullying, and to establish an emergency plan for serious incidents. According to data from the Ministry of Education, there were 68 bully incidents between May and August this year, and those mainly responsible have all been dealt with. Bullying and violence in schools and colleges have been widely reported in recent years. In late June, a viral five-minute video showed a school girl being repeatedly slapped and beaten by a group of girls in Yongxin county, Jiangxi province. In June 2014, another online video showed several teenagers in eastern Zhejiang province burning a first-grade boy with cigarettes. Last year, a junior-high student jumped from the fourth floor of a school building as he "just could not tolerate being bullied everyday for any longer". 2016 China Bus Bluebook Forum held in Beijing, China on October 13, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] China's bus transportation industry has been experiencing gloomy years due to the development of high speed rail and changes in traveling patterns. However, with increasing infrastructure development and the acceleration of urbanization and tourism development, the bus industry is about to rebound in the next two years, said Pei Zhihao, senior technical advisor of Bus Branch, China Highway and Transportation Society at the 4th China Bus Bluebook Forum held in Beijing on October 13, 2016. According to Pei, large bus sales dropped 14.96 percent to 48,870 units through to August this year. Highway passenger transportation volume decreased 6.7 percent to 16.19 billion passengers in 2015, and passenger turnover fell 2.3 percent to 1,074 billion passenger-kilometers during the same period. Number of runs of dispatched passengers saw an average decline of 2.5 percent from 2011 to 2015, indicating a shrinking bus transportation market in China. The development of railways, especially the high-speed rails has had a large impact on road transportation. The number of passengers on railways grew 10 percent in 2015 and 9.5 percent during the first eight months of this year. Railway passenger turnover also increased 6.4 percent last year and 6.2 percent through to August this year, posing a large threat to bus transportation. The exemption of highway tolls during festival and holidays, increasing number of private cars and booming car-sharing and car-hailing services, have all brought great challenges to the bus transportation industry, added the advisor. Despite the current downturn, the bus transportation market may rebound in the next two years given supporting policies such as construction development and urbanization, and the prosperous tourism industry. Pei Zhihao, senior technical advisor of Bus Branch, China Highway and Transportation Society delivers a speech at the forum. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] According to the Three-Year Action Plan of Transportation Infrastructure Major Construction Projects (2016-2018) released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transportation in late March, the country will complete the construction of remaining sections of national high-ways, expand and renovate busy roads, and improve the quality of national highways in the next two years. The urbanization rate of permanent residents in China grew 1.33 percent to 56.1 percent in 2015, increasing the population of urban residents to 771 million. "More than 50 million people will move into cities in the next few years," predicted Pei, which will boost the development of public transportation buses as well as the whole bus industry. The number of tourists reached 4.1 billion passengers in 2015, with 25.98 million inbound passengers. Domestic tourism estimates that 4.38 billion passengers were served in 2016, with 137 million inbound passengers, a boost to the country's tourist bus industry. Public transportation buses, especially the new energy public transportation buses, will grow steadily in the next two years, and remains a solid part of bus sales. Pei illustrated the above points at the 4th China Bus Bluebook Forum. The forum was co-organized by the Social Sciences Academic Press and find800.cn. The two organizers also released the 2016 China Bus Bluebook on the same day, which provided a roundup of China's bus industry in 2015 and a forecast for 2016. If early mechanical computers were never introduced to expand people's computing ability, the invention of the atomic bomb would have gone out the window, and human history would have been rewritten. This highlights the significance of computer simulation in scientists' exploration of the physical world, which also explains their strong motivation in continuously pursuing higher computing power. In a recent case, Chinese scientists managed to tremendously enhance such power they succeeded in performing quantum simulation with atoms in extraordinarily cold conditions. In physics, quantum refers to the minimum amount of any physical matter. Like the rotation and revolution of the Earth, quantum spins and moves at the same time, and sometimes can be twisting together, which is called spin-orbit coupling the interplay of a quantum's 'rotation' and 'revolution'. "The most exciting discovering in physical theories exists in the particles with spin-orbit coupling effect," said Liu Xiongjun, a professor of physics from the Peking University. According to Liu, spin-orbit coupling is the key to understanding some most significant discoveries in recent years, such as the topological superconductivity and the Quantum Spin Hall effect, in the development of new energy and new materials. However, it is virtually impossible to conduct precise studies on such quantum effect in realistic experiment, given the extremely complex environment required. "That is where computers take better place. We can use a computer to simulate the process and observe the physical properties of different particles," Liu said. Nonetheless, such simulation requires a computation capacity far beyond that of any conventional computers. So scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China and Peking University proposed and built a two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling system to simulate the process directly, without any computation. They first held atoms in position by cooling them to extraordinarily low temperature, and then used laser beams to make them move in a way that caused spin and movement to be twisted together on a plane. This achievement was published in the prestigious journal Science on October 7. "The two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling system gives us a new tool to look into the laws of physical world. I believe that major discoveries could be made from the system within five years," said Pan Jianwei, a top physicist from the University of Science and Technology of China and an author of the latest paper. "Now the whole world's physicists are racing against each other to develop a quantum computer. Although a general-purpose quantum computer may be the story two or three decades later, now we can already use quantum simulating technology to serve some special purpose, or mimicking some quantum matters that even beyond our present knowledge," Pan said. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. [Photo/amazon.cn] There was a time when my WeChat Moment was bombarded by "chicken soup" type advice. They always start with similar catchy titles, for example, "10 good pieces of advice from XXX", or "What successful people will not tell you". In most cases, this advice is empty and useless, for a person's life will not change just because of some sugar-coated quotation. If you really want good life advice, perhaps you should turn to time-honored spiritual guide books instead. Here are five books from five respected Tibetan lamas, which will guide you on your way to find fortune, face difficulties and even heal the wounds of the past. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche This book has been translated into 30 languages and printed in some 56 countries. It teaches people how to live better and wisely through learning the meaning of death. And it encourages readers not to be afraid of death, but have peace and remain clear-minded when the day comes. Sogyal Rinpoche was born in 1947 and traveled to many countries to promote Buddhist teachings. Chinese business magnate Pan Shiyi, film star Chen Kun and celebrated actress Zhao Wei are both faithful readers of the book. "The book teaches people how to face death, the most terrifying thing in our lives," said Pan. Chen said, "This is one of my favorite books. Since 1998 when I found it, I have read it from cover to cover for at least ten times." Poster for Gaoyan Jingzi's 24 Solar Terms, 12 Kinds of Sound in Flowers. [Photo/chncpa.org] The National Center for the Performing Arts saw the start of its dance festival on October 9 in Beijing. Ending on December 11, the event will feature 38 performances of 18 dances, including ballet, modern dances and dance dramas. Many new works will premier during the festival. Chinese artist Shen Peiyi will tell a different story of four ancient Chinese beauties - Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan and Yang Yuhuan - in her new dance drama Shen Qing. Her other drama Fragrant Soul, along with four productions that were all from the students and instructors of The Central Academy of Drama, will be staged as well. Dance drama My Heart, jointly created by Xu Fangyi, a modern dance performer from Taiwan, and Zhu Yan, chief dancer of the National Ballet Troupe, will meet audiences for the first time. A series of dances with strong traditional Chinese culture features will also find their way onto the stage. They include Jin Xing's Tango on Sea, Gaoyan Jingzi's 24 Solar Terms, 12 Kinds of Sound in Flowers, and dance drama Goddess of Mercy with One Thousands Hands directed by Zhang Jigang. Young Chinese dancers, supported by a plan called "National Youth Dance Development" of the Chinese Dancers Association, will show their creations "Chinese Dream" during the festival. The event also introduced groups of foreign artists and their works, including the Batsheva Dance Company's performance featuring Israeli contemporary dancer Ohad Naharin's 10 classic works on October 13-14, and American modern dance artist Paul Taylor's six outstanding works on November 19-20. The launch ceremony of the 5th New York Chinese Film Festival is held in Beijing today. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily] The 5th New York Chinese Film Festival was launched in Beijing today. As an annual event held to promote Chinese cinematic culture in the United States, the festival will open on Jan 6, 2017, in Lincoln Center and last for around a week. More than 10 critically acclaimed Chinese films will be screened in several New York theaters and 36 American universities, including Harvard, New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Columbia University. Wang Xinjia, co-founder of the festival, told China Daily that the biopic Xuan Zang will be on the list. The rest of the lineup is yet to be confirmed. Based on the Tang Dynasty monk Xuan Zang's legendary journey to collect Buddhist volumes in India, the Huang Xiaoming-starrer film was earlier reported to be China's entry in Oscar's best foreign language category. Wang said the screening selection will favor more art house films featuring humanity and nature. Long Yuxiang, executive chairman of the festival's organizing committee, say the event will act as a bridge to connect filmmakers from China and the US, the world's two largest movie markets. He added that the event, through a display of some of China's recent hits, will introduce "Chinese value, culture and history" to the American audiences. Awards-winning actor Zhang Guoli was appointed as the festival's chairman. Citing Sparking Red Star, a 1974 revolutionary movie that influenced a generation, Zhang said classic movies have their enduring charm to pass on history and knowledge. In addition to opening and closing ceremonies, the festival will hold a series of forums, covering varied topics from directorial debuts to micro films. A project titled Green Apple will also be launched during the festival which will award up to $1 million to young talents, but the winners are yet to be decided. A group of professors and guests are invited to attend the competition press conference at the Central Conservatory of Music. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn] Organized by the Central Conservatory of Music, the country's top musical institute, the first Fryderyk Chopin Beijing International Piano Competition for Young Artists will be held between October 16 and 30, with more than 60 pianist from across the globe set to compete. Government institutions in both China and Poland have praised the competition for promoting the creation of Chinese modern piano works and enhancing the recognition of Chinese piano art on the world stage. The competition has also been listed as part of the Sino-Poland Protocol of Cultural Cooperation, a document which was officially signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Poland in June. According to Wu Ying, professor of the Central Conservatory of Music, the competition strictly follows the procedures of international musical and artistic contests, by inviting top-class pianists and experts as judges. Organizers intend to seek excellent and talented pianists beyond countries and continents. Wu is also acting as the artistic executive director for the competition. He said the competition would be held in Beijing every two years and the Central Conservatory of Music had won the honor to be the permanent place for holding the competitions. It is worthwhile to noe that the newly-built musical hall will be used for the first time during the competition. The music hall takes advantage of state-of-art technology to adopt the seven-tier soundproofing system, to guarantee good acoustics. Also, the seats are designed to be more spacious compared to other theatres, while a central revolving stage meets the demands of performance, according to a worker. Meanwhile, a wide variety of cultural activities will be arranged during the competition. Some judges will hold concerts or seminars to bring a wonderful music tour to the audiences. And the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beijing will offer a poster exhibition on the history of the International Chopin Piano Competition and piano master Fryderyk Chopin. The International Chopin Piano Competition, often referred to as the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland. It began in 1927 and has been held every five years since 1955. It is one of the few competitions devoted entirely to the works of a single composer, in this case, Frederic Chopin. The first competition was founded by the Polish pianist and pedagogue Jerzy Zurawlew. In 1957, the competition became one of the founding inclusions in the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva. Models showcase creations by designer Yu Ge during the recent London Fashion Week.[Photo provided to China Daily] Most designers think design first and business later. Not Yu Ge. The Parsons-trained designer retuned to design only after spending years gaining business experience at top fashion houses. The young Chinese designer had her runway debut at Fashion Scout, a platform for new designers, at London Fashion Week recently. A collaboration with AtoG, a Chinese lingerie brand, the collection is inspired by Chinese ink painting and rock 'n' roll. With silk and lace as its staple fabrics, the collection features dresses, shirts and skirts, demonstrating femininity in a strong and independent way. Born in 1985 in Changchun, Jilin province, Yu spent her childhood in Japan. She returned to China as a teenager and later moved to New York. Yu, who earned a bachelor's degree in fashion design at the Parsons School of Design, has always harbored an interest in business and aspired to set up a fashion label some day. "My goal is not to be remembered as a famous fashion designer, but to create a successful brand," Yu says. Recalling how she started out, she says that a week after she arrived in New York, she started an internship at Ralph Lauren and later went on to intern at Ports 1961. Even after she finished her studies at the Parsons School of Design, her first move was to seek experience in the retail and business sector instead of design. She returned to China in 2010 and started working for Louis Vuitton as a sales manager, where she spent three years. There she grasped the essence of running a luxury fashion business. "I came to understand that fashion is not all about design. It is also about the coordination between different departments," says Yu. Later, to gain an even better understanding of the market, Yu moved on to Gucci to become a buyer for womens wear, in charge of selecting the right products for Gucci's stores in China. There she had the opportunity to learn about market demand not only in China but also internationally. Currently, she is trying to make the presence of her brand felt in fashion stores like Lane Crawford and Lafayette. She is also thinking about setting up a platform like Urban Outfitters to work with different designers. Farm eats from Belgium Updated: 2016-10-14 10:37 By maggie beale(HK Edition) Popular at any time of the day, Le Pain Quotidien (LPQ) is located at one end of the very prettily re-vamped "wedding card street" in Wan Chai. It's a most befitting setting for this traditionally themed outlet, offering hearty dishes based mostly on homemade bread - the staple of food eaten by farmers in Belgium. The LPQ franchise was conceived by Alain Courmont, a descendent of Belgian grocers. It seems he was strongly influenced by his grandmother's cooking as he often stayed with her at the busy hotel she ran near a train station in Huy, Belgium. As a young boy Courmont was often put on a high chair to have him parked out of harm's way. It was from this vantage point he would watch his grandmother cook. The smells and tastes absorbed during childhood remained in his memory, as these things do. So when he opened his own restaurant some years later, Courmont was disappointed that he could not find a source for traditional breads that would have the authentic flavor of grandma's baking skills. As a result he was left with just one option: "to make my own!" Now, with more than 235 restaurants in over 18 countries and regions since the brand was launched in Brussels in 1990, LPQ does that with aplomb and more. Breakfast and brunch include typical Hong Kong favorites such as Belgium waffles with organic jam, fresh cream and berries. There are several veggie delights such as scrambled organic tofu with chia seeds that might make a satisfying start to any day. Prices range from a simple organic croissant at HK$28 and butter brioche at HK$24 to a full meal Tartine set breakfast at around HK$190, including tartine garnished with farmer's cheese, strawberries, blueberries, sesame seeds and peppermint with a side of honey, orange juice and choice of hot beverage organic breads at HK$115. Or there's The Angler, that comes with an organic croissant or pain au chocolat, organic bread, organic soft-boiled egg, smoked salmon, rustic tuna salad, homemade herb ricotta and organic granola parfait with seasonal fruits for just HK$155 All pastries and breads are made with unadulterated flour and without additives. As with any meal what you drink with the food will impact the degree of satisfaction you derive. LPQ has a good range of drinks on offer, including a variety of coffee - organic, mocha, latte - as well as Belgian hot chocolate (wonderfully delicious!), green and herbal teas and cold pressed juices. There's a fine mid-morning pick-me-up in the almond butter berry drink in which the ingredients are: fresh berries, banana, organic chia seeds coconut milk and almond butter. It comes at HK$60. The setting has a very clean aspect, with large windows letting the light in. The tables and chairs are fuss-free, all made from natural wood. The service is fast and the menus are clear and self-explanatory. And the pedestrian-only walkway just outside adds a charming aspect to the whole area. We could do with many more niche areas for high-quality food like this in Hong Kong. (HK Edition 10/14/2016 page8) Playing ping-pong is Grunberg's hobby during his stay in the country.[Photo provided to China Daily] German physicist Peter Grunberg, co-winner of a Nobel, not only inspires Chinese researchers but also plays ping-pong with them, Liu Xiangrui reports. German physicist Peter Grunberg, who won the Nobel Prize in 2007 along with fellow French-born scientist Albert Fert for their work in the field of magnetism, has always urged Chinese researchers to target "simple but important discoveries". The Fert-Grunberg discovery revolutionized reading data on hard disks and even made disk sizes smaller. "Simple is not easy," Grunberg, 77, says in Beijing in a recent interview. He believes more effort should be made in basic studies to achieve deeper understanding of the physical world, which can provide better service to humanity. Since 2012, Grunberg has been a professor at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications in East China's Jiangsu province, where he spends almost four months a year, and has played a crucial role in helping the university's researchers. His connection with the university started in 2011. He then met Wang Yongjin and Jiang Yuan, two faculty members of the university, who were in Germany on a program at Grunberg's research institute under the Juelich Research Center. The program was sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, established by the German government to promote international academic cooperation. The university invited Grunberg to its 70th anniversary celebrations the following year. "He had a good impression of the university, so we discussed the possibility of him coming to work here," Wang recalls. Grunberg, who accepted the invitation, asked the university to take advantage of its specialty in information and communications. With support from the provincial government, Grunberg was able to establish an international-level research center at the university to conduct experiments in materials, devices and integrated systems. Under his leadership, the university researchers successfully manufactured a high-performance membrane-type InGaN/GaN LED (based on compound semiconductor materials) in 2014. The research results were reported by Semiconductor Today, a British science journal. Based on the results, they soon proposed and made the first integrated chip for visible-light communication and achieved other exciting results. A scientific development plan recently released by China's government says "this direction" has been placed as top priority, Grunberg says. "Through continuous exploration, scientists will obtain new concepts, which will bring revolutionary changes to GaN optoelectronic and optical communication industries," he says. "We are lighting the world." Wang, who works closely with the German scientist in Nanjing, says Grunberg has greatly enhanced the university's academic status. A gavel in a court. [Photo/IC] Responding to the Republic of Korea's protest concerning the alleged sinking of a coast guard boat by a Chinese fishing vessel, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the claim was "not tenable", and ROK law enforcement in that particular maritime area "had no legal basis". Under a bilateral fishery agreement, the ministry said, "the location is part of the waters where ... current fishery activities would be maintained". In other words, Chinese fishermen did not violate set rules operating there. On the contrary, the ROK coast guard violated Chinese fishing rights. So, in the "serious representations" lodged to "related ROK authorities", the ministry called on the latter to "deal with the incident in a calm and rational manner". The ROK authorities instead have threatened to use "greater force", including firearms, against Chinese vessels identified as fishing in the waters. Sharing a long maritime borderline, China and the ROK are no strangers to fishing disputes. Neither is there anything unusual if they have occasional divergences over such issues. Given the two countries' generally friendly relations, there is nothing that cannot be discussed and properly settled, if they approach their differences reasonably, patiently. Yet as Chinese fishermen and ROK law enforcement's encounters on the sea have become violent, even lethal, in recent years, the matter is casting a shadow over the two countries' overall relations. On Oct 29, three Chinese fishermen were killed in a fire soon after ROK coastguard officers threw "flash-bang" grenades into their vessel. On Oct 16, 2012, a Chinese fisherman died after being shot with rubber bullets. Before that on Dec 12, 2011, a ROK officer died after a conflict with a Chinese fisherman. Accidental as these deaths were, such incidents have exerted negative influences on public feelings in both countries, and threaten to sink both sides in a hurtful blame game. The unpleasant exchange of diplomatic representations is indicative of the bleak state of bilateral ties at present as a result of the ROK's proposed deployment of the United States' Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system. But only restraint and rational joint work can resolve their differences. When it comes to their disputes over fishing, each side has some work to do. Beijing must educate seafaring Chinese fishermen to respect the fishing rights and corresponding rules of neighboring countries. Seoul, on the other hand, must discipline law enforcement behavior of its maritime authorities, so that their encounters with alleged violators become more civilized, less confrontational. Violent law enforcement is in no way conducive to dispute resolution. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opens a website to allow people to tip off the CCDI to corruption and other disciplinary violations. [Photo/IC] The local Party disciplinary commission of Changzhi in North China's Shanxi province recently issued a notice criticizing 24 high school teachers because they dined together and drank wine during the National Day holiday. The teachers split the bill, which was 1,390 yuan ($207) in total. Many people said online that the criticism was unwarranted, ce.cn comments: It is quite rare for people to criticize the deeds of a discipline inspection commission. In most instances, the disciplinary commissions have been praised for punishing officials that have violated Party rules. This time it is different, because the Changzhi city's disciplinary commission seems to have exceeded its powers. It is the role of the disciplinary commissions to ensure Party members adhere to the Party's rules, which include not dining luxuriously using public money. However, the teachers' meal was far from luxurious because the cost was about 58 yuan per person, which is the price of an ordinary lunch meal. Besides, the restaurant confirmed that the teachers did not ask for any voucher for their dining, showing they paid the bill with their own money, not at the public's expense. Therefore it is safe to conclude that the teachers involved have not violated Party discipline. In its notice of criticism, the city's discipline inspection commission said they hoped to sound an alarm bell for all officials in the city. That is a good intention, but problem is, their deed exhibits excessive zeal. If people dare not dine with colleagues that is not only ridiculous but also harmful to local economies because local restaurants won't be able to survive if no one dare eat in them. The local disciplinary commission also noted that the teachers dined when people outside the school were still working though the school was on holiday. This is irrational, because the teachers should follow their own work calendar, not that of others. That the local disciplinary commission is keen to do its duty is praiseworthy, but its criticism of the teachers went too far as they had done nothing wrong. Bai Tuo, a 25-year-old man in Kunming, capital of Southwest Yunnan province, has been rearing snakes for 10 years and has 25 large pythons in his apartment.[Photo/Chinanews.com] Two hundred venomous snakes escaped from a snake farm in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province in East China between Aug 26 and 29, according to an official news briefing on Oct 10. So far, 150 of the cobras have been caught or killed, which means 50 are still at large. West China City Daily commented on Thursday: It was not just one or two non-toxic pet serpents that were loose in the residential areas of the city, but hundreds of highly venomous cobras. Till now no one has been hurt. But people rightly feel scared as 50 are still not accounted for. Farming snakes in China requires no qualifications and there is no monitoring of snake farms. This lack of supervision and the absence of an emergency early warning system for dangerous snakes that escape from such farms are issues that urgently need to be addressed. There should be strict regulations covering snake farms, the responsibilities of snake farmers are very clear. After the snakes escaped in Nanjing, the local government endangered public safety by sitting on the news for nearly two months. Local authorities should have a legal obligation to inform residents when they know dangerous snakes are on the loose. President Xi Jinping will attend the eighth meeting of BRICS leaders in Goa, India, from Oct 15 to 16. This will be their first meeting after their informal gathering at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, in early September, and it is a meeting that is of practical importance. The cooperation of the BRICS members intensified after the onset of the international financial crisis in 2008. In response to the crisis, the BRICS states strengthened their bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation, and they have continued to deepen their cooperation since. The collective rise of emerging economies and the comparative fall of the developed economies constitute one of the most important phenomena of international politics in the early 21st century. The BRICS members boast advantages in scale with regard to their territorial areas, populations and resources. They account for 30 percent of the world's land, 43 percent of the global population, 21 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 40 percent of global foreign exchange. The BRICS states are all big countries in their respective regions and have correspondingly large says and influence in regional affairs. The cooperation of the BRICS countries is of practical meaning to protect and enhance the interests of emerging economies and developing countries. With the BRICS members as representatives, the emerging market countries and developing countries have seen marked and rapid increases in their international influence. And with a combined population of about 3 billion people, the rise of the BRICS countries is related to the fate of the whole world and humanity. The five countries are expected to play active and constructive roles in setting the global development agenda, climate change negotiations, reform of the International Monetary Fund, and other global topics. Because the BRICS countries are all major members of the United NationsChina and Russia are both permanent members of the UN Security Counciland cooperative representatives of developing and developed countries in G20, the BRICS members bridge the different camps among countries. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the other regional financial organizations, such as development banks in Asia and Africa, are actually controlled by Western countries, with the United States dominant. The establishment of the New Development Bank of BRICS is therefore significant for establishing a fairer international financial structure. The New Development Bank is an international financial agency that the BRICS states fund and manage themselves. This is an important breakthrough in the global financial system, one that is promoting transformation of the international financial order, and one that can enhance developing countries' status and voice in the international financial governance. The bank can help solve the BRICS countries' shortage of mediumand short-term funding, boost their infrastructure construction and economic growth, and reduce their excess reliance on the US dollar, euro and yen. China plays a special and constructive role in the cooperation among the BRICS countries. It is also an active advocate and supporter of South-South cooperation, and cooperating with developing countries is an important part of China's opening-up strategy. The cooperation mechanism of BRICS provides an effective way to promote South-South cooperation. China's cooperation with the other BRICS members is conducive to breaking Western countries' trade protectionism and strengthening their coordination on actions to address climate change, prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the fight against terrorism, as well as many other global issues. BRICS cooperation is not intended to rival current system, but rather aims to seek effective cooperation with the developed countries. The essence of the BRICS' cooperation spirit is openness and inclusiveness. The author is vice-president of China Foreign Affairs University. Sharing those nostalgic moments of Shanxi is itself making me feel more and more happy. Luyashan Mountain area in Ningwu county is an eye-catching landscape that has all the elements to fill your eyes and heart with pleasure. The hotel we stayed in Luya mountain is also worth mentioning. Called "Luya Mountain International Hotel", it is surrounded by beautiful mountains, pure air, and peaceful location. Ningwu ice cave is the most amazing asset of Shanxi. This is the largest ice cave in China that stays frozen even when the temperature outside rise to double-digit in summer. We stepped into the cave on hot summer when the temperature was around 20 degrees outside but the cave inside was coated with full of frozen ice. Colorful lights inside the cave enhance the beauty of the cave. This place is really incredible which proves that nature has many unimaginable faces. Hanging village is another notable place of Luya Mountain. A village is built over rocks and that too on the cliffs. Humble villagers, simple living, and pleasant atmosphere. I hope these words are enough to describe the village. People living in the village are enjoying a lifestyle that is far from the outside world. They feel shy to pose in front of camera. Better not to disturb their feeling and culture. Kudos to these villagers. Malun grassland This grassland welcomes everyone with sound breeze and cherishing sky. Clouds around there will do magics to fool you. Mist may cover your eyes, rain may wet you out fully, and all of sudden sun may come out to say hi. It all happens and goes back normal all of a sudden. Don't miss out the fun there. Origin of Fen river Natural Spring that act as a main source of Fen river is celebrated as auspicious place in Nigwu. A temple to adore nature is really a remarkable one to pay our respect. A Buddha temple is associated with the spring which makes this place historical. People around here consider this spring water as holy. They believe that the water gives good fortune to the new born baby when the water is used to bathing. Clean natural spring water with full of minerals of course will give fortunes to all. The Laoniuwan (Old Cow Bend) is a site that will leave you breathless. The beauty of this Old Cow Bay village will blow your mind. This is the spot where Great Wall kisses the yellow river. The remaining of Great Wall can still be seen here. Tourist can have an adventurous walking trip along the Great wall from this spot to Beijing. The Yellow river not only make bends into the valley but for sure it will bend our minds too. This is one of the most beautiful valleys of China which also has high historical value. The author is guest Service Executive of Wuxi Nikko Hotel Most of us are familiar with the cycle of ex-patriot life in China. Those who have experienced it firsthand will agree that it is, beyond question, a life-changing experience. First there's the honeymoon phase, followed by the I-could-get-used-to-this phase. Once the reality of living in the most populated country in the world kicks in, things take a different turn. Sadly, some ex-pats return to their home countries without making a solid attempt. Others decide to leave, only to return a few months later. Then there are those who stick around and eventually fall in love with all the craziness that is China. Somewhere in between, while making sense of it all, your entire perspective changes. Insignificant things that you used to take for granted suddenly increase in value. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. As time goes by you find yourself looking at the world from a different point of view, and in the process, an appreciation for certain things is established. Open spaces and less-crowded travel destinations suddenly find themselves at the top of the list. My recent trip to Shanxi delivered both. A welcomed surprise considering the fact that, apart from ancient Pingyao and the impressive Yungang Grottoes, the rest of the province is not exactly praised by guidebooks. Driving from the capital Taiyuan towards Ningwu County, the views from the bus window changed dramatically. Continuing north in the direction of Luya Mountain, traces of urban life gradually disappeared, making way for fields of corn and blossoming sunflower crops. It was a warm welcome to Shanxi's beautiful countryside. The next few days revealed a side of China not often experienced by ex-pat city dwellers. At Malun Grassland green meadows stretched as far as the eye could see, contrasting beautifully against a clear, blue sky. With fluffy clouds lingering above and cows grazing peacefully, undisturbed by our presence, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to switch gears and forget about city life. Out in the open, it was easy to turn back the clock and imagine a period when ancient Chinese emperors raised their brave battle horses on that exact prairie. From grasslands and blue skies that reminded us of home, we moved on to something less familiar: a hanging village (Xuankongcun), hanging coffins and a hanging temple. These structures did not exactly dangle from ropes, as their names suggest, but were nevertheless extremely impressive. Far removed from civilization, we witnessed a functioning village perched on top of a cliff in the middle of nowhere. And a temple, a sacred place of worship, firmly embedded in steep rock high above the ground. Considering their remote location, we could not help but admire the local people for completing these highly labor-intensive tasks. Continuing northwest to Pianguan County, right on the border of Inner Mongolia, we reached a very unique area where the mighty Yellow River and the Great Wall, two of China's greatest symbols, meet. The Yellow River, bordering Shanxi to the west, played a fundamental role in ancient Chinese history and the establishment of China's earliest civilizations. In addition, the province's hot and dry climate helped preserve ancient artifacts and architecture in a profound way. It's no wonder then that locals proudly refer to Shanxi as "a museum of ancient architecture." Taking in the sweeping views of this remarkable valley, known as the "Old Cow River Bend," was an unforgettable experience. On one side there is Shanxi, with its endless hills, an ancient fortress and a ruined section of the Great Wall. And on the other side of the river lies Inner Mongolia. Moving on to a different viewpoint, more spectacular views continued to intrigue. With the Yellow River cutting its way through a sea of green hills, we were once again spoiled with the magnificent scenery in an area that most visitors never travel to. But that's the thing about being an ex-pat in China. By entering the up-and-down cycle and embracing change, an appreciation for certain things, and more importantly places, forms. Places that you never dreamed of visiting, places that are not flocked with tourists and souvenir shops, with streets boasting of "Western" cafes and restaurants. A place that just is what it is. A place like Shanxi. Ctrip.com International Business Unit Shanxi is the land of natural beauty. When you leave the modern city Taiyuan and enter into historical Ningwu, natural beauty takes you in its arms. You will feel you are on another planet, especially when you have unlimited access to these natural sceneries. Shanxi means mountain of the west, and it has an area of 156,000 square kilometers and a population of approximately 36 million. The capital city of Shanxi is Taiyuan. I reached Taiyuan on August 10, 2016. I was really shocked to see the development of the city. The roads were wide and paved according to international standards. I was thinking: whats the difference between Beijing and Shanxi? Soon I got the answer. There is natural beauty on one side of the road, the people of Shanxi and their wonderful hospitality. It felt like home. At the railway station I saw one counter was named after the current employee working at it due to her wonderful services to the public. I met that young pretty lady and asked her why an official gave her that honor and she said, If you work hard you will get reward that is Shanxi. It was a really strange experience because mostly people are honored after death or retirement. But it is just the start of her life. On one hand the latest equipment and facilities were provided to the passengers and it is also one of the busiest railway stations of Shanxi. Everyday approximately 40,000 people travel through this railway station. Shanxi is known for being one of the leading coal producing areas in China. You can see coal almost everywhere in the province. Most people are in the coal business. Mountains and hills cover 80% of the total area of the province. If we talk about food, vinegar is the identity of Shanxi province. For over 3,000 years, people have been using vinegar in their food. Shanxi vinegar is considered to be the best vinegar in China. Food is considered tasteless without vinegar and is used in almost every recipe, especially in noodles. Vinegar is compulsory on the dinner table and I was surprised when they gave me a cold Sprite with vinegar mixed into it. They explained to me that now I can get an idea of how much they love vinegar. People in Shanxi believe that vinegar is good for peoples health. If you are jealous of someone they have a popular Chinese proverb meaning, You are drinking old vinegar. I also got the chance to visit the Ningwu Ice Cave. It is still a mystery how it formed. Some believe that during the ice age about 10,000 years ago the ice cave was formed. The cave is 2,300 meters above sea level and it is known as one of the nine renowned ice caves in China. I was shocked by the temperature difference outside the cave and inside the cave. It was more than 20C that day and how the cave can maintain ice in this temperature is still one of natures puzzles. The maximum width of the cave is 20 meters and 10 meters is narrowest length. Wooden stairs are used from one corner of the cave to the other end to protect this natural beauty and make it easy for tourists to explore. These wooden stairs can hold dozens of people at the same time. Different colors of lights are used to see the natural beauty. The Shanxi government is not only protecting this natural asset but also providing facilities to national and international tourists to see this ice cave and enjoy its natural beauty. If you want to observe natural beauty you must visit Luya Mountain. When you are standing on the peak of the Luya Mountain, you can see clouds floating in front of you. I had a strong urge to touch and feel the clouds with my hands but they slipped through my finger like fine China silk. You can also see thousands of acres of original forests all around you. I would say it is not less than a paradise. It is refreshing standing amongst 700 varieties of trees, approximately 240 kinds of animals and breathing fresh air. The land full of green pastures, horses grazing in the field and birds singing songs. It just makes you forget that you are on Earth, time stops and then you exhale a deep breath to come back to your senses. I would say nature and Shanxi are one. If you want to feel close to nature, enjoy great hospitality and are fed up with the bustling life of big cities just visit Shanxi. I promise you wont be disappointed at all. The author is a Pakistan researcher at Communication University of China Many international travelers insist on flying solo, wandering with the wind from town to town. While this option provides a lot of personal freedom, it also comes with limitations. Whereas an individual traveler can choose his/her own itinerary, language barriers (among other things) often limit them to more developed areas of a country. Take China, for example. When foreigners travel in China, they mainly stick to the large cities: Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Why? Well, it goes deeper than the international notoriety or the tourist sites these locations offer. In cities, there is public transportation, people who speak more than just Chinese (or the local dialect), restaurants, bars, international hotels and so much more! What it all boils down to, though, is a matter of comfort. Only the more adventurous travelers strike out into the wildernesses of rural areas. Those that do, however, quickly realize how much more China has to offer. To say China is a large country is the understatement of the year. People looking to experience "the real China" should not and cannot limit themselves to the cities. In the cities you only get one piece of the story and usually that piece includes overcrowding, pollution and cliche Instagram posts. So get out of the cities! Get away from the crowded tourist traps and see China's natural beauty. Don't know where to go? Start in Shanxi. Ask the average Chinese person (non-Shanxi resident) about traveling in Shanxi and they probably won't have a clue what to recommend. This is because not many Chinese tourists actively seek out vacations in Shanxi. It's not because there's nothing to see in Shanxi - definitely not true. Shanxi's allure is more subtle than other, more trendy travel locations in China. It's like an expensive tea served in a simple cup doesn't look like much but the taste is exquisite. Northwest Shanxi is comprised of lush, green mountains and valleys. The wrinkled landscape ripples to the horizon, so every time you turn a corner you're faced with a view worthy of a postcard. Ningwu County is home to Luyashan, which is a protected ecological zone (almost like a national park). This makes it an ideal place for hikers or anyone who wants/needs to reconnect with nature. China has many famous mountains, but crowds come with that fame. Luyashan has all of the majesty of Taishan, Huashan or Huangshan, but with a fraction of the population clogging the trails. Furthermore, Luyashan is home to one of China's nine ice caves. As the name implies, an ice cave is a cave which remains perpetually frozen throughout the year, which includes summer. The cause for such an anomaly is still unknown in the scientific community. The walls are layered with sheets of ice and, rather than stalactites, massive icicles loom overhead. It's something that has to be seen to be believed. Because it is so far removed from the cities, it can be a challenge for foreign travelers to find their way to Luyashan. That being said, it is not impossible and travelers should not be discouraged from pursuing the opportunity. What's the solution? Hire a local guide. Think of it as an investment rather than an expense. To get the most out of a rural excursion, guides are a must. Not only do they know the best places to visit, they also speak the local dialect which eliminates a lot of travel related stress. It may feel like surrendering some independence, but the amount of information you'll learn from the experience will outweigh and eventually replace any discomfort you may feel initially. How can you find a good guide for your trip? Start by contacting the largest international travel agency in the area or their corporate headquarters in Beijing. Most, if not all, will have a multilingual staff. Another option is to use internet resources such as Ctrip or Trip Advisor. Couchsurfing also offers a great community of travelers and hosts willing to share their knowledge with others. Of course, most independent travelers already know about these resources yet they don't use them to their full advantage. Imagine being able to tap into authentic Chinese culture the kind that hasn't been diluted by Western influences. A guide is the key to this deeper cultural understanding! Having a guide allows you to communicate and connect with the local people in a way you probably couldn't on your own. Conversations are no longer limited to "Ni hao," "Bu yao," or "Xiexie." You can ask questions and actually get answers. Or, hypothetically speaking, should you accidentally trespass into a family's courtyard while exploring a repurposed section of the Great Wall where it runs along the bank of the Yellow River, your guide can help you defuse an uncomfortable confrontation. A potentially negative experience becomes positive as you walk away with a handful of crab apples and a story to tell your friends back home. Traveling abroad doesn't have to be difficult or frustrating. With a guide at your side you don't have to waste time with guesswork or misunderstandings. Best of all, though, you can gain a better understanding of China. A local guide holds the key to unique places like Luyashan in Shanxi that will set your visit to China apart from all the rest. The author is an English Teacher of Hangzhou Dianzi University People mourn for the death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, on Oct. 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] BANGKOK- Thailand's people woke up on Friday to the first day in 70 years without King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a king worshipped as a father-figure who guided the nation through decades of change and turmoil. The king, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in a Bangkok hospital on Thursday. He was 88. He had been in poor health for several years but his death has shocked the Southeast Asian nation of 67 million people and plunged it into mourning. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to be the new king but he does not command the same adoration that his father earned over a lifetime on the throne. Thailand has endured bomb attacks and economic worries recently while rivalry simmers between the military-led establishment and populist political forces after a decade of turmoil including two coups and deadly protests. SEOUL - One worker was killed and five others injured in a South Korean explosion incident that happened in the country's southeastern city of Ulsan, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. The explosion occurred at around 2:35 pm local time (0535 GMT) at an Ulsan branch of the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC). When six workers affiliated with subcontractors of the KNOC were replacing decrepit oil pipelines, the explosion took place for an unidentified reason, the report said. Police is investigation details. Among the five workers injured, two are in critical conditions, according to Yonhap report. The China National Opera Company returns to the London stage at the Peacock Theatre. [WANG ZHIYONG/CHINA DAILY] The China National Opera Company returned to the London stage on Thursday. It followed up on a successful visit last year, again bringing British audiences the best of China's national form of theatercombining unique storytelling, acrobatics, acting and martial arts with Chinese singing and dance. The performances at the Peacock Theatre, from Thursday to Saturday, feature two shows, The General and the Prime Minister and the Legend of White Snake. The two masterpieces celebrate heroism and love in Chinese tradition. Li Shengsu, one of the lead performers, said Peking Opera is China's national pride and she equates its significance with Shakespeare's position in British culture. The performances come amid surging interest in Peking Opera in the West, spurred by academic interest, the Chinese diaspora's increasing performances in local communities, and Western artists' and performers' fascination with the genre. Meanwhile, younger performers are revolutionizing Peking Opera to make it more relevant to international audiences. With a history of about 200 years, Peking Opera started in teahouses and became recognized as the national form of theater in the 19th century as it spread across China. It spread abroad, led by the legendary Mei Lanfang, who is credited with revolutionizing the tradition of men performing female roles, and who toured the United States in 1930. Mei died in 1961 at age 66. More recently, Peking Opera's popularity has grown among overseas Chinese. In London, a charity named the London Jing Kun Opera Association was set up in 2002 to perform Chinese opera twice a month in London and around the UK. The performers also visit schools and universities and invite students to their performances. Chen Kaige's famed 1993 movie Farewell My Concubine also played a crucial role in making Peking Opera known to the Western public. In2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Peking Opera an Intangible Cultural Heritage. Western artists' and performers' fascination with Peking Opera is also growing amid a global shift toward multiculturalism. The Russian-born installation artist Varvara Shavrova created the short film The Opera to express her fascination with the transformation of males performing female rolesonce common in English theater, particularly in works by Shakespeare and Marlowe. She explores why such a practice still exists in Peking Opera but which has died out in Western theaters. Meanwhile, newer Chinese operatic pieces have introduced more relevance for international viewers. Min Yen Ong, an ethnomusicologist postdoctoral research associate in the music department of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, said, "Many changes have been made to modern-day Chinese opera performances to attract audiences." Despite growing interest and appreciation of Chinese opera in the West, one major challenge limiting the spread of its popularity is its unique system of symbolism, Ong said. Li, the performer, said Peking Opera actors should remain true to its traditions, perform to the highest international standards, and bring performances to the international stage through market-driven methods. Most people in Central and Eastern European countries covered by the Belt and Road Initiative hold a positive outlook toward China's economic growth, believing the momentum will continue for the next 10 years, according to a survey released on Friday. Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed said they believed the Chinese economy has stable growth, while 33 percent said it is on a fast track, according to the 2016 Chinese Enterprise Global Image Survey Report on Central and Eastern Europe. The survey, published by China International Publishing Group, polled 2,000 residents ages 18 to 65 in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania between July and September. The Belt and Road Initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aims to boost trade and connectivity across Asia, Europe and Africa. It involves 60 countries and regions with a total population of 4.4 billion. Global cooperation in infrastructure, logistics and production capacity is the biggest highlight of the Belt and Road Initiative, said Wei Jianguo, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. According to the survey, 55 percent of interviewees believe that Chinese companies are able to bring quality and bargain products to their markets, and 42 percent think Chinese businesses will help create jobs. Major infrastructure projects have been launched in Central and Eastern Europe, including a railway hub project in Lodz, Poland, and steel and nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic with investment from Shanghai-based CEFC China Energy Co. Wei said countries in Central and Eastern Europe are especially interested in collaborating with China on infrastructure projects. Yingli Green Energy Holding Co, one of China's biggest solar power companies, has begun talks with at least 10 companies in Central and Eastern Europe for solar projects. Yang Ming, Yingli's deputy general manager, said Central and Eastern European countries have a growing need for solar energy, which gives Chinese companies the opportunity to diversify their markets. But the survey found that only 37 percent of respondents have a favorable impression of Chinese companies, compared with 74 percent for Japanese companies and 61 percent for those from the United States. "It is urgent for Chinese companies to ... stop bringing managers from home after investing in manufacturing facilities or research branches in Europe," said Zhao Qizheng, former head of the State Council Information Office. Localization will be the key to their success, he said. zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn Chinese young film directors and producers pose at the opening ceremony of the one week festival in Brussels on Thursday. [Photo by Fu Jing/China Daily] Chinese film directors are staging a one-week festival in Brussels, the second edition after last year's screening in the heart of the European Union. The festival got under way on Thursday. Twenty young film producers and directors, ranging from 17 to 26 years old, screened their short films for the first time to help Europeans get to see different images of China. Movie-goes can watch thirteen short films and eight movies in the Flagey, an art house in Brussels. The youngest one in the group is a high school student aged 17, and the oldest is 26; most of them haven't been to Europe before. Their films primarily reflect Chinese daily life, ranging from the love and tensions among family members, to conflicts between modern livelihoods and nature and tradition. Monica Urian, a European Commission policy officer, said she loves Chinese culture, practicing kung fu with four of her colleagues every Tuesday evening in their office. "What impressed me the most are those films about daily life, especially love stories, ' said Urian, adding that her favorite is Suzhou River, directed by Lou Ye. Alex, an Italian lawyer working in Brussels who is a Chinese film fan, and who would only give his first name, said he found traditional values in the movies, which have been almost lost in Europe. He has been watching Chinese films for twenty years, with more than one hundred movies in his collection. "I am fascinated by the values such as respect for the friends, for the family and the seniors, love and hate at the utmost degree, settling the conflicts before they expose, keeping the given word and accepting fate and destiny without useless complaint." While for some others who just make their initial contact with Chinese movies, it is sometimes difficult to understand regarding the cultural or historical contexts. One Belgian lady, who wouldn't give her name, watched a kung fu movie called The Master and said she felt a bit lost because there was too much fighting and too many knives. Alex commented that Chinese movie makers should avoid repeating a simplistic identity with martial fighting, adding "Chinese culture has much more to offer by far." "Moving images remain an important bridge to connect our peoples, and there stands the need to make space for more movie festivals of this kind," said Yang Yanyi, ambassador of China Mission to the European Union at the opening of the festival. The EU's Urian, whose responsibility is specifically cultural diversity and innovation, also wished there would be more platforms for people-to-people dialogue between China and the EU, to make for further understanding and cooperation. Yuan Mengqian, the head of the young film directors delegation, agreed and said that via the festival, they had also learnt a lot from the European students about their creativity and broader horizons. "We really benefit from this kind of eye-opening exchanges with our European colleagues and hopefully, we can do better in the future by getting more young students of arts involved," she said. Yao Yueyang contributed to the story To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn China cherishes a "special friendship" with the Cambodian royal family, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday while meeting with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni. The traditional China-Cambodia friendship is cultivated by generations of leaders including Chinese late chairman Mao Zedong and former premier Zhou Enlai and late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk, Xi said. The Chinese president is paying a state visit to Cambodia from Thursday to Friday. It's Xi's first visit to Cambodia since becoming China's top leader in late 2012. China would like to work together with Cambodia to achieve joint development, Xi said, adding that China will always be good friends and a partner to Cambodia. On behalf of the Cambodian royal family, government and people, Sihamoni expressed a warm welcome toward President Xi. The Cambodian king expressed gratitude toward the Chinese government and people for the long-lasting friendship with the Cambodian royal family and the support for Cambodian social and economic development. Xi's visit aims to deepen the solid relationship between the two countries and yield more results of cooperation, Sihamoni said. The Cambodian king hosted a welcome ceremony in the palace ahead of the discussions. Tens of thousands of local people gathered in the streets and square in front of the palace, holding the two countries' national flags, portraits of leaders and flowers to welcome the Chinese delegation. President Xi Jinping arrives for a state visit to Cambodia in Phnom Penh October 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] China and Cambodia agreed on Thursday to take measures to expand their trade during President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the Southeast Asian neighbor. Witnessed by Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the two countries signed a number of agreements covering areas such as agriculture, oceanic, energy, telecommunication, investment and infrastructure. The two sides also agreed to jointly implement the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in production capacity. The initiative, consisting of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was proposed by Xi in 2013 with a focus on infrastructure. During his talks with Hun Sen, Xi said he received a magnificent and friendly welcome "from the moment I stepped from the plane". Hundreds of students welcomed the delegation with portraits of the two countries' leaders on the streets outside the airport. China will continue to offer more support to Cambodia to help the country maintain stability and improve people's livelihoods, Xi said. Under the leadership of Hun Sen, Cambodia has gained stable social order and rapid economic development, improved people's livelihoods and promoted the country's international status, Xi said. The Cambodian prime minister called Xi's visit historic and said it will strengthen the traditional bilateral friendship. He also expressed gratitude for China's medical treatment of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath. Xi was making his first state visit to Cambodia since he became China's top leader in late 2012. He will fly to Bangladesh on Friday morning and then go to Goa, India, to attend the eighth BRICS Summit. In July, Cambodia voiced support for China's stance on the South China Sea issue after the ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in a case unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III. Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid, right, holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Dhaka, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] China considers Bangladesh as an important partner in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, President Xi Jinping said in an arrival statement at the Dhaka airport on Friday. "We are ready to work with the Bangladeshi side to further deepen our political mutual trust and elevate our relations and practical cooperation to a higher level," Xi said. Xi is paying a state visit to Bangladesh from Friday to Saturday. He is the first Chinese president to visit Bangladesh in the past 30 years. He arrived in Dhaka at about 11:40 am after wrapping up visit to Cambodia. He will then fly to Goa of India to attend the eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend. "In the 41 years of our diplomatic relations, China-Bangladesh ties have kept moving forward," Xi said in the statement. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Dhaka for a state visit, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The Chinese president pointed out that China and Bangladesh face similar task of development. He said that the Chinese dream to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is "in perfect harmony" with Bangladesh's dream of a "Sonar Bangla". "I look forward to having broad and in-depth exchange of views with President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and other Bangladeshi leaders on China-Bangladesh relations and issues of mutual interests to chart the course for our future cooperation and jointly usher in a new chapter in our bilateral relations," Xi added. Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid upon Xi's arrival in Dhaka, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Jiang Jingkui, director of the Center of South Asian Studies at Peking University, said that the South Asian region, which was not a traditional focus for China, has become more 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 the northern part of South Asia is key for the (Silk Road Economic) Belt, while the southern part is important for the (21st Century Maritime Silk) Road. Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, arrives in Dhaka for a state visit, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Bangladesh has been positive in implementing the China-India-Myanmar-Bangladesh economic corridor, and Xi's visit will bring more practical cooperative results for the two countries, he said. Gao Ruihong at the class. [Photo/CRI Online] After graduating from university last year, Gao Ruihong was recruited as a teacher at Yunnan Minzu University (YMU) to assist in the establishment of the Bengali major, which made her the youngest Bengali teacher in China. Gao's first lesson to the students included writing and pronouncing Bengali vowels, and the young teacher found the students struggling with pronunciation. "Many pronunciations in Bengali do not exist in Chinese, and my primary task is to let them master the pronunciation." It seems the young teacher was prepared for the tough task of teaching Bengali as none of her student was familiar with the language before enrolling in the course. Bengali has remained in a weak position in China's language teaching, even among the minority languages. According to a study released by the Ministry of Education and State Language Commission last year, more than 40 languages are spoken in the countries along the route of Belt and Road Initiative, however, only 20 of them are taught in Chinese universities, with students enrolled in Bengali major numbering less than 50 in 2015. "China has been focusing more on large regions such as the United States and the Europe, and sufficient attention has not been paid to smaller neighboring countries," said Yang Cheng, professor of East China Normal University. More than 80 percent of Chinese scholars choose India when it comes to South Asia studies, and that means other South Asian countries such as Bangladesh go unnoticed. "The lack of knowledge about countries along the Road and Belt Initiative has to be altered now, and we need to do some basic research on neighboring countries so as to provide support to the country's strategic measures," added the professor. Three top foreign language universities announced plans to set up more language majors as part of the country's strategic requirements last year. For instance, Beijing Foreign Studies University plans to set up all language majors of countries having diplomatic ties with China by 2020, that is to say, a total of 38 minority language majors will be established in the next few years. Yunnan Minzu University has been just approved to offer major in Bengali from February this year. [Photo/IC] YMU has announced similar steps. The university, located in Southwest China's Yunnan province, which is geographically quite close to South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, has been just approved to offer major in Bengali from February this year, making it the second university in China to offer undergraduate courses in this subject, following the Communication University of China, from which Gao got her bachelor's degree in Bengali. As the first major being set up after the establishment of the South Asia Institute of YMU, the Bengali major is generating lots of expectations at the university. Professor Bai Kaiyuan, a senior translator of Bengali department, China Radio International, has been invited by the university to train young teachers like Gao. Bai will also preside over the compilation of Bengali textbooks for the university as a distinguished professor. Bai plans to develop the textbooks in three volumes based on the practical goal of the university. The first volume is expected to be finished within the year, with the first 20 lessons focusing on Bengali pronunciation, grammar, and dialogue, and the last 20 lessons covering China-Bangladesh economic exchange and works of Indian literary giant Tagore. The 18 freshmen of the Bengali major this year are not ready to evaluate Gao's teaching since the course has just begun, however, they are looking forward to their fouryear course. Yang Hongling, one of the students, found learning the language "hard but promising". "The country is putting more emphasizes on the relations with South Asian countries, and I believe we will have very broad career prospects," said the student. Yang is correct. The Belt and Road Initiative, as well as BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) economic corridors will increase trade, transport, tourism and investment between China, Bangladesh, and other South Asian countries. Infrastructure connection remains a major field of the Belt and Road Initiative. And many graduates of minority languages have been active in cooperation projects with neighboring countries such as Laos and Thailand. Chinese ambassador Ma Mingqiang signed the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation between China and Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 7, 2016.[Photo/Xinhua] However, the grasp of languages of many countries along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative, especially unfamiliar languages, still has a long way to go in China. This offers both challenges and opportunities to minority language students like Yang. According to the institute, five new minority language majors - Urdu, Nepali, Sinhala, Tamil, and Pushtu - are expected to be approved by the Ministry of Education next year. And the rise of Bengali teaching at YMU will be just a start of the bloom of foreign languages in China. CRI Online also contributed to this story. DHAKA - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Friday for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years to this South Asian nation. Xi was received by his Bangladeshi counterpart, Abdul Hamid, and given a 21-gun salute at the airport. The host country dispatched fighter jets to escort Xi's plane after it entered Bangladesh's airspace. Speaking highly of the long-standing traditional friendship between his country and Bangladesh, Xi said upon arrival that China attaches great importance to relations with Bangladesh and is ready to join hands with the country to lift their bilateral relations and practical cooperation to a higher level. The friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Bangladesh not only serve the interests of both countries and peoples, but also have made positive contributions to peace, stability and development of the region as a whole, he said. "I am looking forward to having in-depth and extensive exchanges of views with Bangladeshi leaders on bilateral ties and other issues of common concern, so as to draw up the blueprint for bilateral cooperation and jointly open up a new chapter for bilateral relations," Xi said. During the visit, Xi will meet with Hamid and National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, and hold talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. China and Bangladesh, both being populous developing countries, have maintained a sound relationship since they established diplomatic ties in 1975. In 2010, Xi paid an official visit to the nation as vice president. Though listed as one of the world's least developed countries, Bangladesh has been witnessing robust economic growth over recent years and boasts tremendous market potential with a population of about 160 million. Two-way trade between China and Bangladesh reached 14.7 billion US dollars in 2015, up 17 percent year-on-year. China is currently Bangladesh's largest trading partner, while Bangladesh is the third largest of China in South Asia. Bangladesh, in dire need of capital for development, is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The AIIB has approved 165 million dollars in loans for a Bangladeshi project -- the first batch of loan for the country from the China-initiated development bank. As an important cooperation partner of China in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, Bangladesh is working closely with China on the Belt and Road Initiative and an economic corridor linking the two countries as well as India and Myanmar. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. In an interview with Xinhua, Hasina expressed confidence that Xi's visit would usher in "a new era of intensive cooperation" in trade, investment and other sectors between the two nations. At a press briefing ahead of the trip, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou described the visit to Bangladesh as a "milestone." Xi met Hamid in November 2014 in Beijing. At the meeting, Hamid said Bangladesh expected to learn from China's experience in poverty alleviation and seize the chance brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to promote trade and connectivity. During Hasina's visit to China in June 2014, she said Bangladesh will continue to support China firmly on issues involving its core interests and major concerns. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit, which already took him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the western Indian state of Goa for a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Before Xi left for Bangladesh, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen went to the hotel to see him off and congratulated him on the successful visit. Xi voiced his belief that, with joint efforts, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Cambodia would keep moving forward. At the invitation of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Cambodia on October 13-14. During the trip, Xi met with King Sihamoni and visited Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk. He held talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents. This visit is expected to strengthen the traditional friendship between both nations and open a new era in the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. The two countries have signed more than 30 cooperation documents to enhance cooperation in various fields.The visit will promote China-Cambodia economic and trade cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road initiative, boosting an alignment of the initiative and Rectangular Strategy for Cambodian National Development that benefits the peoples of both nations. President Xi's state visit to Cambodia is deemed as an historic milestone in the history of Sino-Cambodian diplomatic ties. that would deepen political trust. China and Cambodia will emerge as highly trusted friends, loyal partners and a community of shared destiny for generations to come, serving as a new model for states' equal treatment and sincere cooperation in the international community. By Zhang Maorong, researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations; cartoon drawing by Chi Ying BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday started a five-day trip to Southeast and South Asia which will see him pay state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh and attend the 8th BRICS summit, in Goa, India. The visits play a key role in China's diplomatic efforts in Asia and are part of a move to build a "new type of international relations" and "a community of common destiny." Since 2012, Xi has spoken of a "community of common destiny" dozens of times, putting the notion at the heart of China's relations with its neighbors and the international community at large. In a speech to present China's views on the world situation and proposals for peace and development in the world at large, Xi called for building a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, and creating "a community of common destiny for mankind" at the UN headquarters in 2015. STARTING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Xi's Asia visits will promote the building of "a community of common destiny" in China's neighborhood, said Dong Manyuan, a researcher with the China Institute of International Studies. In particular, Xi's visit to Cambodia will further strengthen pragmatic cooperation and alignment of respective development strategies, and boost friendship between the two countries. China has long signaled that it welcomes neighboring countries board its "train of development." In 2015, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism was launched to boost existing cooperation between China and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Zhong Feiteng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that Xi's visit to Cambodia showcases China's will to cooperate with mid-sized and small developing countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia. "China is willing to let less developed countries in the region to hitch a hike on the Chinese express train of development and share its development achievements," Zhong said. Xi's trip to Bangladesh, meanwhile, will also chart a course for future bilateral ties, help the two countries deepen mutual trust, and lift relations between the countries to a new high. It will also help push forward the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, in which Bangladesh serves as an important link. Xue Li, a researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics at CASS, said that neighborhood diplomacy has become a prominent priority of China's foreign relations. China tops the world in the number of neighboring countries. A sound and stable neighborhood translates to real benefits for everyone involved. Xue said that China's rapid development has benefited its neighbors, but brought about concerns at the same time. "Xi's visits will thus help China deepen political trust and economic cooperation with neighboring countries, including Cambodia and Bangladesh," Xue said. SPREADING 'ASIAN STYLE' DIPLOMACY China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, involving more than 60 countries and regions and affecting some 4.4 billion people worldwide. As of June this year, China has signed agreements on industrial capacity cooperation with 20 countries along the routes. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), proposed by China, has been set up to address infrastructure needs in the region. Already, the AIIB has approved 165 million dollars in loans for a Bangladeshi project. At the upcoming summit of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Xi will continue to highlight important plans for BRICS development to inject enthusiasm into the building of a new type of international relations. "Through the BRICS summit, an important platform of global governance, China's 'Asian style' diplomacy, featuring mutual respect, seeking consensus through consultations and taking care of the degree of comfort of all parties, will have significance in the larger region, said Tao Jian, president of the Beijing-based University of International Relations. GOA, India - Leaders of BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- will meet on Friday in the western Indian state of Goa for their 8th summit with theme of "Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions". The summit came on the heels of the leaders' meeting in Hangzhou, China last month, during which they exchanged views on deepening cooperation and the challenges the countries are facing. FROM HANGZHOU TO GOA An important aspect of the Goa summit will be the strengthening of the BRICSG20 relationship. Innovation and inclusiveness formed part of G20s agenda and will also be a focus of the BRICS summit, Geethanjali Nataraj, a research fellow from Brookings India, said in an article recently published. The close BRICS-G20 link and the Goa summit will provide an opportunity to further enhance cooperation in global governance with a focus on innovative and sustainable development, he said. Coming as a result of the multipolarization of the world, the cooperation mechanism of the BRICS nations provides new possibilities for the birth of new economic growth models and renovation of the global governance system. Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out the direction for enhancing the BRICS cooperation by puting forward four proposals at the leaders' Informal Meeting held last month in Hangzhou. According to the Chinese president, BRICS nations can work together in four aspects, namely, jointly innovating in growth patterns, jointly improving global governance, jointly safeguarding international fairness and justice and building a peaceful and stable development environment, and jointly advancing international cooperation in development and follow the path of sustainable development. With the world economy still lingering in slowdown and amid a backdrop of hard times for traditional economic sectors, innovation stands out as the remedy and breakthrough point, which has become a consensus among many countries. China spearheading at the Hangzhou summit of the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth, which calls for speeding up innovation-driven development, is a reflection of such consensus. The financial crisis also exposed the structural shortcomings of the old global governance system. As the major locomotive of recent world economic growth, the emerging economies and developing countries have increasing desire and justified reasons to enhance their representation and say in international organizations. The BRICS nations, as important members of the G20, should continue to strengthen communication and cooperation within the G20 framework, actively promote the governance structure reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and increase the representations and voice of emerging markets and developing countries. Meanwhile, on the political front, the BRICS nations still have a lot to do in strengthening political security, facilitating the building of constructive and win-win international relations, and helping build a peaceful, stable, just and reasonable international order. As leading emerging countries, the BRICS nations have also plenty to explore in such agenda as promoting South-South cooperation, propelling developing countries to honor their commitment and leading more other developing countries to the road of sustainable development. At the Goa summit, there will also be a meeting between BRICS and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), an international organization comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. BRICS OF GOLD STILL GLITTERS The BRICS mechanism has now become an effective cooperation platform for the five emerging economies. The countries have become the envy of the world due to their galloping growth. In the past 10 years, the BRICS countries have contributed 50 percent to the world GDP growth, among which China accounted for 40 percent, and according to the IMF data, China has contributed 35 percent to world economic growth in the past five years. However, as the world economy is still in the process of finding new growth momentum, the BRICS nations are facing great challenges. Russia and Brazil are being affected by dropping commodity prices while the currency evaluation has dragged the recovery of South Africa. All these seem to have footnoted the notion that the BRICS is losing luster. But a closer look into the basics of the five nations will prove the shortsightedness, or at least over-pessimism of that view. BRICS members still enjoy abundant natural and human resources, vast markets, huge growth potential and bright prospects from their policy coordination, letting alone the bouncing back of commodity prices such as those of iron ore. Given time and policy coordination, the BRICS members are bound to continue to shine in the global economic arena. LOOKING TO NEXT DECADE It has been 10 years since the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers took place in New York in 2006. In the past decade, the BRICS countries have been constantly expanding the scope of cooperation and improving their cooperation mechanism. Ten years on, the GOA summit is due to become an important milestone. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in the 2014 BRICS summit that BRICS countries should carry forward the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win results. Against the backdrop of a trend of protectionism in some countries and counter-globalization, these principles ring resounding of the developing countries undertaking and vision. For all the challenges, hardships and growing pains, as well as the members disparity and differences in geographical location, resource distribution, economic development levels and political landscape, the BRICS nations choose cooperation and consultation. In fact, their cooperation mechanism has shown great achievements. The nations successfully boosted their say in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), thus increasing the representations and say of emerging markets and developing countries. The IMFs 2010 quota and governance reforms have finally taken effect and will give emerging markets like BRICS more power and greater say at the lender. China will have the third largest IMF quota and voting share after the United States and Japan, and India, Brazil and Russia will also be among the top 10 members of the IMF. The newly launched BRICS New Development Bank has already announced its first tranche of funding for green and sustainable projects for all five BRICS members in social sectors such as health care, education and population matters. It is now under evaluation. As put by Dr Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the BRICS nations are increasingly making their voices heard in the international arena, upholding that it is not sensible overthrowing governments by force, as having been proven by the instabilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. The BRICS nations are intensifying joint efforts to amplify their voice in respect of agenda-setting as well as rule-making in international fora, and are contributing to strengthening international governance, according to Swaran Singh, professor of diplomacy and disarmament at the School of International Studies from the university. The leaders are expected to take the opportunity at the Goa summit and make new breakthroughs, Singh said. DHAKA - Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed that the parliamentary bodies of China and Bangladesh should enhance exchanges and dialogues. He made the remarks when he met with Bangladeshi National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury. Noting that cooperation between the two countries' parliamentary bodies is a significant component of China-Bangladesh ties, Xi said China appreciates the great importance the Bangladeshi National Assembly attaches to developing bilateral ties. He urged the two countries' parliamentary bodies to strengthen communication, increase public support for improving political mutual trust and aligning development strategies, and provide a sound legal guarantee for the two countries' political, economic and trade cooperation as well as people-to-people exchanges. Hailing China and Bangladesh as good neighbors, good friends and good partners, Xi said the two countries have great potential in dovetailing development strategies and are highly complementary in practical cooperation. China attaches great importance to the friendly cooperation with Bangladesh, and is willing to align development strategies with the South Asian nation, advance major projects, enhance people-to-people exchanges and bring concrete benefits to more people in the two countries, said the Chinese president. Chowdhury, for her part, hailed Xi's state visit as a milestone in the development of bilateral relations, saying that she believes it will bring bilateral ties to a new height. Bangladesh looks forward to enhancing cooperation with China in trade, investment and infrastructure construction under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, she said, adding that the Bangladeshi parliamentary body is willing to make contribution to deepening bilateral ties. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. Xi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to this South Asian nation in 30 years. China and Bangladesh Friday signed 56 documents to enhance cooperation in areas such as telecommunication, infrastructure, finance and trade during President Xi Jinpings historic visit to the country. According to the agreements and the memorandums of understandings, China agreed to provide loans to Bangladesh for projects including roads, bridges, tunnels and power plants. Xi and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina witnessed the signing ceremony after holding talks. The two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation. During the meeting, Xi said a closer partnership that the two sides forged in 2010 has yielded fruitful results, with bilateral cooperation advancing steadily in political, economic, cultural and security areas. China highly values its friendly ties with Bangladesh and will continue to offer support for the economic and social development of the South Asian country, Xi said. Hasina said Bangladesh admires China's economic achievement, and is ready to strengthen cooperation with China. Bangladesh is willing to actively work with China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and support the building of an economic corridor linking Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar, added Hasina. Xi arrived in Dhaka - the capital and largest city of Bangladesh - earlier in the day for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to the nation in 30 years. Dhaka is the second stop of Xis trip after Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is scheduled to fly to Goa, India, to attend the eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend. The parliamentary bodies of China and Bangladesh should enhance dialogues to boost mutual political trust, President Xi Jinping said Friday while meeting with Bangladeshi National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury. Noting that cooperation between the two countries' parliamentary bodies is a significant component of China-Bangladesh ties, Xi said China appreciates the great importance the Bangladeshi National Assembly attaches to developing a bilateral relationship. The Chinese president pointed out that China and Bangladesh are good neighbors, good friends and good partners. He added that the two countries have great potential in dovetailing development strategies. Chowdhury hailed Xi's state visit as a milestone saying that she believes it will bring bilateral ties to a new height. Bangladesh looks forward to enhancing cooperation with China on trade, investment and infrastructure construction under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, she said. Chowdhury added that the Bangladeshi parliament is willing to make a contribution to deepening ties. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes. The Chinese president is paying a state visit to Bangladesh from Friday to Saturday. He is the first Chinese president that has visited Bangladesh in the past 30 years. Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, is the second stop of Xis trip after Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is scheduled to fly to Goa, India, to attend the eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend. DHAKA - Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday. The two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership of cooperation. Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid, right, holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Dhaka, Oct 14, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] During the meeting, Xi said the closer partnership the two sides forged in 2010 has yielded fruitful results, with bilateral cooperation seeing steady progress in political, economic, cultural and security areas and on international and regional affairs.China highly values its friendly cooperative ties with Bangladesh and will continue to offer support within its capacity for the economic and social development of the South Asian country, Xi said.Noting that China is striving for its "two centenary goals" while Bangladesh is pursuing its "Sonar Bangla" dream of national strength and prosperity, Xi added that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative can dovetail with Bangladesh's cooperation strategies with the outside world.The "two centenary goals" refer to China's aspiration to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the Communist Party of China celebrates its centenary in 2021 and turn the People's Republic of China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the time it celebrates its centenary in 2049.Since establishing diplomatic ties 41 years ago, China and Bangladesh have adhered to "the five principles of peaceful co-existence" and have respected and supported each other in choosing the development path and domestic and foreign policies in accordance with its national conditions, said Xi.Now in their pursuit of development, the two countries should be friends and partners that trust and support each other and advance practical cooperation to reap even richer fruits, so as to inject more impetus into bilateral ties, said the Chinese president. (Photo : Getty Images) China's President Xi Jinping is set to visit Bangladesh on Friday as part of his tour of South Asia. Advertisement Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has described China as a "trusted partner" ahead of President Xi Jinping's historic visit to the country later this week. Xi, who is set to land in Dhaka on Friday, would be the first Chinese head of state to visit Bangladesh in 30 years. "China has become our largest trading partner, and we consider China as a trusted partner in realizing our dreams too. China is the leading generator of many our mega-projects in terms of finance, capitalization and technology," Hasina told China's state-run Xinhua news agency. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Hasina added that Bangladesh-China relations have grown over the decades and their bilateral relationship is underpinned by "the five Principles of peaceful co-existence, spirit of good neighborliness, mutual trust, confidence, and non-interference into each other's internal affairs." The Bangladeshi leader voiced support for the One China policy, which denotes that China and Taiwan are part of one nation. Hasina also hailed President Xi's proposed One Belt One Road initiative, adding that Bangladesh is working hard to complete China's ambitious infrastructure project. She noted that Xi's visit would prove important for the entire South Asian region. India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal are other countries included in Xi's week-long South Asian tour. India is expected to keep a close eye on Xi's visit to the South Asia as it is wary of China trying to increase its footprints in the region. India is said to be using diplomatic efforts to stall key infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, with Dhaka having suspended few Chinese-backed port projects earlier this year. It is not clear whether Xi will be discussing these projects during his visit to Dhaka. Advertisement TagsBangladesh and China, Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, Xi Jinping's Visit to Bangladesh (Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Disney promises not to whitewash the 2018 live-action remake of 'Mulan'. Advertisement Disney announced on Tuesday that the new version of Mulan, which is set to hit theaters in fall 2018, would meet both the expectations of Chinese spectators and American audience. The retelling of the traditional Chinese story of a young girl who took her father's place in war to save him is facing criticism on social media after a speculative screenplay was leaked on the Internet, the CNN reported. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement According to the website Angry Asian Man, instead of concentrating on Mulan's bravery to protect her family, the proposed remake will feature a white male European sailor who saved the young girl's life and eventually captured her heart. This could suggest that the "White Knight" will be taking the lead role, displacing the heroic Chinese character to a co-lead, Collider noted. Out of protest, Mulan fans trended the hashtag #MakeMulanRight on Twitter to contend how the rumored script would "whitewash" Asian culture. Furthermore, a website called 18MR also made an online petition urging Disney to change its possible script, CNN reported. Currently, at least 12,000 people have signed the said petition, demanding that an Asian American writer should be included in the script writing. Meanwhile, a source close to the film told the Vulture in a statement that the spec script was just a "jumping-off point for a new take on the story that draws from both the literary ballad of Mulan and Disney's 1998 animate film." "Mulan is and will always be the lead character in the story, and all of the primary roles, including the love interest, are Chinese." Should this be true, then it could be expected Mulan's cast line-up will be made up of Chinese actors. However, the group behind the 18MR website said it is not enough to just hire an all Asian cast if none of the writers are Asian or Asian American. On the other hand, Nancy Yuen, a professor from Biola University, is positive that the new version of Mulan will strike a balance to appeal the taste of U.S. audience and to ensure the Chinese audience the movie's cast is not whitewashed, Yibada reported. Advertisement TagsMulan, Disney, whitewashing, Mulan Remake, #MakeMulanRight (Photo : getty images.) China's President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia on Thursday to enhance bilateral ties with one of its staunch regional allies. Xi is expected to sign 28 pacts during his two day visit to the country, Advertisement President Xi Jinping of China is bent on deepening his country's bilateral ties with one of its staunch regional allies - Cambodia. Xi was welcomed by hundreds of students waving Chinese and Cambodian national flags at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his arrival on Thursday. This is Xi's first visit to Cambodia as a president. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Cambodia is an adherent supporter of China on South China Sea issue. The country has been a recipient of huge financial aid and loan from Beijing in return for its unconditional support on the sensitive issue. Earlier this year, Phnom Penh received nearly $550 million in aid from China for lending support over the disputed maritime territory. Ahead of his visit, a leading Cambodian newspaper published an article signed by Xi that hailed Phnom Penh's role in the ongoing South China Sea issue. "When China acted to safe guard its territorial sovereignty and maritime interests and was devoted to resolving related disputes through peaceful negotiation, Cambodia did not hesitate to speak out to uphold justice," the Chinese President wrote in the article. Cambodia's continuing support has, most often, proven to be a stumbling block to form a unified front by other claimants against China. The other claimants include Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Indonesia. Meanwhile, both countries are expected to sign 28 deals that span across important social and economic areas later on Thursday. Xi will leave Cambodia on Friday for weeklong tour of South Asian region, where he will visit Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The visit is important from the context of China's quest to increase footprints in South Asian region, where its regional rival India has a huge influence. Advertisement TagsChina and Cambodia, Cambodia, Xi Jinping, Xi Jinping's Visit to Cambodia (Photo : PLAN) Desktop model of part of China's Underwater Great Wall in the South China Sea. Advertisement China has begun implementing Phase Three of its undersea defense system in the South China Sea called the "Underwater Great Wall" by deploying underwater sensors as part of an international marine survey program. China has deployed its first eight made in China floating sensors in the South China Sea as part of "Argo," a collaborative partnership of over 30 nations to provide a seamless global array allowing any country to explore the ocean environment. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Argo is a system for observing temperature, salinity and currents in the Earth's oceans and has been operational since the early 2000s. The real-time data it provides is used in climate and oceanographic research. Some military analysts say China's participation in Argo is intended to enhance its scientific knowledge about the disputed waters, especially what's beneath the surface, since the Chinese sensors have both civilian and military uses. China plans to have 20 operational sensors about a meter beneath the surface of the South China Sea. China's sensors can monitor the submarine environment up to a depth of two kilometers. Data from the sensors is transmitted to the mainland using China's BeiDou Satellite Navigational System that also has numerous military uses. China's decision to use BeiDou and not the U.S. GPS to transmit data from its sensors also has military significance. This August, Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli approved the plan replacing all imported sensors with ones made in China and supported by BeiDou. Chinese scientists are also developing technologies to probe undersea depths down to six kilometers. Military analyst Antony Wong Dong said these sensors could benefit the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) indirectly since its submarines demand a large amount of real time data about water temperatures, pressure and currents, among others. "The South China Sea is very big and China still has a lot of blind spots," said Wong. "The sea environment changes fast. It will be really dangerous to deploy submersibles if they don't monitor the waters closely." Taken together, these new developments seem to confirm suspicions China has triggered Phase Three of its plan to build an Underwater Great Wall in the South China Sea. A news story in this website last June exposed the existence of this Underwater Great Wall. It said this wall will consist of sensors, robot undersea vehicles, torpedoes and a manned "deep-sea space station" to further solidify Beijing's control over this hotly disputed area. The Underwater Great Wall Project will be disguised as a scientific "natural resource development project" requiring an undersea base and a fleet of drone submarines, according to sources. Analysts said this allegedly civilian project will form the basis for a future underwater military defense system designed to cement Chinese hegemony over the South China Sea while keeping the U.S. Navy at bay. This underwater defense line will complete China's triad of control over the South China Sea. The first leg of this triad are the military outposts on reclaimed islands defended by HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and supersonic jet fighters such as the Shenyang J-11, a long range air superiority fighter. The second leg will be an ADIZ or Air Defense Identification Zone that will effectively bar military and civilian aircraft from outside China entering the airspace above the South China Sea without China's permission. The Underwater Great Wall, the third leg, is meant to counter the U.S. Navy's fleet of attack and ballistic missile submarines against which PLAN has no credible defense. Anti-submarine warfare is the greatest tactical weakness of the PLAN. Also arousing suspicion is the proposed location of this "natural resources project." Its deep- sea space station will be built at a depth of 3,000 meters below the surface and will be manned by a full-time crew. No country has ever attempted to build a manned underwater base at these crushing depths. Analysts said this underwater station might anchor the Underwater Great Wall. "But we can't rule out it will carry some military functions," said Xu Liping, a senior researcher of Southeast Asia affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Advertisement Tagschina, Underwater Great Wall, South China Sea, Argo, BeiDou Satellite Navigational System, Zhang Gaoli (Photo : Getty Images) People wait outside the new Taco Bell store ahead of it's official opening on April 21, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan. Advertisement Yum Brands Inc. is testing if Chinese consumers are up for some quesadillas and tacos, as it plans to open the first Taco Bell in China this year, the company announced on Tuesday during an investor meeting. Known for its Mexican theme and taste, the American fast food chain is reportedly adjusting its menu to suit the palates of the locals. And this also includes adjusting the temperature of the food when served. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "Having food that's incredibly warm is very important in Chinese culture," Shivram Vaideeswaran, Taco Bell's global marketing and innovation director, told Bloomberg. "It's warm, it's melty, and it's really good." He further noted that a tepid taco might be okay for Americans but would never fly in China. However, even though nacho cheese is never seen as part of the Chinese culture, the Tex-Mex favorite was seen as more palatable to locals, as the approach was honed through a focus group in China, Vaideeswaran said. Taco Bell is set to open its first location in Shanghai late in December, making it an early test of the company's plan to separate its Chinese operations, Vaideeswaran said. However, the opening could slip until next year, he noted. Although increasing its presence globally is something new for Taco Bell, the Mexican-themed chain is committed to expand quickly. Currently, Taco Bell has 300 restaurants outside the United States in 22 countries. But over the next six years, the chain is expected to establish its presence in 40 countries with more than 1,000 restaurants. Earlier this week, Yum executives said the chain can attain a $15 billion systemwide sales by 2022, up from the current $9 billion plus. Advertisement TagsTaco Bell, Yum! Brands, Taco Bell China, food industry, China food industry, fast-food chain (Photo : JMSDF) The Rising Sun Flag (Kyokujitsu-ki) on a warship of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Advertisement Japan continues its global military challenge to China and plans to expand its military outpost in the small but strategically important Republic of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa as part of that effort. Japanese media reported reliable sources as saying the Ministry of Defense (MOD) will lease more land in 2017 to expand a military base in Djibouti to counter growing Chinese military power in the region. Djibouti is the location of Japan's only foreign military base. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement An MOD spokesman confirmed discussions to expand the Japanese base at Ambouli were taking place. "In addition to the land Japan has borrowed, it is considering leasing the neighboring land to its east," the spokesman said. "Japan is now in negotiations with Djibouti government." The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) has operated a military base in Djibouti since 2011. Japanese forces here escort ships and combat piracy on the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. JMSDF, however, has been operating in Djibouti since 2009 and shared facilities with United States military forces stationed in Djibouti until Japan established its own base in 2011. A JSDF unit of 180 troops has occupied a 12 hectare site next to Camp Lemonnier, the U.S. military base at the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport, a joint civilian-military airport situated in the town of Ambouli. Occupying the southern part of this airport, Camp Lemonnier is the largest U.S. military base in Africa. It houses over 4,000 U.S. troops and is used for Special Forces and aerial drone operations against jihadist groups in the region. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to give the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), the Japanese unified armed forces, a greater global role as Japan ends seven decades of state pacifism. On the economic warfare side of the equation, Japan will increase its support for infrastructure, education and health care projects in Africa by pumping in at least US$30 billion in public and private support. In 2015, China said it will invest US$60 billion into development projects in Africa; cancel some national debt and help improve agriculture. Advertisement TagsJapan, Djibouti, military base, china, Camp Lemmonier, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Photo : Getty Images ) China has justified its recent oil and gas exploration activities in disputed East China Sea. Advertisement China has justified its recent oil and gas exploration activities in disputed East China Sea. The Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday rejected Japanese government's objection over its maritime exploration activities in the contested waters. Beijing also made it clear that it will not halt exploration works in the region as it comes under country's "indisputable jurisdiction." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "All relevant oil and gas exploration activities by the Chinese side take place in waters under indisputable jurisdiction of China, fall completely within China's sovereign rights and jurisdiction," ministry's spokesperson Geng Shuang said in his regular press briefing in Beijing. Earlier on Wednesday, the Japanese government raised objections towards the resumption of China's controversial mineral exploration program in the disputed region. "It is extremely regrettable that China is proceeding with unilateral development in the area while the boundary between Japan and China in the East China Sea is not yet fixed, despite repeated protests," Japanese cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. Suga claimed he has noticed flares coming out from two of China's 16 above water exploration platforms in the East China Sea earlier this month. Tokyo also lodged an official protest to China in this regard. The two Asian powers have been engaged in a bitter territorial dispute over a group of islands, including Senkaku island in the East China Sea. Japan recently warned Beijing against aggression in the region saying that it is determined to defend its territory, in case of any provocative action from Chinese side. Advertisement Tagschina, Japan, East China Sea, Exploration, Senkaku Islands (Photo : Getty Images) China is irked by a recent report by the British government on Hong Kong. Advertisement A British government's report on Hong Kong that raises concerns over Beijing's continued "legal interference" in the autonomous Chinese region has irked China. The Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday rejected the "so called" six monthly report by the British foreign affairs department on the Hong Kong. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "The Chinese side firmly opposes the British government's issuance of the so-called Six Monthly Report on Hong Kong, which contains willful comments on Hong Kong affairs," ministry's spokesperson Geng Shuang said in his regular press briefing in Beijing. "We, by no means, accept the unwarranted accusations against China in some parts of the report." Beijing has also called on the British government stop interfering in its internal affairs, saying that Hong Kong is China's special administrative region and its affairs fall within the country's domestic affairs. "No country has the right to interfere. We require the British side to be discreet in word and deed and stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs," the spokesperson said. Shuang further stated that China has successfully implemented the principle of "one country, two systems" and Hong Kong is being administered by its own people with a high degree of autonomy. "The Chinese government is confident and determined in carrying forward one country, two systems," he said. "Hong Kong maintains its prosperity and stability, and Hong Kong people are fully entitled to rights and freedom under the law." Britain's foreign secretary and fire brand conservative party leader Boris Johnson, in the six monthly report, questioned the integrity of Hong Kong's law enforcement. The report was recently tabled in British Parliament. Advertisement TagsHong Kong, china, Britain, Six Monthly Report, Chinese affairs (Photo : Getty Images) Images produced by a 'millimeter wave' scanner are displayed during a demonstration at the Transportation Security Administration's Systems Integration Facility at Ronald Reagan National Airport December 30, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. Advertisement China has banned the use of full-body X-ray scanners at airports and railways stations due to radiation risks, following a ruling by the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). According to a document sent to the Department of Environmental Protection of Sichuan Province (DEPSP) on Monday and published on Wednesday, the MEP is urging the DEPSP to tighten laws and halt the production, sell, and use of full body X-ray scanners without permission to ensure public safety. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The initiative followed after several travelers started complaining of the radiation hazards posed by these full-body security scanners in the airports and railways stations in Chengdu and other areas, China Daily reported. Immediately after receiving the document, the DEPSP said on Wednesday that the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is suspected of violating the regulations by using these devices. The department has since ordered the airport to remove the X-ray scanners, and the issue has been investigated. Currently, the airport had installed walk-through metal detectors on two of its entrances, and passengers will be subject to manual inspection while the machines are out, the Travel Media noted. On the other hand, West China Metropolis Daily reported the full-body scanners at Chengdu East Railway Station are still operational. The MEP discovered that although the radiation dose emitted from the scanner only has a small effect on the body, ionizing radiation devices should not be used to screen humans at a large scale according to Vanguard. China not only has the world's biggest population but also a huge number of travelers, making the use of full body X-ray scanners at airports, railway stations, and ports inappropriate. Advertisement TagsChengdu, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Department of Environmental Protection of Sichuan Province, radiation, radiation hazards, body scanners, X-ray scanners (Photo : Getty Images) Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid (3rd-R) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) at the Great Hall of the People November 8, 2014 in Beijing, China. Advertisement China is set to loans worth more than $24 billion to Bangladesh during President Xi Jinping's state visit on Friday. President Xi's visit, described by Chinese media as a "milestone," will mark the first visit by any Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in three decades. The Chinese leader's trip aims to increase the country's participation in infrastructure developments during a time when India is pushing investment of its own in Bangladesh, Reuters reported. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China plans to back about 25 projects, including a 1,320 megawatts power plant and a deep seaport, M.A. Mannan, Bangladesh junior finance minister, said. "Xi's visit will set a new milestone. [A] record amount of loan agreements will be signed during the visit, roughly $24 million," he told Reuters. "Our infrastructure needs are big, so we need huge loans," he added. Construction of highways and development of information technology are among the proposed projects, according to NDTV. In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a $2 billion credit line during a visit to Dhaka, but China is poised to go beyond that. "I really don't think there is a zero sum game going on in Bangladesh between China and India. Bangladesh welcomes both Chinese and Indian investment," Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at Shanghai Institute for International Studies, said. Meanwhile, Bangladesh supported China's "One Belt, One Road" project to boost trade and transport links across Asia and into Europe. India, on the other hand, is reluctant about the plan, with concern that it is an attempt to tilt the balance in China's favor. "Bangladesh has an enormous need for investment, and I don't think it's going to become a strategic site for strategic competition," Zhao said. Meanwhile, earlier this year, China has planned to give a lump-sum amount of $9 billion loan to Bangladesh to upgrade its railway system, a move that is part of its $30 billion modernization plan. In August, state-backed China Railway Group also won the $3.1 billion bid to build Bangladesh's railway network, linking capital Dkaha to Jessore. Advertisement TagsBangladesh, china, Xi Jinping, Loans, Bangladesh modernization project (Photo : Getty Images) A political analyst say Philippine President Duterte has thrown away the country's only leverage in its South China Sea talks with Beijing by spurning the US. Advertisement President Rodrigo Duterte's shift away from the Philippines' U.S. alliance and towards China could weaken his negotiating position when he talks with Beijing on the South China Sea dispute. Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Wednesday that Duterte is throwing away its only leverage--the U.S. treaty agreements with the Philippines--by embracing China and rejecting Washington. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "The threat of U.S. intervention is what has prevented more overt Chinese aggression at Second Thomas Shoal or Scarborough Shoal," Poling said. Leverage "Now Duterte is throwing that leverage overboard before he has even gotten into a room with Xi Jinping," he added. Poling questioned Duterte's decision to craft an independent foreign policy that veers away from the U.S., Manila's longtime ally, in a bid to improve the Philippines' relations with Beijing. Poling said he was baffled by Duterte's move to reject the US alliance as a pre-condition to form a new partnership with China. Traditional allies "What is being asked by critics in the Philippines is why does an independent foreign policy mean distancing yourself from your traditional allies," he pointed out. Duterte is set to embark on an official state visit to China next week, and economists say Manila stands to receive a bonanza of loans and trade agreements during the trip. Chance of success Poling said Duterte might spoil his chance of success in seeking better deals for the Philippines by simultaneously wooing Beijing and moving away from its traditional allies like the US. "Duterte's simultaneously rejection of the US and embrace of China is doubly concerning from a more practical standpoint, because if he really expects to have fruitful negotiations with China on the thorny issues of the South China Sea and try to reach a deal, why is he giving up his only leverage, which is the US treaty commitment?" Poling asked. Before Duterte assumed the presidential office, he said he was willing to set aside Manila's dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea in exchange for infrastructure investment from China. July 12 ruling Now in his fourth month as president, Duterte has backed off in pushing for the implementation of the July 12 ruling by an international arbitration court favoring the Philippines' territorial claims in the South China Sea. He instead said that he would opt for negotiations and would discuss the possibility of opening up the disputed Scarborough Shoal to Filipino fishermen. Political analysts say Duterte's trip to China would have been the best time for him to discuss sovereignty issues on the Scarborough Shoal and capitalize on Manila's victory. "Let's just not dwell on Scarborough because we cannot fight them (Chinese troops)," Duterte said on Wednesday at a press briefing. Duterte is set to make his first official state visit to China next week and hold talks with his counterpart, President Xi Jinping. More than 250 Filipino business executives will accompany the president on his trip, hoping to strike deals worth billions of dollars with Chinese businessmen and the government. Advertisement TagsUS-Philippine treaties, Washington, China visit, china (Photo : getty images.) At the recently concluded 4th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, India and China agreed to enhance cooperation in key areas to boost economic growth. Advertisement Setting aside their diplomatic differences, India and China have agreed to enhance economic cooperation in key areas, such as the construction of high-speed railway and development of coastal manufacturing zones and sourcing energy from the international markets. The decision for mutual economic cooperation was made at the 4th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue that was held on Oct. 7 in New Delhi. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Based on the minutes of the meeting released on Thursday, the two countries have called "for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets." The minutesIt was further disclosed that both countries have committed to plan out for the enhancement of their cooperation in all the key areas. To increase cooperation on coastal manufacturing zone development, they have agreed to look to encourage projects in areas like infrastructure, automobile, energy and electronics in coming one year. They will increase cooperation in high-speed railway construction by conducting feasibility study on Delhi-Nagpurhigh-speed railway and construction of Delhi-Chennai high-speed railway. China and India will join hands as well for the development of solar cell/module manufacturing and increase awareness on solar rooftop across the country. Amid this move, Chinese investors are expected to reap huge benefits in India's renewable energy sector by participating through equity funds, investment in masala bonds and partnership in solar projects. India and China are two of the fastest-growing economies in the world. IMF and World Bank have described both economies as a much-needed "silver lining" despite ongoing global slowdown. Through enhanced economic cooperation, the two Asian countries are seeking to boost their economic growth. Although diplomatic tensions continue to cast shadow on bilateral relationship, China and India have remained adamant on enhancing their economic ties. Advertisement TagsIndia, china, India and China, India and Chinese Economy (Photo : IRIN) IRIN Alvand, flagship of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy. Advertisement Iran deployed two warships -- one of them the flagship of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) -- to the Gulf of Aden within hours after the U.S. Navy launched a night time missile attack on three radar stations in southern Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels allied with Iran. The U.S. Navy confirmed the presence in the gulf of the light frigate IRIN Alvand (F-71), flagship of IRIN, and the light replenishment ship IRIN Bushehr (F-422). The Gulf of Aden is the entrance to the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement On Oct. 12 at around 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time (0100 GMT), the USS Nitze (DDG-94), one of three warships patrolling the Red Sea off the southern coast of Yemen, launched BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles against three radar sites. The navy said the radars were destroyed. Iran's Tasnim News Agency, which has links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported both IRIN warships are heading towards the Yemeni coast and probably into the Red Sea "to protect the country's trade vessels against piracy" despite piracy being almost non-existent in the gulf. Tasnim also said "the presence of the Iranian fleet in the Gulf of Aden coincides with the U.S. decision to directly get involved in a Saudi-led war against Yemen." There is a chance Iran might reinforce the Alvand and Bushehr with other IRIN warships but that would run afoul of the more powerful U.S. Navy squadron in the Red Sea. Yemen's Saba News Agency, which was seized by the Houthis in 2015 and has since become a propaganda tool, charged that "U.S. allegations" of its warships being targeted were made to create "false justifications to pave the way for Saudi-led coalition to escalate their aggression" against Yemen "and to cover for crimes continually committed" by the coalition fighting to oust the Houthis from power. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Sharaf Luqman Haq said the "direct American attack and targeting of Yemeni territory this morning is unacceptable and any developments will be dealt with accordingly." The Alvand is armed with four C-802 anti-ship missiles (ASM), which are derived from the Chinese YJ-8 ASM but with extended range. Reports say it was a C-802 fired by Houthis that struck and heavily damaged the HSV-2 Swift hybrid catamaran on the evening of Oct. 1. At the time of the attack the Swift, which previously served in the U.S. Navy, was in the employ of the United Arab Emirates Navy. Houthi rebels also launched two C-802s at the USS Mason (DDG-87), an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, on the evening of Oct. 9. Mason defeated both ASMs with a combination of defensive missiles and missile spoofers. Along with the USS Mason and USS Nitze on patrol is the USS San Antonio (LPD-17), an amphibious transport dock or landing platform dock carrying hundreds of battle ready U.S. Marines. Advertisement TagsIslamic Republic of Iran Navy, IRIN, IRIN Alvand, IRIN Bushehr, U.S. Navy, Gulf of Aden, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, USS Nitze, USS Mason, yemen, Houthis (Photo : Getty Images) Cutting jobs will savings of US$200 million and US$300 million to HP. Advertisement HP has announced that it plans to slash 3,000 to 4,000 jobs in the next three years as it continues to struggle with a subdued market. In February, the American software company shared it would accelerate its restructuring program and cut approximately 3,000 jobs by the end of fiscal year 2016. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement HP Chief Executive Dion Weisler admitted that the market continued to be unstable, facing pressures and uncertainties. To implement the changes, the company will spend US$300 million to US$500 million. HP believes that by doing the plan, it will bring savings of US$200 million and US$300 million by 2020, according to Reuters. HP expects adjusted profit for 2017 to be $1.55-$1.65 per share, while analysts anticipate an average of $1.61 per share. "As technology improves and as we become a faster, nimbler company, you are always looking to become more and more efficient," Weisler said. "Efficiency wins the day." "And when I think about the markets that were in, whats important is that we remember to stay focused on the reinvention, the innovation that were driving, he added. Jobs slashing at HP can be attributed to the shrinking demand for printers and PCs these days, ZDNet reported. American research company International Data Corporation (IDC) has acquired both the PC market share and volume in the third quarter. The Palo Alto-based computer-maker has released its third quarter earnings in August, showing its net income of $843 million with a revenue of $11.9 billion, a decrease of four percent compared to the same period last year. Despite this scenario, Weisler is still hopeful he can boost earnings by providing more high-end PCs, office printers and 3-D printing systems. It can be recalled that in October 2014, the company was divided into two firms: HP Inc, which includes its personal computer and printing operations, and HP Enterprise that offers software and services to corporate companies. HP Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman revealed then that the creation of two different companies would give each the independence, focus, financial resources and flexibility required in adapting fast to market and customer dynamics. Advertisement TagsHP Inc, HP, PCs, printers, HP cuts jobs, Layoff, Computers, Laptop, printer BREAKING: Boko Haram terror group releases 21 kidnapped Chibok school girls 13 October, 2016 by Reuters , | ABUJA (Reuters) - Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, after mediation by Switzerland and the International Red Cross, officials said on Thursday. Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. "I met them about an hour ago and I can confirm they are in good health," Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said after meeting the 21 released girls, who were brought from the northeastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja. Their release, a boost for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, came after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group, officials said. Dozens had escaped in the initial melee in 2014, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping prompted outrage worldwide and the girls' plight was publicized using a Twitter hashtag, #bringbackourgirls. "In the next few days or months we will be able to negotiate the release of more of the girls," Osinbajo told reporters. A picture released by a presidency official showed one of the girls holding a baby when they met Osinbajo. Officials have accused Boko Haram of having married off the girls to its followers. Information Minister Lai Mohammed denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue. Switzerland "facilitated contacts between Nigerian representatives and intermediaries of Boko Haram" after a request from Abuja, a Swiss government spokeswoman said. "We have nothing to add," she said, when asked if it had been a prisoner swap. In recent days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group. Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army, aided by troops from neighboring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighboring Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls and said some had been killed in air strikes. The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention. Authorities said in May one of the missing girls had been found and Buhari promised to rescue the others. In recent months he had said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over their release. * By Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah; additional reporting by Ulf Laessing, Camillus Eboh and by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Ulf Laessing Chinese Christians pray for mercy expecting intensity in harshest government persecution since 1979 14 October, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | BEIJING (Christian Examiner) Christians in China are experiencing the stiffest persecution they've seen since communist leader Deng Xiaoping softened the state's stance on Christianity in 1979, and the government is getting ready to crack down even more. The Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) reports the country's Communist Party, now outnumbered by Christians, is planning to arrest Christians who will not profess loyalty to the state. Jesus Christ is my only belief; my only loyalty is to Jesus Christ. ... God says you should love your enemies, if they are hungry give them food to eat, if they are thirsty give them water to drink, so we will pray for the non-believers. President Xi Jinping has reportedly told party officials that foreign influence has grown too great in the nation and all religions must become "Chinese." All churches, according to a series of new laws, must be under government control. The decision is a severe setback in the progression toward religious liberty. Being a Christian in modern China has always been a perilous prospect. Many church members meet in store fronts, in homes and even on city buses traveling across Beijing and other cities. Some churches, such as the Catholic Church, are already registered and closely monitored. Protestant churches there recently underwent a round of persecution when the government ordered crosses removed from church buildings. They were considered symbols of western influence and disloyalty. In northern Beijing, an area flooded with transfers from rural areas, Pastor Wang Zeqing is leading a small church. He said he expects persecution to come, but is confident that "a person who truly believes in Jesus Christ will not lose their faith or become weak due to a changing environment." ABC reports that the new laws passed by the Communist Party will allow the government to control his small, secretive church (if it is discovered). It will also allow them to appoint pastors for the churches from the country's Religious Affairs Bureau, and only those who pledge loyalty to China will be able to lead. Wang said he will place nothing not even his country over Christ. "Jesus Christ is my only belief; my only loyalty is to Jesus Christ," he said. "God says you should love your enemies, if they are hungry give them food to eat, if they are thirsty give them water to drink, so we will pray for the non-believers." "Let the spirit of Jesus move them and conquer them," Wang, who has been arrested for his faith before, said. His congregation knows the risks, as well. They pray for God's mercy in the face of the new laws and protection from "harassment from the pagans." They have also already seen the persecution in other parts of the county where unregistered church buildings have been bulldozed and followers have been imprisoned. According to ABC, the church in China now exceeds 100 million, with only one-quarter belonging to officially registered churches. By 2030, if the current rate of growth continues, there will be more Christians in China than any other country. Woman bleeds out after second trimester abortion; child used as evidence found outside clinic 14 October, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | QUEENS, New York (Christian Examiner) A New York doctor has been arrested and charged with manslaughter after botching an abortion procedure and allowing his patient to go home to die, the New York Daily News has reported. According to police, Dr. Robert Rho of Liberty Women's Healthcare in Flushing performed the abortion procedure on Jamie Lee Morales, 30, during her second trimester in July. During the procedure, Rho reportedly nicked the artery that supplies blood to the uterus and Morales, who checked into the clinic under a false name, began to bleed heavily. She was still bleeding in the recovery room and was told another procedure would stop the bleeding. She was sent home weakened and unable to walk on her own and told to go to the hospital if the bleeding resumed. On the way to her sister's home, she lost consciousness. Morales was taken to a hospital in the Bronx and was given six units of blood. She died late in the evening July 9. From statements in news reports, it seems that Robert Rho's attorney thinks we should just shrug off the death of Jaime Lee Morales as an unexpected abortion complication. But when a mistake by an abortionist takes a mother's life, we cannot simply take a 'things happen' attitude. Rho is charged with criminal medical negligence in failing to continue care for his patient, but the doctor's attorney rejects that claim, citing Rho's thousands of successful abortion procedures. "There was nothing that was particularly different about this case," Rho's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said. "This is a highly trained, highly experienced doctor who handles difficult abortions. I think this is a civil matter." "There is no question there is a tragic occurrence here, but it wasn't criminal," Lichtman also said. Lichtman, who claims his client is innocent, said it is unusual for an abortion-related death to be prosecuted in criminal court because of the inherent risks in the procedure (which abortion advocates say is safe). "There's a reason why decades have gone without anybody being charged with homicide in an abortion case in New York," Lichtman said. "Prosecutors have realized that there is some risk to these procedures, and sometimes unforeseen complications can occur, and sadly, women die on rare occasion." Those words did not sit well with pro-life advocates. Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, told LifeSiteNews the doctor is anything but innocent because he "kills people for a living" and "with impunity." "So the fact that one of the mothers who used his deadly service wound up dead as well is really no concern of his," Brown said. "We hope the court throws the book at this butcher." Operation Rescue President Troy Newman also told the pro-life news site that Rho's attorney was callous. Morales, he said, was "butchered" and then "kicked to the curb." "From statements in news reports, it seems that Robert Rho's attorney thinks we should just shrug off the death of Jaime Lee Morales as an unexpected abortion complication," Newman said. "But when a mistake by an abortionist takes a mother's life, we cannot simply take a 'things happen' attitude." Morales' aborted child, which became evidence in the case, was found in a garbage bag outside the door of the clinic. Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory Lasak released Rho on $400,000 bail, but not before confiscating his passport. He will return to court Nov. 15 and cannot practice medicine while the case is adjudicated. According to Lichtman, Rho has aborted 40,000 children in 23 years. He said his client could face up to 15 years in prison. Disney-themed hard-core porn site features beloved characters in sex acts Guest Reviewer | 14 October, 2016 by Michael Foust WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) A petition that urges Disney to take legal action and shut down Disney-themed hard-core porn sites has garnered more than 12,000 signatures in less than a week. The petition at CitizenGo.org was launched by Enough is Enough, a non-profit organization that works to make the Internet safer for families and children. The porn websites not affiliated with Disney -- use cartoon characters from Disney movies. "Disney characters are cherished by children worldwide and need to be protected from unscrupulous pornographers who depict them in obscene pictures and videos performing graphic sexual acts," said Enough is Enough President Donna Rice Hughes. "... The multi-billion dollar Internet porn industry has historically used deceptive and misleading marketing tactics to trick online users to get them to their porn sites, including the misuse of popular cartoon characters." Rice has tried unsuccessfully for more than a decade to get Disney to get serious and take legal action against the porn sites. She made the issue public when she learned Disney had filed a lawsuit in recent months against VidAngel, a company that allows families to filter out objectionable content in streamed movies. Disney asserts VidAngel is violating copyright laws. Rice says VidAngel is protected by a 2005 law and that Disney is inconsistent in its copyright position. The petition reads, in part, "A recent Google search on Disney-themed porn yielded over 12,600,000 search returns that are exploiting and capitalizing the Disney brand and characters. They are doing this because they can, and only Disney has the muscle and legal authority to take action. ... For the sake of children and families in America and all over the world, please take legal action now to stop this abuse of our beloved Disney characters and protect our children's innocence." Orange County, Calif., District Attorney Tony Rackauckas filed suit on Oct. 11 against two medical research companies for selling aborted baby body parts for excessively inflated prices. The $1.6 million suit comes several months after the pro-life group Center for Medical Progress released a video showing the relationship between Planned Parenthood, which provided the aborted babies, and sister companies Da Vinci Biosciences and DV Biologics. We dont expect this to be an easy case, Rackauckas said in a press conference Wednesday morning. But this district attorneys office has a long track record of handling serious and complicated consumer protection cases, and we believe that we are going to continue our commitment to fighting consumer fraud, and this will just be another case. State and federal law forbid financial profit from fetal tissue sales, but companies may charge a handling fee. Invoices obtained by subpoena show Da Vinci Biosciences charged steep packing and handling fees, on top of hundreds of dollars for fetal parts, profiting up to $674 for a heart, $233 for a liver, $221 for a stomach, and $664 for a small intestine. Da Vinci Bioscience and DV Biologics racked up $56,678 in packing and handling fees between 2009 and 2015, when Planned Parenthood stopped providing aborted fetal tissue. The companies intentionally set prices as high as possible, Rackauckas said, to ensure a profit. For instance, a 2009 DV Biologics email notes that if a product costing $25 to manufacture is priced at $170, a 50 percent discount still leaves the company with a $60 profit. The company gave employees freedom to offer steep discounts to boost sales and also ran regular promotions, such as a 25 percent off fall promotion in 2013. Employees also randomly sold baby parts at different prices to different customers, Rackauckas said, with the lowest prices going to overseas markets in Japan, China, Korea, Germany, and elsewhere, and the highest prices going to domestic researchers. This illustrates the boldness of their unlawful profit-making business scheme, Rackauckas said. Most sales reaped a 70 percent profit, he said. After announcing the suit, Rackauckas deflected multiple reporters questions regarding the involvement of Planned Parenthood. Our evidence indicates that money was never exchanged between these companies and Planned Parenthood, he said. When asked whether Planned Parenthood routinely donates aborted babies, Rackauckas said evidence suggests people from Da Vinci Bioscience and DV Biologics likely picked up tissue several times per week. Its legal to donate fetuses for research purposes, he said. Were not indicating that Planned Parenthood did anything unlawful. But David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, disagrees, noting if the tissue trade middlemen are guilty, so is Planned Parenthood, as a primary accomplice. The wheels of justice are beginning to turn against Planned Parenthood and their corrupt business partners in the illicit trade in aborted baby body parts, Daleiden said. Planned Parenthood is not above the law, and law enforcement and elected representatives everywhere must now hold Planned Parenthood accountable for their barbaric profiteering off of pregnant women and the body parts of their aborted children. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., chairwoman of the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, applauded the lawsuit, noting it debunks Democrats claims the fetal tissue trade needed no further scrutiny. For nearly a year, critics of this panels fact-finding investigation have repeatedly called for it to be disbanded, saying theres nothing to see here, she said. They claimed there was no wrongdoing in the fetal tissue industry. But the Orange County lawsuit proves some fetal tissue middlemen may have broken the law, Blackburn said, adding her panel would continue to scrutinize the links between Planned Parenthood and companies profiting from the sale of aborted babies. Courtesy: WORLD News Service Publication date: October 14, 2016 Efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Colorado move from the legislature to the ballot box in November. Proposition 106, also called the End of Life Options Act, comes on the tail of two failed attempts to pass a similar bill through the state legislature in 2015 and 2016. Despite those defeats, an aggressive campaign, deep-pocketed backers, and a libertarian-leaning electorate point toward success this time. A September poll found 70 percent of Colorado voters plan to support the measure, compared to just 20 percent who said they oppose it. Proposition 106 would allow terminally ill adults with six months or less to live the right to access a physician-prescribed lethal drug. The law requires two physicians to confirm the diagnosis and determine the patient is mentally capable. The patient would then self-administer the drug, usually a lethal dose of a sleeping medication called secobarbital. Under the law, the death certificate would list the disease, not the lethal drug, as the cause of death. Although supporters claim a yes vote on Nov. 8 is a vote for compassion, critics argue that beyond being morally wrong, the law is fundamentally flawed and opens the door to abuse. The law does not require a doctor to be present when the drug is administered, or require any reporting of what happens to the drug once it is prescribed. Critics argue the measure also could encourage doctor shopping until patients find two doctors willing to agree on a prognosis that gives them access to physician-assisted suicide. And although a doctor must attest to a patients mental competence, the law does not require a mental health exam by a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist. Citing similar concerns, The Denver Post editorial board, which endorsed the physician-assisted suicide bill in 2015, did an about-face on Tuesday and published an editorial urging a no vote on Proposition 106. Those facing their final months are in a vulnerable place, a time when an individual is susceptible to pressures both subtle and overt, susceptible to self-imposed guilt over burdening family and worries about spending hard-earned savings on care, the editorial board wrote. Such patients also are susceptible to depression and its dark influences on decision-making. Along with concerns about a lack of reporting once the medication is dispensed, the editorial noted the law would entice insurers to drop expensive treatments for terminal patients even when medical advances might add months or years more to a life that a patient may wish to take. The main organization backing Proposition 106 is Denver-based Compassion and Choices, the largest assisted-suicide advocacy group in the nation. It has raised $4.5 million from undisclosed donors in support of the initiative. John Andrews, a former state Senate president and former vice president of Colorado Christian University, filed a campaign finance complaint in late September on behalf of opposition group No Assisted Suicide Colorado. The complaint accuses the Compassion and Choices Action Network of failing to register as an issue committee and disclose its donors. Some observers suspect billionaire George Soros is one of the campaigns major backers. Compassion and Choices has another reason for its heavy investment in Colorado, said Carrie Gordon Earll, vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family. It is looking at Colorado as a bellwether state for other initiatives. Compassion and Choices hopes to use a ballot victory in Colorado after two failed legislative attempts as a launch pad for other states where bills have failed in the legislature, according to Earll. The group is pushing physician-assisted suicide legislation in 20 other states. They are serious, they are well-funded, and they are pedaling death to a generation of Americans who deserve better than this, she said. Courtesy: WORLD News Service Publication date: October 14, 2016 An inspiring evangelist who has no arms and legs shared the gospel message in eastern Europe and saw thousands come to Christ. According to ChristianToday.com, Nick Vujicic recently toured Ukraine and Slovenia where he spoke to thousands of people who gathered to hear him talk about his own struggles and how Jesus has helped him overcome them. At one gathering in Ukraine, where 5,000 people were in the crowd as Vujicic spoke, half of them reportedly gave their lives to Christ as he shared the gospel with them. They "stood, repented, received Jesus as their Lord and Savior and are now being followed up with by the local church. Praise Jesus!" Vujicic excitedly shared. Vujicic was also able to share his faith with the host of a popular TV talk show in Slovenia. "Had the most amazing interview in Slovenia! The most popular talk show host talked to me about how my book Unstoppable changed her life and led her to find Jesus. Forty-five minutes later, we prayed for the country and God showed up big time! Thank you, sister!" he said. In the book (which is his second), Vujicic discusses how he went through a time of depression and how God supported him and brought him through it. "With me, in my life, I know that there are people who can get encouraged to see how God can use a man without arms and legs to be his hands and feet, but I wanted people to know that I am not a superhero, it is not about me, or how well I speak or articulate it is the Spirit of God. It is an active relationship with him," he said. Publication date: October 14, 2016 A Christian-run nursing home in Switzerland is being forced to cater to patients who wish to die by physician-assisted suicide. CBN News reports that the nursing home, located in Neuchatel, Switzerland, is connected to The Salvation Army and operates on Christian beliefs for the value of life. It is legal in Switzerland to request assisted suicide from charitable institutions. Although the nursing home has appealed this law based on grounds of religious freedom, the government has rejected their appeal. The nursing home now faces the choice either to embrace the law or to surrender its status as a charitable organization, which would strip them of government subsidies. Experts and pro-life activists warn that this case in Switzerland could have implications for the U.S. "Forcing medical people to breach their religious beliefs and be complicit in suicide/homicide is tyranny," Bioethics expert Wesley J. Smith wrote in National Review. Eventually that authoritarianism will come here too if assisted suicide becomes normalized, just as the ACLU is suing Catholic hospitals to force them to violate the Church's moral teachings around issues such as contraception and sterilization," he continued. Currently, five states in the U.S. allow assisted suicide and 24 other states, plus Washington, D.C., are considering allowing it. Publication date: October 14, 2016 One Planned Parenthood experience has remained seared into my memory like no other. I was standing outside of Planned Parenthood in downtown Birmingham, praying on my lunch break. There was a woman across the street at an apartment building, holding her toddler in her arms. She stared at me for a few minutes before crossing the hot pavement. I saw nervousness in her eyes and a sort of longing that I understood later. She immediately asked me, Are you praying? Yes. Do you need prayer? Yes, she replied emphatically. I was not prepared to hear the story that would stream out of her mouth. She asked if I would pray that her husband would come back home. He had run off with a sex trafficking ring that frequented this Planned Parenthoodto perform forced abortions on the women who had become pregnant during their abuse. She explained she had done everything to try to find him and report his crimes to authorities, but there was no hope as of yet. I asked her if she was certain that Planned Parenthood knew they were performing abortions for abused women held against their will. She responded, Of course they know! And they never report it. My heart was broken in an even deeper way to realize yet another deeply horrific truth of this international abortion mill. There was no darkness too dark for them, no vulnerable woman too vulnerable as long as they were being paidand I can only assume, being paid even more money to be quiet and not report to authorities. I wept. The wife and I wept together and we prayed. We prayed her husband would have revelation for his deep sin of being party to these criminal acts and turn himself in. We prayed the ring would be exposed and the precious women rescued. And we prayed for Planned Parenthood to come to an end. This Sunday, October 16, will mark 100 years of Planned Parenthooda century of the dark, twisted ideals and principles they were founded on, and still fully operate within. People are actually celebrating this morbid anniversary without understanding what they are celebrating. (If they did, they would know Halloween would be a more fitting day.) Without further ado, I will seek to unveil who and what is being celebrated. In 1916, Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and full supporter of Adolf Hitlers Nazi party, created her back alley birth-control establishment based on a racial genocide agendaparticularly towards African Americans and immigrants who were, in her words, the unfit of the population. The stated goals of Margaret Sanger regarding planned, calculated population reduction fit squarely within the textbook definition of genocide: Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group. Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the groups conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." It was with these ideas that Sanger created her illegal, back-alley birth control business in New York City. She strategically placed her first Planned Parenthood center in the Brooklyn borough, where she could get the most access to the people she hated most. She was arrested and put in jail for a month. But she didnt stop. Today, New York has the highest abortion ratio of any state in the nation. Here are a few of Margaret Sangers most famous quotes and ideals: The main objects of the Population Congress would be to apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring[;] to give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization. Margaret Sanger (A Plan for Peace, 1932). Article 1. The purpose of the American Baby Code shall be to provide for a better distribution of babies and to protect society against the propagation and increase of the unfit. Article 4. No woman shall have the legal right to bear a child, and no man shall have the right to become a father, without a permit. Article 6. No permit for parenthood shall be valid for more than one birth. Margaret Sanger (America Needs a Code for Babies, March 27, 1934). We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We dont want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members. Margaret Sanger writing on what she termed the Negro Project (in a letter to Clarence Gamble, Dec. 10, 1939). "I accepted an invitation to talk to the women's branch of the Ku Klux Klan...I saw through the door dim figures parading with banners and illuminated crosses...I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak...In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered." Margaret Sanger (Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography, p. 366) The truth is, Margaret Sanger fashioned the eugenics movement in America in the 1930s and 1940s. Her beliefs and those in her communities belief in the movement contributed to compulsory sterilization laws in 30 U.S. states that resulted in more than 60,000 sterilizations of vulnerable people, including the people she superficially measured as feeble-minded, idiots and morons. Its shocking to believe that in 2016, such a woman as Sanger and her still existing dynasty of Planned Parenthood is celebrated. Four years ago, Sanger was named one of the 20 Most Influential Americans of All Time by TIME Magazine. There are awards given to women in her name and I shudder to think of someone begin honored by receiving such a dark award. Many supporters of Planned Parenthood believe the organization that it is today is far removed from Sanger's early views. But to see that is frankly not the case, one only need hear the words of Dr. Alan Guttmacher, President of Planned Parenthood from 1962-1974, who proudly stated that, "We are merely walking down the path that Mrs. Sanger carved for us. Also, to ensure that Sanger's ideals are maintained her grandson, Alex Sanger, is the current Chair of the International Planned Parenthood Council. How sobering. And with that statement my mind brings me back to that hot, brick-walled sidewalk outside of Planned Parenthood Birmingham. I think of the vulnerable women being trafficked with no voice coming to this dark place, only to be exploited all over again; their babies ripped from their wombs whether they want it done or not, because they dont view the women as human anymoretheyre unfit. In the twisted view of Margaret Sanger and those who carry her pro-abortion views, these women are weeds of society that should be sterilized and segregated. Not worth a call to the police or authorities. Not worth a rescue. How much less must they think of these womens babies? According to last years Planned Parenthood investigative videos, their babies parts were most likely sold to bring even more blood money into their pockets. They exploit women who are trafficked, then sell their babies too. So I ask, after a century of hate, deceit, darkness, and racial genocide, what is there to celebrate? I pray you see that there is nothing in Planned Parenthood to commend. Instead, we must mourn and fast before the Lord. We must realize the detriment that 100 years has wreaked upon our nation: 80 percent of Planned Parenthoods surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of African American or Hispanic communities. Between 2007 and 2010, nearly 36 percent of all abortions in the U.S were on African American children, even though African Americans only make up 13 percent of our population. Also, 21 percent of abortions were on Hispanics and 7 percent on other minority groups. That is a total of 64 percent of U.S. abortions targeted on minority groups. Nearly 60,000,000 abortions in the United States were performed from 19732015. Based on Planned Parenthood's most recent annual report, an unborn baby dies every 96 seconds inside a Planned Parenthood clinic. Planned Parenthood's revenues for 2013-2014 exceeded $1.3 billion. They report that 41 percent of their income came in the form of "Government Health Services Grants and Reimbursements." Planned Parenthood isnt something to celebrate. Its a disease that should be thrust out of our nation through prayer and fasting. It has had the wholehearted support of wealthy and influential organizations for far too long. It has rooted its lies and sickly existence inside our government, receiving over $500 million dollars in U.S. taxpayer funding every year. It receives huge sums of donations, from hotel chains to charities. And year after year, mainstream news coverage turns away from reporting their gross dealings. Its time for our moral outcry as a nation to rise up against this evil. And its time for Americans to say Enough! to the horrific tragedy of millions of women being exploited, men losing their fatherhood, children being slaughtered and sold, and families being destroyed. This anniversary is a time to mourn and cry. Its a time to pray and fast. Since 2008, Natalie Brumfield has served as Birmingham chapter leader for Bound4LIFE a grassroots movement to pray for the ending of abortion and for revival worldwide. She works as children's director at her local church and volunteers at a local pregnancy care center. Natalie and her husband Matthew live in Birmingham, Alabama; they love being adoptive and foster parents. Reprinted with permission from Bound4LIFE. Photo courtesy: Bound4LIFE Publication date: October 14, 2016 Leaders of various religious groups have called on President Barack Obama to reject a US Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) report which says that religious organizations discriminate under the guise of religious freedom. Leith Anderson of the National Association of Evangelicals and Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission were among the diverse group of leaders who wrote a letter addressed to the President and other members of the Congress in response to the USCCR report entitled 'Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Non-Discrimination Principles with Civil Liberties.' "We wish to express our deep concern that the Commission has issued a report ... that stigmatizes tens of millions of religious Americans, their communities, and their faith-based institutions, and threatens the religious freedom of all our citizens," the letter states. The letter cited a statement included in the Commission report, which says: "The phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance." The leaders said that it was "disturbing" to find such a statement in the report. "The genius of American democracy is that it invites everyone into the public square, on the basis of full equality, to contend over the laws and policies that reflect our values and our understanding of the common good. In our system it is they--free citizens and voluntary institutions--that inform and drive the debate over the public good, a debate that the national government should not prejudice or distort," the letter continues. The letter was signed by leaders from Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Baha'i, African Methodist Episcopal, Evangelical, Southern Baptist, and Hindu communities. "A robust and respectful debate over ideas is not something harmful to be demonized. Rather, debate is good for our democracy, and should be encouraged. Slandering ideas and arguments with which one disagrees as "racism" or "phobia" not only cheapens the meaning of those words, but can have a chilling effect on healthy debate over, or dissent from, the prevailing orthodoxy," the leaders stated. The group expressed their gratitude to President Obama for his acknowledgement of the religious and moral ground of American law in his 2006 speech, in which he noted: "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King -- indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history -- were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their 'personal morality' into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition." President Obama encouraged the evangelical community to work for the revival of America in his speech. "We might recognize that the call to sacrifice on behalf of the next generation, the need to think in terms of "thou" and not just "I," resonates in religious congregations all across the country. And we might realize that we have the ability to reach out to the evangelical community and engage millions of religious Americans in the larger project of American renewal." Pakistani Supreme Court has delayed the hearing of Christian woman Asia Bibi's blasphemy case, after a member of the bench recused himself from the case. Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman said that he could not preside over the trial because he was earlier involved in prosecution of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer's murderer, implying that there was an implicit conflict of interest in his hearing of Bibi's case. Governor Taseer had publicly come out in support of Bibi, and advocated for reform in the blasphemy law. He was murdered by his own bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri, who was subsequently hanged. His capital punishment was seen as a progressive step by the liberals in the country, but it provoked street protests led by fundamentalists. The court's three-member bench comprised of Justice Rehman, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, and Justice Mian Saqib Nisar. The matter has now been referred to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who will employ a new bench that will not include Justice Rehman. The hearing has been adjourned indefinitely, and a new date has not been set. About 3,000 personnel were deployed in Islamabad ahead of the hearing, according to the police. "Security is very tight in Islamabad all around today. Additional troops have been deployed on checkpoints and city junctions in general. There is also deployment of paramilitary force Rangers and FC [Frontier Corps] on some additional points," a police source told AFP news agency. Thousands of hardliners in the country have issued death threat against her, publicly saying that they will target her if she is released. Her family has also went into hiding after they received death threats. Bibi is being kept in a solitary confinement to protect her from other inmates. Her lawyer, Saif ul Malook, also has received many death threats. The 51-year-old farm worker has maintained that she never spoke indecently about religion, and that she was accused by her neighbors over personal strife. Boko Haram has freed 21 of the nearly 200 girls held by the kidnappers following a negotiation between the group and the Nigerian government, according to reports on Thursday. The militant organization kidnapped about 300 girls from a school in Chibok in April of 2014. Dozens of the girls escaped on the way to the terrorists' hideouts by jumping off the vehicles. Boko Haram had posted a video in August, which showed one of the girls saying that some of the kidnapped girls fell victims to the air strikes and about 40 of them had been married over to militants. The AFP cited local media sources to report that four Boko Haram militants were released in exchange for the girls. However, the government denied any such deal. "Please note that this is not a swap," said Information Minister Lai Mohammed. "It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides. We see this as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok girls in captivity." The girls were welcomed by Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. "It's a very exciting news for the whole country," Osinbajo said. "About an hour ago I met with the 21 who have been brought back. They are reasonably in good health considering the circumstances in which they have been held," Osinbajo told reporters after the meeting with the girls. Nigerian government said in a statement that the girls were released following negotiations mediated by the Swiss government. "Switzerland facilitated contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram on the release of the Chibok girls," said Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger. The talks were also facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross of Africa [ICRC-Africa], which was a neutral participant in the negotiations. "Today we transferred 21 of the #Chibokgirls and handed them to the #Nigeria government authorities, acting as a neutral intermediary," ICRC-Africa tweeted. The girls are scheduled to be examined by a team of doctors and psychologists. Boko Haram is also reported to have kidnapped thousands of other people including women and children since 2009, but many of the abductions were not so widely reported in international media. In seven years, the militant group has killed over 30,000 people and displaced over 2.3 million from their homes. A foundational Christian belief is that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins. For many, the most important result of this is that believers go to heaven when they die. Bestselling author, scholar and bishop, N. T. Wright, thinks were missing a critical aspect of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross if we limit our understanding just to this explanation. His latest book, The Day the Revolution Began, explores the Crucifixion and argues that the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough in tranforming our understanding of this event. Mike Bird, author of What Christians Ought To Believe, interviewed Wright about how Christians should view the Crucifixion. Tom, you describe Jesus' death as the beginning of a "revolution." What was that revolution and why does it still matter today? Most Western Christians have been taught that Jesus died so that they could escape the results of sin and go to heaven after they die. The New Testament, however, regularly speaks of Jesus death as the defeat of the powers of evil that have kept the world in captivity, with the implication that the world is actually going to change as a resultthrough the life and work and witness of those who believe this good news. Think of Revelation 5:910. Humans are rescued from their sin so that they can be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth. That began at Easter and, in the power of the Spirit, has continued ever since. Of course, the reign of Jesus people, like that of Jesus himself, is the reign of suffering love . . . but thats a whole other story. Suffice it to say that the vocation of Gods people today is to continue to implement ... 1 Americans with evangelical beliefs have a great deal in common. They trust in Jesus alone, evangelize their neighbors, and believe the Bible is the final authority in their lives. But when it comes to voting, race and political affiliation still divide evangelicals, according to a survey from LifeWay Research taken before the second presidential debate. Overall, the split between those with evangelical beliefs who support Donald Trump (45%) and those who support Hillary Clinton (31%) isnt that far apart. The divide becomes clearer when respondents are split by race. White Americans with evangelical beliefs favor Trump (65%) over Clinton (10%). Those with evangelical beliefs who are African American, Hispanic American, or Asian American vote virtually the opposite, favoring Clinton (62%) over Trump (15%). Party affiliation is also a stronger predictor of voting preferences than faith. Three-quarters of Republicans with evangelical beliefs plan to vote for Trump. Though a smaller sample, ... 1 As Christians and as consumers of content, how do we balance wise discernment with forgiveness and grace? Read as Single Page Page 1 of 4 Image: Manel | Flickr Im going to say something stupid soon. So will you. When it happens, I hope people will give both of us the benefit of the doubt and assume the best of us, instead of the worst. Since I hope to be the beneficiary of such grace, I try to live my life by giving the same grace to others. Even to people I disagree with. The more you speak or write, the more mistakes youll make. The more you speak or write, the more mistakes youll make. Its unavoidable. Those who put their opinions out for public consumption in blogs, books, sermons, etc., take on a huge risk, because their mistakes will be amplified by the amount of information theyre putting out and by the size of the audience. Unfortunately, there are many of us and way too many in the Christian community looking for people to trip up. Instead of giving people the benefit of the doubt, theyre very quick to pounce on any misstatement (real or perceived) as the judge, jury and executioner. But we cant just nod and smile at untrue, unkind or unChristian statements, either. We need to practice reasonable judgment about what people say and write. Sometimes those statements need to be challenged, lovingly, but firmly. As always, Jesus said it best. We need to, Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment (John 7:24). But how do we do that? As Christians and as consumers of content, how do we balance wise discernment with forgiveness and grace? The 10% Grace Rule Rick Warren wrote I think public people should be given a 10% grace factor in everything they say since we all say dumb things eventually. Rick is right. Ive devised my own inside-out version of Ricks 10 Percent Grace Rule. Its a non-scientific, makeshift, filled-with-inaccuracies list of percentages that I use to determine how firmly people should be held accountable for what they say or write including what I say or write. How Strongly Should We Hold People to What They Say? 99.9% Statements regularly repeated and backed with actions We should make this the baseline for judging peoples statements. What have they said and lived over a period of years? What reputation have they earned? If its a life of wise, godly and positive actions and words, dont let one or two missteps carry more weight than that. But if theyve lived a life of deceit, even the most noble-sounding words need to be received with caution. According to Susan Dominus in the New York Times, Donald Trump has been the catalyst this week for a culture-wide shift in how we think of and talk about sexual assault. Evangelical men are speaking up. In response to the leaked tape of Trump boasting about his sexual exploits, theologian Wayne Grudem rescinded his support of Trump. Our own Andy Crouch wrote a strongly worded opinion piece that was quoted in the New York Times. And Marvin Olasky of World also came out against Trump. Meanwhile, evangelical women have been rallying to voice their concern. According to the Daily Beast, Christian women are speaking out about Trumps brand of misogyny and divisiveness. Beth Moore has made particularly bold statements: Im one among many women sexually abused, misused, stared down, heckled, talked naughty to, she tweeted. Like we liked it. We didnt. Were tired of it. Our own Katelyn Beaty went on CNN to talk about the subject, and a group of women has signed a formal statement saying that, As Christian women we are appalled by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's recorded remarks that disparage women and condone sexual assault. Such language cannot be dismissed as locker room talk. We urge all religious leaders to preach, teach and help their communities heal from the twin sins of sexual violence and misogyny. While we are disheartened by Mr. Trump's toxic words, we believe this moment presents an opportunity to teach our daughters and sons that they are loved, and to teach all Americans how to speak out against sexually violent language. Trump, of course, is only the latest example of a problem that plagues ... 1 Chief Justice Moore's Law Clerks Fired Despite the Pending Case Contact: Liberty Counsel, 800-671-1776, Media@LC.org, Press Kit MONTGOMERY, Ala., Oct. 14, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Adding insult to injury, Acting Justice Lyn Stuart and Justice Michael Bolin summoned Chief Justice Roy Moores head law clerk and two other law clerks and terminated them. A marshal and one of Stuarts staff members were sent to order the law clerks to pack their belongings and turn in their keys. Earlier this week, Stuart demanded Chief Justice Moore remove all his personal items from his office by October 18, 2016. She also told the Chief that he will be escorted by a marshal. "This is outrageous," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The appeal is pending but these justices are acting as if the case is over. And these actions are being done despite the pending motion for recusal. These acts underscore Chief Justice Moore, who filed the motion to recuse certain justices on the Court," said Staver. Chief Justice Moore has filed an appeal of the decision issued by the Court of the Judiciary on September 30 to suspend him for the remainder of his term, which runs through January 2019. The Chief Justice also filed a motion to recuse four of the current Alabama Supreme Court justices and three former justices who sat by designation in his May 2016 petition regarding the Judicial Inquiry Commission. He also issued a statement asking the Court to unseal the case that underlies his motion. "The hostile treatment of Chief Justice Moore, the demand he remove his personal effects, and the abrupt termination of his three law clerks (who had been temporarily reassigned to other justices) is unseemly. The case is still pending, yet these justices make it appear like they have already decided against Chief Justice Moore. They need to decide the motion to recuse and the appeal needs to be heard by an objective and unbiased panel of judges," said Staver. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. home World Sudan jails six Christians and plans to demolish five churches Three church leaders and another three church members were detained by Sudanese authorities for refusing to turn over a church-run school to the government. Five other churches were notified that their church buildings are set to be demolished. The arrested Christians are from the Evangelical Church in Wad Medani, World Watch Monitor (WWM) reports. Three of the churches that received notifications belong to the Sudan Church of Christ (SCOC). One church is Presbyterian while the other is part of the Episcopalian Church. An unnamed source told WWM that the six arrested Christians were released on bail that same day but it is unknown whether there will be further legal actions. The date for the demolition of the churches is also unknown. Authorities reportedly told the church leaders that their lands have been "assigned for investment." Sudan Democracy First Group (SDFG) notes the diminishing religious freedoms in the country since the National Islamic Front took power in 1989. A clear example is the case of pastors Hassan Abduraheem Kodi Taour and Kuwa Shamal, who are currently on trial for "crimes against the state" along with Abdulmonem Abumawla and Czech aid worker, Petr Jasek. The four accused could be sentenced to death if found guilty. The four men have been held between December 2015 and August 2016. Their case has been brought to the attention of the European Parliament through a resolution signed by several members last week. The resolution noted that the four men are facing charges for highlighting the suffering of other Christians in war-torn areas of Sudan. It called for the unconditional and immediate release of the civil society activists detained by Sudanese authorities. It also urged Sudan and African Union to abolish the death penalty and uphold religious freedom. Last month, the bishop of Kadugli Diocese, Rev. Andudu Adam Elnail, called on the U.S. government and the U.N. to intervene in the case of Taour and Shamal. Elnail himself fled from Sudan when the authorities burned down his property for refusing to endorse Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. "The government is not interested in the Christian religion. There is no freedom for us, we cannot build churches, we are treated as second-class citizens," said Elnail. "We need the international community to pressure the government of Sudan to give us our freedom of religion," he added. 3 Places That Need Your Prayers This Weekend As humanitarian crises around the world continue to escalate, it can seem overwhelming. Many of us want to pray for people affected by war and conflict, but don't know where to begin. Here are three places that you could be praying for over the next few days. Aleppo The crisis in Aleppo seems worse than ever. Around 275,000 people are trapped in the eastern part of the city as the Syrian government backed by Russian air forces and Iranian-backed militias continues to try to flush out rebels. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 145 people the majority of them civilians were killed, and on Thursday another four children died in a Christian neighbourhood when shells landed near their school. The Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo this week said the city has become a "living hell". Pakistan Pakistan's Christian community continues to battle severe persecution. On Thursday, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five who has been on death row since 2010, had her final appeal postponed by the Supreme Court, and no date set for when it will be rescheduled. She has been convicted of blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad, a charge she denies. Pakistan's blasphemy laws are often used against members of religious minorities to seize businesses and properties, or to settle old scores. Nigeria One of the worst countries in the world for Christian persecution, Nigeria is still struggling with Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency. This week, the Islamist militant group released 21 of the girls captured from their school in Chibok in April 2014, but more than 200 remain missing. Some are believed to have been married off to militants, and Boko Haram has claimed that a number of others have been killed in military airstrikes. Aleppo Has Become A 'Living Hell' Warns Christian Leader In Syria Aleppo has become a "living hell" according to one of the most senior Christian leaders still in the besieged city in Syria. Mgr Georges Abou Khazen, Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo, called for an instant ceasefire. Speaking in the wake of the deaths of yet more children this week and last week in the relentless airstrikes, Khazen said: "Aleppo is now a living hell - a hell that touches everyone, east and west, full of death and destruction, refugees and lack of electricity and water, families who touch pain with their hands on a daily basis". He said world powers must take responsibility and make "the logic of peace" a priority. The latest deaths came in an airstrike which devastated a school in the predominantly Christian district of al-Sulaymaniyah. According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, the school was targeted in a "terrorist" attack, the term the regime uses for rebels. Air strikes targeting rebel-held districts of Aleppo also intensified after a lull of several days which the Syrian army said was designed to allow civilians to leave. Khazen told Asia News: "We do not want all these deaths, this destruction. Everyone here is suffering. Families in both east and west continue to count and mourn their dead." He explained that Aleppo was divided between the western section, controlled by the government and with more than one million residents, the eastern section, controlled by rebels, with 250,000 residents. Al-Sulaymaniyah is in the western section of the city. Khazen is concerned that reports coming out of Syria are too focused on the government airstrikes against the rebels, when there is also death and devastation being cause by rebels attacking government-held areas such as al-Sulaymaniyah. Pope Francis, who appointed Khazen in 2013, has also called for a truce in the fighting "for the time necessary to evacuate the civilians, especially children, who are still trapped by the cruel bombings." Khazen said: "It's always the same old story, with regional and international powers not working for peace. The pope's words are very important because they make us feel his closeness but unfortunately these appeals fall on deaf ears. "The players are not interested in what is happening to people even though now more than ever a truce is needed to alleviate the suffering and bring some aid and comfort." He said a truce would be a first step on the path to peace. The alternative to peace is a war that could go global, he warned. Church Bells In Europe Ring Death Toll For Aleppo Victims Church bells are tolling across parts of Europe in tribute to the thousands of innocent victims being slaughtered in the ceaseless bombing of Aleppo in Syria. More than 200 churches in Finland are tolling their bells daily at 5pm. They will continue to do so for 12 days as many adults, including dozens of children, die in the bombs and the rubble in the city. Kallio church in Helsinki began the tolling, according to the BBC. The Finnish Church in London has joined in. Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden has now announced it is joining the daily toll. Archbishop of Sweden Antje Jackelen and cathedral dean Annica Anderbrant said in a joint statement: "We become desperate and helpless when we learn of the stories about the situation in Aleppo and other places in Syria - the fate of the children, hospitals in impossible working situations, innocent civilians who suffer. "When impotence is greatest, it is important to gather in prayer." Uppsala Cathedral bells are tolling "to call as a call for people to stay up in prayer for the people of Syria and for peace." The toll is timed for when people finish work, and to lead up to United Nations Day on Monday, October 24th. The BBC quoted Dr Teemu Laajasalo, vicar of Kallio parish, as saying: "Funeral bells are tolled when the body is carried out of the church after the service. There is a war crime happening in Aleppo and endless funerals. "When you see those images where mothers and fathers dig for their dead babies and children in the concrete dust from the ruins - if this isn't enough of a reason to ring the bells, then what is? "The 5pm bell-ringing is definitely a funeral toll. The symbolic meaning is that probably, in Aleppo's non-stop funeral, at that particular time they are carrying bodies to be buried." Controversial Anti-Islam Politician To Go On Trial For Allegedly Inciting Racial Hatred Dutch politician Geert Wilders can face trial on charges of inciting racial hatred, a court in The Hague ruled today. Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the case can go ahead. It will start at the end of this month. The judge said Wilders was not being singled out, and that prosecutors were free to build a case that he had uttered discriminatory words as opposed to merely offensive ones. He said the case will not affect his political freedoms or that of his party. Wilders had questioned on television whether people wanted "fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?" The crowd shouted back "fewer". Wilders then pledged to make this happen, leading to more than 6,400 complaints within his Party for Freedom, that he founded. More than 50 people and five organisations registered themselves as victims of his remarks. His party is high in the polls, running level with the ruling conservative VVD Party. He has promised if he wins power to take the Netherlands out of the EU. The case, which is likely to centre around the right to freedom of expression, and clarify where the line lies between offensive and discriminatory remarks, comes ahead of Dutch elections in March. Earlier, Wilders' defence lawyer argued that freedom of expression was "the last freedom" Wilders had left. In 2011, Wilders was cleared of inciting hatred after he compared Islam to Nazism. He was barred from visiting Britain as a result of this comments and had to be deported after he tried to come anyway. The ban was subsequently overturned. Wilders tweeted today that he was being taken to court for voicing the opinion of "millions": Prosecuted for voicing the opinion of millions. The Netherlands is like Turkey. Displeasing political opinions are being silenced in court. https://t.co/L7mTufM6WL Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) October 14, 2016 He then added: Additional reporting by Reuters. Fear Of Rise In Child Sex Abuse After Hurricane Matthew In Haiti Fears of a rise in child abuse, sexual violence, child labour and child trafficking in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti has prompted aid organisations working in the region to step up their long-term efforts. Christian charity World Vision is scaling up its plans to set up protection centres for children who have suffered as a result of the devastating storm. Matthew ripped through Haiti last week, killing more than 1,000 people, destroying thousands of homes and displacing more than 1.3 million people. Around 100,000 children are now unable to attend school after their school buildings were either devastated by the storm or used as emergency shelters. World Vision has distributed aid to more than 15,000 people in the aftermath of the hurricane, and is now planning to set up 27 Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) in the areas worst affected by the crisis. "Natural disasters, sadly, always cause an increase in cases of child abuse, sexual violence, child labour and child trafficking. We are very concerned that the current situation in Haiti will give rise to such cases as a consequence of the latest disaster," said Fabiola Brignol, advocacy manager for World Vision Haiti. "We fear that next big disaster to hit Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew will be a child protection crisis. According to a FAFO report published in 2015, 207,000 Haitian children were trapped in exploitative domestic labour. Almost one in three had lost a parent and over 10 per cent were orphans. "These children are susceptible to beatings, sexual assaults and other abuses. And worryingly it is the areas in the south of Haiti that have the highest rates of child domestic labour. World Vision fears that following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew which destroyed large parts of the south, desperate families unable to support their children will push them into domestic labour." Brignol warned that many children are unable to access basic necessities and medical care, and are "facing massive risks that make them particularly vulnerable." The new CFSs will offer psychological help, as well as a safe place for children at risk of being separated from their parents. World Vision has already distributed emergency supplies in some of the worst-affected areas, including food, blankets, water purification tablets and hygiene kits. "As we continue to meet these immediate needs, we're also beginning to plan and think about the medium and long term scenario and how we can help," national director John Hasse said. "Housing and food will be a big focus. The whole idea is how do we help people restore their basic necessities and being able to do as much of that as possible in a short period of time. Getting them a roof, restoring their access to clean water, and making sure they have access to sanitary conditions in their home so they have a sense of dignity is also very important." To support the World Vision Haiti Hurricane Appeal, please click here. God & The Presidency: Jimmy Carter On The Demands Of Faith Continuing a series on the faith of the American Presidents, which we began with Ronald Reagan, this week we explore the faith of Reagan's immediate predecessor: Jimmy Carter. The Georgia Democrat was America's 39th president, though he held office for only one term, serving from 1977-1981. After his time in office he continued work across the world, particularly through the non-profit humanitarian organisation he founded with his wife: the Carter Centre. In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Here's a brief glance at the faith of Jimmy Carter. On Peace Carter said he was committed to peace in his presidency, but also in his extensive humanitarian work that followed. He told Christianity Today: "I can't say my commitments as President were free of my beliefs. We worship the Prince of Peace, and one of the key elements of my life as President in challenging times was to keep our country peaceful. I was able to deal with challenges without launching a missile or dropping a bomb. My commitment to peace was an aspect of my Christian faith. Also, basic human rights are obviously compatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ, and I made human rights a foundation of foreign policy." On Healing In August 2015, Carter was diagnosed with cancer, with several spots showing up at the back of his brain. At the time, he was calm, saying he was "perfectly at ease with whatever comes." He declared that his faith was "in the hands of God, whom I worship." Less than seven months later, he was happy to tell his sunday school class that he no longer needed treatment. On Racism Carter recently accused the Trump campaign of exploiting "inherent racism" in America, suggesting Trump's success was down to his "heavily racial overtone". He added: "When you single out any particular group of people for secondary citizenship status, that's a violation of basic human rights." Carter has worked hard to pursue racial reconciliation, particularly in his own Baptist denomination, but insisted that America still has "a long way to go." On Abortion Though the Democratic platform is pro-choice on the issue of abortion, Carter was pro-life. He said he felt conflicted when the Supreme Court legalised abortion in the famous ruling of Roe v. Wade. "I have never believed that Jesus would be in favour of abortion, unless it was the result of rape or incest, or the mother's life was in danger. That's been the only conflict I've had in my career between political duties and Christian faith," he said. On same-sex marriage On the issue of same-sex marriage, Carter said that he personally supported it, and that he couldn't see any teaching from Jesus against it. He said: "Christ habitually reached out to the downtrodden and the outcast. That was the whole pattern of his ministry. Of course, Jesus never said anything about gay marriage in the Bible, but I believe he would be amenable to the union of two people who loved each other and didn't hurt anyone else," he said. On Faith Carter, who is now 91, famously described his life and motivation with one overriding theme: faith. "I have one life and one chance to make it count for something... I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands - this is not optional - my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference." Carter is mocked by some as a 'failed President', his one term beset by economic struggles and embarrassment in the Iran hostage crisis. Yet even those who disagree with him on politics, should admit this is a man who knew that faith had a fundamental impact on his life. That faith has taken him far beyond his formal time in office, and despite his global work he remains committed to his local church and sunday school. He didn't let percieved public failure define him, instead he spent the rest of his life in public service and helping those in need. 'Hero Killed For The Name Of Jesus'. An Iraqi Christian Monk Describes Life Under Islamic State The honey-stoned monastery has been a fixture of the Middle Eastern landscape since the fourth century, a symbol in the land of its birth of Christianity, the faith that shaped the West. But now, its senior priest is urging all Christians to flee Iraq, because he warns they have no future there any more. He spoke as government forces prepare to move in to liberate Mosul. Father Yousif, deputy bishop of the fourth century St Matthews Monastery or Mar Mattei, about 40k east of Mosul, has played a significant role in sheltering the region's multitudes of displaced Christians. "The future here is bad. Every time a terror group appears under a different name and sets out to persecute Christians." He will be staying put. "I'm a monk, like a soldier I don't think about himself." But he has urged his family, friends and all other Christians to seek a better future outside Iraq. Open Doors, the persecution charity, said in a report this week that the Christians of Iraq and Syria faced a cataclysmic crisis. Christian Today discovered via a Freedom Of Information request that disproportionately few Christians from the region were being resettled in Britain. It is estimated that two million people will flee Mosul when fighting starts, and many will be Christian. Father Yousif gave an interview to the religious freedom charity World Watch Monitor. His family used to live in Mosul. His brother, Ragheed Fahmy Ibrahim, married with two children, who worked as an electrical engineer and served as a deacon at his church, was shot dead on his 37th birthday. "We got a phone call telling us Ragheed had got into a fight. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw he was shot with three bullets; the first was in his head entered from one side and out from the other the second was in his shoulder, and the third in the chest above his heart". It was meant as an act of intimidation against Christians, Fr Yousif insists, noting his brother was monitored and his killers chose that day specifically. "They knew everything. They chose a Thursday evening as they knew no doctors would be staying at hospitals late before a weekend in Mosul. They made sure he would die." However bad it gets, as Open Doors found, many Christians still do not want to leave the city and country which has been their home for generations. Fr Yousif's family stayed even after the murder until they learned that other members were on an IS death list. Fr Yousif said: "My brother Ragheed used to say in the last months before he was killed: 'We have a lot of sins. These sins cannot be washed but by Jesus's blood!' I consider him a hero killed for the name of Jesus." Persecution is a matter of pride, he added, saying he believed their Muslim persecutors might one day come to know God. "I forgave them. Believe me I can tell you even Ragheed's wife now forgave those who killed her husband. "St Paul used to persecute Christians, but later he knew Him and believed." Iranian Court Set to Hear Appeal of Christian Converts Sentenced to 80 Lashes Each for Drinking Communion Wine Eighty lashes for drinking Communion winethat's the penalty that awaits each of the three Christian converts in Iran after they were charged earlier this month with that offence. The threeYasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidiwere also charged with "acting against national security" together with Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor who was once sentenced to death for apostasy, according to World Watch Monitor (WWM). They are due to appeal their case when then appear in court again in the northern city of Rasht on Saturday, Oct.15. The maximum sentence for the "acting against national security" charge is six years in prison. Iran has not recognised the Christian conversion of the three accused Muslims, which explains why they are being charged with illegal consumption of alcohol, the drinking of which is permitted to non-Muslims. Leaving Islam is forbidden in Iran. According to Iranian law, a Muslim charged and convicted of drinking alcohol for a third time could face the death penaltya fate that could befall Omidi, who has been convicted of drinking alcohol twice. Iranian authorities have convicted and sentenced more than 200 Christians since 2015. Many are in jail, while others have been released conditionally, pending sentencing or an appeal. At least 43 Christians were arrested in August alone, according to Middle East Concern's Rob Duncan. "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," Duncan said. According to World Watch Monitor, Mossayebzadeh, Fadaie and Omidi were arrested in May after participating in Communion. Iran is ranked by Open Doors USA as the ninth worst Christian persecuting country in the world. Iranian authorities are known for their hostility towards Christians, prompting thousands of believers to worship secretly in house churches across the country. Ironically, the number of believers in Iran grew by an impressive 19.6 percent in 2015, despite the regime's campaign of persecution. Sources estimate that there are between 450,000 and 1 million Christians living in Iran today. "The Islamic Republic of Iran is actually the place in the world where the Church is growing the fastest, something that would be pretty surprising to most Christians," said Todd Nettleton from The Voice of the Martyrs, as quoted by Mission Network News. "So it is a country that has worked very hard to eliminate Christianity, and particularly to eliminate Muslim conversion to Christianity. But it's the place in the world where the Church is growing the fastest." Jesuits Elect First Latin American Leader One of the world's largest and most influential Roman Catholic religious orders elected a new leader on Friday. The Jesuits, who count Pope Francis as a member, elected 67-year-old Father Arturo Sosa Abascal, from Venezuela. After the election of Argentine Pope Francis as history's first Latin American pontiff in 2013, Sosa's election serves as another indication that the leadership of the 1.2 billion member Catholic Church is becoming less Euro-centric. More than 200 Jesuit representatives from around the world elected Sosa the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus, the order of priests and brothers founded by St Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. He is their first leader from Latin America. The Jesuits, who have about 17,000 members, are renowned for their role in education, running some of the world's most prestigious universities such as Georgetown in the US. They also are very active in human rights issues and social work. The Jesuit Refugee Service, which helps migrants and asylum seekers, operates in 50 countries. Their leader wears the same clothes as a regular priest simple, black vestments which have led to the coining of the title "Black Pope". Until recently, the Jesuit leader has traditionally ruled for life, but the last two both retired aged 80. Sosa succeeds Adolfo Nicolas of Spain. According to the Catholic News Agency, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained into the priesthood 11 years later. He was General Counselor of the Society between 2004 and 2011 and has degrees in theology, political science and philosophy. Crux reports that he is believed to be the first head of the Jesuits to have a moustache. Additional reporting by Reuters. Revelation 6: How Do We Know When A Church Is Dead? If the Holy Spirit was taken away from the church in the West today, 90 per cent of what we do would carry on as if nothing had happened! It's a saying I remember hearing years ago and I suspect it's still true. Have you ever had the experience of going into a church and noting that despite the singing, the prayers, the reading, the preaching, the youth groups, the notices, the banners and the 'fellowship' (ie cup of coffee afterwards), it somehow seems just so, well, lifeless? This is not a new problem. Christ's letter to the church in Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) shows that it is as old as the church itself. Sardis was a city that had a great past it was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia which reached the peak of its wealth in 700 BC. Its most famous King was Gyges who was known to the Assyrians as GuGu and the Jews as Gog. In the Old Testament Gog is a symbol of the powers of evil. The city was conquered by the Persians and then went into a long period of decline before it was rebuilt following an earthquake in AD 17. One of the great messages of Revelation is that while the kingdoms of this world keep changing, (for map and history geeks you will love this superb 'history of the world'), the King and his Kingdom go on forever. But dead churches die... it's the living church that goes on. Here is the scary thing there is no guarantee that the church in your particular area or country will always flourish... that is a hard truth to grasp but all you have to do is ask where are the seven churches today? Reputation without Reality The Church was like the city. It had a reputation from the past but it was dead. Sardis was built on a mountain and had an acropolis that they thought was impregnable. 'To capture the acropolis of Sardis' was a Greek proverb for doing the impossible. But it was captured five times twice from lack of vigilance. There is such a lesson for our churches here especially those of us who are secure in our traditions, theology or trendiness. We may have a great reputation but reputation counts for nothing compared with the reality. Christ knows the spiritual state and immaturity of the Church. There was no external opposition and no internal heresy things were looking good and they were peaceful as peaceful as the grave. The church was dead but they did not know it, and other churches did not think it. I hope that is not true of us, but we sometimes have to examine ourselves. I remember visiting a well-known evangelical church with a real sense of excitement. It had a reputation of being alive, of being a place where God was really at work, of being the model for the church in the West. Maybe my expectations were far too high but even I could see that things were not as they had been portrayed in the Christian media there was a spiritual deadness. Reputation without reality. Unfinished Business "I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God". Some of us are very good at starting things but never finishing them. For the Christian church that is not an option. We have begun the race, we must finish it. We don't put our hand to the plough and look back. We continue to the end. We become more radical as we get older, not less! The church in Sardis forgot that. The city was addicted to a life of ease and the church reflected the culture. There was no persecution because there was no invasion of the enemy's territory. No friction usually means no motion! "The unsaved in Sardis saw the church as a respectable group of people who were neither dangerous or desirable. They were decent people with a dying witness and a decaying ministry' (Wiersbe). There was plenty of activity but little spiritual life. "There may be a savour of religion about a man's conversation, and yet it may be a borrowed flavour, like hot sauces used to disguise the staleness of ancient meat... members may have gone soundly to sleep upon a sound creed'. (Spurgeon). Revival and Renewal But there was some life the kind of life you get when you come home to a dead fire where you need to stir up the embers and then you need the wind. Five steps are necessary for a renewed and awakened church. 1) Revive Wake up v2 "for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: 'Wake up, O sleeper,rise from the dead,and Christ will shine on you.'" (Ephesians 5:14, NIV). The first step towards renewal is honest awareness and admittance that something is wrong. 2) Reinforce Strengthen what remains what is of God and has not yet died. 3) Remember The Gospel and the teaching we have received. It is a work of the Spirit to bring to remembrance and to life the old. 4) Repent and obey We need to return to God as at our conversion. For Martin Luther repentance was a daily necessity. Are we any different? 5) Receive Christ visiting his Church through his Spirit. The Ultimate Church Makeover Although Christ warns the Church in Sardis that we will come like a thief in the night (ie unexpectedly) he also offers them great hope. Sardis was a centre for woollen goods and claimed to be the first to ever have dyed wool. In its temples you were not allowed to enter with dirty clothes. Christ says that he knows that there are Christians who have not 'soiled their clothes', that is, accommodated their lives to the heathen customs of their neighbours. He will come and purify his church... to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:27, NIV). Their names are in the Lambs book of life and he will acknowledge them his own people. "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32, NIV) Often we do not see the Church as Christ sees. We don't see with the 'eyes like blazing fire', the hypocrisy, the sham, the greed and the manipulation. It is rare that we see the real ugliness which is why when we do we are so shocked and horrified. But it is also true that we do not see the real beauty. We are like someone who is finely dressed, only to have their clothes taken from them and underneath is ugliness. Some people are deluded by the fine outer clothes, others are disgusted by what they find underneath, but we have to go deeper yet until we find the delight that Christ has in his bride. The church is the most beautiful thing on earth because it is the bride for whom Christ died, and which he beautifies. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Alarm time for the Western Church For my own nation of Scotland, for the UK, for Europe and for North America I think the Lord, having whispered to us in our pleasures, is now beginning to shout to us in our pains. We need to listen to the Spirit speaking to the Churches, not just individuals but us collectively. The Spirit inspires prophecy and quickens the dead. How we need Him to speak to us prophetically and to give us new life! The embers need to be stirred. The wind needs to blow. All our programmes, practices and plans will not change the church or bring her to life. We need the Spirit. Let's ask! David Robertson is minister of St Peter's Free Church, Dundee and associate director of Solas CPC. Follow him on Twitter @theweeflea. Revolution Reviewed: Why You Should Read Tom Wright's Latest Book The Cross is bigger than you think. That's the contention of Tom Wright in his latest book, The Day the Revolution Began (SPCK, 19.99). Wright's book is vast in scale, and deep in insight. It is controversial in some places, but for good reason. Wright has important things to say, and this book is a must read not just for preachers and teachers, but for anyone interested in what the Cross is all about. What happened on Good Friday? Why does it matter? That is the question Wright probes in his book. It is not a new question, in fact many Christians may feel over-familiar with it but that is just the point. Wright feels that many have settled for a simplistic caricature of what the cross was about. It may not be deliberately preached in this way, but what many hear when they hear about 'the atonement' is something narrow, individualistic, and morally troubling. As he put it in this interview with Christian Today, the cross has to be more than: "I've been very bad, God was going to punish me but he punished Jesus instead so now its alright and I can go to heaven can't I... Instead of 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son', you end up saying that 'God so hated the world that he killed his son'...why do people hear that?" The book comes in four parts: first Wright traces the puzzle of the cross through history, following its development from a brutal symbol of political oppression to a radical symbol of Christian hope, and on to the complex and varied meanings it can have today. Misunderstanding the Cross, says Wright, often takes this shape: "In most popular Christianity, 'heaven' (and "fellowship with God" in the present) is the goal, and 'sin' (bad behaviour, deserving punishment) is the problem. A platonised goal and a moralising solution and together they lead...to a paganized 'solution' in which an angry divinity is pacified by human sacrifice." Wright challenges this by returning to Scripture to ask what it could have meant for the New Testament to say that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Bible." He highlights the Jewish hope: rooted in a call from God to reflect his image and to bless all the nations, the Jewish people now longed for a new Exodus from their slavery to occupying powers, and a freedom from their exile, which would be marked by 'forgiveness of sins.' Israel's sin was not simply abstract wrongdoing, but was rooted in idolatry: worshipping and thus giving power to that which was not God, thus eroding their own humanity in the process. In the New Testament, we see expectations of a Messiah, of suffering, of the return of the presence of God, and of the restoration of Israel come together in ways that no one expected. That is to say in Jesus the Messiah, who claimed to be God becoming King on earth. Wright explores how Jesus understood his own death: giving his followers not a formula, but a meal intentionally bringing his mission to a climax at Passover, when the Jews celebrated their liberation from oppressive powers and looked forward to a new Exodus. In his death Jesus was marking a new Exodus: a defeat of the powers and their grip on humanity, a victory won through God's radical self giving love. Wright concludes with an enthusiastic challenge for the Church to be 'passover people', to live in light of the revolution that began on Good Friday. Not simply waiting for heaven, but recognising that the world is now a tangibly different place, and those who are "in the Messiah" are tangibly different people. Or at least we can be. Wright's book is a gift. It is intellectually stimulating, and personally challenging. As Andrew Wilson remarked about reading Wright's previous epic Paul and the Faithfulness of God, the professor takes us on a journey, and you'll finish this book feeling taller. It is long, perhaps a little too long for a popular level book (a healthy 416 pages) but it isn't unrewarding. On an issue this large and complex, I'm glad Wright took the time to address the issue from so many different angles, and in such depth. On an issue that is well-worn, Wright brings genuinely fresh insight and thoughtful wisdom. It's easy for a book such as this to come across as excessively avant-garde, or too eagerly iconoclastic but Wright's emphasis is not on reinventing the wheel, but on expanding people's vision to a Gospel that is bigger and more beautiful than they knew. At times perhaps Wright is a little overstated. Some will be frustrated by his reference to caricatures of certain atonement theories Wright is clear that these are caricatures but it can come across a little uncharitable to those with whom he disagrees. His ultimate emphasis though, is not on assassinating any particular opponents, but on positively explaining the breadth and depth of his own view. Crucially, the caricature he combats is not a ghost: much evangelical preaching I have heard veers in its direction, leaving us with something strange, quite troubling, and devoid of the love of God. If you want to know what the Cross of Jesus was about, you should read this book. It doesn't explain everything (one might worry if it tried to), and you might not agree with all of it, but if so you should at the very least think about why you disagree with it. Read this book, and be challenged, encouraged, and inspired by the revolutionary nature of the Cross. The Day the Revolution Began (SPCK, 19.99) by Tom Wright, is out now. Switzerland Forcing Christian Nursing Home to Allow Killing of Patients Who Want to Die Take it or leave it. Switzerland is asking a Christian organisation to choose between two options comply with the law on assisted suicide or stay out of state control, which would mean no more subsidies. The law on assisted suicide has been in existence in Switzerland since 1942. It recently sparked a new controversy when a Christian nursing home received a federal court order that it had to allow the assisted suicide of patients under its care if they express a wish to die, according to WRS, the Swiss radio in English. The nursing home in the canton of Neuchatel has been contesting a cantonal law that allows assisted suicide in charitable institutions if a patient requests for it. The law came into effect more than a year ago. The nursing home contended that it could not possibly abide by the law since doing so would violate its religious beliefs and freedom of conscience. However, the Federal Court in Lausanne dismissed the nursing home's view, saying the law must be complied with, which means the nursing home has to allow individuals in its facility to decide when and how they want to die. The judges said the only way the nursing home could be excused from complying with the law is by giving up its charitable status. This would mean it would no longer receive state subsidies and therefore be outside state control, WRS said. The nursing home belongs to The Salvation Army, an international Christian organisation whose mission is focused on preaching "the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination." The case in Switzerland may have repercussions in the United States, according to CBN News. "Forcing medical people to breach their religious beliefs and be complicit in suicide/homicide is tyranny," Bioethics expert Wesley J. Smith wrote in National Review. "Eventually that authoritarianism will come here, too if assisted suicide becomes normalised, just as the ACLU is suing Catholic hospitals to force them to violate the Church's moral teachings around issues such as contraception and sterilisation," he said. ACLU stands for American Civil Liberties Union, a national organisation that works daily in courts, legislatures and communities purportedly to defend individual rights and liberties. "Freedom of religion is supposed to be one of the most important civil liberties, explicitly guaranteed in constitutions and human rights documents alike. But these express rights mean little to many secularists, who increasingly seem willing to trash religious liberty in the cause of creating guaranteed access to assisted suicide, euthanasia, and abortion," Smith said. In the United States, five states have already legalised assisted suicide. They are California, Oregon, Vermont, Montana and Washington. The measure is being considered in 24 other states and Washington, D.C. This Spiritual Practice Is Shared By Millions Around The World Every Day We all love to find novel ways to practise our faith. New music, books, apps and podcasts can be stimulating to our spirituality. Yet sometimes, the thing we're looking for isn't new at all. It's often very old and has been practised for hundreds of years. Once such example is called the Examen. It's a simple set of practices to be carried out at the end of the day, which many have come to find an indispensible way of praying before sleep. The Examen was developed by St Ignatius of Loyola a Spanish soldier who abandoned his military career once he had converted to Christianity. He developed a series of techniques which he wrote down as The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. Examining the conscience was a concept going back to scripture and the earlier years of the Church. But in the 16th Century, as part of his Exercises Ignatius turned the concept into a simple but effective way of reviewing the day. What? In its simplest form, the Examen asks the Christian to review their day, and then pray through it. How did I do the will of God today? How did I fall short today? How can I follow Jesus more closely tomorrow? The key is that the day's events are put in perspective and brought before God. The aim is not to make us feel proud or bad about our actions but to bring our whole day before God and learn the lessons which will make us better disciples. The questions we ask ourselves should be simple but should elicit honest answers. One form of Examen goes something like this: 1. Become aware of God's presence. 2. Review the day with gratitude. 3. Pay attention to your emotions. 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. 5. Look toward tomorrow. When? Some who practise Ignatian Spirituality will do the Examen twice per day at Noon and at night. For those of us with commitments in the middle of the day then the once per day discipline of a nightly prayer time might be more practical. Why? The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is a keen follower of Ignatian Spirtituality. He sums up well why it is such a treasured tool in his opening remarks as Archbishop, describing the "riches of Benedictine and Ignatian spirituality". The simplicity of the Examen (and the other Ignatian exercises) can be deceptive. Surely asking yourself a few questions at the end of the day is hardly revolutionary? But think of just how easy it is to forget both the good and the bad things we do during the day. It's easy for us to blot things out and never bring them up again. Yet for true spiritual growth, we need to think of how we reacted in stressful situations, on difficult family occasions or in response to a sudden piece of news. We sell ourselves short if we don't bring before God the ways in which we have behaved during the day. Because the exercises are daily, there is little time to forget and always, always, time to change for the following day. People from all Christian backgrounds and denominations use the Examen it isn't the exclusive property of Jesuits or any particular part of the Church. How? There are now a number of very helpful apps and websites offering assistance with following a simple daily Examen. One of them, Developed by the Jesuits in the UK, is a simple app called Pray As You Go. The app has daily Bible readings, questions for reflection and gentle background music to help you consider the day. It also offers a version for young adults and for children helping parents to pray at the end of the day with their kids. Irvine, Calif.-based Realty One Group has added the Realty One Group Experience franchise in Conroe. Jill Daniels and Abbie Holland are broker/owners of the new franchise. The addition is part of a national expansion for the residential real estate brokerage, which operates in 17 states. Realty One Group Lone Star brought the franchise to Houston in 2014 and opened two satellite offices in 2015. Since being founded in 2005, Realty One Group has grown to 72 offices with more than 8,500 real estate agents. Jeep, the vehicle that's synonymous with "rugged" and has been around 75 years, may soon be sporting a more elegant look. According to the online magazine Wide Open Country, the chief executive officer of Jeep's parent company Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, said he wants to see a luxury version of the classic Jeep Wagoneer. Luxury, as in upwards of $80,000. Hurricane Matthew was powerful, but it couldn't keep a man away from his beloved car. Randy Jalil, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., didn't want his BMW E30 M3 getting destroyed by the hurricane, so he kept it in his house while the storm passed. He posted his car's new habitat on Instagram to prove his devotion to it. Two men were arrested Oct. 6 after waiting on a bank patron to walk into a Walgreens in order to steal money from her car. A deputy along with several other units was dispatched to the Walgreens pharmacy in the 22900 block of U.S. 59 in reference to a witness observing a suspect breaking into a vehicle by smashing a rear window, stealing items, and then fleeing north on U.S. 59. Both Woodbranch and Patton Village Police Departments had units in the area and spotted the suspect vehicle, which crashed into a pillar under U.S. 59 at Creekwood. The driver was immediately detained, as the passenger fled into the city of Patton Village, where he was later located and detained. An investigation revealed that these subjects, a 29-year-old man and a 30-year-old man had been waiting in the area of Walgreens and Chase Bank in search for an opportunity to commit a criminal act. When a woman made a deposit at the bank, she put her bank bag in the car before going into the Walgreens next door, leaving her car unattended. The suspects, after witnessing this, burglarized the vehicle. After being cleared medically from a local hospital, both suspects were taken to the Montgomery County Jail where they were booked on various charges including engaging in organized crime, which is a felony. North County A man was arrested Oct. 4 for an DWI. A deputy observed a vehicle traveling on FM 3083 turning his high beam lights off and on at the vehicle in front of him. The deputy conducted a traffic stop and found the vehicle to have an expired registration. While speaking with the male driver, the deputy could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage. A man was arrested Oct. 4 for an assault. A deputy responded to a disturbance call in the 11600 block of Browder Traylor Road. The female complainant told the deputy she had been assaulted by a man she had recently ended a relationship with. He had assaulted her after he found she was talking with another man. A woman was arrested Oct. 4 for an assault. A deputy responded to a panic alarm in the 5600 block of Buffalo Circle in Willis. Upon arrival, the deputy met with a woman on location who told him she was sleeping when she was assaulted by her husband. She told the deputy she had tried to leave but her husband wouldn't let her. The woman advised that because her cell phone was off she pressed her panic button on the security system. After speaking with the man and an investigation, it was determined that the woman was the aggressor in the disturbance. A man was arrested Oct. 5 for possessing marijuana. A deputy responded to a suspicious vehicle call in the 12500 block of Pegasus Drive in Willis. A Panorama Police Department officer arrived on scene and found a man in the vehicle and the vehicle smelled of marijuana. After identifying the man, the deputy found he had active warrants. The male was arrested for possession of marijuana and the warrants. A man was arrested Oct. 5 for an assault. A deputy responded to a disturbance call in the 13100 block of Skyline Drive in Willis. Upon arrival, the deputy met with a woman. She advised her two sons were having a verbal argument when she attempted to break up the argument. She asked her 25-year-old son to assist her in removing groceries from the vehicle when he refused and struck her in the face and back of the head. A man was arrested Oct. 6 for possessing marijuana. A deputy was conducting routine patrol in the 18000 block of Texas 105 East when he observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. The deputy found marijuana in the vehicle which belonged to the male driver. A woman was arrested Oct. 8 for a DWI. A deputy was dispatched to the 500 block of Stephen F. Austin, in reference to a crash. Upon arrival, the deputy met with a woman who had hit a mail box and did not know how she had hit the mailbox. The deputy could smell an odor of alcohol on the woman's breath. A woman was arrested Oct. 8 for an assault. A deputy responded to an assault call in the 13400 block of Bert Brown Road. The deputy met with a woman who said she was helping a friend move and was waiting outside because she knew she was not welcomed inside the home. When the woman who resides in the home came out, the suspect began a physical altercation. A man was arrested Oct. 10 after he hid drugs somewhere inside his body. A deputy conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle with a defected license plate light. The male driver did not have a valid driver license and was arrested for driving while license invalid. The male was transported to the Montgomery County Jail. During a search at the jail, the male was found to have methamphetamines hidden on his body. An additional charge of possession of controlled substance was added to the man's arrest record. East County A 28-year-old man was arrested Oct. 3 for an assault. A deputy was dispatched to the Porter Wal-Mart Fuel Station in reference to a disturbance. Upon arrival, an investigation revealed an offense had occurred in the 16800 Block of Live Oak Branch. It was found that a man had used a belt and his hands to assault his wife over night during an argument. Two 21-year-old men were arrested Oct. 3 for a criminal trespass. A deputy was dispatched to the Porter Wal-Mart in reference to a theft in progress. Upon arrival, the deputy was told of subjects attempting to break into a cash register in the automotive section of the store. Upon approach by a deputy and several other deputies assisting, three males attempted to evade. One of the three suspects was immediately detained. Deputies were able to detain another one of the suspects, another 21-year-old man, shortly later. A 23-year-old man was arrested Oct. 4 for unlawfully carrying a gun. A deputy was dispatched to the 14500 block of Kyle Lane where the sheriff's office had received several calls for a vehicle disturbance. The deputy was able to locate a man riding on an all-terrain vehicle, which did not stop immediately after emergency equipment was activated. The driver instead continued on to a residence. Once at the residence, the subject complied with deputy's orders and upon a pat down for officer safety, a handgun was located on the subject in his waistband. A 24-year-old man was arrested Oct. 5 for possessing marijuana. A deputy was patrolling the Kings Mill Subdivision. The deputy located two suspicious men hanging out along the roadway in front of a residence on Kings Hill. Upon making contact with the men, the deputy immediately sensed the distinct smell of marijuana coming from their vehicle. An investigation revealed that a man, who was the owner of the vehicle, was in possession of marijuana. A 34-year-old man was arrested Oct. 6 for an assault. A deputy was dispatched to the 24900 block of West Christine Drive to investigate a disturbance where many have occurred before. An investigation revealed that a man had repeatedly abused his wife by physically striking her causing injuries, along with threatening to kill her and burn her clothes after he cut most of them up with a knife. A 23-year-old man was arrested Oct. 9 for assaulting a deputy. A deputy was dispatched to the 24700 block of Sorters Road in reference to a disturbance in progress. Upon arrival, deputies met with two woman who said their brother was out of control acting aggressive. When deputies began to speak with the man, he became more aggressive balling up his fist. When deputies requested to pat him down for officer's safety, the man stripped his clothes off acting very irrational. Deputies attempted to detain the subject, when he struck one of the deputies and fought them. A 42-year-old man was arrested Oct. 9 for assault and retaliation. A deputy was dispatched to the 24100 block of U.S. 59 in reference to a welfare check of a man. Upon arrival, it was determined that the subject was intoxicated and had assaulted his spouse. The suspect was arrested for assault. The suspect then threatened the deputy who had arrested him. The Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce is greeting visitors to the city with its new Welcome to Cleveland, Texas 2017 directory and resource guide. The guide contains information for the City of Cleveland including business listings, important phone numbers and general information about the city. "Every business in the city limits is listed in the guide alphabetically," said Chief Operating Officer Jim Carson. "All [Chamber] members are listed by category." The last professionally created guide, according to Carson, came out in 2010. Although there were plans to create another one since then, Carson says the Chamber decided to wait until another one could be professionally made, this time through Lawton Publishing. "We wanted something that would show a good image of Cleveland," he said. The directories also show information on the city, including contact information for the Cleveland Economic Development Corporation, the mission statement, work plan and the benefits of joining the Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, historical information on the city, its facilities and tourism and much more. Members of the Chamber have printed numerous copies for the city, which they began distributing to every hotel, bank, title company and real estate office within the city. "We ordered 3,000 books so it'll last us through next year," said Carson. Carson says the publication has gained much support from the community and believes it will be very beneficial for the city. "It's a really good publication," he said. Carson hopes that the directory will show support to the community and highlight the benefits of coming, visiting or living in Cleveland. For more information on the chamber, call 281-592-8786 or go online to www.clevelandtxchamber.com. People wishing to discard of their unwanted, unused and expired prescriptions can take advantage of Take Back Day on Oct. 22. Liberty and Cleveland police departments will serve as collection sites in Liberty County. This is the 12th opportunity in six years provided by the Take Back Day initiative. Take Back Day is coordinated with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Every year, Dayton Memorial American Legion Post 512 and VFW Post 5621 sponsor a Christmas Box for the Troops Drive. Last year, a record-setting 142 boxes were sent by the local veterans' groups. "Our troops in these outpost of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan do not have access to restrooms, military commissaries or PXs to purchase the much-needed hygiene items and non-perishable snacks items," said Jerry Killion, spokesperson for the AL Post 512. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 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) Diphtheria, scurvy, rickets, rheumatic heart disease, tetanus ... these are the diseases of history that killed and maimed tens of thousands of children every year in America during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Now those of us who work in pediatrics face different, but no less serious challenges. Back then, images of wasted babies and street urchins in tattered clothes are often conjured when the lives of children in early America are described. In the early days of modern medicine, before antibiotics, before immunizations, before sterile surgical techniques, infants and children were at the daily mercy of these scourges that harken from a Charles Dickens novel. Infectious diseases, malnutrition, accidental injuries and poor sanitation killed 10 percent of all children prior to their first birthday; with some cities having rates as high as 30 percent. As medicine advanced over the past century, there were remarkable advances that resulted in the modern rate of 0.7 percent; a drop of over 90 percent. As medicine began to banish the "old" threats to children, there has been a growing recognition over the past several decades that today's children are confronted with a whole new set of diseases. These are not the conventional infectious, hygiene, traumatic or nutritional blights of the past, but are quite different maladies. In the 1970s, pediatrician Dr. Robert Haggerty introduced the term "New Morbidities" for the new rogues gallery of hazards that afflict children. These included emotional disorders, educational needs and family dysfunction; things which impact children's lives immediately and could have life-long effects. With the new understanding of modern challenges to children, the New Morbidities have grown to included child abuse and neglect, community violence, parental mental health, food insecurity, poverty, media, and socioeconomic disparity and inequality. There is growing interest and attention to the impact that early childhood has on the life trajectory of a child. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study in the 1990s demonstrated a clear impact of childhood adversity on increased morbidity and early mortality in adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has adopted the ACE framework, noting the importance a safe and stable childhood has on adult health and lifespan. The importance of these "nonmedical" factors on the quality and length of life is often referred to as the Social Determinants of Health. This is most easily appreciated by one's zip code. In the U.S., average life expectancy within a particular zip code could range from a low of 72 years to a high 89 years. This span of as much as 15 fewer years of life can be largely (but not solely) attributed to the effects of living in poverty. Neighborhood poverty becomes embedded in the make-up of children and families who live there. It is manifest in the (un)available food, pollution, violence, poor education systems, mental health services, transportation, smoking and alcohol use. These factors are potential threats to the lives of the kids living there. From the pediatrician's perspective, children growing up in poverty are regularly exposed to "toxic stress." They are simmering in a soup that seeps into their being: who they are, all they know. As pediatricians we are becoming more aware of the important role that home, community, school and neighborhood factors play in the lives of children. Strategies to address these adversities are not the domain of any one particular sector, but require a coordinated partnership across different agencies, services, organizations, offices and departments. How we care and support the children and families who live in marginal or desperate circumstances is a direct window to the kind of world we want to create. Collectively, we often do barely enough just to "get by" and fulfill "the letter of the law," but certainly no more. For decades there has been an attitude of benign neglect. We can no longer afford our gaze aversion. While the future economic and human capital implications of children living in poverty are compelling and unassailable (increased wages, higher functioning work force), the true reason to embrace child and families living in adversity is its moral imperative. It's simply the right thing to do. Dr. Christopher Greeley is chief of public health pediatrics at Texas Children's Hospital. 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. This school year marks a major milestone for the Lone Star College System. The system set a new record for enrollment by welcoming 85,661 credit students for fall 2016 onto the various campuses. Compared to fall of 2015, the growth in the number of students represents a 2 percent increase in credit student enrollment. The Lone Star College System includes six colleges, eight centers, two university centers, Lone Star Corporate College and LSC-Online. Ten days after the start of fall semester marks the official day of classes and that is when the enrollment numbers are officially recorded. This fall, LSC-University Park saw the largest percentage of increase in student enrollment. The campus recorded a 10 percent increase, welcoming 12,024 students. These students will help us continue to be the communitys college, and they will help us provide continuous improvement through innovation. As we continue to grow, we are able to provide additional student success support resources to maintain quality and offer more opportunities for our students to have a well-rounded experience, said Shah Ardalan, president of LSC-University Park. Our students can join one of our numerous student organizations, become active in civic engagement, perform with our theater and explore degrees that will prepare them to become teachers, engineers, biologists or computer programmers and more. LSC-University Park is in the process of constructing a $15.4 million science center. With the new state-of-the-art learning environment, school officials hope to encourage more students to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The new three story facility will have features such as 12 science labs, a space with a tutoring area, and a geology-teaching wall. Students and visitors will have the opportunity to view the sky at night from the observation deck with five Dobsonian telescopes and two computerized telescopes. The building is scheduled to open in May of 2017. Additionally, LSC- University Park is at the beginning stage of design exploration for the colleges new arts building. The college plans for the new arts building to accommodate student productions and summer youth productions. We are laser focused on our mission of providing access and success, Ardalan said. As the communitys college, we are proud to provide opportunities for the community to come on campus and experience high-quality theater performances, music concerts and other events. In fall of 2014 the Cy-fair campus of LSC was the first college in the system to enroll more than 20,000 students. LSC-CyFair officially recorded a 5 percent increase in credit student enrollment this year which is more than 21,600 students. In order to best manage the student growth, the CyFair campus is also beginning construction for additional space. The campus is planning to begin construction on a 5,000-square-foot addition to the Cypress Center. Most of the campuses workforce programs are home to the center. The third center which will be the newest addition will be the Westway Park Technology Center. The facility will be designed to meet real-world standards in the fields of IT and Visual Communication. Construction is moving forward with the Barker Cypress locations new Student Life/Instructional building. Features for the new building will include additional faculty and dean suites, instructional classrooms, and parking spaces. The president of the campus is enjoying the student growth and looks forward to the college providing more space for community members. We are excited to welcome the largest number of students to Lone Star College-CyFair in our history. This increase in enrollment means more students are taking advantage of Lone Star Colleges affordable access to a first-class education, Seelpa Keshvala, president of LSC-CyFair. Education is the key to opportunity for all students and a well-educated workforce benefits the entire community. LSC-Tomball had a total enrolment number of 9,013 students. In efforts to keep up with the growth the Tomball campus recently opened LSC-Creekside Center. The Health Science Building also received an expansion. Students are really the beneficiaries, but there is a sense of excitement and synergy among the college faculty and staff when enrollment increases. Growth can be a reflection of the deep commitment we have to help students achieve their most worthy goals, said Lee Ann Nutt, president of LSC-Tomball. More and more students are making community colleges like Lone Star College their first choice. When even more students attend LSC-Tomball, the more exposure they get to being with others from diverse backgrounds which helps prepare them for living in diverse communities and working in diverse careers. Many students choose the LSC college system because of the thousands of dollars that can be saved from enrolling into various Texas public or private universities. The low cost for tuition is an attraction for people seeking their collegiate work without having to travel too far away from home. According to LSC, in fall 2016, nearly 8,000 area high school seniors selected LSC as their first choice the fall after they graduated from high school. We are pleased so many people have chosen Lone Star College and we will continue to serve our community to provide high quality, affordable education that is close to home, Ardalan said. In 2006 the college systems student population was 40, 058 and has now grown to 85, 661, which is an 86 percent population increase. The total student population for LSC is currently approximately 98,000, the number includes non-credit workforce and community education students. According to LSC the ethnic breakdown for student population is Hispanics represent the largest demographic group with 38.1 percent of credit students or 32,626 students. Additionally, 27,366 students (31.9 percent) are white; 12,878 (15 percent) are black; and 6,263 (7.3 percent) are Asian. The school says that remaining students are identified as American Indian, multi-ethic or did not specify their ethnicity. The college system also welcomes non-typical college students. The statistics of the non-typical college students are 29.7 percent age 25 and older and 69.5 percent attend part-time. The college also welcomed over 1,700 international students from more than 100 countries in the fall of this year. We want our students to know that we strive every day to make it about them, Nutt said. As we grow, they will continue to receive the same personal attention they have come to expect to help them succeed. LSC is continuing to be one of the fastest growing largest institution of higher education in the greater Houston area and in the nation. This milestone in growth demonstrates the confidence our community has in us to help students reach their academic goals, Keshvala said. Even as we continue to grow, serving students on their path to academic success is, and always will be, our focus. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 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 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Basic economic and daily living needs such as providing food and utilities for individuals and families in the Cypress area are continuing to increase. Cypress Assistance Ministries (CAM), a faith based organization that serves individuals and families dealing with financial crisis, homelessness, unemployment, and elderly in need has seen an increase in the number of families utilizing the organization's services. All of CAM's programs have seen a record number of people in the area using its services. CAM representatives have officially recorded that Emergency financial assistance (rent and utilities primarily) has increased year-to-date over last year by 84 percent, and the number of people receiving food has increased 39 percent. The pounds of food distributed have increased by 36 percent. "We've been assisting people in the Cy-Fair area for 26 years now, and the number of people coming to us this year has increased dramatically. I personally believe it can be attributed to several factors - the demographics in this are changing rapidly, the flood was an additional hardship, and not only has the oil and gas industry seen cuts, but the trickledown effect has hit a lot of families," said Janet Knott CAM director of development. The not-for-profit organization offers families opportunities to receive food out of their pantry. The items the food pantry needs include boxed cereal, jelly/jam, chili, spaghetti o's, spaghetti sauce, rice, dried beans, canned meat, and toiletry items. Families must see a case manager; then they are allowed to shop in the pantry. CAM reminds the community that individuals receiving assistance from any of these programs must be "qualified" financially. The Cy-Ridge Key Club, Cy-Woods Interact Group, Jersey Village Gold District Drill Team, and various Girl Scout and Boy Scout Groups lend a helping hand at the food pantry on occasions. The distribution of vouchers value has increased by 65 percent. CAM's vouchers given those in need are used in their resale store for needed clothing, house wares and furniture. CAM also has a back to school program which provides school supplies, new backpacks, shoes, underwear, and socks as well as a voucher to the resale store for clothing. The program saw an increase in 41 percent in the number of children assisted this year. "We are preparing for the same amount of increase at Christmas, where we rely on the community for donated bikes, toys, etc. for families who cannot afford to purchase gifts for their children," Knott said. CAM's goal is to provide help to those experiencing temporary crisis. The organization strives to offer financial support, food, sick goods, amongst other services. The non-profit organization works to guide individuals and families into a better self-sufficient life. CAM also offers assistance through their client services such as rent or mortgage, utilities, food, clothing, household goods/furniture, special delivery, operation jobs, and GED/ESL Classes. Additionally, other organizations such as Cy-Hope help students in the Cy-Fair district. CFISD has a total of 50.8 percent of students that are economically disadvantaged. Lone Star College Cy-Fair also has its own food pantry for their students who are in need of help with their economical needs. The pantry provides water, snacks, canned goods, and fruit and is provided by staff, faculty, and students. All students are welcomed to make use of the food pantry. The food pantry is located in the student life center. College officials roughly estimate that approximatley1,500 students utilize the pantry per semester. "Being a community college we get students from all walks of life and social economical backgrounds. The whole goal of the food pantry is to find out how we can put together a sustained effort to get a student back on their feet or their needs addressed," said Bennie E. Lambert, vice-president of student success at LSC-CyFair. "The food pantry can give students help beyond the classroom." Want to know more? Cypress Assistance Ministries (CAM) Physical Address: 11202 Huffmeister, Houston, TX 77065 Mailing Address: PO Box 2336, Cypress, TX 77410-2336 Assistance Office: 281-955-7684 Assistance Information Line: 281-955-7440 Angels' Attic: 281-955-7683 Operation Jobs: 281-955-5895 GED/ESL Classes: 281-826-4403 On the net: www.cypressassistance.org Lone Star College Cy-Fair (LSC-CyFair) 9191 Barker Cypress Road Cypress, TX 77433-1383 281.290.3200 Cy-Hope Cy-Hope Headquarters & Counseling Center 12715 Telge Road Cypress, TX 77429 Cy-Hope: 713.466.HOPE (4673) Cy-Hope Counseling Center: 713.466.1360 cy-hope@cy-hope.org A student at Deer Park High School-South has been arrested after officials were alerted to an online threat against the school. According to Victor White, superintendent of Deer Park Independent School District, the threat was seen by another student and a parent "just before midnight" (11:55 p.m.) Tuesday. Deer Park Police were notified and arrested the student Wednesday morning, White said in a message emailed to parents. When the heavy rains and floods hit the area in April and May of this year, Huffman resident Darlene Bradbery's home in the Magnolia Point subdivision was flooded twice. After the second flood, Bradbery's house was condemned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and was recently demolished with help from the Houston City Councilman District E Dave Martin's office, the city of Houston's Department of Neighborhoods and by J&A Construction. Martin's office also began to work closely with the Magnolia Point Homeowners Association president Stacy Christ to see what they could do to help Bradbery. "Our office works closely with neighborhoods in District E like Magnolia Point especially after the floods," Jessica Beemer, north sector manager for Martin's office, said. "After the first flood, we talked to our neighborhoods to see if there was any flood relief we could provide and track the cleanup efforts of flooded homes. After the second flood on Memorial Day weekend, we got back in touch with our neighborhoods to see what they needed." That is when they met with Bradbery, a disabled senior citizen, who needed help after FEMA condemned her house. Martin's office connected and relayed Bradbery's message to the Department of Neighborhoods. That office connected with Habitat for Humanity to see how they should progress. A local business, J&A Construction, agreed to demolish Bradbery's house at cost. "It's companies like J&A Construction that make District E a wonderful place to live," said Martin. Bradbery has continued to live on the property in Huffman with her caretaker and black Lab in a travel trailer until they could determine what to do next. "All Bradbery had and all she wanted is what she had in the travel trailer," Beemer said. "We touched back with Habitat for Humanity who agreed to gather volunteers to build a new house on stilts for Bradbery if all of the supplies are donated. So we are reaching out to anyone who can help donate anything from timber to toilets to sinks; we need any kind of donations to help build a new house for Bradbery." Martin's office will field any calls for information and connect anyone interested in donating materials to Habitat for Humanity. According to Beemer, Bradbery was very thankful for the help since her main wish was to continue living on the property. "The Department of Neighborhoods and Habitat for Humanity have been great to help move along with demolition and get to this point," Beemer said. "We have residents in our communities like Bradbery who were hit hard by the flooding. We hope to get these donations and that the community comes together for one of their own." Any businesses interested in donating anything from timber to a kitchen sink, contact Martin's office at 832-393-3008. With the existing conditions on Northpark Drive, recent crash and congestion data shows there were 69 crashes reported in 2015. According to recent data put together by the Texas Department of Transportation and the Houston-Galveston Area Council, Northpark Drive is over capacity with approximately 40,000 trips per day and future projections show those numbers will only continue to grow. To meet these needs and increase the safety of residents by decreasing crashes, the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority continues to develop the Northpark Drive Mobility Improvement Project. "This is something that should have happened 10 years ago," city of Houston Council Member Dave Martin said during an authority meeting Sept. 29. "Now, we are playing catch up and trying to solve a mobility issue in our area." For a five-year period, the data shows there 330 crash records with no fatalities, five incapacitating injuries and 71 non-capacitating injuries reported. The information for the widening of Northpark Drive and overpass at the railroad tracks along with the future widening of Kingwood Drive and intersection improvements throughout the Kingwood area were developed through a Kingwood Area Mobility Study in May 2015. Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority members recently met with representatives from Union Pacific Railroad to discuss the overpass improvements. The authority provided information to UPRR on how improvements to Northpark Drive affect the traffic in the area Northpark and Kingwood Drives. "The information we provided to them was from Edminster, Hinshaw, Russ and Associates which is like a 'white paper' that they could send to their legal team and management staff to show the justification for putting in the overpass and the at-grade surface road to provide access to the business at Northpark Drive and Loop 494," Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority chairman Stan Sarman said. According to data provided by The Goodman Corporation, "If Northpark Drive is widened to three lanes in each direction and an overpass is constructed over the railroad tracks, Northpark Drive users would save one minute per trip, crashes will reduce by 15 percent, the average Northpark Drive commuter will save over 14.5 hours per year, Kingwood Drive commuters will save 3.5 hours per year and the total value of time saved is nearly $79 million for Kingwood area drivers." "The crash data supports the need for the Northpark Drive Improvement project which will greatly reduce the number of vehicle crashes within the expansion boundaries including the state highway 494 near Union Pacific Railroad," Martin said. "Kingwood area drivers will be safer with the proposed improvements to North Park Drive and the monetize safety benefits are substantial." According to information provided by Martin's office, "The crash rate for North Park Drive in the study area is 211.2 crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled which are significantly higher than the statewide average of 1 to 5.01 crashes per 100 million VMT for a four-lane facility. The study reports the following proposed Northpark Drive improvements would result in significant benefits. "The addition of one lane through each way can reduce by 28 percent the number of crashes that share similar vehicle movement and manner of collision attributes side by side and rear end. The addition of an overpass and grade separation at Loop 494 and Northpark Drive reduces the number of crashes at conflict points along Northpark Drive including numerous commercial driveways." The data from TGC shows that using baseline congestion data from the H-GAC with existing conditions for a "no build scenario" should they not go forward with the widening of Northpark Drive; the study indicates the Volume to Capacity (V/C) ratio was 1.47 in 2015 and will rise to 1.80 in 2030 with a "no-build scenario." The peak hour travel time reduction data shows that the "built scenario" would reduce travel times in excess of one minute per trip along Northpark Drive during both the morning and afternoon peak periods. Intersection Improvements Through the 2015 Kingwood Mobility Study, several intersections were identified as needing improvements and they have begun design work on three of the 11 named - West Lake Houston Parkway at Kings Crossing, Northpark Drive at West Lake Houston Parkway and Hamblen Road at Forest Cove Drive. "Everything remains on track," Bryan Brown with Walter P. Moore, the company contracted to handle the intersection improvements, said Sept. 29. The intersection of West Lake Houston Parkway and Kings Crossing is 90 percent complete with plans, West Lake Houston at Northpark Drive plans are 60 percent complete and Hamblen Road at Forest Cove plans are 60 percent complete; all three plans will be submitted to the city of Houston this week for approval." They also received a request for additional services at the intersection of West Lake Houston Parkway at Northpark Drive to include a right-hand turn lane for residents turning onto West Lake Houston Parkway and a right-hand turn lane bay for residents turning from West Lake Houston Parkway onto Northpark Drive to head toward U.S. Highway 59. To view the Northpark Drive Mobility Improvement Project Fact Sheet, visit http://www.houstontx.gov/council/e/kingwood.html. For more information on these projects, please contact the District E office at 832-393-3008 or via email at districte@houstontx.gov. Crosby ISD elementary students will have the chance to learn about science, technology, arts, math and engineering outside of the school day through the YMCA's A'STEAM enrichment program. The after-school program is brought to students through a partnership between the YMCA and Children's Museum in Houston to provide further comprehensive STEM enrichment for students involved in after-school programs. The program launched in 2012 with 29 sites and now boasts 105 sites around the Houston area. "The Crosby Independent School District superintendent, Keith Moore, contacted us about offering this program for students in the district and we jumped at the chance," Heidi Basher, director of development for the YMCA of Greater Houston, said. "The A'STEAM program utilizes the strengths of each organization and includes the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills students and teachers focus on in the classrooms in an after-school setting. We focus on evidence-based learning complete with an evaluation committee to see if the programs are working and the evidence shows the impact of our programming." The YMCA A'STEAM program is offered at Barrett, Crosby, Drew and Newport Elementary Schools in Crosby ISD. Parents can enroll their children at their local YMCA or through the YMCA website at www.ymcahouston.org/child-care/after-school/. Every child that signs up for the YMCA after-school program participates in A'STEAM; it is part of their weekly curriculum. The program is in every YMCA after school site where 50 percent or more of the children are on the free or reduced lunch programs. "After Hurricane Katrina, a program was set up for kids who were displaced, moving into Houston called Houston Kids," Jason Hammond with the Children's Museum of Houston, said. "Houston Kids was an enrichment program focusing on math and science. Five years ago, the science portion of the program was transformed into A'STEAM. Because the Children's Museum had been instrumental in helping the YMCA with HK, it was an obvious choice for them to once again partner with us for A'STEAM." The A'STEAM enrichment program is an after-school educational initiative in which elementary school students develop skills in science, technology, engineering, arts and math through engaging, hands-on activities. This year, units will cover topics such as habitat, insects, the food web, buoyancy, astronomy, biology, archeology, body systems, the science of art and natural gas production. "Any kind of enrichment program is beneficial for students," Hammond said. "A'STEAM provides for them science enrichment in a safe and open environment. Furthermore, they learn science by completing hands-on activities. Many of these activities they get to take home with them. We also involve their families by sending home what's called a Parent Connect; a slip of paper that provides information about the activity the child did that day, questions parents can ask about the activity and video links that provide additional information about the science behind the activity." This is the first year that the A'STEAM program, as well as any kind of YMCA After-School program, will be offered in Crosby ISD. It was introduced to the district's elementary school campuses beginning Oct. 17 and will run through May 22. Funding for the program is provided by United Way and from foundations in the Houston community. Before the students begin the A'STEAM program, they are given a pre-survey and another survey when the program is complete in May to ensure the program is successful each year. According to data provided by the YMCA, in the 2014-15 school year, A'STEAM participant groups showed a 16 percent test score improvement between the pre- and post-tests, whereas nonparticipants showed only a 6 percent improvement "We are very excited to work with the Children's Museum of Houston because it is our niche," Basher said. "We enjoy working with the staff and the kids to see the development and how much the kids love the program. The kids are engrossed in the activities because they are hands-on fun they are learning outside of the classroom." Throughout the program, the students journal what they have learned in each lesson which helps with the writing component of A'STEAM. "At the beginning of the year, I, and my A'STEAM Educator, David Munk, write a curriculum of seven units with four activities per unit," Hammond said. "This year's units are Habitats (Scientific Journal, Insect Terrariums, Houston Bayou Food Web and Phytoplankton), Astronomy (Galaxies in a Bottle, Comets, Meteorites and Planet Scale and Distance), Adaptations (Owl Pellet Dissection, My Pet Virus, Superhero Genetics and Find the Zombie Carrier), Body Systems (Digestive System, Neurological System, Circulatory System and Skeletal System), Archaeology (Dig Site, Tag It and Bag It, Garbology and Pictographs), Science of Art (Salt Paintings, pH Paint, Flip Sticks and Electromagnetic Spectrum) and Natural Gas (Crayon Rock Cycle, Scent Boxes, Build a Pipeline and Extraction Under Pressure). Of the 28 activities, they will be able to take home 21 of the activities. "We train the YMCA counselors monthly on the activities. Habitats and Natural Gas all sites do together. The other five units are on a rotating schedule. In addition to hands-on training with counselors, we create training videos that can be accessed by the counselors on our YouTube page." Additionally, the enrichment program focuses on STEM education for girls which is an emphasis many school districts have begun to focus on, encouraging girls to become engineers and other STEM-related career fields. "This after-school program is different because all of the students are engaged with hands-on activities and it builds a connection between the parents, the staff and the students," Basher said. "We will have follow-up work for the students to take home and other home projects they bring back that really connects everyone into the A'STEAM program." For more information visit a local YMCA or www.ymcahouston.org. Early voting for the Nov. 8 general election will begin Oct. 24 in Fort Bend County. Fort Bend County Elections Administrator John Oldham expects a turnout of between 250,000 and 265,000. For Election Day to run smoothly, a significant percentage of those citizens need to head to the polls early, Oldham said. "A good early voting turnout is essential for a manageable Election Day for us," Oldham said. Fort Bend County will have 21 early voting locations. They will be similar to last year's, but with several new locations. Clayton Oaks Living will be an early voting site for the first time this October. Oldham hopes the senior living facility, located off of U.S. 59 in Richmond, will encourage voters in the Greatwood area to cast their ballots early, and reduce overcrowding on Election Day at nearby Dickinson Elementary. Ridge Point High School, located at the southern end of Sienna Plantation will also be an early voting site for the first time. It should reduce overcrowding at the Sienna Plantation branch of the Fort Bend County Library, Oldham said. The BAPS Shri Swiminarayan Mandir temple in Stafford will also make its early voting debut. It's larger than many nearby facilities the county already uses. This year, the county won't cut any nearby locations. It may do so in the future, if most area voters head to the temple, Oldham said. Local races on the November ballot include sheriff and precinct 1 and 3 county commissioners. In the two most recent presidential elections, voter turnout in Fort Bend County has exceeded 60 percent. In 2012, more than 222,000 county residents voted, for turnout of 65 percent. In 2008, almost 206,000 residents voted, for a turnout of about 69 percent. Visit: www.fortbendcountytx.gov/index.aspx?page=338 and click on Early Voting Information for details. Yi-Chin Lee/Chronicle A federal judge in Houston has ordered the newly re-branded Houston College of Law - formerly known as the South Texas College of Law - to stop using its new name until a legal dispute with the University of Houston is resolved. U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison granted a temporary injunction on Friday, ruling that two of UH's marks, "University of Houston" and "University of Houston Law Center" bear enough resemblance to the new law school's name that there would be a "substantial threat of irreparable injury" if the court failed to act. The undead will soon be swarming all over KVPAC as it masses its first 5K KVPAC Undead Zombie Run this fall. The teeming will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, and will kick off a plethora of ghoulishly fun events at the center's first Wicked Weekend, sponsored by Covering Katy. Activities include a costume parade and contest, an indoor arts and crafts fair, an outdoor Trunk or Treat market and a two-night Haunted House attraction. The run is $35 per person or $100 for a team of four. Proceeds will be used for KVPAC programming to foster a lifelong love of the arts. Registration is open until Oct. 22. Visit www.kvpac.org to register or for information. Runners of all ages will endure a 5K run through a zombie-infested course, testing one's speed, endurance and strength while trying to avoid ravenous zombies. Junior runners (under age 10) are welcome, but must be accompanied by a registered adult. "This weekend will be all about having fun for a good cause," says Gregory Magyar and David Vollmer, KVPAC executive artistic director and executive operations director, respectively. "We have such talented kids in our community, and KVPAC wants to continue supporting them in every way we can. All of our programs are coming together to make this weekend special. There will be something for everyone to enjoy, kids and adults alike. For those who are unfamiliar with KVPAC, it's going to be a terrific opportunity to get to know about us and the work we do!" KVPAC, a nonprofit, is located at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center Complex at 2501 S. Mason Road, Suite 290. The Texas Department of Transportation is proposing to widen Crabb River Road (FM 2759/FM 762) between south of Sansbury Boulevard to south of George Ranch High School in Richmond. The two-phase proposed 2.9-mile project is intended to improve mobility, alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety. Transportation department officials will present their plans at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at George Ranch High School, 8181 FM 762 in Richmond. An open house will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the school. The first phase would widen Crabb River Road to four lanes with a divided raised median. The second phase would build an overpass over the BNSF Railroad and Thompsons Road. Visit www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/projects/studies/houston/crabb-river.html for additional information. On the FM 2759 portion, the existing right of way is sufficient for the proposed Phase I improvements, according to TxDOT. On the FM 762 portion, approximately 110 feet of additional ROW is required, according to TxDOT. The proposed project would require additional ROW and would displace one residential and two non-residential structures. The environmental review, consultation and other actions required by applicable federal environmental laws for this project are being, or have been, carried out by the department. Former Houston school board member Larry Marshall has lost his plea to the Supreme Court to halt a looming trial concerning allegations he was involved in a bribery scheme. The court confirmed Friday that Justice Clarence Thomas denied Marshall's emergency petition, seeking to stop the six-year-old case from going to trial Oct. 24 in federal court in Houston. Marshall, who served on the Houston board from 1998 to 2013, is accused in a civil lawsuit of steering school district contracts to certain construction vendors in exchange for kickbacks. Marshall has denied the claims, arguing that he had a legitimate consulting business with his political campaign treasurer, Joyce Moss-Clay, and did not get involved in district contracts. According to court records, Moss-Clay paid Marshall a majority cut of the fees she earned as a consultant for several school district vendors. In 2009 alone, the payments to Marshall topped $59,000, court records show. Houston construction contractor Gil Ramirez Jr. filed the lawsuit against Marshall, Moss-Clay and two competing business, RHJ-JOC and Fort Bend Mechanical. All have denied wrongdoing. The Houston Independent School District was dismissed from the case as a governmental agency. RHJ-JOC and Fort Bend Mechanical were among Moss-Clay's clients, according to court records. A trial could force several high-profile officials, including current and former Houston school board members and ex-superintendents Abelardo Saavedra and Rod Paige, on the witness stand. Lawyers representing Ramirez, whose company is the Gil Ramirez Group, have issued subpoenas to appear in court to at least 22 people. The Houston school district's former chief auditor, Richard Patton, and Norman Nelson, a partner at the tax-collection firm Linebarger Goggan, have filed requests asking not to have to appear in court. The Linebarger firm is a school district vendor, and Moss-Clay said the firm was one of her clients, according to court records. Patton's motion to quash his subpoena said he has no personal knowledge of the claims in the lawsuit. He was hired by the district after it was filed. He also said that giving testimony in this case could prejudice him in the ongoing whistleblower lawsuit he has against the district. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison has set a hearing on Oct. 18 to address additional requests by Marshall to reconsider dismissing some of the claims against him and to split the trial to avoid confusion over claims tied to RHJ-JOC and Fort Bend Mechanical. "It's unfortunate that more public money was wasted attempting to cover up for this behavior," Chad Dunn, an attorney representing Ramirez, said of Marshall's Supreme Court request. "We look forward to shining a bright light on HISD's dirty procurement practices." Marshall's attorney, Richard Morris, could not immediately be reached for comment. It's possible the school board and Marshall could settle the case before trial. The board's meeting agenda for Thursday allowed for closed-door discussion of the lawsuit, but no public action was taken. Three medical malpractice lawsuits were filed Thursday against a Pasadena obstetrician alleging that mismanaged deliveries resulted in the death of one infant and severe neurological damage of two others. The lawsuit says that June Williams Colman, an OB/GYN at Serenity Healthcare for Women, failed to properly intervene in the labor and delivery of the three infants despite clear evidence of fetal distress. In a press conference Friday, the three young women gave tearful recollections of their deliveries. "It's a very indescribable feeling when one minute you're getting to meet your first born child and the next minute you're watching your newborn baby trying to breath and going in and out of seizures," said Stephanie Garcia, a 20-year-old whose son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after taking 10 minutes after birth to breath in October 2014. A spokesperson from East Houston Regional Medical Center, the facility where the women delivered and a defendant in the lawsuit, called the situation tragic, but disputed the allegations. "We believe in the legal process, and while our hearts go out to these families over all they've been through, we dispute the allegations presented today, and we look forward to all the facts emerging as the legal process allows," the statement read. Lawyers representing Colman did not return calls for comment. Two of the incidents specifically involve the alleged mismanagement of Oxytocin, a drug used to induce labor. When used improperly, it can result in excessive contractions, restricting oxygen flow to the infant. In July 2012, Jessica Bonura, 22, was given the drug, which the lawsuit claims led to respiratory delays causing severe permanent brain damage of her son. Another baby died 15 minutes after delivery in November 2015. "I was 18 years old when I carried my first child for nine months, and for what? I didn't even get to hear him cry," said Tatyana Phillips, 19. "I went to the hospital with a child and left without one." The Texas Medical Board for Medical Malpractice ordered Colman in 2014 to complete 20 hours of continuing medical education in high-risk obstetrics and pay a penalty of $3,000. It was unclear if this investigation had any connection to the three women in the lawsuit. Two of the lawsuits are seeking damages for mental anguish and physical pain and suffering for the disabled infants. The third lawsuit is seeking damages for the emotional suffering incurred by Phillips for the loss of her child, as well as for funeral costs and loss of consortium. Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker delivered a speech on Thursday night at Texas A&M University as part of the school's week of activities to promote tolerance and acceptance of the gay, lesbian and transgender community. "I'm taking a more public role for the community again," Parker, 60, said in an interview previewing her Thursday night speech about LGBT activism. "I was very clear that when I was in elected office, I wasn't a spokesperson for the community. Now I can be." On Friday, the Houston Police Department and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office each released a list of their 10 featured fugitives of the week. Of the 20 fugitives on the list, two are wanted on charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Three are wanted on charges of assault that caused bodily injury to a family member, while one is wanted on a charge of driving while intoxicated with a minor. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With help from a Good Samaritan, a 5-year-old boy saved his toddler brother from a fiery crash that killed their father early Friday on Interstate 45, the second-deadliest highway in the country. The three were headed south in a big-rig moving truck when the father lost control and struck a metal guardrail and a concrete post near Aldine Bender, Houston police said. The truck rolled over and caught fire. Flames billowed 20 feet. The father was apparently ejected and died at the scene. A witness said his burning body was visible from the roadside. His name has not been released. The 5-year-old pulled his brother from the cab, HPD Sgt. James Roque said. The first adult on the scene was Dhaval Shah, a University of Houston business student sleeping at his family's nearby hotel. An explosion woke him about 1:15 a.m. "I looked out the window, and I just saw fire, so I just ran out the door," Shah said. He spotted the older boy running around and yelling for help. He grabbed his hand and went over to pick up the severely burned 2-year-old, who was crying on the ground near the flaming truck. "I was trembling my legs and my whole body was shaking," Shah said in a phone interview. "The fire was so hot, and I just felt like something was going to explode. ... If I was a couple minutes late, probably (the toddler) would've got burnt." The 20-year-old took the boys to safety across the street. The older boy kept asking about his father. "I didn't know what to tell him," Shah said. Both boys were taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, police said. They are expected to recover. The 5-year-old told police that the family was moving to Galveston, Roque said, and that their mother was driving an RV ahead of them. The father was driving a big-rig cab with a United Van Lines 18-wheeler trailer filled with furniture, much of which burned. Police did not say when or whether the mother was reached. "United Van Lines is aware of the accident," a company spokesperson said Friday afternoon. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of the driver and are thankful that his young sons survived. United is cooperating fully with the authorities investigating the accident. " The company did not say whether the driver was an employee. I-45 has more fatal crashes than any other highway except California 99, according to a recent analysis by consumer research firm ValuePenguin cited by Chronicle transportation reporter Dug Begley. Federal data show there were 56.5 fatal accidents per 100 miles of roadway from 2011 through 2015, including 51 in Houston alone. However, Thursday's crash came during a time of low traffic. Shah said he was shaken by the incident. He thought of the boys, especially the 5-year-old. "The older one, that's going to live with him for the rest of his life," he said. Dale Lezon and Will Axford contributed to this report. A North Texas pair is charged with three counts of child endangerment after three children in their care tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine. According to the Wichita Falls Times Record News, police and a Child Protective Services investigator arrested Fawn Jessie Kemp, 34, after a 9-year-old child in her care arrived to school with a bruise on the side of her face. The Wall Street Journal on Thursday published a story announcing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would accuse Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim of being part of a "biased coalition working in collusion with the (Hillary) Clinton campaign and its supporters to generate news reports of decades-old allegations from several women." Slim owns 17 percent of the New York Times Class A shares, and one of his charitable organizations has donated to the Clinton Foundation. The Times blew the lid off several Trump scandals, including his misconduct toward women and the likelihood that he avoided paying taxes for nearly 20 years. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Attempting to compile a complete collection of Donald Trump's sexist, offensive and sharp critiques on or about women is a bit of a Sisyphean task. If you take a look at the various media outlets, including The Telegraph, the most damning quotes seem to have been generated around the 1990s. READ MORE: Rush Limbaugh reacts to Trump's 'sex-talk' scandal A good chunk of the GOP presidential nominee's comments tend to be directed toward specific women. From actresses to business leaders, Trump has left no stone unturned when it comes to his scorn. In 2012, he lashed out at then-Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington for no reason at all it seems. "Arianna Huffington is unattractive both inside and out," he said in a Twitter post. "I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man - he made a good decision." READ MORE: Trump claims coordinated attack in allegations Last week, the Trump campaign was beset by a slew of leaked audio recordings and confessionals pointing to "the Donald's" inappropriate behavior during media productions, including "The Apprentice" and the Miss Universe pageants. Audio uncovered by The Washington Post featured Trump bragging about kissing, groping and attempting to have sex with married women. During the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Mo., he dismissed that audio, calling it "locker room" talk. More recently, The New York Times reported two women have publicly accused Trump of touching them inappropriately. One of the women claimed Trump had fondled her breasts and attempted to put his hand under her skirt during a flight three decades ago. READ MORE: Republicans walking away from Trump Thursday, Trump vehemently denied those accusations and claimed media outlets are in cahoots with his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. In response to another accusation from a People magazine reporter, he said: "You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so." Look through our timeline of Donald Trump's offensive comments towards and/or about women in the gallery above. -- ICYMI: With a 7-0 vote, the commission rejected two complaints filed in 2012 against Empower Texans and its President Michael Quinn Sullivan Following an internal staff recommendation to drop the case, the commission decided Thursday "there is insufficient credible evidence" to support the allegations made against Empower Texans. The commission did not comment on its decision. Sullivan, however, said his group planned to continue criticizing the eight-member panel of state campaign finance regulators. We've won and we're going to keep winning, Michael Quinn Sullivan said minutes after the decision. Now we're going to hold them accountable. These commissioners are going to find out they don't have carte blanche to play political games at the taxpayer's expense, writes the San Antonio Express-News David Rauf. -- Texas hits voter registration milestone, but what does it mean after 2016? My latest: Lets look at the historical increases behind the new numbers. The agency said Texas had 13.6 million registered voters, or 75 percent, during the 2012 presidential election. In 2008, that number stood at 13.5 million, or 77 percent. So, in those four years bookmarked by a competitive Democratic presidential primary and a fierce attempt to make President Obama a one-term chief executive only about 71,000 new registrants joined the process. Consider it in this context now, considering, of course, that people turn 18 years old every day: From 2012 to today, the state saw an increase of 1.3 million registered voters. -- NEW POLL: DALLAS - After perhaps the most damaging week of his campaign, Donald Trumps lead in Texas has slipped to four percentage points within the margin of error according to a new poll released Thursday night. The survey, commissioned by WFAA-TV and Texas TEGNA television stations, shows Trump leading Hillary Clinton by 47 percent to 43 percent. The margin of error is four percent. (WFAA) -- Trump allegations spark evangelical holy war, by the Chronicles Kevin Diaz In the week since Trump was revealed to have been caught on tape talking in vulgar terms about women, the debate among evangelicals has been intense, sparking a wave of reflection in churches and social media about how conservative Christians should vote on Nov. 8. Some of the loudest voices in the theological dispute have come from Texas, a state that anchors the Bible Belt. One belongs to Houston evangelist and author Beth Moore, whose tweets went viral this week after she called on Christian leaders to not dismiss the sexual objectification of women. -- MEDIA BLINK: Nearly two months ago, Emmis Communications, the Indianapolis-based company that owns Texas Monthly, announced that it was putting the title up for sale. Today we learned that the new owner is a Texan whose name will be familiar to our readers (and anyone who has flown out of Houston). Paul Hobby, whose grandfather was once the states governor and whose father was once the lieutenant governor, has purchased the magazine through his firm, Genesis Park.More here >> State asks court to rethink striking billboard ban, Houston Chronicle >> Why Wayne Christian is likely to win obscure Railroad Commission race, Statesman -- READ THIS: Texas betting on lawman to fix growing child welfare crisis, by the APs Paul Weber "When two of the most troubled child welfare systems in the U.S. plunged into crisis, Republican governors in Texas and Arizona turned to law enforcement veterans who promised tough investigations, then saw the safety net for vulnerable kids worsen. "Arizona's Greg McKay, a onetime Phoenix detective, has survived early calls for his firing as a once-massive case backlog wanes. Now Texas' Hank Whitman, a retired Texas Ranger who actor Robert Duvall cast to play a lawman in the 2015 film Wild Horses, is under similar pressure to turn woeful numbers around quickly. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday publicly prodded his hand-picked appointee for quicker action just seven months after selecting Whitman, who had no child welfare experience and hasn't slowed the trend of hundreds of reportedly abused kids the state is not checking on daily. CAPITOL DAYBOOK - no meetings SPEED READ Trump Defender Robert Jeffress to Rally Anti-LGBT Troops in Houston Before Election, Texas Observer Trump's still the man for many Texas GOP evangelicals, The Item Ex-official at UNT Health Science Center accused of indecency with a child, Dallas Morning News Anti-obesity coalition pushes for nutrition standards in state child care centers, Dallas Morning News Texas gets more than $45M in disaster aid for flood recovery, Star-Telegram Reports of sexual assault rise this year at Texas State University, Austin-American Statesman Soros again pumps money into Harris County district attorney's race, Houston Chronicle Houston 911 operator accused of hanging up on 1000s of calls, Houston Chronicle Trump allegations spark evangelical 'holy war,' Houston Chronicle Wu confident voters will return him to state House, Houston Chronicle Energy experts at SXSW Eco pitch new nuclear reactors, Houston Chronicle How to tell if a company does more good than bad, Houston Chronicle RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE -- You dont want to miss The Washington Posts Dan Balz here: Two speeches. Two Americas. A pair of apocalyptic arguments and one call to burn down the house. Thats the summation from just two remarkable hours Thursday that crystallized the final month of Campaign 2016. In back-to-back appearances, in what might be the two most compelling hours of the entire election, Michelle Obama in New Hampshire and Donald Trump in Florida delivered the fiercest, most provocative and hardest-hitting speeches of an election cycle that has been without precedent in hot rhetoric. The presidential campaign has been building toward all this. Day after day after day, the rhetoric has intensified, the charges and countercharges have escalated, the issues have been reduced to asterisks, and the gulf between the Trump and Clinton coalitions has widened. Sundays debate in St. Louis foreshadowed what was to come. Now there will be no turning back. -- The New York Times : Cut ties to Trump, big donors urge RNC Several of the Republican Party s most generous donors called on the Republican National Committee on Thursday to disavow Donald J. Trump , saying that allegations by multiple women that Mr. Trump had groped or made inappropriate sexual advances toward them threatened to inflict lasting damage on the partys image. To an elite group of Republican contributors who have donated millions of dollars to the partys candidates and committees in recent years, the cascade of revelations related to Mr. Trumps sexual conduct is grounds for the committee to cut ties with the partys beleaguered standard-bearer, finally and fully. >> Obama: Republicans deserve no credit for disavowing Trump, Houston Chronicle >> What female voters in Philly suburbs really think, CNN -- Trump is running out of ways to win, per CNN: Donald Trump cast himself in almost messianic terms Thursday in Florida, describing the presidential race as a struggle for the survival of our nation and vowing to win the White House despite all the slings and arrows being hurled in his direction. But 25 days before the election, Trump's path to the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency is looking more and more impossible by the day, as states he once said he'd flip from blue to red increasingly slip out of his reach. Meanwhile, reliably red states threaten to turn purple. 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. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money, and the Remaking of Lower Manhattan, by Lynne B. Sagalyn (Oxford, 928 pp., $39.95) In recent decades, New York City has gained a measure of control over things once considered unmanageable. Building big isnt one of them. If anything, the citys resurgence has made it harder to execute mega-projects by increasing the pressure to maintain and expand infrastructure. The $25.5 billion Ground Zero rebuilding, chronicled in a new book by Columbia Universitys Lynne Sagalyn, has been an unusually complex undertaking in two respects. First, no one was ever in charge. Decision-making was fragmented among Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Port Authority, and Larry Silverstein, the real estate developer to whom the Port Authority had leased the Twin Towers six weeks before their destruction. Second, Ground Zeros 16 acres are sacred ground. The need to commemorate the victims and heroes of 9/11 wasnt easy to square with the imperatives of restoring the lost commercial and retail space and rejuvenating lower Manhattan. There was never any question that Ground Zero would be rebuilt. Early suggestions, made shortly after 9/11 by victims families and outgoing mayor Rudy Giuliani that the site should serve purely a memorial function got pushed aside almost immediately. Silverstein began speaking within weeks of the attacks of being obligated to rebuild the 10 million square feet of demolished office space. In November 2002, he broke ground on 7 World Trade Center, whose predecessor of the same name had been destroyed along with several other buildings in the Twin Towers collapse. On the public side, early and encouraging signs of progress included city governments clearing the site of debris by May 2002, and the Port Authoritys opening up a temporary station for the PATH commuter train system in November 2003. Momentum soon stalled. It took years to resolve the emotional debates over the memorial program, such as where and how the victims names should be listed. The master plan by German architect Daniel Libeskind began to be revised soon after its adoption in February 2003. Twice, the Port Authority had to renegotiate the terms of the rebuilding with Silverstein. In 2006, the agency took control of 1 World Trade Center (then called the Freedom Tower), thus returning to the real-estate business that it had tried to get out of in the 2001 lease deal. Silverstein reaped a generous buyout and, in 2010, won additional public subsidies for the development of Towers 2, 3, and 4. To tamp down criticism that the construction was taking too long, the Port Authority spent moreand fasterthan it planned to. The World Trade Centers revival could have cost less in public subsidies, but a cheaper rebuilding would have meant an even slower one. Several books have already been written about Ground Zero after 9/11, but Sagalyns is easily the most ambitious730 pages of text packed with extensive details about the financial and engineering backstory of the rebuilding, as well as how everything played in the media at each step of the process. Its strange to see a book with such aspirations to comprehensiveness arrive at this time, given thatas is obvious to anyone whos recently visited the sitethe World Trade Center isnt yet fully rebuilt. (The Performing Arts Center and 2 World Trade Center havent begun to go up and 3 World Trade wont open until 2018.) Sagalyn employed a similar kitchen-sink approach in Times Square Roulette, her 2001 history of that neighborhoods comeback. But her findings there were organized around her thesis that, contrary to popular wisdom, Giuliani didnt revitalize Times Square. She doesnt have an overarching thesis about Ground Zero. Sagalyn does issue specific judgments about the dramatis personae. Pataki gets a thumbs down for his ebb and flow leadership style. Amidst the rebuildings chaotic political landscape, Pataki had more formal power than any other major player, but he made several weak appointments and, in the case of his more competent subordinates, failed to back them up. Pataki alternated, based on his own personal political needs, between inexplicable aloofness and willful intervention. Not that being political is always a bad thing. Sagalyn gives Bloomberg high marks for using his diplomatic skills to push the Port Authority and Silverstein to come to terms both in 2006 and 2010, and for resolving some of the tensest controversies relating to the memorial. Bloombergs political achievements were all the more notable considering that the city had much less authority than the state over the World Trade Center, the Port Authority, and even New Jersey, by virtue of its influence over the bi-state Port Authority. As for the Port Authority, Sagalyns book generally reinforces the conventional wisdom that it has morphed over the years from an arrogant, ambitious-but-effective agency to one that is hubristic and ineffective. The Port Authority made several mistakes throughout the rebuilding, but Sagalyn is most critical of how it managed its $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub project. For such a proud agency, the Port Authority adopted a strikingly obeisant pose toward Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish architect who designed the Transportation Hub. Calatrava comes across as a charismatic Harold Hill figure who used his charm to flip the traditional client-patron relationship. When conflicts between the complex design for the Hub and its constructability arose and created cost pressures, PA officials were reportedly unableand unwillingto counter Calatravas strong resistance to any change that threatened what he believed to be the projects design integrity, Sagalyn writes. By the time the Port Authority did wrest some power back from Calatrava, damage control was the only option, thanks to the many irreversible decisions that were taken early on. Two more lessons bear emphasis. First, when privatizing major assets, governments must make careful provision for what happens in the event of catastrophe. The Port Authority was right to lease out the World Trade Center to Silverstein, but the contract the two parties signed foresaw almost nothing about how they should share rebuilding responsibilities. Whereas sometimes businesses may be able to manage public assets more effectively than the government, the private sectors involvement in the Ground Zero rebuilding just meant more fragmentation. Second, blaming politics for why we cant meet our infrastructure needs in a timely and cost effective manner is too simplistic. Political skills are indispensable in addressing the nuances of mega-projects. In the current era of urban development, Robert Moses-style centralized decision-making is an impossibility; politicians are just as much the solution as they are the problem. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images The 2016 presidential campaign has inspired a visual backlash to business as usual, targeting the typical posturing, rituals, and coronations. From early on in the election cycle, staff photographers and freelancers have been challenging the campaign process at every turn, especially on Instagram and Twitter. Its not just visual satire and irony, which were prevalent in large doses in 2008 and 2012. Im talking about photos that channel the deep alienation felt by voters, as well as exploitation of that disaffection by candidates acting more angry, crass, and upset with the status quo. The results are hard-edged, aggressive, and cynical pictures that in other years either werent made or else never saw the light of day. These photos expose the artifice and the political veneer, holding up the process and candidates to an unprecedented level of inspection, critique, and in some cases, a reciprocal dose of hostility. Here are seven photos that, if not for the unusual tone and atmosphere of this campaign, may not have been published. A photo posted by Danny Wilcox Frazier (@dannywilcoxfrazier) on May 21, 2015 at 1:54pm PDT This early campaign photo was taken by veteran campaign photographer Danny Wilcox Frazier and posted on his Instagram feed. What it actually shows is a Clinton question-and-answer session with reporters raising their hands to ask questions. Heavily criticized for her lack of press conferences, however, the way the photo is cropped gives the impression of finger pointing. Wilcoxs caption further intimates that interpretation. He writes: Sign up for CJR 's daily email Hillary Clinton takes questions from reporters, Cedar Falls, Iowa (May 19, 2015). In recent weeks, the media and Republican candidates have criticized Hillary Clinton for the limited number of questions she has taken since announcing her presidential campaign. The former Secretary of State had answered just 13 (by NPRs count) before the impromptu press conference after her small business roundtable event in Iowa. Related: Q&A: Journalist who broke Trump groping story on why others were slow to follow This image from a Ted Cruz campaign photo op, circulated by the AP, was taken on June 20, 2015, at a pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment event at an Iowa shooting club. For context, its important to understand the event occurred just three days after the mass murder at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina by a deranged young man, Dylann Roof, who was hoping to start a race war. Nine people were killed in the attack, including the senior pastor. The photographer, Charlie Neibergall, took advantage of the position of the candidate, the angle, and a poster hanging on the wall. But its curious that such an aggressive photo was ever posted for use by wire-service members. In my mind, the photo relays the campaigns harsher mood. One could speculate it is also punishing Cruz for ignoring, and even exploiting, the church shooting, and the US culture of violence. I should also note the photo created a backlash from conservative sites, particularly Breitbart News, which unleashed an online barrage of criticism against AP. Whether the result of second thoughts, intimidation, or some combination, the newswire removed the photo, and four like it, from circulation. Are we seeing new level of candidness from campaign photogs this yr? photo: Brooks Kraft https://t.co/PTOs81ufUf pic.twitter.com/A5hXwa3l20 Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) July 10, 2015 This is another example of a photo I dont think would have been taken, or at least, not published, if not for the degree of voter frustration and alienation this year. Made by an experienced photojournalist and campaign veteran, Brooks Kraft, the photo was taken at a Hillary Clinton campaign event in Hanover, New Hampshire on July 3 and appeared in a Time slideshow, Photographing the Presidential Campaign With an iPhone 6, published on July 7, 2015. In the photo, you can see the Clinton supporter (notice the sticker) sharing her thoughts, and perhaps speaking her mind, to Huma Abedin, Hillary Clintons close aide and vice chairwoman of her 2016 campaign. When one considers the symbolism of inclusion and authority, its interesting how the aide is outside the wall and the citizen occupies the higher ground and has to drop down to address the power. Even more telling, and defiant on the photographers part, is how much we are privy to Abedins apparent displeasure. Related: Martha Raddatz and the case for a more assertive debate moderator A photo posted by nategowdy (@nategowdy) on Mar 2, 2016 at 4:40pm PST This photo by widely-published campaign freelancer Nate Gowdy (credits include Time and CNN) was published by Al Jazeera and also posted to his Instagram feed. It was taken at a town hall in Burlington, Vermont, on January 7, 2016. With the Iowa Caucus fast approaching, the relationship between Trump, his opponents, and the media was growing more vitriolic. In this multiple exposure, Gowdy depicted key Trump behavioral traits: hyperactivity and impulsivity. It should not be surprising that Donald Trump is the character who appears most in these photos. His campaign has channeled and also generated an enormous amount of polarization and provocation in the presidential cycle. This December 3, 2015, photo from Getty Images evoking a Nazi salute was actually taken during the Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum in Washington. Perhaps the most important point to make about photos like this: Its an easy gesture to capture. Politicians stick out their hands constantly to acknowledge applause or to ask for quiet. If its a cheap shot, though, why did Getty publish it, and why did it run when it did? Having enjoyed a considerable amount of attention as the campaigns shiny new object and media novelty, it seemed clear by the end of 2015 that the public had reached a tipping point in its perception of Trump. Taken after calling for mosques to be surveilled and just before his call for a ban on Muslim immigration, the photo corresponded to increasing references to him as a demagogue. His speech, by the way, was laced with Jewish stereotypes, and was openly antagonistic toward the audience. He insisted for example, that the organization wouldnt support him because he didnt want their money. This photo was taken during Trumps visit to the Greater Faith Ministries Church in Detroit on September 3, 2016. While critics questioned his sincerity in light of his record of racial insensitivity, Trump made a multi-week attempt to ingratiate himself with the African-American voting block, scheduling several high-profile visits to black churches. While most photographs captured Trump in more engaged or benign poses while the congregation was uniformly joined in spirited song, this AP photograph by Evan Vucci deigned to call out Mr. Trump for opportunism and self-interest. In the photo, Trump is framed as distant, disengaged and even calculating. The New York Magazine caption, in fact, is framed more like an accusation than a description. It reads: Trump got his political start questioning the legitimacy of Americas first black president, and once defended his familys real-estate business against federal discrimination charges. A photo posted by Landon Nordeman (@landonnordeman) on Jul 22, 2016 at 8:08pm PDT This photo was taken by Landon Nordeman at the conclusion of the Republican Convention in Cleveland. Covering the campaign for Time, the freelance and well-known fashion photographer posted the image to his Instagram feed. It was a parting shot at the conclusion of what many termed a chaotic, contentious, four-day Trump infomercial. Several other photographers posted versions of the same scene. Of course, there is an analogy to be drawn between the action in the photo and how Trump is expressing himselfmaking his mark on the campaign and country. There are many more examples of campaign photos that tear at the curtain, expose the artifice, or refuse to collude with campaign protocol, gestures, and niceties. Certainly, voter disaffection with Trump and Clinton, cynicism around Campaign 2016 in general, and ongoing gridlock in Washington suggests this defiant and undermining tone in the visual coverage might endure beyond Election Day. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Michael Shaw is publisher of the nonprofit visual-literacy and media-literacy site ReadingThePictures, an analyst of news photos and visual journalism, and a frequent lecturer and writer on news imagery, photojournalism, and documentary photography. Follow ReadingThePictures via Twitter and Instagram. This election cycle has seen a proliferation of online tools that make the job of digging up and delivering newsworthy information a little bit easier. The toolswhich take advantage of advances in artificial intelligence, algorithms, video software, and analyticshelp journalists navigate big data and an internet ecosystem increasingly entwined with the political landscape. The social media wave that helped put President Obama in office in 2008 looks almost quaint in comparison. CJR rounded up five online tools that will help journalists cut down on research and production time, find new ways of analyzing voters, and create engaging journalism that is digestible for the reader, even without the resources of a big newsroom. 1) Map subcultures on social networks The morning after the first presidential debate, the hashtag #TrumpWon was trending on Twitter. Gilad Lotan, Chief Data Scientist at start-up studio betaworks, was intrigued by the confused reaction to the trending topic and decided to investigate. Lotan turned to the betaworks platform Scale Model (he is a co-founder), which is used to map communities on social media and track how information filters through interest groups. The tool is geared towards advertisers, but in this instance Lotan used the platform to track the #TrumpWon hashtag back to its source and unearthed a cluster of highly active Trump supporters who were organized enough to Tweet the same message, at the same time, from multiple locations, among tightly-knit networks. New blog post on the #TrumpWon hashtag and the communities of users who got it to trend worldwide https://t.co/RWmA39vkfr pic.twitter.com/0V0IPvM0Qf Sign up for CJR 's daily email Gilad Lotan (@gilgul) September 29, 2016 Lotan identified five different categories of Trump supporters who were pushing the hashtag, from traditional conservatives to white nationalists. Later in the day, a fake news story that the #TrumpWon hashtag had originated in Russia began to spread through an equal and opposite world of anti-Trump supporters. Lotans Medium post about his research process provides an interesting insight into how densely connected communities from both sides of politics can cause misinformation spread through Twitter and go viral. Its worth reading the whole thing. Trending topics are helpful as they cut across information silos, gaining significant levels of attention from people who would otherwise never see your content, he writes, going to explain how false information can spread like wildfire, especially when there are enough people invested in making it true. Scale Model offers a 14 day free-trial for those interested in checking it out. Related: Martha Raddatz and the case for a more assertive debate moderator 2) Keyword-search audio files After leaked footage of Donald Trump casually advocating sexual assault was published by The Washington Post Friday, it became clear sound bites unearthed from old audio and video material could influence the outcome of the election. Deepgram is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to transcribe large audio files and allow users to search them using keywords. Theyre giving journalists free access until Election Day. Try it out here. 3) Make a supercut Everyone loves a supercut. After Sunday nights debate, videos of Trump lurking behind Clinton, Trump arguing with the moderators, and a 15 minute long cut from PBS showing the candidates silent moments during the debate, began to do the rounds. Supercuts, which are created by stitching together multiple short video clips, are often used for comedic effect, but they can also highlight trends that arent as noticeable during a long broadcast. For instance, this year-old supercut showing CNN commentators and guests uttering Donald Trumps name 239 times in a 24-hour period encapsulates how Trump can dominate the media cycle and basically sums up coverage of this entire election. For those wanting to make their own, its pretty easy to do thanks to Spin Time TV, an online community dedicated to remixing video of the election. TV News Archive is making a video archive of the debates available on a two-minute delay, enabling the Spin Time TV group to isolate clips, edit them, and share them on Twitter using Mozillas Popcorn Maker, a free, web-based, open source video editor. Join the Spin Time TV community and access free tools and tutorials here. For more political supercuts, such as this one likening Donald Trump to Frank Costanza, head over to The Washington Free Beacons YouTube page where you can lose yourself for hours. 4) Visualize the candidates campaign messaging Which candidates goes on the attack more on TwitterTrump or Clinton? You might be surprised to learn that its Clinton. At the time of publication, Trump has posted 2,396 messages classified as attacking, compared to 2,745 from Clinton. The caveat is that Clinton is more likely to post attacks related to issues, while Trumps attacks focus more on image. Thats the sort of information you can find through Illuminating 2016, a tool that enables journalists to create data visualizations out of the social media activity of political candidates. The team behind project is compiling data from the Facebook and Twitter accounts of all of the major party presidential candidates and analyzes them in real-timethe website refreshes every hour. Users can make graphs and charts comparing things like the volume of Tweets from each candidate, their most liked and re-Tweeted messages, and their share of promotional hashtag mentions. For example, Trumps most re-Tweeted message in the past year was posted on July 20: The media is spending more time doing a forensic analysis of Melanias speech than the FBI spent on Hillarys emails. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2016 Meanwhile, Clintons most re-Tweeted message comes from September 27: Users can create visualizations filtered by time frame, candidate, and topic, generating insights not only into how candidates are communicating with their constituents, but also how their constituents are responding to them. You can read about the methodology here. Related: FiveThirtyEights Whiz Kid Harry Enten represents the new generation of political journalist 5) Mine public data Last month ProPublica and Google News Lab launched the Election DataBot, an online tool that helps journalists find newsworthy leads about the presidential race by automatically surfacing the most interesting details gathered from campaign finance filings, congressional votes, polls, and Google Trends data. Users can search by keyword or browse data by state. The latest data for Hillary Clinton shows a $66,653 donation from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin Political Fund, a link to a Politico/Morning Consult poll noting that Trump has managed to maintain support following the unsavory revelations of the last week, and a big spike in Google searches of Clintons name around the time of Sundays presidential debate. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Shelley Hepworth , formerly a CJR Delacorte Fellow, is Technology Editor at The Conversation in Australia. Follow her on Twitter @shelleymiranda. On Monday night in Chicago, more than 300,000 children and their families waited to find out whether teachers from the nations third largest school district would strike in the morning. As the clock ticked toward a midnight deadline to reach a deal, the citys education reporters watched from a downtown conference room, where union leaders were reviewing an offer from the citys appointed Board of Education. Because it was so late, the story unfolded on social media, where reporters shared photos and streamed video, engaged with parents and teachers, and tried to verify rumors in real time. It was a fascinating show of just how powerful social media has become for reporting local stories and for taking readers and viewers behind the scenes for an intimate look at how government works. On Periscope and Facebook Live, every report became an informal version of the late-evening news. The education audience in Chicago is so loyal and so involved and wants to know whats going on, says Lauren FitzPatrick, an education reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, who tracked developments on social media in the papers newsroom until the deal averting a strike was finally announced just before midnight. People were biting their nails, and it was getting later and later. Sarah Karp, who covers education for public radio station WBEZ, was all over the story on Twitter. She told her 2,100 followers when union president Karen Lewis was smiling, and reported that a top aide to Mayor Rahm Emanuel was making a long phone call and pacing. Her tweets gave her followers a front-row seat at the negotiations. When a follower asked if she thought a deal was close, she responded that she honestly didnt know, something a reporter would be hard pressed to do in a routine story. She tweeted that she had told her own son to do his homework, just in case he had school in the morning. If you look closely you can see Ctu lawyer Robert Bloch making a phone call Ctu communication chief Stephanie Gadlin is also there pic.twitter.com/NtWq6N47Df Sarah Karp (@SSKedreporter) October 11, 2016 Lewis: Still work to be done but "There will be class in the morning" Matt Masterson (@ByMattMasterson) October 11, 2016 Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project The mayor's guy mike Rendina making a long phone call and pacing Wonder if he is talking to Rahm or claypool Sarah Karp (@SSKedreporter) October 11, 2016 The press werent the only ones using social media. The Chicago Teachers Union relied primarily on Twitter and Facebook to update its members and parents on the status of the negotiations, while also trying not to interfere with them, says Ronnie Reese, member communication coordinator for the union. We knew we had to let bargaining run its course and provide information sparingly, he says. Its unfortunate we couldnt say more, because we knew that the entire city was in limboor at least the half that wasnt watching the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs. Principals and teachers also were monitoring the negotiations on social media. When the deal was reached and finally announced close to midnight, several principals tweeted the news to their followers. The school district announced the news on its Facebook page at 12:42 a.m. The post was shared 789 times and had 229 comments from students and parents. In situations like this, theres no direct line of communication from central office to principals, says Nate Pietrini, a principal at Hawthorne Scholastic Academy. So we do rely on journalists and social media in order to have information available in real time. Chicago education reporters often use social media to report their stories, particularly from Board of Education meetings when dozens of parents often sign up to testify, says Matt Masterson, associate digital producer and education reporter for WTTWs Chicago Tonight, a topical public affairs news program that airs nightly at 7 p.m. But Monday night was unique, says Masterson, who was among those tweeting from the 11th hour negotiations. The Chicago Public School district already had notified parents about alternative sites to send their children if schools were closed, and teachers had been picking up strike signs and gear since the weekend. There was this glass room all the negotiators were in, Masterson says. You could see right into what they were doing, Were they smiling or frustrated or looking things up? We could immediately publish that. Juan Perez Jr., education reporter for the Chicago Tribune, was juggling two cell phones and a laptop during the negotiations. This was just a situation that was a little unusual because the audience was much larger than what we would normally experience. he says. The engagement I saw dwarfed anything we would normally see from a school board meeting. (Perez had more than 3,000 viewers on one Periscope video of a press conference from the negotiations that he streamed on Twitter.) It felt a little bit like election night. Although Perez typically doesnt livestream while reporting, he used Periscope Monday night to provide live video coverage on Twitter. Its reserved for a situation like its a weird hour, a breaking news story, he says. It was the perfect opportunity for this. Craig Wall, a reporter with the Fox News affiliate in Chicago, reported live from the negotiations through his Facebook page, even though the Fox also cut into regular programming with updates. Basically I was able to cover it and bring the Facebook viewers to the press conference, he says. In these kinds of circumstances, people want to keep up. Its a great way if they arent expecting it to be covered by TV late at night. Parent Jessica Espinosa was following Fox News and the Chicago Teachers Union on social media to find out whether her three children would have school in the morning. Just before midnight on her schools Facebook page, she shared the Fox 32 Facebook Live video of the press conference announcing a strike had been averted. For all the negatives social media can create, they can be a useful tool for getting up-to-the-second updates, Espinosa says. Me and my husband were following Twitter all night until we got the news on the agreement. The major news sites all updated their websites as the night went on. But as FitzPatrick noted, even this kind of updating cant keep pace with the immediacy of social media. It felt a little bit like election night, she says. We had an awesome editor on, a political editor who is smart and fast. But the technology takes time to do news alerts. Twitter is just the fastest way to tell people. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jackie Spinner is CJRs correspondent for Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. She is an associate journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago and a former staff writer for The Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter @jackiespinner. City pedestrians are being urged to Look Alive and not at their cellphones by folks dressed as though theyre dead. The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and other groups are trying to scare pedestrians off their cellphones by having actors dressed as the Grim Reaper and zombies urging people to look up from their cellphones while theyre walking downtown. The $50,000 program rolled out Tuesday is driven by an increase nationally in accidents involving distracted pedestrians. National statistics show the number of fatal vehicle-pedestrian accidents was dropping steadily for decades, but has increased since 2009 as people have become more engrossed in their phones, said Jeremy Waldrup, president and CEO of the downtown partnership. The Look Alive campaign, which is similar to efforts in Chicago and New York City, uses a variety of reminders for people to get their eyes off their phones and on the sidewalks and streets in front of them. Among them are chalk body outlines near busy intersections, reminder posters at transit stations and the ghoulishly dressed improv actors who will provide a gentle, comic reminder if they see a pedestrian too engrossed in their cellphone. The Pittsburgh effort also involves the Port Authority of Allegheny County, the county health department and Bike Pittsburgh. One feature distinguishes it from similar programs. Red House Communications, a company based on the citys South Side has developed a geo-fencing service that will send messages to certain cellphone apps as people approach the citys busiest downtown intersections. Geo-fencing is location-based marketing that uses global-positioning technology to send advertisements or messages to cellphone users in certain specific geographic areas. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald acknowledges everybody gets distracted by their cellphones and could be more careful. Sometimes we get distracted, were in a hurry, we have to get to the next meeting, we need to get the information about the next meeting, but its a lesson to all of us: Safety first, he said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Washington Couple Gets Jail Time in Workers Comp Scam Officials say a married couple who owned and operated a now defunct foreign-language interpreter service just north of Seattle has been sentenced to jail for a fraudulent billing scheme. The Washington state Department of Labor and Industries said in a news release that 40-year-old Kitzia Huerta-Ward and 44-year-old Philip Ward were each sentenced on one felony count of theft involving the submission of thousands of false bills to the agency. They were each sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to repay Labor and Industries over $16,000 for inflating bills they sent to the state for reimbursement. The agency had been paying the couples firm, Hispanic Voices, to provide Spanish-language interpretation for injured workers at medical and vocational appointments related to workers compensation claims. Central New York Man Ditched SUV in Pond to Avoid Payments Authorities say a 54-year-old central New York ditched his SUV in a pond, then lied to police by claiming that the vehicle had been stolen from his residence. Madison County sheriffs deputies tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that Robert Kimball, of Chittenango, has been charged with third-degree falsely reporting an incident. Deputies say they were investigating an attempted home break-in in September when a neighbor advised police that his vehicle was missing. That touched off a search, and the vehicle, an all-wheel-drive 2008 Hummer, was subsequently discovered in a pond just north of Syracuse. Deputies determined through an investigation that Kimball intentionally submerged the Hummer in the pond to avoid loan payments. Hes due in court Nov. 1. It couldnt be determined if he has a lawyer. New Jersey Contractors Stole From Sandy Victims State authorities say a New Jersey couple and their home improvement companies stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from more than 20 victims who hired them to repair or rebuild their homes after Superstorm Sandy. Jeffrey Colmyer and Tiffany Cimino, of Little Egg Harbor, were arrested Tuesday on numerous charges, including theft, money laundering and tax fraud. Charges also were filed against their companies, Rayne Construction Management Services and Colmyer & Sons Construction. The Attorney Generals office says the victims paid the couple and their firms more than $1 million, mostly in Sandy relief funds. But authorities say the couple used much of the money to gamble and buy luxury items. Bail for each suspect was set at $300,000. It wasnt known if either one has retained an attorney. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it is sending fire-resistant packages to its customers in the U.S. as a precaution against possible fires or explosions from Galaxy Note 7s they return to retailers. Samsung is offering prepaid shipping boxes as an option for U.S. consumers who purchased the phones on its website, Samsung.com. It said consumers who purchased their Note 7 phones from mobile carriers should visit the carriers websites for recall instructions. On Tuesday, Samsung said it was discontinuing the Note 7 phones just two months after their launch, after two recalls and many reports of fires. Samsung must now deal with receiving back more than 1.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones, both the original ones and those issued as replacements. Most were sold in the U.S. and South Korea. A video on YouTube dated Tuesday shows a man it says is at the XDA Developers office in the U.S., unpacking a kit containing a static shield bag, thermally insulated boxes, gloves and instructions for ground shipping only. We have just received this crazy Galaxy Note 7 return kit, the person said in the video. According to the XDA Developers forum, Samsungs packing instructions say the Note 7 should be put in the static shield bag and then in a box labeled OEM Replacement to be put inside an Inner Box and a Recovery Box. Shipping companies reportedly had complained they did not want to handle Note 7 returns because of fire concerns. Samsung said the packaging kits conform with U.S. requirements for shipping lithium-ion batteries or devices containing them that are subject to a recall. Sentencing has been set for a New Jersey man who pleaded guilty to insurance fraud charges in connection with the 2010 arson of the Hitching Post Inn, a landmark Cheyenne hotel that was a popular place for Wyoming lawmakers to stay during the annual legislative session. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that Falgun Dharia faces up to 20 years in prison when hes sentenced Nov. 17. Dharia was a principal in CJM Hospitality LLC, which bought the Hitching Post at a bankruptcy proceeding. Prosecutors say the blaze was set to defraud an insurance company of $13 million. Dharia has admitted to knowing about the arson when filing an insurance claim, but denies responsibility for the fire. One of Dharias business partners and two other men were sentenced to prison in 2013 for various crimes related to the blaze. Ajay Jariwala, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is serving a six-year prison sentence for commissioning the arson, and Robert Rodriguez, also of Albuquerque, a five-year prison term for carrying it out. Dharia was a principal in CJM Hospitality LLC, which had bought the Hitching Post at a bankruptcy proceeding for $1 million. Dharia arranged for Jariwala to oversee the renovation of the hotel and with Jariwala decided hire Rodriguez to burn it down to collect insurance, according to the indictment. In September, 2010, Jariwala arranged a phone conversation between Rodriguez and Dharia in which Dharia guaranteed Rodriguez would be paid if he set fire to the Hitching Post main lodge, federal prosecutors allege. The fire happened early on Sept. 15, 2010. Before the fire, the Hitching Post had a steakhouse and a bar with regular, live music acts. Rooms on the property that survived the fire continue to be rented out, but the main lodge hasnt been rebuilt. Dharia will be sentenced in New York. Mead Gruver contributed to this article. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AKRON, Ohio - Two Akron men wanted for separate crimes have been arrested in Florida and Texas, Akron police said Thursday. Brock Richardson, 26, was found by the U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force in Port Richey, Florida, according to an Akron police news release. Davon Irvine, 23, was found by the Marshals' Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force in Stafford, Texas. Both of the men were arrested without issue and are awaiting extradition to Ohio, police said. Richardson is charged in Akron Municipal Court with involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs and trafficking in drugs, records show. He is accused of selling a heroin dose in February 2016 to a 21-year-old man. The man suffered a fatal overdose and was found dead by his mother, police said. Irvine is charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary, court records show. Irvine is accused of participating in a Pontiac Street home invasion in December 2015. Irvine and a female accomplice duct-taped, tied up and pistol-whipped someone in the home before taking more than $1,200 in cash and a cell phone, police said. The out-of-state task forces worked with the Marshals' Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force to gather information about the men's whereabouts, including conducting interviews and doing surveillance, police said. If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. Federal courthouse cleveland A federal grand jury has issued additional charges against an Akron terrorism suspect. (Plain Dealer file photo) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A federal grand jury has added charges against an Akron man accused of soliciting the killing of military members in the name of an Islamic extremist group. Terrence McNeil, 23, now faces 15 federal charges, including communicating threats, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and violating the protection of individuals performing official duties. He was first indicted in December on six charges. The FBI arrested McNeil, an Akron City Hospital employee, in November. Agents said that he posted files on his social-media pages that contained the names and addresses of people believed to be members of the military. Included in the files were messages encouraging others to kill those people. McNeil's actions were in support of the Islamic State, a terrorist group also known as ISIS or ISIL that has either carried out or claimed responsibility for attacks in California, Paris and in other parts of the world, authorities say. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in June ordered McNeil to undergo a mental health evaluation to determine whether McNeil is competent to stand trial. The judge did this after McNeil appeared to laugh upon hearing that he faced life in prison without parole if convicted. A status conference is set for Tuesday. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Friday's crime and courts comments section. Opening statements in Warrensville Heights death penalty trial Douglas Shine Jr. stares into the camera following opening statements in his capital murder trial, flanked by Attorney Robert Dixon, left, and Russell Tye, right. (John Harper, cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nearly six weeks and 24 witnesses into Cuyahoga County's second death penalty trial this year, a mistrial scare Thursday involving outside contact with a juror had prosecutors and attorneys on the verge of a square one reset. After seven hours of hearings and deliberation, Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg decided the capital murder trial of Douglas Shine, Jr. could go forward despite a ruckus in the jury room when one juror broke down and exclaimed that her family been contacted by Shine's mother. That juror was dismissed, but the remaining 11 jurors and five alternates will carry on and hear the case. Attorneys for Shine, a Heartless Felons gang member accused of killing three people in a barbershop on Feb. 5, 2015 and plotting the execution of a witness in the case, made a motion for a mistrial, saying that the incident left an impression on the jurors. "Everyone in that room knew what had taken place, had discussed it and it had an impact," Defense Attorney Robert Dixon said. Dixon went on to argue that previous courts had ruled that there should be a presumption of prejudice when a juror is subjected to outside influence. Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Christopher Schroeder argued the opposite, claiming that U.S. Supreme Court rulings had determined that the burden was on the defense to prove that jurors may have been prejudiced by an incident. Synenberg individually questioned all 12 jurors and five alternate jurors about the incident. Jurors described a fraught and "confused" scene in the jury room after the now-dismissed juror broke down and was removed by a court bailiff. They described her as visibly upset, one heard her say "I can't stay silent anymore." Some jurors heard the distraught juror say that her daughter was approached by Shine's mother while dropping off a child at daycare and asked her to "have mercy on my son." Several jurors expressed concern at the fact that her identity was discovered. Shine's mother is on the prosecutor's witness list and is not allowed to attend the trial except to testify. "We don't know who is in the back of the courtroom," one juror said. Another juror couldn't hold back tears. "I heard her say that they approached her children, which just makes me think of my children," she said before the judge handed her a box of tissues. Prosecutors believe a member of Shine's family did approach the juror, but don't think it was his mother, according to spokesman Joe Frolik. Synenberg deliberated for 30 minutes and allowed the trial to continue after bringing each juror back into the court room individually and asking whether they could disregard the day's events in both the first and second phase of the death penalty trial. It took nearly a month to pick 12 jurors and five alternates. Another juror was excused from the trial Thursday afternoon because of work conflicts, leaving three remaining alternates. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty expressed grave concern about further delay in the trial. He has pressed Synenberg to advance the case to trial as quickly as possible. "If I sought a delay in this case, I thought lives would be lost," McGinty said. Before trial began, Synenberg granted a request to have all witnesses deposed on the record so that their sworn testimony could be presented in court if they were killed. Earlier this week, a witness said that she was "scared to death" to testify in the case. She later testified that she could not identify the shooter in the courtroom. Four witnesses present during the barbershop shooting have already identified Shine as the shooter in front of the jury. Prosecutors are also expected to play the recorded statement of witness Aaron Ladson. Shine's brother, Kevin McKinney, killing Ladson several months after the barbershop massacre. He remains in jail awaiting trial. Shine's trial will resume at 8:50 a.m. Monday. If you'd like to comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comment section. At first I thought Tom Olschlager's letter (VP debate made Trump look good) was a satire -- that he wasn't really serious. He stated that the left is extremely intolerant and has no solutions to the problems it alone has created. So he doesn't think that when Trump says Mexicans coming to America are criminals and rapists, or that a judge with an Hispanic background can't be impartial, or that Obama wasn't born in the U.S., that Trump and his followers aren't being intolerant? And it isn't just Trump. Republicans for decades have fostered antipathy toward racial minorities. They have admitted this themselves And as far as the left alone causing problems, it wasn't the left that steered us into Iraq. It wasn't the left that caused the financial meltdown in 2008. It wasn't the left that promoted the tax reductions for the wealthy that have contributed to income inequality. The writer apparently was serious in his comments, but his is an alternative reality. Frank Kunstel, Willowick Washington being "broken" has been so widely publicized I felt compelled to write this public service announcement: 1. Article II Section 2 of the Constitution says, the president "shall have the Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate to appoint Ambassadors, Judges of the supreme Court." The current Republican Senate has refused to even give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing. As of February, at least 68 other positions were unfilled (for the same reason). 2. Article I Section 8 says that it is the job of Congress to "declare war." To date, neither house has seen fit to debate our country's involvement in Iraq and Syria. 3. Article I Section 7 says "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." Rather than going through the trouble of writing a budget, they have passed "Public Law 114-223," to fund the government through December 9, 2016, in essence "kicking the can to the end of the driveway." Washington is broken; Republicans have swarmed both houses of Congress. Any reasonable person would conclude that Republicans have no interest in governing, only in being elected, so I strongly urge everyone to vote for Democrats. David F. Denes, Twinsburg On Wednesday, Ant Financial, the company behind Alipay, demonstrated VR Pay at the Shenzhen Innovation Week, and said the technology currently works with VR headsets that are powered by smartphones. Alibaba 's finance arm is working on a technology that could potentially allow users to shop inside virtual stores without having to take off their virtual reality (VR) goggles to settle payments. Zhuang Zhuoran, Senior Director for Alibaba Wireless Division, shows Alibaba's VR shopping technology Buy+ during the press conference on June 30, 2016 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. "VR Pay is developed based on Alipay's security technologies and backend capacities," Lin Feng, senior technology expert in charge of F Lab, one of Ant Financial's incubators, told CNBC on Thursday by email. "When users need to complete payments within different VR use cases, [they] can use their Alipay accounts." Alipay is one of China's largest online payments systems, with over 450 million active users. The VR space is expected to see a rapid uptake in the next few years, with the introduction of several new VR headsets this year including Google 's Daydream VR and Sony 's PlayStation VR. Spending on VR headsets is expected to reach as much as $7.9 billion by 2020, according to data analytics firm IHS Markit. The payment process on VR Pay involves two steps: first, users log in to their account in order to verify their identities; then they are required to enter a password to confirm the payment. User identity authentication can be done using voice print technology, which can recognize individual voices of users, or by logging into the account through the smartphone and then syncing it to the VR handset. To confirm payment, a password has to be entered and it can be done in three ways: first, by tapping onto a touch pad, like the one found on Samsung Gear VR headsets; second by nodding one's head, and lastly by staring at different numbers on the VR display screen for a few seconds. Thailand's return to civilian rule could be delayed amid a year-long mourning period for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, as the Southeast Asian state's military junta tries to maintain stability. Thailand's military-led government will consolidate its power, push back elections to 2018 and keep political unrest in check after the death of the revered monarch, political analysts told CNBC. "The armed forces will persevere as the dominant institution across the land," said Paul Chambers, Director of Research at the Institute of South East Asian Affairs. Longer-term, however, the loss of the world's longest reigning monarch widely praised and perceived as a moderator and arbiter in often acrimonious and violent political disputes may bring political tensions to the fore. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, associate professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, told CNBC's "The Rundown" that the monarchy was at the apex of Thailand's political system, regardless of which party held government. "You could not envision Thailand without King Bhumibol, our charismatic king," Pavin said. Seen as a unifying force in the politically-divided country that had been subject to some 20 coups - including unsuccessful ones - during his 70 years of reign, the king died in a Bangkok hospital on Thursday. He was 88. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, an associate professor at the faculty of political science at Chulalongkorn University, explained that the power King Bhumibol wielded was a kind of "moral authority" born of acting with integrity for decades. Verizon (VZ) said Yahoo's (YHOO) recent data hack may have been material enough to renegotiate the terms of their takeover deal. Verizon currently has a $4.83 billion agreement in place to buy Yahoo's core internet assets. (Reuters) Netflix (NFLX) has nabbed Chris Rock for two new stand-up comedy specials. The video streaming service is paying Rock $40 million. Amazon, Hulu, and HBO were also bidding for the specials. (Variety) United Continental (UAL) suffered a computer glitch that temporarily delayed thousands of United Airlines passengers on flights worldwide. The airline said the problem was resolved late last night. (Reuters) SoftBank of Japan and Saudi Arabia are partnering to an investment fund, possibly $100 billion, to seek out promising tech companies around the world. (NY Times) Pinterest said it now has 150 million monthly active users, a 50 percent increase over a year ago. It's likely bigger than Twitter (TWTR) in the U.S. Privately held Pinterest was valued last year at $11 billion. (WSJ) Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google has introduced a fact checking category to its news service, just ahead of the presidential election. Articles in Google News are labeled and categorized to reflect the type of story. (CNBC) Donald Trump reportedly plans to claim Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a New York Times shareholder and Clinton Foundation donor, was part of a cabal dredging up allegations the GOP nominee touched women inappropriately. (WSJ) Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the White House today, urging President Barack Obama to replace SEC Chair Mary Jo White. Warren revived her call for the SEC to develop a political spending disclosure rule, something she said White refused to to do. (CNBC) Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told CNBC the Wells Fargo sales scandal isn't as bad as what took place before the financial crisis, but it still points to the need for consumer protections. Wall Street reform should not be rolled back, he added. Lew also told CNBC that newly announced tax regulations were intended to further limit inversion deals and reduce their appeal for American companies. The requirements are meant to discourage "egregious tax behavior," Lew added. In a pitch to convert working Americans who currently support Donald Trump, President Barack Obama claimed Friday that the GOP nominee's history shows he's unlikely to implement policies that help the lower and middle classes. "Look, if a guy's spent 70 years on this Earth showing no regard for working people there's no record that he's supported minimum wage, or supported collective bargaining or invested in poor communities and then suddenly he's going to be the champion of working people? Come on. Come on, man!" Obama said during a Hillary Clinton event in Cleveland. On Thursday, Trump lashed out at media organizations, claiming they were part of a global conspiracy to undermine his campaign. Obama, however, used that defiant Trump speech as another opportunity to attack the Republican nominee's intentions for American workers. "Apparently in a speech yesterday he started talking about 'global elites' that there was a conspiracy of global elites. This is a guy who spent all his time hanging around trying to convince everybody he was a global elite, talking about how great his buildings are, and how luxurious, and how rich he is, and flying around everywhere," Obama said. "All he had time for was celebrities, and now suddenly he's acting like he's a populist out there 'Man, I'm going to fight for working people' come on, man!" Bradd Jaffy tweet: Obama weighs in on Trump's "conspiracy" speech "COME ON, MAN!" "You want to know what somebody's going to do, look what they've been doing their whole lives," the president added. Obama's critique of Trump came after his effusive praise for Clinton, whom he depicted as a lifelong fighter for working Americans. "No matter how tough the odds, no matter how much people try to knock her down, she doesn't point fingers or whine, she doesn't talk about how everything's rigged. She just works harder and gets the job done and never ever quits," Obama said. With next week's intense earnings and slew of data, Jim Cramer will have his nose to the grindstone studying results and will have no time to chit chat. "I stay focused, since this is when the fundamentals really come to the fore and direct the overall direction of the market," the "Mad Money" host said. With this in mind, Cramer outlined the stocks and events on his radar next week: Monday: Fed's Stanley Fischer Speaks, Bank of America, IBM, Netflix Fed's vice chairman Fischer: As Fischer has been a proponent for a rate hike in the past, every time he opens his mouth the market gets hit. Cramer will be prepared for Fischer's speech on Monday to take stocks down. Bank of America : Even though the stock is cheap, Cramer worries that the company may have gotten ahead of itself, thanks to the earnings of JPMorgan and Citigroup. Netflix : At this point, the expectations for Netflix are so low Cramer thinks it may be able to beat them. "Longer-term I remain a believer in Netflix, but I accept there can be hiccups along the way," Cramer said. Donald Trump will claim Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim was part of a cabal dredging up allegations the Republican nominee touched women inappropriately, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the report, which cited an unnamed Trump adviser, Trump planned to claim that Slim, a New York Times shareholder and Clinton Foundation donor, was trying to boost Hillary Clinton's campaign by damaging Trumps. The adviser said Trump could launch the attack as early as Friday, the report said. A spokesman for Slim denied that the media mogul had interfered in the U.S. election, while New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said Slim had never sought to influence the newspaper's coverage, the WSJ reported. A Clinton campaign press secretary called Trump's claim a "deranged right-wing conspiracy theory," the report said. The Slim family owned around 17 percent of The New York Times Co. Class A shares as of March, although the Sulzberger family controls the company, the report noted. The full WSJ report can be read here. Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating told CNBC on Friday he is surprised by Sen. Elizabeth Warren's urgency to designate a new Securities and Exchange Commission chair, even at one point calling the senator "difficult." The Democratic senator sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Friday, asking him to replace Mary Jo White as head of the SEC. Warren said White has refused to develop a political spending disclosure rule that would force companies to reveal their political contributions. But Keating, a Republican former U.S. attorney in Oklahoma, doesn't see the urgency. He said White will likely be replaced soon anyway. "Elizabeth Warren can be difficult on occasion, but she is a United States senator," Keating said on "Squawk on the Street." "Apparently, [White] is going to be gone anyway. The new president will more than likely select their own person, so I'm surprised here with just a few days left, if you will, before the end of the term that the senator is so insistent that she step down." It remains to be seen if White will indeed be replaced. Keating added that White's perceived "carefulness" is understandable and said she has done a good job. "When you're dealing with the jurisdiction the SEC has, you have to move carefully, you have to move precisely, you have to make sure you don't spook markets ... and what you do is accurate, legal and subject to obviously appropriate congressional or public oversight," he said. Google has introduced a fact checking category to its news service, just ahead of the U.S. presidential elections. Articles in Google News are labeled and categorized to reflect the type of story they are. For example, there is an "in-depth" and "opinion" label. Now the search giant is adding "fact check" to the list "to help readers find fact checking in large news stories". The chief executive of Hershey Co , the chocolate company that Oreo cookie-maker Mondelez International Inc tried to acquire earlier this year, is preparing to step down by next summer, the company said in a release. The move comes less than three months after the charitable trust that controls Hershey reached a major reform agreement with its overseer, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, raising questions about its future plans for the company. Hershey's board of directors is already preparing for the resignation of CEO John Bilbrey, and has formed a committee to find a successor, the people said. Bilbrey is stepping down to spend more time with his family, one of the people said. He plans to remain non-executive chairman on Hershey's board, that person added. Bilbrey was named CEO of Hershey in 2011, after serving in various senior roles at the company since 2003. He added the position of Chairman in 2015. Prior to Hershey, Bilbrey worked for 22 years at consumer company Procter & Gamble Co . Following its initial spurned bid in June, Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld reapproached Bilbrey in August, indicating that Mondelez would be willing to offer $115 a share, Reuters reported at the time. After one of the craziest weeks we can remember in the 2016 race the Access Hollywood audio of Trump, WikiLeaks, the nasty debate in St. Louis, the accusers against Bill Clinton , the accusers against Donald Trump , and plenty of new polls here's where the NBC battleground map stands. Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead and now has 287 electoral votes in her column, which is more than the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump has 157 electoral votes in his column, which is down more than 30 for him from last week. And we have 94 electoral votes in Tossup. Last week, our map was Clinton 268, Trump 190, and 80 in Tossup. Looking inside our new North Carolina and Ohio polls, they show the familiar gaps when it comes to gender, race, education, and age. The results from the new polls we released yesterday afternoon: In North Carolina, Clinton gets support from 45% of likely voters, Trump gets 41%, and Libertarian Gary Johnson gets 9%. (The Green Party's Jill Stein didn't qualify to make the ballot in the state.) In a two-way race, Clinton's lead expands to five points, 48%-43%. In Ohio, Trump holds a one-point advantage over Clinton among likely voters, 42%-41%, with Johnson at 9% and Stein at 4%, although that margin is inside the poll's margin of error. Clinton and Trump are tied in a two-way race in the Buckeye State -- 45% to 45%. By the way, a national Fox poll released yesterday has Clinton with a seven-point lead. We moved North Carolina and New Hampshire from Tossup to Lean Dem (Clinton has led in every poll in those two states since the first debate). We moved Arizona, Georgia, and Utah (!!!) from Lean GOP to Tossup. And we shifted Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota from Likely GOP to Lean GOP. As our colleague Steve Kornacki described it on "Today" this morning, Clinton "was ahead last week; now she's significantly ahead." Likely Dem: CA, CT, DC, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA (182 electoral votes) Lean Dem: CO, ME (3 EVs), MI, MN, NH, NM, NC, PA, VA, WI (105) Tossup: AZ, GA, FL, IA, ME (1EV), NE (1 EV), NV, OH, UT (94) Lean GOP: AK, IN, KS, MO, MT, ND, SC, SD, TX (85) Likely GOP: AL, AR, ID, KY, LA, MS, NE (4 EVs), OK, TN, WV, WY (72) Two different speeches in the span of two hours The Washington Post's Dan Balz sums yesterday's campaign speeches by Michelle Obama and Donald Trump. "Two speeches. Two Americas. A pair of apocalyptic arguments and one call to burn down the house. That's the summation from just two remarkable hours Thursday that crystallized the final month of Campaign 2016. In back-to-back appearances, in what might be the two most compelling hours of the entire election, Michelle Obama in New Hampshire and Donald Trump in Florida delivered the fiercest, most provocative and hardest-hitting speeches of an election cycle that has been without precedent in hot rhetoric Obama's was a scorching takedown of the Trump who was revealed in the 'Access Hollywood' hot-mic video, a sexual predator who bragged about using his celebrity status to go after women... Trump's was an angry and all-out defense against overnight charges of sexual assault by multiple women coupled with a blistering attack on an establishment that he charged is led by Hillary and Bill Clinton, protected by a complicit news media and so totally corrupt that it threatens the very future of country." President Obama: GOP only has itself to blame for Trump Michelle Obama's husband also was speaking on the campaign trail yesterday. "So the point is, if your only agenda is either negative -- negative is a euphemism - crazy, based on lies, based on hoaxes, this is the nominee you get. You make him possible," President Obama said in Columbus last night. "Now they're shocked. It's like remember that movie, Casablanca -- the guy walks in, shocked that there's gambling in this establishment. Young people may not understand that reference. Go back, watch Casablanca. Great movie. Humphrey Bogart. So Donald Trump may make most Republican politicians look a little bit better by comparison -- I mean, it's like the bar has gotten so low. But these are the same Republicans who tried to block us from rescuing the economy; did not offer a single vote when it came to the recovery package that made sure that we started growing again, long before any other advanced economy did. Same folks who didn't vote for the auto industry assistance that resulted now in record-breaking auto sales." Biden: "This guy has acknowledged he's been a sexual predator" Speaking in an interview that will air on "Meet the Press" this Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden said of Trump: "This guy has acknowledged he's been a sexual predator, has acknowledged he's used his power and I've said constitutes the textbook definition that constitutes sexual assault." Also in the interview, Biden said Bill Clinton had paid a price for his past misconduct. "I can't make any excuse for Bill Clinton's conduct, and I wouldn't attempt to make any excuses for the conduct," he said. "But he paid a price for it. He paid a price. He was impeached." Pence says evidence will come out later today that will knock down allegations against Trump And on CBS this morning, Mike Pence said, "Donald Trump has asserted that all of these recent unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false and I do believe him." And he added, "Before the day is out there will be more evidence publicly that shows and calls into question these latest allegations." On the TODAY show, Pence also said the evidence would be "coming in frankly, probably in a matter of hours." NBC's Ali Vitali notes that this matches what Trump himself said yesterday. Will be interesting to see what comes out. On the trail Donald Trump campaigns in North Carolina, hitting Greensboro at 2:00 pm ET and Charlotte at 7:00 pm ET Mike Pence stumps in Florida Tim Kaine is in Kansas City, MO President Obama campaigns for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland, OH at 11:15 am ET Bill Clinton hits Delaware, OH and Cincinnati. Countdown to third presidential debate: 5 days Countdown to Election Day: 25 days Donald Trump reportedly plans to attack Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim for allegedly working behind the scenes to undermine the Republican nominee, but a spokesman for Slim said such a claim would be incorrect. Trump is expected to go after Slim because the The New York Times reported on allegations that the New York businessman had previously sexually assaulted two women, according to The Wall Street Journal. Slim is a shareholder of the Times and a donor to the Clinton Foundation. A representative for Slim, however, said that the billionaire doesn't have any interest in influencing the election. "He doesn't know him. He's never met him in any way. He doesn't know anything about his personal life and, to be honest, he doesn't care about his personal life," a spokesman for Slim told CNBC. "We never get involved in politics in Mexico, much less in the United States." Trump's allegations would feed into his claims of a rigged election system and "false smears" that he says are part of a conspiracy bent on defeating him. New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement, "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report." On Wednesday, the Times published a story entitled "Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately," which details claims that Trump touched one woman on a plane more than three decades ago and another in an elevator in 2005. NBC News has not confirmed the allegations. Trump vociferously denied those allegations, calling them "totally and absolutely false." CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Reuters contributed to this report. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said regulations announced Thursday were intended to further limit tax inversions and reduce their appeal for American corporations. In an interview with CNBC, Lew explained that the new requirements are an "important statement" against the use of inversions and "egregious" tax avoidance. Tax inversions have fueled controversy as corporations can get a lower tax rate by acquiring a smaller foreign competitor, allowing the company to move its tax address overseas. "I think when the rule is studied, it will be clear that this is meant to get at egregious tax behavior, not at normal business practices," he said. In particular, the Treasury Department sought to end the "earnings stripping" process in which a company pays deductible interest to a parent company or affiliate in another country with lower taxes. Corporations will also have to file documentation on their interest deductions on related-party loans. In a Thursday statement, Lew said that the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service hope the new regulations will "fix our broken tax system." "There's a lot of frustration in the United States and around the world in tax systems that just don't seem fair," Lew said in the interview. "I think we've shown that we're taking tough action to stop the egregious behavior, but we're also listening and responding to reasonable concerns." Despite corporate America's misgivings, the department has pushed forward with these regulations. It said, however, that it has taken stakeholder concerns into consideration and relaxed a few points in the final regulations, which Lew told CNBC is "what the rule-making process is supposed to be." The Treasury said it will provide a "broad exemption" for cash pools as well as short-term loans. It also said there will be "limited exemptions for certain entities where the risk of earnings stripping is low." Exceptions for distributions were "significantly expanded" for "ordinary business transactions," the department said. The Treasury Department also pushed back the effective date to Jan. 1, 2018, giving companies more time to comply with the new regulations. Russia and Middle Eastern oil producers want to keep oil prices between $50 and $60 per barrel, according to the head of commodities at RBC Capital Markets, who suggested that U.S. supply is the real problem for the oil cartel. Supported by a drop in U.S. fuel inventories, oil climbed further above $52 per barrel Friday amid plans from OPEC producers for a supply freeze agreement to help stabilize prices. "I think that Saudi Arabia, OPEC and the Russians hope that yes some U.S. production will come back but $50 to $60 is probably not enough to resurrect the entire U.S. shale complex," Helima Croft, managing director and global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC Friday. "I don't think they are aiming for $70 to $80, because I don't think they want to bring it all back," she said. Croft added that Russia and the Middle East want a "steady grind higher, not a gallop" in terms of prices. In their most recent note RBC capital markets see WTI and Brent averaging $51 per barrel and $53 per barrel over the rest of 2016, before increasing to $56.50 per barrel and $59 per barrel on average in 2017. Engaged couples aren't likely to find "update the estate plan" on many prewedding checklists, but it's an important to-do especially if the upcoming marriage isn't your first, or if you have kids from a prior relationship. Many Americans have made a second or third trip down the aisle. In 2013, 40 percent of marriages were a remarriage for one or both partners, according to a Pew Research Center report. It's even more common to have lackluster estate planning. This summer, a survey from planning site USLegalWills.com estimated that 63 percent of Americans don't have a will, and 9 percent have one that's outdated. (The survey polled 2,012 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.) That combination of remarriage and out-of-date documents can be problematic for a new spouse and your kids. "In today's environment, clients shouldn't be as afraid of taxes as they are a parent's new spouse," attorney John Scroggin, a partner with Scroggin & Company in Roswell, Georgia, told advisors last month at the Financial Planning Association's annual conference in Baltimore. Here's what to consider to ensure everyone's interests are protected: Khoa vu | Getty Images Maintain your will. Don't have one? Get one. Without a will, assets pass according to state intestacy laws which might not be how you would allocate them. Your new spouse might get the lion's share, for example, or your stepkids could be cut out entirely. Already have a will? Make sure it's updated to reflect changes in your personal situation and finances. Update your beneficiaries. Assets including qualified retirement plans and life insurance pass to the beneficiary listed on the account or policy, regardless of what's written in your will, said Jeff Fosselman, senior wealth advisor at Relative Value Partners in Northbrook, Illinois. Fail to update the account, and your ex-spouse rather than your new spouse, or your kids could get the proceeds from that life insurance policy. "That can obviously be a pretty uncomfortable situation," he said. Revise your power of attorney and health care directives. More documents to update, if you don't want an ex-spouse as your agent. Already switched? "Make sure the power of attorney lists who they want as guardian," said Scroggin. Otherwise, he said, a new spouse or other relative may be able to successfully petition a court for guardianship even if he or she is not the listed agent on the power of attorney. Watch titling. Another case where your will won't matter: Assets titled as joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, tenancy by the entirety or community property with rights of survivorship pass automatically to the surviving owner. Review existing assets to ensure ties with an ex-spouse are severed, Fosselman said. If you want certain accounts or property to go to someone other than your spouse, title those accordingly, he said or keep them separate as you merge finances. Use prenups, postnups and waivers. Such agreements can often be worded to limit the rights automatically afforded to spouses, such as the right to take an elective share in your estate even if they are not mentioned in the will. Account for personal property. Tangible personal property often ends up with the new spouse. If you want to make sure your family heirlooms or other items of sentimental value go to a specific person, specify that in your will, Scroggin said. But he warned that even with a mention, it can be hard for heirs to prove which property you intended to pass on. watch now In January, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg said he was building an artificial intelligence (AI) system to control his home, sort of like Jarvis in the "Iron Man" movie series. Zuckerberg is now looking for someone to voice that AI assistant and Iron Man himself Robert Downey Jr answered the call in a rather odd message. Paul Bettany voiced Jarvis in the Iron Man movies. Benedict Cumberbatch is a British actor known for his role in the "Sherlock Holmes" television series. Zuckerberg replied to the message saying, "this just got real". U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Thursday said Russia is forcing the United States to focus more intently on its nuclear security, and he added that the U.S. should work to modernize its nuclear deterrent. "I mentioned earlier Russia and stimulating some additional thinking on energy security. They've also stimulated some additional thinking on nuclear security issues unfortunately," Moniz said during a speech at Columbia University on Thursday evening hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy. The U.S. Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration is tasked with guarding the safety and integrity of the nation's nuclear arsenal. Moniz said he believes President Barack Obama has the right vision of working toward a nuclear weapon-free world, but he said the next administration will face difficult choices because "there is no reason today to think that that is not going to be a multi-decade activity." "So a lot of money is going to have to be spent on modernizing the nuclear deterrent and rethinking exactly how it's used," he said, without elaborating on what form those changes should take. Moniz added that Russia's annexation of Crimea and ongoing incursions into Ukraine since 2014 made the United States and Europe reconsider civilian energy policy, because the European Union is heavily reliant on imports of Russian natural gas. Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Friday, urging him to replace Mary Jo White as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In her letter, Warren pressed her call for the SEC to develop a political spending disclosure rule, something she said White has refused to do. Such a rule would force companies to disclose their political contributions, thus increasing transparency for investors. "Chair White's refusal to move forward on a political spending disclosure rule serves the narrow interests of powerful executives who would prefer to hide their expenditures of company money to advance their own personal ideologies," Warren said. The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 allowed for unlimited political spending by corporations, but Justice Anthony Kennedy expressed his strong support for public disclosure of the money spent. "Prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters," he wrote. Many of the GOP's biggest donors asked the Republican National Committee to cut ties with Donald Trump, saying the allegations that he mistreated women threatened to inflict lasting damage on the party's image, according to The New York Times. Spokespersons for Trump's campaign and the RNC did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. One donor in particular, New York investor and philanthropist Bruce Kovner, told the Times Trump is a "dangerous demagogue" and is not suited to take on the responsibilities of being president. Other leading Republican donors told the party to distance itself from Trump well before the publication of Trump's recording last week, according to the Times. On Thursday, Trump said at a rally in Florida that allegations that he inappropriately touched women are "totally and absolutely false." Read the full report from The New York Times here. Los Angeles-based Fama Technologies has software that automates social media and web analysis to help companies make hiring decisions. The company uses artificial intelligence to pick up on any "red flags" that exist within a person's online persona. Forty-three percent of companies use social media to screen job candidates, and more than one-third of organizations said they have disqualified a candidate because of information they found through an online search, according to a 2016 Society for Human Resource Management study. The process of manually sifting through thousands of posts is incredibly time consuming for anyone. But for an algorithm, it takes only a second. And if you work in HR, that algorithm could be a godsend. Fama launched in January 2015 and it is now working with 45 firms including government contractors, hospitals, financial services and child care companies, according to Mones. Fama recently partnered with First Advantage, one of the world's largest background screening firms. Fama CEO and co-founder Ben Mones said that employers aren't that interested in recreational vices like alcohol use, but instead are focused on keeping bullies, misogynists and bigots out of their workplace. The algorithm searches public posts, including photos and videos, and the candidate is informed that they are being screened. "Employers are looking for folks who don't think there is anything wrong with what they are saying," Mones said. "Who don't think that misogynistic comment is wrong." Mones warned that companies who vet candidate's social media on their own could be breaking the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "One of the big advantages of using Fama is that companies are able to zero in on only the content that is deemed critical to making the decision," Mones said. If an HR manager is searching through someone's Facebook page and notices that a candidate is pregnant or a certain religion, there may be unconscious biases made against that candidate. "They end up seeing stuff that they shouldn't be seeing," Mones said. He also emphasized that Fama doesn't provide specific recommendations. It just gives hiring managers links to the candidate's posts. Fama's software sells for a subscription ranging from $15,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year depending on the number of inquiries, Mones said. The company raised $1.7 million and started in the Amplify.LA accelerator. Investors include Miramar Ventures, Double M Partners and Wavemaker Partners. "Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt now, when I say 'corrupt,' I'm talking about totally corrupt political establishment, with a new government controlled by you, the American people. There is nothing the political establishment will not do no lie that they won't tell, to hold their prestige and power at your expense. And that's what's been happening." And that 100-percent uniformity was confirmed recently when top leaders of the GOP establishment finally abandoned Trump in response to the 11-year-old "Access Hollywood" tape that just so happened to be leaked ahead of a massive Wikileaks dump filled with embarrassing facts about Hillary Clinton. Trump's crude description of women and his exploits with them was the final domino to fall, losing him whatever small support he may have had among the established powers in this country. Fast forward to six days after the "Access Hollywood" leak. During that time, the bad publicity from the tape was augmented by just-emerging allegations of actual sexual assault by Trump. The establishment powers, using the news media which they have always controlled, declared the election to be over. In that context, Trump appeared before tens of thousands of people in West Palm Beach, Florida. After strongly denying all the allegations, Trump told the crowd about his new definition of the election fight was a complete revolt against that same establishment. In fact, he called out "the establishment" by name 13 separate times in the speech, finally taking his fight beyond just the Democrats and Hillary Clinton. The key quote came here: "Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt now, when I say 'corrupt,' I'm talking about totally corrupt political establishment, with a new government controlled by you, the American people. There is nothing the political establishment will not do no lie that they won't tell, to hold their prestige and power at your expense. And that's what's been happening." It has been a weird dance in the past few months as Trump toggled between his outsider-staging-a-revolution persona and cozying up to the establishment trying to be "normal." You felt conflicted watching it could he just pick a team already? Paul Ryan probably did Trump the biggest favor by taking off the "shackles" and letting Trump be Trump. You remember what happened when Khaleesi unleashed her dragons on "Game of Thrones," right? It was like that. The "us" is a wide-ranging group that crosses age, geographic, and other lines that no Republican or Democrat has ever been very successful at bridging. The "us" are millions of military veterans, from the Vietnam era all the way to the Afghan and Iraq wars. The men and women who were never quite appreciated very much during their service or afterward. The "us" are the millions of Americans who actually don't want to go to a four-year liberal arts college and don't think going to one or graduating from one makes a person better, more useful, or even necessarily smarter. They know that college grads are more likely to make more money after they graduate than they do, but they also know they're very likely to be straddled with massive student debt. The "us" are the millions of Americans who once could rely on good manufacturing jobs and then decent service jobs and have seen them both disappear thanks to outsourcing and lower wages. Yes, this group blames illegal immigration and bad trade deals for their fate. They did that well before Trump camp on the scene. It's only shocking no national politician ever made it such a major issue in an election before now. Well, maybe there is something to that "all-controlling establishment" conspiracy theory after all. The "us" are millions of Americans who are still classically religious, the ones who know that being religious doesn't mean you expect perfection from anyone else. In fact, they know it means to expect their peers to be quite imperfect. The establishment has always scoffed at such true believers. The "us" are millions of Americans who were brought up to believe that if you didn't treat everyone the same way, you were racist but are now horrified to find that you will be considered a racist in America today unless you treat different people very differently and support those who do. The "us" are millions of older Americans who want to know the whereabouts of the Democratic Party that used to talk mostly about Social Security and Medicare, but now has morphed into a some kind of socialist/cultural revolution movement that rails about income inequality and the right to taxpayer funded sex change operations. They're also wondering why their children and grandchildren who have gone to college are unable to move out on their own and don't even seem to be emotionally or financially able to get married and start their own lives. The "us" is a big chunk of Americans. It's big enough to swing an election, especially in battleground states like Ohio, Michigan, Florida, New Hampshire, and Colorado. The problem is that no candidate from either party has been able to get their attention or allegiance. The Republican presidential candidates of recent years, especially people like Mitt Romney, didn't even sound like or try to speak to this large group. And the Republican leaders in Congress, drunk with the power of controlling Capitol Hill for most of the last 22 years, have become more and more detached from the "us" in America and it shows in their utter inability to understand Trump's appeal. Democrats have mostly ignored this group in favor of cultural elites and generally richer donors. The nature of campaign financing has played a big role, but so has the declining power labor unions wield in America. For all their promises to defend and even expand unions in America, Democrats have been complicit in allowing the companies and industries that relied on union labor to go offshore. Trump now has just 25 days to convince enough of the "us" in America that he's their man. The fact that so much of the establishment is lined up against him will actually help in that effort, if he's smart enough to pivot from defending himself from every new allegation and keep the focus on those general "powers that be" like he did in his West Palm Beach rally Thursday. But even if Trump fails, the amazing thing is that so much of the establishment's arsenal was needed to defeat an unpolished and very flawed candidate like him. With the groundwork Trump has laid, if he doesn't defeat these great powers this time around, surely another outsider candidate will in the next election. Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. The "Fast Money" traders debated whether Twitter shares have bottomed, after they fell 5 percent on Friday following news that Salesforce ruled out a bid for the company. Trader Dan Nathan said that although Twitter probably has a "broken model," as a stock he doesn't think there is a lot of risk at its current valuation. Trader Tim Seymour said the social media company's upcoming earnings report on Oct. 27 could be a "very big announcement." Seymour said positive forward guidance could outweigh possibly sluggish sales and monthly active user numbers. Trader Guy Adami said that Salesforce, which rallied on Friday's news, may continue to gain. Donald Trump attacked Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim for allegedly trying to influence the presidential election, a claim that a spokesperson for Slim has denied. The Republican presidential nominee argued that Slim, a shareholder of The New York Times and a donor to the Clinton Foundation, is trying to undermine Trump's candidacy. "We're going to let foreign corporations and their CEOs decide the outcomes of the you just can't do this. We can't let this happen. We are not going to let it happen where they decide the outcome of our elections," he said at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Slim, however, does not own voting shares, just common shares of the Times. The Mexican billionaire is the largest minority shareholder, but does not appear to own any of the powerful voting shares that would allow him to influence the Times' operations. Trump's allegations feed into his unproven claims of a rigged election system and "false smears" that he says are part of a conspiracy bent on defeating him. A representative for Slim, however, said that the Mexican billionaire doesn't have any interest in influencing the election. Trump also lashed out at Times reporters and said, "they're not journalists," but instead "corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton." Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement, "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report." On Wednesday, the Times published a story which details claims that Trump made inappropriate advances on two women years ago. NBC News has not confirmed the allegations. Trump vociferously denied those allegations, calling them "totally and absolutely false." CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Steve Kopack, and Reuters contributed to this report. watch now Your money market fund the cash equivalent in your investment accounts won't be the same. That's because the Securities and Exchange Commission's long-awaited money market reform took effect Friday. The rules are intended to protect smaller shareholders from investors who make large cash withdrawals amid times of high volatility. While retail investors often thought of money market funds as equivalent to cash in a checking account, that really wasn't the case as the financial crisis made clear. The changes affect any account with a money market fund, including 401(k)s, IRAs and your brokerage accounts. Here's what you need to know: What led to the changes? Investors once considered these funds to be a reliable place to keep cash. Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, their net asset value generally remained at $1 per share. All of that changed in September 2008, when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The Reserve Primary Fund, a large money market fund, held Lehman bonds. In turn, institutional investors pulled billions of dollars from the fund, knocking its share price from the supposedly steady $1 to 97 cents on Sept. 16, 2008. It had "broken the buck." That crisis spurred new rules from the SEC, aimed at protecting smaller investors from large redemptions. Two key reforms came about: One would require so-called prime institutional money market funds (generally used by large investors) to have a floating net asset value rather than a fixed $1 share price. The other creates liquidity fees and "redemption gates," which are temporary halts on withdrawals to certain money market funds. What will I see in my IRA and brokerage accounts? For the most part, you won't see too many dramatic changes. If you have an IRA or brokerage account, the retail prime and municipal money market funds you're using will maintain their share price of $1. U.S. government money market funds that are available to institutional and retail investors also will be allowed to retain their fixed $1 per share price. Your provider, however, may change your money market settlement fund, the pool of assets you use to pay for stock and mutual fund purchases in your account. Vanguard, for instance, said earlier this year it would use only its federal money market fund for settling trades in retail accounts. Previously, it used a prime fund. However, the new liquidity fees and redemption gates will apply to nongovernment money market funds. These restrictions take effect in times of market stress and when liquidity levels in the fund fall below a certain amount. They are supposed to keep the funds from "breaking the buck" again. Liquidity fees can be as much as 2 percent, and fund companies can hold up withdrawal requests for up to 10 business days. This reduces the risk of a run on the fund. How about my 401(k)? Your employer may have taken steps to change the money market fund available to you, likely switching from prime or municipal funds to a U.S. government fund. You might also see your employer add or substitute in a stable value fund, which is a blend of insurance and bonds. The insurance protects your principal and gives you a minimum guaranteed rate of interest. Sixty-five percent of U.S. retirement plans offer a stable value fund, according to Callan Associates, an investment manager. What else do I need to know? Step aside R2-D2 and BB-8, there's a new droid in town and he's coming for your toy sales. K-2SO (Kay-Tuesso), a reprogrammed Imperial droid now fighting for the rebels in Disney's new "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," is flying off the shelves. "K-2SO seems to be head and shoulders, literally, above everyone else in terms of popularity," Steve Evans, design director for Hasbro's Star Wars line, said during a panel at New York Comic Con in early October. Versions of the droid appear in several of Hasbro's "Star Wars" lines, including a Black Series collector toy that sells for about $26.99 at retail. "Following in the footsteps of R2-D2 and BB-8, we expect K-2SO to be a new favorite among fans," Hasbro told CNBC. "Droids play an important role in the Star Wars universe and it is our goal to create toys that allow fans to feel like they are immersed in the story themselves." Tweet 1 Tweet 2 K-2SO first appeared, albeit briefly, in the official teaser trailer, but became more popular after footage of the character was released at the Star Wars Celebration in Europe in July. The droid, voiced by veteran voice actor Alan Tudyk, has a curmudgeon-like bluntness that often lends itself to comedy, making K-2SO different from the three other main droids in the "Star Wars" series, R2-D2, C-3PO and BB-8. Tweet 3 Tweet 4 K-2SO isn't the only character that will be quick to move off shelves for Hasbro. Jyn Erso, the female lead of the new "Star Wars" film, is also expected to sell well for the toy company. Not only is Jyn prominently featured in the toy line, unlike her predecessor Rey, she has multiple figures. Hasbro revealed during New York Comic Con that one of the Imperial ground crew figures has a removable helmet that reveals a disguised Jyn. Last year's release of "The Force Awakens" pushed "Star Wars" toy sales for Hasbro to almost $500 million. The company said in July that it expects merchandise sales for the franchise to reach a similar level for "Rogue One." Hasbro, which reports third-quarter earnings on Monday, declined to comment further about trends prior to the earnings conference call. Building a brand is hard work, especially for many entrepreneurs and small businesses that have a hefty priority list of things to accomplish. Of course there are many things to focus on, like business plans, protecting IP, figuring out production and logistics, and let's not even get started on payroll and employee benefits. Entrepreneurs put their blood, sweat and tears into their company, extolling the virtues of their company's brand to a wide range of audiences. Understanding that brand is vital. By focusing on brand building, many entrepreneurs have seen strong success. At this year's iCONIC:Boston conference, entrepreneurs from across the country came to the Wang Theatre to discuss the hows and whys of building their brands. "A brand really is more about the emotion and feelings behind the product or service offered," said Jordan Kaplan, owner of Petaholics. Watch the video above to learn how entrepreneurs at iCONIC:Boston approach building their startups' brands. A collector found a heavily worn 2007-S Montana silver quarter dollar in circulation. Struck at the San Francisco Mint, the coin is from a Silver Proof set. A collector who found this Montana quarter dollar in circulation thought he had a wrong planchet or a missing clad layer error coin after examining the edge and seeing no evidence of a copper core. Readers Ask column from Oct. 31, 2016, Weekly issue of Coin World: Please look at this 2007 Montana State quarter dollar that I received in circulation, including the edge. I wonder whether I found a valuable error coin that was struck on the wrong planchet or a defective one since I dont see evidence of copper on the edge. Eleazar Orlando Torres / via email While it turned out the reader did not have a wrong planchet error, the coin he found in circulation is, however, worth more than face value because of its composition. I first asked the reader if he could send me an image of the George Washington obverse of the coin, since its the obverse side of the State quarter dollars that features the Mint mark. Once he did that, it became easier to identify what he had found in circulation. The readers coin carries the S Mint mark of the San Francisco Mint. That fact, along with the coins finish, indicates that it is a Proof coin. Connect with Coin World: Sign up for our free eNewsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Next, I asked the reader to help me identify the composition since the San Francisco Mint struck Proof quarter dollars in copper-nickel clad and .900 fine silver versions in 2007. Weighing the coin, at 6.25 grams, confirmed his coin is the silver version, which has no copper core. The copper-nickel clad coins weight is 5.67 grams. The quarter dollar denomination in 2007 was struck in copper-nickel clad composition at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints for general circulation and Uncirculated sets, and at the San Francisco Mint for regular Proof sets. The Proof silver quarter dollars were struck at the San Francisco for inclusion in Silver Proof sets. The facility currently also produces clad America the Beautiful quarter dollars in circulation quality, but for numismatic sales, not for circulation. The last silver quarter dollars struck for circulation are dated 1964. Silver made a return beginning in 1992 for the dime, quarter dollar and half dollar used in the annual Silver Proof sets. The 6.25-gram silver quarter dollar contains 0.18084 ounce of pure silver. Using a spot price base of $19 an ounce, the melt value for the readers Proof 2007-S Montana silver quarter dollar would be approximately $3.44. The week's top post on CoinWorld.com took a look at this fake Proof 2016-W American Eagle silver dollar. Its time to catch up on the week that was in numismatic insights and news. Coin World is looking back at its five most-read stories of the week. Click the links to read the stories. Here they are, in reverse order: 5. Where businesses are rejecting traditional currency: As much as cash remains an essential part of daily life in countries such as Germany and Switzerland, the exact opposite may be true not far from those borders. 4. Recently salvaged shipwreck gold from 1715 Plate Fleet reaches market: The coins are worth an estimated $1 million or more, according to John Albanese, who brokered the deal between the salvors and the firms now selling the coins. 3. 2016-W Walking Liberty gold half dollar release date announced by U.S. Mint: The gold half dollar will be the third coin issued in 2016 to mark the 100th anniversary of their 1916 introduction in .900 fine silver. 2. Concerned about the authenticity of precious metals bars you may own?: The first report of a counterfeit PAMP Suisse 1-ounce platinum bar in fake packaging comes from a bullion dealer in southwest Ohio. 1. So you think that American Eagle silver dollar from the flea market is a bargain?: Manufacturers of counterfeit Proof 2016-W American Eagle silver dollars, however, seem to be unaware of a pretty important detail. Connect with Coin World: Sign up for our free eNewsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter 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. Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas. The State of Texas v. Jose Luis Cortez, Appellee NO. PD-1652-15 Decided: October 12, 2016 John R. Messinger, for The State of Texas. Q. Todd Hatter, for Jose Luis Cortez. Holding that a traffic stop was illegal, the trial court granted a motion to suppress. One of the State's arguments on appeal was that, if the police officer was mistaken about whether appellee had committed a traffic offense, the traffic stop was nevertheless legal as a reasonable mistake of law under Heien v. North Carolina. Citing cases from our Court that predate Heien, the court of appeals concluded that even a reasonable mistake about the law would not justify a stop. However, the court of appeals did not discuss Heien. We conclude that the court of appeals failed to address every issue necessary to the disposition of the case. Consequently, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals and remand the case for reconsideration under Heien. I. BACKGROUND A. Trial After spotting appellee's minivan driving on Interstate 40, a state trooper began to suspect that the vehicle was connected to criminal activity. The state trooper subsequently stopped the vehicle for unlawfully driving on the shoulder of the highway. The basis for the conclusion that the vehicle was unlawfully driving on the shoulder was that it twice crossed onto the fog line, the solid white line that begins at the outer edge of the driving lane of the highway. In granting the motion to suppress, the trial court found that the traffic-stop video showed appellee's vehicle's right rear tire (or its shadow) to come in the proximity to and possibly touch the inside portion or more of the white line delineating the roadway from the improved shoulder but not to extend past the outermost edge of the fog line. In what is labeled a conclusion of law, the trial court found that appellee's vehicle did not cross outside the outermost edge of the fog line onto the improved shoulder of the roadway. The trial court further concluded that [c]rossing over the fog line nearest the center of the roadway or upon the fog line is not a violation of Texas law. B. Appeal 1. State's Brief The State appealed. One of the State's points of error was, The trial court abused its discretion in finding that the trooper lacked a reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop. The State's discussion of this point began on page eleven of its brief with a summary of argument. That summary included the contention that, Based upon his training and experience the trooper either observed the violation of driving upon improved shoulder, or at least reasonably believed that he had observed a violation of that law and that, The State is not required to show that an actual violation did occur. On pages fifteen through seventeen of its brief, the State discussed Heien and why it believed that Heien dictated that this case should be resolved in the State's favor: As such, Trooper Snelgrooes acted in reasonable reliance on his understanding of the statute. Either, TEX. TRANS. CODE 541.302(5) (defining a highway as the portion between the boundary lines) is clear and dispositive of the trooper's interpretation of the statute or the law is, as the trial courts seems to suggest, ambiguous. If it is the former, the trooper lawfully detained the defendant. If the law is ambiguous this case becomes analogous to Heien v. North Carolina, U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 530, 536, 190 L.Ed.2d 475 (2014). In Heien the Supreme Court held that an officer's mistake of law was reasonable if; the statute contained at least some ambiguity and a State's appellate courts had not previously addressed the issue. Heien v. North Carolina, 135 S.Ct. at 53940. The State has argued in Issue One of this appeal, that the definitions of highway and shoulder as provided in TEX. TRANS. CODE 541.302(5) and (15) respectively, are not ambiguous. The State has argued, therefore, that Trooper Snelgrooes having seen Cortez driving, at least on the fog line, reasonably believed that a violation of TEX. TRANS. CODE 545.058(a) had occurred and his stopping of Cortez was authorized by law. However, if this Court accepts the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law in toto, that would raise the question of, where does the shoulder begin? If 541.302 does not answer that question certainly 5 45.058 offers no insight. Thus, that issue is, by definition, ambiguous. At the hearing Cortez offered no authority for the definition found by the trial court. The trial court cited no statutory or case law authority for its definition and the State, in its research has found no case law authority holding where the highway ends and the shoulder begins. If such is the case, then Trooper Snelgrooes found himself in the same position that Sergeant Darisse did when he observed only a single brake light on Heien's vehicle. Trooper Snelgrooes' observations and his reasonable understanding of the law, led him to believe that a violation of the law had occurred. Absent a clear statute or on point appellate authority holding to the contrary, Trooper Snelgrooes' belief, according to Heien, would have been reasonable. Using the totality of the circumstances criteria provided in Powell v. State, 5 S.W.3d 369, 376 (Tex.App.Texarkana 1999), the trooper acted on specific observations, that based on his reasonable interpretation of the law, lead him to believe the he did possess sufficient information that justified an investigation into whether Cortez had, in fact, violated the law. That information, authorized Trooper Snelgrooes to lawfully stop Cortez.4 2. Court of Appeals's Opinion The court of appeals held that the fog line is not part of the improved shoulder of a highway, and so a person does not drive on the improved shoulder if the vehicle is onbut does not cross beyondthe line. Accepting the trial court's conclusion that appellee's vehicle did not cross beyond the fog line, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment granting the motion to suppress. In disposing of the State's claim, the court of appeals rejected the State's contention that a reasonable mistake of law could provide reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop: Nor do we find significance in the State's argument about the trooper's personal interpretation of the statute of consequence. As stated by our Court of Criminal Appeals, [a]n officer's mistake about the law, or about the legal significance of undisputed facts, even if eminently reasonable, cannot serve to provide probable cause or reasonable suspicion; it cannot, in other words, validate an otherwise invalid seizure.7 In arriving at its conclusion that a reasonable mistake of law could not serve as a proper basis for a stop, the court of appeals relied on our prior cases of Robinson v. State and Abney v. State, which were handed down in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The court of appeals did not mention Heien, which was handed down by the Supreme Court in 2014. C. Discretionary Review The State raised two grounds in its petition. In the first ground, the State contended that the court of appeals was incorrect in holding that the fog line was not part of the improved shoulder. In the second ground, the State argued that there was an objectively reasonable basis for the stop under Heien. On page five of its petition under its second ground, the State's heading is The Court of Appeals ignored Heien. Contending that the court of appeals mischaracterized the State's argument as relying on the trooper's personal interpretation, the State, citing Rule of Appellate Procedure 47.1, contended that the court of appeals rendered an opinion that does not address every issue raised and necessary to final disposition. II. ANALYSIS Rule of Appellate Procedure 47.1 requires a court of appeals to hand down a written opinion that addresses every issue raised and necessary to the final disposition of the appeal. Heien was a prominent part of the argument under the State's second point of error in its brief before the court of appeals, and the State claimed that it resolved the case. The court of appeals should have addressed Heien. We vacate the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the case for reconsideration in light of Heien. FOOTNOTES . U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 530, 190 L.Ed.2d 475 (2014). . The shoulder was an improved shoulder. See Tex. Transp. Code 545.058. . The trial court also found that the two times appellee was alleged to have driven on the shoulder he had legal justification for doing so. . Stylistic errors in this passage appear in the original. . State v. Cortez, 482 S.W.3d 176, 18284 (Tex. App.Amarillo 2015). . Id. at 184. . Id. at 183. . Id. at 183 (citing Robinson v. State, 377 S.W.3d 712, 722 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) and Abney v. State, 394 S.W.3d 542, 54950 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013)). . See id. at passim. . See supra at n.1. . The State's first ground for review reads, Where does the improved shoulder of a highway begin: on the inside edge of the fog line, the outside edge, or somewhere in between? . The State's second ground for review reads, Given the lack of controlling precedent, was it objectively reasonable under Heien v. North Carolina, U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 530, 190 L.Ed.2d 475 (2014), for a law enforcement officer to believe that the improved shoulder begins where the roadway appears to end? . Tex. R. App. P. 47.1; Carsner v. State, 444 S.W.3d 1, 4 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). . Although the State has invited us to resolve the merits of its Heien claim, as well as to resolve the statutory question of whether the fog line is part of the improved shoulder, we find resolution of those questions to be premature. The court of appeals's resolution of the Heien issue could impact the resolution of both of the State's grounds for review before us and may even affect whether we would want to grant review of those grounds. . The State's grounds for review are otherwise dismissed without prejudice. See Carsner, 444 S.W.3d at 4 n.10. Keller, P.J., delivered the opinion of the Court in which Meyers, Keasler, Hervey, Alcala , Richardson, Yeary and Newell, JJ, joined. Johnson, J., concurred. Donna James Leads a Bold Plan to Revive Victorias Secret James has a proven record as a C-suite executive and adviser. Now, shes guiding the lingerie giant toward a more inclusive, financially sound future. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. AMARJIT KAUR, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. 14-25 NAC Decided: October 12, 2016 PRESENT: JON O. NEWMAN, ROSEMARY S. POOLER, RICHARD C. WESLEY, Circuit Judges. FOR PETITIONER: Amarjit Kaur, Pro Se, Richmond Hill, New York. FOR RESPONDENT: Joyce R. Branda, Acting Assistant Attorney General; Jennifer L. Lightbody, Senior Litigation Counsel; Laura M.L. Maroldy, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. SUMMARY ORDER UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review is DENIED. Petitioner Amarjit Kaur, a native and citizen of India, seeks review of a December 12, 2013, decision of the BIA denying her fifth motion to reopen. In re Amarjit Kaur, No. A075 306 900 (B.I.A. Dec. 12, 2013). We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history in this case. Our review is limited to the BIA's December 2013 decision denying Kaur's fifth motion to reopen her removal proceedings. See Ke Zhen Zhao v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 265 F.3d 83, 89-90 (2d Cir. 2001). We review the BIA's denial of Kaur's motion for abuse of discretion. Ali v. Gonzales, 448 F.3d 515, 517 (2d Cir. 2006). An alien seeking to reopen proceedings may file one motion to reopen no later than 90 days after the final administrative decision. 8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(7)(A), (C)(i); 8 C.F.R. 1003.2(c)(2). There is no dispute that Kaur's September 2013 motion to reopen is untimely and number barred because the final administrative decision was issued in 1998when Kaur failed to appear in immigration courtand this was Kaur's fifth motion. Although the time and number limitations may be excused based on a material change in conditions in the country of nationality or the country to which removal has been ordered, 8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii); see also 8 C.F.R. 1003.2(c)(3)(ii), as discussed below, Kaur's evidence showed only a continuation of prior conditions. Kaur's motion alleged that police continue to look for her based on her political activities 17 years ago; she alleged the same in prior motions to reopen. The BIA did not err in finding these conditions to be merely a continuation of those previously alleged and thus not new evidence as required for reopening. See Norani v. Gonzales, 451 F.3d 292, 294 (2d Cir. 2006); In re S-Y-G, 24 I. & N. Dec. 247, 253 (BIA 2007). Moreover, the country conditions evidence in the record supports the BIA's determination that Kaur failed to establish a material change in conditions. Jian Hui Shao v. Mukasey, 546 F.3d 138, 169 (2d Cir. 2008). The BIA did not err in giving little weight to letters from Kaur's father-in-law and village leader. Xiao Ji Chen v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 471 F.3d 315, 342 (2d Cir. 2006); In re H-L-H & Z-Y-Z, 25 I. & N. Dec. 209, 215 (BIA 2010), rev'd on other grounds by Hui Lin Huang v. Holder, 677 F.3d 130 (2d Cir. 2012). First, although the 1997 State Department India Country Profile, in evidence during Kaur's original proceedings, showed improvement in conditions for Punjabi Sikhs following a widespread crackdown on violent Sikh separatists, that report also reflected that individual Sikhs were still detained and questioned about prior militancy and that [c]ustodial abuse[s of individual Sikhs] remain[ed] a significant problem. Kaur appended similar evidence to her motion, including several newspaper articles showing isolated incidents of torture and unexplained deaths of Sikhs in police custody. The evidence also showed that, while torture remained a problem, the government was investigating and arresting offending officers. None of her evidence establishes that Sikh separatists are at a greater threat of police violence than they were in 1998, the year of Kaur's merits hearing. In re S-Y-G, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 253. Thus, the BIA did not abuse its discretion in finding no material change as needed to excuse the time and number limitations on Kaur's motion. 8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii); Ali, 448 F.3d at 517. Kaur also argues that the BIA should have reopened because her counsel in her initial proceeding was ineffective and allowed her to be ordered removed in absentia. We, as did the BIA, decline to reach this issue as we have already addressed it and found it without merit. A motion to reopen is not a vehicle to present previously rejected arguments based on evidence that existed years prior to the filing of the motion. See 8 C.F.R. 1003.2(c) (requiring new evidence for reopening); Johnson v. Holder, 564 F.3d 95, 99 (2d Cir. 2009) (holding that law of the case doctrine requires court to adhere to prior decision on issue in subsequent stages of same case). For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is DENIED. As we have completed our review, any stay of removal that the Court previously granted in this petition is VACATED, and any pending motion for a stay of removal in this petition is DISMISSED as moot. Any pending request for oral argument in this petition is DENIED in accordance with Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second Circuit Local Rule 34.1(b). FOR THE COURT: Catherine O'Hagan Wolfe, Clerk President Barack Obama on Thursday shook hands and fist bumped with a paralyzed man who was using a mind-controlled robotic arm. "Today he can move that arm just by thinking about it. He can once again feel the touch of another person," said Obama, speaking to an audience in Pittsburgh. "Researchers will tell you there's a long way to go. He can feel pressure with precision. That's what science does. That's what American innovation can do. Imagine what breakthroughs are around the corner." The president spoke about meeting Nathan Copeland during the White House Frontiers Conference. The one-day conference focused on spurring innovation and bolstering the country's strength and standing in science and technology, while taking on new challenges like curing disease, solving climate change and exploring deep space. Obama followed a long list of speakers that included scientists, researchers and business people from the space industry, urban planning, computer science, transportation and health care. Copeland, who was paralyzed in an auto accident, is taking part in DARPA-funded research performed by the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The technology being tested enables Copeland to feel the sensation of touch via a neural interface system connected to a robotic arm. Meeting Copeland and learning about the technology he's testing was just part of Obama's day at the conference. The president saw a space capsule, an unmanned quadcopter that could search disaster areas and even tried a spacecraft docking simulation. REUTERS/Carlos Barria President Obama shakes hands with a robotic arm operated by Nathan Copeland, a quadriplegic brain implant patient who can experience the sensation of touch and control a remote robotic arm with his brain during a tour of the innovation projects at the White House Frontiers conference. "I'm a science geek. I'm a nerd," he said to loud applause. "I don't make any apologies for it. It's cool stuff." Obama believes in continued tech research and wants all students to take science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, which he believes will not only bolster the U.S. economy but also revitalize struggling American cities. "Innovation is in our DNA. Science has always been central to our progress," said Obama. "[Pittsburgh] has been revitalizing itself through technology for a very long time.... Stories like that are not just happening here in Pittsburgh or Silicon Valley. They're happening in Chattanooga, Charleston and Cincinnati." Science also will enable us to take on some of the biggest challenges facing us, he added. "Only with science can we take steps to cleaner energy," Obama told the conference audience. "Only with science do we have the chance to cure cancer and Parkinson's -- diseases that steal our loved ones too soon -- to lead humanity farther out into the frontiers of space, not just to visit but to stay." Obama also talked about science deniers and the dangers he said they bring. "I get so worked up when I hear people willfully ignore facts or stick their heads in the sand about basic scientific consensus," he said. "It undermines the very thing that has always made America the engine for innovation around the world. It's not just that they're saying climate change is a hoax..., it's that they're doing everything they can to cut funding for research and development." He added that listening to science only when it fits a certain ideology is "the path to ruin." "When the Russians beat us to space, we didn't deny that Sputnik was up there," said Obama. "That wouldn't have worked. No, we acknowledged the facts and then basically built a space system overnight and then beat them to the moon.... That's where facts will get you. That's where science will get you." To keep America innovating, Obama said the government and schools need to make sure students are educated in math and science. Noting that his administration started the White House Science Fair and helped bring high-speed Internet access to classrooms across the country, the president said he's fully behind pushing STEM education. "We're working to help all of our children to understand they have a place in science and technology," said Obama. "We want Jamal and Maria sitting next to Jimmy and Johnny because we want them all involved in our future.... To get where we need to go, we need to lift everybody up because we want a brilliant team. We don't want someone with a great idea not in the room because she's a woman." Apple CEO, Tim Cook, is hyping Apples augmented reality plans again, stressing his companys goal to create solutions that amplify human contact. Cook talks "Augmented reality will take some time to get right, but I do think that it's profound, he told BuzzFeed News. We might ... have a more productive conversation, if both of us have an AR experience standing here, right? And so I think that things like these are better when they're incorporated without becoming a barrier to our talking. ... You want the technology to amplify it, not to be a barrier." These comments echo similar statements last month when Cook told Good Morning America: There's virtual reality and there's augmented reality, both of these are incredibly interesting But my own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far, because this gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other, but also have other things -- visually -- for both of us to see. There may be some hint of how these might work in his other statement that, Maybe it's something we're talking about, maybe it's someone else here who's not here present but who can be made to appear to be present." Cook has referred to these technologies more than once in recent months. In July he said the company remains high on AR in the long run and referred to it as a core technology in August. These monthly references to the technology could be an attempt to deflect attention away from other unreleased Apple technologies, of course Oh the humanity His focus on the human element suggests the company seeks to use these technologies to support existing products, such as FaceTime, messaging and educational tools, but there will be implications across its platforms. For one less obvious idea of how these solutions may work, take a look at Chinas Alibaba Groups newly introduced VR Pay virtual reality payment system that lets you shop and pay for items just by nodding your head. Imagine if this were part of a virtualized online Apple retail experience, accessed using Siri and Apple Pay. There are implications in retail, smart city infrastructure, medicine and more. The market is ripening. One report claimed 23 percent of US consumers would buy an Apple VR headset. A report from Juniper Research suggests revenues from VR (Virtual Reality) headsets, peripherals and 360 cameras will reach over $50 billion by 2021, up tenfold from an estimated $5 billion in sales this year. Strategy Analytics claims around two million (3 percent) of UK consumers will purchase a VR headset by the end of 2016, but predicts around 47 percent penetration by 2022. 89 percent of which will be smartphone-based. Big investments Apple has been making significant investments in technologies that may support its work in this space. It has acquired Emotient, Metaio, Faceshift, Flyby Media and is reported to be speaking with other companies too. The company has also seeded the market with mobile devices that carry more processing power than any other smartphone or tablet available today, meaning even iPhone 6S users would have a chance of running these solutions if Apple shipped them tomorrow. Apple continues to invest in ambient technologies that may support its plans, think how AirPods and Apple Watch may lend themselves to AR experiences, and already has a deep patent pool in related technologies, a pool that goes back decades. Hiring blitz BuzzFeed notes that Apple has also been aggressively recruiting talents that may be able to support its plans in the space. The FT recently claimed Apple has hundreds of staff from a series of carefully targeted acquisitions working with others poached from companies that are working on next-generation headset technologies. Among other hires it has hired VR research scientist Yury Petrov from Facebooks Oculus division, Magic Leaps Zeyu Li and Doug Bowman, the Director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech Whats the plan? Weve seen lots of first movers enter the VR space, everyone from Google to Facebook, the latter this week acquired Irish VR start-up, InfiniLED. Sony introduced its PlayStation VR headset that lets you enjoy 360-degree gaming experiences, but Cooks statements suggests gaming experiences are not central to his companys plans, despite the huge success of Pokemon Go. However, this is not just about the market. In truth this is Apple preparing itself for the next era of computing, an era in which computers become pervasive, virtual and invisible. They will be as small as your watch, visible on any display you happen to want to use, and spoken to through voice and gesture, keyboard optional. Thats the only way to see the implication of the Metaio acquisition, given that company was developing Thermal Touch, a system which turns nearly any surface into a touch screen. Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple? Want Apple TV tips? If you want to learn how to get the very best out of your Apple TV, please visit my Apple TV website. Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld. United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MICHAEL A. MARSHALL, Defendant - Appellant. No. 15-4449 Decided: October 13, 2016 Before KING, SHEDD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Eric J. Foster, Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellant. Jill Westmoreland Rose, United States Attorney, Amy E. Ray, Assistant United States Attorney, Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellee. Michael A. Marshall was convicted after a jury trial of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, including wire fraud, bank fraud, and making false statements to financial institutions, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371 (2012) (count 1), bank fraud and aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2, 1344 (2012) (count 2), and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1956(h) (2012). The district court sentenced Marshall to 60 months' imprisonment on count 1 and concurrent terms of 96 months' imprisonment on each of counts 2 and 3. Marshall now appeals. On appeal, he challenges the district court's denial of his Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 motion for judgment of acquittal on the basis of insufficient evidence, the district court's instructions to the jury on count 1, and the district court's calculation of the loss amount under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual 2B1.1 (2014). We affirm. We review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence de novo and must affirm the jury's verdict if it is supported by substantial evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the Government. United States v. Palomino-Coronado, 805 F.3d 127, 130 (4th Cir. 2015). Substantial evidence is evidence that a reasonable finder of fact could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a conclusion of a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). After review of the record and the parties' briefs, we reject as wholly without merit Marshall's challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence underlying his convictions on all three counts. Marshall's arguments fail to establish reversible error in the district court's conclusion that the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to support his convictions. See 18 U.S.C. 2, 371, 1014, 1343, 1344, 1956(h), 1957 (2012); United States v. McNeal, 818 F.3d 141, 149 (4th Cir. 2016), petition for cert. filed, ___ U.S.L.W. ___ (U.S. June 28, 2016) (No. 16-5017); United States v. Adepoju, 756 F.3d 250, 254-55 (4th Cir. 2014); United States v. Jefferson, 674 F.3d 332, 366 (4th Cir. 2012); United States v. Singh, 518 F.3d 236, 248 (4th Cir. 2008); United States v. Cherry, 330 F.3d 658, 668 (4th Cir. 2003); United States v. Smith, 29 F.3d 914, 916 (4th Cir. 1994). Turning to the district court's instructions on count 1, we review for plain error Marshall's argument that the court erroneously instructed the jury with respect to the wire-fraud object because he did not object below to the court's instructions on the ground he now advances. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b); Henderson v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 1121, 1126-27 (2013). Regarding the wire-fraud object, the district court instructed the jury, among other matters, that: A violation of this statute would require proof that, one, someone in the conspiracy, with the intent to defraud, knowingly devised a scheme or artifice to defraud or to obtain money or property by means of material false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promised [sic] as detailed in the indictment; and two, that in furtherance of the scheme, someone transmitted or caused the transmission of any writing by a means of a wire communication in interstate or foreign commerce. J.A. 647 (emphases added). Marshall argues that, because the second use in this instruction of someone was not followed by the words in the conspiracy, the jury could have found him guilty when neither he nor any other member of the conspiracy transmitted information by wire. We conclude after review of the record that the court's second use in the instruction of the word someone without the modifier in the conspiracy was not clear or obvious error under the settled law of the Supreme Court or of this circuit. See United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993); United States v. Carthorne, 726 F.3d 503, 516 (4th Cir. 2013). Further, as Marshall has not suggested that he would have been acquitted or that his trial would have ended in a hung jury had the district court modified its second use of the word someone with the phrase in the conspiracy, he cannot establish that the challenged instruction affected the outcome of the trial. See United States v. Godwin, 272 F.3d 659, 680 (4th Cir. 2001); United States v. Nicolaou, 180 F.3d 565, 570 (4th Cir. 1999); United States v. Hastings, 134 F.3d 235, 240 (4th Cir. 1998). Marshall thus has not carried his burden to demonstrate plain error in the district court's instructions on count 1. Finally, Marshall challenges the district court's calculation of the loss amount attributable to him under the Sentencing Guidelines, arguing that the court erroneously failed to credit against that amount payments made to the victims and capital recovered by them prior to sentencing. Marshall did not present this argument below, and we therefore review it for plain error only. United States v. Strieper, 666 F.3d 288, 292 (4th Cir. 2012). Only a preponderance of the evidence need support the district court's factual determination of the loss amount attributable to Marshall. United States v. Miller, 316 F.3d 495, 503 (4th Cir. 2003). The district court need only make a reasonable estimate of the loss. United States v. Cloud, 680 F.3d 396, 409 (4th Cir. 2012); USSG 2B1.1 cmt. n.3(C). Generally, the loss amount under USSG 2B1.1 is the greater of actual loss or intended loss. USSG 2B1.1 cmt. n.3(A). Here, the presentence report recommended application of a 14-level enhancement under USSG 2B1.1(b)(1)(H) for a loss exceeding $400,000 based on the determination in the description of the offense conduct that the loss to the victim lenders as result of Marshall's criminal conduct was over $425,000. The district court adopted the portion of the PSR calculating the loss amount and relied on the information therein in calculating Marshall's Guidelines range and imposing sentence. As Marshall made no affirmative showing that the information in the PSR was not correct, the district court was free to adopt and rely on it in sentencing him. See United States v. Revels, 455 F.3d 448, 451 n.2 (4th Cir. 2006); United States v. Randall, 171 F.3d 195, 210-11 (4th Cir. 1999); United States v. Love, 134 F.3d 595, 606 (4th Cir. 1998). The undisputed relevant conduct easily establishes a loss amount exceeding $400,000. The district court, therefore, did not plainly err in holding Marshall accountable for a loss amount exceeding $400,000. Accordingly, we affirm the criminal judgment. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED PER CURIAM: This week, the Scottish National Party is holding its annual conference, and if the newspapers are any indication then the strategic challenges facing the Nationalists are beginning to take shape. According to this mornings Times (), the leadership faces a Momentum-style revolt, with a so-called radical independence group organising a parallel event, whilst the Financial Times reports that a split over independence is threatening party unity. Before that, a former member of Alex Salmonds cabinets warned Nicola Sturgeon that she risks making the same mistakes as Scottish Labour, governing timidly and thus failing to tackle Scotlands problems, particularly in education. Between them, these stories neatly illustrate the tricky strategic position of Scotlands dominant political party, caught between a membership chomping at the bit for a second referendum and an electorate who stubbornly refuse to swing towards separation. In some ways, the SNP is very much like a sort of political shark: formidable at what it does, but completely dependent on continuous forward movement. Back in August, I compared the Scottish Nationalists to UKIP. Where the latter have fallen apart after getting what they wanted, defeat has only forged the former into a more effective campaigning machine. Looking at the impact of Nigel Farages latest resignation, I suggested that phalanx-style discipline under a very strong leadership might be the best, possibly the only, way to run a separatist nationalist party. The SNP maintains a level of internal discipline which is quite extraordinary, and completely at odds with the British tradition of the broad church. The Partys elected representatives are forbidden from criticising it or its policies (which has crippled Holyroods committee system), and its members are expected to bite their tongues on policy differences in service to the higher cause. But this level of control relies on the constant impression that battle is imminent, that the next heave is just around the corner and the faithful must maintain themselves at peak battle readiness. If the prospect of independence retreats into the middle distance, the SNP political model starts coming off the rails because the focus of politics shifts to normal government, and the endless succession of potentially divisive choices this forces on the party in power. The hypertrophied Nationalist activist base is not united by much beyond independence and its newly-swollen ranks now contain huge numbers of idealists brought in by the referendum who havent spent decades as loyal Party cadres and are proving less willing to offer the leadership their unquestioning support. Similar problems arise with the SNPs improbably broad electoral coalition, which is united not by independence but by the belief that the party offers the best mixture of competence and Scottishness of the options available. The timidity that Kenny MacAskill so criticises in Sturgeon stems from the challenge of keeping such disparate voters happy. Yet the Nationalists electoral dominance means that they cant avoid these decisions forever. Just this week we have stories highlighting the challenges they face on the economy, on transport, on healthcare, and on agriculture. Brexit initially seemed to offer the SNP an out by giving them an excuse to put separation back on the agenda, and Sturgeon seized it with both hands the morning after the vote. But that is increasingly looking like a precipitous move: contrary to much received opinion, but as predicted on this site, Brexit has not led to any surge in support for independence. So the First Minister has let her activists catch the scent of blood, but now faces the prospect of what would likely prove an extremely damaging second defeat if she managed to hold a second referendum. Ruth Davidsons taking second place in Mays Scottish elections has also changed the dynamic on these issues: by championing the EU and independence, the SNP are pushing a big chunk of their voters not towards the fringes but directly towards the Opposition. Some of the Nationalists strongest areas, such as the North East, are a legacy of it being the viable alternative to Labour for Scotlands very-much-existing right-leaning electorate. If the Daily Express is correct and Sturgeon hopes to force an election on the issue of a new independence referendum, it would seem to run the serious risk of giving the Tories a golden opportunity to win over risk-averse, anti-independence, and even anti-EU voters. Its difficult to see where compensating new separatist votes are going to come from. All of this is exacerbated by the strict timetable imposed by the Brexit process: experts are already warning that the SNP might be running out of time to hold a referendum before Britain leaves the EU. One potential out, and the one that Sturgeon seems to be tilting towards, is putting on a lot of front and trying to wring more powers for Holyrood out of the Brexit negotiations, giving her the opportunity to wriggle out of a second referendum with a win for Scotland or at least for Scottish politicians. But Theresa May looks like shes shaping up to be a gritter opponent than David Cameron was. The former Home Secretary got to witness the latters missteps first-hand, and looks much less inclined to give the Nationalists an easy ride on the holding, timing, or phrasing of a second vote which must, despite Sturgeons proposed law, be secured after negotiations with Westminster. Theres no reason that some powers currently exercised by the EU shouldnt be passed to Holyrood. But the Prime Minister must be careful not to make the classic unionist mistake of being so fearful of the threat of battle that she makes too many concessions. Her coming face-off with the First Minister will be the real test of Mays unionist mettle. But if Sturgeon does get the powers she wants and averts another referendum in the short term, the SNP is left face to face with the challenge of governing Scotland, disappointing and dividing its supporters and perhaps putting that second vote farther out of reach than ever. United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JONATHAN VICTORINO BUSTOS-ANICA, a/k/a Jonathan Victorino Bustos Anica, a/k/a Jonathan Victorino Bustos, a/k/a Jonathan Victorino-Bustos, a/k/a Jonathan Victorino-Bustogania, a/k/a Jonathan Victorino-Agustos, Defendant - Appellant. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JONATHAN VICTORINO BUSTOS-ANICA, a/k/a Jonathan Victorino Bustos, a/k/a Jonathan Anica-Bustos, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-4194, No. 16-4198 Decided: October 13, 2016 Before KING and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judge. Louis C. Allen, Federal Public Defender, Mireille P. Clough, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellant. Ripley Rand, United States Attorney, Lisa B. Boggs, Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee. Jonathan Victorino Bustos-Anica, a native and citizen of Mexico, pled guilty in October 2015 to illegal reentry after removal and deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326(a) (2012). Based on a total offense level of 10 and a criminal history category of III, Bustos-Anica's advisory Sentencing Guidelines range was 10 to 16 months' imprisonment. In February 2016, a petition to revoke Bustos-Anica's supervised release (imposed in a prior 1326 proceeding) was filed, based on his violation of a condition that he remain outside the United States during his term of supervision. Bustos-Anica admitted the violation, as evidenced by his guilty plea in October 2015. The relevant advisory policy statement range, based on a Grade B violation, was 6 to 12 months' imprisonment. The district court consolidated the two cases for sentencing and imposed a 16-month sentence on the substantive offense of illegal reentry and a 12-month sentence on the revocation of supervised release, to run consecutively, for a total term of 28 months' imprisonment. Bustos-Anica appeals, arguing, first, that his revocation sentence is plainly unreasonable because the district court imposed the sentence to run consecutively to, rather than concurrently with, the sentence imposed on the substantive offense. We review sentences imposed upon revocation of supervised release to determine whether they fall [ ] outside the statutory maximum or are otherwise plainly unreasonable. United States v. Padgett, 788 F.3d 370, 373 (4th Cir.) (internal quotation marks omitted), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 494 (2015). We must first decide whether the sentence is unreasonable[,] follow[ing] generally the procedural and substantive considerations that we employ in our review of original sentences. United States v. Crudup, 461 F.3d 433, 438 (4th Cir. 2006). In analyzing a revocation sentence, we apply a more deferential appellate posture concerning issues of fact and the exercise of discretion than reasonableness review for [G]uidelines sentences. United States v. Moulden, 478 F.3d 652, 656 (4th Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted). Only if a revocation sentence is unreasonable must we assess whether it is plainly so. Padgett, 788 F.3d at 373. A revocation sentence is procedurally reasonable if the district court considered the policy statements in Chapter Seven of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual and the applicable 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) (2012) factors. Id.; see 18 U.S.C. 3583(e) (2012). The court must provide an adequate statement of reasons for the revocation sentence it imposes, but this statement need not be as specific or as detailed as that required in imposing an original sentence. United States v. Thompson, 595 F.3d 544, 547 (4th Cir. 2010). A revocation sentence is substantively reasonable if the court stated a proper basis for concluding that the defendant should receive the sentence imposed. Crudup, 461 F.3d at 440. Here, the record establishes that the district court committed no procedural or substantive error in imposing the 12-month revocation sentence. The court considered the Chapter Seven policy statements and the relevant 3553(a) factors noting the number of Bustos-Anica's prior deportations and imposed a sentence within the policy statement range. Although Bustos-Anica argues that the court should have imposed the sentence to run concurrently with the sentence on the underlying offense, he concedes that the Guidelines instruct courts to impose sentences to run consecutively to any sentence the defendant is currently serving. See USSG 7B1.3(f), p.s. (2015) (providing that [a]ny term of imprisonment imposed upon the revocation of supervised release shall be ordered to be served consecutively to any sentence of imprisonment that the defendant is serving). Second, Bustos-Anica argues that the total sentence is unreasonable because it is greater than necessary to achieve the sentencing objectives of the Guidelines. We review a sentence for reasonableness under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007). This review entails appellate consideration of both the procedural and substantive reasonableness of the sentence. Id. at 51. In determining procedural reasonableness, we consider whether the district court properly calculated the defendant's advisory Guidelines range, gave the parties an opportunity to argue for an appropriate sentence, considered the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors, and sufficiently explained the selected sentence. Id. at 49-51. If the sentence is free of significant procedural error, we review it for substantive reasonableness, tak[ing] into account the totality of the circumstances. Id. at 51. When rendering a sentence, the district court must make an individualized assessment based on the facts presented, United States v. Carter, 564 F.3d 325, 328 (4th Cir. 2009) (emphasis and internal quotation marks omitted), and must adequately explain the chosen sentence to allow for meaningful appellate review and to promote the perception of fair sentencing. Gall, 552 U.S. at 50. An extensive explanation is not required as long as we are satisfied that [the district court] has considered the parties' arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercising [its] own legal decisionmaking authority. United States v. Engle, 592 F.3d 495, 500 (4th Cir. 2010) (quoting Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 356 (2007)). Here, the district court properly calculated the advisory Guidelines range, heard argument of counsel, and provided an adequate explanation for the sentence imposed, specifically noting the number of Bustos-Anica's prior removals and deportations. Considered in the context of the entire sentencing hearing, we conclude that the district court's explanation is sufficient to satisfy us that it considered the parties' arguments and ha[d] a reasoned basis for exercising [its] own legal decisionmaking authority. United States v. Boulware, 604 F.3d 832, 837 (4th Cir. 2010) (quoting Rita, 551 U.S. at 356). Accordingly, we affirm Bustos-Anica's sentence. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED PER CURIAM: United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. IN RE: Missouri Department of Corrections Petitioner No. 16-3072 Decided: October 13, 2016 Before SMITH, BOWMAN, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges. The Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) has filed two petitions for writs of mandamus prohibiting the district court from enforcing discovery orders. The first order requires MDOC to produce a detailed privilege log, and the second order requires MDOC to reveal information regarding its use of pentobarbital in executions, including the identity of its anonymous supplier. The anonymous supplier has moved to intervene under the pseudonym M7 and has filed a motion for leave to file a petition of its own. For the reasons stated below, we grant both of MDOC's petitions, and we deny as moot M7's motion for leave to file a petition. I. Background Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase (the inmates) are Mississippi death-row inmates whom Mississippi proposes to execute by the serial intravenous injection of three drugs: midazolam, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. In a case presently pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, these inmates are challenging this execution method as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. After the court denied a motion to dismiss, the inmates served upon MDOC a third-party subpoena for documents and a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 30(b)(6) deposition notice seeking information regarding MDOC's use of pentobarbital in lethal injections, including the identity of MDOC's supplier of pentobarbital. MDOC filed a motion to quash the subpoena in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. In support of this motion, it submitted the affidavit of MDOC Director George Lombardi. Lombardi explained that because MDOC's pentobarbital suppliers require the assurance of confidentiality, producing the information sought by the inmates would result in the state no longer being able to obtain the drug for use in executions. In light of this risk, MDOC argued that the inmates' subpoena represented an undue burden under FRCP 45(d)(3)(A)(iv). MDOC also raised other arguments based on sovereign immunity and the state secrets privilege. The district court held a hearing on MDOC's motion to quash. During the hearing, the district court questioned the reliability of Lombardi's dire predictions, noting that there seemed to be no effort to reach out to M7 and that Lombardi could have said, I called up the pharmacy, I called up M7, and M7 if it's ordered in this federal case, said they're never, ever, ever going to sell again. After considering MDOC's arguments, the district court held that Lombardi's affidavit was insufficient to establish that Missouri's supplier will no longer supply pentobarbital to Missouri if identified to Respondents because Lombardi's statement was a bare, hearsay assertion unsupported by record evidence. As a result, the district court rejected MDOC's arguments, denied MDOC's motion to quash the inmates' subpoena, and ordered MDOC to produce the majority of information the inmates sought as well as a detailed privilege log. MDOC then filed in this court petitions for writs of mandamus to prevent the enforcement of these orders. Along with these petitions, MDOC submitted a supplemental affidavit by Lombardi. In this affidavit, Lombardi acknowledged that the district court questioned the sufficiency of my prior statements regarding this confidentiality. He then declared, To be clear, MDOC's supplier(s) has advised that if the supplier's identity is disclosed the supplier will no longer supply lethal chemicals to Missouri for use in executions and will not supply lethal chemicals to any other state. Lombardi did not specify when the supplier made this statement or whether MDOC had contacted the supplier regarding this specific litigation. Thus, in our original opinion, we held that this affidavit remained inherently speculative. As a result, we rejected MDOC's claims that the information sought was irrelevant to the inmates' claims, that disclosure would result in an undue burden on MDOC, and that the subpoena violated Missouri's sovereign immunity. Furthermore, we noted that MDOC had failed to explain why any alternative means of relief, such as a protective order, would be inadequate. Therefore, we denied MDOC's petitions for writs of mandamus. MDOC then filed a petition for rehearing in which it reasserted its previous arguments and added a new argument explaining why it had no adequate alternative means of relief. In addition, M7 moved to intervene and proceed anonymously. M7 submitted a declaration which confirmed the suspicions of both the district court and this court that MDOC had not contacted M7 at any point during the litigation. Instead, M7 averred that MDOC had contacted M7 only after we originally denied MDOC's petitions. Nevertheless, M7 confirmed that, [i]f disclosure of M7's identity is required, M7 will not supply lethal chemicals to the state of Mississippi. In fact, M7 will no longer supply lethal chemicals at all. In light of this new information, we vacated the original panel opinion, granted MDOC's petition for rehearing, invited M7 to submit evidence, and allowed the inmates to respond. M7 also filed a motion for leave to file its own petition for a writ of mandamus, arguing that disclosure would result in an undue burden on M7 and a violation of M7's First Amendment rights. II. Discussion Writs of mandamus are useful safety valves' for promptly correcting serious errors. Mohawk Indus., Inc. v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. 100, 111 (2009) (quoting Digital Equip. Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc., 511 U.S. 863, 883 (1994)). Thus, although discovery orders are not ordinarily appealable, mandamus may issue in extraordinary circumstances to forbid discovery of irrelevant information, whether or not it is privileged, where discovery would be oppressive and interfere with important state interests. In re Lombardi, 741 F.3d 888, 895 (8th Cir. 2014) (en banc). To obtain a writ of mandamus, the petitioning party must satisfy two prerequisites: his entitlement to the writ must be clear and indisputable, and he must have no other adequate means to attain the relief he desires. Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court for D.C., 542 U.S. 367, 380-81 (2004). [I]f the first two prerequisites have been met, the issuing court, in the exercise of its discretion, must be satisfied that the writ is appropriate under the circumstances. Id. at 381. We first address whether MDOC's entitlement to the writ is clear and indisputable. On this point, MDOC makes three arguments: (1) the information sought by the inmates is not relevant to their Eighth Amendment claims, (2) the disclosure would result in an undue burden on MDOC, and (3) the subpoena violates Missouri's sovereign immunity. Each of these arguments represents an independently sufficient ground for holding that MDOC is entitled to the writ. First, MDOC argues that the unique circumstances of this case will render the identity of MDOC's supplier irrelevant to the inmates' claim. In order to succeed on their Eighth Amendment claim, the inmates must identify an available alternative method of execution that Mississippi could use. See Glossip v. Gross, 576 U.S. ---, 135 S. Ct. 2726, 2737 (2015). As M7 now has confirmed, M7 will cease to provide pentobarbital to anyone, including Mississippi, once its identity is disclosed. Therefore, according to MDOC, disclosure of M7's identity will not help the inmates establish the existence of an available alternative method of execution. The inmates respond that the information remains relevant because the availability of pentobarbital is at issue in the underlying case. The inmates distinguish this case from In re Lombardi, where we granted a writ, by arguing that the complaint in that case failed to propose an alternative method of execution. Indeed, in In re Lombardi, we granted a writ to MDOC because the identity of its lethal chemicals supplier was not relevant to any claim that should survive a motion to dismiss. In re Lombardi, 741 F.3d at 895. The inmates point out that their claim alleged an available alternative and has survived a motion to dismiss. However, this argument does not explain how M7's identity will remain relevant once M7 indisputably refuses to make pentobarbital available to anyone. Although the requested identity information in In re Lombardi may have been irrelevant because the claim did not allege an available alternative, we did not draw a distinction between claims that survive a motion to dismiss and those that do not. Rather, we held simply that mandamus may issue to prevent discovery of irrelevant information. Id. The inmates' allegations alone do not establish relevancy of information that is not of consequence in determining the action. Fed. R. Evid. 401. Therefore, because M7 would not supply pentobarbital to Mississippi once its identity is disclosed, we conclude that M7's identity has no relevance to the inmates' Eighth Amendment claim. Second, even if M7's identity had any relevance to the inmates' claim, M7's declaration also establishes that the disclosure of M7's identity will result in an undue burden on MDOC. FRCP 45(d)(3)(A)(iv) prohibits the discovery of information where no need is shown, or compliance would be unduly burdensome, or where harm to the person from whom discovery is sought outweighs the need of the person seeking discovery of the information. Miscellaneous Docket Matter No. 1 v. Miscellaneous Docket Matter No. 2, 197 F.3d 922, 925 (8th Cir. 1999) (quoting Micro Motion, Inc. v. Kane Steel Co., 894 F.2d 1318, 1323 (Fed. Cir. 1990)). A state has an interest in exercising its sovereign power to enforce the criminal law. In re Blodgett, 502 U.S. 236, 239 (1992). As M7's declaration demonstrates, disclosure of M7's identity will certainly harm this interest by preventing MDOC from acquiring pentobarbital for executions from M7. Without M7, Lombardi states that MDOC would not be able to obtain the lethal chemicals necessary to carry out its lawful executions. Meanwhile, the inmates have no need for M7's identity because it has little, if any, relevance to their Eighth Amendment claim. In response, the inmates do not address the harm posed by MDOC losing its pentobarbital supplier. Rather, they attempt to show that MDOC will be able to carry out death sentences even without maintaining M7's secrecy. Specifically, they point to statements by pharmaceutical manufacturers to show that suppliers are not cowering in the wake of capital punishment abolitionists. But even if M7's fears are unfounded, that does not change the fact that M7 has already declared a clear intention to cease supplying if M7's identity is disclosed. Thus, we conclude that the harm to MDOC clearly outweighs the need of the inmates, and disclosure would represent an undue burden on MDOC. Because we hold that MDOC is clearly entitled to a writ on the grounds of relevancy and undue burden, we do not address MDOC's sovereign immunity argument. Next, we address whether MDOC has any other adequate means of relief. MDOC contends that we have previously granted a writ in similar circumstances. Indeed, in In re Lombardi, we granted a writ to prevent disclosure of the lethal chemical supplier's identity instead of requiring a protective order. 741 F.3d at 897. MDOC also contends that the district court cannot prevent the inmates from responding to discovery requests from the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MS-DOC) and cannot limit further disclosure by MS-DOC. The inmates respond that the district court can, in fact, include a provision requiring third parties to agree to be bound by the terms of a protective order as a condition precedent to receiving documents produced under such an order. The inmates cite protective-order clauses directed at individuals retained by lawyers or parties to provide assistance or testimony. See Karr v. Oil & Gas Transfer L.L.C., No. 1:16-CV-00053, 2016 WL 3621089, at *1 (D.N.D. June 28, 2016); Jochims v. Isuzu Motors, Ltd., 145 F.R.D. 499, 504-05 (S.D. Iowa 1992). However, even assuming that the district court can issue such an order directed at MS-DOC, the inmates fail to distinguish this case from In re Lombardi. There, we granted a writ based on Lombardi's assertion that it is likely that active investigation of the physician, pharmacy, and laboratory will lead to further disclosure of the identities. 741 F.3d at 894. The inmates do not offer any assurances that they will be able to investigate the supplier any more subtly than the inmates in In re Lombardi. Moreover, M7 has not indicated that M7 would continue to supply pentobarbital so long as the district court issues a protective order. Rather, M7 has alleged that M7 will cease to supply pentobarbital if disclosure of M7's identity is required. In light of this risk, as in In re Lombardi, we must conclude that MDOC has no other adequate means to attain the relief [MDOC] desires. Id. at 895. Lastly, we address whether issuance of the writ is appropriate under the circumstances. The inmates argue that the doctrine of unclean hands bars MDOC's request for mandamus if the request is designed to conceal M7's violation of property and contract rights of others. Specifically, the inmates contend that Akorn is the only approved manufacturer of pentobarbital and that M7 may be selling Akorn's licensed product contrary to the manufacturer's contract rights. The only legal authority that the inmates cite is a 1945 Supreme Court case affirming the dismissal of a patent infringement action because the plaintiff acted in bad faith relative to the matter in which he seeks relief. Precision Instrument Mfg. Co. v. Automotive Mach. Co., 324 U.S. 806, 814 (1945). There, it was clear that [the plaintiff] knew and suppressed facts that, at the very least, should have been brought in some way to the attention of the Patent Office. Id. at 818. Here, it is not clear that MDOC or M7 are requesting writs in bad faith. The inmates contend that MDOC may have purchased manufactured pentobarbital, but we do not find this contention sufficient to establish that MDOC has unclean hands. Therefore, we conclude that mandamus relief is appropriate. III. Conclusion Because MDOC is clearly entitled to the writ and has no adequate alternative means of relief and because it is appropriate to issue the writ, we grant both of MDOC's petitions for writs of mandamus. Because this would provide the precise relief sought by M7, we deny as moot M7's motion for leave to file a petition for a writ. FOOTNOTES . We grant the inmates' motion to file a portion of the district court hearing transcript under seal. However, we do not agree that the statements contained within the transcript prove that MDOC is requesting the writs in bad faith. PER CURIAM. Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Components & Peripherals News Xerox's Largest Individual Shareholder Sues to Block Split Michael Novinson Share this The founder of a technology outsourcing firm who sold his business to Xerox is suing to block the company's plan to spin off its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business. Darwin Deason owns a 6.1 percent stake of Xerox and claims he is entitled to shares in both the company's traditional copier and printer business and well as BPO business under the terms of his 2010 sale of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) to Xerox for $6.4 billion, according to a filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Dallas. "Xerox seeks to [pull] the business Mr. Deason created out from under him and leav[e] him solely with an investment in an unattractive, low-growth document technology business," wrote Deason's lawyer, David Moran, in a 28-page complaint. "If Xerox has its way, Mr. Deason will be deprived of his bargained-for stake in the globally significant business that he built." [RELATED: Vibrant, Orange But Not A Household Name: Conduent Seeks Its Post-Xerox Identity] Xerox told CRN that Deason's lawsuit was without merit and that the company would seek its dismissal. Norwalk, Connecticut-based Xerox, whose Global Services business is No. 9 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, said it is continuing to move forward with the split, which it expects to complete by the end of the year. In January, Xerox announced plans to separate its $11 billion Document Technology and Document Outsourcing business from its $6.7 billion Business Process Outsourcing division, undoing the ACS acquisition from six years earlier. The BPO division will be renamed Conduent once the split is complete. Deason said he obtained $300 million of preferred convertible stock as part of the sale of ACS to Xerox, which he maintains means that he should own a share in both the BPO and DTDO businesses. But Deason said Xerox's current proposed reorganization will trap his investment in the DTDO business, which even Xerox's financial advisors claim will cause the value of his investment to fall by $11 million, according to Deason. Deason said he spent several months negotiating with Xerox to ensure the company preserved the value of his investment, but he said the dialog ultimately proved fruitless, with the company stranding all of his investment in Xerox without any ability to convert it into Conduent stock. "After stringing Mr. Deason along for months, Xerox refused to provide Mr. Deason with sufficient information or provide assurances that it will not over-lever the BPO business by saddling it with expenses, liabilities and excessive debt that should remain with Xerox," Moran wrote. Deason's counsel first sat down with Xerox's counsel on April 20, and the two parties signed a confidentiality agreement June 30 whereby the company could provide him with non-public information, the suit states. But Deason said the information was insufficient for him for make an informed decision on whether Xerox's proposals would preserve the value of his investment. Deason asked the court to ensure that Xerox provides a mechanism that makes his investment convertible into Conduent common stock in a value-preserving manner. He also asked that the court prohibit Xerox from completing the reorganization. Xerox's stock price fell 2.6 percent in trading Thursday to $9.55 per share. The lawsuit first attracted media coverage midday Thursday. Deason is Xerox's largest individual investor, falling behind institutional investors Ichan Associates Corp., The Vanguard Group and BlackRock, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ichan, Vanguard and BlackRock hold 9.1 percent, 8.2 percent and 6.3 percent stakes, respectively, in Xerox. Deason founded ACS in 1988 as a data services provider to the financial services industry, and transformed the company over the next two decades into a global BPO and IT services provider with 74,000 employees. He was chairman and CEO of ACS until 1999, and executive chairman of the company until its sale to Xerox. ACS was renamed Xerox Business Services in 2012. "The reorganization will extinguish important right and massively destroy the value of Mr. Deason's unique investment," Moran wrote. Mr. Deason will lose the opportunity to participate in the growth of the BPO business that Mr. Deason was responsible for building." Internet of things News Dell Adds Systems Integrators To Its IoT Solutions Partner Program Lindsey O'Donnell Share this Dell is now adding systems integrators to its IoT Solutions Partner Program, aiming to reach a broader range of vertical industries. No supplier can do this by themselves. The market is evolving and fragmented, and Dells taking the approach to talk to as many partners as possible, said Al Zelasko, director, global channel manager of IoT and embedded computing at Dell. Most [systems integrators] have a unique vertical experience. Some are deeply invested in manufacturing and utilities, or industrial automation. Every partner has unique domain know-how and some are global. The IoT Solutions Partner Program, which currently includes ISVs and is made up of three tiers -- Premier, Preferred and Registered- - will now include systems integrators such as Datatrend Technologies, L&T Technology Services, Action Point and Mobiliya, according to Zelasko. [Related: Closing The IoT Gap: 5 Ways IT And OT Providers Can Work Together] Systems integrators vertical, regional and technology expertise will help customers navigate the IoT landscape, identify the right solutions, and take projects from proof of concept to deployments, according to Dell, Round Rock, Texas. Those who join the program will receive opportunities for incremental business growth and have access to products including intelligent edge gateways and embedded PCs, as well as security and manageability tools, according to the company. Maxence Cacheux, senior vice president of sales and business development at Mountain View, Calif.-based Mobiliya, said inclusion in the program will help the company gain expertise in Dell platforms for IoT. We are bringing to the table some of our niche capabilities in systems integration and security, said Cacheux. IoT involves a variety of endpoints with different makes and models, OSes, protocols. There are different cloud platforms, different end-user applications. Integrating all these while ensuring security of the ecosystem is something very important, and that is where Mobiliya comes in. This will help in rapidly enabling Dells IoT platforms for different customers and thus drive Dells IoT sales strategy. Since launching its IoT unit last year, Dell has introduced an array of tools for the Internet of Things including analytics and data security technology but the company is best known for gateways and embedded PCs. Dell's Edge Gateway series supports analytics at the edge, while its Embedded Box PC series includes rugged, fanless purpose-built form factors for industrial IoT uses such as fleet management and digital signage. Dell in August unveiled a matchmaking system that aims to double the number of partners in its IoT Solutions Partner Program by helping customers partner with the right solution providers for their specific needs. Moving forward, Dell will continue to expand its partner program as it works to round out its industry-specific IoT offerings in multiple vertical markets, said Zelasko. We want as many partners as possible, he said. The [IoT] market is so fragmented between verticals and regions, and systems integrators have a great relationship with their region and industry. Mobility News HP Inc. Reveals Plans For Up To 4,000 Job Cuts In Next Three Years Lindsey O'Donnell Share this HP Inc. plans to cut up to 4,000 jobs across multiple divisions in the next three years as part of a restructuring plan, the company disclosed in a filing on Thursday. HP Inc.'s restructuring plan, which comes as the company grapples with a sluggish demand for PCs and printers, will save it about $200 million to $300 million beginning in fiscal 2020, according to the filing. The company's stock dropped almost 2 percent in after hours trading. "Although our markets remain very challenged, we are committed to innovating in the core and continue to see long-term growth opportunities in commercial mobility and services, the disruption of the A3 copier market, and the digitization of graphics and manufacturing through our leading 3D printing solutions," said HP Inc. President and CEO Dion Weisler, in a statement. [Related: Microsoft Inks Six-Year Deal With HP Inc. For Dynamics CRM] HP Inc., formed after the breakup of Hewlett-Packard Co. about a year ago, is trying to find ways to drive profitability beyond PCs including commercial mobility and services, as well as disrupting the 3D printer market. The announcement of impending job cuts comes after market research firm IDC said that the PC market is facing a 3.9 percent year-over-year decline in the third quarter of 2016. Doug Grosfield, the founder and CEO of Five Nines IT Solutions, a Kitchener, Ontario-based strategic service provider, said that the job cuts would help the Palo Alto, California company form a stronger focus on more profitable lines of business. "HP has made such changes at many levels within the tech behemoth's organization," Grosfield wrote to CRN in an email. "Proof of the value of these strategic changes is evident in the larger dividend checks written to stakeholders this year, and also to the partner channel with the clearer boundaries between business units. Stronger focus on lines of business will result, as will lower overheads due to redundancies in the workforce." "HP is not alone in terms of significant restructuring efforts in the tech space these days, but they are certainly more aggressive than most," he added. In addition to job cuts, HP Inc. announced it expects adjusted profits for fiscal 2017 to be in the range of $1.55 to $1.65 a share. HP Inc. employs about 50,000 people, according to the company's website. The German city of Wismar on the Baltic has reported eight cruise calls for the 2016 season, which ends in December, welcoming a total of 4,300 cruise passengers, according to the Columbus Cruise Center Bremerhaven and Wismar. Promising a gemutlich (cozy family-style) atmosphere and none of the hustle-bustle of bigger cities, passengers can wander leisurely through the old town center and find off-the-beaten path cafes and the typical Hanseatic-gabled houses, built with red bricks from the era. All the sites are within easy walking distance, and Wismar was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2002. Wismars slogan is small, but nice. The cruise season concludes in December with a call by the Black Watch in time for the Christmas market. For 2018, 11 ships are expected to call, bringing some 10,000 passengers. The Columbus Cruise Center said that passengers will received small gifts and a farewell ceremony. Wartsila has signed a contract with Construcciones Navales del Norte SL (LaNaval) shipyard in Sestao, Spain for the design and supply of the LNG power and propulsion installation for a new RoRo passenger ferry. The ship is being built for Balearia. There is also an option for a second vessel. Wartsila will also provide inclusive project support services to the yard, including integration engineering and on-site consulting, as well as commissioning of the combined systems. The contract with Wartsila was signed in August. When entering regular service in 2019, this eco-efficient 'smartship' will be the first gas-propelled RoRo passenger ferry operating in the Mediterranean. It has a length of 232 metres and a capacity for 331 vehicles and 1700 passengers, 70% of whom can be accommodated in cabins. Because of the ship's extensive accommodation facilities and the need to prioritize passenger comfort, stringent standards to reduce noise and vibration will be applied to Wartsila's main and auxiliary engines, propellers, and manoeuvring thrusters. By sailing on natural gas, the environmental footprint of the vessel will be greatly reduced. In comparison to standard marine diesel fuel, Wartsila's LNG solution reduces CO2 emissions by 25%, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 85%, while sulphur and particulate matter are virtually entirely eliminated. The full Wartsila scope of supply for this contract includes four 8-cylinder Wartsila 50DF dual-fuel main engines, four 9-cylinder Wartsila 20DF dual-fuel auxiliary engines, the Wartsila LNGPac fuel storage and management system, two twin/single out gearboxes, two Wartsila Controllable Pitch Propellers (CPP) with the Wartsila ProTouch bridge control system, two Wartsila transverse thrusters, plus comprehensive engineering, project management, and on-site yard support services. The Wartsila equipment is scheduled to be delivered to the yard in mid-2017. "Balearia, the owners of this new ferry, appreciate the importance of LNG fuel in providing a cleaner marine environment. Wartsila, with a track record of more than 1500 gas fuelled engines with 16 million running hours, has by far the most experience in dual fuel power and propulsion installations. Furthermore, our capability to assume responsibility for the combined ship systems, plus our strong service support and training facilities were other important considerations," said Aaron Bresnahan, Vice President, Sales, Wartsila Marine Solutions. "In our current order book at LaNaval, we have two vessels that will be powered by dual-fuel engines: a multi-purpose cable laying vessel and this Ro-Pax vessel for Balearia. For both ships, LaNaval has selected Wartsila as the supplier of the DF engines, and we have also chosen the company's LNGPac fuel system. We made this decision based on Wartsila's experience in dual-fuel technology," added Javier Angulo, Deputy Managing Director and Sales Director at LaNaval. "The output power from the Wartsila engines will allow the ship to reach a speed of 24 knots. Their technology will enable us to be highly efficient and competitive with our passenger and goods services," noted Guillermo Alomar, Balearia's Fleet Director. On October 23, model and entrepreneur Jessica Minh Anh will host a sky-high ocean catwalk on the sundeck of AIDAluna while the ship is in New York City at Pier 88. Felix Eichhorn, AIDA's president, said "AIDA operates the world's most state-of-the-art fleet and represents premium quality, creativity, and the future, just as Jessica Minh Anh does in fashion. We are honoured to host her upcoming phenomenon onboard of AIDAluna". In 2009, international top model Franziska Knuppe assumed the role of godmother for the ship and has since returned many times to relax on board with her family. The showcase is part of Jessica Minh Anh's 2016 "catwalk on water" series, following her floating runway on the Seine River in Paris and Sydney earlier this year. J Autumn Fashion Show, which was previously held on the Grand Canyon Skywalk, London's Tower Bridge, and the Eiffel Tower, will premier the most distinctive haute couture, jewelry, and modernized traditional wear from different continents. Every step of the preparation has been monitored to perfection as Jessica Minh Anh continues her quest to combine architecture, culture, fashion, and art. "In this edition, I focus on the unique take of women on innovative design techniques, rare colour and fabric mixture, and key factors that transition beliefs and culture. Each designer has an interesting story to tell, and an impressive collection to match. I cannot wait for the whole world to be inspired by them" said Minh Anh. Children are gearing up to hit the streets on October 31, and while their main concern is which neighborhoods have the best candy, parents will be making sure their little ones are safe out there. The F.B.I. recently released their 2017 annual Crime in the United States report, which breaks down crime rates by a state's individual towns and cities. The report includes reported instances of manslaughter, robbery, aggravated assault, and rape during the year of 2017. BRIDGEPORT Police were investigating Thursday night after a gunshot victim was dropped off at a local hospital. The wounded male, whose name was not immediately released, was shot in the buttocks around 7:30 p.m., according Bridgeport Police Department spokesman Av Harris. The injured man was taken to the Bridgeport Hospital in a private vehicle and was treated for the injury, which was not life threatening, Harris said. According to police dispatch reports, officers found at least one shell casing near the site of the suspected shooting, near the intersection of Palisades Avenue and Price Street. A Trumbull doctor with an office in Fairfield pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Hartford to one count of issuing unlawful prescriptions for oxycodone. When he is sentenced Jan. 11, Dr. Paul Bellofiore faces a maximum term of one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000. Bellofiore was accused of improperly writing prescriptions to a former Connecticut couple that diverted a significant amount of their medications for profit by arranging through a middleman for street-level resale of the pills in and around Waterbury. Medical practitioners play a critical role in battling the epidemic of opioid abuse that we are experiencing, U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly said in a release. The strict rules associated with prescribing controlled substances are in place for a reason: to help ensure that these highly addictive narcotics arent abused or illegally diverted. Those who knowingly prescribe opiates in violation of federal law will be prosecuted. According to court documents, Bellofiore is a physician with an office in Fairfield. Two of Bellofiores longtime patients were a married couple who lived in Connecticut until approximately 2011, when they relocated to Florida. Bellofiore knew that prior to moving to Florida, the couple had unlawfully obtained forged prescriptions for opioid medications from Bellofiores former medical assistant and, as a result, he should have been aware of the possibility that the couple was abusing or diverting their medications, according to the documents. After moving to Florida, the couple traveled to Connecticut about twice a year. They scheduled medical appointments with Bellofiore for the visits. At the conclusion of each appointment, Bellofiore provided the couple with approximately six months of predated prescriptions, including prescriptions for Oxycodone, to last until their next appointment. At times, the couple was unable to travel to Connecticut to see Bellofiore and obtain their prescriptions in person, in which case Bellofiore left the predated prescriptions for a friend or relative of the couple to pick up from Bellofiores office. It was Bellofiores understanding that the friend or relative would fill the prescriptions each month at a pharmacy in Connecticut and mail the medications to the couple in Florida. Federal officials say that in February, Bellofiore provided a stack of prescriptions to a friend of the married couple. The prescriptions, which were improperly dated to make it appear that they were issued at monthly intervals after February, authorized the couple to receive thousands of pills of oxycodone and Percocet, a medication containing oxycodone. Bellofiore also failed to include on the prescriptions the couples address in Florida, which might have alerted a pharmacist filling the prescriptions in Connecticut to the possibility the medications were being abused or diverted. The Controlled Substances Act prohibits physicians from dispensing any Schedule II controlled substance, including oxycodone, without a valid written prescription. The prescription must be dated as of, and signed on, the day when issued and bear the full name and address of the patient. A practitioner also may not issue multiple prescriptions at any single time authorizing a patient to receive more than a 90-day supply of a Schedule II controlled substance. Bellofiore was released pending sentencing. As a condition of his release, he is prohibited from writing prescriptions for controlled substances. This investigation is being conducted by the DEAs New Haven Tactical Diversion Squad, which includes officers from the Bristol, Greenwich, Hamden, Milford, New Haven, Shelton, Vernon and Wilton Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi M. Perry. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT A state Superior Court judge has thrown out the lawsuit against a gunmaker brought by the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. In a 54-page decision filed Friday afternoon, Judge Barbara Bellis granted a motion to strike the entire lawsuit brought against the gunmaker, Remington Outdoor Co.; the dealer, Camfour Inc.; and the company that owned the gun store; Riverview Sales where Adam Lanzas mother bought the assault rifle. The judge ruled the lawsuit does not satisfy the exception to federal law that gives immunity to gun manufacturers for the actions of gun owners under the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) or the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA). Although PLCAA provides a narrow exception under which plaintiffs may maintain an action for negligent entrustment of a firearm, the allegations in the present case do not fit within the common-law tort of negligent entrustment under well-established Connecticut law, the judge wrote. A plaintiff under CUTPA must allege some kind of consumer, competitor or other commercial relationship with a defendant, and the plaintiffs here have alleged no such relationship. The families of some of the victims slain by Adam Lanza, who used a Bushmaster rifle, contended Remington and the other defendants were negligent in selling a military-style rifle to the general public. They hoped that argument would prove to be a loophole in the federal laws that protect gun makers from being held liable for the harm created by their products. While the families are obviously disappointed with the judges decision, this is not the end of the fight, said their lawyer, Joshua Koskoff. We will appeal this decision immediately and continue our work to help prevent the next Sandy Hook from happening. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said it was time to overturn a 2005 federal law that protects the gun industry from liability when guns are used in a crime. While today is a deeply disappointing day for the families, their appeal will continue this fight for justice, Malloy said in a statement. As I have stated before, the laws providing unique protections to gun manufacturers need to be changed to give crime victims a right to pursue legal remedies. In January 2015, the families of 10 victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy filed suit against Remington, the maker of the Bushmaster rifle Lanza used to first kill his mother and then the students and educators at the school, Camfour, the guns distributor, and Riverview Sales, the store where Lanzas mother bought the gun. They claimed the gun maker and sellers knew that civilians were unfit to operate the assault rifle and yet continued selling it to civilians, disregarding the threat the gun poses. The lawyers for Remington recently filed a request for the judge to issue an order preventing the company from turning over as part of the discovery process anything the company believes are trade secrets or anything that could later be used to compromise its business. The lawsuit sought to overcome the broad immunity given to gun makers by using a small window for holding companies accountable, including instances of so-called negligent entrustment, in which a gun is carelessly given or sold to a person posing a high risk of misusing it. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 State Police via Twitter Show More Show Less 2 of 5 State Police via Twitter Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Co. via Facebook Show More Show Less 5 of 5 An SUV carrying three people lost control and rolled over on southbound Route 8 at the height of the Friday morning rush hour. Echo Hose Hook and Ladder crews were dispatched at 7:40 a.m and arrived to find a black SUV with New Jersey license plates had rolled over, but landed on its wheels. Three people were were trapped inside the vehicle and had to be extricated by firefighters. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT Members of the citys Library Board did not violate state Freedom of Information laws when they privately discussed embattled Library Director Scott Hughes performance without him in the room, a state official said. The boards Personnel Committee convened behind closed doors Wednesday to decide what to do about Hughes. Earlier this year, members came close to firing Hughes, but instead placed him on probation to try to improve his management of the library system and his communication with the board. Hughes was expected to attend Wednesdays meeting, but instead took a personal day off from work. One of his allies on the personnel committee Sauda Baraka walked out of Wednesdays meeting, arguing that under Connecticuts Freedom of Information laws the committee could not talk about Hughes without him being present. Im not participating because I think this is a violation of (the) FOI (Act), Baraka told her colleagues. But Thomas Hennick, the public education officer for the state Freedom of Information Commission, said afterward in an interview that the Personnel Committee was only obligated to inform Hughes of the meeting. And under the FOI Act, Hughes has the right to request any discussion of his performance by the library board or its committees be public something he has done frequently this year. But, Hennick said, Hughes cannot prevent the board from discussing him by skipping a meeting. The person (who is the topic of a personnel discussion) only needs to be notified, Hennick said. If the person doesnt show up, thats on the person. Its not the boards problem whether or not the person appears. Tom Errichetti, a Library Board member who participated in Wednesdays discussion, said Hughes was informed of the personnel committee meeting when it was first scheduled back in September. He was well aware, Errichetti said. Errichetti said Hughes contacted him Tuesday afternoon to tell me he was taking personal days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Errichetti said he did not ask for an explanation, and that Hughes did not offer one. The Personnel Committee declined Wednesday to reveal what, if any, decision was made about Hughes probation and employment. Their recommendation is expected to be taken up by the full Library Board next week. Hughes decision to skip Wednesdays meeting did not help his already damaged standing with some board members. Its indicative of an ongoing lack of communication with the board, which was the primary focus of the original probation, Library Board Chairman Jim ODonnell said. Hughes has not returned numerous requests for comment. Former state Sen. Ernest Newton, who supports Hughes, said it was unfair for board members to hold Hughes absence against him, without knowing the cause. We dont know what came up, Newton said. A library employee who did not wish to be identified said it would be best if the full Library Board makes a final decision about Hughes next Wednesday. I really want this situation to be resolved, one way or the other, the staffer said. We cant go on like this. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STRATFORD In an unusual Thursday special election, unofficial results indicate that Democrat Scott Farrington-Posner was elected to represent the Town Councils District 2 and Democrat Greg Cann was the winner in District 5. The District 2 race was a three-way affair, pitting Farrington-Posner against Republican Ron Tichy and petitioning candidate and longtime Town Hall critic George Mulligan. Farrington-Posner was considered the favorite, and won with by 350 votes to Tichys 188 and Mulligans 12, according to unofficial results from the Republican Registrar Lou DeCilio. In District 5, voters chose between Cann and petitioning candidate John Dempsey. Dempsey is also a registered Democrat; he had earlier considered running against Cann in a Democratic primary, but he missed a filing deadline. So, he ran as a petitioning candidate instead. Cann was considered by many as the favorite, and won by an unofficial total of 268 to 76 the Republican registrar said. Both district races were precipitated by resignations. In District 2, Republican Mark Dumas unexpectedly resigned on June 6, 2016, citing challenges to face at home. More Information Special Election Results District 2: Scott Farrington-Posner (D): 350 James Tichy (R): 188 George Mulligan (petitioning candidate): 12 District 5: Greg Cann (D): 268 John Dempsey (petitioning candidate): 76 See More Collapse I know that I can't give a half-hearted effort at being on the Town Council, he said at the rime on Facebook. Dumas resignation was seen as odd by many, because he attempted to pull it back about two hours later. Town attorneys ruled that an office-holder cant un-resign himself once the papers are filed at the Town Clerks office. Dumas had opposed Mayor John Harkins on several fronts, and when he resigned, there was palpable glee at Town Hall. In District 5, Democrat Joe Gresko resigned his seat on May 16. This was because he had won a special election on Feb. 2 to assume the seat in the Legislature than had been occupied by the late Terry Backer, who represented the 121st House District for 23 years. Backer died of brain cancer on Dec. 14, 2015. While sitting as both a councilman and a state representative is legal, Gresko said that he couldnt commit to both positions at once. Gresko, who was Backers right-hand man, defeated Republican Susan Barksdale. He resigned his council seat, as he promised, after the 2016-17 town budget was hammered out in May. So, since then, there have been only eight Town Council members instead of the usual 10. The race in District 5 was not without its twists and turns. Joe Duffy, the Republican candidate, withdrew his candidacy on Aug. 19. And Dempsey, who had been a Republican and a former council member, got on the ballot as a petitioning candidate. Cann narrowly lost a Town Council election in 2013. In that race, he lost to Brian Dempsey, who is John Dempseys brother, by six votes. District 5 is geographically the smallest district in Stratford, sitting along the Bridgeport border in an arrowhead shape. District 2 is just to the east of District 5, making the shape of a cross near the center of town. Mulligan said that he plans to run for the mayors seat again in 2017. He also ran for the job in 2005, 2009 and 2013. The town had a town manager government before that. Staff writer Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting. BRIDGEPORT - A young Ansonia woman who lost her left leg as a result of alleged medical malpractice, was awarded nearly $25 million Friday in a suit against a Trumbull doctor. The six-member Superior Court jury deliberated for about four hours before finding that Dr. Marsel Huribal and Southern Connecticut Vascular Center were negligent in their treatment of 18-year-old Virginia Schneider. Cuba receives humanitarian aid from Venezuela Submitted by: Juana Central America Santiago de Cuba 10 / 14 / 2016 Tango 63, a ship belonging to the Venezuelan Navy, carrying over 300 tons of humanitarian aid, was officially received at the Santiago de Cuba port. Lazaro Exposito and Nancy Acosta, president and vice-president of the Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo Civil Defense, respectively, along with Rene Mesa, Cubas Minister of Construction, welcomed the crew and its captain Leonardo Castellano. The Venezuelan ship brings construction equipment and materials to repair the houses and infrastructure of the areas battered by Hurricane Matthew last October 4th. Milagros Rodriguez, an attache of the Venezuelan embassy in Cuba, forwarded a greeting form President Nicolas Maduro and added they deliver this aid with lots of love and solidarity. Matthew hit the easternmost Cuban province of Guantanamo as a category four hurricane, wreaking havoc in 4 municipalities: Baracoa, Imias, Maisi and San Antonio del Sur, leaving on its wake great damages to roads, the electric grid, communications, and up to 90 percent of buildings in some of the towns. Thanks to the timely measures taken by the Cuban Civil Defense and the readiness of the people, no human lives were lost despite the strength of the storm. Washington and Havana hold second human rights talks Representatives of the governments of Cuba and the United States are meeting Friday in Havana in the second bilateral working session on Human Rights, the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced. The delegations at the talks are headed by the vice-director general for Multilateral Affairs and International at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Law Pedro Luis Pedroso, and on the US side is the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Tom Malinowski. The meeting follows up on a previous one held 31 March 2015 in Washington following a proposal by Cuba, and it is in tune with the will of the Cuban government to exchange with the United States about any issue, including those where both governments find their differences, on the basis of respect and on equal grounds. At the 2015 meeting, the Cuban delegation expressed interest in contributing to efficient and non-discriminatory treatment of human rights and stressed the need to observe an appropriate balance between civil, political rights and economic, social and cultural rights. On that occasion, Cuba also expressed concern about the guarantee and protection of human rights in the United States, given the increase of brutality and police abuse on a discriminatory pattern, and the limitations of labor rights and trade union liberties internationally recognized, as well as violations of human rights in the so-called fight on terror, including torture, extrajudicial executions with the use of drones and extraterritorial espionage and surveillance. These real PA creatures could become cryptids if we don't save them Proactively From the Sea; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity. Naftali Berger's quest for perfection ended in victory when the 24-year-old student entered Tsvi Dahan's trailer in the haredi Orthodox Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. "Find something wrong with it find it!" a glowing Berger exclaimed as he held his treasure: a bumpy, lemon-like fruit he had just purchased for $200. In open-air markets and on tables unfolded on sidewalks in Jewish communities throughout the world, many Jews preparing for Sukkot, which begins Oct. 16 this year, look for lovely etrogs, the fruit that constitutes the centerpiece of the biblically mandated four species to be blessed during the weeklong holiday. Many celebrants will take the basic set commonly sold for $30-$40 that also includes a lulav (palm branch), myrtle and willow. Then there are men like Berger, who think nothing of dropping hundreds of dollars on an especially beautiful etrog, which they believe enhances their fulfillment of the mitzvah. No sooner does Yom Kippur end than such customers seek out Dahan, 38, a resident of Jaffa who works for a company that owns three hotels in Tel Aviv but has trekked to New York City the past 17 autumns to hawk his high-end etrogs. They are rippled and slightly smooth, hefty and slim, shiny in hue and subdued in etrog selection, as in life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Above all, though, Dahan's fruits are symmetrical and close to blemish-free and are pure, ungrafted. They come from the 200 trees on a half-acre plot of land Dahan leases in Dumdir, a village in southern Morocco, his parents' homeland. His late grandfather, Yaakov Assayag, a tailor in Marrakesh, got into the business 70 years ago, and several of Assayag's sons followed suit. Lore holds, Dahan explains, that Morocco's Dumdir has yielded the finest etrogs since the exile following the Second Temple's destruction. Dahan visits four times a year to monitor his crop. Before Rosh Hashanah, he selects the 2,000 best etrogs, then sorts for the top 200 most pristine specimens to bring to Brooklyn. He's not alone catering to the market in Williamsburg, with its primarily Hasidic community. In the weeks before Sukkot, several other storefronts and trailers pop up in the neighborhood, with dealers and growers offering premium etrogs from Israel and Italy, along with Morocco. In the trailer, Berger slides his eyeglasses down near the tip of his nose, the better to inspect the etrog he's grasping. He takes a cotton swab from a box and dabs at the surface surrounding the pitom, as the stem is known, trying to discern if the pinhead-sized speck he spots is merely a wayward dirt particle or a blemish. Ten minutes into the inspection, Berger phones his rabbi, detailing his observations in Yiddish. He hangs up, calls again, then returns the etrog to a foam-lined box that he sets aside on a table. "I'm going to have a cup of coffee and think about it," Berger says. Ten minutes later, he returns, seizing another etrog and examining it.This one is smaller, but Berger is smitten. "It's clean perfectly clean. For me, that's the most important," Berger pronounces of the $200 etrog that he calls "a bargain." The business is "very hard," Dahan tells a visitor in Hebrew. "[The customers] are very hard justifiably so because they're spending a lot of money." Another customer enters. The first etrog proffered fails to impress in price ($275) or looks. The second falls short, too. Dahan hands over a third costing $350. "You won't find better," Dahan states. "Don't make a mistake. You'll wait for the last day, won't get what you want and you'll be going crazy." She already has a successful luxury children's range and now Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece is lending her style expertise to the high street. The glamorous royal has teamed up with Marks & Spencer for an exclusive 33 piece collection of clothing, accessories and gifting designed for baby and children. The mother-of-five's capsule collection is influenced by the signature style seen in her high end line of kids clothes which retail up to 250 for a fraction of the price. Children's clothing designer Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece has collaborated with Marks & Spencer for their latest kidswear range Prices start at 6 for socks, and up to 60 for the shawl, clothing starts at 18 for the top and goes up to 36 for the dress. The 48-year-old's designs involve elegant detailing and playful twists that are synonymous with her designs. Celebrating tradition and heritage, this is a collection suitable for all occasions, whether it is a festive party or Sunday lunch. Princess Marie-Chantal comments: 'I am so excited about my very first collaboration with M&S and feel that the Marie-Chantal and M&S collection has captured the magic of childhood in this collection. The Crown Princess of Greece (pictured) is famed for her high end designs for children which normally cost up to 250 'Together we have designed a beautiful collection of clothes and gifts for baby, boys and girls in a soft and sweet palette. 'A classic yet contemporary collection which is also fun and playful.' The store notes that the items include 'sumptuous fabrics such as cashmere and silk', adding that they are all 'comfortable pieces that little ones and parents alike will love'. The princess's designs have proved popular among celebrities with Nicky Hilton's flower girls famously wearing her creations in July 2015. Marie-Chantal and her sisters Alexandra, and Pia - often referred to as 'The Miller Sisters' - all married into very wealthy families; Pia's ex-husband is Getty Oil heir Christopher Ronald Getty. However, despite her high street collection featuring her signature style they are expected to be at a much lower price Her collection is suitable for all occasions, whether it is a festive party or Sunday lunch The 48-year-old's designs involve elegant detailing and playful twists that are synonymous with her designs Marie-Chantal has a long history of associating with the rich and famous; before she married into the royal family, the London-born blonde - whose father was duty-free shopping co-founder Robert Warren Miller - worked for Andy Warhol. The Crown Princess is the wife of Crown Prince Pavlos - the 49-year-old heir to the Greek throne. Among their four children, Princess Maria-Olympia has recently become a star of the aristocratic party circuit. Pavlos is the eldest son of King Constantine II, the last king of Greece who was deposed by a military junta in 1973 - a move later given democratic approval in a referendum. Constantine was a cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh, born a prince of Greece and Denmark, and the Greek royals remain close to their British relations. The Marie-Chantal collection will be exclusively available in 37 M&S stores in the UK and online at www.marksandspencer.com from 1st November 2016, plus selected international stores and websites. He's already set pulses racing with a steamy shower scene from the upcoming Fifty Shades Darker film, and now fans of Jamie Dornan are in for a double treat. A teaser of next week's episode of the serial killer drama The Fall shows the Irish actor strip off for a scrub, and it's sent fans wild of Twitter. One admirer described the scene as 'pure porn' while and it's likely to pique interest among fans who have been left disappointed by the latest series. Much of the action has been set in a hospital and critics have likened it to Casualty, while others have complained about too much whispering. But there were no complaints on Twitter as people expressed their admiration for the scene. Fanpage101Grey tweeted: 'We need Jamie pictures in the shower more often. What did I wake up to?' Others said they would be keen to join him in the shower, while Violet cheekily said she wishes the camera had gone lower. Fans of Jamie Dornan are going wild over a clip for next week's episode of the BBC serial killer drama The Fall, which sees him strip off in the shower The Irish actor shows off his broad, muscular shoulders in a very racy shower scene Fans declared they would like to be in the shower with the hunk who plays serial killer Paul Spector VinaLovesmoldy added: 'Jamie + Shower = cause of my death', while HolyJamieD described that part where he runs his hands through his hair as 'porn'. Meanwhile Janet Webb summed up what a lot of others thinking with a simple quote, referencing the 50 Shades books: 'Oh my my!' The actor, 34, plays serial killer Paul Spector who is in hospital recovering after being shot, and claims that he can't remember his crimes. One fan described the moment when Jamie Runs his hands through his hair as 'pure porn' Although his character's torso is scarred by bullet holes and surgery, it certainly didn't put fans off Even though his torso features visible scars from bullets and surgery in the scene, it certainly didn't bother fans. Natalieheydon predicted she'd be having sweet dreams, saying: 'Just watched the gratuitous shower scene from the next episode of The Fall. Now I have to sleep with that image in my head. #shameful.' The star recently opened up about stripping off for the cameras on The Jonathan Ross show, admitting it's not something he's shy about. 'I don't really care about that sort of stuff. I'm not nudist beach guy but I don't really mind,' he said. The Northern Irish heart-throb also spoke about his renowned looks and revealed he's not as secure in his own skin as his performances portray. He admitted: 'I hate my face without a beard, I swear to God I really hate it. I always think I look really young. 'I think when I'm clean shaven, I look like a thumb My own 'Jamie Resting Face' is what I have an issue with.' The father-of-one is married to actress and musician Amelia Warner, but he admits she's never seen some of his more racy scenes. When asked what she thinks of his racy role in Fifty Shades, the dashing actor explained: 'My wife is one of the most brilliant human beings in the world. With his gym-honed figure, hipster beard and youthful looks you'd be forgiven for thinking Deshun Wang was half his age. But the actor and model is in fact 80-years-old and is being dubbed the 'world's hottest grandpa', after proving a hit on the runway in China. Deshun has proved that you are never too old to take up something new, walking his first catwalk just a year ago, at age 79. Scroll down for video Inspirational: The 80-year-old was already a successful actor before he began modelling at the age of 79 Deshun struts his stuff on the catwalk at the age of 80 in the video which has gone viral And despite his toned body, that men a quarter of his age could be envious of, the hunky octogenarian only started going to the gym at 40 and only began working on his abs at 70. Deshun was born in the Chinese city of Shenyang before becoming an actor at 24. He has starred in films including The Forbidden Kingdom and Warriors of Heaven and Earth, before trying his hand at modelling. Oh so fashion: After storming the catwalk last year, Deshun has become a huge hit in fashion Deshun has starred in several films over the years and has been acting since he was 24 (pictured above starring in 2010's Tiger Team) And it was at last year's Chinese fashion week where Deshun really came into his old, winning over the fashion pack. The actor started his career in acting at 24 but at 79 he moved into modelling (above in 2010's Tiger Team) He told the Times: 'Many people started noticing me after a catwalk show. Some people call me "the hottest grandpa". 'Some also said that I'm an instant internet sensation. But do you know what? To prepare for this day, I've been getting ready for 60 years.' Speaking about his success in a video, which has since gone viral he says: 'There is no too late. No one can stop you from succeeding, you just need to set your mind to it.' This is a bride who knows what she wants. Melissa Smith is standing on the funny little podium they provide in bridal shops, swathed in enough fabric to fit six Melissas, and starting to well up. Oh my God! I love it! she screams. This is The Dress. Its perfect! As she swishes and swirls her mother Christine and friend Charlotte dab at her eyes. OK, so they also loved the first three dresses but this one fitted bodice, sequins galore, fairytale princess skirt is to die for. Now theres only the matter of which veil to choose, which tiara, what shoes, even what lingerie should lurk beneath. Melissa Smith, 27, is a participant on the Channel 4 show Married At First Sight For several hours Melissa obsesses over the detail. Her mum stands in for the groom when theres a question of how the train might behave on a dancefloor. Ah, the groom, the bridal shop owner asks, what sort of dress do you think hed like? Yikes! This is awkward. Everyone freezes. I dont know, says Melissa after an age. I dont know who the groom is yet. Yes, its true. Melissa, 27, might have planned every detail of her wedding, but she wont meet the groom until the big day. Because Melissa is a participant on the Channel 4 show Married At First Sight, a programme that sees a panel including a psychologist, a DNA expert and a vicar match wannabe brides with willing grooms but only reveals their choices when everyone concerned is at the church. The programme, which began in Denmark and also has a version in the States, arrived in Britain last year amid much hoopla and controversy. The criticisms of the show that it was exploitative and made a mockery of marriage were somewhat reinforced by what became of the first batch of contestants. Of the three couples paired up, none are still together. One didnt even make it down the aisle (the bride bailed out during filming), another separated a few weeks afterwards when the male half of the happy couple was found to be browsing a dating app, and the only potentially happy-ever-afters announced theyd split a few months after the ceremony. Their explanation? There was no spark. This surprised no one, frankly. So why would anyone put themselves forward for series two? Why not, says Melissa when we sit down to chat. The way I see it I have nothing to lose. And if it doesnt work out well get divorced. Melissa mother attending her daughter's big day. The programme that sees a panel including a psychologist, a DNA expert and a vicar match wannabe brides with willing grooms but only reveals their choices when everyone concerned is at the church This is the first time the programme-makers have allowed a peek behind the scenes and when were allowed to meet Melissa, a groom has already been picked. She knows very little about him though, save for his first name and, bizarrely, what he earns. Its for the pre-nup, she explains. That all has to be done in advance. So far, so mad. Coincidentally, mad was the word used by Melissas grandmother when she broke the news. My granny wasnt very impressed. She hasnt really spoken to me since, she admits. Will Granny be throwing confetti on the day? No, she wont be there but thats more because shed already booked a holiday. What about her mum did she hit the roof? No. I thought shed freak, but she didnt. You might imagine that only desperate souls sign up for such a programme. Melissa defies expectations. Slightly built and very pretty, shes training to be a nurse Now you might imagine that only desperate souls sign up for such a programme. Melissa defies expectations. Slightly built and very pretty, shes training to be a nurse, which you assume requires a level of sense. So why on earth is she doing this? I really want to get married. Having a proper family is a big deal for me. But Ive made a bit of a mess of picking men myself. Ive been in a few serious relationships, and I was really in love with one of them. We were together for two years. I thought Id picked really well, but I hadnt. Oh dear. But there are other fish in the sea, no? Been there, done it, she says swiftly. Left to my own devices, Im a disaster. The problem is that in the past Ive gone for looks, but then that side fizzles out and what are you left with? I watched this programme both the British and the US versions and I was intrigued by the fact they look at it more scientifically. I want to see if they can come up with my perfect match, based on things like core values and personality traits rather than whether I look at him and think, I fancy you. A couple from the program last year. The criticisms of the show that it was exploitative and made a mockery of marriage were somewhat reinforced by what became of the first batch of contestants. Of the three couples paired up, none are still together What if she feels sick at the sight of her new husband when shes standing at the altar? I wont mind, she laughs. The only thing Ill be upset about is if hes bald. The panel said, We can make sure he isnt bald now but we cant predict what will happen in the future. Thats fine. I dont mind if he goes bald in 20 years. If he makes me laugh thats the main thing. And even if he looks like a troll and I dont feel a spark when I see him, maybe I will later. Im planning to work on it. She doesnt actually know where theyll live after the wedding. As a student nurse she lives in halls of residence. The programme-makers do put the happy couple up for the first few months, but what then? She shrugs. I dont know. Maybe he has somewhere. She does know, though, that shes unlikely to be a millionaire overnight. The pre-nup has shown that he earns a pretty average, for his age wage. But hes not exactly getting the best deal here when it comes down to money, since Im a student. I earn nothing. By the time the programme airs, this couple will (fingers crossed) have been married for some months. Guests at the wedding theyve invited 20 people each have been asked not to share photos on social media lest their identities emerge too soon. Her other friends wont even know shes got married until the show goes out. We have to keep it quiet so as not ruin the programme. You mean you have to hide your husband? Sort of. By the time the programme airs, the couple will (fingers crossed) have been married for some months. Guests at the wedding theyve invited 20 people each have been asked not to share photos on social media lest their identities emerge too soon Loopy? Yes. But theres an odd level of acceptance here. I talk to her mother Christine, a travel agent who seems perfectly sane and has been married for 40 years. Of course Id have liked her to get married in the traditional way, she says. But Im going to be there, supporting her, and so is her dad. Of the last few weddings Ive been to, most have ended in divorce. There are no guarantees any more. Maybe Melissa has as good a chance as any. Maybe. But still. When I leave her shes chatting nine to the dozen about seams to be altered and straps to be inserted. Dont worry, the bridal shop owner reassures her. We can change it all, make it exactly as you want it. Its bespoke, made to your requirements. Alas, there can be no guarantees about the groom. Hell have to be taken off the peg, for better or worse. As usual, the city of Collegedale does what it wants, when it wants. Last week the city of Collegedale lowered the speed limit on SR 2 (US 11) in Collegedale, Hamilton County, between Ooltewah and the Bradley County line from 55 mph to 45 mph. This was done despite urging from Tennessee Department of Transportation not to change the speed limit. I called TDOT about new speed limit decrease and they told me that while the city of Collegedale does have the right to change the speed limit even though this is a state road, they did it against the advice of TDOT. I believe that city of Collegedale has not done the proper engineering studies that would warrant the decrease in speed. There is only one reason for this decrease in speed limit and that is greed. I recently spoke with a former city of Collegedale police officer who joined another police force in part due to the pressure put on the police officers by the city manager to write speeding tickets. Everyone locally knows that the city of Collegedale Police Force has one of the worst reputations in the country for harassment and this is just one more example of that harassment and greed. The speedtrap.org website show the reputation the city of Collegedale has nationwide. If you agree with this injustice please call TDOT as I did file a complaint on complaintslist.com. Nancy Williams * * * Nancy, I am not sure what part of town you are from, but coming from someone who travels Lee Highway (between Collegedale and the Bradley County line) not only have I witnessed, but have helped several accident victims. I have seen two wrecks in almost four years that did not require medical transport, but still required EMS to check them (bloody nose from air bags, etc). With that, over 60 percent of those wrecks with injuries at Edgmon and Lee Highway have serious and some even life threatening injuries. I've watched multiple people have to be extricated by the jaws of life. So lowering the speed limit in Collegedale may be a speed trap because of the lack of notifying the public of the speed change, it is clearly needed and has been for years. When you pull off Edgmon at drive time traffic, or better yet when 75 is shut down and people are rerouted the back way to and from Cleveland, you will thank every Collegedale employee, police included, for slowing traffic down. Dead Mans Gap didn't get its name because it's cute. Wake up and more than likely slow down and you won't get a speeding ticket. This speed limit is our only hope of being safe for those who travel that strip daily. I wish Collegedale would stop more people for speeding there, as even though they do the best they can with a narrow curvy road, it's still not 100 percent. Kudos to Collegedale for trying to make that strip safer, we appreciate it and hope and pray our times of helping those severely injured in wrecks is coming to an end with the change of speed. Jessica Russell * * * Ms. Williams, I take exception to your accusations of the city of Collegedale and our city manager. First, If you traveled this stretch of Lee Highway frequently, as Ms Russell obviously does, or daily, as I do, then you would know that this is a dangerous stretch of roadway. Two fatalities have occurred at the intersection of Lee Highway and Edgemon Road in the last two years. As Ms. Russell mentions, I too have witnessed numerous "near misses" at this intersection. Especially at peak times it is dangerous trying to enter Lee Highway due to limited sight distances and excessive speed. While TDOT has plans next year to signalize and improve this intersection, those of use that travel this area daily are faced with as much as 20 minute waits to get on to Lee Highway from Edgemon Road. The train track at this intersection exponentially increases the risk of accident. I am sure that this is a safety measure taken by the city and nothing more. So far it hasn't positively impacted safety. Secondly, I was on the city commission when the current city manager, Ted Rogers, was hired in 2006 and served along with him until 2014. He is a man of character and integrity and I seriously doubt Mr. Rogers put any such "pressure" on our police force. If anything he encourages professionalism, courtesy and public safety. I am glad they lowered the speed limit, I hope it will eventually have a positive impact. Until TDOT improves this intersection, those of use traveling this area will have to continue to exercise extreme caution. John Turner Collegedale * * * TDOT, like many state DOTs, sets most main road posted speed limits with science to achieve the safest and smoothest traffic flows with the fewest crashes. The key principle is to set the limit at the 85th percentile speed of free flowing traffic under good conditions, rounded to the nearest 5 mph interval. Example: If 85 percent of the cars under good conditions are at or below 43 to 47 mph, then 45 is the safest limit to post. Posting 35 in that area will increase speed variance and cause several bad driving behaviors, and is likely to slightly increase the crash risks. Why? Because posted limits have almost no effect on the actual travel speeds of about the upper half of the flow. They do reduces the speeds of a very small percentage, typically no more than 10 percent or 15 percent of the flow, to be compliant with the artificially-low limit set below the normal travel speeds. This increases speed variance which disturbs the smooth flow and often slightly raises the crash risks. There are very good reasons that TDOT recommends against this sort of "feel good" change which is not based on science, and the city of Collegedale should listen to the traffic safety engineering experts at TDOT. James C. Walker Life Member, National Motorists Association Board Member and Executive Director, National Motorists Association Foundation * * * I disagree wholeheartedly with Ms. Williams and I thank Ms. Russel and our former Mayor John Turner for their comments. SR 2 (US 11) in the area she describes has been and is a mess. Folks average 70 to 80 down on the straight away coming towards the intersection with Edgemon Road. Keep in mind also that there are numerous businesses along that road too and they have people pulling in and out of them all day. Collegedale changed the speed limit to save lives at that intersection, and it was the only thing we could do according to TDOT, from my understanding. TDOT has finally put fixing the intersection on the radar for being fixed as I gather we have hit the magic number of fatalities and near fatal wrecks their as to warrant a fix. In as much as former police men talk about pressure to write tickets, your accusations are not born out by numbers. Anyone can go in and ask to see how many stops the citys police make, and anyone can take a calculator to the numbers and figure out that a large majority get off with a warning. In fact typically when you see multiple police cars involved its because the officer has a drug bust on their hands. Ooltewah Ringgold Road has turned into a bypass for the drug carriers. They get off in Ringgold and come up through here to avoid those black suburbans that park on the state line. So the numbers dont support your argument no matter what some website says, and many a time folks seem to see what they want to see and then talk about things they saw without any knowledge of the facts of the matter. Collegedale is one of the most successfully and efficiently run small cities in the state, sorry we dont have time to be a speed trap, we have better things to do with our time, like patrolling the streets of our neighborhoods, taking drugs off the streets, protecting property, and helping make Collegedale one of the safest cities to live in, in our State. Thank you again, Ms. Russel and Mayor Turner, for you kind comments about our truly great little city. David C. Barto someone who has to deal with that intersection every day of his life * * * I drive this section of highway regularly and am so glad the speed limit had been reduced to 45 mph. This is a very dangerous stretch and no one needs to be going 55 through here. I also find it hard to imagine that TDOT would oppose this change as I understand they are working with Collegedale in planning the installation much-needed traffic signals in this area. Robert Clapp Collegedale * * * The stretch of road is rated at 55 mph and reducing it to 45 mph will not stop the traffic crashes as the above gentleman put so well. There are two ways to prevent the crashes: 1. Pay attention to your driving whatever the speed limit and do not pull out in front of other drivers, 2. A traffic signal, which TDOT is ?currently working on. I drive this road most days and I try hard to pay attention to my driving and surroundings. I also ?drive at the posted speed limit whether I agree with it or not. Nancy Williams Different animals are hidden in the picture, inside other creatures People have been puzzling over the latest brainteaser puzzle to hit the internet - animals hidden inside an optical illusion. The brainteaser, which features a variety of beasts, is inspiring confusions as social media users argue over how many creatures it shows. While the elephant is easy to see, other hidden animals are harder to locate. The brainteaser, which features a variety of beasts, is inspiring confusions as social media users argue over how many creatures it shows Not everyone can see them - with some arguing for the inclusion of beasts that others can't see at all. The image was uploaded yesterday on the Facebook page S*** Happens and has divided opinions. Answers about how many creatures it shows range from four to a surprising 16. After close inspection, it appears that the picture shows an elephant, a donkey, a dog, a cat, a rat, a snake, a dolphin, a turtle and a fish. But one user revealed their 16 answers in a clear diagram, however some of them seem to a bit tenuous, including a shrimp, a swordfish and a snake that seems to just be the elephant's tail. One user revealed their 16 answers in a clear diagram, however some of them seem to a bit tenuous, including a shrimp, a swordfish and a snake that seems to just be the elephant's tail It comes after an image of a ballet dancer hidden among a flock of flamingos also left the internet well and truly stumped. The mind-bending puzzle features dozens of the brightly-coloured birds against a green background but the figure hidden among them is deceptively difficult to spot. Internet users are claiming to spend anything from 30 seconds to five minutes trying to locate the dancer, which is well hidden due to her bright pink dress. So can YOU spot her? Scroll down for reveal! Can you spot the ballet dancer? The mind-bending puzzle features dozens of the brightly-coloured birds against a green background but the hidden figure is difficult to spot Internet users are claiming to spend anything from 30 seconds to five minutes trying to locate the dancer, which is well hidden due to her bright pink dress (circled bottom left) The puzzle, designed by Dancewear Central, was created to raise awareness of ballet and dance. It is just the latest of a series of brainteasers sweeping the web. Earlier this week, a creepy photo of something lurking in a dark basement caused more than a few people to jump out of their skin after being shared on Imgur. The sinister black and white photo features a red circle and viewers are urged to zoom in on the photo to find out what's in it. However, the image - which has been viewed more than 120,000 times - left people baffled when they can't see anything untoward within the circle. Scroll down for reveal An image that tricks people into thinking there's something sinister lurking inside the red circle caused much confusion after being shared on Imgur and viewed 120,000 times 'I honestly can't see anything,' LLQPM2 commented. The resolution on the image is just blurry.' Gglower1 asked: 'I double clicked and nothing happened, am I doing something wrong?' and Blackhawk777 wondered if anyone else could see a Mario Mushroom. However, others admitted to feeling scared once they finally spotted what was wrong with the image. 'I'M BROWSING AT NIGHT GOD DAMN IT,' SkellyMonster wrote, while Insertintellectualnamehere recalled: 'First time my boyfriend showed me this, I was in McDonald's. I screamed and threw my fries in the face of the lady opposite us. Everyone laughed.' In fact, there is nothing troubling within the red circle, but if you look to the left of the photo you will see a creepy face peering around the corner. Ghost42981 wrote 'Took a moment, that's a good trick. I can appreciate a good diversionary scare!' And Beefcat was not afraid to admit that he'd jumped once he spotted the scary face. The optical illusion snap has been shared before but has recently resurfaced online. It turns out that the circle is a red herring, and there is a creepy face peering around the corner in the left hand side of the picture And last week, a seemingly mundane photo of three women sitting on a park bench left people in a similar state of confusion. At first glance the photo appears to show the trio pausing for a sit down during a sunny stroll. But there's something wrong with the image that only become obvious on closer inspection. An optical illusion image of three women sitting on a park bench that's recently resurfaced online has been causing confusion The photo, which was originally shared on Imgur, has recently resurfaced online to cause confusion. On close inspection, there appears to be no seat on the bench and the women are hovering mid air. The most likely explanation is that the bench features smaller pull out seats. The snap is the latest in a long line of optical illusion photos to leave people baffled. A photo of a bed with a part of the duvet circled in red went viral this week - with many not realising that the picture is really an optical illusion. Within the red ring there's a section of a white duvet covered in a black floral pattern, as well as part of the carpet. A photo of a bed with a part of the duvet circled in red has been confusing people online - with many not realising that the picture is an optical illusion However, people who spotted the image - which was shared on Reddit - struggled to work out what the circle signifies. The image was posted by Imgur user Idon'tevenknowwhat'sgoingon yesterday, and has received more than 63,500 views. Optical illusions are increasingly popular online. At first glance the below picture looks like a regular selfie of a woman striking a seductive pose on her bed. However, if you look closer you will see that something is not quite right with the black and white image. The shot has been driving the web to distraction ever since it went viral, with puzzlers unable to figure out the oddity. Scroll down for the reveal! At first glance this picture looks like any normal selfie you might see. However, if you look closer you will see that something is not quite right The image has recently resurfaced on Facebook after it first originated in 2003, when it was posted by Deviantart user Missmiserystock. It was titled 'Look-carefully'. At closer inspection it is revealed that the woman actually has six fingers instead of five. The subtle abnormality is likely to be a clever trick of Photoshop, designed to confuse. One internet user, Bogina, wrote: 'Hahaha thats insane it took me a while to catch it good job!' [sic] But are your eyes sharp enough to solve this brain teaser driving the web crazy? The woman in the image actually has six fingers, instead of the usual five Similarly an image of a floral carpet, uploaded by Jeya May Cruz from Pasig, the Philippines, was shared nearly 16,000 times and reached 120,000 reactions. Why? Because the photograph contains a camouflaged mobile phone that is devilishly hard to spot. If you are struggling, the phone has a floral pattern which does not quite match the carpet. Scroll down for the reveal! Can you spot the phone? The image was shared 16,000 times and reached 120,000 reactions Confused? The handheld device lies just beside the right side table leg at the top of the photo The phone has a floral pattern which does not quite match the carpet but is still a devilishly hard spot Still confused? The device is just beside the right side table leg at the top of the photo. It may seem a simple find, but it has left thousands bewildered. Jeya captioned her image: 'Since I can't sleep, let's play a game. Look for the cellphone.' She works as a sales representative at Dell, and studied Banking and Finance at Far Eastern University. Sometimes the easiest-sounding brain teasers are the most difficult ones. And another puzzle to recently sweep the web certainly plays by those rules. Scroll down for the reveal! Created by a PlayBuzz user, this colour photo depicts a grey car seat with a mysterious object hidden on it that it's up to you to find At first, the secret object is impossible to find. However, after a more detailed search you can spot a grey iPad lying flat on the back on the seat Created by a PlayBuzz user, this colour photo depicts a grey car seat with a mysterious object hidden on it for you to find. At first, the secret object is impossible to find. However, after a more detailed search you can spot a grey iPad lying flat on the back on the seat. The iPad is well-camouflaged because it's the same colour as the seat, with similar markings. Tweed and countryside chic was a key trend for outerwear on the catwalks at the Autumn/ Winter 2016 fashion shows. And one savvy farmer has gotten ahead of the fashion pack - by launching Britain's first ever tweed-inspired underwear range. Oliver Day, 36, who runs Blackers Hill Farm near Chilcompton, Somerset, ploughed his savings into a new business venture after falling milk prices forced him to diversify. Country bumpkin: Farmer Oliver Day has launched Britain's first ever tweed-inspired underwear range But after coming up with the idea, he soon realised that traditional tweed would not be suitable for bras and knickers, as it's too itchy. Oliver settled for a printed cotton tweed design on the underwear range, Holloa clothing. He said: 'I've always liked tweed and it struck me that I'd never heard of anyone offering tweed lingerie. Diverse talents: Oliver was forced to look at other ways of making money thanks to falling diary prices Cheeky! He came up with the concept of tweed underwear after identifying a gap in the market 'A Google search confirmed my suspicion that it was an untapped market, so I decided to give it a go.' Oliver sought the help of designer Joanne Wilderspin, whom he found via a lingerie designers' group on Facebook. But they quickly discovered the limitations of tweed. 'I discovered that tweed is actually not structural enough to be used for underwear. Overcoming obstacles: After teaming up with a designer Oliver realised tweed wouldn't be suitable so compromised with a tweed print Country chic: Oliver hopes the brand will prove as popular as Jules and Crew Clothing 'Also, it's itchy.. and perhaps the most major issue is that it's dry clean only. 'So we had to revise the concept slightly - it's now "tweed inspired" rather than actual tweed,' the father of two explained. Oliver hopes to tap into the recent trend for country-inspired fashion such as those sold by Jules, Crew Clothing and Boden. Racy: The range consists of six bra and brief designs as well as a basque and hold-up stockings 'After launching the Holloa brand on Facebook, the feedback I've had has been very positive,' he said. 'We are shortly commencing production and hope to have items available for sale in the run up to Christmas.' Advertisement These heartwarming images capture the unique bond between British service personnel and their children for a charity calendar. The images see the delight of the children when their mothers and fathers return from the front line and their devotion to them while they are away. One charming picture captures little Molly Frere, three, being dwarfed by her dad's riding boots as she holds them up before the camera. The Little Troopers calendar captures the unbreakable bond between service personnel and their children. Pictured: Lance Sergeant Duckworth kisses his 11-day-old child Charlie Another photograph shows one-year-old Harvey-Logan Holt wearing his father's hat which will appear in the month of April and came first in the photography competition. The touching snaps are among 500 entered into a national competition to show the close relationship between our Armed Forces and their families. A final 15 have been chosen for a 2017 fundraising calendar, with grinning Molly, now four, on the 'September' page. The calendar is comprised of 15 winners of a national photography competition that received 500 entries. Pictured: Alice O'Neill, four, visits a war memorial with her father Staff Sergeant Christopher O'Neill The picture was captured when she went to work with her dad Sergeant Rupert Frere, 35, a member of the Royal Horse Guards serving in London. During a tour of the stables and museum he posed her up in a guard's iconic red jacket and stood her next to thigh-high riding boots - which reach her chin - for the gorgeous pic. Proud dad Rupert, 35, from London, said: 'It's lovely that people will see my gorgeous daughter for a whole month and her mummy Sam is very happy as September is her favourite month.' One charming picture captures little Molly Frere, three, being dwarfed by her dad Sergeant Rupert Frere's riding boots as she holds them up before the camera George Burgess, four, on the cover of the calendar (left) Oscar Turner, 7 months, with Corporal Christopher Turner (right) Petty Officer Alan Causer with his daughter Grace Mae Causer as he returns home from his deployment One of the most touching pictures shows the three blonde-haired Broome girls waving their Royal Navy dad off on deployment. Olivia, seven. Sophie, five, and Imogen, three, can be seen waving to HMS Portland in Plymouth, as it sails away with chief petty officer dad Dan, 37, until spring 2017. The top-rated photo, which will be used for April, is baby Harvey-Logan Holt, then one, wearing a hat belonging to his dad RAF senior aircraftman Daniel, 28. Winning the photography contest and featuring on the April page is Harvey Logan Holt wearing a hat belonging to his dad RAF senior aircraftman Daniel At just two weeks old Jensen Harry Hodgkinson is one of the youngest stars in the calendar nestled up in his father's jacket Mum Lucy, 23, a senior aircraftwoman based at RAF Wittering in Peterborough, said including Harvey-Logan, now two, in the calendar would delight Daniel, currently on deployment. Second place went to a photo of Kian Roche, now four, welcoming home his dad Adam, 24, with a kiss at Portsmouth dockyard following a nine-month tour. Speaking of the photo taken in December 2015, pregnant mum Stevie, 24, said: 'Kian stayed embraced like this with his dad for most of the day. Olivia, seven. Sophie, five, and Imogen, three, can be seen waving to HMS Portland in Plymouth, as it sails away with chief petty officer dad Dan, 37, until spring 2017 Andy Parker, 34 with Georgie Parker aged three share a tender moment on the February page of the calendar Corporal Jack Tebbutt, 29, with son Charles walk hand in hand along a dock on the January page of the calendar 'I think he was a little afraid to let go.' Third place went to little Charlie Duckworth who was just 11 days old when the photo was taken on him in his dad Peter's army helmet. The 28-year-old Lance Sergeant serves with the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards based in London's Wellington Barracks. Wife Megan, 26, mum to Charlie, now 11 weeks old, said: 'I feel so honoured and proud.' Second place went to a photo of Kian Roche, now four, welcoming home his dad Adam, 24, with a kiss at Portsmouth dockyard following a nine-month tour Flight Sergeant Vicky Hindson and Squadron Leader Kevin Hindson with their daughter Penelope, one This touching photo sees two-year-old Teddy Woolls holding a cushion featuring his father's photo as he sleeps The calendar has been created by Little Troopers - a charity which supports service families. Founder Louise Fetigan said: 'This is the charity's fifth calendar, but the first to have photos from all three of our Armed Forces. 'The pictures show many of the emotions experienced by a military family from waving goodbye to daddy's ship, the happiness when they come home and the tough times while they are away. 'We are lucky to share some very special moments with our families through these images; it is a great privilege.' The 9.99 calendar and went on sale yesterday (Fri) and is available from www.littletroopers.net Proceeds go to the charity, which works to support the children, dubbed 'little troopers', and families of British servicemen and women. One Indian woman has revealed all about her disastrous arranged marriage and how her family stole her documents to prevent her from divorcing her husband, which meant she lost her job. Haritha Khandabattu's story has inspired thousands after she penned an honest account of how she managed to escape her life in India - to start afresh in Amsterdam. The engineer admitted to agreeing to an arranged marriage to a man she 'barely knew and didn't love' to please her parents. Inspiring: Haritha Khandabattu has shared her story about her arranged marriage on Facebook and she's inspired thousands of people But after years of trying to make it work with her controlling husband, Haritha decided she couldn't take it anymore. After relocating the Amsterdam for work she told her husband she wanted a divorce, but had to fly back to India to go through the process. While her family tried to persuade her to remain married, following hours of heated debate, Haritha fell asleep - only to wake to find her passport, phone and credit cards gone. Somehow, while it normally takes three months to obtain a new passport and a signature from a husband or father, Haritha managed to get a new passport and flew straight back to Amsterdam. Moving on: Despite her family's best efforts Haritha managed to return to Amsterdam, where she has started a new life Haritha's story was posted to the Humans Of Amsterdam Facebook page and has been liked nearly 30,000 times, shared thousands of times and attracted thousands of comments. In the lengthy post, Haritha explained she had initially agreed to an arranged marriage because her father stopped talking to her. She said: 'The tension became unbearable and at some point I couldnt take it anymore so I gave in. I ended up marrying a man that I barely knew and didnt love. Honestly I cant remember my wedding day. Whenever I look at photos I dont recognize myself. After the wedding we went on our honeymoon. From the start we had no connection and it was very obvious that we both werent in love.' Following the honeymoon Haritha moved in with her husband's family on the other side of India and was forced to her wages to her in-laws. 'My in-laws were very controlling and I was forced to give my salary to them. They demanded I would contact my father and ask him for a dowry. My husband turned out just to be as controlling as his parents. He would check my phone regularly and accused me multiple times of cheating on him.' Revealing: Haritha's story appeared on the Human's of Amsterdam Facebook page Haritha threw herself into her work as a software engineer for Nike and for 18 months she tried to make her marriage work, planning romantic weekends away but to no avail. After a year and a half of marriage Haritha couldn't take it any longer asked her boss if she could be relocated and was offered a job in Amsterdam. She accepted straight away. 'When I arrived at the Amsterdam airport it felt as if I could finally breath again. One day I visited a storytelling event with women from all over the world who talked about their experiences with physical and emotional abuse. All these women came out of situations way worse than mine and it made me feel strong. When I got home I picked up the phone and called my husband and said: "There is nothing you can do to change my mind, I want to get a divorce." Never in my life had I been so certain of myself.' Debate: The post attracted thousands of shares, likes and comments In order to get the divorce settled she travelled back to India but her family were 'emotional and angry' with her decision and arguments ensured. Then things took a turn for the worse. 'Just being there reminded me of all those terrible months. I woke up the next day and I noticed that my bag with my passport, phone and credit cards was missing. I panicked and confronted my in-laws. 'Slowly I started to realize how serious the situation was. My two weeks off were almost finished and I had to get to my job in Amsterdam. To get a new passport in India it takes at least 3 months and a signature of your father or husband. I have never felt so hopeless in my entire life but I wasnt about to give up.' Gaining popularity: After Haritha's story appeared on the Facebook page more and more people shared it and other websites posted her story Somehow, Haritha managed to obtain an appointment at the passport office the next day and by lying managed to get approval for new documents. After managing to find a cheap flight and secure new residency documents for the Netherlands she returned to Amsterdam, 45 days after she had left - only to learn she had lost her job. 'After all I had been through I knew I could handle any kind of situation. I took a deep breath and I started to apply for jobs. It took me 17 days to find work. Unfortunately, I am still not divorced but Im never going back to India. I do talk to my parents but I find it really hard to trust them.' The businesswoman refused to answer questions at any about the mounting sexual assault claims against her dad On Thursday afternoon, Ivanka flew to Pennsylvania to campaign for her father Donald in the suburbs of Philadelphia Later that day, Ivanka and Joseph shared a spaghetti lunch to symbolize a long life, which is a family tradition In celebration of Joseph's third birthday on October 14, the family enjoyed a Hot Wheels-themed breakfast in their decorated dining room The 34-year-old took to Instagram on Friday to share a video of five-year-old Arabella icing Joseph's Ivanka Trump may have been busy campaigning for her father Donald in Pennsylvania, but that didn't stop the mother-of-three from baking her son Joseph a birthday cake early the next morning. The 34-year-old took to Instagram on Friday to share a video of her and her five-year-old daughter Arabella prepping for the the little boy's third birthday breakfast that morning. 'Today I am making a cake for Joseph's birthday and here's our plane,' Arabella says as she licks vanilla frosting off of her fingers while holding up a model airplane that she plans to place on the top of the cake. Scroll down for video Lady and the Tramp! Ivanka Trump shared a spaghetti lunch with her son Joseph to symbolize a long life on his third birthday on Friday Bonding time: Ivanka took to Instagram early Friday morning to share a video of her and her five-year-old daughter Arabella making a cake for the birthday boy In the clip, Ivanka is wearing a white bathrobe and her eldest child is in her pajamas as they happily decorate Joseph's cake with Duncan Hines frosting and toy figurines. Another clip from the night before sees their dining room decorated with Happy Birthday balloons and a collage of family photos on the walls, as well as a Hot Wheels-themed banner and matching plates. 'Prepping for Joseph's big birthday breakfast. Oh yeah,' Ivanka says as films the decorations. Party prep: The cake was in celebration of her son Joseph's third birthday on Friday, October 14 On Friday afternoon, Ivanka and Joseph had a 'spaghetti lunch date', which is a birthday tradition in their household. The proud mom happily shared a photo of her and Joseph sharing a strand of spaghetti like the famous scene in the film Lady and the Tramp. Ivanka posted a similar snapshot last year, explaining that every year for her kids' birthdays, they make a special spaghetti lunch 'symbolizing a long life'. She and her husband Jared Kushner, 35, come home from the office to eat the special birthday lunch and give their kids what they think will be 'their favorite present'. 'You are such a loving little soul': On Friday morning, Ivanka shared a throwback photo of Joseph as a baby Going all out: The 34-year-old mom also decorated the dining room with family photos, balloons, and Hot Wheels-themed decorations Feeling special: In honor of his birthday, Joseph enjoyed an elaborate breakfast that included the cake his mom and sister made him But before she started documenting Joseph's birthday celebration, Ivanka shared a video of her helicopter leaving New York City on Thursday as she headed to the Philadelphia suburbs to quietly return to campaigning for her dad. Just days after the Republican nominee told Anderson Cooper that he had never kissed or groped a woman without their consent, six women have come forward to accuse Donald of touching or kissing them inappropriately. Although Ivanka attended multiple events throughout the day, the businesswoman refused to answer questions at any about the mounting sexual assault claims against her father. Too cute: Joseph is pictured cuddling with his baby brother Theodore last month Busy as can be: On Thursday afternoon, Ivanka was in Pennsylvania campaign for her father Donald Ivanka also filmed herself arriving home nine hours after she left the Big Apple, and it looks like she got right to work planning Joseph's birthday breakfast as soon as she got home. On Friday morning, Ivanka posted a photo of Joseph's cake, as well as the pancakes and bowl of fruit that was served during his celebratory breakfast. The proud mom, who has three children with Jared, also shared a throwback photo of her eldest son as a baby in honor of his big day. Jetsetter: The businesswoman shared videos of herself leaving New York City in a helicopter on Thursday and returning later that night Proud mom: Ivanka also shared a snapshot of her six-month-old son Theodore on Thursday 'Happy birthday to my precious Joseph. You are such a loving little soul. I cannot believe that you are already three years old!' she wrote. The day before the three year old's birthday breakfast, Ivanka posted a heartwarming photo of her six-month-old son Theodore. The snapshot sees the growing boy wearing a pale blue onesie with a white collar while sitting propped up on a pile of pillows. Doting daughter: Ivanka has been busy campaigning for her father along with her siblings Fall fun: Earlier this month, Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner took Arabella and Joseph apple picking in New Jersey Earlier this week, Ivanka was photographed strolling into work surrounded by Secret Service agents, looking as though she didn't have a single care in the world. Ivanka, who was the first of the Trump children to receive Secret Service detail, was heading into her office just one day after one of her employees accidentally 'liked' an article on Twitter about her father agreeing that she is 'a piece of a**' in a 2004 interview with Howard Stern. Although it is unclear when exactly the post was liked by Ivanka's official Twitter account, the tweet, which was posted on Sunday, was still visible under her 'likes' until Monday afternoon when it was removed. The presidential election is just weeks away, but Chelsea Clinton didn't look like she had a care in the world as she played with her daughter Charlotte in the park this week. The 36-year-old mother-of-two was photographed spending some quality time with her two-year-old daughter at a playground in New York City on Wednesday afternoon. The little girl seemed to be having a blast as her doting mother happily pushed her on the swings on the beautiful fall day. Bonding time: Chelsea Clinton was photographed spending some quality time with her two-year-old daughter Charlotte at a playground in New York City on Wednesday Happy day: The 36-year-old was all smiles as she pushed her little girl on the swings Relaxed: The hardworking mother has been busy supporting Hillary on the campaign trail over the past few months, and she looked delighted to be enjoying a bit of down time Chelsea, who gave birth to her son Aidan in June, looked relaxed in a black dress, tights, and boots, which she topped with a khaki trench coat. And while the mom stuck with a classic look, Charlotte looked adorable in a long leopard print sweatshirt featuring a jungle cat's face, red leggings, and sparkly silver slides. Chelsea, who presumably left three-month-old Aidan at home, looked like she was having a wonderful time playing with her only daughter. The doting mom carefully followed Charlotte as she walked around the park and played on the slide and with a red ball. Catch! Chelsea and Charlotte were joined in the playground by another little girl, who happily played ball with the mother-daughter duo Afternoon cuddles: At one point, Chelsea picked up Charlotte and held her close Watchful eye: The former first daughter made sure Charlotte was safe and sound as she played on the slide in the playground Chelsea was all smiles as she pushed her little girl on one of the parks swings, and at one point she picked up Charlotte and held her close during the mother-daughter outing. The next day the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton was back on the campaign trail as she headed to Wellesley College, her mother's alma mater. 'I never thought I would see the almost normalization of hate speech that we have witnessed in this election,' Chelsea said of the rhetoric used by Donald Trump, the GOP nominee. Fun and games: Chelsea looked thrilled to be spending time with her daughter Watchful eye: The mother-of-two, who presumably left her three-month-old son Aidan at home, happily followed Charlotte as she explored the park Solo trip: Chelsea's husband Marc Mezvinsky, pictured with his family in New York two weeks ago, missed the outing to the park 'The misogyny, the racism, the homophobia, the Islamophobia, the jingoism, the rhetoric against Americans with disabilities, the rhetoric against our veterans, the demeaning of a Gold-Star family,' she continued. 'None of that is what I believe our country to be at our best and it certainly does not represent the country that I want my children, our children, our grandchildren to grow up in.' Chelsea and her husband Marc Mezvinsky joined her father in Missouri at the second presidential debate where Donald told Anderson Cooper that he had never kissed or groped a woman without their consent. Working hard: On Thursday, Chelsea spent some time campaigning for her mother at Hillary's alma mater, Wellesley College (pictured), and at the University of Maine Close family: Chelsea and her husband Marc joined her father, President Bill Clinton in Missouri at the second presidential debate in support of her mother Hillary Support system: Chelsea and her father can be seen watching Hillary shake hands with Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, at the debate However, just days later six women have come forward to accuse the Republican nominee of touching or kissing them inappropriately. Ivanka Trump, Donald's eldest daughter and Chelsea's friend, refused to answer questions about mounting sexual assault claims against her dad while she campaigned for him in Pennsylvania on Thursday. But some people criticised the snack for being 'unsolvable' The image has been viewed 58,000 times since being uploaded Photo of sandwich filled with meat and cheese cubes goes viral on Imgur When the Rubik's Cube puzzle hit supermarket shelves at the turn of the 1980s, hysteria reigned as millions tried to solve the tricky brainteaser. Thirty years later, the toy is still the world's best-selling puzzle - which may explain why a photo of a sandwich that looks just like the cuboid brainteaser has gone viral after being posted on Imgur yesterday. The snack is filled with perfect cubes of different meats and cheese, sandwiched together with two thin slices of toast. A photo of a sandwich that looks just like the colourful cuboid brainteaser has gone viral on Imgur this week It has been viewed more than 58,000 times on Imgur, with hundreds reacting to the picture in comments online. Sobakadawg wrote on the photo-sharing website: 'Never has my frustration been so delicious.' And Aadawg joked: 'Instructions unclear, accidentally ate my Rubik's cube, the doctor is puzzled, he's not sure how to solve this.' After the image was also uploaded to Reddit, it emerged that the picture was originally made by the now-defunct website Insanewiches - which hosted pictures of creative or very large sandwiches. The image of the Rubik's Cube sandwich was viewed more than 58,000 times on Imgur this week, with hundreds reacting But when it was re-posted on Reddit and Imgur this week, it once again caught people's imagination. Bigfatpotato1 said: 'That just looks frustrating to look at as a Rubik's cube or as a sandwich, or even as a cube as a matter of fact.' And Hellofromthedarkside took the jokes a little too far when he wrote: 'I bet I could poop it out solved.' PoodlePirate said he was 'impressed', while another Reddit user said there was 'nothing puzzling' about the sandwich. And multitaskin joked: 'Finally a problem I can solve with my mouth.' Def_leper branded the snack the 'Rubix Cubewich', while another Reddit user joked that he would be able to solve the edible puzzle in '17 seconds'. Hundreds took to Reddit and Imgur to react to the 'Rubik's Cubewich', with many approving of the creative snack Meanwhile, chocokel wrote: 'I love it when food is both ridiculous and creative.' One Reddit user praised the 'meat to bread' ratio as the cubes of meat vastly outweighing the amount of bread in the sandwich. But not everyone was impressed with the edible brainteaser. Several pointed out that the sandwich was 'unsolvable' as the same kind of meat cubes are on two adjoining corners. Reddit user Gizram84 wrote: 'You can't have two of the same color on one corner.. What is this amateur hour?' And OscarJuno added: 'Unsolvable = inedible.' Supremecrafters also noticed the flaw, and said: 'The three pieces closest to the camera have the same color on both visible sides. Literally unsolvable.' Not everyone was impressed with the edible brainteaser, with several pointing out that the sandwich was 'unsolvable' as the same kind of meat cubes are on two adjoining corners Supernova141 agreed with OscarJuno that this meant the sandwich was also inedible. Frothface, meanwhile, said he would put the snack on the menu if he owned a restaurant. He wrote: 'If I had a restaurant, this would be on the menu and it would be free if you could solve it.' But The OneRing_ had to ask: 'Would you make an actually solvable rubik's cube sandwich or would you keep this?' The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian Erno Rubik, but wasn't released in the UK and US until the start of the 1980s. It is still the world's best-selling puzzle game, with about 350 million cubes sold across the globe since it was first created. But the life-changing surgery isn't routinely available on the NHS in Wales His family want surgeons to cut the nerves in his spine causing spasms It causes him uncontrollable spasms in his legs and unable to walk unaided But his family say the schoolboy's biggest disability is his cerebral palsy He's had a major heart operation, bowel surgery and more than 30 procedures on his throat - and he's only six years old. But brave Ollie Jenkins is still able to bring a smile to the face of anyone he meets. However, his family say the schoolboy's biggest disability is his cerebral palsy - which affects his nerves and spinal cord. It causes him uncontrollable spasms in his legs and leaves him unable to walk. Now, they are attempting to raise 40,000 so he can undergo a life-changing operation to prevent him from becoming reliant on a wheelchair. Ollie Jenkins, from Cardiff, was born with cerebral palsy. It causes spasms in his legs and leaves him unable to walk His grandfather Richard Jenkins, from Cardiff, says it's amazing Ollie has managed to survive so many different conditions. He said: 'Ollie puts a lot of us to shame. He nearly always has a smile on his face. 'Once you've met him you will definitely remember him. Even though he cannot talk to you, he makes you aware that he's around. 'The care Ollie needs is 24/7, and when he gets a cold it's a major problem for him. 'I'm very proud of my son and daughter-in-law for just getting on with their lives and being so strong.' Ollie was born three months prematurely and spent the first few months of his life in hospital. His family relocated to Winchester - 120 miles away - to be closer to a specialist hospital. Now, they are attempting to raise 40,000 so he can undergo surgery to prevent him from becoming reliant on a wheelchair when he grows older (pictured with mother Cara) Ollie was born three months prematurely and spent the first few months of his life in hospital. He immediately began experiencing breathing problems and was placed in an incubator Within weeks he was given a tracheotomy and has since had more than 30 procedures on his throat. He has also had laser eye surgery, a heart operation and bowel surgery He immediately began experiencing breathing problems and was placed in an incubator. Within weeks he was given a tracheotomy - a surgical procedure that opens up the windpipe. WHAT WILL THE OPERATION DO? Selective dorsal rhizotomy is a neurosurgical technique used to treat spasticity (increased muscle tone) in the lower limbs. The lower vertebrae are opened to reveal the spinal cord which contain the neurones of the central nervous system. These neurones (bundles of nerve fibres) channel messages between the brain and different areas of the body. Electrical stimulation is used to identify and sub-divide sensory and motor nerves. This process continues until the specific nerves and nerve roots affecting the spastic muscles and which may not be 'transmitting' properly are identified and cut. Due to the size of the nerves and rootlets, this is a very precise procedure and therefore the surgery can last several hours and requires a general anaesthetic. Many months of physiotherapy are needed after the surgery to retrain the legs. Source: SCOPE Advertisement He has also had laser eye surgery to rectify a problem at the back of his eye. While a heart operation stopped a leaky valve and he underwent bowel surgery because doctors thought he had a damaged intestine. But his family say his biggest disability is his cerebral palsy which affects his nerves and spinal cord. It means he is unable to walk unaided and will probably become reliant on a wheelchair by the age of 15. Ollie's parents, Paul and Cara, have had to relocate to Winchester - 120 miles away - to be closer to specialist hospital support. They say their son needs a selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) operation to greatly improve his way of life. The procedure involves testing the nerves along her spine and cutting the ones causing spasticity in the muscles. At present it is not routinely funded on the NHS in Wales, so the family are raising 40,000 for the treatment and the physiotherapy he will need afterwards. Ollie has already seen a specialist in Bristol who thinks that this operation will benefit his mobility and improve his life. The family have set up a JustGiving page called Ollie's Next Step in conjunction with the Blossom Development Trust, a charity for children and young people with special needs. A baby with only half a heart has finally been allowed home after he survived risky open-heart surgery at just four days old. Reggie Aslin was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare defect which means half of his heart did not form properly. After spending six years trying for a baby, his parents Lee and Michelle, 35 and 34, were given the devastating news at their 20-week scan. Doctors said Reggie had just a 50 per cent chance of survival and would need three major operations on his heart and was unlikely to survive beyond his teenage years. But the brave couple decided against an abortion and he was born by on September 1, weighing 9lbs 12oz. Reggie Aslin was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome a rare defect which means half of his heart did not form properly. He had open heart surgery at just four days old Mother Michelle Aslin gives Reggie a hug as they prepared to leave hospital for the first time At just four days old, Reggie underwent open-heart surgery to 're-plumb' his heart - a gruelling, nine-hour operation that left him with a huge scar down his chest. This week the new parents were able to take him home to Grimsby, Lincolnshire. 'At one point a few months ago I was wondering whether I would ever get to take my little boy home,' said Mr Aslin. 'We didn't know if he was going to be breathing when he was born or if he was going to get through the operation - but he did. 'After the surgery, we got told that Reggie could be in hospital for three or four months but he has recovered really really well. 'We were feeling a little bit nervous bringing him home but he is doing everything for himself. He is a little heart warrior. He is a little miracle. 'We are just so excited and are looking forward to spending his first Christmas with him at home.' Reggie was born last month by Caesarean section , weighing 9lbs 12oz but with a rare defect When he was just four days old, he underwent his first operation (left). He has recovered well and was able to go home with his father Mr Aslin (right) The couple spent six weeks at Leeds Royal Infirmary before they were given the go-ahead to bring Reggie home last night. At four days old, he had the first stage of the Norwood procedure, a high risk, three-step surgery which gets the right side of the heart to do the job of the left side. It 'rewires' the right ventricle to pump red blood to the body, while the blue blood is allowed to flow directly to the lungs. 'The first operation is always the most dangerous one because it is the longest and most complex, so that was the biggest hurdle,' said the lifeguard. 'Because he has pulled through that, we have got all the confidence in the world that he will pull through the others. 'He has been through more in his few weeks of life than I have in 35 years. He is definitely a little fighter.' After a traumatic start to life, baby Reggie is now doing well and is looking forward to his first Christmas at home, his family say The family were now focusing on the future and hope advancements will be made to improve Reggie's survival chances MrsAslin, who also has a 13-year-old daughter, Katelyn, said it was heartbreaking to learn about his defect at the 20 weeks scan. She said the family were now focusing on the future and hope advancements will be made to improve his survival chances. 'It means so much to have him here and however long we have with him, whether it's two months, a year, 10 years or beyond, we are just happy for this bit of time,' she said. 'We are going to give him as much love and as many memories as we can. He will have the best life he can ever have.' 'We are hoping that in the next 19 or 20 years, something else will come out to help him,' she added. 'If he doesn't want to fight any more that is his choice - it isn't anyone else's to make.' Read more at 'Reggie's Story' on Facebook. A pair of twins conjoined at the head have been successfully separated after a 20-hour operation. Anias and Jadon McDonald, 13 months old, are recovering in the Bronx's Montefiore Hospital after their life-threatening operation on Thursday. According to their surgeon - Dr James Goodrich - it is incredible they made it this far. Half way through the operation, the veteran neurosurgeon considered stopping the procedure altogether when they discovered the boys shared far more brain tissue than they had expected - even despite using 3D imaging to prepare. Made it out: Jadon (left) and Anias (right) pictured recovering in their ward on Friday Anias was still in surgery late on Friday morning since he was more affected by the separation of their brain tissue. He eventually came out the operating room at 1pm on Friday Extraordinary: Anias and Jadon McDonald underwent surgery to be separated. Surgeons placed expanding tissues in their heads months before to stretch the skin so there would be enough for them to stitch each on back up individually afterwards With every cut, Anias' heart rate and blood pressure plummeted. Eventually he found an opening and continued, successfully separating the two. However, it means that while Jadon was wheeled out at 7am into the ward, Anias was still in surgery late on Friday morning. He was finally returned to his family at 1pm on Friday. Doctors warned he could face severe physical issues. Their parents Nicole and Christian, from near Chicago, Illinois, sat in the waiting room the whole time. Nicole, 31, took to Facebook on Friday to explain all the details to the thousands of people that have followed the family's story. 'The overall atmosphere was one of celebration mixed with uncertainty,' she explained. 'Anias really got rocked in this procedure. It really now is up to God in terms of how he recovers.' She added: 'I keep picturing Anias smiling behind his right middle finger in his mouth. Twenty four hours ago he was so rambunctious...full of life. God please give me my baby back.' Describing Jadon's ordeal, Nicole wrote: 'Jadon is such a rock star. They said he hardly batted an eye through the whole procedure in terms of maintaining his vitals. 'It's a bit surreal to sit here and type this...I should feel so happy...TWO SEPARATE BABIES!!!...and yet I ache with the uncertainty of the future. The overall atmosphere was one of celebration mixed with uncertainty Nicole McDonald, their mother 'I didn't cry until the surgeon's left the room. I was barely able to even utter the words "thank you" because of the pit that still sits heavy in my stomach. We are standing on the brink of a vast unknown.' They boys were born via cesarean section last September near Chicago, Illinois. They were attached by the crown of the head. Nicole and 37-year-old Christian insisted the boys were perfect as they were. But in order to let them lead a normal life, they have traveled to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York, to have one of the world's most esteemed surgeons perform the incredibly rare operation to separate their heads. The operation costs $2.5 million. Long wait: Their parents Nicole and Christian (pictured in white) stand in the ward with the surgeons as the boys get ready for their 20-hour surgery on Thursday in Montefiore Hospital Happy: Nicole, 31, and 37-year-old Christian, insisted the boys were perfect as they were The boys were wheeled into the operating theater at 7.15am on Thursday. 'I could almost keep them like this,' Nicole told CNN before the operation, admitting that she had become attached to the boys this way. She said she knew this was for the best, but the fear that something could go wrong during surgery was excruciating. 'This is so hard. I'm not going to sugarcoat it,' she said. Anias and Jadon, who have a three-year-old brother Aza, are technically called 'craniopagus twins' - a phenomenon that occurs just once in every 2.5 million births. Based on national statistics, it is astonishing they made it to 13 months. Around 40 per cent of craniopagus twins are stillborn. Of those that survive, a third die within 24 hours of birth. The couple, who live near Chicago, already have a three-year-old son, Aza Their twins were born via cesarean section last September They are pictured here waiting for surgery with their brother Aza The operation was performed by Dr James Goodrich (pictured), a neurosurgeon who specializes in separating conjoined twins at the head If craniopagus twins survive that point, there is still an 80 per cent risk they would die before the age of two if they are not separated. Separation means one or both of the twins may suffer developmental complications. 'We know that is definitely a real possibility, but we're still going to love our boys,' Christian said before the surgery. It is now clear Anias will likely suffer more severe disabilities than his twin brother. The operation was performed by Dr James Goodrich, a neurosurgeon who specializes in separating conjoined twins at the head. Dr Oren Tepper, a plastic surgeon, was in the room to reconstruct the skulls and stitch each head closed. The team has spent months practicing and planning their strategy using a physical 3D model of the boys' heads, plus computerized 3D modeling, where they can look at different scenarios. Based on national statistics, it is astonishing they have made it to 13 months. Around 40 per cent of craniopagus twins are stillborn. Of those that survive, a third die within 24 hours They will spend 72 hours in intensive care, then months in a rehab center 'This is about as complicated as it gets,' Dr Goodrich told CNN. 'I know the vascular system we have to go through is complex. 'It's big. It's doable, but it's going to be tedious.' But even despite the state-of-the-art technology, they were not prepared for the 5x7cm brain tissue the boys shared, that they had to separate. They will now spend 72 hours in intensive care, then months in a rehab center. According to Dr Goodrich, their speech skills will not be affected, given that he is dealing with the back of the brain, but there is a chance they will struggle with movement. He told CNN: 'They have no back control because they've never sat up. They've never crawled.' The family has health insurance, which covers a significant amount of the $2.5 million surgery. However, they are $100,000 short. To donate, visit their GoFundMe page. This is a diagram to demonstrate the way craniopagus twins can be connected Listening to defenders of Trump makes me question both the reasoning and the intellect of those that so fervently back this guy. I have been tempted to ask this question and so will - What, dear supporter, would it take for you to just say, enough? The man, so corrupt and so vile, continues to receive support from many folk that live in our state. What we know now about Trump should be enough for the party and the people to just say, adios. If he bought an AR-15 and then went on a shooting rampage of all those that have criticized him, would the support still be present? Or, as I feel, he can do no wrong. Whatever happened to scrutiny of the candidates we elect for office? Robert Brooks * * * Mr. Brooks, your point is well taken. The problem is that you could interchange the name "Hillary Rodham Clinton" for Trump and not change any other words in your article and it would be just as accurate and applicable. The fact is that our bar has been lowered appreciably from "exceptional to adequate". The truth is we need a severe change in course. Our Nation suffers greatly at the hands of those in "power" including Congress and Obama. HRC will simply be more of the same. She will simply say anything and do nothing or the things she will do will do great harm. I am willing to accept the change agent we have been given and I think a lot of other intelligent, fed-up voters will do the same. Don Howard Sky found itself at the centre of a shareholder revolt yesterday over the reappointment of James Murdoch as its chairman. More than 28 per cent of shareholders voted against Murdoch, who is the son of media mogul Rupert, over concerns about his independence. Twenty First Century Fox owned by 85-year-old Rupert, who is one of the world's most powerful media magnates holds a 39 per cent stake in Sky. There has been speculation Fox will make a bid for the remaining shares, sparking fears Murdoch will fail to negotiate the best deal for minority shareholders. Family ties: More than 28% of Sky shareholders voted against James Murdoch over concerns about his independence Royal London, which owns 51.5million of Sky shares, said Murdoch's reappointment as chairman was 'inappropriate'. Piers Hillier, chief investment officer, said: 'Should Fox make a bid for Sky, investors need a strong independent chairman to protect the interests of minority shareholders and negotiate the best possible deal. 'Additionally, no attempts were made to advertise the position externally, or appoint an agency, which goes against the UK corporate governance code.' Murdoch's return as chairman of Sky in January, after four years away, was mired in controversy. He had resigned in 2012 in the wake of criticism from industry regulator Ofcom over his handling of the phone hacking scandal. He had previously built Sky into a powerhouse over four years as chief executive and five as chairman, and was on the verge of selling it to Fox before a bid was abandoned. However, months before his return as chairman of Sky, 43-year-old Murdoch was made chief executive of Fox receiving a 15million pay check. He said that, for Fox, holding 40 per cent of Sky was 'not an end state that is natural for us', implying Fox may want to increase its stake. Yesterday's shareholder revolt at the annual general meeting in London overshadowed a strong set of interim financial results from Sky, which saw bumper sales boosts in Germany and Italy. It has posted a 7 per cent increase in group revenues to 3.1billion in the first quarter, with 106,000 new customers signing up to the subscription TV provider. Jeremy Darroch, group chief executive, said: 'We added customers at a good rate, albeit the quarter got off to a slow start due to the tail end of Euro 2016 and Rio Olympics, both big free-to-air events. 'But since then you've seen demand build across the quarter and September was strong.' Shares in Sky have fallen 19 per cent in the last 12 months over concerns it will be squeezed by telecoms companies and Netflix, which offers television content over the internet. It has also been hit with a 600m increase in its bill for English Premier League rights this year. But it has continued to come up with fresh ways to win new customers. It is on the verge of launching its own mobile phone contract offer, and just has just invested in a new virtual reality app Sky VR. But the potential of a fresh bid from Fox taking advantage of the fall in the pound and lower share prices has been a cause for constant uncertainty. Analysts from Liberum said: 'The evidence seems to be mounting that the competitive and cost environments for Sky are getting tougher.' And earlier this year investment bank Macquarie said the time was ripe for Fox to make a bid. Sky released a statement after yesterday's meeting where it noted the 'significant vote' against Murdoch's re-election. It said: 'The board decision to re-appoint James as chairman was unanimous and recognised that he is a highly experienced executive with extensive knowledge of the international media industry and has been a strong contributor to Sky since he joined the board in 2003. 'The board is confident that with the appointment of Martin Gilbert as deputy chairman and Andrew Sukawaty as senior independent director, there are strong governance processes in place to protect the interests of independent shareholders. 'Nevertheless, we will engage with those shareholders who voted against the resolution.' Sky also said eight out of ten of the biggest UK institutions which holds shares in Sky voted in favour of Murdoch's re-election. Homeowners and prospective buyers are being warned not to be seduced by eye-wateringly low two-year mortgage rates, as changes in the British economy could mean they could end up costing them in the long run. Mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest ever level since the UK voted to leave the European Union in June, with the cheapest deal available now fixed at less than 1 per cent for two years. But after months of lenders slicing their rates to entice homeowners to remortgage, one firm of mortgage brokers is warning that unless there is a good reason to take a short-term deal, borrowers could be safer fixing for longer. Mortgage brokers say Brexit means borrowers would be much safer fixing for longer This is because Britain's decision to exit the European Union could result in significant changes to the economy over the next couple of years, making it more preferable to lock in a good rate for longer. Alistair Hargreaves, of mortgage broker John Charcol, said: 'Two-year fixed rates are ridiculously cheap at the moment and I can see why borrowers would be tempted. 'But I really think it will prove to be a false economy. In two years Britain could be a very different place and borrowers could very easily find that they end up stuck with their lender on a much higher rate because they no longer qualify for a mortgage elsewhere.' The warning comes after Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed the Government will trigger Article 50 by the end of March next year, prompting the 24 month negotiation period before the UK leaves the EU. Hargreaves said although two-year UK mortgage rates are in a sweet spot at the moment, the uncertainty that will result from Brexit negotiations is highly likely to push lenders to tighten up on who they'll lend to over the next 24 months. 'Rates may stay super low for the next five years but that doesn't mean it will be easy for everyone to get a mortgage,' he said. 'I definitely think criteria are going to tighten in the run-up to Brexit and that could leave a lot of people who take cheap two-year deals now short of options when they come to remortgage.' Lenders assess mortgage borrowers using a whole range of tools, taking into account everything from their income and where it comes from to their expenses and job security. Lenders assess mortgage borrowers using a whole range of tools, taking into account everything from their income and where it comes from to their expenses and job security Whether you're employed full-time, part-time, are self-employed or work on a contract basis can all affect which lenders will approve you for a mortgage. Lenders also look at the property borrowers want to purchase or remortgage against, with some properties deemed higher risk than others. Flats in blocks with lots of units or new build properties might be seen as higher risk, as may flats above commercial premises. While lenders may approve a mortgage against these properties now, if the economy becomes less stable as a result of exiting the EU, this could easily change. Factors such as the value of the pound affect the price mortgage lenders have to pay to borrow cash and this also has a knock-on effect on their appetite to lend. These factors all contribute to how likely it is that a remortgage or mortgage application is approved. At the moment for instance, some lenders will lend up to four times a borrower's income. If the lender becomes worried about the stability of the wider economy, they might reduce that multiple. When that borrower comes to remortgage in two years, they may find they no longer qualify for a good rate and are forced onto their existing lender's standard variable rate. This can be much higher than advertised product rates at around 4 per cent on average - leaving borrowers facing much higher monthly payments. Borrowers may find they no longer qualify for a good rate after two years and are forced onto their existing lender's more expensive standard variable rate Rather than opting for a cheap two-year fixed rate, Hargreaves recommends borrowers think about fixing for five years or taking a lifetime variable rate, which can be taken with you if you move house - subject to some criteria. This defers the need to remortgage and provides a longer period of certainty for borrowers who will not be at the mercy of lender criteria at exactly the time the UK is exiting the EU. 'The advantage of choosing these longer term rates now is that they are also very competitive at the moment - we really have seen a step change in the price of longer term products,' he added. At 60 per cent loan-to-value the cheapest five-year fixed rates on the market are currently 1.84 per cent with a 1,172 fee from HSBC and 1,658 fee from First Direct. Monthly repayments for both deals, on a loan of 120,000 against a house worth 200,000, are 499 but overall the HSBC deal is cheaper because of the lower fee. At 75 per cent LTV, the best rate on the market is 1.99 per cent from HSBC, fixed over five years with a 1,172. Monthly repayments on the same property would be 635. At 90 per cent LTV, Furness Building Society, Norwich & Peterborough Building Society and Yorkshire Building Society all off a 2.88 per cent rate fixed over five years with a 999, 1,699 and 1,180 fee respectively. Monthly repayments are 842 for the same property but the higher the fee, the more the overall cost. A word of warning however - if for any reason you need to move house or remortgage before the end of the five year period, you need to watch out for early repayment charges which can run into the thousands. Some deals allow you to port your mortgage to a new property but this is usually dependent on you not needing to borrow a large sum of money - that will normally trigger a remortgage and incur costs. If you're sure you aren't going anywhere in the medium term however, there are also some really competitive seven and ten-year fixed rate deals. Woolwich has a seven year deal fixed at 1.99 per cent with a 1,499 fee with monthly repayments of 508 up to 60 per cent LTV, also for a loan. The lender also has a 10-year fixed rate at 2.49 per cent with a 999 fee up to 60 per cent LTV. Monthly repayments on this deal are 538. For those with less equity to put in, a 75 per cent LTV deal is on offer from Coventry Building Society at 2.29 per cent fixed over seven years with a 999 fee. Monthly repayments are 657. As a general rule of thumb, five year deals are available up to 90 per cent LTV, 10-year deals up to 80 per cent LTV and lifetime tracker deals up to just 75 per cent LTV. Calculate the true cost of your mortgage including the fee using This is Money's mortgage calculator. REMORTGAGING BALLOONS Mortgage rates are at historic lows Figures published this week by the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that the number of people remortgaging to take advantage of rock bottom rates has ballooned in the past 12 months. Remortgage activity totalled 5.9billion in August, up 41 per cent compared to a year ago. This came to 34,900 loans, up 40 per cent on august last year. The CML now publishes seasonally adjusted monthly data (see attached), alongside the normal unadjusted data. This makes it easier to spot underlying trends. Paul Smee, director general of the CML, said: 'Mortgage rates remain at or close to historic lows, and the re-pricing of mortgages following Augusts base rate cut should help to underpin a continuing, strong appetite for home ownership over the coming months.' As news broke last year about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, one of her top aides suggested simply releasing all the messages from her time as secretary of state. The March 4, 2015, exchange is in the latest batch of emails hacked from the accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta published Wednesday by WikiLeaks. That was the day The Associated Press first reported that Clinton had been running a private server inside her home in New York. Within hours of AP's reporting, Republicans from the House Select Committee on Benghazi quickly issued a subpoena demanding Clinton's emails regarding the deadly 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya. Adviser Phillipe Reines proposed that Clinton should respond by tweet: 'No need for this, happy for you to have what I gave State. If they can't, I will. Bring a dolly!' referring to a moving cart. Adviser Phillipe Reines proposed that Clinton should release all her emails from her personal account when news first broke about her private email server Clinton lawyer and chief-of-staff Cheryl Mills responded: 'Seriously?' Reines, who had worked for Clinton at the State Department, reiterated that he was serious, though he suggested maybe a campaign spokesman could respond less 'flippantly.' Mills appeared to like the idea, at least initially. 'Can we implement this in the next hour?' It never happened. Instead, Clinton's team waited more than one year as the State Department pored through more than 55,000 pages of Clinton's work-related emails from her time as the nation's top diplomat. And the issue kept bubbling up, no matter how hard Clinton's team worked to put it behind her. The idea of immediately releasing Clinton's work-related emails in March 2015 may have softened her reputation for prizing secrecy over transparency. But it could have also caused her further legal complications. Exchange is revealed in the latest batch of emails hacked from the accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta published Wednesday by WikiLeaks Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's Campaign Chairman John Podesta looks on prior to the start of the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26 Sidestepping the State Department's review would have made them available without any review by national security and other government agencies likely releasing some messages later determined to contain classified material. Clinton's campaign said the FBI was investigating who hacked Podesta's email. Spokesman Glen Caplin said Wednesday it's 'clear' that the hacking of Podesta's email 'is the work of the Russian government.' He attributed that to the FBI, though the bureau has not said so publicly. Caplin said Trump's campaign needs to explain its 'possible ties to foreign espionage.' Meanwhile, late Wednesday, it appeared someone hacked Podesta's verified Twitter account and posted a message saying he had 'switched teams' and was supporting Trump. The message was deleted within a few minutes of it appearing. 'We can confirm that John's Twitter account was hacked, which would explain the message,' spokesman Nick Merrill said. U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches intended to influence the presidential election. The Russians deny involvement. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally on Wednesday as the issue of using a private email server continue to plague her Podesta's hacked messages offer insight into the various strategies and responses considered by those close to Clinton as they grappled with the political fallout from the Democratic presidential nominee's 2009 decision to use the private server. The day after AP reported the server was inside Clinton's home, Reines notes that Clinton cleared a tweet saying she has asked State to release her emails. When another aide notes the post had already gotten 1,000 retweets, Podesta jokes: 'Good to know people go to bed with their Twitter decks. Sex must be obsolete.' On March 9, 2015, Clinton aides debated how to handle the disclosure that in addition to the work-related emails handed over to the State Department she had deleted thousands of emails she claimed were personal. One of the options discussed included 'publication of an embargoed AP story on deletion' that would include a statement from Clinton and a question-and-answer or sit-down interview for television. Reines wrote that his 'strong vote' was for the AP interview, as well as holding a media conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City. 'Get it all done tonight, tight sequencing, no overnight gap between her (statement) and dropping the bomb,' Reines wrote, referring to the admission about the email deletions. 'Alternatively, put the bomb in her voice in her statement and then nothing else matters.' Instead, Clinton opted to take questions from the press during an event March 10 at the United Nations. This is screen image of the website of the Twitter verified account of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. It appeared someone hacked Podesta's verified Twitter account and posted a message saying he had 'switched teams' and was supporting Trump Days before Clinton turned over her personal email server to FBI investigators in August 2015, her aides nervously hashed over how to soften the blow in an official campaign statement about the ongoing controversy. After top speechwriter Dan Schwerin, communications aide Jennifer Palmieri and policy adviser Jake Sullivan hammered out a draft of the statement, Schwerin passed two alternate versions to Podesta and several other aides, saying they were still uncertain over how to explain Clinton's decision to use a private server instead of a State Department computer for her work-related emails. Contemplating one hot-button line in which Clinton would admit error in using the server, Schwerin asked 'whether we should say 'I messed up' instead of 'this was a screw-up.'' 'What do folks think about that? Other edits we should make? And then what are next steps here?' he added. Sullivan responded: 'I'm very nervous about doing the screw up line by paper. That has to come from her.' Meanwhile, prominent Democrats were emailing Clinton's team to express concern about the candidate's lack of public contrition. In August 2015, longtime Democratic policy adviser Neera Tanden emailed Podesta that Clinton's 'inability to just do a national interview and communicate genuine feelings of remorse and regret is now, I fear, becoming a character problem (more so than honesty).' She needed to apologize, urged Tanden, who is president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, which was founded by Podesta. 'I see no downside in her actually just saying, look, I'm sorry. I think it will take so much air out of this,' Tanden wrote. In an interview with the AP a couple weeks later, Clinton said she did not need to apologize because 'what I did was allowed.' Hard-pressed orderlies in white coats spent the day rushing to and fro with iced flannels, to be placed on the fevered brows of pro-Brussels MPs. My dears, le tout snootocracy was in a state of the most tremendous agitation about Brexit. Cross fists were shaken, fingers pointed. Voices became husky hollow! with grieving disbelief. Britain was really going to leave the European federal project? You mean it wasnt just some bad dream? Nooooo! It is as if the great news of June 24, that dawn of our liberation from the bossy EU, has only just reached this metropolitan elite. Scroll down for video Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg waved his arms around during the Brexit debate In recent days they have taken off into the ether like one of those Olympic pole vaulters who has just pronged his stick into terra firma. Twang! Up he rises, goggle-eyed with the sheer effort of it all. There will come the inevitable, flailing-limbed descent once these Bremoaners have reconnected with reality. But for the moment the likes of Ed Miliband (Lab, Doncaster N) and Nick Clegg (Lib Dem, Sheffield Hallam) are bawlingly bereft. Labour had called an Opposition Day debate on our exit from the EU. I will not bore you for the entire column about it, for it was truly no more significant than the barking of mongrels at a passing Royal Mail van, but no doubt the BBC will be giving it bells and whistles, so a few observations may be in order. Nicky Morgan (Con, Loughborough),gave a speech of pinkening anger. Having said she would insist on scrutinising the Government every inch of its path to Brexit, she complained that some had dared to scrutinise her own (most peculiar) behaviour of late. I suppose one or two of us may have tweaked her hooter a bit, but why not? I resent it! snapped Mistress Morgan, in earlier life a corporate solicitor in mergers and acquisitions (no wonder she likes the EU). She thundered that the more she was herself scrutinised, the more difficult she intended to become. Point of information: Her constituents voted to Leave by 54 per cent. Nick Boles, right, once a firm remainer, has admitted the Europhiles must change their views Mrs Morgan said that the negotiations with the EU would likely continue for months, years and decades. Is she right? Surely two years at most would suffice. When we cancel a contract with a mobile telephone supplier we do not continue to negotiate with that company for decades. It may even be open to question whether or not the EU will still be around in even one decades time. But it may outlast Mrs Morgans political career. Kwasi Kwarteng (Con, Spel-thorne), a firm Brexiteer, boomed that the debate was more like a group therapy session. He could not understand all this pant-wetting (not quite his phrase, I admit) about us leaving the Single Market. Most countries have plentiful access to the Single Market but are not members, said Mr Kwarteng. Nick Boles (Con, Grantham & Stamford) gave an interesting speech. Though a devoted Remainer at the referendum, he now saw that Europhiles needed to understand the vastness of what had just happened. They should change their views accordingly. Theresa May, pictured, as unflappable at PMQs when facing Labour's 'New Ed Balls' The Labour benches were warned about their failure to topple Jeremy Corbyn, pictured The weekly PMQs set-piece was held in advance of the Brexit debate Earlier we had PMQs where Theresa May was unflappable, despite taking verbal gyp from Emily Thornberry (more properly called Lady Nugee), who has become the Labour front benchs new Ed Balls. Mrs May claimed that acid Emily was rabbiting on about a second vote on the EU. I would have thought, said the PM, that Labour MPs would have learned this lesson: You can ask the same question again, you still get the answer you dont want. Labour MPs, reminded of their unsuccessful attempt to topple Jeremy Corbyn, fell glumly silent while the Tory benches roared. President Barack Obama slammed Republicans who are disavowing Donald Trump by saying they deserve no credit for their sudden change of heart after having 'stood by silently' for so long. Obama accused Republicans of filling a 'swamp of crazy' by allowing unfounded and hate-filled rhetoric to go unchallenged within the party for years. Campaigning for Democrats in Ohio, the President said most Republicans aren't like Trump and 'know better,' but hadn't renounced the kind of rhetoric Trump embraces out of deference to the Republican base. President Barack Obama slammed Republicans who are disavowing Donald Trump by saying they deserve no credit for their sudden change of heart after having 'stood by silently' for so long He then said it was GOP complacency that led the party to nominate a candidate who he said brags and jokes about sexually assaulting women. 'You can't wait until that finally happens and then say, "That's too much, that's enough", and then say somehow you are showing some type of leadership and deserve to be elected to the United States Senate,' Obama said. 'In fact, I'm more forgiving of the people who actually believe it than the people who know better and stood silently by out of political expediency.' Obama's attempted take-down of Republicans seeking distance from Trump was the clearest signal to date of the strategy Democrats plan to deploy in congressional races in the final weeks of the campaign. Obama accused Republicans of filling a 'swamp of crazy' by allowing unfounded and hate-filled rhetoric to go unchallenged within the party for years The President said it was GOP complacency that led the party to nominate a candidate who he said brags and jokes about sexually assaulting women Across the country, dozens of Republicans up for re-election have called for Trump to step down as nominee or have renounced their support, hoping to spare themselves the fallout of Trump's sexually aggressive comments about women. They include prominent senators like Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and John McCain of Arizona who both face tough re-election challenges. But Democrats are working to tie those Republicans to Trump nonetheless, in large part by arguing their last-minute denunciations are too little, too late. Obama said 'all that bile, all that exaggeration' from Republicans had bubbled up over the years and that Trump, just like one of his skyscrapers, had 'just slapped his name on it and took credit for it.' 'You can't wait until that finally happens and then say, "That's too much, that's enough", and then say somehow you are showing some type of leadership and deserve to be elected to the United States Senate,' Obama said A young boy reaches over the top of a crowd of people to try to grab President Obama's hand after a rally in Columbus, Ohio 'The problem is not that all Republicans think the way he does,' Obama said. 'The problem is that they've been riding this tiger for a long time. They've been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years.' As his case study, Obama chose Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who is working to fend off a challenge from Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland. Though Democrats had expected the race to be one of their better prospects to win a GOP-held Senate seat, Strickland has been running consistently behind Portman in the polls. 'People like Ted's opponent, who know better, have stood silently by,' Obama said. 'This is the nominee you get. You make it possible.' Obama noted that Portman had revoked his support for Trump, but not until video emerged late last week of Trump bragging about kissing women without their permission and groping them. 'The problem is not that all Republicans think the way he does,' Obama said. 'The problem is that they've been riding this tiger for a long time President Obama will be out campaigning for Hillary Clinton on Friday as well, capping off a two-day stretch that saw him hit the trail Obama said that meant Portman hadn't been sufficiently bothered by Trump's previous remarks about Mexicans, Muslims, Gold Star mothers and disabled people. 'Why was that OK?' asked an incredulous Obama. 'And now he says he'll vote for the vice presidential nominee instead,' he added, referring to Mike Pence. 'Except that guy still supports Donald Trump.' Obama's remarks came at the start of a two-day visit aimed at revving up Democrats in Ohio, one of the few remaining swing states late in the campaign. On Friday, Obama will hold a rally in Cleveland for Clinton emphasizing early voting, a major focus for Democrats across the U.S. This week Obama entered the final 100 days of his presidency, and he's increasingly devoting his time to trying to push Clinton over the finish line in the presidential race. A gang member pleaded not guilty Thursday to the 'ambush' murders of two Palm Springs police officers. John Hernandez Felix entered the pleas in a California courtroom where he appeared with shackles on his legs and was ordered held without bail. Felix, 26, is charged with killing Officers Jose 'Gil' Gilbert Vega, 63, and Lesley Zerebny, 27, and wounding a third officer when they came to his family home on Saturday in response to a call involving a domestic disturbance. California gang member John Hernandez Felix (left) pleaded not guilty Thursday to the 'ambush' murders of two Palm Springs police officers Felix is charged with killing Officers Jose 'Gil' Gilbert Vega (right) and Lesley Zerebny (left) and wounding a third officer when they came to his family home on Saturday Authorities said Felix was intent on killing them. Police have not released further details. Vega, a 35-year veteran of the force, was preparing to retire. Zerebny had been with the department about 18 months and left behind a 4-month-old daughter with her husband, a Riverside County sheriff's deputy. Felix previously pleaded guilty to assault with a firearm and acknowledged his gang membership in a 2009 case. Authorities said Felix, 26, was intent on killing police on Saturday. Pictured, Assistant Riverside County Sheriff Joe Cleary giving a press conference Felix previously pleaded guilty to assault with a firearm and acknowledged his gang membership in a 2009 case. Pictured, Kathy Seacrist wipes away tears as she stands in front of a memorial for the slain officers Felix's public defender Michael Rowlands had asked for a delay in the arraignment so his client could undergo a psychological exam. 'We need to get that done before we decide which way we are going to proceed,' Rowlands said. Superior Court Judge Victoria Cameron denied the request but said she would allow Felix to possibly change his plea in November after the assessment. Felix also pleaded not guilty to three attempted murder charges and a pair of weapons charges. He spoke only to enter the plea and answer yes-or-no questions. Felix's public defender Michael Rowlands had asked for a delay in the arraignment so his client could undergo a psychological exam. Pictured, family and friends of one of the victims Felix is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek it Felix is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek it. The courtroom was packed with victims' family members and police officers. Rowlands argued that cameras should not be allowed in the courtroom to avoid prejudicing the public against Felix. In 2009, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra spoke of his doubts about Prince Maha's suitability to be king He has had three failed marriages and exiled his third ex-wife's family Wearing a tight, white crop top, his body adorned with temporary tattoos and holding a white fluffy poodle, this is the 64-year-old new king of Thailand. The coronation of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn - which has been delayed by four days while he mourns the death of his father - has shone a spotlight on his colourful past. For the father-of-seven has three failed marriages, a love of fast jets and a reputation for having an explosive temper. During an attempted coup in Thailand in 2014, a film was published online of his third wife dressed in nothing but a black G-string while she sang happy birthday to the royal couple's beloved pet poodle, Fufu. Following news of revered King Bhumibol's death on Thursday, Thailand's prime minister announced that Prince Maha - described by one royal biographer as 'a man prone to violence, fast cars and dubious business deals' - will ascend to the throne held by his father for 70 years. Scroll down for video Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, a rumoured notorious womaniser, will be Thailand's new king after the death of his father, King Bhumibol on Thursday. Pictured: Prince Maha in Germany in May wearing a tank top, and covered in fake tattoos being received by officials The appointment of Prince Maha - who has asked for a delay of four days before he assumes the throne - has raised eyebrows both at home and abroad. Pictured: Undated pictured of the new king at Disneyland Senior Thai officials are said to be deeply concerned with the eccentric Prince Maha. Pictured: The prince, a licensed pilot, in the cockpit of a fighter jet with one of his five children Thai officials, and even King Bhumibol himself, expressed reservations over his ability to rule following a string of scandals. Pictured: The Crown Prince and his father shooting guns Footage from 2007 shows Prince Maha throwing a birthday party for his pet poodle Fufu - who held the rank of Air Chief Marshall - at the Royal Palace in Bangkok. Pictured: His third wife dressed in nothing more than a G-string to celebrate Fufu's birthday 'He [King Bhumibol] thought his son would be a poor king but he was a conservative man and thought a man should succeed him. There was no alternative,' biographer Andrew MacGregor Marshall told MailOnline. Pictured: Father and son in full Guards' uniform in Bangkok In May, the Crown Prince was pictured on the runway at Munich airport wearing a skimpy, torso-baring tank top, with fake tattoos covering the small of his back, chest and arms. The scantily clad woman standing beside him on the red carpet was Suthida Nui, a flight attendant who is believed to be his mistress. In stark contract to his father, who had one wife and a long and happy marriage lasting 66 years until his death, the prince has been married three times. His own mother Queen Sirikit, on a trip to the US in 1982, described him as something of a womaniser. 'My son the crown prince is a little bit of a Don Juan. He is a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting, she told reporters. Speaking at a news conference in Dallas, but clearly addressing her son, she delivered a harsh warning. 'If the people of Thailand do not approve of the behaviour of my son, then he would either have to change his behaviour or resign from the royal family,' she said. Prince Maha shocked the nation when he asked for a delay before ascending to the throne, leading to speculation that he does not want to succeed his revered father, King Bhumibol. Pictured: The Crown Prince watching a ceremony in Bangkok in 2015 In a colourful life the prince has been married three times and has seven children. Pictured: Prince Maha arriving at the airport in Thailand to greet foreign monarchs in 2006 He wed his first cousin Soamsawali Kitiyakara in January 1977 and the couple had a daughter. But the marriage fell apart. Nine months after his daughter was born, the prince had a son with actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth, with whom he went on to have a total of five children. He divorced Ms Kitiyakara in 1993. Three years later his relationship broke down with Ms Polpraserth as she fled to the UK in 1996, after a spectacular bust up. In 2001 he wed his third wife Srirasmi Suwadee, describing her as a 'modest and patient' woman who 'never says bad things towards anyone'. In a 2002 interview, in which he stated his intentions to settle down, he added: 'She lives a simple life and most of all, she brings warmth to the family and makes home a home.' My son the crown prince is a little bit of a Don Juan. He is a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting. Queen Sirikit, Prince Maha's mother In 2007, footage published online showed the couple throwing a party for his pet poodle - who held the rank of Air Chief Marshall - at the Royal Palace in Bangkok. Princess Srirasmi, a former waitress, who sang happy birthday to the dog topless, also got on her knees and ate from a dog bowl in the same video. The couple had a son but the marriage collapsed at the end of 2014. Prince Maha stripped her of her royal titles and, after granting her a reported 4.5m settlement, exiled her to an undisclosed location in Thailand. The Economist has reported the Crown Prince is 'widely loathed and feared' by his people. The New York Post described him recently as a 'kooky prince, looking 'more court jester than prince'. In contrast to his father, who was married once for 66 years until his death, the prince has married three times. Pictured: Prince Maha in Paris with his daughter, Princess Sirivannavari, and third wife Princess Srirasmi in 2007 He wed his first cousin Soamsawali Kitiyakara (left) in January 1977 but nine months after she gave birth to his daughter the prince had a son with actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth He divorced Ms Kitiyakara in 1993. Three years later his relationship broke down with Ms Polpraserth as she fled to the UK in 1996, after a spectacular bust up. In 2001 he wed his third wife Srirasmi Suwadee (pictured with their son Dipangkom Rasmijoti), describing her as a 'modest and patient' woman who 'never says bad things towards anyone' But the marriage collapsed in 2014 and Prince Maha stripped her of her royal titles and, after granting her a reported 4.5m settlement, exiled her to an undisclosed location in Thailand. Pictured: Queen Sirikit of Thailand with Prince Maha (left) and Princess Rajakanya in 1953 But Thailand's lese-majeste laws have largely protected King Bhumibol and the royal family's alleged scandals from being exposed. Journalist Paul Handley's unauthorised biography of King Bhumibol, titled 'The King Who Never Smiles', in which he referred to the Crown Prince as a 'violent' man, was banned in Thailand because authorities said it would 'affect national security'. In it he wrote: 'Bhumibol's most fundamental failing is the Achilles' heel of every monarchy: he has been unable to guarantee an orderly succession to a wise, selfless, and munificent king like himself.' He's tormenting his third wife, who's living in his family compound in rural Thailand... He blocked her toilet so she has to pee outside Journalist and Thai expert, Andrew MacGregor Marshall Despite holding a number of military titles, including Knight of the Ancient and Auspicious Order of the Nine Gems, the prince admitted to an interviewer he was unable to tie his own shoe laces aged 12 because courtiers had always done it for him. 'My parents tried to raise me normally, but around us there were too many people trying to gain favour,' he told Thai publication Dichan. Efforts to prepare the prince for the throne began in his early teens, when he was made officer of the three branches of the Thai armed forces. At 14, he was sent to boarding school in England. Thai officials, and even King Bhumibol himself, expressed deep concerns over his ability to rule following a string of scandals. Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a journalist recently expelled from Thailand who has been covering the royal family for several years, told the Mail Online: 'The crown prince was a huge disappointment to [the king], and he tried several tactics to make him shape up. His own mother (right) described him as something of a womaniser in 1992: 'My son... is a little bit of a Don Juan. Women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting'. Pictured Prince Maha with his parents in 1999 The prince admitted to an interviewer he was unable to tie his own shoe laces aged 12 because courtiers had always done it for him. Pictured: Queen Sirikit with her four children The Economist has reported the Crown Prince is 'widely loathed and feared' by his people. Pictured: Prince Maha as a child 'He restricted his money to stop him partying. He even suggested that if the prince didn't improve, he'd break from tradition and give the throne to his daughter, Princess Sirindhorn. 'But it was all just a game. He thought his son would be a poor king but he was a conservative man and thought a man should succeed him. There was no alternative.' In 2009, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was asked about the prince's suitability to be king. He told The Times: 'He's not the king yet. He may not be shining (now)... but after he becomes the king I'm confident he can be shining ... it's not his time yet. But when the time comes I think he will be able to perform.' Macgregor Marshall says he has delayed his ascensions to the throne as a PR tactic to show he is 'not a power hungry monster'. 'He should be king already but he's mysteriously said he wants to wait. Really nobody was expecting that, it was a huge shock,' he told MailOnline. 'People say he doesn't want to be king, but he does. Even as the king was fading away, he began to consolidate power and flexing his muscles. In 2009, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said: 'He may not be shining (now)... but after he becomes the king I'm confident he can be shining'. Pictured: The prince in bicycle campaign to mark his father's 88th birthday The father-of-seven has three failed marriages, a love of fast jets and a reputation for an explosive temper. Pictured: As a younger man Thailand is a country in mourning after the death of the revered King Bhumibol on Thursday. Pictured: Prime Minister, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha attends royal bathing ceremony at The Grand Palace, to pay respects to the late king 'Once the crown prince has expressed his sadness and bereavement over his father, he affirms that he realizes the duties of the heir of the throne,' said the prime minister. Pictured: Thai people attend The Grand Palace to pay respects to King Bhumibol 'He formed a strong alliance with Prime Minister Prayut, who's the military junta leader. Then he started appointing cronies from his inner circle to important positions in the palace. 'He's quite intelligent but he's also a very troubled guy. He's grown up with power and he doesn't know how to get affection without demanding it.' Thailand has declared a year of mourning after his Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died aged 88 at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital. Yesterday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said all official engagements would be toned down for the next 30 days out of respect for the deceased king, adding: 'He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there.' Referring to Prince Maha, he said: 'Once the crown prince has expressed his sadness and bereavement over his father, and once the time is appropriate, he affirms that he realizes the duties of the heir of the throne. An Old Dominion University student who reported she was raped in her dorm room is charging that campus police prevented her from getting a medical exam to preserve evidence until after she was interrogated for almost eight hours. Her complaint to federal education officials about the October 2014 episode also says she was not given written information about her right to seek a protective order against the person she said attacked her, among other things. It accuses school officials of mishandling the case. The complaint says the woman, who was not identified, told campus police after she was raped in her dorm room that she had an appointment at a local medical center for a forensic exam. Instead of taking the woman to the appointment, police took her to their department, where they held her for nearly eight hours and denied her food, water and access to the bathroom in between interrogations, the complaint says. An Old Dominion University student who reported she was raped in her dorm room is charging that campus police prevented her from getting a medical exam to preserve evidence until after she was interrogated for almost eight hours (file) In a personal statement included with the complaint, the woman said the detectives made comments and asked questions that made her feel like she was 'being violated again,' including 'Do you like rough sex?' and 'I'm just trying to find the crime here.' The experience left her with ongoing post-traumatic stress disorder and an anxiety disorder, she said. 'After the entire day of being victimized by your police department, I was left feeling paranoid and scared as if I was the criminal,' she wrote. The complaint accuses the school of violating federal law by failing to give the woman written information about the importance of preserving evidence of her rape through a forensic exam and not letting her know that she could decline to report the crime to law enforcement before getting an exam. 'Had Ms. Doe known about her right to decline to report to law enforcement prior to receiving a forensic examination and medical care, she would have been able to attend her appointment at a local medical center to receive care for her injuries and bleeding after her rape on campus,' said the complaint. The woman's attorney, Laura Dunn, said it was filed late Wednesday the two year anniversary of her rape with the U.S. Department of Education. A spokesman for the education department confirmed it received the complaint but said it does not comment on the status of cases. A criminal investigation was launched after the assault, but the alleged attacker was never charged, said Dunn, who is executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit, SurvJustice. Giovanna Genard, a spokeswoman for Old Dominion, said Thursday that the school has 'zero tolerance' for sexual assault. 'The University is committed to following all legal requirements for investigating complaints of sexual assault and to treating victims with care, professionalism and respect,' Genard said. Old Dominion is a public university in Norfolk with roughly 25,000 students. Pictured is an overview of an area on the school's campus She said she could not comment further 'due to the legal nature of the complaint'. Old Dominion is a public university in Norfolk with roughly 25,000 students. The woman accuses the school of violating the Clery Act, which requires schools to inform victims about counseling services, their options to notify law enforcement after an assault and options for changing their living situation, among other things. The education department could fine the school up to $35,000 per violation. The complaint says the woman was not informed about her right to seek a protective order against her alleged attacker who wasn't an ODU student after ODU Police declined to seek one on her behalf. That forced her to 'live on campus for months in fear that her attacker could return and harm her at any moment,' the complaint said. The woman also claims she was not allowed to move out of the dorm room where she was attacked until after she received a diagnosis for a psychological condition and that her assault wasn't added to the school's daily crime log until after a reporter inquired about it. Verizon may renegotiate the terms of its $4.8billion deal to buy Yahoo after the largest data breach in history compromised the information of 500 million Yahoo email users. Craig Silliman, general counsel at Verizon, acknowledged the hack's potential financial repercussions, saying: 'I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material.' It remains unclear whether Verizon will seek a price cut or simply back out of the deal, which was announced in July - a month before Yahoo began looking into the 2014 hacking. Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman suggested the US telecom giant could either renegotiate the $4.8billion price in its deal to purchase Yahoo, or walk away entirely In the first indications that Verizon may be second guessing the deal, Silliman spoke to a roundtable of reporters on Thursday, saying the onus was on Yahoo to prove the hack did not affect its financial value. If Verizon finds the breach did indeed have a damaging effect, it could trigger a clause in the deal that would allow the company to back out, Silliman said. But experts said bidders who try to extract themselves from mergers using the material adverse clause face an uphill battle, since no U.S. company has ever invoked it successfully in court to get out of a deal. Earlier this week, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said his company was still investigating the breach and vowed that Verizon wouldn't walk away from the deal. Yahoo also issued a statement on Thursday that read: 'We are confident in Yahoos value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon.' Yahoo agreed in July to sell its core assets to Verizon for $4.8 billion, ending a 20-year run as an independent company for the internet pioneer. The deal would separate the Yahoo internet assets from its more valuable stake in both Yahoo Japan and Chinese online giant Alibaba, worth a combined $40 billion. Yahoo began looking into the hack in August, before it was officially announced in September that a 2014 attack compromised the names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birthdays, encrypted passwords and security questions of its users. The internet firm said it learned of the breach this summer while investigating claims of a separate intrusion, but it has not provided a specific timeline of events. The data breach is still under investigation, and FBI officials confirmed there were signs of a 'state-sponsored' attack. Critics called on its $36million-a-year boss Marissa Mayer to quit after hackers reportedly sold the stolen data on the 'dark web'. The Securities and Exchange Commission says security breaches can have a material impact if proprietary information is stolen, or companies 'fail to retain or attract customers following an attack'. Yahoo began looking into the largest data breach in history one month after the deal with Verizon was announced (pictured, Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer) Yahoo has already faced a spate of problems, including declining users. The company has turned off its email forwarding service earlier this month in an apparent attempt to retain its customer base. It didn't help that Yahoo secretly scanned the incoming emails of hundred of millions of customers to comply with a classified US government directive, prompting NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to urge people to delete their Yahoo accounts last week. Jacob Olcott of security company BitSight Technologies, told the NYTimes: 'There are some serious questions about whether Yahoos customers will continue to use the service knowing that their data has been compromised. 'That is likely to be the biggest question Verizon is trying to determine here. They acquired Yahoo, in part, because of its large customer base.' Yahoo has made several attempts to refocus after falling behind Google and Facebook in key segments of online advertising. A 4.2-metre saltwater crocodile trapped in far north Queensland will be moved to a crocodile farm. Wildlife rangers trapped the reptile on September 9 after multiple sightings near a boat ramp and restaurant at Dicksons Inlet in Port Douglas. Under conservation laws the crocodile's size made it an 'icon crocodile' because of its significance to Traditional Owners, forcing authorities to find it a home at either a zoo or a registered crocodile farm. A 4.2-metre saltwater crocodile (pictured) trapped in far north Queensland will be moved to a crocodile farm The crocodile was first sighted on August 13 breaching the water with another smaller crocodile about two metres in length. The larger 'icon' croc stayed in the area for a while after the smaller crocodile had moved on. Three days later, wildlife authorities set a trap and it was closed with the croc inside early September. Member for Barron River Craig Crawford said EHP had been advised the crocodile had started approaching boats and people. It was also basking on the rocks beneath the restaurant at dusk. 'This behaviour suggests that humans had been feeding it or leaving fish scraps in the area,' Mr Crawford said. 'The animal was held at an EHP facility while arrangements were made to accommodate the crocodile in accordance with its iconic status.' Wildlife authorities set a trap early August and it was closed with the croc inside early September The 'icon crocodile' will find a home at either a zoo or a registered crocodile farm Environment Minister Dr Steven Miles said the zoo or farm will house it for the rest of its days and use it for educational purposes. 'The placement of an icon crocodile must be done in consultation with, and with the agreement of, the relevant Traditional Owners. 'In this case the Yalanji and Yirrganydji people were consulted on where the best home would be for this croc,' he said. 'I am pleased that this crocodile farm has agreed to meet all of the requirements for housing this iconic crocodile. 'There will also be a female crocodile next door so he may be used for breeding once he settles into his new pond,' he said. Judge David Campbell Regent Susan Lindsey and 2nd Vice Regent Stacy Kehoe of the Tennessee Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented $460 in gift cards to Heather Green, executive director of the Kate Duncan Smith DAR School in Grant, Ala. The presentation was made on Monday, the first of the two-day celebration of the establishment of the school by the Alabama DAR in 1924. In 1928, the National Society joined with the State Society to support KDS. The gift cards were purchased with donations from chapter members for use by the students and school for supporting educational needs. KDS is one of two schools owned by the DAR and one of eight schools support through DAR funding and donation. Today KDS is a privately owned public school, administered locally by the Marshall County (Alabama) Board of Education. Students campaigning to have cheap beer served at their university bar are in trouble with liquor authorities. Activists in Brisbane were promising students $4 spirits and $8 jugs of beer and cider as part of their campaign to run the University of Queensland Union. Liquor authorities have cracked down on the students for breaching Queensland laws on cheap alcohol promotion. Students from Thrive are in trouble for their campaign to introduce $8 jugs of beer The students from the Thrive ticket have been ordered to remove signs from around the St Lucia campus promoting lower booze prices at the Red Room Bar. They took to Facebook on Thursday to vent their frustration, blaming UQ Union administrators, from the incumbent Reform group, for following the directives of state liquor authorities. 'Unelected UQ Union staff members have been directed by Reform to try and censor Thrive's policy to bring $4 basics and $8 beer and cider jugs to the Reddo,' they said. Riley Williamson, from the UQ Union, said inspectors from Queensland's Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation visited the St Lucia campus in Brisbane on Thursday, ordering the Thrive students to remove references to the Red Room Bar on their signs. Activists from the Thrive ticket had tried to win over students with promises of cheap beer 'They issued them with a compliance order ... a fine if they didn't comply the next day,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'So they've complied with it. They've just used white-out to get rid of all mention of Red Room.' Thrive campaign manager Conor Ruane declined to elaborate. 'You'd need to speak to the liquor licensing body,' he said. The students have been ordered to remove signs like this one promoting cheap alcohol The signs can only stay up if references to the Red Room Bar are covered up like above Daily Mail Australia understands the Thrive students were threatened with a $13,000 fine for advertising liquor below cost price. With references to the Red Room Bar now removed from election signs, the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation said Thrive's campaign material complied with liquor laws. 'The investigation into this complaint has been completed and the campaign advertising was found to not offend these requirements for a number of reasons, including that it is not advertising the sale price of liquor at the premises,' it said in a statement. Thrive candidates are associated with Queensland's Liberal National Party while the Reform ticket has connections with Labor. Voting closes on Friday for elections of the University of Queensland Union, which runs student services including the bars. Queensland's Liquor Act of 1992 imposes on-the-spot fines and penalties for breaching alcohol service laws. Thrive students express frustration on Facebook about having to remove campaign signs Students at the Gatton campus, in the Lockyer Valley, are also in campaign mode Nicole Scherzinger, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan were among stars who performed at a Prince tribute concert in his home state of Minnesota on Thursday. They were among 17,000 fans who flocked to Xcel Energy Center in the town of St Paul to remember the late icon. Christina Aguilera, who was due to also took part, canceled her appearance at the last minute due to a 'vocal illness'. Her absence didn't dampen the mood in the arena nor affect the morale of musicians who dressed fittingly in their finest purple for the occasion. Nicole Scherzinger performed in a white, shimmering tuxedo in homage to Prince at a tribute concert for the late star in St Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday Scherzinger went one step further than most, dressing in a fitted, white satin tuxedo. Khan and Wonder teamed up, performing a string of duets for the delighted crowds of fans. Together they sang her 1984 hit with the late star, I Feel for You. Wonder peppered the rendition with crowd-pleasing harmonica riffs. They then burst into the anthemic '1999', leading the audience in synchronized clapping. Jessie J was due to replace Aguilera who released a statement sharing her regret at not being able to take part. 'It is with a heavy heart that I cannot perform this evening and join the amazing talent onstage to pay tribute to the legend that was Prince. The starlet serenades some of the 17,000 fans who had flocked to the stadium for the event Scherzinger later told fans it was an 'honor' to play with the late singer's band The star was one of a string of musicians who volunteered to take part in the show Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan teamed up to perform a handful of duets for the crowds Khan and Wonder both had flashes of purple added to their outfits in homage to the star Fans delighted in Wonder's harmonica riffs while Khan kept them entertained with her fan Portuguese singer Ana Moura, who traveled with Prince, gave an emotional performance. She was dressed in a purple sequinned catsuit Mint Condition, a Minnesota act, dazzled in a purple fedora with a purple feather boa Prince's former bandmate Bobby Z told stories from their days on the road to an enthralled audience The NPGS performed too, their back-up singers proudly flaunting purple ringlets in their hair 'He will remain in our hearts and inspire our music until the end of time.' A representative later said she had been told to withdraw from the line-up by doctors. John Mayer, who was also due to take part, backed out citing a 'change of schedule'. Before the concert, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman read a proclamation on the outdoor plaza declaring Thursday Prince Day in Minnesota's capital. Prince's sister earlier said she hoped the concert would bring closure to his grieving fans. Tyka (TYE'-kuh) Nelson described the event as a public memorial to Prince, who died in April at his Paisley Park recording complex. Fans posed outside the stadium in St Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday where there was a happy, celebratory atmosphere The day was earlier declared 'Prince Day' by the mayor - a move that was embraced by fans A New Jersey teenager has been charged with stealing more than $160,000 worth of Jamaican cheese. Darluis Ortiz, 18, stole pallets of Tastee Cheese products from a food warehouse in Moonachie on September 23, prosecutors said Thursday. Tastee Cheese is often eaten with spiced or sweetened buns, especially at Easter. It's produced by Dairy Industries Jamaica Ltd. Darluis Ortiz has been charged with stealing more than $160,000 worth of Jamaican cheese Tastee Cheese says on its website: 'It's eaten with spiced and sweetened buns, bread or crackers; great for quick snacks or on-the-go lunches for many Jamaicans.' The Bergen County Prosecutor's Offcie said in a Thursday release: 'On September 23, 2016, at approximately 11:30 p.m., a commercial burglary and theft was committed at La Fe's Moonachie, New Jersey operation. 'It was reported that multiple actors entered the premises after hours and stole pallets of Tastee Cheese brand products from a storage area within the premises.' The prosecutor's office said: 'Through subsequent investigation, detectives identified ORTIZ as the individual responsible for the theft. Prosecutors said the robbery happened at a food warehouse in Moonachie, New Jersey Tastee Cheese is often eaten with spiced or sweetened buns, especially at Easter. It's produced by Dairy Industries Jamaica Ltd Ortiz 'was located and apprehended in Paterson without incident,' prosecutors said. He was charged with theft, burglary, conspiracy and possessing burglary tools. Ortiz was being held in the Bergen County jail on bail that was $10,000 less than the value of the canned, processed cheese. Downing Street today refused to say if Theresa May knew of contested claims that the former head of the child sex abuse inquiry had made shocking comments about ethnic minorities. Dame Justice Lowell Goddard, who resigned as head of the national public inquiry into child abuse in August, is facing toxic claims that she made racist remarks about multicultural Britain. The allegations reported by The Times have been strenuously denied by the judge, amid suggestions that she is the victim of false slurs. No10 refused to say whether Mrs May - who set up the inquiry as Home Secretary and appointed New Zealander Dame Lowell as chair - was aware of the allegations previously. It has been claimed that Home Office officials knew of the judge's allegedly offensive remarks - said to include a suggestion that Britain had so many paedophiles 'because it has so many Asian men' and complaining about having to travel 50 miles from London to see a white face. Dame Lowell Goddard resigned as head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in August as it was understood she wanted to return home, and has now been accused of saying Britain had so many paedophiles 'because it has so many Asian men'. The allegations have been strenuously denied by the New Zealand judge The PM's spokeswoman pointed to statements from the Home Office stressing that it would not be drawn on 'confidential HR matters'. 'I am not going to add to the Home Office with regard to the allegations that are being quoted,' the spokeswoman said. According to the newspaper report, Dame Lowell is alleged to have told a colleague: 'I was so shocked to see the number of ethnic people.' It is also claimed that she flew into expletive-ridden rages and treated inquiry staff at Millbank Tower with contempt. 'She behaved like a monstrous tyrant and we were all horrified and saying this can't be allowed to carry on, but internally we felt paralysed,' a source is quoted saying. It is alleged that the judge, who has no legal training in the UK, was warned by a senior official about her use of racially derogatory language. Home Office staff and advisers were told about her behaviour, it was claimed. Insiders said Dame Lowell, 67, also appeared to have memory lapses and failed to grasp legal concepts. But no action was taken, leaving the inquiry in turmoil. Under the terms of her appointment in February last year only the Home Secretary had the power to sack her. She finally quit in August after 18 months, walking away with a severance package worth 90,000 approved by the Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Dame Lowell was also reported to have voiced shock at the size of the UK' ethnic minority population and allegedly complained of having to travel miles from London to see a white face PM Theresa May set up the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and appointed Goddard as chair Last night Dame Lowell's lawyers issued a vehement denial that their client had made any racially derogatory remarks or displayed rage. They said she was 'always of the opinion that the inquiry must properly acknowledge people's ethnicity and otherwise employ race and gender neutral language at all times'. What the hell is going on with this inquiry? I'm shocked and distraught about this development. This is an inquiry supposed to be getting to the truth, instead it has been cover up upon cover up Andrew Lavery, of the victims group White Flowers Alba They also denied that she was told that further action would be taken if she continued to make such comments. It was also untrue, they said, that the judge treated junior staff in an abusive fashion. She had very little contact with them. They denied that Dame Lowell was an incompetent lawyer or leader. Victims reacted with horror to the allegations last night, questioning whether an inquiry which has been tasked with uncovering institutional child sexual abuse can continue when it is accused of such a monumental cover up. Questions will also be asked of the new chairman Professor Alexis Jay, who was a panel member until Dame Lowell resigned. The Times claimed that staff at the inquiry held a secret meeting with Mark Sedwill, the Home Office permanent secretary, shortly before Dame Lowell stood down. Dame Lowell resigned as head of the national public inquiry into child abuse in August CONTROVERSIAL INQUIRY DOGGED FROM THE START Right from the beginning, the child sex abuse inquiry has been dogged by resignations and controversy. Its first chairman was Baroness Butler-Sloss, who stood down in July 2014 after only a week in the job. Questions were raised about her connections with establishment figures. Her late brother, Lord Havers, was attorney general in the 1980s a crucial period under examination by the inquiry. Her replacement, Dame Fiona Woolf, was also appointed by Theresa May when she was home secretary. Dame Fiona, too, was forced to resign after criticism of her establishment links, most notably to former home secretary Leon Brittan, who was facing questions over his actions at the Home Office. Dame Lowell Goddard resigned after a row over her pay and benefits package. Child protection expert Professor Alexis Jay, the fourth chairman of the inquiry, took over in the summer. In a further blow to the inquiry team its most senior lawyer, Ben Emmerson QC, was suspended last month after disagreements with Professor Jay. He later resigned. Mr Emmerson's deputy Elizabeth Prochaska, the inquiry's junior counsel, announced her resignation at the same time as her boss. Advertisement Last night Andrew Lavery, of the victims group White Flowers Alba, told the Mail: 'What the hell is going on? This is an inquiry supposed to be getting to the truth, instead it has been cover up upon cover up.' Victims are already reeling from the series of departures from the investigation, which is expected to drag on for a decade as lawyers examine claims of sex abuse at dozens of institutions over 60 years. Dame Lowell, who was the third chairman to quit, went after it emerged she spent three months of her first year either on holiday or abroad. She gave no reason for the resignation but Home Secretary Miss Rudd said of her that was 'a long way from home' and she 'found it too lonely', 'that's all the information I have'. In a severance deal, which brings the total amount paid to Dame Lowell during her 18 months in charge to almost 700,000, she was paid two months' salary plus allowances, amounting to more than 80,000, plus the price of two business-class tickets back to New Zealand for her and her husband after she quit in August. The judge, who was hired by Mrs May when she was Home Secretary after the resignations of two previous chairmen, negotiated one of the most generous financial packages in the public sector. Her salary was 360,000 per year and the deal included a 110,000 rental allowance for an apartment in Knightsbridge, plus 12,000 for utility bills and the use of a government car and driver. Return flights to New Zealand for her and members of her family were also part of the package. Last night an inquiry spokesman said: 'It would be inappropriate to comment. All employees have a right to expect confidentiality in relation to HR matters.' Questions will also be asked of the new chair Professor Alexis Jay (pictured), who was a panel member until Dame Lowell resigned. Professor Jay is the fourth inquiry chair to be appointed The Home Office declined to comment other than to say: '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.' Last night Dame Lowell confirmed she had instructed London solicitors Carter Ruck to represent her over the claims. At her apartment in Wellington, New Zealand, she said: 'Obviously I have instructed defamation lawyers and that will need to take its course. I will only speak through the lawyers.' With her husband, retired QC Chris Hodson, beside her, Dame Lowell refused to be specific about what action Carter Ruck would take but said: 'I'm taking their advice, that's all I can say.' Hillary Clinton used variations of 'I don't recall' 21 times when asked 25 questions under oath about how she deleted 33,000 State Department emails. Sworn written testimony obtained by Judicial Watch show the Democratic presidential candidate dodged virtually all of the questions about the correspondences she removed from her private server while she was Secretary of State. A federal judge ordered Clinton's legal team to turn over written responses to questions concerning the so-called 'homebrew' server. Clinton signed the document containing the answers, written by her lawyers on her behalf, on Monday under 'penalty of perjury'. The former First Lady sidestepped most of the questions, and insisted that she did not 'recall' if anyone told her she could be breaking the law by deleting the emails. She also said she could not remember ever being warned about hacking threats to her private account or server. But her campaign has insisted the answers are consistent with what she has said before. Hillary Clinton used variations of 'I don't recall' 21 times when she was asked 25 questions under oath about her destruction of State Department emails. She is pictured speaking at a fundraiser at the Civic Center Auditorium in San Francisco on Thursday The questions addressed a number of issues. She was asked why she used the private server, 'Secretary Clinton states that she does not recall being advised, cautioned, or warned, she does not recall that it was ever suggested to her, and she does not recall participating in any communication, conversation, or meeting in which it was discussed that her use of a clintonemail.com e-mail account to conduct official State Department business conflicted with or violated federal recordkeeping laws,' her lawyers wrote for one answer. Most of the responses to questions begin with the phrase: 'Secretary Clinton objects to the Interrogatories.' Clinton's answers provided no new information beyond what she told FBI agents during the recently closed investigation into whether she and her staff mishandled classified information. But it does suggest she has contradicted sworn statements she has made in the past. According to the court documents filed this week, Clinton was asked when she decided to use her private email account to conduct government business and whom she consulted in making that decision. Clinton said she recalled making the decision in early 2009, but she 'does not recall any specific consultations regarding the decision.' The former First Lady (pictured in Pueblo, Colorado, on Wednsesday, refused to answer most of the questions, and even insisted that no one told her she could be breaking the law by deleting the emails One of the questions posed to her reads: 'In a 60 Minutes interview aired on July 24, 2016, you stated that it was 'recommended' you use a personal email account to conduct official State Department business. What recommendations were you given about using or not using a personal email account to conduct official State Department business, who made any such recommendations, and when were any such recommendations made? He response: 'Secretary Clinton objects to Interrogatory No. 5 insofar as it misstates her comments in the interview that aired on July 24, 2016. Secretary Clinton does not recall whether she had a specific expectation that the State Department would receive FOIA requests for or concerning her e-mail Written response to question in sworn testimony 'In that interview, she stated that 'it was recommended that [using personal e-mail] would be convenient.' Subject to that objection, Secretary Clinton states that former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised her in 2009 about his use of a personal e-mail account to conduct official State Department business.' Republicans have consistently claimed that Clinton used the private set-up in order to evade Freedom of Information Act requests. But the Democratic presidential nominee and former secretary of state said she doesn't recall that issue ever coming up. Her lawyers wrote: 'Secretary Clinton does not recall whether she had a specific expectation that the State Department would receive FOIA requests for or concerning her e-mail. She understood that, because her practice was to e-mail State Department staff on their state.gov accounts, her email was being captured in the State Department's recordkeeping systems....Secretary Clinton understood that e-mail she sent or received in the course of conducting official State Department business was subject to FOIA.' The 23rd question asked whether she gave the order for her emails to be deleted and whether any copies of the messages had been kept. According to the court documents filed this week, Clinton was asked when she decided to use her private email account to conduct government business and whom she consulted in making that decision Her lawyers wrote: 'Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Secretary Clinton states that it was her expectation that all of her work-related and potentially work-related e-mail then in her custody would be provided to the State Department in response to its request. 'Secretary Clinton believes that her attorneys retained copies of the e-mails provided to the State Department in December 2014, but she does not have any personal knowledge about the details of that process. 'Secretary Clinton decided that, once her work-related and potentially work-related e-mails were provided to the State Department, she had no reason to keep her personal e-mails, which did not relate to official State Department business. 'She believes that her personal e-mails were not kept, and she does not have any personal knowledge about the details of that process.' Judicial Watch had sought to depose Clinton in person about the creation of the private server located in the basement of her New York home. In August U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan instead ordered the Democratic presidential nominee to respond to the group's questions in writing. In addition to her inability to recall the requested information, Clinton entered various legal objections to the formation or wording of 18 of the 25 questions. She also filed eight separate general objections to the process under which the questions were being asked. Secretary Clinton believes that her attorneys retained copies of the e-mails provided to the State Department in December 2014, but she does not have any personal knowledge about the details of that process When asked about whether she asked for the emails to be deleted and whether she kept copies Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the group's lawyers will closely review Clinton's responses. 'Mrs Clinton's refusal to answer many of the questions in a clear and straightforward manner further reflects disdain for the rule of law,' Fitton said. Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman protested the process in a statement Thursday night. He said Sullivan's denial of Freedom Watch's requests for an oral deposition 'cleverly allowed Hillary Clinton ... to stonewall giving responsive and meaningful answers'. Klayman continued, 'Now, even if motions to compel complete and responsive answers are filed, they will not be decided for some time, and Judge Sullivan will have run out the clock paving the way for Hillary Clinton ... to easily win the presidency.' Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Clinton has answered these same questions in multiple settings for over a year, and her answers Thursday 'are entirely consistent with what she has said many times before.' Scotland Yard has conceded for the first time that it expects to be rebuked in an official report into its disgraced VIP child sex abuse inquiry. The admission came in a letter inviting former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, falsely accused of serial rape and murder by a suspected fantasist known as Nick, to meet Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe to discuss its findings. Sir Bernards decision to extend an olive branch to Mr Proctor, one of his biggest critics, comes as the Met braces itself for a torrent of criticism over the report. The Metropolitan Police's admission came in a letter to former Tory MP Harvey Proctor (pictured) A draft copy of the review of the Mets VIP paedophile investigation, known as Operation Midland, and other historical sex inquiries was handed to Sir Bernard last Thursday. Written by retired High Court Judge Sir Richard Henriques, it is expected to slam Scotland Yard for describing Nicks evidence as a credible and true at the outset of its investigation into his allegations of murder and/or rape involving Mr Proctor, ex PM Edward Heath, former Tory Home Secretary Leon Brittan and ex Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Bramall. Mr Proctor has been invited to meet with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe Embarrassingly the invite to meet Sir Bernard was in a letter addressed to Mr Proctor MP 29 years after he left parliament. In it, Assistant Commissioner Helen King said: The report is still in draft because it is necessary to allow some of those who may be subject to criticism to respond to that provisional criticism. Sir Richard anticipates that process will be completed fairly soon and that the report will be finalised by the end of the month at the latest. She added: Once the final report has been received the Commissioner would welcome the opportunity to meet with you privately to discuss the report. If you are agreeable to this we will be in touch to arrange a suitable time once we are in possession of the final report. Mr Proctor accepted the invite yesterday, on the basis that a number of conditions were met including him being given an opportunity to read relevant parts of the report before his meeting with Sir Bernard, who announced his surprise resignation last month. Insiders claim he stepped down as Commissioner after learning his force will be lambasted in Sir Richards review. Scotland Yard has admitted it expects to be rebuked in an official report into its disgraced VIP child sex abuse inquiry Sir Bernard was at the centre of a censorship row last week after it emerged his force would only release a summary of the report once it had considered whether it agrees with its findings. Assistant Commissioner King wrote to people falsely accused of sex abuse and murder to say her force would have to think very carefully about what can and cannot be published from the review. She said it was her strong expectation that it will not be possible to publish Sir Richards report because it will contain material that is confidential and affects the rights of third parties. Assistant Commissioner Helen King wrote to people falsely accused of sex abuse and murder to say her force would have to think very carefully about what can and cannot be published from the review Incensed by her letter, Mr Proctor accused the Met of orchestrating a cover-up of the 2million police inquiry into Nicks claims of serial murder and rape by an Establishment paedophile ring in the 1970s and 1980s. Last month the Daily Mail revealed how Sir Richard has already been paid 66,000 to write a report about Operation Midland and other high profile historic sex abuse inquiries - but the public will get to see only selected findings on the orders of Sir Bernard. The former judge is receiving 1,100 a day to conduct the review, which was commissioned by Sir Bernard in February. Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse were among the officers involved in Operation Midland It is expected to highlight key failures in Operation Midland, which will be embarrassing to Sir Bernard and senior officers including Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse and Det Supt Kenny McDonald, who described Nick as being credible and true at a news conference. 92-year-old war hero Lord Bramall's home was raided over the unfounded allegations Operation Midland was wound up in March, 15 months after Mr McDonald backed Nicks version of events and urged other possible victims to come forward. He told the BBC in December 2014 that the alleged abuse Nick had described was 'horrendous and horrific'. But police found no evidence to support his claims. Among the other victims of Nicks alleged lies was hounded war hero Lord Bramall, the 92-year-old former Army chief whose home was raided over Nicks unfounded claims as he ate breakfast with his terminally ill wife. Another victim was the late former Tory Home Secretary Leon Brittan, as was ex-PM Edward Heath. It is understood that Sir Richards report will address whether the search warrant to raid Lord Bramalls home was issued lawfully, whether it was necessary for 20 police officers to ransack his home at dawn and also the delays in informing him of the allegations. The retired judge has also examined whether it was necessary for the police to raid Tory peer Lord Brittans two homes in connection with Nicks claims within weeks of his death in January last year. Ex-PM Edward Heath and the late former Tory Home Secretary Leon Brittan were among the victims of the allegations Last night Mr Proctor, who repeatedly called for Sir Bernards resignation over Operation Midland before he eventually quit last month, said Sir Richards review needed to address ten key issues if it was not to be regarded as a police cover-up. These included who gave authority for Mr McDonald to use the phrase credible and true, what background checks (if any) were carried out on Nick before police probed his claims and what inquiries, if any, have been carried out into allegations Nick perverted the course of justice by making false allegations. The young girl was pecked through the eye at the beginning of November A seven-year-old girl has lost all sight in her left eye after a vicious magpie attack at the beginning of swooping season. Imogen Liddell and her mum Jodi wanted to 'get out of the house' last month and decided to go on a bike ride together at a park in North Rockhampton, in central Queensland, before she was attacked by the angry magpie. 'We were riding and the bird came behind me and then came into my eye,' Imogen told Daily Mail Australia. Scroll down for video Imogen Liddell, pictured, has lost the sight in her left eye following a magpie attack in Rockhampton, Queensland 'Blood came out of my eye and then a boy took us to his mother who took us home so we could call an ambulance.' Imogen's mother Jodi told Daily Mail Australia she was less than five meters behind her daughter when she watched the attack unfold. 'Imogen was swooped from behind, I thought the bird would sweep past but it came around, hung there and then pecked her in the eye,' Jodi said. 'It was extremely quick It was less than three seconds from the time it verred around to when it pecked her.' The bird's aggressive behaviour stopped as soon as Imogen and Jodi were off their bikes. When Jodi got to her young daughter she knew something was wrong. 'I just saw blood running down her face from her left eye,' she said. 'At first she wasn't screaming, she was in shock but then she saw the blood. 'Within a few minutes she was screaming and in a lot of pain.' The little girl was described as 'outdoorsy' prior to the attack but hasn't been back on her bike since and is now scared of birds There was a cut on the outside of Imogen's eye, but most of the blood was coming from underneath the eye which meant the injury was quite severe. 'The ambulance paramedics confirmed she had a penetrating eye injury and she was rushed to Rockhampton Base Hospital.' Imogen was the flown to Lady Cilento Children's Hospital for surgery her damaged iris was removed and her eye was stabelised. Doctors are now watching the condition of they eye and will work towards giving her some of her vision back in the future. 'At the moment the biggest risk is infection. We don't know where the bird has been or what it has been doing but each day we get away from the attack without anything is positive,' Jodi said. Imogen is scared of birds at the moment but her mother hopes that will pass. 'She has also lost a lot of her confidence on the bike which is a shame,' Jodi said. The little girl told Daily Mail Australia she 'wasn't sure if she would ride again'. Doctors will continue to work on Imogen's left eye in the hope they can restore some sight (pictured with her older brother) Her mother described Imogen as 'outdoorsy' prior to the attack but now says she is 'a little girl with a lot of challenges' but notes she is 'kicking goals'. Jodi wants to warn people about magpie attacks as well as attacks from other territorial birds and says people should wear glasses to avoid serious injury from a similar peck. 'It is really important people wear sunglasses or clear glasses the same way we wear sunscreen,' she said. 'I work with wild life so it's something I am very aware of but I think we were just the first person swooped in Rockhampton this year and this injury has resulted.' Imogen is now sensitive to light and has to wear covers over her left eye she prefers to wear dark glasses instead of a patch for protection. She currently has ten stitches in here eye and will need to make the 600km trip to Brisbane each week to see her doctors at the children's hospital. The magpie was relocated after experts found it was particularly aggressive toward bike riders. Diplomatic press conferences may not be the most enthralling of occasions, but it's best to keep an eye open - especially when it's your job to stay awake. But for Putin's spokesman such a seemingly simple task was all too much as he dozed off during a meeting between the boss and Turkish President Recep Erdogan. Dmitry Peskov, 48, was caught on camera fast asleep during a joint press conference between the two leaders in Istanbul. Putin's press spokesman dozed off right behind him during an important diplomatic meeting President Putin, 64, and Erdogan, 62, also seemed a little weary, but they managed to keep both eyes open. They were reportedly speaking after signing an agreement to connect their respective nations by a gas pipeline on Monday. It was then that Peskov lost his fight to stay awake, as he was allegedly lulled by Erdogan's 'soft and soothing' voice. Dmitry Peskov, 48, left, was caught on camera fast asleep during a joint press conference between Turkish President Erdogan and his boss, right The Russian Minister of the Interior, Sergey Lavrov, noticed the faux pas, but reasoned his colleague seemed so peaceful he decided against waking him up. This is apparently not the first time Peskov has been caught napping during important meetings, and he did not comment on the matter this time around. His embarrassing snooze also comes after his daughter has raised eyebrows by appearing on the front page of Turkish newspapers. President Putin, 64, and Erdogan, 62, right also seemed a little weary, but managed to keep both eyes open The two leaders were reportedly speaking after signing an agreement to connect their respective nations by a gas pipeline on Monday Liza Peskova was pictured in a swimsuit bathing in Antalya accompanied by headlines such as 'Welcome to Turkey!' The 18-year-old beauty made the front pages, as Turkish newspapers wrote they hoped more Russians would start holidaying in Turkey again. Then the teenager posted pictures of herself wearing the same swimsuit writing: 'Hi Turkey! We missed you! The country is open for Russians, they love and dearly welcome us!' Peskov's daughter Liza, pictured, has also recently been in the news this week The 18-year-old beauty made the front page of newspapers after holidaying in Turkey Liza Peskova was pictured in a swimsuit bathing in Antalya in south-west Turkey under headlines such as 'Welcome to Turkey!' Turkish newspapers wrote that they hoped that Miss Peskov enjoyed her stay Russian-Turkish relations have begun to thaw, after hitting a rocky period last year after a Turkish F-16 fighter shot down a Russian Su-24 aircraft by the Syrian border. Putin described the incident as 'a stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists'. But the recent success of negotiations between the two powers has marked a return to happier times. Two men who were not Bill Clinton went toe-to-toe with two more protesters accusing him of 'rape' at a rally tonight. 'Wait wait wait...Give him a hand, he's having a bad week. They are having a bad week give them a hand,' he said as the second one roared over him. 'No, no don't boo him. Don't. Don't boo him.' As attendees of the campaign event chanted his wife's name, Hillary, Bill told them, 'If you serve poison for breakfast lunch and dinner for a year and a half somebody is going to drink it and give it back. 'And, so don't boo them. Try and get them to stop screaming and talk to you because this country needs to be brought together,' he said. 'Weve had enough of this divisive poisonous, us and them stuff.' The interruptions have become routine at the former president's speeches. A man and a woman hollered at him in Waterloo on Wednesday. Hecklers came after him last Wednesday in Ohio and Saturday in Wisconsin, too. Bill Clinton went toe-to-toe with two more protesters accusing him of 'rape' at a rally in Davenport, Iowa, tonight SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO 'You're a rapist!' a man holding a picture of the ex-president's face shouted a couple minutes into Clinton's speech in Waterloo. 'Bill is a rapist! He's a rapist!' he yelled several times over. The woman made similar claims. They continued to shout at the president as they were escorted out of the venue by the Secret Service. Bill told an angry audience, calling on the protesters to be booted, 'Wait, wait, wait. Give that guy a hand. Theyve had a very bad week in the Trump campaign. And he feels that. 'Give him a hand, give him a hand,' Bill bellowed. 'The problem is, if you only listen to one television station, and nobody ever tells you the truth, you get like that.' Continuing, he said, 'That's what's wrong with American politics. And I don't want you to treat them they way that they treat you. During a similar disruption on Saturday Clinton also said his interrupters 'had a bad day'. Clinton was in Milwaukee discussing climate change when those protesters shouted: 'Bill Clinton is a rapist!' The former president told his audience then, as he did tonight, to give the as they were removed from the event, CBS News reported. 'Don't worry about it. Thank you,' he said. Clinton referenced a leaked Access Hollywood video of Trump gloating about the way he grabs women by the p***y and said, 'You gotta feel sorry for them, they had a bad day yesterday, so they're trying to make it up.' Bill Clinton battled hecklers accusing him of 'rape' on Wednesday night, as well. Bill told his angry audience, 'Wait, wait, wait. Give that guy a hand. Theyve had a very bad week' The 68-year-old husband of the Democratic presidential nominee was finishing a bus tour of Iowa on Thursday night when his remarks were yet again overshadowed by demonstrator taunting him with rape allegations. A woman charged him with the crime in Canton, Ohio, last Wednesday, as well. The interruptions became more frequent after Infowars' Alex Jones offered $1,000 on Friday to anyone who makes it on TV for five seconds wearing a t-shirt accusing Bill of rape. If they shout the same thing, the reward jumps to $5,000. At the Davenport rally the first man who shouted at Bill told DailyMail.com that he was inspired by Infowars' call to action. 'Yeah,' he said. 'More just to spread the word.' 'I'm doing the challenge,' the man, who identified himself as 'Jeff' said. Security accompanied the second man to the exit, beyond the reach of reporters. Hillary Clinton was also confronted with the accusations on Monday when a protester crashed her rally wearing a shirt that dubbed her husband a rapist. 'You know, I do hope someone follows that gentleman out and stages an intervention,' Clinton told the crowd. 'He clearly has not been following this election very closely.' A man wearing a 'Rape' t-shirt got ejected from Hillary Clinton's rally in Detroit on Monday Juanita Broaddrick has accused Bill Clinton of raping her. Donald Trump brought her as a guest to the second presidential debate Hillary Clinton laughed off the protest and said the man needed an 'intervention' President Barack Obama got his own handful of Bill Clinton 'rape' protesters Tuesday when two young people sporting 'Bill Clinton Rapist' t-shirts interrupted his Greensboro, North Carolina rally a few minutes in. 'You know, this is the great thing about politics in America, it takes all kinds,' he laughed. 'Folks will just do all kinds of stuff. Now where was I?' When things didn't calm down he said, 'Those are some folks who they were auditioning for a reality show.' On Sunday night, Trump brought Juanita Broaddrick as a guest to the second presidential debate. She was one of three Clinton accusers he had in tow at the event. A fourth, Kathy Shelton, blames Clinton for successfully arguing for reduced charges her rapist. Broaddrick has said Bill Clinton raped her in Little Rock in 1978 and bit her lip during the alleged assault. Clinton has vehemently denied the accusation. At a Trump-organized photo-op in St. Louis Sunday, Broaddrick said: '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.' According to Broaddrick, Clinton came up to her not long after the alleged attack and thanked her in a way she found threatening and considered a way of telling her to keep quiet. Charges were never brought. Bill Clinton has long denied Broaddrick's accusations, and Hillary has declined to address them. Several Bill Clinton 'rapist' protesters have interrupted Hillary Clinton's events since Donald Trump brought three women to the debate who accused the ex-president of sexual misdeeds Broaddrick herself denied that the incident occurred in a deposition given in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawusit. But she later recanted and said it happened. Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta said following the Trump press conference: 'Trump is desperate hes trying to take this race to a place in the gutter and were not going there.' Bill's spokesman, Angel Urena, declined to comment on the ongoing protests. He tweeted out a Bloomberg article earlier in the day though that said, 'Whether acting as a pawn for the Russians or for his campaign henchmen who've made a career going after @billclinton, one thing is clear: "Donald Trump is doubling down on his strategy of focusing on Bill Clinton's accusers." ' The Clintons' lawyer, David Kendall, said in 1999, 'Any allegation that the president assaulted Mrs. Broaddrick more than 20 years ago is absolutely false. Beyond that, we're not going to comment.' Australia is heavily investing in driverless technology as it trials vehicles The driverless vehicles are designed to protect people inside, not outside If someone jumps in front, technology can only reduce the speed of impact Driverless cars would hit a child on the street if it meant saving the people inside the vehicle, Mercedes-Benz Australia says. The luxury car brand's Australian branch has answered the moral dilemma of who a driverless car would save if it was faced with running over a child or swerving into a car and potentially killing the passengers. 'If there is someone literally jumping in front of you, in that circumstance, there's nothing technology can do except reduce speed of impact,' Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman David McCarthy told The Australian. Scroll down for video The Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury in Motion concept car, a self-driving, hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid, makes its debut at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show The Mercedes Benz F015 self-driving car is presented for the first time in Europe at the Dam square in Amsterdam 'If an impact is inevitable, it will reduce the speed, tighten seatbelts and prime the brakes. 'The safety systems and impact protections are obviously greater within the cabin than outside. 'I would say that the vehicle is designed inside to protect the people inside, and it's the assistance systems that do that,' he said. Mr McCarthy echoed the sentiments of Mercedes manager of driver assistance systems, Christoph von Hugo, who last week said that driverless technology would put the safety of passengers before pedestrians. 'If you know you can save at least one person, at least save that one. Save the one in the car. If all you know for sure is that one death can be prevented, then that's your first priority,' Mr von Hugo told Car and Driver Magazine. But he added that the car giant's engineers 'prevent these situations from happening at all.' Australia is heavily investing in driverless technology as it trials self-driving cars with Holden at a research hub in South Australia. Volvo and Uber recently announced they were joining forces in a $300m project to develop autonomous 'base vehicles'. Safety issues were thrust into the limelight when 40-year-old Ohio man Joshua Brown was killed while using the car's autopilot function. Mr Brown and the autopilot feature failed to detect an incoming white truck due to the sun's bright glare. Driverless cars would hit a child on the street if it meant saving the people inside the vehicle, Mercedes-Benz Australia says Recently voted the Chattanooga areas Best Columnist/Reporter and Best TV Personality, David Carroll has just published his second book, "Volunteer Bama Dawg." Mr. Carroll previously published Chattanooga Radio and Television, a pictorial history of local broadcasting. The new book is totally different from the first, Mr. Carroll said. While I was out promoting the first book, I spoke to several clubs and churches, telling stories about my career and the people Ive met. People seemed to enjoy it, so Ive put together my best stories, all in one place. The title, Volunteer Bama Dawg, is based on Mr. Carrolls life, and on one of his most popular stories. It represents the three states Ive loved all my life, he said. I grew up in Alabama, I now live in Tennessee, and I drive through Georgia just about every day. Its who I am. Recently, he found the one spot where a person can stand in those three states at one time. I tell the story of the border that connects Marion, Dade and Jackson counties, he said. You can have your big toe in Tennessee, your heel in Alabama, and your other foot in Georgia. Its become quite the little tourist attraction. The book includes more than 60 photographs, and stories ranging from comical, to historical, to sentimental. I write about the worst songs ever, fun facts about our local history, my family, famous folks Ive met, and some I never did. I write about my career in radio and TV, covering the schools, and I included more than a few jokes. Some of them are actually funny. He added, The new book also gives me a chance to follow up on the local personalities who were such a big part of my first book. People love reading about Luther Masingill, Miss Marcia, Tommy Jett, Harry Thornton and his wrestlers, Jim Nabors, and so many others. In this book, I can tell the stories I didnt have room for in the first book. The book was published by Fresh Ink Press, and is information on how to order is on Mr. Carrolls website, ChattanoogaRadioTV.com. It is available in softcover, hardback and audio (compact discs), read by Mr. Carroll. It serves several purposes, Mr. Carroll said. Its not quite big enough to be a doorstop, but it makes for a nice coaster. Its a great bathroom book (especially the paperback), because you can open the pages anywhere, and a new story has just begun. No story is more than four pages long, so its a perfect gift for your friend or relative who has a short attention span. Mr. Carroll is a longtime radio and TV broadcaster in Chattanooga who currently anchors the evening news on WRCB Channel 3, and hosts a weekend radio show The Vinyl Express on Chattanoogas Big 95.3 FM. His weekly column appears in six area newspapers. The book is priced at $19.95 (softcover), $21.95 (audio) and $27.95 (hardcover). All books purchased through ChattanoogaRadioTV.com are personally autographed by Mr. Carroll. Books can also be ordered by mail, by sending a check for the amount listed above (plus $ 4.00 shipping) to David Carroll Book, P.O. Box 15185, Chattanooga, TN 37415. Please include names for autograph request. Mr. Carroll is also available to speak for club meetings and church groups, with an entertaining program that includes a lot of laughs and prizes. To schedule an appearance, contact him at 267-5412, or 3dc@epbfi.com. A stranded seal has been rescued in front of a rapturous crowd on the River Thames in London. The animal was spotted by a worried member of the public on a pontoon near Kew Bridge in Brentford yesterday afternoon. Members of London Fire Brigade assisted the RSPCA to help the mammal, who may have been struck by a boat. Members of London Fire Brigade assisted the RSPCA in the rescue of the seal who may have been hit by a boat on the River Thames near Kew Bridge early yesterday morning The incident happened near Kew Bridge in Brentford, pictured, on Thursday morning It is not unusual for seals to make their way up the Thames, according to the RSPCA. An RSPCA spokeswoman said: 'Its not uncommon for seals to venture up rivers away from the sea looking for food - and they normally manage to find their way back unless they are sick; when they will haul themselves out of the water. 'In this instance, however, we are concerned for the seals welfare as the animal appears to have an injury to the eye, perhaps consistent with being hit by a boat.' London Fire Brigade station manager Andy Watson said: 'With the help of firefighters, the seal was carried via a pedestrian bridge into an animal ambulance. Prosecutors in Pennsylvania have charged a young mother who smoked marijuana, fell asleep, and rolled on top of her three-week-old baby daughter, causing her to suffocate. Kayla Marie Breniser, 27, is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering a child, according to Fox 43. On April 14 of this year, Breniser was at her home in East Petersburg, just northwest of Lancaster, when she and her three-month-old daughter, Nhaima Aly Camacho, were on a couch. Breniser smoked marijuana and fell asleep on the same couch after her daughter had also dozed off right beside her, according to WGAL. Kayla Marie Breniser (right), 27, is being charged with manslaughter for the death of her three-week-old daughter, Nhaima Aly Camacho (left), on April 14, 2016 Breniser then rolled over and onto the infant, causing her to suffocate. Authorities administered a blood test on Breniser soon after the baby was discovered dead and found that she had traces of marijuana in her system. Scroll down for video Breniser told investigators that she had smoked marijuana during the pregnancy as well as after her daughter was born. She is due in court on November 4 for a preliminary hearing. Breniser (seen on the right as she's tending to her daughter) told police that she smoked marijuana during her pregnancy and after giving birth Breniser and her daughter (seen above) were on the same couch at their home in East Petersburg when they both fell asleep on April 14 The infant girl's father is Nhait A. Camacho (seen above with his daughter) 'Whereas there is nothing to indicate the result was intentional, the choice to use marijuana while responsible for the life and care of a helpless infant was intentional and the price immeasurable in this case,' District Attorney Craig Stedman said on Thursday. The district attorney said that the potency of the marijuana ingested by Breniser contributed to her falling asleep. 'The marijuana of 2016 is far more potent than it was years ago,' Stedman said. 'It causes permanent brain damage to the user and in this case resulted in the senseless and preventable death of an innocent child.' The infant girl's father is Nhait A. Camacho. Brenisers cousin, Taryn Beddick, started a GoFundMe page soliciting donations in order to raise money for a memorial. There are no words to explain the pain we feel losing a child so brand new to the world, Beddick wrote. As a mother, I feel that pain so deeply. Kayla is a beautiful young woman and an amazing mother. I wanted to set up this fundraiser for my cousin to help ease some of the burden during this difficult time. Relatives are trying to raise money for a memorial for Nhaima (whose grave site is seen above) Donald Trump's woes are continuing to mount as further sexual harassment claims have emerged, accusing him of looking up women's skirts in a restaurant in the 1990s. Lisa Boyne, CEO of a health food company, claims that in the summer of 1996 she saw Trump make a series of women walk up and down a restaurant table so that he could announce whether they were wearing underwear. 'It was the most offensive scene I've ever been a part of,' Boyne told The Huffington Post Thursday. 'I wanted to get the heck out of there.' Scroll down for video Accused: Donald Trump has been accused by Lisa Boyne (right) of making models walk on a table at a meal in 1996 so he could look up their skirts. Trump (seen left in 1996) denies claims Comments: Boyne says she and pal Sonja Morgan (pictured, of 'Real Housewives of New York') watched as Trump looked up models' skirts and commented on their underwear or genitals According to Boyne, she and friend Sonja Tremont - better known today as Sonja Morgan of 'Real Housewives of New York' - had been invited to dinner in Manhattan with Trump and late modelling agent John Casablancas. Boyne, then 25, and Morgan were taken to the meal in Trump's limo, and had to endure his tales of the women he'd bedded on their way to the restaurant - complete with ratings of how attractive he found them. But the evening got even more upsetting, she said, when they arrived. The trio met with Casablancas at the restaurant to find that he had brought along five or six models. The group were packed into a semicircular table with one man at each end. That meant the women could not get out of their seats without either Casablancas or Trump vacating their own. And they didn't, said Boyne. Instead, any woman wanting to leave the table would have to get up and walk along it, at which point Trump 'stuck his head right underneath their skirts' to examine their underwear. He would then comment on whether they were wearing anything - and if not, what he thought of their genitals, Boyne said. Boyne, who was working for IBM at the time according to her LinkedIn page, says she was not there as a model and Trump made no passes at her - but did ask her to tell him which model he should sleep with. Models: Models were provided by the late John Casablancas (left with Trump in 1991), Boyne said, and the men sat at opposite ends of the table so women could only leave by walking on it Denial: Tremont (pictured) recalled the meal, Casablancas, Trump and the models but said she didn't remember the women having to walk on the table Eventually, she says, she insisted the men allow her to stand. She says she called her roommate, who advised her to fake an illness and leave. 'I met lots of famous, influential wealthy people with Sonja, and none of them were ever as vulgar, as disgusting, as rude, as sexist (as Trump), such a low excuse for a human being that I've ever met,' Boyne said. When asked why she waited until now to voice her story, Boyne said she had a 'flashback' while reading a May New York Times story about Trump's interactions with women. And she claimed that she hoped joining the chorus of women speaking out against Trump this week would give the stories 'legitimacy.' A Trump spokeswoman denied the whole story, telling The Huffington Post: 'Mr Trump never heard of this woman and would never do that.' And while Morgan confirmed that the dinner did indeed take place - complete with Trump and Casablancas's models - she said she didn't recall Trump's alleged lechery. 'I don't remember any of that kind of behavior,' she told the Post. 'But I have been known to dance on tables.' Boyne's roommate, Karen Beatrice, also said that while the meal did take place, she doesn't remember the phone call - and added that Boyne is 'a publicity seeker.' She also said that when she met Trump on another occasion he was 'gracious and charming.' 'Harassed': Boyne's claim comes after six women came forward to complain that Trump harassed them. They include former Miss USA contestant Temple Taggart (pictured) 'Kissed': Taggart (pictured second from right at the pageant) says Trump forcibly kissed her in 1997, and then again when she met him later in New York This week saw a number of women coming forward to complain that Trump had sexually harassed or assaulted them. Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, said she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38. Rachel Crooks claimed that Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission in an elevator in 2005, when she was a 22 and working as a receptionist at a company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan. Melinda McGillivray, 36, said that Trump had grabbed her backside 13 years ago while she was helping out a photographer at his Mar-a-lago mansion. Natasha Stoynoff, a writer for People Magazine, claims that he forcibly pushed her against a wall and kissed her when she was interviewing him in 2006. 'Groped': Jessica Leeds (left on CNN this week, right in 1978) claimed Trump fondled her while she was on a plane with him. She said he was 'like an octopus' Upset: Rachel Crooks (left) and Melinda McGillivray (right) say they were upset by Trump's alleged advances. Crooks says he forcibly kissed her and McGillivray says he groped her Temple Taggart, a former Miss USA contestant, says that Trump forcibly kissed her in 1997, when she was 21, after she tried to introduce him to her father. She says he did it again when she met him later in New York. And Cassandra Searles, another former Miss USA contestant, accused Trump of repeatedly grabbing her buttocks and asking her to go back to his hotel room. She made the claims earlier in the year, but they had been highlighted by recent events. Trump has denied all of the claims. The abuse allegedly began when the young girl's mother died in 2000 He is charged with 20 counts of rape allegedly beginning at age seven A man accused of raping his daughter for 12 years after the death of her mother has plead not guilty before a Queensland court. The Ipswich man allegedly raped his daughter up to three times a week after she went to live with him when she was seven after her mum died. The abuse is said to have continued until after she turned 18 in 2012, The Queensland Times reports. A man plead not guilty to 20 charges of rape against his own daughter over a 12 year period The man was charged with 20 counts of rape against his daughter. He was also charged with maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and indecent treatment of a child under 16 of lineal descent. Crown prosecutor Jessica Goldie said there were 'various sexual acts' during the period of alleged abuse which started when the girl moved in with her father. The young girl ran away when she was 17 for a short period of time before leaving for good when she was 18. Defence lawyer Kim Bryson said the father would be giving evidence during the trial. 'The topic we are dealing with is not nice and I ask you not to let that cloud your judgement,' Mr Bryson said. His trial is being held before Ipswich court - he allegedly began raping the girl after her mother died when she was seven Their children arrived home to find the crime scene on Thursday Two knives seized at the scene and the A couple's two children have come home to find their mother dead and her partner fighting for life after an alleged double stabbing following a domestic argument. Emergency services were called to a home in Cairns, far north Queensland, after Ricky Cowan, 48, made a desperate call saying his defacto partner Crystal Ratcliffe, 38, was dying from stab wounds. The mother-of-two was declared dead at the scene and Mr Cown was revived twice before being rushed to Cairns Hospital, according to Cairns Post. Crystal Ratcliffe, 38, died and her defacto partner Ricky Cowan, 48, was left critical after an alleged double stabbing Mr Ratcliffe is under police guard at hospital, while detectives and forensic officers investigate the home. The couple's children arrived home from school on Thursday afternoon to find the property taped off. They have since been cared for by neighbours while relatives fly in to look after them. It is understood two knives were seized at the scene, while Far North police Det Acting Supt Geoff Marsh said the injuries were 'consistent with a bladed weapon'. 'The two people that know what happened inside that residence, at this stage, unfortunately one is tragically deceased, and the other one is suffering critical injuries.' They are calling for anyone with any information to come forward. The mother-of-two was declared dead at the scene from stab wounds following the domestic argument Mr Cowan had to be revived twice by paramedics before being rushed to Cairns Hospital (pictured) in a critical condition A newborn baby will grow up without the tip of one of her fingers after a nurse in a New Zealand hospital accidentally cut it off with scissors. Marie Campbell was left outraged after her daughter Lilly had the little finger on her left hand snipped off by a nurse at Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand. The nurse was reportedly cutting a tube attached to Lilly in an attempt to stabilise the three-day-old's blood sugar levels when the accident occurred stuff.co.nz reports. With her daughter's rotting black finger set to eventually fall off, the 23-year-old first-time mum can do nothing but watch and wait. Lilly Campbell (pictured) was left without the tip of the little finger on her left hand after it was cut off accidentally by a nurse at Waikato Hospital in New Zealand Ms Campbell said her daughter - who was born with type one diabetes - had a cannula inserted into her left hand to provide her with fluids for her condition. But when an intensive care nurse attempted to use scissors to remove the tube on August 30, she also took with her the top of the girl's pinky finger. When the hospital called Ms Campbell to tell her of the incident, she was shocked. 'I just got home with my mum when we got a call to say come back, we've cut your baby's finger off,' she said. 'I was, like, how can you do that? I was so angry.' Ms Campbell - who wasn't allowed to stay at the hospital's on-site accommodation because she lived too close - hurriedly made her way back to the hospital. She claims that when she arrived, the tip of her daughter's finger was still lying in the cot. The finger tip hadn't been put on ice, and so Ms Campbell says it was no surprise when surgery to reattach it failed. 'It didn't work, so now we have to wait for nature to take its course and for it to fall off,' she said. The hospital has confirmed the incident and says an investigation is underway into the 'very distressing' incident. Lilly's mother Marie said she was outraged when she heard about the accident from the hospital. She claims that it has taken a large financial toll and she is unable to afford all the costs that have come as a result 'We can confirm that there was a recent incident in NICU where the tip of a babys finger was accidentally cut off,' Dr David Bourchier, Clinical Director at Waikato Hospital said in a statement. 'We acknowledge this is very distressing for the family and we have apologised to the parents. 'We are undertaking our own internal review and will share the findings with the parents. The incident is also the subject of a Health and Disability Commission complaint.' In addition to her daughter now having to grow up without a finger tip and the worries of how that may one day affect her life, the incident has also caused Ms Campbell financial stress. The mother-of-one is without a car and is struggling to keep up with the extra expenses she is now required to pay to help her daughter. Waikato Hospital (pictured) is investigating the incident, but it is currently unclear whether they will cover any of the costs Ms Campbell has incurred from the accident It is unclear if the hospital will cover any costs over the incident, with Ms Campbell forced to set up a fundraising page to help her daughter in the meantime. 'I have to travel back and forth from my rural home to her hospital appointments (around 30kms each way), a cost I cannot afford,' Ms Campbell said on her Givealittle page. 'I don't want to attack anyone here, I am currently dealing with hospital officials about the next steps to take about what happened but I am struggling to keep up, especially without a car. 'I would not have been in this financial situation if this did not happen to Lilly. It was no fault of my own. I am just hoping for a small bit to get by.' He has vociferously denied the allegations of six different women who claim he groped them without consent at some point over the last 30 years. But yet more footage has emerged which undermines Donald Trump's apparently scornful view of sexual assault. In 2006, a year after he was caught bragging about grabbing women 'by the p****', the businessman laughed and shrugged in agreement as he was labeled a 'sexual predator' during an appearance on his friend Howard Stern's radio show. He was appearing on the show, co-hosted by Robin Quivers, with his eldest children, Donald Jr and Ivanka, to promote The Apprentice when the comment was made. A recording of it was released by The New York Post on Thursday. Donald Trump laughed, shrugged and received a pat on the back from his daughter Ivanka after being labeled a 'sexual predator' by Robin Quivers in a 2006 appearance on Howard Stern's radio show (above) Stern, who described Ivanka as a 'piece of ass' in other recordings, was quizzing her on whether she discussed sex with her father. 'Donald do you ever discuss sex with you daughter?' he said, after asking Ivanka, who was 24 at the time, if she was 'still a virgin'. 'No,' Trump replied. Surprised, Stern pushed on: 'Donald seriously,you know about sexual predators and things like that I mean...' At that, Quivers chimed in jokingly: 'You are one!'. The Republican presidential candidate laughed, shrugged his shoulders and mouthed: 'That's true.' His daughter burst into laughter and patted him on the shoulder. Donald Jr, who was not in view at the time, could not be heard. It is the latest in a seemingly endless stream of videos and accusations which have cast doubt on the billionaire's treatment of women and attitudes towards sex in recent weeks. The first came when, after the first presidential debate against Hillary Clinton, Trump took to Twitter to blast Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe winner. Ivanka was 24 at the time and laughed as her father shrugged off the comment The Trumps were guests on Howard Stern's show with Robin Quivers (right) who made the remark jokingly Stern, who described Ivanka in the past as a 'piece of ass', asked her if she was still a virgin during the appearance Machado had claimed that Trump named her 'Miss Piggy' when she gained weight after winning the pageant. He later described her as 'the worst we ever had, the worst, the absolute worst.' Playboy videos in which he appeared spraying champagne, photographing models and telling them they 'have what it takes' to appear in the magazine's explicit pages then surfaced. The tape to have caused most offense, and what prompted the retreat of dozens of GOP endorsers and supporters from his campaign, was a 2005 Access Hollywood video. In it, Trump was recorded by a microphone boasting to host Billy Bush off camera that he could do 'anything' he liked to women because he was a star. Trump (above on Thursday) has denied the allegations of six different women who claim he inappropriately touched them Ivanka Trump, now 34, refused to answer questions about her claims her father's sexual attitudes and behavior as she campaigned on his behalf in Philadelphia on Thursday (above) He told of aggressively pursuing a married women and trying to 'f*** her'. He bragged of 'immediately' kissing women without their consent when he sees them because he is 'automatically attracted to beautiful'. In more videos to later emerge, he responded to an exchange with a 10-year-old girl in 1992 by saying he would be 'dating her in 10 years'. Natasha Stoynoff (above) is one of six women who says he touched her inappropriately and without consent And in numerous appearances on Stern's radio show, the now 70-year-old described his own daughter as 'voluptuous,' said his wife Melanie turned in to a 'monster' during her pregnancy with their son Barron, and said he had the privilege to flirt with Miss Universe contestants because he owned the pageants. Trump apologized for the comments made to Billy Bush in 2005, stating categorically in a recorded statement: 'I was wrong.' At the second presidential debate however, he reignited the fury of those offended by the remarks by describing them as nothing more than 'locker room talk'. Aside from his own comments on the subject, six different women have come forward to claim he touched them inappropriately without their consent. In separate incidents dating between 1979 and 2005 they say he kissed, groped or touched them. Trump issued an unequivocal denial of their separate allegations on Wednesday and threatened to sue The New York Times and People magazine for publishing them. His wife Melania also took to Twitter to deny some of the womens' allegations on Thursday During a 2005 appearance on Access Hollywood, Trump boasted to co-host Billy Bush (right) he could 'grab women by the p****' 'HE CALLED KHLOE KARDASHIAN A FAT PIGLET' Donald Trump has been accused of making disparaging comments about reality TV star Khloe Kardashian during her appearance on US show Celebrity Apprentice in 2009. It has been claimed that he compared her unfavourably to her hot and more famous sister Kim Kardashian, calling her a fat piglet and asking if she could be fired. Khloe appears in reality TV series Keeping Up With The Kardashians alongside the rest of her family, including Kim who was robbed of 9million of jewels in Paris earlier this month. The Huffington Post cited editors who worked on The Apprentice, who said that Trump fired Miss Kardashian because he didnt like her, not because she had failed at anything. Trump also allegedly asked: We cant even get the hot one? apparently referring to Kim Kardashian. Meanwhile a former model came forward last night to accuse Trump of sexually assaulting her in a nightclub. Kristin Anderson said that he put his hand up her miniskirt while they were at the China Club in New York in the early 1990s. A spokesman for Trump said he strongly denies this phoney allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. Advertisement He honed in on the accusations of People journalist Natasha Stoynoff who said he forced himself on her in 2005 at Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. Stoynoff was there to interview him and his new bride, Melania, at the time. On Thursday, Trump said of her accusation: ' I ask a very simple question. 'Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago?' Trump said. 'I was one of the biggest stars with The Apprentice... it would have been one of the biggest story of the year. 'People all over the place. You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you might think. I don't think so.' Melania took to Twitter to deny Stoynoff's claim the pair bumped in to each other in the street months after the interview. 'The true facts are these: Mrs. Trump did not encounter Ms. Stoynoff on the street, nor have any conversation with her,' a letter written by her lawyers stated. Trump is now seven points behind his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, with less than a month to go. The ominous deadline set for methamphetamine dealers to leave Ngaruawahia in New Zealand has expired and it showed with the streets left empty on Friday night. Tattooed members of notorious New Zealand gang the Tribal Huks, who gave methamphetamine dealers 24 hours to leave town on Thursday, made their presence felt on the streets earlier in the day and it resulted in a quiet night in town. Gang leader Jamie Pink, who was arrested in 2007 for smashing up an ice dealer's pad with a sledgehammer, and says he's been jailed for 'bashing people', said dealers would get 'a visit' if they hadn't cleared out of Ngaruawahia, in the central North Island, by 6.30pm local time. Gangsters wearing their trademark yellow and black patch with a skull on the back could be seen wandering the town's streets and congregating outside a bakery early this evening, Fairfax NZ reported. Scroll down for video The streets were quiet on Friday night after the ultimatum for the meth dealers expired New Zealand gang the Tribal Huks (member pictured) gave methamphetamine dealers until 6.30pm on Friday to get out of Ngaruawahia Gangsters wearing their trademark yellow and black colours could be seen wandering the town's streets early on Friday evening Gang leader Jamie Pink says meth dealers will get 'a visit' if they don't move on With time expiring, there was no sign of violence, but images show residents stayed away from busy streets. On Thursday, Pink issued his menacing public service statement. 'We ask nicely first, then they've got to go,' Pink told a community meeting on Thursday evening. 'We've got no choice,' he was quoted as saying by Fairfax NZ. The ultimatum has alarmed Western Waikato Police, who said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia they don't condone threats of violence or intimidation. But the comments have found sympathy with some members of the Ngaruawahia community, who are worried crime is increasing, Fairfax NZ reported. Sociologist Dr Jarrod Gilbert, New Zealand's foremost expert on gangs, said Pink's ultimatum was, 'Jamie taking care of business the only way he knows how - the direct route.' Police would not comment on what criminal activities the Tribal Huk gang was involved in, but Pink is no stranger to violence and vigilantism. In 2007, incensed that a drug dealer had offered his then 13-year-old daughter ice, he turned up at a Ngaruawahia property owned by an alleged dealer and smashed in two garage wall panels and several glass panels. The Tribal Huks, which claim to have roots as far back as the late 1950s, wear a yellow and black patch with a skull on their backs He pleaded guilty to charges of possession of an offensive weapon, failing to stop, disorderly behaviour and two charges of wilful damage. He appeared in court again in December last year on one count of marijuana possession. In 2015, Pink told SBS's Dateline he had been jailed for 'bashing people, a few assault charges, the odd GBH'. The Tribal Huks claim to have roots as far back as the late 1950s, but they've grown in size and stature over the past couple of decades, according to Dr Gilbert. 'Where they are somewhat unusual is that a lot of the independent groups during the 1970s and 1980s were absorbed into the much larger gangs - notably the Mongrel Mob and Black Power,' he said, referring to New Zealand's two largest gangs. 'Those two groups spread like wildfire throughout New Zealand and when one formed in an area, the other tended to form almost as a counterbalance.' The Tribal Huks remained 'staunch' and maintained their identity, Dr Gilbert said. 'In the heart of Mongrel Mob territory that's no mean feat.' The Tribal Huk gang have a fearsome reputation in the town of Ngaruawahia in New Zealand Ngaruawahia (pictured, stock image) is a town in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island A former gang member, who did not want to be named, told told The New Zealand Herald the gang formed in the 1970s to protect themselves and Ngaruawahia from bigger gangs that passed through town and caused trouble at one of the local pubs. Dubbed the 'sandwich gang' by local media, they gained international attention in late 2014 for making lunches for needy schoolchildren. 'We're not exactly the pillars of society, we understand that... we're doing something good, and that's true. No matter what people say, you can't take that away,' Pink told SBS. Speaking on Thursday evening, Pink said the Tribal Huks would support families 'doing it hard' with food packs and help agencies that aided those quitting meth. Dr Gilbert said Pink and the Tribal Huks proved that not all gangs are 'bad to the bone'. 'In reality the scene has always been much more nuanced about that,' he said. 'It's never been about just crime. Melania Trump has joined her husband in going on the attack against the media outlets that published sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump. Melania took aim at People Magazine over the story published by People Magazine, in which Natasha Stoynoff claimed Trump forced himself on her while she was visiting his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida to interview the couple in December 2005. The letter Trump's lawyers sent to the magazine's editor-in-chief Jess Cagle, which Melania posted on Twitter, contested the claim she was friends or 'friendly' with Stoynoff. It did not mention the allegations she made against her husband. Scroll down for video Melania Trump went on the attack against People Magazine on Thursday, disputing parts of the story written by Natasha Stoynoff 'The true facts are these: Mrs. Trump did not encounter Ms. Stoynoff on the street, nor have any conversation with her,' the letter read. 'The two are not friends and were never friends or even friendly. Mrs. Trump would not have recognized Ms. Stoynoff if they encountered one another in the street.' In her story, Stoynoff claimed she bumped into Melania in New York at some time after she was allegedly inappropriately touched without permission by Trump. 'That winter, I actually bumped into Melania on Fifth Avenue, in front of Trump Tower as she walked into the building, carrying baby Barron,' she wrote. Melania Trump posted a letter her lawyers wrote to the magazine after it published allegations against Donald Trump on Wednesday '"Natasha, why dont we see you anymore?" she asked, giving me a hug. 'I was quiet and smiled, telling her Id missed her, and I squeezed little Barrons foot. I couldnt discern what she knew. Did she really not guess why I hadnt been around?' People's spokeswoman, Marnie Perez, said the magazine was standing by its story, according to CNN. In her piece, Stoynoff said she was attacked by Donald when he took her into a room he really wanted to see, before forcing himself on her. 'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,' she wrote for People. Melania Trump's lawyers disputed the part of the story where Natasha Stoynoff (pictured) said she ran into Melania in New York some time after she was allegedly assaulted by Donald Trump 'The two are not friends and were never friends or even friendly. Mrs. Trump would not have recognized Ms. Stoynoff if they encountered one another in the street,' the letter read Stoynoff went on to say how she was rescued when a butler walked in, however when the two were alone again shortly after Trump told her they were 'going to have an affair'. Trump denied the allegations at a campaign stop on Thursday. 'I ask a very simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago?' Trump said. 'I was one of the biggest stars with The Apprentice... it would have been one of the biggest story of the year. Police have released sickening CCTV footage showing the moment a cowering man was stabbed 11 times by Apex gang members in Melbourne. Officers are still appealing for witnesses to the unprovoked attack, which took place in Nobel Park two weeks ago and left the 24-year-old victim with life-threatening wounds to his stomach, chest and legs. Police say there were around 30 people in the area at the time of the attack, including a dozen who tried to defend the victim, but so far nobody has come forward to identify those involved. This is the sickening moment a near-fatal knife attack by members of the Apex gang was caught on camera in Melbourne on October 1 (top left) A 24-year-old man was chased through the streets following a surprise 22nd birthday party before falling into a gutter where he was stabbed 11 times in the stomach, chest and legs Officers say that the man was attacked at around 4am on October 1 after returning to the scene of an earlier surprise 22nd birthday party with a friend. The pair made their way to the vehicle, parked one street over from where the party had been taking place, before another vehicle pulled up alongside them. After seeing the vehicle, described as a dark-coloured Holden Commodore sedan, possibly an early 2000s model, the pair went to walk back towards the party. While they were walking, the pair heard a shout from behind them and turned before seeing the passenger from the Commodore following them. Police say there were 30 witnesses in the area at the time of the attack, including several drivers who drove past without stopping, and are appealing for them to identify these men The two suspects are described as African in appearance and in their early 20s Victoria Police spokesperson Amelia Penhall said one man was armed with a knife and the other two men threatened the victim and his friend. They fled, but the victim fell into a gutter where he was stabbed, kicked, and punched, before the suspects fled. The victim was then taken to Dandenong Hospital by friends, where he was treated for life-threatening injuries. He had to stay in hospital for four days before being released, and has still not returned to work, according to 7 News. Police say the men emerged from a Holden Commodore (pictured) before chasing after the victim and his friend before launching their attack Police also want to speak to the driver of a light-coloured SUV (pictured) who drove along Ian Street at the time of the incident While some people tried to defend the victim as he was attacked, others drove past in cars while he was being stabbed but failed to stop and help. Officers are now calling on members of the Sudanese community in Melbourne to help identify two men and two vehicles pictured in the CCTV footage. The two offenders are described as African in appearance and both aged in their early 20s. The Share America Foundation, Inc. is in the last few weeks of donations leading up to its annual drawing at its Nov. 11 concert at the Ringgold Depot. The Catoosa County 501-C3 focuses on perpetuating the Appalachian arts and presents the Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship to youth continuing the traditional sounds of Appalachian music. We have been accepting ticket donations throughout the year at our concerts and some area businesses," said Randall Franks, Share America president. "Folks still have the opportunity to participate during October. Just stop by First Volunteer Bank on Alabama Highway or Its Sew Time on Nashville Street, both in Ringgold, and get your tickets. The drawing includes an acoustic Fender guitar with built-in pickup and case from Bighams Music of Dalton, a handmade quilt from Flowers Fabrics in Ringgold, a vintage Marilyn Monroe framed image from Vera Twiddy, a handmade oak table from Jim Ricketts of Dayton and a pureWash HR Molecule Generator from Ruth Worley. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5 and the participants do not have to be present to win. Winners will pick up item in Ringgold and pose for photos, Mr. Franks said. We could not encourage youth without the help and support of those who attend our concerts and local business partners and donors who help with fundraisers such as this, Mr. Franks said. They have helped us make a difference in the lives of many young talented musicians. We are hopeful folks can help us reach our goal of raising $2,000 with this fundraiser. Ruth Worley volunteers each year to gather items for the organizations concert door prizes, silent auctions and annual drawing. "Ruth works throughout the year to bring a spirit of fun to what we do," Mr. Franks said. "We are so thankful to her and all our those who assist." Other Share America Board of Directors are Gary Knowles, chairman; Jimmy Terrell, vice chairman; James Pelt, secretary; and Jerry Robinson, Sr., vice president. Other businesses who assisted with this fundraiser in 2016 were Capital Bank in Ringgold, Cottage Treasures Tea Room and Gift Shop and the Ringgold Opry. Share America will host its Nov. 11 concert with the Hullender Family at 7:30 p.m. at the Ringgold Depot. Donation for admission is $6. Visit www.shareamericafoundation.org for more information. The mother and sister of murdered high school teacher Stephanie Scott urged Australians to have a 'cuppa' and mint slice at 3pm on Friday to celebrate what would have been her 28th birthday. The biscuits sold out across Australia, especially in Stephanie's home town of Canowindra where more than 60 packets had been sold before lunch time. 'We assumed they would be in demand, but it is far more popular this year,' Supermarket manager Michelle Fisher told Daily Mail Australia. Scroll down for video The family of murdered school teacher Stephanie Scott asked the Australian public to have a 'cuppa' for her on what would have been her birthday The staff at the small supermarket in Stephanie's home town of Canowindra had their cuppa early The family called everyone to have their tea and biscuit at 3pm, the time the school teacher was born 28 years ago The supermarket staff had to restock the shelves four times since trading began on Friday morning. 'We have had to just restock them again.' Stephanie Scott was due to marry Aaron Leeson-Woolley the week after she was killed. The couple had met at the Canowindra Supermarket where they both worked as teenagers. The staff remembered Stephanie earlier than the schedule 3pm 'cuppa and mint slice' time. 'We wanted to be able to do it with everyone and some people aren't here this afternoon,' Michelle said. Five women celebrating Stephanie's birthday at 3pm on Friday with their mint slice Stephanie enjoyed a cup of tea and the humble mint slice was her favourite biscuit Another supporter celebrating what would have been the teacher's 28th birthday 'So we had ours this morning.' Last year hundreds of posts were shared at 3pm, the time Stephanie was born, celebrating the school teacher's birthday. Stephanie's killer was sentenced to life in prison this week - creating an emotional lead up to her birthday. This picture was captioned : 'A cup of tea in memory of this beautiful girl.' The young school teacher's (pictured) murderer Vincent Stanford was sentenced to life in prison just days before her birthday on October 14 It was during an emotional statement from Stephanie's family following her killer's sentencing that they called on the public to celebrate her life. 'Tomorrow we begin to celebrate Stephanie's too short, amazing life. This should be her 28th birthday, the second one we celebrate without her. 'We will be having a cup of tea and a mint sliced biscuit at 3. Please join us,' the statement read. Some people just opted for a mint slice when three o'clock rolled around A cup of tea in a yellow cup - yellow was Stephanie's favourite colour Yellow flowers with a sign pleading people to have a 'cuppa' for Stephanie The 18 month ordeal since Stephanie went missing after going into Leeton High School to prepare work for her students before her wedding and honeymoon has been described as 'harrowing' by the family. 'So much has been taken away from us. 'We need to be able to fade from public view, to mourn our beautiful girl and work our way through our grief,' they said as they asked for privacy. Hundreds of people have taken to social media to support Stephanie since she disappeared 'We will be having a cup of tea and a mint sliced biscuit at 3. Please join us,' Stephanie's family said following her killer's sentencing President Barack Obama ridiculed Republicans who are only belatedly disavowing Donald Trump, mocking them for having 'stood by silently' despite plenty of earlier opportunities to jump off the Trump train. 'What, you weren't appalled earlier when he was saying degrading things about women? When he was judging them based on a score, 'Are they a two or a 10? That wasn't enough for ya?' the president told a cheering crowd at a Cleveland event in support of Hillary Clinton. 'It wasn't disturbing enough for you when he was saying Mexicans who come here are rapists or suggesting that patriotic Americans of the Islamic faith somehow are suspect and should be treated differently? That wasn't enough?' Obama asked. The president said those who are bailing on the real estate mogul deserve no credit for their sudden change of heart after having 'stood by silently for so long. He said they 'didn't say anything,' and that 'Donald Trump didn't build all this crazy conspiracy stuff,' which was allowed to grow through repetition. He accused Republicans of filling a 'swamp of crazy' by allowing unfounded and hate-filled rhetoric to go unchallenged within the party for years. President Barack Obama finishes his remarks at a campaign event for the Ohio Democratic Party and for the Senate bid for former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) 'Civility is on the ballot,' Obama said. 'Tolerance is on the ballot. Courtesy is on the ballot. Honesty is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Kindness is on the ballot.' 'All the progress we made in the last eight years is on the ballot. Democracy itself is on the ballot right now,' Obama said. Just as first lady Michelle Obama took it to Trump in a campaign speech Thursday, Obama went after Hillary Clinton's rival. Obama hit hard at Trump for saying at the second presidential debate that Hillary Clinton would be in jail if he were president. Trump said again Thursday night that if elected he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her 'crimes.' 'And by the way, this is somebody who threatens to jail his political opponents, or silence the media, who welcomes Russian meddling in our electoral process,' Obama said, comparing Trump to nations that are 'tyrannies.' 'Some nations do operate that way and they're tyrannies and they're oppressive. They're not the world's greatest democracy. We have fought against those types of things,' Obama said. 'In a democracy, you can't just threaten to jail your opponents, there are things called due process,' he continued. Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Ohio, where he ridiculed GOP officials who have stood by Donald Trump for so long The president singled out Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, who is up for reelection and backed away from Trump after the emergence of his lewd comments on an 11-year-old tape Other Republicans thinking about abandoning the Trump train can't count on any favors from President Obama, who is slamming them for having 'stood by' for so long The president also took on Trump's repeated claims about a 'rigged system' something that has raised the prospect that he won't accept the outcome of the election if he loses, although Trump has said he would. 'In a democracy, you have a contest, but if you lose you say 'congratulations,' but you move on because the country and our system of government is bigger than every single individual,' Obama said. The president saved some of his harshest criticism for elected GOP officials who countenanced Trump. 'They're sane people they're normal folks,' Obama said. 'What they've done is they've allowed lot of crazy talk to be pumped out again and again.' Campaigning for Democrats in Ohio, Obama said most Republicans aren't like Trump and 'know better,' but hadn't renounced the kind of rhetoric Trump embraces out of deference to the Republican base. The president said that it was GOP complacency that led the party to nominate a candidate who he said brags and jokes about sexually assaulting women. 'You can't wait until that finally happens and then say, 'That's too much, that's enough,' and then say somehow you are showing some type of leadership and deserve to be elected to the United States Senate,' Obama said. 'In fact, I'm more forgiving of the people who actually believe it than the people who know better and stood silently by out of political expediency.' Obama's attempted take-down of Republicans seeking distance from Trump was the clearest signal to date of the strategy Democrats plan to deploy in congressional races in the final weeks of the campaign. Across the country, dozens of Republicans up for re-election have called for Trump to step down as nominee or have renounced their support, hoping to spare themselves the fallout of Trump's sexually aggressive comments about women. They include prominent senators like Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and John McCain of Arizona both face tough re-election challenges. But Democrats are working to tie those Republicans to Trump nonetheless, in large part by arguing their last-minute denunciations are too little, too late. Obama said 'all that bile, all that exaggeration' from Republicans had bubbled up over the years and that Trump, just like one of his skyscrapers, had 'just slapped his name on it and took credit for it.' 'The problem is not that all Republicans think the way he does,' Obama said. 'The problem is that they've been riding this tiger for a long time. They've been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years.' As his case study, Obama chose Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who is working to fend off a challenge from Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland. Though Democrats had expected the race to be one of their better prospects to win a GOP-held Senate seat, Strickland has been running consistently behind Portman in the polls. President Barack Obama greets the crowd after speaking at a campaign event for the Ohio Democratic Party at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event for the Ohio Democratic Party and for the Senate bid for former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) 'People like Ted's opponent, who know better, have stood silently by,' Obama said. 'This is the nominee you get. You make it possible.' Obama noted that Portman had revoked his support for Trump, but not until video emerged late last week of Trump bragging about kissing women without their permission and groping them. Obama said that meant Portman hadn't been sufficiently bothered by Trump's previous remarks about Mexicans, Muslims, Gold Star mothers and disabled people. 'Why was that OK?' asked an incredulous Obama. 'And now he says he'll vote for the vice presidential nominee instead,' he added, referring to Mike Pence. 'Except that guy still supports Donald Trump.' Obama's remarks came at the start of a two-day visit aimed at revving up Democrats in Ohio, one of the few remaining swing states late in the campaign. On Friday, Obama will hold a rally in Cleveland for Clinton emphasizing early voting, a major focus for Democrats across the U.S. A black mom from Chicago says that her daughter's teacher lied about the girl being bullied for using 'stinky' coconut oil in her hair because she objected to the smell herself. On Monday Tionna Norris posted a photo on Facebook of a letter that she said came from her daughter Amia's teacher at the Raggedy Anne Learning Center in Elmhurst, Illinois, warning that 'The children were complaining that her hair "stinks."' 'If you have to apply this daily - please do so lightly, so the kid's (sic) don't tease her,' the letter from the Raggedy Anne Learning Center read. Letter: Chicago mom Tionna Norris posted this image on her Facebook page: On the left is her daughter Amia; on the right a letter from Amia's teacher about the young girl's hair Offended: Norris objected to being told how to stop her child from being bullied for 'stinky' hair - but says she later found out that the children had actually said no such thing Norris accompanied the Facebook picture with a photo of her daughter and a comment promising to continue applying the same amount of oil. 'Y'all gone feel that black girl magic,' she wrote. 'Sincerely, unapologetically black mom. P.s. Coconut oil has no stinky smell.' But Norris - who says she only applied the oil lightly, to add shine to Amia's hair - later claimed that the teacher, named 'Carol' on the letter, had made up the bullying incident. In a post made Wednesday, she said she and her fiance had met up with the director of the school. She said the director her that 'no child ever bullied Amia (she's actually quite popular) and the word "stink" was used in quotes because (the teacher) knew it didn't have a foul odor.' 'It was just something the teacher was not used to and thought it was heavy (she has a sensitive nose so she says),' Norris continued. Liked: Norris says Amia is well liked and that it was the teacher who objected to the oil - and then made up the bullies and their remarks She added: 'They have fully taken responsibility and understand why it's so offensive.' Although she described the talk with the director as 'quick and genuine,' she was less enthusiastic about the teacher herself. 'Do I still believe the teacher didn't have ill intentions? Not for a second because the way she tried to talk to me about how she thought my daughter smelled (which she is the only person who felt that way) was absolutely and totally unacceptable.' And in a post made Thursday night she announced that Amia was 'out of that school and it's off my mind.' Norris's original picture had been shared more than 3,100 times by Thursday, and received 330 comments - many of which were furious about the teacher's reaction. 'Please send her to diversity training. She needs to be educated,' wrote one woman. 'This sounds more like an adult conversation, than kids. Just be honest..."I think it stinks and I'm just being a little uncultured and uneducated hater."' Another commenter wrote: 'F**k what her hair smelled like. Or how it was "bothering" the kids ... She's not being sent to school for a hair show she's there to learn. .... (Carol's) a TEACHER not a f*****g hairstylist!' Several asked why the teacher was bothering the parents of a bullying victim rather than her mom - a point Norris raised when speaking to the school. Raggedy Anne Learning Center has been contacted for comment. As her husband vows to 'cleanse' the northern city of Aleppo with relentless airstrikes, Syria's First Lady Asma al-Assad is playing the role of a kind-hearted humanitarian in Damascus. The wife of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is believed to live in the centre of the capital city with their three children. The area has been largely spared from the relentless violence that has swept the country since 2011. Posts on an official presidency Instagram account show the British-born First Lady, who was educated at King's College London, greeting female graduates, hugging the orphaned children of regime soldiers and sharing jokes with the Syrian people that are loyal to Assad. The pictures on the social media page are in stark contrast to the one's emerging from rebel-held areas, where thousands of civilians are suffering due, in part, to her husbands starve or surrender policy. Damascus: Photos on an official presidency Instagram account show Syria's First Lady Asma al-Assad hugging young children. The photo on the right shows her with Mary, 'the daughter of the martyr Hussein Mohammed' Aleppo: A wounded Syrian child cries after the war-crafts belonging to the Russian army bombed the opposition controlled Firdevs neighborhood in Aleppo on October 11 Jameel Mustafa Habboush, a young Syrian boy looks at a member of the civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on Aleppo on October 11 Away from her sheltered presidential life in Damascus, Aleppo is being pounded by fresh air strikes amid clashes between government forces and rebels. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported dozens of air strikes on eastern Aleppo overnight on Thursday. It added that clashes were taking place on the northern and southern edges of the city. The Aleppo Media Centre, an activist collective, said the strikes had killed and wounded a number of people, with some buried under the debris. The Observatory said on Wednesday that at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since a US and Russian-brokered truce collapsed on September 19. The UN says more than 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also included a limited ground offensive. Syria's First Lady Asma visits an orphanage which is reportedly home to 350 boys and girls and gives them a 'natural family atmosphere' A wounded boy gets treatment at a field hospital after warcrafts belonging to Russian army carried out an airstrike on a residential area at Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo on October 11 This young girl was also wounded when warcrafts belonging to the Russian army carried out an airstrike on Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood on October 11 In this photo children attend activities at a psychological support and education center in Douma, Damascus, on October 11 On Friday, President Assad vowed to 'cleanse' Aleppo and said a military victory in the city would give the Syrian army a 'springboard' to liberate other areas of the country from 'terrorists'. In an interview with Russian media outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda, he said the northern city is effectively no longer Syria's industrial capital but taking it back would provide important political and strategic gains for his regime. 'It's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to other areas, to liberate other areas from the terrorists. This is the importance of Aleppo now,' he said. 'You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. There's no other option. But Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move.' Meanwhile, on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a law ratifying Moscow's deal with Syria to deploy its forces in the country indefinitely, in a move seen as firming their long-term presence. The immaculately dressed British-born former investment banker talks to children as part of her role as First Lady Asma al-Assad meets with students on their graduation day and hugs a young girl In Aleppo a wounded baby gets treatment at a field hospital after warcrafts belonging to Russian army carried out an airstrike on October 11 A Syrian medic tries to save the life of an 11-year-old boy, identified as Suleiman, who was seriously wounded when his home was hit in an strike late on October 11 in the rebel-held town of Douma A young Syrian boy named Jameel Musatafa Haboush receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as he is pulled from the rubble in Aleppo this week The agreement -- signed between Moscow and Damascus in August 2015 -- allowed Russia to establish its Hmeimim airbase to launch operations in support of ally President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Putin's official signing off on the pact, that lasts for an 'indefinite' period, is a legal move that many believe will now pave the way for Moscow to make the base permanent. The ratification of the deal, which follows votes by both Russia's parliament and senate, comes as tensions with the West spike over Russia's bombing of rebel-held, besieged eastern Aleppo. The First Lady greets a girl who was one of the students to obtain the first perfect score in the certificate of primary education in 2016 The First Lady visits the daughter of another 'martyr' who died in Idlib in 2012 The wife of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gives a young girl a drink of water The First Lady called this Syrian army soldier a 'hero' as she visited him in hospital A Syrian man carries a wounded child in the rubble of buildings following a barrel bomb attack on the Bab al-Nairab neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on August 25 Putin in August asked lawmakers to ratify the deal, which grants Russian forces immunity from prosecution in Syria. The latest assault by government forces in Aleppo with the support of Russian airpower has sparked Western accusations of potential war crimes. As relations have slumped, the Kremlin has bolstered its forces in Syria and on Monday announced they will also turn their Soviet-era naval facility in the country into a permanent base. Moscow is currently believed to have some 4,000 personnel stationed at Hmeimim, deep in government-held territory, along with several dozen warplanes. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda on Friday and vowed to cleanse Aleppo Two Michigan brothers are undergoing preventative medicine after a rabid bat snuck into their bedroom while they were sleeping and began to feast. Brian Cripps, 11, woke up in his Grand Junction bedroom at 5am on October 3 to find the flying beast clamped onto his finger, mlive.com reported. Instinctively, he grabbed the bat and called out to his brother Jaxson, 10, who was on the bunk below for help - little suspecting that the creature may have already infected them both with rabies. Once bitten: Brothers Brian and Jaxson Cripps (pictured with third brother) rushed to hospital last week after Brian was bitten by a bat in his sleep - a bat that turned out to have rabies Their dad, Brian Sr, was getting ready for work when he heard the commotion upstairs and soon the whole family - including mom Tracy and their other sons, aged 8 and 4 - were heading to hospital, bat in tow. It's a good job they did - and an even better job that they held onto the bat. The now-dead animal was taken away by nurses at South Haven Health System hospital so it could be mailed to a lab for testing. Brian Jr was given two shots of the rabies immune globulin vaccine that morning as a precaution, because the disease is fatal in 99 per cent of cases once symptoms begin to show. And when the lab told the family on Wednesday that the bat was indeed carrying rabies, Jaxson went in for the shots too, in case he had been bitten without realizing. Rabid: Most rabies exposure in the US is caused by bats (seen in stock photo). The brothers have been given a vaccine course that should protect them from the deadly disease The vaccine is given four times across two weeks from the first day of the bite, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'The bite itself didn't look bad at all,' Tracy Cripps told mlive.com, 'and if the bat had not still been attached to his finger, Brian might not know he had been bitten - they have such fine, sharp teeth.' But Brian Jr's keen senses and quick thinking have kept him and his brother safe from harm - but the boys are checking their room more carefully before they sleep from now on. Each year around 40,000 people are treated for rabies exposure, mostly through bats - though the disease can be carried by foxes, coyotes, racoons and various other animals. Thankfully, the number of cases actually documented each year is much lower - just two-to-three per cent. Michigan has nine species of bats, according to local pest controller Critter Catchers, Inc, but all typically only eat insects. The infamous 'vampire bats' live solely in Central and South America. Infamous paedophile priest Vincent Gerard Ryan has preyed upon dozens of schoolboys between 1972 and 1991 Infamous paedophile priest Vincent Gerard Ryan has gotten off with a suspended sentence for the sickening sexual abuse of a boy, 13, in the 1980s. The disgraced Catholic priest forced his penis into the victim's mouth, masturbated him and attempted to sexually penetrate him in a church in Gresford, in the Hunter Region of NSW. Ryan, who has already served 15 years jail for abusing dozens of schoolboys, was on Friday handed a 15-month suspended sentence in the Darlinghurst Courthouse, reports ABC. The court heard his victim for this case was an altar boy aged between 13 and 15 during the abuse. Acting Judge Norman Delaney said it was a difficult sentencing Ryan because has reportedly been fully rehabilitated and the offences were 'at the lower end of criminality'. The court heard he did not remember the victim because there had been so many similar cases of abuse at the hands of Ryan. Ryan has gotten off with a suspended sentence in the Darlinghurst Courthouse for the horriffic abuse of a boy, 13 Ryan has previously spent 14 years in jail for preying on 35 boys aged six to 14 between 1972 and 1991, walking free from Long Bay jail in 2010. Last month Ryan claimed six years of sessions with a psychologist and his treatment by other inmates in jail had shed light on 'the gravity' of his actions. Woolworths has recalled Australian lamb, pork and beef mince after pieces of metal were found in the products. The recall affects the mince products sold in Singleton, NSW on Thursday, October 13 with a use-by date of the 15th, a Woolworths spokesman told Daily Mail Australia. 'It may contain metal, potentially posing a health risk if consumed,' the spokesman said. Woolworths has recalled Australian lamb, pork and beef mince after pieces of metal were found in the products The recall applies to mince purchased at the Singleton store in the NSW Hunter Valley on Thursdat 'Consumers should return the product to their nearest Woolworths supermarket for a full refund.' The recall could ruin barbecue plans across the region over the weekend, as the metal could be dangerous if consumed and should not be eaten. It was earlier reported by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand website the mince affected was recalled due to a packaging fault. However Woolworths said this is not the case, and added the meat was only recalled as a precautionary measure. The shocking moment a gunman went on a rampage and injured his neighbor after shooting up his house has been captured on camera. Larry Dennis Hoad, 65, was filmed walking around his neighbor's property in Lealman, Florida, shortly before 1pm on Tuesday. Hoad fired a number of shots through the front door, before walking around to the side of the ouse and then opening fire through a window. Larry Dennis Hoad, 65, was caught on camera as he opened fire on his neighbor's property in Florida Dashcam footage taken after the shooting had started shows an officer engaging with Hoad, and eventually shooting him to stop the spree. Sgt. Matthew McLane was the first cop to respond to the shooting, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said. When McLane got to the scene, he spotted Hoad walking with a handgun and a hunting rifle. The officer ordered the 65-year-old to drop the weapons, and when he didn't they became involved in a shootout. Hoad was seen walking around the property with a gun (left) before he fired a number of shots. Pictured on the right is his mugshot Hoad is seen pointing his gun at a window on the side of the house in Florida during the shooting Hoad hit the police car with at least two shots, according to the Tampa Bay Times, before McLane was able to shoot him in the stomach. The newspaper reports Hoad had been served with a eviction warrant earlier in the day. The neighbor who was wounded in the shooting has not been identified. Police said they believe the 65-year-old fired at least seven shots in total. Dashcam footage taken after the shooting had started shows an officer engaging with Hoad, and eventually shooting him to stop the spree The man who allegedly killed five Vermont teens when he smashed into their car while driving on the wrong side of the road is set to face criminal charges. Steven Bourgoin, 36, is due to be arraigned in a Vermont court on Friday. He faces five counts of second-degree murder for the Saturday night collision in which five high school juniors were killed when their car hit a pickup truck that police say was driven by Bourgoin and was heading in the wrong direction. The crash occurred on a roadway in Williston, Vermont, which is just east of Burlington. Steven Bourgoin (pictured) was behind the wheel of a pickup truck traveling the wrong way along I-89 Saturday night when he crashed into a car, which then caught fire, killing five teens Police say Bourgoin crashed into the teens' car in Williston and then stole a police cruiser before crashing it into at least seven other vehicles late Saturday night. Chittenden County state's attorney TJ Donovan has said he 'would not classify what occurred on Interstate 89 as an accident.' Police on Tuesday served an arrest warrant on the hospitalized Bourgoin for use of the cruiser. On Thursday, the state filed the murder counts against him in the teens' deaths. Public defenders working on the case did not immediately return phone calls or emails seeking comment. Bourgoin was left unconscious by Saturday's crash and was in critical condition Monday morning. The scene of the wreckage in Williston, Vermont, is pictured above State police said at least nine other people were injured in the series of crashes and were taken to UVM Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries Chittenden County state's attorney TJ Donovan has said he 'would not classify what occurred on Interstate 89 (above) as an accident' Video courtesy WCAX Bourgoin, who would face 20 years to life in prison on each murder count if convicted, is to be arraigned in a conference room of the hospital, where his condition has been upgraded from critical to good. The teens killed in the incident were identified as 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. 'The loss of five teens in such a senseless tragedy is unimaginable and heartbreaking,' Gov. Peter Shumlin said. He ordered flags to be flown at half-staff. Classmates, teachers and staff at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, where four of the five were students, held a candlelight vigil for them Monday evening. About 1,000 people attended. Many cried before releasing lanterns that floated off into the chilly night. A Williston police officer was the first to arrive on the scene of Saturday's collision. As he tried to extinguish the car fire, a man, later identified as Bourgoin, jumped in 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. Bourgoin was then thrown from the cruiser, which went up in flames. State police said at least nine other people were injured in the series of crashes and were taken to UVM Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. In addition to the murder charges, Bourgoin is also on trial for domestic violence. Authorities in Vermont alleged that Bourgoin had previously threatened to kill himself and his girlfriend in a car crash. Police went to Bourgoin's home in May for a welfare check - a visit that ended in him being arrested for domestic assault and unlawful restraint. His now ex-girlfriend had told police that Bourgoin had stopped her from leaving the house with their two-year-old child, hitting her in the head and threatening to throw her down the stairs and smash her skull on the floor. Mary Harris (pictured) was one of the five Vermont high school juniors who died in the crash Liam Hale (pictured left) and Eli Brookens (right) also died in the crash in Williston, Vermont The five teenagers in the car, including Cyrus Zschau (left) and Janie Cozzi (right), were all pronounced dead at the scene She then tried to escape in her car, according to a police affidavit, but he jumped in after her and took control of the wheel. As he drove the terrified woman around the area, he pulled at a lanyard around her neck and threatened to crash the car, swearing that he would 'kill both of them before he let his child go,' the affidavit claims. Bourgoin had done something similar when they lived in Mississippi, the woman said. The parents of two young brothers mauled by a Staffordshire bull terrier at their home in Essex today have paid tribute to the two youngsters. The dog killed four-month-old Archie Joe Darby and left his elder brother Daniel Jay with life changing injuries following this afternoon's attacks. In a statement, the boys' mother Jade Rogers and her partner said: 'Our beautiful sons Archie Joe Darby and Daniel-Jay Darby are so, so loved by us all and were such happy little loveable boys.' Scroll down for video Archie Joe Darby, left, and Daniel-Jay, right, were attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier at their home. Four month old Archie, was killed and Daniel suffered life changing injuries The young brothers, pictured, were attacked at their home on Colchester, Essex yesterday Little Archie, four months, left, died, while his big brother Daniel suffered life-changing injuries A photograph from this morning shows police tape sealing off the home where the savage attack took place as an investigation into the violent death begins Jade Rogers, pictured, and her partner released a heartbreaking statement following the death of her baby son Archie and the terrible injuries suffered by his elder brother Daniel The statement continued: 'It doesnt seem real that our little Archie Bum has gone to heaven and our little Daniel is in intensive care because of a tragic, tragic incident involving a dog attack. 'We have lost our gorgeous little four month-old baby and our beautiful 22-month-old boy is currently being treated for his injuries. 'Heaven has gained a beautiful little angel and he will be greatly missed by us all and our other little soldier is still fighting strong.' The dog, which has since been put down, was owned by a serving police officer. It is not known whether PC Clare Ferdinand, 31, was at the address at the the time the dog - believed to a Staffordshire bull terrier - attacked two children and a woman. Essex Police refused to confirm that Mrs Ferdinand is employed by them though friends of the victims' family insisted she was. A close family member, speaking from a house in Hornchurch, Essex, refused to comment on the dog attack. PC Clare Ferdinand, right, who owned the dog, pictured with her husband John, consented for the Staffordshire bull terrier to be destroyed following Thursday's tragic attack in Colchester A woman leaves behind flowers at the scene, which is still being guarded by officers (right) Essex Police refused to confirm that Mrs Ferdinand is employed by them though friends of the victims' family insisted she was A sign in the rear window of a vehicle parked in the drive of the house. The dog has since been put down He was too distressed to talk about the matter but a dog could be heard barking inside the property. The horror unfolded at a home in Colchester, Essex, with the young boys' mother also being savaged by the dog. All three with rushed to hospital shortly after yesterday's attack, and it is reported the mother was in the bath at the time. The dog has since been put down with the owner's consent, police said, while the house is currently taped off as an investigation into the violent death begins. Flowers and children's toys, including teddy bears, were left at the scene by passers-by A young boy carries flowers to the house in Colchester, Essex where the baby boy was mauled to death John Ferdinand, 36, who owns the property and is the husband of PC Ferdinand, said: 'There's no chance [of us commenting] at the moment. We will get in touch when we want to.' It's not yet clear whether the couple are related to the victims of Thursday's dog attack but it is thought that they have two young children. Chief Inspector Elliot Judge said: 'This is a tragic incident where a young child has lost his life. Ms Rogers, pictured with her eldest son Daniel, was also injured in yesterday's attack 'We can confirm the incident took place inside a house on Harwich Road, the dog has been destroyed, and no-one has been arrested. 'An investigation to establish the facts surrounding what happened is on-going. 'This is obviously a very difficult time for the family, who are being supported by specially trained officers.' Officers confirmed that the mother had been injured in the attack and had been discharged from hospital. A post-mortem examination on the body of the four-month old baby is expected to take place late next week, while an autopsy of the dog is scheduled for this evening. One neighbour witnessed a young boy in the ambulance after the attack took place. He said: 'I was walking past and I saw a young boy sat up in the ambulance. 'His face was covered in blood - it was shocking to see. He was in a bad way the poor little lad. Police and ambulance crews were called to the house where they found the children suffering from severe bite injuries The scene has been active for most of the day, with forensic personnel and officers making their way in and out of the house 'I didn't actually know what had happened when I saw him. It was only later on that I found out. 'They'd not been living there very long and people round here didn't know them yet.' Scott Mills, who lives in a house opposite, became aware of 'commotion' when he saw four police cars and two ambulances arrive at the family home on Thursday afternoon. The 24-year-old said: 'When we heard that a baby had died, everyone was very upset. It's dreadful and so tragic. 'There were a lot of children about because of the time - a lot of children were coming home from school.' Forensics personnel were seen taking evidence out of the home where the attack took place and putting it into a van Police and paramedics were called to the home at about 3pm yesterday, with the death of the baby boy announced this morning Police remain on the scene of the attack, which took place in a house on the junction of Harwich Road with Tara Close Detectives investigating the tragedy arrive at the scene as part of enquiries into the baby's death Mr Mills believes the dog was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type dog, although the breed has not been confirmed by police: 'I saw the dog being taken away. 'At 4pm a black van arrived. The dog was taken out of the property at 4.30pm. It was on a pole lead. 'It wasn't a normal Staffie. It was a lot more chunky - probably a Staffordshire cross or some kind of bulldog breed. 'No one opposite knows the family but I wish them the best at this awful time for them after a tragic accident.' Staffordshire bull terriers are not banned in the UK but are often mistaken for pit bulls, which aren't allowed by law. The three other breeds to make the ban list are the Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Brasiliero. The man who owns the semi-detached, 300,000 property where the dog attack happened refused to comment on the incident. Police personnel are seen carrying evidence out of the home and investigators attempt to establish how the young baby died A close neighbour recalled hearing a 'loud bark' on the day of the horrific attack. FACT FILE: DOG BITE DEATHS There have been 83 deaths from dog bites in England and Wales in the last 35 years, the most coming in 2009 when there were six, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Between 1982 and 1986 seven people were killed, and another eight between 1987 and 1991, when the Dangerous Dogs Act was introduced. But in the following five years there were six deaths, between 1992 and 1996, and eight more from 1997 to 2001. This preceded a major upturn in the number of dog bite deaths. The number more than doubled between 2002 and 2006, when there were 17, followed by 19 deaths between 2007 to 2011. Including Thursday's tragedy there have been 18 deaths since 2012. Advertisement Thelma Monk, 79, was painting in her home, just a few doors down from the house where the attack happened, at around 3pm. She said: 'All I heard was a dog's loud barking. I haven't seen anybody come out of that house. I didn't hear any shouting.' Neighbour Dave Thompson said police backed into the drive to 'recover the animal' which he described as a dark brown 'Staffordshire bull breed'. He said: 'It was alive and not aggressive when they brought it out of the house and put it into the back of the van. 'It was quite big and I think it was a cross breed. 'Everyone had been pushed back by police and a woman came out of the house first.' Another close neighbour reports seeing the couple walking their dog, a type of Staffordshire bull terrier, in the local area. He said: 'They have only been living there up to a year. We rarely saw them. They kept themselves to themselves. They had a nice party the weekend after the August Bank Holiday. Several members of public have arrived at the scene this morning and afternoon to leave flowers and teddy bears The dog has since been taken off the property in Colchester by police, while the house is currently surrounded by police tape 'They had a dog. It was some sort of Staffy, pitbull cross. I only saw it twice, they did not walk it around here very often.' Speaking after the incident on Thursday afternoon, one neighbour, who wanted to be known only as Rachel, said: 'It's quite scary especially when it's on your doorstep. 'I feel really sorry and my heart goes out to the people involved in it.' It is the second time in less than two months that a dog attack in Essex has led to the death of a youngster. Colchester MP Will Quince has offered any support he can to those affected by the incident. He said: 'This is absolutely tragic. My thoughts and prayers are with the family at this most difficult time. Staffordshire bull terriers are not banned in the UK but are often mistaken for pit bulls, which aren't allowed by law Dexter, pictured, left, last year and, right, with his mother Pamela, was killed in a dog attack in Halstead, Essex in August 'I will, of course, give the family and authorities any support I can.' A police cordon remains outside the home this morning. A neighbour, who did not want to be named but was at home at the time of the incident, said: 'The whole community is in shock. It's all very upsetting. You are caught off guard with these things. 'I am very upset about it all. My children saw it [the aftermath] and are very upset. 'We suddenly saw police cars at the house and the fact that it was two children is very upsetting. The little baby couldn't have done anything. It's just so sad. 'I didn't know the family well but you look out of the window and recognise your neighbours. I just can't believe it.' The horror unfolded at a home in Colchester, Essex, and a woman, understood to be the children's mother, was also savaged by the dog The youngsters were rushed to hospital yesterday afternoon but it has been confirmed this morning that the baby has died Dog welfare organisation, the Kennel Club, released a statement this morning about the incident in Harwich Road, which stressed any dog is capable of causing injury. Caroline Kisko, club secretary, said: 'Our deepest sympathies go out to the family of the baby that was tragically killed and the child and adult that sustained injuries in this shocking incident. 'We don't have details of what happened in this specific case as yet so cannot comment on what may have led up to it, but we do know that incidents like this are thankfully very rare in the UK. A bus driver was killed and 43 mostly elderly passengers were injured when a tour bus collided with a tractor-trailer in Gilmer County, Ga., late Thursday morning. The incident happened at the intersection of Highway 515 and Whitestone Road. The bus door was crashed so windows had to be cut open to free the injured passengers. Most were taken to the hospital by ambulance, but one had to be airlifted. The bus was on its way to a casino in North Carolina. The highway was not reopened until after 6 p.m. After attempting to make a dramatic bid for freedom, Kumbuka the gorilla has now been safely returned to his enclosure at London Zoo. Zookeepers were today seen boarding up the glass partition which cracked as the 'agitated' gorilla escaped from its den - through a door which may have been left open. Male silverback Kumbuka, an 18-year-old, 29-stone western lowland gorilla, escaped the enclosure yesterday evening for 90 minutes. Visitors were said to have been taunting the gorilla, prompting social media users to voice their sympathy for the animal, writing: 'We all would get nuts if we were locked in a cage and people would stare at us every day. Poor creature.' Staff said Kumbuka was given a chocolate chip cookie yesterday evening as a 'special treat' from his specially managed diet tailored to his nutritional needs. Scroll down for video Gorilla Kingdom reopened after being closed throughout the morning - and Kumbuka (pictured) was back in his den Staff said Kumbuka was given a chocolate chip cookie yesterday evening as a 'special treat' from his specially managed diet which consists of nuts, vegetables and fruit Zoo keepers today patching up the gorilla enclosure at London Zoo where Kumbuka the Gorilla escaped Bid for freedom: The gorilla is reported to have escaped 'through an open door' of the day gym area of Gorilla Kingdom, before entering a staff area The incident comes amid warnings from one zookeeper, who allegedly told BuzzFeed news: 'He's a f*****g psycho, that ape. He's smacked the enclosure glass a couple of times.' It was initially reported the animal may have smashed the glass partition surrounding its indoor den - but now it has emerged a door may have been left open. A source told the Evening Standard: 'Every enclosure has a gated area which is off-limits to the public to stop animals running straight past when the door is opened. That door shouldn't have been left open.' He seemed to stare at one spot for a while. People were screaming and egging him on Opened in 2007 by the Duke of Edinburgh, the zoo's 5.3 million Gorilla Kingdom is home to six primates, with 45mm-thick panes of glass forming a 5m barrier between zoo visitors and gorillas. One social media user wrote: 'I feel sorry for the gorilla. If I was in a glass case with people taunting and staring at me, I'd charge at them too.' Another added: 'People were screaming and egging him on. No wonder he wanted to escape,' while another tweeted: 'If you were trapped behind glass with people gawping at you everyday, you would make a bid for freedom!' One member of the public called the incident 'poetic justice', adding: 'The poetic justice of people being locked up as gorilla romps around zoo is brilliant!' The irony was echoed by others, who added: 'locking the humans inside while the gorilla roams around - the irony'. Following the breakout Kumbuka (pictured today), spent more than an hour outside his main enclosure before keepers were able to use a tranquilliser dart Witnesses said the gorilla launched himself at the glass (pictured) as some visitors tried to wind him up Gorilla Kingdom was this morning closed to members of the public for repair work Repair work was carried out by zookeepers after the gorilla furiously cracked the glass, in an attempt to break free There was a police presence outside London Zoo this morning following the incident The silverback gorilla made a bid for freedom, attempting to smash this glass before escaping The Born Free Foundation said the incident was a 'startling reminder' of the risks of keeping dangerous wild animals in captivity. Leading primate expert Professor Phyllis Lee today said Kumbuka should not be put back on show to the public and should be moved to another zoo because he is 'unhappy in his environment', adding his break-out signals 'crisis and desperation'. Zoo curator Malcolm Fitzpatrick today refused to explain how Kumbuka escaped when asked six times during a live BBC interview. He told the Today programme: 'Categorically I can say that our male silverback gorilla, Kumbuka, didn't break through the glass'. Dan Bourke, a journalist at The Mirror, said 'something has not felt right at Gorilla Kingdom recently', adding: 'we've noticed an increased agitation in Kumbuka'. Mr Bourke suggested the gorilla may have been furious because he felt his children were threatened, and commenting on an incident last week, said: 'Kumbuka started moving quicker and quicker from left to right. 'As the noise increased so did his pace until in a frenzy he bashed the reinforced window then his chest.' Back on display: Gorilla Kumbuka pictured eating his lunch in front of visitors to London Zoo - one day after he smashed glass in his enclosure then escaped 'through an open door People swiftly took to social media to voice their opinions on animals in captivity - and noted the irony that the gorilla was free to roam - while the humans were 'locked inside' 'Poetic justice': Social media users took the opportunity to call for the closure of zoos Annie Bristow made a video of Kumbuka thrashing a rope around in an attempt to smash the glass, in September 2015. She added: 'So this has been going on for a while' PAMELA ANDERSON CALLS ON ZOO TO FREE GORILLA Model Pamela Anderson has called on London Zoo to Kumbuka. Speaking to Radio Five Live, the 49 year old former-Baywatch star hailed his escape, adding: 'He does not belong in a zoo. He belongs in a sanctuary or out in a forest somewhere. 'I do not believe in zoos. It is dangerous because you put yourself in that situation if you go to a zoo and are surrounded by exotic animals. 'They are only doing what they normally do. It is great that he escaped and too bad he did not get where he wanted to be.' The Peta supporter and animal activist this week handed a petition to Theresa May to ban wild animals in circuses. Advertisement John Davis, 56, who visited Gorilla Kingdom with his two-year-old son Eden, told the Evening Standard: 'I go there pretty much every day and know the gorillas well. 'Most of the time the big one just sits and stares but yesterday he was looking really angry. 'People were banging on the glass and taking pictures using their flashes. 'Then he lurched towards us and smashed against the glass. My little one was so scared he ran away in tears.' Visitors to the popular attraction were ordered to take cover in buildings when the 7ft dominant male ape got out of its den on from 5.15pm-6.20pm on Thursday evening. A spokesman for London Zoo this morning said Kumbuka was treated by keepers overnight who stayed to observe him. The zoo said he had returned to the main enclosure and an investigation was 'ongoing', adding: 'The gorilla remained contained within the exhibit's off show area.' This is the moment Kumbuka attacked the glass in London Zoo with 50 people watching Approximately 100 visitors were locked up while police and zookeepers searched for the ape Members of the public were hardly surprised by the dramatic escape yesterday - with many saying it was 'no wonder' the gorilla broke free Eyewitnesses told MailOnline they were warned not to look the seven-foot tall gorilla in the eye for fear of agitating him - just minutes before he launched the audacious bid to free himself yesterday afternoon. He seemed to stare at one spot for a while. People were screaming and egging him on. Then he jumped onto the rope and smashed against the glass. It was very scary Witness Chloe Hughes Despite the warnings, some visitors were heard shouting at Kumbuka and 'egging him on' in the seconds before he charged in scenes described as 'like something out of Jurassic Park'. Armed police and a force helicopter were scrambled to the scene and officers wielding semi-automatic guns desperately tried to track him down while visitors were locked away for their own safety. Members of the public were ordered to retreat to safety and were in lockdown in sites across the zoo with many posting pictures from inside a butterfly enclosure and a canteen area. Kumbuka was later traced by police and zoo staff and tranquilised by vets. He is now said to be 'awake and well' in his enclosure and the zoo will reopen today as normal. However, despite the incident being resolved without harm to any visitors or animals, concerns have been raised about the safety of the gorilla enclosure. Oliver Barker posted a photograph of Kumbuka shortly before this afternoon's dramatic escape Irony: This image from 2014 shows Kumbuka in his enclosure looking at a stocktake board Then a 16-year-old silverback, the gorilla pictured playing in his den two years ago Kumbuka then picks up the gorilla stocktake board and launches it Many said yesterday's escape with rather ironic, after these photographs re-emerged It has since emerged that zoo visitors had previously been warned of damage to the perimeter glass of the enclosure in the weeks prior to the incident. Chris Draper, Associate Director for Animal Welfare and Care at the Born Free Foundation charity, said: 'While we are relieved that this incident apparently ended without injury to visitors or to the gorilla, it is yet another startling reminder of the risks associated with maintaining dangerous wild animals in captivity. 'This incident could have ended very differently. We are calling for an urgent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding this escape, and into safety procedures at London Zoo.' Veterinary student Chloe Hughes was on her first visit to London Zoo when she filmed Kumbuka charge towards her. The 23-year-old student, from Surrey, told MailOnline: 'I was standing near the front [of the enclosure]. We were in there for a long time. The silverback was distressed. He was looking at everyone. 'Staff asked everyone to be quiet. We were at the front and they asked us to get out. They came to the front with their arms out. 'He seemed to stare at one spot for a while. People were screaming and egging him on. 'Then he jumped onto the rope and smashed against the glass. It was very scary. 'After that happened, we all screamed.' One eyewitness, Oliver Barker, 24, said a zoo keeper warned visitors against 'staring' at one of the male gorillas, believed to be Kumbuka, pictured, as this would 'aggravate him' Heavily armed police raced to the zoo after they received reports of the escaped gorilla She said there was panic after Kumbuka charged at the glass as people - including parents pushing prams stood dangerously close on the other side. 'We heard the panic in the zoo keepers' voice,' she said. 'They were shouting at us to get out. 'I don't think I would go back to a zoo again. I'm not a big fan of zoos. I've heard a lot of good things about London Zoo, but it makes you think.' He looked like he was in a sort of trance, he definitely wasn't relaxed at all. He looked very intimidating Zoo visitor Oliver Barker Oliver Barker, 24, who was at the zoo for a marketing conference, told MailOnline that the gorilla had seemed 'agitated' earlier in the day, and keepers had warned visitors not to stare at him. He said the animal looked 'intimidating' and a colleague told him the gorilla had charged at the glass shortly before the escape. He said: 'He looked like he was in a sort of trance, he definitely wasn't relaxed at all. 'He looked very intimidating. The zookeeper came over and said, 'don't aggravate him by staring at him'. 'She could tell he was very agitated, and lo and behold soon after we were told he had escaped.' Mr Barker said a colleague went into the enclosure soon after he had been in there, and saw the animal charging. He said: 'He said he charged at the glass but the glass didn't even wobble. 'Five minutes after that we were told to get into the nearest safe room.' Veterinary student Chloe Hughes, centre, witnessed Kumbuka ram the enclosure's glass. Ms Hughes was with her brother Alex, left, and Amelia, right for a day trip to London Zoo Veterinary student Chloe Hughes, pictured here at the zoo before the escape, recorded the very moment Kumbuka charged the glass in his enclosure in his effort to get out A spokesman for London Zoo said: 'A male gorilla got out of its pen into a non-public keeper area at 5.13pm. 'He remained contained in the exhibit's off-show area where staff responded immediately. 'It was our 18-year-old gorilla Kumbuka and he was tranquilised by vets and returned to his pen. 'I can confirm that he is awake and well, and the zoo will be open today.' Malcolm Fitzpatrick, the zoo's curator of mammals, said there were no injuries to visitors or zoo workers, adding that Kumbuka recovered quickly. 'I'm happy to report he's actually up and grumbling and interacting with the rest of his gorilla family.' He described the escape of Kumbuka as a 'minor incident' in which the male gorilla got into a secure keeper area that was not open to the public. Mr Fitzpatrick told reporters Kumbuka was in the keepers' area for more than an hour until vets were able to tranquillise him. He would not confirm if there were keepers in the area at the time and said the public gorilla viewing zone had only a 'handful' of people there then. He added: 'At no time were any of our visitors in any danger. The gorilla did not get out of the safe space, there were only about 100 visitors, it was the end of the day and I would like to thank all of those visitors for co-operating and moving in to buildings.' Officers armed with Heckler & Koch MP5s patrolled the zoo in an effort to find Kumbuka It appeared like the armed officers were tasked to protect zoo keepers looking for the gorilla Mr Fitzpatrick said keepers would be staying on into the evening to check up on Kumbuka and giving him his 'favourite treats'. The incident is now under investigation, he added. Scotland Yard said an incident involving an escaped gorilla at London Zoo had 'concluded'. Eyewitness Brad Evans earlier told BBC Radio London: 'We were in the zoo for the day, having a cup of coffee in the main restaurant area when they locked us all in and said there was an incident. 'They gave us free teas and coffees and obviously we were asking what was going on and they told us that a gorilla had got out of its enclosure and that we weren't allowed out of the park at half-five so we had to wait. 'As we were waiting we saw the police turning up in numbers with loads of guns.' Hannah O'Donoghue-Hobbs and her friend Charlotte travelled from Manchester for a conference and were locked-in during the incident. They videoed their experience and posted it online. She said: 'It was just like a scene from Jurassic Park.' She said she saw about 30 armed officers. The 24-year-old told MailOnline: 'Everyone was all over the zoo, we were told to get into the nearest building. 'The staff were saying there was a zoo emergency, they didn't give us any information but I heard through the staff walkie-talkie that it was a gorilla. 'I didn't believe it at first, but then we saw more and more police, there were around 30 armed police, I hadn't seen police like that before. 'We saw the police coming in with big guns, and there were people from the zoo with guns.' London Zoo said Kumbuka was now back in his enclosure 'enjoying his favourite treats' The zoo was on lockdown after the massive gorilla burst out of his enclosure She said visitors were told to stay away from the windows and weren't allowed to take photographs. Rob Hogan, 37, was visiting a marketing conference and saw the gorilla just seconds before he escaped. He said: 'We were at the conference all day and it broke for tea time and a group of us went for a walk to see the gorillas. 'We were looking at the silverback and he suddenly jumped at the window. 'It was like a car hitting the window, it was really scary. 'A warden suddenly started ushering us into the reptile room, there was about 20 of us. 'After about an hour they said it was contained and took us out of the park into the street. 'All our stuff was still inside though and now the gorilla has been caught there's a live band playing and some of my colleagues are in there drinking beers. 'The staff said he had got somewhere he shouldn't be, but not got out.' Armed zoo keepers hunt the gorilla as members of the public are locked inside the cafe where this picture was taken Visitors to the Zoo report that helicopters are flying overhead and they can hear sirens Staff in the zoo handed out free teas and coffees to visitors while armed police patrolled Former England U21 and Leicester Tigers prop Matt Hampson, whose foundation was set up to inspire and support young people seriously injured through sport, tweeted: 'Well that's the first time that has happened, was doing a talk at London Zoo this evening but evacuated because of an escaped Gorilla!' He added: 'We were escorted into the zoo at about 5pm and we parked outside the enclosure and I was getting out my car and heard a really loud alarm going off. 'There was lots of keepers and people running about and I was told to go into the room because an animal had escaped. 'They didn't say what it was. 'We went into room where I was going to be giving the talk and we were locked in there for about an hour. 'One of the keepers came to the door and said a gorilla had escaped and that everybody was going to have to leave the premises. 'I put had some bananas in my bag and made light of the situation, I said maybe the gorilla would like to eat the bananas? 'It was quite scary, initially I was sort of c******* myself.' A spokeswoman for London Zoo confirmed they 'managed an incident on site' The gorillas at London Zoo live in a purpose-built enclosure which opened in 2007 Rugby legend Matt Hampson was at London Zoo this evening when the gorilla escaped Hannah O'Donoghue-Hobbs and her friend Charlotte were locked in during the incident Neuropsychologist Dr Jonathan Mall was also at the Weird and Wonderful World of Field market research conference when the incident happened. Dr Mall, one of the speakers at the conference, had gone for a walk during a break in the programme and was next to the gorilla enclosure when a siren went off at around 5.20pm, and a call over the speakers asked for staff to urgently go to the site. The 33-year-old, from Hamburg in Germany, said he saw two members of staff 'frantically running around' in the enclosure, and when he jokingly asked one if a gorilla was loose they said: 'I don't know, please go outside the area.' Dr Mall and other visitors were forced to hide inside a bird attraction, stranded for around half an hour while staff brought Kumbuka under control. He said: 'I was kind of scared to be honest because we were in a really closed space where everything is green and beautiful but there could be a gorilla hiding behind every bush. 'Any sound I heard scared the s*** out of me.' Dr Mall said he saw at least 20 people carrying large guns and that the police helicopter arrived within five minutes. The gorilla managed to escape from the Gorilla Kingdom enclosure which opened in 2007 Staff warned visitors to leave the gorilla enclosure when Kumbuka started bashing the glass Members of the public were locked into a butterfly enclosure while staff hunted the gorilla Mr Draper, of the Born Free Foundation, said the charity is now calling on the Zoos Expert Committee - the government advisory committee on zoo matters- to investigate the safety and welfare of great apes in UK zoos, and for the Zoo Licensing Act and associated standards to be amended to improve the system of zoo inspections, as well as increase the penalties for zoos found to be putting their animals or visitors at risk. A spokesman for London Zoo said they were unaware of any previous problems with the glass enclosure and confirmed the incident was being fully investigated. According to the zoo's website, there are at least six gorillas living in its Gorilla Kingdom. Among them is Kumbuka, a western lowland silverback, who arrived at ZSL London Zoo in early 2013 from Paignton Zoo in Devon. Police launched a major security alert after the gorilla escaped from its enclosure Others include Zaire, who came to London Zoo in 1984 after being born in Jersey Zoo, Mjukuu and her daughter Alika, 'teenager' Effie, and Gernot, the latest addition who was born in November last year to Effie and Kumbuka. When 7ft tall Kumbuka arrived at the zoo, in the hope he could boost the numbers of the critically endangered species in the European breeding programme, keeper Daniel Simmonds said: 'We've been slowly introducing him to our three females, and Mjukuu and Effie are already quite smitten with their handsome new roommate. 'He is proving to have quite a playful side to him; he loves to snap the branches on the smaller trees on their island and standing in the spray of the hosepipe when we clean his dens.' Armed police patrolled the zoo for 90 minutes while they attempted to recapture the ape In May, a gorilla was shot dead by keepers after it grabbed a four-year-old boy who fell into a moat at a US zoo. Harambe, a 17-year-old, 400-pound-plus male western lowland, was killed after he dragged the youngster around for 10 minutes after he fell 12 feet into the exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo. Zoo officials made the decision because they felt the boy was in a 'life-threatening situation'.The lowland gorilla is an endangered species. Kumbuka was previously kept at Paignton Zoo where he was photographed by wildlife photographer Richard Austin. Speaking at the time he said: 'Of all the animals I've encountered here in the Westcountry, Kumbuka the silverback lowland gorilla at Paignton Zoo is one of my favourites, despite the fact that every time I photograph him he tries to take my head off with missiles made of mud, turf and even a hard lump of flint the size of a house brick. 'For some reason unbeknown to me he doesn't like cameras or photographers, or maybe just press photographers.' London Zoo insist that all members of the public were safe despite the escaped gorilla Visitors to the zoo said they witnessed zoo keepers with tranquillizer guns looking for the ape Another woman, who asked not to be named, told MailOnline: 'This gorilla did actually the same thing to myself and my son who was two at the time, when he was in Paignton Zoo, Devon. 'We were watching him and from nowhere, he jumped and threw himself at the glass. 'It was a very short scary experience for us and who even now my son gets nervous when visiting the gorillas. 'The zoo should definitely put up a sign or remove Kumbuka from public viewing, he is a beautiful gorilla and I certainly wouldn't want him destroyed but he is clearly a danger to himself and the public.' THE GIANTS OF THE WILD: SILVERBACK GORILLAS Adult male silverback in the wild (file photo) There are four subspecies of gorillas: the eastern lowland or Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri); the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei); the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla); and the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehl). Adult males are known as 'silverbacks' due to the distinctive silver-colored hair on their backs. Male silver back gorillas can be six times stronger than the average man, with an arm span of up to 8ft. They are able to survive in the wild for up to 50 years and can reach speeds of up to 25mph. Advertisement Kumbuka 'should not be put back on show' says leading primate expert A leading primate expert said Kumbuka should not be put back on show to the public at London Zoo. Professor Phyllis Lee said staff at ZSL London Zoo should consider moving the gorilla to another zoo elsewhere in Europe because he is 'unhappy in his environment.' Professor Lee is an expert on primate psychology, based at Stirling University. She told the Evening Standard: 'He would have been somewhat challenged in his environment to start with, and from the sound of his behaviour he was desperate to escape. 'They are highly intelligent and if there is a way to escape they will find it. 'He was obviously clearly unhappy in his environment and wanted to escape, to find a new group and females to mate with. He would not have been happy with the other gorillas at the zoo. A Pennsylvania church pastor has been charged with hundreds of counts of sexual assault after he allegedly impregnated a 15-year-old girl from his youth group. Wesley Blackburn, a 35-year-old father-of-five, was charged last week with 84 felony counts of statutory sexual assault, 84 misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and one felony count of corruption of minors. Blackburn, a pastor at Faith Brethren Bible Church in New Paris, had allegedly embarked upon a seven-month-long relationship with the teen. Scroll down for video Wesley Blackburn, a 35-year-old father of five, was charged last week with 84 felony counts of statutory sexual assault after he allegedly impregnated a girl he met at a church youth group He was snared after his wife turned him in when he allegedly confessed to the 'affair' and told her he did not love her and wanted a divorce. Senior pastor Jim Espenshade told WJAC-TV he was 'absolutely shocked' upon hearing about the 'relationship', adding that Blackburn was fired on the spot. 'I don't know this man,' Mr Espenshade said. 'The man that got arrested, I don't know him. I was shocked, absolutely shocked. You work with him and you're there and you're thinking: How could this happen? How could he do this?' Blackburn reportedly told police that he started having sex with the girl in March, and had fathered her child. Court documents show that Sunday school teacher Blackburn met the girl during his first year at the church in 2009, and she had attended his youth group for seventh and eighth graders since 2014. According to The Tribune-Democrat Blackburn remains in Bedford County Jail, unable to pay $200,000 bail. Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has extended a ceasefire with the country's FARC rebels until the end of the year as he tries to salvage a peace deal which was narrowly rejected by voters earlier this month. Santos said he was extending the ceasefire with FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) until December 31 as he tries to renegotiate the agreement which voters threw out. He made the announcement on television after meeting with students who have been organising demonstrations across the country to demand the accord be implemented despite it being rejected in a referendum, by a margin of 50.21 percent to 49.78 percent. Demonstrators display photographs of victims of Colombia's political violence during a peace march in Bogota this week. Thousands of activists marched in cities across Colombia to demand the peace deal be saved Around 220,000 people have been killed during 52 years of conflict. FARC have around 6,000 armed fighters and another 8,000 civilian supporters. Santos said: 'I have made the decision to extend the bilateral ceasefire until December 31. Let this be clear: This is not an ultimatum nor a deadline, but I hope that the entire process of obtaining a new agreement will be complete well before then.' The areas which voted in favour of the peace deal tended to be in the countryside, where people have suffered most during the fighting, whereas the more urban areas voted against it. But overall the vote was narrowly against the deal President Santos is pictured making a victory sign at a rally on the eve of the referendum on the peace deal he negotiated with FARC. But voters narrowly rejected the deal Santos won this year's Nobel Peace Prize a few days after voters rejected the deal. The Nobel Committee said: 'The referendum was not a vote for or against peace. What the No side rejected was not the desire for peace, but a specific peace agreement.' FARC leader Timochenko said on Twitter: 'I congratulate President Juan Manuel Santos, Cuba and Norway, who sponsored the process, and Venezuela and Chile, who assisted it, without them, peace would be impossible.' He has been engaged in three-way talks with FARC and the opposition to find ways to adjust the accord so that it enjoys broader support. A group of university students shout slogans in support of peace in Bogota, Colombia The president will take new proposals to FARC leaders in the Cuban capital, Havana. But former President Alvaro Uribe, who led opposition to the accord, is demanding deep changes to it, such as stiffer penalties for rebels who committed war crimes. Meanwhile the rebels, who would be spared jail time under the accord, are insisting they will not go back to the drawing board and throw out more than four years of arduous negotiations with the government. Thousands of rural farmers, indigenous activists and students marched in cities this week (pictured) to demand the peace deal go ahead, despite the referendum defeat Santos - who has staked his legacy on making peace with FARC - had previously said the army would halt its ceasefire at the end of this month if no solution to the impasse was found. He said one of the students he met this week told him 'in the army and among the guerrillas there are young people who are aware of what is happening, who hope not to have to return to shooting'. Police called to a suspected home intrusion 'died laughing' when the prowler turned out to be a Great Dane. Deputies from California's Sonoma County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a property last week when an 18-year-old man called police after he heard strange noises in his house. Police arrived, and after rescuing the man who had barricaded himself and his pets from the 'home intruder', they began an investigation of the scene. Police called to a suspected home intrusion 'died laughing' when the prowler turned out to be a Great Dane (pictured) 'One of the deputies outside the house heard this scratching noise,' a police spokesman told The Dodo. 'He shined his light around the house and saw this dog sticking his head out a skylight on the roof. The deputy said and I quote "At that point we ditched all tactics and died laughing''.' The dog belonged to the panicked 911 caller but he had failed to account for it in his panicked state. In a message on social media a police spokesman said: 'Sheriff's Deputies responded to a reported prowler at a residence. Police were dispatched to a property last week when an 18-year-old man called police after he heard strange noises in his house. The noises actually came from one of his pets (pictured) 'They arrived and quickly caught the culprit as he tried to escape the residence through an unsecured skylight. 'The Deputies conducted a thorough investigation and determined the culprit had been a "bad dog" so he got no treats.' The hysterical images have now been shared more than 23,000 times on Facebook. On social media, commenter Nancy St John-Smith joked: 'Looking for a Scooby snack!' June Brown added: 'Someone needs to tell him that he's not a cat.' Nicolas Sarkozy was dealt to a blow in his bid to be re-elected as French president after been deemed to have lost his first TV debate. The 61-year-old is up against ex-Prime Minister Alain Juppe and seven other candidates in the race to be named the presidential candidate for the Les Republicains party. But last night when they all faced off in a debate, a poll published immediately after showed Juppe to be the winner. Scroll down for video The Republican party candidates for French president line up before the first TV debate. They include former president Nicolas Sarkozy, centre, and former PM Alain Juppe, who is leading the race However, Sarkozy was dealt to a blow in his bid to be re-elected as French president after been deemed to have lost the first TV debate The 71-year-old has also been leading Sarkozy in the opinion polls in the race to be the right-wing candidate, who is expected to be the next president of France. Sarkozy has been reiterating his pledge to jail hundreds of suspected Islamist radicals, without prior authorisation from a judge and ban the Islamic burkini swimsuit. However, Juppe, who has accused him of 'giving the French National Front a leg up', has taken a more moderate, inclusive line. From the beginning of the televised event, Sarkozy found himself on the defensive over the various investigations in which he has been entangled since losing his 2012 re-election bid. At one point, visibly exasperated he insisted: 'After 37 years in politics my criminal record is clean. Sarkozy, right, found himself on the defensive over the various investigations in which he has been entangled since losing his 2012 re-election bid Sarkozy shakes hands with Alain Juppe. The two are the leading candidates to become the Republican party nominee 'Do you think I would take part in this campaign if I had anything on my conscience?', claiming he had been hounded by investigators and subjected to 'slander' during probes for influence-peddling and suspected illegal funding of his failed 2012 re-election campaign, among others. Meanwhile the former leader of the Republicans party and fellow candidate, Jean-Francois Cope, said he had hoped Sarkozy would be a reformer when he came to power in 2007 on a promise to shake up the established order. The current French president, Socialist Francois Hollande has yet to say if he will stand in next year's presidential election He said: 'Ten years ago, I and millions of French people hoped for the change that Nicolas Sarkozy offered for our country. 'That change unfortunately never took place. However, Sarkozy argued his hand had been constrained by 'the worst (economic) crisis the world had experienced since 1929' and vowed 'strong, energetic' leadership if he returned to power after five years of Socialist rule. But Juppe too faced questions about scandals in their past. In 2004 he was given a 14-month suspended term and barred from holding elected office for a year over a party funding scandal in which he was widely seen as the fall guy for his mentor, former president Jacques Chirac. But he explained: 'Everyone knows about my conviction, we can't rewrite history. It is up to the voters to decide if that disqualifies me.' The debate was the first of three before the first round primary vote on November 20. The two top candidates will then debate one-on-one before the November 27 run-off, where the final candidate will be chosen. Polls show Juppe leading Sarkozy by between eight and 14 percentage points, with the five other candidates, including Cope and Sarkozy's former prime minister Francois Fillon trailing behind. It is believed that whoever wins the Republican nomination will go up against far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the second round of voting Current French president, the Socialist Francois Hollande has yet to signal his intention to stand in next year's election. However, it is widely tipped that the candidate who does stand for his Socialist party will be eliminated in the first round of voting. It is tipped that the Republican candidate will then go head-to-head against the far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the second round in May. A new review has revealed no record of Donald Trump donating $10,000 to a 9/11 despite promise to pledge. Talking in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks, The Republican candidate said he would donate the five-figure sum, but it appears not to have landed in either of the two main charities' accounts. An audit into the Twin Towers Fund and the New York City Public/Private Initiatives show no sign of a Trump donation in the year following the September 11 attacks. Scroll down for video A new review has revealed no record of Donald Trump donating $10,000 to a 9/11 despite promise to pledge City Controller Scott Stringer reviewed hundreds of pages of previously untouched records of the two main 9/11 charities for the Daily News. 'For the periods covered by the audits,' he said, 'we did not find any record of a donation from Trump himself or a Trump entity to either the Twin Towers Fund or the New York City Public/Private Initiatives Inc.' The fresh records show no evidence Trump personally or though his Trump Foundation gave money to either group up to 2002. Because the figures only cover the year preceding the attacks, Stringer admitted he could not 'conclude definitively Trump never gave to either group'. Talking in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks, The Republican candidate said he would donate the five-figure sum, but it appears not to have landed in either of the two main charities' accounts But further digging through a huge stack of Donald J Trump Foundation's Form 990 data, which provides a financial breakdown for nonprofit companies or charities, showed no donations to the Twin Towers Fund nor the NYC Public/Private Initiatives Inc between 2001 and 2014. The foundation did make a $1,000 donation in 2006 to Tom Cruise's New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Fund and a $100,000 donation was made to the 9/11 Musem in April this year after Ted Cruz criticized Trump for his 'New York values'. Donald Trump's foundation has been bankrolled by others without any of his own money for years, says the New York Daily News. His campaign said he had made his donations to the American Red Cross after the attacks, but an appearance on the Howard Stern radio show in 2001 suggested otherwise. Trump said he would donate the $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund as part of the fundraising effort Stern was rallying for, says the Daily Post. In a show that aired on October 10, 2001, both Stern and co-host Robin Quivers thanked him for the money. 'He gave us $10,000,' Quivers said. 'Yes he did, to our fund,' Stern responded. Trump didn't dispute that he'd made that pledge. With no evidence that the Trump Foundation did so, the only way for Trump to prove he did so would be to release his tax returns. But it is something he has refused to do throughout the presidential campaign. Trump said he would donate the $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund as part of the fundraising effort Howard Stern was rallying for The controversy appears to be the latest example of his misleading comments about charitable offerings, especially his role in the 9/11 aftermath. Trump lied about receiving $150,000 from a government fund created to help small businesses recover after 9/11, according to the New York Daily News. He claimed the company was given the money as reimbursement for his helping victims by taking them in at his nearby building at 40 Wall Street. But it's become unclear whether or not Trump actually did help people by allowing them to stay at 40 Wall Street, as he's said, with some staff saying they don't ever recall him being there. The Twin Towers fund was set up by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He told the Republican National Convention in July Trump made unspecified 'anonymous' donations after the September 11 attacks, but the controller's office said no such pledges were found in its audit. Giuliani has been a staunch critic of Hillary Clinton, saying she never turned up at Ground Zero in 2001, only for pictures of them to emerge standing together. Due to the records of both the Twin Towers Fund and NYC Public/Private Initiative Inc remaining under lock and key, it remains unclear whether Trump himself might have donated Due to the records of both the Twin Towers Fund and NYC Public/Private Initiative Inc remaining under lock and key, it remains unclear whether Trump himself might have donated, showing it may have slipped his mind. The released figures for the Twin Towers Fund run from the day after the attack through August 31, 2002, and the Public/Private Initiatives Inc. through June 30, 2002. Catherine McVay Hughes, a lower Manhattan community organizer who helped rebuild the neighborhood and currently chairs Community Board 1, told the New York Daily News: 'This is another indication that Trump doesn't have New York or American values of helping those in need. 'Many Americans and people throughout the world with much fewer resources came and responded, and were generous with their resources, their time, even their own health.' Charges followed a shopping centre car park brawl in Three women have been involved in a wild shopping centre car park brawl allegedly sparked by 'nasty' Facebook posts. Mother-of-four Peta Marie Cowburn, 36, was charged with assault following the fight on Thursday September 8, The Gladstone Observer reported. Police were called to a disturbance at about 6.30pm outside Coles at Stocklands Shopping Centre in Gladstone, Queensland, Prosecutor Barry Stevens told a Gladstone court. Mother-of-four Peta Marie Cowburn, 36, (pictured) was charged with assault following the fight on Thursday September 8 Witnesses told police two females began smashing a car and yelling at the woman inside calling her 'slut, whore.' When the woman got outside of the car one of the other women assaulted her and pulled her pony tail. When the alleged victim was on the ground Cowburn punched her in the head, Sergeant Stevens said. The injured female, 32, was taken to to Gladstone Base Hospital. Cowburn's lawyer Stacey O'Gorman said the incident followed a family dispute. 'It is a family dispute. Been a lot of nonsense put on Facebook and quite unfortunate accusations thrown around,' she said. Cowburn was convicted and fined $500. Ukip MEPs have demanded Nigel Farage end his association with Donald Trump as a sex scandal around the Republican candidate deepens. The interim Ukip leader has appeared alongside Mr Trump at rallies and been a leading defender of him on TV and radio. The Republican candidate has faced an unprecedented withdrawal of support from his party less than a month from polling day after tapes emerged of him making sexist and lewd remarks about women. Mr Farage claimed while the words were 'ugly' they were no more significant than 'alpha male boasting'. Nigel Farage and Donald Trump have become close in recent weeks and the Ukip leader has defended the Republican candidate over his sexist remarks Mr Trump went on the attack against Hillary Clinton in response but the affair has deepened as a succession of new allegations have been made. Ukip MEPs met in Brussels last week and demanded Mr Farage end his support for the White House contender, Politics Home said today. Everyone at the meeting - which was said to include about three quarters of the party's 22 MEPs - agreed Mr Farage should change his position. Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire MEP Jane Collins told the website Mr Farage was trying to 'defend the indefensible', arguing: 'To make this kind of criminal behaviour seem normative makes me seriously question his judgment.' She added: 'Trump's sexist and derogatory comments have unequivocally proven he is totally unfit to be president of the United States, and Nigel Farage should think very carefully about defending him.' South-west of England MEP William Dartmouth meanwhile issued a statement to 'strongly disassociate' himself from Mr Farage's actions. 'I am a supporter, even, on occasion, an admirer of Nigel. But this goes too far,' Mr Dartmouth said. Mr Farage appeared at a Trump rally in August as the Republican candidate battled to keep his beleaguered campaign for the White House on track 'What message does it send to us in the UK for Nigel to be an apologist for Mr Trump? 'This is not usual locker room chat, nor indeed is Mr Trump's view shared by very many men.' He added: 'Nigel is the present leader of Ukip and when he speaks, it will be supposed he speaks for the party. On this matter he does not, should not and cannot.' But Mr Elmowafy was spotted catching a train in the early hours of Tuesday A desperate search has been launched to find international student Ugyen Wangchuk, 25, who went missing from Perth more than a week ago. The search to find the missing man comes just days after police issued a missing persons notice for another international student who vanished from Perth on the very same day. Police issued a plea to find Mr Wangchuck on Friday, saying he had not been seen or heard from since October 5. Ugyen Wangchuk, 25, (pictured) was last seen at his home in Bentley, an inner-city Perth suburb, on October 5 Police said the 25-year-old was last seen at his home in Bentley, an inner-city Perth suburb. Originally from Bhutan, police said Mr Wangchuk had no family in Australia, and his friends were desperately worried. With no sighting of Mr Wangchuk for nine days, police urged anyone with information to come forward. He is described as being dark skinned, with a slim build and black short hair. Ehab Elmowafy, 22, (pictured) was last seen in the library at Perth's Curtin University of Technology at 2am on October 5 The search to find Mr Wangchuck comes just two days after police issued a missing persons report for 22-year-old Ehab Elmowafy who also disappeared from Perth on October 5. Mr Elmowafy, 22, was last seen in the library at Perth's Curtin University of Technology at 2am. Police said he hasn't attempted to contact any of his friends or family since. But Mr Elmowafy was spotted on a train by a concerned commuter in the early hours of the morning almost a week after he went missing. Western Australia Police confirmed Ehab Elmowafy (pictured) was seen on a Perth train at 12.25am on Tuesday morning Western Australia Police confirmed Mr Elmowafy was seen on a Perth train at 12.25am on Tuesday morning. A passenger on the train spoke to Mr Elmowafy when they recognised the missing man, and took a photograph of him before he got off at Midland train station and walked away in an easterly direction. That was the last and only known sighting of the Canning Vale man since his mysterious disappearance a week earlier. Ehab Elmowafy was seen by a passenger getting off a train at Midland train station (pictured) early on Tuesday morning before walking off in an easterly direction Western Australia Police said Mr Elmowafy's disappearance was 'out of character' and held concerns for his welfare. Mr Elmowafy was last seen wearing black jeans and a black jacket, and is described as being 185cm tall, with a slim build, brown hair, and brown eyes. An 18-year-old man has been arrested over the death of a 17-year-old mother who gave birth to a baby son just five weeks ago. West Yorkshire Police were called to Beeston, Leeds, shortly before 5am this morning after reports of a woman with 'serious injuries'. The woman has been named locally as Sophie Smith, who gave birth to her son Harrison last month. Scroll down for video Sophie Smith, 17, (pictured with boyfriend Morgan Banks) from Beeston, Leeds, died in hospital after being found at home with 'serious injuries' West Yorkshire Police were called to the property shortly before 5am this morning Friends have been paying tribute to Sophie, saying that her son and his father Morgan were 'her world'. School friend Megaan Rhodes, described her as 'bubbly' and one of the most popular girls you could ever meet. She said: 'We were friends from school. She was bubbly and fun and she had everything going for her. And now it's all been ripped apart.' Megaan, 17, said that Sophie had been with her boyfriend, Morgan Banks, for about a year and had been excited about their new baby together. She said: 'She was so excited to be a new mum. She loved Morgan a lot and knew she wanted to keep the baby. 'She used to write on Facebook about how her boys were her world.' Sophie recently gave birth to her baby son. One wrote: 'R.I.P Sophie smith you poor little thing. Thinking off you and family and that beautiful little boy!' Friends have been paying tribute to Sophie, saying that her son and his father Morgan (pictured) were 'her world' Megaan said she has been left 'devastated' by her friend's death. She said: 'We had a falling out just last week and we didn't get a chance to make up and now she's gone. 'If I had the chance I'd just want to say how sorry I am. Now she's gone and I'll never be able to tell her.' Others took to social media to pay tribute to Sophie. Carli Carver posted on Facebook: 'Feel proper sick only soo young and she's just brought a lovely boy into this world! r.i.p sophie x (sic)'. Joanne Follis said: 'R.i.p Sophie Smith thinking of your loved ones and your baby boy what a terrible thing to wake upto.' Georgia Mcshane said: 'R.I.P Sophie smith you poor little thing. Thinking off you and family and that beautiful little boy!' Other friends posted tributes to Sophie on social media after hearing the news this morning Police were called by the ambulance service who were attending to Sophie. The victim was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later. A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: 'An 18-year-old-man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is in custody. 'Police enquiries are currently at an early stage and a scene is in place.' The incident took place at an address in Tempest Road, Beeston. It is not yet clear whether the suspect was known to Sophie. An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder following the death 10/27/2022 NOTICE: The Hamilton County Registers Office did not publish this data. All information in the Registers Office is public information as set out in T.C.A. 10-7-503. For questions regarding ... more Advertisement Hundreds of historical re-enactors will take to the site of the Battle of Hastings tomorrow in celebration of its 950th anniversary - but some just couldn't wait to get their swords and shields out. More than 1,000 people will take to the hillside where Harold was defeated tomorrow for a sold-out event as they relive the battle that changed English history. For many it is the conclusion of a three-week tour that has seen them travel more than 300 miles across the country. They set up camp today ahead of today's main event, and many were seen using technology of the time to grind grain, start fires and cook meat. Both sides attack each other during a practice battle. A woman can be seen lying on the floor, presumably 'killed' in the fighting More practice fighting. Hundreds of historical re-enactors will tomorrow take to the site of the battle almost a millenium after it was originally fought One camper tends to some sausages to keep his troops fed ahead of the big battle, which is already a sell-out event A huge melee ensues as one side goes on the offensive with their spears while the other side uses their shields to try and block them Two men fight with swords 950 years to the day since other would have done the same, only for real, during the Battle Of Hastings One re-enactor takes a moment to remove his helmet and look on at the battle unfolding in front of him And some just could not wait to get stuck into the fighting, with large melees captured as well as lots of one-to-one combat. Many historical groups will be participating in a large-scale re-enactment on the original site close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex. Gerald Uhl, a 49-year-old research chemist from Bavaria, will be taking part with his family, and he joked in The Times: We are here to bring you back to Europe, Stop Brexit! For some of those taking part tomorrow their three-week march began in York on September 25 and has taken them south on foot and on horseback in an echo of the journey King Harold made to fight in the battle. Some members prepare to cook a deer ahead of the re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings A child looks on as one member of the party grinds grain in preparation for the battle A woman uses a pair of bellows to stoke up a fire as the campers warm up for their big battle tomorrow Two other fighters who could not wait until tomorrow in order for the main event to get going Both sides even had their own campsites where they cooked and rested. A man is pictured right lying down to enjoy a pre-battle snack For some of those taking part have been on a three-week tour that has taken them south on foot and on horseback in an echo of the journey King Harold made to fight in the battle The march, organised by English Heritage, travelled through the Fens and to Essex, visiting Waltham Abbey where tradition says Harold may have been buried. Marching into central London, the re-enactors joined a pop-up Saxon encampment in Hyde Park on October 8. In the final week of the journey, the group has travelled from Westminster into Kent and through the Weald to East Sussex, completing their version of Harolds last journey, before arriving for the annual re-enactment. Tim Benfield of the st Centingas historic re-enactment group poses for portraits in his home in Canterbury while wearing his replica armour Elliot Aish also a member of the same group has been practising his fighting skills for the weekend in Broadstairs Members of the st Centingas historic re-enactment group training in Birchington this month It has been dubbed a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity for all those taking part and events start today Elliot Aish inhales from an electronic smoking device during a break in training English Heritage marchers pictured in London on the latest leg of their march to recreate King Harold's final journey from York to Battle WHEN AND WHY DID THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS TAKE PLACE? The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 miles northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory. There continued to be rebellions and resistance to William's rule, but Hastings effectively marked the culmination of William's conquest of England. Advertisement Nigel Amos, who is leading the 1066 march on behalf of English Heritage, said: 'I have been involved in re-enactment for many years and for me this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.' Men, women, children, and horses will all be taking part in this special event, with some services starting today. The Royal Engineers' band will be leading children and re-enactors in costume through streets of Battle at 2.15pm this Friday, followed by a service of remembrance at St Mary's parish church and at 6.10pm, there will be a lowering of the flags on Abbey Green at sunset. On Saturday from 3pm the battle begins with more than 1,100 people and for visitors who havent got tickets to the sold out event there are still encampments and weapon shows over the weekend. Matthijs Demedts in his replica Norman clothing at his home in Dover Matt Town, 'knight of Ramsgate' and his trusty... cat Tim Benfield in his full kit ready for the battle which is set to start at 3pm this Saturday Left to right: Elliot Aish and Matthijs Demedts ready with their weapons But how many of these mighty men will make part of the fallen this weekend? Theresa May was warned her days in charge of the United Kingdom were 'numbered' today by the furious deputy leader of the SNP. Angus Robertson, who won a landslide election to the post yesterday, insisted 'Remain means Remain' and demanded the Prime Minister help Scotland stay in the EU or face a second independence referendum. Scotland voted heavily for Remain at June's referendum, unlike England and Wales which overall backed Brexit. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon earlier insisted it was 'inconceivable' Westminster could refuse to allow a second independence referendum if Britain quits the single market during Brexit. No 10 today warned the question of Scottish independence was settled and urged the SNP to 'respect' the 2014 referendum. Scroll down for video SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson, pictured speaking at the conference in Glasgow today, warned the UK would be broken up if Theresa May imposed a 'hard Brexit' Mr Robertson won a huge standing ovation from the SNP faithful for his furious assault on Mrs May's Brexit plans In his main speech to the SNP conference in Glasgow, Mr Robertson accused Mrs May of plotting 'economic vandalism' by taking Scotland out of the single market. And to a thunderous standing ovation, the leader of the SNP MPs in Westminster said: 'It is clear the Tories represent a clear and present danger to Scotland's interests. 'Theresa May says options for keeping Scotland in the EU are impractical. That we have had our referendum and there will be a uk approach to Brexit. 'She refuses to accept that for Scotland, for us, Remain means Remain. 'If you continue to ignore the express will of the people of Scotland, if you continue to refuse to consider how we might protect Scotland's place in the EU, then be in no doubt. 'Your days as PM of the United Kingdom are numbered.' SNP COULD VOTE AGAINST NEW GRAMMAR SCHOOLS The SNP could oppose Theresa May's grammar school plans, potentially dooming them to defeat, the party's education spokeswoman said today. Carol Monaghan warned the England-only policy could have impact on Scotland's budgets under the 'Barnett formula'. A significant minority of Conservative MPs are deeply unhappy with the grammar school plans and getting the reforms through Parliament was already tricky. Mrs May faces likely defeat if the 54 SNP MPs join the vote against the plan even though it will not apply in Scotland. Ms Monaghan told the SNP conference in Glasgow: 'If schools across England set pay scales lower than the agreed national scales, that would mean an education budget across the piste would be lower, and there are Barnett consequentials for us.' Advertisement Theresa May is due to formally begin the two year process of Brexit by the end of March meaning Ms Sturgeon would need to hold a referendum before March 2019 to have any chance of keeping Scotland in the EU after Britain leaves. Conservative and Labour politicians slammed Ms Sturgeon's warning of a second independence referendum yesterday, insisting the question had been settled by the 2014 poll which the SNP lost by 10 per cent. Mrs May's official spokesman said today: 'There was a referendum, there was a clear question on the ballot paper and we should respect the democratic decision that was made.' Former first minister Alex Salmond joined the campaign today, urging London MPs to join with the SNP bloc in opposing a hard Brexit in the Commons. He said: 'I think that both the first minister and Mayor of London, London representatives as well as us, are going to be striving hard to prevent a leaving of the single marketplace which unfortunately looks on the cards at this present moment. 'How we might do it might be differentbut we have both got a great interest in co-operating to maintain [relations].' Deputy First Minister John Swinney, right today at the conference with Ms Sturgeon, promoted greater devolution in his keynote speech to delegates Nicola Sturgeon, pictured touring the SNP conference yesterday, claimed it was 'inconceivable' Westminster would stand in the way of a second Scottish independence referendum fought over Brexit Ms Sturgeon's latest intervention came ahead of the second day of the SNP conference in Glasgow today. She said Brexit had fundamentally changed the question about Scotland's future. ELECT CLINTON TO STOP TRUMP, STURGEON TELLS AMERICA Nicola Sturgeon today urged America to reject Donald Trump and put Hillary Clinton in the White House. Amid a growing furore over Mr Trump's remarks about women, Ms Sturgeon broke the convention of not intervening on other country's elections. 'I don't like much of anything of what he says,' she told ITV's Good Morning Britain. 'There is a rule that says leaders of government shouldn't comment on other elections, I think in this election I am happy to break that rule. 'I hope that the American people don't elect Donald Trump as president I hope they elect Hillary Clinton. 'I think it would be fantastic to see the first woman president of the USA.' Advertisement The SNP leader told the BBC: 'In 2014 and I obviously didn't agree with this it was very much, those who argued against independence said it was about the economic certainty and stability of the UK versus the uncertainty of independence. 'What we have now in the UK, particularly if it comes out of the single market, is instability and uncertainty and lost economic growth. 'So this would be a debate about what gives Scotland the best prospect not of waving a magic wand about its economy but of building the best economic future.' Westminster has to give legal permission for a referendum on Scottish independence but Ms Sturgeon insisted: 'I've not heard anybody from Westminster say that they would withhold that approval. 'I actually would find it totally inconceivable that that would be the case. 'Scotland is in a position right now that we didn't ask to be in: those who voted in Scotland, 62% voted to stay in the EU, so we've been put into this position by largely the Conservative party.' The SNP leader said maintaining membership of the EU single market was crucial for Scotland's future and highlighted the examples of Iceland and Norway. Mrs May has placed controlling immigration at the top her priority list indicating continued single market membership could prove impossible. SNP delegates are gathered in Glasgow today for their annual party conference with Brexit and independence high on the agenda The case against Ms Sturgeon's ambition was heightened last night by EU Council president Donald Tusk warning the choice facing Britain was a 'hard Brexit or no Brexit'. Ms Sturgeon said: 'I don't pretend and I have never since the referendum pretended that it would be straightforward or without challenges and maybe we'll find that none of these ways are possible and that independence is the only option for Scotland to pursue but we will try very hard to put other options on the table.' The SNP leader said maintaining membership of the EU single market was crucial for Scotland's future and highlighted the examples of Iceland and Norway Delegates at Glasgow's SECC are due to debate the party's work in Westminster and Scotland's place in Europe, ensuring the questions of independence and Brexit will remain at the fore. In other debates, Deputy First Minister John Swinney stressed it is in the 'national interest' for power to to be transferred to local communities - adding that the principle behind this is why he believes in independence. He addressed the SNP conference in Glasgow on the party's record in government, nearly a decade after it first came to power in 2007. He told activists: 'Make no mistake, we are the national party and we will always put the national interest first. 'We believe in our nation's ability to govern itself and we believe in our communities' ability to take power into their own hands.' The speech comes at a time when the Scottish Government has angered councils with plans to use extra money raised by council tax reforms to pay for improvements in education, with the money going to head teachers rather than local authorities. But Mr Swinney said the SNP wants to 'reinvigorate local government by reconnecting it with communities'. Ms Sturgeon has warned Mrs May the 'ball is in your court' as she condemned the Tories for putting Scotland in the position where it faced leaving the EU Mrs May and Ms Sturgeon met in July for initial talks on Brexit but relations between the pair have appeared to deteriorate as the Prime Minister sets out her plans. SWINNEY: WE COULD BACK SHARING THE POUND AT A SECOND INDY REF The SNP could go into a second independence referendum arguing again that Scotland should share the pound with the rest of the UK. When the policy was put forward in the run-up to the 2014 vote, it was rejected by then chancellor George Osborne and other leading Westminster politicians - and was seen as one reason why the Yes campaign failed. But Deputy First Minister John Swinney said he does not know if nationalists will necessarily have to make a different argument if another vote on leaving the UK takes place. He was speaking after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the SNP conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week. Speaking at a fringe event at the conference held by The Times newspaper, the former finance secretary said a better economic case will need to be made to persuade most Scots to leave the UK. He said he had been at the 'epicentre' of the economic argument for independence, but that it was not 'sufficiently compelling' to voters in 2014. He also said he does not regret making the case for an independent Scotland to share the pound with the rest of the UK. Mr Swinney said: 'I don't regret any decision. I took what I thought were the best decisions. I would love the currency issue to have been one which glided through nice and smoothly and didn't cause any disruption, but the other options we considered, the other possibilities, were not without their challenges. 'I don't regret anything about the arguments I put forward, I have to honestly accept they weren't sufficiently compelling because we didn't win the referendum, which is why we have to be open minded about how we pursue these arguments in the future.' Advertisement Ms Sturgeon opened her conference yesterday telling Mrs May the 'ball is in your court' as she condemned the Tories for putting Scotland in the position where it faced leaving the EU. Attacking Tory plans for a hard Brexit that target immigration control over free market access, Ms Sturgeon warned: 'No one would have the right to deny Scotland the chance of choosing a better future.' And the First Minister warned: ' On the morning after the referendum, I said I would protect Scotland's ability to make that choice. 'In our Programme for Government, I committed to publishing a draft referendum bill. 'I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests.' Ms Sturgeon said she wanted the power to 'strike international trade deals' and 'greater powers over immigration'. And she said: 'UK ministers might think it is acceptable to order businesses to create lists of foreign workers. We do not.' The measures promoted by the Scottish Government will look to implement the 'softest possible' Brexit for Scotland with a view to creating a different settlement north of the border. The proposals will focus on areas already devolved to Scotland that have European links, such as police and justice. But sources close to the First Minister insisted the objective was not to impose 'red lines' on Mrs May's Article 50 negotiations. In her opening address to launch the three-day SNP conference at the SECC in Glasgow, she told members the party would work to frustrate and limit the Government's Brexit plans. She told delegates: 'I can confirm today that SNP MPs will vote against the Brexit Bill when it come before the House of Commons next year. 'That Bill will repeal the legislation that enacted our EU membership. Scotland didn't vote for that and so neither will our MPs. 'But we will also work to persuade others Labour, Liberals and moderate Tories to join us in a coalition against a hard Brexit: not just for Scotland, but for the whole UK.' Ms Sturgeon addressed a packed hall at Glasgow's SECC and received a huge standing ovation, pictured, as she announced the new referendum bill Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said her party would oppose any attempt to 'drag' Scotland into a second independence referendum. She said: 'Nicola Sturgeon could today have set out a positive, constructive vision for how the country progresses together. 'Instead she has made it clear she wants to take Scotland back to yet more uncertainty, more division and more constitutional upheaval. 'This isn't the action of a First Minister of Scotland but an SNP fundamentalist who puts independence first, last and always.' SNP activists gathered in Glasgow today for the first day of three discussing SNP policies and priorities after May's elections and the EU referendum Alex Salmond slams 'depressing little England' as he welcomes the Brain family to SNP conference Alex Salmond has condemned Theresa May's 'depressing little England' as he welcomed an Australian family who successfully fought deportation to the SNP conference. The former first minister was joined on stage by Gregg Brain, who gave an emotional speech to delegates gathered in Glasgow on the 'horrific' battle they endured to be allowed to stay in the country. Mr Brain, his wife Kathryn and their son Lachlan, now seven, set up home in Dingwall in 2011 but were told to quit the UK voluntarily after the Home Office said their leave to remain would not be continued. The family initially moved to the UK on Mrs Brain's student visa but a two-year post-study visa scheme then on offer was later withdrawn by the UK Government. Alex Salmond and his colleagues welcome the Brain family to SNP conference in Glasgow today. Pictured: (Left to Right) Angus Robertson MP, Ian Blackford MP, Gregg Brain, Lachlan Brain, Kathryn Brain, Kate Forbes MP and Alex Salmond MP Last month it was confirmed that the family could stay on a 12-month visa after Mrs Brain was offered a job with a Highland hotel group. Mr Salmond, the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman, said their experience had been a 'tale of two countries and indeed of two governments'. The Gordon MP said: 'We should be grateful to the Tory party. In their Birmingham conference they lifted the lid on the true intent and the emptiness of their programme. Mr Salmond, the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman, said the family's experience had been a 'tale of two countries and indeed of two governments' 'If we stick to London rule then we know exactly what lies in store. Boiled down to its essence a closed, intolerant, backward-looking society. Theresa May's little England - has there ever been a more miserable, depressing, backward-looking notion ever offered to the people of this nation?' Declaring there is 'a better way for Scotland', he added: 'Let us proclaim our vision of a new Scotland - open, tolerant, prosperous, growing and above all free to choose our own way forward.' Mr Brain received a rapturous reception when he appeared on stage in support of a resolution on post-study work visas, wearing a yellow badge emblazoned with a large F as his 'response to Amber Rudd's programme' - a reference to the Home Secretary's now abandoned proposal to have firms list foreign workers. An emotional Mr Brain, who was joined by his wife and child and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, appeared close to tears as he thanked supporters including Mr Salmond and Ian Blackford MP. He said: 'I'm confident that nobody will be more sincere when I say to you that Scotland, it is good to be here. We have had a victory but the cost has been horrific. Financially we will probably never recover, but we are in the country where we belong for now.' He added: 'They have to know Scotland wants them to come. Scotland, you've welcomed my family with open arms, please tell the world you'll welcome future students as well.' The family of a Chinese woman who was eaten alive by a tiger are seeking two million yuan (244,000) compensation. The woman was mauled to death at Beijing's Badaling Wildlife World in July when she left her vehicle to save her daughter who had also left the vehicle during an argument, reports the People's Daily Online. The daughter was injured in the attack and her family are seeking compensation for both her and her mother. Shocking: The mother was mauled by a tiger after she went to rescue her daughter Not the time! The daughter had exited the car apparently due to feeling car sick The woman's daughter named Zhao is leading the claim for compensation. She was injured in the attack after she left her family's vehicle. The Siberian tiger started attacking her and the woman's mother came to her rescue. The mother was mauled to death by the animal. The 6,000-acre park, which allows people to either drive themselves or join a tour, tells people not to leave their vehicles at any point. It was claimed that the daughter stepped out of the car because she was quarreling with another passenger. However she told the Beijing Times on October 12 that she got out of the car because she was feeling car sick. Horriyfing footage: In the footage, the tiger can be seen jumping on the woman Terrifying: According to an employee at the zoo, the parties are still negotiating Zhao is arguing that zoo staff did not fully explain the safety instructions before they entered the enclosure. Zhao's husband has argued that there was only one employee on patrol at the time and claims his only means of seeing off the tiger was by beeping the horn of his car. They believe the zoo should assume full responsibility for the mother's death and around 70 to 80 percent for Zhao's injuries. According to an employee at the zoo, the parties are still negotiating the compensation. This is not the first time the tigers have attacked someone in the park: two years ago, a male employee was killed by one of the tigers, SXDSD Voc reported. Entrance to the park costs 5, and visitors can feed the animals - although they aren't allowed to get close to the attraction's larger residents. Not a good idea: The woman can be seen running out of her vehicle in the safari park The park allows people to view the animals from their vehicles Many people on China's social media site Weibo have criticised the woman. One user wrote: 'If she didn't get out of the car it would not happen. They are at a zoo, not a park.' While another commented: 'Every adult should be responsible for their own behaviour.' Nigeria's first lady has openly questioned whether her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, is in control of his government and said she may not campaign for him if he seeks a second term. In an interview with the BBC Hausa-language service broadcast Friday, Aisha Buhari said her husband, 73, did not know many top government appointees, and she accused them of not sharing the vision of his All Progressives Congress party. She did not name names. 'The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years,' the first lady, who is 23 years her husband's junior, said. President Buhari laughed off her comments, saying: 'I don't know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room.' Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari's wife (left) has vowed never to campaign for him again The president has come under pressure after the Nigerian economy, battered by low global oil prices and a currency devaluation, entered recession in August. His comments to reporters in Germany promoted German Chancellor Angela Merkel, standing at his side, to give him a short glare and then laugh. In his comments to reporters, Buhari also said he hopes his wife will remember that he ran for president three times before succeeding on the fourth effort. 'So I claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition, because in the end I have succeeded. It's not easy to satisfy the whole Nigerian opposition parties or to participate in the government.' Buhari, who was briefly a military dictator in the 1980s, was elected in his fourth run at the presidency in 2015 on the back of a coalition that includes former foes and opportunists who abandoned the former governing party of defeated President Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari has not said whether he will run again in 2019. 'He is yet to tell me, but I have decided as his wife that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again,' Aisha Buhari said. President Buhari laughed off his wife's comments, saying: 'I don't know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room.' Mohammadu Buhari (L), is pictured here watching his wife, Aisha register to vote on March 28, 2015 Muhammadu Buhari campaigned promising to crack down on corruption and turn the tide against the Boko Haram insurgency. His government yesterday announced the first negotiated release of 21 of 218 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. However, Nigeria's northeast faces a famine that threatens to kill tens of thousands of children after Boko Haram disrupted the region's transportation and farming. Some areas remain dangerous and inaccessible. Nigeria has also fallen into recession amid slumped oil prices and lost its position as Africa's biggest petroleum producer as militants attacked pipelines in the south. This shocking video show the moment an alleged drunk driver was caught swerving onto the wrong side of the road in full view of a police car. Dashcam footage shows the motorist slowly edging into the right-hand lane of a remote road in Looma, Western Australia, without realising. The driver, who had also mistakenly put his indicator on, was allegedly three times over the legal blood alcohol limit and lucky to avoid a serious crash. This shocking video show the moment an alleged drunk driver was caught swerving onto the wrong side of the road in full view of a police car A police officer who happened to be behind the car at the time of the incident can be heard reacting with shock as the car weaves from side to side. The cop gives a blast of his siren but the driver ahead does not seem to hear it and continues to sweep into the right-hand lane. Another blast of the siren sees the driver slow down and eventually pull over at the side of the road. Despite police saying he was three times over the limit, the motorist put his poor driving down to talking and attempting to light a cigarette. The driver, who had also mistakenly put his indicator on, was allegedly three times over the legal blood alcohol limit and lucky to avoid a serious crash A police officer who happened to be behind the car at the time of the incident can be heard reacting with shock as the car weaves from side to side A Western Australia Police spokesman said: 'Traffic enforcement plays a big role for many country coppers and Looma - a remote community roughly 120km south east of Derby, near the Fitzroy River - is no different. 'The other day, Looma Police stopped this car, with the male driver having a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.147. The legal limit is 0.05. 'His excuse for the driving was that he was talking and trying to light a cigarette.' It is not clear if the driver was fined on the spot or whether they will have to appear in court. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Western Australia Police for more information. It's best not to approach a wounded bear unless it's definitely dead. One hunter learnt this lesson the hard way after he approached a black bear he and his friends were tracking down - only to be attacked by the beast. The terrifying footage first shows a bearded man in khaki with a gun standing at the top of a steep slope in a forest in America. The terrifying footage first shows a bearded man in khaki with a gun standing at the top of a steep slope in a forest in America. A large bear can be seen lying in the branch of a tall tree a little way off while hunting dogs bark excitedly The man filming stands behind the man, while a third hunter stands at the bottom of the slope ready to get the bear when it falls. Shots are fired and the bear leaps up and can be seen scrabbling around in the tree top before it is shot again A large bear can be seen lying in the branch of a tall tree a little way off while hunting dogs bark excitedly. The man filming stands behind the man, while a third hunter stands at the bottom of the slope ready to get the bear when it falls. Shots are fired and the bear leaps up and can be seen scrabbling around in the tree top before it is shot again. After a third crack of gunfire the animal suddenly falls to the forest floor. The hunter standing at the base of the slope rushes forward to what he presumes is the corpse - but he greatly misjudges the situation. All at once the beast leaps up and launches itself at the man who can be heard yelling in pain and panic at the horrific attack. After a third crack of gunfire the animal suddenly falls to the forest floor. The hunter standing at the base of the slope rushes forward to what he presumes is the corpse - but he greatly misjudges the situation All at once the beast leaps up and launches itself at the man who can be heard yelling in pain and panic at the horrific attack. The hunter at the top of the slope urgently scrambles down the leaf-strewn hill to rescue his friend before the footage ends The hunter at the top of the slope urgently scrambles down the leaf-strewn hill to rescue his friend before the footage ends. The video uploader wrote on YouTube that the hunter fortunately survived the scary encounter. 'Luckily he only suffered minor injuries that will definitely leave a scar but it could have been much worse,' he said. A graphic photo shows the bloody puncture wounds in the man's side. Hundreds of police officers saluted the flag-draped coffin of a Missouri police officer who was shot and killed by an 18-year-old suspect during an early morning shootout last week. The law enforcement community paid their respects at the funeral of St. Louis County police officer Blake Snyder in Chesterfield yesterday. Officers from around the country turned out to commemorate Snyder, who was fatally shot while on duty on October 6 after encountering a man accused of causing a disturbance in a normally quiet, suburban St. Louis neighborhood. Hundreds of police officers saluted the coffin of a Missouri police officer who was shot and killed by an 18-year-old suspect last week The law enforcement community paid their respects at the funeral of St. Louis County police officer Blake Snyder in Chesterfield yesterday Officers from around the country turned out to commemorate Snyder, who was fatally shot while on duty on October 6 St. Louis police officer Blake Snyder pictured above before he was killed last week Snyder was struck point-blank died instantly, Chief Jon Belmar told KSDK at the time. The second officer returned fire and injured the teen, who was in critical condition. His name has not yet been released. Authorities said Snyder and the second officer were responding to a disturbance call in Green Park when he was shot. Snyder had encountered a man accused of causing a disturbance in a normally quiet, suburban St. Louis neighborhood Snyder was struck point-blank died instantly, Police Chief Jon Belmar has reported The second officer returned fire and injured the teen, who was in critical condition Authorities said Snyder and the second officer were responding to a disturbance call in Green Park when he was shot The suspect is connected to a felony narcotics case that Snyder was involved with, Belmar told CBS St Louis. Snyder, who Belmar said was a 'great guy' and a dedicated cop, had worked at the St Louis County Police Department for four years. He is the first officer at the department to be killed in the line of duty in 16 years. Belmar said there were no dash cams or body cameras in use at the time of the shooting. The suspect is connected to a felony narcotics case that Snyder was involved with Snyder, who Belmar said was a 'great guy' and a dedicated cop, had worked at the St Louis County Police Department for four years He is the first officer at the department to be killed in the line of duty in 16 years The 48-year-old was signed off from work for two weeks on his return to UK A couple who splashed out 5,000 on a luxury break in the Maldives had their holiday of a lifetime ruined when they were struck down by a 'severe gastric illness'. Ian and Mandy Wesley, from Bridgnorth in Shropshire, are taking legal action against luxury tour operator Kuoni Travel after Ian, 48, became seriously ill after three days. The couple had travelled to the four-star Kuramathi Island Resort in the Maldives to celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary alongside Mrs Wesley's 50th birthday. However the 5,000 holiday was ruined on the third day as Mr Wesley had to seek out the hotel doctor due to severe diarrhoea and excruciating stomach cramps. Ian and Mandy Wesley (pictured left) are taking legal action against luxury tour operator Kuoni Travel after Ian, 48, became seriously ill after three days (right) He said he 'keeled over' just after giving his wife her anniversary card and couldn't keep any food down and lost weight making him extremely weak. He visited the hotel doctor a number of times, receiving antibiotics and medication which the doctor described to the couple as 'bug-killers'. On the couple's return home in May, Mr Wesley was still suffering from gastroenteritis symptoms and was signed off work by his GP for two weeks. They claimed food in the buffet restaurant was sometimes undercooked and was not of the standard that they expected from a luxury resort. The couple claimed food in the buffet restaurant at the hotel was sometimes undercooked and was not of the standard that they expected from a luxury resort Ian visited the hotel doctor a number of times, receiving antibiotics and medication which the doctor described to the couple as 'bug-killers' Accounts Administrator Mrs Wesley, 50, said: 'After the first few days of the holiday it became clear that it was going to be a disaster. Ian was in the hotel room for most of his time. 'When we saw the hotel doctor there were lots of others in the waiting room with the same problems and we saw someone else who said they were on their honeymoon and she had been hooked up to a drip for dehydration due to her illness. 'We had saved to go somewhere special for our holiday and although the place itself was beautiful we just did not get to enjoy it. We just want to know what happened. 'You do not go on holiday to come back feeling worse than when you set off. Ian was off work for a few weeks and it impacted on his pay.' On the couple's return home in May, Mr Wesley was still suffering from gastroenteritis symptoms and was signed off work by his GP for two weeks They have now instructed personal injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate, after becoming unsatisfied with progress through Kuoni's own complaints process. Jatinder Paul, an associate solicitor at Irwin Mitchell said: 'This was supposed to be a relaxing, luxury trip to the Maldives to celebrate their wedding anniversary but it was just ruined by the illness Ian and to a lesser extent Mandy suffered after eating in the hotel restaurant. 'They have instructed us to investigate their concerns and it is worrying that they report other guests were also ill at the same time. We would ask anyone else who suffered illness at this resort to contact us as they may be able to help with our enquiries.' A spokeswoman for the travel company told MailOnline: 'Kuoni takes any claims surrounding the health and well-being of our customers very seriously indeed. Police in Colorado are hunting two suspects who robbed a man of $80,000 in cash after he left a KeyBank branch. The robbery happened at 10.30am on September 28, at an Aurora branch of the bank, on the 10500 block of East Arizona Place. The man was set upon by two robbers, who knocked him to the ground before stealing the money. A police spokesman said: 'The victim went to the bank to withdraw $80,000 for the business that he worked at. A man was robbed of $80,000 in cash after he left a KeyBank branch in Colorado Police released these images of the men fleeing the scene in a white Lincoln LX 'As he left the bank he was assaulted by two black males who knocked him to the ground and took his cash.' The suspects then fled the scene in a white Lincoln LX which had no license plates, police said. on the south island and took nearly 16 hours A high-speed car chase spanning nearly 720km has ended with police arresting a 20-year-old suspect fleeing on foot. The Subaru driver allegedly led police on three separate pursuits, after police attempted to pull him over for speeding, as he powered from one end of New Zealand's south island to the other. Police first attempted to pull the car over at 1am near Nelson, then they failed to stop it in Christchurch and finally the driver dumped his blue Subaru and a suspect was arrested in Waikouaiti, north of Dunedin at 5pm. The blue Subaru was caught fleeing pursuing police at high-speeds on the dash cam of a car Police had to stop their pursuit on three occasions before catching the 20-year-old suspect 720km away from where the chase started on the south island of New Zealand Police had to stop their pursuit on three occasions - during the driver's 720km journey - due to safety reasons, NZ Stuff reported. One witness claimed he watched the blue Subaru fly past in a 50kmh zone while he was refueling in a small town near Otago. 'She was pretty fully on . . . It would've been going about 180 to 200 clicks. It would've been off the clock,' Ricky James told NZ Stuff. 'It must've been a twin turbo Subaru Legacy. It would've had a bit of work done to it to be that quick . . . They [police] had no chance to catch up.' It is reported the driver led police on three separate chases from Stoke to Waikouaiti spanning 720km on New Zealand's south island The drawn out car chase eventually came to an end when the driver allegedly fled on foot after dumping the Subaru and a 20-year-old Nelson man was caught running away near Dunedin. A police dog and handler were involved in the arrest. Unsurprisingly, the car was accused of breaking the speed limits in multiple towns and overtaking cars on double yellow lines. Police said the man will be charged for driving while disqualified and failing to stop for police, but more charges relating to the driving are likely to be dished out. A second person has been arrested in an incident in which a youth was robbed and thrown to the ground. Dontae Devaughn Goodner, 20, of 6731 Rocky River Road, was arrested earlier. Now Noah Dennis Ross White, 18, of 4611 Webb Road, is also charged with aggravated robbery. A youth said he got off the school bus and started walking home. He said he passed by a red vehicle that was parked at an abandoned duplex at 3960 Arbor Place Lane. Three black males were inside. He said White asked if he wanted to buy some marijuana and took payment from him. Then, he said, Goodner opened the trunk of his car, took out a machete and told him to give him the rest of the money in his pocket. He said after he gave them the money, he begged for his life. Goodner and White picked him up and threw him to the ground, breaking his foot, he said. He said he recognized Goodner and White. He picked them out of a photo lineup. Goodner was stopped in a red vehicle just prior to midnight the next night. A machete was found in the trunk of the car. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday defended his threat to kill criminals as 'perfect' and vowed no let-up in his war on crime, as the death toll surged past 3,700. International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Thursday she was 'deeply concerned' about the violence, and signalled Duterte could face prosecution by her body for his incitements to kill. But Duterte launched a typically defiant counter-attack on Friday, defending his rhetoric and the crime war that is seeing more that 1,000 people killed every month. 'There is nothing wrong in threatening criminals to death. By that statement alone: "You criminals, I will kill you. Do not fool around." It is a perfect statement,' Duterte said. The dead body of an alleged drug dealer is pictured gunned down by unidentified men in Manila. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte defended his threat to kill criminals as 'perfect' Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a pledge to eradicate drugs Describing his critics as 'fools', Duterte reiterated his position he was not breaking any domestic laws by threatening to kill criminals and pledged the crime war would continue until there were no more illegal drugs in society. 'I will not stop. Be sure of it, you can cast it in whatever stone. I will not stop until the last pusher, until the last drug lord is taken away.' Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a pledge to eradicate drugs. Last month Duterte said he would be 'happy to slaughter' three million drug addicts, and likened his campaign to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews in Europe. This pictures shows the body of a man killed by unknown gunmen in Caloocan City, Manila, Philippines early October 14 The remains of an alleged drug user that was pinned down by members of Philippines National Police during a shoot-out in Manila on Friday Policemen and investigators gather around the body of Rancel Cruz, a police officer killed by unknown gunmen in Caloocan City, Manila, on Friday A police officer shows the bullet that he said was stopped by his body armour during a shootout with four alleged drug users in Manila He later apologised for his Hitler reference, but said he was 'emphatic' about wanting to kill all drug addicts. Since Duterte took office, police have killed 1,578 people and 2,151 have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures released Friday. The total of 3,729 is 368 more than the previous police update released last week. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have condemned alleged extrajudicial killings and warned of a breakdown in the rule of law. Bensouda indicated Thursday that Duterte was at risk of joining the likes of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, in being indicted by the International Criminal Court. Residents react near a crime scene where three alleged drug dealers were killed after a drug raid in a shanty community in Manila Residents look from behind a gate as police investigate a murder scene in Caloocan City Residents are lit by light of emergency vehicles as they gather near the site where police officer Rancel Cruz was killed by unknown gunmen A member of the special police force takes position near the site where police officer Rancel Cruz was killed 'Let me be clear: any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing... to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the Court,' she said in a statement. The Philippine government this week invited UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings. But Duterte vowed on Thursday to 'humiliate' her and any other critics if they dared to come to the Philippines and investigate. Advertisement A German sailor's private collection of photographs onboard a Nazi warship, which was involved in the sinking of a famous British aircraft carrier, are set to go under the hammer. The album is believed to have belonged to Herbert Hansen, who joined the German Navy in April 1938. While the pictures show the ship firing on and sinking British cargo shipping, they also reveal the everyday way of life on the Gneisenau warship. Hansen's album shows the sailors exercising and relaxing on leave and having their hair cut at the ship's barber. Scroll down for video A collection of photographs belonging to a German sailor are going up for sale at an auction The never-before-seen album shows both life and war aboard the battleship Gneisenau After the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, the Gneisenau was one of the most fearsome German warships During the long-running Battle of the Atlantic, the Germans at the start of 1942 (pictured) tried to prevent the build-up of Allied supplies and equipment in the British Isles in preparation for the invasion of occupied Europe Hansen was a keen photographer and titled the album 'my life and my time in the military'. After the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, the Gneisenau was one of the most fearsome German warships. Gneisenau and her sister ship Scharnhorst sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious in the North Sea while it was evacuating British aircraft from Norway in June 1940. It resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 lives. It had left its carrier group during an operation to evacuate soldiers from Norway when it was spotted by the Germans and was sunk within an hour. There were 1,519 British deaths, including crew from Glorius' two escorting destroyers. One of them, HMS Acasta, launched a last-ditch kamakaze attack by sailing directly at the German ships and firing all torpedos, badly damaging the Scharnhorst in the process. The Royal Navy did not even find out about the disaster until it was broadcast on German radio the next day. A nearby battleship, HMS Devonshire, did not respond to calls for help as she was carrying the Norwegian Royal Family to the UK after the Nazi invasion of Norway. Hansen joined the Germany Navy in 1938 (pictured) and spent his time during the War onboard the Gneisenau He also took pictures of his fellow Navy men going about their everyday business on the warship The pictures also showed the men getting their haircuts, making shoes and carrying out machinery on the warship The album is being auctioned on Tuesday October 18 at Mullock's Auctioneers at Church Stretton in Shropshire. It is expected to fetch around 1,400. Ben Jones, a Mullock's Auctioneers consultant, said: 'This album contains some very rare and important photos, documenting the ordinary life of a German sailor as well as a major event in British naval history. 'It would be great to find a good home for these relics.' A couple were shell-shocked after discovering a massive egg - with another one inside. Matt and Louise Macdonald were checking their nesting boxes on their Wiltshire farm when they made the cracking discovery. Weighing 152g, the monstrous egg from New Macdonalds Farm was sitting in a nesting box in a flock across the road from the couples farmhouse in Box, Somerset. Mr Macdonald, 45, carried his precious shell along to his local pub in Wraxhall, where head chef Rob Allcock took a video as Matt cracked the egg against the side of a bowl. Scroll down for video Louise and Matt Macdonald of New Macdonalds Farm who opened a giant egg - only to find another egg inside There were whoops of 'Egg in an egg!' as a yolk plopped out followed by a normal-sized egg which clunked into the bowl. Matt went on to crack the second egg into the bowl for Rob to add to a batter mix. The couple took the huge egg to their local pub to shock others with what they had found The double egg weighed 152 grams, just missing out to an egg from a Peterborough hen found last week that weighed 200g Wife Louise Macdonald, a 36-year-old mum-of-three, said: 'I was so shocked. It was the biggest egg Id ever seen! It was just humungous. 'I felt sorry for the poor chicken that laid it. 'After realising how heavy the egg was we made bets at the local pub as to whether it was a double-yolker, a triple-yolker or even an egg in an egg. 'We were really hoping for an egg in an egg because it was quite heavy - but theyre really rare.' 'The chances of a triple yolker are 1 in 25 million and an egg in an egg is even rarer. 'We were really chuffed. Im sorry to say we didnt keep the shells.' 'Sometimes, when theyre youngsters, they fault on eggs, so we think it was on of our 100 black copper Marans. 'We collect around 75 eggs per day from that batch and theres 250 hens in that flock in total.' After watching the first yoke come out they couldn't believe it when another egg plopped into the bowl The farming family started up their business in 2010 and now have 470 laying hens and three flocks. They have many free-range, rare-breed chickens producing eggs in all sorts of colours, including blue, white, chocolate and pink. This cracking find comes just one day after a three-year-old black maran hen from Peterborough produced whats believed to be the UKs largest egg at 200g. The British Natural History Museum saidit is 'relatively rare' to find a whole egg inside another egg The British Natural History Museum said it does not hold statistics on egg size or egg-in-an-egg frequency, but one of its experts confirmed it is 'relatively rare' to find a whole egg inside another egg. Douglas Russell, curator of the Natural History Museums egg collection, said in an article for New Scientist: 'Several theories have been proposed for the origin of double eggs. Emile Cilliers, 36, appeared at Salisbury Magistrates' Court to face the charge An army sergeant has appeared in court accused of the attempted murder of his wife after her main parachute failed to open during a 4,000ft jump. Emile Cilliers, 36, appeared at Salisbury Magistrates' Court to face the charge after his wife Victoria suffered 'multiple serious injuries' on April 5, 2015. The 40-year-old was skydiving over Netheravon Airfield, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, when her parachute failed to open. The defendant also faces a charge of damaging a gas fitting at the home of Mrs Cilliers in Amesbury, Wiltshire, while recklessly endangering life as well as a second charge of the attempted murder of his wife. These two charges are dated between March 28 and March 31, 2015. Christopher Hill, representing Cilliers, indicated that his client would plead not guilty to all three charges. The defendant, dressed in a grey suit, white shirt and dark tie, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and his address as being at a military barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire. Simon Browning, the chairman of the magistrates' panel, sent the case for trial at Winchester Crown Court with a plea hearing to be held on November 18. He released Cilliers on bail until then with conditions to have no contact with his wife, not to enter Wiltshire apart for legal appointments and to surrender his passport. Mr Browning told the defendant: 'This is an indictable case only so it has to go to the crown court so you are being sent to the crown court in Winchester for the offences heard about today. 'You are going to be released on the same conditional bail you were released on before.' Cilliers has appeared in court accused of the attempted murder of his wife, Victoria, (pictured right) after her main parachute failed to open during a 4,000ft jump The defendant also faces a charge of damaging a gas fitting at the home of Mrs Cilliers (pictured right) in Amesbury, Wiltshire Experienced parachutist Victoria Cilliers plunged to the ground yet remarkably survived after her main parachute didn't deploy (pictured during another jump) A vlogger in China has been charged with arson after he set her car on fire and live-streamed it in order to get more followers. The man in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning province soon realised the fire was out of control and was forced to call firefighters for help on October 11. Experts say that in recent years, vloggers have turned to drastic measures in order to attract more viewers and followers, reports the People's Daily Online. The online streaming presenter set fire to his car on October 11 while broadcasting it live on the internet. The fire was soon out of control and he called firefighters for help. When fire services arrived at the scene, they found a laptop that was still streaming the show. Officers turned off the stream and put out the fire. A bizarre way to attract viwers: The vlogger set his car on fire while live-streaming it online A helping hand: His girlfriend can be seen in the footage helping him capture the fire The man was detained by police and charged with arson. Officers say they are continuing to investigate the case. In the video, the man's girlfriend can be seen however she was not detained by police. According to an expert, vloggers have turned to drastic measures in recent years to attract more followers. According to CCTV News, the current value of China's live streaming market is estimated to be $11 billion (8.9 billion). People have been blasting the blogger on social media site Weibo. One user said: 'Please don't create extra trouble for firefighters. They are already very busy.' While another wrote: 'Such live-streaming does no good to society. People do whatever they can to get gifts.' And one user commented: 'It's time to regulate the content of live streaming shows.' Out of control: The fire soon gets out of control and the girlfriend takes a look at the damage Officers have found a bomb in a rucksack that had been dumped outside a Colorado police station. A police official told CBS News that the backpack containing the explosive device was found on Wednesday morning in front of the Nederland Police Department and the Boulder County Sheriffs Office. The bag had been left between two buildings, the police source said. The FBI is leading the investigation after a bomb was found in a rucksack that was left outside a Colorado police station The FBI has taken on the case, and is leading the investigation with assistance from the two police departments. A police officer saw the backpack on his way into work, and picked it up and brought it inside the police station thinking that it had been misplaced by one of his colleagues. As the policeman went to leave the building hours later, he noticed the bag was still there and decided to take a look inside, and discovered the bomb. The police source said the device was active, but had failed to detonate, adding that someone had apparently tried to trigger the bomb - possibly by using a cellphone. The device was active, but had failed to detonate, although someone had apparently tried to trigger the bomb - possibly by using a cellphone. The FBI has sent the device to its lab in Quantico, Virginia to be analysed. The Boulder County Sheriffs Office was closed on Thursday morning while officers searched a car in the parking lot, but nothing suspicious was found inside. Although there are CCTV cameras outside the police station, no potential suspects have yet been identified in relation to the suspect device. get the punchline but does know one gag about wine Food shopping doesn't always have to be a boring chore. One man from Texas decided to entertain himself and his girlfriend during a trip to the supermarket by making a series of funny - and eye-rolling - food-based jokes. In a hilarious series of clips filmed on snapchat as they wander around the aisles he asks his girlfriend multiples jokes, which she invariably doesn't know the punchline of. One man from Texas decided to entertain himself and his girlfriend during a trip to the supermarket by making a series of funny - and eye-rolling - food-based jokes Without fail, after each joke, the bearded man laughs uproariously at his own sense of humour while his girlfriend, believed to be called Toni, alternates between finding the puns funny and laughingly criticising them The jokes include such funny lines as: 'I hate jokes about German sausages... because they're the wurst,' and, 'Hey babe, I don't think we should get any seafood... because it always makes me feel eel.' Without fail, after each joke, the bearded man laughs uproariously at his own sense of humour while his girlfriend, believed to be called Toni, alternates between finding the puns funny and laughingly criticising them. Further gags include: 'Why did the coffee file a police report? It got mugged,' and, 'What did the buffalo say to its son when it left for college? Bi-son'. Mostly Toni is stumped as to the joke's punchline but when it comes to alcohol she knows her stuff. As he starts one jokes he posts in a snapchat caption, 'She got one, of course it was about wine lol.' Further gags include: 'Why did the coffee file a police report? It got mugged,' and, 'What did the buffalo say to its son when it left for college? Bi-son' One joke she does know. 'What did the grape do when it got stepped on'? The man says, 'Oh my God did it whine?' she grins. 'It let out a little whine!' he confirms and the girlfriend flashes her pearly whites as she laughs. He begins: 'What did the grape do when it got stepped on'? 'Oh my God did it whine?' she grins. 'It let out a little wine!' he confirms and the girlfriend flashes her pearly whites as she laughs. Police searching for missing toddler Ben Needham have given permission for a farmhouse which was partly demolished to be 'made good' as hopes of solving the mystery fade. Ben disappeared on the Greek island of Kos 25 years ago and his grandmother, Christine, has admitted 'there was never going to be a fairy tale ending'. Earlier this week his mother Kerry told how desperate she was for 'closure'. Workers today were 'making good' the farmhouse where Ben Needham went missing. The extension which was demolished will not be rebuilt She told Good Morning Britain: 'You know 25 years of living and not knowing where your child is, is torment. I don't like to say it but then at least we would know and it would be closure - and he can be laid to rest and we can remember him as he was.' But today workers were bricking up a door and repainting the gable end of the farmhouse where the family stayed in 1981 as hopes of finding a body seemed to recede. Detective Inspector Jon Cousins, from South Yorkshire Police, said he had given permission for the house to be repaired and confirmed the extension which was demolished would not be rebuilt. Detective Inspector Jon Cousins (left) has given permission for the farmhouse to be 'made good' after the extension was demolished. Workers were today bricking up a door and will then paint the gable end Appearing on ITV Calendar's Facebook Live page, Det Insp Cousins denied the excavation was a wild goose chase based on the words of just one witness. He said: 'We had the information in June following the appeal in May. That was of extreme benefit to the investigation. But what it did do was corroborate and enhance information we already had and it led me to believe the decision to do what we are doing was the right one to find an answer for Ben's family.' Det Insp Cousins said he was confident of the veracity of the information he received from the key witness, which had led them to return to Kos. The 21-month-old (pictured) is feared to have been accidentally run over by a digger driver in Kos on 24 July 1991 before being dumped a day later on a nearby illegal tip site Forensic archaeologists and Hellenic Red Cross volunteers are pictured today, going through soil at the site where Ben Needham disappeared He denied they were running out of money and said the Home Office were 'extremely supportive' of their efforts to help the Greek authorities solve the mystery of what happened to Ben. Det Insp Cousins said there had been an awful lot of 'myth, rumour and legend' surrounding the case and he said: 'One of the main purposes of this investigation is to get away from that, pare it back by looking at it carefully and closely and getting to the truth. 'That clearly takes a lot of time but we are dedicated to do that. We then act on what I know to be the truth and fact.' Police are believed to be working on the theory that the toddler was killed by Konstantinos 'Dino' Barkas, a digger driver who died last year. An emotional Kerry Needham (pictured) told Good Morning Britain earlier this week she wanted to know what happened to her son so she and her family could finally have closure It is thought that a witness has come forward and told police Barkas admitted killing Ben by accident and then burying his body. But Ben's grandmother, Christine Needham, said: 'Now I have a great, great fear. Its like the police know Ben is buried on Kos but they dont know where. 'I dont know what happens then. But there was never going to be a fairy tale ending.' Ben vanished on July 24, 1991, when Ms Needham, who was 19 at the time, left him with her parents Eddie and Christine Needham who had emigrated to Kos while she worked at a local hotel. The 21-month-old is feared to have been accidentally run over by a digger driver in Kos before being dumped a day later on a nearby illegal tip site. She claims Bill Clinton raped her in during Arkansas governor campaign Broaddrick says the Democratic candidate was in the race for herself The former nursing home worker said both Clintons tried to silence her A woman who accused former President Bill Clinton of raping her has hit out at his wife Hillary by saying she is 'not for all women'. Juanita Broaddrick, who claims she was assaulted during Clinton's campaign for Arkansas governor in 1978, said Hillary was in the presidential race for herself. The former nursing home administrator also accused the Democratic candidate of pressuring her into keeping quiet about he alleged incident. Juanita Broaddrick, who claims she was assaulted during Clinton's campaign for Arkansas governor in 1978, said Hillary was in the presidential race for herself Former US President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton wave to the audience after the final Millennium Evening Lecture Series in the East Room of the White House, Washington Reliving their encounters with the 42nd President, Broaddrick told Fox News: 'I thought that we might possibly be able to bring this out and influence people and be able to tell them that Hillary is not for all women. 'Hillary is only for one woman and that's herself.' She was on the panel by Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey, who joined Republican candidate Donald Trump prior to Sunday's televised debate. Broaddrick then went on to say she met Hillary Clinton weeks after the alleged rape. She said: 'She comes straight to me and says to me, big smile, very pleasant voice, says to me, 'I'm Hillary Clinton. It's so nice to meet you. I just want to thank you for everything that you do for Bill's campaign'.' The former nursing home administrator also accused the Democratic candidate of pressuring her into keeping quiet about he alleged incident She was on the panel by Paula Jones (center) and Kathleen Willey, who joined Republican candidate Donald Trump prior to Sunday's televised debate Clinton (right) - then Hillary Rogdham - said the alleged victim was an 'emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing' in an affidavit and also accused Shelton of falsely claiming to have been attacked before The former nursing home worker says Hillary grabbed her arm and pulled her close, saying, 'Do you understand everything you do?' 'I felt like at that moment, she knew everything and was saying, 'You better keep quiet',' Broaddrick told Fox. Asked why she didn't go to the police, Broaddrick said of Bill Clinton, 'He could close the doors of my business - he was the police.' All three women accused Bill or Hillary Clinton of pressuring them to keep quiet about their alleged assaults and a fourth woman, Kathy Shelton, claimed Hillary Clinton besmirched her character Willey, a former White House volunteer, claims she was assaulted in the 1990s and said Bill Clinton's alleged actions were being trivialized by people calling his alleged actions 'infidelities'. All three women accused Bill or Hillary Clinton of pressuring them to keep quiet about their alleged assaults and a fourth woman, Kathy Shelton, claimed Hillary Clinton besmirched her character. The presidential candidate defended a man Shelton accused of raping her as a 12-year-old in 1975. Clinton - then Hillary Rogdham - said the alleged victim was an 'emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing' in an affidavit and also accused Shelton of falsely claiming to have been attacked before. 'If she was for children, she would not have put me through what I went through,' Shelton told Fox News. In an Arkansas paper 10 years later, Clinton reportedly said Shelton's attacker passed a lie detector test, adding it 'forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs'. A female art teacher has been struck off for having a sexually-motivated relationship with a 17-year-old girl student after it was discovered by her policeman father. Lecturer Nia Davies, 31, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct over the affair while teaching her in an A-level class. A disciplinary hearing found Davies had taken the young woman on weekends away to Bath and London where they shared hotel rooms. Lecturer Nia Davies, 31, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct over the affair while teaching her in an A-level class Davies also sent social media messages and emails encouraging the girl to experiment with drugs and alcohol during the extremely close relationship between them. An Education Workforce panel has now banned Davies from teaching for a minimum of two years after six allegations of misconduct were proven. Chairman Peter Williams said: Ms Davies conduct was found to be sexually motivated. The 10 month-affair - which took place when Davies was a teacher and the girl an A-level student at Carmarthenshire College - was only disrupted after the teenagers policeman father noticed love bites on her neck. Presenting officer Cadi Dewi said: Concerns first came to light about the relationship when the girls father made a referral to her college. He noticed she had marks on the side of her neck which he described as love bites. Chairman Peter Williams said Ms Davies (pictured) conduct was 'sexually motivated'. He was then told by her sister that the girl was seeing Davies. The father, who works in Dyfed Powys Police in West Wales, alerted his colleagues to the suspected affair and an investigation was launched at the college. Ms Dewi said: In just 17 days alone the pair exchanged 350 pages worth of messages. 120 were sent in just one day. Davies showed a willingness to overstep boundaries at the college. There were frequent references to the use of drugs, using cannabis and alcohol. It was an extremely close and highly inappropriate relationship. It became a relationship that was sexual in nature. Davies motivation in becoming so friendly and so close to the girl was that she had a sexual interest in her. The girl - referred to as Learner A throughout the hearing - previously admitted to her parents she had spent weekends away with her teacher. She denied having sex with Davies when interviewed by police, but admitted they had kissed and would sleep together at Davies home in Cardiff. The police investigation led to Davies being arrested and bailed, but she was never charged. Her college in Llanelli, West Wales, launched their own investigation, but it wasnt completed before Davies contract at the school was allowed to expire, and she refused to attend subsequent investigation meetings. The police investigation led to Davies being arrested and bailed, but she was never charged The girl, described as a outgoing and bright pupil, told the hearing she had never been in a relationship with Davies, which led to Ms Dewi accusing her of trying to protect Davies. George Pollitt, representing Davies, said: She said they have engaged in some sort of relationship, which is not platonic, since 2015 when the girl was over the age of 18, and when my client was not employed at the college. I cannot put a label on what the relationship is, but Im told its hard to define. They met up socially as friends and things blossomed. But the Education Workforce Council panel found six allegations of misconduct proven, after Davies had admitted counts of engaging in communication of a social nature and seeing the girl unaccompanied on a social basis outside of college. The proven claims included inviting the girl into her home address, allowing her to sleep at her home, kissing her, and giving her a love bite. Claims of sharing a bed with the girl in London and engaging in sexual intercourse were not proven. Davies, from Cardiff, was removed from the teaching register and will have to wait two years until she can reapply. The Signal Mountain Genealogical Society will meet on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, at the Walden Town Hall, 1836 Taft Highway. The meeting will begin at 1:00 pm with refreshments followed by a business meeting and the program for the month. For this month's program, Linda Mines will speak on World War I. Visitors are welcome at our meeting. Please feel free to visit our website at: http://www.smgsonline.org Despite warning from friends, she believed she was in a loving relationship Samantha Handley was with her partner for three years before she found out he was convicted of violently assaulting his ex-partner and her 18-month-old baby years earlier. The Victorian woman had no idea her partner was a convicted criminal until she stumbled across a newspaper headline titled 'baby basher jailed', according to News.com.au. Ms Handley said a feeling of complete horror came over her as she read the story and discovered her partner's name, Darren James Brown, scattered throughout. The story revealed Brown, a tattoo artist, had been jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to repeatedly bashing an 18-month-old girl, leaving her body battered and bruised. Samantha Handley (pictured left) was with her partner Darren James Brown (pictured right) for three years before she found out he was a convicted criminal Pregnant with the couple's first child at the time, Ms Handley said the shocking discovery of her partner's crimes left her feeling sick. 'I can't explain the horror I felt reading the pediatrician's report of the harm done upon the 18-month-old. It will haunt me forever,' she said. The paediatrician who examined the toddler said she had sustained serious bruising to the majority of her body. The report said only the area underneath her nappy was sparred from injury after the brutal attack. 'I can't explain the horror I felt reading the pediatrician's report of the harm done upon the 18-month-old. It will haunt me forever,' Samantha Handley As she searched deeper into her partner's past, the more frightening information she uncovered. Ms Handley found out Brown had been convicted of a string of offences, one time even escaping from prison. She learned he was considered so dangerous, the public was warned not to approach him while he was on the loose. Ms Handley said chilling quotes from Brown made her realise just how dangerous he was. In a report released by the police, Brown said 'I should have really given it to her and given her something to complain about' after assaulting his former partner. Samantha Handley had no idea her partner was a convicted criminal until she stumbled across a newspaper headline titled 'baby basher jailed' from 1995 (pictured) Ms Handley said she suspected her partner had not been completely honest with her, but never imagined it could be so bad. While it took her three years to realise the truth, she said her friends and family triggered alarm bells from the start. She said the first warning came from her ex-partner and father of her children. She said he was so uncomfortable with his children spending time with Brown that he fought to take the kids away from her altogether, but failed. And while his concern raised suspicions in Ms Handley, she said she was convinced she was in a safe and loving relationship. Soon enough, Ms Handley said Brown convinced her to move from Melbourne to Benalla, more than two hours drive away from her family, and support network. This was when she claims the emotional abuse started. 'I was so isolated from everyone and he had such a hold on me I felt like if he wasn't present in my life I didn't have a life,' she said. She said the abuse grew so bad in Benalla, to the point where she felt he had complete control over her. 'I was so isolated from everyone and he had such a hold on me I felt like if he wasn't present in my life I didn't have a life,' Samantha Handley It was then she started the desperate search for information about her partner's past and uncovered the frightening truth. Now years later, Ms Handley is fighting to make sure the information she was denied is easily accessible, to prevent the same thing from happening to other unsuspecting women. At the time, and even now in Victoria, there was no resource available for people to access information about their partner's criminal history. Two sisters who screamed 'Poland rule the world' and referred to three English women as 'sl*t b*****s' on a night out have been spared jail. Aleksandra Mut, 23, and her younger sibling Angelika, 20, turned violent when two men they had spent a night out with started flirting with three women outside a takeaway. When the women tried to laugh it off, the Mut siblings shouted: 'Oh do you want the English sl*t b**ches?' Aleksandra, a carer, told one of the girls: 'Don't mess with us Polish girls'. She then threatened them saying 'do you want a fight?' and turned on the women with her sister. Aleksandra Mut, 23, (right) and younger sibling Angelika Mut, 20, (left) turned violent when two men they were with started flirting with the three women outside a takeaway The incident occurred at 3am on August 15 outside a takeaway in Rochdale. One of the victims, Jade Ellis, was spat at, kicked in the head and repeatedly punched and throttled with the leather strap of a handbag that was wrapped around her neck. She suffered 'claw shaped' scratches to her back, broken toes and had clumps of her hair pulled out. She also had her top pulled up, exposing her breasts. Her friend Alexandra Chambers was hit in the face with the heel of a stiletto shoe, leaving her with a gash that required six stitches. Rheann Burrows sustained scratches in the brawl. Aleksandra (left), a carer, told one of the girls: 'Don't mess with us Polish girls' and then attacked the English women with her younger sister (right) The Polish sisters, who live in Rochdale, were arrested after the three victims got their names from witnesses and found their pictures on Facebook. The defendants first tried to claim they were victims of racism. They later pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault occasionally actual bodily harm. But they were spared jail after a judge said they had 'learnt a hard lesson' from their behaviour. The sisters cover their heads as they left the court today - they were spared jail Speaking at Manchester Crown Court, prosecutor Paul McDonald said: '[The victims] had a good night in local bars and a nightclub and had no trouble during the course of the evening - although all of them had been drinking. 'Rheann had sore feet and had taken her shoes off and given them to her friend Alexandra Chambers. 'The girls then became aware of two females, that turned out to be these defendants, with a group of boys. 'One of the boys shouted flirtatious comments and the girls laughed this off - but these two defendants appeared to take exception. 'Aleksandra shouted: "oh do you want the English sl*t b**ches?" Angelika (left) and Aleksandra (right) were spared jail by a judge after their defence lawyer described the incident as being an 'isolated' one 'When one complained about that she was met with vulgar and abusive comments. 'Aleksandra asked her if she wanted to fight and the other defendant spat in Jade Ellis' face. 'She got into a scuffle and Aleksandra got into a fight with the other complainant. 'Alexandra Chambers who kept out of it was trying to get people nearby to stop, particularly when Jade Ellis' top was pushed up exposing her breasts. At this point Angelika it seems fell on the floor next to Alexander Chambers and grabbed one of the shoes that Miss Chambers had been holding. 'Although she had not been involved in any way she was struck with a stiletto shoe on her face, dislodging her glasses and causing an immediate and serious cut. 'Jade Ellis, after she had been spat upon, had been pulled back by her hair and repeatedly punched over the head and arranged by the leather strap of a hand bag which was wrapped around her neck and after that the defendant Aleksandra kicked her to the head. When the two girls left they were laughing and shouting "Poland rule the world". The judge told the two sisters: 'I think you have learnt a very hard lesson. I think you both realise what a terrible situation you got yourselves into' 'Jade Ellis had two fractured toes and lost some of her hair, her head was bleeding and she had claw shaped scratches to the back, she also had bruising under her left eye. Rheann Burrows had a sore head and neck and scratches. Alexander Chambers had a cut to the face which required six stitches.' In mitigation, defence lawyer Patrick Buckley, said: 'Angelika has started a family and gave birth last week to a daughter but she's come to court to see a conclusion to the case. 'Before this they had never been in trouble. Angelika is a young mum doing a pre nursing course. It's a gateway course to a nursing degree. She's starting full time with a young baby to care for, that baby being only days old. Their mum and dad live in Rochdale, they both come from good backgrounds. When they came to this country the two girls were very young. This is an isolated incident. 'Aleksandra is going to college but still works in a care home and is still doing her beauty qualification and hairdressing. Angelika was ordered to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work and she will pay 375 in compensation, split between Jade Ellis and Alexander Chambers. Aleksandra was ordered to do 125 hours of unpaid word and will pay 250 in compensation to Jade Ellis. Judge Timothy Mort said: 'You're two young women and have spent most of your lives here living in England, you have been educated here and you're both hard working girls. 'You will appreciate in this country we have many many nationalities getting on together and if there's any offence committed because it appears to be targeted at someone because of their background, skin colour or ethnicity, it affects the community. 'The reason you got involved with this was because these girls were English as you were Polish. A former rock music groupie nicknamed 'Sweet Sweet Connie' has given her backing to Donald Trump after describing a sexual encounter she had with married man Bill Clinton 32 years ago. Connie Hamzy, of Little Rock, Arkansas, was sunbathing beside a hotel pool on August 31, 1984, when she claims Clinton, the then-Governor of Arkansas, spotted the sultry brunette and sent one his aides to introduce him. Hamzy, now 61 - who was a favorite groupie of rock icons like the Eagles, The Who and Led Zeppelin - says she was soon pulled into a laundry room by the future President of the United States, and they fondled each other until they were interrupted and stopped in their tracks. Since 1992, Hamzy's claims of the close encounter with Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's husband, have fallen on deaf ears. Connie Hamzy, of Little Rock, Arkansas, claims she had a sexual encounter with Bill Clinton in August 1984, when he was the governor of Arkansas Hazmy (pictured right in 1985) claims she was was sunbathing beside a hotel pool on August 31, 1984, when she claims Clinton spotted her. She says they went into a laundry room together and fondled each other until they were interrupted and stopped in their tracks A detailed interview with Penthouse magazine failed to drum up enough column inches to cause a scandal. And even passing a polygraph test, which she took for an interview with American Spectator in 1996, has done little to stand up her story of Clinton's indecent proposal. But now, Hamzy has gone straight to Donald Trump's political campaign with the results from an independent polygraph test, and urged the Republican presidential nominee to use her story to defeat Hillary at the November 8 election. 'I mailed my polygraph test over to the Trump campaign about Bill Clinton trying to get me to b**w him,' Hamzy told DailyMail.com, not holding back. 'I don't know if the campaign has got it yet, because I mailed the letter on Columbus Day. 'But I got a note about a donation for the Republican party, so I wrote back to them and said I can't spare any money, so instead I gave them a copy of the polygraph test I took that proves my story is true. 'I've been showing it to friends for years. I really hope the Republicans will use it to try and defeat Hillary.' Hamzy, who still lives in Little Rock in a small condo with her four cats, recalled two brief encounters before Clinton propositioned her for sex in 1984. Hamzy (pictured in 1973) is a former rock music groupie nicknamed 'Sweet Sweet Connie', and a favorite of rock icons like the Eagles, The Who and Led Zeppelin Hazmy partied with the most well-known of rockers over the years, including The Eagles' Joe Walsh (pictured with Hazmy in 1988) Hazmy, pictured with Ringo Starr in 1989, claims to have given oral sex to various members of bands that passed through Little Rock 'The first time I met Bill was when I was working for the state for the Arkansas Department of Human Services,' she said, speaking from her Arkansas home. 'He came by the office, shaking hands, and that was before he was running for Governor in the late '70s. 'Little Rock is a small town, it's no LA or New York, so you tend to run into people a lot. The next time I met him was backstage at Olivia Newton-John concert in the early 1980s. 'I'm not sure if he remembered those encounters, but it was in the summer of 1984 that Bill took a real interest in me. I was laying out by the swimming pool at the North Little Rock Hilton, which is now a Wyndham. 'I had permission to use the pool from the management, and because I didn't live too far away from that hotel I often took advantage of that. 'Me and a group of friends who lived in my apartment complex would go there for happy hour too, so it was a cool spot. 'But on this occasion I wasn't with friends, I was the only person by the pool. A man, who happened to be my neighbor, approached me, and I saw some guys looking at me through some glass doors behind him. 'Michael came out and said, "Connie, is that you?" He then introduced himself and said he used to me my neighbor. 'I asked him if he worked for the governor and he said he was still on the governor's staff. Since 1992, Hamzy has sworn of the close encounter with Clinton, but her allegations fell on deaf ears as she claims, 'no one would listen'. She even passed a polygraph test, which she took for an interview with American Spectator in 1996 Now, Hamzy has gone straight to Donald Trump's political campaign with the results from the polygraph test Hamzy has urged Trump's campaign to use her story and polygraph test to defeat Hillary at the November 8 election 'He told me he was at the hotel with the governor, and Bill wanted to meet me. 'I said "I've already met him a couple of times", but I was told he wanted to meet with me again. 'So, I then said , "But I don't have any clothes on". I was wearing a bikini because I was tanning, but that was it. 'He replied, "that's exactly why he wants to talk to you. That's exactly why he wants to meet you".' Hamzy, who was 29 at the time, continues: 'So, I got up, picked up the towel I had been laying on and threw it over my shoulder and I followed [Clinton's aide] into the hotel. 'There were 3 guys and Clinton was in the middle. Bill said to me, "I just want to shake your hand. You laying out there in that purple bikini you made my day". 'I told him I'd met him before and then I joked that I almost ran him over when he was out jogging in the neighborhood the week before, when I was going out to the store, which he got a kick out of. 'He started to introduce me to everyone, he was standing with Mark Allen - his State Trooper detail. 'And he was also with Jimmie Don McKissack, who was with the Arkansas Manufacturer's Home Association.' According to Hamzy, no sooner had Clinton made his introductions they were soon left alone to talk privately which, she claims, is exactly what Clinton wanted. Hamzy's story was featured in a magazine article that broke down several of Clinton's alleged affairs At the time of the alleged incident between Hamzy and Clinton, the then-Arkansas governor was already married to Hillary Clinton (pictured with Bill in 1987) 'The guys then started to walk away, so I was left with Bill alone. He then asked me, "Where can we go? Do you have a room here?" I told him, "No, Governor. I just came here to use the swimming pool". I never addressed him as anything but the Governor. 'He asked me four times, "Are you sure you don't have a room here?'"And I kept saying I didn't. So, he then took me along a hallway on the first floor and he started opening up doors. 'Most of them were locked, they were service rooms, but he managed to find one that was open and said let's go in there. It was a laundry room of the hotel, and we began fondling each other and getting it on. 'My back was to the washers and driers. But Bill got spooked because he saw someone was in the room and he said we couldn't be in there and get caught. 'So, we walked back into the hallway and he asked me one more time, "Are you sure you don't have a room here?" 'So, I just found myself repeating that I didn't, and told him I came there as a regular for happy hour and to use the swimming pool.' Thwarted by his attempts, Clinton and his party left the hotel. However, despite their heated moment, Hamzy says that the politician wasn't forceful with her. However, she struggles to remember why she was charmed by him. '(There was) nothing,' she revealed. 'We didn't get to complete the act, but I could tell he was very well endowed. We began to well, until someone popped up in that laundry room. ' Hamzy, a Republican voter, appeared on VH1 documentary, Let's Spend The Night Together Hamzy (pictured in 2004 with Eddie Van Halen) wrote a memoir about her groupie life in 1995, titled Rock Groupie: The Intimate Adventures of 'Sweet Connie' From Little Rock The now-61-year-old still keeps memorabilia from various concerts she's been to, as well as "I voted" stickers form times she's gone to the polls She also has a variety of signed drumsticks, presumably from the dozens of shows she's attended over the years Hamzy, a Republican voter, watched the recent presidential debate in St Louis, Missouri, and was stunned when Trump brought three women who claimed they were assaulted by Clinton, along with him to sit front and center in the audience. She said: 'Although he wasn't forceful with me, he was very touchy-feely. I wish I was on stage with those other women. I'm sure Hillary knows everything about Bill's misdemeanors. 'I think he's trash. And he knows very well that I'm telling the truth. I believe I'm the only one who has taken a polygraph to prove my story. Monica Lewinsky didn't take one, Gennifer Flowers didn't take one, I did.' After that 1984 incident, Hamzy says she ran into Clinton, now 70, a couple of more times at public events. However, he was on his best behavior and acted like nothing had happened between them. She recalled: 'He was like, "Oh, Connie. How are you?" He told me he saw me in the local paper about being at an Eric Clapton concert in Dallas. But it was really amazing, because he acted like nothing had happened at all. 'He didn't try and make a move because we were in public at an event called River Fest in May, right before he announced he was running for President in 1991.' One thing that irks Hamzy to this day is how Clinton rewarded his aides that helped him seduce her with high-end government jobs. 'One thing that really upsets me is the guys that Bill had come to get me, they all got really great jobs because of him,' she said. 'Mark Allen still works for the office of State Police and Mike Gaines worked in Washington DC for the Clinton Administration for years. Hamzy, who still lives in Little Rock in a small condo with her four cats, said that when she ran into Clinton after their alleged encounter, he pretended that nothing had happened between them He rewarded them really well when this story first came in an interview I gave to Penthouse in January 1992 issue. 'But even after taking a polygraph no one seems to care. 'I was the first one to ever say a word about him, and I will to take another polygraph test to prove I'm telling the truth.' Hamzy was a well-known groupie in the 1970s, claiming to have given oral sex to various members of bands that passed through Little Rock. She featured in a brutal tell-all in a 1974 issue of Cosmopolitan. A lyric in Grand Funk Railroad's hit song, We're An American Band, also name-drops the insatiable superfan. A line about her escapades reads, 'Sweet, sweet Connie, doin' her act/She had the whole show and that's a natural fact'. Hamzy's exciting groupie life was published in her 1995 memoir, Rock Groupie: The Intimate Adventures of 'Sweet Connie' From Little Rock. She also appeared on VH1 documentary, Let's Spend The Night Together. Her liaison with Clinton was once raised by political journalist George Stephanopoulos, who told of the story Clinton told him about the incident. According to Stephanopoulos, Clinton told him that Hamzy approached him in a hotel lobby, pulled her bikini top down, revealing her breasts and asked him, 'what do you think of these?' A man who deliberately mowed down two pedestrians in a 'shocking' road rage attack which was caught on CCTV has been jailed for six years. Mohammad Abdullah, 30, of Mulgrave Street, Scunthorpe, left his victims with life-changing injuries after the 'dreadful episode' in April this year. Footage shows the two victims, Mark Thompson, 35, and his uncle, Kevin Morson, 53, crossing the road before Abdullah ploughs into them at high speed. In the early hours of April 14, Mohammad Abdullah mowed down two men in the middle of the road The shocking CCTV footage captured on the night shows the men being flung in the air His victims, Mark Thompson and Kevin Morson, were left with changing injuries as a result of the incident Abdullah, who was said to have shown 'genuine remorse', was also banned from driving for eight years at Grimsby Crown Court. Mr Thompson and Mr Morson, were crossing Frodingham Road in Scunthorpe in the early hours of April 14. The pair had been out socialising in Scunthorpe and were described by prosecutor Jeremy Evans as being 'merry'. The film shows Abdullah's Saab driving towards the men and swerving to avoid them at the last minute. Mr Evans told the court: 'This is nothing more, at this stage, than a road-rage spat. He had taken exception to two males that are crossing the road, safely but not at a crossing. 'He's going to give them a warning with his vehicle.' The prosecution said Abdullah: 'Intentionally reversed his car and positioned it at an angle that faced directly at the complainants' before hitting them The road rage attack took place after an altercation between the victims and the occupants of the Saab The court heard there was an angry exchange between Mr Thompson and Mr Morson and the occupants of the car. Abdullah then performed a 'double reversing manoeuvre' to line his car up with the men before accelerating at speed towards them. The CCTV footage shows Mr Thompson being thrown over the bonnet and roof of the car, while Mr Morson, who has mobility issues and uses a walking stick, is hit by the corner of the vehicle. Both men suffered fractures to their legs as a result and the footage shows Mr Thompson's leg give way as he tries to stand up following the attack. Abdullah immediately drove away and abandoned the car, his keys and his mobile phone before leaving the area and travelling to London by public transport. He pleaded guilty after watching the footage in court earlier this week. The court heard there was an angry exchange between Mr Thompson and Mr Morson and the occupants of the car Judge Peter Kelson QC told Abdullah, who earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent: 'This is, in your life, an isolated, albeit shocking, incident.' He continued: 'It was one dreadful episode. It was one awful manoeuvre. The little boy shown crying on video for his mom after being told she had died from drugs had already experienced the heartbreak of losing a sibling who was born addicted. DailyMail.com can also reveal that eight-year-old Cameron Bickerstaff-Clark has seen drugs devastate his family and has lived in a shelter for the homeless for six months. The video of him being told of his mom Lacy Wood's death went viral after his father asked to be filmed as he broke the news of the tragedy to his son. But neither his drug-taking mom or father were looking after the boy; his paternal grandmother has custody. She was in the tape sittting next to her grandson. It can be revealed that Cameron's five-month-old brother Carter died on Sept. 5 2013. The official cause of death was listed as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). But he had been registered as an addict at birth because of his parents' heavy drug use. Scroll down for video Cameron's father Brenden Bickerstaff-Clark has spoken to DailyMail.com about the damage that drugs have inflicted on his family Brenden filmed himself telling his son that his mother Lacy had died. She was found dead in a motel room from a heroin overdose Brenden hugs his distraught child. He says 'drugs in my area and around Ohio are an epidemic. It is a plague'. Cameron's half-brother Carter was born addicted to drugs and died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) - which Brenden believes was linked to his mother injecting herself with heroin while pregnant The baby was born to his drug-addicted dad Brenden Bickerstaff-Clark who fathered the child with another addict, currently in prison. Bickerstaff-Clark, 29, confirmed Cameron's half-brother was born 'addicted to heroin' after his mother consistently injected heroin while pregnant. He said he was '80 per cent certain' that being born to a drug addict mother had led to his crib death. The father also confirmed that Cameron's mom Lacy Wood, 29, who was found dead on the floor in a squalid motel room last weekend, had another baby. Brenden's mother Denise Dezee, 51, has been the official guardian of the child since he was four months old. She sat by Cameron's side when his father told him his mother is dead But that child, now aged six -Cameron's half-brother - was forced to be given up for adoption. Bickerstaff-Clark, who has been praised as well as condemned for filming Cameron being told of his mother's death, said: 'Drugs have ruined my life and that of Cameron. 'I have paid a very high price for my addictions. I have been in prison more times than I can remember for things like assault, trespass and possession and drugs have been behind the whole thing. 'I decided to film my son being told of his mom's death because I want people to see right up what drugs has done to me and can do to anyone. 'Heroin doesn't discriminate between color or age. It can get you hooked in a minute or kill you in a minute. 'They are bad, bad, bad and drugs in my area and around Ohio are an epidemic. 'It is a plague and I wanted to make some positive use of Cameron's mom's death.' The case is the latest in a series of drug-related incidents to shock America, as the extent of the nation's addiction to opiates is revealed. The woman shown cuddling Cameron as he bursts into tears is his grandmother Denise Dezee, 51, who has been his official guardian since he was four months old. But the decision by Dezee and her son to appear in the video, which was shot on his cell phone by a friend, has angered Cameron's maternal grandmother. Lacy Wood, 29, had another baby. But the child, now aged six, and also Cameron's half-brother, had to be given up for adoption Lacy and Cameron. Lacy had not seen her son for months before she died after Cameron's paternal grandmother took him into her care The room at the Riverview Motel in Warren, Ohio where Lacy's body was found Donna Wood said: 'It is sick and it was ignorant thing to do. 'I have told them that I don't approve of it. 'It is wrongwrong. They have already put him through enough.' Referring to the images in the video, she said: 'She is far away from him smoking a cigarette. His father is on the other side and they just tell him, "oh your mother is dead, she died of drugs". 'He says 'what: two or three times, then somebody puts their cigarette down and holds him. It was ignorant. 'I wouldn't have told him, not like that. I was shocked.' DailyMail.com can disclose that both grandmothers, mindful that their children were incapable of bringing up Cameron, had fought a bitter custody court battle over the boy. It was won by Dezee who went to Cape Corral, Florida, in summer last year with Cameron to begin a new life with her fiance. Lacy Woods was unaware of where her son had been taken and was shattered by his absence. But after Dezee's relationship failed and with the marriage cancelled, she returned to Ohio with Cameron and they have been living in a homeless shelter since. Mrs Wood said of the court battle: 'I had been fighting with her (Dezee), but I ran out of money. 'But I don't live in a homeless shelter. I have a beautiful home. Cameron is with me this week and he is happy. Why is he in a homeless shelter? 'He is doing good here. He is happy to be here and be in a house where he can go to the refrigerator or have a bath or whatever. 'He is handling it pretty well. But he doesn't understand.' She said she had spent her savings on a legal battle against divorcee Mrs. Dezee to win custody of her grandson and that her daughter, who hadn't seen him for more than a year, was heartbroken over his disappearance. 'I spent all my money trying to get my grandson. Lacy wanted her son, she was so depressed and heartbroken. 'She had not talked to him in 15 months and we didn't even know where he was and that he was in Florida.' She said Lacy had tried hard to wean herself of drugs and had declared herself clean of the addiction, the day before her death. 'She was trying hard to get herself out of her drugs. She had been clean for about three or four months,' she added. Brenden seizes his son's hand as he is hugged by his grandmother after being told the news She said her daughter had no clue that Cameron had returned to Ohio with his custodian. 'She wanted to see him. Her boyfriend was going to fly her to Florida to surprise him for Halloween. It is very sad.' Asked if she would like to have custody of Cameron, she replied: 'I pray to god that would happenbut I ran out of money.' Her daughter, who had been using hard drugs for most her adult life, was found dead in room 12 of the Riverview Motel in Warren, a rundown single story building. Her body was discovered after motel staff failed to receive acknowledgment to calls to the room for it to be vacated for cleaners after check out time had passed. A male member of staff went to the room at the back of the establishment and found the door locked from the inside at around 11.30am last Sunday. When he forced it open he saw Wood's body lying on the floor next to her bag, clothing and bottles of Pantene shampoo. But the drug addict, who had told her family that weekend that she was now 'clean' of drugs is believed to have been injected with a 'bad batch' of heroin which killed her. She had not, however, booked the room which had been reserved by a female friend. Hotel staff said they were unaware when or how the dead woman came to be in the room during Saturday evening and the following morning when her body was discovered. Wood's mother said she only saw the video featuring Cameron a few days after her daughter's death. And Brenden Bickerstaff-Clark, a pizza chef, said he had used drugs throughout his teens and twenties like Wood and decided to film him telling Cameron of his mother's death to ensure others might get help. He said he had been 'clean' for 97 days and was continuing his battle against drugs with determination. Brenden, a pizza chef, said the video was shot in the grounds of the homeless shelter. He said the drugs epidemic sweeping America 'is a plague and I wanted to make some positive use of Cameron's mom's death' Brenden and his son together. He said there were He said: 'I feel my son and I have made an impact on people. 'Using drugs is selfish and unfair to families and friends and especially our children. 'People are losing loved ones. People are losing their lives and their self-respect, their dignity and their pride. He said the video was shot in the grounds of the homeless shelter. The people in the background had been informed of the boy's mother's death and were waiting to hug and comfort him. He added: 'Lacy and me were not even together for more than six years. 'I had known her since we were around 14 and we didn't get together until about 10 years ago. We were on and off after that. 'There was some contact. Cameron lived with my mother Denise.' Bickerstaff-Clark's mother Dezee said: 'Lacy overdosed on a bad batch. There were 10-15 overdoses at the weekend around here. 'I doubt there will be a police investigation as it is so common right now. There is a whole epidemic.' Speaking of her grandson, Dezee added: 'Cameron is doing very well. He has been crying on and off, but for the most part he is doing well. 'But he said he wished he could have seen his mom one more time. 'He hadn't seen his mom in over a year, but did speak to her on Sunday evenings on the telephone. Lacy actually called me a few days before she died. 'She rang me last Thursday and I hung up on her. I didn't want to talk to her. Do I feel bad now...wow, there are a lot of mixed emotions there. 'I just wish she would have gotten her life together. She lost all her visitation rights and she had to jump through hoops to win him back. 'This was such a sad situation altogether. Cameron was the one who was paying the price and I have had him since he was four months old. 'It wasn't even the drugs then, they were just too young and poor. Lacy just had a lot of issues.' America's opiate epidemic: In September Ohio police shared this distressing photograph on social media. It shows a couple passed out in their vehicle while the woman's four-year-old grandson looks on from the back seat. Both were jailed after pleading guilty to charges of child endangering She added: 'I have brought him up and done everything a mother would do. 'He is my baby and it is like having your own child all over again. Sometimes it wears me out. I can't run the circles I used to. 'Cameron is very bright and very active and smart for his age and very mature. He has over-exceeded in everything and he has been well aware of what has been going on. 'He is under counselling and will always be surrounded by people who love him. I won't let anything to happen to him.' Dezee said she heard Lacy had been in a police cell a few days before her death for probation violation. She said: 'But I don't want a lot of negativity. I really feel for her family and I don't want a bad light shone on Lacy. I really don't. She just couldn't stay off the drugs. 'Last Saturday during the day, she told her mom that she was clean. But on Sunday she was dead. It is just very sad.' She said her son 'really loved her a long time ago and took it very bad when he heard she had died.' Dezee revealed her son had said, "Mom I want to video tape it and put it out there for people to see how sad it is". She added: 'I actually said "Nodon't do it." But later I said well all right, but little did I know the impact it would and I hadn't even seen the video until he posted it. He got his message across the world.' There had been praise as well as severe criticism of the decision to film and upload the moment Cameron found out about the death. 'The hatred is coming from people who are not addicts. Most of the positive comments are coming from people who were or are addicts. 'Brenden could just have saved somebody's life this week, and the next and the one after that. 'People might look at their kids and decide not to shoot up. 'But I am so proud of Brenden. I have a very strong Christian faith and I have just prayed and prayed in the name of Jesus. I always say "God's got this". 'But I wonder one day if he [Cameron] is going to ask why his daddy lived and his mommy didn't. It is just that she couldn't fight the addiction. 'Cameron has already been through a lot. He has lost a brother and he has seen what addiction has done to his mom and his dad. Nancy Grace has said goodnight for the final time after 12 years of discussing true crime stories from a prosecutor's point of view on TV. Grace officially ended her HLN program on Thursday night. She signed off by highlighting some of her most popular moments on the program, including her coverage of the Casey Anthony trial, before thanking her fans and saying: 'It's not goodbye, it's just good night friend.' The 56-year-old, who wanted to be a literature professor when she finished high school, decided to become a prosecutor after her fiance Keith Griffin, 23, was murdered before their wedding day in 1979. Scroll down for video Signing off: Nancy Grace spent the majority of her final show on Thursday night discussing the case of 17-year-old North Carolina girl Crystal Howell (right), who allegedly killed her father, hid his body in a garden shed and then had a party at their house She was 19 at the time. Grace then gave up her dream and switched to law school instead, determined to crack down on violent crime. As a prosecutor in inner-city Atlanta, Georgia, she built up a perfect prosecution record, convicting some 100 felons with no losses. After a chance meeting with the founder of Court TV, Steven Brill, she began co-hosting a show with Johnnie Cochran, OJ Simpson's defense attorney. When Cochran left the show, Grace was moved to a solo trial coverage show on Court TV. The Nancy Grace show on HLN, CNN's sister network, began in February 2005. Nancy Grace became a self-styled victims rights activist following the murder of her fiance Grace was just 19 when her fiance, Keith Griffin (together-right), was murdered by one of his coworkers before their wedding in 1979 Grace announced her departure from HLN in June. At the time she said: 'This fall, I'll be leaving HLN, my longtime TV home, with a full heart and endless gratitude. 'The network has been my extended family for nearly a dozen years, and I am proud of the amazing work we've produced together. 'We created an unparalleled platform that gave crime victims a voice and succeeded in helping to find missing people and spotlight unsolved homicides.' She has maintained she chose to leave because her contract was expiring. During an interview with SiriusXMs Jim Norton & Sam Roberts - which she inevitably stormed out of - Grace said of her departure: 'It's bittersweet ... I wouldn't say that I wanted to leave, I would say it was the right time for me to leave. 'I'm leaving behind a lot, but I'm going where I want to go.' Nancy Grace spotted leaving The View in New York on October 12, 2016 Grace walked out of the interview after the hosts repeatedly questioned her on accusations that she had made a career out of 'capitalizing on tragedies'. Grace's legal-analysis program is famous for its host's combative manner. 'As long as there's breath in my body I intend to keep fighting for crime victims in whatever capacity I can,' she exclusively told DailyMail.com last year. Grace has attracted controversy for her strongly opinionated coverage of crime cases. In one incident she came under fire for her coverage of the death of toddler Caylee Anthony. The two-year-old vanished in 2008 and her skeletal remains were found in the woods five months after she disappeared. Grace released her fifth book, Murder in the Courthouse, at the start of the month Grace pursued the case across multiple episodes of her show and became a vocal critic of Caylee's mother Casey. After Casey was found not guilty, Grace said 'somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight'. Grace, 56, is married to investment banker David - whom she has described as 'the guy everybody wants to find and marry' - and the couple have twin children, Lucy Elizabeth and John David, 8. Her first book, Objection! was published in 2005 and lays out Grace's concerns with the American legal system. Her latest, Murder In The Courthouse, released October 11, is her fifth book. The Nancy Grace timeslot will be taken over by Ashleigh Banfield, former anchor of the Legal View on CNN. An Arizona woman has been arrested and charged after she allegedly helped her imprisoned husband with a plot to murder the warden. Michelle Bastian, 49, was arrested by FBI agents Wednesday at her workplace in Chandler where she is a bookkeeper at the Urban Oven bakery. Authorities say the woman sent articles from al Qaeda and ISIS magazines to her 39-year-old husband, Thomas Bastian, who converted to Islam and became radicalized in prison back in May, KPHO reported. He is serving a life sentence in prison for first-degree murder. 'A known source' reported to the Arizona Department of Corrections that Thomas 'was planning to create an explosive device in order to kill people, (including) the prison warden,' according to court paperwork released Thursday. Michelle Bastian (left) was arrested by FBI agents Wednesday on terrorism related charges after she allegedly helped her husband, Thomas Bastian (right), with a plot to murder a prison warden Authorities say she sent articles from al Qaeda and ISIS magazines to Thomas (above), 39. He converted to Islam and became radicalized in prison back in May That same source also said Michelle was helping her husband, who has been imprisoned in a maximum security unit within ASPC-Lewis since March 31, 2009 after being convicted of first-degree murder in a murder-for-hire plot. 'Further information from the known source revealed that Thomas had a plan in action to create an explosive device to either kill the warden or to plant it in a vending machine located within the visitor section of the prison,' the officer who arrested Michelle wrote in his probable cause statement, KPHO reported. Thomas was trying to transfer back into the general population in the prison so he could have access to to the area where inmates meet their visitors. The source said Michelle was going to give her husband everything he needed to carry out his plan of bombing the prison when she visited him. 'A known source' reported to the Arizona Department of Corrections that Thomas 'was planning to create an explosive device in order to kill people, (including) the prison warden.' Prison pictured above That same source said Michelle was helping Thomas (above), who has been imprisoned in a maximum security unit within ASPC-Lewis since March 31, 2009 after being convicted of first-degree murder Authorities corroborated the source's information about Thomas' plan when they searched his prison cell and found a publication called 'Inspire,' which is distributed by al Qaeda. They also found another publication distributed by ISIS called 'Dabiq.' 'The objective of these publications is to provide detailed instruction on how to commit acts of terrorism and to praise those that have successfully carried out attacks,' the arresting officer wrote. 'Located within a stack of detailed handwritten notes on how to construct an explosive device were several pages from an issue of Inspire that contained information on how to construct a bomb out of materials found in 'your mother's kitchen.' Officials say the mail she is accused of sending Thomas made it through prison security because it was labeled as 'legal mail.' The source said Michelle (left in her 2006 mug shot) was going to give her husband (right) everything he needed to carry out his plan of bombing the prison when she visited him A search conducted by the FBI of Michelle's home found letters that Thomas sent her asking her to send him 'radicalized materials'. Authorities also found a handwritten note with coded terminology that he suggested she use. In addition, calls between the couple were recorded by prison officials. 'During one of the calls, Michelle states she sent the 'articles' to Thomas. It is believed that Michelle is reference terrorism related (sic) publicans,' according to court paperwork. 'She also mentions that she knows that Thomas is a supports of ISIS.' The couple have been married for less than three years, and it's unclear how they met since Thomas has been in prison for five years by that time. They filed for their marriage license in March 2014 and then were married in May. She captioned one photo she shared of Thomas to her Facebook page by calling him her 'Papa Smurf.' Thomas was investigated in 2009 by the Scottsdale Police Department for 'threatening the lives of the law enforcement personnel who assisted in his murder conviction and threatened the use of explosives.' Michelle (above) appeared in court on Thursday for the charges including suspicion of terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism and conspiracy to promote prison contraband Authorities say he was convicted in a 2007 shooting death that was a conspiracy to collect a $500,000 insurance policy. In addition, Michelle also served time in prison from September 2006 to October 2009 for theft. While in prison, she was 'disciplined' twice for 'smuggling contraband.' She appeared in court on Thursday for the charges including suspicion of terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism and conspiracy to promote prison contraband. A judge set a secured appearance bond of $100,000. A Bronx man who dismembered his mother with a power saw, then took a selfie with her severed head, was mentally ill at the time and didn't know right from wrong, his defense lawyer told a court. Bahsid McLean, 26, is standing trial charged with murdering his mother, Tanya Byrd, 52, inside their Morrisania apartment on February 26, 2013. McLean allegedly stabbed the home health aide in the neck, after she told him he was a bad father. Police say he then called them to report his dead mom missing. His defense team are arguing that jurors should acquit McLean by reason of mental defect or disease, claiming he is 'broken' and has had voices in his head since he was a child. Bahsid McLean, 26, from the Bronx, New York, has been accused of dismembering his mother and then taking a selfie with her severed head Tanya Byrd, a 52-year-old home health aide, was stabbed in the neck at her home after she told McClean he was a lousy father, the court heard His lawyer Lynn Calvacca held up a picture to the court, showing McLean smiling as he held up his mother's severed head. 'Does this look like someone who knows what he is doing is wrong?' she said in her opening statement at the trial in Bronx Supreme Court. She told jurors that McLean was a 'broken' man, who had been hearing voices since he was 10-years-old, and had received treatment in mental hospitals for much of his life. After McLean killed his mother he then went to a hardware store and bought a power saw to carve up her body, police said. He then stopped to take a smirking selfie with her dismembered head before stuffing her remains into bin bags. Her dismembered corpse was found in the bin bags inside four different suitcases that had been dumped around the neighborhood, and police later discovered the smiling selfie on McLean's phone. Her chopped up remains were found stuffed into bin bags in four suitcases scattered around the neighborhood where she lived After the killing, McLean called police to report his mother missing, an officer told the court His defense team has claimed he was mentally ill at the time of the killing and say he did not know right from wrong. McClean is pictured in the back of his squad car following his arrest in February 2013 Jurors were told that McLean was a 'broken' man, who had been hearing voices since he was 10-years-old and had been in and out of mental hospitals Prosecutors said the killing of his mother, pictured, was 'cold-blooded'.They also insist McLean knew what he was doing Tanya Byrd was killed on February 26, 2013 inside the Morrisania apartment that she shared with her son After McLean killed his mother he then went to a hardware store and bought a power saw to carve up her body, police said. He is seen being walked from a precinct after his arrest The alleged killer rang the police to report his mother missing after he had stabbed her, police said. Prosecutors said the killing was 'cold-blooded' and said McLean knew what he was doing at the time of the alleged murder. Cassandra McLean, 53, Byrd's sister, told the New York Daily News that her nephew was a danger to society and should be jailed for life. The pregnant woman appeared in court with her husband and mother A Sydney private school teacher, 33, has been charged over an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy. The 33-year-old woman - who is pregnant - was arrested on Friday and appeared in Newtown Local Court with her husband and mother, according to The Daily Telegraph. The teacher faces charges of indecent assault and six counts of sexual intercourse with a person under care between 17 and 18 years. A Sydney private school teacher was arrested on Friday after she was accused of having a relationship with a student and appeared in Newtown Local Court (pictured) The magistrate heard the woman accused, 'was in a position of power and she's abused that power ... she has exercised a degree of influence over him' according to the prosecutor. The mother posted $30,000, allowing the woman to be released on bail. The police were alerted after the teenager told a school counsellor about the alleged relationship, The Daily Telegraph reported. This launched an investigation and it is believed the teacher was suspended last month and parents were informed about the aforementioned charges. Neither the school or the woman's identity can be revealed. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence said Friday morning that Donald Trump's campaign is getting ready to release evidence debunking a series of women's claims that he sexually assaulted them. Trump has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them 'fabrications' and 'smears' cooked up by Hillary Clinton's campaign and a compliant mass media in an effort to derail his White House bid. On 'CBS This Morning,' Pence said that 'frankly, I think even before the day is out there will be more evidence publicly that shows and calls into questions these latest allegations.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS Mike Pence said Friday morning that the Trump campaign is readying evidence that will show the presidential candidate's female accusers are lying Trump has called accusations against him 'fabricated' and blames the Hillary Clinton campaign for cooking them up so media can 'smear' him Asked what he expected to be made public, Pence said: 'Well, just stay tuned.' 'I know that there's more information that's going to be coming out that will back his claim that this is all categorically false.' The latest allegations include one from a People magazine writer who claims Trump kissed her without permission 12 years ago during a break form an interview. Trump said Thursday that the spot where the indicent was to have happened is a public area of his Mar-a-Lago resort whose glass enclosure makes it an improbably place for an unwanted sexual advance. He added that he has 'never met' another woman who accused him of groping her on an airplane more than 30 years ago. Trump said in some cases, women who are now accusing him have written glowing letter and emails to him in the intervening years, asking him for work. Pence said on 'Fox & Friends' that Trump has 'categorically denied' every allegation, 'and there will be more evidence coming out.' He also criticized The New York Times for surfacing two of the women, saying on CBS that the reporters who wrote the story were also behind a controversial report this year that cast him as a misogynist and drew charges of journalistic foul play. 'It is interesting that the same reporters who wrote a similar story six months ago for The New York Times wrote this story,' Pence said, 'and that story was completely discredited.' This week's Times story has drawn a threat from Trump, personally, to sue for libel. Pence appeared on 'CBS This Morning' where he also insisted a 2005 audiotape of Trump boasting about how famous men can mistreat women was only that a boast Pence insisted that damning footage released a week ago from a 2005 'Access Hollywood' taping conisted only of Trump engaging in male boasts that had no basis in actual events. He was recorded saying famous men can treat women any way they wish and illustrated the claim by saying alpha males can 'grab them by the p***y.' Pence stood his ground. 'I already spoke about my concerns about the language he used in that 11-year-old video, but what he has made it clear is that was talk, regrettable talk on his part,' he said. SEQUATCHIE VALLEY BRANCH RAILROAD, 1894 In the records of the legal history of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway (NC&StL), its Sequatchie Valley Branch (SVB) Railroad was composed of three separate lines of differing origins, which NC&StL formed into a single railroad. The three branch railroads are the Jasper Branch Railroad (Bridgeport to Jasper), completed 1867; the Inman Branch Railroad (Inman to Victoria), completed 1883; and the Pikeville Branch Railroad (Jasper to Pikeville), completed 1894. The Sequatchie Valley Branch Railroad (SVB) began life as the Jasper Branch Railroad of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, originally authorized in 1860 but interrupted by the Civil War. Work was completed to Jasper in 1867. In 1868, the Sequatchie Valley Railroad Company began an effort to extend the railway from Jaser to Pikeville. The tracks were laid as far as Victoria in 1877 when the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad (NC&StL) purchased it, completing the line into Pikeville in 1894. The Inman Branch Railroad was completed in late 1882 by the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railway Company from its Inman Mines to a junction with what was then still called the Jasper Branch Railroad at Victoria. The NC&StL took ownership of the line 1 January 1883. By 1894, the railway from Bridgeport to Pikeville was in full operation (according to the records of the NC&StL), headquartered in Jasper. In 1917, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N), parent of the NC&StL, consolidated operations of the NC&StL with the SVB at a new depot in Bridgeport. By 1921, the SVB was offering service all the way into Chattanooga over the lines of its parent, the NC&StL, the junction with these being at Bridgeport, Alabama. In 1877, the NC&StL purchased the McMinnville and Manchester Railroad from the Memphis and Carlston Railroad (M&C), and after extending its track to Sparta, Tennessee, renamed it the Sparta Branch Railroad. The NC&StL planned to extend to this line south and junction with the SVB at Pikeville, giving it a railway from Tullahoma, Tennessee, to Bridgeport, Alabama, but this never came about, though the survey was complete. The furthest south the tracks of the Sparta Branch reached were Ravenscroft in Cumberland County, still twenty-six-and-a-half miles out. During the Siege of Chattanooga in the Civil War, the entire length of the Sequatchie Valley saw fighting during Wheelers Raid on Union supply lines 1-9 October 1863, the most spectacular action in the valley being at Andersons Cross Roads, where his troops captured 800 supply wagons and nearly 600 troops . Rather than in order completed, its station are presented here in order of progression from the SVBs northern terminus. While a few of these had mere waiting sheds to service passengers and platforms for freight, the majority had depots, some surprisingly large. The stations on the SVB were as follows. Pikeville This town was the terminus of the SVB. The depot at this schedule stop was probably located near the intersection of West Railroad Avenue with East Railroad Avenue. Founded in 1816, Pikeville incorporated in 1830. In 1818, it became the second seat of Bledsoe County after it was moved here from Madison (now Mount Airy in Sequatchie County). The post office of Pikeville was established in 1811, according to the archives of the Tennessee Secretary of State. Lees Station The next station down the line is another schedule stop. This community never had a post office and has never been incorporated but had a huge depot for both passengers and freight, which was probably at or near the Kelly Road crossing. College Station The schedule stop at this last station in Bledsoe County was originally intended to service Sequatchie College, founded in 1865, but that closed in 1887. The institution was somewhat unique at the time for being coeducational. A fairly decent-sized community had grown up in the vicinity. The depot was probably at the crossing of College Station Mountain Road. The post office of Sequachee College operated from 1882 until 1907. Pailo The station of this schedule stop was near the intersection of Old Tennessee Highway 28 with Howard Beaver Road. The post office of Pailo operated from 1886 until 1907. Mount Airy The first community down the line in Sequatchie County was at this schedule stop in Bledsoe County until the former was created. Under its original identity as Madison, it was the first seat of the latter county. The depot most likely would have been near where Mount Airy Road meets Old York Highway. The post office of Mount Airy was established in Bledsoe County in 1825 and operated in Sequatchie County after its creation until 1894. Dunlap The depot at this schedule stop operated from 1888 until 1972 on Railroad Street. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) ceased operations and closed the depot in 1972, and it burned two years later. This town is the seat of Sequatchie County. In fact, it was created for that purpose in the area previously known as Coops Creek in 1858. It incorporated as the Taxing District of Dunlap in 1901, as the Town of Dunlap in 1927, and as the City of Dunlap in 1941. The railroad arrived here in 1888, but it wasnt until 1900 that the Douglas Coal and Coke Company began operations. To convert mined coal into coke, Douglas built 268 ovens atop nearby Fredonia Mountain and an incline railway to haul the coal up and the coke down. In 1904, Douglas went bankrupt, and was purchased by the Chattanooga Coal and Iron Company, which continued the operations until 1927. The coke ovens now belong to the Sequatchie Valley Historical Association as the Dunlap Coke Ovens Park. The post office was established in Marion County (before the creation of Sequatchie County) as Coops Creek in 1837, changing to Dunlap in Sequatchie County in 1866. Daus The route of TN Highway 27 runs directly through the former roadbed here, and the depot that once stood at the schedule stop in this community was probably at west side the intersection of the highway with Stone Cave Road. The community here was originally named Delphi by one of its prominent families. When the railroad came and Witco Mining began operations, a member of another family gave land for a depot on the condition it not be named Delphi. Thus it became Daus, and for a while there was a good deal of confusion with shipments being made to and from Daus Station but bills and other correspondence going through the Delphi Post Office. The post office here was created as Delphi in Marion County in 1822, changed to Sequachee in 1850, and discontinued in 1850. Meanwhile, another post office nearby called Daus was created in 1827 that moved to Sequatchie County along with the community; it operated until 1873. Postal service revived under the name Delphi in 1878 and operated until 1921. A post office named Daus reappeared in 1927, operating until 1973. Cartwright The primary reason for existence of this signal stop, which stood at the crossing of Cartwright Loop, was the Palmetto Coal Company Mines, which shut down during the Great Depression. Condra Switch This signal stop at the crossing of Condra Switch Road was the first stop after crossing into Marion County, and its purpose was mainly to service the side-track here. The post office of Cedar Springs was established near here by a member of the local Condra family in 1874, moving to Whitwell in 1929. Shirleyton This schedule stop stood at a westward curve of the tracks that brought it close to Old Dunlap Road, near the intersection of Blacksmith Road. The post office of Shirleton operated from 1883 until 1904, when it moved to Cedar Springs. Whitwell The railroad reached this schedule stop in 1887. Until 1878, the community here was named Cheeksville; the name changed in honor of Thomas Whitwell, the cofounder of Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company killed in a mine explosion that year. Coal was so big here that the town gained the nickname Coal City of the Sequatchie Valley. Its major employer was Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company until 1882, then Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company. The post office of Cheeksville was established here in 1830, changing to Whitwell in 1887. Victoria For ten years, from 1877 until 1887, this community first known as Dadsville was the northern terminus of the SVB. The depot here still exists on Victoria Commerce Center Road, being used today as a private residence. It is one of two depots from the Sequatchie Valley Branch Railroad days still in existence. Along with Whitwell, Victoria was one of the two centers for coal mining and coke production by the British-owned Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company. The post office of Dadsville was established here as in 1850, changing to Victoria in 1877 in honor of the British monarch. It was moved to Whitwell in 1974. The next two stations are on the line of the Inman Branch Railroad. Hutton Briefly a schedule stop, this tiny station four miles from Victoria and five miles from Inman has left no trace it ever existed. Inman This station was in the vicinity of the intersection of Inman Road with Griffith Highway on the east bank of the Sequatchie River, at the end of the spur line from Victoria. The Inman Mines were at first run by the Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company, until it was bought out by Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company. The latter used mostly prison slave labor in its mines, sixty percent of all prison inmates in the state, in fact. The mining camp here was a prison stockade and conditions were deplorable. Situations like this, and the fact that using prison slaves took jobs away from free colliers (coal miners) led to the Coal Creek War that began in Anderson County in 1891. That rarely heard-of conflict lasted nearly two years and resulted in the use of prison slave labor being ended in the State of Tennessee. The post office of Gholston was established at the Inman Mines in 1882, changing to its name Inman in 1884. It was discontinued and postal service moved to Whitwell in 1929. From here we return to the main line. Sequatchie This unincorporated town lies at the mouth of Waterfall Cove at the foot of Sequatchie Mountain on Valley View Highway. Unlike many of the whistlestops in Sequatchie Valley, it has continued to thrive, if somewhat less than in earlier days. The depot at this schedule stop was probably located at either the Harding Street crossing or the Lassiter Road crossing, more likely the former. The post office of Sequatchie was established in 1890 and still operates, its station standing right in the middle of town. Jasper Jasper depot was the original terminus of the Jasper Branch Railroad, which began service in 1867. This schedule stop was headquarters for the SVB until 1917. The town was established in 1819 on land leased from Cherokee Beloved Woman (the literal translation of the Cherokee for a female chief) Betsy Pack, daughter of Cherokee leader John Lowery. Since its inception, the town has been the seat of Marion County. Until 1917, the headquarters of the Sequatchie Valley Branch Railroad were located here. During the Civil War, there was an engagement here on 24 June 1863. The towns railway depot, built in 1923 by the L&N, parent of the NC&StL, serves today as the Jasper city hall. It is the other depot from the days of this railroad still in existence. The post office of Jasper was established in 1819. Browder Switch This depot at this signal stop stood at the Browder Switch Road crossing. Kimball The depot here stood north of the tracks at the end of what is now Kimball Lane. This town nestled between its two much larger neighbors was founded as what was planned to be an industrial city, much the same as in the dreams of the founders of New England City in Dade County, Georgia. The enterprise never really got off the ground due to the explosion of growth by its neighbor to the west. On what were once the outskirts of town, the two most important highways of the early 20th century, the north-south Dixie Highway and the east-west Robert E. Lee Highway cross paths, giving the name Dixie-Lee Junction to the area, though outside Kimball it is usually called simply Dixie Lee because of the same-named community in Loudon County. The actual junction was where the old Stuckeys restaurant used to be; its now a Krystal The post office of Ino was established here in 1887, changing to Wallview later that year. It became Kimball in 1890 and operated until 1914, when service moved to Jasper, moving again to South Pittsburg in 1918. South Pittsburg The depot at this schedule stop and coupon station stood along Railroad Avenue on the same block as the last location of United States Stove Company. The Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company chose this community to be the major center for its iron production in the region, using ore produced by the nearby Battle Creek Mines. As mentioned above, that company was purchased by Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company in 1882. The economy of the town mushroomed, and the city ballooned, becoming the industrial center Kimballs backers had dreamed of it becoming. During the Civil War, the Battle of Fort McCook took place here along the riverside 27-28 August 1862. There had been another engagement here 21 June 1862. A post office called Battle Creek was established in the vicinity in 1831, operating until it was discontinued in 1858. The post office was reestablished as Battle Creek Mines in 1869, the name changing to South Pittsburg in 1876. Richard City This schedule stop on the stateline originated as a company town for and was built by Dixie Portland Company, to house the employees of its large cement plant here. In 1926, Dixie Portland merged with several other cement producers as Pennsylvania-Dixie Cement Corporation, or Penn-Dixie. A spur line operated briefly from here to the Rexton Mines for about two years. The post office was established as Copenhagen in 1879. It changed to Deptford in 1890, and back again to Copenhagen in 1893 until changing to Richard City in 1918. Bridgeport The SVB maintained a depot here separate from its parent companies the L&N and the NC&StL until 1917, when the L&N consolidated the depots and brought the offices of the SVB south from their original home in Jasper, Tennessee. The SVB depot here was also a coupon station. For more information on Bridgeport, see the section on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. Chattanooga When the SVB began running trips into Chattanooga, it used Union Depot as its terminal here. Chuck Hamilton A mother-of-two, who was disgusted by Donald Trump's lewd hot mic comments about women, sent the Republican presidential nominee a piece of her mind - and pubic hair. Photographer Emily Robinson, 38, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, received a mailer from Trump's campaign requesting donations on Saturday. After her husband handed her the the Republican nominee's request for funds, Robinson said she had an idea. Photographer Emily Robinson, 38, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sent Donald Trump a clump of her pubic hair (pictured) after she received a campaign mailer asking for donations Robinson (pictured) said she was disgusted by remarks made by Trump, which were caught on a hot mic in 2005, in which he made lewd remarks about 'grabbing women by the p****' Playing off Trump's remarks about 'grabbing women by the p****', she clipped of a clump of her own pubic hair and taped it to a note. 'Dear Mr Trump, Im not able to mail you my actual p****, so Ive included the next best thing. Cheers, Emily,' she wrote above the ball of hair. The mother of two then put the letter back into a pre-addressed envelope and sent it off. 'Donald Trump is a disgusting pig of a person and represents everything that females hate about existing in life as a woman. 'I felt better after I mailed the letter. I felt relieved,' Robinson told Us Weekly. Robinson posted her pubic protest to Facebook with the caption, 'Yes I did. #protest'. The post has since been shared more than 500 times and liked more than 2,600 times. The mother of two wrote on the letter: 'Dear Mr Trump, Im not able to mail you my actual p****, so Ive included the next best thing. Cheers, Emily' Responses have been overwhelmingly positive to Robinson's post. 'I hope this goes viral. I have looked at it and laughed so many times,' one person wrote. Another said: 'This wins the Internet today!' And if anyone isn't a fan of Robinson's work, she said they may need to reassess their priorities. Vice President Joe Biden says Bill Clinton's misconduct 'shouldn't matter' in the context of the presidential race because he already 'paid a price for it.' 'I can't make any excuse for Bill Clinton's conduct,' Biden said in a Meet the Press clip released early Friday. 'I wouldn't attempt to make any excuses for the conduct. But he paid a price for it. He paid a price.' Clinton was impeached, Biden said. 'He expressed his deep sorrow and acknowledged what he did.' Donald Trump, on the other hand, 'This guy, as I said, has acknowledged that he has been a sexual predator.' Vice President Joe Biden says Bill Clinton's misconduct 'shouldn't matter' in the context of the presidential race because he already 'paid a price for it' 'He's acknowledged that he's abused his power,' Biden argued. 'And the-- as I said, the textbook definition of what constitutes sexual assault.' Biden had previously said that Trump's lewd comments about women and how he approaches them represents the 'textbook definition of sexual assault.' On Wednesday's 'Late Night with Seth Meyers' the 73-year-old chastised Trump for 'absolutely outrageous behavior' as he addressed a 2005 tape of Trump saying 'you can do anything' to women if you're a celebrity - even 'grab them by the p***y'. Biden likewise said that Trump's alleged backstage behavior at the Miss Teen USA pageant is the 'ultimate abuse of power'. His comments about the billionaire business came after at least five former contestants came forward Wednesday claiming Trump deliberately walked in to dressing rooms in 1997 and 2001 while the teenage girls were naked. Since then, two women told the New York Times that Trump groped them without their consent. A writer for People also came forward to accuse the billionaire of sexual harassment. Biden slammed Trump's comments in the Access Hollywood hot mic tape on Twitter on Saturday night. His words are demeaning,' Biden said. 'Such behavior is an abuse of power. It's not lewd. It's sexual assault.' Donald Trump, on the other hand, 'This guy, as I said, has acknowledged that he has been a sexual predator,' Biden said. He's pictured here on Thursday campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas Trump's wife Melania condemned the comments, calling them offensive and unacceptable, and the White House candidate apologized. He maintains that they were 'locker-room banter,' and claims he didn't commit the vulgar acts. The stories in People and the Times are false, he said Thursday. Sunday evening he brought Bill Clinton's rape accusers to the debate after a meeting with them that he broadcast live on Facebook. As Bill and Chelsea looked on from Hillary's VIP box, Trump re-litigated charges of sexual misconduct against the 70-year-old from his Oval Office years. Hillary Clinton never responded to Trump. Her campaign bashed him for dragging the race into the 'gutter' and declared her to be un-rattled and un-intimidated. She told donors Thursday that the allegations against Trump are 'disturbing.' Biden and the Clintons are pictured at a rally in support of Barack Obama in 2008 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Bill was impeached, Biden told Meet the Press in a clip that came out today. 'He expressed his deep sorrow and acknowledged what he did' 'It makes you want to turn off the news. It makes you want to unplug the internet. Or just look at cat GIFs. Believe me, I get it,' she said. 'Ive watched a lot of cats do a lot of weird and interesting things.' Bill Clinton wouldn't comment on the matter as he left the Clinton County Democratic Party's headquarters in Iowa yesterday afternoon. 'Do you think they have any merit, should they be believed?' DailyMail.com asked him as he approached the door. A New York City parks department worker claims she was left 'humiliated and degraded' when she was made to clean an artist's shoe that was covered in dog feces. Tasheema Chatman, 40, was called by supervisors to the Gracie Square Art Show in Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side on October 2. Artist Christos Palios had stepped in dog poop and wanted to clean it off. New York City parks department worker Tasheema Chatman (pictured) claims she was left 'humiliated and degraded' when she was reportedly made to clean an artist's shoe that was covered in dog feces 'He had this cocky, arrogant demeanor to himself, like this was a regular thing for him,' Chatman said of Palios, according to the New York Post. 'My supervisors didn't say anything,' she said. 'They didn't stop it, they didn't say anything. 'They made me feel less than a person. I can't stop breaking down,' she added. Ms Chatman, who has worked for the New York City Parks Department since 2004, said she cried in the bathroom for 15 minutes after the incident. She requested to be moved to an alternative park and this has now been granted. The Parks Department is investigating the incident, a spokesman said. She was called by supervisors to the Gracie Square Art Show in Carl Schurz Park (pictured) on the Upper East Side on October 2 The artist defended himself and said the park worker was not forced to clean his shoe. Speaking to the Daily Mail Online, Mr Palios said: 'I politely inquired if it would be possible to briefly borrow the bristle brush from the park employees so that I may also clean my shoe. 'When Ms Chatman arrived, I thanked her for coming and apologized for the inconvenience. I politely pointed out those spots and asked if it would be possible for me to also use the brush to quickly remove the matter from my shoe.' He added: 'Never would I have conceived of requesting someone else to do it for me - I find this preposterous and not part of values I uphold. 'I've never asked anyone to do anything like this - I clean up after myself - and I did not ask any supervisor or Ms Chatman in this case either. 'When she declined to allow me to use the brush, we cleaned it together. The boss of chocolate giant Hershey Co is to stand down in July 2017. John Bilbrey will leave his post as chief executive of the candy-making company next summer after five years at the top of the firm and a further eight as a senior officer. The outgoing president said he would stay on as a non-executive chairman of the board, but added: 'Now is the right time to begin the process of handing over the reins as CEO as it will allow me to spend more time with my family and wonderful grandchildren.' John Bilbrey will leave his post as chief executive of the candy-making company next summer five years at the top of the firm and a further eight as a senior officer Oreo cookie-maker Mondelez International Inc tried to buy the company earlier this year after its shares were up 1.4 percent in pre-market trading. Hersheys has appointed a special committee to search for a new CEO, led by Pamela Arway, chairwoman of the board's governance committee, aided by executive search firm Egon Zehnder. The company also maintained its full-year outlook as Bilbrey announced July 1 would be his last day in the job. The move comes less than three months after the charitable trust that controls Hershey reached a major reform agreement with its overseer, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, raising questions about its future plans for the company. The company, which is based in the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, has a market capitalization of around $20billion. Bilbrey was named CEO of Hershey in 2011, after serving in various senior roles at the company since 2003. He added the position of chairman in 2015. Prior to Hershey, Bilbrey worked for 22 years at consumer company Procter and Gamble Co. Following an initial spurned bid in June, Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld re-approached Bilbrey in August, indicating that Mondelez would be willing to offer $115 a share. Prior to Hershey, Bilbrey (center in light suit) worked for 22 years at consumer company Procter and Gamble Co Hershey responded to that offer by stating it would not be willing to enter into deal negotiations for an offer of less than $125 per share, a source said at the time. The Hershey trust was set up by the company's founder over a century ago to fund and run a school for underprivileged children. It holds 81 percent of the company's voting stock, and so a sale is not possible without its approval. About two-thirds of its $12billion in assets are in Hershey stock. Following a dispute with the Pennsylvania attorney general over its governance policy, the trust in July agreed to expand its board from 10 members to 13, and for five members to resign by year's end. With one trustee having resigned shortly before that agreement, that leaves a total of nine openings. Dangerous in hindsight, the pair said it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience Simon Richards and Guy Munckton were shocked by the close encounter Mother and her calf were a metre from the boat at Long Island, Queensland Whale watchers stunned when humpback whales breach next to their boat Two whale watchers were left stunned after watching a mother humpback whale and her calf tail slapping mere metres from their boat. Simon Richards, 42, and Guy Munckton, 50, were out on their small boat when the giant animals breached right in front of them near Long Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia on Thursday. The pair said they initially spotted the mother and her calf in the distance about 50 metres away before they disappeared under water. Two whale watchers were left stunned after watching a mother humpback whale and her calf tail slapping mere metres from their boat 'The breach was totally unexpected as the mother and calf were more than 50 metres away when we first saw them tail slapping,' Mr Richards said Shortly after they lost sight of the animals, Mr Richards said the pair were caught off-guard when they popped up again right next to their boat. 'The breach was totally unexpected as the mother and calf were more than 50 metres away when we first saw them tail slapping,' he said. 'To our surprise the calf had swum over to the boat.' Mr Richards said he and Mr Munckton were rendered speechless and in 'total shock' when the whales surfaced so close. He said the situation was pretty dangerous in hindsight, but that didn't register until afterwards. Simon Richards, 42, and Guy Munckton, 50, were out on their small boat when the giant animals breached right in front of them near Long Island off the coast of Queensland The pair said they initially spotted the mother and her calf in the distance about 50 metres away before they disappeared under water 'I had never seen anything like it so the seriousness of the situation didn't sink in until about 10 seconds after it happened,' he said. 'We wouldn't have been there if we knew that was going to happen.' Mr Richards said he was a seasoned wale watcher, but Thursday's experience was like nothing he'd seen before. 'I have been on whale tours where whales often swim over to investigate bigger boats but normally the whales just swim by and don't even acknowledge the presence of the boat,' he said. Mr Richards said the intimate sighting off the coast of Queensland was a once-in-a-lifetime experience But in such a small boat, he said the intimate sighting was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Significant new evidence has been uncovered by a police chief investigating more than 50 murders linked to the Army's notorious IRA agent Stakeknife. Victims' families have told stories never divulged before at the start of an independent probe by Bedfordshire Police Chief Constable Jon Boutcher. The probe is investigating the high-ranking mole who led the IRA's 'nutting squad' internal security unit while in the employ of the state. As a member of their so-called 'nutting squad', Freddie Scappaticci was charged with rooting out, interrogating and dealing with suspected informers. Victims' families have told stories never divulged before at the start of an independent probe by Jon Boutcher (right) into the activities of Freddie Scappaticci (left) A group of six international policing experts has been appointed to inform the investigation on a voluntary basis. They include senior police officers from the US, Scotland, an Australian ex-officer and ex-Northern Ireland police ombudsman Nuala O'Loan. In 2003 Stakeknife was widely named as west Belfast man Scappaticci but he has always strongly denied the allegation. Mr Boutcher said: 'This week we have heard things that from what the families have told me they have never told anyone before, because nobody has asked them. 'What I have been told this week is significant evidence against the people responsible for these offences.' He has asked the victims' families to give him time to investigate and recover the evidence. It is incredible what I have heard. 'There is a pessimism which I understand, I completely get, because people felt let down and almost abandoned. Frank Mulhern's son Joe, 22, was killed after the IRA claimed he was an informer in 1993. Mr Mulhern welcomed the new investigation 'It almost feels like their rights were taken away from them because of the nature of what happened to their loved ones. 'They have now got a voice and that is this investigation, and they told me of what they saw at that time that they have never been able to tell anybody before and we need people to do that.' Scappaticci has strong links with Northern Ireland First Minister Martin McGuinness, who it was claimed last month may be questioned over the allegations. A 1993 episode of The Cook Report featured Scappaticci saying that McGuinness wouldn't 'dirty his hands' directly, but one minute he would be in church and the next he would say 'stiff him,' meaning kill someone. Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman is now investigating the murders of alleged informers by the IRA and the potential role of Stakeknife. It passed information to the DPP, which resulted in today's announcement. Families of the alleged victims of double agent Stakeknife said they were overjoyed after the new investigation was ordered. Frank Mulhern's son Joe, 22, was killed after the IRA claimed he was an informer in 1993. His bullet-riddled body was discovered in a ditch beside a remote border crossing in County Tyrone. Mr Mulhern said he was delighted progress had been made after years of campaigning for justice. The family members of a partially paralyzed man who lived in a South Carolina nursing home are calling for answers after he drowned in a puddle during Hurricane Matthew. David Outlaw, 66, was pinned face-down underneath his wheelchair in standing water after he was left alone to smoke in the courtyard of the National Health Care Facility in Columbia on October 8. Outlaw's brother Richard said: 'Even Governor [Nikki] Haley said everyone needed to be inside. My brother survived Vietnam, car crashes and two strokes, just to die in a puddle of water?' David Outlaw, 66, was pinned face-down underneath his wheelchair after he was left alone to smoke in the courtyard of his nursing home during Hurricane Matthew (file photo of floods) Outlaw's brother Richard said: 'My brother survived Vietnam, car crashes and two strokes, just to die in a puddle of water?' (file photo of floods in South Carolina after Hurricane Matthew) Richland County deputies and state nursing home regulators are investigating Outlaw's death. A nurse told deputies that he refused to come inside during the devastating hurricane, so she left him in a courtyard to smoke. Several minutes later, a nurse looking to give Outlaw his medication found him face-down in the puddle around 7.45am, according to a police report that did not specify how much water was standing in the courtyard. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital, with autopsy results showing that he died from asphyxiation from drowning after falling out of his electric wheelchair, WLTX reported. 'How negligent is it to just leave him outside in a hurricane by himself?' Outlaw's wife Karyl said. Richard Outlaw said someone should have at least kept a close eye on his brother if he wouldn't come inside. Seven years ago, David had a stroke that left his left side paralyzed. His wife took care of him until last year, when she decided to send him to the nursing home. Outlaw's health improved his high-blood pressure was better controlled and his blood sugar readings were improving, his wife said. 'He still had a lot of life ahead of him,' Karyl said. Seven years ago, David had a stroke that left his left side paralyzed. His wife took care of him until last year, when she decided to send him to the nursing home (file photo) The nursing home has not returned several calls seeking comment. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which licensed nursing homes, is also investigating the death. David Outlaw served in the Army in Vietnam, rode motorcycles before his stroke and loved to laugh and fish, his wife said. The nursing home and deputies have told the family almost nothing about David Outlaw's death, she said. She's waiting on the investigations to make sure someone is held accountable. The petrol tanker driver was taken to hospital and police are investigating Dashcam footage from the car behind captures the horrifying crash happen driver was killed in the accident on September 29 The car was crushed by a tanker on a narrow mountain road in eastern China This terrifying dashcam footage captures the moment a driver is crushed to death under a fuel tanker when it falls onto his vehicle on a narrow mountain road. The grey saloon was negotiating a remote winding dirt track in Yunnan province, eastern China, when the enormous tanker approaches. A grey saloon car was crushed (pictured) and the driver killed in the horrifying crash between a car and a petrol tanker in Yunnan province, eastern China Each driver tries to squeeze past but the giant truck - carrying hundreds of gallons of petrol - tips over on its left-hand side. The male driver of the five-door saloon, who has not been identified, is killed instantly as the tanker crushes the vehicle - leaving an almost FLAT wreckage. Dashcam footage filmed from the car behind captured the horrifying accident before emergency services could arrive. Rescue worker Lin-li Huang said: 'The driver did not survive. There was no chance of him being able to withstand the weight. The car behind captured the fatal crash on its dashcam. The footage shows the tanker and car meet on the narrow road (pictured) The tanker driver attempts to overtake the car by moving up a bank on the side of the road (pictured) but the heavy vehicle can be seen starting to topple over 'His car was damaged irreparably. The person who was in the traffic behind recorded the accident and we're looking at it to see what caused this. 'He was in shock after witnessing this. He said it could have been him if he had been a few seconds ahead in the traffic.' The camera captures the moment huge petrol tanker loses balance and starts to fall on the car (pictured) The person in the car behind was said to be in shock after witnessing the accident. Rescue worker Lin-li Huang said: 'It could have been him if he had been a few seconds ahead' One male driver was killed in the accident on September 29. There were no other passengers in his vehicle. Kim Kardashian is prepared to return to France if summoned by a judge leading the investigation into the 9 million robbery which saw the reality TV star attacked in Paris, her lawyer said today. The 35-year-old left the country within a few hours of the October 3 heist, and is furious at claims that it was all a publicity set up. Ms Kardashian insists a gun was put to her head, and that she was gagged and tied up during the horrifying crime, and is suing those who dispute such claims. Jean Veil, the 68-year-old celebrity Paris barrister who is now representing Ms Kardashians interests in France, said she is very calm and very determined over a matter that was particularly violent. Kim Kardashian, seen here at Paris Fashion Week before the robbery, is reportedly prepared to return to Paris Asked by the BFM news channel if Ms Kardashian would actually come back to France as the investigation progressed, Mr Veil said: If she is summoned to France, she will come to France, but judges also have the possibility of moving [to the USA]. My client travels a lot, she will probably have to come to France ... We'll see how it works out. In line with all criminal investigations in France, Ms Kardashian can be summoned to give evidence as a key witness at any time. This is a formal process, which can not be done on the phone, or even via a video link. Ms Kardashian and the apartment concierge reportedly told police there were five masked men involved in the attack. If caught they face charges of armed robbery by an organised gang, criminal conspiracy and kidnapping. Kim is believed to have been robbed of her 4.5 million engagement ring (pictured), which was a gift from her rapper husband Kanye West A french police car is seen outside Kim Kardashian's luxury apartment after she was robbed at gunpoint by masked men during Paris Fashion Week In the meantime, an instructing judge is leading an investigation involving some 100 judicial and criminal brigade officers. Mr Veil said Ms Kardashian 'is waiting for results in the enquiry that will find those who attacked her, who stole her jewellery, while hoping we will find them too. Beyond the loss of her jewels, including a 4.5 million engagement ring from her rapper husband Kanye West, Mr Veil said his famous client had to put up with suspicions of a set up or marketing coup. Ms Kardashian was particularly upset by a sneak video showing her sitting on a sofa calmly examining her phone within a few hours of the robbery. She looks unflustered and is ignoring judicial police officers looking for evidence inside the first floor flat at an exclusive complex in central Paris. Kim Kardashian, seen here with daughter North West, returned to New York after the incident Mr Viel said: She is just as disturbed by the fact that at the same time that she was attacked, there was someone who took a video. Mr Viel added that the film was being used to make out that the whole thing was nothing more than a hoax or fabricated case. These are defamatory claims, and she cannot put up with them if they persist. The website is already suing the website MediaTakeOut over claims the entire heist was a set-up. Mr Veil said that, beyond litigation in the USA, a complaint had been made to Paris prosecutors about MediaTakeOut. Simon Parsons started teaching the girl when she was 15 years old. A married teacher jailed for fathering a child with a teenage pupil who idolised him has now been banned from the classroom for life. Simon Parsons, a popular drama and theatre studies tutor at the school, started teaching the girl, referred to only as Pupil A, when she was 15 years old. When she turned 16, he started kissing and touching her, education watchdogs were told. They started having sex on the girl's 17th birthday, when Parsons, then 43, whisked her off to London on a theatre trip and they stayed overnight in a hotel. The relationship continued for four years during which they had sex 'on numerous occasions', including on the premises of Castle School, Thornbury, near Bristol. Parsons had taught since January 1988, a year after qualifying, and was also the guiding light behind the school plays. The affair carried on after Pupil A left school and gave birth to a son. It was not disputed that Mr Parsons was the father, a misconduct hearing was told. The teenage told her aunt what had happened in March 2014 and in November 2014 years after the affair. Parsons was later jailed for 12 months at Bristol Crown Court. Parsons had taught since January 1988, a year after qualifying, and was also the guiding light behind the school plays He admitted five specimen counts of abusing his position of trust by sexual activity with a female aged 13 - 17 and was ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years. The court heard Parsons had been married for 12 years and has a daughter, aged 11, with his wife. Today it was announced Parsons, now 54, had been struck off for life by the National College for Teaching and Leadership. Alan Meyrick, for the Education Secretary, said Parsons had been guilty of 'serious sexual misconduct' with the girl while he was her teacher. He added: 'She was left feeling confused, lost and let down by a teacher to whom she looked up and trusted. 'The panel accepts that Mr Parsons had a previous good record and was a talented teacher. However, his actions were deliberate and sustained.' Parsons, from Dursley, Gloucestershire, who has now been released from prison, failed to turn up at the hearing in Coventry and was disqualified from teaching in his absence. The National Drug Take Back for the fall will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. "The purpose of this event is to keep drugs out of the environment and off of our streets," officials said. Four of the locations will also include document shredders provided by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Consumer Affairs. "The local Drug Take Back program offers citizens a chance to safely and conveniently dispose of unwanted, unused prescription or over-the-counter drugs (for both pets and people) and avoid misuse or unintentional harm to families, pets and the environment," officials said. Experience shows that the most effective and cost-efficient way to ensure high-quality water at the tap is to keep our source waters clean. We support this partnership because it helps spread an important message to the public: Don't flush medications down the toilet, where they would eventually end up in our waterways, said Valoria Armstrong, president of Tennessee American Water. Local residents are encouraged to participate by dropping off medications for proper disposal at one of the 11 Hamilton County area locations. There are also three sites in Bradley County, one in Marion County and one in Polk County. Sites in green will have document shredders available for personal documents such as tax information or medical records. Properly disposing of medication reduces the chance of teenage experimentation and overdose. We encourage residents to take advantage of the drug take back day by simply driving to one of the locations and dropping off medication with no questions asked, said Camilla Bibbs, executive director of the Hamilton County Coalition. "The program has positive community and environmental benefits. Having unused or expired medications in the home can lead to medication errors, accidental overdoses, or inappropriate use/abuse. In a well-intentioned effort to avoid these problems, many people flush unwanted medications down the toilet as a means of disposal. However, flushing medications means that traces of these drugs eventually end up back in the environment," officials said. Sites in Hamilton County: Walgreens in Hixson - 5478 TN Hwy. 153 Walgreens in East Brainerd - 2289 Gunbarrel Road Walgreens in Northshore 110 North Market St. Mt. Canaan Baptist Church 4801 Hwy. 58 Red Bank Food City - 3901 Dayton Blvd. Signal Mtn. Police Dept. -1111 Ridgeway Ave. Walgreens in Brainerd - 3605 Brainerd Road Walgreens in East Ridge - 5301 Ringgold Road Walgreens in Ooltewah - 9307 County Hwy. Walgreens in St. Elmo 3550 Broad St. Walgreens in Soddy Daisy 121 Harrison Ln. Sites in Bradley County: Walgreens in Cleveland 35 25th St., Cleveland Cleveland Police Department - 10 Church St., NE Bradley County Sheriffs Office 2290 Blythe Ave., SE Site in Polk County: First Baptist Church 2498 Parksville Road, Benton Site in Marion County: Whitwell Police Department - 1361 TN-28, Whitwell Along with Tennessee American Water, other sponsors for the Drug Take Back are: Bradley County Sheriffs Office; Chattanooga Police Department; City of Chattanooga; Drug Enforcement Administration; East Ridge Police Department; Hamilton County Coalition; Hamilton County Sheriffs Office; Red Bank Police Department; Signal Mountain Police Department; Soddy Daisy Police Department; Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurances Division of Consumer Affairs; Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services; Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation; TDOT; Walgreens; and Whitwell Police Department. There were allegations in court on Friday the outburst was fuelled by drugs The 25-year-old was charged and was refused bail in Burwood Local Court Mr Samer jumped on his sister's hospital bed and was tasered by police threw his body at police and spat at them He allegedly lost his temper and A 25-year-old man was pepper sprayed and tasered after he jumped on his sister's hospital bed in an alleged cocaine-fuelled outburst. Canterbury Hospital was a scene of chaos on Thursday after Mousallem Samer, 25, lost his temper when he tried to get hospital staff to listen to his sister's concerns over her pending delivery. He allegedly spat on and jumped at police, was aggressive towards hospital staff and jumped on his sister's hospital bed. The police were forced to pepper spray, taser and handcuff Mr Samer to subdue his rage, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Mousallem Samer, 25, allegedly spat and threw his body at police, was aggressive towards hospital staff and jumped on his sister's hospital bed before he was tasered (Stock Image) When police arrived at Canterbury Hospital (pictured) Mr Samer erupted and they were forced to subdue him with a taser The incident reportedly occurred when Mr Samer repeatedly attempted to get staff to address his sister's birth concerns. When police arrived to get him to leave he erupted. The court heard on Friday that he leapt onto his sister's hospital bed and reached out towards her and officers attempted to subdue him before they fired a taser at Mr Samer. The offender has been charged with resisting arrest, behaving in an offensive manner, assaulting a police officer and intimidating hospital staff. The scene was so frightening the court heard families asked police to accompany them to their cars in fear. Mr Samer is already serving an 18-month good behaviour bond for similar acts towards police and has a history of violence, according to the SMH. In Burwood Local Court on Friday, magistrate Alexander Mijovich said his actions were horrible. The court heard on Friday that the scene was so frightening families asked police to accompany them to their cars in fear 'Mr Samer, for whatever reasons, got extremely agitated within the hospital birthing unit where his sister was due to give birth,' he said. 'Mr Samer's conduct is some of the worst I've seen in a hospital.' Despite attempts from his solicitor and the family, Mr Samer's application for bail was refused. The court heard allegations Mr Samer was on drugs at the time of the outburst, which resulted in police to fire a taser in a maternity unit. However, Mr Samer's solicitor Fadi Abbas denied these allegations and said if this was the case he had relapsed because he had been drug and alcohol tested while on parole. He will appear in court later this month. A farmer who hacked off his own hand in an insurance scam has been jailed for three years and ordered to repay almost 300,000 to the firms he tried to dupe. Debt-ridden Miguel Blazquez Palacios was convicted of staging a car accident that left him with a stump where his right hand had been. Judges ruled he had deliberately maimed himself and placed a tourniquet round the limb to stop the bleeding before driving his car off the road near the town of Nules in the eastern Spanish province of Castellon. Judges at the Supreme Court in Madrid, pictured, have ordered Miguel Blazquez Palacios to pay back almost 300,000 after hacking off his own hand in an insurance scam Afterwards he placed the hand he had chopped off by the drivers seat and set fire to his Renault before dialling 999. A local police officer found him smoking a cigarette. At the time, the farmer from Nules told police he had swerved to avoid an animal in the road before crashing the car down the embankment. He claimed that a metal bar had smashed through the windscreen and sliced his hand off. But today, Supreme Court judges in Madrid ordered him to pay back 335,000 euros (297,000) to three insurance firms he ripped off. They were asked to intervene after Palacios was given a four-year prison sentence by a provincial court in Castellon at the start of the year. The farmer was struggling with his mortgage payments on a property which ended up being repossessed when he attempted his bizarre insurance scam. His story fell down after experts told his trial the cut he had made was too clean and it emerged he had taken out 11 insurance policies with eight different firms shortly before his accident. It has been estimated he could have earned up to 3million in payouts if he hadnt been arrested after suspicious insurers called in private investigators who discovered his mountain of debt. A bar owner who was with him shortly before the amputation told a local paper: He seemed calm, just like any other day. TIMELINE: WHEN DONALD TRUMP HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF ASSAULT, GROPING OR LEWD BEHAVIOR 1980 - Jessica Leeds Jessica Leeds Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, told the New York Times on Wednesday she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38. Leeds explained how she was sat beside Trump in first class on a flight, when the Republican nominee lifted the arm-rest between then and allegedly began touching her. 'He was like an octopus,' she told the Times. 'His hands were everywhere.' 1989 - Ivana Trump The Donald's first wife claimed she was 'violated' by him after a violent attack, documents filed as part of the couple's divorce claimed, according to the Daily Beast. Ivana distanced herself from the claims last year when Trump started his campaign. Early 1990s - Kristin Anderson Kristin Anderson Kristin Anderson was out with friends, chatting up a storm at a Manhattan nightspot, when she felt fingers creep up her miniskirt, slide up her inner thigh and then touch her vagina through her panties. The man who touched her was none other than Donald Trump, Anderson - now 46 - told theWashington Post. She said the incident took place in the early 1990s, when she was in her early twenties and an aspiring model. 1993 - Jill Harth Jill Harth Jill Harth, a makeup artist, accused Trump of 'attempted rape' stemming from an incident in 1993. Harth told the Guardian the incident in question took place during a visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion in January of that year. 'He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,' she told the newspaper. 'I had to physically say: 'What are you doing? Stop it.'' 1993 - Vendela Kirsebom Vendela Kirsebom Former supermodel Vendela Kirsebom exclusively told DailyMail.com that Donald Trump's 'vulgar' and 'sexist' remarks about the size of women's breasts forced her to switch tables at a White House dinner party. The sports Illustrated cover model claims her night at a 1993 Vanity Fair event was ruined because she was sat next to the billionaire. Recalling the 'excruciating' night, Kirsebom, 49, said: 'Everything he said was so vulgar. 'I couldn't listen to his nonsense for an entire night so I asked if I could be moved.' 1996 - Lisa Boyne Lisa Boyne Lisa Boyne, CEO of a health food company, claims that in the summer of 1996 she saw Trump make a series of women walk up and down a restaurant table so that he could announce whether they were wearing underwear. 'It was the most offensive scene I've ever been a part of,' she told The Huffington Post Thursday. 'I wanted to get the heck out of there.' According to Boyne, she and friend Sonja Tremont - better known today as Sonja Morgan of 'Real Housewives of New York' - had been invited to dinner in Manhattan with Trump and late modelling agent John Casablancas. 1997 - Four Miss Teen USA contestants Mariah Billado Mariah Billado and three other contestants claimed to Buzzfeed that Trump walked into dressing rooms prior to the pageant while competitors were naked. 'I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here'.' Bilado told the website, before adding Trump said something like: 'Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before'. 1997 - Miss USA contestant Temple Taggart Temple Taggart Temple Taggart, a former Miss Utah, told the New York Times earlier this year that Trump kissed her on the lips during the pageant. 'I thought, 'Oh my God, gross'... I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like 'Wow, that's inappropriate',' she told the newspaper. Taggart has also sat down for an interview with NBC News. 'When I first heard the leaked tape, it's very unsettling... you don't want to hear anyone talking about women like that,' she said in a promotion clip for the interview. 2000 - Miss USA contestant Bridget Sullivan Bridget Sullivan Bridget Sullivan told Buzzfeed earlier this year that the then-owner of the pageant walked through the backstage area to wish contestants good luck, despite the fact many of them were naked at the time. 'The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking. We were all naked,' Sullivan said. She went on to describe Trump as a 'creepy uncle', saying he would 'hug you just a little low on your back.' Buzzfeed spoke with four other contestants from that year - none whom remembered Trump walking through the dressing room when contestants were naked. 2001 - Miss USA contestant Tasha Dixon Tasha Dixon Tasha Dixon told CBS News earlier this year walked into the changing rooms at the pageant without warning, meaning many of the competitors were naked or not fully dressed. 'Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis,' Dixon said in an interview. 'He just came strolling right in. 'There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.' 2003 - Mindy McGillivray Mindy McGillivray Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion. McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she was with Ken Davidoff at the Mar-a-Lago on January 24, 2003. 'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it's Ken's camera bag, that was my first instinct,' she told the newspaper. 'I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly.' 2004 - Trump discussed what he thought it would be like to have sex with a teenage Lindsay Lohan on the Howard Stern Show Trump discussed what it would be like to have sex with a teenage Lindsay Lohan (pictured) 'She's probably deeply troubled and therefore great in bed,' Trump told Stern when asked by the shock jock if he could imagine bedding 'troubled teen' Lindsay Lohan. Trump went on to say: 'How come the deeply troubled women, you know, deeply, deeply troubled, they're always the best in bed?' At the time of the interview, Lohan was just 18-years-old. Trump was 58. The conversation continued with Trump speaking about a friend he described as 'a great Playboy' and who he said only wants to date 'crazy' women. 2005 - Rachel Crooks Rachel Crooks Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator in 2005. 'It was so inappropriate,' Ms. Crooks told the New York Times. 'I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.' Crooks told the newspaper the incident took place after she shook hands with Trump in an elevator and he allegedly refused to let go. She says he then began kissing her on the cheeks, before then kissing her lips. 2005 - Donald Trump admits he would 'inspect' pageant contestants backstage Donald Trump bragged about the extra power he had during an interview with Howard Stern in April 2005, the tapes of which have been released by CNN. 'I'll tell you the funniest is that I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed,' Trump said about the pageant. 'No men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in, because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. 'Is everyone OK'? You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody OK?' 'And you see these incredible looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.' 2005 - Trump brags about being able to grope women without consent to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood ' 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 was heard saying to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood in 2005 in a recording published by the Washington Post last Friday. 'And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.' 2005 - Natasha Stoynoff Natasha Stoynoff Natasha Stoynoff recounted how she had traveled to Mar-a-Largo to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, in December 2005. She said Donald took her into a room he really wanted to see, before forcing himself on her. 'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,' she wrote for People. Stoynoff went on to say how she was rescued when a butler walked in, however when the two were alone again shortly after Trump told her they were 'going to have an affair'. 2007 - Summer Zervos - contestant on The Apprentice Summer Zervos Summer Zervos, who was a contestant on the fifth season of The Apprentice, said Trump groped and kissed her in his room at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007. She claims that she reached out to Trump a year after she left the show to speak about possible business opportunities, and when she met with him he kissed her 'open mouthed' multiple times, and at one point placed his hand on her breast. She claims he then had her lie in bed with him she said telling her he wanted to watch 'telly telly', but soon after began 'thrusting his genitals' at her despite her pleas asking him to stop. Zervos broke down in tears throughout press conference, saying at one point: 'You do not have the right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star.' 2009 - Called Khloe Kardashian 'a fat piglet' Trump made rude and offensive comments about Khloe Kardashian's physical appearance and weight while she filmed Celebrity Apprentice back in 2009, according to multiple people who worked on the set. 'He said: "Why dont we fire Khloe? She is a fat piglet. Why did we get the ugly Kardashian?"' a source told Huffington Post. 2010 - Friend of CNN anchor Erin Burnett Erin Burnett detailed an encounter that a friend had with Trump in March 2010 in the boardroom at Trump Tower, when he allegedly tried to kiss her without permission. The woman told Burnett, according to CNN: 'Trump took Tic Tacs, suggested I take them also. He then leaned in, catching me off guard, and kissed me almost on lips. I was really freaked out. 'After (the meeting), Trump asked me to come into his office alone. Was really unsure what to do. ... Figured I could handle myself. Anyway, once in his office he kept telling me how special I am and gave me his cell, asked me to call him. I ran the hell out of there.' 2013 - Miss USA contestant Cassandra Searles Cassandra Searles Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, said Trump tried to seduce her, groped her, and treated the women in the pageant 'like cattle', according to Yahoo News. 'Do y'all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn't look him in the eyes?' she wrote in June. 'Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property? 'Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States.' Advertisement Incredible images show the sheer beauty of China's rainbow hills. Zhangye Danxia landscape is located in northwestern China's Gansu province and is a major tourist attraction for those wishing to leave the big city behind. The colours of the rocks are due to red sandstone and mineral deposits over 24 million years. Incredible scenery: Zhangye Danxia landform is a famous tourist location in northwest China's Gansu province Natural phenomenon: The colours are due to red sandstone and mineral deposits over 24 million years Holiday snaps: According to reports, when it rains at the geological park, the colours the following day will be more intense Amazing red colours: The colours of the rocks are due to red sandstone and mineral deposits over 24 million years Incredible images: Many people flock to the area to see the landforms change colour when the sun sets According to China Highlights, Zhangye's Danxia was formed by the erosion of red sandstone which formed isolated peaks. Danxia in Mandarin means rosy cloud reflecting the stunning colours of the landscape. The desert conditions along with wind and water erosion has resulted in the current appearance of the landscape. The desert conditions along with wind and water erosion has resulted in the current appearance of the landscape The landforms are large in scale: A view of the Danxia landform in Zhangye, northwest China's Gansu province Taking a look at the landforms: Tourists walk along one of the paths and take in the incredible landscape The exposed slanting rock layers have different colours, textures, sizes and patterns. When the sun sets, the colours continuously change. According to reports, when it rains at the geological park, the colours the following day will be more intense. The park is a famous tourist attraction with people flocking to see the colourful landscape during the tourist season. The photos were taken on October 5 as China wrapped up its Golden Week holidays. A large number of visitors during Golden Week: During tourist season, the geological park can get extremely busy Like a painting: The exposed slanting rock layers have different colours, textures, sizes and patterns Officials in Houston are calling a five-year-old boy a hero for rescuing his brother, two, from a burning tractor trailer following a crash that killed their father. The 18-wheeler truck was a moving van and the family were relocating to Galveston, Texas, when the crash occurred at around 1.20am. Police say the boys were passengers in the United Van Lines truck being driven by their father on Interstate 45 when the man lost control of the vehicle, causing it to smash into a guardrail and a metal pillar. Scroll down for video Horror crash: A father was driving an 18-wheeler carrying his two young sons in Houston when he lost control of the vehicle Deadly impact: The big rig struck a guardrail and a pillar, flipped over and burst into flames Scorched: The driver was ejected from the mangled truck and died at the scene The massive vehicle flipped over and burst into flames. The father was ejected from the truck and was pronounced dead at the scene, reported KPRC. A preliminary investigation into the crash has found that the driver of the moving truck 'failed to control his speed,' according to Chron.com. Sgt James Roque, of the Houston Police Department, called the man's five-year-old son 'a trooper,' saying that despite having been thrown from the truck, he was able to give police vital information that helped them piece together what happened. Roque said the older boy asked about his father. Both boys were taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital. The two-year-old suffered severe burns. His older brother had only minor injuries. Tiny hero: Police say the man's five-year-old son was able to pull his two-year-old brother from the burning truck The truck was a moving van and the family were relocating to Galveston, Texas Police say the children's mother was driving an RV ahead of the 18-wheeler and did not learn of the tragedy until hours later. Law enforcement officials later reunited the woman with her two children in Houston. Jon Voight issued a 'plea to save America', attacking everyone from billionaire George Soros to fellow actor Robert De Niro in a three-minute video paying homage to Donald Trump. Voight, 77, declared in his rant: 'May God protect the real truth and may Donald Trump win this presidency. He will save our America, and he will certainly make it great again.' The Oscar-award-winning actor, who campaigned for Democratic candidate George McGovern in the 1972 elections and protested the Vietnam War, has become a staunch conservative in his later years. Voight has repeatedly supported Trump throughout the election cycle despite the business tycoon's unprovoked attacks on his daughter Angelina Jolie's looks. Jon Voight (left) issued a 'plea to save America', attacking everyone from billionaire George Soros to fellow actor Robert De Niro in a three-minute video supporting Donald Trump (right) In the video, posted on Voight's social media channels, he said: 'We were once a country of freedom. Now we're becoming a country of tyranny. 'Thousands of refugees will flood our nation, and no one will know the good guys from the bad guys. It will kill our economy which is at an all time low under the years of Obama's presidency.' Millions of jobs have been created, unemployment has plummeted, and the economy has grown about two per cent each year under Obama's administration, with experts grading it a 'solid B or B+', CNN reported. But Voight also warned that people would lose their Second Amendment rights under Hillary Clinton, even though she has repeatedly disputed similar statements. Voight went on to say: 'Freedom of religion will be attacked...and Hillary will try to stop all conservative voices on TV and radio. 'Our highest courts will become socialist, and she will restrict what America was founded on - our freedom to become a small business owner and pursue our own personal dreams.' The Midnight Cowboy star also took shots at fellow actor Robert De Niro, who called Trump a 'fool', 'bozo', 'pig' and 'con' in a political testimony video for a non-partisan group called #VoteYourFuture. Voight blasted the Obama administration, criticizing Hillary Clinton (right) as an extension of the president's policies De Niro said he wanted to punch the business tycoon in the face, to which Voight responded: 'Robert De Niro is a millionaire...and has absolutely no tolerance for anyone with a different opinion, forgetting that this is what our country is founded on - freedom of choice.' Voight also made unfounded allegations against George Soros. While Voight made no reference to Trump's comments about women in his latest video, he came out to defend the business tycoon days earlier. 'I am so ashamed of my fellow actor Bobby DeNiro's rant against Donald Trump...' 'Donald Trump's words were not as damaging as Robert DeNiro's ugly rant. Trump's words did not hurt anyone.' Voight tweeted in response to the Republican candidate's comments that he could sexually harass women without consequence. 'I don't know of too many men who haven't expressed some sort of similar sexual terms toward women, especially in their younger years,' Voight added. Trump has since been accused of sexual harassment by six women in the days following the 2005 hot mic recording's emergence. The presidential candidate has spoken out against Voight's daughter over the last decade, saying in 2006: '[Angelina Jolie has] been with so many guys she makes me look like a baby, OK, with the other side. And, I just dont even find her attractive.' In 2007, Trump said: 'Angelina Jolie is sort of amazing because everyone thinks shes like this great beauty. New DNA evidence links a dead member of Germany's NSU neo-Nazi killer cell to an unsolved child murder that shocked the nation, police said Friday. Genetic material found near the skeleton of nine-year-old Peggy Knobloch who went missing in 2001 matches that of the late NSU gunman Uwe Boehnhardt, they said. Police cautioned they were still working to rule out possible cross-contamination of DNA samples in the network of forensics labs, but said this was unlikely. If confirmed, the discovery would link two of Germany's most notorious crimes of recent years, and point to possible police failures in establishing a link sooner. The NSU, short for National Socialist Underground, was a trio of far-right militants who shot dead eight men with Turkish roots, a Greek migrant and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007. Police say genetic material found near the skeleton of nine-year-old Peggy Knobloch (left) who went missing in 2001 matches that of the late NSU gunman Uwe Boehnhardt (right) Police only pieced together the murders after its two male members, Boehnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, died five years ago in an apparent murder-suicide following a botched bank robbery. Germany was shocked to discover that the killings - long blamed by police and media on migrant crime gangs and dubbed the 'doner (kebab) murders' - were in fact racist hate crimes. The third member of the trio, Beate Zschaepe, 41, has been on trial for the past three years. The random discovery of the NSU in 2011 exposed police and domestic intelligence flaws and raised uncomfortable questions about how the cell went undetected for 13 years. The new DNA find would also link Boehnhardt to the case of Peggy Knobloch, whose remains were discovered this year in a forest. Nine-year-old Peggy Knobloch vanished on her way home from school in Bavaria on May 5, 2001 A member of the public discovered the remains while out searching for mushrooms in Thueringen, Bavaria The skeletal parts belonging to the missing student were found in a wooded area in Thuringia Police spokesman Klaus Bernhardt, pictured in 2001, holds up a school bag and a jacket as comparative pieces for objects searched in connection with the case of then missing nine-year-old girl Peggy Knobloch Peggy had vanished on her way home from school in 2001 near her home. Hundreds of police and soldiers scoured the area for weeks, but her remains were only found in July this year, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from her home, by a mushroom picker. Since her death, a man with a learning disability had spent more than 10 years in jail for her murder before he was exonerated and released. Now police say they have found Boehnhardt's DNA on an object near her body - a small piece of a blanket, according to news weekly Der Spiegel. A map shows the location near the village of Rodacherbrunn where the body of Peggy Knobloch who was missing for 15 years, was discovered Neo-Nazi cell: Zschape, Uwe Boehnhardt and Uwe Mundlos in pictures published in 1998, when they were wanted for a bomb attack Uwe Boehnhardt (left) and Uwe Mundlos (centre) were both lovers of Beate Zschape (right). The men died five years ago in an apparent murder-suicide The forest near Rodacherbrunn, central Germany, where the skeleton of nine-year-old Peggy Knobloch was found in July 2016 In view of the find, investigators have pointed out that child pornography was found on a computer drive in the charred ruins of the NSU's home, which Zschaepe had torched after the men died. Police also say Boehnhardt had been questioned over the 1993 murder of a nine-year-old boy, Bernd B., in his eastern home town of Jena but was let go for lack of evidence against him. 'We will have to take a far closer look at that case,' said Thuringia state premier Bodo Ramelow. A key organiser of the local far-right scene in the 1990s, when the three NSU members were radicalised, Tino Brandt, was jailed two years ago for 66 cases of child sexual abuse and other charges. A Siberian round the world traveller has been rescued by the Russian secret service after being held captive by rebels in Syria for three years. Konstantin Zhuravlyov, 35, was feared dead after being seized in October 2013 as a suspected 'spy' acting for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The adventurer from Tomsk was shown on Russian TV in an emotional reunion with his mother Nadezhda after his return. Konstantin Zhuravlyov was feared dead after being seized by Syrian rebels in October 2013 close to the Turkish border while on a round-the-world trip But he has now been rescued by Russian special forces and was recently reunited with his mother Two years ago in 2014 the captive's parents sent a video message to President Vladimir Putin begging him to help release their son A blogger and photographer, he is well known for his exploits as a traveller, having completed trip around the globe in 777 days on a shoestring budget, visiting 37 countries. He was kidnapped en route from Siberia to the Sahara where he wanted to get 'face-to-face with the desert'. Details of his rescue, and how he was held for the past three years, have not been given. Soon after he was detained, rebels vowed to broadcast a video with an alleged 'confession', and there were fears he would never be found alive. A spokesman for the Federal Security Service (FSB) said: 'He was held captive for three years. We can confirm he is now back with his family.' At the time of his capture, Russian diplomats expressed fury that he had ignored travel advice Two years ago in 2014 the captive's parents sent a video message to President Vladimir Putin begging him to help release their son. 'Konstantin went to explore the world, he has always been eager to talk to other people and tell them about Russia,' they said. 'He is in grave danger. We ask, we beg you to help him get back home.' The traveller was caught by the Liva At Tauhid brigade close to Syria's border with Turkey, reported The Siberian Times. is well known for his exploits as a traveller, having completed trip around the globe in 777 days on a shoestring budget, visiting 37 countries On his earlier trip around the world, his tent was stolen in Cuba, so he slept wrapped in a Russian flag At the time, Russian diplomats expressed fury that he had ignored travel advice. One said: 'We cannot understand why the man, knowing about military actions in Syria, should hitchhike there voluntarily. 'What did he expect? What do people acting like this man expect?' On his earlier trip around the world, his tent was stolen in Cuba, so he slept wrapped in a Russian flag. A former computer programmer, he gave up his career to travel. Keith Mees, 49, from Derbyshire, was driving a lorry when he caused a motorway pile-up involving two other lorries and a Ford Mondeo carrying two of his work colleagues A lorry driver who crashed while using his mobile phone at the wheel has admitted causing the deaths of two of his friends. Keith Mees, 49, from Derbyshire, was driving a lorry when he caused a motorway pile-up involving two other lorries and a Ford Mondeo carrying two of his work colleagues. Driver Marian Olteanu, 35, and passenger Ion Calin, 42, were killed when their car was involved in the motorway smash with three HGVs in Southampton. Another lorry driver was rushed to hospital with serious injuries following the crash on the M271 on December 1 last year. Mees, wearing a white shirt and patterned green tie, fought back tears as he pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving today. He also admitted causing serious injury to one of the lorry drivers by dangerous driving. Mr Calin, a father-of-two, was originally from eastern Romania but moved to the UK with his family several years ago. Mr Olteanu was also a Romanian national. His wife Veronica described him as 'a really good father' who would be sorely missed. The collision caused the entire motorway to be closed throughout the night. Prosecutor Simon Jones told the court Mees, driving a Scania Heavy Tractor HGV, was distracted as he was using his phone. He said: 'This is a case of using a mobile phone while driving causing a distraction and ultimately leading to their deaths.' He will be sentenced on December 2 at Southampton Crown Court. The collision caused the entire motorway to be closed throughout the night on December 1 Police said the two men who died in December's crash on the M271 were from Shirley in Southampton and were work colleagues of Mees The crash left two people dead while another was rushed to hospital with serious injuries Judge Nicholas Rowland told him: 'You will be bailed but you know the outcome of this case is inevitable. A woman in Mexico has come under fire after posting selfies to Snapchat while at her grandfather's funeral. Francesca Fierros Palomino, of Jalisco, Mexico, who enjoys taking fashion-forward selfies, according to the Mirror, missed the mark with her followers when she posted the images. Since posting the image Palomino has been dubbed '#LadyFuneral'. One post from the funeral show's Palomino's grandfather's casket behind the young woman with the caption: 'Rest in Peace, granddad.' Francesca Fierros Palomino (pictured), posted this image of herself at her grandfather's funeral to the outrage of many of her followers. The image is captioned 'Rest in Peace, granddad', as her grandfather's casket is visible just behind her Palomino later posted this picture of herself showing her reflection in a mirror with the caption: 'Coming back from the funeral, Rest in Peace granddad' The caption, which is written in Spanish, also has a coffin emoji as well as an old man emoji next to it. Although her expression in the image is solemn, many have found the timing of the selfie in poor taste. Later, Palomino posted another picture of herself, this time showing her reflection in a mirror with the caption: 'Coming back from the funeral, Rest in Peace granddad.' In a screenshot of the post, Palomino has posted the grandfather emoji, coffin emoji and praying hands emoji next to her caption. Palomino is known in Mexico for her fashion-forward selfies, but seemed to miss the mark with her 'disrespectful' funeral picture Palomino's critiques have been outspoken. One even said it was a good thing her grandfather wasn't alive to see her behavior Her critics haven't minced words when it comes to how they feel about the ill-timed images, according to Canal44. 'If she was my daughter and it was my fathers funeral I would have taken her away from there. What a lack of respect,' one person wrote, according to the Mirror. Another said: 'Better to be dead than watching the stupidity of his granddaughter.' The rate is set to get worse with pupil numbers rising over next five years More than half of England's secondary schools are now oversubscribed as they are 'crippled' by a baby boom fuelled by high migration, new figures show. The proportion of secondaries with more applications than pupil places rose to 50 per cent this year for the first time in a generation, according to research by the FindASchool website. And the rate which stood at just 43 per cent two years ago is expected to get worse still, due to the bulge in secondary pupil numbers over the next five years. Headteachers are already complaining of the 'struggle' that schools face because of oversubscription. Rob McDonough, headteacher of the West Bridgford School in Nottinghamshire, has said funding the expansion in pupil numbers is 'crippling' his school They warn taking on more pupils will cause a lack of funding and a shortage of teachers in key subjects. There are also fears that staff rooms and offices will have to be converted into extra classrooms for the extra children. Rob McDonough, headteacher of the West Bridgford School in Nottinghamshire, told the Times Educational Supplement that the costs of being oversubscribed were 'extraordinary'. He said: 'What's crippling me is funding the pupil expansion. That's worrying me now because [the reserves are] gone.' The FindASchool study analysed the admissions arrangements of 87 per cent of England's state secondaries. Data is still missing from some schools that control their own admissions, but the researchers expect the proportion of oversubscribed institutions to rise above 50 per cent when all the figures are in. And they say that changing demographics will worsen the situation for secondaries in the future. Ed Rushton, founder of FindASchool a school-checking service run with 192.com said: 'Our figures, which, incidentally, the government does not collect, suggest the problem is getting worse. 'Given the large bulge in primary school numbers, this trend is likely to continue unless lots of extra schools are opened and more school places are added where they are most needed. Kimberley school has become part of the East Midlands Education Trust, an area particularly affected by the boom in school applications 'Over the next five years, there will be more of a crunch because of the bulge. I would say it is likely that this is the first time it has gone above 50 per cent.' The analysis reveals that the problem is most acute in London, where two-thirds of secondaries are oversubscribed - but the difficulties extend nationwide, with at least half of secondaries oversubscribed in the West Midlands, East of England, the North West and the South East. Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'The overall planning has never been brilliant in getting the right number of school places in the right place at the right time. 'Schools often cannot quickly expand to deal with an increase in numbers.' Malcolm Trobe, of the Association of School and College Leaders, has said tat school can take time to catch up to increased numbers Dealing with appeals for places has become another significant problem for schools, alongside building work, squeezed budgets and staff shortages. Burnt Mill Academy, in Harlow, Essex, had more than 100 children on its waiting list last year and receives about 40 appeals annually. Last month, new government statistics revealed that there were 62,301 appeals made by parents in 2016, compared with 54,600 the year before a rise of 14 per cent. A Department for Education spokesman said: 'We are delivering good-quality school places to ensure that every child has an excellent education that allows them to reach their full potential. A 40-tonne party boat on the River Thames was captured teetering on its side in dramatic images after taking on water, prompting an eight-hour battle to stop it from sinking. Crews fought to prevent The Wyndham party boat, which had sunk to a depth of two metres, from becoming completely submerged. Images shared on social media appeared to show the vessel lurching precariously on its side, near to London Bridge. Fire crews fought to prevent The Wyndham party boat, which had sunk to a depth of two metres, from becoming completely submerged Images shared on social media appeared to show the vessel lurching precariously on its side, near to London Bridge The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said: 'Firefighters were called to a boat sinking on the River Thames close to London Bridge in the early hours of this morning. 'A 40-tonne boat was taking on water and sunk to a depth of two metres. Thankfully there was nobody on board the vessel.' The private-hire boat, whose Catamaran design promises 'stable Thames cruising and a wider saloon than most', can accommodate up to 120 passengers. It costs 220 per hour to rent on a week day. The private-hire vessel's Catamaran design promises 'stable Thames cruising and a wider saloon than most' The boat can accommodate up to 120 passengers and costs 220 per hour to rent on a week day LFB's fire boat was called to pump water from the vessel and crews helped secure it to a mooring barge. The Brigade was called at 4.01am and left the scene at 1.33pm. Donald Trump on Friday accused Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a part-owner of The New York Times and a six-figure donor to the Clinton Foundation, of being a meddling foreign bogeymen behind the troubling sexual harassment and assault accusations that have emerged this week. During a mid-afternoon campaign rally in North Carolina, the Republican presidential nominee said the Times is out to get him, and cast Slim as the unseen hand pulling the strings of 'corporate lobbyists' masquerading as reporters. 'The largest shareholder in the Times is Carlos Slim. Now Carlos Slim, as you know, comes from Mexico,' Trump said. 'He's given many millions of dollars to the Clintons and their initiatives.' Trump mentioned Slim's nationality twice, as if to underscore Mexico's adversarial posture toward his pledge to wall off America from its neighbor to the south. BOGEYMAN: Donald Trump reportedly is preparing to accuse Carlos Slim, a Mexican telecom billionaire who also contributes to the Clinton Foundation and is The New York Times' largest shareholder, of being behind sex-abuse accusations from a series of women J'ACCUSE: Trump said Friday in North Carolina that Slim is the puppeteer driving The Times to attack him in order to protect the Mexican billionaire's economic interests 'So Carlos Slim, largest donor of the paper, from Mexico,' he said. At that second prompting, a handful of Trump's supporters started chanting a new slogan a take-off on one usually reserved for their hero's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. 'Lock him up! Lock him up!' they screamed, laughing afterward at their own cleverness. Trump, too, unveiled some fresh material, a new jab at the newspaper he loves to hate. 'Reporters at the New York Times, they're not journalists,' he charged. 'They're corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton.' 'We're going to let foreign corporations and their CEOs decide the outcomes? You just can't do this. We can't let this happen.' HISTORY: Trump has tangled with Slim before, when the Mexican's TV production company killed a joint venture following his presidential campaign launch The suggesting Trump has let fly under his audience's radar is that Slim and other foreigners could try to influence the U.S. election in a way that benefits their economic interests. In Slim's case, that could mean blocking Trump from winning the White House out of fear that he would follow through on his promises to build a wall and impose tough import tariffs on companies that move to Mexico for cheaper labor. Trump himself as been accused of capitalizing on foreign influences, with the Clinton campaign alleging an unproven cozy relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and intimating that Moscow is behind this month's 'Wikileaks' dump of emails hacked from Clinton's campaign chairman. Trump has blamed 'corrupt media' for his slide in national polls, and said Friday that news outlets are 'trying to do everything in their power to stop our movement.' And 'no paper is more corrupt than the failing New York Times,' he said. 'They are really, really bad people.' DIDN'T HAPPEN? Trump has maintained his innocence as the list of sexual misconduct allegations grows The Times has made itself a ripe target. It published a damning story advancing the claims of two women who say the real estate tycoon sexually touched and kissed them without their consent. The reporters behind that piece also wrote a lengthy take-down of the Republican six months ago featuring take-down testimonials from a handful of women some of whom disagreed with how they were quoted and portrayed. Trump threatened on both Wednesday and Thursday that he would sue the Times for libel. The newspaper's editors responded by defending the work as public-interest journalism and said they 'welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.' The Wall Street Journal first reported late Thursday that Trump planned to claim Slim cooked up a raft of negative press in order to derail his candidacy. Together with his family, Slim, a wealthy telecommunications entrepreneur, owns about 17 per cent of the Times. He and his foundation have contributed between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation. The Journal reached Slim spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub, the billionaire's son-in-law, who called allegations of his boss's involvement in a political plot 'totally false.' 'Of course we aren't interfering in the U.S. election. We aren't even active in Mexican politics,' said Elias. But a Trump adviser suggested that wrapping Slim and the Times into a single political wedge could allow the Republican to claim that the elite newspaper is 'failing' in a new populist age while also bashing it for needing a 'rescue' form a foreign investor. Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of the Times, told the Journal that 'Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report.' And Hillary Clinton's campaign laughed off the idea that it's conspiring with an already friendly newspaper to bury Trump in what Mrs. Clinton once called 'bimbo eruptions' when they applied to her own husband. Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon said Thursday that the notion 'is just another deranged right-wing conspiracy theory from Donald Trump's increasingly desperate campaign.' But Trump has insisted that there's something afoot with his female accusers that doesn't pass the political smell-test. 'These attacks are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies,' he claimed Thursday during a speech in West Palm Beach, Florida. 'The only thing Hillary Clinton has going for herself is the press,' he said. 'What they say is false and slanderous in virtually every respect.' Trump also jabbed at the Times, saying it was 'fighting desperately for its relevance and financial survival' as it peddles 'slander and libels' with help from 'the Clinton machine.' The GOP nominee has a history of tangling with Slim. Shortly after Trump launched his presidential campaign, the Mexican mogul's production company, Ora TV, canceled a joint venture with him. The company cited Trump's comments that the Mexican government was 'sending' criminals across the U.S. border, and that some illegal immigrants from that country were 'rapists' and 'murderers.' Elias Ayub told Reuters at the time that Trump's statement was racist and 'totally out of line.' Ten men who guarded nuclear launch keys say they wouldnt trust Donald Trump to give strike order. 'Donald Trump should not be the nations commander-in-chief. He should not be entrusted with the nuclear launch codes,' they said in an open letter. 'He should not have his finger on the button.' The letter is not an endorsement of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton but it uses the same words and phrases to describe Trump as her campaign. Ten men who guarded nuclear launch keys say they wouldnt trust Donald Trump to give strike order. 'He should not have his finger on the button,' they said Leaders from both major political parties 'have questioned whether Donald Trump has the experience, temperament and judgment to have his finger on the proverbial Red Button,' the letter says. 'We share their concern.' The organizer of the letter, Bruce Blair, is a Democrat. He plans to vote for Clinton 'He has shown himself time and again to be easily baited and quick to lash out, dismissive of expert consultation and ill-informed of even basic military and international affairs including, most especially, nuclear weapons.' Trump's 'temperament' has been the focus of Clinton's assault. 'A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons,' she's said. The organizer of the letter, Bruce Blair, is a Democrat. The Princeton University research scholar told The Washington Post he plans to vote for Clinton but couldn't speak for the other signatories. Blair, the founder of Global Zero, a group that seeks to eliminate nuclear weapons altogether, said in a New York Times op-ed this week, 'If I were back in the launch chair, I would have little faith in his judgment and would feel alienated if he were commander in chief. 'I am not alone in this view. A vast majority of current and former launch officers in my circle of friends and acquaintances tell me they feel the same.' The former launch officer said he 'would live in constant fear' of Trump 'making a bad call' were he still in that position. 'Hillary Clinton is right to warn voters not to allow him anywhere near the nuclear launch codes.' Blair and his friends penned an open-letter that appeared in the Post on Wednesday sharing their 'unique perspective' on Trump's fitness for office. 'Only the president can order a nuclear launch. That order cannot be vetoed and once the missiles have been launched, they cannot be called back,' they explained. 'The consequences of miscalculation, impulsive decision-making or poor judgment on the part of the president could be catastrophic.' The person who makes the call must have 'enormous composure, judgment, restraint and diplomatic skill,' the former 'missileers' argued. 'Donald Trump does not have these leadership qualities.' Blair said they're speaking out now because of Trump's rise in the polls. 'You kind of woke up one day and realized its very possible that this person, this pathological liar, who lacks self-control, who knows very little about anything and is angry and aggressive, who might lash out with nuclear weapons if hes elected, could win. 'That sort of dawned on everyone. We felt we needed to weigh in.' A grandfather's vile anti-Muslim tirade was filmed by the two young women he was racially abusing. Stephen Scatcherd, 59, launched a racist rant at the girls for covering their heads, saying Muslims have invaded Britain 'like cockroaches'. At Exeter Magistrates' Court he admitted using threatening and abusive language and was ordered to do community work. Stephen Scatcherd, 59, launched a racist tirade at two students on the street in Exeter Scatcherd was recorded telling the students: 'Where are you from? You're not from England I'm from f****** England born and bred.' But when the girls responded they were born in England too, and their parents are from London, he only got more aggressive. 'Do you know what the problem with this country is at the moment? Muslims are absolutely raiding this country, you're like cockroaches,' he shouted. He then challenged to girls to remove their hijabs; 'why won't you take that off?' he said. The argument ended with Scatcherd walking off while the two girls were left 'shaking' on the street in Exeter, Devon. Scatcherd, of Liskeard in Cornwall, pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated charge of harassment during the incident on May 28. Exeter University student Kalsoom Naqvi, 21, and her friend argued with Scatcherd One of the young women he targeted was Exeter University student Kalsoom Naqvi, who had been staying in the city for three years and has since graduated. The 21year-old told the Express and Echo: 'We were both in Islamic headdresses, I was wearing jeans, my friend was in cultural clothes. 'I felt confusion really. I don't feel that any person, regardless of their faith or their race, should be targeted like that, for no reason whatsoever. 'I was just walking down the street to Tesco, minding my own business, having a nice day with my friend, then out of the blue this happened. 'I felt lonely, because I just saw so many people looking around and not really intervening, or doing anything. 'Muslims are absolutely raiding this country, you're like cockroaches': The student filmed Scatcherd's rant on her phone 'I also wanted to raise awareness that incidents like this do happen, and they should not be downplayed, I want to encourage people to report them to the police.' But Scatcherd, who had just walked out of a pub nearby the Tesco, denied being anti-Islamic or a racist. 'I had a point of view which might have been a little over the top but it was not racist,' he argued. 'I was amazed that something as petty as this has been blown out of all proportion. 'I feel I was intimidated into losing my temper and saying things that were out of character, that I would never normally have said. 'If they had left me alone, none of this would have happened. Someone has got their 15 minutes of fame, it is certainly not me. I just wanted a quiet afternoon out.' A 115-year-old woman who was carried hundreds of miles from her native Syria before arriving in Europe has spoken of her desire to be reunited with her family. Eida Karmi made the treacherous journey to Turkey with the help of a family friend, but is still hundreds of miles from the reunion she is desperately hoping for. Eida, believed to be the war-torn country's oldest refugee, spent three months travelling from Kobani in northern Syria to Turkey, and it took another month to reach Greece. Scroll down for video Eida Karmi, 115, hopes to be reunited with her family in Germany, having left her home in Syria six months ago Speaking from the Moria refugee camp, she told CNN: 'The only thing I need in life now is just to meet my children again - to see them.' She was carried by a family friend called Ahmed, who collected her from her hometown of Hasaka before making the journey, along with his pregnant wife Berivan and their four children, all below the age of six. Eida, now considered a member of Ahmed's family, told him: 'I can't walk - and if you didn't do it nobody would do it, so you've been with me the whole journey carrying me and look (sic) after me.' After being turned back from getting into Greece by land, Ahmed paid smugglers and the group made the dangerous sea crossing. Eida last saw her family when they left Syria five years ago. At the time she was unwilling to leave her homeland. Her grandson Samir told CNN: 'We are waiting desperately for the day we are reunited.' Refugees and migrants line up for food distribution at the Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesbos After a month at the Greek refugee camp, where there are an estimated 4,000 people, Eida, Ahmed and his family boarded a family to Athens, where they will plan their next move. A mother who mailed drugs to her incarcerated daughter is now an inmate in the same Florida jail, according to authorities. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said in a Friday news release: '55 year old Nadine Carroll mailed an envelope containing buprenorphine to the Stock Island Detention Center in September. 'The envelope was addressed to her daughter, Shannon Carroll, who was arrested September 15th and is still in jail on charges of driving with a suspended license and possession of cocaine.' Nadine Caroll (left) mailed drugs to her incarcerated daughter Shannon Caroll (right) is now an inmate in the same Florida jail, according to authorities According to the sheriff's office, 'The envelope was intercepted by a detention deputy at the facility who noticed a chemical smell from the envelope, and saw an unknown substance on the envelope once he opened it.' An incident report says the substance turned out to be buprenorphine, a synthetic opioid. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said Carroll mailed the envelope to the Stock Island Detention Center (pictured) Deputies arrested 55-year-old Nadine Carroll on Thursday. Now she is in the same jail as her daughter, 27-year-old Shannon Carroll. Records show Shannon Carroll was arrested September 15 on charges of driving with a suspended license and possession of cocaine. Nadine Carroll is charged with smuggling contraband into jail. The Vermont man suspected of driving the wrong way on an interstate highway and causing a fiery crash that killed five teenagers pleaded not guilty to five counts of second-degree murder Friday. Steven Bourgoin, 36, was arraigned in a conference room at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, where he is recovering from his injuries from the crash. He was wheeled into the room on a gurney by a state trooper and a health care worker. Bourgoin's attorney entered the not guilty pleas on his behalf as the suspect, dressed in a hospital gown, with a purple bruise on his right eye, reclined on a pillow. Steven Bourgoin is arraigned in a makeshift courtroom at the University of Vermont Medical Center on five counts of second-degree murder in connection to a deadly wrong-way crash Black and blue: Bourgoin reclined on a pillow in a hospital gown, a purple bruise visible on his right eye Bourgoin's attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf to five charges of second-degree murder as the suspect looked on from his gurney (pictured) Bourgoin (pictured) was behind the wheel of a pickup truck traveling the wrong way along I-89 Saturday night when he crashed into a car, which then caught fire, killing five teens The judge also ordered a competency hearing and agreed that Bourgoin should be held without bail. The Saturday night collision that took the lives of five high school juniors occurred on a roadway in Williston, Vermont, which is just east of Burlington. Police say following the deadly crash, Bourgoin stole a police cruiser before crashing it into at least seven other vehicles. Chittenden County state's attorney TJ Donovan has said he 'would not classify what occurred on Interstate 89 as an accident.' Police on Tuesday served an arrest warrant on the hospitalized Bourgoin for use of the cruiser. On Thursday, the state filed the murder counts against him in the teens' deaths. The teens killed in the incident were identified as 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. 'The loss of five teens in such a senseless tragedy is unimaginable and heartbreaking,' Gov. Peter Shumlin said. He ordered flags to be flown at half-staff. Classmates, teachers and staff at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, where four of the five were students, held a candlelight vigil for them Monday evening. Bourgoin was left unconscious by Saturday's crash and was in critical condition Monday morning. The scene of the wreckage in Williston, Vermont, is pictured above State police said at least nine other people were injured in the series of crashes and were taken to UVM Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries Chittenden County state's attorney TJ Donovan has said he 'would not classify what occurred on Interstate 89 (above) as an accident' Video courtesy WCAX About 1,000 people attended. Many cried before releasing lanterns that floated off into the chilly night. A Williston police officer was the first to arrive on the scene of Saturday's collision. As he tried to extinguish the car fire, a man, later identified as Bourgoin, jumped in 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. Bourgoin was then thrown from the cruiser, which went up in flames. State police said at least nine other people were injured in the series of crashes and were taken to UVM Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. A witness told police Bourgoin told him after the crash: 'I don't know what happened,' reported Burlington Free Press. But another witness, who was passing through the area of the first crash, said Bourgoin 'seemed to be on a mission'. Police determined his Toyota Tacoma was traveling at 84mph just before impact. In addition to the murder charges, Bourgoin is also on trial for domestic violence. Authorities in Vermont alleged that Bourgoin had previously threatened to kill himself and his girlfriend in a car crash. Police went to Bourgoin's home in May for a welfare check - a visit that ended in him being arrested for domestic assault and unlawful restraint. His now ex-girlfriend had told police that Bourgoin had stopped her from leaving the house with their two-year-old child, hitting her in the head and threatening to throw her down the stairs and smash her skull on the floor. Mary Harris (pictured) was one of the five Vermont high school juniors who died in the crash Liam Hale (pictured left) and Eli Brookens (right) also died in the crash in Williston, Vermont The five teenagers in the car, including Cyrus Zschau (left) and Janie Cozzi (right), were all pronounced dead at the scene She then tried to escape in her car, according to a police affidavit, but he jumped in after her and took control of the wheel. As he drove the terrified woman around the area, he pulled at a lanyard around her neck and threatened to crash the car, swearing that he would 'kill both of them before he let his child go,' the affidavit claims. Bourgoin had done something similar when they lived in Mississippi, the woman said. Advertisement Not all sororities are created equal, as shown by the University of Alabama Phi Mu chapter's brand-new $13million house. Last January, the sisters moved out of their old home on the outskirts campus, so it could be demolished and replaced with a three story, 39,444-square-foot mega-mansion. The girls moved back in to the home at the end of July, and appear to have settled into their new digs nicely for the start of the 2016 school year. Pictures shared with AL.com show that the house is outfitted in only the best for the girls of the Alpha Zeta chapter, including a foyer featuring a baby grand piano and a chandelier that once hung in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. 'We wanted a grand foyer - All white, simple and clean,' designer and Phi Mu alumnae Krissy Bunn, of Lampadas Design in Tuscaloosa, told the website. The Phi Mu chapter at the University of Alabama recently opened their new sorority house on campus The house too the place of this, a similar columned white brick mansion - albeit significantly smaller - seen here in 2013 The sisters of the Alpha Zeta chapter were relocated to another home last Spring semester while their new home was built. Above, some of the sorority's members The new home, located just across the street from the school's football stadium, is 39,444-square-feet and cost just under $13million to build The foyer of the home features a baby grand piano and a chandelier that used to hand in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City 'We wanted a grand foyer - All white, simple and clean,' designer and Phi Mu alumnae Krissy Bunn, of Lampadas Design in Tuscaloosa, told the website If you look closely, you'll notice the chandelier hangs from a quatrefoil symbol in the ceiling - the sorority's official symbol Bunn says that she wanted to 'keep the feel' of the old house, so she mirrored the basic layout. The centerpiece chandelier, which hung in the historic hotel in the 1930s, was bought at an auction. 'I knew it's what we wanted,' Bunn said. However, since then it had fallen into disrepair, and needed to be sent to a specialist in Virginia for cleaning and repairs that could bring it up to code. If you look closely, you'll also notice that the chandelier hangs from a quatrefoil symbol in the ceiling - the sorority's official symbol. The baby grand piano that sits in the foyer was given to the sorority to mark the chapter's 75th anniversary. To the left and right of the foyer is the home's ground floor formal living room and informal living room. While all of the furniture from the chapter's old home was brought in, supplemental furniture had to be purchased to fill out the much larger new house. The sorority reused the furniture from their last home, but had to purchase more items to fill out the considerably larger space. Above, a view of the formal living room, off the foyer The home features art from local artists. Above, a corner seat in the formal living room on the ground floor Formal living rooms in sorority homes are often used for recruitment parties as places for sisters to chat with potential new members The home maintains a neutral tone throughout, including a lot of white and beige as seen in the picture from the formal living room above The sorority's dining room on the ground floor includes brand-new 60-inch round tables for meal times The sorority's old oval dining room tables were refurbished before they were moved into the new house Also on the ground floor is the sorority's dining room, which features new 60-inch round tables, mixed with the sorority's old oval tables which were refinished before being moved back into the new home. At each table are new Chippendale-style dining chairs that can seat 200. At the back of the home is the sorority's patio, which features all new furniture obtained from Birmingham businesses. The area was intended as a lounge and study area, as well as an overflow gathering place for game days. There are two more lounges on the second and third floors, for hanging out and studying. The third floor lounge is nicknamed the 'seniors lounge' since it's used mainly be seniors - but its open to the whole sorority. The third floor also features a balcony with lots of outdoor furniture, perfect for watching the crowds stream into the stadium across the street on game day. The basement of sorority is where the sisters go to study, with a spacious work room complete with a couch, television, tables for group projects and desks that face the wall for intense concentration. The basement is also where the sorority's weekly chapter meetings are held, and that room needs to be really big to fit all 436 members inside. While the sorority's total membership is well over 400, just 68 sisters actually live in the house at one time. The basement also serves a storm shelter for the girls. While the $13million price of the home may seem over-the-top, the sorority said they actually came in under budget. All of the furniture on the sorority's patio is brand new and sourced from stores in Birmingham, Alabama The space is intended as a study and lounge area, as well as overflow room for busy game days at the house Above, a view of the sorority's informal living room on the first floor of the house. Each floor has at least one lounge The third floor lounge (pictured above) is named the senior's lounge because it's mostly used by the oldest members of the sorority, but it is open to all sisters The third floor also features a balcony that looks out to the football stadium across the street The sorority's study lounge is located in the basement and features a sectional couch and television for sisters looking to do their homework with the news on in the background The study room includes big tables for group projects or sisters who need extra desk space for their homework The back of the room features desks for sisters to work alone A view of the sorority's courtyard, located on the corner of two steets on campus with several tables Composites of past pledge classes line the walls of the sorority's basement Ex-CIA acting director Mike Morell went to town on Donald Trump today for 'cheering' on Wikileaks' release of hacked Clinton campaign emails and ignoring evidence that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government instigated the illegal activity. 'Trump is cozying up to Putin, because Putin has played him like a fiddle. Putin has figured out what makes Donald Trump tick and hes playing to it and Donald Trump is responding,' the former spymaster said. Morell told reporters on a call orchestrated by Hillary Clinton's team that Trump 'continues to play to Putin's hands almost every single day' because he's ignorant of the Russian president's motivations. Ex-CIA acting director Mike Morell went to town on Donald Trump today for 'cheering' on Wikileaks' release of hacked Clinton campaign emails He 'just doesn't get what Putin is trying to do here,' Morell charged. Wikileaks had published more than 10,000 stolen emails from John Podesta's personal account as of this morning. The Clinton campaign hasn't affirmatively said that every message in the document dumps but it admits a that a hack happened - and it knows exactly who to blame. Russian interference in this election and their apparent attempt to influence it on behalf of Mr. Trump is I think should be of utmost concern to all Americans, Podesta, the campaign's chairman, told reporters riding the Democrat's plane on Tuesday night. Morell, pictured, said Trump 'just doesn't get what Putin is trying to do here' Trump ally Roger Stone hinted at an attack on Podesta in an August Tweet. Podesta says it's evidence that Stone was working with Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange and that Trump likely received advanced notice. At both presidential debates Trump asserted that Russia may not be behind the cyber spying - which may not have even happened, he claimed Sunday. 'I notice any time 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 they blame Russia is because they think they are trying to tarnish me with Russia,' he said. Podesta said Trump is either 'willfully ignoring the information thats coming from the highest reaches of the US intelligence community or he is, as our former acting CIA director Mike Morrell said, an unwitting agent of the Russian federation.' " Morell told journalists on the Friday call that he what he finds 'fascinating is Donald Trump's absolute refusal to acknowledge Russias role here' even though news reports have indicated that it was part of an intelligence briefing. A senior intelligence official told NBC News that both parties' candidates, leaders and senior staff have been aware of Russian involvement in the cyber crimes since mid-August. 'To profess not to know at this point is willful misrepresentation,' the official said. 'The intelligence community has walked a very thin line in not taking sides, but both candidates have all the information they need to be crystal clear.' 'Trump is cozying up to Putin, because Putin has played him like a fiddle. Putin has figured out what makes Donald Trump tick and hes playing to it and Donald Trump is responding,' the former spymaster said Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, acknowledged Russian' interference in the presidential election this morning on CBS. 'Well, there is more and more evidence of that,' he said. Pushed to scold the Kremlin for the misbehavior Pence replied, 'I 've already condemned Russia for any potential involvement or compromise of the cybersecurity of this country, whatever their motivations are. 'But candidly, the involvement of any foreign government in American politics should be troubling to the American people.' Trump has praised Wikileaks for opening a 'window' into 'the secret corridors of government power.' 'In my mind, he's actually cheering it on,' Morell said today. 'He's encouraging people to read the hacked materials. He is encouraging this attack on our democracy. I just find that amazing and shocking.' Morell predicted that Wikileaks would continue to publish illegally obtained emails from the campaign's staffers over the next 25 days. An Iraqi migrant was killed and two others were injured today after being mowed down by a freight train near a camp in the northern French port of Dunkirk, authorities said. It happened as the migrants were trying to cross the railway tracks near the Grande-Synthe humanitarian camp on the outskirts of Dunkirk. One of the injured was treated in hospital for shock while the other suffered a minor hip injury, the authorities said. The Iraqi migrant died close to the Grande-Synthe humanitarian camp on the outskirts of Dunkirk The port of Dunkirk is around 25 miles east from Calais. Like Calais it is a rallying point for migrants seeking to smuggle themselves onto trucks bound for Britain. Fourteen migrants have died in the attempt so far this year in Calais but this fatality was the first of its kind around Dunkirk. Around 850 people, mostly Kurds, are currently living in the Grande-Synthe camp, which was built by the Doctors Without Borders charity to international standards, despite opposition from the French government. There are more than 10,000 migrants in the Calais and Dunkirk area who want to get to Britain to claim asylum Backed by the local municipality, the camp was built to replace an infamous tent city, similar to the squalid Calais 'Jungle', which is set to be razed in the next few weeks. The government has announced plans to tear down the Jungle and relocate migrants seeking asylum in France to shelters around the country. Around 5,700 people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, around 1,300 of them unaccompanied minors, are living in the camp, according to local authorities. There are more than 10,000 migrants in the Calais and Dunkirk area who want to get to Britain to claim asylum. Many make their way to the side of the A16, day and night, where they take great risks trying to board vehicles. The Hinman and Tate families said they are relieved he won't be released He was already in custody when Manson killed actress Sharon Tate However, Beausoleil has already been denied 17 times before for parole to go in front of parole board again Both Beausoleil and Hinman were musicians in 1969 when he was murder Robert Beausoleil (pictured), 68, a former follower of Charles Manson who murdered a man in 1969, has been denied parole for the 18th time. He will be eligible to go before the board again in 2019 A follower of cult leader Charles Manson, who murdered a musician in 1969, has been denied parole, according to California officials. Robert Beausoleil, 68, is serving a life sentence for killing musician Gary Hinman 47 years ago. At a parole hearing, officials decided he should remain in prison but can seek parole again in three years, said board spokesman Luis Patino. Beausoleil was an aspiring musician and actor before he joined the Manson family, and he has written and recorded music while in prison. He originally was sentenced to die, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. He was in jail when other Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others, then murdered grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. Beausoleil (pictured in 1970) was originally sentenced to die, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional Beausoleil was in jail when other Manson (pictured in 1986, left and March 2016, right) followers famously killed actress Sharon Tate and four others, then murdered grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary 'There's absolutely no doubt in my mind, if released, Bobby will be just a model citizen. 'I think he's a very insightful and introspective person, and there is nothing about him that is dangerous,' said his attorney, Jason Campbell. Beausoleil had been denied parole 17 times previously. 'Thank God,' Hinman's cousin, Kay Martley, said of the latest parole decision. 'He killed, murdered my cousin and it was gruesome. While his lawyers argued that he is no longer dangerous, family members of Sharon Tate and Gary Hinman expressed relief that he will not be released 'Three days they kept him and tortured him,' she said. 'All of this just comes back, even after 47 years.' Beausoleil was denied parole in part because he has been recording music for sale without the permission of California authorities, said Martley and Debra Tate, Sharon Tate's sister. He previously had permission from Oregon authorities, where he had been serving his sentence until last year, they said. Other members of the Manson cult like Leslie Van Houten (pictured), 67, have been denied release as well for the LaBianca killing Patino and Campbell said they couldn't comment. 'If he can't play by the rules in place within prison, how can he play in a free society?' said Tate. Beausoleil was transferred in 1994 to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem at his request, after he married a woman from Oregon while in prison and later fathered four children. He was transferred last year to the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, southeast of Sacramento, after his wife died and he had a disciplinary infraction at the Oregon prison. Martley fears that officials may decide to parole Beausoleil next time because of his young age when he committed the crime, and because he elderly now. In January, Gov. Jerry Brown reversed the parole board and blocked the release of Bruce Davis, 74, who was convicted in the slayings of Hinman and stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea. In July, Brown blocked the release of Leslie Van Houten, 67, who is serving a life sentence for the LaBianca killings. Van Houten was denied parole for the 20th time earlier this month. Van Houten (pictured, right in 1971 with Patricia Krenwinkel, left, and Susan Atkins, center, who were also found guilty of murder) was denied parole for the 20th time earlier this month Van Houten was just 19 (left in 1971 and right earlier this year) when she, along with other members of the Manson cult, murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at their home A state board declared Van Houten would be eligible for parole but the decision was overturned by Governor Jerry Brown earlier this year. Gov. Brown's decision was upheld by a judge who said the woman still posed 'unreasonable danger' to society. 'Even two years after the murders, when interviewed by a psychologist, Van Houten admitted that, although she had no present desire to kill anyone, she would have no difficulty doing it again,' he said. He added that the 'shocking nature of the crimes left an indelible mark on society'. Van Houten was just 19 when she, along with other members of the Manson cult, murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at their home. It may seem to contradict every road safety message youve ever heard. But a luxury car about to go on the market allows motorists to take their hands off the steering wheel even at high speeds for up to 30 seconds. BMWs newest executive saloon will also overtake for you. Just a touch of the indicators is necessary to trigger an automatic manoeuvre, with sensors monitoring whether it is safe to do so. Scroll down for video The driver of the 5-series can confidently take their hands off the wheel, even at twice the UK speed limit, and the car will steer itself The seventh-generation 5-series allows the driver to take his or her hands off the steering wheel at speeds of up to 130mph or nearly twice the UKs motorway speed limit before alerting the driver to get a grip again. When parked up, the car which goes on sale in February priced from 36,025 will even send a live visual alert to your mobile if it detects someone is trying to break in or if it has been hit by another vehicle. Four wide-angle camera lenses one in each wing mirror, one in the front grille and a fourth in the boot lid give all-round coverage of the car to create a single 360-degree 3D image. BMW says the car is a major step towards a fully-autonomous car. The Government is backing trials for autonomous driving in Britain, but car-makers are already fitting much of the kit required to their vehicles. The German manufacturer is confident its self-drive system is legal to use as the technology is an aid to safe driving. BMW's latest model can overtake at the touch of a button, which starts an automatic manoeuvre to get past the car in front, even at high speeds The car can take care of itself for up to 30 seconds, and warns the driver when it is time to place their hands back on the wheel This is a safety system designed to help drivers who may be momentarily distracted by children messing around in the back of the car, its not to encourage motorists to take their hands off the wheel to send texts, a spokesman said. BMW says drivers can take the hands off the wheel for up to 30 seconds before being given a warning a red steering wheel image on the dashboard and a loud beeping noise to put their hands back on, even if only for a second or so. If they dont, the automated steering reverts to manual. BMW have said that the design innovations used in the executive saloon will reduce the stress of driving in stop-start traffic BMW said it reduces stress in stop-start traffic and busy motorways by ensuring reliable lane-keeping. Remarkably, at speeds of between 44mph and 112mph, the car can even overtake other vehicles on motorways and dual carriageways without the driver touching the wheel. The warm, softly spoken woman sitting before me doesnt appear in the least bit run-down. Her raven bob is glossy, her skin dewy and her face often breaks into a defiant smile albeit not an entirely convincing one. Incredibly, the former Emmerdale actress doesnt look much older than she did 12 years ago, when she left her role as the soap worlds first openly lesbian character, Zoe Tate. Its only when we touch on her daughters, Lily, 25, and Maya, 21, that Leah Bracknells mask slips, just a little. At this point you sense the mountainous struggle to contain her emotions. Actress Leah Bracknell, pictured, has spoken openly about her shock lung cancer diagnosis Any mother will know how I felt, she says. Its the worst thing you can imagine having to tell those closest to you, something like this . . . trying to find the words. Its the worst thing Ive had to do . . . And then quickly banishing any hint of self-pity: I think its almost worse for those close to you because theyre trying to look after and protect the person whos poorly, not just physically, but emotionally. The sense of her fiercely trying to stem a tide of emotion is palpable. But then how on earth does anyone cope with a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer? While some fall apart, Leah is determinedly holding it together. Just. Its the reason shes been thrust back into the spotlight, after a private Facebook appeal for donations towards the cost of ground-breaking new treatment went viral. Public support flooded in and, to date, she has raised nearly 60,000 through a crowd-funding website enough to cover one round of a radical new form of treatment. The mother of two appeared earlier this week on This Morning speaking of her cancer ordeal Bracknell, 52, pictured in 2005, is best known for starring as Zoe Tate in Emmerdale Farm It has been overwhelming, she says, for an actress who has been out of the public eye for over a decade, and the reason she has granted this one newspaper interview. Im a very private person, and it was never my intention for my appeal to go public. But people have been so massively generous I wanted to be able to say thank you, she says. To discover I have all these friends has been phenomenally touching and, weirdly, I feel really lucky. What has happened to me has allowed me to see the beauty of humankind and thats really powerful. Maybe if you ask me two or three months down the line Ill have a different story, but right now I do feel very blessed. Under the circumstances it may seem a funny word, but it is a theme that runs all the way through our interview: determinedly upbeat, Leah refuses to be defined by her diagnosis. As much for her daughters, I suspect, as for herself. The 52-year-old actress, left, was diagnosed with terminal cancer after feeling ill in August Leah, pictured here with fellow Emmerdale star Louise Heaney, in 1996 was the first openly lesbian character in any UK soap opera playing the character of popular vet Zoe Tate I just wont project out there that I might die imminently. What Im projecting is that Im going to live longer a good, healthy, strong life and Im going to beat this. It could be deluded, but otherwise it makes you feel things are futile or helpless. I dont want to feel helpless; I want to feel I can do something. Only two months ago, Leah Bracknell was happily preparing for an exciting new chapter. Her youngest daughter, Maya, had just left home and Leah was embracing this new life stage, moving house with her partner, as well as starting rehearsals for a new play, Nobodys Perfect. Acting was always in Leahs blood. The daughter of David Bracknell, a TV and film director of 30 years standing who worked with, among others, Rock Hudson and Sammy Davis Jr, Leah was raised in Oxford but spent much of her childhood on film sets. Bracknell, left, spent some 16 years with the soap before quitting after turning 40 Two years after drama school, she landed her landmark Emmerdale role. By then she was in a relationship with director-turned-writer Lyle Watson, father to her two daughters. She remained with the soap for 16 years, quitting shortly after turning 40. It was time for a new chapter, but it was a huge wrench, she says. Theatre and occasional TV work followed, although it was difficult to juggle work with becoming a single mum following the break-up, ten years ago, of her relationship with Lyle. Instead she trained to be a yoga instructor and, four years ago, moved to Sussex to be closer to Jez Hughes, a healer and her partner of six years. Now 52, she was poised to return to the stage once more. She was also fit as a fiddle. I hadnt been to the doctor for years, she recalls. Illness really wasnt in my vocabulary. A ll that changed in a matter of days towards the third week of August. I noticed I was starting to feel breathless going upstairs, but it was so subtle that I put it down to a little bit of temporary stress as I was juggling a few bits and piece, she says. Bracknell, who has two daughters aged 21 and 25, has launched an appeal for funds to pay for pioneering new treatment in Germany to battle the terminal lung cancer Events moved with terrifying speed: within a week, Leah was struggling to walk more than a couple of hundred metres. My abdomen kept expanding, too, until in the space of a week I looked about five months pregnant. She booked a GP appointment where she was given a series of tests. Theyre never instant, of course, you have to wait and meanwhile things were getting progressively worse, she recalls. I was really struggling to breathe even when I was sitting down. I did try to ring the doctors again, but I couldnt get an appointment. While she had discounted stress as a cause, once her abdomen had started to swell she had persuaded herself that instead it might be a hernia. I stopped googling things though, because the information I was getting back was not positive, she says ruefully. After leaving the popular soap opera, Bracknell trained to become a yoga teacher Matters came to a head ten days after that initial doctors appointment when, alone at home, as Jez was working away, Leah realised she could barely move from her chair and called an ambulance. She was promptly admitted to hospital and put on oxygen while doctors conducted a barrage of tests, the dreaded word cancer mentioned only in whispered parentheses. The doctors had said things like: Were just checking this to rule out cancer. But I have quite a pragmatic streak, so it was a case of: Right, lets just get this sorted out. Of course I was worried, but I thought I was in the right place and I tried to stay positive. Little could she have predicted what lay in store. Within 24 hours Leah was undergoing emergency surgery to drain fluid from around her heart while her worried partner and daughters anxiously awaited news. I didnt find out until later that that procedure actually saved my life, she says. F inding out what was wrong took another nine days, a diagnosis which, when it came, appeared as finite as it was grim: Leah had Stage 4 lung cancer, a strain which was not related to smoking she had smoked very occasionally on and off in the distant past and which had come from nowhere. It was, the kindly Macmillan nurse told her: Terminal. Not curable, not operable. All that could be done was to manage the illness and keep her comfortable, with palliative chemotherapy to prolong her life. It takes a while for your brain to catch up, she says quietly. In some ways, I suspect, it still hasnt: throughout our interview Leah often refers to events in the third person, as if they are happening to someone else. They couldnt tell me why it had happened so suddenly, or how. All they knew was that it was here. Bracknell, pictured, said it took a short while to process the information when the Macmillan nurse told her that her cancer was incurable Her instinct was to leave hospital as soon as she could and hunker down with her family as she dealt with the maelstrom of emotions. You go through it all. At that point I didnt know my cancer wasnt smoking-related so, although I hadnt smoked for years, and only ever on and off, there was guilt that I had brought this on myself. You think: You silly, silly woman. Fiercely protective of her daughters, Leah doesnt want to share the conversations they had, other than to say it was incredibly difficult. After all this time and tests I think my family suspected that the news wasnt good. Their reaction was as you would expect, but were getting there, she says. Then of herself: Im 52, Im not 20, or ten. It would be worse if it was your child, I cant imagine worse than that, to be honest. I dont think Why me? no, because, why anybody? Instead the only way I can make sense of it is to believe things happen for a reason. And I do believe a positive mind-set is so important. Leah Bracknell has said that she feels 'extremely blessed' after fans raised 50,000 for her to undergo 'cutting edge' lung cancer treatment in Germany Thats not to say she didnt feel a surge of anger: Not at the poor nurses, who are in the impossible situation of delivering this kind of news, but in terms of a refusal to accept that there wasnt a way to deal with this. I just thought: This cannot be it. I didnt want to be crushed by it. Bracknell, pictured, was told she was not eligible to go on a clinical trial for pioneering therapy in the UK Poignantly, while not ruling out the palliative chemotherapy suggested by her consultant, she set out researching alternatives, desperately scouring the internet for cutting edge new treatments. She found many, but one stood out: immunotherapy that harnesses and enhances the immune system to fight cancer. Billed by the Cancer Research Institute as the most promising new cancer treatment since the development of the first chemotherapies in the Forties, it is already available in Germany and is offered on the NHS for skin cancer patients. However, it is still at clinical trial stage in the UK for all other cancers. The treatment boosts the immune system in the form of highly specialised drugs based uniquely on your own biological make-up. Inevitably, its expensive the first course alone costs 50,000 and she may need four more, which would bring the total to some 250,000. Leah has been told she is not eligible for the clinical trials in the UK after the damage to her heart from her condition. She has, though, found a clinic in Germany where she could, potentially, receive treatment, and is undergoing biopsies and further tests here in the UK to assess her eligibility. Understandably, you have shaky moments, fearful moments, she admits. It can just come in a wave and you have a moment, you have a blub. But then other times I have absolutely amazing moments where I just think: Wow, its great to be alive. You really see things differently. One question, of course, cannot be ignored: how long does she have? I havent asked and didnt want to ask. I wasnt going to give them the power to put that in my mind, she says determinedly. They told me not to look at the statistics as they said they were years old and involved people a lot older. The treatment boosts the patient's immune system using highly specialised 50,000 drugs, although a full course could require up to five doses costing up to 250,000 Bracknell, who won a soap award for her exit from Emmerdale, has cut out sugar, dairy, gluten and salt from her diet in an effort to boost her immune system and battle the cancer Already a healthy-eating devotee, Leah has now cut out sugar, dairy, gluten and salt, replacing them with green juices and vegetables, in the belief that this will help her prognosis. I want to do everything I can to treat my body well. I am trying to take control. She emphasises that she is in no way dismissing conventional therapy, although while she is taking blood-thinning medication in preparation for her first session of chemo, she remains unsure about whether she will go ahead. My first chemo session was supposed to be last week, but I pulled out as I didnt feel ready and while it is now re-booked for next week I am still unsure. Its not going to cure me and it will leave me incredibly debilitated. The actress, pictured, has been offered traditional chemotherapy by the NHS, but believes the German option is her best hope Does she feel the NHS have written her off? The specialists are incredible and they absolutely have your best interests at heart but their hands are tied in a system thats struggling, she says. I do believe there are alternatives but the way the system works is that you have to find them yourself. In my position you are going to look at everything you can. She is convinced that immunotherapy in Germany is her best hope but, of course, it comes at a price. It is for this reason that, reluctantly, she appealed for financial help, initially on a private Facebook page that she thought only her immediate friends and family would see. For many reasons obviously you dont want to be in a position where youre having to ask for funds for medical help because one has a certain pride, she says. But my family said if you need this sort of help, what else are you going to do? The first she knew of its wider reach was when a family member asked her if she knew what had happened. I didnt even check the page, then suddenly people asked if Id looked, says Leah. When I did, it was overwhelming, totally unexpected. I only wish I could say thank you to everyone who donated personally. I am so grateful to everyone for giving me this chance. The smile again firm and controlled. But its not hard to see how tough this is for the devoted mother. You can only hope that fortune rewards her courage. Top aides to Hillary Clinton discussed asking the White House to use executive privilege to shield emails between Clinton and President Obama from the public, according to messages published by Wikileaks on Friday. A March 3, 2015 email from Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta shows the extent to which Clintons campaign and legal team scrambled to contain fallout from the release of her State Department emails last year. Think we should hold emails to and from potus? That's the heart of his exec privilege, Podesta, who previously worked as an advisor to President Obama, wrote in an email to Clinton attorney Cheryl Mills. We could get them to ask for that. They may not care, but I seems like they will, added Podesta. A March 3, 2015 email from Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta (right) to lawyer Cheryl Mills shows the extent to which Clintons campaign and legal team scrambled to contain fallout from the release of her State Department emails last year In January, a State Department spokesman confirmed that 18 non-classified emails between Clinton and Obama were withheld from public records requests. The spokesman added that he would not discuss the content of that email traffic. The Podesta email appears to conflict with President Obamas public statements about the email scandal. He told CBS News last year that he first found out about Clintons use of a private server through media reports. It also appear at odds with Clintons own statements that she asked the State Deprtment to release all of her non-classified work-related emails to the public. There was no response from Mills included in the Wikileaks release as of Friday. Wikileaks has been releasing leaked emails that reportedly came from Podestas account on a daily basis this week. The exchange between Podesta and Mills is one of many that shed light on the behind-the-scenes effort by the Clinton campaign to deal with the ballooning email scandal. Other messages indicated that the State Department coordinated with Hillary Clintons campaign team before releasing to congress potentially damaging emails between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal last year. According to the emails, the Clinton campaign received a heads up from the State Department shortly before the agency turned over 15 emails between Clinton and Blumenthal to the House Select Committee on Benghazi. These Blumenthal emails were not included in the 55,000 pages of messages Clinton turned over to the State Department, which she said contained all of her work-related emails. Campaign aides were concerned the release would prompt questions about whether Clinton deleted emails. Just spoke to State a little more about this, wrote Clintons campaign spokesman Nick Merrill in an email to other staffers. The plan at the moment is for [the State Department] to do this tomorrow, first thing in the morning. What that means specifically is that they are going to turn over all the Blumenthal emails to the Committee that they hav[e], he added. That of course includes the emails Sid turned over that HRC didn't, which will make clear to them that she didn't have them in the first place, deleted them, or didn't turn them over. Merrill wrote that the State Department was considering placing a story with a friendly at the AP (Matt Lee or Bradley Klapper), that would lay this out before the majority on the committee has a chance to realize what they have and distort it. Merrill proposed work[ing] with State and the AP to deploy the below, referencing a proposed campaign statement and background talking points about the Blumenthal emails. Hillary Clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of materials to the State Department, including all emails in her possession from Mr. Blumenthal, said the statement, which appeared in a New York Times story about the newly-uncovered Blumenthal messages that ran on June 30, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/us/state-dept-gets-libya-emails-that-clinton-didnt-hand-over.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=1 In the talking points, which would be provided to reporters on background attributable to an unnamed campaign aide, Merrill hinted that the Blumenthal emails might be fake, saying we do not recognize many of those materials and cannot speak to their origin. OFF RECORD, if pressed on whether we are essentially admitting the possibility that she deleted some emails, [we should say:] Look, we do not know what these materials are, or where they came from. Just take a look at them: many of the documents are not even formatted as emails, added Merrill. The State Department did not respond to request for comment by press time. A New Jersey black bear that rose to fame after he was captured walking upright on his hind legs is thought to have been shot dead during the final week of hunting season. A hunter, who was focused on capturing and killing the beloved animal named Pedals, is believed to have brought his carcass to a weigh station earlier this week. The hunter who goes by the name 'John', shot the bear with an arrow. The man is even believed to have set up a separate Facebook page taunting those who loved Pedals, and even hinted that he had an 'execution date'. The bipedal bear was first spotted in the town of Oak Ridge, New Jersey in 2014. A New Jersey black bear that rose to fame after he was captured walking upright on his hind legs is thought to have been shot dead during the final week of hunting season Less than a month ago, Pedals was spotted walking through New Jersey, unaware his days were numbered. 'September 17th 2016 sighting just reported. He looks well,' the spotter said Pedals had a permanently injured paw and was missing the other, making it difficult for him to walk comfortably on all fours, so he took to walking on his hind legs. Officials have been unable to confirm for sure that the bear that was shot dead is Pedals, but Oak Ridge resident Sabrina Pugsley, who runs his Facebook page, says the hunter who shot the bear in question spotted his mangled front paw. The state Department of Environmental Protection also says there's no way to identify a bear that hasn't been tagged or had a DNA sample taken previously. Sabrina wrote a devastating account as to what might have happened to the walking bear. Pedals would often be seen wondering through back gardens. His human-like characteristics endeared him to locals and wildlife enthusiasts alike The black bear became a social media darling after being captured on video. He even had his own Facebook page where bear spotters could post fresh pictures 'There are many hunters who feel Pedals should have been taken to sanctuary, many who felt he should have amnesty from the hunt, many who would never think to kill him and many who saw first hand when he was brought in to Greenpond station on Monday. These people were kind enough to share details with us,' Sabrina wrote. 'Pedals is dead. The hunter who has wanted him dead for nearly three years had the satisfaction of putting an arrow through him, bragging at the station. The very place where they weighed him, examined his legs, confirmed it was 'the bi-pedal'.' When the bear was last seen in 2015, he appeared to be in relatively good health and was moving briskly. Prior to the latest video, the bear had not been seen for months and officials had asked the public for help in locating the bear In response to concerns of Pedals' death, the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife released a statement. 'While the Division appreciates the concern for the bear, it has no way of verifying the identify of any bear that has not been previously tagged or had a DNA sample previously taken,' the statement said. 'During this current bear hunt period, and in previous bear seasons, there have been multiple bears observed at different check stations with injured or missing limbs. 'Upon arrival to check stations, bears are weighed and measured around the head. DNA samples are taken and a tooth is extracted to determine the bear's age. But without any prior scientific data taken from a bear, it is not possible to verify the identity of a bear that has been harvested.' In the original sighting, the bear was spotted by a neighbor who was standing just a few feet away at the garden fence, completely unfazed by his human audience Sabrina Pugsley said she remains '100 percent confident' in the sources who told her Pedals was dead. She and Rublack added in a news release that they believed the NJ DEP and its Division of Fish and Wildlife 'didn't have a heart' and 'let this happen.' 'They could have been the good guys by helping Pedals to get to a sanctuary, but instead, they did nothing,' Pugsley and Rublack said. In 2014, supporters pushed for Pedals to be moved to a sanctuary in New York state, but officials from the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife refused to allow the bear to be captured and transferred to the facility. Experts said that the bear would do better in its natural habitat and the agency would only step in if its condition deteriorated. The Division claimed the fact it survived a snowy winter meant it was able to find adequate food sources and should be able to survive on its own in the wild. They also warned that tranquilizing and relocating the bear also came with a risk. 'Fish and Wildlife bear biologists believe it is best not to intervene or make attempts to capture this bear. If the condition and health of the bear clearly deteriorates, then biologists from the Division of Fish and Wildlife will respond accordingly.' The bear first gained fame after it was spotted ambling around neighborhoods and was caught on videos that were posted on social media and shown on national television. Nicknamed Pedals (for bipedal) by the New Jersey community, it was also spotted in August 2015 ambling down the street and across front yards 'Sincere beliefs': Teresa Kirk was given six months in prison by a judge at the secretive Court of Protection, it emerged yesterday A grandmother of 71 has been jailed for refusing to move an elderly man from a care home where she believes he is happy. Teresa Kirk was given six months in prison by a judge at the secretive Court of Protection, it emerged yesterday. Mr Justice Newton ruled she had disobeyed orders to move the 80-year-old from his native Portugal to a care home in Britain chosen by social workers. He jailed her for contempt of court despite conceding she was acting out of deeply held sincere beliefs to protect the interests of the man, who is suffering from dementia. The judge said the pensioner had lived in the south west of England for 50 years, that he had a large circle of friends, and a cat of whom he was exceptionally fond. Mrs Kirk has become the second woman known to have been jailed by the Court of Protection in a dispute over the choice of care home for an elderly individual. In 2013, the Daily Mail revealed that 50-year-old Wanda Maddocks had been imprisoned by the court in secret after trying to get her 80-year-old father removed from a care home where she believed his life was in danger. Jail: The grandmother, who is expected to appeal, is understood to be held in Bronzefield prison (pictured) in Middlesex whose previous inmates include serial killer Rose West Details of Mrs Kirks case were made public only this week nearly two months after her sentencing. The grandmother, who is expected to appeal, is understood to be held in Bronzefield prison in Middlesex whose previous inmates include serial killer Rose West. The facts of the case remain surrounded by secrecy ordered by the Court of Protection. Mr Justice Newtons decision and Mrs Kirks name have not been revealed by the court despite transparency reforms following the scandal involving Mrs Maddocks. The Daily Mail is unable to name the elderly man or to describe his relationship to Mrs Kirk. Even the name of his cat cannot be published for legal reasons. The elderly man identified in court papers as MM was born on the Portuguese island of Madeira but had settled in Devon. When his health began to decline because of dementia in 2014, Mrs Kirk moved him into her home in Sussex. After social workers said he should live in a care home, she travelled with him to Portugal instead. In June 2015 the court ordered that he should be returned to Britain. The mans health declined further and he went into a care home on the Algarve in September last year. Decision: Mr Justice Newton (pictured) ruled she had disobeyed orders to move the 80-year-old from his native Portugal to a care home in Britain chosen by social workers A second ruling made by the court followed in June this year but the managers of the Portuguese care home refused to allow him to leave without the permission of Mrs Kirk. After she failed to yield to the court, Mr Justice Newton said he had no alternative but to jail her. He said at a hearing made in August but unpublished until now: I acknowledge that she has deeply held, sincere beliefs as to the best interests of MM and is genuinely concerned about his welfare. '[But] I have reluctantly concluded that ... I am left with no alternative but to pass a sentence of imprisonment, however much I have made it perfectly clear that I do not wish to do so. Mrs Kirk, who has a daughter and four grandchildren who she regularly cares for, is understood to have been given a last chance to change her mind after her sentencing. She refused, and was arrested at her home in Sussex a fortnight ago. Her former husband Chris Kirk said she called him at 11pm to say police were knocking at her door. After that she simply disappeared, he said. I could not contact her. I asked the police if they could tell me what had happened, but they said they had no information and if I was worried I should report her as a missing person. Previous case: Wanda Maddocks was jailed in secret after trying to get her 80-year-old father removed from a care home where she believed his life was in danger The Court of Protection hearing in London was open to the public and Mrs Kirk was represented by a barrister. However, the ruling was only published on the court judgment website this week after an approach by the Daily Mail. Open justice campaigner and former MP John Hemming called the decision oppressive, adding: It is wrong to lose a 71-year-old grandmother in the prison system. The rules on secret jailings that were issued following the campaign from the Daily Mail are not trivial. 'They act to protect people from being abused by local bureaucrats. In this case the courts have failed to follow those rules and Mrs Kirk and an elderly gentleman are suffering. Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said jailing Mrs Kirk was cruel and unnecessary. How can it be right when you are trying to do your best for a loved one for the courts not to understand and respond with compassion? she said. This is someone who has been doing her best in the face of a social care system which is in absolute crisis. A spokesman for the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary said the online judgment had been held back from publication so an error could be amended. Devon Council said: Any decision regarding where a vulnerable adult should live is entirely a matter for the Court of Protection. The court was set up under Tony Blairs Mental Capacity Act to decide the affairs of people who cannot make decisions for themselves. Advertisement It was the night they (almost) turned out the lights and silenced infamous Walking Street in Pattaya, which has the reputation as the liveliest and most outrageous nightlife strip in Asia. New curbs on loud music and public entertainment industry were imposed by the Thai authorities in the aftermath of the death this week of King Bhumibol Adulyadej who had been on the throne for 70 years . A one year mourning period for the 88-year-old monarch has been decreed and many Thais - and tourists - are dressing in black. People have been urged to refrain from organising entertainment events for a month and Bangkok's ladyboys join the thousands mourning. But it has not come as good news for tourists who wanted to enjoy themselves on holiday and see the country's famous nightlife. Scroll down for video 'The Sugar Baby Ago-go Club is closed out of respect': Bars and clubs of the infamous Walking Street in Pattaya are empty as Thailand mourns death of its King The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised 'access to entertainment, including restaurants, bars, and shopping areas may be restricted' Tourists admit it couldn't come at a worst time as this month is normally the busiest of the year for nightlife Pattaya's nightlife hub did not completely shut on Friday night but the mood was deeply subdued October is normally the beginning of Thailand's high season with up to three million tourists arriving in a single month many heading to its bars and red-light districts. Liam Pearce, 23, a steel erector and welder from Wrexham, North Wales, is due to fly to Thailand next Thursday for two weeks. He said: 'It couldn't have happened at a worse time. 'I've already booked the flights, paid for hotels and changed money so there's no chance of changing it. 'My friends are out there already and they said the only places open at night are pharmacies. That's hardly going to be much fun.' The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised: 'Access to entertainment, including restaurants, bars, and shopping areas may be restricted and you should behave respectfully when in public areas.' For the next 30 days Australia's Foreign Ministry added: 'Refrain from any behaviour that may be interpreted as festive, disrespectful or disorderly.' Anyone who insults the King or monarchy can be punished with up to 15 years in prison. Many bars like the Red Square Bar (pictured) normally packed with young Thai women and foreign men on Walking Street were completely deserted Most noticeable was the total absence of the usual wall of noise from thudding music in nightclubs The neon lights were also switched off at Alcatraz, Fahrenheit and Pewppermint (pictured) amid an eerie emptiness It is normally a throbbing resort of tourists from all over the world and on average 3million arrive in October While several entire Bangkok red light zones with go-go bars - usually packed with scantily-clad women - were reported totally closed out of respect to the dead king, throbbing resort Pattaya's nightlife hub did not completely shut on Friday night, according to reporter Will Stewart, even though the mood was deeply subdued. Many bars normally packed with young Thai women and foreign men on Walking Street were completely deserted. Others had a few customers and contrary to speculation, they were permitted to serve alcohol, but the strip, almost a mile long, normally heaving with tourists, was half empty at midnight, a shadow of its usual itself. Most noticeable was the total absence of the usual wall of noise from thudding music in nightclubs and more than 100 beer bars, in obedience to the edict from the country's military government. All but a handful of the garish neon lights on the 30-plus notorious go-go bars were dimmed, and many were closed altogether, a remarkable sight in a city that prides itself as a brash all-year entertainment capital. Certainly there were no visible displays of pole dancers on the street. Restaurants could keep their signs lit but in the main night clubs and those displaying female flesh switched off their neon. Behind some doorways and curtains a few were open for business and contrary to claims were selling alcohol But some places used soft drink cups in case officials came in to check on what they were serving Another venue Crazy Russian Girls was also closed, with some women lingering outside Some go-go bars like G-Spot were bathed in darkness and looked closed, but in fact behind doorway curtains were open for business and welcoming punters, even though the usual throng of tourists and locals was far smaller than on a typical night. Inside this and several similar establishments, local women writhed mechanically on stage in skimpy clothing, an indication that despite the dimmed lights and distinctly low volume music, business must go on. Yet the ghostly silence out on the street showed the tourist mecca more restrained than for decades. Visitors including sex tourists flock here from Europe, America, Russia, India and increasingly China, but this wasn't a night like any other. A bar aptly called King has long exhibited the sign: Good guys go to heaven; Bad guys go to Pattaya. It was open on Friday night, and serving beer, but far from full of the usual 'bad guys'. Sugar Baby Ago-go club was one of many that closed entirely in respect of the late monarch, who united Thais as a unifying force in this country of 67 million people. Some people admitted 'we have to work, we need the money, but people want to pay their respect to the King' Women working in the bars and clubs on Walking Street have been identified by human rights groups as victims of sexual exploitation But areas like Walking Street are also an integral part of Pattaya's tourism scene The neon lights were also switched off at Alcatraz, Fahrenheit and Pewppermint amid an eerie emptiness in a pedestrian street normally chock-full with thronging tourists from around the world. Living Dolls had its metal security canopy pulled down over its entrance. The doors at nightspot Red Square, usually a magnet for Russian tourists, were open but the place looked dark and deserted. Another venue Crazy Russian Girls was also closed. The so-called Royal massage parlour was open but with little sign of its normal brisk business. It looked much the same at the nearby 'Palace' massage parlour. 'It's the quietest night I can remember,' confirmed one of the masseurs. 'We have to work, we need the money, but people want to pay their respect to the King.' Women working in the bars and clubs on Walking Street have been identified by human rights groups as victims of sexual exploitation. Many come from impoverished villages in provincial Thailand. But it is also an integral part of Pattaya's tourism scene, and attempts to change it or 'clean it up' have always foundered. People walk past Bangkokis Nana Plaza red-light district, after it closed down temporarily following the death Thursday of Thailandis 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was the world's longest reigning monarch Concerts and colossal beach parties in Thailand have been canceled and many seedy go-go bars are closed Tourists have been left disappointed that instead of enjoying Thailand's High Season which normally starts in October attracting three million tourists, everything is closed Bangkok's strip bars and brothels have been ordered to close after King Bhumibol Adulyadej's death. There are fears alcohol sales could be banned for up to 30 days At midnight in one bar, clients were told their wine would be poured into soft drink glasses. 'In case the soldiers come in to check,' said a waitress. But an assumption that alcohol sales would be forbidden in the aftermath of the monarch's death did not prove correct. 'The clubs are being respectful,' said a policeman on duty the street. 'It's much calmer than normal. Still, tourists will find what they want but it's not all in your face.' Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has indicated that life must go on, and businesses should remain open so Thailand does not 'lose its credibility'. Thai boy holds a photograph of royal family members as he stands on a road ahead of the royal religious praying rites Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn takes part in a ceremony honouring Thailand's late King Thais and foreigners gather on the roadside as they wait to pay their respect to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday Mourners sat for hours in Bangkok's urban heat awaiting the passage of his motorcade, in scenes reminiscent of religious devotees Thai royal guards stand in position after the body of the late king arrives at Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall inside the Grand Palace in Bangkok Thai Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, (second left) the late king's son, and Princess Sirindhorn (right) arrive at Grand Palace before presiding over a Buddhist funeral rite at a hall inside the Grand Palace Thai royal officials in ancient costume prepare for the royal bathing ceremony. Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 88 on Thursday after years of ill health Thailand's government said that a regent will be the caretaker of the monarchy while the country mourns the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The crowds lining outside since dawn outside the Grand Palace on Saturday were subdued and orderly despite the swelling numbers. People shared food and handed each other water and wet towels to cope with the Southeast Asian heat. Around midmorning, police announced the palace was closed for seven days. Still, most people waiting remained outside and authorities soon announced entry would be allowed into the palace's Sala Sahathai Samakhom Hall as a place to pay respects for limited hours in the afternoon. The government on Thursday unexpectedly announced that the heir apparent, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, did not want to be immediately named king to give the nation time to mourn his father's death. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam appeared on television Friday evening to specifically explain that the head of the Privy Council, which is an advisory body to the King, is automatically the regent until a new monarch is crowned. Mourners pray before offering alms to Buddhist monks during a ceremony to pay respects to the late Thai King Many Thai woman have been seen crying, some uncontrollably, as the country goes into a year's morning with many activities closed for the next month Buddhist monks pray for the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat on Saturday There was no official statement that the council's head, 96-year-old Prem Tinsulanonda, had been named regent, creating uncertainty, but Wissanu said an announcement wasn't needed because the process is mandated by Thailand's Constitution. Prem, a former prime minister, was one of Bhumibol's principal confidants and has ties to Bhumibol's popular daughter, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. For ordinary Thais, the overwhelming focus was on grieving for Bhumibol, not the succession. 'I haven't even started to think about that, I'm still in mourning over the king,' said Rakchadaporn Unnankad, a 24-year-old Bangkok office worker. A Thai national offers prayers for the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Royal Thai Counsulate in the Indian city of Chennai Crowds assemble outside the Grand Palace to pay their silent respects sharing food and water with each other Buddhist monks prepare a portrait of Thailand's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej for a ritual ceremony to offer condolences to the king at Wat Pho temple in Bangkok 'I left home at 6 a.m to come here,' she said. 'We were queuing for so long before they told us that we can't go inside the palace. There were people who have been here since 4-5 a.m,' she said. 'My tears started flowing out of me without my realizing,' she said, recalling the news of Bhumibol's death. 'I didn't even want to hear the announcement.' Buddhist funeral ceremonies began at the Grand Palace on Friday after a royal motorcade led by a van carrying Bhumibol's body and monks drove to the palace from nearby Siriraj Hospital, where the king died Thursday aged 88. People sat four to five rows deep on both sides of the road, sobbing openly and bowing as the convoy passed. Most held portraits of the king in regal yellow robes. Some pulled currency notes from their wallets: all bank notes carry the king's face. Many had camped 24 hours since Thursday. Thai people light candles outside in memory of their King -for many the only monarch they ever knew A woman holds a portrait of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej with the palace glimmering behind her Thai people hold candles outside Grand Palace in Bangkok Bhumibol's death after 70 years on the throne was a momentous event in Thailand, where the monarch has been glorified as an anchor for a fractious society that for decades has been turned on its head by frequent coups. Thailand suffered particularly intense political turmoil in the past 10 years that pitted arch-royalists against forces that sought a redistribution of economic and political power and were allied with Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist premier ousted in a 2006 coup. Thai people stand in a long line as they wait for to sign condolence books that mourn for the late Thai King Mourners gather outside of the Grand Palace, some from very early this morning, to pay respects despite announcements that it is closed Despite its closure many stayed to pray together after their monarch's death on Thursday Thai military guards on duty march outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok Thai people line up to pay their respects to King Bhumibol Adulyadej during a memorial at Wat Thai Temple in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Friday Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 88, after years of ill health, ending seven decades as a stabilising figure in a nation of deep political divisions But in recent years, Bhumibol had suffered from a variety of illnesses and seemed far removed from the upheavals of Thai politics, including the 2014 coup that brought Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, an army general, to power. 'His death means that the Thai political system must find an alternative focal point around which to unite the country's factionalized population,' said Tom Pepinsky, a Southeast Asia expert at Cornell University. He said one challenge that royalists will face is the possibility that the monarchy's popularity would be undermined by the crowning of Vajiralongkorn, who does not command the same respect his father did. Another mourner, Suchart Warachawanwanich, added it was 'appropriate' to not immediately accept the crown and let the nation grieve first. A one-year mourning period for the government has been declared together with a 30-day moratorium on state and official events. But no substantial demands have been made of the private sector. The government has only urged people to refrain from organizing entertainment events for a month, apparently mindful of the need to ensure that the sputtering economy, which relies heavily on tourism, does not suffer too much. Hundreds of mourners held up Thai baht notes featuring King Bhumibol Adulyadej's image in the capital Bangkok Men and women dressed in black were jammed cheek by jowl outside the Grand Palce, where King Bhumibol's body was taken on Friday Government offices and state-run enterprises were closed out of respect, but commercial activity otherwise carried on as normal October is normally the beginning of Thailand's high season with up to three million tourists arriving in a single month many heading to its bars and red light districts Women wearing black carry portraits of the late monarch, who many Thai people saw as a guarantor of political stability A Thai official measures the size of a frame at the Police Headquarters. The new portrait of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, the heir to King Bhumibol, did not fit inside The King ruled 70 years and was the only monarch most Thai people knew. 'We no longer have him,' wept Phongsri Chompoonuch, 77 When his death was first announced mourners sat for hours in Bangkok's urban heat awaiting the passage of his motorcade, in scenes reminiscent of religious devotees. Some fainted and were carried away on stretchers, while others shouted 'King of the people!' as the convoy slowly wheeled through hushed streets. For some Thais King Bhumibol Adulyadej was the only monarch they knew. 'We no longer have him,' wept Phongsri Chompoonuch, 77, as she clutched the late monarch's portrait. 'I don't know whether I can accept that. I fear, because I don't know what will come next.' At the palace, the crown prince presided over the bathing of the King's body, a traditional Buddhist funeral rite and the start of official mourning. This will include at least 100 days of chanting by monks and months more of palace rituals. His reign saw decades of rapid economic development but also frequent military coups that set back democracy. A well-wisher dries her tears with a handkerchief as a convoy of vehicles carrying the King's body arrives at the Grand Palace A Thai woman living in Malaysia pays her respects at a temple in Kuala Lumpur A Thai Army Honor Guard marches into the Grand Palace on the first day of mourning. This period of remembrance could last for 30 days Bhumibol was seen as a pillar of stability during his politically turbulent reign, and many Thais are uncertain his son can exercise the same calming authority His reign saw decades of rapid economic development but also frequent military coups that set back democracy. Although the King approved most of the army's many successful coups, he also sometimes intervened to quell political violence, and his loss worries many Thais. 'Now I am afraid of what may happen, about the administration of the country, the type of regime in the long term,' said Arnon Sangwiman, a 54-year-old electricity company employee. This is the shocking moment a Utah father dumped his five-year-old daughter on a college campus and left her to fend for herself - with nothing but a blanket in 30-degree temperatures. CCTV footage from the grounds of Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, north of Salt Lake City, early Thursday morning shows the heartless father dropping his little girl outside one of the university buildings around 5am with a blanket. He then left and did not return. According to the child's mother: '(He) told her to shut up, and lay down and go to sleep.' It wasn't until 7.30am that morning that the girl was found by campus security. Heartless: About 5am Thursday, police say this man took his five-year-old daughter to the Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, gave her his coat and a blanket, and then left CCTV from the campus shows the man setting up his daughter with a makeshift bed made out of a blanket outside the university building The father then walked away and left the girl alone in the dark with the temperature just above freezing. He did not return Alone: The girl was left to fend for herself in the cold, and stayed where she was told The girl's mother, identified only as Gena to protect the identity of the child, said her daughter was staying with her ex-husband and his family at the time of the incident. Gena said the little girl has been left traumatized by what happened. 'She said she got scared,' she told Fox 13 Salt Lake City. 'She was yelling, ''Daddy!'' but no one was there. She said she just kind of had her blanket and waited until daylight.' The footage shows the helpless girl prepare a bed for herself (left) and then lie down (right) The temperatures in the area dropped to 39 degrees that morning. The girl is seen here trying to go to sleep It wasn't until more than two hours later, about 7.30am, that a security guard making rounds at the school saw the young child on the sidewalk Fred Frazier, the security manager for the college, said the girl did what she was told and stayed in the one spot. The girl's mother said her daughter ran towards the security officer crying upon seeing him in the morning, but fell and grazed her knee while running. 'It was heartbreaking for (the security guard),' Frazier said. 'To see a little girl running alone by herself. That's when he got very concerned, and she was shivering and cold.' '(He) told her to shut up, and lay down and go to sleep,' said the girl's mother, Gena (right). Fred Frazier (left), the security manager for the college, is the one who reviewed the footage Temperatures in the area dropped to 39 degrees on the night of the incident. Ogden police are now waiting to interview the father and determine why he abandoned his child. Police say it may have been drug-related. He is facing child abandonment or abuse charges, or both. The woman charged with involuntary manslaughter for sending her boyfriend text messages encouraging him to kill himself told police during her first interview after his death that she was trying to get help for him. Michelle Carter, 20, is charged in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. Roy's body was found in his pickup truck in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Police found a gasoline-operate water pump in the back seat of the truck after he died. A coroner later ruled he died of carbon monoxide poisoning. On Friday, a recording of Carter's first police interview after Roy's death was played in court as her lawyers argued why it should not be played during the trial. 'I told him I loved him,' Carter said during a recorded interview with detectives at King Philip High School, The Boston Herald reported. 'I told him a lot of people loved him ... I told him he should come with me and get the help he needed.' Michelle Carter (above left on Friday), 20, is charged in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III (right). Roy's body was found in his pickup truck in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. On Friday, a recording of Carter's first police interview after Roy's death was played in court as her lawyers argued why it should not be played during the trial. She is pictured above in July The recording was played in the Taunton District Court by prosecutors in an effort to fight the motion to suppress it that was filed by Carter's lawyers. Her defense team has argued that two Fairhaven detectives improperly interviewed Carter, who was then 17, at her high school on October 2, 2014. Her lawyer's claim that the detectives did not advise of her of her right to an attorney while she was essentially in custody. However, Fairhaven detective Scott Gordon testified that he 'explained to her that she wasn't in custody, wasn't in trouble and I wanted to talk to her.' In the police recording, Carter said she told Roy (above) that she 'loved him' In the recording detectives made, Carter stated she tried to reach out to her boyfriend's mother, but did not have her phone number. 'I was trying to get help for him,' Carter told investigators in the recording. 'I should have done something sooner.' While the recording played in court, Roy's father began crying in the front row of the gallery as he sat next to other family members. In addition, detectives asked the girl to put her cell phone's password in and she complied. They later told Carter they had a warrant for her phone and took it away from her. 'Wait, so you're taking my phone?' Carter asked. 'For what reason?' The detectives eventually followed the girl and her father back to their home, where they searched her computer, prosecutors say. Authorities say Carter cooperated when they asked for her computer password. Carter's attorneys are now asking a Judge Lawrence Moniz to suppress her comments on the recording and the contents of her phone and computer and the judge is considering the request. Conrad Roy Jr. (above), the father of the late Conrad Roy III, is seated inside Taunton Juvenile Court on Friday during the pre trial hearing for Carter. He became emotional at times during the hearing Fairhaven Police Detective Scott Gordon (above) provided testimony inside Taunton Juvenile Court on Friday In the past, Carter's lawyers have argued that Roy had a history of depression and that Carter did not cause Roy to kill himself. The state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a grand jury had probable cause to indict Carter for involuntary manslaughter based on evidence suggesting that she engaged in a 'systematic campaign of coercion.' A trial date has not yet been set. Prosecutors say Carter and Roy communicated as he sat in the truck. 'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready, you just need to do it!' Carter wrote in one message. Carter's lawyer, Joseph Cataldo, has said that the texts are protected free speech and that Roy was depressed and had previously tried to take his own life. Carter was 17 at the time, but is charged as a youthful offender, making her subject to adult sentences. Defense Attorney Joseph Cataldo (above) spoke on behalf of his client Michelle Carter inside the court on Friday The case drew national attention after transcripts of text messages Carter sent to Roy according to the indictment were released publicly, showing her urging him to follow through on his plan to kill himself and chastising him when he expressed doubts. 'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready, you just need to do it!' Carter wrote in one message according to prosecutors. 'You can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don't get why you aren't,' authorities say she wrote in another message. Carter and Roy had met in Florida in 2012 while visiting relatives. Their relationship largely consisted of text messages and emails. They hadn't seen each other in more than a year when Roy died, even though they lived only about 50 miles apart in Massachusetts, Carter in Plainville, and Roy in Mattapoisett. In addition to the text messages, prosecutors focused on a phone conversation Carter had with Roy while he was in his truck inhaling carbon monoxide fumes. Prosecutors said Carter sent a text to one of her friends after Roy's death and told her that while she was on the phone with Roy, he got out of his truck because he became frightened. She said she told him to 'get back in'. 'IT'S NOW OR NEVER': MICHELLE CARTER'S MESSAGES TO CONRAD ROY Prosecutors say Michelle Carter sent her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, dozens of text messages urging him to take his own life. Carter's lawyer argues that she tried repeatedly to talk him out of it and only began to support the plan when it became clear he would not change his mind. Here are excerpts from their text exchanges, with messages cited by her lawyer first, followed by those cited by prosecutors: June 29, 2014: Carter: 'But the mental hospital would help you. I know you don't think it would but I'm telling you, if you give them a chance, they can save your life' Carter: 'Part of me wants you to try something and fail just so you can get help' Roy: 'It doesn't help. trust me' Carter: 'So what are you gonna do then? Keep being all talk and no action and everyday go thru saying how badly you wanna kill yourself? Or are you gonna try to get better?' Roy: 'I can't get better I already made my decision.' July 7, 2014: Roy: 'if you were in my position. honestly what would you do' Carter: 'I would get help. That's just me tho. When I have a serious problem like that, my first instinct is to get help because I know I can't do it on my own' Roy: 'Well it's too late I already gave up.' Between July 6, 2014 and July 12, 2014: Carter: 'Always smile, and yeah, you have to just do it. You have everything you need. There is no way you can fail. Tonight is the night. It's now or never.' Carter: '(D)on't be scared. You already made this decision and if you don't do it tonight you're gonna be thinking about it all the time and stuff all the rest of your life and be miserable. You're finally going to be happy in heaven. No more pain. No more bad thoughts and worries. You'll be free.' Carter: 'I just want to make sure you're being serious. Like I know you are, but I don't know. You always say you're gonna do it, but you never do. I just want to make sure tonight is the real thing.' Carter: 'When are you gonna do it? Stop ignoring the question' Carter: 'You can't keep living this way. You just need to do it like you did the last time and not think about it and just do it, babe. You can't keep doing this every day. Roy: 'I do want to but I'm like freaking for my family I guess. I don't know.' Carter: 'Conrad, I told you I'll take care of them. Everyone will take care of them to make sure they won't be alone and people will help them get through it. We talked about this and they will be okay and accept it. People who commit suicide don't think this much. They just could do it.' Advertisement Teresa May is in the firing line for a 'cover up' ahead of leadership contest Former head of child abuse inquiry is accused of racism and misconduct Prime Minister Teresa May is under fire for an alleged cover-up of allegations against judge The Home Secretary was last night facing questions about whether she misled MPs after it emerged she knew of claims of racism and misconduct against the judge leading the child abuse inquiry. Amber Rudd and Prime Minister Theresa May were dragged into allegations of a cover-up of serious complaints against Dame Justice Lowell Goddard. The Home Office knew of 'concerns about the professionalism and competence' of the inquiry chairman a week before she quit on August 4, it was confirmed last night. But Miss Rudd failed to reveal this to the Home Affairs Select Committee when she appeared before them on September 7. Instead, she told MPs the New Zealand judge was standing down as she felt 'a long way from home' and 'found it too lonely'. The Home Secretary added: 'That's all the information I have.' Last night critics said Mrs May, who set up the inquiry when she was home secretary and appointed Dame Lowell, covered up a 'civil war' at the heart of Britain's biggest public inquiry to avoid damaging her Tory leadership bid. It also emerged Miss Rudd knew of allegations that Dame Lowell made racist remarks about Asian men and was rude to staff on July 29. Yet she still agreed to a generous 90,000 payoff for the judge, who cost taxpayers almost 700,000 for her 18 months in charge. It has also emerged that inquiry staff were secretly reporting about the chaos to Liz Sanderson, Mrs May's special adviser, and Mark Sedwill, the Home Office's Permanent Secretary, who sat beside Miss Rudd as she made her submission to the parliamentary committee. As the row over the beleaguered inquiry turned into a political scandal, it can also be revealed that: Mr Sedwill faces being grilled by the Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday about his role in the alleged cover-up; Victims groups said the chaos in the inquiry had left some vulnerable sex abuse survivors seriously ill; The current chairman, Professor Alexis Jay, plans to release a statement on Monday to water down key elements of the inquiry, to the anger of victims who have threatened to mount a judicial review; Professor Jay is facing questions about a conflict of interest with one of the inquiry's core participants, who claims he used to work with her when she was a social worker. Home Secretary Amber Rudd failed to reveal concerns about the professionalism of Dame Justice Lowell Goddard, who was leading the child abuse inquiry Yesterday Dame Lowell issued a long statement denying she was rude to staff or made racist remarks. SHE GOT A FREE FLAT, FLIGHT HOME AND 500,000 A YEAR Dame Lowell was paid a salary of 360,000 plus a generous expenses package including 110,000 annual rental allowance, 12,000 for bills, and a car and driver for official business. Her home in Britain was a taxpayer-funded flat in Knightsbridge. She was entitled to four business-class return flights a year to New Zealand for her and her husband, plus two return economy flights for her children, with annual costs estimated at 55,000. She admitted in court she was uncertain about aspects of UK law, it is reported. It is also alleged she suffered memory lapses. She had spent 44 working days in Australia or New Zealand since the start of the inquiry, and further 30 outside the UK on annual leave. Her severance package was reportedly worth 90,000, approved by Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Advertisement She said: 'I categorically never said that 'Britain has so many paedophiles because it has so many Asian men'. I never expressed shock at the number of ethnic people in Britain.' The judge described the allegations, reported in The Times, as 'falsities', 'malicious' and part of a 'vicious campaign', adding: 'It is totally untrue that I was guilty of 'racist, appalling, intolerable, catastrophic' conduct.' Addressing criticism over her pay package, Dame Lowell, 67, said she was not motivated by money or perks but by 'a desire to help the country solve its awful problems with institutional child sexual abuse.' But last night she faced new allegations as a Westminster source said: 'Things had got so toxic they had to bring in a mediator between her and other panel members. 'Matters came to a head when she asked for two first-class airline tickets home but requested she fly via Singapore so she could watch her racehorse run. 'Staff were not happy. It was considered completely unreasonable.' Tim Loughton, acting chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: 'Theresa May has serious questions to answer. The strong suggestion is that concerns were reported back to the Home Office. I can't believe they would not have been passed to the Home Secretary.' Dame Lowell, 67, said she was not motivated by money or perks but by 'a desire to help the country solve its awful problems with institutional child sexual abuse' He described the crisis as a 'sideshow caused by a bunch of prima donnas', adding: 'There is a lot more that has not yet come out about other flaws in Dame Lowell's character. We do want to challenge [her] and have written to her again asking her to appear before the committee.' Last night Westminster sources claimed Mrs May sought to 'keep a lid' on the chaos at the inquiry as she was desperate to avoid another embarrassment after two chairmen she appointed had quit. SHE GOT JOB OVER SKYPE The New Zealand judge landed her 500,000 job after a Skype call and on the recommendation of a school friend, it emerged yesterday. The Home Office had been in a 'blind panic' after the resignation of the two previous chairmen, Baroness Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf, and could not afford a third mistake. They wanted to find another woman, and she could not be from England or Wales. In their frantic search for a replacement, officials scanned the Commonwealth and contacted New Zealand's chief justice, Dame Sian Elias a former school friend of Dame Lowell. The pair had both studied law and became New Zealand's first female QCs on the same day in 1988. Dame Lowell was appointed after a Skype call with Theresa May, then Home Secretary, and her special adviser Liz Sanderson. Speaking about her 360,000 salary which is more than double that of the Prime Minister and the generous perks she received, including a 110,000 housing allowance, she insisted yesterday: 'I was not motivated to commit to this difficult inquiry for money or perks. I was already in receipt of an equivalent salary package in New Zealand.' Advertisement One source said: 'If this had come out then it would have been devastating for her chances. It would have raised huge questions about her judgment. 'It is inconceivable that if the Permanent Secretary [Mr Sedwill] was told there were problems he would not have told her.' Mr Sedwill, the Home Office's top mandarin, is expected to be hauled before the Home Affairs Committee over his role on Tuesday, at the same time as fourth chairman Professor Jay, who is also expected to face questioning about whether she knew of the allegations against Dame Lowell. Last night Andrew Lavery, of the victims group White Flowers Alba, said: 'A civil war has been going on behind the scenes which is a national disgrace. 'This is having a severe impact on the mental health of the victims and survivors involved, some of whom have become seriously ill as a result.' There has also been claims of bullying against the inquiry's top lawyer, Ben Emmerson QC, who quit after being suspended by Professor Jay over concerns about his 'leadership'. His departure was linked to that of his colleague Elizabeth Prochaska who left weeks earlier. A Home Office spokesman said: 'On July 29 the Home Office was made aware of concerns about the professionalism and competence of Justice Goddard. 'The Permanent Secretary advised the inquiry that as they were independent they should raise this directly with the Chair. It is understood that they did this. No formal complaint was made to the Home Office.' Downing Street refused to comment last night. SHE IS DEFENDED BY HER ANTI-PRESS CELEBRITY LAWYERS Dame Lowell Goddard is using one of the country's most aggressive libel firms to defend her reputation. Carter-Ruck is renowned for the tactics it uses to stop damaging stories about its clients from being published or to obtain damages for them if they have allegedly been defamed. Yesterday the law firm which has represented governments, politicians, multi-national companies, businessmen and celebrities and claims to have 'unrivalled expertise' in advising those who are 'subject to adverse or intrusive media' would only say it was 'taking instructions' from Dame Lowell. The time difference between the UK and New Zealand undoubtedly made the process difficult, although the firm, which was founded by the late Peter Carter-Ruck, was still able to issue a long statement from Dame Lowell yesterday afternoon. Sources said it is likely it will become clear next week whether Dame Lowell will issue legal proceedings over the highly damaging allegations made in The Times. Advertisement SAM GREENHILL: Catastrophic reign of 'racist tyrant who quit in a fit of pique before going out for lunch' Dame Lowell Goddard ruled her inquiry like a 'monstrous tyrant' and finally quit in a fit of petulance before going out for lunch, it was claimed yesterday. Her doomed reign was allegedly peppered with expletive-ridden tantrums and racist diatribes that left horrified staff feeling 'totally paralysed'. But last night, the New Zealand judge issued a stinging rebuttal of the claims against her, adding that the lunch on the day she resigned was 'simply sandwiches' with her husband on his birthday. She rejected accusations that she flew into rages at junior staff, insisting relations were so warm she even greeted the cleaner by name every day. In a 1,600-word personal statement, Dame Lowell described a series of allegations about her 18-month leadership of the beleaguered child abuse inquiry as 'completely untrue'. Dame Justice Goddard left staff 'paralysed' by her tantrums and diatribes, and according to a colleague 'behaved like a monstrous tyrant' Her denials came after The Times published a damning account by insiders who said her tantrums rendered Britain's biggest ever public inquiry completely dysfunctional. The newspaper said she once threatened to go home unless she got her own way, allegedly bawling: 'I'm going to pack my bags, go back to New Zealand and take this inquiry down with me.' She denies ever saying this. A colleague quoted by the newspaper said: 'She behaved like a monstrous tyrant and we were all horrified and saying this can't be allowed to carry on, but internally we felt paralysed.' Others said they felt they were being led by 'a very angry child', and constantly had to 'tiptoe' around her. But Dame Lowell rejected ever being 'rude and abusive' to junior staff, insisting she had a 'warm relationship' with her team, including the cleaner. She added: 'I knew those people by name and made a point of greeting them personally every day.' She also rejected claims that she had expressed 'shock' to see so many 'ethnic people' and that she used 'racist language' like something out of the 1950s. Former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse Lowell Goddard attending a rape and sexual abuse centre in Liverpool. Her tenure last only 18 months An allegation that she once remarked she had to travel 50 miles from London to see a white face was also untrue, she said, along with the claim that she stunned staff by saying Britain had so many paedophiles 'because it has so many Asian men'. A member of staff told The Times: 'You've got someone making racist comments who clearly has a racist attitude, and nobody says anything because we're all pussy-footing around.' Eventually, it was said that a senior official warned her: 'You can't say those things in our country.' But Dame Lowell said this was untrue, insisting: 'I have never used racially derogatory language.' She added it was important to 'acknowledge people's ethnicity' but only by using 'neutral language'. In a mark of how surreal the saga has become, Dame Lowell also had to deny nursing 'a deep reverence' for the Royal Family. The judge said it was untrue that she was 'overly impressed by breeding' or judged people by their social status. She was said to have suggested Prince Charles's 'breeding' meant he could not be mixed up with the illegal activities of a bishop he was friends with, who was jailed last year for offences against young men. The insiders' shocking portrayal of the 67-year-old judge flies in the face of the image of an immaculately turned out figure the public came to know. It came as a surprise when she abruptly resigned on August 4 in a terse two-sentence letter of resignation to Home Secretary Amber Rudd. According to The Times, she sent it to the Home Office in the morning and then went out for lunch. Her resignation was swiftly accepted, but after lunch Dame Lowell tried to withdraw it. Her reversal was not accepted. Amber Rudd did not reveal the allegations against Dame Justice Goddard Last night, Judge Goddard said: 'The imputation that I sent my resignation letter 'before leaving for lunch' in a cavalier and uncaring fashion is totally untrue. I had a prior engagement to meet my husband for lunch as it was his birthday. In the event and under the circumstances we simply brought sandwiches back to my office and ate them there.' It now seems clear that her final day was the dramatic culmination of an internal plot to oust her. Convinced the inquiry was doomed with her at the helm, senior staff passed their concerns to the Home Office and Downing Street, knowing Theresa May was the only person under the terms of the judge's contract who could fire her. They are said to have 'prayed for an intervention' from the PM. One insider said: 'Goddard should never have been appointed and she should have been removed so much earlier than she was. She was catastrophic.' A key figure is John O'Brien, the secretary to the inquiry, who previously held a senior role at the Home Office and is in charge of liaising between the two. One source told The Times: 'We were told that it was all being reported back, including the racist comments that she made. John kept telling us that the Home Office knew about all the stuff that was going on.' The Home Office yesterday said it was made aware of concerns about Dame Lowell's 'professionalism and competence' the week before she quit. Dame Lowell Goddard ruled her inquiry like a 'monstrous tyrant' and finally quit in a fit of petulance before going out for lunch, it was claimed yesterday. Her doomed reign was allegedly peppered with expletive-ridden tantrums and racist diatribes that left horrified staff feeling 'totally paralysed'. But last night, the New Zealand judge issued a stinging rebuttal of the claims against her, adding that the lunch on the day she resigned was 'simply sandwiches' with her husband on his birthday. She rejected accusations that she flew into rages at junior staff, insisting relations were so warm she even greeted the cleaner by name every day. Dame Justice Lowell Goddard has numerous serious accusations of misconduct levelled against her, as it is revealed her exit from the post may not have been a case of being too far from home In a 1,600-word personal statement, Dame Lowell described a series of allegations about her 18-month leadership of the beleaguered child abuse inquiry as 'completely untrue'. Her denials came after The Times published a damning account by insiders who said her tantrums rendered Britain's biggest ever public inquiry completely dysfunctional. The newspaper said she once threatened to go home unless she got her own way, allegedly bawling: 'I'm going to pack my bags, go back to New Zealand and take this inquiry down with me.' She denies ever saying this. A colleague quoted by the newspaper said: 'She behaved like a monstrous tyrant and we were all horrified and saying this can't be allowed to carry on, but internally we felt paralysed.' Others said they felt they were being led by 'a very angry child', and constantly had to 'tiptoe' around her. But Dame Lowell rejected ever being 'rude and abusive' to junior staff, insisting she had a 'warm relationship' with her team, including the cleaner. She added: 'I knew those people by name and made a point of greeting them personally every day.' She also rejected claims that she had expressed 'shock' to see so many 'ethnic people' and that she used 'racist language' like something out of the 1950s. An allegation that she once remarked she had to travel 50 miles from London to see a white face was also untrue, she said, along with the claim that she stunned staff by saying Britain had so many paedophiles 'because it has so many Asian men'. A member of staff told The Times: 'You've got someone making racist comments who clearly has a racist attitude, and nobody says anything because we're all pussy-footing around.' Eventually, it was said that a senior official warned her: 'You can't say those things in our country.' But Dame Lowell said this was untrue, insisting: 'I have never used racially derogatory language.' She added it was important to 'acknowledge people's ethnicity' but only by using 'neutral language'. In a mark of how surreal the saga has become, Dame Lowell also had to deny nursing 'a deep reverence' for the Royal Family. The judge said it was untrue that she was 'overly impressed by breeding' or judged people by their social status. She was said to have suggested Prince Charles's 'breeding' meant he could not be mixed up with the illegal activities of a bishop he was friends with, who was jailed last year for offences against young men. The insiders' shocking portrayal of the 67-year-old judge flies in the face of the image of an immaculately turned out figure the public came to know. It came as a surprise when she abruptly resigned on August 4 in a terse two-sentence letter of resignation to Home Secretary Amber Rudd. According to The Times, she sent it to the Home Office in the morning and then went out for lunch. Her resignation was swiftly accepted, but after lunch Dame Lowell tried to withdraw it. Her reversal was not accepted. Last night, Judge Goddard said: 'The imputation that I sent my resignation letter 'before leaving for lunch' in a cavalier and uncaring fashion is totally untrue. I had a prior engagement to meet my husband for lunch as it was his birthday. In the event and under the circumstances we simply brought sandwiches back to my office and ate them there.' Home Secretary Amber Rudd failed to reveal concerns about the professionalism of Dame Justice Lowell Goddard, who was leading the child abuse inquiry It now seems clear that her final day was the dramatic culmination of an internal plot to oust her. Convinced the inquiry was doomed with her at the helm, senior staff passed their concerns to the Home Office and Downing Street, knowing Theresa May was the only person under the terms of the judge's contract who could fire her. They are said to have 'prayed for an intervention' from the PM. One insider said: 'Goddard should never have been appointed and she should have been removed so much earlier than she was. She was catastrophic.' A key figure is John O'Brien, the secretary to the inquiry, who previously held a senior role at the Home Office and is in charge of liaising between the two. One source told The Times: 'We were told that it was all being reported back, including the racist comments that she made. John kept telling us that the Home Office knew about all the stuff that was going on.' The Home Office yesterday said it was made aware of concerns about Dame Lowell's 'professionalism and competence' the week before she quit. Last night Dame Lowell complained she had given up a 'lifestyle I enjoyed' in New Zealand to come and work for the inquiry. The former chairman of Wells Fargo sold more than $60 million worth of stock in the days leading up to the bank being charged with fraud. John Stumpf, who was also the chief executive of the bank, offloaded $61 during the month before Wells Fargo was hit with charges for allegedly falsifying more than two million customer accounts in a bid to increase sales and fees. The bank was fined $185 million for creating the accounts. John Stumpf (pictured), the former chairman of Wells Fargo, sold more than $60 million worth of stock in the days leading up to the bank being charged with fraud CBS News reports Stumpf, who has been appearing before Congress, made $26 million in profits from the sales, and said the shares he sold were: 'incentive stock options purchased at a discount to Wells Fargos current market price and then immediately sold at a profit.' Chicago securities lawyer Andrew Stoltmann said he expects an investigation into the offload, saying the 'optics (were) horrific for Stumpf and for Wells Fargo'. 'I would be shocked if the Securities and Excgange Commission doesnt look heavily into this,' Stumpf said, according to CBS. It comes Stumpf resigned, effective immediately, on Wednesday, as the nation's second-largest bank remains embroiled in scandal over its sales practices. Stumpf offloaded $61 during the month before Wells Fargo was hit with charges for allegedly falsifying more than two million customer accounts The former CEO reportedly offloaded: 'incentive stock options purchased at a discount to Wells Fargos current market price and then immediately sold at a profit' The San Francisco bank said Wednesday that Stumpf will also relinquish his title as chairman. Its chief operating officer, Tim Sloan, will succeed Stumpf as CEO. A representative for Wells Fargo said that Stumpf will not receive any severance payment. Stumpf had led Wells Fargo since 2007. Last month he was denied $41 million in compensation as punishment for the scandal. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the firm's sales practices on Capitol Hill Stumpf resigned, effective immediately, on Wednesday, as the nation's second-largest bank remains embroiled in scandal over its sales practices Stephen Sanger, the bank's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman. Independent director Elizabeth Duke will serve as vice chair. Just last week fourteen senators called on the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation of Wells Fargo executives over the fake account revelations. Regulators said employees issued and activated debit cards and signed people up for online banking without permission. The man who raped and murdered Stephanie Scott smiled and 'giggled' in the days after her death as much of Australia wondered about her whereabouts. Vincent Stanford was sentenced to life in prison without release on Thursday for killing the teacher in the town of Leeton, New South Wales, in April last year. And it has now been revealed that Stanford took joy from the widespread talk of the bride-to-be's disappearance, News Corp reports. Scroll down for video Convicted murderer Vincent Stanford smiled and 'giggled' in the days after Stephanie Scott's death as people wondered about her whereabouts After raping and murdering Ms Scott (pictured), Stanford said he definitely did not enjoy killing but he did acknowledge that killing her reduced the overwhelming urge he had to kill As millions of Australians were gripped by Ms Scott's disappearance, her killer continued to go about business as usual. Stanford - who worked as a cleaner at Ms Scott's school - reportedly 'giggled' when a colleague brought up the topic of her disappearance and made the suggestion she may have had second thoughts about getting married. 'He looked over and saw that the offender was smiling,' a witness said in a statement of facts. His reaction is an insight into the deranged and evil mind that has been laid bare throughout his trial. The 25-year-old has admitted to having violent thoughts since the age of eight which were often caused by people interrupting his regimented routine. Stanford is led away by guards after being sentenced to life in prison without release on Thursday The convicted murderer admitted to having violent thoughts from a young age. He said as a child he began thinking about killing and at age 12 he grabbed a principal's throat so hard she couldn't breath He said he first thought about killing as a child, before at the age of 12 he grabbed a principal's throat so hard she couldn't breath. Stanford told a pshycologist that he didn't enjoy killing, but said it was necessary to release built up stress and tension. 'This is just the way I'm arranged - I don't think there is anything I can do to get them [violent thoughts] away,' Stanford said. 'This was something I had to do... I couldn't stop myself.' A three-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head with his father's gun while his parents were sleeping in the bedroom of their Chicago home on Thursday night, police said. Waukegan police said in a statement that Jeremiah Banks found his father's 9mm semi-automatic gun in his parents' bedroom. Detectives believe that Jeremiah woke up just before 3am on Thursday and went into his parents' room and retrieved the gun from a dresser. Three-year-old Jeremiah Banks (pictured) accidentally shot himself in the head with his father's gun while his parents were sleeping in the bedroom of their Chicago home on Thursday night Waukegan police (pictured) said in a statement that Jeremiah found his father's 9mm semi-automatic gun in his parents' bedroom. Detectives believe the child woke up just before 3am on Thursday and went into his parents' room and retrieved the gun from a dresser The child then took the gun into the living room of his home and accidentally shot himself in the head. Authorities said the little boy was taken to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, where he was pronounced dead, ABC 7 reported. Commander Joe Florip of the Waukegan Police Department told PEOPLE that tragedies like Jeremiah's death 'really affect our entire community'. 'From the first responders to the neighbors to the poor child who lost his life.' Police confirmed that Jeremiah's father had a valid firearm owner's identification card. Jeremiah resided in their home, in the 1100 block of Greenfield Avenue, with his mother and father. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is also looking into the shooting. Spokeswoman Veronica Resa told People that the department is investigating the family for allegations of neglect. Resa urged parents to 'child proof' their homes to prevent tragedies like this from happening. 'Unfortunately, children die from a lot of different things in the home and it's very important to make sure that parents keep an eye on their children at all times.' The child then took the gun into the living room of his home and accidentally shot himself in the head The Lake County coroner's autopsy report said Jeremiah died from a single gunshot to the head. Authorities said the Lake County state's attorney's office will decide later whether charges will be filed. The incident took place in the 1100 block of Greenfield Avenue (pictured) The family's neighbor, Genoveva Sajuan told the Chicago Tribune that the couple has always been friendly. 'They are nice parents,' Sajuan said. 'Sometimes I saw them play with the baby outside with a ball or his tricycle sometimes.' Sajuan told the newspaper that she heard a loud 'bang' that woke her up. She said nearly two minutes later she heard them screaming: 'My baby, my baby.' Sajuan told the Tribune that when she looked out her window she saw the father holding Jeremiah in his arms. Emergency responders arrived within minutes, Sajuan said. The Lake County coroner's autopsy report said Jeremiah died from a single gunshot to the head. Authorities said the little boy was taken to Vista Medical Center East (pictured) in Waukegan, where he was pronounced dead One other weapon, a rifle, was found in the home and taken into police custody, according to People. The police statement said the Lake County state's attorney's office will decide later whether charges will be filed. But as of right now the mother and father are not in police custody. Recent research from the Associated Press and USA Today highlighted the shocking rate of deaths caused by curious toddlers finding guns. The findings show that accidental shootings happened far more in the first six months of 2016 than federal statistics indicate. The research shows that deaths and injuries spike for children under five, with three year olds being the most common shooters and victims among young children. Miranda Kerr's security guard has been stabbed in the eye trying to fight off an intruder at her Malibu home. The man was attacked by an intruder trying to climb a fence to gain access to the property, where the model lives with her five-year-old son Flynn, at 11.10am on Friday. Her security guard shot the intruder several times including once in the head. Both are receiving treatment in a Los Angeles hospital. The security guard was airlifted from the scene by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Scroll down for video Kerr's security guard was stabbed in the face. He is seen above being stretchered into an ambulance A car that appears to have bullet holes through the windscreen was towed away A broken wire fence around Miranda Kerr's home shows where the intruder allegedly got in Blood splatter appeared to be visible on Miranda Kerr's driveway after the incident A vehicle that appeared to have bullet holes through the windscreen was later towed away from the scene. The security guard was stabbed below the eye but was seen walking on to the LA County Sheriff's Department chopper unaided after the attack. He shot the intruder four times, LA County Sheriff's Office told DailyMail.com on Friday afternoon. 'Deputies responded to a shots fired call in Malibu. They discovered a security guard had been involved in a physical altercation with an intruder. 'The guard was stabbed in the facial injury and he had minor injuries. 'He produced a handgun and shot the intruder three to four times in the face and torso. 'Neither the guard nor the intruder has life threatening injuries,' said a spokesman. Later, as he arrived at hospital, the guard was seen walking from the gurney. Neither he nor the intruder suffered life-threatening injuries, police said Kerr was last seen in the area on Sunday October 9 (above) as she dined out with friends The Special Enforcement Bureau of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shared this photograph as the guard was transported to hospital by air ambulance Police could not confirm whether there was anyone else in the property at the time. The intruder, the spokesman added, will face charges. Australian morning show Sunrise reports the man may have been homeless. The Special Enforcement Bureau of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shared a photograph as the guard was transported to hospital by air ambulance The intruder was airlifted separately to a trauma center. Kerr, 33, was not home when Friday's disturbance occurred. Her fiance, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, recently purchased a sprawling mansion for the pair in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Earlier this year, she invited Harper's Bazaar Australia into her 1960s ranch in northern Malibu. Fire fighters and police descended on the property in north Malibu shortly after 11am on Friday The intruder was airlifted to hospital. Above, emergency services work at the scene on Friday The Australian model bought the property in 2014 following her split from Orlando Bloom The intruder reportedly tried to climb a fence. Pictured is the gate outside the property The Australian model bought the property in 2014 following her split from ex-husband Orlando Bloom. It comes just a week after Kim Kardashian was held at gunpoint and robbed in her luxury apartment in Paris. Kerr was also in the city at the time to attend Paris Fashion Week. Her representatives did not comment on the incident on Friday. She has been silent on social media for a week but was spotted leaving Soho House in Malibu on Sunday with friends. It's not clear whether the model is still living at the ranch. Her fiance, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, recently purchased a sprawling Brentwood mansion for them The model recently returned from Paris Fashion Week (above) during which Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint Nicola Sturgeon was yesterday accused of being arrogant after she claimed it is inconceivable that Theresa May could block a second independence referendum. The SNP leader said the Conservatives were to blame for putting Scotlands place in the European Union in doubt and claimed they would have no right to deny a separation vote. But Downing Street hit back by toughening its opposition to another poll, saying the issue has been settled for a generation. Nicola Sturgeon, pictured with her Deputy First Minister John Swinney was accused of arrogance today after suggesting Scotland should have a second independence referendum Sturgeon has used the SNP's annual conference to tell delegates that Scotland cannot trust Theresa May's administration to look after their interests by leaving the European Union Theresa May, pictured, has insisted she will press the Article 50 button by the end of March The comments came as talk about the prospect of another independence referendum continued to dominate the SNPs conference. In other developments: A new poll showed support for independence has not increased since the 2014 referendum, with 55 per cent saying they would vote No and 45 per cent saying theyd vote Yes. Alex Salmonds former chief of staff urged Miss Sturgeon to hold another referendum soon because he fears the partys popularity is on the wane. New SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson claimed Theresa Mays days as Prime Minister of a United Kingdom are numbered unless she keeps Scotland in the European Union. Speaking on BBC Radio 4 a day after she told SNP members that she will launch a draft referendum Bill next week and could hold another divisive vote before the UK leaves the EU, Miss Sturgeon said: We have been put into this position by, largely, the Conservative Party and if as a result of that there is a view in the Scottish parliament that the best way to protect our interests is to offer the choice of independence again, the idea that the same party that put us into that position would then deny us that choice I just find inconceivable. The power to hold an independence poll is reserved to Westminster. In the run-up to the 2014 referendum, David Cameron agreed to transfer the power to Holyrood. If Miss Sturgeon pressed ahead with a poll, she would need to either strike a similar agreement with Theresa May or hold a referendum without the consent of the UK Government. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: There was a referendum in 2014 that addressed this issue, which was legal and fair. The result was decisive. Sturgeon will tell delegates during her keynote address that Scotland could not possibly trust the likes of Liam Fox, left, and Boris Johnson, centre, to look after their future A senior Tory source claimed it was 'arrogant' to assume that Scotland would be granted a second referendum on independence, while Number 10 stressed the issue had been settled A senior Tory source added: It is arrogant to assume that this will just go ahead and get consent. A new poll published by BMG shows that support for independence has not increased since the 2014 referendum. It found that, when people who are undecided are stripped out, 55 per cent of Scots would vote No and 45 per cent would vote Yes. Scottish Labours Westminster spokesman Ian Murray said: This poll is further evidence that most Scots are opposed to the SNPs latest attempt to divide our country. At SNP conference yesterday, delegates passed a motion saying that every avenue must be explored to keep Scotland in the EU. It added: Scotland should prepare for a second independence referendum and seek to remain in Europe as an independent country. The SNP passed a motion 'that every avenue must be explored to keep Scotland in the EU' The motion, which won almost unanimous support, means if Mrs May fails to provide a means of Scotland remaining in the EU seen as extremely unlikely there will be another independence referendum. Miss Sturgeon also appeared to indicate the uncertainty about Brexit would make this a good time to hold another referendum. And Geoff Aberdein, who was Alex Salmonds chief of staff when he was First Minister, said: The SNP will be struggling, in my opinion, to have a majority at the next election. Meanwhile, Miss Sturgeon will today tell party members she will create a series of jobs overseas to promote Scottish interests in response to Junes EU poll result. The MMA fighter who kicked his former fiancee in the head when she bought him the wrong noodles for dinner has fled to the US before being sentenced, police have claimed. Julian Brave Wallace, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of intentionally choking with recklessness over the April 28 attack on his partner Jessy Jess, who jetted to the US in the wake of the incident. Wallace, who previously grabbed headlines over his controversial 'men only' barber shop Hawleywood's in Newtown, was given bail despite the potential of a custodial sentence being handed down on December 7, reports Daily Telegraph. MMA fighter Julian Wallace has fled to the US before being sentenced for bashing his girlfriend Wallace (left) attacked Ms Jess (right) after she brought home the wrong noodles for dinner Jess fears the AVO she laid against him won't be enforced in the US, where she moved after the attack Weeks after using his social media pages to post naked photographs of Jess, a new social media post suggests he is now in California, where the AVO Jess laid against him won't be enforced. A police source has voiced concerns Wallace managed to abscond from Australia, particularly as there was no guarantee he would return. Wallace, who fought under the title Julz the Jackal, was banned from the XFC after the scandal came into the spotlight. 'We don't agree with what Julz did and there are currently no plans for Julz to fight with XFC now or in the foreseeable future,' XFC promoter Matt Walton said. The story sparked worldwide furore and calls for the 61kg bantamweight to be brought to justice. The story came on the heels of a media firestorm over his Newtown barber shop's 'sexist' policy to ban females after he told one woman to wait outside for her boyfriend while he got a haircut. Pictured are Ms Jess's facial injuries after Wallace attacked her in their home Australian woman Sara Connor will be moved to the notorious Kerobokan prison on Monday as she and her English boyfriend prepare to stand trial for the murder of a Bali police officer. Connor, 45, from Byron Bay and David Taylor have been held at Denpasar police station in Bali since their arrest on August 19. The pair are accused of murdering officer Wayan Sudarsa, whose bloodied body was found on Kuta beach. Scroll down for video Australian woman Sara Connor will be moved to the notorious Kerobokan prison (pictured) on Monday She is accused of murdering officer Wayan Sudarsa, whose bloodied body was found on Kuta beach They will face a string of offences, including murder, carrying a 15-year jail term, violence causing death, with a 12-year maximum, and assault that caused death, which has a seven-year maximum. Connor will be handed over to prosecutors after police finished their investigation earlier this week, two months after Sudarsa's body was found. Taylor's lawyer, Robert Khuana, said they would face trial within two or three weeks. Connor, 45, from Byron Bay has been held at Denpasar police station (pictured being interrogated there) in Bali since their arrest on August 19 Connor and David Taylor (R) re-enact the crime scene on Kuta Beach Connor will be handed over to prosecutors after police finished their investigation earlier this week, two months after Sudarsa's body was found 'Yes, it's certain they will be moved on Monday, maybe around 10 am,' he said, adding that they planned to fight the charges in court. Lawyers for the two said a scuffle broke out between Taylor and Sudarsa after Connor lost her purse on Kuta Beach. Police allege the pair went to the 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. Connor will stay at the prison until she satnds trial within two or three weeks They will face a string of offences, including murder, carrying a 15-year jail term, violence causing death, with a 12-year maximum, and assault that caused death A scuffle allegedly erupted in which police say Taylor hit Mr Sudarsa with several items, including a two-way radio, binoculars and a beer bottle. They allege Connor also became involved and that Mr Sudarsa bit her on the thigh, but she maintains she was only trying to separate the pair. Leaving the lifeless body of Mr Sudarsa on the sand, Connor and Taylor initially went back to their hotel. In the days following the alleged murder, the pair burnt their clothes and dumped a number of the police officer's personal items, including his handphone. Lawyers for the two said a scuffle broke out between Taylor and Sudarsa after Connor lost her purse on Kuta Beach Set to soar: The price of a prawn cocktail The price of a prawn cocktail is set to soar following a disastrous collapse in supplies from the Far East. Prices of raw prawns are up by 15per cent in just the last three months to an all-time high, according to food wholesalers. Sought after black tiger prawns, imported from Vietnam and Bangladesh, are carrying a price premium of 40per cent against other species. At the same time importers in Europe are understood to have little or no stock in their chillers. Most of the prawns on tables in the UK come from Vietnam where production and harvests have collapsed following a drought in the Mekong delta. At the same time there have been low harvests in China, reducing exports to Britain and the rest of Europe. Supplies of coldwater prawns from Canada are also down following conservation measures including a 42per cent cut in the quota fisherman can catch. The warnings about prices come from Beacon, which buys raw ingredients for thousands of restaurants and cafes. Senior food buyer at Beacon, Emma Warrington, said: 'At the moment, suppliers are doing everything in their power to mitigate price increases for the end consumer, however with the pressure likely to continue into next year it's only a matter of time before these price increases are passed on, meaning the classic Christmas prawn cocktail could be more expensive this year. Most of the prawns on tables in the UK come from Vietnam where production and harvests have collapsed following a drought in the Mekong delta A man and woman who suffered 'terrifying and degrading' sex attacks at the hands of Libyan military cadets being trained in Britain have been given tens of thousands of pounds in compensation from the Ministry of Defence. More than 300 of the cadets were brought to Bassingbourn barracks, Cambridgeshire, for training two years ago in a bid to help stabilise the north African state after the fall of dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. But the training programme had to be abandoned and the Libyans sent home early after an outcry over incidents including a string of sex attacks by cadets who left the barracks one weekend and went into Cambridge city centre. Convicted: Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, left. Rape: Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, right Compensation has now been paid to a man who was raped by two of the Libyans, and one of four teenage girls who were sexually assaulted by three other cadets. The two victims who brought legal action under the Human Rights Act are understood to have received tens of thousands of pounds each in out-of-court settlements. The exact sums have not been revealed. One of the victims said: 'I was subjected to a degrading attack by these men that has traumatised me. I just hope that lessons are learned from what happened and nothing like this happens again.' Kim Harrison, a human rights lawyer who represented both victims, said: 'Our clients were subjected to terrifying and degrading attacks but they are determined to rebuild their lives. 'Hopefully, now the Ministry of Defence has settled this case, they will both be one step closer to getting some closure over these unimaginably traumatic events.' The male claimant was raped at night in Cambridge city centre by Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, who were jailed in May 2015. The defendants had denied attacking the man but were caught on CCTV leading him to a park. Terrifying and degrading attacks They were convicted by a jury at Cambridge Crown Court, which heard they had 'behaved like two hunting dogs who had seen a wounded animal'. Three others admitted sexual assaults on four women on the same night in October 2014 and were also jailed. Khaled El Azibi, Naji El Maarfi and Mohammed Abdalsalam, were aged 19, 21 and 27 respectively when they stole bicycles and rode into Cambridge. During a chaotic hour beginning at 10.30pm they approached one victim outside a pub and fondled her breasts and bottom. El Maarfi also exposed himself and tried to kiss her before a pub manager confronted them. They touched another woman's bottom before finding two more victims. El Maarfi put his hand on the leg of one of the friends and tried to lift her skirt. When she objected, Abdalsalam committed a similar assault. She called out to her friend for help but the other woman was being attacked by El Azibi. He was given a 12-month jail term in May and the other men were handed 10-month sentences at Cambridge Crown Court. More than 300 of the cadets were brought to Bassingbourn barracks, Cambridgeshire, for training two years ago The three men have since been released and made claims for asylum in the UK. A decision on their applications is not yet believed to have been made and the men are being held in secure immigration units. Lawyers for their victims said the attackers' asylum applications were 'completely wrong and unacceptable' in the light of their offending. The arrests of the cadets coincided with complaints of drunkenness, violence, going AWOL and theft, especially of bicycles from a nearby village, by the cadets. The incidents prompted the Ministry of Defence to send 300 soldiers back to their home country prematurely in November 2014. Defence chiefs asked the Libyan government to pay for 472,000 of repairs to MoD property. The Libyan training exercise in 2014 cost the UK 13.9 million. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told Parliament at the time there were 'things we could have done better'. There is a sense of wild abandon in the interiors world this season. And joyous explosions of colour are leading the charge. Drawing on the influence of mid-century Abstract Expressionism - Jackson Pollocks paint flicks and drips and Mark Rothkos rectangular blurs of bold hues - the emphasis is on energy and vitality, action and movement. For Blackpop designer Maxine Hall, whose Homage fabric and wallpaper collection, inspired by the Fifties New York Abstract Expressionist movement, is a riot of paint squiggles and splatters, this approach gives her the freedom to create. I try not to think about why Im doing it, but just let it flow. I think of walls as empty canvases waiting to be brought to life, she says. Painter's palette: Cushions by artist Amy Sia, whose designs begin with paintings She was inspired to name the new wallpaper and fabric designs after New York Jazz clubs Blue Note and The Vanguard. Jackson Pollocks paintings at Tate Modern resonated with me, and he was a big jazz fan, inspired by the abstract rhythms of the music. Its a theme echoed throughout the Royal Academy of Arts Abstract Expressionism exhibition (on until January 2, 2017, royalacademy.org.uk), a glorious celebration of works by not just Pollock and Rothko, but the likes of Willem de Kooning and Arshile Gorky, featuring over 150 paintings, sculptures and photographs by the masters of this vivid American artistic movement. In the Forties and Fifties, this new movement made New York the focus of the art world, characterised by large, abstract, emotionally charged oil paintings, says the exhibitions curator Edith Devaney. At Habitat this season, Pollocks signature paint flicking resonates throughout the Splatter collection of ceramics, textiles and rugs. For creative director Polly Dickens and her team, it was a chance to celebrate the creativity, colour and artistic spirit of such an emotive paint technique. Wild walls: Blue Note Vibe wallpaper by Blackpop designer Maxine Hall was inspired by Jackson Pollock's love of jazz For the Odela collection, we worked with a small Sicilian workshop who specialise in hand-painting (multi-coloured ceramic trophy ornament, 100, Habitat). A similar feel can be found in pieces such as the House of Ryms Pollock saucer, 14.95, at Liberty of London and 1882 Ltds Jenny by Deborah M. Allen tableware, prices from 18 for a mug, 23 for a plate, 1882ltd.com. Fabulous for floors: Amy Kent and her sister Lucy have collaborated on a collection of bold rugs that will add instant lift to a neutral room Amy Kents collaboration with her sister, Lucy, a landscape artist, was inspired by the demand for rugs that make a bold statement and brighten the neutral palette of pale greys, off-whites and wooden floors that are so popular at the moment. A dramatic rug provides a focal point and draws things together, says Amy of the new rug designs, which use Nepalese hand knotted techniques (150 knots/sq in, from 780 sq m, amykent.co.uk). For something similar, try the Aston tufted rug at Heals (750, heals.co.uk). Splash of colour: Habitat's splatter cushions were inspired by Pollock's famous painting technique For a more monochrome but still vibrant effect, there is Emma Bridgewater for Sandersons blue and white Splatter wallpaper (49 per 10m roll, johnlewis.com), to match her same-named tableware collection. Cushions are an ideal way to play with this artwork effect Susi Bellamys abstract velvet cushions at L. Maison (115 each, Imaison.london), hail from her time in Florence where she was entranced by the palazzo walls. Instant update: Cushions, like these by Susi Bellamy, are an easy way to emulate the style Textile designer Amy Sia, whose work has been sold at Anthropologie, Selfridges and Urban Outfitters, starts her designs by painting, usually working with watercolours and inks, she says. Then theyre scanned and digitally tidied up before printing onto fabric. For Sia, its always nice to see a touch of art in todays pared-back, contemporary spaces. A few of her cushions will immediately personalise a space (70 each, amy-sia.com). Sometimes my prints make me feel happy, sometimes theyre calming, sometimes theyre a bit crazy! she laughs. Detailed skin impressions of a massive dinosaur that rested in a muddy river bank some 66 million years ago have been uncovered in Spain. The fossil was formed by sand petrifying into sedimentary rock over millennia and distinctively shows the pattern of large scales that once lined the creatures hide. Experts believe the prints may have been left by a titanosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous era, just before dinosaurs became extinct. Scroll down for video Detailed skin impressions of a massive dinosaur that rested in a muddy river bank some 66 million years ago have been uncovered in Spain. The fossil was formed by sand petrifying into sedimentary rock over millennia and distinctively shows the pattern of large scales that once lined the creatures hide HOW BIG WERE THE TITANOSAURS? Titanosaurs were plant-eating dinosaurs which lived about 67 million years ago. They grew to be 15 feet tall, not including their necks and heads. They could stretch out to be 50 feet long. Advertisement 'This is the only registry of dinosaur skin from this period in all of Europe, and it corresponds to one of the most recent specimens, closer to the extinction event, in all of the world,' said lead researcher Victor Fodevilla, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. 'There are very few samples of fossilized skin registered, and the only sites with similar characteristics can be found in the United States and Asia.' Instead, the team envisions the creature that made the impressions with a huge four-footed sauropod, possibly a titanosaurus - one of the biggest animals ever to walk the Earth. And researchers found footprints near the site that support the titanosaur theory. 'The fossil probably belongs to a large herbivore sauropod, maybe a titanosaur, since we discovered footprints from the same species very close to the rock with the skin fossil,' said Fodevilla. The discovery was made in the village of Vallcebre, near Barcelona, in an area that was once the bank of an ancient river. A titanosaur, a silhouette representing the size of a hatchling titanosaur, relationship to a human at birth, tiny titanosaur babies weigh about as much as average human babies, 6 to 8 pounds. But in just a few weeks, they're shedding the tiny descriptor and are at least the size of golden retrievers, weighing 70 pounds, knee-high to a person. And by age 20 or so, they're bigger than school buses It is thought the dinosaur left an imprint of its scales when it laid down in the mud to rest. Over time, the region where the animal left its prints was eventually covered with sand. And over the course of thousands of years, the area petrified to form sandstone, preserving the astonishing impressions recently discovered by the researchers. Since the sand acted as a mold, what is seen on the rock is a relief of the animal's original skin. WHAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS? While there have been many theories for what killed off the dinosaurs - from an asteroid strike to massive volcanic eruptions - recent research suggests it may have been a combination of disasters. Their 180 million year long reign is thought to have been ended by a double-whammy when the shockwave from the meteor impact caused a storm of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes around the world. Much of the planet would also have been blanketed in dust, meaning plant life could have struggled for years, having a widespread impact on the food chain. Researchers recently announced they had found evidence that a string of volcanoes in a region of India known as the Deccan Traps doubled their activity around 50,000 years after the Chicxulub impact. They blanketing the Earth with sulphurous gas and dust. Together, the impact and volcanism caused a dramatic change in climate as the sun's rays were blanketed out in a version of the 'nuclear winter' predicted to follow a global nuclear war. Advertisement How the process happened is unique, as the Late Cretaceous period corresponds to the moment shortly before dinosaurs became extinct, there are few places on Earth containing sandstone from this period. Characterizing these dinosaurs is very important in order to understand how and why they disappeared. Two skin impressions were found, one about 20 centimeters across and the other five centimeters, separated by a distance of 1.5 meters. And experts believe they were made by the same animal. The 'rose' pattern of the scales is characteristic of certain dinosaurs, said the researchers, who describe their find in the journal Geological Magazine. 'The fact that they are impression fossils is evidence that the animal is from the sedimentary rock period, one of the last dinosaurs to live on the planet,' said Fondevilla. SCALES FROZEN IN TIME Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona discovered detailed skin impressions of a dinosaur in the village of Vallcebre, near Barcelona. The team believes the originator was a titanosaur that laid down in the muddy river bank some 66 million years ago. And it left behind a 'rose pattern' impression. Two skin impressions were found, one about 20 centimes across and the other five centimeters - and the team believes it is from the same animal. The discovery was made in the village of Vallcebre, near Barcelona (pictured in map), in an area that was once the bank of an ancient river. Experts say this is the only registry of dinosaur skin from this period in all of Europe, and it corresponds to one of the most recent specimens Over time, the region where the animal left its prints was eventually covered with sand. And over the course of thousands of years, the area petrified to form sandstone, preserving the astonishing impressions recently discovered by the researchers. Since the sand acted as a mold, what is seen on the rock is a relief of the animal's original skin. Advertisement 'When bones are discovered, dating is more complicated because they could have moved from the original sediment during all these millions of years.' This discovery also verifies the excellent fossil registry of the Pyrenees in terms of dinosaurs living in Europe shortly before they became extinct. 'The sites in Bergueda, Pallars Jussa, Alt Urgell and La Noguera, in Catalonia, have provided proof of five different groups of: titanosaurs, ankylosaurids, theropods, hadrosaurs and rhabdodontids,' said Angel Galobart, head of the Mesozoic research group at the ICP and director of the Museum of Conca Della in Isona. An amateur treasure hunter who discovered a precious Tudor ring has sold the 'extraordinarily rare' piece of jewellery for a five figure sum. Lee Rossiter found the Green Hammerton Ring in North Yorkshire, using a cheap metal detector he had bought on eBay. The 15th century ring is 80 per cent gold, and contains a ruby and an emerald. An amateur treasure hunter who discovered a precious Tudor ring has sold the 'extraordinarily rare' piece of jewellery for a five figure sum MEDIEVAL JEWELLERY The jewellery worn in medieval Europe reflected a hierarchical and status-conscious society. Royalty and the nobility wore gold, silver and precious gems. Lower ranks of society wore base metals, such as copper or pewter. Precious gems and enamel were highly valued. Some jewels have cryptic or magical inscriptions, believed to protect the wearer. Until the late 14th century, gems were usually polished rather than cut. Size and lustrous colour determined their value. Enamels - ground glasses fired at high temperature onto a metal surface - allowed goldsmiths to colour their designs on jewellery. They used a range of techniques to create effects that are still widely used today. Source: Victoria & Albert Museum Advertisement Mr Rossiter discovered the ring while searching with the Yorkshire Searchers Metal Detecting Club at Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, in April 2015. He said: 'I got really excited. So far I had only found the odd silver coin but this looked like a proper piece of jewellery, which seemed to be made of gold. 'One of my friends said it was far too yellow to be real gold and looked like costume jewellery, I should just throw it away. 'But the ring was relatively heavy and I thought I better ask our dig organiser, Stuart Littlewood. 'Luckily he confirmed that this was definitely an antique ring, most likely Tudor Gold.' The ring, which is a double-bezel chased finger ring in the form of a flower is set with a ruby and an emerald and is engraved in Medieval French. Scans at the British Museum showed the ring was 78-80 per cent gold and confirmed the nature of the precious stones. The jewellery worn in Medieval Europe reflected a hierarchical and status-conscious society. Royalty and the nobility wore gold, silver and precious gems. The ring, which is a double-bezel chased finger ring in the form of a flower is set with a ruby and an emerald and is engraved in Medieval French. Queen Elizabeth I who ruled from 1558-1603 was often drawn with elaborate jewellery The precious ring was found in Green Hammerton, near Harrogate in North Yorkshire The ring was classified as treasure but local museums were not able to raise the funds. Cheshire-based auctioneer Mark Littler advised him to sell directly to a collector rather than go through an auction. Mr Littler said: 'I was excited when Lee first approached me as medieval jewellery is more often found in museums, not fields. 'I knew immediately that this was an important find and would require some thought as to how best to sell it. 'It was decided that an auction might not be the best course of action as the ring would be worth more to a private collector if it had not already been presented to the market.' He said he brokered a sale with dealers Wartski, in Mayfair, who have been supplying the royal family with jewellery for generations. Mr Rossiter discovered the ring while searching with the Yorkshire Searchers Metal Detecting Club at Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, in April 'I contacted them and negotiated a private treaty sale for a five figure sum for my client which was a great result,' Mr Littler said. Kieran McCarthy, director of Wartski, said: 'We have a strong interest in medieval rings and were thrilled to have the opportunity of purchasing this one. The 'Swipe & Feed' is currently seeking funds in Kickstarter The plastic product has adjustable clips to hold a bottle and a mobile Even a new baby isn't enough to tear some people away from their smartphones. One inventor has taken multitasking to a new level with a device that enables parents and other caregivers to bottle feed an infant while also checking their mobile. The bizarre plastic device holds both the bottle and the phone, meaning that the adult can carry out both tasks at once. One inventor has taken multitasking to a new level with a device that enables parents to bottle feed an infant while also checking their mobile The 'Swipe & Feed' was invented by recruitment executive Tim Causa from Northern Virginia, who developed the idea during midnight feedings with his baby son. 'Every night I would wake up every two hours to the sound of Jack screaming for a bottle,' explains Mr Causa. 'As soon as he started feeding, Jack would nearly fall back asleep. 'For 25 minutes at a time, I was in a dark, quiet room feeding my son. 'It dawned on me that I could do some catch-up work while he fed, but I needed something to help me hold a bottle and my smartphone. 'I searched online for solutions, but nothing was on the market. 'That's when I decided to seize the opportunity and solve the problem myself'. The bizarre plastic device holds both the bottle and the phone, meaning that the adult can carry out both tasks at once Mr Causa and his wife both now use the device while feeding their son. Crafted from flexible polypropylene plastic, the product features an adjustable bottle clip that can be moved up and down depending on the size of the bottle. The phone stand uses a small silicone grip to stop the handset from slipping out. The device has been designed to fit the iPhone 6, 6s and 7, without a case, along with Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. Crafted from flexible polypropylene plastic, the product features an adjustable bottle clip that can be moved up and down depending on the size of the bottle. Pictured is an early prototype of the device A series are prototypes are pictured, with the final design on the right. The gadget can currently be pre-ordered on crowdfunding site Kickstarter The makers claim that it will fit almost any phone measuring between 67 and 73mm in width. The product is designed for use with most 'wide-mouth' baby bottles, but not narrow or glass bottles. say the makers. The device is currently seeking investors on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. While some may question whether the product is really a must-have item, the makers are more than halfway to reaching its target with just over two weeks until the deadline. If the funding goal is reached, the 'Swipe & Feed', priced at $21 (17), is due to ship in December. From the Perseids meteor shower to an elusive black moon, sky gazers around the world have been treated to incredible sights in the past few months. And this weekend will treat us to another rare phenomenon - a Hunter's moon and a supermoon are set to combine. The combination will produce a red moon which appears larger than normal, and should be visible in the northern hemisphere this weekend. Scroll down for video When the atmosphere is thicker, it lets red light pass through, which means that when the moon is near the horizon, it appears red HOW TO WATCH People in the Northern Hemisphere can catch a glimpse of this rare blood and supermoon this weekend, but there is good news for those in the Southern Hemisphere the blood supermoon should appear between March and September. The best time to watch the blood supermoon depends on your location. For the UK, a full moon will appear at 5:23am BST on October 16, at which time the moon shines in their western sky. For the US, the moon turns full on October 16 at 12:23am EDT - yet on October 15 at 11:23pm CDT, 10:23pm MDT and 9:23pm PDT. Advertisement A Hunter's moon, which is also a blood moon, rises much earlier in the evening than usual. It is the first full moon after the Harvest moon. Typically, the moon rises 50 minutes later each day, according to Universe Today. But a blood moon tends to rise only 30 minutes later shortening the time between sunset and moon rise. The red colour is caused by the moon's proximity to the horizon. An article in EarthSky, stated: 'The orange colour of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. 'It stems from the fact that - when you look toward the horizon - you are looking through a greater thickness of Earth's atmosphere than when you gaze up and overhead.' The supermoon occurs when the moon is at its closest distance to Earth during its orbit making it appear larger than normal Blue light is scattered by the atmosphere, which usually makes the moon appear white in the sky. But when the atmosphere is thicker, it lets red light pass through, which means that when the moon is near the horizon, it appears red. As well as appearing red, the moon is also predicted to look bigger than usual this weekend due to a supermoon. A red blood moon is pictured floating above a sculpture of the Vigeland installation at Frogner Park in Oslo, Norway The Earth's shadow is cast over the moon during a blood moon, as seen from beneath the Sunsphere in Knoxville, Tennessee A supermoon squeezes between the City Centre Towers as it sets in Fort Worth, Texas in June 2013 BLOOD MOON TRICKS In February 1504, explorer Christopher Columbus used a blood moon to trick Jamaican natives who had been feeding him and his men, but cut them off when relations turned sour. Columbus knew a blood moon had been forecast, and warned the natives that his god would send an angry 'sign' at their treatment of the newcomers. Legend has it the natives came running with food as soon as the Moon turned red. Advertisement The supermoon occurs when the moon is at its closest distance to Earth during its orbit making it appear larger than normal. People in the Northern Hemisphere can catch a glimpse of this rare blood and supermoon this weekend. But there is good news for those in the Southern Hemisphere a blood supermoon should appear between March and September. The best time to watch the blood supermoon depends on your location. For the UK, the moon turns full at 5:23am BST on October 16, at which time the oon shines in their western sky. Here a blood moon is seen behind a ferris wheel in Tokyo in the Roppongi fashion and entertainment district where enthusiasts performed yoga exercises A blood moon is pictured behind the CN Tower in Toronto in October 2014 A runner makes his way along a trail in front of the 'supermoon' at Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona in 2012 For the US, the moon turns full on October 16 at 12:23am EDT - yet on October 15 at 11:23pm CDT, 10:23pm MDT and 9:23pm PDT. And there is good news in case you miss it. On November 14 a full moon will showcase the moon at its closest point to Earth in the last 15 years, and the moon won't come this close again until the full moon of November 25, 2034. This is also expected to appear as a supermoon, but could potentially be even bigger than the moon this weekend as it comes closer to the Earth. in the environment around it Despite computers performing increasingly impressive feats, when it comes to recognising real world objects, they have fallen short. But the machines are learning that just like the robots of sci-fi blockbusters, being able to tell one thing from another is a key skill. A team of UK researchers has created software which has taught itself to recognise objects around it, with impressive accuracy. Scroll down for video UK researchers have created software, called RadarCat, which can teach itself to recognise objects around it with impressive accuracy . Pictured is the platform recognising a Nexus smartphone placed on a radar sensor Called the RadarCat, short for radar categorisation for input and interaction, the software scans the world around it uses radar to scan the world around it. Tests in the computer lab have shown the platform, created by researchers at St Andrews University in Scotland, can correctly identify everything from a sponge to a block of wood and even tell if a glass has water in it or not. By using a machine learning approach, the software learns from a few examples in order to work out the parameters. The approach is reaching increasingly impressive milestones in the real world, such as Google-backed machine learning platform Deep Mind being able to navigate the London Underground network, a task which regularly stumps tourists. By using a machine learning approach, the software learns from a few examples in order to work out the parameters. The software was able to correctly identify everything from a sponge to a block of wood and even tell if a glass has water in it or not (pictured left and right) At the heart of the technology is Googles Project Soli, a sensing technology which uses disruptions in radar signal to detect non-touch gestures SEEING WITH RADAR In order for the software to interact with the real world, the team at St Andrews turned to a novel piece of hardware. Googles Project Soli uses radar sensors to detect non-touch gestures. By combining the machine learning software with the Soli sensors, the platform is able to detect and work out what objects in its environment are. In this way, RadarCat could be used to change how people interact with computers. The team gives one possible example as an application for blind people to work out the contents of identical containers, such as a carton of milk and orange juice. Advertisement Objects are placed in front of a sensor which detects changes to a radar field and works out what it is looking at. It can even identify different body parts. At the heart of the technology is Googles Project Soli, a sensing technology which uses disruptions in radar signal to detect non-touch gestures. A video of RadarCat in action, which the team showed to Google at its Californian headquarters earlier this year, shows the platform identifying apples, oranges, smartphones, tablet computers, cases and more. The team was also able to create a painting app, with the brush changing function depending on which surface it was placed on. In a final demonstration, the Soli device is connected to an Android smartphone and placed against different areas of the body. Combined with the clever software, it is able to detect which body part it is scanning and whether the region is covered or not. The team demonstrated the platform to Google at its Californian headquarters earlier this year, shows the platform identifying apples, oranges, smartphones, tablet computers, cases and more A Soli device was connected to an Android smartphone and placed against different areas of the body. Combined with the clever software, it is able to detect which body part it is scanning and whether the region is covered or not (pictured) According to the team, the platform could be used by blind people to work out the contents of identical containers, such as cartons of milk and orange juice. Professor Aaron Quigley, who led the research, said: The Soli miniature radar opens up a wide-range of new forms of touchless interaction. Professor Quigley, said: Once Soli is deployed in products, our RadarCat solution can revolutionise how people interact with a computer, using everyday objects that can be found in the office or home, for new applications and novel types of interaction. The company said it didn't expect to recover the booster, only the capsule The company's president confirmed that it is still on target for paid flights Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space firm has confirmed that it is still on schedule to send paying customers into orbit as soon as 2018. The company completed a crucial in-flight escape pod test on its New Shepard rocket last week. 'We're still on track for flying people our test astronauts by the end of 2017, and then starting commercial flights in 2018,' said Blue Origin President Rob Meyerson, speaking at this week's International Symposium on Commercial and Personal Spaceflight (ISPCS) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Scroll down for videos The New Shepard booster that flew to space and then landed vertically in November 2015 is pictured. 'One of the fundamental tenets of Blue Origin is that the safest vehicle is one that is robust and well understood,' said Bezos Last week's test saw the rocket launched and the crew capsule ejected from the booster and falling to the ground slowly with parachutes. The booster then successfully landed too, meaning the test was even more successful than the crew had hoped. Mr Meyerson confirmed this week that the company had been 'pretty certain we were going to lose it', so the booster's survival was a big surprise. Speaking at the ISPCS event, Mr Meyerson also told attendees that the the number of employees at Blue Origin had doubled in the past year - from 400 to 800 - and they were recruiting at a fast pace. The booster then successfully landed too (pictured) meaning the test was more successful than the crew had hoped. 'Beautiful,' one of the crew said, when the booster landed. 'There it is,' another added. 'There you go New Shepard, look at her!' THE IN-FLIGHT ESCAPE POD The New Shepard spacecraft has two main parts: the rocket booster, and a crew capsule on top. The aim of the test was to recover the crew capsule. From the moment the astronauts are buckled in the crew capsule, escape is an option to get the capsule far away from the booster - like an airbag in a car. After the pressure is at its maximum, the escape motor burnt out and the capsule was ejected. It then used parachutes to lower itself safely to the ground. The company said it would ideally be able to recover the booster, but the booster was likely to be lost in the tests. Advertisement Blue Origin carried out its successful escape pod test on 5 October. 'Nothing like a rocket and a countdown clock to get your heart going' said the live launch's narrator, before the rocket launched. Blue Origin engineers had expected searing exhaust from the capsule's motor would tip over the New Shepard rocket, causing it to shut down and then crash in a massive fireball in the desert. When the capsule and booster successfully landed, the team was overjoyed. 'Beautiful,' one of the engineers said. 'There it is,' another added. 'There you go New Shepard, look at her!' The Blue Origin spacecraft has two main parts: the rocket booster, and a crew capsule on top. The main aim of the test was to recover the crew capsule. After the pressure was at its maximum, the escape motor burnt out and the capsule was ejected. It then used parachutes to lower itself safely to the ground. The company, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, said it would ideally be able to recover the booster, but said it was likely to be lost in the tests. The scientists would have been sad to see the booster go since it was the first that the company successfully landed after sending into space. The escape system was not designed to save the booster, since the only time an escape would be needed was when there is some problem with the booster itself. But the booster also landed successfully, to the excitement of the Blue Origins team. The success of the escape system was only dependent on the crew capsule safely returning - it would have been considered a success even if the booster had not returned as safely as it did. The design of New Shepard's escape capsule is unlike any seen before. From the moment the astronauts are buckled in the crew capsule, escape is an option to get the capsule far away from the booster - like an airbag in a car The in-flight escape pod was tested in a live stream today from West Texas. The rocket launched and the crew capsule ejected from the booster, falling to the ground slowly with parachutes (pictured) Like most spacecraft, Blue Origin's rocket has an escape system that can quickly propel the crew capsule to safety if a problem is detected. But the design of New Shepard's escape capsule is unlike any seen before. From the moment the astronauts are buckled in the crew capsule, escape is an option to get the capsule far away from the booster - like an airbag in a car. The main spacecraft made re-entry into the atmosphere (shown left) and slowed down as it neared the ground. Right shows the booster approaching the ground where it successfully landed Blue Origin was created by internet entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, who also created Amazon. Pictured, the part of Texas where Blue Origin is based, and where the test occurred (marked on the map) BEZOS' NEW ROCKETS Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a new rocket earlier this month, that will launch payloads and people into orbit. Called 'New Glenn', this launcher comes in two stages that make it larger than SpaceX's future Heavy rocket. 'New Glenn 3-stage' is 23 feet in diameter and stands 313 feet tall. And 'New Glenn 2-stage' is also 23 feet in diameter, but measures 270 feet tall. Each stage lifts off with 3.85 million pounds of thrust from seven BE-4 engines. A single vacuum-optimized BE-3 engine, burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, will power New Glenn's third stage. However, the booster and the second stage are identical in both variants. Blue Origin plans to fly New Glen by the end of the decade from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Advertisement The company intentionally triggered an escape in flight at the most stressful point of the flight, to test the crew capsule. This was the point when the pressure was at a maximum, and happened about 45 seconds into the test. The rocket and capsule system are intended for suborbital flight and are called New Shepard after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. Blue Origin and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hopes to start launching tourists and other paying customers in the years ahead Blue Origin is aiming for reusability to lower launch costs. This rocket has flown five times and is now bound for a museum. The launch had originally been planned for yesterday, but was postponed because of the weather. But Blue Origin tweeted yesterday saying: ' Weather no-go for tomorrow's New Shepard test. Webcast now Wednesday 10:45 am ET.' 'The New Shepard escape motor pushes rather than pulls and is mounted underneath the capsule rather than on a tower,' Mr Bezos said. 'There is no jettison operation. 'On a nominal mission, the escape motor is not expended and can be flown again and again.' 'We've already tested our pusher escape system, including many ground tests and a successful pad escape test, but this upcoming flight will be our toughest test yet.' Capsule in-flight escape testing was last done during the Apollo program, the company said. This was the fifth flight of New Shepard, but only the second time Blue Origin has streamed a rocket launch in real time. BLUE ORIGIN AIMS FOR PASSENGER FLIGHTS IN 2018 Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin expects to begin crewed test flights of its reusable suborbital New Shepard vehicle next year and begin flying paying passengers in 2018, Bezos told reporters on Tuesday. Bezos' remarks, made during the first ever media tour of the Blue Origin manufacturing facility, marked the first time the billionaire founder of Amazon.com had put a target date on the start of the commercial space flights Blue Origin is developing. 'We'll probably fly test pilots in 2017, and if we're successful then I'd imagine putting paying astronauts on in 2018,' Bezos said at the sprawling plant south of Seattle The company expects to build six New Shepard vehicles, which are designed to autonomously fly six passengers to more than 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the planet set against the blackness of space. Advertisement It's been years in the making and now, Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has unveiled a new rocket that will launch payloads and people into orbit. The 'New Glenn' rockets are larger than SpaceX's future Heavy rockets and will fly by the end of the decade Since April, more than 700 security experts have been battling a fictional cyber security crisis as part of the EU's biggest defence exercise to date. Featuring power cuts, drones and ransomware, the series of fictional attacks has targeted European digital networks. The seven-month exercise culminates this week, and detailed lessons learned will be shared with participants in the hopes of improving defence systems. Experts have warned that cyber attacks on any number of systems, including satellites and nuclear power station, could result in a global catastrophe. Scroll down for video Since April, more than 700 security experts have been battling a fictional cyber security crisis as part of the EU's biggest defence exercise to date (stock image) Cyber Europe 2016 involved over 300 organisations from across 30 countries, with an aim 'to safeguard the European Digital Single Market.' A statement released by the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), who organised the project, said: 'Computer security attacks are increasingly used to perform industrial reconnaissance, lead disinformation campaigns, manipulate stock markets, leak sensitive information, tamper with customer data, sabotage critical infrastructures.' Those involved included IT security companies, banks, energy companies and cyber-security agencies. ENISA said that the exercise: 'paints a very dark scenario inspired by events such as the blackout in an European Country over Christmas period and the dependence on technologies manufactured outside the jurisdiction of the European Union. ' The exercise involved several different threats against drones, cloud computing, mobile malware, and the Internet of Things. Actors, fictional media, companies and social media were all also involved to make the scenarios as realistic as possible. The exercise involved several different threats, including drones (stock image), cloud computing, mobile malware, and the 'Internet of Things' or web-connected devices Udo Helmbrecht, executive director of ENISA, said: 'We are better prepared than we were, but that does not mean we have done enough and the work must continue. 'Cyber attacks are more sophisticated than before. Cybersecurity is not a state, it is a process.' The results will now be analysed and learned from before the next Cyber Europe exercise in 2018. The EU is not alone in running these fictional exercises in preparation for a cyber attack. Last year, the US government research division, Darpa, launched a new programme to target security threats that had the potential to wipe out all of America's power systems. Experts have previously warned that governments and businesses are not doing enough to protect satellites and other space infrastructure from being hacked and used maliciously A recent report from Chatham House - an independent policy institute based in London - warns the consequences of a hack on spacecraft and satellites could lead to a 'global catastrophe'. A similar report from Chatham House detailed the risk of a major cyber attack on nuclear power plants. POWER PLANTS ARE NOT PREPARED FOR A CYBER ATTACK Nuclear power plants throughout the world are in denial over the risk of a serious cyber attack, a report has warned. The study claims that the civil nuclear infrastructure in most countries is unprepared for such attacks. The consequences could be devastating, as even a small-scale attack, it found, could release deadly radiation into the local area. The report claims that cyber criminals could trigger an incident similar to that seen at Fukushima Daichi in Japan in 2011. Nearly 16,000 people lost their lives in the natural disaster and subsequent devastation. Published by think tank Chatham House, it looked at cyber security in power plants over a period of 18-months and cites 50 incidents globally, of which only a handful have been made public. The report found a worrying lack of security protocols at nuclear plants throughout the world. For instance, standard factory-set passwords, such as '1234', were found to be on a range of computer systems that control a power plant's critical system. Advertisement An unnamed nuclear facility was the target of a cyber attack several years ago, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Yukiya Amano confirmed this week. Security experts at Penn State recently developed a new moving target defense system to dodge cyber-attacks. The new computer system deploys a decoy when it senses a malicious scan, redirecting hackers to a network that mirrors the real thing. According to the researchers, these shadow networks can simulate complex network structures, fooling the hackers into believing theyve accessed usable information. Dubbed Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation and Characterisation (RADICS), its goal is to develop automated systems to deal with a loss of power. They say these systems should help utilities engineers restore power within seven days of an attack. 'If a well-coordinated cyber attack on the nation's power grid were to occur today, the time it would take to restore power would pose daunting national security challenges,' said John Everett, Darpa programme manager. One cup of deionized water can keep Kengoro powered for half of the day Water seeps out to the surface layer and evaporates around the motors layers to the robot's frame for water to travel Humans and robots have one thing in common when they work hard, they overheat. Now, Japanese researchers have designed a robot that 'sweats' in order to stay cool, allowing it do push-ups for 11 minutes straight without burning out its motors. Kengoro's skeletal structure is designed to let water seep through porous layers in its frame, which eventually evaporates to cool its 180 motors. Scroll down for video Japanese researchers have designed a robot that 'sweats' in order to cool down, allowing it do push-ups for 11 minutes straight without burning out its motors. One cup of deionized water keeps Kengoro running half of the day without overheating HOW DOES IT SWEAT? Kengoro's skeleton, or metal frame, is made of aluminum and each 'bone' was printed using a laser that sintered the powered metal The bones were designed with a porous layers that retain water. As water releases from a pump in the inner porous layer, it travels to a more porous region near the surface of the frame here it will then evaporate, instead of leaking onto the floor. One cup of deionized water can keep Kengoro powered for half of the day without overheating and it can do push-ups for 11 minutes straight. Advertisement Researchers at the University of Tokyo were searching for a strategic way to add a cooling system to their 123 pound, 5 foot 7 inch tall humanoid. However, this robot was already 'stuffed to the brim with structural components, circuit boards, gears and motors', making it impossible to make room to add an active water cooling system. The team realized the robot's structure could be modified to function as the entire system in a way that would cool it down similar to human skin. 'Usually the frame of a robot is only used to support forces,' lead author Toyotaka Kozuki told IEEE Spectrum in an interview. 'Our concept was adding more functions to the frame, using it to transfer water, release heat, and at the same time support forces.' Researchers at the University of Tokyo built Kengoro which is a 123 pound, 5 foot 7 inch tall humanoid. It can run at full power longer, letting it do push-ups for 11 minutes straight without burning out its motors Kengoro's skeleton, or metal frame, is made of aluminum and each 'bone' was printed using a laser that sintered the powered metal, reports Evan Ackerman with IEEE. This process lets developers select the permeability of the metal, as some parts of this humanoid are solid and others are similar to a sponge. The bones were designed with a porous honeycomb-like layers that retain water. Water is released when the robot is working hard and begins to overheat. As water releases from a pump in the inner porous layer of the 'bones', it travels to a more porous region near the surface of the frame here it evaporates, instead of leaking onto the floor. Kengoro's bones were designed with a porous honeycomb-like layers that retains water, which will then the seep out and evaporate when the robot's heat levels increase As water releases from a pump in the inner porous layer of the 'bones', it travels to a more porous region near the surface of the frame here it evaporates, instead of leaking onto the floor One cup of deionized water can keep Kengoro powered for half of the day without overheating and it can do push-ups for 11 minutes straight. But just like humans, this robot needs to keep itself hydrated for the cooling system to function properly. One cup of deionized water can keep Kengoro powered for half of the day without overheating and it can do push-ups for 11 minutes straight. But just like humans, this robot needs to keep itself hydrated for the cooling system to function properly The researchers found that this new human-like system works three times better than air cooling and significantly better than just circulating water through the interior channel. However, the team says it is not as effective as using traditional radiators or fans, which is found in many machines. Twitter's plan to sell itself was left in tatters today as the last major bidder walked away from a deal, causing its share price to fall dramatically. Last week it emerged Salesforce was the most likely purchaser, after other potential acquirers, including Google and Walt Disney, decided not to pursue a deal. However, today the firm's chief executive Marc Benioff told the FT a deal was off - and shares slid 6 percent. Twitter has yet to post a profit even after ramping up advertising efforts. Salesforce chief executive today Marc Benioff told the FT a deal was off as it 'wasn't a right fit'. Last week it emerged Google and Walt Disney had decided not to pursue a deal. 'In this case we've walked away. It wasn't the right fit for us,' he said in an interview with the FT. According to the paper's sources, Twitter's advisers are still seeking other potential bidders, but a person close to Twitter's senior management said 'the sale process is virtually dead.' Twitter had told potential acquirers it is seeking to conclude negotiations about selling itself by the time it reports third-quarter earnings on Oct. 27, according to people familiar with the matter. 'It's not the right fit for us for many different reasons,' Mr Benioff said, when asked if price was the deciding factor, adding: 'You're going to look at price, you're going to look at culture, you're going to look at everything.' TWITTER'S PLUNGING SHARE PRICE Shares of Twitter's stock plunged to their lowest level since August on the news, falling as much as 8 percent and last seen down about 5.5 percent. Salesforce shares were up 5.5 percent. FindTheCompany | Graphiq 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. The company missed Wall Street's sales expectations in both the first and second quarters of 2016, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine, and has yet to produce a net profit in 11 quarters as a public company. Advertisement Last week it was thought Google parent Alphabet was a likely contender for the microblogging service but those familiar with the deal told Recode that the company was not moving forward with an effort to buy Twitter at this time. Disney had also considered making a bid but is not currently planning an offer, according to sources. Twitter shares plunged on the latest news. 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. The company missed Wall Street's sales expectations in both the first and second quarters of 2016, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine, and has yet to produce a net profit in 11 quarters as a public company. It has also failed to keep pace with rivals, notably Facebook Inc's Instagram and Snapchat. Both now boast more users than Twitter by most measures, even though they are much newer, and advertisers have begun to migrate their ad dollars accordingly. Dorsey, who returned to Twitter as chief executive more than a year ago, has been part of Disney's board since 2013. Twitter went public in November 2013 at $26 a share. Researchers have identified a key factor in the aging process they say could one day lead to longer lives. In a new study on mice and roundworms, researchers found that adding a chemical known as coenzyme NAD+ postponed physical aging and extend the subjects lives. Its thought that these effects will be seen in humans as well, and could even help to prevent illnesses such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. Researchers have identified a key factor in the aging process that could one day lead to longer lives. Its thought that the effects will be seen in humans, and even help to prevent illnesses such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease THE KEY TO LONGER LIVES? Researchers found that adding the coenzyme NAD+ delays the aging process of the cells and halts mitochondrial damage in both mice and roundworms. And, it extended the subjects' lives. The effects have not yet been investigated in humans, but researchers say similar results are expected to be seen. This is based on the universal nature of the cell repair mechanisms, which are found in all living organisms. Advertisement The study from the University of Copenhagens Center for Healthy Aging and the American National Institute of Health examined the effects on mice and roundworms bred with the illness Ataxia telangiectasia (A-T). This is a neurodegenerative illness which hinders DNA repairs and leads to symptoms that are typically associated with early aging. Adding NAD+, however, was found to delay the aging process of the cells and halt mitochondrial damage. And, it extended the subjects lives for both the mice and worms. According to the researchers, the study has major implications for human aging, and links two leading theories DNA damage accumulation and mitochondrial dysfunction. Our new study shows an age-dependent decrease in the level of NAD+, and this decrease is far greater for organisms with early aging and a lack of DNA repairs, says Professor Vilhelm Bohr, from the Center for Healthy Aging and the National Institute of Health. We were surprised to see that adding NAD+ postponed both the aging processes of the cells and extended life in worms and in a mouse model. The effects have not yet been investigated in humans, but researchers say similar results are expected to be seen. According to the researchers, the study has major implications for human aging, and links two leading theories DNA damage accumulation and mitochondrial dysfunction This is based on the universal nature of the cell repair mechanisms, which are found in all living organisms. The findings uncover a major player in the aging process, which in many ways remains a mystery. We know from previous studies that a drop in the level of NAD+ results in metabolism errors, neurodegeneration and aging, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear to us, Bohr said. Our new study stresses that the substance NAD+ plays a main role both in maintaining the health of the cells power stations and in their capacity for repairing the genes. 'Straight girls kissing' has become something of a curious and controversial cultural phenomenon over the last 15 years. Madonna and Britney Spears famously locked lips in front of millions during the 2003 Video Music Awards, with Scarlett Johansson and Sandra Bullock following suit seven years later at the MTV Movie Awards. In 2008, Katy Perry went platinum singing that she 'kissed a girl' and 'liked it.' Scroll down for video Research on hooking ups and straight girls kissing (such as Britney Spears and Madonna at the VMAs in 2003) has mainly focused on women living on college campuses: privileged, affluent, white women. But studies show it is common across all socioeconomic backgrounds WHY WOMEN KISS WOMEN Research on sexual fluidity, hooking up and straight girls kissing has mainly focused on women living on college campuses: privileged, affluent, white women. But studies have found that same-gender sexual experiences between straight women are common across all socioeconomic backgrounds. Jamie Budnick with the University of Michigan interviewed many woman who have had a sexual encounter with another woman. The reasons are many, one being that they feel men just do not under stand them. Another is that men often misinterpret interest for more than it was and woman feel safer with other women. Women don't kiss each other only for either the attention of men or on their way to a proud bisexual or lesbian identity. There is a lot of rich meaning in the middle, not to mention structural constraints. Advertisement Meanwhile, we've seen portrayals of otherwise unlabeled women acting on same-gender desire in a number of popular primetime shows, from 'Orphan Black' to 'The Good Wife.' In one sense, this reflects real life. Many young women who identify as straight have had sexual or romantic experiences with other women. Research on sexual fluidity, hooking up and straight girls kissing has mainly focused on women living on college campuses: privileged, affluent, white women. But studies have found that same-gender sexual experiences between straight women are common across all socioeconomic backgrounds. This means existing studies have been ignoring a lot of women. As recent surveys have shown, women outside of the privileged spaces of college campuses actually report higher rates of same-gender sex. This happens even though they're more likely to start families at a younger age. They also have different types of same-gender sexual experiences and views of sexuality, all of which we know less about because they're often underrepresented in most academic studies of the issue. As a sociologist who studies gender and sexuality, I wanted to know: How do straight women who don't match the privileged, affluent and white stereotype we see in the media make sense of their same-gender sexual experiences? Some social scientists have followed the media's fixation on straight girls kissing to further explore theories of female bisexuality. In her 2008 book, psychologist Lisa Diamond developed the influential model of 'sexual fluidity' to explain women's context-dependent or changing sexual desire. As recent surveys have shown, women outside of the privileged spaces of college campuses actually report higher rates of same-gender sex. Another famous 'straight girl kiss' was between Scarlett Johansson and Sandra Bullock at the MTV Movie Awards in 2010 WOMEN ARE NOT STRAIGHT Women are either bisexual or gay but 'never straight', a recent study has claimed. Women who class themselves as heterosexual are aroused by naked videos of both attractive men and women - whereas lesbians are far more attracted to the female form. Clips were played to women and their responses, including whether their pupils dilated when shown sexual stimuli, were recorded. Experts from the University of Essex found straight women were strongly aroused by both sexes, even though they said they were only interested in men. In contrast, lesbians showed far stronger responses to women and barely any when shown the men. The researchers said lesbians were the most like men in their responses because it is usually men who show distinct sexual responses to their favourite sex. Advertisement Meanwhile, sociologist Laura Hamilton argued that making out at college parties served as an effective, albeit homophobic, 'gender strategy' to simultaneously attract men and shirk lesbians. And historian Leila Rupp, with a group of sociologists, theorized that the college hookup scene operates as an 'opportunity structure' for queer women to explore their attractions and affirm their identities. All of these scholars are quick to recognize that these ideas and the studies on which they are based focus mostly on a certain type of person: privileged women living on the progressive campuses of selective universities. In part, it is easier to recruit study participants from classes and student groups, but it leaves us with a picture that reinforces stereotypes. Around the same time I conducted my study, the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) found that women with the lowest levels of educational attainment reported the highest lifetime prevalence of same-gender sex. The New York Times correctly observed that these findings challenged 'the popular stereotype of college as a hive of same-sex experimentation.' A 2016 update of the survey did not find a statistically significant pattern that varied by education level, but reiterated the high prevalence among women who didn't go to college. In 2008, I started work as a research assistant on the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, which surveyed young women weekly for two-and-a-half years to learn about the prevalence, causes and consequences of unintended pregnancy. It was my job to handle participants' questions, comments and complaints. Most of the inquiries from the participants were about how to complete the surveys or receive the incentive payment. But a few came from women unsure about how to answer questions on sex and relationships. They wondered: Were they supposed to include their girlfriends? Many women I interviewed had become mothers in their teens or early 20's. All of these moms had hooked up with a woman, had a girlfriend in the past or said they were still attracted to women. Nonetheless, most identified as straight. They explained that it was more important to be a 'good mother' than anything else, and claiming a nonheterosexual identity just wasn't a priority once kids were in the picture. For example, Jayla (a black mom with a four-year degree from a state school) broke ties with her group of LGBTQ friends after her daughter was born. As she explained, 'I think what our relationship didn't survive was me becoming a mom I kind of shifted away from them, because I know how I want to raise my daughter.' WHY SOME WIVES DITCH THEIR HUSBANDS FOR WOMEN Are women simply taking advantage of more permissive times to experiment, or have we always been a 'little bit lesbian'? Psychologist Dr Pam Spurr says: 'I think a lot of women have long been in denial about finding other women attractive. 'There have been various studies that show women become aroused by images of both men and women. They are more sexually responsive than men.' That was the controversial conclusion by Dr Gerulf Rieger from the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex, who earlier this month said women are 'never heterosexual'. Despite the majority of women claiming to be heterosexual, the study revealed their bodies told a different story in terms of sexual arousal when shown videos of naked women. Although previous studies had already demonstrated this, Dr Rieger's research also looked into whether the same was true of gay women: did they respond to men as well as women? He found the arousal patterns of women who identified as being completely gay were more similar to men, whose responses tend to very accurately mirror their stated sexual preferences. Meanwhile, Dr Spurr says that because women marry later and can end up living with a best friend, sometimes buying a property together, female friendships are more important than ever. She explains: 'In the first chapter of my book, The Laws Of Sisterhood: The Girlfriends' Guide To Successful Dating, I looked at female friendships and the women I interviewed spoke of strong female friendships as being one of the most important things in their lives. 'As a psychologist, I know that when close female friends feel a strong mental and emotional connection, the 'cuddle hormone' oxytocin is produced - the same hormone that's released during sexual connections. 'These days women are far more tactile - they hold hands, they cuddle up in front of a film, which makes it more likely that natural body chemistry is triggered. It's not surprising things can develop sexually.' And when they do, there is less reason to hide, according to Dr Jacqui Gabb, Associate Dean of Research at the Open University and author of Couple Relationships In The 21st Century. 'There is certainly more sexual tolerance. As a result, labels have become less important. Young people are perhaps less inclined to 'come out' at all. Why would they? They are who they are and their sexual choices are accepted more than ever before. 'The shift in attitude is happening almost as quickly as we speak. Every time national attitudes are surveyed, they have changed again. We have come to terms with sexual fluidity and are more finessed about how we understand sexuality per se.' Advertisement Women who married men or settled down in their early 20's also felt that their previous lesbian or bisexual identities were no longer relevant. Noel, a white married mom with a General Educational Development certificate, dated girls in high school. Back then, being bisexual was a big part of her identity. Today, she doesn't use that term. Noel said monogamy made identity labels irrelevant: 'I'm with my husband, and I don't intend on being with anybody else for my future.' Many demographic surveys focused on health or risk do not explicitly collect data on sexual orientation or same-gender relationships. Some women choose relationships with other women because they feel men do not understand them. They also report intimacy and satisfaction in a sexual friendship with a woman. Katy Perry (pictured) went platinum singing that she 'kissed a girl' and 'liked it' But valuable information on these topics often exists just below the surface. In 2010, I decided to write new RDSL survey questions about sexual identity, behavior and attraction. Nearly one-third of participants gave some type of nonheterosexual response (including women who said they 'rejected' labels or that gender was not a determining factor in their attractions). In 2013, I recruited 35 of these women to interview. Because RDSL had a racially and socioeconomically diverse population-based sample, I was able to interview women that many sexualities scholars struggle to access. Being a young mom can foreclose some possibilities to fully embrace an LGBTQ identity. IS FEMALE SEXUALITY MORE FLUID? The researcher analysed the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to determine the differences between sexual fluidity in men and women. With this information, Kazanawa was able to construct measures of adult sexual attraction.' The study confirmed his predictions, including one which proposed that women who experience increased levels of sexual fluidity have a larger number of children, and that women who experience marriage or parenthood early in adult life also experience increased levels of sexual fluidity. The researcher says this suggests that womens sexual fluidity may have been evolutionarily selected as one method for facilitating polygynous marriages. Sex among co-wives may have worked to ease conflict and tension in scenarios where multiple wives shared one husband. According to Kanazawa, the theory may also help explain many other puzzles in human sexuality, including male arousal to lesbian sex, and menstrual synchrony, in which the menstrual cycles of female companions align over time. Advertisement But in other ways it created space to act on same-gender desire. I came to call these intimacies 'sexual friendships.' Chantelle, a black mom with a high school diploma, was struggling to co-parent with her ex-boyfriend. In the midst of her frustrating situation, she had found intimacy and satisfaction in a sexual friendship with a woman. As she put it, 'relationships have a different degree and different standards. But with a friendship it's kind of like everything is an open book.' Amy, a white woman working on her associate's degree, has had sex a few times with her best friend. They don't talk about that, but they have daydreamed together about getting married, contrasting their feelings with their experiences dating men: 'I feel like a man will never understand me. I don't think they could. Or I don't think that most men would care to. That's just how I feel from the experiences I've had.' Some of the women I interviewed told me they strategically chose hookups with women because they thought it would be safer safer for their reputation and a safeguard against sexual assault. Tara, a white woman attending a regional public university, explained: 'I'm a very physical person and it's not all emotional, but that doesn't go over well with people, and you get 'the player,' 'whore,' whatever. But when you do it more with girls, there's no negative side effects to it.' Most women do not kiss other women to attract men. Many do so to find companionship and intimacy. Another reason is that men often misinterpret interest for more than it was and woman feel safer with other women Tara also said that men often misinterpret interest for more than it was: 'Like if I want to make out with you, it doesn't mean I want to have sex with you. But in a lot of guys in party scenes, that's their mentality.' I asked her if this happened to anyone she knew, and she uncomfortably said yes 'Not that they ever called it rape or anything like that.' Intersectional studies like the one I conducted can upend the way we frame the world and categorize people. It's not binary: Women don't kiss each other only for either the attention of men or on their way to a proud bisexual or lesbian identity. There is a lot of rich meaning in the middle, not to mention structural constraints. And what about that popular image equating 'straight girls kissing' with 'girls gone wild'? It's more provocative cliche than reality. Many are at home with their kids the father gone looking for companionship and connection. Face templates of average Greek males were used to create eyes and nose A distinguished warrior's face has been seen for the first time since his death 3,500 years ago. Dubbed the 'Griffin Warrior', this Bronze Age man was buried in a tomb packed with treasure in Greece, which archaeologists believe will give insight to the origins of Greek civilization. The team reconstructed his face by layering facial tissues from the skull surface outward by using depth marker pegs to determine the thickness - revealing a he had long black hair, a square jaw and powerful neck. Scroll down for video The team reconstructed the Griffin Warrior's face (pictured) by layering facial tissues from the skull surface outward by using depth marker pegs to determine the thickness - revealing a he had long black hair, a square jaw and powerful neck HOW DID THEY DO IT? According to the Dr.Sharon Stocker, the warrior appears to have been a handsome man, with the facial reconstruction having been based on a stamp that was found inside the tomb. The reconstruction was performed by Tobias Houlton, a specialist in reconstruction, and his colleague Lynne Schepartz of University of the Witwatersrand. The Manchester method was used for the reconstruction facial tissues were laid from the skull surface outward by using depth marker pegs to determine the thickness. And facial features, such as the eyes and mouth, were determined by the underlying skull. The researchers used average face templates of 50 modern Greek makes that were 25 to 35 years old to reconstruct the eyes and nose. Artifacts from the Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations were used to determine the Griffin Warrior's skin tone and hair color. Advertisement The Griffin Warrior was discovered last year in a tomb located next to the Mycenaean palace of Nestor. Dr. Sharon Stocker and her husband, Professor Jack Davis, stumbled upon the remarkably undisturbed grave while digging near Pylos, an ancient city on the southwest coast of Greece. Beneath the centuries of dirt laid the man's remains, including a skull that reveals he died around 1500 BC and was between the ages 30 and 35, reports Discovery News. According to the Dr. Stocker, the warrior appears to have been a handsome man, with the facial reconstruction having been based on a stamp that was found inside the tomb. The reconstruction was performed by Tobias Houlton, a specialist in reconstruction, and his colleague Lynne Schepartz of University of the Witwatersrand. 'It was multi-fragmented, with evident deterioration of the bones across the mid-face, affecting the nasal region and inner eye details,' Houlton told Rossella Lorenzi Discovery News referring to the skull that was found in poor condition. 'Prior to re-assembly, we were uncertain that a facial reconstruction would be possible.' Houlton used the Manchester method for the reconstruction facial tissues were laid from the skull surface outward by using depth marker pegs to determine the thickness. And he gauged the look of the facial features, such as the eyes and mouth, by the underlying skull. However, due to the poor condition of the skull, Houlton was unable to accurately reconstruct the area around the eyes and nose. The team used the Manchester method for the reconstruction facial tissues were laid from the skull surface outward by using depth marker pegs to determine the thickness. Rings found in the tomb show a scene of a bull leaping - a common motif seen in Minoan imagery THE MINOAN RINGS The rings, three of which the researchers are unveiling for the first time, are crafted from multiple sheets of gold and feature iconographical references seen elsewhere in Minoan art and religious culture. The first ring shows a scene of a bull leaping - a common motif seen in Minoan imagery. Another, the second largest gold signet ring known in the Aegean world, shows five elaborately dressed female figures gathered by a seaside shrine. A third ring shows a female figure, thought to be a goddess, holding a staff and flanked by two birds atop a mountain glen. The final ring shows a woman presenting a bull's horn offering to a goddess holding a mirror and seated on a high-backed throne atop of which is perched a bird. Advertisement Instead, the team used average face templates of 50 modern Greek males that were 25 to 35 years old. They also looked at artifacts from the Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations, such as wall paintings, to determine the Griffin Warrior's skin tone and hair color. The finish product is a broad, handsome face with a square jaw and powerful neck. The Griffin Warrior received his name from two items inside the tomb which depict a griffin, with the archaeologists stating that the mythical creature represented a well-known system of power in Pylos, similarly to the case of Minos in Knossos. The find was described as 'the most important discovery in 65 years.' Until now, little has been known about the findings, but researchers have been working over the past year to uncover new information. They say that new understandings of the artifacts - particularly four gold rings - could provide fresh insights into the origins of Greek civilization. Inside, they discovered the well-preserved remains of what is believed to have been a powerful Mycenaean warrior or priest in his early to mid 30s who was buried around 1500 BC, near the Palace of Nestor. Due to the poor condition of the skull, they were unable to reconstruct the area around the eyes and nose. Instead, the team used average face templates of 50 modern Greek males that were 25 to 35 years old. Many treasures including necklaces (pictured) were found in the tomb Immortalized in Homer's 'Odyssey,' the large administrative center was destroyed by fire sometime around 1180 BC but remains the best preserved Bronze Age palace on the Greek mainland. The warrior's tomb revealed more than 2,000 objects arrayed on and around the body, including four solid gold rings, silver cups, precious stone beads, fine-toothed ivory combs and an intricately built sword, among other weapons. They also looked at artifacts from the Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations, such as wall paintings, to determine the Griffin Warrior's skin tone and hair color. Researchers believe the man was a Mycenaean warrior or priest who was buried with , including jewelry THE DAWN OF THE MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION The grave and its bounty sheds light on the dawn of the Mycenaean civilization, a transformative period in the Bronze Age. A significant number of the artefacts were made by Minoans, a culturally more advanced civilisation that arose on the large island of Crete, southeast of Pylos. Dr Stocker explained: 'The grave was right around the time the Mycenaeans were conquering the Minoans. 'We know there were extensive raids and shortly after the date of our grave, Minoan-Crete fell to the Mycenaeans.' But the researchers said that the carefully selected and hand placed items reveal much about the heart of the relationship of the burgeoning mainland Greek culture to that of the more refined Crete. After a year of careful examination of the grave's artifacts, Dr Davis and Professor Stocker now believe the Mycenaeans understood what they were taking from the Minoans and the concepts behind the iconography of the rings. Advertisement The rings - three of which the researchers are unveiling for the first time - are crafted from multiple sheets of gold and feature iconographical references seen elsewhere in Minoan art and religious culture. The first ring shows a scene of a bull leaping - a common motif seen in Minoan imagery. Another, the second largest gold signet ring known in the Aegean world, shows five elaborately dressed female figures gathered by a seaside shrine. A third ring shows a female figure, thought to be a goddess, holding a staff and flanked by two birds atop a mountain glen. The final ring shows a woman presenting a bull's horn offering to a goddess holding a mirror and seated on a high-backed throne atop of which is perched a bird. Dr Stocker, from the University of Cincinnati, said: 'They are carving these before the microscope and electric tools. 'This is exquisite workmanship for something so tiny and old and really shows the skill of Minoan craftsmen.' The skeleton was dubbed the 'Griffin Warrior' after an ivory plaque adorned with the half lion and half eagle mythical beast was buried with him. The grave and its bounty sheds light on the dawn of the Mycenaean civilization, a transformative period in the Bronze Age. The skeleton of what is believed to have been a powerful Mycenaean warrior stretched out on his back lay in the grave with weapons arranged to his left and a hoard of fine jeweler on his right (illustrated in the image above) The warrior's tomb revealed more than 2,000 objects arrayed on and around the body, including four solid gold rings, silver cups, precious stone beads, fine-toothed ivory combs (pictured) A mirror (pictured) and an intricately built sword were also discovered during excavations A significant number of the artifacts, including bronze cups and bowls (pictured) were made by Minoans, a culturally more advanced civilization that arose on the large island of Crete, southeast of Pylos A significant number of the artifacts were made by Minoans, a culturally more advanced civilization that arose on the large island of Crete, southeast of Pylos. Dr Stocker explained: 'The grave was right around the time the Mycenaeans were conquering the Minoans. 'We know there were extensive raids and shortly after the date of our grave, Minoan-Crete fell to the Mycenaeans.' Several pieces of well-preserved jewelry were found within the tomb, including rings, necklaces and precious beads The tomb was found on the site of the Mycenaean-era Palace of Nestor on the country's Peloponnese peninsula (marked on this map) The researchers said that the carefully selected and hand placed items, including intricate jewelry, reveal much about the heart of the relationship of the burgeoning mainland Greek culture to that of the more refined Crete But the researchers said that the carefully selected and hand placed items reveal much about the heart of the relationship of the burgeoning mainland Greek culture to that of the more refined Crete. After a year of careful examination of the grave's artifacts, Dr Davis and Professor Stocker now believe the Mycenaeans understood what they were taking from the Minoans and the concepts behind the iconography of the rings. Professor Davis said: 'People have suggested the findings in the grave are treasure, like Blackbeard's treasure, that was just buried along with the dead as impressive contraband. The tomb, which measures seven feet ten inches (two meters) long and five feet (1.5 meters) in width, was unearthed during excavations begun in May near Pylos, on the site of the palace of Nestor While people have suggested that the items in the tomb, including swords and weapons, were treasure, the researchers thing that they were specifically selected to be taken from the Minoans 'We think that already in this period the people on the mainland already understood much of the religious iconography on these rings, and they were already buying into religious concepts on the island of Crete. 'This isn't just loot. It may be loot, but they are specifically selecting loot that transmits messages that are understandable to them.' Dr Stocker added: 'They are not just going there and robbing a jewelry store. 'They are thinking about it and selecting specific items for inclusion in the burial.' The researchers believe that the items, such as this sword, were not just loot, and instead were specifically selected due to the iconography they contain A mirror found above the Griffin Warrior's legs may relate to the fourth ring, in which a seated goddess is portrayed holding a mirror. The mirror's placement in the grave suggest it holds special significance to the Mycenaeans The bronze weapons found within the tomb included a meter-long slashing sword with an ivory handle covered with gold (left), and an intact necklace (right) A mirror found above the Griffin Warrior's legs may relate to the fourth ring, in which a seated goddess is portrayed holding a mirror. The mirror's placement in the grave suggest it holds special significance to the Mycenaeans while the presence of half a dozen combs may point to a ritual practice of hair combing before battle. The bull, a sacred symbol to the Minoans, can also be seen in Mycenaean imagery, and features in two of the rings. The researchers said it is no coincidence the Griffin Warrior was found buried with a bronze bull's head staff capped by prominent horns, which were likely a symbol of his power and authority. More than 50 seal stones were found with intricate carvings in Minoan style showing goddesses, altars, reeds, lions and bulls, some with bull-jumpers soaring over the bull's horns all in Minoan style and probably made in Crete It turns out The Field Museum's T. rex Sue didn't use those tiny arms very much. At least that's the initial conclusion from a detailed look at the fossil's right forelimb at the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago. Researchers there used a scan to generate a 3-D image of the arm bones down to the cellular level. Scroll down for video Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago used a scanner to generate a 3-D image of the arm bones down to the cellular level. HOW FAST CAN A T. REX RUN? Researchers have debated for years on the top speed of a T. rex. The prints found in Wyoming reveal a young or adolescent tyrannosaur traveling at 2.8 to 5 miles per hour, much slower than the running speed of an average human. Still, the researchers assert that these prints only represent a single event, and one in which the dinosaur was walking through mud. Other studies have suggested the T. rex could have hit 10 miles per hour, while others have estimated 45 miles per hour. Advertisement Final results will take months or years. Pete Makovicky is associate curator of dinosaurs at the Chicago museum. He said Thursday there 'aren't many signs of stress on the bones that would indicate frequent use.' But, he adds, there's still a lot to learn. Precisely why T. rex had forelimbs is one of the enduring mysteries of dinosaur paleontology. The Field says it will share the results of the study when they're available. Since her unveiling at The Field Museum in 2000, millions of visitors each year have seen Sue, a full size cast. However, in reality the dinosaur's sex is unknown, and she is named after Sue Hendrickson, the fossil hunter who discovered her in South Dakota in 1990. Over 90 percent of her bones were found, showing she was quickly covered in mud before scavengers could reach her or weather could erode her. Earlier this year it was revealed a a human being could outrun a T. rex as long as it's a young T. rex taking a stroll through muddy ground. Research on the rare Wyoming discovery has determined that the tyrannosaur was traveling roughly 2.8 to 5 miles per hour, slower than an average human runs. But, the researchers warn that these footprints aren't nearly representative of a T. rex's peak speed. The tracks were found at the site of a 66-million-year-old rock formation along an ancient shoreline in modern Wyoming, according to Science. Finding fossilized footprints is a rare feat; finding a set of footprints, known as a trackway, is even more uncommon. SUE: THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE FOSSIL Since her unveiling at The Field Museum in 2000, millions of visitors each year have seen Sue, a full size cast. However, in reality the dinosaur's sex is unknown, and she is named after Sue Hendrickson, the fossil hunter who discovered her in South Dakota in 1990. Over 90 percent of her bones were found, showing she was quickly covered in mud before scavengers could reach her or weather could erode her. By counting the rings in the bones much like counting rings in tree stumps scientists discovered that she grew rapidly during adolescence and was 28 years old when she died the upper range of T. rex life expectancy. Researchers performed a CAT scan on the skull and discovered that T. rex sense of smell was especially keen. Since her unveiling at The Field Museum in 2000, millions of visitors each year have seen Sue, a full size cast. The Field Museum acquired the fossil at an auction in New York for a record total price of $8.36 million (that's still the largest amount ever paid for a fossil.) The fossils arrived still encased in rock, or what scientists callmatrix. To release and restore them, the Museum built the glass-enclosed, state-of-the-art McDonald's Fossil Preparation Laboratory. Could you outrun a T. rex? Research on the rare Wyoming discovery has determined that the tyrannosaur was traveling roughly 2.8 to 5 miles per hour, slower than an average human runs. But, the researchers warn that these footprints aren't nearly representative of a T. rex's peak speed There, paleontologists painstakingly cleaned each fossil with tools not unlike those used by dentists to clean teeth. Twenty-five thousand hours were spent on this delicate process 3,500 hours on the skull alone All the bones on display are her actual bones except for her enormous skull, which is a cast. Sue's real skull weighs over 600 pounds and is too heavy for the structure that supports the rest of the skeleton. Advertisement Using the three footprints, the first of which is well preserved, the researchers were able to identify the dinosaur as a 'meat-eating theropod dinosaur,' according to Scott Persons, a vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of Alberta, Edmonton in Canada, and lead author of the new study. Based on the 47-centimetre width, along with the three forward-facing toes and the one rear-facing, thumb-like toe of the first print, the team determined it came from a tyrannosaur either an adolescent T. rex, or a Nanotyrannus lancensis (which some have suggested is just a young T. rex). The team then calculated the traveling speed of these footprints. Using the three footprints, the first of which is well preserved, the researchers were able to identify the dinosaur as a 'meat-eating theropod.' Based on the 47-centimetre width, along with the three forward-facing toes and the one rear-facing, thumb-like toe of the first print, the team determined it came from a tyrannosaur To do this, the researchers estimated the dinosaur's hip-height based on the length of the footprint and two common formulas, revealing that the hips were between 1.56 and 2.06 metres above the ground. By measuring the distance between the prints and calculating the speed using an equation for two-legged walking creatures, the researchers determined it was moving at a 'brisk walking speed,' between 2.8 and 5 miles per hour, according to Science. As the average human can run about 11 miles per hour over a short distance, The Huffington Post writes, the dinosaur moving at this pace would be slower than a person. But, the research indicates that this doesn't suggest that this is the fastest a T. rex can move. The footprints only represent a single event, and one in which the dinosaur was likely traveling through the wet, sloppy sediment that best preserves such fossils, Thomas Holtz Jr., a vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of Maryland, College Park, told Science. Scott Persons told The Huffington Post that 'the tyrannosaur that made the footprints was just walking, and it was walking over muddy, mucky ground. 'And it was clearly a walk and not a run because of how the feet were positioned.' The decades old debate over the T. rex's top speed has resulted in a wide bracket of predictions, but no conclusion some have suggested that the dinosaur could only manage 10 miles per hour, while others have estimated 45 miles per hour. Still, if given the opportunity to challenge a T. rex to a head-to-head race, you might not want to test your odds. 'If you were out walking a juvenile T. rex, you'd be comfortable at a brisk walk,' Eric Snively, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, told Science. Advertisement At first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking some of these images are the work of Photoshop. But no, all these animals belong to a gang of rare and somewhat comical-looking creatures that hide away in the farthest corners of the earth, and you might not have seen them until now. From the African antelope with the freakishly long neck, to the tiny kangaroo-legged rodent which can bounce an astonishing ten yards, feast your eyes of the animal kingdom's most charmingly bizarre characters. The gerenuk Gerenuks have long necks, disproportionally large ears and can stand on their hind legs while using their gangly forelegs to feed from tall trees The gerenuk is, unsurprisingly upon inspection, the longest-necked antelope on earth. Found in the Horn of Africa, they take their name from the Somali term 'giraffe-necked', and they use their lithe appendages to reach high-growing foliage. Gerenuks can also stand on their hind legs and use their gangly forelegs to feed - sometimes reaching up as high as eight feet. Their somewhat comical stature is only enhanced by their large ears, which help them keep cool in the searing African heat. The ribbon seal Ribbon seals are rarely seen by humans and thus not well researched, but they populate Arctic pack ice and all have four white bands on their black bodies Ribbon seals inhabit pack ice in the north Pacific Ocean and the adjacent fringes of the Arctic Ocean, and due to their remote habitat, little is actually known about them. Adults all have four white bands on their black bodies, but are born completely white. It has been suggested that their distinctive markings help them identify one another during mating season, but that the pattern also works to camouflage them when seen from a distance against the broken ice and water. The sunda flying lemur Is it a bat? Is it a squirrel? No, it's a sunda flying lemur - and confusingly it isn't actually a lemur either, nor can it fly, but this beady-eyed colungo can do a mighty good job of gliding The sunda flying lemur looks like a happy hybrid between a bat and a squirrel, with big beady eyes and furry wing-like structures. But all is not what it seems. Despite their name, these chaps aren't lemurs and they can't fly. They can glide rather effectively, however, for distances of around 300 feet. Sunda's live in various forests around South East Asia and belong to the colugo species. While gloriously graceful mid-air, they are known to be clumsy on foot. The maned wolf Is it a red fox on stilts? No, it's the only one of its species, the chrysocyon, and is a solitary mammal found in South America This spindly-legged mammal is not a fox, nor, as its name suggests, a wolf. It is special enough to have its own species, the chrysocyon. The maned wolf lives across central regions in South America and possess big ears and very long legs. Unlike wolves or dogs, they mate for life with one partner and don't form packs. Generally they are shy beings but if threatened, the fur on the scruff of their necks puffs up - thus the name. The fossa The fossa, with its chunky paws and long dexterous tail, is unique to forests of the African island of Madagascar and is most closely related to the mongoose Another confounding-looking creature which seems hard to categorise, the fossa is most closely related to the mongoose. Until fairly recently, it was thought to be some sort of primitive cat. The fossa, with its chunky paws and long dexterous tail, is unique to forests of the African island of Madagascar, where it is the largest carnivore, but is sadly endangered due to having lost 90 per cent of its habitat, thanks humans. The white peacock White peacocks lack the kaleidoscopic colour we are used to seeing with this bird, due to a genetic mutation which means they are missing melanin These startling peacocks are not albinos, but rather a subspecies of the blue peacock born by genetic mutation. White peacocks boast beautiful blue eyes but thanks to a lack of melanin have no colour to their plumage. When two of them breed, their chicks are yellow but all turn white, so they have been mated and multiplied in captivity. Generally, though, they remain a rare sight. The white reindeer Not an albino, despite the pinkish hue of its horns, this rare sight in Swedish Lapland is another example of a genetic mutation Much like the white peacock, this magnificent creature is of the same species as a brown reindeer but is another case of a genetic mutation. White reindeer, which appear in the wilds of Finland, Norway and Sweden, are extremely rare, though they have been born in captivity elsewhere, including England. In their northern homeland, they are seen by some as magical and a signal of good luck. The Japanese dwarf flying squirrel This little pocket-sized pipsqueak is native to Japan, and hidden under those furry armpits is a thin membrane which allows it to glide through the air The Japanese dwarf flying squirrel looks as if it could be straight out of a Disney film. With huge cartoon-ish eyes, grey-striped fur and the ability to glide thanks to a fine membrane connecting its wrists and ankles, it's hard not to find these little chaps appealing. They are found in abundance in sub-alpine areas of Japan, and sadly are even kept as pets in some parts of the world. The southern flying squirrel This variation of airbourne squirrel lives in the US and Canada and is capable of gliding for distances of more than 100 feet More widespread than its Japanese cousin, the southern flying squirrel is a remarkable critter found across the US and Canada. They are nocturnal, and very social - choosing not to hibernate during winter but instead curling up together in groups of more than 20 and hiding in tree hollows. Again, they don't actually fly but they are capable of gliding for distances of more than 100 feet. The Chinese water deer This primitive breed of deer has roots in China but has been introduced to other regions including the UK, and has long fangs in its jaws instead of horns on its head Upon first glance, the Chinese water deer doesn't appear particularly peculiar, until you zone in on their mouths. These primitive deer grow long fangs instead of antlers, which they use to fight one another, and have a wide vocal range of 'barks' and screeches when alarmed. Despite their Chinese heritage, around ten per cent of their world population now resides in the East of England. The blue-footed booby The dance you see before you is the male (right) desperately trying to prove the impressiveness of his blue feet, which signify good genes, to the female (left) Nice feathers, very impressive feet. The blue footed booby is a bird found in tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean, and particularly the Galapagos islands. It gets its brightly-coloured walkers from the carotenoid pigments present in its food. When mating season rolls around, males perform splendid dances to showcase these dazzling feet - and the bluer the better in terms of attraction. The caracal This tuft-eared feline may look serene but in fact, when enraged, it's one of the most vicious and formidable members of all the wild cats The caracal is a medium-sized wild cat that lives in Africa, the Middle East, Persia and the Indian subcontinent. Once used in Iran and India to hunt birds, the caracal boasts handsome dark turfs on both ears and is often referred to as 'the desert Lynx'. Don't cross one though. Caracals are known for being extremely viscous - the grumpiest and hissiest of all the wild cats in the world. The jerboa This peculiar-looking fellow has powerful legs which can propel it to distances of up to seven feet in height and ten feet in length through the hot desert sands of the Gobi and Sahara This teeny jumping rodent has a bit of everything going on. A mouse-like head, long cat-like whiskers, kangaroo-style hind legs and a long tufted tail. It may look fragile, but the jerboa is supremely adapted to its boiling hot habitat, stretching from Asia to Northern Africa, where they happily make their homes in the Gobi and Sahara deserts. Its incredible legs can propel it to distances of up to seven feet in height and ten feet in length, making it one of the bounciest little joy bundles you are likely to (not) come across anywhere. The fennec fox Enormous ears distinguish the fennec fox from other members of its species, and are essential for dispersing heat in the hot environment of the Sahara, the only place they are found in the world The fennec fox is a very small nocturnal fox with disproportionately giant ears which it uses to disperse heat, found only in the Sahara of North Africa. They have hairy feet which act somewhat like snowshoes to help them navigate over hot sand, and double up as good diggers for all their burrowing needs. Fennecs live in small communities in wild underground dens, but alas, their adorable features make them prime targets for use in the captive pet trade. The dumbo octopus This rare deep ocean dweller is something of a mystery in many ways, but we do know it can change colour and grow up to six feet long The dumbo octopus is a rare breed, often called the Blind Octopus due to its large but rather useless eyes. It lives very deep in the ocean and can use jet propulsion to move through the water, as well as a crawling motion to cross the seabed. Although not much is known about these shy ocean dwellers, they can grow up to six feet long and are capable of changing colour. The spoon-billed sandpiper Sadly, this little wader bird, which breeds in north-eastern Russia and migrates to south-east Asia, is critically endangered Fewer than 100 pairs of spoon-billed sandpipers remain in the wild, together weighing less than a single swan. Illegal hunting is the main culprit for this. The tiny wader birds breed in north-eastern Russia and migrate to south-east Asia for winter. A newlywed couple claim they had the honeymoon from hell on board a Thomson cruise ship, which left them violently ill and suffering from long-term health problems. Philip and Janice Stephens were looking forwards to a romantic and relaxing holiday cruising around the Turkish coast in September this year. However, instead of a fantastic start to their married life, the couple claimed they were forced to suffer through bedbugs as well as diarrhoea and vomiting. The couple are now suing Tui UK Ltd after their experience. Philip and Janice Stephens were looking forwards to a romantic and relaxing holiday cruising around the Turkish coast in September this year on board the Thomson Celebration The newlyweds had booked a cruise to the Turkish coast but said they ended up being too ill to leave the cabin The couple's ship, the 'luxury' Thomson Celebration, was supposed to offer fine dining, an on-board swimming pool and recently refurbished 'jazzed-up cabins and contemporary furnishings'. But the Bristol-based pair say their problems began just a few days into the trip after both of them noticed they had bed bug bites. They claimed that their cabin was bed-bug ridden and had dirty sheets. Janice visited the on-board doctor for treatment, which led to the couple's cabin being fumigated twice, on doctors' orders, during their week. The newlyweds, who are now suing Tui UK Ltd over the experience, told their lawyers that food on the ship was served under-cooked and lukewarm. Janice allegedly suffered with diarrhoea, vomiting, chest and stomach pains while on board, which left her feeling so ill that she couldn't leave the ship for the excursions. But her woes didn't end there, as Janice has developed chronic fatigue syndrome and has had to take voluntary redundancy from work since returning from their honeymoon. The Bristol-based couple say their problems began just a few days into the trip after both of them noticed they had bed bug bites Janice, 48, said: 'This was supposed to be a fantastic way for us to spend our honeymoon but it simply didn't work out that way and I have been left with long-term health problems as a result that continue to impact my everyday life. 'The ship really wasn't up to the standard we expected and the illness I suffered was absolutely horrendous. 'The fact that it continues to affect me to this day has just added insult to injury for me.' The exact cause of Janice's chronic fatigue remains under investigation and may be as a result of a post viral infection, caught on board the ship, according to the couple. She added: 'We are determined to find out what caused my illness and to ensure that any changes that can be made on the ship are highlighted in the hope of preventing something similar happening to someone else.' The newlyweds, who are now suing Tui UK Ltd, told their lawyers that food on the ship was served under-cooked and lukewarm. Above, Philip Stephens on the cruise The couple have instructed Irwin Mitchell to represent them and have already started legal proceedings against TUI UK Ltd. They hope to find out what caused their illness and win compensation for the holiday and the long-term implications the illness has had on their lives. So far, TUI UK Ltd have neither admitted nor denied liability. Jennifer Downing, who is representing Philip and Janice, said: 'Clearly this was supposed to be a relaxing and romantic trip for Janice and Philip but they were left unable to enjoy the facilities they had paid for due to the illness they experienced. 'We have been instructed by a number of people who suffered similar problems on board this ship at the same time Janice and Philip were on board, as well as passengers who travelled on the Thomson Celebration during other voyages in 2014 and 2015. The exact cause of Janice's chronic fatigue remains under investigation and may be as a result of a post viral infection, caught on board the ship. Above, Janice Stephens on the cruise 'Understandably, Philip and Janice want answers about the illness Janice suffered, which continues to affect her to this day, and to understand why their honeymoon cruise was ruined.' Irwin Mitchell has also been instructed to act on behalf of a number of other passengers who were also on board the cruise ship at the same time as the couple. TUI UK Ltd could have multiple lawsuits on their hands as the firm have also been instructed by groups of passengers, who suffered illness on the same ship, during voyages in 2014 and 2015. A Thomson spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: 'We are sorry to hear of Mr and Mrs Stephens experience. 'As this is now subject to legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further. Living next to a world famous tourist attraction can be both a blessing and a curse. While you may be lucky enough to enjoy the magic of Disneyland or the Pyramids first hand on any day of the week, you will also be privy to the ugly realities, when the spell is broken. Locals in tourist hotspots around the world have taken to the internet to advise holidaymakers on the things they should know before visiting, from what foods to avoid in Venice to how to stay on the good side of New Yorkers. A New Yorker expressed dismay at tourists taking selfies as commuters try to go about their day. He said: 'This isn't a theme park. Some of us live and work here. Wake up.' In just 24 hours, hundreds of Redditors have responded to a question posted online asking: 'People who live near famous tourist destinations, what is something the average person should know?' Urbanites in popular cities such as London, Venice and New York have been sharing their wisdom which is remarkably similar despite the contrasts in these destinations. These locals urge tourists to be considerate when navigating the bustling metropolis, reminding visitors that their hometowns are not 'themeparks'. New Yorker, dukeofbun explained: 'It blows my mind that somebody can see 100s of people surging towards them in a hurry and then think "you know what? I'm just going to walk really slow and diagonally, trailing my wheely suitcase and try and get a good selfie of me and my OH in front of that big window" 'This isn't a theme park, it wasn't all laid on to feed your Instagram. Some of us live and work here. Wake up,' he added. A London Redditor also explained how slow moving tourists are an annoyance for commuters in the capital. They said: ' Don't stand on the left on the escalator [in the underground train stations]. You'll be mown down by a barrage of tutting.' Many advised against travel on the tube during rush hour with online users recommending that visitors walk between train stations. Additional advice included: 'Avoid Oxford Street unless you are capable of walking at 25mph without stopping at all. Many Redditors advised against travel on the tube during rush hour with online users recommending that visitors walk between train stations in London (file image) However, city dwellers from these destinations were quick to add that despite the irked expressions, if you're lost locals will be happy to help so don't be intimidated by their speedy, focused movements. Some residents were quick to admit that the big attractions in their neighbourhoods are in themselves disappointing. Several mentioned the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, warning holidaymakers not to touch the stars as they fear people urinate on them. A Redditor named, imactuallyagoat, commented: ' I noticed there were stars on the ground and everything, but it was pretty grimy and I was still hopeful the real walk of fame was somewhere else nearby. Nope, that was it. Just regular sidewalks with as many homeless people as there were stars.' A Las Vegas resident, EDaQri advised: 'Do not inquire about those "free show tickets". Four hours listening to a time share salesman is not worth the nose bleed seats to a washed up comedian.' A Redditor living near Venice, Quickyellowpenguin, said: 'Most tourists don't know that you can't swim in the canals.' It's not only jumping in public fountains which is frowned upon in Italy. A Redditor who lives near to Venice, Quickyellowpenguin, said: 'Most tourists don't know that you can't swim in the canals or that you aren't allowed to eat in some places.' Most holidaymakers want to experience the cuisine that locals enjoy but often find themselves falling foul of tourist traps. New Yorker, ittellsyou wrote: 'Pretzels and hot dogs from the street cart taste like cardboard. You'll be disappointed.' While Quickyellowpenguin shared this Venice nugget: 'Don't eat pizza if you can't see where they cook it, in most places it's deep frozen but they sell it like it's brick oven cooked.' A Londoner advised: 'Avoid fish and chips in a pub. You wouldn't drink in a chippie, would you? In fact, avoid fish and chips anywhere in Zone 1, and anywhere that also does kebabs / Chinese food.' One online poster said: 'Stop taking "cool" and "daring" pics on scary ledges. If you don't fall off, you might knock rocks off and on to people hiking below.' Away from the big cities, one post warned visitors of the dangers of natural wonders, citing that too many novices decide to hike the Grand Canyon without adequate preparation or understanding of the terrain. 'If you're gonna go to the Grand Canyon, bring water and layers. Seriously. The amount of people I have seen on 7+ mile trails without water is scary,' commented a Redditor named, theapplephantom. They continued, explaining that scantily clad joggers do not seem to realise that 'the temperature difference between the rim and the floor is insane' and they need to dress very warmly. The poster added: 'Stop taking "cool" and "daring" pics on scary ledges. If you don't fall off, you might knock rocks off and on to people hiking below. Those fences are there for a reason.' People living in the footsteps of national parks urged tourists to respect indigenous wildlife. Poster Oasqgggg said: 'Stop throwing coins over the cliffs. The endangered condors eat them and they end up dead.' While vikasrajpura2077 advised: 'Try not to insult the moose. Try not to encourage the moose. Try not to get close to the moose. They look like doofy stallions, however they're terribly tempered and solid.' Not only locals shared their tips, some disappointed tourists including itcamp said of the Niagara Falls: 'Just got to the Canadian side.' They've teamed up to film a crossover special episode. But the superheroes of The CW ditched their crime-fighting regalia on Thursday as they were spotted on set clad in their civilian wear. Melissa Benoist (Supergirl), Grant Gustin (The Flash), Stephen Amell (Arrow), and David Ramsey (Arrow) were among the stars to film the upcoming special in Delta, British Colombia on Thursday. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Joining forces! Supergirl's Melissa Benoist and The Flash actor Grant Gustin sported their civilian wear as they filmed the CW crossover special in Delta on Thursday The upcoming, crossover will see the DC super heroes of The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, and Legends Of Tomorrow teaming up in an upcoming special. Melissa, 28, stepped out onto set looking sharp and sophisticated in a navy blue collared top, beige footwear, and a long jacket with her hair swept back into a low ponytail. The actress appeared to already be in full makeup as her cheeks were touched up with blush and her eyes had a coat of eye shadow on them. Grant, 26, meanwhile, kept things casual in a stylish jacket, jeans, and camouflage print mittens. Walk and talk: Stephen Amell and David Ramsey kept it casual in jeans as they enjoyed some fresh air together Elsewhere, Arrow co-stars Stephen, 35, and David, 44, enjoyed a break from filming together as they took in the fresh air during a stroll through the set. Stephen wore a cosy blue long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and suede shoes, whereas David rocked an edgy grey jacket, belted jeans, and leather footwear. Nick, 38, meanwhile, was wrapped up in a grey sweatshirt and green jacket as he strolled beside Melissa. Bundled up: Nick Zano was wrapped up in a jean jacket and sweatshirt as he strolled beside Melissa The upcoming crossover is set to hit small screens in November, according to EW, and new information of how the dynamic will play out between the heroes. In an interview with EW, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told the website how Supergirl will be received by the other characters. For some of the characters, Supergirl will be the first alien they have ever interacted with. Meanwhile: For some of the characters on the upcoming crossover, Supergirl will be the first alien they have ever met, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg explained to EW 'Some people are instantly charmed by her; I think Sara's (Caity Lotz) got a little crush on her,' he said. 'Diggle (David Ramsey), as always, just when he thinks he's seen it all, there's a moment in it where somebody says, 'This is Supergirl,' and they say, 'What's so super about her?' and she just lifts off the ground. Dig's like, 'I'm convinced.'' As for Oliver (Amell), Andrew explained the character maintains space from the heroine after being faced with a multitude of challenges himself. Suited up! Amell and Ramsey were decked out in their superhero regalia on Arrow A picture emerged on Instagram last month of The Bachelorette's Sam Johnston leaving VERY little to the imagination. And the hunky electrician - who was booted off the series on Wednesday night's dramatic episode - finally addressed the nude photo shoot on Network Ten's The Project on Thursday. 'It's me greased up, naked on a stool,' the 27-year-old told co-host Peter Helliar. Scroll down for video 'It's me greased up, naked on a stool': The Bachelorette's Sam Johnston, 27, finally discussed THAT racy naked photo shoot on Network Ten's The Project on Thursday Peter alerted Sam to the raunchy image, taken by photographer Jose Alexzander, of the dark-haired reality TV star straddling a stool. In the bizarre picture, Sam wraps his legs around the stainless steel chair, while keeping a firm grip on an adjustable lever. Going completely nude for the shot, he showed off his toned physique while tactfully tucking his manhood away. Sam in full glory! Going completely nude for the photo shoot, Sam showed off his very toned physique while tactfully tucking his manhood away When questioned about the revealing image, Sam took the whole affair in good humour. 'It's me greased up, naked on a stool,' he said, smiling. 'I shot that a few years ago in Miami for this body campaign thing and I'm not really sure what happened. 'You've got to have a laugh, don't you!' 'You've got to have a laugh, don't you': Sam explained the photo was taken 'a few years ago' in Miami and he didn't seem too bothered it was making headlines Fellow evictee Rhys Chilton, 29, was also in the firing line on The Project. Co-host Carrie Bickmore asked him directly what he meant when he told Georgia Love he wasn't on the show to find love. 'I was just trying to say that I'm not focusing all my energy, devoting everything I had to finding "The One" at that point.' Carrie, keen for him to elaborate further, suggested that he was simply trying to keep his options open. Direct: Fellow evictee Rhys Chilton, 29, was also in the firing line on The Project, when co-host Carrie Bickmore quizzed the Queensland-based entrepreneur about what he meant when he told Georgia Love that he wasn't on the show to find love Appearing lost for words, the Queensland-based entrepreneur was seen pulling a playful gesture, making for a rather awkward TV moment. A train wreck double-date saw both Sam and Rhys being sent home, after admitting they weren't interested in a serious relationship. During the tense episode on Wednesday, Sam opened up to Georgia Love about why he really applied for The Bachelorette. Awkward! Appearing lost for words, Rhys was seen pulling a playful gesture, making for a rather awkward TV moment The model admitted after a trip to the US - where he signed to an agency in Miami - he had planned to return to LA and get into TV hosting, when the opportunity to be on The Bachelorette came up. 'I think presenting's kinda cool and being on camera and the media and, yeah, it was kind of heading that direction before this. 'Um...but this has just given me like a little kick to get moving quicker,' he frankly admitted. Three's a crowd: A train wreck double date saw both Sam and Rhys being sent home, after admitting they weren't interested in a serious relationship Searching for fame: Sam admitted after a trip to the US - where he signed to an agency in Miami - he had planned to return to LA and get into TV hosting, when the opportunity to be on The Bachelorette came up. 'It was like freight train right into the face,' Georgia told the camera. However, before Sam's abrupt departure, Rhys and Georgia's one-on-one time also didn't go too well. 'I'm not ready to meet "the one",' he told a very shocked Bachelorette, who questioned why he was on the show. The Bachelorette Australia airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm on Network 10. She's known for flaunting her incredible bikini body in sizzling photo shoots. And on Friday, Shanina Shaik, 25, took it up a notch by posing completely topless, in a racy throwback photo shared to Instagram. The Victoria's Secret beauty was pictured wearing only tiny bikini bottoms as she flaunted her pert derriere on a Bahamas beach, while strategically covering her perky assets with her hands. Scroll down for video Racy: Shanina Shaik showed off her pert derriere in a topless throwback snap shared to Instagram on Friday, while strategically covering her perky assets with her hands during a trip to the Bahamas 'Going to remember summer like it was yesterday #throwback #tbt,' she captioned the photo. The racy image comes one week after she showed off her slender frame while posing braless in a little black dress, during a trip to Las Vegas. The exotic model, whose mother is of Lithuanian descent and whose father is Saudi Arabian and Pakistani, dazzled as she posed in a luxury bathroom before hitting the town with friends. Smoking hot! The racy image comes one week after she showed off her slender frame while posing braless in a little black dress, during a trip to Las Vegas 'Sexii Little LBD from my girls closet #Vegas (sic),' she wrote. The Melbourne beauty gave fans a good look at her perky rump in a pair of skintight leather pants, while attending Beyonce's Formation World Tour finale in New Jersey last week. She quickly followed up with a more wholesome, full body shot of herself. Divine derriere! Shanina emulated Beyonce by flaunting her booty for all to see in a cheeky 'belfie' at the singer's Formation concert in New Jersey last week In both images, Shanina was sporting TopShop's Ivy Park activewear line, which Beyonce claims to design herself. 'Thank you for the dope seats,' wrote Shanina as she posed in the affordable attire. Shanina is known for her gym-honed physique and she makes no secret of the fact that she works hard to achieve it. That's nice of you: Instead of her usual designer outfits, the 25-year-old decided to sacrifice her sophisticated style by wearing Beyonce's affordable TopShop line in a show of support Doing what she does best! The Obsessed actress is known for flaunting her bootylicious behind at every given opportunity, which clearly inspired Shanina's 'belfie' She is often pictured breaking a sweat during gruelling workouts at the gym. The stunner enjoys cardio and other high-intensity training, which helps maintain her toned figure. Shanina is currently engaged to beau DJ Ruckus, whose real name is Gregory Andrews. Maintaining her toned physique: Shanina is often pictured breaking a sweat during gruelling gym excersises He proposed in December last year during a romantic escape to the Bahamas. The couple have confirmed they will have a 'location wedding,' telling Daily Mail Australia it will most likely be on a beach. The pair are currently based in the US, with Shanina sending most of her time in New York. Pete Wicks has taken to Instagram to post what appears to be a plea for ex Megan McKenna to take him back. The TOWIE star, who was dumped by Megan after she discovered he was sexting his ex, took to the social network on Thursday to share the quote. The 27-year-old reality star seemed to refer to his own fight to win back 24-year-old brunette beauty back, as well as encouraging her not to care about the opinion of others. Scroll down for video Fighting: Pete Wicks has taken to Instagram to post what appears to be a plea for ex Megan McKenna to take him back 'It doesn't matter how this looks to other people. If this is something you gotta do, then you do it! Fighters fight,' his Instagram quote read. The TOWIE star shared it with an emoji of a peace sign. The latest post comes after scenes in Wednesday night's TOWIE revealed Megan already knew her former beau was texting other women. Regrets: The TOWIE star, who was dumped by Megan after she discovered he was sexting his ex, took to the social network on Thursday to share the quote Fighters fight? The TOWIE star shared it with an emoji of a peace sign on Thursday In scenes from Wednesday's The Only Way Is Marbella - shot just days before the explosive sexting scandal came to a head - the 24-year-old reality starlet revealed she realised weeks ago that he was messaging other women after going through his phone, but was too 'embarrassed' to reveal she knew. She confessed to Danielle Armstrong: 'I thought something was up, I went down his phone a few weeks ago after Barcelona and there was messages to a few girls. 'I found things like him being really flirty like he ain't got a girlfriend and looking back at the dates... I'm sitting next to him, we probably just had sex!' Revealing why she didn't admit what she knew her beau had been sexting other girls, the brunette beauty explained: 'I was embarrassed,' and later raged at her beau: 'I told you I wouldn't say anything but now I'm mortified.' Tearful: Pete burst into tears as he revealed he would do anything to win back Megan after she discovered he had been sexting several girls behind her back As Pete attempted to justify his actions by claiming he hadn't cheated on her, Megan shot back 'It's worse than cheating!' Speaking to Danielle after the explosive argument, she wept: 'What hurts me the most is I trusted him. 'I don't know how to move on. Do I want to live my life always worrying? 'Why does he want to talk about having sex with other girls when he's having sex with me?' Girly time: Megan confessed to Danielle Armstrong that she went through Pete's phone and found several messages to other girls but was 'too embarrassed' to tell anyone Fuming: Megan let rip at Pete as he attempted to justify his actions by claiming he hadn't cheated on her, but the feisty reality starlet shot back: 'It's worse than cheating!' And as Megan poured her heart out to the girls, Pete did the same with the boys, tearfully confiding in James 'Lockie' Lock: 'There's no excuse, I've broke her heart. I lied to her because I didn't want to lose her. 'I wish there was a reason for it but there aint. I've thrown it all away for nothing.' He continued: 'Any time I get close to people I hit self destruct. I just want to put it right. I can't give up on her.' Bonding: Megan poured her heart out to the girls, Pete did the same with the boys, tearfully confiding in James 'Lockie' Lock that he 'hit the self destruct button' on their relationship And true to his word, the star soon paid Megan a visit when they were back home in Essex as he explained to her: 'You need to know that I love you and I ain't going to give up.' But Megan wasn't ready to forgive and forget after he was unable to provide a reason for why he behaved as he did. She then threw him out of the house, exclaiming: 'You're greedy, you're f***ing disgusting!' She's the savvy businesswoman who's created a name for herself as the founder of Australia's preeminent lifestyle, fashion and beauty PR agency. But Roxy Jacenko shared a flashback photo to Instagram on Friday that saw her embracing her former life as a party-loving Sydney 'It Girl'. The 36-year-old looked very different from her typical haute couture self in the picture, which shows her with large hoop earrings and a low-cut white singlet. Scroll down for video My, how you've changed! PR queen Roxy Jacenko (second from right) shared a flashback snap to Instagram on Friday from her days as a party-loving Sydney 'It Girl' Roxy captioned the snap of herself with friends Lisa Stern, Andrew Louie and Jessica Barr as a 'Flashback Friday'. Standing in an outdoors bar, the mother-of-two looked in giddy spirits as she struck a pose in a pair of dark sunglasses. Sweeping her blonde tresses into a half-up, half-down 'do, Roxy appeared to be wearing a minimal amount of make-up. The photo was taken after Roxy founded Sweaty Betty PR but it is unclear if it predates her relationship with Oliver Curtis. Blast from the past! Since her husband Oliver Curtis was sentenced to two years in prison for insider trading, Roxy has shared several throwback snaps to Instagram After her husband Oliver was sentenced to two years in prison for insider trading back in June, Roxy has kept her followers up to date with her life as a single mother. And in late August, she surprised her fans by sharing yet another throwback photo of herself partying with US rapper Snoop Dogg. In the snap, Roxy was dressed in a silver bomber jacket and sat next to Snoop, real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. Friends in high places! Late August saw the media personality post another throwback snap to Instagram, this time partying with American rapper Snoop Dogg, 44 Roxy has been open about her plastic surgery, and the photo appears to be from years before her nose job in 2015. Also in the image, Snoop appears to be whispering something in Roxy's ear. Roxy flashes a smile while chatting to the hip hop artist at a social gathering. What a transformation! Both flashback snaps show a dramatically different side to Roxy than the PR savvy working mum she is today How do I look? She is best known for her daily elevator selfies, which show the entrepreneur decked out out in head-to-toe designer clothes Both flashback snaps show a dramatically different side to Roxy than the PR savvy working mum she is today. She is best known for her daily elevator selfies, which show the entrepreneur decked out out in head-to-toe designer clothes. Roxy is often seen sporting ensembles from the likes of Scanlan Theodore, Balmain, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel. She is getting ready to be a mother for the second time. And Natalie Portman showcased her burgeoning belly in a flattering dress as she attended the premiere of her latest film Jackie at the New York Film Festival on Thursday. The 35-year-old was positively glowing as she sauntered down the red carpet at the glittering movie event. Things that go bump in the night: Natalie Portman showcased her burgeoning belly at the premiere of Jackie at the New York Film Festival on Thursday. The 35-year-old, who is having her second child with ballerino husband Benjamin Millepied, was looking in fine form indeed in her flattering blue gown, which she combined with a pair of daringly high heels. She was joined at the event by Mr Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Saarsgaard, who looked dapper in a bespoke suit and shiny leather shoes. Natalie's latest film follows Jackie Kennedy during her time as the First Lady in the White House. In a move that she is no doubt hoping will impress awards voters, she studied the famous figure extensively by watching videos, reading books and listening to audio tapes of interviews while researching her role. She blue them away: She flaunted her growing bump in this flattering gown Angle proof: The silver screen beauty looked great from every vantage point An ear-y sight: The immaculately made-up actress rounded off her look with emerald earrings It also details her life after her husband John F. Kennedy was shockingly assasinated while driving through the streets of Dallas, Texas in 1963. She was sitting next to the President as they rode through the city in a motorcade, which was attacked by former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald. As a stylistic device, the film focuses on a Theodore H. White's Life magazine interview which took place at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Red carpet bagger: She secured all the attention of the photographers when she arrived Poster girl: Natalie looked full of joy as she stood next to her latest film's poster The Peter principle: Saarsgaard looked dapper in a bespoke two piece suit Matrimonial affection: She was thrilled to see her on-screen husband, the real-life Mr Maggie Gyllenhaal Following her first husband's funeral Jackie largely withdrew from public life, and went on to marry Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968. The film competed for, but lost out on, the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. However it received good reviews, and Natalie's performance has so far came in for praise. It also picked up the prize for best screenplay for scribe Noah Oppenheim's script. The Fox Searchlight Pictures is scheduled to be released on December 2. Facial hair parade: There was much facial hair on display when Natalie posed up with costar Sarsgaard, director Pablo Larrain, costar Max Casella, screenwriter Noah Oppenheim and producer Ari Handel Oscar bait: Playing a real-life person such as here in Jackie always goes down well with Academy members Jackie is screenwriter Noah Oppenheim's first script - and it's already being tipped for awards season glory. He picked up the award for best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival Inferno (12A) Rating: American Honey (15) Rating: Not even the posters on the sides of buses seem to be trying very hard to make us see Inferno. The Da Vinci Code and Angels And Demons were just the beginning, they proclaim, which sounds far more like a threat than an enticement to those of us who fought to stay awake during the first two adaptations of Dan Browns bestselling novels. Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones search for clues in Inferno, above. Brian Viner says the film offers 'preposterous plotting' and is charmless, even with Tom Hanks' role Sure enough, Inferno offers more of the same: preposterous plotting without the saving grace of a tongue anywhere near a cheek. While I yield to no one in my admiration for Tom Hanks, the role of iconologist Dr Robert Langdon has from the start appeared almost programmed to circumvent his most appealing qualities as an actor. Langdon, unlike Hanks, is not someone youd particularly want to share a plate of antipasti with. And not just because of the likelihood of ending up as collateral damage in the latest attempt to assassinate him. At the start of Inferno directed, like the other two films in the series, by Ron Howard Langdon wakes up in a Florence hospital bed suffering terrible visions of hell and wondering what (the hell) hes doing there. Hes not sure about anything, except the credentials of the pretty doctor, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), attending to him. Why an improbably young and sexy English woman should be wielding a stethoscope in an Italian hospital is the only question that should occur to him, yet the only one that doesnt. Maybe he thinks she belongs in Italy because shes called Sienna. Anyway, Langdon has problems beyond his visions and memory loss so acute that hes forgotten the word for coffee (Its brown, he says), not least in the form of the sinister female cop trying to put a bullet in his head. Heavies with machine guns are after him and Sienna, too, and youd swear they were from Smersh or the CIA or some other menacing outfit, until it turns out that they are on the payroll of . . . the World Health Organisation. I told you it was preposterous. And wait, it gets sillier still. After all, its Brown, as Langdon might say. A nutty billionaire called Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) has hurled himself off a medieval bell tower having left a terrifying legacy: a plague-virus that, when released, will wipe out half of humanity. Which half is another question not answered, but never mind. Suffice to say that Zobrist thought he had the planets best interests at heart, a drastic short-term cull to ease the long-term dangers of over-population. Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones in Inferno. The film did not impress Brian Viner, who rated it just two stars This being a Brown story, there are clues to the whereabouts of the deadly virus in various Renaissance paintings, and in the works of the 13th-century poet Dante. Langdon must solve them while also working out which of the other worried-looking people, including his old flame Elizabeth (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and a shady cove called Harry (Irrfan Khan), are on the side of righteousness. By now we have moved from Florence to Venice and on to Istanbul, for no apparent reason other than to indulge Browns fondness for major European tourist destinations. Of course, arbitrary Euro-locations and daft, convoluted plots are often prime ingredients in entertaining action films; where would Bond and Bourne be without them? But, with the exception of Khans engagingly hammy performance, theres scarcely a whit of charm or fun in Inferno, which drags on for two increasingly painful hours. I commend it only for teaching me one thing I didnt know (that the word quarantine comes from the Italian for 40, quaranta, after the medieval practice of isolating ships and crew for 40 days), and for a single belly laugh, when the entire denouement pivots around the unforeseen absence of a mobile phone signal. I wont spoil the ending by letting on whether the futures bright for Dr Robert Langdon, but I can confirm that its definitely not Orange. Sasha Lane in American Honey, a film made by Andrea Arnold, who has a 'wonderful eye' for American society American Honey is even longer than Inferno, but much, much more deserving of your time. The writer-director is Andrea Arnold, who comes from Kent, but whose soul seems to belong to the American Midwest. Arnold hasnt made a movie in the U.S. before, but youd never know it. She has a wonderful eye for the flotsam and jetsam of American society, and for its blue-collar architecture of rundown trailer parks and decrepit motels. Like her best-known film, 2009s Fish Tank, American Honey focuses on a teenage girl already kicked in the teeth by life. In this case, its Star (a truly brilliant performance by newcomer Sasha Lane), who escapes her squalid existence and abusive stepfather by joining a travelling gang of misfits and deadbeats, collecting for dubious charities and selling magazine subscriptions door to door. The gang head to Kansas City, which they call KC, but they are a very odd kind of sunshine band. Outrageously amoral, yet beguilingly energetic, they are led by the Fagin-like Krystal (splendidly played by Elvis Presleys granddaughter Riley Keough). She discourages romantic liaisons on the basis that they are bad for business. But Star has already fallen under the spell of Krystals protege and occasional bedmate Jake (Shia LaBeouf, who doubtless indulged his fondness for method acting by not washing for weeks on end), making this film a love story as well as a road movie. Sasha Lane and Shia LaBeouf in American Honey, an exquisitely observed film with a great soundtrack Its exquisitely observed, with a great soundtrack, and is at times unbearably tense, as when Star is picked up by three cowboys whose intentions seem far from honourable. I wasnt sure about the wildlife motif recurring shots of birds, bees, butterflies, wasps but maybe Arnolds intention is to contrast the purity of nature with the mess made by human beings. She is famed for her buxom body and sexy ensembles. Yet Pamela Anderson totally ditched her trademark look as she headed to the incredibly trendy Dazed magazine's 25th anniversary party in London's The Store Studios on Thursday night. The 49-year-old Baywatch beauty opted for a stunning silk Bardot dress at the event, which was held in partnership with Calvin Klein and sponsored by CIROC Vodka while the bash was supported by Mercedes-Benz. Scroll down for video Slinky number: Pamela Anderson totally ditched her trademark look as she headed to the incredibly trendy Dazed magazine's 25th anniversary party in London's The Store Studios on Thursday night The stylish dress fell below the knee in length and sat high on her chest, making for an extremely ladylike look. Pamela was rubbing shoulders with the creme da la creme of the London social scene as she mingled with models, musicians and TV personalities - yet as an icon of her time she was a guest of honour. Her black dress hugged her famous curves in all the right places as the satin material flawlessly sat on her toned frame and ample assets. The Bardot neckline on the dress gave a slight saucy feel to the otherwise demure ensemble while the below knee-length hemline gave her a lady-like vibe. She boosted her height with elegant court shoes with a staggering stiletto heel and a pointed toe which tied in perfectly with her prim look. Blonde beauty: The 49-year-old Baywatch beauty opted for a stunning silk Bardot dress which fell below the knee in length and sat high on her chest, making for an extremely ladylike look Strutting her stuff: Pamela was rubbing shoulders with the creme da la creme of the London social scene as she mingled with models, musicians and TV personalities - yet as an icon of her time she was a guest of honour Chic: Another star to attend the bash was Laura Whitmore who took a break from Strictly Come Dancing training to hit the town with her uber cool peers. She kept her look simple in a classic trench with a burgundy dress underneath Ensuring the look was not too dark, she added a bold contrast with her grey clutch bag which featured an envelope pocket. Pamela's famous bleach blond tresses were perfectly feathered and blowdried into a funky style, cascading around her face elegantly. Another star to attend the bash was Laura Whitmore who took a break from Strictly Come Dancing training to hit the town with her uber cool peers. She kept her look simple in a classic trench with a burgundy dress underneath. Chic: Noel Gallagher's daughter Anais, whose mother is Meg Matthews, went for a trendy look comprising of a white crop top with Mom jeans Fresh faced: The 16-year-old kept things on trend with a black string choker tied around her neck while allowing her blonde locks to fall loose over her shoulders Handsome pair: Hitmaker Mark Ronson was at the affair where he posed alongside Jefferson Hack, the editorial director and publisher of the Dazed group Modelling icon Erin O'Connor sizzled in a sparkling silver top with navy Pallazo pants, having transformed from her earlier party gown at the UNICEF Halloween Ball across town. Noel Gallagher's daughter Anais, whose mother is Meg Matthews, went for a trendy look comprising of a white crop top with Mom jeans. The 16-year-old kept things on trend with a black string choker tied around her neck while allowing her blonde locks to fall loose over her shoulders. Flame haired beauty: Modelling icon Erin O'Connor sizzled in a sparkling silver top with navy Pallazo pants, having transformed from her earlier party gown for the UNICEF Halloween Ball Legend: Modelling icon Erin O'Connor sizzled in a sparkling silver top with navy Pallazo pants, having transformed from her earlier party gown for the UNICEF Halloween Ball Hitmaker Mark Ronson was at the affair where he posed alongside Jefferson Hack, the editorial director and publisher of the Dazed group. Model Lily Cole, who gave birth to her first child a year ago, wowed in a sheer black top which showed off her incredibly toned abs. Chef Gizzi Erskine, known for her love of a retro look, slipped into a tight leopard print dress which she cinched in at the waist. Her hair, typically worn in a beehive, was scraped back into a tight bun. Miaow! Chef Gizzi Erskine, known for her love of a retro look, slipped into a tight leopard print dress which she cinched in at the waist. Her hair, typically worn in a beehive was scraped back into a tight bun Asad is played by four actors over his life, each with their own radiance. But Siphosethu Juta (above), as the seven-year-old Asad at the preview I saw, distils the innocence and spirit of them all A Man Of Good Hope (Young Vic Theatre, London) Verdict: A joy to watch Rating: Anyone who loved Isango Ensemble's joyful production of Mozart's Magic Flute, played on marimbas and performed with South African township dancing in 2007, is going to love this show. It's the story, told with music and dance, of one young man's journey through Africa: from witnessing his mother being shot by Somali militia in Mogadishu all the way to setting up a corner shop, 4,000 miles away, in the bustling slums of Cape Town. The real life story of Asad Abdullahi, as recounted to South African writer Jonny Steinberg, is an epic journey. Steinberg tells us that Asad stopped reading his account after just 25 pages, because he found it too sad. But although there is certainly loss and hardship after escaping to a refugee camp in Kenya, he became a street hustler in Addis Ababa, before trusting his fate to people smugglers, in order to get to South Africa it is also a tale of astonishing self-belief. Almost as resourceful as our hero is Mark Dornford-May's production, which revels in the theatricality of Asad's pinball life, and requires him to clamber over doors and under tarpaulins, that here represent the borders between countries. He is challenged, befriended, shot at, serenaded, rejected and beaten by a constantly shifting chorus of characters including guards, officials, wives and relatives as he passes across the African continent. Keeping him going is the generosity he receives and gives back. He is, as the old Marx brothers joke goes, someone who works his way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty. The vitality of Isango's richly atmospheric performance is exactly equal to Asad's tenacity. Mixing opera and street dance, it's told using oil drums, boxes, corrugated iron, stamping feet, clapping hands and marimbas (wooden xylophones), with their hypnotic quivering sound. The cast of 24 are a joy to watch, whether it be in formation dancing or classical arias based on simple phrases such as the sinister 'sorry my friend'. Asad is played by four actors over his life, from childhood to adulthood, each with their own radiance. But Siphosethu Juta, as the seven-year-old Asad at the preview I saw, distils the innocence and spirit of them all: especially when singing the sweetly sardonic I Am Stupid. Yolanda Hadid and her daughter Bella were a beautiful black-clad duo at the Global Lyme Alliance gala in Manhattan on Thursday. The 52-year-old reality star served as co-chair for the organization, while the 20-year-old IMG Model was one of the night's honorees. At one point, the Malibu-based socialites shared a tender cheek kiss on the red carpet of Cipriani 42nd Street. Scroll down for video Mother-daughter outing! Yolanda Hadid and her daughter Bella were a beautiful black-clad duo at the Global Lyme Alliance gala in Manhattan on Thursday Clutching her trophy: The 52-year-old reality star served as co-chair for the organization, while the 20-year-old IMG Model was one of the night's honorees It's a cause very close to home for the Hadids, who came down with the tick-borne illness in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Sweetly supporting the mother-daughter duo was Bella's father and Yolanda's ex-husband #1, real estate developer Mohamed Hadid. And while the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum's daughter Gigi never had Lyme disease, her son Anwar is nearly '90 percent' clear of the 'incurable' ailment. '[My 17-year-old son is] very determined to get 100 percent and he does the work and does what needs to be done,' the Dutch-born blonde said on Tuesday's Good Day New York. Sneak peak of #GLAGala16 honoree @bellahadid s speech!! So inspirational - THANK YOU BELLA! pic.twitter.com/lvT25nsuzK Global Lyme Alliance (@LymeAlliance) October 14, 2016 Affectionate: At one point, the Malibu-based socialites shared a tender cheek kiss on the red carpet of Cipriani 42nd Street Still battling: It's a cause very close to home for the Hadids, who came down with the tick-borne illness in 2012 and 2013, respectively Family portrait: Sweetly supporting the mother-daughter duo was Bella's father and Yolanda's ex-husband #1, Mohamed Hadid Daddy's girl: Once seated, Hadid kissed the Palestinian real estate developer - turning 68 next month - who's been engaged to Shiva Safai since 2014 Mohamed gushed on Instagram: 'She gave an amazing speech. So proud of her! Looking up to and admiring this young Lady. Love you Bella!' However, Lyme disease effectively killed Bella's dreams of competing for equestrian glory at the Olympics. 'Bella is struggling. It's hard to imagine that this beautiful bright light on the cover of magazines that she could struggle the way that she does,' Hadid - born van den Herik - continued. 'You know she's always tired. She could sleep for 10 hours and wake up [and say] "I'm still tired." In the younger generation it comes up like anxiety, severe exhaustion, joint pain, flu like symptoms and they just keep struggling over it.' Family of models: And while the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum's daughter Gigi never had Lyme disease, her son Anwar is nearly '90 percent' clear of the 'incurable' ailment The Dutch-born blonde said on Tuesday's Good Day New York: '[My 17-year-old son is] very determined to get 100 percent and he does the work and does what needs to be done' 'Bella is struggling': However, Lyme disease effectively killed Bella's dreams of competing for equestrian glory at the Olympics Hadid - born van den Herik - continued: 'She's always tired. She could sleep for 10 hours and wake up [and say] "I'm still tired." In the younger generation it comes up like anxiety, severe exhaustion, joint pain, flu like symptoms and they just keep struggling over it' 'I've seen 106 doctors': St. Martin's Press will publish Yolanda's 288-page book on her health battle, Believe Me, on April 25, 2017 The twice-divorced mother-of-three has reportedly undergone a Stem Cell transplant, Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, Chelation therapy, colon hydrotherapy, and even RHP Ozone therapy in Tijuana. 'I've been all around the world. I've seen 106 doctors, I've travelled all over the world from Korea to Switzerland to Germany, Belgium, Holland, I mean I've been everywhere,' she noted. St. Martin's Press will publish Yolanda's 288-page book on her health battle, Believe Me, on April 25, 2017. LBD: For the glitzy gala, the former model looked sophisticated in a long-sleeved pencil dress with a matching purse and court shoes Catwalker: Bella - born Isabella - donned a cut-out lacy tube top, blazer, and skinny trousers with court shoes selected by her stylist Elizabeth Sulcer Diamond jewelry: The Misha Collection muse sported a plaited, middle-parted updo coiffed by Ben Skervin and cat-eyeliner applied by Vincent Oquendo Sold! The posh benefit raised an impressive $2.7M, including a private lunch with Bella and Yolanda for $60K Thank you! Bella cracked a rare open-mouth smile while at the podium accepting her award In the spotlight! Bella joined numerous others at the second annual United for a Lyme-Free World function For the glitzy gala, the former model looked sophisticated in a long-sleeved pencil dress with a matching purse and court shoes. Bella - born Isabella - donned a cut-out lacy tube top, blazer, and skinny trousers with court shoes selected by her stylist Elizabeth Sulcer. The Misha Collection muse sported a plaited, middle-parted updo coiffed by Ben Skervin and cat-eyeliner applied by Vincent Oquendo. The posh benefit raised an impressive $2.7M, including a private lunch with Bella and Yolanda for $60K. Her other half: Not seen with the 5ft9in brunette was her Grammy-winning boyfriend, The Weeknd, who joined her at her 20th birthday bash at Up & Down on Monday Not seen with the 5ft9in brunette was her Grammy-winning boyfriend, The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye), who joined her at her 20th birthday bash at Up & Down on Monday. Meanwhile at the benefit, Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas brought his wife Marisol Maldonado, who suffers from Lyme disease. The 44-year-old Grammy winner performed his 2009 single Her Diamonds, which was written about his 40-year-old wife's struggle with her illness. Still going strong! Meanwhile at the benefit, Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas brought his wife Marisol Maldonado, who suffers from Lyme disease There's certainly no dressing down required for Kate Beckinsale's latest role. The actress showed off several stylish outfits on Thursday as she got back to work on the set of Only Living Boy in New York. One ensemble in particular got a soaking as the 43-year-old actress filmed a scene under an umbrella and rain machine. Flawless! Kate Beckinsale looked fabulous as she filmed a rainy scene for The Only Living Boy in New York on Thursday The British born star was pictured in a grey pencil skirt and patterned blouse with blazer as she scurried through the downpour. Her long brunette locks looked immaculate and fell in glossy waves around her shoulders. Soon after the actress looked equally gorgeous in some black leggings and a snug grey sweater. So stylish! The 43-year-old actress wore a grey pencil skirt and patterned blouse Some black biker boots completed the look along with some sunglasses. Kate was pictured strolling down a sidewalk alongside co-star Callum Turner as cameras rolled. The movie follows a recent college graduate (portrayed by Turner) whose life changes drastically when he begins a relationship with his father's mistress (played by Kate). Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Bridges also star. Meanwhile Kate addressed the Michael Bay body-shaming controversy when the director once told her she should hire a personal trainer prior to filming 2001's Pearl Harbor. Umbrella at the ready! It was a dry day before production stuck the rain machine on for the scene In production: The star was seen alongside co-star Callum Turner as she shot the sidewalk scene Autumn chic: Kate was later seen in some leggings and a snug grey sweater for another scene 'It was such an old story that Id been asked about a million times,' The actress told Yahoo Movies on Monday. 'It surprised the s--t out of me, and him really. Pearl Harbor was a long time ago. Its true there was a bit of that going on, but the shaming of people is something Im against in general. Ive seen him since, and weve gotten over it. I didnt feel it was personal, and I wish him nothing but the best.' Bay was reportedly hesitant to cast the actress in the World War II drama because of her appearance. Action! The actress chatted with Callum as they strolled down the street Hot stuff! The British born star wore biker boots and shaded to complete the look Enviable wardrobe! Kate was spotted in a third outfit as she shot part of a scene she also worked on earlier in the week 'Because I wasnt blonde and my boobs werent bigger than my head, I didnt make sense to him as an attractive woman,' she told host Graham Norton in May. 'So there was a lot of panic and concern about, "How on Earth are we going to make her attractive?" You think youd take that really personally, but I sort of managed not to. It was so extreme I kind of didnt. 'Id just had my daughter and had lost weight, but was told that if I got the part, Id have to work out,' she added. Laughs on set: Kate looked equally amazing in a leather skirt and printed blouse 'And I just didnt understand why a 1940s nurse would do that.' Kate is mother to daughter Lily from her previous eight-year relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen which ended in 2003. Kate's relationship with director Len Wiseman ended in November of last year following 11 years of marriage. James Beard Awards To Stay In Chicago Through 2021 By Stephen Gossett in Food on Oct 14, 2016 7:44PM Chef Grant Achatz is congratulated after accepting the Outstanding Restaurant award for Alinea at the James Beard Awards (Photo: Huge Galdones Photography / JBF) / Facebook Chicago is undoubtedly among the forefront of the national culinary landscape, and today that stature was cemented even further, as one of the most prestigious awards in food and dining will remain based in the city. The James Beard Awards ceremony is staying in Chicago, at least through 2021, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on Friday. The partnership between the city and the James Beard Foundation was set to expire in 2017 before the arrangement was extended. The opportunity to host the James Beard Awards for an additional four years is testament to the city of Chicagos reputation as a culinary capital and cultural destination, Emanuel said in press release. Chicagos world-class culinary scene is an important part of the citys economy, supporting jobs and economic opportunities in neighborhoods across the city. We are proud to continue hosting this prestigious event and look forward to showing even more visitors what our city has to offer. Not only has Chicago proven a capable host city, locals have fared well in the competition itself: more than 25 Chicago-based chefs and restaurants were nominated in 2016. "Chicagos hospitality industry is proud to uphold the James Beard Foundation's mission of honoring America's culinary heritage, Sam Toia, President & CEO, Illinois Restaurant Association said in a release. "The Awards punctuate Chicagos prominence as a leading culinary giant, and shine a spotlight on our own diverse community of restaurants and chefs. Kate Hudson had some A-list fun on Thursday night when she hung out with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Garner. The 37-year-old actress dazzled in a satin blush pink number that skimmed the floor and had a plunging neckline as to show off her ample cleavage at a party for Tiffany & Co in Los Angeles. Kate elegantly draped a matching coat over her shoulders as she worked her magic on the turquoise hued carpet for the unveiling of a store renovation, which was also also attended by A-listers Jennifer Garner, Sofia Vergara, Gal Gadot and Halle Berry. Scroll down for video Stunners: Busty Kate Hudson snapped selfies with Reese Witherspoon as she partied with Tiffany & Co in Los Angeles on Thursday night She's got it going on: Kate wore a very low-cut blush pink number for the night out as she sat in-between Reese (right ) and Jennifer Garner (left) Kate appeared to be having the time of her life as she snapped selfies with her good pal Reese. Blonde beauty Kate looked busty in her plunging top as she made sure to capture the moment with her Hollywood pal. They later caught up with Jennifer Garner who looked just as stunning in an LBD as they sat on a bench together. Squad: Kate cosied up to her good friend Jennifer who sported a retro look in her Sixties inspired ensemble Say cheese: Kate appeared to be having the time of her life as she put her arms around her pals and posed for a series of snaps What a gem! Kate and Reese also caught up with jewellery designer Francesca Amfitheatrof from the Tiffany brand (centre) Glamour: The ladies looked like they had stepped straight out of the pages of a high fashion magazine for the occasion From her intricate choker necklace to her eye-catching bracelet, Kate was practically dripping glam. The Almost Famous actress had on a coat of metallic pink nail polish to match her striking ensemble. She teamed her plunging top with satin wide-leg trousers, while wearing some matching platform heels. How do they do it? They spent much of the evening together as they showed off their glam and polished looks She's a real gem! Kate dazzled in a satin blush pink number and matching coat which skimmed the floor and had a plunging neckline Dressed to the nines! From her intricate choker necklace to her eye-catching bracelet, Kate was practically dripping glam Also present were Reese and Jennifer, who both chose black for the occasion. While Reese opted for a black jumpsuit complete with sexy keyhole detail at the cleavage, Jennifer chose a beautiful LBD. Also wearing black was Modern Family beauty Sofia Vergara. Drop dead gorgeous: Sofia Vergara ordinarily turns every head, and Thursday was no exception for the Modern Family star Providing plenty of va-va-voom! Halle Berry was certain to steal the show in an unbuttoned, sheer black blouse, blazer, and trousers Sexy look: The Oscar-winner turned heads as she flashed her lace bra Gorgeous: Ariana Grande later sang at the star-studded event, looking chic in slim fitting trousers and a cut-out top The actress ordinarily turns every head, and Thursday was no exception for the Modern Family star. Sofia transfixed in a pretty black number, which she teamed with platform heels and a gorgeous necklace. Gal Gadot, meanwhile, captivated in a black sequin number with a stunning rose design. Classic! Jennifer Garner opted for a timeless LBD, a strappy pair of black heels, and a shimmering clutch All together! The ladies shared the spotlight with an elegantly dressed Reese Witherspoon Stylish trio: Jennifer, Reese and Halle opted for chic black ensembles at the LA event Fancy seeing you here: The ladies all cosied up for a group hug as they enjoyed their night out together Standing out! While many of the stars opted for classic black, Ali Larter and Camilla Belle stood out in their pretty and colourful frocks Stylish pair: Kate and Reese were all smiles as they caught up at the star-studded store event Famous friends: Jen got a big hug from actress Jamie King, who wore a shimmery frock Feminine frocks: Camilla wore a delicate light blue lace dress, while Ali opted for a pretty pink strapless look With her locks scraped back into an elegant updo, the Wonder Woman star put all the attention on her cherry red lips and perfectly applied mascara. Halle Berry was certain to steal the show in an unbuttoned, sheer black blouse, blazer, and trousers. She flashed her very sexy lace bra and wore her lightened locks in a sexy up do. Hello petal! Gal Gadot, meanwhile, captivated in a black sequin number with a stunning rose design Dazzling: The Wonder Woman star stood out in the eye-catching number Men of style! Liam Hemsworth and Matt Bomer suited up for their night on the town Pout for me: Ariana Grande put on a very saucy display in a cut-out black top, showing off plenty of gorgeous glowing skin Singing to the people: Ariana later played her many hit tracks at the bash Bling bling: The young singer dressed her neck with a simple but incredible diamond necklace and matching bracelet Show-stopping: The brunette crooner showed off her slim figure in the figure-hugging trousers and stylish cut out peplum top She appeared to lack sympathy during make-over week on Australia's Next Top Model by giving the contestants the 'tough love' approach. And mentor Cheyenne Tozzi, 27, appeared to take a swipe at Kassidy Ure, 19, on Friday - days after the aspiring model broke down in tears over a haircut. 'I understand what they're going through because I've been there before, that's why I'm here,' Cheyenne told the Daily Telegraph . 'How long can you sit and cry over a short haircut?': Australia's Next Top Model's Cheyenne Tozzi, 27, appeared to take a swipe at contestant Kassidy Ure, 19, on Friday - days after the aspiring model broke down in tears over a haircut 'But how long can you sit and cry over a short haircut. You want this, you came to us, you have to be strong,' she added. Cheyenne insists that her intentions are good, explaining that she tries to teach the girls the importance of humility in the fashion world. 'It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice... I think all the self-entitlement and people being rude is so ridiculous because we're all just here for a good time not a long time.' Challenging: Kassidy recently spoke to Elle magazine about her struggle to accept her new look, saying: 'They were taking away my confidence by cutting my hair off' Shedding tears: 'I could see all my hair falling off, I remember my heart just breaking,' the aspiring model said of the make-over episode Her comments come on the heels of a recent episode, in which the contestants were introduced to celebrity hairdresser Joey Scandizzo. '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 women before their make-overs began. Kassidy was told that she'd be getting 'the big chop' as host Jennifer Hawkins reassured her the change would 'give her more versatility within the industry.' Coming to terms: 'At the time I was struggling with my confidence, and trying to make a breakthrough in the show, and I felt like I'd finally done that' With no mirrors in the salon to give the girls any clue as to what they look like, the final reveal was an overwhelming experience for the model. Kassidy 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 shaved at the back. Jennifer consoled the teenage, 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.' Highly emotional: Kassidy 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 shaved at the back Colin Farrell looked sharp as he promoted his new film Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them as part of a global fan event. The Irish actor joined his co-star Jon Voight at the TCL Chinese Theatre while the main Fantastic Beasts: A Return To JK Rowling's Wizarding World unfolded in London. There, the Harry Potter author - who made her screenwriting debut with this film- revealed the movie is likely to have four sequels. Scroll down for video Dapper dan: On Thursday, Colin Farrell donned Cult of Individuality jeans at LA's TCL Chinese Theater to film the Global Fan Event for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them 'We always knew it was going to be more than one movie,' she said. 'We knew that from the start, and so we said a trilogy as a sort of placeholder, because we knew there would be more than one movie. Meanwhile, at the Los Angeles event, In Bruges star Colin cut a dashing figure in black blazer over a white dress shirt with several buttons left open. Tight, faded Cult of Individuality jeans and grey boots completed his look, and he'd begun to let a beard grow in. Voight wore a pale blue dress shirt with a midnight blue jacket, adding a dapper touch by way of a pocket square. He and Farrell had previously starred alongside each other in the 2008 film Pride And Glory. Across the pond: At the London leg of the event, JK Rowling revealed the film will have four sequels Inter-generational: The In Bruges star posed alongside Jon Voight, his co-star in the film As a pair, they posed for photographs with Today anchor Natalie Morales, who interviewed them for Facebook Live. The courtyard in front of the cinema played host to a facsimile of the film's 1920s New York City setting, including vintage storefronts of a clothes shop and a bakery. Papered onto was a wanted poster for the Redmayne character Newt Scamander, a British 'magizoologist' who after the events of the film goes on to write the titular Hogwarts textbook. History: They had previously co-starred together in the 2008 film Pride And Glory Interlocutor: Today show anchor Natalie Morales interviewed them for the Facebook Live event Rowling's script flings Scamander stateside and has him lose several of his magical creatures. They then rampage through New York City and risk the potentially catastrophic exposure of witches and wizards to 'No-Maj' (the American equivalent of 'Muggle') society. All this happens during the rise of Gellert Grindelwald, the villainous sorcerer who precedes Voldemort as the bete noire of the Wizarding World. The native Dubliner plays Percival Graves, Director Of Magical Security at the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA). Voight, who is Angelina Jolie's father, features as the father of a United States Senator played by Josh Cowdery. The miracle of technology: They were broadcast alongside their compatriots at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, including the film's leading man Eddie Redmayne and director David Yates Supporting players: The Seven Psychopaths star features as an Auror called Percival Graves, the Midnight Cowboy star as the father of a United States Senator As Variety have reported, the fan event saw the premiere of a good deal of footage, including Scamander smuggling his beasts through US Customs and Graves assessing the damage they've wrought after their escape. Farrell and Voight were broadcast on Facebook Live along with the UK event, which took place at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square. Asked about his character, Colin said 'I don't know how I identified with him, but he - I would like to think that I have some kind of version of my own sense of justice and injustice. 'I think that's what Graves really carries with him. I think his job is to uphold the safety, first and foremost, of the Wizarding world.' Global fan event: Meanwhile, Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne put in an appearance at the London event, where JK Rowling revealed four more sequels are in the works Fan favorite: The British Oscar-winner stars in the highly-anticipated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, due out next month The fact witches and wizards have to conceal their abilities from the non-magical populace 'eats away at him,' and he endeavours 'to tear down those walls.' Director David Yates, who along with leading man Eddie Redmayne and several other cast members was also at the London gathering, revealed that though the first film's set in New York City, the next will transpire in another capital. Teasing an appearance by Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore, who as Harry Potter fans know were friends as young men, he said: 'He is featured in a wonderful scene between Colin and Eddie.' Yates also directed the last four Harry Potter movies, which were based on the last three books in the beloved series. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them will open in both America and Britain on November 18. It was a rare moment of nineties nostalgia captured by one of its own top icons. Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton took to Instagram on Thursday to share a throwback snap as she enjoyed one of her former fellow girlbands All Saints making a comeback at Brixton Academy. Sitting alongside her pal Holly Willoughby, 35, Emma, 40, shared a fun selfie as they sat in the audience. Scroll down for video She knows where it's at! Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton took to Instagram on Thursday to share a throwback snap as she enjoyed one of her former fellow girlbnands All Saints making a comeback at Brixton Academy Emma, who shares two children with former Damage star Jade Jones, 37, held up a peace sign as she beamed alongside Holly and her two pals. '#Allsaints #love #friends #throwbackthursday', she captioned the shot. Both clad in leather jackets, This Morning presenter Holly also looked in good spirits. Taking to Instagram, mother-of-three Holly pouted happily, unphased by her impending early morning start. What beef? Sitting alongside her pal Holly Willoughby, 35, Emma, 40, shared a fun selfie as they sat in the audience- despite Mel B previously claiming she 'beat up Shaznay Lewis' All Saints performing! Melanie Blatt, Nicole Appleton, Shaznay Lewis, Natalie Appleton If you want to party! Reformed band All Saints rocked the stage as they sang hits from their comeback album Meanwhile reformed band All Saints rocked the stage as they sang hits from their comeback album. Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis, and sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton put on a chic appearance in black coordinated outfits and white Adidas trainers. In November 2013, it was announced that the group would be officially reforming to support the Backstreet Boys across the UK and Ireland in 2014. Nineties nostalgia! Taking to Instagram, mother-of-three Holly pouted happily, unphased by her impending early morning start Glitz: Shaznay (left) and Natalie Appleton (right) wore matching sequin black blazers Sexy! Melanie Blatt wore a emblazoned bustier with a sheer panel across her midriff Performing at G-A-Y and V Festival, Blatt revealed in an interview that the group were 'just taking each day as it comes and doing it for pure enjoyment'. However in January 2016 the girl group confirmed they were releasing their fourth studio album Red Flag in April. The lead single from the album One Strike preceded the album in February when they announced their first headlining show in over a decade at London's KOKO. In March they revealed they would be undertaking their first tour in 15 years to support their comeback album, Red Flag. Visiting 10 British cities, the sets comprised all of their successful singles as well as their new tracks from Red Flag, which debuted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. Comeback! In January 2016 the girl group confirmed they were releasing their fourth studio album Red Flag in April Going strong! In March they revealed they would be undertaking their first tour in 15 years to support their comeback album, Red Flag Busy ladies! Visiting 10 British cities, the sets comprised all of their successful singles as well as their new tracks from Red Flag, which debuted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart Meanwhile in March former Spice Girl Mel B made the shock claims that she once 'beat up Shaznay in the toilets. The America's Got Talent judge made the sensational claims that the duo had a row in which she tried to 'rip her weave off' as she chatted to Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss. She told Allegedly Podcast: 'There was this girl group called All Saints. And I had already beaten up one of them in the bathroom, the black girl Shaznay. 'She started giving me attitude so I went in the bathroom and tried to rip her weave off. And she chokes me and then we kinda got split up but I won.' At the time a spokesperson for Shaznay meanwhile blasted the 'horrible' story and claimed their was no truth in Mel's sensational claim. She became a movie sensation when she starred as Giselle in cult Disney film, Enchanted. But in an interview with Graham Norton, Amy Adams, 42, said that her six-year-old daughter Aviana Olea is unimpressed by her fame and isn't too fussed about the impending sequel of the movie, either. Wearing a stunning plunging black dress, Amy said of the second film: ' It is definitely happening. Theyve got a director and they are developing a script. Im hoping I am in it. Im not going to let anyone else play Giselle!' Scroll down for video 'She makes fun of me': Amy Adams showed off her cleavage in a plunging LBD... as she revealed her six-year-old daughter Aviana is unimpressed by her fame Family outing: Amy was out doing a grocery run with her husband Darren and their daughter Aviana Olea, in LA earlier this year Asked if her six year-old daughter will be impressed that she is going back to be Giselle, she says, 'No, she is so cool.' 'I am mama to her and she doesnt think of me as an actress at all. She makes fun of me for it. When I facetime her she says, Oh my god, its Amy Adams! Amy starred on the show to promote her new movie Arrival, alongside her co-star Jeremy Renner, as well as Niall Horan and Chris O'Dowd. Glammed up: With her hair worn loose and thick over one shoulder, the star accessorised with a delicate hooped earring and strappy heels. Enjoying a chat: Amy is joined by Jeremy Renner and Chris O'Dowd on the sofa New film: Amy plays an expert linguist who is called by the U.S. government to communicate with mysterious spacecrafts which have touched down on earth The red-headed actress looked as glamorous as usual in the plunging frock which appeared to be split above the knee. With her hair worn loose and thick over one shoulder, the star accessorised with a delicate hooped earring and strappy heels. In Arrival Amy plays an expert linguist who is called by the U.S. government to communicate with mysterious spacecrafts which have touched down on earth. Amy said of the second film: ' It is definitely happening. Theyve got a director and they are developing a script. Im hoping I am in it' It's the latest role in a string of acclaimed dramas the actress has appeared in including Big Eyes and American Hustle. The latter film became the subject of some controversy after Amy found herself at the heart of the Sony email hacking saga which revealed that her American Hustle male co-stars were paid more than their female counterparts. Addressing the disparity between the sexes, Amy tells the new issue of Elle UK: 'The negotiation comes to a standstill and I have to make a choice, which a lot of women do. I can walk away. One direction: Niall Horan also drops by to promote his new solo work Back to black: Amy had earlier this week sported another low cut number for a photocall to promote the film 'But I choose not to This is an issue not just about womens pay; we need to work on how women are viewed in society and then the pay will be reflected in that. 'Right now time is more important to me. So thats what I negotiate because any time Im working, Im not spending with my daughter.' Amy is married to actor and artist Darren Le Gallo, father to Amy's daughter Aviana. The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, 14th October 10.35pm She was left to care for her two young children in June when her husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for insider trading. And Roxy Jacenko, 36, shared the latest of her parenting struggles when she posted a photo of her two-year-old son Hunter Curtis refusing to jump into the pool for his swimming lesson on Thursday. Taking to Instagram, the PR guru uploaded a video of a grumpy-looking Hunter cloaked in his towel with a swimming cap covering his hair. Scroll down for video 'Why won't you swim?' Roxy Jacenko, 36, shared the latest of her parenting struggles when she uploaded a photo of her two-year-old son Hunter Curtis refusing to jump into the pool for his swimming lesson on Thursday 'Why won't you swim?', asked Roxy as Hunter looked into the camera with a pitiful expression. 'Because I'm freezing!' He piped up. 'But I want to see your swimming. What's the problem?' Roxy responded. 'Because I'm freezing!' Hunter melted the hearts of viewers as he refused to jump into the pool In another post, Roxy shared a photo of herself sitting by the pool with Hunter sat next to her and daughter Pixie, five, asleep on her lap. 'One sleeps the other goes on strike!!!' she joked in the caption. Family time has become clearly important for the Sweaty Betty PR boss, after husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for two years. 'One sleeps the other goes on strike': In another post, Roxy shared a photo of herself sitting by the pool with Hunter sat next to her and daughter Pixie, five, asleep on her lap She recently told 60 Minutes her two children were her best friends, and that she often spoke to them about what was going on in her life. Shortly after Oliver's sentencing, Roxy faced another setback as she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Bondi-based businesswoman had her last radiation treatment earlier this month. Going at it alone: Family time has become clearly important for the Sweaty Betty PR boss, after husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for two years for insider trading in June She was dumped in Bali back in June, when The Bachelor's Richie Strahan decided her preferred single Mum Alex Nation. So it comes as no surprise Nikki Gogan looked downcast on Friday as she arrived at Denpasar Airport - which likely holds painful memories for her. Wearing navy tracksuit pants and a grey sweater, the 28-year-old looked relaxed as she walked through the terminal with her sister Dani. Scroll down for video Downcast: The Bachelor runner-up Nikki Gogan looked downcast on Friday as she arrived at Denpasar Airport - which likely holds painful memories for her following her TV break-up With her messy blonde locks worn loosely and her face without a stitch of make-up, the Perth real estate agent looked tense as she hauled her designer luggage to a waiting vehicle. Her trip to Indonesia comes days after Bachelor star Faith Williams claimed several former contestants would be going on a girls' trip. In an Instagram post last month, Faith tagged one-time love rivals Janey Birks and Rachael Gouvignon. 'Eleven more sleeps until I get to catch up with my bachy (sic) babes in Bali! Can't wait to unwind and reminisce,' she wrote in the caption. Low-key: Wearing navy tracksuit pants and a grey sweater, the 28-year-old looked relaxed as she walked through the terminal with her sister Dani She added several hash tags, including 'memories' and 'excited.' Nikki's getaway comes a month after Australia watched her get dumped by Richie Strahan in Bali on national TV. Despite forming a strong bond, the rope access technician chose Alex, 25, as his winner - leaving Nikki tearful and heartbroken. Girls just wanna have fun! Her trip to Indonesia comes days after Bachelor star Faith Williams (L) claimed several former contestants would be going on a girls' trip Relaxing getaway: Earlier this week, Faith was pictured on the sunny island with former Bachelorettes Janey Birks (L) and Rachael Gouvignon (C) She previously tole The Daily Telegraph she knew Richie had chosen Alex as soon as Richie held her hand at the final rose ceremony. 'The moment I got down the stairs... I knew he wasn't my Richie,' Nikki said. 'It was a different energy. He wasn't holding my hand as tightly and his eyes were sad eyes, not excited, happy eyes that I was used to. He was just different.' How could you, Richie? Nikki's getaway comes a month after Australia watched her get dumped by Richie Strahan (C) in Bali on national TV in favour of Alex Nation (R) Earlier this month, it was alleged Nikki has already moved on with a new man. 'It's the last thing she expected,' an friend of the blonde reportedly told NW magazine. 'Nikki's back in touch with an old friend and they have been on a few dates. It's nothing super-serious at this stage but she's really happy.' The source added: 'He's very different from Richie and he makes her laugh.' The Bachelorette may follow the tale of Georgia Love's quest for 'the one.' But between the takes, a fiery bromance brewed between evicted contestant Rhys Chilton and several of his fellow suitors. While he failed to spark romance with Georgia, Rhys has admitted that he would consider dating Lee Elliott, Matty Johnson or Cameron Cranley if he 'turned' gay. Scroll down for video 'I can vouch for how amazing each of those guys are': A fiery bromance brewed between evicted contestant Rhys Chilton and several of his fellow suitors 'I can see a spark and I can vouch for how amazing each of those guys are,' the topless model gushed in an interview with Popsugar on Friday. 'I ever turn, I might give second place a call,' he chuckled. His words may come as surprise to former contestant Aaron Brady, with whom Rhys shared undeniably bromantic chemistry in the early episodes. Let's hope they like poetry! Rhys has admitted that he would consider dating Lee Elliott, Matty Johnson or Cameron Cranley if he turned gay 'We actually talked about adopting some children,' laughed Aaron during an interview with Elle magazine after his eviction. 'No, its just a bit of fun, a bit of banter. Weve both got the same sense of humour that can take it and run with it.' Rhys has also shared a rather tumultuous relationship with fellow model Sam Johnston, prompting many fans to liken the pair to an old married couple. What would Aaron say? His words may come as surprise to former contestant Aaron Brady, with whom Rhys shared undeniably bromantic chemistry during the show's formative episodes Bickering bosom buddies? Rhys has also shared a rather tumultuous relationship with fellow model Sam Johnston, prompting many fans to liken the pair to an old married couple The Bachelorette production team threw their support behind the hilarious comparison, sharing a photo of the pair posing as husband and wife together. In a funny Instagram post, the bickering twosome stood behind a cardboard cut-out depicting the cartoon bodies of a bride and groom at Sydney's Luna Park. At the bottom of the picture, it was simply signed, 'Sam & Rhys. Luna Park, 2016.' Happily ever after? In a funny Instagram post, the bickering twosome stood behind a cardboard cut-out depicting the cartoon bodies of a bride and groom at Sydney's Luna Park. The official Bachelorette account captioned the image: 'It was simply not meant to be between Georgia and our dynamic duo Sam and Rhys. 'Try to be nice to each other on the outside boys! #BacheloretteAU.' With his days in the Bachelorette mansion behind him, Rhys aims to start his own blog as well as continue his reign as Brisbane's leading ladies' events model. Rhys' website states: 'I've helped some really amazing groups of girls enjoy what is a very special celebration and for as long as I'm in good enough shape I think I'll continue doing so.' 'I'm certainly a people person and getting to know you and your group of friends on your special night is something I will always look forward to!' New beginnings: With his days in the Bachelorette mansion behind him, Rhys aims to start his own blog as well as continue his reign as Brisbane's leading ladies' events model As Thursdays go, Reese Witherspoon's has been rather eventful. The 40-year-old rang in the evening at a star-studded turquoise carpet fete celebrating Tiffany & Co's freshly refurbished Beverly Hills outpost. Earlier in the day, she'd celebrated the trunk show of her fashion and home goods brand Draper James, and USA Today broke news that she is also set to write a new lifestyle book. Stylish: Reese Witherspoon wore a chic black jumpsuit that flashed a bit of cleavage as she attended the Tiffany & Co. store renovation reopening in LA on Thursday At the star-studded Tiffany & Co event, the Academy Award-winner donned a slinky black turtlenecked jumpsuit that bared her cleavage through a wide slit that fell to the outfit's high waistband. Her blonde hair was pulled back behind her head, except for a wavy section that sloped down the right side of her face. On the carpet, Reese posed with her fellow Oscar-winner Halle Berry, as well as Jennifer Garner. Babe in black: Reese wore her blonde hair back and added shimmering earrings Jumpsuit chic: Her turtlenecked black ensemble bared her cleavage via a slit Halle flashed her own cleavage, as well as part of her lacy and translucent bra, by way of a sheer top she left half open. Meanwhile, the estranged wife of Ben Affleck had opted for a far more conservative look, a full-sleeved black top matching her black knee-length skirt and her stilettos. From inside the event, Wild actress Reese updated her Snapchat followers about various other fellow celebrities with whom she'd done a bit of hobnobbing. The women in black: The Walk The Line actress (centre) stood for the cameras with Jennifer Garner (left) and Halle Berry (right) Catching the light: The estranged wife of Ben Affleck held a gleaming metallic clutch against her otherwise black outfit Out in the open: The Monster's Ball star wore her sheer top half open to reveal her lacy bra Among those was Kate Hudson, whom she seemed thrilled to see as the pair grinned broadly together for the phone camera. Reese, who is wed to talent agent Jim Toth, mingled with the brand of honour's top brass as well. Francesca Amfitheatrof, who's been design director of Tiffany & Co since 2013, gave the camera an enigmatic smile from over the actress' shoulder. Earlier in the day, Reese had given a bit of attention in Beverly Hills to her own Southern-inspired fashion brand, Draper James, which she brought into being last May. New work: USA Today have reported Witherspoon's writing a new lifestyle book which, according to her statement, will serve up 'a glimpse into my idea of Southern living' The Walk The Line star swung by the Draper James trunk show wearing the company's collared Cranberry Lace Dress, which is faintly redolent of the 1950s and retails on the site for $235 (192.61). Letting her wavy blonde hair fall free, she complemented the outfit with leopard print stilettos and a pair of cat eye sunglasses. The afternoon's fashion event was speckled with famous names as well. Molly Sims cradled her third baby bump, wearing a black dress and jacket as she posed next to the New Orleans native for a photo the Las Vegas actress posted to Instagram. 'Some Style Is Legendary': The mother of three also uploaded Snapchat updates from within the Tiffany & Co event Top brass: She posed for one post with Francesca Amfitheatrof, who's been design director of Tiffany & Co since 2013 Duo of blondes: The Legally Blonde star seemed particularly thrilled to see Kate Hudson A rack of Draper James clothing stood behind them in the photo, and the Kentuckian effused in her caption: 'Love @draperjames! Amazing collection @reesewitherspoon,' adding some emojis before concluding: '#southerngirls #totesyall #draperjames'. Witherspoon herself posted an Instagram photo of herself under a blackboard sign with 'Pie Bar' written on it in chalk, the text flanked by drawings of pies. She was, herself, flanked by figures from her new industry: jewellery designer Jennifer Meyer, model Kelly Sawyer and celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe. Her own best advert: That afternoon, she attended a Beverly Hills trunk show for her own brand Draper James, wearing a Draper James Cranberry Lace Dress that retails on the site at $235 (192.61) The Legally Blonde star's caption gushed that 'These ladies are #SweetAsPie!' An emoji of two hearts preceded: '@DraperJames #TrunkShow'. For her part, the The Rachel Zoe Project star offered up her own Instagram picture of the quartet: 'Serving up southern smiles with our lady of the day @reesewitherspoon @draperjames with my loves @jenmeyerjewelry @kellysawyer'. After a trio of emojis, she added: '#friendssupportfriends #lovesoutherngirls XoRZ'. That morning, USA Today ran a story in which they quoted a statement from Touchstone, a publishing imprint backed by Simon & Schuster. 'Amazing collection': Kentucky native Molly Sims uploaded an Instagram photo of herself cradling her third baby bump as she posed with the New Orleans native and a rack of Draper James clothing In it, they trumpeted the Walk The Line star's currently unnamed forthcoming book as a means by which she'll 'celebrate the American Souths signature style, grace, and charm and illustrate how 21st century women can incorporate these elements into everyday life.' The author's own statement about the book, which is slated for release in 2018, crowed that she was 'thrilled to be writing my first book with Touchstone.' She vaunted her upcoming literary debut for providing a 'unique opportunity for me to share funny anecdotes about my Southern upbringing and give people a glimpse into my idea of Southern living.' 'These ladies are #SweetAsPie!': The woman who launched Draper James last May (second from left) posed for an Instagram photo at the trunk show with (from left) jewellery designer Jennifer Meyer, model Kelly Sawyer and celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe Her parents were one of the most iconic celebrity couples of the 90s. And Anais Gallagher - daughter of Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher, 49, and Meg Mathews, 50 - paid homage to the era with her choice of outfit as she attended the Dazed 25th anniversary party at London's Store Studios on Thursday night. The teenage model, 16, rocked a white bandeau crop top and a pair of slouchy blue jeans as she mingled with the star-studded crowd at the magazine bash. Scroll down for video Teen queen: Anais Gallagher paid homage to the 90s with her choice of outfit as she attended the Dazed 25th anniversary party at London's Store Studios on Thursday night Anais completed the ensemble with a pair of pristine white sneakers, and rolled up her jeans to put the shoes on full display. The pretty blonde wore her long locks loose around her shoulders and showed off her natural beauty with minimal makeup. Anais also wore a black choker which featured long tassels at the front, and a colourful necklace consisting of purple, orange, yellow and green beading. Model behaviour: The teenage model, 16, rocked a white bandeau crop top and a pair of slouchy blue jeans as she mingled with the star-studded crowd at the magazine bash Anais is the daughter of rocker Noel Gallagher and his ex-wife Meg Mathews, 49, who he divorced in 2001, when Anais was less than a year old. The British musician is now married to Sara MacDonald, 43 and they have two sons together Sonny, five, and Donovan, eight. The young model is currently giving the fashion industry's veterans a run for their money, having already graced the cover of fashion bibles Wonderland and L'Officiel. Blonde ambition: The pretty blonde wore her long locks loose around her shoulders and showed off her natural beauty with minimal make-up Icons: Anais is the daughter of daughter of legendary Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher, 49, and ex-wife Meg Mathews, 50 (pictured together in 1999 before their split) In March Anais - who has been signed Select Model Management since she was 13 - revealed that her dad wasn't keen on her following in his musical footsteps. She told The Sun: '[Modelling] is not their first choice for me but my dad definitely wouldn't want me to go into music. If you have ever heard me sing or play an instrument you would appreciate that. She also said that they avoid awkward conversations. 'We made an agreement that they should stay out of my friendships and relationships as I get embarrassed, just like any other 16-year-old.' Mike Pence Says Tsunami Of Allegations Against Trump Are NBD By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 14, 2016 3:23PM Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets Indiana Gov. Mike Pence at the Grand Park Events Center on July 12, 2016. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images) You can breathe a sigh of relief, soul of America. Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence told the TODAY show on Friday morning that evidence that will disprove allegations against Donald Trump are forthcoming later today. Whew. For a second there it sure seemed like the GOP had nominated a misogynistic, child-sexualizing predator for president. Thank the gay-pizza-hating Gods thatll all be cleared up. Pence has been in full damage control mode since last evening, but his efforts to cauterize the bloodletting have been less than inspired. On Thursday he railed against Trumps most hated political lobbying organization: the news. Politico wrote: The Republican vice presidential nominee slammed reporters for spending so much time on unsubstantiated allegations against my running mate, allegations that he has categorically denied, rather than focusing on the corruption and the deceit of the Clintons and the Clinton machine. Pence tried again Friday morning to deflect questions about a wave of allegations against the dead man walking at the top of his ticket, vainly attempting to turn the conversation toward the Clinton Foundation and, you guessed it, emails. And when asked about the stirring reproach First Lady Michelle Obama delivered on Thursday, Pence said he didnt get her point. Look I have a lot of respect for the first lady. But I dont understand the basis of her claim. (Pence's FLOTUS comments begin at approximately 4:40 in the video below.) He was pressed, but Pence continued to downplay. CBS writes: You dont believe his language was sexually predatory? co-host Norah ODonnell asked Pence, quoting Obamas words when she slammed Trump for bragging about sexually assaulting women. Pence, who just last week said in a statement that he was offended by Trumps lewd 2005 recordings and cannot defend them, added this: I already spoke about my concerns in the language he used in that 11-year-old video, but what hes made it clear is that was talk. Regrettable talk on his part. But that there were no actions. But Pences most bizarre evasion came in an interview with WBNS-Ohio anchor Scott Light. When asked about an 11-year-old girls unprompted expression that Trumps rhetoric makes me feel bad about myself, Pence saw an opportunity to glide into some vintage, Dubya-style terror panic? Halle Berry looked nowhere near her 50 years when she swung by a Beverly Hills fete Thursday evening. The Monster's Ball star's sheer black top was undone almost to the midriff, baring a fair bit of her lacy black bra as she posed for photographs. The Oscar-winner joined Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner and Sofia Vergara at a Tiffany & Co's soiree in honour of their newly refurbished Beverly Hills location. Party night: Halle Berry spent Thursday evening attending Tiffany & Co's soiree in honour of their newly refurbished Beverly Hills location Black and gold stripes split up the translucent strips of her top, matching the lining of her black blazer. High-waisted black trousers accented her long legs. The former Bond girl had bundled her hair up into an artfully tousled high ponytail, resting her hands at her hips. Halle added a splash of glitz by way of three gold chains about her neck, along with ear studs and a glittering ring on her right index finger. Opening up: The 50-year-old left her sheer top open to reveal part of her lacy black bra Coordination: Black and gold stripes split up the translucent strips of her top and matched the lining of her black blazer The mother-of-two flashed a smile as she posed alongside her fellow stars Jennifer and Reese. Reese, 40, wore an exquisite black jumpsuit that flashed her cleavage via a slit from neck to midriff. Meanwhile, the Dallas Buyers' Club actress wore a black top over a black knee-length skirt, rounding out the outfit with a pair of black ankle-strap stilettos. A gleaming metallic clutch and an elaborate necklace added a bit of flash to the 44-year-old's ensemble. Trio: The former Bond Girl (right) stood for photographs alongside Reese Witherspoon (centre) and Jennifer Garner (left) When you got it: The 40-year-old showed off a bit ov cleavage by way of a slit that stretched from her neck to her midriff The Bachelor's Alex Nation has faced public scrutiny for spending time with Richie Strahan while her former partner takes care of their son, Elijah. But the 25-year-old single mother seems to be back to her normal parenting routine, according to an Instagram post by her ex-husband Joel Porter on Friday. Joel took to social media to announce he's looking forward to spending weekends with the five-year-old, after previously spending school holidays with the boy. Scroll down for video Can't wait for the weekend! The Bachelor's Alex Nation seems to be back to her normal parenting routine, according to an Instagram post by her ex-husband Joel Porter (pictured) Joel confirmed on Instagram he was excited to start 'weekend shenanigans with Elijah and his girlfriend, Ashy Smith. Since the finale of The Bachelor last month, social media posts would suggest Joel was looking after Elijah full-time in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Alex was enjoying an extended holiday with Richie since 'going public', including a trip with his family in Perth. 'It's straight to Elijah to start out weekend shenanigans': Joel proudly took to Instagram to share that he was spending his weekend with his son after his gym session on Friday Alex has certainly had her fair share of criticism over the parenting of their son. In the past, the TV star's former sister-in-law Kimberley Grace Porter appeared to take a swipe at Alex on social media. She took to Joel's new partner Ashy's Instagram page to publicly declare her as an acceptable role model to five-year-old Elijah. 'I am so relieved my nephew finally has a loving, attentive, maternal figure at home,' she began her comment. Firing line: The Bachelor's Alex Nation has faced public scrutiny for spending time with Richie Strahan while her former partner takes care of their son, Elijah 'That kid has a fiercely protective family, & someone insincere would never get our tick of approval. 'We are the hardest nuts to crack. We know & love you Ash... You know you're in the circle of trust.' Kimberly's comments come shortly after Ashy explained she isn't trying to 'trend on toes' when it came to parenting Elijah. Not happy: The sister of Alex's ex-husband, Kimberley Grace Porter, has previously criticised Alex's parenting - while praising Joe;'s new girlfriend Ashy Smith 'I would never want to be seen that I'm treading on toes! Elijah already has a mum that loves him and he loves her,' she posted. 'My main priority is to love and protect him, and to give him another positive role model in his life. 'I just want to provide a safe haven and bubble where he's living a normal life doing fun kids things with not a concern in the world and is completely unaware of what else is going on!' Imogen Anthony's week of alleged plagiarism continues as an online store owner confirmed her photo was shared by the socialite on Instagram without permission. The 25-year-old model recently posted a image of a pink rhinestone necklace with nipple pasties worn by a woman with a similar body type, tagging her own fashion label White Trash Royalty in the caption. It has since been confirmed the image and garment in fact belongs to an Etsy store owner. Scroll down for video In trouble again? Imogen Anthony has been accused of taking someone else's image to post on her Instagram without their permission Deleted: The 25-year-old model tagged her own fashion label White Trash Royalty in the caption 'She didn't get my permission and I had no idea my image was on her page,' the US-based designer told Daily Mail Australia. Imogen appears to have since removed the photograph from her account. In the original post, the girlfriend of Kyle Sandilands tagged her own fashion label White Trash Royalty in the caption, which could have had the unintended consequence of suggesting the racy pink design was a piece from her own brand. Looks familiar! The garment's photo was in fact taken from an Etsy store owner's page 'Wknd attire #HOUSEofTRASH @wtrbyimogenanthony (sic),' she wrote in the caption at the time. It comes just days after the outspoken star was accused of 'stealing' another item posted on her Instagram page. Instagram star Yungelita claimed a video of herself wearing a pair of crystal panties was 'stolen' by Imogen and posted on Imogens own Instagram page. Imogens post is also now deleted. Controversial week: Earlier this week, the Maxim model was accused of 'stealing' another blogger's video 'Imogen stole my video and posted it as her own,' Yungelita told Daily Mail Australia. 'I am the original designer of the crystal panties,' added the Canadian student, who boasts 579,000 Instagram followers. 'I posted the video three days ago after making them and this woman, Imogen, stole my video and posted it as her own. Racy: Imogen shared a video of very racy crystal panties earlier this week, but it actually belonged to Instagram star Yungelita 'She has now removed it and blocked me after I posted a letter from my fan saying they saw my video on The Daily Mail giving credit to Imogen Anthony,' she said. Imogen then responded to Yungelita's claims in a statement to Daily Mail Australia, insisting she 'never claimed that this was her nor did she intend to mislead anyone into believing that it was her.' She also took to Snapchat on Thursday to share an expletive-ridden rant about the whole incident. Original designer: The Canadian student told Daily Mail Australia 'Imogen stole my video and posted it as her own' 'I've never vagazzled. Nor did I ever claim I was vagazzling. We can all tell by the video it's not me. She's got long hair and that is obviously not my body,' Imogen explained. 'So she posts a thing of me trying to be all like, "You know, Imogen Anthony stole my f****** crystal panties." She continued: 'B**** I don't give a f*** for your s**** f****** press-on stickers you just decided to put on your f****** clean-shaven m***. I don't give a f***.' 'So I've copped all this hate from these 14 and 15-year-olds, pretty much telling me to go kill myself because they idolise the s*** out of this chick,' she said. Blocked: Yungelita was alerted to Imogen's post by a fan, and revealed she'd been blocked by the outspoken star Hitting back: Imogen took to Snapchat on Thursday to share an expletive-ridden rant slamming Yungelita 'And so, you know what? We all know what I'm like. I can go to f****** zero to 100 in a minute. But I was like, "You know what? I'll be diligent. Fair enough, she's got the s****." And I'm like, "F*** sorry babe," and I go, "Sorry I didn't realise this was you, I've entered you into the caption now." Later in the video, Imogen lashed out at Yungelita, claiming that she had rudely 'chosen not to understand' the apology. 'If you're choosing to not understand, like, you aren't worth my f****** time. So you know what, at that point I was like, 'bye b****,' 'Like, I cared for a second. But now ...I don't give a f***. So you can be... with your f****** lonely bedroom and your followers all you want. 'So if all you've got in your claim to fame is a pair of f****** vagazzled f****** panty stickers then f****** good luck to you mate,' she concluded. She's never shy about showing off her fabulous figure. And Sofia Vergara once again went for an eye-catching look in a strapless black dress as she attended the Tiffany & Co. store opening in Los Angeles on Thursday. The Modern Family star put her ample cleavage on display in the stylish frock, which featured a large front ruffle in a polka dot pattern. Curves ahead: Modern Family star Sofia Vergara looked gorgeous in a strapless dress at a Tiffany & Co store renovation unveiling in Los Angeles on Thursday The 44-year-old was in good spirits, flashing a smile and posing with hand on hip as she arrived at the star-studded bash, which was also attended by Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry and Kate Hudson. Sofia's dark dress hit just below her knee, and she added impressively towering Christian Louboutin platform stilettos. She accessorized with a chic black clutch, and wore a gold statement necklace. Bombshell: The Modern Family star left her brunette hair down in curls and added red lipstick Always stylish: The 44-year-old wore impressively towering heels The actress left her light brunette hair down in pretty curls, and played up her bombshell look with red lipstick. She also flashed her impressive wedding and engagement ring as she posed with hand on hip. Sofia wed True Blood actor Joe Manganiello, 39, last year in a lavish Palm Beach ceremony. Star studded: Jennifer Garner, Reese Witherspoon and Halle Berry also opted for black at the event Emilia Bechrakis suffered a meltdown as her wedding plans fell to pieces at the final hour on Thursday's episode of Million Dollar Listing New York. The 31-year-old bride to be star was set to marry in Greece, but the island church got double booked. Luckily her father managed to 'donate' a hunk of money to the church and the wedding went ahead at the final hour. Freaking out: Emilia Bechrakis freaked out when her church was double booked for her wedding in Greece on Thursday's episode of Million Dollar Listing New York The episode titled Ryan's Wedding: Here Comes the Bride...Zilla opened with Ryan Serhant and Emilia in torment because their church had been double booked. Ryan had converted to Emilia's religion (Greek orthodox) and booked flights to Corfu for the congregation specifically for that church. 'There is no plan B,' fretted the 32-year-old celebrity broker during the Bravo reality show. Kevin Lee 'wedding planner to the stars' was left to cope with a very distressed Emilia. They made it! Ryan Serhant and Emilia finally made it to the alter Strong move: Emilia's father Leonidas called the priest and got the other wedding moved with the help of a donation 'Everything is going wrong,' she stressed. 'I can't calm down, it needs to be figured out now and it's so f***ing hot here,' she yelled. 'Answer the f***ing phone, where are you?' she screamed into Ryan's voice message. Hard to reach: Emilia was losing it as she was unable to reach Ryan during the dilemma Emilia's dad persuaded the priest to boot the other wedding off the venue, with a sizable donation of 5,000 (about $5,500 USD) from Ryan's account. 'I love it when I'm charitable and I don't even know it,' smiled Ryan when he found out. Ryan's assistants meanwhile were frantically scouting for locations for Ryan's new home on the island. Feeling charitable: Ryan was charitable with the church without even knowing about it The six-bedroom mansion he chose had 360 degree views of the bay and its own castle. The price was 2,275,000 (about $2,500,000 USD). 'It's way within my budget,' he boasted. He dragged disgruntled Emilia to the home. Nice views: Emilia and Ryan checked out a home he wanted to buy in Greece 'I think we should buy it,' she told him. The sale fell through, but Emilia took it on the chin. 'Just that effort alone makes me love you even more,' she told him. Buy it: The bride to be suggested they buy the luxurious property On the day of the wedding Ryan scoffed down spaghetti. 'When I'm nervous I eat,' he admitted. He then had his face and chest shaved by his best man. Getting nervous: Ryan scoffed down spaghetti and admitted he eats when nervous Greek tradition: The wedding tradition called for Ryan's best man to shave his face and chest 'The Greeks have this weird tradition,' he explained. 'I hope it all goes OK because these past couple of weeks have been a f***ing s*** show,' he sighed. Ryan made his entrance on a 'pirate ship' to music from a string orchestra and choir. Dramatic entrance: Ryan made a dramatic entrance to the wedding on a 'pirate ship' 'This is the rightest decision I have ever made and I know that to the core,' he said as he saw his bride approach the alter. Emilia was in tears. 'You wait your whole life to find someone that will do everything for you and I realised that he will, he always will, and that means everything to me,' she sobbed. Whole life: Emilia gushed about Ryan as they were about to get married Beautiful bride: Ryan complimented his beautiful bride 'When I'm with him I feel safer than I ever have, I feel more love than I ever have before, I feel more beautiful than I've ever felt, I feel more cherished than I've ever been,' she cried. The rice throwing became a bit aggressive. 'Oh it hurts, it's like hail,' whined Ryan. Greek goddess: The gorgeous bride looked like a Greek goddess in her wedding gown That hurts: Ryan said the wedding guests were getting aggressive with the rice throwing 'Bam, bam, bam, in the face,' he said. The afterparty came together beautifully. 'It's like wonderland,' he marveled. He did it: Kevin Lee managed to pull of the amazing wedding and reception Party time: The wedding party was a wonderland 'Kevin Lee, for all the s*** we gave him, pulled it off,' he added. Their first dance was accompanied by fireworks. 'She makes me better,' cooed Ryan before jumping into the pool. 'There's never been a pool that I can't jump into,' Ryan said as he declared that married life wouldn't change that about him. In the pool: Ryan did not hesitate to jump in the pool fully clothed Fans were in a state of shock on Thursday afternoon when a bus collided with members of the band Frank Iero and The Patient's in Sydney's city centre. Three people were struck by an empty bus heading east on Park Street between George and Pitt Street at about 3.50pm, two with serious injuries. Former guitarist and backup vocalist for My Chemical Romance, Frank Iero, took to social media on Thursday night to thank well wishers for their concerns. Scroll down for video Accident: Frank Iero, took to social media on Thursday night to thank well wishers for their concerns after a bus collided with his manager and a member of crew 'Hi friends thanks all for the well wishes. we're pretty banged up but miraculously alive and in stable condition,' wrote the 34-year-old rock star. Adding: 'I'm still in a state of shock.' Frank's manager and a member of the crew were left seriously injured in the incident and taken to St Vincent's Hospital, while a third member escaped with minor injuries. 'I'm still in a state of shock': Two people were left seriously injured in the incident and taken to St Vincent's Hospital, while a third member escaped with minor injuries One member was airlifted while the other was transported by ambulance as paramedics treated those with less serious injuries at the scene. According to reports from Thursday, both men were in stable condition and the bus driver was taken in for mandatory tests. Sam who works at a cafe nearby where the incident took place told The Daily Telegraph that he saw a man lying on the footpath after the crash. 'There was this guy at the back of his van and this bus just hit him like on the run,' Sam said. 'He was lying at the ground and his friend was helping him out. But yeah, he looked like he was unconscious. Sam said the van shouldn't have stopped in that area. 'They shouldn't be parking in the bus lane. And the bus would have seen that big black van,' he said. The band were set to play a gig at the Metro Theatre in Sydney, which was cancelled 'due to unforseen circumstances' while ticket holders were offered a refund. Injured: An empty bus heading hit the men at about 3.50pm as they unloaded their van for a gig they were playing at Metro on Thursday night Lucky: The bus was not carrying any passengers at the time and the driver has been transported to hospital for mandatory tests Fans concerned that Frank may have been hit by the bus took to social media to comment their concerns. 'I'm so scared right now, and I feel sick. Really Hope they are okay,' wrote one fan on Facebook.' 'One of my favourite guitarists Frank Iero (MCR) was in a car crash today in Sydney. Their gig tonight was cancelled. Get well soon Frankie,' said another fan. Frank has been touring with his band and played in Melbourne last night with Sydney being marked as their last stop for the Australian tour. She was hosting a glamorous dining event. And Chrissy Teigen was certainly looking tasty at the Chefs Club Bank of America Dinner series bash in New York on Thursday. The model seemed in high spirits indeed as she sat next to her musician husband John Legend. Looking tasty: Chrissy Teigen looked in fine form indeed as she sat with John Legend at the Chefs Club Bank of America Dinner series bash in New York on Thursday The 30-year-old glamour model was certainly turning heads after wearing an alluring burgundy top and matching skirt from Hellessy, accessorizing her look with golden jewellery. John, 37, looked like he was having a great time at the event, and even posed for a photograph alongside his glamorous wife. He will certainly have been in his wife's good books after he gushed to chat show host Ellen DeGeneres about how much he is attracted to her. After the model took part in a parody of Magic Mike for Ellen's show, twirling around badly on a stripper pole, Legend told her: 'You're so sexy. Even when you're trying to be anti-sexy, you're sexy.' Food for thought: John appeared lost in his own little world as he sat next to his wife, who was wearing a burgundy ensemble from Hellessy Give the girl a hand: Her husband laid a reassuring mitt on her shoulder Solo pianist: He was left on his own as his other half worked the room Loving it: Chrissy cohosted the dinner with celeb chef Mario Batali Chrissy and John, who married in 2013, welcomed their first child in April, daughter Luna. Chrissy, 30, shared a Snapchat video last week showing the doting dad teaching his little girl to play the piano. 'She smiles a lot,' he said of Luna during his appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday. 'She's got a good temperament so far.' 'I heard the twos are terrible and she's only six months so we'll see,' he joked. Dinner party: The model wrote the cookbook Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat Food fans: Mario and Chrissy were hosting the dinner as part of the New York City Wine & Food Festival to help fight hunger Snap happy: The dynamic duo them posed up for a photograph at the exciting event What a Legend: He is in his wife's good books after lavishing her with praise on Ellen New Zealand actor Sam Neill has slammed the Australian government's decision to stall on the issue of same-sex marriage - despite both party leaders supporting the cause. The Jurassic Park star voiced his disbelief on the issue during an interview with Today while on a break from filming Thor: Ragnarok on the Gold Coast, Queensland. He took aim at Australia's parliament indecisiveness on the issue which he commented more than half of Australians and 'most politicians' support. Scroll down for video 'I can't believe we're talking about this at all': Sam Neill has slammed the Australian government's decision to stall on the issue of marriage equality 'I can't believe we're talking about this at all,' Sam said in the Mixed Grill segment on Channel Nine's Today. '64 percent of Australians are for marriage equality, most politicians are for marriage equality. I don't think it's any business of anyone's who should get married and who shouldn't. 'Why don't they just get up and pass the bill? What's the matter with this constipated parliament?' he added. Marriage equality was passed in Sam's home country of New Zealand in 2013. More than two dozen countries around the world have since followed suit, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Last week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull condemned Opposition Labor Leader Bill Shorten's decision to block a plebiscite on the issue of same-sex marriage. 'Most politicians are for marriage equality': He took aim at Australia's parliament during a candid interview with Today Shoe's The Mixed Grill on Channel Nine 'I don't think it's anyone's business who gets married': He called the Australian parliament 'constipated' and said there shouldn't be a second thought in passing the issue He told reporters: 'Mr Shorten supported a plebiscite of this kind only three years ago.' '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.' Labor Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced that his party's intention to block the government's $200 million plebiscite was in favour of a free vote in parliament. 'Why should gay people in Australia have to go through a law making process that nobody else does?' said Mr Shorten in an interview with Channel Seven. 'He supported a plebiscite like this three years ago': Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull condemned Opposition Labor Leader Bill Shorten's decision to block a plebiscite Big issue: More than two dozen countries around the world have since followed suit, including the United States and the United Kingdom 'Why do their relationships have an opinion poll?' he added. Mr Shorten said the decision for a plebiscite would be 'reckless' and that there is another way to see the law passed. 'The overall view in Australia is just get on with it. There is another way to make a law in Australia you get to hold a vote.' Mr Turnbull has refused to allow a free vote, despite personally supporting marriage equality. Support: Both Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten support marriage equality, but differ in how the decision should be made for Australians 'Saddest place I've ever been': Meanwhile Sam recently accused the NSW government of sucking the life out of Sydney with the lock out laws It has been widely reported that if a free vote was to be permitted that it would easily pass with enough support on both party sides. Meanwhile Sam, who credits his fame to his role as Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park also recently accused the NSW government of sucking the life out of Sydney. He described the once-thriving Kings Cross as the 'saddest place he's ever been' and said the city has become 'pointless without nightlife'. He took aim at NSW Premier Mike Baird's divisive moves during a Tropfest film festival press conference at Parramatta Park last week. She's been flaunting her envy-inducing figure in an endless array of swimsuit snaps as she continues her Californian adventures. And Caroline Flack, 36, gave her Instagram followers yet another glimpse of her fab physique as she continued to document her blissful break with a new picture on Thursday night. The former X Factor host, who is in America for business, casually posed on her lavish hotel balcony in a backless neon one-piece. Scroll down for video Put your Flack into it! Caroline Flack, 36, took to Instagram to flash her figure once again as she casually posed on her Californian balcony in a backless neon one-piece The TV personality looked the epitome of relaxation while flaunting her enviably lithe legs and sun-kissed back in an orange backless swimsuit. With her long ombre locks styled in a simple up-do, Caroline flashed a glimpse of her butterfly tattoo as she gazed deep into the Californian horizon. The British beauty boasted about her idyllic holiday in the accompanying caption, writing: 'Views #la #calilife'. Earlier in the week, Caroline displayed yet another saucy snap in the neon number as she seductively pouted for a sexy selfie. American dream: Earlier in the week, the TV presenter posed for yet another saucy snap in the neon number as she seductively pouted for the sexy selfie Alongside the snap, Caroline wrote: '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. Posing up a storm with her friends, Caroline joked that she'd bought herself a fancy new car in one image. Earlier this year, Caroline spoke to Your Fitness magazine about her body overhaul and staying in shape. Revealing she decided to shape up for herself and her own health, she explained: 'I'd hate to think I did this for anyone else. Healthy lifestyle: The former X Factor host has boasted about her clean living ethos while enjoying the Los Angeles way of life '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.' In May, Caroline displayed the results of her incredible body transformation - after dropping from a size 12 to a svelte size 8 - on the cover of Women's Health magazine. In the accompanying interview, she detailed how cruel body-shamers attacked her on Twitter, and revealed how exercise changed her mind as much as her body. In the driving seat: 'Got me some new wheels', Caroline joked as she posed alongside a car in a parking lot while enjoying her Californian adventure Caroline told the publication: 'I ignored it for a very long time, knowing it was there, which was a weird feeling, like ignoring a bank statement on your table. 'And one time I looked. Ill never forget what night it was because it felt really sh*t. I learned my lesson not to look. 'Im nearer the size 8-10 now as my body shape has changed, but it was never my intention to get down to a size 6 or anything. 'I didnt want to get skinny, just strong. But actually the best thing about all of this is how I feel. I didnt realise how much it would change my mindset.' The bubbly brunette said her fitness kick has had a positive effect on her mental health and has helped her relax and unwind. 'Before if Id had a stressful day Id go to meet my friends in the pub and have a moan. Now I go to yoga. 'It really suits my head - Im someone who talks fast, thinks fast, makes decisions fast. Now Im trying to go slower and give myself time before I say yes.' She's spoken about her struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Trichotillomania in the past. And Sam Faiers has now addressed the issue again in her brand new YouTube channel, candidly confessing that she still isn't in control of the condition, which causes suffers to to pull their hair out - or in Sam's case her eyelashes. The former TOWIE star, 25, was diagnosed aged eight and discovered during a session with a psychologist that the root of the problem stems from her stepfather being sent to prison. Scroll down for video In the hot seat: Sam Faiers has spoken about her battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Trichotillomania in her newly-launched YouTube channel 'It's gone so far': Sam wears false eyelashes every day to hide the effects of her condition, confessing that she even pulls out her lashes in her sleep The girls both consider their stepdad Dave Chatwood to be their real father since her real dad Lee Faeirs - a recovering drink and drug addict who used to beat their mother Sue Wells - walked out on the family when Sam was just two. Dave harbours a criminal past and was sent to prison several times over the years, with the family even joining him in Spain to lie low for five years. He was last released from jail in 2013 after being locked up for his part in 1.1 million bullion robbery. Discussing how her stepdad's prison time influenced her at a young age, Sam said: 'From the age of eight was when my mum discovered I was picking out my eyelashes. It became a habit, I still haven't stopped. Make a wish: Sam said she first became obsessed with pulling out her eyelashes as a young girl when her stepdad Dave Chatwood was jailed, and would adhere to the old wives tale of making a wish every time she did Close family: Sam considers her stepdad Dave - who harbours a criminal past and was sent to prison several times over the years - to be her real father Compulsive disorder: Sam revealed she had tried everything in her power to stop herself over the years, but nothing has worked 'It started when I was eight and I friend of ours said to me if you pick out an eyelash, make a wish and it'll come true. As a young girl it's a fairytale. 'In recent years, I've seen a psychologist who specialises in Trichotillomania. The story goes deeper. They take it all the way back to your childhood. 'When I was younger my [step]dad went to prison. I was picking out an eyelash and making a wish for him to come home.' Sam revealed she had tried everything in her power to stop herself over the years, but nothing has worked. She explained: 'Now I'm an adult I know that's not going to happen, but it's gone so far that's it's compulsive and it's so hard to stop. 'When I was about 13 I lived in Spain my mum took me to a psychologist. She laid me down and spoke to my sub-conscience because I actually pick them out in my sleep now. New project: The former TOWIE beauty's new YouTube channel will navigate everything from beauty, fashion, lifestyle and beyond, showcasing never seen before content from the star on a weekly basis 'All my eyelashes grew back, it was amazing. But then a few months later it started happening again. 'We tried everything. My mum put mittens on my hands, I put disgusting nail-biting repellent stuff on my fingers so it would sting [my eyes], nothing worked.' The TV personality, who raises baby son Paul with her partner Paul Knightley, admitted that her confidence took a plunge as a teenager - until she discovered false eyelashes. 'I still don't have it under control now. I like the feeling of it. It's like a comfort thing', she told her YouTube viewers. 'When I was at school, I was a really confident loud kid. But when you're going into senior school and you want to look nicer. I felt like I couldn't really look people in the eye. Keeping it casual: The reality star was rocking skinny jeans and a semi-sheer beige polo shirt to attend the launch of her new venture on Thursday night Speaking out: Sam is hoping her experience will inspire others to seek help from their loved ones and to embrace their insecurities 'I felt like people were looking at me like I was weird... When I was 14 I discovered false eyelashes. I couldn't believe how over the moon I was.' Sam is hoping her experience will inspire others to seek help from their loved ones and to embrace their insecurities. She concluded: 'I coped by talking to my mum and my sister. As the years went by it got easier for me to talk about. 'Speaking from my own experience, you're not the only one with insecurities, nobody's perfect. It really helped talking to the people around me about it.' Sam's new YouTube channel will navigate everything from beauty, fashion, lifestyle and beyond, showcasing never seen before content from the star on a weekly basis. She commented: 'Im so excited to be launching my YouTube channel, this channel is my opportunity to share my life through my own camera, in my own words and with no scripts. 'I cant wait to share my beauty essentials, the ups and downs of being a first time mum and just my everyday life.' You are here: Home Asia's biggest ice cream and frozen food industry exposition kicked off in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Thursday. The three-day event features 1,400 booths in a total display area of 35,000 square meters. This year's exposition has attracted nearly 400 domestic and overseas manufacturers of ice cream, frozen food and related production and transportation facilities. China previously hosted two ice cream industry expositions, with one in Shanghai and another in Tianjin. Organizers announced in June they would merge the two events to reduce excessive competition. "Ice cream is a young industry in China," said Zhu Nianlin, deputy secretary general of China National Light Industry Council, adding that 3.06 million tonnes of ice cream was produced in China last year. "We hope the new expo can build a bridge for exchanges between domestic and overseas firms and help domestic firms learn advanced international techniques," said Zhu. Zhang Xiaohong, head of the organizing committee of Ice Cream China, said currently the world's biggest ice cream industry expo is in Italy. "We hope that we can expand the expo space to 50,000 square meters in three to five years to make Ice Cream China the world's biggest," said Zhang. She reportedly reunited with her former boyfriend Sam Prince last month. But Lottie Moss appears to be giving another man more of her attention, as she enjoyed a night out with Alex Mytton for the third time on Thursday. The 18-year-old model caught the attention of all in a daring semi-sheer fringed dress, as she headed to party at Tape nightclub after the Dazed + Calvin Klein event with the reality star hunk, 25, by her side. Scroll down for video Dynamic duo: Lottie Moss, 18, and Alex Mytton, 25, partied together at Tape nightclub on Thursday - marking the pair's third night out together in one month The gorgeous blonde put on a seriously leggy display in the classic LBD, made more modern by its funky horizontal fringed design. The sexy number was formed of slashed black material all over to sexily reveal a tight black slip underneath - which fell daringly high up her thigh to flash her long and slender pins. Keeping the revealing look classy and modest, the younger sister of Kate Moss layered a chic khaki bomber jacket on top and finished her look with a pair of leg-lengthening pointed black court shoes. Relaxed: The gorgeous blonde put on a seriously leggy display in the classic LBD as she drew on a cigarette outside the club Lottie left her hair in sexy tousled waves and added a thick set of false lashes to enhance her naturally striking features. Drawing on a cigarette from the large packet in her hand, the young star looked relaxed as she embarked on her fun night out with handsome friend Alex Mytton. The E4 star matched the model's stylish appearance in a trendy black bomber jacket, emblazoned with retro space flight badges. Put-together: She layered a chic khaki bomber jacket on top and added a pair of leg-lengthening pointed black court shoes as she headed home with Alex and Vas J Morgan (left) He paired it with a simple black T-shirt and jeans, and rocked a shimmering gold necklace and deep bronze tan as he headed out with his fellow party-goer. The pair were also joined by reality star Vas J Morgan as they hopped into a cab for their after-party destination, with Lottie giggling as they did so. While the model let her hair down with the Chelsea bad boy, her rumoured beau Sam Prince was nowhere to be seen - and hasn't been for the last three nights out the duo have been on. Continuing the party: The group hopped into a cab for their next destination, with Lottie giggling as they did so According to The Sun, Lottie is dating the West London native once again - after the pair broke things off two years ago when he supposedly strayed away. The pair sparked rumours of a reunion earlier in the summer, when they were spotted cosying up at Embargo nightclub in Chelsea in July. A source told the newspaper: 'Lottie and Sam have history but it's not overly positive. 'They dated two years ago but Sam wasn't faithful. They have recently rekindled their relationship and although it's early days, Lottie's hoping Sam will behave himself.' Three's a crowd? While Lottie partied Chelsea bad boy, her rumoured beau Sam Prince was nowhere to be seen - and hasn't been for the last three nights out the pair have been on Meanwhile Alex is partying the nights away as he enjoys single life, having endured two high-profile splits with co-stars Binky Felstead and Nicola Hughes after being unfaithful. The event was something of a star-studded evening, with the group later joined by fashionistas Chloe Green and Sofia Richie. Displaying her natural flair for fashion as the Arcadia heiress, Chloe sizzled in a semi-sheer zip-up jacket, featuring clear panels at the waist and open shoulders to flash her glowing, tanned skin. Girl power: The event was something of a star-studded evening, with the group later joined by fashionistas Chloe Green (middle) and Sofia Richie (left) Pairing the unusual top with leather trousers and a scalloped choker, the former Made in Chelsea star looked sexy as well as trendy as she headed with her gal pals. Meanwhile Justin Bieber's ex Sofia flashed her enviably toned stomach in a tan leather crop top, featuring a strapless sweetheart neckline to give a saucy hint of her bust. Co-ordinating with her designer pal, the daughter of Lionel Richie slipped her slim figure into leather trousers and accessorised with a set of chokers - all of different colours and styles of glitzy diamante. Runs in the family: Displaying her natural flair for fashion as the Arcadia heiress, Chloe sizzled in a semi-sheer zip-up jacket, featuring clear panels at the waist to flash her flat tum Sex appeal: Meanwhile Justin Bieber's ex Sofia flashed her enviably toned stomach in a tan leather crop top, featuring a strapless sweetheart neckline to give a saucy hint of her bust The budding model elongated her already slender frame with a pair of sky high lace up boots, and layered a sleek leather and fur jacket on top. The group had joined forces to party after the glamorous Dazed magazine's 25th birthday bash, in partnership with Calvin Klein at The Store Studios. The bash, sponsored by Ciroc Vodka, was held to celebrate the magazine's fantasy issue commemorating 25 years of independence - so was inevitably attended by a whole host of faces from the elite fashion industry. Accessories are key: Co-ordinating with her designer pal, the daughter of Lionel Richie also sported leather trousers and added a set of chokers Gorgeous girls: Lottie posed alongside Mr Selfridge actress Sai Bennett at the event, who clad herself in a grungy leather dress and denim jacket Show-stopping: Winnie Harlow sizzled at the bash in a saucy leather trouser and bandeau crop top set Supermodel Winnie Harlow also hit the bash in a figure-hugging pair of leather strides - proving the item to be the new 'in' trend. Adding a chic splash of colour the Canadian beauty covered her figure up with a sporty scarlet bomber jacket, which she let fall casually and stylishly off her shoulders. The beauty added a thick black choker and piled half her curly hair on top of her head, making for a head-turning and funky 90s look. Model material: The star beamed for the cameras before smouldering seductively - showing off her model prowess VIP: Madonna's son Guy Ritchie partied with his pals at the event in a preppy collared black shirt and high rise blue jeans Red hot! Lily Cole displayed her tall and slender figure in a bold sheer leotard and satin long line coat - both black to let her fiery locks stand out Blondes have more fun: Laura Whitmore (L) swapped her sparkling Strictly attire for a classic trench, while Anais Gallagher (R) flashed her rippling abs in a bandeau and vintage mom jeans The Ecclestones are used to the finer things in life and want for nothing thanks to Formula One mogul Bernie, who boasts an estimated 2.5 billion fortune. And despite being just two years old, Sophia Ecclestone is clearly taking after her glamorous mum Tamara, sporting head-to-toe designer wares as she bounded along the streets of west London on Thursday. The cute toddler was no doubt the most stylish girl in her dance class, topping off her adorable pink tutu, tights and ballet shoes with a matching Tom Ford jacket. Scroll down for video Like mother, like daughter! Sophia Ecclestone, two, is clearly taking after her glamorous mum Tamara, sporting head-to-toe designer wares as she bounded along the streets of west London on Thursday The leather number, which retails at a staggering 4,000, was impossibly stylish with edgy zip detailing. The eye-wateringly expensive garment comes from designer Tom's limited-edition childrens collection of biker jackets, first designed for his his own son Jack in the autumn of 2014. The covetable collection features a safari biker jacket in brown suede, a pink and blue jean jacket in suede and two different styles of biker leather jackets, in both black and pink. Sophia's sweet ensemble was completed with a practical plait and a coordinating pink hairgrip. Ballerina chic: The little girl was no doubt the most stylish girl in her dance class thanks to her expensive Tom Ford jacket Toddler chic: The leather number, which retails at a staggering 4,000, was impossibly stylish with edgy zip detailing Pretty in pink: Sophia's sweet ensemble was completed with a practical plait and a coordinating pink hairgrip Dancing queen: The little cutie appeared to be practicing her ballet moves as she strolled along hand-in-hand with Tamara, 32 Autumnal chic: Tamara wrapped up for the cold weather in a long-sleeved, khaki wool dress with a pleated skirt The little cutie appeared to be practicing her ballet moves as she strolled along hand-in-hand with Tamara, 32, who looked super stylish as ever. Tamara wrapped up for the cold weather in a khaki wool dress with a pleated skirt. She teamed the 70s inspired number with a pair of suede over-the-knee boots. Tamara styled her glossy locks in a bouffant at the crown, with loose tendrils framing her face. Long legs: She teamed the 70s inspired minidress with a pair of suede over-the-knee boots Here they come! Tamara and Sophia were no doubt the main attraction in the little girl's ballet class on Thursday Seriously cute: The youngster was sporting a tulle tutu, white tights and ballet shoes The doting mother recently revealed she doesn't have time to go to the gym anymore because she's so busy with Sophia, who she raises with husband Jay Rutland. 'As far as workouts go, it's running around after Fifi 24/7 and pushing her in the stroller,' Tamara told FEMAIL of her very laidback exercise regime. 'As for food, I tend to have porridge for breakfast, wholegrain pasta for lunch and then quinoa and chicken for dinner.' With Sophia off to nursery soon, Tamara has been considering expanding her brood. 'Not right now but, eventually, yes,' she hinted. Polished to perfection: Tamara styled her glossy locks in a bouffant at the crown, with loose tendrils framing her face Doting mum: Tamara recently told MailOnline she doesn't have time to go to the gym since becoming a mother 'Good morning': Tamara shared a cute picture of her and Sophia starting their day in style Tamara boasts an estimated net worth of $300million and ensures her only daughter wants for nothing in life. The jetsetting toddler boasts a wardrobe bursting with designer clothes and is accustomed to a jet-setting lifestyle. It was reported last year the youngster had been whisked off on 11 holidays in 16 months, naturally travelling by private jet. Socialite Tamara is the eldest daughter of Croatian model Slavica Ecclestone, whose net worth is thought to be $1.19 billion, and Formula One boss Bernie, whose fortune was estimated at $4 billion as of May 2012 by the Sunday Times UK Rich List. Bernie is alleged to have spent $177.8 million buying luxury homes in west London for Tamara and her younger sister, Petra. She said: 'As far as workouts go, it's running around after Fifi 24/7 and pushing her in the stroller' Uma Thurman is reportedly set to argue that her ex-fiance Arpad Busson doesn't deserve more visitation with their four-year-old daughter. Sources close to Uma have told TMZ: 'When she and Arpad head to court in a few months, Uma will argue he cancels his scheduled time to see her "7 times out of 10".' They add: 'Arpad is the one who's asking the judge for more time, but the sources say these are just "tactics." The custody battle continues: Uma Thurman is 'set to argue that ex-fiance Arpad Busson doesn't deserve more visitation with their daughter, 4, as he cancels seven out of 10 times' 'Our sources say he gets a significant amount of custodial time currently, yet doesn't come close to taking advantage of it.' MailOnline has contacted a spokesperson for both Uma and Arpad for comment. Arpad has demanded more visitation with the couples daughter, less than a year after they reached an initial settlement over the custody of their child. Busson filed a motion for temporary visitation rights on August 31. He first filed a custody lawsuit against Thurman in New York in 2014. The former couple are set to face off in Manhattan Supreme Court by December, according to Page Six. Busson - a London-based French multimillionaire - has had a rocky relationship with Thurman since they first started dating in 2007. The investor and actress were originally set to be married in 2009, but the wedding was called off, and Thurman returned her eight-carat diamond ring. In 2011, the couple reconciled and shortly thereafter Thurman became pregnant with their daughter, Luna Thurman-Busson, who she gave birth to in 2012. Busson - a London-based French multimillionaire - has had a rocky relationship with Thurman since the couple (pictured together in 2007) first started dating in 2007 Thurman and Busson then were set to get married again, but Thurman called off the engagement and the couple again parted ways. Shortly following their breakup, Busson slapped Thurman with a lawsuit demanding more custody of their daughter. He also demanded the power to make important life decisions for their daughter. Thurmans representative released a statement after the lawsuit was filed: It is unfortunate that this very private discussion regarding Mr. Busson's visitation rights and his participation in decision making has been made public. In 2015, Thurman, who often posts loving photos with her daughter on Instagram (above), and Busson signed a three-year plan on how they agreed to co-parent their daughter However, we are optimistic that a fair agreement for both sides will be reached out of court. In September 2015, the couple finally reached a settlement, and the judge praised them for putting aside their issues aside for the benefit of their daughter. At the time, the judge was quoted saying both parties had compromised very little to reach the settlement. The terms of the deal, however, were sealed from the public and the terms remain confidential. It was reported at the time that Thurman and Busson signed a three-year plan on how they agreed to co-parent their daughter. But after Busson headed back to court on August 31, it appears that he wants more custody. After being engaged twice and splitting after Thurman gave birth to their daughter, the couple (pictured together in 2009) went to court to battle for custody of their young daughter He filed a Pendente Lite Visitation, which is usually only filed during an on-going battle, with one person seeking to have the judge award temporary visitation until the outcome of the case. Once the final order on custody and support is issued by the judge, the temporary decision is voided. It is unclear why he filed for temporary visitation rights if the couple reached a settlement last year. Thurman, who also has two teenage children with ex-husband Ethan Hawke, has yet to respond to Bussons motion for visitation, but a hearing is set for September 29 in New York Supreme Court. He's the blue-eyed model who was one of the four rejected by Georgia Love on Wednesday night. And now, Sam Johnson has divulged who out of the five handsome Bachelorette contestants he thinks have a chance of winning. On Thursday, the 27-year-old electrician revealed he wants his Matty J or Jake to win. Scroll down for video 'He'll get in the finals for sure': Sam Johnson, 27, admitted on Thursday that he thinks Courtney Dober, 30, will most likely take out The Bachelorette competition 'I probably have my money on Jake or Matty J - they're my two favourites in the house, and those two could end up winning,' Sam told Elle.com.au. However, Sam dropped a bombshell to TV Week on Thursday, saying Courtney just might have the competition in the bag. 'Courtney - he's sneaky - he'll get [in the finals] for sure,' the electrician continued. Sam was sent home on Wednesday, when his effort to try and be honest with Georgia Love backfired. 'He's sneaky!': Sam believes the 30-year-old industrial designer will be the one to win Georgia Love's heart The 27-year-old was chatting to the TV presenter about his life outside of the show during some one-on-one time at Sydney's Luna Park. The model admitted after a trip to the US, where he signed to an agency in Miami, he had planned to return to LA and get into acting and TV presenting, when the opportunity to be on the show came up. 'I think presenting's kinda cool and being on camera and the media and, yeah, it was kind of heading that direction before this. Bachelorette BFFs: Sam hopes either one of his best friends in the house - Jake (left) or Matty J (right) - get to the final 'Um...but this has just given me like a little kick to get moving quicker,' he frankly admitted. But the brutal honest didn't stop there for Sam who admitted that while there is room in his life for someone else, the desire isn't as deep as hers. Adding salt into the would, the electrician said: 'If I left this experience without you, I wouldn't, you know, be absolutely heartbroken.' It was the ultimate line, that left Georgia sending her potential suitor home before the rose ceremony. 'I just don't think we're on the same page. I don't think you are here for the same reasons as me,' she confessed, before sending the Sydneysider home. She's known for her daring sartorial displays on the red carpet. But Kirsten Dunst flaunted her off-duty style in Los Angeles on Thursday, displaying her toned pins in a pair of denim Daisy Dukes. The 34-year-old's style looked effortless as she worked the thigh-grazing cut-offs while picking up some juice from the city's Kreation Organic Juicery. Scroll down for video Walking Miss Daisy! Kirsten Dunst flaunted her off-duty style in Los Angeles on Thursday, displaying her toned pins in a pair of denim Daisy Dukes While many begin to brace themselves for winter, the Drop Dead Gorgeous star soaked up the Californian sun in her summer inspired ensemble as she slipped into a pair of powder blue double strap sandals. Kirsten also sported a grey marl tee which she stylishly tucked into her jean shorts as she carried her purchases from the health food store. The style maven added a quirky edge to her laid back look as she draped a wicker handbag over her shoulder while covering her peepers with a kooky pair of retro rose tinted shades. Kirsten - who was nominated for Emmy' Best Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie category in September - completed her casually clad look by styling her shoulder-length golden locks into a natural kink. Off duty chic: The 34-year-old's style looked effortless as she worked the thigh-grazing cut-offs while picking up some juice from Kreation Organic Juicery Although Kirsten was spotted alone, the blonde beauty was seen cuddling with her Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons after their lunch late last month. Sources revealed to E! News that the pair were smooching at an Emmys after party and their latest outing indicated a romantic link between the two. The Jumanji actress 'leaned into Jesse and very passionately kissed him on the lips after she caressed his cheek very affectionately,' an eyewitness told E!, who confirmed the pair arrived at the swanky shindig together. This comes after Kirsten's ex, Garrett Hedlund, who split with her in April, was seen earlier this month grabbing dinner with his Troy co-star Diane Kruger after her break-up with Joshua Jackson. Not Far-to-go: Although Kirsten was spotted alone, the blonde beauty was seen cuddling with her Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons after their lunch late last month Meanwhile, the Bring It On star is set to to make her directorial debut on an upcoming adaptation of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. And 22-year-old Dakota Fanning will play the lead role of Esther Greenwood in the film based on the 1963 novel. Kirsten co-wrote the script with Nellie Kim and production is set to start in the first part of 2017, according to Deadline. The Bell Jar is set in the 1950s and follows Greenwood, a magazine intern, in New York City who suffers from mental illness after she returns home to Boston. She's posed for Playboy and appeared in a celebrity sex tape and Pamela Anderson is calling for a 'sensual revolution' as she urges men to ditch online porn. In an interview on This Morning on Friday, the 49-year-old was joined by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach to explain why men should make sex exciting again. She said: 'There is so much access to porn, people are becoming desensitised and things are getting weirder and stranger. Scroll down for video 'I've been spat on in bed': Playboy model Pamela Anderson, 49, revealed she is encouraging men to ditch porn to bring back 'better sex' while on This Morning on Friday Pictured on the set of Baywatch, she said on the show: 'I know I am part of the problem as I have posed for Playboy and had a sex tape stolen from my house' 'I know I am part of the problem as I have posed for Playboy and had a sex tape stolen from my house.' She added: 'Have you ever been treated like a porn star in bed? It's not nice. I've been spat on and called nasty names. People think I am wild and crazy.' Pamela also said that if your partner is always in the bathroom and looking on porn on his computer, then that might need to be addressed. She added: 'Have you ever been treated like a porn star in bed? It's not nice. I've been spat on and called nasty names. People think I am wild and crazy' alongside Rabbi Shmuley Boteach She continued: 'We're not prudes. We're not saying we want no sex, we're saying we want better sex' Mull it over: Pamela also said that if your partner is always in the bathroom and looking on porn on his computer, then that might need to be addressed He's a fan: Host Eamonn Holmes told Pamela he couldn't imagine any partner of hers 'going into the bathroom with a computer' but she confirmed they had Host Eamonn Holmes said: 'I can't imagine any partner of yours doing that,' to which she informed him that they have. Pamela continued: 'We're not prudes. We're not saying we want no sex, we're saying we want better sex. Keen to add that she is not calling for a ban on porn, Pamela believes 'mental infidelity' is diminishing nurturing relationships. 'It's all about self-regulation,' she added. 'You've got to take time out and look at your own behaviour.' Past love: Pamela starred in a celebrity sex tape with her former husband Tommy Lee back in 1995 which she says was 'stolen' from her home Eamonn and his wife Ruth Langsford also asked Pamela what she tells her two teenage sons, Brandon Thomas, 20, and Dylan Jagger, 18, about the matter. She shares her boys with her former husband Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, who she married in 1995. She said: 'I've spoken to them about it and they have girlfriends. I tell them that if they disrespect them, they are disrespecting their mother.' Pamela said she doesn't regret her Playboy past as it was all done on her terms, admitting: 'I do like being sexy.' She recently suffered heartache when it was revealed her boyfriend Pete Wicks sent explicit text messages to several other girls. And Megan McKenna has decided to kick off her newly-single life by getting a spanking new hair style to match. The 24-year-old looked gorgeous as she uploaded a snap of her new 'do to Instagram on Thursday - rocking a bold full fringe and sleek, straight locks as she smouldered for the camera. Scroll down for video She bangs! Megan McKenna, 24, uploaded a snap of her new hairstyle to Instagram on Thursday - getting a cut in light of recent breakup with Pete Wicks The TOWIE star looked worlds away from her old self as she showed off her new long and silky tresses. The brunette separated herself from the girl who dated love rat Pete by having a statement full fringe cut in, creating a classy and more mature look. The bangs softly fell across her face, drawing more attention to her naturally pretty facial features and glowing sun-kissed skin from recent Marbella trip - where the saucy texts emerged. Then and now: The TOWIE star looked worlds away from her old self (L) as she showed off her new long and silky tresses with a bold full fringe Despite dressing down in a casual tracksuit, the Essex babe still maintained her usual glamorous appearance by sporting a matching grey cropped jumper underneath - which gave a flash of her enviably toned figure as she smouldered for the camera. The photo bagged over 45,000 likes in its first hour - with many of her 1.4 million followers complementing her chic new look. One fan wrote: '100 times better, more natural looking great new look, you look fab' while another gave even higher praise, commenting: 'Gorgeous! You look like a young Helena Christensen here!' New woman: Megan has been putting on a brave face recently, continuing to film TOWIE in her usual glamorous appearance Happier times: Megan and Pete were together for six months, celebrating her birthday in Marbella just days before the news broke on social media Megan's big change comes one day after the scenes of her finding out about her ex-boyfriend's cyber infidelity aired on The Only Way Is Marbs on Wednesday night. While the pair were filming in their Spanish stomping ground, it was reported that Pete had been sending explicit sexual messages to his former model fling Jacqui Ryland during the holiday with Megan, which celebrated her birthday. It later emerged that the messages had been between several woman - involving topless photos and continuing for as long as three months. Adding to her heartbreak, Megan revealed to Danielle Armstrong on the episode that she had discovered some of the tamer messages a few weeks before, but had decided to give her tattooed hunk a second chance. Trouble: After finding out about the messages in Marbella, Megan returned home to the UK where she was approached by a grovelling Pete - resulting in a further argument After the couple endured an explosive showdown on the beach, both parties returned to the UK to aid their woes with home comforts - where Pete then visited his girl to try and make amends. The Essex lad explained to her: 'You need to know that I love you and I ain't going to give up.' But Megan wasn't ready to forgive and forget after he was unable to provide a reason for why he behaved as he did, so she threw him out of the house, exclaiming: 'You're greedy, you're f***ing disgusting!' Since the episode, Pete took to his social media page to post a cryptic message alluding to the dramatic split and perhaps his fight to win back the brunette beauty. The 27-year-old posted to his Instagram on Thursday: 'It doesn't matter how this looks to other people. If this is something you gotta do, then you do it! Fighters fight.' She's only moments away from giving birth to her second child. However on Thursday, Teresa Palmer decided to acknowledge her first - Bodhi Rain - in a sweet throwback photo. The 30-year-old Australian actress posted a snap of herself holding the newborn Bodhi. Scroll down for video Newborn: On Friday, 30-year-old Teresa Palmer posted a throwback photo of her holding her first son, Bodhi Rain Teresa is currently 32 weeks pregnant with her second child. Just last week, Teresa's husband, American actor and director Mark Webber, took to Instagram to announce their second son's name - Forest. In the stunning blonde's recent throwback snap, the make-up free mum is holding Bodhi in her bathroom, while she wears a high-waisted black skirt and crop top. Her cute son is wrapped in a patterned cloth, and both are looking into a mirror. Fit and fabulous: The lifestyle blogger has continued to exercise throughout her second pregnancy '#throwback to this deliciousness #32 weeks' she captioned the photo. The heavily pregnant actress is continuing to promote a healthy lifestyle - powering through intense workouts well into her third trimester. At the start of October, Teresa performed side plank dips and squat presses with a heavy lid from a kitchen pot in a video posted to Instagram. 'Bump goes to the gym!' The expectant mother took to Instagram in August to show she is still frequenting the gym Her young son Bodhi even adorably helped with a few of the exercises. The PT session was performed in her own Los Angeles backyard, with Bodhi's toys in full view scattered across the astro turf. The parenting and lifestyle blogger went barefoot for the impressive post, opting for loose-fitting fitness shorts and a tight tank. Free of makeup, the blonde beauty tied her hair back into a messy bun. Bikini body: In early October, Teresa posted another throwback photo - this time with several girlfriends while on a trip to Miami in 2009 The star uploaded her moment of power to Instagram, writing: 'Dance Party with the B man! All vanity goes out the window when @la_mindset is training you! #pregnancyfitness #29weeks #keepitREAL' In August, Teresa once again took to Instagram to show that she also sweats it out at the gym while pregnant. 'Bump goes to the gym! Wind tunnels, huge rope nets, hay barrels to climb, rock climbing, gladiator-style travelators... EPIC! #prenancyfitness,' the make-up free actress captioned the photo. His turn as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show earned him cult status. And legendary actor Tim Curry turned out to support the iconic film's TV movie remake Let's Do The Time Warp Again, in LA on Thursday. The 70-year-old, who has been in a wheelchair since suffering a stroke in 2013, looked well in an all-black ensemble. Scroll down for video Icon: Legendary actor Tim Curry, 70, turned out to support the cast of TV movie Let's Do The Time Warp Again in LA on Thursday While the remake was originally met with derision, Curry's backing and subsequent involvement has given the project added credibility. The actor originally offered to star as the wheelchair-bound Dr Scott but ended up narrating the picture. Tim joined his co-stars on the red carpet and took centre stage for a group shot which included Victoria Justice and Christina Milian smiling brightly. Cult status: The 70-year-old, who has been in a wheelchair since suffering a stroke in 2013, looked well in an all-black ensemble; (right) Curry in his role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter Curry first starred in the original 1973 London production, and continued to play the part on Broadway before playing the same character in the 1975 film. On the role that catapulted him to stardom, he told Los Angeles magazine that he looks at the film's success 'with a sort of bemused tolerance.' He continued: 'Its neither a blessing nor a curse. I was lucky to get it.' Cheerful: Tim joined his co-stars on the red carpet and took centre stage for a group shot which included Victoria Justice and Christina Milian smiling brightly For many years he rarely discussed the movie, fearing he would be typecast. Tim recalled opening night during his Broadway debut in The Rocky Horror Picture Show as 'very exciting' but found its critics to be far too harsh. 'I had to go on the Today Show the next day and they read the reviews - which were appalling,' he explained. 'That brought me down. It was very cruel.' The reviews described his performance as a mixture of Joan Crawford and Burt Lancaster and Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Marc Bolan all in one.' Fan favourite: While the remake was originally met with derision, Curry's backing and subsequent involvement have given the project credibility However, he won over the Broadway community in 1981 when he was nominated for a Tony Award for the lead role in the play Amadeus. 'It was a brilliant play and a terrific production. And a wonderful part,' he said of portraying Mozart. 'The big problem is not to make him as loony as he is, but to make him sympathetic as well.' Between 2004 and 2007 he played King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on stage in Chicago, Broadway and the West End. Voice of authority: The actor originally offered to star as the wheelchair-bound Dr Scott but ended up narrating the picture Some of his stage credits include What About Dick? My Favorite Year and Travesties, among others. In 2011 he was scheduled to appear in Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, however he withdrew from the production at the last minute citing ill health. When asked what life would be like for him if it reflected the theatre, he said: 'Scary. Well the theatre is scary. And the longer the time in between the periods in the theatre, the scarier it gets. Adding: 'Life isnt meant to be scary. Its to be celebratory. In which case, it would be like the theatre. I think of that as a celebration of life.' She's the former Bachelor villain who is always happy to flash some flesh. And Emily Simms was up to her old tricks as she enjoyed a night out at a ritzy cocktail bar in Melbourne on Thursday. The 32-year-old put on an extremely busty and leggy display in a risque number she created herself. Scroll down for video 'Forbidden fruit': Former Bachelor star Emily Simms put on an extremely busty and leggy display as she enjoyed a night out at a ritzy cocktail bar in Melbourne on Thursday 'I made this outfit from scratch for my 25th birthday, when I was dressed as Poison Ivy... it still fits!!' she captioned a photo she shared with her 26,000 Instagram followers. The brunette beauty's incredibly toned pins and slender physique were on full display for all to see. The revealing number clung to Emily's flawless figure, showcasing her enviable assets and exposing more than a hint of cleavage. Flawless: A series of risque snaps showcased her enviable assets and slender physique The stunner sported a full face of make-up while keeping her silky smooth tresses off her face and over her shoulders. She completed her ensemble with a flower crown made by Floral By Design. At one point, the reality star posed for the camera as she appeared to bite into an apple. 'It still fits!' The 32-year-old revealed she created the risque number herself seven years ago Stunner: Emily completed her ensemble with a flower crown made by Floral By Design 'Taking a bite into the forbidden fruit...' she wrote alongside the photo. Meanwhile, the 32-year-old sparked speculation she has a new beau in her life earlier this week after sharing a bikini-clad image of herself while tagging the muscular male. In the photo, she is seen leaning back on her towel, resting on her elbows, showing off her extreme sideboob with the straps on her skimpy black bikini pulled down. 'When @michalio83 tries to take a sneaky photo...': Emily sparked speculation she has a new beau in her life after she shared a bikini-clad image of herself on Monday, in which she tagged a muscular male As her long hair flowed behind her, she turned her head towards the camera and showed off her reflective sunglasses and pink lips. She captioned the image: 'When @michalio83 tries to take a sneaky photo...' The pair had been enjoying each other's company on the Sunshine Coast for the weekend. But Emily tells Daily Mail Australia the pair are just long-time friends. Singapore Airlines' first Airbus A350-900 aircraft taxies to the aerobridge of Singapore's Changi Airport, March 3, 2016. [Xinhua] European aircraft manufacturer Airbus Group SE said it expects to deliver its first A350 to Chinese airlines in the second half of next year and is bullish about the country's demand for widebody aircraft, fueled by fast-growing long-haul international routes markets. An A350 test aircraft will start its China tour in November, with the debut in Haikou, Hainan province, then it will take static and flying displays at Zhuhai Airshow, before visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu, the company said on Thursday. Currently, more than 40 A350 aircraft are in operation internationally. China Eastern Airlines ordered 20 A350-900 aircraft in April. Air China ordered 10 A350-900s earlier. In September, Sichuan Airlines signed a letter of intent for leasing four A350-900s. China's long-haul market has been surging as the number of direct international flights to and from China skyrocketed 150 percent in the last five years, mainly fueled by the growth of the middle class and relaxed visa policies. From 2010 to 2015, the number of Chinese who traveled abroad jumped by an annual average of 16 percent, and 200 million individual Chinese are expected to travel overseas by 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. In the first half of 2016, Chinese airlines transported 25.2 million people on international routes, jumping 27 percent year-on-year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China "China's booming growth of international flights, especially those long-haul routes, requires wide body aircraft to execute the flying. A350 is suitable for those airlines with complete international flights networks," said Eric Chen, Airbus China President and CEO. Airbus said it expected that between 2014 and 2034, the air traffic in China will have an annual growth rate of 6.9 percent, mainly from air flow of domestic flights in China, and flights between China and the US, and China and Western Europe. Globally, the average growth rate will reach 4.6 percent. Boeing Co said last month that it expects China's wide body fleet to triple in size over the next two decades. "There is a rapid growth of international travel volume in China, with the traffic of some routes increased exponentially. The trend will continue, and the high amount of international travel is likely to drive the demand of wide body aircraft," said Li Xiaojin, a professor at Civil Aviation University of China in Tianjin. The A350 has 280 to 366 seats and is the first Airbus aircraft with both fuselage and wing structures made primarily of carbon fiber. Airbus' US archrival Boeing signed an agreement with China Southern Airlines on Wednesday for a dozen B787s, the competing jet for A350. "We have firm confidence of the China market, and will continue to expand industrial cooperation with Chinese enterprises. Besides, we will collaborate with more Chinese interior cabin suppliers, and provide more opportunities for them to enter the world market," Chen said. Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Center, a joint venture between Airbus and Aviation Industry Corp of China, participated in the design of the airframe of A350, and some 5 percent of the airframe is manufactured in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang province. She was 'absolutely shocked' when co-star Julia Sloane made an insensitive and racist remark towards her during a boat trip in Queensland's Port Douglas. But Real Housewives of Auckland's Michelle Blanchard has said she is still happy she did the show. Speaking to Viva Magazine, Michelle said the comments have actually been a blessing in disguise giving people the confidence to speak out about racism. Scroll down for video 'It's been amazing': Michelle Blanchard revealed she's happy she went on the show to highlight the issue of race, after being called a 'n***er' by co-star Julia Sloane 'It's been amazing. That's what I've taken from it. And people who have said they've suffered racism in the past are talking about it. It's a positive thing.' Gilda Kirkpatrick who joined Michelle for the interview, said that being on the show has provided an accurate window into the women's lives. 'Living in a small community people have certain perceptions, if anything this programme has given them an accurate window into who they thought they knew.' 'I have no regrets. Unfortunately the producers have focused more on the comical aspects of things. But it's still given me a platform to speak.' 'I have no regrets': Gilda Kirkpatrick who joined Michelle for the interview, said that being on the show has provided an accurate window into the women's lives The show made headlines last month when Julia reportedly made insensitive remarks when cast member Gilda asked Michelle to help her up from below deck. Julia, who had been standing nearby, then reportedly remarked off-camera: 'She's not your boat n***er.' The immediate aftermath of the incident was later captured on film and aired in episode six of the reality program. Controversial: The show made headlines last month when Julia reportedly made insensitive remarks when cast member Gilda asked Michelle to help her up from below deck Tears: Gilda who witnessed the shocking remark was seen looking distressed and overwhelmed when the episode was aired Julia has since spoken out about the incident, having profusely apologised to Michelle, who told The Spinoff that she was 'absolutely shocked' by the comment. 'I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It took a while to sink in.' She added: '[Sloane] needs to own it. Don't blame it on anybody else or make it out to be a light-hearted, because you know what? It is not light-hearted. It's offensive.' Meanwhile, the New Zealand reality program was criticised for fat-shaming when Michelle called co-star Angela Stone a 'plus-size model'. Chaos: Julia made the remarks during a boat trip that the girls took in Queensland's Port Douglas last month 'Sweetie, with tits like that you're not a normal size model': Meanwhile, the New Zealand reality program was criticised for fat-shaming when Michelle called co-star Angela Stone 'plus-size' Angela became visibly upset over the remark and admitted that she was offended. To which a frustrated Michelle responded: 'Sweetie, with tits like that you're not a normal size model. Get over it.' The scuffle continued a few episodes later at Anne Batley-Burton's 'pussy party' to raise money for her cat charity. Michelle criticised Stone's cat suit, which she deemed unflattering asking her to, 'Pull her tummy in', in front of two other cast members. She put on a rather demure display as she took inspiration from Mary Poppins for her winning performance on Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing. But Daisy Lowe, 27, vamped up her look as she opted for a complete sex kitten ensemble while heading to rehearsals for the BBC One prime-time show on Friday morning. The model, who is partnered with professional dancer Aljaz Skorjanec, flaunted the results of her hardcore training regime in a skin-tight catsuit as she arrived at the London studios. Scroll down for video Ooh la la! Daisy Lowe, 27, opted for a complete sex kitten ensemble while heading to rehearsals for Strictly Come Dancing on Friday morning Looking like a 60s movie siren, the catwalk queen topped her figure-hugging unitard with a glamorous fur-trimmed coat, cutting off just above the ankles. Staying true to her rocker roots Daisy wore her favourite lace-up biker boots, while her long chestnut tresses casually billowed in the Autumn breeze. Completing her sexy look the TV personality opted for large-rimmed cat eye sunglasses and added a pop of colour to the otherwise all-black ensemble with a pink cardigan and matching lipstick. The brunette beauty kept her accessories simple with silver hoop earrings as she chatted on the phone in one hand and carried a spare black blouse in the other. Dressed to impress: The model flaunted the results of her hardcore training regime in a skin-tight bodysuit as she arrived at the London studios All eyes on her: Staying true to her rocker roots Daisy wore her favourite lace-up biker boots, while her long chestnut tresses casually billowed in the Autumn breeze The daughter of Pearl Lowe and Gavin Rossdale was back to her dancing A-game as she quickstepped straight to the number one slot on Saturday's show- scoring an excellent 31 points from the judges. The brunette beauty mesmerised the audience and judges alike on the night, as she hopped and skipped across the dance floor to a favourite tune of the movie, A Spoonful of Sugar. The charming routine featured a more complex Charleston section in the middle, in which she impressed with her precise and sharp footwork in the comfort of Aljaz's hold. Head judge Len Goodman raved of the routine: 'You pulled out all the stops on that quickstep. Lovely hold, great posture and lovely moment round the floor. Well done!' Practically perfect! Daisy was back to her dancing A-game as she quickstepped straight to the number one slot on Saturday's show- scoring an excellent 31 points from the judges Elegant: The brunette mesmerised the audience and judges alike on the night, as she hopped and skipped across the dance floor to a favourite tune the movie, A Spoonful of Sugar While enthusiastic Bruno Tonioli said the routine had 'such a supreme elegance - like Mary Poppins had been redesigned by Christian Dior!' Meanwhile notoriously harsh judge Craig Revel-Horwood was a bit more critical, stating the Charleston sections needed to be more 'precise' and less 'heavy', before agreeing with his fellow judges that her and Aljaz dance 'so well together'. The stunning star recently opened up to The Sunday People about her insecurities over her weight, but has since learned to love her body. 'I think feeling insecure can be completely crippling,' said the star. 'I have had times in my life when I have been unable to get out of bed because I have felt so insecure. 'But I think the most important lesson Ive learned is that you have only one body, so you might as well enjoy it. My weight yo-yos so much. It always has. I am now a bit trimmer because Ive been dancing four hours a day.' The Bachelorette appears to be wrapping up quickly with home visits advertised to be just around the corner. A four man elimination, plus Thursday night's rose ceremony leaves only five men left vying for Georgia Loves heart. Although Matty J, Lee, Courtney and Cameron slipped through the rose ceremony, only Jake has been spotted filming at his family's home in Queensland, suggesting he makes it to the final three. Scroll down for video Winding up: The Bachelorette appears to be wrapping up quickly with home visits advertised to be just around the corner with only five contestants left vying for Georgia Love's heart The Bachelorette Australia confirmed that over two big nights Georgia will meet the families of the remaining contestants next Wednesday. In the promo posted to The Bachelorette Australia's Facebook page, Georgia is seen struggling as she answers the hard questions from family members she has only met for the first time. An elderly woman asks, 'Do you like children?', before the camera cuts back to Georgia looking uneasy when answering the question. While another family member asks Georgia whether she would move to Sydney, suggesting one of the contestants could be The Bachelorette's New South Wales boys Courtney and Matty J. Awkward: Bachelorette Australia confirmed that over two big nights Georgia will meet the families of the remaining contestants - in a promo which sees the brunette being grilled 'I've got a tough one': One family member claims he has a hard question to ask Georgia while sitting at a dinner table with the reality star Another family member reveals that he has a 'tough' question for the brunette reality star, who responds in a private interview: 'No pressure Welcome to the family.' The episode set to air next Wednesday but has fans disappointed in its rushed production. Some viewers slammed the Channel Ten series suggesting that it should have had more air time than Richie Strahan's season of The Bachelor. 'Getting really cheezed off that the Bachelorette is flying through, but Richie in the Bachelor dragged on for years. 'No pressure': One elderly woman asks Georgia whether she likes children before the camera cuts back to Georgia who appears unable to answer Nervous: Georgia appears nervous and uneasy in the promo as she attempts to answer all the difficult questions about her budding relationships 'We've barely got to know the guys names and already the majority are gone. And these guys are more entertaining!' While other fans weighed in on who would be getting home visits and who would be getting the boot. One fan suggested that Courtney's cold behaviour might see him leaving the Bachelorette mansion next. 'Courtney's behaviour in the previous episodes is very confusing and awkward plus weird. Speculation: A family member asks about Sydney, which set tongues wagging about whether Matty J or Courtney who hail from New South Wales are still in the running Could Matty J and Courtney still be in the running? Another family member asks Georgia whether she would move to Sydney 'He keeps on ditching alone time with Georgia and pushing other bachelors toward her.' The fans comments relate to Courtney's decision to forfeit alone time with the Bachelorette starlet during a medieval group date. Courtney again showed his inability to show affection in a peculiar group date which saw the Bachelor's trying to win Georgia over without the help of their good looks. The boys were asked to write love letters, dance with Georgia blind folded and woo her with the help of senior citizens - as they spoke to them through microphones in their ears. Bizarre: The boys were asked to write love letters, dance with Georgia blind folded and woo her with the help of senior citizens Courtney was unable to win Georgia over, but still scrapped through the rose ceremony, which saw Clancy - who is equally as unaffectionate - sent home. Meanwhile, Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed Georgia and Jake in intimate photos at his family's property in Queensland. The pair were seen unable to keep their hands off one another as they spent a day on a boat together. Jake poured his heart out in Thursday night's episode of the Bachelor when he wrote an intimate letter to Georgia which brought her near tears. She usually takes great care to ensure she looks fabulous. But Paris Hilton, 35, made a fashion faux pas on Thursday when she forgot to fake tan her feet leaving her with an awkward skin tone colour clash. The hotel heiress's slender pins were heavily bronzed through fishnet tights, while her feet remained pale in a pair of black heels. Oops! Paris Hilton, 35, made a fashion faux pas on Thursday when she forgot to fake tan her feet leaving her with an awkward skin tone colour clash Fashion faux pas: The hotel heiress's slender pins were heavily bronzed through fishnet tights, while her feet remained pale in a pair of black heels Paris headed to dinner at celebrity hotspot Delilah in West Hollywood in a thigh-skimming lace dress, which she paired with black fishnet stockings and a leather jacket. The dress consisted of a series of intricate lace layers, leading to a high neckline that gave Paris a decidedly regal look. The Simple Life star wore a short white negligee underneath, allowing her to protect her modesty while still offering a tantalising peak at her decolletage. A black leather jacket with floral imprints on the sleeves added a final layer of protection, keeping Paris warm as temperatures dipped overnight. On-point: The 35-year-old beauty showed off her silky skin and tanned legs in a thigh-skimming lace dress, which she paired with black fishnet stockings and a leather jacket Hold your head high: The dress consisted of a series of intricate lace layers, leading to a high neckline that gave Paris a decidedly regal look Keep it hot! A black leather jacket with floral imprints on the sleeves added a final layer of protection, keeping Paris warm as temperatures dipped overnight The 5ft 8in stunner elongated her perfect pins in a pair of pointy black heels, which worked well with her black fishnet stockings. She carried her essentials in a shiny black handbag, which featured black handles and shiny silver zips. Smiling from ear-to-ear, she may have been thinking of her new teacup chihuahua, who she first shared pictures of on Tuesday. Aww: Paris Hilton showed off her brand new teacup Chihuahua on Instagram on Tuesday She posted a cute photo of the tiny pooch on Instagram with the caption: 'Meet the newest member to the @HiltonPets family. What should I name this lil cutie?' Paris got the 12-ounce chihuahua from Big Apple breeder Teacup Puppy Paradise and, according to TMZ, spent $8,000 to secure the pint-sized pet. She definitely seems to be happy with her purchase as she shared several more photos with her latest pet, including several of the dog rolling around a series of pink blankets. Giving face: Looking as radiant and healthy as ever, Paris played a simple make-up game, wearing the lightest dusting of blush and a bit of pink lippie She was keeping it casual for a night out with friends in Los Angeles on Thursday. But Alessandra Ambrosio added a touch of spice to her look with a pair of sexy lace-up jeans. The 35-year-old was seen leaving Hollywood hotspot Catch in the unusual skinny jeans. Scroll down for video Lace me up: Alessandra Ambrosio sported racy lace-up jeans for a night out in West Hollywood on Thursday Alessandra also sported matching black boots and a matching choker necklace from Are You Am I, along with a shiny red bomber jacket. The model appeared to be wearing a crop top underneath the jacket, as a hint of her flat stomach was on show. Alessandra pulled her brunette locks into a fuss-free bun and sported minimal dewy make-up. The Victoria's Secret Angel was seen leaving the restaurant with a female friend, apparently enjoying a girls' night out. VIP: The 35-year-old was seen leaving Hollywood hotspot Catch in the unusual skinny jeans Keeping it casual: Alessandra also sported black boots and a choker necklace, along with a shiny red bomber jacket Alessandra was without her fiance Jamie Mazur and their children: daughter Anja, eight, and son Noah, four. The Brazilian beauty has been been engaged to the businessman since 2008. And Alessandra recently explained why they are in no rush to walk down the aisle. Peekaboo: The model appeared to be wearing a crop top underneath the jacket, as a hint of her flat stomach was on show Natural beauty: Alessandra pulled her brunette locks into a fuss-free bun and sported minimal dewy make-up The star told Extra that the pair want to make sure their wedding is perfect, so are taking their time. 'When I do the wedding it's going to be very special, so I want to take time for that,' she said. Alessandra is currently enjoying some time off after the end of Fashion Week, but will soon be taking part in the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Girls' night: The Brazilian beauty was seen with a female friend, while fiance Jamie Mazur stayed home with their two children Other charities are now urging DiCaprio to give back the 'dirty money' Riza Aziz is accused of using the money to bankroll The Wolf of Wall Street Jho Low, 35, allegedly used the money to pay for champagne at a DiCaprio fundraiser, and to buy art from a charity auction he held Rain forest charity Bruno Manser Funds urged Dicaprio to step down from UN role due to connection with allegedly corrupt investors Leonardo DiCaprio is being urged to step down from his role as UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change. At a press conference in London on Friday rain forest charity Bruno Manser Funds gave the 41-year-old actor an ultimatum: cut ties with alleged multi-billion dollar embezzlers 1MDB or relinquish his role with the United Nations. 'If DiCaprio is unwilling to come clean, we ask him to step down as UN Messenger for Peace for climate change, because he simply lacks the credibility for such an important role,' said the director of the Swiss charity, Lukas Straumann. At the press conference titled Recovery of Stolen Malaysian Assets, Straumann said: 'We can't save the environment if we fail to stop corruption. Asked to resign: Leonardo DiCaprio is being urged to step down from his role as UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change (pictured at TIFF in September) The charity director also called DiCaprio's public criticism of deforestation in Indonesia 'cynical hypocrisy'. 'He needs to become part of the solution,' he stated. 'But today he is part of the problem.' Straumann also demanded the actor repay millions of dollars used to bankroll the Wolf of Wall Street and given to his Leonardo DiCaprio foundation amid accusations it was embezzled. Mr DiCaprio is said to have been given an invite to the conference but did not attend. He has held the role of UN Messenger of Peace since 2014. A rep for Leonardo DiCaprio was contacted by the Daily Mail for comment. DiCaprio is being asked to hand back millions of dollar donated to his environmental foundation after allegations that it was embezzled from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund (pictured: DiCaprio involved with charity work) The Department of Justice is investigating the whereabouts $3.5billion that was 'misappropriated' from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund between 2009 and 2015, in what has been dubbed the world's largest embezzlement case. A court filing from the DoJ alleges that at least some of that money found its way into DiCaprio's pocket through his film and charity work. The A-list actor is not named in the 136-page complaint, but is simply referred to as 'Hollywood Actor 1', the Telegraph reports. Jho Low, 35, a Malaysian businessman and drinking partner of DiCaprio's, is accused of spending more than a billion dollars of the money himself. Low is accused of using that cash to buy bottles of champagne at a Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation fundraiser for the actor's birthday back in 2013. A Malaysian film production house is accused of using millions more in stolen cash to bankroll DiCaprio's 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street He is also accused of using the money to pay for almost $1million worth of art at a fundraising auction at Christie's, and of donating another Lichtenstein sculpture worth $700,000 for a second auction. Low is a regular on the celebrity circuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter, once sending Lindsay Lohan 23 bottles of Cristal for her 23rd birthday, and partying with the likes of Paris Hilton, Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys. Among the many acquisitions made with the allegedly stolen cash is a $39million Hollywood Hills mansion located just a few doors from DiCaprio's house. Riza Aziz, the stepson of the Malaysian prime minister, is also accused of receiving millions of dollars of money siphoned off from the fund, called 1MDB. Aziz owns production company Red Granite Pictures which helped to bankroll DiCaprio's 2013 film Wolf of Wall Street, in which he plays a corrupt financier - a performance which earned him an Oscar nomination. Aziz established the production house after Low introduced him to Joey McFarland, Hilton's former party booker, and the pair went into business together. Red Granite's office, on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, is located just above DiCaprio's own. Bruno Manser Funds, a rainforest charity active in Malaysian Borneo, has called on DiCaprio to 'give the dirty money back', adding that as a UN Messenger of Peace he has a responsibility to help stop corruption. The actor was expected at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser last week but backed out unexpectedly at the last minute, with some speculation that he was trying to limit her exposure to the coming scandal. DiCaprio and his representatives have not responded to the allegations. Red Granite says it is cooperating with all inquiries, but offered no further comment. She's currently expecting her second child with husband Guillaume Canet. And Marion Cotillard proudly displayed her blossoming baby bump in an embellished black gown at the screening for Its Only the End of the World at BFI Film Festival in London on Friday. But far from being the only radiant mother-to-be on the red carpet, the 41-year-old French actress was also joined by Bond girl Lea Seydoux, who is expecting her first child. Scroll down for video Bumping along nicely: Pregnant Marion Cotillard and Lea Seydoux dazzled at the BFI Film Festival screening of Its Only the End of the World in London on Friday Proving that their baby bumps didn't come in the way of their great style, the pair stormed the red carpet in their glittering gowns as they promoted their new film. Marion looked positively ravishing in a glitzy black gown with a halter neckline that showed off her shoulders. Cinching in just above her bump, the dress flared out to ankle length, exposing a pair of patent black court shoes as she teetered into the Leicester Square Odeon. Yummy mummy: She's currently expecting her second child with husband Guillaume Canet. And Marion proudly displayed her blossoming baby bump in an embellished black gown Radiant: Marion looked positively ravishing in a glitzy black gown with a halter neckline that showed off her shoulders and flattered her pregnancy curves Meanwhile, Lea looked every inch as chic as her co-star in a cobalt blue gown that complemented her glowing complexion. Featuring a glittering cape and matching asymmetric hemline, the garment flashed a glimpse of her pregnancy curves whilst remaining demure. Wearing her golden locks loose and tousled, the Spectre star framed her flawless features, which were accentuated with a neutral make-up palette. French fancy: Cinching in just above her bump, the dress flared out to ankle length, exposing a pair of patent black court shoes as she teetered into the Leicester Square Odeon Brunette beauty: Marion's chestnut coloured locks were swept into a chic chignon bun It's Only the End of the World is a 2016 Canadian-French drama written, edited and directed by Xavier Dolan. In the film, Lea plays Suzanne and Marion is Catherine, while Gaspard Ulliel plays Louis, a terminally ill writer, who returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying. It is also stars French actor Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye and veteran screen star Vincent Cassel. Blue-tiful! Lea looked every inch as chic as her co-star in a cobalt blue gown that complemented her glowing complexion Blonde beauty: Wearing her golden locks loose and tousled, the Spectre star framed her flawless features, which were accentuated with a neutral make-up palette Glowing: The expectant mother cradled her blossoming baby bump on the red carpet Working it: The blonde beauty showed off her baby bump from all angles Supermum! Featuring a glittering cape and matching asymmetric hemline, the garment flashed a glimpse of her pregnancy curves whilst remaining demure Picture perfect: Lea dazzled in front of the cameras as she walked the red carpet Snap happy: Lea happily posed for pictures and signed autographs for fans The movie is based on the play Juste la fin du monde by Jean-Luc Lagarce, but was named by Variety as 'the most disappointing film at Cannes'. However, The Guardian gave it four stars saying 'The claustrophobia of family has rarely been so well-wrought as in the latest highly stylised and highly polarising drama by the French-Canadian enfant terrible'. It's Only the End of the World is slated for release in the UK on April 17. Yummy mummies! Despite being pregnant, Marion and Lea have not let their burgeoning baby bumps slow them down and have continued to promote the drama at premieres and events Firm friends: Lea and Marion seemed pleased to be reunited on the red carpet Kisses! The pair greeted each other with a kiss on the cheek That's a wrap: Marion sheltered herself from the chill in an oversized black coat Despite being pregnant, Marion and Lea have not let their burgeoning baby bumps slow them down and have continued to promote the drama at premieres and events. Lea - who shot to fame playing Madeleine Swann in Spectre - announced her pregnancy last month as she displayed her baby bump at Toronto Film Festival. It is her first child with boyfriend Andre Meyer. Two of a kind: The actresses looked stunning as they posed for snaps Chirpy: The pair seemed in great spirits on the evening Marion announced her pregnancy under slightly less desirable circumstances, after she was dragged into the news surrounding the break-up of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Following rumours that she had an affair with Brad whilst working with him on Allied, the Oscar-winner took to Instagram to clear up the rumours. In a lengthy post, she wrote: 'This is going to be my first and only reaction to the whirlwind news that broke 24 hours ago and that I was swept up into.' Glowing: All eyes were on the leading ladies at the premiere Fantastic four: Lea and Marion cuddled up to Nancy Grant and Xavier Dolan on the red carpet She continued: 'I am not used to commenting on things like this nor taking them seriously,' she continued, 'but as this situation is spiraling and affecting people I love, I have to speak up. 'Firstly, many years ago, I met the man of my life, father of our son and of the baby we are expecting. He is my love, my best friend, the only one that I need.' 'Secondly to those who have indicated that I am devastated, I am very well thank you. This crafted conversation isn't distressing.' Dapper: Also at the BFI Film Festival was Michael Fassbender, who walked the red carpet at the Trespass Against Us screening Here come the boys! Michael was joined by his pintsized co-star Georgie Smith Cosy co-stars: Michael wrapped an arm around Lyndsey Marshal's waist at the premiere Suave: Michael looked dapper in a fitted navy suit and polka dot tie Their relationship caused quite a stir this summer, with a frenzy breaking out after going public on Instagram. So when Sofia Richie was spotted in London on Wednesday, just as ex Justin Bieber kicked off his UK tour, many speculated that things were heating up again. And while the 18-year-old was actually in town for Pretty Little Thing's launch and a Wonderland Magazine photo shoot, a source did reveal to E! News that the pair 'still communicate.' Brand loyalty: Sofia Richie sported head to toe Tommy Hilfiger in an Instagram she shared on Friday, teasing a photo shoot with Wonderland Magazine Keep in touch! That same day a source revealed that Sofia and ex Justin Bieber 'still communicate' However, Justin, 22, and Sofia have not rekindled their romance, with the source noting: 'Sofia and Justin are not back together, and they never were an official couple.' They also clarified that the pair 'just hooked up and were close friends,' adding that at the moment they remain 'close friends' as well. The way Justin 'handled a few things' reportedly has Sofia 'kind of annoyed' though, with an insider sharing that 'they haven't hooked up in a minute.' The way they were: The duo (pictured in Japan in August) briefly hooked up over the summer before things cooled down in September Not far off: Speculation arose regarding the couple after Sofia was spotted in London on Wednesday just as Justin kicked off his UK tour (Justin, pictured on Thursday in London) The pair had gone public with a series of Instagram photos in August, with the Canadian crooner threatening to make his Instagram private if his new fling did not stop receiving so much hate. If you guys are really fans you wouldnt be so mean to people that I like,' he had posted, later following through on the threat after a tense confrontation with ex Selena Gomez. But by September things between Justin and Sofia had cooled off, with a source commenting that it was because things were too 'hot and heavy' and the pop star was not ready for a relationship. Busy! Just a day after celebrating her collaboration with Pretty Little Thing Sofia took to social media to tease photos from an upcoming shoot with Wonderland Magazine And while they've chosen to focus on their friendship for now, the source shared that Sofia wouldn't be against trying things again. 'Sofia is chill with the whole situation and not ruling out future possibilities with Justin,' they said. Meanwhile, Sofia took to social media on Friday to tease a look at a new photo shoot for Wonderland Magazine. She modeled Tommy Hilfiger overalls in one snap, as she gushed: 'Coming soon,' while tagging @wonderlandmag and @asawbranding. Lady in red: The blonde beauty posted a look at two Polaroid photos from the shoot, going topless in one and sporting a stylish, red and white checkered top in another Sneak peek: The model held up a Polaroid of her sporting a Givenchy mask on her face, captioning the photo 'Coming' She also shared an Instagram shot of two Polaroid pictures, one which had her modeling topless in a pair of overalls. Sofia modeled a fuzzy, red and white checkered top with a white collar in the other photo, with her hair slicked back. She continued the teasing, also sharing a shot of herself holding up one of the Polaroid photos, as a larger collection could be seen on a nearby table, slightly out of focus. Just a glimpse! On Snapchat Sofia panned over a table full of Polaroid snaps of her from the photo shoot Playful: After showing off her collection of Polaroids, Sofia turned the camera on herself, sticking out her tongue before covering her face with her jacket She had kicked off the day with a mirror selfie of her lounging in a fuzzy, white robe and black and yellow track pants, sharing: 'Mornin.' Later, Wonderland Magazine posted a snap from the shoot, captioning it: 'The super cute @sofiarichie shining on set today @tommyhilfiger @asawbranding @buzzwhitestudio @streetstudios_e8 @selectmodelmgmt.' In it, Sofia stood in front of a white background, sporting Tommy overalls along with a coordinating white, blue, and red T-shirt and slip-on sneakers. 'Mornin' Sofia was laid-back as she kicked off the busy day in a cozy, white robe and black and yellow track pants Hard at work: On Thursday Sofia stopped by Tape London, where she celebrated becoming the new face of clothing brand Pretty Little Thing (pictured with Chloe Green) The daughter of Lionel Richie also took to Snapchat, and could be heard gushing: 'Perfect!' as she panned over a table covered in Polaroid photos from her shoot. Sofia then turned the camera on herself to show off a Parliament crew neck sweatshirt, as she stuck her tongue out at the camera. Dante Stallone, the teen half-brother of Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, was heading back home after a 3 a.m. Taco Bell run when he was attacked last Saturday night. Authorities in Tallahassee are still searching for two men who jumped the Florida State University student and brutally assaulted him without any apparent motive. The 19-year-old told police that the men didnt speak to him and didn't try to rob him and he'd never seen them before, according to PageSix.com. Badly hurt: Dante Stallone, 19, a student and model, has undergone surgery after being left with a broken jaw and missing teeth in the 3 a.m. brutal assault near Florida State University Family support: His half-brother Sylvester Stallone, 70, described Dante as 'a wonderful young man' and said the attack was 'terribly sad' Dante, the son of Frank Stallone Sr, who died in 2011, and his fourth wife Kathy suffered a broken jaw and knocked out teeth in the apparently unmotivated attack. As previously reported, Rocky star Sly, 70, said in a statement: 'This is a wonderful young man, a straight-A student who would not cause any trouble. It's just so tragic and terribly sad.' The injuries Dante suffered were so severe that the attack had to be called in by one of his college friends because he was unable to speak. Another roommate drove him to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Strong genes: Dante is the son of the late Frank Stallone Sr. who died in 2011 and his fourth wife Kathy. He's pictured with lookalike half-brother Frank Jr., 66, who is Sly's full brother 'Hoping for good results': The actor and musician tweeted the news that Dante was undergoing surgery for his injuries on Monday night According to his uncle Frank Stallone Jr., the teen underwent surgery Monday night for his injuries. The actor and musician, 66, tweeted: 'My brother goes into surgery tonight hoping for good results. Thanks for your thoughts and kind words.' And Exxcel Model Talent, where Dante is signed as a model and actor, also tweeted for its followers to pray for the young man's speedy recovery. 'The senseless attack....is leaving us sad and outraged,' the agency said. Prayers: The teen was signed as a model and actor with Exxcel Model Talent. The company said staff were 'sad and outraged' at the attack Police are reported to be still looking for the assailants 'who have been described as 'two black males, one about 6-feet and the other about 5-foot-9.' Dante told police he was walking near Stadium Drive at about 3 a.m. when two men approached him and one punched him in the face, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. Stallone ran from the area closer to FSU campus and was able to lose the suspects. She's hot on the promotional trail for her latest film Moonlight. But Naomie Harris was enjoying some time off when she attended Variety's Power of Women lunch in Los Angeles on Friday. The Skyfall actress, 40, stunned in a white suit that showed off her svelte physique with a plunging neckline at the event that celebrates and promotes gender equality. Beauty: Naomie Harris was enjoying some time off when she attended Variety's Power of Women lunch in Los Angeles on Friday Letting her long locks flow over her shoulders, she accessorised with some silver earrings and a clutch that matched her black and white pointed heels. Sporting a red pedicure, the beauty let her striking features shine through with a light touch of makeup including pink lipstick. Naomie is set to star in Moonlight, which is set in a rough Miami neighbourhood and chronicles one man's lifetime. She stars as Paula, his mother, who is funding her growing drug habit with prostitution. Stunning: The Skyfall actress, 40, stunned in a white suit that showed off her svelte physique with a plunging neckline. Meanwhile, Naomie, who plays Miss Moneypenny in the latest Bond film, has pleaded with her co-star Daniel Craig to return to the role. Speculation is rife about whether Craig will be back on the big screen as 007 and Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hughes and James Norton are among the actors touted as his replacement. However, Harris has said she is desperate for Craig to make a fifth outing as the spy with the licence to kill. She said: 'Of course I want to be back with Daniel, I started with Daniel. When I was nervous on my first day it was Daniel who calmed my nerves. 'He's an extraordinary actor and I think he's the best modern Bond that we have had and I desperately want him back. Come back Daniel!' Turning heads: Letting her long locks flow over her shoulders, she accessorised with some silver earrings and a clutch that matched her black and white pointed heels Glamorous: Sporting a red pedicure, the beauty let her striking features shine through with a light touch of makeup including pink lipstick While Harris, 40, has enjoyed huge success in British films, she said she had to go to America to take her career further. Speaking at the premiere of her new movie Moonlight at the BFI London Film Festival, she said: 'I definitely think that for my career to have continued I definitely had to go to America and I'm really glad that I did, there is just a lot more material. 'But I live here, I never left London and I'm able to work here as well as there and I couldn't ask for more.' Upcoming: Naomie is set to star in Moonlight, which is set in a rough Miami neighbourhood and chronicles one man's lifetime Moonlight, which chronicles the life of a young gay man from childhood to adulthood and has an entirely black cast, was a story she hadn't come across before, she said. 'It sheds light on an area we don't usually see, it sheds light on a love story we don't usually see and it was such a beautiful script,' Harris added. Moonlight will be released in UK cinemas on October 21. Lu Buxuan, a graduate of Peking University, also known as Beida, one of the most prestigious universities in China, has hit the headlines again for selling pork. Lu Buxuan at a store of Guangdong No 1 Food Co in Guangzhou. [Photo/China Daily] Lu graduated from the university's Department of Chinese Language and Literature in 1989 and became a self-employed butcher in 1999 after having a few jobs in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province. He made the headlines in 2003 after his story was reported by a local television station. He has since been labeled the "Beida butcher", which is unimaginable to many, as cutting and selling meat would not usually be associated with a graduate of such a renowned university. In 2004, he started working for a local history compilation office in Xi'an, leaving family members to run his butcher shop. However, he has recently picked up his butcher's knife again. But instead of working at his family-run shop, which made 2 million yuan ($300,000) in 10 years, Lu is working with Chen Sheng, a fellow Peking University graduate, who owns Guangdong No 1 Food Co. "They have tried to persuade me to join the company since 2010, but I was hesitant. I didn't think the business (of selling expensive pork) would last long," Lu said. But he later changed his mind. "The Chinese pork market is huge. It is included in the calculation of CPI and is worth about 1 trillion yuan a year, which is more than the home appliance or computer markets," he said, adding that Chinese consumers are paying more attention to quality. Lu said it would have been better if he resigned from his previous job earlier, adding that a light workload at the local history office left him with too much idle time. In his new position, Lu will be engaged in technical work, training at the butcher school and overseeing quality control, while also serving as head of the online store. He will also be involved in hiring employees and development of corporate culture. He said he will help embrace the challenge of recruiting well-educated people for the company. "In principle, we want to hire people who at least have a junior college education. This year, we will hire college graduates for most positions. We need to build our brand and change our image," he said. "Universities used to be devoted to cultivating elites, but since recruitment numbers have expanded, they have become more popularized, improving the quality of workers nationwide." "I would tell college students to get a job before selecting a career path," he added. "I have always been against the idea of college students starting businesses. They need to study well before they start a business." Recalling his experiences of going into business before he started to sell meat, Lu attributed his failures to a lack of experience and resources. "I am calmer and more open-minded now," he said. When he gave a lecture at Peking University in 2013, he said he was an embarrassment to his alma mater. However, Xu Zhihong, former president of the university, said in response: "There is nothing shameful about a Beida graduate selling pork. Doing small-scale, skilled work does not prevent a person from having grand ideals. Beida produces politicians, scientists and pork vendors. They are all the same." Chen Sheng said: "I don't think Beida students follow one single model. Selling pork also involves technology. Our pork business involves more than 1,000 stores and annual revenue of more than 1 billion yuan. Would you say selling pork is shameful? I would say traditional business, when well operated, makes more sense than the internet business." It was revealed by Daily Mail Australia back in May that Elyse Taylor and her husband Seth Campbell had called time on their marriage. And now the Australian model and TV personality has sparked speculation she has moved on with another love. Taking to Instagram on Friday, the 29-year-old mother-of-one shared a photo of herself and a mystery man, along with a heart emoji. Scroll down for video Moved on? Model Elyse Taylor shared this photo of herself and a mystery man on Instagram on Friday, after it was revealed in May that she had split from husband Seth Campbell She let the image speak for itself, with Elyse wrapping one arm around the dark-haired man, who sported a salt and pepper beard and a black hooded jacket. Meanwhile blonde beauty Elyse looked effortlessly chic in a white sweater while wearing her long locks out. The model's close pal Lara Worthington was quick to comment underneath the social media snap, simply leaving a series of question marks, in the hope her friend would spill the details. Social media post: Taking to Instagram on Friday, the 29-year-old mother-of-one shared a photo of herself and a mystery gent, along with a heart emoji, prompting her model pal Lara Bingle to comment with a series of question marks Split: In May it was revealed that Elyse and husband Seth Campbell had called time on their marriage after tying the knot back in August 2014 Five months ago, close friends confirmed to DMA that Elyse and Seth Campbell - who share two-year-old daughter Lila Louise - had separated many months earlier, though remain on amicable terms following the split. The pair had been married for over a year after tying the knot in August 2014 in the USA. 'Elyse's main priority is the happiness and well-being of Lila,' a source said. Break-up news: Five months ago, close friends confirmed to DMA that Elyse and Seth Campbell - who share two-year-old daughter Lila Louise - had separated many months earlier, though remain on amicable terms following the split. During her big wedding day, the runway sensation was the picture of elegance as she sashayed along a makeshift aisle at Seth's family's farm outside New York City. The couple exchanged vows in front of approximately 200 guests on the manicured grounds at The Campbell Farm. Elyse's stunning bridal gown was designed by Zac Posen and featured a plunging neckline, a flowing white veil and sweeping train. Nuptials: Elyse and Seth got married in August 2014, tying the knot in an intimate ceremony Seth's family's farm outside New York City A month after the nuptials, Elyse said she was very serious about her marriage to Seth. She told The Daily Telegraph at the time: 'I'll only do it once', adding: 'It was such an intense experience. Meanwhile during an interview accompanying a lingerie photo shoot in March last year, she said: 'What attracted me to Seth was his strength - he's very smart, determined and focused'. 'And he thinks I'm cute when I have meltdowns - they are anything but cute!' Main focus: 'Elyse's main priority is the happiness and well-being of Lila,' the source said after Elyse's recent marriage split Mother and daughter: Elyse gave birth to Lila back in March 2014 After giving birth to daughter Lila in March 2014, Elyse soon returned to work as one of Australia's most successful international models. Discovered at age 18, she moved to New York where she was immediately booked by major labels such as Dolce & Gabbana, Bottega Veneta, Tommy Hilfiger, Moschino and Trussardi. Since then she has featured in campaigns for Estee Lauder and Victorias Secret, and featured in the lingerie brand's annual fashion show with the likes of Miranda Kerr. Model life: After giving birth to daughter Lila in March 2014, Elyse soon returned to work as one of Australia's most successful international models More recently, the model was appointed as the global face of Nude by Nature, as well as the face of new Seafolly brand Milea. She also collaborated with Witchery for the Witchery in Motion campaign. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Elyse's representatives for comment. It has been two months since her divorce settlement with Johnny Depp. And Amber Heard did not look in the best spirits on her latest outing. The 30-year-old actress looked rather sullen as she headed to an office in Los Angeles on Friday morning. Tired? Amber Heard looked rather sullen as she headed to an office in Los Angeles on Friday morning It is unknown what she was there for but Amber appeared to be pretty tired as she even opted to go make-up free for the occasion. She was dressed casual cool for the outing as she sported a black long-sleeved top tucked into skinny jeans and black leather ankle booties. The Zombieland actress accessorised with a black leather designer bag and multiple gold chain necklaces. Busy day: It is unknown what she was there for but the 30-year-old actress appeared to be pretty tired as she even opted to go make-up free for the occasion Her signature blonde locks were worn down flowing over her shoulders as she went au naturel with her face. It is an interesting point in Amber's life as earlier this week Warner Bros. released the first look at Amber Heard as Mera, Aquaman's wife and queen. The actress, 30, is pictured standing on rocks at the water's edge in her tight-fitting sea-green suit and pointed headdress with her long auburn hair flowing loose. Out and about: She was dressed casual cool for the outing as she sported a black long-sleeved top tucked into skinny jeans and black leather ankle booties While her part in this film, slated for a November 2017 release, is expected to be small, she will play a much bigger role in the standalone Aquaman movie slated for 2018. Game Of Thrones star Jason Momoa plays Aquaman, one of superheroes to join forces with Ben Affleck's Batman and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman to try and prevent a catastrophe befalling the planet. Amber has kept a relatively low profile since settling her divorce with ex Johnny Depp. Debut: Amber is pictured for first time in costume as Mera, the wife and queen of Aquaman, as Justice League filming moves to Iceland. This photo was released earlier this week Recurring roles: : Amber has a small role in Justice League but will play a bigger part when she joins Jason Momoa, pictured, in the standalone Aquaman film set for 2018 She married the 43-year-old actor, her Rum Diary co-star, in Ferbuary 2015 following his split from longtime love Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children Lily-Rose and Jack. Heard filed for divorce in May, appearing in court in Los Angeles with a bruised face to seek a temporary restraining order against the Hollywood star whom she accused of abuse. The former spouses reached a settlement on August 16 in which the restraining order was dismissed and Heard received $7 million, which she then donated to charity. She deleted all her social media accounts earlier this month following her battle with online trolls and an ongoing feud with Channel Nine. But Clare Verrall - the outspoken former contestant of reality TV series Married At First Sight - made a surprise return to Instagram on Friday. 'Haters gonna hate!,' the 32-year-old wrote in the caption alongside a short video in which she proudly proclaimed 'I'm back!' Scroll down for video 'I'm back!': Married At First Sight's Clare Verrall, 32, proudly took to Instagram on Friday to announce her return to Instagram - after deleting ALL social media accounts earlier this month 'I'm baaaaaack!!!,' Clare captioned a short video shared with her 36,000 Instagram followers. She also added in the defiant hash tags, 'Stronger than trolls', 'Haters gonna hate', and 'I'm just going to do me'. The black-and-white video saw the TV personality wearing a simple sweater as she proudly announcing her return to social media. 'Just when you thought it was safe to go back onto Instagram... Well guys, I'm back! I missed you all and I won't be bullied off,' she said. 'I'm baaaaaack!!!,' Clare captioned a short video shared with her 36,000+ Instagram followers Clare's bold return comes just weeks after she deleted ALL social media accounts. But despite returning to Instagram, it appears Clare has not reactivated her Twitter account - which remains deleted as of Saturday. Clare previously deleted her accounts after claiming on Twitter that Channel Nine should be 'ashamed' of the 'manufactured drama' on Married At First Sight. Controversy! Clare's return to Instagram follows her decision to delete her social media pages after claiming on Twitter that Channel Nine should be 'ashamed' of the 'manufactured drama' on Married At First Sight She has previously claimed Nine sent her legal threats following her public criticisms of the network. At the time of deletion, when a search was made for Clare's Instagram handle @clare_verrall, the result simply produced the message: 'Sorry, this page isn't available.' Her Twitter account @ClareVerrall1, however, still provides the response: 'Sorry, that page doesnt exist!' Gone! At the time of deletion, when a search was made for Clare's Instagram handle @clare_verrall, the result simply produced the message: 'Sorry, this page isn't available.' Digital detox? But despite returning to Instagram, it appears Clare has not reactivated her Twitter account - which remains deleted as of Saturday Outspoken: In the past, Clare has publicly criticised Channel Nine for its handling of the series' contestants. Pictured: Clare and TV 'husband' Jono Pitman Meanwhile, her French Bulldog 'Miss Dutchy Von Spoon A Lot' still has a prospering Instagram account. In fact, the page which Clare runs herself, boasts over 11,000 followers and draws attention to her animal rescue work. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Clare for comment. Still here! Meanwhile, Clare's French Bulldog 'Miss Dutchy Von Spoon A Lot' has a prospering Instagram account. The page, which Clare runs, draws attention to her animal rescue work He sported a fairly limited wardrobe on The Bachelorette, choosing to wear the same red flannel shirt and fleecy denim jacket on almost every episode. But it turns out that Sam Johnston puts far more effort into his hair than his fashion, with the reality TV 'villain' confessing that he gets his luscious locks cut and conditioned every two weeks. 'It's more the whole adventure of it,' the 27-year-old explained to the Daily Telegraph on Saturday. Scroll down for video Reading too much GQ? The Bachelorette's Sam Johnston opened up about his meticulous hair care routine, which sees him visit the hair and beauty salon every two weeks without fail He continued: 'The whole sit down, massage, shampoo, condition and when you walk out and the wind blows through it and you feel fresh.' The image-conscious nude model was booted off The Bachelorette earlier this week after admitting that he was using the dating show to further his showbiz career. During the tense episode, which aired on Wednesday, Sam opened up to Georgia Love about what his true intentions were. 'It's more the whole adventure of it,' admitted the metrosexual reality TV star 'The whole sit down, massage, shampoo, condition and when you walk out and the wind blows through it and you feel fresh,' Sam explained to the Daily Telegraph's BW Magazine He admitted that after a trip to the US - where he signed to a modelling agency in Miami - he had planned to return to LA and get into TV presenting, when the opportunity to be on The Bachelorette came up. 'I think presenting's kinda cool and being on camera and the media and, yeah, it was kind of heading that direction before this. 'Um...but this has just given me like a little kick to get moving quicker,' he frankly admitted to the shocked broadcast journalist. Not there for the right reasons? The nude model was booted off The Bachelorette on Wednesday after opening up about his showbiz career aspirations 'It was like freight train right into the face,' Georgia told the camera. While Sam was open about his celebrity aspirations, Georgia has repeatedly insisted she's on The Bachelorette to find love instead of furthering her TV career. 'To suggest I'm putting myself in this vulnerable position for short-term fame is quite offensive,' she told Sydney Morning Herald last month. Three's a crowd: A train wreck double date saw both Sam AND Rhys sent home on Wednesday She's just got a brand new hairstyle to kick off her apparently newly-single life after she found out her boyfriend Pete Wicks sent explicit text messages to other girls. And Megan McKenna showed off her new 'do on Friday night when she hit the town with fellow TOWIE babe Amber Dowding. The brunette beauty, 24, turned heads as she headed to Sheesh in Chigwell, Essex, donning a pink coat over a shirt, teamed with some very bright golden three-quarter lengths. Stunning: The brunette beauty, 24, showed off her new locks as she headed to Sheesh in Chigwell, Essex Accentuating her striking features with a heavy dose of make up, she accessorised with a statement watch and completed her look with some strappy pointed heels. On Thursday Megan looked gorgeous as she uploaded a snap of her new 'do to Instagram - rocking a bold full fringe and sleek, straight locks as she smouldered for the camera. The TOWIE star looked worlds away from her old self as she showed off her new long and silky tresses. On the raz: And Megan McKenna showed off her new 'do on Friday night when she hit the town with fellow TOWIE babe Amber Dowding Accentuating her striking features with a heavy dose of make up, she accessorised with a statement watch and completed her look with some strappy pointed heels On the move: Megan turned heads as she wandered into town, carrying her bag New 'do: Megan posed for the camera as she headed into town for the big night out The brunette separated herself from the girl who dated love rat Pete by having a statement full fringe cut in, creating a classy and more mature look. The bangs softly fell across her face, drawing more attention to her naturally pretty facial features and glowing sun-kissed skin from recent Marbella trip - where the saucy texts emerged. Despite dressing down in a casual tracksuit, the Essex babe still maintained her usual glamorous appearance by sporting a matching grey cropped jumper underneath - which gave a flash of her enviably toned figure as she smouldered for the camera. She bangs! Megan McKenna, 24, uploaded a snap of her new hairstyle to Instagram on Thursday - getting a cut in light of recent breakup with Pete Wicks Then and now: The TOWIE star looked worlds away from her old self (L) as she showed off her new long and silky tresses with a bold full fringe The photo bagged over 45,000 likes in its first hour - with many of her 1.4 million followers complementing her chic new look. One fan wrote: '100 times better, more natural looking great new look, you look fab' while another gave even higher praise, commenting: 'Gorgeous! You look like a young Helena Christensen here!' Megan's big change comes one day after the scenes of her finding out about her ex-boyfriend's cyber infidelity aired on The Only Way Is Marbs on Wednesday night. New woman: Megan has been putting on a brave face recently, continuing to film TOWIE in her usual glamorous appearance Happier times: Megan and Pete were together for six months, celebrating her birthday in Marbella just days before the news broke on social media While the pair were filming in their Spanish stomping ground, it was reported that Pete had been sending explicit sexual messages to his former model fling Jacqui Ryland during the holiday with Megan, which celebrated her birthday. It later emerged that the messages had been between several woman - involving topless photos and continuing for as long as three months. Adding to her heartbreak, Megan revealed to Danielle Armstrong on the episode that she had discovered some of the tamer messages a few weeks before, but had decided to give her tattooed hunk a second chance. Trouble: After finding out about the messages in Marbella, Megan returned home to the UK where she was approached by a grovelling Pete - resulting in a further argument After the couple endured an explosive showdown on the beach, both parties returned to the UK to aid their woes with home comforts - where Pete then visited his girl to try and make amends. The Essex lad explained to her: 'You need to know that I love you and I ain't going to give up.' But Megan wasn't ready to forgive and forget after he was unable to provide a reason for why he behaved as he did, so she threw him out of the house, exclaiming: 'You're greedy, you're f***ing disgusting!' Since the episode, Pete took to his social media page to post a cryptic message alluding to the dramatic split and perhaps his fight to win back the brunette beauty. The 27-year-old posted to his Instagram on Thursday: 'It doesn't matter how this looks to other people. If this is something you gotta do, then you do it! Fighters fight.' She was dropped by David Jones as an ambassador earlier this year. But Montana Cox proved she is still a model to be reckoned with as she posed up a storm on the beach on Friday. The 23-year-old stripped down to her lingerie at the beach as she worked the angles for a fashion photographer. Scroll down for video If you've got it, flaunt it! Montana Cox, 23, proved she is still a model to be reckoned with as she posed up a storm at the beach for a lingerie photo shoot on Friday As she raised her arms above her head, the Australia's Next Top Model star revealed a small tattoo on her left arm. She appeared to wear a minimal layer of make-up, while curling her brunette hair into a wavy 'do. It comes after Montana spoke to The Daily Telegraph about her career goals after leaving David Jones as an ambassador. Peek-a-boob! As she raised her arms above her head, the Australia's Next Top Model star revealed a small tattoo on her left arm 'I have been working every day this week shooting some really cool things. It is always good to be in demand.' 'There is life after David Jones. Life keeps on going,' she added defiantly. Speaking ahead of a Harper's Bazaar charity event on Thursday, the runway model spoke about her future plans for a family. 'There is life after David Jones': It comes after Montana spoke to The Daily Telegraph about her career goals after leaving David Jones as an ambassador After admitting she does want to have children one day, Montana then clarified it was still some time down the track. 'I am only 23 so hopefully I have a little more modelling to do before I get a big belly,' she told the publication. But like her other famous friends - Nicole Trunfio, Megan Gale and Lara Worthington - she plans to keep modelling after giving birth. 'I dont really have a plan in place, but these days people model after they have the baby and it is all about the comeback body,' she added. Looking to the future: Montana recently said she plans to have children one day Tunisia sentences 76 over soldier killings A Tunisian court Wednesday handed jail and death sentences to 76 people for killing eight soldiers in a jihadist hideout near the Algerian border in 2013, the prosecution said. Only seven accused, all Tunisian, appeared in court during the trial that started in late 2014 over the killings in the mountainous area of Chaambi, prosecution spokesman Sofiene Sliti said. Four received seven years in jail, one was handed a 13-year term and another was condemned to death, while the seventh was cleared of all charges. According to spokesman Sofiene Slithi, 69 of the 76 accused were given sentences from 40 years to the death penalty, as well found guilty of charges including "terrorist crimes" Fethi Belaid (AFP/File) The remaining 69 accused, all on the run and mostly Algerian, were given sentences ranging from 40 years to the death penalty, Sliti said, but did not give a total number of death sentences. They were found guilty of charges including "terrorist crimes", he said. Tunisia has faced a rise in jihadist attacks since the 2011 uprising that led to the overthrow of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The army has been tracking jihadists in the Chaambi area since 2012. Jihadist attacks in Tunisia have cost dozens of lives among security forces as well as civilians, and 59 foreign tourists were also killed in 2015. Stocks fall on China trade, 'Marmageddon' retail row World stocks mostly fell Thursday as weak Chinese data reinforced fears over the world's number two economy, while a spat between Britain's Tesco and Dutch giant Unilever hit sentiment in Europe. Europe's main stock indices were all lower at the close, while Wall Street was also down. Earlier, Asian bourses buckled on news that China's exports plummeted last month, as anaemic global demand hit its economy while weak imports fuelled worries about crucial domestic appetite. China said exports fell more than predicted in September, disappointing markets However, troubled Samsung Electronics staged a slight recovery on bargain-buying after losing about 10 percent of its value this week on the Galaxy Note 7 crisis. China said exports plunged more than predicted last month, disappointing markets after a recent upbeat reading on factory activity. In yuan terms it snapped six straight months of increases. Imports also fell, confounding predictions for a rise. "The drop in China's trade surplus, which included a surprise fall in imports, meant the basic resource sector which has a big exposure to Chinese commodity demand was dragging the UK equity benchmark lower," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler. Mining stocks listed in London suffered in response, with Rio Tinto falling 4.9 percent, BHP Billiton 4.4 percent and Anglo American 4.8 percent. - 'Marmageddon' in London - A seemingly Brexit-fuelled spat between British supermarket giant Tesco and Dutch food and consumer goods multinational Unilever erupted Thursday, pushing shares in both companies sharply lower. Unilever, which makes popular household brands like Flora margarine, PG Tips teabags and Persil washing powder, wanted major price hikes due to the Brexit-driven slump in sterling -- which it said has ramped up the cost of imported materials. Unilever also makes the popular yeast extract spread Marmite, prompting CMC's Lawler to label the dispute "Marmageddon", and spawning a #Marmitegate hashtag on Twitter. Tesco -- Britain's biggest retailer which faces intense price competition in its domestic supermarket sector -- has refused to lift prices. That prompted Unilever to halt deliveries to the company, sparking a shortage of its branded goods on the supermarket's shelves. "The flare-up does show that pressures are building in the consumer sphere following the Brexit vote and they are likely to persist," warned City Index analyst Ken Odeluga. "Unilever is legitimately trying to offset some of the revenue declines and input cost rises that are a direct consequence of sterling's collapse over the last few months. "But Tesco is loath to put a 10-percent jump in Unilever product prices in front of its customers whilst a price war is raging with rivals." Tesco stock were three percent down at the close, while Unilever London-listed shares dropped by 3.4 percent. Other retailers also felt the pain, with Sainsbury's down 0.9 percent and Marks and Spencer 2.7 percent. - Key figures around 1545 GMT - London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 6,977.74 points (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 1.0 percent at 10,414.07 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.1 percent at 4,405.17 (close) EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 1.2 percent at 2,973.27 New York - DOW: DOWN 0.7 percent at 18,020.39 New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.7 percent at 2,125.10 New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.7 percent at 5,201.26 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 16,774.24 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 1.6 percent at 23,031.30 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,061.35 (close) Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2207 from $1.2210 Euro/pound: UP at 90.49 pence from 90.15 pence Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1039 from $1.1007 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 103.61 yen from 104.23 yen Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 18 cents at $50.36 per barrel Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 14 cents at $51.95 Next UN chief Guterres says time to overcome divisions over Syria Newly-appointed UN chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday said it was time to overcome divisions over ending the war in Syria as key powers geared up for a new round of talks on the crisis. "Whatever divisions might exist, now it's more important to unite," Guterres said. "It's high time to fight for peace." Speaking to reporters after his formal appointment by the General Assembly, Guterres said that "to see the Syrian people suffer so much is something that absolutely breaks my heart." During his address to the General Assembly, UN Secretary-General-designate Antonio Guterres said it was time to stand up both to terrorists and populists, arguing that they "reinforce each other" in their extremism Jewel Samad (AFP) The former prime minister of Portugal who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade will replace Ban Ki-moon who steps down on December 31 after ten years as UN chief. The United States and Russia are to host a meeting of the countries involved in the Syrian peace process in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday to try again to agree on a ceasefire. On Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry will head to London for more talks with his European counterparts. "The countries that are key stakeholders will be meeting again to try to walk ahead with the peace process," Guterres said. "I can only wish that they will be successful because it is the moral obligation of us all to stop the suffering of the Syrian people." During his address to the General Assembly, Guterres said it was time to stand up both to terrorists and populists, arguing that they "reinforce each other" in their extremism. "We must make sure that we are able to break these alliances between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side, and the expression of populism and xenophobia on the other side," he said. "The two reinforce each other and we must be able to fight both of them with determination." Guterres' appointment comes at a time of global anxiety over the ongoing war in Syria, the refugee crisis and raging conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen. Pro-govt gains in Aleppo ahead of key Syria talks Syrian pro-government forces used intense air strikes as cover for an advance in the battleground city of Aleppo ahead of fresh diplomatic talks on Saturday to end the conflict. The United States and Russia, which support opposite sides in the five-year war, will meet in Switzerland to try to resurrect the peace process. Moscow has faced rising international criticism over its backing for President Bashar al-Assad's onslaught in divided Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes. A Syrian man carries a child as they await treatment at a hospital in the regime-held part of Aleppo, on October 13, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP/File) Violence has continued unabated in the northern city, once Syria's commercial hub but now ravaged by Russian and regime air strikes in support of a major government offensive against rebels. The meeting comes after leading charities called Saturday for a ceasefire in the battered city, issuing a joint plea "to establish a ceasefire of at least 72 hours in east Aleppo". "This will allow the sick and wounded to be evacuated, and for food and medical aid to enter the besieged area," said a statement from Save the Children, which joined the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam International in calling for a truce. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded opposition-controlled eastern districts again on Friday, though it did not have any immediate information on casualties. It said pro-government forces had used the air raids to advance southwards from positions in north Aleppo with the goal of "opening a route to the airport", east of the city. The intensified bombardment has put a severe strain on rescue workers and medical staff in east Aleppo, home to an estimated 250,000 residents under siege. "This recent escalation has been huge and we've had a lot of work," said Ibrahim Abu al-Leith, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force in Aleppo. He said rescuers were still working to dislodge people from under the rubble in the Tariq al-Bab eastern district. - Bleeding to death - AFP's correspondent in east Aleppo said some people had been stuck under the rubble for at least two days as rescuers scrambled between neighbourhoods. Others bled to death after White Helmets teams were unable to reach them in time. Since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow, Aleppo has been engulfed by some of the worst violence of the conflict. More than 370 people, including nearly 70 children, have been killed in regime and Russian bombardment of east Aleppo since the regime's assault began on September 22, the Observatory said. Dozens of civilians, including children, have also died in rebel bombardment of regime-controlled western districts, according to the monitor, which compiles its information from sources on the ground. The Observatory said at least 15 civilians, including two children, were killed Friday in air raids on a village in northeastern Raqa province, "presumably by the US-led coalition" currently battling the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria and Iraq. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to hold fresh talks to try to revive the ceasefire deal in Lausanne on Saturday. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will attend, along with the chief diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces. Iran announced late Friday that its foreign minister Mohammad Javid Zarif would take part in the Lausanne talks. Then in London on Sunday, Kerry will likely meet up with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany. Lavrov played down hopes of a breakthrough in Lausanne, telling reporters on Friday he had no "special expectations" for progress. - Aleppo as a 'springboard' - In an interview with Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid published Friday, Assad said he would use a victory in Aleppo as a "springboard" to capture other rebel strongholds. "It's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to another areas, to liberate another areas from the terrorists," the Syrian president said. He said his next target could be northwestern Idlib province. Idlib is held by an alliance of rebels and jihadists including the Fateh al-Sham Front, which changed its name from Al-Nusra Front when it cut ties with Al-Qaeda. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. There's no other option," Assad said. Also Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a law ratifying a deal with Syria -- first signed in August 2015 -- to establish Russia's Hmeimim airbase to launch pro-regime operations. Russia has long provided political and financial support to Syria and began its bombing campaign there in September 2015. All-out war on Aleppo Thomas SAINT-CRICQ, Jean Michel CORNU, Gillian HANDYSIDE (AFP) Syrian Hadi Mustafa Habbush, 9, who was rescued from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes, lies on a hospital bed in the rebel-held northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo, on October 12, 2016 Thaer Mohammed (AFP/File) Syrian pro-government soldiers chat as they advance in Aleppo's rebel-held Bustan al-Basha neighbourhood on October 6, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP/File) The air quality in China improved slightly in the first nine months of the year, according to a report on Thursday by the Ministry of Environmental Protection that ranks 74 cities with the worst air pollution. A file photo shows heavy smog in the air. [Photo/Chinanews.com] The Northwestern city of Xi'an, home to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin, and Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, entered the top 10 cities with most polluted air in the country. The city with the worst air quality in the report is Xingtai in Hebei Province, followed by Baoding in Hebei, Jinan in Shandong, Zhengzhou in Henan, Handan, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan and Hengshui in Hebei, Urumqi in Xinjiang and Xi'an in Shaanxi. Six of the 10 cities are in the northern province of Hebei. The city with the best air quality is Haikou in Hainan Province, followed by Zhoushan in Zhejiang, Huizhou in Guangdong, Xiamen in Fujian, Zhuhai in Guangdong, Lishui in Zhejiang, Shenzhen in Guangdong, Fuzhou in Fujian, Lhasa in Tibet and Zhongshan in Zhejiang. Luo Yi, head of the environmental monitoring department, said over 80 percent of 338 cities recorded days with good air quality in the first three quarters, a growth of 2.6 percent. The intensity of PM 2.5, airborne particle matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter and a major indicator of air quality, dropped by 8.5 percent from a year earlier. The intensity of PM 10 also decreased by 8.2 percent year-on-year. Some 56.1 percent of days in the capital Beijing registered good air quality, a rise of 5.6 percent, while PM2.5 and PM 10 decreased by 10.1 percent and 14.9 percent year-on-year respectively. Chai Fahe, a researcher at the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, said air quality showed a general tendency toward improvement over the past nine months, although in September major air pollution particles bounced higher due to climate change. World edges closer to major greenhouse gas deal in Rwanda World envoys were Friday putting the final touches to a deal in Rwanda to phase out potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners, a major step in curbing global warming. Tough negotiations have seen major developing nations such as India put up a fight over the timeline to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and the financing of the transition. However some delegates were already praising an early agreement in principle, and were hammering out the final details in late night sessions. Air conditioning is the cause of the largest growth in hydrofluorocarbons and the world is likely to have another 700 million air conditioners by 2030 Philippe Huguen (AFP/File) "Country representatives are now negotiating the final details of the amendment," read a tweet from Rwanda's natural resources ministry. "This is a huge win for the climate. We have taken a major concrete step in delivering on the promises we made in Paris last December," said Miguel Arias Canete, a commissioner with the European Union in a statement ahead of the adoption of the agreement. "The global phase-down we have agreed today could knock off up to half a degree of warming by the end of the century." However thrashing out the nitty-gritty of the deal could take talks into the early hours of Saturday. -'Issues of cost'- HFCs were introduced in the 1990s to replace chemicals that had been found to erode the ozone layer, but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming. However swapping HFCs for alternatives such as ammonia, water or gases called hydrofluoroolefins could prove costly for developing countries with sweltering summer temperatures, such as India. These countries want a later date for the phase down to begin. "There are issues of cost, there are issues of technology, there are issues of finances," said Ajay Narayan Jha of India's environment and climate change ministry. "We would like to emphasise that any agreement will have to be flexible from all sides concerned. It can't be flexible from one side and not from the other." Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered $80 million (72 million euros) to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs. - 'Give it teeth'- US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier acknowledged that while the US would be ready to begin phasing out HFCs by 2021, other countries might move at a slower pace. "But no country has a right to turn their back on this effort," he told delegates, warning that the world already faces droughts, flooding, agricultural disasters and waves of climate refugees. "And if we're going to give this amendment the teeth it needs to prevent as much as a half-degree of warming, then we need to make sure were pushing for the most far-reaching amendment we can adopt," he declared. Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, said that if the agreement was adopted, "it will be one the most important global meetings in this year." HFCs' predecessors, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were discontinued under the 1987 Montreal Protocol when scientists realised they were destroying the ozone layer. This blanket of gas in the upper stratosphere protects Earth from the Sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays. But it emerged that HFCs, while safe for the now-healing ozone, are thousands of times worse for trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. According to the Berkeley National Laboratory, air conditioning is the cause of the largest growth in HFCs -- and the world is likely to have another 700 million air conditioners by 2030. Last year's Paris climate agreement aims to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels. But continued use of HFCs could prove a serious stumbling block to attaining the goal. HFCs -- though they are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol. Any amendment to the protocol will be legally binding. HFCs and the greenhouse effect Gillian HANDYSIDE (AFP) Delegates attend the official opening of the 28th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali on October 13, 2016 Cyril Ndegeya (AFP) Indigenous Namibians furious over German reparations 'insult' Indigenous Namibians lashed out Friday at Germany for refusing to pay reparations for the genocide of their people a century ago, calling it a "phenomenal" insult to victims' descendents. Germany has been in negotiations with its former colony Namibia over a joint declaration on the massacre of the Nama and Herero people in 1904 and 1905 which would include an apology for the mass killings. But Berlin has repeatedly refused to pay reparations. It argues that hundreds of millions of euros it has contributed to development aid since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was for the benefit of all Namibians. Germany has been in negotiations with its former colony Namibia over a joint declaration on the massacre of the Nama and Herero people in 1904 and 1905 which would include an apology for the mass killings Leaders of both Namibian indigenous groups said they would not accept any apology not backed by reparations.. This is because it "would seriously constitute a phenomenal insult to the intelligence not only of the Namibians and the descendents of the victim communities but to Africans in general," said Vekuii Rukoro, the paramount chief of the Herero people. "It would represent the most insensitive political statement ever to have been made by an aggressor nation to the victims of its genocide," he added. Germany had not only apologised to the Jews for the Holocaust, but had also paid reparations, Rukoro said. "Because we have a different skin colour, the German government is saying to us: it's only an apology and that's it," he said, adding that the "rest will be cheque-book diplomacy through our government, which will be given development assistance, and then we must shut up." "Guess what? The Hereros and Namas of Namibia, victims of genocide, we will not ever, in another 100 years to come, accept that," he stressed. - 'Futile exercise' - Berlin ruled what was then called South-West Africa as a colony from 1884 to 1915. Incensed by German settlers stealing their land and cattle and taking their women, the Herero people launched a revolt in January 1904 with warriors killing 123 German civilians over several days. The Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905. The colonial rulers responded ruthlessly and General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious extermination order against the Hereros. Rounded up in prison camps, captured Namas and Hereros died from malnutrition and severe weather. Dozens were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls sent to German researchers in Berlin for "scientific" experiments. Up to 80,000 Hereros lived in Namibia when the uprising began. Afterwards, only 15,000 were left. Parliament Speaker Norbert Lammert, writing in a guest column for news weekly Die Zeit, said the Herero and Nama peoples had been systematically targeted for massacre by German imperial troops. Since then, the government has also used the term genocide to describe the killings. The Nama and Herero leaders also demanded a seat at the negotiating table between Windhoek and Berlin, saying they had so far not been privy to the talks that directly concern their people. Moses Kooper, the Nama people's traditional chief, said: "We want to be part and parcel, as affected communities, in these negotiations, otherwise it will be a futile exercise." Esther Muinjangue, who heads the Herero Genocide Committee, said that until representatives of the indigenous people are represented, the talks should be halted. Tradition, art blend in Morocco 'tbourida' cavalry charges The equestrian art of tbourida, inspired by the historical charges of the feared cavalrymen of Morocco, fascinated Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix two centuries ago and still draws enthusiastic crowds today. At this week's "Salon du Cheval" show in El-Jadida, western Morocco, thousands have been enthralled by the spectacle of groups of riders in colourful traditional dress charging in a line and then suddenly coming to a halt with a synchronised firing of their muskets in a deafening and pungent blast of gunpowder. The 15 finest troops of cavalrymen from across the North African country competed in the first King Mohammed VI Grand Prix of tbourida, taken from the word for gunpowder in a local dialect, at the sandy exhibition grounds of the port city of El-Jadida. The equestrian art of tbourida in Morocco was above all the fusion of man and horse, especially the Barb, an ancient North African breed famed for its hardiness and stamina Fadel Senna (AFP/File) The event showcased "the traditional equestrian art of Morocco dating back to the 13th century", Hamid Benazzou, who heads an association on Moroccan horses, told AFP. Mustapha Mallagui, 42, a civil servant and part-time farmer who rides with the "sorba", or troop, from Fes-Meknes in central Morocco, said "tbourida and its horses are like a work of art", as seen in many magnificent paintings by the French master Delacroix. "Historically, (Arab and Berber) tribes would celebrate victories with the tbourida to display their equestrian knowhow, their handling of guns, the beauty of their harnesses. It was a sort of military parade," Mallagui said, standing under one of the huge red-carpeted tents set up for competitors. Today, the tribal wars are over but the rituals remain a part of traditional festivities in the countryside. Villages and towns all have their own sorba and a nationwide contest selects the best troop from each region. The colourful harnesses of the horses, the regional costumes of the riders are a sight for the eyes, with their embroidery, kaftans, pompoms, the "burnous" Arab hooded cloaks, shoulder belts and turbans. Shiny curved daggers, swords, powder horns and pearl-encrusted guns with chiselled grips add to the visual feast of handicrafts. - Fusion of man and horse - The tradition of tbourida is deeply-ingrained in central Morocco and the southern deserts, where cavalrymen in their majestic blue "gandoura" tunics fire not in the air but into the ground because, as Mallagui explained, "the enemy is hidden in the sand and not in the mountains". "Before, there were no tanks, no planes in wars... there was only the horse," he said. Tbourida was above all the fusion of man and horse, especially the Barb, an ancient North African breed famed for its hardiness and stamina. It was introduced to Europe centuries ago and became the favoured horse of royal courts and on the battlefield right up to the time of Napoleon. Each sorba is made up of between 11 and 15 riders, mounted proud and straight-backed, with a captain at the centre who loudly coordinates the movements of his men and horses. The troop makes a first pass, called the "hadda", at a slow gait followed by a trot, to exhibit their equipment and their mastery of beast and weapons. The "talqa", or charge, is next with a synchronised gallop that comes to a finale with simultaneous firing of the muskets at the captain's command before the horses come to a sudden standstill right in front of the jury. Errors are common, with riders falling off their horse or guns failing to fire. "To be a sorba rider, you need the discipline of a soldier," one of them said as the two-hour spectacle drew to a close. The 15 finest troops of cavalrymen from across Morocco compete in the first King Mohammed VI Grand Prix of Tbourida in the port city of El-Jadida Fadel Senna (AFP/File) Google adds fact-checking to news articles Google is adding "fact check" tags to its news articles, introducing the feature amid a US presidential race roiled by heated disputes over the accuracy of information. The move, announced Thursday, will allow readers on Google news applications and websites to click on links to check facts where claims have been evaluated by fact-check organizations. The new feature is being introduced amid a war over facts between many major media outlets and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Google News "determines whether an article might contain fact checks" using an algorithm that evaluates claims and by seeking websites "that follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks" Leon Neal (AFP/File) It also aims to stem the spread of "fake" news that may spread through social media. "We're excited to see the growth of the fact-check community and to shine a light on its efforts to divine fact from fiction, wisdom from spin," Google news chief Richard Gingras said in a blog post. Google News "determines whether an article might contain fact checks" using an algorithm that evaluates claims and by seeking websites "that follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks," the statement said. Bill Adair, a Duke University journalism professor and founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning site PolitiFact, called the Google announcement "a huge step for fact-checking." Trump has forced fact-checkers to work overtime with a seemingly relentless stream of untruths and exaggerations about his past, and he has hit back at the media for damning revelations. People's tribunal accuses Monsanto of 'ecocide' Global activists Friday launched a people's tribunal, accusing giant US seeds firm Monsanto of violating human rights and committing the crime of "ecocide", by posing a "major threat" to the environment. Monsanto, which produces genetically-modified seeds as well as controversial pesticides, has already dismissed the gathering in The Hague organised by hundreds of grassroots groups as a "parody" with no legal standing, and refused to attend. But five professional international judges will hear from 30 witnesses, including scientists, farmers and beekeepers, who have travelled from five continents for the three-day event. Monsanto, which produces genetically-modified seeds as well as controversial pesticides, dismissed the peopel's tribunal in The Hague as a "parody" with no legal standing John Thys (AFP/File) The aim is to draw up a legal advisory opinion which could be fed into existing law, including writing "ecocide" as a crime into international criminal law. The move comes as the European Union is to examine a $66-billion (60-billion-euro) bid by German chemicals giant Bayer to buy out Monsanto. "Saving our seeds, in my view, is the most revolutionary action in our times," said Vandana Shiva, an Indian author who has clashed in the past with Monsanto. "This is laying out the work to have a future without poisons," she told an opening press conference. Six questions have been put before the judges in The Hague, including whether Monsanto has violated the rights to a safe environment, to food as well as the highest standards of health. The panel has also been asked to determine whether by producing the Agent Orange defoliant used by US forces in the Vietnam War, Monsanto was also complicit in war crimes. And it has been asked whether Monsanto's activities could constitute "a crime of ecocide, understood as causing serious damage or destroying the environment." - Environmental crimes - The event comes as the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court based in the Dutch city has said she intends to deepen her focus on environmental crimes such as land grabs. "The tribunal will decide whether Monsanto has, or has not, failed in its international obligations," said Corinne Lepage, former French environment minister. "We need to give civil society the same weapons in all the countries of the world so that they can defend themselves in the same way against Monsanto." But Monsanto has defended itself against the charges saying in an open letter the tribunal aimed to "divert attention away from vital discussions on the world's food and agriculture needs." And it insisted that it is working with farmers to help them adapt to climate change, adding it was convinced all forms of agriculture could co-exist. Monsanto's GM seeds are designed for use alongside its pesticide glyphosate which has made headlines this year over cancer fears. US senator asks Obama to replace top market regulator A powerful US senator demanded Friday that President Barack Obama remove the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly obstructing efforts to force companies to reveal political donations. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren escalated her longstanding criticism of SEC Chair Mary Jo White, sending a letter to Obama calling White the "biggest barrier" to establishing rules that require companies to disclose political contributions. "For years, the chair of the SEC, Mary Jo White, has refused to develop a political spending disclosure rule despite her clear authority to do so, and despite unprecedented and overwhelming investor and public support for such a rule," Warren said. "Enough is enough." SEC Chairman Mary Jo White testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, June 14, 2016 Mark Wilson (Getty/AFP) Warren said Obama should invoke his unilateral authority to immediately name a new SEC chair from the agency's five-member commission. "While demoting an existing chair and selecting another from among the agency's current Commissioners would be an uncommon act, Chair White's extraordinary, ongoing efforts to undermine the agency's central mission make such a step necessary," she said. The SEC creates and enforces the rules governing public companies and the securities industry. Its commission is effectively chosen by the two political parties, but the chair is named from the commission by the president. The issue of political disclosures has mounted as businesses and foundations have deployed hundreds of millions of dollars, often secretly, to back candidates from both parties in this year's elections. Warren said that although the Obama administration and his Democratic Party have supported forcing such disclosures, Republicans in Congress have fought legislation and White has resisted putting the requirement in SEC rules for the thousands of public companies it regulates. Serving on the powerful Senate banking committee, Warren has made herself a force in corporate and financial services regulatory issues. 14 dead as pro-govt fighters squeeze IS in Libya's Sirte At least 14 pro-government fighters were killed on Friday in clashes with the Islamic State group in the jihadists' former Libya bastion of Sirte, a medical source said. "Fighting today began at 9am (0700 GMT) and the toll to now is 13 dead and 25-30 wounded," hospital official Abdellatif Abdel Ali said. One fighter, who was shot, later died after being operated upon. Forces allied to Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) are seen in a field hospital in Sirte during their military operation to clear the Islamic State group's jihadists from the city on October 14, 2016 Mahmud Turkia (AFP) Ali said the majority of those killed were shot in the head by sniper fire. Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have cornered IS fighters in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, since launching an offensive on May 12. After a pause in fighting on Thursday, pro-GNA fighters resumed the battle against IS holdouts in a seaside residential district of Sirte. At least three US air strikes hit IS positions on Friday, an AFP journalist in the city said. A pro-government forces commander told AFP that IS snipers were slowing the anti-jihadist advance. "These gunmen are well trained and equipped. The haven't given in even with air raids and the seige we've imposed on them," Al-Hedi Issa told AFP. "So we prefer to advance slowly in order to preserve the lives of our fighters." Celebrated Monet 'haystack' painting to be auctioned in NY The Christie's auction house in New York will offer for sale one of Claude Monet's celebrated "haystack" paintings, valued at an estimated $45 million, which should reconfirm collectors' appetite for Impressionist art. With wealthy Chinese collectors expressing keen interest in such works, the painting -- part of a series of haystack pictures painted by Monet during the winter of 1890-91 from his French home in Giverny -- will first be presented next week in Hong Kong. It will then be shown in London before returning to New York in early November. This canvas, representing a simple cone-shaped haystack at dusk, is one of the rare works in this series to still be in private hands, Christie's said. Claude Monet's celebrated "haystack" paintings are valued at an estimated $45 million Isaac Lawrence (AFP/File) Most of the others are in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, or the Art Institute of Chicago. This painting, to be auctioned on November 16, was acquired in September 1891 by the Knoedler & Co. art gallery, which brought it to the United States. In recent years, prices for works by Monet or other celebrated Impressionists have shot through the roof. Images show addiction's effect on kids, but to what end? Widely shared, heartbreaking images of children dealing with the effects of their loved ones' heroin addiction are raising questions about whether the pictures and videos can scare addicts straight or simply exploit the youngest victims of the epidemic. The latest of these viral posts is a Facebook video of a Youngstown, Ohio, man telling his young son that the boy's addicted mother died from an overdose. The video, which has been viewed more than 25 million times since it was posted Monday, shows the man delivering the news to his son while both are seated at a picnic table. The boy responds with disbelief before beginning to sob. In a note accompanying the video, the man describes himself as a recovering addict and writes that he was sharing it so "addicts with children can see the seriousnes (sic) of our epidemic." The man didn't immediately respond to interview requests left by The Associated Press with his employer and through his Facebook account. The AP also was unable to authenticate whether the video truly showed the moment a boy learns his mother has died. The video nevertheless prompted a strong reaction online, with some criticizing the post and others praising the man for trying to send a message to fellow addicts. The video comes on the heels of other troubling images of children affected by adults with drug problems. One video released by a Massachusetts police department showed a crying toddler trying to wake her mother as she lay on the floor of a store following an overdose. Last month, police in the Ohio city of East Liverpool, about 40 miles south of Youngstown, released photos showing a 4-year-old boy in a vehicle with two adults slumped over after overdosing on heroin and fentanyl. The post was shared more than 28,000 times. In both cases, police defended the images as creating awareness of the danger of opiate use. But one drug-treatment agency head says the disturbing images are unlikely to change an addict's behavior. "The research isn't showing that these scare tactics are very effective," said April Caraway, the executive director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board in Ohio's Trumbull County, which, like Youngstown, is part of a region that has been dealing with a spike in overdoses involving heroin and opiates. Those struggling with addiction already see the dangers of heroin up close, she said. "They've seen the worst of the worst," Caraway said. "The ones who are battling addiction continue to use." She also doubted whether those who have yet to try heroin would be dissuaded from doing so by the posts, saying many younger people see addicts and say, "That's never going to happen to me." Still, Caraway holds out hope that the viral nature of these types of images will reach someone struggling with addiction. Transgender robber who wanted back in prison gets 6 years CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) A transgender woman who robbed a bank in an attempt to be sent back to prison expressed a change in heart, and a sympathetic judge sentenced her Wednesday to six years in a federal women's prison, far less than the 20 years she could have gotten. Linda Thompson, 59, told the courtroom that whatever sentence U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal handed down would be fine with her, but she hoped yet to get a commercial driver's license and land a job driving a truck. "No one really wants you to die in prison," Freudenthal said. "There's more out there than hanging out in custody." Thompson apologized to a teller at the U.S. Bank branch in Cheyenne she robbed in July. The teller and other bank employees sitting in the audience declined to address the court. "My intention was not to hurt you. My intention was to go back to prison. I'm sorry you had to be part of that," Thompson told the woman. After robbing the bank, Thompson threw some of the cash into the air and tried to give some away. She sat down and waited for police to arrive. She pleaded guilty in August. During Wednesday's somewhat topsy-turvy sentencing proceedings, her attorney, David Weiss, acknowledged the crime wasn't victimless because Thompson who is heavy-set, stands well over 6 feet tall and has a deep voice was imposing as she showed the bank teller a sign indicating she had a gun. "Spending her life in custody is a cop-out," Weiss told the courtroom. "Every day in prison is the same. Every issue she has with the system she knows how to negotiate." Federal prosecutor Stuart Healy agreed, adding: "I don't think anybody in this courtroom can imagine the suffering Linda has gone through in this life to get here." Weiss and Healy agreed Thompson should be sentenced at the low end of federal sentencing guidelines, and she was. Thompson was released from prison in Oregon in June after serving time for robbery, a crime also motivated by a desire to return to prison. She told Freudenthal she hopped on a freight train to Cheyenne in hope of finding work even though she had difficulty getting the photo identification she needed for the commercial driver's license she wanted. She told police she resolved to return to prison after being attacked in a park. On Wednesday, however, Thompson expressed optimism she could complete treatment for alcohol abuse and get a job "twisting a steering wheel" after her next release. "It's encouraging to me you've got concrete, specific ideas about how you could work," Freudenthal told her. "It's hopeful and optimistic, and I really appreciate you sharing that." Thompson was featured in a 2007 documentary, "Cruel and Unusual," about the problems that incarceration in men's prisons present for inmates who identify as female. In the film, Thompson described castrating herself after Idaho prison officials wouldn't give her hormone treatments. A successful lawsuit against the Idaho Department of Corrections eventually got her the treatments, according to the film. She had gone to prison in Idaho for stealing. Her inability to find work because she identified as female and dressed like a woman drove her to steal electrical wire and sell it as scrap, Thompson said in the documentary. "What am I supposed to do to survive? I can't work. I'm not allowed in a shelter. I'm not allowed in a rescue mission," she said in the film. "Yes, it's wrong. I know I shouldn't have done it. But, oh well. I'm not going to lie about who and what I am." Thompson served time in Washington state and Oregon after her imprisonment in Idaho. In the film, she said she continued to be rejected for work in western Wyoming's gas fields. She also was unable to get the hormone therapy she had received in prison, she said in the film. "I wasn't on my medication so I was really getting into the suicidal thoughts," she said in the documentary. "I intentionally got myself arrested and sent back to prison, so I would get back on my medication." Thompson has been getting certain hormone treatments during her recent custody as a health measure because of her self-castration, Weiss said. ___ A school in east China's Shandong province was demanded to stop its 'militarized closed-off management and training' to minors on Tuesday after an investigation following the news of one former student that killed her mother in September after being sent to the school for treatment, the Beijing News reports. The Shandong Defense Science and Technology School was found using corporal punishment on its students, according to an investigation report by the Shandong provincial education department. Relative persons will be held responsible for the misconduct in education at the school, announced the provincial education department. A woman from northeast China's Heilongjiang Province was found dead at home, bound to a chair by tape and cloth strips on September 16. Her 16-year-old daughter Chen Xinran surrendered herself to the police, admitting that she had abducted and killed her mother. Chen was forced to receive "treatment" in the school which alleges that it is a professional school for the abstention of misconduct of minors, specifically for internet addiction in February. Chen recalled that she had been undergoing corporal punishment and restriction of personal freedom during her 4-month stay in the school. The Latest: Man who shot 2 officers didn't have gun license BOSTON (AP) The Latest on two Boston police officers shot while responding to a report of a person with a gun (all times local): 1:40 p.m. Boston's police commissioner says the man who shot and critically wounded two officers was not licensed to own a gun in Massachusetts. Police search for a suspect after a police shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Police say 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa was wearing body armor when he opened fire on police late Wednesday with what Commissioner William Evans called a "tactical shotgun." The officers were responding to a 911 call from Figueroa's roommate who said Figueroa was threatening him with a knife. Evans identified the injured officers as 27-year veteran Richard Cintolo and 12-year veteran Matt Morris. He says an artery in Morris' leg was severed and his life was probably saved by another officer who tied a tourniquet on his leg. Both officers remain hospitalized in critical condition, but Evans says they are recovering. He has spoken to both. Figueroa was killed. ___ 9:55 a.m. The man Boston police say shot and critically wounded two officers was a constable who described himself on a website as a former member of a U.S. Army Reserve military police unit, a bounty hunter in California and a former corrections officer. Police have identified the shooter as 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa. They say he opened fire on police when they responded to a domestic disturbance call in East Boston on Wednesday night. He was shot and killed by police. A car with the name of a website was towed from the shooting scene Thursday morning. On the website, elitepolicing.org, a man who identifies himself as Kirk Figueroa says his company, Code Blue Protection Corp., provides police support, fugitive "apprehension and extradition services" and armored car training. He also says he is trained in mixed martial arts. Constables are authorized to serve subpoenas and other legal documents. ___ 8:55 a.m. Boston police say a man who shot two officers was not known to authorities before he allegedly opened fire as officers responded to a domestic call in East Boston. Police have identified the suspect as 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa. Commissioner William Evans says Figueroa was wearing body armor and armed with an assault rifle when he shot the officers late Wednesday. He was shot and killed by police. A spokesman said Boston police had never arrested Figueroa before. The injured officers were out of surgery by Thursday morning. They are still in critical condition. Their names have not been released yet. ___ 8:10 a.m. Boston police have released the name of the man they say shot two officers responding to a domestic call. They identified the suspect in Wednesday night's shooting in the city's East Boston neighborhood as 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa. He lived in the neighborhood. Commissioner William Evans says Figueroa was wearing body armor and was armed with an assault rifle when he shot the officers. He was shot and killed by police. The injured officers were out of surgery by Thursday morning. Their names have not been released Mayor Marty Walsh says they the officers are still in critical condition but "better than they were last night." ___ 7:20 a.m. Two Boston police officers shot and critically injured responding to a domestic incident are out of surgery. Police Commissioner William Evans tells WBZ-AM on Thursday morning that he understood that surgery "went well" and the officers' families are with them. He says they were shot Wednesday night by a 33-year-old man with body armor and what he described as an "assault" rifle. The suspect was shot and killed by police. Evans described a "hectic scene" with other officers rushing to the aid of their injured colleagues and pulling them to safety. He said one officer fashioned a tourniquet, while another put a finger on one of the wounds. The injured officers' names were not immediately released. He says deadly force is a last resort for police but in this case "we had to do what we had to do." ___ 6:15 a.m. Authorities say nine officers are being treated for minor injuries, stress and trauma after a shootout left two Boston police officers wounded and a suspect dead. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said at an early Thursday news conference that officers were responding to a report of a person with a gun just after 11 p.m. Wednesday in East Boston when they came under fire. Evans says the two wounded officers were hospitalized in "extremely critical condition." Their names have not been released. He said nine other officers were being treated at Tufts Medical Center. Police initially asked residents in the East Boston neighborhood to shelter in place as they searched for a suspect. They later said the suspect was killed and the situation was under control. This story has been corrected to show that officers are in critical condition, not one in critical condition and the other in stable condition. ___ 12:55 a.m. Boston police say two officers have been shot and wounded and the suspect is dead. Police say the officers were responding to a report of a person with a gun late Wednesday night in East Boston when they came under fire. One of the officers was shot multiple times and is hospitalized in critical condition. The other officer is listed in stable condition. Their names have not been released. Police initially asked residents in the East Boston neighborhood to shelter in place as they searched for a suspect. They later said the suspect was killed and the situation was under control. Police Commissioner William Evans is asking the community to "please pray for our injured officers." No other information was immediately available. ___ 12:20 a.m. Authorities say they've located a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting of two Boston police officers. The Boston Police Department lifted a shelter-in-place order early Thursday, saying the scene was secure. Authorities say the officers were responding to a report of a person with a gun late Wednesday night in East Boston when they came under fire. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. Police wrote on Twitter that as the scene unfolds, "we kindly ask our community members to pray for our injured officers." Police have not released any additional information. ___ 11:50 p.m. Two police officers have been shot in Boston and a suspect is still on the loose. Police say the officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. Police say the officers were responding to a report of a person with a gun when they came under fire. Police are asking residents of the East Boston neighborhood where the shooting happened to shelter in place as officers search the area for the suspect. Police have not released any additional information. ___ 11:45 p.m. Two police officers have been shot in Boston and a suspect is still on the loose. Police say the officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. Police are asking residents of the East Boston neighborhood where the shooting happened to shelter in place as officers search the area for the suspect. Police have not released any additional information. ___ Police search for a suspect after a shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Police search for a suspect after a shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Police search for a suspect after a shooting in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Police say two officers were shot late Wednesday night. Their conditions were not immediately available. It's unclear what led to the shooting. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Reign of Thai king saw great change, dozens of governments BANGKOK (AP) The 70-year reign of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej spanned coups, insurgencies and dozens of national governments. Some key moments from his life and times: Dec. 5, 1927: Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while his father was studying medicine at Harvard University. 1932: Bloodless revolution ends centuries of absolute monarchy and ushers in constitutional rule. FILE - In this March 7, 1935, file photo, Prince Bhumibol, left, stands with his brother, King Ananda Mahidol of Siam, now known as Thailand, at their school in Lausanne Switzerland. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File) 1946: The then-monarch, Bhumibol's older brother Ananda, is found dead from a gunshot under still-mysterious circumstances, and Bhumibol is named successor. 1950: Bhumibol marries Queen Sirikit and is coronated. A Broadway musical features his musical composition, "Blue Day." 1952: King initiates the first of what will become thousands of royal projects to fight poverty, disease, environmental destruction and drug trafficking. The first of the couple's four children is born. 1957: Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat seizes and holds power for six years as king gains political maturity and prestige. 1967: King and queen visit the United States and Canada, the last of his many foreign trips. He voices support for U.S. in the Vietnam War. 1973: King intervenes to halt bloodshed as students rise up against a military dictatorship. 1989: Bhumibol becomes world's longest reigning living monarch. 1992: King ends bloody clashes between troops and pro-democracy demonstrators. 1993: One of the king's many inventions, a waste water aerator, receives patent No. 3127. 2004: King advocates "gentle approach" as Muslim militants begin bloody insurgency in southern Thailand. June 2006: Celebrations of his 60th year on the throne include visits by royals from 25 countries. September 2006: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is overthrown in a military coup, which the king endorses afterward. October 2007: King is hospitalized and treated for a blood clot. February 2008: Civilian rule restored following general elections. November 2008: Anti-government, pro-monarchy protesters seize Bangkok's international airport, stranding thousands of tourists. April 2009: Demonstrators storm an Asian summit in Pattaya, and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva calls in troops to stop street violence in Bangkok. September 2009: Bhumibol is hospitalized, initially for a lung infection. 2010: Weeks of street protests against Abhisit's government end with violence and a military crackdown. At least 90 people are killed. July 2011: Abhisit's political party loses elections, and Thaksin's sister, Yingluck, forms a new government. November 2011: Princess says the king suffered a bleeding episode, possibly due to stress from a flooding crisis affecting his country. May 2014: Army leads a coup against Yingluck's elected government, and Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha takes charge. He still governs as prime minister. May 2015: Bhumibol makes a public appearance to mark the 65th anniversary of his coronation, emerging from the hospital by wheelchair and being driven to the Grand Palace. June 2016: Bhumibol mark his 70th year on the throne from his hospital bed due to ill health. August 2016: Thai voters approve a junta-backed constitution that lays the foundation for a civilian government influenced by the military and controlled by appointed, rather than elected, officials. Oct. 10, 2016: Royal Palace announces the health of the king has deteriorated and his condition is unstable. Oct. 13, 2016: Bhumibol dies at age 88. FILE - In this Dec. 16, 1938, file photo, thirteen-year-old King Ananda of Siam, now known as Thailand, left, and his brother Prince Bhumibol, right, inspect a model train presented to him at Saranromya Gardens in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this June 28, 1960, file photo, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, center, is seated between Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, and Queen Sirikit for a motorcade drive from National Airport to the White House in Washington. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this July 5, 1960, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, right, plays the saxophone during a jam session with legendary jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, left, drummer Gene Krupa, second left, and trombonist Urbie Green in New York. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (Bureau of the Royal Household via AP, File) FILE - In this May 27, 1963, file photo, Japan's Emperor Hirohito, right, walks with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, as he arrives in Tokyo. At rear are Thailand's Queen Sirikit, third from left, and Japan Empress Nagako, second left. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this Feb. 11, 1972, file photo, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walks with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, right, with Queen Sirikit at rear left and Prince Philip at rear right, in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this April 12, 1977, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit attend a symbolic mass cremation ceremony for Thai soldiers and civilians killed by communist insurgents over a one year period. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich, File) FILE - In this Oct. 28, 1996, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, second right, walks with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II after her arrival at Bangkok's military airport. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File) FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2003, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, right, toasts U.S. President George W. Bush, left, at the State Dinner at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2006, file photo,Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej holds a camera as he waves while leaving Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File) FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2012, file photo released by Thailand's Bureau of the Royal Household, U.S. President Barack Obama, left, talks with Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (Bureau of the Royal Household via AP, File) Man convicted of wife's 1991 murder free, won't face retrial EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) A Pennsylvania man who had been granted a new trial in his wife's 1991 slaying won't be retried and instead was freed from prison Thursday after state prosecutors said they don't believe they can prove their case 25 years later. Kevin Siehl, 60, had been serving life in prison for the July 1991 slaying of his estranged wife, Christine Siehl. She was found stabbed to death in a bathtub with the shower still running in her Johnstown, Pennsylvania, apartment. Senior Judge David Grine had previously granted a new trial, ruling Cambria County prosecutors were wrong not to disclose blood evidence that may have helped Siehl's lawyers defend him at trial. But on Thursday Grine ordered that Siehl not be retried and immediately released from the State Correctional Institution-Huntingdon, where Siehl's been since he was 36. "We are happy that, today, the fight to win his freedom a fight fought mostly by Mr. Siehl himself is finally over," public defender Lisa Freeland said in a written statement. She added that she's happy Siehl is free from punishment for "a crime he did not commit." The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office wouldn't go that far, but did acknowledge not having enough evidence to retry Siehl for first-degree murder. "The Commonwealth asserts that the evidence remaining, 25 years after the original prosecution against the defendant, is insufficient when measured against the Commonwealth's burden of proof," the state prosecutors wrote in their motion asking Grine to dismiss the charges and free Siehl. The attorney general's office handled the case because Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan had a conflict of interest. She was once a legal intern for a law firm that handled an earlier, unsuccessful appeal in the 1990s. Grine, who is from Centre County, was appointed to handle the case because prosecutors and Siehl's former defense attorneys were accused of wrongdoing in Siehl's appeal, including two attorneys now sitting as Cambria County Common Pleas judges. In Grine's July ruling, he determined prosecutors wrongly withheld evidence from retesting of what appeared to be blood on the defendant's shoes. The new tests showed the blood was Siehl's, not his wife's, as prosecutors contended, yet that evidence wasn't turned over to Siehl's lawyers. Grine found the failure to disclose the evidence "so undermined the truth-determining process that no reliable adjudication of guilt or innocence could have taken place," Grine wrote in July. Q&A: After new Trump accusations, a look at 'Why now?' PHILADELPHIA (AP) New allegations have surfaced of sexual assault against Donald Trump but they are not recent incidents, dating back in one case as much as three decades. That's left some of Trump's supporters and others asking the question: Why now? The four women who came forward this week cited Sunday night's debate, and Trump's denial of ever kissing or groping a woman without consent, as the straw that broke the camel's back and prompted them to talk with news organizations. One, Jessica Leeds, told The New York Times she "wanted to punch the screen" when she heard Trump's response during the debate. Critics nevertheless are asking why the women waited so many years to finally speak out, and some are using that as ammunition to question the veracity of their claims. The same question and doubts were raised after dozens of women came forward years after the fact to accuse comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault. Jessica Leeds enters her apartment building, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, in New York. Leeds was one of two women who told the New York Times that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump touched her inappropriately. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) The Associated Press explored that question and the skepticism surrounding it with experts and accusers in other cases, including Cosby's. Here is their take: ___ WHY NOT COME FORWARD SOONER? "The number one reason (people hesitate) is they are afraid they won't be believed ... because a lot of this happens in private. You may tell friends, because they'll believe you, but you may be afraid to present to authorities. You may have been drinking, or you're afraid of being blamed. You're not even sure if you may be at fault." Dr. Judith Linden of Boston University, an emergency room physician who treats sex assault victims. ___ WHAT ELSE MIGHT HOLD AN ACCUSER BACK? "There's never a good time to come forward. If you come forward immediately, you're accused of being a gold digger. If you come forward later, you're accused of being liars. ... You know that when you go forward with a story of sexual assault, especially against a powerful person (or school), you feel isolated, you feel alone. You know you're going to be attacked. "There's still this misconception that there's something to be gained by being a victim of sexual assault. ... Rehashing a painful moment publicly is not fun, especially when you know that so many people who hear that story are cultured to question you." Kamilah Willingham of Los Angeles, whose account of being sexually assaulted at Harvard Law School was featured in the campus sexual-assault documentary "The Hunting Ground" and was the subject of a Title IX discrimination complaint against the school. ___ WHAT IS YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE WITH THIS? "There's a lot of re-victimization. ... I was told that my story was 'decades old, fantastical.' ... It's had a huge impact on my family. ... I've been harassed, chased through grocery store parking lots. Drivers scream at me, flip me the finger. That's pretty embarrassing and hurtful and really difficult." Cosby accuser Barbara Bowman, explaining the backlash after she came forward in 2005 to support another woman suing Cosby of sexual assault. She penned a 2014 column in The Washington Post asking why no one believed her accusations earlier, and she is now one of seven accusers suing Cosby for defamation in Massachusetts. Cosby, 79, is defending several civil suits around the country and faces criminal charges in the case of another woman. (Note: The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but both Willingham and Bowman agreed to be named publicly.) ___ IS THERE A SILVER LINING TO ANY OF THIS? "If there's anything encouraging to say about the last week, and the last couple of years in particular, it's the pendulum swinging. ... It does say something positive about society, that this is not the kind of culture and society we want. ... There is a cost for misogyny." Shaunna Thomas of Los Angeles, a co-founder of the online women's rights group UltraViolet Action, which ran a full-page newspaper advertisement this week condemning Trump, signed by 3,000 self-described sexual assault survivors. ___ 10 killed in South Korea after bus fire on highway SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Ten people were killed and nine others were injured in South Korea after their bus caught fire on a highway, officials said Friday. Twenty people, including the driver, were on the bus when it smashed into the guardrail and caught fire on the Gyeongbu Expressway near the southeastern city of Ulsan on Thursday night, the Ministry of Public Safety and Security said in a release. Ulsan officials said the passengers are retirees of a petrochemical company and their spouses who were returning home from a tour to China. South Korean firefighters check a burned out bus on the Gyeongbu Expressway near the southeastern city of Ulsan, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Twenty people, including the driver, were on the bus when it smashed into the guardrail and caught fire on the expressway, officials said. (Kim Yong-tae/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT The exact cause of the fire was under investigation, but authorities suspect it started after a ruptured tire caused the bus to hit the guardrail, with the friction from the bus sliding sparking flames, according to Ulsan officials. When Thailand's Bhumibol became king in 1946 BANGKOK (AP) EDITOR'S NOTE Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch who died at age 88, ascended to the throne in 1946 after the mysterious death of his 20-year-old brother pitched the Southeast Asian country then known as Siam into shock and one year of mourning. The brother, Ananda Mahidol, had become king in 1935 when he was 9, following the abdication of his uncle. Ananda had spent most of his life in Switzerland and was making only his second visit as monarch to his homeland. He was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in a palace bedroom under circumstances that remain mysterious. Seventy years after their original publication, The Associated Press is making available two stories from June 10, 1946, written by AP newsman Alec MacDonald in Bangkok the day after Ananda died. MacDonald reported on the accession to the throne of the 18-year-old Prince Bhumibol and the swirling speculation over Ananda's death. Bhumibol's coronation took place four years later. FILE - In this March 7, 1935, file photo, Prince Bhumibol, left, stands with his brother, King Ananda Mahidol of Siam, now known as Thailand, at their school in Lausanne Switzerland. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File) The stories are reproduced as originally published, using the spelling that was used at the time for Bhumibol's name. ____ BANGKOK, Siam (AP) The body of 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol lay in state tonight in the magnificent Hall of Kings, as the Government decreed a full year of mourning for the young monarch who was found dead in the Royal Palace yesterday with a bullet wound between the eyes. Prince Phumiphon Aduldet, 18-year-old brother of the dead ruler, bore up bravely under the shock, and replied in halting, sorrowful phrases when a council of regents informed him of his succession to the throne. In the Hall of Kings, where the bodies of many of his royal ancestors had been taken for the final rites of death, the body of Ananda was bathed in a traditional Buddhist ceremony. For at least 100 days his remains will be kept in a golden urn, before the final rite of cremation. All Siam mourned the death of the ruler. Theaters and all places of amusement were closed. Flags were at half-mast and will remain so for 30 days. Early in the day the leaders of the National Parliament re-elected Pridi Phanomyong as Premier, and his formal reappointment was expected to be confirmed Tuesday. A new Government was expected to be formed within a few days. Pridi accompanied the council of three regents who notified boyish Phumiphon that he had become the ruler of Siam's 18 million people. His succession was accepted unanimously by the Legislature in extraordinary session last night, 12 hours after the death of his brother. The present regency is made up of the three eldest members of Parliament, and is temporary. It probably will be replaced by three members of the new King's own choosing, with the likelihood that two of the members will represent the nobility and one the commoners. It was learned on high authority that the gun which killed Ananda in what was described officially as an accident was a .45 caliber Colt automatic. Siamese in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Ananda went to school, described as utterly baseless any suggestion that Ananda had taken his own life deliberately. Questioned about the King's friendship for 21-year-old Marilene Ferrari, pretty daughter of a Lausanne clergyman, a close friend of the girl said "it was not a serious affair. She knew it could not last." Ananda's former tutor and secretary, Cleon Seraidaris, said he talked to the girl and that she told him she too excluded the possibility of suicide. Seraidaris, to whom the King wrote regularly each week, said he last heard from Ananda five days ago, and that the recent letters both to him and to other friends showed the King to have been in good health and spirits, eagerly anticipating his projected trip to the United States and his return to school in Switzerland. ___ BANGKOK, Siam (AP) Prince Phumiphon Aduldet, 18 years old, was named King of Siam today while this shocked nation mourned the death of his brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol, who was found in the Royal Palace yesterday with a bullet wound between the eyes. The new king, who will become the ruler of more than 200,000 square miles and 18 million subjects, was unanimously selected by an extraordinary session of the Legislature, meeting 12 hours after his brother's death. The Siamese Police Director-General told the Legislature that Ananda's death was accidental. Phumiphon Aduldet, the almost constant companion of his older brother, was born in Boston, Mass., while his father, the late Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was studying at Harvard. Phumiphon Aduldet and Ananda attended school together in Switzerland. A three-member Council of Regency was named by the Legislature to advise the new monarch. Pridi Phanomyong, reappointed Premier only three days ago, was expected to be retained in that post. Only sketchy details were disclosed on the shooting of Ananda, a bespectacled, diffident youth often described as a reluctant monarch, who had become extremely popular since his return from Switzerland last December. News of the death, which occurred on the eve of a projected trip to the United States, was broadcast at 7 p.m. yesterday, and was greeted by wails of grief from a crowd gathered in front of the Publicity Building in Bangkok. Great crowds quickly gathered around the palace. The queen mother, Phraratananihsri Sangwan, an attractive woman in her forties who exerted a strong influence on the young king, was prostrate with grief. Ananda was a fancier of firearms and often practiced firing in the palace grounds. The queen mother and a royal suite of 20 had expected to accompany the youthful king on his trip to the United States. He planned to leave here by plane next Thursday and to spend about a week in Washington and New York before flying to Switzerland to resume studies interrupted last December. Ananda was born in Germany Sept. 20, 1925, and first came to Siam at the age of 2. He went to Switzerland in 1933, receiving most of his education in Berne and Lausanne. He was proclaimed King March 2, 1935, upon the abdication of his uncle, King Prajadpipok, who died in 1941. Ananda spent little time in his own land, residing in Switzerland for most of the last twelve years, except for a brief visit here in 1938. Ananda, more Western than Eastern in his tastes, enjoyed playing a saxophone and driving a United States jeep about the palace grounds. The absolute monarchy of Siam, dating from 1350, was overthrown in a bloodless revolution three years before Ananda ascended the throne. Only a month ago, he approved a new constitution providing for a Senate and a House of Representatives, and on June 1 he opened the first Siamese Parliament entirely elected by the people. Japanese troops invaded Siam Dec. 7, 1941, while Ananda was in Switzerland, and established a puppet government which declared war on the United States. The new Siamese Government, again ruled by Ananda, was recognized by Britain and the United States last January. Ananda's retinue had been worried about the possibility of his assassination while he was studying in Switzerland, Paul Rey, director of the new Swiss School, where the young king studied, said in Berne. Asked about reports that the King was depressed because he was unable to marry a girl fellow student, Rey said Ananda has gone with one or two girls but had not had a serious romance. Cleon Seraidaris, Ananda's former Greek teacher and secretary in Switzerland, said the King had a flirtation in Lausanne, but it was not a serious affair. Seraidaris said although the monarch told him he was aware of the impossibility of marrying the girl, he did not believe Ananda had committed suicide. Before leaving, the monarch made a testament leaving his present and future fortune to his mother, the teacher said. FILE - In this Dec. 16, 1938, file photo, thirteen-year-old King Ananda of Siam, now known as Thailand, left, and his brother Prince Bhumibol, right, inspect a model train presented to him at Saranromya Gardens in Bangkok. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this July 5, 1960, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, right, plays the saxophone during a jam session with legendary jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, left, drummer Gene Krupa, second left, and trombonist Urbie Green in New York. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (Bureau of the Royal Household via AP, File) Thais cry as they pray for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital where the king is being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. The royal palace said in a statement late Wednesday that the 88-year-old king's blood pressure had dropped, his liver and kidneys were not working properly and he remained on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) A Thai woman puts her hands together in prayer at Siriraj Hospital where Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was being treated in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Thailand's Royal Palace said King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn) SoftBank sets up technology fund with $100 billion potential TOKYO (AP) Japanese telecommunications and internet company SoftBank Group Corp. is setting up a $25 billion private fund for technology investments with the potential to grow to $100 billion. The Tokyo-based company, the first carrier in this country to offer the Apple iPhone, said Friday the "SoftBank Vision Fund" is for global investments into the technology sector to accelerate SoftBank's growth. SoftBank said it signed an agreement with a fund run by the government of Saudi Arabia and other investors, so the amount of money committed could grow. FILE - In this June 18, 2015, file photo, Softbank Corp. Chief Executive and founder Masayoshi Son attends a press conference on the sales launch of its humanoid robot Pepper in Maihama, near Tokyo. Japanese telecommunications and internet company Softbank Group Corp. is setting up a $25 billion private fund for technology investments that has the potential of growing to $100 billion. The Tokyo-based company said Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, the "Softbank Vision Fund" is for global investments into the technology sector to accelerate Softbank's growth. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File) An aggressive overseas investor, SoftBank owns the U.S. wireless company Sprint Corp. and Britain's ARM Holdings. ARM is known as an innovator in the "internet of things," and in technology used in smartphones. "Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector," Softbank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said in a statement. "We will further accelerate the Information Revolution by contributing to its development." SoftBank also sells the Pepper human-shaped companion robot for homes and businesses, and runs a solar energy business in Japan, highlighting a critical stance against nuclear energy that is growing here after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. It also has within its investment empire financial technology and ride-booking services. It is highly unusual among usually conservative Japanese companies for eyeing global expansion and trying to pioneer the digital age since its founding in 1981. It has invested in China and India, as well as the U.S. ___ Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama Gunmen kill 3 Pakistani paramilitary troops in Quetta QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) Gunmen riding on motorcycles in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta shot and killed three paramilitary officers on Friday before fleeing, an official said. The officers were on guard duty when they were attacked, according to Wasay Khan, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps. Two died at the scene, while the third succumbed to his wounds at a hospital, the spokesman added. Baluchistan, where Quetta is the provincial capital, has long been the center of a low-level insurgency by small separatist groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region's natural resources such as gas and oil. People carry dead bodies of paramilitary officers killed by gunmen in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 14, 20165. Gunmen riding on motorcycles shot and killed three paramilitary officers Friday in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta before fleeing, official said. The attack on FC guards, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killing the three guards on street in Quetta, though there is no visible sign of IS in the city. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) The government says it's trying to improve the local economy and bring the separatists into mainstream politics. There have been attacks on security forces and members of the minority Shiite sect in the provincial capital and its surroundings in recent months. The province is also home to Islamic militants and sectarian group like Lashker-e-Jhangvi, which has claimed responsibility for many attacks on Shiites. Hours after Friday's attack, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement posted on an IS-affiliated website. Pakistani authorities deny that the extremist militant group, which is based in Syria and Iraq, has a presence in Quetta and elsewhere in the country. ___ Bermuda seeks quick recovery from Hurricane Nicole's damages HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) Bermuda's government dispatched crews to clear roads and engineers to inspect infrastructure as the British territory moved to recover quickly from Hurricane Nicole, which battered the island as a Category 3 storm. The heavy rains and wind dissipated overnight Thursday as many of the island's 65,000 residents ventured outside to assess the damage caused by 115 mph (185 kph) winds. Authorities, however, urged people to remain indoors for their safety. An overturned tree lays on the flooded playground in Mullet Bay, St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) "There has been significant flooding in areas around the island and some severe road damages," said National Security Minister Jeff Baron. "Obviously, we are also concerned about downed trees and downed power lines, which are live." Schools and government offices remained closed on Friday, while the island's international airport is expected to open around noon. Hurricane Nicole snapped trees, peeled off roofs and flooded homes as it roared across the island on Thursday. The storm also damaged boats that broke away from their moorings and knocked out power to more than 27,000 customers who live on the island, which has sturdy infrastructure and is accustomed to heavy weather. Forecasters were still trying to determine if heavy winds or tornadoes created by the hurricane were to blame for some of the damage, said James Dodgson, deputy director at the Bermuda Weather Service. At one point during the hurricane, the wind grew strong enough to fling open a hatch on the weather service's radar, rendering it useless until the hatch could be shut, officials said. Nicole has strengthened to a Category 4 storm late Wednesday as it approached Bermuda but lost steam overnight. Although severe storms often affect Bermuda, "a hurricane this strong is rare," the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane then weakened to a Category 1 storm as it churned toward the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after pummeling Bermuda. By Friday morning, it was about 675 miles (1,090 kilometers) south-southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, with maximum sustained winds near 85 mph (140 kph). The system was moving east-northeast at 21 mph (33 kph). ___ Associated Press Writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report. Swamped boats sit in Mullet Bay after the passing of Hurricane Nicole in St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) Broken branches and leaf debris left over from the passing of Hurricane Nicole cover Govt. Hill Road, in St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) A boat that broke from its moorings lays ashore at Ferry Reach, St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) A sailboat lays damaged on the shore of Ferry Reach after breaking free from its mooring after the passing of Hurricane Nicole in St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) A tiki bar lays in a shamble following Hurricane Nicole, in Tobacco Bay, St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) Downed power lines and trees lay across the lawn of a residence in St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) Leaf debris and salt spray caused by the high winds of Hurricane Nicole cloud the window of a residence in St. Georges, Bermuda, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Hurricane Nicole roared across Bermuda, pummeling the resort island with winds up to 115 mph that snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. (AP Photo/Mark Tatem) Ayotte, Hassan spar in New Hampshire Senate debate CONCORD, N.H. (AP) New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan on Friday kept up her criticism of U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte's past support for Donald Trump, while Ayotte accused Hassan of taking false credit for the state budget. Ayotte, a Republican in her first term in Washington, is running against Hassan, a Democrat, in one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country. They squared off in a debate at WGIR radio in Manchester on Friday. In the 10 days since a previous debate, Ayotte has struggled to distance herself from her party's presidential nominee first calling Trump a role model for children, then taking it back. After the publication of recordings in which Trump made vulgar and sexually predatory statements about women, she withdrew her support and said she'd write-in vice presidential nominee Mike Pence instead. Candidates for U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent, Kelly Ayotte, left, and Democratic challenger Gov. Maggie Hassan are seen during a live radio debate at WGIR Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) Hassan said Ayotte waited too long to denounce Trump and that the senator's previous support showed a "concerning lack of judgment." "What you didn't hear my opponent say is why she supported Donald Trump for over a year as he made one sexist comment after the next, after he made one racist comment after the next, as he made fun of people with disabilities," Hassan said. "He is a man who seems to think cruelty is a sport, and her support for him has been unacceptable." Ayotte said she had repeatedly denounced Trump and countered that, unlike Hassan, she is and has been willing to stand up to her party's leadership. And when Hassan accused her of using "Washington double-speak" to explain her position on Medicare, Ayotte said it was Hassan who was acting like a Washington insider when it came to the state budget. "You want to talk about acting like Washington did? She vetoed a budget, and delayed money to address the heroin epidemic, to address mental health beds that we need," she said. "Now she takes credit for it." Hassan vetoed a two-year budget approved by the Legislature last year over whether to cut the state's two largest business taxes, a pay raise for state workers and a failure to extend the state's Medicaid expansion. She said she was proud of the eventual compromise that was signed into law and said there was "plenty of credit to go around." The candidates also discussed the Affordable Care Act, the role of the U.S. in Syria and the Iran nuclear deal supported by President Barack Obama. Ayotte voted against it. "This is a very bad deal for our country and is one that makes us less safe and our allies less safe," she said. "We should've taken a much stronger position in not allowing them to keep their nuclear infrastructure." Hassan called the deal an imperfect but important step toward preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon. On Syria, she again returned to Trump after Ayotte criticized Obama for not being a stronger leader. "At the end of the day, we do need to have strong American leadership. For over a year, my opponent has supported Donald Trump, who suggested we should weaken NATO, who suggested we should have more nuclear weapons in the world and who won't share a plan to defeat ISIS because he doesn't have one," she said. Ayotte did not respond directly to that criticism, but returned to her criticism of Obama. Candidates for U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent, Kelly Ayotte, left, and Democratic challenger Gov. Maggie Hassan are seen during a live radio debate at WGIR Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) Candidate for U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent, Kelly Ayotte, speaks during a live radio debate at WGIR Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. Ayotte is seeking her second term in Washington, is being challenged by New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) University attack put young Afghan woman's dreams on hold KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Breshna Mosazai remembers the day of the deadly attack two months ago on the American University in Kabul. She remembers lying still on the corridor floor and playing dead, pushing the agony of the gunshot wounds out of her mind as heavily armed gunmen stalked around the campus, looking for people to kill. That day changed her life forever and forced the 26-year-old Afghan law student to put her dreams of a future and a career on hold. The Aug. 24 rampage went on for what seemed like an eternity as the attackers shot at students with automatic rifles and fired rocket-propelled grenades into classrooms. By the time it was over, 13 people were killed and more than 40 were wounded. No group has since claimed responsibility for the attack, fueling speculation that Afghanistan's emerging Islamic State affiliate was behind it. In this Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, photo, Breshna Mosazai, 26, a law student of the American University of Afghanistan, where she was wounded in a Taliban attack, arrives for an interview with the Associated Press at her home in Kabul, Afghanistan. For what felt like an eternity, Mosazai lay in a corridor of the university, playing dead while heavily armed gunmen stalked around her, looking for people to kill. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) Mosazai was rescued six hours into the 10-hour siege at the sprawling campus in Kabul's western outskirts. With three bullets in her left leg and foot, she was lucky the dead included seven students, one teacher, three police officers and two security guards, according to the Interior Ministry, as well as all of the attackers. Now at home in a wheelchair, Mosazai leans forward over the massive pin holding her shattered left leg together, and points to her bandaged foot. "The top of this one is gone," she says of the foot, which is missing the big toe and most of the next two toes. There's a pin in there as well, holding the foot together. Though her doctor says she must walk to strengthen the leg as it heals, she can't her right leg is withered from polio contracted as a child and can't hold her weight. The university established in 2006 to offer liberal arts courses modeled on the U.S. system has been a beacon of all that Afghanistan wanted to be after the Taliban were overthrown in 2001: a nation that offered its citizens freedom, hope and progress. But the attack tore that dream apart. Mosazai says many of her classmates now want to leave the country and that she, too, has lost hope. "When my brothers and sister go out, I am scared and pray they come back home safe," she says. "This time I could walk ... but if this happens again, next time I won't be able to even move." The August attack the first such high-profile assault on the university left unanswered many questions as to why security failed so dismally and why militants are still able to stage large-scale attacks, including in the Afghan capital. The assault began around 7 p.m. when a car packed with explosives rammed a low wall on the campus' northwestern flank, blowing it up to make room for gunmen to storm in as night classes were getting underway and daytime students were leaving. The campus was crowded, targets were abundant; it was at least half an hour before security forces arrived. Many of the wounded are still getting counselling to help them deal with the trauma. The university president, Mark English, resigned soon after the attack. Classes are not expected to resume before January and the students are still not allowed back on the campus. Over the past two years, as the war intensified following the drawdown of foreign combat troops from Afghanistan, attacks on foreign targets or those perceived as being associated with foreigners have escalated. Just weeks before the assault, two of the American University of Afghanistan professors, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped while being driven home from classes. Their whereabouts remain unknown. When the August attack began, Mosazai was praying at a campus mosque close to the place of the initial explosion. She ran out shoeless, stepping over broken glass as gunfire rang out somewhere behind her. At one point, she remembers stopping and turning to look back. "I don't know why," she said. She saw one of the gunmen pointing his automatic weapon at her. He shot her in the left leg. When she fell to the floor, he shot her again, hitting her left foot. "I didn't scream or move, I was too scared that he will come close to me and shoot me in the head," Mosazai said. Later, she lay motionless as security forces battled the militants, and another bullet hit her in the left leg. "I cannot tell you how hard that was for me ... you know they can see you and if you move, they will shoot you." When help finally arrived, two paramilitary soldiers began waving and calling her toward them. "My clothes were soaked with my blood," she said. "I used my hands to pull myself toward the soldiers. The floor was covered in broken glass but there was no other way." A soldier took her hand and called her "sister," then hoisted her on his back and carried her to safety. "When he picked me up, there was unbearable pain in my leg and foot," she recounts. "The soldier told me gently that we were close to the doctor." Outside, in an ambulance, her brother and her fiance were waiting for her. All these weeks later, she is still in a lot of pain, especially after the amputation of her big toe. She has nightmares in which she is being chased by the same gunman. "The image of that shooter is always in my mind, pointing his gun on me," she said. Mosazai has just one semester left of her law degree and had been looking forward to moving on to her Masters before going into public life. She wants to help people who have no rights, like street children and beggars, she said. But that will have to wait. "Now I just want to get better," Mosazai said. In this Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, photo, Breshna Mosazai, 26, a law student of the American University of Afghanistan, where she was wounded in a Taliban attack, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at her home in Kabul, Afghanistan. For what felt like an eternity, Mosazai lay in a corridor of the university, playing dead while heavily armed gunmen stalked around her, looking for people to kill. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, photo, Breshna Mosazai, 26, a law student of the American University of Afghanistan, where she was wounded in a Taliban attack, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at her home in Kabul, Afghanistan. For what felt like an eternity, Mosazai lay in a corridor of the university, playing dead while heavily armed gunmen stalked around her, looking for people to kill. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) Japan withholds annual dues to UNESCO TOKYO (AP) Japan has withheld its annual UNESCO dues, saying it wants to make sure the U.N. body properly functions to foster trust among member nations. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, asked by a reporter, confirmed that Japan withheld dues of nearly 4 billion yen ($40 million) for this year. He refused to say if that was to protest UNESCO's listing last year of Chinese Rape of Nanking documents as a memory of the world. Kishida said the decision is based on "comprehensive" observations. Japan disputes China's historical views on the 1937 massacre and has criticized the UNESCO decision. A Foreign Ministry official later said that Japan is watching to see if UNESCO is living up to its founding purpose of promoting peace among member nations through education, and will consider the timing of its payment while examining whether the U.N. body is operating appropriately. There is no deadline for a member nation to pay its annual contribution. Non-payment could lead to a member nation losing its voting right at the body's general meeting, he said. Japan provides 9.7 percent of UNESCO budget, the body's second-largest donor after the U.S. at 22 percent. Washington has suspended its dues since 2011 when Palestine began participating in UNESCO. UNESCO would not comment Friday on Japan's decision. Kishida's comments came as Israel suspended cooperation with the agency over a draft resolution minimizing Jewish ties to Temple Mount and the Western Wall. In 2014, China submitted documents on the 1937 massacre of Chinese citizens by the Japanese military in what became known as the Rape of Nanking, which Japan has largely played down. The documents were registered on the heritage list last October. China says up to 300,000 people were killed, while Japanese nationalists have largely played down or denied the incident. Japan and some scholars say the number was much smaller. Japan has criticized UNESCO's "unilateral" registration system, which it says failed to give Tokyo access to the documents for verification, adding the process lacked fairness and transparency. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi China's last Tiananmen prisoner set to be freed, but frail BEIJING (AP) China's last-known prisoner held in relation to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests will reportedly be released Saturday, but he'll face freedom a frail and mentally ill man, a rights group and a fellow former inmate said. Miao Deshun's expected release follows an 11-month sentence reduction, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for the rights of political prisoners in China. The 51-year-old former factory worker is severely ill after spending more than half his life behind bars, said Dui Hua's executive director, John Kamm, in an email. FILE - In this early June 4, 1989 file photo, a student protester puts barricades in the path of an already burning armored personnel carrier that rammed through student lines during an army attack on anti-government demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Chinas last-known prisoner held in relation to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests will reportedly be released Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016 but hell face freedom a frail and mentally ill man, a rights group and a fellow former inmate said. Miao Deshuns expected release follows an 11-month sentence reduction, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for the rights of political prisoners in China. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener, File) Tanks and troops converged in Beijing to quash pro-democracy protests on the night of June 3-4, 1989, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people. Authorities later jailed more than 1,600 people around the country for crimes linked to the demonstrations. Nearly three decades later, young Chinese know little of the events that marked the last major popular challenge to Communist rule in the mainland and remain a taboo. Dui Hua said in May that Miao was due to be released Saturday. The date could not be independently verified. The Ministry of Public Security and the Beijing Higher People's Court did not respond to faxed requests for comment. Miao was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 1989 for throwing a basket into a burning tank, an act considered arson by the court. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1991, and further reduced over the years. "No one other than prison officials or other prisoners in the ward for sick and disabled prisoners have seen him for many years," Kamm said. Miao suffers from hepatitis B and schizophrenia and is being held at the Yanqing Prison, a facility in a Beijing suburb that has a ward for elderly and ill prisoners, Dui Hua said. During his time at the Beijing No. 1 Prison, Miao refused to accept the charges leveled against him or sign declarations of repentance, according to a former fellow inmate, Wu Wenjian. Wu, then a factory worker, was also serving a sentence for involvement in the Tiananment protest. He spent four years in the same prison units as Miao. "As time passed, Miao became very stubborn and refused to do hard labor, refused re-education, refused to write repentance letters," Wu said in an interview. "That's why he was moved to another unit reserved for the 'diehards.'" For that, Miao often endured heavier punishments than other inmates, and prison guards frequently beat him and tortured him with electric batons, Wu said. "It is already a miracle that he is alive. We all thought he would not make it out of this," Wu said. According to Dui Hua, Miao has spent time in solitary confinement and has had no contact with the outside world for many years. He was transferred to Yanqing in 2003. China has never fully disclosed what happened when the military crushed the 1989 weeklong protests, which authorities branded a "counterrevolutionary riot." The decades since have seen breakneck economic growth and the ruling Communist Party relinquish much of its day-to-day control over many aspects of society. The party retains a tight grip on dissent that has intensified under President Xi Jinping. ___ Associated Press writer Gillian Wong contributed to this report. FILE - In this early June 4, 1989 file photo, a student protester puts barricades in the path of an already burning armored personnel carrier that rammed through student lines during an army attack on anti-government demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Chinas last-known prisoner held in relation to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests will reportedly be released Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016 but hell face freedom a frail and mentally ill man, a rights group and a fellow former inmate said. Miao Deshuns expected release follows an 11-month sentence reduction, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for the rights of political prisoners in China. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener, File) Fresh wave of airstrikes hit Syria's divided city of Aleppo BEIRUT (AP) Syrian residents in the opposition-held eastern part of Aleppo hunkered under a fresh wave of airstrikes on Friday amid intense clashes between government forces and rebels, while a senior opposition official warned that supplies of food and medicines were fast running out in the besieged city. The aerial bombardment is part of a weeks-long devastating military campaign by Syria and Russia that the opposition says has killed dozens of people in the past three days alone. President Bashar Assad has expressed his intention to recapture the northern city's rebel eastern neighborhoods, saying that a military victory in Aleppo would provide the Syrian army with a "springboard" from which to liberate other areas of the country. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian militarys General Staff speaks at a briefing at the Russian Defense Ministrys headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Rudskoi said that Russian warplanes in Syria havent targeted populated areas and only struck militantss facilities near Aleppo. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they came from, or to kill them," Assad said in an interview with a Russian media outlet, Komsomolskaya Pravda, released on Thursday. "There's no other option," he added. Syrian government forces have encircled the eastern half of Aleppo, besieging tens of thousands of people and pounding the territory with airstrikes on daily basis. The siege and deadly bombardment has caused an international outcry with a number of countries and groups accusing Syria and Russia of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys. Mohammad Fadelah, the head of the Aleppo Provincial Council, said the opposition had brought in enough supplies to Aleppo under an emergency plan that would last six months. But he said that with the recent escalation and bombing of hospitals and bakeries, supplies were quickly running out. "We have emergency reserves but I think we can maybe go another month with what we have. Flour will run out in a month," he told reporters by telephone Friday from the city of Gazientep in southern Turkey. He estimated there were around 275,000 people in the besieged, eastern Aleppo. President Barack Obama planned to convene his National Security Council for a highly anticipated meeting about Syria on Friday. Having cut off diplomatic talks with Russia after a cease-fire in Syria failed, the Obama administration has been at a loss to find a new viable strategy to stem the violence even as the bloodshed in Aleppo and elsewhere continues to mount. The violence also gives additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow earlier this month. Late Friday, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will also attend the talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported dozens of overnight airstrikes on eastern Aleppo. It added that clashes are taking place on the northern and southern edges of the city. The Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, said the airstrikes killed and wounded a number of people, with some buried under the debris. Among the areas hit was the eastern Sakhour neighborhood where one of the city's largest hospitals, known as M10, was stuck again. It had been hit several times over the past month, putting it out of service. The Observatory said several people were wounded in the attack while the Aleppo Media Center said the hospital was hit three times on Friday and that a fire broke out afterward at the facility. Ibrahim Alhaj, a member of the Syrian Civil Defense, said the fire was quickly extinguished. Earlier this week, the Observatory said at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since the U.S. and Russian-brokered truce collapsed in September. The U.N. says over 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also included a limited ground offensive. Doctors Without Borders said three weeks of airstrikes on eastern Aleppo have killed 114 children and wounded 320 others. The international charity, also known by its French acronym MSF, said hospitals are reporting that because patients struggle to access medical facilities, some people with easily treatable wounds develop complications or reach the facilities too late. "The international community has become immune to images of dead children being recovered from the rubble of buildings ravaged by bombs. This has become a daily occurrence," said Carlos Francisco, MSF Head of Mission for Syria. "All sorts of civilian spaces are being hit; schools are being damaged. The reality is that children die every day in what appears to be a 'kill box'." The U.N. children's agency said in a statement that rebel shelling of a government neighborhood in Aleppo on Thursday killed four children and wounded three who were on their way to school. "UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and stop attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools and education facilities, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law," the statement said. "Children should be protected at all times". In the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo near the Turkish border, amateur videos released on Friday show the aftermath of a blast that targeted rebels and killed at least 17 people. In one of the videos, a man is seen weeping as he screams the name of a missing man, Mohammed. The video also shows a victim being carried away in a black body bag. Another video shows several bodies lying on a pavement outside what appears to be a hospital. The videos appear genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the events depicted. Near the capital of Damascus, government forces captured the rebel-held area of Deir Khabiyeh, according to state media and the Observatory. ___ Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut, Vivian Salama in Washington and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian militarys General Staff speaks at a briefing at the Russian Defense Ministrys headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Rudskoi said that Russian warplanes in Syria havent targeted populated areas and only struck militantss facilities near Aleppo. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) Rights group criticizes Polish law of weakening top court WARSAW, Poland (AP) An international human rights body on Friday criticized recently enacted legislation in Poland regulating the nation's top legislative court, saying the law "gives excessive power to parliament and the executive over the judiciary." The Venice Commission, a group of constitutional law experts with the Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights watchdog, issued its opinion during a meeting in Venice, Italy. The Polish government refused to send representatives to the meeting, accusing the commisison of political bias and of refusing to take Warsaw's position into account. A cyclist rides past a board indicating the number of days that have passed since a key Constitutional Tribunal ruling against legal changes to the way the court functions, in front of the government office, in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. An international human rights body, the Venice Commission, has criticized Friday the new legislation in Poland regulating the Constitutional Tribunal, the nation's top legislative court, saying the new law "gives excessive power to parliament and the executive over the judiciary." (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) It is the latest development in a long-running crisis in Poland surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal, which is charged with evaluating the constitutionality of disputed legislation. The court therefore plays a key role in Poland's system of democratic checks and balances. The European Union, United States and many Poles also have expressed concerns about the Polish government's attempts to change how the court works. The changes have effectively weakened the court's ability to strike down disputed new laws governing other matters, including police surveillance and government control of public media. Critics see it as part of a larger attempt by the government to centralize its power and accuse it of violating liberal democratic norms. Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and other leaders say they have an electoral mandate to reform the country and must take control of institutions to remove the lingering presence and influence of political opponents who would stymie their mission. Poland's current ruling party, Law and Justice, has twice overhauled the rules governing the court since assuming power last year. Both attempts have sparked criticism. The first law was struck down in March as unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal itself. However, the government refused to publish the ruling in the official gazette, a step required for it to take legal effect. The overturned law also had been strongly criticized in an earlier opinion by the Venice Commission, which said it violated democracy and the rule of law. In the commission's opinion on Friday, it said that an amended version of the law adopted in July improves some of the earlier problems. But the commission also said that the improvements "are too limited in scope," while other new provisions of the act "would considerably delay and obstruct the work of the tribunal, possibly make its work ineffective, as well as undermine its independence by exercising excessive legislative and executive control over its functioning." The provisions that troubled the commission included one which allows a case to be postponed for up to six months upon request by four judges. It also criticized a provision giving the prosecutor general a government appointee the right to block a hearing by his or her absence. "Individually and cumulatively, according to the Venice Commission, the shortcomings show that instead of unblocking the precarious situation of the constitutional tribunal, the parliament and government continue to challenge its position as the final arbiter of constitutional issues and attribute this authority to themselves," the commission said. In this Aug. 11, 2016 photo judges attend a session of the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw, Poland. An international human rights body, the Venice Commission, has criticized Friday Oct. 14, 2016 the new legislation in Poland regulating the Constitutional Tribunal, the nation's top legislative court, saying the new law "gives excessive power to parliament and the executive over the judiciary." (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) China, Bangladesh sign investment pacts during Xi visit DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday began a visit to Bangladesh during which the two countries signed agreements on billions of dollars of Chinese investment in infrastructure and energy and coordinating efforts in tackling terrorism and climate change. Xi, the first Chinese president to visit Bangladesh in 30 years, was received by Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid at Dhaka's airport. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said Bangladesh was an important partner of China in South Asia, and the visit will be a "milestone" in their relationship. No details of the anti-terrorism agreement were immediately available. Bangladesh has cracked down on radicals blamed for violent attacks on foreigners, liberals and minorities. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for several attacks since last year, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has instead blamed domestic groups for the attacks. The two countries have good economic ties. Chinese contractors have been building bridges and highways in Bangladesh, and Dhaka buys most of its military equipment from China. The two leaders witnessed the signing of agreements by their officials. China will help Bangladesh in building economic and industrial zones units in southeastern Chittagong region and transfer information technology. In 2015-16, the two-way trade between the countries crossed $9 billion __ $8.2 billion import from China and $791.03 million export to China. China mainly imports leather, cotton textiles and fish from Bangladesh and exports textiles, machinery, electronic products, cement, fertilizer, tire, raw silk and maize to the South Asian nation. Chicago Tribune endorses Duckworth, cites Kirk's health SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) The Chicago Tribune endorsed Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth for the U.S. Senate on Friday, arguing that incumbent Republican Mark Kirk is unable to fully do the job due to his ongoing recovery from a 2012 stroke. "Due to forces beyond his control, Kirk no longer can perform to the fullest the job of a U.S. senator," said the newspaper's editorial board (http://trib.in/2e2Bg7d ), an influential conservative voice with a long history of endorsing Republicans. The race between Kirk and Duckworth is viewed as one of a handful across the country that can determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. In this June 9, 2014, file photo, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk R-Ill., speaks in his office in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Democrat Tammy Duckworth D-Ill. for U.S. Senate, saying incumbent Republican Mark Kirk can no longer perform the job after a stroke. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) Kirk suffered a stroke in 2012 and returned to the Senate in 2013. The Tribune said its editorial board had been "hopeful his recovery was full enough to return him to the Senate as the independent, confident, outspoken and focused leader we had endorsed for general election six times." "We are saddened to say we did not see that energetic, policy-driven Kirk when we met with him Oct. 3 for an endorsement interview," the editorial board said. Kirk's campaign responded with a strong rebuke. "A low-blow and cheap shot by the Chicago Tribune that is not based on fact or reality," Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl said in a statement, adding that Kirk has been more effective than Duckworth in Congress. "Kirk created bipartisan support to keep the Export-Import Bank open, saving over 40,000 Illinois jobs," Artl said, referring to the federal agency that finances purchases of U.S. goods from overseas buyers. "He secured millions in funding for law enforcement to crack down on gang violence and he is viewed as a national leader when he bucked his own party and said he could not support Donald Trump." The newspaper endorsed Duckworth despite noting that Kirk's socially moderate and fiscally conservative positions mirror those of its editorial page, saying Kirk is not "as influential an advocate in Washington as he was for more than a decade." It is not the first time the Tribune has broken from its tradition of endorsing Republicans in top-ticket races. In 2008, its nod for Barack Obama, a former U.S. senator from Illinois, was the first time it ever endorsed a Democrat for president. This year, it endorsed Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson. Not every editorial board has come to the conclusion that the Tribune has about Kirk. The Champaign News-Gazette endorsed Kirk last month due to "his solid academic background, vast experience, political independence and sound judgment." The newspaper complimented both candidates' "outstanding personal character." "Neither has allowed the physical limitations they must endure Kirk suffered a serious stroke in 2012, Duckworth sustained major combat injuries during the Iraq war to undermine their determination to remain active in public life," the newspaper said. In addition to his health, Kirk has come under scrutiny for some of his statements. Last year, he called unmarried South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham a "bro without a ho" and in August he said Obama was acting like the "drug dealer in chief" when the U.S. made a $400 million to Iran contingent on the return of U.S. prisoners. Kirk apologized for his comments about Graham, but has stood by what he said of Obama. Fiscal board imposes new rules on Puerto Rico amid crisis SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) A new federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico's finances amid a dire economic crisis voted on Friday to expand its powers and require indebted public agencies to be more accountable as members grilled the island's governor for the first time about the U.S. territory's economy. The board said no Puerto Rico government agency can proceed with any non-routine transaction without its permission, such as issuing debt. It also demanded that six public agencies including the Government Development Bank, the island's largest public university and its utility companies submit their own fiscal plans for the first time. The measures drew ire from protesters who interrupted the Friday meeting in New York with yells of "Shame on you!" and "Long live a free Puerto Rico!" The gathering was streamed online. The federal control board was created in late June after U.S. President Barack Obama signed a rescue package that in part aims to restructure some of the island's nearly $70 billion public debt and temporarily protect it from creditor lawsuits seeking to recover millions of dollars invested in local government bonds. Those creditors have since sued to recover their money and a judge is mulling over the case. Puerto Rico's governor on Friday urged the board to intervene in the case, stressing that the island could not keep providing essential services if it has to pay its debt. The board said it will express its position on the issue next week. During the nearly three-hour meeting, Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla presented a 10-year fiscal plan and urged the seven board members not to take more austerity measures. "I have faced relentless pressures to fire workers, reduce pensions and pay full amounts owed to bondholders. You will, too," he said. "I withstood that pressure and now encourage you to do the same." Garcia does not get to vote on any of the board's measures, and it is unclear what other steps it might take later. After Garcia's presentation, he and other Puerto Rico government officials were grilled about the island's finances. In a response to one question, Treasury Secretary Juan Zaragoza said Puerto Rico's central government owes up to $350 million to suppliers and vendors while public agencies owe some $1 million. The governor warned that if nothing changes on the island, it will face a cumulative deficit of $34 billion in the next decade. The next meeting is set for November, after the board has reviewed Garcia's fiscal plan. Married youth pastor charged with impregnating 15-year-old NEW PARIS, Pa. (AP) A married Pennsylvania youth pastor has been fired and jailed over charges he impregnated a 15-year-old girl. State police say the wife of 35-year-old Wesley Blackburn reported him last week to the pastor of Faith Brethren Bible Church in Bedford County. The Rev. James Espenshade and the church's deacons fired Blackburn as youth pastor and called police. Police say he's acknowledged fathering the teen's child. They say he told his wife about the relationship and asked for a divorce, which prompted her to contact the church's pastor. Blackburn remained in the Bedford County jail Friday unable to post bond on one count of corruption of minors and 84 counts each of statutory sexual assault and indecent assault. European Union backs off banning North American lobster PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Officials with the European Union said Friday that the 28-nation bloc is backing off a Swedish proposal to ban imports of American lobster into member countries. The European Commission has informed Sweden it will not propose the lobster be listed as invasive, a spokeswoman for the commission said. It will instead pursue measures less likely to disrupt trade. The EU decided last month to conduct an extensive review of a proposal to ban lobsters imported from the U.S. and Canada. A scientific panel had concluded Sweden raised valid points in requesting to declare the American lobster an invasive species. But the Invasive Alien Species Committee then showed that there was no support for listing the species, the commission spokeswoman said. Fishermen in New England and Canada, congressional leaders and U.S. scientists opposed the ban and welcomed the EU's decision on Friday. They had tried to make the case that the proposed ban wasn't based in sound science. "Given the pretty minimal risks, it seemed like a pretty draconian measure," said Rick Wahle, a research professor at the University of Maine's marine science school. "There's been no evidence of (American lobster) reproduction in European waters." The dispute started when Sweden announced it had found 32 American lobsters in its waters over several years. Sweden made the case that the American lobsters were a threat to native European lobsters, which also have economic value. But Wahle and others maintained that the lobsters were most likely escapees from storage facilities. Maine is by far the biggest lobster fishing state in the U.S., and the industry is critical to New England's fishing economy. America exports about $150 million in lobster to the European Union every year, and the crustaceans are an especially popular item at Christmas in some European countries. Canada also sells the same species of lobster to Europe. Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, said the decision is great news for New England lobstermen. She added that the industry will work to help educate consumers not to release foreign species into the ecosystem, as that could have contributed to the lobsters' appearance in Swedish waters. "We don't see any hiccups in the trade process going forward," Casoni said. Officials with Sweden's Agency for Marine and Water Management contended the country was right to be cautious about the appearance of a foreign species in its waters. Officials with the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Environmental affairs head gunned down in Brazil SAO PAULO (AP) Police say gunmen have shot and killed the head of environmental affairs for the small city of Altamira in Brazil's northern jungle state of Para. An Altamira police officer says two men on a motorcycle gunned down Luiz Alberto Araujo Thursday night as he drove up to his home. His wife and two sons were in the car and were unhurt. The two gunmen fled after pumping seven bullets into Araujo's chest and head. The police officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with the press. He said Friday that the motive for the killing was unknown. El Salvador celebrates win against mining company SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) El Salvador celebrated a win against a multinational mining company after an international arbitration panel in Washington ruled in its favor Friday. Mining company Pac Rim Cayman had asked the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes to order El Salvador to pay $250 million for potential profits lost when the country did not grant it a license to mine gold. El Salvador maintained that the company purchased by OceanaGold in 2013 had never met regulatory requirements. "A tremendous joy because we have won," Environment and Natural Resources Minister Lina Pohl said. "It has been a seven-year struggle for us to finally have all the elements that would allow us to arrive at this final decision." The Latest: Health chief: No apparent danger from release COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) The Latest on smoke coming from a refinery in Denver area (all times local): 4 p.m. Colorado's public health director says officials don't know enough yet about what was in the smoke released from a Denver-area refinery after a power failure to determine if it was hazardous. However, Dr. Larry Wolk says authorities are reassured that Friday's release from the Suncor Energy, Inc. refinery was brief. He says it doesn't appear to pose any immediate threat to people nearby. The Denver Fire Department says the company notified authorities that sulfur dioxide was released. A Suncor spokeswoman says an uncombusted hydrocarbon was released. The company says it is monitoring the air around the refinery. It will have to report the cause of the malfunction and the emissions to the state health department. _____ 2:20 p.m. The Denver Fire Department says sulfur dioxide was released from a refinery that sent plumes of smoke into the air after a power failure. Suncor Energy says a power failure shut down its plant in Commerce City north of Denver on Friday and that the plumes were "visible emissions" from the refinery. Suncor didn't immediately disclose what was released but Denver Fire Capt. Greg Pixley says the company notified authorities that they were releasing sulfur dioxide. The Environmental Protection Agency says short-term exposure to the gas can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult, especially the young, the elderly and those with asthma. Suncor says it is monitoring the air around the refinery. _____ 1:41 p.m. Suncor Energy says it is monitoring the air around its Denver-area refinery after a power failure shut the plant down, sending plumes of smoke into the air. Spokeswoman Nicole Fisher says the power failure happened around noon Friday. She says the orange and black smoke clouds visible from downtown were visible emissions from the refinery. She didn't have details about what they were. People in a 1.5-mile radius of the plant have been told to stay indoors. The refinery produces gasoline, diesel fuel and asphalt. It can produce up to 98,000 barrels per day. _____ 1:10 p.m. People near a Denver-area refinery are being told to stay indoors as firefighters respond to plumes of smoke from its stacks. The Adams County Sheriff's Office says people within a 1.5 -mile radius of the Suncor refinery in Commerce City have been told to shelter in place Friday afternoon. Plumes of black smoke were visible coming from an industrial area near downtown Denver. 3 arrested in alleged bomb plot targeting Somalis in Kansas WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Three members of a Kansas militia group were charged Friday with plotting to bomb an apartment complex that's home to Somali immigrants in the western Kansas meatpacking town of Garden City, a thwarted attack prosecutors say was planned for the day after the November election. The arrests were the culmination of an eight-month FBI investigation that took agents "deep into a hidden culture of hatred and violence," Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said. A complaint unsealed Friday charges Curtis Wayne Allen, 49; Patrick Eugene Stein, 47; and Gavin Wayne Wright, 49, with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. Their first court appearance is Monday. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall announced Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, a major federal investigation stopped a domestic terrorism plot by a militia group to detonate a bomb at a Garden City apartment complex where a number of Somalis live.Two Liberal men and a Dodge City resident were arrested and charged in federal court with domestic terrorism charges, (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP) Prosecutors said the men don't yet have attorneys. Publicly listed phone numbers for the men couldn't immediately be found. The men are members of a small militia group that calls itself "the Crusaders," and whose members espouse sovereign citizen, anti-government, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant extremist beliefs, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges group members chose the target based on their hatred for Muslims, people of Somali descent and immigrants and out of a desire to inspire other militia groups and "wake people up." The FBI began a domestic terrorism investigation of the group in February, and a confidential source attended its meetings in southwestern Kansas. In a June meeting, Stein brought up the Orlando nightclub shooting, and proposed carrying out a similar attack against Muslim refugees in Garden City, according to the complaint. They ultimately decided to target the apartment complex because of the number of Somalis who lived there and the fact that one of the apartments was used as a mosque. The complex houses about 120 Somali residents, Beall said. The complaint said that Stein discussed the explosives used in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh. The men, who were arrested in Liberal on Friday morning, performed surveillance of the apartment building and prepared a manifesto, Beall said. In a profanity-laced conference call that law enforcement monitored, Stein said the only way "this country's ever going to get turned around is it will be a bloodbath," according to the complaint. If convicted, the men could be sentenced to up to life in federal prison without parole. Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, called the details of the plot disturbing, saying it "should serve as a warning to those who traffic in the politics of fear and bigotry." Garden City is home to a Tyson Foods beef slaughterhouse that has drawn a diverse immigrant population to the area. Dr. John Birky, a physician who's helping to create a clinic and working with refugees on a language program, said some local residents fear the refugees, mistakenly associating them with militants in Somalia. "People do express more of a general sentiment of, 'Why are we letting these refugees in here? Why are we? They're taking our jobs, plus they're Muslim,'" he said. Birky said between 300 and 500 Somali refugees live in the area. The state Department for Children and Families said that of the 906 refugees who arrived in Kansas from October 2014 through January 2016, 68 were from Somalia, or 7.5 percent. Garden City Mayor Chris Law said in a statement that he was shocked by the planned attack, and Birky called it "crazy." Birky said most are fleeing militants in Somalia and want to assimilate once they reach Kansas. "They're trying to make a better life for their families here," he said. "They want to pursue the American dream." Friday's arrests and charges prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations to call on state and federal law enforcement agencies across the nation to increase protection for mosques and other Islamic institutions. The group also cited reports of threats against a Michigan center and anti-Muslim graffiti at a New Jersey mosque. "We ask our nation's political leaders, and particularly political candidates, to reject the growing Islamophobia in our nation," Nihad Awad, the group's national executive director, said in a statement. The case is the latest involving militia groups in the state. Earlier this year, a planned armed protest outside a Wichita mosque prompted the Islamic Society of Wichita to cancel an appearance by a speaker whom protesters believed supported terrorism. The Justice Department's National Security Division created a new position a year ago to help coordinate investigations into violent homegrown extremism, like the one that resulted in the three arrests. ___ Eric Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writer John Hanna contributed to this story from Topeka. FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson talks about the FBI's roll in stopping a bomb plot. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall (left) announced Friday a major federal investigation stopped a domestic terrorism plot by a militia group to detonate a bomb at a Garden City apartment complex where a number of Somalis live.Two Liberal men and a Dodge City resident were arrested and charged in federal court with domestic terrorism charges, Beall told reporters at a news conference in downtown Wichita. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP) This Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 booking photo provided by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office in Wichita, Kan., shows Patrick Eugene Stein. Stein is one of three members of a Kansas militia group who were charged Friday Oct. 14, 2016, with plotting to bomb an apartment building filled with Somali immigrants in Garden City, Kan. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said Curtis Allen, Stein and Gavin Wright are members of a group calling itself the Kansas Security Force. Beall says the arrests were the culmination of an eight-month investigation. (Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office via AP) This Oct. 14, 2016 photo provided by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office in Wichita, Kan., shows Gavin Wright. Wright is one of three members of a Kansas militia group were charged Friday Oct. 14, 2016, with plotting to bomb an apartment building filled with Somali immigrants in Garden City, Kan. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said Curtis Wayne Allen, Patrick Eugene Stein and Wright are members of a group calling itself the Kansas Security Force. Beall says the arrests were the culmination of an eight-month investigation. (Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office via AP) 22 homes destroyed in northern Nevada wildfire RENO, Nev. (AP) A trio of wind-whipped wildfires burning along the Sierra Nevada on Friday destroyed 22 homes north of Carson City, forced hundreds of evacuations at Lake Tahoe and temporarily closed a major highway connecting Reno to the mountain lake. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval declared a state of emergency as hundreds of firefighters battled the most dangerous fire, which is still threatening hundreds of structures in the Washoe Valley along Interstate 580 and U.S. Highway 395 between Reno and Carson City. No serious injuries have been reported but four firefighters have been treated for smoke inhalation, said Tia Rancourt, spokeswoman for the Sierra Front Interagency Fire Dispatch Center. Hand crews finish up work on the Emerald Fire along Highway 89, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 near Lake Tahoe, Nev. A wind-whipped wildfire raged out of control Friday in northern Nevada, destroying more than a dozen homes, forcing evacuations, closing roads and schools, and triggering power outages, officials said. (Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee via AP) The wildland blaze that continued to burn out of control Friday night has charred about 3 square miles of brush and timber. It forced the closures of numerous schools and roads, and triggered widespread power outages. Federal disaster funds were approved late Friday to help cover firefighting costs in the parched area that has only recently shown signs of recovering from a five-year drought About 500 firefighters were on the scene Friday night at the so-called Little Valley fire, which broke out about 1:30 a.m. in the mountains between Lake Tahoe and Washoe Valley about 8 miles north of Carson City Fire officials reported zero containment, but said crews working in difficult terrain were aided by afternoon rains, and the winds that were gusting in excess of 50 mph died down as the afternoon wore on. "We've made good progress on the homes we are currently protecting," said Truckee Meadows Fire Battalion Chief Alex Kukulus. But "we are not out of the woods," he told reporters. "We have active fire in the whole area and still no real containment." More crews were on their way from as far away as the San Francisco Bay Area. "When we ramp this thing up this evening, we hope to have 1,000 firefighters in the area," Kukulus said Friday afternoon. In addition to the homes, 17 outbuildings have burned. A fire engine also suffered significant damage. Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Chief Charles Moore said the cause of the blaze was under investigation. But he said it started in an area where a controlled burn was conducted earlier this week. The powerful winds fanning the flames reached gusts in excess of 100 mph over the top of the Sierra early Friday. Nearly 10,000 residents were without power at one point. NV Energy said it was restored to all but about 1,000 by 7 p.m. Moore said emergency dispatchers received a report of "a glow" in hills west of Washoe Valley at 1:38 a.m. Crews arrived to find about 5 acres burning. But he said it "grew rapidly and quickly spread to 50 acres" in the winds gusting in excess of 70 mph at the time. "It was surreal to wake up to a mountain that was on fire," resident Kevin Elvrum told KTVN-TV. More than 100 homes and ranches are scattered throughout the rural valley bordering Washoe Lake. The ones that have burned are along the forested edge of the valley where it meets the eastern front of the Sierra just west of the lake. One belonged to Dennis Hof, who owns the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel east of Carson City. He's running for the state Assembly as a Libertarian in the November election. Hof told the Reno Gazette-Journal he wasn't there at the time but neighbors phoned to tell him his house was burning in the forest south of Reno. He posted photos of it reduced to rubble on his Twitter account Friday afternoon. Kukulus was hopeful the winds would subside enough early Saturday to allow for the use of some helicopters or air tankers. "We have lots of air ordered up, but yet to put any up because of the wind," Kukulus said. "They are ready at a moment's notice." Evacuation centers were set up in Reno and Carson City for displaced residents as well as pets and livestock. The governor issued an emergency declaration shortly after he left a special session of the Legislature in Carson City around noon to get a briefing on the situation. The fire delayed the start of the session. Officials for the Federal Emergency Management Agency authorized the use of U.S. fire management assistance to cover as much as 75 percent of the eligible firefighting costs because the threats posed would constitute a major disaster. The fire that prompted the evacuation of 500 homes on the south end of Lake Tahoe was estimated to be 25 percent contained, thanks in part to rain showers from the storm packing the powerful winds. That fire has burned about 200 acres and forced the closure of part of California Highway 89 but fire officials said they were getting the upper hand on the blaze Friday evening. Firefighters also snuffed out another fire that destroyed at least one structure and had temporarily closed the Mount Rose Highway connecting Reno to Lake Tahoe. CalFire crews from Grass Valley work on the Emerald Fire along Highway 89, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 near Lake Tahoe, Nev. A wind-whipped wildfire raged out of control Friday in northern Nevada, destroying more than a dozen homes, forcing evacuations, closing roads and schools, and triggering power outages, officials said. (Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee via AP) Fire crews work on the Emerald Fire along Highway 89, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 near Lake Tahoe, Nev. A wind-whipped wildfire raged out of control Friday in northern Nevada, destroying more than a dozen homes, forcing evacuations, closing roads and schools, and triggering power outages, officials said. (Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee via AP) CalTrans road crews drive past a melted traffic cone at the Emerald Fire along Highway 89, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 near Lake Tahoe, Nev. A wind-whipped wildfire raged out of control Friday in northern Nevada, destroying more than a dozen homes, forcing evacuations, closing roads and schools, and triggering power outages, officials said. (Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee via AP) Lake Tahoe can be seen behind the Emerald Fire along Highway 89, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 near Lake Tahoe, Nev. A wind-whipped wildfire raged out of control Friday in northern Nevada, destroying more than a dozen homes, forcing evacuations, closing roads and schools, and triggering power outages, officials said. (Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee via AP) A firefighter hoses down the area on Mount Rose Highway and Edmonton Drive, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 in Reno, Nev.. A wind-whipped wildfire raged out of control Friday in northern Nevada, destroying more than a dozen homes, forcing evacuations, closing roads and schools, and triggering power outages, officials said.(Mike Higdon/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP) Strong winds blow smoke through the trees during the Emerald Fire along Highway 89, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 near Lake Tahoe, Nev. A wind-whipped wildfire raged out of control Friday in northern Nevada, destroying more than a dozen homes, forcing evacuations, closing roads and schools, and triggering power outages, officials said. (Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee via AP) He's No. 1: Engineer is first Mississippi plant employee JACKSON, Miss. (AP) On a 900-acre site that will eventually host a tire factory employing up to 2,500 people, civil engineer Zach Morrow is the lone ranger for now. Hired Aug. 8, the 28-year-old is Continental AG's first employee at the plant it's building west of Clinton. "I couldn't be any more proud to be not just a part of it, but to be employee No. 1," Morrow told The Associated Press. The mammoth construction project is still embryonic. The German company hasn't held its official groundbreaking. Morrow doesn't have a desk because there's not even a construction trailer yet. He's working out of his truck. Heavy machinery is used to clear the property at the site of a Continental Tire plant near Clinton, Miss., Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Civil engineer Zach Morrow is Continental AG's first employee at the site of the $1.45 billion tire plant that's supposed to eventually employ 2,500 people. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP) But as a contractor cuts down trees and grubs out roots and stumps at the site, the Mississippi State University graduate is already working to make sure everything is done according to plan. That will still be his job description as the project transitions to earth-moving, foundation work, and construction. "I will be the sole contact for Continental onsite for probably six months," Morrow said. Even after training at Continental sites in Germany and Slovakia, he admits that's a big job: "It's kind of a shell-shock thing at first." Continental has already hired employee No. 2, an accountant. The company says it won't begin hiring most employees until late 2018, in advance of a late-2019 opening of the $1.45 billion plant. But jobs are what Mississippi hopes to get out of the deal in exchange for providing an estimated $650 million in grants and tax breaks over 30 years, according to an Associated Press analysis. The state has said that wages for these jobs will average $40,000 a year. The company has said it plans to make a mix of heavy truck and passenger vehicle tires at the plant, starting production in 2019 and expanding in phases over a decade or longer. The world's fourth-largest tire maker, Continental, is trying to capture a larger share of the worldwide market. An Ackerman native, Morrow has worked in a series of construction jobs since he was 18. Most recently, he was the corporate director of maintenance and construction for a hospital management company. But Morrow said that company was struggling, and he feared he might have to leave the state to find work. "I was fortunate to stumble across this opportunity," said Morrow, now moving to the Jackson area from Magee. Morrow said he's scheduled to move into an engineering role inside the plant once construction is complete. "I don't want to have to be looking for another job in a few years," Morrow said. Many people have contacted Morrow, trying to get information on contracting or other work for Continental. He sends their requests to the Mississippi Development Authority website that collects contractor and employee inquiries. "Everyone wants a piece of it, to be involved in any form or fashion they can," he said. ___ Online: Prospective vendor and employee site for Continental Tire: https://www.mississippi.org/continental/ ___ Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy. Read his work at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/jeff-amy Civil engineer Zach Morrow watches the construction site of a Continental Tire plant near Clinton, Miss., Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Morrow is Continental AG's first employee at the site of a $1.45 billion tire plant that's supposed to eventually employ 2,500 people. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP) Civil engineer Zach Morrow surveys the construction site of a Continental Tire plant near Clinton, Miss., Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Morrow is Continental AG's first employee at the site of a $1.45 billion tire plant that's supposed to eventually employ 2,500 people. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP) Heavy machinery is used to clear the property at the site of a Continental Tire plant near Clinton, Miss., Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Civil engineer Zach Morrow is Continental AG's first employee at the site of the $1.45 billion tire plant that's supposed to eventually employ 2,500 people. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP) Civil engineer Zach Morrow tours the construction site of a Continental Tire plant near Clinton, Miss., Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Morrow is Continental AG's first employee at the site of the $1.45 billion tire plant that's supposed to eventually employ 2,500 people. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP) London Zoo visitors 'never in any danger' after silverback gorilla escaped Visitors to London Zoo were "never in any danger" after a large silverback gorilla escaped from his enclosure. Armed police were called to the central London attraction and visitors were evacuated as keepers desperately tried to recapture the loose animal. But Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at the zoo, described the escape of Kumbuka as a "minor incident" in which the male gorilla got into a secure keeper area that was not open to the public. Western lowland gorilla Kumbuka Mr Fitzpatrick said the western lowland had been tranquillised before being returned to the Gorilla Kingdom, where he was "up and grumbling and interacting with the rest of his gorilla family". He added: "It was a safe, secure keeper area, so at no time did he actually get out into the zoo." The incident is now under investigation, he said. Mr Fitzpatrick told reporters Kumbuka was in the keepers' area for more than an hour until vets were able to tranquillise him. He said: "At 5.15pm this afternoon our male gorilla got out of his back dens into a secure keeper area. "Our staff were able to respond quickly and Kumbuka was tranquillised and returned to his dens, where I am happy to report he is up and grumbling and interacting with the rest of his gorilla family in Gorilla Kingdom." Mr Fitzpatrick would not confirm if there were keepers in the area at the time and said the public gorilla viewing zone had only a "handful" of people there then. He added: "At no time were any of our visitors in any danger. The gorilla did not get out of the safe space, there were only about 100 visitors, it was the end of the day and I would like to thank all of those visitors for co-operating and moving in to buildings." Mr Fitzpatrick said keepers would be staying on into the evening to check up on Kumbuka and giving him his "favourite treats". A statement from ZSL London Zoo said the 18-year-old gorilla was contained within the exhibit's off-show area, and that an investigation would be carried out in to how he escaped. A spokeswoman said: "The exhibit is secure and we are grateful to all of our staff and visitors for their co-operation, enabling us to resolve the situation quickly and efficiently. ZSL London Zoo will be open tomorrow." The zoo was immediately put on lock-down after Kumbuka escaped, with visitors being ordered to shelter inside any buildings they could. Visitors to the gorilla attraction said they saw the "lead male" apparently agitated and charging at the enclosure's glass walls moments before the escape. Neuropsychologist Dr Jonathan Mall was at the Weird and Wonderful World of Field market research conference when the incident happened. Dr Mall, one of the speakers at the conference, had gone for a walk during a break in the programme and was next to the gorilla enclosure when a siren went off at around 5.20pm, and a call over the speakers asked for staff to urgently go to the site. The 33-year-old, from Hamburg in Germany, who was representing his company Neuro Flash, told the Press Association he saw two members of staff "frantically running around" in the enclosure, and when he jokingly asked one if a gorilla was loose they said: "I don't know, please go outside the area." He added: "Another distressed staff member said 'Please move quickly and go inside a building', and she told us to leave, I saw other people running for buildings." Dr Mall and other visitors were forced to hide inside a bird attraction, stranded for around half an hour while staff brought Kumbuka under control. He said: "I was kind of scared to be honest because we were in a really closed space where everything is green and beautiful but there could be a gorilla hiding behind every bush. "Any sound I heard scared the shit out of me." Eventually staff went from building to building to rescue visitors and evacuate them from the zoo. Dr Mall said he saw at least 20 people carrying large guns and that the police helicopter arrived within five minutes. He also said another speaker at the conference had seen one of the gorillas acting "really agitated" in its enclosure around 15 minutes before the escape, saying it had repeatedly run towards the glass walls and hit it as people took pictures of it. Jonny Briers, 22, told the Evening Standard: "We were at the gorilla enclosure and the gorilla charged at the glass. It didn't break it, we saw it do it earlier in the day as well. "And then we started to leave and we heard the siren go off. Then we saw zookeepers running and they told us to go inside. We went into the aquarium and they locked the doors." According to the zoo's website Kumbuka is one of at least seven gorillas living in its Gorilla Kingdom. The 5 million Gorilla Kingdom was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 2007, then the largest investment at the zoo for 40 years. The same year there were warnings that animals could escape unless security was improved. A report said that although it had no concerns about animal enclosures, in the circumstances of a dangerous animal escaping it was "unlikely" the existing perimeter fence would be sufficient to contain dangerous animals. It warned that if they escaped there would be nothing to stop them roaming free, and said marksmen with tranquilliser darts would have little time to react. The year before, 12 squirrel monkeys managed to escape their enclosure. In May a gorilla was shot dead by keepers after it grabbed a four-year-old boy who fell into a moat at a US zoo. Harambe, a 17-year-old, 400-pound-plus male western lowland, was killed after he dragged the youngster around for 10 minutes after he fell 12 feet into the exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo. Zoo officials made the decision because they felt the boy was in a "life-threatening situation". Watchdog critical of efforts to clamp down on illegal migrants Nearly 10,000 driving licences were earmarked for cancellation last year as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration, new figures reveal. The number was disclosed as a watchdog delivered a string of critical findings on efforts to create a "hostile environment" for illegal migrants in Britain. A report suggested people without leave to be in the country were being missed - while others were wrongly flagged as being here unlawfully because of record-keeping failings. A report has examined powers to refuse or revoke a UK driving licences as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. Inspectors found only a small proportion of revoked licences were surrendered to driving authorities, while the Home Office was accused of failing to fully exploit intelligence it was receiving under the scheme. A separate report revealed that not all arrested foreigners are referred to the department for a check on their immigration status - and it was impossible to say how many went unchecked. Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt examined powers to refuse or revoke a UK driving licence and prevent the opening of a bank account introduced in the Immigration Act 2014. Re cords in the Home Office's main caseworking database were incomplete, had been finished incorrectly, or there were delays in updating them, it was found. In the case of driving licences, these record-keeping failings were to "some extent mitigated", the report said, but added: "I t remains the case that some individuals were being wrongly flagged to DVLA as present in the UK without leave, while others who were present without leave were being missed." In 2015, the Home Office requested that the DVLA revoke licences for 9,732 individuals. Meanwhile, f igures for 2015/16 showed that just 337 licences revoked for immigration reasons were surrendered to the body. The report said the small proportion of licences surrendered " undermines the intended two-fold impact of revocation: stopping illegal migrants from being able to drive lawfully, and from using a driving licence to access other benefits and services." From April 2015 to January, 583 individuals left the UK having been stripped of their driving licence. In five cases probed by inspectors, the licence holder had departed the country before their leave had expired and had never been unlawfully resident in the UK, while last year 259 revoked licences had to be reinstated. The report said the Home Office "did not appear to appreciate the seriousness of such errors for the individuals affected". Meanwhile, examination of instances where a n applicant for a bank account or other product was matched to an individual on a "disqualified persons" list showed 17 should never have been listed or should have been removed from the list. And out of 169 individuals, only 10 had left the UK after a match had been reported. The inspection report added that the development and implementation of the measures was "handled well". Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "A hostile environment seems to be a polite way of saying a bullying environment, where innocent people are made to feel like unwelcome criminals." Meanwhile, a second of six reports from the watchdog published on Thursday said data showed that between 185,000 and 193,000 foreign nationals were arrested by UK police forces in the year from April 2014. Not all foreign nationals arrested are referred to the Home Office for an immigration status check. The report said: " The reasons for this vary: some offenders successfully misrepresent themselves as UK citizens or EEA nationals; police officers may not be aware that it is possible to take immigration action against some EEA nationals; and the purpose and value of an immigration status check may not be evident to some officers." The inspection found that outside London the majority of requests for checks were still being made to local immigration officers rather than a central command and control unit, adding: "Because of these different routes, it is not possible to say how many arrested foreign nationals are going unchecked." A Home Office spokesman said measures discussed in the first report "should not be seen in isolation but as part of the wider action we are taking that has made it harder than ever before for illegal migrants to live in this country". Donald Trump comments offensive, says Cabinet minister Damian Green Donald Trump's lewd comments about women have been condemned as "offensive" by a Cabinet minister. The US presidential hopeful's campaign has been rocked by the leak of a tape in which he bragged about his fame allowing him to "do anything" to women. Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green refused to say whether he believed Mr Trump was "unfit" to enter the White House. Donald Trump's campaign has been rocked by the leak of a tape in which he bragged about his fame allowing him to "do anything" to women "I think it's a seriously bad idea for government ministers from another country to try and advise democratic, friendly countries which way to vote," he said on BBC's Question Time. "I'm not being unnecessarily pompous, I'm just being careful." But Mr Green, who was appearing on the show alongside shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and journalist Isabel Oakeshott, hit out at the Republican nominee's comments about women. He said: "I will comment on the words, partly because both Isabel and Emily said as a woman she found those words he said offensive. Can I say that, as a man, I found those words offensive as well." Ms Thornberry said: "As a woman I thought his comments were completely disgusting and totally offensive and, of course, he shouldn't be American president." Since the publication of a 2005 recording in which the Republican nominee boasted of using his fame to kiss and grab women without their consent, Mr Trump has been hit by a series of allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour - something he has vigorously denied. The presidential hopeful has blamed the accusations on White House rival Hillary Clinton's campaign and the news media. "These vicious claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with women, are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it," Mr Trump said. His accusers, he said, "are horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars". Mr Green has become the latest Government figure to criticise the man who could be elected president in November. Prime Minister Theresa May, in her former role as home secretary, rebuked Mr Trump for being "plain wrong" to accuse British Muslims of failing to report suspected terrorists. During his time as London mayor, Boris Johnson - now Foreign Secretary - said Mr Trump was "unfit to hold the office of the president of the United States" for his comments about Islamist radicalisation in London. The 8th BRICS summit will be held in the Indian city of Goa beginning October 15. It will bring together leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - the countries which are members of BRICS. The theme of this year's summit is: "Building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions." The gathering will mainly focus on economic issues faced by BRICS nations and try to find a collective and collaborative response. Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O'Neill used BRIC acronym for the first time in a research paper in November 2001 about a group of emerging economies comprised of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Later, South Africa was added to the list, leading to BRICS. The grouping was formalized when their foreign ministers met in 2006 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly annual session in New York, but consultations for it had started several years before. The first BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009, when South Africa was still not a part of it. BRICS countries represent about 43 percent of the world population. The sheer amount of people inhabiting the BRICS countries makes the group an important international player when working together for common goals. The numerical strength is just one aspect of BRICS, as it also controls 30 percent of global GDP, though, this is far lower than its potential - the summit provides a platform to think of ways to maximize this potential. The share of BRICS in world trade is about 17 percent, also far below the potential strength of these nations. At first glance, BRICS is another international association aiming to build economic and commercial linkages by mutual cooperation. But it is not without its own distinctive features. For example, hardly any other small number of nations has such vast potential. They also do not have any major issues that would hamper mutual cooperation. President Xi Jinping will represent his country at the Goa summit. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Xi is attending the summit at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is expected to meet leaders and put forth his vision of "win-win cooperation" for a prosperous future. China's presence is the backbone of BRICS, as it constitutes 70 percent of the collective gross national product of the BRICS. It would be correct to say that China is the main stakeholder of all institutional arrangements that BRICS nations are creating to expedite growth and ward off economic emergencies. For example, China promised to provide $41 billion for a $100 billion BRICS joint currency reserve pool agreed to during a summit in Brazil. It is a kind of emergency fund to deal with financial problems. China also played lead role in setting up the New Development Bank, formerly known as BRICS bank, in Shanghai. Separately, the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank launched by China is a parallel arrangement to fund major development projects in the developing world. BRICS can be a beneficiary of this bank. Despite its long-term prospects, BRICS currently faces several challenges. The major one is the slowing economies of its members. Russia is coping with a weakening ruble and a slump in oil prices, while Brazil is suffering its worst recession in decades. Its economic problems have been confounded by political turmoil and the health scare caused by Zika virus. Indian's strategic ambitions, rampant corruption and inefficient bureaucracy are hurdles. It needs to normalize ties with Pakistan to maintain a steady upward economic trajectory. Its strategic rivalry with China could spoil the efforts for closer cooperation among BRICS countries. China is also passing through a period of major adjustments, which will take time to settle while also slowing down net growth in the process. South Africa has to deal with a basket of issues, like unemployment, violent crime and attracting new investments. It is time for BRICS to think of innovative ways for speeding up economic growth. Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. UK will continue to work with Maldives, says Boris Johnson The Maldives' departure from the Commonwealth is regrettable and disappointing, Boris Johnson said as he pledged to keep working with the troubled the nation. When the Maldivian government announced its departure on Thursday it claimed the country had been "unfairly and unjustly" treated by the global body. The Commonwealth was due to consider sanctions - including suspension - against the nation after its "lack of progress" on a raft of democratic reforms. Boris Johnson said work must be done to ensure the stability of the Maldives The Foreign Secretary said work had to be done to ensure the stability of the islands, which have been in political turmoil since its first democratically elected leader resigned four years ago. "The UK is disappointed that the Maldives government has decided to withdraw from the Commonwealth," Mr Johnson said in a statement. "We believe in the Commonwealth and its commitment to improving the lives of people across all its member states. The Commonwealth is an organisation dedicated to developing free and democratic societies, and to promoting peace and prosperity. And we regret that the Maldives has chosen to leave. "We will continue to work with the Maldives government to help strengthen democracy, particularly freedom of speech and the media and independence of the judiciary. "The stability of the country must be central to what happens next." The Maldives' former president, Mohamed Nasheed, quit his post in 2012 and claims he was deposed at gunpoint. The authorities in the Maldives have since been accused of a string of political and democratic violations. The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, urged leaders at last year's biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to toughen up their approach over the "unacceptable" actions of the nation's administration. In its resignation statement the Maldives hit back, accusing the Commonwealth of trying to become an "active participant in the domestic political discourse" of the country and using it as an "easy object" to increase its global political standing. Commonwealth secretary-general Baroness Scotland said she and the family of nations were saddened and disappointed by the decision but hoped the move would be only a "temporary separation". She said: "The Commonwealth family at large - its member governments and its peoples worldwide - will share my sadness and disappointment at this decision. "The Commonwealth Charter reflects the commitment of our member states to democracy and human rights, development and growth, and diversity. "We will continue to champion these values and to support all member states, especially small and developing states, in upholding and advancing these practically for the enduring benefit of their citizens. "Therefore, we hope that this will be a temporary separation and that Maldives will feel able to return to the Commonwealth family and all that it represents in due course." The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which deals with persistent and serious violators of the Commonwealth's shared principles, had been monitoring the Maldives' progress on reforms. At its last meeting a few weeks ago, the group highlighted the lack of progress in areas like the prompt release of political leaders and misuse of anti-terrorism legislation. It said that in the "absence of substantive progress across the priority areas" it would consider its options, including suspension from the Councils of the Commonwealth, at its next meeting in March. In a statement the Maldives ministry of foreign affairs said: "The government of Maldives has decided today to leave the Commonwealth. The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable." It added: "The Commonwealth has sought to take punitive actions against the Maldives since 2012 after the then president of Maldives resigned, and transfer of power took place as per the procedures set out in the constitution." The statement said that since the change of leader the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and the Commonwealth Secretariat "have treated the Maldives unjustly and unfairly". "The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the charters of the UN and the Commonwealth. Andy Murray continues fine form with win over David Goffin in Shanghai Andy Murray booked a Shanghai Masters semi-final berth by battling past Belgium's David Goffin 6-2 6-2. World number two Murray continued his fine form with a strong performance in an engaging contest, to record his fifth straight victory over Goffin. After winning the China Open last week Murray has now swept his way to the latter stages of yet another tournament. Andy Murray took just 95 minutes to reach the semi-finals in Shanghai (AP) The 29-year-old will now play the winner of Jack Sock and Gilles Simon in the last four, with Novak Djokovic still a potential foe should he reach the final. Murray powered past Goffin in one hour 35 minutes with a relentless showing that left the Belgian with precious few opportunities for control. Murray had previously seen off American Steve Johnson and Lucas Pouille, and once again continued his dominant form in dispatching Goffin. "I thought it was a very good match," Murray told Sky Sports. "There were many long games on his serve that could have gone either way. "He had a few chances on my serve, so it was a tough match. "It was a pretty long one for that scoreline but I struck the ball well and created a lot of chances on my return game. "I felt I was controlling a lot of the rallies on my forehand. "It was a good win against Goffin, who has been playing very well and had some good wins here." Children from Calais 'Jungle' set to arrive in Britain ahead of camp demolition Councils are preparing for the arrival of children from the Calais "Jungle" next week as part of a drive to transfer young refugees to Britain before the camp is demolished. French authorities are poised to begin work to dismantle the site after President Francois Hollande said it would be removed by the end of the year. Earlier this week Home Secretary Amber Rudd confirmed she had stressed to her French counterpart that children eligible to come to the UK should be moved out of the camp before the demolition process starts. French president Francois Hollande said the camp would be removed by the end of the year David Simmonds, chairman of the Local Government Association's a sylum, refugee and migration task group, said councils have a strong record of supporting children travelling alone. "The number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children living in England increased by more than 60% to over 4,000 in the last year, and the vast majority of councils are already providing care and support for these vulnerable children and young people," he said. "Those arriving from the Calais camp will require care and support packages directly from councils and their partners. "For those children relocated with existing family living in the UK, councils will still want to be assured that arrangements put in place can meet the child's needs and that they are safe and well. "Many will have also experienced horrendous conditions within and since fleeing their country of origin, so councils will want to ensure they are able to settle into communities as quickly and easily as possible with ongoing support made available when they need it." Councils have offered to provide expert social workers to carry out assessments to help ensure the process is managed effectively, Mr Simmonds said. He added that town halls "also require long-term funding arrangements from government so that the commitment to support those children starting a new life in the UK is properly funded". Campaigners say they have identified hundreds of children in the camp who have a right to come to Britain - either because they have family ties here under the so-called Dublin regulations, or through a programme to give refuge to unaccompanied minors from Europe. The Government has faced criticism over efforts to identify and transfer youngsters through the routes. Ms Rudd told the Commons on Monday that more than 80 unaccompanied children had been accepted for transfer under the Dublin regulation so far this year. Under the rule, asylum claims must be made in the first safe country a person reaches - but children can have their application transferred to another country if they have family members living there. The Home Secretary also said that more than 50 children had been taken, largely from Greece, under Lord Dubs' amendment to the Immigration Act. Stephen Hale, chief executive of the charity Refugee Action, said: " It's fantastic news that, at last, vulnerable children in Calais will be reunited with their families in Britain. "These children must have the support they need to rebuild their lives when they arrive." Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "It is very welcome news that some of the unaccompanied children in Calais will finally be reunited with their families here in the UK. "It is appalling that is has taken over a year of pressure from the public and organisations across the UK to get the Government to act." The sense of urgency surrounding the issue was reinforced by a warning that there could be a "mass disappearance" unless the transfer of eligible children is secured before the closure of the camp. A report by Tomas Bocek, the Council of Europe secretary general's special representative on migration and refugees, said: "Because of the imminent threat of eviction, children are putting their lives at risk every day to enter the United Kingdom clandestinely instead of waiting for lawful entry through official channels. "A mass disappearance, like the one that occurred during the eviction of the southern part of the Jungle, is considered highly likely unless the transfer of eligible children to the United Kingdom is secured before the closure of the camp." A Home Office spokeswoman said: "As the Home Secretary told the House of Commons on Monday, our priority must be to ensure the safety and security of the children in the Calais camp. "When she met the French Interior Minister this week she made it crystal clear that we intend to transfer as many minors as possible, who are eligible under the Dublin Regulation, before the start of the clearance. "In addition, children who are eligible to come to the UK under the Dubs Amendment to the Immigration Act 2016 must be looked after in safe facilities where their best interests are properly considered. Arsene Wenger desperate not to contract the losing "virus" at Arsenal Arsene Wenger is looking to record a victory over Swansea on Saturday and avoid the "virus" of Arsenal fans turning against him and his team. The Swans have a good recent record at the Emirates Stadium, having won there in the past two seasons with their last loss back in 2013. A 2-1 victory for the visitors in the corresponding game back in February was highlighted by Wenger as the point which ruled Arsenal out of the Premier League title race as supporters turned on the Frenchman and the players. Arsene Wenger saw his Arsenal side lose 2-1 at home to Swansea last season. The response led to Arsenal's all-time record goalscorer Thierry Henry admitting he had "never seen Arsenal supporters that angry" as Wenger's tenure was again called into question. The defeat followed a 3-2 loss at Manchester United and was followed with a draw in the north London derby at Tottenham, with Wenger pointing to the run as costly as the Gunners ended the campaign in second place, 10 points adrift of champions Leicester. "We had two low points (last season)," he said. "The first was to lose at Man United and that was straight before Swansea. We damaged our chances. Last year we had a very negative experience with Swansea who killed our opportunity to win the Premier League. "We were really criticised a lot after the Tottenham game but we did extremely well. "With 10 men we came back to 2-2 and played extremely well. But after that we had the negative environment after Swansea." This time around Swansea visit with Arsenal looking to record a sixth successive win in all competitions and Wenger believes the club's supporters are now completely with the team, although he admits that can quickly change. "I believe our fans are behind us," he added. "It is strange because in 2016 how many games have we lost away from home? One at Man United. When you listen to people you'd never believe it. So we have to perform. "I must say that the negativity comes very quickly. It is a virus that travels very quickly and goes away very slowly. "I believe at the moment the vibes are positive. We have reduced distance with the top teams. We have to continue to get to the next level. "We can only think we have to create a positive environment and to do that we have to perform. We want to perform. The rest we have to ignore. Let's focus on the way we perform and the way we play. "You focus on what is important for you and what can help you. The way the team plays and what is important and accept the assessment of people around you. "Fans are part of our game and they have the right to be happy, not to be happy. My job is to focus on my job and trying to make them happy." For Swansea, they will head to north London for Bob Bradley's first game as manager after he was appointed as Francesco Guidolin's replacement during the international break. It will be the 58 year-old's first job in England and Wenger feels the American's arrival can only be a good thing for the Premier League. "Bob Bradley has a lot of experience. He's not a beginner, he has travelled a lot and has accumulated experience in the United States," added Wenger. "He has been in Egypt, France recently and is now in England which is certainly a fantastic opportunity for him. It's also good for the Premier League because the Premier League is taking off in the States. Samsung's woes highlight explosive limits of lithium batteries By Jeremy Wagstaff SINGAPORE, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Lithium-based batteries have been powering our portable devices for 25 years. But consumer demand for smaller, longer lasting devices is forcing manufacturers to push the technology, battery experts say, testing the limits of how much energy they can safely pack into smaller spaces. "A battery is really a bomb that releases its energy in a controlled way," says Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery startup. "There are fundamental safety issues to all batteries, and as you get to higher energy density and faster charge, the barrier to explosion is less and less." On Tuesday, Samsung Electronics scrapped its flagship Note 7 smartphone and told customers return their devices after weeks of bruising reports of phones igniting and images of scorched handsets. In early September, the world's largest smartphone maker blamed "a very rare manufacturing process error" for the problems. It has said it is still investigating reports of fires in a second, supposedly safe, batch of phones. Exactly what caused the problems will be the subject of detailed studies by regulators, the company and its suppliers. Experts are baffled by what could be causing the overheating in the replacement phones, if not the batteries. Samsung says it would be "premature to speculate" on the outcome of its investigations. "We are reviewing every step of our engineering, manufacturing and quality control processes," Samsung said in an emailed response to Reuters. An official at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, which is also investigating, said the fault in the replacement devices might not be the same as the problem in the original product. Both Samsung SDI and Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL), which supply batteries to Samsung Electronics, declined to comment. Samsung's Note 7 crisis may be its biggest, but the problems with lithium-ion are not new. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued recalls for battery packs, snow blowers, hoverboards, flashlights and power recliners in the past year, all because of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries. In 2013, Boeing was forced to ground its entire fleet of advanced 787 jetliners after some lithium-ion batteries caught fire. The fleet was allowed to resume flights after changes were made to the battery and charger, and to better contain battery fires. "We remain confident in the comprehensive improvements made to the 787 battery system following this event, and in the overall performance of the battery system and the safety of the airplane," Boeing said in 2014 after an investigation into one incident. LIGHT-WEIGHT, HIGH ENERGY Lithium is the lightest of all metals, and can pack a lot of energy into a small volume - making it perfect for batteries. The market has grown from a few hundred million cells in 2000 to 8 billion last year, according to Albemarle, a U.S. chemical company. But for the same reason, lithium-ion batteries need safety mechanisms built in, adding to production costs. And with prices falling 14 percent per year for the past 15 years, according to Albemarle, smaller scale players have scrimped on safety, says Lewis Larsen, CEO of Lattice Energy, a consultancy. There is no evidence Samsung or its battery suppliers cut corners with the Note 7, and Tony Olson, CEO of consultancy D2 Worldwide, said the problem was not limited to cheaper products. He ran tests on batteries in laptops a decade ago, highlighting the dangers of them catching fire. Some 9.6 million Sony Corp laptop batteries were subsequently recalled. But when Olsen repeated the tests on other laptop batteries seven years later he found that "very little had changed in battery safety design, despite being under tremendous scrutiny." Sony, HP Inc, Toshiba Corp and Panasonic Corp have all recalled laptop battery packs this year over fire hazards, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Panasonic, which supplied the batteries, said the problem was caused by manufacturing issues which it had now resolved. Asked about Samsung's woes last week, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga told reporters lithium ion batteries could become prone to fires when density was raised and fast charging was applied. "It's a trade-off between that (risk) and benefits. We place the biggest priority on safety," Tsuga said. "With current technologies, it's extremely difficult to make it zero chance of such incidents." GREATER DEMANDS Before the era of smartphones, users didn't require much of their device - a few phone calls, a few SMS messages. The phone of today, however, needs to do a lot more, and is in constant use. According to eMarketer, an advertising consultancy, Chinese mobile users, for example, spend nearly twice as long on their smartphone as they did four years ago. This in turn has pushed manufacturers into making their screens bigger and their devices more powerful, packing more energy into smaller spaces. And however sophisticated the materials, "they're not 100 percent safe and they never will be," said Larsen, the consultant. "What we're seeing from the standpoint of lithium-ion technology is they're beginning to reach the safe energy density limits of that technology." But experts are divided on that point. Brandon Ng, whose Hong Kong startup QFE plans to sell refrigerator-sized batteries to replace diesel generators, said there is still room for improvements. "There is still a lot of developmental headroom with lithium-ion batteries in terms of increasing the energy they can store." Long-promised new technologies to make batteries safer are around the corner. Tim Grejtak, an analyst at Lux Research, said there are dozens of startups working on the issue, but the scientific problems were hard to solve and would take time. Among the most promising candidates, according to Grejtak, is California-based Blue Current, which is working on a high density, low flammable battery using gel electrolytes. Massachusetts-based SolidEnergy Systems is working on a lithium metal battery which founder Hu says takes up half the space of existing batteries. It will be used first in high altitude drones, he says, and in consumer devices, including smartphones, by 2018. Rosneft-led group to buy India refiner Essar for $12-$13 bln-sources By Nidhi Verma and Jessica Jaganathan NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A group led by Russian oil major Rosneft will acquire India's Essar Oil in a $12 to $13 billion deal including debt, two sources privy to the deal said, strengthening the ties between the world's largest oil producer and the world's fastest growing fuel consumer. The deal helps Russia to deepen economic ties that stretch back to the Soviet era. The purchase is the biggest foreign acquisition ever in India and Russia's largest outbound deal, according to Thomson Reuters data. It also comes as Russia is keen to reassert its role in global affairs and at a time when its own economy is stagnant, hit by Western sanctions and low oil prices. Rosneft will get a 49 percent stake in Essar and the two investors -- European trader Trafigura and a Russian fund UCP -- will hold another 49 percent in equal parts, the sources said, adding that the valuation included about $4.5 billion in assumed debt. Through this acquisition, Rosneft will not only get an additional outlet for its oil amid a global supply glut but will also get to market fuels in the world's fastest-growing major economy. No immediate comment was available from the companies involved. Essar Oil is part of a steel-to-ports conglomerate controlled by the billionaire Ruia brothers that has faced pressure from creditors to reduce borrowing that some analysts estimate at more than $14 billion. Essar Oil operates a 400,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in Vadinar on India's west coast and sells fuels through its 2,470 filling stations in India. The deal will also include the Vadinar port and a power plant associated with the refinery, said one of the sources. "This could herald a diversification in crude sourcing for India overall away from the Middle East," said Tushar Tarun Bansal, director at Singapore-based consultancy Ivy Global. "From India's point of view, it cements a strong relationship with Russia." One source said the deal will be largely funded by Russia's VTB Capital, part of state-controlled bank VTB. VTB Group is under Western sanctions over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis that restrict its access to international capital. Trafigura will also bring in some funds to buy its share, said a third source. Essar is expected to announce the deal on Saturday in the coastal resort of Goa during a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bilateral summit. In a sign it plans to expand its presence in India, Trafigura has hired two oil traders from Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, and a business development executive from Cairn India to form a new oil desk based in Mumbai, adding to its current Indian staff count of more than 250, two sources familiar with the matter said. The two oil traders have a combined experience of more than 20 years with the Indian refiners, the sources added. Trafigura has also advertised for an oil operations analyst based in Mumbai to provide physical oil products operations and trader support, according to a notice on Trafigura's website. Rosneft and Trafigura are the latest international oil companies after Royal Dutch Shell and BP to enter the Indian fuel retailing market. Rosneft may supply Venezuelan oil to Essar's Vadinar refinery after a deal to buy a stake in the Indian company is finalised, the Indian company's managing director L. K. Gupta told Reuters in August. Algerian forces kill commander of Islamic State affiliate behind French murder - source ALGIERS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Algerian soldiers have killed two Islamist militants including one who security sources said was a senior commander with an Islamic State-allied group that kidnapped and beheaded a French tourist two years ago. Troops killed the two suspects, known by the names of Abu Doujana and Abderrahmane, in an ambush in Oued Zehour in Skikda region east of the capital on Thursday, the defense ministry said in a statement published by APS state news agency. A security source said Abu Doujana was a leader of Jund al Khalifa, a splinter al Qaeda group that had allied itself with Islamic State. It was blamed for beheading Frenchman Herve Gourdel in a remote mountain area in September 2014. Bombings and attacks are rarer in Algeria since it ended its decade-long 1990s war with armed Islamists. But al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is still active and a small group tied to Islamic State also operated east of the capital. Brazil court to try Lula on Angola corruption charges By Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Brazil ruled on Thursday that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial for an alleged bribery scheme related to work by construction giant Odebrecht in Angola. It's the second time in less than a month that a federal judge has ruled that Lula, a two-term president who left office in 2011 as Brazil's most popular president with an 83-percent approval rating, must stand trial. Lula faces allegations of corruption, money laundering and obstruction of justice related to a sprawling kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, which prosecutors allege he orchestrated for more than a decade. Thursday's decision by Judge Vallisney Oliveira in Brasilia centers on allegations Lula and others took 30 million reais ($9.3 million) in bribes to help win low-interest financing from the BNDES development bank for Odebrecht projects in Angola. Lula's lawyers denied the accusations. Last month, Judge Sergio Moro ruled that Lula would stand trial on charges he was a "direct beneficiary" of 3.7 million reais in bribes from OAS SA, one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the graft scandal. Separately, Moro decided on Thursday to try Eduardo Cunha, former speaker of the lower house of Congress, for his alleged role in the Petrobras corruption scandal. As speaker, Cunha led the successful drive to impeach former President Dilma Rousseff for breaking budgetary rules - a move Rousseff and her supporters call a "coup" in retaliation for her not trying to quash the aggressive Petrobras investigation. Rousseff, who served as the chairwoman of the Petrobras board for several years as the kickback scheme played out, is being investigated for obstruction of justice in the graft probe, but has not been charged with any crimes. Colombia's president extends ceasefire with FARC through yearend BOGOTA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday extended his ceasefire with Marxist FARC rebels through the end of the year as he seeks to revive a peace accord to end five decades of war after voters rejected the hard-fought deal in a referendum. The original ceasefire, which was put in place in August, was nullified when the peace accord was rejected in plebiscite earlier this month. He had already extended it to Oct. 31. The decision comes as Santos and his team hear proposals from representatives of those who voted against the accord - rejected by a razor-thin margin of less than half a percentage point - as too lenient on the Marxist rebels. He will take the proposals to the FARC leadership in Havana, who have said they are willing to discuss new ideas. Santos said he decided to extend the ceasefire further after meeting with student leaders who had organized two huge marches through Bogota to show support for a peace accord. "One of the students reminded me, that in the army and in the guerrilla ranks, there are young people waiting to see what happens, hoping that they don't need to fire another shot," Santos said in a televised address. "For that reason, and at the request of the students, I have taken the decision to extend the ceasefire until Dec. 31." The ceasefire can be extended further, but Santos said he hopes a new deal is approved long before then. Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end the war. Led by hardline former President Alvaro Uribe, the "No" side wants rebels who have committed war crimes to be confined for five to eight years - possibly on agricultural farms - and banned from elected office. They were outraged that the accord offered 10 congressional seats and non-traditional sentences like clearing landmines instead of prison cells in return for ending a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people. Woman mauled by tiger to sue Beijing wildlife park SHANGHAI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A woman who was mauled by a tiger after getting out of her car at a wild animal park in Beijing is suing the park, saying she hadn't been fully informed of the park's dangers and left the vehicle because she was carsick, a Chinese newspaper reported. The woman's mother was attacked and killed by another tiger after she hopped out of the car to try to save her daughter who had been dragged away. The woman, surnamed Zhao, was seeking 2 million yuan($299,917.52) in compensation from Badaling Wildlife World, the Beijing Times reported on Thursday in what it said was her first interview since the incident on July 23. Zhao said a park official in a nearby vehicle failed to come to the rescue. She also told the newspaper she signed an agreement not to exit her vehicle without knowing what it was and thinking it was some kind of registration to enter the park. The ticket taker did not explain it, she said. The newspaper cited a man surnamed Cao from Badaling Wildlife World as saying that the park would act according to government investigation report which had released the park from any responsibility. The park will only consider compensating the family out of a moral obligation, Cao added. The park declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. The park only agreed on 745,000 yuan of compensation against over 1.5 million yuan required by the family for Zhao's injury. They have settled on 1.2 million in compensation on the death of Zhao's mother, said the newspaper citing Zhao's father. The story triggered an online uproar with most users siding with the park, criticising Zhao for violating park rules and ignoring warning signs. The latest twist created another wave of criticism against Zhao on Weibo, a popular Twitter-like microblog in China. Chinese President Xi Jinping is blazing a new trail in South Asia even before he reaches Goa on India's west coast for the 8th BRICS Summit on October 15-16. As it is, the BRICS Summit has stirred great interest in world capitals thanks to the focus on Syria heightened by President Xi's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit to discuss the "most pressing issues of regional and international politics." And, on the eve of the BRICS Summit in India, President Xi's landmark visit to Bangladesh from where he will head to Goa has triggered a new excitement in the region. One immediate impact of this so-called "milestone visit" to Bangladesh is that it may push New Delhi to reconsider its regional strategy and put greater effort in scaling up relations with China. Xi's Dhaka visit could well be the catalyst needed to enhance and enrich the content of Sino-Indian interaction. How this happens may be known after the meeting between President Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BRICS Summit. Bangladesh has an important strategic, political, economic and diplomatic role given the fact that it is the most prominent player in the BIMSTEC grouping with which BRICS is holding its outreach summit in Goa on October 16. BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. Formed in 1997, with its secretariat Bangladesh, under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BIMSTEC is very proactive in strengthening regional integration and cooperation. President Xi's visit and meetings with Bangladesh's Hasina would not only boost the role of Bangladesh in the region but also give it an edge in BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. New Delhi chose BIMSTEC, rather than SAARC, as the partner forum of developing countries for the outreach exercise so that Pakistan is kept out. In the absence of Pakistan, Bangladesh acquires higher visibility and its profile is much enhanced by President Xi's visit which has come as a huge boost to regional ties with a far greater role for Dhaka. Apart from China's "gift" of more than US$ 40-billion in aid and loans to Bangladesh, President Xi's visit will advance the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative. Bangladesh is an enthusiastic fellow traveler in the ambitious journey for revival of the ancient Silk Route. Bangladesh is important for China to extend B&R projects in South Asia. In return, Dhaka is handsomely rewarded with the two countries signing nearly 25 deals relating to mainly infrastructure development such as electricity, railways, roads, economic zones, manufacturing centers and technology hubs. Deals on such a scale would take Sino-Bangladesh relationship to a new level. Clearly, Xi would have not travelled for anything less. His visit is the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years, although he had visited Bangladesh as Vice President in 2010. Since then, ties between the two have grown by leaps and bounds. Today, Bangladesh welcomes Chinese business and investments, and political parties across the spectrum favor close cooperation with China. Thus, when Sheikh Hasina comes to Goa, fortified by the new partnership with China, she would be setting Bangladesh on a bold, new course with a clear-cut strategy for balancing relations between neighbors (meaning, India) and global powers (read, China). And, in Goa, the global powers in BRICS would be very much preoccupied with not only the crisis in Syria and the Middle East but, among other issues, also the consequences of Brexit, the upcoming elections in the United States, India-Pakistan tensions arising from the terror attacks in Uri. BRICS is doing well. Every summit has seen consolidation of its agenda and rise in its international influence. The New Development Bank (NDB) is the jewel in its crown. The informal meeting of BRICS leaders during the G20 summit in Hangzhou in September has already set the tone and direction for the deliberations to come in Goa. Economic development and growth with equity are the main challenges facing BRICS. Current global conditions and the economic situation of BRICS members as a whole (although China and India are coasting along smoothly despite constraints) are not conducive to hastening the goals of sustainable development. The situation calls for stronger strategic partnership with more depth, firmer resolve in dealing with common concerns, better regional coordination and clarity for synchronizing positions on global and regional issues including climate change, Syria, security, terrorism, trade barriers, reform of WTO, the UN and international financial institutions. Intensified cooperation between BRICS member-nations is also important for greater cohesion. As much as there is convergence of interests and views within BRICS, there are also divergences and differences. Denying differences does little to resolve them. Rather, the differences should be reconciled candidly and divergences harmonized where these cannot be reduced. Working more on areas of agreement, as has been done in the last seven summits, is one sure way of going forward. A transcontinental group like BRICS will always have differences. What can be done is to manage these differences and subsume them under larger, common objectives. This should not only be done but also demonstrated to a world where BRICS is seeking to change the order. The author is an independent New Delhi-based journalist writing on global affairs for Indian, Chinese and international media. He worked as senior editor and writer with leading dailies in India and China, including The Times of India, The Tribune, China Daily and Global Times. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Hardline Muslim groups protest over Jakarta's ethnic Chinese governor By Kanupriya Kapoor and Fergus Jensen JAKARTA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of hardline Muslims rallied in Jakarta on Friday in protest against the city's ethnic Chinese and Christian governor, further fuelling ethnic tensions ahead his re-election bid in February. Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known by his nickname "Ahok", became Jakarta's first ethnic Chinese governor in 2014, but hardline Muslims have opposed his rise to power. Dressed in white, thousands of members of several hardline groups chanted anti-Ahok slogans surrounded by tight military and police security, but the demonstration was otherwise generally peaceful. Speaking on the sidelines of the demonstration, Forum Umat Islam Secretary General Muhammad al Khaththath didn't single out Purnama, but said leaders should be Muslim "because that is what the Koran calls for." Ahok has gained a reputation for being a tough reformer, and has recently come under attack from Muslim groups for comments about the Koran. The organiser of Friday's protest, the hardline Islamic Defenders Front, is known for violent protests and attacks against minorities around the country since its creation in 1999. It has also frequently protested over Purnama. However, FPI is small compared with Indonesia's biggest Islamic group, the moderate Nahdlatul Ulama, which has about 40 million members. Ahmad Ishomuddin, a senior official at Nahdlatul Ulama, told Reuters that his organisation did not support the protest, and that violence went against religious teachings. "This could be dangerous," Ishomuddin said, urging Muslims to remain calm and to forgive Purnama over the recent comments. "Ahok, whose tongue slipped, has apologised." Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, priding itself as a peacemaker, and the vast majority of its population practise a moderate form of the religion. Indonesia also has a large ethnic Chinese minority, many of whom are Buddhist. The country has a history of anti-Chinese violence, most sharply in the late 1990s amid the political and economic crisis that brought down authoritarian ruler Suharto. Invest in cities now or face 2.5 billion discontent urbanites by 2050, report warns By Chris Arsenault RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In fast-growing cities across the developing world more than 70 percent of residents lack access to basic services like clean water, affordable transportation or decent housing, a research group said on Friday ahead of a U.N. conference on urbanization. By 2050, 2.5 billion people, a bigger population than China and India combined, will move into the world's cities, said the World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington, D.C.-based group. Governments, especially in Africa and Asia where 90 percent of the urban growth will take place, need to better prepare for the influx, the WRI said. Despite budget constraints, officials should work to upgrade essential services in informal settlements or slums in order to save money in the long-term and improve quality of life for newly arrived city dwellers, the report said. "For many rapidly urbanizing cities, the challenge is to deliver quality core services that are affordable, reach more people and are less resource intensive than traditional solutions," said Victoria Beard, the report's lead author. The call for targeted investments to reduce inequality comes days before government leaders, city planners and U.N. officials gather in Ecuador on Oct. 17 for the Habitat III conference to make a plan for managing mass migration into urban areas. The United Nations conference on urbanization is held every 20 years with up to 35,000 delegates expected to discuss the challenges of coping with world's fast growing cities and slums. Despite the challenges, some fast-growing cities in poor countries are on the right track, the WRI report said. "Medellin (Colombia) made a commitment to redistribute revenue to make the city more equal," Beard told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "As a result they were able to reduce crime and poverty during a period of sustained growth over 20 years." Once notorious for violence as the home of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, Medellin used public money to build a cable car linking hillside slums with the city centre so residents could find work. Romania - Factors to watch on Oct. 14 Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Friday. DEBT TENDER Romania sold a planned 800 million lei ($198.86 million) worth of one-year treasury bills on Thursday with the average accepted yield at 0.60 percent, against a 0.56 percent yield at a similar tender in September, central bank data showed. So far this year, the ministry has sold roughly 38.7 billion lei and 775 million euros of domestic bonds. CEE MARKETS Central European stocks fell and government bonds firmed on Thursday after weak Chinese trade figures sapped investors' appetite for risk. For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - Oct 14 SOFIA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- Russia's nuclear company Rosatom said it expected payment on the arbitration decision over canceled Belene nuclear power project by the end of the year after a meeting of a Bulgarian-Russian working group for settling the compensation of over 620 million euros ($694.46 million). (Trud, 24 Chasa) -- Bulgaria's prosecution plans to file an indictment against the main shareholder of insolvent Corporate Commercial Bank, Tsvetan Vasilev in court at the beginning of next year, Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said. (Telegraph, Standart) STANDART - Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said the interior ministry should contract some 1,000 former police and army officers so they can be sent to protect the country's borders. -- Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said the operational licence of Babino coal pit should be revoked if the owner of the mine fails to pay salaries to miners, on strike over wage arrears. (Trud, Standart, Telegraph, Capital Daily) -- The defence ministry has changed the criteria for buying new jet fighters in a way that gives advantage for the purchase of second-hand F-16 from Portugal, rather than new Gripen jet fighters, produced by Swedish company SAAB, deputies said. (Trud, Sega) Short-dated JGBs gain after strong 5-yr auction TOKYO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Short-dated Japanese government bonds rose in price on Friday after an auction of five-year JGBs drew strong demand, although longer maturities dipped after their yields hit one-week lows the previous day. The five-year JGB yield fell 0.5 basis point to minus 0.205 percent, after the auction 2.4 trillion yen five-year JGBs by the Ministry of Finance drew strong demand from brokerage traders who have short positions. The tender drew bids of 4.31 times the amount on offer, producing the highest bid-to-cover ratio since June. The tail, or the gap between the lowest and average price, was zero. Many brokerage traders are thought to have had a big short positions in the five-year paper, market players said. "In the past, people held long positions and unwound them by selling to the BOJ, because they expected yields to fall. But these days, because bond yields are supposed to stay flat, they sell to the BOJ by going short, hoping to cover the position at auctions," said a fund manager at a Japanese asset management firm. The two-year notes yield also fell 0.5 basis point to minus 0.275 percent. Yields on longer dated maturities rose, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising 0.5 basis point to minus 0.060 percent . The 30-year yield went up 1.5 basis point to 0.495 percent. The price of 10-year JGB futures dipped 0.03 point to 151.84 , capped at 151.92 for four straight sessions. Japan withholds UNESCO funding after Nanjing Massacre row TOKYO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Japan has withheld its 2016 funding for the UN heritage body UNESCO, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday, following its decision last year to include documents about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in its "Memory of the World" programme. He did not give a reason, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday the UNESCO decision was problematic given conflicting views of Japan and China and that Tokyo might halt funding. "We gave an explanation yesterday to a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party on how payment of our contribution has yet to be made," Kishida told reporters, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party. "As for the future direction, we would like to make a decision in a comprehensive manner." Ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued with a territorial dispute over a group of tiny East China Sea islets and the legacy of Japan's wartime aggression. China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in 1937 in its then capital of Nanjing. A postwar Allied tribunal put the death toll at 142,000, but some conservative Japanese politicians and scholars deny a massacre took place at all. UNESCO established the "Memory of the World" programme in 1992 to protect important historical documents and materials. Japan last year raised questions about the authenticity of the Nanjing Massacre documents submitted by Chinese organisations for the inclusion in the programme and asked for fairness and transparency, prompting an angry retort from China. PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - OCT 14 MOSCOW, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. VEDOMOSTI www.vedomosti.ru - The government wants to sell a stake in VTB cheaper than its market price, the daily says. - The Defence Ministry has announced its readiness to present a new strategic bomber by 2018, according to Deputy Defence Minister Yury Borisov. - The government has failed to find 71 billion roubles ($1.14 billion) to raise salaries for doctors and medical personnel in 2017, according to the new budget for 2017-2019 approved by the cabinet. KOMMERSANT www.kommersant.ru - Sergei Chemezov, head of Rostec, has suggested that the state holding should monitor all state procurements through the Single Information System, set up by Rostec. - It is unlikely Russia will take part in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe after its members passed a resolution on Crimea and Donbass which Russia considers illegal, the head of Russia's upper chamber of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, has said. ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA www.rg.ru - Russia is considering setting up a company which will arrange tourist' trips to the orbiting International Space station, according to sources in the state space agency. The price of such trips could exceed $50 million, the daily says. IZVESTIA www.izvestia.ru - The government is planning to impose serious fines on state officials if they spend budget money on buying foreign software. - Russia has sent a group of its servicemen to Egypt to train soldiers of the local special forces to fight against Islamist militants. Kerry says nations working to reach deal on cutting HFC gases KIGALI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that nations were working towards reaching a global deal this weekend on cutting greenhouse gases used in refrigerators, as he prepared for a potentially decisive meeting with India's environment minister. Kerry arrived in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Thursday to help close the deal among about 150 nations to phase down factory-made hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases, also used in air conditioners. If successful, it would be the third global climate deal this month. A quick phase-down of HFCs could be a major contribution to slowing climate change, avoiding perhaps 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) of a projected rise in average temperatures by 2100, scientists say. Asked whether a deal was likely, Kerry told reporters: "We're here to work for one." "We'll see what happens," he added as he started a meeting with Zhai Qing, China's deputy minister of environmental protection. India in particular is under pressure to speed up its plans for cutting HFCs. India's government wants a peak in poor nations' rising emissions only in 2031 to give industries time to adapt. More than 100 nations including the United States, the European Union and African states favour a peak in 2021. Kerry was due to meet India's Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave later on Friday. Environmental groups have called for an ambitious agreement on cutting HFCs to limit the damage from an expected 1.6 billion new air conditioning units expected to come on stream by 2050. An HFC accord would add to the Paris Agreement on limiting global temperatures rises clinched in December, and which came into force this month, and a deal to limit emissions from aviation clinched in October. The HFC talks are part of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which succeeded in cutting the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to help protect the ozone layer, which shields the planet from ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer. U.S. officials, speaking before Kerry's visit, said they were optimistic a deal could be reached and called for an ambitious Montreal Protocol amendment. Death of Syrian refugee suspected of bomb plot complicates probe-Germany BERLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The death in a prison of a Syrian refugee suspected of planning to bomb a Berlin airport makes it more difficult for German investigators to track down the network behind his radicalization, a government spokesman said on Friday. "Something went wrong...and misjudgments were made," Steffen Seibert said during a regular government news conference, referring to Jaber Albakr, who committed suicide in a prison in the city of Leipzig. "In the Leipzig case of Albakr, the death of the suspect makes the work of the investigators more difficult as what would have been possible to find out from him is no longer possible," Seibert said. He added that the suicide must be thoroughly investigated. The results of an autopsy confirmed on Friday that the 22-year-old Syrian refugee, who had traveled to Turkey after receiving asylum in Germany, had committed suicide. German upper house backs inheritance tax reform BERLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament, on Friday approved reforms that will restrict tax breaks for people who inherit the medium-sized, often family-owned, firms that form the backbone of the country's economy. The reform, agreed by governing parties last month via committees representing both parliamentary houses, will go into effect retroactively from July 1, 2016, though a prominent opposition lawmaker said on Friday it could still be subject to a legal challenge. Around 90 percent of German companies are family-run and they employ around half of the country's working population. Under the new law, those who inherit them should in future still be able to get a 100-percent tax break, but only if they keep the firms operating for seven years and maintain employment levels. The Left party and the pro-environment Greens had opposed the reforms in the lower house, the Bundestag. Christian Goerke, finance minister of the state of Brandenburg and a member of the Left party, said he expected the inheritance tax system to be challenged in the constitutional court in response to the new law. The German Chamber of Tax Advisers has also raised questions about its constitutionality. The reforms now being enacted were launched after the court ruled in 2014 that the previous system breached the principle of equal tax treatment, and demanded tighter restrictions for firms. In 2015, revenues from inheritance tax hit a record 6.3 billion euros ($7.06 billion), up 15.4 percent from the previous year, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed. Flash China and Cambodia pledged Thursday to advance their already close and strong relationship as Chinese President Xi Jinping paid his first state visit to the Southeast Asian nation. Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) shakes hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, Oct. 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] In talks between Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the two leaders agreed that the two countries should continue to be "highly trusted friends, loyal partners and a community of shared destiny in weal and woe." They have also decided to cement the traditional friendship between the two countries and boost their comprehensive strategic cooperation. Noting that the friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese and Cambodian leaders of previous generations has grown even stronger, President Xi said that the current bilateral relationship is showing a positive momentum of development, with continuously enhanced political mutual trust, fruitful economic cooperation and closer coordination in multilateral affairs. "China has always valued the traditional friendship between the two countries, and stands ready to work with Cambodia to constantly enrich the meaning of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, thus delivering more tangible benefits to both peoples," Xi said. The president praised the political and social stability, rapid economic development and improvement of people's livelihood in Cambodia, as well as the elevation of the country's international status, saying that he believes the Cambodian government will lead its people to build a more prosperous country. "China firmly supports Cambodia in pursuing a development path that suits its national conditions, and is willing to continue to provide assistance within its own capacity for Cambodia in national construction," Xi said. For his part, Hun Sen said that the Cambodian side thanks China for its long-term assistance and always regards carrying forward the traditional friendship as an important mission. Noting that Cambodia and China are good friends who enjoy a high level of mutual trust, Hun Sen said that the two sides have always understood and supported each other on issues involving their respective development and major concerns. Cambodia is willing to join hands with China to take President Xi's visit as an opportunity to strengthen their friendship and deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, he added. During the talks, the two sides vowed to maintain high-level contacts, enhance government, parliament and political party cooperation, deepen exchanges on governance experience, and expand collaboration in diplomacy as well as law enforcement and security. The two sides agreed to align their development strategies, and draw up and implement a cooperation outline on jointly promoting the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. The two countries will take measures to expand their two-way trade, and strengthen cooperation in industrial capacity, investment, agriculture, water conservancy, infrastructure construction, energy, telecommunications, industry and marine sector. The two leaders witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation agreements covering those fields Thursday. The Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone and other projects of bilateral cooperation should be earnestly carried out, the two sides agreed. Both sides also wanted to expand exchanges and cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, cultural relics, health, tourism and youth. On international affairs, the two sides pledged to push cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and enhance communication and coordination within such multilateral frameworks as the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting, East Asia cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group, thus safeguarding the shared interests of the two countries and the developing countries at large. After the talks, Xi and Hun Sen attended an inauguration ceremony for a Chinese studies center in Phnom Penh. A joint declaration was issued. Before the talks, President Xi laid a wreath at the Independence Monument in the center of the capital city. Xi arrived here Thursday noon for a two-day state visit to the kingdom. After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where he will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Slovenia sells car parts maker Cimos to Italy's TCH Cogeme LJUBLJANA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Slovenia has sold state-owned car parts maker Cimos to TCH Cogeme, part of Italy's investment firm Palladio Holding Group, the company set up to reduce the bad debts of local banks said on Friday. The Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC), Slovenia's 'bad bank', said the sale raised 110 million euros ($125 million), most of which will be used to repay Cimos's debt. It expects the transaction to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. Slovenia narrowly avoided having to seek a bailout in 2013 after some of its banks, which expanded rapidly when the small economy qualified to join the euro zone, ran into trouble. Slovenia has been more reluctant than some of its central and east European peers to sell its major companies, including banks, insurers and energy firms, and the government still controls about 50 percent of the economy. "After the conclusion of the transaction, TCH Cogeme will immediately provide Cimos with 20 million euros of fresh capital in order to support the planned investments for the modernisation of Cimos's production," CEO of TCH Cogeme Gino Berti said in a joint statement with BAMC, Joy for relatives of Chibok girl among 21 freed by Nigeria's Boko Haram By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ABUJA, Oct 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Relatives of one of the 21 Chibok schoolgirls freed by Islamist militant group Boko Haram after two-and-a-half years in captivity in northeast Nigeria said on Friday they could not wait to be reunited. Around 220 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. Boko Haram released 21 of the girls on Thursday after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group. They were brought from the northeastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja to meet government officials. Travelling from eastern Yola to Abuja, Goni Mutah, the father of Asabe Goni, who was 21 when she was kidnapped, was overjoyed to hear of his daughter's release, and said he had immediately phoned his relatives to share the news. "Seeing her will bring happiness to us," Samuel, a cousin of Asabe, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Abuja. "And we will hear about the other girls," he said, adding that his delight at Asabe's release was tinged with sadness because his sister, Margaret, and several other relatives who had been kidnapped in Chibok, were not among the 21 freed girls. The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention, with some 200 of them still missing. Information Minister Lai Mohammed denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue. It is unclear what will now happen to the freed girls. Amina Ali, the first of the Chibok girls to be released from Boko Haram captivity in May, has since been held in a house in Abuja for what the state has called a "restoration process". She said in August that she "just wanted to go home". In recent days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram. The militant group last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State. TAPI gas pipeline consortium plans investor roadshows in November By Drazen Jorgic ISLAMABAD, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A long-delayed pipeline project from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan is in the final stages of financing, and investor roadshows are due to be held next month, a Pakistani official involved in the project said on Friday. Originating at the giant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, the $10 billion TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) pipeline, which involves the four countries' own energy companies, would carry 33 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year. But difficulties in obtaining financing for the project and concerns about security in Afghanistan, where Islamist Taliban insurgents control swathes of the territory earmarked as the pipeline route, have led to lengthy delays. Mobin Saulat, head of Pakistan's state-owned Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS), told Reuters there was "significant progress" with the TAPI project and that investor roadshows to raise funds are planned for November. "There will be roadshows soon in all the major financial hubs," he said. "The project's planned commissioning is 2020 and I think we are very much on target." Over the decades, international oil giants have expressed interest in the proposed pipeline, but the region's complex geopolitics and contract disagreements meant none ever fully committed. A total $4 billion for the pipeline has been put forward by the four TAPI countries, Saulat said. Pakistan's ISGS has a 5 percent stake in the 1,814 km (1,127 mile) pipeline project. Saulat said the Asian Development Bank had shown interest in funding some of the project and there was "huge interest shown and commitments made from some of the major suppliers who said they would be able to get supplier credit." Turkmenistan, which sits on the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, last December started building its section of the pipeline, designed to ease its dependence on Russia and China, but the three other countries have yet to begin work. Saulat said selecting project management consultants for TAPI was in the "final stages" and TurkmenGaz, Turkmenistan's national gas company, was in advanced talks with suppliers about the purchase of giant compressors, needed to funnel gas down the route. AZERBAIJAN INTEREST TAPI is one of three main pipeline projects aimed at securing long-term energy supplies to Pakistan, where chronic energy shortages are proving a major drag on growth. The other two planned projects include a $2 billion Russian-funded North-South liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline from the coast city of Karachi to Pakistan's industrial heartlands in Punjab, and a Chinese-funded LNG pipeline starting from a proposed LNG terminal at the port city of Gwadar in Baluchistan. Saulat said Pakistan expected to finalise contracts for the (LNG) terminal at Gwadar port in November and the final deal for the Gwadar-Nawabshah pipeline should be finished this month. "We have had a number of sessions with the Chinese team, so we see an immediate kick-off after we sign the contracts." China has agreed to fund 85 percent of the port and pipeline project and Pakistan will pay the rest, Saulat said. Officials expect the terminal and pipeline to be complete in mid-2018, and local media put the cost of the deals at about $2 billion. Saulat, who is also managing director of newly-formed Pakistan LNG, said Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR had approached the country to supply it with LNG gas. Saulat said the approach was linked to Pakistan's plans to issue two international LNG tenders for 750,000 tonnes per year, most likely due before the end of 2016. Central America migrants sent back to their death in invisible crisis - Amnesty By Anastasia Moloney BOGOTA, Oct 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Gang violence has become so deadly in parts of Central America that many people are living in what is a war zone, Amnesty International said on Friday, adding that some migrants who have fled danger are killed within weeks of being deported home. Every year violence at the hands of gang members drives tens of thousands of people, including children, to flee their homes in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala - countries with the world's highest murder rates, the rights group said. Most migrants travel through Mexico to reach the United States in the hope of refuge and a better life, in what Amnesty and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR have described as a largely invisible "refugee crisis". "People are living in conflict conditions. The violence is becoming unbearable," said Salil Shetty, head of Amnesty. "People are leaving because there is an option of being killed," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview from Honduras. Such violence has made El Salvador and Honduras among the world's deadliest countries outside a war zone, the UNHCR says. Powerful gangs - the Barrio 18 and their bitter rivals the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) - have carved up city neighbourhoods in these Central American countries in their fight for territorial control, drug trafficking routes and extortion rackets. To maintain control, gang members use extortion at gunpoint, rape against women and girls, murder, and forced recruitment of children, Amnesty said in a report. RISE IN ASYLUM SEEKERS The number of refugees and asylum seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras exceeded 108,000 in 2015 - a more than five-fold increase in three years, UNHCR figures show. Authorities in Mexico have stepped up security and police patrols along the country's porous border since 2014, with increasing numbers of migrants being deported back to Central America, Amnesty said. The number of people deported from Mexico to El Salvador rose by 231 percent between 2010 and 2015, according to Mexican government figures quoted by Amnesty. "People are thrown back into the same violence," Shetty said. For some, this can mean death. Saul, a bus driver, who spoke to Amnesty following his deportation to Honduras, was killed soon after his return. The 35-year-old father of five, one of dozens of migrants interviewed by Amnesty, said he had fled Honduras last year after surviving a shooting along with his two sons. "He told us: 'you may not be able to speak to me again'," Shetty said. Saul was deported from Mexico in July after his asylum application was rejected by the Mexican authorities. He was shot dead just weeks later. "His family is literally in hiding," Shetty added. So far this year, Mexican authorities have deported more than 57,000 people, mostly Central Americans, the UNHCR says. "The key element to respond to this volatile situation is the improvement of security, humanitarian assistance and the economy, the lack of which will continue to cause people to flee," said UNHCR spokeswoman Francesca Fontanini. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE Humberto Roque, the Mexican government's under-secretary for migration, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation earlier this year that Mexico had "no problem" granting refugee status to vulnerable people. Authorities in El Salvador say gang violence is just one reason why people are leaving - others are seeking jobs or wanting to join relatives already living in the United States. Authorities in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have increased the number of centres receiving deported migrants when they first arrive, providing most with a snack, hygiene kit, water, a free phone-call and sometimes bus fare to return home. "Despite this improvement, our research found that states' efforts to protect their returned citizens appeared to end the moment they walked out the doors of the reception centres," Amnesty's report said. U.N. refugee agency says it welcomes demolition of Calais 'Jungle' By Lin Taylor LONDON, Oct 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday it welcomed plans to demolish a migrant camp in Calais in northern France, but raised fears lone children were at risk of trafficking if not adequately supported during the transition. The ramshackle camp has become a symbol of Europe's struggle to respond to an influx of migrants fleeing war and poverty and is home to more than 6,000 people dreaming of coming to Britain, just 21 miles (33 km) across the English Channel. President Francois Hollande said last month that France would completely shut down "the Jungle" by the end of the year. The plan is to relocate migrants in small groups around the country, largely removing the option of forging a new life in Britain. "This is welcome ... the Jungle site has been problematic for a number of years, and UNHCR has long recommended it be closed," the agency's spokesman Adrian Edwards said at a news briefing in Geneva. "Living conditions are appalling, with the most basic shelter, inadequate hygiene facilities, very poor security and a lack of basic services." He said asylum seekers and migrants should be informed of when the dismantling would begin, and said the French government must organise appropriate accommodation for those leaving the camp. Edwards said it was also crucial to ensure lone children in Calais were supervised during the demolition, as they are vulnerable to being trafficked, abused or exploited. "This is important so that children don't move on to other destinations and risk becoming exploited by human traffickers or end up living on the streets without any support," he said in a statement, urging British authorities to reunite eligible children with their relatives in the UK. An estimated 1,200 unaccompanied children are currently living in the Jungle, of which around 180 have been identified as having family ties to Britain. Britain's anti-slavery commissioner Kevin Hyland has warned that children were turning to smuggling gangs rather than official routes to claim asylum or to join relatives in Britain as he called for ministers to do more to help lone youngsters. Belgium's tiny Germanic region stalls over Canada trade deal By Robert-Jan Bartunek BRUSSELS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Following a revolt by Belgium's French-speakers against an EU-Canada trade deal on Friday, the country's tiny German-speaking community withheld its approval of the CETA treaty, which is now hostage to Belgian disputes. A spokesman for the prime minister of the German-speaking Community, a cluster of towns on the eastern border with a population of just 76,000, told Reuters that the local government had no plan to send its approval to Brussels now that Wallonia had rejected CETA. "We have stopped reviewing the documents as they're now moot," the spokesman for Prime Minister Oliver Paasch said from the regional capital Eupen. "Since the Walloon parliament voted against, Belgium cannot give its approval." Belgian federal Prime Minister Charles Michel, who backs the Canadian deal that has been approved by all other 27 EU national governments and by Ottawa, is now racing to unblock the domestic crisis before EU trade ministers meet on Tuesday to give a green light to putting CETA into an initial implementation phase. Leaders of the German-speaking Community, largely made up of territory annexed as reparations from Germany after World War One, have been critical of the Canadian deal. Week of violence in South Sudan kills 60, government says By Denis Dumo JUBA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Fighting in South Sudan killed at least 60 people this week, the military said on Friday, stoking fears the region could plunge back into full-scale war. Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang accused the rebels of "burning civilians, maiming women and child abductions and setting ablaze properties". Armed men loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar killed 11 government soldiers and 28 civilians from Saturday to Thursday, Koang said in a press statement. Twenty-one rebels were also killed, he said. A spokesman for the rebels denied the accusations. "Those who are committing atrocities and raping are deserted SPLA (government) soldiers who have not been paid for several months and their families are starving. Our forces are aiming to target only those in uniforms," the deputy spokesman for the opposition forces, Dickson Gatluak, told Reuters by phone from Ethiopia. South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, sank into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, sacked Machar, a Nuer, from his position as vice president. Subsequent fighting often followed ethnic lines and human rights groups say both sides targeted civilians. A peace pact in 2015 ostensibly ended the fighting but has frequently been violated. Major clashes broke out again in July. Machar fled the country and is seeking medical treatment in South Africa. He has been replaced as vice president by General Taban Deng Gai. The government wants the international community to designate the rebels as terrorists and take punitive measures against them. Koang said that could include "travel bans, asset freeze and extradition to ICC of key players including ... Riek Machar." The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) tries suspects accused of war crimes and genocide. The new European Union (EU) Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Tung-Lai Margue today said the European countries are amazed at the rapid progress made by Sri Lanka under the new government during a very short period. He assured President Maithripala Sirisena that EU would extend fullest support to the government plans for reconciliation, economic development and social progress. The new ambassador presented his credentials to President Sirisena at the Presidents Residence today. President Sirisena, referring to close bilateral relations with Sri Lanka and the EU member countries expressed confidence that the new envoy would strive to further strengthen bilateral friendship and cooperation in many areas including strengthening of democracy, reconciliation, trade and investment. The President also recalled the close economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and European Union and thanked EU for lifting the fish import ban. Now we are in a position to send more fish to Europe, he said. President Sirisena also expressed hope that the EU would restore the GSP Plus concession to Sri Lanka so that it could increase exports of goods, especially the garments. Ambassador Margue said he visited the Export Fair held in Colombo yesterday and said he was highly impressed with the range of products Sri Lanka offer for the export market. He said that he fell in love with Sri Lanka when he spent a holiday with his wife two years ago and he was very happy to come back as EU Ambassador to strengthen relations between the European Union and this beautiful country. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Secretary to the President P. B. Abeykoon and Foreign Secretary Esala Weerakoon were also present. Thursday October 13 was World Sight Day. It is the fourth year of the World Health Organisation (WHO)s global action plan and the WHO affiliated International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) encourages its members and partners to continue with the rolling theme Universal Eye Health: A global action plan 2014 2019. This year, the Call to Action for World Sight Day is Stronger Together. Vision 2020, a movement which works under Sri Lankas Health Ministry and does cataract operations free of charge for the needy people says that worldwide about 314 million people live with serious vision impairment. Of these, 37 million people are blind and 124 million have low vision. Also included, 153 million people are vision impaired due to uncorrected refractive errors (near-sightedness, far-sightedness or astigmatism). In most cases, normal vision could be restored with eyeglasses or contact lenses. Yet, 75% of blindness is avoidable, treatable and/or preventable, Vision 2020 says quoting the WHO. Some 90% of the blind people live in low-income countries. Restorations of sight, and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care. Infectious causes of blindness are decreasing as a result of public health interventions and socio-economic development. Ageing populations and lifestyle changes mean that chronic blinding conditions such as diabetic retinopathy are now rising. Women face a greater risk of vision loss than men. Without effective, major intervention, the number of blind people worldwide has been projected to increase to 76 million by 2020. Vision 2020, which is essentially the vision of the enlightened eye surgeon Dr. Asela Abeydeera, that in Sri Lanka, around 200,000 people are believed to be blind. Another 400,000 are having low vision. A majority of them have gone blind because of cataract. Refractive errors, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and blindness in children are the other causes of vision impairment. Vision 2020 says Sri Lankas population is rapidly ageing, therefore age related eye diseases like cataract, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy are on the rise. Dr. Asela Abeydeera says the rising incidence of cataract blindness in Sri Lanka, is because many patients dont undergo surgery due to the prohibitive costs of the artificial intra ocular lenses implanted in the eye following surgery. He says that out of 200,000 blind people, more than 70% are blind due to cataract and the numbers are expected to soar due to our rapidly ageing population. Cataract blindness is reversible. Surgery to remove the cataract is quick, simple and painless and is performed free in all government hospitals across the country. But the lenses have to be purchased from outside. Their prices vary from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000. Those unable to afford the cost, will eventually become blind and become a burden to society. Dr. Abeydeera says Vision 2020 has the mechanism to give patients these lenses for just Rs. 3,500. At present Vision 2020 distributes 10,000 lenses free to remote areas. It has appealed to the people to support this worthy cause. Cash donations could be sent to the Vision 2020 Secretariat, the Health Ministry, Deans Road, Maradana, and will be acknowledged. Dr. Abeydeera points out that although 80,000 cataract surgeries were performed in all leading government units every year, the number fell far short of the actual need. Every year an additional 20,000 new cases are added to the vast backlog of unoperated cases. Vision 2020 can reduce this backlog by increasing the number of surgeries-provided it has more trained staff, operating theatres, equipment and theatres. To mark World Sight Day, the Health Ministry says it is planning to launch many programmes to overcome eye diseases under the Vision 2020. It is intended to improve Eye Units, create Mobile Eye Units, provide contact lenses free of charge and conduct surgery clinics in remote areas. Health Services Director General Palitha Mahipala told a news conference that lenses would be provided free of charge within the next two months and not a single needy patient would need to buy lenses. The Movement for a Just Society and the Purawasi Balaya Movement that toiled for the victory of President Maithripala Sirisena today condemned and expressed their displeasure over the recent statement of the President regarding the CID, FCID and the Bribery Commission. Calling a media conference at 11.00 am in Colombo, the civil society movements had boycotted a meeting scheduled to be held with the President at 12 noon today at Presidential Secretariat regarding the much contentious statement which created a storm in Sri Lanka politics. Purawasi Balaya Movement Co-Convener Saman Rathnapriya said there was no need to inform the President or the Prime Minister on the developments of ongoing investigations and prosecution in advance. If so, it would obviously tantamount to an unnecessary political inference, he said. While questioning the difference between questioning the general public and those involved in the Defence Sector, Mr. Rathnapriya said the law should be applied equally to everyone with no double standards. The three former commanders of the Navy and Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa were summoned to the Court since they were suspects in the Avant Garde case filed by the Bribery Commission. What is the big deal about it? It is regrettable how the President is eyeing to meddle in affairs of the Independent Commissions such as Bribery Commission. Can they be called independent anymore? , Rathnapriya asked. (Piyumi Fonseka) Video by Danushka Flash The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday appointed Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as next UN secretary-general to succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon whose term expires at the end of this year. Antonio Guterres addresses the United Nations General Assembly after he was appointed as the new UN Secretary-General at the UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution on his appointment by acclamation after Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Security Council president for October, reported to the Assembly on the council's unanimous recommendation of Guterres. The five-year term for the secretary-general designate will start on Jan. 1, 2017 and end on Dec. 31, 2021, according to the resolution. 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. On his appointment, Guterres said he felt gratitude and humility as well as a profound sense of responsibility, while adding that "he is fully aware of the challenges the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the secretary-general." "The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach - one in which the Secretary-General alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views," said Guterres. "One in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved," he added. Guterres expressed his gratefulness to the General Assembly and the Security Council for entrusting him with the position "in a remarkable demonstration of consensus and unity" and for the transparency and openness of the selection process. The incumbent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said to the Assembly that Guterres not only brings "deep and solid political experience" and has acted as a lifeline for millions upon millions of people forced from homes over the past decade. "He is a wonderful choice to steer this Organization as we build on the progress of the past decade while addressing the insecurity and uncertainties of today's world," said Ban. Representatives from five regional groups as well as the host country of the UN congratulated Guterres on his appointment and have pledged support for him to guide the UN in face of challenges ahead. On last Thursday, the UN Security Council formally and unanimously recommended Guterres to head the world's largest international organization. The UN Charter says "the secretary-general shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Security Council." In practice, the Security Council will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval. Traditionally, for a UN secretary-general, each term is five years with a maximum of two terms. This year, for the first time in history of the United Nations, UN chief candidates were asked to submit resumes and answer questions from UN member states as well as the civil society during the selection process. President of the General Assembly Peter Thomson said at the appointment that guided by principles of transparency and inclusivity, the process that has been undertaken to arrive at today's decision has been a "historic" one. "I am confident that Mr. Guterres will serve the global community with dedication, as a moral authority, and be the voice of our collective conscience and humanity, throughout his term," he said. According to Thomson, the ceremony at which Guterres takes the oath of office will be held later this year. Shaminda Yaddehige, Director / Group Chief Executive Officer, Natural Foams (Pvt) Ltd. and Januka Jayanga Karunasena, Chief Executive Officer, Natural Foams (Pvt) Ltd with the Most Outstanding Exporter award received from Public Enterprise Development Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne Janashakthi Insurance PLC partnered with the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) for the recently concluded NCE Awards at the Hilton Colombo. This is the 24th consecutive year the awards have been held. The event, which has grown in prominence and stature over the years, is now Sri Lankas premier awarding platform to recognise exporters and their outstanding contribution to the industry. As a leading Insurer within the export sector, Janashakthi was once again proud to partner the National Chamber of Exporters for the NCE Awards. The NCE Awards are perceived as an icon of excellence within the industry, and is indicative of the heights that our local exporters continue to rise to compete in the global marketplace. As an industry that has unlimited potential to boost the countrys economy, it is imperative that we continue to support and propel the export community to achieve the ultimate potential in their journey, said Jude Fernando, Chief Executive Officer of Janashakthi General Insurance Limited. With an extensive knowledge and understanding of local and international maritime laws and customs, Janashakthi is fully geared to provide the assurance and protection that the exporters of our nation require to progress onto becoming internationally acclaimed icons. Hence, we take this opportunity to pledge our commitment towards the development of the export industry by way of providing guaranteed protection for their business and associated assets, said Dayalanie Abeygunawardena, Chief Operating Officer of Janashakthi General Insurance Limited. The National Chamber of Exporters Sri Lanka, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, established the awards to help exporters achieve greater visibility in overseas markets and attract new customers and investors. We were happy to welcome the support of one of Sri Lankas leading Insurers, Janashakthi Insurance, for the 24th NCE Awards. As the Voice of Exporters representing the trade, we endeavour to contribute towards accelerating the growth of Sri Lankas export industry and assist the Government to uplift industry standards, thus, increasing the positive impact of exports towards the development of the countrys economy. It is therefore a privilege to have an organisation with strong local roots such as Janashakthi share a mutual vision and contribute towards the same year on year, said Sarada De Silva, Chairman of the National Chamber of Exporters Sri Lanka. Mother Sri Lanka is a movement that has always worked on guiding the future generation of Sri Lankans to become better individuals who can contribute to the development of this country. Todays students who are just entering into O/L and A/L streams and their parents are finding it extremely difficult to decide on the correct higher education path due to lack of information in terms of new trends as well as an overload of information in some cases. The days where doing arts, science or commerce and aiming to enter the state university system alone are gone. The options available today, in terms of higher education paths and institutes both in state and non-state sectors are vast. With the objective of helping the parents and the students faced with this most crucial career decision of their life, Mother Sri Lanka (MSL) organised a discussion forum to discuss and answer the pertinent questions with respect to higher education options. This forum titled How to select a university for my child? is the first of a series of talks that MSL hoel under the theme Mother Sri Lanka Future Forum. The Future Forum is based on educating the public on topics that affect their personal lives and will be continued in the future with similar equally important topics. The first forum on higher education was held with a very distinguished panel of experts from both state and non-state sectors, namely UGC Vice Chairman Prof. P.S.M. Gunartane, University of Moratuwa Vice Chancellor Prof. Ananda Jayawardena, SLIIT Chairman Prof. Lakshman Ratnayake, Horizon Group Chairman Upul Daranagama, APPIT CEO Dr. Athula Pitigala Arachchi and Aspirations Education Chairman Ajith Abeysekera. The discussion was moderated by Mother Sri Lanka Founder/Chairperson Dr. Janaki Kuruppu. The event was successfully held at the BMICH recently with the participation of over 150 students and parents partnered by Horizon Group, Sampath Bank, APIIT, SLIIT and Litro as sponsors. The panellists were first asked about the different types of degree programmes that are available such as thee-year vs. Four-year programmes, programmes to be completed 100 percent in Sri Lanka, vs. programmes to be done part in Sri Lanka and part overseas and programmes to be completed 100 percent overseas. It was advised that the decision as to whether your child should have an overseas education component will completely depend on the financial status of the parents and the maturity of the child. Further, whether attending classes are done here or overseas the quality and standards of the programmes are the same. However, the quality and the maturity of the graduate will be different since the overseas experience makes them more confident graduates. With respect to entering state universities (SUs), it was told that there are almost 75-100 programmes being offered and that a candidate should put all programmes willing to consider in the application, since if you request only three or four programmes and you dont get enough marks for all four, then you cant later ask for the next available programme. With respect to the cost of different programmes, it was revealed that on average, the four-year degree programme in a non-state university (NSU) in Sri Lanka will cost from Rs.150,000-450,000 per annum. The engineering or medicine programmes will cost much higher around Rs.500,000 per annum and a 100 [percent overseas programme will cost at least four times more. It was also mentioned that the UGC is trying to propose to the banks to offer special loan schemes given in the name of the child with the parents as guarantors. This is like in almost all other countries and gives an opportunity for the child to take responsibility and they can start paying once they start working. A significant portion of the discussion focused on how to compare one institution with another and about accreditation systems and the governments role for the standards maintained at the private institutes. The participants were informed that currently there is no accreditation system done by the UGC for local NSUs but a system is being formulated and it will be available to the public soon. The list published by the UGC has recognized some private institutions offering local degrees but that has only 16 up to now. For foreign universities, since the UGC cannot rate any of them, the best method is to check the Commonwealth universities list and many such listings (Times List, etc.,) and many websites that are readily available to see if the university is recognized. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met last night for a special discussion at the official residence of the former, informed sources disclosed. According to the sources, Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake had accompanied the Prime Minister. The discussion comes in the wake of the President's criticism of the CID, FCID and Bribery Commission -- and speculation about differences of opinion between the two leaders. (Yohan Perera) With reference to two articles written by our columnist DBS Jeyaraj, dated August 13 and 20, EPDP General Secretary and Jaffna District MP Douglas Devananda has written a Right of Reply (RoR). We here publish the RoR together with writer D. B. S. Jeyarajs response to it. Mr. Douglas Devanandas Reply In the last two successive weekends, your newspaper carried articles by journalist DBS Jeyaraj who writes from Toronto, namely, White vanning culture and the lucrative business of abducting Tamils [August 13-DM] and When a catholic priest went missing in Jaffna ten years ago [August 20-DM]. Both articles contain unsubstantiated allegations and factually incorrect positions which I shall elaborate herein below. I have consistently voiced my concern in Parliament and other fora that we have to investigate all human rights violations that have occurred since 1983 or even before that period if possible. In his article on August 13, White vanning culture and the lucrative business of abducting Tamils, his paragraph on Enforced Disappearances, he says the LTTE operatives were abducted and killed by the EPDP, allegedly, which is the party I represent. He also alleges that EPDP cadres or members of the Karuna group abducted Muslim businessmen for ransom and were supervised by Sinhala handlers. The words Sinhala handlers are his allusion to the security intelligence services. I wish to categorically state that I nor the members of the EPDP ever abducted businessmen or any person for ransom or any other reason, and would like Mr. DBS Jeyaraj (if he is so sure and confident of his facts) to provide such information or proof such as affidavits or other relevant statements of any criminal activity if I have done so, because the current political climate is very conducive and suitable for such submission of information to any relevant commission of enquiry. Mr.DBS Jeyaraj then goes onto say that most wealthy persons so abducted after paying ransom left our shores and are now resident in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Western countries. Therefore, he now has the easy task of collecting concrete evidence in the form of affidavits or other documents admissible in a Court of Law of Sri Lanka to prove his so-called facts. When writing about these incidents, he uses innuendo, unsubstantiated allegation, and downright prevarication. When he does not know the truth, he says the abduction was done by the EPDP or Navy; he makes a serious unsubstantiated allegation. In his article on August 20, he says they were apprehended (Fr. Jim Brown and his pillion driver) by the Navy or by the EPDP lackeys at Allaipiddi. This statement reveals the fact of his confession, that he does not know who apprehended Fr. Jim Brown and his pillion rider, by giving two categories of persons essentially Navy or EPDP lackeys, meaning the persons who do the dirty work of the Navy. By definition the word lackey is Servile foot men which is a derogatory term which was used by the LTTE in the past to describe the EPDP. This adjective exposes his subjectivity and attitude towards the EPDP. I quote his article on August 20 [Daily Mirror D.B.S. Jeyaraj column] When a catholic priest went missing in Jaffna ten years ago ] St Phillip Neris Church. The Tigers told the huddled civilians at St Phillip Neris Church not to worry because the LTTE was going to liberate the area .The Tigers told them that it was only the advance column and that thousands of LTTE fighters would land in boats very soon. By saying this, he establishes that the Tigers are supportive of the huddled masses and will do nothing to harm them. This, in his logic, insinuates that can leave only the EPDP and the Navy as the only group capable of harming Tamil civilians in the church. Father Jim Brown was also reported to be sleeping in the church vestry. Soon after Fr. Jim Brown and his pillion driver were reported missing after crossing the Navy check point. In this same article he says On 13th May four men went on a shooting spree in Allaipiddyand also states The Navy and EPDP were implicated in this. I was surprised to see this statement because I was not aware that DBS Jeyaraj had implicated EPDP in a shooting spree in May 2006 till I read his article. I would like to clearly obtain some facts about this allegation because it will have serious implications on my political party and my political reputation. DBS Jeyaraj by not clearly stating by whom (and the credibility of the unverified source used) and why, (motive to tarnish the EPDP) by trying to implicate the EPDP, manifestly shows that this is merely a puerile attempt at character assassination of and mudslinging at the EPDP. These unsubstantiated allegations are not the first but the culmination of a series of allegations that he had made against me and the EPDP. Yours Sincerely, Douglas Devananda MP Jaffna District General Secretary EPDP D.B.S. Jeyarajs Response 1. The linkages between the Sri Lankan defence establishment and the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) described as a paramilitary group have been well-documented at a high international level. The following is an excerpt from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Investigation report on Sri Lanka (OISL) presented at the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in September 2015 - Paramilitary Groups A). The groups listed below are the main Tamil paramilitary groups and parties which were allegedly involved in security operations with the Sri Lanka security forces, as well as independently carrying out their own activities during the period under review. The term paramilitary groups is also sometimes used to refer to the aforementioned Home Guard system which was operating under the Civil Service Department. However, the Home Guards links to the security forces are official, unlike the groups mentioned below, whose links with government forces were denied. B). Over time, the involvement of paramilitary groups with government security forces became increasingly clear, as has been documented by the SLMM, various Special Rapporteurs and others. In his follow-up report on May 14, 2008, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions wrote; There are also strong indications that these factions no longer constitute truly-independent armed groups, but instead receive direction and assistance from the security forces. [1] These links between the Government (primarily the Secretary of Defence), security forces (in particular the SLA and the Police STF) and with the paramilitary groups were also highlighted by witnesses interviewed by OISL and other sources. A number of witnesses point to close links between Military Intelligence and both the Karuna Group and EPDP. 2. On October 1, 2015, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution with the stated objective of promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe committed itself to the implementation of the resolution by co-sponsoring it. 3. The Sri Lankan Govt. passed a bill in August 2016 to set up an Office of Missing Persons (OMP) as a preliminary step in fulfilling its commitment in implementing the UN resolution. The envisaged OMP will take up the related issues of enforced disappearances and missing persons in Sri Lanka. 4. The period of investigation by the OMP will be from February 2002 to May 2009 as in the terms of reference followed by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). 5. The column written by me on August 13, 2016, was about enforced disappearances, missing persons and abductions for ransom of Tamil people during the 2006 -2009 period. 6. The column written by me on August 20, 2016, was about a Tamil Catholic priest who had gone missing from Aug 20, 2006. 7. The matters and course of events related in both articles fall under the purview of the proposed Office of Missing Persons (OMP) as they occurred in the period 2006 to 2009. 8. There are sufficient reasons to believe that affected families of the disappeared and missing persons have supplied information to relevant authorities and agencies and/or are prepared to provide further information into the matters stated in my articles. 9. It is to be hoped therefore that the whole truth about the incidents referred to in my articles would be revealed in due course and alleged perpetrators identified. D. B. S. Jeyaraj REUTERS: The Sri Lankan rupee traded steady yesterday for a second straight session as dollar demand from importers offset exporter sales of the U.S. currency in the absence of Central Bank intervention, dealers said. The spot rupee was steady at 146.90/95 per dollar at 0546 GMT. Rupee forwards were not as active as they were earlier this week. The spot rupee is usually managed by the Central Bank, and market participants use the forward market levels for guidance on the currency. The market was expecting a rupee appreciation in the past two days due to exporter dollar sales. But importer dollar demand was equally strong and we did not see any central bank directions, a currency dealer said, asking not to be named. However, dealers expect continued downward pressure on the currency due to a pickup in seasonal imports through mid-December. The rupee posted a 0.4 percent drop last week, following a 0.65 percent loss in the preceding week, Thomson Reuters data showed. The Central Bank has been buying dollars from the market to accumulate reserves to meet targets set by the International Monetary Fund under a US$1.5-billion loan deal, dealers said. Officials at the Central Bank were not available for comment. Sri Lankan shares were up, with the benchmark Colombo stock index 0.08 percent higher at 6,492.47 as of 0550 GMT. It fell below a key psychological barrier of 6,500 on Thursday. Turnover stood at Rs.51.1 million ($349,115). Shiv Sena in Mumbai has extended its support to a new Sri Lankan Tamil outfit called Siva Senai, triggering concerns among the mainstream politicians of Sri Lanka that sectarian outfits will reopen wounds of a 20-year-old civil war that ended only in 2009. The Siva Senai, based out of Vavuniya in the Tamil-dominated northern Lanka, is led by Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan. The party takes its name from Lord Shiva and plans to fight coercive conversion from Hinduism to Buddhism, the dominant Sinhalese religion. Shiva Sena leader Sanjay Raut told News18 that his party extends support to the new Lankan outfit. Our party is a Hindu party. We support the cause of Hindus all over the World. We support Siva Senai, he said. Sinhalese leaders fear the militant nature of the new Siva Senai could break the status-quo prevailing in Northern Lanka while Tamil leaders are wary that outfits like Senai would split Tamil unity. The three main players in the Sri Lankan politics ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party of President Maithripala Sirisena, the United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe and the Opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have expressed serious concerns over the birth of Senai and the support it is getting from Hindu right-wing parties and organisations in India. The new outfit which is also Sri Lankas first Hindu right-wing organisation accuses the Lankan government of supporting a Sinhala Buddhist Colonisation to undermine the importance of Hindus. It also accuses the Muslims and Christians of getting huge foreign funding to spread their religion. Sri Lanka was among the 26 counties which abstained from voting on a resolution by the UNESCO which denounced Israeli violations in and around the al-Haram al-Sharif (also known as the Temple Mount) compound in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds. Twenty-four countries, including Algeria, Brazil, China, Iran, Russia and South Africa, voted in favor of the UNESCO resolution on Thursday, while the six countries of the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia opposed it. A total of 26 countries, including Albania, Argentina, France, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Sweden abstained from the vote. Serbia and Turkmenistan were absent. The resolution strongly condemned "the escalating Israeli aggression and illegal measures and called on "Israel, the occupying power, to respect the historic status quo and to immediately stop these measures. It also criticized the continuous storming of Haram al-Sharif by the Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. The UNESCO resolution, which was submitted by the Palestinians supported by Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, raised Israeli officials' ire. The theater of the absurd continues with UNESCO and today the organization has made its most bizarre decision by saying the people of Israel have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented. The occupied territories have already been the scene of increased tensions ever since Israeli forces imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015. Nearly 250 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October. (Press TV) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjarto visited Sri Lanka to participate in the World Export Development Forum 2016 in Colombo. He met Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama and held discussions on bilateral trade and investment opportunities between Hungary and Sri Lanka. Flash The Russian national who was arrested by Swiss authorities at Geneva Airport after claiming a bomb was on board a Russian passenger plane has admitted that "the threat was fake and meant as a joke." The Aeroflot plane was evacuated and searched Thursday afternoon after a man presented himself at an airline counter claiming that a bomb was onboard the Moscow-bound plane, local media Swissinfo reported. Flight 2831 was preparing to take off from Geneva Airport but was subsequently grounded shortly before 1:00 p.m. in light of the threat. The Russian airline company Aeroflot later said in a statement that passengers would be transferred to another aircraft for the journey. A Geneva prosecutor's spokesman indicated that there were 115 people on board and that a criminal investigation has been opened. The plane was due to leave Geneva for Moscow at 12:35 local time. Geneva Airport has since confirmed in a statement that traffic is back to normal. As world leaders descend in Goa from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa for the 8th BRICS Summit, India is banking on trade ties to isolate Pakistan in the region. In a twin strategy, India will be flexing its trade muscles with China and Russia. From blocking Indias NSG bid, to water wars in the Brahmaputra river and a veto against Indias bid to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist at UN, Beijing has been in a constant faceoff with New Delhi. But India is banking on the strength of its markets where Chinese imports stands at $61.7 billion to ensure that Beijing falls in line. For China too, which is facing a slowdown, it is imperative to find a trade partner in India. Interestingly, China has raised a demand for a free trade area among BRICS nations to remove tariff barriers. Here, India holds the key to push its own terms with Beijing. On the other side, Russia conducted a joint military exercise with Pakistan, signalling a change in equation. President Vladmir Putin underlined how Indian businesses have invested about $8 billion in Russia. The controversy over anti-national slogans and the arrest of former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar has hardly settled down, when yet another storm has brought Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the limelight again. While across the country effigies of Ravana were burnt, some JNU students chose to celebrate the occasion in a different way on campus. The National Students Union of India (NSUI), Congress-affiliated students' body, burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Besides the faces of Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Nathuram Godse, the effigies had faces of yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Asaram Bapu and JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar. The burning took place at the famous Saraswati Dhaba on the campus. Sunny Diman, who was NSUIs presidential candidate in the recently-concluded students union election, defended the act by saying: The effigy-burning was to symbolise our dissatisfaction with the current government. The idea is to root out the evil from governance and bring about a system that is pro-student and pro-people. BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) called it an anti-national move, claiming it was planned after the surgical strikes by India against Pakistan. The university said it was "investigating the matter". The JNU administration had last week ordered an inquiry into the effigy-burning of leaders in the Gujarat government and "gau-rakshaks" (cow vigilantes), and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned. So, a similar notice may be in store for the NSUI students. So, is burning of effigies illegal? Have NSUI students defied the law by burning effigies of the PM and others? Dhiman calls it part and parcel of JNU. He says: "Earlier, we had burnt an effigy of Modi on the campus premises and nothing happened. Effigy burnings are routine in JNU... no permission is needed for them." The BJP is furious and is aiming its attack at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Reacting to the incident, BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said: "This incident, coupled with 'Bharat ki barbadi' slogan raised at JNU and the support extended by Rahul Gandhi, only shows the Congress's crass culture. The Congress, in its criticism of BJP and PM Modi, has resorted to anti-national acts on matters concerning national security and terrorism." While the BJP is firing from all cylinders, Congress leaders are being cautious. Burning effigies is a normal way of protest in India, but depicting the PM as Ravana could be crossing the line. Almost 1,200km away from JNU, a hoarding in Ranchi's Doranda shows Durga slaying three leaders and has a caption which reads - Mother slaying Kalyugi Mahishasur. It depicts Rahul Gandhi, former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal as the demon king Mahishasur. Neither the hoarding has any name nor has anyone claimed responsibility for it. But it has created a political storm in the state. State Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat thinks the miscreants, who put up the hoarding, may have the governments support. Congress leaders have condemned the act and say that dragging religion into politics shows the level to which some fringe outfits have stooped. They also want the state government to take strict action against those who installed the hoarding. So, the point is, if the depiction of Rahul as Mahishasur is not acceptable to the Congress in Jharkhand, how can it justify burning of effigies of PM Modi as Ravana? And similarly, if BJP-ruled Jharkhand doesn't take action against those who put up the hoarding in Ranchi, how can BJP demand action against NSUI leaders in JNU? Sweden is a peaceful democratic state that has long been a safe haven for those fleeing conflict. Yet many young people whose families took refuge there are now turning their back on the country. More than 300 people have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq, making Sweden per capita one of the biggest exporters of jihadists in Europe. I travelled to Gothenburg, Sweden's second city, for my BBC World News programme, Our World. There I met 23-year-old Sara in the basement of a building. She seemed like any other young Western woman, wearing tight clothing and make-up and displaying a number of tattoos on her arms and neck. But she has recently returned from Raqqa in Syria, where her husband died fighting for the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). She recalls some of the horrors she had witnessed. The sound of Yazidi women being raped in the room next to hers; offenders being lashed and executed; the constant bombardment and airstrikes - all part of the daily life of a jihadi bride. To begin with, it had seemed more appealing - she had been glad to be there. But after her husband died she began to notice things that were alien to the religion she had been brought up in. "When they burned the Jordanian pilot I asked them why they burn up a human being. Is that right in Islam? What I know is that you are not allowed to burn anyone." With the help of another ISIS fighter, she managed to get smuggled out of Syria, across the border to Turkey before flying back to Sweden. She shows me pictures of her Kalashnikov and her injured daughter, her face covered with shrapnel wounds. Why did she decide to join ISIS, I ask? "When you go this way you don't think about the worldly life. Like I can have a good bed. You don't care about these things. You just think about the fastest way I can die and go to heaven." After the interview I drop her off on the outskirts of the city. Driving away, I notice her playing with a stray cat - looking just like any other shy young girl. Gothenburg is where much of the recruitment for jihad is taking place. With a population of just over half a million, this port city and former industrial powerhouse has seen at least 100 men and women leave to join militants fighting for the proclaimed caliphate. It's one of Sweden's most diverse cities. A third of the population are from immigrant backgrounds, many of them Muslim, and in the north-eastern suburb of Angered, the proportion rises to more than 70 per cent. Sweden's massive housing shortage and long waits for rent controlled apartments in the centre of town mean that many new arrivals end up here, and stay here. This includes some of the 1,60,000 people who received asylum in Sweden last year. Angered has become a tough area to police. Parts of it are classified as "vulnerable", which in Swedish police terminology indicates a breakdown of law and order, among other things, and the emergence of a parallel society. I am told that religious enforcers attempt to control the community to ensure Sharia law is adhered to. They allegedly harass and intimidate people - mainly women - for the way they dress and for attending parties where there is music and dancing, which they consider "haram". Meanwhile, two-thirds of children have dropped out of school by the time they are 15, and unemployment is 11 per cent - high by Swedish standards. It's these vulnerable young people that the extremists target. One softly spoken young man - who I will call Imran - told me hardline recruiters were manipulating young people who had lost their way, and encouraging them to join ISIS. "Like a big brother will say to you, like a father will say to you, 'Stop doing drugs, stop hitting people. Come with us instead. Fight for God. Fight for Allah. Fight for freedom of the Muslims. The Muslim people are being killed and raped. You are wasting your life. You don't get nothing from the Swedish people.' "This guy has been a criminal just like me and done a lot of bad stuff. And now he is coming to me and telling me, 'You have to change.'" Imran was initially eager to travel to the Middle East and join ISIS. But after seeing videos and photographs of their brutality he says he is now afraid, and wants to build a life for himself in Sweden instead. Suburbs like Angered have become pressure cookers of discontent. You see this built-up resentment mainly with the second-generation "non-ethnic Swedes", as they're known here. Many of their parents fled war-torn countries in search of safety and found it in Sweden. They appear grateful for what the country has offered them. Their children, however, often feel they've been discriminated against and left out of the system. Many young people I spoke to for the programme said they felt disconnected from the country where their parents came from - but didn't feel they were Swedish either. The issues here have been further compounded by the sudden influx of refugees fleeing wars in Syria and Iraq. Accepting refugees is part of what it means to be Swedish. Last year alone, Sweden accepted more refugees per capita than any other European country. Last year alone, Sweden accepted more refugees per capita than any other European country. (Photo: Reuters) Ulf Bostrom, a veteran Gothenburg policeman who has become Sweden's only "integration officer", puts part of the blame for the problems the city now faces on police cutbacks. "We have lost more than 50 per cent of the policemen working in uniform in the different areas - 50 per cent," he says. "You can see for yourself. How many policemen have you seen during your time here in the areas you have been to? Have you seen any?" No, I reply. Bostrom himself, however, is a well-known figure in Gothenburg's suburbs and spends most of his time building trust and engaging with the migrant community and different faith groups. He took me to the Bellevue mosque on the outskirts of Gothenburg, which is reported to have ties to various Islamist and terrorist-designated organisations. Many of the people who have gone to Syria and Iraq have had connections here, and spiritual leader of al-Shabaab, Hassan Hussein, visited in 2009. Later I attended Friday prayer at Angered's largest mosque where about 500 worshippers had gathered. The imam, who came to Sweden from Syria three years ago, urged them to respect Swedish laws and customs and to assimilate as much as they could into mainstream society. But I was told that on one occasion two men stood up and verbally attacked him for condemning extremism, before they were escorted out. Just another indication of how divided and polarised these communities are. What has happened to Swedes who have travelled to Iraq and Syria, I ask Bostrom. "Well there is a number of 311 or so but none who have come back have been arrested. I think our terrorism law is not functioning well enough," he says. Only in April was the law changed to make it illegal to travel abroad with the intention to commit acts of terrorism. Klas Friberg, the regional police chief and Ulf Bostrom's boss, says the authorities are aware of the problems they face, and know that security needs to be improved in areas where parallel societies have taken shape. But the reality is that right now young people from immigrant backgrounds are being radicalised. Why would someone raised in Gothenburg want to leave one of the most peaceful and progressive countries in the developed world to join a violent extremist group in the Middle East? With so many of them saying they don't feel Swedish, perhaps the bigger question is: has integration and Sweden's experiment with multiculturalism failed? (Yaldas programme - Our World, Exporting Islamic Extremism will air on BBC World News on Friday, October 14 at 3pm.) Flash Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said late Thursday that the Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn had asked for time to mourn his father before being enthroned. People mourn for the death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, on Oct. 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Prayut said he met with the Crown Prince at dusk Thursday to reporters in government house. "He (Prince Vajiralongkorn) is already the heir apparent, but he asked time to grieve and to mourn his father with people around the country first," said Prayut. He added that the crown prince asked for an appropriate time in the future to be enthroned. Prayut also said that the country is in a most important period, thus they have to make everything in order. During an earlier TV address shortly after the palace statement proclaiming King's death, Prayut said the successor to the throne was decided in December 1972, and the procedure for enthroning the new king will move on. Prince Vajiralongkorn, King Bhumibol's only son, was named Crown Prince, the heir apparent to the throne in 1972 in accordance with the Palace Law. According to Thai constitution, when the throne becomes vacant and the King has already appointed his Heir under the 1924 Palace Law on Succession, the cabinet shall notify the Parliament president, who will convene members for acknowledgement. National Legislative Assembly (NLA), which serves as an interim parliament in place of the parliament dissolved by the junta in 2014, held an urgent meeting at around 21:30 Thursday. NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai just said they will move on according to the constitution and the Palace Law and there will be no general meeting until the Palace Law set procedure is finished. Flash The United States' attack on the Yemeni territory is not acceptable, warning the power country against any future attack, a military spokesman of the Yemeni dominant Shiite Houthi group said Thursday in a statement carried by Houthi-run Saba news agency. The pentagon said it carried out three strikes with cruise missiles targeting three radar sites on the Yemeni Red Sea coast under control of Houthi rebels. "We reiterated our denial of targeting any U.S. warship in the Red Sea, confirming our complete control of our fighters, naval defense weapons and all territories, except the territories under control of al-Qaida or Saudi-led military coalition," said Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, the spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis. "The direct American attack against the Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable, and we will respond with any future development in the appropriate time and with the appropriate manner," Luqman warned. Luqman said his country is keen on the security of international navigation, warning the United States and the Saudi-led coalition of any further escalation that could turn the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait into an all-out war zone. "We have the right to defend our country against terrorist groups and the aggression by Saudi Arabia and its allies in the military coalition," Luqman said. The Houthi response came hours after the United States said it launched three cruise strikes this morning against Houthi radar sites on three Yemeni Red Sea coast cities of Ras Issa, Mucka and Khokha. Houthis backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized control of much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, in September 2014, forcing Saudi-backed government of president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee into exile. Saudi Arabia responded militarily with its military coalition in March 2015, launching large-scale airstrikes to roll back Houthi gains and restore its ally Yemeni president Hadi to power. The Saudi attempts have yet to achieve the goal. The air campaign and ground battles have since killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly women and children, displacing around 3 million others. 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 Flash The British government said on Thursday that the country will not extend military involvement in Syria, refuting an earlier comment by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said late Thursday that there are no new plans for military action. "We are working with the international community to look at how to bring the conflict to an end," the spokesman said. The British government has been involved in bombing raids against the Islamic State in Syria since lawmakers voted for air strikes at the end of last year. The latest government comment came hours after Johnson said Britain was looking again at its military involvement. But the foreign secretary said that any action would need to be part of a coalition involving the United States. Johnson made the remarks giving evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee while stressing that it was time to consider "more kinetic options," including military options. 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. Suncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates through Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers. The Corporate and Eliminations segment operates four wind farms in Ontario and Western Canada. The company also markets and trades in crude oil, natural gas, byproducts, refined products, and power. The company was formerly known as Suncor Inc. and changed its name to Suncor Energy Inc. in April 1997. Suncor Energy Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Flash China and Cambodia signed a joint communique Thursday during Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to the Southeast Asian country, pledging to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and traditional friendship. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, Oct. 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] During his visit, Xi met with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, respectively. The two sides conducted in-depth exchange of views on further deepening the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as well as international and regional issues of common concern, and reached broad consensus, said the document. China and Cambodia agreed to accelerate the alignment of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the 13th Five-Year Plan with Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy and Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025, while working to raise bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, the statement said. A total of 31 cooperation documents were signed on a wide range of fields covering economy, technology, infrastructure, efforts to curb human trafficking, tax and maritime cooperation, among others, according to it. China pledged more investment and cooperation with Cambodia on such fields as energy, telecommunication, agriculture, industry and tourism. The Cambodian side congratulated China on successfully hosting the Group of Twenty Summit in Hangzhou last month, and praised China's active contribution to global economic growth and sub-regional development. The two countries also agreed to further consolidate coordination under multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting, East Asia cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group while maintaining close and effective communication on issues concerning each other's major interests, said the document. The two sides believed that the South China Sea issue is not a problem between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which should be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations by directly concerned sovereign states. Meanwhile, China reaffirmed in the document its firm support to Cambodian's efforts on maintaining national sovereignty, independence and political stability. Cambodia also renewed its adherence to the one-China policy. Recognizing the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China, the Cambodian side opposes "Taiwan independence" in all forms while holding that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, said the document. China and Cambodia should jointly safeguard and carry forward their traditional friendship forged and cultivated by Chinese and Cambodian leaders of previous generations, including Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk, the statement said. Under new international and regional situation, the two countries will enhance strategic communication, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and constantly enrich their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, so as to better serve their peoples and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the whole world at large, it said. Xi arrived here Thursday noon for a state visit to Cambodia. It is his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president. Biglari Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily operates and franchises restaurants in the United States. It owns, operates, and franchises restaurants under the Steak n Shake and Western Sizzlin names. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 199 Steak n Shake company-operated restaurants, 159 franchise partner units, and 178 traditional franchise units, as well as 3 Western Sizzlin company-operated restaurants and 38 franchised units. The company also engages in underwriting commercial trucking insurance; selling physical damage and non-trucking liability insurance to truckers; and providing property and casualty insurance. In addition, it operates oil and natural gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico; and publishes and sells magazines and related publishing products under the MAXIM brand name. Further, it licenses media products and services; and engages in the investment activities. The company was formerly known as The Steak n Shake Company and changed its name to Biglari Holdings Inc. in April 2010. Biglari Holdings Inc. was founded in 1934 and is based in San Antonio, Texas. The following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc.. Read More WABCO Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, supplies electronic, mechanical, electro-mechanical, and aerodynamic products worldwide. The company engineers, develops, manufactures, and sells braking, stability, suspension, steering, transmission automation, and air management systems primarily for commercial vehicles. The company's products include pneumatic anti-lock braking systems, electronic braking systems, electronic stability control systems, brake controls, automated manual transmission systems, and air disc brakes; and various conventional mechanical products, such as actuators, air compressors, and air control valves for medium and heavy-duty trucks, buses, and trailers. It also offers pneumatic and hydraulic braking and control systems for off-highway vehicles; conventional braking systems; electronic and conventional air suspension systems; steering technologies; and vehicle electronic stability control and roll stability support products, and advanced driver assistance systems. In addition, the company supplies electronic suspension controls and vacuum pumps to the passenger car and SUV markets, as well as provides remanufacturing services. Further, it offers replacement parts, fleet management solutions, diagnostic tools, training, and other expert services for commercial vehicle aftermarket distributors and service partners, and fleet operators. The company sells its products primarily to truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), trailer OEMs, and car manufacturers; and manufacturers of heavy duty and off-highway vehicles in agriculture, construction, mining, and other industries. WABCO Holdings Inc. was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Customers Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank. Customers Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1997 as New Century Bank which operated 5 branches in Southern Pennsylvania. The companys lending portfolio, which was primarily residential mortgage loans, led to the bank's eventual rebranding and hiring of Jay Sidhu as chairman and chief executive officer. The bank changed to a Bank Holding Company after it made a few strategic acquisitions and it now operates 12 full-service branches across 10 states and provides financial services to individuals, and small, and medium-sized businesses. The bank was a troubled asset worth $250 million when Mr. Sidhu took over and now it is worth upwards of $20 billion. Customers Bancorp, Inc is a super-community bank operating in multiple states across the US. The companys assets topped $20.3 billion in mid-2022 which put it on par with many of the US regional banks. The company sets itself apart by offering dedicated personal service to all its clients and by operating as a digital-first business. This means a single point of contact to help with any needs that may arise and full-service digital banking for all client needs. Customers Bancorp offers traditional deposit products, including checking, savings, MMDA, and other deposit accounts as well as a full range of loans. Loan products include but are not limited to commercial warehouse loans, loans for multi-family construction, commercial real estate, small business loans, equipment financing, residential mortgages, and consumer lines of credit. The company also offers traditional and business banking activities including mobile, internet, wire transfers, electronic bill payment, safe deposit boxes, remote capture, courier, payment processing services, and cash management. Among the many services offered by Customers Bancorp are digital assets. The company supports a wide range of cryptocurrency-related services for individuals and businesses and even uses its own token. The token is used to power instant B2B payments across the TassatPay blockchain network. The companys native token is CBIT (Customers Bancorp Instant Token). Customers Bancorp is headquartered in West Reading, Pennsylvania, and operates 12 full-service branches, as well as production and administrative offices in several counties in southeastern Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Illinois, Florida, and North Carolina. Zendesk, Inc., a software development company, provides software as a service solutions for organizations in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. Its flagship product is Zendesk Support, a system for tracking, prioritizing, and solving customer support tickets across various channels. The company also offers Zendesk Chat, a live chat and messaging software to connect with customers on websites and mobile devices applications; Zendesk Talk, a cloud-based call center software; Zendesk Guide, a knowledge base that powers customer self-service and support agent productivity; Zendesk Gather, a community forum software that allows customer end-users to connect and collaborate; Zendesk Explore, which provides analytics for organizations to measure and enhance the customer experience; and Zendesk Sell, a sales customer relationship management (CRM) product solution to enhance productivity, processes, and pipeline visibility. In addition, it provides Zendesk Sunshine, a CRM platform; Sunshine Conversations, a messaging platform solution; Zendesk Developer Tools, a combination of application programming interfaces, web widget, and mobile software development kits; Zendesk APIs that allow users to build custom integrations and interact with Zendesk data; and Zendesk Apps that enable organizations to customize Zendesk product and platform solution interfaces and optimize workflow through plug-ins, as well as Zendesk Suite, an omnichannel offering, which combines its solutions. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. 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. Ltd, Global Education, Global George I Limited, Global George II Limited, GlobalEnglish, Globe Fearon Inc., Guangzhou Crescent Software Co. Ltd, Heinemann Education Botswana (Publishers) (Proprietary) Limited, Heinemann Publishers (Pty) Ltd, INTELLIPRO INC., Icodeon Limited, IndiaCan Education Private Limited, Integral 7 Inc., Integrated Analytics LLC, J M Solucoes Exportacao e Importacao Ltda, K12 Learning Services LLC, Kagiso Education Pty Ltd, Knowledge Analysis Technologies LLC, LCCI International Qualifications (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., LCCIEB Training Consultancy. Ltd, Learning Catalytics, LessonLab Inc., Lignum Oil Company, Linx Brasil Distribuidora Ltda., Longman (Malawi) Limited, Longman Australasia Pty Ltd, Longman Group(Overseas Holdings)Limited, Longman Indochina Acquisition L.L.C., Longman Kenya Limited, Longman Mocambique Ltda, Longman Romania S.R.L., Longman Swaziland (Pty) Limited, Longman Tanzania Limited, Longman Zambia Educational Publishers Pty Ltd, Longman Zambia Limited, Longman Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Longmaned Ecuador S.A., Major123 Limited, Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Limited, MeasureUp LLC, Modern Curriculum Inc., Multi Holding, Multi Treinamento e Editora Ltda, NCS Information Technology Services (Beijing) Co Ltd, NCS Pearson Inc., NCS Pearson Pty Ltd, NCS Pearson Puerto Rico Inc., National Computer Systems Japan Co. Ltd, Ordinate Corporation, PN Holdings Inc., PT Efficient English Services, Pearson (Beijing) Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Pearson (Guizhou) Education Technology Co. Ltd., Pearson Affordable Learning Fund Limited, Pearson America LLC, Pearson Amsterdam B.V., Pearson Australia Finance Unlimited, Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd, Pearson Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Pearson Australia Pty Ltd, Pearson Benelux B.V., Pearson Books Limited, Pearson Brazil Finance Limited, Pearson Business Services Inc., Pearson Canada Assessment Inc., Pearson Canada Finance Unlimited, Pearson Canada Holdings Inc, Pearson Canada Inc., Pearson Central Europe Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Pearson College Limited, Pearson DBC Holdings Inc., Pearson Desarrollo y Capacitacion Profesional Chile Limitada, Pearson Deutschland GmbH, Pearson Digital Learning Puerto Rico Inc., Pearson Dollar Finance Two Limited, Pearson Dollar Finance plc, Pearson Educacion SA, Pearson Educacion de Chile Limitada, Pearson Educacion de Colombia S A S, Pearson Educacion de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pearson Educacion de Panama SA, Pearson Educacion de Peru S.A., Pearson Education (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Pearson Education Achievement Solutions (RF) (Pty) Limited, Pearson Education Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Education Asia Limited, Pearson Education Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Pearson Education Hellas SA, Pearson Education Holdings Limited, Pearson Education Inc., Pearson Education Indochina Limited, Pearson Education Investments Limited, Pearson Education Korea Limited, Pearson Education Limited, Pearson Education Namibia (Pty) Limited, Pearson Education Publishing Limited, Pearson Education S.A., Pearson Education SA, Pearson Education South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Education South Asia Pte. Ltd., Pearson Education Taiwan Ltd, Pearson Education do Brasil S.A, Pearson Educational Measurement Canada Inc., Pearson Educational Publishers LLC, Pearson Egitim Cozumleri Tikaret Limited Sirketi, Pearson Falstaff (Holdings) Inc., Pearson Falstaff Holdco LLC, Pearson France, Pearson Funding Five plc, Pearson Funding Four plc, Pearson Funding Two Limited, Pearson Holdings Inc., Pearson Holdings Southern Africa (Pty) Limited, Pearson IOKI Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Pearson India Education Services Private Limited, Pearson India Support Services Private Limited, Pearson Institute of Higher Education, Pearson International Finance Limited, Pearson Investment Holdings Inc., Pearson Italia S.p.A, Pearson Japan KK, Pearson Lanka (Private) Limited, Pearson Learning China (HK) Limited, Pearson Lesotho (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Loan Finance No. 3 Limited, Pearson Loan Finance No. 4 Limited, Pearson Loan Finance No.2 Unlimited, Pearson Loan Finance Unlimited, Pearson Longman Uganda Limited, Pearson Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Pearson Management Services Limited, Pearson Management Services Philippines Inc., Pearson Maryland Inc., Pearson Netherlands B.V., Pearson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Pearson Nominees Limited, Pearson Online Tutoring LLC, Pearson Overseas Holdings Limited, Pearson PEM P.R. Inc., Pearson PRH Holdings Limited, Pearson Pension Nominees Limited, Pearson Pension Property Fund Limited, Pearson Pension Trustee Limited, Pearson Pension Trustee Services Limited, Pearson Professional Assessments Limited, Pearson Real Estate Holdings Inc., Pearson Real Estate Holdings Limited, Pearson Schweiz AG, Pearson Services Limited, Pearson Shared Services Limited, Pearson South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Strand Finance Limited, Pearson Sweden AB, Pearson VUE Philippines Inc., Pearson in Practice Holdings Limited, Pearson in Practice Skills Based Learning Limited, Pearson in Practice Technology Limited, Penguin Capital LLC, Phumelela Publishers (Pty) Ltd, ProctorCam Inc., Reading Property Holdings LLC, Rebus Planning Associates Inc., Reston Publishing Company Inc., Rycade Capital Corporation, Shanghai AWL Education Software Ltd, Silver Burdett Ginn Inc., Skylight Training and Publishing Inc., Smarthinking Inc., Sound Holdings Inc., Spear Insurance Company Limited, Stark Verlag GmbH, Sunnykey International Holdings Limited (BVI), TQ Catalis Limited, TQ Clapham Limited, TQ Education and Training Limited, TQ Global Limited, TQ Group Limited, TQ Holdings Limited, The Financial Times (I) Pvt Ltd, The Learning Edge International pty Ltd, The Waite Group Inc, Trio Parent Holdings LLC, US Learning Services LLC, USLS Holdings LLC, Virtual Nerd, Vue Testing Services Israel Ltd, Vue Testing Services Korea Limited, Wall Street Institute Kft., Williams Education GmbH, eCollege.com, and Editions Du Renouveau Pedagogique Inc.. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of PPG Industries: AIPCF V Texstars Blocker Inc., AkzoNobel, Alpha Coating Technologies LLC, Alpha Coatings Inc., Broad Range Development Limited, CG Holdings Manufacturing Co., Centro de Investigacion en Polimeros S.A. de C.V., Chemfil Canada Limited, Chorlton Trade Paints Limited, Comercial Mexicana de Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Comex, Comex Industrial Coatings S.A. de C.V., Consorcio Comex S.A. de C.V., Cristacol S.A., Cuming Microwave Corporation, Deutek SA, Dexmet Corporation, Dexmet Holding Corporation, Distribuidora Kroma S.A. de C.V., EPIC Insurance Co. Ltd., Eberle Design Inc., Empresa Aga S.A. de C.V., Ennis Canadian Holding Company, Ennis Paint Canada ULC, Ennis Paint Netherlands Holdings LLC, Ennis Paint U.K. Holding Company Limited, Ennis Traffic Safety Solutions Pty Ltd, Ennis-Flint, Ennis-Flint Inc., Foshan Bairun Chemicals Co. Ltd., Fpu Industrial S.A. de C.V., Grupo Comex S.A. de C.V., Hemmelrath Automotive Coatings (Jilin) Co. Ltd., Hemmelrath International Trade (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hodij Coatings B.V., Homax Products, Industria Chimica Reggiana I.C.R. SPA, Johnstones Paints Limited, Kalon Investment Company Limited, Kalon South Africa Proprietary Limited, Karl Woerwag Lack-und Farbenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, Masterwork Paint, MetoKote Corporation, MetoKote Mexico Holdings Inc., MetoKote UK Limited, MetoKote de Mexico S. de RL de CV, Milamar Coatings LLC, OOO Tikkurila, PPG A P Resinas S.A. de C.V., PPG AC - France SA, PPG ALESCO Automotive Finishes Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., PPG Aerospace Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., PPG Architectural Coatings (Puerto Rico) Inc., PPG Architectural Coatings Canada Inc./PPG Revetements Architecturaux Canada Inc., PPG Architectural Coatings Ireland Limited, PPG Architectural Coatings Italy S.r.l, PPG Architectural Coatings UK Limited, PPG Architectural Finishes Inc., PPG Asian Paints Private Ltd., PPG Business Services S.A. de C.V., PPG COATINGS SINGAPORE PTE. LTD., PPG Canada Inc., PPG Cetelon Lackfabrik GmbH, PPG Cieszyn S.A., PPG Coatings (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, PPG Coatings (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., PPG Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Thailand) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Wuhu) Company Ltd., PPG Coatings (Zhangjiagang) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings B.V., PPG Coatings Belgium BV, PPG Coatings Danmark A/S, PPG Coatings Deutschland GmbH, PPG Coatings Europe B.V., PPG Coatings Nederland BV, PPG Coatings S.A., PPG Coatings South Africa (Pty) Ltd., PPG DYRUP S.A., PPG Deco Czech a.s., PPG Deco Polska sp. z.o.o., PPG Deco Slovakia s.r.o., PPG Deutschland Business Support GmbH, PPG Deutschland Sales & Services GmbH, PPG Distribution S.A.S., PPG Europe B.V., PPG Finance B.V., PPG Finland Oy, PPG France Business Support S.A.S., PPG France Manufacturing S.A.S., PPG Guadeloupe SAS, PPG Hemmelrath Lackfabrik GmbH, PPG Holdco SAS, PPG Holdings (U.K.) Limited, PPG Holdings Argentina USA LLC, PPG Holdings Latin America USA LLC, PPG Iberica S.A., PPG Iberica Sales & Services S.L., PPG Industrial Coatings B.V., PPG Industrial do Brasil - Tintas E. Vernizes - Ltda., PPG Industries (Korea) Ltd., PPG Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PPG Industries (UK) Ltd, PPG Industries Argentina S.R.L., PPG Industries Australia PTY Limited A.C.N. 055 500 939, PPG Industries Colombia Ltda., PPG Industries Delfzijl B.V., PPG Industries Europe Sarl, PPG Industries France S.A.S., PPG Industries International Inc., PPG Industries Italia S.r.l., PPG Industries Kimya a Sanayi VE Ticaret AS, PPG Industries LLC, PPG Industries Lackfabrik GmbH, PPG Industries Lipetsk LLC, PPG Industries Middle East FZE, PPG Industries Netherlands B.V., PPG Industries New Zealand Limited, PPG Industries Ohio Inc., PPG Industries Poland Sp. Z.o.o., PPG Industries Securities LLC, PPG Industries de Mexico S.A. de C.V., PPG Investment (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PPG Italia Business Support S.r.l., PPG Italia Sales & Services S.r.l., PPG Japan Ltd., PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes Canada LP, PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes U.K. LLP, PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes U.S. LLC, PPG Luxembourg Finance S.aR.L., PPG Luxembourg Holdings S.aR.L., PPG Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Packaging Coatings (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., PPG Paints Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Performance Coatings (Hong Kong) Limited, PPG Powder Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Refinish Distribution Limited, PPG Romania S.A., PPG Reunion SAS, PPG SSC Co. Ltd., PPG Switzerland GmbH, PPG Trilak Korlatolt FelelosseguTarasasag (PPG Trilak Kft.), PPG Vietnam Co. Ltd., PRC-DeSoto Australia Pty Ltd., PRC-DeSoto International Inc., PT. PPG Coatings Indonesia, Painter's Supply, Paintzen, Peintures de Paris SAS, Plasticos Envolventes S.A. de C.V., Polymeric Systems Inc., ProCoatings B.V., ProCoatings BV, Protec Pty Ltd, Reno A&E LLC, Revocoat France SAS, Revocoat Holding SAS, Revocoat Iberica SLU, Revocoat S.A.S, Road Infrastructure Investment Holdings Inc., SEM Products Inc., Sealants Europe SAS, Sierracin Corporation, Sierracin/Sylmar Corporation, Sigma Marine & Protective Coatings Holding B.V., SigmaKalon (BC) UK Limited, SigmaKalon Group, Sikar (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Spraylat International Ltd, Texstars LLC, The Crown Group Co., The Crown Group Inc, The Homax Group, Tikkurila Group, Tikkurila Oyj, Tikkurila Sverige AB, Traffic Safety Intermediate LLC, Traffic Safety Parent LLC, VF Specialty Products LLC, Vanex Inc., Vernisol S.p.A., VersaFlex Acquisition Corp., VersaFlex Inc., VersaFlex Intermediate Holdings LLC, Versaflex, Viasa S.A. de C.V., Whitford, Whitford B.V., Whitford Corporation, Whitford Jiangmen Ltd., Whitford Ltd. (HK), Whitford Ltd. (UK), Whitford Pte. Ltd., Whitford S.r.l., Whitford Worldwide Company LLC, and Worwag Coatings. Read More Telefonica, S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Europe and Latin America. The company's mobile and related services and products comprise mobile voice, value added, mobile data and Internet, wholesale, corporate, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services. Its fixed telecommunication services include PSTN lines; ISDN accesses; public telephone services; local, domestic, and international long-distance and fixed-to-mobile communications; corporate communications; supplementary value-added services; video telephony; intelligent network; and telephony information services, as well as leases and sells handset equipment. The company also provides Internet and broadband multimedia services comprising Internet service provider, portal and network, retail and wholesale broadband access, narrowband switched access, high-speed Internet through fibre to the home, and voice over Internet protocol services. In addition, it offers leased line, virtual private network, fibre optics, web hosting and application, outsourcing and consultancy, desktop, and system integration and professional services. Further, the company offers wholesale services for telecommunication operators, including domestic interconnection and international wholesale services; leased lines for other operators; and local loop leasing services, as well as bit stream services, wholesale line rental accesses, and leased ducts for other operators' fiber deployment. Additionally, it provides video/TV services; smart connectivity and services, and consumer IoT products; financial and other payment, security, cloud computing, advertising, big data, and digital telco experience services; virtual assistants; digital home platforms; and Movistar Home devices. It also offers online telemedicine, home insurance, music streaming, and consumer loan services. The company was incorporated in 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Some of the biggest donors to the Republican Party on Thursday called on the Republican National Committee to cut its ties with Donald Trump the partys presidential nominee following the highly controversial claims of sexual misconduct and the recent recording of Trump leaked during the week. A group of contributors to the party said that it was time the party stopped being affiliated with Trump and to focus on those representing the core conservative values of the party. Get Warning: Undefined variable $CompanyName in /home/acctdp/public_html/wp-content/themes/responsalambre/single.php on line 65 alerts: A Missouri businessman David Humphreys who has given over $2 million to the GOP over the past four years, said that at some point one had to look at the mirror and recognize you cannot justify supporting Trump to your own children, especially your daughters. Bruce Kovner, an investor and philanthropist from New York has donated close to $3 million to the GOP and had sentiments that were similar to those of Humphreys. Kovner said Trump was a dangerous demagogue who was unsuited for the responsibilities of being the President of the United States. Though the November election was just days away, Kovner is hoping the RNC would shift attention to those reflecting the core conservative values of the party. One donor even switched to supporting a candidate from a third party for the election. Julian Robertson Jr., a hedge fund investor worth billions had donated over $5 million to the GOP since 2012, but a spokesperson for the billionaire said he was not backing Gary Johnson the Libertarian candidate. The revolt follows the release of a report during the week that said two major donors for the GOP had asked to have their money back after backing Trump originally. Two emails were circulated where a pair of GOP donors requested that their donations be returned saying they had been offended by the leaked audio where Trump makes negative remarks towards women. One donor wrote that as a father of a pair of daughters he was repulsed by Trumps comments related to women. He added that he regretted attending a support event for Trump and allowing his son to take part in it and respectively wanted the donation money to be returned. The other large donor said he had been mortified by the tape and could not support a man who was sexist. The donor added that his refund should be processed immediately. Though from the outside it might appear that support had dwindled, as of Wednesday morning 38 GOP senators remained supporting Trump or did not make any move publicly to withdraw prior support of him. Even though homeowners overall are gaining wealth, the home-ownership rate is at a 50-year low, according to National Association of REALTORS Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Lawrence Yun. I think that in itself is leading to large anxiety, especially among the younger population, about what does it mean to acquire the American dream, Yun said. People have always associated ownership with the American dream, but that is changing because people can no longer become homeowners because mortgage availability is difficult, and home prices are just not affordable anymore. Yun was the featured speaker at the Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS October General Membership Meeting on Thursday morning. The home-ownership rate dropped to 63.1 percent in the second quarter of 2016, and Yun said its the younger people who are seeing a larger portion of the decline. I think the mortgage availability will steadily become normalized from current conditions, but it cannot be only mortgage availability it has to be more homes available to sell, Yun said after the meeting. So how do we get more building activity? In 1983, the median net worth of a household headed by someone under 35 was $15,260, and for a household headed by someone over 65, it was $120,500. You say thats fine, and maybe that is fine, because it takes time to build wealth, Yun said. Younger people are not building wealth at a young age. But look at 2013, for older people it has grown. They have their home, they have some stock. For younger people, it has actually declined, so [theres] wider wealth inequality now than before. In 2013, younger households had a median net worth of $10,500, while older households had a median net worth of $210,000. Yun said student loan debt and tuition keep rising, causing fewer young people to purchase homes. According to a joint report by the National Association of REALTORS and SALT, a consumer literacy program by American Student Assistance, the U.S. currently has a student debt load of $1.3 trillion which accounts for 10 percent of all outstanding debt. In a survey in the report, 71 percent of respondents cited student loan debt as the factor delaying them from buying a home. Is America becoming too over-educated, he asked. Should community college focus more on trade skills, or is America just cranking out too many people who want to be textbook philosophers? Yun said. I dont know. Whats the right balance? He said there are social benefits to homeownership, as well, such as higher student test scores and better health outcome and higher self-esteem. We need to think about how to raise home ownership in a sustainable, responsible way, not by subpar lending just to get anyone on board, he said. Yun said that, despite what some are saying, there is not a housing bubble or start of one. There are many reasons, but one of the key reasons is we just dont have inventory, he said. If you dont have inventory, home prices will not decline. Home prices decline if theres an abundance of supply in relation to the buyers. He said there isnt enough inventory, as home builders have been slow in building new homes after the recession, causing a housing shortage. Apartments have returned to normal levels. When talking about his economic forecast, he said he doesnt see another recession happening soon. No recession, just chugging along, Yun said. Authorities said Thursday that they are looking for Ty Quane Pertell Gregory, 20, charged with malicious wounding, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and possessing a firearm as a felon. Gregory is pegged as the assailant in the Oct. 5 shooting in the area of Second Street and Monticello Avenue that left a 19-year-old man wounded. He was taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center for treatment and is currently in stable condition. The University of Virginia accepted plane tickets for one trip from a Chinese education company accused of admissions fraud, according to a report from the Reuters news agency. According to the story, posted Friday afternoon, UVa is one of several universities that accepted airline tickets from Dipont an education company that the Reuters report accuses of massive college application fraud in 2014. Anthony de Bruyn, a spokesman for the university, said a UVa admissions officer attended a conference sponsored by Dipont in 2014. The company paid for the employees airfare, which is permitted under University policy, de Bruyn said in an email. But, de Bruyn said, UVa does not have a special relationship that the report says Dipont claims. Vanderbilt University, Wellesley College, Syracuse University, Tulane University and the University of Southern California are among the colleges also implicated in the report, which claims admissions officers from each of those schools have visited China to personally advise students at an annual program on how to apply to U.S. colleges. Many U.S. universities and colleges, including UVa, have been concerned about the viability of Chinese college admissions companies and agents representing Chinese applicants, and the university does not offer preferential treatment to applicants using such services, de Bruyn said. Dipont is an education company that helps Chinese students gain admission to American colleges and universities. The report cites anonymous sources within Dipont that claim the company routinely wrote application essays, altered recommendations and in at least one case gave a student access to his high school transcript so he could erase bad grades. The news comes as UVa undergoes a major expansion into China. Last March, the university opened its China office in Shanghai the universitys first overseas office. President Teresa A. Sullivan visited Shanghai as part of an extended trip to Asia from May 24 to June 2. Re: Latest USDA inspection finds more problems at the Natural Bridge Zoo (The Daily Progress, Sept. 23 online): Since 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited Natural Bridge Zoo owner Karl Mogensen with dozens upon dozens of violations of federal animal-protection laws. In 2007, his license was suspended for a month and he was ordered to pay a $10,000 penalty. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also fined Mogensen $2,475 in 2004, after two Asian black bears escaped through an unlocked gate. Both bears were shot and killed while on the loose. In 1994, the USDA fined Mogensen another $10,000 and suspended his license for a month. The USDA cited the zoo after finding bears confined to a barren concrete cage to drink filthy water from the same small trough that they bathe in. No one who cares about animals will support this kind of treatment. Jennifer O'Connor Norfolk Jennifer O'Connor is senior writer for the PETA Foundation. References: In 2010, when President Obama declared an intention to send men to Mars, the announcement inspired hope and enthusiasm. Six years later, the president has renewed the declaration. This time it has inspired yawns and grumbles. The problem does not lie with the objective, which is a decidedly worthy one. Long-term space exploration offers as much promise to humans today as exploration of the Americas did to Europeans half a millennium ago. No, the problem lies in the execution. The presidents fans swoon over his supposed enthusiasm for all things scientific. President Obama Loves Science, gushed CNN in a video accompanying Obamas op/ed column on Mars. But the current administration has kept scientific ambition about space in low-Earth orbit. Under Obama, NASAs focus has been shifted toward Earth-centric endeavors, such as climate modeling and natural-disaster mitigation. Its Earth Science Mission Directorate now has a budget of more than $2 billion, while astrophysics and space technology each receive less than half that amount. Fortunately, NASA is no longer alone in the space-exploration business. Private companies such as SpaceX are not waiting for Uncle Sam to get off his recliner; Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, hopes to put a Mars mission together within a decadeyears ahead of the timeline Obama has laid out, which puts humans on Mars by the 2030s. Whether NASA can meet Obamas loose deadline will depend somewhat on the next president. The signals from that sector are not encouraging. Donald Trump has suggested fixing potholes is a bigger problem than space exploration. Hillary Clinton has expressed more enthusiasmbut she will have to contend with the Bernie Sanders wing of her party. Sanders has long preferred to redirect NASA funding to the social safety net. In his op/ed for CNN, Obama says the space program still fills him with a sense of wonder. That goes for many other Americans, toowho wonder whether the White House ever will treat space exploration as the high priority it ought to be. Holding Congress accountable Americans are fed up with Washington in general and Congress in particular. According to the most recent Real Clear Politics polling average, fewer than 14 percent of Americans approve of the job the legislative branch is doing. So its refreshing to learn that at least one member of the House of Representatives recognizes that deep dissatisfaction. Since being elected to Congress in 2007, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1st) has actively worked to make Congress more accountable to the people. In January 2015, Wittman introduced two pieces of legislation that, if passed, would acquaint Congress with the concept of accountability that the rest of America knows well. The No Budget, No Pay Act (H.R. 174), would withhold the paychecks of members of either chamber of Congress if that chamber has not agreed upon a budget resolution by April 15 (as they are both required to do by the Congressional Budget Act). Salaries would be held in escrow until the chamber agrees to a budget resolution. Wittman also introduced the Stay on Schedule resolution (H.Res. 17), which would change the House rules to prevent the House from adjourning for its August recess if critical appropriations bills for the new Oct. 1 fiscal year have not been passed by July 31. Both resolutions would go far in forcing Congress to do the work that the Constitution and the American people demand of it. Unfortunately, both bills have languished in committee since 2015 and both are likely going to die there. Thats too badfor Congress and for America. On the ballot on Election Day is a constitutional amendment that restates what is already a law in Virginia about preventing workers from the right to negotiate in good faith with their employers. A yes vote on question one would put this law into the constitution. We must ask why Virginia needs to have an existing law added to the constitution. The answer is a political one. Anti-worker legislators are seeking another opportunity to demonstrate just how anti-worker they are. Wrongly called right to work, its effect on workers is anything but a right. It gives employers more opportunity to deny workers such as teachers, firefighters, police, and retail and factory workers access to a union or professional organization. In Richmond, there were no convincing arguments during the debate as to why the amendment was necessary. State Sen. Mark Obenshain stated the reason best when he argued that future general assemblies could not be trusted to enforce right-to-work as a statute. This amendment takes future voters out of the equation. We cannot allow our constitution to be used as a pawn to guarantee a politicians view today to be in force in the future. The idea of an election is for us to be able to choose legislators who do as we desire and we should not vote the ability to do so in the future away. Vote no on question one on Election Day! Stand up for your right to have a decent job. CALAIS - France - Former pop star who was educated at a top private school yet spoke in a mockney accent and pretended to be one of the people, has sold her four luxury homes so she can go and live in the Calais jungle. It dont matter that these economic migrants walked into France thanks to the Schengen zone and it is the French authorities responsibility to look after them, Im a champagne socialist innit. I sold me four luxury homes, one of which was in Highgate, and anuvah in Primrose Hill. Nah, I wanna build a mansion in the jungle so I can watch over the migrants. Ill be their camp boss, ya know like Schindlers List, the camp head honcho who likes nothing but to shoot from his mansion on top of the hill. Ill be their saviour a Mother Allen. Preparations have already been made for Lily Allen, and a team of Romanian gangsters, people smugglers and builders have accepted her cash to build her a nice little box in the jungle, it will have a corrugated iron roof, and a solid mud floor. She say she wanna be one of us. We build jungle mansion for her for good price. She give us the money, it now in Bucharest, and then I transfer to my account in Lake Lugano, and then we present her with her shack she want so bad. She gonna love it. We even install toilet for her, it nice hole in ground. She will never see her millions again. Stupid cunt, innit, one of the jungles camp organisers revealed. Well, thats the end of Lily Allen then, and it couldnt have come at a more opportune time. One can only hope she meets a terrible end in a few days or weeks, hopefully dysentery or a well deserved mugging replete with a full gutting session. It was Act 2, scene one on Tuesday as a county boardroom full of area residents testified and listened as members of the Dunn County Planning, Resources and Development committee responded to concerns about a proposal for a CAFO a concentrated animal feeding operation in Rock Creek township. The agenda item was a proposed year-long moratorium on new CAFOs in the county, and committee members postponed action until a special meeting set for Monday, Oct. 17 at 8:30 a.m. at the Dunn County Government Center. A positive vote would allow the proposal to move on to the full county board for consideration. I was a little blindsided by this proposal for a moratorium, said Gary Seipel, Eau Galle, committee vice-chair. I would like at least two weeks or 30 days before we even consider a moratorium. Committee members got the draft proposal that morning, committee member Mike Kneer, Menomonie, pointed out. I do think we need to have a moratorium. I could see waiting for our next meeting. This is an enormously complicated issue, said committee member Diane Morehouse, Menomonie. A moratorium is an appropriate and necessary step. Her move to pass the moratorium as drafted failed on a 3 to 2 vote. A subsequent motion to postpone action until Oct. 17 passed unanimously. Act I The moratorium proposal came after Cranberry Creek Dairy, in the town of Rock Creek, applied for a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources pollutant discharge permit to expand from 2,107 animal units to 7,250 animal units. At the recent hearing, more than 200 people came to the hearing with most opposed. The increased herd size was projected to produce 56.3 million gallons of liquid manure and 600 tons of solid waste. It was incumbent on the county to step back and say, do we need to take a look at this, said PRD Chair Tom Quinn. What authority does Dunn County have? Quinn, who supported Morehouses motion, said I dont think in any way we want this to be anti-farm. He pointed out that the county already has six or seven CAFO-sized operations. Maybe the state regulations that are in place are not being managed correctly, he said. I do think we are going to have expansions. Residents weigh in A lot of this plan was falsified, testified Charles Harschlip, a Mondovi dairy farmer, about the Cranberry Creek proposal. Nobodys watching them, Harschlip added, noting that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is working with reduced staff. A second neighboring dairy farmer, Rachel Kummer, also of Mondovi, said the applicant is already in non-compliance: They cant follow the permit they already have. She cited a lack of runoff control and overapplication of manure. An irrigation line that was used to spread liquid manure must have been leaking all summer, she said. This has been reported to the DNR and it just sits there. Randy Koller, another Mondovi area a dairy farmer, said, Farm expansion is inevitable. In this case, its horrible. When large CAFOs like Cranberry Creek are allowed to expand despite a record of bad practice, he contended, It just destroys the rest of us as well. Helen Kees, Durand, told the committee that while the business of farming is not a big red barn and a pasture with grazing animals anymore, the contamination of wells near CAFOs has to stop. When the state fails, the law allows the county to step in an protect its citizenry. Mike Dupree of Menomonie called it a bipartisan issue. Most farmers dont want to pollute the land, he said. They want to be good stewards. Lets help them do it. Jeff Smith, town of Brunswick (next to the town of Rock Creek), said while he wasnt a direct neighbor to the dairy, Im down the road from the farm on the 590 [the manure application plan]. It affects so many people. This is important enough to slow everything down. Many of those testifying cited the inclusion of land in the dairys application without the knowledge of the landowner involved. Other views The only clear opposition to the moratorium came from members of the Ullom family, a multi-generation dairy farm. Were expanding because we have more people to support, said Lee Ullom of rural Menomonie. Any moratorium would cause us to no longer be an operation in the fullest extent. It would be a detriment to our operation as a family farm. Many of the speakers commented on the lack of state monitoring of CAFOs. One thing I heard is they are not enforcing state law, said Nicholas Lange, Dunn County Corporation Counsel told the committee. The county would have to decide if they had the resources. We as Dunn County supervisors have a responsibility to our Dunn County citizens regardless of what the DNR or the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection do, said Dunn County Chair Steve Rasmussen. He pointed out that farms moving ahead on an expansion would have a vested right to move ahead: I think it important that we stop and look at this issue. The moratorium proposes a livestock operations study group, including members of the PR&D committee, five Dunn County residents including two farmers and county staff. The study group would look at the impact of CAFOs on water and air, and the possible need for any new regulation. The group would come back to the County Board 30 days before the end of the moratorium with recommendations. Paul Cardall Composes Soundtrack to Accompany Bible Study Contact: Tina Pretsch, 949-444-1947 SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 13, 2016 / "I'm not interested in entertaining people. I believe my music has another purpose," says Paul Cardall. He explained,"For years I've had this idea of what would it be like to create a soundtrack to the Bible that people can listen to while they study scripture, meditate, pray, or simply reflect on our individual relationship with God." Cardall is known for his original compositions and arrangements of various hymns, with his awe-inspiring music being frequently categorized as New Age, Classical, and Religious. His Pandora and Spotify Internet radio stations reach more than 42 million listeners annually. Cardall's soothing, melodic style is born out of his compassion to help others endure hardship and connect to the strength of the soul something that he is all too familiar with on a personal level. He had faced and survived many difficult challenges, having been born with virtually half a functioning heart, which required immediate surgery when he was less than a day old. His life-threatening congenital heart disease, which resulted in a series of delicate surgeries throughout his life, including a heart transplant, has inspired the pianist to use music as a tool to heal hearts and minds of people the world over. Michael Debbage, long time music critic from said, "A New Creation is screaming lead candidate for album of the year He has made sure that the greatest love story of all time, God's love for the human race, was expressed in bold high definition musical colors A New Creation is without a doubt guaranteed to utterly please the ears, quicken the heart and stir the soul from its deepest depths." "Each song on this album is designed to invoke deep spiritual feelings," Cardall notes. "My album A New Creation accompanies the listener on a spiritual journey from the creation of the world to the ultimate salvation of mankind. A rich orchestral texture paints images of grandeur evoking genuine sentiments both of God's greatness and His love that he nurtures for all His creations." Amazon music critic Kathy Parsons writes, "Paul Cardall has created a spiritual as well as a musical masterpiece with A New Creation - his magnum opus for sure! This is a work of art regardless of your religious beliefs and preferences." "A New Creation" features soloists Nathan Pacheco (Disney Pearl Records; Yanni Voices tour), Patrice Tipoki (Fantine, Les Miserables international Broadway tour), The American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic, American Heritage Youth Chorus and Stone Angel Music Orchestra under the direction of Shane Mickelsen. Tracks on A New Creation in order are; A New Creation, The Fall, Into the Wilderness, Wonders in Heaven, Son of God, Behold The Lamb, A Broken Heart, Gethsemane, One by One, My Redeemer Lives, Eden Za Drugim, Where There's Love. Sample the album and watch the music video for "Gethsemane" and "One by One" at About Stone Angel Music: Salt Lake City's award winning independent record label was founded by #1 Billboard Pianist Paul Cardall in 1999. Other artists include pianist Jason Lyle Black, guitarist Ryan Tilby, composer Shane Mickelsen and pianist Ryan Stewart. The released two albums with Steven Sharp Nelson before he joined The Piano Guys. Stone Angel Music artists have spent over 45 weeks on Billboard charts in just the past year. Learn more: Share Tweet Contact: Tina Pretsch, 949-444-1947SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 13, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Since receiving a heart transplant in 2009, 43-year-old pianist Paul Cardall has released three consecutive No. 1 Billboard albums, including his latest A New Creation, inspired by the artist's desire to compose a soundtrack as a companion for scripture study."I'm not interested in entertaining people. I believe my music has another purpose," says Paul Cardall. He explained,"For years I've had this idea of what would it be like to create a soundtrack to the Bible that people can listen to while they study scripture, meditate, pray, or simply reflect on our individual relationship with God."Cardall is known for his original compositions and arrangements of various hymns, with his awe-inspiring music being frequently categorized as New Age, Classical, and Religious. His Pandora and Spotify Internet radio stations reach more than 42 million listeners annually. Cardall's soothing, melodic style is born out of his compassion to help others endure hardship and connect to the strength of the soul something that he is all too familiar with on a personal level. He had faced and survived many difficult challenges, having been born with virtually half a functioning heart, which required immediate surgery when he was less than a day old. His life-threatening congenital heart disease, which resulted in a series of delicate surgeries throughout his life, including a heart transplant, has inspired the pianist to use music as a tool to heal hearts and minds of people the world over.Michael Debbage, long time music critic from said, "A New Creation is screaming lead candidate for album of the year He has made sure that the greatest love story of all time, God's love for the human race, was expressed in bold high definition musical colors A New Creation is without a doubt guaranteed to utterly please the ears, quicken the heart and stir the soul from its deepest depths.""Each song on this album is designed to invoke deep spiritual feelings," Cardall notes. "My album A New Creation accompanies the listener on a spiritual journey from the creation of the world to the ultimate salvation of mankind. A rich orchestral texture paints images of grandeur evoking genuine sentiments both of God's greatness and His love that he nurtures for all His creations."Amazon music critic Kathy Parsons writes, "Paul Cardall has created a spiritual as well as a musical masterpiece with A New Creation - his magnum opus for sure! This is a work of art regardless of your religious beliefs and preferences.""A New Creation" features soloists Nathan Pacheco (Disney Pearl Records; Yanni Voices tour), Patrice Tipoki (Fantine, Les Miserables international Broadway tour), The American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic, American Heritage Youth Chorus and Stone Angel Music Orchestra under the direction of Shane Mickelsen.Tracks on A New Creation in order are; A New Creation, The Fall, Into the Wilderness, Wonders in Heaven, Son of God, Behold The Lamb, A Broken Heart, Gethsemane, One by One, My Redeemer Lives, Eden Za Drugim, Where There's Love. Sample the album and watch the music video for "Gethsemane" and "One by One" at www.youtube.com/cardall About Stone Angel Music: Salt Lake City's award winning independent record label was founded by #1 Billboard Pianist Paul Cardall in 1999. Other artists include pianist Jason Lyle Black, guitarist Ryan Tilby, composer Shane Mickelsen and pianist Ryan Stewart. The released two albums with Steven Sharp Nelson before he joined The Piano Guys. Stone Angel Music artists have spent over 45 weeks on Billboard charts in just the past year. Learn more: www.paulcardall.com The Second Coming of Christ (2017) - The 1st Trailer Released vimeo.com/176240029 Contact: Lauren Lewis, 818-970-0052, TARZANA, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 / "The Second Coming of Christ revisits the fascinating and controversial decades-long debate about religion versus science; but with a timely, relevant and cautionary tale that incorporates the potential dangers of genetically modifying foods," said Anghelcev. "There are multiple layers to this film that people can relate to with many surprises along the way." As gifted and passionate an actress as she is a storyteller, Diana Angelson stars as Dr. Beatrix Cera, a famous entomologist hired by New World Genetics Corporation, the leader in genetically engineered foods, to research the causes and effects of dying crops. Her findings indicate that after years of experimenting with food, nature has taken its toll and deadly mutations occurred within crops. The pollinators, mainly the honeybees, have spread these mutations to the entire plant kingdom, which means a slow, but total extinction. Desperately trying to defy God by creating an "immortal gene" in Bees, Beatrix finds herself in an urgent struggle between evil and good. We also introduce the former billionaire Dr. John Zachary, a Nobel Prize recipient for curing cancer, who has dedicated his life to help others by restoring their Faith. John's belief that "only through loving one another, people can have God forgive them and save the earth, together" prevails when he and Beatrix fight for her dying daughter's life and all of mankind. Official Website: IMDB Link: For further information on The Second Coming of Christ or to schedule a time to speak with Daniel Anghelcev or Diana Angelson, please contact Lauren Lewis at 818-970-0052 or Share Tweet Contact: Lauren Lewis, 818-970-0052, llewispr@aol.com TARZANA, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Jason London (Dazed and Confused), Diana Angelson (The Impaler, Armenia, My Love), Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side), Natalie Burn (Expendables 3), Al Sapienza (Sopranos, House of Cards) and Meredith Salinger (The Journey) are among the stars joining Golden Globe nominee Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan) and Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland (JFK, Bruce Almighty) in the film about an atheist female scientist who, at the end of times, discovers that true Faith can bring miracles."The Second Coming of Christ revisits the fascinating and controversial decades-long debate about religion versus science; but with a timely, relevant and cautionary tale that incorporates the potential dangers of genetically modifying foods," said Anghelcev. "There are multiple layers to this film that people can relate to with many surprises along the way."As gifted and passionate an actress as she is a storyteller, Diana Angelson stars as Dr. Beatrix Cera, a famous entomologist hired by New World Genetics Corporation, the leader in genetically engineered foods, to research the causes and effects of dying crops. Her findings indicate that after years of experimenting with food, nature has taken its toll and deadly mutations occurred within crops. The pollinators, mainly the honeybees, have spread these mutations to the entire plant kingdom, which means a slow, but total extinction.Desperately trying to defy God by creating an "immortal gene" in Bees, Beatrix finds herself in an urgent struggle between evil and good.We also introduce the former billionaire Dr. John Zachary, a Nobel Prize recipient for curing cancer, who has dedicated his life to help others by restoring their Faith.John's belief that "only through loving one another, people can have God forgive them and save the earth, together" prevails when he and Beatrix fight for her dying daughter's life and all of mankind.Official Website: thesecondcomingofchristmovie.com IMDB Link: www.imdb.com/title/tt3543918 For further information on The Second Coming of Christ or to schedule a time to speak with Daniel Anghelcev or Diana Angelson, please contact Lauren Lewis at 818-970-0052 or llewispr@aol.com When Nissan showcased the GT-R, popularly called the 'Godzilla', at the 2016 Delhi Auto Expo, enthusiasts went crazy on the prospects of the car launching in India. Now, according to latest reports, Nissan is going to put an end to the long wait by launching the GT-R in its latest avatar on November 9. Pre-bookings for this exotic monster of a car had already commenced last month. And indicating the final price tag on the GT-R, the token amount had been set at a handsome Rs 25 lakh. Non conformists would have flinched at that, wondering why someone would spend that sort of money. But read about what the car has on offer and you might want to reconsider. Under the hood, Nissans high tech 3.8-litre, V6, 24-valve, twin-turbocharged engine that produces 570PS of power at 6,800rpm and 637Nm of torque. Handmade in a clean-room environment in Japan, the engine will transmit power to all four wheels via six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. This powertrain drives the car to 100kmph from dead halt in under three seconds! Whats more is that the car, donning its 2017 clothes, has also undergone a series of cosmetic changes to enhance its aerodynamics. A re-sculpted hood features on the car along with a new bumper, a V-motion grille and updated headlamp units with additional Daytime Running Light (DRL) setup, while the car looks pretty much unchanged from the rear. A set of slick Y-spoke wheels lends even more swagger to the car though. In India, the GT-R will be offered in the European-spec Premium Edition and will be available in the hues of Katsura Orange (new for 2017), Vibrant Red, Pearl Black, Storm White, Daytona Blue, Gun Metallic and Ultimate Silver. Set to be imported as a CBU, the car is expected to carry a price tag of a shade under Rs 2 crore (ex-shoroom). Source: CarDekho.com The initial spy shots of the BMW G 310 GS gave us enough hints that the bike exists and could be launched anytime soon. Now, the adventure bike from BMW has been spied testing again and the images that have surfaced online reveal further details about the said bike. The test mule was uncamouflaged and looked ready to go into production. Moreover, if BMW introduces the bike at the upcoming EICMA show next month, it wouldn't be a surprise at all. The "GS" moniker on the test bikes clearly hints that it is going to join the BMW GS family of adventure tourers and its styling with unique beak also mimics the bigger GS models. As the bike is based on the BMW G 310 R, it uses the same chassis along with the 313cc, fuel injected, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder engine. However, the cylinder head has been turned by 180-degrees to position the exhaust at the rear, with the inlet at the front. We don't expect any alteration in the performance of the engine that delivers 34PS of power at 9,500rpm and a peak torque of 28Nm at 7,500rpm. The fully-digital instrument console is also identical to the G 310 R. While the tubular steel bridge-type frame remains unchanged, the steering geometry has been rearranged, and the footpegs and the handlebar are also repositioned for a relaxed riding posture. The exhaust muffler also looks the same, but it is mounted at a more up-swept angle. The suspension set-up, including the 41mm inverted front forks and the directly mounted rear monoshock with the aluminium swingarm is also retained, while some linkage or set-up might have been used to lift the bike slightly up and provide longer suspension travel. Cast wheels of the upcoming BMW G 310 GS are also identical to its roadster sibling, however, the front one is a larger 19" unit, providing a taller stance to the bike. Complementing the purpose of the bike, it gets a Metzeler, which also help KTM Duke 390 remain sticky on the tarmac. The Metzeler Tourance rubber is 150/70 section at the rear and 110/80 section up front, which are dual sport type tyres. The 300 mm front disc brake with 4-piston callipers and 240mm rear disc with single-piston floating callipers are taken from the naked bike without any modification. The top box mounted on the spied BMW G 310 GS seems to be an optional accessory of the bike, along with the centre stand, which was missing on some of the test bikes. The rear pannier mounts will be standard fitment with the bike and we believe that the company will offer a host of additional accessories with the bike, such as luggage panniers, seat options, LED indicators, 12V charging sockets and heated grips. The bike falls in the entry-level adventure segment, which is quite popular in many countries, providing a wide scope to the BMW G 310 GS. Looking at the road conditions, India is also one of those countries which is now understanding the need of this kind of motorcycles, and the newly-launched Royal Enfield Himalayan has already proven that. Not only BMW, but the popular Austrian brand KTM will also be launching 390 adventure, which is based on Duke 390. The BMW G 310 GS is expected to be launched in the market sometime in 2017 with a price tag between Rs 2.5 - 2.8 lakh, which is also expected to be almost the same as its upcoming rival, the KTM 390 Duke-based adventure bike. The test mules ensure at least two colour options of the upcoming BMW G 310 GS, which are grey/black and red/silver. Like its roadster sibling, the bike has been developed by the Bavarian automaker in Germany, while it will be manufactured and serviced by its partner TVS. It will help the company to control the production cost and introduce the bike with a very competitive pricing, with launch expected by late-2017. Source: BikeDekho.com The research firm eMarketer is projecting a stronger 17 per cent jump in online holiday retail sales. San Francisco: US online giant Amazon on Thursday announced that it plans to hire 120,000 seasonal workers to help handle an expected crush of holiday shopping. The Seattle-based internet retail colossus takes such measures every year, but its recruitment goal for this Christmas season represent a 20 per cent jump from 2015. Amazon turned 14,000 of those temporary positions from last year into regular full-time jobs, and hoped to increase that number this time around, according to vice president of global customer fulfillment Mike Roth. "This is our favorite time of year," Roth said. "We're excited to bring on more than 120,000 seasonal employees this year to support growing customer demand." Amazon is not the only retailer to beef up its forces during the year-end holiday shopping season, but seemed more optimistic about demand than some traditional players who plan to keep seasonal hiring unchanged or even lower than last year. Macy's is hiring 83,000 holiday workers as compared to 85,000 last season. Target increased the number of holiday delivery and shipping related jobs by 1,000 to a total of 7,500, but hiring in retail shops will remain the same as last year -- 70,000 positions. Shipping service UPS plans to take on 95,000 seasonal workers to meet holiday demands for deliveries. The US National Retail Federation estimated that spending by US shoppers during the holiday months of November and December could reach $655.8 billion in a 3.6 per cent increase year-over-year. The NRF expected online sales to surge seven to 10 per cent to as much as $117 billion. The research firm eMarketer is projecting a stronger 17 per cent jump in online holiday retail sales. New Delhi: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today said its consortium with Japan's Sojitz Corp has won a Rs 3,799 crore railway contract. The Transportation Infrastructure Business of L&T Construction has "won a major order worth Rs 3,799 crore from the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL)", the company said in a statement. The order has been secured by a consortium of L&T Ltd and Sojitz Corp, Japan, it said, adding that this design and build integrated package involves the construction of track works, overhead electrification, traction substations and signaling & telecom works. The project is for double line electrified tracks with 2x25 kV AC, high rise overhead catenary system capable of operating at a maximum train speed of 100 Km/h, from Rewari to Dadri (128 Km). Located at the northern end of Western Corridor, it forms a link between the Eastern & Western Corridors. "The Works will be carried out between Rewari and Dadri (128 Km) through the regions of Rewari-Alwar-Mewat-Gurgaon-Palwal-Faridabad-GB Nagar in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan & Uttar Pradesh," the statement said. L&T will construct 1,042 Km out of the total 1,464 Km of track in the Western Corridor. "In addition, L&T will be electrifying the entire Western Corridor from Dadri to JNPT covering 1,464 route km with over 3,330 track km of High Rise electrification," it said. The scope of work includes construction of 315 Track Kms of Railway Line, 29 major & 240 minor bridges, a long Tunnel, 2 Traction Sub Stations (TSS), 321 track km of Overhead Equipment and Intermediate block signaling (IBS) at 5 Stations along with supply of all associated equipment. DFCCIL is a special purpose vehicle of the Indian Railways, mandated to build dedicated freight corridors. This project is funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and is part of the western corridor proposed between Dadri (near Delhi) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (near Mumbai). Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka (right) with COO Pravin Rao during the announcement of the second quarter financial results of the company at its headquarter in Bengaluru on Friday. (Photo: AP0 Mumbai: Infosys disappointed investors by lowering its annual revenue growth forecast for the second time in the last three months citing an uncertain external environment. While the company reported a better than expected net profit for the quarter, it slashed its FY17 growth guidance to 8-9 per cent in constant currency terms. The IT major reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,606 crore, up 6.1 per cent from the same period last year. While we continue to navigate an uncertain external environment, we remain focused on executing our strategy and increasing momentum of our software plus services model. Considering our performance in the first half of the year and the near-term uncertain business outlook, we are revising our revenue guidance, said Vishal Sikka, CEO, Infosys Ltd. However he added that the company had won large orders of over $1.2 billion, which according to him was good in a difficult and structurally challenging time. Infosys added 78 clients in Q2, taking its total number of active clients to 1,136. In July, Infosys had lowered its FY17 revenue growth guidance to between 10.5 per cent 12 per cent amidst slowdown in discretionary spending in its key markets abroad. While Infosys Q2FY17 constant currency revenue growth of 3.9 per cent QoQ was significantly higher than our estimates, some of the headwinds that we were factoring in Q2, primarily from the RBS contract termination will pan out in second half of FY17, said Ashish Chopra, Motilal Oswal Securities. The revenue department on October 10 issued an order asking officials not to go on any protest and cited service rules that bar such action. New Delhi: In the run-up to GST rollout, the finance ministry has warned tax officials of disciplinary action if they go ahead with planned protests, including taking mass casual leave, on the budget day. The All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers is opposed to any assessee of excise and service tax being moved to states in the new GST regime and has given notice for protest that includes lunch hour dharnas and mass casual leave on the budget day. The revenue department on October 10 issued an order asking officials not to go on any protest and cited service rules that bar such action. "GST is a major tax reform. All decisions will be taken by the GST Council, keeping in mind the interest of all concerned - the tax payer and officers. Against this background, you are advised to refrain from proposed course of action," it said. The order cited service rules that do not permit participation in demonstrations and strikes. The service rules attached with the order stated that "disciplinary action should be taken against the prominent participants in the 'gherao' by striking officers, and absence from work on account of participation in such a protest should be treated as "unauthorised absence involving break in service". "The absence should not be regularised as leave of any kind," the service rules said. Rule 7 cited in the order states that no government service shall "engage himself or participate in any demonstration which is prejudicial to the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state..." The association plans to hold lunch hour dharnas on November 9, wearing black badge in office on December 7, day-long protest on January 5 and mass casual leave on budget day by all officers. In its memorandum to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the association said the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) and its officers and employees have experience and expertise of more than 70 years in handling excise and service tax "which is missing with state officers". It wanted that "none of the assessees of central excise (to be levied CGST on supply of goods) and service tax (to be levied CGST on supply of services) should be transfered to states for the purpose of levy and collection of CGST by the officers of states". "All central excise and service tax assessees falling above the annual turnover of Rs 20 lakh should necessarily be controlled by the Centre and its officers only. No need to say we require a strong and powerful Centre in our federal system," it added. It wants CBEC and its officers only to collect C-GST and I-GST. "State government officials should be allowed to collect only SGST on intra-state supply of goods and services," the body proposed. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ platforms Beijing: Calls for boycott of Chinese goods in India following China's opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar have failed as sales of Chinese products in the country hit a record high during the festive season, official media here said today. "Diwali, one of the most important Hindu festivals and one of the biggest shopping seasons in India, is coming at the end of October, but encouragement to boycott Chinese goods has been spreading in the last few days on Indian social media, and even a few Indian politicians are exaggerating facts," an article in the state-run Global Times said. "However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian media's hysteric reports of a "doomsday" for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation," it said. "The boycott has not achieved success. Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ platforms,"the article said. Referring to the boycott calls over China's technical hold on moves to bring about a ban on Azhar as well Beijing obstructing India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG), it said. "Chinese products are often the victim when regional situations get tense, and this phenomenon has been existing for quite a few years. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue," it said. "The bilateral trade relationship is one of the pillars of the Sino-Indian relationship. The trade volume was over USD 70 billion in 2015, and China's investment in India soared to around USD 870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014," it said. India has been expressing concern over the trade deficit which last year touched USD 46 billion. "To some extent, the economic relationship is the barometer of the political relationship. There shouldn't be huge fluctuation in terms of economic cooperation if the political relationship keeps steady between the two," it said. "For the dragon and elephant, enhancing economic ties would be a preferable way to promote the comprehensive bilateral relationship. The more economic cooperation exists, the more opportunities there will be for Chinese products to enter the Indian market. "India is a big potential market, and people using smartphones and doing online shopping has become the irreversible trend in the new era," it said. The commercial cooperation between these two countries could also be focused on e-commerce, service and financial investment. Another article in the same daily said India has to upgrade its industrial structures to address USD 46 billion trade deficit. Official data during September showed India had exported goods worth USD 922 million to China, while importing goods worth USD 5.4 billion from China. "The huge trade deficit with China has become an increasingly unharmonious factor in bilateral ties between the two countries, requiring China and India to take practical measures to narrow the trade imbalance when leaders of the two nations meet in India over the weekend for the BRICS summit," the article said. "The two countries have made concerted efforts to narrow the trade imbalance, including signing a five-year trade and economic cooperation agreement in 2014, but it seems that such moves have had only limited effects. What we need to do now is find out the root causes of the trade imbalance," it said. The major imports from China include electronic components, telecom instruments, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, while India's major exports to China include ore, plastics and cotton. "The imbalanced bilateral trade structure is actually a result of the fact that China and India are at different developmental stages in terms of industrialisation. It won't be easy to reduce India's trade deficit with China simply by relying on measures such as seeking greater access to the Chinese market for India's raw materials and agricultural products - India also needs to upgrade its industrial structure," it said. "In other words, India seeking to solve the problem of the China-India trade imbalance cannot anchor its hopes on efforts such as persuading Chinese people to consume more Indian goods at a time when more and more Indian young people are keen to use Chinese-made goods such as smartphones," it said. "Efforts such as encouraging Chinese smartphone makers to set up production lines in India may be the most effective way to reduce the trade deficit, which is partly the result of a price gap between India's imports of finished goods and its exports of raw materials," it said. "But sadly, it seems that India is not on the right path, as the country is trying to reduce its trade deficit with China through trade protectionism," it said, adding that there had been 322 anti-dumping cases in India so far, of which 177 cases involved Chinese products. "Besides, a social media campaign urging people to refrain from buying China-made products has recently been building in India. Such moves will not help contribute to reducing India's trade deficit, but could damage bilateral ties instead," it said. For Infosys, North America contributes 61.5 per cent of the revenues, while Europe and India accounted for 22.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively. Bengaluru: Country's second largest software services firm Infosys today said it does not foresee any "particular external impact" of Britain's exit from the European Union (Brexit) on its performance. The Bengaluru-based company joins peer TCS in dismissing possibility of adverse impact of Brexit on the business prospects of the multi-billion dollar Indian outsourcing industry. "...from the banking perspective, we are not particularly affected by Brexit so far, beyond couple of isolated cases," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka told reporters here. Pointing out that Infosys has clients that are growing significantly in Europe and North America, Sikka downplayed the impact saying even though there are few clients seeing decline because of Brexit, he "did not see any particular external impact." "In our industry, we tend to over emphasise this whole idea of impact of big macro factors like Brexit, oil and all that," he added. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) yesterday said it is keeping a "close watch" on the events unfolding post Britain's decision to leave the European Union, but is yet to see any client-specific negativity. "Sometimes in some areas like oil prices or Brexit or these kinds of things... can have some impact, but the bigger structural issues that is impacting all of our clients in our industry is the nature of computing the nature of digital," Sikka said. The former SAP board member, who took over as Infosys chief two years back, said there is an opportunity for companies like Infosys that can take advantage and deliver digital services to clients. When asked about the impact of the US election on the Indian IT sector, Sikka quipped, "Is it November 8th yet" US Presidential candidate Donald Trump has threatened to end outsourcing and put up many trade protectionist measures if elected to the White House. The US is the largest market for the domestic software exporters. For Infosys, North America contributes 61.5 per cent of the revenues, while Europe and India accounted for 22.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively. New Delhi: The government has so far not discussed the issue of withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today. India, she said, had extended the MFN status to Pakistan as a "goodwill gesture" way back in 1996 but unfortunately the neighbouring country has not yet extended the same to New Delhi. "On the issue of the withdrawal of MFN from Pakistan, strictly speaking, that has not yet been discussed," she told reporters here. The decision to withdraw the status or not will have to be taken by the government and "I cannot comment on that", she added. Last month, government had decided to review the MFN status given to Pakistan at a meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the meeting was postponed. The review decision was taken in the wake of the Uri attack. India also considered the option of dragging Pakistan to WTO over non-extension of the status. The neighbouring country has missed its own deadline of December 2012 for giving India this tag. As per the global trade norms, member countries of the WTO are required to give non-discriminatory market access as part of the MFN status to each other. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 2.61 billion in 2015-16. Talking about increasing imports from China, the minister said there is no instrument to completely stop imports from one country. It is impossible to completely ban imports from one country, she added. "But if one wants to restrict the imports because that country is giving more subsidy or on quality issue, then we have instruments like we can impose anti-dumping duties or safeguard measures," she added. India has time and again raised the issue of widening trade deficit with China. In her meeting with Chinese Vice Minister for Finance and Commerce Wang Shouwen, Sitharaman has asked for providing greater market access for Indian products there. China has assured India that it will act on the concerns expressed by India. In 2015-16, India's exports to China were USD 9 billion, while imports were USD 61.7 billion, leaving a huge trade deficit of USD 52.7 billion. Spicejet is a major player in regional connectivity space wants to increase its daily flights by 10 per cent and also introduce new international destinations. Hyderabad: Low frills carrier SpiceJet today said it is planning to add about three Bombardiers and 4 to 5 Boeings by the end of the current fiscal as it wants to increase its daily flights by 10 per cent and also introduce new international destinations. "We have 17 planes for regional connectivity. Spicejet is a major player in regional connectivity space. Few weeks back, we have added three Bombardiers. We will be adding three more in the current financial year," Ajay Singh CMD of SpiceJet told reporters on the sidelines of a Ficci Ladies Organisation programme here today. "We will be adding 4 or 5 aircraft this year. They will mostly be Boeings," he said. Currently, SpiceJet is having a fleet of 43 aircraft operating 320 flights a day. Replying to a query, Singh said within next few weeks they will be adding 2 to 3 international destinations. Currently, it operates to six countries. "We are flying to six countries as of now. We are looking at more options. In the next few weeks, we will announce some more routes. We will be announcing two to three destinations more. Our strategy is to operate in 4 hour-window journey," he said. On its proposed order, the CMD said they are talking to both Airbus and Boeing for placing an order of over 100 aircraft. The deal will be finalised in a month, he said, adding that the whole order will either go to Boeing or Airbus. "We are going to finalise in a month. It will be either Boeing or Airbus. We will not be rushed into a decision. It will not be mix of both. It has to be done at right price. So, we have to be very careful. We have closed many issues related to aircraft purchase. It could be more than 100 aircraft," he said. He said the budget airline is also mulling to operate flights from Hyderabad to Tier-II cities like Nagpur, Calicut and Bhubaneswar. The Airline has continuously been making profits for the few quarters on the back of operational efficiency, he claimed. Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that it was not possible to impose a blanket ban on imports from any one country. New Delhi: The social media campaign against the Chinese goods during Diwali is having an impact on the ground. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said due to social media campaign there has been a 20 per cent decline in demand so far from retailers. There has been a debate in social media on boycotting Chinese product. These products are already with the wholesalers but there has been a 20 per cent decline in demand from the retail traders as they are worried whether people will actually buy it or not, said CAIT, secretary general Praveen Khandelwal. Mr Khandelwal said CAIT will go with the mood of the people and honour their calls for ban on Chinese products. We expect that the goods which are in stock with the wholesalers will get sold over time, otherwise a lot of cash of traders will get stuck, he said. There has been a social media call for boycott of Chinese goods in during Diwali after Uri terror attcak as people are upset due to Chinas opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar. However, on imposing ban on Chinese products, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday that it was not possible to impose a blanket ban on imports from any one country. She also said that till now no discussion has taken in the government to withdraw most favoured nation status to Pakistan. Whatever be the reason, we don't have any instrument to prevent imports from only one country. Today there may be reason A, B or C but because of that, we want to stop imports from one country that will not be possible. But if one wants to restrict the imports because that country is giving more subsidy or on quality issue, then we have instruments like we can impose anti-dumping duties or safeguard measures, Ms Sitharaman said. Meanwhile Chinese media claimed that boycott call of its products in India have failed as sales of Chinese products in the country hit a record high during the festive season. However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian medias hysteric reports of a doomsday for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation, it said. Mumbai: Karan Johar's Diwali entertainer Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has been cleared by the Censor Board of India with an U/A certification. The film starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan celebrates love this festive season. The characters in the movie navigate through life and relationships to discover their true essence of love. Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions says, "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has been cleared by the censor board and we are gearing up for its release on the 28th of October. Diwali is all about love and Ae Dil is all about spreading love." Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, adds, "Karan Johar's films present love in its most purest yet unique and modern way and this Diwali he is celebrating love, friendship and heartbreak. We are set for the film's release on October 28. There can be no better way than celebrating Diwali with Ae Dil, a quintessential family entertainer." The film has been co-produced by Fox Star Studios and Dharma Productions. Mumbai: Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan in the wake of Uri terror attack last month, Cinema Owners & Exhibitors Association of India have decided to not release Karan Johar's upcoming film 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan alongside Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The film, which is set to release next week on October 28, will not be screened in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa. On Friday, the association held a third meeting to decide the fate of Karan Johar's upcoming film. After a long session, Nitin Dattar, the president of the association, announced that they will not be releasing Indian films that feature Pakistani actors. "We have decided that we will not screen these films with Pakistani actors," said Nitin Datar. The exhibitors association has told all members to not release 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' as it may hurt the sentiments of Indians. "Today, the meeting of Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India took place and it was decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and the national interest of our country, we request all our members and exhibitors to refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artist, technicians, directors, music directors etc," Datar said. "We are also in the process of requesting other associations connected with the film industry to support the sentiments in the best interest of our nation." "The association is not going to screen any movie and the decision implies from today until things don't get normal," Datar added. After the terror attack on Uri Army camp, in which 19 soldiers lost their lives, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had given a 48-hour ultimatum to Pakistani artistes to leave India or will be kicked out. It was reported that due to MNS' threat, Fawad Khan secretly flew back to Pakistan. In an interview, Raj Thackeray had said, We have asked the theatres to not release their movie, we must teach them a lesson, the producers are more at fault than those artistes. Earlier, it was reported that the makers were planning to swap Fawad's face with Saif Ali Khan's. However, later the makers quashed the rumours, saying that they will not replace Fawad Khan in the film. Things got messier when Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) announced a ban on Pakistani artists and technicians for an indefinite period until normalcy returns. After many Indian artistes voiced their opinions on the issue, Pakistani actors such as Fawad Khan, Mawra Hocane and Mahira Khan also broke their silence. While Fawad's statement was slammed for being diplomatic, Mawra and Mahira openly condemned the terror attack. Mumbai: Renowned Bollywood photographer Jagdish Kamble aka Jagdish Aurangabadkar allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Goregaon this morning, police said. The body of 65-year-old Jagdish Aurangabadkar was found hanging from the ceiling of his home, they said, adding the incident took place between 9 am and 12.30 pm. The photographer had been staying alone since his wife and son left him a year ago over a property dispute, police added. Vanrai police found six envelopes containing suicide letters in different languages addressed to his friends, thanking them for supporting him. A case has been registered. Mumbai: With just few days to go for Ae Dil Hai Mushkils release, the Cinema Owners & Exhibitors Association of Indias decision of not releasing Indian films that feature Pakistani actors comes out as a shocking news for the films makers. On Friday, the association held a third meeting to decide the fate of Karan Johar's upcoming film, which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in pivotal role. After a long session, Nitin Datar, the president of the association, announced that they will not be releasing Indian films that feature Pakistani actors in single screen theatres. While speaking to Indian Expression, Nitin Datar informs that there isnt a ban as of now and they have only suspended the release of films with Pakistani artistes on board. There is no ban. We have only suspended the release of films where Pakistani artists or technicians are connected. Our decision is that we will not screen or release the movies in our cinemas, Datar said. He also revealed that they have requested all the members to not screen the film keeping in mind the sensitive sentiments of Indians. He added This is a request to all our members to not screen the film keeping in mind the sentiments of the Indian public. Its been happening for the last one month in the wake of the Uri attacks and cross-border firing. The sentiments of public are against Pakistani films. Pakistan has already banned our Hindi content on satellite. We havent done that. We have taken the decision to suspend films featuring Pakistani actors, given patriotic sentiments of our public. The public will be happy that the association took such a decision. Mumbai: Actor Amit Sadh says superstar Salman Khan-starrer Sultan, which featured him in a prominent role, has given a new lease of life to his career. Amit made a promising debut with Kai Po Che! in 2013 but success eluded him until Sultan, which is not only his biggest hit so far but has also got him offers from many filmmakers. "For me, 'Sultan' was like a resurrection. I think my career was almost dead. You go through these lows and highs in life, especially in a film career and you live with your chin up. I am very grateful to the director, Ali (Abbas Zafar) who thought I could do this role," Amit told PTI. "And the rest is history. Salman sir blessed me. He blessed me with a great role and he blessed me with Sultan and I am very grateful to everyone," the actor added. The 37-year-old actor held his own in front of the larger-than-life persona of Salman, and Amit says it is his honesty as a performer which came across on screen. "I really didn't try to match up to Salman Sir's persona because even if you try you can't match him. I just tried to be honest to my role and my character. I have just enjoyed every bit of standing in the same frame with that legend," he added. Sultan, also starring Anushka Sharma, will have its television premiere on Sony Max, tomorrow. Post the film, things are looking up for the actor. Amit says from a time when he didn't have many options to now selecting a script, he has come a long way. "I always tell everyone in a joke that there are always two answers to a question. One is a typical actor answer where you sound so intellectual and you sound so correct and you are so busy and you have a million offersI am not that kind of a guy. I am a guy who says as it is. But yes, after Sultan there are more filmmakers who are looking at me for meatier roles and there is more faith in them. And yes, I think 'Sultan' gave me the greatest platform ever to showcase my talent. So things have changed definitely," Amit added. Many fans felt the climax of Sultan calls for a sequel. Amit, however, says that decision lies with the director and Salman. "That answer only the director Ali and Salman Sir can give. I am too small to dictate all this. But I am also a Salman fan and I definitely think there should be a sequel and I have a vested interest in this because I would break an arm and a leg to be with Salman Sir again in a film again, he concluded. Mumbai: Alia Bhatt went de-glam with her last release Udta Punjab, where she played an intense character of a Bihari migrant labourer. While the role showcased her versatility, the actress will still be known for her cute and bubbly roles in films like 2 States and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, as that is closer to what she is in real life. The actress displayed that cute side of her again as she stepped out, dressed casually, with her mother Soni Razdan and sister Shaheen for dinner in Mumbai. The trio happily posed when they were greeted by shutterbugs while exiting the restaurant. Alias sister Shaheen was also seen with her and the other actors during the Dream Team concerts in USA. Alia will next be seen in Gauri Shindes Dear Zindagi also starring Shah Rukh Khan. Mumbai: Sunny Leones film Beiimaan Love is gearing up for release on Friday but the director Rajeev Chaudhari is not happy with the struggles he faced while making it. The film, which sees Sunny Leone indulge in several lovemaking scenes with Rajneesh Duggal, was not promoted by the actress and her husband Daniel Weber and Chaudhari claims that it was because he refused to chop off her intimate scenes in the film. The duo is going through a psychological fear and box-office phobia. Sunnys previous outings have not fared well. After seeing the rough cut, they wanted me to chop off intimate scenes between the actress and Rajneesh. Daniel claimed that he had contributed his bit by revamping Sunnys films on the editing table. But I did not like his interference and requested them to avoid doing so. I think they got upset with my decision, Chaudhari told Mid-Day. He added, It was disheartening that Sunny and Daniel did not promote the film because I didnt edit the scenes and cut other actors roles. He also stated that Sunny felt insecure with the presence of Zeisha Nancy in the film and that he couldnt understand the reason behind it. He also stated that after the failure of her last two films Mastizaade and One Night Stand, distributors were not convinced with backing a film starring Sunny and that he stretched the budget to release the film himself. After Mastizaade, Sunny and Daniel felt that she should start changing her glamorous doll-like image, which is why they were against performing the bedroom scenes. I told them that I would shoot it in an aesthetic way so that it doesnt look sleazy. However, Daniel insisted that we execute the scenes in the living room or kitchen with Sunny dressed in Indian outfits. I refused and finally, managed without the scenes, he added. Mumbai: If there is a Hindi film that can compete or even come anywhere close to Dakota Johnson starrer Fifty Shades of Grey, it is this film! This high-on-sex-scenes thriller is sure to blow your mind when the insanely sensuous Sana Khan makes love (which is all the time) with Gurmeet Chaudhary and Rajneesh Duggal. The opening scene is in itself a pleasant surprise for the audience, the one you wouldnt want to miss! One hint: a female lead spreads her legs. The only two characters who are away from the tempting seductresses Sana Khan and Sherlyn Chopra (yes, she is part of it) is Sharma Joshi. He will be seen playing the role of a police officer and perhaps the only one who has some interest in solving the murder mysteries. Sana Khan, although a lawyer in the film, is seen outside of court most of the times flaunting her skimpy bikinis and carrying out her multiple sexual encounters with perfection. A film by T-Series, the film has Rajneesh Duggal playing the character of a business tycoon trapped in a murder case and Gurmeet Chaudhary will don the role of a lawyer fighting against him. Both these characters have one thing in common there involvement with the vivacious Sana! While the trailer does not give a very good impression of the film, it is highly likely to do well. And, all eyes will be glued to one diva Sana Khan! Watch the trailer here: Mumbai: Shashank Khaitans romantic comedy Badrinath ki Dulhaniya, is ready to accommodate another star to its already powerful star cast. Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan, who are currently shooting for the film, revealed in a dramatic video that one of the Khans is joining the film and that it is a lady Khan. When Alia dropped her stole, it revealed the face of beautiful Gauhar Khan who also confirmed the news saying she is so excited to be a part of the film. Gauhar khan's role in the film has not been disclosed yet. The movie is reportedly based on dowry system. Watch the video here: Say hello to the newest member of the #BadrinathKiDulhania family.. And a super talented one as well @GAUAHAR_KHAN pic.twitter.com/FTgdwjnqFy Varun dhawan (@Varun_dvn) October 14, 2016 Alia is on a roll after the release of Udta Punjab, which went on to become a commercial success. Varun, on the other hand, did not have much luck with his brother, Rohit Dhawans Dishoom. Alia and Varun are coming together after Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya and Gauhar Khan will be working with them for the first time. A Bollywood-themed park is coming up in Dubai and some of the biggest stars have lent their support in the making of the park. A video showing Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Farhan Akhtar and Hrithik Roshan shooting for their parts was unveiled by the makers few weeks ago. And now, the behind the scenes of Salmans shoot for the park have also been unveiled. Salman has returned to his Dabangg look as a cop for the same and his brother Arbaaz Khan, who played his brother in the film, will also recreate the same role for this portion, to be directed by Rock On 2 director Shujaat Saudagar. Watch the video here: As soon as the moustache comes on and uniform comes on, suddenly the voice changes, that gait changes and the whole personality changes, Salman says in the video. About working with his brother Arbaaz, Salman quips, As long as we are not working together we are fine. Salman's part and other such shots would be used in creating rides, shows and other attractions for the park. The construction of the park has been on since 2012 and is reportedly set to be launched this month. Mumbai: Everyone is familiar with the word b*tch, especially women, who come across this word in their average day-to-day life. The term has been used in different context but who is a b*tch? In a new video, we see Kamal Haasans beautiful daughter Shruti Haasan defining the term in the most elaborated way one can. She also tells us why one must think twice before calling a woman a b*tch. Shruti recently collaborated with Culture Machine's digital channel 'Blush' and came out with a video called 'Be The Bitch'. In the video, we hear Shruti saying, Bitch is an eyeroll you make to classify any woman who is not your cup of tea just because she refuses to pour it. She goes on further and says,Bitch is a teacher who stands against a system. The bitch is a girl who said no and she meant and went away with a yes safely tucked in a handbag. A bitch is a stud with boobs. Watch the video below: People from the industry applauded the actress for her video on Twitter. The Expression as is!! @shrutihaasan you are Rockstar!! More power to you!! https://t.co/mHvd7ehpwE Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) October 13, 2016 Very few speak their mind without filters! Here's one new age rockstar doing her thing @shrutihaasan https://t.co/gf3XmRR2yN Sushanth A (@iamSushanthA) October 13, 2016 @shrutihaasan Tis is fab !!More powa 2 ya galhttps://t.co/0A8Kaivp8I Trisha Krishnan (@trishtrashers) October 13, 2016 She may come across as petite and coy on first look, but this pretty Bollywood and Kollywood star is dauntless and wears her unabashed attitude on her sleeve. We caught up with Ileana DCruz, who was in Bengaluru on Thursday on the invitation of a Canadian lingerie brand over a candid conversation as she let us in on her reel and real life. Looking stunning, shes a sight to behold in a well-fitted black jacket, tights and a gold pendant engraved with zero fu***, albeit in tiny, easy-to-be-missed size, but our preying eyes couldnt help notice it and we prod the feisty star on the same. Ileana who started out when she was 18 and always speaks her mind, replies, My motto is I dont care and I dont think anybody should. You have one life, enjoy it to the fullest and this pendant just speaks that. Nudge her about her love life and her holidays with Australian boyfriend Andrew Kneebone and Ileana whos basking in the glow of love reveals, Hes an amazing photographer and is one person who has taken photos of me, unlike anyone else. He takes the real me and most of them are natural, where Im not decked up in make-up. Ive never met anyone like him. Hes very stable, unique, filled with information and super supportive. Hes my strength. Hes very proud of my movies and there have been times when Ive been critical and he tells me not to put myself down. When asked if he has watched her movies, she quips, Ive shown him only good movies of mine. The couple likes to holiday often. The last place we went to was Fiji and it was beautiful. We snorkeled a lot, did deep sea fishing and also did kayaking. Im a complete beach bum. She did a cameo in a Kannada film Huduga Hudugi. Ive come to Bengaluru for Main Tera Hero where we shot in a college. I love this city and the pleasant weather. The Barfi and Rustom star is excited about her upcoming movies, Baadshaho and Mubarakan she states how theyre both from different genres and have an ensemble cast. Baadshaho is with Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta and my role is challenging. Mubarakan is with Arjun Kapoor, Amrita Singh, Anil Kapoor, and Athiya Shetty. Im starting shooting next month. Mumbai: Stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton, Director Scott Derrickson, Producer Kevin Feige and Executive Producer Stephen Broussard launched the global promotional tour for Marvel Studios with Asia being their first stop. Starting the Doctor Strange promotion tour in Hong Kong, marking the first time a Marvel Studios talent tour has had a scheduled stop in the region. Doctor Strange features Hong Kong in a pivotal sequence as it tells the story of Stephen Strange, Marvels latest Super Hero to hit the big screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Set against the world-renowned Victoria Harbour skyline, a nighttime event was staged in honor of the visitors. Between the screams of adorning local fans and reporters from all over the Asia Pacific region, filmmakers and stars stepped onto the red carpet at the Open Piazza of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Capping off the festivities, the distinguished guests ignited a specially designed wheel of pyrotechnics inspired by the title characters ability to create round- shaped dimensional getaways in the movie. The lighting signified 'Doctor Strange' being welcomed into Hong Kong as the start of the global promotional tour that will take the group to multiple cities circumventing the globe, as well as celebrating the arrival of the latest Marvel action super blockbuster sure to take the world by storm when it hits Indian theatres on the 4th of November 2016. Kim Kardashian was robbed by masked gumen in her Paris apartment on October 3. Mumbai: Kim Kardashian recently returned on Twitter to downsize her followed accounts.The 35-year-old reality star, whose personal life took a sudden turn following her involvement in a Parisian robbery two weeks ago, recently made an unconventionally quiet return to the same platform that many believe threatened her privacy, reports E! Online. Fans were quick to notice her social media ratio when Kardashian unfollowed 14 people on her account. The 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star's latest online activity is especially notable given that this is the first since the life-threatening incident in her hotel room in Paris. For the unversed, Kardashian was bound and gagged in her luxury apartment in Paris by two armed men pretending to be police. The robbers reportedly forced their way into the hotel apartment and made off with 10 million dollars in jewelry, part of which included a four million dollar diamond ring gifted by her husband Kanye West. The star has since put her professional life on hold. An insider reportedly said that she is doing better but still has a long way to recover from the robbery. Prior to the release of Premam (the Telugu remake of the Malayalam flick of the same name), many expressed criticism, especially on social media, that Shruti Haasan may not be able to carry off the role originally played by Sai Pallavi. But to everyones surprise Shrutis role of a teacher in the film, has become the highlight. Comparing the two, she says that the Telugu character is more dominant. She is dignified, elegant and graceful not like me and thats the reason I liked the character. When it comes to pressure, I am above all of it because if you notice, my surname is Haasan. I have seen pressure from my childhood and I never feel it, she says. The actress has now been paired opposite Pawan Kalyan for the second time, in his upcoming film, Katamarayudu, which again, is a remake. I am a remake rani. If you look at my entire career, I have done so many remakes, laughs the actress. She added that working with Pawan Kalyan has always been special. Yes. My career changed with the film Gabbar Singh (first break for Shruti Haasan) and it was also a high point for me. Working with Pawan Kalyan is very special, says the actress. Talking about her co-star, Naga Chaitanya, she says that he is one of her dear friends. Even before we entered movies, we were both good friends. Chaitanya has given a fantastic performance in the movie. As a friend, I am happy for him, says Shruti. Talking about her fathers film Sabaash Naidu, she says that the film is almost complete, except for a small part. My character is very young, bold and modern, she says. She added that it is very difficult to do a film in three languages. This is the first time I have done a film in three languages Hindi, then Tamil and Telugu. Though it is challenging, it is a learning experience for me, she says. Talking about her latest video Be The B**ch, she claims that she loves to write whenever she feels good about something. Basically, through the channel The Unblush, Culture Machine allows people to express themselves and so, I thought its a great opportunity. I am very concerned about women and their rights. I would like to use my status and the God given position that I have today, to make a difference. I just felt like expressing it and they understood what I was trying to say. She added that her hands are now full with films in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. I would love to extend my writing to films too, but right now, I am busy. Writing makes me very happy, she says. KOZHIKODE: As the world observes Breast Cancer Awareness Month, doctors say the modern lifestyle makes women more vulnerable to the disease. An alarming increase of breast cancer is seen in India compared to other countries. With the aim of creating awareness and early detection, Pratheeksha, an organisation of cancer survivors, will conduct a camp on Saturday at Malabar Christian College offering free screening tests by lady doctors. They will be introducing a mammogram van that consists of all the equipment required. Amongst one lakh women, 35 have breast cancer. Initially, it was 15, and there is a constant increase in the number as time passes due to the present living styles, said Dr Narayanankutty Warrier, oncologist and co-founder of Pratheeksha. Breast cancer is hormone related and caused by its fluctuation in number. The longer the fluctuation of hormones the higher the tendency of cancer. Hormone fluctuation is at its peak during the menstrual cycle. Due to present life conditions, studies prove that menarche starts at the age of eight which was initially 15. Even menopause is delayed by five to ten years which increases the risk of cancer he added explaining the increase in number by 300 times. The causes include lack of physical activity, stress and delaying the age of first delivery. The idle age is 25 to 30. But the current lifestyle has higher tendencies to cross 30 years for first delivery and the use of contraceptive pills is increasing at a higher rate. All these can contribute to the appearances of cancer. Breast cancer is relatively high in India as 50 percent of the patients are subject to late detection said Dr Mini Warrier, co-founder of Pratheeksha. The disease can easily be healed with 98 to 100 percent cure rates during the first stage of detection. Its high time to come forward and stop shying away about it. Women above twenty years should conduct self-examination every one month to understand the changes, she added. New Delhi: Tuberculosis epidemic in India is "larger" than what was previously estimated, the World Health Organisation(WHO) today said while asserting that the country was one of six nations which accounted for 60 per cent of the new cases in 2015. The Global Tuberculosis Report 2016 which was released today, however, said the number of TB deaths and incidences rate continue to fall globally as well as in India. "The TB epidemic is larger than previously estimated, reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India. However, the number of TB deaths and the TB incidence rate continue to fall globally and in India," WHO said. It said that in 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new (incident) TB cases worldwide, of which 5.9 million (56 per cent) were among men, 3.5 million (34 per cent) among women and 1.0 million (10 per cent) among children while people living with HIV accounted for 1.2 million (11 per cent) of all new TB cases. "Six countries accounted for 60 per cent of the new cases - India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. Global progress depends on major advances in TB prevention and care in these countries," the global health body said in its report. It said worldwide, the rate of decline in TB incidence remained at only 1.5 per cent from 2014 to 2015 and stressed the need for it to accelerate to a 4-5 per cent annual decline by 2020 to reach the first milestones of the End TB Strategy. "In 2015, there were an estimated 480000 new cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and an additional 100000 people with rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) who were also newly eligible for MDR-TB treatment. "India, China and the Russian Federation accounted for 45 per cent of the combined total of 580000 cases. There were an estimated 1.4 million TB deaths in 2015, and an additional 0.4 million deaths resulting from TB disease among people living with HIV. Although the number of TB deaths fell by 22 per cent between 2000 and 2015, TB remained one of the top 10 causes of death world wide in 2015," it said. WHO said that in 2015, 6.1 million new TB cases were notified to national authorities and reported to WHO while notified TB cases increased from 2013-2015, mostly due to a34 per cent increase in notifications in India. "However, globally there was a 4. 3 million gap between incident and notified cases, with India, Indonesia and Nigeria accounting for almost half of this gap. The crisis of MDR-TB detection and treatment continues. "In 2015, of the estimated 580000 people newly eligible for MDR-TB treatment, only 125000 (20 per cent) were enrolled. Five countries accounted for more than 60 per cent of the gap - India, China, the Russian Federation, Indonesia and Nigeria," it said. WHO said that the upward revisions to estimates of the burden of TB disease in India for the period 2000-2015 follow accumulating evidence that previous estimates were "too low". Udaipur in Rajasthan, Mumbai and Delhi have also featured in the top 10 list (Photo: AFP) With Diwali round the corner, which can get you a long weekend this year, Dubai has topped the list of popular searches for out-bound destinations for Indians while Goastays on top domestically, says a report. For the upcoming long Diwali weekend, Dubai is the top searched out-bound destination for Indians while Goacontinues to rule on the domestic front, showed searchresults by Hotels.Com. Udaipur in Rajasthan, Mumbai and Delhi have also featured in the top 10 list. Among the out-bound destinations, Bali in Indonesia, Phuket and Bangkok in Thailand and Singapore are the other top destinations Indians are exploring, it said. The findings of the report are based on actual searches on Hotels.Com from January 1 to September 30 for travel during October 30 to November 3. It also found that there is a surge in searches for destinations like Baa Atoll (Maldives), which grew by 498 per cent over last year followed by Vienna in Austria, Gurugram (in NCR), Kolkata in West Bengal and Barcelona in Spain. Hotels.Com LP operates Hotels.Com, a leading online accommodation booking website, with properties ranging from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favourites with bed and breakfast. A tiger quickly attacked her and dragged her off, prompting the second woman to leave the vehicle in an attempt to help. (Photo: Youtube grab) Shanghai: A woman who was mauled by a tiger after getting out of her car at a wild animal park in Beijing is suing the park, saying she hadn't been fully informed of the park's dangers and left the vehicle because she was carsick, a Chinese newspaper reported. The woman's mother was attacked and killed by another tiger after she hopped out of the car to try to save her daughter who had been dragged away. The woman, surnamed Zhao, was seeking 2 million yuan($299,917.52) in compensation from Badaling Wildlife World, the Beijing Times reported on Thursday in what it said was her first interview since the incident on July 23. Zhao said a park official in a nearby vehicle failed to come to the rescue. She also told the newspaper she signed an agreement not to exit her vehicle without knowing what it was and thinking it was some kind of registration to enter the park. The ticket taker did not explain it, she said. The newspaper cited a man surnamed Cao from Badaling Wildlife World as saying that the park would act according to government investigation report which had released the park from any responsibility. The park will only consider compensating the family out of a moral obligation, Cao added. The park declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. The park only agreed on 745,000 yuan of compensation against over 1.5 million yuan required by the family for Zhao's injury. They have settled on 1.2 million in compensation on the death of Zhao's mother, said the newspaper citing Zhao's father. The story triggered an online uproar with most users siding with the park, criticising Zhao for violating park rules and ignoring warning signs. The latest twist created another wave of criticism against Zhao on Weibo, a popular Twitter-like microblog in China. "Why always trying to find excuses. The family has a terrible safety awareness. You said you couldn't see the sign and so did your husband. Who is to blame?" one weibo user wrote. Chennai: A 22-year-old MBA student died after he fell from the terrace of his classmates apartment building in Chromepet on Wednesday night. The deceased was identified as S. Gautham, a native of Tiruchy. He was staying with his friends in Pallikaranai and was into his second year MBA at a private engineering college near Tambaram. Police said Gautham had returned from Tiruchy after pooja holidays and reached Tambaram railway station on Wednesday around 7.45 pm and was supposed to attend college from Thursday onwards. From Tambaram he went to the flat of his classmate Asha in Vedantha Colony near Chromepet to leave his luggage there. He kept his bags and promised to come back to pick them up on Thursday. After interacting with Asha and her mother, he said he was leaving. Ashas family stay in a first floor flat. Instead of going to the road, Gautham went up to the third floor terrace of the apartment and Asha too followed him. Later, when Ashas mother called her daughter from downstairs, she came rushing down. As soon as Asha had came down, Gautham slipped from the parapet wall and fell to the ground, suffering serious head injuries. He was taken to Chromepet GH where he died not responding to treatment, Chromepet police said. His father Srinivasan, a railway employee in Tiruchy, received Gauthams body on Thursday and took it back to his native place for the last rites. Two days back Jethiben was admitted to civil hospital after she fell unconscious due to weakness during the dharna. (Representational image) Ahmedabad: The parents of an Indian Army soldier, who was allegedly killed by upper caste members six years back at their village in Surendranagar district, have sat on a dharna in Gandhinagar demanding justice, after the accused were acquitted by a local court for lack of evidence. The Dalit couple, Jahabhai Rathod (66) and his wife Jethiben (65), from Karadi village of Surendranagar district, have been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike at Satyagrah Chhavni in the state capital for last two weeks, demanding a CBI inquiry into their son Dinesh Rathod's murder in 2010. According to Rajubhai Solanki, convener of Dalit rights outfit 'Pratirodh', Dinesh was recipient of four Army gallantry medals and posted at Jammu and Kashmir. "He was a brave soldier and was given promotion after he won four gallantry medals. When he was under training in Hyderabad after promotion, he came to his native village Karadi in Sayla takuka of Surendranagar in 2010. At that time, he had an altercation with some upper caste Kathi-Darbar youths of the village," he said. "Rathod scolded the accused for gambling outside panchayat office using abusive language. Since Rathod was a Dalit, these upper caste men did not like it and decided to teach him a lesson out of grudge," said Solanki, who formed 'Pratirodh' - an outfit to raise the issue of atrocities on Dalits. The next day, the accused allegedly stormed the soldier's house and shot Rathod dead using a 12 bore gun, by firing at him point-blank. According to Solanki, though police arrested five accused at that time, they eventually came out of jail in 2014 after a local court acquitted them citing lack of evidence. The couple alleged that the investigation by police was biased and shoddy, which led to the acquittal. "Since then, Rathod's parents are living in fear and agony, as they suspect that the accused might also attack them. They also want a CBI inquiry into the case and a compensation of Rs 25 lakhs, as they are living on a small piece of agriculture land," said Solanki. Two days back Jethiben was admitted to civil hospital after she fell unconscious due to weakness during the dharna. She is out of danger, but still receiving treatment at the hospital, he said. The couple has sought time from Gujarat Governor O P Kohli to make a detailed representation for their demand. "In coming days, we are planning to meet the Governor on this issue. We have sought time from the Governor's office. We are hopeful of meeting him soon," said Solanki. Mumbai: A 70-year-old paan vendor was arrested on Tuesday for molesting a seven-year-old schoolgirl on the terrace of her residence in Malad. The incident happened at around 6 pm on Tuesday when the victim was playing on the terrace. The accused, identified as Siddhanand Chaurasia, used to go on the terrace every afternoon for a midday sleep. He allegedly molested the girl on the terrace after which she complained to her mother. An official said that Chaurasia will be in police custody till October 14. The accused has been living in Mumbai for past 35 years. Pune: The Pune police on Thursday arrested a man who was allegedly harassing a former Miss India International-cum-actress, Neha Hinge, on a social media site. The accused allegedly threatened to kill Ms Hinge after she refused to chat with him on a social media site and forbid him to post her pictures. Vijaymala Pawar, assistant police inspector with Pune polices cyber crime wing, said, Hinge lodged a complaint with the Sangvi police in July this year. She said a person unknown to her had created a fake account in her name on Instagram and created a friends group on the site. Mr Pawar said the accused had started posting her pictures on the site and tagging her friends. When Hinges friends came to know that the account was fake, they exited the group, said Mr Pawar. When Hinge asked the accused to refrain from posting her pictures, the accused threatened to kill her and posted more images of her, he added. Following the complaint in July, the cyber crime cell of Pune has been trying to locate the accused. The team was finally able to locate him in Nashik district. The accused Vinit Raghuwansh Ojha (22), a resident of Renukadham Society, Camp Road, Deolali, Nashik was held on October 13, Mr Pawar added. (This story originally appeared in the Asian Age) Coimbatore: Two employees of a nationalised bank in the city suburbs were arrested on Friday on charges of circulating rumours on the health status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Chennai, police said. The arrests were made following a complaint by an AIADMK woman worker Sunitha Devi, they said. Sunitha had gone to the bank at Thondamuthur on October 7 when the two staff Suresh and Ramesh sought to know from her about the health condition of Jayalalithaa. When she did not reply, the two reportedly made some comments on the health status, police said. Sunitha, who left the bank informed her party colleagues about the incident, they said. A few AIADMK workers along with Sunitha returned to the bank yesterday, as the bank remained closed for five days on account of holidays, and sought an explanation from the two about their comments, leading to some arguments, police said. Sunitha lodged a complaint with police, who registered cases under various sections of IPC, including 505 (1)B (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public) and 506(1) (threat and intimidation). Suresh and Ramesh were arrested and later remanded to custody. Police had already warned of stern action against those spreading rumours about Jayalalithaa and formed special teams to investigate such cases. More than 40 persons have been arrested so far for allegedly spreading rumours and posting malicious and false content regarding the health status of the Chief Minister on social media. Soon after 68-year-old Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration, rumours were circulating about her health on social networking sites including Facebook and WhatsApp. Bareilly: A 14-year-old rape victim, whose family ran from pillar to post to terminate her pregnancy, gave birth to a baby boy in an ambulance on Thursday after a nurse refused to assist her in delivery. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the girl was raped several times by a man in her village, who had promised to marry her, but was abandoned after she conceived. Ever since, the family has been unsuccessfully trying to terminate the pregnancy. The family was declined permission to abort the baby by two courts in Bareilly, following which, the family later approached the Allahabad High Court, which set up a medical board to review her case. Due to the advanced stages of pregnancy, the board noted, termination was not a feasible option. All hopes for the family were finally dashed on Wednesday when the girl was beset with labour pains. Accompanied by her mother, aunt and the village midwife, the girl was admitted to the community health centre (CHC). However, when the nurse at CHC came to know about the rape case, she asked the family members to take the girl to district hospital and also declined to arrange for an ambulance. She asked the family members to take the girl to the district hospital in an autorickshaw. The family members finally arranged for an ambulance and the girl delivered baby en route to the district hospital. One reaching the district hospital, she was admitted and attended by the duty nurse, who cut the umbilical cord. On Wednesday, the assailant had cut the wrist and neck of Sai Prasanna and left her bleeding in the washroom when her parents had gone out for work. (Representational image) HYDERABAD: Two days after the murder of seven-year-old Sai Prasanna at her home in Medchal, police is suspecing the involvement of her aunt. Police is investigating if she was assisted by a man, possibly her lover. The motive is suspected to be a long-standing family dispute. We have got some clues and we are trying to connect the missing links. Probably in a day, we will be able to crack the case, said Cyberabad commissioner of police Sandeep Shandilya. The parents could not give any details of a family dispute that could have led to the murder. On Wednesday, the assailant had cut the wrist and neck of Sai Prasanna and left her bleeding in the washroom when her parents had gone out for work. Police inferred that the assailant was aware that her parents were away. There was also no sign of anyone breaking in, which led to cops to believe that the killer was known to the girl. Hyderabad: Octopus in the context of the police usually refers to Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations, set up in undivided AP in 2007 after the blasts at Macca Masjid and Lumbini Park-Gokul Chat. Long before that, gangster Nayeem had named the spot where he met police personnel in the Nallamala forest as Octopus. The Special Investigation Team formed to investigate the cases related to Nayeem found that when he visited police stations located in the Nallamala forest and surrounding areas, the gangster was sometimes welcomed. Nayeem was caught with sophisticated weapons at the Mannanur checkpost, but was freed after the in-charge received a call from senior police officials. The SIT found that Nayeem was passing on information about Maoists till 2004 in Mahbubnagar district. An official source said that Nayeem procured huge parcels of land at Adibatla on the city outskirts and at Shadnagar by extorting farmers and land owners. A month before he was killed in an encounter, police found that he chose associates to contest the 2019 elections from a few Assembly constituencies in Mahbubnagar district and had gifted them Scorpio vehicles. The SIT is yet to identify these associates. The SIT found that Nayeem extended his crime world in Achampet, Amangal, Kalwakurthy, Kodangal and Shadnagar and threatened businessmen and landowners at these localities. We are verifying the role of a tahsildar and a deputy tahsildar. Both assisted Nayeem in land dealings, changing of titles and registrations. These two used to roam around other tahsildar offices for set things right for Nayeem, an official said. Besides revenue officials, the SIT found a few police officials from SI to DSP rank assisting Nayeem. It was also found that these officials used to arrange liquor parties at their police quarters. Based on reports submitted by the SIT, officials have already transferred a circle inspector rank officer. More transfers are expected. Taxmen keep a tab on probe The income-tax department is keenly following updates in cases related to gangster Nayeem and has procured key documents from the police department. An official said that the I-T staff was following the case from Day 1, and auxilliary cases had registered after Nayeem was killed in an encounter. We need some more information to take further action. We are compiling documents and the value of movable and immovable assets. We are seeking a few more documents from the police, the official said. The SIT formed to investigate Nayeems cases under the supervision of Additional DG Anjani Kumar is questioning politicians, police staff, sub-registrars, revenue staff and retired officials from various departments who helped Nayeem in land and other dealings G. Revanth was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals at Jubilee Hills, where doctors performed a surgery on his and removed his right kidney and spleen. (Representational image) Hyderabad: An Intermediate student suffered severe injuries while pillion-riding on a motorcycle that was being ridden by a reportedly drunk rider after a birthday party, police said. G. Revanth was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals at Jubilee Hills, where doctors performed a surgery on his and removed his right kidney and spleen. Hospital officials said his condition was critical. Police said Revanth, a resident of Kothapet, along with his friend Nawaz and seven others went to Necklace Road to celebrate the birthday of one of their friends. After cutting the cake at midnight, they consumed alcohol and set off on a joy ride. Police said all of them were aged below 18 and drunk. Nawaz was riding the bike, TS 08EF 2564, while Revanth was on the pillion. Nawaz lost control on the bike and crashed into a road divider and Revanth sustained severe injuries. He was rushed to hospital by his other friends. His ribs fractured and pierced into the right kidney, Banjara Hills ACP S. Udaykumar Reddy said. Hospital authorities said that Revanths condition was haemodynamically stable. He is still on implantable cardioverter-defibrillator and has temperature. His spleen and kidney were removed due to injury and his condition is still critical, the hospital said. Based on a complaint from Revanths father Subhash Chandrabose, Banjara Hills police registered a case of causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life and under provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act. Police is looking for Nawaz and others. Police records show that the bike was registered on the name of one Shaheen Begum; it had pending challans for the rider not wearing a helmet. On Thursday evening, while she was returning home, one Ilyas Ahmed took her on his bike. (Representational image) Hyderabad: A 16-year-old student was allegedly raped by her friend in Kalapathar. The suspect took the girl with him to a lodge while she was returning home and raped her. According to the Kalapathar police, the victim was a resident of Bilalnagar and was studying in Class IX. Nearly a month ago, she became friends with one Imran, a neighbour. Police said he gifted her a mobile phone after which both would spend hours talking. On Thursday evening, while she was returning home, one Ilyas Ahmed took her on his bike. She returned home at night and complained of pain. When her parents took her to hospital, they found that she was raped, police said. The suspect took her to a hotel and raped her and dropped her back. We are trying to trace Ilyas, additional inspector Md Habeebullah Khan said, adding that the role of Imran was also being probed. Police found that the girl had not even noticed the name of the hotel where she was taken to and could not say where it was located. The only clue she had was the name of the attacker. Based on a complaint from her brother, police registered a case under the Indian Penal Code for rape and Sections 4 and 8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act as the victim was a minor. Sub-inspector J. Mahender Reddy, posted with the Central Crime Station, Hyderabad, was deputed to the special investigation team probing the encounter in which terror suspect Viqaruddin was killed. HYDERABAD: A sub-inspector was arrested for attempt to theft in Almasguda under Meerpet police station limits on Friday. He was later released on bail. Sub-inspector J. Mahender Reddy, posted with the Central Crime Station, Hyderabad, was deputed to the special investigation team probing the encounter in which terror suspect Viqaruddin was killed. On Thursday midnight, Mr M. Shiva Prasad, a businessman from Almasguda, returned home from vacation along with his mother. When he entered the house, he found the window grill near the main door removed and articles in the house scattered. He saw Mahender Reddy coming out of a bathroom in the house, Meerpet inspector N. Ch. Rangaswamy said. The police registered a case and arrested Mahender Reddy. Thane: 23-year-old Sagar Thakkar alias Shaggy, the mastermind of the multi-crore extortion racket run by a Mira Road call centre against gullible American clients, was an unusual man. According to a report in Mid Day, what made Shaggy so different is that at his young age, he had gifted a Rs 2.5 crore Audi R8 to his 21-year-old girlfriend on her birthday. The tabloid quoted police officers as saying that Shaggy owned many high-end cars and had purchased the Audi from Ahmedabad. They have no idea as to the whereabouts of his girlfriend at present. Police have arrested some of Shaggys school friends, who were also allegedly involved in the racket. They said Shaggy frequently talked about the gift to his girlfriend. Sagar also has a huge business in Dubai which he used to fund his extortion racket, police said. An officer of US security agency FBI arrived in Thane on Friday and gathered and shared details about the probe into the multi-crore call centre scam, whose victims lost millions of dollars. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officer met senior officers of Thane Police and exchanged information gathered by both the sides about the scam which was unearthed earlier this month. "We will verify the information which the FBI has shared with us. It will help in our investigation. The FBI team also appreciated our efforts (in uncovering the scam)," Joint Commissioner of Police Ashutosh Dumbre told PTI. The FBI officer will be in Thane for a few more days and will question those arrested in connection with the scam, police sources said. Police have issued a Look out circular (LOC) to nab Sagar Thakkar, who operated out of nearly a dozen call centres where executives posed as US tax authorities and duped a large number of American citizens. Crime Branch teams are also looking for Thakkar and authorities at the international borders, airports and sea ports have been alerted to thwart his attempt to leave the country, said Dumbre. Police unearthed the scam, involving more than Rs 500 crore, after raiding seven call centres on Mira Road. The con job, which targeted US citizens and forced them to part with dollars, had been going on for a few months, he added. The daily transactions of the seven call centres stood at around Rs 1.5 crore. After the raids, police shut down four more call centres in Thane where the daily transaction was about Rs 50 lakh, said the Joint Commissioner of Police. MK Stalin earlier called on O Panneerselvam and asked the state government to lead an all-party delegation to the PM in order to urge him to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). Chennai: Ruling AIADMK on Friday trashed a proposal by DMK to convene the Assembly, pass a resolution and hold an all-party meet over the Cauvery issue, saying "there is no such necessity". "For sure, I feel there is no necessity to convene the state Assembly, pass a resolution and hold an all-party meeting on the issue," veteran AIADMK leader and party Organising Secretary Panruti Ramachandran said. He was speaking to reporters hours after DMK treasurer and Leader of the Opposition MK Stalin called on Finance Minister O Panneerselvam and asked the state government to lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister in order to urge him to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). Ramachandran said the Cauvery Management Board should have been set up by the Centre following the order of the Cauvery tribunal. Read: Panneerselvam must lead all-party delegation to Modi on Cauvery: TN Oppn He said there is "confidence" that the Supreme Court, which is set to hear the Cauvery matter on October 18, would give a "good ruling". He said that under the circumstances there was no necessity to hold an all-party meeting or convene the Assembly and pass a resolution on the issue. By dismissing the demand for an all-party meet and an Assembly resolution, the ruling AIADMK has stuck to its known position of securing the rights of Tamil Nadu by pursuing legal means. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had told the Assembly session held on 18 August that "I am confident that we will be able to get our due (of Cauvery water) in tune with the Cauvery tribunal's final award by getting appropriate orders of the Supreme Court." She had said that in case of continued insufficient inflows in Mettur reservoir and deficient rainfall, her government would implement a Rs 64.30 crore special plan for cultivation of Samba crop to help delta farmers. DMK has all along batted for an all-party meeting and an Assembly session on issues like Cauvery to put up what it calls a "united front," to fight for the State's rights. Army conducted surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads along the LoC on the intervening night of September 28 and 29. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The Indian armys second most senior officer on Friday briefed a parliamentary committee on the surgical strikes carried out across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 28 and 29. According to a report in NDTV, the Standing Committee on Defence met with Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Bipin Rawat, who made a short statement. "No sensitive operational details were shared by the Army," Major Gen (retd) BC Khanduri of the BJP, who heads the defence panel, was quoted as saying. Khanduri said the agenda had included only a briefing, without a question and answer session, since many details are top secret and cannot be revealed. The committee will put the briefing on record and it will be made public, said the report. The agenda for the committee's briefing today had originally been described as "Briefing by the representatives of the Ministry of Defence on surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC)". Later, it was changed to remove any reference to the cross-border action. This led to protests from Congress members Ambika Soni and Madhusudan Mistry, who said the decision not to brief the committee over surgical strikes under the garb of secrecy only amounts to 'lack of confidence' in the MPs. The Congress has asked the government to release proof of the surgical strikes against terrorists in PoK, to expose Pakistans claims that the strikes were false. The opposition party has also said that when it was in power, three similar strikes were carried out by the army, but were not publicized. However, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has rubbished these claims, in what has quickly turned into a political slugfest. "The Army always has the capability to carry out different kind of operations. But the call whether any kind of operation would be launched comes from the government. The government thus has to take the responsibility in case the operation is a failure. Similarly the credit of the success has to go to the government," Gen Khanduri was quoted as saying, citing examples of decisions taken by former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. CHENNAI: Three specialists from the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and British expert Dr Richard Beale examined Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday and discussed the line of treatment with her doctors. AIIMS pulmonologist Dr G C Khilnani, who had examined the Chief Minister on Sunday and Monday as well, cardiologist Dr Nitish Naik and anaesthetist Dr Anjan Trikha joined the panel of doctors on Thursday along with Dr Beale, the specialist in intensive care, who flew in from London for the third time in three weeks. The doctors had earlier concurred with the line of treatment being given to the Chief Minister and had suggested continuance. According to the last statement released by Apollo Hospitals on Monday (October 10), the Chief Minister was being given respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy and was being monitored closely. In the absence of an official statement from the Apollo Hospitals on Thursday, rumour mills were working overtime, but optimists in the AIADMK camp pointed out to the statement released by acting Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao, which said he had handed over the portfolios of the Chief Minister to Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam on her advice. Nevertheless, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi had questioned Mr Rao's statement on how he had consulted Ms Jayalalithaa on handing over the portfolios held by her to the former CM. Meanwhile, Ms Jayalalithaa spent her 22nd day at the hospital and she seems to be getting the best of treatment from specialists drawn not just from India but also across the world. A medical bulletin issued by the Apollo Hospitals on October 6 had said Ms Jayalalithaa would require longer stay at the hospital. New Delhi: Urging the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) not to politicize the issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said it is high time that all communities should come together and uphold the dignity of women irrespective of their religion. Naidu also urged the AIMPLB not to unnecessarily drag Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name into the matter. "The people expect meaningful discourse and it's time for all communities to come together to uphold the dignity and rights of women irrespective of their religion," said Naidu. "Why are you trying to bring in the name of the Prime Minister and why are you making comments that we are not able to take care of the borders? Why are you politicising the issue? If you want then you can join a political party of your choice. This is not expected from the Muslim Personal Law Board or another religious leader. You have to confine to the issue," he added. Naidu further questioned the denial expressed by the AIMPLB with regard to debating the issue of Uniform Civil Code. "What is the objection? I don't understand, you join the debate, let there be a debate, you put forth your point of view," said Naidu. "The government wants a debate across the country. There are three issues - first is gender justice, second non-discrimination, third is needs of women. These are the issues, debate and discuss them. Why are you becoming political?" he asked. Speaking about triple talaq, Naidu said that people are confusing the divorce practice with the Uniform Civil Code. "Some people are trying to confuse the issue of triple talaq with Uniform Civil Code. About the issue of triple talaq, the Law Commission wanted views of all. The religious workers, the social workers, sociologists, prominent public personalities, they need to acknowledge the basic principle of equality of all human beings men or women and work in that direction instead of misleading the people," said Naidu. On Thursday, the AIMPLB said they will boycott the Uniform Civil Law as they feel it is not good for the nation. "We will boycott the questionnaire sent by the Law Commission and we have decided that Muslims of the country will not answer this question as it is not acceptable and not good for the nation, "Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani of the MPLB told a press conference here. Rahmani said there are a number of people living in this country belonging from different cultures and added that to bind the culture under one unique code is not acceptable. The Law Commission earlier last week sought public opinion on the exercise of reforming family laws of all religions. The commission has reportedly appealed to members of religious, minority and social groups, non-government organisations, to present their views through a questionnaire on a range of issues, including the practice of triple talaq, the right to property for a woman citizen and polygamy. However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has been defending the triple talaq system and termed the filing of the affidavit as 'un-islamic.' They claim that triple talaq is a personal law and the Centre has no right to modify it. Mumbai: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said he expects another Rs 50,000-60,000 crore worth of defence contracts to be signed during the remaining quarters of the financial year, taking the total orders to Rs 3 trillion since he took charge two years ago. "During the past 23 months that I have been in charge, we have signed contracts worth Rs 2.2 trillion. Recently, we signed a letter of intent with a government-run shipyard for about Rs 32,000 crore, taking the total orders to Rs 2.5 trillion." "Over the next six months, I hope to sign another Rs 50,000-60,000 crore worth of contracts, taking the total 3 trillion," the minister told reporters on the sidelines of an industry exhibition on technology and material sciences in Navi Mumbai. The Cabinet Committee on Security had in August cleared a proposal to get Goa Shipyard build mine counter measure vessels for the Navy at an estimated cost of over Rs 32,000 crore. Answering a question on the impact of the manufacturing push with private participation in the defence space, he said exports have jumped over six-times to Rs 3,000 crore from Rs 500 crore in the past two years alone. "The Make in India initiative has seen defence exports from Rs 500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore, though the ministry figures will show only Rs 2,100 crore. One reason for this is that export of aviation sector items are not included in this as it has been delicensed." Parrikar explained that the Defence Ministry tabulates only those goods that are in the licensed segments. As many 65 per cent of defence sub-segments are de-licensed now and are, therefore, not in the information list of the defence ministry. "If we include the gains from the offset clause, our defence-related exports should be about $1 billion, out of which defence items alone are worth Rs 3,000 crore, which I hope to increase it to Rs 10,000 crore soon," he said. When asked about the inflows through the FDI route after foreign director investment cap was hiked to 49 per cent, he said so far it has been about $100 million but will go up as foreign capital flows in at stages. Parrikar also said the ministry is finalising a new strategic materials policy so that we can promote production as well as storage of defence-related strategic materials. "We have set up a study team to draft a new strategic materials policy to promote the sector, which involves production and storage of these materials," he said. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed distress over the loss of lives in a bus accident in Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. "Extremely distressed by the loss of lives caused by the bus accident in Ratlam, MP. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," he tweeted. "I wish those injured in the bus accident in Ratlam a quick recovery," Modi added in another tweet. Read: 17 killed as bus falls into gorge in Madhya Pradeshs Ratlam At least 17 people were killed and as many others injured when a private bus fell into a large water pit near Namli town in Ratlam this morning, police said. 17 people were pulled out from the bus in injured condition and referred to nearby hospitals, police said. Three persons were rescued safely, they said. Unconfirmed reports said there were 40-45 passengers in the bus. According to eyewitnesses, the bus was moving on a high speed and suddenly it overturned and fell into the large water pit. Thane: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined the probe into the recently uncovered multi-million Thane call centre racket and and two of its officers are in the city to gather evidence on the scam. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officer met senior officers of Thane Police and exchanged information gathered by both the sides about the scam which was unearthed earlier this month. "We will verify the information which the FBI has shared with us. It will help in our investigation. The FBI team also appreciated our efforts (in uncovering the scam)," Joint Commissioner of Police Ashutosh Dumbre said. The FBI officer will be in Thane for a few more days and will question those arrested in connection with the scam, police sources said. Police have issued a Look out circular (LOC) to nab Sagar Dharmesh Thakkar, the alleged mastermind of the scam, which operated out of nearly a dozen call centres where executives posed as US tax authorities and duped a large number of American citizens. The US agency had earlier sought the case details as the officials of the call centres had been allegedly duping their citizens for the past year posing as representatives of US tax authorities. The police said that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and US Department of Homeland Security may also contact them for details of the case. The scam involves the running of eight call centres in Thane district, in which the call centre employees allegedly extorted US citizens in the name of their tax and immigration authorities. The police has so far arrested 72 of the call centres employees and are searching for five more accused, who are believed to be the brains behind the scam. The racket was exposed after city police raided three call centres, which were run illegally at the premises of Hari Om IT Park, Universal Outsourcing Services and Oswal House in Mira Road locality in Thane district earlier this month. The callers used to make calls to people in the US and conned them after speaking in American accent by posing as officials of US Internal Revenue Service. According to police, some of the call centre employees earned up to Rs 1 lakh per month as a reward by the racket operators for making US nationals cough up money. The employees were fully trained in US accent and were given SOP and call sheet, based on which they used to make calls to the 'tax defaulters'. They used to make at least 100 calls per day of which 10-15 calls would materialise and of these 3-4 people would make payment under threat by the conmen, police said. The daily turnover of these call centres is said to be to the tune of nearly Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.50 crore, and the annual turnover could be well above Rs 300 crore. New Delhi: India on Friday described as completely concocted and baseless a Pakistani media report which had alleged that German Ambassador in New Delhi Dr. Martin Ney had been told by Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar that Indias surgical strikes were a bluff. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, The News International Pakistans story titled Indian Foreign Secretary admits surgical strikes was a bluff is completely concocted and baseless. The German Ambassador Dr. Martin Ney was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes. They have had no further conversation since on this subject. The Pakistani media report claimed that in a meeting with German Ambassador, Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had said that there was no 'surgical strike' undertaken by the Indian army on terror launch pads in PoK. The report claimed that this information was passed on by the Senior Desk Officer of AfPak Division, Ms Simone Stemmler to the Minister Political Rukhsana Afzal at Pakistans Berlin embassy during a formal meeting on India-Pakistan stand-off. The report further stated that German officials Ms Karen Goebels and Mr Jens Wagner were also present at the meeting in Berlin, where the Pakistan officials were conveyed this information. It may be recalled that Jaishankar had briefed foreign envoys from 25 countries on Indias surgical strikes last month. The MEAs statement makes it clear that there was no separate meeting or phone conversation on this matter subsequently between Jaishankar and the German Ambassador in New Delhi. Pakistan has been officially denying that surgical strikes that were conducted by India. Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi, Abdul Basit, also reiterated Paks stand in a string of interviews given to media publications. The Pakistan army and ISI have been under enormous pressure and are also denying the surgical strikes. New Delhi: India and China have agreed to cooperate on sourcing energy from international markets, construction of high-speed railway and development of coastal manufacturing zones as the two fastest growing economies look to boost growth. The 4th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue on October 7 agreed on a number of initiatives for mutually beneficial growth. The Indian side at the dialogue was led by Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India and the Chinese side was led by Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission. According to the minutes of the meeting released today, the two sides called "for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets." They also agreed to adopt new theme of closer cooperation on coastal manufacturing zone development by encouraging projects in areas like infrastructure, automobile, energy and electronics in next one year. The two nations "agreed to push forward the feasibility study on Delhi-Nagpurhigh-speed railway and construction of Delhi-Chennai high-speed railway," it said. China Southwest Jiaotong University and Training Department of the Ministry of Railways of India will hold eight training courses in the field of high-speed railway. On cooperation in renewable energy, they agreed to speed up solar cell / module manufacturing in India and expand cooperation in promoting solar rooftop. "India offered huge investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector by way of participating through equity support, offsetting hedging cost, taking up of masala bonds, partnering in the solar projects, etc. "Chinese investors showed keen interest in financial investment and participation in large solar park projects in cooperation with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)," it said. While India was keen on technical cooperation in promoting underground coal mining technologies and coal gasification, Chinese side proposed for cooperation in environment friendly mining, coal processing, unconventional gas (CBM) and efficient use of coal. Waste to energy plants were main discussion points on resource conservation and environmental protection. "Both side recognized that states and cities may be encouraged to get direct agreement with Chinese companies on the desalination technology by adopting transparent procedures," the minutes said. They also agreed to explore cooperation in low cost construction material technology. The 'Digital India' and China's 'Internet Plus' programs will collaborate to promote manufacturing technology. "It was emphasised that the complementary strengths of India and China in ICT sector specially computer hardware of China and Computer software of India should be leveraged for competitive and economic advantage," the minutes said. Reviewing progress made on in feasibility study of raising speed of existing railways and high-speed railway, it was informed at the meeting that China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd has given an interim final feasibility study report on Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore railway upgradation project to India High-speed Railway Company. After further modification and improvement of the report, the two sides will discuss further on cooperation and research on project implementation, including design consulting, building construction and project financing so as to promote cooperation and achieve concrete results. Also, China Railway Siyuan Survey and design Group Company (CRSSDGC) submitted inception report of feasibility in Delhi-Nagpur High-Speed Railways. "The two sides agreed to have further discussion on providing of data needed for the study," it said. Also, China Railway Group together with India Railway Station Development Company will conduct research on law, economy and technology and will identify railway stations for study for redevelopment. They noted the India and China face the same challenges of high fossil fuel share in the primary energy, high import dependence and a drive to enhance the share of cleaner energy sources, such as natural gas and renewable energy. "China and India are still to achieve satisfactory levels of energy consumption and are reporting growth in energy demand whereas the developed world has now reached near saturation," the minutes said. They called for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets. NITI Aayog proposed closer interaction with NDRC on understanding China's huge success in development of coastal manufacturing zones. "It was proposed that during the course of the next one year, NITI Aayog will lead the initiative to bring the States of India closer to their counterparts in the developed coastal regions of China. NDRC would support this initiative," it said. The meet noted that Indian government is deepening reforms to "build a fair and healthy environment for business and manufacturing." Also, "it assigns high priority to improving business environment so as to attract foreign capital and turn India into the fastest growing economy in the world for multiple decades. The country has already emerged as a bright spot in the otherwise gloomy global economy. Indian government is committed to maintaining this momentum," the minutes said. China on the other hand said it was committed to implementing new development concepts and maintaining stability to achieve progress. "It appropriately works to enlarge the general needs and to promote supply-side structural reforms aimed at actively guiding the market and effectively dealing with risks and challenges. "Chinese economy is operating within a healthy range with the deepening of structural adjustment and strengthening of reform and opening-up, which brings about continuous improvement of peoples livelihood and social stability," it added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin approach to shake hands prior to their talks during the BRICS Summit in Ufa, Russia. (Photo: AP/File) Panaji: India is expected to continue with its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the issue of terrorism originating from there when it plays host to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa at the Summit of five-nation BRICS grouping here on Sunday. Even preceding the BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise these issues with Putin and Xi on Saturday when a series of bilateral meetings are slated at the seaside venue. With the Summits taking place within weeks of Uri terror strike by Pak-based terrorists, India will be forceful in its demand at BRICS Summit, which will also have a BIMSTEC outreach meet, for intensified efforts to tackle terrorism including action against countries providing safe havens to terrorists and arming them. India has made strong references both at UNGA as well as G-20 regarding Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without naming Pakistan at G-20, had said that "one single nation in South Asia" is spreading "agents of terror" in the region and it must be isolated while External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the UNGA had said confessions of captured terrorists involved in terror strikes in India including in Uri "is a living proof of Pakistan's complicity in cross-border terror". Apart from the heads of governments of BRICS to attend the Summit on October 16, Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) will be here to participate in the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. New Delhi will also make all out efforts to revive Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) when Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) attend the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. This also assumes significance given the collapse of recent SAARC Summit after four countries apart from India pulled out of the meet to be hosted by Pakistan over the issue of cross-border terrorism, maintaining that environment was not conducive to hold such an event. Indian officials have made it clear that India's effort would be to have strong language in the BRICS outcome document on terrorism including how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries, safe havens and finances. "Terrorism is a global problem. It cannot be tackled individually and has to be tackled collectively. We cannot have a differential policy towards terrorism. There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist. So, these are the issues on which there will reiteration of national positions," Secretary (Economic Relations) in External Affairs Ministry Amar Sinha had said. During the meeting of NSAs of BRICS grouping, India had strongly pitched that action should not only be taken against sources of finances but also sources from where terrorists get arms and ammunition. Three MoUs including those on cooperation in the area of environment and customs have been agreed upon by the BRICS countries, Sinha had said, adding the pact pertaining to customs will help in breaking the trade barriers between these countries. The other key issues to be taken up during these significant diplomatic outreach events include cooperation in areas of economy, tourism, connectivity, cultural, education and sports. The main BRICS Summit on October 16 will begin with a photo opportunity followed by restricted talks between the leaders and later a meeting of business captains from the member-countries. In the second half, after the speech of the leaders, there will be BRICS and BIMSTEC retreat. Security situation in Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan is also expected to be discussed when the BRICS leaders take up important regional and international issues. Benaulim (Goa): India is likely to reaffirm its concerns over growing Russia-Pakistan military ties when Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Benaulim on Saturday during which the two sides will look at ramping up their "special and privileged partnership" by inking pacts in areas of defence and nuclear energy. Ahead of the Indo-Russia annual summit, which is taking place barely weeks after the Uri strike by Pakistan-based terrorists, Indian envoy to Moscow Pankaj Saran said as far as Russia's recent military exercise with Pakistan was concerned, "we have conveyed our concerns and views. We are confident that Russia will reflect on our concern. That is where we stand." Saran had earlier conveyed India opposition to Russia's joint military exercise with Pakistan, a state that "sponsors and practices terrorism as state policy" and that it will create further problems. He also asserted that terrorism was an important issue and will be discussed between the two leaders and efforts would be to ratchet up counter-terrorism cooperation. According to sources, India also hopes to see Russia scale down its military cooperation with Pakistan. "We feel that Russia has understood our concerns, and going forward, there will be some action (scaling down)," sources said when asked if the recent Russia-Pakistan military exercise was a one-off episode and whether Russia had registered India's concerns. The two sides are looking at inking more than a dozen pacts including in the area of civil nuclear cooperation. The two sides have finalised the General Framework Agreement and Credit Protocol for unit 5 and 6 for Kudankulum project. They are also expected to ink defence deals worth billions of dollars. Earlier, Modi said, "Putin's visit will give an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia." The two leaders will also exchange views on important regional and international issues, Saran said, adding "Indo- Russia ties have more than just the bilateral dimension. There are regional and global issues, various troubled hotspots where Russia has stakes and where India has stakes." A "very wide range" of issues will be discussed and it would be unfair to pick one or two, the envoy said and added that the agenda has a "broad menu and fully respects the kind of relationship that both country share". The External Affairs Ministry officials also rejected suggestions of a rift between Russia and India, which recently signed Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US, a move which is seen by many as New Delhi's moving away from its traditional ally. "I would like to emphasize that the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership is characterized by unmatched mutual confidence, trust and goodwill cutting across the party lines as well as between citizens of the two countries. "The broad geo-polotical interest of India and Russia not only do not clash but in most cases also coincide. The bilateral partnership covers the widest possible areas of cooperation which will also be on display tomorrow," Joint Secretary dealing with Russia in MEA, G V Srinivas, said. Indigo said that it offered $300 as per international conventions to the complainant, which Mr Mohammed did not accept. Hyderabad: The Hyderabad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-3 has ordered Indigo Airlines to pay Rs 70,000 to a BTech fourth year student as compensation for loss of baggage, mental agony and expenses. Mr Shaik Noor Mohammed, son of Shaik Ameer Basha, of Jal Vayu Towers near Lower Tank Bund, filed a complaint against Indigo and Dnata Baggage Services alleging that they had failed to trace his baggage and settle his claim. Mr Mohammed said he booked a return ticket with Indigo to travel to Dubai from Hyderabad on January 28, 2014. Upon his arrival in Dubai, he found that his baggage was missing and filed a complaint stating that it contained Rs 1.18 lakh worth of personal belongings. He said that he was forced to purchase clothes and toiletries during his stay and incurred additional expenses. Indigo contended that the forum had no jurisdiction as the airline had no branch office in Hyderabad. It said: Indigo shall not accept any responsibility for such items carried by the customers in their baggage. It argued that liability for loss, delay or damage of baggage would be according to the Warsaw or Montreal Conventions unless higher value was declared in advance and additional charges were paid. Indigo said that it offered $300 as per international conventions to the complainant, which Mr Mohammed did not accept. It alleged that he failed to provide any proof of purchase made due to the loss of baggage. The forum in its judgement on October 5 ruled that it had jurisdiction as the ticket was booked in Hyderabad and the complainant boarded the aircraft at the Hyderabad airport. The consumer disputes redressal forum, further, observed: When the airline accepted the baggage to be carried by them, they are the custodians of the same and a duty is cast upon them to deliver the same at the port of disembarkation. Failure to do so constitutes a case of deficiency of service. Thiruvananthapuram: In a big blow to the five-month old CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala, Industries minister E P Jayarajan resigned from the Cabinet on Friday in the wake of the raging appointment row. His resignation from the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet came after a CPI(M) state secretariat meeting, which permitted him to take the decision. Coming out of the meeting, Jayarajan told reporters, "Now you people are happy. Isn't it? State party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Jayarajan had wanted to be allowed to put in his papers to "uphold the image of the party and set an exemplary model in contrast to the previous Congress-led UDF government". The Kannur strongman and the number two in the Cabinet, Jayarajan had admitted before the secretariat that he had committed a 'mistake' by appointing a close relative in a PSU in the industries department and sought permission to resign. Jayarajan, considered close to Chief Minister Vijayan, was in the eye of a storm over appointment of his nephew, P K Sudheer Nambiar and son of Kannur MP P K Sreemathi as the Managing Director of Kerala Industrial Enterprises Ltd. His appointment was later quashed by the government. Another appointment of Deepthi Nishad, Jayarajan's brother's daughter-in-law, had also become controversial. She had resigned two days ago. Jayarajan, who had successfully contested from Mattannur in northern Kannur district, was a member of the legislative assembly from 1991-96. From 2011 onwards he was an MLA. To a question if CPI-M would take any action against Jayarajan, Kodiyeri said he was a member of party Central Committee and any party action would be decided by the central leadership "CPI(M) is against any illegal appointments. However party does not think that being a relative of a leader is a disqualification to get a job in government service." In Jayarajan's case, this decision was taken due to the seriousness of the issue, he said. Kodiyeri also attacked both Congress-led UDF and BJP government at the Centre, alleging that their ministers were involved in controversies, but none of them had resigned. Indicating that things were not rosy for Jayarajan, party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had indicated two days ago that action would follow and that the process of correction had already been initiated. Meanwhile, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau today informed a Special Court here that a preliminary probe into the appointment row against Jayarjan had been initiated. Thiruvananthapuram: Media persons, who assembled to cover proceedings at a Vigilance Court in Trivandrum on Friday with regard to a petition against Industries Minister EP Jayarajan on the appointment row, were allegedly dragged out of the court room by a section of lawyers in the presence of the judge. The lawyers also allegedly threatened the media persons with dire consequences. The incident occurred in the presence of Vigilance Judge A Badaruddin and senior advocates who were present when the private petition came up for hearing. The incident comes just three days after Kerala High Court Chief Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar had assured Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that media would not be prevented from covering court proceedings. A lawyer also allegedly slapped a reporter and punched him. Two women reporters were later escorted out of the court complex by women police personnel. On seeing the commotion, the judge intervened saying there should not be any problem inside the court room. A Special Vigilance Court had on Thursday ordered Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to file its reply by Friday on alleged appointments of relatives by Jayarajan to key state PSU posts. The complaint in the Special Vigilance court had sought filing of FIR and registration of case against Jayarajan. The complainant contended that nepotism amounted to corruption. It also wanted registration of a case under Prevention of Corruption Act against the minister. Besides the complaint at the court, other petitions including that of Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and BJP leader V Muraleedharan seeking filing of FIR and registering a case against Jayarajan are pending before the court. Thiruvananthapuram: The Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau (VACB) has ordered a preliminary probe into certain controversial appointments of relatives of Industries Minister EP Jayarajan in key posts in state public sector undertakings. The bureau informed this to the Special Court in Trivandrum which was hearing a private petition seeking registration of an FIR and ordering of a probe into the alleged appointments. However, VACB Additional Prosecutor contented that the petition was purely based on newspaper clippings and that they were only secondary evidence. The Judge then posted the case to October 17 for further hearing. The complaint in the court had sought filing of an FIR and registration of case against Jayarajan, who had allegedly appointed some relatives to key posts in state PSUs. Jayarajan had appointed P K Sudheer, his nephew and son of CPI(M) Kannur MP P K Sreemathi, as the Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd, it was alleged. It was also alleged that some relatives of party leaders were also given key posts in PSUs. The Special Court (Vigilance) had directed the bureau to file its reply by Friday on a complaint with regard to the alleged appointments. With opposition Congress and BJP targeting it on the issue, the LDF government had on Thursday decided to bring in a law to prevent nepotism in appointments in key positions in PSUs in the state. The cabinet had also entrusted Chief Secretary S M Vijayanand to examine various complaints with regard to any appointments. The complaint filed in the Vigilance court contended that nepotism amounted to corruption. It also wanted registration of a case under Prevention of Corruption act. New Delhi: The menace of terrorism, Chinas continued opposition to a proposed UN ban on Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and Beijing blocking New Delhis NSG membership bid are issues expected to dominate the bilateral talks between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Modi and Jinping are likely told talks in Goa ahead of the five-nation BRICS Summit there on Sunday. There are indications that PM Modi will strongly take up the issue of terror and the need for China to be sensitive to Indian concerns at the bilateral talks with President Xi, with the Masood Azhar issue expected to figure prominently. New Delhi is expected to make it clear to Beijing that opposition to terrorism is a global concern and not an issue of political gains for India as Beijing had insinuated recently on the Masood Azhar issue. Indias objections to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that will pass through PoK and reports of China blocking a tributary of the Brahmaputra in Tibet as part of the construction of its "most expensive" hydro-power project are among other issues that PM Modi is likely to take up with the top Chinese leader. PM Modi tweeted on Friday that he looked forward to deliberations with leaders of China and other BRICS countries, which will strengthen our bilateral ties with these key partners. In a blow to New Delhi earlier this week, China had defended its recent extending of a hold on India's bid for a UN ban on Pakistan-based terror group JeM's chief Masood Azhar, saying Beijing is opposed to anyone making "political gains in the name of counter-terrorism". But on the issue of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) entry for India, China had reiterated its stand it is "ready" for talks with India. Beijing had earlier also scuttled New Delhi's bid for entry into the NSG a few months ago at the Group's meeting in Seoul. China's needling of India on these two important matters shows Beijing's strong links with Pakistan, and its steadfast opposition to give India a greater global role in the comity of nations. Interestingly, without naming China but in an obvious reference to it, India had earlier said that there was only "one country" that was opposed to both UN Sanctions on Masood Azhar as well as India's entry into the NSG. Notwithstanding the current unease in Sino-India relations, China had on Thursday said "sound and stable" development of ties in recent years has proved that the "dragon" and the "elephant" can join hands and peacefully co-exist. "Once, predictions about our future relations dwelled on 'rivalry between the dragon and the elephant'. However, the sound and stable development of bilateral relations in recent years has proved that the 'dragon' and the 'elephant' can join hands to dance together," Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy Cheng Guangzhong had said on Thursday. Addressing a press conference, AIMPLB general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said the governments move would paint all in one colour, and lead to social unrest. (Photo: AFP) New Delhi: The All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other Muslim outfits accused the Narendra Modi government of waging a war against the community and killing the countrys plurality by trying to impose one civil law on all religions. The board on Thursday said it would boycott a questionnaire put out by the Law Commission on a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and vowed to block any attempt to abolish Islamic family laws, comprising contentious practices such as triple talaq and polygamy. The opposition by the Muslim Personal Law Board, a key decision-making body for Muslims, immediately led to an all-out political slugfest as the Congress said a UCC was not possible in a country like India, while other Opposition parties, including the JD(U), accused the Centre of trying to polarise society ahead of crucial state elections. UCC is no remedy for flaws in Muslim laws The BJP defended the governments move, saying a common civil law was a must for a progressive society. Addressing a press conference, AIMPLB general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said the governments move would paint all in one colour, and lead to social unrest. It is against the spirit of Indian Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practise their culture and religion, he said. The Board said that there were flaws in the personal laws governing Muslims, and they were being addressed from time to time. Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind president Arshad Madni, also present at the presser, said that all Muslim organisations and community representatives were one on the issue, and a campaign starting from Lucknow would be launched to mobilise support against the governments move. The Law Commission on October 7 put out a questionnaire seeking to know whether triple talaq should be abolished, retained or retained with suitable changes. The commission also sought public opinion on a common civil law to protect vulnerable groups and harmonise cultural practices. The commissions move coincided with the Centres submission in the Supreme Court that triple talaq and polygamy were unconstitutional and should be abolished as womens dignity was not negotiable. The unprecedented submission came in response to the AIMPLBs earlier assertion in the court that any intervention in family law amounts to violating the Muslim communitys fundamental rights. Indias Constitution allows its peoples to be governed by their own religious laws in matters of marriage, divorce, succession, adoption and maintenance. While a Hindu law overhaul began soon after Independence and continues, reforms in Muslim personal law have long been a divisive issue in India with some Muslim women and organisations moving court against triple talaq and polygamy. Reportedly, the relatives of the patient protested and the Chief Medical Officer promised a probe in the matter. (Representational image) New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh government over the reported death of an asthma patient in an ambulance while he was being rushed to a hospital in Bijnor as the oxygen cylinder was empty. Taking a serious view of the alleged medical negligence, the Commission has issued a notice to Secretary, Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare of the state government, and sought a report within four weeks, the NHRC said in a statement. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report carried on October 10 which stated that Mohd Aslam, 55, a resident of Chandpur area of Bijnor died after the oxygen cylinder was empty in the ambulance in which he was being rushed to a hospital after suffering a severe asthama attack. Reportedly, the relatives of the patient protested and the Chief Medical Officer promised a probe in the matter. The Commission has observed that it is "shocked to peruse the painful news report that a human life could not be saved even after timely arrival of the ambulance because the oxygen cylinder, which is the most crucial and important life saving apparatus, was not functional". "This is a case of sheer negligence on the part of the concerned officers amounting to violation of right to life of the patient," it said. Aam Aadmi Party leaders, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the move by Delhi Police as it came ahead of party chief Arvind Kejriwal's October 16 rally in Gujarat. (Photo: Representational Image/ PTI) New Delhi: A non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued against AAP MLA from Matiala Gulab Singh, who is also co-incharge of party's Gujarat affairs, for failing to join investigation in a case of extortion involving his alleged associates, police said today. Reacting to the development, Gulab Singh, who has been named in the FIR, told PTI that he has informed the police that he is in Gujarat for party work and will join the investigation on October 18. Aam Aadmi Party leaders, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the move by Delhi Police as it came ahead of party chief Arvind Kejriwal's October 16 rally in Gujarat. Last month, two property dealers, Deepak Sharma and Rinku Diwan, had alleged that Satish and Devinder, who work in Gulab Singh's office, and an associate Jagdish were extorting money from them by threatening to get the building from where the property dealers were operating demolished. A case under section 384 (punishment for extortion) IPC was registered at Bindapur police station on September 13. "We obtained an NBW against Gulab Singh from the court last evening. He had been issued notices to join investigation but he kept giving excuses to skip questioning. His joining investigation is essential to get to the bottom of the truth in the organised extortion racket. "We moved the court seeking an NBW and the court has granted our request. We are asking him to immediately join investigation," said Dependra Pathak, joint commissioner of police, Southwestern range. His alleged associates, Satish, Devinder and Jagdish, were arrested and a probe was taken up in the matter which revealed that the "organised extortion racket" had been operating with the knowledge of the MLA, a senior police officer claimed. Following the investigation, Gulab Singh was named in the FIR and sent notices to join the investigation, police said. However, with Gulab Singh "not cooperating in the investigation", Delhi Police obtained a non-bailable warrant against the MLA. New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asserted that religion cannot dictate upon the rights of an individual and attacked the Congress over its stand on the Uniform Civil Code, saying it was the constituent assembly controlled by the party that had envisaged a common civil law for all Indians. The Constitution today guarantees each individual right to equality, right to live with dignity. Therefore as far as personal laws are concerned I am one of those who believe that set of rights that personal law has... will have to be regulated by the Constitution. Personal law cannot practise, propagate discrimination; cannot allow a compromise with human dignity. Personal law and practises can certainly deal with religion, can dictate upon rituals. The religion cannot dictate upon rights of individuals, the finance minister said. The governments affidavit on triple talaq is a secular approach, an approach that cuts upon religion, he said. He rejected the criticism of the government by various Muslim bodies, saying personal laws have been amended by the various governments and cited the amendment brought in by the first NDA government in divorce laws governing Christians. The Church fully supported it, he said. The Manmohan Singh government had also brought changes in Hindu Succession Act to bring the woman at par with the man in inheritance, Jaitley told Times Now. Taking a dig at Congress, he said he was amazed at its stand as he recalled that the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, who belonged to the party, had envisaged an Uniform Civil Code. He added that the Law Commission, which has sought views of various stake holders on the UCC, is carrying out an academic exercise following a judicial order and it was not the governments decision. The SAARC Summit, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November, had to be postponed after five member states of the grouping pulled out. Hyderabad: Afghanistan on Friday expressed hopes that decision by five countries to pull out of the SAARC summit in Islamabad will bring positive results and force non-cooperating member nations to walk on the path of peace and partnership. India and four other SAARC members - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - pulled out of the November summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment not conducive for successful holding of the meet. The development took place in the aftermath of the Uri terrorist attack on September 18. "Afghanistan and India are at the forefront of supporting SAARC. The recent decision to boycott SAARC summit in Islamabad by India, Afghanistan and others is aimed at finding better ways to improve SAARC," said Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali. He was speaking at an interactive meeting organised by industry bodies FICCI and FTAPCCI here. "SAARC should act in a manner it has been desired and aimed at. SAARC means connectivity, SAARC means business, SAARC means peace and stability. But if we see things happening contrary to that, then we must take steps to ensure those who are creating trouble change their course and be cooperative," the Afghan envoy said. He, however, did not name any country. "We hope the decision not to participate (in the Islamabad summit) will give us a positive result. The positive result would be that those who do not cooperate in the same manner as other SAARC member countries will also start following our path. The path of peace and cooperation. The path which brings 'win-win' situation for all. We hope that decision will bring about better results, better future of this region," Abdali said. He described relationship between India and Afghanistan as "very unique". "No other country can or countries can compete with our true relationship. It's very unique and it's very deep. It is based on cordial and friendly ties," he said. Mumbai: BJP MP Kirit Somaiya on Thursday alleged that Shiv Sena workers, led by a local leader, tried to kill him "as part of a plan" and urged Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar to "unearth the plot mastermind". "The Sena vibhag pramukh has publicly owned up to responsibility for the attack on me and other BJP workers on Tuesday. The Police Commissioner should probe who was the mastermind of the plot to kill me," he said. "At their Dussehra rally, Sena leaders spoke of surgical strikes if the alliance was broken for the BMC polls. Did they mean this (attempt on my life) by surgical strike," Somaiya said, without naming Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. At a 'Ravan dahan' (Ravan burning) function at suburban Mulund, where Somaiya was present, a scuffle broke out between his partymen and Shiv Sainiks, resulting in injuries to a few. The BJP MP has been targeting the Shiv Sena over "corruption" in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and at the function, he reportedly described Ravan as the "BMC mafia" which apparently irked the Shiv Sainiks. Somaiya today wrote a letter to the Police Commissioner, in which he alleged that "over a hundred persons in vehicles" were waiting at the venue to launch an attack on him. "After the Ravan dahan, after most of the BJP activists had left the venue and as I came out to get into my car, they suddenly rushed at me with weapons," he alleged. "We thank you for arresting 13 persons who attacked me with weapons," he added. "It seems, their plan was to kill/incapacitate me to protect their bosses/mafias. It was a well-designed attack of the group/mafias/party," Somaiya alleged without naming the Sena. "They waited till the programme got over and all the BJP activists had gone away and attacked me when I was alone," he added. The BJP leader also thanked the Personal Security Officer (PSO) provided by the Police Commissioner to him, saying he saved his life. "It must be noted that seven BJP activists (including three women), while protecting me, sustained major injuries (fractures) and were admitted to Hira Monghi Hospital at Mulund. Had police/PSO not taken me away, these goondas would have killed me," he alleged. "We expect action against those involved, including the mastermind, who has stated in a TV interview that they had planned it and will repeat it. It is nothing but an attempt to silence me for raising my voice against the Rs-5,000 crore corruption in the BMC by the mafia," said Somaiya. Meanwhile, reacting to the alleged assault on Somaiya and the BJP MP's allegations against the Shiv Sena, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said the tussle between the two alliance partners -- BJP and Shiv Sena -- was mere "drama". "The alliance between these two parties for the last 25 years is nothing but a political theatre. Whenever elections approach, the two parties indulge in fights which has become a customary thing now," he said. "I want to ask Somaiya, how come his own party is not a partner in the corruption in BMC? How can he and his party wash their hands off corruption," said Nirupam. Terming the entire episode a "political drama" and a "strategy", Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) general secretary Shalini Thackeray said Somaiya's allegations did not seem to be true. "This is nothing but their strategy and drama which they do when elections draw closer. People have been suffering due to the corrupt practices adopted by these two parties for years. But, they are smart enough to know that this blame game is just an eyewash. "I cannot understand why any party would attack anyone only when an election approaches," she said. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon described the "feud" between the two parties as "shameful and dangerous" for the state. "I do not know who wants to kill whom, but it is certain that the unholy alliance between the two parties has proved to be fatal and their style of governance is killing the common people of the state," she said. "Not even a single law has been passed by this government, led by these two parties. Be it in the transport sector or regarding women's welfare or in the cooperative sector. Ministers, MLAs and MPs are busy in internal fights and entire Maharashtra is suffering," she said. The video ends with the group leaving the room. It was not clear when and where the video was shot. (Representational image) Hyderabad: A 1.34 minute video of students beating up one of their classmates was widely shared by social media including police officers on Thursday. Mr P.V. Sunil Kumar, a senior official from AP Police, shared the video on his Facebook wall and said: Which school or college has this uniform? Immediately file a complaint against this school... spread this so that these boys get caught. The video shows a student beating the victim while others watch. One of the students later beats him with a shoe while a couple of others slap him. The video ends with the group leaving the room. It was not clear when and where the video was shot. Surat: A political controversy has broken out in Gujarat over posters that feature Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with slain Hijbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden, calling them heroes of Pakistan in Surat. According to an Indian Express report, similar banners appeared in various parts of the city, where the Aam Aadmi Party leader is to hold a rally on October 16. An embarrassed AAP has accused BJP of being behind the posters, but the party had denied having anything to do with the posters. The banners had been put up by BJP workers as they dont want Kejriwal meeting to take place. We have removed eight such banners. We are expecting over one lakh people to attend Kejriwals public meeting. AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh will also accompany Kejriwal, AAP spokesperson Yogesh Jadvani was quoted saying in the report. He said the Kejriwal is also scheduled to meet Gujarat Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) spokesperson Varun Patel a day before his October 16 rally in Surat. Nitin Bhajiyawala, the Surat city BJP president told the media that BJP workers have been instructed to not display any opposition to Kejriwals visit. He assured that the BJP workers would not put up such banners against the AAP. With his eyes on the 2017 Assembly polls in Gujarat, Kejirwal will target the Patidar citadel in Mehsana, which incidentally is also the home district of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kejriwal is also expected hold talks with the dalit and OBC leaderships. AAP leaders planning the visit indicated that to make the partys presence felt in Gujarat, it needed to rise above caste equations and reach out to all communities. Srinagar: One member of the Sashastra Seema Bal or SSB was killed and at least seven others were injured, after militants ambushed their convoy on the outskirts of Srinagar on Friday evening. Inspector General of the SSB, Deepak Kumar, said the attacked was repulsed but the searches in the area are underway. Police sources here said that a small convoy of the SSB came under the sneak attack by militants at Zakura on the outskirts of Srinagar along the road to Ladakh at about 7.30 pm. The militants fired AK assault rifles to target the central security force personnel who were returning to their unit base after performing law and order duty in Srinagar city. The SSB men on board the vehicle retaliated by returning fire but the militants reportedly fled the scene through a poplar and willow nursery. J&K police, CRPF and SSB reinforcements reached the spot and laid siege to a vast area to start searches. Ambulances were seen coming out of the area and going towards City's main hospital Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Media Sciences. A resident said that the security forces cordoned a nearby cluster of residential houses. They are very aggressive and are searching our houses minutely, he said over the phone. He added that a police party from nearby Zakura police station has also arrived at the scene. The ambush took place barely a couple of hours after the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir decided not only to step up security across the state but also to resume counterinsurgency operations on a major scale in the light of increasing number of militancy related incidents. Further, the security in and around government buildings and other vital installations and the bases and camps of various security forces is being augmented. The decision was taken at a meeting of senior officers of the Army, J&K police, the CRPF and Intelligence Bureau (IB) held at Raj Bhavan here on Friday in the backdrop of recent 57-hour long armed standoff between two holed up militants and the troops at Pampore near here. The meeting called by Governor N.N.Vohra was attended by Northern Army Command chief Lt. Gen. DS Hooda, Director General of J&K Police, K. Rajendra Kumar, and GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Army Corps Lt. Gen, Satish Dua and the Inspectors General of the CRPF and its operational wing and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) head in J&K. It was recalled at the meeting that after the Pathankot terror attack it had been decided at a similar meet held with the Governor in chair that a Multi Agency Security Audit (MASA) may be conducted by the State police in close collaboration with the IB, Central armed police forces, the Army, the Air Force and other concerned agencies. In this context, and in the background of the terror attacks at Poonch, Uri, Handwara and, most recently at Pampore, it was agreed that surveillance should be enhanced not only along the IB and LoC, as already done, but also in the entire hinterland, counter-terrorist operations should be resumed and, side by side, identified steps should be taken to safeguard and effectively ensure the safety and security of all civil and military vital installations and establishments in J&K, a statement issued by Raj Bhavan here said. Lucknow: In the face of strong opposition to Uniform Civil Code by Muslim outfits, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Firday said the issue should be left to religious leaders. "I will not say much on this issue but there should not be dispute on it. The issue of uniform civil code should be left to religious leaders. On the issues of country and humanity everyone should be united," Yadav told reporters when asked about his views on the ongoing debate over Uniform Civil Code. This issue was raked up earlier also, he said and recalled a programme in Pune in which social thinker late Ram Manohar Lohia was speaker. "There was a tension among Hindus and muslims on this issue but a large number of people gathered to hear Lohiaji, who said that Quran, Geeta and Ramayana-- all teach us lesson of humanity. Everyone should hold rope of religion and live unitedly", he said. "As a result of Lohiaji's speech, the tension vanished the next day," he said. All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), along with several other organisations associated with the Muslim community, had opposed the Law Commission's questionnaire on the possibility of a UCC and accused the Modi government of waging a "war" against the community. Yadav further said that his party would officially kick-start its election campaign on November 5, the 25th anniversary of the Samajwadi Party's formation. (Photo: File) Lucknow: Clearly indicating that all was not well within his party fold, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday said that the chief ministerial candidate would be decided after the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. Addressing the media in Lucknow, Yadav said that the Chief Minister would be decided by the elected legislators and the parliamentary board after the assembly polls. "There has never been any dispute in the family since three generations and the situation remains the same. The people still have immense faith in the Samajwadi Party," he said. Talking about the Samajwadi Party's achievements, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that they have formed the government four times in the last 25 years. He also expressed confidence that the Samajwadi Party would emerge victorious in the polls with a thumping majority. Yadav further said that his party would officially kick-start its election campaign on November 5, the 25th anniversary of the Samajwadi Party's formation. The Samajwadi Party president's assertion comes at a time when there is growing friction within his party fold following the fallout between his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, and his brother Shivpal Yadav. Akhilesh has often been on collision course with his uncle Shivpal over selection of candidates, approach to elections and alliances. The feud had spilled into the open after Akhilesh stripped Shivpal of key ministerial portfolios on September 13, hours after Mulayam replaced him with his uncle as the party's state unit chief. Moreover, the merger of the Quami Ekta Dal (QED) with the Samajwadi Party which had Shivpal's backing did not go well with Akhilesh. New Delhi: Some lawmakers on Friday raised the issue of alleged intelligence failure in connection with the terror attack at the Army camp in Uri at a meeting of a Parliamentary panel held in the national capital. The issue was raised by a few MPs at the meeting of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Congress leader P Chidambaram. However, Chidambaram is said to have intervened and conveyed to the Parliamentarians that the issue of Uri terror attack was not on the agenda of the meeting hence it should not be raised, official sources said. The meeting reviewed various aspects of border security along the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders and the steps taken to check repeated incidents of cross-border terrorism. The Parliamentary panel along with the top brass of the Home Ministry reviewed issues related to the security along the international borders and steps taken to enhance surveillance to check such incidents in future. Home Ministry officials, led by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, briefed the MPs about the initiatives taken for round-the-clock surveillance and close coordination between the border guarding forces and armed forces, sources privy to the discussions said. As many as 19 soldiers were killed in a terror attack at an Army camp in Uri on September 18. Ten days later, the Army carried our surgical strikes on terror launch pads across LoC. Bilateral relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated following the two incidents. AIMPLB and some other Muslim outfits had announced on Thursday to boycott a questionnaire circulated by the Law Commission on UCC. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The Centre said on Friday that the countrys real mood favoured abolishing the contentious practice of triple talaq, asserting that the issue should not be confused with the governments push for a uniform civil code (UCC). The All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and some other Muslim outfits had announced on Thursday to boycott a questionnaire circulated by the Law Commission on UCC, and vowed to block any attempt to abolish Islamic family laws, comprising triple talaq and polygamy. Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu asked the AIMPLB on Friday to join the debate. Debate uniform code: Naidu to Muslim Board The row over the law panels decision to seek public opinion on the Uniform Civil Code intensified on Friday with the government accusing the All India Muslim Personal Law Board of politicking on the issue even as Congress said it should not be imposed. In an affidavit in the Supreme Court, the government has opposed opposed the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds of gender equality and secularism. Defending its stand on triple talaq, the government asked when over a dozen Islamic countries were regulating the practice by enacting laws, how could it be considered wrong for a secular country like India. Steering clear of the triple talaq controversy, the Congress said the issue is before the Supreme Court and fell back upon Dr B R Ambedkars remarks on the matter to drive home the point that all stakeholders needed to be taken into confidence for any change. Demanding an debate on UCC, Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu said You (AIMPLB) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate you put forth your point of view. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of Prime Minister and call him dictator. New Delhi: In a hugely symbolic move ahead of the Brics summit that will start in Goa on Sunday and the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, China on Friday cancelled its session at the Brics Business Forum 2016 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The session was due to start at 10.30 am and was cancelled as China was apparently upset with trade barriers within Brics. This comes as India is gearing up to strongly take up the issue of terrorism with China over the issue of Beijings opposition to a proposal that the UN ban Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. So while India is miffed with China over the terrorism issue, Beijing has signalled it is upset with New Delhi over trade barriers. The Chinese see India as a huge market for their goods. But India is also expected to continue with its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan over terrorism when it plays host to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as the Chinese President and the leaders of Brazil and South Africa at the summit on Sunday. Modi to also raise China, Pakistan economic corridor Issues such as Indias NSG membership bid and China blocking UN ban on JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind, Masood Azhar, are likely to be raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping here on Saturday. China is keen to have a free trade area for Brics. Earlier this month a Chinese spokesperson in Beijing said that by setting up a free trade area, the Brics countries would be able to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers, give play to their comparative advantages, and advance trade and investment liberalisation between them, reports in the Chinese media claimed. However, India is not keen to give duty-free access to Chinese products. India recently imposed duties on steel coming from China. The menace of terror, Chinas continued opposition to a proposed UN ban on Pakistan-based JeMs chief Masood Azhar and Beijing blocking Indias NSG membership attempt are expected to dominate the bilateral talks between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that are likely to take place in Goa on Saturday ahead of the summit. Indias objections to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), that will pass through PoK, and the reports of China blocking a tributary of the Brahmaputra in Tibet as part of the construction of its most expensive hydro-power project are among the other issues that Mr Modi is likely to take up with the top Chinese leader. New city artist display at gallery COLUMBUS -- A new exhibit of artwork by the Columbus Area Artists is on display through December at the Platte River Gallery on the lower level of Columbus Public Library. Special exhibitor is Jane Duranski with her exhibit of original hand build pottery displayed in the glass case. Exhibiting Columbus Area Artists with original two-dimensional artworks are Christine Bartek, Phyllis Blaser, Jimmy Davis, Donna Dubsky, Doris Hicks, Elizabeth Hicks, Carri Mattan, Lauralyn Pilakowski, Barb Pokorny, Regina Steffen, Rod Supencheck, Amy Tomasevicz and Patrice Wielgus. The group has created artworks in oil, watercolor, pastel, pottery, colored pencil, graphite, charcoal, and photography. The Platte River Gallery is open during regular library hours. For more information, call Donna Dubsky at 402-562-8167 or Doris Hicks at 402-564-9838. Harolds Squares dance Sunday COLUMBUS -- Harolds Squares Square Dance Club of Columbus will hold a dance from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sunday at the VFW Hall. The caller for the dance will be Dean Dederman from Norfolk. Dinner will be served following the dance. Spectators are welcome to stop by and see what square dancing is about. For more information, call Bob or Rayetta Williams at 402-564-5502. Gem, mineral show planned COLUMBUS -- The 39th annual Loup Valley Gem and Mineral Show will be held Oct. 15-16 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 3115 Sixth St. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 15 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 16. The event will include displays, demonstrations, childrens activities, a raffle, lunch stand and silent auction. There will be many rocks, gems, artifacts and fossils on display, and demonstrations will include jewelry making, arrowhead making, fossil preparation and metal detecting. Admission is $2 for adults and 50 cents for students ages 6-16. Kids ages 5 and younger get in free. Women's lunch deadline set COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Christian Women's Connection has scheduled its monthly luncheon for 12:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at the VFW Club, 2720 23rd St. Cost of the event is $10, with reservations due by Oct. 18. The event is the annual fundraiser for Stonecroft Ministries. Sherry Jarvis, of Burwell, a retired school teacher, will be the keynote speaker. She began "Heart in Your Hand Horsemanship LLC" and will share what she has learned about horses, leadership and relationships in order to help others live their lives to the fullest. Alisa McCullough will provide the music for the afternoon. For reservations or more information, call Dorothy W. at 402-564-2965 or Dorothy O. at 402-564-4036. Cancellation of reservations is required. Survey meeting set for Oct. 17 SCHUYLER -- Historical consultants are beginning surveys of historic and architectural resources in Butler and Colfax counties. Residents are invited to attend a public meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Schuyler Public Library, 1123 A St. The meeting will introduce the project, outline the upcoming survey process, and gather information from the public. Representatives of the Nebraska State Historical Society (NSHS) and Mead & Hunt, the historic preservation consultant hired to complete the surveys, will host the meeting. The survey starts in mid-October and lasts through April 2017. The survey process will identify properties that are potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Anyone interested in providing historical information related to this survey that cannot attend the public meeting may contact Timothy Smith at 1-916-971-3961. YMCA seeks community input COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Family YMCA is seeking input from members and participants regarding community priorities, programs currently available, and level of satisfaction with services provided. The information gathered will help guide the YMCA develop strategies aimed at addressing identified gaps. The public is invited to take the survey at http://surveys.ymcaexchange.org/f/178943/1789/. This link will remain live through Oct. 18. Central CC board to meet COLUMBUS -- The Central Community College Board of Governors will meet at 1 p.m. Oct. 20 in Rooms 176/177 at the Columbus Campus, 4500 63rd St. The meeting will include a public participation segment. The agenda is available at http://cccneb.novusagenda.com/agendapublic. A live video stream of the board meeting will be available for viewing at www.cccneb.edu/boardmeeting. Play scheduled for Central CC COLUMBUS -- Central Community College-Columbus will present Nilo Cruzs Anna in the Tropics at 7 p.m. Oct. 20-22 and 2 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Fine Arts Theater. Theater instructor Keith Hall will direct the play, which is set in Ybor City, a section of Tampa where Cuban immigrants toil away in factories, hand rolling cigars for the areas main industry. Tickets are $7 for general admission. No reservations are needed, but parents should be aware that the play includes adult themes. Tart-making class at library COLUMBUS -- Columbus Public Library will host Phyllis Bartholomew of Blue Ribbon Pies to teach a class on making tarts at 2 p.m. Oct. 22. She will demonstrate the steps of making the nut and berry tart so those attending can repeat the process at home. She will also share tips and samples of her homemade tarts. There will be a drawing for the tart Phyllis makes during the class. No registration is needed, and the class is free. Kerala Union of Working Journalists expressed disappointment at the breach of assurances made by the Chief Justice and the Chief Minister that the journalists are free to enter the courts and report proceedings. (Representational image) Thiruvananthapuram: A group of journalists, including women, were threatened and manhandled on Friday while reporting the proceedings at the enquiry commissioner and Special Court on a petition against nepotism by E.P. Jayarajan. The incident in a court room occurred just three days after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was reportedly assured by the High Court Chief Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar that there would be protection for journalists who turn up for reporting at the High Court. A few journalists turned up at the court by around 11 am to report the court proceedings. They were standing inside the court room. As the court started considering the petition against Mr Jayarajan, some lawyers asked the journalists to vacate the court room. The women journalists, Justina Thomas of Manorama News and C.P. Ajitha of Asianet, who were standing near the judge's chamber even sought protection. However, they had to be vacated from the court room as the lawyers threatened of dire consequences. Senior journalists J. Ramakrishnan of Press Trust of India and Prabhat Nair of The New Indian Express were forcibly pushed out of the court room by lawyers. Mr Prabhat was even slapped on the face by a lawyer in the court corridor and threatened. A section of lawyers pelted stones at journalists and outdoor broadcasting vans of television channels. The journalists were taken out of the court premises with police protection. Though the journalists immediately brought the matter to the notice of city police commissioner Sparjan Kumar, no case was registered till Friday evening. Meanwhile, there were allegations that the attack on journalists on Friday was instigated by some lawyers owing allegiance to pro-Left organisations. Drivers try to avoid the huge potholes on a road in Sainikpuri following the recent rains. (Photo: DC) Hyderabad: The GHMC has restored the damaged stretch from Kondapur to Madhapur and has sought residents signatures certifying the work. GHMC will take the before and after photographs of restored roads. Black-topped patchwork was done at Madhapur main road near e-park, Tata building and the stretch from Gachibowli to Kothaguda junction and Kothaguda to Shilpa-ramam. Roads in Rangmahal, Troop Bazaar, Afzalnagar in Old Malakpet awere repaired. Work at Banjara Hills Road No, 13 and Jubilee Hills Road No. 9 will be carried out at night. GHMC commissioner Dr B. Janardhan Reddy said all roads must be inspected by executive and superintendent engineers. Inspections by third party engineers and JNTU professors must be held regularly. The GHMC-mandated boards showing work details including cost, length of the road, time of completion and executing agency are to be displayed at the site. Before laying of roads, the dust should be removed and it must be ensured that traffic is not allowed to ply on newly laid roads immediately. The GHMC commissioner ordered officials to coordinate with their traffic police, Metro Rail, Water Works and Transco counterparts. He said signatures of nearby citizens must be taken regarding the work. Photographs of the road before it was laid, and after the work must be taken. Assistant engineers must stay at work site to inspect the work done, he added. Techies bear traffic woes in I.T. corridor The recent rain has severely damaged roads, while incomplete works and road-widening have made travel miserable in the IT corridor. Due to the poor traffic management on alternative roads, techies struggle to move past spots where work is going on for Strategic Road Development Project and Metro Rail at Raheja Mindspace, Ayyappa Society Junction and Gachibowli. Tolichowki to Raidurgam, Gachibowli and Hitec City are the major corridors as the techies come from Mehdipatnam, Mallepally and Old City. The government had approved proposals to widen the Tolichowki-Raidurgam road to six lanes and the GHMC even acquired land for the purpose but works are still pending. The GHMC temporarily widened the road from Brindavan Colony to Adityanagar, but the roadsides are occupied by vendors. The delay in work on a culvert on Shaikpet nala is blocking road-widening. Land was acquired at Dwarakanagar but again the road has not been widened. Mr M.A. Shafiuddin, who stays in the Old City and travels to Mindspace, said because of the traffic jams it took up to half an hour to cover a distance of 1 km. We need more patience while travelling from Shaikpet nala to Raidurgam. We have no alternative except the Filmnagar road, whose condition is worse, he said. The road was developed from two-lane to four-lane in 2000 during the National Games in Gachibowli stadium and further developed in 2005 during the Congress plenary. GHMC chief engineer for projects K. Suresh Kumar said land acquisition was pending at a few points for two-and-a-half years. The Krishna water project pipeline works are also going on. Once land acquisition and the pipeline works complete, we begin widening the roads, he said. Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav put a question mark on the future of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday when he said that the next chief minister would be decided after the upcoming Assembly elections. In his first press conference after the war within the Samajwadi Party began last month, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said, The party will decide on the next chief ministerial candidate only after the results of the 2017 Assembly elections are announced. This is not the job of the media to decide. The newly elected MLAs of the party will elect the new Chief Minister after the elections and overall its the job of the parliamentary board of the party. This is being seen as a clear snub to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav whose differences with his father and uncle, Shivpal Yadav, are becoming increasingly irreconcilable. He said that in 2012, people had voted in his name but he had named Akhilesh as the Chief Minister after the results came in. Though Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav vehemently denied that there was any rift in the party or the family, he also emphasized that he had built up his party from a scratch. My family has remained united for three generations and there is no question of differences in the family. The Samajwadi Party was launched by me and the party has attained its present position because of me, he said. Referring to the fact that five members of his family won the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls, he said people have faith on our family. He also added that his family has formed four governments in the state. The statements by Mulayam Singh came hours after chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said in an interview that he might be cornered, but he will not be defeated. Mr Akhilesh Yadav further said that as a child, he had to keep his own name because there was no one to name him. Responding to the chief ministers statement, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said that there was nothing great about keeping ones own name. Dharmendra (Yadav) also kept his own name. Akhileshs mother was unwell and my sisters brought him up, he said. This is the first time that Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has spoken about his family issues in public. Control family first: Amit Shah BJP president Amit Shah, on Friday, advised the Samajwadi Party to first control the infighting within it before trying to control the law and order situation in the state. Mr Shah said in Kanpur on Friday that, The government has failed to control the law and order situation but how will those who cannot control their own family, be even expected to control the state. Uttar Pradesh is very big Akhilesh Bhaiyya... first of all, control your family and only then will a bit of peace return to the state, the BJP president added. The BJP president, while addressing a function to mark the conclusion of the 174-day long Dhamma Chetna Yatra, said that the BSP had supported the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for ten years which had insulted Dr B.R. Ambedkar. New Delhi: A two-month-old baby, having Australian citizenship and in New Delhi on a short term e-visa with her Indian mother, was on Thursday allowed to extend her stay following intervention by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj so that she can "celebrate Diwali with her family". The baby's mother Aditi Chandak, who holds an Indian passport, had appealed to Ms Swaraj to extend the baby's stay in India so that they could celebrate Diwali in New Delhi. The baby having an Australian passport was here on a short term e-visa. "Just two months old - her first Diwali ! Baby will celebrate Diwali with her grandparents. Please convey her my Diwali greetings," Swaraj tweeted in response to the request by Aditi. Just two months old - her first Diwali ! Baby will celebrate Diwali with her grandparents. Please convey her my Diwali greetings. https://t.co/zv2o2ycizn Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 13, 2016 Earlier, Aditi, in a tweet had said, @indianetourist still waiting to hear a positive response Pls allow my baby to extend stay by 2 wks so tht I can have Diwali with parents. @indianetourist still waiting to hear a positive response Pls allow my baby to extend stay by 2 wks so tht I can have Diwali with parents pic.twitter.com/G6yNV2Uwxy Aditi Chandak (@DrAditiChandak) October 13, 2016 She had also given details of baby's visa and also said that she had to apply for e-visa for the baby as they had to come to India urgently. Coimbatore: CB-CID, which is probing the September 22 murder of Hindu Munnani district spokesperson C Sasikumar, has released a sketch of a man, based on information from an eyewitness. Naming him as a 'person of interest,' CB-CID asked him to approach the office of the Special Investigation Division (SID), Crime Branch CID at PRS Campus. This was done to gather specific information about the case, an official release said on Friday. Members of the public may also pass on information about the 'Person of Interest' in this case, it said. Any information may also be communicated to the Assistant Superintendent of Police (SID) Chennai, G Stalin, or mailed to sidcbcidcbe@gmail.com, the release said. Sasikumar (36), the Hindu Munnani's Coimbatore district spokesperson, was returning home on September 22 night at Subramaniampalayam on the outskirts of Coimbatore on his two-wheeler when unidentified assailants chased him on motorcycles and attacked him with sickles. He was taken to a private hospital, where he died. Hyderabad: In a strong reaction to AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his Cabinet colleagues allegations that Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy could be the individual from Hyderabad who made the Rs 10,000-crore disclosure in the Income Declaration Scheme, the Opposition leader and YSR Congress president on Thursday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to publish the entire list of IDS 2016 and disclose the names. Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy said that if Mr Naidus allegations were true, then that individual would be a benami of Mr Naidu himself, as he is the one who revealed the secret figures accurately. Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy asked Mr Modi to order a probe into Mr Naidus corruption. The YSRC chief wrote to the PM: CM Naidu on, at least two occasions even after the clarification issued by the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes), said Rs 13,000 crore was declared together in AP and Telangana states, and that Rs 10,000 crore was declared by one individual. How is that Mr Naidu alone is privy to this information? If true, then the person declared should have been a binami of Naidu, otherwise how can he be so specific on the numbers and if this information is true, then, we, people of AP should also be aware of this information...In the larger interest of probity in public life, I request you to kindly make the entire list of IDS 2016 public while initiating a thorough inquiry on the corruption charges on Naidu. He referred to the CBDT tweets on October 3, which stated that finance minister Arun Jaitley had stressed that no break-up of the declaration on the basis of trades, cities and state shall be released. The CBDT clarified that no official list of region-wise declaration had been issued and requested the general public not to pay heed to such fraudulent messages. Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that AP has been ranked the most corrupt state in the country and Mr Naidu had amassed Rs 1.5 lakh crore in his two and half years of regime. The book we submitted had all information with enough evidence to initiate a probe... No action has been taken on our representation ... No wonder Naidu is emboldened by the confidence that nobody in India can summon courage to order any inquiry against him. True to his confidence, he is probably the only chief minister who has been caught red-handed audio and videotaped distributing ill-gotten unaccounted black money to buy MLAs and is still continuing in power without being arrested or resigning, he alleged. New Delhi: AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is at it again. To fish in troubled waters, he is all set to descend on Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state Gujarat on Saturday, and this time he is changing tack. Instead of focusing mainly on caste equations in the state (Patidars and Dalits), he will target a larger audience by raising local issues at his proposed Surat rally on Sunday. However, to prevent Mr Kejriwal making any dent in the saffron citadel, Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani played the nationalist card and described him as a Pak hero. AAP leaders planning the visit indicated that to make the partys presence felt in Gujarat, it needed to rise above caste equations and reach out to all communities. Mr Kejriwal is expected to blend caste issues with other local concerns by speaking of corruption, unemployment, land acquisition laws, the state of traders and businessmen and the condition of dalits and tribals. Mr Kejriwal will reach Ahmedabad on Friday evening and remain in Gujarat for the next two days. In the span of around two and a half months, this will be Mr Kejriwals third visit to Gujarat. Besides addressing the Surat rally, he is likely to meet businessmen, farmers and other sections of society. Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra said that the AAP was providing clean and issue-based politics... and this is the reason people in Gujarat are connecting with us. Prior to the visit, a poster war has erupted in Gujarat. An organisation called Yuva Azadi Sangathan put up posters asking Mr Kejriwal about his sudden love for Patel youth who died more than a year ago, while other posters titled Heroes of Pakistan showing the Delhi CM in the company of slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani, Osama bin Laden and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed have come up in Ahmedabad and Surat. There are posters warning Mr Kejriwal against entering particular areas in Surat. While the BJP is going all out to counter the AAP chief, saffron leaders both in the state and at the Centre seemed worried about the developments. With a majority of the 45 per cent OBCs and 15 per cent Patidars up in arms against the BJP government, the party finds itself on shaky grounds at this juncture. Trouble mounted for the BJP after the thrashing of Dalit youths by cow vigilantes at Una in July this year. Some central BJP leaders felt the replacing of Anandiben Patel with Vijay Rupani as state chief minister had only worsened the situation. With his eyes on the 2017 Assembly polls in Gujarat, Mr Kejirwal will target the Patidar citadel in Mehsana, which incidentally is also the home district of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Kejriwal is also expected hold talks with the dalit and OBC leaderships. All eyes are thus on Mr Kejriwals Surat rally on Sunday. A senior AAP leader told this newspaper that a lot will depend on the response to the rally. The AAP has also been accusing the BJP of planning to disrupt the rally. It may be recalled that during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP had got only 1.2 per cent of the total valid votes in the state. Claiming the nation was hit by the Modi wave in the 2014 elections, an AAP leader said the situation had now changed and the time had come for the AAP to move into the saffron pocket borough. Hyderabad: Opposition parties have stepped up their attack on TRS government, especially on the financial position of the state. BJP legislators and leaders on Thursday staged a dharna in front of the C Block housing the CMO in the Secretariat, demanding the TS government release Rs 791 crore provided by the Centre towards subsidy to farmers, besides release of instalment of loan waiver scheme. Elsewhere, Congress working president Bhatti Vikramarka, MLC P. Sudhakar Reddy and TD leader Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy demanded the government release white paper on the financial position of the state following curbs on welfare schemes besides aid to farmers, including cotton growers. BJLP leader G. Kishan Reddy, N.V.S.S. Prabhakar, Ramachander Rao, C. Ramachandra Reddy, Nagam Janardhan Reddy, Baddam Bal Reddy and others staged a dharna and later met Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma and submitted a memorandum seeking immediate release of subsidy and succour to farmers. Though the Centre released the subsidy amount, the government is sitting on it. Farmers are in dire straits following recent heavy rains and crop loss. We will fight till the government releases subsidy, instalment of loan waiver scheme and other relief to farmers, Dr Janardhan Reddy said. He alleged that Central funds were diverted for other purposes. Police swung into action and arrested the protesting BJP leaders. Meanwhile, the TS TD demanded the government release a white paper on the states financial position. KCR claims the financial position of the state is good. If that is the case, why curbs on welfare schemes? The government has post-haste carved out new districts despite protests from people. Though KCR promised an all-party meet before issuing the final notification for new districts, he ignored us, Mr Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy alleged. He also took a dig at the CMs family members, saying, Daughter has gone to Kuwait, son to US and father to his farmhouse. CPI leader Chada Venkat Reddy alleged that that the new districts lacked scientific approach and wondered why the government, which issued notification for 27 districts, increased the number to 31, in a jiffy. Chennai: Keeping up its pressure on the ruling AIADMK over Cauvery issue, DMK treasurer and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin on Friday called on Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Panneerselvam and asked the state government to lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister in order to urge him to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). A day after convening a meeting of farmers bodies on the Cauvery issue, Stalin handed over resolutions adopted at the farmers' meet to Panneerselvam who is also holding the portfolios previously held by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The resolution urged the state government to immediately convene an all-party meeting and the state assembly. The meet also wanted the AIADMK government to take a delegation of leaders of all parties and farmers' representatives to Delhi and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee on the Cauvery issue. A resolution should be adopted in the State Assembly on the Cauvery issue, it was sought. "We have given the resolution copies to Finance and PWD Ministers. The ministers have assured us that appropriate action will be taken," Stalin told reporters after calling on Panneerselvam and PWD Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy. He said his party has sent the copies of the resolution to the State Chief Secretary. DMK senior leader Duraimurugan, former Minister Ponmudi, and former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian accompanied Stalin. Yesterday, DMK had also pledged its support and participation in the 48-hour rail roko agitation called by farmers' organisations on October 17 and 18 on the Cauvery issue against the Centre in order to urge it to set up the CMB. Stalin meeting Panneerselvam on CMB comes days after he had said that his party would convene an all-party meeting and lead an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Modi if the ruling AIADMK failed to do so. On October 7, he had said in Thanjavur that it would be appropriate if the ruling government called an all-party meet. However, if the ruling government dragged its feet on the issue, DMK would be taking that step to protect Tamil Nadu's interests, he had said. Its a pest Even though its touted as the best Emotion in the human breast, Which leaves the rest Suspended Though to it is appended Suspicion, jealousy, the never-ended Delusion even Eve finally pretended It wasnt the fruit of the tree It was just what was meant to be. From Bowl, (Id) Rather Bowl by Bachchoo Shami Chakrabarti headed Liberty, a UK human rights outfit that sided with the meek and oppressed, against the powers of evil and capitalism, promoting their inheritance of the earth. When a row broke out this year on anti-semitism in the Labour Party, Shami was appointed to a commission to enquire and produce a report. Several Jewish and non-Jewish MPs alleged supporters of now twice-elected leader Jeremy Corbyn made anti-semitic and inflammatory statements on social media. Bradford West MP Naz Shah sent publicly accessible messages saying remember everythi-ng Hitler did in Germany was legal, and wrote some nonsense on her Facebook page proposing that Israel be evacuated to the United States to rid the Middle East of Jews. Earlier, a former Bradf-ord Lord Mayor Khadim Hussain was suspended from Labour for anti-semitic posts and rants. Corbyn, suspending Naz Shah and three other councillors pending an inquiry, insisted he was anti-racist and this included being against anti-semitism. It reminded me of the opposite blanket quip of American genius William Faulkner, who said: I hate Jews, but before you judge me for that remark, keep in mind that I hate everyone else too! The classic Labour response to accusations of anti-semitism is to make a distinction between that and anti-Zionism, which they would admit. The argument may be sound, but lapses into disingenuousness when MPs get vile threats and abuse in their mail from those purporting to be Corbyn supporters. Shami Chakrabarti produced a report which many Jewish MPs labelled a whitewash and an evasive, mealy-mouthed report. I read bits of it, and it seemed hard-hitting and not equivocal at all, but then prejudice is, even legally in the UK, judged through the eye of the victim. Ruth Smeeth, a North England Labour MP, Jewish herself and married to a Roman Catholic, felt the report didnt go far enough, excused a great deal of anti-semitic verbiage and activity and neglected the central dyn-amics of anti-semitism in the party. She walked out of the meeting where Sha-mi unveiled her report. Smeeth was thus labe-lled the Jewish MP and received a letter from a member of Momentum threatening to kill her and over a hundred messages calling her everything from a dyke to several combinations of the f and c words and of course labelling her a traitor. Several other MPs told the newspapers they got similar threats and anti-semitic abuse. The earlier Labour leader, Ed Milliband, was of Jewish origin and, Jewish MPs say, the anti-Jewish incidents and sentiments remained suppressed. The central dynamic and dilemma of this anti-semitism in Labour arises from a significant demographic. Its no surprise that Naz Shah, Khadim Hussain and the suspended councillors are from Bradford and northern areas that have turned from mill-towns to mosque-towns. These have a large Muslim population, the descendants largely of immigrants from Pakistans Mirpuri district and from Bangladesh. The paradox of these communities is that they always voted Labour, being shift workers in the textile mills of the Midlands and north, and consequently the poorest section of the population. They were naturally concerned with food, clothes, shelter, employment and the National Health Service. Tony Blairs decision to join America in its Iraq and Afghan wars changed all that. For the Muslim populations of Britain this foreign policy decision and the war against Muslim countries meant in large measure a withdrawal of allegiance from Blairite Labour. The Labour left, which included Jeremy Corbyn at the time, dissented from the decision to wage war in Iraq and consequently claimed the loyalty of this electorate and these communities. A very clever adventurer, George Galloway, a Scottish Labour MP at the time fell out with the party leadership over the war and was expelled from Labour. He exploited the origin of his rift by becoming a spokesman for anti-US and anti-Blairite policies and on the platform of being on the Muslim side of the war stood as an Indepen-dent against a Labour ca-ndidate in largely Ban-gladeshi Tower Hamlets and won. When he lost that seat he spent time on the fringes and then stood again in Bradford and, again as an advocate of a foreign policy that purportedly supported Afgh-anistan, Pakistan and even with the pretence of having become a Muslim convert. He was displaced in 2015, but the pattern of his success showed that these and other Muslim communities were more concerned with backing Islamic regimes against US and British imperialism than with food, clothes, shelter, employment and the National Health Service. East Central District Health Department is encouraging conversations about underage drug and alcohol use during October, which is National Substance Abuse Prevention Month. According to the Community Health Needs Assessment, about a third of high school seniors in the districts coverage area reported drinking alcohol in the last month. Also, about 22 percent of 12th-grade students engaged in binge drinking, meaning they had five or more drinks in a row. The health department covers Platte, Boone, Colfax and Nance counties. The consequences of underage drinking can be serious. Each year, more than 4,300 people under the age of 21 die from homicides, suicides, motor vehicle crashes and drownings related to drinking alcohol in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children hearing positive messages from people they know and who care about them can have a positive impact. Statistics from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration show that talking to youths about substance use and abuse and being involved in their lives can make a difference. For example, the frequency of binge drinking, illicit drug use and cigarette smoking is lower among youths ages 12-17 whose parents always or sometimes engage in monitoring behaviors, like helping with homework, compared to youth whose parents seldom or never engage in such behaviors. The words and actions of one person can make a positive difference in the lives of others. Every day, parents, caregivers, educators and community leaders in the East Central District can make a difference by having conversations with youths about substance use and by modeling healthy choices and behaviors. As individuals and as a community, underage drinking and drug use can be prevented by being involved in young peoples lives; identifying resources, support systems and alternatives for youth in the community; and raising awareness about the importance of prevention. Back to BASICs (Bringing Awareness to Substance Abuse Issues in our Communities) is a community coalition that works to use collective community resources to prevent and reduce youth substance abuse. This month is a time to bring about awareness, emphasize healthy choices and encourage each other to make a meaningful difference in the community. The RICOH Pentax Papilio binoculars come equipped with fully multi-coated optics and aspherical lenses for edge-to-edge clarity and sharpness. Ricoh India and WWF-India have launched a new edition of co-branded Pentax Papilio 8.5x21 WF binoculars. RICOH Pentax Papilio binoculars come equipped with fully multi-coated optics and aspherical lenses for edge-to-edge clarity and sharpness, a unibody design and extreme close focusing capability, ideal for nature trails, wildlife viewing and travel, as they are equipped with close focus of 50 cm. This joint endeavor is an extension of Project Nature Watch, an ongoing CSR collaboration between the two organizations. Under this project, Ricoh and WWF-India joined hands on to strengthen wildlife and marine conservation across India. The CSR project aims at providing need-based infrastructure support to frontline and field staff working in the forest and marine areas respectively as well as monitoring species such as the red panda, snow leopard, tiger, elephant, rhino, Olive Ridley turtle and other fish diversity, coral reefs, cetaceans and marine mammals that face threat. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Samsung is also expanding a US recall of the fire-prone model to a total 1.9 million Note 7 phones, which includes the 1 million Galaxy Note 7s it recalled on Sept. 15. Samsung Electronics on October 13 offered refunds or financial incentives for US and South Korea customers who exchange Note 7s for other products, as the tech giant scrambles to shore up its reputation after a damaging phone safety crisis. The world's largest phone maker is also expanding a US recall of the fire-prone model to a total 1.9 million Note 7 phones, which includes the 1 million Galaxy Note 7s it recalled on Sept. 15. The South Korean giant is in damage-control mode as rivals like Apple and LG try to steal market share from the global smartphone leader after it was forced to scrap its latest high-end device. Samsung is boosting its marketing and promotional efforts around other Galaxy-series smartphones to cushion the blow from the demise of the premium Note 7, which it finally abandoned this week after failing to resolve overheating problems which caused some of the phones to ignite. Samsung said it is offering up to $100 in bill credit to consumers who exchange their Note 7s for any Samsung smartphone in the US US customers who exchange their Note 7s for a refund or other branded smartphone will receive $25 in bill credit. "We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carriers and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times," said Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer, Samsung Electronics America. "We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right." The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said the Note 7's "battery can overheat and catch fire, posing serious fire and burn hazard to consumers." It added that Samsung has received 96 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the US, including 23 new reports since the Sept. 15 recall announcement. In the US, Samsung began sending fireproof boxes and protective gloves to customers returning potentially explosive Note 7s, drawing humorous barbs from social media commentators. The company has commenced offering similar financial incentives in its home market of South Korea, which it says would compensate consumers for their "big inconvenience." After days of heavy losses, Samsung's shares ended 1.4 per cent higher on October 13 while the broader market fell 0.9 per cent. On October 12, the firm slashed its quarterly profit estimate by $2.3 billion to reflect the impact of the Note 7 withdrawal, giving some investors hope that the financial cost of the debacle had been largely accounted for. "We are confident the 3Q 16 re-statement puts to bed the direct financial impact of the Note 7 recall and termination," UBS said in a report. "In the near-term, we believe investors will re-focus on shareholders returns ahead of full 3Q results Oct 27th." SAVING THE BRAND In Europe, the company disclosed that only about 50,000 original Note 7 phones were ever delivered to customers. Ninety percent of those, or 45,000 devices, had been replaced before it halted returns once replacement phones were also found to be at risk. Samsung said it will begin to exchange or offer refunds for all active Galaxy Note 7 devices in Europe on Monday, October 17. In the meantime, it is finalising the mechanics of a safe return process for customers through retailers and distributors. Decisions about whether possibly to offer some form of compensation to customers for sticking with Samsung through the recall are being left up to local sales partners, a spokesman said. Customers will have plenty of choice in the weeks ahead, with South Korean mobile carriers including SK Telecom planning to take pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 7 starting Friday. LG Electronics also recently launched its V20 smartphone. Many analysts say the real risk to Samsung lies in the reputational damage it suffers in a cut-throat industry rather than financial costs. "Industry experience, such as the decline of Nokia and BlackBerry, shows how successful manufacturers can lose market share particularly quickly in the handset business," Fitch ratings agency said in a report on Thursday. Moody's also said in a report that day that the Note woes are "credit negative" and "threaten to have a more lasting negative effect on the Samsung brand and would require significant marketing expense to regain consumer confidence." Meanwhile, South Korea's central bank said the Note 7 failure could undermine economic growth, although it needed more time to assess the effects. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. A group of suspected Islamists in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai. (Photo: AP) Cairo: At least 15 terrorists and 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed on Friday in a major attack on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years been battling Islamist insurgency. A group of suspected Islamists in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai, following which a gun-battle broke out between the forces and the terrorists, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones in Sinai in July 2015. The militants targeted a military base about 80 kilometres east of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Apart from 15 militants and 12 soldiers killed, Samir said a number of terrorists and six security personnel were also injured in the attack. "The armed forces assert that these despicable acts will not deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people," Samir said in a statement. Security forces have launched combing operations in the area to find if any assailants escaped. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy that primarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed in violence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. Berlin: Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday hit back at criticism from his wife about his leadership, saying she "belongs to my kitchen". Buhari's wife Aisha Buhari told the BBC in an interview that she may not back him at the next election if he fails to shake up his government. But the president lashed out, saying during a visit to Berlin that "she belongs to my kitchen, and my living room and the other room". He also said he had more political experience than her, "so I claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition because in the end I have succeeded" in winning Nigeria's presidency. "It is not easy to satisfy the whole Nigerian opposition parties to participate in the government," he told journalists, addressing the press following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nigeria's first lady said in the interview that Buhari has not told her if he would contest the next elections in 2019. But "if things continue like this... I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again," said Aisha Buhari, whose grandfather was Nigeria's first defence minister. She suggested that the government had been hijacked by a "few people" who have made key official appointments. As a result, she said Buhari did not even know most of the people holding top posts in the country. Buhari was voted into power in 2015 on an anti-corruption platform and Nigerians have largely praised the retired general for his commitment to restoring order and accountability. But the country's economy is battered by a recession as global crude prices sink while the oil-producing south has been hit by a wave of attacks by rebels. Buhari is divorced from his first wife Safinatu, with whom he had five children. He married Aisha, 45, in 1989. They also have five children together. Pence, the conservative Indiana governor, said Trump had assured him personally the allegations were false. (Photo: AP) Washington: Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence on Friday vigorously defended running mate Donald Trump against allegations of sexual misconduct and promised evidence casting doubt on the claims would come out. Trump's campaign has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he brags about groping women. Multiple women subsequently went public with allegations of sexual misconduct against the New York real estate magnate, who has denied the claims. Pence, the conservative Indiana governor, said Trump had assured him personally the allegations were false. "Before the day is out, there'll be more evidence publicly that calls into question these latest allegations," Pence said in an interview with CBS "This Morning." "Stay tuned. I know there's more information that's going to be coming out that will back his claim that this is all categorically false." Read: 'Trump made women walk on table to see if they wore underwear: reports Pence told NBC's "Today" show that the evidence was just "hours" away from being made public. With his numbers dropping in opinion polls before the November 8 election, Trump told supporters at a rally in Florida on Thursday that accusations he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. "I do believe him," Pence insisted on CBS. In several morning television interviews on Friday, Pence tried in vain to shift the debate to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, her family's charity and information from the hacked emails of her campaign manager, John Podesta. Read: Stories of 6 women who've accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment The New York Times reported on Wednesday night that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several others made similar allegations in other media outlets. Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. The allegations roiled an unorthodox campaign that has been pockmarked by controversial Trump proposals including building a wall along the Mexican border and temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country. The candidate's demeaning comments about women throughout the campaign has drawn criticism among a group of voters his campaign wants and needs to court. They also drew an impassioned denunciation of Trump from popular first lady Michelle Obama, who was campaigning for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday. "This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable," the first lady said. "I know it's a campaign, but this isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong." Washington: US First Lady Michelle Obama on Friday launched a scathing take down of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling his sexually aggressive comments about women "disgraceful" and "intolerable." Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer who has largely shunned the political limelight to focus on education and health issues, galvanized a rally for Democrat Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire with an impassioned plea to "stop this madness." Her comments came as Trump fought back against a cascade of allegations of sexual misconduct, which surfaced just days after a video emerged of him boasting that his fame allowed him to grope women with impunity. "This wasn't locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women," said the 52-year-old first lady. "It doesn't matter what party you belong to -- Democrat, Republican, independent -- no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse." She lashed out at what she called Trump's "cruel" and "frightening" attitude towards women, while deliberately never using his name. "It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted," she said. "This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable." 'Not how decent human beings behave' Trump's presidential bid was teetering Thursday after claims from at least six women surfaced, alleging that he had made unwanted sexual advances towards them in the past, including groping and kissing. The Manhattan billionaire said Sunday in his second presidential debate with Clinton that despite his lewd conversation with then "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush in 2005 captured on video, he had never sexually assaulted women. Trump has vehemently denied the claims reported by various US media outlets including The New York Times, NBC and People magazine, slamming them as politically-motivated and threatening to sue the Times. "The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION," Trump posted on Twitter. But Michelle Obama nevertheless attacked him with a vengeance. "The men in my life do not talk about women like this," she said. "This is not how decent human beings behave and this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the United States behaves." She championed Clinton as a unifying force and said only she could help "heal the wounds that divide us." The first lady warned that if Trump were elected, "we're telling our sons that it's okay to humiliate women. We're telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated." "While our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election," Obama said to cheers. "We have knowledge. We have a choice. We have a vote." If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars. (Photo: AP) Elizabeth: The New York bomb suspect wanted for injuring 31 people in a September attack in Manhattan pleaded not guilty Thursday to state charges from his hospital bed. Ahmad Khan Rahimi's public defender entered a plea of not guilty on state charges that his client attempted to murder police officers and unlawfully possessed weapons while on the run in New Jersey. Bail was set at $5.2 million. Rahimi was shown lying in his hospital bed, where he is being treated after being critically wounded in a shootout with police on September 19 that led to his capture. "Yes ma'am," said the Afghan-born American weakly in response to questions from Judge Regina Caulfield, who spoke from the court, as he recovered in his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Looking pale, with a thick black beard and black hair, he had a hospital sheet pulled up almost to his neck. His public lawyer, Peter Liguori, stood over him wearing a hospital gown over his shirt and tie, and blue rubber gloves on his hands. Liguori told the court he wished to correct the spelling of his 28-year-old client's last name to Rahimi -- not Rahami as previously listed by US authorities. In addition to the New Jersey charges, Rahimi has been indicted for terrorism, including use of weapons of mass destruction, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has yet to appear on those charges. The bomb attack in New York's upscale neighborhood of Chelsea wounded 31 people on September 17. A separate bomb attack forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run in the New Jersey town of Seaside Park. If convicted, the suspect, who worked in his family's fried chicken restaurant, could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Rahimi was captured while carrying a handwritten journal that lauded Osama bin Laden and US-born Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, and criticized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, prosecutors said The FBI believes that he acted alone. Another bomb found in Chelsea on September 17 was defused safely. Five additional pipe bombs were subsequently found and defused in Elizabeth. US officials say the suspect traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent around a year in Pakistan, where he married and his wife became pregnant. Washington: The recent comment made by a Pakistani envoy visiting the United States that the outgoing American President Barack Obama is now just "a guest" at the White House is "ridiculous", the US has said. "That's a ridiculous comment," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Thursday when asked about the remark made by the visiting Special Envoy of the Pakistan Prime Minister on Kashmir Issues Mushahid Hussain Syed last week. "Obama is a guest for the next few months," Mr Syed had said in response to a question about his expectations from the US government during a panel discussion on Kashmir at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank. Syed directed Pakistan's expectations from the United States to the next US administration and completely dismissed the incumbent government, calling President Obama "a guest for the next few months." "What Pakistan would like from the US - and I'm talking of the incoming administration because Obama is a guest for the next few months, 20th of January 2017, there will be a new administration - that they have to see the region where they have a more comprehensive perspective and do not try to compartmentalise peace and security, because that is not possible," Syed had said. Washington: Several women have accused US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual advances and groping. Among his accusers are a Miss Utah beauty pageant winner, a businesswoman, a reporter, and a receptionist. He has denied the accusations. In a 2005 video that emerged on October 7, Trump boasted about grabbing women by the genitals and kissing them without their consent. In the second US presidential debate on October 9, he said he was embarrassed by what he called locker room talk but that he had not engaged in the conduct he described in the video. Responding to several women's allegations of groping and other misconduct, reported by The New York Times and other media on Thursday, Trump said on October 13 the claims were "absolutely false". Following are some of the allegations against Trump: * Jill Harth Houraney, a former Trump beauty pageant business associate, filed a $125 million lawsuit in 1997 against Trump alleging that on January 24, 1993 at Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, Trump "forcibly removed plaintiff to a bedroom, whereupon defendant subjected plaintiff to defendant's unwanted sexual advances." A Trump spokesperson was quoted on October 7 in The New York Times as saying, "Mr Trump denies each and every statement made by Ms Harth." The lawsuit was dropped in May 1997. * Temple Taggart McDowell, a former Miss Utah, was quoted by The New York Times in a report published on May 15 as saying that Trump "kissed me directly on the lips" when the two were introduced in 1997, when she was 21. Taggart told the Times, "I thought, 'Oh my God, gross.'" The Times' story said Trump disputed the report and added that Trump said "he is reluctant to kiss strangers on the lips". * Jessica Leeds, 74, recounted in an video interview posted on The New York Times' website on October 12 that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight to New York in or around 1980 when she was a 38 year-old travelling businesswoman. In a tweet and in a later speech on October 13, Trump called the Times' story a total fabrication. * Rachel Crooks, formerly a receptionist at a real estate firm, told The New York Times in a report published on October 12 that Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan when she was 22. Rachel Crooks, Natasha Stoynoff, Melania Trump * Natasha Stoynoff, a reporter, wrote a first-person account that described Trump kissing her without her consent in December 2005 at Trump's Florida home Mar-a-Lago while she was working on an article about him and his third wife, Melania, for People magazine. In the account published by People on October 12, she said "he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." In a tweet and in a later speech on October 13, Trump said the episode described did not happen. * Mindy McGillivray was cited in an article published in The Palm Beach Post on October12 that while she was a 23-year-old photographer's assistant at a January 24, 2003, event at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, Trump had grabbed her buttocks. The Palm Beach Post cited a Trump spokesperson as saying, "This allegation lacks any merit or veracity." Jakarta: The Indonesian Parliament on Thursday passed a new law that gives way to chemically castrate or even execute convicted paedophiles. Indonesia, which is also the worlds most populous Muslim country, enacted the law following a spate of child sexual abuse cases, especially involving western tourists. According to the new law, repeat offenders and those who abuse family members can face up to 20-years in jail, and be tagged with a microchip. The law also permits execution for those who murder their victims or leave them with permanent mental or physical damage, including sexually transmitted diseases. According to a report in Daily Mail, the incidences of western paedophiles travelling in Indonesia were at a staggering high, with over 100 sex offenders from Audtralia being arrested in the recent past. Though stringent measures for sex offenders and paedophiles were under consideration, the move got added impetus after the brutal rape and murder of 14-year-old by a gang of 12 men and boys in May. The teenagers body was found in the woods, tied-up, battered, and naked. Earlier, police arrested a group of janitors working at the Jakarta International School (JIS) for allegedly abusing a six-year-old student. Also in April, the FBI said a suspected child predator had once taught at JIS, as well as at a number of other international schools in Nicaragua, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and other countries. The suspect, William James Vahey, committed suicide in March. And earlier last month, the police arrested a man for allegedly abusing more than 100 underage boys over the last few months in Western Java. Though many have welcomed the move, expecting it to be a powerful deterrent, doctors and human rights activists have questioned its effectiveness. The Indonesian Doctors association has come out strongly against chemical castration and has barred its doctors from administering it. The move will not be an able deterrent, the board felt, and added, Numerous studies have shown that castration is not an effective deterrent, because sex crimes are not caused by hormonal impulses but by behavioural disorders. Human rights activists also echoed similar views. The law is only enacted to make the government appear tough and hide their own shortcomings, said human rights activist Haris Azhar. Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday defended his threat to kill criminals as "perfect" and vowed no let-up in his war on crime, as the death toll surged past 3,700. International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Thursday she was "deeply concerned" about the violence, and signalled Duterte could face prosecution by her body for his incitements to kill. But Duterte launched a typically defiant counter-attack on Friday, defending his rhetoric and the crime war that is seeing more that 1,000 people killed every month. "There is nothing wrong in threatening criminals to death. By that statement alone: 'You criminals, I will kill you. Do not fool around.' It is a perfect statement," Duterte said. Describing his critics as "fools", Duterte reiterated his position he was not breaking any domestic laws by threatening to kill criminals and pledged the crime war would continue until there were no more illegal drugs in society. "I will not stop. Be sure of it, you can cast it in whatever stone. I will not stop until the last pusher, until the last drug lord is taken away." Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a pledge to eradicate drugs. Last month Duterte said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts, and likened his campaign to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews in Europe. He later apologised for his Hitler reference, but said he was "emphatic" about wanting to kill all drug addicts. Since Duterte took office, police have killed 1,578 people and 2,151 have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures released Friday. The total of 3,729 is 368 more than the previous police update released last week. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have condemned alleged extrajudicial killings and warned of a breakdown in the rule of law. Bensouda indicated Thursday that Duterte was at risk of joining the likes of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, in being indicted by the International Criminal Court. "Let me be clear: any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing... to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the Court," she said in a statement. The Philippine government this week invited UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings. But Duterte vowed on Thursday to "humiliate" her and any other critics if they dared to come to the Philippines and investigate. Polls show Filipinos overwhelmingly support Duterte's war on crime. The father-of-seven with three failed marriages was pictured in Germany in May wearing a tank top, sagging jeans and covered in fake tattoos. (Photo: Youtube screengrab) Bangkok: Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, who is set to be crowned King of Thailand after his father King Bhumibhol died on Thursday, is a womaniser, wears crop tops and has fake tattoos, a report has revealed. According to a report in the Daily Mail, the father-of-seven with three failed marriages was pictured in Germany in May wearing a crop top, sagging jeans and covered in fake tattoos. He was also carrying his beloved pet poodle, who has been appointed an air marshal. The scantily clad woman standing beside him on the red carpet was Suthida Nui, a flight attendant who is believed to be his mistress. Vajiralongkorn has had three failed marriages since 1977, love affairs, a love of fast jets and an explosive temper, said the report. Breaking tradition, Prince Maha has asked for a delay of four days before he ascends the throne, shocking some people in the Thai establishment. Maha has been the subject of various controversies through the years. In 2007, a video of his third wife was published online, dressed in nothing but a black G-string while she sang happy birthday to the royal couple's beloved pet poodle, Fufu. She also ate from the dogs bowl. Maha wed his first cousin Soamsawali Kitiyakara in January 1977 and the couple had a daughter. But the marriage broke down. Nine months after his daughter was born, the prince had a son with actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth, with whom he went on to have a total of five children. He and Kitiyakara however, divorced only in 1993. In 1996, Polpraserth fled to the UK after the affair was busted. In 2001 he wed his third wife Srirasmi Suwadee, who he described as a simple and modest woman. A former bar waitress, Srirasmi and Maha had a child but the marriage collapsed in 2014. Prince Maha stripped her of her royal titles and, after granting her a reported 4.5m settlement, exiled her to an undisclosed location in Thailand. It is said that the Thai people fear and loath Maha, and a journalists biography of King Bhumibhol describes him as a violent man. However, the biography was banned in Thailand. Reportedly, King Bhumibhol was quite unsure of his sons ability to rule, given his philandering ways. When Maha was young, the king tried a number of measures to bring his son in line cutting his money to stop him partying, as well as warning that he would break from tradition and hand over the throne to his daughter if Maha continued to behave that way. But nothing worked. Thailand has declared a year of mourning after Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died aged 88 at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital on Thursday. On Thursday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said all official engagements would be toned down for the next 30 days out of respect for the deceased king, adding, He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there. Referring to Prince Maha, he said, Once the crown prince has expressed his sadness and bereavement over his father, and once the time is appropriate, he affirms that he realizes the duties of the heir of the throne. 'In regards to royal duties, he will continue to do them as the crown prince. He wishes everyone understands and does not make things chaotic. A car drives past Thai mourners lined up for a bathing ceremony for Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, October 14, 2016. (Photo: AFP) Bangkok: Millions of Thais donned black Friday as the grieving nation prepared to hold traditional Buddhist ceremonies for revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose death leaves the country facing an uncertain new era. Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 88 on Thursday after a long battle with ill health, removing a stabilising father figure in a country where political tensions are still raw two years after a military coup. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, is the king's named successor, but has made a surprise request to delay formally becoming the next king, according to the junta leader who appealed for citizens to accept the decision and "not cause chaos". Officials prepared to move the monarch's body on Friday from the hospital where he died to the Grand Palace, a complex of glittering temples and pavilions in the heart of the capital. Large crowds are expected to pour onto the streets for the procession from Siriraj Hospital where the king spent much of the last two years battling an array of ailments. A statement from the palace said the Crown Prince would preside over a ceremony to bathe the king's body -- a traditional Buddhist funeral rite. His remains will then lie in state for weeks and months of palace rituals. Many Thais on Friday opted to dress in black and white, both mourning colours in Thailand, as they went about their business. "I am very sad, I was born under this king," Arunee Sahathongthai, 49, told AFP as she bought a pair of black trousers at a market in Bangkok, saying that Thais were "united in grief". Some said they were nervous about a future without Bhumibol. "I really loved him," Arnon Sangwiman, a 54-year-old electricity company employee, told AFP. "Now I am afraid of what may happen, about the administration of the country, the type of regime in the long term." Thais had expected Vajiralongkorn to be officially proclaimed king immediately after his Bhumibol's death was announced. But Thailand's junta leader late Thursday announced that the prince had sought a delay to mourn his father's loss and better prepare for his new role. The move could fuel concerns over the succession and test the ruling junta, which has vowed to ensure stability after more than a decade of political turbulence. Most Thais have known no other monarch than Bhumibol and he was portrayed as a guiding light through decades of political turmoil and coups. The Crown Prince spends much of his time overseas and is yet to attain his father's widespread popularity at home. Analysts said the nation's elites likely want to stage a slow and careful transition. The junta seized power in 2014 after a decade of strife between Thailand's two major political factions, exacerbated by the king's declining health as jostling elites competed for power. The military has deep links with the palace and many inside the kingdom saw the putsch as a move to ensure generals could squelch any instability during a succession. During Bhumibol's reign, Thailand transformed from an impoverished, rural nation into one of the region's most successful economies, avoiding the civil wars and communist takeovers of its neighbours. He sometimes intervened to quell Thailand's frequent political violence but at other times stayed silent, approving most of the army's many coups during his reign. Any criticism, republican sentiment, or speculation on succession is smothered by a draconian lese majeste law. Tributes poured in from across the globe for the monarch. President Barack Obama described Bhumibol as a "close friend" of the United States and a "tireless champion" of his country's development. A wave of hysteria about sightings of "creepy" or "killer" clowns sweeps the United States and European nations. (Represantational Image) Stockholm: A man in Sweden has been stabbed by an attacker wearing a clown mask, police said on Friday, as a wave of hysteria about sightings of "creepy" or "killer" clowns sweeps the United States and European nations. "A man born in 1997 was stabbed in the shoulder by an unknown person who ran away," police in Halland county in southern Sweden said on their website. The incident late on Thursday came after two people in clown costumes threatened to kill a woman in the centre of Sweden on Wednesday. "She was extremely frightened," a police spokesman told the Aftonbladet newspaper, adding that there was "nothing funny" about the spreading craze. Also on Wednesday, a group of men in clown outfits surrounded four 10-year-old children and threatened them with what turned out to be fake chainsaws. Interior Minister Anders Ygeman has called for calm. "We dont want to see a situation where a person gets into real trouble because someone, perhaps half-joking, puts on a clown mask," Ygmen said. In the United States, the social-media fuelled clown frenzy led the McDonald's hamburger chain to announce this week it would scale back the use of its smiley-faced Ronald McDonald. The craze has also spread to Britain, where police forces have been called to several incidents involving pranksters dressed as clowns jumping out and trying to frighten people. Police in Britain and the United States fear the craze will spike in the run-up to Halloween. Even the White House has weighed in and warned that law enforcement authorities were taking such incidents seriously. The phenomenon has also hit the Netherlands, where two people have been seen wearing masks and brandishing weapons. France had a similar craze in 2014, which according to sociologist Robert Bartholomew was "quite intense and violent", leading to the arrest or jailing of a dozen teenage "killer clowns". "Clowns can be seen as creepy because you can't read a clown's face, and 80 percent of communication is non-verbal," he argued. "If a person is wearing makeup or a mask, it is hard to know whether they are friend or foe." The doctor removed a healthy kidney instead of a kidney with a tumour. (Representational Image) Worcestor: An investigation has found that a surgeon at a Massachusetts hospital removed a kidney from the wrong patient after failing to confirm the patient's identity. State and federal health investigators say the surgeon in July was supposed to remove a kidney with a tumor from a patient at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, but instead removed a healthy kidney from a different patient with the same name. Authorities say the hospital failed to follow proper patient identification protocols by checking birth dates. The patients were several years apart in age. St. Vincent has been put on notice that its Medicare and Medicaid agreements with the government will be terminated unless it takes corrective action. The hospital in a statement said it is taking "all necessary steps" to prevent a similar error. London: A 26-year-old man has been sentenced for 20 months in prison after he allegedly ran over his car on another man for looking at his girlfriend. According to a report in the Metro, William Whitehorn had an argument with a 20-year-old man in the train after he felt that the younger man was looking at his girlfriend. The two men deboarded the train at the Staines station, wherein, Whitehorn took to his car and drove over the other man, after which he went straight to his aunts place and told her I think I might have killed someone. The young man however survived the mishap without any serious or life threatening injuries. Whitehorn was eventually arrested by the police and produced in the court, where he pleaded guilty. Whitehorns actions were extremely dangerous. He was angry with the victim, whom he did not know, because he thought he had been looking at his girlfriend, and reacted by driving his car at him, a police officer associated with the case said. Scotland, which has a semi-autonomous status within Britain, voted by 55 percent in favour of staying in the United Kingdom in an independence vote in 2014. (Photo: AP) Glasgow: Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Thursday unveiled plans for a new independence referendum in case her demands for more autonomy and for Scotland to stay in Europe's single market are not met. Sturgeon said she would publish a draft referendum bill next week, accusing the British government of pushing for a "hard Brexit" and stirring up "xenophobia" with proposals to cut EU immigration. "I can confirm today that the independence referendum bill will be published for consultation next week" in the Scottish parliament, Sturgeon told delegates at her Scottish National Party's annual conference. "I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence and to do so before the UK leaves the EU if that is necessary to protect our country's interest." Scotland, which has a semi-autonomous status within Britain, voted by 55 percent in favour of staying in the United Kingdom in an independence vote in 2014. In the EU membership referendum earlier this year Scotland voted by 62 percent in favour of remaining part of the bloc while Britain as a whole voted to leave. Reacting to Sturgeon's announcement, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May's office said: "This issue was addressed in 2014. We should focus on working together on the best deal for the UK". May has said she wants to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty -- the formal process for leaving the EU -- by the end of March 2017 at the latest. That would open up a two year timeline for Britain to negotiate its departure before exiting in 2019. May was clear during her own Conservative party conference last week that Brexit was not negotiable. "We voted in the referendum as one United Kingdom, we will negotiate as one United Kingdom, and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom," the premier said. For an independence vote to be held, the British parliament would also have to give its consent. Sturgeon said she would publish proposals for Scotland to stay in the single market -- a hot-button issue in Britain after government ministers hinted the country might have to leave it if it wanted to impose stricter controls on EU immigration. "Scotland didn't choose to be in this situation. Your party put us here," Sturgeon said, addressing May. Sturgeon said the proposals would include Scotland taking powers currently in the EU's remit as well as seeking new powers from London including the ability to strike international deals and immigration policy. "If you can't or won't allow us to protect our interests in the UK, then Scotland will have the right to decide afresh if it wants to take a different path," she said. Sturgeon said her party, which has 54 out of 650 seats in Westminster, would seek to form an alliance with other opposition parties against a hard Brexit. The prospect of visas for travellers and tariffs for businesses were described as "clear and present dangers" by Sturgeon, who said Scotland "will fight against it". Russell Gunson, director of the Institute for Public Policy Research in Scotland, suggested the two leaders looked overseas for examples of devolution on immigration -- a key sticking point in Brexit discussions. "There are other countries across the world that have elements of their immigration system devolved, and I think this is wise place for both governments to be looking at following the Brexit vote in term of option," Gunson told AFP. "A fully separate immigration system may or may not be possible, but certainly an immigration system that is more devolved and tailored to set priorities for Scotland's economy is possible, he added. Gunson pointed to the free travel area between Britain and Ireland as one possible model for a devolved Scottish immigration system. Moscow: Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday that the Syrian army's capture of Aleppo, which has come under renewed bombardment in an effort to seize its rebel-held sector, would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey. Rescue workers said that Syria's military backed by Russian warplanes had killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, in support of its offensive against the city. Rising casualties in Aleppo, where many buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have prompted an international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States (US) and Russia planned for Saturday. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey, to go back to where they come from or to kill them. There's no other option," Assad said in an interview with Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move," added Assad. As the air strikes and shelling of the city's east intensified after a brief period of relative calm, Syria's government approved a United Nations (UN) plan to allow aid convoys into the most besieged areas of Syria, with the exception of Aleppo. Syria's civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 300,000 people and left millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers as well as inspiring jihadist attacks abroad. Assad is backed by the Russian air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shi'ite militias from Arab neighbours, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States (US) and Gulf monarchies. Assad also told the newspaper that the country's civil war had become a conflict between Russia and the West. "What we've been seeing recently during the last few weeks, and maybe few months, is something like more than Cold War," Assad said. "I don't know what to call it, but it's not something that has existed recently, because I don't think that the West and especially the United States has stopped their Cold War, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union." Assad added that Turkey's actions in Syria constituted an "invasion, against international law, against the morals, against the sovereignty of Syria." As air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour, according to a civil defence official, European Union (EU) foreign ministers drafted a statement accusing Syria and its allies of violence that "may amount to war crimes." "Since the beginning of the offensive by the (Syrian) regime and its allies, the intensity and scale of aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," a draft of their statement seen by Reuters said. Syrian and Russian governments say they target only militants. To the south, hundreds of insurgents and their families have left two rebel-held towns on the northern outskirts of Damascus, residents and fighters said, under a deal with the government which is pushing its opponents to rebel areas further from the capital. The evacuation happened after the army gave community leaders in Qudsiya and Al-Hama - which had enjoyed relative calm under local truces - an ultimatum to get several hundred fighters out of their towns or face a wide-scale assault. "They gave us little option: Leave or all hell breaks loose," said Yousef al Hasnawi, a resident on the local rebel council. The Damascus government says such amnesties are a "workable model to bring security and peace," but its opponents say forcing Sunni Muslim fighters and their families from their hometowns could create new demographic frontiers and worsen sectarian tensions. US President Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria, said US officials. Some officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS). US officials said they considered it unlikely that Obama would order US air strikes on Syrian government targets, and stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Switzerland on Saturday to resume their effort to find a diplomatic solution along with counterparts from some Middle Eastern countries. Moscow called on Thursday on states in the region not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebel groups, warning that any unfriendly actions against Russian forces would draw an appropriate response. Air strikes against rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo had tapered off over the weekend after the Syrian army announced it would reduce raids for what it described as humanitarian reasons, but they have intensified since Tuesday. "The bombing started at 2 a.m. and it's going on until now," Ibrahim Abu Laith, an official at the civil defence rescue organisation in Aleppo, told Reuters from the city. Rescue workers said 154 people had been killed in recent days. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll. Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo - the anti-Assad rebels' most important urban stronghold - facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine. In Geneva, the United Nations said Damascus had partially approved its aid plan for October, giving the green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, which are also deprived of some vital supplies. But the Syrian government did not give approval for either eastern Aleppo or three districts near Damascus, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, the United Nations' deputy special envoy to Syria, said on Thursday, describing the situation as "dire." In a government-held area of western Aleppo, at least four children were killed and 10 wounded on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack. Analysts say Dhaka is seeking to develop economic ties with China while keeping its warm, strategic and political relations with India, as its traditional ally. (Photo: File) Dhaka: Bangladesh and China on Friday signed 26 agreements in the key areas of power, road and railway connectivity as Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and vowed to elevate bilateral ties to a long term strategic partnership. "We are good friends and partners," a spokesman of the Prime Minister's office quoted Xi as saying after his bilateral talks with the Bangladeshi Premier. He said Xi sought to elevate bilateral relations to the level of a "long term strategic partnership". The Chinese leader's comments came as he along with Hasina witnessed the signing of 26 bilateral agreements and MoUs mainly on power, road and railway connectivity after bilateral talks, hours after Xi's arrival here for a two-day visit. "The two leaders simultaneously opened six projects," the spokesman said, without giving details of the projects. Earlier, Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet for Xi, the first Chinese head of state to visit the country in 30 years. A 21-gun salute marked Xi's arrival as he stepped down from a special Air China flight and was received by Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid. Four Bangladeshi Air Force jets escorted the aircraft carrying the Chinese leader as it entered the country's airspace while a contingent of army, navy and air force accorded him a guard of honour after he landed. "We are ready to work with the Bangladeshi side to further deepen our political mutual trust and elevate our relations and practical cooperation to a higher level," Xi said in a statement to the Chinese media at the airport. Prime Minister Hasina had told Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency on the eve of Xi's visit that the tour would usher in a new era of "intensive cooperation". "We are very happy and feel honoured that President Xi is coming to Bangladesh. I believe that President Xi's visit will also be more important for South Asia," she said. Hasina described China as Bangladesh's "largest trading partner and said that her country considers China as a "trusted partner" in realising its dreams. "China is the leading generator of many of our mega projects in terms of finance, capitalisation and technology," she said. Analysts say Dhaka is seeking to develop economic ties with China while keeping its warm, strategic and political relations with India, as its traditional ally. Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali, told a media briefing on Thursday, that Xi's visit would have no negative impact on Bangladesh's relations with other countries, particularly with India. "We don't think so," he said when asked if the visit could have any impact on Bangladesh's very warm relations with New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the crowd during Dussehra celebrations at Aishbagh Ram Leela in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. (Photo: PTI) Colombo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment that Ravana was the new form of terrorism has drawn fire from Ravana followers in Sri Lanka. In his Vijayadashmi address in Lucknow on October 11, Modi had linked Ravana with terrorism and said that "the first person to fight terror was neither a soldier nor a politician, but the mythological bird Jatayu who fought against Ravana to protect a helpless Sita, whom he was trying to kidnap". "We condemn the statement made by the Indian Prime Minister equalling King Ravana to a terrorist," Ittapane Saddhatissa, a Buddhist monk who leads the Ravana Force, said. He said the Ravana Force would soon hand over a petition to the Indian High Commission in Colombo, protesting against this remark. Saddhatissa said Modi's comment hampers the ongoing reconciliation process in Sri Lanka. Another organisation Ravana Shakthi said Ravana had not been dubbed a terrorist in even in Ramayanaya. Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday claimed that India was "nervous" due to its diplomatic offensive highlighting "human rights violations" in Kashmir. Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria also accused India of violating the ceasefire on LoC to "divert attention" from Kashmir. He said India was "nervous" because of the diplomatic offensive launched by Pakistan to "expose" New Delhi over the situation in Kashmir. "Ceasefire violations on the Line of Control and interference in the internal affairs of neighbours are indicative of Indian nervousness," Radio Pakistan quoted Zakaria as saying in his weekly briefing. He said Pakistan has very effectively taken up the situation in Kashmir at all levels. Pakistan will continue to highlight Indian "atrocities and human rights violations" in Kashmir at the world fora, Zakaria said. The Foreign Office Spokesman regretted that India was "obstructing" the dispatch of "fact-finding mission" by UN Human Rights Council to Kashmir. He said India's "claim" of surgical strikes is one of the many "lies" that New Delhi has been telling to the world community. Zakaria alleged that India's objective was to "divert attention" of the world from "gross human rights violations" in Kashmir. He claimed that Indian media reported many things against facts and said credit goes to the Pakistani media for "exposing it". Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday said there was no "backdoor" diplomacy going on with India and the composite dialogue process between the two countries remains suspended. "There was no backdoor or track-II diplomacy going on between Pakistan and India, as such kind of contacts were established on the desire of two sides," Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told Express News channel. India has always blamed Pakistan for militancy without any proof, Aziz claimed. "India had the habit of blaming Pakistan after every terrorist incident in their country without providing any solid evidence," he said. He said the Composite Dialogue Process between the two countries remained suspended. Aziz said the issue of Kashmir and the continued "human rights violations" there were the focus of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's address at the UN General Assembly. Aziz also rejected the notion of Pakistan's diplomatic isolation and claimed that his country was moving in the right direction, according to the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan. He said that with the major "re-alignments" underway at global and geo-strategic levels, Pakistan was moving in the right direction. "Development of Eurasia by Russia and China, activation of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), formation of AIB (Asian Investment Bank), etc., indicated major re-alignments," he said. Aziz said the cause of concern in the western countries about Pakistan was its growing relations and cooperation with China. He said Pakistan also enjoyed good bilateral ties with the US, the UK, the European Union, the Middle East and other regions of the world. Aziz's remarks come amid strain in ties following the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed and India's surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC on the intervening night of September 28 and 29. Islamabad: Pakistan Army top brass on Friday expressed "serious concern" over a news leak about rift between civilian and military leaderships during a high-level meeting last week on how to deal with militancy, after which the reporter of the story was barred from leaving the country. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif presided over the meeting of Corps Commanders' Conference which was held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. "Participants expressed their serious concern over feeding of false and fabricated story of an important security meeting held at the Prime Minister's House and viewed it as breach of national security," according a statement by the army. Pakistan's leading newspaper Dawn reported last week that there was a verbal clash between the civilian government and the military establishment over the military's covert support to militants like the Haqqani network, the LeT and Taliban. Following the report, journalist Cyril Almeida was put on Exit Control List (ECL), barring him from leaving Pakistan and sparking a massive outrage from journalist associations. The ban was however lifted on Friday. The newspaper has rejected allegations of "vested interest and false reporting". It came out with a scathing editorial, saying Almeida's story on the verbal clash between government and military was "duly verified and correct piece of reporting." The Prime Minister's Office has repeatedly denied any rift between the two establishments since the story came out on October 6. The army said the participants in Friday's meeting held a comprehensive review of internal and external security situation with particular focus on the environment at the Line of Control (LoC) and operational preparedness of the army. Beijing: On the eve of President Xi Jinping's India visit, China on Friday stuck to its guns saying that there was no change in its stand on India's NSG membership bid and New Delhi's attempts to get Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist by the UN. As Xi is due to arrive in Goa on Saturday to take part in the BRICS Summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said the relations between India and China made "great headway" despite some "disputes" but there was no change in Beijing's stand on the issues of NSG and Azhar. "I have stated China's position. I would like to reiterate that the UN committee dealing with the listing does it according to provisions of the UN charter," he said while replying to a question on India's application to ban Azhar following the Pathankot terrorist attack. Geng, at a briefing, said China maintains that 1267 Committee of the UN designated to ban terrorist outfits should work on true facts and make a decision according to consensus of its members. All parties are divided in listing of the relevant people. And this is why China has put on hold banning Azhar, he said. The second technical hold put by China will give enough time to make the listing decision, Geng said, adding that this also shows the responsible and professional attitude of the Chinese side. "China's position has not changed regarding the joining of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by India," Geng said. Speaking on the same issue earlier this month, China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong had harped on the need to build consensus over the admission of new members in the 48-member NSG. Geng said on Friday that he wants to "underscore" that in recent years China and India relations had been making "great headway" despite some "disputes". He said that the "mainstream of bilateral relations have been positive" and "cooperation far outweighs competition". Geng expressed hope that the two countries can continue with dialogue and cooperation to exchange views on some disputes, seek solutions and properly manage relevant disputes. Meanwhile, a Chinese scholar, Hu Shisheng, Director of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China may speed up the construction of the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir if Pakistan is isolated and cornered by India. "China has to discuss with Pakistan about the current situation on how to handle and how to come out it," Hu said speaking about Pakistan's isolation in the region leading to the postponement of the SAARC summit after the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed. A DANICS officer and his family members were allegedly abused and harassed in south Delhi by a group of four youths, who were allegedly drunk, following which he took to the social media site to narrate the ordeal. Police said the youths also tried to make a video of the officers wife and when protested against they flaunted their connections to threaten them. The incident happened last night around 11.30 PM when the officer currently working with DDA on a deputation his wife and their daughter, were going from their home in the Asiad village to their daughters school. The DANICS officer told the police he was on his way to drop his 10-year-old daughter to school from where she was supposed to leave for Spain on a school trip. On the way, their car was hit by another car coming from South Extension on August Kranti Marg near Siri Fort auditorium around, said a senior police officer. In a Facebook post later on the officer wrote his family had a narrow escape. Car badly smashed on the right...Wheel twisted and axle broke. drunk guys driving insanely at high speed hit the car from the side at a red light(sic) he wrote on Facebook. These educated hooligans supposedly toppers...had no sense and couldnt even stop themselves from fighting and abusing with us even after seeing Im with a 10 yr old girl who is crying out of fear and a worried wife .!!!(sic) Meanwhile, a bike-patrolling party of sub-inspector Sachin and constable Chander, who were passing by, was stopped by the officer for help, police said. They said the accused also misbehaved with the patrol party and repeatedly told them, You dont know about our influence. The four youths Sagar, Sagar Pawar, Mandeep, Rahul, all aged between 20-24 years have been arrested under section 107/51 of CrPC, police said. A case under sections 279, 354A (Sexual harassment), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC has been registered at the Hauz Khas police station against the youths, the police said. The accused are residents of Shahpur Jat, they said. Residents from Kheda Kalan village in north Delhi, along with Delhi BJP leaders, met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Thursday regarding grievances of people living in 'dangerous' houses with cracked roofs. Alleging that the Delhi government is not taking any step towards their rehabilitation, Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay asked the LG to intervene. Kheda Kalan residents submitted a representation along with photographs and video clips of dangerous cracks developing in over 180 houses in their village to the Lt Governor. They lodged protest against authorities forcibly trying to evict them from their houses without providing any alternate accommodation. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation had recently declared 17 houses in the village near Alipur as 'dangerous' after deep cracks appeared in the walls and ceilings. Jung assured the delegation that he would seek an immediate report on the village from the concerned Deputy Commissioner and will direct the administration to work with a "humanitarian approach". He also said that in the next few days he will direct the civic agency to extend full help to those who want to repair or re-strengthen their houses. Upadhyay and Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta also apprised the LG of other civic and administrative problems like rise in power tariff and pending claims of crop loss compensation for the last two years. A man is suspected to have died of dengue-related complications at his home two days after his discharge from a Delhi-government hospital. Ashok Kumar, a resident of Rohini was admitted to Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital on October 4 and discharged on October 10, said medical superintendent Dr Punita Mahajan. Sharma died at his home on Wednesday night. The hospital authorities said on Thursday that he was admitted with dengue, but could not confirm his exact condition. His death came as a shock to his family and also to the neighbours. But they were unable to tell the exact cause of death. If the cause is confirmed, Sharmas death takes the dengue death toll to 18 in the national capital. Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar has admitted 51 dengue patients and 176 chikungunya patients since August, said medical superintendent Dr Punita Mahajan. The Centre's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme has collated 2,926 dengue cases in the capital this season till September 13. The Aam Aadmi Party government has launched a special fogging drive since September 22 to check the breeding of mosquitoes. The drive will continue till October-end. Last year, the city saw the highest number of dengue cases in 20 years with 15,867 such cases being reported in 2015. As many as 60 people died due to the vector-borne disease last year. The menace of dengue started as early as March this year when two cases of the vector-borne disease were reported. The Delhi Police claimed that they have solved the case of a 21-year-old manpower agent, who was kidnapped by people who worked for him over a financial dispute, within 36 hours of the matter being reported to them in southeast Delhi. One accused has been arrested and four others are on the run. Around 5 pm on October 6, Firoz Khan who, with his elder brother Mehboob, operates a business of sending people abroad for work was beaten up and kidnapped by Salman and four others from his shop at south east Delhis Khijrabad village, the police said. Mehboob registered a case at New Friends Colony police station alleging that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 18 lakh and threatened to kill Firoz should he fail to do so. Initial investigation revealed that the kidnappers had taken Firoz to Uttar Pradeshs Buland Sahar and UP Polices help was sought into the matter. Call details of the kidnappers were scrutinised following which, the house of an accused identified as Rizwan in Buland Sahars Sabdalpur village was raided on the night of October 7 and the victim was safely recovered. The police arrested Salman from Buland Sahars Khurja bypass but the other accused Rizwan, Sajid, Hilal and Ashlam are absconding. Firoz & Mehboob employed Rizwan, Sajid and Hilal as sub-agents in their business. The primary accused Salman had paid Rs 90,000 to Rizwan for obtaining a visa to work in Dubai. He went to Dubai in April to work as a labourer but returned a month later. He confronted Rizwan and pressurised him to send him back. Rizwan, Sajid and Hilal who had a financial dispute with the Firoz and Mehboob hatched a plan along with another accused Ashlam to extort money from the brothers and send Salman back to Dubai. Police said they are hopeful to arrest the four others soon. It is difficult for a car to negotiate the narrow lanes and streets of northwest Delhis Rani Bagh market at any time of the day. Finding a parking spot there is an almost impossible task. Residents, shop owners and visitors claim that car parking is a major problem in the densely populated residential and commercial area of Rani Bagh. Although there is a municipal parking facility for visitors and shopkeepers in the area, the number of vehicles it can accommodate is insufficient. People also complain that the parking lot is also not centrally located, so many visitors and traders have no choice but to park their vehicles on narrow lanes and streets, some of which are all the way on the other side of the market. This, according to many shopkeepers, is bad for business. People dont want to travel in autos and rickshaws when they carry jewels and valuables, said Anand, who works in a jewellery store situated on the other side of the Rani Bagh MCD parking. It affects our business. Sometimes people have to park their vehicles far away from our shop. Instead of coming to us, they take their business elsewhere. They even travel to other, far-off commercial markets in Delhi which have better parking facilities, he complained. This is one probably one of the busiest commercial markets in the city and it requires better parking facilities. Firstly, it is very difficult to get a space in the MCD parking. Secondly, even if there is space, getting out of the parking lot is quite a challenge, said Subramanian, a frequent visitor to Rani Bagh. Pedestrians told Deccan Herald that there is a hardly a moment during the day when they dont find a traffic jam in the area. People park their vehicles on both sides of a two-way street. So, it becomes very difficult for cars to pass, said a pedestrian. Cars are parked on both sides of the road from Britannia Chowk to Shakur Basti Railway Station, near Rani Bagh. During peak hours, it takes me nearly an hour just to cross the 4 km stretch, said Pratim, who lives in Pitampura. Some, however, accuse the political leaders and some shopkeepers for the chaotic condition. This was a residential area which was later commercialised. Many shops here are illegal. The political leaders do not interfere as it affects a key vote-bank. Consequently, the police too dont get into the middle of this, alleges a 70-year-old resident in Rani Bagh, on condition of anonymity. Rickshaw-pullers and auto-drivers, however, view it as a blessing in disguise.Visitors to Rani Bagh are willing to pay Rs 10-15 more, said a rickshaw-puller with a smile. It is impossible to take your vehicle into the heart of this market. Even if they somehow manage to do so, parking and getting out is literally hell. So they usually prefer to take an auto or a rickshaw, he added. Last week, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation decided to build a multi-level parking facility a Gandhi Maidan in Delhis Chandni Chowk area. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), too, is planning to construct more multi-level parking facilities in its areas to address the problem of limited parking facilities in the city. The recent comment made by a visiting Pakistan envoy that the outgoing American President Barack Obama is now just a guest at the White House is "ridiculous", the US has said. "That's a ridiculous comment," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters yesterday when asked about the remark made by the visiting Special Envoy of the Pakistan Prime Minister on Kashmir Issues Mushahid Hussain Syed here last week. "Obama is a guest for the next few months," Syed had said in response to a question about his expectations from the US government during a panel discussion on Kashmir at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank. Syed turned his answer to the next US administration after being asked the American government, underlying that the current incumbent was outgoing. "What Pakistan would like from the US - and I'm talking of the incoming administration because Obama is a guest for the next few months, 20th of January 2017, there will be a new administration - that they have to see the region where they have a more comprehensive perspective and do not try to compartmentalise peace and security, because that is not possible," Syed had said. Ahead of BRICS and BIMSTEC Summits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he is looking forward to building bridges to new partnerships and finding common resolve and solutions to entrenched problems of the region. Modi, who will also hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders on the sidelines of the Summits in Goa, said they will discuss ways to address "pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals". "I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform," the Prime Minister said in a Facebook post. New initiatives will be launched in Goa by BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) as it marks the successful operationalization of initiatives like the BRICS New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, he said. The Prime Minister noted that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sir Lanka and Thailand. "Representing nearly two thirds of humanity together, we hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," he said on the first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. Referring to India-Russia Annual Summit, the Prime Minister said Putin's visit will give an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia. Terming Brazil as an important strategic partner, Modi said President Michel Temer's visit will open up new areas for cooperation with the country. "As Chair of the BRICS this year, India has embraced a stronger emphasis on promoting people-to-people linkages in diverse fields including trade, sports, education, films, scholarship, and tourism," he said BRICS Summit will be held in Goa on 15-16 October, followed by the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said the issue should be left to religious leaders. "I will not say much on this issue but there should not be dispute on it. The issue of uniform civil code should be left to religious leaders. On the issues of country and humanity everyone should be united," Yadav told reporters in Lucknow. On the issue of 'triple talaq', a matter which is being adjudicated upon by the Supreme Court, Naidu said," The real mood of the country is that people want this triple talaq to end. People do not want any discrimination on basis of any religious faith agianst women. As I told you the issues are gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women." Naidu said the Law Commission wants a thorough discussion on UCC and if the AIMPLB does not want to participate in the debate, it was their choice. "If you don't want to react, do not want to respond, it is your choice but you do not pose yourself as you are the champion and other's views have no relevance. Do not try to convert this into a political debate," he said. About the issue of triple talaq, he said the Law Commission wanted the views of all stakeholders. "They wanted this issue to be debated, discussed and all the religious leaders, social workers, prominent public personalities need to acknowledge the basic principle of equality of all human beings -- men or women and work in that direction," he said. Naidu said Uniform Civil Code is enshrined in Article 44 of the Directive Principles of the Constitution and not brought in by NDA government or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "There is nothing wrong in discussing about it (UCC) and nothing is going to be forced on people. If something is done, then it will on the basis of consensus and agreement within the community," he said. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad defended the Centre's stand on 'triple talaq', saying when over a dozen Islamic countries were regulating the practice by enacting laws, how could it be considered wrong for a "secular" country like India. "Over a dozen Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran and Egypt have regulated triple talaq. If Islamic countries can regulate the practice by enacting law, and it has not been found against Sharia, then how can it be wrong in India, which is a secular country?" Prasad told a news conference in Patna. The Minister, however, refused to comment on the issue of Uniform Civil Code. "The Law Commission is considering it and has sought views of various sections of the society. Since it is under their consideration, I have nothing to say," he maintained. For the first time in India's constitutional history, the Centre had on October 7 opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds of gender equality and secularism. The Law Ministry, 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. The row over the law panel's decision to seek public opinion on the Uniform Civil Code intensified today with the government accusing the All India Muslim Personal Law Board of 'politicking' on the issue even as Congress and Samajwadi Party said it should not be "imposed".A day after the AIMPLB and some other Muslim outfits announced their decision to boycott the process initiated by the Law Commission, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu insisted on a distinction to be made between the Uniform Civil Code and 'triple talaq', where the core issue was gender justice and ending discrimination against women.Naidu, however, said a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was in consonance with the provisions of the Constitution, but made it clear that it would "not be forced on people"."You (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate you put forth your point of view. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of Prime Minister and call him dictator," Naidu told reporters in Delhi.The government's sharp reaction came after AIMPLB and various other Muslim organisations said the move amounted to the Modi government declaring a "war" on their religious rights and that UCC will "kill" India's pluralism.A combative Naidu went on to say, "If you are so interested in making political comments you can as well join any political party of your choice. This is not expected from Muslim Personal Law Board and other religious leaders."You have to confine yourself to the issue and the issue is put forth for discussion by the law commission," he said.Amid the raging row over the twin contentious issues, Congress said the matter of 'triple talaq' sould be left to the Supreme Court to decide, but expressed itself against "imposition" of a Uniform Civil Code. "UCC should not be imposed and all stakeholders need to be taken into confidence," its spokesperson Shobha Oza said.She said Congress has always been in favour for empowerment of women. Bangladesh and China today signed 26 agreements in the key areas of power, road and railway connectivity as Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and vowed to elevate bilateral ties to a long term strategic partnership. "We are good friends and partners," a spokesman of the Prime Minister's office quoted Xi as saying after his bilateral talks with the Bangladeshi Premier. He said Xi sought to elevate bilateral relations to the level of a "long term strategic partnership". The Chinese leader's comments came as he along with Hasina witnessed the signing of 26 bilateral agreements and MoUs mainly on power, road and railway connectivity after bilateral talks, hours after Xi's arrival here for a two-day visit. "The two leaders simultaneously opened six projects," the spokesman said, without giving details of the projects. Earlier, Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet for Xi, the first Chinese head of state to visit the country in 30 years. A 21-gun salute marked Xi's arrival as he stepped down from a special Air China flight and was received by Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid. Four Bangladeshi Air Force jets escorted the aircraft carrying the Chinese leader as it entered the country's airspace while a contingent of army, navy and air force accorded him a guard of honour after he landed. "We are ready to work with the Bangladeshi side to further deepen our political mutual trust and elevate our relations and practical cooperation to a higher level," Xi said in a statement to the Chinese media at the airport. Prime Minister Hasina had told Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency on the eve of Xi's visit that the tour would usher in a new era of "intensive cooperation". "We are very happy and feel honoured that President Xi is coming to Bangladesh. I believe that President Xi's visit will also be more important for South Asia," she said. Hasina described China as Bangladesh's "largest trading partner and said that her country considers China as a "trusted partner" in realising its dreams. "China is the leading generator of many of our mega projects in terms of finance, capitalisation and technology," she said. Analysts say Dhaka is seeking to develop economic ties with China while keeping its warm, strategic and political relations with India, as its traditional ally. Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali, told a media briefing yesterday, that Xi's visit would have no negative impact on Bangladesh's relations with other countries, particularly with India. "We don't think so," he said when asked if the visit could have any impact on Bangladesh's very warm relations with New Delhi. The social media campaign to boycott Chinese goods during Diwali has beaten down sentiment of retail traders as there has been a 20 per cent decline in demand so far, traders body CAIT said today. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that Chinese lighting and decorative products are widely used during Diwali and such materials start flooding the Indian markets three months prior to the festive season. "There has been a debate in social media on boycotting Chinese product. These products are already with the wholesalers but there has been a 20 per cent decline in demand from the retail traders as they are worried whether people will actually buy it or not," he said. There has been a social media call for boycott of Chinese goods in India following that country's opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar as well Beijing obstructing India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Khandelwal said CAIT will go with the mood of the people and honour their calls for ban on Chinese products. "We expect that the goods which are in stock with the wholesalers will get sold over time, otherwise a lot of cash of traders will get stuck," he said. With Diwali round the corner, which can get you a long weekend this year, Dubai has topped the list of popular searches for out-bound destinations for Indians while Goa stays on top domestically, says a report. For the upcoming long Diwali weekend, Dubai is the top searched out-bound destination for Indians while Goa continues to rule on the domestic front, showed search results by Hotels.com. Udaipur in Rajasthan, Mumbai and Delhi have also featured in the top 10 list. Among the out-bound destinations, Bali in Indonesia, Phuket and Bangkok in Thailand and Singapore are the other top destinations Indians are exploring, it said. The findings of the report are based on actual searches on Hotels.com from January 1 to September 30 for travel during October 30 to November 3. It also found that there is a surge in searches for destinations like Baa Atoll (Maldives), which grew by 498 per cent over last year followed by Vienna in Austria, Gurugram (in NCR), Kolkata in West Bengal and Barcelona in Spain. Hotels.com LP operates Hotels.com, a leading online accommodation booking website, with properties ranging from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favourites with bed and breakfast. LINCOLN -- More than two years after Lucero Portillo got into a fight with her mom and left, police found her and took her home. Portillo, now 17, was among thousands of runaways reported to Lincoln police over recent years, but she remained missing much longer than most. Last month, she was featured in a Lincoln Journal Star series on missing people, and, as is the case with the majority of young people who are reported missing, police had no reason to suspect foul play. Unlike the majority of runaways, however, authorities had been unable to find the young woman whose mother reported her missing on Aug. 14, 2014. By the time Portillo was found, she'd been gone longer than all but one missing juvenile reported to Lincoln police. In the end, police found her in the place they'd initially suspected she might be: her boyfriends home. Police had done surveillance on the home after her disappearance, but did not catch sight of Portillo or her boyfriend coming or going. Then, on Oct. 4, the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force and the Lincoln Police Departments gang unit went to the home in the 3100 block of Q Street to serve a warrant. They didnt find the person they were looking for, but they did find Portillo, her 17-year-old boyfriend and another 16-year-old boy. Juvenile Court had issued retainers -- similar to warrants in adult court -- on the two boys and they were taken into custody. Portillo was returned to her mother. The home where she was found was in poor condition, with so much trash piled up that authorities had to crawl through a window to get inside, said Officer Katie Flood. Inside, the toilet didnt work and trash and dog feces littered the floor. Police also found three bags of marijuana and a stolen gun during a search of the house. While authorities were there, resident Mackeshaw Escamilla came home. The mother of Portillos boyfriend, who police had interviewed on numerous occasions while trying to find her, was uncooperative and belligerent, Flood said. Escamilla, 38, was arrested for child neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. During the time Portillo was missing, there was uncorroborated evidence that she was around: Her mother told police Portillo had contacted relatives in Mexico via social media, though police could never get in touch with those relatives; her mom was convinced shed seen her in a car in a McDonalds parking lot on a summer night in 2015. Family members thought she might have moved to Denver with her boyfriend, or possibly left for Mexico to be with family there. Her mother told police she now suspects Portillo has been with the boyfriend and his mother the entire time. Portillos living conditions illustrate the risks young people put themselves in when they run away and have no means to support themselves, Flood said. This is a situation no parent wants for their child. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the army will never "forgive" the country if it is found "sleeping" when it should be awake, in comments that come against the backdrop of the recent surgical strikes. He asserted that the army does not believe in speaking but in displaying its valour. "Our army is happiest when we sleep in peace. They have no complaint. But they will never forgive us if we sleep when we should be awake. Unfortunately, we have been found sleeping when we should have been awake. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. We have to keep alert always. It will be injustice to the army if we sleep away when we have to be awake," he said without elaborating. Addressing ex-servicemen and their families at the inauguration of 'Shaurya Smarak' (memorial to valour) here, he devoted his speech hailing the role of armed forces and their spirit of sacrifice in adverse situation. "Our army does not speak but displays its valour. When I would say this earlier, they (critics) would tear my hair out. They would say Modi is sleeping and doing nothing. Like our army which does not speak but displays its valour, our Defence Minister also does not speak..." he said with a pause as the audience broke into applause with some raising patriotic slogans. Modi said the ancestors in hundreds of years of India's history never waged a war to capture a country. "But if it comes to fighting for values and ideals, India is never found wanting," he said. Lauding the valour and humaneness of armed forces, he referred to their relief and rescue operations in Srinagar during the floods two years ago despite the violence they face from the stone-pelting mobs. "When massive floods hit Srinagar two years ago, the government found it difficult to deal with the situation and the country saw that our jawans were toiling to save people's lives. "They never thought these are the same people who pelt them with stones, breaking their head and damaging eyes. The attack is sometime so severe that they even face death," Modi said, praising armed forces' rescue efforts in Kashmir. He also highlighted their relief work during other natural disasters and recalled their efforts in Uttarakhand, which was hit by massive floods in 2013. Recently, they rescued over 5,000 Indians and people from other countries, including Pakistan, from war-hit Yemen, he said. "Even in international peacekeeping operations, Indian forces have served for long," he said. On the occasion, he also asserted that his government has fulfilled all the promises it had made while rolling out OROP for ex-servicemen, saying over Rs 5,000 crore has already been distributed to them. Attacking previous Congress governments without naming, he said they made tall claims but never fulfilled them. "Some governments were so clever that they even made budgetary provisions of a meagre Rs 500 crore," he said, citing figures for monetary benefits to retired soldiers following the OROP implementation. "We have promised to pay the money due to forces in four instalments under OROP and we are doing so," he said, adding, "I am content that we are keeping our promises." He also highlighted the Centre's efforts to ramp up defence production in India and made it self-reliant in the field. "I have been working on this for the last two years and i am confident that a day will come soon when India will not only become self-reliant but also export weapons... We have a lot of talent." Praising the armed forces for their bravery, he said they are also among the first ones across the world when judged on the yardsticks of discipline and concern for fellow human beings. Praising the 'shaurya smarak', he said it is like a pilgrimage site. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called Modi 'super manav' (super human) who is working to make India a strong country. "The Prime Minister's policy is we will not trouble anyone but if troubled, then we will not spare any one," he said. Defence Parrikar Manohar Parrikar recalled there was never lack of valour in the country and cited examples of Shivaji and Maharana Pratap. "The entire world has seen the valour of our soldiers... September 29 was yet another example of the bravery of Indian soldiers," he said, making a reference to the date of surgical strikes. During his speech, the Prime Minster also called upon the citizens to show respect to the defence personnel by clapping in their honour whenever they are spotted at public places like airport and railway stations. "In various countries in the world, whenever people see any defence personnel in the uniform, whether it is at airport or railway stations, people clap for them in their honour," he said and urged people to take a vow in this regard. "These are small things but play a major role in one's life," he added. Before inaugurating the Shaurya Smarak, Modi, along with Parrikar, Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh Acting Governor O P Kohli visited the gallery at the memorial, where pictures of war heroes are put up, an official of the Public Relations Department said. The Shaurya Smarak would apprise people, especially the younger generation, of the valour and sacrifices of those guarding India's borders. The memorial has been built on 12.67 acres land at a cost of Rs 41 crore, it said. Before coming to the Shaurya Smarak, Modi also met head of Digambar Jain sect Acharya Vidyasagarji Maharaj at a Jain Temple in the state capital. How do you run for president during a political cyclone with no precedents and no predictable path? Hillary Clinton has her answer: Slow and steady.As Donald Trump jags across the country, battling an onslaught of sexual misconduct allegations, his party's opposition and the media, Clinton has stepped cautiously on the campaign trail. She rarely makes news or veers from her script. She keeps a plodding schedule of modest-size events. She relies heavily on her cast of loyal and arguably more effective surrogates. And she doesn't overdo it: With just less than a month left to campaign, Clinton was fundraising in California yesterday and expected to spend most of the weekend out of the public eye. "Make no errors, do no harm," said Republican strategist Rick Tyler, who worked for Trump's primary rival Sen. Ted Cruz. "(Trump) has no ability to make good news about himself. Like none. So why not just let him go?" The news about Trump has overshadowed potentially damaging reports about Clinton based on thousands of hacked emails that apparently came from the email account of her campaign chairman, John Podesta. The campaign has not confirmed the authenticity of the emails. Clinton aides said the former secretary of state has been balancing a full schedule she attended rallies in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Colorado and Nevada this week with preparations for the final debate, scheduled for Wednesday, as well as fundraising for an ambitious get-out-the-vote program and advertising in battleground states. She was also off the trail for several days in September after a bout of pneumonia forced an awkward exit from a 9/11 memorial event. Spokesman Brian Fallon said that that Clinton "continues to take time to raise resources to execute our strategy and prepare for the debates," and said the campaign was "confident we're not leaving any voters untouched in critical states." There's little sign that the relatively low-key strategy is hurting Clinton, who has seized a comfortable lead in several national polls. Early voting shows positive signs for her in two states that could help her lock up the presidency, North Carolina and Florida, according to preliminary data compiled by The Associated Press. Still, the approach strikes a sharp contrast to her predecessor on the Democratic ticket. Never a natural on the stump, Clinton has had few of the massive rallies that defined President Barack Obama's two campaigns. Pakistan Army today warned India that any "misadventurism" by it will be met with the "most befitting response" and dismissed as a "hoax" India's assertion of surgical strikes across the LoC in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir to destroy terrorist launchpads. During a Corps Commanders' Conference presided over by army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, the Pakistan Army rejected the Indian stand "as an attempt to divert attention" from Kashmir. "Rejecting the absurd Indian claims of hoax surgical strikes as an attempt to divert world's attention, away from brutalities being committed by Indian Army against innocent Kashmiris, the forum resolved that any attempt of misadventurism and irresponsible act will be met with the most befitting response," the army said in a statement. The latest reaction from the Pakistan Army came nearly two weeks after India said it carried out "surgical strikes" across LoC and destroyed terrorist launchpads on September 28. India also said that it inflicted heavy casualties on terrorists and their supporters. Tensions have ran high between the two countries since the terror attack on an Indian army base in Uri on September 18. Pakistan has denied any surgical strikes took place, but said two of their soldiers were killed in cross-border firing by Indian Army. During today's meeting, Pakistan Army expressed "complete satisfaction over operational preparedness of the troops." Gen Shareef reiterated Pakistan Army's resolve to defend the country against any threat, according to the statement. The participants resolved to continue sustained and focused combing and intelligence-based operations across the length and breadth of Pakistan to uproot terrorism harmonising it with implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) to address extremism and other causes of terrorism. India will invest $5 billion as part of an energy deal with Russia on the sidelines of the annual BRICS meeting in Goa. In an interaction with DH, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday that the investment will be made at Russias second-largest oil and gas field Vankor, in eastern Siberia. The Modi-led government has made a conscious step for the energy security of the country and we are signing it with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the India-Russia Annual Summit. After signing the deal, India will get access to 15 million metric tonne of crude oil from Russia, he said. Pradhan pointed out that India has invested in overseas assets since the 50s. OVL Videsh, the foreign arm of state-owned petroleum explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has invested $28 billion till now in Russia, Canada, Central Asia and Australia. It brought to the country only 10 million metric tonne of crude oil, he said. The minister said OVL Videsh along with Oil India, IOC and Bharat Petroleum will come together to jointly invest in the assets in Russia. OVL already announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire up to 15% stake in CSJC Vankorneft, which owns Russias second-largest oil and gas field Vankor. The appointment of former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations and the process followed for his selection are heartening. His selection to the worlds top diplomatic job came at the end of a process that was transparent and consultative. The selection process this time saw candidates participate in public debates and outline their vision for the UN. It marks a break from the closed-door deal-making methods that characterised appointments to top jobs at the UN in the past. Importantly, Guterres appointment saw the big powers come together. At a time when the United States and Russia are at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, many were expecting them to battle over the appointment of a successor to outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. For decades now, the UN, especially the UN Security Council, has suffered from a crisis of credibility. For long, it has ceased to inspire hope in the eyes of most member-countries. Rivalry among big powers and deep divisions among them in the UNSC, have reduced this world body to a debating club. The new show of unity among the big powers indicates that it is possible for UNSC members to cooperate when they want to. On a personal side, Guterres brings to the high office immense political and diplomatic experience. If as Portugals Prime Minister, he acquired insights into the working of global politics, as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees over the past decade, he would have gained a good understanding of the working of the UN bureaucracy. As the UNHCR chief, Guterres was exposed to the plight of millions fleeing warzones in Syria, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan and the wall of hostility they come up against on reaching European shores. Hopefully, this empathy will shape Guterres agenda and drive his efforts to get the US and Russia to agree on finding a solution to the Syrian crisis. It should push him to breathe new life into a comatose UNSC. On a side note, Bans successor could have been a woman. The UN is still to get a woman Secretary-General. Seven of the 13 candidates in the fray for the top job were women. From a gender equality perspective, the fact that over 50% of the candidates in the fray were women is encouraging, though Guterres emerged triumphant. As one of the women candidates observed, it is not a glass ceiling but a steel one that still stands in the way of women rising to the top post in the UN. Novelist K A Aravind on Friday said that though cinema is the most important medium to spread knowledge and also social messages across the world, only a few Indian language movies are recognised at the national and international level. He was addressing the gathering at a ceremony to lay foundation for the Franco-Indian School of Cinema and Television at Rani Bahadur auditorium in the city. The school is a joint venture of University of Mysore (UoM) and Franco-Indian Film Society (FIFS), France, to be developed on 20 acres, at the foot of Chamundi Hill. Cinemas are something very important in India, France and other countries, which determine the codes, ethics, social values and culture. Movies are made in almost all the languages in India, but only a few are recognised at national and international-level. The Franco-Indian School of Cinema and Television Mysuru (FISCTM) will definitely provide an opportunity for budding artistes. The school also will be a cinematographical research centre, he said. There are no degree courses in filmmaking and no special classes to understand the value of songs in India. The school will not only produce talents but will also have archives and documentation for research scholars. Chantal Fischer, Chief of service, Cinema and Audiovisual Region, France, said that India and France have produced numerous films. The school helps people to create new vision and also exchange knowledge. She said that Mysuru is a suitable place for the school as it is considered as knowledge hub. Lets globalise our talent, skills and creativity, Fischer said. FIFS coordinator Frederique Bianchi said that the school will be a golden link between India and France. Franco-Indian Film Society aims to ensure cinematographic exchanges between France and India, thus creating a bridge between the two countries as well as with other European countries. UoM Vice Chancellor K S Rangappa said that India and France have a good bonding since many years. French people have excelled in fine arts and the joint venture will help in exchanging ideas, he opined. The scope is enormous and this collaborative effort will make a difference in promoting new generation school in the celluloid industry. The students passing out of this institution can compete in international forums and be placed in the best companies across the world. Entrance to FISCTM School is open for students across the world, he added. The mission of the school is to create platforms for exchanging educational and technical ideas between India and France, organise orientation programmes and workshops by international experts from European countries. It also enlightens the academic and professionals with the latest technology; promote Indian films in France and of French films in all regional languages in India, with subtitles and dubbing. UoM Registrar C Basavaraju, FIFS director M Madhu Thyagarajan, Indologist Tara Michale, Philippe Morice of University of Provence, France were present. A thrill goes down Lane 12, C Block, Kamalpur every time another working-class family brings home its first air-conditioner. Switched on for a few hours, usually to cool a room where the whole family sleeps, it transforms life in this suffocating concrete labyrinth where the heat reached 117 degrees in May. You wake up totally fresh, exulted Kaushilya Devi, a housewife, whose husband bought a unit in May. I wouldnt say we are middle class, she said. But we are closer. But 6,069 km away, in Kigali, Rwanda, negotiators from more than 170 countries gathered this week to complete an accord that would phase out the use of heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, worldwide, and with them the cheapest air-conditioners that are just coming within reach of people like Devi. Millions of Indians might mark the transition from poverty with the purchase of their first air-conditioner, but as those purchases ease suffering in one of the planets hottest countries, they are contributing profoundly to the heating of the planet. HFCs function as a supergreenhouse gas, with 1,000 times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide. While they account for just a small percentage of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, scientists say a surge in the use of HFC-fueled air-conditioners would alone contribute to nearly a full degree of atmospheric warming over the coming century. That is a lot in an environment where just three degrees of warming could be enough to tip the planet into an irreversible future of rising sea levels, more powerful storms and deluges, extreme drought, food shortages and other devastating effects. The emerging HFC ban, nearly seven years in the making, has not drawn the same kind of attention as last years Paris agreement on climate change. And the Kigali talks are focused on a narrow slice of the economy just the HFCs in air-conditioners and refrigerators. But the deal, which could be completed this weekend, could have as much or more of an effect on climate change. Unlike the Paris accord, the emerging Kigali agreement will have the force of international law, a legal requirement that rich countries give poor countries money to help them comply, and trade and economic sanctions against countries that do not. Between 6 and 9% of Indian households use air-conditioning, and the purchase of a first unit not a second or a third is driving growth, said Ajay Mathur, the director-general of the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi. Every time government salaries are raised, he said, air-conditioner purchases surge, as civil servants gain confidence that they will be able to pay higher electric bills. It is me of 10 years ago. It is many of my younger colleagues, Mathur said. It is my driver, who after 20 years working for me, bought his first air-conditioner. It is a marker of social mobility. But a new global deal committing the world to a rapid phaseout of HFCs, Mathur said, would mean that many Indians would never be able to get the benefits that go with air-conditioning. A fast phaseout comes with big wins for the US, since many of the replacement chemicals are manufactured by US chemical companies like Dow and Honeywell. But those manufacturers concede that their products are more expensive than HFCs. The replacements are more flammable and toxic, said Stephen Yurek, the president of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, an advocacy organisation. So there is a need to make sure the equipment is better designed and maintained, a need to make sure that when it is installed, it is done correctly and safely. You need better-trained people to do all that, and that will be more expensive. The cost to India of phasing out HFCs by 2050 could range, depending on the mitigation plan, from around $13 billion to $38 billion, according to a study by the India-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water. At this weeks talks, developed countries led by the US have proposed to require developing countries to freeze HFC production and use by 2021, phasing down to about 15% of 2012 levels by 2046. Developing nations in the hottest corners of the world, led by India, say that making the transition so quickly would be too costly. The Indian proposal would delay developing countries freeze of HFC use until 2031. By 2050, it would phase down to about 15% of 2029 levels. That would probably still leave a much higher level of HFCs in the atmosphere, since the 2029 HFC levels are expected to be much higher than those in 2012. But a compromise solution is not just a matter of meeting in the middle. Experts say that it is crucial to ban HFCs before the Indian air-conditioning boom begins. Its the iPhone moment, when a product that wasnt widely available is suddenly ubiquitous, said Nihar Shah, an engineer at the Energy Departments Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. During the 1990s, 5% of urban residents in China owned air-conditioners. A decade later, it was nearly 100%. Tipping point India has three times the number of high heat-index days as China, and the surge in air-conditioning purchases will be far greater, Shah said. In a study published last year, he projected that the tipping point for Indias air-conditioning market will come between 2020 and 2023. The idea is to get the best air-conditioner technology in place before this happens, he said. Otherwise, youll have these HFC air-conditioners locked in place for another decade. In Burari, the Delhi neighborhood where Devi lives, air-conditioning signifies both arrival and investment in the future. Homeowners here are mostly migrants from mountainous north India who work as government clerks or drivers and are investing heavily in their childrens English-language education. S Pathak, a bank manager, said he installed air-conditioning so his children, who are studying for medical school entrance exams, could manage late-night study sessions without nodding off or being devoured by disease-carrying mosquitoes. Sandhya Chauhan and her family live in two musty, windowless subterranean rooms, which turn stifling on summer nights, leaving six sweat-soaked adults to fidget, toss and pace until morning. They have lived there for 20 years, unable to find other lodging on the households combined earnings of around 30,000 rupees a month. But it was never as awful as this May, when temperatures crept so high that Chauhans friends speculated that the earth was colliding with the sun. After a doctor warned Chauhan that heat exhaustion was affecting their oldest sons health, her husband bought an air-conditioner on credit. Though they are hardly middle class we have never let this thought cross our minds, Chauhan said the purchase has changed the way they see themselves. My children sleep in peace, she said. There was a sense of happiness from inside. There was a sense that father has done a great job. Lok Sabha member R Dhruvanarayan said on Friday that villages could not be selected to take up development works under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) as the Centre had not released the funds. Addressing the reporters here, the MP said that most of the MPs, including a few from BJP, were not ready to adopt villages due to dearth of funds. He said that he had chosen B Matakere gram panchayat in HD Kote taluk under the yojana but, the Centre had not released any funds to develop the village. However, the development works are being taken up with the state government funds, he said. He alleged that the Union government was reluctant to release funds to Karnataka and had held up Rs 1,000 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. He claimed that the Centre had released Rs 4,000 crore under the scheme for Tamil Nadu. Four-laning of the MysuruNanjangud stretch of National Highway 212, will be completed within a month. The dispute in respect of the Kapila river bridge will be solved soon. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate the road, he added. The contractor, Oreva, wrapped up a six-month renovation of the bridge and reopened Friday in time for the holidays but didn't get government approval for its work.from YouTube October 31, 2022 at 03:07AM Union minister Venkaiah Naidu has said the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) should not link triple talaq with Uniform Civil Code to politicise the issue. He also asked the AIMPLB not to politicise the Law Commisions efforts to collect feedback from various stakeholders on Uniform Civil Code (UCC). "Triple talaq is being linked to the Uniform Civil Code, but the main issues are gender justice, non-discrimination and the dignity of women," Naidu told reporters here. The minister said there is a need for an enlightened debate on UCC and the real mood in the country is to get rid of triple talaq. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court last week, the Centre had opposed the existing procedure of denouncing the marriage in the minority community, arguing that it violated the dignity and right to equality of women. You (AIMPLB) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate. You put forth your point of view. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of Prime Minister and calling him a dictator, the minister said. AIMPLB officiating general secretary Maulana Wali Rehmani had said on Thursday that the Law Commission move was against pluralism and diversity of the country. The Constitution allowed all communities to have different customs and traditions and it was a dangerous idea to treat them with a single yardstick, Rehmani had asserted. Countering AIMPLB, Naidu said the UCC was enshrined in Article 44 of the Directive Principles of the Constitution and not introduced by the NDA government or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "If you are so interested in making political comments you can as well join any political party of your choice. This is not expected from Muslim Personal Law Board and other religious leaders. You have to confine yourself to the issue and the issue is put forth for discussion by the Law Commission, he said in a direct attack on the AIMPLB . AIMPLB launches signature campaign The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) launched a signature campaign on Friday to muster support from the community on its decision to oppose a uniform civil code and any change in the Shariat, DHNS reports from Lucknow. The signature campaign was launched after Friday prayers at the historic Aishbagh Idgah ground by senior AIMPLB member and sunni cleric Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali. We will not tolerate any attempt to interfere in the Shariat, he said. The cleric said that a letter had been sent to the imams of all the mosques in the state apprising them about the boards stand on the issue of uniform civil code and triple talaq. All the imams will join the signature campaign, he added. The letter was sent by another AIMPLB member Zafaryab Jilani. Minister for Higher Education Basavaraj Rayaraddi said here on Friday that the chief minister had agreed to provide Rs 511 crore for the infrastructure development of government first grade and technical colleges. He spoke to reporters after a review of the Higher Education department conducted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here on Friday. Rayaraddi said there are as many as 412 first grades colleges and 81 technical colleges in the state. In order to increase the proportion of enrolment of students to pursue higher education, the government had decided to provide the necessary infrastructure. For this, there was a need of Rs 511 crore to which Siddaramaiah had agreed. The chief minister had promised to earmark the set amount in the supplementary budget, he said. The money will be utilised to improve buildings. Also, incomplete building works will be completed. Toilets and library facilties will also be provided using the funds. Among the 412 first grade colleges, only 44 colleges have permanent principals. Appointments will be made in colleges with acting principals. The recruitment process of at least 2,160 posts of assistant professors will be completed by December, he said. Meanwhile, the Government First Grade College in Mandya had been upgraded as an autonomous college status. The Ambedkar School of Economics will start functioning from the next academic year and 50 acres of land will be provided, Rayaraddi said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to name Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar in its chargesheet on the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase. The chargesheet may also name his brother Abdul Rauf and two handlers, Kashif Jaan and Shahid Latif, who were involved in guiding the four terrorists who targeted the airbase in January. Sources said India would try to corner Pakistan by all possible means, and the latest move comes soon after China extended its veto on New Delhis efforts to get UN to declare a sanction on Azhar. The investigators are now looking at the legal options for naming the four terrorists in absentia. Once the chargesheet is filed, officials said, it would add one more push to Indias efforts to corner both Pakistan and the Jaish chief. India has in its possession evidence, including a telephonic conversation between the terrorists and Jaish handlers and a video of Rauf in which he is seen claiming responsibility for the attack. This video was later removed from the Internet. Though India provided Pakistani investigators access to Pathankot, Islamabad has so far stonewalled all efforts by India to send its sleuths there for taking the probe forward. US factor New Delhi is also using information it received from the United States to confront Pakistan in the Pathankot case. After the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army across Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Azhar asked Pakistan to intensify its efforts in helping terrorists hit India. In May, the Interpol had issued a fresh red corner notice against Azhar and Rauf in connection with the Pathankot incident. Azhar already has a notice against him on the attacks on Parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, while Rauf has one for the 1999 IC-814 hijacking case. Opposition National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Friday urged India and Pakistan to talk and solve the Kashmir issue to end terrorism in the region. Abdullah, who convened an all-party meeting of Opposition leaders, discussed the prevailing situation in the Valley. Speaking for the first time since the ongoing unrest erupted in the Valley on July 8, he said, India and Pakistan must sit and discuss Kashmir as only talks can solve the issues. Terrorism increases when there is a strain in ties between two nations. Since the prime minister (Narendra Modi) has accepted the need for dialogue to find a lasting solution to the political issue, it is imperative that the Central government initiates talks with stakeholders within the state and also resumes a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue, Abdullah, a former Union minister, said. Invoking former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, he said, Remember what Vajpayeeji said - we cant choose our neighbours. So, we have to talk to Pakistan. There is no other option. He also demanded that the jailed Hurriyat leaders be released and the state government facilitate a meaningful and credible political dialogue between the Hurriyat Conference and Centre. During the meeting, the Opposition parties, including the Congress, condemned the indiscriminate wave of arrests and mass repression in the state. Amid the raging debate on the uniform civil code and reforming of personal laws, a man divorced his wife from abroad over telephone through triple talaq. According to the reports, Shahnawaz, a resident of Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur district, about 500 km from here, called his wife a few days ago and pronounced the word talaq thrice and severed all relations with her. He (husband) called me and started abusing me the moment I said salam (paying respect)....and then suddenly he said talaq thrice, said Afreen (name changed), the victim. Tujhe azad kar diya (I have freed you), she said repeating her husbands words. Afreen, hailing from Muzaffarnagar district, was married to Shahnawaz two years ago and has a daughter. Everything was fine until the birth of the baby...the attitude of my husband and his family members changed suddenly, she said. Former minister V Srinivas Prasad, who is set to resign as Congress MLA on October 17, is said to be more inclined to joining the BJP than the JD(S). The BJP and the JD(S) are making efforts to rope him in. Though Prasad is yet to formally announce his move, his resignation is certain. Legislative Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad is scheduled to meet Prasad on October 17 between 11.30 am and noon. Politicians who have been trying to negotiate with him said the Congress leader is aware that the BJP has more influence than the JD(S) over Nanjangud, the SC Reserved constituency which is held by Prasad. Lingayats form a major part of the electorate. Hence, Prasad may settle for the BJP, it is said. It is also said that Prasad, while remaining active in politics, may field one of his sons-in-law from Nanjangud. The BJP may reward Prasad by giving him some position as he was a minister in the Vajpayee government. The JD(S) has not given up and party supremo H D Deve Gowda is directly in touch with him. Even local JD(S) leaders, including G T Deve Gowda and Sa Ra Mahesh, are doing their best to get Prasad into the party fold. The reason is Prasad, in his interaction with the media on Thursday in Mysuru, had said that he would take a decision only after quitting the Congress. He had said he had helped Siddaramaiah become the chief minister but the chief minister humiliated him and removed him from the state Cabinet. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Jagadish Shettar said in Dharwad that grave injustice has been done to Prasad by Siddaramaiah. The chief minister has protected some of the ministers facing charges of corruption and land encroachment but dropped Prasad from the Cabinet. BJP State president B S Yeddyurappa has spoken to him and it is up to Prasad to take a final call, said Shettar. The differences in the state BJP came to fore again on Friday with a host of senior leaders staying away from a public rally in Bengaluru attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The leaders of opposition in the two Houses Jagadish Shettar and K S Eshwarappa, former state president Pralhad Joshi and R Ashoka among others, stayed away from the function at National High School grounds where retired IAS officer K Shivaram joined the BJP in the presence of Singh. Unilateral decision According to party sources, these leaders skipped the event to register their protest against the unilateral decision of BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa to induct the retired officer into the party. Yeddyurappa had not informed the core-committee, the highest decision making body of the party in the state, about the induction. Unhappy with BSY It is learnt that Union Minister for Parlimantary Affairs Ananth Kumar and Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D V Sadananda Gowda too are unhappy with Yeddyurappas style of functioning but attended Fridays rally. Being MPs from Bengaluru and Union ministers, they were compelled to attend the event in which their senior Cabinet colleague participated, sources said. Only five of the 12 core-committee members attended the rally. The seniors have decided to raise the issue at the next core-committee meeting. A study done in collaboration with the European Union recommended stricter implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act to curb female foeticide. The study identified the issue of missing girls in Indian population as the major concern. It also suggested changes in socio-cultural behaviour for the inclusion of missing girls in the Indian population. The study conducted by Plan India, a part of the US-based NGO Plan International, presented a bleak scenario of achieving sustainable development goals of United Nations in 2030 as far as gender equality is concerned. The study was funded by the EU. The study recommended that the implementation of PCPNDT should be done through well-defined planning, strategy and monitoring mechanisms at district level with greater awareness of various government schemes and laws. The recommendation is significant in the wake of the recent suggestion of holding parents responsible for sex-selective abortions. The idea was met with great resistance as it was thought to be in favour of doctors and clinics involved in sex determination during pregnancy and consequent female foeticide. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said India is ready to weed out terrorism from Pakistan, if Islamabad sought New Delhis help. Pakistan is being increasingly isolated from the world arena due to terrorism. If the Pakistan government wants to relieve itself of terrorism, let it seek Indias help. We are ready to support them and weed out terrorism from Pakistan, Singh said at a public rally organised by the BJP at the National College Grounds in Bengaluru. Singhs statement comes at a time when tension is escalating between the two countries after the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army on terror launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Terrorists had killed 19 Indian soldiers at an army station in Uri in Kashmir on September 18 and this led to the surgical strikes. Singh said that in spite of all the efforts by the Narendra Modi government to improve relations with Pakistan, there has been no reciprocation from Islamabad. We have always extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan. We invited all our neighbours to the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We want cordial relationship with all our neighbours. But, Pakistan has been taking advantage of our cordiality, he said. Singh said that India was not against the people of Pakistan but could not tolerate terrorism or terrorists. He said that for the first time after India became independent, the country had held its head high at the international level. Prime Minister Modi has succeeded in giving the message to the world that India is not weak but a powerful country, he said. The minister said the NDA government succeeded in checking wholesale corruption at the top. Singh was in Bengaluru to participate in a rally where retired IAS officer K Shivaram, a Dalit, joined the BJP. Singh utilised the platform to counter charges that the BJP was anti-Dalit. The Modi government had launched several schemes for the welfare and upliftment of Dalits. Mudra Bank loans had been launched to empower Dalits, Other Backward Classes among others, he said. Union Ministers D V Sadananda Gowda and Ananth Kumar and BJP State President B S Yeddyurappa were prominent among those who present at the rally. The health condition of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was examined by doctors from the UK and AIIMS for the second successive day on Friday. Apollo Hospital sources here said required clinical tests were conducted on the chief minister. Dr Richard John Beale, based in the UK, held discussions with an expert panel from the Apollo Hospitals and monitored Jayalalithaas present line of treatment. Hospital sources said Jayalalithaa was responding well to the treatment and necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being provided to her. The chief minister is still under the observation of a panel comprising intensivists, cardiologists, respiratory physicians and infectious disease specialists, among others. Meanwhile, the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Friday said Jayalalithaa, also the party general secretary, has approved the programme to observe the partys 45th founding day on Monday. Two held for spreading rumours Two employees of a nationalised bank in Coimbatore were arrested on Friday for spreading rumours about Jayalalithaas condition, police said, reports PTI. The arrests were made following a complaint by AIADMK worker Sunitha Devi, they said. On October 7, Sunitha had gone to the bank at Thondamuthur, where the two staffers, Suresh and Ramesh, repeatedly asked her about Jayalalithaas health status. When she did not reply, the two reportedly made some comments on the health status, police said. Sunitha lodged a complaint with police, who registered cases against the duo. Suresh and Ramesh were arrested and later remanded to custody. The office bearers of Tribal Farmers Association took out a protest rally from Sudarshan circle to DCs office in Madikeri on Friday, urging to fulfil their demands. Tribal farmers association district unit president J P Raju said the state cabinet should send a recommendation to the Central Government to declare the area where tribal community people reside as Scheduled Tribe Area. Individual and community rights should be provided to tribal community as per Forest Rights Act, along with providing five acre land each, to every tribal family. Tribal community was not consulted before announcing the World Heritage Sites. This is a violation of tribal act, they said. They said the pending applications under form number 50 and 53 should be sanctioned. The government should provide a second chance to those who have not been able to submit their applications. The tiger project and elephant corridors should be scrapped before implementing Tribal Act 2006. People belonging to Kudiya community are the primitives of Kodagu district and they must be included in Nutritious Food Project for Tribal community. Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara lauded the efforts of two traffic policemen for registering the highest number of cases in a single day and has announced a cash reward. A press release issued by the office of the Home Minister stated that Umesh Udupi, sub-inspector (SI) attached to Cubbon Park and Shiva Swamy, SI, of Byatarayanapura traffic police station were rewarded Rs 25,000 cash prize each, for carrying out their duties promptly. On Wednesday, Udupi booked 165 cases and collected a fine of Rs 65,800. On Thursday, Shivaswamy registered 455 traffic violation cases and collected Rs 66,500. Shivaswamy was deployed near New Guddadahalli where he booked motorists violating traffic rules from 8 am to 5 pm. Parameshwara said that it is an example for the other policemen to carry out their duties in an earnest manner. Booking motorists at this rate would help in curbing the traffic violation menace in the city, the press note stated. An appreciation letter and the cash reward will be handed over to both the policemen. The City Commissioner of Police has directed to make an entry about their work in the service book. Karnataka has recorded 2,037 cases of atrocities against people belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in 2015. As many as 62% of these cases are related to murder while the remaining 28% have been registered under different Sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to a study report entitled Implementation of the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2015. The report by the Committee for Monitoring and Strengthening SCs/STs in Karnataka (CMASK) was submitted to the state government here on Friday. It is a compilation of government documents obtained thorough the Right to Information Act and information received from public, said Yashodha P, state convener, CMASK and Karnataka Dalita Mahila Vedike. A Dalit woman was raped once in two days and in every five days, a Dalit was murdered in Karnataka in 2015. The state has reported 64% increase in cases of rape (123) of the SC women and 200% jump in rape on the ST women (48 cases), as compared to the figures of 2014, the study points out. There is 64% increase in cases of serious injuries against the SCs and 130% increase in cases of atrocities against STs. More so, the study underlines that there is a 7% decrease in registration of cases against the SCs while it has gone up against the STs. Last year, 4,891 cases were reported in different courts in the state. Of them, 1,037 cases were disposed of and 46 ended in conviction. While the conviction rate is just around 5%, cases disposed of are 21.2%. Of the 171 rape cases reported last year, compensation has been provided only in 136 cases, the report mentions. A comparative analysis of the data from 2009 to 2015 reveals that there is an increase in the number of meetings conducted by District/City Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committees. Only eight districts have exclusive courts to hear cases registered under the Atrocities Act and the remaining 22 districts have not set up special courts at all, the report stated. It states that 15 districts have reported more atrocity cases. Bengaluru has reported the highest number of cases of atrocities (144) followed by Kalaburagi (116), Raichur (116), Bengaluru Rural (99), Belagavi (94), Chikkmagaluru (87), Mandya (81), Dakshina Kannada (85), Tumakuru (81), Shivamogga and Vijayapura (75 each), Ballari, Hassan and Yadgir (70 each). Congress MLC V S Ugrappa, who heads the Legislature Committee on Women and Child Safety, received the report on behalf of the state government. The state government has earmarked Rs 18,000 crore for the development of the Dalits, he said. MLA G S Patil urged the government to make use of the report to improve the condition of the Dalits. The state government has blacklisted an engineering firm after it was noticed that there were irregularities in four lift irrigation projects being executed by it in Shivamogga. Minor Irrigation Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters in Bengaluru that irregularities were brought to his notice by a delegation of farmers on Thursday morning. Jayachandra said that on finding that irregularities had indeed taken place, he ordered blacklisting of the firm - RNS Engineers - and also forfeiture of Rs 1.5 crore deposited by the firm with the government. Jayachandra said the firm had falsely claimed that it had completed the four projects taken up at a cost of Rs 11.89 crore. He said an enquiry has also been ordered on the probable involvement of the departments engineers in the irregularities. A story appearing in a Pakistani daily claiming that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar admitted to a German diplomat that the recent surgical strikes by the army were a bluff was strongly contradicted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The News International Pakistans story titled Indian FS admits surgical strike was a bluff is completely concocted and baseless, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets. He said German Ambassador Dr Martin Ney was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the foreign secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes and that they have had no further conversation since on this subject. The news item was seen by New Delhi as a part of series of attempts by Islamabad to play down the September 28-29 strikes by the army on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC). Jaishankar had briefed foreign envoys from 25 countries on Indias surgical strikes last month. The MEAs statement was to make it clear that there was no separate meeting or phone conversation subsequently between Jaishankar and the German ambassador in New Delhi.Calling it startling information shared by the German authorities during a recent official meeting with Pakistan Embassy officials in Berlin, the Pakistani newspaper claimed that the drama of Indian surgical strikes, which had already become a global joke, got a serious jolt with its own foreign secretary having admitted that it was a bluff. Quoting an official source, the daily reported, The Pakistani mission had been told that during a formal meeting on the issue of the ongoing India-Pakistan stand-off between German Ambassador to India Dr Martin Ney and Indian FS Subramaniam Jaishankar in New Delhi, the Indian Foreign Secretary has categorically denied and said that there was no surgical strike undertaken by Indian Army inside Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The report claimed that this information was passed on by a senior desk officer of AfPak Division, Ms Simone Stemmler, to the Minister Political Rukhsana Afzal at Pakistans Berlin embassy during a formal meeting on the India-Pakistan stand-off. The report further stated that German officials Ms Karen Goebels and Mr Jens Wagner were also present at the meeting in Berlin, where the Pakistan officials were conveyed this information. In a number of interviews to the Indian media, Pakistans High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit has repeatedly dismissed Indias announcement of conducting surgical strikes across the LoC. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will tell Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday to reflect upon New Delhis concerns over Russias growing military ties with Pakistan. Modi and Putin will hold the 17th India-Russia summit in Goa on Saturday. Though the meeting between the two leaders is expected to be followed by several big-ticket defence deals, New Delhi is also likely to use the opportunity to strongly convey Indias concerns over the growing military ties between Russia and Pakistan. The prime minister will convey to the Russian president his governments concerns over the implication of Russia-Pakistan defence relations on the security interests of India. We are confident that Russia will reflect upon our concerns (over Russia-Pakistan defence cooperation), Pankaj Saran, New Delhis envoy to Moscow, told journalists on Friday. He made the remark even as New Delhi and Moscow are set to sign deals for manufacturing of Russias Kamov-226T military helicopters in India on Saturday. Saran said the meeting between Modi and Putin would give a fillip to bilateral cooperation in sectors like hydrocarbon and nuclear energy, agriculture and infrastructure, particularly railways. What particularly set the alarm bells ringing in New Delhi was the joint anti-terror military drill that soldiers of Russia and Pakistan held at Cherat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the neighbouring country from September 24 to October 10. This was the first ever military exercise between Pakistan and Russia, which has been maintaining a robust defence partnership with India over the past several decades. Modi is likely to convey to Putin that while New Delhi had nothing to say about bilateral ties between two other nations, it would definitely expect that Russia would not be oblivious of its decades-old and time-tested relations with India and legitimate security interests of the latter in the region, sources told the DH. New Delhi is likely to nudge Moscow not to turn Russias military exercise with Pakistan into a regular feature in the coming years. The Russia-Pakistan military drill came just days after the deadly terror attack on an army camp at Uri in north Kashmir on September 18 took the New Delhis troubled ties with Islamabad to a new low. The attack was carried out by the terrorists who had sneaked into India from the areas under illegal occupation and control of Pakistan. Altogether 19 soldiers were killed in the attack. Moscow, however, was not only quick to condemn the attack, but was also first to endorse Indias assertion that the terrorists had come from areas under the control of Pakistan. Russia did not call off its military drill with Pakistan after the attack on the army camp, but clarified that it would not be held in disputed areas India accuses Pakistan of illegally occupying in Kashmir. Russia has since long been the largest supplier of military hardware to India and has been maintaining its defence cooperation with Pakistan at a low level. Moscow, however, in November 2015 signed a military cooperation agreement with Islamabad apparently in reaction to Indias move to enter into closer defence ties with the United States. The first Russia-Pakistan military drill too came just weeks after India signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the United States. Moscow and Islamabad are also discussing supply of Russian MI-35 attack helicopters to India. The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd, a body of filmmakers, has come out in support of Karan Johar. According to the Guild, there are many producers who have either shot their films or are in the process of completing their projects prior to the escalation of hostilities, including Karan Johars soon to be released Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which has also been certified by the Central Board for Film Certification. The panel further said that there are many other films which are scheduled to be released in the months ahead, including Dear Zindagi and Raees, which also features artistes from Pakistan. Raghav-eshwara Bharathi, the head of Sri Ramachandrapura Mutt in Shivamogga district, has warned against the state governments interference in the day-to-day affairs of temples in Karnataka. Answering a query at a press conference here on Friday, he stated that the government should look after governance instead of trying to take over temples. The government has to do its work, while mutts have to do theirs. What if we demand the chief ministers post? The governments intervention in temples and mutts is not correct, he noted. He stressed the need for a uniform civil code and listed the harms of consuming beef. He called for a change in the mindset to protect cows. To raise awareness about protection and promotion of indigenous cow breeds, the Mangala Gou Yatra will be taken out all over Karnataka, starting in Bengaluru on November 8, he said. The pontiff was accused of raping a devotee of the mutt but was discharged by the court earlier this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold meetings with leaders of two permanent members of the United Nations Security Council Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Goa on Saturday. This is going to be the prime ministers first meeting with any of the P-5 (five permanent members of UNSC) leaders after India carried out surgical strikes on terror camps in areas under control of Pakistan. The prime minister is likely to convey to both the leaders that New Delhi reserves the right to make similar military response if Islamabad does not rein in anti-India terror outfits based in Pakistan or areas under illegal occupation of Pakistan, sources told DH. The presidents of China and Russia will attend the 8th summit of the BRICS a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in Goa on Sunday. The BRICS summit and the BRICS outreach meeting with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) in Goa over the weekend are going to be New Delhis first major diplomatic engagements in India after it moved to isolate Pakistan. Putin is set to arrive in Goa in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday, while Xi will arrive in the afternoon on Saturday. Modi and Putin will hold the 17th India-Russia annual summit in the forenoon on Saturday. The prime minister will also hold a bilateral meeting with the Chinese president in the evening on Saturday. Prime Minister Modi will make it clear to both the P-5 leaders that India remained committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity in the region, but it would not allow terrorists from Pakistan to operate across the LoC with impunity and attack its citizens at will. Germany will begin a study of a high-speed southern corridor linking Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai-Vijayawada in January 2017, the Railway ministry said here on Friday. The calendar was finalised at a meeting between Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and visiting Transport minister of Germany Alexander Dobrindt at Rail Bhavan. An earlier proposal had limited the corridor to Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai. It is now proposed to extend it to Vijayawada. The study will be funded by the German government. The 906-km long proposed corridor will support trains running at speeds of more than 300 km an hour. The extension of the route was made at the request of Prabhu, who also represents Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha. The earlier route was only 475 km. The two countries had signed an MoU in April last when the Indian Railway Minister visited Germany. The German side also expressed willingness to undertake feasibility study on speed upgradation on existing tracks. The two sides decided to discuss further and finalise the railway corridor for this kind of study, said the ministry. The meeting was attended by Railway Board Chairman A K Mittal and other senior officials of German and Indian Railways. The visiting German minister, who is on a two-day visit, also assured cooperation in other fields, including station development and IT solutions for railway operations. The two countries also decided to form a joint working group on safety as a Zero Accident Mission for Indian Railways. The working group would look into training, technology and processes for improving safety. The group would meet for inter-government consultations in Berlin in May 2017, tentatively. A team of BJP leaders from the state which met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai recently, ahead of the October 21 meeting on sharing the Mahadayi river waters, has briefed him on the ground reality in north Karnataka, according to senior BJP leader Jagadish Shettar. The drinking water situation in north Karnataka has also been brought to his notice. Expectations are high as the chief ministers of the three riparian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa meet in Mumbai on October 21 to discuss the Mahadayi river-linking project, said Shettar, who was among the BJP leaders who met Fadnavis. Karnataka BJP leaders have taken the BJP-led governments in Goa and Maharashtra into confidence and arranged this meeting. However, the state Congress leaders have so far not taken up the issue with their partymen in Goa and Maharashtra. The Congress is in the opposition in the two states, Shettar stated. When there was a BJP government in the state, Rs 100 crore was released for construction of Kalasa-Banduri naala. However, the Congress has confined itself to making promises. The Congress government has not taken any concrete steps to make the project a reality, he said. Relief works needed Shettar, who is leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, said more than 100 taluks in state were reeling under severe drought and the need of the hour was to launch drought-relief works on a war-footing. The government need not wait for funds from Centre. Instead, it can take up urgent works such as drinking water supply, fodder management and providing employment to rural masses, he added. Buckling under pressure from citizens who spontaneously came out against the steel flyover from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal Flyover, the Bangalore Development Authority on Friday released a detailed project report, update on the steel flyover and a list of trees to be planted, on its website. The DPR was prepared on December 8, 2015 by STUP Consultants, which had earlier prepared the feasibility report in 2010 at a cost of Rs 65.08 lakh for an elevated road on the same stretch. According to the DPR, the project cost of the steel flyover at the time of preparing the DPR was Rs 1,350 crore, which has now been escalated to Rs 1,794 crore. It will require acquisition of 19,115 square metres of land including 13,979 sqm of government land. The DPR also says that the BDA will transplant 56 trees. In its update, BDA brushed aside the allegation that it never consulted people. The Bangalore Development Authority had issued a press release on June 27, 2016 inviting suggestions on this project from experts and interested persons either by contacting or through email. Accordingly, 299 suggestions have been received through emails. Of these, 73% were in favour of implementing the flyover project. The rest have requested identifying an alternative route, conventional concrete method and to exhibit a detailed project report. All the requests have been examined. The BDA has justified its preference for a steel bridge over the concrete flyover. It said, The existing road between Raj Bhavan/Chalukya junction up to Hebbal is the main spine for airport bound traffic. Hence, this road cannot be blocked for traffic movement at any point of time or the construction activity should be carried out with minimum disturbance to road users. Steel structure has more service life than concrete structure. As an answer to the charges that the steel flyover would take away the aesthetics of Bengaluru, the BDA cited examples of countries like Malaysia, Korea, China and USA. In India, steel flyovers are in use in Kolkata. It is proposed to give the Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal flyover a better appearance. The BDA reiterated that it will not damage any of the heritage buildings including Balabrooie Guest House, Carlton House, Vidhana Soudha or Raj Bhavan. IT major Infosys has reported an year-on-year increase of 6.1% in the net profit for the quarter ended September 30 at Rs 3,606 crore, as against Rs 3,398 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. The company also revised its guidance for the second time in the current fiscal. The revenues of the company was Rs 17,310 crore for the quarter, compared with Rs 15,635 for the corresponding quarter last year, showing an year-on-year increase of 10.7%. The operating profit stood at Rs 4,309 crore for the quarter, as against Rs 3,993 crore in the second quarter of the last fiscal, a year-on-year growth of 7.9%. Earnings per share (EPS) was Rs 15.77 for the said quarter with a quarter-on-quarter growth of 6.1%, as against Rs 14.87 in the corresponding quarter last year. The major chunk of the companys revenues came from business IT services segment with a 62.8% contribution, followed by consulting, packaging implementation and others segment (32.1%), and products, platforms and others segment (5.1%). On the geographical front, North America contributed 61.5% of the revenues, followed by Europe (22.5%) and India (3.4%). Revising its guidance levels for the second time, the companys revenue outlook (consolidated) for the fiscal ending March 31, 2017, under International Financial Reporting Standards is expected to grow 8.0% - 9.0% in constant currency. Facing a barrage of criticism over its decision to construct a steel flyover from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal, a seemingly perplexed government on Friday increased the length of the structure by an additional 1.6 km from 6.7 km, extending it all the way up to Esteem Mall. This means the steel flyover will have to be constructed above the Hebbal flyover. Urban Development Department (UDD) Additional Chief Secretary Mahendra Jain, who is also the chairman of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), however, claimed on Friday that the Cabinet had approved the project between Basaveshwara Circle and Esteem Mall beyond the Hebbal flyover. Interestingly, documents released by the government right from the day the Cabinet briefing was made till Bengaluru Development Minister K J George released the salient features of the project on Wednesday state that the flyover is only till the starting point of Hebbal flyover. In the Cabinet briefing on September 28, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra, too, said the project was till Hebbal flyover. Following severe public criticism, the minister released a link through the BDA website on October 12, which also stated that the project was only till Hebbal. Even the 164-page Detailed Project Report, dated December 8, 2015, posted by BDA at 9 pm on Friday, does not mention that the steel flyover will run till Esteem Mall. It also does not elaborate as to how the flyover will make its way above the Hebbal flyover. Earlier this year, BDA had organised a groundbreaking ceremony to demolish the Nagawara link loop of Hebbal flyover as part of the steel flyover project. Jain, however, said the Hebbal flyover will not be altered while erecting the steel flyover. Nothing on Hebbal flyover will be demolished. It will remain as it is, while the steel flyover will go above the existing flyover, he said, adding that the government was still open to suggestions from people and the same would be incorporated in the plan. Decision not final Meanwhile, a BDA official, on the condition of anonymity, said the decision to extend the steel flyovers length by 1.6 km was not finalised yet. He was, however, quiet on the cost escalations and other modifications believed to be under consideration. When asked, neither the UDD nor BDA provided this newspaper a map or sketch explaining the extension of the project till Esteem Mall. On the other hand, the government has not yet decided the date of the groundbreaking ceremony for the project. A spokesperson from L&T told DH two days ago that they too had not got the work orders for the project. Despite repeated attempts, BDA Commissioner Rajkumar Khatri and Minister George refused to speak to DH or disclose any information. JavaScript is disabled on your browser. CORDIS website requires JavaScript enabled in order to work properly. Please enable JavaScript. Simon Gregson, better known as Steve McDonald is set to drag it up in a brand new special, Queens For The Night, on ITV. For one night only,... The Daily Mail and Express have covered the story of a 50-year-old lady with diabetes who died on a flight, and their write-ups exhibit a saddening lack of sensitivity towards the woman and her family. The woma, who has not been named, died mid-air during a flight to Moscow from a holiday in Turkey. She experienced a seizure upon entering a severe hypo and is also thought to have been suffering from acute heart failure before she died. The captain of the flight decided against making an emergency landing and flew directly to Moscow. Flight attendants laid the woman down in the aisle and covered her with a blanket after she passed away. This is a terribly distressing situation for the womans family. But you wouldnt know that from the tabloid reports of the incident. The Express headline Passengers forced to sit next to CORPSE after woman dies on three-and-a-half-hour flight implies it was the other passengers suffering most. The Daily Mails headline is no more compassionate: Shocked passengers sit alongside a DEAD BODY after diabetic passenger dies during flight home from holiday in Turkey. The Express write-up goes on to say how passengers were left spooked after the woman died, but this really is quite irrelevant. The misdirected empathy to the passengers is a bizarre angle for the Express journalist to have taken. Moreover, the Daily Mail demonstrated a poor understanding of hypo treatments in their article, saying that the woman suffered a diabetic seizure and forgot to take insulin in a carry-on bag. Insulin is the last thing youd use to treat a hypo because it lowers blood sugar further. The correct treatments are either fast-acting glucose, if someone is conscious and able to take it by mouth, or an injection of glucagon, if available. Few details are known about the womans general health and diabetes management, but it is essential for people with type 1 diabetes or insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes to keep a source of glucose on their person during flights. People are advised to split their diabetes supplies into separate bags in the event of one piece of luggage getting lost, and to carry a list of all medication and a diabetes identity card or wristband. A summit on sugar labelling and reductio, which was held on Wednesday at the House of Commons inside the palace of Westminster, has called for a 20 per cent reduction in sugar by the industry before 2020. The aim of this summit was to identify precise targets for action to encourage greater uptake of healthy options beyond the governments current obesity plan and sugar tax. It also touched upon interventions that did not work well in the past and why that is, as well as how we can better monitor overall progress with food and drink companies, and mobilise stronger international support. This event, set up by Rend Platings from the organising think tank Sugarwise, brought together a number of retailers, charities and influential stakeholders, including the Department of Health, Public Health England, British Soft Drinks Association and the Food and Drink Federation. Action on Sugars campaign manager, Jenny Rosborough, opened the summit by telling the assembly that there is more to obesity than just sugar, but it remains a very good vehicle for getting attention on the issue. For the past two years, Action on Sugar has been trying to get the government to release an obesity plan, an initiative which has been partly successful. Branded pathetic, the new childhood obesity strategy that was released in August was not well received among most anti-obesity campaigners, who felt that the industry has got off quite lightly in terms of what really needed to be done in order to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes. Some Action on Sugar spokesmen have called to reduce sweetness preference and reformulate foods to reduce sugars while other participants have said that we cant reformulate our way out of obesity, that more was needed from industry and policy. Before getting into the new proposals, the panel has been raising a couple of issues with current sugar-free labelling and the sugar tax, such as the consequences of Brexit on future food labelling changes. For Sugarwise representatives, food labelling is just a part of the puzzle. It is our whole food environment that needs to change to help people make healthier choices. A strong reformulation programme is, according to Rosborough, the best measure to reduce sugar consumption. She announced that it will mimic the salt reduction plan recently published by Public Health England. It will also include a pledge for the food and drink industry to commit to a 20 per cent sugar reduction in their products over the next 4 years. As for the sugar tax, Tam Fry, from the Obesity Forum, reported this weeks news that the World Health Organisation declared all governments should put a 20 per cent tax on sugars. A lawyer with type 1 diabetes who has raised hundreds of pounds for research into the condition has landed a new role as chairman of JDRF. James Cripps (pictured) has taken over the reins of the leading global charity, which funds type 1 diabetes research, from Ian Edwards as chairman of the charitys board of directors. Mr Cripps is a longstanding supporter of JDRF and worked as a lawyer for 35 years before retiring in 2013. His association with the charity began 30 years ago as a lawyer assisting the charitys incorporation. Three years later he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and together with his family has taken part in many JDRF events such as Walk to Cure Diabetes in London, including the inaugural Walk in 1997, and he joined the team that climbed Kilimanjaro in 2014. Karen Addingto, UK chief executive of JDRF, said: James has been involved with the charity since its first days in the UK and has seen many changes in treatment, research and support over the last three decades. We are incredibly lucky that, now that he is taking a step back from his busy and successful legal practice, James is able to devote more time to JDRF. The organisation will benefit from his sound business and legal guidance and his personal knowledge of type 1 and empathy with all living with the condition. Mr Crippss priorities include helping JDRF progress in medical research to cure, treat and prevent type 1- and to assist making treatments developed from the research available to everyone with the condition in the UK. He also wants to use his role to increase public awareness of type 1 diabetes, which affects around 400,000 people in the UK. Mr Cripps said: I have been a supporter of JDRF for many years and have been delighted to see the growth in understanding of type 1 and the improvements in the quality of life for those of us with the condition. I have always been particularly impressed by the dedication of our supporters, who have played and continue to play a vital role. It is because of them that JDRF has been able to contribute so much and it is their continuing commitment that will drive JDRFs work forward in our search for a cure. I would also like to thank Ian Edwards for his many years of service, latterly as Chairman and for handing over a charity in such an excellent position to contribute to real progress in the coming years. Picture: Charity Today He added that he would find the exact cause of the issue with the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco has hit the company's reputation pretty hard. Samsung Electronics mobile chief, Koh Dong-jin has now come forward and vowed to restore consumer trust following the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. According to a report by The Korea Herald, Dong-Jin stated that he would at any cost find the exact cause (of the faulty Galaxy Note 7) to restore trust of consumers so that they can use Samsung products without any safety concerns. He also added that he was just as frustrated as others over the past week due to the incidents. Besides apologising, Dong-jin also expressed his gratitude towards Samsungs employees for their support during these times. The report notes that some employees also put up a series of posts on the companys message board in support of Samsungs president, and the company itself. Thereby boosting the morale of other employees. The Galaxy Note 7 has caused a lot of grief to the companys reputation. After a number of units started catching fire, the company issued a recall and sent out safe phones, which started catching fire as well. Finally, the company decided to pull the plug on the smartphone and asked retailers not to sell or exchange the devices. There have also been reports suggesting that the company may even kill the Note brand name altogether, in order to distance itself from the incident as much as possible. HERE'S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GALAXY NOTE 7 FIASCO Main image source: The Korea Herald Red Rock Resources posted an update over its Shoats Creek Field in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana on Friday, saying it has been advised by the operator that gas production has begun from the Lutcher Moore 20 well. The AIM-traded firm said a 600 metre gas line has now been installed which enables oil and gas to be produced from wells at Shoats Creek, including LM 20. Revised production rates from LM20 will be reported shortly, once they have been determined, the board said. Gas sales to Enerfin Field Services, a subsidiary of Enerfin Resources Company, will start at the end of the second week of October with first cash flow from gas sales expected in November 2016 Red Rock has a 20.00% working interest and 14.4% net revenue interest in LM20. We are pleased to see that the new management at our partners Mayan Energy Ltd remains committed to the development of the Shoats Creek field and is already showing some results from its initiatives there. We look forward to working with them, said chairman Andrew Bell. With gas prices beginning to reflect the recovery in the oil price and trading at over $3 per Mcf, we look forward to strengthening revenues from LM20 and a rapid progression of the other wells in the field, including LM21 for which we have pre-paid $148,250 as our share of funding. A top lawyer for Verizon Communications has said that it is looking into reopening talks with Yahoo over its proposed acquisition of the internet company, after the disclosure of the hack of 500 million email accounts. Verizon had agreed to pay $4.8bn for Yahoo's core business, but are said to be seeking a discount as a result of the 2014 hack, as well as the news that the company complied with a directive from US intelligence services to search its customers' accounts. Craig Silliman, general counsel for Verizon, told reporters in Washington that they have "reasonable basis" to believe that the impact of the hack will affect the value of Yahoo. "I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material, and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact," Silliman said. "If they believe that its not, then theyll need to show us that." The data breach has been described as the largest ever committed at a private company, and is currently being investigated by the authorities after Yahoo claimed it originated from a "state-sponsored" entity. Yahoo have said that they believe their value to be that which was originally agreed with Verizon, in the deal which was expected to close early next year. "We are confident in Yahoos value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon," the company said in a statement. US senator Elizabeth Warren has called on President Barack Obama to take action against the head of the Securities and Exchanges Commission Mary Jo White, in her latest attack on big market influence on Washington. Warren requested that White be removed from her position in a move that is unlikely to go ahead, but represents another attempt from the progressive left of the Democrat party to pressurise future appointees after November's election. The senator was critical of White for her lack of pressure on powerful executives. "Chair White's refusal to move forward on a political spending disclosure rule serves the narrow interests of powerful executives who would prefer to hide their expenditures of company money to advance their own personal ideologies," Warren said. In the letter written to the current president, Warren said the failure of the SEC to hone in on the disclosure of political spending was a failure on the part of its chief. Last December a government funding bill prevented the SEC from finalising a rule regarding disclosure, but the Massachusetts senator and others have pointed out that it does not prevent the discussion or exploration of the issue. The FTSE 100 was trading higher on Friday afternoon, as investors breathed a sigh of relief that over the end of the Great Marmite Stand-Off. Tesco was a top riser on the FTSE 100 after Unilever said issues surrounding the supply of its leading brands including Marmite to the supermarket have been resolved. The two companies were at loggerheads after Unilever said it wanted to raise its prices by about 10% to compensate for the plunge in the value of the pound. In terms of drama this morning has been relatively disappointing; though, to be fair, nothing could compare to the highs and lows of the Brexits epoch-defining moment Marmite-gate, said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex. The swift resolution of Tesco and Unilevers price disagreement has seen the former jump to the top of the FTSE 100s best performers list this Friday, the supermarket surging by more than 4%. Unilever, on the other hand, has shed another 0.7%, investors now focusing on the lacklustre third quarter report that got lost in the fray yesterday. Capita was another top riser, despite being handed down a 1.15m fine by the Central Bank of Ireland for breaching the most fundamental of regulatory requirements. The company offered unauthorised investment services to customers over a nine-year period, creating unnecessary market, investor and customer risks, the Central Bank said. Provident Financial was suffering a slump too, after it confirmed its performance during the third quarter was in-line with managements own expectations. Credit quality at all three of its main units was described as "very sound", with the UK-focused lender confident of its ability to deliver "good" full-year results. At its main unit, Vanquis Bank, customer numbers and receivables at the end of September were ahead by 7% and 13% year-on-year, respectively, versus 6.5% and 11.7% at June. FTSE 100 - Risers Tesco (TSCO) 204.10p 4.61% Mediclinic International (MDC) 923.50p 4.29% Barclays (BARC) 172.30p 3.48% BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,221.00p 3.12% Capita (CPI) 595.50p 3.03% Informa (INF) 665.50p 2.78% Anglo American (AAL) 1,016.50p 2.61% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 327.50p 2.60% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 174.80p 2.58% Pearson (PSON) 835.00p 2.58% FTSE 100 - Fallers Antofagasta (ANTO) 525.50p -2.59% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,634.00p -1.92% Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,322.00p -1.86% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,905.00p -1.78% Polymetal International (POLY) 848.50p -1.68% Persimmon (PSN) 1,703.00p -1.16% Provident Financial (PFG) 3,045.00p -1.10% Unilever (ULVR) 3,560.00p -1.01% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 145.10p -0.75% DCC (DCC) 6,975.00p -0.57% Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Career Education Research for Students with Autism and Developmental Disabilities Published: 2016-10-14 - Updated: 2021-04-30 Author: Education Associates Inc. | Contact: educationassociates.com Peer-Reviewed Publication: N/A Jump to: Main Digest | Publications Synopsis: Project Discovery is a hands-on career education curriculum with systematic instruction and video modeling. Videos that model behavior, like those in Project Discovery, are particularly effective to elicit near errorless learning. Students with disabilities are eight times less likely to gain employment, and participation in vocational training or job-related activities in school can lead to better post-school outcomes. advertisements Main Digest Dr. Amy Spriggs of the University of Kentucky, a leading authority on Special Education and evidence-based teaching methodologies, just concluded a beta test research project (educationassociates.com/new-autism-research/) using Project Discovery, a hands-on career education curriculum with systematic instruction and video modeling. The career education and life skills curriculum was developed by Education Associates, Inc. A team of K-12 educators conducted the research working with students, ages 11-21, with autism and developmental disabilities, across U.S. schools in Kentucky, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The research results validated significant increases, over 55% gains, in all student participants' career knowledge in two career education courses: Child Care (61.7% average student skills increase) Table Service (55.3% average student skills increase) Each beta site also demonstrated growth in job skill performance across all activities in the courses. Dr. Spriggs notes: "This type of systematic instruction with video modeling offers a beacon of hope for students with special needs and the educators and parents who struggle to find educational solutions that will equip students with marketable job skills on their learning level. Videos that model behavior, like those in Project Discovery, are particularly effective to elicit near errorless learning. These types of evidence based interventions are critical for students to achieve successful transitions from school to work and to independent living if possible." A 2015 Economic News Release by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, estimates that only 17.5% of persons with disabilities in the United States are employed today. According to Dr. Spriggs: "Students with disabilities are eight times less likely to gain employment, and participation in vocational training or job-related activities in school can lead to better post-school outcomes. Spriggs also adds, "Video modeling embedded into career education curriculum provides a new transition pathway for K-12 schools and vocational education programs." Tim Hagan, President of Education Associates, praises the breakthrough research to highlight the effective techniques of video modeling for students with autism and other developmental disabilities. Hagan says: "Much has changed over the last 35 years of developing our job and life skills courses, but one thing remains constant - we must educate more students, even those with severe learning disabilities, with job skills. Our company is proud of the work we do to educate all students and to remain on the forefront of reliable and evidence-based research. We want teachers to have complete confidence that they are receiving the most current applications of sound research in our programs. The result is that more students will find good paying jobs and enjoy a brighter future." Reference Source(s): Career Education Research for Students with Autism and Developmental Disabilities | Education Associates Inc. (educationassociates.com). Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith. Content may have been edited for style, clarity or length. Disabled World is an independent disability community established in 2004 to provide disability news and information to people with disabilities, seniors, their family and/or carers. See our homepage for informative news, reviews, sports, stories and how-tos. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook or learn more about Disabled World on our about us page. advertisements Disabled World provides general information only. The materials presented are never meant to substitute for professional medical care by a qualified practitioner, nor should they be construed as such. Financial support is derived from advertisements or referral programs, where indicated. Any 3rd party offering or advertising does not constitute an endorsement. Cite This Page (APA): Education Associates Inc.. (2016, October 14). Career Education Research for Students with Autism and Developmental Disabilities. Disabled World. Retrieved October 31, 2022 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/employment/career-ed.php Permalink: Career Education Research for Students with Autism and Developmental Disabilities OSU doctors speak in patients' native language to improve health care A new Ohio State program connecting doctors who speak the same language as their patients improves patient trust and medical outcomes. Subscriber content preview Like the makers of Tylenol, Ford Pintos and other products that faced crises, Samsung must try to rebuild its brand and its relationship with customers. By YOUKYUNG LEE and BRANDON BAILEY AP Technology Writers SEOUL, South Korea The fiasco of Samsung's fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and its stumbling response to the problem has left consumers from Shanghai to New York reconsidering how they feel about the South Korean tech giant and its products. Samsung Electronics said this week that it would stop making the Note 7 for good, after first recalling some devices and then recalling their replacements , too. Now, like the makers of Tylenol, Ford Pintos and other products that faced crises in the past, it must try to restore its relationship with customers as it repairs damage to its brand. . . . Subscriber content preview WASHINGTON (AP) Eleven restaurants in Washington and one in tiny Washington, Virginia have received Michelin stars in the French company's first-ever dining guide for the nation's capital. Michelin announced the recipients of its coveted stars on Thursday. The French company's famously anonymous inspectors award one, two or three stars after multiple visits to a restaurant, and the ratings are known as career-makers for chefs. . . . India and Russia will be giving a big boost to bilateral defence cooperation with deals worth over $7 billion, including India's acquisition of S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems and a joint venture to produce Kamov 226T helicopters, besides a Russia-built frigate for the Indian Navy. The agreements are expected to be signed on Saturday after a meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Goa, Russian state media reported today. Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russia-India joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported. ''Following the results of the negotiations between our president and (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, an agreement will be signed on the delivery of S-400 Triumf anti aircraft missile systems to India, as well as some other documents,'' Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. Reports said India is interested in acquiring five systems of the most modern air defence system, capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets. The S-400 missile system has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a USD 3 billion contract last year. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. Ushakov said part of the documents will be signed behind closed doors. Russia also plans to sign an agreement on building Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy and setting up a Russian- Indian joint venture to produce Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the agency reported. Following the results of their talks, Putin and Modi will adopt a joint statement to reflect their common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues. Both sides will also approve a roadmap of measures timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Overall, Russia and India are set to sign about 18 documents, he said. The Russian presidential aide said Putin and Modi will hold their talks in Goa ahead of the summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping of leading emerging economies. The Russian and Indian leaders are first expected to talk in a narrow format and then negotiations will be held at the level of delegations. Russia's delegation will also be represented by vice premier Dmitry Rogozin, the heads of the industry and trade, energy and economics ministries, state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom and others. Leaders of the two countries will later take part in a ceremony of laying the foundation for the third and fourth power units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant via a video conference. India and Brazil will be signing a bilateral investment facilitation agreement on the sidelines of the BRICS trade ministers meet at Goa, Marcos Pereira, Brazilian minister of industry, foreign trade and services, announced the decision after a meeting with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Thursday. Pereira said the Investment Facilitation Treaty is the first with an Asian country and he expressed pleasure that it is happening with India. Both ministers recollected that the fourth meeting of the India-Brazil Trade Monitoring Mechanism and the third meeting of Joint Administrative Committee of India-MERCOSUR PTA held in Brazil during 29-30 September, 2016 have been successful. They also expressed the need to strengthen the India-MERCOSUR PTA and expand the items on offer from both sides to at least 2,500 from the current 450 as this would greatly benefit the two way trade and need to have close cooperation between India, Brazil and other MERCOSUR partners so as to ensure that the expansion process does not spill over beyond end of next year. During the discussions, Marcos Pereira dwelt at length on the reforms being taken up by the present Brazilian government in improving the business environment, economic growth and the legislations being embarked upon to bring about labour reforms, social security arrangements besides control of public expenditure. Sitharaman mentioned the improvement in ease of doing business in India and influx of huge amount of FDI into India, since the present government came to power while underlining that the investment from Brazil has been modest and below potential, thereby emphasizing that both countries take measures to enhance two way investment. She mentioned that India felt the absence of Brazil in the Sixth India-LAC conclave organised by India during 8-9 October 2015 in New Delhi and suggested Brazilian minister to host similar conclaves in Brazil so as to establish long term economic partnerships and foster south-south cooperation. She also suggested the formation of a joint working group on trade promotion to ensure smooth conduct and success of such events which the Brazilian side welcomed. The commerce minister thanked Brazil for its initiative and cooperation for holding constructive deliberations on MSME, services, standardisation, IPR and single window mechanism during BRICS summit. Letterkennys McDonalds restaurant is taking part in a fundraising campaign to help build a new Ronald McDonald House on the grounds of the new Children's Hospital in Dublin. Since 2004, Ronald McDonald House has provided accommodation and a caring and supportive environment for families whose children are seriously ill in hospital. Victor Byrne of McDonalds in Letterkenny, explained that the service had helped almost 250 Donegal families to date, adding many more in the future will also be helped when they construct a new state-of-the-art 53 bedroom Ronald McDonald House. Customers can now buy a brick for the new house. It's done by purchasing a 1 brick-styled sticker - you sign your name on and placing it on an image of the house displayed in their store. There are 500 stickers available in each store. The houses cater for the families of children in the hospital long-term. Now that the new national children's hospital is going to be built in 2021 and we have been part of the campaign to build a new house on the grounds. So its good we can play a part in helping families from all over the country, he explained. He added: In total we have had around 3,035 families in the house. There have been 244 different families from Donegal alone staying there. That equates to over 71,000 bed nights. Over 79 families from Sligo and 29 families from Leitrim have also used the service since it began. Victor says they are also looking forward to hosting their fundraising happy day in November. The Ronald McDonald House provides accommodation in two locations currently and planning permission has now been granted for the 53 bedroom house on the new hospital site. For more visit www.mcdonalds.i/rmhc or www.rmhc.ie Work is to begin on a plan for Donegal islands that was described as an achievable action list. Members of the councils Islands Committee have been seeking a plan to be developed in consultation with island representatives. At Tuesdays committee meeing, Mairin Ui Fhearraigh of Comharchumann na nOilean Beag said with islands now asked to submit applications for Leader funds, this is the time to plan. Michael McGarvey, Glenties area manager, said the council, Udaras na Gaeltachta and other offices will work on a focused list of priorities for localities in a process that will include listening to what communities want, what parishes want and what islands want. He said council met with Udaras to determine how the plans can be developed and said it would likely be later this year or early 2017 when the process begins. He said they were not planning a wide-ranging programme, but an achievable action list. Cllr. Marie Therese Gallagher, Glenties cathaoirleach, acknowledged a lapse in communication since the proposal for the work was agreed in June, but said she was hopeful that once engagement began, the plan could progress within a short time frame. 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. The Dodge Journey has reached its final destination in Australia as the American brand prepares to go into hibernation - again. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia's new Managing Director, Steve Zanlunghi, told Australian media this week that the company is "running out" the remaining examples of the seven-seat people mover in local showrooms. When they go, so will the Dodge brand as the Journey was the only model sold locally. However, Zanlunghi admits FCAA is still working on convincing its American parent company to develop future Dodge models, such as the next-generation Challenger coupe and Charger sedan, in right-hand drive to be revive the brand as a muscle car specialist. "We're in the process right now of running out of final vehicle, which is the Journey. And we're looking at different business cases to bring other models to Australia in the future," he said. Existing Dodge owners won't be left in the lurch though, as the company will maintain service arrangements through its current dealer network that will continue to offer Chrysler, Fiat and Jeep models. While Dodge will disappear, Zanlunghi says there is still a viable position in Australia for sister brand Chrysler with its hulking 300 sedan, even though sales of large cars continue to slide, as he indicated there is potential to grow the product line-up in the future. "Chrysler right now we have good business with the 300C and we have some other models in the pipeline that we're looking at," he said. "I'm looking at everything that will move our business forward and that would be well received by our customers." Zanlunghi was less enthusiastic than his predecessor, Pat Dougherty, on the potential to introduce the smaller Ram 1500 series to Australia, saying "it is under review". Toyota Motor Corp. sees the technological revolution shaking up the auto industry as a serious enough threat to its survival that the world's most valuable carmaker will consider partnering with one of its fiercest Japanese rivals. In exploring collaboration between Toyota and Suzuki Motor Corp., chieftains Akio Toyoda and Osamu Suzuki seek to tie together companies with a history of failed alliances. The two would overlook Toyota's short-lived partnership with Tesla Motors Inc. and Suzuki's acrimonious breakup with Volkswagen AG due to the daunting financial demands of keeping up with technological advances in areas such as electrification and autonomous driving. "Toyota is not really good at creating alliances" and in the past was "fixated on the need to be able to cover all of our own bases," Toyoda, 60, said at a press conference Wednesday in Tokyo. "However, as the surrounding environment is changing drastically, we need to have capability to respond to changes in order to survive." Toyoda and Suzuki, 80, said they began talking with one another last week and will slowly consider a potential capital alliance. While the two also haven't decided on specific fields for joint research and development, it's clear which company would stand to gain most in this regard. Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota has budgeted 1.07 trillion yen ($10.3 billion) this fiscal year, more than seven times Suzuki's planned R&D spending. What Suzuki brings to the table is a leading position in India. Its Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. unit has long dominated the market with inexpensive cars like the Alto and Swift. Though Toyota has introduced budget models such as the Etios compact, its market share remains well behind the 47 percent reached by Maruti Suzuki last fiscal year. "There are great changes centering in the automotive industry and in that case we have to share things, otherwise we won't be able to survive," Suzuki said. "That's the trigger for making the proposal." Toyota completed a buyout earlier this year of Daihatsu Motor Co., which is now taking on more responsibility for developing compact vehicles for its parent in emerging markets. Daihatsu's top competitor in Japan's minicar segment is Hamamatsu-based Suzuki. Joining with Suzuki would add to a multitude of tie-ups Toyota's forged with Japanese car and truck makers. Toyota said last year it would broaden technology-sharing with Mazda Motor Corp. It's the majority owner of Hino Motors Ltd., the largest shareholder in Subaru maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and has a stake in Isuzu Motors Ltd. The automaker also owns stakes in a web of suppliers making everything from engines to car seats. Carmakers are forging partnerships as an industry under pressure to curtail pollution struggles with major self-inflicted scandals. Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s improper testing for fuel economy dating back decades led the automaker to seek a rescue by Nissan Motor Co., while Volkswagen has earmarked 18 billion euros ($19.9 billion) to cover the fallout of rigging its diesel engines with software to cheat emissions tests. Nissan's plans to buy a stake in Mitsubishi Motor - already its partner for Japanese minicars - are centered on gaining a better foothold in Southeast Asia, where Toyota has a commanding presence. Just before Volkswagen's emissions scandal broke, the German automaker parted ways with Suzuki following a years-long alliance that failed to yield a single joint project. Toyota, meanwhile, is about two years removed from winding down sales of the RAV4 EV, a plug-in sport utility vehicle developed with Tesla. "The competition in R&D is very, very fierce," said Koji Endo, a Tokyo-based auto analyst at SBI Securities Co. With regards to electrification, autonomous driving and other fields, Suzuki lags behind its peers, he said. "Without a partnerships with a giant carmaker, it will be very challenging for them to stay in the race." - Bloomberg Home Four wheelers Maruti Suzuki Baleno & Ignis Nominated For 2017 World Car Of The Year oi-Kennedy Paul Maruti Suzuki Baleno, the premium hatchback manufactured in India and the upcoming compact crossover Ignis have been nominated for the 2017 World Car Of The Year (WCOTY). {photo-feature} Home Off beat Indias S-400 Triumf Deal With Russia Why Enemies Should Fear This Missile System? oi-Sreejith India is going to sign a Rs 39,000 crore deal with Russia for five new-generation S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems. Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive today in Goa to attend the BRICS Summit. {photo-feature} It looks like the link is broken or the page has been removed or renamed. Check that you typed the address correctly, go back to your previous page, or try searching this website to find something specific. Transition Year students in St.Vincent's school were treated to a day of culinary delights when television chef, blogger, and rising celebrity Adrian Martin visited the school to give cookery demonstrations and tips on healthy eating. Known as 'Chef Adrian' the talented youth has featured on a number of shows including The Seven O'Clock show where he cooks with a Celebrity and his own show Chef Adrian Eats Ireland which can be found on RTE Player. His enthusiasm for cooking was evident throughout the day and the girls thoroughly enjoyed watching him prepare such delicious meals as confit of duck, chicken curry and pesto pizza. Indeed some lucky students were picked to help Adrian in the process. Chef Adrian's mission is to inspire people to cook real food and he regularly hosts demonstrations for charities, sporting clubs and schools among others. Home Economics teacher Jacinta Monaghan was delighted with the response from students to the talented chef. 'Health and nutrition is so important to well-being and encouraging students to cook from scratch is a practical way to improve both aspects of their lives. Chef Adrian's good humour and down to earth approach was a huge hit with the TY students'. Conditions such as Childhood Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are growing at an alarming rate in Ireland and education is seen as a key component in the battle against these and other weight related illnesses. The recent St.Vincent's 5km run was a huge success in the school, with lunchtime training sessions encouraging students to get fitter. A Healthy Living Week ran in conjunction with the run, promoting awareness around subjects such as quantities of sugar in processed foods and how to make healthier choices in lunch boxes and snacks. Van Oord and Porto Central, a Brazilian joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam and TPK Logistica, signed an agreement for the development and construction of the greenfield multipurpose port of Porto Central in Espirito Santo, Brazil. The mutual objective is to construct a high quality port, within budget and on schedule. Such an agreement is unique for a complete greenfield port project. The port, to be developed into a deep-water port with up to 25 meter draft in three phases, will be capable of receiving the largest bulk carriers in the world and Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). Porto Central and Van Oord have established an integrated team, which works on a fast-track process from conceptual design to construction and operation of the port. Preliminary design of the port that will be fully new developed. Early risk identification The agreed development approach enables an early identification of risks and opportunities and leads to optimized designs and work methods, gives flexibility to make adjustments according to the ports clients needs and ensures an early start of port operations. During the first phase of the development, the focus will be on the clients of Porto Central and their needs and desires. Also, the conditions and requirements of the necessary permits and approvals will be fully incorporated in the designs and plans. Optimizing construction methods and schedules The second phase deals with optimizing construction methods and schedules to enable the port operators to start with their operations as soon as possible. The third phase of the cooperation is the actual construction of the port. Joint venture partner, the Port of Rotterdam Authority, already has extensive experience with different forms of contracting and cooperation with Van Oord. Examples are the development and construction of the latest 2,000 hectare port extension and land reclamation project, called Maasvlakte 2, in the port of Rotterdam and several projects in the port of Sohar in Oman, where the Port of Rotterdam Authority also is a shareholder in the port complex. Van Oord has undertaken many projects throughout the world and has been active in Brazil for more than 30 years. Recent examples are dredging works in the ports of Santos and Rio de Janeiro and the shallow-water installation of a gas pipeline linking the Santos Basin to an onshore installation in Cabiunas. This news item was originally published on the website of Porto Central. Read also on this website Van Oord selected for pre-construction Anaklia deep sea port, Georgia, 6 October 2016 Van Oord contracted for extension container terminal Kaohsiung port, Taiwan, 13 August 2015 Singapore and Rotterdam ports discuss future port strategies at round-table meeting, 15 March 2016 Port of Rotterdam starts feasibility study to deepen Kuala Tanjung port, Indonesia, 2 September 2015 Country: Brasil More information Port of Rotterdam Authority Rotterdam, the Netherlands +31 10 252 10 10 www.portofrotterdam.com/en Van Oord Rotterdam, the Netherlands +31 88 826 00 00 www.vanoord.com Dyess Airmen assigned to the 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron, under the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., were recognized for naming the Air Forces new long-range strike bomber, the B-21 Raider. The aircraft has been named in honor of the Doolittle Raiders of World War II. The 337th TES sent in their submission March 10, at the beginning of the contest. The name was announced by Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James during the Air Force Associations Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., Sept. 19. Retired Lt. Col. Richard Cole, the last remaining Doolittle Raider, was in attendance for the naming ceremony. We wanted ensure the aircraft had a strong name Airmen could take pride in especially those who will have the opportunity to fly and maintain the B-21, said Lt. Col. Jaime Hernandez, 337th TES commander. We also wanted to take an element of our history into account, and the story of the Doolittle Raiders embodies just that. The justification the 337th TES provided for the moniker states: On April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led the nations first retaliatory strikes against Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The crews of 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers, known as the Doolittle Raiders, took flight from the deck of the USS Hornet. The last time a foreign nation had attempted a direct attack on mainland Japan was more than 700 years prior when Kublai Khan, a Mongolian emperor, sent a naval armada from China to conquer the Japanese islands. Khan ultimately failed in the attempt. Over time, Japan perceived their island nation as an impenetrable fortress. Doolittle and members of the 34th and 37th Bomb Squadrons proved otherwise. For his heroic efforts in leading the Raiders through the one-way combat mission and safely returning most of the crew, Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor. Long-range strike bombers are meant to infiltrate anti-access, area denial regions and hold any impenetrable fortress at risk. Calling the B-21, Raider, provides a direct link to our bomber heritage, represents the mission of the new aircraft and will strike fear in the hearts of Americas enemies. The versatile capabilities of the B-25 helped make the perilous mission successful. According to Boeing, the B-25 was once the most heavily armed aircraft in the world, which was used for high and low-level bombing, strafing, photoreconnaissance, submarine patrol and as a fighter. The Doolittle Raiders accomplished something they never thought a bomber could do at that time, Hernandez said. They were able to launch B-25s from an aircraft carrier, and fly a crazy distance to Japan as a show of force. The 337th Airmen discussed the possibility of names during a BOGSAT, which stands for a bunch of guys sitting around. They used a dry-erase board to list these names. Our first pick was Slayer, which is the call sign our squadron flies with, Hernandez said. Other names we listed were Fury, Archangel and Demon. We decided on Raider through a vote, and worked together to provide the justification behind the name. Cole, who lives in Comfort, Texas, which is about two hours from Dyess, took the time to write the 337th TES thanking them for such an honor. Thanks for thinking of useven 75 years later, the Doolittle Raider wrote in the letter. According to James, the role of the Raider will allow the Air Force to operate in a high-threat environment making it full-spectrum capable. The Raider will be a game changer for the Air Force in terms of an aircraft that can infiltrate any defenses the enemy will try to use, Hernandez said. It will be able to put a bomb on target wherever we need it whether to defend our nation or support our allies. You can find more information on the B-21 Raider here. Seven years ago, siblings Abigail and Jamie Forsyth founded KeepCup. They envisioned it as a business and a line of eco-friendly coffee cups in service of a campaign for behavioural change: from discard to reuse. Today, more than five million consumers worldwide have joined their Reuse Revolution. Abigail, the companys managing director, spoke to Dynamic Business about the origin of the brand, its success and future plans. In 1998, Abigail left the legal world, where shed worked as a solicitor for a boutique law firm, to launch Melbourne-based cafe chain Bluebag with her younger brother Jamie. As time went on, they witnessed first-hand the rise and rise of the disposable coffee cups. Alarmed by the environmental and financial toll of this growing culture of convenience, the siblings embarked on a fruitless quest for a more sustainable way to serve takeaway coffee. Creating a solution In their view, what the reusable cups on the market lacked was thoughtful design, meaning users were inconvenienced and the quality of the coffee as well as the speed at which baristas could operate was severely compromised. Consequently, Abigail and Jamie resolved to design and manufacture their own reusable cup. The siblings launched KeepCup in June 2009, kick-starting what Abigail dubs their Reuse Revolution. Over one million disposable cups are discarded every minute; theyre not recyclable, she said. To address this problem, weve appealed to customers with functional, easy-to-clean and customisable products that help in the formation of a positive reuse habit that helps reduce the number of disposable cups going to landfill. Available for purchase from our website, great cafes and retailers, KeepCups are BPA and BPS free, non-toxic, dishwasher safe and lightweight. Theyre also very stylish and our hero product is the worlds first barista standard reusable cups. In other words, it fits under the group heads of the coffee machine, replicates disposable cup volumes, and has a hard lid that presses on firmly like a disposable cup. This addresses the problem of how to make a great coffee in a reusable cup without compromising service and quality. Normalising reuse While KeepCup began in Melbourne, it is now a global operation with satellite offices and warehouses in London and Los Angeles. With the support of 45 distribution partners worldwide and a team of nearly 50 employees spread across three continents, Abigail has launched KeepCup into 65 countries. Today, more than 5 million people have adopted the companys reusable cups. The continued growth of KeepCups eco-conscious user base is a great outcome for the environment, Abigail explained. In 2015, we launched Reuse HQ to incentivise reuse and help customers measure their ecological footprint, she said. Reuse HQ collates user-submitted data on reuse and aggregates the results across organisations and countries to provide a snapshot of collective action. Assuming 80% of our users drink 8 takeaway coffees each week, then over a year, they will have diverted 3.5 billion disposable cups or 4000 tons of waste from landfill. Further, they will have saved enough energy to power 5000 homes for a year and helped keep 50,000 trees standing in a forest somewhere. Revolutionising consumer behaviour is an ongoing challenge, which is why Im thrilled whenever I see someone using a KeepCup out in the wild thats when I know were succeeding. Our customers are our most important marketing tool; they help normalise reuse. As we say at KeepCup, the best reusable is the one you use. Seizing opportunities Abigail is grateful for the endorsement of baristas and premium roasters such as Seven Seeds, Five Senses, Merlo, Campos and Tobys Estate: by supporting the KeepCup, and the people who choose to use our reusable cups, the coffee industry is, in effect, creating permission to reuse. Aside from industry support, Abigail said three factors have fuelled KeepCups success. Firstly, a core focus on consumer and user advocacy. Secondly, great design that addresses a pressing environmental issue in fact, KeepCup has been nominated for several environmental and design awards including the City of Londons Sustainable City Awards (2010) and the Victorian Premiers Design Awards (2010). Thirdly, Abigail attributes KeepCups success to a track record of identifying and seizing opportunities. Regarding this final factor, she recounted a defining moment in the KeepCup story: When Jamie and I were first shopping around for manufacturers, one guy said: Youre insane, this is a plastic cup. How many plastic cups are there in the world? If you cant sell this off the prototype, dont even bother. While this could have been hurtful, it was sound advice and it spurred me to start selling the concept and, in doing so, refine the pitch, put myself out there and share our story. It was a massive confidence boost when NAB bought 5000 before we even had a product. We now have a number of other high-profile clients in Australia including ANZ, Westpac and QANTAS. Awakening the Force The KeepCup team recently landed a product licensing deal with Disney, which enabled them to launch a range of reusable Star Wars themed cups last month. By tapping into the popularity of the franchise and appealing to the collector mentality of ardent fans Abigail is hoping to encourage more people to join her Reuse Revolution. One of the things I realised early on is that our most committed users generally own more than one KeepCup, she said. They have one at home, one in the car, one at work, etc. Our approach to sustainability has always been to celebrate and encourage reuse by designing products customers are happy to carry. Star Wars was a passion project for the whole team. We didnt just want to simply produce run-of-the-mill licensed products, we wanted to offer liked-minded fans beautiful yet functional collectables that capture the essence of the iconic characters including Darth Vader, R2D2, BB8, Rey, Chewbacca and the Stormtrooper. The best reusable is the one you use Star Wars is a riff on this mantra. Our license only covers Australia and New Zealand but were hoping to extend it to other countries where KeepCups are sold. Learning to lead Abigail said the key challenges in the business have been: identifying the job that needs to be done, finding the right people to get it done, and when it comes to realising projects like the Star Wars range fostering a sense of shared ownership among staff while ensuring each person is accountable for their part in achieving a common goal. On a more personal level, Abigail admits becoming a leader involved a learning curve. I started the business to solve a problem and suddenly found myself having to lead dozens of staff, she said. On top of that, Id given birth to the second of my two children six months into the business it was a challenging time. At one point, I was looking for someone outside the business to run it, I questioned whether I had the necessary skills. I soon realised there was no one more passionate about the business than me or who thought about it as deeply as I did and still do. At that point, I decided to own the leadership role and commit to taking people on a journey with me. There are thousands of people who will take your money to tell you how to lead, but its the doing of it that presents the real challenge plus the real reward. Going it alone After 17 years in business together, Abigail and Jamie went their separate ways, last year. While Abigail stayed on as managing director, Jamie KeepCups COO has stepped away from KeepCup to pursue a new venture. Im happy that our relationship is now all about our families and fun not business, Abigail said. When youre in business with a sibling, you have someone who you completely trust; who has your back. Overlaid with that is the fact that because youve grown up together, you can also get stuck in some patterns that perhaps arent productive. Were carving our own paths now and Im excited for us both. Looking ahead, Abigail wants to further develop the companys growth and engagement strategies and increase its advocacy of reuse to government. France has banned disposable cups from 2020 and Taiwan has legislated compulsory discounts for reuse, she said. We encourage the federal and state governments to follow suits and pursue sustainable measures that lead to a reduction of waste throughout the world. It almost goes with saying that as-a-service IT models of various kinds are now widely available and becoming increasingly accepted, leading to numerous acronyms being coined, from SaaS and IaaS to PaaS and XaaS. To provide the preferred software to a number of departments such as marketing, finance, logistics, and others, many organisations now choose to buy IT services from specialist service providers. Public and private cloud adoptions are definitely on the rise. They have become more popular and affordable even for small and medium businesses, simply because using infrastructure and software platforms that are shared across millions of users is considerably cheaper than building costly special-purpose systems in-house. Sixty-four percent of SMBs are already using cloud-based software, according to a global study from BCSG Research[1]. This figure highlights that awareness of cloud services is growing fast, not only amongst large enterprises, but also small and medium size businesses as cloud services mature. According to Telsyte, more than half of all organisations in Australia with greater than 20 employees are now using public cloud IaaS for at least some part of their IT infrastructure. The analyst firm forecasts the total market value for public cloud infrastructure services in Australia to reach $775 million by 2019[2]. The common drivers for cloud adoption are flexibility, agility, scalability and sometimes (but not always) cost. Organisations are able to build and deploy new environments and scale their existing using cloud technologies in timeframes that would have been impossible previously. Telsyte indicates that there are about 100 smaller cloud providers targeting the SMB space, which emphasises the demand for cloud solutions in this dynamic market. Achieving success with the cloud requires more than defining the platform, hiring a vendor and completing the transition. Here are four recommendations for those organisations, from large enterprises to SMBs, looking to migrate to the cloud. They highlight how to avoid some of the pitfalls that early adopters have experienced. To accomplish real and lasting benefits, organisations should ensure that the following components are integrated into their cloud strategy: 1. Avoid a select-all approach, identify your needs Cloud and as-a-Service models can provide a range of benefits. Agreeing which drivers are of most relevance and quantifying them via a business case is of critical importance. A select-all approach will not ensure that the service is the right fit for a business. 2. Define your needs by outcomes The most important attribute of the services a company is buying is the outcomes that they deliver, not the mechanisms the vendor uses to achieve them. Organisations should look to define the services in terms of outcomes rather than processes so that the service providers can apply their own capabilities and innovation to deliver the services as efficiently and effectively as possible. Small and medium business, in particular, should search for cloud service providers that understand and can support their immediate objectives and can expand services progressively. 3. Manage the vendors service performance Measuring delivery against the expected outcomes defined in the contract is crucial to success, especially when it comes to SMBs. They usually work within tight financial parameters and so need to manage and measure how the cloud solution and IT services in general, are performing. Doing so will maximise the value that an organisation gains from the relationship. However, vendor service management is not an automatic capability particularly to those with a primarily technical background. It is a specialised expertise that must be developed purposefully typically by adding external skills to existing know-how. Sharing a financial interest in achieving business drivers with the provider will ensure that the companys interest and those of its provider are aligned. A service provider who has an incentive to help an organisation succeed will look for new innovations that may not have spotted by others. 4. Review business performance against business drivers Keeping track of the business drivers identified following the initial cloud migration will allow organisations to evaluate objectively and quantitatively, and determine whether the objectives of the migration have been achieved. If a business is not achieving what it hoped, they must work out why and adjust the path. Ultimately, understanding the business drivers for IT, defining IT services in terms of outcomes, managing IT service performance and monitoring performance against business drivers are all valuable IT governance disciplines irrespective of the cloud. Yet they are of particular value to achieving success in cloud migration. Organisations who take this approach are making major gains from the transition to as-a-service models for the delivery of IT services. About the author Andrew Ogbourne is National Principal Consultant with SMS Management and Technology, which provides advice for businesses looking to migrate to the cloud. References [1] The Small business revolution: trends in SMB cloud adoption https://www.bcsg.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/The-small-business-revolution-trends-in-SMB-cloud-adoption.pdf [2] Telsyte, AUSTRALIAN CLOUD SPENDING TO APPROACH $800M BY 2019 AS MORE MOVE CRITICAL SERVER, STORAGE AND NETWORK WORKLOADS OFF-PREMISES, http://www.telsyte.com.au/announcements/2015/7/21/australian-enterprise-cloud-spending-to-approach-800m-by-2019-as-organisations-move-more-business-critical-server-storage-and-network-workloads-off-premises By Virginia Student Environmental Coalition [Update: 17 students have been arrested. For the latest update via Twitter, click here.] Thiry-five students from the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition are refusing to leave the Virginia Department of Environmental Qualitys (DEQ) lobby until the director, David Paylor, complies with their demands regarding Dominion Resources dumping of coal ash wastewater into the James River and Quantico Creek. This action is taking place in light of the recent news that Dominion illegally dumped 33.7 million gallons of untreated wastewater into Quantico Creek last summer. https://twitter.com/DJaye/status/706866317232631809 The demands are as follows: 1. The DEQ repeals the permits issued to Dominion to begin dumping coal ash wastewater from their Bremo and Possum Point power plants. 2. The current permits are re-issued only after an investigation into the 2015 dumping of untreated wastewater into Quantico Creek. 3. The permits for coal ash wastewater release are rewritten to comply with the best available technology standards, in accordance with the Clean Water Act and that a mechanism for independent third party monitoring is implemented. Students from the University of Virginia, University of Mary Washington, College of William & Mary, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University entered the headquarters at 629 E Main St, Richmond, Virginia, at 10 a.m. and presented their intentions and demands, requesting to speak with Paylor immediately. A rally is also taking place outside of the building. https://twitter.com/anadmeadac/status/706859767919190018 David Paylor cant keep his story straight regarding the wastewater dumping that took place last summer, Sarah Kinzer, a sophomore at the University of Mary Washington, said. If this is because he is covering for Dominions illegal activities, then how can we trust him to make future decisions regarding our environmental safety? If this is not the case, then why is he failing to address the issue now? Kendall King, the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition chair, agrees. If David Paylor cannot adequately meet the health and safety needs of Virginia residents, then he is not fulfilling his role as DEQ Director and we are prepared to demand his resignation, she said. These incidents of environmental injustice are not isolated, Jong Chin, a senior at James Madison University, said. In Flint, Michigan, weve recently seen what devastating effects that water containing concentrations of heavy metals can have on communities. This national pattern of water safety violations is indicative of widespread systemic issues. The coal ash wastewater dumping is only one example of Dominions tendency to value profit over the safety of Virginians, Aaron Tabb, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, said. This corporation continually endangers our health and safety by burning fossil fuels and building fracked gas pipelines. This is why, as students, we fight for fossil fuel divestment while simultaneously working to prevent Dominion from further endangering our safety. We need to cut all ties with fossil fuel companies. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE Bill McKibben Arrested + 56 Others in Ongoing Campaign Against Proposed Gas Storage at Seneca Lake Anderson Cooper Takes In-Depth Look at The King of Coal Clinton and Sanders Clash Over Fracking at Flint Debate People Power: Virginians Say No to Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling What is fracking? Fracking is a process of blasting water, chemicals and frac sand deep into the earth to break up sedimentary rock and access natural gas and crude oil deposits. The fracking industry, which has sought to promote the practice as safe and controlled, has preferred the term hydraulic fracturing. Fracking emerged as an unconventional, relatively new and extremely popular technique only about 20 years ago in the U.S., after advances in technology gave it an unprecedented ability to identify and extract massive amounts of resources efficiently. Fracking is one of the most important environmental issues today, and its a prime example of how a new technology that offers immediate economic and political benefits can outpace (often less obvious) environmental and health concerns. Why is fracking so controversial? Modern fracking emerged so quickly, faster than its impacts were understood. Just as importantly, once scientists, health experts and the public started to object with evidence of harm it was causing, business and government succeeded in perpetuating a message of uncertainty, that more research was necessary, further enabling the full speed ahead fracking juggernaut. How does fracking impact the environment? Frackings supporters have pushed an environmental angle, insisting that natural gas can be a bridge fuel, a cheaper, cleaner option than coal before we have a large-scale transition to renewable energy. This claim has some merit, as natural gas does emit much less carbon dioxide than coal or oil. However, it is still a fossil fuel, adding harmful emissions while the climate crisis worsens. Moreover, fracking wells leak methane, a greenhouse gas more than 25 times more potent than CO2. Water In order to break up rock formations one to two miles deep, a fracking operation requires millions of gallons amount of water. After its used, the resulting wastewater, which contains chemicals is pumped back into injection wells, sent to treatment plants, or can be dangerously dumped or spilled. In 2016 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report skewed friendly to industry in its language: Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States. The EPA acknowledged that drinking water contamination was possible, but ultimately came to this conclusion: Data gaps and uncertainties limited EPAs ability to fully assess the potential impacts on drinking water resources locally and nationally. Earthquakes According to the U.S. Geologic Survey, disposal of wastewater has caused an increase in earthquakes in the central U.S. Seismologists have reported that frackings initial blasting process can trigger earthquakes. Air Pollution In addition to methane, fracking releases many toxic contaminants into the air. EPA has acknowledged the public health threat, but a lack of urgent political pressure has sidelined the agency into advising on ways to control and reduce, rather than eliminate, the danger. Toxic Chemicals Fracking fluids contain unknown chemicals and known carcinogens such as benzene. Fracking companies havent been required to disclose their proprietary formulas, however. This is yet another example of how uncertainty serves as an enabling force. The EPA has identified more than 1,000 different chemicals used in fracking fluid. Wildlife Fracking can destroy wildlife habitats, pollute rivers and fisheries, poison birds, and use up water supplies that animals need to survive. How does fracking affect the economy? The fracking boom made the U.S. the worlds largest producer of oil and gas, reducing its energy imports from 26% to less than 4%. It has lowered oil and gas prices and created thousands of industry jobs. While fracking companies profited greatly at first, as prices dropped their margins collapsed. Many are now going bankrupt. How is fracking regulated? Congress has enabled the oil and gas industry to be exempt from such regulations as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Fracking surged during the Obama administration, which moved to protect water from fracking on federal lands in 2015. Subsequently, the Trump administration sought to roll back protections and expand fracking on federal lands. Key Examples of Fracking in the United States Pennsylvania Pennsylvanias Marcellus Shale is the source for about 40% of shale gas production in the U.S. New York While the Marcellus Shale also runs through New York, the state has banned fracking. Texas Texas produces more crude oil than any other state. North Dakota The Bakken Shale in North Dakota has been one of the main sites for the fracking boom and subsequent bust, leaving behind extensive environmental damage. A recent report found that all 50 states could provide 100% (or even greater) in-state renewable energy. Other Countries Outside the U.S., only Canada, China and Argentina have commercial fracking operations. A UN report in 2018 said that other countries were highly unlikely to produce at such a large scale as the U.S., due to political and cultural factors, and existing infrastructure. The Future of Fracking While renewables were considered a solution for peak oil only a decade ago, fracking changed the terms of the debate, with a new focus from environmentalists to keep it in the ground starting in 2015. The Biden administration now stands at a pivotal moment in the climate crisis. Bidens stance on fracking is not yet entirely clear, but he has rejoined the Paris agreement and appears to take climate seriously. At the same time, he is sympathetic to workers in fossil fuel industries, was vice president during the fracking boom years under Obama, and may be more inclined to seek a gradual transition than one fast enough to help solve the crisis. The embarrassment continues for Duke Energy who is dealing with the breach of a 1.2-billion-gallon cooling pond dam at its H.F. Lee plant due to flooding from Hurricane Matthew. It all began Wednesday morning when Duke Energy issued a statement claiming that the ash basin and cooling pond dams across the state continue to operate safely, but then helicopter footage from Raleighs local television station WRAL showed that one of the dams had been breached. In the statement, Duke Energy also attacked Waterkeeper Alliance for raising what Duke considered inaccurate and inappropriate concerns about the safety of coal ash ponds in the wake of Matthew. On Thursday, Duke spokeswoman Erin Culbert confirmed to the Charlotte Business Journal that the company found out about the breach after WRAL contacted Duke about a half-hour after their statement came out and shared its video. Culbert said a Duke inspection crew had flown over the area earlier in the morning and, at the time, the dam was intact and showed no signs of stress. After they saw the video, the company put out an update acknowledging the damage at the dam. The breach at the main cooling pond is visible on the right of the photo and is releasing to the Neuse River, which is outside of the frame on the left. Duke Energy We are really grateful for their good timing which allowed us to respond and put our emergency protocols into effect, Culbert said. Donna Lisenby of Waterkeeper Alliance said this incident proves Duke Energy was asleep at the switch when it was supposed to be monitoring the safety of dams at the H.F. Lee facility during record setting floods. They werent aware of a 50-foot wide breach in the cooling pond dam until notified by a TV crew. How is it possible for a company with helicopters actively flying over dams and hundreds of engineers to miss a 50-foot-wide breach? Apparently, one small WRAL news crew is more competent and better at monitoring the safety and integrity of Duke Energy dams than all the hundreds of Duke Energy employees and contractors combined, Lisenby exclaimed. Duke Energy said the 545-acre man-made reservoir that was breached does not contain coal ash and supplies cooling water to power plants at the site. It said the active ash basins are not affected by this incident and continue to operate safely. We are giving this our fullest attention, said Regis Repko, senior vice president of Fossil-Hydro Operations. We are assessing what resources we need and will position repair materials so we can respond quickly once conditions are safe to do so. Duke Energy Cooling Pond Dam Collapses in Wake of Hurricane Matthew Flooding https://t.co/nmRCcB8Ftb @Coal_Ash @maryannehitt EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) October 14, 2016 Waterkeeper Alliance said they remain very concerned about the integrity of Duke Energys ash pond dams as the river recedes over the next week. This failure likely happened because the river has begun to recede, which is when structural problems often develop, Pete Harrison, staff attorney at Waterkeeper Alliance, and Matthew Starr, Upper Neuse Riverkeeper, said Wednesday. Like so many of Duke Energys coal ash ponds across the state, the cooling pond at Lee has a long history of structural problemsthese are disasters waiting to happen. In addition to concerns at Duke Energys coal ash ponds, environmentalists are keeping an eye on floodwaters that have washed over factory farms in eastern North Carolina following the storm. Millions of chickens are feared dead after at least a half-dozen poultry houses were found completely flooded and tens of thousands of carcasses were seen floating the water in Cumberland and Robinson counties. By John Hocevar In 1992, Hurricane Andrew ripped through southeast Florida, doing more than $26 billion in damage and killing at least 65 people. At the time, I was working on a masters degree in marine biology in southeast Florida; several of my close friends lost their homes during the storm. Our marine lab was at the end of a barrier island and there were so many overturned Australian pines along the road that it looked like someone had dumped a giant bag of Lincoln Logs. I remember helping friends move their belongings off houseboats and out of trailers to higher and safer ground, and the mint green color of the sky just before our transformer blew up. Houses surrounded by water in St. Augustine, Florida Oct. 8 in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Marc Serota / Greenpeace Strangest of all, I remember being asked to shoot holes in the deck of a yacht to try to put it on the bottom and prevent it from destroying everything else by being thrown around by wind and storm surge. Two decades later, another devastating stormHurricane Matthewhas wreaked havoc in the southeastern U.S. and claimed more than 1,000 lives in Haiti. The Link Between Climate Change and Hurricane Season For a long time, the science has been clear that our reliance on fossil fuels has not only been heating our planet, but also fueling bigger and more devastating storms. Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy helped make this real for millions of people, especially those who lost homes or loved ones in New York, New Jersey, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. It has also been clear for a long time that Florida, with its expansive coastline covered with high rise hotels and condominiums often just a few feet above sea level, is among one of the most vulnerable places in the world to extreme weather heightened by climate change. Property damaged along the coast in St. Augustine, Florida Oct. 8 in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Marc Serota / Greenpeace I studied coral reef conservation in grad school. At the time, coral bleaching was a new phenomenon, and no one had yet imagined that coral reefs might be driven to extinction in the coming decades. Much of Floridas reef tract has been given State Park or National Marine Sanctuary status, but in recent years it has been dying so quickly you can almost watch it happen. Climate-driven bleaching is one of the main culprits, with implications for a tourism industry that brings 100 million people and $50 billion to Florida each year. Climate Change and the Politics of Denial By outright denying the science of climate change and the threat it poses to his state, Florida Gov. Scott has utterly failed the people of Florida. Now that the waters receded and the power is back on, we need to think carefully about whether climate deniers like Gov. Scott are suitable candidates to take responsibility for our future. Instead of working to reduce carbon emissions and build strategies to cope with climate impacts like sea level rise, erosion, flooding, saltwater intrusion, insect-borne disease outbreaks and extreme heat, he has stuck his head in Floridas sand. Famously, Scott even banned state employees from using the phrase climate change. This would be irresponsible anywhere, but in a state like Florida on the frontlines of the climate battle, it borders on criminal negligence. Boats are damaged and sunk in St. Augustine, Florida, Oct. 8 in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Marc Serota / Greenpeace Scott has been busy dealing with the impacts of Hurricane Matthew on Floridas people, environment and businesses, which left more than 1,000 dead in Haiti and is the worst to hit Florida in decades. Now that the waters receded and the power is back on, we need to think carefully about whether climate deniers like Scottand his partys presidential nominee Donald Trumpare suitable candidates to take responsibility for our future. "Yes Donald Trump Is a Threat to the Planet" | My latest commentary at @EcoWatch: https://t.co/Uhzxwsvlo1#MadhouseEffect Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) October 3, 2016 For a growing number of people who suffer at the hands climate-denialist politics, the answer is clear. John Hocevar is a trained marine biologist and an accomplished campaigner, explorer and marine scientist, John has helped win several major victories for marine conservation since becoming the director of Greenpeaces oceans campaign in 2004. The London Zoo was placed on lockdown Thursday after a 400-pound adult western lowland silverback gorilla escaped from his enclosure around 5:15 p.m. local time. Visitors at the Gorilla Kingdom exhibit were given quite a scare when the 18-year-old silverback, Kumbuka, began smashing his way out of the enclosurea few seconds of which was caught on video. Some visitors were ushered into indoor areas where they could be kept safe and others were evacuated while Gorilla Kingdom staff and police searched for Kumbuka. Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at the zoo, told The Guardian Kumbukas escape was a minor incident and that he got into a secure keeper area that was not open to the public. He was tranquilized around 7 p.m. and returned to the Gorilla Kingdom where he was given extra treats and was interacting with the rest of his family. At no time were any of our visitors in any danger, Fitzpatrick said. The gorilla did not get out of the safe space, there were only about 100 visitors, it was the end of the day and I would like to thank all of those visitors for co-operating and moving into buildings. The zoo is launching a full investigation into how Kumbuka got out of his enclosure, but sources say that the cage door to the gorillas enclosure was left open. Every enclosure has a gated area which is off-limits to the public to stop animals running straight past when the door is opened, the source told The Telegraph. That door shouldnt have been left open. The Born Free Foundation said Friday it is deeply concerned about Kumbukas escape and is calling for an urgent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding it. Born Free deeply concerned by reports of gorilla escape at London Zoo https://t.co/6k0aJS5ECr pic.twitter.com/SUEbhVhl7n Born Free Foundation (@BornFreeFDN) October 14, 2016 While we are relieved that this incident apparently ended without injury to visitors or to Kumbuka, it is yet another startling reminder of the risks associated with maintaining dangerous wild animals in captivity, Chris Draper, associate director for Animal Welfare and Care at the Born Free Foundation, said. This incident could have ended very differently. When the escape occurred, the Born Free Foundation said it was already investigating unconfirmed reports from a BBC journalist of damage to the perimeter glass at the gorilla enclosure and of a previous near-escape involving the gorillas. Born Free, which wants to see zoos phased out, is also calling on the government advisory committee on zoo issues to investigate the safety and welfare of great apes in UK zoos. How many more times does this sort of incident have to happen? How many times must people be put at serious risk before what Born Free has been saying for years is acknowledged? Zoos simply cannot guarantee the safety of their visitors and their animals, said Will Travers, president of the Born Free Foundation. (Photo: Kimiaki Kawai)Dr. Emily Welty, from the World Council of Churches at the United Nations in New York on Oct. 12, 2016. Kimiaki Kawai The potential for nuclear war remains as present today as it was during the Cold War, with United States and Russian relations on a shaky footing, tensions between India and Pakistan and the Korean Peninsula tense. The World Council of Churches WCC has joined other faith groups in New York to issue a call that governments should capitalize on years of growing concern and negotiate a ban on nuclear weapons next year. The inter-religious call was made at the United Nations on Oct. 12 where the message pointed out that despite the decades-old U.N. charter the world is not a safer place due to arms proliferation. Article 26 of the U.N. Charter, singed in 1945, envisages the "establishment and maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources." In the decades since the adoption of the charter, however, the world has diverted immense stores of material, economic, technical and intellectual resources to the production and maintenance of "a vast and growing array of armaments." "Far from ensuring peace and security, these preparations for war and violence have locked states into the 'security dilemma' of escalating mistrust and fear. "They have inflamed and entrenched conflicts throughout world, bringing unimaginable suffering to vast numbers of people," said the faith communities. Speaking on behalf of Christian, Buddhist and Muslim organizations, Dr. Emily Welty urged delegates to "negotiate a legally-binding instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons." A resolution calling for such a treaty next year was introduced at the disarmament committee of the UN General Assembly, the day she spoke. Welty is vice-moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. Nuclear weapons are "incompatible with the values upheld by our respective faith tradition - the right of people to live in dignity; the commands of conscience and justice; the duty to protect the vulnerable and to safeguard the planet for future generations," the joint statement said. Nuclear weapons are lethal technologies which have been developed without regard for the public conscience and the rule of law, Welty said. They are "the pinnacle of humanity's self-destructive potential". The inter-faith statement was issued by Pax Christi International, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Soka Gakkai International and other groups as well as the WCC. If ever there was a time to unpack the complexities of gender and power with K-12 studentsgirls in particularthis is it. In the past few months, public attention in the United States has moved seamlessly from sexist commentary in the Olympic Games, to a major news-channel executives resignation over sexual-harassment allegations, to a presidential campaign that offers up daily helpings of misogyny. Clearly, the way educators prepare girls to be leaders isnt enough if those girls land a seat at a table with the likes of former Fox News CEO and chairman Roger Ailes. They need more from us than cheerleading and talk of grit. They need encouragement to think critically about the world around them, the opportunities available to them, and the struggles and exclusion they may face. As a professor of education who has worked for decades to empower girls of all ages, I co-founded three girl fueled activist organizations: Hardy Girls Healthy Women, based in Waterville, Maine, and the online sites SPARK Movement and Powered By Girl. This work has left me no doubt that K-12 girls benefit enormously from opportunities to make their environments more just and caring places. I work with elementary school girls who map their schools for safe and unsafe spaces; middle school girls who protest dress codes; and high school girls who advocate for gender-neutral bathrooms. Schools benefit in many ways from visible student engagement, but whether or not such activism yields tangible results, simply participating has a powerful and positive impact on students. Here are eight reasons why educators should help engage girls in activism: 1. Activism moves girls from passive consumers to active citizens. Media and marketers sell girls a pop-culture version of power in which their primary project is to fix themselves. Inherent in activism is the challenge to look beneath the surface of outside messages and no longer accept them at face value. Girls who question the justifications of media and policies laced with sexism, racism, and homophobia are psychologically healthier. 2. Activism invites girls to voice their thoughts and feelings. Plugging girls into prefabricated civic-engagement programs and encouraging them to succeed on someone elses terms fails to give them what they need most: practice developing and voicing their own solutions to problems, trusting their own perspectives, and experiencing what it means to stay true to themselves even as they risk dissent. Participating in girl-led activism helps to create a school climate where gender diversity is visible and valued." 3. Activism makes schools safer for all girls. Participating in girl-led activism helps to create a school climate where gender diversity is visible and valued. When more girls challenge qualities traditionally associated with girlhood (such as compliance) with assertiveness and agency, they make schools safer for all girls to do the same. When more girls publicly say what they think, it opens up space for othersespecially for those who, because of race and social class, are more likely to be discounted or disciplined for outspokenness or resistance. 4. Activism affirms the power of diversity. Effective change requires a coalition of people from different backgrounds, experiences, and skills who share passion for a common cause. Girls engaged in activist work see how differences in social class, race and ethnicity, disability, and gender expression alter their individual experiences with sexism. They come to recognize how, together, they can create more effective and inclusive solutions. 5. Activism helps girls negotiate a culture of power. To advocate for change successfully, girls must think about how their school system operates and who has the power to make change. When girls are aware of existing networks of power, it enables them to communicate effectively and makes space for their opinions in school and beyond. 6. Activism invites belonging and creates trusting relationships. Engaging in activism gives girls a sense of community and brings them together for a shared cause. This can help dissolve what is often a culture of distrust between girls, as well as subsequent bullying. Activism decreases girls feelings of alienation by offering them connections that help counter all the justified reasons they can feel numb, angry, alienated, and powerless. 7. Activism is an important form of supplementary education. Activist work can offer students on the margins educational opportunities that are often readily available to more-privileged students. Students can identify a problem they care about and study it deeply, brainstorm solutions, and engage in student-led discussions and exploration of solutions. 8. Activism is the most effective form of leadership training. Through activist work, girls learn to lead by actually leading and fully participating in what matters from the ground up. There are opportunities to think critically, speak up, and take risksall leadership skills. They arent learning skills to take advantage of some future possibility, but rather practicing leadership in the present tense. Supporting student activism is not easy work. It disrupts assumptions of how studentsespecially girl studentsshould behave. It asks adults to see youths as experts on their own experience and to recognize the value of student-generated solutions. But the best way to start integrating youth activism into classrooms is the simplest: an honest conversation about what students experience as unfair in school or society and open conversations about possible solutions. Above all, our job as educators is to help our students see and remove obstacles to their freedom. We must encourage them to play an active role in shaping their education and their future. If you win $1 billion Powerball jackpot, inflation will cost you millions The Powerball jackpot is up to $1 billion million for Wednesdays drawing, but the lump-sum payout option is less than half of it. Chief Minister pleased with public reaction Chief Minister Howard Quayle The Chief Minister says he's received a warm welcome since being elected to the post. Howard Quayle gained a majority support from Tynwald in last week's vote, despite two online polls suggesting the public preferred other candidates. Mr Quayle has been in Belgium this week to discuss Brexit, before returning to duty with the Council of Ministers yesterday. Paul Moulton from MTTV asked how the Middle MHK felt about not being the public's first choice [play audio]. More on this at Manx.net Media Howard Quayle A mysterious sighting in Lake Superior, Mich. has baffled UFO enthusiasts and skeptics alike, as footage taken during a late afternoon showed a tall specter of an image rising out of the water. With everyone baffled at what the image could be, numerous theories about the mysterious ghost ship have emerged. The otherworldly image was caught by Jason Asselin, who was sightseeing with his friend on that day. Faced with a rainbow on the horizon, the two friends decided to photograph the sky. What they caught was something completely unexpected. Seemingly from the depths of the sea, a massive object began emerging from the water. It appeared to float in the waters for a bit, before seemingly moving away. The video, which can be watched below, has since gone viral, with numerous netizens weighing in on what the mysterious object might be. Some fondly suggested that the image was a ghost ship, especially since Lake Superior is home to thousands of shipwrecks. Others have suggested a more scientific explanation, stating that the image was probably a mirage, or an instance of Fata Morgana, which makes distant objects appear closer than they really are. According to skeptics, the massive image floating on the sea was nothing more than an oil rig, or a lighthouse. Then again, lighthouses and oil rigs don't really emerge from the waters before moving away. Apart from its movement, the size of the object was also very notable. From its distance, it appears that whatever it was that seemed to have emerged from the depths of Lake Superior was massive. "There's no ship that big. It really just didn't belong there. I've seen ships before and it looked nothing like that. I've been there [on Lake Superior] before and never saw it," Asselin said. With the explanation to the mysterious event still unknown, UFO hunters have suggested that the image is likely an alien ship. Prominent UFO hunter Scott Waring, for one, asserted that the conditions of Lake Michigan are perfect for aliens to use as a hiding place for their spacecraft. "This UFO was caught on Saturday rising up out of the water. The metallic gray of the metal is easy to make out. Lake Michigan is one of the deepest, coldest lakes in the world, which has many secrets of sunken warships, freighters, planes and even a few unexploded atomic bombs," the UFO hunter said. "So, an alien craft about 300-500 meters rising from the water - where else could aliens hide such large craft and go unnoticed?" After the huge fall of Galaxy Note 7, It is highly speculated that Samsung may launch it's upcoming sensation Galaxy S8 much earlier than its targeted date. According to many tech geeks, the company might take this action to overpower the setbacks which it is suffering from due to the disastrous loss of its Galaxy Note 7. However, as there are no such announcement or insights came from the company authorities yet, the South Korean tech giant might bring on this successor of Galaxy S7 at its scheduled time only. According to GSM Arena, tech lovers can still expect the release of Samsung's Galaxy S8 smartphone during its Unpacked event scheduled to be held in February 2016. If this speculation is correct, then Galaxy S8 might get to launch on February 26, 2017, in Barcelona, Spain. And then can be referred to be revealed just a day before the opening ceremony of the Mobile World Congress, which is yet set to be held on February 27th, 2016. Although a quarter of a year is left for the event to be held. But Samsung's PR team may have already prepared invitations for the event this early. According to Christian Daily, Italian mobile tipster named Ricciolo has even leaked the invite on Twitter that appears to confirm and highlight the inclusion of a mobile iris scanner. The Italian leak specialist's previous record of projecting the accurate launching dates for Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge along with Sony Xperia X Compact makes the possibility of Galaxy S8 to be launched on the above-mentioned date clearer. Speculations also suggest that this smartphone may also bring on a dual-lens camera system that is up to par with DSLR cameras. It means, with Galaxy S8, Samsung will leave no stone unturned to compete with its supreme rival Apple's iPhone 7. The device is also said to come equipped with either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 or Samsung's own processor, the Exynos 8895. Rumor has it that both chips will be designed to be smaller yet more power-efficient than their predecessors. The writ petition filed in the Supreme Court by Shayara Bano questioning the constitutional validity of the triple talaq (Madhukalya 2016) has brought into the public domain once again the debate on the question of a uniform civil code (UCC) for all of India. In such debates, the UCC is put forth as a single solution to the myriad problems of the many religion-based personal laws in India. It is an idea that has received the support of the courts, many organisations working for womens rights, and, of course, one major political party. It is also complete fiction. The UCC, as articulated by even its most ardent proponents, is completely devoid of content. Its content seems to be whatever is necessary to make it essential to solve a particular problem that it is posed as a solution to. This is best seen especially in the manner in which it has been taken up by the Supreme Court once every decade for the last four decades. Supreme Court Judgments The first time that the courts spoke of a UCC was when the Supreme Court in Mohd Ahmed Khan v Shah Bano Begum and Others (1985: para 32) exhorted the central government to enact a common civil code in the interests of national integration. Why the Supreme Court felt the need to mention a common civil code on the facts of this case is mystifying, as the law it had to interpret and apply in that caseSection 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973had long been held to apply across the board to adherents of all religions, irrespective of their own personal laws.1 The Court reiterated the same issue a few weeks later in a slightly different context, that of a marriage between a Christian woman and a Sikh man under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 in Jordan Diengdeh v S S Chopra (1985). This time, the Court was concerned with the irretrievable breakdown of marriage between the parties and the fact that a divorce could not be granted on this basis alone. The Court urged the government to come up with a UCC once again a decade later in a public interest litigation seeking to outlaw the practice of Hindu men abandoning their wives, without lawfully divorcing them, and converting to Islam for the sole purpose of marrying a second time (Sarla Mudgal, President, Kalyani and Others v Union of India and Others 1995). This time, the justification offered was to prevent Hindu men from converting to Islam for the sole purpose of getting married a second time. Why a UCC is necessary to tackle fraud, beyond existing legal principles and criminal laws, is never fully articulated by the Court. In the Sarla Mudgal case (1995: Para 1), the Court explicitly holds up the Hindu Code as the model on the basis of which the UCC should be drawn up. This was clarified later by the Supreme Court to some extent in Lily Thomas, Etc, Etc v Union of India and Others (2000) to say that the Court could not direct the centre to introduce a UCC, but that did not stop the Supreme Court from once again affirming the necessity and desirability of one in John Vallamattom and Another v Union of India (2003), this time in the context of succession. A little more than a decade after this, the Supreme Court has once again lamented the absence of a UCC in the context of the guardianship of a Christian child, without going into why a simple change in the Guardians and Wards Act would not suffice (ABC v The State (NCT of Delhi) 2015). Contrary views have also been expressed by the Court on occasion. Justice Sahais concurring opinion in the Sarla Mudgal case and the judgment in Pannalal Bansilal Pitti and Others v State of Andhra Pradesh and Another (1996) both concede that while a uniform law may be desirable, it cannot be imposed in one go and consensus needs to be built on the aspect. On Uniformity Perusing these judgments, it is obvious that the Court has absolutely no idea what a UCC looks like and what such a code should do. In each case, it has been offered as a panacea for a particular issue with which the Court was faced, as though the only real problem with Indias personal laws is not their misogyny or obsolescence, but their lack of uniformity. The Court in all these cases clings to the constitutional directive of Article 44, as if it were a clear articulation of the idea of what a UCC is. Article 44 is itself laconic. It merely exhorts the state to create a uniform civil code for the whole nation. No other part of the Constitution even mentions the UCC. On the other hand, Articles 371A and 371G expressly exclude the applicability of parliamentary law on customary practices unless the legislatures of Nagaland and Mizoram, respectively, give their approval. Likewise, the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution vests exclusive lawmaking power regarding customs and family law to the regional and district councils in tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. A UCC made by Parliament, therefore, cannot apply to all of India, especially the north-eastern states. The Constituent Assembly while debating Article 44 (then draft Article 35) also had no clear conception of what the UCC would be. Even those who defend the UCC discuss it in the most general of terms.2 While rejecting a proposed amendment that a UCC could not impinge on personal laws, B R Ambedkar clarifies that such a code need not necessarily be mandatory, and it would, in fact, possibly be optional (GoI 1999). This would suggest that what Ambedkar really had in mind was something like the Special Marriage Act, 1954 under which persons could choose to get married under that law and thereby be governed by the Indian Succession Act, 1925. Even the Hindu code, which sought to create a uniform law governing all Hindus, is not uniform in some of the most fundamental aspects of family law. The validity of a marriage is linked to the customs and ceremonies of the particular community;3 the inheritance rights of the members of the family is different for communities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu;4 who is capable of being adopted also depends on the custom and usage;5 the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 does not automatically apply to members of Scheduled Tribes.6 The claim that since Hindus are governed by a uniform law, why not everyone else falls flat at the very first stepthe law is not uniform for all Hindus in the first place. While, no doubt, the Hindu code makes several aspects of Hindu personal law uniform, it leaves custom and local practice undisturbed in several aspects. Even the much touted example of a UCC, the Portuguese Civil Procedure Code, 1939 applicable to all communities in Goa, is not equally applicable to all communities. It has different rules for Catholics and different rules for all other communities. It even recognised a limited form of bigamy for Hindus (Noronha 2014). If a UCC is really about uniformity, it will remove the requirement of religious ceremonies for the validity of marriages, abolish the concept of coparcenary property, and remove all distinctions between converts and non-converts over the inheritance of property. If uniformity in all respects is not desirable, then that is an acknowledgement of the folly of promoting a UCC without understanding the specifics of what it entails. If the goal is to address iniquities in personal laws of different religions, such iniquities must be addressed on their own terms instead of demanding adherence to a UCC. Whether it is the courts, the Constituent Assembly or even those who are proposing the UCC as a panacea to gender inequality in laws or national integrity, no one seems to have a clear conception of what such a code would actually look like. Perhaps, the UCC should be compared to Lewis Carrolls (1950) fabled Snarkno one knows what it looks like or what it is supposed to do. Like Carrolls intrepid crew, we have nothing but a blank paper where there should be a map describing how and where one might find the UCC. A line here about Muslim womens rights, an argument there against polygamy do not make for a code. The inability of anyone advocating the UCC to come up with a coherent draft of what they are talking about seems to suggest that the UCC, like the Snark, is a Boojum that will make its finder disappear! Notes 1 See, for instance, Bai Tahira A v Ali Hussain Fissalli Chothia and Another (1979) and Fuzlunbi v K Khader Vali and Another (1980). 2 Speeches of Alladi Krishnaswami Iyengar and K M Munshi (GoI 1999). 3 Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. 4 Section 17 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. 5 Section 10 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. 6 Section 3 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956. References ABC v The State (NCT of Delhi) (2015): SCC, SC, 10, p 1. Bai Tahira A v Ali Hussain Fissalli Chothia and Another (1979): SCC, SC, 2, p 316. Carroll, Lewis (1950): The Hunting of the Snark, Poets of the English Language, W H Auden and N H Pearson (eds), New York: Viking Press, viewed on 13 June 2016, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43909. Fuzlunbi v K Khader Vali and Another (1980): SCC, SC, 4, p 125. GoI (1999): Constituent Assembly Debates (Proceedings), Vol 7, 23 November 1948, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Government of India, viewed on 13 June 2016, http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/constituent/vol7p11.html. John Vallamattom and Another v Union of India (2003): SCC, SC, 6, p 611. Jordan Diengdeh v S S Chopra (1985): SCC, SC, 3, p 62. Lily Thomas, Etc, Etc v Union of India and Others (2000): SCC, SC, 6, p 224. Madhukalya, Amrita (2016): Meet Shayara Bano, the Woman Who Wants to Ban Triple Talaq, Daily News and Analysis, 26 April, viewed on 13 June 2016, http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-meet-shayara-bano-the-woman-who-wants-to-ban-triple-talaq-2206111. Mohd Ahmed Khan v Shah Bano Begum and Others (1985): SCC, SC, 2, p 556. Noronha, Frederick (2014): Goas Civil Code Has Backing of BJP, but Its Not Truly Uniform, Scroll.in, 9 June, viewed on 13 June 2016, http://scroll.in/article/666255/goas-civil-code-has-backing-of-bjp-but-its-not-truly-uniform. Pannalal Bansilal Pitti and Others v State of Andhra Pradesh and Another (1996): SCC, SC, 2, p 498. Sarla Mudgal, President, Kalyani and Others v Union of India and Others (1995): SCC, SC, 3, p 635. At the fifth plenum of the 18th Party Congress (2629 October 2015), the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced its decision to shift from a one-child policy to a two-child policy, sparking the population debate again. It is quite obvious now that the social implications of a one-child policy on Chinese society have been severe. It is also highly contentious as to whether China was able to make any positives demographically. The forceful curbing of numbers has come at a cost of creating a societal imbalance, which it now resorts to undo by announcing a two-child policy. There is enough that has been written on the exaggerated fear of growing numbers and why developing countries should not fall into a Malthusian trap. Demographic projections and their interpretations are driven by fear and anxiety and ensuing policies are their outcomes. Simplistic solutions like limiting family size become the norm and fail to question the demerits of venturing down that narrow path. In my growing-up years in Delhi during the 1980s, one kept hearing about Chinas success in implementing the one-child policy and the urgent need for the Indian state to embark on a policy that was equally stringent to control its population. It was driven by the same rhetorical question: How was a nation supposed to feed so many mouths given the limited resources, while the growing population was becoming a barrier to development? EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Gilles de Kerchove, EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator EUBULLETIN: You are the European Unions Counter-Terrorism Coordinator but I would like to start with the terrorist attack at the international airport in Istanbul back in June, which is just outside of the European Union. De Kerchove: It is actually 60 percent of my time that I focus on regions outside of the EU. EUBULLETIN: Does this attack at this busy international airport mean that the so-called Islamic State, or Daesh, has changed its strategy and we could perhaps expect more similar attacks to happen at airports within the EU? De Kerchove: First of all, I am very deeply saddened at what happened in Istanbul because it is not the first time that the Turks have been targeted, seemingly by Daesh, we dont know but it seem that Daesh (also known as the Islamic State or ISIS) was behind the attack. We have had a political dialogue with my Turkish counterpart and we discussed the latest developments. We are really eager to work very closely with the Turks to help them on both sides of prevention, the organization and the fight against Daesh and PKK (The Kurdistan Workers Party) and DHKP-C (Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party/Front). On your question, yes, we know that terrorist organizations, and especially Daesh, are keen to target aviation infrastructure or planes and that is the reason why the European Union is working hard to increase the resilience of the different airports around the region. So, we are not surprised they targeted in Brussels in March, they targeted Istanbul in June so, thats not surprising and we have to improve the way we prevent that to happen. EUBULLETIN: But can you see any correlation between the current military offensive against Daesh in Syria and also Iraq and the latters increased terrorist activities outside of this region? De Kerchove: Well, I am not surprised that Daesh increases its strikes because they are on the defensive they are pretty degraded in Syria and Iraq and they need to show successes. But this organization has made a success their brand and I suspect the more we the Iraqi army, the Peshmerga, the YPG (The Peoples Protection Units) and others put the pressure on Daesh, the more this organization will want to direct their attacks on the West. EUBULLETIN: On a different but related story, since the UK is considered one of the main driving forces in the EUs anti-terrorism campaign, what impact will the Brexit have on this policy portfolio? De Kerchove: First of all, it is not easy to answer your question it is too early, the vote was in June, and the heads of governments are at the moment still discussing the consequences of a possible exit because we have not yet received the letter foreseen by Article 50 of the Treaty. I regret it a lot to see the Brits leaving the EU also because, as you said, they are a driving force in the field of security. It is one of the Member States, which supported me the most in my position the last nine years. I used to say I am sure they did it because I am a nice guy (smiling) but I believe not only so because they were convinced that the EU could add value and help them to fight more effectively. So, it will be a serious loss for us and a series loss for them because Britain will not have access to the Schengen Information System we connected some months ago and they themselves recognized the interest and the value of using the Schengen Information System, they will not be connected to Europol and so forth so, there will be consequences for them, as for us. EUBULLETIN: Do you think that it will be more difficult after the Brexit to work, to communicate with the British to effectively deal with current challenging security environment? De Kerchove: This is, of course, we will see because I am not in charge of designing the next arrangement but, of course, we remain pretty close to our British friends and it is clear that all Member States will keep working a lot with our British colleagues at all levels of intelligence and law enforcement and we will have to find ways to work together because we have a common threat. So, it will not be the same institutional framework but I am convinced well find ways to go around and keep working very closely together. EUBULLETIN: Given the sheer complexity, all those different challenges facing the EU you have the influx of migrants, terrorism, proxy wars fought in the Middle East when do you think the EU will finally get on top of these problems to deal with them in an effective manner? De Kerchove: Its difficult I dont have a crystal ball but, as you said, the threat is no longer in the field of terrorism but we should also not overlook organized crime, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, failed states, rogue states that should reinforce the need to keep our basic policy more effective, like development assistance, promoting good governance and the rule of law. We can invent all kinds strategies to deal with hybrid warfare but the basic roots of conflicts are still the same too much difference in the levels of development, violations of human rights and all these can only lead to violence. EUBULLETIN: But the EU has, for example, been the largest donor of development assistance in the world. De Kerchove: We have been doing this for years but sometimes not effectively enough. We have contributed to peace and security a lot. I would like to see the EU playing a much more effective role in the big foreign policy nuclear deal we have thanks to the leadership of Frederica Mogherini. We are sure diplomacy can do a lot so lets hope that we will be more and more successful in Syria, in our relationship with Russia, in building alliances, in working with Asia, in solving the many frozen conflicts, so that we reduce the tensions. There will always be tensions but although you may question the deal with Turkey on migration, it has now produced results. It prompted the EU to be much more active to promote investment and development in those countries from which most of the migrants are coming. And, so, I think I have never seen Europe to be so engaged on all fronts we have more and more CSDP missions, we try to develop strategic understanding with other countries, so we become a more important player. We dont have a choice, the Americans want us to do more and I think there is a consensus to do more. And, again in this context, it would be sad to see the Brits leaving because they are a very effective international player through their diplomatic network and their vision and competences. Gilles de Kerchove is the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator. A senior Belgian official, he previously served as Director of Justice and Home Affairs in the Council Secretariat of the European Union from 1995 to 2007. In his role as Director of JHA, he played a central role in negotiations for Eurojust and the European arrest warrant. He obtained his law degree at the Catholic University of Louvain in 1979 and later followed a Masters in Law at Yale Law School in 1984. In addition to its administrative activities, he is also a lecturer in law at several universities in Belgium, particularly at the Catholic University of Louvain, at the Facultes Universitaires Saint-Louis and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. Written by ACM *Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- CoE has an Important Role to play, particularly on East-West Dialogue","including Parliamentarian", stressed on occasion of Russia, German Foreign Minister, Gunter SteinMeier, speaking in the Exceptional Absence of any Russian MEP, since Mosciw was incited to Leave CoE's PanEuropean Assembly, by a controversial Minority's manoeuvers, which exploited the Pretext of the notoriously Provoked Tragic Division of Ukranian People, back on 2014, (See :...). However, he Dismissed Both the Views of those who Find that Europe is Dangerously Leaning Back to a Cold War Era of the Past, and of those, who, on the Contrary, might be Nostalgic of a Dissuasion-based Stability that partly existed when the whole World was Shared Between 2 SuperPowers, at Washington or Moscow. Today's real Situation is Not the Same, he Warned, evoking, inter alia, some "Emerging" New Factors, (without Clarifying Explicitly if he meant, f.ex. China, perhaps Iran, or even the Differend, Atypical Risks of ISIS' spreading Islamic Terrorism, etc), and, therefore, he Urged to Keep "Chanels of Dialogue" with Russia always Open, Waiting also for the moment when the "Conditions for the Return" of Russian MEPs in the PACE would be met, as he said. -------------------------------------- +Speaking in his Double Identity, at the same time as OSCE Chairman in office for 2016, Steinmeier, went concrete, Today, on the state of play for Minsk Agreement Implementation efforts. He arrived shortly after French President Hollande's official visit, earlier this week in Strasbourg, during PanEuropean, 47 Member Countries strong, CoE's Parliamentary Assembly's plenary Autumn 2016 Session (10-14 October 2016), and just Before a possible, forthcoming, Trilateral or Quadrilateral, "Normandy 4" format (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine) Summit in Berlin, eventualy for Thursday Next Week, (on 19/10/2016). I.e. Eve of a forthcoming EU Summit in Brussels, due to examine also relations with Russia, (20+21/10/2016). ---------------------------------------- In fact, currently, -"We (Germany+ OSCE's rotating 2016 Chairmanship) are doing all we can to Ensure that the Vonflict in Eastern Ukraine does Not Escalate. We are doing all we can with a view to Finding Solutions, and I hope we will be supported in that", Steinmeier advanced, in one among a Series of Replies to various relevant Questions by MEPs. - "There is No Alternative" to "the Minsk Agreement" (brokered by a Quadrilateral Summit in Bielorussia, on February 2015, which had dressed a Series of Concrete Targets, a RoadMap towards Peace, and even an Initial TimeLine in order to achieve them, up to a Comprehensive Settlement of the Ukranian crisis), he Repeatedly stressed. In this regard, the German Government, stands as also several "Other Countries in Europe", which have, already, "roundly Condemned the Annexation of Crimea, and Russian Involvement in Eastern Ukraine", (as he desrcribed what Russia and others call, on the Contrary, as an overseas Teleguided "Coup" at Kiev, which Violently Reversed an Elected Government, slamed a Peace Deal which had just been Signed with the Opposition, in the presence also of 3 EU Foreign Ministers from Germany, France and Poland, launching afterwards Deadly and Destructive Military Attacks against the Population of Pro-Autonomy, Russian-Ethnic Regions of Donetsk/Luhansk, so that Crimeas People, who both Historicaly and Ethnicaly were almost always Russian, urged, with a Popular Referendum, their ReUification, Back to Russia, mutatis-mutandis almost as the former Eastern Germany had done with the Fall of Berlin Wall, back after 1989, by ReUniting Together with the former Western Germany, as Moscow Top Officials have repeatedly Claimed, even here at the CoE in Strasbourg). -"But ...Politics is Not just about Statements you have to Act", and, then, "it is Better and more Responsible to attempt to Appease the situation of Conflict in Eastern Ukraine, and attempt to find a Solution", "and that is what we are doing", he explained. - In fact, "We Need to ensure that All the Parties involved are brought around the Table" of Negotiations for Peace, the German Minister stressed, in this regard. Even "in our (Germany's 2016) Chairmanship of the OSCE (the most Engaged in Peace-Keeping efforts at Ukraine, nowadays), and ..(even)...when .... dialogue has been broken off, we have always striven to Ensure that Dialogue is maintained, in spite of the difficulties". "In the context of our efforts to secure a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian conflict, I hope that we will be able to create ....the conditions for the Russian delegation to Return and take part in the meetings and work of (CoE's) Parliamentary Assembly", even if it might be done only "in the medium term", he estimated. Because, concerning "the conflict in Ukraine, ...Russia has a major contribution to make, not only to pacify the situation, but in the medium term to ensure a solution to the conflict". In particular, "we are working through the Normandy format with France, Russia and Ukraine with a view to finding a Political Solution for East Ukraine, as laid down in the Minsk Agreements", Steinmeier pointed out. At least, "I am doing my utmost to ensure that, despite the difficulties, we continue to try to ensure that the Individual Components of the Minsk agreement can be delivered". In this regard : - "a negotiated Cease-fire, ...has been Violated frequently, so we have to Stabilise it", the German MFA observed. F.ex., "a couple of weeks ago, we managed to conclude a Disengagement agreement, initially in three Areas along the border. If that is fully implemented, we hope that it will take us a Step closer to a full cease-fire'. - "Work on the Political strand of the agreement is more Difficult. It involves 3 different proposals for Legislation: the Amnesty law, the local Elections law, and the state of Emergency law". "We are doing our utmost to bring together the different positions, although, so far, we have Not succeeded. We have to Continue working on this", But, we "have already spent a great deal of time and effort on it", and, therefore, "I hope that we are Now in a position to do the Groundwork, which will enable us to move towards Agreement on legislation", he Optimisticaly estimated. - "Once the legislation is agreed, we must then ensure the necessary Security conditions to allow Elections to proceed", Steinmeier added. . "Again, that will require a great deal of work to convince the different parties to support it. For the time being", conditions are not in place, so we have to ensure that they are in the Finustre", he concluded. -------------------------------------------- Burt, Meanwhile, it's a "Fact that the Divide between the East and the West, in the case of Russia, has grown", Steinmeier acknowledeged. - "Many people say that we are reverting to a Cold War, or that things are reminiscent of the Cold War period". + And, it might be true, that "Division of the World into 2 parts, with 2 capitals Dominating world events, can help to Pacify conflict". - "But I do not think that that is correct" Nowadays, Steinmeier criticaly pointed out. >>> - Because, "the World of Today is Not the Same as the world of the 60s and 70s", he stressed. - In fact, "the World has Changed" : - "We No longer live in a world in which countries are orientated in the direction of Either Moscow, or Washington". >>> - "Instead, the Modern World has seen a number of Protagonists Emerging, which renders the situation far more Complex". And this goes, "certainly when we think of Syria", Steinmeier observed, probably referring to ISIS' Islamc Terrorism Dangerous Spread, from the Middle East to Africa, and around Europe, as well as, even overseas, recently in the US itself, etc. ---------- - Therefore, "Against (such) a backdrop of Growing Tensions, the role of the (Strasbourg HeadQuartered) Council of Europe is more important than ever", he stressed, Pointing particularly at its potential "as a Long Standing Partner in Dialogue, between East and West". - "I am profoundly convinced that, in Difficult Times, we should Not Cut off the channels of Communication. It is important that we keep all these channels Open, including Parliamentary", the German Foreign Minister underlined, but withOut revealing How this should be done, as things stand since 2014. ---------------------------------- However, Steinmeier, (who is in his 2nd Coalition Government in Berlin with ChristianDemocrat/EPP German Chancellor Angie Merkel, openly Agreed with French President Hollande's acceptance of a 4rth PanEuropean Summit of CoE's 47 Heads of State/Government in the forseable Future, (notoriously expected to turn around a concept of "Democratic Security" now, and which will be the First to come Since the 2005 landmark Summit in Warsaw, Poland, which had Focused on Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, endorsing the ReUnification of Europe then: Comp. "Eurofora" co-Founder's NewsReports from Warsaw, then, ublished at "TCWeekly"+). But, interestingly, he Advanced his proposed Date, from that "2019" Year (of French CoE rotating Chairmanship), to which had, surprisingly pointed Hollande, much more Near Today: on "2017", as Steinmeier said, apparently prefering a much more Imminent Move. (../..) *** ("DraftNews") *** One of the most powerful forces on Earth is consumers making buying choices. They have shaped the world in untold ways for thousands of years and Danny Quintana, founder of the Global High Seas Marine Preserve, is putting that to work by launching GHSMP's 50 Sustainable Seafood Cities Campaign on Friday, October 14 at the Cathedral Church of St. Marks in Salt Lake City with a lively event, Saving the Oceans One City at a Time, that will include a panel discussion and lectures by environmental experts, civic leaders and concerned citizens. The nationwide campaign, targeting the 50 largest U.S. cities, seeks to educate the public about demanding sustainable seafood products from local merchants and advocates local authorities to mandate their jurisdictions Sustainable Seafood Cities (SSC). With an eye towards the ultimate goal of establishing THE Global High Seas Marine Preserve, which would ban industrial fishing in international waters, Quintana believes the first shot across the bow, so to speak, is for consumers to force changes in the fishing industry by not buying endangered or industrially procured seafood. After all, nothing changes the behavior of economic entities faster than an inability to sell their wares "It's not their fault, but most people just don't how the oceans are getting hammered, industrial fishing is stripping the oceans clean, tuna is under threat and sharks are cruelly slaughtered daily. Let me tell you, and I've experienced this first-hand, when people really understand what is going on they get scared and then angry. Our 50 sustainable seafood cities campaign will get the message out and hopefully get the public involved in the fight, something must be done before it is too late and the oceans die," says Danny Quintana. The Global High Seas Marine Preserve came out of the publication of Quintana's latest book, Space & Ocean Exploration: The Alternative to the Military-Industrial Complex, which puts forth a case for diverting U.S. Defense Dept. funds for ocean and space research in such a way as to not cause economic dislocation by pulling jobs from defense contractors. Should the Global High Seas Marine Preserve be established the United States Navy would play the lead role in enforcing the industrial fishing ban and looking for illegal poaching of endangered species by small operators. Below is the line of the participants in the Sustainable Seafood Cities Campaign and below that the 13 edited podcasts from a recent appearance by Danny Quintana on KCRL Radio with host Lara Jones and Nick Burns. For more info go to www.SaveOceanLife.com or www.SavingOceans.org Danny Quintana, Founder GHSMP, Author of Space & Ocean Exploration & Environmental Attorney Professor Robin Craig, University of Utah's College of Law Charlene Albarran, Successful Businesswoman & Current Candidate for Utah's 2nd Congressional District Reverend Jack Potter, Cathedral Church of St Mark Moderator-Rod Decker, Mr. Decker is a Local Television News Reporter with Decades of Experience For media interviews contact E.B. GO Vision Media at c@ebgoinc.com The Edited Radio Segments are in Chronological Order from the 30-Minute Show: 50 Sustainable Seafood Cities Campaign & Why Salt Lake Should Be First Sustainable Seafood City Why Salt Lake Should Be First Sustainable Seafood City in U.S. from Global High Seas Marine Preserve Reasons for Founding Global High Seas Marine Preserve by Danny Quintana on KCRL Radio Danny Quintana on Shark Overfishing Crisis & Using Seafood Watch App to Make Choices Seafood Cities Campaign Kickoff Event & Website, Panel Discussion-Social Event to Save Oceans Exec Chef Uses Sustainable Seafood, Quality Product Is Available If One Looks, Do Your Research Danny Quintana on Political Support for Sustainable Seafood, Battle to Save Oceans & Marine Life Fisheries Will Close, If Nature Does it That is Disaster for Millennials & More Generations Love of Seafood & Responsible Consumption says Danny Quintana, Global High Seas Marine Preserve Fish from U.S. Waters Good Buy says Danny Quintana, Founder Global High Seas Marine Preserve Consumer Power Can Change World & Fishing Industry Says Danny Quintana on KCRL Radio, Salt Lake City Just Stop Eating Seafood, That Is Real Solution to Crisis Says Caller to Radio Show, Is He Right? Long & Short Term Goals of Global High Seas Marine Preserve Defined by Founder Danny Quintana This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Castle Hills resident Sichan Siv escaped genocide in Cambodias Killing Fields, eventually arriving in the U.S. 40 years ago, where he wildly exceeded anyones ideal of the American dream. Siv would become a U.S. citizen and serve former President George H.W. Bush as a deputy assistant in the White House and as deputy assistant secretary at the State Department. In 2001, Siv was appointed by then-President George W. Bush as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a post he held until 2006, when he and his wife retired to the San Antonio enclave of Castle Hills. Last month, Siv was named to presidential candidate Donald Trumps Asian Pacific American Advisory Council. But Siv, 68, is now being sued in federal court in San Antonio while facing up to a three-year prison sentence in Cambodia if found guilty of fraud in a case involving a supposed rice-import company based in the Alamo City. A judge in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, is expected to rule in the criminal trial against Siv and two other defendants Thursday, the Khmer Times reported last month. Cambodian dentist Dr. Lykuong Eng leveled fraud charges against Siv and three other executives for their roles in the now-defunct company, Akra Agriculture Partners Inc. Her allegations led to the criminal charges against Akras principals in Cambodia and the civil case here. Eng who lost her $1 million investment in the company is suing Siv, who was Akras chairman; former CEO Thomas A. Willems; and Richer San, a Cambodian-American businessman who was vice president of business development. San was arrested in Cambodia in 2014 in connection with the criminal case but was released on $1 million bail, the Khmer Times reported. Shes also suing the estate of New York Assemblyman Bill Nojay, who served as the companys secretary and treasurer. He fatally shot himself in a cemetery in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 8. A number of Nojays business dealings, including with the San Antonio company, have drawn the attention of federal investigators, the New York Times reported shortly after his death. The charges against Nojay were subsequently dropped by Cambodian prosecutors after his death. Siv, Nojay and Willems werent present for the trial. Siv did not return calls for comment. Even if Siv is found guilty, the U.S. doesnt have an extradition treaty with Cambodia that would force him to serve out his sentence. Siv and his wife, Martha Pattillo Siv, have been frequent travelers to Cambodia, where theyve bought an assortment of musical instruments for their house to feel more connected to his home country, the San Antonio Express-News reported in 2009. Martha Pattillo Siv sells handmade objects made in Southeast Asia and elsewhere through her business, South China Seas. Siv recounted his harrowing escape from Cambodia, which included surviving a machine-gun attack and a fall into a jungle pit of punji sticks, in the 2008 memoir Golden Bones: An Extraordinary Journey from Hell in Cambodia to a New Life in America. In Cambodia, a man with golden bones is a man with a lot of luck. His family, including his mother, did not share his good fortune. They were clubbed to death when the communists conquered Cambodia in 1975. Just how Siv became involved in Akra wasnt mentioned in Engs lawsuit. According to the complaint, San persuaded Eng to invest in Akra and mailed her a copy of a private placement memorandum, a document that provides prospective investors detailed information on a business. The investment document described Akra as a startup business that would set up an agriculture cooperative to develop Cambodian farming and support the export of crops primarily rice to the U.S., the suit added. State corporate records show Akra was incorporated here in November 2012. The companys address was a suite on the 18th floor of One Riverwalk Place in downtown San Antonio. Nojay was listed as the registered agent and a director. Eng traveled to the U.S. in 2012 to meet Akras principals, a trip that included a stop in San Antonio, where she met Siv, the suit stated. All four executives told Eng that $3 million already had been raised for Akra but an additional $1 million was still needed, the suit said. She agreed to invest the final $1 million and wired the money in three transfers beginning in November 2012 to a trust account in Nojays name, according to Fort Worth lawyer Robert Simon, who represents Eng in the lawsuit. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. According to Simon, The company never started operations, and (Eng) never saw her million dollars again. This might have been a scam from the beginning or it might have become a scam later, Simon added. When we take discovery, then well learn. But by the time they took our clients money it was a scam, even if that wasnt what they originally intended. The Akra principals deceived Eng by telling her they had other sources of funding, Simon said, adding that he believes she was either the only investor or the only one to invest a substantial amount. Her million dollars was just spent on their efforts to solicit other people and (for) their salaries, expenses and lifestyles, he said. The suit alleged that Willems and San leased a large office villa in Phnom Penh and the two started driving a Toyota Tundra and Lexus SUV. At a shareholders meeting several months after her initial investment, Eng inquired about Akras progress and was told both Siv and San had resigned, the suit said. She also was told that Akra had yet to start operations but was negotiating various agreements. Realizing that nothing of consequence was happening, Eng demanded her money back but was refused, the suit said. Besides fraud, Eng has alleged in her lawsuit violations of state and federal securities laws and breach of fiduciary duty. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Alamo City really wants to break bad. Or, at least, city officials want a fictional character to do so in a runaway hit movie or a television show set and filmed in San Antonio, one similar to the AMC blockbuster featuring a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher turned violent methamphetamine drug lord. Breaking Bad, shot in Albuquerque, N.M., boosted that citys economy to the tune of $70 million over the six seasons it was produced there, Mayor Richard Berry told Marketplace in 2014. Wed like to have a Breaking Bad here, said Debbie Racca-Sittre, interim director of San Antonios Department for Culture and Creative Development. That just really blew them (Albuquerque) away to have something like that and kept people working for a long time. Cities are increasingly throwing tax incentives and other perks at filmmakers in a bid to attract high-profile productions that showcase their city and provide stable employment. The Savannah Economic Development Authority in Georgia launched a $4.5 million local incentive program last year a response to the Atlanta areas ability to snag productions like Marvel Studios Captain America: Civil War, AMCs Halt and Catch Fire and the Walking Dead series, as well as FXs Atlanta. But San Antonio lacks the infrastructure the production facilities and technical expertise needed to support major Hollywood productions, Racca-Sittre said. Yet the little bit of film work done in the city has produced good returns. The estimated economic impact of the citys production industry for the past three years totaled almost $50.7 million, according to a snapshot by Steve Nivin, chief economist for the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In Austin, which has film facilities and production crews, the industry generates an estimated $280 million annually, according to a 2011 study. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan told Vulture magazine he initially wanted Walter Whites saga to play out in Riverside, California, but New Mexico offered Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the series, a 25 percent tax rebate on production costs to make the show in Albuquerque. Though the Texas Film Commission offers a similar rebate of almost 23 percent, it recently cut its funding for the film industry. Lawmakers against the wishes of Gov. Greg Abbott cut funds to the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program from $95 million during the two-year period ending in 2015 to $32 million for 2016 and 2017 a 66 percent drop. Projects funded by the state film commission created an economic impact of $1.3 billion over a five-year period ending in 2012, according to a 2014 study conducted by the IC Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. The Texas Film Commission didnt immediately have comment. More Information Movies made in San Antonio Though major films now rarely film here, filmmakers have picked the Alamo City to stage their production in the past. These movies were at least partially shot in San Antonio. "Spy Kids" and "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams": 2000 and 2002. Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez "My All-American": 2015. Written and directed by Angelo Pizzo "Syriana": 2005. Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan "Miss Congeniality": 2000. Directed by Donald Petrie; written by Marc Lawrence, Katie Ford and Caryn Lucas "Selena": 1997. Written and directed by Gregory Nava "Pee-wee's Big Adventure": 1985. Directed by Tim Burton; written by Phil Hartman, Paul Reubens and Michael Varhol "The Newton Boys": 1998. Directed by Richard Linklater; written by Linklater and Clark Lee Walker "All the Pretty Horses": 2000. Directed by Billy Bob Thornton; written by Ted Tally "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls": 1995. Written and directed by Steve Oedekerk "Wings": 1927. Directed by William A. Wellman; written by Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton Source: San Antonio Film Commission See More Collapse That took a huge, huge bite out of the industry here in Texas, said Fernando Cano, San Antonio Film Society president. And San Antonio already has lost out to New Mexico. The NBC series Night Shift takes place at a fictional military hospital in San Antonio, but the show is primarily filmed in Albuquerque. An agent representing executive producers Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah did not respond to a request for a comment, but Sachs and Judah previously told the Express-News that New Mexicos tax incentives and established sets and crews made production there more viable. The accountants that run the whole thing didnt care what city it was shot in, Cano said. Tired of being passed over for major productions, San Antonio leaders and local filmmakers held a series of community meetings this year to look at making the Alamo City more film-friendly. That resulted in City Councils unanimous vote Thursday to implement a five-year strategic plan to boost film and television production here by beefing up incentives, updating the San Antonio Film Commissions duties, aggressively marketing the city to filmmakers, and assessing the citys film and television workforce needs. We want to have an industry that creates jobs for people in San Antonio so they dont have to go to L.A. or even to Austin to work, Racca-Sittre said. Film and television in San Antonio, by the numbers Under the plan, San Antonio will no longer have to wait for the state to pony up incentive funds to provide its own. The city will provide a tax rebate to production studios that reimburses at least 7.5 percent of costs for films, shows and other visual media shot here, up from its previous rebate of 2.5 percent. Racca-Sittre said her department currently has about $700,000 to spend on incentives, much of it left from years when the state film commission didnt dole out funds to projects made locally. A hit like Breaking Bad wont come to San Antonio overnight. Leaders want at least two $10 million film and television projects made here within the next five years, but Racca-Sittre said the city will initially look for productions in the $1 million to $3 million range until it has adequate resources to prop up larger productions. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. We cant support them right now, but we will build up to those larger films, Racca-Sittre said. Part of it is just building the film culture here. Its unclear how the citys efforts will be impacted if state legislators opt not to replace incentive funds that were cut in 2015, a sticking point for many filmmakers whod like to produce films and television shows in the Lone Star State. Jackie Earle Haley, an Academy Award-nominated actor who lives in San Antonio, said his 2015 directorial debut, Criminal Activities, moved from Detroit to Cleveland after the Buckeye State offered to foot almost 15 percent of the crime movies production costs, which the actor-director characterized as a big deal. Haley currently in production on the Robert Rodriguez-helmed movie Alita: Battle Angel, being filmed in Austin said he enjoys being able to work on a major production in relative proximity to his home but that studios ultimately want to get the best bang for their buck. If I were producing something and I had a $6 or $7 million budget like we did on Criminal Activities, even as much as I would love to do it here, I would go someplace that I could get a bigger incentive, Haley said. Thats just business. jfechter@express-news.net Twitter: @JFreports This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Cruz Ortiz knows a thing or two about ganas. The Houston-born, San Antonio-based artist has frequently used the word Spanish for desire or drive as a call to action, emblazoning it in his signature wonky text on various works over the years. Now Ortiz is using it to drum up support among Latino voters for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, or as he often refers to her, La Hillary. Ortiz is one of a handful of artists from across the country tapped to create original artworks for display online and at events to represent specific demographics targeted by Hillary for America, Clintons official campaign organization. His design a flag with ganas printed under a series of nesting right angles that form an abstract arrow pointing upward is currently featured on a micro-site for the Latinos for Hillary coalition. The online version is animated, so the flag ripples as if blown by the wind. Others enlisted for the ongoing project include nationally known artists Jenny Holzer, known for large-scale public art installations featuring words and ideas; Carrie Mae Weems, known for her photographic works exploring issues in the African-American community; and Cat Mazza, known for works that combine digital media and textiles. The artists were offered stipends to cover the cost of materials, but they were not paid for the artworks. They gave me a list (of artists) a while back, and I was just like jaw dropped, said Ortiz, who runs Snake Hawk Press, a design business, on the South Side, and exhibits his work in galleries and museums. I was like Whaaa? Yall want to what? I was immediately freaking out. Jennifer Kinon, digital design director for Hillary for America, said she talked to curators across the country to come up with a list of artists who could create visual representations for different coalitions. Works by Weems, Holzer and Mazza are featured on the micro-sites for, respectively, African-Americans, women and labor. Instead of using conventional graphic design, we wanted it to be much more narrative and much more personal, so we wanted to turn it over to artists who have spent their lifetime dealing with identity in America, who have very keen points of view on policy and who themselves are almost activists through their visual work, Kinon said. Ortizs initial design for the Clinton campaign featured his take on the candidates logo an H with an arrow forming the center bar of the letter. It was rejected. They (said) No, we dont want that. That looks like you were given an assignment, Ortiz said. And Im like, What do yall need from me then? Theyre like We want you to make your artwork but relevant to this. He was encouraged to create a piece that was more in keeping with the works he makes for exhibition. Ortiz then came up with the flag design, which also references Native American and African American quilts as a subtle reminder of the diversity among Latinos. Like Ortizs piece, the other artists works do not overtly reference Clinton. The coalition artist collaborations resulted in very personal pieces, Kinon said. (Clintons) not the focus of the art; her vision for America is. Art and politics Mixing art and politics isnt new. Perhaps the best known example of late is street artist Shepard Faireys stencil portrait of Barack Obama with the word Hope underneath, which became a phenomenon in the months leading up to the 2008 presidential election. Rene Paul Barilleaux, curator of contemporary art at the McNay Art Museum, reaches farther back, citing pop artist Andy Warhols VOTE McGOVERN from 1972. The screen print features a portrait of Richard Nixon, his face in mossy green and blue against a bright orange background. I see Cruz, and other artists enlisted by the Clinton campaign, as part of this tradition, Barilleaux said via email. The big question is, will these works of art reach the wider audience outside the art world? I hope so, because visual images have enormous power and can communicate on levels that are different from words, and to different audiences. While the most prominent examples of works created in support of a candidate have been for Democrats, there isnt an inherent connection between artists and the party, said Grace Aneiza Ali, founder and editorial director of Of Note, an online magazine focused on global artists using the arts as catalysts for activism and social change. In fact, I think an artist who is confronting political issues perhaps has a strong default position to avoid categorizations and silos, Ali said via email. The combination may not be new, but it is relatively recent, said Susan Noyes Platt, a Seattle-based art historian, curator and author of Art and Politics Now: Cultural Activism in a Time of Crisis. Ever since the McCarthy era, artists have avoided politics in mainstream art, Platt said. For decades they were told by professors in art school to avoid them. That point of view persisted up to the 1960s, when many artists began to create political art as a second aspect of their work. Usually it was very successful and famous artists who were able to critique the Vietnam War. And they frequently declared that this was not really their art, but their politics. Neither the Trump campaign nor Giles-Parscale, the San Antonio-based firm in charge of website development and digital consulting services for the Republican candidate, responded to requests for comment. But at least one pro-Trump art show recently made headlines. Earlier this month, the provocative #DaddyWillSave Us exhibit opened in New York featuring works by Breitbart News senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos and pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli. Start the presses For Ortiz, art and activism are almost inseparable. Even the equipment he uses has a history in San Antonio politics. Ortiz, 43, started Snake Hawk Press about two years ago after teaching art at Lee High School for 15 years. He and his employees use vintage equipment to produce hand-pulled prints, including a press Ortiz purchased from Munguia Printers. Under Ruben Munguia, the legendary West Side shop helped launch the careers of many local Democrats, including the late Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, before it closed in 2007. Thats one of the huge generators for me doing politically based work community work that I still use that machine he used to produce (materials for) Henry B. Gonzalez, all these guys from the (Rio Grande) Valley, Ortiz said. The 60s and 70s Democrats were all printed at Munguia Printers. An unabashed typography lover, Ortiz has drawers full of old letterpress blocks in various fonts. If one is missing from a set, he will carve a replacement himself. And, yes, Ortiz is aware he could use a computer graphics application to get the look of letterpress without the fuss, but he prefers to do things the old school way. We set the type, make 10 prints, let those dry, he said, describing the process. Once thats dry, then we scan it in (to the computer) and we do all our stuff on Illustrator. From the converted storage shed that houses the business, Cruz has done work for nationally known brands including bottle art for Absolut Vodka and a special edition San Antonio Spurs pizza box for Papa Johns. A lot of brands are starting to understand the importance of human interaction, he said. Ortiz has a small studio inside Snake Hawk Press where he paints at an easel. Finished pieces lean against the walls. The subject of many of his recent paintings is a mustachioed Tex-Mex cowboy, the evolution of Spaztek, a hard luck Chicano everyman character that has figured in Ortizs work for years. The images are often accompanied by Spanglish lyrics and phrases. In addition to works on paper and canvas, Ortiz does installation art, performance and video. His work has been exhibited at Artpace in San Antonio and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and featured in a traveling exhibition organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Much of Ortizs work is infused with a quirky, offbeat humor, but he is very serious about politics. A look around his work space quickly reveals where his sympathies lie. There is a stack of blue Vote La Hillary stickers on a work bench while a cubby shelf stocked with posters includes one of a smirking Donald Trump with a Spanish pejorative printed underneath. Earlier this year, he made prints and gear for the Texas Democratic Convention in San Antonio. He also created images in support of Democrats Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Puttes bids for state office in 2014 and for Obamas presidential campaign in 2008. I know theres a lot of artists who see that being involved in that kind of work might damage their (careers), he said. For me, I just thought You know what? Whatever. Ortiz believes that art can reach people in a way that traditional political signs and posters cannot. Were numb to that already, he said. If Im going to the Quarry and I see that wall of signs I cant even read it. Theres so many font violations that its hard for me to even look. lsilva@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Long before her Texas sagas of love, betrayal, ambition and drama swept across bestseller lists, San Antonio author Leila Meacham was a teacher whose teenage students kept sneaking slim paperbacks into class. It was 1982. A craze for romance novels had taken hold. Meacham didnt get it. She found the conflicts between protagonists unplausible, so a friend bet her dinner at the San Francisco Steak House that she could write a better romance if she tried. Meacham took the dare one summer vacation. She ended up publishing three romances Ryans Hand, Alys House and Crowning Design. It turned out that Meacham didnt much care for deadlines or the pressure of a publishing contract, though. In those days it was a three-book contract, Meacham said. I was such a novice I had no idea I could say no. She set writing aside and continued teaching. In 2010, the by-now-retired Meacham hit bestseller lists with Roses, a 600-page epic set on an East Texas plantation. Meacham seemed to have come from nowhere a classic overnight success story as a septuagenarian. She followed Roses with more thick page turners, Tumbleweeds, Somerset and Titans, published in April. It wasnt enough for her readers some of them hunted down Meachams 1980s paperbacks, too. Copies of those out-of-print books started selling for hundreds to thousands of dollars online. I was shocked the first time somebody called me and told me the price of these things, Meacham said. Her publisher, Grand Central Publishing, took notice. This year, it started releasing her paperback romances after a 30-year absence. Ryans Hand was published in July. Alys House came out last week. Crowning Design publishes in January. I wouldnt write like that now, Meacham said. The smooch scenes I wouldnt do. But she reread them for the first time in 30 years and figured they could stand on their own, warts and all. I thought to myself, Well I didnt do too bad a job. I dont need to wear a mask, Meacham said. In a note at the start of Ryans Hand, she writes, I ask only that you read with the understanding that at the time of their creation, I did not know what in the world I was doing. Many things have changed in Meachams second time around as a writer, including working without a contract. One of the benefits of age is the ability to do things her own way. She writes on her own schedule and offers the books to her publisher when shes finished, and then they hammer out details. I dont sign contracts. I just write. I dont do well under the pressure of deadlines. I dont need a deadline, Meacham said. She starts writing by 8:30 a.m. and spends most of the day at it, although theres usually a nap tucked into her schedule. I just wing it. I really do. I dont work with an outline at all, Meacham said. I think I like the thrill of discovery. Its like being on a road youve never been on before. You make new discoveries. I learn about the characters as I go. None of her characters are based on real people, but the recently released Titans, about a cattle and oil family, is the book that treads the closest to home. Meacham grew up in West Texas and graduated from Wink High School, where Roy Orbison was a classmate. Her dad was a wildcat driller who worked for legendary oilman Sid Richardson. I did not want to write about cattle and oil because I knew about it, Meacham said. Her agent convinced her the material was too good to avoid. Meacham agonized over getting the details just right, knowing her childhood friends would know if she made a mistake. I just squeezed my eyes and held my breath when it came out, Meacham said. You want to be know as a writer with accurate research. Meacham is currently 200 pages into her next book and getting ready for a research trip to Paris. Her new novel is about five strangers who meet while serving in the Office of Strategic Services in France in 1942. Its historical fiction, but not a saga she wanted a departure from that format. Shell finish the book next year and it will publish in 2018, Meacham said. She added, If they buy it. jhiller@express-news.net Twitter: @Jennifer_Hiller Half a century ago, Bob Dylan shocked the music world by plugging in an electric guitar and alienating folk purists. For decades he continued to confound expectations, selling millions of records with dense, enigmatic songwriting. Now, Dylan, the poet laureate of the rock era, has been rewarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature, an honor that elevates him into the company of T.S. Eliot, Gabriel GarcMuez, Toni Morrison and Samuel Beckett. Dylan, 75, is the first musician to win the award, and his selection Thursday is perhaps the most radical choice in a history stretching back to 1901. In choosing a popular musician for the literary worlds highest honor, the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, dramatically redefined the boundaries of literature, setting off a debate about whether song lyrics have the same artistic value as poetry or novels. Some prominent writers celebrated Dylans literary achievements, including Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates and Salman Rushdie, who called Dylan the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition, adding, Great choice. But others called the academys decision misguided and questioned whether songwriting, however brilliant, rises to the level of literature. Bob Dylan winning a Nobel in Literature is like Mrs. Fields being awarded 3 Michelin stars, novelist Rabih Alameddine wrote on Twitter. This is almost as silly as Winston Churchill. Jodi Picoult, a best-selling novelist, snarkily asked, Im happy for Bob Dylan, #ButDoesThisMeanICanWinAGrammy? Many musicians praised the choice with a kind of awe. On Twitter, Rosanne Cash,the songwriter and daughter of Johnny Cash, wrote simply: Holy mother of god. Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize. But some commentators bristled. Two youth-oriented websites, Pitchfork and Vice, both ran columns questioning whether Dylan was an appropriate choice for the Nobel. As the writer of classics of folk and protest songs like Blowin in the Wind and The Times They Are a-Changin, as well as Top 10 hits including Like a Rolling Stone, Dylan is an unusual Nobel winner. The first American to win the prize since Morrison in 1993, he is studied by Oxford dons and beloved by presidents. Yet instead of appearing at the standard staid news conference arranged by a publisher, Dylan was in Las Vegas on Thursday for a performance at a theater there. By late afternoon, Dylan had not commented on the honor. Dylan has often sprinkled literary allusions into his music and cited the influence of poetry on his lyrics, and has referenced Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine and Ezra Pound. He has also published poetry and prose, including his 1971 collection, Tarantula, and Chronicles: Volume One, a memoir published in 2004. His collected lyrics from 1961-2012 are due out on Nov. 1 from Simon & Schuster. Literary scholars have long debated whether Dylans lyrics can stand on their own as poetry, and an astonishing volume of academic work has been devoted to parsing his music. The Oxford Book of American Poetry included his song Desolation Row, in its 2006 edition, and Cambridge University Press released The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan in 2009, further cementing his reputation as a brilliant literary stylist. Billy Collins, the former U.S. poet laureate, argued that Dylan deserved to be recognized not merely as a songwriter, but as a poet. Most song lyrics dont really hold up without the music, and they arent supposed to, Collins said in an interview. Bob Dylan is in the 2 percent club of songwriters whose lyrics are interesting on the page even without the harmonica and the guitar and his very distinctive voice. I think he does qualify as poetry. In giving the literature prize to Dylan, the Nobel committee may also be recognizing that the gap has closed between high art and more commercial creative forms. Its literature, but its music, its performance, its art, its also highly commercial, said David Hajdu, a music critic for The Nation who has written extensively about Dylan and his contemporaries. The old categories of high and low art, theyve been collapsing for a long time, but this is it being made official. In previous years, writers and publishers have grumbled that the prize often goes to obscure writers with clear political messages over more popular figures. But in choosing someone so well known, and so far outside of established literary traditions, the academy seems to have swung far into the other direction, bestowing prestige on a popular artist who already had plenty of it. Its not the first time it has stretched the definition of literature. In 1953, Winston Churchill received the prize, in part as recognition of the literary qualities of his soaring political speeches and brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values, according to the academy. And many were surprised last year, when the prize went to Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich, whose deeply reported narratives draw on oral history. In its citation, the Swedish Academy credited Dylan with having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. Sara Danius, a literary scholar and the permanent secretary of the 18-member academy, which awards the prize, called Dylan a great poet in the English-speaking tradition and compared him to Homer and Sappho, whose work was delivered orally. Asked if the decision to award the prize to a musician signaled a broadening in the definition of literature, Danius responded, The times they are a-changing, perhaps. Dylan, whose original name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, was born on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. He emerged on the New York music scene in 1961 as an artist in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, singing protest songs and strumming an acoustic guitar in clubs and cafes in Greenwich Village. But from the start, Dylan stood out for dazzling lyrics and an oblique songwriting style that made him a source of fascination for artists and critics. In 1963, the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart with a version of Blowin in the Wind, whose ambiguous refrains evoked Ecclesiastes. Within a few years, Dylan was confounding the very notion of folk music, with ever more complex songs and moves toward a more rock n roll sound. In 1965, he played with an electric rock band at the Newport Folk Festival, provoking a backlash from fans who accused him of selling out. After reports of a motorcycle accident in 1966 near his home in Woodstock, New York, Dylan withdrew further from public life but remained intensely fertile as a songwriter. His voluminous archives, showing his working process through thousands of pages of songwriting drafts, were acquired this year by institutions in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His 1975 album Blood on the Tracks was interpreted as a supremely powerful account of the breakdown of a relationship, but just four years later the Christian themes of Slow Train Coming divided critics. His most recent two albums were chestnuts of traditional pop that had been associated with Frank Sinatra. Since 1988, Dylan has toured almost constantly, inspiring an unofficial name for his itinerary, the Never Ending Tour. Last weekend, he played the first of two performances at Desert Trip, a festival in Indio, California, that also featured the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and other stars of the 1960s. He is scheduled to return Friday for the festivals second weekend. As the 60s wore on, Giles Harvey wrote in The New York Review of Books in 2010, Dylan grew increasingly frustrated with what he came to regard as the pious sloganeering and doctrinaire leftist politics of the folk milieu. He began writing a kind of visionary nonsense verse, in which the rough, ribald, lawless America of the countrys traditional folk music collided with a surreal ensemble of characters from history, literature, legend, the Bible, and many other places besides. Dylans many albums, which the Swedish Academy described as having a tremendous impact on popular music, include Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde on Blonde (1966), Blood on the Tracks (1975), Oh Mercy (1989), Time Out Of Mind (1997), Love and Theft (2001) and Modern Times (2006). His 38 studio albums have sold 125 million copies around the world. The academy added: Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound, and he is the object of a steady stream of secondary literature. Dylans many honors include Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, won a special Pulitzer Prize in 2008 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. The Nobel comes with a prize of 8 million Swedish kronor, or just over $900,000. The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work. Today, everybody from Bruce Springsteen to U2 owes Bob a debt of gratitude, President Barack Obama said at the medal ceremony. There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music. All these years later, hes still chasing that sound, still searching for a little bit of truth. And I have to say that I am a really big fan. _________ Alexandra Alter contributed reporting from New York. An appellate court ruled Thursday that the city of San Antonio and the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association must go to mediation to resolve a lawsuit over the constitutionality of a clause within a collective bargaining agreement. City Manager Sheryl Sculley said she was pleased by the 4th Court of Appeals recognition of the citys willingness to negotiate and that the fire union was ordered to come to the table. "This is progress for the city, our taxpayers and the fire personnel who work hard to serve the San Antonio community," Sculley said in a news release. Mayor Ivy Taylor said, Im glad our city staff and the SAPFFA will be working to get this process back on track. We want to find the right balance between compensating the life-saving efforts of our firefighters while protecting taxpayers. Chris Steele, president of the fire union, said hes not necessarily pleased with the order because the union is seeking victory. A district court judge has already ruled against the city in its lawsuit claiming that the evergreen clause in the collective-bargaining agreement, or CBA, is a violation of the Texas Constitution and public policy. The city appealed the judgment, and the 4th Court of Appeals has yet to rule on the matter, first insisting that the two sides begin mediation within the next 60 days. Our goal is that wed like to see the end of the lawsuit and start negotiations, Steele said. If the justices think mediation will help, the union is willing to try, Steele said. But finding middle ground may be tricky. It's hard for us to see we believe the evergreen is constitutional, he said. He asserted that the city, too, believes that the evergreen clause is constitutional because its included in a new CBA between the city and the San Antonio Police Officers Association. Both of the public-safety union contracts expired on Sept. 30, 2014. But much of the agreements, save wage increases, is kept intact for up to 10 years while new contracts are being negotiated. The city and SAPOA agreed this summer to an eight-year evergreen clause. Steele has repeatedly said that the fire union will not negotiate as long as the city continues its lawsuit over the evergreen clause. SAPOA President Mike Helle said the same thing leading up to when his union and the city entered court-ordered mediation this summer. When the two sides emerged after a few meetings, they announced that theyd struck a deal on a new contract. But theyd also been negotiating off and on since before the last contract expired in 2014. The fire union has yet to begin its own negotiations. We wish them the best of luck and hopefully they can come to a conclusion quickly, Helle said Thursday. Its unclear exactly what will happen in the coming weeks. Steele said he was confident that the two sides could easily agree on a mediator to handle the case. But he also said he wants the mediation sessions to be open to the public. "I do want everybody to be there, he said. I'm never good with trying to do these things behind closed doors." Jeff Coyle, the citys chief spokesman, said thats impossible. By law, mediation is a confidential process, he said, adding that the city has asked the union for three years to begin negotiations, which are held in public. We will approach mediation the same way we approached it with the police union: with an open mind and willingness to consider all the issues, he said in a text message to the San Antonio Express-News. By law, mediation is one of the ways that collective bargaining agreements can be negotiated. jbaugh@express-news.net Twitter: @jbaugh This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Wheatley Courts public housing development is long gone, its cinder blocks and one-way street signs wiped away from the East Side. The spartan housing complex, built in 1941, lacked central air conditioning, which forced residents to rely on window units or to go without. Clotheslines dotted the landscape. Grass was worn away in many places, exposing unsightly patches of dirt. The hard surfaces of the cinder block walls inside made decorating a challenge. In all those years I lived there, I never put a picture on my wall, recalled Gloria Gonzales, 55, who called Wheatley Courts home for 10 years. But, remarkably, 66 of the 201 families who moved out of Wheatley Courts so the buildings could be torn down in 2014 have applied to return and live in the more modern housing built in its place. Today, the San Antonio Housing Authority and developer McCormack Baron Salazar will formally unveil the first phase of that new residential development, known as East Meadows, which spans several city blocks and is considered significant for the East Sides transformation. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio, is expected to attend. The new apartments will house people of diverse income levels those paying market-rate rents, others who qualify to live in apartments built with the help of tax credits and some who rely on public housing. The first families are expected to move in by the end of this month or early November. Its part of a vast urban renewal effort to make the long-neglected East Side a desirable place to live, work and interact. Backed by a $29.7 million Choice Neighborhood grant from HUD and a $24.6 million Promise Neighborhood grant from the U.S. Department of Education, community leaders set out to improve the neighborhoods housing, education, employment opportunities, recreational amenities, public infrastructure and safety. Those efforts have energized the community. Among the former Wheatley Courts residents who are returning is LaShawn Roberson, 41, a single mother who has lived on the East Side most of her life. I want to move back because its the place I call home, Roberson said Thursday. I love the community I want to be a part of the revitalization as well. I want people to know that were not just low-income people moving back, she said. We are re-energized. We are ready to embrace the new community. And were committed to being involved and aware. We want to keep our community safe, clean and crime-free. We are all so ready for this. Its like it has pushed a restart button on us as well, Roberson said. Unlike Wheatley Homes, the East Meadows apartments will be equipped with central air conditioning, dishwashers, microwaves, ceiling fans and other amenities. Gonzales, another single mother who applied to move back, is excited about those new fixtures. But she also looks forward to returning because shes missed the neighborhoods close proximity to bus stops and grocery stores. She didnt have a car for the entire decade she lived at Wheatley Courts, but said she always had ready access to the places she needed to go. Im ready to go back, Gonzales said. Its very unusual for so many families to return to a residential property rebuilt by a housing authority, said Christine Drennon, a Trinity University sociology professor conducting impact studies on the investments of federal dollars into the East Side. Its a completely new model for them. There were some very long-term residents. And all of their social ties are through their neighborhoods. And thats exactly whos coming back, said Drennon, who directs Trinity Universitys urban studies program. Over the years, the neighborhood deteriorated as government dollars and private investments went elsewhere, Drennon said. That neglect must be corrected, she argued. We cant just abandon entire parts of our city, Drennon said Thursday. We cant just walk away. As a society and as a city, we have an economic, social and moral obligation to look at some of the mistakes we made over the last 100 years of local, state and federal policy and figure out how were going to right it. Families or tenants who lived in the now-demolished Wheatley Courts and wish to return to live in East Meadows will be given priority over others who may express interest in the property, the housing authority said. Those who return will give up the portability of their housing choice vouchers, which allow them to live anywhere that landlords are willing to accept such subsidies. The first phase of East Meadows being unveiled today is a $41.7 million development containing 215 apartments. It will include a park, a playground, a swimming pool, a 24-hour fitness center and other amenities. BiblioTech is expected to open another digital library there early next year. VIA Metropolitan Transit now offers a direct bus route from the East Meadows to St. Philips College. Previously, Wheatley Courts residents had to take three different buses to get to the college less than two miles away, said Timothy Alcott, the San Antonio Housing Authoritys development services and neighborhood revitalization officer. In an area spanning 21/2 blocks next to East Meadows, the housing authority also purchased 36 residences on single-family lots, Alcott said. All of those houses were bulldozed except for one. The cleared land will be the site of East Meadows next phase, which will contain 117 apartments. The sole house left standing will be rehabilitated for nonprofit use. Work has begun on another building that will contain 80 apartments for seniors. Half of those units will be public housing, while the other half will be reserved for seniors of certain income levels because they were built with the help of tax credits. New streets and sidewalks were poured. CPS Energy provided 145 trees being planted along the public streets surrounding the former Wheatley Courts site. Also being installed are 76 new streetlights. The housing authority also purchased some vacant lots nearby where about 40 single-family homes will be built, Alcott said. And the agency donated a 2-acre tract of land so Bexar Countys University Health System could build a new health clinic on the East Side. A formal event celebrating that new health care facility will happen later this month. I think its important that we actually do develop in this area of town, Alcott said while walking through the East Meadows development this week. Because people do want to live here. Tresia Jones, 62, another former Wheatley Courts resident, said she would like to return once she finishes getting her GED. Shes living in another apartment complex about five minutes away and said moving back now would require her to take three different buses to get to her classes. She is excited about the changes taking place. Im really happy for the neighborhood, Jones said. Theyre tearing down old houses and building up all new things around. And its making people have more positive minds. WASHINGTON - John Podesta, the veteran Democratic political operative who has served two different presidents and is chairman of Hillary Clintons political campaign, has had a lousy week. Not only has the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks been publishing emails pirated from Podestas account earlier this year, but hackers penetrated his Twitter account and apparently wiped all the data from his iPhone and iPad. The breaches brought to the Clinton campaign an abject lesson in the insecurity of modern devices and the consequences of failing to adopt adequate computer security practices. RELATED: Read some of Hillary Clinton's emails that have been released: Matt Tait, chief executive of Capital Alpha Security, a security consultancy based in the United Kingdom, said activists from Anonymous, a loose global network of computer hackers with an anti-authoritarian bent, had bragged of targeting Podesta and wiping his devices remotely. What allowed the hackers to target Podesta was a single email from the thousands WikiLeaks has published in the past week. In that May 16, 2015, correspondence between Podesta and Eryn Sepp, his former special assistant at the White House, Podesta asked whether Sepp knew his Apple ID, which would allow access to his Apple accounts and devices. "I do," she responded, listing his Gmail address and his password: Runner4567. Within minutes of the posting of that batch of WikiLeaks emails Wednesday, Anonymous activists began exchanging queries. At 5:36 p.m. Germany time, one activist posted: "CAN we DO SOMetHING WITH AN APPLE ID?" Moments later, another Anonymous hacker with the moniker 4Chan "had found Podestas Apple creds and logged in for first time," Tait tweeted. Less than two hours later, a hacker with the collective wrote: "GUYS I F REQUESTED PASSWORD RESET FROM TWITTER FOR JOHN PODESTA." Another hacker posted below that, "IF ANYONE IS ACCESSING HIS EMAILS, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO S-POST ON HIS TWITTER." Later Wednesday evening, as Clinton landed in Las Vegas for a campaign event, a hacker got into Podestas Twitter account and tweeted in his name: "Ive switched teams. Vote Trump 2016. Hi pol." Within a short period of time the tweet was deleted. Clintons traveling press secretary, Nick Merrill, confirmed the hack, "which would explain that message. And we are working on fixing it." Technologists quickly speculated that Podesta used the same password for his Apple account and his Twitter account, which security experts say is a no-no. "Dollars to donuts, his Twitter account password was Runner4567, like his Gmail account," tweeted Chris Soghoian, a senior policy analyst on technology for the American Civil Liberties Union. By Thursday morning, Tait was harvesting screen shots from Anonymous activists showing that they had remotely erased all content from his iPhone and iPad. "V cruel," Tait tweeted. Neither Podesta nor a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Josh Schwerin, responded to emails asking for confirmation of the data loss. Podesta, 67, is no innocent when it comes to security matters. A Georgetown University-educated lawyer, he served as the chief of staff to President Bill Clinton in the 1990s and as counselor to President Barack Obama in 2014 and 2015. Apple allows a user who controls an account to remotely wipe clean any of his or her devices that may have been stolen or fallen into the wrong hands. The Clinton campaign has protested the hack of some 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee as the handiwork of Russian government-backed hackers, an accusation that U.S. intelligence agencies supported last Friday. Those emails, along with Podestas personal emails, found their way into the hands of WikiLeaks. But Podestas travails Thursday did not come at the hands of sophisticated Russian state hackers. Rather, Podesta himself was apparently lax on basic computer security measures. Like many computer users, he apparently did not use even minimal measures to thwart hackers, such as employing distinct passwords for different accounts or using two-step authentication, an extra layer of security in which a user receives an additional code as a mobile phone text message or by other means that is required before successfully logging on. Security experts say reusing passwords facilitates the work of hackers. "Every time you reuse that password somewhere else, its value drops 50 percent," said Joe Siegrist, vice president of LastPass, a password management product of Logmein.com, a Boston-headquartered software and cloud management company. 2016 McClatchy Washington Bureau Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at www.mcclatchydc.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. San Antonio now has eight new sites certified by the National Park Service as points along El Camino Real de los Tejas, a federally recognized historic kings highway dating to Spanish rule. The certification allows for signs and other historic interpretation at La Villita, the Medina River Natural Area and other places along a network of trails used for cattle drives, commerce and early travel when San Antonio was a village on the Texas frontier. El Camino Real, designated by Congress in 2004, is one of 19 national historic trails, said Aaron Mahr, superintendent of the NPS National Trails Inter-Mountain Region Office in New Mexico. What makes it particularly unique is that its not just an American trail, but its an international trail. It is something that ties Mexico and the United States and Spain together, in common history and common heritage. And nowhere is that better demonstrated than here in San Antonio, Mahr said. Although most of the city-owned sites are in or near downtown, two are on the South Side, while one, Comanche Lookout Park, is on the Northeast Side. The park is on a hill by the trail, which was traveled by Native Americans, Spanish missionaries and settlers. Councilman Michael Gallagher, whose district includes the park, said the Daughters of the American Revolution had begun placing markers along the trail, also known as the Old San Antonio Road, in 1915. Unfortunately, as time has passed, highways have expanded and roads have been built up as well as other developments, a lot of those markers have disappeared, and we dont want to lose that kind of history, Gallagher said. News of the certification was announced Thursday for Archaeology Month, which runs through October. It includes Archaeology Day, a free, family-friendly event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Mission San Jose. City Archaeologist Kay Hindes said there are other potential Camino Real sites on private land that could be certified, providing a greater understanding of the trail, believed to have been blazed in the late 1600s. There are still areas where you can see the ruts of the trail. A lot of those are on private property, Hindes said. Many of our roads are literally on top of those original trails, she added. If youre driving Nacogdoches Road, youre following that path that those early explorers came on. All five routes that make up the Camino Real network in Texas converge in the San Antonio area, which has about 2,200 archaeological sites, including the Alamo and four federally run missions that make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site, City Manager Sheryl Sculley said. The trail helped to transform a provincial settlement into an urban hub that is now the seventh-largest city in America, and thats pretty amazing, Sculley said. shuddleston@express-news.net Twitter: @shuddlestonSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The incoming Legislature will attempt to relieve the property tax burden on Texans, but depending on their approach, they could be in for a titanic struggle with cities and counties that oppose revenue caps. In a town hall meeting on property tax issues Thursday night, the notion of legislative limits on property tax revenues that fund schools, cities and counties drew support from a GOP lawmaker and a conservative policy analyst. Arguing against the concept were county and city officials who warned of problems if theres less local control of government income. Panelists also tossed around the idea of the state eliminating property taxes in favor of a heftier sales taxes, a conservative proposal that drew support from County Judge Nelson Wolff. But Wolff said short of such a drastic reform, theres not much to be gained by legislative tinkering that nibbles around the edges of the problem: Ever-rising valuations prompting higher tax bills. The town hall meeting, co-sponsored by the Express-News, University of Texas at San Antonio and Spectrum News, came on the same day that Bexar County residents were receiving the 2016 tax bills in the mail. Although Bexar County slightly reduced its tax rate to offset rising valuations, tax collections will still increase. Joining Wolff on the panel were Texas Municipal League President Mary M. Dennis, mayor of Live Oak; state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels; and Texas Public Policy Foundation local government scholar James Quintero. Campbell, an ally of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, said Texans can be assured that lawmakers will address these and other tax issues when they convene in January. Since late 2015, a select Senate committee has been holding hearings around the state to explore proposals that would impact property tax revenues. When we are looking at how we can decrease the tax burden on us Texans, all the tools in the toolbox need to be out there, Campbell said. Though adding to the sales tax causes some unease, I like that everybody pays, Campbell said. As the discussion proceeds, however, the complexity of taxation causes problems because the system is opaque and convoluted, Quintero said. Speaking for municipalities, Dennis said theyd be hurt by some of the proposed changes. We should be looking at taxes, not blaming cities, Dennis said. Wolff said Bexar County, like others, is swimming under unfunded or underfunded state mandates that would be harder to burden with revenue caps. Areas such as Medicaid, indigent defense, state inmate housing and other costs forced on the county by the state are soaring, Wolff said. Piecemeal remedies are never going to work right, said Wolff, who advocates closer scrutiny of school taxes, which make up the majority of most property tax bills. A briefing document prepared by Bexar County officials argued against revenue caps for multiple reasons beyond the loss of local control. The report said caps would statutorily allow the state to dictate local budget decisions and would hit high-growth communities struggling to meet demand for services the hardest. Counties already have an 8 percent revenue cap, or rollback rate, on property taxes and that works just fine, the county report said. It also suggested a shift in focus to better reform legislation that will strengthen truth in taxation laws to benefit taxpayers, namely school tax reform. jgonzalez@express-news.net Twitter: @johnwgonzalez U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was one of only four elected Republicans appearing at an event at the University of Texas at San Antonio on Friday to share his position on the GOP presidential nominee but the senator did so without once mentioning Donald Trumps name. Speaking at a news conference after a roundtable on veterans legislation, Cornyn said he supports the partys nominee, who is not my first choice. Cornyn said it was more a matter of respect to the voters who cast their ballots for him, that I feel an obligation to support the nominee. Other elected officials in attendance included Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau. Bush left the event before media availability, and Pamerleaus aide referred questions about politics to her campaign manager, who did not reply to a request for comment. Bushs assistant said he was not doing interviews Friday. Emails to his campaign werent returned. The Republican officials were asked to comment Friday about their current positions on the presidential candidate, in light of last weeks leaked audio in which he discussed groping women and this weeks accusations from multiple women that he sexually assaulted them. U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, stood next to Cornyn yet didnt share his own perspective on Trump and left before he could be asked directly. Hurd last week said in a statement that he would not support Trump in light of his comments about women. Hurd is being challenged by former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, in one of the most competitive congressional races in the country. National pundits have rated the race a toss-up. Pamerleau is seeking re-election against three other candidates, including San Antonio police Sgt. Javier Salazar, a Democrat. The avoidance by the GOP candidates may be the best path to take in this unconventional election cycle, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political scientist. He said Republican candidates have to walk a fine line between angering their base by distancing themselves from Trump and spurring Democrats to vote against them for supporting Trump. Theyre damned if they do and damned if they dont, Rottinghaus said via email. Not saying anything is the best strategy so that they can avoid the issue altogether. Rottinghaus added that Hurd has the most to lose from associating with Trump. Last week, Hurd issued a statement asking Trump to resign from the race. In the months prior, Hurd didnt endorse him but still faced criticism from Gallego and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has linked the Republican to the presidential nominee in campaign ads. This week, the president of the Republican Club of Bexar County sent the Hurd campaign a letter criticizing the freshman lawmaker for his stance on Trump and asking him to do more to support/endorse all of our local candidates. Pamerleau, also up for re-election, has avoided talking about Trump on prior occasions. During a debate with other sheriff candidates on the Texas Public Radio program The Source, Pamerleau said when asked about her position on Trump that hers is a local race on public safety. Bush, the son of former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, threw his support behind Trump in August, saying it was a bitter pill to swallow. Cornyn said hes optimistic for Senate and House races. He said his support of the GOP presidential nominee is an opportunity to nominate a conservative Supreme Court justice or to have Cabinet appointees who wont issue a stranglehold of regulations. The Republican Party is going to have to get their candidates the same hymnal so that they are singing the same song in harmony, Rottinghaus said. For Cornyn, its just a matter of making it through Election Day. The suns still going to come up on Nov. 9, he said. frahman@express-news.net @fauzeyar This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON Evangelical broadcaster Steve Deace got an email last week from someone trying to persuade him to vote for Donald Trump. Deace, a nationally syndicated conservative talk show host, asked him what the Word of God says. That challenge, Deace said, prompted his correspondent to call him the Devil using a smokescreen. In the week since Trump was revealed to have been caught on tape talking in vulgar terms about women, the debate among evangelicals has been intense, sparking a wave of reflection in churches and social media about how conservative Christians should vote on Nov. 8. Some of the loudest voices in the theological dispute have come from Texas, a state that anchors the Bible Belt. One belongs to Houston evangelist and author Beth Moore, whose tweets went viral this week after she called on Christian leaders to not dismiss the sexual objectification of women. Try to absorb how acceptable the disesteem and objectifying of women has been when some Christian leaders dont think its a big deal, Moore wrote on Sunday, 48 hours after news broke of the video. Others, notably Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, have gone on a media campaign to defend the Republican nominee as the only choice for conservative Christians. Im the first to admit that Trumps comments on that tape were lewd, offensive and indefensible, Jeffress said in an interview. But, in the end, the election is a binary choice between a pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-conservative justices on the Supreme Court candidate, and a candidate who embraces just the opposite. Some evangelicals undecided For Trump, the stakes in this clash of Christian ethics are enormous. Evangelicals one of the largest single blocs in the GOP coalition normally break heavily for the Republicans in national elections. An online poll released Tuesday put Trumps support among evangelicals at 55 percent. Although only about 2 percent would vote for Hillary Clinton, the rest said they may sit out the election or write in other candidates. Although Trump has a huge lead over Clinton among evangelicals, the most noteworthy finding in this regard is that more than four out of 10 evangelicals currently refuse to vote for either of those two candidates, said George Barna of the Barna polling organization. Nearly three out of 10 are presently undecided, making them the largest bloc of undecided votes still up for grabs. Matthew Wilson, a Southern Methodist University political scientist who studies religious voters, noted that white evangelical voters typically go 75-80 percent for Republican presidential candidates. Even with a bump in non-evangelical working-class whites, Wilson estimated Trump would need about two-thirds of the evangelical vote to win the White House. If the current numbers hold as Trump gets battered by a slew of new sexual misconduct allegations on top of the Access Hollywood video the GOP ticket is in trouble. Religious conservatives have been a huge part of the coalition that has produced a lot of Republican victories in the last 25 years, Wilson said. He has to get more than half of the votes of evangelicals. While the video clearly has damaged Trump, it only added to divisions already festering among Christian conservatives. In a widely-circulated blog post last February, evangelical author Max Lucado, a minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, chronicled Trumps litany of insults toward women, minorities, a war hero, a disabled reporter and his many primary opponents. Such insensitivities wouldnt be acceptable even for a middle school student body election, Lucado wrote. But for the Oval Office? And to do so while brandishing a Bible and boasting of his Christian faith? Trump still garnered a majority of the evangelical vote in every Super Tuesday primary state that he won. The character issue, however, gradually has forced Christian conservatives to take the measure of the man who is carrying their banner on abortion, same-sex marriage and Supreme Court appointments. Faced with a dilemma This has been my dilemma from the beginning of the election season, said Vivian Bush, a 38-year-old consultant in Houston who works part time for a Christian nonprofit and considers herself a Protestant evangelical. I look at the sum total of who Trump is and everything hes said and advocated for, and I cannot support him. However much Bush dislikes Trump, she will not vote for Clinton, with whom she disagrees on nearly every major issue, and whose character she also considers flawed. The dilemma has torn apart some of her friends in church and on Facebook. It's all over the place, Bush said, Sometimes it gets personal. It gets ugly. There are long-standing friendships being ripped apart by this, which is incredibly sad. For her part, Bush has decided to vote for Evan McMullin, an independent conservative who has been surging in deeply Republican Utah. Some of her friends also are looking at third-party candidates, if only to send a message. Humanly speaking, Bush said, this election is a lost cause. Faced with this skepticism in the pews, the Trump campaign has been encouraging the idea of rendering unto Caesar what is Caesars the formulation used by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. this week to justify his defense of the embattled billionaire. In a speech this week at Liberty University, Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed also implored Christians to vote for Trump, arguing that on issue after issue on matters involving grave and intrinsic moral evil, there are stark differences between the two major-party nominees for president. Reed, a member of Trump's evangelical advisory board, also urged students to confront the choice before us and vote for someone who actually has a chance to become president. Retreating to the stained-glass ghetto, he added, is not an option for followers of Christ. The Trump campaign also has fought back with surrogates, such as conservative pundit Pat Buchanan, who praised Trump in a campaign email for exposing the hypocrisy of liberal and secular celebrants of the 60s sexual revolution, who have suddenly gotten religion where Trump is involved. Former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski also promoted a blog post this week by David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, a service founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. Brody, writing of the GOP Holy War inside the evangelical community, raised the quasi-Talmudic distinction between voting for Trump and voting for a presumably conservative Trump presidency: Why? Simple. Evangelicals who will be voting for a Trump presidency do not condone his moral behavior. A host of Christian thinkers have weighed in on the other side, including James MacDonald, one of Trumps evangelical advisers and the mega-church pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois. MacDonald rocked the Trump campaign this week in an email to several other members of his faith council calling Trumps video remarks misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless. MacDonald followed up with a blog post Tuesday saying that while he is open to the possibility that Trump has changed, the strong consensus of a Sunday phone conference of council members was that Mr. Trumps words fell short of genuine repentance. He added, however, that I do not believe that Mr. Trump is worse than Hillary Clinton (who is less than believable as some modern Joan of Arc). For Jeffress, who also is on the advisory council, Trumps apology was good enough. He didnt put on sack cloth and ashes, but thats not Donald Trumps style, he said. He said he was sorry, that what he did was wrong. Putting their faith first Some evangelicals are urging their followers to put their faith ahead of their partisan preferences. In an editorial excoriating Trump, Christianity Today executive editor Andy Crouch warned of 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. That is the tack taken by longtime Trump associate Bob Vander Plaats, head of The Family Leader, an influential Christian group in Iowa. Vander Plaats, like Deace, endorsed Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucuses, earning some enmity from Trump. He now is calling for Trump to remove himself from the GOP ticket to focus on his family, to focus on defeating Hillary, and to focus on the country. Our ultimate goal, Vander Plaats said, is we dont want our testimony and our witness to be disqualified or compromised because of a candidate, a party, or an election. kevin.diaz@chron.com Ivy Taylors statement didnt seem particularly controversial. When the San Antonio mayor took to social media Tuesday to express her disappointment with more than a dozen on-duty police officers who let Donald Trump sucker them into wearing his Make America Great Again campaign caps, she merely was echoing what Police Chief William McManus already had said: The officers violated department policy and displayed poor judgment by appearing to endorse a political candidate. Even Mike Helle, president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, couldnt defend the officers actions, other than to say they were most likely caught up in the moment and did not consider the political nature of their actions. The cap debacle drew the wrong kind of national attention for San Antonio, so Taylor surely thought she had little choice but to weigh in on the issue. Her statement was brief, her words were measured and her points were indisputable. But the mayor encountered a surprising amount of hostility from Facebook followers who said they felt betrayed by her decision to criticize local police officers. The backlash underscored the fragility of Taylors winning 2015 coalition, and the fact that conservatives who rallied behind her in last years election dont really know her that well. To be sure, Taylor got a fair amount of support for her Tuesday statement, including more than 800 Facebook likes. It was stunning, however, to see how much vitriol she faced for what seemed like a no-brainer sentiment. From Richard Hunter: I am a Republican who supported and voted for you, never again. Youre just another Democrat hack. From Polly McDonald: Something tells me that if these were Hillary Clinton Im With Her signs or hats, we wouldnt be hearing from you on this topic. From Joel Leonardo Arroyo: I cant wait to vote you out. I will be recruiting people to vote for your opponent. Daniel Rodriguez wrote: Ivy, you wont get elected again!! I voted for you over Leticia Van de Putte. He added, Im extremely disappointed in you and for attacking good officers based on your hitlery choice. Apparently, Taylors hitlery choice is for Clinton, who Taylor has not endorsed. In fact, the mayor went out of her way last year to correct an erroneous Clinton campaign news release that included Taylor on a list of Texas supporters for Clintons presidential campaign. One Facebook responder, Maggie Hurley Felicella, even suggested Taylors post might incite local violence, stating: This is how riots have started in other cities. Terrence Jeffrey Johnson called Taylor a disgusting Hillary-loving HACK, and that was the nicest thing he said about her. Taylors statement landed in a cultural cauldron boiling over across the nation with anger over incidents of alleged police brutality against African-Americans, and with defiance from police officers who believe theyre being unfairly maligned. Trumps Nixonian calls for law and order have made it clear that he aligns himself with police officers, while Clintons nuanced position has shown sympathy for the Black Lives Matter protest movement. Of course, Taylors Facebook post had nothing to do with those issues, but it nonetheless was interpreted in that context. Many North Side conservatives rallied to Taylors side last year not because she had proven herself to be one of them, but because she was the one candidate on the runoff ballot not named Leticia Van de Putte. They liked the fact that Taylor voted against the 2013 nondiscrimination ordinance, and ignored the fact that two years earlier she voted in favor of benefits for domestic partners of city employees. They liked the fact that Taylor killed the ambitious downtown streetcar project, and ignored the fact she previously had voted in favor of it. By the same token, the police union gravitated to Taylor over the past few months because that allowed cops to make Taylor the hero of their collective-bargaining process and deny any credit to City Manager Sheryl Sculley, SAPOAs longtime nemesis. RELATED: Read the City of San Antonio's letter to Trump's campaign team from City Attorney Andrew Segovia in regards to the incident here. Tuesdays cap incident suggested that theres plenty of overlap between conservative Republicans and SAPOAs rank-and-file. Both groups will be important to Taylors re-election effort, and, ultimately, both of them probably will line up behind her next May. But Tuesday offered a hint that things could get bumpy. ggarcia@express-news.net Twitter: @gilgamesh470 Set in the hills to the south-east of Cumbernauld, Palacerigg Country Park is well signposted from the town centre road network. It is less than half an hour's drive from Glasgow, Motherwell, Stirling or Falkirk. Established in the early 1970s, Palacerigg has been developed around the objectives of conservation, environmental education and countryside recreation. More than 40 hectares of what was once a bleak upland farm have been planted with hundreds of thousands of native trees and shrubs. This new, sheltered environment provides a sanctuary for wildlife including thriving populations of roe deer, badger, fox and hare as well as sparrowhawk, kestrel, long-eared and short-eared owl. Maps More than 19,000 farm businesses right across Northern Ireland will receive advance CAP payments from Monday, Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen said today. Miss McIlveen said it is good news for farmers, as Northern Ireland is the first part of the United Kingdom to introduce advance payments. "We have done so because we understand their value to our farming community," the Minister said. Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen "I have long been aware that many farmers are facing significant challenges and, from the moment I was appointed, I was determined to introduce advance payments to help. "I am therefore pleased to announce that, from Monday, more than 19,000 farm businesses in all parts of Northern Ireland will receive 70% of their 2016 Basic Payment allocation. "Funds will arrive in bank accounts by Thursday (20 October). These advance payments should help ease some of the immediate pressures on farmers. '95 per cent by December 2016' The Minister said that her Department will aim to issue advance payments to 80% of eligible farm business with full payments being made to 95% of farmers by end of December 2016. She added: "Farmers who receive 70% of their Basic Payment this month will receive the remainder of their allocation in December 2016. "My Department is committed to making 95% complete payments by the end of December 2016." Miss McIlveen said the increase in the number of farmers who submitted their Single Application online in 2016 had help make advance payments possible. She said: "It is clear for all to see the advantages of submitting Single Applications online, with my decision to introduce advance payments. "This year 62% of farm businesses submitted their Single Application via the online system, an increase of 16% on 2015. "Submitting applications online allows my officials to spend less time checking and devote more resources into ensuring that more farmers receive full payment earlier," Miss McIlveen concluded. The Ulster Farmers Union has called for a greater drive to secure faster delivery of the Agri-Food Strategy Board (AFSB) plans for the future of the industry. UFU president, Barclay Bell, said more than three years after the first recommendations were made, Northern Ireland remained in danger of being out-performed in terms of vision by its competitors in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. I recognise that drawing up and then driving forward a plan for an entire industry is not easy," said Mr Bell at a meeting of farmers in Armagh. "But it is a challenge to which others have risen. "We cannot allow our ideas to end up bogged down by a lack of Government action to make them succeed." Farmers met in Armagh to hear the UFU talk agricultural issues He added that this was all the more important in the context of Brexit, and could be one of the key deciders of the success or otherwise of leaving the European Union. As things now stand we have a golden opportunity to significantly develop markets. "Thanks to the weakening of sterling, food export fortunes have improved dramatically and imports are much less attractive as our competitors in the eurozone for the UK market have taken a huge hit to their competitive position. "Now is when we should be pushing home that advantage and having a fully backed plan in place would allow us to really gain from these conditions, said Mr Bell. Backbone of the industry The UFU president added that one of the successes of the Strategy Board had been that it involved the entire industry. The focus, he said, had been on improvements in production, processing and selling, making it alarming and extremely disappointing that the Board Chairman had recently told the Assembly that Northern Ireland only needed 6000 farmers who could produce high volumes of food competitively on a global marketplace. We do not agree with this view, said Mr Bell. You cannot simply write off more than 20,000 farms in Northern Ireland. The family farming structure is the backbone of our industry, many smaller and part time farmers work very hard and still run efficient and profitable businesses. "They are not only essential to maintaining the environment and countryside people want to see but they are also an integral part of a successful local food chain," said Mr Bell. "If we had a properly functioning supply chain, which offered transparency, a serious commitment to address the NI/GB price differential, and where all partners are profitable this would inevitably strengthen our entire industry. "We believe it would be better to put the emphasis on the delivery of the AFSB's main theme of a single integrated supply chain rather than focusing on an arbitrary number of farmers," said Mr Bell. Retailer Co-op has launched a new 100% Scottish Ayrshire-style bacon made from Specially Selected Pork as part of its commitment to supporting Scottish farmers. The bacon is cured by hand and air-dried for up to 21 days to develop its unique signature flavour. Bearing the Specially Selected Pork approved by the Scottish SPCA label, to highlight the high welfare standard of pigs on Scottish farms, it is available to buy in 60 Co-op stores across the country. The pork used to produce the five bacon lines will be supplied from one of 12 farms located across North Aberdeenshire and Angus. The move comes as part of the Co-ops wider announcement to switch all its fresh bacon and lamb to 100% British, which will come into effect from 1 May 2017. 'Scottish customers want Scottish produce' Ben Grant, the Co-ops chilled goods buyer, said: We know that Scottish customers want to eat Scottish produce so were delighted to be able to launch this new range of Ayrshire bacon which consumers can enjoy, knowing it has been made exclusively from Scottish-reared pork. Being able to swap our existing bacon products to 100% Scottish pork provides further evidence of our commitment to supporting the nations farmers and gives shoppers another opportunity to buy home-grown products. The Scottish SPCA area inspector Fiona McKenzie, who attended the launch with pig farmer Patrick Stephen, welcomed the launch of the bacon. This is a very positive move which further demonstrates the extremely high standards of welfare on Scottish pig farms, said Ms McKenzie. Consumers purchasing Specially Selected Pork labelled as approved by the Scottish SPCA can be confident the product has been sourced from farms where the health and welfare of pigs is a top priority. Meanwhile Mr Stephen, from Conglass Farm, Inverurie, added: Scottish pig farmers are extremely proud of the Specially Selected Pork we produce which is reared in Scotland to standards which are second to none when it comes to animal husbandry and welfare. I look forward to other retailers seizing the opportunity to stock a brand which meets consumers requirements for provenance, quality assurance and taste. World-leading quality assurance schemes run by Quality Meat Scotland underpin the Scotch Beef PGI, Scotch Lamb PGI and Specially Selected Pork brands offering consumers the guarantee the meat they buy has come from animals that have spent their whole lives in Scotland and have been raised to high standards, including animal welfare. Sheep farmers must be on their guard against liver fluke this autumn, says Philip Skuce, a leading scientist at Moredun and part of the SCOPS Steering Group. He says: We are now approaching peak liver fluke season and, having experienced one of the mildest winters on record across the UK, followed by a very wet summer, some areas of the country are going to have a very high level of liver fluke this year. This is because this type of weather provides ideal conditions for the mud snails that are an essential host during part of the flukes lifecycle. However, it isnt going to be the same for everyone, Dr Skuce warns: Some parts of the UK have been very wet, particularly in the west, whereas others such as the south east have been relatively dry. As a result, NADIS has specifically forecast that liver fluke risk will be high in Scotland, North West England and North Wales. Sheep are at risk of picking up liver fluke infection from now through the winter. Clinical signs of fluke infection include: -Abdominal pain, with animals reluctant or unable to move. -Anaemia, seen as pale eyes, gums etc. -Submandibular oedema or bottlejaw. -General ill-thrift. 'Unexpected deaths should be investigated' Advice from SCOPS is that unexpected deaths should be investigated and that farmers should investigate fallen stock and request abattoir feedback on evidence of fluke or any fluke damage. Dr Skuce says: This feedback is invaluable. It was overlooked as a source of information in the fluke storm that hit the UK in 2012/13 and could have prompted earlier treatments had farmers had that information. Routine diagnostic testing can also help build up a picture of whats happening on farm. There are a number of diagnostic options available, typically based on testing blood or faecal samples. Avoidance strategies can help too. For example, fencing off particularly wet areas on farms, even temporarily, will help reduce exposure. If possible, sheep should also be moved off high risk fields onto safer grazing at this time of year. Lower risk fields would include those with no or few mud snail habitats, fields not grazed by sheep or cattle earlier in the year, or fields growing stubble or forage crops. Dr Skuce continues: Unfortunately, we know many sheep farmers will simply treat their animals for fluke without any evidence of infection or of how effective any treatment has been." "There are a number of flukicidal drugs available, each with its own spectrum of activity against different stages, and I urge farmers to use the SCOPS website to get to grips with this." "Reports of resistance to triclabendazole (TCBZ), the drug of choice for treating acute fluke in sheep, have been increasing." Glencore Grain is to launch a new animal feed products marketing business in the UK, providing feed compounders and manufacturers with direct access to the companys global resource of raw materials. Globally, Glencore Agri-Products is one of the worlds major crushers of soya bean and oilseed rape, along with the production of crush co-products, including soya bean meal and hulls. The company is actively expanding its crush capacity, particularly in South America. High-quality co-products of the crush will now be readily and consistently available for UK buyers, through large-scale panamax deep water ports, in Portland, Dorset on the south coast and new bespoke import and storage facilities at Teesport in the North East. The company will be working with the well-established Portland-based, Mercury Commodities, to develop the market in the UK. Glencore Grain UK Managing Director, James Maw, highlighted that the opening of dedicated import facilities and a direct distribution channel into the UK, now gives a fully accredited and assured supply chain for quality products, right through from the crush to UK consumers. 'Reliable distribution network' We already supply whole grains to leading UK animal feed compounders and manufacturers. Working with the market knowledge and experience of Mercury Commodities, we can build on that business to now offer feed compounders and manufactures a complete offer for the bulk of their raw materials. Glencore has a reliable distribution network, full governance procedures and the proven reputation to assure the consistent delivery of high-quality products direct to the end-user, he said. The company already has direct supply chains to feed compounders, including most parts of Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia; which we have now extended into the UK. Mr Maw highlighted the selected high-capacity import and distribution sites would give quick and cost-effective access to the prime livestock producing centres of the UK, including the major pig and poultry markets of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Humberside, along with cattle production in the south west, north west and Scotland. Frank Nickel, Director of Mercury Commodities, believed the new direct supply chain, from Glencores global production right through to UK feed businesses, offered an exciting opportunity to market the supply of high quality feed products. The long-term direct supply of Glencore products allows us to further invest in cost-effective facilities, he said. That will ensure we can continue to improve the service to our existing customers, and to work with an increasing new customer base of feed businesses across the UK. We look forward to working with Glencore to further develop the feed business in the future, Mr Nickel added. Following its membership consultation on post-Brexit farming, the NFU has said the Norwegian European Economic Area arrangement was the most favoured model for British farmers. The farming union has today laid out the key priorities for its trade and access to labour policies. NFU policy position on trade is mainly centred around access to the EU Single Market. Of the existing models, the Norwegian European Economic Area arrangement was the most favoured in the consultation, but a larger number are looking for some bespoke UK arrangements. The NFU said it 'appreciates the political sensitivity' over issues such as labour movements, regulation and budget contributions. These are matters that will need to be settled by negotiation, the NFU said. The primary concern is that farmers access to European market should not be fettered by tariffs or non-tariff barriers. Access to markets in the rest of the world The EU has negotiated more than 50 preferential access agreements with countries around the world. The government will need to commit to holding further discussions on permanent labour and seasonal labour for the medium to long term In the worst case all these would need to be renegotiated by the EU, in addition to any further deals which the British Government might like to conclude. The NFU's determination is that any future trading arrangements with any country, in or out of the EU, must be balanced, with the same conditions applying to imports as to exports. "If this is the case then the best outcome would be that the UK remains part of the European customs union," the NFU said. "We need the government to be acutely aware of whats at stake for British food and farming," Mr Raymond said The consultation demonstrated overwhelming support for arrangements which limit farmers exposure to imports produced to lower standards (e.g. lower animal welfare standards, goods produced with products prohibited domestically). This is not a straightforward matter as WTO rules prohibit discriminating against imports on the basis of their production methods. The UK farming sector can promote the qualities and values of British production through assurance schemes, and the NFU believes more needs to be done both publically and privately in this area. But there are limits to what can be done and this can only be a 'partial solution', the consultation has said. NFU policy position on access to labour The consultation found that most farmers want to trial a 'substantial' fixed-term work permit scheme for agriculture and horticulture targeted at non-EU workers during 2017. There will also need to be assurance that EU workers that are already in positions have right of residency in the UK and that they will have right to leave and return to their home member state. The government will need to commit to holding further discussions on permanent labour and seasonal labour for the medium to long term. AHDB and the government are to provide significant investment in innovation, productive technology, robotics, automation and mechanisation, and to support science funding for research and development. And in the longer term - working with the education system provide the relevant technical skills needed for the industry. 'We want full unfettered access to single market' NFU President Meurig Raymond said if Brexit is well executed, then the 'whole of society and the economy can benefit from competitive, profitable and progressive farm businesses.' We want full unfettered access to the single market - our consultation was clear that members wanted a new bespoke deal with the EU," Mr Raymond said. Trading tariff-free has been hugely beneficial to both the UK and the EU - 38% of British lamb ends up on the EU market. We will be working with other UK farming unions and partners across the farming and food chain to achieve this outcome. "Trade needs to be on fair terms, so we're calling on Ministers to ensure imported goods produced to lower standards or using practices banned in the UK are controlled. Access to a flexible and competent workforce is essential to British farming's competitiveness with 80,000 seasonal employees on farm now. We are calling for the Government to trial a substantial fixed-term work permit scheme for agriculture and horticulture targeted at non-EU workers during 2017. It is also right that EU workers already in positions have right of residence in the UK. And we'll be holding discussions with the Government on the level of permanent labour and seasonal labour for the medium to long term," Mr Raymond concluded. The devaluation of the pound is having a negative impact on the flow of seasonal workers from abroad sparking concerns there will not be enough hands for next year's harvest. Ali Capper, chairman of the NFU horticulture board said working in the UK was worth less. She urged the government to set up a permit scheme for seasonal farmhands. "People in Romania are now looking for 9/hour for seasonal work to make up for the travel and uprooting their lives. "They do not have to come here to pick apples for what is perceived as less money, they can do that in other EU countries." Jerzy Kwapniewski who has left Poland for the last 18 years to spend his time working on farms in England told Reuters it 'may change for me and my colleagues.' 'Not welcome' Two employment agencies that bring Eastern European workers to British farms said they failed to find workers to fill 600 positions. "Farms and other rural businesses need to know that after Brexit there will still be a flexible, skilled and secure workforce" Miss Capper said the message since the vote to leave the EU is they are 'not welcome to come here.' "The agricultural industry has a decades-long history of delivering 98 per cent worker return rates. "Seasonal labour is not tied up in the immigration argument and never should be, because people come here to work and go home again." During the Conservative Party conference, the farming industry told the government that it would struggle to survive without seasonal flow of labour from the continent. CLA President Ross Murray said workers from the EU and beyond play a "crucial role" in the rural economy. "In agriculture alone more than 30,000 permanent workers and an estimated 67,000 seasonal workers overseas help keep our shops and market stalls stocked with UK produce," he said. "Farms and other rural businesses need to know that after Brexit there will still be a flexible, skilled and secure workforce so they can plan for the future, invest in their businesses and secure or create jobs." 'Biggest concern' The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers' (RABDF) 2014 independent farmer survey concluded that migrant workers were making a significant contribution to the dairy sector with one third of producers having employed foreign labour with the majority agreeing they had been a very successful option. Angus Armstrong, chief executive of Produce Investments, a potato cultivation business said it was one of his biggest concerns. "We as a sector cannot turn our back on availability of labour," Mr Armstrong told the Telegraph. "We would expect the Government to go back to a similar type of scheme should free movement of labour be curtailed after Brexit. "It would be impossible to plug the shortage with local workers. The sector would struggle without labour from abroad." Bird flu: Poultry housing order to be introduced in England "The Western Australian Premium Food Centre will enable the local agrifood industry to build on its enviable reputation and capitalise on growing domestic and international demand - particularly from Asia - for reliable suppliers of high quality, safe, premium products," he said. The entry also took out the award for the champion pen of three export carcases and won the export open class any dam. The three carcases weighed 17.7kg, 17.6kg and 17.6kg and had GR fat measurements of 7mm, 7mm and 6mm respectively. Warrenton, VA (20186) Today Rain likely. High around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. 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. Gray's Creek neighborhood takes a hit as mom and pop restaurant closes Everybody eats at The Creek Bar & Grill, owner Casper Critchfield said but Nov. 13 is the restaurants last day in operation. A U.S. Navy lieutenant commander pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal bribery charge for taking cash, luxury hotel stays, and prostitutes from a foreign defense contractor in exchange for proprietary Navy information. Gentry Debord, 41, is based in Singapore. He pleaded guilty in federal court in San Diego. Sentencing is set for January 13 next year. Debord served in several logistical and supply positions in the Western Pacific. He told Glenn Defense Marina Asia (GDMA) executives to inflate their invoices to the Navy to cover the cost of the bribes. From November 2007 to January 2013, Debord passed internal and proprietary U.S. Navy information to GDMA CEO Leonard Glenn Francis. Francis, 51, is a Malaysian whos also known as Fat Leonard. He has already pleaded guilty to bribing scores of U.S. Navy officials with travel, meals, cash, electronics, parties, and prostitutes. Debold gave Francis details about competitors bids and about an investigation into GDMAs billing practices. Debord approved inflated invoices he told Francis to submit for services never rendered. He used code words with Francis, referring to prostitutes as cheesecake or bodyguards. Debord asked a GDMA executive to provide him with three hotel rooms, two cell phones, a van, and Singapore currency equivalent to about $1,500. He told the executive to inflate invoices to the Navy for drinking water and trash removal service for the U.S.S. Essex during a port visit to Singapore. Debord also asked GDMA executives to provide him with an apartment for a port visit. In total, sixteen defendants have been charged in the scandal. Of those, 11 are current or former U.S. Navy officials. Nine defendants have now pleaded guilty. Four have been sentenced to terms in federal prison ranging from about two years to more than six years. In June, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau pleaded guilty to lying to investigators and destroying evidence in the Fat Leonard case. Hes the highest-ranking U.S. Navy officer to be charged in the case, Three other rear admirals including the commander of naval forces in Japan retired last year after the Secretary of the Navy censured them for the Fat Leonard scandal. ___ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016. For the second time in four years, Grifols SA has said it received notice from the Justice Department that an investigation into possible FCPA violations has been closed and the company wont be prosecuted. The latest disclosure came in an SEC filing on October 7. The disclosure said, On 29 September 2016, the United States Department of Justice (the Department) notified Grifols that the Department has closed its inquiry into Grifols, concerning possible violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In its notice of declination to prosecute, the Department acknowledged the full cooperation of Grifols in the investigation. Barcelona-based Grifols reported another DOJ declination in December 2012. The company said in an SEC filing then that the DOJ issued an official declination to all inquiries related to the possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) that were underway since July 2009. It said the 2012 investigation related to Talecris. Grifols bought Talecris in 2010 for $3.4 billion. Grifols said in 2012: These investigations started prior to the acquisition of Talecris by Grifols and correspond to actions carried out when Talecris was part of the Bayer Group. The Wall Street Journal reported then that an internal investigation at Talecris examined sales in Belarus, Russia, Iran, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Libya, Poland, Turkey, and Ukraine. Talecris notified the DOJ in 2009 of the investigation and suspended operations in several countries while adding safeguards against foreign bribery, in some cases terminating consultants and distributors, the Wall Street Journal said. Despite the 2012 declination, in June 2014 Grifols disclosed ongoing corruption investigations across Europe and in South America and Asia. Part of the 2014 investigation related to sales practices by Talecris Biotherapeutics, Grifols said. That investigation focused on sales to Belarus and Russia. It also covered trading practices in Brazil, China, Georgia, Iran and Turkey, Grifols said in the 2014 disclosure. Talecris, based in North Carolina, was formed in 2005 when private equity firms Cerberus and Ampersand Ventures paid $450 million for the blood-plasma unit of German drug company Bayer. ____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016. I'm a crier. I always have been and I always will be. It must be a very powerful recessive gene on my mother's side. It's my way of coping with emotion: anger, frustration, sadness, happiness, love, hope, and inspiration. Hence there is a lot of emotion in my writing. Cindy Lynch I lived in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. I lived there from freshmen year of high school through senior year of college. It's a beautiful, quaint town in America with its wooden store frontage signs, and gold fleck paint; small town America, where no one is a stranger. That all quickly changed in December of 2012. The tragedy that took place at Sandy Hook, Elementary School changed me forever. The devastation I felt was painful to my core and I had to write about it. It's a thread that continues through my first two books in my Bye For Now trilogy. I love to laugh. A few years back my youngest son asked me how I chose my close group of friends. I said to him that if you are a good person at heart and you make me laugh, you'd be my friend forever. My first book is autobiographical. Honestly, that first book was written about my travel, each summer, to visit with family in Northern Vermont. I added fictional characters and situations, but over all it's my life as a young girl, staying at my grandfathers cabin, and falling for my first love. I had to change the names to protect the innocent, of course. I've always wanted to write a book. It's been a life long dream of mine since I was young. I remember, as a child, sitting and listening to my family at holiday meals or in the car or on the phone, thinking, these people are funny. Wouldn't it be fun to write about my life? Journaling and poetry were my mode of choice. In the early 90's, my dad and I talked about writing a book about Vermont, together, and that it would be published by the year 2000. Nothing happened until 2015 when I decided if it was going to get written I needed to write it myself. It felt like it needed to be a trilogy. Enter Sharisse Coulter. I wrote my first book in two weeks. My dear friend, Sharisse Coulter and I were discussing writing one day a few years ago. She had written a book already and I was struggling to find a way to begin mine. She asked me on Facebook to try a 14-day writing challenge. This would require writing 5,000 words a day for 14 days straight. I had never written a book before and had no idea what it entailed. What that really means is I would write for 4 hours each day, but by day 14 I had 75,000 words and a freshly completed first draft. My first paper baby was born. I wrote my second book in two months. While the first book just oozed out of every pore, after swirling around my brain for years, the second one took a bit longer. I had to get a little more creative in the second installment knowing that I still have one more to write. I had to make sure the storyline could continue into a third and final book. I'm excited to begin writing book three, and curious to see where the characters will take me. Unknown forces fascinate me. I find people with psychic ability or people sensitive to other worldly things intriguing. I try to work bits of this fascination into my work. I'm going to try my hand at Non-Fiction. After this trilogy is complete, I'm going to write a non-fiction book about twin boys that I met through a foster care program called Angels' Arms. They were taken from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic by their father and forced into child labor. It's a fascinating story that needs to be told. Even Willows Weep is out now. A guardsman collapsed during Queen Elizabeth's visit to Brompton Barracks in Chatham, Kent. Queen Elizabeth The 90-year-old monarch was in the south east of England on Thursday (13.10.16) to mark the 300th anniversary of the The Royal Engineers when the uniformed gentleman passed out and was carried away on a stretcher as she examined 140 service men. She did so from the comfort of her Range Rover and was joined at the event by musician and TV host Jools Holland, who is the deputy lieutenant of Kent. The queen later showed her appreciation for the troops and praised the "world-class" Royal Engineers in her speech. She said: "Your ability to provide a flexible and adaptable force, quickly and without fuss, for the purposes of war fighting, peace building or disaster relief is world-class. "Whilst the wide range of skills and trades that are on display today give truth to your mottos Everywhere and Where Right and Glory Lead, it is your collective dedication and obvious professionalism that so easily impresses and is the legacy of those who have served before you." Elizabeth also wished them the "every success" in the future. She added: "You and your families have always risen to those challenges. "I congratulate you on reaching this point in your long and distinguished service and I would wish all sappers, wherever they may be, every success and good fortune in the future." During her visit, the royal met with a five-year-old Labrador called Max and Lance Corporal Alex Farquhar, who told the queen how dogs help sniff out bombs and weapons. After meeting with Her Royal Highness, Lance told reporters: "It was an honour to meet the Queen. We had done a lot of rehearsing but in the end it was quite relaxed. She was clearly very interested." Elizabeth's trip to Kent came on the same day she became the world's longest reigning monarch following the death of Thailand's King Adulyadej. Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla will make 50 royal engagements in the Middle East next month. Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall will visit the United Arab Nations, Oman and Bahrain on a seven-day tour between November 5 and November 11. The royal couple are there to mark the 200th anniversary of communications between Britain and Bahrain. A royal source has told the Daily Express newspaper that it is not yet known if Charles, 67, will be meeting with the King of Bahrain whilst they are in the area. Clarence House previously said in a statement: "On behalf of the British Government, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will undertake official visits to the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates in November 2016. "The tour will help to strengthen the United Kingdom's warm bilateral relations with key partners in the region." But it's not the first time Charles and Camilla have visited the area. Just last year, Charles spent time in the UAE and did so beforehand in 2014 along with Bahrain. He was accompanied by Camilla for a visit to Oman in 2013, and the pair both went to Bahrain and the UAE in February 2007. Before then, Charles, 67, carried out several solo trips to the region, including visiting Oman and UAE in November 2003 and 2004 respectively. He first visited Oman in December 1980 and later returned in 1986 when he also went to Bahrain, and three years later the UAE. Prince William has paid a touching tribute to John F. Kennedy. Prince William The 34-year-old royal attended The Kennedy Memorial Trust reception at Buckingham Place on Thursday night (13.10.16) where he gave a speech during which he said Queen Elizabeth still holds the late US president - who was assassinated on November 22, 1963 - in the "highest esteem". He said: "My grandmother would very much like me to pass on some words to all of you. "In 1965, my grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen inaugurated the memorial to President Kennedy, which stands at Runnymede, on land bequeathed by her to the people of the United States. "Her Majesty spoke that day of the extent to which we recognised what President Kennedy had already accomplished, and of the high hopes that rode with him, in a future that was not to be. "So I am honoured, half a century on, to be here this evening and pay tribute to a man whom my family continues to hold in the highest esteem." In May 1965, Kennedy's Jacqueline and their children, Caroline and John Jr. travelled to London for the dedication service and Queen Elizabeth, now 90, gave a speech. At the time, she said: "The unprecedented intensity of that wave of grief, mixed with something akin to despair, which swept over our people at the news of President Kennedy's assassination, was a measure of the extent to which we recognised what he had already accomplished, and of the high hopes that rode with him in a future that was not to be." The Kennedy Memorial Trust is a British memorial to President Kennedy, which was set up in July 1964, a year after his assassination. NOTE: Spoilers for the first episode of The Missing, series 2 Credit: BBC There's something missing (excuse the pun) from the new second series of The Missing. The cast has predominantly changed, sure, but aside from that the story here feels lacking. Two years ago, I lashed a ton of praise on the show for managing to make me feel genuinely sick, sat at home on the sofa. This time though it left me feeling cold. We're immediately thrown into the case of kidnapped schoolgirl Alice Webster, who's taken on a school day in plain sight, bundled into a van and abused for many years to come. We also find out right away however that Alice escapes from her captor many years later, a changed woman but one that is still very much alive, in the literal sense - at least upon her escape. Flitting between 2014 - the year Alice found her way back home - and the present day in which familiar face Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo) has crossed the border of Iraq to find the man responsible for kidnapping both Alice and another young girl whose case has haunted him for some time, the story isn't as hard to keep up with as you might suspect, but certainly means you're all over the place whilst watching. Karyo is as he was last year - a master of the art of acting and somebody who gives a stellar performance every time he's on screen. The writers made a good decision here keeping him involved in the series, but with his character suffering from a brain tumour he suggests isn't curable, this could be his last hurrah. Credit: BBC Of course, with these stories comes the horrible moments that made me and the majority of those watching wince, for example when victim Alice (Abigail Hardingham) was detailing how she was kidnapped and the rape and chaos that ensued. She's a great little actress and made the scene utterly believable and compelling. It's unfortunate for her that the writing around her acting feels so sloppy. There are a smattering of smaller storylines that I'm sure will become more important as the episodes progress, but for now they feel flimsy and almost like filler. It's almost as if the creators of The Missing have attempted to go above and beyond the call this time round. There's a saying - 'Don't try and fix what isn't broken' - and it's something I feel they should have kept saying to themselves this time around. I'm disappointed. Two years in the making and I wanted to be as gripped as I was back in October 2014. I'll keep up with the series for sure to see where it goes, as I'm sure there are some major twists to come, but if I happened to miss a couple, it wouldn't be top of my catch-up list. A real shame, but the episode was saved by its final moment - is Alice really Alice? The Missing continues Wednesday nights at 9pm on BBC One. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on 612 League, a kidswear brand is planning to raise between Rs 50-100 crore within the next one year to support its expansion and also reach targeted revenue of Rs 300 crore by 2021. The brand is currently being sold through multi brand and exclusive brand outlets. The focus now however will be on opening exclusive brand outlets and open 200 such stores."We will need funds to support our expansion plans, for which we are looking to raise between Rs 50-100 crore in the next 6-12 months," Manu Indrayan, founder at 612 League told a news agency. 612 League, a kidswear brand is planning to raise between Rs 50-100 crore within the next one year to support its expansion and also reach targeted revenue of Rs 300 crore by 2021. The brand is currently being sold through multi brand and exclusive brand outlets. The focus now however will be on opening exclusive brand outlets and open 200 such stores.# In 2014, the brand had raised Rs 50 crore from private equity firm ASK Pravi and currently sells its products through 48 exclusive brand outlets and 450 multi brand outlets across India.While expanding its product portfolio by adding new categories such as ethnicwear, accessories and footwear, 612 League is also seeking to increase contribution from ecommerce sales from current nine per cent to 15 per cent in three years. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India SPGPrints, a global leading company in the textile , label, and industrial printing markets, is set to host the IGI Technical Conference, organised by the Global Wallcoverings Association that brings together senior managers from the wallcover manufacturing companies, at its global headquarters in Boxmeer, the Netherlands, on October 17 and 18, 2016.This year, SPGPrints welcomes over 120 delegates to attend presentations on topics including legislation, sustainability , and the latest developments in print processes. SPGPrints, a global leading company in the textile, label, and industrial printing markets, is set to host the IGI Technical Conference, organised by the Global Wallcoverings Association that brings together senior managers from the wallcover manufacturing companies, at its global headquarters in Boxmeer, the Netherlands, on October 17 and 18, 2016.# One of the papers focuses on advances in digital inkjet printing. SPGPrints' new inkjet technology has proven performance in the textile industry, following a series of successful, ground-breaking machine and ink launches in the last 12 months. These include the single-pass PIKE printer with production capacity of 13 million metres per year, the JAVELIN printer, with an annual capacity of two million metres, and a range of inks, all manufactured in-house.Both PIKE and JAVELIN feature SPGPrints' unique Archer print head technology, providing controlled, clean ink delivery. Archer technology enables a gamut wider than the HD-gamut of other digital textile printing solutions. The printers use an array of Fujifilm Dimatix Samba print heads to cover the 1850millimetres width with sharp image production. Fine line details, smooth gradients, blotches, and geometrics can be accurately printed.SPGPrints is preparing to make this technology accessible to the wallcover industry also. During the conference, there will be working demonstrations of the PIKE printer, giving visitors the opportunity to appreciate the performance innovations of SPGPrints' inkjet technology at first hand.The company will also discuss about SPGPrints' range of NEBULA inkjet inks for textile applications offers a broad colour gamut, optimised drying and excellent runnability, with all digital printers using Kyocera print heads.Bas Hoijtink, commercial manager Industrial Applications at SPGPrints said, Digital printing technology has proven to be a game-changer, opening up opportunities for short runs, greater design flexibility, fast turnarounds, simplified supply chains and cost reductions. At SPGPrints, we have enabled textile printers worldwide to exploit these opportunities by launching a precision inkjet technology that rivals the speed, colour gamut and quality of analogue processes. As visitors to the IGI Technical Conference will discover, we are working to bring this technology to the wallcover industry, too. (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations Hon. Jone Usamate received a courtesy call from Hortus Limited, a new employer under the New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Work Scheme. The Human Resource Managers for the company Mr James Crockett and Mr Aaron Jay are here in Fiji to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the Government of New Zealand and the Fijian Government through their labour mobility scheme.Minister Usamate thanked the new employer and welcomed their efforts in boosting relations between the two countries and for choosing Fiji to recruit from.This is the first time for us to try out Fijians to work for the company; currently we have been recruiting from Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga and this has resulted in having a high retention rate of workers from these Pacific Island countries, Mr Jay said.Weve been waiting for Fiji to be involved for a very long time."Hortus Ltd is here to recruit the right workers who have good attitudes, are good listeners and are hard working.The company was set up to supply labour, machinery and an experienced management group to all growers in the Horticulture and Viticulture industries who require a professional company like Hortus to complete tasks to the highest standard.The Minister wished them well for the interview and stated that the Fijian Government through the Ministry of Employment looks forward to a long and fruitful partnership.The employers are on a two day visit to interview potential workers from the Tikina work ready pool for selection and discussion on the recruitment of ten male workers.-ENDS- A historic document was recently signed in Moscow between the Russian Federation and the Fijian Government with the aim to extend bilateral and international relations to cover areas relating to cooperation in national disaster and in the mitigation of technical disasters. The Protocol of Intentions provided the framework which will guide the relationship between the two countries in national disaster management and emergencies. The signing of this document is an important step in deepening the Fiji/Russia relations.The Russian Federation Minister for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of the Consequences of Natural Disasters HE Mr. Vladimir Puchkov and Fijian Minister for Agriculture, Rural and Maritime Development and National Disaster Management Hon. Inia Seruiratu, both agreed that the instruments they had signed will enhance the development and implementation of means at international level aimed at the strengthening of national, regional and global potentials of reliable forecasting of dangerous natural disasters, assessment of disaster risks.They jointly expressed the hope that through this framework, more intensive cooperation between Fiji and Russia will be undertaken in the areas of emergencies and national disaster management.It will also allow the parties to constantly review and determine the most effective direction of cooperation between the two countries, in the elimination and prevention of national emergencies.The Ministers also underscored their commitment to enhance the joint participation of their respective national experts in various training initiatives to ensure that they are always ready to deal with any national disaster situation or emergencies that occur.Other areas that were discussed during the meeting include Information Exchange for National Disaster and the use of cutting edge technology in disaster preparedness, mitigation and resiliency.Following the signing Minister Seruiratu was taken on a guided tour of the Russian Federation National Emergency Response Centre where the wide use of satellite technology in assisting national disaster management and emergencies was highlighted.-ENDS- The Mahogany Industry Council has announced several major resolutions to restructure and reform Fijis mahogany industry to better preserve Fijis mahogany resources and maximise industry efficiency. Our mahogany industry has unfortunately suffered from a lack of regulation and organisation. These reforms will dramatically boost efficiency throughout the industry and protect the industry in the long-term, said the Prime Minister.The resolutions approve a restructure of the Mahogany Industry Councils mahogany licence issuance framework to reflect industry developments since the establishment of the licensing system in 2011. The new licensing system is based on a more realistic annual log production capacity of 75,000 cubic metres and will also standardise log prices, limit licences to two per log grade and revise purchase protocols. Consultations on the licensing restructure were conducted with existing licensees and the Fiji Mahogany Trust, which represents mahogany landowners. The restructure is expected to begin on 1 January 2017.Rates for landowners engaged in mahogany leases with FHCL have been reviewed for the first time since 2010. Rental and stumpage rates will increase by 19 per cent and premium rates will increase by 20 per cent. These rates will be back dated to 1 January 2016.To facilitate the sale of surplus Grade 1 and 2 mahogany logs currently stored in concentration yards, temporary licences will be issued to FHCL to call for expressions of interests from interested buyers.The resolutions call for the establishment of a Central Concentration Log yard at the Waivunu facility in Serua to improve the coordination of log sales and delivery. FHCLs recently established nursery project in Nukurua, Tailevu will also reactivate its replanting programme, with a target of replanting 1,250 hectares by the end of the year.This restructure will effectively restore the sustainability of our mahogany industry and profitability for our landowners. These reforms lay the foundation for future growth and will also preserve these important natural resources for future generations, said the Prime Minister.The Mahogany Industry Council oversees major development initiatives implemented within the mahogany industry. The Council will meet on a quarterly basis to monitor the progress of these initiatives.-ENDS- HON. PM BAINIMARAMA'S SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE FIJI TRADE AND INVESTMENT SYMPOSIUM IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA The Honourable Fijian Minister for Industry Trade and Tourism,Your Excellency, the Fijian High Commissioner to Australia.The Chairman and Chief Executive of Investment Fiji,The Fijian Trade Commissioner in Sydney.Members of our respective business communities,Ladies and Gentlemen,Bula vinaka and a very good morning to you all, Almost a year ago, I came to Sydney for the first time in nine years to attend the 22nd Australia-Fiji Business Forum. And to marvel at how things had changed the so-called pariah finally a welcome guest and parading along the Manly Esplanade with the surfers and seagulls.Twelve months on, Fijis official relationship with Australia has improved even further. And Im delighted to be here in Sydney once again to address this important Trade and Investment Symposium, that is part of my Governments concerted effort to take our trade with the rest of the world to another level.We come together at a time when our bilateral relationship has never been healthier or more dynamic. Just over three weeks ago and wearing my new hat as Foreign Minister as well as Prime Minister, I enjoyed a very cordial meeting in New York with the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. I regard Mr Turnbull as an outstanding individual with a very clear and enlightened understanding of regional and global issues. And especially the most pressing issue that we face in the Pacific Islands the threat posed to our very existence by the extreme weather events and rising sea levels caused by climate change.He also has some very talented ministers. And I especially want to single out Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo, and Steves successor as Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.I will have the honour to be joined by the Senator and her husband, John, at our celebration in Liverpool tomorrow, when thousands of Fijians living in New South Wales gather to celebrate Fiji Day. John Wells is a former commander in the Royal Australian Navy so he and I already have a lot in common. But the point I want to make about his equally distinguished wife - the Minister - is that she and other members of the current Australian Government are showing a much better understanding of Fijis challenges and aspirations than some of their predecessors.They are certainly people with whom we feel we can not only do business, but can work together in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. To finally match - at government-to- government level - the quality of the personal friendship Fijians have always had with Australians. And take that friendship to another level.I told Prime Minister Turnbull in New York that I wanted to work closely with him and his team to reset the direction of our relationship and work together to confront our many challenges in the region and the world. And I am very gratified that he responded in such a positive way.Some of you who read a certain Sydney newspaper may have seen the delighted look on the Prime Ministers face when I presented him with a bottle of our new Fiji Coconut Vodka. I just hope he didnt drink it all at once.But seriously, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have definitely embarked on a new era in Fijis relations with Australia. Not only letting bygones be bygones after we fulfilled our promise to return Fiji to parliamentary rule in 2014. But exploring new avenues of collaboration in these deeply uncertain times for the region and the world.Indeed, I place the highest importance on developing a close relationship with Malcolm Turnbull and his ministers. Just as I do with Prime Minister John Key and his ministers in New Zealand, to which I will be making an official visit next week.Of course, we will always have our differences, such as on the Pacer Plus trade negotiations. But I personally believe that these differences can be worked through much more readily in this new era of goodwill. Because now more than ever - given the rather gloomy global outlook - nations with shared histories and values must stick together.We must never allow those things that divide us to take precedence over the things that bind us together. And especially when Fiji and Australia and New Zealand share our particular corner of the world and share the warm personal links between our peoples.Let me just briefly say something about Pacer Plus before I move on to other things. Because I know many of you in the room are seeking clarification on Fijis position in relation to these important negotiations.Fiji has emphatically not withdrawn from Pacer Plus. We are still at the table. Yet neither are we prepared to sign the current document - endorse the current legal text - because we simply dont believe that it is in our interests to do so.On two critical issues Infant Industry Development and Most Favoured Nation status we believe the agreement in its current form not only fails to meet our requirements. If implemented, it would have an adverse impact on our development and the development of our Pacific Island neighbours.Fiji wants an enduring, predictable and sustainable trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand on the one hand and the Pacific Islands on the other. And in our view we still havent got one in these negotiations thus far. The current document is too one sided, too restrictive, places too many obligations on us that we cannot afford to meet. We need more flexibility and more concessions to enable us to have trading relationships with others.So I repeat: we cannot sign the current document. We will, however, keep talking. Keep seeking an outcome that suits all parties. And only if Australia and New Zealand ultimately refuse to be flexible on the key concerns of Fiji and other Pacific island nations - only then will we walk away.I personally hope that day never comes. That in this instance, the Australian Government and the Australian Parliament will come to see the justice of our position. And I ask you all in the Australian business community to support us. Because what we are asking for is reasonable. And it is fair.Ladies and Gentlemen, I especially come to you today with an appeal to take a fresh look at the trade and investment opportunities in Fiji. And to play your own part in the economic reinvigoration of our relationship to match the new political and diplomatic re-engagement between our nations.Today, you will hear a great deal about the many benefits of investing in Fiji our position as Hub of the Pacific; our rapidly improving infrastructure better roads, better airports, more efficient ports; our general connectivity and world class telecommunications; our investment incentives, including duty concessions, investment allowances and some of the lowest corporate and personal taxes in the region.As I keep saying at every opportunity: Fiji is open for business. And our people here today are keen to show you the benefits. Whether it is my Industry, Trade and Tourism Minister, Faiyaz Koya; his Permanent Secretary, Shaheen Ali, and our Director of Trade, Seema Sharma; the Chairman of Investment Fiji, Truman Bradley and his CEO, Godo Mueller-Teut; our Trade Commissioner in Sydney, Zarak Khan or our High Commissioner in Canberra, Yogesh Punja.All of these people are keen to explain the benefits of investing in Fiji or expanding your investment in Fiji and I urge you all to take advantage of their expertise. Because I know that personal engagement matters a great deal in business and you will find them all approachable and eager to assist.Above all, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to use this opportunity myself to highlight the one thing that I guarantee you will never find anywhere else but Fiji. And that is the quality of our people.As you know, Fijians are famous the world over for their friendliness and hospitality. Thats why we can advertise ourselves to the world with a completely straight face that Fiji is the place where happiness finds you. Because quite simply, it is true.As Im fond of saying, you can find a nice beach or a cool drink in any number of places. But only in Fiji will you find the Fijian people. And I cannot tell you how proud I am to be their elected leader.We showed our character to the world back in August when our Rugby Sevens World Champions brought back our first medals ever from a summer Olympics. Gold against Great Britain. And the whole country went wild.We showed our character to the world back in February when we were hit by the biggest cyclone ever to make landfall in the southern hemisphere. Cyclone Winston killed 44 of our people and destroyed thousands of homes and schools. Yet even Winston wasnt enough to wipe the smiles off the faces of the Fijian people. And I was deeply moved as I visited the affected areas to witness the Fijian spirit of resilience and teamwork.As the rebuilding effort continues with all its challenges, I know that every Fijian will want me to thank you all today for Australias magnificent response to helping us back on our feet. The Australian business community, along with the Australian Government and the Australian people generally, came to our aid in a way that we will never forget. And for which we will always be grateful.Ladies and Gentlemen, as well as our hospitality and friendship, theres another side to the Fijian people that I want to share with you today as business people. And that is our work ethic, loyalty and eagerness to learn. To improve ourselves and to work as a team for the common good, whether it is as a nation, a rugby team or a company.For all our investment incentives, for all our attractive tax rates, I believe that it is the quality of our people that is the best reason to invest in Fiji or to grow your existing business. With a literacy rate approaching 94 per cent, our people are educated,English speaking and becoming smarter all the time. My Governments education revolution is the cornerstone of our nations development. For the first time, we have introduced free schooling at primary and secondary level. Along with more scholarships for higher education and our first tertiary loans scheme.As well as our three universities, we have established a network of technical colleges throughout the country to provide Fiji with the skills base it needs to prosper. And to provide you as employers - with a workforce that is more formally qualified than at any other time in Fijian history.As I keep saying, I regard our education revolution as my Governments proudest achievement. So we have the people. And we have the policies. And we also have the most stable period in Fijian history to enable investment to flourish.We have put behind us the lost years. The years in which we argued about who among us deserved more rather than working together as one people to take our nation forward. With everyone now enjoying the common identity of being Fijian, there is a new sense of belonging. A new sense of unity. A new sense of purpose. And with that feeling of inclusiveness - of taking everyone with us on our journey forward - we have entered a new era of confidence and sustained growth in the Fijian economy.We have had seven straight years of economic expansion, more than at any time in Fijian history. And despite the setback of Winston, our economy has been resilient enough for us to expect close to three per cent growth this year.Just as important, we are using our relative wealth not to prop up recurrent expenditure as previous governments did but to invest in new infrastructure. And to do much more to improve the lives of disadvantaged Fijians by providing them with such things as free water and medicine, along with the nations first ever social security pensions.All this has been possible because of my Governments sound management of the economy and business friendly policies. In contrast to many other developing countries, we regard the private sector as vital partners in national development.And those pro-business policies will continue, along with the zero tolerance for corruption that has always been a hallmark of my Government. Because corruption is the enemy of development and examples of that abound, including in our own region.And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, I urge you all to view the investment opportunities that Fiji offers with fresh eyes. Whether you are looking for a new manufacturing base, to develop a tourism venture or an agricultural project. To take advantage of the growing opportunities in ICT, mining, food processing or any number of other areas.Fiji is where happiness can find you too. Fiji is the place to be. With its easy access to surrounding countries, well developed banking and financial institutions, state-of- the-art telecommunications and above all, our educated workforce. The wonderful Fijian people, who are finally working together as one nation with their eyes firmly set on excellence.On transforming our developing country into a modern nation state. On achieving the greatness that we all know awaits us if we remain united and focused.Thank you all for your attendance and providing us with the opportunity to showcase Fiji. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible. And now have great pleasure in declaring this Fiji Trade and Investment Symposium open.Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you. Big B's Birthday Guys, just look at this adorable picture of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan from Amitabh Bachchan's birthday. So cute they are! Let's Talk About Their Love Story The love story of Bollywood couple Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan started on the sets of Mani Ratnam's film Guru. When Abhishek Fell In Love With Aish Many people also say that Abhishek Bachchan fell for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan while they were shooting for the famous item number Kajra Re from the movie Bunty Aur Babli. First Meeting Abhishek and Aishwarya met on the sets of the movie Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya for the first time, where Abhishek came to meet his good friend Bobby Deol. Their Friendship Later, Abhishek and Aishwarya met on the sets of the movie, Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke, and worked on another film, Kuch Naa Kaho. During this time, they were just friends. Proposal It was after the premiere of the film, Guru, in Toronto, Abhishek Bachchan proposed to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in New York, and she immediately accepted his proposal. Abhishek's Interview Talking about the same, Abhishek Bachchan had told a leading daily, "I was filming in New York for a movie. And, I used to stand on the balcony of my hotel room and wish that, 'One day, wouldn't it be nice if I was together with her, married.'' When He Asked Aish To Marry Him He had further added, ''Years later, we were there for the premiere of Guru. After the premiere, we were back in the hotel. So, I took her to the very same balcony, and I asked her to marry me." When Aish Praised Abhi Talking about her husband, Aishwarya Rai had told a daily, ''He is original and real, like our relationship. There is nothing predictable or boring about our life.'' Aish On Abhishek She had added, ''We nurture each other. The gesture was spontaneous and meaningful. God has been kind to us. We can certainly afford those standard rocks. But do we need them?" Actress Ileana D'Cruz today said it is nice that Bollywoodand South Indian filmstars have been invited to perform at a mega concert in the US to boost the electoral fortunes of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump but maintained she would not support his candidature. "Bollywood is known worldwide and the stars are very popular and hence it is nice (that the Bollywood stars also are performing at the event)," she told PTI after the launch of La Senza store here. "But if you are asking me if I support Donald Trump? I don't," she added. Asked whether she would perform at such electoral campaigns in the US, she said, "Whenever I take up any kind of endorsement or any kind of event, I do so with a lot of background research. I think, if it works, it is great for them (those participating)." Plastic Surgery Gone Wrong! Vaani Kapoor Gets TROLLED For Her Lip Job In Befikre! According to reports, seven Bollywood and South Indian actors including Mallaika Arora, Prabhu Deva, Shriya Saran, Akhil Akkineni and Ram Charan, will be performing at the concert in New Jersey to give a legup to Trump's campaign by reaching out to the Indian community to enlist support for him. A US-based Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) is holding the event on October 15 where Trump will deliver a keynote address.The proceeds from the event will be shared between Kashmiri Pandits, Bangladeshi Hindus and other terror victims in the recent past, according to reports. OH NO! New Trouble For Ae Dil Hai Mushkil? Intimate Scenes Of The Film Get Chopped Off Asked if it is the beginning of a crisis in Bollywood with Walt Disney reportedly deciding to shut its Hindi filmmaking business after suffering losses from Mohenjo Daro and Fitoor, Ileana said, "I don't think there is a crisis of any sort happening in Bollywood. I think there are so many films that are doingwell, which were appreciated not only by the media, but also the critics." "Look at films like 'Dhoni' and 'Pink', they have done goodbusiness. So, I think there is a massive amount of success,and I love the way they are experimenting. I don't think there is a problem with the films and their success rate,"Ileana added. La Senza Corporation is a Canadian fashion retailer based in Dorval, Quebec that sells lingerie and intimate apparel. The La Senza brand is currently owned by L Brands which operates and owns La Senza stores in Canada. The Oscar-winning American actor, Matthew McConaughey, thought that his wife would say 'no', when he proposed her for marriage. He added that he and his whole family thought that Alves would refuse his proposal as she was taking time to answer. "I remember hitting the knee, looking into her eyes and I remember her face," said the actor, who proposed Alves for marriage in front of the family during a Christmas gathering. "I remember this smile coming up from her feet. I remember her having to catch her breath," he added. "And she didn't say yes right away," McConaughey added further. "And then the whole family was going, 'Jeezus, she's gonna say no,'" recalled Matthew McConaughey. However, Alves said 'yes'. The couple married in 2012 and are now proud parents to three children. "Man is never more masculine than after the birth of his first child," he said. "I don't mean in a macho way. I mean in terms of giving a man strength." Matthew said. He also praised his wife and said, "A good woman, gives a man courage and confidence - the courage to have the confidence to go and do it, to not be worried as much or consider as much what the rest of the world thinks." Dileep, the janapriyanayakan was supposed to make his Telugu debut, with the highly anticipated Sathya Sai Baba biopic. It was reported that Dileep is playing the title character Sathya Sai Baba in the movie. But, as per the latest updates, the actor has backed out from the project, directed by popular film-maker Kodi Ramakrishna. Reportedly, Dileep backed out from the project, as it demanded a 150 days call sheet. The actor is extremely busy with his Malayalam commitments and cannot allot a 150 days call sheet for a single project, at this point of his career. Reportedly, Dileep wants to concentrate only in Mollywood. Interestingly, the team has replaced Dileep with another Malayali actor, Rathinirvedam fame Sreejith Vijay. The young actor, who highly excited about the offer, confirmed the news in a recent interview. Reportedly, the movie will also have popular actress Anushka Shetty, in a pivotal role. Senior actors Sharath Babu and Jaraprada will essay the roles of Sathya Sai Baba's parents, in the movie. Dileep, on the other hand, is currently busy with the filming of his upcoming flick, Georgettan's Pooram. He has recently finished the first schedule of the upcoming Rathish Ambat movie, Kammara Sambhavam. Fahadh Faasil, the super-talented young actor, is all set to foray into Tamil movie industry, soon. Reports suggest that Fahadh is all set to join the sets of his Tamil debut project, soon. The movie directed by Thani Oruvan fame Mohan Raja will start rolling on November 11, 2016. Producer RD Raja announced the news and confirmed Fahadh's association with the project, through his official Twitter page, recently. If the reports are to be true, Fahadh Faasil is essaying the main antagonist in the untitled project, which stars popular Tamil actor Sivakarthikeyan in the lead role. Nayantara is playing the female lead in the movie. Earlier, veteran film-maker Mani Ratnam had approached Fahadh Faasil to essay the lead role in his popular film, OK Kanmani. But, Fahadh turned down the offer as he was confident enough about his Tamil language skills. He was also considered for Gautham Menon's Malayalam debut, which was later shelved. The actor later went on to sign the Mohan Raja project, as he is highly impressed with the screenplay and his character in the movie. Fahadh Faasil has reportedly completed the filming for the upcoming Anil Radhakrishna Menon project. He has also committed the upcoming Marthandan-directed movie and Anwar Rasheed's directorial comeback project. The addition of Danske Bank, the Copenhagen-headquartered bank which serves personal and business customers in Northern Ireland, will provide Openwork advisers with access to the lenders competitive mortgage products for first-time buyers, re-mortgagers, and home movers. The move further enhances the range of loans available through Openwork following the recent addition of Tesco Bank to the networks panel, announced in August 2016. Paul Shearman, Mortgage Proposition Director at Openwork, says: We are delighted to welcome Danske Bank to our Northern Ireland lending panel. Openwork has more than 120 advisers in Northern Ireland and Danske Banks team of experienced Belfast-based underwriters with excellent knowledge of the local market will add even more options for advisers and their clients. Niall Harkin, Head of Intermediary Mortgages at Danske Bank, says: Openwork has a strong reputation and long history in the financial advice marketplace and we are delighted to have their advisers on board. We see this as an important strategic step in the development of our intermediary offering, and look forward to growing our leading proposition with Openwork in this sector. TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Apogee Opportunities Inc. ("Apogee" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: APE) announces that Mr. Francois Perron has stepped down from the Board of Directors of the Company to focus on other endeavours. Fred Leigh, CEO and Director of the Company, remarked: "On behalf of the Apogee Board of Directors I would like to thank Francois for his contributions to the growth and development of the Company. We wish Francois well in his future endeavours." About Apogee Apogee is a mineral exploration and development stage company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol APE. Apogee targets advanced, high grade silver-zinc-lead projects in South America. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information: This press release contains "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the resignation of a director. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities; other risks of the mining industry and the risks described in the annual information form of the Company. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Contacts: Apogee Opportunities Inc. Fred Leigh Chief Executive Officer +1 (416) 861-5933 info@apogee.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- Group Ten Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: PGE)(FRANKFURT: 5D31) (the "Company" or "Group Ten") provides a corporate and exploration update. The Company has received funding totaling $300,000 by way of loans which, by the terms of the loan agreements, bear interest at a rate of 10% and are repayable on demand after one year or under other certain conditions. The loans are secured by mineral property assets of the Company, and the use of funds is restricted to meeting urgent assessment requirements on the Company's projects, plus essential corporate needs. Modest exploration programs have been initiated on Group Ten Metal's Yukon and Ontario properties using the loan funds in order to meet the Company's near term claim assessment needs. The Company continues to evaluate its options to reduce its debts in order to move forward and to be able to fund future exploration programs. The Company also announces that Timothy Johnson will replace Jody Bellefleur as interim CFO. The Company thanks Ms. Bellefleur for her work with the Company. We look forward to working with Timothy, who is an experienced mining industry professional. About Group Ten Metals Inc. Group Ten Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on exploration for deposits of platinum group metals (PGM), gold, nickel and copper. The Company controls a large land position in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt in the southwest Yukon Territory, the Black Lake / Drayton gold project in the Rainy River district in northwest Ontario, and the Duke Island Cu-Ni-PGM project in Alaska. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, GROUP TEN METALS INC. Michael Rowley, President & Director Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Group Ten Metals Inc. Michael Rowley President & Director (604) 681 1568 SINGAPORE -- (Marketwired) -- 10/13/16 -- PSB Academy today celebrates the graduation of 1,928 diploma students as well as students from the pioneering batch of undergraduates from Coventry University, the United Kingdom's University of the Year*. This is the largest cohort of graduates from PSB Academy for the year. Rigor and hands-on learning experiences crucial for industry-readiness "PSB Academy and Coventry University are reputed for rigor and high standards that are well-recognized by both academia and industry. While today's ceremony marks the graduation of the largest cohort of students from our Academy this year, it is also a celebration of excellence in our unique approach to helping students to get the most out of their learning experience at PSBA that is directly applicable in the real-world." Eur. Ing. Joao Ponciano, Dean and Senior Vice President, PSB Academy. According to PSB Academy's 2015 graduate and employment survey, nine out of 10 students gained employment within six months of their graduation while six in 10 saw pay raises and/or better career prospects. "Industry partnerships and hands-on experimentation is crucial to helping our students become industry-ready. PSB Academy invests heavily in facilities such as laboratories and industry-grade equipment such as a life-sized wind tunnel, to enable our engineering and computer science students to gain the needed skill sets and know-how that the industry needs. Our business and communications students can also look forward to classes and advanced learning spaces in our new 'Academy of the Future' which spans two storeys, over more than 100,000 square feet in Marina Square." 43 students will receive first-class honour degrees from Coventry University, while top students from each of PSBA's 16 diploma and three Coventry University degree programmes will each receive $5,000 in book-prizes in recognition for their 'dare to dream' spirit of excellence and determination. Vengadesh A/L Muniapa, a 39 year old father of two, is amongst these graduates who scored top grades his Diploma in Industrial Engineering course offered by PSB Academy. Vengadesh has already seen his hard work at school pay off -- the multinational semi-conductor company that he has worked at as an Associate Engineer five years, recently gave him a promotion to the role of Engineer, and has willingly offered to upgrade his skills by sponsoring his undergraduate degree. Vengadesh shares: "I am blessed to have had the support of my wife of 10 years, my children, the lecturers at PSB Academy and my company, who have encouraged me to stay strong in this education journey, to constantly improve myself, and I think the hard work has definitely paid off," Vengadesh, who aspires to be a manager in his company after he completes his degree course. Alicia Seng Man Wah, a 24 year old who graduates top in her cohort under the Bachelor of Arts in Business and Finance programme offered by Coventry University, had to juggle both work as a planning executive in a manufacturing company along with her part-time studies: "To have PSB Academy recognise my achievements through this prize is a great honour. I'm definitely glad that I'm seeing the results from the hard work I've put in, and now that my course is complete, I'm looking forward to putting my newly acquired skills to work with a renewed confidence," said Alicia, who is confident that her degree will open up more opportunities for career growth in her company, where she has worked at for five years. Confidence and inspiration abound at today's graduation ceremony Swati Arora, 28, graduated top of her class in Diploma in Tourism and Hospitality Management offered by PSB Academy: "I know that this qualification will open doors for me especially as I look forward to exploring job opportunities that will help me expand my range of experience in the tourism industry,"said the tourism marketing manager. "The need for individuals to acquire industry-ready skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the future economy has never been more pertinent in this age of disruption. Alongside our own diploma graduates with us today, we are also proud to be with graduates from one of UK's leading universities, a partner who shares our mission to groom graduates who are truly ready to tackle the demands of today's workforce. Coventry University has been consistently rated as one of UK's best, and we hope that our track record on delivering our unique brand of education to students will give this pioneer graduating class good confidence in their prospects. We hope all our graduates today will continue to dream big, pursue their passion, and contribute actively to the community," said Derrick Chang, Acting Chief Executive Officer, PSB Academy. Gary Armstrong, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor, Coventry University adds: "This graduation ceremony is the culmination of much hard work by the graduates, staff and all involved; it symbolises the first step our graduates are taking towards their future, and I hope they face it with confidence, that they will seize and create new opportunities for themselves and others as they navigate through the challenges of today's evolving world. It is our students that have made our international partnership with institutions such as PSB Academy a success, and through their efforts, given it real meaning. We hope to continue to foster in all our students the elements of success we have shared with our graduating students today: an openness to new ideas, an understanding of the importance of innovation and creativity and a global outlook." The students that graduated today received their qualifications in the following programmes: Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Accounting and Finance, Coventry University Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Business and Finance, Coventry University Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Coventry University Diploma in Business Administration (Accounting and Finance), PSB Academy Diploma in Business Administration (Banking and Finance), PSB Academy Certificate in Business Management, PSB Academy Diploma in Business Administration, PSB Academy Diploma in Business Administration (Human Resource Management), PSB Academy Diploma in Business Administration (Marketing Management), PSB Academy Diploma in Business Administration (Supply Chain Management), PSB Academy Diploma in Tourism and Hospitality Management, PSB Academy Diploma in Industrial Engineering, PSB Academy Certificate in Engineering Foundation Certificate in Infocomm Technology Diploma in Electrical Engineering Technology, PSB Academy Diploma in Mechanical Engineering Technology, PSB Academy Diploma in Infocomm Technology, PSB Academy Foundation Diploma in Life Sciences, PSB Academy Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science, PSB Academy *As ranked by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2016 Image PSB Academy celebrated its largest cohort of diploma graduates for the year today. With the institution's investment in advanced learning spaces in their 'Academy of the Future', which spans over more than 100,000 square feet in Marina Square, the Academy hopes to deliver on its brand of industry-ready education to more business and communications students with more opportunities for hands-on experimentation, for industry collaboration and learning experiences. http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/5807 Logo http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/4694 Media contact: Melody Uy Email Contact +65 6213 6997 TOKYO, Oct 14, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd. announced that Bank Saint Petersburg (BSPB), the leading bank in North-West Russia, started accepting JCB cards at POS terminals and ATMs.The bank network includes 7,100 POS terminals and 700 ATMs located not only in Saint Petersburg but also throughout the Leningrad region, in Moscow and Kaliningrad. JCBI started card issuing business with local banks in Russia in 2015 and cardmember base has been expanding. The partnership with BSPB will make JCB cardmembers feel more comfortable to use their cards, and enhance JCB presence in the market and increase JCB brand awareness.Commenting on the announcement, Kimihisa Imada, Deputy President of JCBI, said: "With this launch, JCB expands card acceptance in one of the most popular and famous destinations in Russia. Saint Petersburg has been recognized as Europe's Leading Destination for the second consecutive year by the World Travel Awards and we are proud that JCB cardmembers from all over the world will be able to use their cards while travelling and sightseeing in the area."Pavel Filimonenok, Deputy Chairman of the management board of BSPB, added: "It is very important for us that our bank is among the top ten banks in Russia certified by one of the leading worldwide payment brands - JCB. We highly evaluate the potential of our collaboration with JCB as the payment brand is actively growing and the global volume of transactions made by JCB cards has nearly doubled over the past 3 years."About Bank Saint PetersburgBank Saint Petersburg is one of the leading banks of the Northwestern region of Russia. The bank was established in 1990. It became an essential part of the financial and economic sphere of the Northwestern region of Russia. The bank has 1.7 million retail customers and 56 thousand companies in 58 offices located in Saint Petersburg, the Leningrad region, Moscow and Kaliningrad. The bank ranks 16th among Russian banks by assets (according to the Interfax informative and analytical agency).About JCBJCB is a major global payment brand and a leading payment card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. Its acceptance network includes about 31 million merchants and over a million cash advance locations in 190 countries and territories. JCB cards are now issued in 21 countries and territories, with more than 95 million card members. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase merchant coverage and cardmember base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to provide responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en/Note: Statistics in About JCB are as of March 2016.ContactJCB International Co., Ltd.Ayako TanakaCorporate PlanningTel: 81-3-5778-8390Email: jcbinternational-pr@info.jcb.co.jpSource: JCBCopyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. /NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/ CAMARILLO, California, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --BNK Petroleum Inc. (the "Company") (TSX:BKX) is pleased to announce that the Company has filed a preliminary short form prospectus in connection with a proposed offering of up to 55,000,000 common shares (the "Shares") of the Company at a price of C$0.20 per Share (the "Issue Price") to raise aggregate gross proceeds of approximately C$11,000,000 (the "Offering"). The Offering will be co-led by GMP FirstEnergy and Haywood Securities Inc. (collectively, the "Agents"). The Shares are being offered by the Agents on a "commercially reasonable efforts" basis. Wolf Regener, President & CEO commented "This offering will allow us to facilitate the further development of our Tishomingo Field in a low cost environment. We believe that our Tishomingo Field asset has great potential for additional cash flow and reserve additions creating substantial value for our shareholders. After the prolonged industry downturn and significant cost cutting, we are looking forward to beginning a drilling program as we continue to focus on cost reductions." Certain insiders of the Company have indicated that they will participate in the Offering. Such participation would be considered to be a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101"). The transaction will be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements under MI 61-101. Closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about October 28, 2016 and is subject to the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, including approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Shares will be offered by way of a short form prospectus which has been filed in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario pursuant to National Instrument 44-101 Short Form Prospectus Distributions, in the United States on a private placement basis pursuant to exemptions from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and in such other jurisdictions as the Company and the Agents may agree. About BNK Petroleum Inc. BNK Petroleum Inc. is an international oil and gas exploration and production company focused on finding and exploiting large, predominately unconventional oil and gas resource plays. Through various affiliates and subsidiaries, the Company owns and operates shale oil and gas properties and concessions in the United States. Additionally the Company is utilizing its technical and operational expertise to identify and acquire additional unconventional projects. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol BKX. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information This release contains forward-looking information including statements regarding the Offering and the use of proceeds therefrom and the timing thereof. The use of any of the words "target", "plans", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information is based on management's expectations and assumptions, including that the Company will obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the other conditions to closing the Offering will be satisfied. Forward-looking information involves significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: any of the assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based vary or prove to be invalid, including that the Company will be unable to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the other conditions to closing the Offering will not be satisfied in a timely manner or at all, and the other risks identified in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form under the "Risk Factors" section, the Company's most recent management's discussion and analysis and the Company's other public disclosure, available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to take into account important factors that could cause actual costs or results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause actual results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The forward-looking information included in this release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law. THIS NEWS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY OF THE SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. THE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE "U.S. SECURITIES ACT") OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS UNLESS REGISTERED UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT AND APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS OR AN EXEMPTION FROM SUCH REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE. For further information: Wolf E. Regener, +1 (805) 484-3613, Email: investorrelations@bnkpetroleum.com, Website: www.bnkpetroleum.com Financials Sales of 2.8 million, a 10% increase vs. H1 2015 Operational result +14% Most significant scientific business advances Partnership agreement with Greater Paris University Hospital (AP-HP) to set up a common sequencing platform International presentation of new results on IntegraGen's biomarker for optimizing treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer Regulatory News: IntegraGen (Paris:ALINT) (FR0010908723 ALINT Eligible PEA PME), a company specializing in decoding the human genome and delivering relevant and easily interpretable analyzes for academic and private laboratories, today announced its revenues for the first half of 2016. Company financial results for the first half of 2016 were reviewed during a Board of Directors meeting held on September 29, 2016. (in thousand ) S1 2016 (6 months) S1 2015 (6 months) Var. % Sales 2,880 2,624 + 10% Total revenues 3,034 2,678 + 13% EBIT (1,152) (1,343) + 14% Net result (1,028) (872) (18%) 30 June 2016 31 Dec 2015 Cash position (in thousand ) 3,780 5,018 (23%) Bernard Courtieu, Chief Executive Officer of IntegraGen stated: "These solid financial and operational results confirm our strategy focused on genomics and the development of molecular diagnostic tools. Our Genomic Services business has grown by 10% compared to the same time period in 2015 demonstrating our ability to maintain organic growth while also attracting new prestigious partners for sequencing activities such as the Greater Paris University hospital (AP-HP), a partnership that will provide opportunity for further growth over the next few years. Development efforts for our miR-31-3p biomarker have also reached a very significant milestone with the presentation of the results from the analysis of new clinical trial data at the two largest cancer meetings held in the U.S. and Europe. The very positive results we presented will support IntegraGen's effort to launch a miR-31-3p diagnostic test in both Europe and in the United States". FINANCIALS Profit and loss statement Sales for the first half of 2016 reached 2,880 thousand euros compared to 2,624 thousand euros in H1 2015. After inclusion of other revenues and variation of depreciation and provisions, total revenues amount to 3,034 thousand euros. This compares to 2,679 thousand euros during H1 2015, an increase of 13%. Operational charges amounted to 4,186 thousand euros, a limited increase of 4% compared to H1 2015 demonstrating cost containment, primarily due to a significant reduction in external charges apart from reagents and personal costs. Operational results were a loss of 1,152 thousand euros. This compares to a loss of 1,343 thousand euros in H1 2015, an improvement of 14%. Financial results were a benefit of 52 thousand euros which was related to a gain on currency exchange over the time period covered. Exceptional results were a loss of 76 thousand euros. This was related to the sale and acquisition of stock though a liquidity contract. Last year, the exceptional result was a gain of 357 thousand euros, due to not yet amortized Coface allowances. After inclusion of the financial and exceptional results, and an income tax credit, the net result over the first six months of 2016 was a loss of 1,028 thousand euros compared to a loss of 872 thousand euros in H1 2015. Balance sheet Net cash as of June 30, 2016 was 3,780 thousand euros. This compares to a cash balance of 5,018 thousand euros as of December 31, 2015. Cash consumption remained stable at 1,238 thousand euros compared to 1,187 thousand euros over the comparable time period in 2015. OPERATIONS Genomic Services Revenues of genomic services amounted to 2.8 M, an increase of 10% compared to the same time period in 2015.This increase was primarily due to "clinical research activities" realized in IntegraGen's laboratory located in Villejuif, activities realized for the Institut. Pasteur, and to the value added services of the Genomic Consulting (GeCo) business line launched in 2015. Growth activities remained solid during the first half of 2016 including a new partnership with the Greater Paris University Hospital announced on June 30, 2016. This partnership again confirms IntegraGen's ability to develop new clusters of business in order to continue the growth it services business. Oncology Results from an analysis of data from the FIRE-3 clinical trial were presented during a plenary session at the 2016 ASCO meeting held this past June and will also be presented at the 2016 ESMO Congress being held in early October. This exciting data further confirms the predictivity of IntegraGen's proprietary miR-31-3p biomarker related to anti-EGFR treatment efficacy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. These results demonstrate that the expression level of IntegraGen's miR-31-3p microRNA biomarker enables the identification of patients who will have increased overall survival and treatment response from first line anti-EGFR therapy versus the use of anti-VEGF therapy, with a more than one year increase in median overall survival. This data demonstrating the significant clinical benefit of miR-31-3p testing will support IntegraGen's plan to commercially launch a test based on this biomarker in 2017. ABOUT INTEGRAGEN IntegraGen is a company specializing in deciphering the human genome and producing relevant and easily interpretable data for academic and private laboratories. IntegraGen's oncology efforts provide researchers and clinicians with sophisticated tools for analysis and therapeutic individualization of treatment approaches allowing them to tailor therapy to the genetic profiles of patients. As of December 31, 2015, IntegraGen had 37 employees and had generated revenue of 5.6 million in 2015. Based in Evry Genopole, IntegraGen also has an U.S. office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. IntegraGen is listed on Alternext of Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0010908723 Ticker: ALINT PEA-SME). For more information on IntegraGen visit www.integragen.com. Income Statement INTEGRAGEN SA In K H1 2016 H1 2015 Var. % Genomic sales 2 880 2 624 +10% Subsidies and other revenues 154 55 ns Total Revenues 3 034 2 679 +13% Operating costs (4 186) (4 022) (4%) Operating profit (1 152) (1 343) +14% Financial Profit/Loss 52 (63) Exceptional Profit/Loss (76) 357 Taxes (CIR) 149 178 (16%) Net result (1 028) (872) (18%) BALANCE SHEET INTEGRAGEN SA In K Jun 30, 2016 Dec 31, 2015 Long-Term Assets 1 234 1 271 Stocks 343 268 Accounts Receivable 1 406 1 393 Other Receivable 626 665 Cash 3 780 5 018 Current Assets 6 155 7 345 Translation difference 4 4 TOTAL ASSETS 7 393 8 620 In K Jun 30, 2016 Dec 31, 2015 Shareholders' Equity 1 905 2 933 Other Equity 1 492 1 592 Contingency 6 4 Notes payable to banks 0 0 Accounts Payable 1 482 2 469 Other short term debts 1 978 1 040 Translation difference 529 582 TOTAL LIABILITIES 7 393 8 620 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161013006422/en/ Contacts: INTEGRAGEN Bernard COURTIEU President and CEO or Laurence RIOT LAMOTTE Chief Financial Officer +33 (0)1 60 91 09 00 contact@integragen.com or NEWCAP Investor and Media Relations Louis-Victor DELOUVRIER, +33 (0)1 44 71 98 53 integragen@newcap.eu SINGAPORE, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens has bagged the 2016 Asia-Pacific Building Technologies Company of the Year award from Frost & Sullivan. The award was presented to Siemens at the annual Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific Best Practices Awards banquet held at the Conrad Centennial Singapore on Oct 13. Mr. Viswesh Vancheeshwar, Research Analyst, Energy & Environment Practice, Asia-Pacific at Frost & Sullivan said that Siemens has successfully created affordable and easy-to-use state-of-the-art solutions. "By consistently producing and providing new technologies which push the boundaries of both operational and energy efficiency, Siemens has consolidated its position as a leader in the building technologies market," he added. Mr. Vancheeshwar said that building technologies is a fast industry with numerous exciting and evolving opportunitiesand is currently experiencing a technological convergence with the emergence of next generation of ICT solutions such as Big Data, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and data analytics. He added that it is challenging for companies to incorporate these ICT solutions into their value propositions, while ensuring the ease of use for customers. "In a price conscious region like Asia-Pacific, offering advanced technology solutions at competitive prices may be the key to success but also poses a challenge for building technology providers. However, Siemens has successfully overcome this challenge with its innovative and attractive solutions that are able to match the evolving needs of end-users in this market," he said. Mr. Vancheeshwar also said that as a pioneer in the building technologies sector, Siemens brings innovative solutions and years of global expertise to its customers. The company's solutions and services ensure that buildings are future-ready, which essentially translates into higher ROIs for customers, he added. "We are proud to receive the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific Building Technologies Company of the Year award. The award underscores our commitment to bring cutting-edge solutions to our customers within the Region," said Mr. Elangovan Karuppiah, CEO of the Building Technologies Division for the Middle-East Asia Pacific region at Siemens. Mr. Karuppiah also added that Siemens has increased their focus on delivering digitalized and energy-efficient solutions to the market and will constantly work towards raising the bar in the buildings industry. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact Us: Start the discussion About Siemens Siemens AG(Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of gas and steam turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment - such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems - and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2015, which ended on September 30, 2015, Siemens generated revenue of 75.6 billion and net income of 7.4 billion. At the end of September 2015, the company had around 348,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet athttp://www.siemens.com. Media Contact Alice Chia Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific Frost & Sullivan Email: alice.chia@frost.com Minsk and Tokyo, Oct 14, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - Belinvestbank JSC ("Belinvestbank"), a leading bank in Belarus, and JCB International Co., Ltd. ("JCBI"), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., today announced that they have signed a license agreement on merchant acquiring of JCB cards in Belarus. The agreement was signed by Gennady Sysoev, Chairman of the Board of Belinvestbank, and Kimihisa Imada, Deputy President of JCBI, and a press conference was held in Minsk on October 10th.Entering the market of Belarus will give JCB cardmembers more convenience during their stay in the country. JCB cardmembers will be able to pay for goods and services with their cards and to withdraw the local currency from ATMs, which eliminates the need for foreign currency exchange.Kimihisa Imada commented: "I am confident that the partnership with Belinvestbank, which is among the five strongest banks in Belarus, will expand the JCB card acceptance network and will contribute to the development of the payment industry of the Republic of Belarus. The number of JCB cardmembers is growing, and I am glad that now cashless transactions are available for JCB cards in Belarus. Belarus is a convenient location for tourists from Russia, where banks are issuing JCB cards, and also has a rich history and culture that can attract numerous cardmembers from Japan, China, South Korea and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region".Cooperation between Belinvestbank and JCBI will allow Belinvestbank merchants to serve a new segment of customers - JCB cardmembers and co-badged MIR-JCB cardmembers including businesspeople, tourists, and students from Russia and the Asian region - and will increase and develop card payments in the country as a whole.Belinvestbank has a wide network with more than 6,000 merchants and 700 ATMs located in the territory of the Republic of Belarus and this network is constantly expanding. It is planned that all JCB cardmembers will be able to use JCB cards at the bank's acceptance locations."We highly appreciate our cooperation with JCBI", said Gennady Sysoev, the Chairman of Belinvestbank Board. "Certainly, our cooperation will allow our partners from Japan to expand their payment cards acceptance network on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, and Belinvestbank in its turn will be able to open new opportunities for its clients worldwide and to strengthen its positions in the market of merchant and ATM acquiring", he added.About BelinvestbankBelarusian Bank for Development and Reconstruction (Belinvestbank) Joint Stock Company is a universal bank, focused on retail banking and corporate banking services for legal entities of different types of incorporation and business areas, and conducts all types of bank operations. The bank has extensive correspondent relations with the biggest foreign banks, conducts all types of international payments, accepted in the world practice, and provides settlement services of international trade transactions to its clients throughout the CIS, Europe and the USA. Belinvestbank JSC is a member of the Association of Belarusian banks, JSC Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), international payment systems VISA International and MASTERCARD International, national payment system BelCard. Belinvestbank official website: www.belinvestbank.byAbout JCBJCB is a major global payment brand and a leading payment card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. Its acceptance network includes about 31 million merchants and over a million cash advance locations in 190 countries and territories. JCB cards are now issued in 21 countries and territories, with more than 95 million card members. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase merchant coverage and card member base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to provide responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en/Note: Statistics in About JCB are as of March 2016.ContactJCB International Co., Ltd.Ayako TanakaCorporate PlanningTel: 81-3-5778-8390Email: jcbinternational-pr@info.jcb.co.jpBelinvestbankIrina KorolPR managerTel: +375-17-2395256Email: korol_ia@belinvestbank.byAbout JCBSource: JCBCopyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. HONG KONG, Oct 14, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - Modern Land (China) Co Ltd ("Modern Land","Company" or "Group"), a leading green-technology real-estate developer, is pleased to announce that it issued a 3-year USD350M Green Bond yesterday in New York (Oct 13), making it the first Chinese property developer listed in Hong Kong (HK:1107) to issue such bonds, capturing opportunities arising from green finance.The Board announced that the Company and its Subsidiary Guarantors - Guotai Junan, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, UBS, VTB Capital and Zhongtai International - entered into a Purchase Agreement in connection with the issue of USD350,000,000 senior notes due in 2019, bearing interest at a rate of 6.875% per annum. The Company has received approval in-principle for the listing and quotation of the Notes on the Official List of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.The gross proceeds of the Notes Issue will amount to approximately USD349 million and the Company intends to use the proceeds from the Notes Issue to refinance certain existing indebtedness. The Notes are issued as Green Bonds to fund existing projects of the Group and businesses with environmental benefits in alignment with the Green Bond Principles, by way of refinancing existing debt in relation to these projects.Relying on its fast and stable development, Modern Land has obtained distinguished appraisals from renowned international institutions. In August this year, Fitch Ratings, an international credit ratings institution, has upgraded Modern Land's Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to "B+" from "B". The Outlook is "Stable." Fitch has also upgraded Modern Land's senior unsecured rating and the ratings on all outstanding bonds to "B+" from "B", with the Recovery Rating at "RR4".Favourable National Strategies pave ways for Green BondsBeing the world's second largest economy, China shares substantial involvement in the increasing effort on environmental awareness. In recent years, China rolled out Public-Private-Partnership ("PPP") model, promoting green finances at a national level, as part of the attempts to invite private investments in green industry. By the end of the previous year, China promulgated the "Green Bond Guidelines" and "Eligible Green Bond Project Directory", setting out the legitimate rules for Green Bonds.In January 2016, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank issued China's first Green Bond with a scale reaching RMB 20 billion. Mr. Li Yuanchao, China's Vice-president, emphasised the development of Green Finance markets in World Economic Forum earlier this year. Green finance markets also became one of the heated topic in Hangzhou G20 Submit in September for the first time. Such incentives and practices provide frameworks for China's green finance and lay down a foundation for the development thereof.Distinguished Second Opinion from CICEROGreen Bond Issuers always invite independent, not-for-profit, research institute to provide Second Opinions on assessing eligible projects for green bond investments. Modern Land also asked CICERO (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo) to provide objective assessment of its Green Bond Framework. According to CICERO's Second Opinion report, Modern Land's energy saving and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation policies are characterised by a life-cycle approach, with attention given to not only the design phase but also the operational phase of the buildings supported by a technical team. Emissions of the buildings are calculated in accordance with Measurement Standards for Carbon Emissions from Buildings of China. Under the framework, energy performance improvement targets will be applied to each eligible building project. Additionally, all residential buildings developed by Modern Land are operated by property management companies closely connected to the Company which will follow strictly the energy solution and operation strategies as determined in the design phase.CICERO's Second Opinion report also shows that, the effectiveness of Modern Land's approach is demonstrated by the achievement of its energy efficiency/green buildings up until now. Two buildings developed by Modern Land (Nanchang Mantingcun MOMA Building number 9 and Dangdai MOMA) have been awarded 3-star Chinese Green Building Label. Two buildings developed by Modern Land (Jiujiang Mantingcun Building number 5 and First Phase of Nanchang Mantingchun MOMA) have been awarded 3-star Chinese Green Building Design Label. Other six buildings developed by Modern Land have been awarded 2-star Chinese Green Building Design Label. This is a clear demonstration of the leading position of Modern Land in China's green and energy efficiency building sector.Deeply-Cultivated in Green Property, with Outstanding Financial PerformanceUnlike ordinary corporate bond, green bond requires much stricter standards on capital utilisation, including environment protection. According to Modern Land's Green Bond Framework, for a project (either new or renovation) to be financed through the Green Bond, it will need to meet one of the following specific minimum standards, including 2 Star for Chinese Green Building Label (Chinese Green Building Design Label or Chinese Green Building Operation Label), Gold for LEED, or any other equivalent green building label. Additional energy performance improvement targets of 15% for new construction and 30% for renovations are included. It could be applied in research and development supporting energy efficient building design and technologies with maximum of 10% of issuance.As a leading company in green property sector, Modern Land has been consistently bringing satisfactory investment returns to its shareholders. For the six months ended 30 June 2016, the Group recorded a revenue of approximately RMB4,271 million, representing a significant year-on-year growth of 118.6%. Compared to the first half year of 2015, profit for the period attributable to the owners of the Company recorded an increase of 75.8% to approximately RMB500 million.For the six months ended 30 June 2016, the Group achieved contracted sales of approximately RMB7,450.6 million, representing an increase of 70.6% as compared to the corresponding period in 2015. The Group, its joint ventures and associates pre-sold 658,689 sq.m. in total GFA and 1,352 units of car parks, representing an increase of 37.5% and 107.0%, respectively, over the corresponding period in 2015. The results showed a high growth rate in a sustainable development status with satisfactory turnover.Setting a Precedent for Its Peers in Chinese Real Estate SectorDespite being a "blue ocean" market in Hong Kong as well as in Mainland China, Green Bond displays notable momentum. According to the statistics of China Securities Regulatory Commission, the green credit balances represent 9% of the total borrowings of 21 China's major banks and financial institutions, totaling RMB 7.26 trillion as at the first half of this year.Following Shanghai Pudong Development Bank's first Green Bond issuance in China, Link Reit issued the first corporate Green Bond in Hong Kong in July with a scale of USD 500 million. According to media reports, Link Reit's Green Bond was oversubscribed by 4 times, reflecting the overwhelming attention captured in the capital markets.Being a Chinese property developer, Modern Land's Green Bond sets a precedent to issue the first offshore Green Bond among its peers listed in Hong Kong. This bond issue is believed to establish the Group's strategic position in the relevant market, and reflects the Group's endeavor to support China's initiative to Green Finance. There is an increasing number of enterprises tapping into the prominent trend of Green Finance in China. The Group's Green Bond issuance may serve as an example and substantiate the confidence of its peers, encouraging more capitals to be committed into the Green industry.Mr. Zhang Peng, Executive Director and President of Modern Land, said, "The Group has been committed into establishing 'green + comfort + energy saving + mobile interconnecting full-life-cycle communities'. Several projects under its flagship have been endorsed with authoritative green construction labels in China. We firmly believe that innovation is vital to green initiatives and we shall not cease to pursue growths and breakthroughs no matter in the aspects of product development or financing channels."The Group's venture in Green Finance including issuance of Green Bond does not only enrich its financing channels, but also opens more opportunities for wider investment community. The Company will spare no effort to create green homes resorting to advanced technologies and maximize its shareholders' return with quality products and excellent sales performance."Source: Modern Land (China) Co LtdCopyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. BANGALORE, January 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- - Q3 revenues declined 1.4% sequentially in USD terms; declined 0.3% in constant currency - Q3 year-on-year revenues grew 6.0% in USD terms; grew 7.3% in constant currency - 9 months year-on-year revenues grew 8.3% in USD terms; 9.4% in constant currency - LTM revenues crossed $ 10 bn - Q3 Operating margins expanded 0.2% to 25.1% and net margins expanded 0.6% to 21.5% sequentially - Q3 EPS grew 1.5% sequentially and 4.4% year-on-year - Attrition declined sequentially by 0.8% on standalone basis and 1.6% on consolidated basis - FY 17 revenue guidance revised to 8.4% - 8.8% from 8.0% - 9.0% in constant currency Financial Highlights Consolidated results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 ) Revenues were $ 2, 551 million for the quarter ended Dec ember 3 1 , 201 6 QoQ decline of 1.4% in USD terms; decline of 0.3% in constant currency terms YoY growth of 6.0 % in USD terms; 7.3 % in constant currency terms Net profit was $ 547 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 QoQ growth was 1.5% YoY growth was 4.4% Consolidated results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the nine months ended December 31, 2016 Revenues were $ 7,639 million ; growth of 8.3% in USD terms and 9.4% in constant currency terms Net profit was $ 1,597 million ; growth of 5.1% in USD terms Liquid assets including cash and cash equivalents and investments were $5,255 million as on December 31, 2016 as compared to $5,349 million as on September 30, 2016 and $4,765 million as on December 31, 2015 . During the quarter, the company paid interim dividend including tax of $ 453 million "Taking into account seasonal and other additional headwinds for the quarter, our Q3 revenue performance was broadly in line with our expectations," said Vishal Sikka, CEO and MD. "Beyond the quarterly numbers, we continue to focus sharply on the execution of our strategy, as reflected in the growing embrace of AI-based automation, growth in our new software-led business, delivering innovation, both incremental & breakthrough and fostering a learning-led culture. Our annual client survey results show highest customer satisfaction since we started the survey 12 years ago and increased adoption of Zero Distance and lowered attrition, especially amongst top performers - these are some of the key indicators of the growing creative confidence of Infoscions." "In a seasonally soft quarter, our utilization has remained healthy." said U B Pravin Rao, COO. "Our continued efforts to improve employee engagement and experience resulted in a reduction in attrition. During the quarter, we added 77 clients and also added 2 clients in the $ 75mn+ revenue category. I would like to congratulate all stakeholders on crossing the $ 10 bn revenue milestone on LTM basis." "Our ongoing focus on operational efficiencies has enabled us to keep YTD operating margins at similar levels for the same period last year", said M.D. Ranganath, CFO. "Our cash generation during the quarter was strong." Outlook* The Company's revenue outlook (consolidated) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, under IFRS is as follows: Revenue guidance revised to 8.4% - 8.8% from 8.0% - 9.0% in constant currency; The above constant currency guidance translates to 8.6% - 9.0% in USD terms based on March 31 st rates, 7.9% - 8.3% based on June 30 th rates; 7.9% - 8.3% based on September 30 th rates and 7.2% - 7.6% based on December 31st rates *FY 16 constant Currency rates - AUD/USD - 0.73; Euro/USD - 1.10; GBP/USD - 1.51 Currency rates as of March 31, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.77; Euro/USD - 1.14; GBP/USD - 1.44 Currency rates as of June 30, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.75; Euro/USD - 1.11; GBP/USD - 1.35 Currency rates as of September 30, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.76; Euro/USD - 1.12; GBP/USD - 1.30 Currency rates as of December 31, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.72; Euro/USD - 1.05; GBP/USD - 1.23 Change of Auditors on account of mandatory rotation requirement in India The Board of Directors of Infosys Limited ('the Company') at its meeting held on January 13, 2017, on the recommendation of the Audit Committee, has proposed the appointment of Deloitte Haskins & Sells, LLP, Chartered Accountants (Firm Registration No. 117366 W/W 100018) (Deloitte) as the statutory auditors of the Company, subject to the approval of the shareholders of the Company. This appointment is effective financial year ending March 31, 2018 which will include audit of the quarterly financial statements of the year. This appointment is necessitated by the requirement under Section 139 of the Indian Companies Act, 2013 and the Rules made thereunder, wherein it is mandatory for the company to rotate the current statutory auditors on completion of the maximum term permitted under the said Section. Deloitte will hold office for a period of 5 consecutive years from the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company scheduled to be held in the year 2017. To align with the above, the Board of Directors of Company also approved the appointment of Deloitte as the independent registered public accounting firm to audit the annual financial statements of the Company to be included in the Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") for the year ending March 31, 2018. Please also refer to the regulatory filings published on the company's website (under Highlights IND AS) for further details in this regard. Management Changes The Company has appointed Ravikumar S. as Deputy Chief Operating Officer reporting to Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, with immediate effect. In addition to his current responsibility of heading the global delivery organization, Ravikumar S. will oversee certain strategic Business Enabling Functions and will be based in India. Business Highlights We continue to drive new value for our clients through automation and innovation, improve our operational excellence, and invest in a culture of learning. RENEW In Q3, we continued to make progress on our strategy to Renew our core services, introducing new offerings in the areas of Digital, Cloud, Data Sciences, Mainframe Modernization, Cyber security, API Microservices, Internet of Things, and more, to help our clients renew their core businesses. In addition, Zero Distance continued to be a key strategic differentiator to drive ongoing, grassroots innovation in every project. Infosys leveraged the Zero Distance framework to build a custom application that provides maintenance and production support services for the Global Business Systems of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions designed for professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting, and academic markets. "Bringing forward innovative ideas to improve the customer experience while simultaneously reducing our operational costs is a capability where Infosys has exceeded my expectations. Infosys proposed replacing our third party system with a custom application, improving the user experience and reducing our operational costs. The implementation was completed by Infosys one month ahead of the deadline, maximizing our ability to reap financial benefits from the new custom application. This is a great example of Infosys doing more than just managing the status quo. I look forward to partnering with Infosys on future such innovations." - James W Wanke, Vice President of Technology, LexisNexis "Arizona Public Service (APS) was at the cusp of a major business transformation that required us to modernize our Customer Information System (CIS) environment without letting our customers be burdened by the complexities of the process. Infosys enabled us to accelerate the replacement of the existing system with the suitable COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) product while ensuring a seamless transition and a steady state for large and complex CIS application. With its deep domain knowledge, the team leveraged its Zero Distance initiative to come up with an idea to run a parallel sustainability program that ensured the upgrade of the product with minimal disruptions. Infosys also came up with the brilliant idea to automate a large number of test cases that were previously manually tested, making certain that they were tailored to our specific scenarios. The solution provided by Infosys allows more timely delivery of products and services to our customers, saving costs for our end customers through a system that is flexible and nimble to meet their needs." - Jasvinder Arora, Director, CIS Modernization Program, Arizona Public Service Company The Kroger Co., the largest traditional supermarket chain by revenue and the third largest retailer in the world, has chosen Infosys to provide support for several corporate and retail systems and middleware services. "We are extremely excited about the experience and capabilities as well as the ability to scale that Infosys brings. We feel that Infosys is a good fit with our focus on customers, quality and innovation." - Annette Franke, Vice President of Corporate Technology, The Kroger Co. Servco, a leading Hawaii based Automotive Dealer and Distributor, has chosen Infosys as a partner to execute their ERP transformation program. "We are pleased to have selected Infosys as a partner for our key Oracle transformation program which involves the implementation of a hybrid Oracle cloud and on- premise solution across key business functions of the organization. The implementation will enable us to de-risk our business by moving away from legacy systems and establishing a strong, modern integrated platform that will benefit the critical functions at Servco. Infosys' capabilities in Oracle ERP, Cloud technologies and Automotive Domain led us to select them for this Key Program." - Thor Toma, Senior Vice President, Servco "House of Fraser is on an accelerated journey to the customer centric, digital era of retailing. We are building a next generation integrated eCommerce and Customer Experience platform which combines with new backend order management and service integration capabilities online, in store and on mobile in a truly multi-channel proposition. Working collaboratively with Infosys, our partner for strategy through execution of this transformation; this game changing platform is delivered on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing infrastructure. At our business scale, we believe this is a pioneering use of cloud technology for a mission critical customer facing application and a clear demonstration of the maturity and capability of Microsoft's cloud technology. Our positive experience of delivering this platform in partnership with Infosys and Microsoft has reinforced my confidence that the use of cloud technology will help us deliver our digital transformation at House of Fraser." - Julian Burnett, Chief Information Officer, House of Fraser We are seeing continued demand for Mainframe modernization across verticals, and are working on joint forays with Amazon Web Services and Azure in the market, partnering with our clients to move their Mainframe workloads to the cloud. "We work with Infosys to create innovative technology solutions using Finacle and Amazon Web Services Cloud services. We recently conducted initial tests by offloading large components batch processing to the AWS cloud, and achieved processing speeds 100 times faster than traditional database technology, which could revolutionize the way we run core banking systems. We have also initiated our journey to modernize our legacy environments and accelerate digital transformation, with the support of Amazon Web Services and Infosys." - David Gledhill, Group Chief Information Officer, DBS Bank NEW In Q3, we saw continued momentum for software and services coming together to drive new value for clients. Mana client adoption more than doubled compared to previous quarters. Skava had a strong Black Friday on retail ecommerce sites where volumes were up more than 30%. The EdgeVerve business delivered solid results with 18 wins and 21 go-lives from both the Finacle and Edge suite of solutions across various markets. AssistEdge, our Robotic Process Automation platform had its best quarter ever. Similarly in Q3, Panaya saw its best performance in terms of bookings and revenue. Evonik, one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals has engaged Infosys in a multi-year strategic partnership. "We chose Infosys for their ability to deliver on the current IT needs for Evonik, and for their capabilities to support us on future technology modernization programs. Infosys is supporting us in the transformation of our Procurement landscape through an end-to-end Implementation of SAP Ariba, as part of Evonik's Procurement 2020 vision. In addition, through the ideas generated by the company's Zero Distance initiative, we have leveraged Infosys Artificial Intelligence Platform Mana and its cognitive automation capabilities, in our platform operations and have been able to analyze and reduce duplicate system monitoring alerts by 15%. We look forward to more such ideas from Infosys driving the shape of our partnership in the future." - Thomas Meinel, Senior Vice President & Head of Application Management, Evonik Industries AG Lifetouch, a global photography company, has partnered with Infosys to automate and monitor its incident tickets for system and infrastructure failures. As part of Lifetouch's deployment of the Nagios tool, the Infosys Robotic Process Automation was integrated to monitor alerts. Based on the nature of the alerts, the bots are programmed to perform specific actions - such as a service desk ticket creation, the classification of an issue as well as creation of problem management tickets using built-in business logic. "Through our engagement with Infosys, not only have been able to automate manual and highly repetitive tasks like monitoring and ticket creation, but have also been able to improve the quality of our outcomes. With bots we now have 24/7 coverage with accurate monitoring and systematic alerts." - Jay Drayton, Vice President, Lifetouch (LNSS- National Schools Studios) Finacle continued to strengthen its position as a "Platform of Choice" for digital transformation, enabling new business models for banks. "ICICI Bank has a rich legacy of leveraging the latest technology to bring in new paradigms in banking. Akin to pioneering new technologies in the country like software robotics, mobility and near-field communication among others, I am delighted that we are the first bank in India and among few globally to set up a blockchain application. We have also marked a milestone by piloting a blockchain network with Emirates NBD and Infosys Finacle as partners and have successfully executed cross-border open account trade finance and remittance transactions. I envision that the emerging technology of blockchain will play a significant role in banking in the coming years by making complex bilateral and multi-lateral banking transactions seamless, quick and more secure. Going forward, we also intend to work on expanding the blockchain ecosystem and create common working standards to contribute to the commercial adoption of this initiative." - Ms. Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank An important milestone in strengthening Finacle's presence in the United States this quarter was the go-live of Marcus by Goldman Sachs. "With the successful deployment of the Finacle Core Banking Solution we gain both agility to respond to customer needs and scalability to adapt with market requirements while providing superior customer experience required in today's competitive Digital Age." - Boe Hartman, Chief Technology Officer, Marcus by Goldman Sachs (Digital Finance Technology) Cosmetics Company Shiseido, used Panaya Test Center to undergo a major IT transformation project, and helped tackle its IT Transformation project by successfully reducing the company's global testing efforts by 30%. "To ensure we go live smoothly with our business-critical applications, we had to mobilize over 80 business users spread across 11 countries in Europe to perform user acceptance testing. Panaya helped us save 30% of our testing effort while improving the quality of our testing." Panaya Test Center delivered test acceleration and offered Shiseido a more efficient way to manage the business process testing from an end-to-end perspective. "I could easily track the project in real time to increase our efficiency and avoid any bottlenecks. We will continue to partner with Panaya in our upcoming rollout and expect even greater value." - Sebastien Hebert, Technical Director EMEA, Shiseido Panaya partnered with Elton Technologies to resell licenses of Panaya's CloudQuality' Suite to deliver quality ERP changes with zero time-to-change, zero downtime and zero risk, providing major savings to large enterprises. "We see an excellent opportunity partnering with Panaya for many of our Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) clients planning tomigrate to SAP S/4HANAin the coming years. These companies are looking at a complex ERP migration, and a widely used solution like Panaya's CloudQuality' Suite that offers faster testing and zero risk will certainly offer our clients significant savings." - Prem Chander, Chief Executive Officer of Elton Technologies In Design Thinking, we continued to work with clients in key strategic areas. "When we began the transformation of School of Management at Fudan University, we wanted to re-imagine and create a new learning experience for students and faculty, in our education programs. Our intent was to create a platform that enables a deeper engagement between students and faculty, and create a modern and smart campus, and more. For the alumni, we wanted to bring the notion of continuous learning to life, engaging with them in a much deeper way, to help them achieve their personal and professional goals long after they leave our campus and pursue their careers and lifetime objectives. Infosys was one of our key partners in imagining this future for business education at Fudan University. In our Design Thinking engagement with Infosys, we looked at the entire MBA student experience, from the students' point of view - their motivations, expectations and aspirations. This has helped us to think very tangibly about how to transform the student experience, and has helped our teams to be much more confident in problem finding and in understanding and designing for our students' needs. I am very pleased that we have built the momentum to experiment and prototype the 2026 student experience, with a bias towards action and a trust in the power of testing and rapid iteration." - Xiongwen Lu, Dean of Fudan School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai, China CULTURE Learnability, the ease and speed to acquire new skills, continues to be the foundation for the company's growth. We have invested in enhancing our leadership training initiatives by offering a more global and experiential learning program at world-class institutions. We have also witnessed positive traction through partnerships with organizations such as Udacity. This quarter we invested in advancing the learning quotient at Infosys. We rolled out new classes on Mana and machine learning topics on the Digital Tutor social learning platform and the Infosys Learning Platform. An immersive training capsule called "Automation - A Way of Life" is being rolled out for all new hires in Mysore along with an updated module on Design Thinking with concrete examples and Infosys success stories. AWARDS & RECOGNITION Leader , Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Testing Services, Worldwide , Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Testing Services, Worldwide Leader , Everest Group's Capital Markets Outsourcing PEAK Matrix' 2016 , Everest Group's Capital Markets Outsourcing PEAK Matrix' 2016 Star Performer , Everest Group's Mobility Services in Global Banking -Service Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix' Assessment 2016 , Everest Group's Mobility Services in Global Banking -Service Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix' Assessment 2016 Leader and Star Performer , Everest Group's Big Data & Analytics Services in Global Banking - Service Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix' Assessment 2016 , Everest Group's Big Data & Analytics Services in Global Banking - Service Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix' Assessment 2016 Leader , IT Outsourcing in Everest Group's Global Insurance - Service Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix' Assessment 2016 , IT Outsourcing in Everest Group's Global Insurance - Service Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix' Assessment 2016 Infosys was inducted into the Winner ' s Circle in the HfS Product Lifecycle Management Services Blueprint Report 2016 in the HfS Product Lifecycle Management Services Blueprint Report 2016 Leader, WW Engineering Services by Global Service Providers (based in India ) by ARC Advisory WW Engineering Services by Global Service Providers (based in ) by ARC Advisory Leader, Retail Digital Service Providers, Zinnov Zones by Zinnov Retail Digital Service Providers, Zinnov Zones by Zinnov High Performer, HfS Intelligent Automation Blueprint Report 2016 HfS Intelligent Automation Blueprint Report 2016 Finacle is a Market Leader among digital platforms in "Ovum Decision Matrix: Selecting a Digital Banking Platform, 2017-18" report by Ovum Research among digital platforms in "Ovum Decision Matrix: Selecting a Digital Banking Platform, 2017-18" report by Ovum Research Best Company in India , FinanceAsia's 20th Anniversary Platinum Awards , FinanceAsia's 20th Anniversary Platinum Awards National Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance, 16th Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) 16th Institute of Company Secretaries of (ICSI) Five marketing and innovation awards following the launch of a successful strategic technology partnership with ATP following the launch of a successful strategic technology partnership with ATP Infosys BPO won 'Best Employer Brand' award by the Best Employer Institute BEYOND BUSINESS In India, the Infosys Foundation has invested in several impactful programs across a wide spectrum of areas including rehabilitation, arts & culture, education and rural development. Some of the key initiatives of the quarter include the curation of the Infosys Foundation Anupu Festival; sponsorship of a kitchen in Hyderabad in partnership with Akshaya Patra Foundation; an endowment to Sahapedia, a NGO, for the development of an online interactive web module on arts, culture and history of India; development of a sustainable village in Madhya Pradesh through Shivganga Samagra Gramvikas Parishad along with other investments that will benefit patients, children and the youth from underprivileged backgrounds. In Q3, the Infosys Foundation USA celebratedComputer Science Education Week,announcing multiple grants to enable under represented studentsacross nine states to explore computer science (CS) and coding. The Foundation also renewed its partnership withCode.org, one of the most active CS education advocacy organizations globally. The Foundation honored 10 CS teachers withawards of excellencein partnership with ACM and CSTA and also launched the new 2016/17 cycle of theInfy Maker Awardsin the U.S.which recognize dozens of Makers working on projects with a deep social impact. As of September 30, 2016,the Foundation has had a significant impact on CSeducationby enabling 134,529 students in 2,490 schools across all 50 states to gain access to computer science and maker education. This was made possible by supporting 2,539 teachers with critical resources such as computer science teacher training, new classroom technology and teaching aids, and makerspaces. An additional 179 coding workshops, hackathons, and coding clubs held during or after school were also supported by the Foundation. About Infosys Ltd Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve these effectively.Our team of 199,000+ innovators, across the globe, is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience, across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age. Safe Harbor Certain statements in these results concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts and inability to accurately predict economic or industry trends, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that the date of this release is January 13, 2017, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. Infosys Limited and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of (Dollars in millions except equity share data) December 31, 2016 March 31, 2016 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 3,844 4,935 Current investments 643 11 Trade receivables 1,905 1,710 Unbilled revenue 502 457 Prepayments and other current assets 803 672 Derivative financial instruments 15 17 Total current assets 7,712 7,802 Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 1,680 1,589 Goodwill 554 568 Intangible assets 127 149 Investment in Associates 15 16 Non-current investments 796 273 Deferred income tax assets 90 81 Income tax assets 785 789 Other non-current assets 111 111 Total non-current assets 4,158 3,576 Total assets 11,870 11,378 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities Trade payables 49 58 Derivative Financial Instruments 1 1 Current income tax liabilities 571 515 Client deposits 4 4 Unearned revenue 268 201 Employee benefit obligations 210 202 Provisions 61 77 Other current liabilities 1,004 940 Total current liabilities 2,168 1,998 Non-current liabilities Deferred income tax liabilities 32 39 Other non-current liabilities 26 17 Total liabilities 2,226 2,054 Equity Share capital- '5 ($0.16) par value 2,400,000,000 (2,400,000,000) equity shares authorized, issued and outstanding 2,285,651,730 (2,285,621,088), net of 11,292,934 (11,323,576) treasury shares as of December 31, 2016 (March 31, 2016), respectively 199 199 Share premium 580 570 Retained earnings 11,647 11,083 Cash flow hedge reserve 4 - Other reserves - - Other components of equity (2,786) (2,528) Total equity attributable to equity holders of the company 9,644 9,324 Non-controlling interests - - Total equity 9,644 9,324 Total liabilities and equity 11,870 11,378 Infosys Limited and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Dollars in millions except share and per equity share data) Three months Three months Nine months Nine months ended ended ended ended December 31, December 31, December 31, December 31, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Revenues 2,551 2,407 7,639 7,055 Cost of sales 1,601 1,512 4,832 4,435 Gross profit 950 895 2,807 2,620 Operating expenses: Selling and marketing expenses 131 130 402 388 Administrative expenses 179 166 519 482 Total operating expenses 310 296 921 870 Operating profit 640 599 1,886 1,750 Other income, net 121 121 347 362 Share in associate's profit / (loss) - - (1) - Profit before income taxes 761 720 2,232 2,112 Income tax expense 214 196 635 593 Net profit 547 524 1,597 1,519 Other comprehensive income Items that will not be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss: Re-measurement of the net defined benefit liability/(asset) (1) 1 (10) (1) Cumulative impact on reversal of unrealized gain on quoted debt securities on adoption of IFRS 9 - - (5) - Equity instruments through other comprehensive income - - - - Items that will be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss: Fair valuation of investments - 1 - 3 Fair value changes on derivatives designated as cash flow hedge, net 4 - 4 - Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations (189) (69) (243) (448) Total other comprehensive income, net of tax (186) (67) (254) (446) Total comprehensive income 361 457 1,343 1,073 Profit attributable to: Owners of the company 547 524 1,597 1,519 Non-controlling interests - - - - 547 524 1,597 1,519 Total comprehensive income attributable to: Owners of the company 361 457 1,343 1,073 Non-controlling interests - - - - 361 457 1,343 1,073 Earnings per equity share Basic ($) 0.24 0.23 0.70 0.66 Diluted ($) 0.24 0.23 0.70 0.66 Weighted average equity shares used in computing earnings per equity share 2,285,651,73 2,285,619,38 2,285,638,67 2,285,614,57 Basic 0 0 8 3 2,286,229,04 2,285,732,05 2,286,076,46 2,285,715,96 Diluted 2 2 2 0 NOTE: 1. The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the three months and nine months ended December 31, 2016 have been taken on record at the Board meeting held on January 13, 2017 2. A Fact Sheet providing the operating metrics of the company can be downloaded from www.infosys.com https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/quarterly-results/2016-2017/q3/Documents/fact-sheet.pdf https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/quarterly-results/2016-2017/q3/Documents/IFRS-INR-press-release. Contact: Investor Relations Sandeep Mahindroo +91-80-3980-1018 Sandeep_Mahindroo@infosys.com Media Relations Sarah Vanita Gideon +91-80-4156-3998 Sarah_Gideon@infosys.com Pete Daly +1-857-600-6839 pete.daly@teamlewis.com CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Commodity currencies such as the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars strengthened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday amid rising risk appetite, after data showed that consumer prices in China rose more than expected in September. Also, the higher crude oil prices boosted investor appetite for riskier assets. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the consumer prices in China were up 1.9 percent on year in September. That exceeded forecasts for 1.6 percent, and was up from 1.3 percent in August. On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 0.7 percent after gaining 0.1 percent a month earlier. Producer prices were up 0.1 percent on year, turning positive after more than four years of contraction. That compared to forecasts for a 0.3 percent decline following the 0.8 percent contraction in the previous month. Crude for November delivery is currently up by 0.38 percent or $50.82 per barrel. The crude oil price rose as supply decreased in the U.S. fuel market. However, the Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that U.S. crude oil inventories had jumped by 4.9 million barrels in the week to October 7. Traders await the OPEC's meet to make a final decision on the output cap, which is held during the end of November. Thursday, the Australian and the New Zealand dollars had shown mixed trading against their major counterparts. While the Australian dollar fell against the U.S. dollar and the yen, it held steady against the euro. The New Zealand dollar fell against the U.S. dollar and rose against the euro. But, it held steady against the yen. The Canadian dollar fell 0.14 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.64 percent against the yen, and 0.02 percent against the euro. In the Asian trading, the Australian dollar rose to a 2-month high of 1.4517 against the euro, a 3-day high of 0.7607 against the U.S. Dollar, and a 2-day high of 79.01 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.4606, 0.7569, and 78.47, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.44 against the euro, 0.77 against the greenback, and 80.00 against the yen. Against the Canadian dollar, the aussie advanced to 1.0039 from an early 3-day low of 0.9978. The aussie may test resistance around the 1.01 area. The NZ dollar rose to a 10-day high of 1.5495 against the euro, and a 4-day high of 74.07 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5574 and 73.57, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.52 against the euro, and 75.00 against the yen. Against the U.S. and the Australian dollars, the kiwi advanced to 3-day highs of 0.7133 and 1.0655 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7096 and 1.0665, respectively. The kiwi is likely to find resistance around 0.72 against the greenback and 1.05 against the aussie. The Canadian dollar rose to a 5-week high of 1.4568 against the euro, from yesterday's closing value of 1.4585. On the upside, 1.43 is seen as the next resistance level for the loonie. Against the U.S. dollar and the yen, the loonie advanced to a 3-day high of 1.3184 and a 2-day high of 78.83 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.3193 and 78.59, respectively. If the loonie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.30 against the greenback and 80.00 against the yen. Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen fell against its major rivals influenced by rising risk appetite. In economic news, data from the Bank of Japan showed that producer prices in Japan was flat on month in September, versus forecasts for -0.1 percent after easing 0.3 percent in August. On a yearly basis, producer prices were down 3.2 percent, in line with expectations after sliding 3.6 percent in the previous month. Export prices were up 0.1 percent on month and down 1.6 percent on year, the bank said, while import prices gained 0.5 percent on month and dropped 7.0 percent on year. The M2 money stock in Japan was up 3.6 percent on year in September,coming in at 943.2 trillion yen. That followed the 3.3 percent gain in August. The yen fell to 114.88 against the euro and 127.39 against the pound, from yesterday's closing quotes of 114.61 and 127.04, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find resistance around 117.00 against the euro and 134.00 against the pound. Against the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, the yen dropped to 104.16 and 105.46 from yesterday's closing quotes of 103.68 and 105.12, respectively. The yen may test support near 105.00 against the greenback and 107.00 against the franc. Looking ahead, Swiss PPI for September, U.K. construction output for August and Eurozone trade balance for August are due to be released later in the day. At 7:45 am ET, Bank of England MPC Member Kristin Forbes will participate in a panel discussion about Central Europe's growth perspectives at the National Bank of Poland 6th Annual Conference, in Warsaw, Poland. In the New York session, U.S. retail sales data and PPI- both for September, U.S. business inventories for August, U.S. University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for October, and U.S. Baker Hughes rig count data are slated for release. At 8:30 am ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will deliver opening remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Annual Research Conference. At 1:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will deliver a speech titled 'Macroeconomic Research After the Crisis' at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Annual Research Conference. Later in the day, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is expected to speak at the Future Forum 2016, in Birmingham. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Hedge-fund operator Man Group Plc. (MNGPF.PK, MNGPY.PK, EMG.L) reported that its Funds under management or FUM has increased by 6% to $80.7 billion at 30 September 2016, compared to $76.4 billion at 30 June 2016. Positive investment movement of $2.5 billion in the quarter was driven by good performance for GLG and Numeric, partially offset by weaker performance across AHL's strategies. Net inflows in the quarter of $1.3 billion, comprising sales of $6.0 billion and redemptions of $4.7 billion, with net inflows into quant alternative, fund of fund alternative, and quant long only, partially offset by net outflows from discretionary alternatives and long only. It plans to launch a share repurchase programme for up to $100 million to return surplus capital to shareholders, which will be conducted over the next 12 months. In a separate press release, Man Group said that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Aalto Invest Holding AG and launched Man Global Private Markets, forming the firm's private markets offering, which provides clients with access to longer term investments with a complementary risk reward profile to our current product suite. Aalto has 33 employees and is headquartered in London, with offices in the US and Switzerland. The Acquisition is expected to complete in January 2017, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. 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. HELSINKI (dpa-AFX) - Finland's economic output declined for the first time in four months in August, figures from Statistics Finland showed Friday. National output dropped a working-day-adjusted 0.1 percent year-over-year in August, reversing a 1.9 percent rise in July, which was revised up from a 1.5 percent gain reported earlier. In June, output had grown 0.5 percent after showing no variations in the previous month. Primary production remained on level with the previous year. Secondary production increased by 4.0 percent and services contracted by 1.0 percent from August 2015. On a monthly basis, economic output fell a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent from July, when it expanded by 0.8 percent. Separately, the statistical office revealed that country's current account deficit narrowed to EUR 0.2 billion in August from EUR 0.4 billion in July. 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. Now certified as leading employer in 29 countries across the globe Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE/Euronext Paris: PM) today was recognized for the first time as a Top Employer in Africa for the company's excellent work environment and exceptional development opportunities for employees. Top Employer certification is the result of an independent assessment by the Top Employers Institute, which presented national honors to PMI teams in 5 African countries: Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, and South Africa. Earlier this year, PMI received national honors in 24 countries across Europe and the Middle East. "At PMI, we know that our people are our greatest strength. This is why we continuously strive to provide an inspiring, diverse and inclusive workplace," said Alejandro Lamas, PMI Vice President of Human Resources, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. "This latest recognition is a testament to our work for continued development and leadership advancement of our people, allowing them to grow, and to build our business today and for the future." PMI employs more than 82,000 people worldwide. The company offers robust learning and development initiatives, strong reward and recognition programs, as well as challenging career opportunities in a global and diverse environment. In 2015 alone, nearly 1,400 of PMI's employees worked outside their home country on an international assignment in different functional areas and around the world. Top Employer certification The Top Employer certification is awarded by the Top Employer Institute following a robust assessment, validated by the auditing company Grant Thornton, of the companies' practices in a number of areas, including compensation and employee benefits, career development, working conditions and training and development. Philip Morris International Inc. Philip Morris International Inc. (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/20161014005165/en/ Contacts: Philip Morris International media office T: +41 (0)58 242 4500 E: media@pmi.com ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ulmart, Russia's leading e-commerce platform and first online retailer to have topped $1 billion in revenue, has demonstrated at Munich's Expo Real why the company is the star of the "new Russian, post-commodity economy." (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151015/277241LOGO ) In its second year at the real estate exhibition, Ulmart's stand was widely praised for its innovative approach. Displaying models of its unique urban and suburban fulfillment centers, Ulmart also conducted three business sessions focusing on the company's role in the "4th Industrial Revolution (4th IR)" as outlined by the World Economic Forum's founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab. "This digital revolution is reshaping the way business is done. The old economy, still important as a foundation for the new one, won't be the driver for growth in the next 10, 20 and 30 years. As the leading e-commerce platform in Russia, we have taken Professor Schwab's book on the 4thIR, and are redesigning the way we do business going forward," explained Brian Kean, Chief International Officer for Ulmart. As was mentioned more than once by company representatives and participants in the business sessions at the stand, the growth in e-commerce and the tech in general, is not only creating jobs in a Russian economy beginning to show new and more robust vigor; but, this new consumer driven growth is also leading to increased valuations in real estate. "The old warehouses and infrastructure didn't have what we needed. Consumers in the Russian e-commerce space have quite specific demands that are different from the demands demonstrated by their European and American counterparts. In order to meet these consumer demands, we had to tailor-build our fulfillment centers introducing technologies that had up until then simply not been used in Russia. As a result, we have seen explosive growth in the past five years," said Elena Smirnova, Chief Communications Officer for the company. The Russian consumer is an experienced resident of the 4th IR world. These consumers are driving the economy to either catch up, or, in Ulmart's case, lead this revolution. Meeting consumer demand locally is finally growing Russia's economy. "The 4th IR is here and either you accept it and thrive or fail to understand it and not thrive," said Brian Kean at the conclusion of one of the company's sessions entitled: "Can Smart Cities become islands of Growth for Russia's Economy." HKTDC Communication and Public Affairs Department Joe Kainz Tel: +852 2584 4216 Email: joe.kainz@hktdc.org HONG KONG, Oct 14, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a mainstream technology, generating unbridled opportunities for enterprises from different industries. Jointly organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and the Hong Kong Electronics & Technologies Association, the Symposium on Innovation & Technology was held yesterday (13 October) during the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition). Leading industry players were invited to speak on the topic of "Power of IoT and Emerging Technologies," sharing ideas on various IoT applications, future development trends and the tremendous business opportunities that IoT presents.Trending products featuring IoT technologyThe morning session of the Symposium centred on the theme of "Emerging Technologies - Smarter Technologies, Smarter Life." Isabel Fan, Regional Director, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Tesla, stressed that the company is not simply an electric carmaker but an auto technology company that aims to make its new models smarter with IoT technology to create a more enjoyable driving experience for owners.Electric cars are becoming more popular in Hong Kong and elsewhere, and Ms Fan pinpointed four factors for Tesla's worldwide acclaim. "The right product is supported by the right infrastructure and the right ecosystem, as well as the right policy," she said, adding that the brand's philosophy is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. "We're building the giga battery factory in North America, increasing the number of charging stations worldwide and integrating with the software technology. We hope other automakers will also join the electric car range, and create a better environment together."Enterprises to join forces in developing smart platformsOlivier Klein, Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services believes that the future trend of IoT is to use cloud computing and artificial intelligence to connect different devices more efficiently. He referred to Amazon's warehouse for its online bookstore as an example. "The warehouse doesn't only connect robots with shelves. The shelves are arranged based on the big data of shopping habits of book buyers, which facilitates the robots' locating the right items and enhances their efficiency," he said.Mr Klein said no single enterprise can make the world smarter through its use of IoT; rather, enterprises should work together to gain maximum benefit from the technology. For instance, Amazon has opened the cloud-based platform Alexa, an artificial intelligence voice-controlled assistant that can provide information, such as weather forecasts and news items, play music or even control other home appliances, to third-party developers.Innovative nanomaterial to tap into trendsDr Peter Lee, Chief Technology Officer, Nano and Advanced Materials Institute Ltd (NAMI) introduced new nanomaterial innovations that NAMI has developed, which have been commercialised for use in products spanning electronics, cosmetics, healthcare and home appliances.Dr Lee spotlighted benefits brought by printable and flexible lithium ion batteries recently developed by NAMI. "Wearable electronics and smart watches have become a popular trend. Equipped with a sensor, these devices can collect such data as the user's heart rate and walking speed, and they also serve the functions of healthcare devices. The printable and flexible lithium batteries with 180-degree flexibility tap right into the trend."Upgrading established devices with IoTThe afternoon session adopted the theme of "IoT Trends & Opportunities - Connected Living, the Next Big Thing." Wee Teck Loo, Head of Global Consumer Electronics Research, Euromonitor International stated that the idea of IoT is not to replace all current devices, but that all devices should work with each other to create value-added benefits.He explained, "A washing machine has a lifespan of seven to 10 years on average. By installing a smart meter in an old washing machine to collect data of the user's laundry habits, it is possible to preset specific washing processes and use wearable devices or smart phones to control the processes; this helps achieve the benefits of a smart home, and reduces the consumption of energy and washing detergent." He mentioned that the same device may be installed in a refrigerator, or it may be used to collect data of a user's shopping habits to help build brand loyalty and increase revenue.Enterprise transformation driven by an "idea economy"Anthony Wai, APAC SE Director, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, cited McKinsey's research statistics from 2015, noting that the IoT market could reach US$11.1 trillion by 2025. Its applications should assist enterprises and governments to make better decisions through the collection of various big data, he said."The society is moving towards an idea economy, and the key is how fast you can adapt to changes," Mr Wai said. He highlighted enterprises like Uber and Airbnb, pointing out that the former does not own any taxis, and the latter does not operate any hotels. "That's why everyone calls the Internet of Things a destructive technology. You'd fall behind if you're slow in adapting."Michael Wong, Senior Director of Sales, Qualcomm, said that while IoT creates extensive business opportunities, it also results in fragmentation. "In bringing together the business opportunities scattered across IoT, including the opening and sharing of platforms, and the substitution of different devices with a single chip, we can achieve the benefits of a smart home and smart city more effectively."World's largest electronics marketplaceThe annual Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) and concurrent electronicAsia continue through 16 October at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). The 36th Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) is organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), while the 20th electronicAsia is jointly organised by the HKTDC and MMI Asia Pte Ltd. Together, the fairs form the world's largest electronics marketplace, featuring some 4,200 exhibitors from 29 countries and regions.HKTDC Photo Link: http://bit.ly/2e6iM5cFair Websites:www.hktdc.com/hkelectronicsfairae/www.hktdc.com/fair/electronicasia-en/Media Registration:Media may register on-site with their business cards and/or media identification.Press releases in Chinese at http://mediaroom.hktdc.com/tc.About HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The HKTDC is the international marketing arm for Hong Kong-based traders, manufacturers and services providers. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China and throughout Asia. The HKTDC also organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in overseas markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdcTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdcLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-councilSource: HKTDCContact:Copyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 4:30 am ET Friday, the Office for National Statistics releases U.K. construction output for August. Economists forecast output to remain flat on month, as seen in July. Ahead of the data, the pound traded mixed against its major rivals. While the pound declined against the greenback and the franc, it held steady against the euro and the yen. As of 4:25 am ET, the pound was trading at 0.9026 against the euro, 1.2052 against the Swiss franc, 1.2201 against the U.S. dollar and 127.15 against the yen. 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. Regulatory News: Skanska (STO:SKAB) has signed a contract with Juno Therapeutics, Inc. to complete a tenant improvement at the company's new South Lake Union headquarters in Seattle, USA. The contract is worth USD 43M, about SEK 360M, which will be included in the order bookings for Skanska USA Building for the third quarter 2016. The project comprises of seven floors, about 14,000 square meters, at the Juno Therapeutics headquarters at 400 Dexter Ave. North in Seattle. Construction is under way with completion scheduled for June 2017. Skanska USA is one of the leading development and construction companies in the country, consisting of four business units: Skanska USA Building, which specializes in building construction; Skanska USA Civil, specialized in civil infrastructure; Skanska Infrastructure Development, which develops public-private partnerships; and Skanska USA Commercial Development, which develops commercial projects in select U.S. markets. Headquartered in New York, Skanska USA has more than 10,000 employees and its 2015 revenues were SEK 54.5 billion. This and previous releases can also be found at www.skanska.com The information provided herein is such as Skanska AB is obligated to disclose pursuant to the EU market securities act (EU) no. 596/2014. Skanska is one of the world's leading construction and project development companies, focused on selected home markets in the Nordic region, other European countries and North America. Supported by global trends in urbanization and demographics, and by being at the forefront in sustainability, Skanska offers competitive solutions for both simple and the most complex assignments, helping to build a sustainable future for customers and communities. The Group currently has 43,100 employees in selected home markets in Europe and North America. Skanska's sales in 2015 totaled SEK 155 billion. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005209/en/ Contacts: Skanska USA Jay Weisberger, Communications tel: +1 206 494 54 69 or Skanska AB Andreas Joons, Press Officer tel +46 (0)10 449 04 94 or Direct line for media tel +46 (0)10 448 88 99 OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Canada's unions are excited to be launching Rise Up!, a national human rights conference, with an opening night celebration featuring a DJ set by A Tribe Called Red, celebrity guest speakers including Daily Show Senior Correspondent Hasan Minhaj, author and MLA for Fort Rouge Wab Kinew, and Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard, former president of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), a live performance art production, a scavenger hunt and interactive exhibits. The opening night performances are highlighting the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Canadian unions have supported and amplified the call for an inquiry, which was finally announced earlier this summer. The evening will celebrate the victories and contributions of Canadian unions, and highlighting some of their key human rights priorities. Other conference speakers include actor and human rights activist Danny Glover, journalist and community activist Desmond Cole, and Executive Director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada Dr. Cindy Blackstock. Media are invited to attend the opening celebration and conference plenary sessions. What: Rise Up! CLC human rights conference opening celebration When: Thursday October 20, 2016 7:00 p.m. Where: Shaw Centre, 55 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa Contacts: To organize an interview or to register for opening night, please contact: Chantal St-Denis National Representative, Media Relations 613-355-1962 cstdenis@clc-ctc.ca 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. ESPOO (dpa-AFX) - Swiss engineering firm ABB Ltd.(ANN.L, ABB) reported Thursday that its third-quarter net income declined 2 percent to $568 million from last year's $577 million. Basic earnings per share, however, increased 2% to $0.27 from $0.26 last year. Operational earnings per share were $0.32, same as last year. Operational EBITA declined 3 percent to $1.05 billion, while Operational EBITA margin increased 0.1 percentage points to 12.6%. Revenues declined 3 percent to $8.26 billion from $8.52 billion last year. On a comparable basis, revenues were flat. Total orders declined 14 percent on a reported basis and 13 percent on a comparable basis to $7.53 billion, reflecting timing of large order awards and lower short cycle volumes. Base orders decreased 6 percent . CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said, 'In the third quarter, we experienced significant macro uncertainties around Brexit and the US elections as reflected in the low order pattern. Orders in Power Grids were additionally dampened by the hesitation of customers prior to the Capital Markets Day.' Looking ahead, the company noted that macroeconomic and geopolitical developments are signaling a mixed picture with continued uncertainty. Some macroeconomic signs in the US remain positive and growth in China is expected to continue, although at a slower pace than in 2015. The market remains impacted by modest growth and increased uncertainties, e.g., Brexit in Europe and geopolitical tensions in various parts of the world. Oil prices and foreign exchange translation effects are expected to continue to influence the company's results. Further, ABB announced the appointment of Timo Ihamuotila as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee, effective April 1, 2017. Ihamuotila succeeds current CFO Eric Elzvik, who will pursue career opportunities outside of ABB after a thorough handover in the second quarter of 2017. Ihamuotila joins ABB from Nokia Corp. (NOK), where he has been the Chief Financial Officer for the last seven years. 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. Medacs Healthcare has announced that it will support its overseas doctors by investing in a series of Welcome to UK practice courses, developed and run by the General Medical Council. The sessions help doctors new to the country or new to practice, to understand the ethical issues that will affect them and their patients on a day-to-day basis. The courses will be delivered by the GMC's regional liaison service, a team of 11 advisors who work on the ground with doctors and medical students across England to help them embed the GMC's professional standards into their daily practice. The Welcome to UK practice programme covers the role of the GMC and their standards and guidance. Doctors can learn from the real life experiences of senior UK doctors, analyse interactive ethical scenarios on issues faced by doctors in UK practice, and create their own learning log with tips and reflections to take away. Mick Whitley, Managing Director for UK Recruitment at Medacs, commented: "Medacs Healthcare is committed to supporting doctors in their transition to the UK ensuring they get off to the best possible start to UK practice. "We continue to invest in supporting our doctors through Medacs Academy which offers non-clinical professional development and support in particular around revalidation, reflection and appraisal which can often present unique challenges for our doctors. "The quality of our doctors is paramount to the service we deliver to the NHS and as such we are delighted to be the first UK agency to deliver these courses for doctors." Susan Goldsmith, Deputy Chief Executive of the General Medical Council, added:"Adapting your practice to the culture of a new country can be extremely challenging for a doctor. It's important they get the right support to make sure that transition goes well. "It is for this reason that we developed our hugely successful Welcome to UK practice course and we look forward to working with Medacs to support their doctors over the course of the next year as they make the move to UK practice. "To date, over one and a half thousand doctors have taken part in this programme and the feedback from them has been extremely positive." ENDS Notes for editors About Welcome to UK Practice Since it was set up in 2013, over 1,500 doctors have taken part in Welcome to UK practice events across the UK. From a sample of doctors attending the programme: 98% of doctors said it helped them to reflect on their practice99% said they would change their practice as a result of attending the course There is more information about the programme on the GMC's website: www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/WelcomeUK.asp. About Medacs Healthcare Medacs Healthcare is a leading healthcare staffing company providing healthcare recruitment expertise to both the public and private sectors. A member of Impellam Group PLC, we were established in 1990 and have continually evolved our approach to healthcare staffing, developing innovative recruitment managed services to permanent, temporary and locum markets. Operating in the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East, Medacs Healthcare has extensive experience in delivering to a variety of clients including NHS Trusts, PCTs, third sector and private sector organisations. We have an enviable reputation for providing high quality locum, temporary and permanent doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in large volumes. We are the largest provider of on-framework locum doctors to the NHS, and the only organisation to have achieved successes on every national framework. About the General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is an independent organisation that helps to protect patients and improve medical education and practice across the UK. We decide which doctors are qualified to work here and we oversee UK medical education and training.We set the standards that doctors need to follow, and make sure that they continue to meet these standards throughout their careers.We take action to prevent a doctor from putting the safety of patients, or the public's confidence in doctors, at risk. We are not here to protect doctors their interests are protected by others. Our job is to protect the public. We are independent of government and the medical profession and accountable to Parliament. Our powers are given to us by Parliament through the Medical Act 1983. We are a registered charity (number 1089278 with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and number SC037750 with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator) we have to show that our aims are for public benefit. To find out more please visit our website www.gmc-uk.org (http://www.gmc-uk.org/index.asp). Join us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/gmcuk), Facebook (http://facebook.com/gmcuk), LinkedIn (http://linkd.in/gmcuk), Google+ (http://gplus.to/gmcuk) and YouTube (http://youtube.com/gmcuktv). This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161014005282/en/ Contacts: Medacs Healthcare 01756 702 270. or The GMC Media Relations Office 020 7189 5454 press@gmc-uk.org. OSTERSUND, Sweden, Jan 09, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Skanska has signed a contract with Entra to build the world's northernmost energy-positive office building in Trondheim, Norway. The contract is worth NOK 370M, about SEK 390M, which will be included in the order bookings for Skanska Norway for the first quarter in 2017. Powerhouse Brattoerkaia will be located on one of Trondheim's most attractive sites. Architecture and aesthetic expression is steered by the sun as an energy source and the mantra "form follows environment". The result is an entirely new architectural expression, which hopefully will arouse and inspire innovation. The building will comprise 15,700 square meters of office space, of which Skanska will lease 2,300 square meters. In addition to this, 2,500 square meters of underground parking will be built. The building will achieve BREEAM NOR Outstanding, the highest rating in environmental certification system. It will be the first new office building in Norway, which produces more energy than it consumes, and must under the Powerhouse definition produce more clean and renewable energy than needed for construction, production and transportation of building materials, operation over a life cycle of 60 years and finally disposal. Optimal use of sun and sea water for heating and cooling, as well as an extremely low energy consumption, is required to fulfill the requirements. Skanska is the general contractor for the project. The construction will start in April 2017 and the office building will be completed in February 2019. Skanska Norway focuses on construction and civil engineering operations. The unit has approximately 4,000 employees. In 2015, Skanska Norway reported revenue of about SEK 12 billion. In Norway, Skanska is also active in development of residential, commercial properties and public private partnerships (PPP) projects. CONTACT: For further information please contact: Pal P Syse, Communications Director Skanska Norway Tel +47-98-21-00-01 Andreas Joons, Press Officer Skanska AB Tel +46 (0)10-449-04-94 Direct line for media, tel +46 (0)10-448-88-99 This and previous releases can also be found at www.skanska.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/skanska/r/skanska-builds-energy-positive-office-building-in-trondheim--norway--for-nok-370m--about-sek-390m,c2161620 The following files are available for download: - CHMP recommends VENCLYXTO monotherapy for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in the presence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who are unsuitable for or have failed a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor; and in the absence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who have failed both chemo-immunotherapy and a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor - If granted conditional marketing authorization by the European Commission, VENCLYXTO would become the first approved BCL-2 inhibitor in Europe - COMP recently adopted positive opinions for VENCLYXTO Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of multiple myeloma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) NORTH CHICAGO, Illinois, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has granted a positive opinion for VENCLYXTO' (venetoclax) tablets for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in the presence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who are unsuitable for or have failed a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor; and for the treatment of CLL in the absence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who have failed both chemo-immunotherapy and a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor. The European Commission will review the opinion and make a final decision in late 2016. VENCLYXTO is being developed by AbbVie and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. "People living with CLL who have failed other treatments or who harbor the 17p deletion or TP53 mutation have limited options and typically a poor prognosis. Today's CHMP positive opinion marks a major step forward for these patients," said Michael Severino, M.D., executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer, AbbVie. "This innovation delivers on AbbVie's promise to develop cancer medicines where an unmet need exists. We will continue to work with European regulators to make venetoclax available to appropriate CLL patients." CLL, a cancer of the bone marrow and blood, is typically a slow-progressing cancer. The 17p deletion - a genomic alteration in which a part of chromosome 17 is absent - is found in 3 to 10 percent of previously untreated CLL cases and up to 30 to 50 percent of relapsed or refractory CLL cases.1 A TP53 mutation occurs in 8 to 15 percent of patients at first-line treatment and up to 35 to 50 percent of cases in refractory CLL.1 Those with the 17p deletion or TP53 mutations often have a particularly poor prognosis1 and a median life expectancy of less than two to three years with current standard-of-care regimens.2 The positive CHMP opinion is a scientific recommendation for conditional marketing authorization to the European Commission. Review of the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) is being conducted under the centralized licensing procedure. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) grants conditional marketing authorization to medicines in the interest of public health where the benefit of its immediate availability to patients outweighs the risk due to the need for additional data. If approved, the authorization will be valid in all 28 member states of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. About VENCLYXTO Orphan Drug Designations Recently, the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) of the EMA adopted positive opinions on Orphan Drug Designation applications for VENCLYXTO for the treatment of multiple myeloma, a type of cancer that forms in plasma cells in bone marrow,3 and for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), an aggressive type of lymphoma and the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).4 Previously, the EMA granted Orphan Drug Designation to VENCLYXTO for the treatment of CLL and for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), the most common type of acute leukaemia in adults.5 Orphan Drug Designation is granted to therapies aimed at the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of life-threatening diseases that affect no more than five in 10,000 persons in the European Union (EU) and for which no satisfactory therapy is available. The medicine must also provide significant benefit to those affected by the condition.6 About VENCLYXTO' (venetoclax) VENCLYXTO is an investigational oral B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) inhibitor being evaluated for the treatment of patients with various blood cancer types.7,8,9,10 The BCL-2 protein prevents apoptosis (programmed cell death) of some cells, including lymphocytes, and can be overexpressed in some cancer types. VENCLYXTO, which is given once daily, is designed to selectively inhibit the function of the BCL-2 protein.11 VENCLYXTO is being developed by AbbVie and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. It is jointly commercialized by the companies in the U.S. and by AbbVie outside of the U.S. Together, the companies are committed to BCL-2 research with venetoclax, which is currently being evaluated in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), along with studies in several other cancers. In April 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval of venetoclax tablets for the treatment of patients with CLL with 17p deletion, as detected by an FDA-approved test, who have received at least one prior therapy.7 The FDA approved this indication under accelerated approval based on overall response rate, and continued approval may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.7 Venetoclax is under evaluation by health authorities in multiple countries, and is currently approved in Argentina, Puerto Rico and Canada. AbbVie, in collaboration with Roche and Genentech, is currently working with regulatory agencies around the world to bring this medicine to eligible patients in need. About AbbVie in Oncology AbbVie is striving to outsmart cancer by working with scientists, physicians, industry peers, patient advocacy groups and most importantly patients, to discover, develop and provide new therapies that will have a remarkable impact on the lives of people around the world affected by cancer. Our goal is to provide medicines that make a transformational improvement in cancer treatment and outcomes for cancer patients. By exploring and investing in new pathways, technologies and approaches, AbbVie is breaking ground in some of the most widespread and difficult-to-treat cancers. We are also exploring solutions to help patients obtain access to our cancer medicines. With the acquisition of Pharmacyclics in 2015 and Stemcentrx in 2016, and through several collaborations, AbbVie's oncology portfolio consists of marketed medicines and a pipeline containing multiple new molecules being evaluated worldwide in nearly 200 clinical trials in 20 different tumor types. For more information about AbbVie Oncology, please visit http://abbvieoncology.com. About AbbVie AbbVie is a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following separation from Abbott Laboratories. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to develop and market advanced therapies that address some of the world's most complex and serious diseases. Together with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pharmacyclics, AbbVie employs more than 28,000 people worldwide and markets medicines in more than 170 countries. For further information on the company and its people, portfolio and commitments, please visit www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter or view careers on our Facebook or LinkedIn page. AbbVie Forward-Looking Statements Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project" and similar expressions, among others, generally identify forward-looking statements. AbbVie cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, challenges to intellectual property, competition from other products, difficulties inherent in the research and development process, adverse litigation or government action, and changes to laws and regulations applicable to our industry. Additional information about the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect AbbVie's operations is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in AbbVie's 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AbbVie undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law. 1 Schnaiter A, et al. 17p deletion in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: risk stratification and therapeutic approach. Hematol Oncol Clin N Am. 2013; 27:289-301. 2 Stilgenbauer S, et al. Understanding and managing ultra high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2010; 1:481-488. 3 Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Learn the basics about multiple myeloma. https://www.themmrf.org/multiple-myeloma/. Accessed October 2016. 4 Lymphoma Research Foundation. Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=6300153. Accessed October 2016. 5 National Cancer Institute. Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment (PDQ)-Patient Version. Accessed October 2016. https://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia/patient/adult-aml-treatment-pdq. 6 European Medicines Agency (2015). "Orphan Designation." http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/regulation/general/general_content_000029.jsp. Accessed October 2016. 7 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01889186: A study of the efficacy of ABT-199 in subjects with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia with the 17p deletion. Accessed August 2016. 8 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01994837: A Phase 2 Study of ABT-199 in subjects with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Accessed August 2016. 9 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01794520: Study evaluating ABT-199 in subjects with relapsed or refractory Multiple Myeloma. Accessed August 2016. 10 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01328626: A Phase 1 study evaluating the safety and pharmacokinetics of ABT-199 in subjects with relapsed or refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Accessed August 2016. 11 Davids M.S. and Letai A. ABT-199: A new hope for selective BCL-2 inhibition. Cancer Cell. 2013; 23(2): 139-141. DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - October 14, 2016) - Sentinel Peak Resources ("SPR" or the "Company"), a private energy company, announced today that is has entered into an agreement with the oil and gas subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX), to purchase their onshore California assets for $592 million plus additional consideration of up to $150 million payable in certain circumstances based on a sustained crude oil price environment over $70/barrel Brent. SPR was formed in 2016 by Quantum Energy Partners ("Quantum") and Michael Duginski ("Duginski"), a seasoned oil and gas executive who was previously COO of Berry Petroleum ("Berry"). At Berry, Duginski helped the Company grow from a $300 million enterprise to a top operator in California and a $4.9 billion enterprise when sold in 2013. Duginski will be joined by George Ciotti, CFO and Tim Crawford, COO, who both worked with Duginski at Berry and George Paspalof, VP Operations LA Basin, an experienced California operator. Together this group will be hiring from existing Freeport-McMoRan staff and complementing them with other top operating, technical and commercial talent in their corporate office in Denver and new offices in California. The properties are currently producing 28,000 barrels of oil per day ("Bopd") including 18,000 Bopd in the San Joaquin Basin and 10,000 Bopd in the LA Basin and Coastal properties. SPR has identified a number of economic development projects across the asset base that are attractive in the current price environment. The Company plans to pursue these oil and gas development projects, certain real estate monetizations, and further asset acquisitions in building a world class California-focused oil and gas company. Duginski said, "This transaction provides the catalyst to build a world class team that can work with the various stakeholders in California in a safe, reliable and environmentally sensitive way as we develop and grow the business. Quantum was instrumental in helping us secure this deal and we couldn't have done it without their experience, relationships, and strong partnership." Garry Tanner and Bill Montgomery, Partners at Quantum, said "We couldn't be more pleased to be in business with such a high quality and experienced group led by Michael Duginski. Duginski and his team have a strong track record of technical, operational, and commercial excellence which will drive significant value creation. We expect this will be the first of many acquisitions as we grow our California focused business together." About Sentinel Peak Resources Sentinel Peak Resources is a Denver-based company, with plans to open offices in both Los Angeles and Bakersfield. SPR is focused on acquisition, development, and exploration of oil and gas assets, primarily focusing on heavy oil development in California. SPR is led by a team of seasoned industry professionals who have spent a majority of their careers in California. About Quantum Energy Partners Quantum Energy Partners is a leading provider of private equity capital to the global energy industry, having managed together with its affiliates more than $11 billion in equity commitments since inception. For more information on Quantum, please visit www.quantumep.com. For investor relations, please contact Michael Dalton at (713) 452-2000. George Ciotti Sentinel Peak Resources (720) 749-1100 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Blue Sky Energy Inc. ("Blue Sky" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: BSI) has entered into settlement agreements (the "Settlement Agreements") with two officers of the Company whereby Blue Sky would issue common shares of the Company at a deemed price of $0.40 per common share in full and final settlement of the amounts owing to such officers (the "Shares for Debt Settlement"). Pursuant to the Settlement Agreements, $363,888.71 would be settled and a total of 909,721 common shares would be issued to the officers, which would represent 3% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Blue Sky following the completion of the Shares for Debt Settlement. The board and management of Blue Sky believe that the proposed Shares for Debt Settlement is in the best interests of Blue Sky because the creditors have agreed to settle the debts owed to them for common shares rather than cash. The completion of the Shares for Debt Settlement is subject to disinterested shareholder approval at the upcoming annual general and special meeting of Blue Sky, scheduled to be held on December 7, 2016, and acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. Ahmed Said, the President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of Blue Sky and Neil Said, Corporate Secretary of Blue Sky are parties to the Shares for Debt Settlement and, therefore, Blue Sky and such parties are non-arm's length parties under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Shares for Debt Settlement with such parties also constitutes a "related party transaction" for Blue Sky under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), as these parties would receive common shares of Blue Sky pursuant to the Shares for Debt Settlement. The total liability proposed to be settled with the internal parties pursuant the Shares for Debt settlement is $363,888.71. About Blue Sky: Blue Sky Energy Inc. is a Canadian oil and gas exploration company. Forward-looking information This news release contains forward-looking information relating to the Company's growth and corporate strategy, and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking information relates to management's future outlook and anticipated events or results, and may include statements or information regarding the Shares for Debt Settlement; and the future plans or prospects of the Company. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward looking-information is subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is currently expected. These factors include risks and uncertainties associated with oil and gas exploration, development, exploitation, delays resulting from or inability to obtain required regulatory approvals and ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, reliance on key personnel, regulatory risks and delays and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of the Company's interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third parties in respect of the matters discussed above. 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: Blue Sky Energy Inc. Ahmed Said President & CEO 416-309-2963 asaid@forbesenergygroup.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- TerraX Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: TXR)(FRANKFURT: TX0)(OTC PINK: TRXXF) is pleased to announce that it has received a Land Use Permit for its wholly-owned Southbelt property at Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Drilling at Southbelt should commence around the end of February once access routes into the target areas have been completed. Joseph Campbell, the CEO of TerraX, stated, "The prompt issuance of the Land Use Permit is supportive of the stated mandate of the Northwest Territories government to facilitate responsible exploration on its lands. The permit allows TerraX to begin drilling on the highly prospective Southbelt property targets which represent the continuation of gold structures south of the former Con Mine where TerraX has received surface assay results up to 94.9 g/t gold." Mr. Campbell further stated, "The Southbelt target contains multiple high-grade gold occurrences with very high potential for discovery." The Southbelt property is a low cost exploration project as a result of its location 3 kilometers from the city of Yellowknife with excellent access to infrastructure, services and supplies. From a geological perspective, the Southbelt property is adjacent to the past-producing Con mine property, where over six million ounces of gold were mined at an average grade of 16.1 grams per tonne gold over a 60-year mine life. Terrax has identified extensions of several mineralized trends mapped from the Con mine onto the Southbelt property including the namesake Con shear, which appears to continue on to TerraX's property for up to 5 kilometres, and the New Vein shear which contains values up to 94.9 g/t Au (news release dated Sept. 23, 2015). Terrax received further high grade values in 2016 exploration work with up to 33.6 g/t Au and 52 g/t Au in grab samples (news release dated December 21, 2016). A map of the sampling at Southbelt can be accessed here and is available on the company's website under "2016 Field Exploration" under the Southbelt project section. Terrax is planning to undertake 10,000 meters of drilling on the impressive surface exposures of gold bearing structures at Southbelt that are the strike extensions from the Con mine. Terrax has budgeted for 17,000 meters of drilling at Yellowknife in 2017, with the remaining drilling to be carried out on our Northbelt property, which covers 15 km of strike immediately north of the past producing Giant Mine where 8.1 million ounces of gold were mined at an average grade of 16.1 g/t Au. The technical information contained in this news release has been approved by Joseph Campbell, the Chief Executive Officer of TerraX, who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects." About the Yellowknife City Gold Project Yellowknife City Gold ("YCG") encompasses 129 sq km of contiguous land immediately north and south of the City of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Through a series of acquisitions, TerraX now controls one of the six major high-grade gold camps in Canada. Being within 15 km of the City of Yellowknife, the YCG is close to vital infrastructure, including transportation, service providers, hydro-electric power and skilled tradespeople. The YCG lies on the prolific Yellowknife greenstone belt, covering 23 km of strike length on the southern and northern extensions of the shear system that hosted the high-grade Con and Giant gold mines. The project area contains multiple shears that are the recognized hosts for gold deposits in the Yellowknife gold district, with innumerable gold showings and recent high grade drill results that serve to indicate the project's potential as a world-class gold district. For more information on the YCG project, please visit our web site at www.terraxminerals.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors - Joe Campbell, CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectation. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts, the completion of due diligence and the results of exploration activities - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contacts: Samuel Vella Manager of Corporate Communications Toll-Free: 1- 800-481-1876 svella@terraxminerals.com Paradox Public Relations Inc. 514-341-0408 Toll-Free: 1-866-460-0408 info@paradox-pr.ca WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures were slightly lower Friday morning as stocks were poised to rally ahead of a flurry of economic data. Dec. gold was down 3 dollars at $1254 an ounce, near the lowest since June. On the economic front, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on September producer prices for final demand at 8:30 am ET. the Commerce Department is due to release its retail sales report for September. At 10 am ET, the University of Michigan is set to release its preliminary U.S. consumer sentiment index for October. Economists expect the index to rise to 92 from 91.2 in September. Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen will give the luncheon keynote address at the Boston Fed's 60th Economic Conference, 'The Elusive Recovery' at 12.30 pm ET. 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. PHOENIX (dpa-AFX) - Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) announced Friday that it has agreed to sell its onshore California oil and gas properties to private energy company Sentinel Peak Resources California LLC for total consideration of $742 million, including contingent consideration. Under the terms of the agreement, FCX will receive cash consideration of $592 million at closing and additional consideration of $50 million per annum in each of 2018, 2019 and 2020 if the price of Brent crude oil averages $70 per barrel or higher in that calendar year. The purchasers will also assume future abandonment obligations associated with the properties, which had a book value of approximately $0.1 billion at June 30, 2016. The transaction has an effective date of July 1, 2016, and is expected to close in fourth-quarter 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. The properties are currently producing 28,000 barrels of oil per day or Bopd including 18,000 Bopd in the San Joaquin Basin and 10,000 Bopd in the LA Basin and Coastal properties. Net cash proceeds will be used for debt repayment. FCX does not expect to record a material gain or loss on the transaction. 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) -- 10/14/16 -- Silver Bear Resources Inc. ("Silver Bear" or the "Company") (TSX: SBR) is pleased to announce the maiden Mineral Resource for two additional deposits, the Sterzhnevoy and Porphirovy, located within haulage distance of the Vertikalny mine development at the Mangazeisky Silver Project in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia. The NI 43-101 Technical Report prepared by Tetra Tech will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this release. Highlights: -- Resource grade at Sterzhnevoy is 1,500 g/t Ag -- Sterzhnevoy and Porphirovy structures are open along strike and down dip -- Maiden gold and copper resources for the property -- Inferred mineral resources increased by 10% -- Drilling has demonstrated that mineralisation extends to depth Silver Bear's CEO, Graham Hill commented: "On the heels of our Vertikalny resource upgrade, we have once again increased our mineral resource inventory, demonstrating the exploration potential of the Mangazeisky licence. In addition, the Sterzhnevoy discovery has an Inferred resource grade of 1,500 g/t silver similar to that of the Vertikalny deposit. Like Mangazeisky North and South deposits, both the Sterzhnevoy and Porphirovy discoveries are within a short distance of the Vertikalny mine development, supporting our goal to increase resources and mine life by establishing a multi-pit single plant mining operation. In keeping with this objective, the Company has engaged Tetra Tech to complete a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") on the Mangazeisky North deposit, with the intention of incorporating it into the Vertikalny mine plan further enhancing the attractive economic; October Feasibility Study pre-tax NPV, at a 5% discount, of US$132.6 million and a pre-tax IRR of 86.1%." Table 1 Summary of Maiden Resources for the Porphirovy and Sterzhnevoy Deposits ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zone Inferred Resource --------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Grade Tonnes Au Ag Grade Contained Contained Contained (t) (g/t) (g/t) Cu (%) Metal Au Metal Ag Metal Cu ---------------------------------- (Troy oz) (Troy oz) (lbs) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Porphirovy 80,000 1.7 46 0.6 4,000 115,000 1,000,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sterzhnevoy 48,000 - 1,530 - - 2,360,000 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tetra Tech has adopted the definition of Mineral Resources as outlined within the CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (CIM, 2010) in order to classify the Resources. The effective date of the Mineral Resource Estimate is 27th August 2016. Resource Estimation Assumptions and Methods Key Assumptions used to estimate the Mineral Resources are: -- The Mineral Resources have been estimated into two separate three dimensional block models each comprising the following parameters: -- 20 m x 20 m x 10 m (x, y, z), with minimum sub-block dimensions of 1 m x 1 m x 0.5 m (x, y, z). -- The estimation was constrained to the mineralised zone using wireframe solid models. The wireframes were sub-domained to isolate each mineralised structure. -- Grade estimates were based on 0.5 m composited assay data. -- The interpolation of the metal grades was undertaken using Inverse Distance Weighting. -- In order to demonstrate that the deposit has reasonable prospects for economic extraction a cut-off grade of 150 g/t has been applied for Sterzhnevoy, based upon the following assumptions: -- Silver Price of $17 /Troy oz. -- Mining Cost of US $75 /t. -- Processing Cost of US $50 /t. -- General and administration costs of US $40 /t. -- Overall Silver recovery of 90%. -- And a cut-off grade of $77 equivalent based on the same assumptions for Porphirovy. Dollar equivalent calculated with the formula = Au ozt x $1250 + Ag ozt x $17 + Cu lbs x $2.2 The revised maiden Sterzhnevoy and Porphirovy resources are presented in Table 2, along with all other Current Mineral Resources within the property. Table 2 Total Silver Resources for the Mangazeisky Property ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zone Indicated Resource Inferred Resource -------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Grade Ag Contained Tonnes Grade Ag Contained (t) (g/t) Metal Ag (t) (g/t) Metal Ag ----------- ----------- (Troy oz) (Troy oz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vertikalny Central 670,000 1,266 27,400,000 300,000 779 7,500,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vertikalny Northwest 150,000 605 3,000,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nizhny Endybal 710,000 316 7,200,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mangazeisky North 304,000 626 6,100,000 98,000 671 2,100,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mangazeisky South 60,000 246 500,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sterzhnevoy 48,000 1,530 2,360,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver Total 974,000 1,066 33,500,000 1,366,000 514 22,660,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zone Inferred Resource -------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Grade Tonnes Au Ag Grade Cu Contained Contained Contained (t) (g/t) (g/t) (%) Metal Au Metal Ag Metal Cu ------------------------------- (Troy oz) (Troy oz) (lbs) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Porphirovy 80,000 1.7 46 0.6 4,000 115,000 1,000,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The effective date of the original Nizhny Endybal Resource estimate was the 11th of September 2012. This resource was re-stated with a higher cut-off grade on the 10th of June 2015. The effective date of the Mangazeisky South resource is the 10th of June 2015. The effective date of the Mangazeisky North Resource is the 31st of March 2016. The effective date of the Vertikalny Central and Northwest Resources estimate was the 8th of July 2016. The Sterzhnevoy, Mangazeisky north, Mangazeisky South and Nizhny Endybal Resources are reported above a cut-off grade of 150 g/t Ag, assuming open pit mining methods. Porphirovy resource is reported at $77 dollar equivalent, assuming open pit methods. The Vertikalny Central and Northwest deposits are reported above a cut-off grade of 200 g/t Ag for open pit resource and above 350 g/t Ag for underground resource. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. Mineral Reserve The Mineral Reserve statement is as of the 23rd of September 2016 and is shown in Table 3 below. Please refer to the press release of October 4, 2016 for full details on the mineral reserve. The mineral reserves are contained within the Indicated resources. Table 3 Total Reserves for Vertikalny Central Deposit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ag Metal Cut-off Grade Quantity Ag Grade Content Category (g/t Ag) (kt) (g/t) (koz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proven - Open Pit - - - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proven - Underground - - - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Probable - Open Pit 250 364 1,209 14,144 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Probable - Underground 450 458 569 8,375 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Mineral Reserves - 822 852 22,519 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Geological and Sampling Procedures A quality assurance / quality control is part of the drilling program on all of the deposits on the Mangazeisky Property. This program includes chain of custody protocols as well as systematic submittals of standards, duplicates and blank samples into the flow of samples produced by the drilling. Prior to 2011, analysis was carried out at Russian certified laboratories in Yakutsk and Aldan, Russia. Analysis for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 campaigns were completed by ALS Chemex in Chita, Russia. Qualified Person The new Inferred Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by Mr. Joe Hirst, B.Sc., M.Sc. European Geologist (EurGeol) and Chartered Geologist (CGeol). Mr. Hirst is a Resource Geologist at Tetra Tech and is a "qualified person" as such term is defined in NI 43-101. Mr. Hirst has reviewed the technical and scientific information in this press release relating to the Mineral Resource estimates and has approved the use of the information contained herein. The updated Mineral Resource estimates were generated using the parameters set out above under Table 1. About Silver Bear Silver Bear (TSX: SBR) is focused on the development of its wholly-owned Mangazeisky Silver Project, covering a licence area of approximately 570 km2 that includes the high-grade Vertikalny deposit (amongst the highest grade silver deposits in the world), located 400 km north of Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha within the Russian Federation. The Company was granted a 20-year mining licence for the Vertikalny deposit in September 2013 and recently updated its Feasibility Study in Q4 2016. Other information relating to Silver Bear is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com as well as on the Company's website at www.silverbearresources.com. Cautionary Notes This release and subsequent oral statements made by and on behalf of the Company may contain forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations. Wherever possible, words such as "intends", "expects", "scheduled", "estimates", "anticipates", "believes" and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this release reflect management's current beliefs based upon information currently available to management and based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, Silver Bear cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. A number of factors could cause events and achievements to differ materially from the results expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include but are not limited to risk factors identified by Silver Bear in its continuous disclosure filings filed from time to time on SEDAR. These factors should be considered carefully and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve significant known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that may cause Silver Bear's actual results, events, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Silver Bear has attempted to identify important risks and factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors and risks that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and Silver Bear assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, unless otherwise required by law. Contacts: Silver Bear Resources Inc. Graham Hill President and Chief Executive Officer +7 916 731 5673 info@silverbearresources.com Silver Bear Resources Inc. Judith Webster Investor Relations Manager & Corporate Secretary +416 453 8818 jwebster@silverbearresources.com Buchanan UK Bobby Morse + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000 Buchanan UK Anna Michniewicz + 44(0) 20 7466 5146 ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG) today announces it has formally submitted a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Ekurhuleni Energy Generation Program in Johannesburg, South Africa in an effort to be awarded a 20 megawatt (MW) Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) utilizing its RUBICON Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology. This 20-year PPA was a collaborative submission by Dominovas Energy and its joint venture partner for the project Mponeng Holdings [PTY] LTD, a South African company located in Johannesburg. Mponeng Holdings (MPH) t/a Pharox Lumens Africa is a sustainability energy management company which, through its proven technologies, enables energy users to reduce energy consumption in order to preserve energy resources for the future and reduce environmental pollutions by promoting efficient energy use. Its "Demand-Side Management" applications enable clients to run clean and green operations leading to reduced carbon emissions and energy consumption, thereby, maximizing bottom line whilst preserving the environment. MPH is also currently appointed to explore and implement energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives within the Msunduzi Local Government Municipality. "The submission of this RFP and entering into this 'JV' agreement with MPH is an extension of our goal to expand and establish roots in multiple regions within sub-Saharan Africa," said Dominovas Energy's chief operating officer and the president of its Fuel Cell Division Michael Watkins. "Having set our sights initially on the 50kW Showcase for Johannesburg, we believe it is critical that the follow-up and immediate next steps be in place and determined early in the process to maintain the momentum we hope to create with the installation of the 'Showcase.' We simply do not see it as prudent to install and then seek to determine the 'next' client," Watkins added. If awarded, this 20MW RUBICON system will be installed to provide electricity for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in Johannesburg, South Africa. About Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG) Founded in 2005, Dominovas Energy Corporation (DEC) is a publicly traded company, based in Nevada. With its operating headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Dominovas Energy Corporation is a leading power solutions provider to emerging markets around the world. DEC seeks to deploy its proprietary RUBICON Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology and proprietary ORCAS hydro systems for deployment in multi-megawatt power generation units worldwide. The worldwide pursuit of clean and efficient production of electricity via Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology and hydro technology inspired its founders to create an "energy solutions" company. Recognizing that "green" and "alternative energy" markets offer immense potential for growth, Dominovas Energy is aggressively moving to allocate its intellectual and financial capital forthwith, in order to strategically address a green energy solution that is 100% reliable, efficient, and measurably cleaner than GenSets and CCGT. Additionally, unlike wind and solar solutions the RUBICON and ORCAS provide baseload power 24/7/365 days a year. By manufacturing and deploying the RUBICON and ORCAS throughout of the world, Dominovas Energy is committed to creating shareholder value by not only generating guaranteed revenue streams, but also by increasing the value of "human and community capital." Devoted to core values by operating under the utmost of honesty and integrity in all its business transactions, Dominovas Energy is additionally dedicated to respecting the rights of all individuals, while acknowledging and respecting all cultures necessary to support the growth and development of the communities and countries in which it operates. The Company strongly believes in the impact this singularly advanced technology will make on the world and is resolute in its mission to provide electricity where and when economically viable. For more information, visit www.dominovasenergy.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release, as well as other statements made by Dominovas Energy Corporation (the "Company"), contain forward-looking statements that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment, which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results. All statements that address future operating, financial or business performance or the Company's strategies or expectations are forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as is applicable would be discussed under captions as follows: "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Company's filings as would be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as required. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. It should be remembered that the price of the ordinary shares and any income from them can go down as well as up. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events and/or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Media and Investor Contact: QualityStocks Scottsdale, Arizona www.QualityStocks.com 480.374.1336 Office Email Contact Investor Questions: Email Contact TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust ("RioCan") (TSX: REI.UN) today announced a distribution of 11.75 cents per unit for the month of October. The distribution will be payable on November 7, 2016 to unitholders of record as at October 31, 2016. About RioCan RioCan is Canada's largest real estate investment trust with a total enterprise value of approximately $15 billion as at June 30, 2016. RioCan owns and manages Canada's largest portfolio of shopping centres with ownership interests in a portfolio of 302 Canadian retail and mixed use properties, including 15 properties under development, containing an aggregate net leasable area of 45 million square feet. For further information, please refer to RioCan's website at www.riocan.com. Contacts: RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust Christian Green Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations & Compliance 416-864-6483 www.riocan.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Allergan plc (AGN) said it will present new data from its irritable bowel syndrome portfolio at the upcoming American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting in Las Vegas during October 14 to 19. The presentation will be on efficacy and safety of Viberzi or Eluxadoline in IBS-D Patients Who Report Prior Inadequate Symptom Control with Loperamide and Impact of Baseline Pain Severity on the Efficacy of Eluxadoline in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea. Viberzi is a twice daily, oral medication indicated for use in adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea. The company said there is a potential for increased risk of sphincter of Oddi spasm, resulting in pancreatitis or hepatic enzyme elevation associated with acute abdominal pain with Viberzi. These events were reported in less than 1% of patients. 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. JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA--(Marketwired - November 03, 2016) - Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. ("Net1" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: UEPS) (JSE: NT1) today announced that it has obtained two Authorised Electronic Money Institution ("AEMI") licenses -- one in the United Kingdom, and one in Malta. The UK AEMI license has been granted to Net1's wholly-owned subsidiary, Transact24 Limited ("T24"), by the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom following a new application process. In Malta, the Malta Financial Services Authority ("MFSA") approved the Company's acquisition of the entire issued share capital of C4U-Malta Limited, a licensed MFSA-supervised electronic money institution, for approximately $3.9 million. These licenses allow Net1 to issue electronic money and payment instruments, acquire transactions, perform money remittances, and act as a payment intermediary. Both AEMI licenses have been passported to all member countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area. "Obtaining these AEMI licences in Europe, is a key part of our strategy to put in place the regulatory framework to expand our products globally, especially our virtual and prepaid card offerings. These AEMI licences will enable us to apply for membership of the card associations, and to become an issuer and acquirer in our own right. Our ownership of AEMI licenses in the UK and Malta provide us with the ability to operate across Europe and the UK. We will thus be able to offer better and more competitive products to our customers internationally," said Serge Belamant, Chairman and CEO of Net1. About Net1 (www.net1.com) Net1 is a leading provider of alternative payment systems that leverage its Universal Electronic Payment System ("UEPS") or utilize its proprietary mobile technologies. The Company operates market-leading payment processors in South Africa and the Republic of Korea. Through Transact24, Net1 offers debit, credit and prepaid processing and issuing services for Visa, MasterCard and ChinaUnionPay in China and other territories across Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa, and the United States. Through Masterpayment, Net1 provides payment processing and enables working capital financing in Europe. UEPS permits the Company to facilitate biometrically secure, real-time electronic transaction processing to unbanked and under-banked populations of developing economies around the world in an online or offline environment. Net1's UEPS/EMV solution is interoperable with global EMV standards that seamlessly enable access to all the UEPS functionality in a traditional EMV environment. In addition to payments, UEPS can be used for banking, healthcare management, payroll, remittances, voting and identification. Net1's mobile technologies include its proprietary mobile payments solution - MVC, which offers secure mobile-based payments, as well as mobile banking and prepaid value-added services in developed and emerging countries. The Company intends to deploy its varied mobile solutions through its ZAZOO business unit, which is an aggregation of innovative technology companies and is based in the United Kingdom. Net1 has a primary listing on the NASDAQ and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Forward-Looking Statements This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A discussion of various factors that cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to revise any of these statements to reflect future events. T24 Philip Meyer Managing Director Phone: +852 2851 0145 Email: philip.meyer@transact24.com Investor Relations Contact: Dhruv Chopra Head of Investor Relations Phone: +1-917-767-6722 Email: dchopra@net1.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Alden Global Capital LLC, the largest active shareholder of Pier 1 Imports (PIR), has delivered a letter to the Pier 1 Board to make its serious concerns explicit for the Board, and to outline its views for fellow shareholders regarding why immediate and meaningful changes are required to begin rebuilding shareholder confidence. Alden said it looks forward to continuing a constructive and productive dialogue regarding corporate strategy, the ongoing CEO search process, and the composition of Pier 1's Board. Alden cautioned Pier 1 against taking any further actions to entrench the Board. Alden said it disagrees with the company's laissez-faire approach to Board responsibilities. Alden requested that the Board immediately appoint: Heath Freeman, a representative of Alden, as a director of the company to assist with the CEO search and hiring process; and additional independent directors recommended by Alden to make decisions that are in the best interests of all Pier 1 shareholders. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 10:00 am ET Friday, the University of Michigan is set to release its preliminary U.S. consumer sentiment index for October. Economists expect the index to rise to 92 from 91.2 in September. Ahead of the data, the greenback traded mixed against its major counterparts. While the greenback climbed against the yen, euro and the pound, it eased from its early high against the franc. The greenback was worth 1.1012 against the euro, 104.29 against the yen, 1.2211 against the pound and 0.9879 against the Swiss franc as of 9:55 am ET. 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, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At an exclusiveGorkana, Cision and PR Newswire media briefing event, Angelica Malin, founder and editor-in-chief atAbout Time Magazine, explained how the social-led websitehas captured an audience of aspirational, young professionals. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428778 ) About Timeis a social-first publication aimed at, predominantly, young professional women; the 'social decision makers'. Since launching two years ago, it has grown to become a leading London lifestyle guide, with more than 75,000 monthly users in 163 countries worldwide. It is a modern, online-only magazine dedicated to food, drink, travel, fitness and style. But whileAbout Time'scontent is varied, it is united by the slogan: 'it's about time you tried...' It aims to catalogue all that is new and on-trend. At themedia briefing event, Malin told the room how the "very bossy website" differentiates itself through fast and flexibletrend-focused content. She talked about a recent occasion whereAbout TimeusedGorkana'sMedia Requests serviceto call on PRs for relevant recipes uponrealising that it was World Porridge Day. An influx of emails arrived and the teamcompiled and publisheda listof porridge recipesbefore lunch. By constantly monitoring site analytics, Malin ensures that content goes out at exactly the moment that she knows it will create a buzz on social media. She added, although she receives pitches via many channels,"good, old-fashioned email works for us." She said: "Phone calls can feel a bit aggressive." Here are a few more tips and suggestionsfrom theAbout Timeevent, hosted at theLondon Communications Agencyand chaired by Philip Smith, head of news and content atGorkana: About Timewelcomestailored PR content With just two full time staff members, editor Angelica Malin and deputy editor Alicia Grimshaw, the title welcomes content from PRs that fits individual formats ofthe title'sregular features. At the very least, said Malin, pitches should be tailored towards a specific column, feature or section of the site. About Time's audience isinterested in start-up brands According to Malin, the title's readers are very entrepreneurial. She said: "Our audience is quite interested in start-ups." She is interested in partnerships with emerging brands, in particular. However, there's still space for traditional brands. Malin added: "Anything we run aboutPret, people go mad for." The title is looking to develop its 'travel' and 'fitness' sections Malin said that the team would like to publish more travel content. She said: "It's often how much you're sent, and we're not sent a lot of travel information."Malin also said that she is planning to cover more fitness ideas and content, and the site will soon undergo a re-design to make it more mobile-friendly. Immediacy is key to its content "We're flexible in the sense that we can run things very quickly. " Malin explained. Editorially, they set a schedule on eachFriday for the coming week's content, though sometimes the turnaround can be even faster. Additionally, there's no point in PRs sending material months in advance, she added, because the title is so trend-driven. A week beforehand is ideal. Cision is a leading global media intelligence company, serving the complete workflow of today's communication professionals. Offering the industry's most comprehensive PR, IR and social media software, rich analytics, content distribution and influencer outreach, Cision enables clients to engage audiences, enhance campaigns and strengthen data-driven decision making. Cision solutions include PR Newswire, Gorkana, PRWeb, Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and iContact brands. Headquartered in Chicago, Cision serves over 100,000 customers in 170 countries and 40 languages worldwide, and maintains offices in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.cision.com or follow @Cision on Twitter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jLJOiBsc-4 For more information, visit http://www.gorkana.com | http://www.cision.com or follow @gorkana | @Cision on Twitter For media information please contact: Philip Smith Head of News and Content philip.smith@gorkana.com Gorkana +44(0)20-7674-0200 PUNE, India, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Industrial Communication Market by Offering (Component, Software, and Services), Communication Protocol (Fieldbus, Industrial Ethernet, and Wireless), End-Use Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to be worth USD 130.33 Billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 12.36% between 2016 and 2022. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 69 market data Tables and 61 Figures spread through 178 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Industrial Communication Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industrial-communication-market-146536397.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The industrial communication market has a huge potential across electronics and automotive applications. The major factor driving the industrial communication market globally is the rising demand for industrial automation and the growing adoption of Industrial Revolution 4.0. The market for the water and wastewater segment is expected to grow at the highest rate between 2016 and 2022 The market for the water and wastewater end user industry is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022. Water level monitoring sensors, AC drives, and controllers are crucial components of a water treatment system and the industrial communication network is used to integrate and enable communicate between these devices. All these factors are expected to drive the industrial communication market for the water and wastewater industry during the forecast period. The market for the wireless communication protocol would grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022 The market for the wireless communication protocol is expected to grow at the highest rate. The speed and simplicity of the installation of wireless networks are making them popular as they can be deployed to facilitate industrial communication even under extreme environments. The market for ZigBee is expected to grow at a high rate among all the wireless industrial communication protocols. Among the major reasons driving the market for ZigBee are that it supports IoT applications and thousands of nodes networks, and has security mechanisms such as AES-128 for encryption of devices. Currently, APAC leads the industrial communication market in terms of market size APAC held the largest share of the Industrial Communication Market in 2015. One of the main reasons for the large share of APAC in this market is the growing industrialization in the region. China is the major market for industrial communication in the APAC region. It is the world's largest manufacturer of automobiles, which is one of the prospective applications of industrial communication. Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=146536397 The companies that are profiled in the report are Schneider Electric SE (France), Texas Instruments Incorporated (U.S.), TE Connectivity Ltd (Switzerland), Siemens AG (Germany), ABB LTD (Switzerland), Rockwell Automation, Inc. (U.S.), Emerson Electric Company (U.S.), National Instruments (U.S.), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), General Electric (U.S.), and Advantech Industrial Automation Group (U.S.). Browse Related Reports Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Connections Market by Technology (Wired, Wireless), Industry (Healthcare, Utilities, Retail, Consumer Electronics, Automotive & Transportation, Security & Surveillance, Others), and by Geography - Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/machine-to-machine-market-732.html Industrial IoT Market by Technology (Sensors, RFID, Industrial Robotics, 3D Printing, DCS, Condition Monitoring, Smart Meter, Autonomous Haulage System, Yield Monitors, Guidance & Steering, GPS/GNSS), Software, & Geography - Global Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industrial-internet-of-things-market-129733727.html Subscribe Reports from Semiconductor Domain @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Subscription.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical info graphics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets 701 Pike Street Suite 2175, Seattle, WA 98101, United States Tel: 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog@ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/electronics-and-semiconductors Connect us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said the most powerful weapon deployed by his rival Hillary Clinton in the election campaign is the corporate media, which is working with an agenda to elect her 'at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy.' 'Let's be clear on one thing: the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They are a political special interest, no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with an agenda', he said at an election rally in West Palm Beach, Florida Thursday. The New York billionaire said the Washington establishment, and the financial and media corporations that fund it, exist for only one reason: to protect and enrich itself. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election, and they'd like to pass the TPP, which involves trillions of dollars controlled by many countries, corporations and lobbyists, Trump told his supporters. He alleged that 'the Clinton Machine' is so closely and irrevocably tied to media organizations that she is given the questions and answers in advance of her debates. 'Clinton is also given approval and veto power over quotes written about her in the New York Times. And the emails show the reporters collaborate and conspire directly with the Clinton Campaign on helping her win the election.' Referring to reports of a slew of accusations of sexual misconduct targeting him, Trump said the slander and libels that were thrown at him by the Clinton Machine, the New York Times, and other media outlets, are part of a concerted, coordinated and vicious attack. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - First Lady Michelle Obama lashed out at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's sexist behavior, and called him unfit for the job in many ways. Addressing a Democratic rally in Manchester on Thursday, Michelle laid out the stakes in this election, contrasting Hillary Clinton's lifetime of service with Donald Trump's disturbing behavior. The First Lady highlighted Clinton's work for children and families and said she has 'the strength and compassion to lead this country.' Trump's disturbing remarks about women are 'not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season,' nor can they be ignored as 'locker room banter,' the First Lady said. She added, 'It now seems very clear that this isn't an isolated incident. It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life [.] Strong men, strong men, men who are truly role models don't need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful.' The First Lady urged New Hampshire women to get out the vote on November 8th. She also recalled the hotly contested 2012 election in which her husband won the state by an average of 66 votes a precinct as proof that their votes would be crucial. 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. ANN ARBOR, MI -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- TECAT Performance Systems today announced that it will be highlighting its WISER 4000 wireless torque measuring and monitoring system at the 2016 Permian Basin International Oil Show (PBIOS), being held Oct. 18-20 in Odessa, Texas. In booth D123, TECAT will provide live demonstrations of the system in applications for the petroleum industry, including a torque/turn monitoring systems for drilling rigs. At PBIOS, TECAT will display its WISER sensor technology in a pigging solution for older pipelines. The pig utilizes a magnetometer sensor small enough to pass through pipes to identify valve locations, while WISER accelerometer data accurately identifies weld seams. TECAT will also demonstrate a cost-effective torque/turn monitoring system created by adapting its WISER sensor technology to a load cell for force measurement. The solution can be used on existing hydraulic chain tongs in drilling rigs to reduce costs and improve measurement accuracy. "The challenge for today's oil companies is to reduce production costs with minimal investment and an immediate return," said Don Keating, vice president, new business development, at TECAT Performance Systems. "Our wireless sensor technology has already been proven in several energy-related applications -- including pigging and torque/turn monitoring systems. We look forward to meeting with technicians and engineers at PBIOS to show them how it can help them improve operational efficiency and cut overhead expenses, while meeting calls for improved safety." TECAT's WISER systems are the smallest, lightest, and most power-efficient solutions available for the measurement of torque, acceleration, pressure, temperature, distance, and magnetization. The WISER 4000 comprises three subsystems. The remote unit consists of the data capture electronics connected to Micro-Measurements strain gages, a transceiver, and a long-life battery. Custom-built remote enclosures are available to protect the remote unit and battery from damage due to debris. The base unit plugs directly into a PC's USB port and houses an antenna, transceiver, and up to four analog outputs. The WISER Data Viewer software is used for system configuration and calibration, live monitoring, and data logging. The WISER 4000 enables positive and negative shunt calibration with two independent shunt calibration legs using 100 k ohm resistors. In addition to measuring torque, the WISER 4000 has the optional ability to measure 3-axis acceleration, barometric pressure, and ambient temperature, all within a small footprint measuring 36 mm x 23 mm x 4 mm. On-board data logging with triggering capability allows high-resolution data to be collected on the remote unit without PC or DAQ connectivity, while remote flash enables firmware upgrades without requiring removal of the system from the unit under test. Every even-numbered year, PBIOS brings together people from every phase of the petroleum industry. Leaders come to Odessa from every corner of the world to learn about the latest technology and the newest equipment. More information on the show is available at http://www.pboilshow.org/. About TECAT Performance Systems TECAT Performance Systems was founded in 2010 by Dr. Douglas Baker, CTO and inventor of its torque telemetry system. The company designs and manufactures the smallest, lightest, most power-efficient wireless sensors available. These features enable the measurement of torque, acceleration, and atmospheric data in places never before accessed. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. More information on TECAT Performance Systems is available at http://tecatperformance.com/. Link to detailed product information: http://bit.ly/2eb2Pd4 Link to WISER 4000 photo: http://www.redpinesgroup.com/TECAT/161013TECAT.jpg Agency Contact: Bob Decker Redpines +1 415 409 0233 Email Contact TECAT Performance Systems Contact: Don Keating Vice President, New Business Development +1 248 615 9862 Email Contact Draft resolution of the ordinary shareholders meeting of Agrowill Group AB (company code 126264360, registered address: Smolensko st. 10, Vilnius) which will take place on October 24, 2016, has been amended (on first agenda item): 1. Changing the name of the Company. - To change the Company name to AUGA group, AB. Attached: 1. Draft of the Articles of Association. 2. General voting ballot . Vladas Bagavicius Member of the Board tel. +370 5 233 5340 Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=589746 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 Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. ZHEJIANG EXPRESSWAY CO., LTD (A joint stock limited company incorporated in the People's Republic of China with limited liability) (Stock code: 0576) CONNECTED TRANSACTION IN RELATION TO CAPITAL INCREASE IN ZHEJIANG COMMUNICATIONS INVESTMENT GROUP FINANCE CO., LTD. THE CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION AGREEMENT On 14 October 2016, the Company entered into the Capital Contribution Agreement with Zhejiang Communications Finance and the Existing Shareholders, pursuant to which the Company agreed to contribute an amount of RMB350,000,000, by way of cash, into the equity capital of Zhejiang Communications Finance, an associate of the Company. LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS As at the date of this announcement, Communications Group holds approximately 67% of the issued share capital of the Company. By virtue of this shareholding interest, Communications Group is a controlling shareholder of the Company. As at the date of this announcement, Communications Group also directly and indirectly, through Ningbo Expressway Co and Taizhou Expressway Co, holds 65% of the issued share capital of Zhejiang Communications Finance. Therefore, Zhejiang Communications Finance, being a subsidiary of Communications Group, is a connected person of the Company and as a result, the transaction under the Capital Contribution Agreement constitutes a connected transaction for the Company under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. As the applicable percentage ratios in respect of the transactions contemplated under the Capital Contribution Agreement are more than 0.1% but less than 5%, the Capital Contribution Agreement is subject to the reporting, announcement and annual review requirements but exempt from the independent Shareholders' approval requirement under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. THE CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION AGREEMENT On 14 October 2016, the Company entered into the Capital Contribution Agreement with Zhejiang Communications Finance and the Existing Shareholders, pursuant to which the Company agreed to contribute an amount of RMB350,000,000, by way of cash, into the equity capital of Zhejiang Communications Finance, an associate of the Company. The principal terms of the Capital Contribution Agreement are set out below: Date 14 October 2016 Parties (i) Communications Group (ii) Ningbo Expressway Co (iii) Taizhou Expressway Co (iv) the Company (v) Zhejiang Communications Finance Capital Contribution Pursuant to the Capital Contribution Agreement, the Existing Shareholders and the Company agreed to contribute capital in cash to Zhejiang Communications Finance on a pro rata basis in proportion to their existing shareholding in Zhejiang Communications Finance in the aggregate amount of RMB1 billion, of which the Company agreed to contribute an amount of RMB350,000,000 based on its current shareholding in Zhejiang Communications Finance. The Company intends to satisfy the Capital Contribution by way of its internal resources. Basis of determination of the Capital Contribution The amount of capital contributions to be made by the Company and the Existing Shareholders in the aggregate sum of RMB1 billion was determined after arm's length negotiations amongst the parties with reference to the future capital need of Zhejiang Communications Finance. Timing of the Capital Contribution SubjecttotheCapitalContributionAgreementbecomingeffective,thecapital contribution by the Company is expected to be made on or before 20 October 2016. Conditions precedent and effective date Completion of the Capital Contribution Agreement is conditional upon the approval of CBRC having been obtained in connection with the Capital Contribution Agreement, and the Capital Contribution Agreement will become effective on the date on which it is approved by CBRC. REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS OF THE CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION The Directors expect that Zhejiang Communications Finance will play a larger role as a fund management platform for the Communications Group following the merger of the Communications Group and Zhejiang Railway Investment Group in August 2016. The operation scale of Zhejiang Communications Finance is, however, constrained by the size of its capital and the existing capital level of Zhejiang Communications Finance is no longer sufficient to support its expansion and satisfy the business needs of the Communications Group (including the Company). As a non-bank financial institution, the operations of Zhejiang Communications Finance are subject to various capital requirements imposed by the People's Bank of China and CBRC. For instance, the amount of financial debts that Zhejiang Communications Finance may issue must not exceed its total capital, the amount of short term securities investments it may hold (including short term currency funds and fixed income products) must not exceed 40% of its total capital, the amount of long term investments it may hold must not exceed 30% of its total capital, and the amount of guarantee it may provide to Communications Group and its subsidiaries must not exceed its total capital. The Capital Contribution is therefore necessary for the progressive development of Zhejiang Communications Finance. The Capital Contribution would also enable Zhejiang Communications Finance to cope with the enhanced regulatory requirements on capital sufficiency and capital management by non-bank financial institutions imposed by regulators such as the People's Bank of China and the CBRC. It is important for Zhejiang Communications Finance to continue expanding its business scope in order to serve the subsidiaries of the Communications Group (including the Company), and the level of capital is an important criteria to be considered by the regulators when applying for the operation of new businesses. The Capital Contribution will enable Zhejiang Communications Finance to expandits businessscope,operate new business and maintain its status in the industry. ZhejiangCommunicationsFinancehasshownastrong growth inincomeand profitability since its establishment in December 2012, with an average return on net assets at approximately 14% in the past three years. The Directors consider that the Capital Contribution will provide a satisfactory return to the Company. Given the above, the Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) are of the view that the terms of the Capital Contribution Agreement are on normal commercial terms, in the ordinary and usual course of business of the Company and are fair and reasonable and in the interests of the Company and theShareholders asa whole. INFORMATION ON ZHEJIANG COMMUNICATIONS FINANCE Zhejiang Communications Finance is a limited liability company incorporated in the PRC on 9 November 2012 and approved by CBRC as a non-banking financial institution on 17 October 2012 with a registered capital of RMB1 billion as at the date of this announcement. As at the date of this announcement, Zhejiang Communications Finance is owned as to 40%, 35%, 15.625% and 9.375% by Communications Group, the Company, Ningbo Expressway Co and Taizhou Expressway Co, respectively, and Zhejiang Communications Finance is an associate of the Company. Zhejiang Communications Finance is principally engaged in the business of providing financial services to the subsidiaries of Communications Group, including but not limited to advising the subsidiaries of Communications Group in relation to financing, letters of credit and other agency services; authorised insurance agency businesses; providing guarantees, accepting and discounting commercial notes, arranging for loans and financial leases, and receiving deposits of the subsidiaries of Communications Group. According to the audited financial statements of Zhejiang Communications Finance, the total assets of Zhejiang Communications Finance as at 31 December 2015 were approximately RMB6,270,342,000. Zhejiang Communications Finance recorded an operating revenue of approximately RMB270,333,000 and a profit before tax of approximately RMB186,144,000 for the year ended 31 December 2015. Uponcompletionof theCapitalContribution, theregistered capitalofZhejiang Communications Finance will be increased from RMB1 billion to RMB2 billion, and the shareholding percentage of the Company and the Existing Shareholders in Zhejiang Communications Finance will remain unchanged. LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS As at the date of this announcement, Communications Group holds approximately 67% of the issued share capital of the Company. By virtue of this shareholding interest, Communications Group is a controlling shareholder of the Company. As at the date of this announcement, Communications Group also directly and indirectly, through Ningbo Expressway Co and Taizhou Expressway Co, holds 65% of the issued share capital of Zhejiang Communications Finance. Therefore, Zhejiang Communications Finance, being a subsidiary of Communications Group, is a connected person of the Company and as a result, the transaction under the Capital Contribution Agreement constitutes a connected transaction for the Company under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. As the applicable percentage ratios in respect of the transactions contemplated under the Capital Contribution Agreement are more than 0.1% but less than 5%, the Capital Contribution Agreement is subject to the reporting, announcement and annual review requirements but exempt from the independent Shareholders' approval requirement under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. EachofMr.ZhanXiaozhang,Mr. WangDongjie,Mr.Dai BenmengandMr.Zhou Jianping holds certain senior position in Communications Group, so they have abstained from voting on the board resolution with respect to the approval of the Capital Contribution Agreement. Save for Mr. Zhan Xiaozhang, Mr. Wang Dongjie, Mr. Dai Benmeng and Mr. Zhou Jianping, none of the Directors has any material interest in the Capital Contribution Agreement or is required to abstain from voting on the relevant Board resolutions to approve the same. INFORMATION ON THE PARTIES The Company is a joint stock company established under the laws of the PRC with limited liability on 1 March 1997, the H Shares of which are listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange. It is principally engaged in investing in, developing and operating high-grade roads in the PRC. The Group also carries on certain other businesses such as operation of gas stations, restaurants and shops in service areas, advertising at expressway interchanges and external road maintenance, as well as securities related business. Communications Group is a wholly state-owned enterprise established in the PRC on 29 December 2001 and is principally engaged in a diverse range of businesses, including investment, operations, maintenance, toll collection and ancillary services of expressways, construction and building of transportation project, ocean and coastal transport, as well as real estate. Ningbo Expressway Co. is a limited liability company incorporated in the PRC and a 75% owned subsidiary of Communications Group and is principally engaged in the operation and management of the Ningbo section of the Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou expressway. Taizhou Expressway Co. is a limited liability company incorporated in the PRC and a 75% owned subsidiary of Communications Group and is principally engaged in the operation and management of the Taizhou section of the Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou expressway. DEFINITIONS Inthisannouncement,unlessthecontextspecifiesotherwise,the followingdefined expressions have the following meanings: "associate" has the meaning ascribed to it under the Listing Rules "Board" the board of Directors "Capital Contribution" the proposed capital contribution by the Company in the amount of RMB350,000,000, by way of cash, into the equity capital ofZhejiang Communications Finance pursuant to the Capital Contribution Agreement "Capital Contribution Agreement" theagreementdated14October2016entered into between the Company, Zhejiang Communications Finance and the Existing Shareholders inrelation to the Capital Contribution "CBRC" China Banking Regulatory Commission of the PRC "Communications Group" Zhejiang Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd.*, a wholly State-owned enterprise established in the PRC, and the controlling shareholder of the Company "Company" Zhejiang Expressway Co., Ltd., a joint stock limited company incorporated in the PRC with limited liability "connected person" has the meaning ascribed to it under the Listing Rules "controlling shareholder" has the meaning ascribed to it under the Listing Rules "Director(s)" the directors of the Company "Existing Shareholders" Communications Group, Ningbo Expressway Co. and Taizhou Expressway Co., being the existing shareholders of Zhejiang Communications Finance other than the Company as at the date of this announcement "Group" the Company and its subsidiaries "H Shares" overseaslistedforeign sharesinthesharecapital of the Company with a nominal value of RMB1 per share, which are listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange "Hong Kong" the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC "Listing Rules" RulesGoverningtheListingofSecurities onThe Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited "Ningbo Expressway Co" Zhejiang Ningbo Yongtaiwen Expressway Co., Ltd.*, a limited liability company incorporated in the PRC and a 75% owned subsidiary of Communications Group "percentage ratio" has the meaning ascribed to it under Rule 14.04(9) of the Listing Rules "PRC" the People's Republic of China (for the purpose of this announcement, excludes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) "RMB" Renminbi, the lawful currency of the PRC "Shareholder(s)" holder(s) of the share(s) of the Company "Stock Exchange" The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited "subsidiary(ies)" has the meaning ascribed to it under the Listing Rules "Taizhou Expressway Co" Zhejiang Taizhou Yongtaiwen Expressway Co., Ltd.*, a limited liability company incorporated in the PRC and a 75% owned subsidiary of Communications Group "Zhejiang Communications Finance" Zhejiang Communications Investment Group Finance Co., Ltd.*, a limited liability company incorporated in the PRC and owned as to 40%, 35%, 15.625% and 9.375% by Communications Group,the Company, Ningbo Expressway Co and Taizhou Expressway Co, respectively, as at the date of this announcement * English names for reference only On behalf of the Board ZHEJIANG EXPRESSWAY CO., LTD. ZHAN Xiaozhang Chairman Hangzhou, PRC, 14 October 2016 As of the date of this announcement, the executive directors of the Company are: Mr. ZHAN Xiaozhang, Mr. CHENG Tao and Ms. LUO Jianhu; the non-executive directors of the Company are: Mr. WANG Dongjie, Mr. DAI Benmeng and Mr. ZHOU Jianping; and the independent non-executive directors of the Company are: Mr. ZHOU Jun, Mr. PEI Ker-Wei and Ms. LEE Wai Tsang Rosa. DUBLIN, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Sheet Metal Equipment Market 2016-2020" report to their offering. The global sheet metal equipment market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6.69% during the period 2016-2020. According to the report, increase in demand from end-user industries will be a key driver for market growth. Industrial outputs that had taken a hit in many countries following the global economic recession of 2008 are showing signs of slow recovery. Automation is employed on a large scale in industrial sectors, such as such as automotive, aerospace and defense, electrical and electronics, medical devices, industrial machinery, and renewable energy. This adoption is contributing to these industries' positive growth and is reflected in the stabilized manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMIs.) Further, the report states that China is a leading consumer of machine tools. However, the growth of the manufacturing sector in China, especially industrial machinery, is experiencing slowdown due to overcapacity in the market. This factor combined with the country's effort to shift to consumer-led economy will have a negative impact on the demand for press brakes in the country. China and Japan constitute a major portion of the market share. Therefore, a slowdown in China's economy and its impact on the demand for Japanese press brakes is a major challenge to the market growth of the market. 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: Amada TRUMPF U.S. Industrial Machinery DMTG DMG Mori Allied Machine & Engineering BYJC-OKUMA ( Beijing ) Machine Tools ) Machine Tools Doosan Infracore Fair Friend FANUC GF Machining Solutions Haas Automation Hardinge JTEKT Kennametal Komatsu Makino Milling Machine Sandvik 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 segmentation by application PART 07: Geographical segmentation PART 08: Market drivers PART 09: Impact of drivers PART 10: Market challenges PART 11: Impact of drivers and challenges PART 12: Market trends PART 13: Vendor landscape PART 14: Key vendor analysis PART 15: Appendix PART 16: About the Author For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7x7g7g/global_sheet 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 According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global specialty silica marketis expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 6% during the forecast period. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170111005879/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global specialty silica market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) This research report titled 'Global Specialty Silica Market 2017-2021' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions. The automotive industry is witnessing increasing sales of passenger and commercial vehicles worldwide. This increase is creating a high demand for tires, which is anticipated to drive the specialty silica market through the forecast period. APAC creates the maximum demand for specialty silica, with many automotive vendors setting up their manufacturing bases in developing countries like China and India. Other important drivers of this market are the growing applications of precipitated silica in the food industryand increasing demand for paints with functional benefits. These factors are expected to push the global silica gel market to a value of USD 4690.3 million by 2021, with more than 45% of the incremental growth originating from APAC. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=55470 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. Based on application, the report categorizes the global specialty silica market into the following segments: Rubber Personal care Food, feed, and agriculture Ink, paints, and coatings Other The top three revenue-generating application segments in the global specialty silica market are discussed below: Rubber The rubber segment is the biggest application segment of specialty silica, occupying 38.63% of the global market. This segment is forecast to showcase a CAGR of over 7% through the forecast period, expected to be valued at 1,887.3 million by 2021. Silica is mainly used in this segment in the manufacture of various rubber products like tires, industrial rubber, silicone rubber, rice rollers, conveyor belts, battery separators, and footwear. "The most important use of specialty silica is in tires, where it improves rolling resistance and traction. This greatly enhances the fuel economy of vehicles and makes for a smooth overall vehicle performance. Another segment that creates high demand for specialty silica is from the expanding electronics industry, where it is mainly to absorb moisture from electronic products. These two factors will have a positive impact on the growth of this market," says Ajay Adikari, one of the lead analysts at Technavio for metals and minerals research. Personal care Specialty silica finds several applications in the personal care industry in products like toothpaste, antiperspirants, and lipsticks. Specialty silica helps convert cosmetic oils to highly viscous and transparent gels and enhances cleaning and whitening performance in dentifrice products, which makes it useful in this industry. Specialty silica also finds utility in hair careproducts like hair bleaching agents, hair dyes, and hair conditioners, where they are used to prevent caking, enhance moistening capacity, and increase durability. "Other utility segments include nail polishes, face and eye make-up products, face powder, mascara, eye shadows and pencils. The global personal care market is growing with consumers placing greater emphasis on personal grooming across regions, leading to increasing demand for skin, hair, and oral care products. This factor will, in turn, drive the market for specialty silica in the coming years," says Ajay. Food, feed, and agriculture In 2016, the global specialty silica market in food, feed, and agriculture applications was valued at USD 552.3 million and is expected to reach USD 728.1 million by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 5.68%. Expanding population, need for natural and sustainable energy, and changing lifestyles are driving the market for food, feed, and agricultural products. In the food industry, specialty silica in used in the prevention of caking, reduction in dusting, removal of lumps, and better absorption of liquids. In the animal feed segment, it finds utility because of its anti-caking and free-flow properties, which make it suitable for coating the powder surface for reduction of inter-particle interactions and absorbing moisture for the prevention of bridging between particles. In the agricultural sector, specialty silica is mainly used for the development of powder, solid, and liquid formulations as suspensions or emulsions for better crop protection, seed treatment, and plant growth. These factors create a high demand for specialty silica, which is driving the market growth. The top vendors highlighted by Technavio's research analysts in this report are: Evonik Industries J.M. Huber PPG Industries Solvay W.R. Grace Browse Related Reports: Global Forging Market 2017-2021 Global Silica Gel Market 2015-2019 Global Silica Minerals Mining Market 2016-2020 Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like agrochemicals and fertilizers, glass and ceramics, and specialty chemicals. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170111005879/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 14, 2016) - Amerigo Resources Ltd. (TSX: ARG) ("Amerigo" or the "Company") provides the following update in respect of Minera Valle Central ("MVC"), the Company's operation located near Rancagua, Chile. Further to the Company's news releases dated September 30, 2016 and October 6, 2016, Amerigo is pleased to announce that on October 13, 2016, negotiations between MVC and its 216-member union concluded satisfactorily, and the parties have entered into a new 3 year collective agreement. The union workers returned to work at 8:00 am local time on October 14, 2016. About the Company: Amerigo Resources Ltd. is an innovative copper producer with a long-term partnership with Codelco, the world's largest copper producer. Amerigo produces copper concentrate at the MVC operation in Chile by processing fresh and historic tailings from Codelco's El Teniente mine, the world's largest underground copper mine. Tel: (604) 681-2802; Fax: (604) 682-2802; Web: www.amerigoresources.com; Listing: ARG:TSX. For further information, please contact: CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Canadian Spirit Resources Inc. ("CSRI" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: SPI)(OTCBB: CSPUF) is pleased to announce that production from the Montney formation at Farrell Creek/Altares was restarted on October 4, 2016. Production had been suspended as of March 31, 2016 due to extremely low natural gas prices. With prices at Station 2 exceeding $2.75/Mcf in recent weeks, CSRI and its joint venture partner Canbriam Energy Inc. made the decision to bring the production back on line. Current average production is 4.4 Mmcf/d with CSRI's 35% share being 1.5 Mmcf/d. At the c-69-H/094-B-01 well that was drilled in the first quarter 2016, recently retrieved pressure recorder information shows that the Montney formation is over pressured but not to the extreme values encountered while drilling. The overlying Doig formation appears to be the cause of the extreme high pressures and could be a candidate for investigation in the future. The information gained from the c-69-H/094-B-01 well has further delineated the Montney resource on CSRI's 100% working interest lands. The Federal Government's recent environmental approval of the Pacific NorthWest LNG project at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, as well as the strong, positive improvement in natural gas prices and the further delineation of CSRI's Montney formation resources on its 26,000 net acres at Farrell Creek (strategically located along the current and proposed major pipeline routes) serve to reinforce the Corporation's value as a supplier of natural gas to North American and potential Asian markets. The Corporation will continue to review strategic options to enhance shareholder value. Information regarding CSRI is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or the Corporation's website at www.csri.ca. On behalf of the Board of Directors CANADIAN SPIRIT RESOURCES INC. Richard Couillard, President & Chief Executive Officer The corporate information contained in this news release may contain forward-looking forecast information. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonably accurate by CSRI at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect. The actual results achieved during the forecast period will vary from the information provided herein and the variations may be material. Consequently there is no representation by CSRI that actual results achieved during the forecast period will be the same in whole or in part as those forecast. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE Contacts: Canadian Spirit Resources Inc. Richard Couillard (403) 539-5005 rich.couillard@csri.ca www.csri.ca SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada The Government of Canada values the role of post-secondary institutions as they help equip young Canadians with the education and training they need for future careers that will help them join a strong, healthy middle class. Today's $23.5-million investment in Algoma University, Sault College and the Shingwauk Education Trust was announced by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda aims to make this country a global centre for innovation-one that creates jobs, drives growth across all industries and improves the lives of all Canadians. This investment exemplifies that vision in action. The funding announced today will support the following projects: -- $2.9 million to upgrade all mechanical and lighting systems in Algoma University's main building. This upgrade will provide the university with the infrastructure needed to deliver e-learning programs and will advance its mission for cross-cultural and Aboriginal learning in the Anishinaabe community. For this project, the federal government is providing $2.5 million and the provincial government is providing nearly $400,000. Algoma University is contributing an additional $2.14 million. -- $15.6 million to establish the Institute for Environment Education and Entrepreneurship (iE3) at Sault College. The institution aims to become a centre of excellence in forestry and clean tech, which will include activities in bioenergy, water management, land rehabilitation and forest management. Local industries, academia and governments will work collaboratively on this project to spur innovation initiatives in these growing priority sectors. For this project, the federal government is providing $5 million and the provincial government is providing $10.6 million. Sault College is contributing an additional $500,000. -- $5 million to enable the Shingwauk Education Trust to establish the Anishinabek Discovery Centre (ADC). The ADC will house the National Chiefs Library, the Training Centre of Excellence, interpretive teaching and cultural spaces, and a state-of-the-art event venue. In addition to the federal government's financial contribution, this project is being supported by a number of other partners. In total, universities and colleges throughout Ontario will receive more than $1.9 billion from the Government of Canada, the provincial government, the institutions themselves and private donors. Federal funding will be allocated through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, which will enhance and modernize research facilities on Canadian campuses and improve the environmental sustainability of these facilities. As a result of these investments, students, professors and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities that advance the country's best research. They will collaborate in specially designed spaces that support lifelong learning and skills training. They will work in close proximity with partners to turn discoveries into products or services. In the process, they will train for-and invent-the high-value jobs of the future. And their discoveries will plant the seeds for the next generation of innovators. That is how the Strategic Investment Fund will jump-start a virtuous circle of innovation, creating the right conditions for long-term growth that will yield benefits for generations to come. Ontario is making the largest investment in public infrastructure in the province's history-about $160 billion over 12 years-which is supporting 110,000 jobs every year across the province with projects such as hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and transit. Since 2015, the Province has announced support for more than 475 projects that will keep people and goods moving, connect communities and improve quality of life. To learn more about infrastructure projects in your community, go to Ontario.ca/BuildON. Quotes "This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government's vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation. That means making Canada a world leader in turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into middle-class jobs and start-up companies into global successes. This investment will create conditions that are conducive to innovation and long-term growth, which will in turn keep the Canadian economy globally competitive." - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "These investments will give an immediate boost to the Sault Ste. Marie economy, generating hundreds of jobs. In the longer term, our community will garner ongoing benefits from enhanced education and training opportunities for our labour force, which will support existing industries and attract new businesses. I am also pleased that our nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations, inspired by truth and reconciliation, will be enhanced through extended education opportunities." - Terry Sheehan, Member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie "Our government is pleased to support these important projects, which will give local post-secondary students access to renewed and upgraded facilities. We know that providing access to high-quality education and modern training facilities is critical to building the highly skilled workforce we need to support good jobs and economic growth for today and tomorrow." - The Honourable David Orazietti, Ontario's Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services and MPP for Sault Ste. Marie "We are pleased to receive funding from the federal government, through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, and from the Province of Ontario. The funding will be used to upgrade and modernize Shingwauk Hall. Shingwauk Hall is our flagship building and is a vital representation of the mission, mandate and history of Algoma University. This funding will allow us to create a modern teaching and learning environment while maintaining the historic character of the building. The renovations to Shingwauk Hall further our commitment to environmental sustainability by maximizing efficiency gains through the deployment of modern lighting and energy systems." - Dr. Craig Chamberlin, President and Vice-Chancellor, Algoma University "Today's funding announcement is a key piece in Sault College's vision of building a new Institute for Environment Education and Entrepreneurship. The iE3 will be home to Sault College's Natural Environment, Geographic Information Systems and Information and Communications Technology programs, and it will offer state-of-the-art experiential learning spaces and labs, industry collaboration opportunities, new classrooms and student services. The future starts now as we embark on this significant journey to invest in our infrastructure and offer a state-of-the-art, sustainable and accessible environment for our students. We are grateful for this investment as it will help Sault College grow as a post-secondary institution and foster a positive educational experience for our students." - Colin Kirkwood, Vice-President, Academic and Research, Sault College "For a number of years, Sault College has suffered because of outdated facilities. Through our KPI surveys, students have voiced their desire for more engaging work spaces, and we have listened. As the recipient of significant funding from various levels of government, we are getting closer to achieving our goal of updating our facilities. The federal government funding announced today will allow Sault College to complete the iE3 initiative. Our greatest liabilities have been E and J wings, but they will now become our greatest assets with this campus rebuild. Our students and future students thank Minister Bains and the rest of the federal government for today's funding." - Dr. Ron Common, President, Sault College "On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the Shingwauk Education Trust, I want to thank Minister Bains, our MP Mr. Terry Sheehan and the federal government for this historic investment. The Anishinabek Discovery Centre will certainly bring diversity to the community, create economic benefits and, more importantly, deliver an education that is based on the Anishinaabe world view. The ADC will promote the fulfillment and restoration of the original vision of Chief Shingwauk and at the same time honour and implement the 94 calls to action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission." - Darrell Boissoneau, President, Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig Quick facts -- The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are providing more than $950 million for research infrastructure at institutions across Ontario. -- The Government of Canada's recently launched Innovation Agenda is designed to ensure Canada is globally competitive in promoting research, translating ideas into new products and services, accelerating business growth and propelling entrepreneurs from the start-up phase to international success. -- The targeted, short-term investments under the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund will promote economic activity across Canada and help Canada's universities and colleges develop highly skilled workers, act as engines of discovery, and collaborate on innovations that help Canadian companies compete and grow internationally. -- The Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund supports the Government of Canada's climate change objectives by encouraging sustainable and green infrastructure projects. Associated links - Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund website - Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund backgrounder - Innovation Agenda backgrounder - BuildON 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 Allison Buchan-Terrell Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development 416-314-5475 Tanya Blazina Communications Branch Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development 416-325-2746 Tanya.Blazina@ontario.ca GRAND BANK, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Public Services and Procurement Canada The Honourable Judy M. Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Member of Parliament for Bonavista-Burin-Trinity, today announced the Government of Canada is investing in a made-in-Canada innovation and community-based projects in Grand Bank, Newfoundland and Labrador. Dynamic Air Shelters Ltd., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, with its main manufacturing site in Grand Bank, received a $792,844 contract for its Integrated Ballistic Protection System, which will be tested by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), an agency of National Defence. The testing, to be conducted at DRDC's Suffield Research Centre, will help determine the efficiency of these shelters to protect soldiers from bullets, bombs and rockets. This investment was made through the Build in Canada Innovation Program, which helps Canadian innovators land their first sale and get their innovations tested by the Government of Canada. This program is just one of the many ways the Government of Canada supports innovation and small and medium-sized businesses across Canada. Canadian innovators can submit their proposals for the Build in Canada Innovation Program on the Program's website. Dynamic Air Shelters Ltd. is also receiving a repayable contribution of $222,500 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) through the Business Development Program for the purchase and installation of specialized equipment for its Grand Bank manufacturing facility. While touring the company's facility, Minister Foote also took the opportunity to announce two community-based investments in the area. The Town of Grand Bank will receive $148,089 from the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program to upgrade an existing indoor swimming pool. In addition, the Grand Bank Development Corporation will receive $78,218 in non-repayable contributions through ACOA's Business Development Program. The funding will support the development and implementation of an investment attraction and marketing plan for the Grand Bank area, as well as the coordination and expansion of the Regional Women in Business Network in the Burin Peninsula. Quotes "Dynamic Air Shelters Ltd. uses innovative thinking to develop cutting-edge products that, among other things, help protect Canada's military from extreme hazards in harsh environments. This innovative company has become an important contributor to the economy of Grand Bank and the region as a whole. Our Government is committed to investing in businesses and communities across the country to build a strong and prosperous nation." The Honourable Judy M. Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement "The Government of Canada believes that public investment is needed to create and support sustainable growth, economic opportunity and prosperity in Canada. Investments in business, in innovation, in communities and in people will help us not only create good quality jobs and improve our wealth, but enrich and strengthen our country from coast to coast to coast." The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for ACOA "Dynamic Air Shelters is very proud and pleased to be a supplier to National Defence, with the support of the Build in Canada Innovation Program. Like all Newfoundland and Labrador manufacturers, Dynamic develops diverse products that allow us to make sales in different markets. Our Integrated Ballistic Protection System will add production hours for our Grand Bank employees, while providing a life-saving protection system for the men and women of our armed forces. By supporting innovation, our government is supporting our future." Harold Warner, Dynamic Air Shelters Ltd. Quick Facts -- Incorporated in 2004, Dynamic Air Shelters Ltd. custom designs, engineers and manufactures air-inflatable structures for four distinct markets: oil and gas, construction, emergency and first responder operations, and the promotional sector. The company employs almost 70 people, including over 50 employees at its Grand Bank facility. -- The company's lightweight, rapidly deployable textile shelters and constructions are often used to protect people and equipment from extreme hazards in harsh environments. -- The Integrated Ballistic Protection System can be deployed in conflict areas and can act as a temporary, semi-permanent and permanent shelter. -- More than 200 contracts have been awarded under the Build in Canada Innovation Program, including over 30 in Atlantic Canada and 8 in Newfoundland and Labrador, bringing Canadian companies one step closer to selling to domestic and international markets. -- More than $72 million has been awarded in contracts since the Build in Canada Innovation Program began in 2010. -- A non-profit organization, the Grand Bank Development Corporation was established in 1991 following the collapse of the deep-sea fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. Its mission is to diversify the local economy by attracting new investments and businesses, expanding existing operations, and encouraging import and export opportunities by offering programs and services that are client driven. -- The Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program is providing up to $300 million nationally over two years to support projects to rehabilitate, renovate and expand community and recreational infrastructure as part of the Government of Canada's activities to honour Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation. The program is delivered in Newfoundland and Labrador by ACOA. -- DRDC is an agency of National Defence. It provides National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces and other government departments, as well as public safety and national security communities, with the knowledge and technological advantage needed to defend and protect Canada's interests at home and abroad. -- DRDC's Suffield Research Centre is co-located with Canadian Forces Base Suffield in Ralston, Alberta, approximately 45 kilometres west of Medicine Hat. The base was established in 1941 as a joint Canada/United Kingdom experimental station for chemical and biological research. Associated Links Build in Canada Innovation Program Business Development Program Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook. Contacts: Annie Trepanier Office of the Honourable Judy M. Foote 819-997-5421 Media Relations Public Services and Procurement Canada 819-420-5501 media@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca Paul McGrath Director, Communications Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Newfoundland and Labrador 709-772-2984 paul.mcgrath@canada.ca VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- The Board of Directors of Reg Technologies Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: RRE)(OTC PINK: REGRF), are pleased to announce they have entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with REGI U.S., Inc. ("REGI") (OTC PINK: RGUS), dated September 16th, 2016, ("Transaction"). A special Shareholder Meeting to vote on the Asset Purchase Agreement is being called for November 18th, 2016, at the following location: W.L. Macdonald Law Corporation Suite 409, 221 W. Esplanade North Vancouver, BC V7M 3J3 Pursuant to the approval of this Transaction, the Company will be disposing of its undertaking being all or substantially all of its assets to REGI. In exchange, REGI shall issue an aggregate of 50,591,350 common shares of REGI (the "Shares"). Following the affirmative vote by the shareholders for this Transaction, the Company expects to be either voluntarily delisted or involuntarily delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for failure to comply with continued listing requirements and the policies of the Exchange. Subsequently, the Company intends to declare a Dividend in Kind, to distribute shares to all shareholders of November 18th, 2016, being the Record Date for Share Ownership, on a pro-rate basis. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. The Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Other Information and Updates Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Reg Technologies Inc. & REGI U.S., Inc. Paul Chute, President and CEO ABOUT REG TECHNOLOGIES INC. AND REGI U.S., INC. Reg Technologies Inc. and REGI U.S., Inc. are developing for commercialization an improved axial vane type rotary engine known as the Rand Cam/RadMax rotary technology used in the revolutionary design of lightweight and high efficiency engines, compressors and pumps. The RadMax engine has only two unique moving parts, the vanes (up to 12) and the rotor, compared to the 40 moving parts in a simple four-cylinder piston engine. This innovative design makes it possible to produce up to 24 continuous power impulses per one rotation that is vibration-free and extremely quiet. The RadMax engine also has several capabilities allowing it to operate on fuels including gasoline, natural gas, hydrogen, propane and diesel. For more information, please visit www.regtech.com or www.regiinc.com. READER ADVISORY Statements in this press release regarding the business of Reg Technologies Inc. and REGI U.S., Inc. (together the "Companies'") which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, including management's expectation on closing the second tranche of the private placement, certain of which are beyond the Companies' control. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate, and actual results and developments are likely to differ, in some case materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Readers of this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to: the impact of competitive products and pricing, the Companies' dependence on third parties and licensing/service supply agreements, and the ability of competitors to license the same technologies as the Companies or develop or license other functionally equivalent technologies; financing requirements; changes in laws, rules and regulations applicable to the Companies and changes in how they are interpreted and enforced, delays resulting from or inability to obtain required regulatory approvals and ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, the impact of general economic conditions in Canada, and the United States, industry conditions, increased competition, the lack of availability of qualified personnel or management, fluctuations in foreign exchange, stock market volatility and market valuations of companies with respect to announced transactions. The Companies' actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements, including those described in Reg Technologies' financial statements, management discussion and analysis and material change reports filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at www.sedar.com, and its Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov, and REGI's Form 10-KSB annual report filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits, including the amount of proceeds, that the Companies will derive therefrom. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to the Companies or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Companies do not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. 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: Reg Technologies Inc. & REGI U.S., Inc. Paul Chute President and CEO 253-514-6114 pwchute@regtech.com HOUSTON, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EEP) ("Enbridge Partners") will host a webcast conference call to discuss its 2016 third quarter financial results as follows: Webcast Information Event: Q3 2016 Enbridge Energy Partners L.P. Earnings Call Date: Monday, October 31, 2016 Time: 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Webcast: http://www.enbridgepartners.com under "Events and Presentations" or http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/4rzvpk7w Replay Information A webcast replay will be available at the link above approximately two hours after the conclusion of the event. A transcript will be posted to the website within approximately 24 hours. About Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. Enbridge Partners owns and operates a diversified portfolio of crude oil and, through its interests in Midcoast Energy Partners, L.P. ("Midcoast Partners"), natural gas transportation systems in the United States. Its principal crude oil system is the largest pipeline transporter of growing oil production from western Canada and the North Dakota Bakken formation. The system's deliveries to refining centers and connected carriers in the United States account for approximately 23 percent of total U.S. oil imports. Midcoast Partners' natural gas gathering, treating, processing and transmission assets, which are principally located onshore in the active U.S. Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast areas, deliver approximately 2.0 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily. About Enbridge Energy Management, L.L.C. Enbridge Management, L.L.C. manages the business and affairs of Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. ("Enbridge Partners") (NYSE: EEP), and its sole asset is an approximate 16 percent limited partner interest in Enbridge Partners. Enbridge Energy Company, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Enbridge Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, (NYSE: ENB) (TSX: ENB) is the general partner of Enbridge Partners, and holds an approximate 42 percent interest in Enbridge Partners together with all of the outstanding preferred units and Class B, D and E units in Enbridge Partners. Enbridge Management is the delegate of the general partner of Enbridge Partners. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Investor Relations Contact: Sanjay Lad, CFA Toll-free: (866) EEP INFO or (866) 337-4636 E-mail: eep@enbridge.com Website: www.enbridgepartners.com Media Contact: Terri Larson, APR Toll-free: (877) 496-8142 E-mail: usmedia@enbridge.com SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Starbucks, the world's largest coffee retailer, has launched the perfect drink--the new Espresso Cloud. Espresso Cloud is a one-of-a-kind drink developed by bartender-barista Justin Burns-Beach. Its is 'a handcrafted beverage made with the unexpected combination of espresso and craft beer.' The beverage is part of the company's bar-like 'Starbucks Evening' menu, which is available at a limited number of locations across the country and around the world. The Espresso Cloud consists of a chilled shot of espresso dropped into a glass of beer adorned with a coffee froth head. 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) -- 10/14/16 -- Affinor Growers (CSE: AFI)(FRANKFURT: 1AF)(OTCQB: RSSFF) ("Affinor" or the "Corporation), a diversified agriculture and biotechnology company with proprietary vertical farming systems, is pleased to provide our shareholders with an update and summary of the Company's future plans. Affinor's goal is to continue to focus on becoming the leading technology developer and supplier of vertical farming equipment in order to help solve problematic crops, improve food security and increase agriculture production for high value crops. With the help of our strategic partners and our technical team, Affinor's immediate plans include continuing the development and commercialization of our patented technology and equipment, validation through third party partners, prove revenue models, and crop diversification. Over the last year, Affinor has focused on strawberry development as fresh strawberries account for 80% of the total strawberry production in North America valued at $2.6 billion annually. Affinor will continue to grow and harvest strawberries with our beta prototype technology installed at the University of the Fraser Valley throughout the fall and winter of 2017. The focus will be on standardizing crop models and determining best practices for commercialization. Affinor expects to be commissioning a commercial farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia with 24 vertical farming towers in 2017 capable of growing over 15,000 plants in 6,000 square feet. As well, in order to diversity Affinor's technology with other high value crops, we will be installing equipment to grow cannabis at a federally licensed facility in Kelowna, British Columbia in the fall 2016. Affinor's goal over the next year is to shift from a development to an operational company focusing on generating revenue from vertical tower sales. Our revenue models will include selling systems to growers resulting in a margin on the equipment, license fees, and collecting royalties on the revenues from production; as well as potentially using the equipment ourselves to grow and sell crops thereby becoming a farming company. Project updates: Beta Prototype Testing Update A single 4 level beta prototype tower was installed in April 2016 at the University of the Fraser Valley ("UFV") Surrey, BC location. The tower holds 128 strawberry plants within 100 square feet. All crop model information, data, procedures and harvest quality is being recorded to help prove operational and financial assumptions, revenue models, and best practices to standardize commercialization. This project replaces the "residential home unit" as announced in December 2015 and is now considered a light industrial design for many smaller greenhouse and nursery operations wanting to increase production. Affinor's next objective is to install another 4 level tower doubling the plant density, holding 256 plants in 100 square feet, by early 2017, doubling the production within the same footprint. LED Lighting Testing Affinor's technology will require supplemental lighting in order to grow product year round for many greenhouse crops. A new technologically advanced LED Lighting company located in Monroe, Washington has developed new LED technology with the penetration, lumen output, and spectral array superior to any other agriculture LED system. It will also consume a third of the energy of current LED systems making them the most efficient in the market. Affinor has purchased this system for the strawberry tower located at the University of the Fraser Valley facility in Surrey for continual harvesting throughout the winter months. Affinor will be the only agriculture company using this technology and is currently negotiating the rights to resell the technology exclusively in the agriculture industry in Canada. THC BioMed Prototype and Cannabis Cultivation Project Affinor has an agreement with THC BioMed located in Kelowna, BC to trial cannabis with our technology. As cannabis becomes more established in North America, cost effective commercial production and greenhouse systems will be used as the market stabilizes and competitive advantage is achieved via efficiencies. Affinor sees this as an opportunity to diversity our technology into other markets with high value crops and be the first vertical system actively growing cannabis in Canada. Affinor will be fabricating and shipping a working prototype to THC BioMed in the fall 2016. As well, Affinor has an option agreement to acquire a cannabis production license from D&G Inc if they are successful in obtaining a legal federal license. Once owned by Affinor, D&G Inc. is currently still in the review process of their application for the MMPR, which is now the ACMPR. Under the agreement, Affinor has the option to acquire the license once issued. If exercised, this would be an opportunity for Affinor to have a legal cannabis RD and cultivation center. This was the original intention acquiring D&G Inc, however, obtaining a license from Health Canada took longer than expected and Affinor decided to partner with THC BioMed to help conduct growth trials in the cannabis market directly. License Agreements Affinor has signed several license agreements with companies to use our technology over the last year based on our beta prototype concepts and preliminary production results. Each license agreement has the potential to generate significant equipment sales, long term royalties, ownership options and joint venture partnerships. They include: Non exclusive license in British Columbia, Canada (24 tower strawberry farm to be built in 2017) Non exclusive license Tennessee, USA (18 to 24 tower strawberry farm to be built late 2017) Non exclusive license Alberta, Canada (24 tower strawberry farm to be built in late 2017) Exclusive license in Ontario, Canada (24 to 36 tower strawberry farm) Exclusive license in Alberta Exclusive license in Maritimes Affinor is working closely with the first license holder in British Columbia as this will be the first commercial facility using Affinor's technology. Commercial Trial and Development A single 4 level tower was shipped and installed in Michigan to a commercial strawberry greenhouse farm in December 2015. This was our "first touch" with the market place within a significant commercial greenhouse. The trial was to determine productivity, identify improvements and increase the production per square foot of ground space. Results included increasing plant density from 8 plants per square meter to 21, strawberries were actively harvested for sales throughout the six-month trial and consumed in the open market and improvements in strawberry fruit support and irrigation techniques were implemented. The commercial trial concluded in the spring with recommended improvements incorporated into future designs and will be demonstrated on the next tower being installed at the University of the Fraser Valley Surrey location. St-Chrysostome Greenhouse Facility Quebec Affinor's planned commercial greenhouse facility in the City of St-Chrysostome, Quebec will be sold and the proceeds will be used to further the development of the technology, publish patents and general operating capital. Option Grant Affinor's board of directors has also approved the grant of 2,200,000 stock options exercisable at $0.11 per share and expiring from October 5, 2019 to October 13, 2019. About Affinor Growers Inc. Affinor Growers is a publicly traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol ("AFI"). Affinor is focused on growing high quality crops such as romaine lettuce, spinach, strawberries using its vertical farming techniques. Affinor is committed to becoming a pre-eminent supplier and grower, using exclusive vertical farming techniques. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, AFFINOR GROWERS INC. Jarrett Malnarick, President & CEO The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This News Release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. 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 News Release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. This News 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. Contacts: Affinor Growers Inc. Jarrett Malnarick President and CEO 604.837.8688 jarrett@affinorgrowers.com www.affinorgrowers.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures were lower Friday, as industry data showed U.S. rig counts continue to rise. In a sign that U.S. production could make up for OPEC output quotas, Baker Hughes reported the nation's rig count rose 4 to 432. Meanwhile, the EIA said Thursday that U.S. oil inventories rose 4.9 million barrels last week. WTI crude oil for December were down 9 cents at $50.09 a barrel. The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.6 percent in September after edging down by a revised 0.2 percent in August. Meanwhile, U.S. producer prices increased by slightly more than expected in the month of September. Also, consumer confidence unexpectedly fell to a one-year low in October amid anxiety over the presidential election. 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. CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- Total Energy Services Inc. ("Total") (TSX: TOT) will conduct a conference call and webcast following the release of its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016. The financial results will be released the morning of the conference call. Daniel Halyk, President and CEO, will host the call. Open to: Shareholders and other interested persons Date: November 10, 2016 Time: 9:00 a.m. Mountain Time Call: (866) 696-5910 or (416) 340-2217 Pass code: 6964498 A live webcast of the conference call will be accessible on Total's website at www.totalenergy.ca by selecting "Webcasts". Shortly after the live webcast, an archived version will be available on Total's website. A recording of the conference call will also be available until November 17, 2016 by dialling (800) 408-3053, passcode 2784319. Total is an energy services corporation involved in contract drilling services, rentals and transportation services and the fabrication, sale, rental and servicing of natural gas compression and process equipment. The common shares of Total are listed and trade on the TSX under the symbol "TOT". The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein. Contacts: Yuliya Gorbach Chief Financial Officer (403) 216-3920 investorrelations@totalenergy.ca www.totalenergy.ca WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With his campaign reeling from numerous accusations of sexual misconduct, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seemed to suggest he would not have harassed the women who have accused him of assault because of their appearance. Speaking to supporters at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, Trump specifically targeted Jessica Leeds, who claims the real estate tycoon groped her on a plane in the early 80's. 'Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you,' Trump said. 'You don't know. That would not be my first choice.' 'When you looked at that horrible woman last night, you said 'I don't think so!' he added. 'Whoever she is, wherever she comes from, the stories are total fiction. They are 100 percent made up. They never happened. They never would happen.' Leeds was among two women that accused Trump of inappropriately touching them in a recent story by the New York Times. A number of other women have also subsequently leveled accusations at Trump, including former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos. Trump claimed the accusations are all 'lies and smears' being pushed by the media and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The billionaire noted that his comments about the women's appearance come even though his campaign advisors told him not to attack his accusers. 'I feel I have to talk about it because you have to dispute when somebody says something, and fortunately we have the microphone, we're able to dispute,' Trump said. Trump and his surrogates have indicated that the campaign intends to offer proof that the alleged assaults did not occur. (Photo: Michael Vadon) 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) -- 10/14/16 -- Quark Venture Inc., of Canada, and GF Securities Company Limited, of China, will announce a significant Global Health Sciences Venture fund at a press conference on Monday, October 17th. The fund will be dedicated to investing in a diversified portfolio of innovative biotechnology and science companies in Canada and globally. What: Press Conference When: Monday, October 17th at 9:00 am, followed by interviews and networking. (set up time 8:30 am onward) Where: President's Room The Terminal City Club 837 West Hastings St. Vancouver, B.C. Who: Karimah Es Sabar, CEO of Quark Venture Inc. Mr. Jianyuan Sha (Jarret), General Manager of GuangFa HK investment Mr. Ralph Sultan, MLA West Vancouver-Capilano Nancy Harrison, CEO of Methylation Sciences Inc. Interviews will be available with the above speakers following the press conference. Images of the press conference can also be provided. About Quark Venture Quark Venture is focused on equity financing of innovative biotechnology and health sciences companies with breakthrough technology platforms and projects. The organization's approach is to establish long-term relationships with target companies, with a view to enable and strengthen management to realize the full potential and value of the technology. This approach has been previously successfully demonstrated in the energy and high tech sectors where Quark Venture partners have invested. Quark Venture's management is supported by a scientific and commercial advisory board. For more information on Quark Venture visit www.quarkventure.com. About GF Securities Incorporated in September of 1991, GF Securities is one of the first full service investment banks and integrated securities brokerage in China, listed both on the Hong Kong (01776.HK) and Shenzhen (000776.SZ) stock exchanges with total market capitalization of approximately US$20 billion. GF Securities is an industry leader across the entire spectrum of its core business services. GF Securities has also established strong presence in the healthcare sector, particularly, the biomedical field, across various business lines including investment banking, investment and research. For more information, visit http://www.gfgroup.com.hk/en/corp-about-us. Contacts: Emily Marroquin 604.928.6299 emily.d.marroquin@gmail.com OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/14/16 -- The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, issued the following statement today: "The protection of Canadian waters is of utmost importance and we understand the concerns of residents in coastal communities. The Prime Minister has mandated my colleagues and me to work to increase marine safety, including augmenting the capacity of the Coast Guard, improving environmental responses and enhancing partnerships with Indigenous communities. We are thankful that all seven people on board the tug were successfully rescued without injury and thank the members of the Canadian Coast Guard for their impressive work in difficult conditions. The Canadian Coast Guard is working closely with the Heiltsuk First Nation and the province to keep them informed and integrated in the response to the incident. An Incident Command Post, which includes all levels of government and partners, has been established in the First Nation community. An environmental response team and equipment have been mobilized. Booms have been laid out to protect more sensitive areas where clam beds are located. The Canadian Coast Guard ship Bartlett is on-scene. The focus is now on ensuring the removal of pollutants. I want to thank all those working hard to resolve this unfortunate incident as quickly as possible." Internet: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca Follow us on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/DFO_MPO For more information about the Canadian Coast Guard, visit www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca. Follow us on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/CCG_GCC Contacts: Media Relations Fisheries and Oceans Canada 613-990-7537 Media.xncr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca Sebastien Belliveau Director of Communications Office of the Minister Fisheries and Oceans Canada 613-992-3474 23andMe, Inc., a Mountain View, CA-based personal genetics company, received a $1.7m grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant issued from the National Human Genome Research Institute has been awarded for the creation of a genetic resource for health research in African Americans that could improve the understanding of diseases in minority populations. It will leverage 23andMes data on more than one million customers who have consented to participate in research, creating an African American sequencing panel to be used as a reference dataset for health research. The de-identified genetic data will be made available to other health researchers at institutions around the world. In April of this year, the company was awarded another NIH grant to use admixture mapping as a means to improve the detection of disease-causing genetic variants among people of African, Latino and Asian ancestry. Led by Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-Founder, 23andMe is a personal genetics company that allows people to access, understand and benefit from the human genome. The company has over one million customers worldwide. FinSMEs 14/10/2016 Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles, CA-based developer of the worlds first Hyperloop, an integrated structure to move passengers and cargo between two points immediately, safely, efficiently, and sustainably, raised an additional $50m in funding. The round was led by DP World Group of Dubai, which recently announced an agreement with Hyperloop One to explore a Hyperloop system to move containers from ships docked at its flagship Port of Jebel Ali to a new inland container depot in Dubai. With this strategic investment, DP Worlds Group Chairman and CEO His Excellency Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem will be joining Hyperloop Ones board, providing the company with expertise in complex cargo handling. Ziyavudin Magomedov, the Chairman of The Summa Group, a diversified private holding company with investments in port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications and the oil and gas sectors, is also joining the company board. In addition, Atel Ventures is providing new equipment financing. Hyperloop One which has raised $160m in total financing since its founding in 2014 is preparing the worlds first demonstration of a full Hyperloop system in the first quarter of 2017. To this end, the company is building out a 100,000-square-foot Metalworks fabrication facility and 137-acre Apex test and safety site in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The company also announced that finance executive Brent Callinicos has joined the executive team as a full-time strategic advisor to the CEO Rob Lloyd and Board of Directors. The management team includes Lloyd, Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and Executive Chairman, and Josh Giegel, President of Engineering. FinSMEs 14/10/2016 Joe & the Juice, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based urban juice bar and coffee concept, received a strategic growth investment from General Atlantic. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. General Atlantic joined existing investor Valedo Partners, a Stockholm-based growth-oriented private equity firm, as a minority shareholder. As part of the investment, General Atlantics Andrew Crawford, Managing Director and Global Head of the Retail & Consumer sector team, and Melis Kahya, a senior member of the Retail & Consumer sector team who leads the firms efforts in the EMEA region, will join Joe & the Juices Board of Directors. The investment will allow the company to continue to expand globally. Founded in Copenhagen in 2002 by CEO Kaspar Basse, Joe & the Juice offers freshly prepared juices, shakes, coffee, and sandwiches emphasising on customer service. The company, which has a global presence with 160 stores worldwide, in which a majority of the stores are located in the Nordic region of Europe and across the UK, is entering Asian and the US market. FinSMEs 14/10/2016 SalaryFits, a sustainable credit startup, raised 1.25m in funding. The EU/Portugal initiative Portugal2020 provided the financial resources. The company will use the funds to continue to expand operations. Founded by Chairmain Renato Araujo, SalaryFits provides a platform that allows financial institutions to integrate their systems with payroll information of entities, giving access to a new risk assessment tool, as well as the possibility of the deducting the installments directly from ones salary. In addition, trough commercial and technical teams involved in integrating public and private entities payroll systems with the platform the company provides a commercial channel for financial institutions to reach potential clients, without the need of an expensive sales effort (usually directed on an individual basis approach). The companys team include: Delber Lage (Salaryfits UK) Eduardo Maroso (Salaryfits Portugal) Guilherme Mota and Alvaro Amorim (Salaryfits India) Moacir Giansante (SalaryFits Italy) The company has offices in Portugal, UK and Italy. FinSMEs 14/10/2016 There is a moment in the short film Taandav that went viral on Youtube early this year, in which a policeman watches a video of himself doing a frenzied dance in full uniform on a Mumbai road. His face melts into a confused mix of amusement and embarrassment. Manoj Bajpayee is nowhere to be seen in that middle-class, middle-aged Maharashtrian cop. In Aligarh, which was released three weeks later, when a reporter asks Professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras of Aligarh Muslim University about his male lover, the old man looks away shyly, withdrawing further into his slouching figure. Manoj Bajpayee is nowhere to be seen in that gray-haired academic in an ill-fitting suit. And now, on a moonlit night in the darkened corridor of an Old Delhi haveli, a shalwar-clad Pappi stands with his foot on a balcony railing as he peers into the courtyard below. He is an intruder in a wealthy home, his thin body alert yet comically poised for flight, and in one brief shot he conveys everything that his character is: all bluff and bluster and limited guts. Manoj Bajpayee is nowhere to be seen in this foul-mouthed small-time crook either. Bajpayees defining quality as an actor the ability to lose himself in the people he plays is the highlight of the weeks Bollywood release, Saat Uchakkey. Like Pappi, director Sanjeev Sharmas film too is cracked, colourful, crude, intentionally loud and insanely over the top. Everyone in the story is slightly if not completely nuts, the actors are so unaffected that they come across as non-actors drawn from these streets by casting director Vicky Sidavv, and the filmmaker seems to be having a blast as he takes us through chaotic and crowded Purani Dilli. Saat Uchakkey revolves around the amoral Pappis keenness to get rich quick and marry his girlfriend Sona (Aditi Sharma). He is not alone in his desire to cut corners in life. His partners in crime are keysmith Haggu (Nitin Bhasin), metalsmith Khappe (Aparshakti Khurana), knick-knacks seller Babbe (Jatin Sarna), a gambler called Ajji (Vipul Vig) and the multi-talented petty criminal Jaggi (Vijay Raaz). They are the seven rogues of the title. In the first half, Sandeep Sakets screenplay draws neat, well-defined sketches of each of the seven in addition to their bete noir, the local policeman Tejpal (Kay Kay Menon) who is smitten by Sona. When this disparate group comes together, they are hilarious and hold out a promise of brilliance. When John Jacob Payyapallis camera snakes its way through the bylanes of the old city, it entices us into their world. The opening scenes in a mental institution, the presence in the story of the hypnotist/fraud/mad man Bichchi (Annu Kapoor), the art design and the beautifully shot scenes in a dungeon in the second half give the film an interesting mystical-mythical air. It takes more than a great concept though to make a great film, and at some point Saat Uchakkey loses itself in self-indulgence. The abuses that flow off the vile tongues of these bizarre people, for instance, are initially believable. As time moves on though, too many ugly words feel like they have been forced into the dialogues for effect as it happens, to jarring effect. Nothing illustrates this better than Pappis use of kutiya (bitch) as a term of endearment for Sona and her unblinking response. Yes, the street lingo of Indias capital is often steeped in profanity, but it becomes easy to tell when abuse comes naturally to a character in this film and when the writing is saying, Hey, see how clever I am. Be impressed with my use of invective. Im so smart and outrageous, no? The spoken lines (credited to director Sharma) are a metaphor for Saat Uchakkey as a whole: energetic, side-splittingly comedic and convincing at first, revved up and raring to go, but failing to lift off in its entirety. I confess I spent a considerable part of this film giggling to myself and enjoying the performances of the wonderful lead cast (each one them), but I also left the theatre with a feeling of incompleteness. Saat Uchakkey clearly aspires to rise above absurdity for absurditys sake, but the writing is not strong enough to pull off the depth it is aiming at (as is evident from that scene in which a divine being appears to the seven central characters). God is as crazy as us humans and/or possibly a figment of our imagination; s/he is what we want her/him to be and/or is playing games with us, we are told. Point taken. Now take it further, please. This is a film that could have been a lot more than it ends up being it obviously wants to be more. To be fair, Saat Uchakkey stands out for its excellent casting, excellent acting and when it is not self-conscious excellent humour. Now if only that had been enough... Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday blamed the successive governments inability to bring in reforms in the infrastructure and power sectors for the rising non-performing assets in the core segments. He said there are a number of sectors which have been impacted by the global slowdown, but some of these were hit more because of the absence of reforms. There are at least two sectors - infrastructure and power -- where we cant blame external factors. Our own inability to bring in reforms adequately in these sectors, I think, caused the difficulty (in banks books), Jaitley told the BRICS Economic Forum. Elaborating further, the Union Minister said that in the infrastructure sector the key problem is the inability to adequately and quickly settle the disputes. We allowed them to fester for an indefinitely long period and now we have taken a number of steps, including amending laws, setting up faster courts, among others. I do hope we are able to get out of it, the minister said. While accepting that absence of reforms in state discom led to a stress in the power sector, Jaitley said, I think the only silver lining is that the causes of the stress (in power sector) have been analysed quickly and correctly, and now we are addressing those problems. He said bringing reforms in the country has become more easier now than it was some years back. I think there is a lot of maturity, which has come into the countrys political system and this is noticed from the fact that reforming in India today is no longer as challenging as it used to be say 10 or 20 years ago, he said. It can be noted that most of the over Rs 8.5 trillion of dud loans of banks, a large chunk are their exposure to infra and power sectors. He noted that even at the state level, there is an interest to bring in reforms to attract investment and to improve economic activities. Jaitley, however, said some of the challenges the country is facing today are due to high population and resource mobilisation. On the protectionist policies of the developed world, he said if this debate gets replicated in the developing economies or in the emerging markets, it probably would have extremely serious consequences. He said when the domestic economy was opened up, there were concerns that the country might be hit by protectionist policies of the developed nations, but those fears do not exist now. As of now our economy has matured and we have got out of that (protectionist) debate. I can safely assume that today, in an economy like India, not even ripples of that debate are being felt, which you are otherwise witnessing in the developed countries itself, he said. On the proposed BRICS Rating agency, Jaitley said the objective of setting up such an agency is to have a professional and independent entity and not to control it by a group of countries. The top two software exporters of the country have announced their earnings, cementing the concerns raised until now of a slowing growth and rising uncertainties for the IT sector. While Infosys has beaten analysts' estimates on most of the key numbers, TCS has disappointed on revenue growth and constant currency growth. Clearly, the Bengaluru-based company seems to be keeping the lead over its larger rival but mostly because of its famed conservative nature. In the run-up to the July-September earnings, the companies themselves had issued warnings about the profitability and business environment. Various brokerages had also pointed out that the sector is facing headwinds arising from Brexit and the political uncertainty in the US, a key market for the sector. Because of all these, the earnings were much-awaited. Despite the companies flagging off these concerns and Infosys even cutting its revenue guidance for the year to 8-9 percent growth, the software lobby group has not yet cut its growth projections for the sector. Here's how the companies stack up on the key numbers: Infosys witnessed a revenue growth of 3.1 percent on quarter during July-September, while TCS saw its revenue remaining almost flat. On constant currency terms, Infosys' revenue rose 3.9 percent and that of TCS rose just 1 percent. Both Infosys and TCS have stumped analysts estimates on net profit growth. While Infosys witnessed a growth of 4.9 percent, TCS' saw 4.3 percent. Infosys has atttributed the rise in profit to focus on strong execution and the growth of core IT services business based on the strength of innovation and operational initiatives taken. TCS's net profit has gone up because of the improvement in margins. This is one metric that has been a nightmare for Indian IT services companies. As the data shows, employee churn seems to be declining. But that is no relief because the attrition rate is still high, especially for Infosys. Both the companies have seen their operating margins rise. However, in an uncertain environment this is just a small relief. Brokerage Religare notes that TCS's margin performance improved by 94 bps on quarter with employee costs and the equipment & software line item leading the improvement. Equipment & software costs dropped from Rs 680 crore in first quarter to Rs 490 crore in the second quarter, which is the lowest in 10 quarters, it says. "TCS is clearly squeezing costs and such items may not always be available as levers," it notes. (Data contributed by Kishor Kadam) New Delhi: Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) today announced the sale of 51 percent stake in its telecom tower business to Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Group, for an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore. "RCom will receive an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore from the proposed transaction. RCom will also enjoy 49 percent future economic upside from the towers business, based on certain conditions," the company said in a statement here. RCom plans to utilise the sale proceeds to reduce debt, the statement added. Sources pointed out that RCom will retain 49 percent stake in the business to be monetised later, as it expects considerable value creation on account of projected growth in tower tenancies over the next couple of years. Announcing the signing of a `non-binding term sheet' with Brookfield Infrastructure Group for the proposed sale of tower assets, an RCom statement said that the specified assets are intended to be transferred from Reliance Infratel Ltd on a going concern basis into a separate SPV, to be owned by Brookfield. RCom will continue as an anchor tenant on the tower assets under a long-term MSA (master service agreement) for its integrated telecommunications business. "RCom and Brookfield expect considerable growth in tenancies based on increasing 4G offerings by all telecom operators, and the fast accelerating trends in data consumption, which are expected to contribute to significant growth in revenues and profitability for the towers business in the future," the statement added. The proposed transaction is subject to definitive documentation and customary approvals, it said. Meanwhile, sources pointed out that the tower sale deal along with the recently-announced merger of RCom's wireless business with Aircel -- will together reduce the company's debt by nearly 60 percent to Rs 17,000 crore, from about Rs 42,000 crore. RCom further plans to monetise its real estate business to raise another Rs 5,000 crore, and thereby reduce overall debt to Rs 12,000 crore, sources added. "RCom also does not require any major spend for spectrum or capex in the future, as post the merger with SSTL (Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd) and Aircel being completed, and with spectrum sharing already implemented with RJio, it has extensive 2G, 3G and 4G networks already operational across the country," sources said. Singur (West Bengal): The West Bengal government is set to provide physical possession of land to Singur farmers before October 21, senior state Minister Partha Chattopadhyay said on Thursday. "We are happy with the progress. We hope we will be able to start the process of giving physical possession of land before October 21, after getting a green signal from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Most land has been made cultivable except 75 acres," said Chattopadhyay after a meeting with district officials at Singur. On September 29, Banerjee, in the Hooghly district's administrative meeting, had given the October 21 dateline to remove all constructions from the Tata Nano project area as the state government was given the responsibility to return the land to farmers by the Supreme Court. "In the initial phases, we are targeting to provide physical land possession for about 200 acres," a district official told IANS. The Supreme Court, on August 31, struck down the land acquisition made by the erstwhile Left Front government for the small car factory and ordered the land be returned to the cultivators within 12 weeks. Redeeming a pledge she made years back, Banerjee had returned 9,117 land records to farmers and compensated 800 peasants from whom land had been taken against their wishes. By Tom Perry and Ellen Francis | BEIRUT BEIRUT A senior rebel commander said on Friday that Syrian government forces would never be able to capture Aleppo's opposition-held east, more than three weeks into a ferocious offensive, but a military source said the operation was going as planned.Russian air strikes were proving of little help to government ground forces in urban warfare, the deputy commander of the Fastaqim rebel group in Aleppo said. While air strikes have pounded much of the city, they have avoided frontlines where the sides are fighting in close proximity, apparently out of fear they could hit the wrong side, he said. The rebels were well prepared for a siege imposed this summer, and preparations for a counter attack were under way, Melhem Akidi told Reuters."Militarily there is no danger to the city of Aleppo," he said, adding: "The more dangerous thing is the daily massacres by the regime that are targeting not just the people but the foundations of life in Aleppo."However, the Syrian military source and a second pro-government military source in the field said the campaign was on course, reiterating denials that civilians were being targeted."The accomplishments so far are moving according to the plan, and we are working according to gradual steps," said the second source, a non-Syrian and part of a regional alliance fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad. The assessments, on the eve of a meeting between U.S. and Russian foreign ministers in Switzerland to try to resume their failed efforts to find a diplomatic solution, point to a protracted battle for Aleppo. Syria's biggest city before the war has been divided into areas controlled by the government and rebels for several years. The rebel-held east is the last major urban stronghold of the nationalist rebels fighting Assad, and recapturing it would be a major strategic prize. The Syrian army, supported by Iranian-backed militias and Russian air power, announced a major offensive to capture the rebel-held part of the city on Sept. 22, unleashing firepower not previously seen in the 5-1/2-year long war.The onslaught has killed several hundred people and flattened many buildings. Hospitals have also been hit, leading the United States and France to accuse Russia and the Syrian government of war crimes.Moscow and Damascus say they are only targeting militants.ONSLAUGHT THREATENS BREAD SUPPLY A member of Aleppo's opposition city council told Reuters fuel reserves used to operate bakeries could run out in a month if the siege persists. A mill was bombed on Wednesday, another threat to the city's bread supply, he said. The air strikes have been accompanied by ground assaults by government forces, including Shi'ite militias from Iraq and Lebanon. Their clearest advance so far is the capture of ground to the north of Aleppo, including the Handarat camp.The army has also reported gains in the city centre itself. The rebels have consistently said these have been repelled.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group monitoring the war, said the government advances so far did not match the intensity of the firepower unleashed.The bombardment was expected to bring "much greater results", Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said. Syria's civil war has killed 300,000 people and left millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers and allowing for the expansion of jihadist groups including Islamic State, which controls wide areas of the east.As well as Russia and Iran, Assad is backed by an array of Shi'ite militias from Arab neighbours, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. LITTLE HOPE FOR PEACE TALKS U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday, possibly joined by ministers from Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran.American officials have voiced little hope for success, however, and Lavrov said on Friday he had "no special expectations" for the talks. Kerry broke off talks with Lavrov last week over the Aleppo offensive. The resumption of negotiations, despite the fighting, was a sign of the lack of options facing Western nations over the Syria conflict, where they worry increased arms supplies for the rebels could end up in the hands of jihadist groups.The Syrian government and its allies have been steadily encircling the rebel-held east of Aleppo this year, first cutting the shortest route to nearby Turkey, before fully blockading the city this summer.Assad said this week capturing Aleppo would be a springboard for pushing militants to neighbouring Turkey, a major sponsor of the rebellion.He has offered the Aleppo rebels an amnesty if they lay down their arms, though they have dismissed it as a trick. ALEPPO "STEADFAST", FUEL RUNNING OUT Akidi, speaking from Aleppo, said he was "certain that nobody would be able to storm" the east, which he said could not be compared to other less populous and less well-armed areas that have been captured from rebels by the government."Everyone who stayed in Aleppo, which was under threat of siege for a long time, has prepared for steadfastness," he said.He also noted the proximity of nearby insurgent strongholds west of Aleppo and in Idlib province, and what he described as the government's "fragile" hold over an important access point on the city's southern periphery. "I do not rule out that the revolutionaries will be able to break the siege soon," he said.The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on Thursday that 406 people had been reported killed and 1,384 wounded in eastern Aleppo from Sept. 23 until Oct. 8. In government-held western Aleppo, which is frequently targeted by rebel shelling, 91 people including 18 children were killed over a similar period.Muhammad Sandeh, of the opposition city council, said a fuel reserve controlled by the council could dry up in eastern Aleppo in a month or less if the siege persists."There are enough bakeries, but there isn't enough flour or fuel," Sandeh told Reuters from Aleppo. "The families get half of their bread needs," he said. The air strike on a mill on Wednesday had severely reduced bread supply, he said.Water supplies have also been affected by the violence.OCHA said the situation had improved slightly after the parties reached an Oct. 10 agreement to protect water stations from the conflict.Ibrahim Abu al-Laith of the Civil Defence rescue service that operates in rebel-held areas said that even after pumping stations were repaired and the water returned, it couldn't reach residents due to a lack of fuel.Fuel is the lifeline of the eastern districts, he said."Ours is running out." (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Pravin Char) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Claire Milhench | LONDON LONDON A British court ruled on Friday in favour of Goldman Sachs in a $1.2 billion dispute with Libya's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund over derivatives trades, dismissing claims that the investment bank had abused the fund's trust.The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) was attempting to claw back the $1.2 billion from the Wall Street giant in relation to nine equity derivatives investments carried out in 2008, which turned out to be worthless.In the trial, which ran for seven weeks in London's High Court in the summer, the LIA argued that Goldman exercised "undue influence" and "unconscionable bargaining" to get it to enter the trades, asserting that the terms of the transactions were "overreaching and oppressive", as defined by English law.The LIA claimed it was too unsophisticated to understand what it was buying, and that Goldman had abused its position as a trusted adviser. The trades were made two years after the LIA was set up to invest the country's oil wealth. But in her 120-page judgment, seen by Reuters, Judge Vivien Rose dismissed these claims.She said that having considered all the evidence: "I find that the LIA has greatly exaggerated the extent to which senior and junior personnel were naive and unworldly about the nature of the dynamics of their relationship with Goldman Sachs."In fact, the key decision-makers understood the trades and the risks, and they were consistent with the fund's need to get invested quickly, she said."The LIA management were tasked with generating a much higher return than they could hope to make on plain vanilla trades," she said. "This explains why they were prepared to enter into the speculative disputed trades even though this might appear to conflict with the long-term growth objectives of the LIA as a SWF." Responding to the judgment, Goldman Sachs said it was pleased to win the case, "with a comprehensive judgment in our favour". The LIA said it was "naturally disappointed" and added in a statement: "Time will be needed fully to digest the judgment and all options are being considered at this time."While lawyers for the LIA declined to comment, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters: "I would be very surprised if there wasn't an appeal." UNFORESEEN DOWNTURN Goldman Sachs had disputed the LIA's claim that the wealth fund was financially naive, saying that "an unforeseen financial depression" had caused the losses, not any wrongdoing by the bank.It had also maintained that its relationship with the LIA was an arm's length one between banker and client.The LIA's lawyers had argued in court that Goldman Sachs had gained the trust of fund executives by providing lavish hospitality and gifts as well as a prestigious internship offered to Haitem Zarti, the younger brother of Mustafa Zarti, a key LIA decision-maker at the time. But the judge found that the main motivation behind the offer was the bank's belief the younger Zarti might be chosen to lead the LIA's new office in London.Whilst this may have contributed to a "friendly and productive atmosphere" during negotiation over several trades, it did not have a material influence on the LIA's decision to go ahead with these, she added.She disagreed that the hospitality went beyond what was provided by other banks, citing in particular documents presented by Goldman to the court which showed tickets to top sporting events were provided by another bank to LIA officials. The judge also found there were no grounds for concluding that profits earned by Goldman Sachs on the disputed trades were excessive. The LIA is also pursuing the French investment bank Societe Generale for some $2.1 billion in relation to another set of trades entered into between 2007 and 2009. SocGen is contesting the case, which is only expected to come to trial in April 2017. (Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Sanjeev Miglani | NEW DELHI NEW DELHI India wants to limit tensions with Pakistan after what it said was a successful cross-border strike on militants sheltered there, according to two top officials, who sought to allay fears of a broader conflict between the nuclear-armed nations.One of the officials, who are both part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government shaping a new, more robust strategy towards Pakistan, said India remained focused on rapid economic growth, and any conflict would deflect it from that path."War is not in India's interest at this point," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because relations with Pakistan remained tense after India announced the Sept. 29 strike inside the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan."We want to build comprehensive national power - economic, military and diplomatic. We need time, but if we stay on this path, the power differential with Pakistan will become so high by 2025 that you don't have to fight a war," the official said.Modi's government, breaking with a traditional policy of military restraint, said last month it sent special forces across the militarised frontier in Kashmir to kill an unspecified number of militants in retaliation for an attack on an Indian army base.Pakistan said it had nothing to do with the attack on the base and has denied any Indian strike took place across the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir. It said it would repel any aggressive action from India.On Friday, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said New Delhi was trying to divert attention from a crackdown on violent protests this summer against Indian rule in its part of Muslim-majority Kashmir."Pakistan has already rejected the baseless claims of surgical strikes. As we emphasized earlier, India is desperate to divert attention of the international community from grave human rights violations," Zakaria told a news briefing.More than 80 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded in the worst unrest in the disputed Himalayan region for six years. At least two police officers have died and more than 5,000 security force members have been wounded.India has not offered any evidence for the cross-border raid in Kashmir, although military officials have said there is footage from helmet-mounted cameras on the raiding party as well as from drones. U.S. diplomats and an intelligence official in New Delhi and Washington have confirmed there was an Indian action across the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, but details were not available.Pakistan's military declined to comment for this article. FEARS OF NEW WAR Soon after the army base attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers, some officials in New Delhi said the government would act with restraint towards Pakistan, with which India has fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir. The subsequent announcement of a cross-border strike reignited fears of an escalation in tensions between the countries, but the second Indian official said they were overblown."There is no concern, the chapter is over," the official said referring to the raid India says it carried out. "The issue is not what India will decide; the issue is whether Pakistan can act on the basis of rationality."India has long demanded that Pakistan act against militant groups operating from its soil, including by going after the leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which it holds responsible for the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people.Pakistan denies giving material support to fighters in Kashmir, and says India has not provided evidence linking it to militant violence in India.The first Indian official said the government would respond to cross-border terrorism more forcefully than previous Indian administrations, and not be cowed by fear. "It has been a low-cost option for Pakistan; keep sending these fighters into Kashmir and pin down our army. We are going to raise the costs for them."India has been on the back foot in Muslim-majority Kashmir for several months, after tens of thousands of people staged protests demanding freedom from Indian rule when soldiers killed a popular young militant commander in July.Insurgents have stepped up attacks in recent weeks, although the level of violence is a fraction of its peak in the 1990s and early 2000s, when hundreds of people were killed each year.The first government official and an army officer in Kashmir said there were an estimated 250 militants inside the Kashmir Valley, the highest number in six years, and that they expected more attacks in the coming weeks.Reuters was not able to verify the figure, which the official and officer said was based on radio intercepts and intelligence information.According to the officer, numbers had risen because 72 militants had infiltrated from Pakistan in the first seven months of 2016, compared with 35 for the whole of 2015.But local Kashmiris, especially in the south where the slain insurgent commander had his base, were also taking up arms in greater numbers, the first government official said. (Additional reporting by Douglas Busvine and Paritosh Bansal in NEW DELHI, Fayaz Bukhari in SRINAGAR, Jonathan Landay in WASHINGTON and Kay Johnson in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Mike Collett-White) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. I will tell you why you make me cry. The first time I experienced heartbreak I was too ashamed to confide in anyone. I was lonely. And she was still the only person I could talk to. It was my first taste of irony. On a long walk afterwards, those many sunsets ago, you taught me to sing, and I woke up to a jingle jangle morning. In a time where broken dreams were drowned in cups of tea and conversation, your poetry made me still, and find the music of my heart. The wind howls like a hammer The night blows cold and rainy My love she's like some raven At my window with a broken wing. (from Love Minus Zero, No Limit) Disillusioned by my first taste of a big city job and feeling worthless, I remember searching for Cat Stevens in my suitcase. Someone called me a quitter and I don't know if I've felt rawer than that. My suitcase rummaging brought your cassette up instead. And here is what you told me... Im ready to go anywhere/I'm ready for to fade Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way I promise to go under it. (From Tambourine Man) I forgot about you after that. There would be parties where the midnight quiet meant someone picking up a guitar and playing your song. And then everything would stand still. I would become untwisted. And would hold your words around me like a blanket against the cold. Though I know that evening's empire Has returned into sand Vanished from my hand Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping My weariness amazes me I'm branded on my feet I have no one to meet And the ancient empty streets too dead for dreaming. (From Tambourine Man) When I left for America I was still clueless. As are many others like me who come to your world from mine. I found that tentative life exciting and terrifying. Streets were symmetrical and people smiled politely. I didn't understand how anything worked. In my first month in Los Angeles, I remember being drawn to a street musician playing these words. The air around me changed and your words held me tight again. How does it feel, how does it feel? To be on your own, with no direction home A complete unknown, like a rolling stone. ( From 'Like A Rolling Stone') I'm now entering what we fashionably call "early mid life". I'm as clueless as before except I show it less. The world has changed so much and it gets madder and noisier. There is no rationale to many things that happen. You've got this covered too. The line it is drawn/ the curse it is cast The slow one now /will later be fast As the present now / will later be past The order is rapidly fadin' (From 'Times they are a changin') I don't know your politics now. There are some who question that. There are quite a few who don't like that they just gave you the Nobel for literature. I would love to tell them to go look for the answers blowing in the wind. My wife pointed out that an Irishman already wrote you an open letter and not to bother you more. I thought you ought to know how deeply you affect people from other parts of the world too. You're provided the punctuation to the scattered sentences of my life. Alongside the Beatles and Ziggy and many others. But unlike the others, with you it has been your poetry. Simple and undying. And always so true. I don't care that you have 37 albums or sold trillions of records. Or won many awards already. We both know dreamers don't care about all that. Your words have been my catharsis. And the best poetry I've known. They've made me cry for the moments I've been given. And the moments I crave. Your words have been my morning story and my bedtime salve. They've been my lucky charms and my steady companions. You've moved me, sir. And many, many others whose ordinary lives found a little magic because of what you've written. Regardless of what anyone else says, your poetry has been literature many of us revere. And it has made the world so much richer. Hey Woody Guthrie I know thar you know All the things that I'm saying and a many times more I'm singing you this song but I can't sing enough.. Cause there's not many men that've done the things you've done.. (From 'Song for Woody') I'm so glad they gave you the Nobel. The world can be sane sometimes, and so ready to be taken on a trip on a magic swirling ship. There is hope yet. The writer is a well-known pianist based in Chennai. He can be reached at anil.srinivasan@gmail.com In current times, India is one of the most important players in Brics a group made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The reason is that India is seen as a bright spot in a bloc whose clout has been undermined by economic woes. Brics was formed in 2006 with the aim of using its growing economic and political influence to challenge Western hegemony. The nations, with a joint estimated GDP of $16 trillion, set up their own bank in parallel to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund and World Bank and hold summits rivalling the G7 forum. But the countries, accounting for 53 percent of world population, have been hit by falling global demand and lower commodity prices, while several have also been mired in corruption scandals. Russia and Brazil have fallen into recession recently, South Africa only just managed to avoid the same fate last month while China's economy the recent engine of world growth has slowed sharply. India by contrast is now the world's fastest-growing major economy in an otherwise gloomy environment and its GDP is expected to grow 7.6 percent in 2016-17. Here is what we can expect from the 8th Brics Summit on 15 and 16 October in Goa: According to the Brics 2016 website, the theme of India's Brics chairmanship is Building, Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions. India has adopted a five-pronged approach for the Summit which is called 'IIIIC' or 'I4C', which stands for Institution building (to improve and institutionalise Brics cooperation), Implementation (of the decisions taken in previous summits), Integrating (integration of current cooperation mechanisms), Innovation (new cooperation mechanisms) and Continuity (keeping up with the existing mechanisms). IANS also reported that Indian foreign ministry official Amar Sinha said the leaders would debate "global growth prospects, the role of Brics in leading this global growth and our contributions to it". He also confirmed regional security and climate change were on the agenda while Russia is expecting talks on Syria. President Vladimir Putin's office said in a statement that "international terrorism and the Syria peace process" would be discussed as Moscow faces international anger over its airstrikes in support of the Assad regime. China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong meanwhile said the leaders would "exchange in-depth views on Brics cooperation and other global and regional issues", according to state news agency Xinhua. Some of the more substantive talks are expected at bilaterals on the sidelines of the summit in the tourist state of Goa, with Modi expected to separately meet China's President Xi Jinping and Putin. Brazil's new President Michel Temer, who replaced impeached Dilma Rousseff, will look to such meetings to boost trade ties and help drag his country out of its worst recession in half a century. The summit comes amid some scepticism about the future of Brics, especially given India's efforts to reach out to the US and Europe since Modi a one-time pariah of the West came to power in 2014. India will also be looking for Brics to condemn recent cross-border attacks blamed on militants in Pakistan that have spiked tensions between the neighbours, according to local media. Analysts, however, are sceptical of India's chances of securing a joint condemnation given China's strong diplomatic support for Pakistan and Russia's efforts to forge closer defence ties with Islamabad. "Agenda is drawn in a broad-brush manner. We will be looking at global economic and political situation. Obviously terrorism is very important part of that," Amar Sinha said. Though he said the issue of China blocking ban of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar by the UN will not be taken up at Brics because it was a bilateral issue with China and India does not want to bring such issues to the multilateral fora, he asserted that general principles pertaining to terrorism will be forcefully taken up. And that will include "terrorism which is a global problem. It cannot be tackled individually and has to be tackled collectively. We cannot have a differential policy towards terrorism. There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist. So, these are the issues on which there will reiteration of national positions," Sinha said. He added that "there would be very strong paragraphs (in the Brics outcome document) on terrorism including how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries and safe havens... At NSA-level meet, we have also actually shifted the goalpost a little by talking about not only sources of finances but also sources from where they (terrorists) get arms and ammunition. These will be reflected in the Brics discussions." Modi will have nearly 10 bilaterals. He will meet Putin on Saturday for the annual summit and the talks with Xi Jinping are expected to be held later that day. His summit with Brazilian president Michel Temer is scheduled for Monday. Bilateral meetings will see India exploring ways to enhance cooperation in key areas of security, defence, energy and investments, officials said. Modi will also have talks with Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He will also have a bilateral with State Counsellor of Myanmar Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is arriving in India on October 16 on her first visit to the country after assuming the office. During the Modi-Putin meeting, key issues of defence, security, civil nuclear cooperation, trade and investment are expected to dominate the talks. China will also call upon the group to make the bloc a free trade area and initiate measures to liberalise trade. "Observers have focused their eyes on New Delhi and have one question in mind: How much courage will it take for the trade ministers from Brics countries gathering there on Thursday for the summit meeting to promote greater cooperation?" an article in the state-run Global Times had said. "It seems China is willing to open up its domestic markets to the other four member countries, but they haven't yet made quite the same commitment," it said. However, as this article in Business Standard says, as a result of the fears of Chinese goods flooding the markets, a consensus has not been reached on China's suggestion for a Brics FTA. With inputs from agencies Russian President Vladimir Putin is commencing his four-day visit to India on Friday (14-17 October). His visit assumes significance since serious doubts have clouded, of late, on the nature of Indo-Russian relations, particularly in the wake of growing ties between Moscow and Islamabad. Putins visit is two-pronged. He is attending the 8th Brics summit that is being held in Goa, from 15 to 16 October. But earlier on Saturday, at Goa, Putin will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in what is going to be the 17th India-Russia Annual Summit. Annual India-Russia summits are held alternatively in India and Russia, thanks to the declaration of the India Russia Strategic Partnership, signed in October 2000. It was the brainchild of none other than Putin, who sincerely tried to restore the traditional warmth and vibrancy to the bilateral relationship that was lost during Boris Yeltsins presidency after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Of course, it is unusual that the India-Russia annual summit, an important bilateral feature, is being formally held on the sidelines of an international summit. But then, we have witnessed some other unusual developments on the Indo-Russian front. The other day, Indias Ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran had publicly aired his concerns over the adverse impact on the bilateral relations if Moscow continued to expand military relations with Islamabad. We have conveyed our views to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan, which is a state that sponsors and practices terrorism as a matter of state policy, is a wrong approach. It will only create further problems, Saran told Ria Novosti, the Russian official news agency. And it was another unusual event when Russia and Pakistan held their first-ever joint military exercises from 24 September to 10 October, in Pakistans Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. It was code-named Druzhba-2016 (Friendship-2016). The Russian military contingent consisted of more than 70 servicemen of the 34th mountain motorised rifle brigade of its Southern Military District. Pakistan has gone to the town in projecting the military exercise as a historic development. Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharifs special envoy on Kashmir Mushahid Hussain Syed has boasted at the Atlantic Council, one of the top American think-tanks, that as the United States was no longer a global power, Pakistan would be closer to China and Russia. There has been slow and steady building of relationship between Moscow and Islamabad, he said, referring to the joint military exercise between Pakistan and Russia, and then adding the Russian government has for the first time agreed to sell arms to Pakistan. However, now is the time for a reality check. The first-ever description, used by Russian and Pakistani officials regarding these military exercises, is not correct in the strict sense of the term. Russia and Pakistan had already conducted two naval exercises Arabian Monsoon 2014 and Arabian Monsoon 2015. Though unlike Druzhba-2016 (a proper military exercise), these two exercises focused on combating crime groups and blocking drug traffic, the fact remains that the navies of the two countries were involved. Secondly, notwithstanding all talks about Russia-Pakistan defence cooperation, there have not been major arms purchases as yet by Pakistan from Russia; the two have only finished talks on four transport helicopters that Russia will sell to Pakistan. Thirdly, and this is the most important, when Russia was conducting joint military exercise with Pakistan, it was also carrying out a far more sophisticated joint military exercise with India. Called INDRA-2016, this exercise took place in the Ussiriysk district in Vladivostok from 23 September to 2 October. Over 500 servicemen, 50 units of equipment, a group of UAVs, and assault and army aviation took part in the drills. 250 soldiers of the Kumaon Regiment represented the Indian contingent. The Russian Armed Forces were represented by 250 soldiers from the 59th Motorised Infantry Brigade. Main focus of this joint exercise was on counter-terrorism operations in semi-mountainous and jungle terrains. If this is the reality, then how does one explain the Russian policy at present towards Pakistan? Going by the Russian officials, there are two reasons behind Moscows behaviour. First, and here I am quoting Russias Ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, Russias military cooperation with Pakistan will teach the Pakistani army not to use itself for terror attacks against India." This will also help to fight terrorism and drug traffic coming from Afghanistan (as Anatoly Antonov, Russias Deputy Minister of Defence, had said in 2015). That the joint military exercise was not against India has been stressed by the Russians. They say that because of Indias sensitivities, Russia did not agree with Pakistan to conduct it in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including Gilgit and Baltistan. Secondly, the Russians argue that with the end of the Cold War in general and gradual withdrawal of the American troops from Afghanistan in particular, Pakistan should be viewed as a normal country with which Moscow can do normal business. And since it is normal interaction any sovereign country will do with another normal sovereign country, there is nothing anti-Indian about it. Russians dismiss the theory that by coming closer to Pakistan, they are reacting adversely to Indias growing proximity with the United States in recent years. However, one may not agree with the Russians on this score. All told, the United States has replaced Russia as Indias largest military supplier, causing a lot of consternations to Moscow, whose substantial export items happen to be the military products (other than oil and gas). But, it will be an exaggeration to cite the Pakistan-factor in undermining the importance of the strategic dimensions in Indo-Russian relations in general and the military component in this relationship in particular. Even today, Russia provides India around 70 percent of its defence needs. And importantly, the defence cooperation is not exactly restricted to a buyer-seller relationship; it includes now joint design, research and development, joint production, training, and service-to-service contacts. Russia is always prepared to share its most sensitive and newest developments in technology to India that the United States and other Western nations have been reticent to do. Brahmos missile system is a shining example of this type of collaboration. Presently, several similar joint development projects in areas of cutting edge and frontier technologies are being pursued, the most important being the joint development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). In fact, when Modi and Putin meet on Saturday, they are expected to clinch the deal worth a billion dollar deal to manufacture 200 Kamov-226 T helicopters under the Make in India' programme. Besides, they will negotiate over the possibility of India acquiring five S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defense missile systems and upgraded models of the Sukhoi 30-MKI elite fighter jet. These possible deals could fetch Russia at $6 billion. The S-400 missile system, it may be noted, is capable of destroying missiles, drones, and incoming fighter jets within a range of 250 miles (400 km). Even otherwise, Russia will continue to remain Indias most valued ally for many more years to come. As strategic partners, India and Russia share the same global outlook that the existing architecture of global security, including its mechanisms based on international law, does not ensure the equal security of all nations. This has been emphasised by Russias military doctrine (February 2010) and security strategy (May 2009). The essential features of these two highlight clearly that Russia is not happy with the eastward expansion of Nato, proposed Europe-based missile defence systems, secessionist insurgencies in its territory supported by external elements, rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the neighbouring regions such as Central Asia and South Asia, and the spread of global terrorism fuelled by religion and drugs etc. Needless to point out that almost all these features are also matters of great concern when India plans its overall security within the framework of a multipolar world that shuns unilateralism. Besides, the fact remains that though Russia may have lost its position as a superpower in Cold War equations, it is still a big power if one goes by any possible definition of the elements that constitute power. It is huge and possesses the largest landmass of the earth as a single country. It strategically abuts on Central Asia, China and Iran, an area of political, security and economic interests to India. Russia is endowed with enormous natural resources, technological capacities and trade potential. It still is the most important military power in the world after the United States. Most significantly, Russia, perhaps, gives a higher priority to India in its foreign policy and strategic calculations than the United States or other power centres of the world, their acknowledgment of Indias rising importance notwithstanding. All told, Russia never hesitates to transfer its most sophisticated technology to India. It is Russia, which gives its nuclear submarines on lease to India. It is Russia, which has unhesitatingly cooperated with India in its march towards becoming a major space power. It is Russia, which has unhesitatingly established nuclear power stations in India, something that cannot be said of the United States even after the conclusion of civilian nuclear deal. And it is Russia, which has provided the most vocal support for India becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. India has invested heavily in Russias hydrocarbon sector. One of Indias most significant overseas investments (2.8 billion dollars) has been in SakhalinI (Siberia) for extracting oil. But this is not all. India has also invested more in that region through ONGC Videsh Limited2.1 billion dollars was the investment for buying a British company called Imperial Energy in the Tomsk region in Siberia. India has been discussing with the Russian side on several more investments where ONGC Videsh Limited is willing to go along with Russian oil and gas majors like Gazprom and Rosneft to invest in different regions of Siberia and even North Russia. In Siberia the regions are Sakhalin-III and there is a region on Timan Pechora, as also there is an interest on the Indian side in the Yamal peninsula, which is a gas-rich area in Northern Russia. Of course, in todays world nothing is free and Russia has its own reasons to ensure that India remains its close ally as well. Russia, of late, might have increased its ties manifold with China, Indias principal strategic competitor. It might also open more for Pakistan in days to come. But then the fact remains that Russia needs India as much as it needs China. Likewise, India might have improved its equations with the United States, of late. But then the fact also remains that India needs Russia as much as it needs the United States. Modi-Putin summit on Saturday will reflect this reality. Srinagar: India and Pakistan must talk and solve the Kashmir issue to end terrorism in the region, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said, speaking for the first time since the ongoing unrest erupted in the Kashmir Valley. "Both countries must sit and have talks on Kashmir. That is the only solution to end terrorism, otherwise it will keep on escalating," Abdullah told reporters after a meeting of opposition parties here. We are concerned about peace, we dont care about surgical strikes. Indian and Pakistan must sit down at a table to talks: Farooq Abdullah pic.twitter.com/V68gpqtwro ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 "All of us are looking for the way forward and not looking back at what happened," he said, adding he was "always in favour of peace". Mujhe Uri hamle pe kuch nahi kehna, mujhe sirf is riyaasat ko bachaana hai. Aman aur shaanti chahiye: Farooq Abdullah ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 The National Conference President said he was concerned about the turmoil in the Kashmir Valley that has left over 90 people dead and thousands injured since the 8 July killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The meeting of opposition parties discussed the Kashmir situation and the way the state and central governments were dealing with it. Abdullah said the situation demanded that "a solution needs to be found" to the vexed Kashmir issue. With inputs from IANS Thiruvananthapuram: The dawn-to-dusk Kerala shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit on Thursday to protest the murder of one of its activists in Kannur was total, reports in Thiruvananthapuram said. While shops and establishments remained closed, attendances in various government and private establishments were thin as public and private transport and buses remained off the road. Commuters arriving at railway stations in the state were stranded as public transport was unavailable. The BJP worker's murder in Kannur on Wednesday had taken place in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's village and was the second in two days, also the seventh in Kannur district since he assumed office in May. Despite the shutdown, Vijayan's cabinet held its routine weekly meeting at the state secretariat where security was stepped up. Both at the Indian Space Research Organisation centre and Technopark campus, the police were deployed in numbers to ensure the safety of the employees and of the campus. As many private firms allowed their workers to work from home, "the overall attendance was not like on usual working days," an IT official said. Although two-wheelers and private vehicles were seen plying around in urban areas, the picture was different in the rural localities. At Thrissur and in the state capital here, the protesters vented their anger against the media by destroying the advertisement boards of the Communist Party of India-Marxist. In some places, the protesters even roughed up persons who tried to venture out the car of a medical professional in Kollam's Karunagapally was damaged. The BJP workers also held protest marches in all district headquarters and raised slogans against Pinarayi Vijayan. Bhopal: Security has been ramped up in the state capital in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Madhya Pradesh on Friday. Modi is scheduled to arrive at the airport around 4 pm and thereafter will head to address an ex-servicemen (Sainik) Sammelan at Lal Parade Ground, an official of the Public Relation Department said. He will meet the Jain saint Acharya Vidhyasagarji Maharaj at a Jain temple. Later, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Shourya Smarak built at Arera Hills spread over an area of 12.67 acre land and constructed with a cost of Rs 41 crore. He will remain in Bhopal for nearly three hours before leaving for his onward destination, the official said. Bhopal Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Raman Singh Sikarwar said 5,000 policemen have been deployed at the airport, route and the venue of the three events. He said police were keeping an eye at public places like stations, bus stands, hotels and hostels. Sikarwar said vehicles entering into the district are being searched, while security drills are also being carried out. New Delhi: Hours after the Delhi government advised Najeeb Jung to dissolve the Shunglu Committee, which is examining 400 files on decisions taken by the AAP regime, the L-G turned down the request and gave the panel a six-week extension. While rejecting the AAP's request to dissolve the three-member committee, the L-G said the "truth hidden behind these files" must come out. "Lieutenant Governor has extended the tenure of the three-member committee till 2 December. Earlier, the committee was asked by L-G to sumbit its report within six weeks," an official said. Jung had formed the committee chaired by Shunglu On 30 August and ex-chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami and ex-chief vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar are also its members. In a three-page press statement, Jung wondered why the AAP government is "afraid" of the truth coming out if everything, as claimed by AAP ministers, is as per rules. Earlier in the day on Friday, the Delhi Cabinet passed a resolution advising Jung to dissolve the committee headed by former CAG VK Shunglu arguing that "impounding" of 400 files is "creating hurdles" in the works of government. The L-G office said the Cabinet resolution is evidently an attempt to "mislead" the public and take attention away from "grave misdemeanours" evident in some of the files. Jung said the files that have been sent to his office have not been "summoned or impounded" by his office but have been sent by the ministers themselves. "These are those files where the elected Government has itself admitted that it has not followed Constitutional provisions and transgressed established rules/laws/conventions. The Ministers have admitted that these matters need to be now regularised," the L-G office said. The committee is examining the files to establish the extent of malfeasance, if any, that may have been committed, the L-G office also said. "Some misdemeanours are of the gravity that already these matters are in the process of being referred to the CBI for investigation," it stated. Refuting allegations that committee has "threatened" bureaucrats, the L-G office said officers the committee has called so far, have been called only for clarifications. "It is strange that ministers who have misbehaved consistently with officers for past 18 months should now attempt to hide behind the same officers," he said. The committee is examining "irregularities" and "infirmities" in the files of the Delhi government. Jung office said it was "unfortunate" the name of the Supreme Court is being dragged into a press release of the government. "The Government is in appeal before the Supreme Court on the High Court judgment of 4 August 2016. This has nothing to do with the functioning of the committee," it said. It termed as "completely false" the accusation that the government work is adversely impacted and said "current files that involve immediate action are dealt with and sent back". "The committee is examining only those files where illegalities have been committed and have thus been accepted by the ministers themselves by virtue of the fact that they themselves have submitted these files. The LG office has not issued any instructions to stop any work," the statement added. Earlier Sisodia told a press conference the committee has created a dangerous climate of fear and uncertainty among the bureaucracy, thus threatening to derail the government functioning in its entirety. "We have requested the L-G to dissolve the committee as the Lt Governor has no power. The jurisdiction of L-G is well defined under Article 239AA of Constitution of India, the GNCTD Act, 1991, and the rules framed under the Act," he had said. If the committee continues its "illegal" functioning, not only will it imperil public welfare, it has also the potential to create a serious constitutional crisis in the national capital, noted the Cabinet, according to the Deputy CM. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to host ten world leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in the seaside resort of Goa, Indias showcase tourist destination. Why Goa some may ask, considering that this is perhaps the first time that India is hosting such a major event outside Lutyens Delhi. Away from the capital, leaders can be more at ease and speak freely to each other in the relaxed holiday surrounding of sea and sand. Modi would want his high-powered guests to be in the right mood as India needs to put its best foot forward. The Brics summit and the outreach to Bimstec nations are being held in the backdrop of rising tension between India and Pakistan. Ever since the Uri attack, Delhi has been trying to diplomatically isolate Pakistan, especially in the region. China, Pakistans all-weather friend and Russia which has held military exercises with Pakistan for the first time, will both be told of Indias concern on terrorism emanating from the bordering country by Prime Minister Modi during his interaction. Whether he can convince either President Xi or Putin remains to be seen. But terrorism will certainly be on top of the agenda during the summit and the declaration at the end will devote much space to the fight against terror. The Goa meet is taking place at a time when Russia-US ties are at an all-time low over Syria, and US charges of Russia interfering in its presidential race. Xi and Putin are also coming closer, which worries the US and its allies. Indias warming ties with the US and China's suspicion that the US wants to balance Chinas growing military might in the Asia-Pacific region by bringing India into its fold is another element of the complicated relations between the three important Brics partners. India pulled out of Saarc and scuttled this years Islamabad summit after Uri. It also ensured that Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka also pull out. Delhi now wants to energise Bimstec, a regional grouping of the Bay of Bengal countries, which does not include Pakistan will be a part of Indias diplomatic strategy. In fact, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation was promoted by India in 1997, at a time when it was fed up with Pakistans negative stand in Saarc. It wanted to ensure another grouping which would work better. Modi is hoping to breathe fresh life into Bimstec and ensure that this regional forum would work better than Saarc. All this diplomatic maneuvering will take place in Indias best-known tourist destination. Brics have often held its summits away from the capital cities. The first meeting of Brazil, Russia, India and China (South Africa had not yet joined) was in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in 2009. China held the Brics summit in 2011 in Sanya, South Africa in 2013 in Durban and Brazil in Fortaleza in 2014. Last years was in Ufa in Russia. Manmohan Singhs Brics summit predictably was in New Delhi in 2012. When Brics first began it was the toast of the world. Their economies were galloping, while the industrialised nations remained stagnant, the hope was that the emerging economies would become the driving force to revive the worlds economic engine. The hopes have however been belied. Chinas economy is no longer galloping, Russia has to deal with falling oil prices and plunge in the commodities market worldwide, Brazil is reeling under both economic and political problems, South Africas Jacob Juma is on the backfoot and the economy has shown no signs of picking up. India is better placed than the rest but Brics itself is going through a rough patch at the moment. But for India, the Goa summit is much more than the economy. In fact, while Brics is important, equally so are the Bimstec nations: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Regional, connectivity, trade and economic will be driving the Bimstec but lurking over this will be Indias efforts to show Pakistan that unless it stops propping up terror outfits, India and the rest of the group will go continue to blacklist that country. Brics has a tradition of holding its summits away from the capital cities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is not a part of the Delhi establishment, also likes the idea of spreading events outside the capital city. When Xi visited India in 2014, his first stop was Modis home state of Gujarat. In fact, foreign policy outreach programmes are now held across the country. Conferences, especially Asean related meetings take place in the North East. Discussions on Indias Act East policy were held in Guwahati, Shillong and other towns.This also happened during the UPA regime as the government felt that public issues need to be taken to the general people. The lecture circuit now is spread across not just the metros but across towns and cities in the hinterland. But when world dignitaries gather, it has generally been in the national capital. Goa, Indias most important tourist spot luckily has the infrastructure to host ten world leaders and their entourages without any problem. The BJP ruled state, once a Portuguese colony was taken over by India in 1961. Goa has a large Christian population as Francis Xavier the great Christian saint and missionary came here to preach here more than 400 years. The tiny state is a fine example of Indias liberal ethos and has neighbourhoods dominated by both Russian, Israeli tourists and Western tourists. As India expands its naval presence across not just the Indian Ocean but right on to the Pacific, Goa plays into Indias history as a seafaring nation. This is how it ends. Before Donald Trump is likely consigned to the dumpster heap on November 8, hell be spotted in Edison, New Jersey, presiding over a preview of his coming political demise on a night of boisterous Bollywood-Kollywood-Punjabi song and dance. "Once in a lifetime opportunity to hear and see Donald Trump in person," announces a hurriedly cut Youtube video that's got a princely number 30 views a day before the event. On the evening of Saturday, October 15, Donald J Trump - star of the groper-in-chief tapes - will do guest-speechifying at a neighbourhood stage where Prabhudeva, Malaika Arora, Andhra actor Ram Charan, Sophie and such starlets grind their hips to warm up a weekend crowd dressed in gold-ish finery soaking in the aromas of chaat stalls. Mr Trump will be arriving early, at around 7 pm, and will speak at 7:45 pm, we are informed by the Republican Hindu Coalition which is pulling out all stops for the Trump gala in the Little India of New Jersey - Edison. After trampling on all the unwritten codes of running for high office, Trump comes to heavily Asian-populated New Jersey suburb where his campaign office has downed shutters, nobody answers the phone and on a weekend when America's First Lady has been angered enough to take the fight to Trump. At once devastating and inspirational, Clintons most prized campaign surrogate said I cant believe Im saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women. Because lets be very clear, strong men, strong men, men who are truly role models, don't need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. A car load of Indian media corps covering the elections from Washington DC will be driving upstate to New Jersey to check in at what promises to be another fact-free gig - What if he says something more potty? is why theyre travelling. Trump event coverage is no longer politics - it's for the cheap thrills of more locker room talk. Fittingly, the cheap seats - $9.99 - for the Trump-Bollywood circus are sold out. With 26 days left in an election campaign and his campaign in a tailspin, what will The Donald say that anyone cares about? And why is he going to Edison at all? Two reasons. Reason Number One is Shalabh Kumar, a Hindu-champion of Trump who has donated $1.1 million to the now-doomed GOP candidate's campaign. Shalabh Kumars Facebook page has a pinned post from June this year, his Twitter handle was born during Narendra Modis trip into Washington D.C, the donation to the Trump campaign was around the same time too, all his social media posts frozen in time from before the Trump tapes, the tax bombshell and so on. Kumar - the Ambala-born Indian-American industrialist from Chicago, made news at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland after pledging a $1.1 million political contribution to Trump. An electronic engineer (Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, and Illinois Institute of Technology), Kumar made his fortune through AVG Advanced Technologies, a company he founded in the area of automation controls, semiconductors, telecommunications, thick-film hybrids and electronic component manufacturing and distribution. Since AVG Advanced Technologies turned up no website, heres a sampling of what the Republican Hindu coalition says about Kumar: "From electronic products to planning the wedding of his son Vikram Aditya Kumar to Pooja, Miss India 2007, he is known for his daring and out of box thinking. He had nine helicopters fly in a V formation to form the head of Vikrams baraat (grooms party) that flew over Auckland, New Zealand. During the 2014 Independence Day celebrations in NY, he had pop star Daler Mehndi singing and dancing during the entire parade route to the delight of 250,000 fans. And of course he successfully dared the Republican Party to rise in favor of Narendra Modi when he was an outcast. After Osama Bin Laden was found under the nose of Pakistan, he was successful in cutting foreign aid to Pakistan." Reason Number 2 for Trump's Edison visit is that the billionaire has never cared where his support comes from. Hindu Republican? Sure, jump in! Whether someone likes him or not matters more to Trump than whats right, wrong, disgusting or the gutter. America has a label for this brand of wingnut politics - the alt-right, which sounds like a keyboard command and is in fact an online phenomenon. They have a brand ambassador too, when Trump's not available in person to barf - a green frog called Pepe. Dont be misled by the goofy, social media trappings though - if you follow the trail, it will lead you to the cliff edge of a unprecedented demographic shift that racist white people, not cartoon frogs, are hanging from. This green frog believes that Trumps misogyny is a justified rebellion against the prevailing culture and were given no details what that prevailing culture might be or if theres one at all. Thats what the Trump New Jersey gig is - a green frog thinking fact-free thoughts to the throbbing beat of a Malaika Arora item number as the leaves begin to fall. Trump in Edison, New Jersey is a white man with black thoughts who will witness first hand that brown is the new colour of what long ago was redneck America. Cairo: At least 15 terrorists and 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed on Friday in a major attack on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years been battling Islamist insurgency. A group of suspected Islamists in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai, following which a gun-battle broke out between the forces and the terrorists, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones in Sinai in July 2015. The militants targeted a military base about 80 kilometres east of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Apart from 15 militants and 12 soldiers killed, Samir said a number of terrorists and six security personnel were also injured in the attack. "The armed forces assert that these despicable acts will not deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people," Samir said in a statement. Security forces have launched combing operations in the area to find if any assailants escaped. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy that primarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed in violence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. SANAA An explosion killed six people and wounded 20 as they attended a funeral service in the Yemeni city of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, the government-run news agency Saba said on Friday.The blast occurred as condolences were being paid after the death of Abdulrab al-Shadady, an army general in Marib who was killed a few days ago in fighting with Houthi militia, local officials told Reuters. Among those killed in Friday's blast was Salem al-Shadady, the older brother of the general killed earlier, Saba said. Yemen's war has intensified since U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait ended in August without an agreement. Fighting has been concentrated around the country's Houthi-controlled ancient capital, Sanaa, where little territory has changed hands.Most of Marib is under the control of forces loyal to President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi and the rest held by the Iran-allied Houthis, who are battling his internationally recognised government. On Oct. 8, an air strike widely blamed on Saudi warplanes ripped through a wake attended by some of Yemen's top political and security officials, killing 140 people. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Mark Heinrich) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Elisabeth O'Leary | GLASGOW, Scotland GLASGOW, Scotland Scotland may try to wrest control over migration as part of a new enhanced devolution deal once Britain leaves the European Union, Scotland's minister for EU negotiations said on Friday.Britain's vote in June to quit the EU has put renewed strain on the 309-year union between England and Scotland, barely two years after a referendum in which Scots rejected independence.Scotland voted in the June 23 referendum to stay in the EU, while England voted to leave, partly due to concerns over large-scale immigration from other EU countries. British Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to launch the two-year legal process of Brexit by the end of March 2017.Immigration is one area where the British government has leeway to accommodate Scotland's different economic and demographic needs within a new constitutional set-up, Michael Russell told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a conference of his Scottish National Party (SNP)."Free movement of people, technically, is reserved (for the national government) but actually it's vitally important for us," said Russell, charged with trying to ensure that London respects Scottish interests in the Brexit negotiations."You don't need a hard border (between England and Scotland), you just have to make sure that people don't have the same entitlements on one soil and on another," said Russell, a pro-EU minister in the devolved Scottish government in Edinburgh.Scotland, the sparsely populated northernmost part of the UK, says it needs immigrants to shore up its economy and boost skills in remote rural areas. The pro-independence SNP has criticised May's government for trying to limit immigration. ENGLISH WORRIES However, the number of migrants entering the UK from the EU is perceived as a problem in much of England, which is much more densely populated and where May's ruling Conservatives have their voter base. England has 53 million of the UK's total 63 million people, while Scotland has only five million.Russell did not explain how Britain might accommodate two separate migration policies. The UK government would be concerned about the possibility of EU workers using Scotland as a springboard into the rest of the country.There are already concerns that customs checkpoints and passport controls may have to be introduced on the border between Ireland, an EU member, and the British province of Northern Ireland after Brexit. Scots have been irked by recent comments of UK ministers suggesting that Britain could leave the EU's single market for goods and services in return for reimposing control over its borders. The comments have driven the pound to fresh lows.Scotland hopes to retain free access to the single market in recognition of its voters' desire to stay in the EU, something First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says is "vital" to business. The idea that Scotland could retain single market membership, or as many elements of it as possible, was floated at the SNP conference on Thursday. But it has yet to be brought before the UK government because negotiations are at such an initial stage, Russell said.Scotland will attempt to shine some light on the UK negotiating process with Brussels, he said. "We will bring to the negotiating table, presumably when there is one ... that dose of rationality," he said.The prospect of leaving the EU has upset many Scots who rejected Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum because they feared that would entail losing EU membership.But opinion polls suggest Britain's vote to leave the EU has not led to an increase in support for Scottish independence.Sturgeon said on Thursday her devolved government would publish a blueprint next week for a possible new independence vote. However, she has not said if or when the bill would be presented formally to the Edinburgh parliament. [nL8N1CJ2W3]May has denounced "divisive nationalists" and said there would be no Brexit opt-out available for Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales. A majority in Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, while the "Leave" camp won in Wales. (Editing by Gareth Jones) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. ISMAILIA, Egypt Islamist militants killed 12 members of Egypt's military in North Sinai province and wounded six more in an attack on a checkpoint on Friday, the military said, adding that it killed 15 militants in return. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the incident, which took place 40 km (25 miles) from the town of Bir al-Abd, making it the first major attack in the central Sinai area, which had so far escaped the militant Islamists' campaign.It was carried out using assault rifles and some heavier weapons, medical and security sources said. The wounded were taken to hospital in al-Arish."An armed group of terrorist elements attacked a security checkpoint in North Sinai this morning using four-wheel drives and were immediately engaged. Our forces killed 15 terrorists," the military said in a statement. "The clashes led to the martyrdom of 12 and injury of six armed forces heroes." Islamic State said it killed more than 20 soldiers and that it suffered no casualties. It said its members looted weapons and ammunition from the checkpoint."A number of the caliphate's soldiers have launched an attack on a checkpoint belonging to the apostate Egyptian army south of Bir al-Abd that killed over 20 apostates and injured more," the group said in a statement. An Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula gained pace after the Egyptian military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen, and has started to target Western targets within Egypt. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former military chief who led the overthrow of Mursi, describes Islamist militancy as an existential threat to Egypt, an ally of the United States. Islamic State controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and has a strong presence in Libya, which borders Egypt. (Reporting by Yusri Mohamed; Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy and Mostafa Hashem in Cairo; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Ralph Boulton) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Simon Lewis and Wa Lone | SITTWE, Myanmar SITTWE, Myanmar Myanmar's government said on Friday a group inspired by Islamist militants was behind attacks on police border posts in its ethnically riven northwest, as officials said they feared a new insurgency by members of the Rohingya Muslim minority.The sudden escalation of violence in Rakhine state poses a serious challenge to the six-month-old government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who was swept to power in an election last year but has faced criticism abroad for failing to tackle rights abuses against the Rohingya and other Muslims.A statement from the office of Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw blamed the little-known "Aqa Mul Mujahidin" for recent attacks around Maungdaw Township, a mainly Muslim area near the frontier with Bangladesh."They persuade the young people using religious extremism, and they have financial support from outside," said the Burmese language statement."They are broadcasting their videos on the Internet like ISIS, Taliban and al Qaeda. They now have 400 insurgents fighting in Maungdaw region."Several videos showing armed men speaking the language of the mostly stateless Rohingya have circulated online this week. Reuters has not been able to verify the authenticity of the videos, but government officials say they believe they show the perpetrators of the attacks that began on Oct. 9.The 1.1 million Rohingya living in Rakhine state face discrimination, severe restrictions on their movements and access to services, especially since inter-communal violence in 2012 that displaced 125,000 people.The Rohingya are not among the 135 ethnic groups officially recognised in Myanmar, where many in the Buddhist majority regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.Suu Kyi, who is barred from the presidency by the constitution but leads Myanmar's first democratically elected government in decades as "State Counsellor", has appointed former United Nations chief Kofi Annan to head a panel to propose solutions to Rakhine state's problems.NEW KIND OF CONFLICT Information Minister Pe Myint, who visited Maungdaw Township this week, said the dramatic escalation in violence "may affect the work we've been doing for Rakhine State"."Previously there has been riots and conflict between the communities. Now there is armed conflict," he told reporters in the state capital, Sittwe, on Friday. "The nature of the conflict has changed."Officials have said hundreds of men - some armed with automatic weapons and others with sticks and swords - launched coordinated assaults against three border posts in the early hours of Oct. 9, killing nine police officers and wounding five.In response, the military has poured troops into northern Rakhine State to search for attackers, who made off with dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.Suu Kyi has told security forces to use caution and follow the law in their response. Her civilian administration does not have oversight over the powerful military, which has designated the area an "operation zone".At least 26 people have been killed by security forces in what state media described as skirmishes with armed attackers and in which four soldiers were also killed. Human rights groups say they have evidence that extrajudicial killings may have taken place.Researchers and aid workers in Rakhine State have consistently reported that the vast majority of Rohingya have no interest in resorting to violence."We don't appreciate terrorism. It's not the solution," said Kyaw Hla Aung, a Rohingya community leader in Sittwe.MILITANT LINKS The statement from the Myanmar president's office said interrogations with suspects captured after the attacks had revealed links with militants in Pakistan. The ringleader was a 45-year-old who has lived in Bangladesh and spent six months training with the Pakistani Taliban, it said.The statement added that the Aqa Mul Mujahidin - the name of which could not be found in any previous news reports online - was linked to the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), an armed group that has long been assumed defunct.The military-run newspaper Myawady had earlier said soldiers had recovered "RSO flags and RSO badges" in Maungdaw.In one of the videos posted online, a man dressed in black calls for "the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine to all come out and join the jihad", according to Reuters' translation.In a second video, the same man appears to reference the Myanmar military's helicopters, which have been hunting the attackers, as he encourages the armed men surrounding him to welcome martyrdom.A third video shows a long column of men armed with swords and rifles marching in damp, rugged terrain.The weapons in the videos match those taken from border police, officials said.The possible emergence of an insurgency involving Rohingyas has already been seized upon by Buddhist nationalists.Wirathu, a Buddhist monk known for his anti-Muslim preaching, has posted graphic images of the slain police on Facebook. (Reporting by Simon Lewis and Wa Lone; Editing by Alex Richardson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. United Nations: Antonio Guterres pledged on Thursday to make the pursuit of peace in a conflict-torn world his "over-arching priority" after being elected the next secretary-general of the United Nations. The former Portuguese prime minister and UN refugee chief told the 193 members of the UN General Assembly who elected him by acclamation that the United Nations has "the moral duty and the universal right" to ensure peace and he will be promoting a new "diplomacy for peace" advocating dialogue to settle disputes. Guterres said he will do his best before taking the reins of the UN from Ban Ki-moon on 1 January to prepare "to act as a convener, an honest broker, someone trying to bring people together" in conflicts and crises from Syria and Yemen to South Sudan. "It's high time to fight for peace," he said, and make people understand that whatever divisions exist it's more important to unite and end the suffering because of the risks for countries in conflict and the international community. Guterres, who will become the ninth UN chief in the world body's 71-year history, said he is not only fully aware of the challenges the United Nations faces but the limitations surrounding the secretary-general. "The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach, one in which the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers nor seeks to impose his views, one in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available ... to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved." It was Guterres' strong performance answering questions before the General Assembly, and his executive experience as prime minister and as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005-2015 that propelled him to first place among the 13 candidates vying for the job in the informal polls in the Security Council. After last week's sixth poll, the council nominated him by acclamation. At Thursday's meeting, General Assembly President Peter Thompson introduced the resolution to elect Gutteres, said members wanted it adopted by acclamation, and banged his gavel in approval as diplomats broke into applause. Guterres "embodies the highest standards of competence, integrity and leadership," Thompson said. Secretary-General Ban, recalling Guterres' decade as the UN's refugee chief, told the assembly that he is "best known where it counts most, on the front lines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering." Ban noted that Guterres' election was 10 years to the day after his own election in 2006, calling the ceremony "poignant for me." But he told Guterres: "the people of the world are all looking forward to your tenure with confidence and excitement." Ambassador Samantha Power, speaking on behalf of the United States as the host country of the United Nations, called Gutteres "supremely qualified," saying he will use the office to be "an independent force to prevent conflict and alleviate human suffering." She said the world's nations are challenging the United Nations and the secretary-general to do more than they have ever done before. For the UN to succeed, Power said, nation are asking Guterres to serve as a peacemaker, a reformer to streamline the UN bureaucracy, and an advocate rallying the world "to respond to humanitarian and man-made catastrophes, and defending the human rights of all people." Power stressed the importance of UN unity in selecting Guterres, especially in the often divided Security Council a view echoed by Guterres who expressed hope that this unity can be channeled to take decisions to bring peace. He said that in a world which is more and more multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, "diversity can bring us together not drive us apart." But Guterres said: "We must make sure that we are able to break this alliance between all those terrorist groups, or violent extremists on one side, and the expressions of populism and xenophobia on the other side. These two reinforce each other, and we must be able to fight both of them with determination." BERLIN The Syrian refugee suspected of planning to bomb a Berlin airport was radicalised only after arriving in Germany, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, citing the suspect's brother who still lives in Syria.Jaber Albakr committed suicide in prison in Leipzig on Wednesday after two fellow Syrians had handed him over to police.Alaa Albakr, told Spiegel by telephone from Syria that a Muslim preacher in Berlin had radicalised his brother and told him to return to his homeland to fight, which he did, before heading back to Germany once again."My brother was radicalised in Germany," he said.In September 2015, seven months after arriving in Germany where he was granted asylum, Albakr returned to Syria where he joined Islamic State militants in Raqqa, Alaa Albakr said.If this is confirmed it would mark a major security lapse by the intelligence agencies that monitor potential militants among the some 900,000 migrants who arrived last year. German security sources told Reuters that Albakr had travelled to Turkey after receiving asylum in Germany and spent several months there this summer.Albakr's death makes it more difficult for investigators to track down the network behind his radicalisation, a government spokesman said. "Something went wrong ... and misjudgements were made," Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference."The death of the suspect makes the work of the investigators more difficult as what would have been possible to find out from him is no longer possible." Seibert added that the suicide must be thoroughly investigated. The results of an autopsy confirmed on Friday that the 22-year-old Syrian refugee had committed suicide. Some 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds) of explosives were found at Albakr's apartment during a police raid on Saturday but he evaded capture and went on the run for two days. An opposition politician called the incident "an unprecedented sequence of failures by the police and judicial system". [nL8N1CJ2JF] (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Andrea Shalal and Robin Pomeroy) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Robert Birsel | BANGKOK BANGKOK Thailand's people woke up on Friday to the first day in 70 years without King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a king worshipped as a father-figure who guided the nation through decades of change and turmoil.The king, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in a Bangkok hospital on Thursday. He was 88.He had been in poor health for several years but his death has shocked the Southeast Asian nation of 67 million people and plunged it into mourning. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to be the new king but he does not command the same adoration that his father earned over a lifetime on the throne.Thailand has endured bomb attacks and economic worries recently while rivalry simmers between the military-led establishment and populist political forces after a decade of turmoil including two coups and deadly protests.The king stepped in to calm crises on several occasions during his reign and many Thais worry about a future without him. The military has for decades invoked its duty to defend the monarchy to justify its intervention in politics.Military government leader Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the country was in "immeasurable grief ... profound sorrow and bereavement".He said security was his top priority and called for businesses to stay active and stock investors not to dump shares. Banks and financial markets are to stay open on Friday, industry officials said."FATHER HAS GONE" Security was stepped up in Bangkok's old quarter of palaces, temples and ministries with soldiers at checkpoints, government offices and intersections.In the early hour of Friday, black-and-white footage of the king playing jazz on the saxophone was being shown on all local television channels.Prayuth said Prince Vajiralongkorn wanted to grieve with the people and leave the formal succession until later, when the president of parliament will invite him to ascend the throne."Long live His Majesty the new king," Prayuth said.Thailand's strict lese-majeste laws have left little room for public discussion about the succession. The junta has promised an election next year and pushed through a constitution to ensure its oversight of civilian governments. It looks firmly in control for a royal transition. Anguish rippled through the crowd of hundreds praying outside the king's hospital when his death was announced."We came here hoping for a miracle. We hoped the news wasn't true," said lawyer Pimook Linpaisarn, 32.He came to the hospital with his girlfriend Aunchisa Saekuay, who said the restaurant she runs was closed until further notice."It's like our father has gone," she wept.In the backpacker enclave of Khao San Road, across the river from the hospital, shops and restaurants were as busy as usual. Some bars shut and many turned down the music but police said there had been no order to close down any establishments.Prayuth told people to avoid festivities for 30 days of mourning. The state sector will observe a year of mourning.Most Thais have known no other monarch and King Bhumibol's picture is hung in almost every house, school and office.Until his later years, he was featured on television almost every evening, often trudging through rain, map in hand and camera around his neck, visiting a rural development project.Queen Sirikit, 84, has also been in poor health over recent years.The government has set up a telephone hotline to help people cope with grief, a spokesman said.Prayuth warned against anyone taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble. Politicians from all sides will be in mourning.Thai stocks and the baht currency are likely to be volatile in the short term and consumers could cut spending, but assuming a smooth transition, major economic disruption was not expected, the Eurasia Group of risk analysts said in a report before the king's death. (Additional reporting by Andrew R.C. Marshall, Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Pracha Hariraksapitak, Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Pairat Temphairojana; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Alison Frankel and Dan Levine Donald Trump hasn't sued a newspaper for libel in three decades, despite the Republican presidential nominee repeatedly threatening to do so over the course of his business career, according to databases of state and federal court records. A lawyer for the New York real estate developer demanded on Wednesday the New York Times retract a story in which two women accused Trump of inappropriately touching them. If the newspaper did not comply, Trump, who says the allegations are fabricated, would "pursue all available actions and remedies," the lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said in a letter. Trump said at a rally on Thursday he was preparing a lawsuit. An attorney for the Times, David McCraw, said the story was of national importance and the paper would "welcome the opportunity" to defend it in court.Over the years, media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, the New York Post and Fortune Magazine have reported receiving similar threats from Trump or his representatives in advance of unflattering articles.However, Trump rarely makes good on those threats, according to a Reuters review of court dockets in the database of online legal research service Westlaw, a unit of Thomson Reuters. The last time he sued a news organisation for libel was apparently in 1984. Trump filed the case after the Chicago Tribunes architecture critic called his proposed 150-story Manhattan skyscraper an "atrocious, ugly monstrosity."In 1985, a federal judge in Manhattan dismissed the suit, ruling the critic had a First Amendment right to express his opinion. The skyscraper was never built.In the 32 years since Trump brought that suit, he has not taken similar action against another news organisation, although he or his companies have sued at least three individuals and a book publisher. He was successful in one of those cases. Book author and former New York Times reporter Timothy O'Brien defeated a Trump libel lawsuit in 2011, after Trump underwent a grueling deposition by O'Brien's lawyers. Trump's suit against O'Brien, which also named OBriens publisher, Time Warner Book Group, alleged the author deliberately underestimated the businessman's net worth. A New Jersey state judge found in 2009 that Trump had not established OBriens actual malice."OPENING UP OUR LIBEL LAWS" Former Miss Universe contestant Sheena Monnin was hit with a $5 million default judgment after she failed to appear for arbitration in a case in which Trump claimed she falsely denigrated the pageant as rigged. The arbitration judgment was upheld by a federal judge in Manhattan in 2013. The court record indicates the judgment was paid in 2014.The same year, a San Diego federal judge ruled Tarla Makaeff, who was lead plaintiff in a class action against Trump University, did not act with malice when she said in letters to her bank and the Better Business Bureau that Trump University engaged in fraudulent business practices. The judge, Gonzalo Curiel, dismissed Trump's defamation claim. Trump's attorneys, as well as a spokeswoman for his campaign, did not respond to requests for comment on his libel litigation record, including requests for information on any suits the Reuters docket search may have missed.U.S. courts have routinely deemed Trump a public figure in libel lawsuits. That means he has to show not only that the story is false, but also that the media outlet knew that it was false and published it in "reckless disregard" for the truth.If Trump were a private person, he would have to show the paper was negligent in failing to learn the allegations were false, which is a lower standard of proof.The New York Times attorney, David McCraw, wrote that the paper carefully vetted the allegations in the story. CHANGING LAWS NOT EASY Any Trump claim will be difficult because Trump's accusers were on the record, said Jane Kirtley, a media law expert at University of Minnesota Law School. That would bolster the newspapers argument that it didnt act recklessly in publishing their accounts.Trump has vowed to "open up our libel laws," if he wins the presidency on Nov. 8., to make it easier to sue news organizations. In reality, he would not be able to unilaterally change the laws because they are generally governed by individual states and court precedents.Court records show that Trump or his businesses have themselves been sued several times for libel or defamation. Most of those suits, including a complaint by a former tenant of a Trump condominium and another by a former dealer at a Trump casino in Indiana, were dismissed.One defamation suit against Trump survived dismissal, however. Stock analyst Marvin Roffman sued Trump for $2 million in federal court in Philadelphia in 1990, claiming he was fired from his job after publicly predicting the failure of the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.Roffman alleged Trump defamed him in critical statements to numerous newspapers and magazines. After a federal judge refused to toss the case, the Trump Organization settled in 1991.An attorney for Roffman declined to comment. (Reporting by Alison Frankel in New York and Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Amy Stevens and Ross Colvin) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Emily Stephenson and Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump faced a fresh allegation of groping on Friday, even as his running mate promised that evidence casting doubt on other accusations of sexual misconduct would be made public soon.The Washington Post published an interview with a woman who said Trump put his hand up her skirt in a crowded New York nightclub in the early 1990s in an unwanted advance."He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely," Kristin Anderson said in a video interview on the newspaper's website. It wasnt a sexual come-on. I dont know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it," she told the paper. Anderson could not immediately be reached for comment. Trump spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Post reported that Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the candidate "strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous. Trump's White House campaign has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he bragged about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. While Trump said the video was just talk and he had never behaved in this way, multiple women subsequently went public with allegations of sexual misconduct against the New York real estate magnate going back three decades.Trump furiously denied the allegations, saying that The New York Times, which published two women's claims, and other media, along with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, were engaged in a vicious campaign to stop him from winning the Nov. 8 election.Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence vigorously defended Trump. "Stay tuned. I know there's more information that's going to be coming out that will back his claim that this is all categorically false," Pence told CBS show "This Morning."Trump was scheduled to address a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina on Friday afternoon. In Los Angeles, celebrity attorney Gloria Allred planned a news conference on Friday afternoon with a woman she said will accuse Trump of victimizing her. DISPUTES WITH MEXICO The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Trump would accuse Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim - the top shareholder in the New York Times Company (NYT.N) - of helping to generate reports of the sexual misconduct.The Times reported on Wednesday that two women said they had endured unwanted groping or kisses from the former TV personality. Several other women made allegations of sexual aggression by Trump in various media outlets following that report.Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. The Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. Trump will claim that Slim, as a donor to the Clinton Foundation charity who also holds a 17.35 percent stake in the New York Times, has an interest in helping her White House campaign, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a campaign adviser.His allegations would feed into Trump's claims of a rigged election system and "false smears" that he says are part of a conspiracy bent on defeating him.If Trump goes on the offensive against Slim it will only be the latest chapter in a running series of skirmishes with Mexico and Mexicans. Trump kicked off his campaign last year accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States and promised to build a wall along the southern U.S. border that he said he would make Mexico pay for.He also pledged to tear up or revise the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Mexican peso slid to record lows in September when Trump was close to Clinton in opinion polls, but the currency has since climbed back. Shortly after Trump's comments insulting Mexicans last year, a television company controlled by Slim cancelled a project with Trump. "His statement was totally out of line ... working with someone so closed-minded was not going to work," Arturo Elias, Slim's spokesman and son-in-law, said at the time. Trump has previously linked Slim to the New York Times' coverage of his campaign."I know why I get bad treatment in the New York Times. Because its owned by Mexico," Trump said at a February rally in Nevada. "I dont know if you know, a rich guy in Mexico actually has power at the New York Times. I wonder why they dont like us, you know, I just wonder," he said.Elias said Slim had "absolutely no contact" with the newspaper's reporters or editors on their Trump campaign coverage and "zero" contact with the paper's news operations."Slim does not know Trump and he certainly is not interested in what happens in his personal life," Elias said.The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the Journal report. New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement, "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report." (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell, Michael O'Boyle, Anna Driver, Jessica Toonkel, Jeff Mason, Timothy Gardner; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry and Alistair Bell) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Steve Holland and Dan Whitcomb | GREENSBORO, N.C./LOS ANGELES GREENSBORO, N.C./LOS ANGELES Two more women came forward on Friday with allegations that Donald Trump had groped them, including a contestant on his reality show, "The Apprentice," as the Republican presidential candidate said accusations of sexual misconduct against him were part of a plot to discredit him a month ahead of the election.The new accusations come as Trump slips further behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in national opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election. A Reuters/Ipsos survey this week showed him lagging Clinton by 8 percentage points among likely voters.Summer Zervos, who competed on the television show's fifth season in 2006, gave a news conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles, saying Trump tried to get her to lie down on a bed with him when she met him in 2007 to discuss a possible job."He then asked me to sit next to him. I complied. He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast," said Zervos.Separately, the Washington Post published an interview with a woman who said Trump put his hand up her skirt in a crowded New York nightclub in the early 1990s in an unwanted advance, when she had never even met him."He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely," Kristin Anderson said in a video interview on the newspaper's website. It wasnt a sexual come-on. I dont know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it," she told the paper. Anderson could not immediately be reached for comment.The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new allegations. But at a campaign rally on Friday afternoon, Trump angrily denounced the allegations that have been made about him by a series of women in recent days, calling the women "sick" and saying that all the accusations were fabricated."I dont know who these people are. I look on television, I think its a disgusting thing and its being pushed, they have no witnesses, theres nobody around," Trump said at the rally in Greensboro, N.C.."Some are doing it for probably a little fame, they get some free fame. Its a total set-up. Now suddenly after many, many years, phony accusers come out less than a month before one of the most important elections in the history of our country," he said.Trump's White House campaign has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he bragged about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. While Trump said the video was just talk and he had never behaved in this way, multiple women subsequently went public with allegations of sexual misconduct against the New York real estate magnate going back three decades. SUPPORT FROM PENCE Earlier on Friday, Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence defended Trump. "Stay tuned. I know there's more information that's going to be coming out that will back his claim that this is all categorically false," Pence told CBS show "This Morning."Pence did not give any details about what information would be forthcoming. Trump also said on Thursday that he would make public information showing the allegations against him were false, without giving details.In denying the allegations, Trump has said The New York Times, which published two women's claims, and other media, along with Clinton, are engaged in a vicious campaign to stop him from winning the election.The Times reported on Wednesday that two women said they had endured unwanted groping or kisses from the former TV personality. Several other women made allegations of sexual aggression by Trump in various media outlets following that report. Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. The Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction.Trump on Friday mocked one of the women cited in the Times article, Jessica Leeds. "Yeah, Im going to go after. Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you. You dont know. That would not be my first choice." Leeds, who is now 74, alleged that Trump groped her on a flight to New York, in or around 1980. He called Natasha Stoynoff, a reporter who wrote in People magazine that Trump kissed her and pinned her against a wall, a "liar" and told the rally to "check out her Facebook page, you'll understand."DISPUTES WITH MEXICO Trump also accused Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim - the top shareholder in The New York Times Company (NYT.N) - of helping to generate the reports of sexual misconduct.He said Slim, as a donor to the Clinton Foundation charity who also holds a 17.35 percent stake in the Times, has an interest in helping her White House campaign."Hes given many millions of dollars to the Clintons and their initiatives," Trump said. "Reporters at the New York Times, theyre not journalists, theyre corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton," he said.Arturo Elias, Slim's spokesman and son-in-law, said Slim had "absolutely no contact" with the newspaper's reporters or editors on their Trump campaign coverage and "zero" contact with the paper's news operations.New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement, "Carlos Slim is an excellent shareholder who fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report." Trump's allegation about Slim was the latest chapter in a running series of skirmishes he has had with Mexico and Mexicans. Trump kicked off his campaign last year accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States and promised to build a wall along the southern U.S. border that he said he would make Mexico pay for.He also pledged to tear up or revise the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Mexican peso slid to record lows in September when Trump was close to Clinton in opinion polls, but the currency has since climbed back. (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson, Doina Chiacu, Susan Cornwell, Michael O'Boyle, Anna Driver, Jessica Toonkel, Jeff Mason, Timothy Gardner; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alistair Bell and Frances Kerry) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Lithium, the elemental metal, is a hot commodity these days. Since it's used in the manufacture of batteries, increasing electric vehicle (EV) sales have many investors feeling optimistic about companies that produce the basic element. Although lithium is a common substance, prices for the material skyrocketed some 400% in 2021 and have continued to rise so far in 2022 -- easily exceeding previous all-time highs reached in 2017. As a result of soaring battery demand from EVs, as well as energy storage (saving power for later distribution to the electric grid), some estimates point to lithium demand doubling in the next few years. In the U.S., the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act set aside $5 billion in federal funding for EV charging stations to support President Biden's goal of getting EVs to account for 50 percent of new auto sales by 2030. With automakers on board, there will be ample demand for lithium in the years ahead. Here's what you need to know before investing in this basic material used in battery development. Image source: Getty Images. Investing in lithium stocks Like investing in any basic materials and metals, investing in lithium isn't for the faint of heart. Soaring demand for a material used in the manufacture of a product doesn't automatically equate to higher sales and profits for a company. Supply also plays a hand in the market price of the basic material, so when supply outpaces demand, prices fall -- and the material producer's sales can fall, too, even if overall demand is expanding. As with all mining operations, getting new lithium projects up and running can be a costly endeavor. Nevertheless, over the past five years, lithium stocks have fared well and prices have risen. Here are five leading lithium producers in this growing market. Data source: YCharts. Market cap as of March 8, 2022. Company Market Cap Description Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) $21 billion One of the world's largest suppliers of lithium. Ganfeng Lithium (OTC:GNEN.F) $21 billion China's largest producer of lithium. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM) $21 billion Diversified chemicals and base material producer and major lithium producer. Livent (NYSE:LTHM) $3.4 billion Spun off from FMC in 2019 to create a lithium pure-play business. Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) $3.4 billion Currently developing a lithium production site in Argentina with Ganfeng Lithium. 1. Albemarle Mining and chemical producer Albemarle is leading the charge in global lithium output. Among the company's biggest customers is Panasonic (OTC:PCRFY), which manufactures lithium batteries for everything from small consumer electronics to EVs. Although lithium prices can be volatile, Albemarle has proven itself over the years to be a durable mining operation. It has minimal long-term debt and plenty of cash to fund new projects, and it generates consistent operating profit margins in the low to midteens. If you're looking for individual stocks with which to bet on long-term lithium usage, Albemarle is a great place to start your search. 2. Ganfeng Lithium On the other side of the Pacific, Ganfeng Lithium dominates as China's largest producer of base materials for lithium battery manufacturing. Given the sheer size of China's population (1.4 billion) and the rapid rise in EV sales, Ganfeng is well positioned as a top supplier to EV manufacturers based in China as well as to U.S. EV manufacturers such as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). The company is well-capitalized with cash and manageable indebtedness, and it has generated healthy profit margins. 3. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile One of South America's top basic materials and chemical companies, Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) is one of the world's largest producers of lithium used in batteries and other energy storage technologies. Like some of the other diversified and well-established mining operations such as Albemarle and Ganfeng, SQM generates healthy double-digit operating profit margins, has plenty of cash to fund expansion, and carries minimal debt. SQM predicts demand for lithium will outpace supply in 2022, so it has been investing to increase its production capacity. With recent improvements now complete, the company expects to be able to increase its market share in supplying lithium, mainly for EV batteries. 4. Livent In 2019, chemical manufacturing firm FMC (NYSE:FMC) spun off its lithium production segment. The new company, Livent, had a limited history operating as an independent company before the pandemic struck. Resulting global supply chain issues have been affecting the firm ever since. However, sales are rebounding with lithium pricing and demand on the rise. FMC still has an equity interest in Livent, so investors can also get a little lithium market exposure via the farming chemical supply stock as well. But for a focused bet, Livent is one of the largest lithium pure plays around. Operating profit margins have risen into the midteens, which is helping the company invest in expansion of its production. Livent also has plenty of cash and equivalents on hand, as well as minimal debt. 5. Lithium Americas Legacy automakers have big plans to electrify their vehicle lineups in the coming years, which means millions of new EVs could be sold. The potential trend has led to a big jump in smaller, more speculative lithium stocks such as Canada-based Lithium Americas. Lithium Americas currently doesn't generate any revenue. It is constructing lithium extraction sites in Argentina with its partner Ganfeng Lithium and conducting a feasibility study on another site in northern Nevada. That makes Lithium Americas a highly speculative stock. Other names in a similar situation that have attracted lots of investor interest are small exploration and development firms such as Standard Lithium (NYSEMKT:SLI) and Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ:PLL). Tread lightly with these speculative bets. Related investing topics Stay diversified with lithium battery stocks Investing in mining companies that produce base materials and chemicals can be a wild ride for investors. Stock prices can be volatile and susceptible to sharp fluctuations based on the market price of the material being mined and sold. Although global demand for batteries bodes well for lithium battery producers, expect plenty of volatility along the way. To help lessen wild swings in value, consider buying a lithium ETF such as the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (NYSEMKT:LIT) or invest in a basket of lithium stocks such as the ones listed above. Given the ups and downs in lithium production, keep any investment in this niche of the mining and chemicals industry small. To find out more about F1 in Schools, click here. Aeolus Racing, Greece Six boys, 16- to 18-years-old, are from two Athens schools. They are very excited with the prospect of visiting the USA, let alone competing in the F1 in Schools World Finals. The chance to go to an F1 Grand Prix is also a dream come true for them. Airy Eagles, Austria This leading Austrian team has five members from two schools, with four boys and one girl, has the slogan work hard, play hard and are looking forward to living up to this in Austin. They all have a positive mindset and would like to see their team at the top. BLAZE, China Two boys and four girls, aged 16 and 17, began their journey in January this year. They are creative, united and diligent, and are willing to try everything new despite encountering unknown difficulties. They learn from their experience and experience from others. Blaze Racing Team, Cyprus Five boys and a girl, 17- to 19-years-old, are newcomers to F1 in Schools, describing themselves as strong, fast and approachable. They have a close and crazy bond with each other which often puts to rest the small tensions that are naturally created within a team. Cathay Racers China & Hong Kong, China The team is made up of six boys ranging in age from 16 to 17. Our teams strength comes from our national unity and desire to put all else aside to achieve what others said was impossible. We are adaptable, outgoing, and persistent." Doppler Racing, Vietnam Two boys and two girls, all 17, established their team a year ago. In Vietnam, the F1 in Schools competition is not well known. Therefore, not only did they have to design and manufacture an incredibly fast car, they also managed to establish a solid reputation within the country and several well renowned multinational companies. Elixir Racing, Malaysia This team of 17-year-olds, with three girls and one boy, won an impressive four awards at their National Final. The team has a very special patron, The Royal Highness Sultanah Pahang, Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom binti Abdullah, and the team were lucky enough to visit the palace to meet her. Endeavour, Germany A team of four boys and a girl from three different schools have collaborated to form Endeavour. The team has worked hard to build a strong relationship between the team members and their partners and aspire to win an award. Enigma UK, UK A team of 15- and 16-year-old students with five girls and one boy, Enigma UK are a close-knit team and are looking forward to all that Austin has to offer. They are all excited about applying for the Randstad Williams Engineering Academy that links F1 in Schools to the real world of Formula One. Estrella, Jordan Five 17-year-old girls from Amman will represent their country and are all keen to meet their competitors in Austin. They reckon that the secret to their success is a creative spirit that doesnt accept anything less than perfect and a magical chemistry and trust within the team. Fast Payce, Australia Four 16-year-old boys will be one of the teams representing Australia this year. The smaller team has added to their workloads, but it has its advantages such as close teamwork and better communication, which they feel is a great asset for their team. Fast Tech Crew, Germany Five boys aged 17 to 18, Fast Tech Crew sum themselves up as highly professional, goal-oriented and unpredictable. They are focusing on all elements of the competition and are going to their limits and beyond in their preparations with the goal of being the very best in everything. Finkas, Peru Five 17-year-olds, four boys and a girl, are the first team to represent Peru in the World Finals. They want to create a legacy for their school so that competing in F1 in Schools becomes a tradition. They want to represent their country in the best possible way, meet other teams from around the world and see their achievements. FlashPoint, Canada The four 17-year-old boys from Toronto started out as Team Obelisk, joining with another team from the school, Genesis, to form Flashpoint. They believe that of the many benefits of the competition, one is the insight into how marketing and engineering works in the real world. Fusion Racing, Germany & UK This German/British collaboration brings together six 16-year-olds - three boys from the UK with two boys and a girl from Germany -with the two halves of the team meeting for the first time in Austin. They know that they need to get the maximum out of everything to make their dream of podium success come true. Galax, Singapore Three boys and three girls with a passion and drive to excel, the team liken themselves to an F1 car. We are fast. We are unstoppable, they say. With a target of breaking the world record, the team has big ambitions and they are also looking forward to meeting new friends from all over the world and having fun too. Harlem United, USA The six 16- and 17-year-olds, two girls and four boys, formed less than two years ago are the first Native American team to make it to the World Finals. Meeting new people, new cultures, as well as sharing theirs, is exciting for the team, as well as seeing an F1 Grand Prix for the first time. Hurricane Racing, Ireland Six 16- and 17-year-old boys formed a team less than a year ago and see themselves as the underdogs. They say their drive and motivation makes them different to the other teams, and quote a famous athlete saying: "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." Impulse, United Arab Emirates The youngest team competing in Austin, three boys and two girls aged 12 and 13, already have three years experience of F1 in Schools. They are passionate about racing and watch F1 to learn and get inspired for their design, with strong rivalry between the team members who support different F1 drivers. Infinite Racing, Greece Three boys and two girls with ages ranging from 15 to 18 won through to Austin after three years of competing. They want to enjoy their journey and gain as much experience as they can, meeting other teams, making new friendships and participating at the highest level. Infinitude, Australia An in-country collaboration with five boys and one girl, aged 15 to 16, formed after their National Finals. As a fairly new, young team they hope to use this to their advantage, bringing new and innovative ideas and changing the way that they learn. Inv1ctus, Portugal These four 18-year-old boys have taken four years to reach the World Finals, chasing their dream and never giving up. They say that F1 in Schools has given them things that money cant buy and school cant teach - and four years of pure adrenalin. Kinetikos Racing, Scotland Six 15- and 16-year-olds, five boys and one girl, have been together for a year. Committed, passionate and witty, they say that the secret to their success is Alberto Balsam shampoo! They are hoping to make plenty of friends from all over the world. Knight Hawks, United Arab Emirates Six 16- and 17-year-old boys from Dubai, the team members have been involved since 2011. They say that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of them and are looking forward to making a huge impact at the event. LeSports Chequered Flag Racing, China Three boys and two girls, all 17, formed this team last year and have been very successful in the Nationals. Theyre looking to beat the achievements of previous China World Finals teams and are keen to compete against other national champions. Lobos Racing, Mexico Named after the Mexican wolf, four 17- and 18-year-old boys want to show young Mexicans how a positive attitude and hard work can bring success and leave a mark. A big challenge for the team is manufacturing. Panteras Racing, Mexico The first-ever F1 in Schools champion of Mexico is a team of 17- and 18-year-olds. They are a team committed to their legacy, with a passion for learning and great attention to detail. Their journey has given them the chance to appreciate the complexity of Formula One. RPD Racing, Romania Four girls and one boy aged 15 to 18, they are from Romania, Turkey and England. This international quintet formed the team early this year and will be trailblazers for their countries, with a Romanian team participating at the World Finals for the first time. S.T.E.A.M Team, Jordan Five 13- to 16-year-olds with an interest in cars, planes, physics and engineering came together to form the team. They are looking forward to the experience of the World Finals and say that theyll learn from any mistakes, that they are aiming to win the Knock-out and, hopefully, the Finals. SinoDraco & Forward, China This team has a mix of 16- to 19-year-old students from schools in Beijing and Shanghai, with five boys and one girl. They are keen to compete against other national champions, are looking forward to making lots of friends, and know that they have plenty of challenges ahead at the World Finals. Sixth Degree, England Three boys, all 18, and three girls, all 16, will represent England. They believe that the strength of their engineering understanding will set them apart from other teams. A good chemistry within the team has made them highly productive. Supermac's Racing, Ireland Four boys and two girls, aged 16 and 17, are sponsored by Supermacs, Irelands largest fast food chain, With power, performance and precision at their heart, they are proud to have done all their engineering, design and manufacture in house. Tachyon, Wales Four 15-year-old girls from Wales will make their second appearance at a World Finals. Their toughest challenge has been fundraising, but with their team motto of keep calm and carry on theyve reached their target. Taurus Racing, USA Four 15- and 16-year-old boys are in their second year as a team and won the US National Finals. Their secret to success is passion and dedication, and they say theyve learnt an enormous amount about engineering and wouldnt be as smart as they are today if it werent for F1 in Schools. Team Aeronauts, Singapore Four 15-year-old girls formed a team in January 2015 and have been working hard, bonding closely and having a lot of fun together. They are an all-girls team that is passionate about engineering, seeking to speed past boundaries, despite engineering being a male-dominated industry. Team Mu Racing, USA Six 17-year-old boys have been friends throughout high school and built a passion for cars. The team has been together for one year and has been working tirelessly towards succeeding in the World Finals competition. Team United, UK Three boys and three girls, 14 to 15-years-old, came together from three other F1 in Schools team, uniting to create a team of skilled individuals. One of the benefits of F1 in Schools for this team is the confidence it has given them. Team ZERO, Australia Three 16- and 17-year-old boys describe themselves as Edge of Perfection. They are totally dedicated to the competition and are willing to work harder and sleep less than their competitors, saying that they wont give up until theyve achieved what they set out to do. Following Samsungs announcement on Tuesday that it would end production of its Note 7 smartphone, the company put in place a recall and exchange program for all who owned the device. T-Mobile USA CEO (NASDAQ:TMUS) John Legere joined FOX Business Network to weigh in on the steps Samsung has taken to take its faulty devices off the market. If youre going to recover from this, the first steps theyre taking are the right steps. To go err on the side [of the] customer, go get the devices in, give full optionality to all of your customers, and theyve come forward now with an extra incentive," Legere said. Specifically, Samsung customers that switch to another Samsung replacement device get a $75 credit from the company and $25 off the bill for everyone. He also discussed the launch of Apples (NASDAQ:APPL) iPhone 7 and why it was a big moment for his business. The iPhone 7 launch was by far the most historic iPhone launch ever at T-Mobile, he said. And on the first day of the launch we actually had our biggest device sale day ever. In the wake of the Samsung Note 7 revelation, though, Legere said its too early to tell whether Android users, who seem to be committed to that platform, will opt to transition to an Apple device instead. On the side, without the issue of Samsung, the Apple iPhone 7, I believe, is [an] historically successful device in and of itself. Supply is getting better and demand of that device on our customers has been historic. And I think, just on that, Apples stock and strength should be supported, Legere explained. The T-Mobile CEO discussed how important and beneficial social media platforms, particularly Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), are to his companys success. Twitter has been, amongst other social media, pinnacle in the way that I run T-Mobile, Legere said. Its so much about how we drive the brand, how we listen to customers, ideas for innovation, how we interest with employees. Legere, who just passed the three million follower mark, said many people dont understand how significant a tool Twitter is. I think Twitter is one of the most powerful possible platforms, he said. People understand how to create it in a way that drives value for them. And certainly we at T-Mobile have. Update 10-14-16 The story was corrected to reflect the Samsung incentives being offered;the bill credit is $25 versus 25%. One issue that worries millions of Americans has been missing from the first two presidential debates: will Social Security run dry? Do either of the candidates have a plan to ensure its solvency? According to AARP, Social Security faces a significant revenue shortfall that, while still a number of years away, would result in a nearly 25 percent, across-the-board benefits cut for all Social Security recipients if left unaddressed. "Opinions on who won [the second] Presidential debate will vary but who lost is clear: the millions of American voters who want to understand how the candidates would keep Social Security strong for future generations," said John Hishta, AARP senior vice president, campaigns, following last Sundays debate. A battleground AARP survey of boomer women found 71 percent want the next president and Congress to address Social Security immediately, and more than two-thirds have heard nothing about the candidates' plans. According to a June survey by the Pew Research Center of 1,655 registered voters, Social Security sits right at the top of most important issues for older voters. Seventy-eight percent of voters age 65 and older and three-quarters of those between the ages of 50 and 64 said this will be very important to their 2016 decision, Pew found. And that is not at all surprising. Today, there are more retirees than ever, and we are living longer than ever before which means the Social Security program is arguably more important than ever. According to the Social Security Administration, right now about 45 million Americans are at least 65 years old and receiving some form of Social Security payments, while about 10,000 people over the age of 62 leave the workforce every single day. According to the Society of Actuaries, a 65-year-old man today has a 41% chance of living to age 85, while a 65-year-old woman has a 53% chance of living to age 85. If the man and woman are married, there's a 72% chance that one of them will live to age 85 and a 45% chance that one will live to age 90. With that being the case, its no surprise that many worry they will outlive their retirement nest egg, which puts even more weight on Social Security. It also means, for many of us baby boomers, we will be working longer than earlier generations. Three out of five boomer workers believe that they could work to age 65 and not save enough to meet their retirement income needs. [A recent Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies] survey found that total household retirement savings among boomer workers is $147,000 (estimated median), said Catherine Collinson, president of TCRS. On her website, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she wants to enhance and protect Social Security for future generations by asking the wealthiest to contribute more, and expanding benefits for widows and those who took time out of the paid workforce to care for a child or sick family member. She said she will fight attempts to privatize or weaken these programs. I won't cut Social Security. ... I'll defend it, and I'll expand it, Clinton said. As for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, he said he is going to save Social Security, putting a stop to the tremendous waste, fraud and abuse in the program. We have in Social Security thousands of people over 106 years old. You know they don't exist. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing jobs back, Trump said. The Insured Retirement Institutes latest report finds 59 percent of baby boomers expect Social Security to be a major source of income during retirement. With that in focus, lets hope we can get some answers from the presidential candidates in the third and final debate October 19, which will be moderated by Fox News Chris Wallace. School is back in session, and in honor of that, theMotley Fool Answersduo ofAlison Southwick and former middle-school teacher Robert Brokamp are taking you back to the classroom -- virtually speaking.In this segment, we have a lesson about the evolution of the word portfolio. A full transcript follows the video. 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. This podcast was recorded on Sept. 13, 2016 Alison Southwick:The first class -- first period -- is English. And that's me. I'm your teacher. Robert Brokamp:Yeah! All right. I'm seated. I'm listening. I've got my pen ready. Southwick:You're seated and listening. So today for English class we're going to do etymology, and we're going to look at the origins of the word "portfolio." Brokamp:Really! OK. Go right ahead. Southwick:So portfolio, in finance, means your collection of investments and financial assets. It comes from (probably not surprisingly) the idea of the suitcase -- the portfolio suitcase. It comes from Italian as early as 1722 from the wordportafoglio... Brokamp:Really? Southwick:...portameaning to carry andfogliofrom Latin, meaning sheet or leaf. It's literally a way to carry your sheets of paper. Brokamp:Gotcha. Southwick:Now, it wasn't until the 1930s that the word portfolio started meaning the scope of responsibilities for a job. If you were in a government office, you would say, "Well, it's not part of your portfolio. It's not part of your job." It wasn't until the 1930s that people actually started using portfolio to mean a collection of securities, but it still wasn't widely used, nor was the theory behind portfolio like it is today. Brokamp:Oh, that's interesting. Southwick:Well, just wait for it, because it's going to get more interesting. Brokamp:Oh, it's getting even better. Southwick:So back then (in the 1930s), when people created a portfolio, it was based on finding a good stock and buying it at the best price. I mean, that's not bad in theory, but the problem was this was in the 1930s, and all of the information about a stock was based on gossip, whispers, hearsay... Brokamp:That's exactly right. Southwick:...and a very slow ticker tape machine. According toInvestopedia, at the time investing was perceived largely as a "form of gambling for people too wealthy or too haughty to show their faces at the track." That's a quote fromInvestopedia.Way to be cute,Investopedia. The term really took off in finance due to a 25-year-old grad student -- maybe you've heard of him -- Harry Markowitz. Brokamp:Markowitz. Southwick:Yes! Brokamp:I got an email from him once, but keep going. Southwick:You did? He's a Nobel Prize winner. Brokamp:I know! Southwick:Oh, my gosh. Brokamp:I wrote an article about him when he turned 80. I sent it to him and he sent me an email back. It was kind of cool. Southwick:Aw! So you're probably going to know a lot about what I'm going to talk about from this point. Markowitz is dubbed the father of the "modern portfolio theory," also known as MPT. And even though he didn't have a background in finance, he was fascinated by the economics of uncertainty, which is basically the stock market when we're talking about the economics of uncertainty. He thought it was cuckoo how nobody was worried about risk when it came to building a portfolio, and even in the 1950s, when he wrote his doctoral thesis, "Portfolio Selection," people only cared about buying a smattering of stocks that they thought were bargains. So he thought what you should do (instead of just buying a bunch of random stocks, bonds, etc. that you thought were a great price) was to reduce your risk while seeing the same returns, and you do that by deliberately offsetting high-risk return things like stocks with low-risk, low-return investments like bonds. Basically diversification. Brokamp:Right. Southwick:And now the words "diversified" and "portfolio" pretty much go hand in hand. Brokamp:Right. It's kind of crazy, because it's almost a given, nowadays, but back then it was this new concept, and he won a Nobel Prize for coming up with the idea of diversification. Southwick:He also proposed that once you knew your risk tolerance, you could just plug the right investments in. I don't know if you knew this, but his paper, "Portfolio Selection," didn't blow people out of the water immediately, mostly because four out of the 14 pages were text -- only four. The other 10 were graphs and numerical doodles, which sounds whimsical, but it probably wasn't. It was probably a lot of sweeping equations. But the way they described it onInvestopedia,I thought was adorable. Eventually his dissertation took off, since we all know the word portfolio today, and the term skyrocketed in the late 1950s and 1960s. If you look it up on Google (you can look up trends in literature), right after the late 1950s or early 1960s, the term for portfolio just skyrocketed. There you go. From suitcase for carrying your papers in Italy -- the portafoglio(that doesn't sound like Italian at all)... Brokamp:That sounds great. That sounds awesome. Southwick:...to the modern portfolio theory, or MPT. Brokamp:That's really interesting. 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. Vanguard manages more than $3.5 trillion of investor capital, far more thanother asset managers because its funds are some of the least expensive on the market today. But not all fund fees are as obvious as they may seem, and buying an index fund is more complicated than it may appear. In this clip fromIndustry Focus: Financials,The Motley Fool's Gaby Lapera and Jordan Wathen discuss the costs of owning an index fund, some fees you should try to avoid, and the difference in index fund strategies. A full transcript follows the video. 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. This podcast was recorded on Sept. 14, 2016. Gaby Lapera: Let's get to the nitty-gritty ofactually buying one. There are fees involved inbuying an index fund. We mentioned the commission, if you're buying an ETF, but that's the same as if you're buying any other stock. There's also purchase and redemption fees. Can you get a little bit into those for me, Jordan? Jordan Wathen:In the past, there used to be these fees called loads,and they've gone by the wayside. Basically, what a load was was an upfront fee,and sometimes a back-end feethat you would pay to buy or sell a mutual fund. Eventually,people figured out that paying 3%just to buy a mutual fund was a bad idea, andluckily, the world is changingand people are becoming more cognizant of cost,so they're going away. But purchase and redemption feesstill exist. You just want to be really aware, reallycognizant of the fact thatthere can be purchase and redemption fees on some funds. Even Vanguard, which is known for keeping costs as low as possible, charges some purchase and redemption fees on some of its bond index funds, for example. Lapera:Yeah. What you would belooking for in the text --because whenever you buy an index fund,you can go online andthe companies are required to provide you a lot of information about them. Or if you really want to, you can ask for a paper copy of this. Butthere should be something that says load or no load, and you're going to be looking for a no load fund. Wathen:Right. Even no load funds can have purchase and redemption fees. Lapera:... andthose will also be listed as well. So make sure to look at that. And the other thing thatwe touched on earlier isexpense ratios. If you happen to be buying it as a mutual fundinstead of as an ETF, you want to see how much the expense ratio is. It still matters for the ETF, but a little bit less. Wathen:Basically, what that does -- to give an explanation -- theexpense ratio is the cost of holding that fund over a yeardivided by how much you've invested in. If you have $1,000 to invest, and the fund charges 0.5% to invest in it, you'd basically be paying $5 per year on that amount. Lapera:Right. That's a really big thing you should check before you actually buy the fund, what fees are involved. Just to refresh, again, just in case, for whatever reason, you missed it -- it's purchase and redemption fees, whether or not it has a load, and the expense ratio. 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. In this segment ofMotley Fool Answers,Alison Southwick and Robert Brokamp, along with Motley Fool Wealth Management's Sean Gates and Joe Perna, consider the appropriate investment vehicles for a 20-something who (well done, John!) is already putting a fair share into his 401(k) and routing some to a brokerage account as well. The answer rides on one word: flexibility. A full transcript follows the video. The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known Social Security secrets could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after.Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. This podcast was recorded on Sept. 6, 2016. Alison Southwick:John B. writes: "A friend recently mentioned that it doesn't make sense for people our age, in our late 20s... " Yes, John, that is our age, should anyone ask. I am in my late 20s. "... to be investing in a personal brokerage account if not maxing out a 401(k)." He continues: "I contribute 11% to my 401(k) with an 8% employer match. I also contribute biweekly payments to some index funds in a side brokerage account. Does it make sense to bump up my 401(k) contribution and eliminate my brokerage contributions?" Joe, this one's going to you. Joe Perna:Yes. I would say [good for] John B. for saving diligently into the 401(k). It's good to get started early, so late 20s I would say, is starting fairly early. Southwick:Yeah, that's good. Robert Brokamp:That's pretty good. Perna:And saving 19% will mean taking into account the employer match. That's pretty hefty. That's a good chunk to be putting toward the retirement plan. When thinking about saving into a 401(k) in the taxable account, I like the idea of having a taxable account due to the flexibility that you have. That flexibility is huge when you're thinking about down payments for a house. When you're thinking about wedding costs if you're not married yet, or wedding rings, or automobile purchases. All of those things. Cost funds -- you need to be using money. When it's tied up in retirement accounts, you can't access those funds as easily. So those taxable accounts, I think, are great. To me, the flexibility is fantastic, and I would say 19% is a good amount to be putting toward retirement. Additional flexibility is fantastic. I think there's not a problem there, and I would disagree with your friend. Maybe defriend him on Facebook. Southwick:Oh, ho, ho. Perna:Maybe not that far. But I think you're doing a great job, John B. Southwick:So the next time a friend recently mentions that, then he can say, "No! I enjoy the flexibility that my taxable accounts give me because I plan on getting married and doing all these wonderful things with my life." Perna:That's right. Stay out of my business. Southwick:What do you know about me? You don't know me, friend! Gates:The next time he talks to people, he won't have anyone to go to, because he will have alienated all of his friends. Southwick:Who were just trying to help. Oh, man. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Commerce Department will release the November retail sales report Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. HOLIDAY SALES RISE: Economists forecast that retail sales likely rose 0.3 percent last month, according to data provider FactSet. This would follow the 0.8 percent jump in October. CONSUMERS UP SPENDING: More Americans have entered the holiday season eager to shop, reflecting the steady improvements in the job market over the past year. Retail sales have advanced a healthy 2.9 percent during the past 10 months, helping to support overall economic growth amid pressures created by global sluggishness and weak productivity levels from U.S. workers. Thanksgiving week typically marks the kick-off for holiday shopping, a critical gauge of whether Americans are excited to splurge on gifts for family, friends and themselves. The consumer spending gains largely stem from the unemployment rate at a healthy 4.6 percent and average hourly earnings that have risen 2.5 percent over the past year. Consumer spending accounts for the majority of all U.S. economic activity and have disproportionately contributed to an economy that expanded at an annual clip of just 1.8 percent over the first nine months of 2016. Retail spending patterns have continued to change as more shopping malls are struggling to preserve foot traffic. Sales at online retailers and mail order catalogs have shot up 11.1 percent so far this year, while restaurant spending has climbed 6 percent. Americans are spending more at auto dealers, furnishers and building materials stores. But they have pulled back from purchases at department stores and electronics stores. The retail sales report does not adjust for prices changes, so cheaper gasoline has suppressed sales levels at service stations. El Salvador is celebrating a win against a multinational mining company after an international arbitration panel in Washington ruled in its favor. Salvadoran Attorney General Douglas Menendez announced the decision in Washington Friday. Mining company Pac Rim Cayman had asked the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes to order El Salvador to pay $250 million for potential profits lost when the country did not grant it a license to mine gold. The government maintained that the company purchased by OceanaGold in 2013 had never met the regulatory requirements. OceanaGold said in a statement Friday that it was disappointed and would review the decision. The arbitration panel told OceanaGold to pay El Salvador $8 million for legal fees. Officials with the European Union said Friday that the 28-nation bloc is backing off a Swedish proposal to ban imports of American lobster into member countries. The European Commission has informed Sweden it will not propose the lobster be listed as invasive, a spokeswoman for the commission said. It will instead pursue measures less likely to disrupt trade. The EU decided last month to conduct an extensive review of a proposal to ban lobsters imported from the U.S. and Canada. A scientific panel had concluded Sweden raised valid points in requesting to declare the American lobster an invasive species. But the Invasive Alien Species Committee then showed that there was no support for listing the species, the commission spokeswoman said. Fishermen in New England and Canada, congressional leaders and U.S. scientists opposed the ban and welcomed the EU's decision on Friday. They had tried to make the case that the proposed ban wasn't based in sound science. "Given the pretty minimal risks, it seemed like a pretty draconian measure," said Rick Wahle, a research professor at the University of Maine's marine science school. "There's been no evidence of (American lobster) reproduction in European waters." The dispute started when Sweden announced it had found 32 American lobsters in its waters over several years. Sweden made the case that the American lobsters were a threat to native European lobsters, which also have economic value. But Wahle and others maintained that the lobsters were most likely escapees from storage facilities. Maine is by far the biggest lobster fishing state in the U.S., and the industry is critical to New England's fishing economy. America exports about $150 million in lobster to the European Union every year, and the crustaceans are an especially popular item at Christmas in some European countries. Canada also sells the same species of lobster to Europe. Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, said the decision is great news for New England lobstermen. She added that the industry will work to help educate consumers not to release foreign species into the ecosystem, as that could have contributed to the lobsters' appearance in Swedish waters. "We don't see any hiccups in the trade process going forward," Casoni said. Officials with Sweden's Agency for Marine and Water Management contended the country was right to be cautious about the appearance of a foreign species in its waters. Officials with the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Sweden is not a major importer of American lobster. It imported $3.6 million worth of lobster from the U.S. in 2015. Major importers such as Spain, Italy and France all imported more than $25 million worth. Image source: Great Panther Silver Limited via Flickr. Great Panther Silver (NYSEMKT: GPL) was one of several silver mining stocks that reported third-quarter production this week. Unfortunately, its numbers were a bit of a disappointment after consolidated production dropped by 12% to 953,632 silver equivalent ounces. Given where precious metal prices spent most of the quarter, that decline could not have come at a worse time for the company. Digging into the numbers Great Panther Silver currently owns and operates two silver mining operations in Mexico. That is a tiny portfolio compared to rival miners, such as silver industry giant Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW), for example, which currently receives production from 22 operating mines. Because of its small size, minor issues can have a much larger impact on Great Panther Silver's production. That was certainly the case during the third quarter when two temporary shutdownsrelated to worker deaths affected output. In addition to these closures, lower ore grades also hurt production. As a result, the company's silver production dropped 13% year over year to 510,491 ounces, while gold production declined by 11% to 5,423 ounces. Something similar happened last quarter when silver production fell 17% because the output from the San Ignacio mine had a higher gold-to-silver ratio, resulting in gold production's increasing 13% while silver equivalent production declined by 5%. Instability at the wrong time While Great Panther Silver does not expect its third-quarter production challenges to affect its ability to meet production guidance for 2016, it still could have an impact on the company. That is because the third quarter was a particularly lucrative one for precious metal prices. As the chart below shows, silver and gold prices were at their highest average price during the quarter: New York Silver Price data by YCharts. Because of that, the company could have made more money if it had been able to maintain production, while growth could have caused profits to surge. That is the likely fate of fellow Mexico-focused silver miner First Majestic Silver (NYSE: AG) after it set a new record for silver production during the third quarter, producing a total of 4.5 million ounces of silver equivalent from its six operating mines. First Majestic Silver said that it produced 3.1 million ounces of silver during the quarter, which was not only up 20% year over year but rose 9% from the second quarter, meaning that incremental production came online at the perfect time. Given the simultaneous increases in First Majestic Silver's production and precious metal prices, the company's upcoming third-quarter earnings report should be good. Silver Wheaton is also on pace to deliver strong production and profit growth in the third quarter after it recently boosted its stake in the Salobo mine, which gives it another 25% of the life-of-mine gold production. During the second quarter, increasing gold production from Salobo was one reason why Silver Wheaton's gold production jumped 40% year over year, which helped drive its cash flow up by 23%. Overall, Silver Wheaton's larger scale and diversification proved invaluable during the second quarter when it was able to more than offset significantly lower production at the Penasquito mine, which suffered from lower ore grades, a planned maintenance shutdown, and several start-up issues. Investor takeaway Great Panther Silver faced several production challenges in the third quarter, resulting in a double-digit dip in its output. That drop came at a bad time because silver and gold prices were riding high during the quarter, which will likely be reflected in the company's upcoming earnings report. Furthermore, the report highlighted one of the big risks of investing in a smaller mining company, which is that relatively minor operational issues can still have a significant impact on results. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Silver Wheaton. 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. Lawmakers from the New York and New Jersey region and beyond want the federal government to step in to help address safety concerns at New Jersey Transit in the wake of last month's deadly train crash in Hoboken. New Jersey's congressional delegation sent a letter Friday to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx asking the government to fulfill the transit agency's $10 million request to help it install the GPS-based positive train control system. The transit agency said in a filing in June that it hasn't made any additional progress on installing the system while approaching a December 2018 deadline. Foxx said at a news conference in New York that he wasn't ready to commit to the $10 million, but that the government believes very strongly in positive train control. "We think it is a lifesaver," Foxx said. "But we have a process that we have to go through. I can't make that commitment right this second." The crash and other safety concerns including an Associated Press analysis this week showing NJ Transit had more accidents than any other commuter railroad in the country in the past five years has raised criticism of the transit agency. State lawmakers in New Jersey are preparing to launch an investigation into safety and financial issues. Three Democrats on the U.S. House transportation and infrastructure committee also sent a letter to Foxx on Friday raising concerns regarding the Hoboken crash and what it describes as "New Jersey's blatant neglect of New Jersey Transit infrastructure and trains." The Democrats, including Rep. Albio Sires from New Jersey, requested details from an ongoing Federal Railroad Administration audit that has not been released publicly. "At some point there is no excuse. And I find it inexcusable when there are 100,000 lives riding every day on New Jersey Transit lines, that we don't have the top safety record - the record at one time we did have - that's what we need to aspire to, not less," Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, of New Jersey, said at the news conference. The Democratic leaders of New Jersey's Legislature announced that they will conduct a joint investigation into the agency and safety concerns. Senate President Steve Sweeney and oversight committee chairman Sen. Bob Gordon cast the Hoboken train crash as a catalyst to dive deeper into NJ Transit's woes. In particular, they say, they're concerned about underfunding of the agency's capital budget and the delay in implementing automatic train control technology. Investigators say positive train control is one of the things they're looking at in their review of the Sept. 29 crash, in which a train was traveling more than double the speed limit before crashing into the station, killing a woman standing on the platform and injuring more than 100. State Department of Transportation Chairman Richard Hammer, who chairs NJ Transit's board, on Thursday gave newly appointed executive Steven Santoro 30 days to issue a report on the agency's progress toward implementing the technology. The engineer on the Hoboken train hit the emergency brake when the train hit 21 mph, seconds before crashing into and then over a bumping post. Investigators are looking into whether the alert system kicked in. It's unclear whether it would have slowed the train in time. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the throttle on the train went from idle to the fourth position, about half-power, 38 seconds before impact, and the speed increased to 21 mph. The throttle went back to idle and the engineer hit the emergency brake about a second before hitting the bumper. A crash at Hoboken Terminal in 1985 with a train hitting the bumper at 10 mph caused considerably less damage than last month's, with images from the time showing a buckled concrete platform and a few toppled gates. That crash injured 54 people, but no one was killed. The railroad industry has said installing positive-train control technology would be impractical and cumbersome, given the high volume of trains arriving and departing at what is normally a low speed and the multitude of signals and other infrastructure already in place. "Although low-speed collisions do occasionally occur in these environments, the consequences are low; and the rate of occurrence is very low in relation to the exposure," the FRA stated in a 2010 regulatory filing on positive-train control. New Jersey Transit said Friday it would restore full service to the Hoboken Terminal on Monday morning, although two tracks will remain closed for repairs. ___ Balsamo reported from New York. Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York, and David Porter in Newark contributed to this report. Salesforce.com Inc's Chief Executive Marc Benioff has ruled out bidding for Twitter Inc , adding that it was not the "right fit", the Financial Times reported on Friday. "In this case we've walked away. It wasn't the right fit for us," Benioff told FT in an interview. Twitter's shares fell 5.2 percent to $16.88, while those of Salesforce rose 4.8 percent to $74. Twitter and Salesforce could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru) A third-quarter earnings beat by Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) was overshadowed Friday by ongoing fallout from a phony-accounts scandal that has plagued the bank in recent weeks. The scandal came to light in early September, as the bank was accused of fraudulent sales practices in its retail banking unit, specifically opening more than 2 million customer accounts without authorization. The bank was also accused of using unethical and overly aggressive cross-selling tactics a pressuring customers to purchase additional financial products or services that they didn't need a to meet sales goals. It has since delivered a hefty blow not only to the bankas character, but also its share price, which has seen a more than 9% drop. In September, customer visits with bankers at Wells Fargo branches dropped 10% from a year ago and 14% from August to September, while the number of consumer checking accounts opened fell 25% from 2015 and applications for credit cards tumbled 20% year over year. Further, mortgage referrals from retail banking dropped 24% in September from August while customer loyalty to Wells Fargo saw a roughly 5% drop off. Overall in the third quarter, Wells Fargoas community banking segment posted a 9% drop in net income from the year-ago period. After just two days on the job, Wells Fargoas newly minted CEO, Tim Sloan, reiterated he was adeeply committeda to restoring the tarnished reputation of the nationas third-largest bank by assets. aWe know that it will take time and a lot of hard work to earn back our reputation, but I am confident because of the incredible caliber of our team members,a Sloan said in a statement. aWe will work tirelessly to build a stronger and better Wells Fargo for generations to come.a Wells Fargo noted the damage was, for the most part, limited to its retail segments. While state treasurers, including those from California and Illinois, suspended business with Wells Fargo on the heels of the accounts scandal, the bankas wholesale banking September-ended deposit balances rose 4% from August, and were up 1% from a year ago. Meanwhile, wealth and investment management deposit balances saw an 11% jump from September 2015. aI know thereas a lot we need to get right. Make no mistake: I get it and our team is on it,a Sloan said during the companyas earnings call. Overall in the third quarter, Wells Fargo booked diluted profits per share of $1.03 on revenue of $22.3 billion. The results topped Wall Street expectations, though the bankas profit came in slightly under the $1.05 per share it earned over the same period in 2015. It was the fourth-straight quarter of profit decline for the company. It also noted non-interest expenses totaled $13.3 billion during the quarter, compared to $12.9 billion in the second quarter due in part to higher litigation costs and salaries. The San Francisco-based bank has reached agreements with multiple regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, due to retail-banking sales practices. The amount of settlements total $185 million, plus $5 million in customer remediation. Additionally, the bank reiterated action it has taken to ensure the sham practices donat happen again. As of October 1, the bank eliminated product sales goals for its retail banking team. It also appointed a new community banking chief, fired about 5,300 employees connected to the scandal, and implemented a procedure to send customers a confirmation email after a deposit account has been opened or credit card application has been submitted. In addition to launching an investigation into sales practices at Wells Fargo, the bankas independent board of directors also expanded the scope of its remediation to include 2009 and 2010. Though he outlined the immediate impact of the scandal to Wells Fargoas business, Sloan said itas atoo early to determine the long-term impact of the sales-tactics scandal on businessa and that matters will aget worse before they get better.a Until there is more clarity on the long-term effects, KBW analysts said it will likely be difficult for the companyas valuation to return to a historical premium as concerns remain about earnings power and quality. After initially rising more than 1% on the heels of its earnings results, shares of Wells Fargo ended the session little changed on Friday. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren urged President Barack Obama on Friday to replace Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White, saying she had undermined the agency's investor protection mission. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who advocates for strong financial regulation, also said in a letter to Obama that White had failed to develop a rule requiring publicly traded companies to disclose political spending. Warren has been a vocal critic of White, an independent who was chosen by Obama in 2013, but this is the first time she has called for White to be removed as chair. "I do not make this request lightly," Warren wrote to Obama. "The only way to return the SEC to its intended purpose is to change its leadership." She said Obama had the authority to choose one of the other two commissioners, both picked by the Democratic president, as the new chair. There are two vacancies on the five-member commission. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Peter Cooney) The German government is warning the nations Tesla owners about the dangers of putting too much trust in their cars Autopilot system. Reuters reports that the German Transport Ministry has taken the step of sending a letter to all of them as a reminder that they are ultimately responsible for the operation of their vehicles, and that Autopilot is merely an assist system. The feature, which can autonomously maintain the cars speed, brake for obstacles, steer within a lane and even change lanes on command, became a point of controversy after a driver in Florida suffered a fatal crash while using it. Tesla driver using Autopilot feature killed by tractor trailer An internal report from the German Transport Ministry called it a considerable traffic hazard," according to Der Spiegel. Since launching it last year, Tesla has modified the way Autopilot operates, in part to prevent its misuse, by restricting how long and at what speeds drivers are able to remove their hands from the wheel. Honda has teamed up with a Japanese 3D-printing startup named Kabuku to design and build a pint-sized electric vehicle dubbed Micro Commuter. The Micro Commuter is built on a rigid and lightweight tubular chassis designed in-house by Honda, while the exterior body panels and the panels in the cargo area were all 3D-printed. That doesn't mean the Micro Commuter is as exciting as a toaster. It features a surprising amount of intricate details including an emblem up front and decorative panels on either side. Related: Honda's new CR-V grows up with a sharp design, a nicer interior, and a turbo four A photo of the Micro Commuter's bare chassis reveals that it's a simple, back-to-the-basics machine. Dimensions haven't been published yet, but it's narrow enough that a single seat takes up most of the cockpit's width. It's equipped with a full instrument cluster, and a small screen on the left side of the three-spoke steering wheel that runs the infotainment system. The placement of the screen might sound odd at first, but keep in mind that Japan is a right-hand-drive market so motorists are accustomed to using their left hand to navigate touch screens in cars. Power comes from an all-electric drivetrain developed specifically for short-range trips. Technical details are still few and far between, but we know that Honda's newest battery-powered model offers 50 miles of driving range in ideal driving conditions. That's plenty for a vehicle that's not intended to leave crowded urban areas. The Micro Commuter sounds like a wild, one-off concept designed for the auto show circuit, but Honda explains it was developed for a Japanese company named Toshimaya that makes sake, among other products. The Micro Commuter will be used to deliver a dove-shaped shortbread cookies named Hato sabl, which is Toshimaya's most famous product. Want one? You're out of luck, because as of writing it doesn't sound like Honda's life-sized micro machine will be sold to the general public. Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 340,000 gas-electric hybrid Prius cars around the world 212,000 of them in Japan and 94,000 in North America, for a defect in their parking brakes. Japanese automaker Toyota said in a statement Thursday that it was not aware of any reports of accidents linked to the defect "as of Oct. 3, 2016," updating an earlier statement, in which it had said it was still looking into various reports. Toyota said the parking brake cable can disengage unexpectedly, causing the brakes to stop working properly. So if the car is left in any gear other than park, it could start rolling away, and possibly crash. In the recall announced Wednesday, Toyota said 17,000 Prius vehicles were recalled in Europe, and the rest in Australia and other regions. The problem models were manufactured from August 2015 through October 2016. Owners will receive notices starting next month. The company said all the vehicles were manufactured at its Tsutsumi plant in Toyota city, Japan, the company's headquarters, one of a handful of plants around the world that make the Prius. Toyota's brand suffered in 2009, when the company was embroiled in a massive global recall over quality lapses, including faulty brakes, defective floor mats and sticky gas pedals. Its brand power has bounced back since then, after the company, long known for high worker morale, reviewed its quality control. Toyota Prius test drive A charity that focuses on protecting rainforests has demanded that Leonardo DiCaprio step down from his role as a United Nations Messenger for Peace due to his alleged ties to corrupt businessmen with not-so-environmentally-friendly track records. According to Variety, the Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Fund asked the Oscar-winning actor to relinquish his title Friday amid allegations of his relationships with Riza Aziz and Jho Low, two businessmen at the heart of a Malaysian corruption scandal. Leonardo DiCaprio has consistently refused to explain his close personal and financial ties with key persons of the Malaysian 1MDB scandal, Lukas Straumann, director of the Bruno Manser Fund, told Variety. This is unacceptable. If DiCaprio fails to distance himself from Malaysian corruption, he should resign as UN Messenger of Peace for climate change. We cant save the environment if we fail to stop corruption. Both Aziz and Low are accused of funneling money from the 1MDB fund to various projects involving the star actor. DiCaprios role as producer and actor in "The Wolf of Wall Street" as well as donations to his charity, the Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation, are all said to have received diverted funds at the behest of these two men. 1MDB, whose full name is the 1 Malaysian Development Berhad, was formed with the goal of encouraging economic development within Malaysia. It has, however been plagued by corruption. Clare Rewcastle Brown, head of the Sarawak Report, which monitors corruption in Malaysia, implicated the fund in paying off politicians who have contributed to environmental degradation within the country. According to Brown, one of 1MDBs primary activities was to pay off the chief minister of Sarawak, the Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, one of the hardest hit areas in terms of deforestation. The announcement comes just ahead of DiCaprios European premiere of his new film, "Before The Flood," a documentary about climate change. Winning an Oscar is usually a happy moment in an actor's life. For Nicole Kidman, winning her Academy Award for Best Actress in 2003 for her role in "The Hours" was one of the loneliest nights of her life. "Winning the Oscar was a turning point, but not in terms of my life as an actor, because it was incredibly validating, but it actually symbolized loneliness to me because I didn't have anyone to share it with at that stage in my life," Kidman said during a Q&A session at the British Film Institute London Film Festival. Nicole Kidman on marrying Tom Cruise at 23: 'What?' Kidman had split from fellow actor Tom Cruise in 2001 and it wouldn't be until 2006 that she'd marry country music star Keith Urban. "I was like, 'Wow, this means I need to get my act together and I want to fall in love,' so it was weird," she said. Kidman is not happily married to Urban and she recently gushed to Red Magazine that the pair are "stronger than ever" after celebrating their 10-year anniversary. "That's really big for us," Kidman shared. "It was really up and down for the first three months. We've been through a lot for 10 years. And we're stronger than ever." In 1998, Minnie Driver was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in "Good Will Hunting" -- however, the star says she almost didn't get the role because the producers didn't find her attractive enough. The "Speechless" star sat down with Andy Cohen on Wednesday's "Watch What Happens Live," where she was asked what the rudest thing anyone in Hollywood has ever said to her. "I really can't [name names] because then I'll never work again, and I have to work because I have a mortgage," Driver said, before offering, "You know what? The producer of 'Good Will Hunting' did not think I was hot enough to be in that film, and did not want me in the film." WATCH: 8 Actresses Who Were Told They Weren't Pretty Enough to Succeed While "Good Will Hunting" had several producers and executive producers, the 46-year-old actress said she actually didn't remember who gave the note, explaining it "came from the top." However, it was the film's stars and co-creators, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, as well as director Gus Van Sant, who championed Driver to get the part. "[They] fought very hard for me to play that role," Driver shared. "I am grateful to them until this day." PHOTOS: Stars Who Almost Got the Part Despite getting the part, and snagging an Oscar nomination for her work, the actress admitted that the comment did sting a bit, and stayed with her for a while. "But I was also together enough to know that hotness is a perception, not really a point of view," she added. An unusual condition called sleep paralysis has been frightening people for centuries, and now a new review sums up the many creepy stories from different cultures that try to explain the episodes of waking up and being unable to move. Cultural explanations that try to account for the terrifying experience of waking up feeling paralyzed range from alien abductions to strange demons creeping into people's bedrooms and sitting on their chests, according to the review, published in September in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Together, the stories show how a single biological phenomenon can be interpreted differently by societies, the researchers, led by Jose F. R. de Sa of the Jungian Institute of Bahia in Brazil, wrote in their review. The biological explanation of sleep paralysis is that two aspects of REM sleep dreaming and paralysis are occuring while a person is awake, said Brian Sharpless, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Argosy University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved with the review. Sleep paralysis occurs more often than most people think, and it is more likely to occur when a person is waking up than during other parts of sleep, he said. During REM, or rapid eye movement sleep, dreaming takes place and the brainstem paralyzes the body by inhibiting motor neurons, Sharpless told Live Science. But normally, dreaming and paralysis occur when people are unconscious, said Sharpless, who is also the author of "Sleep Paralysis: Historical, Psychological and Medical Perspectives" (Oxford University Press, 2015). When someone experiences sleep paralysis, these two things occur while a person is conscious, with his or her eyes open, Sharpless said. This means that the dreams are technically hallucinations, and they're just as vivid as anything you'd see when you're awake, he said. In addition, the dreams can be "multisensorial," meaning a person may not only see things, but hear and, in some cases, feel them too, he said. Sleep paralysis around the world The sense of touch is very often highlighted in explanations of sleep paralysis around the world. Many cultures refer to a weight on the chest, according to the review. In certain parts of Brazil, for example, there are folkloric tales of a creature with long fingernails that lurks on people's rooftops during the night. The creature, called "Pisadeira," comes into a person's house and tramples on the chests of those who sleep, according to the review. Catalonia, a region in Spain, has the tale of the "Pesanta," a black animal, often a dog or a cat, that invades people's homes and sits on their chests while they are asleep, making it difficult to breathe and causing nightmares, the authors wrote. In Newfoundland, Canada, it's the "Old Hag" that comes and sits on a sleeping person. And among an ethnic group in Vietnam and Laos, a "pressing spirit" sits on sleepers' chests and tries to asphyxiate them, the researchers found. The idea of a weight holding someone down is also reflected in the terminology used in Mexico to describe sleep paralysis, according to the review. Translated from Spanish, the phrase means "a dead body climbed on top of me." Some cultures use tales of spells cast by shamans or summoners to explain sleep paralysis. In Inuit culture, for example, people tell of shamans who can cast a spell when a person is sleeping, causing an experience called "uqumangirniq," during which a person can't move, talk or scream and is visited by a shapeless or faceless presence, according to the review. And Japanese folklore refers to a summoner who calls upon a vengeful spirit to suffocate enemies through a phenomenon called the "kanashibari," which is "the state of being totally bound, as if constrained by metal chains," the review found. In other cultures, ghosts or supernatural beings are the perpetrators. In a study of Cambodian refugees from the 1970s, researchers found that many patients referred to something called "khmaoch sangkat" or "the ghost that pushes you down." In Thailand, a ghost called "phi am" haunts people when they are half asleep and unable to move. And in some traditional Chinese cultures, "ghost oppression" caused sleep paralysis, the researchers wrote. The researchers noted that the purpose of the review was not to belittle the various spiritual explanations for sleep paralysis but rather to "enrich the knowledge about these experiences and their psychological and cultural aspects," they wrote. Originally published on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. An investigation has found that a surgeon at a Massachusetts hospital removed a kidney from the wrong patient after failing to confirm the patient's identity. State and federal health investigators say the surgeon in July was supposed to remove a kidney with a tumor from a patient at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, but instead removed a healthy kidney from a different patient with the same name. Authorities say the hospital failed to follow proper patient identification protocols by checking birth dates. The patients were several years apart in age. St. Vincent has been put on notice that its Medicare and Medicaid agreements with the government will be terminated unless it takes corrective action. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 On Saturday, a California police officer was shot and killed when responding to a domestic disturbance call. Lesley Zerebny, 27, left behind her husband, Zachary, and their 4-month-old daughter, Cora. In response, local women donated breast milk to the Palm Springs police officers family, KTVU reported. A KTVU reporter, Claudine Wang, posted the story on her Facebook page on Monday, sharing that a friend sent her photos of coolers filled with donated breast milk. The effort started on social media when a family member asked for prayers. More than 500 ounces of breast milk from moms in the Monterey area were donated to a family member to bring to Cora. But this is not about breast milk or formula, its about the human heart and about the desire and the capacity of people to give, Wang wrote. Supporters launched a GoFundMe campaign for the family and have already raised over $114,000. In an update posted two days ago, the supporters thanked those who donated breast milk, but said they would no longer be accepting breast milk from the public. Before her death, Zerebny was nursing and supplementing with formula. What a wonderful, selfless act of love from the community, the update reads. Thank you again for loving this precious girl, we will continue to ask for your support in this trying time in various ways so continue to watch our updates. Zerebny served with the police department for 18 months, according to the GoFundMe page. Her husband of almost five years is a Riverside County sheriffs deputy. After her husband was killed in a hit-and-run in 2004, Christine Fensome essentially hid in her house for five years, her family says. Then she met a man with whom she found happiness again. That happiness, however, was cut short. Just 10 days after their Sept. 17 wedding, the British woman awoke on her honeymoon in Mexico with "terrible sickness and diarrhea with funny sounds coming from her throat," her mom tells the Telegraph. Fensome, 54who had eaten grouper the previous night, per the Sunwas rushed to a hospital, where she died within 10 minutes. The cause: ciguatera poisoningan illness caused by eating contaminated reef fishwhich caused her to have a heart attack, her brother says; fatal cases are rare. Experts explain a toxin produced naturally by algae and found primarily in the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Central America is consumed by small reef fish, which are eaten by larger reef fish like snapper and amberjack that make their way onto dinner plates. A study notes cooking doesn't eliminate the toxin, usually concentrated in organs or viscera; it can lead to months of nasty symptoms from poor circulation to shooting pains. Though as many as 50,000 cases of ciguatera poisoning may occur annuallythe number is expected to spike as the algae moves into the Gulf of Mexico and US southeast Atlanticinformation about this "hidden death sentence ... appears to be quite limited," says Fensome's brother. "If anything can come from my sister's death it is raising awareness about eating fish abroad." (This newlywed was killed by lightning.) This article originally appeared on Newser: The New Bride Ordered Fish. It Was a 'Death Sentence' This year marks five years since I retired from the United States Army. That anniversary prompts reflection on the privilege I had of serving for over 37 years with our men and women in uniform, on the honor of leading them in tough missions, and on the wonderful support for our troops from those back home, including many in Congress. Of those congressional allies, there has been no greater champion than Senator John McCain. The soldiers, sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen with whom I was privileged to serve came from every part of the country and all walks of American life. Like all of us, they had their own histories, their own personalities, their own strengths and weaknesses, their own opinions, and their own hopes and dreams. They also had one thing in common loyalty to each other, loyalty that became particularly fierce when in tough combat situations. Their example is worth recalling and celebrating at a time when political campaigns play on the differences that divide us rather than on the common ideals and sense of humanity that unite us. To be fair, some of our elected representatives have risen above that stereotype, particularly in their support for the military. Senator McCain is one. He and his friends Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman the Three Amigos, as we called them were steadfast in their backing during the challenging Surge in Iraq. We could not have achieved what we did without their unwavering support. While I have chosen not to formally endorse or oppose candidates for public office since leaving government, I do believe it is appropriate to express my appreciation on rare occasions for public servants who share the values and virtues of our servicemen and women, and whose records speak to their dedication to those in uniform. I did so two years ago when a former Marine captain, who served impressively in the field in Iraq, reporting directly to me over multiple tough tours, ran as a Democrat for a Congressional seat. And I do it here in expressing my admiration for Senator McCain. I have known Senator McCain for over 20 years, engaging with him on many occasions before the Senate Armed Service Committee and during his numerous trips to Iraq and Afghanistan and other locations in the U.S. Central Command area. I repeatedly found him to be one of the most experienced, knowledgeable, and principled members of that committee. His political resolve has, in fact, been as noteworthy as the considerable courage he demonstrated while in uniform. Nothing captured this better than when, in speaking of his support for the Surge, he observed, I would rather lose an election (for president) than lose a war. That support did cost him votes, but his judgment was ultimately vindicated. I have always respected Senator McCains intentions, his forthrightness, and his integrity even on those occasions where we did not see an issue exactly the same way. Most importantly, I always admired and appreciated his sincere concern for and loyalty to the men and women of our armed forces. No one did more to see that our soldiers, sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen had what they needed to prevail on the battlefield and to be prepared for other contingencies as well. I appreciated that deeply when I was in uniform, and I appreciate it deeply now. Nearly a decade ago, I had the honor and privilege of being appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas by former President George W. Bush. My service as the top federal law enforcement officer for more than 33,000 square miles instilled in me an incredible sense of gratitude for the brave men and women who selflessly march into harms way each day to uphold law and order in our communities. Since I first came to Congress, Ive been dedicated to fighting on behalf of our nations law enforcement. And at a time when our nations police are being targeted simply for choosing to wear blue, we must do all we can to ensure theyre sufficiently equipped to endure the many dangers they encounter on the job. In recent months, our country has witnessed a tragic wave of violence targeted against our law enforcement. These events serve as grave examples of the types of lethal situations that make protective defense equipment so important to police safety. Theres simply no excuse to allow our law enforcement officers to go into the field left unprepared and unprotected. Just this past weekend, two police officers in Palm Springs, Calif. were fatally shot in a lengthy standoff that occurred during their response to a domestic violence call. And in June, it was state and local law enforcement officers who were first on the scene when the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 unfolded in Orlando. Defensive equipment proved vital when an anti-ballistic helmet prevented a bullet to the head from killing a responding officer. And in July, a police ambush in Dallas took the lives five officers, including DART Police Officer Brent Thompson of my own district, reminding our nation how perilous it can be to put on a uniform. While the senseless targeting of law enforcement remains inexcusable by any standard, we must not let this outrage distract us from practicable and achievable efforts to provide our officers with the most sophisticated and effective equipment available. Unfortunately, our state and local law enforcement officers are facing decreased access to such equipment at a time when they need it the most. This scenario is the result of policy changes made pursuant to an Executive Order issued last year to restrict state and local police from accessing surplus defense equipment that was once provided by a federal program called the 1033 program. After this action was announced, state and local law enforcement officers across the country expressed their deep concerns about the impact it would have on their ability to defend themselves in the line of duty, and I began seeking legislative action to reverse this life-threatening and indiscriminate executive decision. My commitment to restoring access to the 1033 program has been reinforced by the personal testimonies of law enforcement officials in my own district and across the country. Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the type of armored vehicles that are being recalled as a result of the Obama administration restrictions to the 1033 program allowed officers to safely approach the San Bernardino shooters escape vehicle. This equipment, while politically incorrect, saved lives on that day, Canterbury said. Rockwall County Sheriff Harold Eavenson, who was elected to become president of the National Sheriffs Association in June 2017, echoes these sentiments. According to Eavenson, Mine Resistant Armor Protected vehicles not only provide the ability to be used as a shield during active shooter situations, but prove equally critical in rescuing citizens in extreme flooding conditions like we have recently seen in Louisiana. For these reasons Eavenson spent nearly three years in pursuing such equipment for his own county. In June, substantial progress was made on this front when the House passed an amendment I co-introduced to an annual appropriations bill along with Rep. David Reichert (R-Wash.). If signed into law, this measure will help restore our federal live-saving equipment programs for the duration of a fiscal year. As a next step, I urge my colleagues to pass my standalone bill, the Protecting Lives Using Surplus (PLUS) Equipment Act of 2016 (H.R. 4880) to permanently undo the Executive Order that limited access to this program. Lets face it theres been far too much violence in the past few months alone to risk losing one more police officers life that could have been saved with equipment our country already has. Theres simply no excuse to allow our law enforcement officers to go into the field left unprepared and unprotected. Providing them with the best equipment possible is the least we can do in return for the great sacrifice they make on our behalf every single day. We figured the establishment media was in the tank for Hillary Clinton. Now we know for sure, thanks to WikiLeaks. Not only are the elites supporting her candidacy, they are part of her campaign. John Harwood writes for the New York Times, and appears on CNBC. He was a debate moderator. He reported back to Hillarys campaign on how nasty he had been to trump. They love him! The New York Times itself allowed Hillary to veto certain quotes: if she didn't like 'em, they were out. This is the New York Times giving its coverage to a candidate, handing over the writing, while claiming fairness. Donna Brazille told Hillary, in advance, about a question that would be asked by CNN at a town hall debate. Can you say collusion? The Boston Globe got together with Hillarys campaign to "maximize her presence" in the paper. Where would you like to be? How can we make you more prominent? Univision, a Spanish language station, offered campaign suggestions: Hit Trump hard they said. At least they're honest. We know they hate Trump. But step back, look at what's going on. The establishment is rabidly anti-Trump. Thats fine for the editorial pages. But its not fine when journalists collude with a campaign, behind the scenes, and then claim they are fair. They're not. They have ruined American journalism. No wonder they are held in virtual contempt by so many Americans. After binging for hundreds of minutes on the Donald Trump sex-talk tape, the liberal networks are now tiptoeing around the Wikileaks revelations, but spinning it as some kind of Russian conspiracy. CBS reporter Nancy Cordes said there were was Enough to create a steady stream of embarrassment for the Clinton campaign, which aides argue is exactly what the Russians and Trump want. What theyre blatantly failing to cover is the growing list of reporters openly colluding with the Clinton campaign. Their professionalism is completely compromised. This is only a partial list: ABCs George Stephanopoulos harshly interviewed author Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer on his Sunday show on April 26, 2015. In an e-mail, Clinton campaign staffer Jesse Ferguson boasted Stephanopoulos refuted Schweizer. Great work everyone. This interview is perfect. He lands nothing and everything is refuted (mostly based on our work). Stephanopoulos doesnt just donate to the Clinton Foundation. He donates at the office. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times was singled out as a pliant recycler of their narratives: We have has [sic] a very good relationship with Maggie Haberman of Politico over the last year. We have had her tee up stories for us before and have never been disappointed. Mark Leibovich of the New York Times gave Hillarys communications director Jen Palmieri you could veto what you didnt want for quotes to be included in a Hillary profile in July. At the end of an email, Palmieri listed her vetoes, then shot back like a boss: Let me know if that is not clear. Working from an iPhone on the plane so am not able to access the transcript to cut and paste. CNBCs John Harwood who moderated the CNBC GOP debate/debacle was telling Podesta how great Hillary looked: She looked so much more comfortable talking to Andrea today than to Brianna a few weeks ago. He sent the Clinton aide a tweet he posted defending Hillarys ethics: if theres any specific/plausible suggestion of nefarious email @HillaryClinton was trying to hide, I havent heard it. CNBCs Becky Quick who also moderated the CNBC GOP debate promised John Podesta after Sylvia Mathews Burwell as nominated as HHS secretary: I will make sure to defend her when things get further along in the nomination process. Univision owner Haim Saban, a Clinton donor, is also advising on strategy. John Podesta emailed that Haim thinks we are under reacting to Trump/Hispanics. Thinks we can get something by standing up for Latinos or attacking R's for not condemning....Haim is right - we should be jamming this all the time. This, in addition, to his networks blatant advertising for Obamacare signups. Its not just WikiLeaks that demonstrate the medias Clinton colllusion. In February, Gawker.com acquired a set of emails to Hillarys State Department PR aide Phillippe Reines. There were more revelations in those: Mike Allen at Politico offered Reines a cozy Politico chat with Chelsea Clinton: "No one besides me would ask her a question, and you and I would agree on them precisely in advance." When exposed, Allen spun the offer as "clumsy." A better word was corrupt. Ken Vogel at Politico sent a story on Clinton fundraising to DNC national press secretary Mark Paustenbach for a pre-publication review. Now, checking for confirmation of some numbers or confirming a quote that's OK. But the entire story? That is journalistic malpractice. The Democrats have Politico on a leash. Juliet Eilperin, a White House correspondent for The Washington Post, emailed Paustenbach at the DNC to tout how biased she was. Dear Mark, I think you all will be totally fine with it. Thanks again for all your help. Best, Juliet." So the DNC gives blessings now? The front-page story was headlined: "Obama, who once stood as party outsider, now works to strengthen Democrats." The story wasn't as bad as a 2014 front-page puff piece from Eilperin touting how the Obama White House has changed the junk-food culture: "Calorie counts and hummus with vegetables are in." Mark Ambinder at The Atlantic, a former political reporter/consultant for ABC and CBS, may been the most obedient to Reines. In July 2009, Hillary was delivering a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ambinder wanted an advance copy of the speech. Reines insisted on conditions. "You must describe her tone as 'muscular,' and you must note that her most prominent underlings at the State Department (George Mitchell, Richard Holbrooke) would be seated in front of her to convey her command of the staff." Got it, Ambinder shot back. Later that day, he published a story doing Hillarys bidding right at the top, touting a muscular speech Hillary would deliver that day in front of her rival power centers in the State Department. These people are touted to the American people as independent journalists, or objective reporters. Just a few emails can reveal they act like Hillarys media butlers and maids. Three women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of offenses ranging from sexual harassment to rape relived their encounters with him Thursday night. Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey joined Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a news conference prior to Trump's debate with Hillary Clinton Sunday to discuss their experiences. On Thursday, they spoke to Fox News' Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview on "Hannity". "I thought that we might possibly be able to bring this out and influence people," said Broaddrick, a former nursing home administrator who claimed she was raped by Bill Clinton during his campaign for Arkansas governor in 1978, "and be able to tell them that Hillary is not for all women. Hillary is only for one woman and thats herself." "Everybody is calling Bill Clinton's crimes infidelities," said Willey, a former Clinton White House volunteer who in March 1998 accused Bill Clinton of assaulting her five years earlier. "Rape, sexual assault, sexual harrassment ... are not infidelities. They are crimes and misdemeanors." All three women accused Bill or Hillary Clinton of pressuring them to keep quiet about their alleged assaults. Broaddrick described an encounter with Hillary Clinton weeks after her busband, then the Arkansas attorney general, allegedly attacked her. "She comes straight to me and says to me, big smile, very pleasant voice, says to me, 'Im Hillary Clinton. Its so nice to meet you. I just want to thank you for everything that you do for Bills campaign,'" Broaddrick said. At that point, she added, Clinton grabbed Broaddrick's arm, pulled her close and said, "Do you understand everything you do?" "I felt like at that moment, she knew everything and was saying, 'You better keep quiet,'" Broaddrick said Thursday. When asked why she didn't go to the police, Broaddrick said of Bill Clinton, "He could close the doors of my business ... He was the police." The future 42nd president asked Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, to keep quiet about their alleged encounter in May 1991. "He said, 'You're a smart girl, let's keep this between ourselves,'" said Jones, who later sued Clinton for sexual harassment. Hannity was also joined by the fourth woman who appeared with Trump at the pre-debate press conference: Kathy Shelton, who says Hillary Clinton besmirched her character while defending a man Shelton accused of raping her when she was 12 years old in 1975. As part of her defense, Clinton (then known as Hillary Rodham), described Shelton in an affidavit as "emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing." She also accused Shelton of falsely claiming to have been attacked in the past. "All of these things ... were intended to force Kathy to undergo further psychological evaluation and interrogation," Shelton's attorney Candice Jackson told "Hannity." "If she was for children, she would not have put me through what I went through," Shelton added. A decade later, Clinton was recorded telling an Arkansas newspaper that Shelton's attacker had passed a lie detector test, which as she put it, "forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs." Shelton says the exchange proved Clinton attacked her in the affidavit despite knowing her client was guilty. "She [was] gonna win her first case whatever it takes," Shelton said. "Whether she needs to lie, cheat or steal." Hillary Clinton and her closest aides produced a gameplan to respond to questions about Bill Clintons alleged sexual misconduct and Hillary Clintons treatment of her husbands accusers nine months before Donald Trump made the issue a prominent topic in the presidential race, according to newly published emails from WikiLeaks. The emails, purportedly hacked from Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podestas account, reveal the questions Clintons team expected her to face about the women whove accused her former president husband of sexual assault and rape and the optimal way to present her answers. The most extensive information was contained in a 157-page debate prep book attached to a March email from Campaign Manager Robby Mook. At the time, Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee, was locked in a tight primary battle with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The prep book was divided into three sections -- personal/political, domestic and foreign policy -- and 58 topics, ranging from Can the American people trust you? to Should we call this Islamic terrorism? Topic 14 was WJC: What do you say to the women making accusations? Specifically, the question asked if Hillary Clintons actions helping her husband cast doubt on these womens stories was in line with feminism. Clintons strategy, as it was for many answers in the prep book, was to dismiss the questions as off-base and outdated where possible and then pivot to her vision for the country. Thats not true, the first point of a five-point answer began. And all of this was fought out in the 90s. I understand that now people want to bring it back for their own political reasons. Though Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and Clinton didnt meet face-to-face until last month at Hofstra University, Trump repeatedly brought up Bill Clintons past during his own hard-fought primary campaign, a preview of how he would eventually combat Hillary Clinton. Even in January, when the debate prep book was initially compiled, and when Trumps nomination was far from a sure thing, the billionaire businessmans attacks didnt go unnoticed. So if Donald Trump wants to attack my family, thats his choice, point four of the answer began. Listening to Donald Trump on the campaign trail, its clear to me that he and I see the world very differently. Point five added a twist on Trumps Make America Great Again slogan: You dont make our country great by tearing our people down. Trump didnt broach the issue with Clinton during the first debate at Hofstra, opting for a more restrained approach. But on Oct. 7, an 11-year-old hot mic tape surfaced showing Trump making lewd remarks about women. Clinton and her surrogates seized on the footage, which led several Republicans to un-endorse their partys nominee who since that development has faced separate allegations he groped and forced himself on women, which he denies. While apologizing for the 2005 tape remarks, Trump swiftly returned to citing the allegations made by several women against Bill Clinton. In Sundays debate, he said: Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously. Clintons answer echoed the debate prep strategy from months earlier. Well, first, let me start by saying that so much of what hes just said is not right, but he gets to run his campaign any way he chooses, she said. He gets to decide what he wants to talk about. Instead of answering peoples questions, talking about our agenda, laying out the plans that we have that we think can make a better life and a better country, thats his choice. FoxNews.com's Cody Derespina contributed to this report. Newly leaked emails show the political calculations that went into Hillary Clinton's decision to back away from supporting the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal aides privately conceded she would "ultimately" support. The deliberations were revealed in hacked emails purportedly from Campaign Chairman John Podesta's account that WikiLeaks has published. In one March 25, 2015, message shortly before Clinton entered the race, senior speechwriter Dan Schwerin sent senior staff, including Podesta and communications director Jennifer Palmieri, a draft letter on trade. This draft assumes that she's ultimately going to support both TPA and TPP. It focuses on what needs to happen to produce a positive result with TPP, and casts support for [Trade Promotion Authority] as one of those steps, he wrote. At the time of the emails, Congress was preparing for a heated debate on what's known as trade promotion authority (TPA), which would give the White House power to fast-track deals like the TPP. However, Clinton primary foe Bernie Sanders was an ardent opponent of the Pacific nation trade pact, arguing it's bad for workers. At the time, Clinton found herself in an awkward spot, having been a past supporter, as some union figures spoke out against the deal. In a November 2012 speech in Australia, Clinton infamously proclaimed that TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade. The statement dogged Clinton throughout the primary campaign, and Republican Donald Trump since has repeatedly used it in debates and on the campaign trail. Clinton would eventually back off her support, saying in an interview with PBS in October 2015, "I am not in favor of what I have learned about it. ... I dont believe its going to meet the high bar I have set." (According to her current website, Clinton would reject trade agreements, like the TPP, that dont meet high standards.) In an email right before Clinton's reversal, Schwerin acknowledged the difficult line the campaign was trying to walk. This is indeed a hard balance to strike, since we dont want to invite mockery for being too enthusiastically opposed to a deal she once championed, or overclaiming how bad it is, since its a very close call on merits, he wrote on Oct. 6, 2015. This followed months of internal debate over the problems the TPP issue was causing with unions and voters. In an April 13 email, pollster John Anzalone advised against making this decision in a policy vacuum or just because we are concerned about a story of her changing her mind or taking on Obama. He went on to note the political peril of getting on the wrong side of Labor on the only issue they care about has ramifications on the ground in early primary states. I say we suck it up and be as definitive as possible from the beginning that we dont like these deals. We will be right with voters and right with labor. We get no integrity gold star for staying pure on this issue because of one line if friggin [Hillary Clintons book] Hard Choices or because this is a key issue for a lame duck president, he wrote. Campaign Manager Robby Mook replied that the boss won't be comfortable putting her foot down. Anzalone continued to press the political danger of angering labor. He said he's concerned the issue is eating us alive for being on the wrong side and giving Progressives a real reason to try and push someone more weighty into the primary. As late as June 2015, Clinton was making the case internally for TPP, circulating a column by former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers in The Washington Post arguing that rejecting TPP would damage American leadership. Damning w[sic] faint praise but good arguments, she told senior foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan. Podesta disagreed, saying the deal ran counter to the concerns of average Americans, while Sullivan stressed the importance to American power. In response, Clinton said Sullivans arguments would work with more sophisticated audiences or interviews. The issue of TPP was the primary reason that the AFL-CIO executive committee recommended in July 2015 to delay its endorsement of Clinton until she had moved closer to their position on trade issues. The Trump campaign seized Thursday on the email revelations, pointing to the March email acknowledging Clinton's continued support as evidence she "lied." "Todays email release reveals what we already knew, that Hillary Clinton supports TPP and TPA and she lied about it to the American people at the debate," Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement. While many analysts dismiss Donald Trumps chances of winning over black voters, the Republican nominee has an unlikely ally making his case -- the founder of a group that once rallied black voters for Bernie Sanders. Bruce Carter, who led "Black Men for Bernie," told FoxNews.com he had a change of heart after he traveled to urban communities and saw the levels of poverty in Democrat-controlled areas of the country. Once I got involved, I realized that the Democratic Party was operating as if they own the country, and that was a major turn off for me, Carter said. I didnt want to represent a party that saw its people in that way. Carter, from Texas, has since formed Trump for Urban Communities a grassroots organization he says is reaching out to black voters in big cities from Jacksonville, Fla., to Philadelphia, to Charlotte, N.C., seeking to convince first-time voters, working families and others to vote Republican in November. Donald Trump is the best presidential candidate, who I believe has the experience and the wherewithal to give urban communities economic and educational opportunities, he said. The task is a steep climb for Republicans. President Obama won 90 percent of the black vote in 2008 and 2012, and Hillary Clinton likewise is expected to sweep among the same group. Expectations among some analysts that black voters might abandon her in the primaries in favor of Sanders did not materialize -- her so-called "firewall" held. Trump nevertheless has tried to make inroads, promising jobs, attacking Hillary Clinton for once referring to some young black criminals as superpredators and asking voters: What do you have to lose? Even this outreach has been peppered with controversy. In the first presidential debate, he took heat for saying African-Americans and Hispanics are living in hell. Meanwhile, critics say his call for the return of controversial stop-and-frisk policies are also hurting his outreach to black voters who believe such policies disproportionately target them. President Obama on Friday also mocked Trump's overall attempt to cast himself as a "populist." Noting Trump's billionaire status, Obama repeatedly said at a rally in Cleveland, "Come on, man." Carter said while Trump's law-and-order rhetoric doesn't exactly help Trump in that area, he suggested the backlash may be exaggerated. Further, he said the Clintons are not as popular as they're made out to be. However, Carter said Republicans need to do better, get on the ground and talk to people in those communities something he says the Trump campaign, and Republicans in general, have been woeful at doing, and something he says "Trump for Urban Communities" is doing right now. "I talk about poverty, unemployment rates and then I show them who theyve been voting for, and I give them history," he said. He says much of it depends on Republican willingness to engage directly in those communtiies. To use Donald Trumps language -- What do the Republicans have to lose by investing in urban communities? Hillary Clintons lead over Donald Trump has increased to seven points, as more than half of voters say he is not qualified to be president. Thats according to a just-released national Fox News Poll of likely voters. Clinton receives 45 percent to Trumps 38 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 7 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein gets 3 percent. Last week, Clinton was up by two points in the four-way contest (44-42 percent). In the two-way matchup, its Clinton over Trump by eight (49-41 percent). She had a four-point edge a week ago (48-44 percent, Oct. 3-6). Clintons lead is outside the polls margin of sampling error in both the two-way and four-way contests. The poll, out Thursday, was conducted Monday-Wednesday. The second presidential debate was Sunday. On Friday, The Washington Post made public a hot-mic recording of Trump from Access Hollywood. On the same day, WikiLeaks began its release of hacked emails from the Clinton campaign, revealing more on Monday through Wednesday. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS In the four-way race, Clinton is favored among non-whites (+62 points), suburban women (+24), women (+19), and voters under 30 (+16). Third party candidates hurt her among younger voters, as about one in four of them go for Johnson or Stein. Trumps the pick for men (+5 points), whites (+14), and whites without a college degree (+25). Since last week, the largest declines in support for him are among women ages 45 and over (down 12 points), voters ages 65+ (down 11), suburban women (down 10), white women with a college degree (down 7), GOP women (down 6), and white college graduates (down 6). Support for Trump among white evangelical Christians held steady at 68 percent. Typically, however, about three-quarters of white evangelicals vote for the GOP nominee. Trumps support among regular church-goers dropped eight points, from 53 to 45 percent. Independents split, giving 35 percent to each Clinton and Trump, with another 21 percent backing Johnson or Stein. Trump was up by 12 points among independents in late September. Eighty-one percent of Democrats back Clinton and 80 percent of Republicans support Trump. "If the Republicans are not at rock-bottom, they can certainly see the bottom from where they are," says GOP pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. "If Trump got 90 percent of self-identified Republicans and nothing else -- no Democrats and no independents -- he'd be at 32 percent. Trumps enthusiasm advantage has evaporated: 70 percent of his backers strongly supported him last week. Thats 63 percent now. For Clinton, its 66 percent, up from 57 percent. Yet the number of Republicans satisfied with Trump as their nominee is mostly unchanged: 48 percent are happy with him at the top of the ticket vs. 52 percent a month ago. Among Democrats, 54 percent are happy with Clinton, while 38 percent still wish it were Bernie Sanders. Overall, 64 percent believe Clinton has the right temperament to serve effectively and 68 percent say shes qualified to be president. Its the opposite for Trump, as 63 percent think he lacks the temperament and 56 percent say he isnt qualified. For 49 percent, he is not at all qualified. Are the candidates good role models for children? Voters say Clinton is (54 yes vs. 43 no). And Trump is not (20 yes vs. 77 no). Thirty-three percent say Clinton is honest and trustworthy. For Trump, its 32 percent. Thats a four-point drop for him since last week. Put simply, the last week has been a disaster for Trump, says Anderson. And more than ever, voters think he lacks the temperament and qualifications to be president. Trumps personal ratings also took a hit, while Clintons improved. More voters view her negatively than positively by five points (47 favorable vs. 52 unfavorable). Last week she was underwater by nine. Trumps rating stands at negative 23 (38 favorable vs. 61 unfavorable). Thats eight points more negative today, as he was underwater by 15 a week ago. Among Republicans, his favorable rating dropped 11 points, from 84 percent to 73 percent. Clinton now tops Trump on every issue tested. More voters trust her to handle foreign policy (+24 points), health care (+13), terrorism (+11), immigration (+9), and the economy (+3). For the past month, Trump had been the choice on the economy, and the two were about evenly matched on terrorism. Clinton is preferred to handle health care despite nearly half wanting to get rid of President Obamas signature law. Forty-nine percent of registered voters want to repeal Obamacare vs. 45 percent who prefer to keep it in place. Thats a more positive rating for the law than the last time the Fox News Poll asked in December 2014. Then it was 58 percent repeal and 38 percent keep. Meanwhile, a growing number expect another President Clinton. Sixty-five percent think shell win in November. Thats 10 points higher than last week (55 percent) -- and 19 higher than June (46 percent). Some 23 percent think Trump will win. Americans head to the polls in an even worse mood than four years ago. In October 2012, 53 percent of registered voters were dissatisfied with how things were going in the country. Now, 59 percent are dissatisfied. Even so, 56 percent approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. Thats up from 52 percent a week ago -- and a record high for his second term. Moreover, his approval has been 48 percent or better since February. Pollpourri Trumps video troubles and subsequent attacks on GOP leaders are hurting the party. One indication is more registered voters now consider themselves a Democrat than a Republican -- by nine points (44-35 percent), compared to by four points last week (41-37 percent). Democrats usually hold an advantage over Republicans nationally in party identification, and this year self-identified Democrats have outnumbered self-identified Republicans by an average of three percentage points in Fox News polls. The poll asks likely voters to choose between the Democratic and Republican candidates in their Congressional district and finds Democrats up by six points, 48-42 percent. Democrats were up by just one at the end of September (44-43 percent). "The Democrats are now prohibitive favorites to win the presidency, favorites to take the Senate, and it is no longer unthinkable that they could challenge in the House," says Shaw. Endorsing Trump is still a net positive for Congressional candidates: 27 percent of Republicans say they are more likely to vote for a Congressional candidate who refuses to endorse Trump, yet more -- 39 percent -- say they are less likely to do so. No matter who wins, voters are concerned scandals will have a serious effect on the administration: 66 percent are worried about scandals in a Clinton administration and 63 percent if its Trump. More Democrats (54 percent) are concerned about scandals in a Clinton White House than Republicans are about a Trump administration (41 percent). Forty-eight percent of voters familiar with the video of Trumps vulgar remarks say its a deal breaker for them. Fifteen percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents also feel that way. For comparison, 37 percent of voters familiar with Clintons leaked emails say transcripts of her speeches to big Wall Street donors are a deal breaker. That includes 11 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Sanders supporters. Trumps attacks on how Clinton has handled her husbands past controversies with women arent sticking. Seventy-two percent think Clinton stands up for women. Thirty-eight percent say Trump respects women. The Fox News Poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,006 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from October 10-12, 2016. The survey includes results among 917 likely voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for results among both registered and likely voters. Somehow, this election that was supposed to reflect the publics anger at a broken political system has morphed into whether Donald Trump or Bill Clinton is a more disreputable character when it comes to women. The latest batch of allegations against Trump, carried by the New York Times and People magazine, puts the issue of sexual misconduct front and center, and little else will be able to break through the static. Forget taxes and terrorism, the transformation to a tabloid campaign is now complete. Of course, as we learned with the winner of the 1992 election, character is crucial. And all these stories involve on-the-record accounts of Trumps behavior. But its possible to find the allegations troubling while also questioning their timing and whether its no accident that the women are breaking their silence a month before the election. And as the Times notes at the bottom of its story, both of the women interviewed are Hillary Clinton supporters. Trump went on the attack yesterday, after his campaign had accused the Times of a completely false, coordinated character assassination and he threatened to sue the paper (which essentially responded, bring it on). Trump denounced the slander and libels that was just last night thrown at me by the Clinton machine and the New York Times and other media outletsThese vicious claims, about me, of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. There is no evidence tying the Clinton campaign to these stories. So lets review: The Times quoted Jessica Leeds as saying that when she sat next to Trump on a plane three decades ago, he grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. It was, she said, an assault. The paper quoted Rachel Crooks as saying when she bumped into the businessman at Trump Tower 11 years ago, they shook hands, but Mr. Trump would not let go, she said. Instead, he began kissing her cheeks. Then, she said, he kissed me directly on the mouth It was so inappropriate, Ms. Crooks recalled in an interview. I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that. In both cases the paper spoke to others that the women had confided in months or years earlier. When Times reporter Megan Twohey asked Trump about the claims in an interview, he told her: You are a disgusting human being. Former People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff recounted interviewing Donald and Melania in 2005: We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat. Stoynoff says Trump told her you know were going to have an affair, dont you? and cited the famous New York Post cover on his affair with Marla Maples: BEST SEX I EVER HAD. Like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. I minimized it (Its not like he raped me); I doubted my recollection and my reaction. I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me, especially if I got his coveted PEOPLE feature killed. At his Florida rally, Trump said of Stoynoff: Look at her, look at her words, you tell me what you think. I don't think so. The medias reaction can be summed up in this lead sentence from Politico: New allegations of Donald Trump groping women are sending the Republican nominees floundering campaign into a tailspin, with precious few days left for the billionaire to try to salvage his presidential bid. Tailspin seems overly dramatic. But these stories strike me as more dangerous than the Access Hollywood tape, where Trump merely boasted about grabbing women by the genitals and so on, only to dismiss it as locker-room talk and tell Anderson Cooper hed never actually engaged in such conduct. If you believe in an accidental chain of events, writes National Reviews Rich Lowry, Trumps taking of the bait on Alicia Machado led to the unearthing of the Access Hollywood tape, which led to Coopers questions, which led to this. If you take a more suspicious view, the Democrats/media knew about this Trump vulnerability long ago, and waited to spring it when it would do maximum damage to his candidacy and the party. So here is the challenge for both Trump and the media: If Trump is saying these womens stories are too old to be relevant, what about those of Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick, which were covered in the 1990s? If Trump is saying women hurling accusations shouldnt automatically be believed, what about Bill Clintons accusers? (True, Clinton has admitted to sexual contact with Flowers as well as his tawdry dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. He has denied Willeys groping allegation and Broaddricks rape allegation from 1978, which she initially dismissed in testimony in the Jones lawsuit.) And for media outlets now going wild over the womens claims against Trump, how can they say Bill Clintons misconduct isnt fair game (even though he is just the candidates spouse)? Perhaps we can agree on this: the campaign has taken a revolting turn heading into next weeks final debate. President Barack Obama bashed Republicans and presidential nominee Donald Trump at the Ohio Democrats annual dinner on Thursday night saying, You claim the mantle of the party of family values, and this is the guy you nominate. Obama continued to rail against Republicans during his speech. They know better, a lot of these folks who ran, and they didnt say anything, and so they dont get credit for, at the very last minute, when finally the guy they nominated and they endorsed and they supported is caught on tape saying things that no decent person would even think, much less say, much less brag about, much less laugh about or joke about, much less act on. You cant wait until that finally happens and then say, Thats too much, thats enough, and think that somehow you are showing any kind of leadership. While in Ohio, Obama will be rallying for Democratic nominee on Friday in Cleveland. Campaigning on behalf of Clinton has become a focus area for the president during his last few months of his presidency. Ohio is one of a few swing states in which the election could go either way. The state currently has eighteen electoral votes, which will be needed to secure the presidency. The last president to win the election without Ohio was John F. Kennedy back in 1960. Obamas comments come at a time during which Trump is under fire for his controversial comments and alleged sexual assault accusations. Trump has denied claims of sexual assault, calling the New York Times story about an alleged incident a total fabrication. The Trump campaign also mentioned plans to file a lawsuit against the news organization. The president also said that he couldnt think of a more important election in our lifetime. The Associated Press contributed to this report. When Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin initially balked at accepting the House speakership last fall, it was widely understood that his biggest headaches would come from the staunchly conservative members of the Republican conference, such as the lawmakers in the Freedom Caucus, who had routinely made life miserable for Ryans predecessor, John Boehner. Instead, as Ryan closes out his first year as the top elected Republican in Congress, he finds himself at odds with the Republican Partys controversial nominee for president, and struggling to navigate intra-party tensions that make what Boehner endured seem quaint by contrast. Paul Ryan is my friend, GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence said on Fox and Friends. But honestly, I'd like to see Republican leaders supporting the Republican nominee for president of the United States. Pences comments came shortly before Ryan addressed a group of College Republicans in Madison, Wisconsin, the speakers home state and the latest setting for Ryans high-wire act, which sees him balancing obligations to down-ballot candidates with the traditional support a speaker offers to his partys nominee. Facing growing discontent among his own conference for his recent treatment of Trump whom the speaker effectively abandoned on Monday, following the release of an old audio tape on which Trump could be heard making lewd comments about kissing and groping women Ryan lashed out at Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, calling her agenda for America arrogant and condescending. In the America Clinton will refashion in her image, Ryan added, There is no room to run, no chance to grow, or to fail for that matter. People are not needed, they are counted and sorted. This is how you can so casually classify whole groups of people as baskets of deplorables. In the same set of remarks, however, Ryan brandished the six-point policy plan that he and the GOP conference have developed over the course of the year and declared, This is our party's vision for America a subtle but unmistakable assertion that Trump is not the face of todays Republican Party. And during the question-and-answer session, Ryan again appeared to keep his distance from the nominee: I know many people are still making their choice. I know some people are avoiding making any choice at all. And I don't begrudge anybody for that. Trump, for his part, has alternated between vowing to work arm in arm with Ryan to defeat the Obama-Clinton disaster" and blasting the speaker last Tuesday, in a Twitter post, as weak, ineffective and disloyal. If you sneeze, [Ryan] calls up and announces, 'Isn't that a terrible thing?' Trump told Bill OReilly on The OReilly Factor that evening. So look, I don't want his support, I don't care about his support. Ryans difficulties since taking office manifest, for example, in the Republicans failure to bring a budget to the floor, an acute embarrassment for a speaker who formerly served as chairman of the budget committee underscore the growing rift between GOP leaders and the GOP base. That rift was only magnified by the Republican electorates embrace of Trump in the primary season, when the real estate billionaire, a recent convert to conservatism, drew some 14 million votes, a record. Republican leaders, however, have bristled at Trumps mercurial style and ideological heresies, and have downright recoiled from his occasional use of vulgar language and the latest controversy to hit his campaign: the flood of allegations this week by women claiming Trump made unwanted sexual advances on them over the years, allegations the candidate has dismissed as lies. Some have suggested that Ryan could have handled the difficult situation better; his disavowal of Trump on Monday, in response to the lewd audio recording, came on the day after Trump turned in a strong debate performance against Clinton and appeared, to many eyes, to have recovered from the controversy, or at least to have made up some lost ground. Paul Ryan didn't need to do that, said Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard, in an interview for On the Record with Brit Hume on October 10. You know who doesn't do that and I think probably has the same generally low opinion of Trump as Paul Ryan does? And that's Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader. Most analysts, however, see Ryan whose speakership has also included some successes, such as resolution of the so-called doc fix hole in Medicare funding and a bipartisan measure addressing Puerto Ricos debt contending with singular challenges that even Boehner, toppled by opponents from within his own conference, did not have to confront. Ryan is having a terrible time in this Trump chokehold, said A.B. Stoddard, associate editor and columnist at RealClearPolitics. If he distances himself permanently and completely from Trump, he fears and his members fear Trump voters will not turn out. They'll come and only vote for the top of the ticket, they won't support down-ballot Republicans, and that could imperil the majorities in the House and the Senate. If he embraces him, Stoddard added, in a way to try to enthuse those voters as more and more allegations of groping and other sort of scandalous revelations come to the fore it makes it more likely there is a Democratic wave in the House, and Ryan could lose his majority that way. So he really is in an untenable position. Some of the Republican Partys biggest donors called on the Republican National Committee Thursday to sever ties with presidential nominee Donald Trump in the wake of the controversy surrounding claims of sexual assault and the recent hot-mic recording of him that was leaked last week. A group of generous contributors to the GOP told The New York Times that its time the party stop affiliating with Trump and focus on those who represent the partys core conservative values. At some point, you have to look in the mirror and recognize that you cannot possibly justify support for Trump to your children especially your daughters, David Humphreys, a Missouri businessman who has donated more than $2 million to the Republican party since the 2012 election, told the paper. Bruce Kovner, a New York philanthropist and investor, had donated nearly $3 million to the party and echoed similar sentiments. He is a dangerous demagogue completely unsuited to the responsibilities of a United States president, he said. Even for loyalists, there is a line beyond which the obvious moral failings of a candidate are impossible to disregard. That line has been clearly breached. Though the election is just days away, Kovner hoped that the RNC could shift its attention to those who reflect the partys core conservative values. One donor had even switched to backing a third-party candidate in the election. Julian H. Robertson Jr., a billionaire hedge fund investor, had donated $5 million to Republicans since the 2012 election. But a spokesman for Robertson told the Times that hes now backing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. The newest donor revolt follows a report from earlier in the week that said two major Republican donors had asked for their money back after originally backing Trump. NBC News gained access to two emails in which a pair of donors asked that their money be returned after saying they were offended by the recently leaked audio of Trump making disparaging remarks about women. The donors reportedly said they felt embarrassed. "I cannot express my disappointment enough regarding the recent events surrounding Mr. Trump," wrote one of the donors in an e-mail to a Trump fundraiser. "As a father of two daughters preparing for marriage, I am repulsed by his comments regarding women." "I regret coming to the Trump support event, and in particular allowing my son to be a part of it," said the donor, who contributed to Trump's campaign and raised money for the mogul. "I respectfully request that my money be refunded." The other donor said he was mortified about the leaked tape. "I can not (sic) support a sexist man. I have three young children and will not support a crude sexist man," the second donor wrote. "I expect a refund of my donation. Please process immediately and I thank you for your help." Though support might seem dwindling from the outside, as of Tuesday there were still 38 Republican senators who were still backing Trump or have not made any public move to withdraw their previous stated report for him. Rosie Tripp, a Republican committeewoman from New Mexico, told The Times on Thursday that hes still our candidate. I am dismayed by our own Republicans who are bailing like rats off a ship. He who is without sin can cast the first stone. I am sure they are not as pure as the driven snow, either. Julian Bergeron, a Republican committeewoman from New Hampshire said there were worse things than Trumps comments. And Hillary Clinton is near the top of that list. Click for more from The New York Times. Million of years in the past, a comet or an asteroid might have slammed into the Earth at an important time in its climatic history, scientists report in a new study. The extraterrestrial impact that scientists report evidence of occurred about 56 million years ago, approximately 10 million years after the well-known blast from space that killed off all the non-avian dinosaurs. The scientists behind the new discovery based it on clues that they found serendipitously in core samples: microtektites, which are spherical or teardrop-shaped objects that indicate an impact. "This tells us that there was an extraterrestrial impact at the time this sediment was deposited -- a space rock hit the planet," Morgan Schaller, the first author on the new study and an assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, said in a statement. "The coincidence of an impact with a major climate change is nothing short of remarkable." The climate change that occurred millions of years ago and lasted around 200,000 years is known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, and the lead scientist behind the discovery speculated that the comet that they think hit may have been associated with that ancient period of warming. A comet impact on its own may have contributed carbon to the atmosphere, Schaller said in the statement, but is too small to explain the whole event and more likely acts as a trigger for additional carbon releases from other sources." Paul Olsen, a professor of Earth and environmental science at Columbia University and an expert on the dramatic events that shaped life on the planet during its history, said he thought the evidence the scientists found was going to put this whole field on its head! Schaller and his teams discoveries are real breakthroughs in understand this critical event in Earth History, Olsen told FoxNews.com in an email. The study remains controversial. Another scientist, Gerald Dickens of Rice University, pushed back against the findings, saying in a statement that the new study doesnt really explain anything. The study suggesting the ancient impact from space was published in the journal Science. Follow Rob Verger on Twitter: @robverger LAS CRUCES, N.M. 2020 may be the year a private space station gets off the ground. Two companies Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space plan to launch habitat modules to orbit in 2020, with the aim of making some money off Earth. If all goes according to plan, such habitats will eventually form the backbone of commercial facilities that replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is currently funded through 2024. Down the road, such private space stations could host a variety of inhabitants, from space tourists to scientists to astronauts from NASA and other space agencies, advocates say. These tenants would simply rent the facilities rather than pay all the operating costs, as NASA and its partners must do now with the ISS. [6 Private Deep Space Habitats Paving the Way to Mars] "Hopefully, if we're successful in the private-sector community, NASA's going to save a boatload of money, on multiple locations [in orbit] not just one with more volume than they've ever had before," Bigelow founder and CEO Robert Bigelow said Wednesday at the 2016 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS). "So, whether it's Axiom or us or other people, that is the future." Bigelow: Expanding humanity's footprint Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace builds modules that launch in a compressed configuration and then inflate upon reaching their destination. These expandables feature much greater internal volume per unit launch mass than do traditional rigid modules, such as those that make up the ISS. The company's expandable habitats also offer greater protection against micrometeoroid strikes and space radiation than do aluminum-walled structures, Bigelow said. Bigelow Aerospace has already tested three experimental modules in orbit. It launched the free-flying Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 habitats in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was attached to the ISS this past April and inflated six weeks later. Nobody is aboard Genesis 1 or Genesis 2, which remain in orbit to this day. But ISS astronauts have ventured into the BEAM now and again to download sensor data, collect air samples and install equipment. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are both 14 feet long by 8.3 feet wide, with a post-expansion internal volume of 410 cubic feet. BEAM is a bit bigger, featuring 565 cubic feet of usable volume. [The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module in Pictures] But these are just prototypes. When it comes to fully operational space hardware, Bigelow has something much bigger in mind a module called the B330, which will offer 11,650 cubic feet of internal volume. For comparison, the internal pressurized volume of the entire 440-ton, $100 billion ISS is 32,333 cubic feet, according to NASA. The company aims to build two B330s over the next four years, Bigelow said. "Our goal is to ship those out of Las Vegas in the year 2020, and launch them in 2020," he said. Those launches will occur atop United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets, as per an agreement between Bigelow and ULA that the two companies announced in April. The solar-powered B330 is so big that only the 552 variant of the Atlas V can loft it, Bigelow said. The first B330 might link up with the ISS, Bigelow has said. But it doesn't have to do so. "This constitutes a stand-alone space station," he said. "It needs no other support, no other modules, no other kinds of facilities." That being said, Bigelow Aerospace also envisions connecting multiple B330s in orbit to create large space stations. Each individual B330 is capable of supporting six people, but orbiting modules probably won't be that crowded, Bigelow said. A station consisting of two B330s might typically host seven people three Bigelow employees and four clients, he said Wednesday. Axiom Space, too Axiom Space plans to use a more traditional rigid-habitat module one that's about 43 feet long by 16.5 feet wide and weighs 50,000 lbs. The company which was co-founded by Mike Suffredini, a former NASA ISS manager aims to launch that module in October 2020, perhaps aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. "We're still looking at that," Axiom Space chief engineer Mike Baine said here at ISPCS 2016 on Wednesday, referring to the habitat's potential launch provider. If all goes according to plan, Axiom's first module which will be able to support seven people will dock with the ISS and stay connected with the orbiting complex through the end of the latter's operational life, whether that comes in 2024 or sometime thereafter. Axiom Space envisions selling stints of varying lengths to a number of different customers, including researchers, space tourists and astronauts from nations that have traditionally lacked a way to get people to space, Baine said. "There's a lot of interest by other governments looking to get into the space arena," he said during his ISPCS talk. Some of those governments will likely be "anchor customers" for Axiom, he added. Then, when NASA and its partner agencies are getting set to ditch the ISS into Earth's atmosphere, the Axiom habitat will detach, meet up with another, recently launched Axiom module and form a self-sufficient space station in low-Earth orbit, Baine said. Axiom Space hopes to keep building, launching and linking up modules, eventually creating an industrial "space city" of 100 or so people by the mid-2030s, Baine said. Bigelow and Axiom may not be the only entities operating space stations in Earth orbit after the ISS ends its life. Since 2011, China has launched two space labs, to gain the expertise needed to build and operate a planned 60-ton station that the country aims to have up and running by 2022 or so. Beyond Earth orbit? Both Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space are focused on Earth orbit at the moment. But Robert Bigelow has long said that his company's expandable habitats offer great promise for the exploration of deep space. "We have an architecture that we think is really practical to deploy these structures as a stand-alone base" on the lunar surface or the moons of Mars, he said Wednesday. "So, we're kind of excited about that." Indeed, Bigelow Aerospace is one of six companies NASA recently selected to design prototype deep-space habitats that could help astronauts get to Mars. (Bigelow's future plans also include developing habitats much bigger than the B330.) Axiom's module could "in principle" be adapted for use on the lunar surface, Baine said, though he didn't discuss that possibility in depth. Tyrannosaurus rex was big and ferocious, but it also had tiny arms. That amusing fact has been fodder for an Internet meme mocking the creatures little arms the prehistoric predator probably couldnt even do things like clap its hands, for example. Now, new research is focused on better understanding the T. rexs little arms. Scientists took an arm off a T-rex called SUE from the Field Museum in Chicago for an intense scan at Argonne National Laboratory, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The scan packed a punch about a million times as strong as a typical x-ray, and scientists hope that what they learn about the bones anatomy could tell them more about how it was used. "These X-rays will give us a map of the blood vessels and muscle attachments in the bone, which have never been seen before," Carmen Soriano, a paleontologist with the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Lab, said in a statement. "This data could provide new insight into dinosaur biology, as well as clues to how SUE lived her life." After the scans, they gave the T. rex arm back to the Field Museum. As for SUE, the specimen is considered to be the biggest T. rex discoveredits over 40 feet long and at the hip stands 13 feet tall, according to the Field Museum. A ferocious figure, even with tiny arms. Follow Rob Verger on Twitter: @robverger WASHINGTON The Transportation Department is issuing an emergency order banning passengers and flight crews from bringing Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones on airline flights in response to reports of the phones catching fire. The order goes into effect Saturday at noon eastern time. It says the phone may not be carried on board or packed in checked bags on flights to and from the United States or within the country. The phones also can't be shipped as air cargo. The department says passengers who attempt to travel with the phones will have the phones confiscated and may face fines. Samsung recalled more than 2.5 million of the smartphones and discontinued the product earlier this week. Numerous fires have been reported, including one on a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this month. Delta Air Lines is facing a wave of social media backlash after a female physician based in Houston shared a story about a flight attendant doubting whether she was really a doctor while another passenger suffered through a medical emergency. On Sunday, Tamika Cross, an African American OB-GYN, posted her experience on Facebook after flying to Detroit on flight DL945. During the flight, Cross says, a woman two rows in front of her began screaming for help when her husband became unresponsive. The physician says she immediately jumped into doctor mode but a flight attendant made an announcement for everyone to remain calm. However, several minutes later, the passenger became unresponsive again and a flight attendant made a call over the loudspeaker for a doctor. I raised my hand to grab her attention. She [the flight attendant] said to me oh no sweetie put ur hand down, we are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel, we don't have time to talk to you, Cross says. I tried to inform her that I was a physician but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks. Cross says the flight attendant asked if she was an actual physician and asked what type of doctor she was, then demanded to see her credentials. When a white physician approached the flight attendant, Cross says she was basically dismissed and told by the attendant thanks for your help but he can help us, and he has his credentials" even though Cross never saw the man turn over any type of identifaction. Mind blown and blood boiling, Cross returned to her seat. But after just 10 minutes later she says the flight attendant returned and asked for her input on the situation. The physician assisted the couple in need through the emergency but was shocked when the attendant approached her again. She came and apologized to me several times and offering me skymiles. I kindly refused. This is going higher than her. I don't want skymiles in exchange for blatant discrimination, Cross posted. By Friday morning, Cross post had over 100,000 Facebook reactions and over 37,000 shares with thousands of comments. Some are calling on Delta to dismiss the flight attendant, others thanked Cross for bringing to light reprehensible yet all too common behaviors. When reached for comment by FoxNews.com, a Delta spokeswoman said the airline is in the process of investigating Cross story and have reached out to the doctor, flight attendants and other crew memebers involved. She reiterated that the carrier is committed to treating all passengers with kindness and respect. We are troubled by any accusations of discrimination and take them very seriously. The experience Dr. Cross has described is not reflective of Deltas culture or of the values our employees live out every day. The spokeswoman says that Delta flight attendants are trained to collect information from medical volunteers offering to assist with an onboard medical emergency. When an individuals medical identification isnt available, theyre instructed to ask questions such as where medical training was received or whether an individual has a business card or other documentation and ultimately to use their best judgment. Delta says that three medical professionals came forward to assist on flight DL945 but only one was able to provide adequate documentation certifying medical training. Flight attendant Steffanie Rivers has seen it all: dogs pooping in the aisle, a cat clawing a pregnant woman, and even a chimpanzee running through the plane. For several years, passengers have been reporting unruly animals making noise throughout flights or lounging on tray tables. But these uncontrolled animals, which have even included pigs and turkeys-- are allowed to ride in the airplane cabin. Theyre emotional support animals, and they can accompany their owners on flights with very little restriction. With reported incidents of disruptive plane pets on the rise, on Wednesday, the Department of Transportation (DOT) convened its ACCESS Advisory Committee, to examine whether there should be limitations on the type of species permitted on board and how to deal with fliers who may be lying about an illness to gain access for an emotional support pet. Although the Committee did not reach a consensus, the DOT says the discussions yielded a "wealth of information" on the issue, which will assist in drafting a forthcoming new rule on service animals. But nothing has been decided yet and frequent fliers say theyre seeing more of these animals than ever, which leads to the question: Are all those emotional support animals really there for support, or are people who dont really need them gaming the system to bring their pets on board for free? What is an emotional support animal? According to the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, U.S. airlines must permit dogs and other service animals used by qualified individuals with a disability to accompany them on a flight. In 2003, the DOT refined the definition of a service animal to include not just guide dogs and signal dogs, but also animals that provide emotional support for a mental or emotional disorder. But unlike seeing-eye dogs or guide dogs, which receive training specific to their owners disability, emotional support animals require no training. The DOT allows, but does not require, air carriers to request 48 hours notice and a letter from a licensed mental health professional verifying that the passenger has an emotional or mental disability and needs an emotional support animal. The airlines are not allowed to impose fees for bringing these animals on board. The only thing the DOT requires is that the animal be trained to behave properly in a public setting. Rivers says she tries to monitor animals on the ground. Once the door is closed and the plane is in the air we have to deal with it. If the pet shows unfavorable characteristics on the ground during boarding the flight crew can have it removed from the flight. And I have done it! Most airlines require advance notice and a letter, but in interviews with several carriers, none could say whether they contact the health care provider to confirm that they are licensed to practice and have written the letters. The racket Today, there are plenty of online businesses available to people who want easy access to the required letter from a mental health professional. Would-be traveler can just complete a digital evaluation, either by survey or video chat. There even are ads, such as this one from Animal Companions, that explain how getting an emotional support animal letter can help get your pet into an apartment that does not allow animals-- and also works on airplanes. The ad states that you will get a letter within just 10 minutes of payment. Dog trainer and radio show host Harrison Forbes says he believes services like these are contributing to a rise in the number of animals flying out of their carriers on planes. About three years ago, he says, he started to receive up to 100 inquiries a month from fans, former clients and friends asking how they could get their pets on board planes as emotional support animals. Everybody knows somebody thats done it, and so the information has spread quickly, he says. While there are many people with mental and emotional disabilities that may or may not be visible, airlines can be penalized for trying to distinguish those with a true need from those who just want to bring Fido along to sit in their lap without paying for him. The DOT says it has received anecdotal reports of service animals accompanying people who appear to have no disability, and it is aware of concerns that some organizations may be promising passengers an online diagnosis of needing a service animal in exchange for a fee. But, the department points out that many disabilities are hidden and passengers are not required to prove the legitimacy of their need for a service animal to other passengers on board flights. Airlines are not required to accept documentation they believe is fraudulent, but the burden of proof is on them if a passenger files a complaint. As a result of the airlines concerns, the DOT convened the advisory committee comprised of airlines, department officials, and disability advocacy groups, among others. The Committee members are now in the process of determining the appropriate definition of a service animal and to establish safeguards to reduce the likelihood that passengers wishing to travel with their pets will be able to falsely claim that their pets are service animals, Caitlin Harvey, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Department of Transportation, told FoxNews.com. In determining the definition of a service animal, one of the issues that the Committee was looking into was whether an emotional support animal is a service animal and whether there should be species limitations for a service animal. The Risks Untrained emotional support animals that bark, run loose, soil floors and sit on tray tables are not only unpleasant and unhygienic, but they can be downright dangerous, says Stephen Carbone, a former National Transportation Safety Board accident investigator who has written several novels based on his real-life experiences. He says support animals like guide dogs have been on planes for decades, but the increasing number of emotional support animals is creating more hazardous conditions for passengers. Imagine trying to exit a plane full of smoke with animals running loose under your feet, he says, noting that passengers need to get out before they succumb to smoke inhalation. The death toll goes up exponentially, he says. Throw in the owner trying to find the animal for even more chaos. Other problems arise among passengers who have pet allergies or a fear of animals. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires airlines to accommodate allergic or fearful passengers by moving them as far from the service or support animal as possible. If this is not available or unacceptable to the customer with the allergy, we will attempt to rebook the passenger with the allergy on a later American Airlines flight, says American Airlines spokesperson Ross Feinstein. Possible Solutions Forbes suggests airlines consider eliminating their pet fees to remove the temptation to secure a phony letter, and Madeline Friedman, a dog trainer who has been traveling with service and support dogs since 2006, agrees. I have flown near dogs who are better behaved than many children, she says, yet we dont see a childrens section on airplanes, nor do we see any restrictions on flying with babies and children. The bottom line to me is the difference between a well-behaved dog and a dog who is not. I feel any clean and well-behaved dog should have access to public places, so people would not feel the need to have impostor service dogs. Forbes, who has imported hundreds of police dogs from Europe in the 1990s, says airlines also should educate passengers about the safety of flying pets in cargo. So many people are misinformed that the cargo hold area of the plane is dangerous or traumatic for the dog, he says. This simply is not true. That area is pressurized and on the same temperature control system as the cabin, so it's identical to the passenger area. Carbone says emotional support animals should be as strenuously trained as seeing-eye, police and military dogs, and adds that there should be limits on what type of dogs could qualify, e.g. German Shepherds that can be trained to handle loud noises and disarray. But Forbes says this could lead to more businesses falsely certifying that animals have been trained. Many of the disabled people are legally blind and pay good money and invest a lifetime in their service animals because of the bond they must have, says Carbone. For example, veterans who suffer mental anguish from real trauma like getting shot or their units being wiped out deserve the privilege of having their service animal near them. These special animals qualify and deserve to ride up with their owners. These other emotional animals are an insult to the ADA and those it was written for. Seven continents. Seven cruise ships. 357 days. If you find yourself stuck in the uncomfortable predicament of having a bunch of extra cash, and a years worth of vacation days to burn, dont worrywe've got a solution: Luxury cruise line Mundy Cruising just announced a new, 357-day itinerary that will hit all seven continents. Oh, and did we mention it sets sail in three months? Starting in Miami on Jan. 10, 2017, lucky passengers will begin the longest cruise ship journey in the world by heading to South America on board the award-winning Crystal Serenity. (The next longest cruise journey, in case you're wondering, is a 180-day trip from Oceania.) During this first leg you get to climb Machu Picchu, visit the Nazca Lines, head up to Christ the Redeemer, and cruise along the Amazon River. The remaining 263 days are broken up by continents with short breaks (ranging from 13 to 39 days) in between time to go home and re-pack. It has the appeal of a world cruise but can be done in manageable chunks, a spokesperson for Mundy Cruising told the Telegraph. Its ideal for those who want the opportunity to return home and prepare for the next trip. More from Conde Nast Traveler: The 30 Most Terrifying Places on Earth The Friendliest and Unfriendliest Cities on Earth The Best Small Towns in America The Most Beautiful Travel Destinations of All Time The next leg begins May 4 out of Athens on Oceania Cruises Nautica, hitting everywhere from Turkey and Spain to the United Kingdom and Sweden. Passengers will get the chance to explore the Amalfi Coast, St. Petersburg, and the Vatican. After another short break its on to North America aboard the luxury Seven Seas Mariner, where you will set sail out of Vancouver to explore Alaska, San Francisco, and Costa Rica before sailing through the Panama Canal and cruising up North Americas east coast to New England and Quebec. Overwhelmed yet? Youre only about halfway done with your bucket-list voyage. RELATED: The Best Time to Book a Cruise The remaining seven months have you spotting carnivorous lizards on Kimodo Island, dipping your toes in the sand at the bucolic beaches in the Seychelles, and hanging with colonies of penguins in Antarctica. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hiroshima, Cambodias Angkor Wat, the beaches of Thailand and the Philippines are also included, before you finally call it quits on May 15, 2018. The cost? A whopping $155,000 per person, including business-class flights and all overseas transfers. Not bad, considering you'll be ticking off nearly every bucket-list destination ever. Dr. Michael Neeki, armed with an AR-15, is one of only a handful of doctors across the country who also serves as a full time, certified volunteer on his local SWAT team. Who would have guessed a terror attack would happen in our neighborhood? We didn't. It was quite a surprise, Neeki, the Director of Tactical Medicine at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, California, said. Back in December, Neeki, who is originally from Iran and a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, was on shift in the emergency room when two terrorists struck in nearby San Bernardino, killing 14 and injuring 21. That's when the members of the Inland Valley SWAT team sprang to action. After finding a doctor to fill his shift, Neeki geared up with lifesaving medication and equipment and then surgically swept the Inland Valley Regional Center as a back-up to the San Bernardino Police Department. Im not going to lie to you, driving home I actually cried. I couldnt keep my own eyes dry because it just didnt make sense, Neeki said. In the days after the shooting, Neeki made a passionate plea to help the victims families. Their children are my children, their families are my families and it's sad Since the media is here I'm requesting the country to open their heart and support these families at this moment when they need it, Neeki said in December of 2015. For Lt. Billy Green, the Inland Valley SWAT Team Commander, having a doctor on scene while shots are still being fired is essential. It saves lives of not only victims and police officers and in the unfortunate situation where we did have to use lethal force or some type of force that resulted in injury, it would allow us to provide that emergency medical treatment, Green said. In the wake of the attacks in San Bernardino, Orlando and so many other mass shootings across the country, Neeki is now working to spread the word about the need for more doctors and full-time, paid medics to join first responders across the country and the challenges that stand in their way. We need to be prepared for mass casualties, active shooters, terror attacks in the future, Neeki said. For him, its a public health issue. We had somewhere (near) 350 active shooters last year in 2015 in the United States, so how many Zika viruses did we get infected in the United States last year? he asked. Neeki is now working with state lawmakers and members of Congress to cut down on the vast regulations required for doctors and medics to become certified members of law enforcement. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Federal prosecutors plan to announce charges related to a planned attack on the Somali immigrant community in Kansas. A law enforcement official said Friday that federal prosecutors in Wichita, Kansas, are announcing the arrests of three men in connection with the plot. The official was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beal and FBI Special Agent Eric Jackson have scheduled a news conference late Friday in Wichita. The Justice Department's National Security Division created a new position a year ago to help coordinate investigations into violent homegrown extremism, like the one that resulted in the three arrests. Five men have pleaded guilty in connection with a wild shootout that wounded 17 people at a New Orleans playground late last year. One accepted an 11-year sentence, two accepted 10-year sentences, and two got lesser terms. NOLA.com ' The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/2e7HD8t ) reports that an additional three other defendants rejected plea offers Friday. The prosecutor said the offers were open only for one day. Criminal District Judge Robin Pittman scheduled trial Jan. 17 for the three who rejected the offers and for two men who were not offered plea bargains. The gunfight during a block party Nov. 22 sent hundreds of people scrambling from Bunny Friend Playground in the city's Upper 9th Ward. ___ Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com Indianapolis police say gunfire has struck another one of the department's district offices and they believe the same person or group of people may be responsible for both shootings. No one was reported injured in either shooting, the latest of which happened about 11 p.m. Thursday at the North District Headquarters. Police Chief Troy Riggs told reporters early Friday anyone involved is "extremely violent." After the first shooting, he'd said it may have been in response to a recent crackdown on drugs. On Thursday night, police say officers inside heard shots and took cover before trying to find a suspect. In a statement, police say initial investigative information suggests the same suspect or suspects fired the shots as those responsible for the shooting Oct. 4 at the Northwest District Headquarters. Lawmakers from the New York and New Jersey region and beyond want the federal government step in to help address safety concerns at New Jersey Transit in the wake of last month's deadly train crash in Hoboken. New Jersey's congressional delegation sent a letter Friday to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx asking the government to fulfill the transit agency's $10 million request to help it install the GPS-based positive train control system. The transit agency said in a filing in June that it hasn't made any additional progress on installing the system while approaching a December 2018 deadline. Foxx said at a news conference in New York that he wasn't ready to commit to the $10 million, but that the government believes very strongly in positive train control. "We think it is a lifesaver," Foxx said. "But we have a process that we have to go through. I can't make that commitment right this second." The crash and other safety concerns including an Associated Press analysis this week showing NJ Transit had more accidents than any other commuter railroad in the country in the past five years has raised criticism of the transit agency. State lawmakers in New Jersey are preparing to launch an investigation into safety and financial issues. Three Democrats on the U.S. House transportation and infrastructure committee also sent a letter to Foxx on Friday raising concerns regarding the Hoboken crash and what it describes as "New Jersey's blatant neglect of New Jersey Transit infrastructure and trains." The Democrats, including Rep. Albio Sires from New Jersey, requested details from an ongoing Federal Railroad Administration audit that has not been released publicly. "At some point there is no excuse. And I find it inexcusable when there are 100,000 lives riding every day on New Jersey Transit lines, that we don't have the top safety record - the record at one time we did have - that's what we need to aspire to, not less," Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, of New Jersey, said at the news conference. New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney and oversight committee chairman Sen. Bob Gordon said Friday at a news conference in Trenton that they will hold a series of hearings investigating safety and budget issues at NJ Transit. The Democratic senators cast the Hoboken train crash as a catalyst to dive deeper into NJ Transit's woes. In particular, they say, they're concerned about underfunding of the agency's capital budget and the delay in implementing automatic train control technology. Democratic lawmakers in the New Jersey Assembly are also planning to move forward with an investigation. Investigators say positive train control is one of the things they're looking at in their review of the Sept. 29 crash, in which a train was traveling more than double the speed limit before crashing into the station, killing a woman standing on the platform and injuring more than 100. State Department of Transportation Chairman Richard Hammer, who chairs NJ Transit's board, on Thursday gave newly appointed executive Steven Santoro 30 days to issue a report on the agency's progress toward implementing the technology. The engineer on the Hoboken train hit the emergency brake when the train hit 21 mph, seconds before crashing into and then over a bumping post. Investigators are looking into whether the alert system kicked in. It's unclear whether it would have slowed the train in time. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the throttle on the train went from idle to the fourth position, about half-power, 38 seconds before impact, and the speed increased to 21 mph. The throttle went back to idle and the engineer hit the emergency brake about a second before hitting the bumper. A crash at Hoboken Terminal in 1985 with a train hitting the bumper at 10 mph caused considerably less damage than last month's, with images from the time showing a buckled concrete platform and a few toppled gates. That crash injured 54 people, but no one was killed. The railroad industry has said installing positive-train control technology would be impractical and cumbersome, given the high volume of trains arriving and departing at what is normally a low speed and the multitude of signals and other infrastructure already in place. "Although low-speed collisions do occasionally occur in these environments, the consequences are low; and the rate of occurrence is very low in relation to the exposure," the FRA stated in a 2010 regulatory filing on positive-train control. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 A man suspected of driving the wrong way on an interstate and causing a fiery crash that killed five teenagers and critically injured himself is expected to be arraigned on five counts of second-degree murder. Police say 36-year-old Steven Bourgoin crashed into the teens' car in Williston and then stole a police cruiser before crashing it into at least seven other vehicles late Saturday night. Chittenden County state's attorney TJ Donovan has said he "would not classify what occurred on Interstate 89 as an accident." Bourgoin is to be arraigned Friday in a conference room of the hospital, where his condition has been upgraded from critical to good. Public defenders working on his case have not returned phone calls or emails seeking comment. A New Jersey man has been charged with stealing more than $160,000 worth of Jamaican cheese. Prosecutors said Thursday that 18-year-old Darluis Ortiz stole pallets of Tastee Cheese products from a food warehouse in Moonachie on Sept. 23. Tastee cheese is often eaten with spiced or sweetened buns, especially at Easter. It's produced by Dairy Industries Jamaica Ltd. Ortiz was arrested on Wednesday and was charged with theft, burglary, conspiracy and possessing burglary tools. He was being held in the Bergen County jail on bail that was $10,000 less than the value of the canned, processed cheese. He couldn't be reached for comment by phone. It was unknown if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. Ortiz was arrested after a two-week investigation by members of the Bergen County prosecutor's office and the Moonachie police department. An Old Dominion University student who reported she was raped in her dorm room is charging that campus police prevented her from getting a medical exam to preserve evidence until after she was interrogated for almost eight hours. Her complaint to federal education officials about the October 2014 episode also says she was not given written information about her right to seek a protective order against the person she said attacked her, among other things. It accuses school officials of mishandling the case. The complaint obtained by The Associated Press says the woman, who was not identified, told campus police after she was raped in her dorm room that she had an appointment at a local medical center for a forensic exam. Instead of taking the woman to the appointment, police took her to their department, where they held her for nearly eight hours and denied her food, water and access to the bathroom in between interrogations, the complaint says. In a personal statement included with the complaint, the woman said the detectives made comments and asked questions that made her feel like she was "being violated again," including "Do you like rough sex?" and "I'm just trying to find the crime here." The experience left her with ongoing post-traumatic stress disorder and an anxiety disorder, she said. "After the entire day of being victimized by your police department, I was left feeling paranoid and scared as if I was the criminal," she wrote. The complaint accuses the school of violating federal law by failing to give the woman written information about the importance of preserving evidence of her rape through a forensic exam and not letting her know that she could decline to report the crime to law enforcement before getting an exam. "Had Ms. Doe known about her right to decline to report to law enforcement prior to receiving a forensic examination and medical care, she would have been able to attend her appointment at a local medical center to receive care for her injuries and bleeding after her rape on campus," said the complaint. The woman's attorney, Laura Dunn, said it was filed late Wednesday the two year anniversary of her rape with the U.S. Department of Education. A spokesman for the education department confirmed it received the complaint but said it does not comment on the status of cases. A criminal investigation was launched after the assault, but the alleged attacker was never charged, said Dunn, who is executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit, SurvJustice. Giovanna Genard, a spokeswoman for Old Dominion, said Thursday that the school has "zero tolerance" for sexual assault. "The University is committed to following all legal requirements for investigating complaints of sexual assault and to treating victims with care, professionalism and respect," Genard said. She said she could not comment further "due to the legal nature of the complaint." Old Dominion is a public university in Norfolk with roughly 25,000 students. The woman accuses the school of violating the Clery Act, which requires schools to inform victims about counseling services, their options to notify law enforcement after an assault and options for changing their living situation, among other things. The education department could fine the school up to $35,000 per violation. The complaint says the woman was not informed about her right to seek a protective order against her alleged attacker who wasn't an ODU student after ODU Police declined to seek one on her behalf. That forced her to "live on campus for months in fear that her attacker could return and harm her at any moment," the complaint said. The woman also claims she was not allowed to move out of the dorm room where she was attacked until after she received a diagnosis for a psychological condition and that her assault wasn't added to the school's daily crime log until after a reporter inquired about it. "This validated to me that Old Dominion University never took my sexual assault seriously and does not care for me as one of their students," the woman said in the complaint. Hours after five Dallas police officers were killed by sniper fire during a July protest over police aggression, a call reporting a break-in at an apartment came in to the Valdosta Police Department in Georgia. Officer Randall Hancock, a 10-year veteran, responded to the scene, where an armed man later identified as Stephen Beck was lying in wait. Beck shot Hancock three times, with two bullets catching in his bulletproof vest and a third entered his abdomen. Hancock, who survived, returned fire and severely wounded the suspect. Beck, 22, was suffering from depression and set up the scene in a bid to commit suicide-by-cop. It was just one example in a growing number of police officer ambushes across the country in recent months. On Wednesday night, two Boston police officers were critically injured after responding to a domestic call where they were shot by a man wearing body armor. And on Saturday, two Palm Springs, Calif., police officers were killed by a suspected gang member who lured them to their deaths. Law enforcement experts say an ambush assault consists of four factors: the element of surprise, concealment of the assailant, suddenness of the attack and a lack of provocation. They can be planned or spontaneous. It can happen anywhere, anytime, Kevin Hassett, the president of the Retired Police Association of the State of New York, said. You keep your fingers crossed and hope you go home at night and see your kids. Hassett worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department for 30 years. Although he saw violence and chaos in his time, he believes an anti-cop climate that some say is fueled in part by Black Lives Matter, has made the job even more dangerous. Wearing the uniform always came with an inherent risk, even back then, he said. "I'm just glad I'm not a cop now." The past year has taken its toll on many police departments and communities across the country. Racially charged police shootings have driven a wedge between police and the vulnerable communities they protect. Some police say politicians have abandoned them to score political points and say they face a greater threat of targeting than ever. In the Dallas incident that came just before Hancock was shot, five officers were gunned down from afar as they tried to secure a protest over the police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana. Sniper Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, who was eventually blown up by a Dallas police robot during a standoff with police, said he wanted to kill white people. Later that same month, three police officers in Baton Rouge were killed during a shooting rampage. One of the officers, Montrell Jackson, a 10-year veteran who left behind a 4-month-old boy, had days earlier taken to Facebook to talk about life as a police officer under the recent stress. I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. Ive experienced so much in my short life and these last 3 days have tested me to the core, the post read. Steven Groeninger, the communications director for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said there have been 14 deadly ambushes involving police officers compared to 16 all of last year. Since 2000, there have been roughly 200 ambush attacks on police officers each year. Carla Barrett, an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, did not study recent statistics regarding police ambushes, but spoke to FoxNews.com about the issue of tension in the inner cities. She interviewed inner-city youth throughout New York while conducting research and found that many have a profound fear of police. Yet at the same time they do not hate police, she said. They just want better police. She said she also believes there is a fear in many police officers especially the good ones that there is a danger in every encounter. Shortly after the Dallas police shooting, the then-Police Chief David Brown addressed protesters. Become a part of the solution, Brown said. Were hiring. Get off that protest line and put an application in. And well put you in your neighborhood, and well help you resolve some of the problems youre protesting about. Germany's top court has rejected German lawmakers' demands for access to a secret list of U.S. eavesdropping targets. Parliament's intelligence oversight panel, known as the G 10 committee, had asked the Constitutional Court to force the German government to hand over the list. It contains "selectors" such as phone numbers and email addresses that the U.S. National Security Agency wants allies to monitor. Following ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden's leaks in 2013, German media reported that the targets included officials and companies in Germany and other European countries. The court on Friday ruled against the committee for technical reasons, arguing that it didn't have the necessary constitutional authority to demand access to the list. A separate case brought by two left-wing opposition parties is still pending. The University of Florida is offering counseling to anyone who gets offended by any costumes worn this coming Halloween. The school wrote in a blog post Monday urging students to think about your choices of costumes and themes. Some Halloween costumes reinforce stereotypes of particular races, genders, cultures, or religions. Regardless of intent, these costumes can perpetuate negative stereotypes, causing harm and offense to groups of people. Also, keep in mind that social media posts can have a long-term impact on your personal and professional reputation, the post read. The school reminded students that anyone who is offended or troubled by an incident or a costume, they could seek counseling at the wellness center or alert the schools Bias Education Response Team which provides support to those who were impacted. If you are troubled by an incident that does occur, please know that there are many resources available. Please take advantage of the 7 day a week presence of the U Matter, We Care program at the University of Florida by emailing umatter@ufl.edu. Additionally, there is a 24/7 counselor in the Counseling and Wellness Center available to speak by phone. The University of Floridas post comes days after Wisconsin-La Crosse hosted an event that attempted to educate students on not dressing like a racist. About 30 students showed up to the event, which was advertised with posters asking Is Your Costume Racist? One school district in Connecticut was also cracking down on clown costumes after the killer clown fear that has plagued cities nationwide. The district prohibited clown costumes and any symbols of terror for Halloween outfits. Nicaragua's government says it has called off a search for at least four missing miners because cave-ins made the effort too dangerous to continue, and hopes have faded that anyone could be found alive after five days. Nicaragua's first lady and government spokeswoman says continuing the effort would put more lives at risk. Rosario Murillo told the Chanel 4 television station early Tuesday that "experts had to admit that any rescue was impossible because of the danger." At least 26 miners were trapped by a collapse Thursday at the gold and silver mine near Bonanza, about 260 miles (420 kilometers) northeast of Managua. Twenty-two were rescued alive. Between four and eight men were believed still missing. The exact number was unclear because the miners were freelancers, not formal employees. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Hillary Clinton privately said the U.S. would "ring China with missile defense" if the Chinese government failed to curb North Korea's nuclear program. Clinton's comments were revealed by WikiLeaks in a hack of the Clinton campaign chairman's personal account. The emails include a document excerpting Clinton's private speeches, which she has refused to release. China has harshly criticized the U.S. and South Korea's planned deployment of a missile-defense system against North Korea, which conducted its fifth nuclear test this year. But Clinton said she told Chinese officials that the U.S. might deploy additional ships to the region. She also derided China's claims to almost all of the South China Sea, saying that by China's logic, the U.S. after World War II could have labeled the Pacific Ocean the "American Sea." Greenhouse gases that are more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Africa. Experts say cutting hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, is the fastest way to reduce global warming. The United States is among the countries that want the world to quickly phase out the use of HFCs, and Secretary of State John Kerry is there to encourage a deal. Here's a look at a potential global climate agreement that has been described by the Natural Resources Defense Council as "the world's biggest climate protection achievement in the year after Paris." ___ IT'S NOT ABOUT THE OZONE LAYER The ozone layer has been healing for a while, thanks to the global agreement known as the Montreal Protocol. In 1987, countries alarmed by the discovery of a huge hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica signed the treaty to eventually end the use of chlorofluorocarbons, which at the time were used in refrigerators and aerosols like hair spray. HFCs were introduced to replace CFCs, and scientists realized only later that they have a strong effect on global warming. Although HFCs don't harm the ozone layer, their ability to trap the heat radiating off the Earth is hundreds or thousands of times more potent than that of carbon dioxide. The U.N. Environment Program says that reducing HFCs under the treaty could reduce global warming by .5-degree Celsius by the end of this century and environmental groups say the step is essential to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. ___ WHERE THE U.S. AND CHINA AGREE The United States and China have their difficult issues, but the world's two worst polluters have pushed to fight climate change. The two heavyweights agreed in 2013 to pursue a deal to phase out HFCs, which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foams. The U.S. and China are urging the countries gathered this week in Kigali, Rwanda, to extend the Montreal Protocol to include HFCs. They also want agreement on an "early freeze date" for when countries must cap their use of them. The U.S. and India, the world's third worst polluter, also have agreed to try to use the treaty to phase out the chemical. ___ A THREAT AS URGENT AS EXTREMISTS? HFCs have been called the world's fastest-growing climate pollutants, though they are less plentiful than carbon dioxide. The growth comes as more people in developing countries make enough money to buy appliances. Last month, Kerry said HFCs currently emit as much pollution as 300 coal-fired power plants. At an international climate meeting in July for state parties to the Montreal Protocol, Kerry stressed the urgency of fighting climate change, saying it is as dangerous as the threat posed by the Islamic State and other extremist groups, if not more so. ___ AFRICAN, ISLAND STATES IN A HURRY Small island states and other countries, including many in Africa, that say they face the biggest threat from climate change are urging action on HFCs, and soon. At the July meeting by states parties to the treaty, many countries favored capping the growth of HFCs in 2021. China was said to prefer later in the decade, with India aiming at the end of it or beyond. Whatever the timing, less-developed countries are seeking help from richer ones to help them implement the treaty. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Croatia's lawmakers have convened for the first time since last month's early election, paving the way to approve a new government following a period of political instability in the European Union's newest member. The lawmakers on Friday elected Bozo Petrov, the leader of the small populist group Most (Bridge), as the new speaker. That reflected a coalition agreement with the conservative Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, whose leader Andrej Plenkovic has been named the prime minister-designate. The conservatives won most seats in the 151-member parliament in the Sept. 11 ballot, but not enough to rule alone. They have created a coalition government with Most, minority parties and other smaller groups. Officials say the new government could be formed next week. The previous one collapsed in June, triggering political turmoil. A Dutch court has rejected an appeal by firebrand anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders to throw out his hate speech prosecution before it goes to trial. Wilders and his lawyers had branded his prosecution a political witch hunt. Wilders did not attend the brief hearing Friday at The Hague District Court. Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the court "rejects the defense's objections." The case against Wilders, who was previously acquitted in 2011 of insulting Islam, centers on comments made before and after Dutch local elections in 2014. At one party meeting he asked supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands, drawing them into the chant of "Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!" "We'll take care of it," he replied. Wilders' trial is scheduled to start Oct. 31. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Scientists in Germany have flipped the switch on a 60 million euro ($66 million) machine designed to help determine the mass of the universe's lightest particle. The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment, or KATRIN, began tests Friday and is expected to begin making actual measurements next year. Physicists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology hope the 200-metric-ton (220-ton) device will narrow down or even pinpoint the actual mass of neutrinos. Doing so would help scientists to better understand the history of the universe. Neutrinos are sometimes referred to as "ghost particles" because they are so difficult to detect. The institute says more than 150 scientists and engineers from five countries are participating in the experiment. Transgender people celebrate a win in France amid the country passing legislation Thursday that allows the transgender community to not have to undergo sterilization. Frances new legal gender recognition law without the requirements of sterilization or undergoing medical procedures comes at a time when a group of European nations strengthened transgender peoples rights, according to Reuters. A spokeswoman from the ILGA-Europe network of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups told the Reuters, "These are years of sparring that finally come to fruition." She also added that, "There is no other population in the world that is asked to be sterilized apart from transgender." Other European countries have allowed people to change their gender legally just by informing officials. While this is considered a win for rights activists, transgender people in France will still have to go to court in order to change their gender. Click for more from Reuters. Of all the players in Hillary Clintons email scandal, the only one behind bars is the man who first revealed to the world in 2013 that former secretary of state and potential future president used the private email address hdr22@clintonemail.com to send and receive classified materials. In new booking photos first obtained by Fox News, Marcel Lehel Lazar, the Romanian hacker more widely known as Guccifer, appears healthy during his near six-month stay at the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria, Va., at one time sporting a full beard. This week, in the midst of the avalanche of revelations in thousands of Clinton emails released by WikiLeaks and the release of Hillary Clintons written and sworn statements in the ongoing Judicial Watch litigation over her homebrew server and private email for government business, the 44-year-old Romanian hacker was suddenly whisked away from his cell and flown back to Bucharest. Fox News was told Friday by a source close to Lazars family that a 21-day processing is normal and then they expect Lazar to be returned to a prison near his family in Arad to finish his sentence for hacking crimes committed in his native country. After an expensive and extensive investigation, which included his extradition from Romania, Lazar was flown to the U.S. in March to face federal charges in the U.S. related to hacking 100 Americans, which included close Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal. Fox News attended Guccifers sentencing, where, in a move that seemed to surprise the court, it was stated that Romania wanted Lazar returned right away. In a neatly written letter dated Sept. 15 and sent from his jail cell, Lazar wrote to Fox News senior executive producer Pamela Browne, calling Romanias request for his return a silly, hasty move. Further revelations and details are still emerging on how Clinton sent and received classified emails by deliberately choosing to use a non-secure, private server linked to her non-secure devices with a private email address for all her official U.S. business as secretary of state. It was back in early July when FBI Director James Comey chose to announce during his now controversial press conference that the bureau was unanimous in its conclusion that Clinton was only extremely careless and not criminal in her handling of classified information as secretary of state. In weeks following the controversial decision, the FBI began releasing highly redacted witness interviews forms known as 302s which included one with Guccifer, aka Marcel Lazar. In great detail, Lazar who cooperated with U.S. authorities, told the FBI that it only took him 20 minutes to get inside Blumenthals AOL account. Once inside, according to his 302, which was reviewed by Fox News, Lazar recalled that Blumenthals account contained approximately 30,000 emails, which took him approximately six to seven hours to sort and review. Lazar downloaded approximately 25 attachments that were contained in the emails, including memorandums and briefing documents. He recalled that some of those attachments were official memos between Blumenthal and Clinton. Additionally, Lazar took screenshots of other items in the account that he deemed to be of interest. Lazar recalled taking a screenshot of an email that contained information related to the Benghazi incident. With Lazar back in Romania, Comeys decision is coming under further scrutiny with thousands of new Clinton staffer emails released by WikiLeaks. Further, Hillary Clintons sworn written statements ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the Judicial Watch litigation revealed that she stated I dont recall 20 times to the 25 questions. One of the more glaring comments was Clintons answer to a question about a Nov. 13, 2010 email exchange with chief aide Huma Abedin that cited problems with the clintonemail.com email account. In it, Clinton wrote to Abedin Lets get a separate address or device. However, in her written and sworn statement Clinton stated that, (Secretary Clinton) does not recall what precisely she meant by the words address or device. For the convicted hacker Guccifer who is now behind bars 6,000 miles away in Romania, the revelations of that statement by Clinton seemed to be foreshadow his sense of own sense of futility in the letter he wrote to Fox News on Sept. 15. So, I apologize in front of the unknown soldiers who struggle to take this fight against these monsters to a glorious end, he wrote. Many of them are risking their lives, while doing this behind the computer screens, from inside and outside the system. Guccifer told Fox and NBC News that he breached Clintons server, but in his May 2016 interview, when pressed by the FBI, Guccifer said the claims were not true. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Body No. 421, bagged in midnight blue, is heaved from a refrigerated truck onto a metal stretcher and wheeled into the tent that serves as a morgue. It joins other putrefying corpses that fill the air with a pungent scent that clings to the clothing and hair of the living. The body is that of a young man, one of hundreds who drowned 77 nautical miles off the coast of Libya in the deadliest known migrant disaster. Eighteen months later, volunteers are trying to find out who he was. A volunteer reaches into the body bag and pulls out the dark, slime-covered remains. Another uses a sharp, black-handled knife to cut out samples for further study. Others examine the muscles and bone structure, photograph the skull and teeth and take notes on a clipboard. The team's leader, University of Milan forensic pathologist Cristina Cattaneo, emerges with a slimy pair of children's jeans reading "Manchester United." She hoses them down carefully. The jeans, and the personal effects found in the pockets, are among the most useful of clues. It is the first time that forensic scientists have tried to build a full accounting of victims in a migrant disaster. ___ It was early evening on April 18, 2015, when the distress call came. A fishing boat packed with hundreds of people was in trouble, the caller said. The Italian Coast Guard radioed a nearby freighter and told it to provide assistance. When they saw the approaching ship, the frantic migrants rushed to one side of the deck, causing the boat to list and then capsize. The boat sank to the bottom. Twenty-eight people made it to safety. Hundreds more were locked below deck. A year later, the Italian Navy returned to the site and used a complicated pulley system to bring the wreck to the surface. As the boat emerged from the water, the horror of what had lain below became clear. "Water started coming out of various openings that the boat had on the side, we also saw human remains coming out of these openings," said Rear Adm. Paolo Pezzutti, who was in charge of the operation. "It was a spectral vision we saw coming out of the water." Back at port in Sicily, firefighters in protective suits, rubber gloves, goggles and helmets cut into the rusted hull with hatchets and saws. They found bodies packed in almost unimaginably close quarters. There were five bodies for every square meter. Two hundred were locked in the engine room alone. Meticulously, the firefighters filled 458 body bags. Many contained the remains of more than one person. The team expects to complete the autopsies this month. Cattaneo predicts the volunteers will analyze some 700 bodies, maybe as many as 800 or 900. So far, all of the victims have been men and boys, mostly between the ages of 12 and 27. ___ When they are finished with their examination, the volunteers zip the bag back up and load body No. 421 into a metal container that will go inside a wooden coffin. Using a black marker, Cattaneo carefully writes PM3900421 on the container PM for "post mortem" and 39 for Italy's telephone country code. That's the code that will mark the grave until the body is connected to a name. European rules require that asylum-seekers register in the first country they enter. Because few of them want to end up in Italy, many leave their IDs back home. That means Cattaneo's team must rely on DNA samples from the bones, teeth, and the objects found on the bodies. At Cattaneo's Labanof laboratory in Milan, plastic baggies and small cardboard boxes containing items found in the migrants' clothing sit in neat lines along the table. Cattaneo goes over them one by one. Some contain ID cards that were sewn into clothing. Several bags contain little wooden sticks used for cleaning teeth. One has a photo of a saint. Another contains what looks like a small brown candy in a pink wrapper. On closer inspection it's a spoonful of dirt, bagged by the traveler as a memory of home. ___ The tragedy has done little to slow the business of trafficking in human lives. Smugglers in Libya continue to reap a fortune by taking migrants' cash and piling them on top of one another in rickety vessels unfit to cross the Mediterranean. So far in 2016, more than 316,899 people have reached Europe by sea, according to the International Organization for Migration. Another 3,611 set out but never made it. ___ In December, the second stage of the process will begin: contacting relatives of those who had IDs on them, and searching for others who are looking for missing kin. That won't be easy. The dead came from Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Mali, the Ivory Coast and Bangladesh, among other places. Some of those countries have repressive governments; others have poor populations with little access to internet or phones. Cattaneo is working with Italy's office for Missing Persons, run by High Commissioner Vittorio Piscitelli. The office has built a database of information gained from the autopsies. When families searching for their loved ones reach out, the information they give will be compared with the data on file. Gathering that information will be perhaps the biggest challenge. The Red Cross has signed up to help. "If we don't have people to show the data to, or any data to compare it with, we risk doing all this work in vain," Piscitelli said. Despite the challenges, Cattaneo is determined to carry on. In a plane or train crash involving European and American victims, she notes, forensic experts rush to the scene and identify all the bodies. That isn't the case in migrant tragedies. "These bodies become nobody's business," Cattaneo says. "This is the largest mass disaster in Europe after the Second World War and it is the largest humanitarian crisis in terms of dead, unidentified bodies . but nothing has been happening for these people." Body No. 421's final destination is a cemetery in Catania, on the island of Sicily. In an unkempt field lined with mounds of dirt, small black plaques list the codes associated with the bodies buried below. Some day, the volunteers hope, the young man's relatives may be able to put a name to the number and come to find him. His dream of a new life in Europe was dashed, but at least he would have the chance to go home. As the noose tightens around the ISIS stronghold of Mosul, there is a flurry of activity in the citys surrounding villages, where the black-clad jihadist armys retreat has revealed destruction, booby traps and underground warrens where terrorists cowered under coalition airstrikes. FoxNews.com recently toured the various frontline villages of Mosul, where around 30 families of the minority Shabak and Kakayi people have returned four months after their homes were liberated from ISIS. Like other villages on the Nineveh Plains just miles from the citys center, the longtime inhabitants are trickling back in to rebuild their homelands and lives. Even though that means their families including their young children are living on the frontlines amid one of the most highly-anticipated battles to recapture a city from jihadist hands. "This is where I was born and raised, said Falah, a Kakayi, who returned three weeks ago with his wife and two daughters, aged six and four. This village belongs to us, to our grandfathers. That is why I came back. It's a strange feeling, an exciting feeling." But since returning, his youngest daughter Raiffifa has stopped speaking. She refuses to stand, and must constantly cling to someone, whimpering softly. "We think she has a sickness maybe," her dad whispers. "She has shock from coming back." Still intact in all of the homes ISIS occupied are the intricate and expertly constructed underground tunnels leading to the front line in the battle with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. The labyrinth allowed fighters to move from their commandeered quarters to the long trench while protected from routine airstrikes. The tunnel opening is a round hole less than three feet wide, requiring a jump down its roughly 5-foot, 10-inch height. The tunnel contains rooms built to the side and still strewn with odds and ends pillows and blankets, slippers, cut electrical cords and a phone charger, a broken fan, bottles of engine oil and antiseptics, cans of food and yogurt tubs, water bottles and even empty cigarette packets. "ISIS might tell everyone else smoking is haram (forbidden)," observed the guiding Peshmerga soldier. "But their fighters did what they wanted." Barricades block the remaining, long and interwoven tunnel, the soldier explaining the rest has "not yet been cleaned" of explosives in a job that will take "many many months." And for the families who have already come back, the tunnels connecting their homes serves as a chilling reminder of who and what stole their space. The Kakayi are part of the ancient Yarsan or Ahl el-Haqq (people of truth) and much like the Yazidis, were threatened with annihilation after ISIS branded them "infidels, and forced them to flee soon after Mosul City was overrun in June, 2014. But given the families' premature return, there is no running water, no electricity. They all share a well for water and a small generator, which gives them enough electricity - lasting just two hours a day - to cook some food and charge their phones. The men take turns guarding the roof overnight to watch for any potential ISIS infiltrators, and the parents are on constant high alert to ensure the children don't cross the road into fields pocked with landmines. Five of their Kakayi shrines were bombed into oblivion. Only one business has re-opened. It used to be a medical clinic, and is now a window repair shop as some start repairs. Graffiti still adorns the side walls. The black words "Medical Clinic" were written over in gray with "Islamic State Remains," but most recently "Viva Peshmerga" was scrawled over that in gold paint by locals. Falahs other brother Dyab frequently stops by with his young family. He says he can't yet return to his home in the neighboring town with the ominous name Wardak, but comes to visit and help out with house rebuilding. Their third brother Ahmed, however, returned 18 days ago with his four children, aged five to fifteen, despite his house being partially damaged in multiple rocket attacks. "We couldn't keep paying rent anymore," Ahmed explained helplessly. The brothers once all had good jobs as former soldiers turned truck drivers and construction contractors, with one proudly showing off his service to U.S. troops during the war. But they have all been rendered jobless by the ISIS onslaught - now with nothing to their name. "ISIS looted everything, everything," one of Ahmed's sons says in fluent English, as he guides us through his home which still chillingly bears the graffitied name of the fighter - Abu Janat- who seized it. "Even the doors and windows." Dyab had the opposite problem he said when he returned to his house it was filled to the brim with beat up furniture and random objects. "My house was the headquarters," he said. "So they threw everything in there. I had everyone come in. Some of our neighbors were able to recognize their things and take them back." But along the roadside are remnants of the horrors that not too long ago plagued this very parcel of the Mosul, still a disputed land area between the Bagdad Central Government and the Kurdish Regional one. Entire villages decimated by airstrikes and heavy fighting, charred skeletons of cars and buses, and a mere barbed wire fence to barricade vast expanses of land not yet cleared from the last 30 years of chaos caused by the hard-line Islamist outfit. Miles of trenches have recently been built to keep the car bombers from breaching the Peshmerger controlled area. But the alert remains high. "At one point," the accompanying Kurdish official, who requested anonymity, told FoxNews.com. "ISIS even had armored lifts it was using to put bombs inside the ditch." A handful of laborers have already begun rebuilding the nearby road adjoining Al-Khazer Bridge. At one point it served as a key supply route for ISIS between towns, before becoming a casualty of a targeted airstrike. German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains open to holding top-level talks with Ukraine, Russia and France on the conflict in eastern Ukraine next week. Senior officials from the four countries were in the Belarus capital of Minsk on Friday to discuss such a meeting. Merkel told reporters in Berlin "as far as next week is concerned, I can't say yet because I first have to wait for news from the ongoing talks at working level." She added: "we are keeping this open but we haven't reached a decision yet." Germany has sought to broker a durable peace agreement that would end the conflict between Russia-backed rebels and the Ukrainian government in eastern Ukraine. Berlin has insisted that all sides in the conflict must abide by a 2015 deal forged in Minsk. George Clooneys human rights lawyer wife nearly caused an international incident at the Iraqi UN Mission in Manhattan when she lectured the ambassador on ISIS and showed up with an unauthorized camera crew, The Post has learned. Lebanese-born attorney Amal Clooney originally demanded to meet with the prime minister at the mission during the UN General Assembly, but that was rejected and she settled for the countrys UN Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim, two Iraqi officials confirmed. She arrived with Yazidi refugee and Noble Peace Prize nominee Nadia Murad on Sept. 15, and, right from the get-go, she used a dismissive, lecturing tone with Alhakim while discussing how to bring captured ISIS fighters to justice, one official said. The ambassador and his staff tried to offer her a full picture outlining each group targeted by ISIS, but Clooney was completely uninterested and tone deaf to the whole thing, the official said, noting, It was highly offensive. I have had cousins decapitated. Alhakim, who had 65 of his own family members exterminated by Saddam Husseins ruthless regime, became infuriated with Clooney and, at one point, stated to her, This is highly insulting. This is very unacceptable, the official said. Despite Clooneys obnoxious behavior, the tense meeting lasted about an hour and 20 minutes because the Iraqi diplomats wanted to be respectful to Nadia, the official noted. When the meeting finally ended, the parties went downstairs to the lobby, where Clooneys media team carrying film equipment had shown up unannounced a violation of standard protocols that required pre-approval by the mission, the official said. Clooney requested an on-camera interview with the ambassador, but was quickly shut down and escorted outside with her posse. Click for more from the New York Post. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 The chief of Europe's top human rights body says Turkey must stick to the rule of law and human rights principles when prosecuting those it accuses of involvement in July's failed coup to buttress its reputation as a nation that has reconciled democracy with Islam. Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland told The Associated Press on Friday that enabling the thousands in Turkey who have been arrested or dismissed from government jobs to have their day in court would benefit both Europe and the region. It would also send a strong message to those who commit "terrorism in the name of Islam." Jagland said Turkey must ensure that judicial safeguards are in place for those in custody and that evidence gathered against them is justified. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia could sell missile defense systems to Turkey. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, in comments carried Friday by Russian news agencies, that Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed potential arms deals at a meeting in Istanbul earlier this week. He said that Russia would considering selling various missile defense systems if Turkey wants them. Turkey was negotiating a nuclear defense deal with China, which had been a source of tension with NATO partners, before the talks broke down last year. The statement comes just a few months after Russia agreed to restore ties with Turkey. Relations between the two nations were nearly severed after Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Turkish-Syrian border last year. This article is archived and available in its entirety for free for registered members only. Please login or register to read more. Cannes always opens the door to new editions of the upcoming season and thrills us with exclusive promotions. I especially look forward to visiting some brands that I have been following for years and that surprise me with their fragrant sequences all over again. Some brands first introduced themselves at this years show, while others brought back discontinued fragrances. Lets start! MAVIVE POLICE, REPLAY, MANILA GRACE, ZIPPO, MONOTHEME FINE FRAGRANCES Police is launching a new pair of "skulls" in the collection To Be by connecting it with music. Names of the fragrances are To Be Mr Beat and To Be Miss Beat, and flacons are decorated with headsets. Pop images and attractive colors represent youth, enthusiasm and dynamic rhythms of the editions, while the compositions are modern, intensive and youthful. I can tell you a little secret from the house of Police: I had the opportunity to see and test editions that will appear in September 2017 and they delighted me with their design and compositions. Police raises its image to a higher level with edgy designs and attractive details present in the packaging. The new editions will be more elegant and more luxurious than the previous ones! Replay added a new duo, Stone Supernova, whose flacon design builds on last years Stone duo. Stone Supernova For Her and Stone Supernova For Him are already available in perfumeries in Italy. Replay expands their collection over the next year in two directions, one of them will thrill the audience as the bottle design will be inspired by Replay's fashion collections while highlighting floral print and camouflage print. Zippo did not launch any new perfumes, but presented the basic edition Zippo for men - Zippo Original in a new flacon adapting it to the other fragrances of the Zippo line. The composition remains unchanged and the accent lies on the glass bottle rather than the old metal packaging. Manila Grace continues in their style of unusual gourmand compositions. The first fragrance, Manila Grace Eau de Parfum thrilled me with a gianduia ice cream-Milka noisette accord, while the second perfume of the collection, Manila Grace Eau Fraiche also includes a gourmet rhythm but is much fresher and designed for the summer months. The latest fragrance will appeal to the women who love gourmand floral editions with oriental bases, resinous and warm. This cake-like accord with hazelnuts remains a signature of all editions, including this one, except that here a lush floral bouquet develops over sweet dessert notes and resins. The bottle looks beautiful and is colored in purple with an illustration of white flowers. The new fragrance (just like the previous two) is accompanied by body care products. The new fragrance is called Manila Grace Fleur Narcotique. Monotheme Fine Fragrances launched two new editions: Romantic and refreshing Magnolia is aimed at women while Verbena is intended for both sexes and is wearable especially in the warmer days. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE I have adored the collection by The Merchant of Venice since my visit to Venice when I got to know the basic line a few years ago. I look forward to each new edition because of the wonderful way they celebrate Murano glass and offer unique compositions worthy of attention. During this year they presented several editions and "supplemented" the existing collection. In Milan they promoted three perfume extracts of the Flame collection; later on they promoted the romantic and ultimately feminine Rosa Moceniga, which, although I'm not a fan of rose, I eagerly wish to have in my collection, and they also launched a perfume for men named Venetian Blue. I had the opportunity to test the above mentioned perfumes in Cannes, along with two completely new editions. The fragrances come in beautifully designed bottles in iridescent shades from bright blue to golden sunny, with a metallic sheen. Just like in the photographs, they seem magical! BERDOUES, ELLE, MOLYNEUX Berdoues will thrill all fans of violets, a theme that they previously addressed in the Bucoliques Tales collection - 4 perfumes dedicated to violets. The new fragrance belongs to the collection Collection Grands Crus and the new VIOLETTE comes in milky white bottle decorated with violets. As a reminder of the old collection of violets, the bottle is crowned with a black atomizer. Among the novelties, the Berdoues collection introduced Russkaya Koa which arrives on the market soon, and it is followed by Massai Mara, a fragrance that takes us to Africa. The 1902 Cologne collection offers two new editions: Bois Ambre and Bergamote Indigo. For those who have the opportunity to test this collection, I would draw attention to test Bergamot Indigo, a quite unusual cologne in an indigo blue hue of lavender mixed with citruses. I truly loved it and it's another cologne that mixes the warmth of amber with citruses and woody notes, very pleasant for everyday use. Elle promoted their five fragrances and presented wonderful sets containing various gifts. One of the most beautiful sets for was the set that includes the basic edition So Cute, aimed at mothers and babies, alcohol-free, whose package contains a rubber cloud that is a night light for babies. Numerous So Lovely, So Chic, So Pretty, and So Sweety sets were prepared that will appear on the market and are suitable as gifts for children and teenagers. Molyneux launches a brand new fragrance inspired by vintage Vivre from 1971. The bottle is much simpler than the original edition, but the scent is a very lively and brisk, floral. Regardless of the simple lines of the bottle, which, in my opinion, do not convey the dynamics of the composition, I suggest you test it when it hits the shelves of perfumeries because the composition is of a high quality and is very unique. LUCIANO SOPRANI At the TFWA 2016 in Cannes Luciano Soprani promoted the collection Solo Soprani which was recently announced in our news. Solo Soprani includes three fragrances Dream, Love and Smile; their compositions are modern, wearable and reflect the names given to them. I prefer the blue Dream because of its dreamy composition, which is delicate, soft, fluffy and creamy. The other two fragrances are very wearable, unconventional, and for all generations. FRAGONARD Fragonard presented their collection with a focus on innovations: Iris was displayed, a scent that belongs to the "Flower of the Year" collection; Fleur d'Oranger Intense and Bigarade Jasmin join the collection Le Jardin de Fragonard. The booth was decorated in the spirit of the house, conveying the cheerful and beautiful, distinctive style typical of this French brand. STHLM STHLM is a new brand from Stockholm who presented their perfume collection by connecting it with photographs (which are on the outer packaging of its fragrances). I will cover this house separately, but for now I will just announce the exhibited fragrances: SG79 No1, SG79 No2, SG79 No3, SG79 No4, SG79 No16 and SG79 No17. I would like to single out SG79 No16 because of its oriental-floral composition with an exotic twist; the aroma is dominated by resins, white flowers, and caramel intertwining with chypre shades provided by patchouli. The compositions are modern and of top quality! ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC Perfumes by Zlatan Ibrahimovic were also promoted at this years exhibition! After the first perfume for men, Zlatan Pour Homme presented last year, other editions followed - Supreme Pour Homme and Supreme Pour Femme are a fragrant duo launched in 2016. On top of the fragrances, the collection encompasses body care products with the same fragrant notes as the perfumes. Zlatan Pour Homme and Supreme duo at TFWA 2016 PANOS EMPORIO Panos Emporio, Mr Panos Papadopulous Panos Emporio is a fashion brand from Sweden, which designs and manufactures swimwear. The Greek founder and owner of the brand, Mr. Panos Papadopulous, decided to launch a collection of perfumes and body care products as well as a watch collection. The latest fragrance of the perfume collection is Le Grand Bleu, which perfectly reflects the Mediterranean islands by combining flavors of herbs and spices, sea air and water, orange blossom and relaxing lavender. My favorite in the collection is Coco Sun, an unusual coconut blended with gourmet and vanilla-base shades and romantic white flowers. Freshness originates from citrus and juicy pineapple; the scent is just overwhelming and smells of summer! KORLOFF In early 2016 Korloff launched No Ordinary Man which arrived on the market during spring. They are promoting two novelties: Silver Wood for men and Majestic Tuberose for women. COLLISTAR From the house of Collistar we can expect two fragrances: Vetiver Forte and L'Ambra. EUROITALIA Euroitalia promoted the brands Versace, Missoni and Moschino, as usual. This years focus is on the latest mens edition Versace Pour Homme Dylan Blue and the accompanying line, as well as the new Missoni edition Missoni Eau de Toilette. What I am allowed to announce is that we can expect an extension of Moschino's line Couture Fresh very soon; Missoni will launch a new edition next year which will not be a flanker of the existing line which was launched when Euroitalia took the license. Next year we can also expect new fragrances from the Versace collection, which are also not flankers, but a new "pillar" i.e. an entirely new line for the Versace brand. To date we have agreed to keep secrets until scheduled dates! More exclusives coming soon! Photos from the show by Sandra Raicevic Petrovic MEH Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids to Open First Arizona Salon Childrens haircut franchise looks to put families at ease with fun haircut experience. October 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // SALT LAKE CITY Knowing all too well how normal it is for kids to be scared of getting a haircut an experience that often includes tantrums and tears the new Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids at 1275 E. Baseline Road in Gilbert, Arizona is looking to provide a caring environment where both local children and parents are put at ease. Our stylists are skilled in cutting hair for all children, and provide that extra special touch for those with special needs, said owner Scott Rifkin, who owns the rights for two additional Cookie Cutters salons. Not all children like to get their hair cut; we are aware of this struggle and do all we can to make the experience one that they will want to have again. We strive to help all kids discover how much fun a haircut can be. Rifkin is a 15-year veteran of the United States Army, serving on active duty and the reserves from February 1983 to April 1998. Duty assignments included both Cavalry and Armor units in the US and Europe. Scott also has 18 years experience working for Accenture LLP, and an accomplished Project Management and Program Management Office Executive with proven experience driving large-scale, multi-million dollar projects and programs to completion. He also has over 16 years of volunteer service to the University of Arizona Alumni Association and recently finished a six year term on their National Governing Board. Scott is also a Sergeant with the Phoenix Company of the Arizona Rangers. One of the first children-only hair salons in the United States, Cookie Cutters offers an interactive haircut experience that both children and parents wont soon forget. Upon entering the salons, neon lights lead children to an in-store playground where they can climb and slide. Come time for the haircut, each station on the cutting floor is outfitted with unique fantasy chairs from race cars to motorcycles, firetrucks to airplanes as well as televisions for the kids to watch shows or play video games. With a balloon, sucker and a smile at the end of each haircut, the Cookie Cutters experience is designed to keep children coming back again and again. Our motto is quite simple. Fun for kids, stress free for parents, Rifkin said. The new salon in Gilbert is the first of 10 that the Salt Lake City-based franchise hopes to open throughout the Phoenix Metro area over the next few years. Including a franchise fee of $35,000, the total investment to open a single unit Cookie Cutters salon is $90,500 to $261,000. Franchisees can add a second location for an additional $20,000, three or more locations for an additional $10,000 each. About Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids Founded in 1994 and franchising since 1995, Cookie Cutter Haircuts for Kids is one of the first and most unique childrens haircutting franchises in the country. Our unique store design includes an in-store playground and video games, making a Cookie Cutters haircut a truly interactive experience. With our fantasy chairs that are only available to Cookie Cutters franchisees, our system is designed to keep children coming back to your salon again and again. Currently, there are over 30 salons open and operating in 16 states. For more information, visit www.haircutsarefun.com. SOURCE Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids Contact: Natalie Passarelli Franchise Elevator PR (847) 239-8171 npassarelli@franchiseelevator.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Address Coldwell Banker Elite 990 Bragg Road Fredericksburg , VA 22407 Hours Sunday Closed Monday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Tuesday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Wednesday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Thursday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Friday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Saturday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Holiday hours: By Appointment only. Special hours: By Appointment only. Map About Gary Gardiner Jr, REALTOR, ABR, AHWD, SRS. Please allow me to tell you a bit about myself! My wife, Teresa, and I have been married for 24 years and raised our two children in the Spotsylvania County area since 1994. After graduating from Chancellor High School, ... Gift Selection App Reaches $2m Of Products Added In First 12 Months Australian app developer Jacaranda Apps has announced the achievement of a significant company milestone for its gift assistance app, HappyUnwrappy. Less than a year since it was launched, HappyUnwrappy has already reached $2 million dollars in total value of products added to its service. -- Australian app developer Jacaranda Apps has announced the achievement of a significant company milestone for its gift assistance app, HappyUnwrappy Less than a year since it was launched, HappyUnwrappy has already reached $1 million dollars in total value of products added to its service. HappyUnwrappy has attracted mobile owners who are looking for a solution to the problem of not knowing what gifts to buy for friends and family. The free app, available on iPhone and Android, offers the ability to create "wishlists" which can be shared with friends and family via Facebook or email. The owner of the wishlist is given the ability to control which friends and family members have access to each wishlist, for greater control. With an exponential growth in the number of new apps being added to the iTunes App store every month (50,750 in January 2016), Jacaranda Apps are delighted with the attention their app is receiving. This is especially true considering most apps are removed the same day they're installed, according to a report prepared by eMarketer.com in December 2015. A young husband and wife team from Sydney, the founders of HappyUnwrappy have been extremely excited by the growing momentum of the free app and how quickly it has reached this impressive milestone. They had this to say about the idea behind the app: "We both recognised a clear gap in the market for an app which would help potentially millions of people from wasting time and money, buying gifts which ultimately wouldn't be appreciated by the recipient. And at the same time, we could help potentially millions of people receive the gifts they really wanted!" Research showed that Australians received an estimated $520 million worth of unwanted presents in 2014 alone, and the founders believed this problem presented an opportunity. Jacaranda Apps hoped that the app would help reduce the disappointment, and environmental waste, created by unwanted gifts. They added, "We're hoping that having access to HappyUnwrappy will make people's lives a lot easier, particularly at stressful gifting periods like Christmas." Rather than settling with their current success, the Jacaranda Apps team are now focused on expanding their reach further to help more customers, and turn their $2 million product value milestone into $10 million and beyond. Readers wishing to explore the app further can find out more at the HappyUnwrappy website, http://happyunwrappy.com. The app can also be downloaded for free from the AppStore or Google Play. For more information, please visit http://happyunwrappy.com/ Contact Info: Name: Rebecca Foster Organization: Jacaranda Apps Pty Ltd Address: Virtual Office Release ID: 138102 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) PracticePanther Goes Global with Multi-Language Update. Spanish Version Now Available. PracticePanther is now translated to Spanish and expanding to more languages in coming months. -- PracticePanther is proud to announce that it will now provide its law practice management software to Spanish-speaking attorneys and law firms across Spain and Latin America. This update places PracticePanther as one of the few programs extending its software beyond the US and other English-speaking countries. This transition will now provide Spanish-speaking attorneys, and law firms worldwide, with a world-class software they can use in their native language. The new translation plugin will allow attorneys to translate the software to any language of their choice. Now law firms worldwide will have the ability to fully customize their legal software, instead of having to develop their own in-house solution. The translations, along with the existing tools such as intake forms, mobile apps, client portal, and SMS alerts, are included for current members. Also included are the existing integrations such as Dropbox, Box.com, QuickBooks Online, Zapier, Outlook, Gmail, LawPay, and more. "From the very beginning our goal has always been to make the easiest to use software, so attorneys worldwide can use it. Our software was originally built with the flexibility for multiple languages. It was only after multiple requests from Spanish-speaking attorneys that we decided it was the right time to make it available in Spanish - and we're very happy with our decision," said David Bitton, CEO of PracticePanther. Law firms can request their language of choice by going to http://practicepanther.com/contact About PracticePanther.com Using the latest cloud technology, PracticePanther is an easy to use law practice management software for law firms worldwide. Packed with features, the app comes with a built-in CRM including tasks and calendaring. Time tracking, accounting, billing, matter and document management, client portal, custom fields, and trust accounting are all standard features. Updates are released weekly. New integrations include Gmail, Google Business Apps, Exchange, Outlook, Quickbooks Online, PayPal, Stripe, LawPay, Dropbox, Box.com and a handful more. For the advanced power-user, Zapier.com and an open API are now available to integrate with most apps online. For more information, please visit http://www.practicepanther.com/ Contact Info: Name: Julian Gutierrez, Digital Marketing Manager Email: julian@practicepanther.com Organization: PracticePanther Phone: 800.856.8729 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/practicepanther-goes-global-with-multi-language-update-spanish-version-now-available/138280 Release ID: 138280 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Baumgartner Law Firm Announces 2016 Scholarship Winner The scholarship is offered each year to needy individuals to who are enrolled at an accredited Law School in the US, reports https://baumgartnerlawyers.com. -- Houston-based Baumgartner Law Firm has recently announced the winner of their 2016 Scholarships. Each year, the firm furnishes a monetary award to a needy individual who is enrolled at an accredited Law School in the US. The winner will receive a one-time award of $3,000.00 to be used for tuition, books and law school expenses. This year, they are also awarding $1000 to another individual enrolled or accepted at an accredited school (based on need and commitment to helping others). More information about the scholarship and application requirements are available at the Baumgartner Law Firm website. Greg Baumgartner, the Houston Personal Injury Lawyer at the helm of Baumgartner Law Firm, stated: "We are so excited to announce this year's scholarship winners to the public. The students we have chosen for these scholarships not only excel academically, but have also made personal sacrifices in order make a significant impact on their community as well. Becoming a great attorney is about having a heart to serve people in need, and our 2016 scholarship winners definitely embody that virtue. We're pleased to announce MacKenzie Ridgle as winner of the Baumgartner Law scholarship and Odalis Almendarez as the winner the car accident scholarship." The Baumgartner Law Firm Scholarships are awarded to students based on both their demonstrated need and their commitment to helping others. Applications for the scholarships usually close at the end of August, and the winners are announced via the firm's Facebook and Google Plus pages. As Attorney Baumgartner goes on to say, "Our team knows that school is a huge investment of both time and money for students. They often take on a huge financial responsibility in exchange for the opportunity to serve others inside and outside of the courtroom for the rest of their lives. We see these scholarships as something that we can do to help them fulfill their highest potential and achieve the life goals they've set out for themselves." Those who are interested in learning more about Baumgartner Law Firm or would like to apply for next year's scholarship should log on to https://baumgartnerlawyers.com for more information. About Baumgartner Law Firm: Baumgartner Law Firm has been protecting the financial future of personal injury victims in Houston & Texas for over 30 years by fighting for maximum compensation in every case. Injury Attorney Greg Baumgartner founded the Baumgartner Law Firm in 1985. The law firm's mission from the very beginning has been to provide the highest quality legal representation to victims of personal injury. The law firm handles car wrecks, truck accidents, day care injury and other serious injury or wrongful death cases. For more information, please visit https://baumgartnerlawyers.com Contact Info: Name: Greg Baumgartner Organization: Baumgartner Law Firm Phone: (281) 587-1111 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/baumgartner-law-firm-announces-2016-scholarship-winner/136626 Release ID: 136626 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) The Law Offices of Dorothy Mulcihy Hyde Launch Dallas Car Wreck With Details On Their Specialty The Law Offices of Dorothy Mulcihy Hyde are specialists in car accident claims, and have created the Dallas Car Wreck website to focus on this practice area and provide the best information to victims. -- Automobiles are a technological and engineering marvel, but they will only ever be as safe as the people driving them. Unfortunately, this causes thousands of people to become victims of vehicle related injuries every year. The Law Offices of Dorothy Mulcihy Hyde offer representation to individuals in cases of accident and injury involving cars, bicycles, boats and more, together with taking cases involving dog bites and animal attacks, medical negligence and wrongful death. They have just created a new website, Dallas Car Wreck, to offer detailed resources in their primary practice area of automobile related injuries. Dallas personal injury lawyer Dottie Hyde offers the most tenacious and dedicated legal services in the Dallas and Fort Worth area, nicknamed the 'Barracuda' for her fierce protectiveness, and aggressive approach to seeking and securing the full amount of compensation. The new website, Dallas Car Wreck, encapsulates their work in this field, and provides examples of previous cases, together with comprehensive resources that can help victims of car crashes understand the situation they have found themselves in. The website also offers full details for a free initial consultation with an experienced Dallas injury lawyer to understand and outline their potential claim. A spokesperson for The Law Offices of Dorothy Mulcihy Hyde explained, "Dallas car wrecks ruin lives each and every year, and our mission is to help the victims reclaim as much of their independence and agency as possible. This often comes with a hefty price tag - one that insurers and claims adjusters will do anything to avoid paying. We understand all their tricks and tactics, and ensure there is no escape from giving our clients exactly what they deserve. The website is an essential resource, and we hope it will help more people in Dallas and Fort Worth find and contact us in their hour of need." About The Law Offices of Dorothy Mulcihy Hyde: The Law Offices of Dorothy Mulcihy Hyde are located in Dallas, Texas. They have collected millions of dollars in settlements for clients in both state and federal court. With over 27 years of experience and service in Dallas, the Fort Worth Metroplex, and the State of Texas, they can call upon an extensive network of doctors, physicians, and medical professionals to treat clients' injuries while pursuing the claim. For more information, please visit http://www.dallascarwreck.com/ Contact Info: Name: Dorothy Hyde Email: dottiehyde03@gmail.com Organization: Law Office of Dorothy Hyde Address: 4925 Greenville Avenue, Suite 1022 Dallas, TX 75026 Phone: (214) 516-7144 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/the-law-offices-of-dorothy-mulcihy-hyde-launch-dallas-car-wreck-with-details-on-their-specialty/138306 Release ID: 138306 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Premier Global Office Solutions Introduces Their Virtual Office Services The company is helping business owners instill trust in their clients with a prestigious business address, reports www.pgos.ch. -- Zurich-based Premier Global Office Solutions has announced the introduction of their virtual office services for those doing business throughout the country and around the world. The company aims to give business owners the opportunity to take advantage of their prestigious postcode in order to increase the credibility of the business and instill a sense of trust in their clients. Dsire Wenger, a representative of Premier Global Office Solutions, stated "There's an age-old saying that the three most important aspects of business are location, location, location. The right business address can go a long way in adding credibility to a company and elevating it in the eyes of potential clients. This is where our virtual office solutions can help. Within the next 24 hours, business owners can begin benefitting from having our 8002 postcode attached to their business. We're in the heart of Zurich's renowned banking quarter and close to the Bahnhofstrasse, one of the world's most exclusive shopping streets." In addition to their virtual office services, the team at Premier also offers many other business solutions to benefit entrepreneurs. Their Virtuoso Business Services Package gives them access to daily and weekly mail forwarding to anywhere in the world as well as incorporation services, accounting solutions, fiduciary and legal services, and even business consulting. Those in need of IT or telecoms services can get assistance with that as well. As Wenger continued, "Our team is on a mission to provide business owners with worry-free services that will give them everything they need to run a smooth operation. Both our virtual office service and the full suite of business solutions we offer will help us accomplish that goal, and we look forward to helping business owners take their enterprises to the next level." Those who are interested in learning more about Premier Global Office Solutions or taking advantage of their business services should visit www.pgos.ch for more information. About Premier Global Office Solutions: Premier Global Office Solutions Ltd is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland and provides virtual office and business services to its clients. Their primary objective is to provide prestigious office addresses hosted in professional environments, ensuring their clients are able to maximise on the credibility of the address in the knowledge their interests are being safe guarded in a specialist environment. Premier's dedicated office-hosting partners are carefully chosen from recognised professional standings including lawyers, accountants, fiduciaries and financial intermediaries. For more information, please visit http://www.pgos.ch Contact Info: Name: Dsire Wenger Organization: Premier Global Office Solutions Phone: +41 44 552 1138 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/premier-global-office-solutions-introduces-their-virtual-office-services/138291 Release ID: 138291 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Primed For Primrose: Maple Holistics Launches New Evening Primrose Oil Maple Holistics has announced the development and release of their new Evening Primrose Oil, which is available for purchase now through the Maple Holistics website or via Amazon.com. -- The perpetually working development team at Maple Holistics has announced the development and release of their latest personal care oil in Evening Primrose Oil for Moisturizing Dry & Flaky Skin and Hair. Available for purchase now through the Maple Holistics website or via Amazon.com, Maple Holistics Evening Primrose Oil is an unrefined, cold-pressed oil which can be used to supplement various areas of personal care. A pure and wholly natural product, Maple Holistics Evening Primrose Oil is encouraged for use with men and women of all ages and body types. The unrefined, cold-pressed Evening Primrose Essential Oil contains no added fillers or ingredients. Maple Holistics uses only cold-press extraction methods, which ensures the oil's molecular structure remains intact, improving its efficacy and the overall benefits. Evening Primrose Oil contains essential fatty acids that can help rejuvenate the skin by locking in moisture. This helps hydrate dry patches and relieves itching and inflammation. Evening primrose oil also has anti-inflammatory properties that allow it assist the regeneration of damaged or aged skin cells. Individuals suffering from eczema or psoriasis will benefit greatly from the itch and anti-inflammatory relief provided by evening primrose oil. Evening Primrose Oil contains high concentrations of gamma linolenic acid (GLA) which help moisturize the skin and treat various skin conditions. Maple Holistics unrefined Evening Primrose Oil also helps modulate physiologic skin processes which can reduce inflammation and dryness. The cutting-edge cold-press extraction methods ensure these benefits remain intact. Maple Holistics Evening Primrose Oil is 100% pure and contains no impurities or fillers. The Evening Primrose Oil is cruelty-free, paraben-free, made in the USA, contains no artificial colors or harmful ingredients, and is packaged in environmentally friendly, BPA-free bottles. About the Company Maple Holistics provides industry leading, all-natural hair, body, and skin products. The company offers a natural, holistic range of premium products which can enhance hygiene, health and daily living. Company products are made in the USA. For more information, please visit http://mapleholistics.com Contact Info: Name: Benjamin Ellis Email: support@mapleholistics.com Organization: Maple Holistics Address: 603 Twin Oaks Drive Phone: (844) 346-2753 Release ID: 137231 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. We told you a while back that reliably red Utah could actually go Democratic this Election season. AD: Get Up to $1000 in Free Bets Bet on Every State Election Results at BetOnline That was back in August but the Democratic nominee Hillary Clintons chances started to dwindle as GOP nominee Donald Trump began to gain steam. Enter a shock video tape of Trump making disparaging comments about women, more specifically talking about how he is able to grab them by the p****. And now Clinton is suddenly leading the nation by double digits. As we discussed back in August, Utah Republicans, a majority of whom are devout Mormons, have not exactly been enamored with Trump. The embattled real estate magnate is still a favorite to win Utah, but at anywhere from -250 to -400 odds, there is little value in betting on him to win there even with some pundits insisting the state is nowhere near ready to vote for a Democrat to win the White House. Indeed, it hasnt happened since 1964. Utah saw the 3rd largest percentage growth in population over the past decade (about 24%). The state gained one electoral vote, giving it 6 through the 2020 presidential election. - Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Release Date, News & Update: Announcement on October 26 Event, More Event Details Here The countdown has begun for the highly anticipated Microsoft event this October 26, when the company is set to announce the new Surface Pro 5, alongside updates on Windows 10. The yearly event is a venue for the company to make big announcements on their various products, which is why fans are getting excited about the date. According to The Verge, Microsoft will be launching a new Surface PC on October 26 during the event. The invites have been sent to the media and guests, and it looks like the event will cover topics on the Windows 10 software update, and Xbox-related announcements. But will fans finally hear about the highly anticipated Microsoft Surface Pro 5? Some rumors indicate that the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 announcement will be made during the October 26 event. This is because the company usually makes big announcements during these events, and wait for the holidays to release it. Meanwhile, for those who are looking to upgrade their PC's, the Surface PC is also set to be announced. The Surface PC, which is different from the Microsoft Surface Pro 5, is set to be unveiled during the October 26 event. Various leaks have shown that there is an existing Surface-branded keyboard and mouse, which should be announced on the October 26 event as well. For those who are wondering, the keyboard has a non-ergonomic design. The mouse is wireless and has a gray tone to it. The October 26 Microsoft event is also going to tackle more on Windows 10, as the company is looking to release two more updates in 2017. Xbox console users should also look forward to developments in that arena. As for the Microsoft Surface Pro 5, fans will have to wait and see when the event is livestreamed two weeks from now. Apple iPhone7 News & Update: Apple Leads The Market Following The Galaxy Note 7 Disaster Galaxy Note 7 disaster makes Apple iPhone 7 taking the lead now in market technology. Samsung experienced a big downfall following the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 breakdown.There were a recall and replacement after the incident.And because of this wreckage, the bad news is that it might help promote Apples New iPhone even stronger. An analyst from Drexel Hamilton Brian White told Barron's, "With original market expectations for approximately 10-14 million Galaxy Note 7 units in H2:2016 (availability began on August 19), we believe Apple has an opportunity to pick up at least 8 million incremental units in CY:16. Moreover, this fiasco could permanently damage the Samsung brand in the smartphone market, a big opportunity for Apple to gain market share." This is a big chance for Apple as the leading Smartphone Manufacturer 2016 to promote and proved to consumers that their innovation is the best and worth buying for.Apple company is very much prepared to rescue consumers with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus. Analyst Steven Milunovich told AppleInsider that,"He expects the current flagship iPhone 7 series will spur 8 percent unit growth in the fiscal year 2017- a number he said is close to current Wall Street consensus. Apple creates a set of equipment to construct data from an Android device and transfer it onto an iOS authorize the device.This fall of 2017 Apple is expected to present a completely new renovated look for iphone7 and iPhone7 plus. Narcos Season 3 Release Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Start of Filming Confirmed; Pedro Pascal Returns as Pena Pablo Escobar is officially out from "Narcos" season 3 as the notorious kingpin's story ended in the previous season. Netflix has recently released its first production photo, which only confirms that filming has started for the 2017-scheduled episodes. The official Twitter account of the Netflix series released a photo, which featured DEA Agent Javier Pena, played by Pedro Pascal. In the photo, Pena is seen standing on a podium giving a press conference assumed to be related to the death of the druglord. The caption for the photo reads, "The blow must go on. Pablo might be dead but the war is not over. Season 3 of #Narcos has begun filming." Just last month, series producers have confirmed that "Narcos" will continue with season 3 and season 4, even without Wagner Moura's impressive portrayal of Escobar. The blow must go on. Pablo might be dead but the war is not over. Season 3 of #Narcos has begun filming. pic.twitter.com/O7EaSOqSJ0 Narcos (@NarcosNetflix) October 12, 2016 The recently released photo also confirmed that Pascal is back for "Narcos" season 3. However, fans have yet to know if Pena's partner, Steve Murphy, played by Boyd Holbrook, will be onboard for the upcoming season. In history, though, Murphy didn't stay long in Colombia after Escobar's death. The real-life agents have confirmed where they were after Escobar's demise: Murphy returned to the United States in June 1994 while Pena left Colombia in October 1994. Season 2 ended up with an opening to the Cali cartel, a new drug group that emerged strong after Escobar. In the Netflix version, it was already hinted that Pena will return to take on the group, but both Murphy and Pena confirmed that neither of them got involved in taking down the cartel. Will Netflix take on a different path in this arc? Fans can only wait and see what producers have in store for "Narcos" season 3. More details about the upcoming season are expected to be dropped soon as the new season has a pegged release date of 2017. Ray Donovan Season 5 Release Date, Spoilers: Liev Schreiber Characters Bubble Of Security Could Burst Next Season A "Ray Donovan" Season 5 premiere date is definitely happening with Showtime's announcement last August to renew the show for another season. What is left for now is to endure the long wait until it arrives and probably enjoy some of the spoilers that is due to come out from time to time. Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber) Living In a Bubble Of Security When "Ray Donovan" Season 5 premiere date arrives, fans may reasonably expect Liev Schreiber's character to be living in some sort of bubble of security. In an interview with TV Line, showrunner David Hollander confirms that last season's finale felt like some chapter of Ray's life has closed with a lot of loose ends being tied up rather neatly. For instance, the Russian mob headache is now gone, Abby's cancer is in remission and Ray finally made some sort of peace with his spiritual crisis. In fact, Hollander admits that as far as Liev Schreiber's character and his family are concerned, it's a "relatively blank page" for them to start over again with the arrival of "Ray Donovan" Season 5 release date next year. But the problem with bubbles, as everyone knows, is that they have a tendency to burst. Of course, showrunner David Hollander is not likely to make everything to be peachy for Liev Schreiber's character Ray, that would be too boring and unworthy of Showtime's highest rating series. And that might just be where "Ray Donovan" Season 5 is heading. For instance, when David Hollander was pressed if Abby's cancer remission is permanent, the showrunner preferred to keep mum on the issue. Instead, he offered that Ray needed to hear that everything is safe but whether it's true or not, fans will have to find it out for themselves when "Ray Donovan" Season 5 premiere date comes. Is this the showrunner's hint that Ray's bubble of security will eventually burst next season? Liev Schreiber Character To Die In An Accident? On a positive note, Liev Schreiber's character might not have meet a tragic ending after all. Previously, it was speculated that Ray would meet an accident in the coming "Ray Donovan" Season 5. But that type of ending is not what Hollander has in mind. When asked whether the showrunner would opt to kill off Liev Schteiber's character, Hollander firmly said no and explained that he would not go that route as it is "the easy way out of the storytelling," reports The Hollywood Reporter. While the show has been renewed for the fifth season, no definite "Ray Donovan" Season 5 release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to GamenGuide for updates. Google Crisis: Nexus Is Dying; Pixel On The Rise; Microsoft Surface Threatened By Pixel? Google Nexus is dead and Pixel is apparently taking over its spotlight. Google's approach to stamp out the Nexus brand to give way to Pixel, the latest flagship phone of the company has implications over the launch of a new device. A lot of big changes have been done than just rebranding the screen-based hardware. It simply signals a huge transition from a developer-enabling "proof of concept line of phones that fall under the Nexus brand to an effort to contend with other flagship phones from Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft. The Surface from Microsoft is probably the closest analog to the Pixel. Initially floated as a statement of what was likely to happen when it comes to Windows hardware, it has then transformed into a major element of Microsoft's products and services game plan. The Google Pixel phones boast the latest Android 7.1 platform and an incredible, Google Assistant. Apart from that, it is also equipped with a superb hardware design, powerful camera, and enormous storage. According to Extreme Tech, Google is likely to push things further by bringing some of its own silicon for the next future versions of Google Pixel. More so, ever since the launch of the original Google Nexus One, Nexus has not been actively promoted as a mass market product line by the tech giant company. The attractive price tag and flawless software, however, made them quite known with a lot of non-developers. But today, Google's all new Pixel and Pixel XL are obviously well-engineered to rival with the iPhone 7 of Apple and Galaxy 7 families of Samsung. This is clearly reflected in the premium pricing of the Pixel. Unlike the Nexus devices, the Pixels are certainly not considered as a bargain. The price ranges from $650 to $870. Therefore, unlike the Google Nexus, these devices are not going to be bought based on low price. A second route, which will service downtown to Alamitos Beach, will launch on Nov. 10. HP Inc. one of two companies formed last year by the break-up of the old Hewlett-Packard Co. announced on Thursday that it plans to cut between 3,000 to 4,000 jobs in the next three years to trim costs. Some of the layoffs will occur at the technology firms Corvallis campus, which is primarily an HP Inc. site, confirmed a spokeswoman. It will be across the company, but theres been no more detail than that, said Vanessa Yanez, head of corporate communications. HP Inc. has about 50,000 workers worldwide, but doesnt release specific site job figures, she added. During its heyday in the mid-1990s, the Corvallis site had approximately 10,000 workers on its 140-acre campus, which sits off of Northeast Circle Boulevard. Today, there are believed to be less than 2,000 employees there. HP announced the job cuts during its analyst meeting in New York. According to the Associated Press, HP Inc. has been grappling with shrinking demand for PCs and printers as more people use smartphones and store documents and photos online. CEO Dion Weisler hopes to build the business by selling more high-end PCs, office printers and 3-D printing systems. Im proud of the progress we have made in our first year as the new HP. Our focus is clear, our execution is solid and we are positioned well for the next step in our journey, Weisler said, during the meeting. We are confident in our strategy and believe it will continue to produce reliable returns and cash flow, while also enabling HP to invest in differentiated innovation and long-term growth, she added. While HP Inc. concentrated on printing and personal computers, the other company formed by during the company break-up, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is a bundle of technology divisions focused on software, consulting and data analysis. A year ago at the analyst meeting, roughly 30,000 job cuts were announced from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. At that time, the company was looking to reduce its expenses and it had a workforce of nearly 252,000 people. The cuts announced Thursday, like last year, arent exactly surprising. HP has been pursuing austerity measures for years to offset the damage caused by acquisitions that havent panned out and a technological shift from PCs to mobile devices. That shift resulted in a downturn in demand for many of Hewlett-Packards key products. Gazette-Times Reporter Bennett Hall contributed to this story. Corvallis and Albany officials are cautioning about the high winds hitting the Willamette Valley over the next few days. The National Weather Service in Portland issued a high wind watch for Saturday. The weather service also issued a hazardous weather outlook with heavy rains and high winds for much of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, which includes Linn and Benton Counties, expected to last through Monday. The National Weather Service also is forecasting heavy rain Saturday that could cause localized flooding near storm drains and low-lying areas. In anticipation of the high winds in the forecast, both the Saturday Albany and Corvallis Farmers Markets have been canceled. The Saturday wind advisory warns of potentially damaging winds in the afternoon and evening with gusts reaching 55 to 65 mph. The storm is likely to be strongest along the Oregon Coast and the Coast Range. Willamette Valley officials say that flooding is not likely to be much of a factor locally, but they are cautioning area residents that the high winds could potentially cause power outages and road blockages due to fallen branches. It is predicted to be a pretty intense storm, said Mary Steckel, director of Public Works for the city of Corvallis. While we here in Corvallis are preparing for a major event, were not anticipating that thats whats going to come to fruition. Steckel said it is unlikely the storms will cause any significant flooding as urban streams and the Willamette River were low prior to the storm and the saturation point. The biggest impact for Corvallis is when we get the winds, she said. As far as the possibility of flooding, we would anticipate some localized street flooding, but thats going to be because the catch basins will be plugged with leaves from the high winds. The (water) systems currently in our community should be able to handle this flow. Marilyn Smith, city of Albany spokesperson, agreed that significant flooding is unlikely. The rivers have a lot of capacity because its been so dry, Smith said. We are not expecting flooding except for localized street flooding because of leaves clogging up storm drains. Smith added that the city is monitoring forecasts, and she cautioned the public about the high winds in the forecast. Were recommending that people be prepared for power outages, she said. You can prepare by keeping supplies on hand, having a way to charge your electronics without direct power, have water on hand, stock up on medications and make sure you have a way to stay warm and dry. Rebecca Landis, who has served as marketing director for the Albany and Corvallis Farmers Markets since 1995, said Saturday marks the first time she has ever canceled a farmers market. But Landis, who follows the National Weather Service forecasts every week, said predicted gusts of winds reaching 35 to 40 mph in the Willamette Valley presented a very real threat to both farmers and customers. Those are the most conservative figures, and at those rates I think wed have potentially a very dangerous situation, she said. Rain is unpleasant, but its not a crisis from our standpoint. If we canceled every time we had a lot of rain in the forecast, we wouldnt have viable farmers markets. The Corvallis Farmers Market has averaged roughly 70 vendors each Saturday and the Albany Farmers Market has averaged about 30 vendors on Saturdays, Landis said. Its difficult to cancel, she said. But I told the vendors that wed make a decision (Thursday) and Im not getting any pushback from them. The farmers market is anticipated to return in Corvallis on Wednesday, Oct. 19, and the Saturday markets in both Corvallis and Albany will continue through Nov. 19. Help deliver Thanksgiving To the Editor: Since 1996, our family has coordinated a program in which we provide the fixings for families in need to make their own Thanksgiving dinner and deliver full... Vote for future To the Editor: Newday has endorsed Kathy Hochul and Chuck Schumer. If that doesn't frighten everyone, it should. They will continue wasteful spending (therefore our taxes will have... Cart before the horse To the Editor: On page 8 of last weeks Garden City News, a submission by the St. Pauls Committee appears in which the Committee criticizes FDEM for failing to appear... 5 minutes to midnight To the Editor: It Is 5 Minutes To 12. The coming mid-term election on November 8th is of utmost importance and may change our country make-up for ever. Thus, you... Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Bonn homes pinpointed with Google maps : Long sentences for Albanian burglary gang Bonn Two men from an Albanian burglary gang were sentenced to eight years in prison. Well coordinated, they used Google maps to scout out homes in Bonn. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken A band of burglars came from Albania to Germany with the intent of robbing homes. They used Google Maps to search for potential homes in Bonn. Four of the offenders were sentenced in March of 2015 and now two more leading members were sentenced to long jail terms. A 28-year-old was sentenced to eight years in prison and a 25-year-old to eight and a half years, both of them for committing multiple burglaries. The trial was a long process because the men were accused of 127 break-ins, and each of them had to be clarified. The judge said it was not easy because the defendants kept changing their versions of what had happened. At the end, there was enough evidence to attribute 63 of the burglaries to the men. They occurred between October and December of 2013. In this time period alone, the worth of stolen goods was 130,000 euros. In one tragic case, a family from India had saved 6,000 euros for their daughters wedding and it was stolen in one of the break-ins. The ritual of the band was always the same; they would hit a home at least 50 kilometers away from a rented apartment in Hagen, where they kept a central command. They came at dusk, one stood watch and two climbed up a rain gutter into the chosen apartment on the second floor of a building. They wore gloves and masks so they would not leave behind DNA. When their 22-year-old accomplices were arrested in the middle of December 2013, the two older men continued stealing. Police took in the 28-year-old in Remscheid on December 30 and let him go again. He moved to Finland where he continued burglarizing. The men were caught there, sentenced to several years in prison and then extradited to Bonn to face charges here. The judge expressed an incomprehension for why the police in Germany let the 28-year-old go free. He had already served time in jail in Italy for drug charges and was deported to Albania, forbidden to enter the Shengen Zone. A new study chronicles how central Asia dried out over the last 23 million years into one of the most arid regions on the planet. The findings illustrate the dramatic climatic shifts wrought by the ponderous rise of new mountain ranges over geologic time. Researchers have long cited the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan Mountains around 50 million years ago for blocking rain clouds entry into central Asia from the south, killing off much of the regions plant life. The new study, published online in the journal Geology, paints a more nuanced picture of Central Asias desertification. It suggests that the relatively recent rise of lesser-known mountain ranges, such as the Tian Shan and the Altai, further sealed off moisture from the west and north. As a result, great stretches of what we now consider western China, southwestern Mongolia and eastern Tajikistan became barren earth or laced by sand dunes. While Central Asia was probably never lush and verdant, it was certainly greener 23 million years ago and probably even greener in the more distant past, said Jeremy Kesner Caves, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student at Stanfords School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. One way to think about this change is that when viewed from space today, Central Asia appears very brown because of its expansive deserts, Caves said. If viewed from space 23 million years ago, though, Central Asia would have looked somewhat darker, simply due to there being considerably more leaves and vegetation. Reading carbon Caves and his co-authors arrived at their conclusions after measuring the carbon isotope values in buried, ancient soil samples. A particular isotope, or version, of carbon found in the samples speaks to the dryness of conditions at the time of the soils deposition. Wetter, rainier conditions allow for greater numbers of organisms, including plants and soil-dwelling bacteria, to thrive and pull carbon out of their surroundings to fuel their growth and metabolism, leaving telltale carbon isotopes in their environment. Previously, scientists had relied on these sorts of soil sample measurements primarily to study plant types and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Caves and colleagues instead looked at samples over extensive geographic and temporal spans in order to draw a fuller portrait of the climatic changes influencing soil composition. Our paper is the first-ever attempt to present maps of carbon isotopes over a geologic time frame of more than a million years, Caves said. He and several co-authors traveled to Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan and northern China to collect the bulk of 171 new soil samples, while Russian co-authors collected samples near Lake Baikal. The new specimens were considered alongside more than 2,200 previously collected samples. Because most of those existing samples originated from the Tibetan Plateau, the research team plugged a gap in the geographical coverage by going to little-studied northern central Asia. The samples themselves are honestly pretty boring, Caves admitted. Basically, they look and feel like dirt. But the rocky outcrops exposing the old, hardened soil chunks can dazzle. The outcrops are striped deep purple, red and green, and they often erode in crazy patterns, Caves said. Imagine Badlands National Park in South Dakota or the Painted Desert in Arizona. Asias de-greening Overall, the samples were well-distributed from 23 million to 2.6 million years ago during a geological period known as the Neogene. The Earths climate cooled off substantially as the Neogene wore on, setting the stage for an Ice Age when glaciers crept from polar regions into lower latitudes. Upon analysis, the samples carbon isotope values revealed an exceptionally arid region deep in Asias interior going back 23 million years, initially ringed by areas of higher rainfall. Starting about five million years ago, however, that dry region expanded to the north and west, as new mountain ranges reached heights sufficient to block westerly winds from delivering moisture. The findings will help researchers disentangle how much of Central Asias de-greening occurred in response to localized geological changes versus global shifts happening during the Neogene. Investigating North America With this compelling demonstration of using ancient soil samples as proxies for regional climate in Asia, Caves now plans to extend his investigations elsewhere on the globe. I hope to be able to apply this method to other continents, such as North America, where there are large datasets of carbon isotopes, Caves said. Doing so could illuminate impacts on western North Americas climate due to the uplift of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California, as well as the Rocky Mountains further east, which reached near their present elevations around 40 million and 50 million years ago, respectively. Only by making these continental-scale maps, like Jeremy has done for Central Asia, can you further understand how the uplift of mountain ranges controlled rainfall patterns against this backdrop of global cooling in the Neogene, said Page Chamberlain, co-author of the study and a professor of Earth system science at Stanford. North America is really ripe for this kind of research. Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University. Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. Reliance Jio vs Airtel Cloud Storage: And the Winner is... Features oi -Chakri Kudikala Till date, we have seen a war between smartphone manufacturers in India, but, after the entrance of Reliance Jio, things quickly changed. All the other telecom networks are now battling with Reliance Jio. It is no doubt that, Bharti Airtel is India's leading telecom network, however, the telecom network quietly taking on several offerings of Reliance Jio. A couple of days ago, Airtel introduced a new feature into their modern myAirtel app, where you can create your personal files of up to 2GB. SEE ALSO: How to Get Unlimited High-Speed Reliance Jio 4G Data Even in Welcome Offer [Easy Method] This move directly competes with the Reliance Jio's 'Jio Cloud' app, where they also offer some amount of storage to store all the files. Check out who stands tall when compared with each other. Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals Called as 'Airtel Backup.' This new feature from Airtel will be called as 'Airtel Backup.' And, it comes bundled with the 'myAirtel' app itself. You just need to download the app or update the app if you're already a user of the app. Rebranded as 'JioCloud.' In the previous update, the JioDrive has been rebranded as 'JioCloud' with improved interface and stability. Click Here for New Tablets Best Online Deals Storage Offering! Reliance Jio wins in this segment. The new company is offering 5GB of free cloud space, whereas Airtel is offering just 2GB of storage. Click Here for New Android Smartphones Best Online Deals You can BackUp Videos, Messages, Call logs, etc Both the applications provide same features, but the JioCloud even allows you to backup your call logs. Apart from that, you can backup your photos, music, videos, etc. JioCloud is the Winner JioCloud seems to be the clear winner here because it offers more storage than Airtel and even has several additional functionalities. Also, you can download the application separately. Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications 10 Tips to take best Photos for Instagram Feed Tips Tricks oi -Pallabi Rather than just taking some shenanigans with pals, some Instagram users are creating master pieces with their smartphone cameras. Whether you are a pro or a layman, it's always better to learn some tricks from some of the most popular userson the platform? We have scouted through some Instagram interview series, and here are 10 tips right from the experts that will absolutely help you to get your next best Insta Snap. SEE ALSO: 5 Simple Steps to Unsubscribe Junk Emails within A Minute Tip 1. According to Ira Block, a National Geographic Photographer, a powerful Instagram image should have strong colors and very defined shapes and lines. So, always look for strong colors, shapes, and lines. Tip 2. Dan Cole, a Instagram user, recommends to turn on the grid feature on your smartphone camera to get a balance on subject. Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals Tip 3. Photographer and co-founder of Tandem Reportages, Matilde Gattoni, believes the lens of the phone camera absorbs light in a different way when compared to traditional cameras. Image Source- Matilde Gattoni SEE ALSO: 8 Poses to Capture The Most Creative Selfie from A Smartphone It offers great possibilities to play with light coming from above or behind the subject. So, next time onwards get playful with light from unexpected places. Tip 4. Taking pictures from unusual viewpoints can transform your normal objects into photography masterpieces is the belief of Mike Kus, a UK based photographer and graphic designer. So try to shoot from different angles. Tip 5. Bad weather equals to good photographs. 'Get outdoors when there's snow, fog or rain' thinks Pete Souza, the chief official White House photographer. Tip 6. Recently Instagram has added portrait mode. Take advantage of this mode to emphasize the length of a scene. Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals Tip 7. Use patches of light to your advantage. The amazing thing about using patches of light from the sun when taking a photo is that you'll always get something different. Tip 8. With night modes and night filters, these days our smartphone camera can do magic. So, even if it is dark, stay out and capture. Click Here for New Android Smartphones Best Online Deals Tip 9. Often times, over-edited shots can be unappealing. When editing with filters, keep your edits simple. Tip 10. Last but not the least it is the caption that makes a picture more appealing. The best captions encourage people to engage. Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals Best Mobiles in India Double data offers Until now, the Vodafone Red users got 1 GB 4G data at Rs. 499 and it went up to Rs. 1,999 for 8 GB 4G data. Now, the existing as well new users subscribing to this plan will get double data benefits. For instance, those using the Rs. 999 plan for 3 GB 4G data will enjoy 6 GB of data per month. The double data offer is applicable to all Red plan subscribers. Lifetime benefits The Vodafone Red postpaid subscribers will get lifetime benefits irrespective of being existing or new users of the service. This is unlike the BSNL BB 249 plan that is meant only for the new broadband users and not the existing ones. Its valid till the end of this year The Vodafone Red subscribers who are already using the service and the new ones choosing can enjoy the double data offer for lifetime. But, you need to subscribe to it by December 31, 2016. Users in 4G circles are most beneficial Users of Vodafone Red service in the 4G circles of the operator can enjoy the additional data as 4G data at any time of the day. 3G circle users can use it as night data The Vodafone Red users in the 3G circles of the service provider can use the additional data as 3G and it will be available only between 12 AM and 6 AM. 'Feels Like Home Season 2' offers something real and tangible to think about; takes home a pertinent point - if your intentions are good, there is nothing in life that isn't achievable. U.S. Responds to Missile Attacks, Targets 3 Radar Sites on Yemen's Coast By Karen Parrish DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2016 The United States yesterday conducted sea-launched cruise missile strikes against three radar sites on Yemen's Red Sea coast, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters in a news briefing today. "These strikes were in response to attempted missile attacks in recent days against USS Mason and other vessels in the Red Sea and Bab el Mandeb," Cook said. Cook said the U.S. strikes were launched from the USS Nitze, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating in the Gulf of Aden. Defending Freedom of Navigation "These targets were chosen based on our assessment that they were involved in missile launches in recent days, and they were struck in order to defend our ships and their crews and to protect freedom of navigation through a waterway that is vitally important to international commerce," Cook said. The press secretary emphasized two points: the strikes were in response to a threat to U.S. vessels and to freedom of navigation, a core U.S. security interest. Secondly, "that those who might threaten U.S. forces should recognize that we will not tolerate threats to our people." The strikes were not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen, Cook said, adding, "The United States continues to encourage all parties in the Yemen conflict to commit to a cessation of hostilities and to seek a political solution to that conflict." More than four million barrels of oil pass through the Bab el Mandeb each day, he noted. "This narrow passage is a vital link connecting Asia and Europe," Cook said. "Safe navigation through the strait is vitally important to economies in the region and to global commerce." Those who threaten American forces should realize the United States doesn't "tolerate threats to our people," Cook said. "We will respond if our forces come under fire," the press secretary said. "We have taken swift action in this case, and should we see a repeat, we are prepared to take appropriate action at the appropriate time." Hurricane Matthew Update Cook also provided an update about the department's response to Hurricane Matthew. The impact of the storm is still being felt in the southeast, he said, roughly 21,000 residents are in shelters, more than two million are without power, and "rivers are still rising between five to 12 feet [above flood stage]." The department is coordinating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on possible debris management plans and temporary roofing assistance, he said. "About 5,500 National Guard soldiers and airmen have transitioned to supporting flood relief efforts," Cook said. Cook noted that North Carolina has a "significant military population" and that military installations are being directly affected. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who have been affected by the storm," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-366-16 October 12, 2016 Statement by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand On behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense, I join President Obama in offering my condolences to the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Thailand and the people of Thailand, on the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. His majesty served his nation tirelessly, and his dedication to the people of Thailand will be remembered by future generations. As his majesty's legacy is being honored around the world, I want in particular to recognize his majesty's contributions to the longstanding alliance between our two nations. His efforts to promote peace and stability both within Thailand and throughout the region have greatly benefited the Thai people and the global community, and will have a lasting impact. Our thoughts are with the people of Thailand during this difficult time. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/972698/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Whidbey Island Visits Jebel Ali, Completes MDVR Navy News Service Story Number: NNS161013-14 Release Date: 10/13/2016 2:10:00 PM By Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathan R. McDonald, Wasp Amphibious Ready Group Public Affairs JEBEL ALI, United Arab Emirates (NNS) -- Amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) and embarked Marines of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) departed Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates, after completing a mid-deployment voyage repair (MDVR), Oct. 12. MDVRs are used to complete repairs and maintenance that will allow the ship to continue fully mission capable throughout the remainder of its deployment. "Our MDVR was extremely successful; the level of effort put forth by our Navy and Marine Corps team was just phenomenal," said Cmdr. Ethan Rule, commanding officer of Whidbey Island. "Every department, division, and platoon completed extensive work and were also able to enjoy a fantastic liberty outing in Dubai. Whidbey Island stands ready for the remaining months of deployment." Some of the tasks Whidbey Island's Sailors and Marines completed were deck repairs, preservation, amphibious assault vehicle maintenance, and generator repairs. Before pulling in to Dubai, the crew knew the scope of the workload ahead of them, and prepared themselves to tackle it head-on. "We came in to Dubai with the mindset that we were here to work," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Juan Rivera. "The Marines were a huge help. We all worked together and pushed through it until we were done. We even got some liberty and got to see Dubai when were done." While the port call was a working port, Sailors and Marines had the opportunity to participate in a community relations project at an animal welfare center and a "Sunset Safari" tour offered through Morale, Welfare, and Recreation. The trip included an off-road excursion over sand dunes, camel rides, and a traditional Middle Eastern meal. Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. Commander, Amphibious Squadron 6 commands the Wasp ARG, which consists of Whidbey Island, amphibious transport dock USS San Antonio (LPD 17), and amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). The 22nd MEU is currently embarked on the Wasp ARG. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemeni Houthis Deny Involvement in Missile Attacks on US Warships Sputnik News 12:48 13.10.2016 Yemeni Houthi rebels deny their involvement in the recent attacks on US warships in the Red Sea, local media reported Thursday, citing a military official allied with the Houthi movement. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The first attack against the US guided-missile destroyer Mason and the amphibious warship Ponce from Yemen took place on Sunday. On Wednesday, US media reported that Mason came under a second missile attack and had to use countermeasures to defend itself. According to the US Department of Defense spokesman, the attacks were carried out from a Houthi-controlled area of the country. "These allegations are unfounded and the army as well popular forces have nothing to do with this action. The U.S. allegations just came in the context of creating false justifications to pave the way for Saudi-led coalition to escalate their aggression attacks against Yemen and to cover for crimes continually committed by the aggression coalition against the Yemeni people," the official told Yemeni News Agency Saba. On Thursday, the US military struck three radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels, the country's main opposition force. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request despite a ceasefire agreed shortly before. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Security Council extends UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti for six months 13 October 2016 Accepting Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recommendation, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti for six months at the current force and police strength. Through the adoption of a resolution, the 15-member Council decided that the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) consisting of up to 2,370 troops and up to 2,601 police component personnel will stay in the Caribbean nation through 15 April 2017. The mandate renewal comes in the wake of the humanitarian emergency caused by the 4 October landfall of Hurricane Matthew, which also forced the postponement of the 9 October elections. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) the Category 4 storm had claimed the lives of 473 people as of 11 October, with 75 missing and 339 injured. Some 2.1 million people, including 894,057 children, are affected, and 1.4 million people, or 12.9 per cent of the population, need humanitarian assistance, including 592,581 children. About 750,000 people, including 315,000 children, need urgent humanitarian aid for the next three months. In the text adopted today, the Secretary-General is requested to conduct a strategic assessment mission of the situation in Haiti "by the end of the current mandate and preferably after the inauguration of a newly elected president" and to present recommendations on the UN's future presence and role in Haiti in his next report to the Security Council. In that regard, the Council affirmed its intention to consider the possible withdrawal of MINUSTAH and transition to a future UN presence "beginning no sooner than 15 April 2017," based on its review of Haiti's overall capacity to ensure security and stability and on the security conditions on the ground. Also in the resolution, the Council strongly urged Haiti's political actors "to work cooperatively in the interests of the Haitian people, joining forces in prioritizing the country's return to full constitutional normality by completing the electoral process, under way, and without further delays" and ensuring "the holding [] of free, fair, inclusive, and transparent presidential election and partial re-runs of the legislative elections, together with first-round elections for one-third of the Senate seats whose current incumbents will end their term in office in January 2017." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address More than 200 troops killed in Lashkargah in 10 days: Officials Iran Press TV Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:2AM Hundreds of members of the Afghan security forces have been killed during an ongoing militant assault on a main city in the the troubled southern province of Helmand, local officials say. According to Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy head of the provincial council, and lawmaker Sheer Muhammad Akhon, more than 200 Afghan soldiers and police have been killed in the past 10 days in and around Lashkargah, the beleaguered capital of Helmand province. Sources added that 100 security forces personnel were also wounded during the ongoing clashes with Taliban militants. At least 45 civilians have also been killed during the fierce fighting across the troubled region. Afghanistan has sent hundreds of troops to Lashkargah in a bid to purge the strategic city of Taliban militants. The troops were sent from the capital Kabul and nearby provinces to launch a "clearance operation" in Lashkargah. The government's special envoy for security in Helmand province said more than 300 commandos had been deployed to the city on Tuesday to prevent Taliban advancement. The ongoing assault on Lashkargah underscores Taliban's sustained push into urban centers, coming days after the militants stormed into Kunduz in the north. Over the past few months, Afghan security forces have been trying to foil attacks by the group in Helmand and Kunduz. Security forces are currently engaged in heavy fighting with the Taliban to retake the control of Kunduz, which fell to Taliban on October 3 for the second time in a year. Taliban were ousted following a US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 but the group has gone from strength to strength despite the presence of foreign troops. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Warns Australia: 'Act and Speak Cautiously' on South China Sea Sputnik News 00:11 14.10.2016 Chinese officials urge Canberra to work to maintain the "healthy and stable development" of military ties between the two countries. China hopes that Australia will tone down the rhetoric on the South China Sea territorial dispute, as well as Canberra's military movements, a high-ranking Chinese military representative told the head of the Australian Defense Force during a meeting in Beijing. Fan Changlong, a vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, met with Mark Binskin, Australia's Air Chief Marshal, according to the China Defense ministry, and detailed that Beijing wishes to strengthen military ties between the two countries. The China military commission official remarked that he "hopes that on the South China Sea issue the Australian side can speak and act cautiously, and that its words and deeds match," according to the Japan Times. The ministry provided no further commentary. These remarks directly follow a defense deal struck between Australia and Singapore, under which the Singapore military will triple its annual access to the Australian training grounds, to 18 weeks. Singapore troop numbers will also increase, from 6,600 to 14,000. The Australian and Singaporean prime ministers insist that their bilateral military support should not be perceived as opposition to China's increasing presence in the region. "I don't think that Singapore and Australia together could possibly be seen as a bloc" against China, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters. "We are good friends, but we are not treaty allies and neither are we opposed to any countries in the region," he said, adding that China is the largest trading partner for both Singapore and Australia. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stressed that he shares the belief with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee that the ongoing US military presence in the region has underpinned "extraordinary growth, perhaps most of all in China." "The importance of American engagement in our region cannot be overstated," he said. Last year, China criticized Australia for conducting surveillance flights over islands in South China Sea and supporting "freedom of navigation" exercises by the US in the region. However, Australia refrained from conducting maritime military operations of its own. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address CSTO Leaders Approve Development Strategy Until 2025 - Armenian President Sputnik News 18:42 14.10.2016 The leaders of the six-nation regional military alliance called the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) approved the program for the organization's development until 2025, including a collective security strategy, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said Friday. YEREVAN (Sputnik) The Council for Collective Security, comprised of the heads of the CSTO member states, is the bloc's supreme body. The Council is composed of President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, and President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon. "A number of serious documents and decisions, related to the significant strengthening of the organization's potential, improvement of the collective security mechanisms and the working bodies, were approved. Among the other results of this session I would like to single out the CSTO strategy for the collective security," Sargsyan told journalists following the CSTO Collective Security Council's session. The organization made a decision at its Yerevan summit to establish its own crisis response center, Sargsyan said. "A decision was made to establish a crisis response center of the CSTO, which will task itself with information-analytical, organizational and technical support of corresponding decisions reached by the statutory bodies, as well as to ensure the exchange of information in real time," Sargsyan said. The organization also signed a document on formation of a single list of terrorist groups, Sargsyan added. "Also, there were documents signed in the sector of countering international terrorism, a provision on forming of a single list of organizations which are considered terrorist in the CSTO format," he said after the organization's summit in Yerevan. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In South Sudan, Machar Says Party Wants Peace But Prepares for War By John Tanza October 14, 2016 South Sudan's exiled former vice president and opposition leader says he'll reluctantly take his movement back to all-out war if a peace deal with the government cannot be restored. Rieck Machar, the leader of the Sudan People Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), told VOA in an exclusive interview Thursday that his movement is reorganizing itself to stage what he called a popular armed resistance against the government of President Salva Kiir. At the same time, he said he wants to revive the August 2015 peace deal between the SPLM-IO and the government. He said the "troika" of countries that backed the peace deal the United States, Britain and Norway should call for an urgent meeting of South Sudanese political parties to address the country's political instability and ongoing conflict. "They have to find a way of resuscitating this agreement," he said. "Once it is resuscitated and people accept that there have been violations, then the need for reinstituting the transitional government becomes the first step.'' Machar's escape Machar spoke to VOA's "South Sudan in Focus" program by phone from South Africa, where he flew this week to seek unspecified medical treatment. The former vice president fled the capital, Juba, in July during clashes between government and opposition forces that killed some 300 people. He said 70 of his fighters were killed by the South Sudan army as he and his fighters made their way to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. "When we were pushed out, I withdrew the troops," Machar said. "We moved to South Baria, then we moved to Lainy area, then from there to the areas of Mundri, from Mundri to Maridi, and then moved south to the Congo border. That [journey] took exactly 37 days and [when] we add the three days of fighting [in Juba], we were under fire for over 40 days.'' Outreach to president Machar said throughout his journey to Congo, he was constantly contacting Kiir in a bid to end the fighting, which erupted at the presidential palace and later engulfed Juba town. He said he could not continue communicating with Kiir while being pursued by members of the South Sudanese air force and infantry. "I decided to withdraw to a country [where] I will be secured in and then find a way of having that meeting with President Salva," Machar said. After Machar fled the capital in July, United Nations aid agencies reported fighting in Western Equatoria state, where thousands of families were displaced from their homes. Local chiefs in the area told VOA reporters that the South Sudan Army ransacked villages, beating anyone they found in the villages around Mundri and Amadi. The South Sudan Army "had ground forces pursuing us," along with four helicopter gunships, Machar said. " They also had one drone and two surveillance planes that were daily on our heads, locating where we were marching and then the helicopter gunship will follow [and] bombard us.'' At the time, Machar was still South Sudan's first vice president. Machar and about 750 of his fighters were evacuated in late July from the South Sudan border by U.N. peacekeepers in the DRC. He and a few of his soldiers were then flown to Sudan's capital, Khartoum for medical treatment in August. Conflicting narratives Following the fighting in Juba, Kiir accused Machar of wanting to kill him and overthrow the transitional Government of National Unity. He told the Kenya Television Network that Machar had a pistol during an early July meeting at J1, the South Sudanese presidential palace. A government source said fighting at the presidential palace was kindled by Machar's spokesman in Nairobi through a July 8 Facebook post, saying that Kiir had arrested Machar in the palace and Kiir's men were planning to kill the vice president. Machar and Kiir appeared visibly shaken during a July 7 address to the nation carried by South Sudan Broadcasting Corp. The two leaders told South Sudanese that they did not know the cause of the fighting between Machar's bodyguards and South Sudan presidential guards. Members of Machar's party dismissed the government's version of the fighting's source. According to Machar, Kiir misled the Kenyan journalist. "Oh my God, this is a big lie," he said. "I, Riek Machar do not carry pistol or pistols or guns since 1991 when I began to lead either a party or troops. I don't carry a pistol. He [Kiir] knows that very well. Why would I carry a pistol when he has called me for a meeting?'' Machar said he was discussing pressing issues when fighting suddenly erupted outside the presidential palace in July. He added that there would be no peace in South Sudan until the resolution of issues such reforms in government institutions, cantonment areas for his troops, and Kiir's controversial plan to create 28 states. If he'd planned to fight in Juba, Machar would have waited for his nearly 3,000 troops were in the capital, he said. "But I did not wait for that because I wanted the implementation of the peace agreement to be done first.'' Regime change Machar met with officials of his SPLM in Opposition party in September in Khartoum and issued a statement declaring war on the transitional government. "The new government is not a transitional government of national unity. They should not delude the international community of this," Machar told VOA. "The current government is a new regime, but it is not implementing the agreement. The reason why they [made the] attempt on my life in J1 was the rejection of the agreement." He said groups opposed to Kiir's leadership are fighting all over the country, including in the former Central Equatoria state, Western Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Bahr El Ghazal. International reaction The United States, Britain and Norway donor countries supporting South Sudan have voiced concerns about Machar's declaration of war. The three issued a statement in October asking that he seek peaceful means to ending South Sudan's conflict. Machar said the three countries have ignored the real problem in South Sudan and are focusing on prescription rather than the symptoms. He said his forces have been under constant attack from the South Sudan army since he signed the August peace deal. He said he met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Khartoum on Wednesday and they discussed the need for a political solution. He also said he assured Museveni about the readiness of SPLM-IO members to engage in dialogue with Kiir. Machar said he met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Khartoum on Wednesday, and they discussed the need for a political solution in South Sudan. He said he assured Museveni about the readiness of members of the SPLM-IO to engage in dialogue with Kiir. Machar's replacement Kiir appointed Taban Deng Gai as the country's new first vice president after Machar fled Juba in July. Machar said the appointment of Taban will not bring peace to the country. He called Taban an accomplice. "The fact that President Salva appointed Taban, who is a conspirator with him [Kiir], as first vice president doesn't stop the war. The SPLA-IO has been there and the SPLA [South Sudan Army] has been fighting the SPLA-IO. They all know that. If I, as the first vice president, would be pursued by ground forces and by air, what is the intention?'' Machar said Deng was angry because he did not get the position of minister of petroleum in the transitional government. Instead, Machar said he appointed Deng as minister of mining. "He didn't like it. He did not hide it. He decided immediately to resign from being chief negotiator, from being a member of JMEC [Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission], I tried to persuade him not to resign. He refused and started plotting because he wanted to be minister of petroleum.'' After the July fighting in Juba, Machar said he consulted members of the SPLM-IO and fired Deng from the party. Machar said he wrote a letter to Kiir informing him of Deng's dismissal from the party. No return to Juba Machar said he will not return to Juba if there are no efforts to end the political impasse in the country. "If I go to Juba, we need to discuss it," he said. "There must be a political dialogue to discuss what happened, what were our differences in Juba.'' NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President Obama Further Eases Restrictions on Cuba By VOA News October 14, 2016 U.S. President Barack Obama's administration announced Friday the easing of restrictions on Cuba in an attempt to create more economic opportunities between the two countries. The administration approved a package of regulatory changes that is intended to expand scientific, humanitarian, trade and commercial opportunities between the U.S. and Cuba. President Obama said "very real differences" on democracy and human rights still exist between the two countries but the best way to address the differences is through engagement. The administration's plan is intended to promote joint medical research between the two countries, the sale of Cuban pharmaceuticals in the U.S. and banking opportunities for Americans in Cuba. Humanitarian-related initiatives involving scholarships for scientific research and improving Cuba's infrastructure will also be expanded. "These steps have the potential to accelerate constructive change and unlock greater economic opportunity for Cubans and Americans," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement. The changes, which will take effect on October 17, are another step in President Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Promises of 'Destruction': North Korea Calls Naval Drills 'Severe Provocation' Sputnik News 21:13 13.10.2016(updated 01:07 14.10.2016) North Korea has responded angrily to this week's US-South Korea naval drills, which include exercises targeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, calling them a "severe provocation" that is pushing the peninsula toward crisis. North Korea's Worker's Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said a "pre-emptive strike on North Korea is a prelude to self-destruction," in an October 12 statement, UPI reported. "The main goal of the [South Korean] Park Geun-hye traitor faction's commotion-making with the United States is to be equipped with a pre-emptive strike system capability that can hit North Korea in order to stir up a war," the paper stated. The Invincible Spirit 2016 drills, running from October 10 to 16, include practice strikes against North Korea's nuclear facilities as well as the country's military leadership and its supreme leader. South Korean military officials have said such targeted strikes are an option they would use in the event of an imminent nuclear attack by their northern neighbor. The inclusion of the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier based in Japan, among the dozens of military craft taking part in the exercises demonstrates the seriousness of American firepower ready to support South Korea. It was referenced in the statement, which criticized "South Korean puppets" for dragging the floating fortress into the mix, according to UPI. Pyongyang's "patience and endurance" has limits, Rodong Sinmun warned, according to a Stripes.com report. North Korea is now a recognized "nuclear and rocket powerhouse," and American forces in the Pacific are within its reach, the paper claimed. The US and South Korea "should not forget even a moment that their pre-emptive strike at the DPRK will lead them to their unimaginably miserable self-destruction." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S., South Korean, Japanese Military Leaders Discuss North Korean Threat By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2016 Stressing the regional aspect of the threat North Korea poses, Maritime Self-defense Force Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, the Japanese chief of defense, joined discussions with senior U.S. and South Korean military leaders at the Pentagon today. Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hosted the meeting, which follows yesterday's Military Committee Meeting with South Korean chairman Army Gen. Lee Sun-jin. Both South Korea and Japan are treaty allies of the United States -- meaning the United States will come to the defense of both countries in the event of aggression. The trilateral meeting was the third since July 2014 among the senior military leaders and highlights the growing threat of North Korean nuclear and missile technologies. Navy Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Command; and Army Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea, participated in the discussion. North Korean Nuclear, Missile Tests The military leaders discussed the most recent North Korean nuclear test on Sept. 9. That blast -- estimated at twice the size of the nuclear device dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 -- was the fifth since 2006. North Korean newspapers said the device was small enough to mount on a ballistic missile, which North Korea is also testing. The three military leaders reconfirmed the tests were flagrant violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and agreed to firmly respond to the acts in coordination with each other. They called upon North Korea to "refrain from irresponsible provocations that aggravate regional tensions, and to instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments." Dunford reiterated America's "ironclad commitment" to defend both South Korea and Japan. The United States, he said, will use all military capabilities -- conventional, nuclear and missile defense -- to deter North Korea. The senior military leaders agreed to continue working together to further mutual security issues in order to enhance peace and stability in the region. Dunford has often spoken about the threat of North Korea. Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator, has directly threatened South Korea, Japan and the United States on many occasions since he took power in 2011. Fifteen years ago, it was possible to imagine that any conflict with North Korea could be limited to the Korean Peninsula, but that is no longer the case, Dunford said. North Korea's emphasis on nuclear, missile and cyber capabilities adds a new dimension to deterrence efforts, the chairman said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, India to Sign S-400 Missile System Supplies Deal Sputnik News 15:53 13.10.2016(updated 15:55 13.10.2016) Russia and India will sign a contract on delivering S-400 air defense systems during Vladimir Putin's visit. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Moscow and New Delhi will sign an agreement on the supply of S-400 air defense systems after Russian President Vladimir Putin's talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian residential aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday. "An agreement for the supply to India of S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missile systems and other documents will be signed after talks in the presence of our president and Modi," Ushakov told reporters. Putin is expected in India for the VIII BRICS summit in Goa on October 15-16. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Deploys 2 Warships in Yemen's Waters to Protect Naval Routes Sputnik News 18:30 13.10.2016(updated 18:34 13.10.2016) Iran sent on Thursday two warships to the waters of Yemen to ensure safety of merchant ships' navigation from pirate attacks, media reported. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The decision comes after on Wednesday, Pentagon confirmed that US naval forces were subjected on Monday and Tuesday to cruise missile strikes from the territory controlled by Houthi forces. The Houthi rebels denied their involvement in the attack on the US vessel. According to the Tasnim news agency, Iranian Alvand and Bushehr warships were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to protect trade vessels and oil tankers from pirates. The plans to dispatch Iran's 43rd flotilla to Africa and the Atlantic Ocean were announced by Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari. Sayyari also said that based on international laws, Iran's Navy had the right to be present in all international waters, Tasnim reported. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Disrupts IS Plot to Bomb Religious Commemorations, State Media Says By Mehdi Jedinia October 13, 2016 Iran has disrupted an Islamic State bombing plot targeting the Shi'ite religious commemoration of Ashoura, according to state media reports on Thursday. "Intelligence ministry agents, with the cooperation of other security forces, succeeded to defuse one of the anti-security plots of the 'takfiri' terrorist groups and prevent an inhuman crime in the ceremonies," Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said, according to the official IRNA media outlet. The term takfiri is used by Iranian officials when referring to militant Sunni Muslim fundamentalist groups such as IS. Alavi did not provide details as to how the alleged attackers entered Iran. IRNA quoted Alavi as saying some 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives were confiscated and several foreign nationals were arrested. The attacks were planned in Iran's southern Fars province, police said. "During multiple complex operations, 11 non-Iranian terrorists were arrested, and intelligence equipment and an enormous amount of explosives, cars, and guns were discovered and seized from them," General Ahmad Ali Goodarzi, the head of Fars province police, told Iranian media outlets. Ashoura commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It is a high holy time for Shi'ites. Ceremonies through the years in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and other Mideast and Persian Gulf nations have been disrupted by Sunni extremism attacks in sectarian rivalries. "Sunni extremists and takfiris use every chance to attack Shia rituals and especially Ashoura," said Abdolhossein Amiri a political analyst in Tehran. "They have attacked Shia mourners several times in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and no wonder that they have tried to plot attacks in Iran." Alavi said Iran's foreign "enemies" were involved in the plot but offered no further details. Iran said in June that it broke up a plot by what authorities said were Sunni extremists who had planned to carry out a series of bomb attacks during the holy month of Ramadan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Major Offensive: More Than 60,000 Iraqi Troops Preparing to Retake Mosul Sputnik News 22:28 13.10.2016(updated 00:20 14.10.2016) Iraqi media reports that at least 65,000 Iraqi soldiers in six divisions are preparing for the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Daesh forces that have made it their headquarters in Iraq for the past two years. Some 10,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are also expected to join the battles that will bleed north and east of the city of over a million, Iraqi News reported, plus around 24,000 provincial police and members of the country's National Mobilization Forces militia groups as support. The battle will be directed from Camp Swift, an American base near the Qayyarah airfield outside the city, CBS reported. There are estimated to be 6,000 US troops in the country, conducting air strikes alongside the Iraqi Air Force, and providing training, logistical, and maintenance support during the upcoming battle. The fight to retake the city from the estimated 3,000-5,000 ISIS fighters still holding it is expected to start in weeks or days. In the runup to the battle, it is reported that the city is being ringed with bombs, with bridges booby-trapped and suicide bombers prepared to deploy. Multiple sources say Kurdish forces expect Daesh to use chemical weapons. A Pentagon spokesman said last month that some 800,000 people were expected to be displaced by the battle. Iraqi News reported that only 76,000 of the 300,000 tents expected to be in place for Mosul families fleeing the battle have so far been set up. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Special Ops Plane With Unique Electronics Readied for the Skies Sputnik News 17:57 13.10.2016(updated 00:07 14.10.2016) Russia's brand-new Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military transport plane will be able to ferry paratroopers and Special Ops troops deep into the enemy's rear totally undetected thanks to its state-of-the-art onboard electronics enabling it to fly just meters above the ground at night and in heavy fog, Izvestia wrote. "The new-look Il-76MD-90A, which is a modernized version of the Il-76MD, has already been approved by a special commission in Ulyanovsk," a Defense Ministry representative told Izvestia. "All onboard systems are now in place on and a series test flights are scheduled to be held shortly. If everything goes well, the new electronics will be installed on all existing and future Il-76MD-90As," he added. The official said that the Il-76MD-90A, equipped with advanced optical and electronic stations, collision warning gear and onboard defense systems, is designed to transport a range of military equipment, armed personnel, heavy and long size vehicles and cargoes. It will also be used in parachuting cargo/troops and other airborne cargo missions. Unique onboard equipment enables the Il-76MD-90A to land on dirt surfaces with switched off landing lights and flashing navigation lights. The Il-76MD-90A has a maximum take-off weight of 210 tons and can carry a maximum payload of 52 tons. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Terrorists Continue to Shell Western Aleppo Killing Dozens Daily - General Staff Sputnik News 21:53 13.10.2016 Terrorists continue to shell the western part of the Syrian city of Aleppo, which results in dozens of deaths on a daily basis, the Russian General Staff said Thursday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) He also said that the Syrian government was ready to ensure the security of rebels who decide to withdraw from eastern Aleppo carrying personal weapons. "The terrorists blocked the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population. Humanitarian corridors have been mined. The shelling of the western part of the city continues which means dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded every day," Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate, told reporters. In the past month, Aleppo has been a battlefield between government forces, jihadists, and numerous opposition groups. The September US-Russia ceasefire deal collapsed after a week, with Syrian troops renewing their offensive, stating that militant ceasefire violations made the cessation of hostilities impossible. Syria has been in a state of civil war since the 2011 political collapse. The core of the ongoing conflict is a struggle between moderate Syrian opposition groups, that want to remove President Bashar Assad from power, and government forces. At the same time, Damascus has to counter various extremist groups, in particular, Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address West Groundlessly Accuses Russia of Indiscriminate Bombing of Aleppo - Gen Staff Sputnik News 16:29 13.10.2016(updated 17:43 13.10.2016) Western countries have launched a smear campaign against the Russian Aerospace Forces accusing them without any evidence of indiscriminately bombing the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Russian General Staff said Thursday. "I would like to underscore that the Russian aviation carries out single pinpoint strikes on targets outside Aleppo and outside residential areas. Those targets are verified in advance. We do not strike weddings and funeral trains," the chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate said. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy explained that the use of Russian Su-24 bombers equipped with the Strelets target acquisition and designation system provides for an almost 100-percent efficiency of airstrikes. "The use of Strelets complexes allows the Su-24M attack aircraft to hit the targets with almost a 100-percent precision," the general stressed. The situation in Syria's Aleppo remains difficult, residents are staging protest actions which are suppressed by terrorists. "The most difficult situation persists in the region of Aleppo. The residents, discontent with the actions of militants, stage spontaneous protests, which are cruelly suppressed by the terrorists," he said. Al-Nusra Front Carries Out Forced Mobilization of Syrian Population Al-Nusra Front terrorist group has carried out a forced mobilization of male population in Syria, enlisting about 1,000 local residents, the Russian General Staff said. "After suffering significant losses in clashes with government forces, and being left without external support, the leaders of al-Nusra Front group have carried out a forced mobilization of the male population, enlisting about 1,000 people," Rudskoy said. According to Rudskoy, the mobilized local residents were used as a "human shield" during an attempt by terrorists to break out of encirclement. Russian Military Ready to Guarantee Safe Exit From Eastern Aleppo The Russian contingent in Syria is ready to ensure the safe exit of militants and civilians from the besieged eastern part of the Aleppo city. "We are ready to guarantee the safe exit of militants with weaponry, the unhindered passage of civilians in and out of eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian supplies there," Rudskoy said. According to Rudskoy, a total of seven humanitarian corridors have been opened in Aleppo, "allowing all residents to safely leave the area and ensuring the unhindered evacuation and medical treatment of wounded and ill." Syria's civil war between government forces and a wide range of insurgents, including terrorists opposition forces, has ranged for some five years and has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. On September 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry unveiled a new peace plan to address the conflict. The ceasefire deal was later shattered by numerous violations, which resulted in intensified fighting between the Syrian government and militants in Aleppo. The Syrian government has announced an end to the ceasefire regime a week later, while Russia said that the United States failed to fulfill its obligations on Syria, including unblocking the Castello road in Aleppo and differentiating between terrorists and armed opposition groups in Syria. The Castello road is the last remaining access route to Aleppo. According to the ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and Russia, the Syrian army and militant groups agreed to withdraw simultaneously from the Castello road. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Calls Increase for Investigation of Turkey's Ruling Party By Dorian Jones October 14, 2016 As authorities in Turkey continue to make arrests in connection with July's failed military coup, some observers there are asking why the crackdown has not affected the ruling AKP party, given that the coup attempt's alleged ringleader, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, once had close ties with the party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Arrest warrants were issued Friday for 189 judges and prosecutors, all accused of having links to Gulen. More than 30,000 people have been arrested, most of them from the military, the education system and the judiciary. Erdogan has defended the scale of the crackdown, claiming that Gulen's supporters infiltrated all government sectors over decades and ultimately used that network in a bid to seize power. Gulen denies any involvement in the coup attempt. Opposition parties increasingly are asking why the probe has not reached the doors of Erdogan's AKP party, given its past close relations with Gulen. Coup investigation Selin Sayek Boke, deputy head of the main opposition Republican People's Party and its spokesperson, says the fact the lack of attention to the inroads Gulen's followers made into the ruling party calls into question the legitimacy of the coup investigation. "We don't see a sincere attempt to cleanse this organization from [the] AKP [itself]," she said. Erdogan made little secret of his close alliance with Gulen, once famously declaring "we have given you everything you wanted." In his early years in power, Erdogan saw Gulen's powerful network of followers within the state as a useful tool in countering the powerful pro-secular military, which was hostile to Erdogan's Islamist leanings. "Erdogan came out and accepted the decade-long alliance between the AKP and the Gulenists," said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels. "But at some point the investigations should also implicate cases against [the] AK party's own members, who for so long have backed the Gulenists both internally and externally. Many of those arrested have been accused of using an encryption communication app called "Bylock" in connection with the coup. Prosecutors allege the app was created and used by Gulen supporters to communicate about the coup plot. Turkish security forces claim to have broken the app's encryption, allowing them to find many conspirators. Double standards? In a rare display of dissent, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the opposition National Action Party and a strong backer of Erdogan, highlighted the double standards in the investigation. "For example, if a civil servant who used ByLock is being arrested, while a politician or a high-ranking official who is also involved in the same act is being ignored, this would create a victimization," said Bahceli. "It really depends how he [Erdogan] plays this," said Semih Idiz, a political columnist for the Al-Monitor website. The question, he said, is whether the Turkish president is "trying to instrumentalize this to realize his ideological and personal ambitions," or is, instead, putting "himself in a position where he projects the image of having the country's concerns ... above everything else." Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced this week that the government will restart efforts to realize Erdogan's plan to change the constitution and transform Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system. That announcement fueled speculation the crackdown is merely a power grab. AK Party The reason the crackdown has not targeted the AKP may be the scale of the number of Gulen supporters within the party. According to one report, two prominent mayors, five to six cabinet ministers and as many as 60 AKP deputies may have links with Gulen. "The issue there is whether the ruling management of AK Party and Erdogan are essentially able to contain the damage that this would do to the AK Party," said analyst Ulgen. "If they start such a process, I think there is uncertainty as to what the damage will be." Observers say Erdogan is likely facing pressure from within his party to avoid a major purge because of the potential political fallout. A presidential source insists an extensive investigation is already underway, though, and says Erdogan is determined to purge all Gulen elements from the party, whatever the cost, adding it is only "a matter of time." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Minsk Agreements Are Ukraine's Chance for 'Salvation' - Russian OSCE Envoy Sputnik News 12:39 14.10.2016(updated 13:18 14.10.2016) The Ukrainian government continues to conceal its domestic issues with so-called Russian aggression, hindering progress in carrying out reconciliation agreements, Russia's permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) At the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Alexander Lukashevich said: "The Minsk agreements are not a defeat or capitulation for Ukraine as claimed by the nationalists, but its salvation, a chance to ensure national reconciliation. However, as long as Kiev tries to cover all of its numerous internal problems behind so-called Russian aggression, it will be difficult to move forward," he asserted. According to Lukashevich, all parties to Ukraine's conflict face the situation when they can operate jointly on order to turn the situation in Ukraine "from degradation into stabilization." "We actively work on this in different formats such as the Contact Group, Normandy format, and with other countries that have a huge influence on Kiev. The more indulgent attitude toward Kiev authorities' unwillingness or inability to implement the Minsk Agreements there is, the longer and more difficult peace process will be," Lukashevich added. Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine's southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a West-sponsored coup. In February 2015, a peace agreement, which was agreed by the Normandy Four countries, namely Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, was signed between Ukraine's conflicting sides in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Under the deal, constitutional reforms aimed at decentralizing power in Ukraine and the initiation of local elections in Donbass must have been concluded. The country's breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk agreed to postpone their local elections until 2016. Before elections in those regions can take place, Ukraine authorities must fulfill all the Minsk agreement obligations. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Four Malaysian mobile operators say they have agreed to use the governments state-owned 5G network, paving the way for an increased rollout in the country. STUART, Fla., Oct. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over the past four days residents of Stuart, Florida and its neighboring cities in, a massive hurricane relief drive, provided nearly 100,000 pounds of items for The Bahamas' hurricane victims in Grand Bahama and Andros. On Thursday, October 6th Hurricane Matthew plowed across the northern part of The Bahamas, as a category four storm, packing winds of up to 140 miles per hour. Although Bahamians had heeded warnings and prepared for the force of the storm, while sparing lives, Hurricane Matthew caused major damage and destruction to buildings, homes, electrical and communications infrastructure throughout New Providence, Grand Bahama and Andros Island. Grand Bahama was one of the hardest hit and, with utility poles down, much of the island continues to be without power. It has been predicted that power may not be restored for weeks. Against this background the residents of Stuart, Florida rallied to assist The Bahamas and donations have been pouring in. Private pilots have been using their time, fuel and planes to drop off a wide array of relief items from tarp and generators to food, water and basic personal items. The massive operation out of Stuart Jet Center is the brainchild of Joseph Rieger, the owner of Blue Marlin Cove in Grand Bahama. Mr. Rieger orchestrated the outreach through his many contacts in the area and the owners/operators of the Jet Center, Jeff Cappen and his brothers, donated one of their hangers for the staging of the relief efforts. On Wednesday Bahamas Minister of Tourism, and Member of Parliament for West End and Bimini, Obie Wilchcombe, released a formal statement expressing gratitude to Mr. Rieger and the people of Stuart for all that they are doing. "It is with profound gratitude and appreciation, as the Member of Parliament for West Grand Bahama and Bimini, that I extend my appreciation and gratitude on behalf of the constituents to Mr. Joe Rieger of Blue Marlin Cove in Bootle Bay," he said. "Mr. Rieger has tirelessly led a relief effort to assist the people by coordinating the collection of supplies, transportation and distribution to the community. Because of his efforts, a relief kitchen has been organized in West End. His efforts have also resulted in the preparation and distribution of relief packages. I am most grateful to him and his staff who have diligently, and with integrity, managed the process." Patrick Aldrich, one of the lead organizers on the ground at the Jet Center, said that when the project began organizers thought that they would only be sending out a few planes to assist. Mr. Aldrich said he never imagined that the operation would grow to such a large undertaking where planes are flying out throughout the day with supplies and donations are pouring in rapidly. He said that the efforts began on social media and went viral. "It just got blown up," he said. "People just kept sharing the information and even the media found out about it." Dozens of volunteers are being used to assist in the efforts, from school children to church organizations and others who simply want to just lend a hand. The volunteers include persons from as far north as St. Augustine, which was also hit by Hurricane Matthew last week. Jeff Capen shared why he was so happy to assist with the relief effort for The Bahamas. "I travel to The Bahamas and vacation there. I have friends there, wanted to help as soon as possible, and I wanted to be sure that the people who were affected by the storm were taken care of," he said. The volunteers over the past few days have included students from Treasure Coast High School Junior Air Force ROTC. The students have been helping with the unloading of donations as they arrive, packing items and loading them onto planes for delivery. Another group of volunteers assisting is from Empowered Masters Commission, a Bible College in Lake Wales, FL. The operation at the Jet Center in Florida will continue through Friday, when remaining items will be taken down to South Florida to SEACOR Island Lines, where vessels there will ship the supplies to the islands. SEACOR Island Lines is a shipping company that transports cargo to all of The Bahamas. Mike LaFleur, CEO of the company, said that they are working with private enterprises, foundations and individuals to ship relief cargo to the islands especially Andros and Freeport. Of the massive operation in Stuart, Florida, he said "we are really hoping to replicate this effort down south." He added that his company would be assisting in relief efforts as long as needed because it has been operating in The Bahamas for years. "We are a part of the community and we want to help our friends, our colleagues, and the businesses." When the relief operations in Stuart end on Friday, donations will continue to be collected at SEACOR Island Lines, 1300 Eller Drive, Fort Lauderdale tel 954-929-9292. The Islands Of The Bahamas have a place in the sun for everyone. Each island has its own personality and attractions for a variety of vacation styles with some of the world's best scuba diving, fishing, sailing, boating, as well as, shopping and dining. The destination offers an easily accessible tropical getaway and provides convenience for travelers with preclearance through U.S. customs and immigration, and the Bahamian dollar is on par with the U.S. dollar. Do everything or do nothing, just remember It's Better in The Bahamas. For travel packages, activities and accommodations information, call 1-800-Bahamas or visit www.Bahamas.com. Look for The Bahamas on the web on Facebook Twitter and YouTube Photos accompanying this release are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41670 http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41671 CONTACT:Jeannie Gibson jgibson@bahamas.com (954) 236-9292 Danvilles Goodyear plant will contest more than $1 million in fines and more than 100 violations issued by the state. Goodyear is following the standard administrative process for responding to VOSH [Virginia Occupational Safety and Health program] citations, said Julianne Roberts, North America communications manager for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio. The companys Danville plant faces more than $1 million in fines levied by the state, which issued more than 100 violations Oct. 7 as a result of comprehensive safety and health inspections. The Virginia Department of Labor and Industrys Virginia Occupational Safety and Health program also issued two willful and two serious violations and $152,600 in penalties last week in response to the April 12 death of Charles Greg Cooper, an 18-year employee at the plant, according to a news release from the department Thursday morning. Cooper died from burns and drowning. His body was found in a 6-foot, 8-inch deep pit/sump containing boiling water and oil. In a statement issued Thursday, Goodyear Danville Communications Manager Laura Singleton said Goodyear is reviewing the citations and will work with VOSH and the United Steel Workers union to implement any necessary additional corrective actions at our Danville plant, beyond those we have already identified and are addressing. VOSH also issued a serious violation and a $7,000 penalty related to an April accident in which an employee was burned by steam while attempting to retest a tire curing press with a co-worker. Among the more serious violations cited, there were instances of improper machine guarding and violations of lockout/tagout requirements, according to the news release. Standards require that dangerous machinery is guarded to prevent accidental contact and that all of a machines energy sources are shut off and locked out to prevent inadvertent movement while workers are exposed to hazards when servicing or repairing machinery, according to the news release. Department officials said workers exposed to machinery without energy-control devices are in jeopardy of losing a limb or even their life, as was the case with the Aug. 31, 2015, death of Jeanie Strader, 56, at the Danville facility. VOSH issued three serious violations and $16,975 in penalties in that case on Feb. 25 which have been contested by the company, according to the news release. Two subsequent fatalities at the facility on March 31, involving the death of Kevin Waid Edmonds, 54, and Cooper on April 12 prompted VOSH to conduct the comprehensive inspections, according to the news release. While the inspections were still open, the facility experienced a fourth fatality on Aug. 12 of William Christopher Scheier, 47, which again involved a worker engaged in maintenance activities getting caught in a machine that was not de-energized and locked out, according to the news release. The second and third fatalities, two comprehensive inspections, a non-fatal steam burn accident investigation and a fingertip amputation have resulted in citations, according to the news release. The VOSH investigation into the fourth fatality is still on-going. We are very saddened at the loss of life at the Goodyear Danville plant and express our deepest sympathies to the families, co-workers and management of the plant, said Virginia Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner C. Ray Davenport in the news release. While the citations and penalties issued in the inspections to date indicate that very serious problems appear to have existed for an extended period at the plant, the department intends to work closely with Goodyear, the United Steelworkers and site employees and managers to enhance the sites safety and health management systems and workplace culture. We strive every day to assure to the extent possible that every Virginia worker returns home safe and healthy at the end of their work shift, Davenport added. Goodyears Danville facility covers 50 acres and employs about 2,200 workers. The plant manufactures aviation and specialty tires, and operates on three shifts. Employees at the plant are represented by Local 831 of the United Steelworkers of America. Repeated attempts to contact union representatives were unsuccessful Thursday. Goodyear Tire and Rubber has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with VOSHs Roanoke regional director, or contest the citations and penalties. Concise letters 250 words or fewer on topics of local interest will receive first consideration for publication. All letters are subject to editing for language and clarity. Mailing Address: Letters to the Editor, The Register & Bee, 700 Monument St., Danville, VA 24541 Letters submitted by mail must include the writer's name, signature, address and a daytime phone number. Fax: (434) 799-0595 Email: letters@registerbee.com Or submit a letter via our online form: Submit a letter Gov. Terry McAuliffe moved today to close an $861.4 million revenue shortfall in this fiscal year by canceling pay raises, tapping the state "rainy day" fund, and making agency budget cuts that include 26 potential layoffs and eliminating nearly 300 vacant positions, primarily in corrections. McAuliffe also set the stage for a potential budget battle next winter, when he and the General Assembly must deal with an additional revenue shortfall in the next fiscal year, now projected at $654 million. One of his solutions will be a renewed attempt to use federal money to expand Medicaid, which he said would free up $211 million a year in state funds now spent on mental health, inmate hospital care, and subsidizing uncompensated hospital care of uninsured Virginians. "We can't continue to leave that money on the table," the governor said in a news conference today in Richmond. McAuliffe, who has tried and failed three times to persuade General Assembly Republicans to expand health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, signaled that he will attempt again to use a "provider assessment" on hospitals to pay the state's share of future costs in expanding Medicaid and enable the health care industry to collect federal dollars for what is now uncompensated care. The governor did not provide details of his proposal, but said, "We will work closely with the hospitals." The projected revenue shortfall in this fiscal year reflects both a $279.3 million shortage carried over from the year that ended June 30 and diminished expectations for growth in critical revenues such as income tax withheld from payrolls and sales tax. The state will address the bulk of the shortfall by withdrawing $392.2 million from the revenue stabilization or "rainy day" fund and canceling $125.1 million in raises for state employees, college faculty, teachers and state-supported local employees that were to take effect Dec. 1. New Virginia panels vow 'laser focus' on creating higher-paying jobs Two new state panels, backed by more than $100 million in investments in higher education research and regional economic development initiatives, have begun work with the same four-letter mission: jobs. The two-year pay package of $346 million was tied in the budget to meeting revenue projections for the last fiscal year, so the raises were canceled after the state missed its mark by nearly 2 percent. The remainder of the gap this year will be closed by using unspent balances and agency savings from last year, as well as $73 million in budget cuts volunteered by agencies that don't provide what McAuliffe described as core services, such as education, health care, and public safety. Those cuts include 26 potential layoffs, including 15 at the Library of Virginia, but the governor said he hopes to avoid them by either substituting with retirements or placing the affected employees in vacant jobs elsewhere in the state bureaucracy. The state also will delay the opening of a women's prison in a former juvenile correctional center in Culpeper, which will eliminate 255 positions. "This could have been so much worse," McAuliffe said. Other one-time measures include a delay in raising the threshold for businesses that will be required to pay June sales taxes to the state a month early, the use of $47.1 million in surplus funds from the lottery, and transferring about $25 million from the Literary Fund to pay for teacher pensions. The state also will require colleges and universities to pay their share of retirement contributions that had been deferred in the recession and then repaid with interest in June. Initially, the state did not require higher education to pay a portion of the cost in order to reduce pressure on tuition, but the institutions had budgeted for raises the state no longer will pay. The outlook for the next fiscal year was brightened by revenue collections in the first quarter of this year, which grew by 3.6 percent instead of the projected 1.7 percent growth rate. Payroll withholding taxes grew by 4.1 percent in the quarter, compared to a forecast of 3 percent, and recordation taxes grew 14.2 percent. The biggest blemish was sales tax collections, which fell by 3.5 percent. McAuliffe was buoyed by the signs of recovering revenue, but cautioned, "That is one quarter - we have three to go." VANCOUVER, October 14, 2016 - Baja Mining Corp. ("Baja" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: BAJ) (OTCQB: BAJFF) announced today that the previously announced consolidation (the "Consolidation") of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares on the basis of one (1) post-consolidation common share (each, a "Common Share") for every twenty (20) pre-consolidation common shares and the change of the Company's name from " Baja Mining Corp. " to "Camrova Resources Inc." will be effective on October 17, 2016. The Common Shares will begin trading on a post-consolidated basis and under the new Company name on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V") under the trading symbol "CAV" at market open on Monday, October 17, 2016.The Consolidation and the name change were approved by the TSX-V and a related bulletin will be issued by the TSX-V on October 14, 2016.Prior to the Consolidation, the Company had approximately 340.2 million common shares outstanding. As a result of the Consolidation, the Company has approximately 17.0 million Common Shares outstanding. The exercise and conversion prices and the number of Common Shares issuable under the Company's outstanding stock options and other convertible instruments will be proportionately adjusted as a result of the Consolidation.A letter of transmittal will be mailed to registered shareholders on October 17, 2016 providing instructions to surrender the certificates evidencing their pre-consolidation common shares for replacement certificates representing the number of Common Shares to which they are entitled as a result of the Consolidation and name change. Until surrendered, each certificate representing common share of the Company prior to the Consolidation and name change will be deemed for all purposes to represent the number of Common Shares to which the holder thereof is entitled as a result of the Consolidation and name change.Production from the Boleo underground mine and process plant is not currently meeting expectations. Unsatisfactory operating results are being caused by high mine operating costs, low metallurgical recoveries and low copper prices. The operations continue to face significant challenges with lower underground mining rates and grades than originally planned. However, new underground mining equipment has been delivered to try different underground mining methods. Changes are also being made to the process plant to increase metal recoveries. However, improvements in underground mining rates, operating costs and the achievement of targeted recoveries will likely require a lengthy period of time. It is uncertain when operations will become cash flow positive.The Company continues to pursue other prospective investment opportunities and discussions continue in respect of a possible investment in a small-scale copper processing plant in Chile.The Company and KORES are still working to finalize documentation related to the revised Minera y Metalurgica del Boleo S.A.P.I. de C.V. ("MMB") shareholders agreement (the "Shareholders' Agreement") and final approvals by KORES and the remaining members of the Korean Consortium are pending. If finally approved, a portion of the management services agreement margin amount owing to Baja by MMB is to be paid to the Company shortly after finalizing the Shareholders' Agreement.Baja is a Canadian mining company. Baja, through Minera y Metalurgica del Boleo S.A.P.I. de C.V. (MMB), currently owns a 10% interest in the Boleo copper-cobalt-zinc-manganese project located in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The Boleo project is producing copper, cobalt and zinc and the commissioning phase of the processing plant has been declared competed. The Company is working to identify and evaluate alternative project opportunities that are consistent with its technical expertise and have the potential for near-term generation of cash flow or value creation.Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.This press release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information (forward-looking statements). These statements can be identified by expressions of belief, expectation or intention, as well as those statements that are not historical fact. 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. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on our current estimates, expectations and projections, which the Company believes are reasonable as of the current date. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements and as a result undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties can be found in the Company's reporting documents filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including its Management Discussion and Analysis. Forward-looking statements are given only as at the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.Baja's Interim CEOTom Ogryzlo604-685-2323info@bajamining.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct. 14, 2016) - NOT FOR DISSEMINATION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES Select Sands Corp. ("Select Sands" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SNS) (OTC:CLICF) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing of common shares ("Common Shares") at a price of CDN$0.77 per share to raise gross proceeds of up to US$7,500,000 (the "Offering") to fund the purchase price of the previously announced asset acquisition with Tutle Holding, LLC (see press release dated October 4, 2016), fund the purchase of the Sandtown property, and for general corporate purposes. The Company will have the option of increasing the size of the Offering by up to 25% prior to closing. Completion of the Offering is subject to receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities issued by Select Sands in connection with the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period as prescribed by applicable securities laws. A cash finders' fee equal to 6% of the gross proceeds raised under the Offering will be paid in to finders. In addition a number of finder warrants equal to 6% of the number of Common Shares issued in connection with the Offering will be issued to finders. Each finder's warrants will entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share of for a period of two years from the date of issuance of the warrants at an exercise price of CDN$0.77 per share. The Units will be offered pursuant to prospectus exemptions in certain provinces of Canada and in such other jurisdictions as may be determined by Select Sands. The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Mark Horan, P.Eng. of Tetra Tech, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this News Release. About Select Sands Corp. Select Sands' Sandtown property, located in northeast Arkansas, USA, is underlain by the Ordovician St. Peter sandstone formation, which is a major source of Northern White Silica Sand.'). Compared to competitive sand mines located in Wisconsin owned by the largest US frac sand producers, Sandtown has a competitive location advantage as it is approximately 650 rail miles closer to the Texas/Louisiana oil/gas plays as well as the Houston port and industrial hub. The Company has acquired a wet processing plant to produce Northern White 40/70 and 100 mesh silica sand products with daily capacity of up to 1,500 tons per day (see August 23, 2016 News Release). The wet processing plant includes feed hopper, conveyor, classifiers, cyclones, and control building and is optimized to increase its daily capacity at minimal cost as needed. The Company continues to seek additional opportunities in the region to secure strategic assets that will continue to optimize production The Company has acquired 20 million common shares of Comstock Metals Ltd. pursuant to its sale of its gold assets to Comstock as set forth in the Company's press release issued on Sept. 14, 2016. The 20 million shares were issued at a deemed price of 29 cents per share for total deemed consideration of CAD$4.4 million. After giving effect to the acquisition by the Company of the 20 million common shares, the Company has ownership or control over approximately 35.4 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of Comstock. As per the June 2015 PEA report by Tetra Tech of Golden, Colorado, USA and Vancouver, BC, Canada, the Sandtown property has a pre-tax net present value of US$160 million and a post-tax net present value of US$92 million. The PEA was completed on a portion of the current silica sand mineral resources (see the Select Sands' June 10, 2015 News Release). Select Sands would like to remind investors that mineral resources for the Sandtown Property are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability and there is no certainty that this PEA will be realized. The PEA is preliminary in nature that it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that the resources development, production, and economic forecasts on which this PEA is based will be realized. Subsequent to the completion of the 2015 PEA, Select Sands announced an updated mineral resource estimate for the Sandtown property totaling 41.98 Million Tons of Indicated silica sand mineral resources (see the Select Sands February 10, 2016 news release). Forward Looking Statements This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Such statements include statements regarding the ability to complete the Offering, targets and future exploration on the Company's properties. Information and statements which are not purely historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release. October 14, 2016 / TheNewswire / Redstar Gold Corp. (TSX.V: RGC, US: RGCTF, FRA: RGG) ("Redstar" or the "Company") announces it commenced drilling at the high-grade Shumagin Gold Zone at its 100% controlled Unga Gold Project on October 13. On October 5, the Company discussed the Phase 2 Drill Program, which will consist of approximately 1,500 metres of diamond drilling that will focus on outlining additional high grade gold mineralization at the Shumagin Zone along strike and at depth. The Company anticipates a larger expansive drill program in the spring of 2017, after all results from the Phase 2 program are received and modelled. The 2016 summer exploration program at Shumagin refined new exploration targets along known structures hosting high-grade rhodochrosite-bearing breccias within dilation zones localized along the approximate 2,000 meter Shumagin Gold Zone. The drill program is targeting a seven (7) drill hole program that will test an approximate 1000 meter strike length of the Shumagin Zone, including the Shumagin Main Zone, the Bunker Hill Zone, and a new zone identified as the East Zone. Please visit the Company's website and refer to the October 2016 Corporate Presentation on page 26 for approximate locations of the drill holes (www.redstargold.com/s/presentations.asp). Redstar's President & CEO, Peter A. Ball, commented, "We are pleased that in less than a week from mobilizing our technical team to our Unga Gold Project, the camp has been set up, drill pads prepped and the drill rig is now turning. We look forward to execution of the drill program and the prompt delivery of assay results to the market over the coming weeks." Selected Historical Drill Highlights from the Shumagin Gold Zone**: Hole# From (meters) To (meters) Length1 (meters) Gold Grade (g/t) Silver Grade (g/t) DDH-26 49.07 49.83 0.76 37.7 20.6 DDH-28 44.81 46.02 1.22 16.5 55.5 DDH-35 77.27 77.88 0.61 192.6 5403.4 DDH-42 132.59 134.11 1.52 30.96 35.0 DDH-46 153.62 154.84 1.22 365.35 190.6 DDH-51 156.06 156.67 0.61 182.02 88.5 DDH-57 38.1 39.62 1.52 59.59 50.05 BMS-01 272.8 278.28 5.49 24.02 19.4 11SH007 223.0 224.0 1.00 43.9 18.5 11SH009 210.1 211.0 0.9 43.1 37.2 11SH010 259.25 259.8 0.55 738.0 408.0 15SH011 60.1 62.0 1.90 202.0 82.0 15SH012 64.0 66.0 2.00 35.3 209.0 15SH012 82.0 85.0 3.00 16.95 183.0 15SH012 89.0 89.7 0.70 133.0 422.0 15SH013 144.0 145.0 1.00 17.45 122.0 15SH013 146.0 147.0 1.00 20.9 232.0 15SH014 187.0 188.0 1.00 19.9 16.0 15SH018 196.0 197.0 1.00 41.2 130.0 *True widths of the mineralized intervals are close to 70-80% of Core Length **DDH-26, 28, 35, 42, 46, 51, 57 & BMS-01 are historic in nature and are not reported herein as new drill results **11SH007-010 and 15SH011-018 have been previously disclosed and may be viewed on Redstar's Website at www.redstargold.com/s/NewsReleases.asp Please refer to Redstar's website (www.redstargold.com/s/Shumagin_2016) to see complete results from Shumagin, which also includes previously reported samples from historic trenching and samples taken during 2014 and reported in Redstar's press release dated December 22, 2014. About The Unga Gold Project The 100% controlled Unga Gold Project covers key strategic portions of adjacent Unga and Popof Islands, approximately 900 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Redstar controls a 240 square kilometer land package that is host to numerous structurally controlled, volcanic hosted intermediate-sulfidation epithermal high-grade vein, breccia, stockwork and disseminated gold-silver occurrences. The Unga Project has excellent infrastructure, including direct daily flights from Anchorage, a deep-sea port and a temperate climate. The former Apollo-Sitka gold mine, located on the southern Apollo-Sitka Trend, was Alaska's first underground gold mine and the site of historic high-grade gold production. Jesse C. Grady, MSc, CPG-11592, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Grady has prepared and approved the technical information contained within this release. About RedStar Gold Corp. Redstar is a junior exploration company that is well financed with approximately $5,000,000 in its treasury. The Company is currently focused on advancing its 100% controlled high-grade intermediate-sulfidation epithermal district scale Unga Gold Project. In addition, Redstar controls 2 board seats and 29.9% of NV Gold Corp. (TSXV: NVX), and controls 30% of the Newman Todd Gold Project, in Red Lake, Ontario, Canada. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Peter A. Ball, President and CEO For additional information please contact: T: +1.604.245.5861 Toll Free: 877.310.3330 E: pball@redstargold.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Redstar Gold Corp. (the "Company") expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. 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 may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Central High School graduate Ben Masters, shown in the documentary "Unbranded," will hold a short film festival in Austin. Contributed photo SHARE By Staff Report Central High School graduate Ben Masters will hold the Wild Texas Short Films festival Oct. 20 at Stanley's Farmhouse in Austin. The event offers a night of conservation and adventure short films, question-and-answer session with the creators, as well as pizza, drinks and live music by Shane Smith & The Saints. Masters is a 2007 Central graduate and holds a degree from Texas A&M University in wildlife biology. During college he attended classes in the spring, led horseback rides in Yellowstone National Park during the summer, guided Wyoming elk hunts in the fall and managed the Jacalon Ranch in South Texas over the winter. Masters, the CEO of Fin & Fur Films, was the driving force behind the film "Unbranded," a documentary about him and two friends completing a 2,000-mile ride along the Continental Divide to promote awareness of America's wild mustang population. Titles included in the festival are: "Selah: Water from Stone" by J. David Bamberger "Pronghorn Revival" by Louis Harveson "A Backcountry Recovery" by Micah Fink "Third and Goal" by Jordan Shipley "Anchor Point" by J.T. Van Zandt For more information, visit bit.ly/2e8zgZE. SHARE 'The Birth of a Nation' The film about Nat Turner and his 1831 slave rebellion is a fine and promising debut from star Nate Parker, who also co-wrote and produced. It follows Turner from childhood to age 31, when he was hanged after he and his fellow slaves went house to house slaughtering every man, woman and child who had a white complexion. It feels very much like a first film less a good-faith attempt at reconstructing Turner's life and more a stylized fable, loosely rooted in an extraordinary true story. Rated: R for violence and brief nudity Grade: B- 'Deepwater Horizon' Based on a New York Times article about the BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, "Deepwater Horizon" is about the men and women aboard just doing their jobs. Mark Wahlberg anchors as Mike Williams, a no-nonsense engineer. "Deepwater Horizon" achieves that impossible balance of being a tribute to the workers who perished and survived and a searing critique of the rotten system that put them there in the first place. Rated: PG-13 for disturbing disaster sequences and brief strong language Grade: A 'The Girl on the Train' In the film adaptation of Paula Hawkins' debut novel, Emily Blunt plays Rachel, an alcoholic divorcee attempting to solve a crime through her own boozy blackouts. Her daily pleasures are glimpses of the houses that slip by her window and the lives within. After one of the women she often watches goes missing, a detective (Allison Janney) asks her what was she doing in the area that night. In "The Girl on the Train," memory proves to be an elusive, fleeting entity, something that can be gained and lost in equal measure. Rated: R for violence, sexual content, nudity and language Grade: A 'The Magnificent Seven' "The Magnificent Seven" has an appealing concept bad guys who can be good, loners who can work together and find camaraderie while protecting innocents in a town seized for gold mining. With its blockbuster cast including Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio and Peter Sarsgaard and stunning cinematography, this remake should be an easy home run. But instead the film is long on violence and short on story, character development and motivatio to make you believe these seven would put themselves on the line for this tiny town. Rated: PG-13 for intense violence, smoking, some language and suggestive material Grade: C 'Masterminds' This lightweight, silly comedy is astonishingly based on the true story of one of the largest cash robberies in the U.S. Zach Galifianakis plays aw-shucks naif David Ghantt, an employee of armored truck company. His co-worker Kelly (Kristen Wiig) and her petty thief buddy Stephen (Owen Wilson) hatch a plan to rob the company vault, and ensnare David into their plot as their inside man. It doesn't enter the upper echelons of director Jared Hess' oeuvre ("Napoleon Dynamite" and "Nacho Libre"), but it has riotously funny moments. Rated: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, some language and violence Grade: C+ 'Middle School: The Worst Years of my Life' Griffin Gluck plays Rafe, a dreamer and a doodler who seems like a nice enough kid but has a serious aversion to authority. Transferring into his third school of the year, he finds a worthy opponent in the rule book-obsessed principal. Adopting the motto "rules aren't for everyone," he and his best pal Leo (Thomas Barbusca) set out to creatively break every rule in the book. It's a fun, rebellious romp that celebrates creativity and outside-the-box thinking. Rated: PG for rude humor throughout, language and thematic elements Grade: B- 'Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children' Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine (Eva Green) is headmistress of a sort of mashup of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The film follows the story template of its young adult and comic book predecessors child misfits find a home with others who are just as different as they are, and learn to use their unique powers to protect themselves and their loved ones. In director Tim Burton's hands, the film has a wry sense of humor and an enchanting aesthetic of thoroughly modern steampunk spookiness. Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of fantasy action/violence and peril Grade: B- 'Storks' Storks who used to deliver bouncing bundles of joy have been relegated to delivering packages for CornerStore.com after one became too attached to a baby, Tulip (Katie Crown). Junior the stork (Andy Samberg) is fired up for a promotion, but accident-prone Tulip, who has been raised in the warehouse, keeps getting in his way. In the human world, only child Nate (Anton Starkman), discovers an old pamphlet for stork baby delivery, sends off a letter, and through Tulip's misguided helpfulness, the baby factory is fired up once more. "Storks" is at times cacophonous and overly busy, but the third act and emotional resolution are genuinely moving. Rated: PG for mild action and some thematic elements Grade: B- 'Sully' "Sully" commits to film the heartwarming story of "The Miracle on the Hudson," when Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) made a forced water landing on the Hudson River with 155 passengers aboard a US Airways flight to Charlotte. The conflict comes from the investigation and hearing by the National Transportation Safety Board, out to detect any human error in the incident. Director Clint Eastwood takes care to make it a story about the many people who made it a miracle, reaching out a helping hand without a second thought. Rated: PG-13 for some peril and brief strong language. Grade: A Wire services Photo by Simon Annand, provided by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Stephanie Cole plays the Fool in the 2016 Bristol Old Vic Theatre production of "King Lear." SHARE Contributed photo Graham Crowden and Stephanie Cole appear in "Waiting for God." American audiences were introduced to British actress Stephanie Cole when she portrayed grumpy, sharp-witted Diana Trent, a resident of the Bayview Retirement Village, in the 1990s sitcom "Waiting for God." A decade later, Cole was back on U.S. television playing a more congenial matriarchal character in another popular British comedy import, "Doc Martin." Turning 75 this month, Ms. Cole's current work schedule might be the envy of many actors. "I'm in two popular series ('Man Down' and 'Still Open all Hours') and do one in the spring and the other in autumn," Ms. Cole said from her home near Bath, west of London. "That gives me time to fit a play in between." This year, that summer theatrical diversion was a production of "King Lear" at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre (bristololdvic.org.uk). "It's their 250th anniversary, making it the oldest continually working theater in the British Isles," Cole said. "For this year's 'King Lear' production they used third-year students in all the roles except for Lear, Gloucester and the Fool I played the Fool! But it was very special for me." Cole began her career at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the '50s and rubbed shoulders with theater greats such as Laurence Olivier. An encounter at a small comedy theater early in her career was especially memorable. "A gentleman came backstage and wanted to visit someone in the dressing room. I recognized him immediately as John Gielgud. I led him to the room and as I raised my hand to knock on the door preparing to announce him, I turned and asked 'Who shall I say it is?' He said 'Itit's John Gielgud.' I said, 'Yes, yes, of course, I'm sorry,' and felt an utter twit, but was so thrilled to be face to face with such a great actor." In the early '80s, Cole's big TV break came in "Tenko," a sobering BBC drama that followed the hardships of women prisoners in internment camps after the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1942. "When you're seen every week in a very popular series it changes your career," she said. While "Tenko" is less known in the U.S., it was "Waiting for God" that made Cole a household name to viewers across the country. "I laughed when I first read the script and knew I wanted the part," Cole said. "I thought it was wonderful to have two elderly characters in the starring roles. Parts for older actors and actresses are often not interesting or their characters are just there to be made fun of." Cole became a patron of British Age Concern, an organization that offers support and services to seniors. She also worked with the British Schizophrenia Fellowship and for all her work was awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire designation. "I'm not sure if I made an impact," she said modestly, "but it would be nice if I did." Beginning in 2004, Cole appeared in the first four seasons of "Doc Martin" playing the wise aunt to star Martin Clunes. The show was filmed on the beautiful Cornwall coast, but Cole's involvement was bittersweet. "My husband was ill when we filmed the first series and I signed on with the proviso that if he got worse they would immediately release me," she said. "Unfortunately he did and I had to rush back home, but sadly he died. So although I worked with wonderful people in a beautiful setting, the show is not something I look back on with particular joy as it was such a sad and difficult personal time for me." But there is no hint of trepidation surrounding her October birthday, an anniversary she says means less and less. "After a certain age you don't feel old in your head, although your body might occasionally remind you!" she said with a laugh. "The passage of time, to coin a phrase, is a matter of complete embuggerance as far as I'm concerned." Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 600 magazines and newspapers. See tinseltowntalks.com. Associated press President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks during a reception for Hispanic Heritage Month on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. A report by White House Council of Economic Advisors relesased Wednesday says according to many social measures, Hispanics are doing much better now than when Obama took office in 2009 at the height of the Great Recession. SHARE Hispanics did better in Obama tenure By Marty Schladen, USA TODAY Network Austin Bureau AUSTIN The White House on Wednesday touted a new report saying, essentially, that American Hispanics have made big gains during the presidency of Barack Obama. In a conference call with reporters, officials discussed a report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers that says according to many social measures, Hispanics are doing much better now than when Obama took office in 2009 at the height of the Great Recession. "The Hispanic community took the disproportionate brunt of the recession," said Jason Furman, chief of the Council of Economic Advisers. "But it has disproportionately benefited from the recovery since then and the types of policies the president has pursued, including expanding investments in education, raising income through overtime protection, encouraging 18 states, the District of Columbia and localities to raise the minimum wage, expanding anti-poverty programs and a range of other actions." It's clear there have been improvements in Hispanic fortunes under Obama, said University of Texas sociologist Nestor P. Rodriguez, who studies immigration and its impacts on the United States. But because the president was burdened with other priorities and opposition in Congress, the improvements haven't been as great as they might have been, Rodriguez said. "He doesn't seem to have stood in the way of progress of the Hispanic community," Rodriguez said. The National Republican Campaign Committee declined to comment for this story, and the National Republican Committee didn't immediately respond to such a request. The White House report that was released Wednesday cited a number of areas in which it said the lives of Hispanic Americans have improved: Unemployment: Hispanic unemployment was 6.4 percent in September 2016, down 6.6 percentage points from August 2009 and just below the pre-recession level of 6.5 percent. Despite the improvement, the current rate exceeds the national unemployment rate for September 5 percent. Income: Gains in median household income between 2014 and 2015 have been strong nationally at 5.2 percent, the report said, and even stronger for Hispanic households, at 6.1 percent. But with a median 2015 income of $45,150, Hispanic households still earned 25 percent less than the average American household. Poverty: At 21.4 percent in 2015, the poverty rate for Hispanics was down 3.9 percentage points from 2009 closing the gap with non-Hispanic Whites by 3.6 percentage points over the same period. But the rate is still far above the 13.5 percent poverty rate for the nation as a whole in 2015. Health care: The report credits the Affordable Care Act with cutting the number of uninsured Hispanics by 11.3 percentage points, compared with an 8.8 percentage-point cut among Americans overall. If states such as Texas and Florida would expand Medicaid to cover low-income workers, a further 1 million Latino Americans would be insured, the report said. Education: Heavy investment in the preschool Head Start program has coincided with greater Hispanic participation in the program than Americans generally. At the same time, the high school graduation rate among Hispanics has risen 5 percentage points since 2010. Even so, at 76 percent the Hispanic graduation rate is still 6 percentage points below the national rate. "Even though we've made these striking gains, there's a ways to go," U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr. told reporters. That sentiment is reflected in a June survey by the Pew Research Center that Hispanics are more optimistic about their economic future, but still find themselves behind the population as a whole. And Rodriguez, the University of Texas professor, cautioned that it's important not to treat the country's 55 million Hispanics as if they're all the same. Some, like his Corpus Christi family, have been in the country for generations, while many others are recent immigrants, some undocumented. "Unauthorized immigrants are trapped in the bottom sectors of the economy," Rodriguez said, explaining that that keeps them from contributing to economic growth as much as they could. Furman, chief of the Council of Economic Advisers, agreed. He said those workers can't maximize their earning potential, much less do things like start businesses where they could hire employees of their own. Furman said "commonsense" immigration reform is the No. 1 step the United States could take to grow its economy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in 2013 found that an immigration-reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate that year would substantially grow the U.S. economy. And, Furman said, a group of evaluators that included the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 2014 concluded that the United States has the best growth strategy of any submitted by countries with the world's 20 largest economies. "They said the biggest difference between us and what the other advanced economies were proposing was that we had commonsense immigration reform," Furman said. Marty Schladen can be reached at 512-479-6606; mschladen@gannett.com; @martyschladen on Twitter. SHARE The following editorial appeared in the Oct. 5 Dallas Morning News: It was alarming enough to learn that the rate of Texas women dying of pregnancy-related causes nearly doubled in the last four years. Now comes the troubling news that the Department of State Health Services won't release critical case-level data on these deaths that could lead to finding out why. Unacceptable. The Dallas Morning News asked for the data under the Texas Public Information Act after a recent study showed that Texas' maternal mortality rate shot up to 35.8 per 100,000 births from 18.6 in 2010. The numbers were even more startling for black women in a separate report commissioned by the state found that they were twice as likely as white women to die within a year after their pregnancy. The state has refused to release summary index data with valuable information such as the names, causes of death, the last known addresses of the deceased citing a 2011 ruling by then-Attorney General Greg Abbott that the information should be kept secret to prevent fraud. We're all for protecting Texans' identities from folks who might use them for wrongdoing. But lives are at stake. The release of this information is critical to getting to the bottom of this public health scare. There has to be a way to protect patients' privacy while also allowing doctors and researchers to delve into the details of these cases. Other states that readily release this information have figured it out. Texas had a system in place until 2010. But no more. Imagine where we'd be if the Centers for Disease Control couldn't collect detailed case data to develop protocols on how we can protect ourselves from Ebola and the West Nile virus. Both reports on maternal mortality noted the lack of affordable health care as a cause for concern, especially with Texas being home to more uninsured people than any other state. One can't help but wonder if the 2011 Texas Legislature's cuts to family planning that closed 82 clinics played a role. A Department of State Health Services spokesman says there's no evidence that it has. We need to know for sure. Democrat Rep. Armando Walle of Houston, vice chairman of the House Government Transparency and Operation Committee, argues that the Legislature needs to revisit the exemptions in the open records law. "There seems to be a lot of women dying," he said. "We need to know why they're dying. You can't make corrective action if we don't know why these women are dying." We urge Gov. Abbott to reassess his thinking on this issue, given what's happened to maternity death rates since his 2011 ruling. Texas must be better than this. Privatization is one of the hottest topics in state and local government. Google the word and you come up with around 12 million entries. But for all the articles and academic reports on the best approaches to outsourcing government services, theres also a surprising amount of activity around insourcing.These days, roughly the same percentage of services that are newly being contracted out are being brought back into the government fold, according to Mildred Warner, a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University. Her examination of data accumulated by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) for the period from 2007 to 2012 showed that new outsourcing accounted for 11.1 percent of all services and new insourcing accounted for 10.4 percent of all services.Minneapolis, for example, has been involved in moving its IT technical support -- specifically help desks and desktop support -- in-house, and away from private-sector firms. Why? A misalliance of goals was part of the problem. The vendors wanted to get a call off their docket as quickly as possible. So a lot of shortcuts were taken, says Otto Doll, chief information officer for Minneapolis. There was a lot of patching of things, rather than looking at systemic issues.Not only has quality improved with the shift, there have been significant dollar savings. Of Minneapolis IT outsourcing contracts, the single most profitable portion for the contractor had emanated from help desks and desktop support. With those functions now in-house, Doll estimates that the city will realize nearly $3 million annually.Of course, the potential benefits of outsourcing are pretty widely known. A fundamental one is the notion that the private sector can deliver services more effectively and efficiently than can government. But insourcing has some advantages too.According to Warners analysis of ICMA data, the two main reasons governments reverse their privatized services are inferior service quality and a lack of anticipated cost savings. Additionally, improvements in the capacity of local governments to work with greater efficiency can make them the more appealing alternative.In 2014, for instance, Idaho reversed a prison privatization decision when it became frustrated over less-than-acceptable service delivery. Back in the late 1990s, the state built the Idaho Correctional Center, a 2,000-bed mixed security facility just south of Boise, and then outsourced the operations. The attitude was that the private sector could do it more efficiently, says Josh Tewalt, the Idaho Department of Corrections budget and policy administrator.But by 2013, inmate violence, much of it driven by a failure by the private corporation to provide adequate staffing to deal directly with inmate gang activity and other inmate practices, had resulted in a series of high-profile lawsuits and media attention. The prison became known as the Gladiator School for the fighting that took place inside.When state leaders decided in 2014 to insource prison management, several positive benefits emerged. In recent years it had been difficult for the state to shift inmates from that facility to others. When the 2,000-bed facility was privatized, says Tewalt, it couldnt say, This guy is a bad actor, lets get him out of this facility and try another one. [It] had to manage him in that environment. Now that its one system, the state has the flexibility to move inmates from one facility to another in order to best match an inmates needs with his surroundings.Tewalt stresses that hes not indicting privatized prison services as a rule. The corrections department has a number of other contracts with private contractors for such services as health, food, food service and similar functions.One significant function of state governments that has seen a significant turn to insourcing is in the investment of funds in pension plans. The majority are still managed externally, but as Keith Brainard, research director of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, explains, larger funds are more likely to manage internally since they can generate the economies of scale that makes the cost of money management relatively small.The key equation here is that states and localities typically have to pay investment fees between .25 and 1.5 percent to external managers. At a time when many money managers have not been outperforming the market as a whole, theres less appetite for spending on a service with minimal additional return.The Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan, for example, has made the switch and is saving $3.2 million a year on fees, according to Jeb Burns, chief investment officer there. In 2000, only 1.5 percent of funds were managed internally. Today its 24 percent and growing.Not all services lend themselves to a smooth transition from outsourcing to insourcing. With prisons, for instance, a corrections department may have outsourced a prison or two, but the state is still in the business of running and managing correctional facilities. With other functions, however, the major obstacle to insourcing is that the government no longer has the personnel or physical infrastructure to provide the service again. If you sold your assets and fired your workers, youve lost most of your internal capacity, says ICMAs Warner. Insourcing may be nearly impossible without restarting an entire line of business. Missouri Republicans have been persistent in their efforts to enact a photo identification requirement for voting. They've tried every year over the past decade, only to be stymied by court rulings or gubernatorial vetoes.On Tuesday, the state's voters did it for them.They passed a ballot measure by a roughly 2 to 1 margin that gives constitutional blessing to a voter ID law the legislature passed in September over Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's veto. Missouri will now join the more than 30 other states that have voter ID laws.Concerns about voter fraud have been heightened this year by President-elect Donald Trump, who frequently spoke about the possibility of the vote being rigged. A recent poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about half of Republicans and a quarter of Democrats believe that voter fraud is a serious problem.Such fears, however, are proven to be unfounded.Only 31 credible cases of in-person voter impersonation -- the kind of fraud photo IDs protect against -- occurred in elections conducted between 2000 and 2014, according to a count by Justin Levitt, a law professor who is now working for the U.S. Justice Department. That's out of more than 1 billion votes that were cast.There have been no cases of in-person voter fraud in Missouri in at least 16 years, said David Kimball, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who opposed the ballot measure."While voter fraud has occurred, it's very rare," he said. "The photo ID requirement doesn't prevent the kind of voter fraud that does occur most frequently, which would be fraud involving absentee voting."Democrats have consistently maintained that voter ID laws represent an attempt by Republicans to suppress the vote among demographic groups that favor their party.Federal courts were skeptical about voter ID laws in the months leading up to Election Day. Voter ID requirements in states such as North Carolina and Texas have been struck down or sent back to lower courts for revision.But Republican legislators in Missouri insist that their bill was carefully crafted to allay the type of concerns expressed by courts about other state laws. For instance, citizens who lack a photo ID will still be able to vote, as long as they sign a statement attesting to their own identity under penalty of perjury. That provision guarantees no one will be disenfranchised, said GOP state Sen. Will Kraus, who sponsored the law."That's been the remedy in other states where voter ID has been struck down in court," said Kimball, the political scientist. "The remedy, or the compromise, is to let them sign an affidavit and still vote."But that's just an added hassle for voters, said Kimball.Opponents of the law also noted that once the state constitution gives the green light for voter ID, there would be nothing to stop the legislature from imposing more onerous requirements. For that reason, Laura Swinford, executive director of Progress Missouri, a liberal advocacy group, called the ballot measure a "Pandora's box."Progress Missouri joined with the AFL-CIO, AARP, NAACP and Missouri Faith Voices, among other groups, in a coalition to campaign against the ballot measure. But they were unable to convince voters that the ID requirement is a bad idea.In April, Democrats in the Missouri Senate staged a filibuster against the voter ID bill that lasted into the early morning hours, blocking its passage. But the following week, the bill was approved anyway on a 24-8 party-line vote. Donald Trump's faltering campaign and the open warfare it's triggered within his party are bound to hurt other Republican candidates. The question is, how much?Democrats went into this election cycle optimistic about taking back some of the many legislative chambers they lost in 2010 and 2014. Trump's problems give them a real chance."We certainly think we'll take back these rented chambers," said Jessica Post, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), referring to the legislative bodies taken by Republicans in 2014 in Democratic-leaning states like Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire and Washington state.The Republican Party has been deeply divided by the Trump candidacy and its never-ending set of controversies. Washington state GOP Chair Susan Hutchison, for example, came under considerable criticism within party circles this week for suggesting that when Trump made his remarks about grabbing women, "he was a Democrat at the time.""The negativity around Trump has tarnished the Republican brand, and from my research on state legislative election outcomes, this is good news for state legislative Democrats," said Steven Rogers, a political scientist at St. Louis University.Rogers noted that Trump has devoted limited resources to collecting voter data and opening up field offices, meaning there will be less of an effort from the top to turn out core party supporters. But the main thing Democrats have going for them, Rogers suggested, is that they have nowhere to go but up.Republicans hold two-thirds of the nation's legislative chambers, with Democrats holding their lowest number of seats in a century.As a result, this election "offers Democrats the most chances they've had to take back some control since 2010," as my colleague Louis Jacobson wrote in his latest state-by-state projections . Still, Jacobson predicts that Democrats will likely regain control of only enough chambers to narrow -- but not eliminate -- the GOP's historically large 68-30 majority in legislative chambers.Republicans have long known they would have to play a lot of defense."We have always said it was an unpredictable year and environment and that Donald Trump at the top of the ticket had the potential to rearrange the map and opportunities at all levels of the ballot," said Ellie Hockenbury, communications director for the Republican State Leadership Committee. "That's exactly what we are seeing."Hockenbury, however, argued that Republican legislative candidates are well-equipped to withstand a drag from the top of the ticket. She noted that the party controls 23 chambers in states that President Obama carried twice.This year, the GOP hopes to win the Kentucky House -- the last chamber held by Democrats in the South -- and to erase the narrow majority held by Democrats in the Iowa Senate."We will continue to be successful this year regardless of who's at the top of the ticket, not because of it," said Hockenbury.Democrats, unsurprisingly, don't see things that way.Post, the DLCC official, said that Trump's unpopularity means that Democrats will not only win back a number of chambers in November but make serious inroads in states such as Florida and Pennsylvania."We didn't necessarily see states like Arizona and Michigan as being in play at the start of this cycle," she said. "But now we think we have a path to taking the Arizona Senate and the Michigan House."Given the ways in which the electorate is divided, Trump's unpopularity won't translate into slam-dunk victories for legislative Democrats everywhere. He'll hurt his party among suburban voters, but Trump has maintained his support among white men, in particular, who lack a college degree."The difference between Nevada and a state like Colorado is that we have a much smaller share of college-educated voters," said David Damore, a political scientist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Conversely, Nevada -- where Republicans took over both chambers in 2014 -- does have many Latinos, who have shown scant support for Trump. Still, "Hispanics are not in the competitive districts for the state legislature," said Damore.One of the big question marks regarding the presidential race is how many citizens will be so turned off that they might not vote at all. If polls stay where they are now, Republicans who don't like Trump might not bother turning out, convinced that he can't win.On the other hand, there's been a lot of media chatter this week that Trump loyalists, angered by the criticism from his own party, will vote for him and then leave the rest of their ballots blank.That remains to be seen, but either scenario would hurt down-ballot GOP candidates."People are just less attached to their party this year," said Lakeville, Minn., Mayor Matt Little, a Democrat running for a seat in the state Senate. "There's so much disgust and apathy with the presidential election in my district."That said, Little is convinced people will turn out to vote."People are going to go to the polls," he said. "There are a lot of write-in jokes."In Indiana, as elsewhere, Republicans are having to do a dance between ameliorating the concerns of those offended by Trump, while not alienating his base supporters, said Laura Merrifield Albright, a political scientist at the University of Indianapolis."The most motivated and determined voters will likely skip the top of the ticket -- and even within the Republican establishment we have heard this sentiment -- but then vote for the remaining offices down ballot," she said.Assuming Republican turnout remains high, the question remains whether those who abandon Trump will punish the rest of his party in significant numbers."Maine voters are very willing to vote for a legislative candidate they like and trust even if they vote for all the other people of the opposing party," said Jim Melcher, a political scientist at the University of Maine at Farmington. "I do not expect dislike of the presidential candidates to [translate into] votes against their party's down-ballot races."Phil Bartlett, who chairs the Maine Democratic Party, acknowledges that voters in his state maintain their willingness to split their tickets even as that habit is dying out in much of the rest of the country.Still, he argues that Mainers aren't happy with revelations about Trump not paying federal income taxes."Voters are horrified by Trumps comments that glorify sexual violence," said Bartlett, "and we do believe those remarks will hurt Republicans down ballot." A federal judge on Wednesday extended Florida's voter registration deadline through next Tuesday because of widespread disruption caused by Hurricane Matthew that could result in people not being able to register in time to vote.At a 40-minute hearing, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker approved the Florida Democratic Party's request for an injunction that will give people six more days to register, and give third-party groups that much time to continue to sign up new voters."This is a significant issue," Walker said from the bench. "There is no right more precious than having a voice in elections. The right to have a voice is the very reason for our country's existence."Florida's voter registration deadline of Tuesday, Oct. 11, was extended by one day through Wednesday by Judge Walker before the hearing.The League of Women Voters of Florida and other voter registration groups, such as the New Florida Majority and Mi Familia Vota, also supported the extension.They told the judge that even with the extension, some people who want to vote won't be able to because their naturalization ceremonies to become U.S. citizens have been delayed until after Oct. 18.Republican Gov. Rick Scott and his chief elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, were both represented by lawyers in Walker's courtroom. But the state was largely silent and took no position for or against the deadline extension."The secretary takes no position," Detzner's attorney, Adam Tanenbaum, told the judge.Judge Walker had ruled earlier that Scott was not a proper party to the case because of a gap in state law that prevents the governor from ordering new voter registration deadlines. Had Scott ordered an extension, the judge said, it likely would have triggered lawsuits challenging his right to act.Scott declared a state of emergency in Florida last week and issued evacuation orders to more than 1.5 million residents, directing them to flee their homes as Matthew stormed up Florida's east coast.Democrats told the judge that the storm forced closings of county election supervisors, tax collectors and driver's license offices that are the most common voter registration sites in Florida.Lawyers cited research by Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida, who found that young voters and minority voters are most likely to register to vote closest to an election."It's a win for the people of the state of Florida," Democratic Party lawyer Kevin Hamilton said after the hearing. "As the judge said, the right to vote is critically important to all Florida citizens. This is the right decision."According to testimony presented in court, Smith found that 116,000 people registered to vote in Florida in the final week before the registration deadline in the last presidential election in 2012, and that nearly half of them (44 percent) were between the ages of 18 to 29.Judge Walker, 49, is a University of Florida law school graduate and a former public defender and circuit judge in Tallahassee.President Barack Obama nominated him to the federal bench in 2012 and the U.S. Senate confirmed him on a 94-0 vote.Before issuing his verbal order, the judge briefly summoned Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho to testify.Sancho, who is retiring after 28 years in office, spoke of the strain on his staff caused by Hurricane Hermine, which struck the Tallahassee area on Sept. 1, two days after the primary election.The judge gave all 67 counties until next Monday, Oct. 17, to designate all of their early voting sites for the Nov. 8 presidential election.South Carolina, a state also damaged by Hurricane Matthew, extended its voter registration deadline, and Georgia, also in Matthew's path, encouraged more people to register online -- an option that is not available in Florida.In two recent cases, Florida elections deadlines were altered.After Hurricane Andrew ravaged parts of Miami-Dade in August 1992, a state judge, citing "exceptional circumstances," delayed the county's primary election for one week and ordered results in statewide and multi-county races to be sealed until Miami-Dade voted.In 2008, then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist issued an executive order that extended early voting for two days, citing a "historic" turnout in Barack Obama's first campaign.Florida has more than 12.5 million voters, with thousands more joining the rolls each week.All voters, regardless of their party affiliation, can vote in the Nov. 8 election.In Florida, Democrats are usually more aggressive at registering new voters closer to the fall election.The party has focused its energy on young people, African-Americans and Hispanics, especially on the Interstate 4 corridor that bisects the state in Orlando and is considered crucial territory in presidential elections.On Wednesday, a trickle of residents streamed into Pinellas County elections services to register to vote. Areli Huapilla came by Largo elections office to drop off a registration application filled out by her 19-year-old brother, Jesus. He couldn't do it himself because he works during the day as a landscaper. Huapilla, 27, has been pushing her family to register the last few days."I just feel like their voice needs to be heard," Huapilla said.Huapilla, who works as a volunteer canvasser for the Hillary Clinton campaign, said she has a 23-year-old sister and 20-year-old brother who live in Tampa that she told to head to the DMV. She also reached out to another cousin and uncle to make sure they registered.The deadline extension was helpful, she said, giving her one more day to carry out her mission.Her parents were born in Mexico. She and her relatives have taken issue with Republican nominee Donald Trump's comments about race and nationality, specifically when he called Mexicans drug dealers and rapists and said he would build a wall at the border to keep them out.One of Huapilla's cousins encouraged her to register before the gubernatorial election two years ago. Now, she has become the one pushing family members to vote."I told my family, 'Just go do it. It takes like, five minutes,'" she said. "It's really easy." At least five people have contracted Zika virus from mosquitoes in Miami's Little River neighborhood, Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday, identifying a one-square-mile zone where the disease is spreading.Scott's office identified the area after the Florida Department of Health confirmed that two women and three men had contracted Zika there. Three of the people live in the square-mile area, and two either work there or recently visited, according to the governor's announcement.The new zone _ between Northwest 79th and 63rd Streets from Northwest 10th Avenue to North Miami Avenue _ is the second in Miami-Dade where mosquitoes are known to be spreading Zika. The other is a 4.5-square-mile area of Miami Beach covering most of South Beach and Middle Beach.Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said Scott called him Thursday afternoon, shortly before announcing the news, to tell Regalado that a new Zika zone had been identified in his city less than a month after state and federal health officials had cleared the Wynwood area of active transmission Sept. 19.Regalado said he's concerned about the people who live in the new Zika zone, which unlike Wynwood is primarily residential. The area includes St. Mary's Cathedral and Athalie Range Park, and two high schools _ Miami Northwestern and Miami Edison _ border the zone.Miami Commission Chairman Keon Hardemon, whose district includes Wynwood and the new zone in Little River, said he was "disappointed" by the announcement. He said it confirmed his office's recent warnings to area residents that they should not let down their guard on Zika just because they live outside the "box," a reference to the one-square-mile zone previously identified in Wynwood.Hardemon said both the state and federal government need to pour more money and resources into fighting the spread of the virus in Miami."We were all blindsided by this bit of information," he said, "and that's why it was always important for us to protect ourselves from the Zika virus the best we can without considering it's just within one area."For Hardemon, the Zika threat has been personal.His wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl Oct. 6, he said. But the couple is still waiting for the state health department to deliver the results of Zika tests they both took shortly after learning July 29 that mosquitoes were spreading the virus in Wynwood near their home."We haven't received our results back yet from the state of Florida regarding Zika. It's almost been two months," he said, noting that researchers are learning more every day about the virus's effects on people. "It's a scary thing, and I think everyone in the city of Miami should be concerned."Hardemon said the city recently contacted an organization that promotes nontoxic methods for knocking down mosquito populations, in order to address public concerns about naled, an insecticide that was sprayed by airplanes over Wynwood and Miami Beach to combat Zika.Though Hardemon said he doesn't oppose the use of naled in his district, he added that the city wants to find an effective mosquito control method that will have broad support in the community.In identifying the new Zika zone in Little River on Thursday, Scott said he supports a similar approach in Little River as the one taken in Wynwood, which included aerial spraying of two insecticides _ naled to kill adult mosquitoes, and a larvacide to eradicate their eggs.Scott also asked the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue working with Miami-Dade mosquito control to contain the virus's spread."We have seen that aggressive mosquito control efforts have worked in areas like Wynwood," Scott said in the statement, "and we hope the county also aggressively sprays in this area so we can limit the spread of this virus and protect pregnant women and their growing babies."Zika poses the greatest threat to pregnant women and their developing fetuses because the virus can cause microcephaly and other severe brain defects. Zika also can lead to eye, ear and neurological problems, including Guillain-Barre syndrome.Florida's health department reported two new mosquito-borne Zika infections on Thursday, including one case in the Little River area. The other local infection occurred in a Broward resident, and health officials are investigating to determine where exposure occurred.State officials have confirmed 1,021 Zika infections this year, with 174 mosquito-borne cases and 842 travel-related cases, including 106 pregnant women. An additional five cases are labeled "undetermined" after health department investigators failed to identify the area of exposure.Miami-Dade has the most Zika infections of any county, with 237 travel-related cases and 163 mosquito-borne cases this year. Of Miami-Dade's local infections, 65 are linked to exposure in Miami Beach and 36 to mosquitoes in Wynwood.The five cases of Zika in the Little River zone includes four that had previously under investigation and a fifth whose infection was confirmed to be from the same area Thursday _ a combination that meets federal standards for identifying a sector of active transmission.According to CDC guidance, "a starting point" for health officials to identify an area of local transmission is two or more infections (not related to travel or sex) among people who do not share the same household, occurring within a one-mile diameter in two or more weeks.The remaining 57 mosquito-borne Zika cases reported in Miami-Dade this year are either under investigation to determine the area of exposure, or they have been closed out after the state failed to find evidence that more than one person was infected.Epidemiologists currently are conducting 15 investigations into Zika infections, including 11 in Miami-Dade, two in Palm Beach and two cases where the area of exposure is unknown because the affected persons had traveled both to Miami Beach and to a country overseas where the virus is widespread.State officials have refused to disclose all locations in Miami-Dade where epidemiologists are investigating mosquito-borne Zika infections. However, county officials have reported finding mosquitoes that tested positive for Zika at seven different locations in Miami Beach _ after a Miami Herald lawsuit led to public disclosure of the sites.Florida has yet to use $8.4 million in grants that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded the state since June, specifically to help pay for mosquito control, laboratories and other resources to combat Zika.As Zika has spread in Miami-Dade, Scott repeatedly has called on the CDC to send financial help and other resources to help Florida combat the virus _ though his administration has yet to use $8.4 million in grants that the federal agency has awarded the state since June specifically to pay for mosquito control, laboratory capacity and other resources.Scott has allocated more than $61 million in state funds for Zika response and research. But now that Congress has passed a bill to fund Zika response, Scott renewed his calls Thursday for the federal government to send resources to Florida."We don't need bureaucratic timelines," Scott said in a statement. "We need funding now." (TNS) Palo Alto plans to roll out a new Ford Motor Co.-backed regional bike share program next year to increase ridership and expand "alternatives to driving solo."The $1.1 million endeavor means the city's fleet of bicycles will grow from 37 to 350 by June and possibly to more than 700 in 2018.Joshuah Mello, the city's chief transportation official, said the main draw of the new smart-bike system, operated by Motivate and sponsored by Ford, is that it will be part of a network growing in Bay Area cities from San Jose to San Francisco, "making it one of the largest systems in the entire world."Motivate's agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is for a large-scale expansion of the Bay Area Bike Share system from 700 bikes to 7,055, including 4,500 in San Francisco, 1,400 in the East Bay and 1,000 in San Jose.This coordination allows cyclists to use a single membership to access 7,000 bicycles across cities, Mello said.City Manager James Keene said the coordination is one of the main benefits of the partnership because it is a step toward creating an interconnected network."Solving the first and last mile for transit commuters, providing a viable alternative to driving solo and putting in place a bike infrastructure to utilize our many miles of bike paths can only effectively be accomplished on a regional basis," Keene said in a statement.The Ford GoBike smart-bike system will have GPS tracking enabled on the vehicles from Social Bicycles, giving users more options in where they can pick up or drop off bikes in addition to the 35 docking stations to be installed in the city.The City Council voted unanimously last week to have city staff craft a contract with Motivate, though council members shared some concerns about cost versus reward.Councilman Eric Filseth asked how bike operators plan to attract users when the existing bike share program in Palo Alto is so under-utilized."If this works and lots of people use it and so forth, it would be absolutely wicked cool," Filseth said, "but there's technology risk and market risk."Mello said Bay Area cities must "have a pretty complete network for people to actually start using it.""You can't just run a bus for a couple of blocks and then complain that nobody is using it because it's just not a feasible mode of transportation," Mello said. "So Bike Share has to be where people want to go. ... We have to roll out a pretty dense, substantial system in order to truly test if it's going to work."The city's goal is to reach the industry standard of one trip per bicycle per day, Mello said.Palo Alto's existing system was part of the Air Quality Management District pilot program in 2013 that issued 700 bicycles to Palo Alto, Redwood City, Mountain View and San Jose.With its 37 bikes, Palo Alto's system averages 0.17 trips per day per bicycle, according to Bay Area Bike Share program statistics.In comparison, Mountain View has a rate of 0.39 trips and Redwood City 0.08. San Francisco fares the best, with 2.51 trips.In a staff report, Palo Alto transportation officials said the low utilization rate is likely because of "an inadequate number of bicycles and hubs resulting in a small coverage area with a low hub density."New hubs will be installed in addition to the three on University Avenue and two on Park Boulevard.Mello said the most popular routes right now are for trips between the two most distant hubs, from the downtown Caltrain station to the one at University and Cowper."That tells me that we're not really serving the market," Mello said. "Moving forward, if we have more coverage and enable people to make longer trips to and from Caltrain and our business districts and downtown and Cal Ave, I think we're going to see an increase in the number of trips per day per bike."Because of the GPS system, Palo Alto will be able to see how people use the bikes, noting popular hours and routes and the difference in habits between daily and annual riders."All this data will help us focus our marketing efforts ... and help improve the performance of the system," Mello said.Councilman Greg Schmid said he was concerned about bicycle distribution: What if you get out of work and all the bicycles are gone?Mello said the city will have to position the hubs in a way where there is even activity instead of just one-way activity. A hub at Stanford Research Park might be difficult for this reason, Mello said."We're definitely going to have to think about how to make sure the bikes remain balanced throughout the day," Mello said.Residents will get an opportunity to suggest station locations in coming months. If contract negotiations go according to plans, the city hopes to start testing equipment in May, Mello said.The city plans to spend $1.16 million for upfront costs to buy and install 350 bicycles and hub equipment. In turn, Motivate will pay operating costs for the first 350 bikes during the five-year contract.Part of the cost to buy the bicycles and other equipment will be offset by a $171,429 Transportation Funds for Clean Air grant through the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.If Palo Alto proceeds with the second phase of the program in 2018 to buy a second set of 350 bikes, about 88.5 percent of the cost could be paid for with funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission if a grant request is approved.The city would pay $420,000 per year in operating fees for the second set of 350 bikes.Such a citywide system will also require the hiring of a new full-time employee at a cost of about $100,000 to $200,000 per year, according to a staff report.Andrew Boone, an avid bicyclist, said the proposal is a better system than the 37 bicycles the city currently has, but his biggest concern is that the new system is not "revenue neutral."The city will not get any revenue from the program to support the ongoing cost of a new employee, Boone said. He also expressed concern about working with Ford, an auto giant that sells cars, undermining a goal of independence from fossil fuels and automobiles that Palo Alto is trying to promote.The current fare structure set by Motivate and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission: A daily, 24-hour membership is $9, a three-day membership is $22 and a one-year membership is $88. The fares cover rides that last 30 minutes at a time.Mello said the bike share system is meant to take riders for a first or last mile from public transportation, not to let them rent bikes for a day or days at a time.The system would charge an escalating overage charge for the time one keeps a bicycle for more than 30 minutes. The first 31 to 60 minutes over would cost $4.There is an extra fee of $3 for bikes that are returned to a location that is not a hub.Motivate is working to ensure that the system is interoperable with the Clipper card, Mello said. (TNS) -- Kansas City, Mo., has once again lost out in a bid for a major federal smart technologies grant. Winners announced Thursday were Denver; Los Angeles; Marysville, Ohio; Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority in New York; Pittsburgh, Pa.; San Francisco; and Houston.Kansas City Chief Innovation Officer Bob Bennett had been optimistic the city could garner as much as $12 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation for cutting-edge transportation technologies. But the city was not among the recipients announced Thursday. Winners received grants from $3 million to just under $11 million.This round of grants built on the Smart City Challenge, which provided $50 million in federal and private dollars to one winning city. Kansas City was a finalist for that funding but lost out to Columbus, Ohio Kansas City already has smart kiosks , free Wi-Fi and other Smart City features along the downtown streetcar route from River Market to Union Station.The city had hoped this federal funding would provide free Wi-Fi, kiosks and smart street lights along the 8.5-miles of the planned Prospect MAX rapid bus line , which is slated to be built on Prospect Avenue from downtown to 75th Street and Prospect. The city also hoped to provide smart city kiosks in other locations including the Northland and the Country Club Plaza.We still have a solid plan, and there will be other ways to find funding to execute our concept, Bennett said Thursday in an emailed statement. We will continue to focus on refining our Smart City infrastructure and developing a system of analytical tools to optimize the impact of our system for the good of the city. 1. Get departments involved in social media goal-setting. 2. Empower staff members to monitor social media. 3. Ensure the availability of ongoing social media training. Most of your agencys employees are not directly involved in managing social media or even contributing content. Thats not necessarily a bad thing (managing 1,000-plus contributors is tricky), but you should consider the benefits of getting all staff members involved with your agencys social media presence.Why bother? Its really hard to present a united front when most of your staff members are unaware of your agencys social media strategy. Department representatives might not even know what profiles your agency maintains on various platforms. They might also be unaware that they can contribute content (can they?) and the process they can use to do so.There are likely a large number of staff members who work for your agency, but dont work with programs that traditionally have public-facing social media content because they are an internal-facing division, such as auditors or fleet maintenance. But there are still opportunities to get them involved with your agencys social media presence. This leads me to my first recommendation, which speaks to how you develop the social media strategy in the first place.A good social media strategy starts off by identifying goals. Involving other departments at this stage ensures that the high-level goals of your organization as well as departments are considered and incorporated from the beginning.Social media strategies should be unique to each organization what works for one city or county does not necessarily work for another. A comprehensive social media strategy is guided by a number of variables, ranging from the high-level mission of the agency, to the strategic goals for key departments, to the citys communication goals. Setting social media goals that complement the governments guiding principles will help ensure a consistent and meaningful message.Heres a pro tip: Many department goals can be found in annual budget documents. While some of them will be very project specific, the higher-level goals may be a perfect fit to incorporate into your social media strategy. Better yet, talk to department representatives and ask them what the long- and short-term goals are. For example, if the public works division has a priority over the next couple of years to conduct major traffic flow infrastructure improvements, that can evolve perfectly into a new social media goal: educating the community about alternative mobility options. Be creative and get agency staff involved in social media goal-setting.A best practice I like to teach is empowering agency staff to monitor social media for citizen activity related to the programs and projects that directly relate to their role. Several free online tools can easily allow staff to monitor keywords and hashtags while also keeping track of conversations and posts related to a specific subject matter. Free tools available today include setting up Google alerts or using Twitter advanced search and social mention services.Offer regular social media training agencywide for all staff, leadership and elected officials not just for social media content authors. Consistent training helps employees and electeds stay up-to-date about the policy, rules and legal aspects of posting on social media, as well as stay informed as to why certain social media platforms were selected for an agency presence. It was "difficult" for Bernie Ecclestone's wife and mother in law to come face to face with kidnappers in court on Thursday. That was the admission of Ecclestone's wife Fabiana Flosi, who accompanied her mother Aparecida Schunck to the court session, according to Brazilian television SPTV. In July, Schunck was successfully rescued by authorities after a nine day kidnapping ordeal, masterminded by F1 boss Ecclestone's former helicopter pilot who was demanding a $37 million ransom and threatened to behead her. According to SPTV, a Sao Paulo judge convened a hearing on Thursday which was attended by Schunk, Flosi and the seven who are accused of carrying out the kidnapping. The court session lasted three hours, and will reportedly continue when defence witnesses are called. A verdict is not expected until early 2017. "Today was a very difficult day," Ecclestone's Brazilian wife Flosi said. "We had to hear details of what happened, and remember the despair of those days when my mother was missing," she added. "Now we just hope that the judiciary can continue the work of the police and give deserved and appropriate penalties for this crime," said Flosi. (GMM) Strong rumours are now becoming hard facts, as Nico Hulkenberg looks set to leave Force India and lead the works Renault team from 2017. The major German newspaper Bild is now joining specialist outlets in reporting that the 29-year-old has signed a three-year contract. Reportedly, Hulkenberg could earn EUR 18 million over the course of the agreement, which is actually a two year deal including an option for 2019. With Williams' Valtteri Bottas now also linked with Renault for 2017, it is very bad news for Renault's existing lineup of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer. Magnussen told the Danish business newspaper Dagbladet Borsen that playing the political game in F1 is not his strength. "I'm really bad at the political game," said the 24-year-old, who also lost his McLaren seat after one season after making his grand prix debut in 2014. "I'm a racing driver, not a politician, so I don't try to go out and get voters on my side. I'm here to race and drive fast, which is what I enjoy and what I feel I'm good at." Magnussen, whose father Jan also had a short-lived career in F1 in the 90s, also admitted that he struggles with the nomadic lifestyle. "Every time I leave my family I think 'Is it worth it?' It's hard to be away so much. "But when you are not winning, and things are not going as you would like, as is the case right now, you have those thoughts more often. But if one day I stand at the top of the podium, I will know it was all worth it," he said. (GMM) The researchers say the technology could be used to develop navigation systems that meet the stringent requirements of fully autonomous vehicles, such as driverless cars and unmanned drones. A team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside has developed a highly reliable and accurate navigation system that exploits existing environmental signals such as cellular and Wi-Fi, rather than the Global Positioning System (GPS). The technology can be used as a standalone alternative to GPS, or as a complement to current GPS-based systems to enable highly reliable, consistent, and tamper-proof navigation. A schematic showing how UC Riverside researchers are using existing communications signals to complement satellite-based navigation systems like GPS for the control of driverless cars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Click to enlarge. Led by Zak Kassas, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in UCRs Bourns College of Engineering, the team presented its research at the 2016 Institute of Navigation Global Navigation Satellite System Conference (ION GNSS+), in Portland, Ore., in September. The two studies, Signals of Opportunity Aided Inertial Navigation and Performance Characterization of Positioning in LTE Systems, both won best paper presentation awards. Most navigation systems in cars and portable electronics use the space-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), which includes the US system GPS, Russian system GLONASS, European system Galileo, and Chinese system Beidou. For precision technologies, such as aerospace and missiles, navigation systems typically combine GPS with a high-quality on-board Inertial Navigation System (INS), which delivers a high level of short-term accuracy but eventually drifts when it loses touch with external signals. Despite advances in this technology, current GPS/INS systems will not meet the demands of future autonomous vehicles for several reasons: GPS signals alone are extremely weak and unusable in certain environments like deep canyons; GPS signals are susceptible to intentional and unintentional jamming and interference; and civilian GPS signals are unencrypted, unauthenticated, and specified in publicly available documents, making them spoofable (i.e., hackable). Current trends in autonomous vehicle navigation systems therefore rely not only on GPS/INS, but a suite of other sensor-based technologies such as cameras, lasers, and sonar. By adding more and more sensors, researchers are throwing everything but the kitchen sink to prepare autonomous vehicle navigation systems for the inevitable scenario that GPS signals become unavailable. We took a different approach, which is to exploit signals that are already out there in the environment. Zak Kassas Instead of adding more internal sensors, Kassas and his team in UCRs Autonomous Systems Perception, Intelligence, and Navigation (ASPIN) Laboratory have been developing autonomous vehicles that could tap into the hundreds of signals around us at any point in time, such as cellular, radio, television, Wi-Fi, and other satellite signals. In the research presented at the ION GNSS+ Conference, Kassas team showcased ongoing research that exploits these existing communications signals, called signals of opportunity (SOP) for navigation. The system can be used by itself, or, more likely, to supplement INS data in the event that GPS fails. The teams end-to-end research approach includes theoretical analysis of SOPs in the environment, building specialized software-defined radios (SDRs) that will extract relevant timing and positioning information from SOPs, developing practical navigation algorithms, and finally testing the system on ground vehicles and unmanned drones. Autonomous vehicles will inevitably result in a socio-cultural revolution. My team is addressing the challenges associated with realizing practical, cost-effective, and trustworthy autonomous vehicles. Our overarching goal is to get these vehicles to operate with no human-in-the loop for prolonged periods of time, performing missions such as search, rescue, surveillance, mapping, farming, firefighting, package delivery, and transportation. Zak Kassas In addition to Kassas, graduate students Joshua Morales, Joe Khalife, f Shamaei, Jesse Garcia, and Sonya Ragothaman and undergraduate student Souradeep (Gogol) Bhattacharya contributed to this research, which was funded with support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The UCR Office of Technology Commercialization has filed patents for the inventions. Resources When the North Carolina candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate debated this week, they argued about (in no particular order) House Bill 2, police shootings, immigration, the state's crime lab, foreign policy, voter ID, the economy and that Trump fellow who's running for president. Best I can tell, higher ed didn't come up. Nationally, the candidates barely mention college aside from Bernie Sanders' (and, later, Hillary Clinton's) call for free college. Republican candidate Donald J. Trump did talk in some detail Thursday about higher ed something that the Chronicle of Higher Ed called shocking because until then he had barely said boo about college. The one higher ed topic that seems to be gaining some traction during this election cycle is everyone's favorite pinata, for-profit colleges. Deborah Ross campaign has called me a couple times to tell me that U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has been carrying water for the for-profit college industry. As this McClatchy story pointed out, Burr has backed legislation favorable to the for-profit industry and received money from the PACs representing Bridgepoint Education Inc., the University of Phoenix and Apollo Education Group. (Some background: Bridgepoint owns Ashford University and University of the Rockies, a pair of online college operations with roughly 49,000 students between them. University of Phoenix is the online school with a stadium deal and about 156,000 students overall. Apollo is the parent company of the University of Phoenix.) Critics of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, like to point out that husband and former president Bill Clinton got paid nearly $18 million over five years to be chancellor (largely a ceremonial title with no real duties) of Laureate International Universities. If youre trying to keep track of who gets what from whom, this recent report from The Hechinger Report lists the top D.C. recipients of for-profit lobbying money. Atop the who-gets-what list is Sen. John McCain of Arizona, where U of Phoenix is based. No. 2 is U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, a former community college president who chairs the House's Higher Education Subcommittee. Burr is sixth on the list. On the who-gives-what list, Bridgeport and Apollo rank 1-2. None of this largesse from for-profit colleges is at all surprising. The for-profit education business is an industry like any other, which means it's trying to influence federal regulation that gets in the way of its profits. (Public universities and private non-profit colleges lobby the heck out of Congress, too.) There's nothing per se wrong with any of this. Whats new in the 2016 election cycle (as this Politico story notes) is that candidates are bludgeoning their political opponents over their connections to for-profit colleges. After the very public implosions of Corinthian and ITT Tech for all sorts of shady behavior, its a pretty hefty cudgel to swing. Want to make sure you see these blog posts? Like me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter. Have something to say? Email me at john.newsom@greensboro.com. The University of North Carolina was once a bastion of segregation. Today, the school takes account of race to make up for that history and to increase the number of Black students and other underrepresented minorities on campus. Its affirmative action program, using race among many factors to build a diverse student body, is similar to plans in place at other selective public and private institutions. But a Supreme Court that's twice blessed race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 19 years now seems poised to restrict their use or outlaw them altogether. The court is hearing two such cases on Monday, involving UNC and Harvard. They're the nations oldest public and private universities, respectively. GREENWICH The Amogerone Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 will host a memorial service Sunday. Firefighters and supporters will gather at the small park at Milbank Avenue and Mason Street, where a small monument to the fire service is located. The gathering will pay tribute to the spirit of volunteerism and sacrifice, said an assistant chief of the Amogerone company, Richard Neuman. Town workers were sprucing up the little traffic island on Friday in preparation for the memorial service. Those gathered will pay a tribute to Bruce Funston, a longtime member of the company who died this year at the age of 74. He joined the company in 1958, and held a number of positions. There will be a short service commemorating Funston and brief remarks beginning at 9 a.m. We do bring a bell and ring it, Neuman said. Also participating in the ceremony will be the president of the company, Dana Neuman, the assistant chiefs wife. The annual commemoration coincides with Fire Prevention Week in the second week in October. It originated as a testament to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which killed up to 300 people. Other volunteer fire companies in Greenwich are also holding events this weekend. The Amogerone Company was founded in 1876 and is the oldest in Greenwich. Among its main assets is a fire truck that can refill oxygen tanks through an on-board air compressor, and a booster pump cascade system. The company will be housed in the Central Fire Station nearing completion on Havemeyer Place. Robert.Marchant@scni.com GREENWICH Incumbent Fred Camillo and his challenger from the democratic party, Dita Bhargava, are set to debate for the second time in less than 24 hours on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. on the Lisa Wexler radio show. You can tune into the debate live on the internet here or find it on AM 1490 WGCH. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two political newcomers a Danbury firefighter and a 25-year-old adjunct history professor are vying for an open seat representing the 138th state House district. The seat is now held by seven-term Republican representative Janice Giegler, who decided not to seek re-election after she was elected Danburys full-time clerk. Republican Michael Ferguson, 25, a history professor and Danbury Board of Education member, is running against Democrat Jeff Tomchik, 41, a firefighter and U.S. Marine Corps veteran. District 138 covers parts of Danbury, New Fairfield and Ridgefield. Ferguson said his decades in the district, including as a graduate of Danbury High School and Western Connecticut State University, make him qualified for the position. That education background helps me understand the challenges facing our community in terms of K-12 education, but also higher ed, he said. This is my home. I was born and raised in the 138th. Ive seen the district evolve, I understand the challenges that are going on, and have been a contributing part of the community basically my whole life. Tomchik said nearly two decades as a city employee, the majority as a firefighter, make him extremely aware of the issues facing local residents. I have proven time and time again my leadership and my ability to represent the community, he said. He is also the president of the Danbury Professional Fire Fighters, Local 801, and a member of the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut. That representation has given me a lot of experience both here in the community itself, but also at the state level, he added. Both put the states continued budget woes and education funding among their top issues. In recent years, state officials have called for pension reform, saying that the existing system is unsustainable. Ferguson said, even as a state employee at Naugatuck Community College, that a change to a different kind of pension system certainly has to be on the table. Tomchik, also a public employee, said he would advocate against shifting the pension system from a defined benefit plan to a 401K for new state employees, which many see as a way to save money and bring the system more in line with the private sector. He said state jobs were favored because they were secure, long-term and provided some stability in retirement, in lieu of a more lucrative wage. If these benefits continue to be diminished, he said, it will hurt the states ability to attract high-quality workers, which then could result in decreased services across the state. Tomchik supports a $15 minimum wage, while Ferguson doesnt. It doesnt address the true issue, Ferguson said. The true issue is making sure we have in Connecticut strong, stable jobs that are in the field that you either went to school for or are pursuing ... When you look at raising the minimum wage to $15, it doesnt only impact those who will make the new minimum wage, you also have to look at all the jobs that make around or slightly higher than the minimum wage, because now you suddenly have to deal with that as well and many businesses will be forced to have to make layoffs due to that and determine how they will operate that business or company going forward. Both candidates agree that the states education funding system is flawed. Ferguson said a September court ruling that called for the state to fix its education funding formula indicates that there is clearly something wrong with the system a district like Danbury doesnt receive nearly as much as its supposed to. While he understands why the state appealed the judges ruling, he said his biggest fear is the formula wont be fixed if the decision is reversed. We need to create a system in which municipalities are able to expect and know what theyre going to get from the state of Connecticut, he added. Tomchik said he agrees with aspects of the appeal, especially the opposition to the judges 180-day deadline to revamp the system. You want to have a positive plan, not just something that is going to be put together to meet the needs of the court, he said. When I first began my design agency, I couldn't fall asleep without thinking about the first hour of the next morning. Being a growing agency while trying to manage safe team growth and internal administrative work meant that we were solely focused on giving our clients the very best service and getting their projects delivered on time, every time. Doing these things was standard operating procedure. Related: Good, Bad and Just Ugly Customer Service Trends After all, those are the things you have to do to continue trading successfully over the long-term as a service provider. Its why we have an agency today at all. These werent the reasons that I couldnt sleep at night though. Nor was it the reasons that I dreaded the first hour of every single morning. The reason that I worried about that first hour was simple. I was anxious beyond belief about the customer service requests that would inevitably have filled my inbox overnight. Each morning I woke up to around 90 new emails, compounded by 30 more arriving between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. each day. Thinking back, it wasn't anything to be concerned about. It was just follow-up requests, bug fixes and additions to project scopes following a launch. The problem was that Id placed unreasonable sanctions on myslef for dealing with customer service requests like these. I assumed that if I didnt get it done instantly then customers would look elsewhere or be unhappy with the service. Honestly, I ran myself into a burnout largely because of it in 2012. Since then, Ive gone on to build other businesses outside of the agency as well as host a globally successful podcast that helps early stage entrepreneurs - all without having the same kind of burnout and while sleeping better than I have ever before. So, what changed? I didnt realize it, but for a long time, I was just like the business people that I didnt understand at the time. I was the guy staying late at the studio, getting things done. I was the one doing favors for clients because I was afraid of them leaving. And you guessed it, I was the one frustrating family and friends by not being able to switch off. Yet the demands kept rolling in. I couldnt understand why it wouldnt stop. I was staying on top of it and barely treading water. The impact that had on my business was that I didnt have the time to work on the development of it, instead I was simply allowing clients to dictate how my days were run and what I worked on at any given time. Then something changed. For the first time in a long time, I came across the famous Albert Einstein quote - "The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. After that, I starting measuring my time more closely and realized that sure enough, I was spending all of my time firefighting, and it was the fear of what I was going to have to deal with the next day that caused me to dread showing up to my own business. After that, something startling happened to me - I realized what I was missing. Empathy. I was treating contact from my valued clients, the very same clients who I was so afraid of losing, as issues that I simply had to get through. Worse, I was blaming those clients for my inability to empathize with them, and look at these requests for what they were - people asking for help. Customer service 101, and I was failing at it, despite being so worried about failing at it. If my new approach to empathizing was the catalyst for change, the tactics that I implemented were equally simplistic in approach. Related: 8 Ways You're Making a Bad Impression and Don't Even Know It What I realized was that if I was reaching out to a company for support myself, it was because I was frustrated. I was either frustrated about not knowing something, frustrated about not being able to do something or frustrated about a perceived mistreatment at the hands of this company. Either way, I was purely and simply frustrated in that moment. Taking that a step further, I looked inward and realized that a lot of the dread around facing all of these customer service enquiries each and every morning stemmed from me assuming that everyone has the same level of knowledge as I do in my field. I was being so naive and the more I looked at it, the more I began to identify that the never ending customer service emails were actually all grouped into a very small number of categories - support, new work and perceived complaints. And usually, the latter category of perceived complaints was rarely that. It was actually just a frustrated customer looking for support and firing off that email in a fit of desperation. I think weve all done that. At this point, I had another realisation. I was assuming that unless I reacted or responded immediately to someone with a resolution, they would be unhappy - or even angry at me and my company -- causing them to look elsewhere. Forcing myself to think like a customer, I began to understand how irrational I was being. After all, when was the last time that I left a company because they didnt instantly respond to me and more so, respond to me instantly with a resolution. What we all actually value as customers is acknowledgement -- being heard. These days, when discussing customer service with my teams, I often use the analogy of a team member taking their car into the repair shop for some work carrying out. If I take my car to the repair shop, and Im told that the car will be back to me today, I expect it to be back today. But the unexpected happens and often, a part isnt available immediately, resulting in my car being in the shop overnight. Consider, if the mechanic ignored this, chose to close up for the day and headed home for the evening without telling me. Well, then Id be extremely frustrated. Id then call up saying that I needed my car, and this wasnt acceptable. But imagine that the mechanic puts himself in my position and calls me up ahead of time. He explains that the part required isnt available until the next day and asks whether it is alright for my car be ready by the following day at lunch time. Would I still need the car? Would I still be frustrated? No, its highly doubtful that I would. Customer service is about the customer maintaining a level of control. In the mechanic example, by ignoring and not informing about the delays, the implied control lies with the mechanic, which will frustrate any customer. In the example, where the mechanic puts herself in the customers position, and even though the outcome is the same, the implied control is with the customer. After all, the mechanic asked whether itd be ok or not, even though the part isnt available regardless. By understanding that control factor, I was able to begin placing focus on the right kind of communication to remove the dread of turning up to support requests every morning. Applying the control factor logic and being uber clear with communications, specifically that very first response to a customer request resulted in me being able to plan customer service into my schedule. The best part? Both my customers and I are happier now. Remember, we all just want to be heard and to know that were being cared for. Related: It's All About the Customer Service People rarely need a resolution immediately. As a solopreneur, you will inevitably need to deal with some kind of customer support - after all, its what keeps the relationship alive -- but equally, you need to make sure that it doesnt rule your day or dictate your week. Take control by giving your customers the control that they want. Be clear, empathetic, timely, and set realistic expectations with your first response. And get some sleep. Related: How To Make Your Startup Video Go Viral Leverage the Undeniable Power of Video Marketing on All Platforms Video Marketing: How to Stretch Your Dollars Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved One of the best restaurants in the world. Photo: Niels Quist Petersen / Demotix There are just two and a half months left before Rene Redzepi closes Noma in its current form, so Clickhole used the occasion to review the restaurant and, in the process, wrote the ultimate I went foraging with Rene Redzepi story. The (fake) profile finds the author spending several days behind the scenes at the storied Danish restaurant, and the whole thing is very much worth a read, because in it you will find many fantastic lines like the ones below: On meeting the world-famous chef: When I first encounter Rene Redzepi, he is cutting a live elk in half with a chainsaw. Proof that Redzepi is no ordinary forager: A lot of times you can find these lovely little rose hip flowers pickling in the stomach fluids of the larger field mammals that live around here. On the amazing wild fauna found in Denmark: Redzepi, using hand grenades to displace large mounds of sand, almost immediately uncovers a veritable buffet of herbs and produce sticking out every which way from the soil. Theres wild parsnip, beach peas, sea lettuce, spicy lilac, Osama bin Ladens beached corpse, horseradish, mustard flowers, and verdant goosefootall growing within the same 4-foot radius. Ramps definitely arent seasonal enough for Noma: While Im still savoring the parsnip, Redzepi heads off on a determined search for a king musk carrot, a vegetable that is only mature and in season for eight seconds each year. Redzepi doesnt mince words when giving advice to young cooks: To be a good chef, you must respect the ingredients, he muses. You dont go into this profession unless youre willing to be blown up by root vegetables from time to time. Some of the Nordic Food Labs experiments include: a crudo that knows where you live; a means of genetically altering the pheromones of ants so that the ants taste like moths; a meat-locker-sized thermal centrifuge chamber in which butter can be melted; [and] a method for consolidating 100 individual raisins into one huge, unified raisin wad. On the cutting-edge tools the kitchen uses: Instead of food processors, they huck produce into the whirring blades of a 300-year-old windmill whenever theres a good breeze. Nomas labor standards may be outdated: While chefs are hard at work carefully plating mussels and whipping up intricate emulsions, a wee hunchback named Fossegaar, wearing a lace bonnet and leather knee breeches, plucks away at traditional melodies on his hurdy-gurdy, for which he is paid in porridge. What its like to finally eat at Noma: The space imparts an air of tranquil nothingness, conserving ones emotional energy for the wondrous drama that is about to unfold at the tables. They take trompe loeil to the next level: One particularly mesmerizing dish utilizes a hidden vent in the plate to send up gusts of citric dry ice vapor to animate a grilled prawn in a puppet-like fashion, creating the illusion that it is fervently worshipping a turnip. How eating a seemingly unremarkable piece of saltwater taffy at Noma makes you feel: If all of this wasnt already wonderful enough, I look over to my left and see that my childhood dog and Nelson Mandela are both still alive, and theyre playing a duet on a piano made of gold. You will experience a food coma like no other: The ecstasy of everything is too much for me to handle, and dizzy with bliss, I fall into a coma and dont wake up for 56 days. And this is exactly what fine dining should be. Redzepi has big plans for the next version of Noma: The main thing I would like to do is figure out how to catch some clouds and cook them That would be pretty neat. Photo: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images President Obama today lifted the remaining pesky restrictions on Cuban rum, meaning American visitors can now clank home with as many bottles as they think their bodies will allow. The $100 combined limit on rum and cigars the administration put in place with last years embargo restrictions has formally been removed in a so-called sweeping directive that lets travelers bring back as much of either vice as theyre willing to pay duties on. Now, Cuban cigars are their own animal, but its worth pointing out that this access to rum isnt quite the breakthrough it sounds like. Getting a bottle of legit, actual Havana Club not Bacardis Puerto Rican copycat of the same name was never a Bay of Pigslevel clandestine act; it could always be purchased at the airport duty-free shop of Cuba-friendly countries. But if your thing is having an experience truly autentica, you can at least now wander the country cramming an empty duffel bag with bottles of locally distilled anejo. New SwiftKey update brings ability to type in up to 5 languages simultaneously Smart keyboard and prediction tech company SwiftKey has pushed out a new update to its Android app. The update brings the ability to type in up to 5 languages simultaneously - previously the limit was three. "Switch seamlessly between Swedish, Serbian, French, English and Azerbaijani if youre so inclined!" the company said in a blog post. "This feature is great for people who are enthusiastic about learning new languages as well; you can be a native English speaker but keep Kurdish, Russian and Zulu keyboards on your device just in case." In addition, the update also includes support for seven new languages, including Sindhi Pakistan, Pashto, Scottish Gaelic, Uyghur, Chuvash, Chechen and Bashkir. Moving on, SwiftKey's next-gen, neural networks-powered predictions are now available in French, German, and Spanish as well. And finally, with the new update, you can now turn keypress popups on/off. Source | Google Play Apples iPhone 7 and 7 Plus remain on backorder for certain models. With that being said, you can now purchase a SIM-free iPhone, meaning that it is totally carrier-unlocked in the US and will work with any carrier, including support for Sprint and Verizons CDMA networks, as well as GSM network connectivity. The iPhone 7 has shorter wait times than the iPhone 7 Plus, and if you want the Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus, as a SIM-free model, youll have to wait 6 to 8 weeks for it to ship. By contrast, the iPhone 7 in Jet Black is taking 3-5 weeks to ship. Unfortunately, it looks like you still have to choose a carrier when purchasing the phone through Apples iPhone Upgrade program; so you cant buy a SIM-free iPhone on the iPhone Upgrade program. Still, you can apply for Apples 18-month promotional financing via a Barclay Visa credit card. It will let you pay the phone off in installments, but wont let you upgrade every year. Source | Via Job Archive July 2021 (524) June 2021 (681) May 2021 (698) April 2021 (659) March 2021 (688) February 2021 (615) January 2021 (699) December 2020 (714) November 2020 (671) October 2020 (631) September 2020 (690) August 2020 (713) July 2020 (713) June 2020 (690) May 2020 (713) April 2020 (690) March 2020 (713) February 2020 (667) January 2020 (713) December 2019 (713) November 2019 (687) October 2019 (711) September 2019 (689) August 2019 (711) July 2019 (707) June 2019 (688) May 2019 (2002) April 2019 (1979) March 2019 (2039) February 2019 (1689) January 2019 (2253) December 2018 (2100) November 2018 (1933) October 2018 (1986) September 2018 (1915) August 2018 (39) July 2018 (72) June 2018 (44) May 2018 (76) April 2018 (65) March 2018 (16) February 2018 (32) January 2018 (201) December 2017 (352) November 2017 (381) October 2017 (600) September 2017 (1211) August 2017 (1655) July 2017 (1590) June 2017 (1506) May 2017 (1902) April 2017 (1965) March 2017 (1417) February 2017 (1808) January 2017 (1807) December 2016 (1593) November 2016 (1376) October 2016 (1408) September 2016 (1317) August 2016 (1499) July 2016 (1505) June 2016 (1421) May 2016 (1391) April 2016 (1340) March 2016 (1476) February 2016 (1396) January 2016 (1474) December 2015 (1409) November 2015 (1367) October 2015 (1478) September 2015 (1442) August 2015 (1468) July 2015 (1465) June 2015 (1410) May 2015 (1057) April 2015 (1269) March 2015 (1132) February 2015 (1152) January 2015 (1153) December 2014 (1156) November 2014 (1268) October 2014 (81) Haiti - USA : Deportations of Haitians, the Secretary Jeh Johnson specifies Regarding the resumption of deportations to their country of origin of Haitians in irregular migratory situation in the US, Jeh Johnson, the US Secretary of Homeland Security wished to clarify the situation to make things clear "On September 22, I announced that we would resume removals of Haitian nationals in accordance with our existing enforcement priorities https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html . This means we will prioritize the removal of individuals, including Haitian nationals, recently apprehended at or between ports of entry. That has not changed in light of Hurricane Matthew. In light of Hurricane Matthew, removal flights have been suspended temporarily. Working with the government of Haiti, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to resume those flights as soon as possible. This should be clear: the policy change I announced on September 22 remains in effect, for now and in the future. DHS and the Department of State are working with the Government of Haiti and others to ensure removals occur in as humane and minimally intrusive a manner as possible." See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18905-haiti-flash-usa-temporary-suspension-of-deportations-of-haitians.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Ban Ki-moon in Haiti Saturday Thursday the United Nations (UN) confirmed that Saturday, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Haiti to visit the areas affected by the hurricane Matthew. Ban planning to visit with the de facto President Jocelerme Privert, particularly in teh city of Les Cayes, one of the hardest hit by the hurricane. During his visit, the UN chief will meet with members of communities affected by the hurricane, government representatives and humanitarian workers, said his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, in a press conference. Ban will arrive in Haiti from Washington, where he will travel on Friday to participate in several acts. After his visit to Haiti he will continue his journey to Ecuador to attend the United Nations conference on housing and sustainable urban development, known as "Habitat III". HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Cooperation agreements of $2 billion with China Wednesday at the Primature after a press conference on the various post-hurricane actions of the Government, Aviole Fleurant Minister of Planning and External Cooperation announced that he had signed on 10 September, on behalf Government of Haiti, two Memoranda of understanding in the framework of a trade cooperation with the "China Automation Control System Corporation" (CACS) [a subsidiary of China National Machinery Industry Group (SINOMACH), a company owned by the Chinese state with the largest technology company, Engineering and Trade] and the China Development Bank . The first agreement would cover a project to build a national grid including wind and solar park totaling 1.2 billion US dollars and the second would be the strengthening of agriculture in Haiti, totaling $ 800 million US (15% haitian State). Without knowing why the government waited more than a month before lifting a corner of the veil on these two cooperation agreements... See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11721-haiti-reconstruction-a-chinese-delegation-talking-about-large-scale-projects-with-president-martelly.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17599-haiti-politic-aviol-fleurant-en-route-to-china.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17511-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping politics... 35,000 hectares of coffee devastated The National Institute of Coffee Haiti informs that more than 35 800 ha of coffee have been devastated in the Grande Anse, South, Nippes and some localities in Central, South East and North West. First responses is the funding of brigades (10 people per brigade) to clean plots and allow the flow of some money in the community. Finance at medium and long-term coffee nurseries and shelter trees for the establishment of 20,000 ha distributed in the affected localities. Finally a credit adapted to support new plots. The PNH evaluates its intellectual resources Thursday, the General Directorate of the National Police (PNH) met all alumni of the Chilean government at the National School of Police (ENP) in order to make an assessment of intellectual resources available to study a possible redeployment based on their skills. Rudy Heriveaux warns the CEP Rudy Heriveaux the PTHK Spokesman warns the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) against any attempt to use the tragedy caused by Hurricane Matthew, as a pretext to delay the elections and the constitutional deadline of February 7, 2017. He call the CEP to take all measures to organize the elections in the best delay, to allow the installation of the new President in accordance with the schedule. Privert met with deputies Thursday at the National Palace, the de facto President Jocelerme Privert met with deputies of the various regions affected by the passage of Hurricane Matthew. The meeting, which was attended by the President of the Chamber of Deputies Cholzer Chancy, was intended to inform parliamentarians of the various initiatives taken in the context of post-Matthew management and invite them to work in the same direction. The Natcom on the ground of Health Natcom, as part of its social program "Natcom ave w" through a group of physicians and Haitian-American nurses, intervenes in the assessment of the health system on the ground and in the administration of appropriate care to victims of Matthew. Laundering Act, published Thursday, October 13, 2016, the Law amending the Law of 11 November 2013, sanctioning the money laundering and the financing of terrorism was published in the special issue No. 15 of the official newspaper "Le Moniteur" See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18760-haiti-flash-the-laws-on-money-laundering-and-ucref-passed-in-the-senate.html HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2016/10/13 | Source Added episode 16 captures for the Korean drama "Moonlight Drawn by Clouds" (2016) Advertisement Directed by Baek Sang-hoon, Kim Seong-yoon Written by Kim Min-jeong-II, Lim Ye-jin Network : KBS With Park Bo-gum, Kim Yoo-jung, Chae Soo-bin, Jin Young, Kwak Dong-yeon, Kim Seung-soo,... 18 episodes - Mon, Tue 22:00 Synopsis 'Moonlight Drawn by Clouds' is a palace romance inspired by the genius Crown Prince Hyomyeong in the later era of Joseon, who loved etiquette and music. The drama will tell the coming-of-age story of youthful romance in Joseon era which was unwritten in the history. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2016/08/22 More Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 09:44, 30 OCT 2022 By Jesse Wood Just in time for the 39th annual Woolly Worm Festival, the Town of Banner Elk completed its beautification and streetscaping project at the elk statue in the downtown district. The project serves as a lovely pedestrian access to the historic Banner Elk School, as Mayor Brenda Lyerly described it earlier this summer, and consists of a circular landscaping and streetscaping of flowers and rocks. For the festive, fall season, harvest colors, hay bales and pumpkins decorate the base of the statue. The Town of Banner Elk owes thanks to Elaine Wold, a community member and Elk River resident who has a history of supporting the town. In fact, she and her late husband donated this elk statue to the town nearly 15 years ago in 2002. A few months after the town acquired the old school for about $1 million from the Avery County Board of Commissioners, Mayor Lyerly announced that Wold donated $100,000 for this project. This summer, Wold also donated the corner property at Main Street/N.C. 194 and Shawneehaw Avenue. The corner property used to house a building that served as a restaurant before being vacant for the past several years. Wold grew tired of this abandoned property. Through her donation, the Town of Banner Elk was able to purchase the property and demolish the structure. Removing the vacant structure has transformed that corner into a beautiful space for everyone to enjoy, which was Mrs. Wolds vision, said town manager Rick Owen in a release earlier this week. The town staff and town council are excited to continue working with Mrs. Wold and her representatives to further implement the parks master plan. Grass has been planted, so folks can enjoy the greenspace during the very busy Wolly Worm Festival in downtown Banner Elk, which takes place on the same weekend as the Valle Country Fair, also off of N.C. 194 in Valle Crucis. This is the busiest weekend of the year for the High Country. The town has just finalized architectural plans and donor opportunities for the new Corner on Main park. Heres how the park is envisioned moving forward, according to an excerpted release from the town: The design calls for an inviting green space anchored on the north end by a stone clock tower with chime and on the south end by a covered colonnade seating area with benches. Other design features include: brick paver pathways, planter beds, a rock retaining wall, lamp posts, benches and an elk statue across Main Street near the Chamber of Commerce. There are 26 design features available for naming rights. Mrs. Wold kicked off the process by making a donation to fund the clock tower, which will be completed by late spring, 2017. Owen said there is no timetable for construction or installation of the remaining design elements. Because the park is privately financed, donations will dictate that. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket By Frank Taylor / Carolina Public Press Thousands more people are living in Western North Carolina than were here during the 2010 census, with minority ethnic group populations especially increasing, according to the Carolina Public Press analysis of new U.S. Census estimates released last month. In the 19 county region of WNC, the population increased from 919,515 in April 2010 to 940,963 in July 2011. Thats an increase of 20,948 residents is more than the equivalent of squeezing in the populations of Graham and Clay counties from 2010 an extra time. Overall it represents about a 2.3 percent increase during the five-year period. But the growth was markedly uneven. The regions largest counties, Buncombe and Henderson, had the largest gains. But the next two largest, Burke and Rutherford, saw stagnant economies drive residents away for sizable declines. Other counties gaining population were Clay, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain and Watauga. Other decliners were Avery, Graham, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk and Yancey. Following are the ranks for the 2015 population estimates in Western North Carolina by county with the percentage of growth or decline since 2010 in parenthesis: Buncombe, 253,178 (+6.24 percent) Henderson, 112,655 (+5.54 percent) Burke, 88,842 (-2.28 percent) Rutherford, 66,390 (-2.09 percent) Haywood, 59,868 (+1.41 percent) Watauga, 52,906 (+3.58 percent) McDowell, 44,989 (-0.02 percent) Jackson, 41,265 (+2.47 percent) Macon, 34,201 (+0.82 percent) Transylvania, 33,211 (+0.37 percent) Cherokee, 27,178 (-0.97 percent) Madison, 21,139 (+1.81 percent) Polk, 20,366 (-0.70 percent) Avery, 17,689 (-0.61 percent) Yancey, 17,587 (-1.30 percent) Mitchell, 15,246 (-2.14 percent) Swain, 14,434 (+3.24 percent) Clay, 10,703 (+1.10 percent) Graham, 8,616 (-2.76 percent) The census also showed different trends for the ethnic makeups of each county and the regions overall diversity. WNC was 88.2 percent White non-Hispanic in 2010, which had dropped to 87.3 percent in 2015. While that represented a small decrease for the share of the majority group, it represented a relatively bigger percentage increase for several minority groups. Black population Due to historic patterns, mountainous regions of the South have been home to smaller numbers of black residents than those in low-lying areas near the coasts or in larger urban communities. Non-Hispanic black residents made up about 4.9 percent of the regions population in 2010, which grew slightly to 5.1 percent in 2015. The counties with the highest non-Hispanic black proportion of their populations are Rutherford (10.8 percent), Buncombe (7.3 percent) and Burke (7.0%). Several counties with very small black populations saw statistically significant increases, including Graham, Mitchell and Swain counties where the number of black residents more than doubled, but still remains a tiny fraction of those counties populations. Despite the overall decline in populations for about half of the WNC counties, the only counties experiencing a net loss of black residents were Cherokee County, which lost 471 black residents, and Rutherford, which lost 321. Native American population Native Americans make up a substantial population group in several WNC counties and a stable if smaller presence in several others, totaling 17,620 people regionally, or about 1.9 percent of the population. The presence of Native Americans here is due primarily to descendants of Cherokees who resisted removal to Western territories (now Oklahoma) in the mid-19th century. This includes many isolated small family groups of Cherokee descendants throughout WNC, plus the organized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose territory is primarily in Swain and Jackson counties. Along with generally populous Buncombe and Henderson counties, these otherwise smaller counties are home to thousands of Native Americans. In Swain alone, the non-Hispanic Native American population is 29.1 percent. People who identify with other Southeastern tribes, such as the Catawbas and Lumbees, are also present in some counties, as are Native Americans who have moved to the area from elsewhere. Overall, the Native American population of WNC increased 4.8 percent since 2010, with double-digit percentage increases in Buncombe, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, McDowell, Macon, Polk, Rutherford, Swain and Watauga counties. American Indian populations dropped slightly in Avery, Cherokee and Jackson counties. Asian and Pacific population Asians and Pacific Islanders make up only a small percentage of the regions population, though their numbers have grown somewhat since 2010, 18.9 percent for Asians and 14.3 percent for Pacific Islanders. A sizeable Hmong population in Burke County gives it the highest Asian population percentage in WNC at 4.0 percent, though larger Buncombe has more actual number of Asian residents. The Hmong are native to Laos and Vietnam, with many immigrating to the United States as refugees following the Vietnam War in the 1970s. North Carolina is home to several of the nations largest Hmong communities. Other Asian groups include Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, (Asian) Indians, Thais and Vietnamese. The Census categories may be ambiguous for some nationalities, such as Filipinos, Malaysians and Indonesians, who may reasonably identify as Asian or Pacific Islander. The existence of a substantial Hispanic population for both categories suggests that Filipinos especially are uncertain about which group to identify under. Hispanic population The Census has a complicated system for counting Hispanic residents in general, recognizing that people may be of any of the other groups (White, Black, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander) and also have Spanish surnames or ancestry that includes people with Spanish surnames. The numbers above have included only non-Hispanic representatives of the various groups. The overall Hispanic population of WNC grew substantially, about 12.6 percent since 2010. The largest percentage growth occurred in Graham County (52.3 percent growth), but the largest numbers of additional Hispanic residents were heavily in Buncombe County, such saw a 2,385-person increase in its Hispanic population. No county saw a net decrease in its Hispanic population. The region now has a roughly 6.0 percent Hispanic population, though it is spread unevenly. Henderson County has the areas largest percentage of Hispanic residents at 10.2 percent, followed by Buncombe at 6.8 percent and Burke at 6.2 percent. The smallest percentage Hispanic population is in Madison County, which has just 2.5 percent Hispanic. Editors Note: Carolina Public Press defines Western North Carolina as a 19-county region that includes Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Swain, Macon, Jackson, Haywood, Transylvania, Polk, Rutherford, Henderson, Buncombe, Madison, Mitchell, McDowell, Burke, Yancey, Avery, and Watauga counties. Many earlier CPP articles used a 18-county definition of Western North Carolina that did not include Burke County. Other media and government regional reports use a variety of different definitions for the region that typically include Ashe, Alleghany, Caldwell, Wilkes, Surry, Alexander, Cleveland, Catawba, Lincoln, Yadkin or other counties. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket Compiled by Jesse Wood From the Caribbean to the United States, Hurricane Matthew has killed hundreds since being classified as a Hurricane in late September. Read about the storms formation and travel here. So far the death toll has climbed to 43, according to ABC News. In North Carolina, hundreds of thousands of people were without power on the eastern part of the state. That total is now down to about 19,000, according to state emergency management officials. For those visiting the coast in the coming days or those that want to help those affected by the storm, read below. Also check out Samaritans Purse, a local nonprofit thats helping out. Donate wisely to help Hurricane Matthew victims, AG Cooper urges Scammers likely to pose as charities after disaster in North Carolina and abroad Give generously to Hurricane Matthew relief efforts but look out for charity scams, Attorney General Roy Cooper urged North Carolinians today. Hurricane Matthew devastated families and communities from North Carolina to Haiti, and many of us want to help, Cooper said. Unfortunately, scammers may try to take advantage of our generosity and keep those donations for themselves. Relief efforts are currently underway to aid victims of the disaster in the U.S. and abroad. While Coopers office has not yet received complaints about fraudulent fundraising efforts following Hurricane Matthew, previous natural disasters have shown that charity scams are likely to come. Cooper encouraged North Carolinians to give generously to hurricane victims but to be wary of solicitations from phony charities. On October 4, Hurricane Matthew struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti at Category 4 strength, flattening homes, flooding streets, and killing hundreds of people. Matthew traveled up the east coast, finally making landfall as a Category 1 storm in South Carolina. Matthew then dumped inches of rain on North Carolina, washing away roads, flooding homes and businesses, and causing loss of life. Please consider helping victims if you can, but make sure your donation goes where it will do the most good, Cooper said. Research charities before you give, and report charity scams to my office. To give wisely and avoid charity scams: Know how to spot fake charities. Charity scams often use names that are very close to the names of real charities, non-profits or even law enforcement agencies. If you want to donate, contact the real charity or organization at a website or phone number you know to be valid. Decide who you want to give to. Instead of responding to solicitations to make a donation, especially from telemarketers who may keep as much as 90 percent of the money they collect, decide which charities you want to support and contact them directly. If youre giving to relief efforts here in North Carolina, consider giving to groups you already know do good work in your community. Do your research. Visit give.org to see if national charities meet the standards set by the Better Business Bureaus Wise Giving Alliance, and charitywatch.org for ratings of charities by the American Institute of Philanthropy. You can also look into charities through guidestar.org and charitynavigator.org. Stick with established charities. Brand new charities often pop up after natural disasters. Some may be legitimate, but others may be scams or just too poorly organized to be effective. In general its best to give to charities with an established track record for using donations wisely. Be wary of any charity that wont answer your questions. If someone refuses to answer questions about how they will use your donation, it may be a scam. If youre not sure, check out the charity by calling the North Carolina Secretary of States Office at 1-888-8304989 or visit sosnc.gov/CSL. Dont respond to unsolicited emails and text messages asking you to give. Even if the message looks legitimate, it could be a phishing scam. These messages may include links to websites that look legitimate but are really set up to trick you into donating. Avoid pushy telemarketers. Telemarketers that refuse to answer your questions, offer to pick up your donation or pressure you are usually up to no good. Also, some telemarketers keep up to 90 percent of the money they collect for charities. Your money will go further if you give directly to the real charity, not to hired fundraisers. Be careful about donating through social media posts. The cause may sound worthy, but verify how the money is going to be used before you give. Consider crowdfunding requests very carefully. Crowdfunding sites allow people to raise money for causes and projects online, but they can be misused by scammers. Make sure you know who youre donating to and how the funds will be used, and ask how much of your donation would go to the crowdfunding site instead of the cause Dont give cash. Cash gifts can be lost or stolen. For security and tax record purposes, its best to pay by credit card. If you pay by check, make it out to the charity itself, not the fundraiser. Protect your personal information. Never give your credit card or bank account number to someone you dont know who contacts you for any reason. If someone calls you asking for a credit card, bank account or Social Security number, avoid giving to themit could be a scam. For more tips on giving to charity or to report potential scams, contact the Attorney Generals Office by calling 1-877- 5-NO-SCAM or filing a complaint at ncdoj.gov. Link: Donate wisely to help Hurricane Matthew victims, AG Cooper urges Travelers Headed to the N.C. Coast Asked to Avoid Routes with Closures, Flooding from Neuse and Tar rivers impacting major highways Travelers needing to visit North Carolina beaches this weekend are advised to plan ahead and avoid routes that are closed due to flooding or damage from Hurricane Matthew. Several rivers in the eastern part of the state will remain in major flood stage through the weekend, and flooding continues to impact hundreds of primary and secondary roads. Major eastbound routes affected by the flooding include U.S. 70 in Lenoir County, where the road is closed between N.C. 58 and U.S. 258 and U.S. 64 in Edgecombe County, between Princeville and SR 1606. Crews from the N.C. Department of Transportation will continue to place barricades on closed roads and mark detours with signs. Governor Pat McCrory and safety officials urge motorists not to drive through floodwaters or around barricades. Damage to barricaded roads may not be visible from the surface, even if the roadway appears dry. Drivers should not rely on GPS devices for information about road closures and detour information. Call 511 for real-time travel information or 877-511-4662 if calling from outside North Carolina. Check the ReadyNC mobile app, which also has real-time shelter and evacuation information. Dial 211 to speak with a trained call specialist about Hurricane Matthew assistance in your area; the service is free, confidential and available in any language. For updates on Hurricane Matthew impacts and relief efforts, go to ReadyNC.org or follow N.C. Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook. People or organizations that want to help ensure North Carolina recovers can visit NCdisasterrelief.org or text NCRecovers to 30306. Donate to reputable organizations for Hurricane Matthew relief People from all walks of life are reaching out, seeking ways to assist victims and communities devastated by Hurricane Matthew in North Carolina. Those wishing to help should make donations to well-established, charitable organizations assisting the disaster relief effort. Organizations on the ground know what items and quantities are needed, often buy in bulk with discounts and, if possible, purchase through area businesses which supports economic recovery in the disaster area. Unlike material donations, financial contributions entail no additional costs. On Tuesday, Governor McCrory activated the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund for Hurricane Matthew to support long-term recovery efforts in partnership with the United Way of North Carolina. People or organizations who want to help can visit NCdisasterrelief.org or text NCRecovers to 30306. In addition to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, donors can support members of the North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NCVOAD) that are helping people affected by Hurricane Matthew. Visit ncvoad.org for a list of member organizations actively assisting survivors. While donated resources are vital to meet the needs of victims, managing those donations is necessary to control the flow of goods and services into the disaster areas. Uncontrolled shipments of donated goods could potentially place an undue burden on disaster operations and compete for scarce resources, such as warehouse space and manpower for unloading and distribution. Because of this, it is important to coordinate your giving and volunteering through established relief organizations. North Carolina state government does not directly receive, nor accept, cash or other donations. Dial 2-1-1 to speak with a trained call specialist about Hurricane Matthew assistance in your area; the service is free, confidential and available in any language. Call 5-1-1 for the latest road conditions or check the ReadyNC mobile app, which also has real-time shelter and evacuation information. For updates on Hurricane Matthew impacts and relief efforts, go to ReadyNC.org or follow N.C. Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook. People or organizations that want to help ensure North Carolina recovers can visit NCdisasterrelief.orgor text NCRecovers to 30306. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket He points out in an interview with Uusi Suomi that a plethora of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Commission are all currently of the opinion that fiscal stimulus is needed to reinvigorate economic growth. Heikki Taimio, a senior researcher at the Labour Institute for Economic Research (PT), has voiced his bafflement with the insistence to pursue an austerity-based rather than stimulus-based fiscal policy in Finland. But that has yet to be understood here in Finland, he says. The opposition to fiscal stimulus stems from officials at the Ministry of Finance. The report they published just before the parliamentary elections last spring received a lot of attention. It has definitely had a big impact on the approach of the Government, says Taimio. Related posts: - Ministry officials shifted focus of previous parliamentary elections (14 October, 2016) Erkka Railo, a senior researcher at the Centre for Parliamentary Studies of the University of Turku, similarly called attention to the economic review at the launch event of his book on Wednesday, estimating that it shifted the focus of election debates firmly towards the fiscal deficit and national debt burden. To do so just before the elections is quite an example of political power. The Ministry of Finance has basically had a very cautious approach to fiscal policy-making. It's only prepared to use stimulus in serious emergencies, says Taimio. The Ministry of Finance, he adds, seems to be unwilling to revise its approach despite the global fiscal policy trends. Taimio says he is particularly surprised by the reluctance of the Bank of Finland to heed the advice of the European Central Bank. The European Central Bank, he points out, has urged the more affluent eurozone members to stimulate the economy, while the International Monetary Fund has recommended that public investments and active labour market policies be made in Finland. Christine Lagarde, the managing director at IMF, recently voiced her hopes that other economies would follow in the footsteps of Canada by stepping up stimulus spending. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Zach Gibson Lehtikuva/AFP Source: Uusi Suomi Taimio points out that studies conducted in several countries have found a link between income inequality and declining trade union membership. Heikki Taimio, a senior researcher at the Labour Institute for Economic Research (PT), has pointed out that both of the two recent Nobel Prize Laureates from Finland, Martti Ahtisaari and Bengt Holmstrom, have, on the one hand, expressed their support for the welfare state and, on the other, criticised the trade union movement. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), for example, has called attention to the link between [] declining trade union membership and the growing inequalities in several countries. You can see a clear correlation also in the sense that a weaker trade union movement is linked to the [] wealthiest one per cent managing to increase their share of the common pie, he says in an interview with Uusi Suomi. He warns that the diminishing significance of trade unions will exacerbate income inequality and its various adverse side-effects, such as the emergence of far-right movements. Taimio also rejects suggestions that income inequality could be a means to drive economic growth. If there's a connection, it's rather that big income differences inhibit economic growth, he tells. The Finnish labour markets are faced with a major change, as the Government has announced its desire to promote local bargaining and the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) its decision to transition entirely to union-specific bargaining. Taimio, however, is unconvinced by the benefits of less-centralised bargaining systems and claims that union-specific agreements have typically offered greater wage increases than centralised ones. Maybe Ahtisaari and Holmstrom think that individuals will negotiate alone with employers. That's an elitist view of labour markets [a view of] top experts having employers and benefits compete against one another. That elitist view fails to take into account the fact that most employees are in a relatively weak position in relation to employers, he says. One of the foremost advocates of greater wage differences as a means to spur economic growth in Finland has been Elina Lepomaki (NCP). She believes a wider wage scale would create jobs and, thereby, increase the number of people in employment. The better the employment situation, the better the bargaining power of wage earners, she writes. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Roni Rekomaa Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi LOCAL BRIEFS: Tractor fun, 'Day of the Dead' Related Stories Tractor Association hosts Fall Harvest Days The Apple Country Engine and Tractor Association will present WNC Fall Harvest Days and 31st Annual Antique Engine and Tractor Show Oct. 20-22 at the WNC Ag Center. Power of The Past features all makes of tractors and farm equipment including antique tractors, hitnmiss engines of all sizes, tractor pulls and vendors selling parts. The event includes three full days of more than 250 vendors/exhibitors, tools, antiques, collectibles, toys and odd stuff. The Parade of Power (featuring anything with a motor that moves on its own) is 2 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tractor pulls for farm tractors 1964 and earlier is 11 a.m. Saturday. Kids Pedal Pull (afes 5-12) is noon Saturday. Admission is $8/day or $20 for a 3-day pass. Children under 12 are admitted free with paid adult. For show rules and more information visit applecountry.org. El Centro presents Day of the Dead El Centro of Henderson County will celebrate the Day of the Dead Festival Sunday, Oct. 30, from 3-6 pm at Los Reyes at 810 South Grove Street. The first Day of the Dead celebration drew approximately 600 people and 24 community organizations, a taco truck and 100 prize winners. The festival, a free event focused on children, will include raffles, candy, contests, arts and crafts (sugar skull painting) games for the children, music, folk dances, traditional altars, typical Mexican appetizers and food for sale, information booths and a lot of fun for all. The event includes a brief explanation of the meaning behind the symbols found on the traditional Day of the Dead altar, a contest for community members to create their own altars and volunteers dressed in typical day of the dead costumes. In addition there will be a costume contest for kids ages 2 to 15. Congregational Church Hunger Walk raises $17k First Congregational United Church of Christ raised more than $17,000 for this years Henderson County Hunger Coalition annual Hunger Walk, the church announced. One-fourth of our active church membership was on our Hunger Walk team, said the events coordinator, Roy Harris. We wish to thank the generous folks both in our congregation and throughout the community who sponsored these participants. For more information, visit fcchendersonville.org. Former Flat Rock jewelry shop owner sent to prison A former Flat Rock jewelry shop owner was sentenced to more than three years in prison after her conviction on charges that she defrauded wholesale jewel suppliers of more than $400,000 worth of merchandise. Related Stories U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger on Thursday sentenced Dina R. Garfinkel to 41 months in prison on mail fraud charges, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Garfinkel, 69, of New York City, was also ordered to serve three years under court supervision after she is released from prison and to pay $400,000 as restitution to her victims. U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making todays announcement by Nick Annan, Special Agent in Charge of ICE/Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and the Carolinas. According to filed documents and statements made in court, Garfinkel, who also has used the names Dina Drake, Dina Lebovitch and Ruth Lebovitch, was the owner and operator of Nikki B. Designs, LLC, a jewelry store in Flat Rock. From about 2012 through April 2013, prosecutors say, Garfinkel defrauded 12 wholesale companies of at least $400,000 in merchandise she had ordered on consignment, commonly referred to in the jewelry industry as on memo. Court records show that using an alias, Garfinkel would contact wholesalers located throughout the United States and order diamonds and/or jewelry on memo. According to court records, in most instances in order to establish trust and rapport with the victim companies, Garfinkel made quick payments for the initial orders she received. This caused the wholesalers to send Garfinkel additional merchandise, for which she either did not pay, partially paid or paid using worthless checks. According to statements made in court, Garfinkel has three previous convictions for carrying out the same scheme in New York and in Florida. Garfinkel pleaded guilty to mail fraud in April 2016. She is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole. The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Asheville prosecuted the case. A 21-year-old unaccompanied learner driver who was speeding when he hit and killed a teenager will be sentenced next week. Gareth Jones swerved to avoid three of the boy's friends as they crossed the road but hit Paul McCormack (16) who had changed direction to try and get back to the path. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court t heard there was a fault with the ABS braking system in his Toyota Avnesis but that there was no indication Jones was aware of this. Jones, of Mellowes Park, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Paul McCormack at Tolka Valley Road, Finglas, on June 26, 2015. He has two minor previous convictions. The court heard Jones told gardai he was doing 70 to 80 kph in the area which had a speed limit of 50kph. After the collision Jones remained at the scene, accepted responsibility and called an ambulance. Judge Melanie Greally adjourned sentencing until October 20 to allow her consider the case. The maximum term of imprisonment for this offence is two years. Garda Aidan McHugh told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting, that Paul McCormack and three of his friends were crossing the road towards Tolka Valley Park when they saw a car coming from the left which looked to be "ages away." One of the group said he saw the car "rocking" over the ramps with the lights going up in the air and the car got so close that they had to run. He said the car was driving "flat out" and three of the group made it across the road but Paul changed direction and went back towards the other side of the road as he was closer to the kerb. Injuries The car swerved to the right, the direction Paul had gone, and there was a loud bang as the car hit him. It carried him for a while and he was thrown into the air and hit the ground. Paul was taken to the Mater hospital where he was pronounced dead due to catastrophic brain injuries. The forensic collision examiner attended at the scene and inspected the vehicle. The car was in good condition apart from a fault in the ABS braking system which rendered it inoperable leaving the car with only conventional braking. Counsel said Jones was a person of good character with no alcohol or drug issues. John McAreavey has told young people how volunteering generates great benefits and helps them to make new friends. The former Down GAA star, speaking at the Zeminar youth event at the RDS in Dublin, said people who volunteered with The Michaela Foundation found their own lives and careers had been enhanced by their participation with the charity. Mr McAreavey co-founded the charity in honour of his wife, Michaela, who was murdered when the couple were on honeymoon in Mauritius in 2011. He recently re-married. Doing volunteer work for good causes is "far from a drag" and can lead to "true happiness" by helping a worthy cause, he said. Fair City actress Jenny Dixon advised young people to dedicate themselves to pursuing their passions. Before becoming an actress, she was a secondary school teacher. In college, she took first place and first-class honours in her science degree finals. Courage Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hos-pital, told the young audience to "go for it" when seeking their goals and not to be afraid of failure. All achievements were gained through adversity and young people need to have courage, she said. Feidhlim O Seasnain, programme manager of The Super Generation, spoke of the Way of Well-Being Programme devised by John Doran. It was very important that young people express themselves and have "an attitude of gratitude" to counteract negativity, he said. "Proper nourishment and rest are important and young people should devote time to building on their strengths." Zeminar founders Damien Clarke and Ian Fitzpatrick said 15,000 young people attended over three days. Comings and goings: Boot Barn in the works; Clorox plant opens New store could be the third to move into Valley Plaza this year. Lost amid the absurd denial of the Holocaust and a result of any ideological current, is a widely believed unintentional myth due largely to Hollywood, Leon Uris (author of the best-selling novel "Exodus"), minor Danish diplomatic personnel, wishful thinking, the BBC's research methods as well as to several prominent but sloppy historians who have written widely about the Holocaust but lacked adequate knowledge of the relevant languages, especially Danish. It is set amidst the rescue story of the Danish Jews and their safe passage to Sweden in October 1943, proclaiming that the Danish King, Christian X (grandfather of the present Queen Margrethe II), in an act of solidarity with his Jewish subjects, actually put on the yellow-star armband (or volunteered to do so) when the German occupation authorities issued such an order. He never did so. The German occupation authorities never ordered the Jews in Denmark to wear the yellow armband. Very few readers bothered to read Uris's remarks in the Forward to the book "Exodus"; "Most (i.e. not all) of the events in 'Exodus' are a matter of history and fact. Many of the scenes were created around historical incidents for the purpose of fiction." The wartime Bulgarian king, Boris III, has largely been ignored and forgotten. Most likely, he paid with his life after heroically resisting Hitler's demands to deport Bulgaria's Jewish population (eight times larger than Denmark's 6,000) and use his country as a launching pad to wage war against the Soviet Union. The stories of the Danish and Bulgarian kings demonstrate the susceptibility and readiness of the public to be swayed by the power of the mass media to invent and deny facts. From May 5-9, 1995, the 50th anniversary of V-E Day was celebrated all over the world with a fabulous four-day extravaganza of events culminating in London with a gala reception at the Guild Hall attended by over 50 heads of state. British and World television had considerable time to prepare for this event and do any required research. Yet, BBC presenter Vivian White, in his live commentary accompanying the entry into the Guild Hall of the assembled heads of state remarked that... Danish Princess Benedikte, (the Queen's sister who attended the event because the Queen was unable to do so), was the granddaughter of King Christian X, who together with his entire family, "put on the Yellow Star in an act of solidarity with his Jewish subjects." I was living in London at the time and his words knocked me out of my chair. The reason was I had had several previous confrontations with Jewish friends and acquaintances who simply refused to accept a denial of this story. I had lived and worked in Denmark for seven years (1978-84) and was vice chairman of the Danish-Israeli Friendship Society in Aarhus. On one occasion, we gave a reception for the visiting mayor of Beersheba who began his after-dinner talk in English by expressing the admiration of all ordinary Israelis for the "heroic action of King Christian... who put on the yellow star to save his Jewish fellow countrymen." I politely informed the mayor after observing the cringing faces of the assembled Danish audience in a whisper in Hebrew that the story was a myth and got an explosive reaction (in Hebrew)..."Of course it's true, we all know this in Israel!" So the BBC is certainly not alone but when I informed them of their error in a letter, what was the reaction? I noted the Queen's autobiography, the pamphlet in English issued by the Danish Foreign Ministry and The Museum of the Danish Resistance (October 1943; The Rescue of the Danish Jews From Annihilation) and asked that they simply contact the Danish Embassy in London for one minute to enquire about the validity of what they had just televised and broadcast around the world to an audience numbering several hundred million viewers. Did they accept this suggestion? No! The reply dated Nov. 30, 1995, thanked me for my critical letter and observation but refused to issue any official correction. It was simply a matter of the casual ignorance and elementary wrong assumptions that stem from the fact that in the mighty BBC empire, routine checking is left to a hired staff with no sense of what is required to substantiate information and search primary sources in the original languages (eye-witnesses, ear-witnesses, diaries, newspapers, radio broadcasts, government archives). The fact is that mistakes are repeated over and over again simply because they appear in print in books even by "distinguished authors" and "our experts" who do not have the requisite knowledge of original sources in the key language to verify the claim. Footnotes in these works simply cite another author who has quoted another secondary source. Queen Margrethe has been thanked so many times by guests for her grandfather's supposed action that she has written in her autobiography about being embarrassed. The king was certainly a decent man placed in a difficult situation. In 1942, he wrote a letter to Marcus Melchior, the Chief Rabbi, expressing "relief" that a fire at the synagogue in Copenhagen did not cause extensive damage. He and the queen had attended special services at the 100th anniversary celebration of the synagogue in 1933. A photo of their presence on that occasion was published in several American popular weekly magazines in 1943, without an indication of the actual date, thus leading to the common perception among many Americans that the king was demonstrating public criticism of German anti-Semitism. Both the king and cabinet ministers expressed their views on several occasions during the early years of the occupation that there was no need to adopt any legislation affecting Jewish citizens because "there is no Jewish problem in Denmark." The armband myth in the Leon Uris book thus fell on fertile ground. The "Reactionary Right Wing" King Boris III On the other hand, under Bulgaria's communist regime, the efforts of both the king and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church were targets of constant invective, slander and "revisionism" so that his very real role in the rescue of Bulgaria's Jews has been erased or minimized. Why such ignorance and willful amnesia about the actions of King Boris III? Michael Bar-Zohar is an Israeli historian of Bulgarian origin. He arrived in Israel in 1948 with his family, was a member of the Israeli Knesset and has told the full story of the Bulgarian rescue and the role of King Boris III in his gripping book "Beyond Hitler's Grasp; The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews" (Adams Media Corporation; Holbrooke Massachusetts. 1998; ISBN 1-58062-060-4). His conclusion regarding the king needs to be shouted from the rooftops to shake up Jewish ignorance in America... The final responsibility was the king's and his decision saved the Jews of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Jews became the only community in the Nazi sphere of influence whose numbers increased during World War II" (p.268). In contrast to the Danish yellow star armband myth, Bulgarian Jews in the thousands did actually wear armbands with the portraits of King Boris and the royal family as a sign of loyalty, devotion and gratitude. The Bulgarian authorities, as allies of the German government, required Bulgarian Jews to wear armbands with tiny Jewish stars, but most did not bother to wear them and suffered no repercussions. Those who did wear them were frequently assured by their fellow Christian Bulgarians of sympathy and support. King Christan X of Denmark Bulgarian volunteers did aid the Axis cause by serving with the German forces in the campaign against the USSR (as did several thousand pro-Nazi Danes in Frikorps Danmark) but Bulgaria, like Finland, switched sides late in the war. The Danish myth of the yellow star armband detracts from the vital participation of thousands of Danes from every walk of life who did help their Jewish countrymen at a moment's notice to assemble and flee, guarded their property and welcomed them back at the end of the war. The real story is much more inspiring and a tribute to traditional Danish values of concern for human rights than the myth of the king. The Danish and Bulgarian peoples and their churches both have a right to take pride in their wartime record. The actions of both also stand in contrast to the generally dismal record of other European peoples, nationalist regimes and state churches. With respect to the "Tale of Two Kings," Boris III was a martyr whose personal example influenced history. Christian X was a decent man and a patriot but a weak king whom history and circumstances cast in a heroic mold because he wore the crown. Somehow, our first empty-nester travels, once again, became a "family vacation." Boarding our mini tour bus in Tel Aviv Israel, we met our traveling companions for the week, a small group, mostly from the U.S., ranging between the ages from 10 to 76, consisting of a bar-mitzvah family of six, a friendly couple from New York originally from Persia, and a mid-life Australian on "walkabout," who was eager to learn about all kinds of cultures. As was typical of late, my husband and I were sandwiched in age somewhere in the middle. While we had been eager to take our first prolonged "grown up" vacation in more than two decades, it turned out that traveling with a mixed-age group immensely enriched our trip, enabling us to see each site as if we're 10, 50, or 70 plus years. While we bonded with all ages, it soon became clear that the stars of our trip were the "super seniors" we encountered, beginning with our 70-year-old tour guide, Maier. This unstoppable fifth-generation Israeli led our merry group thru hills, valleys and mountain tops, sharing historical and personal anecdotes connecting us to each experience for seven days straight, from morning 'til dusk. Unsurprisingly longevity runs in his family, with his father passing at 114. Our jeep trip through the hills surrounding the Jordan Valley was steeped in history by yet another spectacular senior. The 76-year- old host and driver, was an energetic pioneer of the Jewish state, and lifetime kibbutznik. As he handed us plums and pomegranates fresh from the tree, each one of us savored our first bite of just picked Israeli agriculture. When we zigged and zagged through the valley's steep ridges, we adults clenched our teeth and grabbed tightly to the handrails through the impossibly tight curves, as the kids screamed for "more" (and faster). Our mature "speed racer" was unnerved by his daily drive, and had several more trips planned for that week. The bar mitzvah of our new friends and "bus buddy," Ethan, who would begin eighth grade the following week in Queens, New York, was an unexpected highlight. We had not anticipated attending a simcha in the land of Israel, and were honored to take part in this rite of passage at the Western Wall. The intimate ceremony stole our breath, as father, son, brother, mother, grandmother (and cousin) became one with a tradition steeped in the history on the very ground on which they stood. Just today, I received a call from Ethan's grandmother, thanking us for enriching his service. In reality, his service added untold meaning to our trip. The action packed tour with five to six daily adventures wore out the lot of us, even our school-aged friends flagged at times. I credit our more mature adventurers with holding their own, especially on the days that exceeded 100 degrees. Working with seniors through the Jewish Pavilion, I couldn't help noting the exceptional elders in my presence, including our group members in their 70s who kept pace with our action packed itinerary. After hearing about our travels with the multi-generations, Emily Newman, senior resource specialist with the Orlando Senior Help Desk, shared a few tips for traveling with older adults. We were already familiar with one of Emily's most important tips, which was crucial to those traveling in desert conditions in late August. Tip No.1 was to "hydrate, hydrate, hydrate," especially important for older adults who are at greater risk for dehydration. After following Emily's tip No. 1, you will definitely need tip No. 2. "Allow for frequent stops." With six or so stops per day, our itinerary allowed for plenty of "rest stops," whether for just sitting or finding the "restroom." Tip No. 3 is to calibrate your energy, and make sure older adults in the group are physically up to the task. If you are with a group, make sure there is a safe place like a lobby or a cafeteria where a traveler could choose to "sit one out." She also recommends checking in with older travelers on a frequent basis to make sure they are doing "okay," as they may be hesitant to hold back the group. (For a more complete list of tips for traveling with seniors, visit the Facebook page for the Orlando Senior Help Desk at http://www.facebook.com/seniorhelpdesk). Before flying back home, we visited one last "Super Senior," my husband's Aunt Juli (Yu-lee), a talented artist and teacher, who lives in suburban Haifa. Somehow, almost a decade had sped by since our last visit, when she came to our former home in the Midwest to visit us and our toddler-aged kids (who are now both old enough to vote in the upcoming election). Juli's passion for art was present in every nook and cranny of her charming apartment, where each corner and piece of wall contained a creative expression. Though Juli's current paintings of dancers were quite "moving," she was most proud of the works of her older adult students, who live in a senior-living community in the next town. For the past 12 years, she has taught art to even more "super seniors," many overcoming strokes and other physical ailments, and are mostly first-time painters. We marveled (and took photos) at their meticulous paintings of flowers, birds, soldiers, and more. Though some of the paintings had been done by artists as old as 94, the works appeared timeless, as well as ageless. Another thumbs up for Juli, who speaks four languages, plus enough workable English to pass the day with us monolinguists. As we said "Shalom," we promised not to let another 10 years pass before another visit. Tony Ruben puts on tefillin at the Western Wall. Tidbits from the Sandwich Generation is a series of blogs by Pamela Ruben, Jewish Pavilion marketing and Communications Director, about managing the multi-generations. If you are sandwiched in between raising a family of children or young adults, and caring for aging parents, take a bite out of life with this new blog! Just a 'tidbit' is recommended for anyone who spends time with older adults, or is preparing for life's next stages. Laugh, cry, and relate as our blogger is pulled from all sides by family members young and old. Check out additional posts at http://www.jewishpavilion.org/blog. For no cost help for issues pertaining to older adults contact the Orlando Senior Help Desk, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, at 407-678-9363 or visit http://www.orlandoseniorhelpdesk.org. Democrat Tim Kaine, left, and Republican Mike Pence, facing off during the vice presidential debate at Longwood University in Virginia, Oct. 4, 2016. (JTA)-Seven times during the vice presidential debate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the deal his running mate, Hillary Clinton, worked on had helped "stop Iranian nuclear weapons." Seven times, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said no, it did not. Twice, Kaine said Israel's military "says it stopped." Both times Pence, the running mate to Republican nominee Donald Trump, disagreed. Who's right? It's a mixed bag. The jury is still out on whether the deal has stopped Iran's suspected nuclear weapons quest in the long term. As Kaine noted, Israel's military brass has assessed that the deal has stopped Iran from advancing toward a nuclear bomb-but missing from his citations is the "for now." What Hillary Clinton did Clinton, secretary of state in President Barack Obama's first term, helped line up the international sanctions that brought Iran to the table. Pence pointed out that Congress in 2010 passed what may have been the toughest sanctions in U.S. history on Iran. As a member of the Republican leadership in Congress at the time, he helped lead the passage of the sanctions. "The goal was always that we would only lift the sanctions if Iran permanently renounced their nuclear ambitions," Pence said. That was the goal of some congressional sanctions backers, particularly among Republicans. The goal of the Obama administration, and some of its Democratic backers, was to put in place U.S. sanctions as a means of undergirding the architecture for international sanctions. The threat of not being able to do business with the United States was the stick used to bring in more reluctant partners. The carrot? U.S. willingness to moderate sanctions once the international community was on board. Once the international sanctions were in place, their goal became more fluid and subject to the back and forth of diplomacy, and less susceptible to the harder line adopted by the Congress. Clinton's accomplishment was bringing into the sanctions regime major trading partners like India, China and Russia, which made the sanctions biting. Including those nations, however, also guaranteed that the international sanctions regime would never hew to the restrictions that Congress had in place. The international community was not ready for the absolute shutdown of uranium enrichment that Pence and others in Congress had sought and still seek. The more reluctant countries were ready to suspend trade with a major oil supplier for only a limited period. Other countries, including European partners, said that demanding a complete shutdown violated the letter of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which allows a civilian nuclear program, and to which Iran is a signatory. What the nuclear deal did Iran insists that its nuclear program was never about weapons. Western powers, particularly the United States, Israel and France, are skeptical in the extreme, saying that while weaponization may not have been achieved, the level and breadth of uranium enrichment underway before the nuclear deal, and Iran's investment in delivery systems identified with nuclear attacks, strongly suggest that the program's ultimate goal was weapons. The deal applies a strict inspections regime that keeps Iranian enrichment to levels that cannot be weaponized for eight years. Those limits are lessened for another seven years, which is when-after 15 years in all-the relatively unfettered access for international nuclear inspectors ends. "You essentially guaranteed that Iran will someday become a nuclear power because there's no limitations once the period of time of the treaty comes off," Pence said in the debate. That's not quite true. After the 15-year period, Iran will comply with the "additional protocol" to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which allows inspectors to return on short notice. A credible finding by a Western nation's intelligence service, or by the International Atomic Energy Agency, could trigger such a return. That provision underlies Kaine's claim that the weapons program "has been stopped"-although, as The Times of Israel has pointed out, his running mate Clinton opts for less absolute language. Twice-at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual conference in March, and at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July-Clinton said the deal "put a lid on" Iran's nuclear ambitions. Israel and congressional opponents of the Iran deal cite the failure of inspections in North Korea to argue that less intrusive inspections don't work. Proponents of the deal say the additional protocol was instituted precisely as a means of redressing the gaps in the North Korea inspections regime and note that similar provisions-allowing the short-notice entry of inspectors-are believed to have kept Saddam Hussein's Iraq from going nuclear. On the third hand-there is no third hand! No wait, there is a counter argument by deal opponents to the counter argument by deal backers: Saddam's Iraq was weakened by sanctions and had little choice but to allow in the inspectors. Iran, with its economy strengthened by sanctions relief and with a more robust military in place, might not be so accommodating. Does Israel believe the deal stopped Iran from going nuclear? Kaine, making this claim, at first cited Israel's military, and then specified a name: Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, the military chief of staff. Here's how Kaine put it: "Even the Israeli military says it stopped." And then: "That's what the Israeli joint chiefs of staff is saying right now. Gadi Eizenkot, you can go check it." It's true that Eizenkot and others have said the deal is keeping Iran's suspected weapons program stalled, but what's missing from Kaine's claim is the implied "for now" in statements by Israeli security brass, past and present. Here's Eizenkot, speaking in January, after the deal's implementation was launched: "The deal has actually removed the most serious danger to Israel's existence for the foreseeable future, and greatly reduced the threat over the longer term." (Emphasis added.) And here's Amos Yadlin, the former military intelligence chief: "For at least the next 10 years, the threat of nuclear armament in Iran has been reduced." Pence countered, "That's not what Israel thinks," and then cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues to believe the plan is a bad one. But Pence's argument sets up a bit of a straw man: Both of Kaine's citations are of Israel's military, not its political leadership. Obama, in citing Israelis in defending the deal, has not gone so far as to say that Israel's political establishment likes it; he says that the security establishment agrees that it is working according to plan. "It's the assessment of the Israeli military and intelligence community-the country that was most opposed to this deal-that acknowledges this has been a game-changer, and that Iran has abided by the deal, and that they no longer have the sort of short-term breakout capacity that would allow them to develop nuclear weapons," the president said in August. That comports with Eizenkot's assessment in January: "Without a doubt the nuclear deal between Iran and the West is a historic turning point. It is a big change in terms of the direction that Iran was headed, and in the way that we saw things." (JNS.org)-Florida's 550,000-strong Jewish community was bracing for the worst as Hurricane Matthew bombarded the Sunshine State early Friday leaving one dead and over a half million residents without power. The deadly Category 4 storm-downgraded to Category 3 by mid-morning-blasted the Florida coast with winds as high as 120 miles per hour after wreaking havoc through the Caribbean. Many Jewish communities canceled their religious services for Shabbat, boarded up homes and businesses, and evacuated where necessary. Those that stayed hunkered down, riding out the threat of storm surges and flooding as the hurricane pummeled the state. With the threat of storm surges and flooding, congregations have also taken care to protect their Torah scrolls. Rabbi Zvi Konikov, who co-directs Chabad of the Space & Treasure Coasts in Satellite Beach, Fla., said the Torah scrolls in his Chabad house were "taken to a safe place." Other Chabad centers in parts of Florida unaffected by the storm have also opened their doors to evacuating Jews. "Given that we are currently in the 10 days of repentance, I suggest that we all have our own in-home farbrengens [Yiddish for a joyous occasion] and utilize the time we have together with our families to pray a little bit more, learn a little bit more, and try and put a positive perspective on it," said Rabbi Ruvi New, co-director of Chabad of East Boca Raton. In Haiti, the hurricane has left 842 dead with some 61,500 remaining in shelters, Haaretz reported Friday. In the U.S., states of emergency have been declared in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. More than 1.5 million Floridians and visitors were under evacuation orders, the Weather Channel reported. The storm was moving along the southeast coast from Florida into Georgia and the Carolinas where coastal residents there are under evacuation orders. Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned Thursday that, "This storm will kill" those who don't follow emergency guidelines or evacuate where necessary. A 58-year-old Saint Lucie County woman, who suffered cardiac arrest early Friday morning, died as a result of the storm, officials said. Meanwhile, on the heels of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)'s mobilization earlier this week to provide relief to hurricane victims in Haiti, the British humanitarian organization World Jewish Relief has also launched donation appeal. Donations will be used for food and water, shelter and hygiene kits, and other supplies. It isnt easy summarizing the relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel, or extending that to Israeli Jews and Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. Animosity is more apparent than accommodation in most summaries of Israeli and Palestinian history. Yet accommodation has been more apparent than bloodshed. There has been violence, but never of the magnitude shown by what Muslims have recently been doing to one another in Syria, Iraq, Libya, or Yemen. The Second Intifada, from 2000 to about 2005, took 1,100 Israeli and perhaps 5,000 Palestinian lives, with some 10 percent of Palestinian deaths caused by fighting among Palestinians. Israels 2014 operation in Gaza came when the occasional drizzle of rockets became a storm. It took the lives of some 2,200 Palestinians, 66 Israeli soldiers, and seven Israeli civilians. Those tragedies spread over five or 14 years amount to a few weeks or less in Syrias civil war. Among the measures of accommodation are some 100,000 West Bank Palestinians working legally in Israel or Israeli enterprises in the West Bank, and several thousand more who sneak over the borders and work illegally. There has been an increase of Israeli Arab Christians volunteering for the IDF. An Arab sociologist finds that large numbers of Israeli Arabs, perhaps a majority, feel comfortable enough in the society that theyd be willing to fight for it. That seems odd in comparison to the animosity usually expressed by Arab Members of the Knesset. But it is difficult for a Jew to understand all of what happens over the cultural borders between us and them. The nearby neighborhoods of Isaweea, Shuafat, and Beit Hanina are troublespots for us and their residents. Individual Arabs fear to go out of their homes in the evening, due to gunshots among feuding neighbors. Jews are advised to stay away Part of Shuafat has been walled off, with a heavily guarded gate monitoring exit and entrance, and there have been police alongside Isaweea since the onset of the mini-Intifada a year ago. Weve learned to distinguish sounds of gun fire from celebrations with fireworks, and there are occasional sounds of a police helicopter or an unmanned aircraft circling between Isaweea and Shuafat. However, individuals from those neighborhoods work in the shops of French Hill, deliver goods to our homes, work to repair or refurbish our apartments, The nearby unit of the Hadassah Hospital-Mount Scopus serves Arabs as well as Jews who live nearby, or come for specialized services that the hospital offers. The staff is also a mixture of ethnicity, with Jews served by Arab physicians or nurses alongside Arabs being served by Jews. Those who are attracted to the fashion of BDS dont bother to compare the situation of Israeli Arabs or Palestinians (West Bank or Gaza) to relevant populations elsewhere. Should they bother, theyd find that Israeli Arabs do not score below ethnic/racial minorities in other western societies. Compared to African Americans or Hispanics in the US, Israeli Arabs do better or less well on various measures of economic, social, or political equality compared to the majorities. Especially notable is the finding that Israeli Arabs outscore American Whites on important measures of health, and far outscore African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. The Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza provide separate pictures, with those of the West Bank significantly better off. However, neither scores significantly different on measures of economics, health, personal safety or the quality of government than many countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia. Recent news has been of the Palestinians in the West Bank cancelling municipal elections due to the likely victory of opposition Hamas. Reports from Gaza, where there thre are no elections scheduled, is that Fatah is leading in polls. The picture in both parts of Palestine is a prevailing condition of opposing whichever Palestinian party is controlling things, but not having an electoral opportunity to do anything about the it. Rather than trying to beat up on Israel for imagined repressions, individuals concerned about humane measures of individual freedom and opportunity would be wiser to deal with issues closure to home involving ethnic and racial minorities in the US and Western Europe. Americans who fancy that Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza endure an intolerable situation might think a bit more about Mexico. It appears to be more wracked by violence than either Palestinian area. And while Mexico is ostensibly more independent than anything called Palestine, with a full panoply of diplomatic connections along with air and sea ports that the Palestinian lack, the greater misery and lack of security endured by many Mexicans derives more clearly from Americans appetites for drugs than any problems of the Palestinians results from the fantasies about Israeli repression. Theres tension aplenty between Israeli Jews and Arabs, and significantly more between Israelis and the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. It is not all one picture, however. Israeli Jews and Arabs work, study, and live alongside one another in numerous settings, even though most cluster in ethnically homogeneous towns or neighborhoods. Recently weve seen Israeli Arab elites quarreling among themselves about what was the appropriate response to the death of Shimon Peres, alongside Jews who quarrel as to whether Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues ought to have been received more warmly, or not at all, at Peres funeral. Details of security along the borders, Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas, and Israeli settlements on land claimed by Palestine are frequent topics of international condemnation. Going beyond the proclamations that garner majorities in several UN forums are the details of deals offered by Israel and rejected by Palestinians. Fairness in politics--both domestic and international--is an elusive topic. It does seem that the condemnations of Israel and efforts at boycotts are disproportionate, suggesting classic themes of anti-Semitism more than any fair assessments of political or economic realities. There are some who insist that Israel deserves criticism, with some of them despairing of anything similar directed against more severe violations elsewhere. Either countries of the Third World are beyond the reach of reason, or the United States is too powerful for any outsiders to meddle in the plights of African Americans, Hispanics, or Native Americans. As long as small and vulnerable Israel aspires to keep its membership in the club of the wealthiest and most civilized, it is open to pressure of those aspiring to make things better, somewhere. Whats fair is up for grabs, dispute, and comments. Irashark@gmail.com I dont know you personally, but I know what you do. You demonstrate on college campuses, in front of stores that sell Israeli products, at co-op grocery outlets, and in the town squares of liberal places like my community of Seattle. You wear a keffiyeh and carry signs that say From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free and other slogans that deny Israels right to exist. I see your swastikas and other classic antisemitic images. I see your placards with names of villages lost when Israels neighbors invaded in 1948. I see your props: child-size coffins, for a dramatic effect. Mock eviction notices and apartheid walls. Posters commemorating the Nakbacatastropheyour term for the Arab failure to destroy Israel. I hear your chants of Intifada, Intifada and We are Hamasglorifying violence against Jews and celebrating their murder. I see you disrupt talks by Israeli scholars and expertsand even by Palestinianswho support peace. I hear you call for boycotting hummus (made in Virginia!), and petition artists not to perform in Israel, and demand that pension funds divest from one of the worlds most vibrant economies. I hear you misappropriate terms like justice and apartheid and genocide, divorcing words so far from their true meaning that the language is no longer recognizable. And I cant help but wonder: How is all this vitriol, this hateful rhetoric, remotely helpful to the cause of the Palestinian people you claim to support? If you truly cared about Palestinians, you would fight the rampant corruption of the Palestinian Authority. You would challenge Palestinian leaders who rob their people to line their own pockets, who pay bounties to terrorists and their families. You would oppose Hamas in Gaza for stealing humanitarian aid, international donations, and construction materials to build rocket launchers and assault tunnels. If you cared about the Palestinian people, you would protest the thousands killed and imprisoned, the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians gassed, bombed, and displaced in Syria. But you dont, because you havent (yet?) figure out how to blame Israel and the Jews for this wholesale death and destruction. If you really cared about the Palestinians, you would fight to improve their education, public health, and economic opportunities. You would advocate for dismantling the UN agency that prevents resettlement of descendants of Palestinian refugees, instead nurturing statelessness and victimhood for generations. You would object to the brainwashing of children in schools and summer camps, of youth on social media and adults in mosques and the media, indoctrination to hate and incitement to violence. If you were a true progressive, you would fight for the rights of women, of LGBTQ, and of religious minorities, all of whom suffer enormously in Arab (including Palestinian) societies. If you cared about freedom of expression and a free press, you would oppose the arrest and abuse of journalists by both Palestinian governments. And if you really cared about Palestinian statehood, you would invest in building institutions and infrastructure, and in fostering a social climate conducive to eventual Palestinian self-rule and self-sufficiency. You would educate for peace and coexistence, not violence and war. The reason you dont do any of these things is because, in fact, you dont care at all about the Palestinians. You represent a campaign of hate and bigotry, disguised as a national-liberation movement. You then add to it a phony veneer of social-justice andthe irony!a sprinkle of political correctness, in order to attract well-intentioned progressives to support your cause. In reality, you dont even want a Palestinian state, only to eradicate the Jewish one. (Thats what From the River to the Sea actually means, of course.) You dont support dialog, or peace, or coexistence. You reject overtures at normalization, as though being normal is somehow objectionable rather than a laudable goal. You are a fraud. You are, of course, proudly anti-Israel and profoundly anti-Jewish. But you are also, in fact,anti-Palestinian and anti-peace. Thoughtful progressives are waking up to your true nature and looking for ways to truly support the causes of justice, of coexistence, of peace, and ultimately of the Palestinian people themselves. Nevet Basker is an independent educator, public speaker, writer, and policy adviser specializing in modern-day Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Based in Seattle, Washington, Nevet speaks regularly to youth and adults, Jewish and non-Jewish, and leads discussion groups about current events in Israel and the Middle East. She focuses on education and building community, emphasizing shared values, collective identity, and respectful discourse. This article was originally published in The Times of Israel. Reprinted with permission. Pennsylvania Attorney General Bruce R. Beemer Friday announced the arrest of a Franklin County woman accused of driving recklessly and causing the death of a pedestrian who was struck in a crosswalk outside a Chambersburg grocery store. Deidra R. Penrose, 30, of Chambersburg, is charged with one count of homicide by vehicle and related crimes in connection with the May 14 collision that resulted in the death of 71-year-old Joanne Marzolf. The charges are the result of an investigation by the Chambersburg Police Department. The Office of Attorney General is prosecuting the case. According to a criminal complaint filed in support of the charges, video surveillance captured the incident, which occurred outside the Giant Food Store on Wayne Avenue in Chambersburg. The surveillance video showed that Marzolf entered the crosswalk at approximately 8:32 p.m. A Jeep utility vehicle being driven by another individual stopped to allow Marzolf to move through the crosswalk, according to investigators. Penrose was inside her vehicle waiting to exit a nearby parking aisle. The surveillance video showed that she attempted to make an illegal left turn past the Jeep utility vehicle into the oncoming traffic lane, investigators stated in the criminal complaint. According to investigators, Penrose negligently overlooked the possibility of a pedestrian in the crosswalk and hurried to beat the Jeep as it started to pull away. Penroses actions resulted in a collision with Marzolf as she walked inside the clearly marked crosswalk. The collision forced Marzolf to the ground, where she hit her head. She suffered a serious head injury as a result of the incident. She was airlifted from Chambersburg Hospital to the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Marzolf was pronounced dead on May 17, investigators stated in the criminal complaint. Penrose, of the 1300 block of Mallard Drive East, is also charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, reckless driving and failure to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. She appeared Friday for a preliminary arraignment. Bail was set at $50,000 unsecured. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 1. Attorney General Beemer thanked the Chambersburg Police Department for its work on this investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Megan V. Madaffari of the Office of Attorney Generals Criminal Prosecutions Section. A new Syria is emerging. And with it, a new Middle East and world are presenting themselves. Our new world is not a peaceful or stable one. It is a harsh place. The new Syria is being born in the rubble of Aleppo. The eastern side of the city, which has been under the control of US-supported rebel groups since 2012, is being bombed into the Stone Age by Russian and Syrian aircraft. All avenues of escape have been blocked. A UN aid convoy was bombed in violation of a fantasy cease-fire. Medical facilities and personnel are being targeted by Russia and Syrian missiles and barrel bombs to make survival impossible. It is hard to assess how long the siege of eastern Aleppo by Russia, its Iranian and Hezbollah partners and its Syrian regime puppet will last. But what is an all but foregone conclusion now is that eastern Aleppo will fall. And with its fall, the Russian-Iranian-Hezbollah-Assad axis will consolidate its control over all of western Syria. For four years, the Iranians, Hezbollah and Bashar Assad played a cat and mouse game with the rebel militias. Fighting a guerrilla war with the help of the Sunni population, the anti-regime militias were able to fight from and hide from within the civilian population. Consequently, they were all but impossible to defeat. When Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to join the fight, he and his generals soon recognized that this manner of fighting ensured perpetual war. So they changed tactics. The new strategy involves speeding up the depopulation and ethnic cleansing of rebel-held areas. The massive refugee flows from Syria over the past year are a testament to the success of the barbaric war plan. The idea is to defeat the rebel forces by to destroying the sheltering civilian populations. Since the Syrian war began some five years ago, half of the pre-war population of 23 million has been displaced. Sunnis, who before the war comprised 75 percent of the population, are being targeted for death and exile. More than 4 million predominantly Sunni Syrians are living in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. More than a million have entered Europe. Millions more have been internally displaced. Assad has made clear that they will never be coming home. At the same time, the regime and its Iranian and Hezbollah masters have been importing Shiites from Iran, Iraq and beyond. The process actually began before the war started. In the lead-up to the war some half million Shiites reportedly relocated to Syria from surrounding countries. This means that once Aleppo is destroyed, and the 250,000 civilians trapped in the eastern part of what was once Syrias commercial capital are forced from their homes and property, the Russians, Iranians, Hezbollah and their Syrian fig leaf Assad will enjoy relative peace in their areas of control. By adopting a strategy of total war, Putin has ensured that far from becoming the quagmire that President Barack Obama warned him Syria would become, the war in Syria has become a means to transform Russia into the dominant superpower in the Mediterranean, at the U.S.s expense. In exchange for saving Assads neck and enabling Iran and Hezbollah to control Syria, Russia has received the capacity to successfully challenge U.S. power. Last month Putin brought an agreement with Assad before the Duma for ratification. The agreement permits Russia to set up a permanent air base in Khmeimim, outside the civilian airport in Latakia. Russian politicians, media and security experts have boasted that the base will be able to check the power of the U.S. Navys Sixth Fleet and challenge NATOs southern flank in the Mediterranean basin for the first time. The Russians have also decided to turn their naval station at Tartus into something approaching a full-scale naval base. With Russias recent rapprochement with Turkish President Recip Erdogan, NATOs future ability to check Russian power through the Incirlik air base is in question. Even Israels ability to permit the U.S. access to its air bases is no longer assured. Russia has deployed air assets to Syria that have canceled Israels regional air superiority. Under these circumstances, in a hypothetical Russian-U.S. confrontation, Israel may be unwilling to risk Russian retaliation for a decision to permit the U.S. to use its air bases against Russia. Americas loss of control over the eastern Mediterranean is a self-induced disaster. For four years, as Putin stood on the sidelines and hedged his bets, Obama did nothing. As Iran and Hezbollah devoted massive financial and military assets to maintaining their puppet Assad in power, the Obama administration squandered chance after chance to bring down the regime and stem Irans regional imperial advance. For his refusal to take action when such action could have easily been taken, Obama shares the responsibility for what Syria has become. This state of affairs is all the more infuriating because the hard truth is that it wouldnt have been hard for the US to defeat the Iranian- Hezbollah axis. The fact that even without US help the anti-regime forces managed to hold on for four years shows how weak the challenge posed by Iran and Hezbollah actually was. Russia only went into Syria when Putin was absolutely convinced that Obama would do nothing to stop him from dislodging America as the premier global power in the region. As Michael Ledeen recalled earlier this week, Obama chose to stand on the sidelines in Syria because he wanted to make friends with Iran. Obama began his secret courtship of the mullahs even before he officially took office eight years ago. After the war broke out in Syria, midway through his first term and in the following years, the Russians and the Iranians told the obsessed American president that if he took action against Assad, as strategic rationality dictated, he would get no nuclear deal with Tehran. So Obama let Syria burn. He let Iran and Hezbollah transform the country into their colony. And he let Putin transform the Mediterranean into a Russian lake. Obama enabled the ethnic cleansing of Syrias Sunni majority, and in turn facilitated the refugee crisis that is changing the face not only of the Middle East but of Europe as well. And as it turns out, the deal with Iran that Obama willingly sacrificed U.S. control of the Mediterranean to achieve has not ushered in a new era of regional moderation and stability through appeasement as Obama foresaw. It has weakened U.S. credibility with its spurned Sunni allies. It has undermined the strategic position of Israel, the U.S.s only stable and reliable regional ally. It has financially and strategically fueled Irans hegemonic rise throughout the region. And it has facilitated Irans development of a nuclear arsenal. Far from causing the Iranians to become more moderate, the nuclear deal has radicalized the regime still further. On Wednesday Ray Takeyh wrote in The Washington Post that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is now grooming Ibrahim Raisi, a fanatic who makes Khamenei look moderate, to succeed him in power. On Monday night, for the first time, Israel Air Force jets flying over Syria were shot at by Syrian anti-aircraft ordnance. Air Force sources told the media that the aircraft were never in danger and the munitions were only shot off after the aircraft had returned to Israel and were in the process off landing. The fact that no one was hurt is of course reassuring. But the fact that Russia targeted the planes makes clear that Putin has decided to send Israel a very clear and menacing message. He is now the protector of the Iranian-Hezbollah colony on our northern border. If Israel decides to preemptively attack targets belong to that colony, Russia will not stand by and watch. And with the U.S. no longer well-positioned to challenge Russian power in the region, Israel will have to deal with Russia on its own. To face this challenge, Israel needs to look beyond its traditional reliance on air power. There are two parts of the challenge. The first part is Iran. As far as Israel is concerned, the problem with the Russian- Iranian takeover of Syria is not Putin. Putin is not inherently hostile to Israel, as his Soviet predecessors were. He is an opportunist. Obama gave him the opportunity to partner with Iran in asserting Russian dominance in the Middle East and he took it. Israel is threatened by the alliance because it is threatened by Iran, not by Putin. To neutralize the alliances threat to its own security, Israel then needs to degrade Irans power, and it needs to emphasize its own. To accomplish these goals, Israel needs to operate in two completely separate arenas. To weaken Iran, Israel should take its cue from Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps, and from its own past successful military ties to the Kurds of Iraq in the 1960s and 1970s. Israel needs to deploy military trainers beyond its borders to work with other anti-Iranian forces. The goal of that cooperation must be to destabilize the regime, with the goal of overthrowing it. This may take time. But it must be done. The only way to neutralize the threat emanating from the new Syria is to change the nature of the Iranian regime that controls it. As for Russia, Israel needs to demonstrate that it is a power that Putin can respect in its own right, and not a downgraded Washingtons sock puppet. To this end, Israel should embark on a rapid expansion of its civilian presence along its eastern border with Syria and with Jordan. As Russias air base in Syria undermines Israels air superiority and reliance on air power, Israel needs to show that it will not be dislodged or allow its own territory to be threatened in any way. By doubling the Israeli population on the Golan Heights within five years, and vastly expanding its population in the Jordan Valley, Israel will accomplish two goals at once. It will demonstrate its independence from the U.S. without harming U.S. strategic interests. And it will reinforce its eastern border against expanded strategic threats from both the Golan Heights and the new Jordan with its bursting population of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. It is ironic that the new Middle East is coming into focus as Shimon Peres, the failed visionary of a fantasy-based new Middle East, is being laid to rest. But to survive in the real new Middle East, Israel must bury Peress belief that peace is built by appeasing enemies along with him. The world in which we live has a place for dreamers. But dreams, unhinged from reality, lead to Aleppo, not to peace. Reprinted with permission. Originally published in The Jerusalem Post. State Police at Carlisle (249-2121) A handgun was stolen from a home in the 200 block of Bonnybrook Road, South Middleton Township, around 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 12. State Police in Carlisle said unknown people broke into the home then fled the scene through unknown means. Abdulkabir Basil, 20, of Philadelphia, was charged with three counts of DUI, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Basil is awaiting a preliminary hearing set for Nov. 18 before Magisterial District Judge H. Anthony Adams. Carlisle Police (243-5252) A 1995 Acura Integra was stolen from a residence in the 400 block of North Pitt Street Friday. Police said the owner went to get into her car Friday morning and found it missing, even though she was in possession of both sets of keys and the vehicle was locked. The vehicle is dark green, bearing Pennsylvania registration: KBC4215. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Carlisle Police Department. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ This may be difficult for television anchors to accept but many jurists do question the idea that all law must come from the State. The divide between the socialists and liberals is clearly visible. Legal pluralism and radical libertarianism are well-recognised scholarly traditions. There is a consensus that the State is not the only source of law. History has many instances of pluralistic legal systems in which multiple sources of law have existed. It is strange that the Law Commission is not able to find much merit in the concept of legal pluralism. It is worried about what it has called utter confusion due to various personal laws and has circulated a list of 16 questions inviting peoples opinion on the uniform civil code (UCC). Read: Centre should firmly back uniform civil code: Shiv Sena The framers of the Constitution have used the term uniform in Article 44 and not common because common means one and same in all circumstances whatsoever and uniform means same in similar conditions. It is an erroneous perception that we have different personal laws because of religious diversity. As a matter of fact, laws differ from state to state. It seems the framers of the Constitution did not intend uniformity in the sense of one law for the whole country because the powers to legislate in respect of personal laws have been given to both Parliament and the assemblies. Read: Jain girl death row: Religion cant be a licence to deny right to life Even all Hindus in the country are not governed by one law. Marriage among close relatives is prohibited in the north but is permitted in the south. It is also true for the Muslims and Christians. The Constitution protects the local customs of Nagaland. Similar protection is enjoyed by the people in Meghalaya and Mizoram. Let us take Goa, as an example. It is repeatedly mentioned that Goa has a UCC. But then the Hindus of Goa are still governed by the Portuguese family and succession laws. The reformed Hindu law of 1955-56 is not applicable to them. Unreformed Shastric Hindu law on marriage, divorce, adoption and joint family is very much valid. The same is true for the Goan Muslims because the Shariat Act of 1937 has not been extended to Goa. Thus, they are governed by Portuguese law as well as Shastric Hindu law and not by Muslim personal law. It is shocking to note that the Special Marriage Act, which is a sort of a progressive civil code, has also not been extended to Goa. Even in Jammu and Kashmir, local Hindu law statutes differ from central enactments. The Shariat Act of 1937 is not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir either, and thus the Muslims continue to be governed by customary law, which, in many ways, is at variance with Muslim personal law. Read: Triple talaq row: Theres scope for reconciliation between Islam, modernity The universality of the law is not an end in itself as the right to cultural relativism is a recognised human right . Amendments to a communitys personal law with a view to bringing about changes for its betterment are one thing. But tinkering with the enactment for the sole purpose of introducing uniformity is another. The former may be an act of reform while the latter a piece of arbitrary action that may attract the disapproval of the community and create polarisation. A just code would be better than a UCC. A UCC cannot and should not be enacted in one go. Piecemeal reform is the only option. Faizan Mustafa is vice-chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad The views expressed are personal Four Indian classical dancers come together to retell the Ramayana; this time, from the womens perspective When you think of the Ramayana, the agency lies with the men Ram and his exile, Ravan abducting Sita, or Lakshman and Bharats brotherly love. Weve always been told the tale with the men as protagonists, through their point of view. But what happens when we focus on the story from womens perspective? A premiering dance production, Tejasa Women of Ramayana, tells the stories of four women from the Ramayana: Sita, Kaikeyi, Surpanakha and Mandodari, through various Indian classical dances. The production is directed and conceptualised by Padma Shri-winning Odissi dancer, Ranjana Gauhar, who also plays the role of Sita. It includes dancers such as Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Uma Dogra (as Kaikeyi) performing Kathak, Mohiniyattam exponent Gopika Varma (as Surpankha), and Deepika Reddy (as Mandodari) performing Kuchipudi. Also read: From kuchipudi to rock music, Bhavana Reddy has done it all Dogra is a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee and has been performing kathak for the last four decades. (Photos courtesy: NCPA) Ramayana would have been a dull story without its women. But nobody gave them an independent voice in any version of the epic, says 59-year-old Dogra. The Kathak dancer has been practising the form for the last four decades. Kaikeyi pitching for Bharat as king was a key point in the story. But not many know the reason behind it, Dogra says about the character she plays. The reason, she believes, was that king Dasaratha had married Kaikeyi only because he wanted a child from her. Kaikeyis father agreed to the marriage on the condition that Dasaratha would make their future son the king. It was only fair for her to ask for Bharat to be crowned king, says the dancer, who believes Kaikeyis character is often misrepresented. Dogra chose to play the part of Kaikeyi as she was fascinated with her. (Photos courtesy: NCPA) When the script was discussed, Dogra chose to play the part of Kaikeyi as it fascinated her. This is not Dogras first brush with the Ramayana. As a teenager, she had played the role of Mandodari (Ravans wife) in Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendras Ramlila in Delhi, she recalls. I was too young then to play Kaikeyis part as it required a certain level of maturity. But her character would move me, she says. Dogra has taken reference from Ramcharitmanas (an ancient poem on the Ramayana), by Tulsidas, to explain her character better in the narration. Along with her co-dancers, she also read several versions of the epic, from Nepal and Taiwan, to understand the story and characters in depth. Read more: Experimental cinema of the 60s meets contemporary kathak and flamenco Even though each of the dancers choreographed their bits individually, the rehearsals and reading sessions of the script were held jointly. It is a well-researched piece and not our interpretation of the story, says Dogra. Be there: Tejasa Women of Ramayana will be staged on October 20, 7pm Where: Experimental Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point Tickets: Rs 400 onward on bookmyshow.com/event In the present times, anything related to Pakistan is being banned or slammed. This includes the artists who were invited to perform here and the films which were to be screened at festivals in the city. At one particular film festival, however, the Pakistani film will be showcased, as scheduled since the fest highlights the need for peace. To propagate the message of non-violence, Ekta Foundation Trust, International Gandhian Initiative for Non-violence and Peace, and Enable India Foundation have organised the Peace Builders International Film Festival in the Capital. 23 short films, documentaries, animated films, and fictions are being premiered at the festival highlighting the contribution of women in non-violence. Lyari Notes, a documentary based on the narrative of four young girls is set in Karachi and is directed by Maheen Zia and Miriam Chandy from Pakistan and India respectively. Anupama Srinivasan, festival co-director says, The idea behind showcasing Lyari Notes as the concluding film is to tell people that both countries can go hand in hand and work together. In the documentary four girls from Karachi learnt music, so it also highlights a positive image of the country and a change a perception. She refuses to comment on Pakistani movies being banned at almost every other film festival in the Capital. I dont want to say anything about it. People have different point of views. I believe that any conflict can be solved at the round table conference, says Srinivasan. The films co-director who is from Pakistan, was also invited to cross over the border and talk about the film, but the organisers decided against it at the last minute. Due to the ongoing tussle between two countries, we thought it prudent to not invite her right now. But we hope that the peace between two countries grow, says Aaradhana Kohli Kapur, festival co-director. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Nothing is more precious than life. But the bravehearts value the glory and honour of the motherland above everything else. They hardly think twice before making the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty while defending our borders. We owe our security and comfort to them. No word is capable enough to pay gratitude to these heroes. These words come from chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in his blog on the Shaurya Smarak built at Arera Hills to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Chouhan said he always cherished a dream about a grand and unique Shaurya Smarak in Bhopal to apprise people, especially the younger generation of the valour and sacrifices made by the sentinels of our borders besides infusing a spirit of patriotism in them. In consultation with experts, the picturesque Arera hills was selected for site of the memorial that will be convenient to the citizens of both old and new Bhopal. Years of hard work and fine workmanship have made it possible, he added. He said our history was replete with glorious sagas of brave sons and daughters of the land. They were household names and favourite characters of our folklores. These all symbolised our gratitude to them. He said it was a matter of pride for them that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was going to dedicate the memorial. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar would also grace the function. Our endeavour is to ensure presence of chiefs of three forces of the country on this historic occasion, he said. Ex-servicemen want pension hike for World War II veterans As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reaching Bhopal on Friday, ex-servicemen in Madhya Pradesh are hopeful that there would be immediate upward revision of the pension of World War II veterans. There are 318 World War II veterans and martyr widows in Madhya Pradesh, and they get `4,000 per month as pension. They demand the pension be revised to `6,500 per month. The pension is extremely low, and they are not able to lead a decent life with the amount, one of the members of MP Sainik Welfare Organisation said. The Prime Minister is scheduled to address ex-servicemen in Bhopal on Friday evening and may make some feel-good announcements at the rally. We are not interested in political announcements. Most of the things announced by the PM are not implemented, the official said. We need to show our respect to the World War II veterans, the official said. The World War II battles fought in Imphal and Kohima have recently been rated as the worlds deadliest battles, he said. The Sainik Welfare Board officials are of the opinion that if the PM fails to make any commitment on the revision of the pensions of the World War II veterans, at least the chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, should announce it. After all, the World War II veterans are pride of Madhya Pradesh, and he (the CM) will have to respect them, the official said. Dennis OConnor knew he was going to be drafted. In March of 1970, a friend of mine who was draft 254 got drafted. My number was 256, so on May 27, 1970 I enlisted because I figured my number was up, OConnor said. I served until May of 1985 when I was put out on a medical discharge. Originally from Los Angeles, OConnor came to Carlisle to work at Carlisle Barracks as a civilian. He retired from the War College in 2003. He now lives in Mechanicsburg. OConnor enlisted to be an Aircraft Repair Parts Specialist, 76 Tango, and served in Vietnam from December of 1970 to December 1971. I didnt even think about Vietnam until I got out of AIT (Advanced Individual Training) and then my whole class went to Vietnam, he said. They were short of 76 Tangos. I was pretty surprised to get assigned to Vietnam. They kept us in a holding company for two weeks waiting for one guy to turn eighteen because they couldnt send a 17 year-old to Vietnam. As soon as he turned 18 we got on the bus. We had two weeks leave, then straight to Vietnam. Normally people got 30 days of leave before going, but we were so critically short that we got only two weeks. OConnor departed out of Oakland Army Deport, flying eventually out of Alaska. He then flew into Japan, then to Bien Hoa airbase. My first thought on arrival was What they hell have I gotten myself into? he said. We got on a bus to Long Binh and heard the sound of rockets or jet engines overhead, and everyone was looking out to see what it was, and the driver said Those arent jets, thats outgoing artillery. Watch that hill over there. And we all watched and a moment later the hill disappeared under the bombardment. It was a VC training camp, we were told. OConnor joined a liaison team in Saigon to work on this team at the Aviation Material Management Center under the 34th Support Group, where he spent three months. His main duty included obtaining high-priority parts, including rotor blades for UH-1 helicopters. We had to go to Long Binh to the open storage depot. There was a Chief Warrant Officer 4 there who was equivalent to a Brigadier General as far as his power went, OConnor said. We went through the open storage area, and here were stacks and stacks of these rotor blades, and we got the stock number. I mentioned to my driver, Sgt. Mack, that I noticed those rotor blades were back ordered and we couldnt get them. They were necessary because we have hundreds of aircraft that needed these rotor blades. So I went into this Warrant Officers office. Hes a gruff old guy. I wish I could remember his name. And he told us that we were full of crap, there werent any rotor blades out there, his stock control computer didnt show any in stock. So we took him out to the storage yard and showed him where they were about 100 of them. Anyway, we got them on the next flight out, and he quit using their computers after that and went back to the card index. OConnor said the only time he had guard duty came during the week of Tet in 1971 when he was a perimeter guard for the open storage area. So the first night of guard duty I was a little nervous, OConnor said. I had a captain who was Special Forces that was the duty officer that night. He came out with a fancy rifle with a night scope, and he swept the area and it was clean. So we relaxed. But on the night of Tet you have to understand: we use red tracers. The VC and NVA use red tracers. The night of Tet, all hell broke loose at midnight. It was just firing in the air. All these Vietnamese were having a ball celebrating the New Year. But the thing that was scary was that there were more green tracers than red tracers. And thatll get you nervous. OConnor said he got even more nervous during a mortar attack. One time I got done with one 16 hour shift, it was midnight ... I was in there taking a shower, and it was ice cold water, he said. I took 365 cold showers. I dont take cold showers anymore; I swore when I left country I would never take a cold shower again. So, just as I lifted my leg up to wash my foot a round went off. They sent in three or four mortar rounds that landed on our runway and blew some holes in it. I was just harassment, but we were close enough that the concussion knocked my on my butt. I high-tailed it out of the latrine to my hooch. By the time the third round went off I was in my hooch; I got my steel pot, put my pants on, got my flak jacket, and was in the bunker. I hauled it down the company street buck naked. I didnt care; I needed my steel pot and flak jacket. According to Dennis, the food for most of his tour was horrible. We ate water buffalo seven days a week, he said. They said it was roast beef, but Im convinced it was water buffalo. He and his buddies started liberating c-rations to avoid the chow hall. For the last three months I was there we ate c-rations. They couldnt figure out where they c-rations were going, so they put a chain link fence around and on top so we couldnt get in, he said. They didnt bolt it to the floor though, so we got a forklift, picked it up, got the c-rations, and set it back down. Now these were dated 1949, and this was 1971, so you do the math. But they were still edible and better than the chow hall. OConnor said all in all it was a good tour. I was fortunate, he said. I had some post-traumatic stress and dealt with survivors guilt for a long time, but Im pretty well over that. My wife says I have some violent dreams, but I cant remember them. I was going to extend for six months, but I had the occasion to go to the USO to use the phones and talk to my parents, and they talked me out of it. In retrospect Im glad they did. My unit was disbanded and moved up to Pleiku. They got hit pretty hard in the spring offensive. So I might not have survived that. Coming how was a unique experience. I couldnt talk to my parents about it, so I had no one to talk to. So I didnt enjoy my leave. My friends didnt know where I was coming from, so I couldnt talk to them. Dennis does say much about his experiences with the anti-war movement, but when the subject came up his wife commented: I dont think anyone who served and wears the uniform of our nation deserves to be spit upon. The Vietnamese people were good people. We did them wrong. We should have fought that war to the end. We didnt, we quit on them. Ill never feel good about that. But I dont have to answer for that, the politicians do. Karan Johars upcoming movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ran into a storm of trouble on Friday after a prominent national theatre owners association refused to screen the film because of Pakistani actor Fawad Khans presence. A stream of Twitter users, some from the industry, shared their opinions on the issue: One exhibitor tells us he anyway feels #Shivaay will do more business in single screens. Has the #ADHM ban got to do anything with that? Rohit Khilnani (@rohitkhilnani) October 14, 2016 . @NihalaniPahlaj says Nobody has the right to ban @karanjohar's #ADHM This decision is only against Karan Johar. Rohit Khilnani (@rohitkhilnani) October 14, 2016 . @MaheshNBhatt asks is the country going to be run by the rule of law or by mood swings and the whims of handful of people #ADHM Rohit Khilnani (@rohitkhilnani) October 14, 2016 Enough is enough! @karanjohar should release #ADHM online... He'll get a huge response! Let us call the bluff of the pseudo patriots! Agnivo Niyogi (@Aagan86) October 14, 2016 In a major setback to #ADHM , The COEAI - West India Single screens Association decides to not to screen Movies staring Pakistani actors.. Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) October 14, 2016 #AeDilHaiMushkil is an Indian film with Indian actors & crew except 2 Pakistani actors. By obstructing it's release you harm your own film. Harneet Singh (@Harneetsin) October 14, 2016 Not screening #Aedilhaimushkil is not a solution to cross border terrorism !! Decision taken by the Cinema owners association is ridiculous. Harneet Singh (@Harneetsin) October 14, 2016 The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association told media on Friday they decided to not screen any movie with Pakistani artistes, directors or technicians a response to worsening ties with the neighbouring country and an attack on army base in Kashmir by alleged Pakistani militants that killed 19 soldiers. We have decided to not screen films with Pakistani actors, association vice-president Nitin Datar was quoted as saying by ANI. The association comprises of mostly single-screen theatres and media reports said the decision will affect the movies business in Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Keeping in mind patriotic feelings and national interest, we request all members to refrain from screening these. We will also request other associations to do the same. The highly anticipated movie starring Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Fawad Khan and Anushka Sharma was slated for a Diwali release but has been in trouble since bilateral ties plummeted with Pakistan. Filmmaker Karan Johars upcoming film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, is in deep waters again. The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association had decided to not screen the film, starring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and parts of Karnataka. Industry experts feel, if this is implemented, it can mean a loss of Rs 5-6 crore for the film. The associations vice president Nitin Dattar, said the decision was taken keeping the public sentiment in mind. We have decided to not screen films with Pakistani actors. Keeping in mind patriotic feelings and national interest, we request all members to refrain from screening it. Well also request other associations to do the same, he said. A still from the film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, starring actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor. The film has been made with a budget of Rs 55 crore. Talk of losses, and trade analyst Atul Mohan says: I dont think this is going to happen with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. You cant put a break on a film which is ready for release. Let the producers association take the call. All these things are coming last minute for everyone. Trade analyst Amul Mohan, too, says its not a valid decision, and that the states named so far fall under the Mumbai territory of films. When the film was being made, things were not this bad. I dont buy into this situation of not release at all. These are all single screen theatres that are taking a stand. Multi-screens will not be affected, he says. However, if it is executed, Amul Mohan says then it would definitely cause a big loss to the film. The film is distributed by Fox studios and they have already started distributing on advance money basis. It will not be easy for distributors to say no to them. Also, it is important to understand that for theatres, it is not about rejecting one Dharma Production film but saying no to many Fox films, which include many Hollywood movies as well, he says. Film distributor Rajesh Thadani says, Whatever is the business of the film in the Mumbai territory, the film can suffer at least 25% loss. It depends on how many theatres abide by the decision. A spokesperson for the film refused to comment on the matter. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Reliance Communications (RCOM), Indias fourth-biggest cellular carrier by customer base, said on Friday it signed a non-binding term sheet with Brookfield Infrastructure Group to sell its tower assets in a deal that could fetch it an upfront Rs 11000 crore. Sources close to the company said RCOM will retain 49% stake in the tower business, a complete exit will considered in future. This money will be entirely used for reducing debt on the books of RCOM. It would also get 49% future economic upside from the tower business, based on certain conditions, the company, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said in a statement. The statement also said that RCOM expects considerable value creation in the next couple of years, in view of likely significant growth in tenancies owing to spread of 4G networks. RCOMs debt currently stands over Rs 42000 crore. With the proposed merger of the airwave business with Aircel, Rs 14000 crore of this will be hived off to the new entity. The stake sale in the tower business will immediately reduce this debt by Rs 11000 crore. Another Rs 8000 crore will be garnered from hiving off the Indian fibre assets and land monetisation. So Rs 9000 crore will remain as debt. We have 49% stake with us in the tower business, which we will sell at a later stage. So the remaining debt will also be made good, said a company executive who did not wish to be named. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group has for long been in the lookout to sell their tower business. This move will also reduce the Groups consolidated debt that currently is at Rs 108000 crore. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Indias second largest software services exporter, Infosys, pulled down is revenue growth guidance for the current financial year to 8-9%, making it the second revision since it opened the year with a 11.5-13.5% forecast. Just a few weeks back Infosys had shrunk the revenue growth projection for the year to 10.5-12%. It was widely expected within the investing community that Infosys might further push down its growth projection to 9-9.5% in its results announcements Friday, but the company made it even lower. In response, its stock fell 5% in morning trade. For the second quarter ended September 2016, Infosys reported a 4.9% jump in net profit on a quarter to quarter basis and 6.1% on a yearly basis to Rs 3,606 crore. Revenues during the quarter grew by 3.1% (quarter on quarter) and 10.7 per cent (year on year) to Rs 17,310 crore. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said, Considering our performance in the first half of the year and the near-term uncertain business outlook, we are revising our revenue guidance. Longer-term, I believe its increasingly clear that our industrys future lies in evolving from a cost-based, people-only model, to one in which people are amplified by software and AI (artificial intelligence), and are freed to innovate in areas that are strategic to our clients future. And in this all-important transformation, I am glad to see us make continued progress. On Thursday, Indias largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services reported a 4.3% increase in net profit at Rs 6,586 crore for the second quarter while it grew 8.8% on a year on year basis. Revenue growth during the quarter was nearly flat (0.1%) with total earnings at Rs Rs 29,284 crore, but grew at 7.8% on a year on year basis. N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS said: It has been an unusual Q2 for TCS. Growing uncertainties in the environment is creating caution among customers and resulted in holdbacks in discretionary spending this quarter. In additional, volatility in markets like India and Latin America also muted revenue growth. It has been a good quarter from a profitability perspective where despite multiple headwinds our disciplined approach and focus on operations has helped us deliver a strong margin performance. For the first quarter ending June 2016, Infosys had reported a 4.5% decline in net profit to Rs 3,436 crore but recorded a year on year growth of 13.4 per cent. Revenue for the first quarter (against first quarter of last fiscal) grew by 1.4% quarter on quarter and 16.9% year on year to Rs 16,782 crore. Quarterly operating profits declined by 4.1% to Rs 4,047 crore but grew 17.4% year on year. Indias third largest software services exporter Wipro is scheduled to annoucnce its second quarter results on next Friday (October 21). India lost almost a billion dollars from internet shutdowns over the past year, more than any other country during the same time period, according to a study released last week by the Brookings Institution. The study, which looked at 19 countries that deliberately cut off access to the web between July 2015 and June 2016, found that India shut down the internet for about 70 days. Even though places like Morocco and ISIS-controlled Syria shut down the internet for a lot more days, the impact on the economy was the worst for India. To calculate the economic impact of internet shutdowns, Darrell M. West, the studys author, accounted for each countrys gross domestic product as well as the size of its digital economy and the duration of internet shut downs. The studys findings undercut the governments Digital India campaign, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last July, which seeks to expand internet access across the country and improve digital literacy. Internet shutdowns in India have become more common since 2014, according to Dr. S. Amar Prasad Reddy, Additional Director General at National Cyber Safety and Security Standards, corresponding with the increased popularity of mobile applications like WhatsApp and Viber. With WhatsApp, its very easy to spread misinformation, Reddy said. But since the company doesnt have a nodal officer in India, its very difficult for the agencies to trace the criminals. When criminal suspects use these services to communicate, police agencies sometimes resort to shutting down the internet for everyone. To shut down the internet anywhere in the country, usually the police or state government file a request with the states Department of Telecommunications. The department then orders the internet service provider Airtel, Tata, BSNL, and so on to cut the data. Decisions to cut off the internet are often ill-conceived. In February, for example, the Gujarat State Subsidiary Selection Board was worried about cheating during the Revenue Accountant Recruitment Exam. Rather than simply banning applicants from bringing electronic devices into the examination room, the board shut down the internet across the state. Internet access is important for a citizen to exercise his fundamental right to freedom of expression , said Prashanth Sugathan of Software Freedom Law Centre India, an organization that advocates for greater internet freedom. It is unjustifiable to curtail this right for frivolous reasons like for preventing cheating in examinations. Sometimes, the government shut down the internet in an attempt to diffuse violent situations, such as the unrest following militant Burhan Wanis death in Jammu and Kashmir. J&K has seen more internet shutdowns in the past three years than any other state, though the governments of Gujarat and Haryana both resorted to internet shutdowns during the civil unrest over reservations this past year. It is not clear that the remedy fits that objective, West told the Hindustan Times in an email. There are ways to reduce violence without damaging the digital economy. Leaders should understand that digital shutdowns generate serious economic costs that are growing over time. Dr. Reddy agreed. Whatever may be the crisis, shutting down the internet should never be an option, he said. Instead, enforcement agencies should update their skills in dealing with cyber crimes. The crackdown on black money is not over. With the scheme for voluntary disclosure of unaccounted for wealth now closed, tax officials have launched a drive to unearth hidden incomes and are looking at transactions carried out beyond a six-year ceiling under existing rules, sources said. The tax department can scan transactions older than six years by invoking clause 197C of the Finance Act, 2016. This clause was introduced to crack down on black money, said a finance ministry official, who did not wish to be named. An offender, depending on the amount or assets seized, could end up paying a tax as high as 75% and could also be jailed, sources said. Officials are scrutinising the records of those who they believe did not come clean and are hiding undisclosed wealth. While the I-T law allows a check of income of the last six years, the Finance Act, under which the disclosure scheme was brought in, and foreign undisclosed assets act allow authorities to inspect records older than six years. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had promised a war on black money. The latest move comes ahead of elections in five states. Within months of coming to power, the Modi government, on the orders of the Supreme Court, set up a special investigation team to probe ill-gotten wealth. The SIT can examine transactions that are 14 years old. I-T notices are already being sent. A few weeks ago, Sushmita Biswas was asked about the sale of her ancestral house in a posh locality of Kolkata. Biswas got in touch with chartered accountants and lawyers, who told her she had no reason to worry as the house was sold in 2001. But, they were wrong. We can catch an offender with black money generated even 40 years back or even further ago, a tax official said. Ambiguity had arisen as the finance act gave tax officials the power to go beyond six years, Manoj Fadnis, former president, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, said. but, the I-T act allows them to open cases only for the current year and go back six years...to avoid litigations and bring in clarity, it is important to amend the IT act too, Fadnis said. The confusion would end with the next budget when law would be changed to end ambiguity surrounding old cases, the tax official said. Critics dub the move as unfair, saying tax has to be paid on the current valuation of a transaction even if made decades back. Black money does not become white if it is not discovered by the tax department for a certain period of time. Therefore, discovery of undisclosed income from a past period will lead to action under the income tax laws as applicable today, said Manoj Kumar, a legal expert and managing partner, Hammurabi and Solomon. A disclosure of Rs 65,250 crore was made during the four-month black money disclosure scheme that ended September 30. It will earn the government around Rs 30,000 crore in taxes. Saudi Arabia and Japans SoftBank Group said they will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, aiming to create one of the worlds largest private equity funds. The plan is part of a series of dramatic business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries. SoftBanks founder and chairman Masayoshi Son, who has built his company into a $68 billion telecommunications and tech investment behemoth from a $50,000 start-up, has been seeking to expand in new areas. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabias top sovereign wealth fund, is set to be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next five years while SoftBank expects to invest at least $25 billion, the Japanese company said in a statement. Several other large investors are in talks on their possible participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion. The investors were not identified. With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally. Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector, SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son said. The fund would be managed in Britain by a subsidiary of SoftBank. Saudi Arabia and Japans SoftBank Group said they will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, aiming to create one of the worlds largest private equity funds. The plan is part of a series of dramatic business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries. SoftBanks founder and chairman Masayoshi Son, who has built his company into a $68 billion telecommunications and tech investment behemoth from a $50,000 start-up, has been seeking to expand in new areas. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabias top sovereign wealth fund, is set to be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next five years while SoftBank expects to invest at least $25 billion, the Japanese company said in a statement. Several other large investors are in talks on their possible participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion. The investors were not identified. With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally. Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector, SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son said. The fund would be managed in Britain by a subsidiary of SoftBank. Investment power Saudi Arabias Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, leading an economic reform drive in the kingdom, has revealed a string of high-profile investment plans this year. He has said he aims to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the kingdom and until this year little known abroad, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion, making it the worlds largest sovereign fund. In June, the PIF departed from Saudi Arabias traditional strategy of low-risk investments and took a step into the tech world by announcing the $3.5 billion purchase of a stake in U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber. The deal illustrated how Riyadh now hopes to use its investments to develop the economy: Uber is a popular form of transport for Saudi women, who are banned from driving, and is creating badly needed non-oil jobs for Saudi citizens. SoftBanks tech and telecommunications portfolio ranges from U.S. carrier Sprint to a stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Its $32 billion purchase of British company ARM in July established its first major presence in chip making, driven by expectations for a shift to the so-called internet of things networks of connected devices, vehicles and sensors. Son said earlier this year that he wanted to cement SoftBank 2.0 by working on unconventional ideas. New Delhi Going by the buzz, the Ruias are selling most of their stake in Essar Oil to a group led by Russian oil giant Rosneft a big deal that will be the panacea for their ills of debt. Essar Oil is the second-largest private refiner in India and sells fuel through its 2,470 filling stations. Rosneft s board was meeting late Thursday night in Moscow and was tipped to decide on the acquisition. There was an announcement earlier this year that Rosneft would buy 49% equity. But it seems the deal would not have been enough to address the debt mountain of around Rs 88,000 crore (as of March 31, 2016) the Essar group is buried under. Later it offered 74% to Rosneft, but the Russian company faces sanctions from the US and its majority holding in Ess ar Oil would have created problems for the Indian company and its lenders. Indian banks have a debt exposure of Rs 27,000 crore to Essar Oil. The buzz started in the morning, with a front page report in a financial daily that the Ruias were selling a controlling stake in Essar Oil to Rosneft and a smaller stake to commodities trader Trafigura. The stamp of near-confirmation came when people representing Essar started to invite journalists to Goa on Saturday for a big press conference. Given that Russian president Vladimir Putin is in Goa for the BRICS summit, it would make sense for a Russian company to use the opportunity for a big announcement. The Essar group refused to comment, but that did not deter news agencies from going to town with the news. Reuters said a group led by R osneft will acquire Essar Oil in a $12-$13 billion deal, including debt. Rosneft will get 49% the two investorsTrafigura and a Russian fund UCP will hold the remaining 49% in equal parts. Russia, the news agency said, is keen to develop and deepen its Soviet-era economic ties with India at a time when its own economy is stagnant. Press Trust of India, for its part, gave a more guarded estimate, putting the deal size at $7 billion deal, and named Rosneft, Trafigura, and some financial investors as the buyers. Essar refused to comment on the media reports. Seoul Electronics said on Thursday it has expanded its recall of Galaxy Note7 smartphones in the US to include all replacement devices the company offered as a presumed safe alternative after the original Note7s were found prone to catch fire. The move announced on the websites of Samsung and the Consumer Product Safety Commission Thursday came after Samsung announced earlier this week that it was discontinuing the product following reports that the replacements also were overheating. The product safety agency said that 1.9 million original and replacement Galaxy Note7 smartphones are subject to the expanded recall in the US, including 1 million Note7 phones sold after Samsungs first round of recall on September 15. The agency said there were 96 reports of batteries in Note7 phones overheating in the country, including 23 new reports since the first recall announcement last month. The company received 13 reports of burns and 47 reports of property damages associated with the phones. The problem with the replacements is still unclear. Experts say Samsung may have rushed to conclude the Note7s problem was a battery issue and it may take a long time to find the real cause. Seeking to retain customers, Samsung is giving an incentive of a $100 (Rs 6,650) credit to Note 7 owners who switch to another Samsung phone. The Note7, which was among the most expensive smartphones in the market, was sold for between $850 (55,525) and $890 (59,185). Meanwhile, the chief of Samsung Electronics mobile division Koh Dong-jin is believed to have vowed restore confidence and trust in the quality of the firms products. Dong-jin sent an email A letter to our executives and staff members in which he noted that as the chief of the division, I myself cant help feeling frustrated. I promise to identify the fundamental cause at any cost so that all of our customers can restore trust in Samsungs products and use them pleasantly, he said. This was the first time an executive responsible for the Note7 commented publicly regarding the issue. OKLAHOMA CITY Residents of five states may be barred from boarding a commercial flight using a drivers license beginning in 2018 because of their states refusal to comply with national proof-of-identity requirements. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wednesday that it rejected requests from Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maine, Pennsylvania and South Carolina for an extension to comply with the federal Real ID Act. The law, passed in 2005 in response to the 9/11 attacks, imposes tougher requirements for proof of legal U.S. residency in order for state drivers licenses to be valid for federal purposes. Three other states Minnesota, Missouri and Washington were previously notified that they are not in compliance with federal law. Twenty-three other states and the District of Columbia are in compliance, while others are under review or have been granted limited extensions, DHS reported on its website . The 9/11 hijackers obtained valid identification cards from various states, according to the FBI, and a commission that reported on the attacks recommended the federal government develop standards for issuing identification cards as a way to help prevent terrorism and fraud. Starting Jan. 30, 2017, federal agencies and nuclear power plants may not accept for official purposes drivers licenses and state IDs from a noncompliant state/territory without an extension, DHS spokesman Aaron Rodriguez said in a statement. Beginning in January 2018, drivers licenses from noncompliant states will not be accepted to board a commercial aircraft within the U.S., Rodriguez said. Among the requirements that some states have failed to meet are documentation such as Social Security numbers, retaining copies or digital images of applications and source documents, and including approved security markings on drivers licenses. Opposition in many states, including Oklahoma, stems from a concern the federal government is overstepping its authority and gathering too much data from its citizens. Theyre really pressing this because it will morph into a national ID, which none of us really want, said Rep. Lewis Moore, a Republican from Arcadia who has opposed the states compliance with Real ID. Thats why the majority of the states have been fighting back and resisting. We feel like were getting strong-armed. States have been granted multiple extensions since the law went into effect a decade ago. Jim Harper, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based CATO Institute, a libertarian leaning think-tank, said he doesnt believe the federal government ultimately will follow through on its threat to prevent Americans from non-compliant state from boarding commercial flights. I think states should stay the course, said Harper, who voiced concern about the amount of information that will be stored in the motor vehicle database, including digital copies of peoples birth certificates, social security cards and driving records. If you compare the national security benefit to the identity fraud risk, Real ID is a loser. But when vendors are unable to make deliveries at military installations or citizens find out they are unable to board an airline because of a states refusal to comply with the law, people are going to be angry, said Sen. David Holt, an Oklahoma Republican who worked on a compromise bill last year that passed the Senate but got held up in the House. The reality of these inconveniences may cause that murmur to become a roar, Holt said. Teflon, as we know, is a synthetic compound thats useful for coating kitchen utensils like those non-stick pots and pans. For over 16 months since he announced his candidacy for president of the United States, Donald Trump, now the Republican Partys nominee, showed a Teflon tenacity even as everyone threw the kitchen sink at him. None of the dirt stuck, at least never enough. But even Teflon has a melting point. Given the heat generated by Trumps intemperate language caught on tape and broadcast repeatedly, it may finally be here. That eventuality always seemed inevitable. The real October surprise is that it took this long. Read | GOP cant take credit for disowning Trump after years of feeding crazy: Obama As a sleazequake rattles the foundations of his campaign (revelations delivered daily), the reality is it was always on very shaky ground. The reason for this is that Trump, possibly the richest candidate in US presidential election history, is also the cheapest. Self-funding was a fine mantra for the primaries, driven as they are by partisans. When it comes to the general election, what matters is a Get Out The Vote or GOTV operation, which has, in part, made it in recent cycles, a billion dollar race. This is also true for successful campaigns in India. For instance, during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, potential voters were contacted multiple times, in person as party workers went door-to-door handing out voting slips, and via calls and text message reminders. In the case of the BJP, this effort was bolstered by the RSS apparatus, an outreach that added the extra percentages needed for victory. Read | O Trump! Keep Jerusalem out of your politics Its just as significant, if not more, in the United States, with a dozen or so swing states deciding who gets to occupy the Oval Office. Republicans once led in GOTV efforts, like when Karl Rove managed George W Bushs campaigns. Barack Obamas 2008 machine brought in analytics and targeting and an army of volunteers to supplement his popular appeal. That calculus worked four years later in a far more difficult contest against Mitt Romney. According to the psephological site FiveThirtyEight, Obamas campaign had 790 field offices in the country, nearly 500 more than Romneys, and that ratio was also reflected in critical states like Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, which may again be decisive this year. After all, how many purple states go Democrat blue or Republican red changes the complexion of the contests outcome. Trump may boast of having spent over $100 million of his own money since he started campaigning in the summer of 2015 (down, curiously enough, from the $150 million figure he totted up and touted a few months earlier), but he has only about 180 offices, just about a third of what Hillary Clintons campaign has opened. Theres a level of cheapness to the Trump election project thats startling. Read | Trumps reputation his own doing: NYT says no libel, wont retract story Trump ran his primary campaigns in many states, as senior Republican strategists have pointed out, as prefab outfits, remote controlled from New York. He was relying upon the Republican Party, its state units and experienced political operatives to compensate for his lack of willingness to invest in mobilisation. Many of those hes dismissed as party elites have dumped him and left his campaign with little by way of turning out shy voters or leaners, let alone convincing Democrats to switch. That is similar to expecting Narendra Modi to win power with much of the Sangh or a large section of BJP workers disinterested in supplying the manpower to fuel the turnout. Trumps team has bungled the basics. Its as organised as the candidate is articulate in a presidential debate. Trump keeps pleading with those attending his rallies to work as his cohorts. Even if the situation improves by November 8, according to estimates, a third of the electorate will have voted early. Read | Over 70% Muslims voters want to vote for Hillary Clinton, only 4% favour Trump: Survey Whether Trump survives his eruptions of political pornography is doubtful, but lack of a great ground game will surely bring his campaign crashing to earth. But what his hot mic train wreck may have accomplished is to turn a predictable defeat into a possible debacle. Anirudh Bhattacharyya is a Toronto-based commentator on American affairs The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Accusing the Delhi government of being in cahoots with app-based cab operators, auto and taxi unions announced on Thursday they will hold a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan next month. Delhi s auto and taxi union son Thursday staged a protest against at Jan tar Man tar against the government s alleged in action against app-based cab companies. Auto drivers, who took a day off from their duty to participate in the agitation, said they are now disillusioned by the Kejriwal-led government. We had supported the Aam Aadmi Party to an extent where we paid from our own pockets for their campaign. Now when our earnings are being eaten up by cab operators, the government has turned its back, said Hira Lal, an auto driver who came from Najafgarh. As many as 46,000 challans were issued to auto drivers for pasting posters for AAPs campaign while around 6,500 permits were locked, claimed Sanjay Chawla who acted as a coordinator between the AAP and auto drivers in the run-up to the 2015 assembly elections. After the rally at Ramlila Maidan, we will also send a group of about 1,000 auto drivers to Punjab where the AAP is contesting elections to let people know of the in justice done to us , Chawla said. On the one hand, the government says it is keeping strict vigil on these companies which are not even registered, on the other, it makes them an official partner of its Delhi Summer Festival he said. Joining their protest was Bijwasan MLA Colonel Devinder Sehrawat who criticized the Delhi government of doing nothing when cab aggregators have amassed crores of revenue through surge pricing. These companies have such disdain for the law that they are not even comp lying with the Delhi High Court order which disallows them to charge more than the government notified fares , Se hrawat said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that their fares would be revised on April 1 every year. He had also constituted a four-member fare-fixation committee which was supposed to come up with a formula that will be used every year to revise fares automatically. However, the All Delhi AutoTaxi Transport Congress Union also said that such a hike was unlikely. But the union is planning a protest against cab aggregators sometime around Diwali. A protest is planned and we are also in talks with Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Maken for moving court against these cab aggregators. But, we do not want any fare revision in auto-rickshaws or our economy taxis, said Kishan Verma, president of ADATTCU. He added that after the three-day strike of auto-rickshaw drivers in July, the government had also offered to revise auto fares, but unions unanimously refused the proposal. Last revised in 2013, the base fare for autos is Rs 25 for the first two kilometers and Rs 8 for every subsequent kilometer. Government officials confirmed the development. Fares are not going to be increased any time soon as the unions themselves do not want it. Their concern about cab aggregators are being dealt by the committee, constituted under the directions of the Delhi High Court, an official said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON GURGAON: A murder convict in Gurgaons Bhondsi jail has developed a software for tracking and managing staff in a prison that houses about 50 gangsters from Haryana and the national capital region, which includes New Delhi. Rohit Pagare, serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, came up with Staff Tracking and Accountability Management Program (STAMP) that keeps track of 200 employees in the jail. The software gives staff duty reports and their location history in a single click. An integrated prison map provides a status report of the staff and accurate details about exposed locations, late arrivals and early departures. Pagare, who has spent nine years in the jail, gathered a team of prisoners for assembling the modules and motivated them to work together. It took four months to design and develop the software and we worked continuously for around nine hours a day to complete the task. Finally in February, this software was put on trial in Bhondsi jail, the 36-year-old said. This is not the first time Pagare has worked on such a project. In 2015, he was part of a team of inmates that designed a software for prisoner management that is being used by jails across Haryana. It was not easy for me. Being a chartered accountant, I had little knowledge about developing software. I took it as a challenge and wanted to do something creative in the prison. So I learned and spent more than 12 hours initially to learn and work on the project. Pagare has also written a 368-page novel, titled Four Friends. The need for STAMP was felt as the National Informatics Centre-based attendance system was found to be inadequate for the prison where the staff works round-the-clock. The NIC software did not have duty allocation system and couldnt report exposed locations a primary requirement for any prison. Officials said Pagares software has improved their efficiency level by 10-15% during the six-month trials. We found it extremely useful in augmenting security and improving staff efficiency. By the end of June 2017, we plan to implement this software in all prisons of Haryana, jail superintendent Harinder Singh said. The LAN-based software, which has upgrades for internet reporting, displays the beat point to the staff the moment he marks his attendance, thus removing human subjectivity in location distribution. It is equipped with features like user-configurable prison map, salary support, a search engine, graphical displays and leave management system. The software will be scaled up to include streaming from IP surveillance cameras, face detection and identification, guard patrolling systems, and RFID monitoring. Singh said the Haryana prisons department has a salary budget of about `150 crore a year. The successful efficiency improvements at Bhondsi because of the software would earn a profit of between `16 and `25 crore for the department every year. Pagares software can also be customised for other departments. He is serving a sentence for smothering his wife to death in December 2007 in his flat in Sushant Lok-I. He hid her corpse for several hours in the house before stashing it in a suitcase, putting it in the car boot and driving around the city all day long. The Shri Ram College of Commerce alumni then dumped the suitcase in the bushes around 100 metres from his house. Scratch marks on his hand made police suspicious and he was arrested two days later. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: The Delhi government plans to offer `50,000 to people helping it crack down on labs conducting gender determination tests, an effort to check female foeticide in the Capital that has one of the worst sex ratios in the country. The health department will give the money to informers as well as pregnant women posing as decoy patients but only if the raid is successful, sources said. The pre-conception, pre-natal diagnostic techniques (PC-PNDT) act bans hospitals, nursing homes and clinics from using ultrasonography or any such technique to determine the gender of an unborn child. The law is aimed at arresting Indias skewed child sex ratio that dropped to 919 girls per 1,000 boys in 2011 from 927 in 2001. It translates to 38 million missing girls in a decade. For Delhi, the number was 871 in 2011 against 868 in 2001. The draft proposal for the informer reward scheme will come into effect within a few months once we get approvals from the legal and finance departments, said Dr Satyajit Kumar, Delhi state programme officer, PC-PNDT. Incentive schemes, such as the one proposed by the Delhi government, have helped states such as Haryana and Rajasthan to act against centres offering sex selection. Kumar said they were conducting raids with the help of their counterparts in Haryana, where the rewards scheme encouraged people to come forward with information. Typically, officials act on tip-offs or complaints but cases often fall flat for want of solid evidence. Raids with decoys are the most effective as video or audio recording of conversations between the woman and the doctor or the lab owners make the case strong. In raids without a decoy customer, we have to depend on documents at the centre, which can be faked and the person may get away without conviction, said Kumar. Doctors who reveal the gender of an unborn baby face a maximum of five years in jail and a fine of up to R1 lakh. The guidelines for decoy customers were ready and those for informants would be largely drawn from those for the police department, he said. There were 291 registered diagnostic centres in the city whose names and addressed were available of the Delhi governments website. Would be mothers should only visit these labs and report illegal facilities to the authorities, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: An influential Muslim body said on Thursday the BJP-led government was creating an internal war by trying to review the communitys personal laws on divorce and polygamy, setting the stage for a political showdown ahead of assembly elections in five states early next year. The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said it will resist the Centres attempt to replace diverse customary laws governing marriage, divorce and inheritance with a set of identical civil laws, the so-called uniform civil code. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told HT that the government was steadfast on its stand that triple talaq under which a man divorces his wife by saying the Urdu word for divorce three times must go. All communities have different customs and traditions. Our Constitution accepts that. Its a dangerous idea to treat them with a single yardstick. We oppose this, Maulana Wali Rehmani, a Muslim leader, said. The organisation would legally and democratically fight any attempt to have a uniform civil code, he said. The AIMPLB, an advocacy organisation, seeks to protect legal sanctions to a bunch of sharia-compliant customs governing marriage, property and divorce. The same laws also allow polygamy among Muslims. India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion and demands for overhauling these codes date back decades. Critics say triple talaq, by allowing summary divorce, discriminates against women. But successive governments have backed away from any sweeping change for fear of upsetting crucial vote banks. In recent years, many Muslim women have approached the judiciary and the Supreme Court is hearing three petitions against triple talaq. The government has told the top court that the Muslim practice of triple talaq was undesirable. The government also asked its legal think-tank, the Law Commission of India, to examine the issue of uniform civil code, which has sought public views on the matter. Muslim organisations see this as an attempt to tamper with their religious practices and have decided to boycott the consultation process. The law minister appealed to the AIMPLB to rethink its stand. This is a well thought out and considered view of the government in pursuit of gender equality and dignity of women, he said. Many Islamic countries have made provisions for arbitration and conciliation. At some places, only court decides such matters. You simply cannot say talaq-talaq-talaq. If regulating matrimonial laws in Islamic countries was not violative of the sharia, how can the same argument be raised in a secular country like India? the minister asked. Given the sectarian divide over personal laws, the fractious debate over triple talaq and a uniform civil code could polarise votes in the string of state polls due early next year. Parties like Congress and JD(U) said the idea of UCC was unimplementable and accused the BJP-led government of trying to polarise people ahead of the assembly polls. NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University has ordered a probe into the effigy burning incident on Dussehra night. Members of the Congress backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) burned effigies of Modi BJP chief chief Amit Shah, Nathuram Godse and others that day, to mark the win of truth over falsehood. We have ordered an inquiry into the incident. The chief proctor will look into the case to see if any rules were flouted, a university official said, on Thursday. It has come to our notice that on October 11, 2016, between 7.45 pm and 8.20 pm, an effigy burning protest was held at near Sabarmati dhaba without prior permission, the show-cause notice sent to a student said. NSUI said though it denounces the effigy burning, it supports the intention behind the protest by its JNU unit. Although this act does not find a place in the NSUI code of conduct, it is completely democratic and acceptable, it said in a statement. Sunny Dhiman, an NSUI member and one of the students who participated in the effigy burning said:We celebrated the victory of truth over untruth. The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into the burning of effigy of the Gujarat government and gau-rakshak (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned. There are communities who worship Ram but there are Adivasi communities who worship Ravan. So, for us it was not Ravan or Ram but a symbol of the win of truth over falsehood, Diman said. Effigy burning has existed in JNU for a really long time. Parties such as the ABVP and the AISA have burned effigies of former PM Manmohan Singh but it never invited a show-cause notice, he said. Students routinely burnt effigies of leaders earlier also to protest but now the administration sends notices at the drop of hat, he added. The effigy-burning was to symbolise our dissatisfaction with the government. The idea is to root out evil from governance and bring about a system that is pro-people, said Diman, who was NSUIs presidential candidate in the 2016 students polls. He also said no prior permission is required for effigy burning. You need permission for holding public talks but not for effigy burning, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung is likely to extend the tenure of a three-member committee that he constituted to examine irregularities and infirmities in the files of the Delhi government that were submitted to his office. The committee had been formed after an August 4 order of Delhi High Court that ruled the L-G as the administrative head of the capital. The L-G had requested the committee to submit its interim reports and recommendations pertaining to the 400 files received by his office from time to time and to submit the final report within six weeks of the first meeting. The committee had started working soon after. Though the Arvind Kejriwal government had sent about 400 files for ex-post facto approval of the L-G following the August 4 court order, the AAP leadership has expressed reservations over the scrutiny exercise alleging that it was affecting governance. Last month, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had written independently to the three-members of the committee, requesting them not to scrutinize the files as the Delhi government had challenged the Delhi High Court order in the Supreme Court. The committee, sources in the L-Gs office said, however continues to work on its mandate. Some of the major decisions taken by the L-G after the committee started working include cancellation of appointment of DERC chairman, dissolution of Delhi Wakf Board, cancellation of notification to increase circle rate of farm land and cancellation recommendation to revise minimum wages. NEW DELHI: A senior bureaucrat from Manipur, posted with a high-profile department, and his family members, became the latest victims of road rage menace in the national capital on Tuesday night. The bureaucrat, in his mid-fifties, was physically and verbally abused, and his wife and daughter molested, allegedly by a man over a minor collision between their cars at Rao Tula Ram road towards Moti Bagh flyover in south Delhi. The man allegedly misbehaved with the bureaucrats wife and daughter, grabbed their hair and pulled them out of their car. The crime occurred on a busy south Delhi stretch but nobody came forward to help the family and stop the man from sexually harassing the women. .After attacking the family, he fled the crime scene, said a police officer. The family members called the police control room and informed the police about the incident. The only help one of the onlookers did to the police was that he provided them the registration number of the attackers car. The passerby had clicked a photo of the cars registration number on his mobile phone. Police said the car bore the registration number of Punjab and it was a private vehicle. Around 11.30 PM, the family reached the Moti Bagh flyover when suddenly an Alto car grazed past their four-wheeler while overtaking. The man abruptly stopped his car in front of the familys car, blocking their way and forcing them to stop their vehicle. WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Donald Trumps remarks that he had boasted about kissing and groping women but never indulged in such actions has triggered a series of accusations of inappropriate behaviour, with at least five women saying he forced himself on them. Two Miss USA contestants have accused the Republican presidential nominee of walking into a dressing room when they were naked while CBS News reported of a 1992 video that showed Trump, then 46, looking at a group of young girls and saying he would be dating one of them in 10 years. Observers have said the latest allegations could deal another blow to the real estate moguls campaign in the aftermath of a 2005 video that featuring him bragging about kissing and groping women. Among the five women is Jessica Leeds, 74, a former businesswoman, who told The New York Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the 1980s as they sat next to each other in first class. Trump lifted the armrest and began grabbing her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt, she said. He was like an octopus. His hands were everywhere. People Magazine published an account by a staff writer who said Trump forced himself on her when she interviewed him at his residence at Mar-a-Lago in 2005. We walked into the room alone... and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat, Natasha Stoynoff wrote. Trump has denied the reports and his campaign has branded them character assassination. NEW DELHI: The construction of the much-delayed Signature Bridge over the Yamuna river on Wazirabad is nearing its end. The state government, however, is still to come up with a concrete plan to develop its surroundings. When the project was first conceptualised in 2004, it was decided that the space close to the bridge would also be developed as a picnic destination. As per a proposal, the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) was to initiate revamp on areas surrounding the bridge in second phase, soon after the completion of the bridge construction. However, the agencies concerned are yet to finalise a plan. A senior Delhi government official said the issue was flagged recently with the officials . The construction of the bridge is in its final phase and may be completed by April. There is, however, no plan to spruce up the areas surrounding the bridge, he said. The previous Sheila Dikshit government had planned recreational facilities such as water sports, boating, open-air theatre, food plazas with promenades and winding walkways at Yamuna bank to attract a larger number of tourists. The area is also to be rejuvenated as a habitat for avian and aquatic life. The project has missed several deadlines. When the AAP came to power, Delhi tourism minister Kapil Mishra had announced that he would review the project weekly. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said his questioning by the ACB for three hours was based solely on a clarification note he had signed in March and added that such probes were just aimed to stop the governments public welfare work. How am I at fault just for writing a clarification note on an official file? When I asked them, they (the anti corruption branch) had no answer, Sisodia told reporters at a press conference. Sisodia said he had clarified in the said note that as per the Delhi Commission for Women Act, 1994, the administrative and financial powers in the panel lie with the commissions member-secretary. It is a note that just clarifies the law, he added. Read more: ACB summons Delhi deputy CM Sisodia for probe into DCW appointments Earlier, the deputy chief minister appeared before the ACB regarding a case of alleged illegal recruitments in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), in which DCW chief Swati Maliwal has been booked. On September 29, the ACB registered a case against Maliwal and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, on a complaint of former DCW chief Barkha Singh who accused Maliwal of hiring 85 volunteers at the commission without following rules of appointment. ACB chief MK Meena had said Kejriwal was not being probed and that his name was mentioned as an accused because it was there in the complaint. ACB officers said Sisodia was questioned because the Delhi governments finance ministry had given financial autonomy to the DCW. We recovered one letter from the finance ministers office, in which the DCW was given financial autonomy. The hiring of the new employees at the commission was done after DCW got the autonomy. Under the rules, only the Lieutenant Governor has the power to grant financial autonomy, said an investigating officer. With only a day left for the second mega parent teacher meeting (PTM) in Delhi government schools, teachers say they are not prepared. The government had asked schools to focus on the first term results of students at this meeting. But some teachers have expressed difficulty in preparing results before Saturday as they had got only two days to do the work after the schools reopened. Teachers claim it usually takes around two weeks to prepare the exam results. The exams got over on October 6 after which schools were shut till October 12 for Dussehra. Read: Bridging the gap: When teachers met parents The first term exams got over on October 6 and vacations started from October 7. Schools reopened on October 13. Teachers had only two working days to prepare results, said Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary of Government Schools Teachers Association (GSTA). Yadav said many government schools have over 3,000 students and preparing full results in just two days is difficult. Schools with fewer students can still manage. But many schools have more than 3,000-4,000 students and it is extremely difficult for teachers to prepare results in only two days. Teachers have been asked to stay back till late evening, he said. Over 1,100 government schools will hold the second such parent-teacher meeting on October 15 and give results of this first term exams, after over two months of holding the first mega PTM. However, principals claimed they will prepare the results in time to share it with parents on Saturday at the PTM. My school has over 4,000 students but we have almost prepared our results. It will be complete by today and parents will be given the results tomorrow. Yes the time was less but it was manageable, said Seema Roy Choudhary, principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in New Kondli. The focus of this PTM will be on sharing results of the first term exams held since the government started its ambitious Chunauti 2018 scheme to improve learning levels and taking feedback from parents. Read: AAPs social media, public outreach paid dividends for mega PTM For morning shift schools, the PTM will be held between 8am to 1pm and for evening shift schools, it will be held between 2pm to 7pm, officials said. Schools have been asked to brief parents of students in Class IX about the no-detention policy. The criteria regarding minimum 25% score in Summative Assessments shall be made clear to the parents. The importance of attendance will also be explained to parents. 75% attendance is compulsory to appear in the final exam, a directorate of education (DOE) circular said. Schools have to show the answer sheets of student if the parents ask for it, officials said. The feedback received from parents will be noted down by teachers who have also been asked to show classwork and homework notebooks of students, a principal said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from Uttam Nagar, Naresh Balyan, was arrested on Friday in connection with a case registered against him and his supporters for allegedly assaulting and threatening Henri George, a former AAP volunteer and vice-president of Uttam Nagars K1 block Residents Welfare Association. Sources said Balyan had not been released till late in the evening though the charges against him were bailable. Senior police officers confirmed that they will release Balyan after completing all legal formalities. The FIR against Balyan and his men was registered at the Uttam Nagar police station on Sunday. A cross FIR was registered against George as well on a complaint filed by Balyans supporter Mahavir Fauji who accused George of assault and criminal intimidation. Police said George will also be arrested. Deependra Pathak, joint commissioner of police (southwest) confirmed Balyans arrest. George in his complaint told police that on Sunday afternoon, a meeting of RWA members was organised at their office under the chairmanship of president Trilok Chand. During the meeting, the AAP MLA along with Fauji arrived at the scene and allegedly hurled abuses at George and made religious remarks. When George protested, Balyans supporters beat him up. Their altercation was over Dussehra celebrations and civic work in their locality. Georges medical report confirmed that he had been assaulted. He filed a complaint and a case was registered, said a senior police officer. Later in the evening, the officer said, Fauji approached the police and lodged a complaint against Geroge in which he accused him of allegedly assaulting him and verbally abusing the MLA. Fauji alleged that he along with Balyan and Ram Kumar were passing by the RWA office when Geroge abused Balyan and assaulted him and Kumar with bricks and stones. The medical examination of Fauji and Kumar were done. On the basis of their medical reports and complaint, we registered a cross FIR against George, the officer added. Their complaints were used verbatim in the FIRs, said Pathak. Its a furry pack -- the Delhi Metro new recruits. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has hired 8 dogs for its bomb squad to sniff out explosives and prevent any possible terror attacks at the stations. The dogs -- -- five Labradors and three German Shepherds -- have been sent for a six-month training at a centre in Indirapuram. The force plans to add another four dogs in the next six months to its pack. Read | Happy face: Missing pet dog found at UK airport after 8 months But why do they need furry friends to do the job? The DMRC plans to add 107 stations in its Phase III, attracting millions of new passengers. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) -- which guards Delhis metro stations feels human personnel wont be enough to provide security for the expanded network. CISF also employs Golden Retrievers and Cocker Spaniels in their anti-bomb squads. Heres a look at mans best friends learning the tricks: The reluctant one: In the middle of training, but first, let me roll over. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) A German Shepherd runs with a CISF trainer. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) The German Shepherd is good for drug detection and the Labrador is good for search and detection of bombs. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) The CISFs focus on dogs has increased in recent times with the force purchasing 19 dogs this year for phase III stations. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) Dogs play an important role in bomb detection because their reaction time is faster than humans.. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) These security dogs start their day at 7am and end at 11pm. Each dog works on a four-hour schedule, in which they cover at least five-to-six stations. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo) Read | In pics: Watch these dogs beat the waves at unique US surf competition Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday turned down a request by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to dissolve the three-member Shunglu committee and instead increased its tenure by six weeks. The committee was constituted on August 30 to review all the decisions taken by the AAP government after coming to power last year and was mandated to furnish its report within six weeks initially. Defending the functioning of the committee, a statement from the L-G secretariat termed a Delhi cabinet resolution advising the dissolution of the committee an attempt to mislead the public and take attention away from grave misdemeanours that are evident in some of the files. The Arvind Kejriwal government had earlier advised Jung to dissolve the three-member committee. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia told reporters on Friday that a decision in this regard was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. A resolution was also passed during the meeting that advised the L-G to return all files as several important work was stuck due it. Terming the committee as unconstitutional, Sisodia said there is no provision in the Constitution, or in any statute or rule, which mandates setting up of an external committee to seek files and inquire into ongoing projects of public welfare and question officers. The L-G secretariat said the truth hidden behind the 400-odd files being scrutinized must come out and be brought into public domain and the AAP government should not be afraid of the truth coming out if everything, as claimed, is as per rules. Some misdemeanours are of the gravity that already these matters are in the process of being referred to the CBI for investigation, the statement said. Last week, the L-G had dissolved the constitution of the Delhi Wakf Board by the AAP government and had recommended a CBI investigation into allegations of corruption in the board. Questioning the assertion of the AAP government that the L-G was not authorized to constitute such a committee, the L-Gs office said that setting up of committees is a normal function in the government. The committee constitutes former civil servants known for their unimpeachable integrity and competencethe committee is examining the files to establish the extent of malfeasance, if any, that may have been committed, the statement said. Refuting allegations that files are being summoned arbitrarily and governance is being affected, the L-Gs office said that the files had been sent to them by the ministers themselves. The officials said that the files they were scrutinizing were the ones that the government believed that constitutional provisions were not followed and established rules, laws and conventions transgressed. The governments claim that its work was adversely impacted is false. Files that affect day to day governance are dealt with immediately and sent back. The committee is examining only files where illegalities may have been committed and have thus been accepted by the ministers themselves by the virtue that they themselves had submitted such files for scrutiny, the statement said, adding that the L-Gs office had not issued any instructions to stop any work. A 39-year-old woman became a victim of road rage in South Delhi on Wednesday night. She, her husband and daughter were on their way to the airport, when they were hit by a car, and four drunken youths pushed her and filmed her, it is alleged. The incident took place at around 11:30 pm on August Kranti Marg. The woman told the police that when they reached the signal at August Kranti Marg, the yellow light was blinking . She said her husband checked both sides of the road and was moving ahead carefully, when the speeding car crashed into their car from the right side. Read | Delhi: Bureaucrat from Manipur attacked, wife, daughter molested We got down from the car to check the damage. Within a few seconds, four men got down from their car and started abusing us. They were drunk. One of them started shooting a video of my wife and when she objected, she was pushed. Our daughter was terrified hearing them hurl abuses. They did not stop filming even when the cops arrived, the womans husband said. The couple alleged that the four called their friends and asked them to come to the spot. Within minutes, around 15-20 men came to the accident spot. Their elders from the nearby Shahpur Jat area came and blamed us for the accident. We did not know what to do. Fortunately, we saw a police officer on a bike and shouted for help, he said. Police said that when sub-inspector Sachin saw the crowd, he alerted his colleagues and reached the spot. A PCR van also reached there by then. Police said that when they tried to intervene, the youths tried to flee. One of the youths who was driving the Swift car, tried to flee the spot but he was caught. A police team later caught the four men, all residents of Shahpur Jat. A case of sexual harassment, rash driving, criminal intimidation and molestation has been registered against the men. Police said all the four youths were drunk at time of the incident. Read | Road rage: Only exemplary punishment can cure Delhis power driving trip Seventy percent of the seats allotted under the Right to Education (RTE) quota in Madhya Pradesh are left vacant this year even as there was a delay of over 10 months in the allotment. The RTE Act guarantees every child right to full-elementary education and mandates reservation of a minimum of 25% seats to provide free schooling to poor students in all private unaided primary schools. Admission of students under the Right to Education in different schools takes place in January every year. This year only 1.70 lakh students took the benefit of the admission scheme though more than 4 .2 lakh seats are reserved under the RTE quota in Madhya Pradesh. For the poor response, parents blamed an online-admission process the state government introduced this year for the allocation of the seats. This year the seats were allotted through an online lottery system. The process was very tedious. One had to fill a long form, which was earlier done at the block offices, and attach the documents online. Documents were verified only after one received a SMS confirming selection under the RTE. The process was very complicated, said Meena Srivas, a parent who had applied for seat under the RTE quota for her child. The government, however, differed with the parents. Majority of the seats are left vacant because parents like to avail the facility only in a few selected schools. They are not interested to put their children in any school we offer them through lottery, said KPS Tomar, an education department official overseeing the RTE seats allotment. Earlier the process was manual so admission fixing was rampant, but it was streamlined by introducing the online process, he added. Rajya Shiksha Kendra (RSK) in February found lot of irregularities in the manual allotment process and decided to make the process online. Accordingly, the School Education Department had collaborated with the National Information Centre (NIC) to develop the software for the purpose, but the latter failed to develop it within the stipulated time, causing the delay in the online process. RSK commissioner Deepti Gaur Mukherjee the state government also decided to reimburse fees to the eligible candidates online to make the process more transparent and check manipulation. Madhya Pradesh government through RSK reimburses around Rs 3500 per student, who is entitled for the seat under RTE quota. In Bhopal alone 30,000 children took the benefit of the reimbursement in the past four years, but sources said the number of children actually enrolled in schools under the scheme was much less. A Durga Puja procession in a north-central Uttar Pradesh village triggered a clash between members of two religious communities, leading to arson that killed a toddler and injured a dozen other people, police said on Friday. Mobs torched 37 hutments in two villages of Bahraich district on Thursday evening after stones hit at a Navratri march carrying the goddess idol when it passed by a mosque in Baheliya near Fakharpur. Altercation ensued, following which thatched-roof houses in settlements of Gumma Khan Purwa and Medilalpurwa villages were set on fire. Four-year-old Soni was trapped in a hut and received severe burn injury. She succumbed to injury on way to hospital. Superintendent of Police Salik Ram Verma said the Durga idol for immersion was being taken from Baheliya village off Fakharpur when trouble broke out. A stone hit the idol, too, damaging it, he said about the incident in Gumma Khan Purwa village. The resultant violence injured a dozen people. Sub-divisional magistrate Amitabh Yadav and deputy superintendent of police Kesh Karan Singh reached the village with a team of constables. Police resorted to lathi charge. Shortly afterwards district magistrate Abhay Kumar, divisional commissioner Sudhir Dixit and DIG, Jitendra Pratap Singh reached the spot, and heavy police force was deployed in the area. The local administration has stopped the idol immersion till situation returns to normal. Fakharpur station house officer Devanand Rajak and sub inspector Pappu Yadav were suspended. The state government has announced Rs 5 lakh to the deceased girls family, a senior official said. The district administration, too, announced a financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the family. French-made Rafale fighter planes will be the 80th type of aircraft to join the Indian Air Force fleet in 2019. As the IAF prepares to induct Rafale fighter jets after inking a Euro 7.8-billion deal with France in September, HT gives you the low-down on the aircraft it has operated since it was formed in Karachi in 1933. The Sukhois, the Jaguars and the MiGs surely ring a bell, but what about Blenheim and Caribou? Heres all you need to know about the birds Indian pilots have flown: The early English years Westland Wapiti: The Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) was formed in 1933 in Karachi with four Wapiti IIA aircraft. The British bi-planes served the IAF till 1945. The air force lost some Wapitis to Japanese bombing in Burma in World War II. Tiger Moth: The Tiger Moth, manufactured by British plane maker de Havilland, was operated by the IAF from 1939 to 1957. The IAFs vintage fleet includes a Tiger Moth that was refurbished in 2012. The bi-plane served as a trainer. File photo of A Tiger Moth. Blenheim: The British light bombers served the RIAF briefly in 1941-42. The planes were used for providing air cover to ships arriving at the Rangoon harbour. Lysander: The British-built light bomber was operated by the RIAF in the early 1940s. The Lysander was considered to be a vulnerable aircraft: the UKs Royal Air Force lost 118 over France and Belgium in May-June 1940. Hurricane: The RIAF got its Hawker Hurricanes in 1942. The Hurricanes saw action during the Arakan campaign in Burma and were the first operational aircraft capable of a top speed of over 300 miles per hour. Spitfire: The Spitfires replaced the Hurricanes. By 1946, the entire fighter force was Spitfire-equipped. Hailed as the most successful fighter design of the time, the British planes remained in service till the late 1950s. Other planes that served the RIAF in its early years include Dragon Rapide, Audio, Dragon Fly, Harvard, Hudson, Vengeance, Valentia, Defiant and Atlanta. The years around partition Tempest II: The planes were the backbone of the air forces fighter fleet for almost 10 years after Independence. Dakota: Months before the partition, the RIAF raised its first transport squadron with C-47 Dakotas. B-24 Liberator: The RIAF raised its first heavy bomber squadron with the American Liberators in 1948. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) played a key role in re-conditioning the Liberators abandoned as scrap by the US Air Force. The planes remained in service till 1968. File photo of a B-24 Liberator. Vampires: The air force inducted the British-built plane as a front-line fighter in 1948. India operated more than 400 Vampires till the late 1960s. The IAF dropped its Royal prefix when India became a Republic in 1950. The French debut Dassault Ouragan: It marked the debut of a French fighter in the IAFs fleet. Known as Toofanis in IAF service, the first Ouragan was inducted in 1953 and the fleet remained in service till 1967-68. India chose the Ouragan to diversify its global arms purchases. Mystere IVA: The second French-origin fighter to join the Indian fleet in 1957. The year saw the IAF expand in a major way: the British Hawker Hunter fighters English Electric Canberra bombers were inducted in 1957. The induction of French Mirage 2000 fighters began in 1985. File photo of mirage 2000. Canberras: The Canberras saw action in the Congo in 1961-62. During the 1999 Kargil conflict, a Canberra was assigned to conduct photo survey along the Line of Control. A missile hit it but the pilot still managed to land. Other aircraft inducted in the IAF in the 1950s included the Devon, C-119 Packet, DHC-3 Otter, Vickers Viscount and Sikorsky S-55 choppers. The Soviet era dominance MiG -21 and other variants: The IAF inducted the MiG-21 in 1963, ushering in a new era of Soviet dominance of the Indian defence market. Upgraded variants of the iconic fighter are still in service. A questionable flight safety record earned the fighters epithets such as flying coffins and widow makers. The MiG-21 is the IAFs first warplane of non-western origin. The IAF went on to induct several MiG variants through the 1980s: the MiG-23s, the MiG-25s, the MiG-27s and the MiG-29s. Antonov-12: The first Russian transport plane supplied to the IAF in 1961. The AN-12Bs were used during the 1962 India-China war. Canada delivered its DHC-4 Caribou cargo planes to the IAF after the war. Mi-4: These Soviet-origin transport helicopters were inducted in 1960 followed by Mi-8s in early 70s, Mi-17s in 1985 and the latest Mi-17 V5 entered service just four years ago. Sukhoi-7: The Soviet-origin Su-7s were inducted in 1968 and took part in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. The IAF got its latest Sukhoi variant, the Su-30, in 1997. India has ordered a total of 272 Su-30s that form the backbone of its fighter fleet. A file photo of Sukhoi-30. Antonov-32: The An-32s joined the IAF in 1983 and continue to remain in service. The air force has a fleet of more than 100 AN-32s. The IAF has still not been able to trace an AN-32 that went missing while flying from Chennai to Port Blair on July 22. The US joins the party AH-64E Apache attack helicopters: The IAFs attack helicopter fleet will be strengthened with the arrival of 22 AH-64E Apache Longbow attack helicopters from the US in 2019. The IAF currently operates Mi-25 and Mi-35 gunships inducted in the 1980s. CH-47F Chinooks: The IAFs capability to deliver payloads to high altitudes will be enhanced when it inducts CH-47F Chinook choppers from the US in 2019. Soviet-origin Mi-26 choppers provided heavy-lift capabilities to the IAF for nearly three decades after being inducted in 1986. Out of the four delivered to India, only a solitary chopper remains in service. C-17 Globemaster III: The IAF completed the induction of 10 US-made planes in 2014. Extensively used by the US Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan, the C-17 is capable of airlifting tanks, attack helicopters and infantry combat vehicles to Indias farthest frontiers. Before the C-17s, Russian Ilyushin-76 planes, inducted in 1985, were the only heavy-lift cargo planes in the fleet. C-130J Super Hercules: India signed a $1.2-billion contract with the US in 2008 for buying six C-130J planes. All have been delivered. The IAF is buying six more C-130Js, configured for special operations and airborne assault. File photo of C-130J Super Hercules. Built in India Gnat: The IAF inducted the British Folland Gnat in 1958 and the light-weight fighter was licence-built by HAL. It was later upgraded with increased fuel capacity and christened Ajeet. HF-24 Marut: Inducted in the mid-1960s, it was Indias first indigenously-designed fighter. The Marut was designed by the German aircraft designer Kurt Tank, hired by HAL, and Indian engineers. Tejas: The IAF raised its first Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) squadron in July 2016 with two fighters. The IAF eventually plans to induct a total of 120 Tejas jets. File photo of Tejas aircraft. Birds that stood out in war/operations 1947-48 Kashmir operations: Spitfires from the Ambala base strafed Pakistani intruders who were barely a km from the Srinagar airfield in November 1947. British-built Tempest bombers played a significant role in the Battle of Shelateng that left 700 raiders dead near Srinagar. The Tempests were also involved in reconnaissance missions over Poonch, Rajouri and Naushera. The RIAFs first military campaign after independence also saw Dakotas make their mark, flying troops, ammunition and supplies to Srinagar. American Harvard trainers provided air support to the army. 1962 India-China war: The debate over India not using its air force in an offensive role still rages. However, AN-12Bs airlifted AMX-13 light tanks to Chushul in Ladakh during the war. The unprepared airstrip was at a height of 15,000 feet. The IAF was used only to provide transportation to the army. Military experts have argued that the use of IAF could have changed the outcome of the war. 1965 India-Pakistan war: The Canberras bombed Pakistani air bases at Sargodha and Chaklala. The IAF used its Gnat fighters for air defence, Mysteres for ground attack and Hawker Hunters for interdiction. The Gnats shot down several Pakistani F-86 Sabres, a feat that earned them the Sabre Slayer epithet. Pakistan got its most famous prisoner of war in 1965 after Kodendera Cariappas Hunter was shot down over Pakistan. His father KM Cariappa - who became Field Marshal - was the army chief from 1949-53. President Ayub Khan offered to release his son, but this is what Cariappa had to say: They (POWs) are all my sons, look after them well. File photo of Hawker Hunters 1971 India-Pakistan war: The IAFs MiG-21s, Gnats and Marut were pitched against Pakistani Sabres and F-104 Starfighters. The IAF scored kills even before the war officially began on December 3. On November 22, the Gnats shot down three Sabres in the eastern sector. Four Hunter fighters are credited with wiping out an entire Pakistani armoured regiment at Longewala. Interestingly, AN-12 transport planes were used for bombing Pakistani ammunition dumps at Changa Manga forest. 1999 Kargil war: The air offensive during the war was codenamed Operation Safedsagar. The fighters involved were MiG-21s, MiG-23s, MiG-27s, MiG-29s and Mirage 2000s. The IAF lost two fighter jets and a helicopter during the operations and one of its pilots was taken as prisoner of war after his MiG-27 flamed out. He was returned after being tortured for several days. The Kargil war saw the IAF do some jugaad too. The weapons computer of the Mirage 2000 had to be tweaked to cater for delivery of bombs from a very high altitude. File photo of a MiG-21. The leaders of seven-member BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) will be meeting in Goa for an outreach meeting with BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Considering the last BIMSTEC summit was held in 2014, this would be the highest-level meeting of the grouping in two years time. They will have a retreat session before the outreach meeting dinner with the BRICS leaders on October 16. Heres all to know about BIMSTEC and why the grouping matters to India: Whats BIMSTEC Though BIMSTEC is a Bay of Bengal camp, two land-locked states -- Nepal and Bhutan -- are also part of the seven member-group. Five of them are from South Asia -- India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka -- and two from South East Asia -- Myanmar and Thailand. What this grouping means in numbers The BIMSTEC region is home to around 1.5 billion people which constitute around 22% of the global population. The region has a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.7 trillion. In the last five years, BIMSTEC member states have been able to sustain an average 6.5% economic growth trajectory despite global financial meltdown. What is Indias interest in the grouping The BIMSTEC is a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia. The two Southeast Asian countries in the grouping, Myanmar and Thailand, have a crucial place for Indias ambitious connectivity plans for northeastern region. Myanmar is only Southeast Asian country India has a land boundary with. An India-Myanmar-Thailand highway is one of the key projects that figures in a big way in the governments Act East (earlier Look East) policy. With the India-Pakistan bickering coming in way of a smooth functioning of the Saarc, groupings such as BIMSTEC can take forward the concept of regional cooperation in a different manner. Read | Modi will have Pak, trade ties on mind as he hosts BRICS Summit What are the founding principles of the BIMSTEC The cooperation within BIMSTEC will be based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, non-interference in internal affairs, peaceful co-existence and mutual benefit. This cooperation within BIMSTEC will constitute an addition to, and not be a substitute for, bilateral, regional or multilateral cooperation involving the member states. What are the priority sectors of the BIMSTEC grouping Seven members of BIMSTEC cover 14 priority sectors. Each country leads one or more area in a voluntary manner. India leads two -- counter terrorism and transnational crime, telecommunication and transport. The other key sectors are trade and investment, technology, energy, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, cultural cooperation, environment and disaster management, public health, people-to-people contact, poverty alleviation, etc. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Indian Army does not speak but displays its valour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, in a subtle counter to the oppositions demand for proof of the surgical strikes across the de-facto border with Pakistan. Modis comments came amid a debate over the surgical strikes launched days after suspected Pakistan-based militants attacked an army camp in Kashmirs Uri, killing 19 jawans. When I would say this earlier, they (critics) would tear my hair out. They would say Modi is sleeping and doing nothing. Like our army which does not speak but displays its valour, our defence minister (Manohar Parrikar) also does not speak..., Modi said at an ex-servicemens rally before inaugurating a war memorial. Modis defence of Parrikar was also in apparent response to criticism over what many term as excessive chest-thumping by the political leader of the armed forces. The opposition accuses the Modi government of profiteering from the army strikes to gain political mileage in poll-bound states. The government has criticised the Congress-led opposition of belittling the sacrifices of the armed forces by seeking evidence of the surgical strikes. Parrikar also underlined Indias rich history of valour and indirectly referred to the surgical strikes, saying the army gave an example of their bravery. Modi sent out a message to Pakistan, saying that among the Indians rescued from war-torn Yemen were a few citizens of the neighbouring country. The PM showered lavish praise on the army saying the force doesnt think about stone-pelters while carrying out humanitarian work, seen as an attempt to deflect criticism of security personnel over alleged excesses during violent protests in Kashmir where violent street protests have left more than 90 people dead over the last three months. Two security personnel are among dead while scores of others have been injured by stones, bricks and other projectiles thrown by protesters Kashmir. Modi said the attacks on army personnel sometimes damaged their eyes, sometimes broke their heads and sometimes the attack with stones was so fierce that it posed a threat to their lives. He added that the biggest strength and weapon of the armed forces were determination will power that is derived from the support of 1.2 billion Indians. He said India took part in World War I and II despite the fact India had nothing to do with the wars and 1.5 lakh jawans sacrificed their lives in these wars. He criticised the previous Congress government at the Centre for doing nothing on the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme. But we fulfilled our promise. Given the huge amount of arrears we will pay the amount in four instalments out of which one instalment of Rs 5,500 crore has already been deposited the bank accounts of pensioners, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Dada, edike ashun. Mukul er barita dekhben na? (Brother, come here. Dont you want to see the house of Mukul?) These loosely-strung words lobbed at a couple of Bengali tourists visiting the Sonar Fort in Jaisalmer seem to do the job for tour guide Vijay Nath aka Vijay Ghosh. Within seconds, Nath has the tourists following him excitedly as he takes them to Mukulbari (the house of Mukul), a fictional character from Satyajit Rays famous detective novel Sonar Kella (The Golden Fort). When Ray wrote the novel back in 1971 and a film adaptation was made three years later, it is unlikely that the legendary auteur-director would have foreseen that how Sonar Kella, which will gain a cult status among his fans over the years, will also have a major impact on the livelihood of Rajasthani guides in the Jaisalmer Fort, a Unesco World Heritage site built in 1156 CE. My real name is Vijay Nath but to most of the Bengali tourists I introduce myself as a Bengali, Vijay Ghosh. Given the fact that I fluently speak Bengali, it helps me to boost my earnings at the end of the day, said Nath, who has been a guide at the Sonar Fort for the last eight years. Sonar Kella follows the adventure of Rays legendary fictional sleuth Feluda along with his sidekick Topshe and thriller-novelist Jatayu, as they embark on a quest to find a golden fort which a boy named Mukul remembers from his past life. It is almost a compulsion for all the guides in this fort to watch the film directed by Ray at least once, when they come into the profession. Since the Bengalis coming to the fort are extremely curious about the places mentioned in the book and where scenes from the film were shot, we need to do our homework, said Pratap Singh, another guide. When Singh takes the tourists on a detour of the fort, his voice is an incessant chatter as he occasionally tosses names of characters from Sonar Kella such as Feluda, Topshe, Jatayu and Dr. Hajra to the thrilled tourists. It is in this alleyway where the villain chases Mukul and that is his house, as shown in the film, Singh says animatedly to tourists which results in a camera being thrust in his hands and a flurry of photo requests. We owe it to Ray for making this fort so popular with Bengali tourists. I am a native of West Bengal and have been working as a tourist guide here for the last five years. Since I am a Bengali, theres an extra advantage that I have when it comes to wooing the tourists. But the Rajasthani guides give me tough competition as they speak Bengali almost as fluently as me, said guide Surya Mandal. The guides at the fort say that knowing Bengali actually doubles their monthly income. We easily earn around Rs 30,000 every month, almost half of which is accounted for by Bengali tourists, said Singh. The tourists too seem to enjoy the fact that they get to hear their mother-tongue after coming to Rajasthan. If you hadnt told me, I couldnt have imagined that my guide is not a native Bengali speaker. He showed me around the entire fort, speaking fluently in the language. Its great to see that Rays book is so popular here in Rajasthan, Kalyan Dey, a tourist from Kolkata told HT. Last year, Bengalis constituted 60% of the 2.35 lakh Indian tourists who visited the fort. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bharatiya Janata Party will join the Peoples Party of Arunachal government in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday, almost a month after all but one of the Congress MLAs joined the regional party. The saffron partys leader in the state assembly, Tamiyo Taga, is likely to be inducted into the Pema Khandu government at a swearing in ceremony at 11.30am at Raj Bhawan in Itanagar. Industries minister Tapang Taloh is likely to be removed from the cabinet to make way for Taga, a source said. In September, Khandu had sprung a surprise by leaving the Congress and joining the state outfit along with 43 MLAs. Former chief minister Nabam Tuki is the only Congress legislator in the state now. The Congress, which accused the BJP of engineering the defection, had described the PPA as the illegitimate child of the saffron party. In December, more than 30 Congress rebels backed by the BJP had sided with the PPA, leading to formation of a government of the regional party led by Kalikho Pul. Since we were already part of NEDA (North East Democratic Alliance), it was decided that it would be better to join the PPA government so that we can work together for development of Arunachal, state BJP chief Tapir Gao told Hindustan Times. The BJP has 11 members in the 60-member state assembly. We are happy with the BJP deciding to join our government. It will make the government stronger and also put an end to speculations that Khandu and others could join the BJP, PPA chairman Kamen Ringu said. The present government has the support of 43 MLAs from the PPA, 11 from the BJP and two Independent legislators. This not the first time Arunachal Pradesh has witnessed political drama this year. In February, senior minister Pul deserted the Congress government of Nabam Tuki with 24 MLAs to form a PPA government. His government was, however, removed after a Supreme Court verdict reinstated Tuki. But with most Congress MLAs backing Khandu, Tuki had to make way for the 37-year-old as the new chief minister in July. Less than a month later, Pul committed suicide at his official residence in Itanagar. Investigations into the death are still underway. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Calls for boycott of Chinese goods in India following Chinas opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar have failed as sales of Chinese products in the country hit a record high during the festive season, official media here said on Friday. Diwali, one of the most important Hindu festivals and one of the biggest shopping seasons in India, is coming at the end of October, but encouragement to boycott Chinese goods has been spreading in the last few days on Indian social media, and even a few Indian politicians are exaggerating facts, an article in the state-run Global Times said. However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian medias hysteric reports of a doomsday for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation, it said. The boycott has not achieved success. Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ platforms, the article said. Referring to the boycott calls over Chinas technical hold on moves to bring about a ban on Azhar as well Beijing obstructing Indias membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG), it said. Chinese products are often the victim when regional situations get tense, and this phenomenon has been existing for quite a few years. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue, it said. The bilateral trade relationship is one of the pillars of the Sino-Indian relationship. The trade volume was over $70 billion in 2015, and Chinas investment in India soared to around $870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014, it said. India has been expressing concern over the trade deficit that touched $46 billion last year. To some extent, the economic relationship is the barometer of the political relationship. There shouldnt be huge fluctuation in terms of economic cooperation if the political relationship keeps steady between the two, it said. For the dragon and elephant, enhancing economic ties would be a preferable way to promote the comprehensive bilateral relationship. The more economic cooperation exists, the more opportunities there will be for Chinese products to enter the Indian market. India is a big potential market, and people using smartphones and doing online shopping has become the irreversible trend in the new era, it said. The commercial cooperation between these two countries could also be focused on e-commerce, service and financial investment. Protectionism against Chinese companies and boycotting goods from the East Asian country on the pretext of political issues will not help bridge the yawning Sino-India trade deficit, instead only damage bilateral ties, state media said on Friday. Besides allowing free flow of Chinese goods into its huge market, India should focus on expanding and improving industrial infrastructure to address the issue of imbalance in trade, the nationalistic tabloid Global Times said in two separate write-ups on bilateral economic ties between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping cannot be expected to talk in detail about the trade deficit when they meet in Goa on the sidelines of the BRICS summit this weekend. But the issue is likely to be flagged as it has been repeatedly done during past meetings during the one-on-one meeting. Quoting Chinese government figures, one GT article said: Data from Chinas General Administration of Customs showed Thursday that India in September exported goods worth $922 million to China, while importing goods worth $5.4 billion from China. It added: The major imports from China include electronic components, telecom instruments, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, while Indias major exports to China include ore, plastics and cotton. According to mid-year statistics from India, bilateral trade was $70.73 billion in 2015-16, down from $72.34 billion in the previous fiscal. Read | Gujarat trade body calls for boycott of Chinese goods The deficit with China was around $52.68 billion in 2015-16, from $48.48 billion in the previous fiscal, figures quoted in Parliament showed. Chinas investment in India according to Chinese state media soared to around $ 870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014. Clearly, it wasnt enough. Indias commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament in August: Increasing trade deficit with China can be attributed to the relative demand for imports in India and China for each others goods. She added, according to a PTI report, that efforts were on to increase overall exports by diversifying the trade basket, with emphasis on manufactured goods, services, resolution of market access issues and other non-tariff barriers. That diversification is precisely what is not happening on Indias side, Chinese media said. Efforts such as encouraging Chinese smartphone makers to set up production lines in India may be the most effective way to reduce the trade deficit, which is partly the result of a price gap between Indias imports of finished goods and its exports of raw materials, the newspaper said. Besides, India may need to roll out domestic reforms, such as further streamlining its tax system, to improve the countrys economic ecology to attract more Chinese investment, it added. Read | India need not be jealous of close China-Bangladesh ties: Chinese media But instead of attempting to attract Chinese investment, theres been a call to boycott Chinese goods from some quarters in India. The first happened in April. It was caused by dissatisfaction over Chinas stand on the issue of Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed active in Kashmir, who is accused of committing terrorist acts in India. The second was in July and because of Chinas lack of support for Indias bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue, wrote Zhen Bo from theInstitute of South Asian Studies in Sichuan University. The newspaper said there had been 322 anti-dumping cases in India in March of which 177 cases involved Chinese products. Besides, a social media campaign urging people to refrain from buying China-made products have recently been building in India. Such moves will not help contribute to reducing Indias trade deficit, but could damage bilateral ties instead. Read | Dont use terror issue for political gains: China after Indias Jaish ban push India is expected to continue with its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the issue of terrorism when it plays host to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese premier Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa at a summit of the five-nation BRICS grouping in Goa. Even preceding the BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise these issues with Putin and Xi on Saturday, when a series of bilateral meetings are slated at the seaside venue in Panaji. With the summit taking place within weeks of Uri terror strike by Pakistan-based militants, India will be forceful in its demand at BRICS Summit, which will also have a BIMSTEC outreach meet, for intensified efforts to tackle terrorism, including action against countries providing safe havens to terrorists and arming them, a source said. India has made strong references at the United Nations General Assembly and the G-20 regarding Pakistans continued support to cross-border terrorism. Modi, without naming Pakistan at G-20, had said that one single nation in South Asia is spreading agents of terror in the region and it must be isolated, while external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said at the UNGA confessions of captured terrorists involved in terror strikes in India, including in Uri, is a living proof of Pakistans complicity in cross-border terror. Apart from the heads of governments of BRICS, prime ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) will participate in the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. New Delhi will also make all out efforts to revive Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) when the leaders meet. This also assumes significance given the collapse of recent SAARC Summit after four countries apart from India pulled out of the meet to be hosted by Pakistan over the issue of cross-border terrorism, maintaining that environment was not conducive to hold such an event. Indian officials have made it clear that Indias effort would be to have strong language in the BRICS outcome document on terrorism including how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries, safe havens and finances. India should not politicise the upcoming eighth BRICS summit to solve its bilateral disputes and not expect member nations to isolate and brand Pakistan as a supporter of terrorism, a Chinese expert has suggested. One of the key items at this years summit will be anti-terrorism. All BRICS members do not want to solve bilateral disputes through politicised multilateral platforms. Liu Zongy, a senior fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said without naming India and Pakistan. As for the decades-long Kashmir issue, BRICS countries can only play a mediating role rather than support one side while isolating the other. They cannot simply label a country as supporter of terrorism, Liu wrote in Global Times. The article comes days after China indicated that it opposed Indias effort at the UN to declare Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar -- chief plotter of Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks -- as a terrorist. Following the September 18 terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi has launched a campaign of sorts to isolate Pakistan in the global forum. India is likely to highlight the issue of terrorism emanating from Pakistan in the two-day BRICS summit, beginning from Sunday in Goa. Recently, India conveyed its unhappiness to Russia over latter holding a joint military drill with Pakistan. One of the highlights of this years Goa summit will be the meeting between BRICS leaders and the heads of state of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the write-up said. It is worth noting that some members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) are not included in the BIMSTEC mechanism, while some Asean nations are formal members of BIMSTEC. The participation of Asean (Association for South East Asian Nations) countries shows the exclusivity of the summit, while the absence of some Saarc countries weakens the tolerance of regional major powers, it noted. Through the BRICS summit, India wants to advance its Act East policy and promote linkage between India and some South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, which are also partners in Chinas One Belt and One Road initiative. Hopefully, a close relationship between New Delhi and these countries will promote their linkage with China and pave the way for a win-win scenario, it added. Two Mumbai-based theatre artistes, who went to Jagdalpur jail for research on a play on tribal rights campaigner Soni Sori, were detained, and then released, by police after questioning for more than five hours on Friday. The incident occurred when Shivam Sharma, a theatre actor, and Ramneek Singh, an actor and director, went to interview alleged Maoist Nirmala Akka in Jagdalpur jail with the permission of officials concerned. We were interviewing Maoist Nirmala Akka inside the jail in front of police officers at around 12 noon for our play. Suddenly, some of the officers picked us up and brought us to Jagdalpur police station. They started questioning us and alleged that we were pro-Maoists. They interrogated us but I managed to use my phone and sent a text on WhatsApp. When the cops started getting calls from everywhere, they released us at 5.30pm, said one of the detained artistes. However, defending the police action, Jagdalpur SP RN Dash said, Routine checking is carried out by every police station of Jagdalpur every day in which anyone coming from outside is scanned and their criminal records or any other information is gathered. During the detention, a post on a messaging app read: Me and @ramneek Singh have been detained at jagdalpur police station (next to jagdalpur jail) in chattisgarh because we interviewed an alleged Maoist named nirmala akka in jail. This was a lawful interview taken at the jail so nothing unlawful. We applied and got permission from the jail itself. We are here to research for a play and Soni Sori is our contact here. We have been traveling with her getting to know stories. We have been detained for a chat here. No alarms yet. Just that my preservation instincts told me I should let public know while I still have my phone. I will post here by the end of the day if all ends well. I am just a bit paranoid so putting up this status. Yall can always Google jagdalpur police station and call to ask for our well-being. (sic) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A prominent national theatre owners association refused on Friday to screen any films with Pakistani artists, plunging into trouble Karan Johars upcoming blockbuster Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan . The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association told media they decided to not screen any movie with Pakistani artistes, directors or technicians a response to worsening ties with the neighbouring country and an attack on army base in Kashmir by alleged Pakistani militants that killed 19 soldiers. We have decided to not screen films with Pakistani actors, association vice-president Nitin Datar was quoted as saying by ANI. The association comprises of mostly single-screen theatres and media reports said the decision will affect the movies business in Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Keeping in mind patriotic feelings and national interest, we request all members to refrain from screening these. We will also request other associations to do the same. The highly anticipated movie starring Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Fawad Khan and Anushka Sharma was slated for a Diwali release but has been in trouble since bilateral ties plummeted with Pakistan. Starting today, no films with any association with Pakistan - actors, directors, music director or technicians - will be released in our theatres. This will continue till the situation improves. We cannot really give a date for when the ban ends, treasurer of the association RP Anand told HT. In response to alleged Pakistani involvement in several militant attacks and infiltration bids, many have called for a ban on Pakistani artists including the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Over the past few weeks, a public debate has raged over whether Pakistani artists should be asked to go back or publicly apologise for Pakistans sponsoring of militancy. When asked how long the ban will continue, the association said a review of the decision will be done once ties normalise. Asked if it would have been better for Indian producers to release the films already made, Anand said, You are talking about business, we are talking about nation. Whatever little we can do in our own capacity, we are doing. We are ready to bear the losses. The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India is a part of the official Film Federation of India - a body consisting producers, exhibitors and studio owners. The FFI also selects Oscar nominations for India, and organises Indis flagship film festival, the IFFI. Antonio Guterres elected as new Secretary-General of UN Published: October 14, 2016 The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has formally elected Antonio Guterres (67) as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations. In this regard, 193 member states of UN adopted by acclamation a resolution for appointing Antonio Guterres. He will have five-year term beginning January 1, 2017. He will succeed retiring Ban Ki-moon who has completed two five-year terms as the worlds top diplomat. Earlier in October 2016, Antonio Guterres had won unanimous support from UN Security Council (UNSC). Who is Antonio Guterres? Antonio Guterres is Portuguese politician and diplomat. He had entered politics in 1976 during Portugals first democratic election after the Carnation Revolution which had ended five decades of dictatorship. He was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. He was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from June 2005 to December 2015. He led the UNHCR through during one of the worlds worst present refugee crises, including those in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. About Secretary-General of United Nations The UN Secretary-General is the head of the United Nations Secretariat. He is de facto spokesperson and leader of the UN. The role Secretary-General has been mentioned in Chapter XV (Articles 97 to 101) of UN Charter. The post lasts for five years and is limited to a maximum of two terms. Summary The post of Secretary-General of United Nations is not as powerful, but he serves as the UNs top diplomat and chief administrative officer. He has to run an unwieldy bureaucracy and manage the competing demands of the worlds big powers. His role is to step in both publicly and privately to prevent escalation of international disputes. Month: Current Affairs - October, 2016 Topics: Antonio Guterres International Persons Portugal Unga United Nations UNSC Latest E-Books New Delhi: The government is revisiting strategies to deal with Zika virus disease, with cases being reported from closer home. Union health ministry is in the process of developing a comprehensive combat plan that is expected to be ready in two weeks. We have competent agencies such as Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Centre for Disease Control that have been directed to develop a comprehensive Zika virus disease strategic response framework and action plan. It will be ready soon, said health minister JP Nadda. Our planning has to be exhaustive because the only way to stop the spread of Zika in our country is by stopping its entry. Since February this year, when Zika surveillance began in the country, 15,022 human samples and 6,000 Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have been tested by the ICMR for the presence of Zika Virus, and none have returned positive. Under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), microcephaly- a birth defect where a babys head is smaller than normal, is also being monitored from 55 hospitals. Microcephaly is one of the side-effects of the Zika virus disease, if a pregnant woman gets infected. A total of 165 microcephaly cases have been reported between February 2016 and August 2016. As of now, there has been no increase in the number of cases if microcephaly or clustering of the condition that could reflect infection within the community, said Nadda. The ministry has revised the travel advisory, which is uploaded on its website www.mohfw.nic.in. We have reiterated that non-essential travel to affected countries be deferred and pregnant women should not travel to these countries, said Dr P Ravindran from the health ministry. A 24X7 control room011-23061469, is already functioning under the Directorate General of Health Services, where an expert is present to answer queries related to Zika. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India lashed out at a Pakistan daily on Friday for concocting a story that claimed foreign secretary S Jaishankar admitted the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the LoC were a bluff, asserting that the news report was baseless. Strongly reacting to the story in Pakistans The News International report titled Indian FS admits surgical strikes was a bluff, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said it is completely concocted and baseless. The German ambassador, Martin Ney, was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the foreign secretary on September 29 on the surgical strikes. They have had no further conversation since on this subject, Swarup said. In its report on Friday, The News International, citing a source, claimed that the Indian Foreign Secretary has categorically denied and said that there was no surgical strike undertaken by Indian Army in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Read: Indias claim of surgical strikes fabrication of truth, says Pakistan army Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to reach Goa on Friday for the upcoming eighth BRICS Summit, extended a warm welcome to participating nations and said India looked forward to finding common resolve and solutions. The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring, Modi tweeted. The two-day BRICS summit will be held from October 15 to 16. The Prime Minister, in a tweet also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Michel Temer of Brazil, who will also reach Goa on Friday. India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa, the Prime Minister tweeted. President Putins visit will give us an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia. (Brazil) President (Michel) Temers visit will open up new areas for cooperation with Brazil, an important strategic partner, he wrote in a Facebook post. Modi said that he looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges. As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly, he said. Both Putin and Modi will stay at the Taj Exotica while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an inter-governmental organisation of which Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are members. I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Modi said in another tweet. According to the reports, a joint meeting of the BRICS and BIMSTEC leaders will be held on October 16. India is also counting on the BIMSTEC in a bid to corner Pakistan after 19th SAARC summit which were scheduled in Islamabad were cancelled. A school principal has been arrested for allegedly posting controversial content on Facebook on the Prime Minister and RSS leaders on Dussehra. Mudassir Rana, who heads a private school in Saradhna area, has been charged under Section 153-A of IPC (promoting disharmony) and relevant sections of IT Act, police said here. Rana was arrested on Thursday following a complaint and was sent to jail, police added. It is alleged that Rana had in his Facebook post depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other Sangh leaders, home minister Rajnath Singh and yoga guru Ramdev in an objectionable way. As the Aam Aadmi Party plans to get Hardik Patel onboard ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in PM Narendra Modis home state Gujarat, the 23-year-old firebrand Patidar leader has showed signs of siding with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. As the Delhi CM began his Gujarat tour on Friday, Hardik said he has been approached by AAP leaders for support and the community, which has been loyal to the BJP for decades, will soon take a call. We cannot oppose everyone. We have to support someone. The community will soon decide on whom to support, said Hardik, who grabbed national attention last year by leading a series of agitations by the Patidar community demanding reservation in college admissions and government jobs. We are not going to stage any protest against Kejriwals visit. I am being approached by the AAP. A decision will be taken at the right time, Hardik told HT over phone from Udaipur, where he is on a six-month exile as per the bail conditions in two sedition cases. Last year, Hardiks outfit Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) had declared support to the Congress in the local body elections held in November in which the party had trounced the BJP in the countryside. But now, the PAAS, which has announced it will campaign against the BJP in the next elections, is equally opposed to the Congress. After visiting the families of Patidar youth killed in police firing last year during protests, and in Ahmedabad and Mehsana on Friday and Saturday, Kejriwal will address his first public rally on Sunday in Varacha area of Surat city which has a sizeable Patidar population. Confirming that the AAP was in talks with the PAAS, the partys Gujarat leadership maintained that the AAP is a natural choice for Patidars. Influential Patidars have been staunch supporters of the BJP, helping the party grow in Gujarat. But they feel let down by the BJP over the OBC quota issue. They are also disappointed with Congress. AAP is a new party and Kejriwal is the only one who can take the BJP head-on in the home state of Modi. This makes AAP a natural choice for Hardik and Patidars, said an AAP leader. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The government is planning to bring back plans to establish the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), which were first introduced during the UPA governments regime. The idea was earlier shelved after state governments raised an opposition. However, according to sources Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi informed the parliamentary standing committee that no final decision has been taken on the issue yet. The NCTC was the brainchild of former Union home minister P Chidambaram, who now heads the standing committee as an opposition member, and it was modelled on the NCTC formed in the United States after the 9/11 attacks. The idea was put into cold storage back then, after objections from several state governments over the powers proposed for the body. The state governments termed the centre an infringement upon their powers under the federal structure. The NCTC is not dead and buried. We are planning to establish it without involving states in it, said a senior government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He refused to divulge more details on new proposal. The UPA cabinet had cleared NCTC in 2012 in order to integrate and analyse all intelligence pertaining to terrorism. The order in 2012 stated that the operations wing of the NCTC will have the power to arrest and search under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). State governments of West Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh opposed it saying law and order is a state subject. The parliamentary panel had met to discuss the discuss border management and internal security issues. During the meet, Panel chief former home minister P Chidambaram inquired about the status of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) project also launched when he was home minister. He also wanted to know why the government was reducing the budget allocated to the project. Home ministry officials assured him that the project was on track. Some Congress members sought similar commitment from the government on NCTC as well. Other members suggested more focus on the Indo-Bangladesh and the Indo-Nepal borders. Panel briefed on surgical strikes The parliament standing committee on defence received a briefing from Lt General Bipin Rawat regarding the surgical strikes carried out across the Line of Control (LoC) last month. A source in the panel added that the postal voting system of army jawans was also discussed in the meeting. Some members of parliament (MPs), however, seemed dissatisfied with the briefing and felt all the information given was already made available publicly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a war memorial, which took more than six years to build, in Bhopal on Friday amid a war of words between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre and the opposition over the Indian Armys surgical strike. Modi will land in Bhopal at about 4 pm and will head to Lal Parade ground to address an ex-servicemens gathering called Shaurya Samman Sabha. He will then inaugurate the Shourya Smarak, built by the state government, in the evening. It is a matter of pride for Madhya Pradesh people that the Shaurya Smarak came up with the state governments efforts and the PM is going to inaugurate it. This will give a boost to the morale of not only the armed forces but also the citizens of the country, state BJP vice-president Vijesh Lunawat said. Read: Always wanted Bhopal to have Shaurya Smarak, says Chouhan The war memorial, built over 12 acres on Arera Hills at a cost of approximately Rs 41 crore, has a 62-foot Shaurya Stambh, an amphitheatre with a capacity to seat 1,000 people and galleries to showcase the armed forces history and wars the country has fought. The foundation stone of the war memorial was laid on February 24, 2010, by the then army chief General Deepak Kapoor. Inauguration of the war memorial by the Prime Minister and his address to the ex-servicemen will boost the morale of army men. The state government has put in great efforts to acknowledge and underline the role and image of the armed forces, wing commander (retd) Arun Puri told HT. PM Modis Bhopal visit comes three days after his Dussehra speech in Lucknow where he said that sometimes war becomes unavoidable but said those who support and provide sanctuary to terrorists cant be spared. The PM, however, did not name Pakistan in his speech, the first since Indias military retribution against the neighbour New Delhi blames for the terror attack on an army base in Uri that left 19 soldiers dead. Read: Ahead of Modi visit, cops scan hostels in Bhopal Opposition parties have accused the BJP of profiteering from the military action and the ruling party has berated the opposition for belittling the sacrifice of the armed forces. Congress leaders have claimed there have been surgical strikes in the past but the then UPA government never trumpeted such actions. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam have even demanded the government to provide evidence of the surgical strike. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhis khoon ki dalali barb targeting Modi over the surgical strike has heated the political atmosphere, especially in Uttar Pradesh which is set for assembly elections in 2017. Address grievances In a letter to the Prime Minister, Ex-Services League of Bhopal and Ex-Servicemen League of Sehore urged him to redress the long-standing grievances of service/retired personnel. Our rights were curtailed during service Even then, we were always ready to sacrifice our lives to defend the country. Our grievances need to be looked into by the government, Lt Col (retd) SC Dixit said. The PM will also meet Jain Acharya Vidyasagar, who is camping in the city during Chaturmas, at the Jain temple in Habibganj area of the city. He will fly to Panaji at 7pm to attend the BRICS Summit scheduled for October 15 and 16. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Samajwadi Party will decide on its chief ministerial candidate after the elections, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Friday, refusing to back his son Akhilesh amid a bruising feud within Uttar Pradeshs ruling family. Mulayams announcement at a press conference came in the presence of his brother Shivpal, whose elevation as the partys state president last month replacing Akhilesh had spilled out the familys differences in public. An angry Akhilesh, the chief minister, divested Shivpal of key portfolios in retaliation. Mulayam managed to broker a truce between the two power centres but the undercurrent of tension remains, potentially threatening to derail the partys preparations to defend the throne in the assembly polls due early next year. The chief ministerial candidate will be decided by the elected party legislators and parliamentary board. This is our job. This is not your (media) work, he said. Read | Shivpal might have been right about not making Akhilesh CM, hints Mulayam This is what had happened (in 2012). All are aware that in 2012, the people had voted for me. But I felt that I had become kalam-ghisu (one who puts signatures on tomes of papers) in my three terms as chief minister and also as the Union defence minister. The partys MLAs and the parliamentary board finalised the CM (Akhilesh). Mulayams refusal to project Akhilesh as the man for the top job is being seen as an attempt to keep him and his supporters on a tight leash and stem any dissent against Shivpal. Reports quoted Akhilesh as saying that he will start campaign alone if he does not find any support, in what is being seen as his growing isolation in the party. In 2012 too, Akhilesh had campaigned on his own as no big leader participated in his Kranti Rath yatra. He had also stayed away from rallies addressed by party veterans. Read | Mulayam Singh Yadav and family: Everyone is someone in Uttar Pradesh Mulayam, however, denied any rift in the party and family despite visible signs of Akhileshs displeasure with several of Shivpals decisions including the merger with the Quami Ekta Dal, a party floated by a jailed gangster and the naming of a murder accused as a candidate for the polls. The BJP, attempting to capture power in the state after 14 years, took as dig at the SP over the turf war. Party president Amit Shah on Friday said the ruling party should first try to control the infighting within it. The government has failed to control law and order in the state. How will those who cannot control law and order in their own family control the state, Shah said at a rally in Kanpur. UP is very big Akhilesh bhaiya (brother)...first of all, control your family... only then will a bit of peace return to the state. (With agency inputs) Read | Akhilesh-Shivpal saga not the only succession struggle in a regional party SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India wants to limit tensions with Pakistan after what it said was a successful cross-border strike on militants sheltered there, according to two top officials, who sought to allay fears of broader conflict between the nuclear-armed nations. One of the officials, who are both part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis government shaping a new, more robust strategy towards Pakistan, said India remained focused on rapid economic growth, and any conflict would deflect it from that path. War is not in Indias interest at this point, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because relations with Pakistan remained tense after India announced the Sept. 29 strike inside the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. We want to build comprehensive national power - economic, military and diplomatic. We need time, but if we stay on this path, the power differential with Pakistan will become so high by 2025 that you dont have to fight a war, the official said. Modis government, breaking with a traditional policy of military restraint, said last month it sent special forces across the militarised frontier in Kashmir to kill an unspecified number of militants in retaliation for an attack on an Indian army base. Pakistan said it had nothing to do with the attack on the base and has denied any Indian strike took place across the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir. It said it would repel any aggressive action from India. On Friday, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said New Delhi was trying to divert attention from a crackdown on violent protests this summer against Indian rule in its part of Muslim-majority Kashmir. Pakistan has already rejected the baseless claims of surgical strikes. As we emphasized earlier, India is desperate to divert attention of the international community from grave human rights violations, Zakaria told a news briefing. More than 80 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded in the worst unrest in the disputed Himalayan region for six years. At least two police officers have died and more than 5,000 security force members have been wounded. India has not offered any evidence for the cross-border raid in Kashmir, although military officials have said there is footage from helmet-mounted cameras on the raiding party as well as from drones. US diplomats and an intelligence official in New Delhi and Washington have confirmed there was an Indian action across the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, but details were not available. Pakistans military declined to comment for this article. Read | Our artists dont have to go look for work anywhere: Pak actor Shaan Shahid Indian army commandoes walk from a building after two suspected militants were killed in a gunbattle in Pampore, south of Srinagar, on Thursday. (AFP) Fears of new war Soon after the army base attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers, some officials in New Delhi said the government would act with restraint towards Pakistan, with which India has fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir. The subsequent announcement of a cross-border strike reignited fears of an escalation in tensions between the countries, but the second Indian official said they were overblown. There is no concern, the chapter is over, the official said referring to the raid India says it carried out. The issue is not what India will decide; the issue is whether Pakistan can act on the basis of rationality. India has long demanded that Pakistan act against militant groups operating from its soil, including by going after the leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which it holds responsible for the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people. Pakistan denies giving material support to fighters in Kashmir, and says India has not provided evidence linking it to militant violence in India. The first Indian official said the government would respond to cross-border terrorism more forcefully than previous Indian administrations, and not be cowed by fear. It has been a low-cost option for Pakistan; keep sending these fighters into Kashmir and pin down our army. We are going to raise the costs for them. India has been on the back foot in Muslim-majority Kashmir for several months, after tens of thousands of people staged protests demanding freedom from Indian rule when soldiers killed a popular young militant commander in July. Insurgents have stepped up attacks in recent weeks, although the level of violence is a fraction of its peak in the 1990s and early 2000s, when hundreds of people were killed each year. The first government official and an army officer in Kashmir said there were an estimated 250 militants inside the Kashmir Valley, the highest number in six years, and that they expected more attacks in the coming weeks. Reuters was not able to verify the figure, which the official and officer said was based on radio intercepts and intelligence information. According to the officer, numbers had risen because 72 militants had infiltrated from Pakistan in the first seven months of 2016, compared with 35 for the whole of 2015. But local Kashmiris, especially in the south where the slain insurgent commander had his base, were also taking up arms in greater numbers, the first government official said. Read | PM Modi will have Pak, trade ties on mind as he hosts BRICS Summit Union home minister Rajnath Singh hit out at Pakistan without naming the neighbouring country on Friday, saying some countries that made terrorism a part of their state policy must be isolated. Speaking to the All India Christian Council in Delhi, Singh urged the world to unite against nations that used terrorism, a day before world leaders arrived in Goa for the Brics summit. There can be differences over thinking and issues with some nations, but a gun cannot resolve them. The world faces the scourge of terrorism, Singh said. The comments come amid increased government efforts to globally isolate Pakistan following surgical strikes by the army on temporary militant shelters across the Line-of-Control two weeks ago. Since then, many countries including Islamabads ally Washington have condemned militancy coming out of Pakistan. India plans to pursue further isolating Pakistan diplomatically with ten countries in different formats in Goa this weekend. New Delhi wants to use the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and seven member Bay of Bengal countries outreach meet and bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and different heads of state to air its concern over cross-border terrorism. A Saarc summit slated for November in Islamabad got postponed after India linked cross-border terrorism with regional cooperation and succeeded in getting support from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Many of the Saarc member countries will also be present in Goa. (With agency inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India receives first Iranian oil parcel for emergency reserves Published: October 14, 2016 India has received the first parcel of crude oil from Iran to partly fill the strategic storage in southern India as part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs) storage. The first parcel of 2 million barrels of Iranian oil was imported by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) with the help of very large crude carrier (VLCC) Dino. India is planning to fill half of the storage with 6 million barrels of Iranian oil while continuing talks with United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for the remainder. The second parcel of such reserve will be procured by Bharat Petroleum Corp. Why it is important for India to have strategic storage? India imports around 80% of its crude oil requirement from the international market. Most of these imports come from Middle East which is unstable region. Any price aberrations in crude oil prices have a direct impact on the Indian economy especially upon the current account and inflation amounting to strategic risks. Thus, it is necessary for India to have SPRs which will act as a valuable buffer against short term oil supply disruptions and global price shocks. Government Proposals Since 2003, the Central Government has commissioned the strategic oil reserves to maintain nations energy as well as economic security. The erstwhile Planning Commission in its Integrated Energy Policy, 2006 also had recommended to maintain a reserve equivalent to 90 days of oil imports for strategic-cum-buffer stock purposes. The recommendation was based on identification that any supply, market and technical risks in global supply chain of oil may become major threat to Indias energy security. Present Status India is building emergency SPR storages in vast underground caverns at three locations in southern India to store about 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil enough crude to cover almost two weeks of demand. They are located are in Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur. Month: Current Affairs - October, 2016 Topics: Economy India-Iran International Relations National Oil Sector Latest E-Books The government on Thursday approved construction of a crucial road project that will cut travel time and connect tribal areas of Jharkhand to north Bihar. The Rs 1,952-crore project, cleared by the cabinet committee on economic affairs, is a new formation of the missing link at national highway 131A to national highway 133B, connecting Sahibganj in Jharkhand to Manihari in Bihar. The stretch includes a four-lane bridge on the Ganga. At present, there is a missing link at the location as there is no bridge on the Ganga. Project will help expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Bihar and Jharkhand and also reduce the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying in the area in these states. The development of this stretch will also help uplift the socio-economic condition of this region, a government release said. How is a judge evaluated for his performance? This question has baffled many both in and outside the legal profession for years. A study commissioned by the department of law and justice under the ministry of law attempts to bring to the fore the process of evaluating judges which hitherto has been shrouded in secrecy. A survey by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy which works with various government ministries to provide research and drafting support at various stages of law-making has revealed that individuals in the legal profession are strongly in support of a performance-based evaluation of judges at all levels of the judiciary. The report said Judicial Performance Evaluation (JPE) the method developed in the 1970s in the US to periodically assess the performance of judges using various qualitative and quantitative parameters could help the judiciary take decisions on transfer and promotion of judges, paving the way for a transparent and accountable system. Medha Srivastava, who along with Sumathi Chandrashekaran of the Vidhi Centre conducted the survey, told HT that such a study has never been done in India before. Though it is an initial step, it could potentially change the way judges are evaluated in future, Srivastava added. The interim report said that judges could be evaluated on the basis of objective and subjective criteria. Objective criteria includes number of judgments overturned by a higher court, punctuality of the judge, range of areas on which the judge has worked and passed judgments, number of judgments appealed in a higher court. Subjective criteria includes quality of judgments, litigants perspective, preparation and attentiveness, practitioners perspective, administrative abilities, strictures and adverse comments against the judge. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The government said on Friday it is committed to ending religious discrimination against women, criticising an influential Muslim body for politicizing the demand for uniform laws for marriage, divorce, property and inheritance in India. Union information and broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that a uniform civil code will be arrived at through a process of consensus, not haste, and urged everyone to keep politics out of the process. We have three basic issues: Gender justice, ending discrimination and upholding the dignity of women, he said. The comments came a day after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board attacked the BJP-led central government for triggering an internal war by trying to do away with Islamic personal laws. The board said it will boycott a questionnaire circulated by the law commission that asked for comments on a uniform civil code and doing away with the Muslim practice of triple talaq, under which a man divorces his wife by saying the Urdu word for divorce three times. Read | Triple talaq row: Theres scope for reconciliation between Islam, modernity But Naidu said the government which has already opposed triple talaq in the Supreme Court -- will not back down and the process of consultation for UCC will go ahead. The mood of the country is that triple talaq to end. People dont want discrimination against women, he said. If you have a point of view, put it forward and enter a debate. Why drag in the prime ministers name? He also asked people not confuse the triple talaq and UCC, saying these were separate issues. India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion and demand for overhauling these codes date back decades. Critics say triple talaq, by allowing summary divorce, discriminates against women. But successive governments have backed away from any sweeping change for fear of upsetting crucial vote banks. In recent years, many Muslim women have approached the judiciary and the apex court is hearing three petitions against triple talaq. But Muslims organisations see this as an attempt to tamper with their religious practices and have decided to boycott the consultation process. Read | Centre stands firm as row rages over uniform civil code The issue has also turned into a political war ahead of crucial assembly polls in five states especially in Uttar Pradesh where Muslims make up more than a fifth of the population. Critics say the BJP is using the issue to drive a wedge between communities for electoral benefit. But Naidu dismissed these concerns, saying uniform laws will be based on consensus and agreement within communities that needed to change with the times. Nothing is going to be forced on other people. As far as basic human rights are concerned, I dont understand the objection. If youre so interested in politics, join a party. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Taking a jibe at Pakistan, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said it could seek the help of India if it could not root out terrorism on its own. Addressing a public rally in Bengaluru, he said Pakistan was getting isolated from the world for abetting terrorism. If Pakistan government wants to get rid of terrorism and if Pakistan government on its own cannot root out terrorism, then it can seek help of India. India is ready to root out terrorism from Pakistan, he said. He said constant efforts were made to improve relations with Pakistan, pointing out that Narendra Modi had invited in May 2014 all the heads of governments of neighbouring countries for his swearing in as Prime Minister to send a message that India wants to have better relations with them. But Pakistan did not understand this and tried to take advantage in violation, he said, apparently referring to the Uri terror attack. We do not hate people of Pakistan but hate terrorism in Pakistan. Singh said terrorists from Pakistan crossed the borders and killed 18 soldiers but what the Indian jawans did in retaliation was sending a strong message to the world that the country was not weak but strong. He also said the greatest example of India being a secular country was it declared itself a secular state rather than a theocratic state unlike Pakistan that called itself an Islamic state. At the rally, former Dalit IAS officer K Shivaram, who has acted in some Kannada films, joined the BJP. China said on Friday it will continue to block Indias efforts to ban Pakistan-based militant Masood Azhar and New Delhis application to join the influential Nuclear Suppliers Group until a consensus emerged on both issues. A day before Chinese President Xi Jinping reaches Goa for the 8th Brics summit, the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) said there were differing views among members of the United Nations Security Council on listing Azhar -- who heads the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad -- as a terrorist. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Xi on the sidelines of the summit. I have stated Chinas position. I would like to reiterate that the UN committee dealing with the listing does it according to provisions of the UN charter. We maintain that this committee should work on true facts and make a decision according to consensus of its members, Geng Shuang, MFA spokesperson said at a regular press conference on Friday. All parties are divided in listing of the relevant people. And this is why China has put on hold (the banning of Azhar), Geng said. This will give enough time to make the listing decision and also shows the responsible and professional attitude of the Chinese side, he added. Read | Modi, Xi to discuss bilateral ties hit by NSG issue, Masood Azhar ban push China extended the technical hold or used its UNSC veto against Azhars banning earlier this month the second time after April. The MFA had earlier said the application member states submitted to the 1267 Committee of UN must comply with specific requirements of relevant resolutions of UNSC. Shuang also said there was no change in Beijings opposition to Indias application to join the 48-nation NSG and access sensitive nuclear technology that can resolve the countrys power woes, for one. Chinas position has not changed regarding the joining of the NSG by India, Geng said indicating that it would continue to oppose Indias joining till a consensus emerges on allowing countries who have not signed the Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) into the group. Indias bid in June was backed by the United States and France but faltered after China, South Africa, New Zealand and Austria opposed the application. Beijing and its allies say only countries that have signed a global arms control pact the NPT will be allowed entry. India refuses to sign the pact because it would mean shutting down the countrys nuclear defence programme. Chinas opposition was seen in India was seen as support for its ally Pakistan, which applied for an NSG membership soon after New Delhi announced its bid. Read | Where New Delhis approach fell short in Indias NSG bid Earlier this week, vice-foreign minister Li Baodong had said: When other countries apply for membership, this group will need to examine the application and it would require the approval or agreement through consensus by all members of the group and then to decide whether the new member will be taken on board. These rules cannot be decided by China alone, Li added. Geng said he had to underscore that in recent years China and India relations had been making great headway despite some disputes. He said that the mainstream of bilateral relations has been positive and cooperation far outweighs competition. Hope the two countries can continue with dialogue and cooperation to exchange views some disputes, seek solutions and properly manage relevant disputes, Geng said. We are willing to work with India to implement the leaders consensus, strengthen communication and cooperation and deepen pragmatic cooperation across the board, Geng said. Read | India spoilt, smug; Beijing is right to oppose NSG bid: Chinese media A day after a teenage rape victim gave birth to a baby in Bareilly, adoption requests have poured in for her child, irking the already harrowed family. So far, 24 couples have approached the girls father and relatives with adoption requests. The 14-year-old rape survivor gave birth to a baby boy in an ambulance on Thursday after her request for medical termination of pregnancy was declined. She had been repeatedly raped by a man in her village who promised to marry her, but abandoned her when she conceived. The auxiliary nurse midwife at a health centre, where her family had taken her for delivery, allegedly asked them to go to the district hospital after coming to know about the rape. The wannabe adopters started contacting the girls father on Thursday, a few hours after the child was born. They called me yesterday and many came to meet me today. All of them are ready to adopt the child, said the father, sitting under a tree outside the maternity ward of the district hospital. Though many people from distant states like Maharashtra , Madhya Pradesh and Assam have approached the family, the majority is from Bareilly. A woman from Bahedi (50 km from Bareilly) came to meet me in the morning. She said she had no children and wanted to adopt the child, the father said. Another woman from Bareilly city who met the girls father, said on condition of anonymity, I cannot conceive because of a medical condition. So I met him (father) and requested him to let me adopt the child. However, the hapless man has complained of annoyance over the requests, saying, Nobody is bothered about the condition of the girl or my family. All they want is the child. I am tired of all this now, adding that he has asked all of them to contact his advocate. According to family advocate VP Dhyani, the Allahabad high court will decide the future of the child. We have submitted a petition in the Allahabad High court to decide on the future of the child. A two-bench judge of the court will decide on the matter later this month, he said. The mother and the child are normal and may be discharged on Saturday. Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers intercepted two men with United Arab Emirates (UAE) passports carrying 199 endangered tortoises and turtles in four checked-in bags on Thursday night. A case has been registered against the two men, who are cousins. Marwan Ali Hassan and Sultan Ibrahim Ali Alfaqi bought the protected animals in Mumbai and were planning to smuggle them to the UAE. At the airport, they pretended to be working for the Dubai police but could not produce any IDs to prove this, a source said. Their bags contained 197 Indian star tortoises, which are protected under Schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, and two spotted black pond turtles, which are even more endangered and protected under Schedule 1 of the WPA. An official said the animals had been carelessly stuffed into the four bags. Such smuggling harms the animals and many die en route. The two men said in their statements that they had bought them from a man at Crawford market who agreed to lower the rate if they bought in bulk, the official added. A source said these tortoises and turtles, which are found in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are in high demand in the UAE. They claimed they wanted to keep them in their farmhouse but the quantity suggests they were meant for trading, said the officer. Officials in the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) said the two men were handed over to the Thane forest range of the states forest department. The accused will be presented in court on Saturday and tried under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 as the two turtles are protected under Schedule 1 of the act, said M Maranko, regional deputy director, WCCB. A source told Hindustan Times that officials from the UAE consulate in Mumbai demanded that the men be deported and tried in a Dubai court. However, after three hours of negotiations, they were handed over to forest department officials. Animal activists said the turtles were dehydrated and appeared traumatised when they were handed over to the forest department. The reptiles have been kept at the Thane forest office, where they have been given food and water. We are hoping their condition will stabilise soon, said Pawan Sharma, president of Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW), an NGO that is helping the forest department rehabilitate the reptiles. Experts said that despite their protected status, traders have been finding new ways to smuggle such animals out of the country. The number of cases has not decreased as smugglers use apps such as WhatsApp to communicate, said Jose Louies, head of trade control, Wildlife Trust of India. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials arrived in Thane on Friday and are scheduled to meet senior officials, including the commissioner of police (Thane) Parambir Singh, in connection with the call centre scam busted at Mira Road, in which US citizens were duped by racketeers posing as officials of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Sources in the Thane police told HT that they contacted the FBI and informed them about the case as soon as the scam was unearthed. Investigations revealed that 6,500 US nationals have been cheated so far. The police are probing the role of US-based agents, who earned 30% commission per victim while their counterparts in Mira Road got 70%. Police sources said the employees would pose as IRS officials and bully loan defaulters in the US into making payments. The victims would be asked to submit their bank details.The callers would use these details to hack into their accounts and clear the savings. The fraudsters were trained to converse with the defaulters in an American accent. The accused used special software to mask the number they were calling from. The police said the software ensured that the receivers saw a US number on their phones. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In photos: The four canine heroes of the Mumbai police The four canines that played a key role in the 26/11 terror attack operations in 2008 have died. HT looks at the four members of the dog squad, which helped the Mumbai police detect explosives and minimise casualties in the attack which killed more than 160 people and injured 300. Read 199 live turtles seized from UAE nationals at Mumbai airport Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers intercepted two passengers both holding United Arab Emirates (UAE) passports carrying 199 live Indian Star Tortoises and Black Pond Turtles in four trolley checked-in bags on Thursday night. A case has been registered against both the foreign nationals. Read More Indians booking gambling-heavy family holidays this Diwali Several groups have booked their families on a gambling vacationto celebrate the festival away from the usual routine. Read Dombivli thieves break into six cars, steal stereo systems worth 61,000 Thieves broke into six cars and stole stereo systems and cash from each between 12am and 6am near Hardkar Hospital at Ramchandra Nagar in Tilak Nagar, Dombivli on Thursday. Police said the stereo systems were collectively worth Rs61,000. Read Monsoon bids adieu to Mumbai After more than a week since the last heavy showers, the monsoon has withdrawn from Mumbai. On Friday, the weather bureau announced that the south-west monsoon has ended. Read A silver coin, taken out of the Kukreja home safe in Ulhasnagar every Diwali, will make its maiden international trip this year. Deepak Kukreja, a local entrepreneur, carries the lucky coin embossed with an image of Goddess Lakshmi for card games synonymous with the festival. However, unlike the usual poker parties at friends houses or nearby resorts, the 44-year-old has booked his family on a gambling vacation at a Colombo casino hotel for this year. The airfares and overall package cost was almost on par with our normal Diwali budget. Two of our family friends will join us, said Kukreja. Several groups have booked similar packages to celebrate the festival away from the usual routine, said travel operators. The fun elements of Diwali include the entire gambling experience. This has created an interesting demand for destinations such as Macau and hotels such as the Venetian. Bookings of cruises are also seeing a surge with short-haul itineraries of Costa, Star Cruises and Royal Caribbean to Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong being preferred, said Rajeev Kale, president and country head for leisure travel and MICE at Thomas Cook India Limited. He said that a majority of the bookings comprised groups of friends from Mumbai, Gujarat, NCR and Punjab. Cox and Kings Ltd, another travel company, saw a 20% year-on-year growth of such travellers. There are multiple flights across all Indian metros to these destinations. As the travel time is between two and three hours, it is an ideal getaway for gambling during Diwali, said Karan Anand, head relationships with Cox and Kings Ltd. People head to these locations for a short break, and most probably have a three-night, four-day itinerary, he said. International properties big on gambling also offer frills such as luxury stays, spas, fine dining, and nightclubs, said Neelu Singh, director and chief executive officer with Ezeego1.com. She said that visa-on-arrival and short travel distances also attract travellers. While trips to Macau, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Sri Lanka are in high demand, casinos in Goa, Daman and Sikkim also lure a significant number of Diwali travellers. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Union Cabinet approves MoU between EXIM bank and NDB Published: October 14, 2016 The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing of a MoU on General Cooperation with New Development Bank (NDB) or BRICS Bank and Export Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank). The MoU will be through the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism. The MoU will help enhance trade and economic relations among the BRICS countries. However there is no financial implication involved with signing of the MoU. What is Purpose of MoU? This MoU is a non-binding umbrella agreement. It aims at establishing a cooperation framework in accordance with the national laws and regulations. Besides it also seeks for skills transfer and knowledge sharing amongst the signatories. Why this MoU was signed? The establishment of the NDB reflects the close relations among the BRICS countries and provides a powerful instrument for increasing their economic cooperation among them. The signing of MoU is necessary keeping in view the strategic relevance of cooperation for sustainable development and inclusive economic growth among BRICS countries. It also reflects cooperation extended by the BRICS members in various forms for promoting and facilitating trade of goods and services as well as investments in mutual projects. Background The BRICS Interbank Co-operation Mechanism was established by the five banks from the BRIC nations to enhance trade and economic relations amongst the BRIC countries, and enterprises. It proposes to sign a MOU on General Co-operation with the NDB. BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are developing countries, collectively accounting for 43% of the worlds population, 15% of global trade and 20% of the worlds investment flows. Month: Current Affairs - October, 2016 Topics: BRICS Cabinet Decisions Economy National NDB Trade Latest E-Books Mumbai boy, Prashant Gokhale, 15, has bagged a silver medal at the 21st International Astronomy Olympiad held in Bulgaria. Two other students representing India, from Hyderabad and Indore, won silver and bronze medals, respectively. Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, a unit of the National Council of Science Museums, Ministry of Culture, announced the winners on Friday. Close to 16 countries participated in the Olympiad held between October 4 and 13. Students faced three gruelling rounds that tested their theoretical, observational and practical skills in astronomy. India was one of the four countries from where all the participants won a medal, said Madan Gopal, who accompanied the students. They were trained in two camps orientation and pre-departure, early this year. All were students from Classes 9 and 10. Gokhale, who is a student of RN Podar School, Santacruz, said, I was confident of emerging in the top three. I developed an interest in astronomy through various softwares that help us view the skies. Wajid Shaik Mulinti from Sri Chaitanya IPL Olympiad School, Hyderabad, also won a silver medal. I was surprised with the win. I found the observation round a bit tough, questions were tricky, said Wajid. Harshit Khandelwal from Bhavans Prominent International School, Indore, said that he plans to pursue a career in astronomy. I got interested in the subject at a young age. If not astronomy, I will study physics, he said. A year after the death of former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who was known for his concern for childrens welfare, most Mumbai schools dont seem to have time to mark his birthday. Although the Maharashtra education department asked schools to observe Saturday as Reading Day or Vacchan Prerna Diwas to pay tribute to Kalam, many schools are giving it a miss owing to the ongoing end-of-the-term exams and Saturday-off. After Kalams demise last year on July 27, education minister Vinod Tawde announced that schools in Maharashtra must observe October 15 as Reading Day to inspire students to take up Kalams example and become voracious readers. The department came up with a list of activities ranging from speeches, lectures, workshops, debates, reading sessions and others to inculcate a love of reading among the kids. Schools said they are in the middle of semester exams and hence cannot afford to keep extra-curricular activities. There is no time to hold any programmes on Saturday since we are busy with semester exams. We might do it on a later date, said Chandrakanta Pathak, principal, HVB Global Academy, Marine Lines. Additionally, schools that are closed on Saturday wont hold any programmes either. With Saturday being our weekly-off, we will skip the celebrations this year. We dont want to call students on their holiday, said Avnita Bir, principal, RN Podar School, Santacruz. Anticipating the busy schedule, some schools conducted a few activities in advance, over the last two weeks. Due to the ongoing exams, we had a reading session on different topics four days back in our school to celebrate APJ Abdul Kalam's birth anniversary, said Cynthia Dawson, principal, Swami Vivekanand High School, Chembur. Dawson said that Kalam had visited the school in 2013. We still remember Kalams visit, he had charmed teachers and students alike. His ethos is still shared by all of us in the school, said Dawson. Some principals said that schools dont need to depend on token gestures to keep Kalams spirit alive. Why should students remember Kalam only on October 15? Kalam was against such tokenism. Encouraging children to read and do their best throughout the year is the best tribute to the late president, said a principal from a Kandivli school on the condition of anonymity. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Swedish Academy, in its citation, while awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature to the American musician Bob Dylan credited him with having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. Yes, the general consensus is that Bob Dylan is a great musician, and probably one of the greatest. While I may not share in the sentiment of his genius as an artist, this is not a critique of his musical abilities. But a slight bewilderment at the decision of the Nobel Committee to award Mr Robert Allen Zimmerman the Nobel Prize in Literature. While the laureates for the Nobel Peace Prize have raised many an eyebrow, a lingering hope was that prize in literature remains just that -- a most exclusive prize for people whose contributions to language and literature have been life-ling endeavours. And with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to a musician, an individual whose life-long works were anything but the pursuit of literature, the elevated meaning of the prize feels rather stained. But who are you to call what Bob Dylan created not literature? I am asked. A fan and lover of literature is a most simple reply. An admirer who knows that what Dylan has produced artistically falls short of its very strict definition, let alone be in the same ballpark as the works of previous winners like Gunter Grass, Orhan Pamuk, Doris Lessing and VS Naipaul. There are many more writers whose works dwarf Dylans. It makes me cringe to even write that because its apples and oranges. Never once would I argue for a Julian Barnes novel to win the Grammy Award for Best Record, and using the same line of reasoning, a Nobel Prize in Literature for Bob Dylan is laughable, and downright lazy on the part of a committee that thought this was a good idea. (File) Author Salman Rushdie won the Booker Prize for his book Midnights Children. (AP) Tim Stanley, in writing for The Telegraph, goes a step further and argues that it seems to be a dumbing down of culture, and that a world that gives Bob Dylan a Nobel Prize in Literature is a world that nominates Donald Trump for President. Harsh words, I must say, but I understand that annoyance behind it. This need to be so popular, so over-and-beyond the fringes that what we get out of, is the most insane. Where do we draw the line? Would Chetan Bhagat for the Man Booker Prize be a step too far? He writes books, and more people in India read Bhagat more than they do Thayil! Should an actor or celebrity win a sporting award because he/she has been at the forefront of efforts to popularise and commercialise that sport? The New York Times wrote that in choosing a popular musician for the literary worlds highest honour, the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, dramatically redefined the boundaries of literature, setting off a debate about whether song lyrics have the same artistic value as poetry or novels. And the answer is a resounding no. Song lyrics do not have the same artistic value as poetry and novels. Different art-forms require different aptitude and creative talent. The construction of characters and plots differs from what it takes to write a song. Isnt all creative output literature? Not really, a music album is not literature, and a novel is not music. The fallacy of such a question and argument is that if everything is an entity, then nothing is. Bob Dylan should be in contention for prizes with Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. He has no business competing with the likes of Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo and Ian McEwan. As Punjab heads to polls, the opposition, Congress, is on a roll. The partys night-long siege of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badals official residence in Chandigarh continued on Friday with Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh joining the protesting MLAs and leaders. From outside the CMs besieged residence, Amarinder announced his own Dussehra asking partymen to burn Chitta Ravan across all 117 assembly constituencies. The party legislators and leaders are protesting over the arrest of a Youth Congress leader and framing of attempt-to-murder and kidnapping charges against its five other leaders after a violent clash between activists of the Youth Akali Dal and Congress on Dussehra eve in Ludhiana over effigy of Chitta Ravan. Chitta is a colloquial term for drugs in Punjab and the Chitta Ravan effigy, says the Congress, was made to symbolise the demon of drug menace. Read | Now, Cong MLAs night out outside CM residence over chitta Ravana Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal trying to convince Congress leaders to end their protest outside his residence in Chandigarh on Thursday. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT Photo) Though his residence is a no-protest zone, CM Badal had to sneak out from the backdoor to leave for his native village in Muktsar. On Thursday, he had rushed the director general of police Suresh Arora to Ludhiana and asked him to submit a report in three days, but the Congress refused to lift the sit-in, demanding transfer of Ludhiana police commissioner Jatinder Aulakh, suspension of ADCP-4 Jaswinder Singh and cases against Youth Akali Dal activists who attacked Congressmen. Congress leaders having protest outside CMs residence in Chandigarh on Thursday night. (HT Photo) Asking Akalis why they were so touchy about Chitta Ravan, Amarinder said, Is it your guilty conscience that gets pricked and causes you to get goose bumps over the very mention of chitta? By resorting to violence against burning of the Chitta Ravan, the Akalis have actually admitted to their guilt. Mark my words, this is just the beginning. We will actually destroy the Chitta Ravan in its entirety in the state, he said. District Congress chief Gurpreet Gogi got injured in the clash on Monday. (HT File Photo) Read | 20 injured in Ludhiana as Akali, Cong workers clash over chitta Ravana Nearly seven Congress MLAs led by CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi and Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu had spent the night on durries (mats) spread outside the CM residence. By Friday morning, a dozen MLAs had joined the sit-in. We had to arrange quilts as temperature dipped considerably during the night. Such protests are the best way to corner the government as people talk about it, MLA Kuljit Nagra said. Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu protesting along with party workers outside the police commissioners office in Ludhiana on Wednesday. (HT File Photo) Amarinder announced the protest would continue indefinitely irrespective of whether Badal is present inside his residence. Bittu asked him to gherao Ludhiana police commissioner on October 15 (Saturday). Punjab affairs in-charge and AICC general secretary Asha Kumari also joined the protest. Amarinder left the protest dropping the same threat that he had when he stormed a police station in Gurdaspur on Wednesday. On forming the government, I will take stern action against all police officers who are acting at the behest of Akalis, he said. Himachal Pradesh police brought ray of hope for the Ludhiana police who are still struggling to get a clue in the robbery executed in a Model Town house by police imposters on August 24. When Himachal police found a mangled Swift Dzire car near Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district containing police identity card, they traced the car number and contacted Ludhiana police. On verification, city police found that the identity card found in the car is forged and the address in it was also faked. The police have been trying to trace the accused whose picture was on the card. The police also found that the car used in the crime was stolen from a Ludhiana resident a few days before the robbery. In the heist, five men posing as sleuths of Gujarat police looted 2-kg gold, Rs 10 lakh cash, and two licensed weapons from a house in Model Town area. The house belongs to businessman Raj Kumar Agnihotri, a disciple of controversial godman Asaram. After executing the robbery, the accused fled to Himachal Pradesh where their car met with an accident near Paonta Sahib, following which they abandoned it. Sources said the police have been suspecting involvement of son of a deceased police inspector in the crime. The suspect was a frequent visitor to Agnihotris house. The suspect is already locked up in Ludhiana Central Jail for attempt to murder. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Anupam Kher, in the city for a book launch, responded on a range of issues that he feels strongly about. Nationalism, or its lack thereof, PM Narendra Modi and Pakistani artistes no topic was out of bounds as Kher spoke to the media at the Press Club in Chandigarh. WHAT THE NATION SHOULD KNOW Todays generation needs to know how great our country is. It is only through books like Two Great Masters that the younger generation can know about our forefathers and how immense their contribution has been, he said. Kher feels strongly about meditation and yoga. Interestingly, Kher has lent his voice to a docu-drama based on the life of Paramahansa Yogananda, regarded as the Father of Yoga in the West. PARENTS SHOULDNT HESITATE The actor, who has himself authored a book titled The Best Thing About You is You!, also feels that parents shouldnt hesitate in talking to their kids about everything that they have done for them. Parents must believe that they can actually beat their children in intellect. After all, rishte mein hum unke baap (ya maa) hain. ON BAN ON PAKISTANI ARTISTES While I believe that a ban may not be the right method, I strongly believe that art and culture has no boundaries, only when there are no deaths involved, Kher said. We need to think of the jawan at the border, adds Kher, who was greatly influenced by Lal Bahadur Shastri as leader. NO POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS I am not a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor do I have any political ambitions or affiliations, the veteran actor said. OVERDOSE OF NATIONALISM? Kher is patriotic and is unapologetic about it. On being questioned about terms such as nationalism, ultra-nationalism and intellectualism getting a controversial tinge in todays day and age, especially in light of the Uri attack and the surgical strikes, he says, Id rather be a pseudo-nationalist, than a pseudo-intellectual. ASKING FOR SURGICAL STRIKESS PROOF IS RIDICULOUS Sometimes, especially when silence is misconstrued as a sign of weakness, it becomes important to speak up, he said, adding that the idea of asking for proof of the surgical strikes is ridiculous. Manish Luthra (28) of Jalandhar was chased and stabbed to death on Thursday. His crime: He had been opposing the sale of alcohol in his locality. Luthras killing is fifth brutal murder in Punjab at the behest of the liquor mafia in the past 10 months. From the killing of Dalit youth Bhim Tank (his arms and legs were chopped off) in Abohar in December last year, to dismemberment of 20-year-old Sukhchain Singhs limbs in Mansa and his death on Monday, there is a common thread linking these crimes: the liquor mafia. It is anybodys guess that the mafia is patronised by licensed contractors and politicians, operating in connivance with police, even as multi-crore illicit liquor trade flourishes in Punjab. Dynamics of parallel policing system Private men are hired by licensed liquor contractors to keep tabs on liquor smuggling, which if goes unchecked, hits their profits. While in some cases, contractors only employ informers who alert the police about smuggling activities, there are others who provide vehicles to the police besides assisting them in their operations. And there are many cases wherein contractors rope in criminals and drug addicts to confront those involved in smuggling of liquor and bootlegging. The liquor mafia, as these men are loosely called, undertake raids on their own, checking marriage palaces and other places to ensure that smuggled liquor from outside their territory is not brought there. They use vehicles declare them excise staff conducting raids. Their vehicles declare them as ones helping excise staff in conducting raids. Read | Murder of Dalit youth in Mansa: Kin to get Rs 7.5-lakh aid Equipped with sharp-edged and automatic weapons, these groups also set up illegal nakas and intercept vehicles of suspicious persons, especially in villages, often leading to violent altercations. They also check passengers luggage in buses running within the state. We have been given liquor vend contracts for crores of rupees. We are running in losses due to sale of illegal liquor. We have no option but to groom such people since there is no respite from such activities, said a liquor contractor, requesting not to be named. Bootlegging on rise, small contractors sweat it out Harish Kumar, a liquor contractor who runs a small vend in the Malwa region, said the illegal sale of liquor had multiplied over the past few years. If a small liquor vend has less business and manages to sell 50 bottles out of its quota of 100 bottles, the remaining will be either sold at lower price or smuggled to other areas, he said. Small-time contractors maintain that the monopoly of liquor companies over the business encourages bootlegging. Only 20 large liquor companies control more than 12,000 liquor vends in Punjab. In such situation, small contractors lose business and they tend to smuggle liquor to villages to make some money, said a contractor, also requesting anonymity. Also read | Liquor contractors thrash pub owner in Patiala Deputy excise and taxation commissioner (Faridkot division), SJS Visla, said some groups of liquor smugglers have started providing liquor on the doorstep and that too at lower prices. This is a new trend, particularly in Bathinda and Mansa districts, he said. Things have worsened with politicians entering the high-return liquor trade directly or through frontmen. The police have no option but to allow them to run the show. The job of controlling smuggling is of the police and excise officials, not the mafia, said Haridner Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran, who left the liquor trade. We can do without them: Senior police officials The police feel that they can work without contractors hires to check illegal liquor trade. Amritsar police commissioner Amar Singh Chahal said, It is true that there are men who work for contractors but we dont need them to ensure recoveries. They do give us information or share a source but if they indulge in violence we will never tolerate it. Contractors men cannot conduct raids or beat up someone, said Amritsar SSP (rural) HPS Khakh, admitting that they help the police in nabbing smugglers. But the ground reality is different from what these senior officials say. The police only register an FIR (first information report). Right from identifying those involved in illicit liquor trade, conducting raids, nabbing them and taking them to the police station is done by the contractors men. We allow it as it is the practice, said a station house officer (SHO). There are other problems too. In many cases, the accused get on-the-spot bail and started indulging in the illegal business again, said Pawan Garg, assistant excise and taxation commissioner. The family of the Dalit youth Sukhchain Singh finally cremated his body on Friday after all the six accused were nabbed by the Mansa police. A petty liquor smuggler, Sukhchain was allegedly in conflict with a group of upper caste landlords. He was abducted and killed by a rival group of liquor smugglers on Monday evening and one of his legs was chopped off. Ferozepur Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Joginder Singh, who came to attend the cremation, faced protest by the CPI (ML) workers at the cremation ground. He was forced to leave without meeting the victims family. People then started raising slogans against the Badal government. Meanwhile, the MLA said, I am a part of the committee probing the killing of the Dalit youth. Findings of the probe will be out within 15 days. The police had arrested four of the accused by Thursday but the family had refused to cremate the body till all the six were arrested. They had also demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a government job to one of their members. Read | HT spotlight | Liquor mafias reign of terror in Punjab A total of Rs 10 lakh will be provided to the kin of Sukhchain, out of which they received Rs 5.62 on Friday. Mansa district administration has recommended the victims brother, Sukhbir Singh, for a government job. Scheduled caste (SC) commission will provide Rs 7.5 lakh and the state government will provide the rest Rs 2.5 lakh. The SC commission provided some part of it on Friday while the rest of it will be given after the conviction of the accused. The government share will be provided after the bhog ceremony. Mansa senior superintendent of police (SSP ) Mukhwinder Singh said, gangs of liquor smugglers will be under strict vigil as victims gang is planning a revenge attack. He also informed that station house officer(SHO)Chanan Singh, accused for going slow against the liquor smugglers, has been transferred from Kotdharmu police station. Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal tweeted on the issue, As the State is proceeding against the Mansa case guilty, various political persons are trying to vitiate the atmosphere by making it /1 Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) October 13, 2016 appear as a dalit vs upper caste clash even though initial reports suggest it is a case of inter-gang rivalry between liquor smugglers /2 Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) October 13, 2016 The State will not allow the emergence of any gangs in the liquor trade & anyone indulging in any such activity should be arrested /3 Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) October 13, 2016 . The Punjab government announced financial aid of Rs 7.5 lakh to the Dalit youth Sukhchain Singhs family, who was found murdered in Mansa. Minister for welfare of scheduled castes and backward classes Gulzar Singh Ranike said he had directed officials to provide financial aid to the family. Meanwhile, the standoff between family members of the youth and the district administration over cremation and post-mortem continued, even as police arrested the fourth accused, Babrik Singh, on Thursday evening. Read | Political blame game begins after Mansa Dalit youths murder We want all six accused arrested. The cops should also take action against SHO Chanan Singh who was hand-in-glove with the smugglers, said Sukhvir Singh, victims younger brother. The family has also demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a government job to one of their members. You may have been exposed to different kinds of commercials on television, in newspapers, on public hoardings and, of course, the ubiquitous internet, but now, you can even expose yourself to commercials in public toilets. The state government has now taken up public toilets of the city bus stand to throw light on their achievements and success stories as claimed by them through recorded commercials that are played from morning to night. This comes after they had put up a large number of hoardings of the same commercials in different nooks of the city about two months ago, but now with the recent toilet choice, not just passengers are encouraged to daily crack jokes but several opposition leaders and residents feel such advertisements are like putting the cart before the horse - a futile task! For this exercise, a professional communication firm has also been hired. Besides toilets, speakers have been fixed in almost every corner of the bus stand. Rashpal Singh, general manager of the bus stand, revealed that other than Ludhianas bus stand, other cities including Amritsar and Jalandhar have also been targeted. HT team went to the bus stand a few days ago and spoke to different passengers for on choosing toilets for advertisements, they went on to laugh and candidly rolled out their views. Its more than funny. Such an example can also be picked by the comedians to entertain public where politicians do not even want to spare toilets in a bid to win election. Hope after public toilets at the bus stand, the state government will not come with speakers in residential areas or personally in different homes,said a Jalandhar-based college student Balbir Singh Gill. An elderly passenger, Makhan Singh of Patiala, said, It is easy to build castles in the air through commercials but public knows the reality. If you want public to hear your stories even in the toilet, in other words you are actually after their lives and in way forcing them to hear the commercials. Satish Sachdeva, a senior citizen, said that the noise creates nuisance for public as the government is ignoring the actual issues of Punjab. If the development has taken place in reality, what was the need of playing speakers in toilets? The SAD-BJP government is well known for looting people of Punjab. The residents are aware of the atrocities by the government. Despite they are doing publicity by installing hoardings or playing speakers, they face protests by the residents. It shows that how the people hate Akali ministers,said Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu. Darshan Singh Shankar, state media committee member of AAP, the SAD-BJP government is disturbing visitors at bus standS and they are misusing the power. There is no development on ground level thats why the government is adopting such cheap ways for publicity. The people will show the door to SAD-BJP in 2017 elections as they cheated people of the state. On other hand, many also pointed out that before putting up speakers for commercials at the bus stand, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal should have personally taken note of poor infrastructure here especially the toilets where toilet doors are without locks, taps are missing and shockingly are far away from hygiene. Daily hearing these commercials has reminded me of an old proverb that empty vessels make more noise,underlined Harpreet Singh, a teacher, who daily travels to Khanna from here. : , 10 5 Demanding withdrawal of false cases registered against their members and release of their two leaders, contractual employees of various departments of state government under the banner of Theka Mulazim Sanghatsh Morcha (TMSM) organised a protest march from Bhucho Mandi to Bathinda and then blocked the roads leading to Mansa, Talwandi Sabo and Dabwali cities. The TMSM leaders said the government was trying to overpower their rightful protest for regularisation of services by coercion with the use of police forces against them. The leaders alleged that to threaten and derail their protest, the police have registered false cases under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code against ten of their members. The case was registered against them and two TMSM leaders were arrested on October 5, when they along with others were protesting at Kotha Guru village for regularization of their services. Before blocking the road, the TMSM leaders organised a march started from Bhucho Mandi. A caravan of about 70 motorbikes and more than 100 four wheelers went through the villages and told villagers about the anti-people and anti-employment policies of the government. The TMSM members raised slogans against Punjab government and distributed pamphlets on the way to Bathinda. The blockade was on till the filing of the report. On October 10, the union members protested against the decision of closing Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, for six months during winter. Hanumant Panchal, a 58-year-old farmer from Dhanegaon village in Latur district, is distressed despite the good rainfall that has come after three years of consecutive droughts in Marathwada. Last fortnights downpour has washed away his standing crop of soybean, causing major financial losses. In the middle of the difficult period, Hanumant, lost his young son about 8 months ago. The last spell of the monsoon has wrecked havoc for Latur farmers. We were expecting a good crop this year after a satisfactory spell of three months. But the excessive monsoon, just before its retreat, has washed away everything. This season has proved worse than the ones during the drought, says Hanumant. Looking at the bright side of life Photos and Text by Raj K Raj Bibekananda Tripathi, 42, first met his wife Sasmita, 35, at school in their hometown Bhubaneswar in Odisha. It was a bond born out of love and empathy. They were both visually impaired and became close friends while learning how to negotiate a dark world at Bhima Bhoi School for the Blind. The Tripathis perform a puja during Navratri. The family that prays together, stays together. Twenty-five years later, Bibekanandas job as a stenographer with the Central government led them to Delhi, where they live in a two-room government accommodation in RK Puram in South Delhi. The Tripathis are hungry for information, and use all media forms to stay tuned to the world around them. Good samaritans usually step forward to help the couple, but many people pass by. The Tripathis couldnt be happier. They have a wonderful nine-year-old son, Deepananda, who is a student of Class 4 at DAV RK Puram. Responsible beyond his years, Deepananda has become his parents eyes, helping them around and taking care of them. They dont need much help. They can both find their way around the neighbourhood on their own, quips Deepananda. Shopping at the local market is part of the familys daily routine. Sasmita dictates to Bibekananda as he practices his stenography during his free time. Bibekananda advises all parents not to repeat the mistakes that led to him and his wife losing their vision when they were both around three years old. Neither of us can recall what anything looks like. We experience the world through feel and touch, he says. Bibekananda loves chaat and can find his way alone to the best chaat shop in the neighbourhood. The family stays in their two-room apartment in RK Puram colony. Please dont ignore minor infections and get your children treated instead of going for home remedies, he urges. Medical facilities have improved in his village, but he fears parents mindsets have not. We both lost our vision from complications after a bout of severe diarrhoea and dehydration, and the lack of medical attention. I dont want it to happen to anyone, says Bibekananda. Cooking is easy, says Sasmita, who effortlessly works around hot oil and fire. On busy Delhi streets, most people help Bibekananda and his wife negotiate the traffic and crowds, but he gets more help from people from poorer sections than from the busy middle-classes. Family time involves son Deepananda watching news on TV while his parents listen to it. We rarely step out at night because of drunk-driving. People who drink and drive are even more blind than the two of us, laughs Sasmita. Every morning, Sasmita helps Deepananda get ready for school. Selfies are great, but Deepananda quips he sometimes has to struggle to get his parents to look at his cellphone camera. Their sole wish? People are helpful but life would be a lot easier if public places had basic infrastructure such as disability-friendly footpaths, toilets, ramps, etc, says Bibekananda. The family makes its way back through a dark road from the bright lights of the Dusshera fair. Have you ever dreamed of tying the knot at a Disney princess wedding? The media and entertainment multinational has decided to offer couples an after-hours wedding package at its Florida Magic Kingdom theme park, which could make that dream come true. Imagine Cinderellas dazzling carriage drawn in style by a team of four horses passing in front of the princess castle on the way to the ball. And whos inside? It could be you. Disney has decided to make a dream for some future brides come true with the announcement of a wedding package that will enable them to say their I dos in the world of Mickey and Minnie. Packages for weddings in the theme park have been available for several months, but now the service is being upgraded to allow couples and their guests private access to the Magic Kingdom after-hours. Future newlyweds will have the option of organizing their wedding in the park with a ceremony in front of Cinderella Castle, a carriage ride along Main Street, and a fairytale reception in FantasyLand. Couples eager to take advantage of more services should get in contact with Magic Kingdom representatives via the website Disneyweddings.com. The wedding package costs $180,000 for a ceremony and reception with a maximum of 300 guests. Packages for weddings in the theme park have been available for several months, but now the service is being upgraded to allow couples and their guests private access to the Magic Kingdom after-hours. (Youtube) Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. Actor Kushal Tandon has a huge fan following after his work on television. While everyone awaits his debut on the silver screen, he says he has been offered many erotic thriller films but wont take up just anything out of desperation in an attempt to make a Bollywood debut. I want to do intelligent movies, like Udta Punjab. I have got a lot of offers for erotic thrillers. As an actor, you dont grow in such films and there is not much to do. By the end of it all, the only people who benefit them are the producers, says Tandon. The actors contemporaries from the television world have made Bollywood debuts but failed to make a mark with their first films. Tandon is glad that he never took such a step in haste. I havent done movies that my contemporaries have done and I am thankful for that. I am happy being an A-lister on television rather than doing any film and later regretting it, says the actor. So why is Tandon waiting for this long to make a foray into the industry? I am not getting the kind of film I want. It has to be a sensible film that helps an actor learn and grow. Bollywood will eventually happen and whenever it does, it will happen with a bang, he says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, is leading Donald Trump by seven points, according to a latest national opinion poll conducted by a media outlet seen friendly to the Republican leader. Clinton receives 45% to Trumps 38%. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 7% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein gets 3%, Fox news said in its latest poll on Thursday. The TV channel is seen friendly to the Republican leader. Last week, Clinton was up by two points in the four-way contest (44-42 per cent). In the two-way match-up, its Clinton over Trump by eight (49-41%). She had a four-point edge a week ago (48-44%, October 3-6). Clintons lead is outside the polls margin of sampling error in both the two-way and four-way contests, the news channel had said. After the surfacing of a decade-old video surfaced in which Trump is seen making lewd remarks about women, Clintons lead over the reality TV star has increased. RealClearPolitics, which keeps tracks of all major polls, said on an average, Clinton is now leading Trump by 6.7 percentage points. According to some other polls, Clinton is ahead of Trump in some of the key battleground States like North Carolina and Florida. They are in a virtual tie in Ohio. Seven in 10 American-Muslims will vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the November presidential elections while just 4% from the community favoured Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has called for a controversial ban on Muslims entering the US. With less than a month left for the November 8 general election, the survey conducted by the Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR) lists the proposed ban, terrorism and national security as some of the key areas of concern for them. The CAIR, the nations largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, on Thursday released the results of a nationwide survey, indicating a high turnout of Muslims at the polls, with 72% of those surveyed saying they will vote for the 68-year-old former secretary of state. There are around 3.3 million American-Muslims, according to a 2016 estimate, making up about 1% of the US population. About 86% of registered Muslim voters intend to vote in this years presidential election, while 12% of Muslim voters are still undecided. Read: Clinton leading Trump by seven points, says recent Fox news opinion poll According to the independent live telephone survey of more than 800 Muslim voters, just 4% said they support the 70-year-old reality TV star. The lack of support for Trump could be seen as a result of his direct attacks on the Muslim community. He has frequently blamed Muslims for terrorist activity, and has vowed to tighten up border control to restrict the number of immigrants belonging to the community. The voters said among the plethora of issues being discussed during the election campaign by the candidates, the top six most important issues to American-Muslim voters are civil rights, education, jobs and the economy, protecting students from bullying and harassment, the proposed ban on Muslims entering the US, terrorism and national security. Each of the parties was evaluated by respondents on friendliness to Muslims. Read: Trump who? For Indian Americans, its Hillary all the way 61% of respondents said that the Democratic Party was friendly towards Muslims, as compared to 7% for the Republican Party. In contrast, 62% of respondents said that the Republican Party was unfriendly towards Muslims, while 2% said that the Democratic Party was unfriendly. In comparison to 2012, Muslims over the past four years have developed more favorable perceptions of the Democratic Party and less favorable perceptions of the Republican Party. Of those surveyed, 91% said Trumps proposed temporary ban on Muslim travelers entering the US is the wrong decision while only 3% call it right. Another 85% of respondents believe that Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment in the US has increased in the past year, with 30% of respondents saying they have experienced discrimination or profiling in the past year. Our survey results indicate that presidential candidates still have time to appeal to American Muslim voters by addressing issues such as the erosion of civil rights and growing Islamophobia, said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw. The New York Times on Thursday rejected Donald Trumps claim the newspaper had libelled the Republican presidential nominee, saying its story about two women who said he sexually assaulted them was newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. In a letter, Times attorney David McCraw said Trump has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women and that multiple women had already come forward. Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself, he wrote. The Times reported Wednesday that two women told the paper of his unwanted sexual advances. One, Jessica Leeds, said Trump groped her on an airplane more than three decades ago. The other, Rachel Crooks, said Trump kissed her without invitation in 2006 when she was a 22-year-old receptionist for a real estate firm located at Trump Tower. Trump vehemently denied the allegations, and demanded through his attorney that the story be retracted. At a rally in Ohio, Trump said the media had slandered and lied about me with false accusations. The Times refused to retract the story, saying its reporters worked diligently to confirm the womens accounts. It would have been a disservice not just to our readers but to democracy itself to silence their voices, McCraws letter said. Read | Full letter: New York Times lawyer responds to Donald Trump McCraw said that if Trump decides to go ahead with a lawsuit, then we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight. Trumps wife, Melania Trump, is threatening to sue a separate publication over another womans allegation of assault by her husband. Lawyers for Melania Trump demanded Thursday that People magazine retract and apologize for a story in which one of its writers, Natasha Stoynoff, describes being assaulted by Trump at their Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, in 2005. Stoynoff wrote that she had arrived to interview the couple for a story, and that when Melania Trump left the room, her husband pushed Stoynoff against a wall and assaulted her. The story also says the writer and Melania Trump later ran into each other in New York and had a conversation. Lawyers for the Republican nominees wife say no such encounter occurred. Read | Unfit Donald Trump should not be US president: NYT, Washington Post At least 15 terrorists and 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed on Friday in a major attack on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years been battling Islamist insurgency. A group of suspected Islamists in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai, following which a gun-battle broke out between the forces and the terrorists, army spokesperson brigadier general Mohamed Samir said. Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones in Sinai in July 2015. The militants targeted a military base about 80km east of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Apart from 15 militants and 12 soldiers killed, Samir said a number of terrorists and six security personnel were also injured in the attack. The armed forces assert that these despicable acts will not deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people, Samir said in a statement. Security forces have launched combing operations in the area to find if any assailants escaped. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy that primarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed in violence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping as he arrived to a 21-gun salute in Dhaka on Friday, becoming the first Chinese President to visit the country in the past 30 years. Four Bangladesh Air Force jets escorted the aircraft carrying the Chinese leader as it entered Bangladeshs airspace. Such reception from the air force is a gesture Bangladesh reserves for important guests. When West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Dhaka, after 17 years in February 2015, the gesture was shown in a different way. When AI 230 jet with Banerjee on board entered the Bangladeshi airspace, the captain announced: This flight has been granted VIP status. President Abdul Hamid was at the VVIP terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to welcome Xi. But it was Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina who had received Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his state visit in 2015. We are very happy and feel honoured that President Xi is coming to Bangladesh. I believe that his visit will also be more important for South Asia (as well), Hasina told Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency. President Xi will sign off on loans worth over $24 billion to Bangladesh. This is the biggest foreign credit line to date Dhaka has ever received. This will help build power plants, a seaport and railways, which is part of Chinas larger plans to fund huge infrastructure projects in South Asia in countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Maldives. India considers Bangladesh a close ally. During his last visit, Modi announced a 2 billion dollar credit line to Bangladesh. In fine print, China plans to finance some 25 projects, including a 1,320 megawatt (MW) power plant, and a deep sea port, Bangladesh junior finance minister MA Mannan told Reuters. Chinas Jiangsu Etern Co Ltd had signed a deal worth $1.1 billion to strengthen the power grid network in Bangladeshan area where India is helping Bangladesh in a big way. Bangladesh backed Xis One Belt, One Road initiative to step up trade and transport links between Asia and Europe. Beijing had also proposed an economic corridor linking Bangladesh, Myanmar, China and northern India earlier. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Farmington City Council approved a resolution for the city to apply for a grant which would allow for improvements along Henry Street to include sidewalks and storm water infrastructure. Farmington City Administrator Greg Beavers explained this is the fourth grant application the city has submitted to the Missouri Department of Transportation under certain programs to help with funding for sidewalk construction along that roadway. What our goal has been is to have sidewalk...down to Old Fredericktown Road, Beavers said, adding there is sidewalk along Old Fredericktown Road originating near the apartment complexes. The absence of a shoulder along the section of Route H makes the route unsafe for passage to downtown Farmington. Beavers said the estimated cost of the project is around $295,000 an expensive project due to the engineering costs since the project is located on state highway and the drainage work the project would entail. The amount of the grant the city is applying for is $200,000 with the city paying the $95,000 if the grant is approved. Part of the grant application requires the council passing a resolution permitting the city administrator to apply for the grant. The deadline for the grant application is Nov. 1. Beavers said it may be close to the first of the year before the city hears if the grant is approved. One piece of legislation failed to pass during the meeting due to the number of councilmen in attendance. A rezoning request from R-2 single-family dwelling to R-6 two-family dwellings for property located at 841 Hillsboro Rd was submitted by Josh Black on behalf of Harry and Roberta Chadwell. This is the second time the property has been before the council for a rezoning request. A previous request earlier this year was for a rezoning to allow the construction of apartments. This request would allow for duplexes. Much of the property is under a 100-foot utility easement due to the location of an Ameren service line traversing the property. Ward I Councilman Larry Forsythe, Ward II Councilman Dale Wright and Ward III Councilman Darrel Holdman voted against the request, with Ward IV Councilmen Mark Kellogg and Garett Boatright and Ward III Councilman Dennis Smith voting in favor. Ward I Councilman John Robinson and Ward II Councilman John Crouch were absent. Under Missouri statute, (when voting) it isnt a majority (vote) of the council present at a meeting that constitutes a majority. It is a majority (vote) of those who are elected, Beavers said. Even if (Mayor Mit Landrum) broke the tie, we would still have only four votes and we would need five votes so it just failed. Read more about the vote in next weeks edition of the Farmington Press. In other legislative action, the council approved for a change in the citys municipal code to allow for single-family homes in the C-1 Central Business zoning district with a special use permit. The council also unanimously approved an ordinance authorizing the city to enter into an MPUA (Missouri Public Utility Alliance) Mutual Aid agreement, as well as an ordinance authorizing an amendment to the State Block Grant Agreement with the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission for airport property acquisitions. Beavers explained to the council the block grant agreement was approved six weeks earlier as a resolution, but the commission requires the agreement to be approved as a city ordinance. A resident of Edward Street addressed the council during the public participation portion of the meeting. The woman has lived at the residence for 41 years and was at the meeting to express her opposition to the no parking sign placed for a 90-day trial along her portion of the street. Councilman Forsythe, chairman of the Public Works committee, said a majority of the feedback from the residents has been in opposition to the signs. The trial run was put in place after officials from the Farmington R-7 School District approached the city due to the passage of students in that area. Look for a story on how the 90-day trial works and how the city uses it to gauge feedback from the residents in an upcoming edition of the Daily Journal. Police in the Canadian province of Alberta are investigating a fire that burned down a motel run by an Indo-Canadian family and claimed one life, with authorities looking into the possibility that the incident was a hate crime. The fire occurred over the weekend at Bashaw Motor Inn, run by the Tiwana family in the rural town of Bashaw. The wife and two sons of the motels owner were taken to hospital with fire-related injuries though he is yet to be located, leading to the belief that the remains of one person found at the site could be his. The results of an autopsy, not yet released, will confirm the identity of the deceased and the cause of death. The Alberta Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed there was graffiti damage to property located on the premises of the Bashaw Motor Inn. Spokesperson Corporal Ronald Bumbry referred to the graffiti and told the Hindustan Times: Basically, it did contain a racial slur. However, the RCMP is unwilling to link the fire to that at this stage of the investigation, nor is it releasing information about the nature of the slur. At this time, police have no information to indicate the mischief to property and motel fire are related in any way, the RCMP said in a statement. The Tiwana family have owned and operated the inn for more than a decade. One of the two sons has been discharged from hospital. No arrests have been made yet, the RCMP spokesperson said, and police are still determining what caused the fire. The tragedy has shaken the small rural community of Bashaw, which has a population of less than 900. It has been difficult, it has impacted residents. Were definitely feeling for the family, the towns chief administrative officer Theresa Fuller said. The towns residents have started several drives to raise money for the survivors. Among them is an online GoFundMe fundraiser that has yielded more than Canadian $10,000 so far. Town resident Jackie Northey, who started it, said this was because the family is part of our community and they belong to our community. They have lost not just a business but their home. The facts of what actually happened in the episode will take a while to be established as the police sift through the evidence in the charred remains of the inn they are considering to be a crime scene until proven otherwise. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON For India and China, two ancient civilizations, largest emerging economies and most populous nations, 2016 hasnt been a great year. Multiples issues have plagued bilateral relations, which are anyway blighted by the long-standing and worlds longest land border dispute. The euphoria of hometown diplomacy in Ahmedabad and Xian of 2014 and 2015 now seems a long time ago. If the mostly frozen border problem wasnt enough, new and not-so-new issues have cropped up: China twice blocked a UN Security Council ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, seemingly galvanised support against Indias application to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), is blatantly going ahead with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and is apparently doing little to reduce the trade deficit of around $52 billion. None of these issues especially the CPEC which India sees as a strategic thorn will be resolved anytime soon; definitely not over this weekend in balmy Goa. These are complicated issues whose time for resolution hasnt come. Chinas foreign ministry said as much on Friday that the twin issues of Azhar and the NSG will take time to resolve. Read | Terror from Pakistan to be on agenda of PM Modi-Putin BRICS meeting in Goa The testy bilateral situation changed just a bit on the margins of the G20 summit in Hangzhou last month, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met on the busy sidelines of the G20 Summit and the aim in Goa will be take that momentum forward. The Hangzhou meeting was what diplomats privately called a clear the air meeting. The thrust of that Modi-Xi meeting was to stem the slide in relations and voice the broad issues. In Goa, it will be about taking steps to move the relationship forward. If nothing else, the Hangzhou meeting decided it was time to hold the first Sino-India counter-terrorism dialogue. Within three weeks of the decision, on September 27, Joint Intelligence Committee chairman RN Ravi led a small team to Beijing, where he held talks with Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of Chinas Central Committee. The timing of the meeting was important Kashmir was on the boil, the attack on the Indian Army base in Uri had taken place nine days ago and, unknown to most at that time, India was preparing for surgical strikes on terror bases in PoK. Officials privately said there was a message in the timing of the dialogue as Beijing was closely watching developments in the northwestern part of its borders. The meeting in Goa between Modi and Xi will also focus on building on what started in Hangzhou. It will also be important to see in the next few months whether any senior military or internal security official from China visits India. Though there is unlikely to be any announcement about such visits in Goa, but if such a trip say by a PLA general does take place, it will carry on the momentum of high-level exchanges between the two countries. Read | Look forward to talks with China, honoured to welcome Putin: Modi Anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders can be tried on charges of inciting racial hatred, a court in The Hague ruled on Friday, setting the stage for a politically charged test of freedom of speech laws in the Netherlands. Judge Hendrik Steenhuis dismissed Wilders lawyers arguments that he was being singled out, saying prosecutors have broad leeway in determining when they think someone has crossed the line from offensive speech to discriminatory speech. Wilders is accused of discrimination and inciting racism for remarks in 2014, televised live, in which he led a roomful of followers in chanting that they wanted fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. Steenhuis set the start date for the three-week trial on October 31, meaning a verdict would be likely in December well ahead of national elections in March. Wilders far-right Freedom Party is neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Mark Ruttes ruling conservative VVD Party in popularity polls. Wilders response to the ruling was that he was being prosecuted for what millions (of Dutch people) think. Via Twitter he also indicated he thinks the process against him is politically motivated. In 2011, he was acquitted of inciting racial hatred charges for calling for the Quran to be banned and for the deportation of criminal Moroccans. Judges said that his remarks, while offensive to some, were within the bounds of legitimate political discourse. Many observers felt the trial helped increase his popularity as he was able to showcase himself as a champion of free speech. Germany is warning owners of Tesla vehicles that the use of the autopilot function in their electric cars requires the drivers unrestricted attention at all times. The Federal Motor Authority told Tesla owners in a letter that the autopilot function is purely a driver assistance system and not a highly automated vehicle that can be operated without the drivers constant attention. Under German road traffic regulations, the driver is required to remain alert and in control of the vehicle at all times when using the system, the letter adds. Teslas autopilot, introduced last October, helps drivers steer and stay in lane and is intended to assist but not replace drivers. Tesla says it has always made clear that autopilot is a driver assistance system that requires the driver to pay attention at all times. But it has been the focus of intense scrutiny since a Tesla Model S driver was killed while using the technology in a May 7 collision with a truck in Florida. Germanys transport ministry is conducting studies into the autopilot function on Teslas Model S electric car. An internal report seen by magazine Der Spiegel called the function a considerable traffic hazard. Japan is holding back more than $40 million in UNESCO funding, foreign minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday, following a protest against listing documents related to the Nanjing massacre. Kishida confirmed Japan has suspended this years contribution totalling 4.4 billion yen ($42 million), but denied any direct link to an incident that still hangs over frosty diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Beijing. Last year, Japan one of UNESCOs biggest funders warned it may pull funding for the UN cultural and scientific body after it agreed to Bejings request to mark documents recording the mass murder and rape committed by Japanese troops after the fall of the Chinese city of Nanjing in 1937. The documents were inscribed in the UN bodys Memory of the World register. The massacre, often referred to as the Rape of Nanjing, is an exceptionally sensitive issue in the often tense relations between Japan and China, with Beijing charging that Tokyo has failed to atone for the atrocity. Tokyo had called for the Nanjing documents not to be included and accused the body of being politicised. The Japanese military invaded China in the 1930s and the two countries fought a full-scale war from 1937 until Japans defeat in World War II in 1945. China says 300,000 people died in a six-week spree of killing, rape and destruction after the Japanese military entered Nanjing. Some respected foreign academics put the number lower but there is very little mainstream scholarship doubting that a massacre took place. Japans official position is that the killing of a large number of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred, though it adds it is difficult to determine the correct number of victims. However, some conservatives and nationalists deny that atrocities were committed, a source of regular regional friction. China has rejected Japans protest over the UNESCO move. Some civic groups are moving to have thousands of documents linked to Japans controversial wartime brothels entered into the UN registry. Tokyo frequently clashes with its Asian neighbours over its war record, with many accusing the country of failing to atone for atrocities or recognise the suffering that took place under the yoke of Japanese militarism. The Memory of the World register, set up in 1992, is aimed at preserving humanitys documentary heritage, and currently holds 348 documents and archives that come from countries all over the world. UNESCO found itself in a collision course with both Israel and Japan on Friday. Japan is holding back more than $40 million in funding, following a protest against listing documents related to the Nanjing massacre. Israel suspended cooperation with the UN cultural agency after it adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the deep, historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem. Foreign minister Fumio Kishida said Japan has suspended this years contribution totalling 4.4 billion yen ($42 million), but denied any direct link to the Nanjing incident that still hangs over frosty diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Beijing. Last year, Japan one of UNESCOs biggest funders warned it may pull funding after it agreed to Bejings request to mark documents recording the mass murder and rape committed by Japanese troops after the fall of the Chinese city of Nanjing in 1937. The documents were inscribed in the UN bodys Memory of the World register. The massacre, often referred to as the Rape of Nanjing, is an exceptionally sensitive issue in the often tense relations between Japan and China, with Beijing charging that Tokyo has failed to atone for the atrocity. Tokyo had called for the Nanjing documents not to be included and accused the body of being politicised. In this file photo, the Western Wall (right) and the gilded Dome of the Rock, among the holiest sites for Jews and Muslims, are covered in snow. (AP) Israel is angry that UNESCOs draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray. The validated resolution is expected early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change. Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of anti-Israel bias at the UN. When Prince Hisahito was born in 2006, ending a 41-year drought in imperial male heirs, Japans government gladly dropped proposals that women might head the worlds oldest monarchy, but a decade later the little prince remains the last hope for an unreformed Chrysanthemum Throne. The issue is back in focus after Emperor Akihito, 82, hinted two months ago at abdication, with only five heirs in the line of succession, including Hisahito, his sole grandson. The four older heirs are Akihitos centenarian uncle, an 80-year-old brother, and two middle-aged sons whose wives are in their early 50s. In a rare televised address, Akihito said in August he worried age might make it hard to fulfil his duties. The remarks were interpreted as a desire to abdicate, a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law. The succession quandary has long weighed on Akihitos mind, Japanese media and royal watchers say. As the head of the imperial family, the emperor has a great sense of crisis that the royals will disappear, said a veteran Japanese journalist and long-time royal watcher, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. In a country where the population is rapidly aging and projected to shrink about 30 percent by 2060, the dwindling royal family exemplifies a much larger trend that is also hitting succession planning at Japanese family firms. Next week a panel appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will start considering the topic of abdication. Domestic media and academics say the government appears to be leaning towards one-off legislation that would let Akihito step down in favour of eldest son Crown Prince Naruhito, Hisahitos uncle. Hidehiko Kasahara, an expert in imperial law at Keio University, does not expect Abes panel to broach the topic of male-only succession, which conservatives see as central to an imperial tradition stretching back 2,600 years. The governments stance is to avoid tackling issues like female succession that divide the public, he said. Though surveys have shown a majority of Japanese favour letting women take the throne and pass it on to their children, conservatives are key to Abes political support. Historically, Japans imperial line was preserved by a combination of concubines and cadet royal families called miyake, who could supply a male heir in a pinch. Very occasionally, female place-holders might rule until a male heir was found, but such empresses were either widows or unmarried and did not pass the throne to any children. But times have changed; Emperor Meiji, who died in 1912, was the last to have concubines, and cadet families were stripped of royal status by the Allied Occupation after Japans World War Two defeat. A 1947 law limits succession to male descendants of an emperor. Major surgery In 2005, as hopes faded that Naruhito or his younger brother Prince Akishino and their wives would produce a boy, then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi prepared to challenge that tradition. A panel of experts recommended the first-born child of an emperor or empress should succeed regardless of gender, and Koizumi promised to submit legislation. Hisahitos birth to Akishino and Princess Kiko torpedoed the plan, but the problem has just been kicked down the road. With Hisahitos two sisters in their twenties and Naruhitos daughter and only child Aiko turning 15 this year, the young prince may end up not only the last imperial heir but also the only member of the royal family, as its women become commoners upon marriage under current law. At some point, major surgery will be needed, said Kanto Gakuin University professor Naotaka Kimizuka. We have reached the point where this cannot be fixed with a band-aid. Conservatives favour restoring miyake families to royal status as a solution. We consider the tradition handed down by our ancestors to have great weight, said Akira Momochi, a professor at Nihon University, referring to the male-only succession practice. But restoring miyake could prove a hard sell for Abe, who has otherwise made a policy of promoting female participation in society. His No. 2 in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiro Nikai, has also suggested the imperial succession rules look dated. In an age of female empowerment, it is strange the emperor is an exception, Nikai said in August. Nikais counterpart in the main opposition Democratic Party, former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, also told the Nikkei business daily recently that parliament should discuss the problem of the shrinking number of royals as well as abdication. Abe is a realist, the veteran journalist said. It is clear if nothing is done, the imperial family will die out, so its hard to think he will do nothing. Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives, including American citizens, the US has said, even as it refused to comment on recent remarks by the outfits leader Hafeez Saeed. Im not going to respond to comments that may have been attributed to him (Hafiz Saeed). Hes listed by the UN Security Council 1267 al Qaeda Sanctions Committee for targeted sanctions due to his affiliation with the terrorist group Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT), State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said on Thursday. Both the LeT and Saeed are designated by the US government. The LeT is obviously responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens, Toner said in response to a question. LeT terrorists were involved in carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed and around 300 were injured. Mastermind and LeT operations commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi is living at an undisclosed location after being released from a Pakistani jail on bail a year ago. Six other suspects are in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. The case has been underway in the country for more than six years. The Maldives government said Thursday it has decided to leave the Commonwealth because the grouping of former British colonies has treated it unjustly and unfairly and sought to interfere in its politics. The statement by the foreign ministry came weeks after the Commonwealth threatened the country with suspension if it failed to show progress in key democratic governance issues by next March. The Commonwealth seems to be convinced that the Maldives would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organizations own relevance and leverage in international politics, the statement said. It said the grouping had treated the Maldives unjustly and unfairly. The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the charters of the U.N. and the Commonwealth. Government spokesman Ibrahim Hussain Shihab said the Maldives withdrawal from the 53-state grouping would take effect immediately. Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland expressed sadness and disappointment at the decision, and said she hoped it would be a temporary separation. The Commonwealth Charter reflects the commitment of our member states to democracy and human rights, development and growth, and diversity, she said in a statement. The Commonwealth had warned the Maldives last month of suspension if it failed to show progress in six areas, including freedom for detained political leaders, freedom of speech and assembly, strengthened separation of powers, and independence of the judiciary. Maldives, known for its luxury tourist resorts, became a multiparty democracy in 2008 after decades of autocratic rule. President Yameen Abdul Gayoom has been accused of erasing much of the democratic gains since being elected in 2013. A number of political leaders, including former President Mohamed Nasheed, two of Gayooms former allies a vice-president and a defense minister and a political party leader have been given lengthy prison sentences after trials on terrorism charges criticized for lack of due process. The state also tightly controls public gatherings and recently enacted a defamation law with hefty fines and jail terms for journalists and social media users. Pakistan on Friday assured China of full security to the $46-billion economic corridor that will join the two countries while it passes through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, one of the six main corridors of President Xi Jinpings ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, will connect the northwestern Xinjiang province to the Gwadar port. India has repeatedly voiced its concerns about the CPEC because it passes through PoK. Lieutenant General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, chief of general staff of the Pakistan army, assured General Fang Fenghui, member of Chinas Central Military Commission, that the Pakistani military resolutely supports China to push forward the BRI. The Pakistan army is willing to provide all support for maintaining the security of the CPEC, said Hayat, the senior most serving general who is in contention for the post of army chief after General Raheel Sharif retires in November. According to a report published on an official military website, Fang said China and Pakistan were iron brothers with an all-weather partnership. Chinese President Xi Jinping has reached important consensus with Pakistani leaders on deepening the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and building China-Pakistan community of common destiny during their meetings in recent years, Fang was quoted as saying. He said the two militaries shall make full use of the quadrilateral cooperation and coordination mechanism (among Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Tajikistan) to counter terrorism. The Chinese side is willing to make joint efforts with the Pakistani side to achieve the two countries common development, so as to benefit the peoples of the two countries, Fang continued. The Chinese foreign ministry had told HT in September that Chinas programmes in the region aim at boosting the local economy and improving the peoples well-being. It neither concerns any third party nor is it attacking the position of any side on the issue, the ministry said with regards to CPEC, which India contends is linked inseparably to the Kashmir issue. Whether India is opposed to the CPEC or not, the ministry said, the CPEC has gradually stepped from primary planning to the full operational phase. Jeff Estes, the defense attorney for murder conspiracy suspect, Nanette Litherland, picked up where he left off the previous afternoon on the third and final day of Litherlands retrial for the murder of Jerry Litherland, her husband, on Nov. 8, 2009, and the attempted murder of James Litherland, her father-in-law, on Sept. 22, 2009. After welcoming the jury back Thursday morning, Circuit Court Judge Wendy Horn instructed Estes to continue presenting the defenses case. He began with a continuation of the replay of the video recording of an interview of Jacob Feldman, who is currently serving a life sentence for the first degree murder of Jerry Litherland. The interview was conducted by then Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Rupp and Sgt. Dave Bauer, a criminal investigator with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Feldman, following the advice of his attorney Wayne Williams, accepted a plea bargain that removed the death penalty from consideration as punishment in exchange for his full, honest cooperation. Toward the end of the video, Feldman can be heard describing the events leading up to the shooting of James Litherland and the conversations that he said occurred between Feldman and Nanette Litherland. He said only he and Nanette were involved in the plan to kill James Litherland and that she gave him a ride to the farmhouse where James and Jerry Litherland were living. He described the shooting and how he got rid of the .22 caliber pistol and shortened 20-gauge shotgun he used during the attempted murder. He said Nanette Litherland got nervous and left him there to find his way back to her residence. Despite being shot in the back of the head, James Litherland survived his injuries. Jerry Litherland, who was not at home when his father was shot, arrived shortly after the shooting to find his injured father. Feldman also told Bauer and Rupp that sometime between the shooting of James Litherland and the murder of Jerry Litherland, Nanette Litherland began to talk about killing Jerry Litherland. Feldman said she told him that Jerry Litherland had threatened her with a hammer and was a threat to her and Mary Litherland, her and Jerrys daughter. Also heard on the recorded video was Feldman describing the development of his relationship with Mary Litherland, which he said started as a friendship before beginning to develop into a romantic relationship. Within a couple of months after moving in with the Litherlands at their farmhouse in January of 2009, Feldman said he began selling drugs for Nanette Litherland. He said Nanette Litherland first started talking about getting rid of Jerry Litherland around the beginning of Sept. 2009. He described a complicated relationship between Nanette and Jerry Litherland involving conflicts between their competing drug interests and the role each wanted Feldman to play. Feldman is heard telling Bauer and Rupp that Nanette Litherland did not offer him payment for killing James Litherland, even though she wanted him out of the way, too. Feldman said she only ever offered to pay him to kill Jerry Litherland and that shed pay him $100,000 from an insurance policy on Jerrys life. He said she made the offer around Sept. 20, 2009, a couple of days before Feldman shot James Litherland in the back of the head. At the conclusion of the video, Estes continued to present his case beginning with calling Mary Litherland (now Portell) to the stand. She testified that her father Jerry Litherland regularly abused her physically, including pulling her hair, hitting and kicking her. She described her grandfather James Litherland as a pervert and began listing examples of his offensive behavior before Assistant Attorney General Monty Platz objected on grounds of relevancy, effectively ending that particular avenue of questioning. Upon inquiry by Estes, she said she did not have any prior knowledge that Feldman was going to kill her father. She said she first learned about it when her grandfather knocked on the front door of the mobile home where she was living with her mother, calling for help and yelling that Jerry Litherland was lying in a pool of blood inside the farmhouse. She continued to describe the events of that night, including her encounters with law enforcement at the scene of the murder and over the course of the ensuing investigation. On cross-examination, Platz asked her a few questions about the night Jerry Litherland was shot. When asked, she said her father never sexually abused her. She wasnt able to answer any questions about the specifics of her parents financial circumstances. After a short recess, Nanette Litherland, now 55, took the stand to testify in her own defense. She began by describing how she first met Feldman and invited him to live with the family. She said her husband Jerry Litherland had frequently taken in men who were down on their luck, so it was not unusual to have Feldman living with the family. When Feldman moved in, Nanette, Jerry and Mary Litherland were living at the Litherland farmhouse and James Litherland moved into the garage on the property soon after. She described seeing James Litherland touch and grope Mary Litherland on numerous occasions. She also testified that, beginning when Mary was about 13 years old, Jerry Litherland began verbally abusing her and on two occasions, Jerry Litherland kicked and beat Mary Litherland to the ground. Platz objected again at this point, stating the testimony wasnt relevant unless Feldman had personally witnessed the abuse. Otherwise, he said, Nanette Litherlands testimony was nothing more than unsubstantiated personal attacks on someone who wasnt able to defend himself. In response, Estes asked Nanette Litherland if Feldman had witnessed anything she was describing. She said she remembered that Feldman was there the time Jerry kicked Mary to the ground. It was after this incident, Nanette Litherland said she and her daughter moved from the farmhouse to a trailer some distance away to keep Mary Litherland away from the Litherland men. Nanette Litherland testified that even though she and her husband were living in separate homes, they maintained a close husband and wife relationship and that she still loved him. She said she planned on eventually moving back in with him and that she was working on their relationship. She testified that on the day Feldman shot James Litherland, she dropped Feldman off at a stop sign near the farmhouse after they had been to the store. She said Feldman wanted to walk the remaining way home because it was a nice day. She said she did not see him with a gun during the time they were together and she had no idea what Feldman intended to do. Litherland testified that even after James Litherland was shot, Feldman didnt tell her he had tried to kill James Litherland. Two days prior to Jerry Litherlands murder, Nanette Litherland said she and her husband spent time together doing routine daily activities. She said she visited her son Thomas Buhler that weekend, but made sure his then wife Gwen Buhler (now Orr) wasnt home because they didnt get along well. She said she didnt see Feldman until a barbecue on Sunday and that there were never any discussions about killing Jerry Litherland between her and any of her accused co-conspirators. Nanette Litherland said she and Mary Litherland were at home in bed later that night when James Litherland came to the house and knocked loudly on the door. James Litherland told her Jerry Litherland was lying in a pool of blood. After getting dressed and driving to the farmhouse, Nanette Litherland call 911. When questioned about the familys insurance policies, Nanette Litherland said the first policy was purchased in 2006, which covered Nanette, Jerry and Mary Litherland. She said they bought a second policy later that year because it included commercial carrier coverage. That was important, she said, because Jerry Litherland was driving a cement truck at the time. She also said, It was cheap insurance and you never know when youre gonna be in an accident. The third life insurance policy was purchased in 2009. Nanette Litherland said her husband took out the policy, which covered the whole family, as a source of protection in case one of them died. She said they had just financed some land and the insurance would help protect the familys investment in case of a tragedy. For his final question, Estes asked Nanette Litherland, Did you have anything to do with the shooting of either your father in-law or your husband? No, I did not, she said. On cross-examination, Platz confronted Nanette Litherland about the honesty of the statements she gave to police during their investigation. He pointed out various inconsistencies between her testimony on the stand and statements she previously made to law enforcement. Nanette Litherland responded by saying she was reluctant to say anything bad about her family and she didnt consider protecting her family to be lying. Platz showed Nanette Litherland the written statement she gave to Sgt. Perry Smith on the night of her husbands murder. In her statement, she said she got dressed and drove to the farmhouse before she called 911. Platz asked her why no one called 911 immediately and instead waited to call until after she and the Buhlers got to the Litherland farmhouse. She answered by saying she wanted to get dressed so she could get out there and stopping to call 911 would have slowed things down. Platz also asked her why no one at the farmhouse was willing to perform CPR to try to save Jerry Litherlands life. She said she couldnt answer for anyone else, but as for herself, she said I couldnt do it. She said she thought her son Thomas was too freaked out to try CPR. Upon conclusion of the questioning, Estes rested the defenses case. After lunch, Judge Horn read instructions to the jury, giving them the guidelines to use when considering the evidence presented during trial. She also read to the jury the specific elements of each charge against Nanette Litherland. She instructed that the jury shall determine Litherland is guilty of murder in the first degree, a class A felony, if Feldman caused the death of Jerry Litherland and the death was deliberate and intentional; and that Nanette Litherland promoted or otherwise furthered the actions of Feldman that ended with the death of Jerry Litherland. Horn also instructed the jury regarding the second charge against Litherland. She instructed that the jury shall determine Litherland is guilty of assault in the first degree, a class A felony, if Feldman knowingly inflicted serious physical injury to James Litherland and that Nanette Litherland aided or encouraged Feldman to shoot James Litherland, thus causing the serious injury. Prior to adjourning for deliberations, the jury heard each sides closing arguments. Platz summarized the states case, weaving into a concise narrative the complex series of events involving numerous individuals that led to one man being shot in the back of the head and another man being killed. Likewise, Estes took his turn to present to the jury a summary of the defenses case, focusing on what he perceived as holes and weaknesses in Feldmans lengthy confession to police, Gwen Buhlers changing story about her involvement in the alleged conspiracy, the familys insurance policies, Feldmans proclaimed affection for Mary Litherland and his desire to protect her. The jury deliberated for less than 90 minutes before returning with a verdict of guilty on both counts. After announcing their verdicts, the jury adjourned one last time; just a few minutes later, they returned with a recommended sentence for the assault charge life imprisonment. With only one possible sentence available to impose for the charge of first degree murder in this case life in prison without eligibility for probation or parole the jury only had one sentence to consider and recommend. Horn ordered a sentencing assessment report be prepared by the Missouri Department of Corrections and forwarded to the court prior to formal sentencing. A date for sentencing was set for Dec. 16 at 8 a.m. in the St. Francois County Courthouse. The Pakistan government on Friday lifted a travel ban imposed on journalist Cyril Almeida over a report he wrote about a rift between the civil and military leadership. The governments decision followed a meeting between interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and information minister Pervaiz Rashid and representatives of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society and Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors. The government put Almeidas name in the Exit Control List (ECL) after he filed a report in the Dawn newspaper on October 6 about a tense, high-level meeting between civilian and military leaders during which foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry reportedly said Pakistan was facing growing international isolation for failing to tackle terrorism. Quoting anonymous sources, the report said civilian officials called for the military not to interfere if law enforcement agencies tried to arrest members of terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Almeida tweeted a photo of an official letter regarding the removal of his name from the ECL. "All concerned are requested to take immediate action in the matter" - yes, please! pic.twitter.com/nz7AY19G4P cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 14, 2016 Meanwhile, the Pakistan Armys top commanders on Friday expressed serious concern at the publication of a false and fabricated story about an important security meeting held at the Prime Ministers House in a national English language daily. Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif chaired the conference of the Corps Commanders at the General Headquarters, during which participants said they viewed the report as a breach of national security, according to the militarys media wing. The commanders carried out a review of the internal and external security situation, with particular focus on the prevailing situation on the Line of Control and armys operational preparedness, the military said. On Thursday, the interior minister had defended the imposition of the travel ban and told reporters that Almeida would not be allowed to leave Pakistan until the completion of a government committees inquiry into the report. The committee will decide if anyone is to be prosecuted for the story, he added. The government denied the report three times but the Dawn stood by the story and Almeida, a columnist and assistant editor at Pakistans most influential English daily. He also received support from other media organisations and rights groups in Pakistan and abroad. Read: Pak media slams travel ban on Almeida, questions lack of action on Saeed Hurricane Nicole plowed directly into Bermuda on Thursday, causing widespread damage and knocking out power to most homes and businesses while apparently sparing the tiny Atlantic island chain any severe injuries or fatalities, government officials said. Nicole, the strongest hurricane to sweep the subtropical British territory in more than a decade, made landfall before noon, packing sustained winds of up to 120 miles per hour (195 kph) and ranking as a fierce Category 3 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami. By then the low-lying archipelago, occupying just 21 square miles (54 sq km) and home to more than 65,000 people, had been lashed for hours with torrential rain, hurricane-force winds and pounding surf. In the village of Flatts, just outside Bermudas capital city of Hamilton, towering palm trees were bent over virtually at 90-degree angles in the howling winds, and boats moored at a nearby inlet rocked in the heavy waves. For a storm this size, Id say were blessed, Bermuda Premier Michael Dunkley told Reuters by telephone. I dont think any part of the island was spared the wrath of Nicole. But ... it could have been much worse. The storm, with an eye about 30 miles (48 km) across, weakened after moving back into the open sea and was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, its maximum sustained winds diminished to 110 miles per hour (175 kph). The Royal Gazette newspaper said the storm sheared rooftops from buildings, uprooted trees, flooded homes and downed power lines as it slammed into Bermuda, a major tourist destination and affluent insurance industry hub about 640 miles (1,030-km) off the coast of North Carolina. Passage of the hurricanes eye provided a lull for about an hour, during which the skies cleared, the rain and winds ceased and some islanders emerged from boarded-up homes to stroll outside briefly. One person was even seen riding a bicycle through the streets, strewn with debris and vegetation. At this point, there is no indication of any loss of life or serious injuries, Dunkley said. He said property damage was widespread, but its not significant where its going to take weeks and months to recover. The Bermuda Electric Light Company (BELCO) said that nearly 26,000 customers were without power, roughly 85 percent of its customers, and that many power lines and utility poles had been knocked down. By early evening, winds had diminished to below tropical storm-strength and repair crews were able to venture safely into the streets to begin assessing damage as the storm moved farther from shore, Dunkley said. The international airport there was expected to reopen on Friday, he said. Bermuda is often in the paths of Atlantic storms and has extensive experience in handling them. The last hurricane to score a direct hit on the island territory was Gonzalo, which made landfall as a Category 2 storm days after the island was hit by Tropical Storm Fay. Hurricane Fabian, which pummeled the island in 2003 and caused $300 million in damage, was a Category 3 storm. Nicole shot through Bermuda just a week after Hurricane Matthew tore a path of destruction through impoverished Haiti en route to the United States, where it triggered severe flooding. Matthew, which briefly rose to the maximum Category 5 intensity, killed more than 1,000 people in Haiti, and left more than 30 dead in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. ISLAMABAD: Pakistans Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of a Christian womans final appeal against her death sentence in a blasphemy case for an indefinite period. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar adjourned the case of Aasia Bibi after Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman recused himself from the case. I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of (former Punjab Governor) Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that, he told the court. The court did not immediately set a new date for the appeal. Taseer was assassinated in 2011 by Mumtaz Qadri, a policeman who was angered by the governors defence of Aasia Bibi after she was accused of blasphemy. Taseer had also called for reform of the controversial blasphemy laws. The courts decision means the case will continue to be delayed, experts said. Aasia Bibi will remain in jail as the judicial process drags on, they added. She was convicted and sentenced to hang in 2010 after an argument with a Muslim woman. ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government on Thursday defended its decision to place a travel ban on a prominent journalist over an article he wrote about an alleged rift between the countrys powerful military and its government. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that Cyril Almeida would not be allowed to leave the country until the completion of a government committees inquiry into the story, which authorities have repeatedly denied. The committee would decide if anyone was to be prosecuted in relation to the story. Almeida, a leading columnist and assistant editor at one of Pakistans most respected English language dailies, filed a story on October 6 that gave an account of a tense, high-level security meeting between civilian and government officials. Quoting anonymous sources, the story said civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if law enforcement authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The government has issued three denials of the story, and on Thursday Khan reiterated them. Almeidas newspaper Dawn stands by the story, saying it was verified with multiple sources. The government placed a travel ban on Almeida late on Monday. LONDON: The basis of Britains crackdown on foreign students in recent years was put into question after a government study described as secret reportedly revealed that the scale of such overstaying students is far lower than previously estimated. Only 1% of international students about 1,500 break the terms of their visa by refusing to leave after their course ends, according to the study, The Times reported on Thursday. The Home Office said it did not recognise the 1% figure. When she was home secretary, Prime Minister Theresa May had launched a crackdown on international students, including closing the two-year post-study work visa that was popular among self-financing students from India and other non-EU countries. The Times report said the research threatened to undermine Mays case for a crackdown on foreign student recruitment and called into question past estimates that put the figure of overstaying students far higher. Official statistics have been used to suggest that tens of thousands of foreign students vanish each year after finishing their degrees, but the latest study would suggest that the true figure is 1,500, it said. The Home Office, which commissioned the analysis, disputed that it was conclusive and said that the work was not completed. It has refused to share the study with other Whitehall ministries and rebuffed requests from The Times to release it, including under the Freedom of Information Act, it added. An unnamed Whitehall source told the paper the study showed that the proportion of non-EU students at British universities who remained beyond their permitted date was very small. BANGKOK: King Bhumibol Adulyadej, revered in Thailand as a demigod, a humble father figure and an anchor of stability through decades of upheaval at home and abroad, died on Thursday. He was 88 and had been the worlds longest reigning monarch. The Royal Palace said Bhumibol died in a peaceful state at Siriraj Hospital, where he had been treated for various health problems for the past decade. During a reign that spanned 70 years, the US-born Bhumibol became much more than Thailands constitutional monarch.He was the nations one constant as myriad governments rose and fell, a gentle leader who used the influence of the throne to unify the nation and rally troops through the Cold War as Thailands neighbours fell under communist control. In his heyday, the frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles wielded so much power and respect, he was able to squelch coups and rebellions with a gesture or a few well-chosen words. Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a bodhisattva, or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race. But while junta leaders, prime ministers and courtiers approached him only on their knees, Bhumibol was remarkably down-to-earth. He rolled up his sleeves and hiked into impoverished villages to assess the state of his country. WASHINGTON: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he will cancel the historic Paris Climate deal if voted to power as the agreement would cost the US economy $5.3 trillion and skyrocket electricity prices. Speaking at an election rally in Florida, Trump said he will create jobs all across America and provide cheaper energy to people, especially farmers. I believe so much in the environment. Believe it or not, people are shocked - Ive won many environmental awards. Many. But the Paris deal, supported by Hillary, will cost our country another $5.3 trillion over a period of time and skyrocket electricity prices, he said. We will cancel this deal so that our companies can compete. We want clean beautiful air. We want crystal clear water. Thats what we want. We want to be able to do business throughout the world, not so that we cant compete because of these crazy deals that our president is making, he said. He said he will unlock $50 trillion in energy reserves, meaning many new jobs all across America. WASHINGTON: The US military launched cruise missiles on Thursday against three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, after failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, US officials said. Several hours later Iran announced it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen. The US missile strikes, authorised by President Barack Obama, represent Washingtons first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemens conflict. The Pentagon appeared to stress the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the US Navy ship USS Mason on Sunday and Wednesday. These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US Navy destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles around 4 am. These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea, including the USS Mason, one of the officials said, adding the targeted radar sites were in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low. The official identified the areas in Yemen where the radar were located as: near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka. [dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the days after Japans December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, one woman was subjected to more intense vituperation than any other American. Letters and wires called her a disgrace and a traitor; one stated, when concentration camps open you should be occupant number one. The object of this vilification was Republican Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin, the representative of Montanas First District. In Dillon, in the southwest corner of the state, the Kiwanis and the Rotary Club fired off a joint telegram to Rankin, reading: You have done a great disservice to the state of Montana and to the American People. The Pioneer newspaper in Big Timber suggested she be publicly spanked on the floor of the House. Radio commentators used such harsh language in denouncing her that some stations masked their broadcasts with music. The transgression that earned Rankin, 61, such calumny happened just after 1:00 p.m. on December 8 in the Capitol in Washington, as Irving Swanson, a clerk in the House of Representatives, read members roll call, recording their votes on the fateful resolution declaring war against Japan. Yea after yea came in like an echo as Swanson read the names at a pace of 20 per minute until he got to Rankin, who in a firm voice announced her stance: No. Other House members began hissing. It was the only vote in either house of Congress against the declaration of war for which President Roosevelt had asked. For Rankin it was a repeat performance. She was then in her second term in the House. Her first had begun on April 2, 1917, when she was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the United States Congress. Five days lateron April 7Congress voted on a resolution for entry into World War I and she had voted no then as well. In 1917, however, ambivalence about the country going to battle in Europe was not uncommon. The mood in the United States following the Pearl Harbor attack was quite different. On the Sunday of the attack, Rankin and her sister Edna were on a train from Washington to a speaking engagement in Detroit when she learned that Roosevelt would be addressing a joint session of Congress the next day. She got off the train in Pittsburgh and returned to the Capitol. At her home the phone rang nonstop. The first call was from her brother Wellington, her top political adviser and fundraiser for her political campaigns, urging her not to repeat her World War I no vote. So many other callers and visitors repeated that message that Rankin felt she had to escape. I didnt let anybody approach me, she later told her biographer, Hannah Josephson. I got in my car and disappeared. Nobody could reach me. I just drove around Washington and got madder and madder until it was time to go to Congress for the presidential address. A lifelong pacifist, Rankin did not waver in her determination to vote against the war resolution. But on the day after the shocking and devastating Pearl Harbor attack, the country was in no mood for pacifism. Rankins no subjected her to such an immediate onslaught from reporters that she retreated to the members cloakroom where she hid in a phone booth and called for Capitol Police to escort her back to her office. RANKINS OPPOSITION TO WAR should not have been a shocker. Her anti-intervention position was a key reason for her 1940 campaign for Congress. If I dont run, Rankin said 44 years later to a student writing his masters thesis about her career, the women who dont want war will have no one to vote for. Rankin had been an ardent advocate for womens suffrage; it was largely through her efforts that women won the right to vote in Montana in 1914two years before she was elected to Congress. In 1910, Denver news reporter and womens rights activist Minnie J. Reynolds had persuaded Rankin that pacifism was an inherent part of feminism. The women produce the boys and the men take them off and kill them in war, Reynolds argued. Rankins reading of Benjamin Kidds 1918 book, The Science of Power, solidified her commitment to Reynolds feminist-pacifist ideology. Kidd found in men a natural inclination to battle while he found in women a preference for peaceful settling of disputes. Rankin called Kidds opus the most important book she had ever read. Not only had she opposed American participation in World War I, but in the interwar years she was active in pacifist organizations; she was the chief lobbyist for the National Council for the Prevention of War from 1929 until she left the job to campaign for reelection to Congress in 1940. The antiwar slogan under which she successfully ran was Keep Our Men Out of Europe. As soon as Rankin got back to Congress in January 1941, she organized a grassroots campaign of letters from mothers opposing American entry into the war then raging abroad. Two months later, she opposed Roosevelts Lend-Lease legislation. And in May, she gave a Mothers Day speech on the House floor in which she declared: There is nothing in the world the mothers of this country would like on this Mothers Day so much as an assurance that their sons are not going to war. Knowing her stance was a lost cause, she nonetheless pressed her anti-intervention views. In June, she offered an amendment to budget authorization legislation for the War Department that read: no appropriation in this act shall be used to send our army or air forces to fight in foreign lands outside of the Americas or our insular possessions except in case of attack. Rankins other fruitless legislative initiatives to counter the nations drift toward war included attempts to stall the draft until voters had approved conscription, to ban the arming of civilian ships, and to remove the death penalty for wartime sabotage. She was an astute enough politician to know that in her solitary no on the declaration of war she was bucking the mood of her constituents. Shortly after she got back to her office, she hastily drafted a statement trying to explain her vote. I believed that such a momentous voteone which would mean peace or war for our countryshould be based on more authentic evidence than the radio reports now at hand, she wrote in the communication to Montana newspapers. Sending our boys to the Orient will not protect this country. Taking our army and navy across thousands of miles of ocean to fight and die cannot come under the heading of protecting our shores. On December 11 she let the record show she was in the House but not taking a position by saying merely presentin such a whisper that the clerk had to ask her to repeat her voteon the resolutions of war against Germany and Italy. She was not in Washington in June 1942 when Congress declared war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania. As she served out her term through 1942, Rankin had lost her political clout. She often appeared to be going through the motions without much commitment. While in 1941 she had virtually never missed a vote, by the fall of 1942 she was absent for 80 percent of recorded votes in the House. On the first anniversary of the vote declaring war on Japan, she entered into the Congressional Record a long analysis of how the United States was, in her view, essentially tricked into World War II by Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Three years before Pearl Harbor, Britains imperialists had figured out just how to bring the United States once more to their aid, she wrote. She saw as part of the plot Roosevelts 1940 decision to impose sanctions on Japan in hopes of fomenting retaliation. HER DECEMBER 8 NO VOTE did draw some admiration for the courage she displayed. Lord, it was a brave thing, famed Kansas editor William Allen White wrote in his Emporia Gazette, and its bravery somehow discounts its folly. But Rankins views found little support. It had not been that way before. Forty-nine other House members voted along with her 24 years earlier when she cast her vote against American participation in World War I. She received extra protection then against political retaliation when the leader of the House Democrats, Claude Kitchin of North Carolina, also voted no, as well as six senators. In 1917, opposition about sending Americans to fight in Europe was particularly strong in Western states like Montana. As a result, Rankins anti-intervention stance did not hurt her politically in the 1918 election. But a bad decision did. Rankin had originally been elected to Congress as one of Montanas two at-large House members. Before the 1918 election, the legislature changed the process and set up two separate congressional districts. Rankin would have had to run in the Second District, where she felt a Republican had no chance of winning, so she set her sights on the U.S. Senate, hoping to defeat incumbent Democrat Thomas Walsh. After losing the Republican primary for the Senate seat, she ran as an independent, coming in third with about 20 percent of the vote. The irony: a Republican, Carl Riddick, won the House seat Rankin had feared to compete for. Rankin knew that the second vote in her political career against a declaration of war was political suicide. Her brother Wellington had warned her Montana is 100 percent against you. So she did not even try to run for reelection in 1942. Her replacement in the House was Mike Mansfield, who went on to serve 34 years in Congress, the final 16 as Senate majority leader. While her elective career was over, her efforts as a crusader were not. She continued to preach pacifism, traveled frequently to India to confer with Mahatma Gandhi, and found an increasingly receptive audience for her antiwar rhetoric as the United States became mired in the Vietnam War. In fact, before she died on May 19, 1973, at age 92 she was considering emphasizing her opposition to the war by running for Congress again. In 1985, the state which had once been 100 percent against Rankin selected her to join Western painter Charles Marion Russell as its two representatives among the 100 famous Americans whose statues are on display in the U.S. Capitol. This story was originally published in the November/December 2016 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here. Selfless British nurse Edith Cavell was shot as a spy by a German firing squad in Brussels, Belgium, on October 12, 1915. Cavell, the 47-year-old matron of a Brussels training school for nurses, was known for her compassion and sense of duty. As World War I broke out in Europe, Cavell helped 60 British student nurses return home but she remained in Belgium. Even though she knew that helping soldiers escape from German-occupied territory meant the death penalty, Cavell agreed when asked to participate in an escape ring that helped more than 200 fugitive Allied soldiers return home after the British Expeditionary Forces retreat from Mons. Such a large conspiracy could not long remain a secret and in August 1915, Cavell and 35 other members of her organization were arrested. At her hasty trial, she was condemned to death for conducting soldiers to the enemy. Although their action may have been justified under the rules of war, the Germans seriously blundered when they shot Edith Cavell. Within days of her death, the selfless nurse was elevated to martyr status and the Germans were internationally condemned as murdering monsters. Country Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Researchers from the University of Michigan have recently discovered a new planet that exists in our solar system. This newly discovered "dwarf" planet, dubbed as 2014 UZ224 is just beyond the orbit of Pluto. Moreover, astronomers believe that the solar system may soon have a ninth planet. The newly discovered planet, 2014 UZ224 is approximately 330 miles across, which is much smaller than Ceres, another dwarf planet, whose diameter is 580 miles. This makes the new planet remarkably small and it also fits the definition of a dwarf planet, as considered by NASA, claims Digital Trends. Scientists are still not sure about the exact orbital path of this new dwarf planet but they believe that a single orbit around the sun would be roughly 1100 Earth years. Moreover, the distance of the new dwarf planet and the Sun is approximately 8.5 billion miles. The team of researchers from the University of Michigan, led by David Gerdes found this new dwarf planet, using "Dark Energy Camera (DECam)," a specialized camera that Gerdes developed. The scientific community is hopeful that this specialized camera will explain the role of dark energy that is leading to an accelerated expansion of the universe. The discovery of the 2014 UZ224 was the result of "Dark Energy Survey," a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy to map distant galaxies using the DECam. It is worth mentioning here that so far, five dwarf planets have been recognized in the solar system, namely, Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake. But, scientists feel that are possibly more out there that are yet to be discovered. Notably, it was previously believed that beyond Pluto, the solar system is composed of icy small objects. But, recent studies emphasize that the area houses a ninth planet that is much larger than Earth. Astronomer, Mike Brown who in collaboration with Konstantin Batygin discovered Eris, has claimed in a report that the orbital discrepancy beyond Neptune is due to the presence of an unseen planet that is about 10 times the size of Earth. However, the search is still on and researchers are yet to announce the presence of this ninth planet in the solar system. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Nokia phones are about to resurface in the market and in the hands of the millennials. This after General Manager of Microsoft posts a Nokia phone with an embedded bullet through it. According to Indian Express, a Twitter user named Peter Skillman posted a photo of how a Nokia phone saved a man's life by stopping a bullet. The said post went viral and a lot of netizens backed up the tweet as they reply their own experience and feedback (matched with memes) with the phone's heavy-duty quality. A Nokia phone I worked on a few years ago saved the life of a man in Afghanistan last week. The embedded bullet.... pic.twitter.com/O2zBxadkDO peter skillman (@peterskillman) October 5, 2016 Peter Skillman happens to be a general manager of Core UX for Windows desktop, phone, and tablets. However, no further information on the person's identity whose life was saved and the details about the breathtaking incident has been stated yet. With that being said, few leaks suggest that Nokia will soon resurface in the market. PC Mag reported that Nokia is preparing to launch its own line of Android smartphones. The upcoming smartphone is dubbed as D1C. The new flagship model is said to run on Android 7.0 Nougat, 656 single-core performance, and a 3120 multi-score performance which indicates a mid-range category smartphone. In line with this, Gadgets 360 has learned that Nokia Lumia 520 saved a Brazilian police officer's life from a bullet fired at him. The handset, however, was destroyed in the process. Lumia 520 and Nokia 301 were dubbed as the "bulletproof" phone after the said incidents. Microsoft Corporation bought Nokia this 2016 which ravaged the telecom industry completely and globally. The tech company then announced in May that they assure that they will continue to sell Nokia's entry-level feature phone assets. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits. Tuesday, October 25, 4:30 7 p.m. Orr Area EMS Open House Brats and burgers will be served. Event includes a new ambulance tour and blood pressure screenings. For more info: 218-780-3798. Orr Fire Hall 4540 Lake St., Orr Tuesday, October 25, 12 6 p.m. Essentia Health Job Fair Talent recruiters and department managers will be on-site at Essentia Health-Virginia. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to attendnurses, nursing and clinical assistants, surgery technicians, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, human resource professionals, and those interested in environmental services or nutrition services. Essentia staff will greet candidates, conduct an initial screening and filter them to appropriate hiring managers for interviews. Select candidates will be verbally offered a position before leaving. Candidates are asked to bring a resume, but its not required. Attire is business casual. For more info: www.essentiacareers.org. 901 9th St. N., Virginia It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants announced today that Kathleen Reidenbach will assume the newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer, a strategic move that unites the boutique hotel group's commercial functions under an established Kimpton leader. Most recently, Kathleen was Kimpton's senior vice president of marketing. In her new role, Kathleen will oversee both the Sales & Catering and Marketing departments, which together make up Kimpton's commercial division. As the brand continues to evolve and scale globally, this role helps fortify Kimpton's competitive edge by aligning key commercial functions, including digital, guest marketing, brand, communications, revenue and distribution, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). "Kathleen's unwavering commitment to Kimpton and remarkable leadership qualities make her the perfect fit for our new Chief Commercial Officer position," said Mike DeFrino, Kimpton's CEO. "For nearly 15 years her contributions have helped expand our portfolio and pave the way to the company's historically high RevPAR Index without losing sight of the signature Kimpton flair our hotels and brand are known for." Since joining the company in 2002 as a business analyst, Kathleen has held a series of increasingly prominent roles. In 2013 as Kimpton's senior vice president of marketing, Kathleen's vision led the brand's evolution from a collection of individual properties to that of a leading boutique operator with more than 60 hotels and 70-plus restaurants nationwide and several global openings on the horizon. Under her leadership, Kimpton has sharpened its digital presence, elevated its social media efforts, refined the company's charitable giving initiatives, and launched its unique loyalty program, Kimpton Karma Rewards accomplishments that have helped drive both performance and category growth. "In addition to being the creative force behind award-winning marketing strategies that have raised our brand recognition and positioning, Kathleen is a passionate champion of our heartfelt Kimpton culture. We're confident she'll lead with heart and intelligence as we bring the unique Kimpton guest experience to new destinations," continued DeFrino. Prior to joining Kimpton, Kathleen worked as a financial analyst at Robertson Stephens, an investment bank that provided a broad range of financial advisory services to growth companies in the technology, consumer and services sectors. Kathleen graduated from Amherst College with a bachelor's degree in Economics and Spanish. She resides in Lafayette, Calif. with her husband and two children. Sometimes serial plaintiffs just go too far with claims that cannot be justified and which violate the purpose and spirit of the ADA. Today, my partner Marty Orlick talks about a recent case that offers property owners and operators some relief against this type of harassment. JMBMs ADA Defense & Compliance team takes the ADA seriously, and we recommend that our clients take a proactive approach in identifying and solving potential problems before they become lawsuits. But sometimes serial plaintiffs just go too far with claims that cannot be justified and which violate the purpose and spirit of the ADA. Today, my partner Marty Orlick talks about a recent case that offers property owners and operators some relief against this type of harassment. Case Dismissed: Judge Rules that Plaintiffs Pool Lift ADA Cases Have No Place in Federal Court - By Martin H. Orlick, Chair, JMBMs ADA Compliance & Defense Group> In the latest decision against an Arizona high frequency ADA litigant, the United States District Court for the Central District of California ruled this week that cases like Brooke vs. Perry Family Trust, et al. have no place in Federal Court. The plaintiff, Theresa Brooke, has filed hundreds of identical ADA lawsuits against Arizona and California hotels, including a half-dozen suits last week. The plaintiff, a disabled resident of Arizona, contends that she was discriminated against by hundreds of hotel owners based on her disability. She claims that these hotels violated the 2010 ADA Standards because they fail to provide permanent pool lifts at either or both the pool and spa. In each case, Brooke alleges she called the hotels to inquire whether the pool or Jacuzzi had a lift or other means of access for disabled persons and the representative informed her that it did not. Plaintiff then alleges she sent her agent an expert in ADA accessibility guidelines to visit the hotel, take pictures of the barriers and report back to her. Plaintiff claims she frequently visits or intends to visit the area in the coming months and for the indefinite future for leisure and business. In dismissing the lawsuit, the judge found that the plaintiff failed to allege she actually visited the hotel in fact it was clear from the complaint that she had not and therefore did not actually encounter any barriers that discriminated against her. The Court dismissed the lawsuit, including the state law damage claims. Plaintiffs counsel will boast that there are no defenses to his lawsuits. However, those who oppose them are often successful. In one of our cases, the judge dismissed the lawsuit for the same reasons. We understand it is often cheaper and easier to pay tribute to settle the lawsuits. However, for those who pursue a more aggressive position, they can prevail. With a proper litigation strategy, these types of cases can be won. All hotel owners and operators need to know that these cases can be won without substantial cost. If you would like to discuss any ADA issues, please contact us: Jim Butler Chairman, Global Hospitality Group jbutler@jmbm.com (310) 201-3526 Marty Orlick Chairman, ADA Defense Team morlick@jmbm.com (415) 984-9667 This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. Weve done more than $68 billion of hotel transactions and have developed innovative solutions to unlock value from hotels. Whos your hotel lawyer? Barack Obama, in his final months in office, was recruited to be this months guest editor at WIRED, and as the President is wont to do, he gave us a good chunk of wonderful, uplifting pop culture. Among other segments, Obama (a noted Star Trek fan) gave readers a list of his top sci-fi films, an essential inventory not to be missed: 2001: A Space Odyssey Blade Runner Close Encounters of the Third Kind Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Star Trek (the old-school TV series) The Martian The Matrix Cosmos (Carl Sagan version) What do yall think of Obamas list? How does it compare to the Commander-In-Chiefs summer playlist? Also, peep below a segment of Wireds interview with Obama, as the President describes the importance and impact of the Star Trek series. Barack Obama This November, legalizing marijuana for recreational use is on the ballot in five states and according to the latest reports, its probably going to pass in all five. *cough for joy* Included in those five states are three with some of the most prominent smokers in hip-hop, both old and young. Snoop Doggs home state of California makes the list, as does Dizzy Wrights Nevada, and Massachusetts, home of up-and-coming weed-loving spitter Cousin Stizz. Rounding out the list are Maine and Arizona. Heres a tweet from the Washington Posts data reporter, informing smokers of the good news: Despite the rhetoric, will the incoming President of the United States (whoever that might be) chill out on the states trying to get smoked out? We sure hope so. Time will tell. These polls, however, are undoubtedly good news. Marijuana A former Miss Teen USA, turned actress, is warning the US electorate to vote against controversial Republican candidate Donald Trump. Karmen Kamie Crawford, who got to know Donald Trump personally when she was a contestant in his Miss Teen USA competition back in 2010, claims she was pre-warned prior to entering the contest that the controversial Republican presidential candidate was anti-black. The 23-year-old who made history by being the first contestant from Maryland to actually win the hotly contested title took to Twitter early this morning and stated: I was forewarned prior to meeting him that, Mr. Trump doesn't like black people." She also said: As the first WOC (women of color) to win the title in almost a decade - I was forewarned prior to meeting him that, 'Mr Trump doesn't like black people. So don't take it the wrong way if he isn't extremely welcoming towards you. If he is, then you must be the type of black he likes'. "Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard and super nervous because this is supposed to be my boss I'm meeting - and he might not like me already. Kamie claims she witnessed Donald Trump actually snub one of the contestants over their skin colour. She said, Sure enough after I was warned about him, I saw him in action and witnessed him completely snub a black contestant at Miss Universe rehearsals while she was practicing on stage. The ex-Miss Teen USA winner is now urging voters to go with Clinton as the next president. "This man is running for president of a country with all 'types' of black. "And honey, if you ain't his 'type', I don't know what to tell you. But I will say this -VOTE on November 8th if you don't wanna find out what his type isn't." So far there's been no response over these fresh allegations from the Trumps media campaign. Meet the young correspondents and their bow ties. Bill Nye wants to save the world in his aptly named Netflix series, and he won't be doing it alone. Joining him are a group of young people across multiple professionsmodel and entrepreneur Karlie Koss, space exploration advocate Emily Calandrelli, comedians Joanna Hausmann and Nazeem Hussain, and YouTube science personality Derek Muller. They will assist Bill Nye, also known as the Science Guy, in shedding light on science and dispelling science myths perpetuated by big businesses, politicians, and other people of power. We wish Bill Nye and his group the best of luck. Saving the world is no small task, but they just might be able to make a dent in science ignorance, a goal worthy of applause. Advertisement Bill Nye Saves the World will arrive on Netflix in 2017. Get a look at one of the new episodes of Black Mirror, the satire of modernity. The cult speculative fiction satire series continues with its third season on Netflix. The show is famous for its uncompromising view on the excesses of modernity and the way human lives are destroyed by it. As an anthology show, each episode features bleak scenarios that skewer the worst aspects of our indulgent natures. Bryce Dallas Howard stars in Nosedive, where popularity is everything, and ratings influence our lives. So, real life, basically, which is the idea. Advertisement Black Mirror originally ran on the British Channel 4 before moving to Netflix, with plans for two new seasons of six episodes, each. The new third season will air in its entirety on Netflix on 21 October, a week from today. They are one of the most exciting metal bands weve heard in a long time. And you can get a brilliant free CD of their work with the latest edition of Hot Press. Armored Dawn is planning an assault on Europe! The Brazilian hard rock outfits are shaping up like real contenders, with their latest album being overseen in some style by Halloween producer Tommy Hansen, and Fernando Giovannetti. It is a powerful record indeed and you can get a brilliant four-track sampler with the new issue of Hot Press, with the Kings of Leon on the front. That was a dream come true, says Armored Dawns front man Eduardo Parras of working with Hansen. He is spectacular we called him The Wizard. Hes so intelligent and so knowledgeable about this sort of music. Hansens input wasnt just in terms of studio craft either. He changed so much, Eduardo says. He added a lot both in terms of ideas for composition, as well as the arrangements themselves. He even played a keyboard solo on Far Away. The free CD opens with the powerful King and it is a feast of big riffs and loud music exactly the sort of thing that your mother asks you to turn down! The full track listing is: 1. King; 2. Viking Soul; 3. William Fly (The Pirate); 4. Far Away. Tracks 1, 2 and 4 were produced by the Hansen/Giovannetti team, with US producer Johnny Andrews handling desk duties on the epic, and at times Lizzy-esque 'William Fly (The Pirate). Advertisement The Brazilian six-piece make a great noise. And they are keen on establishing a foothold in Europe. We go to Europe to support Fates Warning in January, Eduardo relates. For the uninitiated, Fates Warnings breakthrough album was the 1986 opus Awaken the Guardian. Their latest album is Theorise of Flight, released earlier this year. Armored Dawn's 4-track EP, Power of Warrior, is free with this issue of Hot Press. 90 Days, 90 Reasons sought to get Obama in, 30 days, 30 Songs seeks to kick Trump out 'Demagogue' is the latest installment to the 30 Days, 30 Songs project. The project already includes songs from Death Cab for Cutie, Jim James, Aimee Mann, and Bhi Bhiman. Every day from October 10 until election day, a new song will be released to motivate Americans to vote against Republican candidate, Donald Trump. Frontman Alex Kapranos sings "those tiny vulgar fingers on the nuclear bomb", speaking about the terrifying image of Trump as the next Commander in Chief. The project aims to "prevent the apocalypse that would be Donald Trump as president." Artists are once again harnessing the power of music to make a change in the world. Advertisement Check out 'Demagogue' below. Legendary Iron Maiden rocker, Bruce Dickinson, passes on vocals to son. UK band As Lions just released their first EP today, including the video for 'Aftermath.' Austin Dickinson controls lead vocals alongside Conor O'Keefe, Will Homer, Stefan Whiting, and Dave Fee. Producers David Bendeth (Paramore) and Kane Churko (Disturbed) helped give life to the heavy, yet majestic 4-track EP. Advertisement As Lions have already played for the metal band Trivium and have plans to tour the U.S with Five Finger Death Punch, SIXX:AM and Shinedown. WASHINGTON - When it comes to sure things, few have been more sure than a Republican presidential candidate raising money from Houston's oil and gas companies and the people who work for them. But in an incomparable election season, Republican nominee Donald Trump has drawn little in the way of donations from that typically generous sector of the city's economy. Even Hillary Clinton, whose climate change policies could threaten the future of the oil and gas industry, has raised far more from the industry. Most of the biggest and reliably Republican donors have not given Trump a cent, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. They include Richard Kinder, founder of pipeline giant Kinder Morgan, who has largely stuck to congressional races after giving $1 million to the Super PAC that supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Hushang Ansary, another Bush supporter, who along with his wife, has made $4 million in political donations to other Republican candidates, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan. "For many multimillionaires and billionaires who traditionally give to GOP campaigns, Donald Trump doesn't strike them as a good bet," said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. "He is not their ideal candidate." Kinder, Ansary and other top political contributors from the Houston area would not comment on their donations or the presidential campaign. Houston-area energy executives and those who work for their companies have donated $16.4 million to presidential and congressional campaigns since 2015, more than double the contributions from any other local industry, according to campaign finance data. Despite a pledge to free the energy sector from regulation, Trump has raised only $76,000 from Houston's oil and gas interests, compared to $217,000 by Clinton. Bush, whose father, former President George H.W. Bush, retired to Houston, was the favorite of local political contributors, raising more than $3 million from them. Another of Trump's vanquished primary rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, collected nearly $550,000 from Houston donors. Those figures do not include donations to the nonprofit political organizations supporting the candidates independently of the campaign. While Trump lags far behind in raising money from the wealthy donors, his populist message and promise to shake up the wealthy elite's hold on Washington have drawn large numbers of small contributors giving less than $200. Those donations made up 29 percent of his total fundraising nationwide, nearly double the take from large donors. One-third of the Trump campaign money, more than $200 million, came from Trump himself, whose fortune is estimated at $3.7 billion by Forbes. The lack of support for Trump by Houston's oil and gas industry reflects broader trends. Nationally, oil and gas interests have spent more than $18 million on campaigns and Super PACs, with 96 percent - more than $17 million - going to Republicans. Less than $700,000 went to Trump. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. The fundraising lag comes despite Trump's pledges to stop what he describes as over-regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency and to rescind U.S. participation in the international agreement reached in Paris last year to dramatically reduce global carbon emissions. Among his supporters, Trump counts Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of the Oklahoma exploration and production company Continental Resources. A vocal critic of the EPA and the Paris climate accord, Hamm is rumored as a potential energy secretary should Trump win. "With all the different difficulties you're going through, you're going to like Donald Trump," Trump told executives at an oil and gas conference in Pittsburgh last month. "Producing more American energy is a central part of my plan to making America wealthy again." Clinton, on the other hand, has pledged to continue the Obama administration's fight against climate change, meaning tighter regulations and less reliance on fossil fuels. During the second presidential debate, however, she paid lip service to natural gas, offering that it "serves as a bridge to more renewable fuels." For Trump, there's also off-script statements about reviving the Keystone XL pipeline project in exchange for a share of its profits - anathema to the free market economics espoused by most oil CEOs. And his statement suggesting he supports states' and towns' rights to institute bans on hydraulic fracturing would potentially cut off large swaths of the country to oil and gas drillers. His larger populist message and pledge to reopen negotiations on existing trade deals also strike fear in many captains of the energy sector. Oil prices move with the economy, and the potential is very real for trade wars and economic chaos should Trump follow through on promises to jack up tariffs on foreign goods, economists say. Simply put, if the global economy stops growing, so does energy consumption. "All business executives, you're trained to do risk management. The first part of the process is to identify your risks, and that's part of the problem," said Praveen Kumar, executive director of the University of Houston Global Energy Management Institute. "If I sit down and say, 'What risks do I have with Trump?,' it's very ambiguous." On the other hand, Kumar said, Clinton's "risks are clear and quantifiable. She behaves like a normal politician." Even before Trump's recent blow-up over the video showing the then-reality TV star talking about grabbing women's genitals, the majority of pollsters had the Trump campaign as a long shot. While he has gained ground with white working class voters, too many college-educated whites and minorities would go Clinton, the reasoning went. That analysis was not lost on oil and gas executives, said Charles McConnell, executive director of Rice University's Energy and Environment Initiative. "The energy industry maybe doesn't want to get itself positioned out of bounds with a losing proposition," said McConnell, who served in the Obama administration, but describes himself as independent. "You get too close, that cologne lingers on you forever." Not everyone in the energy world appears to be so concerned at the prospect of a Trump presidency. In July, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, who made his money in power plants, donated $5,400 to Trump's campaign. But McNair, who has contributed more than $6 million to candidates and Super PACS, the most of any Houston donor, gave much more to Trump's primary opponents, last summer handing out $500,000 checks to Super PACs backing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sens. Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, along with Cruz and Bush. The Houston industry most generous to the Trump campaign is business services, a category that includes advertising firms and management consultants, according to campaign finance data. That sector gave Trump 18 percent of its donations to presidential campaigns, compared with 2 percent by oil and gas. Trump received just slightly less from business services than Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who collected 26 percent and 20 percent, respectively, from business services. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Texas Monthly, chronicler of the state's political and cultural highs and lows for 43 years and counting, will return to its native roots with its sale to a Houston company that has strong political and media ties itself. The private equity firm Genesis Park LP will acquire the magazine's assets from its current owner, an Indianapolis company, for $25 million, the two sides announced Thursday. The sale brings ownership back to Texas after an 18-year hiatus. It also marks the return of the Hobby family to Texas publishing. "I grew up with media and I love stories and the power of the written word," said Genesis Park founding partner Paul Hobby, grandson of a former Texas governor, son of a former lieutenant governor and a member of the family that ran the Houston Post for more than four decades. "We are honored to be the third steward of this beloved Texas brand," Hobby added in a prepared statement released earlier. "Our plan is to bring new ideas, strategic relationships and thoughtful investment that help to take this great story forward." News of the sale was greeted with enthusiasm by some of those who were instrumental in building the magazine's reputation as it eventually won 13 national magazine awards. "Everybody talks about the decline of magazines, but Texas Monthly continues to grow," said Michael Levy, who founded it in 1973. "I think Texas Monthly continues to be one of the rare persistent iconic brands in Texas," said Evan Smith, a former editor and president who left to become founder and CEO of the Texas Tribune. Smith said he has high hopes for the future of the publication. He expects the publication to continue hiring staff instead of relying on contributing writers, as other magazines have had to do in the increasingly competitive industry. Wanda Garner Cash, former associate director of the School of Journalism at the University of Texas, attributes Texas Monthly's success to understanding its audience and finding new ways to serve it. The magazine's online presence has grown in the last five years, she said, as its leadership understood that news can no longer wait to be published on a monthly or weekly basis. Cash called the purchase a brilliant move for both the magazine and Texas, one that "affirms the value of journalism." "The Hobbys have a legacy of journalism and public service that will intersect beautifully with the purchase," she said. Texas Monthly was acquired in 1998 by media company Emmis Communications of Indianapolis. In a statement, chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan called the sale "bittersweet." Genesis Park works with Southern U.S. business services, processing, manufacturing, information technology and communications companies. Levy said he, too, is happy the publication is returning to its Texas roots and he is pleased the new ownership includes Paul Hobby. "His family is iconic and the magazine is iconic," Levy said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Saginaw rancher Pete Bonds remembers the Holstein that came down with mad cow disease in December 2003 unaffectionately as the "cow who stole Christmas." Within hours of the Christmas Eve finding, Japan, which accounted for a third of U.S. beef exports, had banned the product for fear of the spread of the brain-wasting disease. From there, the markets dropped like dominoes: Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and China shut their doors. U.S. beef exports fell to $631 million in 2004 from $3.2 billion the year prior. Thirteen years later, mad cow disease long since has been ruled out as a threat, and those markets largely have reopened. The World Trade Organization in 2007 dubbed the U.S. a "controlled risk," meaning beef from the country could be safely traded. U.S. beef producers in 2015 did a brisk $5.8 billion in trade to 112 countries. Aside from accepting some byproducts like beef tallow, China, the world's fastest-growing beef market, has been a holdout, repeatedly dashing producers' hopes with contentions it still wasn't convinced U.S. beef was safe. The recent news that China at long last would - and for real, this time - accept U.S. beef is a potential game changer for ranchers struggling with low prices spurred by a post-drought oversupply of cattle. "I did some figuring after this thing came up," Bonds said of the Sept. 20 assertion by Premier Li Keqiang. "If we could increase the consumption of beef in China by 1 ounce per person per week, the United States could not raise that amount of cattle." The loss of the Chinese market wasn't a huge deal in 2003, when the U.S. exported about $10 million in beef to China, or about 3 percent of total exports. Over the past few years, growth in household spending in the 1.4 billion-population country has been explosive, and beef has been catching on as an upscale alternative to other proteins. In 2015, the Chinese imported a record $2.3 billion in beef from countries like Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. Lenz said estimates bring this year's Chinese beef imports to nearly $2.8 billion. So why aren't Bonds and his cattle country colleagues celebrating their potential share of that market with a Texas-sized "woo-hoo?" China's holdout wasn't about bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, as mad cow disease is scientifically known, Bonds opined, but about trade and protectionism. In his view, the Chinese were sore about U.S. inspectors declaring Chinese plants unfit amid numerous scandals - including Chinese-made pet food killing U.S. pets, unsanitary practices at a packaging plant that supplied restaurants including McDonald's and KFC as well as children getting sick from drinking toxic milk. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2014 decision to accept Chinese-processed, U.S.-raised chicken from four plants widely was seen as a trade-off to get China to accept U.S. beef. "It's all tied into politics," agreed Duane Lenz, a market analyst at Cattlefax. "We've been banned because of BSE, and that's not been an issue for several years." The devil now may be in the hormones. If the yet-to-be-decided guidelines call for only the type of hormone-free beef shipped to some European countries, U.S. producers may be priced out of official channels to the Chinese mainland. Despite the backlash against "Big Beef" practices of castrating bulls, injecting cattle with growth hormones and fattening them on grain, U.S. and other consumers seem to prefer the arguably more flavorful and tender product, Bonds said. "We just don't raise that much beef without the use of hormones," he said. "See, most of the world they do not use the hormones, but they leave the males intact and run them on grass for 2 years. And then the meat you know from those cattle is not near as good as what we produce here." Li recognized that in remarks he made at the Waldorf Astoria in New York: "We also recognize that the United States has very good beef, so why should we deny Chinese customers this choice?" So far, China has said it will accept beef from U.S. cattle under 30 months old. Most U.S. cattle are ready for consumption at about 18 months old, and almost all are slaughtered before they reach 30 months. Joe Schuele, spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, and others attributed China's reopening to U.S. beef largely to the nation's growing demand. China's availability of agricultural land is small compared to its population, and a dramatic culling of its hog and sow herd due to high grain prices there has cut supplies of its most popular protein. Growing availability of beef, meanwhile, has consumers receptive to new ways to prepare it. "You have a really rapidly growing restaurant and modern supermarket sector where beef suppliers have an opportunity to showcase their product," Schuele said. It helps that Asian markets tend to favor variety meats as well as the short ribs, short plates and chuck rolls that aren't as popular in the U.S. USDA export statistics showing exorbitant shipments of beef to Vietnam and Hong Kong support the theory that conventionally raised U.S. beef has for years been reaching Chinese tables via transborder black markets. David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University, said that even if the rules have yet to be written, China's stated intention to once again import U.S. beef is "real progress." It also comes at a time when producers could use more customers. Record droughts across the U.S. in 2011 and 2012 dried up pastures and forced cattle raisers to sell off their herds. When the supply of animals dwindled to the lowest point in 60 years, meat packing plants such as the L&H Packing Co. plant on San Antonio's South Side and the Cargill plant in Plainview shuttered. Beef prices reached record highs in 2014, and cattle raisers optimistically held back heifers and restocked their herds. Now there are too many cattle, and the feedlots only can wait out the markets for so long until the animals get too fat and need to be slaughtered at a loss. Live cattle prices have plunged by about 40 percent of their highs, even as retailers haven't rushed to lower prices for consumers and packers enjoying soaring profits haven't rushed to add back laborers and capacity. "The chance to expand our export markets, to take some of that off our market, I think that's something we should be hoping for pretty strongly," Anderson said. JIM WATSON/Staff Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and four other Democratic senators are asking President Barack Obama to halt construction of the four-state Dakota Access pipeline until a full environmental review can be completed. In a statement, the senators said Thursday the request is due to a federal appeals court denying the Standing Rock Sioux's motion for a temporary work stoppage in southern North Dakota within 20 miles of Lake Oahe. The federal government stopped construction on land bordering and under the lake in order to review the permitting process. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Adults who skipped vaccines in 2015 cost the economy $8.95 billion, demonstrating the importance of personal responsibility in bringing down health care costs. The mostly costly preventable disease was the flu, which cost the country $5.79 billion. Researchers took a look at ten optional vaccines for adults that prevent 14 different diseases, according to the peer-reviewed study published in Health Affairs. They sought to aggregate the direct costs and lost productivity. "Vaccines save thousands of lives in the United States every year, but many adults remain unvaccinated," the authors from University of North Carolina and Harvard University wrote. "Low rates of vaccine uptake lead to costs to individuals and society in terms of deaths and disabilities, which are avoidable, and they create economic losses from doctor visits, hospitalizations, and lost income." This a big deal for businesses that pay most of their employees' health care costs through insurance and suffer the losses when people call in sick. Making sure that a health plan aggressively promotes free vaccines is critical to reducing the economic impact of those who skip them. Pneumonia was the the second most expensive disease, the researchers found, costing $1.86 million. That was followed by Herpes zoster at $782 million, HPV at $333 million and Hepatitis B at $173 million. The big one, though, is the easiest and the cheapest. Flu vaccination season began this month. Americans like to complain about how their doctors only spend 15 minutes with them and their insurance companies charge high premiums. But the single most effective way of reducing health care costs is prevention, and that falls on us. Go get your flu shot, and if you run a company that offers employee health insurance, start a vaccination campaign now. If you are serious about taking care of yourself, go get the other vaccines as well. You'll not only make yourself healthier, and you'll make the economy healthier at the same time. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate "Elaborate" doesn't quite describe it. The Georgian mansion that will fill the stage during the first act of Stanton Welch's new version of "The Nutcracker," which Houston Ballet unveils Thanksgiving weekend, looks realistic to the tiniest details. Andrew Nielsen, Houston Ballet's new production director, gave us a peek recently at some of the first sets to arrive for pre-assembly at the company's Fifth Ward warehouse. Standing two stories, the Act 1 party house "unit," as backstage pros call it, rises 28 feet tall and weighs about 7,000 pounds. It dominates the largest bay in the warehouse, surrounded by workbenches full of power tools and smaller set pieces and props. Columns and carved architectural flourishes decorate the set's facade, which frames an open room with red walls, large windows and a balcony whose ornate railing is made of laser-cut steel. A big clock, still to come, will double as a door. It will have an owl-shaped finial that bobs and a set of enormous bat wings that open, Nielsen said. The production's busy mice will enter the stage through a mechanical "hole" along the floor. More Information 'The Nutcracker' When: Nov. 29-Dec. 27 Where: Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Tickets: $19-$123; 713-227-2787, houstonballet.org See More Collapse The house's windows can fly open. The whole house, in fact, will split apart and explode as a giant tree grows through it. But most magically, the whole thing is as light on its feet as the Sugar Plum Fairy. A system of eight air casters on one side will enable the crew to lift the massive structure 116 inch off the floor, so they can whisk it offstage in seconds. Because dozens of dancers will be positioning themselves for entrances and dashing to a quick-change booth, Nielsen and his crew will be shifting sets continuously during performances - turning them 180 degrees here, 360 there - in backstage choreography as precise as the action onstage. Nielsen has generated a pile of blueprints detailing where every piece goes, and when. "The Wortham is huge, but everything in this show is enormous," he said. "When the house is offstage, it's going to take up all of the wings." A panel painted with a Renaissance-inspired cloudy sky rested near the house unit. That motif will also appear on five layers of portallike vertical "legs" that will frame the stage, outfitted with LED lights that will lend a heavenly glow. A fanciful rolling puppet theater is ready to go. It's part of a three-piece train that will be pulled by a dancer costumed as a monkey, pedaling a gilded tricycle. Two other dancers will push the theater, also propelling a cart with a mechanical elephant. On the elephant's head, a Faberge-inspired egg will open to reveal a replica of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Did we say over the top? "There's a lot of fun automation," Nielsen said. "It's this magical, mystical world." This production of "The Nutcracker," which is replacing Ben Stevenson's much-loved, 27-year-old staging, is the most expensive undertaking in the company's history. The sets alone cost more than $1.5 million, for good reason: They need to last for decades. They're not just realistic-looking. They're rock-solid, Nielsen said. He studied opera performance in college and came to Houston via Milwaukee Ballet and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He also worked 10 years as a production manager at Atlanta's Fox Theater, where the shows ranged from Broadway touring extravaganzas to rock concerts. So he's no stranger to complex backstage logistics. "We had 'Phantom of the Opera' in its original form, which took up 35 trucks," he said. Still, he's awed by veteran British designer Tim Goodchild's intricate creations for this "Nutcracker," which were conceived the old-fashioned way, drawn in ink on paper. The London company Souvenir Stage Designs, which also makes sets for major West End theater productions and Alexander McQueen's fashion shows, is building the sets and props. "Part of it is just the work that scene shop does. We're lucky to have them. But part of it's Tim," Nielsen said. "It's unbelievable. Beautiful. He is a treasure." The first pieces filled three shipping containers. Nielson expects seven more containers to arrive by Nov. 1. He's anxious to see the border of molded fiberglass that will embellish the Wortham Theater's proscenium arch; "hangers" (pieces hung from the rafters) that include huge, cast garlands with chandeliers; and what could be the show's most talked-about element - a 30-foot tree with a spiral staircase inside its trunk, where characters will ascend to Goodchild's dreamy Land of Sweets. Back in the warehouse, as we marveled at the house's painted floor, which mimics fancy tile, our voices carried as if the set had microphones. Some padding will fix that, Nielsen said. He had other tweaks to perform as well. The zig-zaggy cracks in the walls and floor, where the house will split apart, weren't yet matching up properly. There's still much left to solve. The house has about 100 parts that will be dismantled for transport to the theater. The entire show fills two semis, Nielsen said. He will have three days to set it up before the first rehearsals. "I'm still working on the schedule, but we'll probably be working around the clock," he said. And the load-in will be just the start of the planning. Houston Ballet hosts several onstage, post-show VIP dinners during its run of "The Nutcracker." "The previous version wasn't as big, so they could get caterers back there and set up dinner service in about 30 minutes," Nielsen said. "They want me to do the same thing. So I'm figuring out how, 25 minutes after the show, I can clear the set and have a dinner party for 300 people." Bob Dylan, the poet laureate of the rock era, whose body of work has influenced generations of songwriters and been densely analyzed by fans, critics and academics, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. It is the first time the honor has gone to a musician. In its citation, the Swedish Academy credited Dylan with "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." The choice of Dylan for the world's top literary honor came as something of a surprise and was widely viewed as an expansion of the academy's traditional notions of art. Dylan, 75, joins a pantheon that includes T.S. Eliot, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Samuel Beckett and Toni Morrison the last American to claim the award, in 1993. "The old categories of high and low art, they've been collapsing for a long time," said David Hajdu, a music critic for The Nation who has written extensively about Dylan and his contemporaries, "but this is it being made official." In choosing a popular musician for one of the most coveted prizes in the literary world, the Swedish Academy dramatically redefined the boundaries of literature, setting off a debate about whether song lyrics have the same artistic value as poetry or novels. "Most song lyrics don't really hold up without the music, and they aren't supposed to," poet Billy Collins said. "Bob Dylan is in the 2 percent club of songwriters whose lyrics are interesting on the page, even without the harmonica and the guitar and his very distinctive voice. I think he does qualify as poetry." In previous years, writers and publishers have grumbled that the academy seems to favor obscure writers with clear political messages over more popular figures last year's prize went to the Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich, whose deeply reported narratives draw on oral history. But in choosing someone so well known and commercially successful, and so far outside of established literary traditions, the academy seems to have swung far into the other direction. Sara Danius, a literary scholar and the permanent secretary of the 18-member Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, called Dylan "a great poet in the English-speaking tradition" and compared him to Homer and Sappho, whose work was delivered orally. Asked if the decision to award the prize to a musician signaled a broadening in the definition of literature, Danius responded, "The times they are a-changing, perhaps," referencing one of Dylan's songs. The choice was hailed across the cultural and political spectrum. Rosanne Cash, the songwriter and daughter of Johnny Cash, wrote simply: "Holy mother of god. Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize." In the literary world, Dylan's choice brought out a crosscurrent of dissent. On Twitter, Salman Rushdie called Dylan "the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition," adding, "Great choice." But others, including the novelists Laila Lalami and Rabih Alameddine, took the academy to task for its choice. "Bob Dylan winning a Nobel in Literature is like Mrs Fields being awarded 3 Michelin stars," Alameddine wrote on Twitter. "This is almost as silly as Winston Churchill." Others said the academy's decision smacked of baby boomer nostalgia. "I'm a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies," the Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh wrote on Twitter. In some ways, it was a typical response to Dylan's work, who throughout his career has been hailed as a brilliant stylist and innovator and yet faced occasional bafflement from critics. Dylan emerged on the New York music scene in 1961 as an artist in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, singing protest songs and strumming an acoustic guitar in clubs and cafes in Greenwich Village. But from the start, Dylan stood out for dazzling lyrics and an oblique songwriting style that made him a source of fascination for artists and critics. In 1963, the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart with a version of his song "Blowin' in the Wind," with ambiguous refrains that evoked the biblical Ecclesiastes. Within a few years, Dylan was confounding the very notion of folk music, with ever more complex songs and moves toward a more rock 'n' roll sound. In 1965, he played with an electric rock band at the Newport Folk Festival, provoking a backlash from folk purists who accused him of selling out. After reports of a motorcycle accident in 1966 near his home in Woodstock, New York, Dylan withdrew further from public life but remained intensely fertile as a songwriter. His voluminous archives, showing his working process through thousands of pages of songwriting drafts, were acquired this year by institutions in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His 1975 album "Blood on the Tracks" was interpreted as a supremely powerful account of the breakdown of a relationship, but just four years later the Christian themes of "Slow Train Coming" divided critics. His most recent two albums were chestnuts of traditional pop that had been associated with Frank Sinatra. Since 1988, Dylan has toured almost constantly, inspiring an unofficial name for his itinerary, the Never Ending Tour. Last weekend, he played the first of two performances at Desert Trip, a festival in Indio, California, that also featured the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and other stars of the 1960s. Dylan, whose original name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, was born on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, and grew up in nearby Hibbing. He played in bands as a teenager, influenced by the folk musician Woody Guthrie, the authors of the Beat Generation and modernist poets. In 1962, soon after arriving in New York, Dylan signed a contract with Columbia Records for his debut album, "Bob Dylan." He was only 22 when he performed at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, singing "When the Ship Comes In," with Joan Baez, and "Only a Pawn in Their Game," a retelling of the murder of the civil rights activist Medgar Evers, before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. "As the '60s wore on," Giles Harvey wrote in The New York Review of Books in 2010, "Dylan grew increasingly frustrated with what he came to regard as the pious sloganeering and doctrinaire leftist politics of the folk milieu." He "began writing a kind of visionary nonsense verse, in which the rough, ribald, lawless America of the country's traditional folk music collided with a surreal ensemble of characters from history, literature, legend, the Bible, and many other places besides." Dylan's many albums, which the Swedish Academy described as having "a tremendous impact on popular music," include "Bringing It All Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited" (1965), "Blonde on Blonde" (1966), "Blood on the Tracks" (1975), "Oh Mercy" (1989), "Time Out Of Mind" (1997), "Love and Theft" (2001) and "Modern Times" (2006). The academy added: "Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound, and he is the object of a steady stream of secondary literature." Dylan's many honors include Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards; he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. The Nobel comes with a prize of 8 million Swedish kronor ($910,000). The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work. "Today, everybody from Bruce Springsteen to U2 owes Bob a debt of gratitude," President Barack Obama said at the Medal of Honor ceremony. "There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music. All these years later, he's still chasing that sound, still searching for a little bit of truth. And I have to say that I am a really big fan." "American Honey" opens in a dumpster, where a dreadlocked teenager named Star digs up a prize - a raw chicken still in its bloody shrink wrap. The scene is a blunt reminder that the American dream remains elusive, and even impossible, for many in this country. This is a road movie, and Star (taking a cue from Huck Finn?) runs away to become part of a caravan of bedraggled and wounded young people. All due credit goes to the film for its compassionate portrayal of these lost souls, who are both victims and victimizers. British director Andrea Arnold has made several movies (including "Fish Tank") notable for pulling no punches, and "American Honey" is in the same vein. I got the feeling she has been looking at the films of Harmony Korine ("Gummo," "Spring Breakers"), known for rubbing the viewers' face in the ugliness of highly dysfunctional families and troubled, often drug-addled, teenagers. The gist of "American Honey" is Star's experience as part of a floating team of con artists, young people who travel in a van from town to town - the film takes them from Oklahoma to North Dakota, the America of Kmarts and strip malls - hustling magazine subscriptions door to door. These crews are a real-life phenomenon, and they are indeed scam artists, but the outfits they work for keep them in what amounts to indentured servitude. More Information 'American Honey' Rated R: for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, drug/alcohol abuse - all involving teens Running time: 163 minutes xxx 'American Honey' Rated R: for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, drug/alcohol abuse - all involving teens Running time: 163 minutes xxx See More Collapse Star (portrayed by an exceptionally vital newcomer, Sasha Lane) is brought into the group by an experienced recruiter, played by Shia LaBeouf as a wild man replete with facial piercings and a long braid. The rest of the crew (acted by non-professionals) is a remarkable assortment of runaways, troublemakers and disturbed young people, connoisseurs of hip-hop who stoke themselves for the long van rides with booze, pot, hard-edged banter and occasional fisticuffs. They are kept in line by a tough cookie named Krystal (Riley Keough), only a bit older than her charges. She collects their takings at the end of the day and, when necessary, deals out harsh discipline. The shifting relationships between Star, Krystal and the LaBeouf character provide a bit of structure to this loose tale. Much of "American Honey" is devoted to showing us the encounters between the hustlers and their targets at various economic levels (though more lower than higher). The exchanges follow a pattern: Cash is elicited through phony sob stories that vary according to what will appeal to the chump (my dad's away in Iraq; I'm trying to earn points toward a scholarship). Perhaps those who buy these tall tales deserve to be fleeced. Arnold's strength is in immersing us in the lives of these orphans - they are a parent's nightmare, but they have a kind of disheveled dignity that's impossible to deny, and their bravado is a cover for desperate needs. What's less successful is some heavy-handed America bashing, such as when Star hooks up with three white-hatted cowboy types (one of them played by Will Patton) driving a big old convertible. The scene gives her a chance to prove she's a gutsy sort, which is fine, but, like other sequences in the film, it relies on particularly tiresome stereotypes. The movie feels longer than it is because of how much Arnold insists on this exhausted notion of the general crumminess of flyover America. But the film is engaging when it focuses on the scammer subculture off duty, at ease in all its lowdown glory. waddiego@sfchronicle.com The legendary "Stairway to Heaven" is carved into the steep steps that lead from the helicopter landing area on the tundra to the Ryabaga Camp on Russia's Ponoi River, one of the world's most celebrated Atlantic salmon fisheries. The scene as you descend the stairway is inspiring - steep, birch-blanketed banks slant down to a wide ribbon of blue that bends out of view in the distance. The red roofs of the camp poke up from the valley below. This slice of heaven comes at a rather lofty price - prime weeks can eclipse $15,000 per person, and that's before one has traveled to Murmansk. Yet a large percentage of guests are return visitors, having trekked to this remote region of northwestern Russia's Kola Peninsula 20, 30, even 50 times. The angling appeal of Atlantic salmon dates back hundreds of years and was popularized, at least in part, by British royals, who plied the rivers of Scotland for the silvery game fish. This helped earn the pastime the moniker "sport of kings." Nobles in Norway also fished for Salmo salar, its scientific name. Atlantic salmon angling has always had more than a sniff of exclusivity about it, though most who do it will insist that the appeal goes beyond snobbery. Born in the river, Atlantic salmon spend several years in fresh water before heading to the north Atlantic, where they feed and grow for one to three years before returning to their natal river to spawn and either die or return to the sea for another cycle. Fish don't feed upon reaching the river, but they can be enticed to take a fly, possibly out of curiosity or territorial aggression. (No salmon has ever spoken on the record to reveal its motives.) Once hooked, Atlantic salmon are prone to tremendous leaps and powerful cross-river runs, enough to leave a lucky angler shaking with joy and wonder. Atlantic salmon can top 50 pounds on some rivers, though fish between 8 and 20 pounds are more common. Capable anglers casting flies for a week on the Miramichi in New Brunswick or the Tweed in Scotland could expect to hook a handful of fish. The sport's challenge is part of its charm. By the 1980s, returns of Atlantic salmon had gone into steep decline in Britain and Canada, thanks to upticks in commercial harvest at sea and pollution/habitat degradation in and around the salmon's natal rivers. Rumors of incredible numbers of salmon in the Kola Peninsula's rivers had been circulating in the angling community for some time, but many barriers - among them, a heavy military presence, as the peninsula was home to much of the then-Soviet Union's Northern Fleet - had discouraged any exploration. By 1990, several angling pioneers, including Gary Loomis and Mike Fitzgerald Sr., had negotiated an angling detente of sorts, allowing foreign sport fishers to visit. The Ponoi was among the first to welcome anglers. Here, at peak times of the run, anglers could anticipate eight or 10 fish in a day - and sometimes more. Numbers like these continue to draw anglers to the Ryabaga Camp on the Ponoi, though the spirit of the camp seems to keep people coming back. More Information If you go GETTING THERE Most guests fly into Helsinki, Finland, and then take a chartered flight (arranged by the lodge's exclusive booking agent, Frontiers, 800-245-1950; frontierstravel.com) to Murmansk. From Murmansk, the Ponoi River Co.'s helicopter flies you to the lodge. WHERE TO STAY Ponoi River Co.'s Ryabaga Camp: 011-7-815-223-1768; ponoiriver.com/fishing. A seven-night, six-day fly-fishing package - which includes the helicopter flight from and to Murmansk, nightly accommodation, all meals and wine/vodka with dinner - ranges from $6,690 to $15,490 per person, depending on dates. The season runs from late May to early October. The Helsinki/Murmansk/Helsinki charter flight costs $1,250. WHAT TO BRING Gear: You should pack nine- or 10-weight spey rods, with both floating and sink-tip lines, and a variety of clothing, as temperatures in the Arctic Circle can range widely. Waders, wading shoes and rods are available for rent. The Ryabaga Fly Shop has a selection of proven flies for purchase. MORE INFORMATION visitmurmansk.info/en See More Collapse The camp has come a long way since it was carved out of the forest at the confluence of the Ryabaga and Ponoi rivers in 1991. Tidy cabins with en suite bathrooms and electric heat have replaced canvas tents warmed with wood-burning stoves; four-stroke, 60-horsepower Mercury outboards have supplanted the Russian-made engines that were maddeningly prone to breaking down. But given that Ryabaga rests 300 kilometers from the nearest road, the only way in from Murmansk is by Mi-8 helicopter. Perhaps better suited for transporting goods than people, the Mi-8 is not the world's most comfortable conveyance but the creature comforts drastically improve after the two-hour flight. Cocktails and meals are taken in the "Big Tent," a canvas Quonset hut that's heated with potbelly stoves and equipped with a full bar and a fly shop in case guests have overlooked any fishing gear. There's a nicely appointed sauna on the premises (and a more rustic banya favored by the camp's fishing guides), a massage therapist and a staff of 40 (for up to 20 guests) that includes mechanics, guides and kitchen and camp staff - all the personnel necessary to keep what amounts to a small village running in the middle of the tundra. Much of the staff is Russian, though a smattering of guides from Argentina, Ireland and Scotland heightens Ryabaga's international flavor. The fishing day begins with a hearty breakfast of eggs to order, fresh pastries and oatmeal in the Big Tent. By 8:45, guests slip into their waders, and ATVs arrive to spirit them to the boats, where guides await. (This door-to-boat service can greatly extend one's salmon-fishing career; one guest during my visit, who had wonderful results, was in her mid-70s and had an artificial leg.) A guide and the anglers (two to a boat) then speed off to one of 10 "beats" (sections of river). The Ponoi River Co., which operates Ryabaga Camp, has exclusive rights to 75 kilometers of the lower Ponoi; guests will not encounter any anglers beyond other Ryabaga guests in the course of their week. The Ponoi is a large river, in some places more than 200 meters wide. To reach the best lies, much of the casting is done from the boat. Two-handed spey rods, which enable longer casts with less effort, are the favored weapons; fly patterns in orange are preferred, as they show up well in the Ponoi's peat-tinged waters. (Many anglers opt for tube flies designed by head guide Max Mamaev.) The guide anchors the boat, which provides a stable casting platform, at the top of a promising spot. One angler casts from the back of the boat to the right, the other from the front of the boat to the left. After several casts, the guide lets out a few meters of anchor line so anglers can cover new water. Optimally, the cast is at a 45-degree angle downstream. Once the fly lands, the angler may simply let it swing in the current or slowly strip in line to impart motion. When a fish grabs the fly, the angler must resist the temptation to lift the rod until feeling the weight of the fish; if one sets the hook prematurely, the fish will be gone. The numbers of fish that return to the Ponoi - nearly 50,000 a year - and the low fishing pressure add up to not only excellent fishing but excellent catching for experts and beginners alike. "My husband is a passionate salmon angler," said Olga Johnson, a first-time visitor from Edinburgh, Scotland, with limited salmon-fishing experience. "I came along for the adventure but didn't expect to catch a fish. That first morning, my fly was dangling below the boat, and I was stripping in line to make another cast. There was a gentle tug. I remembered not to lift the rod, and soon the fish was off. Our guide, Andrei Federov, gave great pointers as I fought the fish. I didn't think I would bring it in, but I did. It was 14 pounds, and we released it. It was magic." (Ryabaga embraces a catch-and-release ethos, unless a fish is fatally hooked. Fish catches are carefully noted, and fish are tagged before their release so that scientists can monitor the health of the salmon population.) Olga went on to catch five more fish that day - including two more that morning before her husband, Keith, landed his first. Her total for the week was 24 fish, more than most ardent anglers could expect to catch in a year in Scotland or New Brunswick. (The total catch for the week was 776 fish among 20 guests, an average of nearly 40 salmon per angler.) At dinner on the day she landed her first salmon, Olga was brought a dish holding a salmon's adipose fin, along with a slice of lemon and a shot of vodka - a traditional offering at Ryabaga for celebrating a guest's first salmon. Amid cheers from guests and guides, she partook of her special appetizer. Visitors to Ryabaga Camp take different approaches to angling. Some who simply cannot get enough fishing will avail themselves of the Home Pool, a reliable stretch of river in front of the property, before breakfast and after dinner. "I can't walk out my door at home and fish for Atlantic salmon," reasoned Laurence Lock, who was visiting from Hertfordshire, England. Others, such as Francois Brocard of London, embraced the totality of the experience, opting to prepare a leisurely gourmet meal at one of the lunch tents set up along the river and wash down his handiwork with a glass or two of wine. Most guests agree that a special element of the experience is the chance to socialize with the guides and other staff members, some of whom have been at Ryabaga since 1991. For Len Smith, an angler from Stonehaven, Scotland, who visited for the 53rd time during my stay in mid-June, Ryabaga is like a second home. "I feel Ryabaga is part of me," he said, after landing 17 salmon in one day. On the evening of the summer solstice, guests were served a four-course dinner typical of Ryabaga offerings: Ukha (a Russian fish soup), citrus salad, medallions of reindeer and chocolate biscuits. After such a hearty meal and a few glasses of Argentine Malbec, it was tempting to return to my cabin. But the idea of fishing near midnight was too attractive to resist. I wadered up and strolled down to the Home Pool. Thick clouds obscured the sun, which hovered atop the horizon; in late spring and early summer, it never quite sets. A bright salmon leapt clear of the water downstream as I peeled off line at the top of the pool and began working my way down - cast, swing, two steps, cast and swing. Eventually, I was joined by several other anglers, flanking me at 50-yard intervals. The angler below me, John Sievwright, pointed upstream. The clouds had parted enough to expose some rays of sunlight, which illuminated the sky in a dreamy, pinkish orange worthy of artist Maxfield Parrish. It was mirrored in wisps of clouds above the ridge downstream. I was jolted back to the river by a loud splash. Sievwright was fast to a bright salmon. It raced downstream and leapt clear of the river several more times before Sievwright led it to the bank for a quick photo. The heavens to the west seemed to brighten a bit more as he held up his catch. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's been a big week of higher education news in Texas: Texas Southern Universitys new president faces his first big test; former Houston mayor talks LGBT tolerance; and state keeping close eye on risky for-profit colleges. New Texas Southern University president Austin Lane is preparing for his first big test homecoming. The weeklong gala kicks off Sunday on the Houston campus, where hes trying to raise enrollment and completion rates plus draw alums back to TSU for homecoming festivities. (Also: Former TSU President John Rudley recently talked on Twitter about the challenges of leading an historically black college.) The states higher education coordinating board is keeping a close eye on nine for-profit colleges it thinks are near collapse. The state agency is trying to be more deliberate after ITT Technical Institutes abrupt closure in September. Bruce Zimmerman, the longtime endowment manager at the University of Texas and Texas A&M University and the Permanent University Fund, resigned Monday. Texas A&M University student leaders are being investigated for allegedly making disparaging remarks about female students in a group text message. (Editorial from the student paper on Tuesday: Enough is Enough.) Former Houston mayor Annise Parker spoke about LGBT tolerance and activism at Texas A&M University on Thursday. Four-year Texas universities are trying to ease the transfer process from community colleges. Houston Community College has invested in a 3-D printing lab at its Stafford center, which opened officially on Wednesday. Texas A&M Universitys enrollment broke records to hit 66,426 students, the school said Thursday. Rankings, rankings, rankings: We listed the safety of Texas college campuses with FBI data here. Trojan released sexual health report cards to rank the countrys campuses this week, too. In case you missed it last week: University of Houston president Renu Khator in her annual fall address named improving the Third Ward as one of UHs goals for next year. The university plans to support economic, health, education and the arts in its Third Ward neighborhood. At the end of the speech, Khator noted the challenges of diversity on campuses across the country. As schools debate the use of trigger warnings, which are alerts when topics like rape or abuse will be discussed, and what to do about controversial speakers, Khator told students to face the unknown, the unpredictable and often times, the uncomfortable. It is the expression of our differences, not of our similarities, that challenges our assumptions and helps us to grow, she said. For this reason, we cannot shy away from diversity, we cannot shy away from inclusion and we surely cannot shy away from freedom of expression, because it is this freedom that allows diversity to evolve into inclusion. What did I miss? Send me an email at Lindsay.Ellis@Chron.com or on Twitter.com/ @lindsayaellis. Kerrville, TX (78028) Today Mostly sunny this morning then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 76F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy with showers. Low 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Why are we so compelled to define neighborhoods as good or bad? Is there one definition of a good neighborhood is it universal? Can a low-income neighborhood be a good neighborhood? I often wonder, and frequently challenge, whether these labels accurately depict a place and its people or whether they are self-fulfilling prophecy that makes it easy to invest or divest. The question comes more clearly into focus by understanding the history of neighborhood classification, of good and bad labels, and why they are too often directly associated with income and ethnicity. A great deal has been written about redlining, which was the practice of denying loans to certain areas of cities based, in part, on race. Not surprisingly, areas that were redlined declined, property values slumped, and for many, the only option was to move. The practice of redlining was institutionalized with the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Residential Security Maps, though many scholars argue that the maps simply reflected the predominant lending practices of the time and projected them into the future. Regardless, it is very clear that the maps tell us one part of the story of what went wrong, and how. In the 1930s, sparked in part by the profound impact of the Great Depression on neighborhoods, homeowners, and homebuilding a series of government programs was established to re-start the housing industry and transform mortgage security and lending. As noted by Kenneth T. Jackson in his landmark book Crabgrass Frontier, residential construction between 1928 and 1933 plummeted by 95 percent; by 1933, half of all mortgages in the U.S. were in default. Because so many people were affected, attitudes toward government intervention in the housing and lending industries changed substantially. One of the first agencies established was the HOLC, in 1933. The agency was charged with bailing out homeowners at risk of default on their mortgages, and, by 1936, more than one million loans had been issued. The more infamous role of the HOLC, however, is as author of the Residential Security Maps. Amy E. Hillier notes that around 1935 the HOLC embarked on the ambitious and secretive City Survey Program to investigate real conditions in cities across the country. This program resulted in a series of residential security maps for 239 cities that were designed to graphically reflect the trend of desirability of neighborhoods from a residential viewpoint. The power of the maps was to make discriminatory practices visible and provide a verb for the practice of denying loans to certain areas of our cities an act we now know as redlining. Specifically, redlining refers to the grading system of the HOLC where hazardous areas were colored in red. There were three other grades highlighted on these maps: definitely declining in yellow; still desirable in blue; and best in green. The grades were established based on location, housing age and value, presence of incompatible uses, such as commercial or industrial and race. Hillier writes: On the one hand, HOLC provided assistance to a million homeowners, across race and ethnicity, who were desperate to save their homes. On the other hand, [it] created security maps in which race was used to signify risk levels. The HOLC is only one of the villains in this story; the discriminatory practices that were institutionalized after were far more destructive particularly those of private lenders and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Three important documents were created by the FHA: an Underwriting Manual, first published in 1935 and revised in following years that provided guidelines for lenders in appraising housing and neighborhoods; Planning Profitable Neighborhoods (1938), which provided guidelines for homebuilders and subdividers; and a report titled The Structure and Growth of Residential Districts in American Cities (1939) by Homer Hoyt, a primary advisor to the FHA. Combined, these documents privileged (and, in fact, institutionalized) lending for new housing outside of the central city, sparking suburban growth and white flight from the core. They also recommended that new subdivisions be protected from adverse influences through restrictive covenants. Adverse influences included nonconforming uses (read: mixed-use neighborhoods) and inharmonious racial groups. For example, the 1936 Underwriting Manual notes: Deed restrictions are apt to prove more effective than a zoning ordinance in providing protection from adverse influences. Where the same deed restrictions apply over a broad area and where these restrictions relate to types of structures, use to which improvements may be put, and racial occupancy, a favorable condition is apt to exist. The Planning Profitable Neighborhoods bulletin describes and illustrates in a series of drawings good and bad development practices. Without fail, these drawings define the now-typical suburban models of discontinuous streets, large lots, and strip malls as good and traditional urban typologies as bad. In effect, the combined policies and practices such as redlining ensured that central cities, mixed-use areas, and neighborhoods of color would decline. In the Residential Security Map produced for Houston, the racism is clearly evident, as well as the privileging of neighborhoods farther from the central core. Houston was a fairly small city when this map was produced with just 300,000 residents in 1930 and climbing to nearly 400,000 by 1940. At this time, Houston was 77.5 percent white and 22.5 percent black. The tracts rated hazardous, without fail, reflected the concentration of black residents. For example, the majority (though not all) of the First Ward, Third Ward, Fourth Ward, Fifth Ward, and Sixth Ward were rated as hazardous or red. Other hazardous areas were Clinton Park and a neighborhood named Brunsville in the current Pleasantville area on the east side. This last neighborhood is for the most part gone, with Loop 610 and a number of railroads having diminished it to nearly nothing. Finally, hazardous areas also included portions of the Near Northside, Cottage Grove, and what used to be known as the West End along Washington Avenue. Areas rated best were all on the west side of Downtown and included Montrose, Southampton, and River Oaks, with still desirable ratings for Park Place, Eastwood, and Norhill. mandellplace.org The true power of these maps is not in how they were used as other practices and maps that date both before and after the founding of the HOLC had far greater impact on institutionalizing discriminatory practices but rather how they tell the story of these practices. These maps are a visual record that projected a future of disinvestment and racism. Such a historical record allows us to trace back the discriminatory practices that created the inequality we see in Houston today. Any observant person walking or driving across this city can still see patterns of segregation and disinvestment made so clear in the 1930s; however, the stark lines of the map are blurring with new construction transforming urban neighborhoods to accommodate those with the resources and desire to live close-in. The resulting demographic inversion leads to new questions. Houston Chronicle Are we creating tools now that will lead to the same devastating disinvestment on the periphery where many, if not most, low-income people live? Can we create affordable housing options in neighborhoods like the Third Ward for those communities that persevered through an era of discrimination and disinvestment? And can we also provide affordable options for people who would choose to live in the neighborhoods that did benefit from decades of government-backed investment? Susan Rogers is an associate professor and the director of the Community Design Resource Center at the University of Houston, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design. Visit the Texas Low-Income Housing Information Service for more information about housing equity. This story first appeared on Offcite.org. OffCite is a publication of the Rice Design Alliance, a community engagement organization based at Rice University. Bookmark Gray Matters. It's full of adverse influences and nonconforming uses. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two teens suspected of robbing an O'Reilly Auto Parts store in Humble crashed their stolen getaway car into a house as they tried to elude police. The men ran into the home and up the stairs, but the family of four inside was unhurt. Capt. John Zitzmann of the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office said the armed teens, later determined to be a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy, had hijacked the car sometime Thursday evening in Humble. About 10 p.m., they were using the car when they allegedly held up the auto parts store at gunpoint in the 21200 block of Aldine Westfield near Treaschwig, he said. One of the suspects went into the store, pointed a gun at workers and demanded money. He wore a "Scream" style mask. He dashed outside afterwards and sped away in the stolen vehicle. Uniformed deputies responded to the robbery scene, and at about the same time, undercover officers in the area got behind the stolen vehicle as it fled the store area, Zitzmann said. After a chase lasting three to four minutes, the driver lost control and ended up crashing into the home in the 3300 block of Maris Way. The two men ran inside the home and upstairs, where they hid in an empty bedroom. Tasha Bates, who lives at the home with her husband and three children, said she was awakened by a smoke detector going off after the car caught fire. "If it wasn't for the smoke detectors I would probably still be asleep," Bates said after the incident. She said it was fortunate the men ran into the empty bedroom and that she hadn't encountered them when she came out of her bedroom. "If I hadn't hesitated to come out the door, he probably would have had me at gunpoint," she said. In the fracas, deputies put her husband in handcuffs, mistaking him for a suspect, Bates said. Zitzmann said the teenagers would be charged with aggravated robbery as well as evading officers. He said they were also linked to two previous robberies. "These are two dangerous men," he said. "I'm happy to get them off the street." After days of tension and hours of passionate debate, the Houston school board voted 7-2 Thursday to accept a $7.5 million gift for the city's renowned arts high school and to rename the campus after the donors. The vote marked the first time the Houston Independent School District sold naming rights for a campus - a rarity in the public elementary and secondary school arena. The Houston-based Kinder Foundation, run by local billionaire couple Rich and Nancy Kinder, offered the donation in exchange for calling the campus the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. The money will go toward rebuilding the school downtown - funding theater lighting and seats, a sound system, a specialized dance floor and more. "We hope these joint and cooperative efforts preserve the long-term future of one of Houston's most acclaimed and diverse schools and forge a new path through public/private partnership to support future HISD schools," Rich Kinder said in a statement after the vote. The Kinder Foundation has given nearly $260 million in gifts and pledges for various projects, including major park upgrades throughout Houston and excellence in teaching awards. Board approval of the renaming deal had been in doubt since a contentious meeting Monday. Several trustees expressed frustration over the private negotiations that took place concerning the gift and questioned the fairness to other campuses in the district. Ultimately, for one conflicted board member, the decision came down to not wanting to punish students at the school despite problems with the process. "I do not believe you deprive our high-performing schools of what they need to get to equity," trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones, who has a son at the arts high school, said Thursday evening. Jones, Davila oppose deal Board member Mike Lunceford, who brought forward the renaming proposal, made a surprise announcement minutes before the vote that he planned to resign from the board effective at the end of the year. He apologized to his fellow trustees if he communicated poorly with them. He added that his board service was taking up significant time as he was commuting to Midland weekly for work. Houston board member Jolanda Jones, who joined with trustee Diana Davila to oppose the deal, described the gift and renaming process as "sneaky." Davila will represent the arts school when it moves downtown - it's set to open in 2018 - but she said she was not kept informed about the renaming. "I find it offensive that people say if you don't vote for this, that you don't care about the kids. Actually I care about all the kids in HISD," Jones said. "It seems like HISD is like a pimp, and the schools are what they sell," Jones added. "That was the nicest way I could think to say it." New Superintendent Richard Carranza did not comment during the deliberations Thursday. He previously expressed support for the gift and after some trustees balked Monday, he said he hoped to reach a workable deal. "Sometimes when you hold tight, people do the right thing," trustee Anna Eastman, who sided with the majority, said after the vote. Several students from the arts high school and parents urged trustees to accept the donation, while the proposal drew mixed reactions from community members. "Please do not close the door on this remarkable opportunity," parent Mary Carlson told the board. On the flip side, Larry McKinzie, a former Houston school board candidate and teacher, suggested that the proposed donation for the arts school would further inequities in the district. "It seems like it's the have and the have-nots again," McKinzie said. Student makeup less diverse The arts school has a much lower percentage of low-income students and black and Hispanic students than the district average. To get into the school, students must apply and audition. The school's principal, R. Scott Allen, said he has stepped up recruiting and diversity efforts. He called on the district to improve fine-arts offerings at middle schools across the city to help prepare students. About the gift, he said, "It just allows us to breathe and know we're going to get the building HISD told us we were going to get before our ground breaking." The arts high school is being rebuilt near Discovery Green Park under the school district's last bond measure, approved by voters in 2012. The project's original budget was $80 million, the largest per-pupil cost of any of the bond-funded projects. The budget then was increased by $8 million when the board agreed to pour more money into the $1.9 billion bond program to address rising construction costs. In the spring of this year, however, district officials said the arts high school would cost an extra $5 million to include features instrumental to an arts program such as theater lighting. At that point, HSPVA Friends, a nonprofit that supports the school, began fundraising and negotiated a deal with the Kinder Foundation. Scott McClelland, president of the H-E-B grocery store chain in Houston, told the board Thursday that he thought the donation would lead to philanthropic gifts for other schools, while rejecting the deal would "be sending a message to other donors." Ann Scott, the executive director of the HISD Foundation, which works with the district to raise money, also urged acceptance of the deal. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Leaving City Hall has allowed former Houston Mayor Annise Parker to reprise a familiar role as a social activist. Parker was named co-chair of the Democratic National Committee's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advisory group in January. She spoke at a gathering mourning victims of the mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub in June. And she plans to continue using public speaking opportunities to advance LGBT acceptance and tolerance. "I'm taking a more public role for the community again," Parker said in an interview previewing her Thursday night speech at Texas A&M University about LGBT activism and her personal journey. "I was very clear that when I was in elected office, I wasn't a spokesperson for the community. Now I can be." Parker's speech headlined coming out week at Texas A&M University, a campus where students have grappled with intolerance of gays and lesbians. The first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city said speaking in traditionally conservative places can bring about effective cultural change. "If you want to be a missionary, you go where the unbelievers are," she said in the interview. "One of the reasons we have made so many gains as a community is decades of people standing up and being who they are and showing the reality of their lives." That wasn't possible early in her career. Parker, 60, recalls "bifurcating" her identity when she worked in the oil industry as an analyst after she graduating from Rice University in 1978, where she now teaches as part of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders. When elected mayor in 2009, though Parker acknowledged that she made history, she sought to be viewed as a mayor who happened to be a lesbian. Despite pressure from LGBT-activist groups, she delayed consideration of a nondiscrimination ordinance until her final term. Voters rejected that Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, by a wide margin. Critics had painted the law as enabling male sexual predators dressed as women to enter women's restrooms. She said before her speech at Texas A&M in College Station her anger and frustration about the city's vote "re-energized" her activism. "I'm back in it," she said. Maverick Welsh, president of the local LGBT political caucus during Parker's third term, said they did not communicate in his capacity as the group's leader. Now, he said he's seen her take a more vocal role. "It's her roots; it's where she came from," Welsh said. "I would hope that the (HERO) experience, as bad as it was, wouldn't prevent her from getting involved at some point in the future." In 1991 when Parker began running for City Council, she said she lost races partly because voters solely perceived her as a lesbian activist. Later, she was forthright about her sexuality but also stressed her work experience. "I considered my activism to be part of my political resume, but only part," she said. Parker's remarks at Texas A&M, meanwhile, addressed the state of America's LGBT community and her personal experiences. Parker recalled death threats and slashed car tires as she condemned verbal and physical abuse and raids of LGBT bars. Visibility was crucial during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's, she said in the interview, as activists worked to nab research funding and enact anti-discrimination laws. She said that visibility has and will sway Americans toward greater acceptance of the LGBT community. "It is still easy for many people to say, 'I don't know anyone who's transgender and I think they're freaks or disgusting.' As long as that ignorance can persist, discrimination can take root," Parker said. Gay, lesbian and transgender students have faced intolerance at Texas A&M over the decades. The university's Gay Student Services won the university's official recognition in 1985 after a nine-year legal battle. The Supreme Court rejected the university's appeal for a hearing after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that gay students had a right to be recognized. Recent student leaders have sought bills that would change funding for the LGBT resource center, but measures in 2011 and 2013 were later vetoed. Parker said her visit to College Station helped celebrate the campus's progress, and the university has said it's becoming more accepting. In 2015, its library acquired an extensive collection of gay literature and culture. Events this week discussed coming out and safe sex. This fall, for the first time since at least 2011, Texas A&M University was not included in the Princeton Review's annual ranking of unfriendly universities for LGBT students, which resource center program coordinator Chad Mandala said is "the first of many milestones to come." Jeffrey Liew, president of A&M's "Aggie Allies" organization, said he has seen firsthand the college become more tolerant. He recalled that a student in 2006 said a textbook covering the coming-out process went against her beliefs. Recently, he said, he saw a same-sex couple holding hands while they shopped for groceries near campus. "This is simply two people living their daily lives," he wrote in an email. "I think this says we are making steps in the direction toward inclusion and acceptance of peoples from diverse or different backgrounds. But there is still a lot more work that needs to be done." Parker said although there's been progress in the U.S. on accepting gays and lesbians, there's still much work needed to improve tolerance of transgender people. The movement will be bolstered by young activists, some of whom don't see the gains from the last 50 years. "In my youth," she said, "we were still being institutionalized. We have come a very long way. Farther and faster than we had ever imagined." An off-duty Houston police officer said he shot a man who had been pummeling him Thursday night outside a home in their southwest Houston neighborhood. Officer J. Loosmore told investigators he shot the man about 6:30 p.m. outside a home in the 11600 block of Riderwood near Bell Park. The man was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Police did not identify him at the scene but later said he was a 21-year-old neighborhood resident. Houston police said Loosmore, who lives in the neighborhood, and his wife were walking their dogs when an unleashed German shepherd suddenly attacked one of their pets, grabbing the dog by its neck. Loosmore went home and then returned to get information from the dog's owner. He identified himself as an officer, HPD officials said. "He had his badge hanging around his neck," HPD spokesman Kese Smith said. "He shows him his badge and ID and advises him that he's a police officer." The officer wanted the information so the dog attack could be documented, police said. Smith said the man refused to cooperate and began yelling at Loosmore. The officer said he would then call 911 to report what happened. The man, whom neighbors said lives at the home, came outside and confronted the officer. Loosmore again presented his badge and identification card and reiterated that he was a police officer, officials said. "He began punching (the officer) multiple times in the head and the chest," Smith said. Loosmore later told investigators he felt like he was losing consciousness during the beating. He worried the man would get control of his firearm if he blacked out, police said. "The off-duty officer was struck by multiple punches to the head, face and upper chest area causing pain and injuries to the officer who became disoriented and had blurred vision," HPD said in a Friday morning news release. "The officer found himself cornered in between the houses and, in fear for his life, drew his off-duty weapon and fired multiple shots at the suspect, striking him in the chest and abdomen." The officer administered first aid until paramedics arrived, police said. Loosmore, a seven-year HPD veteran assigned to the South Gessner Patrol Division, was treated at the scene for minor injuries. The Houston Police homicide and internal affairs divisions are investigating along with the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Will Axford contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - Stung by a fierce backlash from Donald Trump's ardent supporters, four Republican members of Congress who had made headlines for demanding that Trump leave the presidential race retreated quietly this week, conceding that they would still probably vote for the man they had excoriated just days before. From Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the only member of the Republican leadership in either chamber who had disavowed Trump, to Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., who is in a difficult re-election fight, the lawmakers contorted themselves over Trump. Some of them would not mention him by name, preferring instead to affirm their support for the generic "Republican ticket," still grasping for a middle ground. They said that if Trump would not make way for his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, to lead the party after the release of a recording on Friday showing Trump bragging about groping women, they had little choice but to vote for their embattled nominee. But the collective about-face owed less to his refusal to exit a race in which ballots are already being cast than to the fury his supporters unleashed at the defectors at rallies and on social media. And Trump himself escalated his bitter feud with the country's highest-ranking elected Republican, Speaker Paul Ryan, saying at a rally in Florida on Wednesday that Ryan's refusal to actively support his candidacy was part of a "sinister deal going on." The quick reversals back to Trump's camp illustrated Republicans' predicament as they grapple with a nominee whom some of their core supporters adore, a Democratic candidate their base loathes - and a host of voters who believe that Trump is self-evidently unsuited for high office. In Alabama, Rep. Bradley Byrne, who said flatly over the weekend, "It is now clear Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United States," insisted to reporters Wednesday that he had always said he would "be a supporter of the Republican ticket from top to bottom." "I'm a Republican," Byrne said. "I don't vote Democrat." Supporting the nominee Thune, who also said Saturday that Pence should be the party's nominee "effective immediately," acknowledged that the recording of Trump boasting of grabbing women's genitals was "more offensive than anything that I had seen" from the Republican standard-bearer. But he said in an interview Tuesday with KELO television in Sioux Falls, S.D., that he would still cast his ballot for Trump. "I intend to support the nominee of our party, and if anything should change, then I'll let you know," Thune said. "But he's got a lot of work to do, I think, if he's going to have any hope of winning this election." Of the Republicans who reversed themselves, only Garrett is facing a competitive race next month. Byrne and Thune are expected to easily defeat their Democratic opponents, and Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska is not up for re-election until 2018. On Saturday, Fischer called Trump's comments "disgusting and totally unacceptable under any circumstance" and said, "It would be wise for him to step aside and allow Mike Pence to serve as our party's nominee." But she was almost philosophical in explaining to a Nebraska radio station on Tuesday why she was still backing Trump "He decided he would not step aside. I respect his decision," she said. "I support the Republican ticket, and it's a Trump-Pence ticket." In New Jersey, Garrett also initially called for Pence to lead the party. But by Tuesday, Garrett, a seven-term lawmaker who was already facing perhaps the stiffest challenge of his career, said he would "vote Trump for president if he is the party's official nominee come Election Day." The legislators' tortuous efforts to climb down from their earlier clarion calls did not seem to placate Trump's admirers much. "If you are not FOR Mr. Trump, then you must be AGAINST Mr. Trump," Lonnie Lee Mixon II, an Alabamian, wrote on Byrne's Facebook page. "Please stop dancing around this." Trump attacks Ryan Sensing an opportunity to rally his supporters against the wavering Republican leaders, Trump went after Ryan at a campaign rally for the first time since the speaker told House Republicans on Monday that he would no longer defend the party's nominee. In a speech before 7,000 supporters in Ocala, Fla., Trump veered between dark, conspiratorial warnings and strikingly personal expressions of resentment. "There's a whole deal going on," he said of Ryan's decision to walk away from his candidacy. "We're going to figure it out." Yet even as he used the rally to accuse the speaker of being part of a plot, Trump also made clear he was wounded that Ryan had not called to praise him for his debate performance Sunday. "So wouldn't you think that Paul Ryan would call and say good going - in front of just about the largest audience for a second-night debate in the history of the country?" he complained. One of Trump's most prominent remaining allies, the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, said the nominee's blasts at other Republicans were an unnecessary diversion from targeting Hillary Clinton. But Gingrich added that Ryan had invited the opprobrium from both Trump and his admirers. "Ryan wants to find a middle path, but he doesn't understand that the middle path signals to his own partisans that he's not hanging tough," he said. "All you have to say if you're Ryan is, 'We need to beat Hillary Clinton, and I'm going to help beat Clinton.'" Clinton, herself, was reveling in the Republican conflagration and, in a new sign of confidence, used a rally in Colorado, to make an appeal across state lines to voters in two red states that now appear within reach. "If you've got friends in Utah or Arizona, make sure they vote, too," she said. "We are competing everywhere." BEIRUT - Overnight shelling and more than a dozen airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 11 people, bringing the death toll over the last three days in the embattled city to at least 65, activists said Thursday. Meanwhile, rebel shelling of government-held areas in the divided city killed two girls at a school. The airstrikes came a day after an air raid hit eastern Aleppo's biggest market, killing at least 15 people and leveling buildings. Aleppo's relentless violence has given additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow on Syria over the Aleppo strife this month. Forces redeployed In other developments in Syria's multi-layered conflict, two Iraqi militia commanders said Thursday they have started withdrawing some of their elite forces from Syria, where they are fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad's government, to Iraq in preparation for the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group. The battle for Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition air power. Since Mosul first fell to ISIS in June 2014, the extremists have been pushed from more than half of the territory they once held in Iraq, according to figures from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office. Iraqi Shiite militias are not expected to take part in the operation, although they are likely to be part of the offensive to capture areas nearby such as the town of Tal Afar, which used to have a large Shiite population. The two commanders, from Iraq's powerful Asaib Ahl Haq and Kataib Hezbollah militias, said more than 2,000 of their fighters have been withdrawn from Syria, mostly from in and around Aleppo, for redeployment near Mosul and the ISIS stronghold of Hawija. The two spoke to the Associated Press in Baghdad on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military tactics. But two Syrian opposition activists - Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based Ahmad al-Ahmad - said they were unaware of the withdrawal, adding Iraqi Shiite militias have sent reinforcements to Syrian government forces in the Aleppo area. This month, an official with the Iraqi Shiite al-Nujaba militia said it sent some 4,000 fighters to Syria, also to the Aleppo area. The two Iraqi commanders said the al-Nujaba militiamen were not part of the pullout. The militia's leader, Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi, recently visited his fighters on Aleppo's front lines, vowing to continue to fight Sunni extremists. Relentless airstrikes According to the Observatory, more than 20 airstrikes overnight and into Thursday in eastern Aleppo killed seven people while shelling killed four. The activist group added cluster bombs were being dropped. The Observatory said Wednesday that at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since a U.S. and Russian-brokered truce collapsed Sept. 19. The U.N. says over 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has included a limited ground offensive. Also Thursday, the Russian military denied its warplanes targeted Aleppo's residential areas. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said Russian airstrikes follow a thorough analysis of data gathered by satellites, drones and agents on the ground to identify militant targets. Billionaire George Soros again has stepped into the Harris County district attorney's race with a half-million-dollar advertising buy on behalf of Democrat Kim Ogg. The latest Soros contribution arrives just days after the Ogg campaign filed a quarterly finance report showing she received nearly $135,000 in campaign contributions from a PAC supported by Steve Mostyn, another major Democratic financier in Texas. The filing also shows a smaller $11,000 in-kind polling donation given in August from the Soros-funded Texas Safety & Justice PAC. The liberal businessman-philanthropist - and Republican bogeyman - is no stranger to the Harris County contest. Last February, he spent $100,000 in support of Ogg's Democratic primary opponent, Morris Overstreet. At the time, Ogg discounted the money given to Overstreet, whom she went on to beat by a wide margin. "I think it's a last-minute money dump to try to buy the nomination," Ogg said at the time. The only person connected to the Soros-funded PAC in state filings, treasurer Whitney Tymas, did not return calls for comment. Incumbent Republican District Attorney Devon Anderson's political consultant, Allan Blakemore, criticized the Soros ad buy, accusing Ogg of aligning with forces seeking to take over the district attorney's office. "She has abandoned the values and standards of our community to become a puppet for those whose clear agenda is to corrupt the rule of law in Harris County," Blakemore said. Wayne Dolcefino, a spokesman for the Ogg campaign, welcomed the contribution, adding that the race has received national attention following the jailing of a mentally ill rape victim during Anderson's tenure. "We welcome contributions from anyone in the country who wants to make people safer and actually remember what justice is," Dolcefino said. "This is a local election, but Devon's conduct has made this a national race." Soros, a Hungarian-American immigrant who made billions in currency speculation, has publicly supported a number of criminal justice reforms, including reducing racial disparities in sentencing and relaxing marijuana restrictions. Ogg has pledged if elected to redirect tax dollars away from prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana charges toward prosecution of violent criminals. Soros has also contributed to district attorney races in Florida, Illinois, Mississippi and New Mexico, each through state-specific PACs with variations on the name "Safety and Justice." AUSTIN The Texas Ethics Commission on Monday dismissed a high-profile investigation into the state's most powerful politically active nonprofit, capping a four-year saga that highlighted an ongoing policy debate over disclosure of so-called "dark money." With a 7-0 vote, the commission dropped two complaints filed in 2012 against Empower Texans and its President Michael Quinn Sullivan. Empower Texans is a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt corporation that is allowed to make independent expenditures to influence state elections without having to disclose its donors. The group is the biggest spending politically active nonprofit in Texas, according to state data. One of the group's consistent targets has been House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and his lieutenants. State regulators were investigating the conservative group to determine if it was coordinating with donors to accept or spend money to influence a state election and if it should register as a political action committee, which is required to release donor names. The case dragged on for more than four years due largely to a skirmish over subpoenas issued by the commission for a range of Empower Texans documents that has played out in various courts since 2014. Following an internal staff recommendation to drop the case, the commission decided Thursday "there is insufficient credible evidence" to support the allegations made against Empower Texans. The commission did not comment on its decision. Sullivan, however, said his group planned to continue criticizing the eight-member panel of state campaign finance regulators. "We've won and we're going to keep winning," Sullivan said minutes after the decision. "Now, we're going to hold them accountable. These commissioners are going to find out they don't have carte blanche to play political games at the taxpayer's expense." The dismissal marks a major shift for the commission, which aggressively had pursued the case against Empower Texans and Sullivan. The writing appeared to be on the wall last month when the commission, at the behest of Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, dismissed a lawsuit against Empower Texans and Sullivan to enforce subpoenas that were deemed to be a critical component of the case. The fight over subpoenas largely had consumed the investigation since the commission issued its initial original document demand in 2014, claiming it could not move forward in the case until the subpoenas were fulfilled. Empower Texans unsuccessfully tried to have the subpoenas quashed in federal and state courts, and the commission last year asked a Travis County judge to enforce the document demand after accusing Sullivan of stonewalling its investigation. Paxton's office, which represented the commission, dismissed the subpoena enforcement lawsuit last month, saying that Empower Texans made a "judicial admission" in a recent court filing that provided the commission with enough information to move forward. Soon after, John Moore, the commission's director of enforcement, wrote a letter recommending the agency dismiss the Empower Texans case on the basis of "insufficient credible evidence of violations." The commission did just that Thursday, with newly-appointed Commissioner Steve Wolens abstaining from the 7-0 vote. Joe Nixon, a lawyer for Empower Texans, said he was glad the commission finally dismissed the investigation, but leveled a stern rebuke of the state regulator. "Shame on them," he said, "for having taken 4 years to do it." Kendall Baker proudly admits that before deciding to try to replace his state representative, he had no idea who his state representative was. "Nobody knows who he is," Baker said. "That's part of the reason I wanted to run. Because he is not visible to the community, and he's not known to the community." The representative, Gene Wu, has a different take. "We're not a flashy office, but we are a responsive office. And I've been in this area for 30 years, and I've been always been a volunteer and community busybody," Wu said. "And this is the first time I've ever seen his face pop up at any community event." The disagreement highlights the dynamics of the District 137 race, where the two candidates appear to be operating in different worlds. Wu, a Democrat who is running for his third term representing the west and southwest Houston district, said he has built a reputation as a hardworking policy wonk who has helped the area by reaching across the aisle to achieve commonsense accomplishments in energy policy and criminal justice reform. Baker, a Republican and high-profile opponent of Houston's equal rights ordinance who ran unsuccessfully for city council last year, said that years of poor representation has left the district dilapidated and in need of a "good ol' fashioned politician" to cut taxes and create jobs. Even on the seemingly straightforward issue of flooding control, the two disagree sharply. Baker said he would make it a priority to fight to resolve the "major flooding issues we have in District 137." Wu said that would be a poor use of time because the district does not have any flooding issues and typically does not take on water when storms hit. Wu said he is a strong supporter of House Speaker Joe Straus, a moderate Republican who has earned high marks in Austin and the business community by focusing on bread-and-butter issues, such as education and child protection. Baker said his role model is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a hard-line conservative who has focused more on social issues. The two worlds will collide on Nov. 8. To Wu, the contest is more of a minor headache than a serious political challenge. The 38-year-old former prosecutor is confident he will win in the Democratic-leaning district because of his accomplishments. "I want to go back to Austin because I do a pretty good damn job of taking care of these issues," Wu said. He pointed to his low-key efforts to modernize the Texas search warrant process and allow energy companies to use public rights-of-way for pipes to transport water to fracking sites a move he said helped the companies and helped the environment, infrastructure and traffic by taking thousands of trucks off the road. Next session, he said he plans to work to reform the state's beleaguered Child Protective Services agency, a priority in part because his current law practice involves appointments for CPS and juvenile delinquency cases. However, the lawmaker said his top issue will be fighting to stop 17-year-olds from being automatically considered adults in criminal cases. Baker sketched out a less specific set of priorities. He offered few details about his policy plans other than to say that he would focus on "Opportunity, Freedom and Safety," and that the "safety" component would include addressing the flooding issue. "I'll bring back the good ol' fashioned conservative mantra of cutting taxes and creating jobs," he said. The 51-year-old pastor and former director of the City of Houston's 311 service said he would leverage his connections in city government and the religious community to get things done. "I was born to be a public servant," he said. Baker pointed to his work on the successful campaign against the equal rights ordinance as proof that he is attuned to the thoughts of the community. He dismissed criticism regarding his indefinite suspension from his job at 311 after being accused of sexual harassment and soliciting sexual acts from his employees. He said he had been targeted due to his opposition to the equal rights ordinance. According to city records, however, the complaint that resulted in Baker's termination was lodged in June 2013, three months before then-Mayor Annise Parker first publicly suggested Houston should pass an anti-discrimination ordinance. City Council approved the ordinance in May 2014, eight months after Baker was indefinitely suspended. A report by the Office of Inspector General confirmed the allegations, and the City Service Commission upheld the suspension. The Texas Workforce Commission found Baker was fired "for a reason that was not misconduct connected with the work." Baker said he is planning to sue the city for wrongful termination. He also threatened to sue the Houston Chronicle for "10 percent of its gross revenue" if it mentioned the harassment allegations in this story. Baker said he was sure he would beat Wu. "I'm 100 percent confident I'll win. 150 percent confident," Baker said. "Wait, do you mean the lawsuit or the race?...The race. Yes. 150 percent confident." WASHINGTON - Evangelical broadcaster Steve Deace got an email on Tuesday from someone trying to convince him to vote for Donald Trump. Deace, a nationally syndicated conservative talk show host, asked him "what the Word of God says." That challenge, Deace said, prompted his correspondent to call him "the Devil using a smokescreen." In the week since Trump was revealed to have been caught on tape talking in vulgar terms about women, the debate among evangelicals has been intense, sparking a wave of reflection in churches and social media about how conservative Christians should vote on Nov. 8. Some of the loudest voices in the theological dispute have come from Texas, a state that anchors the Bible Belt. One belongs to Houston evangelist and author Beth Moore, whose tweets went viral this week after she called on Christian leaders to not dismiss the sexual objectification of women. "Try to absorb how acceptable the disesteem and objectifying of women has been when some Christian leaders don't think it's a big deal," Moore wrote on Sunday, 48 hours after news broke of the video. Others, notably Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, have gone on a media campaign to defend the Republican nominee as the only choice for conservative Christians. "I'm the first to admit that Trump's comments on that tape were lewd, offensive and indefensible," Jeffress said in an interview. "But, in the end, the election is a binary choice between a pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-conservative justices on the Supreme Court candidate, and a candidate who embraces just the opposite." Some evangelicals undecided For Trump, the stakes in this clash of Christian ethics are enormous. Evangelicals - one of the largest single blocs in the GOP coalition - normally break heavily for the Republicans in national elections. An online poll released Tuesday put Trump's support among evangelicals at 55 percent. Although only about 2 percent would vote for Hillary Clinton, the rest said they may sit out the election or write-in other candidates. "Although Trump has a huge lead over Clinton among evangelicals, the most noteworthy finding in this regard is that more than four out of 10 evangelicals currently refuse to vote for either of those two candidates," said George Barna of the Barna polling organization. "Nearly three out of 10 are presently undecided, making them the largest bloc of undecided votes still up for grabs." Matthew Wilson, a Southern Methodist University political scientist who studies religious voters, noted that white evangelical voters typically go 75-80 percent for Republican presidential candidates. Even with a bump in non-evangelical working-class whites, Wilson estimated Trump would need about two-thirds of the evangelical vote to win the White House. If the current numbers hold - as Trump gets battered by a slew of new sexual misconduct allegations on top of the "Access Hollywood" video - the GOP ticket is in trouble. "Religious conservatives have been a huge part of the coalition that has produced a lot of Republican victories in the last 25 years," Wilson said. "He has to get more than half of the votes of evangelicals." While the video clearly has damaged Trump, it only added to divisions already festering among Christian conservatives. In a widely-circulated blog post last February, evangelical author Max Lucado, a minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, chronicled Trump's litany of insults toward women, minorities, a war hero, a disabled reporter and his many primary opponents. "Such insensitivities wouldn't be acceptable even for a middle school student body election," Lucado wrote. "But for the Oval Office? And to do so while brandishing a Bible and boasting of his Christian faith?" Trump still garnered a majority of the evangelical vote in every Super Tuesday primary state that he won. The character issue, however, gradually has forced Christian conservatives to take the measure of the man who is carrying their banner on abortion, same-sex marriage and Supreme Court appointments. Faced with a dilemma "This has been my dilemma from the beginning of the election season," said Vivian Bush, a 38-year-old consultant in Houston who works part-time for a Christian nonprofit and considers herself a Protestant evangelical. "I look at the sum total of who Trump is and everything he's said and advocated for, and I cannot support him." However much Bush dislikes Trump, she will not vote for Clinton, with whom she disagrees on nearly every major issue, and whose character she also considers flawed. The dilemma has torn apart some of her friends in church and on Facebook. "It's all over the place," Bush said, "Sometimes it gets personal. It gets ugly. There are long-standing friendships being ripped apart by this, which is incredibly sad." For her part, Bush has decided to vote for Evan McMullin, an "independent conservative" who has been surging in deeply Republican Utah. Some of her friends also are looking at third-party candidates, if only to send a message. "Humanly speaking," Bush said, "this election is a lost cause." Faced with this skepticism in the pews, the Trump campaign has been encouraging the idea of rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's the formulation used by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. this week to justify his defense of the embattled billionaire. In a speech this week at Liberty University, Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed also implored Christians to vote for Trump, arguing that "on issue after issue on matters involving grave and intrinsic moral evil, there are stark differences between the two major-party nominees for president." Reed, a member of Trump's evangelical advisory board, also urged students to "confront the choice before us and vote for someone who actually has a chance to become president Retreating to the stained-glass ghetto," he added, "is not an option for followers of Christ." The Trump campaign also has fought back with surrogates, such conservative pundit Pat Buchanan, who praised Trump in a campaign email for exposing "the hypocrisy of liberal and secular celebrants of the '60s 'sexual revolution,' who have suddenly gotten religion where Trump is involved." Former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski also promoted a blog post this week by David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, a service founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. Brody, writing of the "GOP Holy War" inside the evangelical community, raised the quasi-Talmudic distinction between voting for Trump and voting for a presumably conservative Trump presidency: "Why? Simple. Evangelicals who will be voting for a Trump presidency do not condone his moral behavior." A host of Christian thinkers have weighed in on the other side, including James MacDonald, one of Trump's evangelical advisers and the mega-church pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois. MacDonald rocked the Trump campaign this week in an email to several other members of his faith council calling Trump's video remarks "misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless." MacDonald followed up with a blog post Tuesday saying that while he is open to the possibility that Trump has changed, the "strong consensus" of a Sunday phone conference of council members was that "Mr. Trump's words fell short" of genuine repentance. He added, however, that "I do not believe that Mr. Trump is worse than Hillary Clinton (who is less than believable as some modern Joan of Arc)." For Jeffress, who also is on the advisory council, Trump's apology was good enough. "He didn't put on sack cloth and ashes, but that's not Donald Trump's style," he said. "He said he was sorry, that what he did was wrong." Putting their faith first Some evangelicals are urging their followers to put their faith ahead of their partisan preferences. In an editorial excoriating Trump, Christianity Today executive editor Andy Crouch warned of "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." That is the tack taken by long-time Trump associate Bob Vander Plaats, head of The Family Leader, an influential Christian group in Iowa. Vander Plaats, like Deace, endorsed Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucuses, earning some enmity from Trump. He now is calling for Trump to remove himself from the GOP ticket "to focus on his family, to focus on defeating Hillary, and to focus on the country." "Our ultimate goal," Vander Plaats said, "is we don't want our testimony and our witness to be disqualified or compromised because of a candidate, a party, or an election." Donald Trump implored supporters Thursday to rally behind him by portraying himself as a victim of "false smears" from a growing number of women accusing him of making unwanted advances - a brazen attempt to stabilize his campaign amid a new round of criticism from Republican allies and a searing denunciation by Michelle Obama. By Thursday night, at least six women had publicly accused Trump of groping and forcibly kissing them over the decades, a pattern of sexual assault he denied in the presidential debate Sunday after bragging about such behavior in a 2005 recording that was unearthed last week. Trump denied the allegations Thursday and lashed out at one of the women, a former writer for People magazine, seemingly implying she was not attractive enough for him. "Look at her - look at her words," Trump said at a West Palm Beach, Fla., rally. "I don't think so." The allegations about Trump's treatment of women became the all-consuming focus of the political world, a remarkable turn as the sexual history of a presidential nominee became a dominant and unavoidable issue in the final weeks of the race. Rarely, too, has a candidate in a general election so darkly insinuated that a conspiracy of forces was trying to undermine him and his admirers as Trump did Thursday at events in the battleground states of Florida and Ohio. With Hillary Clinton assuming a low profile Thursday to keep the public focus on Trump, Obama drew wide praise from Democrats and on social media for her personal remarks about the revulsion and depression she felt over Trump's comments about women. Speaking to hundreds of voters and students at Southern New Hampshire University, Obama said she could not "stop thinking about this - it has shaken me to my core." "This is disgraceful, it is intolerable, and it doesn't matter what party you belong to," Obama said. "No woman deserves to be treated this way - none of us deserves this kind of abuse." 'Total fabrication' The New York Times reported Wednesday night that two women said Trump had touched them inappropriately, groping or kissing them. Their stories echoed a 2005 recording on which Trump boasts of being able to sexually assault women because of his celebrity. Other news organizations, including the Palm Beach Post, BuzzFeed and People magazine, also reported on women who had troubling encounters with Trump, who said at the debate Sunday that he never acted on his "locker room talk" in the 2005 recording. In a series of messages posted on Twitter on Thursday, Trump called the Times article a "total fabrication" and denied charges by the People magazine writer, Natasha Stoynoff, that he had forced his tongue down her throat while she was working on an assignment about his first anniversary with his wife, Melania. But at his rallies in West Palm Beach and later in Cincinnati, Trump also unveiled a new campaign strategy, beseeching his supporters to view him as a political martyr for their cause and stick by him in the face of ugly accusations about his personal conduct. "I take all of these slings and arrows, gladly, for you," Trump said to cheers in West Palm Beach. "I take them for our movement, so that we can have our country back. Our great civilization here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning." Trump said "a conspiracy against you, the American people" was underfoot, charging the Clinton campaign, the media and other forces were trying to vilify parts of the electorate that did not share their views. "The establishment and their media neighbors wield control over this nation through means that are very well known - anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed," Trump said. "They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again, they will do worse than that. They will do whatever's necessary." And he spoke about how Clinton had met "in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors," phrasing that drew criticism from the Anti-Defamation League as reminiscent of historical slurs against Jews. Threat of a libel suit Trump also warned through his lawyer that he might sue the Times for libel if it did not retract the article and apologize. "Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se," Marc Kasowitz, Trump's lawyer, wrote in a letter to The Times. "It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump's candidacy." David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for the Times, wrote to Kasowitz that the newspaper "did what the law allows: We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern." "If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight," McCraw wrote. The Clinton campaign said the latest allegations showed Trump was unfit to be president and that he lied in the debate Sunday. Clinton, at a fundraiser in San Francisco on Thursday, leveled a broad attack on Trump over his insults and treatment of people. "It's more than just the way he degrades women, as horrible as that is," she said. "He has attacked immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims and our military, which he's called a disaster." State Representative, District 147: Garnet F. Coleman After 25 years in office, Democratic state Rep. Garnet F. Coleman seems to know every inch of his central Houston district, which stretches from Montrose, through downtown, Midtown and the Third Ward before following Interstate 45 south to Beltway 8. He has a particular fondness for the area around Emancipation Park, where he's worked to protect the historic Dowling Street corridor from being consumed by generic townhouses. Up in Austin, Coleman has been a key leader on mental health and criminal justice issues, promoting personal recognizance bonds and the diversion courts that help keep people out of jail and connect them with the help they need. Passionate, intelligent and willing to work across the aisle on the important issues facing Texas, Coleman, 55, is an important senior-ranking member of the Democratic delegation and his public service is a boon to our state. His Republican opponent, Matt Murphy, ran for City Council in 2015 and told the editorial board that he's running because people deserve a choice. The choice is clear - vote for Coleman. State Representative, District 149: Hubert Vo State Rep. Hubert Vo can be a soft-spoken advocate for his diverse southwest Houston district that ends at the border between Harris and Fort Bend counties. Sometimes he's too soft - Vo was deemed "furniture" by Texas Monthly last session for his lackluster participation in the legislative process. But throughout his five terms in office, Vo, 60, has enough important accomplishments on his record - such as creating the International Management District - to justify a return to Austin. He's been an advocate for economic development and education opportunities, especially vocational training in Alief ISD. We were also impressed by his political courage during an editorial board meeting in which he pushed back against his opponent's advocacy of raising the sales tax to lower the property tax burden. "I believe that if we increase the sales tax it is going to be affecting the low-income families, especially families with kids going to school," Vo said. "It is not going to be fair." Instead, Vo brought up the idea of exploring a state income tax. Vo and his Republican opponent, Bryan Chu, have a lot in common: Both fled Vietnam as children with their families. Both point to education as a top issue. Both have found professional success in Houston - Vo as a businessman and real estate developer, and Chu as a dentist. But more so than his opponent, Vo has a firm grasp of policy and its consequences, and voters should send him back for a sixth term. State Representative, District 150: Michael Shawn Kelly Scholars of history know that revolutions have a way of eating their young - even the Republican revolution. First elected in 2002, outgoing state Rep. Debbie Riddle was once both praised and maligned for being the personal embodiment of a hard-right Texas Christian conservative. But somewhere along the way, Riddle's belief that "free education" and "free health care" came from "the pit of hell" just wasn't conservative enough for her northwest district, which stretches from the Houston city limits up to The Woodlands and Tomball. She was defeated in this year's Republican primary by political activist Valoree Swanson. So how did Swanson boot a longtime incumbent? Political insiders know it's because Riddle got along with the center-right House Speaker Joe Straus, much to the chagrin of powerbroker and lobbyist Michael Q. Sullivan. During the primary, Swanson was able to paint Riddle as someone who wasn't sufficiently opposed to Islamic religious law, or Sharia law. So what does Michael Shawn Kelly, the 60-year-old Democratic candidate for this now-open seat, think of all this? "I can't answer without laughing to be quite honest," Kelly told the editorial board when asked whether Texans should be concerned about Sharia law. "I think it is really something you say to people when you're trying to get them whipped into a frenzy over a non-issue and not talk about the issues we should be talking about." Self-described as a Bill Hobby Democrat or Jack Kemp Republican - he quotes the latter in his political arguments - Kelly keeps his focus on the serious issues in Texans' everyday lives: public education, the middle-class squeeze, health care and property values. The owner of a landscape design company, Mirror Lake Designs, Kelly has a businessman's pragmatism when it comes to our state Legislature. He doesn't want public schools to have their funds sucked up by vouchers and wants to fix a property assessment system that gives corporations advantages denied to homeowners. With Donald Trump at the top of the ticket and Swanson at the bottom, Democrats need to run more focused, centrist candidates like Kelly while the Republican Party spirals off into its own political sideshow. Kelly gets his ideas from running a business for 35 years. Swanson apparently gets hers from social-media nonsense. We live in the real world, and Texans deserve a candidate who lives here, too. Vote for Kelly. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. If you ever happen to fall dangerously ill on a plane, you'd be lucky to find a doctor on board. So, when one man became unconscious on a Delta Airlines flight out of Detroit, Dr. Tamika Cross immediately offered her assistance only to be shot down by a flight attendant. And Cross believes it's because she's black. Advertisement Tamika Cross says she faced "blatant discrimination" on a Delta Airlines flight. The doctor, who is an OB-GYN based in Houston, posted her awful experience with the flight crew on Facebook on Sunday, saying she faced "blatant discrimination." According to Cross, she heard a woman screaming for help a couple rows ahead, saying her husband had become unresponsive. Cross says she "jumped into doctor mode" and unbuckled her seatbelt to get ready to help, but a flight attendant told her the man was having a night terror and told passengers to calm down. The doctor says she tried to monitor the man from her seat, when he became unresponsive again. When the flight attendant asked if there was a doctor on board, Cross says she raised her hand. "She said to me 'oh no sweetie put ur [sic] hand down, we are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel, we dont have time to talk to you,'" Cross wrote in her Facebook post. "I tried to inform her that I was a physician but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks." Advertisement When the flight crew paged for a physician, Cross says she tried to push a button to tell them she was a qualified doctor. "I stare at her as I go to press my button. She said 'oh wow youre an actual physician?' I reply yes. She said 'let me see your credentials. What type of Doctor are you? Where do you work? Why were you in Detroit?'" Cross wrote. "Please remember this man is still in need of help and she is blocking my row from even standing up while bombarding me with questions." After answering the questions, Cross says she tried to leave her seat to help the man, when a white man came up saying he was a doctor. "She says to me 'thanks for your help but he can help us, and he has his credentials,'" Cross continued. "Mind you he hasnt shown anything to her. Just showed up and fit the 'description of a doctor.' I stay seated. Mind blown. Blood boiling." Advertisement Fortunately, the man recovered on the plane and the flight attendant apologized but Cross was livid that her credentials had been questioned and was unable to help a passenger in need all because she didn't fit the "profile" of what a doctor should look like. "I tried to inform her that I was a physician but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks." Other black women doctors responded to the post on Twitter, using the hashtag #WhatADoctorLooksLike. Advertisement "Delta condemns discrimination toward our customers in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or gender," they said in reply to a comment. "As a global airline that brings hundreds of thousands of people together every day, Delta is deeply committed to treating all of our customers with respect. Delta is investigating this matter and will be working directly with the customer." As of press time, Cross' Facebook post has been shared more than 37,000 times. Read her full post below: Also on HuffPost 9 People Who Think Casual Racism Is Ok See Gallery Torontos Trump International Hotel & Tower has been a financial disaster for many of its individual investors, and now they can sue Donald Trump for some of the losses, a court of appeal has ruled. Lawyers for some of the tower's investors said they were misled into investing in the project, and were given inflated estimates of how much money they could make. Advertisement A lower court last year absolved Trump of liability in the dispute. Trump doesnt own the tower; he licensed his name to the owner, Talon International Investments. Trumps company, the Trump Organization, manages the facility. But the Court of Appeal for Ontario said Thursday Trump can still be held liable for some of the damages those "based on oppression, collusion, or breach of fiduciary duties," according a report at Reuters. Trump made numerous appearances in Toronto to promote the development in its early years. Investors were given the opportunity to buy individual hotel rooms, then collect revenue from them. Advertisement This was when 'The Apprentice' was really hot and Donald Trump had a ton of credibility, Mitchell Wine, a lawyer for the investors, told the Toronto Star. But the tower didnt pan out as expected. A year after its opening, occupancy was at 50 per cent and investor-owners were losing an estimated $175 a day. Wine said many of those who lost money were ordinary people. These arent high rollers. He estimates there are 40 or 50 people behind the 23 claims against the tower. Lawyers representing Trump insisted the billionaire presidential candidate should have no liability in the case. There is "no factual or legal basis to hold my client liable, principally because my client did not enter into a contract with any of the buyers, did not sell anything to any of the buyers, and did not receive any money from any of the buyers," Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, told Reuters. Advertisement Still a defendant But Wine argued Trump "is still a defendant in this action and can still be held liable. "This court said you're still very much part of this thing, and you still have to answer to all of these allegations other than the two that the court considered in this decision." (The court of appeal released two plaintiffs from their legal obligations to the Trump Tower.) Talon International owner Alex Schnaider said earlier this year his company was on the verge of selling the tower, and that the Trump brand would likely disappear from the building. Talons clients are no longer interested in the Trump brand because Trump himself has damaged it, Talon lawyer Symon Zucker said. Its more important for him to be president than run a successful business. Its unclear if the sale is still going ahead. When asked about it by the Toronto Star on Thursday, Zucker had no comment. Also on HuffPost Republicans Who Have Withdrawn Their Support For Donald Trump See Gallery Two Filipino-Canadians, Al Donato and Russell Sabio, open up about a packing tradition that connects them to home. Growing up in a Filipino-Canadian household, buying canned luncheon meats in bulk signaled it was time to send a balikbayan box a Filipino tradition of sending care packages. Advertisement Nearly one-metre tall, what stands out about the balikbayan box is its size. The cardboard cube came up to my moms hip and loomed over me as a kid. A photo posted by bossko_Sam (@samlanie) on Sep 29, 2016 at 2:18pm PDT This is pretty much what my mom's shopping trips looks like. This typical balikbayan shopping haul is from Instagram user Samlanie. When my mom immigrated to Canada, she picked up the practice from her fellow Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) working in department stores. Although she was a single working parent struggling to support her children, it was important to her that these boxes filled with Canadian bounty reached her faraway loved ones in time for gift-giving every December; loved ones who were living in worse conditions than our own. Advertisement Her selection of the True Norths finest was varied. I remember squeezing essentials like toilet paper rolls and non-perishables between luxuries my family would rarely get for themselves, like Toblerone chocolate bars and Nike shoes. In spite of this, I dont remember ever feeling jealous of them. These gifts were what my mom called pasalubong: sacred souvenirs that, while cheap, were incredibly sentimental. I had never met the various titas, titos, or cousins who would open these boxes, but I daydreamed about their reactions as I wrapped rolls of tape around their soon-to-be presents. My mom, a first-generation Canadian, was the box-packing leader in my household but what would happen if the tradition was left in my hands or the hands of other second-generation Canadians? 5 days to NYC-Chicago-SF-LA As you can see, I pack light! Concert costumes! #usa A photo posted by Mikey Bustos (@mikey_bustos) on Sep 19, 2016 at 8:16am PDT YouTuber and Filipino-Canadian Mikey Bustos with his balikbayan boxes. He released a Miley Cyrus "Wrecking Ball" parody video about the tradition in 2013 that has been viewed nearly 3 million times. Watch it here. If it were up to me, I wouldnt send boxes full of luncheon meat to the Philippines because I wouldnt even know who to address the box to. Advertisement My story is different from Als. We didnt send care packages to our family in the Philippines as often in fact, I maybe participated in the tradition three times in my life. But each instance of box-packing wasnt anything like Christmas for me. Each trip to the grocery store, every packing session and every label-making night was met with preteen angst. I remember one night feeling judged by a grocery store employee as I stood in line paying for peanut butter. The limit was six bottles per household and in an effort to get around the rules, I was given $20 and asked to line up at a separate aisle. The cashier knew I was breaking the rules for my mom a woman who insisted we get crunchy peanut butter for every relative abroad. I didnt understand the concept of this box and why we were even sending it. Still, l I was asked to participate in a tradition that seemed antiquated, unnecessary and far too expensive. My family probably spent up to $500 whenever they sent a balikbayan box. Looks like someone will going to miss their tita and wants to be shipped. Hehe! #happydavidandgabbyandnaomi #playtime #balikbayanbox A photo posted by Kat Arcilla (@kat_arcilla) on Sep 13, 2016 at 3:10am PDT Advertisement When kids are around balikbayan boxes, this is bound to happen. (Photo: Instagram/kat_arcilla) For many families, the box represents the immigrant success story. Balikbayan means "someone who returns home," referring to those who leave the Philippines to work. Often sent by OFWs and their families, these boxes can weigh up to 150 lbs. and are filled with goods for basic survival and treats. It's a tradition thats associated with the act of sending money back home, a multi-billion dollar industry called remittance that contributes to 10 per cent of the country's GDP, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the country's central bank). That's nearly $37 billion every year. More than 400,000 boxes were sent to the Philippines in 2015, Yahoo reports. Shipping company Forex Toronto, a popular balikbayan sender, notes that the amount of boxes delivered is rising currently, they send more than 800 boxes per week. Come Christmas season, which can start as early as September in the Philippines, this amount doubles. The tradition can be directly linked to the early 70s when the Balikbayan Program a plan set by the Philippine government came into effect. It was a response to the Labour Export Strategy, a temporary solution that sent workers abroad to help alleviate foreign debt by sending money back home. Advertisement Now a permanent fixture in Filipino immigrant culture, OFWs are protective of the tradition and their precious pasalubong. Balikbayan legislation was overturned last year thanks to outraged migrant workers. CNN reports that OFWs worldwide held a No Remittance Day in protest of Filipino customs staff from opening and inspecting their boxes. Conely de Leon, a PhD candidate at York University whose dissertation touches on the Balikbayan box phenomenon, says the tradition holds more meaning than meets the eye. The balikbayan box is not simply a way to transfer goods from one place to another, she says. Being able to carry a new iPad with you around your community that is symbol of success. It perpetuates the idea that your family overseas is doing really well financially. Thats why theyre able to afford these things that you now have access to. On top of that, de Leon says the box symbolically represents a person's ties to home. Sending it tells a recipient that you care for them; that the familial bond is still important. Advertisement It's a tradition that's representative of Filipino culture. It's hard to say where the balikbayan box goes from here. I don't think sending them will stop any time soon. While many are now filled with items that are easier and cheaper to find in a more modern Philippines, it's the Filipino value of sharing that's keeping the tradition alive. Filipinos are known around the world as the nation's best export, supporting the country by working in hotels, hospitals, and homes. And while there's a lot to unpack with this diasporic identity the effects of colonialism and the Philippines' economy, for starters giving and hospitality is embedded in our psyche, from the food on our table to the jobs we take. I respect these everyday heroes, I know them personally, and yet the tradition of sending balikbayan boxes is lost on me. It's not the way I find connection to my people and my homeland. My only connection to the Philippines is a song I learned in Tagalog school about a house that grew a lot of vegetables, so my disinterest in sending balikbayan boxes really stems from my disconnected roots and my lack of understanding of what it means to be Filipino. Looking forward, I'm trying to find my own culture. I'm looking to do my own balikbayan of sorts a homecoming that's meaningful for me. And maybe that self-discovery and connection can fit in a balikbayan box, or maybe it can't. Advertisement "Giving and hospitality is embedded in our psyche, from the food on our table to the jobs we take." For me, the balikbayan box remains an expression of first-generation affection. I cant help but feel like the box symbolizes all of the eternal homesickness immigrant Filipinos carry inside all the time. It's wrapped up in a physical package, one that tries to close the distance between themselves and their home. The need to re-connect isnt always as urgent for me. But its still there. Ive never been to the Philippines, but I still catch myself calling it back home. Every so often, Ill wonder which family member took an old shirt of mine, or if one of my cherished toys was passed onto a younger cousin. If I were to take charge in sending my familys balikbayan boxes, Id need to unpack my roots. For now, as long as my mom continues to do it, Ill still join her in grocery aisles; pushing a shopping cart full of canned luncheon love behind her. Also on HuffPost In sharing her profound sorrow over the death of former Alberta premier Jim Prentice, current provincial leader Rachel Notley touched on how her own father was also killed in a plane crash. Prentice died Thursday evening after the small plane he was on crashed in a heavily forested area in southern B.C. Advertisement File photo of Jim Prentice. (Photo: The Canadian Press) On Friday, Notley commended Prentice, 60, who was also a former federal Conservative MP, for his dedication to public service. She said he deeply loved Alberta and worked tirelessly in the offices he held. There are no words adequate for moments like this, as my family knows very well, Notley said at a press conference in Edmonton. To all Albertans, I urge you to look at the faces of those we love and remember that every moment with them is a precious gift." Advertisement Notley referenced her own father, who died under similar tragic circumstances over three decades ago. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks to the media at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton on Oct. 14. (Photo: Dan Riedlhuber/Reuters) Grant Notley, a political legend in Alberta, was leader of the provincial opposition NDP when he died in a plane crash near Grande Prairie, Alta. on Oct. 19, 1984. His daughter Rachel was 20 at the time. Advertisement Contact sheet photographs of Grant Notley taken on Jan. 15, 1982. (Photo: Arnaud Maggs / Bibliotheque et Archives Canada, R7959) The elder Notley is credited with helping to establish the NDP in Alberta a province long regarded as a conservative stronghold. His work would eventually help his daughter topple the longtime Progressive-Conservative government to become the provinces first NDP premier in 2015. The High River Times Craig Baird wrote about reputation the late Notley earned during his time in office: Many describe Notley as a man with a remarkable intellect, who could quickly get to the heart of complex issues. He would oppose the Progressive Conservatives without malice, often making points that would help them improve their own policies. In 2010, a provincial electoral district in northern Alberta was renamed to honour the late politician. Premier Notley said memorial arrangements for Prentice will be announced at a later date. Also on HuffPost "This morning, I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn that former Alberta Premier, Jim Prentice, was amongst four people killed in a plane crash in southern BC. The loss of all of these lives is devastating. Jim came to see me when I became mayor (one of my very first meetings, in fact), and he helped me navigate those tough first few weeks. Even after he left federal politics, he was an important part of this city and always ready to help however he could. I remember getting a call while I was at a function at Heritage Park. I snuck into an employees-only hallway to have a long chat with this man I had long admired. He told me he was thinking of running for leader of the PC party and for Premier. I think I asked him: why in the world would you want to do that? Youve got a great career and a wonderful family, and youve given so much to the community already. He replied in a way that clearly and plainly spoke of his love for this province and his hopes for the future. In politics, I get to work with people from all political stripes who are filled with a desire to do good no matter what. I also get to work with people who are thoughtful, respectful, and driven by a need improve this community we all share. Jim was all of these things, and so much more. He is an inspiration to all of us who aspire to public service. It wasnt even a year ago that we lost Manmeet Bhullar, but Id like to share one of his stories. When the Sikh community was struggling to set itself up in Calgary and trying to build the first gurdwara in this city, they faced a lot of opposition from a community that didnt know much about their faith. They were represented by an idealistic young lawyer who fought for respect, acceptance, and diversity. That lawyer was named Jim Prentice. All of our thoughts and prayers are with Karen, their daughters, and their families. Thank you for sharing Jim with all of us. I also want to extend sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives with Jim. This is a devastating loss for everyone." There were angry letters to the editor. Staff in his riding office quit. People told him his political career was finished. One angry Calgarian passed him in a pickup truck, pulled over and threatened clean his clock on the spot. They set fire to his veranda. In the church, where he was married and his children were baptized, Prentice and his wife Karen arrived to find that days sermon was a warning about him. Former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt is giving up her finance critic role to prepare for a possible leadership bid. Raitt, who represents the Ontario riding of Milton, took to Twitter Friday to share the news and thank interim Tory Leader Rona Ambrose for letting her serve in the prominent position for almost a year. Advertisement Conservative MP Lisa Raitt speaks in the House of Commons on Oct. 4, 2016. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP) Ensuring the government is held to account for our economy is the most important role for our caucus and that has been my top priority, Raitt wrote. To ensure full attention, I am stepping aside as Finance Critic while I continue discussions on the future leadership of the party. Advertisement Today, I thank @RonaAmbrose and our #CPCcaucus for trusting me to serve as Finance Critic over the course of the last year. 1/3 Lisa Raitt (@lraitt) October 14, 2016 Ensuring the government is held to account for our economy is the most important role for our caucus, and that has been my top priority. 2/3 Lisa Raitt (@lraitt) October 14, 2016 To ensure full attention, I am stepping aside as Finance Critic while I continue discussions on the future leadership of the party. 3/3 Lisa Raitt (@lraitt) October 14, 2016 Raitt was first elected in 2008 and served as minister of natural resources, labour, and transport under former prime minister Stephen Harper. Born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the 48-year-old has positioned herself as a vocal champion of Atlantic Canada issues, including the possibility that the next Supreme Court judge will not be from the region. Liberals, she charged in August, treat Atlantic Canada like a backwater place. Advertisement Tories currently do not hold a single seat in the region. Prominent East Coaster and former minister Peter MacKay has already ruled out running for the leadership. Questions about her French Some have raised questions about Raitts ability to fluently speak French. Though the MP has reportedly been brushing up on her skills, Quebec MP Pierre Paul-Hus told The Huffington Post Canada last week that Raitts French isnt very strong. Raitt also revealed last month that her husband has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. In a moving speech to the House of Commons, Raitt urged colleagues to speak openly about the disease to get past the stigma. There are six official candidates in the race: Quebec MP Maxime Bernier, Alberta MP Deepak Obhrai, Saskatchewan MPs Andrew Scheer and Brad Trost, and Ontario MPs Michael Chong and Kellie Leitch. Ontario MP Tony Clement quit the race this week. Ontario MP and former veterans affairs minister Erin OToole is expected to announce his bid Friday, while Quebec MP Steven Blaney is reportedly on the cusp of jumping in. Advertisement Also on HuffPost Fall is a season Canadians hold near and dear to their hearts. Whether its because of the beautiful changing leaves or the bountiful local produce at farmer's markets, nearly everyone can agree that it's a special time of year. Of course, no autumn is ever complete without a trip to your local pumpkin patch. We've rounded up 13 of the top pumpkin patches across Canada that feature spooky corn mazes, delicious pumpkin and apple treats, pumpkin picking, relaxing hayrides, and many other activities the family will enjoy! Advertisement Did we miss any of your favourite pumpkin patches? Let us know in the comments below! Torontos SickKids Hospital is launching an empowering ad campaign to show the inner strength of its patients. Sick isnt weak, the TV ad declares. Sick fights back. SickKids will launch its new campaign, called VS, on Saturday. This includes two TV ads and dozens of posters. VS stands for versus and alludes to the hospital and its patients battling fiercely against a number of opponents such as cancer, autism, cystic fibrosis and liver failure. Advertisement Sick isnt weak: SickKids hospital embraces fierce new ad campaign https://t.co/4urkoxbnvR via @TorontoStarpic.twitter.com/RMQohh9i57 SickKids Foundation (@sickkids) October 14, 2016 The uplifting campaign is strikingly different from the hospitals old marketing approach, which often used heartfelt, emotional stories to inspire donors. Speaking about the new ads, Lori Davison, the vice-president of brand strategy and communications, told the Toronto Star, The evolution is to a lot of empowerment. This notion that we are winning, but we wont stop fighting until every kid is a healthy kid. Advertisement According to the Star, nearly 300 people were involved in the production of the ad campaign. The first TV promo will be aired on Sat, Oct. 15 during the Toronto Maple Leafs home opener. Visit the Toronto Star to read more about the patients involved in the SickKids campaign. ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Last week I felt very proud to be Canadian. Our country ratified the Paris Agreement and showed the world that Canada is serious about reducing carbon pollution. Now we have yet another opportunity to take a major step forward. This week in Kigali, Rwanda, parties to the Montreal Protocol have gathered to discuss phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), little-known but very potent greenhouse gases. Advertisement Ironically, machines that make things cooler also make the planet hotter. Found in refrigerators, air conditioners and aerosols, HFCs are thousands of times more powerful drivers of climate change than even carbon dioxide. Each year HFC-emitting sources release the carbon dioxide-equivalent that is released by 300 coal-fired power plants. If left unchecked, HFCs could account for 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The consequences of inaction are just too large. But bold action to phase out HFCs could bring remarkable results. In Paris last year, leaders dared to set a goal of limiting global warming to below two degress Celsius. If we act in Kigali and phase out HFCs, scientists believe we could avoid 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century. This single action could have an enormous effect. And history suggests we can succeed. In the 1980s, gases known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) -- also found in refrigerators and aerosols -- were creating a giant hole in our ozone layer. With strong leadership from Canada, 197 UN member countries signed the Montreal Protocol. It resulted in the phasing out of CFCs and helped heal the ozone. Former secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has described the action as "perhaps the single most successful international agreement." Advertisement Unfortunately, many CFCs were replaced with HFCs, which scientists later discovered were highly detrimental to our climate. However, with similarly purposeful action today, we can phase out HFCs and once again come together -- as a global community -- to protect our natural world for our children and grandchildren. Of course, there are those who object because of the cost: estimates of the phase down are between $8 and 10 billion. But the Montreal Protocol provides a fund to help developing countries with the transition, much like it did with CFCs. Canada contributes to this fund. The consequences of inaction are just too large. Today, we can already see the impacts of climate change seared across our landscape. I believe it is our generational responsibility to take action. In the Boreal Forest wildfires rage for longer and harsher than ever before. In the Prairies, droughts and floods are increasing in frequency with devastating effects. And in the Arctic, sea ice is thinning at alarming rates, altering the land where Inuit have hunted for millennia. Advertisement At the Paris climate conference, where negotiations were tough and often went through the night, the world finally came together to chart a bold course for addressing climate change. By phasing down the use of HFCs we can build on this momentum. Of course, hard work lies ahead -- but there is no better opportunity to make a lasting difference in such a short time. I believe it is our generational responsibility to take action, and Canada will continue working toward an ambitious agreement in Kigali. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Niyazz via Getty Images Ballot box with national flag on background - Canada At the start of his term, Justin Trudeau promised to reset the relationship with Canada's Indigenous peoples because, as he said in the House of Commons, their "life in Canada has not been -- and is not today -- easy, equitable or fair." Most Canadians agree that the conditions Indigenous people face economically and socially are unacceptable and long overdue for change. But to start that process would require Indigenous people to be at the table to represent their concerns themselves. Advertisement Here, Canada's current voting system is a key barrier because, as the late Indigenous Senator Len Marchand once noted, it "fragments aboriginal voting strength to the point where an aboriginal vote is next to meaningless." Marchand wrote this in 1990, when the House of Commons had only three Indigenous representatives, most from northern ridings where Indigenous peoples formed a majority. There has been some progress since then -- 10 Indigenous MPs were elected in 2015 -- but Indigenous people are still under-represented, and Indigenous MPs still primarily represent northern ridings with significant concentrations of Indigenous people. This is problematic because, as the 2011 census demonstrates, a majority of Indigenous people actually live in Canada's urban centres, places where their distinctive voice and representational needs are typically overwhelmed by the dominant society. That is why the Trudeau government's promise to introduce a new voting system in time for a federal election in 2019 could make a real difference. If the government adopts a proportional model, and all serious experts have suggested they should, urban Indigenous voters would be significantly empowered to make their voices heard and have an impact on the election results. Advertisement The recent shift from our voting system to a form of proportional representation (PR) in New Zealand offers some striking concrete evidence of just how dramatic the potential impact could be. Under the new PR system, New Zealand's Indigenous people, the Maori, went from being consistently under-represented in their legislature to an almost perfect match between their percentage of the population and the percentage of elected MPs. Prior to the introduction of the new voting system, Maori representatives were rarely elected, except in the four legislative seats set aside for them. Established in 1867, these special "Maori seats" became an effective ceiling for Maori representation, under-representing their voting strength. While registering as roughly 14 per cent of New Zealand's population by the 1990s, Maori were lucky to gain three to five per cent of the seats under the country's traditional first-past-the-post voting system (the same one Canada presently uses). It's time to hear from Canada's Indigenous peoples directly. But with the shift to proportional voting a number of important changes occurred. In the seven elections using proportional representation since 1996, the percentage of Maori MPs has met or exceeded their share of the population every time. Before the new system was adopted, only one party typically had Maori MPs, but under the new PR system, all the major parties have begun competing for Maori votes and have elected Maori MPs. Finally, and perhaps most importantly for Canada, through proportional voting Maori have been able to increase their impact on the political system regardless of where they live. It's time to hear from Canada's Indigenous peoples directly. Research shows that when significant groups are not themselves at the table, their concerns won't be, either. This could be easily remedied by shifting to a proportional voting system, which has greatly increased the traction of New Zealand's Indigenous people on their political system and can do the same for Canada. Decisively opening up our political system to greater Indigenous representation and influence would certainly help reset Canada's relationship with Indigenous people and begin to make good on the Trudeau government's promise. Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: I speak Arabic. Not very well, unfortunately. If someone were being particularly generous, they might say that I sound like a seven-year-old child. If they were being honest, they would be more likely to say that I sound like the village idiot. But after almost 20 years of beating a rich and nuanced language into simplistic, infantile submission, I don't care. It's still mine. I learned to speak Arabic when I was 27, despite the fact that it was my father's first language. Having immigrated to Canada in his 20s, my dad experienced the unvarnished prejudice of 1960s Toronto where, as he liked to remind me, immigrants kept to themselves and pizza was an exotic food. So many years later, I am still awestruck by the fortitude that must it have taken for him to uproot and plop himself down in the land of hot turkey sandwiches and unpronounceable names. Advertisement Our words explain who we are, with our many complexities, to others. My father never spoke much about that time, but I know that those years must have been pivotal to his decision not to speak Arabic at home. Better to have us fit in. Better to be Canadian, whatever that meant. At that time, in that place, it wouldn't have been wise to highlight the invisible weight of our hidden identity: Palestinian. It would be easier to just ignore it. Except it wasn't. I found that instead of a complex and layered background, instead of a web of relatives, stories and legacies, I had a void. I didn't care too about it much when I was younger and all I wanted was for my family to be "normal," but by the time I was out on my own the void had become a gaping chasm: I could not decide who I was, who I wanted to be, without knowing where and who I came from. In 1997 I went to the West Bank to study Arabic. Once there, I found that many of the students in the program were, like me, half Palestinian, and were there as part of an attempt to discover their roots. Nineteen ninety-seven seemed like as good a time as any for a journey of self-discovery: the Oslo accords had been signed in 1993, ending the first Intifada and supposedly ushering in a new era of peace and reconciliation. There was a definite sense of optimism in the air that summer, and I met several Palestinian families who had uprooted themselves from somewhere else in order to return to the West Bank. Looking back, it was the closest the state of Palestine has ever come to a honeymoon period. Advertisement Before I left, I hadn't thought much about how language defines who we are, or what happens when the languages we use to build our identities are rendered useless. We all have our own unique language, defined by the words we use, the way we pronounce them, and the cadence of our sentences. Our words explain who we are, with our many complexities, to others. To immerse oneself in another language, then, is to strip away that identity and start over anew. It is the existential equivalent of the dream in which we are running around naked, darting and weaving behind trees and shrubbery, in hopes that no one sees us at our most raw and vulnerable. My grip on the language represented my finding a place in the world where I belonged, at least marginally. At the university, my classmates were from the United States, Italy, Germany, England, Holland and Finland. They were bright, curious, and idealistic. Our instructor was a patient and earnest man, who took great care to pronounce our names correctly and explain local customs to us. Once, during the summer, a member of his family died. A group of us decided that we would pay our respects by attending the funeral. That morning, we loaded ourselves into the servees taxi and embarked on the ride to Ramallah, where we looked for the Orthodox Church where the funeral was being held. I, particularly, was anticipating the event, as I had secretly learned the proper phrase for the occasion: Yislam raasak. The phrase literally means May God Bring Peace Upon Your Head. Today, I understand this, and it makes sense to me. I can say these words now with some conviction, knowing that I am not actually asking someone where the steam baths are or if I may caress their chicken. But in 1997 I did not possess the confidence that has come with 20 years of exposure and familiarity. At the time, I was finding my Palestinian self, and it was of utmost importance to me that I spoke better Arabic than the non-Arabs in my class. My grip on the language represented my finding a place in the world where I belonged, at least marginally. I was confident that it was only a matter of time before it happened: that I would fall into and be enveloped by an identity that was at once complex and complete, with no capacity for self-doubt or longing. Advertisement At the funeral, I fantasized that my execution of yislam raasak would be so astonishingly perfect, my accent so convincing that I would be mistaken for a local. It was as if my entire identity -- or at least the part that had never really had an opportunity to spread out and grow in the small white Ontario town I grew up in -- was concentrated in this one act. I would no longer be identified as "ajnabeeyeh" or "foreigner." I would very suddenly and dramatically, be embraced into the community wholeheartedly. Many looks would pass between me and a wizened old woman in traditional dress whose eyes would seem to say: We knew you were one of us. Welcome back. And let those other idiots you came with go to hell. I would smile at her with my eyes and think: You're right, they really are idiots. Language immersion can be brutal: surviving for hours or days at a time on sentences like I like cheese and The brown dog barks can, for some, spark an unforeseen identity crisis (Is this all I am? Someone who likes cheese and makes pointless observations about animals?), but anyone who has gone through language immersion will tell you that humility is key. Without it, you will never be able to withstand the bewildered looks from shopkeepers, or helpful taxi drivers who comment that you "speak Arabic 1%." The Arabic alphabet, which is written from right to left. If you keep at it, do your homework and practice a lot, there is the potential that one day; you might be walking along a village side road, when a family in a car stops to ask for directions. True, you may provide directions to the slaughterhouse instead of Aunty Siham's apartment block, but at least you will understand that it was directions that were wanted. This is the euphoric moment where you will feel: I know who I am! I belong! It's a glorious, beautiful moment. Advertisement Enjoy it. Because it will soon be replaced with the realization that now there are not only one, but two places in the world where you don't really belong, and two languages that you can't speak properly. Born And Raised is an ongoing series by The Huffington Post Canada that shares the experiences of second-generation Canadians. Part reflection, part storytelling, this series on the children of immigrants explores what it means to be born and raised in Canada. We want to hear your stories -- join the conversation on Twitter at #BornandRaised or send us an email at bornandraised@huffingtonpost.com. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Dennis McColeman via Getty Images Canadian, Provincial and Territorial Flags, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Things have been moving at warp speed in the Canadian "climate wars." Last week, the federal Liberals passed a bill ratifying the Paris Agreement. As expected, it was done without first concluding an agreement on climate change with the provinces and territories. To add oil to that particular fire, the prime minister made it clear the day before that provinces failing to adopt some form of carbon pricing would be punished with a federal carbon tax. This announcement was not really a surprise; but timing was obviously a factor. Trudeau decided to ratify at just that moment when Canada's signature (along with that of the EU) would push the Agreement past the point at which it would come into force (ratification by at least 55 countries representing 55 per cent of total emissions). Advertisement Good PR, but of little real significance since Canada emits less than two per cent of global emissions. And why do this now, when the provinces are still at odds over the rules for reaching the Paris targets? Not surprisingly, there were some fairly negative reactions to the feds' use of the Big Stick. Saskatchewan has repeated its opposition to the imposition of a federal carbon tax (indeed, any carbon tax), calling the Liberals announcement "disrespectful." And the Conservative opposition in Parliament has also opposed this tax, as they did when they were in power. The Conservatives were also the only party to vote against ratification, when their motion to prevent the introduction of a carbon tax was defeated. Both the NDP and the Greens supported ratification but the NDP pointed out correctly that the government's targets are deeply flawed and un-ambitious and need to be strengthened. And Nova Scotia has now decided to ditch the idea of a carbon tax completely, opting to go with cap and trade, while Manitoba has said the opposite, distancing themselves from cap and trade and suggesting they may consider a carbon tax! What's next in the federal-provincial climate wars, you might ask? Since last week's initial ruckus, the combatants have gone quiet. But it is likely that the provinces are just solidifying their positions, for or against the federal tax, prior to Trudeau's proposed next meeting of the premiers in December. They are also rushing to implement their own programs, to strengthen their bargaining positions and perhaps to prove that they can meet the federal targets without a new federal tax. Advertisement Despite this temporary armistice, something clearly needs to be done to reverse the harm done to federal-provincial relations, while still moving towards an early agreement on carbon. Here's what I think is needed to get this done: First, the forthcoming federal-provincial negotiations should focus on re-setting targets, not on the methods used to achieve them. Providing the targets are fair and evenly shared, this will be a lot easier than forcing all provinces to accept carbon pricing as the sole means of achieving the targets. Many of the provinces have already established targets, but they have done so using different baseline years (the reference year on which the reductions are based) and in some cases, different target years. For example, six provinces use 1990 as the baseline year, while only three use 2005, the baseline year used in the Paris Agreement. This small discrepancy can be easily dealt with, as information for establishing a 2005 baseline is readily available. Fortunately, all provinces have included 2030 as one of their target years, so there will be little need for adjustment there. But the ambition of these targets differs from province to province and will not be sufficient to meet the federal goal of a 30 per cent reduction (I mentioned this problem in a previous blog). Advertisement Second, the Liberals' insistence that carbon pricing is the best way to achieve the Paris targets should be challenged. Carbon taxes, for example, are often ineffective unless they are supported by effective regulation and appropriate policies to help companies and organizations meet their targets. Much the same can be said for cap and trade, where companies have fixed "caps" (targets) to meet but can be helped to achieve their caps by policies that incentivize cleaner production or improved efficiency. The most important thing for all parties to accept is that carbon pricing and regulation are not conflicting choices; they are two sides of the same coin, i.e. they are both ways of reining in carbon emissions. In fact, studies of this topic globally have shown that regulation has actually been more effective in reducing emissions than carbon pricing alone. An excellent Canadian example of this is Alberta, where a decision to phase out coal-powered electricity by 2030 will take a 17 per cent bite out of the province's large carbon footprint, even without its proposed carbon tax; and Ontario, where a similar decision to close out coal-fired power led to a larger reduction in emissions than all other programs and provincial actions combined. In the case of energy efficiency, there are already many robust policies in place nationally and provincially, and carbon pricing can serve to enhance these. But as my colleague Martin Adelaar has argued, carbon pricing will not in itself "address the significant market barriers that will impede optimal levels of energy efficiency." Ideally, then, Canada needs a mixture of the two, for example by developing new and more aggressive policies on energy efficiency in areas such as transportation, industry, or buildings while also introducing carbon pricing where regulation is not sufficient. Much the same could be said of policies to encourage renewable energy production or reduce fossil fuel use in transportation. Advertisement If regulations are appropriate and effective, then carbon pricing will work better than it would without such regulation. If Saskatchewan or other provinces or the territories choose regulation instead of carbon pricing, that is also acceptable as long as they assume their fair share of the effort to help Canada meet its Paris targets. I promised last time to explain how offsets could be used to achieve Canada's target, until the events of last week took over. Next time! Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Ubuntu - we belong in a greater whole and are diminished when others are humiliated or diminished ~ Desmond Tutu Recently dozens of flyers were distributed anonymously to mailboxes in Edmonton. Referring to Islam as a violent and "delusional seventh-century cult," they constitute the latest incident of hate in the city. Previous incidents include posters against Sikh turbans at the University of Alberta, the "N" word used against Bashir Mohammad and Jesse Lipscombe. Advertisement Now is the time to go beyond the online hashtag campaigns to confront systemic racism and hatred institutionally. An example is MacEwan's campaign against sexual violence and cultivation of a culture of consent. It is equally important for a diverse array of community stakeholders to reach out to one another and issue joint responses against hatred in any of its ugly forms. This includes racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia and transphobia. While it is important to protect free speech, it is also equally important not to let hate speech go unchecked, whether it is overtly from cowardly racists who dare not show their faces or subtly from hatemongors who hide behind the thin veneer of religious expression. Unchecked hate speech has indoctrinated generations and fostered the systemic discrimination and persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan. Canada cannot afford to go down that path of hatred. Advertisement The flyers allude to the death punishments in Islam against apostasy and blasphemy. It is true that medieval Islamic legal manuals contain a whole array of capital punishments and some popular speakers espouse such punishments under an idolized theocratic Islamic State. Canada is a democracy, not a theocracy. Ismaili, Ahmadi, LGBT and progressive Muslims categorically reject such laws and punishments. We believe a vast array of Sunni and Shia Muslims also reject the same. Indeed, a broad coalition of Muslims can unreservedly send out a strong message against draconian medieval laws and isolate popular exclusivists who taint religion with exclusivism and supremacism. The LGBT community in Edmonton stands firmly against oppression be it against blacks, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs or others. The reason is simple. We stand at the intersection of so many other communities. We are a sexually, ethnically and religiously diverse community. Having borne the brunt of prejudice and hatred, we stand against racism and hatred in any of its ugly manifestations. Specifically, the following LGBT community leaders would like to reach out to their Muslim family and friends to stand by them in this hour. We want them to know to not be afraid for they are not alone. Advertisement We stand by you! Dr. Junaid Jahangir Frank Testin, Dignity Canada Steven Townsend Todd Herron Rob Wells Gil Charest Larry Derkach, Chair of McDougall United Church Council and Executive Director of Jewish Family Services Murray Billett Rev. Dr. Nancy Steeves Mickey Wilson, Executive Director, Pride Centre of Edmonton Frank Calder Jay Smith Doug Kerr Dr. Kristopher Wells Dr. Alvin Schrader Sue Brewer Michael Phair *A version of this letter was published in the Edmonton Journal here. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Henryk Sadura via Getty Images Canada, Alberta, Edmonton, City skyline One of the reasons I ran for the position of Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre a year ago this week was to bring about policies that would grow the economy, support the middle class, and those seeking to join it. To get our economy growing again we need to invest in helping our businesses and entrepreneurs -- including those in energy -- become more innovative, competitive, and successful. Advertisement It's about jobs, economic security, and creating a new path forward for Alberta with an agenda for innovation. Our commitment to making Alberta an energy centre of excellence and energy innovation is real. In September the federal Minister for Innovation Navdeep Bains and I announced some $150 million for the University of Calgary to invest in strategic infrastructure and in research for reducing carbon emissions. These investments in Calgary have been called "game changing" and "transformative." As mentioned, I ran for federal politics because of public policy like the above. I also saw, quite clearly, that the previous government did not see such a need to make these critical investments and involve Albertans in an innovation agenda. Conservatives took this city and province for granted for ten years. We saw no progress to getting our energy products to tidewater -- not one inch of pipeline created to international markets. Advertisement While the previous government committed to infrastructure projects the announcements were made yet there was no follow through on this money or a plan to get infrastructure built. Talks of economic diversification were given lip-service and there was never any progress on the carbon file. By not acting on climate change, not engaging with the world, our national interests were undermined. Under the Conservatives' watch we came within a single vote of having our energy products barred from sale in the EU. In contrast we are reacting to the needs of Albertans and the opportunities arising in the global economy. Alberta now has a true partner in the federal government. While chairing the Northern Alberta Wildfires committee, I and my colleagues made sure the province received disaster assistance funding at "pretty much the speed of light." The Government of Canada issued the maximum amount of dollars under the fiscal stabilization agreement to the Alberta Government - nearly half a billion dollars of federal transfer payments sent directly to a province facing the dual emergencies of the collapsed oil prices and natural disaster. This was on top of our $2.5 billion reform package on Employment Insurance in Budget 2016, which specifically named and targeted those impacted in Alberta by the downturn. Advertisement It is essential in shaping our future to merge safeguarding our environment and supporting our energy industries, because to do anything less does not make sense. Our Innovation Agenda lays out a vision to build Canada as a global centre for innovation. Our mission is to create jobs, drive growth across all industries and improve the lives of all Canadians. And as usual, Albertans are already leading the way. With the province's Climate Leadership Plan the province will already be three-fifths of the way to the 2022 federal carbon price goal -- with four years to spare. And it's about this leadership and positioning Canada to be a world leader on energy. After a decade of inaction our country and province are taking real action to create opportunity, deliver a better future for our children, and build a stronger economy. We're ready for real change and innovation. JGI/Jamie Grill via Getty Images Close up of laughing woman with messy hair Thinkstock photo Written by Monica Matys, a Communications Advisor at Sunnybrook. Years ago, an emergency doctor mentioned something that always stayed with me. Despite having spent his career treating people who had, in many cases, barely survived major traumas, he said many were happier people afterwards. How is it that someone could go through something so difficult and be happier? It's just in the last few weeks, after meeting a patient named Nazreth, did I learn that phenomenon is very real and has a name: post-traumatic growth. Advertisement Earlier this year, Nazreth was in Ghana doing work with a non-profit organization. During a weekend trip, the bus she was on blew a tire. She says she remembers hearing the sound, and seeing the driver struggling in vain to get control of the vehicle. The bus skidded, rolled several times, and ejected Nazreth about eight feet away. The pain came on swiftly, what she would later learn was the result of 23 fractures throughout her body. "I remember laying outside looking up at the sky in excruciating pain," she says. "And for me, that was the scariest moment. Not knowing if I was going to get help or not." Luckily, some strangers came to her aide. She was evacuated to Germany first because Canada was too far to travel, considering her injuries. After two surgeries and one month in hospital, she was finally flown home to Toronto. And despite everything that has happened, or maybe as a result of it, she describes herself as happier now. Dr. Paula Gardner is a clinical psychologist at St. John's Rehab in Toronto, and describes post-traumatic growth as a "positive change or transformation following the struggle of a major life crisis." Post-traumatic growth has been increasingly researched over the past 20 years, and Dr. Gardner says it affects about half of all trauma survivors. What really seems to matter are five key indicators: if the traumatic event opens up new opportunities if it makes relationships more meaningful if it helps a person tap into inner strength if it triggers a new perspective on what really matters and if it causes a deepening of spirituality or faith Importantly, Dr. Gardner says reaching this positive place doesn't happen in isolation of other emotions, like distress and loss. "Human beings are complex, and we need to respect the emotional process. Some people can't even conceive of anything positive coming out of what's happened to them. But others feel there are ways to find meaning and live a quality life, even given their losses or limitations." So what makes the difference in reaching a more positive outcome? Dr. Gardner says a support system is critical, which can come in many forms like family, friends, medical therapists and the church. That's something Nazreth agrees with, after receiving support every time she reached out for help. "When you are vulnerable and you open up to others, the rewards are so great." Nazreth gave herself time to process what happened to her, which in turn shifted her happiness barometer. Now, she says material things have been trumped by deeper measures, like having a day without pain. "I'm lucky. Even though I've had so many injuries, I'm still here. I feel very excited about life and about learning about myself." Read more of our our patient's stories at health.sunnybrook.ca The five things you need to know on Friday, October 14 1) GREAT BRITISH CAKE-OFF Donald Tusk seems such a mild-mannered bloke, the kind who bent over backwards to be friendly to David Cameron and his attempts to renegotiate the UKs relationship with the EU. Thats all ancient history now (it was in fact ancient history within minutes of the deal), and the EU council president has made plain how deluded he thinks some Brits really are. Advertisement In his speech in Brussels, Tusk mocked claims that the UK could have its cake and eat it on full single market access and migration curbs. To all who believe in it, I propose a simple experiment. Buy a cake, eat it, and see if it is still there on the plate. The brutal truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us. There will be no cakes on the table. For anyone. There will be only salt and vinegar." To be fair, Tusk is only saying what many soft Brexiteers used to say when they were Remainers: its impossible to have both full access and serious cuts in freedom of movement. At least the hard Brexiters get that. Theresa May probably does too, but the 64 billion euro question is still whether she thinks a drop in trade is a price worth paying for cuts in migration. As for the future existence of the UK itself, May is facing a fresh threat from Nicola Sturgeon with her plans for a new independence referendum. "Scotland does have the right to ask itself again [if it wants independence]," she told the Today programme. Some in Government think Sturgeon is bluffing just to appease her party conference and that she wont risk calling for a second No vote unless the polls really shift. But as Dave found out to his cost, calling your critics bluff is not always a good idea. And there are some around Theresa May who believe that she simply won't agree to a new referendum, and certainly not before 2020. Advertisement Sturgeon told Today it was 'totally inconceivable' that Westminster would deny a second referendum and that May had been careful not to rule one out. But if Brexit proves rocky, Tory MPs say the last message May will want to send to global markets is further instability of splitting up the UK. 2) NIA DEPTH EXPERIENCE Nia Griffith, the new Shadow Defence Secretary, has said something that appeared to get her predecessor sacked from the job: that renewing Trident is Labour policy and will remain Labour policy. We cant be shilly-shallying about, a decision has been taken, that decision was actually taken back in 2007 and as I say that is an issue which we as a party have consistently voted to keep as our policy, she told British Forces Broadcasting. Like Clive Lewis, who had that infamous autocue moment at Labour conference, Griffith has a unilateralist pedigree. She even joined Corbyn in voting against Trident renewal earlier this year (while Lewis abstained). But her words suggest not perhaps a challenge to the leader but more that the leadership accepts this issue is indeed settled (not least given strong Unite and GMB union opposition to changing policy). Multilateral disarmament is to be the new focus, as revisiting Trident policy risks entering even political deeper waters than those the nuclear subs patrol round the clock. A former school teacher (she got a modern languages first from Oxford), Griffith would be the first to admit she lacks experience in defence matters. And until last night she was in fact the only member of the shadow defence team, as Corbyns unfinished symphony of a reshuffle continued. Wayne David was finally appointed as her deputy, along with six other new shadow appointments. Another former teacher, David at least was PPS to former Defence Minister Adam Ingram. David, like other members of the shadow frontbench team such as Paula Sherriff and Sharon Hodgson (who posed for a pic with Jezza on Monday), will have to wipe from his memory his previous criticism of JC. We have a handy list of some of the disobliging things Corbyns new shadow team said about him this summer. Advertisement I still count 37 unfilled shadow frontbench vacancies, by the way. Meanwhile, Team Corbyn are slowly getting the hang of this leadership lark. Making Rosie Winterton JCs new envoy to sister Labour parties across Europe was a smart idea. But as one Shadow Cabinet minister put it to me: Imagine if theyd had the wit to announce that the same day they sacked her? It would have allowed her some dignity and them to prove they wanted to unite the party. Multilateralism, it has its merits... 3) LOOK, GODDARD The Times has done some impressive, ground-breaking work in exposing child abuse scandals across the country. Today, it splashes on allegations of misconduct, including alleged racist remarks, by Dame Lowell Goddard, the former chairwoman of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). What makes the story all the more potent are claims that Whitehall officials close to Theresa May were accused of covering up the allegations, including suggestions that her aggressive and abusive conduct at times reduced the inquirys operation to near paralysis. The judge denies all the allegations in the Times. The claims include suggestions that she said that Britain had so many paedophiles because it has so many Asian men; that she voiced shock at the size of the countrys ethnic minority population; and allegedly complained of having to travel 50 miles from London to see a white face. Its all a bit difficult for the PM, not least as some local authorities have in recent years been accused of not properly investigating child sex abuse because of politically correct fears of being seen to single out racial groups. Advertisement Goddards lawyers issued a vehement denial that their client had made any racially derogatory remarks or displayed rage. They said she was always of the opinion that the inquiry must properly acknowledge peoples ethnicity and otherwise employ race and gender-neutral language at all times. In a statement she said she will not engage with those conducting this vicious campaign. In the Telegraph, Lord Bramall, the former chief of the defence staff, says he has received an apology from the Metropolitan Police over its investigation of historical child abuse allegations against him. The Met is under pressure to publish all its papers on the case. BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR In case you missed it, watch Michael Heseltine talk about the brilliant Three Brexiteers. 4) FREE MASONS MEETING Paul Mason has repeatedly said he has no interest in becoming Jeremy Corbyns new comms chief and given the Suns story on him today thats probably a smart move. The paper has been passed phone footage of the former BBC and Channel 4 journo saying Corbyn doesnt appeal to the mainstream working class vote. Speaking freely, he adds that Its to do with a cultural thing about London. Corbyn goes to England on a bike and cycles round. Working class people go to a leader. He has no cultural references to the way they live. In his chat with a visiting Spanish MP in Liverpool for the party conference, Mason talked up Clive Lewis as a possible successor because he was somebody with a big ego who would shout, even though he was to the right of Corbyn. On Twitter, Mason urged Liverpudlians to redouble their boycott of this scab newspaper, adding I support Corbyn 100%. He didnt add for now. Progresss Richard Angell has contrasted Masons criticism of Jez with his calls for deselection of MPs who, er, criticise Jez. Advertisement 5) MISS THE PHARMACIST Pharmacy closures is one of those under-the-radar stories that can get neglected because its not a sexy subject. But the Government plans to slash funding, and potentially close hundreds of local chemists, were worrying enough to prompt a two-million strong petition this year. Campaigners hoped for another quiet May U-turn when new health minister David Mowat announced a pause in the plans in September, but the BBC today suggests the cuts will indeed go ahead in six weeks time. Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, told the Today programme that the changes are madness and will throw the health service into "chaos", as more people would be forced to turn to GPs instead of pharmacists. Meanwhile the Times reports the NHS 111 phoneline is to tell people to go to their chemist to relieve pressure on their GPs. Thats joined up government for you. Former Labour MP Claire Ward, who now heads the lobby group Pharmacy Voice, told Today the cuts would have a 'huge impact' on an already overstretched NHS. If youre reading this on the web, sign-up HERE to get the WaughZone delivered to your inbox. Niloufer Mavalvala Curry Week is always a happy time for me as it allows me to reflect on my heritage and culture and also my time in the UK. When I first moved here in 1994 at the age of 25, Indian cuisine and the understanding of Indian cuisine was pretty much in the dark ages; the way it was seen here, it was just curry. In Hindsight, I believe I landed in the right place at the right time as the UK was about to become a melting pot of cuisines. There were chefs like Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsey, Nico Ladenis and many more who were changing the face of their respective cuisines in this country and I kind of became part of the movement. The result being that there is now a lot more mature and sophisticated Indian dishes. Indian cuisine in the UK continues to blossom and grow and it's now up to us to keep pace. National Curry Week is a blessing that promotes the development of Indian food and it's also a great excuse for families to get back into the kitchen to cook an enjoyable meal together. Advertisement %MTSlideshow-PHOTO--CURRY-4505102% A simple dish that my wife and I love to cook for the kids is a dish that was handed down to me from my mother; Punjabi Rajma. The smell is so wonderful - the cumin, the beautifully browned onions and garlic, all finished with her own garam masala. It really takes me back to my childhood and I try to instil the same values in my own children - a family that eats together, stays together. Today, to mark World Egg Day, we at Viva! descended onto the London tube to ask commuters, if they are tired of being packed in on their daily commute, to consider the plight of millions of laying hens in Britain who, four years on from the 'battery' cage ban, are still living in crammed, cruel conditions. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, for their entire 'productive' lives. We wore eye-catching chicken masks during the high-speed action and showed images of hens on what are, sadly, bog-standard, laying hen farms. The innovative London action kick-started a nationwide Weekend of Action in which local volunteers will take part. These initiatives all form part of our newly launched 'Cracked' campaign, which aims to shine the spotlight on an industry that has, until now, been relatively hidden from public scrutiny. In 2010, Viva! exposed the horrors taking place inside UK hatcheries. Namely, the killing of around 40 million baby male chicks a year. This raised awareness on one part of the egg industry. The plight of the laying hen however - said to be one of the world's most abused farmed animals - has largely been forgotten. Advertisement We suspect that not many people realise this, but four years on from the banning of the 'battery' cage in Europe, around 18 million hens remain incarcerated in cruel wire mesh cages across Britain, only this time with up to 80 other birds. There are, we have found, some serious and widespread health and welfare problems for hens in these so-called 'enriched' cages. In appearance, the enriched cage is strikingly similar to the battery cage. With only a postcard-extra space for each hen, and furnishings which look nothing like you'd expect from, for example, a 'nest box'. At enriched cage farms supplying major supermarkets, thousands of birds are incarcerated and stacked in filthy cages. A laying hen may be weak from laying so many eggs, as she may now produce over 300 eggs a year. Her high productivity and fast growth can result in abnormal skeletal formation and osteoporosis, rendering bones fragile and prone to fractures. Severe osteoporosis may lead to collapse of spinal bone and paralysis. The hen may therefore be unable to get up and escape being pecked by others. She may be suffering with leg and foot problems from standing on sloping wire mesh all day. It is incredulous that, in this day and age, we are still housing farmed animals in cages, and forcing them to spend most of their lives standing on injurious wire. Advertisement Feather loss is a widespread epidemic across laying hen farms in Britain. It can be severe, often exposing red raw skin underneath, and it has several causes. Poor health, stress, lack of water and food, parasites, and damage caused by other birds may be factors. One thing for sure, is that it is indicative of poor management and welfare. All of this is a far cry from what the public would expect from standards on British farms. And ironically, the vast majority of eggs in Britain are stamped with the 'British Lion Mark' seal of approval. Viva! founder and director, Juliet Gellatley, visited an enriched cage farm earlier this year, so she could offer the British public a first-hand account. She said: "I entered a vast building into a wall of computerised controls and with trepidation stepped up metal stairs into a nightmare. There were numerous long, thin gangways that threaded through three tiers of cages. Each cage was filled with about 40 hens - many ill, some dying or dead. I remember thinking this must be one of the biggest marketing cons ever. Yes, the battery cage has gone but over half of British eggs come from hens kept in... bigger cages with more chickens! It is misery replaced with misery, pain with pain, death with more death. Advertisement I saw birds huddled together on 'perches' and walking across gridded metal floors. Some were lying hunched in corners, their lack of feathers exposing the red raw skin underneath. One had lost every feather on her pathetic, fragile body. Many had disfigured beaks and pale combs drooping over their faces. The pain and misery felt by these individuals was, to me, as clear as day, and I wondered how nobody else at the farm could see it. Or, if they did, how could they live with themselves?" We now know that major egg companies - selling millions of eggs each week to major supermarkets and local retailers - are housing hens in abominable and cruel conditions. Not just on enriched cage units, but also on free-range farms. Yet despite Viva! reporting several large-scale egg farms last year, we recently discovered that not a single egg farm or company was prosecuted for animal cruelty that same year. Mounting public pressure against the caging of hens has meant a recent surge in cage-free pledges by supermarket giants such as Tesco, ALDI, ASDA, Morrisons and Iceland. You can read our blog on this at www.viva.org.uk/blog/tesco-latest-supermarket-ditch-hen-cages. You will learn that bans will not come into force for another nine years. Viva!'s investigation work reveals nine years to be too long. Also that buying free-range is not the answer. We hold that this part of the industry, in particular, is a carefully constructed lie. The sad reality is, many of these birds are unlikely to ever see the sunlight or walk on grass. Competition and a high demand has led to falling egg prices and farmers housing larger flocks to yield an even greater output of eggs. Free range egg production looks set to take up an even bigger chunk of the industry over coming years also with more companies switching to cage-free. Today, European legislation permits flocks up to 2,500 birds per hectare. Unfortunately, free range hens are often free ranging in name only. Chickens in the wild would typically live in small flocks, yet on some free range farms flocks run into many thousands. Feather pecking can result in hens suffering extensive feather loss. They may never step outside the shed, and the shed floors may largely be gridded metal. Even without the cage, the overcrowding, confinement, injuries, frustrations and death clearly remain. Advertisement Today's stunt on the London tube for World Egg Day provided us with an opportunity to remind commuters that, four years on from the battery cage ban, millions of laying hens continue to be trapped in dark, filthy, windowless sheds. And 18 million of them still in barren, wire cages. Our work for laying hens means they finally get the centre-stage. Denmark is not only world-famous for its design tradition, it is also a country that is leading in terms of social and environmental mindfulness. The following Danish fashion brands proof that a high sense of aesthetics, fashion-forwardness and responsible production methods can perfectly complement one another. Get to know my nordic heroes! Words: Dorte Lange via Lissome Fonnesbech Ethical | Recycled | Eco-friendly Production Fonnesbech's timeless garments are designed for a 'sustainable' wardrobe that focuses on fewer items of high-quality and versatility. The brand uses GOTS certified organic textiles and recycled polyester yarns. All manufacturing is conducted in the European Union, following EU legislation regarding minimum wage, working conditions, and environmental standards. Advertisement Image Fonnesbech Armoire Officielle Ethical | Organic Armoire Officielle was established in Copenhagen in 2012, following the principles of 'slow fashion' in terms of focusing on long-lasting items that are relevant regardless of trends. The brand strives for mono-materiality and works with organic cotton, merino wool, Tencel, and linen. Image Armoire Officielle Mark Kenly Domino Tan Local | Ethical | Organic | Recycled Mark Kenly Domino Tan launched his namesake brand in 2012 and won the Danish Crown Prince Couple's Stardust Prize for his artistic achievement and a clear commitment to responsible fashion. His midcentury silhouettes are made of organic and recycled materials and are manufactured locally. Advertisement Image Mark Kenly Domino Tan By Signe Local | Ethical | Organic By Signe is an emerging brand that started out in 2015 and focuses on feminine easy wear. The majority of fabrics are GOTS-certified organic, 'oeko-tex' is the lowest standard in use. All garments are handmade in By Signe's studio in Frederikshavn. Image By Signe Gudrun & Gudrun Local | Ethical | Artisanal | Organic | Eco-friendly production methods The knitwear company was founded in 2002 on the Faroe Islands and specialises in hand-knit designs. A big part of the main collection is made from 100% untreated and undyed Faroese wool and all of the yarn and lambskins used in the production are waste products. The hand-knitting is jointly made in the homes of knitters on the Faroe Islands, in Jordan and Peru as part of the brand's 'women empowerment' projects. Advertisement Image Gudrun & Gudrun Aiayu Local | Ethical | Artisanal | Organic | Eco-friendly production methods Mindful fashion pioneers Aiayu set off in 2004 with the idea to create sustainable knitwear in a superior quality for people and planet. In 2006 they launched their first collection made by artisanal communities using luxurious and formerly little-known llama fibre. Today they produce in countries such as Bolivia, India, and Nepal and create garments made of the highest quality cashmere, yak wool and GOTS certified cotton. Image Aiayu Maja Brix Local | Ethical | Organic | Recycled Maja Brix specialises in made-to-measure suits that are produced by a tailor in Copenhagen within a month from ordering. The fabrics used are GOTS certified organic cotton and sustainable haberdashery such as recycled plastic zippers. Special requests on fabric and colors are welcome. Image Maja Brix Peter Dazeley via Getty Images It's been a busy month for food waste in the UK, with the publication of The Evening Standard's investigation into supermarket waste; Sainsbury's publishing some of its food waste data (and demanding the Government to make this mandatory); a wealth of organisations calling on the UK Government for action on waste; and a new group of companies signing up to the Courtauld Commitment. Yet what really shocked me was the fanfare of news articles celebrating what has been dubbed 'The UK's First Food Waste Supermarket'. This 'food waste supermarket' is the latest project of The Real Junk Food Project (TRJFP). TRJFP started out as a pay-as-you-feel cafe serving food that would have gone to waste in Armley, Leeds. I first met Adam Smith, the project's founder, in 2014 shortly before becoming a co-director of the project. Since leaving the project, it has grown from strength to strength and now represents an international network of anti-food waste projects. Advertisement One such project is the brilliant Fuel for Schools program in Leeds, which uses surplus food to feed hundreds of school children breakfast to combat food poverty and malnutrition. The 'food waste supermarket' is a warehouse in which food is stored for effective distribution; and in true TRJFP fashion, it has been opened up to be accessed by all to make sure those living in food poverty are not marginalised. Everyone is welcome to do their weekly shop and are encouraged to pay as they feel, whether that is financially or in kind. Yet as Adam told me on the phone recently, "this isn't a supermarket, this is explicitly anti-supermarket". Even if we can call this warehouse a supermarket, doesn't it seem strange that the UK's media headlines are celebrating the fact that the UK wastes enough food to fill a supermarket? On World Food Day 2016, what the UK really needs right now is its first Zero Waste Supermarket. A zero food waste supermarket publicly measures and reports how much food it wastes in its store and distribution centre operations, as well as throughout its supply chain. A zero food waste supermarket prioritises prevention of waste throughout its operations and supply chain. It commits to reducing food waste on farms and other stages of its supply chain, for example through the relaxation of strict cosmetic specifications that judge food on what it looks like, rather than its taste or nutritional value. Advertisement A zero food waste supermarket understands that food waste is a symptom of overproduction. It works to create fair contractual relationships with its suppliers to prevent overproduction as a result of suppliers trying to insure themselves against last minute order cancellations and unpredictable order forecasting. A zero food waste supermarket recognises that redistribution is a short-term measure to ensure all food that is grown is eaten by people, but that ultimately it is responsible for minimising how much 'surplus' food it encourages to be grown, harvested, packaged, transported and sold. A zero food waste supermarket only sends truly unavoidable food waste to management processes such as anaerobic digestion. Recently the US government announced that seven species of Hawaiian yellow-faced bees have been added to the endangered species list. This news should make us all stop dead in our tracks given that approximately 80% of all food crops in the US and the UK are pollinated by bees, meaning that one third of what we eat is dependent upon pollinators such as bees. As bee populations dwindle because of colony collapse disorder, neonicotinoid insecticides, air pollution, urban development, invasive species, and other environmental factors, global food production faces an uncertain future. A study published in Science in 2013 showed more than half the wild bee species were lost in the 20th century in the US. Relying on the data of plants and pollinators at Carlinville, Illinois between 1888 and 1891 by entomologist Charles Robertson and data from 1971-72 as well as from 2009-10 to , scientists discovered the changes in pollination seen over the century as widespread forest was reduced to the fragments that remain today. The Xerces Society reports on this crisis: All Hawaiian yellow-faced bees strongly depend on an intact community of native plants and are mostly absent from habitats dominated by non-native plant species. These bees require a habitat with a diversity of plants that flower throughout the year so that a consistent source of pollen and nectar is available. Many species nest in the ground, but some nest in hollow stems of plants; the availability of nest sites is another important habitat requirement for these animals. Advertisement While only Hawaiian bees have been added to the Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants last week, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed adding the rusty patched bumble bee, a dwindling species once common in the upper midwest and north-eastern United States. We need to be prepared to see more mainland species of bees added in the near future. In recent years beekeepers from the UK have seen losses of honeybee colonies each winter hovering between 9.6% and 33.8%. After the highest rate of loss in 2012-2013, there was placed a ban on neonicotinoids (also known as neonics) which was followed by a steep reduction of colony loss, moving from 33.8% to 9.6% the following year. Yet, just as the oceans are facing catastrophe and mass extinction, so too are the bee colonies. This is not hyperbole, nor is it conspiracy theory. The facts are well-documented and scientists have been speaking of this eventuality since colony collapse disorder was first documented in 2006. With the increase of automobile exhaust following pesticides as one of the leading human-made reasons behind colony collapse disorder, the increase of fuel efficient automobiles is not enough to curb the decline of bees. Organisations like the Bumblebee Conservation Trust offers various counter measures to improve the current situation, from the changes of farmland management to the planting of wildflowers and bee-friendly plants. Given the vast loss of the flower-rich habitat (ie. hedgerows, hay meadows and chalk grassland) on which bees depend for food due to the intensification of agriculture over the past seventy years, the planting of wildflowers is key to the recovery of the bee population. However, bees are not the only species dying out. Other pollinators such as birds, beetles, and butterflies are disappearing at an unprecedented rate along with one-third of honeybees which have declined since 2007 And just earlier this year, the UN warned global industries about the loss of pollinators which would threaten the world's food supply. Advertisement Are you having the wool pulled over your eyes when you're being told you're getting a bespoke suit, when it's really made-to-measure? The answer is a resounding NO! according to award-winning Savile Row tailor Alexandra Wood whose clients appear on GQ's best dressed list. At a time when men are spending more time and money than ever before to get their wardrobes right, this is a ticklish issue. Advertisement And speaking of time, that's one of the major differences between bespoke and made-to-measure - the hours spent creating the garment. "Time-wise, the most cost-efficient suits are the off-the-rack models," says Wood. "They're cut to different sizes that men try on until they find one that fits." That can set you back a few hundred pounds. The next step up is the made-to-measure suit which involves a tailor - so naturally, the price goes up to between 895 to 1500 pounds. "Your measurements are taken and entered into a computer-aided design system, which will allow for your fabric to be cut to precision," says Wood. Advertisement Sounds impressive, but not particularly personal - and that's what the bespoke suit is all about. It's a one of a kind. It's yours and everybody knows it. "A bespoke suit will make you look sharper, fresher and slimmer and is constructed to last too," says Wood. (Photo by Richard Grassie) "By definition, bespoke clothing is cut from a pattern drafted from scratch for the customer. It is made for you and no one else." So why will a bespoke suit cost you between 2300 and 3000 pounds? "If you figured it out by the hours that go into it, you might consider it a bargain! "I start out measuring you for a bespoke suit with a paper pattern of your body. These are your exact measurements, literally within a fraction of an inch. Advertisement "Then I spend hours getting it just right, chalking directly onto the cloth and cutting by hand. Some of my suits take from three to six months to perfect, with lots of fine tuning along the way. When it's finished it's as unique to the customer as his fingerprints. "That's the only drawback to my bespoke suits - you can't lend them to your friends, even if you think you're the same size, because it's designed to fit you, and only you. ''Bespoke has the added advantage of playing to your strengths, moulding into the body and hiding a multitude of sins all at the same time. Whereas a made to measure suit, because of the construction, will be that bit more rigid." Suddenly, that bespoke price tag doesn't seem quite so outrageous. "It's probably a good idea for my bespoke customers to come to me at their ideal weights," notes Wood. "A man can gain or lose a lot of weight in six months, and the last thing we want to do after all that meticulous work is go back to the drawing board!" And it's worth noting that during the many hours it takes to make a bespoke suit, a powerful relationship can build up between tailor and customer. Advertisement "I like to dress up in a tailored suit from time to time, and there's a tailor I go to in Naples who's fantastic," actor Hugh Jackman is quoted as saying. "But if I told anyone his name, I'd have to kill them!" Alexandra Wood understands Jackman's passion, but hopes her customers don't feel quite the same way. "I want to continue making bespoke suits, and I want the men I make them for to tell their friends," she says. "Word of mouth is the best advertising of all in this business. Tetra Images via Getty Images October is a very significant month for me, and it's when I celebrate being alive. Two years ago in October, I was delivered the monumental news that I had breast cancer. Rather coincidentally, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so amid the amazing raising of funds and awareness, my own story and experience with breast cancer seems all the more vivid. I'm supporting The Estee Lauder Companies' Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign and sharing my story, in a bid to encourage others to do the same. I always think that a problem shared is a problem divided and cut up into tiny little pieces, and during the gruelling treatment period and the strange period afterwards, it really helped me to open up to others. It's always good to reach out to people and there are so many charities that have helped me. The one piece of advice I'd share with others is never suffer in silence. Advertisement Whilst cancer is certainly no walk in the park, sharing my story - the good, the bad and the very ugly - even helped me find love in the unlikeliest of situations. So here it is: The day after I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I remember sitting in my room and sobbing. I was sobbing for the love that I had never experienced. The partner I would never meet. Love so deep and beautiful. The kind you see in movies and dream of. I will never find that because I will most probably be dead in a year. In a month when treatment starts I will be bald, ill and infertile. Who on earth will want to go near me? Even if I do recover, nobody will want to be with me because I won't be able to give them children. No one will want to be with me because my cancer might come back and they will have wasted time getting to know me and wasted time falling in love with me, only for me to die. Who is going to want to take that risk? Not a soul. Six months later I received a Facebook message that would change my life forever. Throughout my treatment I wrote a blog called 'Get Your Tits Out!' an honest and humorous two fingers up to the C bomb! A mutual friend posted it on her Facebook wall and Mikey got in touch to tell me how much he loved it. He had Cystic Fibrosis and could relate to a lot of the things I talked about. We also had another friend in common, the wonderful Jojo Gingerhead who I had become friends with on the Younger Breast Cancer Network, an online support group for women under 45. After exchanging a couple of pleasant messages we went on with our lives. But a month later the unique force of nature that was Jojo sadly passed away. She was only 32. I was absolutely devastated. Beside myself, I immediately wanted to reach out to someone who knew her. That someone was Mikey. Like me he was gutted. It had come as such a shock. We thought she was invincible. She never ever let on how bad it really was. She was so brave and dignified to the end. We both agreed we'd be at her funeral. But the night before, Mikey was admitted into hospital. Advertisement I felt awful for him. I hated the idea of him being in pain and alone. He had been so kind and lovely to me, I suddenly felt extremely protective over him. After Jojo's beautiful ceremony I messaged him a detailed description and photos of the programme. And from then on we messaged each other, all day everyday, which then progressed to phone calls. A month later when we finally met we both knew romance was a possibility but we agreed that no matter what happened we would always be friends. No pressure. I thought he was lovely but I wasn't sure if he felt the same. The second time we met we spent a glorious day on the beach to celebrate the end of my radiotherapy and Mikey's discharge from hospital. We were polite and tentative around each other but at the end of the day, sun kissed and sandy we sat on the sofa and talked about how, when you go through such gruelling treatment, you just don't want to be touched, because you feel ill and in pain. I then asked him when he'd last hugged somebody. And he said it had been quite a while. So I said, "Let's hug!" And we did. And it was the warmest most sincere embrace I had ever experienced. And then we kissed. And sometimes when you kiss someone, it doesn't feel new, it feels so familiar, like you've been doing it forever. And that's quite rare. And that's when you meet your soul mate. Advertisement We quickly realised we were deeply in love so I left London and my busy cancer feeding stressful life of eight years there to move in with Mikey in his cosy flat by the calming sea in Brighton on the South Coast for a much needed quieter pace of life. Pure bliss. The perfect fresh start to my new cancer free life. Having a life threatening illness feels like being on the next level. You're not on earth because you're closer to death, but you're not quite in heaven either because you're still alive. You're on this strange limbo level. Mikey feels the same. Being told from the age of four that you could die at any moment and you might not make it past childhood is a lot to deal with. But he has approached it with such dignity and emotional maturity. He's the most philosophical person I've ever met. I say he has dinosaur eyes because his soul looks like it's thousands of years old! At 33 Mikey is positively old for someone with Cystic Fibrosis. When we first met we used to laugh we're a right pair and joke who's going to die first! But now we have a competition, who's going to live the longest! In my old life I would always reminisce of the past or worry about the future. But since that first kiss, actually no, since those first messages I have lived for the now and it is like permanently walking on a cloud. With not a second to waste and the timing falling so perfectly on leap day this year I paid Mikey a surprise visit in hospital with a very special cake written in chocolate the words: Advertisement I love you Mikey Marry Me And he said YES! Last month on the 2nd of September I was so proud and privileged to become Mikey's wife. We got married on the bandstand on Brighton beach in front of all our dearest friends and family and of course our two dogs. It poured down with rain! But we didn't care because love saved the day and it's lucky, right?! It's funny how the universe works. If I hadn't had cancer I wouldn't have met the love of my life. If Mikey didn't have CF he wouldn't be the person he is today. I am ashamed to say this but before I had cancer I wouldn't have considered dating Mikey. I would have loved him as a friend but I would have been too afraid to invest in a relationship with someone seriously ill, who is infertile, and who isn't stereotypically fit and healthy. What an idiot I was. I could have missed out on the best thing that's ever happened to me. Cancer, I thank you for opening my eyes. You see it's not our bodies or our shells that are important. It is the soul inside. The bodies we're born in? It's just potluck. Flaws are the most beautiful and exquisite attributes a human being can own. They make us who we are, they tell a story of a life that has been truly lived and understood. I don't know what the future holds. My cancer might come back, it might not. Mikey might live for another ten years or more. We might have children, we might not and I'm completely at peace with that. But what I've learnt from all this is miracles really do happen. Anyone reading this, whether you've had cancer or not, a life threatening illness, or a horrific break up that has shattered your heart, I tell you this: Never ever stop believing in love. Because love conquers all. The Estee Lauder Companies UK & Ireland Breast Cancer Awareness (BCA) Campaign aims to inspire others to share their stories to Take Action Together to Defeat Breast Cancer. Visit BCAcampaign.com for more information. #BCAstrength Advertisement Donate to Breast Cancer Research. This week Home Secretary Amber Rudd told MPs that in the coming days and weeks hundreds of unaccompanied refugee children in Calais, many of whom have the right to be with family in the UK, will finally be brought to the UK ahead of the imminent demolition of the camp. After many months of campaigning on this issue at Unicef UK, we are thrilled about the announcement. Children have been languishing in the camp in Calais for far too long, with every day being another day they are alone and in danger. Another day that they could fall prey to traffickers. Advertisement Laurence Geai / UNICEF France For many months, some 1,200 children have lived in appalling conditions, exposed to abuse, exploitation and road accidents while awaiting their uncertain fate. We can only imagine what an enormous relief this announcement will be to children who have been in limbo for months on end. Samir is one of these children. Born in Afghanistan, his father died before he was born and his mother was killed by a bomb when he was two. He lived with his grandmother but when he was 13 she sadly also died. With nobody to care for him, Samir set out on a long and terrible journey to find his only relative, an uncle who lives in London. Currently stuck in the Calais camp, Samir has been waiting there for a year to be reunited with his uncle, who has a bed waiting for him just an hour and a half away across the English Channel. In the camp, Samir describes how often, "the police come in, they beat me and shout at me - they call me bad things. I try to go to the train station to see if I can get to London, it took two hours to walk there, two hours back and I cut open my leg, my hand, all my clothes on the fences. I see many people die too under the trains, under cars, from fighting. I didn't see anyone in Afghanistan actually die but here in this Jungle in France I see it." Advertisement Samir's story is, sadly, not unusual and over the last couple of months we have heard endless tales like his from children in Calais, which is why the Home Secretary's words this week were so desperately needed. The children in Calais are the most obvious and visible examples of the thousands of other unaccompanied refugee children throughout the rest of Europe who have been forced to flee and make dangerous journeys because of war and disaster back home. Like Samir, many of these children also have family links to the UK or it would be in their best interests to be here, so under family reunion and resettlement schemes they have the legal right to come to the UK. At Unicef UK, we hope that the Government's new commitment to the children in Calais becomes the standard by which the UK helps children across Europe. Laurence Geai / UNICEF France We cannot underestimate the significance of the Home Secretary's announcement this week. She has listened to the public's calls for these children to be brought to safety and this commitment was exactly what was needed, to prevent children falling into the hands of traffickers, before the bulldozers arrive. Advertisement That moment when your heart starts to race, your eyes start to prick and you realise you're not going to make it to the office loo before someone notices is the worst - because crying is still seen as a major taboo in the workplace. On Thursday's episode of 'The Apprentice', candidate Jessica Cunningham found that out the hard way when her fellow candidates, the media and hundreds of people on Twitter questioned her professionalism, all because she cried. Jessica lost her composure after taking on the role of Project Manager. The task was to create an advertising campaign for jeans and after struggling to maintain control of the group all day, Jessica realised she'd forgotten to pick up the product before arriving at a photoshoot. Advertisement The mistake was the final straw for the PM, who couldn't stop her tears from falling before she left the room. You could hear her hyperventilating as she closed the door behind her and my heart really went out to her, but her fellow candidates weren't so sympathetic. The moment Jessica was out of earshot, Trishna Thakrar said "we can't be relying on her", while the other women seemed determined not to let the incident slide the next day, saying Jessica "collapsed under the pressure" and "lost the plot". But showing emotion at work shouldn't be seen as a sign that you're incapable of doing your job. Crying is a natural, biological reaction to a high stress situation and is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Advertisement 'The Apprentice' process is undoubtedly an intense and exaggerated version of the average person's work day, but Jessica is far from the first person to feel overwhelmed after a day at the office. Statistics from the Labour Force Survey found there were 440,000 cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety in Britain in 2014 and 2015. It also found that stress accounted for 35% of all work related ill health cases and 43% of all working days lost due to ill health. When a person cries at work, you have no idea what's been going on in their home life or what may have been building up internally for weeks. Yet on Twitter, some suggested Jessica made "all women in business look like a joke" when she cried - and herein lies the problem. Advertisement Men and women deal with stress and frustration in different ways. Just as men are taught "boys don't cry" as children, girls are told it's not okay to shout or display anger. So sometimes, we cry. During the show, the male candidates shouted over one another and locked horns when things got tough, but time and time again this kind of behaviour is seen as passionate, rather than unprofessional. Tabloids on Friday morning were full of headlines about Jessica's "hysterical meltdown", but few pointed out that the boys' PM, Mukai Noiri, probably struggled with the job in hand just as much. Crying has become so synonymous with weakness at work that another candidate, Alana Spencer, opted to stay quiet in the boardroom while her lip quivered, instead of standing up for herself and letting a few tears fall in the process. It's clear that employers need to do something drastic to improve mental health and wellbeing at work and that starts by recognising that signs of stress vary from person to person. Advertisement Some people cry, some people argue, but we shouldn't be made to feel embarrassed by our personal reaction. Instead, employers should be providing more support to ensure we don't reach breaking point in the first place. What surprised me most about the reaction to Jessica's crying was that some of the most ruthless criticism - both on and off screen - has come from women. On the show, Aleksandra King stabbed her in the back in the boardroom, saying the team had to "piece her back together", when in reality, she regained her composure alone outside. And in her weekly column, former Apprentice candidate Luisa Zissman said: "Women please don't cry at work, there is no place for crying at work! It bugs the hell outta me." Women now make up 47% of the overall workforce but just 17.3% of FTSE 100 directorships and 13.2% of FTSE 250 directorships are held by women. Advertisement If we want to close this gap, women should be supporting each other to the top, not tearing each other down at every other opportunity. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting crying at work is something to be encouraged, in fact far from it. If you find yourself drying your eyes in the toilets on a regular basis, it may be a sign that the job isn't for you or you need to have a serious chat with your boss about your working environment, for your own sake. After all, we spend a hell of a lot of time at work each week and it shouldn't be making you unhappy. But if you fail to maintain that facade of professionalism once in a blue moon and shed a few tears in the process, that doesn't mean you're bad at your job. It means you're human and and more often than not, it means you actually care about your job and getting it right. With just 25 days left before the presidential election, it appears that the candidacy of Republican nominee Donald Trump is in utter freefall...driven off a cliff in no small part by the "Access Hollywood" bus. But why did it take so long for Republicans to be "outraged?" They didn't cringe when Trump delegitimized President Obama w/birtherism. They didn't cringe when Trump called Mexicans Rapists. They didn't cringe when Trump said Sen. John McCain wasn't a war hero. They didn't cringe when Trump mocked a disabled reporter. They didn't cringe when Trump said he'd ban Muslims from America. They didn't cringe when Trump said Megyn Kelly was bleeding "from wherever..." They didn't cringe when Trump attacked Carly Fiorina's looks. They didn't cringe when Trump attacked Heidi Cruz's wife. They didn't cringe when Trump called women "pigs," "dogs," "slobs," "disgusting." They didn't cringe when Trump said flat-chested women can't be "`10's." They didn't cringe when Trump said he'd date Ivanka if she wasn't his daughter. They didn't cringe when he bragged about his penis size. They didn't cringe when Trump agreed that Ivanka is a "piece of ass." They didn't cringe when Trump was previously accused of rape(s) and sexual assaults. They didn't cringe when Trump said women should be punished for abortions. They didn't cringe when Trump re-Tweeted white supremacy groups. They didn't cringe when Trump re-Tweeted anti-Semitic symbols. They didn't cringe when Trump said he was a 'good negotiator' like Jews. They didn't cringe when Trump refused to disavow David Duke & the KKK. They didn't cringe when Trump said "Look at my African American over here!" They didn't cringe when Trump said blacks are "living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?" They didn't cringe when Trump linked Ted Cruz's father to JFK's assassination. They didn't cringe when Trump called for killing terrorists' families. They didn't cringe when Trump defended and praised Vladimir Putin. They didn't cringe when Trump asked Russia to hack our State Department. They didn't cringe when Trump attacked the Pope. They didn't cringe when Trump incited violence at his rallies. They didn't cringe when Trump said enemies like N. Korea should get nukes. They didn't cringe when Trump attacked the judge with Mexican heritage. They didn't cringe when Trump attacked the Gold Star Khan family. They didn't cringe when Trump stiffed veterans out of the $5-million he promised. They didn't cringe when Trump said he knows "more about ISIS than the generals." They didn't cringe when Trump suggested gun owners assassinate Hillary Clinton. They didn't cringe when Trump called Obama/Hillary Clinton "the founders of ISIS." They didn't cringe when Trump reneged on the Mexican wall. They didn't cringe when Trump reneged on the Muslim ban. They didn't cringe when Trump reneged on his "self-funding" promise. They didn't cringe at all the lies. And then that now-infamous 2005 video tape burst onto the public stage last Friday in which Trump bragged to the most pathetic Bush since George W--Billy, a former "Access Hollywood" host--that he uses his celebrity and power to sexually assault women. That he could even "grab them by the pussy" and they let him because he was a "star." Advertisement And suddenly everyone cringed. The "October surprise" had arrived, right on schedule. But was it really a surprise? Had the last 40+ years of Donald Trump's behavior really caught anyone off-guard? So why is PussyGate the tipping point? Why is this particular offense the one that appears to finally be bringing down the most controversial, most reprehensible candidate in American presidential history? It's a question that political science professors will be studying for the next 1000 years. With less than a month before the November 8th election, the tone of the presidential race is so acrimonious that many voters are turned off. Nonetheless, everyone who is serious about US democracy should pay attention because there are daily revelations, mostly about Donald Trump. On October 1st, the New York Times revealed that it had received the first few pages of Trump's 1995 tax returns. They revealed that Trump had taken a $916 million write off -- which likely allowed him to not pay taxes for twenty years. Then, on October 7th, the Washington Post revealed the existence of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape where Trump made lewd comments about women. Meanwhile, also on October 7th, Wikileaks revealed thousands of emails hacked from the account of Hillary Clinton campaign chair, John Podesta. Advertisement Many observers believe that between now and election day there will be dueling revelations: details of Donald Trump's behavior with women -- Trump has the profile of a sexual predator -- and emails from Podesta and other Clinton campaign insiders. Nonetheless, the ultimate "October Surprise" is likely to be the details of Trump's relationship with Russia. In August, I wrote a column predicting that before the election Trump's tax returns would be hacked: "They'll likely show zero taxes paid, no charitable contributions, and scary ties to Russian oligarchs." Today we know that Trump paid no taxes and has next to zero charitable contributions. But we still don't understand his ties to Russian oligarchs. That shoe is about to fall. During the October 9th debate, Hillary Clinton twice made an unusually strong condemnation of Russia: "Our intelligence community just... said that the Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government, are directing the attacks, the hacking on American accounts to influence our election. And WikiLeaks is part of that... we don't even know if it's accurate information, and then they put it out. We have never in the history of our country been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election... They're doing it to try to influence the election for Donald Trump." Trump responded: "Anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians are -- [Hillary] doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they're trying to tarnish me with Russia... I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don't deal there. I have no businesses there. I have no loans from Russia." Advertisement In a debate where Trump told 33 lies, few commented on Trump's remark, "Maybe there is no hacking." But, on October 10th, NBC News reported that Trump "was personally briefed on Russia's role in the hacks by U.S. officials." We've gotten so used to Trump's lies that it's easy to dismiss this particular lie as, "Trump continuously lies because he can." But in a new book, "The Plot to Hack America," intelligence expert Malcolm Nance suggests that Trump is a pawn in Vladimir Putin's own version of "Game of Thrones;" Putin wants to humiliate President Obama and Secretary Clinton and is using Trump, together with Russian spy agencies, to accomplish his objectives. Nance speculates that Putin has enlisted Trump by appealing to Trump's vanity and greed. In return, Trump has taken the most pro-Russia stance of any political candidate in recent memory. In the second debate, Trump suggested that the US should abandon Aleppo because "it has fallen." He "explained": "Syria is Russia" and "Russia is killing Isis." (It appeared that Trump was saying that all of the occupants of Aleppo belong to Isis -- something that is far from true). Trump has called Vladimir Putin a more capable leader than President Obama. He's called for normalizing relations with Russia, "Wouldn't it be nice if we actually got along, as an example, with Russia?" Trump claims he has no financial ties to Russia: "I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don't deal there. I have no businesses there. I have no loans from Russia." Here's what the Washington Post says: "There is all kinds of evidence, including statements from his advisers and family members that Trump has done business with Russia. Donald Trump Jr. said in 2008 that 'Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.' Alan Garten, general counsel of the Trump Organization, told our colleagues in May: 'I have no doubt, as a company, I know we've looked at deals in Russia. And many of the former Russian republics.' " Time Magazine reported: "As major banks in America stopped lending him money following his many bankruptcies, the Trump organization was forced to seek financing from non-traditional institutions. Several had direct ties to Russian financial interests in ways that have raised eyebrows. What's more, several of Trump's senior advisors have business ties to Russia or its satellite politicians." Advertisement Trump could prove he has no financial ties to Russia by releasing his tax returns, but he refuses to do this. Conservative columnist George Will observed, "Perhaps one more reason why we're not seeing [Trump's] tax returns is because he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs and others." "I am struck by the similar epithets that are hurled at Hillary Clinton to those that Woodhull was branded with. She was reviled and called 'Mrs. Satan.' They wanted to have her jailed and accused her of being dishonest and a threat to decent society." -- Victoria Bond In an aria from the new opera Mrs. President, Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President of the United States, sings, "I'm told I'm a citizen by right of birth. We pay taxes. We obey the same laws. We supply you with citizens. We give them up for war. Yet we're poor, powerless, the property of men." In 1872, Woodhull ran for President of the United States at a time when women did not even have the right to vote. Her opposition called her 'Satan', claiming she belonged in jail. Mrs. President, an opera in two acts by Victoria Bond with libretto by Hilary Bell, tells her incredible story. The opera will be performed at the National Opera Center later this month just prior to the 2016 US elections. Soprano Valerie Bernhardt plays Victoria Woodhull, and the tenor Scott Ramsay is cast as Henry Ward Beecher, the high-powered preacher determined to destroy her. Advertisement It's a story, according to Bond, about a woman who "defied the establishment that wanted to prevent her from achieving full equality with men." The New York Times has described Victoria Bond's compositions as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding," while the Wall Street Journal has referred to her conducting as "impassioned". She is without doubt a major force in 21st century concert music and it is my pleasure to welcome her to The Global Search for Education. "I believe that the obstacles standing in the way of women's equality and freedom from male domination are firstly, religions that preach male superiority and female subjugation, and secondly, political systems designed to rob women of their legal rights." -- Victoria Bond Victoria, please give us a brief synopsis of your opera and tell us why you were inspired to write it. Advertisement Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for President before women were able to vote, and even though she knew she would never be elected, she used the presidential platform to further her goal of complete equality. One of the issues was "free love," by which she meant the freedom of a woman to terminate a loveless relationship. Women were considered chattel with no rights to their children or their property, the husbands having complete control. Woodhull tried to get the most powerful religious leader to endorse her campaign. Henry Ward Beecher was adored by his congregation. Few knew that he was having secret liaisons with many young women. Victoria Woodhull did know this and when he refused to endorse her, she published an article in her newspaper about his affairs, causing a scandal. His revenge was having her jailed on election night. Her story inspired me because she was a fearless woman who stubbornly followed her dream despite overwhelming resistance. She fought for women's equality long before the term "feminism" and made enormous strides despite resistance that would have crushed most people. What were the challenges Woodhull faced that were different to ones women face today? Which challenges do you believe are similar to what women running for leadership roles face today? I am struck by the similar epithets that are hurled at Hillary Clinton to those that Woodhull was branded with. She was reviled and called "Mrs. Satan." They wanted to have her jailed and accused her of being dishonest and a threat to decent society. Even though today women can vote and have freedoms imagined in Woodhull's day, so many of those things she fought for have still not been achieved, and throughout the world we are constantly reminded how so many women in the world live under constant fear. Advertisement "My experiences travelling around the globe have taught me that the vast potential contribution women can make is being squandered due to lack of support, both financial and otherwise." -- Victoria Bond Does Victoria Woodhull's story inspire in the same way as those of other female role models e.g. Harriet Tubman or Eleanor Roosevelt? Is her legacy enduring? Is it relevant to young people today? I believe her legacy equals those icons you mention and should be included in the "Hall of Fame" alongside the others. What's your favorite song or aria from the opera - your favorite lyrics that give us some insight into the soul of Victoria Woodhull? Woodhull states her position in an aria she sings when she declares her candidacy at Steinway Hall. Here is what she sings: "I'm told I'm a citizen by right of birth. We pay taxes. We obey the same laws. We supply you with citizens. We give them up for war. Yet we're poor, powerless, the property of men. Does he become her chattel? May she beat him and rape him, the law on her side? Man and woman are one, and that one is the man!" Advertisement How important was music and art to you in your own education? What role do you think it should play in teaching children important lessons and stories? I was born into a family of musicians going back many generations so it was assumed that I would be a musician myself. I strongly believe that music is an important aspect of education and must be included in all curriculums. "Woodhull's story has a lot to teach us about the power of one person to bring about awareness and eventual change. Even though she did not reach her goal, she believed that others would come after her and carry her ideas forward." -- Victoria Bond What power does music have in changing and shaping young people's lives? Music has the ability to transform young people's lives. This has been proven in so many situations that there should be no question about its importance. Examples like "El Sistema" in Venezuela where at risk youth are given musical instruction, rescuing them from a life of destruction to one of achievement and fulfillment. What obstacles do you think are slowing down progress to gender equality in politics and the work place? What have your experiences as an international composer taught you? Advertisement I believe that the obstacles standing in the way of women's equality and freedom from male domination are firstly, religions that preach male superiority and female subjugation, and secondly, political systems designed to rob women of their legal rights. In my opinion, these are the two major hurdles around the world that need to be revised before women can take their place in a society that values them and treats them as complete equals. We are far from this reality at the moment, and women are led to believe that things must remain the way they were. This is even true in our own country as well as in so many other countries where restrictions on women's freedom are entrenched in their laws. It will take powerful leaders to change them. My experiences travelling around the globe have taught me that the vast potential contribution women can make is being squandered due to lack of support, both financial and otherwise. What lessons can any nation take from the story of Victoria Woodhull? Woodhull's story has a lot to teach us about the power of one person to bring about awareness and eventual change. Even though she did not reach her goal, she believed that others would come after her and carry her ideas forward. For more information about Mrs. President (All Photos are courtesy of Mrs. President) C. M. Rubin and Victoria Bond Join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. MadhavChavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Honourable Jeff Johnson (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. EijaKauppinen (Finland), State Secretary TapioKosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Geoff Masters (Australia), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Professor Manabu Sato (Japan), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (LyceeFrancais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today. The Global Search for Education Community Page Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence laughs as he discusses an issue with Democratic U.S. vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine (off camera) during their vice presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, U.S., October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence said he was shocked when he saw a video of Donald Trump using vulgar terms to talk about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women because Trump had told him he was a "good Christian." During a press conference Thursday, Pence, a born-again Christian, said he remembered a conversation he had with Trump in July when the GOP presidential candidate was talking to the Indiana governor about becoming his running mate. Advertisement Pence said he asked Trump if he was a Christian. "Trump told me he was a great Christian," Pence recalled, "He said he was one of the greatest Christians. He said he was the best Christian ever." Pence then asked Trump if he had found Jesus Christ. Trump, Pence said, did not appear to recognize the name. "If that Jesus guy was that famous, he would've done business with me," Pence remembered Trump telling him. Pence said his Christian faith taught him to forgive Trump for the deplorable comments he made about women on the video. "I believe in forgiveness," Pence said, especially, he added, when it meant "the possibility of me becoming vice president." Advertisement Pence denied that he ever considered resigning from the GOP ticket after the release of the video, contrary to media reports. "What am I going to do - go back to Indiana?" Pence said during the press conference, rolling his eyes, "Yeah, sure." Pence withdrew from his re-election campaign just before Trump selected him as his running mate. Pence's approval rating as governor is in the 30 percentile. Nevertheless, Pence said he was proud of his record as governor, saying that under his leadership, Indiana's quality of life was now 45th in the country. When told that 45 was actually near the bottom of the 50 states, Pence shrugged and asked, "Really?" Pence explained how he had relied on his religious faith as governor, citing, in particular, that he signed legislation mandating funerals for aborted fetuses. Advertisement Pence was then asked to explain how his religious faith influenced his decision to block Syrian widows and orphans from settling in Indiana; his elimination of thousands of Hoosiers from food stamps; his signing of legislation that discriminated against gays; and his refusal to pardon a black man who had been freed after spending years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Pence said his actions were clearly consistent with his religious beliefs. "I'm pro life but only for the unborn," Pence said. "After birth, you're on your own. I think the Bible is clear on that." Pence was asked what he would do if he was not elected vice president on November 8. Pence said it was too early for such conjecture, but said he would like to escape the scrutiny of a presidential campaign. "I would like to do something where I can make a lot of money without having to worry about whether what I say is factual or hypocritical or whether it makes any sense," Pence said. He then paused and added: THIS IS SATIRE Satan confirmed his support for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in a statement released Wednesday. "Mr. Trump made a deal with me before he announced his candidacy for president and I stand by that deal," Satan said. "I can't, in good faith, abandon him. That's not who I am." Dozens of influential Republicans have abandoned their support for Trump after the release of a video showing him speaking of women in vulgar sexual terms, leaving the billionaire real estate developer's campaign in a state of crisis a month before the presidential election, The New York Times reported Sunday. Advertisement The election is Tuesday October 8. Satan became the most prominent GOP official to publicly proclaim his support for Trump since the release of a video. Republicans who have revoked their endorsement of Trump include a number of governors and congressional members who are running for election or re-election, such as U.S. Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada, who is running for U.S. Senate and U.S. Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire who are running for re-election. In his statement, Satan delivered harsh criticism of those Republicans who dropped their support for Trump. Satan said many of those Republicans who abandoned Trump had also made a deal with the devil at some point in their political career. "They would not be where they are in politics if it were not for me," Satan said. "When Mr. Trump announced his candidacy, I told them, `When you make a deal with me, you've made a deal with Mr. Trump.' I may be a lot of things, but I believe in the `art of the deal.' " Advertisement The Art of the Deal is the name of one Trump's autobiographies. When Satan was asked in a Skype interview if he planned to speak to any of those Republicans about their abandoning Trump, he said he had not yet done so but added: "If they start feeling the heat, it won't be because of global warming." Satan released a video of a conversation he had with Trump before he entered the presidential race a year ago. "I will make sure you are elected president this year and again in 2020," the devil told him. "But in return, you must sell me your soul. You must betray all decent principles. You must pander, trivialize and deceive. You must gain victory by exploiting bigotry, fear, envy and greed. And you must conduct a campaign based on lies, sham, hype and distortion." Satan was asked if it was true that Trump was his son, as reported in a release of documents by WikiLeaks, the devil smiled wistfully and shook his head. On the night of the first 2016 presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump on September 26, I met a friend at his place for a quick bite before we headed to watch the event at an East Village bar. Conversation turned to post election scenarios: primarily, will voters, especially Trump's staunchest supporters, unify around Clinton if Trump loses? "I worry about his fringe supporters, those Alt-right [Alternative Right] types who might not accept the outcome of the election, then all hell will break lose," said my friend. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Alt-right websites along with other conspiracy-peddling social media, including the widely read tabloid-style Breitbart News, have been hammering out a conspiracy-laden narrative declaring mainstream media biased, voter fraud rampant and the election rigged. Tech-savvy and well moneyed, the Alt-right's messaging is well orchestrated and stealth, operating under the guise of news. A recent search in Breitbart News using the keywords "election," "Trump" and "rigged" turned up more than 4,000 articles from over the last two years. Talk of a rigged or tainted election is troubling, says Sherri R. Greenberg, a clinical professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. "It is fundamental to democracy that people have faith in the system and faith in the validity of elections," said Greenberg. By the second debate on October 9, Donald Trump's campaign was caught up in a nasty swirl of controversy after video surfaced of Trump bragging about making unwanted advances on women. Big-name Republicans were pulling support faster than green grass through a goose. Yet, many Trump supporters remain defiant and determined. Two days after the debate, 89 percent of Republicans said they would support Trump according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll. The Republican establishment never showed much love for Donald Trump in the first place. Instead, they grudgingly accepted him like a crazy uncle. Crass and simplistic, espousing policy positions that are inherently xenophobic, Trump is the ideal messiah for fringe conservative elements including Alt-right. Advertisement The term "Alt-right" was coined in 2008 by Richard Bertrand Spencer who heads the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think tank. In 2016, Spencer declared that Trump was creating a political space, "intentionally or not," in which the Alt-right could grow. Trump's initial calls to build a wall between the United States and Mexico was like a dog whistle to millions of disenfranchised voters. In Trump, they see a candidate who shares their concerns about immigration, political correctness and the loss of manufacturing jobs to globalization. These are voters who feel the nation's elected officials have forgotten them. For years, mainstream Republicans winked and nodded and often paid lip service to hot button social issues, but in Trump, they had a DC outsider, a blunt aggressive businessman that spoke their language and won their adoration. Many of his supporters are people who also feel as if they've been crushed by waves of cultural change, according to Ryan Lenz, Senior Writer, Intelligence Report at Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit legal advocacy organization in Montgomery Ala. that monitors extremist and hate groups. SPLC identifies the Alt-right's core beliefs as being "'white identity' is under attack by multicultural forces using 'political correctness' and 'social justice' to undermine white people and 'their' civilization." What we saw rallying around Trump was "a young, tech-savvy crowd of racists who were now emboldened and felt legitimized because of a political climate where they were no longer marginalized for their beliefs," said Lenz. Among Trump supporters, those who subscribe to Alt-right ideology are the ones who might raise the loudest objections if Trump loses, according to Lenz. "There are a number of quotes from Alt-right leaders making threats about what might happen if Trump loses," said Lenz."If the election goes in a way they don't want it to, it will only add to their sense of disenfranchisement and likely fuel a sense of political desperation." He pointed to an August tweet from well known webmaster and black-hat hacker Andrew Auemheimer, now at the extreme neo-nazi Alt-right publication Daily Stormer."If Trump loses, I am going to break bad and start doing real infrastructure damage," Auemheimer tweeted to his more than 35,000 followers. Advertisement Interestingly, Daily Stormer's Andrew Anglin recently declared a "holy crusade" against Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos. He called Yiannopoulos an egomaniac homosexual Zionist neocon charlatan, parroting some Republican talking points in order to insert himself as a Trojan Horse into the Alt-Right. Lenz says there's no way to know what kind of losers some members of the Alt-right would be. He says SPLC has seen people posting online both anonymously and using their own names, that this election is their last hope. That if Donald Trump doesn't win, the interests of white people are dead. "The Alt-right believes that multiculturalism and civil rights have been pushed upon the nation falsely. But that's not the case.Both are ideals of this nation that took us a long time to realize," Lenz said, adding, "this idea of equality under the law is relatively new." It would be simplistic to charge that all Trump supporters subscribe to any of the racist ideology fomented by elements in the Alt-right. Some Trump supporters I've talked to claim to be neo-libertarian -- and I've seen social media posts from Trump supporters who say they see the Hillary Clinton as part of the status quo in Washington. That said, there's no denying the Alt-right has been fueling a paranoid messaging machine that questions the very validity of one of democracy's most fundamental safety valves -- the election process.The Alt-right has worked hard to attach a more palatable incarnation of its brand to Trump.Its sophisticated media and online infrastructure has propagated Trump's argument that all the checks and balances designed to keep the nation's electoral system in check is corrupt. This might be the first time that's happened to our democracy. Brian Balogh, co-host of Backstory with the American History Guys said he can't think of any modern major party presidential candidate (besides Trump) who has questioned the legitimacy of the electoral system. In 1960, there were rumblings among some Republicans about never proven mischief in Texas and Illinois after John Kennedy narrowly beat Richard Nixon. But none of those charges were coming from the candidate himself, Balogh says. Advertisement True historical precedent for when more Americans felt elections were rigged would have to come from a time when they actually were rigged, Balogh says. "That is virtually every election between the beginning of the 20th century well into the 1960s in the Jim Crow south, where African Americans were systematically excluded from voting," said Balogh. The United States did have an election that was very close in 2000, that got decided by the Supreme Court, roughly along partisan lines. Balogh says that after the court's decision, plenty of people didn't believe George W. Bush should be president, but there was no violence and relatively little suggestion that the electoral system was rigged. "Today we have all this discussion about a rigged system, before we even had the election," said Balogh. Richard J. Meagher, a political science professor at Randolph Macon College, has researched and written extensively about conservatism and movement on the Right. He says the Alt-right movement around Trump is new in some ways, and is actually the culmination of trends on the Right in others. "Trump is acting as a conduit for the conspiracy-theory fringe of the Right, and connecting them to the more mainstream, GOP conservative institutions. Still, these links have been building for years -- Breitbart News, Drudge Report, even Rush Limbaugh have been circulating rumors -- and follow decades of conservatives telling Americans that government is their oppressor," said Meagher. This narrative has been strengthened as Republicans in Congress and conservative network organizations have worked to delegitimize Democratic policies and Barack Obama in particular, he says. "So in this sense, the 'rigged election' narrative is just an outgrowth of the birther narrative, which is itself an outgrowth of the 'government is bad' narrative," said Meagher. The problem for conservatives, he adds, and particularly for Republicans currently in office, is that if they continue the narrative that government is illegitimate, they risk undermining their own power. SPLC's Lenz says that for a long time, Breitbart News was the media arm of the Alt-right.Now, the tabloid-style website has essentially been folded into the Trump campaign, with Breitbart's former CEO, Stephen Bannon, now running the Trump show. In August, when Donald Trump named Bannon as his campaign's chief executive and Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager, he was also deepening ties with Robert Mercer, a billionaire hedge-fund manager from Long Island, New York who originally bankrolled Texas Senator Ted Cruz in his run for president, according to an August Bloomberg News report. Not long after Cruz left the race, Mercer threw his support behind Trump. Mercer is listed as the second biggest disclosed donor to outside spending groups, having spent more than $19 million to influence votes, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2011, Mercer made an $10 million equity investment in Breitbart News. Mercer's daughter Rebekah had worked with Stephen Bannon on the film Clinton Cash. Both Mercers have been long-time critics of the Clintons. In September Rebekah Mercer assumed leadership of the super-pac, Make America Number 1, This all begs the question, what might go down if there were loud objections to the election results on grounds of chicanery, after a treacherous, low-brow campaign featuring two candidates who are more loathed than loved? We live in a "If you see something, say something" society, and anyone suspecting or observing election day irregularities will be able to "say something" in social media with the possibility that news media and party executives may amplify a post, tweet, or video, according to Michael Cornfield, Research Director, Graduate School of Political Management, George Washington University. The point persons to field such challenges are the Secretaries of State and comparable officials in the 51 main election jurisdictions, along with county and local officials, he said. Cornfield said at the federal level, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and other agencies may weigh in, and of course legal challenges will head to the courts. Advertisement "This could lead, in increasing magnitude of seriousness, to a burst of viral objections, a protracted investigation and case along the line of Florida 2000, should the election be close in one state and in the overall electoral count, leading to a succession crisis the likes of which we haven't seen in 140 years," said Cornfield. But, in objective terms, the chance of a tampered election is extremely low, he said. David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research testified to Congress in mid-September that our system has four levels of security: 1) It's decentralized;2) Voting machines are publicly tested in advance; 3) More than 75% of jurisdictions generate paper records, and 4) Thirty-two states and Washington, D.C. require paper and digital record-matching audits. "Thus, while problems may emerge, they are likely to be isolated and mitigated," said Cornfield. Bottom line: Lots of people will be very unhappy after the election. "But that unhappiness probably won't lead to a succession crisis.What it portends for party cooperation and party stability during the transition and opening days of the new government is another question," said Cornfield. It was an "emperor's new clothes" moment. You know the story: "scoundrels" show up at court, pretending to be tailors. They promise to make an elegant robe that will be invisible to those unfit for their positions. When the con-men pretend to present the robe, all the courtiers pretend to see and admire it, and the emperor, afraid to appear unfit, wears it on parade. Along the curb stands a young boy, "who had no important job and could see only things as his eyes showed them to him." "The emperor is naked," he cries out. In my retirement, I love to meet with younger people. At coffee with a college student, when I raised the subject of Syria, he asked a series of simple questions: Knowing at least highlights of US actions abroad in the last 70 years, I start by asking: on what grounds does any U.S. administration arrogate to itself the right to "change" or throw out the regimes of other countries? In particular, now that Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya have all been transformed into failed states, is it really wise to attack Syria in support of the "good" rebels, the "moderate" rebels, against the ruler of that country? Advertisement Why are we "shocked, shocked" by the brutality of rulers who don't follow our directions while overlooking the brutality of dictators who side with the U.S. [I didn't know people were still alluding to the movie "Casablanca."] Regardless of what we may think of Mr. Putin, was he not invited by the government of Syria as an ally? Does Russia not have a base there, as the US does in many other countries? Wasn't it a wise rule of the Cold War that the two big nuclear powers should never confront one another directly, but only through what they thought of as proxies? (When this rule was broken during the Cuban missile crisis, those 13 days were called the most dangerous in human history.) Why does the U.S. have the right to declare a "no-fly zone" over any country other than our own? Is it not an abdication of responsibility for the Congress to authorize the executive to "use military force" in the President's sole judgment, indefinitely, anywhere around the globe, in a so-called war of terror? Advertisement Are we winning this "war on terror," or are we arousing hatred that will last a lifetime or longer? On balance, has liberty been "made safe" or safer, by the mass surveillance exposed by such whistle,-blowers as Edward Snowden? Is that even an adequate question? Would it not be wise to get out of Syria--"boots on the ground," weapons sent to shady rebels, warplanes in the air bombing government forces "by accident.," whatever? Are we so stupid as to accept any military action labeled as "humanitarian"? For dramatic impact, it's not easy to match a multiple murder. Tyler Young says the love story in USA's new crime thriller Eyewitness just might. In Eyewitness, which premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, Young (above) costars as Philip Shea, a teenager who begins an affair with his closeted schoolmate Lukas Waldenbeck (James Paxton). They are having a clandestine tryst at a secluded cabin when the cabin is invaded by psychokiller Ryan Kane (Warren Christie). Murders ensue and the two teens barely escape. Unfortunately, so does Kane, who isn't keen on having a couple of witnesses on the loose. What Kane (above) doesn't know is that Philip and Lukas agree they will never even admit they were there, in large part because Lukas is petrified that the rest of the world would deduce that he's gay. "This show has a lot going on," says Young, "and the love story is at the center." Advertisement Much of the action also revolves around Helen Torrance (Julianne Nicholson) (above). She's the sheriff of the small upstate New York town where the murders occur, and she used to be a New York City cop. So when the big guns of the FBI try to freeze her out, she stays in anyhow, if only because she misses the excitement of doing more than writing the occasional littering ticket. She and her new husband Gabe Caldwell (Gil Bellows) are also Philip's foster parents. Philip thinks they're okay, but he really misses his biological Mom back in Queens. Trouble is, she's a drug addict who has to focus on trying to reclaim her own life. So Philip is trying to make the best of things. "With his mother, he's spent almost all of his life taking care of someone else," says Young. "So he's never really had time to pursue his own passions. Now he has a chance to do that. "But there's a lot going on. He's a foster kid from the rough side of town. He's also the new kid in school. And he's figuring out who he is." That includes being gay, and Eyewitness deftly walks the fine line between acknowledging that a gay affair in a small town will draw some attention and reflecting Philip's feeling that it's just who he is. Philip's comfort with his sexual orientation stands in sharp contrast to the unease of Lukas (above), who early in the first episode snaps to Philip, "I'm not like you!" Later Lukas slugs Philip in the school hallway to show his pals that he's not going to get too chummy with this new kid. "Some people might be surprised Philip is out of the closet while Lukas remains very closeted," says Young. "Actually, Philip is coming to terms with his sexuality as well. "So you see two very different coming-out stories on the same show, and I think that's very true to the experience of LGBTQ youth. There's no one way to come out. Everyone has a journey." Moreover, he says, despite the real-life progress in LGBTQ rights, some of those journeys remain more challenging than others. "If you live in a major city or an urban area, it can seem like the norm," Young says. "Where Philip comes from, in Queens, everyone is different. You have trans people, gay people, people in grey areas. But then he moves to a small town, where if you don't fit into the hetero model, you're an 'other.' "He's still okay. But when he sees what Lukas is going through, he realizes that in other parts of the country, it's not so easy to be who you are. It can cause antagonism and hatred. "So Lukas internalizes everything, and it's hard for Philip to watch because he sees that Lukas is doing all this to himself. "That's why Philip says, 'Let's tell people, let's get this done.' Because young love can feel like life and death." In Eyewitness, of course, that might be literally true. Advertisement Startup Insider is a series of articles with the goal of helping aspiring founders and entrepreneurs understand the ins and outs of starting a startup. You can sign up to stay up to date with this series here. The best way to learn how to start a company is to just dive in and do it. For FundersClub CEO Alex Mittal, joining the Wharton Business Plan Competition during his freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania and turning his idea into an actual company convinced him that entrepreneurship was something he wanted to do for the rest of college and beyond. After graduating from the Management & Technology program at the University of Pennsylvania, Alex went on to turn his senior year thesis into his second company called InnovaDynamics, which discovered a new material for touch screens. Alex's experiences with Crederity and then InnovaDynamics would lead him to work with his friend Boris Silver in starting FundersClub, the first online venture capital platform that has created a marketplace that helps connect both startups and investors from all over the world. Advertisement I got to chat with Alex about his entrepreneurial journey, his passion for entrepreneurship, his thoughts on the VC bubble, lessons he has learned and more. The Purest Form of Solving Problems - 'Entrepreneurship' Growing up as the son of immigrants in New York City, Alex was a curious kid who was always questioning things. After working with a professor on a research project on DNA materials, Alex initially thought that he would go down the research path. But this would change as he would get exposed to the beauty of entrepreneurship during his freshman year as part of Penn's Management & Technology program, which allowed Alex to take up both business and material science. Alex dove right in. After joining the Wharton Business Plan Competition, he and his business partner would continue to work on their idea, which would become Crederity, a background checking startup. After iterating for two more years, they would decide to bring the company to India where the market for background checking was a lot bigger. Advertisement From Senior Thesis to Second Company While the rest of the core team of Crederity moved to India, Alex wasn't ready to take the plunge yet and leave school for another country. Stuck with the entrepreneurial bug, Alex would take his senior year material science thesis and spin it into a touch screen technology company called Innova Dynamics. Alex shared, "Starting Innova was another eye-opening experience. I ended up raising a lot of capital for the company, and I came out of it with a whole lot of lessons. One of the things I recognized was that the process was far from a delightful experience." This experience got Alex thinking about the venture capital (VC) marketplace, and how VC is basically a two-sided marketplace where you have limited partners on one side and entrepreneurs on the other side. Then you have the general partners who bridge this market. The World's First Online Venture Capital Alex and his co-founder Boris were really the first ones to figure out how to bring the venture capital marketplace model online. While it initially felt like a daunting task with all the legal barriers, Alex strongly believed that the future of the VC market was to apply software to it to better discover and support companies. Alex shared, "The way we are able to launch legally was through direct dialogue with the SEC and ultimately getting the note of action letter from the SEC that acknowledged that FundersClub was in fact an online venture capital firm." Advertisement Alex recalled the time when people were actually doubtful that they would be able to pull off an online VC given that other people have tried but have gotten shut down before FundersClub was born. He shared, "There's a TechCrunch article that said that 'Boris and Alex could face jail time for securities felonies'. Just to give you the sense of how times were so different 3.5 years ago: In the beginning, the regulations and perceptions of what was possible legally were so different." It Takes a Village to Start a Successful Company More than just connecting investors to startups, FundersClub puts a big emphasis on the value add they're able to provide to startups. Alex shared, "One of the activities that a great VC firm does well is provide value add to its portfolio companies. We realized that some of our most helpful investors when we were starting our previous companies were those who could open doors for us whether it was customer introductions, partnerships, launching in a new geography, hiring somebody new. It was the power of the network of our founders that really helped move the needle." Alex added, "Beyond the network effect of our online community, FundersClub also holds offline events, including our annual FC Mafia Summit. We invite successful founders as well as newer founders to interact and learn. Attendees have included Aaron Levie of Box, Apoorva Mehta of Instacart, Ryan Petersen of Flexport, and others. We also have a network of accredited investors and LPs spread across 63 countries. We don't require them to be helpful, but many of them want to be helpful and roll up their sleeves." In Defense of Venture Capital Given that Alex plays both sides of the table as an entrepreneur and investor, I also asked him to shed some light upon the current VC market and all the speculation that another bubble might be happening right now. Advertisement Alex shared, "We'll call this the humble defense of VC. I am a die-hard supporter of VC, especially when executed well, which is incredibly hard to do. You talk about startups being hard to do, well running a fund and executing the VC model is incredibly hard to do as well but when it's done well, it's an accelerant of positive change in our lives." Alex also shared some relevant statistics of how companies that have taken VC financing have over 60% of the public market cap and drive over 80% of public company R&D. Alex added, "Basically VC helps to drive that so there's a lot of data showing that venture does end up helping accelerate these truly game-changing companies." However, Alex admits that VC funding has reached a historic peak, which is one of the main reasons why we're seeing more people trying out more ideas as well. Advice to Aspiring Student Entrepreneurs Alex shared, "We're all conditioned to kind of demonstrate we're worthy of other people. Look at all these things I've done, this is why you should admit me. But when you enter the real world, that doesn't matter as much. When you get into the real world, it's not at all about what I described. It's really about focusing on what really gets you going and really chasing what fulfills you. People talk about passion a lot but it's really more about being self-aware and introspective and knowing what you really want to do here and what problem you really want to solve and what gets you really excited. That's what matters." Alex also touched upon the power of focus and really understanding what drives you. He shared, "The power of focus is immense. Focus is very very powerful and just applying that more as a student entrepreneur and recognizing that your time is invaluable and you really need to focus on what really matters and just being mindful of that." Advertisement You can learn more about FundersClub here. --- About the author --- Voting with Your Wallet Is Your Money on Clinton or Trump? Which candidate is better for your budget's bottom line? A lot about this election is about money . . . who's got it, who needs it, how to raise it and how each candidate plans to help the American household. By David Rae, Certified Financial Planner, Accredited Investment Fiduciary Last week's first Clinton-Trump debate was one of the most watched events in the history of broadcasting and for good reason. My husband and I were parked right there in front of the television like everyone else. As a financial planner I can tell you that no matter which candidates box you check, one of the major issues you'll be voting is about money and the debates showed how true this is. Money is fascinating because its abstract, mega-narrative - as in the economy, Wall Street and markets worldwide - is so powerful. At the same time it's also got a very concrete, personal one as well; how you're going to pay your bills, put food on the table, take care of your kids, stash some away for a rainy day and perhaps even enjoy yourself now and then. Untold quantities of ink have been spilled on how the former impacts the latter. Some feel that wealth trickles down (Trump), others feel that it simply evaporates at the top (Clinton.) Advertisement But on a personal level, economic statistics might not mean much. In Michigan for example, we know that when Barack Obama assumed the presidency in January 2009, he inherited a staggering unemployment rate of 13.7%. As of August of this year, this was down to an encouraging 4.5%. But, if you're one of those jobless 4.5% who still can't catch a break or is burdened by an outdated skillset, a sunny economic climate means absolutely nothing. It's scary and it hurts. Money talks I was just in NYC appearing in two segments for Fox and Friends on the basic topic, "Who is better for the average American, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?" You really can't get much depth in a two-minute interview, so I wanted to share a few thoughts from a personal finance perspective. Come January, whether you voted for the president-elect or their opponent, or didn't vote at all, we will have a new president and will be subject to the policies they want to implement. As a financial planner I want to make sure both my clients and my readers are proactive and prepared for any changes that may be coming your way. Let's look at whose policies of our candidates to see who will put more money in your pocket . . . or not. Full disclosure: I was the nerdy kid who read a $3 used copy Donald Trump's book, The Art of the Deal cover to cover when I was in junior high. I've also had the pleasure of meeting President Obama at the White House, chatted with Michelle and had a 2-second pic snapped aside Hillary Clinton alongside her first lady portrait at another White House reception. Advertisement TOWING THE LINE ON TAXES There may be some points that candidates are making that are technically true, but may really be irrelevant to your situation. Trump has stated that he will be lowering taxes for all Americans. For many, these tax saving may be very small and despite them, you may end up behind when taking into consideration what will end up getting cut like healthcare, Social Security benefits and childcare. Trump on taxes The Trump tax plan will drop tax rates to three brackets of 10%, 25% and 33%, a 20 to 40% tax increase from his original proposed rates of 10%, 15% and 25%. Many Americans already pay very little if any federal income taxes. For the lower income earner making around $23,000 a year, Trump's plan is estimated to save about $100 per year. But as you move up the income scale the potential tax savings under Trump will be larger. By some calculations, the average one per center could see their taxes drop by nearly $180,000. While Trump proposes lowering the rate, he is also planning to eliminate many itemized deductions. So some people may end up with a lower tax bracket but a higher taxable income, which may negate the net benefits of that lower tax bracket. Trump's original tax plan would cost the federal government over $9 trillion over the next decade. This means either the national debt would explode, or unfathomable cuts would have to be made to spending on Medicare, Social Security and education. (More of an issue the further you are from being a 1 percenter) Since Trump has vowed to expand the military, don't expect to see cuts there. Advertisement Clinton on taxes According to her campaign, Clinton's tax plan should have minimal changes for 95% of Americans. Clinton's plan does impose some pretty hefty tax increases on those make more than $1 million and $5 million respectively. Unless you make more than $250,000 a year, even if your tax bill increases slightly over the long term, you should come out ahead when taking other things presently covered - childcare, Social Security, infrastructure investing and jobs - into consideration. LOOKING AFTER CHILDCARE "The average annual cost of day care now surpasses the price of in-state college tuition in 31 states" - The Washington Post "In half the country, the cost of childcare exceeds the cost of house" - Ivanka Trump Both candidates say they want to help parents but they go about it in a slightly different manner. Trump on childcare Trump wants to offer tax deductions for childcare. The higher your income the more tax deductions will save you making Trump's plan is better for higher earners. On the other hand if you pay for childcare but don't have much in the way of taxable income you really don't get much benefit if any from tax deductions. Advertisement Clinton on childcare In contrast, Clinton wants to offer childcare tax credits and cap the out-of-pocket families spend on it at 10% of their income. Generally tax credits are more valuable than deductions because you don't need to have taxable income to benefit from the credit. Clinton's plan helps all families, but stands out for families at the bottom 75% of the income scale. SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY Many people are concerned about Social Security's future as they will be depending on this benefit as a major part of their secure retirement. Big differences between the two here. Trump on Social Security Trump is vague on specifics but has vowed to leave Social Security as is or potentially expand it. Social Security is in dire need of an update, and just leaving it as is won't improve the chances of it being there when future retirees go to collect. Clinton on Social Security Clinton has a plan to make Social Security solvent for the next 75 years. This is great news for younger Americans and anyone who will be depending on this money as part of their retirement plans. Clinton's outline also seeks to expand the benefits for the most at-risk Americans, many of whom are veterans. She plans to pay for this Social Security expansion with a tax increase for those making more than $250,000 per year. HEALTHCARE Having appropriate healthcare is a major part of any financial plan. If you have insurance through work or the ACA you probably don't think that much about it. On the other hand if you run into a health issue even while insured your finances may still be thrown into chaos, which may be why healthcare is such an important issue with so many voters. The candidates differ dramatically on this. Advertisement Trump on healthcare Trump has vowed on day one to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare). Health insurance is onerous and complicated; I have my doubts about how easy it will find an alternative to the ACA. Repealing the ACA would be devastating to the 20 million American currently using the plans, and similarly would affect anyone who may need coverage in the future when they start their own businesses, or find themselves in a job that doesn't offer it. Clinton on healthcare No surprise that Clinton supports Obamacare. You should expect her to continue improving the program. Whether you like the ACA or not, having the ability to get health insurance regardless of prior health issues can be a lifesaver for you families finances, and means you are stuck at your current employer if nothing else but to keep your health insurance. The topics above are a bit easier to assess based on your particular, individual situation. The items below are take a bit more conjecture to analyze, so I want to give you few things to think about rather than just cold hard numbers. THE STOCK MARKET If you don't own any investments (come on now, get to it!) this part probably won't affect you much. For the rest of us, stock market investors don't like uncertainty. Yet everything Donald Trump does seems to scream uncertainty. Let's not forget that since the Great Depression stock markets in the U.S. have performed better under Democratic presidents that Republican ones (the siren's call of Reaganomics notwithstanding). To be sure, two huge financial crises under George W Bush's watch helped usher liberal Democrat Obama into the White House. No surprise the Stock Market jumped the day after the first Presidential where Secretary Clinton had a crushing victory over the sniffling Donald J Trump. JOBS As I noted earlier, tax brackets really don't mean much if you don't have a job, or just as bad, if you work full time and still can't afford food or housing. Advertisement Trump on jobs Trump claims he wants to bring more good paying jobs here, and prevent employers from going overseas, yet at the same time he says the minimum wage is too high. You can't have it both ways. Trump is big on business but unfortunately this does not automatically result in millions of high paying jobs as he says it will. Ethical businesses create good jobs; unscrupulous ones exploit their workforces and do not. Historically, American workers have not fared well under the trickle down economy of the past 40 years or so. Clinton on jobs Clinton is in favor of increasing the minimum wage, which directly impacts around 25% of the workforce, and many more if you count their dependents and those whose pay is tied to the minimum wage. Clinton wants jump-start job growth by supporting a variety of policies that benefit small businesses. Let's remember that today's small potatoes entrepreneur working out of a garage (hello Steve Jobs, how ya doin' Bill Gates) is tomorrow's CEO of a multi-national corporate superpower. Summing up Donald Trump insists his tax plan reduces the income tax for all Americans. While true (as it stands now) you save few bucks now on taxes, you could lose out on thousands later in reduced Social Security benefits, or increased costs for things like healthcare and Social Security payments. Trump is wrapping a 'huge' gift for the rich here but touting it as benefit for the middle class. Advertisement On the other hand, Hillary Clinton appears to be taking opposite approach. Her plans benefit a wide swath of lower and middle class Americans while increasing the burden on the highest earners in the country. I find it baffling that the so many impoverished and uneducated citizens are voting against their best interests with Trump. At the same time, I am gratified and encouraged by the list of millionaires and billionaires who in Clinton are voting against their own financial interests (but let's face it, they're not going to be lining up for government cheese any time soon) for the good of the country and their fellow citizens. I've already booked my hotel for the inauguration but I can only see myself standing outside for hours in 20 degree weather for one of these candidates. To be sure, I'll be wrapped up nice and toasty to greet her . . . the 46th president of these United States. Until next time, be fiscally fabulous, and remember your money matters. DAVID RAE, CFP, AIF is a Los Angeles-based retirement planner with Trilogy Financial Services. He has been helping friends of the LGBT community reach their financial goals for over a decade. He is a regular contributor to the Advocate Magazine and Investopedia as well as the author of the Financial Planner Los Angeles Blog. Follow him on Facebook, or via his website www.davidraefp.com Advertisement Demands by the EU to Lock in Privatization of Public Services in Developing Countries; Financial Services Deregulation; and Antidevelopment Provisions Revealed; Secretive, Antidemocratic Deal Must Not Be Rushed to Conclusion Today, for the first time, WikiLeaks released demands by the EU to lock in a wide list of services sectors to TISA's privatization and deregulation provisions, including public services in developing countries. In the mid-2000s, when European campaigners leaked similar demands during corporate efforts to expand the General Agreement on Trade in Services, the EU was forced to walk back many of those demands. The European pressure on developing countries was widely condemned by the public, and revealed the corporate, antidevelopment efforts behind the deal, just as they are revealed today. Advertisement Global union federations, including Public Services International (PSI), the International Union of Food workers (IUF), International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), UNI Global Union, and Education International (EI) as well as European federations including the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and UNI Europa, for the first time made united call to suspend the talks, available here [PDF]. Globalization's cheerleaders are all hand-wringing about the widespread opposition to trade pacts. But what they don't acknowledge is that people around the world are not rejecting "trade," they are rejecting corporate control over our lives. People want to live in a democracy; they want quality, accessible public services; a well-regulated financial sector; and decent jobs for all the opposite agenda of the deregulation, locked-in privatization, and anti-development fundamentals of the secret proposed TISA, according to today's explosive leak. Given that public opposition in Europe to the proposed EU-U.S. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has put its advance on hold, and the given the growing opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), corporations and the governments they represent have been hoping to get the TISA completed before a change in U.S. administration. But this corporate charade must not be hastened to a conclusion before President Obama leaves office, without the global public even hearing of it, let alone debating its pros and cons. Negotiators are being pressured to decide if they will cave to the EU demands or reserve policy space and sectors for national companies that can better promote jobs and economic growth. Parties have set an October 21 deadline for the revised offers, which will be followed by another Round of negotiations on November 2-10 and the intention to finalize the deal (negotiated almost completely behind closed doors with very limited public awareness and almost no input aside from that of corporate advisers, despite growing resistance to corporate trade agreements globally) by a December 5-6 ministerial. Advertisement The leaked EU "requests" include asks that Costa Rica and Peru subject services offered at the subnational (local) level to the TISA liberalization rules. Unless the EU can demonstrate that all services offered in every municipality in these countries are already open to foreign suppliers, these are demands that would lock in any privatization of public services at the local level and open those services to competition from foreign services providers which the EU has constantly claimed it is not asking for. The EU's demands also include access to postal services in Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Turkey, and in several developed countries participating in the talks. Many countries maintain cross-subsidization programs that are an important part of enabling national communication from rural areas. If countries make commitments in this sector, then they would have to provide the same subsidies to foreign corporations as their own domestic firms, and would not be able to renationalize the sector if privatization was found to have adverse impacts. The EU's demands also include access to sanitation, sewage, and other environmental services, which are often administered on a local level; telecommunications (including broadcasting); retail and distribution services; shipping; air and maritime transport; energy and mining services (which are extremely sensitive particularly in Latin America); and others. In addition, the EU is requesting more commitments on financial services in nearly every country. Demands for further financial services to be included in the schedules is especially problematic given the rules in the updated version of the financial services annex, also published today. According to the analysis provided by University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey, under the proposed TISA rules, governments "could not restrict the size of financial institutions;" "no firewalls would be allowed between insurance, investment banking, [and] retail banking to prevent use of depositors' funds for speculative market trades." The banning of toxic financial services and products would not be allowed including products developed in the future; severe restrictions would be placed on the use of capital controls; financial firms would have the right to intervene in the policy-making processes of other parties' legislatures, and in many areas, would be allowed to "self-regulate," even when these firms have been shown unable to do so. Advertisement In addition, states would not be allowed to restrict the cross-border transfer of sensitive financial data when companies decide it is necessary. This is emerging as a hot-button issue between the United States, which demands unfettered cross-border data transfer, and the EU, which on October 11 issued a revised privacy rule that contradicts the US position. The leak also includes a series of antidevelopment provisions in the localization provisions annex. "Localization" refers to rules that most developed countries used in their development to help local firms until they were ready to compete in the international market. These include requirements for transfer of technology; the hiring of local staff; the hiring of local managers who would gain knowledge of how to run the company; capital requirements to guarantee local deposits; and the use of local inputs. In fact, these are the very mechanisms by which proponents of the TISA have argued that developing countries will benefit from the presence of foreign transnational companies. However, the localization annex actually restricts TISA members from requiring those mechanisms; it even goes so far as to restrict countries from requiring that a company have a local presence (like a branch office) in order to provide cross-border services. In essence, this means that the "development" aspects touted by proponents are a fig leaf because they are restricted by the very same agreement. In addition to the core text and annexes on systemic issues, the TISA would include each country's "schedule of commitments" in which they list which sectors they are willing to commit to TISA's six specific market access disciplines, and which sectors they want to exclude from the TISA's national treatment rules. These schedules are negotiated by countries making "offers" and their negotiating partners making "requests," i.e., demands for more sectors to be included and for exclusions to be limited. Combining the demands of the EU with regard to public and private services including financial services, the deregulatory aspects of the financial services annex, and the localization provisions, today's leak exposes the fundamentally antidevelopment nature of the TISA. Advertisement The United Nations has just warned of another impending financial crisis. Yet if they agree to the extensive demands of the EU for further liberalization of services in the TISA, developing countries would be exposing themselves to greatly expanded financial spillover effects, coupled with handcuffs on their ability to respond to a potential crisis by increasing access to public services.. Background Information This leak justifies warnings from global civil society about the privatization and deregulation impacts of a potential TISA since the first letter on the issue, endorsed by 345 organizations from across the globe, in September 2013. At that time, the Our World is Not For Sale network (OWINFS) argued: The TISA negotiations largely follow the corporate agenda of using 'trade' agreements to bind countries to an agenda of extreme liberalization and deregulation in order to ensure greater corporate profits at the expense of workers, farmers, consumers and the environment. The proposed agreement is the direct result of systematic advocacy by transnational corporations in banking, energy, insurance, telecommunications, transportation, water, and other services sectors, working through lobby groups like the US Coalition of Service Industries (USCSI) and the European Services Forum (ESF). Today's leaks prove the network's arguments beyond a shadow of a doubt. The TISA is currently being negotiated among 50 countries (or 23 parties, counting the EU as one) with the aim of extending the coverage of scope of the existing General Agreement on Trade in Services in the WTO. However, even worse than the opaque talks at the WTO, the TISA negotiations are being conducted in complete secrecy. The Public Services International (PSI) global union federation published the first critique, "TISA vs Public Services," in March 2014, and PSI and OWINFS jointly published "The Really Good Friends of Transnational Corporations Agreement" report on domestic regulation in September 2014. A factsheet on the TISA can be found here, and more information on the TISA can be found here. By Don C. Reed Imagine that you were just diagnosed with end-stage heart failure. The doctor shakes her head, makes a tch-tch sound with her mouth, and explains you have a 50% chance of living two more years-- and that there is no cure. What if she suddenly snapped her fingers and said: "Oh, wait, I forgot, there is a chance to rebuild your heart, repairing the damage with new and healthy cells??" In California, research to repair the damaged heart is going on right now. Paralyzed with a spinal cord injury? Losing your sight or hearing? The California stem cell program* is using embryonic stem cell research to work on all these problems and many more. Advertisement But there are always opponents, people who for political reasons would block research potentially leading to cure. People like Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) would starve the research of funds, or criminalize it outright. Blunt has repeatedly voted against research which might cure paralysis, heart disease and blindness. But you thought Missouri already voted on the issue of stem cell research? Wasn't there a state-wide initiative, Amendment 2, which passed, and is now part of the Missouri Constitution? You are absolutely correct. Missouri has had the great stem cell debate. The "Show-Me" state came up with its own set of regulations, nowhere near as liberal as California's, for example, but something everyone could live with. Advertisement Basically, it was this: Missouri would allow only that stem cell research which was specifically permitted by the Federal government, and nothing more. Strict limits were imposed on the kind of embryonic stem cells used for research. No changes in the state's rules on cloning were allowed. Copying of cells was permissible, but nothing which involved implantation in the womb: no cloning of babies whatsoever: just cells, cells, nothing but cells. Michael J. Fox did a commercial in favor of both Amendment 2 and Claire McCaskill, herself a strong supporter of the research. McCaskill, who ran in favor of the research, prevailed. Jim Talent, who generally opposed the research, was defeated. Jason Kander is a man of the future and also someone Missourians will always be proud of. Take a look at this great ad for him. Roy Blunt, unfortunately, is of the past when it comes to medical research. But what about those old-fashioned virtues Missourians still honor, and try to live by? Blunt seems willing to ignore those, judging by his support of Donald Trump. Advertisement Want one more reason not to re-elect Roy Blunt, supporter of Donald Trump? "3,000 survivors of sexual assault tell Republicans to stop enabling Trump." Here is the letter, reprinted in its entirety. "Republican leaders, candidates, and elected officials: Stop Enabling Trump. "We write as survivors of sexual assault to express our disgust at the Republican nominee for President's vile treatment of women, and to express profound disappointment in your continued support of his candidacy. "Donald Trump's record on women has always been shameful, but the tape of him bragging about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it is a new low. "These words affect us all, but as survivors of sexual assault they have a particularly horrifying impact on us. "In this country, one in five women will be sexually assaulted, and the vast majority of perpetrators--as Donald Trump's boasts show him to be--will get away with it. When survivors of sexual assault come forward, they are too often blamed, shamed, and disbelieved. Donald Trump's bragging teaches young men that they can get away with it--and your silence means you stood by and watched. "We call on ALL Republican leaders, candidates, and elected officials to take a stand against sexual assault and abuse--and take a stand against your own nominee for President. You must not only denounce Trump's words, but clearly and unequivocally denounce his candidacy and do all in your power to make sure that this sexual predator never sets foot in the White House. And we urge you to support strong policies that will end the epidemic of sexual assault in this country and support survivors of abuse." Advertisement Signed, SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND ABUSE Ultraviolet ACTION, MoveOn.Org Paid for by Ultraviolet Action.www.weareultraviolet.org: Not Authorized by Any Candidate or Candidate's Committee. * Neither the California stem cell program, nor any individual mentioned in the above article has any connection to my political opinions. Donald Trump isn't the only one who won't release his tax returns. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, whose family owns the Pilot Flying J chain of truck stops, has refused to release his since running and being elected in 2010. It wouldn't matter so much if Haslam were your run-of-the-mill governor. But he's the country's richest politician, with a net worth of $2 billion. And it wouldn't matter so much if Tennessee were your run-of-the-mill state. Tennessee has the highest percentage of minimum wage workers in the country, and its social safety net has all but withered away. For example, only one state, Mississippi, provides less cash assistance to the poorest families with children. Advertisement It matters because Haslam has a plan that could plunge thousands of state workers into poverty. Since being elected, he's slowly handed over management and operation of public buildings to a private company. All state-owned real estate is on the chopping block--from college campuses and prisons to state parks. The company, the Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle, is the world's second largest commercial real estate brokerage. While running for office in 2010, Haslam held a financial stake in the company. He might still be invested but we don't know for sure--he's since placed many of his investments in a blind trust. The governor clearly hasn't read our new report, How privatization increases inequality. Across many sectors, from building management to water systems, when private companies take control, they often slash wages and benefits, replacing stable, middle class jobs with poverty-level jobs. Privatization not only hurts individual workers and their families, but also local economies and the stability of middle and working class communities. Outsourcing of public sector jobs has been particularly harmful to women and people of color, as nearly 60 percent of such jobs in the U.S. are held by women, and one in five black workers are public workers. Advertisement According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there were 65.3 million forcibly displaced persons in 2015, including 40.8 million internally displaced and 21.3 million refugees. This global humanitarian crisis, which consists of multiple, complex crises, is often characterized as a "refugee" crisis as if caused by refugees. Yet at its core is the failure of states to forego, prevent and effectively respond to conditions like armed conflict, repression, terrorism and breakdowns in the rule of law. UNHCR reports that refugee-generating conflicts have regularly "erupted or reignited," long-term crises "drag on with no solutions in sight," and, as a result, a vast "arc of crisis" extends from "southwest Asia through the Middle East to the Horn of Africa and the Lake Chad Basin." The United States, Mexico and Central American states are also experiencing large influxes of refugees and migrants due, in part, to the collapse of the rule of law in the northern triangle states of Central America. These crises have not been met with anything close to equitable responsibility sharing. Eighty-six percent of the world's refugees live in developing states in proximity to troubled, refugee-producing nations. Developed states, in turn, adopt a range of strategies to prevent refugees from reaching their territory and requesting protection. The top three contributors to UNHCR provide more than 50 percent of the agency's annual budget, and many states, including those with means, contribute nothing or next to nothing. Funding for the one million South Sudanese refugees in neighboring states is at 20 percent of what's needed. In addition, states regularly make pledges that they do not fulfill. Advertisement The use of traditional "durable options" for refugees - safe and voluntary return, resettlement in a third country, or integration in the host community - are not available in anywhere near the number that would make a substantial dent in the refugee population, and promising alternative strategies must be brought to scale. At the UN High-Level Plenary Meeting on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on September 19, 2016, 193 states agreed to the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants which, inter alia, called for a "more equitable sharing of the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world's refugees," the development of a "comprehensive refugee response ... for each situation involving large movements of refugees," and "work toward the adoption in 2018 of a Global Compact on refugees." The following day a Leader's Summit On Refugees, organized by the United States, produced public and private commitments for refugees, including: $4.5 billion in additional humanitarian aid, double the number of refugees resettled or granted access to immigration systems, improved access for one million more refugee children to attend schools and one million more refugees to work. Significant private sector commitments to long-term sustainable solutions for refugees and to refugee entrepreneurial activity, and Advertisement Favorable financing for humanitarian and development projects intended to benefit both refugees and host communities. The New York Declaration left in place border externalization, interdiction and other strategies that deny access to protection in wealthy states. It also failed to commit to producing guidelines on the need to protect the tens of millions in refugee-like situations who do not meet the narrow refugee definition. Yet to its credit the Declaration offers a trenchant assessment of the causes of the global crisis and the overall steps needed to address it. Its strong endorsement of responsibility sharing matters, in part, because so many states fail to honor this concept in practice, and not just when it comes to refugee protection and integration, but to counter-terror and other challenges as well. During the UN summit, the President of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, described refugees as a military threat, a terrorist menace and a natural disaster all in one. After praising his own state's deployment of the military to channel migrants away from cities, Ivanov offered an extended metaphor in which refugees were characterized as a flood that required a disaster management response. "The crisis management system must therefore develop contingency plans and make use of the strategy of eliminating the consequence of the flood (migrant flow) involving a defense system with so-called dams at the external borders, a cleaning process with hotspot approach and the securing of channels and control of the pipes at the entrance and exit corridors and routes used by refugees, migrants and foreign terrorist fighters." Advertisement He ended his speech on the ominous note that "[t]olerance for diversity must be substituted with respect for diversity," meaning apparently that Macedonia would no longer permit diversity within its borders, but would somehow respect this principle in the abstract. That sentiment has found fertile ground in many European states, in Donald Trump's presidential bid, and among the 31 US governors who have taken various legal, political and symbolic steps to prevent Syrian and other refugees from resettling in their states. As a case in point, Indiana Governor Mike Pence cited national security concerns in refusing to provide federal flow-through funds to resettle Syrian refugees. Earlier this month, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a lower court decision to enjoin this policy. Judge Richard Posner's decision pointed out that the refugee program was the federal government's responsibility, no Syrian refugees had been prosecuted for attempted terrorist acts in the United States, and there was "nothing to suggest" that Indiana was "a magnet for Syrians." Posner characterized Pence's claim as "the equivalent of his saying ... that he wants to forbid black people to settle in Indiana not because they're black but because he's afraid of them, and since race is therefore not his motive he isn't discriminating. But that of course would be racial discrimination, just as his targeting Syrian refugees is discrimination on the basis of nationality." Are refugees a threat to national security? Terrorists occasionally pose as refugees or legitimate visitors, which is why migrant and refugee populations need to be screened. And, of course, absolute security cannot be guaranteed for any population or immigration program. Yet it is counterintuitive at best for states to conflate refugees and terrorists. Bona fide refugees are not terrorists. Like citizens, they want to be safe in their own communities. In fact, the clearest connection between terrorism and refugees is that the former creates the latter. Finally, there is a strong case to be made that refugees enhance national security. Since 1975, the United States has admitted 3.2 million refugees, who have contributed to the nation's economic vitality, military strength, diplomatic standing, and civic values. Advertisement In the post-9/11 era, the United States has sought to secure refugee and migrant flows through better intelligence collection, information sharing, secure identity documents, and layered screening of those seeking admission. The US refugee resettlement program is easily the most secure US admissions program. By contrast, cooperation among European states has been in short supply, not just related to refugee protection, but to information sharing and refugee screening as well. Perhaps the greatest security challenges facing Europe are radicalization (particularly of youth) and the return of jihadist citizens. Radicalization is also a problem (albeit a lesser one) in the United States, including among teens and young adults in targeted immigrant communities. Sunday evening's debate revealed the deeply-held and dangerous Islamophobic views and positions of both candidates and political parties. One particularly pernicious view that we heard stated, as if it were a given that requires no discussion, is that Muslims are responsible for reporting (to law enforcement and those in power) bad things happening within their communities. Both candidates responded to the following question by a member of the Muslim community: "You've mentioned working with Muslim nations, but with Islamophobia on the rise, how will you help people like me deal with the consequences of being labeled as a threat to the country after the election is over?" Donald Trump said: "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," while Hilary Clinton answered: "We need American Muslims to be part of our eyes and ears on our front lines." And they each then spoke about defeating ISIS as if that were a natural, logical part of the conversation when talking about Muslims in the U.S. This view--that conflates Muslims with ISIS and requires Muslims to demonstrate their allegiance to the U.S. by identifying and reporting those "bad" Muslims--feeds into the racist and anti-Muslim propaganda about who commits acts of violence in the U.S. and who is responsible for that violence. In fact, acts of violence, even if they are not called "terrorism" (a term that is discriminatory in how it gets used), are committed by every race and religion (and disproportionately by white men). Further, when someone from a particular group commits an act of violence, who is responsible for it? (Answer: not each and every member of that group); and who is responsible for condemning it? (Answer: not each and every member of that group). This perspective about culpability is also devoid of any analysis that addresses US-sponsored racial violence, both within the U.S. and across the globe, which is exactly where discussions of who is responsible for violence should start. Advertisement This whole framing simply doesn't speak to the double standard of what and whose actions are considered terrorism (ignoring the terrorism of white Americans and of the State), what gets covered by the media (focusing on sensationalist, anti-Muslim propaganda), and how easy and "normal" it is to hurl false assumptions of guilt against an entire people (something that we would--selectively--scream bloody murder about if it happened to other communities). It also doesn't speak to the fact that these totally fabricated narratives enable the U.S. government to demonize, target, and surveil entire communities while also bombing Muslim-majority countries across the globe. This is not to suggest that all manifestations of Islamophobia are the same. The kind of Islamophobia in Donald Trump's campaign is vile (and worse) and encourages hatred of, and violent incitement against, Muslims in the U.S. But the Trump campaign is not alone in promoting Islamophobia. The more "liberal" version also supports unwarranted suspicion and surveillance of Muslims and is also deadly, rationalizing and furthering US policies across the globe that harm (and bomb) Muslims. Advertisement If we are to understand the extent of Islamophobia in the U.S. and how we can challenge it, we need to understand the ways both parties promote it to further anti-Muslim policies. Former President Bill Clinton's statement at the Democratic National Convention, for example, is revealing (supposedly pro-Muslim, but actually anti-Muslim), not because he is the Presidential candidate's spouse but because he is the former President and reflects Democratic party politics: "If you're a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together, we want you." The Islamophobic assumptions in this one sentence are shocking. Or they should be. Think about this statement a bit more. It assumes that Muslims aren't part of "us" (who is "us"?); it assumes that Muslims have to condemn terror and love America more than anybody else (you know, conditional acceptance for those "good" Muslims); it assumes that Muslims have to help "us" "win" (again, who is "us"? and win against whom?). And it assumes "we" (the white supremacist system) will then deign to consider Muslims as "wanted." Never before were the two leading presidential candidates so disliked. Both major parties have nominated candidates that most Americans desperately want to reject. There are many reasons to oppose Hillary Clinton: a history of scandal, reaching back to Bill Clinton's Arkansas governorship; greedy, grasping friendships with economic elites; and brutal partisan war against political opponents. She is smart, competent, and experienced, but so were Richard Nixon and Richard Cheney. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that she would put her virtues to good use as president. She almost certainly would lead America into more foolish wars. About the only reason to hope for a Clinton victory is her flawed opponent, Donald Trump. Yet despite his many failings, he remains superior to Clinton when it comes to foreign policy. No one knows what Trump would do in a given situation, which means there is a chance he would do the right thing. In contrast, Clinton's beliefs, behavior, and promises all suggest that she most likely would do the wrong thing, embracing a militaristic status quo which most Americans recognize has failed disastrously. Advertisement In fact, her proclivity for promiscuous war-making has attracted the support of leading Neoconservatives, including some architects of the disastrous Iraq war, which as Senator she voted to authorize. Some otherwise obscure Neocons even have appeared in her campaign ads. Her record of backing every recent U.S. military intervention is far more attractive than Trump's intermittently blustering rhetoric to war-happy Republican hawks. As my Cato Institute colleague Christopher Preble pointed out, "Clinton supported every one of the last seven U.S. military interventions abroad, plus two others we ended up fighting." For instance, while First Lady she pushed for U.S. intervention in the Balkans--attacking the Bosnian Serbs and then Serbia. She was an enthusiastic war advocate, explaining: "I urged him [her husband] to bomb." Alas, Bosnia remains badly divided while Kosovo has turned into a gangster state which, according to the New York Times, is "a font of Islamic extremism and a pipeline for jihadists." Oops. She apparently took the same position toward Iraq, backing bombing that became almost routine during her husband's administration. He also turned a humanitarian mission in Somalia into nation-building on the cheap, threatened a military invasion of Haiti to enforce regime change, launched a lengthy occupation of the faux state of Bosnia, and expanded NATO toward Russia. None of them were in America's interest or turned out well, but Hillary Clinton apparently only objected to the Haiti misadventure. She was seen by aides as the most influential of the administration's many ivory tower warriors, always available to lobby Bill to do more bombing and killing abroad. Sen. Hillary Clinton supported the overbroad Authorization for Use of Military Force after September 11, which 15 years later the Obama administration claims as warrant for its very different war against the Islamic State. She strongly backed the Iraq invasion. Only after it turned out badly and threatened to damage her political career did she acknowledge her mistake. Of course, that was too late to retrieve the thousands of American lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and trillions of dollars squandered. At the same time, she said she was sorry for opposing the 2007 "surge" of troops, despite what Iraq became. Worse, a former State department aide reported that Clinton later announced she would not feel "constrained" in the future by the failure in Iraq. She apparently sees no need to learn from one's mistakes. Advertisement Clinton supported the Obama administration's decision to double down, twice, on its expensive yet failed nation-building mission in Afghanistan. She pushed for even higher troop levels than did President Obama. Clinton once warned about the ill consequences of drone strikes in Pakistan, became a strong supporter as secretary of state. Then she backed the administration's drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen as well as Libya, Somalia, and Syria. Clinton was more responsible than anyone else for America's Libyan misadventure, another attempt at regime change on the cheap, though with a humanitarian gloss. She reportedly warned President Obama against allowing America to "be left behind" by not joining the foolish war parade in North Africa in early 2011. She responded to Moammar Qaddafy's death with a joke, but the war left another failed state, host to Islamic State killers and convulsed by civil war. Her insistence on the ouster of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad discouraged a negotiated settlement, but the administration provided his opponents with no practical means to oust him. Clinton advocated lethal aid to rebels, who displayed a dismaying tendency to surrender and turn weapons over to radical groups, including ISIS. She later urged direct U.S. military intervention in the form of a "no-fly" zone. Clinton backed NATO expansion up to Russia's borders, a policy guaranteed to poison bilateral relations. She further advocated including both Ukraine and Georgia, which would turn their next confrontation with Moscow into a potential nuclear war involving America. After leaving office she made the overwrought comparison of Russia's annexation of Crimea with Nazi Germany and supported military aid to Ukraine, which would encourage Moscow to escalate accordingly. Advertisement Of her belligerent record Trump observed: "Sometimes it seemed like there wasn't a country in the Middle East that Hillary Clinton didn't want to invade, intervene in, or topple." Indeed, as he suggested, she is "trigger-happy and very unstable." This is one of the most important reasons Americans face a terrorist threat. While she previously contended that "We need a real plan for confronting terrorists," she apparently failed to recognize how bombing, invading, and occupying other nations, supporting murderous foreign rulers, intervening in other countries' conflicts, and killing foreign peoples all create enemies around the globe, some of whom retaliate against U.S. civilians. Alas, her policies guarantee even more wars in the future. Every military action creates blowback, which is used to justify escalating involvement and new conflicts. Yet she believes that her mistakes entitle her to the presidency: "I'm proud to run on my record, because I think the choice before the American people in this election is clear." It is. A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for more meddling, intervention, and war, with more dead Americans and wasted dollars, and ultimately even more meddling, intervention, and war. She cloaks her constant push for war with praise of "American exceptionalism" and America's role as "the indispensable nation." In her speech to the American Legion she cited Ronald Reagan's belief in America as a "shining city on a hill," even though he urged the U.S. to lead by example, not by becoming an international dominatrix. In fact, Reagan was a veritable peacenik in comparison to Clinton, embracing missile defense out of his horror at the prospect of war. As justification for her belligerence Clinton affirmed "America's unique and unparalleled ability to be a force for peace and progress, a champion for freedom and opportunity." Like intervening in Iraq and Libya, one wonders? Supporting Saudi Arabia in its brutal war in Yemen? Backing authoritarian dictatorships across Central Asia? Too bad Clinton never took seriously her admission that America's "power comes with a responsibility to lead, humbly, thoughtfully, and with a fierce commitment to our values." Advertisement When the U.S. fails to lead, she argued, a power vacuum occurs. Actually, it is Washington's insistence that it must "lead" which discourages America's vaunted allies from filling any voids. For instance, she advocates confrontation with Russia over Ukraine even though the latter is not a member of NATO and its status is of far greater interest to the Europeans--who have a much larger collective economy and population than both Russia and America. Clinton seemed almost giddy about America's "network of allies" which "is part of what makes us exceptional." Last June she attacked Trump's alleged threat to "abandon our allies in NATO," a bunch of well-heeled friends which typically spend less defending themselves than America spends protecting them. She also has pledged to increase subsidies to America's Arab allies, even though Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf States--which possess significant economic wealth, populations, and militaries--could act on their own. Allies, she earlier claimed, are a "source of strength." That's a dangerous delusion, best illustrated by NATO. There's nothing special about accumulating lots of helpless security dependents. Indeed, it's almost as easy to collect foreign allies as Facebook friends. All the U.S. need do is offer to subsidize, protect, reassure, and coddle wealthy nations which prefer to spend their money on more enjoyable endeavors, such as domestic social benefits. She argued that America should "stand with our allies because generations of American troops fought and died to secure those bonds." Actually, no. U.S. troops fought for them because America's security would suffer if they were conquered and they were unable to protect themselves. That is no longer the case. Washington's allies "deliver," she insisted, such as sharing intelligence. However, they would do so even if America did not promise to defend them. Similar is Japanese-South Korean cooperation with America over missile defense, which she has promoted. The Pentagon should not be turned into a welfare agency; security commitments should not be treated as a form of international charity. Clinton cited the "international coalition" against ISIS as if it was a success. In fact, Washington's intervention relieved the states directly at risk, which had more than a million men under arms, of the need to confront the so-called Islamic State. The Gulf States quickly retreated, with Riyadh shifting to its senseless war against Yemen, dragged America in as well. For years Turkey accommodated ISIS, with high officials apparently profiting from the illicit oil trade. Even now Ankara does more to fight the Syrian Kurds, America's most important allies against the Islamic State. Advertisement The U.S. should insist that its allies act like real allies by, for instance, defending themselves and otherwise contributing to America's interests, rather than acting as security black holes. Trump understands enough to complain about allied free-riding on American taxpayers. He also recognizes the need for creative solutions, suggesting the possibility of Washington's Asian allies developing nuclear weapons to deter North Korea. It's a controversial idea, but would get the U.S. out from the middle of a no-win nuclear confrontation. In her American Legion address Clinton argued that the election "shouldn't be about ideology," but that is nonsense. The president's ideology helps determine when he or she will go to war. In an earlier speech Clinton imagined Trump "leading us into war just because somebody got under his very thin skin." That's an ironic charge coming from someone who has backed U.S. involvement in every unnecessary, foolish, expensive conflict over the last two decades. Of course, she insisted, Americans "face real threats and real enemies that we need to confront and defeat." But not nearly as many as she seems to think. And not in nearly as many circumstances as she obviously believes. Still, Clinton appears to recognize that war-mongering is a vote loser. So she recently proclaimed: "we must only send our troops into harm's way as a last resort, not a first choice. That must be our bedrock principle." Advertisement Yet she never has followed that principle in deciding what positions to take. After all, how could she seriously argue that "we absolutely must" intervene in the Balkans, Iraq, Libya, and Syria and against the Islamic State? In none of these cases was there a compelling justification for U.S. combat intervention. In most there wasn't even a bad argument for getting involved. Yet we seem bound for a repeat. She promised not to send ground forces to fight the Islamic State: "We are not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again and we are not putting ground troops into Syria," she declared in early September. Yet she almost immediately started dissembling. Now she says she only doesn't want to place "big contingents" in either Iraq or Syria. One can imagine how she might define "big." Moreover, foreign policy aide Jeremy Bash promised a "full review" of Syria policy, which would take into account the ruling "murderous regime" with an objective of getting the Assad regime "out of there" at the same time as Islamic State's defeat. She previously proposed to "close Iraq's sectarian divide," which America created when it blew that country apart. Who really believes the U.S. could put Humpty Dumpty back together, at least without another military occupation? Of course, means also is important. Clinton denounced budget caps and sequester as applied to the military. They aren't a particularly smart way to make defense policy, but they are the only means to just slow military outlays which more than doubled in real terms since George W. Bush took office. Rather than complain about the process she should focus on substance--drop unnecessary defense commitments to wealthy allies and cut force structure accordingly. There's also "the experience and the temperament" of the prospective military commander-in-chief. Trump most obviously appears to flunk this test. In an address back in June Clinton attacked Trump for his obvious "bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies." However, Clinton, while publicly less volatile, is neither more truthful nor of better character. Her willingness to go to war for less than compelling reasons is an even greater flaw. A cool head is of little value if it leads to calculated involvement in multiple needless wars. Such a person also is not qualified to be the military's commander-in-chief. If Clinton really believes that "we should be finding ways to bring our country together around national security, our role in the world, our values," she should repudiate her past support for promiscuous war-making. Advertisement In short, what makes Clinton dangerous is not the sort of incoherence reflected in Donald Trump's foreign policy approach but a coherent yet far more dangerous advocacy of military dominance around the globe. She genuinely believes that Washington should micro-manage the planet, lecturing, hectoring, subsidizing, sanctioning, bombing, invading, and occupying other nations as it sees fit. Along the way she is convinced the U.S. should not hesitate to confront nuclear-armed powers, such as Russia and China. Alas, the rest of us would pay with our taxes and lives for her attempt to socially engineer the world. Have you ever been at the mall during the holidays and watched a toddler herded by an anxious parent to sit on Santa's lap? Some children can be bit apprehensive. Even without a developed vocabulary, you can see the child's internal dialogue as he or she hesitates or even tries to go the opposite way. Meanwhile, the parent is giving non-stop verbal reassurances (to a barely verbal toddler) that everything is fine. Invariably, there is that moment when the child is plopped down on Santa's lap, cameras and phones at the ready, and proceeds to scream hysterically at the top of little lungs, terrified. We seem to be having a collective Santa moment, only with different characters in fanciful costumes and obscured faces. I speak, of course, of the current creepy clown hysteria that started over the summer in North Carolina.[i] Thanks to social media, the clowns, which started as a localized phenomenon, real or not, took off. North Carolina became South Carolina.[ii] South Carolina became Georgia[iii] became California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York.[iv] Creepy clowns became so pervasive, even Ronald McDonald has had to lie low[v]. Sightings have spread across the United States and, even, across the pond to the UK[vi] and Australia.[vii] With very real threats around us, why have we collectively pitched such a fit over creepy clowns? Well, for one, clowns, like Santa to a toddler, have always been a little scary. They look, sort of, like a person but with exaggerated features. Their height and body weight are obscured. They tend to pop up when you least expect them and enter your personal space. They represent someone who looks kind of normal, but isn't, and might do something unexpected. Advertisement There are researchers who hypothesize that incidents of mass hysteria are caused by environmental stress.[viii] A specific population is already undergoing some level of concern or stress, which finds expression in a rumor-gone-wild. The example I saw cited, from the United States, at least, was the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 and 1693.[ix] I doubt anyone in 1692 wanted to gain notoriety by claiming to be a witch. According to the Smithsonian, 200 people were arrested and thrown in jail, while 20 were killed. I'm really concerned how far this is going to go. Some people have been discontent merely to watch for sightings, to be spectators only. Instead, they have chosen to become participants. A Wisconsin couple decided to join the craze - not by reporting a clown sighting but by becoming a clown sighting, during which, the couple left their 4-year-old daughter home alone for several hours. They've been arrested, not for being clowns, but for child neglect.[x] In a town south of me, a 17-year-old has been arrested for sending threatening texts purporting to be a clown . A 12-year-old boy supposedly made "a clown-related threat on social media to 'shoot up' an Ohio school."[xi] Lest you think this is only relegated to US teenagers, think again; it's just happened at a private school in Australia. With all of this happening, I have to ask myself, "why clowns" and "why now". If we're experiencing some sort of global stress, what could that be? The first thing to came to my mind was stress from the threat of terrorism, which has been escalating world-wide. Advertisement Chapman University just came out with its Survey of American Fears.[xiv] No, clowns didn't make the list. But a terrorist attack did; it's was the number two fear at 41%. Terrorism in general made the list, as well, at number four, with 38.5%. There's nothing funny about fear-of-clowns but I wonder what could be underlying this hysteria. Could we really be reacting to fear of people who look kind of normal, but aren't, and might do something unexpected? [i] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clown-sightings-north-carolina_us_57ceb0dbe4b0a22de096be7a [ii] http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/reports-creepy-clowns-woods-spooking-residents-greenville-s-c-n640876 [iii] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/clown-sightings-macon-georgia-children-say-clowns-chased-them-from-bus-stop/ [iv] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-halloween-usa-clowns-idUSKCN12C12X [v] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/12/ronald-mcdonald-keeping-a-lower-profile-while-creepy-clown-sight/ Advertisement [vi] https://www.rte.ie/news/2016/1012/823535-creepy-clowns/ [vii] http://www.australianetworknews.com/creepy-clown-sightings-australia-everything-we-know/ [viii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7355184 [ix] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/ [x] http://ktla.com/2016/10/10/creepy-clown-couple-left-4-year-old-alone-for-hours-while-scaring-neighborhood-police/ [xi] http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/state/washington/article106338742.html [xii] http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-boy-made-clown-related-threat-shoot-school-42731663 [xiii] http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/creepy-clown-threats-send-colac-trinity-college-into-lockdown-20161012-gs0zin.html First, here is the problem with Clinton and Bashar Assad. Now she is vehemently anti -Assad, but alas, here is the famous Face the Nation interview from 27 March 2011, when Syria is already burning, in which the then Secretary of State, referred to the dictator as a ''reformist'', who is expected to take the proper action and correct the situation leading to the outburst of protest in his country. A moot point? Not really, because she should have known and understand better at that time. The reference to Bashar Assad as a ''reformist'' belonged already before the beginning of violent protest in Syria to the Hall of Fame of the political absurd. Yes, Left Wingers and Liberals in the West were fascinated by a young fellow speaking good English, believing that this in itself is a certificate of progress, ignoring a political culture of sectarian oppression leading to inevitable economic stagnation . In sum, anything but reforms. Trump of course, did not respond to that, nor did the moderators ask the former Secretary to explain, but the problem emerging is one of conceptual misunderstanding of the future President about what the Middle East in general and a country like Syria in particular, need to happen which will be considered to be a REAL reform. Second, it was the point about the Kurds, who, as she said, should be armed. Yes, they should, and should have been since 2011 when she was in place as Secretary of State. But then, what for? What is the endgame? Is it to use them as the West's mercenaries against ISIS only, or is it to allow them to finally realize a measure of nationhood in North East Syria? If it is the latter, then the Kurds fight and will always for their own homes and survival, if however it is also to achieve the former, then there is the Turkish factor, and the Turkish PM was quick to criticize the former Secretary a few days ago. I, for one, expected her to say something about the fact, that the current Turkish invasion to Syria is NOT against ISIS but against the Kurds, and it has the support of the Obama Administration. So, in fairness to reality, what REALLY does it mean when the next President calls for arming the Kurds? Third, Clinton referred to the negative role of Iran in Syria. With that, we move from the absurd and unreliable elements of the first two points, to the sheer irritation. Yes, this is Iran which is perpetuating the conflict in Syria, yes it is Iran which is engaged in a bloody anti -Sunni war there, but it does it with 150 BN $ US added to their coffers by the nuclear deal which Clinton claims credit for, and with the licence of moderation given to Iran exactly by that agreement. So, where is the real Iran role in all that? Many in Syria and the rest of the Middle East think, that it is in the killing fields of Syria where we see the true face of the Mullahs, not in the conference rooms in Vienna. It was so easy for her to get away with all that in the debate , because Trump, if I understood correctly his gibberish English, is all but ready to succumb Syria to Iran and Russia altogether. MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - In a stunning announcement, Eric Schmidt, head of Alphabet, Inc., the holding company that owns Google, said today in a press conference at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, that at midnight on New Year's Eve of this year, the iconic Google search engine will become property of a new nonprofit organization called Unlimited Years of Search, or UYS. "We consider this to be a well-earned gift to the American public," said Schmidt. "We don't own the internet, after all, and our search engine is just an index to what's out there - just a kind of library catalogue. That catalogue should be owned by the public, not a private company. It's pretty obvious when you think about it." In a joint statement issued by Stephanie Hannon, former Google executive and Chief Technology Officer for Hillary Clinton, and Megan Smith, former Google executive and Chief Technology Officer for Barack Obama, Schmidt's announcement drew strong praise. "Google has always given away everything for free without asking for anything in return except of course a trivial amount of information about its users (LOL)," wrote Hannon and Smith. "Now it's making the ultimate contribution to society. It's breathtaking and overwhelming and it really makes us want to cry, both together, like at the same time." Advertisement Valued by the donor at $1.15 trillion, Schmidt said this is the largest charitable gift ever given by any corporation or individual anywhere in the world. Other large charitable gifts by Microsoft founder Bill Gates or Saudi Arabia's Prince Al-Waheed bin Talal are in the mere tens of billions of dollars and pale in comparison to Google's. Asked specifically about Mr. Gates' $10 billion gift to provide vaccines for people in Africa, Schmidt said, "Gates is an ass who doesn't know how to dress, and everyone knows it." Schmidt was surprisingly forthright about Google's motives for making the unprecedented donation. "We actually got the idea from Donald Trump," Schmidt said. "Trump might be a crude, witless, self-absorbed, hair-challenged horndog, but he's not an idiot. That billion dollar loss he declared 25 years ago got him off the hook from paying federal taxes for 18 years. We figure our trillion dollar gift will spare us taxes for about a century." Asked how the new charity is supposed to get the money to maintain and grow the search engine's massive index of 60 billion web pages, Schmidt introduced Amy Singhal, current head of Google search and future head of the new nonprofit. Advertisement According to Singhal, "We were worried about this at first, but then we contacted our friends at the NSA and the CIA, and they were just great. They helped fund the development of the Google search engine when its creators, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, peace be upon them, were graduate students at Stanford. The agencies were looking for a tool that could track what everyone was looking for on the internet, hoping they could catch people looking for directions on how to build bombs and all that. Our search engine has worked really well for them over the years, so I'm happy to announce that the NSA and the CIA have agreed to provide all of UYS's operating costs - about $10 billion a year - for at least the next ten years." "We knew they'd come through," Singhal added. "It's one hand washing someone else's foot, after all." Asked to comment on the high dollar value Schmidt has put on the tax deduction, Allie Dubois, director of the IRS and a former Google executive, said, "Hey, we all trust Google, right? They always give us the right answer, they've got a cool name, and they have amazing stock options." When asked whether his company had built in any "back doors" that would allow it to continue to track user searches after the transfer to the nonprofit organization was complete, Schmidt replied, "Well, it's true we dropped our 'Do no evil' motto back in 2015, but internally we still have a very similar motto: 'Do no evil unless it's convenient.' I hope that answers your question. Or not. I don't really care." "Anyway," Schmidt added, "even without the back doors, we believe in maintaining good relationships with our former employees, about 1,000 of whom now work for or run the NSA, the CIA, and a dozen other branches of the U.S. government. Some of them had to take pay cuts, too, but our people really believe in the whole government thing. Either way, I think we're good." Advertisement Industry insider Michael Doran, asked about Schmidt's announcement, said Alphabet has probably been planning this move for years. "The search engine was their cash cow," said Doran, "but they knew they couldn't depend on it forever. That's why, a few years ago, they started selling imitation iPhones, self-driving cars that hardly ever crash, laptops that spy on students, eyeglasses that spy on everyone, amazingly realistic sex dolls that use sophisticated A.I. to continuously improve the rotation of their hips - they're awesome, by the way - and of course, their recent breakthrough product: smart butt wipes. "The only product they had before that," said Doran, "was Google users, and that was creepy and dishonest. They secretly tracked everything we did and then sold the information to advertisers. They knew they couldn't get away with that forever - that at some point they had to start selling real products, just like Wal-Mart and Apple and most other businesses do - uh, except for Facebook and Twitter, of course." According to Doran, the company might also have legal motives for parting with the search engine. "They are probably concerned about the growing number of anti-trust actions initiated against them by governments around the world, most of which have to do with the shady way Google has been using its search rankings and search suggestions to control what people buy, what they believe, how they think, and how they vote." Google was fined 7 billion (about $8 billion) by the European Union last year for fixing elections in the U.K. and Germany using biased search rankings and biased search suggestions. By shedding its search engine, said Doran, "Google should be able to stop other anti-trust actions in their tracks." Doran also suggested that the donation was made "simply because Google doesn't need the search engine anymore." Said Doran, "With Google now collecting more and more data about us by recording everything we say through its home and mobile voice-command apps, the search engine has been dropping in value to the company every year. Apparently its value as a tax write-off now exceeds its value as an information collector." Advertisement Another insider, who asked that his name be withheld, was more skeptical, calling the massive donation "a whole lot of [expletive deleted]." "By saying '[expletive deleted] you' to the anti-trust agencies," he said, "and with all the tax benefits it will get from the donation, Google will be making a [expletive deleted] killing off this. And they're still monitoring us 24/7 over more than 200 [expletive deleted] platforms, including [expletive deleted] Gmail, [expletive deleted] Google Chrome, [expletive deleted] Google Analytics, [expletive deleted] Google Docs, [expletive deleted] Google Maps, and the whole [expletive deleted] Android system, not to mention the [multiple expletives deleted] Google Assistant that now records every [expletive deleted] thing we say, even the [expletive deleted] grunts we make while we're sitting on [expletive deleted] toilet taking a [expletive deleted]. Smart butt wipes, my [expletive deleted]. "UYS," said our source, "really stands for 'Up Yours, Suckers.'" The Montana Trap-Free Public Lands Initiative (I- 177) An initiative that's on this November's ballot in Montana, if approved, will place Montana in the fore of public land management. Montana, the fourth largest state in the country, is known for its remarkable natural resources. Glacier National Park is a jewel. Montana's rivers and streams feed both oceans and three of North America's major river basins. And the state hosts the greatest diversity of mammalian wildlife. And this fall, the state is trying to establish itself as a leader in public land management. An initiative on this November's ballot seeks to significantly restrict trapping on public lands. If the initiative passes, this is a big deal, not only because Montana has a lot of public lands--one third of the state or 50,000 square miles--and a long trapping tradition, but it will punctuate the growing shift to keeping state public lands safer for everybody. To date, California, Colorado, Washington, and Arizona have significantly restricted or banned trapping on public lands for just that reason, and because there's a growing consensus that trapping causes unnecessarily cruel and unusual suffering. But the ballot initiative is by no means a clear cut issue because many opponents believe it will infringe upon personal liberties, further fuel the expansion of big government, hurt individuals making a living from the skins of trapped animals, and is part of a broader movement seeking to ban hunting. The Missoulian, the state's third-largest newspaper, in a recent editorial, concluded "Montana's public lands are big enough to accommodate everyone, and we should all work together to find a way to share the landscape." It recommends voting against the initiative. Voters need to distinguish between facts and fiction in deciding whether restricting trapping for private profit on public lands makes sense. Advertisement Backstory Though commercially motivated, trapping in Montana is managed as recreation. For a $28 license, trappers can kill furbearers (beaver, otter, muskrat, mink, marten, fisher, bobcat and swift fox). Quotas are set for bobcat, fisher, otter and swift fox, but the majority of species, can be trapped without limitation. Trapping wildlife--badgers, raccoons, red foxes, as well as predators, like coyotes, weasels and skunks--is minimally regulated. Trapping such animals does not require a license, and trappers can kill as many as they like. Because traps catch anything that walks into them, they maim and kill thousands of other non-targeted animals every year. Trappers have reported killing an average of 50,000 animals annually for their fur over the past decade. The actual kill number is likely much higher. There are recommendations for how frequently traps should be checked. But the reality is authorities don't meaningfully enforce these rules. Accordingly, many trappers do not check their traps with any regularity. The state also doesn't require signage indicating where traps are set. While hunters may find their rights protected indirectly by the second amendment, there are no constitutionally guaranteed rights to trap. Accordingly, this matter is regulated by state and local authorities. The reason California, Colorado, Washington, and Arizona have already restricted or banned trapping on public lands is to enhance safety, promote tourism, and reduce wildlife suffering. Over the years, groups in Montana have failed to collect sufficient number of signatures to get an anti-tapping initiative on the ballot. However, this year, Montanans for Trap-Free Public Lands, based in Missoula, secured more than 34,000 independent signatures statewide to enable voters this November the right to decide if they want to stop trapping on public lands. What I-177 will Do Simply put, State Ballot Initiative 177 seeks to restrict commercial and recreational trapping to private lands. That still amounts to two-thirds of Montana. Connie Poten, Secretary and Coordinator of the ballot initiative, says if I-177 is passed, it would eliminate an extensive network of deadly devices that are spread randomly across millions of public acres. Advertisement "Special interests shouldn't trump the right of everyone to enjoy our public lands with their companion animals," says Poten. "Steel traps and (so-called) snares are like landmines left behind after war. When caught, people and their pets suffer significant trauma. Many pets have died." She also claims the initiative will also reverse the present trend that's been pushing rare and sensitive species to extinction, caused by centuries of indiscriminate trapping across public lands. Trapping is a leading cause for the decline of lynx, wolverine, marten, swift fox, and fisher. Local physician, Dr. Tim Provow, who's President of the ballot initiative committee, explains I-177 would greatly reduce "a form of killing that involves days of pain, starvation, even self-amputation, before animals succumb." He argues that if this form of torture occurred in any other context, those responsible would be accused of criminal animal cruelty. He points to reports by the National Academy of Science, which acknowledge animals (especially, but not limited to, mammals) feel pain and that it's incumbent upon researchers who rely on laboratory animals to mitigate their suffering. Provow also argues the initiative's passage would help the state's economy by improving wildlife-related tourism and related revenue flows by making public lands more safely accessible. I-177 would enhance water preservation and management, according to Dr. Clare Beelman, a former assistant professor of biology and Co-Coordinator of the initiative. "By damming, beavers and other semi-aquatic-animals," Beelman explains, "help preserve critical water basins." She cites a BBC report that found the work of just one beaver is estimated to be worth $120,000 in terms of water management. Loss of these animals, she concludes, is akin to collapse of bee colonies and its effect on agriculture. The initiative, according to Beelman, would not restrict trapping for reasons related to public health and safety, protection of livestock and property, and for scientific and wildlife management purposes. Anti-Initiative Argument A leading state group of hunters, fishermen, and trappers, Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, still argues trapping is one of the most effective methods for controlling wolves, coyotes, and other predators that threaten ranchers' concerns. Given the initiative's specific caveats, it's difficult to see how ranchers would be harmed by the public land restriction. The group also claims that "animal rights fanatics are raising hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars into a media onslaught of duplicity . . . as prelude to abolishing hunting, trapping and fishing." Again, it's difficult to see how the group comes to this conclusion. The initiative is exclusively focused on public lands and trapping. And according to the folks promoting the initiative, they are working on a shoestring budget and will likely end up in debt. The Marias River Livestock Association promotes the belief that passage of I-177 will cost taxpayers more than $400,000 a year in lost license revenues and the need for the state's Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to hire new personnel to track and count wolves--work that the Association says trappers are currently doing for the state. Advertisement When the Department was initially asked to assess the cost of restricting trapping on public lands, it concluded that it would lose only $61,000. The additional cost is related to counting wolves. Since trappers argue they actually trap on only a small portion of public lands--which is understandable given how remote such lands can be from where people live--the accuracy of the current way of counting wolves comes into question. Moreover, proponents of the initiative claim trained volunteers could be used to help track specific animal populations. The state could also enlist the help of wildlife biology students to more accurately assess animal populations. The Association also cites the long "cherished family tradition like hunting, fishing and camping" it wants to sustain by voting against this initiative. These activities do not appear threatened in any way by I-177. The initiative doesn't threaten trapping on two-thirds of the state that's private--that's 100,000 square miles. * The Missoulian admits the trapping initiative is grounded on legitimate "concerns about the collateral damage caused by this particular method of wildlife harvest." And the paper says, "there are places where it makes no sense to allow trapping." By agreeing the public should be worried about safety on public lands, The Missoulian's argument against I-177 reveals the contradictions of its own logic. It's likely that many voters may feel the same confusion about deciding which way they should vote. Ultimately, the case for I-177 is based on whether public lands should be managed for the public without putting any soul at undue risk. Given that two-thirds of the state is private, such a prohibition doesn't appear to significantly restrict trapping. Putting the argument less abstractly is Hamilton, MT-based veterinarian Dr. Alan Applebury. Advertisement "When a bobcat's leg gets caught in a steel-jaw leg hold trap, it immediately causes swelling, lacerations and bone fracture," explains Applebury. "With trapping occurring during winter months, loss of circulation will cause the limb to freeze within several hours. The limb will then turn gangrenous." "During this time, the animal will twist and try to run, causing joint dislocation and damage further up the leg." "For those creatures who refuse to remain trapped, the bobcat will start gnawing at its leg. Once through the soft tissue, it will bite through its own bone until it snaps. "For those creatures that do escape with a bloody, amputated limb, infection will occur soon after. If the animal doesn't succumb to a predator from which it can no longer escape, it will likely die of sepsis within a week." Advertisement "It may be worth considering," concludes Applebury, "how we as a society demand executions of convicted murderers be done humanely. It's troublesome that for innocent wildlife, when their slaughter is deemed necessary, society can't extend that basic standard." How should the next Supreme Court Justice adjudicate? Last month, I participated in a thought-provoking debate on Cato Unbound concerning that question--a question of pressing importance in the wake of the recent passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. I am grateful to Cato Unbound for hosting the debate and although my disagreements with my interlocutors were substantial, I am also grateful to Professor David Strauss, Professor Barry McDonald, and Ed Whelan for challenging my argument that the next Justice should adopt a particular approach--judicial engagement--in evaluating assertions of government power. With the benefit of time to reflect upon our exchange, I will offer some thoughts in response to Whelan and McDonald's final replies, and conclude with a brief discussion of what judicial engagement is and is not--and why it matters. Ed Whelan and I are both originalists. Both of us believe that the meaning of the Constitution's provisions was fixed at the time of their enactment and that judges--indeed, all government officials--are bound to adhere to that meaning. In Whelan's view, Article III's authorization of "[t]he judicial power" is properly understood to require a form of "judicial restraint"--to impose upon judges a duty to uphold government enactments unless those enactments are found to be clearly unconstitutional after the application of Founding-era interpretive techniques. Thus, the Constitution itself commands judges to presume that government enactments are constitutional and even to endeavor to "save" the constitutionality of government enactments by adopting interpretations of those enactments that are "fairly possible"--even if they are not the best interpretations. Advertisement If the text of Article III, enriched by the publicly available context in which it was enacted, communicated the concept of clarity, I would be bound to accept that concept as part of our law and binding on judges who draw their power from that law. For reasons that I articulated in my response to Whelan, I do not believe that the "[t]he judicial power" communicates that concept. I explained in some detail why I believe that Professor John McGinnis--whose scholarship Whelan draws upon--has not demonstrated that it does. I further explained why I believe that there is a tension between any presumption in favor of the government's legal position and a concept that is communicated by Article III--the concept of independent judgment. In the course of doing so, I acknowledged evidence adduced by Professor Philip Hamburger that judges at common-law and during the Founding era understood themselves to be required to exercise independent judgment and to presume government enactments to be valid. Although Whelan claims that I have not met his arguments, I have acknowledged precisely the objections that he has raised and a substantial portion of my response to him is devoted to addressing them. Readers may decide for themselves who has had the better of our debate. I do agree with Whelan that any rule of constitutional construction--any doctrine developed to implement the Constitution's guarantees in a particular legal setting, including judicial engagement--must not contradict the original meaning of the Constitution's text. Indeed, I would go further--constitutional constructions must be consistent not only with the text but with the spirit of the Constitution's provisions--their functions, as ascertained by careful study of the relevant evidence at the time of their enactment. In requiring the government to offer a reason for its actions and to bear the burden of producing evidence that its actions are calculated to achieve a constitutionally proper end, judicial engagement comports with core function of Article III: ensuring that those burdened by assertions of government power that they believe to be unlawful have access to an independent judge who will impartially measure the government's actions against the law of the land. Litigants are not well-equipped to produce evidence concerning the government's true ends or to explain the government's actions. Government officials are in possession of that evidence and can be presumed to know what their actions were designed to achieve. Placing the burden of production on the government is likely to produce more evidence than would otherwise be available and thus allow judges to better assess the constitutionality of the government's actions. Because Whelan's textual argument for judicial restraint fails, he must justify restraint as a constitutional construction--and that would require a further argument grounded in the spirit of the law that he has not yet made. Advertisement Professor McDonald claims that my call for engagement ignores the elephant in the room, namely, "how we determine what [constitutional] rights are and the appropriate role of unaccountable judges in this process." I have acknowledged that judges do need an objective methodology for ascertaining the Constitution's meaning--I have denied that such a methodology is sufficient to maintain the rule of law set forth in the Constitution. Indeed, McDonald acknowledges as much in describing the rational-basis review applied by Supreme Court in Williamson v. Lee Optical (1955) as a "rubber stamp" and stating that "at least meaningful rational basis scrutiny should have been applied," owing to "facts [that] reeked of special interest group capture of the legislature." But Lee Optical has been taken to stand for the proposition that such facts should not be inquired into at all in rational-basis cases--that "meaningful rational-basis scrutiny" is a contradiction in terms. If judges adopt such an approach, judicial review is not meaningful. It is that problem that constitutional interpretation cannot resolve--and that judicial engagement is designed to address. Further, although this is a matter of constitutional interpretation rather than construction, I cannot pass over McDonald's claim that my affirmation that "our Constitution is not primarily majoritarian but, rather, individualist" is mere "libertarian rhetoric." McDonald points out that the Constitution's Preamble refers not only to "the blessings of liberty" but "the general welfare," characterizing the latter as a "collective goal[]." He notes that the Bill of Rights was "not even in the original Constitution" but was, rather, the product of a "campaign promise." Thus, he concludes, "the Constitution is both majoritarian and individualistic, and it will not do to deify the latter feature and demonize the former." The examples that McDonald cites are entirely consistent with my thesis and, indeed, reinforce it. I mentioned the concept of fiduciary government in my initial reply to McDonald--the idea that the Constitution delegates power to government officials (the fiduciaries) to act on behalf of We the People (the beneficiaries) for specified purposes through specified means. The term "general welfare" indicates that the government authorized by the Constitution, like a private fiduciary, must act to advance the interests of all its beneficiaries, rather than only a select group of them. Like the so-called "General Welfare Clause," it is a limitation on government power. And it is a countermajoritarian limitation, inasmuch as it precludes the pursuit of purely factional ends rather than the genuine public good--a public good that, in Founding-era thought, consisted in securing individual rights. Advertisement And what of the failure to include a bill of rights in the proposed, unamended 1787 Constitution? As counterintuitive as it might seem to us today, "Federalist" supporters of the 1787 Constitution initially opposed the inclusion of a bill of rights on individualist grounds. Chief among their concerns was that rights not listed--and there was broad agreement that individual rights could not be comprehensively listed--would be considered to have been surrendered to the federal government. The Ninth Amendment was designed to address this concern--it sets forth a rule of construction that prohibits government actors, including judges, from "den[ying] or disaparag[ing]" rights "retained by the people" on the grounds that they are not enumerated. Unfortunately, its mandate has been ignored in our jurisprudence. Unenumerated rights have been presumptively relegated to second-class constitutional status by the Supreme Court, unless and until they are shown to be "fundamental" on the basis of vague, shifting criteria--with McDonald's apparent approval--even as the Court has consistently affirmed that certain unenumerated rights (including what McDonald refers to as "economic liberty rights") are constitutionally protected. In the end, judicial engagement is a modest proposal for those who believe that our Constitution is a good Constitution and ought to be consistently enforced. It does not ask judges to enact Mr. Herbert Spencer's "Social Statics." It does not ask judges to do things that they are not competent to do, but, rather, things that they do routinely in a handful of constitutional contexts but do not do consistently in all constitutional contexts. It holds that when a case "aris[es] under this Constitution," judges must exercise judgment in accordance with "this Constitution," without deference to the government's assertions that its actions are lawful or its unsupported factual assertions. And it can be identified empirically--cases in which judges make genuine efforts to identify and evaluate the constitutionality of the government's true ends on the basis of record evidence can be distinguished from those in which they do not. There is a gulf between the rubber-stamp approach in Lee Optical and the careful consideration and rejection of implausible justifications for government action in City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center (1985), discussed in my lead essay, that can be readily perceived and can serve as the basis for criticism and commendation, respectively. Justin Trudeau campaigned for "Real Change" and included many platforms differentiating him from the Conservative Party's message. One real and big change proposal included legalizing adult-use cannabis in Canada. Citizens in Nanaimo believe this campaign issue helped elect Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister on October 19, 2015. Adhering to his party's promise, the government has set up a task force to create a policy framework for legislation to legalize recreational use in 2017. In a Newsweek article, Trudeau said he wants to change the law for two reasons: to better protect young people from marijuana by providing increased control over points of sale and to take revenue away from organized crime. Canada first enacted the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) in July 2001 and more recently enacted the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) in August 2016. Today, Health Canada oversees 34 federally licensed companies serving about 80,000 registered patients. Like California, Canada has close to 40 million residents. Medical cannabis is legal throughout and adult use is widespread. However, when it comes to regulation, California and Canada diverge. Advertisement In Canada, there are only 34 federally licensed medicinal cannabis operations. In Canada, licensed facilities are required to function as grower, manufacturer, and distributor. There are no licensed retailers. All sales are delivery-only and sent via the equivalent of our U.S. Postal Service since there must be proper tracking from the distribution site directly to a patient's home. It is estimated that these legal operations generate approximately $100 million in revenues. In California, the marketplace is emerging very differently. Licenses are available in several categories, including cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, testing, and retail. California promises unlimited licenses but limits the number of licenses any one business can hold. In Canada, licensed businesses have full access to four of the "Big Five" Canadian banks, thus able to transact business via credit cards, checks, and electronic funds transfer. This is an important reminder to our representatives and colleagues in Washington, D.C. when it comes to cannabis - federal policy is failing. We toured one of the 34 federally licensed facilities which opened in April 2014. Tilray chose to open their 65,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility on the small island city of Nanaimo due to the diverse/skilled talent pool, the region's cost of doing business, renewable power, transportation logistics, and being heavily wooed by the local elected officials/community who saw this as a job creator for their residents who had traditionally worked in the coal and lumber industries. In fact, Tilray employs about 160 people today, with about 90% of their employees hired from the local community. Advertisement Storefront operations are prohibited, however many brick-and-mortar businesses operate due to a 2000 Supreme Court ruling providing access for compassionate needs. Although technically these store front operations are illegal under federal law, there is no political will to close down these operations. It is estimated this market generates $2 billion. Since Canadian facilities are required to function as grower, manufacturer, and distributor, they end up storing a lot of product. One of the government's strict requirements for obtaining a legal license is having the appropriate vault for the storage of the cannabis product. Health Canada has a website listing the different security requirements based on inventory limits and location ranging from 1-11. Based on Tilray's business model and location, they are required to have a Level 9 vault to house all product (that is not growing) each night in this maximum security vault. There is barbed wire fencing along the perimeter and about 270 security cameras onsite. It was confirmed that Health Canada officials routinely visit their premises unannounced for inspections. These licensed cannabis operations are taxed exactly like any other corporate enterprise in Canada. It seems there is consensus that the medical cannabis operators should be licensed and regulated similar to the liquor and wine industry. WEST PALM BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 13: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the South Florida Fair Expo Center on October 13, 2016 in West Palm Beach, Florida. In his remarks Trump vehemently denied recent allegations of past sexual assault and railed against mainstream media corruption and the 'Clinton machine'. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) This afternoon I attended Personal PAC's annual luncheon in Chicago. The main speaker was Gloria Steinem and more than 1,400 women and men were present at the event. Personal PAC is an Illinois political action committee that is dedicated to the protection of women's reproductive rights. As the organization rightly observes, "these rights are continually under attack" and are constantly "being eroded by elected officials who would seek to deny access to reproductive choice." During the luncheon I could not help but reflect on the stakes in the 2016 election. Of course, those stakes are "huge" and they affect an almost endless array of issues. One of them is a woman's right to choose. With Donald Trump in the White House, there is a high probability that the Supreme Court will overrule Roe v. Wade. Opponents of Roe have attempted to achieve this goal for more than 40 years -- without success. They have, however, come within a hair's breadth of achieving that goal, and with Donald Trump in the White House the odds will definitely be stacked in their favor. Advertisement Three of the eight current justices -- John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito -- have made crystal clear their fierce opposition to Roe. If President Trump gets to replace Antonin Scalia and at least one of the three oldest sitting justices -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (83), Anthony Kennedy (80), and Stephen Breyer (78) -- there will almost certainly be a majority on the Supreme Court to overrule Roe. This is, indeed, a large part of the reason why Senate Republicans have unconscionably refused to confirm Merrick Garland. With a Court consisting of Roberts, Thomas, Alito and two Trump justices, Roe v. Wade would be in grave peril. This is especially so because, if Donald Trump is elected president, the Republicans will almost certainly retain control of the Senate, which would mean there would effectively be nothing the Democrats could do to prevent Trump from appointing justices to the Court who are committed to overruling Roe. What would happen if the Trump Court overruled Roe v. Wade? Here's one indication: Since 2010, when the Republicans won control of most of the nation's state legislatures, more than half the states enacted laws that were clearly designed to make the exercise of a woman's right to choose as difficult as possible. Although the Supreme Court this past spring handed down a landmark decision invalidating most of those laws -- over the furious dissents of Roberts, Thomas, and Alito -- the very fact that more than half the states had the audacity to pass such blatantly unconstitutional legislation is clear evidence that, if given a free hand, they would at the very least outlaw all abortion unless necessary to protect the life or health of the woman or if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. They would, in short, turn the clock back to where it was before 1973, when the Court handed down its decision in Roe. Advertisement With Donald Trump in the White House, there is a high probability that the Supreme Court will overrule Roe v. Wade. Like Gloria Steinem and many others in the audience at today's luncheon, I remember that world all too well. In the years leading up to Roe, approximately one million women each year had an illegal abortion. These women were compelled to resort either to dangerous self-abortions or to equally dangerous "back-alley" abortions. Women who resorted to self-induced abortion typically relied on such methods as throwing themselves down a flight of stairs or ingesting, douching with, or inserting into themselves a chilling variety of chemicals and toxins ranging from bleach to potassium permanganate to turpentine to gunpowder to whiskey. Knitting needles, crochet hooks, scissors, and coat hangers were among the tools commonly used by women who attempted to self-abort. Approximately thirty percent of all illegal abortions were self-induced. Women who sought abortions from "back-alley" abortionists encountered similar horrors. To find someone to perform an illegal abortion, women often had to rely on the advice of friends or acquaintances or on tips from elevator operators, taxi cab drivers, salesmen, and the like. Because of the clandestine nature of illegal abortions, the very process of finding an abortionist was often dangerous and terrifying. Women who obtained "back-alley" abortions were sometimes blindfolded, driven to remote areas, and passed off to people they did not know and could not even see during the entire process. Such abortions were performed not only in secret offices and hotel rooms, but also in bathrooms, in the backseats of cars, and literally in "back alleys." The vast majority of these abortions were performed either by persons with only limited medical training, such as physiotherapists and chiropractors, or by rank amateurs, including elevator operators, prostitutes, and barbers. Advertisement In the years leading up to Roe, an average of more than two hundred women died each year as a result of botched illegal abortions. The mortality rate for black and Hispanic women was twelve times higher than the mortality rate for white women. In addition to those who died in the course of illegal abortions, many thousands more suffered serious illness or permanent injury. Because of the humiliation associated with having an illegal abortion, many women who suffered complications were reluctant to visit a doctor for treatment. The stories of women who suffered through this nightmare are legion. One woman recalled how a fellow college student who had had an illegal abortion was too frightened to tell anyone what she had done. She locked herself in the bathroom in her dorm and quietly bled to death. In another incident, 28-year-old Geraldine Santoro bled to death on the floor of a Connecticut hotel room after she and her former lover attempted an abortion on their own. The former lover, who had no medical experience, used a textbook and some borrowed tools. When things went terribly wrong, he fled the scene, and Santoro died alone. Consumers in today's market are more than ever looking for companies that have a positive social impact. Companies like TOMS and Patagonia have been on the forefront of this movement for years, and they are proving that a company can be financially successful and give back. In fact, most times a company will be more successful when they are socially responsible. Inspired by the trailblazers Blake Mycoskie and Yvon Chouinard, Aloha for People is more than a company by the beach that makes Hawaiian style shirts. The company's founders, Brian Poage (age 26) and Emily Sansom (age 24), are a duo of California natives on a mission to make shirts that spread cultural awareness, while also helping children gain access to clean water. Founded in Hermosa Beach, CA, Aloha for People uses hand-woven cotton fabric from Guatemala to make Hawaiian style shirts for both men and women. This fabric is durable, soft, and vibrant. By using fabric from Guatemala, they help create jobs for mostly rural men and women in the country. All of their shirts are made in downtown Los Angeles. They also help the economy in California by making the shirts locally and creating jobs here in the United States. The best part is that with every shirt sold, a child in Guatemala is given access to clean water for 2 years through their partnership with the social company Ecofiltro. Advertisement Aloha for People just launched a Kickstarter campaign http://kck.st/2efn5vh to raise $25,000 needed to purchase Guatemalan fabric and manufacture 600 shirts as their first major production run. This first run will feature 3 unique patterns and will be available for both men and women. They felt compelled to help the people of Guatemala after learning about the issues facing the country. With 16 million people, Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America. About 54% of the population lives in poverty, and 95% of the water in Guatemala is unsafe for human consumption. Aloha for People hopes to aid in the effort to provide access to clean water. Their partner, Ecofiltro, provides water filtration systems that can be used in homes and schools that provide clean, drinkable water to people in Guatemala. They are based in the country and have been helping provide water since 2009. Besides providing clean water, Ecofiltro also educates the children and their families about the importance of clean water. To date, they have provided clean water to over 500,000 people in Guatemala. Their goal is to provide access to clean water to 1 million people in rural communities in Guatemala by 2020, and Aloha for People is here to help them reach that goal. Aloha for People hopes to make a splash on Kickstarter and raise the funds needed to help the people of Guatemala. However, Guatemala is just the beginning for this up-and-coming apparel company. They already have their eyes on expansion. They are developing plans to work with Haiti and Nepal in the near future. They will continue to use native patterns and ensure all of their shirts are culturally significant to the people of the country they come from. Advertisement This article first appeared on the blog of Intentional Insights, a nonprofit organization that empowers people to refine and reach their goals by providing research-based content to help improve thinking, feeling, and behavior patterns. _____________________________________________________________________ On September 14, the 13-year-old Tyre King was shot and killed by a police officer, Bryan Mason, in Columbus. According to the police, Tyre was shot after running from officers who were looking into an armed robbery and pulling out a BB gun that looked similar to a real weapon. Tyre was black and Bryan white, fitting into a broader pattern of police killing of black males. Despite calls for calm from city officials, there is outrage over this shooting, with protesters calling for homicide charges against the police officer involved. Police union leaders, in turn, are defending the officer, saying he acted appropriately. Advertisement However, we have very limited information about what occurred. Definitive judgments on either side of whether the officer was justified or not should make us question the objectivity of those making such statements. Most likely, those folks are falling into confirmation bias, a typical thinking error that our minds tend to make when we let our strong personal beliefs override the evidence available. So how can we think effectively about whether the shooting was justified? Rather than a binary yes or no approach, we can apply the principles of probabilistic thinking to gain the most accurate understanding of the situation possible based on the evidence available. Probabilistic thinking is a research-based strategy that involves placing percentage estimates on what we believe and updating our beliefs based on the evidence as it emerges. First, let's consider Columbus police policy: officers should use deadly force only when they have a reasonable belief that they are defending themselves or others from serious injury or death. Since Tyre was not threatening anyone else at the time, we can safely assume that Bryan was defending himself when he shot Tyre. Thus our belief of whether the shooting was justified rests on whether we believe the officer perceived himself to be in immediate deadly danger. The officer claims that after he chased Tyre into an alley, the boy pulled out his gun. Since Bryan believed it was real, he shot Tyre. If Tyre indeed did pull out his gun and hold it in a threatening manner, I would personally put a very high probability of the shooting being justified. Advertisement However, the only one who was in the alley and came out alive was the officer. In many previous cases, especially involved white officers shooting African-Americans, the accounts of the police officers involved in questionable shootings have proved false. Imagine what would happen to Bryan if Tyre was actually not threatening him. What if Tyre was running away when he was shot? What if Tyre did not pull out his gun, but simply had it on him? What if Tyre was trying to throw the gun away to not be found with it? Not only would Bryan's career be ruined, but he would be tried and likely convicted for killing Tyre. He has a very strong incentive to lie. This lowers my percentage probability of Bryan's account being accurate. So does other evidence. For instance, Tyre is described by those who know him as a well-behaved kid who was into sports. He also attended Bible study. Given Tyre's background and that Tyre knew it was a BB gun and that it would not do him any good at all to shoot it at the officer, I place a low probability on him actually threatening Bryan with his gun. Of course, we can't discount the possibility that Tyre panicked and did do what the officer said he did, but it seems unlikely. Some additional evidence is an independent investigation conducted on behalf of Tyre's family by Francisco J. Diaz, MD, FCAP, a practicing medical examiner in the County of Wayne, Michigan, and a Consultant Forensic Pathologist. According to Dr. Diaz : "it is more likely than not that Tyre King was in the process of running away from the shooter." This further undermines the probability that Bryan's account is fully genuine. More broadly, this shooting has to be understood in context of tense relations between the police and African-Americans over racial profiling. A report from the Federal Government's Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that black people were three times as likely to be searched as whites in a traffic stop. Certain police officials wave away data suggesting unfair racial profiling by claiming that blacks are more likely to be involved in criminal activity than whites. Yet a study just released by the Center for Policing Equity corrects for racial difference in criminal activities. The study's outcomes show that African-Americans are more than three times as likely to suffer from police use of force compared to whites, for everything from mild restraint to gunshots. Advertisement Now, this does not mean that white police officers explicitly discriminate against black people. Research shows that all of us suffer from some degree of implicit bias, deeply ingrained negative attitudes associated with certain groups or markers of social identity. The large majority of white Americans - including police officers - are implicitly biased against African-Americans. These studies should further decrease our probabilistic estimate that Bryan was justified in shooting Tyre. There are some research-based methods of debiasing which are likely to reduce implicit bias. One great technique is de-anchoring, where instead of going with our intuitive reaction, which is highly likely to be biased, we adjust our behavior based on research. For instance, if a police officer knows that black people are over three times as likely to experience police coercive force, she should think thrice before using force on someone who is black. Although further research is needed on how to deliver such training effectively, if Bryan had gone through this sort of training, I would have higher confidence in Bryan's account. We can't discount the possibility that Tyre panicked and did do what the officer said he did. However, based on the current information available, I would put a 20% estimate on the shooting being justified. Of course, your own estimate of the weight of each piece of evidence may vary, and I am very open to updating my beliefs based on additional evidence. How much more healthy and productive would our discourse be if we placed probabilistic estimates on our beliefs and disputed how much weight each piece of evidence should have? We can then have a much more nuanced and accurate approach to such polarizing and emotional questions. ______________________________________________________________________ Bio: Dr. Gleb Tsipursky runs a nonprofit that helps you reach your goals using science to build an altruistic and flourishing world, Intentional Insights, authored Find Your Purpose Using Science among other books, and regular contributes to prominent venues; and is a tenure-track professor at Ohio State. Consider signing up to the Intentional Insights newsletter; volunteering; donating; buying merchandise; and/or support him personally on Patreon. Get in touch with him at gleb@intentionalinsights.org. Chances are, you've already made thousands of decisions today. Researchers at Cornell University estimate that you make an average of 221 decisions a day on food alone! But what happens when a group of decision-makers get in a room to make a decision together? Gridlock, lobbying, analysis paralysis, jockeying for power, hurt feelings, cliques, and heated tempers. How is it that as adults who make thousands of decisions a day, we struggle with making decisions that will serve the central missions of our organizations? The truth is: we're using old-fashioned tools to make group decisions. Many groups settle into a pattern of endless meetings to move decision-making forward. Too often, we leave with more questions than we had before and little idea of how the work was moved forward, what decisions were made, what's next, and who is accountable. The monetary cost of these meetings is extraordinary. There is actually a Harvard Business School app that will help you estimate the monetary impact of meetings. The Risks of Delayed Decision-Making The decisions we don't make, and the time we waste in not making them, end up delaying necessary support for our employees and end users. Delays like these reverberate throughout our organizations. One school district I was working with shared that their teacher recognition program was running two years behind, meaning teachers received their five-year gift and letter of recognition on their seventh anniversaries. Why? Because there wasn't enough capacity to support this program among other priorities, but no one was willing to end the program. What is the impact of this type of ineffectiveness on the culture of an organization? What is the message when a meaningful gesture is reduced to a joke because of inefficiencies and an inability to change? Advertisement The good news is that we're not stuck with the decision-making delays and quagmires we've come to tolerate and even accept. I recommend that organizations adopt new decision-making model. The model is called "safe enough to try," and it empowers teams to take action. "Safe enough to try" is a learn-by-doing approach that treats decision-making more like practicing a sport, than a spectator pastime. When we learn to make decisions quickly--with the right information, by the right people, with the right levels of risk--we can build momentum and create a sense of possibility. Getting Started The first step to transitioning to a "safe enough to try" decision model is to change the way we speak about decisions. Changing language can be a very powerful and accessible way to begin making the shift. What's more, it takes zero resources, and it's something that you can start regardless of your title or tenure in an organization. Here are a few simple language changes to get you started: Start meetings with proposals instead of questions. Starting a meeting with a question like, "how can we address this issue?" opens up a forum for discussion that can easily get off track. If you have an idea, even if it isn't perfect, consider throwing it out at the start of a meeting as a "starting proposal." A clearly communicated proposal focuses the meeting, gives something for people to respond to, and makes the time much more productive. People I work with often worry that coming in with a proposal will make them appear bossy, or not inclusive of other ideas. This is where framing becomes important - frame the question at hand and keep the bar low for your proposal. You could say something like, "Since we are here to discuss how to address this issue, one possible proposal to move us forward is X." After presenting your proposal, instead of asking, "What does everyone think?" or "Does everyone agree?" instead ask, "Does anyone have an objection?" This creates a bias toward action, allowing a solution to move forward, as long as there is no reason why it would cause harm. From a timing perspective, this is much more efficient. It is rare that within a 1-hour meeting you will be able to secure one hundred percent consensus, but you might be able to obtain a simple consent. These language choices begin to suggest a fundamental shift in a decision-making culture. Instead of making everyone happy, what we are looking for is for a proposal to take us one step forward, knowing that we can return to a problem and shift directions later if we need to. Giving up the need to find the "perfect" solution and instead experiment forward can begin to release built-up decision-making pressure. Ultimately, organizations who embrace "safe enough to try" enjoy a greater sense of being alive. As you make smaller decisions regularly, you will build confidence in your ability to make smart decisions. This practice will increase your fluency and decision-making muscles. As you create a list of accomplishments, new projects and big decisions will not seem as daunting. These successes will allow you to push yourself and your organization to new levels of achievement through heightened awareness of new information, increased responsiveness to making decisions, and confidence that you are moving in the right direction. This article is an edited excerpt from Alexis's book, tentatively titled "The New School Rules: 6 Building Blocks for Thriving Schools and School Districts" The book is planned for release in Fall of 2017 by Corwin Publishing. Follow Alexis on Twitter for updates @Gonza2ax. To federal officials, it's a way to provide greater transparency and efficiency in the way the United States tries to prevent infectious diseases from spreading. To the folks at one nonprofit health organization, it's a "power grab" by the federal government that could eventually prohibit people who aren't vaccinated from getting on airplanes, trains, or ships. The object of this attention is an 88-page proposal by officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Advertisement The proposal would amend the current rules for quarantine for control of communicable diseases for people traveling in the United States as well as people entering the country. The proposed rule changes were posted on Aug. 15. Federal officials are taking public comment until this Friday. "Communicable diseases are just a flight away. To protect the U.S. population, Congress passed laws giving CDC the authority to implement regulations that prevent communicable diseases from entering the United States and then spreading between the states," the CDC website states. Normally, these kind of bureaucratic language alterations don't garner a lot of attention. However, officials at the Citizens' Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) have sounded the alarm bells. Advertisement They have contacted their members with an action alert, asking them to write comments on the proposed changes. "It's a power grab," Twila Brase, the president and co-founder of CCHF, told Healthline. "We don't know where this empowerment will lead." What the proposal entails The current infectious disease rules were instituted in 1944 under the Public Health Service Act. Its goal is "preventing the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases." The authority for enforcing these rules was transferred to the CDC in 1967. On the CDC website, federal officials say the changes will "make into law several practices currently in place to protect the public health." The changes would update the requirements for cruise ships and airlines to report potentially sick or exposed travelers. Advertisement It also formalizes the appeals process for people who are placed under quarantine or in isolation. The proposed changes mention the recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in Africa and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in Asia as examples. "These updates will better prepare CDC public health officials to respond quickly, efficiently, and effectively to outbreaks and other public health threats associated with travel," the CDC website states. "These updates are being proposed in response to lessons learned during the largest recorded epidemic of Ebola in history in West Africa, the recent outbreaks of MERS in South Korea and throughout the Arabian Peninsula, and repeated outbreaks and responses to measles and infectious tuberculosis in the United States. The proposed updates will also assist CDC in responding to the ongoing threat of other new or re-emerging communicable diseases." Federal officials point out the rules do not force a person to be vaccinated and prohibit any medical treatment without the informed consent of the person. Objections to the rules Brase said her organization has several concerns. The first is where this authority will eventually lead. She said the new rules would require airline companies and cruise ship operators to report information on their passengers to the federal government. Brase said it's possible that if a person with an infectious disease was confirmed on a plane flight that the federal government would want information on all the people who had been sitting near that passenger. Advertisement "We're concerned we might be creating a surveillance system," she said. Brase added there's concern that measles is mentioned 187 times in the new proposed rules. The Zika virus, she said, isn't mentioned even once. CDC officials noted that measles is a highly contagious disease while Zika is primarily transmitted through mosquito bites. Nonetheless, Brase said there are concerns the measles rules could eventually lead to unvaccinated people being prohibited on planes or ships. "There seems to be an emphasis on measles," Brase said. "We're worried it could add some coercion to getting people to be vaccinated against measles." However, federal officials say it's all about safety and public health. "These updates will reflect the most current evidence-based practices and procedures already in use by CDC Quarantine Stations," the CDC website states. "They will also provide the public with clear and transparent information about how CDC conducts public health risk assessments and manages sick travelers at U.S. ports of entry and those traveling between states." By David Mills By James M. Dorsey This week's decision by Pakistan's Supreme Court to delay ruling on an appeal in the country's most notorious blasphemy case and the thousands of security personnel deployed in its capital, Islamabad, in anticipation of a verdict, lay bare the degree to which Saudi supported ultra-conservative worldviews abetted by successive Pakistani governments have changed the very nature of Pakistani society. At stake in the court case is more than only the life of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian mother of five who has been on death row since 2010 when she was convicted of insulting the prophet Mohammed in a bad-tempered argument with Muslim women. The court has yet to set a new date for the appeal, but ultimately its decision on Ms. Bibi's fate will serve as an indication of Pakistan's willingness and ability to reverse more than four decades of Saudi-backed policies, including support for militant Islamist and jihadist groups that have woven ultra-conservative worldviews into the fabric of Pakistani society and key institutions of the state. Advertisement In an ironic twist, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with his close ties to Saudi Arabia is groping with a dilemma similar to that of the kingdom: how to roll back associations with puritan, intolerant, non-pluralistic interpretations of Islam that hinder domestic economic and social progress and threaten to isolate his country internationally. It's a tall order for both countries. Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family founded the modern day kingdom by forging a power sharing agreement with ultra-conservative followers of 18th century preacher Mohammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The Al Sauds constitute the only Gulf rulers who cloak their rule in religious legitimacy granted by the country's ultra-conservative religious establishment. Losing that legitimacy could endanger their survival. Successive Pakistani governments benefitted and abetted almost half a century of massive Saudi funding of ultra-conservative thinking in a bid to enhance Saudi soft power and counter more nationalist, revolutionary and liberal worldviews. Pakistani and Saudi interests long jelled in the support of militant Islamist and jihadist groups that targeted Muslim minorities viewed as heretics by ultra-conservatives, confronted with US backing Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan, nurtured the rise of the Taliban, and served Pakistan in confronting India in its dispute over Kashmir. In doing so, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan unleashed a genie that no longer can be put back in a bottle. It has pervaded Pakistani society and branches of government in ways that could take a generation to reverse. Advertisement The timing of the delay of the court ruling may have been coincidental but it came days after the Sharif government took a first step in seeking to change course. Pakistan's civilian, military and intelligence leaders had gathered three days earlier for an emergency meeting in which Sharif and his ministers warned that key elements of the country's two-year old national action plan to eradicate political violence and sectarianism, including enforcing bans on designated groups, reforming madrassas, and empowering the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) had not been implemented. The 20-point plan was adopted after militants had attacked a military school in Peshawar in December 2014, killing 141 people, including 132 students. In a blunt statement during the meeting, Foreign Minister Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry charged that Pakistan risked international isolation if it failed to crack down on militant groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba; and the Haqqani network - all designated as terrorist groups by the United Nations. Mr. Chaudhry noted that Pakistan's closest ally, China, with its massive $46 billion investment in Pakistani infrastructure, continued to block UN sanctioning of Jaish-i-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, but was increasingly questioning the wisdom of doing so. The court delayed its ruling after one of the judges recused himself because of his involvement in legal proceedings related to the 2011 assassination of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer by Mumtaz Qadri, a former elite police force commando. Taseer was a vocal opponent of Pakistan's draconic blasphemy laws and supported Ms. Bibi. Mr. Qadri became a hero despite being sentenced to death. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of Islamabad to honour him after he was executed earlier this year. Authorities feared that a court ruling in favour of Ms. Bibi would spark mass protests. The delay in the court ruling simply postpones a potential confrontation. Advertisement It is a confrontation that was long coming. Pakistan's blasphemy law fits decades-long Saudi use of its political clout and financial muscle to promote anti-blasphemy laws and curtailing of freedom of expression and the media beyond its borders. The Saudi effort benefitted in the post 9/11 era from a global trend in democracies and autocracies alike to curb free speech. "The issue of blasphemy is destroying whatever strands of pluralism remain," warned Pakistani researcher Nazish Brohi. Notions of blasphemy propagated by the Saudi Arabia have led the kingdom to execute those that refuse to publicly subscribe to its narrow interpretation of Islam. In Bangladesh, secular bloggers risk being hacked to death while jihadists slaughter those they think have insulted their faith in an effort to stymie all debate. Pakistan's electronic media regulator this year took two television shows off the air during Ramadan for discussing the country's blasphemy laws as well as the persecution of Ahmadis, a Muslim sect viewed by ultra-conservatives as non-Muslim. A proposal in recent years by Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations to criminalize blasphemy in international law legitimizes curbs on free speech and growing Muslim intolerance towards any open discussion of their faith. The proposal was the culmination of years in which the kingdom pressured countries to criminalize blasphemy and any criticism of the Prophet Mohammed. Increasingly, the pressure constituted the kingdom's response to mounting anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia in the wake of attacks by the Islamic State in European and Middle Eastern nations, including Paris, Ankara and Beirut, and the October 2015 downing of a Russian airliner, and mounting criticism of Saudi Arabia's austere interpretation of Islam and massive violations of human rights. Advertisement The criminalization of blasphemy and the notion of mob justice resembles campaigns on Western university campuses for the right not to be offended. Both propagate restrictions on free speech and arbitrary policing of what can and cannot be said. In a lengthy article in a Nigerian newspaper, Murtada Muhammad Gusau, chief imam of two mosques in Nigeria's Okene Kogi State debunked the Saudi-inspired crackdown on alleged blasphemists citing multiple verses from the Qur'an that advocate patience and tolerance and reject the killing of those that curse or berate the Prophet Mohammed. Saudi anti-blasphemy activism and efforts to curb press freedom date back to 1980 when the government wielded a financial carrot and the stick of a possible rupture in diplomatic relations in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the airing on British television of Death of a Princess, the true story of a Saudi princess and the son of a general who were publicly executed for committing adultery. Saudi Arabia forced Britain to recall its then ambassador, James Craig, in protest against what it called "the British Government's negative attitude toward the screening of the shameful film." In addition, the kingdom imposed limitations on visas extended to executives of British companies while US construction companies were asked not to subcontract British firms. Saudi Arabia further banned British Airways from flying its Concorde from London to Singapore through the kingdom's air space. The ban together with a similar one by Lebanon forced BA to chart a longer route for the supersonic flight, which wiped out its profit margin. Advertisement Scholars Thomas White and Gladys Ganley argued that "the film was perceived by Saudis as a violation of privacy since it represented a first look behind a closely drawn curtain into Islamic law as applied in Saudi Arabia, into Saudi culture, and, perhaps most devastating, into the behaviour of members of the ruling regime... Much of Saudi criticism of the film was directed towards what was called its portrayal of Islam as a harsh, insensitive religion, since the princess was depicted as having been summarily executed without a confession or a trial. The severity of punishment and the speed with which the princess was executed put doubts in the minds of viewers as to the fairness of Koranic justice." It's been a banner year for U.S. fishermen who seek Pacific bluefin tuna in southern California. Anglers not only found numbers of these amazingly engineered fish, but they also caught some of the biggest bluefin seen in decades. The news of these big fish has gone absolutely viral in fishing reports and social media. The current blitz of big bluefin along the West Coast, and specifically, in California, may lead one to believe that this fishery is thriving. However, the truth of the story is very, very different - there are very few Pacific bluefin left. Pacific bluefin tuna can grow up to one thousand pounds and live for up to 4 decades. In that time they can travel from the coast of Japan to the coast of Mexico and, in some cases, all the way back. Recreational anglers revere bluefin for their sheer power, while chefs and foodies alike savor the red, fatty meat. As top predators, they also have a valuable role in marine ecosystems. Still, our global lust for Pacific bluefin has hurt it badly. Advertisement According to the latest and best-available independent science, just 2.6% of the entire population remains. That's more than depleted--that's borderline collapse. Such a steep decline means the species is teetering on the edge of being wiped out completely. Even more sobering, the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean warns that, under current conditions, the catch limits now in place have a less than one percent chance of returning the population to healthy levels over the next 20 years. In short, current management measures are not enough to reverse this crisis. The international fishery management bodies responsible for protecting this population have largely failed. Despite calls from a myriad of stakeholders for the need to end overfishing and implement a Pacific-wide, long-term recovery plan, governments have not been able to muster the political will necessary to do it. And at a meeting in Japan at the end of August, managers left yet again without consensus on ending overfishing or protecting juvenile fish. The current situation is so dire that we may now be down to only one viable option to immediately end overfishing and allow international governments to get their act together and settle on a plan to bring back the population: a complete moratorium on commercial harvest. Advertisement It's really amazing that such a large disconnect exists between marine and terrestrial resource management. After all we've learned over centuries of land management, I can't fathom that a modern day, multibillion dollar terrestrial resource would be allowed to decline so precipitously before managers took necessary action to immediately reverse the problem. But we face this type of situation currently with Pacific bluefin tuna. However, it doesn't have to be this way. This banner year in the southern California bluefin fishery doesn't have to be the last. Although the United States is a small player in the total harvest of Pacific bluefin tuna, we need the US government, led by the National Marine Fisheries Service, to take a leadership role in the international management of this species by calling for an immediate end to overfishing as well as the development of a meaningful rebuilding plan. We've reached a "now or never" stage with this species and no sacrifice should be considered too great to rebuild this iconic fishery. From Oct. 12-14, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission will hold a special meeting in La Jolla to discuss rebuilding Pacific bluefin, and in December, managers will meet for the annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. At both commissions, the U.S. plays a pivotal role in changing the conversation and making better rules that govern fisheries. When I learned that Wikileaks had released more documents with the aim of casting more harsh light on Hillary Clinton's campaign, my first reaction was why did this latest installment have to be so strategically timed. Not only that, Julian Assange warned us it was coming, as if to presage an "October Surprise." It's difficult for Assange to deny that with Clinton he has an axe to grind: as secretary of state she called for him to be arrested and tried. But his vehement drive to expose her seems to be undercut with deep resentment. I can't help but wonder: is it because she's a woman on the brink of ascending to the most important and powerful position in the free world? As everyone knows, Assange is wanted in Sweden for allegedly raping two women (and is accused of other sexual assaults), but has managed to protect himself from arrest and prosecution in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has lived without leaving for the past four years. Assange denies these charges of rape just as, in the wake of the release of the Access Hollywood tapes, Donald Trump denies having ever assaulted a woman. It's hard not to equate these two men, both suspected of assault and misogyny, and to see them both resorting to dirty tactics to bring down the first female presidential candidate whose downfall they've so far been unable to achieve. They have, however, played central roles in putting her as a candidate under unprecedented scrutiny by imposing a standard of conduct upon her and, in Trump's case, former president Bill Clinton, a standard to which they themselves arguably cannot live up to. Advertisement And then, of course, Assange and Trump's other commonality is their possible relationship with Vladimir Putin and the Russians. Russia is allegedly behind high-level hacking of the DNC and the release, by Assange, of the ten-year trail of Clinton-Kaine campaign chairman John Podesta's emails. While both Assange and Trump disavow any association with Putin, Assange becomes somewhat inscrutable hiding out in a foreign embassy while Trump refuses to release tax returns that might indicate an unholy business relationship with Russia. At the end of the day both might be pawns in Putin's attempt to influence the American election - or to go a bit farther, pawns in Putin's attempt to wrench the election away from a woman and deliver it to a man who just might (due to cronyism) be more easily influenced to embrace policies favorable to Russia's interests. What I found most disturbing about the second debate was not the nasty level of rhetoric that characterized the discourse, but rather the way Trump stalked and loomed over Clinton as she tried to make contact with the folks in the town hall who were asking her questions. It was an obvious attempt to intimidate Clinton, but she smartly, and deftly, ignored him. Advertisement The traditional characteristics of a TV star one should have in order to acquire fame, fans and of course money is more and more turning into an old memory, similar to the memory of a classical film. Nowadays, the immediacy, authenticity and mainly the interactivity of the internet have formed a new framework against the conventional media. As a result, there are various choices of channels for all tastes on the Youtube platform. The channels that have made the greatest impression to the most powerful media around the world are the ones devoted to the consuming habits of the most popular shoppers - the women- giving tips for face and body care and make up. Young girls over the age of 20, talk about a beauty product they tried, in front of the camera they have put in their bedroom, as they sometimes do online make up seminars, showing the stages they follow for a fresh and glamorous appearance step by step. If all this seems to you nothing more like an occupation for lazy young girls, such cases in all around the world show that, although all this started as a hobby inspired only by their love for beauty, it turned into a very lucrative business. Michelle Pahn, Zoella, Nicole Guirrerino and many other girls gained millions of followers in all around the world and made great fortunes. Advertisement However this boom on Youtube is not something one can see only in big countries. And that's because the universal character of the internet gives everybody the chance to have his own "space" in this "global village". And so, four years ago this phenomenon made its appearance also in Greece, a country of approximately 11.000.000 residents, becoming more and more popular as years went by. Today, there are uncountable Greek channels available on the well- known platform and some of them are very successful. One of them is the channel created by 25-year- old Souzana Keghitsi, a young journalist who has already won the Marie Claire Beauty Award. Having graduated from Panteion University where she studied Journalism, she has worked as a beauty editor for online and printed fashion magazines. One day when she had to write a critique for some eye makeup products she tried, she thought that it might be better to record herself explaining what did she thought of each one of them. "I turned on the camera of my cell phone, I sat under the lamp, so that the lightening was better and I started talking. I added the video to the electronic article I was writing and I uploaded it on the internet" she says. And then her trip towards success in the "magical" world of Youtube began. The readers liked her idea to talk about the cosmetics she tried in front of the camera and so, she decided to keep on doing it- always as an amateur. Advertisement Later on, she created her own Youtube channel and when she realized that more than one thousand people followed her, she started her research on how this platform works. "I had never watched Youtube, I didn't even know where the subscription button is. One day I saw a number in this little red box, I tried to find out what it was, and when I did, I could not believe it. I wrote that I had managed to have 1.000 followers on the social media. I felt so good and I tried to improve the sound quality and the definition of my videos" she says smiling. During our interview at a cafe downtown her cell phone didn't stop ringing. Women of any age sent her messages asking her about beauty tips or about her opinion on different products that they had bought. Susanna answers to each one of her followers and as she says "this is the magic of Youtube. There's no point in talking on my own in front of a camera. I want to receive messages, answer to everybody, and be their friend. I always answer to my messages; otherwise I have no reason keeping on doing it." However very often she receives messages with offensive comments from the well-known haters of the internet. They are all users hiding behind fake profiles and acting undisturbed writing insulting and vulgar comments under her videos. As she says, at first she would be annoyed but she doesn't pay attention any more. "When I see that they cross the line and insult my followers then I delete comments. It's Ok when somebody tells me that they don't like my hair or that my lipstick isn't nice, but I don't like it when they make extreme comments, especially towards my followers". The award She has more than 10.000 followers despite having her channel for just one year- a quite big number, if one takes into consideration that, due to talking in Greek, she can only have a Greek audience- and she has already won the Marie Claire Blog 2016 Award. It is a competition organized by the Publisher of the magazine in Greece, which Susanna used to attend as a beauty journalist. "When I went there as a beauty editor, it had never crossed my mind that I wound ever take part in the competition and win the award. Never, never, never!" she says spontaneously and there's no reason not to believe her. But how does it feel to attend a contest, being one of the participants? "It's very stressful" she says and then she goes on saying: "I couldn't stop trembling from my anxiety and after my name was announced, I don't know how I managed to talk." That day was surely one of the best days in her life, not only because her effort was rewarded but also because she received so many messages with congratulations the next morning, more that the ones she receives on her birthdays. "When I woke up and saw my cell phone, I really felt surrounded by love. I thought that there are people out there, watching me and being really happy for me". Financial Benefit Having read plenty of articles about the great fortunes of the beauty bloggers in all around the world in the international media, I couldn't resist asking about the situation in such a limited market as the Greek one. "Of course here there can't be the amounts of the foreign Youtubers , that we hear and read about. Things are much more different. What people need to know is that, the money a Youtuber makes from the Google commercials is not much. The profits come from our sponsors and people very often judge it on a negative way" she explains to me, adding that the necessary condition to advertise a product is to try it and like it first. "I have refused to take money from a company that asked me to advertise one of her products, but finally I didn't do it because I didn't like its quality. I cannot lie to the girls watching me, just in order to earn money. I have to do my job with respect towards my viewers" she clarifies. "I love my country; I don't want to leave it" The 25-year old girl with the big green eyes and the bright smile maybe belongs to the few young people in Greece, who don't think about the potential of leaving the country for a better future. She believes that, despite the financial crisis torturing the Greeks for the last years, there are still opportunities for the new generation. Strong will and persistence are the secrets of success for her. "People may find my job very glamorous, but it demands many hours of working, staying up all night in front of my computer, and being constantly alert. For many years, I've worked in the media without being paid. Nothing comes to you on its own". Advertisement "Aren't the Saudis your friends?" Obama smiled. "It's complicated," he said. "My view has never been that we should throw our traditional allies"--the Saudis--"overboard in favor of Iran." President Barack Obama http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-obama-doctrine/471525/ "We have as solid a relationship, as clear an alliance and as strong a friendship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as we have ever had." Secretary of State John Kerry http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-01-24/kerry-says-us-saudi-friendship-stronger-than-ever "I think it's important to the United States to maintain as good a relationship with Saudi Arabia as possible." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-09-21/saudi-arabia-s-clout-in-washington-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be "The strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia is based on mutual interests and a longstanding commitment to facing our common threats together." Speaker of the House Paul Ryan http://www.speaker.gov/general/continuing-dialogue-regional-security-partners-ryan-delegation-travels-riyadh Advertisement "I think Saudi Arabia is a valuable partner in the war on terror. If you want to lose Saudi Arabia as an ally, be careful what you wish for." Senator Lindsey Graham http://yournewswire.com/sen-lindsey-graham-supports-arms-sale-to-saudi-arabia/ "There is a public relations issue that exists. That doesn't mean that it's in our national interest to not have an alliance with them -- I mean they're an important part of our efforts in the Middle East." said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/09/21/saudi-arabia-is-facing-unprecedented-scrutiny-from-congress/ "Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, and for our Qatari friends." Senator John McCain http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/isis-saudi-arabia-iraq-syria-bandar/373181/ Citing Western Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence, and Intelligence from the Region, that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia--not just its rich donors-- was providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups, http://www.salon.com/2016/10/11/leaked-hillary-clinton-emails-show-u-s-allies-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-supported-isis/ why do President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lindsey Graham, and Senator John McCain, consider the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia our ally? Advertisement Markedly, this is not complicated, nor is it a friendship, a special relationship, a valuable partnership, a clear alliance, a strategic partnership, or a public relations issue. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is evidently a clear sponsor of terrorism. According to Western Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence and Intelligence from the region, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia clandestinely funds and logistically supports ISIS. How could a nation like Saudi Arabia (or Qatar) that funds and logistically supports ISIS be considered an ally of the United States in the fight against ISIS? The Saudis (and the Qataris) are funding and logistically supporting our enemy. The United States Government should not condone, enable, or turn a blind eye to that fact. As an American citizen and a 9/11 widow whose husband was brutally murdered by 19 radical Sunni terrorists, I'd like these appointed and elected officials to immediately explain their indefensible positions with regard to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its now clearly evident role in underwriting and logistically supporting radical Sunni terror groups worldwide. Moreover, these appointed and elected officials, in good conscience, should also immediately explain to the American public why they oppose JASTA or want to re-write JASTA--anti-terrorism legislation specifically designed to hold the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accountable for its funding and logistical support of radical Sunni terror groups that kill Americans. Muslim refugee holding his baby looking through a fence Growing up as a child in a land more than 8,000 miles away, I found myself struggling to discover my career goals for the future: a terribly colossal WNBA player with sublime power and agility, a frightening detective with an unprecedented ability to catch murderers, a princess with blinding radiance and pulchritude. Within a matter of weeks or months, however, these potential career choices lost their appeal. It was not until I had become 10 years old and had visited Al Husn with my uncle that I became certain of exactly what I wanted to do. A makeshift refugee camp fraught with abject poverty, rampant corruption, and--perhaps most afflicting of all--preventable deaths, Al Husn is a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan that is home to more than 55,000 evacuees. Denied easy and affordable access to basic health care, residents of this camp frequently rely on the aid of pro-bono doctors, like my uncle, to offer them health services. The sights from my first visit continue to resonate strongly with me, even after 13 years. I saw an elderly tuberculosis patient whose brittle body looked as if it could shatter into a million pieces. I heard a haunting outcry from an elderly woman pleading for my uncle to see her husband, a decrepit, jaundiced old man with a severe case of Hepatitis A. I listened as Alia, a 15-year-old wife and mother, expressed her yearning to go back to a time when she was not married to a 53-year-old man and exposed to grueling and debilitating rape on a regular basis. Fearing the stigma and the risk of reprisal, Alia remains silent. "Atfali bihtajooni oo lazem adeer bali a'lehom. Hada naseebi." My children need me, and I must support them. This is my fate. Advertisement Every summer, when I go back to Jordan, my uncle and I continue to visit the residents of Al Husn. In the meantime, here in the US, their stories influence my daily decisions. It is directly because of my early experiences at Al Husn that I chose to obtain a bachelor's degree in Psychology at UC Berkeley and a master's degree in Global Health Sciences (mental health emphasis) at UC San Francisco. Now, I spend my days working at Stanford University with children and families who have various mental health problems. I recognize the immense privilege I have had so far in my life; most notably, enough money to arrive to this country and resources to help me apply, enroll, and subsequently graduate from these universities and pursue professional experiences afforded to relatively few people. I did not experience war and did not have to worry relentlessly about the safety and security of my family. As a native Syrian whose family settled in Jordan and subsequently in the US and at a time when at least 12 million Syrians have been forcibly displaced from their homes, I do not take these privileges lightly. Madame President or Mrs. President, which should it be? We are on the cusp of developing a whole new vocabulary for describing the first woman to be the leader of the free world yet, there has been strangely little focus on just how historic this is. I know I share the sentiment of so many women, and men, in saying my heart leaps for joy thinking about uttering the words Madame President for the first time. I see three reasons why electing Hillary is so momentous. Competence prevails Women are regularly held to a higher standard than their male counterparts in proving they are qualified for a job. Studies document that while men are promoted and compensated for future potential, women are promoted and compensated for previously demonstrated competency. This election may be the ultimate example of this phenomenon in action. Hillary Clinton is among the most, if not the most, qualified person to ever be elected to the presidency. But Clinton is not just qualified, she is uniquely qualified to be both the next president and the first woman president. Hillary is qualified in the way the principal of my sons' high school is qualified. Our principal grew up in my town, sent her children to the high school, taught at the school, was a dean at the school (four deans coordinate 2000+ students), served as assistant principal at the high school, and ultimately became principal. She is so fantastic at her job because her experience emanates from so many perspectives. She can appreciate the concerns of parents, the challenges of teachers, and the demands of administrators all from lived experience. Advertisement Similarly Clinton will bring a kaleidoscope of experience to the presidency: as a working mother balancing the complexities of care and career, as a First Lady trying to change the rules of engagement, as a wife deeply hurt and publicly shamed, as an elected official wholly committed to supporting women and families, as a foreign policy leader with a front row seat to the most difficult decisions a president must make, and as a grandmother reveling in the potential of her grandchildren and wanting to ensure all children have that same chance. Most importantly, Clinton has walked the extraordinarily challenging road of redefining who women can be in the world over more than four decades. Her life story is the story of middle class America leading to great things with an enormous twist, like Ginger Rogers she's done it walking backwards and in high heels. Clinton has been a leader her whole life registering many firsts across the decades. At Wellesley College, she was elected class president and was the first student to address the class at commencement. She entered corporate law practice in her late 20's and at 32 became the first woman partner at her firm. Her political work on the national stage began in her mid-40's when Hillary became the First Lady of the United States and felt the sting of a country not ready for a president's wife to play a policy role. Despite huge opposition to her efforts to reform health care, Clinton triumphed with bi-partisan support for a children's health insurance program that continues today. As First Lady she captivated the world at the UN Women's Conference in 1996 first uttering the words, "Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights." She began her race for the U.S. Senate, the first First Lady to run for elected office, by crisscrossing the state of New York to listen and learn. As a brand new senator when tragedy struck, she became an advocate for 9/11 victims and handily went on to win a second senatorial term. Next up Clinton confronted another first, running for president. Her loss in the primaries was followed by an unexpected invitation and acceptance to join the President's cabinet as Secretary of State. In the current election, Clinton channeled all she had learned in her 2008 presidential run to capture the 2016 Democratic nomination, the first woman ever to do so. Now let's consider Trump's background. Supported by family money, Trump started rich and has always been rich not only with the first $1 million dollar loan from his father but with multiple infusions over several decades. Lauded as a successful business man, his main purported credential, his track record hardly paints a picture of success. He has driven several businesses into bankruptcy, he's touted endless businesses that closed (Trump steaks, Trump magazine, Trump airlines, you get the pattern), he regularly abused contractors paying them only a fraction of their bill, if any at all, and when the going got tough, he made sure he collected his share while leaving his partners, suppliers, and employees out in the cold. How can this possibly be construed as a profile of business leadership? That wasn't the definition of leader I learned about in business school. Advertisement How about political experience? Trump has never even been the county recorder and seemingly has no clue how laws get made or how they work. Remember those checks and balances you learned about in social studies? Apparently Trump missed that class. He is going to make America great again single handedly, just ask him. And he lacks even a basic understanding of sexual assault and the notion of consent. Trump has no demonstrated ability to work across difference, responds to criticism like a cornered animal, and shows little ability to learn new skills, like listening for a start. If ever there was a contest between competence and inaptitude, this presidential election would be it. Throw in Trump's volatility, vindictiveness, arrogance and destructive nature, all currently on full display as he follows his torch-the-earth strategy. The contrast between how extraordinarily unqualified and unsuitable Trump is in comparison to how extraordinarily qualified and suited Clinton is to be president makes one's head spin. Does that mean Clinton is a perfect candidate, or that she hasn't made mistakes through time, some egregious? Of course not. Who in 40 years of public service could claim that completely unrealistic standard? Yet Clinton's record of possible transgressions pales in comparison to Trump's. Turning over arguably the most important job in the world to a man lacking the baseline skills and qualities ahead of a woman with an astoundingly full set is sexism gone mad. Based on a 25 year analysis, Clinton's favorability rating crashed each time she reached for power, something women are not supposed to do, while once she was in power being her competent self, her ratings shot up. Just ask yourself, would a woman with Trump's profile and personality have even been elected to the local city council? Clinton's victory will validate the experience of so many women by demonstrating that competence can overcome bias. The power of role modeling Clinton has been labeled as the establishment candidate in this race, yet this description is dead wrong. Yes she has been involved with politics for many years, and in several different roles, but that is where the comparison ends. A few days after the first presidential debate I read yet another article characterizing Clinton as a steady hand who can keep the country on its current course while Trump is a radical agent of change. As someone who has spent more than 20 years researching and consulting on gender diversity, I am certain that Clinton's election WILL constitute radical change. Clinton's victory will be a game changer for women and the world. Advertisement Clinton's presidency will constitute radical change because for the first time every little girl in the U.S. can say I want to be president, just like Hillary Clinton. They will see her on television, they will hear people talk about her, and they will know girls can be president too. It will be a radical change because for the first time in American history a woman will be the one setting the vision for our country, a vision that reflects her lived experience as a female. While women have made great gains over the last 50 years, they continue to remain sparsely represented as the top leader in all public domains: business, academia and government. Based on a recent McKinsey/ LeanIn research report, at the current rate of progress women in corporate America will not see parity for more than 100 years. Clinton's election will be radical because for the first time ever we will have a First Gentleman in the White House which will redefine the vision of that important role. It will be radical because in 20 years or 50 years or 100 years, girls will be able to read about our first woman president in their history books. Role models are incredibly powerful. In a visceral way, they make the impossible seem possible and symbolize that someone like me could aspire to that future. An intense irony of the election is that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have been characterized as change agents but let's consider that assertion. Bernie is a self-declared socialist and has spent the better part of his life as an Independent. He ignited a movement, particularly among young people, to shift the country considerably further to the left with key platforms like a universal health care system and the elimination of tuition at state colleges. But the reality is, Sanders has spent the better part of 40 years in politics. How can a white male career politician suddenly become an outsider? Yes Bernie has been a very liberal, powerful left leaning voice but, he's been an insider none the less. Clinton has been criticized by liberals for being too moderate in her positions yet her moderation has enabled her to work across the aisle, be effective, and craft legislation that actually became law. I have no doubt that without being politically moderate, Clinton would have been marginalized and expelled from the system long ago. Instead she stands a whisper from the presidency. Interestingly, Hillary too looked down on compromise as a young woman, imagining a world where the impossible could be possible. Part of the problem with just empathy, with professed goals, is that empathy doesn't do us anything. We've had lots of empathy; we've had lots of sympathy, but we feel that for too long our leaders have viewed politics as the art of the possible. And the challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible possible. Advertisement From Clinton's 1969 Wellesley graduation speech The dominant narrative has been of Trump as the business man who will show those politicians how to run the country like he's run his business (shudder at the thought). Trump certainly likes to sell himself as the outsider, the voice of the every-person, but in Trump's case the every-man. Yet what does Trump know of the every-man? He's mistreated endless every-man workers just trying to make a living and he failed to pay millions of dollars taxes over two decades to fund the vast array of supports that the every-man depends on: health insurance, education, veterans' benefits and more. Trump minimizes the crucial role that his father's connections, and his access to readily-available cash over several decades, played in enabling his business success. Are these supports even a pipe dream for the every-man? And now Trump' policies - the few he has articulated - reflect HIS priorities with few benefits for the every-man and nearly none for the every-woman. Trump may be a political outsider but he is the epitome of an enormously privileged white man whose success has been fueled by so many advantages he can't even see. Trump in his words and deeds is anathema to empowering women. He is the ultimate gender status quo! The beacon of feminine power Perhaps the most exciting part of Hillary Clinton becoming the next President of the United States is that she will bring her feminine world view to the job which powerfully connects to so many of the issues and priorities that women value. because they see in the policies what matters to them in their lives. I am acutely aware that women are hardly one big monolithic group all wanting the same thing and sharing the same priorities. That said, what I do know as someone connected to women's leadership for decades is that Clinton's lifelong priorities speak to the challenges that women face and enable women to live most fully. Clinton's influence will help create a world that so many women want to inhabit. A world where: Women can no longer be economically short-changed, relative to their male counterparts, and can count on equal pay for equal work. As a result, they will have greater resources to care for themselves and their families. Care work is supported by providing paid time off for critical life events such as personal illness or caring for a child or family member. Care work is no longer marginalized and compensated at poverty level wages (held overwhelmingly by women.) Instead it is seen as, and funded as, an important element of infrastructure enabling our citizenry to work. Women can count on access to safe, accessible reproductive care and no one has the right to legislate a woman's reproductive decisions. (How is it that the GOP stridently opposes the government's right to control guns yet simultaneously espouses the right to control women's bodies? Do guns not threaten human life?) It is broadly understood that a woman's control over her reproductive decisions is among the most critical determinants of her economic well-being. (How is it that the GOP argues for the sanctity of life but has no trouble abandoning that life post-utero by devaluing and persistently cutting funding for support services?) Health care is no longer seen as a privilege to be earned but as a basic requirement of one of the wealthiest nations on earth. Reliable, affordable health care enables women to care for their children and supports far greater flexibility in their careers. Adequate resourcing is funneled toward education and healthcare rather than the endless need for bigger and better weapons. We never forget that America and immigration are synonymous and we realize that diversity is the lifeblood of who we are as a nation. Military policy is thoughtful, measured, collaborative and slow to violence. We evolve our mindset to see ourselves as nurturers of our planet rather than as malevolent masters extracting resources at our whim. Trump reflects all the worst stereotypes of male power. It is power over characterized by aggression, hierarchy, entitlement, unrecognized privilege, and fear. It is about winning and losing and ego. Let me be absolutely clear that many men do not see or use power in this way but those that do, like Trump, are a disaster (his favorite word). Perhaps most importantly, Clinton's victory will demonstrate feminine power - power with - that is far more oriented toward collaboration, compassion, shared purpose, caretaking and hope. My heart sings with the vision of Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office where feminine power can burn bright. "This week alone, I have 50 girls to harvest from the "cream", not an easy task! You'd think the selection process would be easy, but it's not"....Dallas's voice trails off as she checks her phone. Meet Dallas, she is a Broker. Not a Finance Broker, not an Energy Broker nor an Oil and Gas Broker. She is a "Spoil" Broker. Her position is to provide only gorgeously fit and highly intelligent sexually adventurous women to a market booming with a society willing to spend $100k a year for a membership to a Brokers private club. A Broker who will do all the leg work to find its client's just what they need, a date. Being a Broker, Dallas and her menu are available to her clients 365 days a year 24 hours a day. Alphabetized with photos and stats for each is how one peruses the menu. Blonds, Brunettes, Red heads, Green eyes, Blue eyes, dark Brown eyes, with a Masters in Genealogy, a PhD in Philosophy etc., you dream it and she is on the menu. And if she's not, Dallas will find her. I call them "Spoils" because these women are highly sought after and once you've been with one of them? You're spoiled. They are status symbols." She describes them as easy rides worth every penny like that of a $200k Bentley package. Advertisement And what will a Spoil of your choice set you back? A mere $20K for 6 hours of time, money directly deposited into the companions account before the night begins. "Penny's when you think of the quality of the woman on my arm when I attended an event at the Musee du Louvre in Paris this past November" says Jeremy, a bachelor with a penchant for beautiful women. Jeremy says that the $100k fee he pays is "well worth it." As a Wealth Manager, his time is exhausted with his clients and their needs. And all the money in the world does not buy him time, so most nights he flips through Dallas's online menu. Adding his selection to the cart sends an automatic confirmation to his companion, transaction completed. A service that gives Jeremy top tier access to only the best money can buy in a companion. And how does Dallas find her girls? "It's simple, I ask. If I see a gorgeous girl getting out of an expensive vehicle, or she's at the gym and she's physically fit, I know she expects more for herself. So, I ask. These girls become social companions, not prostitutes, there's a huge difference." Dallas says that she has refined her service and describes her earlier days in the business as disastrous "having been local meant that the selection was limited in rotation" and her "gents" were quickly dissatisfied. "I had to up my game and provide a leaner selection of quality goods, up the price and boom! It's all about supply and demand. You never show all your cards and my companions are expert poker players. The only one who will know what you paid for is you and your Spoil." Advertisement Dallas says that all the companions she employs are fluent in no less than 4 languages and are experienced world travelers noting that most have studied abroad as their families were in the Oil and Gas industry. "They have to be, if they weren't they'd seem novice to luxury and we can't have that!" Dallas says that most are professionals who work the hours they want as they all, but a few, have full time jobs and make the equivalent to a yearly salary in a few months. Dallas says that she is now offering a stable of men to her clients as she has found that women are just as interested in her services now as men have been all along. I wonder if she offers her services to the LGBTQ community and Dallas says "absolutely". Dallas says that her services are for everyone to enjoy, so long as her membership fee is paid and they pass a background check, no one is ever turned away. Hired for 2 "socially challenged" brothers, sons of an Energy Tycoon worth over $500 million who can buy anything in the world, 2 Beauty Queens have been added to the cart for his offspring. I wonder what fetish the Beauty Queens have mastered and will they provide that tonight "I'm legally bound so I cannot discuss that, but I can tell you that their dates have never been with women, if you can believe it. The girls know that this is a business and a quality product is what I deliver. What happens tonight will be between them, so long as it is within the allotted time, my client is happy with the outcome and the girls are safe? That's all I care about." Dallas says that her requirements are simple as she asks her employees to stay fit, eat healthy keep up with relevant topics and have fun. Something that was required of her when she was a "Sugar Baby" to her first client when she was 18 years old. "After 7 years, once I turned 25 years old he didn't want me anymore." Dallas says that her Sugar Daddy told her that "one man's trash would be another man's treasure" when he told her he was sure someone else would want her. So she decided to turn her experience into a business. Advertisement Next month on Election Day, California voters will decide whether to direct elected state officials to use their authority to help overturn the 2010 Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a reversal of its previous ruling in 2014, the California Supreme Court decided to allow the proposition approved by the state Legislature, to be placed on this year's ballot. In a clear case of judicial activism, Citizens United reversed over 100 years of federal legislation establishing reasonable limits on campaign contributions. This disastrous decision by the Roberts' Court gave the green light to corporations, including foreign companies, wealthy individuals, advocacy groups and unions to contribute unlimited amounts of cash to help elect or defeat federal candidates. In a bewildering 5-4 decision which devalues the fundamental right of free speech to junk bond status; the Roberts' Court ruled that the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech to American citizens, also allows corporations and wealthy individuals the right to contribute unlimited sums to influence elections. These undisclosed contributions by undisclosed donors are seriously undermining our electoral process. Advertisement Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization, co-founded in 1988 by Donald Trump's current deputy campaign manager, David Bossie. Bossie has spent decades investigating the Clintons, including his work during the Clinton presidency as a member of the Senate's special committee investigating Clinton investments during the 1980s in the Whitewater Development Corporation. Citizens United challenged a federal court ruling barring them from buying advertisements, and paying to show its documentary titled "Hillary: The Movie" within 30 days of the Democratic Primaries in 2008. The 2009 ruling was based on the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law signed into law in 2002. Almost before the ink was dry on the Citizens United decision, President Barack Obama stood before Congress during his 2010 State of the Union address and declared, "I believe it will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections." Unfortunately for our American Democracy, which vests its power in the people, the President's prediction of "open floodgates" of unlimited corporate cash has not only proved to be correct, it has granted the power to wealthy undisclosed individuals and special interests to drown out the voices of average Americans during election cycles. Advertisement Since the 2010 decision, spending by outside groups, known as super PACs, has doubled to $486 million. Also since 2010, less than 200 individuals and their spouses have bankrolled $1 billion in super PAC spending. The Supreme Court's majority decision argued that PACs are not direct contributions because they are considered "independent spending" and are prohibited from coordinating with a candidate's campaign. The reality is that super PACs are often run by individuals with close ties to the candidate. California, along with 15 other state legislatures -- representing over 94 million Americans -- have already passed resolutions supporting a constitutional amendment to overrule Citizens United. In 20 other states -- representing over 141 million Americans -- pending resolutions are being considered. If we are to have a functioning American Democracy where the voices of average citizens are reflected in the actions by members of Congress, then we must reestablish reasonable limits on campaign contributions. If we are to end the political gridlock in Washington, we must demand that our elected leaders place the interests of their constituents ahead of wealthy individuals and special interests. Moreover, we must eliminate the corrosive and corrupting influence of big money in politics, and restore the Democratic principles of our Founding Fathers. By overturning the fundamentally flawed Citizens United decision through a Constitutional Amendment ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures -- our representative form of Democracy can be restored to greatness "from sea to shining sea." Senator Bernie Sanders said it best from the floor of the U.S. Senate in 2014, "The very foundation of American Democracy is being threatened by a handful of incredibly wealthy people." I read a book recently that does not mention the specific details of the 2016 election but reflects our current political and cultural environment very well. It's called "The End of White Christian America" by Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute. He defines White Christian America (WCA) as white Protestantism, and argues that what was once the dominant national culture and ethic is effectively dead - fractured between mainline and evangelical whites, with both groups in decline and in various stages of mourning. Jones writes with a deep respect for WCA's positive contributions to American institutions and identity, while equally critical of WCA's complicity in slavery and segregation and its inability to build substantive bridges with other faiths, races, and ethnicities. I've never been a member of WCA. I'm the son of a Jewish father and Christian mother, and was brought up Armenian Apostolic, only to reject it as a teenager. Nonetheless, WCA is an essential part of my political and cultural inheritance. I try to put myself in the shoes of people who feel like they're losing their country and that their past was better than their present and future. Whether or not I succeed is debatable, but when I read about the anger driving many Republicans, who have taken up WCA's mantle, I do try to listen and understand. (I found sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild's brilliant article on the five years she spent with Trump supporters to be invaluable in that regard.) Advertisement But I'm starting to hit my limit. WCA could not have chosen an uglier person to carry its banner. His latest revelation, the Access Hollywood tape where he bragged about sexually assaulting women (and yes "grab 'em by the pussy" is sexual assault) makes me further embarrassed and ashamed that my fellow citizens would elevate him. For those supporters dismissing it as a joke, multiple women have just come forward saying he sexually assaulted them. Trump depresses me for so many reasons, but most of all, because he encourages the people I love to be crueler, less trusting, and more afraid. When he says Mexicans are "rapists," mocks the disabled, insults women, says we should ban Muslims, especially Syrian refugees, exaggerates crime statistics and amplifies immigrant homicides while ignoring that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans and start businesses at higher ones, he does incalculable damage to the country and to his own supporters. When asked about his behavior at the debate, Trump quickly pivoted to ISIS: "You know, when we have a world where you have ISIS chopping off heads, where you have -- and, frankly, drowning people in steel cages, where you have wars and horrible, horrible sights all over, where you have so many bad things happening, this is like medieval times." This is a common theme of his campaign: respecting non-whites and women is a waste of precious time we could be using to punish our enemies; if you aren't a white male, you're useful only so far as you condemn the crimes of your peers and never complain about being mistreated. It's why Trump dismisses bragging about unwanted sexual contact as "locker room talk" without any consideration of the abuses women face every day. Advertisement It's why, when the uncommitted Muslim voter asked the candidates how they would address Islamophobia, Trump responded that Muslims needed to start cooperating with law enforcement, which they already do. Respect and compassion are not luxuries. They are necessary for any society to prosper. To hate is easy but futile and exhausting; to listen and love takes work but is invigorating. WCA understood that once. White Christians helped build a country that welcomed my great-grandmother, a teenage orphan who fled the Armenian Genocide, and my Italian and Jewish ancestors. America didn't need to let them in; the nations they came from were violent and filled with crime. But America let them in and is better for it. The end of white Christianity as the dominant national group will require a renewed commitment to expanding the circle of concern to all Americans and a more inclusive notion of American identity. It means taking institutional racism seriously - in education, criminal justice, employment, and housing, and resisting the urge to think "well, I'm not racist, so it's not my problem." It is your problem. It means taking women's problems seriously regardless of their relationship to men and accepting that a woman's place is wherever she wants it to be. Advertisement It means talking about immigrants and refugees as doctors, lawyers, teachers, business owners, taxpayers, and potential citizens - not moochers and rapists. It means protecting the LGBTQ community from discrimination and violence, while treating ignorance as an opportunity to educate, not name-call. It means opposing any effort by any party or political figure to make you crueler, less trusting, and more afraid. Above all, it means treating all people as worthy of dignity and respect. There will always be excuses to treat people as subhuman, and they will always be bullshit. The Illinois Policy Institute's new Michael Madigan documentary,"Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics," will serve as a significant historical artifact for generations to come for a couple of reasons. First, the content of"Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics" -- while often propagandistic in tone (more on that shortly) -- at times presents a pretty good picture of the workings of Illinois politics in the 45 years since Madigan stepped onto the state political stage. Second, the very fact that it was made attests to the intense battle for power that defines Illinois politics at the moment. After decades of primarily Democratic control of Illinois state government, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner brought unprecedented personal wealth and ideological determination to bear upon taking office in 2015. The appearance of "Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics" will stand as a testament to the resolve of Rauner's allies to wrest power from Madigan circa fall 2016. Advertisement And, obviously, to their belief that Madigan himself is the cause of the fiscal and economic troubles that afflict Illinois. The film, which debuted this week at special events at a handful of theaters in Chicagoland and downstate, is a product of Illinois Policy Action, the lobbying arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute. Rauner had contributed more than $600,000 to the institute before becoming a candidate for governor in 2013, and its free-market, small-government advocacy matches Rauner's philosophy. The documentary became a significant news story a month ago when two of its interview subjects, Chicago Tribune cartoonist Scott Stantis and Capitol Fax publisher Rich Miller, said they weren't told of the Illinois Policy Institute's involvement even when they asked about the funding source for the project. This, combined with a trailer that bursts with scorn toward its subject, gave the film the kind of buzz marketing coveted by Hollywood. Does it live up to the hype? To answer that, I refer to Point No. 1 above. As a longtime follower of Illinois politics, I found lots of interesting stuff in the video, but nothing that I didn't already know and plenty that had me talking back to my screen. Still, hearing Madigan's background and approach explained by people like Miller, former Chicago alderman and political scientist Dick Simpson and former Republican state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger is a worthwhile exercise regardless of one's previous knowledge. Viewers also get a decent, though opinionated, civics lesson on the committee process in the Illinois House. Advertisement Madigan is the longest-tenured Speaker of the House in an any state legislature, having led the House for all but two years since 1983. Those two years when Madigan's Democrats lost control of the House -- from 1995-1997 -- are covered in one of the film's best segments. "Those two years in the wilderness were very helpful," Madigan says in an archival interview. Rauschenberger says the loss of power during those years changed Madigan's approach thereafter and instilled a will to never lose his majority again. "It was a new Mike," Rauschenberger says, "It was Iron Mike." The video dwells on Madigan's successful property tax law business, which has been the subject of intense criticism for many years by those who believe Madigan uses his immense power to bring business to his law firm. Rauschenberger says it's an egregious conflict of interest that's "out of proportion with what representative government should tolerate." Surprisingly, Republican former House Speaker Lee Daniels -- who took Madigan's place during his two "wilderness years" in the minority -- defends Madigan on this count. "I don't have any problem with his success as a professional outside the General Assembly," Daniels says. "Because that's our system today and there's nothing illegal about it." Advertisement Despite those enlightening moments, though, the video barely masks its true purpose, which is to convince viewers that the state's problems today all can be traced back to Madigan. The first quarter of the video describes Madigan's role in handing out patronage jobs. That portion contains an interview with a Madigan patronage worker who describes how those placed in jobs by Madigan are immune from any discipline on the job, when they choose to show up. But the patronage worker, identified as "M," is actually an actor (Dave Buckman, according to the end credits) who is shown in silhouette with his voice distorted as he recounts the perks of being one of Madigan's guys. I guess the Madigan machine is so powerful and vengeful that even an actor portraying a Madigan crony speaking anonymously isn't safe. The video also seeks to portray Madigan as vindictively wielding huge sums of campaign cash that he uses to punish disobedient members of his House caucus while generously giving to campaigns of others. "They know why they're there and they know if they don't play ball, they'll be gone," says Robert Blagojevich, brother of Rod, another interview subject. Advertisement I chuckled at this angle of criticism -- which is repeated by the video's narrator -- given that the video was made to move viewers into the Rauner camp. In the 2016 campaign cycle, Rauner has spread $16 million among Republican candidates. I suspect those Republicans, if elected, will "know why they're there." State Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, appears as an example of what happens to a Democrat who dares to cross Madigan. When Dunkin refused to side with Madigan on a couple key bills a year ago, Madigan put $2.8 million into the campaign of a primary challenger, Juliana Stratton, who defeated Dunkin on March 15. What's missing, of course, is an interview with Republican state Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, who voted with Democrats on a union bill and incurred Rauner's wrath. Rauner and his allies spent $3 million in an unsuccessful effort to unseat McCann in March. I encourage anyone with an interest in Illinois politics to watch "Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics," but to keep in mind that this is not something you'd find on "Frontline." It was written and financed by a very well heeled public action group and is designed to reinforce Rauner's anti-Madigan message. For everything you see on the screen, there's a lot more that's not explained. The film is playing at theaters through Oct. 27 (a full schedule is here). It is also airing on several downstate television stations over the weekend. It'll be available for online viewing but no date has been announced. Here's the TV schedule: The presidential debates should be an opportunity to focus on the most important issues of the day. Unfortunately, the producers of the second debate failed miserably at this goal, because of their selection of which questions to ask. Prior to the debate, the producers agreed to consider the top thirty questions voted on by the public at Open Debates. The question with the third largest number of votes, posed by Ellen Pleasant from North Carolina in the video below, was "Do you support expanding, and not cutting, Social Security's modest benefits?" Advertisement That straightforward question was voted third, out of more than 12,000 questions on which to vote. Over 45,000 Americans voted for Ellen's question. With poll after poll showing that retirement insecurity is a top financial concern of most Americans and with the reality that Social Security is likely to be even more important in the future, the voting is no surprise. But the moderators did not ask it - or any of the other questions in the top thirty. Instead, they posed only one question from Open Debates (focused on Hillary Clinton's emails) which had all of 14 votes. Most of the questions asked at the debate, and the subsequent discussion between the candidates, focused on scandals and personal attacks rather than issues. Like Social Security, which undecided voters rank as their second highest priority after healthcare. Ellen's question could be asked at the third and final presidential debate on October 19. Unfortunately, the prospect looks dim, even though representatives of Open Debates met with the upcoming debate's moderator, Chris Wallace of FOX News. Social Security is likely to be discussed during the segment of the debate dealing with the announced topic of "Debt and entitlements." But that will neither answer Ellen's question nor inform the American people. Calling Social Security an entitlement and asking about it in connection with the debt is biased. That biased framing is not what that the American people want answered; rather, it is what FOX News and its sponsors want asked. Advertisement The American people correctly understand that Social Security is an earned benefit. "Entitlement" sounds like a government handout that can be taken away at whim. Moreover, talking about Social Security, undifferentiated from Medicare and Medicaid, as an entitlement, is not clarifying but confusing. The three programs are designed for strikingly different purposes with different histories and different challenges. As for its supposed relationship to the federal debt, Social Security has no borrowing authority, is totally self-financing, and so doesn't add a penny to the total federal debt. Indeed, it has a $2.8 trillion accumulated surplus. Cutting Social Security would not reduce the debt, only make that surplus larger. Asking about Social Security as an entitlement supposedly adding to the debt simply reinforces decades-old false claims made by those who are intent on undermining Social Security. Although the Democratic Party, with its embrace of expanding, not cutting Social Security, now implicitly rejects the false, unstated contention that cutting Social Security will somehow reduce the nation's debt, it is still the belief of much of the mainstream media. Implying that Social Security is part of the problem of the nation's debt, and so, must be cut, is biased, uninformed, and uninformative. We don't have a Social Security crisis in this country. But we do have a retirement income crisis, to which expanding Social Security is a solution. The next debate's topic of "Debt and entitlements" puts a large thumb on the scale in support of cutting Social Security. Moreover, it plays into the hands of the Republican Party and its standard bearer, Donald Trump, who at a recent Florida rally talked about the need to "save" Social Security - fearmongering rhetoric designed to make cuts more acceptable. For too many elections, the question about Social Security has been about "saving" it or "fixing" it, which is biased. It plays to people's fears that Social Security will not be there in the future. In truth, Social Security has a modest projected shortfall, still decades away, but its promised benefits - and, indeed, expanded benefits - are fully affordable and will be paid, if that is what the American people want and their elected officials follow their will. Advertisement That "debt and entitlements" framing cuts off debate, and fails to effectively inform the public about the differences between the Parties on the crucial issue of Social Security and the values those differences highlight. In sharp contrast, Ellen's question - whether Social Security should be expanded or cut - would highlight those differences and the values that underlie them. Social Security is a shining example of government at its best. Whether to build on that successful government program or reduce it and rely on the private sector is an important value difference between the Parties. We don't have a Social Security crisis in this country. But we do have a retirement income crisis, to which expanding Social Security is a solution. Too many Americans fear that they will never be able to retire and maintain their standards of living. The candidates should be asked to address that concern. It is particularly important that Clinton and Trump be asked about Social Security in the right way, because they have not been asked about it in the first two debates. Though it came up in the vice presidential debate, moderator Elaine Quijano framed the Social Security question in the biased way the announced topics for the final debate indicate will happen again. Since Chris Wallace is unlikely to ask about Social Security fairly, drawing out whether the candidates support expanding or cutting Social Security benefits, it is left to the American people to connect the dots. Fortunately, both the Democratic and Republican Parties address Social Security in their 2016 Platforms. Based on the Democratic Party Platform and her campaign website, Clinton's answer is easy to discover. Advertisement In contrast, Trump has made comments about Social Security on the campaign trail which are highly suspect. Nevertheless, based on the Republican Party Platform, Trump's statement prior to running for President, and the view of those who are advising him, it is not hard to guess what he what he really believes and would do as President. Hillary Clinton supports expanding Social Security and opposes all cuts including raising the retirement age. She would reject efforts to make the annual automatic cost of living adjustments stingier and less accurate. She opposes privatization. She proposes to pay for the expansions and restore Social Security to long range balance by requiring those with incomes over $250,000 to pay more. As a related matter, Clinton has a plan to rein in prescription drug prices, which are currently taking a big bite out of the Social Security checks of millions of Americans and causing their costs of living to rise rapidly. Donald Trump has said that he is opposed to Social Security cuts, but the overwhelming evidence is that he is only saying that because he understands the politics of Social Security. He knows how deeply unpopular cutting Social Security is. In 2011, he cautioned Republicans not to cut Social Security without bipartisan cover, or, he warned, "They are going to lose elections." But there is strong evidence that cutting and privatizing Social Security are his true positions. First, the Republican Platform, which he controlled, contains a thinly veiled call for cutting and privatizing Social Security. Moreover, before running for President, Trump expressed his hostility toward Social Security by slandering it with a favorite slur of its enemies: He called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme." He also said that "privatization would be good for all of us," and called for raising the retirement age to 70 because "how many times will you really want to take that trailer to the Grand Canyon?" Moreover, he has chosen a running mate who believes that George W. Bush's plan to privatize Social Security did not go far enough. And his closest advisers are on record favoring cutting and privatizing Social Security. Soon after Trump secured the Republican nomination, one of those advisers, Sam Clovis, spoke to a room filled with GOP establishment figures and Wall Street donors. He reassured them that a Trump administration would be open to Social Security cuts. Trump admitted in a debate during the primaries that he opposes expanding Social Security, which is the best solution to the nation's looming retirement income crisis. Advertisement Only Ellen's question - do you support expanding and not cutting Social Security - will inform the American people that Clinton supports expanding Social Security and Trump does not. Only that question is likely to elicit a discussion of the nation's looming retirement question and the candidates' plans to address it. That question would be a public service. Elections are supposed to be referendums on issues. But it the voters are not presented in the presidential debates with candidates' contrasting positions, the electorate has a harder time making the comparison. The American people deserve to see a spirited discussion between the candidates about Social Security. They deserve to see that spirited discussion based on facts, not propaganda. Ellen's question would elicit a spirited question based on the facts. In Athens, there's a DNA register of migrants and refugees that have died when their boats capsized. Police chiefs in charge of the registry want people who suspect that their relatives may have drowned, to get in touch with them. In November last year, I received a call from Zakay Challma, a Syriac-Orthodox monk who lives in Greece. He sounded panicked and asked me to convey to the media that the waves were too high, that it was winter and that no one should take the boats from Turkey to Greece. He was on the island of Rhodes to officiate the funeral of a few Assyrians/ Syriacs from Syria, who had drowned. He also asked me to call a man whose wife and two daughters also had drowned. The man, let's call him Ayman, is hidden in the Stockholm area, he is a so-called "Dublin-job". On the way here, he was arrested in Italy, and was forced to give his fingerprints. Sweden will therefore not be responsible for him, and he will be deported to Italy. I called Ayman and expressed my condolences and asked if he wanted help from the monk. He was surprised and wondered who had died. No one had told him about his family's tragic death. It was a horrifying call. Advertisement In April this year we in A Demand For Action (ADFA), the human rights organization that I am the chairman of, went to Rhodes to look for his family. We made a formal complaint about the missing persons and attached the DNA test from Sweden that we had helped Ayman with. A few days later we learned that his DNA did not match with those in the register in Athens. Around the same time, we published the story of Ayman on ADFA's social media pages, two witnesses came forward and said that they had been on the same boat that his family died in. On May 25th, I managed to get in contact with the police chief Penelope Miniati who is responsible for the register. "If you're looking for a family member you have to make a formal complaint about the missing person at a police department here in Greece or at one of our missions abroad. A DNA test must also be attached to the complaint," Miniati explained. On October 29, 2015 a boat sank off the island of Kalymnos in Greece. It had 160 people on board. 139 were rescued by the coast guard, 19 were found drowned and two were missing. The authorities took DNA tests from all who claimed that either one of those who had drowned or who were missing were their relatives. Thanks to their work all 19 that were found drowned were identified and returned to their families for burial. Advertisement Since January 2015, over 4400 migrants and refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean. Of those, about one-tenth drowned outside Greece. On December 7, the body of a baby was found off the island of Kos. It was taken to the morgue in Rhodes. A DNA test of the body was sent to the registry in Athens. A woman had submitted her DNA to the register as early as July 2015. After the boat trip, she could not find her baby who was only a few months old. Their DNA matched. Now the mother could get some sort of peace in her sorrow. On January 16 this year a new DNA test arrived in Athens. This time a drowned child was found off the island of Samos. The body was badly battered. A man had submitted his DNA because his 8-year-old daughter was missing. It was his daughter. Ayman, who is now hiding in Sweden, says he will not find peace until his wife and two daughters have been found, and he can bury them. "Our hope is obviously that Ayman will find his wife and daughters alive but it unfortunately seems to be so, that they have died. Now we have his DNA and should his daughters float up, he will be contacted," Miniati said. Advertisement The air was acrid from the smoke of burned garbage. The neighborhood, 30 minutes outside of Athens, was industrial with large factories. The elementary school was surrounded by small, make-shift houses with garbage piled up around them. Small classrooms with bars on its windows surrounded the schoolyard. I was visiting Greece for a conference, but also to tour Athens and visit the beach. A friend heard that I was going to Athens and invited me to see a nonprofit program that provides food to hungry kids. This is the year that I vowed to say "yes" to new experiences, so I said "yes." So here I was. It is shortly after 9am, and older students got the boxes of food at the gates of the school and began distributing it each classroom. Advertisement The lunch today was sandwiches with whole wheat bread, tomatoes and cheese, and apples. If you have kids, you know that most kids take a few bites of their lunch, get distracted by play and throw out their lunch. I watched as these little girls eat all of their sandwiches. And this was only 9:40am in the morning. The food is served so early because the kids are often hungry - from not having breakfast, or sometimes not having dinner the night before. The meal may be the only good one the kid has gotten in 24 hrs. The unemployment and wage cuts in Greece are visible in the hunger among these children. The food is provided by a nonprofit - DIATROFI, a project of the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Environmental & Occupational Health, Prolepsis. Run by Professor Linos and her staff of data analysts and researchers, it's a program that has a wall of documentation on its effectiveness - parent surveys for each school, focus group data and nutritional test data. The Program provides free healthy meals to students, while promoting healthy nutrition. Advertisement "We feed the kids healthy food and we teach them about health," says Professor Linos, a Harvard-educated physician with a warm smile, tireless energy and abundant love for these kids. The sandwich bread is healthier than what is available in stores - made fresh with no preservatives. The wrapping of the sandwiches is covered with fun health messages, designed by the nonprofit's health communication and health promotion experts. DIATROFI frequently conducts taste tests as well as sending the food to the laboratory to assess their nutritional value. The apples were selected according to specific criteria by the nonprofit for weight and quality. No bruised apples. No blackened bananas were offered to these kids. I took a bite of the apple - as crisp and as sweet as those that I get at my farmers market at home. "We want healthy food to look good and taste good," said Professor Linos "so that the kids develop a habit of eating healthy food." Advertisement "Milk, yogurt, bananas, all of these are healthy foods and they are different from what we used to eat," commented one 4th grade student. Children are eating this morning not just at this school, but at many other schools across Greece. Last year, 246 schools received food. Since 2012, the nonprofit Prolepsis Institute has been designing the food program, nutritional requirements, and managing all the logistics - contracts and management of food suppliers and truck delivery companies - to get the food delivered on time across Greece including on islands such as Crete. It's not easy to raise money in Greece to feed the poor kids, Dr. Linos told me. Many of the kids needing food are from ethnicities - Syrian or Roma (gypsy) - that are looked down upon. And the ordinary people are also hurting from the economic crisis. DIATROFI last year fed 20,528 students kids, including refugee children from Syria. This year they have more schools applying for food than they can fund. I watched these children eat, sitting on the side of the schoolyard. It's such a simple, beautiful moment - to be with these children with big smiles because they are happy to eat. Advertisement This turned out to the best part of my trip. I hope you'll join me and help these children. Consider making a donation; The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, founding donor of the Program, doubles every amount raised. Every donation counts - 2 dollars could provide one meal to a child. You can learn more about them or make a donation at: http://diatrofi.prolepsis.gr/en/ There will be no radical change in Russian or American policies on Syria, when John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov resume their leisurely meetings following their temporary estrangement that had culminated with a Russian veto against a draft resolution at the Security Council amid mutual polite accusations by the two countries' UN envoys. The microsummit of the foreign ministers of the two powers alongside with the top diplomats of Iran, Saudi, Qatar, and Turkey may succeed in reaching accord over another provisional truce and urgent humanitarian deliveries, but it is unlikely an agreement would be reached on separating moderate rebels from the ex-Nusra Front or a permanent solution for the battle for Aleppo. Interestingly, the two European permanent members of the Security Council, Britain and France, were excluded from the meeting. Paris and London recently led the diplomatic escalation against Russia including by accusing Moscow of committing war crimes and calling for referring its ally Damascus to the ICC. One of the goals of the meeting in Lausanne is to set aside talk of accountability and war crimes by refocusing discussions on a ceasefire, aid, and the peace process as Russia and Iran want at this crucial stage of the battle for Aleppo. Perhaps Lavrov's condition was to exclude France and Britain, given their sharp tone against his diplomacy. This is excepted. But what is surprising is Kerry agreeing not to invite his French and British counterparts. The lineup of the invitees suggests the purpose of the meeting is to focus on the main knot and ways to overcome it. In Russia and Iran's view, the designation of non terrorist groups and separating them from the Nusra Front have become the main knot. Before addressing the Nusra knot, Assad's allies are not willing to discuss the Assad knot, the key issue for Ankara, Riyadh, and Doha. The Lausanne summit will therefore be negotiations between the Russian Iranian axis and the Turkish Saudi Qatari axis. The US role appears one of a mediator seeking to facilitate deals while keeping present the threat of joining the three allies present in Switzerland and those absent in Paris and London should the meeting fail. Ankara like Washington remains cautious and wants to keep its options open and its tools sharp. President Erdogan is playing a long strategic game via Syria, and is keen to secure permanent local and regional gains. He has a lot in common with Russia's Putin, not just in terms of consolidating his power at home and their authoritarian traits, but also in their conviction that Syria is crucial to their calculations and the regional balance of power, as well as their mistrust of the US and Europe. At the same time, Erdogan is keen on leading the Sunni Muslim bloc and is aware of his own importance as a factor that can offset perceptions of the Russian tsar, who is bombing Aleppo a large Sunni city in partnership with Shia Iran. Russia's attempt to offset this via Egypt is not sufficient, regardless of their military exercises and touristic detente. Egypt, the only Arab member of the Security Council at present, can vote to support a Russian draft resolution alongside China and Venezuela, a move that earned Cairo a lot of Arab and Western scorn. But Egypt is not Turkey when it comes to Syria. Turkey controls many keys on the ground in Syria while Egypt has little more than rhetoric, and is not part of the negotiations and arrangements led by Turkey, Saudi, and Qatar. Egypt may be useful in some degree to Russia, but it is Turkey that can open or close the vital corridors to the battlefield in Syria. Turkey has direct influence with armaments and ammunition to a segment of the Syrian rebels. It can establish safe zones or mobilize support for a no fly zone if no accord is reached with Russia. Turkey's relationship with Saudi Arabia, another sunni power, is strategic and crucial. By contrast, Saudi Arabia's relationship with Egypt is based on aid and is now strained after Egypt's contrarian actions in Yemen and Syria. All that investment in Gulf-Egyptian cooperation to restore the Arab weight in the regional balance of power has receded because of divergence over policies, often in a hostile and public manner. Today, there is coordination between Saudi, Turkey, and Qatar on Syria, which forces Russia to factor it in because it has practical implications on the ground. It is for this reason that these countries and not others are present in Lausanne. Iran is also present because of the means of war it possesses in Syria through its military advisers and militias led by Hezbollah deployed there. Perhaps the maximum that can be achieved in Lausanne is resolving the Nusra knot in return for resolving the Assad knot. If this happens and the six powers agreed to resolve the two knots, Syria will enter the phase of political solutions. But nothing suggests this achievement is on the horizon at present, in the midst of international political and military escalation. However, the battle of Aleppo will not be settled easily. It seems that Iran and Russia wanted to revive political solutions because they are aware they cannot settle things militarily and hence Lausanne. Realistically speaking, there is no choice but to resolve the two knots as part of parallel agreements. This necessitates a qualitative shift in the thinking and strategies of Russia and Iran, based on ending their support for Assad remaining in power. There is nothing to suggest this has happened yet unless there is something we don't know behind their military moves. From time to time, there have been signs that the other side is willing to agree to a gradual departure of Assad while maintaining the regime. However, nothing suggests a conclusive willingness to abandon Assad in the end. Perhaps the agreements in Lausanne will help converge the influences of the two sides towards a ceasefire whose goal is to prove their good intentions and determination to collaborate. Or perhaps the outcome of Lausanne will serve to halt the bid by Turkey, SaudiArabia and Qatar towards stepping up military support for the syrian rebels and stop the French and British bid to hold Russia accountable. The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon called on the Security Council to refer the Syrian issue to the ICC, reaffirming similar calls made by the UN human rights chief prince Zeid bin Raad. The call is to hold accountable any and everyone who commits war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria, be it a state, militia, or terrorist group. Ban Ki-moon does not have the power to refer Syria to the ICC, but he can act under article 99 of the charter to request the Security Council to convene and discuss the issue. This move would have a high moral value even if it ends up clashing with the Russian veto. Russia recently used its veto power for the fifth time since the start of the conflict in Syria. China broke ranks with Russia when it abstained during the vote on the draft resolution vetoed by Russia, bearing in mind that China preciously co-vetoed resolutions with Russia. Moscow described what happened in the Security Council last week, when the French draft resolution received overwhelming support, as Western hysteria. In truth, it is Russia that has been afflicted by hysteria after it incurred humiliation even as president of the Security Council, by vetoing a resolution that called for a ceasefire and aid delivery, then proposed a resolution that added insult to injury when it obtained only four votes in favor. Russia may give out the impression that its relations in the middle east are in good shape: it has an alliance with Iran, a detente with Turkey, a truce with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, accord with Iraq, advanced ties with Egypt, and very good relations with Israel. However, Aleppo is a cause of major concern for Moscow because it could well become the cause of all this unravelling. Thus, Moscow may be in the process of reconsidering its decision that winning in Aleppo is the fateful priority. For its part, the United States is reassured by the fact that it is not involved on the ground in Syria. However, it is aware of the bitter reality namely that Syria has proven jt cannot shirk its international responsibilities. President Obama is leaving the White House with Aleppo on his conscience both as a humanitarian issue and a strategic issue. Russia's rush to support republican candidate Donald Trump for president is not about chemistry between him and Putin, but a calculated investment in a man that would bring down America from being a superpower, just like Boris Yeltsin had done with the former Soviet Union. Perhaps what will save Russia from its Syrian legacy would be an agreement between Putin and Erdogan on a grand bargain, where the Turkish sultan abandons his project for pushing the muslim brotherhood to rule in the Arab countries starting from Syria.Then the two men can fix what they broke in Syria and secure their legacy to stop the bloodletting after undoing two key and very clear knots in Syria. http://www.alhayat.com/m/opinion/17902566 Translated by Karim Traboulsi Germany, Saxony, Road through farm land If Mother Sun were to select a favorite son on Planet Earth, Ken Bossong would be high on the list. Operating for over forty years on a tiny budget from a tiny office in Takoma Park, Maryland, the unsung solar energy advocate has been a one-man informing and organizing machine. He founded the Sun Day campaign in 1992, in his words, "to aggressively promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels." Advertisement With renewables like solar and wind energy becoming the fastest growing sources of new energy in many areas of the world, Bossong is now seeing his long and often frustrating battles against the traditional corporate skeptics increasingly vindicated. The doubters, often fueled by vested interests in oil, gas, coal and atomic power, called solar unreliable, too diffuse, said that energy from solar couldn't be stored and that it was too expensive to produce. I recall in the '70s nuclear engineers at the Hanford Reservation in Washington state derisively that solar power just "sophisticated plumbing"-unworthy of the attention of skilled technical talent. Notwithstanding their rhetorical dismissals, the fossil fuel and nuke companies saw solar as bad for more parochial reasons. Solar could put them out of business or at least cut into their sales. Solar could be produced in a decentralized manner that would disrupt monopolies; solar was a suitable vehicle for small business and homeowners to garner control away from the centralized power of the Big Energy Giants. Solar also has the advantage of being safer, more abundant everywhere, and environmentally benign. The visual contrast could not be clearer. On the one hand there are the oil spills and air pollution, the pipeline problems of natural gas with its deadly methane and greenhouse gas releases, the vast destruction of coal--strip mines and subsidence, blown away mountains, dirty air, and millions of coal worker casualties from lung disease and coal mine collapses over the past 130 years. On the other hand, solar panels, solar thermal, solar photovoltaics and wind power draw a stark contrast. If wind power locations cause some controversies, they pale in comparison with the unsafe, uneconomic, uninsurable, unevacuable, stalled nuclear technology that now has to rely on a 100% government taxpayer guarantee for any expansion. Advertisement Steadfast and serious, Ken Bossong calmly steeps himself in the startling statistics put out by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which are showing that "nuclear power is rapidly losing the race with renewable energy sources." Consider three data sets from six months in 2016 by these two agencies. In energy production, "renewable resources (i.e. biofuels, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind) accounted for 5.242 quadrillion Btus (quads) of domestic energy production. By comparison, nuclear power provided 4.188 quads. That is, renewables outpace nuclear by more than 25%." In total, available installed generating capacity in the U.S., from the combination of utility-scale renewables, has grown to 215.82 gigawatts or 18.39% of total generating capacity while nuclear power's installed capacity is only 107.06 gigawatts or 9.12% of the total. "However," reports Bossong, "actual electrical generation by nuclear plants for the first seven months of 2016 is 19.9% of total generation." This has been steady for many years and is "still higher than that provided by renewable sources which contributed 15.8% (a figure which does not include electricity produced by distributed renewables such as rooftop solar)." These figures are rarely reported in the mainstream media. Instead the newspapers and radio/television companies are taking millions of dollars in advertisements from the Nuclear Energy Institute--a lobbying arm of the atomic power industry--declaring that the safe, clean power of the atom is the wave of the future. There is no mention of ageing plants, earthquake risks, the recent shutdown of several nukes, nor the cessation of new construction due to extreme costs. The latest disaster at Fukushima in Japan dissolved the nuke industry's mantra that risks of meltdowns are "vanishingly small." Advertisement The political power of the fossil fuel and nuclear lobbies is much greater than the renewables. Over the decades they have forged tight relationships with federal and state lawmakers and executive agencies. Many of their officials are well placed in government positions. And fossil fuel fat cats like the Koch brothers are busy pumping money into election campaigns. Yet, look around you. Installers are placing solar panels on homes and other buildings all over the country. Wind turbines are being erected on hillsides everywhere. Geothermal energy's nascent promises are finally coming to fruition. Major companies like Google are moving toward renewables and are even investing in their generation. Fear Nero. Our politics, if it is nothing else, is divided. Ironically, everybody is in agreement about the bitter polarity of our current government. Republicans all agree they can't stand Democratic policies and Democrats all agree they can't stand Republican policies. Mitch McConnell so subscribes to this that he openly refuses to govern - which is his job - and finds himself constitutionally (and yet unconstitutionally) unwilling to conduct hearings and fill the SCOTUS vacancy. According to the founding document, isn't the Judicial Branch important? According to Mitch, doing what the Constitution says is not as important as stopping his own government from moving forward. What is the result of all of this palpable political enmity other than that sludge leaders like McConnell keep their job in perpetuity by crippling government and then pointing out how government isn't working? Mud is slung, spin is offered, but most importantly the other side is the enemy. We never help our political enemy - even if that obstructs the execution of justice and flies in the face of our whole history. Advertisement Take Ted Cruz. (Please.) He has reasons to feel like Donald Trump is his enemy, given the insults to his family in the wake of the primaries - having it suggested that one's father may have been involved in the killing of President Kennedy is quite a slight - but Cruz bowed and endorsed Trump anyway. Hillary Clinton is the bitter political enemy of Ted Cruz, and in his mind our Christian virtue remains intact if we vote for a "serial philanderer" and "pathological liar", not to mention somebody who is shaping up to be a legitimate antichrist. How do we ever get at the truth when dealing with people like Cruz, Trump, and yes, Hillary Clinton? If spin is all, if we live in a propaganda-driven world seeking profit, how can we ever know the truth? I don't have all the answers. But I damn well know political enemies never help one another unless brute reality is forcing them to transcend politics. Chris Christie shouldn't have hugged Barack Obama, politically speaking, because he is the enemy, but the suffering of the people of New Jersey in the wake of the storm transcended political considerations. Sometimes the truth just happens. I have to ask myself: Why would a person who is a Republican - so, beyond any question of doubt, this individual despises the policies of Hillary Clinton - why would such a person say something which helps her to become president? More specifically, why would thoughtful, intelligent people, people who rose to the highest ranks of our military, why would they help her if they are Republicans? Advertisement That leads me to a big question I now ask everybody: Why would Republican generals and security personnel, people who understand the specifics of the danger in our world, why would they lie and say that Trump is a national security threat? Why would they say that and help Hillary? Sometimes the truth just happens. Trump must indeed be dangerous and unstable and a threat to our safety. Because why would Republicans ever lie to help Democrats to become presidents? I know - I am 100% certain - that the Republicans who declared Trump a danger to our security were not telling a falsehood. My good friends, I suggest that any time we see truth happen in politics we should pay close attention. My son has autism, and he has been bullied at school. Mostly the good kids show up and help him, so it isn't a sad story. He has been laughed at by kids who are healthy. And who is it there mocking my son? It is a bully - somebody a lot like Donald Trump. I am against bullies. Aren't you? Can we not agree that bullies are bottom feeders who prey upon people weaker than themselves to gain advantage or to feel good about themselves? Can we not agree that such people fundamentally suck? Advertisement My middle school in Florida back in the 70's was a melting pot, full of evolutionary moment and ruthlessness and bullies. I remember there were people who would beat you up if you didn't move out of their way. I wonder and I ask Trump supporters: Why would we want to make the bully at our school in charge of security there? Like, since I'm not the bully and I am in the way, isn't that like voting to have myself get beaten up? Absolutely. We can trust the Republican generals when they say we can't trust Trump, because they can't stand Hillary Clinton. This transcends politics - it is the truth. We need only open our eyes to see it. Ironically, though she is riddled with flaws and imperfections, we can trust Hillary Clinton with regard to how she will govern because she has held office. She has been the target of a sophisticated congressional colonoscopy for years, we know she has made mistakes, we know she has been a politician in her use of the truth - we have all the dirt under her fingernails. She is human, a luxury we must grant our governors if we are to govern ourselves. What do we know about Donald J. Trump? He is a businessman, in real estate mostly. We have zero information about how he would govern or what he would do as president, only the words of a serial liar on the campaign trail. If he is a business man, if that is his entire history, and he won't release his taxes ... then what do we know about him? Nothing. Only what he says. Which, terrifyingly, brings us back to nothing. Advertisement In spite of anything he says, might a man like Donald Trump decide to grant the SCOTUS nominations to the people who will judge according to what is best and most profitable for Donald Trump? Given his history, why would we expect otherwise? Trump's entire life has been devoted to one thing and one thing only - Trump. And money. I know that sounds like two things, but in his case it is one thing. Why would we trust a bully who is withholding the most important and telling facts available about him? I know Hillary is not perfect, but we know nothing about Trump other than that he uses his power to grab the pussies of beautiful women he encounters at work and brags about it, he admires Putin, and he will bully everybody who gets in his way. Why would we give an unstable, careless, dangerous man access to the most formidable military force ever known to mankind? Why would we give a perverted bully we know almost nothing about a fiddle and stockpile of fissionable matches? FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2015 file photo, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence pauses while speaking in Indianapolis. As they begin to shape their prospective bids for president, a group of ambitious Republican governors are eager to seize on votersa contempt for that most dirty of political words: aWashington.a (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File) Before Donald Trump selected Mike Pence to be his Vice Presidential Runningmate, Pence was locked in a tight race to retain his job as Indiana Governor, sporting job approval ratings of under 50 percent. If Pence had run for re-election and lost, his expiration date as a viable Presidential candidate would likely have passed. On the other hand, if Pence had won re-election, and if Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump were to lose his Presidential bid, Pence would be one of a litany of potential Republican Presidential candidates seeking his party's 2020 nomination. Advertisement If this were the scenario, Pence would have to spend at least two years balancing his job as Governor with his Presidential campaign. If his subpar job approval ratings were to sustain, he would face an embarrassing backlash at home like then Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal did in 2016. Pence is now in the electoral Catbird Seat. The GOP is split asunder between the establishment and insurrectionist bloodlines. Establishment Republicans have either disassociated themselves from Trump or are distancing themselves from the insurrectionist nominee. Contrariwise, Trump supporters are vociferous adherents of the real estate mogul's message, and are indignant at the establishment for not being four square for Trump. Should Trump lose his Presidential bid, Pence is the only candidate who can bridge the internecine divide in the GOP to become the consensus GOP candidate in 2020. While Pence was one of the most conservative members of the GOP during his 12-year stint in the U.S. House of Representatives, he won the support of many establishment Republicans, being elected as Chairman of the House Republicans Caucus. Like most establishment Republicans, Pence voted for the authorization for the use of force in Iraq, supported NAFTA, and even called for "a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas." In addition, Pence believes that if Russia "continues to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in Aleppo, the United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the (Syrian President Basher al-) Assad regime." Advertisement These positions are divergent from Trump, making Pence palatable to establishment Republicans. After Trump was caught on tape speaking of women in sexually explicit terms, many establishment Republicans reached their boiling point and unendorsed Trump. Some Republicans, like U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne of Alabama, called for Trump to "step aside and allow Governor Pence to lead the Republican ticket." Trump's influence on the GOP will not likely be ephemeral. Come the 2020 Presidential cycle, the more than 14 million voters who selected Trump in the GOP Primary will likely frown upon potential candidates like Ohio Governor John Kasich who did not endorse Trump, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who disinvited him to a campaign event, and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) who spoke at the party's national Convention imploring voters "to vote your conscience" rather than singing Trump's accolades. These voters will likely see Pence as the logical heir apparent to the Trump mantra and will award him for his fidelity to Trump. Based on his recent debate performance, the GOP establishment garners a propitious view of Pence. If Trump loses in November, few Republicans will blame Pence. The argument might even be made that Pence could have won the election if he were at the top of the ticket. There is a similitude between Pence and Richard M. Nixon. Nixon was the epitome of the moderate Republican Establishment. In 1960, then Vice President Nixon made a deal with New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the titular head of the party's liberal wing, adding language to the GOP platform sympathetic to Rockefeller in return for his unequivocal endorsement. U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), a leading voice with conservatives, branded the agreement "the Munich of the Republican Party." The agreement, labeled "The Treaty of Fifth Avenue," infuriated some conservatives. Nixon lost that election in a squeaker. By 1964, the insurrectionist wing became ascendant, as conservative flamethrower Barry Goldwater wrested the party's nomination. The party's establishment feared a Goldwater nomination. That year, Rockefeller ran against him in the primary and sent out a mailer asking: "Who do you want in the room with the H Bomb Button?" Advertisement Goldwater made little effort to mitigate his rhetoric, offering his candidacy as "a choice not an echo." He horrified the party's high command by exclaiming at his party's convention: "Let me remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me also remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." After he secured the nomination, potential nominees for 1968 abandoned Goldwater. Rockefeller and Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton, who both lost the 1964 nomination, did not endorse Goldwater. Michigan Governor George Romney stated that he "accepted" Goldwater's nomination but would not "endorse him." In his own re-election bid, Romney's campaign mailed out about 200,000 mock ballots showing voters how to mark their ballots for Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson for President and Romney for Governor. Nixon however became a resolute supporter of Goldwater. He even gave the speech at the Republican National Convention nominating Goldwater and became a Goldwater surrogate on the campaign trail. Nixon held the Goldwater banner high, singing Goldwater's' praises across the country. This gained Nixon respect and admiration from insurrectionists who had viewed him with suspicion. After Goldwater suffered a seismic defeat, both establishment and insurrectionist Republicans spoke of a Nixon nomination in 1968. The establishment wanted a mainstream figure and looked back fondly on Nixon, believing he deserved another chance. Insurrectionists grew inflamed with those Republicans who did not support Goldwater in 1964, and were grateful that Nixon did not bow to political pressure and distance himself from Goldwater. Advertisement Goldwater himself showed his gratitude by endorsing Nixon for the 1968 nomination as early as 1965. Nixon spent much of 1966 on the hustings, campaigning for Republican Congressional candidates of all ideological persuasions, earning political chits. Nixon was awarded with the nomination in 1968, soundly defeating Rockefeller and Romney who had alienated the insurrectionists by not endorsing Goldwater in 1964. Nixon was the consensus candidate, winning support of both GOP establishmentarians and insurrectionist voters. It is heartening that so many Wharton School professors, alumni and students at the University of Pennsylvania have publicly denounced and derided the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. Trump transferred to Wharton as a junior in 1966 and basically was there to just pick up a Wharton degree and study real estate. In later years, he publicly disparaged other Wharton students as not so bright or talented as he was. He couldn't understand what the fuss regarding Wharton was about but later sent both his daughters Ivanka (another junior year transfer student) and Tiffany (a 4 year student) to Penn. One year on Alumni Weekend, Trump insisted on landing his jet helicopter on the campus so all could see his "success". (I skipped the alumni event in disgust at the University for supposedly caving in to this request). Advertisement I haven't any idea what Trump's grades were during his tenure at Penn but I did hear him say in a media interview early in this campaign that he was Valedictorian of his class...another invention of Trump's imagination. Trump likely learned far more from his mentor, mob lawyer Roy Cohn, than he ever learned at Wharton. I have been writing essays at this blog for over seven years, and throughout that time, through perhaps 100 more-or-less-monthly essays, I have tried very hard to keep politics at bay, and to view each and every issue I discussed from a politically neutral, yet analytical economic perspective. But I find it difficult to remain neutral in the current U.S. Presidential election cycle. Since before the summer, I had resolved to write today's essay, but I decided to wait until one month before the November U.S. election to post it, simply because I thought this was the point in time when people would be paying most attention to the upcoming election but would not yet have completely made up their minds. In particular, I want to address this message to people who like me are political independents. Background I have been teaching at Harvard for close to 30 years, and every year I take pride in the fact that at the conclusion of my 13-week course in environmental economics and policy, my students cannot say on the basis of what I have said in lectures or what they have read in the assigned readings whether I am a tree-hugging environmental advocate from the political left, or an industry apologist from the political right (actually, I am neither, although hostile voices in the blogosphere have sometimes wanted to peg me as being on the opposite of whatever extreme they occupy). Advertisement Likewise, I have remained bipartisan in politics, ever since I directed Project 88 more than 25 years ago for the bipartisan coalition of former Democratic Senator Timothy Wirth and the late Republican Senator John Heinz. Starting with the White House of President George H. W. Bush, and continuing with every administration of both political parties since then, I have worked on substantive matters of environmental and energy policy, in some cases closely and intensively, and in some cases indirectly and on the periphery. Such professional bipartisanship and political neutrality have been important to me, and have been consistent with my voter registration, as I am officially registered as an independent (in Massachusetts, this goes by the designation of "unenrolled"). So, over the years, I have voted for Democrats and I have voted for Republicans, for various offices ranging from the Mayor of my town to the President of my country. And in each and every one of those elections, although I preferred one of the two principal candidates (sometimes very strongly), in no case did I fear for the future of my community, my state, or my country if my candidate lost and the other candidate won. This time is different. In all honesty, I fear for the United States and I fear for the world if Donald Trump is elected President. The time for my professional bipartisanship and political neutrality has ended at least temporarily. And so I apologize to my readers for using this platform An Economic View of the Environment to express my broader, personal views on the upcoming election. This is a departure that I hope never again will be necessary. Advertisement I am not part of a campaign, and I am not recommending a candidate. Rather, I am recommending that everyone vote! Of course, today's essay, like all my posts at this blog, expresses only my personal views, and is not written on behalf of my employer, nor in my capacity as a faculty member of the Harvard Kennedy School. What Drives My Fear of a Trump Presidency? His Views on the Environment? My fear of the consequences of a Trump victory in the Presidential election is not simply because of Mr. Trump's misleading, (consistently) inconsistent, and fundamentally incorrect statements in the realm of environmental and energy policy. So, yes, I believe that the world would be worse off with what I anticipate would be a Trump administration's environmental and energy policies. But that is not what really frightens me. Advertisement What Really Does Scare me about a Trump Presidency? What frightens me is much broader and more profound. I worry about what a Trump presidency would mean for my country and for the world in realms ranging from economic progress to national security to personal liberty. This comes not from any analysis of policy proposals, but from Trump's own words in a campaign in which he has substituted impulse and pandering for thoughtful politics. From the first day his June 16, 2015 announcement of his Presidential bid (in which he described Mexican immigrants as drug smugglers, criminals, and rapists, and promised to "build a great wall") until today, Mr. Trump has built his populist campaign on false allegations about others, personal insults of anyone who disagrees with him, and displays of breathtaking xenophobia, veiled racism, and unapologetic sexism. As disturbing as Trump's stated positions are in economic policy, national security, and personal liberties, possibly even worse is the reality that Donald Trump, if elected President, would intentionally or unintentionally provide cover and support for the ignorant, racist, and xenophobic tendencies that sadly inhabit a substantial fraction of the U.S. population. In many ways, Trump represents not the best that my country has to offer, but rather the worst excesses of American culture. Trump is clearly a politician who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument. That is the definition word for word of a demagogue. The Bottom Line If you are an independent, like me, please do not sit on the sidelines of the upcoming election, condemning both candidates for their failings. Advertisement It has been said many times by many people that Hillary Clinton is not an ideal candidate for President. I do not disagree with that sentiment. Nor can I dispute the fact that her primary campaign against Senator Bernie Sanders pushed her to adopt positions of the left, including her unfortunate reversal regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. But Mrs. Clinton would bring significant, positive experience to the presidency from four decades of public life, including as a member of the U.S. Senate and as Secretary of State. In contrast with Mr. Trump, she has surrounded herself with legions of smart and experienced advisers in dozens of key policy realms. Her campaign has produced detailed proposals on the most important challenges facing the country (although I do question some of her environmental positions). But she is, if anything, a realist not an ideologue, and certainly not a demagogue, which is precisely how I would characterize Mr. Trump. I recognize that many people harbor very negative feelings about Mrs. Clinton. The low approval ratings (of both candidates) validate that. I respect those voters who have serious concerns about a Clinton presidency. My core argument is that there are great differences between the two major candidates. I disagree strongly with those of my fellow political independents (and others) who say that because both candidates are flawed, they will not vote. Black woman in handcuffs It was May 2010, and the news was filled with a college murder mystery that captured the public's attention. This was a story that had all of the ingredients of love and drama gone wrong, ultimately ending in death. Those involved were the good-looking college athlete and his beautiful all American college girlfriend, Yeardley Love, the victim. Like other high-profile, emotionally-charged cases covered in the national media, the alleged perpetrator, George Huguely, found himself described as a dangerous and entitled elitist whose alcoholic battering, left having his long time love dead. Huguely was immediately tried and convicted in the court of public opinion as well as in the court of law. Huguely was drunk highly intoxicated and his girlfriend, also drunk was found dead after a brief encounter. Advertisement The story was neatly tied up, and George was sentenced to 23 years in prison for murder in the second degree. The actual facts surrounding this tragedy is something his current lawyer wishes to thoroughly address. Civil Attorney Matthew Green is on a Mission to make things legally right for his client, George Huguely, who he feels was unfairly tarred by blatant, false accusations. Mr. Green and I sat down to discuss some of the challenges of this case, facts that were overlooked and what he plans to do to correct so many inaccuracies to ensure Huguely's case is fair and just and legally correct. Dr. Robi: What got you interested in this case? Mr. Green: When I was first contacted by George, I went and met him in the City of Charlottesville Jail. The jail was filthy, and he was wearing a prison jumpsuit that looked like it had not been washed in 6 months. But despite the circumstances and his recent conviction in the criminal trial, it was clear that this was a bright and articulate young man with a compelling story. He had been so demonized in the media, it was quite refreshing to see him and hear his story. It was clear that he was far from the monster that he had been portrayed. He was a young man who had developed a serious drinking problem that led to a terrible and tragic accident. He really was not that different than a lot of young men his age and a lot of members in society that battle with substance abuse. But his story ended in a tragic death. I instantly thought that but for the grace of God that could have been me or anyone else, I knew that drank way too much on a given night in college. Advertisement Dr. Robi: The media and court of public opinion quickly formed an opinion about your client, George Huguely. What information would you like the public to now know? Mr. Green: The whole timing and sequence of the release of the search warrant led the media to an inaccurate conclusion about what had happened to Yeardley Love and what George had admitted during his police interrogation. Unfortunately, the search warrant's wording gave the misleading impression that George admitted to beating Yeardley's head against the wall. In fact, George stated that Yeardley shook her own head next to the wall to make a point during their emotional conversation. It was proven in court that her head never touched the wall, NONE of Yeardley's DNA was found on any wall in the entire apartment. Shortly after this search warrant came out, the prosecutor elected to seal the entire police file. This egregious withholding of critical information was unfair to all, most especially the Love family. The file remains sealed to this day. The media and general public failed to learn of the voluminous additional evidence that suggests that there was no physical fight between Yeardley and George. For example, her photos hanging on her bedroom wall were nicely squared with none of the glass broken. Her bedside tables were still standing with lamps and makeup neatly resting on them. All of her clothing remained neatly folded. In short, her bedroom looked nothing like a "bloody crime scene where a brutal beating had occurred". Dr. Robi: Why do you think your client was mischaracterized? Mr. Green: I think the media had an emotionally riveting story which they felt would make good copy and would be easy for the public to buy. Specifically, the story was placed into the well-trodden path of spoiled, rich kid who turns rotten. This allowed the media to sell a salacious story and not dig profoundly into the actual facts. In partial fairness to the media, the sealed police file made it very difficult for the media to learn the more complicated and nuanced facts of what actually happened. Dr. Robi: Do you think the media played a role in the sentencing of your client? Mr. Green: The jury actually rejected the Prosecutor's request that they return a 1st-degree murder conviction. This finding by them means that they rejected the argument that George intended to kill Yeardley. Since he was so overcharged, they did ultimately settle on a 2nd-degree murder conviction. It is impossible to know what role the heavy coverage played in the outcome. But it would be naive to fail to recognize that the non-stop press coverage inevitably impacted everyone involved in the trial. Advertisement Dr. Robi: There's an interesting video clip of George Huguely being interviewed by the police, where he was crying, in shock, and in total disbelief when told that his girlfriend, Yeardley Love was dead. Would you tell me more about this video? Mr. Green: The police went to George's apartment early in the morning after Yeardley was found dead. They told him that they were investigating an assault and asked him to go with them to the police station for questioning. George agreed. He went voluntarily. He waived his right to an attorney and answered their questions for an hour. He was unbelievably hungover during the interview. He had limited recall of the night before because he was suffering from alcohol induced amnesia or what is commonly called a black out. When prompted by information provided by the police, he started to slowly recall facts and some of the specifics. But despite all of that, he did his best to tell them everything that he could remember. He made no attempt to deny that he was there. He admitted many damning facts about his presence. However, he clearly had no idea that Yeardley was seriously hurt, let alone dead. When the police gathered all the information that they wanted, they finally told him the truth. And he was clearly devastated, to say the least. Dr. Robi: It has been noted that Sharon Love, Yeardley's Mother, has been quoted as stating that the murder of her daughter was not intentional. Can you talk more about this? Mr. Green: This question is best put to Sharon Love. But in a legal brief she filed in federal court in Maryland, she makes a lengthy argument citing numerous facts with expert opinions to make the point that point that George never intended to harm, let alone kill, Yeardley Love. She cites a number of facts in support of this including: Advertisement 1. George never struck Yeardley. 2. When George left the apartment, Yeardley was alive and appeared fine. 3. Her roommate returned approximately two hours later and found her unresponsive. 4. There were no signs of an altercation in her bedroom. 5. The witness in the apartment below Yeardley's never heard any yelling, cries for help or signs of a struggle. 6. The roommate thought she was suffering from alcohol poisoning and called 911 with that report. 7. The paramedics could not resuscitate her, but the only physical injuries were a bruised and swollen eye, a small amount of dried blood. On her nose and mouth, and an abrasion under her chin. 8. Finally, Sharon Love retained a forensic psychiatrist, Neil Blumberg, M.D., to opine that George was so drunk that he could not know that his actions were wrong and that he could not form any intent behind his actions. It is really striking that the mother of the victim, Yeardley Love, in her first public description of the events surrounding her daughter's death, describes the exact same scenario that George has maintained all along. Despite the dogged attempts of the Prosecutor to paint this as an intentional act, it simply was not. Dr. Robi: What are you hoping to achieve for George Huguely? Mr. Green: To this day, George would be the first to tell anyone that he is legally responsible for Yeardley's death, both in a criminal context and a civil context. But just as the criminal system has different degrees of fault, the civil system as different degrees of legal liability. We hope to show that Yeardley's death was the result of a drunken accident. It was not the result of any conscious intent on George's part to kill or harm Yeardley. That finding in the civil context would not change his criminal conviction. But it is important that the fuller truth of what actually happened in Yeardley's bedroom come out. The overwhelming weight of the facts points to a drunken accident, and not to the grossly unfair, blatant, and false accusations that surfaced in the immediate aftermath and remains in the public's perception. We hope to prove that in the civil trial we will prove it was nothing more than a tragic accident. George will still be liable for Yeardley's death, but it is important for George that the jury realizes that this death was accidental and in no way intentional. The psyches of all women are affected now. One of my friends posted on Facebook, "All women I talk to right now are so filled with fear and anger right now that someone who hates women this much and denies their consent could be president." Another female friend wrote me, "I feel like Trump has climbed into my bedroom and I am thoroughly disturbed." I have been on edge, more anxious that he could win, more worried about what I wear when I go out in the street, angry that a man who boasts about sexually assaulting a woman is at the top of the Republican ticket. I sent out a version of this editorial to a couple of newspapers and one op-ed editor wrote me back, "Interesting piece but this story has dominated the public conversation since Friday and now readers are starting to move on. I can't use the piece." The news cycle may move on, but we have not. Trump brushes off his 2005 comments about grabbing a woman's genitals without her consent by saying they are a distraction from important issues facing the country. It is not just a "distraction" when a woman (or man) experiences a sexual assault. A sexual assault has lifelong psychological and health consequences, not just a person's ability to enjoy sex but also her mental and physical health on every level. Sexual violation certainly has not been "just a distraction" in my life. My experience was childhood sexual abuse, and it's made it difficult to be in a healthy relationship and may have contributed to my autoimmune disease. Not a distraction. Not really. Advertisement How did we even get to the point where a man who boasts about sexual assault, and then says this is "locker-room talk," is the Republican candidate for president? I wrote a calm clinical essay prosecuting Trump for consistent disrespect of women but when I showed it to a friend she said, "Where's the emotion?" I wanted to stay factual because I was afraid of being called an "angry woman." There's a lot to be angry about but I suppressed my anger for many years. I stayed silent about the abuse that happened to me as a child, never telling anyone until I was 18. No one told me to stay silent, but I grew up feeling it was my job to protect everyone else from the truth. Everyone else's feelings mattered more than mine, and it was better to leave the room rather than stay in the same room with the abuser. The cost of sexual violation accrues in the silence and the shame that goes along with that silence. I'm unwilling to be silent anymore. Trump is an abuser and he's abusing (and gaslighting) the whole country. It's obvious this is not normal locker-room banter. Most men don't gleefully brag about sexually assaulting women. His pattern of extreme disrespect toward women is well established. Just last week he was up in the middle of the night tweeting about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, calling her "disgusting," and a "con," and claiming she appeared in a sex tape with no evidence. He has been accused of rape three times (Jane Doe in California alleges he raped her when she was 13) and he's said if his daughter Ivanka were sexually harassed it would be up to her to find a new situation. He also said on The View, "If Ivanka weren't my daughter perhaps I'd be dating her." (To which, the hosts laughed, "Oh, you're known for saying outrageous things, who are you, Woody Allen?") People making jokes about these comments is exactly how we got to this point. Advertisement Too many people don't realize there are lifelong psychological and health costs for survivors of sexual assault. I've been researching the links between sexual abuse and emotional and physical health because I'm writing a memoir where an incident of sexual abuse is part of my story. Men and women who experience sexual violation often face years of feeling damaged, alone, and unlovable. Abuse and rape lead to clinical depression at rates 11 times the general population. Survivors struggle to enjoy sex, feeling like they are objects, and to form trusting bonds in intimacy. There's a growing body of evidence that rape and sexual abuse negatively impact physical health too. Recovery from sexual assault and abuse is possible and it takes effort, courage, money, and often years. Canadian writer Kelly Oxford shared five of her sexual assault experiences and asked other women to tweet theirs. She told the UK Guardian, for 14 hours, she was getting 50 stories a minute. Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network estimates that 1 in every 6 American women will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. I'd hazard those numbers are low because many people never tell a soul. As I've told people in my network about my writing project, 60% of the people I tell eventually confide a sexual violation happened to them too in childhood. They don't always say immediately. That's how deep the shame and silence goes. Donald Trump will continue to say outrageous things for the next month, but let's not forget: he was 59 when he boasted that he could he could grab women by the pussy whenever he wanted because he is a star. What I've realized from my own healing from sexual abuse is that anger has its place. Let's not be afraid to be angry. Anger is a chance to draw a boundary, to say no more, to say back off. So it is with all my righteous anger that I say it's inconceivable that we have even gotten to this point where this man is up on the national stage in the debates. A vote for Trump tells other people this behavior is OK. Republicans, you need to take responsibility for nominating this man. He needs to be off the Republican ticket. Now. Alexander and I often collaborate on new ideas for corporate innovation. Here's his guest post on what bad habits to avoid inside of a company. --- Big companies have great execution habits to manage and improve successful business models and value propositions. But the habits that foster execution can easily kill new growth initiatives inside your company. Bad Habit #1: The current business model dominates the agenda In most companies the future suffers at the expense of the present. Companies are great at improving their existing business model and value propositions, but fall short when it comes to inventing entirely new business models, value propositions, and growth engines. In fact, by the time a company realizes it needs to reinvent itself for future success, it's often too late. This happens because managing the present often takes oxygen away from inventing the future. Rita McGrath, a Columbia Business School professor says, "there's pleasing today's customers and there's developing tomorrow's business." You need to be excellent at both. Advertisement Remedy: Create a protected space in your org chart where you invent and test new business models and value propositions. Equip this "space" with power and prestige. Become an ambidextrous organization -- one that is excellent at managing and improving your existing business, alongside inventing new ones. Bad Habit #2: One-size-fits-all decision making hurts speed & inventiveness Companies that grow in size and scale proven products and services can quickly fall into a trap of slowness, unthoughtful risk aversion, and failure to experiment. As Jeff Bezos puts it, one-size-fits-all decision making "hurts speed and inventiveness" inside large organizations. In fact, Bezos constantly adjusts Amazon's culture to ensure that the company never slows down and loses its entrepreneurial and nimble approach to finding future business success. Remedy: Amazon distinguishes between non-reversible decisions with substantial sunk costs (like e.g. investing in a new warehouse in Amazon's case), and reversible decisions like experimenting with a new offer. The former requires slow and careful decision making. The latter requires speed and agility. Bad Habit #3: Insisting on untested and detailed business plans Most established companies require detailed business plans for new ideas. This results in carefully crafted and thought-through documents with detailed spreadsheets and a great focus on how an idea will be implemented. However, the first goal of an innovator should not be to think hard about an idea and describe its implementation. First and foremost, an innovator's job should be to rapidly, cheaply, and continuously test and adapt ideas until there's enough evidence from the field to prove they will work. Only the latter helps avoiding big flops because it systematically reduces the risk and uncertainty of new ideas. Business plans actually maximize the risk of failure because of the focus on executing an unproven idea rather than testing it. Advertisement Remedy: Use business plans only for execution of existing businesses. Don't ask innovators for business plans. Instead, implement processes that force innovators to systematically prototype and test ideas, reduce risk and uncertainty, and ultimately provide the evidence that an idea will work and is worth doing. Bad Habit #4: Opinions matter more than evidence Senior leaders acquire a lot of knowledge and experience about their business over the course of their career. Unfortunately, this knowledge may be irrelevant when it comes to new value propositions and new business models. For example, the knowledge that Kodak's leaders acquired during their successful decades in analog film didn't equip them for digital photography. Quite the contrary. The rules to compete in the digital age are completely different. That's why it's so important for companies to "get out of the building" and interact with customers. Steve Blank, father of the Lean Startup movement, stresses that you will never know enough about your customers if you are holed up inside a boardroom. A good idea might still be a bad idea because customers don't care about it. Michael Schrage, a research fellow at MIT, emphasizes that "a testable idea is better than a good idea". Remedy: Educate leaders that judging ideas for new value propositions, business models, and growth engines requires evidence from the field rather than just "expert opinion" from leadership. Implement processes that judge ideas based not on how they look, but based on the evidence from the field that support them. Advertisement Bad Habit #5: Outsourcing customer discovery and testing Large companies have a habit of hiring outside agencies to do market research and customer discovery. That's dangerous when it comes to developing new value propositions, business models, and growth engines. You can't hire outside professionals to test and learn from customer interactions and make decisions for you. New ideas require many rapid iterations between prototyping, immediately testing with customers, and then deciding how to adapt your idea based on the acquired insights. Remedy: For radically new ideas you should defer hiring outside agencies until you've found product/market fit. Instead, roll up your sleeves and internalize the hard work of rapid prototyping, testing, learning, and deciding. Third parties can help you with the process, but they can't do the work for you. Bad Habit #6: Senior leadership too busy for hands-on innovation Senior leaders are very busy and time pressed people. Typically, they see the "getting out of the building" to test ideas with customers as a task to be performed by subordinates. But leaders have to be more than just sponsors of new business ideas. Decision makers are the ones who can make things happen. They are the ones who need to feel the market and talk to (potential) customers to learn that some of their initial assumptions or strong opinions might be completely wrong. Equipped with these market insights they can help move things faster. Remedy: Distinguish between senior leaders who manage the present like running factories, and senior leaders who are involved in creating the future and need to "get out of the building". Bad Habit #7: Obsessing about competitors rather than customers Unfortunately, many companies are more obsessed by their competition than their customers. Your customers are far more important than your competitors. Your (potential new) customers can tell you how to beat your competitors. Customer have the evidence your organization needs to validate or invalidate new business ideas and potential growth engines. That doesn't mean you should completely ignore the competition. After all, business models and value propositions aren't designed in a vacuum. However, competitors should not be your primary focus. As Steve Blank says, "You can't drive forward by looking in the rear view mirror." Advertisement Remedy: Obsess over your customers first when developing and testing new value propositions, business models, and growth engines. Then, evaluate how these new ideas perform in the competitive landscape. Bad Habit #8: Focus on technology risk at the expense of other risks New business ideas face many different risks. The California design firm IDEO distinguishes between three types of risk when they assess prototypes: desirability, feasibility, viability. Desirability is about the risk of your customers not being attracted by your new value proposition. Feasibility is about technology and infrastructure risks. Viability is about financial risks. We added a fourth risk, adaptability. Adaptability is about the risk of a business model and value proposition not being fit for evolving external factors, like competition, technology change, or regulation (risk: external threats). Remedy: Make sure you test all four types of risks: desirability, feasibility, viability, and adaptability. Bad Habit #9: Innovation is career limiting In many companies being an innovator is not an attractive career path. First, in most organizations any type of failure is seen as a negative for your career. Yet good innovation processes require rapid experimentation and failure to gain insights, adapt, and ultimately succeed. Second, corporate incentives are geared to rewarding execution, where failure is not an option. Third, in most companies, innovation is still seen as a department for pirates and "the crazy ones" who really add no value to revenue and profit. And finally, prestige in companies is measured by who commands the largest budget and staff. But great innovation programs always start small. Remedy: Create different incentive systems for the people focused on execution, and the people focused on innovation. Make innovation a prestigious job in your company. After all, the innovators are ensuring your organization's survival in an age of constant change. Advertisement Bad Habit #10: Innovation is siloed from Execution Companies struggle to get the "execution engine" and "innovation engine" to collaborate, rather than to compete. Rather than realizing that managing the present and inventing the future are equally important and should be equally resourced, they often fight for the same resources. Often the execution engine deprives the innovators from access to valuable resources like customers, brand, or skills. That means the innovators end up competing without any competitive advantage against the more nimble and agile startups. Remedy: Create a culture where executors and innovators collaborate because they understand each other's value to the organization. Create processes and incentives that grant innovators access to customers, brands, and skills so they can outcompete the more nimble and agile startup ventures. Bad Habit #11: Integrating new ideas into the execution engine too quickly New ideas are fragile and they need to be carefully nurtured and scaled before they are integrated into the execution engine with its rigid processes, key performance indicators rules, and procedures. If you integrate new ideas before they fully mature you might kill them. For example, Nespresso, the successful daughter company of Nestle, only survived and thrived because they were physically distant from Nestle's headquarters. Remedy: Protect new ideas until they fully mature; for example, like in Nestle's case, by locating the project outside of the company's headquarters. Join Alex Osterwalder at the Business Model Canvas Masterclass in San Francisco, Nov. 3 - register here Advertisement Lots of people are thinking about the future of the publishing business. But Charles Melcher has moved past that conversation. He's a perennial insider/outsider: he was a self-styled book publisher until 2009 when he found himself facing the uncertain future of print. But at that moment, he decided to embrace the future - and the core practice of the business he loved. Five years ago, he embraced the changing landscape of human narrative and founded the Future of StoryTelling Summit(FoST), which features two full days of programming bringing together leaders from the worlds of media, technology, communications, and design to the evolving technological of storytelling. Charles Melcher - founder and president of Melcher Media / Photo Credit: Steven Rosenbaum "I walked into my office and told my staff we are no longer in the book business," he told The New York Times. "We are now in the storytelling business." Advertisement This year he's expanded his platform, launching the FoST Festival. The Festival featured more than 70 experiences, hands on Virtual Reality explorations - held in an empty six-story building across from Central Park at 5th and 109th Street in New York City. At Melcher's invitation, I wandered up to the FoST Playground, and at first was a bit wary. In the past, VR events I've visited have been more technical demonstrations than visceral experiences. Let's face it, a bunch of people with headgear on can lend itself to some pretty aesthetically uninspired venues. But Melcher is a showman, an impresario of grand storytelling, and FoST embraced a number of magical things that brought it to life. Participants entered in groups of 40, a manageable cohort, and were introduced to the future by an engaging tour guide. We were not disappointed. Advertisement Among the experiences that had the most buzz, Home: VR Space Walk had people talking. The BBC and Rewind partnered up to create this remarkably realistic NASA space walk. Created in Unreal Engine 4 on HTC Vive, this fully interactive VRX project is inspired by the experiences of real astronauts. And as one of the organizers told me, a female astronaut who came by to experience it said it was "extraordinarily real." VR flying experience: Birdly / Photo Credit: Steven Rosenbaum For fans of our feathered friends, VR fans had Birdly, an immersive, multi-sensory, full-body experience that lets you experience flying. With more than 75 flights to choose from, you can fly over San Francisco, New York, Paris, Rio, Greenland, the list goes on and on. Inside the Two Bit Circus VR Theatre / Photo Credit: Steven Rosenbaum In the Two Bit Circus VR Theatre, I watched a block of four documentaries. Each had its own way of taking viewers into the story a way that was more engaging and immersive than a simple single-camera documentary approach. In Fire Rescue, you were inside a terrifying house fire, with a gripping sense that you'd been surrounded by smoke and flames. Simon was the story of a disabled young man who narrates his personal story to build a life that rises above his disabilities. Advertisement Next up was Toro Bravo from CNNVR takes you inside the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Both exhilarating and ethically troubling, this VR experience takes viewers face to face with the drama and the violence of this blood sport. The final film in the series featured President Obama and his family. The National Geographic film Through The Ages: President Obama Celebrates America's National Parks provides an up-close-and-personal look at President Obama's trip to Yosemite. Seeing the park and its vast majesty through Obama's eyes provided a connection I wasn't expecting. His passion and connection with the park was palpable. Everywhere you looked at FoST there were artifacts of storytelling, and of stories. A typewriter, a television studio camera, a phone booth, an old time television - the entire space art directed to immerse you in the past... and the future... of how we connect. And - because Melcher embraces storytelling in all of its incarnations, both live and recorded, the space came alive with fabulous snippets of theater, music, and performance that connected people with each other, and with the art of performance. Yes, there were people in VR experiences, but there were also sensory journeys to take, films to watch together, drawings to create, walls of images to dance to, and winged VR flying adventures to take you soaring in the air. Advertisement If you had any concerns about virtual reality somehow flattening the future of storytelling, the FoST Playground put those concerns to rest. Yes, the VR was immersive and extraordinary. But the performers, the music, and the physical space of FoST left a lasting impression and a hint of the world of stories that lie ahead. It's a grand vision - and three hours later I left wishing I'd had more time. It's hard to imagine how they'll top it next year, but I certainly wouldn't want to miss finding out. Denis Arndt and Mary-Louise Parker in Heisenberg Photo: Joan Marcus Mary-Louise Parker--who since 1990 has given unforgettable performances in such plays as Prelude to a Kiss, How I Learned to Drive and Proof--has met her match in Denis Arndt, an arrestingly strong 77-year-old actor who is only now making his Broadway debut. The pair play severely mismatched characters in Simon Stephens' Heisenberg, and they are a mismatch made in dramatic heaven. Combine Parker & Arndt with the intriguingly enigmatic script and the canny direction by Mark Brokaw, and you have another winning new play from Manhattan Theatre Club. The pair meet accidentally in St. Pancreas Station, when Georgie (an American-in-London waitress in a fusion restaurant in Islington) mistakes Alex for someone else and kisses him on the neck. Or does she? No, she later confesses. In the second scene, in Alex's failing butcher shop--yes, this well-educated and exceedingly well-spoken septuagenarian is a butcher--Georgie confesses that she isn't really a waitress. Rather, a receptionist at a school in Clapton. Or is she? And how much does it matter? Their accidental relationship turns into something more; but is it accidental? Georgie is surprising and delightful, but can Alex (or the audience) ever believe what she says? Is this all just a scam, so the forty-something woman can get the old man's money? But why would she think this failing butcher has money? Stephens keeps us (and Alex, I suppose) guessing. In the end, though, it seems clear that whatever Georgie's motivation might be, she needs Alex and he needs her. Advertisement Mary-Louise Parker in Heisenberg Photo: Joan Marcus If the author's name doesn't sound familiar, it should. This is his fifth play to appear in New York; his most recent offering was the phenomenal Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which just closed shop next door at the Barrymore. (Other plays include Harper Regan at the Atlantic, which is more along the lines of Heisenberg.) Don't let the title scare you into thinking that this is an evening of quantum mathematics. Neither the Heisenberg principle--which provides that the more precisely the position of a particle is determined, the less precisely its momentum can be known--nor old man Heisenberg (1901-76) himself are mentioned or referred to in the play. We can see, though, that no matter how precisely we might understand Georgie at any given point, we cannot know what is true or what she will do next. Heisenberg was first mounted last May on a sliver of a stage in MTC's smallest space, with the audience seated on bleachers on either side of the room. The Friedman is a traditional proscenium house, and much larger. Brokaw and his producers have seen fit to retain the original staging by placing 200 seats on risers on stage; these are then mirrored by the orchestra and mezzanine. The scheme has worked out splendidly; while this might not be how Brokaw and his producers would have chosen to stage Heisenberg if they'd originated in a traditional theatre, the play loses none of the dynamic impact it had on 55th Street. In fact, the spare staging--the actors making due with only a couple of tables--actually enhances the fragmentary nature of the play, with the pair striving to maintain balance as if on a metaphysical seesaw. Advertisement Parker, on stage or on film, is just about always distinctive, regardless of the material she is handed. Here, actor and role are perfectly suited, giving us Parker (yet again) at her very best. Arndt is the evening's surprise, though; any group that gives awards for best debut or best newcomer next spring will have to pencil in his name, or maybe just write it in magic marker. He has been something of a fixture at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and at the Intiman in Seattle over the years, but he only hit New York last May for the initial Heisenberg at City Center. Watching Arndt is like watching the late Jason Robards at the peak of his career; there is a central core of stillness and calm in his performance, and thorough control. He is marvelous, and Parker--who is some 25 years younger--is marvelous as well. What joy there is in watching actors like this, in a new play like this. Denis Arndt in Heisenberg Photo: Joan Marcus Can a salacious, sexist audio of a presidential candidate boasting of groping women do to his campaign what no amount of his own race-baiting seems have been able to? Apparently. To hear Congressman Jason Chaffetz tell it, he's had to unendorse Donald Trump because the audio of Trump discussing his sexual predation of women "is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine." I happen to think refusing to rent to black people is no less abhorrent. And if Congressman Chaffetz was really concerned about looking his wife and children in the eyes and being able to justify his support of Trump, he would have never endorsed a candidate who had this to say about a black accountant working for him: I've got black accountants at Trump Castle and at Trump Plaza -- black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. Those are the kind of people I want counting my money. Nobody else. . . . Besides that, I've got to tell you something else. I think that the guy is lazy. And it's probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is; I believe that. It's not anything they can control. Any moral high ground that any Republican who has endorsed Trump attempts to gain from repudiating him for misogyny blaring from his recently exposed videotape has a disquieting racial blind spot or simply couldn't care less about race. But since when is it okay for our elected officials to pick and choose which "ism" is acceptable and which is abhorrent? If a politician is willing to tolerate Trump the racist, we shouldn't reward him for distancing himself from Trump the misogynist. If anything, we should punish him for lacking sound predictive judgment, for Trump's behavior over the course of his campaign has been nothing if not a continuation of his past sexism. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the first of the moral relativists to call on Trump "to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere." Let's set to one side that the Republican Party, including Sen. McConnell, owes an apology to all American women for opposing the Paycheck Fairness Act, for supporting criminalization of reproductive choice, and for having only a token number of women in Congress and fewer still in the Republican leadership. Setting all these things aside, where is McConnell's call for Trump to apologize to African Americans and Latinos for claiming they are "living in hell"? And what moral authority could McConnell possibly have after endorsing Trump in spite of his impugning the objectivity of a jurist because of his Mexican heritage and impugning Mexicans writ large as "rapists"? Trump has been an unfit candidate for a long time and for many reasons, so it's curious that an videotape that has brought his misogyny into sharp relief is becoming the tipping point in this year's presidential race. But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by Republicans' disparate tolerance of racial bigotry versus misogyny. Emblematic of other Republicans' ratiocination, Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire cited her 12 year old daughter as her reason for unendorsing Trump. Advertisement The Nobel Committee awarded Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos the Nobel Peace Prize. His key accomplishment was the Sept. 26 signing of the Colombian peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, as known as FARC. The signing marked the formal end of 52 years of civil war. In the words of Humberto de la Calle, the former chief government negotiator, the time had come to believe in peace. But, not everyone agreed. In a referendum on Oct. 2, 50.2 percent of the participating electorate voted to reject the peace agreement. The voter participation rate was 37.4 percent, with urban centers overrepresented at the polls. Deciding how to treat the remaining 7,000 FARC guerrillas was a polarizing subject. Some saw the provision of stipends, support and training to demobilize FARC fighters as an investment in security. Others who opposed the peace accords framed it as a form of rewarding - rather than punishing - individuals for their acts of violence. Advertisement Government and FARC negotiators are determining how to adjust the agreement in hopes of achieving a "yes" from the electorate in a future vote. Our combined two decades of research with former combatants and conflict-affected groups in Colombia provide insight into why reintegration is both challenging and significant. Reconstructing lives and livelihoods The process by which former fighters lay down their weapons, leave armed groups and transition back into civilian society is called disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. However, as researcher Sami Faltas writes, "unlike disarmament and demobilization, reintegration cannot be imposed or centralized. ... For this reason, it is usually the weakest link in the DDR chain." Although the current reintegration debate in Colombia focuses largely on the FARC, our research covers the experiences of many of the armed actors in the conflict. These include guerrilla fighters from the FARC and National Liberation Army, as well as paramilitary groups. Advertisement Reintegration requires former combatants to imagine a civilian life for themselves after a period of time when their livelihood, sense of identity and community came from affiliation with an armed group. Disarming and demobilizing ex-combatants often causes them to worry about their security. A former paramilitary member told us, "We know that we're being tracked down by the armed groups. They send murderers. That's why I can't just show my face around town. They'll kill me." Ex-combatants also worry about economic security and their ability to support their families. For some, making money was part of their motivation for joining an armed group. As Vladimiro explained, "In my barrio, when anything is missing - when anyone's been robbed - everyone starts looking at the people who don't have jobs. I hated that feeling that everyone suspected me." For him, joining the paramilitaries meant receiving a salary and carrying a gun, both of which translated into respect when he walked down the street. The stipend for demobilized combatants is modest, and they become one more poorly paid male among many as they transition to civilian life. Gender matters The urgent need to guarantee physical and economic security for demobilizing combatants is frequently tied to former fighters' understanding of masculinity. The peace agreement addressed aspects of gender. However, it did not explicitly address masculinity or adequately provide for the security of former combatants. Advertisement Former paramilitaries have said that their affiliation with these groups helped them "feel like a big man in the streets of their barrios" and allowed them "to go out with the prettiest young women." In the words of one former paramilitary, "in this country, the man who has a weapon is a man who has power." Reintegration thus requires reimagining masculinity in a time of transition. Not all fighters in Colombian armed groups are male. Female fighters, whose exact numbers are difficult to estimate, have joined armed groups for a variety of reasons. Some joined because of past experiences with violence in Colombia. Or, they felt the armed group offered more protection and a more secure livelihood than in civil society. Some were attracted to the possibility of achieving more agency and equality. While some women experienced forms of gender equality within the FARC, they have also reported experiences of coercion and violence. These have included forced contraception, forced abortion, and separation from children and families. While some armed groups allowed open sexual relations between combatants, sex for female fighters was at times an exchange for protection by higher-ranking males in the group. When trying to reintegrate, female fighters also deal with stereotypes that portray them as having violated expectations of a peaceful, nurturing femininity. Official DDR programs at times box women into restrictive, narrowly conceived gender roles. For example, Joshua Mitrotti, the head of the Colombian Agency of Reintegration, said female former combatants have "sometimes lost their feminine features," and that the program puts "a strong focus on accompanying them and helping them again reconstruct those feminine features they want to reconstruct." Mitrotti did not elaborate on what a return to "feminine features" may entail for these former combatants. Advertisement Stigma and its consequences The stigma associated with ex-combatants can complicate their employment prospects, social relationships and sense of identity during the transition to civilian life. The stigma partly stems from people's concerns that former combatants may slide back into violence, or be recycled into a new armed group or criminal network. A 2014 study by Fundacion Ideas Para La Paz, an independent think tank in Colombia, confirmed that dissatisfaction with reintegration programs and their failure to meet demobilizing combatants' economic needs can lead to their re-recruitment into armed groups. Weak family ties and social bonds between ex-combatants and the communities into which they enter further affect ex-combatant recidivism. Collectively, these insights suggest that when disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs fail to provide former combatants with an adequate route back into civilian life, the alternatives for these individuals may involve a return to violence. The provisions outlined in the peace agreement included stipends for a fixed period of time, as part of a comprehensive program of reintegration. This assistance may help former combatants with the transition into civilian life. Justice in transition Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration are not solely a security issue. Reintegration is also a component of peace-building and justice after armed conflict. Demobilizing fighters represents a dual challenge: On the one hand, they are reconstructing relationships and identities as they reintegrate into civil society. On the other hand, they are frequently viewed as violent perpetrators who inspire fear in those around them. The broader communities to which they return may rightly demand some accountability for the harms these combatants have caused. Advertisement The accountability provisions of the peace accord addressed violence through a tiered system. Demobilizing rank-and-file FARC fighters are eligible for amnesty, provided they were not involved in war crimes or crimes against humanity. Those who exercised command responsibility or were otherwise involved in these grave crimes, including torture, kidnapping and sexual violence, among others, must face the Tribunal for Peace. At the tribunal, former fighters who confess and fully accept responsibility are eligible for five- to eight-year "sentences of restriction of liberty," which have a restorative and reparative function, rather than punitive. Those who do not accept responsibility and are found guilty are eligible for sentences of 15 to 20 years. Critics of these provisions of the peace accord include the former Colombian president and current senator, Alvaro Uribe, his supporters and Jose Miguel Vivanco, the head of the Americas desk at Human Rights Watch. In a much-quoted statement, Vivanco dubbed certain provisions of the accord "a pinata of impunity." What these objectors miss is the complex definitions of justice among conflict-affected individuals and demobilizing combatants alike. The geographic distribution of the referendum votes suggests that people in regions that experienced high rates of violence voted in favor of the peace accords. Our research with conflict-affected individuals and former combatants highlights the broader range of justice that operates in war-torn regions of Colombia. It is not simply a dichotomy between criminal justice and jail time, or impunity for the damage former FARC members have done. Advertisement What the "no" vote revealed is the deep gap that exists between certain urban centers - whose inhabitants see the war as distant, past and currently a subject for television series - and people in regions of the country in which the living legacies of war are a part of daily life. In those areas, the peace accords were embraced not for their perfection, but for their promise. The names of interviewees have been changed for their safety. Starting a company in the contemporary business world may be a tricky venture. Time, effort, energy and money are invested. Nonetheless, making these very vital resources grow is the biggest challenge every start-up faces. In this article, I have collated some important things a start-up company should think about before starting: 1.Scope of the industry Think about the industry that better suits your style of business and skills. When you begin refining on a particular area of specialization, seek out counsellors and people who have already made it in the industry. The internet and the industry's association are valuable sources of information. 2.Refine your concept It is not all good business ideas that are viable in the business world. Consequently, you need to determine if your products will lead to a money-making business. The entrepreneur need to think of coming up with a business concept that will not only survive but also thrive. Before you launch your start-up company rethink and refine your business concept. Advertisement 3.Size-up the competition Before launching your start-up company, you need to study your competition. Researching your competition should go beyond a google search. There are tools like SpyFu, Google trends, Google Alerts, and Qone-Tech (a market research software ) could help in your attempt to size up the competition. You could also visit stores or places where goods or services that are similar to the one you want to bring in the market are sold. Think of how you can become a customer of the competition. You can do this by signing in for emails and read articles that have been written on the products. The aim of studying competition is to understand what the competitors are doing so that you can do better. 4.Think about funding Another thing you need to consider is whether you can bootstrap your company. Will you need a small business loan? Think whether you should seek for an angel investor or for venture capital. Since money is a critical issue for any investor, you need to know your options early enough. So, read and research more about different creative ways to raise money for your startup. Remember, most of the investors may need to do a thorough scrutiny of your start-up idea before they can open their check books. Advertisement 5.Think about the Name of your company In most cases, business names are not about what excites us. Therefore, thinking of a suitable business name can be a stressful activity. A good business name should be one that you value, as well as communicate the uniqueness of your company in the marketplace. An entrepreneur should begin thinking of a name that will communicate the distinct qualities of the company. You can try and derive the name of the company from the company's vision and mission statements. Another important factor is to conduct a domain registration search to determine the availability of such name before you get in too deep on the details of how to name your business. Deborah Sweeney listed about 10 rules you need to have in mind for such name search. 6.Think of a suitable life insurance Insurance is an important part of the checklist an entrepreneur need to consider when thinking of a start-up company. As most insurance salesmen say, if people are counting on you then a life insurance cover is necessary. Remember if you are starting a company you will be an employer. Hence, your employees need to be covered while at work. According to Carter Gray, a chartered Life Underwriter with Pacific Insurance Group, "having life insurance cover is critical for new start-ups because of the various degree of risks that comes with starting a new company." Advertisement 7.Figure out the right marketing strategies. When starting a company, you don't need to be a marketing prodigy. Marketing greatly demands that one be creative and come up with innovative ways of reaching the customers with the company's vision. However, if an entrepreneur is building awareness from the ground-up, they need to accompany it with a marketing strategy. In this regard, think of how you will communicate in clear terms with your customers. In a recent conversation Kevin Lenon, a Utah SEO consultant, he stated that focusing exclusively on honing your marketing communication with your target market helps to conserve time and resources. 8.How will you conduct a test run? Before starting your company, it is essential to consider the method which you will use to test your idea. Think of how surveys, focus groups and polls can help you to gain insight into approaches about your business idea. Think of channels through which you can obtain feedback from those that have used your products or services. The ultimate goal of carrying out a test run is getting to know the consumers of your company's products more intimately, what turns them on and what turns them off. One of the strategies for test running your idea is by blogging publicly about what you are doing. According to Shilagh Tobin of Studio Culture, a Brisbane SEO company, "blogging about your idea is one of the most powerful tool to gather qualitative and personal feedbacks that are required to get quantitative metrics for sound decision making on your start-up." Advertisement 9.Think of recruitment Hiring employees can be a challenge for most entrepreneurs. You need to think of the skills and competencies that you will require in your company. Also, the timing of the recruitment exercises need to be appropriate. While hiring your employees, you need to write captivating job descriptions that will attract the best talents and only the kind of people you will like to see in your company. Determine whether you company will be suited by permanent employees or you will need to contract others. 10.Second guess yourself One of the grievous errors most start-up makes is thinking that their business concepts will spontaneously turn into viable business ideas. A start-up is not just a dinner table idea without a complete structure drawn out. Did you know that Oregon is home to a whole bunch of epic places you would never believe existed in this Pacific Northwest State? Iceland or Utah maybe, but Oregon? You would never guess! Oregon is famous for the over-crowded-yet-beautiful Multnomah Falls, the Columbia River Gorge, the stunning coast, and the foggy forests, but there are so many crazy-cool places to be discovered! 5 Surprising Landscapes You Would Never Guess Are Found In Oregon 1. Hot Springs Hot springs in Oregon? You bet! Many of the mountains in the Cascades are volcanic in nature and the subterranean heat helps to produce hot springs. People often travel abroad to Iceland to visit geothermal pools but not many know that Oregon is home to many. Whether you are interested in crystal clear blue pools in the middle of the woods, springs hanging off the side of a mountain, hot pockets nestled right alongside a glacial river, or man-made wooden hot tubs, there is an epic Oregon hot spring for you to run away to. A word of caution: some hot springs are clothing optional and many bathers opt out of swimwear. Advertisement 2. Lava Fields The stark landscape of hardened lava as far as the eye can see is a sight to behold and many people travel to Hawaii, Italy, Iceland, or New Zeland to visit these unique locations. Not many people know that a vast network of lava fields and caves can be found right in Oregon! The state is often associated with lush forests and a lovely coast, but thousands of acres of straight-up lava surrounded by volcanic mountains is a sight that shouldn't be missed! 3. Basalt Columns People who have visited Northern Ireland [Giant's Causeway] or Iceland like to perpetuate the myth that basalt columns are unique to these locations and therefore travelers MUST see them. While not every destination is known for its columnar basalt, it certainly isn't specific to Iceland/Ireland. Oregon has TONS of easily accessible basalt columns that are just as stellar as their European counterparts. Columnar basalt can be found all over the state including near waterfalls, in the middle of the woods, and on the coast. By the time you leave the state, you will have seen enough unique basalt to satisfy even the pickiest geologist. 4. Covered Bridges If you have spent time in places such as Ohio, Vermont, or New Hampshire, chances are you have seen a covered bridge. That being said, who the heck knew they were plentiful in the likes of Oregon? Central Oregon's Lane County is home to the largest number of covered bridges in the west. Covered bridges are a lovely reminder of a bygone era and driving past them makes you feel like you are living in a real life postcard. Make sure to take a moment to drive through the bridge too for a different perspective. Advertisement 5. The Desert Lush forests, towering mountains, plenty of rain, and misty fog are all what you would expect to find in Oregon...but the desert?! In reality, about two-thirds of the entire state is covered in the type of landscape you would find in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah! If you don't know what you are getting into, the striking contrast between visiting moss covered trees and then discovering that stark red rocks exist less than an hour away is quite breathtaking. In Oregon, you can go crazy with rock climbing, fossil beds, sleepy towns, and basking in the history of the old Wild West. If you only have a few days, John Day Fossil Beds/The Painted Hills and Smith Rock State Park should top your bucket list! Have you visited Oregon? What is your favorite crazy-cool landscape to check out? This post was originally published on my travel blog FOLLOW ME AWAY. How WCFDavos Forum and GLBA Association helped two "sisters" to find each other - You know that you have a sister in Moscow? - Yanina Dubeykovskaya, Founder and Content Director of World Communication Forum Davos, told me, while drinking coffee in a Berlin coffee shop. - She looks almost like you and has the same character traits. - It is not possible, - I answered. I was really sceptical about the idea that somewhere in the world there is a human with the same personality as me. From my point of view, it is not the best thing to happen. - You are not right, - Yanina continued. - She is a very nice girl and very successful. She is a PR-Director of Russian branding agency Depot WPF. Advertisement "Ekaterina is on the top of the stairs to Moscow State University, where she gives lectures" Under these circumstances I got to know Ekaterina Lavrova, actually much earlier, than Ekaterina got to know me. Afterwards there was the first meeting in Berlin (on the 1st of January!!!), when Ekaterina came to Berlin to visit her good friend Yanina Dubeykovskaya and to become a little of Berlin spirit. Afterwards we met again in Friedrichshafen during the WCFDavos pre-event "Zeppelin View" and then directly at WCFDavos 2016. If you ask me and if you want the honest answer about us both as "sisters", I'd rather say that everybody sees what he or she wants to see. Those, who want to see the similarity between us two, will see them. Those, who dont, probably not. There exists no truth in the question of human perception. But it turned out that the world really sees us similar. Everything started, when I finished my Master studies and stepped into the field of job search. Ekaterina wrote me and said that one of the agencies - GLBA-members is looking for a PR-Manager. And what a coincidence: exactly in Berlin, where I live happily already for more than two years. GLBA is literally Global Local Branding Alliance and unites 7 branding agencies from all over the world. Ekaterina Lavrova with her branding agency Depot WPF is a Moscow representative of GLBA, and a German branding agency, which were so upset and lonely without PR-support, was Berndt+Partner. And they not only wanted a PR-Manager, they wanted somebody as good as Ekaterina Lavrova, who is so successful with her PR-support for Depot WPF. And Ekaterina, remembering her "imaginary sister", recommended me. "I am on the top of the mountain" During the revolution, journalist Yehia Ghanem found himself in the middle of crunch meetings with the prime minister. Yehia Ghanem is an Egyptian journalist and war correspondent who has covered conflicts in Bosnia, Afghanistan and DRC. In this instalment of Caged, Egyptian journalist and war correspondent Yehia Ghanem recalls the heated meetings between Egyptian revolutionaries and the country's prime minister at the height of the revolution. Read the rest of the series here. Advertisement By February 4, it had become clear that Hosni Mubarak and the rest of Egypt's ruling elite were preparing to take extreme measures to end the protests in Tahrir Square and at other spots across the country. The siege of the Square was getting tighter but I managed to sneak out. I headed towards the offices of Al-Ahram newspaper, where I worked. Along the way, I met a dear colleague, Badawy Negila. I told him about the gravity of the situation in the Square and he suggested that we buy time before a brutal and conclusive crackdown on the protesters by asking one of his close friends, the university professor Yehia Helmy, to mediate between the revolutionaries and the newly appointed prime minister, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shafik. Helmy had long been friends with Shafik and his brother, the then deputy minister of General Intelligence, Mohamed Shafik. We called Helmy and explained our idea. He was immediately responsive, although the disinformation spread by the media meant that he had little idea of just how serious the situation in the Square was. He asked to see it and, within an hour, was walking through Tahrir with us, talking to demonstrators and discussing their demands. Our guide through these talks was one of the most prominent revolutionaries, Mustapha El-Najjar, a dentist and activist in his late 20s. Helmy contacted Mohamed Shafik at the Ministry of Intelligence and briefed him on the situation. The sniper fire needed to be stopped, the siege on the Square lifted and the attacks by bullies halted, he told him. Mohamed Shafik immediately called his brother, the prime minister. Advertisement An agreement was reached: the government would ensure the safety of the revolutionaries in return for their leaders meeting with the prime minister. By the following evening, a meeting had been arranged between the revolutionary leaders and the prime minister. It took place in one of the buildings of the Ministry of Civil Aviation near Cairo International Airport, where the prime minister often worked when he could not get to his own headquarters, which were just a few yards from Tahrir Square. As we drove there, the revolutionaries discussed their fear of disclosing their identities lest they be arrested. But I had been assured by the prime minister that they would be safe. I trusted him to keep to his word, and my confidence had grown since the snipers had stopped shooting the previous night. When the prime minister arrived, shortly after us, he was casually dressed, as was often the case. He was polite and welcoming. The meeting started at 11pm and continued until 5am the following morning. After each party made their opening statements, several proposals were put forward regarding disbanding the rallies in Tahrir Square and the surrounding areas in return for guarantees that Mubarak would keep his promise not to run for a sixth term and that his son, Gamal, would not seek the presidency. The revolutionaries also asked for major political, economic and social reforms to be initiated. Advertisement It felt like a good starting point, a necessary first step to manage the crisis before deconstructing it. But the young revolutionaries had lost all faith in the government. They doubted that it would keep its promises and feared that, once they had agreed to disband, they would be arrested and, perhaps, even executed. They were adamant that Mubarak had to step down - now. After hours of tense discussions, it felt as though we were on board a plane with four faulty engines. I feared we were about to crash. My greatest concern was that the meeting would end without us setting a date for another. I took one of the revolutionary leaders to the side and explained that, although they may not have agreed on much, those agreements that had been reached were a good achievement for a preliminary meeting. We owed it to the country and to ourselves to try to build on these commonalities, I explained. Then, I took the prime minister aside to say the same thing. Both seemed satisfied by this thought, so we parted ways after setting a date for the next meeting. During the following days, we met on two occasions. Progress was made but it was becoming increasingly apparent that the popular movement on the streets was outpacing us all. More and more people were heading to Tahrir and other squares across the country. Advertisement And, perhaps, one of the most noteworthy features of that last week of the revolution was the unprecedented popularity of the United States in Egypt. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, when Mubarak shut down the Cairo offices of Al Jazeera and scrambled its signal, the official US Arabic service to the Arab world, Al-Hurrah TV, stepped in to take its place. Then, of course, there was President Barack Obama's statement in which he called upon Mubarak to step down for the sake of his country, adding: "When I say today, I don't mean tomorrow." Hutchinson city council examines what to do about chickens The issue is before the planning commission because chickens are part of land use codes written to address larger animals. By Constance Bommelaer de Leusse and Tereza Horejsova How can we create a more inclusive Internet? What are the practical steps we can take to expand global connectivity? This week, leaders from some of the Internets main organisations and businesses, together with the World Bank, are gathering in Washington D.C. to discuss these questions. Why? Because bringing people online is one of the most powerful tools for development, and the world has finally woken up to see it. Last year, the international community took on a historical commitment through the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Internet is now seen to have a central role in reaching them all, from alleviating poverty to empowering women and youth on all continents. We are already seeing ambitious projects and increasing amounts of funding becoming available, and the link between development and the Internet has been officially acknowledged by a number of prominent policy bodies. As an example, only last month the UN Broadband Commission members said that sustainable development goals couldnt be achieved without affordable and universal access to ICTs and broadband connectivity. Ambitions to catalyze Internet-based Development are finally coming into place but the important question remains: how do we move from speech to action, and from action to success? A challenging possibility It is generally assumed that the Internet boosts development, especially in countries like China, India or Brazil, and it is estimated that ICT capital is already contributing on average 15% to the GDP growth in the developing world. However, although evidence of the Internets inherent power is growing, the assumption of the Internet being an engine for development does not apply automatically. The first warning came with the World Bank report arguing that digital dividends are not reaching all of the corners and social strata in the developing world. Hence, overcoming some of the infrastructure challenges will not automatically go hand in hand with development. The Internet is in essence an ecosystem, where good decisions on infrastructure need to be backed by empowered users and good policy frameworks. Development is also too complex to be reduced only to access to the Internet. Connecting rural villages and communities is a necessary first step, but it is actually not decisive for making the Internets impact on society. Much more needs to be done. People need to be trained, they need to trust the Internet and they need to find it relevant. What is digital has to fit into local social and cultural realities, including legislation that enhances users trust in the use of the Internet. Inclusion is the key Because Internet inclusion is more than fiber and connecting devices - Its about ensuring that no one is left behind. Let us take a few concrete examples: Knowing how to use the Internet and getting used to the online dynamics is a process of confidence and changing habits: A villager in Kenya can benefit from digitally transmitted tools on, let us say, long-term weather forecast helping him or her to make good farming decisions. But taking the initial decision to invest in a mobile-enabled phone can be a concern to start with. The Internet will not solve the day-to-day business challenges with a magic wand, but is dependent on a wider environment that supports the transition: A small entrepreneur in Myanmar can effectively use online presence to boost his business and make profit quicker and easier but he will still have a barrier in using the Internet as productively as entrepreneurs in the advanced economies due to for e.g. the availability of payment systems. To freely explore and participate in the online world should not be considered an added bonus, but as the fundamental right that it is, and as intrinsic part to an Internet of opportunities: An activist in an authoritarian country has a tool that - as history has shown - can bring real societal changes. But with censorship and restricted Internet access in some countries, the opportunity for the Internet to be a tool for social empowerment will not be the same opportunity that the luckier of us takes for granted. The way forward The Internet can make a real impact if we address this gap between possibilities and realities in an open, collaborative and constructive way, and at all levels of governance - whether local, regional or global. Because if we want the villager to connect it requires work among all stakeholders to support education and capacity building. If we want the entrepreneur to succeed we must work together to ensure that new kids on the block have as equal opportunity to innovate as Google and Facebook have had. And if we want empowered users we must ensure a trusted Internet that respects privacy and protects our rights. All of the Internets stakeholders - businesses, civil society, governments, and the technical community - hold a piece of the puzzle. To make Internet-based Development a reality, we invite them to unite forces and focus on the immediate next steps that need to be taken: Expanding infrastructure: Private sector needs to invest for the infrastructure to provide Internet access and to create and host services, leaving to governments to prioritize areas with high costs or low demand. Fostering skills and entrepreneurship: A skilled technical community is necessary to deploy and operate access and content infrastructure. It is also necessary to develop human capacity so that there are entrepreneurs, developers and others to create content and services and the innovative new business and delivery models built on them. Developing a supportive governance system: Good governance is needed to set the principles and rules of an enabling environment for a local Internet ecosystem, and specific policies to promote infrastructure investment and human capacity. Governments can also deploy their own content and services and encourage people to make the most of the Internet Discussions held in Washington D.C. this week, addressed many of these issues. And the mixed types of participants of the event already give a good hope for taking on the challenge in its entirety and complexity. Because promoting an Internet that supports the SDGs is not only technical, it is not only policy, and it is not only developmental. It is all of the above. Constance Bommelaer de Leusse is the Senior Director of Global Internet Policy at The Internet Society. Strategic thinker, coupled with experienced and practical hands-on approach, she leads the organizations engagement with the UN (SDGs, WSIS, etc.) with a strong focus on Internet governance issues at the intersection of media development and Human Rights. Tereza Horejsova is the Director for Project Development for DiploFoundation, an NGO established by the governments of Switzerland and Malta to help increase capacities of small and developing countries to participate more efficiently in the global policy process, with the focus on the field of Internet governance. The Geneva Internet Platform and The Internet Society have partnered to run an online observatory, GIP Digital Watch, which provides a neutral one-stop shop for live developments, overviews and explanatory texts, events, resources, and other content related to Internet governance and digital policy. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tereza-horejsova/internet-and-development-_b_12388834.html A damaged reputation is difficult to restore, but that is exactly the mission of David Sacks, the Zenefits chief executive who succeeded its disgraced founder Parker Conrad.Once a Silicon Valley darling, the human resources software firm that caters specifically to small companies watched as its sterling reputation went up in smoke with the exposure of a program Conrad worked on that allowed sales representatives to dodge requirements in a state insurance licensing course. Then it was all downhill from there.These days, Sacks has his hands full with crisis management, which mainly entails settling with state regulators and repositioning the company, refocusing its core corporate values, and winning back its markets.This will be the month where we close the chapter on all that stuff, we move past it and we launch the future of the company, Sacks told reporters, referring to the launch of its new product next week with the focus on playing it straight from hereon in.However, second chances may not be as easy to come by as Sacks imagines. In the time it has taken to regroup, competitors have flocked to this potentially lucrative market.Such software, offered through cloud technology through the software as a service (SaaS) business model, has become cost efficient to offer to small companies because of economies of scale. Technology firms have sat up and taken notice, and have been careful to toe the line, especially in the highly regulated world of human resources software.Among them is Gusto, said to be Zenefits closest competitor. It also offers its software for subscription to small businesses, but has not been as rabid as Zenefits was to hype its products.Joshua Reeves, one of Gustos founders and its chief executive, said, Its about trust. And when you endanger that trust, its hard to rebuild it. Like many insurance professionals, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co.s Logan McLain didnt graduate college with the intent of heading straight for the nearest insurance office.Instead, the business management major from the University of Houston-Downtown was cruising his schools careers page when he came across an ad from Hartford Steam Boiler for a business development analyst.It really intrigued me because I thought of insurance in a very typical way auto, life, health and the research I did on the company showed me it wasnt like that at all, said McLain. Then, when I went in to interview, I realized the shortest tenure at the company of any person I spoke with was 27 years. I was blown away, and I became very receptive to learning about the industry.Though the hiring process was lengthy, McLain was invested and was brought on board in February of last year. Quickly earning his AINS degree, he worked hard with Hartford Steam Boilers client company managers to expand his industry knowledge, network and help expand the carriers gross written premium.One of McLains proudest moments came when he able to book $100,000 of a total $250,000 in premium as a direct result of his research and analysis of general budgets with a pool of governmental risks.The work could be pretty tedious, but they utilized my research exclusively to put together the quote, he said. It means a lot to have something tangible I can point to as a result of my work.McLain is also enjoying travel and face-to-face meetings with clients, drawing on the industrys long history of doing business on relationships. Its something he was able to appreciate almost immediately after waiting tables and working in restaurants sincehe was 15, most recently at a black-tie restaurant in Houston.I really met every single walk of life you can think of, and picked up nuances on how to maintain your calm and professionalism in stressful situations, McLain said. Now, a couple of years down the road, I can draw from those experiences I had with clients. I would say that but for the restaurant industry, I wouldnt have been nearly as prepared for work in insurance.McLain, who was named one of Insurances Business Americas Young Guns in 2016, hopes to continues with Hartford SteamBoiler as long as possible, going on to work in consumer-facing and management roles.Outside the office, he is actively involved in community outreach, including through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program and the Citizens for Animal Protection. Noella Carlow, the school system's 21st Century site coordinator, and Mayor Richard Alcombright pose with the Lights On Afterschool' proclamation. North Adams School Adds Supper to After-School Program Carlow, the mayor and Superintendent Barbara Malkas answer questions from the City Council on Tuesday. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The school district is expanding yet again an after-school program that's credited with improving academic scores and social growth. Beginning this fall, Brayton Elementary School will offer a supper program for any city students under the age of 18, Monday through Friday. The school district has been designated a 21st Century Community Learning Centers for 14 years and is considered a demonstration model of the federally funded program for other districts. "It was often used, in my practice in other districts, as the model to emulate and it is no small surprise to me that the after-school time program that has been offered at Brayton has truly assisted ... in closing the academic achievement gap," Superintendent Barbara Malkas told the City Council on Tuesday night. "We are adding to that program to make it a viable program that helps keep our children safe and closes the academic achievement gap." Brayton School achieved Level 2 status this year for the first time based on last spring's standardized tests, missing Level 1 by only 2 progress and performance index points. "That is a huge accomplishment and is in no small part what happens within the school day but also beyond the school day," Malkas said. "Because we have used those grant funds so strategically to continue these programs. ... "I think it is a testament to the work you have done as city councilors and the School Committee supporting the advancement of these programs." Her appearance with Noella Carlow, the school system's 21st Century site coordinator, and Kimberly Roberts-Morandi, the new director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, was to mark a proclamation for "Lights On Afterschool," a national celebration of after-school enrichment programs. "We have just exemplary programming in the city and in this district," said Mayor Richard Alcombright, chairman of the School Committee, in presenting the proclamation. Carlow said the system has its largest enrollment ever with about 250 students, and Colegrove Park Elementary School has about another 150 students at its site. Elton Ogden unveils a stone marker in the courtyard at Highland Woods. Tje stone marker recognizes the community effort that made the housing project possible and the lost mobile home park that was home to some of Highland Woods' initial residents. The project near Proprietor's Field was designed to alleviate an affordable housing shortage caused by the closure of the Spruces. Susan Puddester, left, of Higher Ground talks about the town's response to an affordable housing shortage; Kathy Quinn of Boston Capital Partners called Ogden 'the cornerstone' of Highland Woods; and Rep. Gailanne Cariddi recognized officials in Boston and town civic leaders. Williams College President Adam Falk noted the school contributed the land; Robert Fraser of MountainOne said, 'It makes sense and is good for our community. That's what we want to be part of.'; and Selectmen Chairwoman Jane Patton said, 'It's not every day you get to be part of something like this.' PreviousNext Collaboration Celebrated at Highland Woods Dedication in Williamstown Ogden, of Berkshire Housing Development Corp., serves as master of ceremony and thanks the many public and private entities who made Highland Woods possible. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The spirit of co-operation that helped produce a 40-unit affordable housing complex in at least half the usual time was celebrated at Thursday's dedication of Highland Woods. Elton Ogden, the president and CEO of developer Berkshire Housing Development Corp., said the efforts of community volunteers, state and local officials and non-profit and for-profit businesses helped his group meet an ambitious timeline that saw Highland Woods' opening coincide earlier this year with the final closure of the former Spruces mobile home park. "Let's think about how quickly we were able to get the approvals, get the property zoned, get it designed and get it funded," Ogden said. "What is normally a very long, challenging process was just about cut in half or even less than that. "I really feel this is a prime example of what a group of people and organizations can do when they get behind a common purpose that they really believe in. I think it's particularly noteworthy in this day and age when there is so much cynicism about our ability to work together as people. This is a great example that we really can do this and we can do it for things that are important to us." The chairwoman of the Williamstown Board of Selectmen echoed Ogden's comments. "This is an extraordinary example of everybody, the folks involved in this, attacking this problem with the notion of, 'Let's get to yes,' " Jane Patton said. "I love 'yes.' 'Yes' is my favorite word in the whole world. I love to say it, and I love to hear it. "And everybody involved in this process came to it with, 'Let's get to yes.' 'Yes, we can get the funds.' 'Yes, we can donate the land.' 'Yes, we can get help from the folks in Boston.' 'Yes, [Rep. Gailanne Cariddi] is going to help us.' And when everybody is all about 'yes' now we're standing here in the middle of a whole bunch of 'yes' so much positivity, so many good things. "Williamstown should be very proud. Everyone here should be very proud." Many of the key people who helped make the Highland Woods vision a reality were at Thursday's ceremony, where the project was dedicated with a stone marker recognizing "community support" and the "fondly remembered home and neighborhood" that was the Spruces. Speakers included Cariddi, Williams College President Adam Falk, MountainOne Financial President Robert Fraser, Kathy Quinn of Boston Capital Partners and Susan Puddester of the local non-profit Higher Ground. Falk said the college was thrilled to be able to be part of the town's solution when Tropical Storm Irene devastated the Spruces five years ago. Demolition continues on the Mount Greylock Regional School building project. Mount Greylock Building Project Hires Procurer for Fixtures, Technology WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The Mount Greylock Regional School Building Committee recently agreed to hire a consultant to help purchase furniture, equipment and technology for the new academic wing and to use an umbrella insurance policy to cover all work during the project's remaining two years. The committee voted 8-0-1 to accept a proposal from Point Line Space of Carlisle to manage the procurement and installation of furniture and technology for a cost of $70,400. The firm will be responsible for working with the project's designers at Perkins Eastman in Cambridge to determine what is needed and what will make optimal use of the new space, managing the acquisition of all materials through the commonwealth's Chapter 30B procurement process and coordinating the delivery and installation of materials from various vendors. At the end of the process, the eastern Mass-based consultant will "confirm conformance and performance according to contracts confirm quantities, locations, inspect for damages, etc. [and make] recommendations to the owner for payment based on the vendors' completion of contract," according to the proposal submitted by Point Line Space. A couple members of the committee expressed concerns that it was making a choice without having the time to explore alternatives, including, perhaps hiring PLS or a similar firm for some of the work involved while keeping the rest "in house." "I just want to be cautious about it and not rush into it so people have an opportunity to look at what the potential cost cutting could mean," said Thomas Bartels, who noted that items may be cut from the project to make up for the expenditure. "I'm not against this proposal. I want to make sure we all understand what the potential consequences would be." For now, the consultant will be paid not by cutting items but by dipping into the owner's contingency account. That said, it is still early in the building project, and once the contingency account is exhausted, the SBC will need to start trimming items on its "value engineering" list. Bartels ended up abstaining from the vote to accept the PLS proposal, which amounts to about 5 percent of the $1.3 million budget for furniture, fixtures, equipment and technology. The rest of the committee appeared to be swayed by the argument that outside expertise was needed to avoid drains on the district's staff. When committee member Robert Ericson suggested that school districts like Mount Greylock routinely purchase "furniture and stuff like this" and could handle the load itself, Principal Mary MacDonald, a voting member of the SBC, disagreed. "In the last five years, since I've been here, there has been very little purchased," she said in a meeting telecast on Williamstown's community access television station, WilliNet. "We've taken advantage of hand-me-downs from Williams College. Chairs, shelving, file cabinets have been hand-me-downs. "To do this in-house, significant training would be required." Mount Greylock Superintendent Douglas Dias told the rest of the committee that if it did not go with PLS, the district would end up having to hire someone part time to take on the administrative burden of the procurement and hope it could find someone qualified and committed for the duration of the project. "Seventy thousand dollars, while it is a big hit, is an investment in the future," Dias said. Trip Elmore of owner's project manager Dore and Whittier told the committee that the project's budget assumed no expenditure for outside consultants in the acquisition process. "There are many districts that do it themselves," he said. "There are many districts that might say they want help with a portion of the process. But it is very time-consuming." MacDonald argued that outfitting all of the classrooms and labs in the three-story academic wing is not the kind of project that could be absorbed by current staff. After hearing more information from the state and the anonymous supplier, a conservative panel of judges said Missouri's execution drug supplier doesn't have to be revealed. A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that the supplier of Missouri's execution drugs can remain secret - a reversal of the 3-judge panel's ruling from last month. Death row inmates in Mississippi are seeking information on how other states carry out the death penalty. In pursuit of that, the inmates subpoenaed information from the Missouri Department of Corrections, including documents that would identify the supplier of the state's lethal injection drugs. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's office attempted to quash the subpoena, but a federal district court and a panel of conservative 8th Circuit Court of Appeals judges declined to step in, finding that the state's concerns were "hearsay" and "inherently speculative." But on Thursday, after the state and the anonymous supplier submitted more information, the panel reversed course and granted the states request to quash the subpoena. If inmates wish to challenge their executions, they have to argue a better method by which to be put to death. The Mississippi inmates sought out Missouri's supply of pentobarbital - Mississippi uses midazolam, a sedative used in several botched executions over the past few years. But the supplier, filing under the pseudonym "M7," said that it would stop supplying execution drugs if its identity were revealed. "[B]ecause M7 would not supply pentobarbital to Mississippi once its identity is disclosed, we conclude that M7's identity has no relevance to the inmates' Eighth Amendment Claim," the panel wrote. "Second, even if M7's identity had any relevance to the inmates' claim, M7's declaration also establishes that the disclosure of M7's identity will result in an undue burden on" the Missouri Department of Corrections, as the supplier would stop selling the state drugs. The supplier also argued it feared for its personal safety, something the Mississippi inmates disputed. "But even if M7's fears are unfounded, that does not change the fact that M7 has already declared a clear intention to cease supplying if M7's identity is disclosed," the panel wrote. "Thus, we conclude that the harm to MDOC clearly outweighs the need of the inmates, and disclosure would represent an undue burden on MDOC." The pharmacy also argued it has a First Amendment right to sell execution drugs, which it called "an expression of political views, no different than signing a referendum petition or selling a t-shirt." The court made no ruling on that claim. Jim Craig, a lawyer for the Mississippi inmates with the MacArthur Justice Center, noted that neither Missouri nor M7 challenged the trial court's finding "that the Missouri Legislature did not shield lethal injection drug suppliers from production of information about their sales to a taxpayer-funded agency." As to Thursday's reversal, Craig told BuzzFeed News, "Litigation is designed to be a search for the truth. But in this case, condemned prisoners like Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase have been denied the basic truth-seeking tools of the legal process. We are studying the Court of Appeals' opinion to determine what steps we should take next." The panel's ruling is likely to complicate death row inmates' efforts to challenge their executions. Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, they have to argue a feasible and readily available alternative. But courts have so far been strict in limiting discovery or allowing subpoenas in furtherance of finding an alternative. | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: BuzzFeedNews, October 13, 2016 Death row: Be more transparent, Pardons Board, Prisons told Amnesty International-Malaysia (AI-M) has urged for better transparency from the Pardons Board and the Prisons Department when it comes to the death penalty. Speaking to FMT, AI-M Executive Director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu elaborated on her recent call for greater transparency in the use of the death penalty. Shamini said at the moment, when the Pardons Board made a decision, it could go both ways, with an inmate either receiving clemency or being executed almost immediately. Shamini said this was why better transparency was needed in how the Pardons Board and Prisons Department operated. At present, due to a lack of transparency, inmates and families were not given sufficient notice, with some families being informed only 72 hours before an execution took place, making this a travesty of human rights. Shamini said such short notice also meant a smaller window of opportunity for lawyers to file a last minute appeal or to present new evidence which could help change an inmate's fate. Yesterday, Shamini called for greater transparency in the use of the death sentence after the handing over of birthday cards from Malaysians nationwide to Shahrul Izani Suparman, a death row inmate. On Sept 25, 2003, Shahrul was arrested at a roadblock and police found 622g of cannabis, wrapped in 2 newspapers and placed in separate bags. He was sentenced to death on Dec 8, 2009. The birthday cards effort was an initiative by Amnesty International Malaysia in conjunction with the 14th World Day Against Death Penalty, which falls on Oct 10 every year. Shamini also supported a recent call by DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh, who urged that the Pardons Board impose a time limit on clemency petitions for death row inmates as it was unfair to keep the condemned prisoners waiting as they languished on death row after exhausting all legal appeals. Shamini said without a timeframe, death row inmates and their families were left in the lurch. The Bukit Gelugor MP had voiced hope that the Pardons Board in every state would set a timeframe in deciding whether to approve petitions for clemency. At present, there is no time limit for the board to dispose of such petitions. The most recent execution in the country was that of former aircraft cabin cleaner Ahmad Najib Aris, who was hanged on Sept 23 for the murder of IT analyst Canny Ong Lay Kian in 2003 at Jalan Klang Lama, Petaling Jaya. | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: freemalaysiatoday.com, October 13, 2016 Death Chamber, Nevada State Prison, Carson City CARSON CITY - Gov. Brian Sandoval said Tuesday he will not propose either a new method of capital punishment or abolishing the death penalty to the Nevada Legislature when it convenes in February. Executions by lethal injection cannot proceed in Nevada because the Department of Corrections cannot obtain the drugs needed to carry them out. There are 81 inmates on death row in Nevada but no executions are imminent. Sandoval said he supports capital punishment and wont recommend that the Legislature repeal the death penalty or change the states method of execution to the firing squad or some other option. Asked if there is now a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in Nevada, Sandoval said, That is one thing that somebody could say. Its a practical issue. There are no other options and right now, you are right, the drugs are not available and nobody has responded to that. Sandoval said a lawmaker could propose to abolish capital punishment but that he wont be doing so. I am not considering that at this time, he said. Nevada prison officials said last week the state will have to explore its options to carry out executions after it received no bids from pharmaceutical companies to supply drugs for lethal injections. The state issued 247 requests for proposals on Sept. 2 after its stockpile of at least one drug used in executions expired. Not one response was received. Nevada has used the drugs midazolam and hydromorphone to administer a lethal injection. Both are manufactured by Pfizer. Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve, the company said in a statement issued earlier this year. Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment. The Nevada Legislature in the 2015 session approved spending $858,000 to build a new execution chamber at Ely State Prison, to replace the one in the now-closed Nevada State Prison in Carson City. Officials have said that project is scheduled to be completed by Nov. 1 and the space will be used for storage and as an attorney-inmate meeting area if no executions are scheduled to go forward. Despite Lack Of Execution Drugs, Sandoval Won't Abolish Death Penalty Or Recommend New Method Gov. Brian Sandoval says he won't propose abolishing the death penalty after Nevada ran out of lethal injection drugs. But the Republican also told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he wouldn't be proposing an alternative method of capital punishment, such as a firing squad. The state has a de facto moratorium on the death penalty because 1 of the 2 drugs needed for the lethal injection has expired, and the state has been unable to find a company willing to restock its supply. Nevada budgeted nearly $900,000 to create a working execution chamber in Ely, but may have to use that space for storage. More than 80 people are on death row, but there are no executions pending. Sandoval's plan doesn't preclude a lawmaker from proposing a workaround. | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: Las Vegas review-Journal , Sean Whaley, October 13, 2016Source: Associated Press, October 13, 2016 IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), a pioneer in local cloud and data center services, is pleased to announce that it is now a partner of the Philippine International Aid (PIA), a U.S.-based charity that has been providing health and educational assistance to underprivileged youth. One of the PIAs core initiatives is the Off the Streets-Off to School scholarship, a program that helps parents and teachers to keep kids in school. Administered in partnership with the Phil-Asia Assistance Foundation, the Off the StreetsOff to School program provides scholarships annually to more than 1,000 children in Metro Manila. Together with their partners, PIA helps students go through elementary and college. The student's academic progress is monitored throughout the academic year and they are also encouraged to correspond with their respective benefactors. An all-volunteer organization, PIA was established in 1986 to provide assistance to disadvantaged youth in the Philippines and the United States. Their core programs provide educational assistance to more children in the Philippines than any other U.S.-based charity. In 2013, aid was provided to more than 2,400 students. Heading the organization is Mona Lisa Yuchengco, the founder and publisher of PositivelyFilipino.com, an online magazine on the Filipino diaspora. She also serves on the board of the Womens Media Center, a non-profit progressive women's media organization. Working with her at PIA are successful Filipino-American business executives living in the Bay Area such as Executive Director James T. Lim, the current General Manager of the Omni Hotel, Secretary Sonia T. Delen, a Senior Vice-President at Bank of America Leasing, and France M. Viana, a strategic marketing consultant who currently heads the marketing department of the San Francisco World Affairs Council. PIA started out as a scholarship fund to send street children to school, to take them away from the streets where they were being recruited by pimps, and to place them in schools where they belong. Since then, thousands of children have gone through the program. Many of them have graduated college and gotten jobs, and are now able to help support their families, said Yuchengco. Under the program, IPC will fund the school expenses of 5 students of the Eulogio Rodriguez Integrated School in Mandaluyong City. The funds provided will take care of tuition fees, books, supplies, field trip costs, uniforms, shoes, and allowances for meals and transportation. Supporting the Off the Streets-Off to School program was an easy decision for us because IPC is always looking for ways to use its resources and expertise to give back to the community, said Reynaldo Huergas, President of IPC. Everyone of us is very excited to be part of this amazing project. We know that a lot of students are forced to drop out of school because of money and hopefully with our partnership with PIA, we can help those students stay and learn so that they can have a better future. This is the second time that IPC has teamed up with a charity dedicated to help improve education. In 2014, they lent their cloud technology services to assist the Teachers for the Philippines in documenting and tracking the effectivity of their teaching programs. We are always eager to lend a helping a hand to those in need, especially when it comes to education. We firmly believe that everyone should have access to education and IPC is happy to help schools and students alike in any way we can, added Huergas. Back to top Energy Department Announces New Projects between U.S. and China to Cut Emissions Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced nine new energy performance contracting pilot projects that bring together U.S. and Chinese companies to boost the energy efficiency of buildings in China and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A combination of clean energy retrofits and upgrades will save the selected facilities on energy costs over the lifetime of the contracts by making them more energy efficient. The savings on utility bills created through the facility upgrades will be used to pay for the projects over the terms of the contracts, and the improved facilities will continue to save money and energy after the contract terms have ended. The new projects support the efforts of both countries to work together to address climate change as recently formalized under the Paris Agreement. China and the U.S. have years of experience in energy performance contracting and have a tremendous opportunity to reduce energy and water use and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The American companies partnering with Chinese firms will benefit by forging new partnerships to market their clean energy products and gain additional experience operating in China. For these reasons, the U.S. Department of Energy and China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) are working together, under the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group announced by Secretary Kerry and his Chinese counterpart in 2013, to scale up these contracting opportunities by promoting multiple technology retrofits, new contract models, third-party financing and stronger measurement and verification protocols. DOE's Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, David Friedman, announced the projects today at the 7th annual U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum (EEF). The Beijing event, organized by NDRC and DOE, brings together more than 150 government, industry, and nonprofit leaders from the U.S. and China to discuss bilateral collaboration on energy efficiency and highlight cooperative efforts, including energy performance contracting. EEF is the premier platform for senior U.S. and Chinese officials and industry to assess the progress of joint activities under the U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan. This plan was announced by Presidents Obama and Hu in 2009 with the goal of discussing emerging market and policy developments, and exploring trade and investment opportunities. The EEF has facilitated 30 institutional or commercial partnerships resulting in millions of dollars of trade and investment since the first EEF in 2010. The U.S.-China Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) pilot projects were formally recognized today by NDRC and DOE for using a combination of innovative financing models, standard measurement and verification protocols, integrated systems approaches, and achieving at least 20% energy savings building-wide or at least 1,000 tonne coal equivalent (TCE) across retrofitted systems in industrial facilities. General Electric and Tongyu Heavy Industry Co., Ltd.: This GE-led project's features include the implementation of an energy management system, efficient lighting, water savings, and distributed rooftop solar power generation on Heavy Industry Co., Ltd.'s property. The project is expected to achieve 23% savings on average across affected systems, yielding a net reduction of 9,865 TCE in annual energy use. This project is part of GE's Green Supplier Initiative, which is advancing the EPC market by bringing together energy service companies (ESCOs), industrial facilities, suppliers, and financiers to provide integrated retrofit solutions to industrial facilities like Tongyu's. General Electric and Ningbo Harmony: GE will partner with the ESCO, Ningbo Harmony, in the industrial park retrofit of the Ningbo Petrochemical Economic and Technology Development Zone. Improvements will include a distributed energy station for combustible chemical process gases, energy microgrid control center, a new maleic anhydride reactor, an energy efficient generator, waste heat recovery, and a bubbling fluidized bed boiler retrofit. The project is expected to save 47,600 TCE of energy use per year. This project is unique in using a mix of various financing methods including state-owned capital, the Ningbo Low-Carbon Industry Fund, and a Hangzhou Bank loan for energy efficiency projects. Trane, Otis, and Yantai Dongfang Energy Technology: Trane and Otis are selected technology vendors in an energy service agreement between ESCO Yantai Dongfang Energy Technology and Yantai Hi-Tech Science and Entrepreneurship Development Co., Ltd. to retrofit the heating and cooling systems, lighting systems, and elevators at Yantai Hi-Tech's property. This project is anticipated to save 20% energy compared to its original energy use, totaling 1,440 TCE saved per year. This energy service agreement project uses hybrid financing methods, including a bank loan and third-party investment. Carrier and China Aviation International Construction and Investment: Carrier by United Technologies is partnering with the ESCO, China Aviation International Construction and Investment, on a project to retrofit the Beijing Yunhu Resort. The retrofit covers the heating system, service hot water, and air conditioning and lighting systems across several buildings within the resort and is expected to save 40% in annual energy use. After installation, the ESCO will use the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP) to monitor results. Archimedes Controls Corporation and Shenzhen CNSECOM Technology Co., Ltd: Archimedes Controls Corporation is the supplier supporting the ESCO, Shenzhen CNSECOM Technology Co., Ltd., to retrofit the Xiamen Customs Building. This project will achieve energy savings of 24%, which will be measured using IPMVP. Clean energy technologies to be employed include an energy management platform, chilled water plant, variable frequency drives for pumps and cooling tower fans, LED lighting and controls, efficient drinking water equipment, an energy recovery system for elevators, and solar hot water control. Trane and China Southern Power Grid Synthesis Energy: Trane is working with the ESCO, China Southern Power Grid Synthesis Energy, to retrofit the air conditioning system, hot water, heating, and lighting of the Guangdong Hotel. This project will produce energy savings of almost 45% compared to its original annual energy use. The project will monitor and verify these savings using IPMVP. Johnson Controls Inc. and China Southern Power Grid Synthesis Energy: Johnson Controls Inc. serves as the supplier to the ESCO, China Southern Power Grid Synthesis Energy, and will install new air conditioning, lighting, and itemized metering in Zhongshan's Power Supply Bureau Electric Power Dispatching Building. The building improvements will save about 20% energy compared to its original annual energy use. This project demonstrates that utilities can also save energy in their facilities and lead by example. IPMVP will be used to monitor and verify savings. Johnson Controls Inc. and Century Microentropy Technology: Johnson Controls Inc., along with Beijing Qin Ze Heng Tong Technology and Guangzhou Yuxin Air Conditioning Equipment, are providing technologies to the ESCO, Century Microentropy Technology, in a retrofit of Yingli Solar's Baoding Facility. The retrofit is focused on improving heat recovery, the air conditioning system and its control, and the energy management system. The project will use IPMVP to monitor and verify its estimated 1,096 TCE of energy savings per year. Boehmer, Honeywell and Beijing KRSD Heating Investment: Boehmer and Honeywell are suppliers in an energy service agreement led by the ESCO, Beijing KRSD Heating Investment, to retrofit the heating system in the Jingneng Garden Residential District. The project is financed by the China Lustrong Group. Old boilers will be replaced with more efficient ones, the pipeline system will be improved, and smart controls for the heating system will be installed. The improvements will save 30% in annual energy use. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy works with private industry, universities, and national laboratories to accelerate the development and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality. Appointment of Antonio Guterres as United Nations Secretary-General Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry: "I am delighted to congratulate Mr. Antonio Guterres on his appointment today by the United Nations General Assembly to serve as the next United Nations Secretary-General. "The world faces an unprecedented number of challenges from ending the conflict in Syria, to addressing the worst global displacement crisis since the Second World War, to implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals. As I witnessed firsthand during Mr. Guterres tenure as United Nations High Commission for Refugees, he possesses the experience, vision, and moral authority to tackle these challenges head on. The United Nations needs a steadfast leader at its helm, and Mr. Guterres has proven time and again that he can fill that role. "I also would like to applaud the other candidates who competed in the Secretary-General race, who spent many months presenting their ideas for improving the United Nations and making the world a better place. The United States is pleased that this Secretary-General selection process was more transparent and that it included a diverse pool of candidates, including an unprecedented number of women. "I offer my thanks to outgoing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who has provided tireless, thoughtful leadership during a period of proliferating global challenges. I salute his dedication to the United Nations and his many accomplishments as its Secretary-General." Assistant Secretary Brownfield To Strengthen State Department Partnerships With Law Enforcement Organizations Across the United States San Diego, California - Ambassador William R. Brownfield, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), will travel to San Diego October 14-15 to attend the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference. In San Diego, Assistant Secretary Brownfield will seek to enhance INLs network of partnerships with U.S. law enforcement, through which state and local police lend their expertise to overseas law enforcement development efforts. Notably, he will meet with leaders who represent two influential domestic police organizations: J. Thomas Manger, Chief of the Montgomery County (MD) Police Department and President of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, and Colonel Tracy Trott, head of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and incoming Chair of the State & Provincial Division of IACP. Assistant Secretary Brownfield will also participate in a tour of the San Diego Harbor hosted by INLs partner since April 2015, the San Diego Harbor Police Department (HPD). On the tour, Assistant Secretary Brownfield will observe HPDs operations and discuss possible future engagements and trainings for foreign port security authorities. Medieval and barbaric punishments: Public flogging in Karaj, Iran, May 2015 "The Iranian regimes advocates in the West are not only negotiating and dealing with a country that is ranked highest in the world when it comes to carrying out executions, but they are also defending a regime that is currently conducting the most sadistic methods of torture in modern history." - Dr. Majid Rafizadeh In an Dr. Majid RafizadehIn an article on frontpagemag.com , Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, reveals what the human rights abuses in Iran are really like. He highlights that the countries in the West dealing with Iran are essentially defending a regime that conducts the most sadistic methods of torture. He highlighted the case of Ajab Gol Nour Zehi, a Baluch prisoner, who recently spoke about his experiences. He said that he was beat on his head, face and back so hard that after 18 months the cables he was beat with left clear marks on his skin. He was hung and beat for hours at a time. Explaining that torture methods were used to obtain a false confessions, he said: The beatings with rifle butts resulted in fracture of tibia in my legs and created a hole in it to an extent that a finger can be placed inside it. The traces of fractures are still present in my legs. They brutally stabbed me on the soles of my feet and left side of the abdomen, near the bladder, and severely wounded me such that the signs of the wounds on my body are still present and obvious. They tried to force him into taking responsibility for a murder that he knew nothing about. They also stapled his ears. When he still failed to confess after all this torture, they would take his clothes off and mock him. He explained: They burned sensitive parts of my body in 21 areas with lighters such that a lot of pus still comes out of the wounds. I lost consciousness under the tortures several times and each time they would bring an ambulance to bring me back to consciousness and then the torturers would start to torture me again. When I did not confess, they transferred me from the intelligence office in Iranshahr to the intelligence office in Zahedan South Western Province, where I was beaten and tortured again on the same wounds by judiciary agents and their head Mollashahi. Some victims say that the torturers are IRGC (Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps) members, the head of the intelligence service in Iranshahr and members of the government militia group Basiji, such as Omid Siah Khani and Basiji Kalak. Flogging of a convict prior to his public execution in Karaj, Iran, in Aug. 2015 Dr. Rafizadeh said that victims are speaking out about the atrocious torture they endured in order to gain attention from UN officials. The permanent scars all over their bodies are evidence and life-long reminders of the abuse and torture they endured. Women are also frequently raped in prison. A recent report by Amnesty International recognized that torture was common and committed with impunity in Iran. They recognized that courts in Iran imposed punishments that are torturous, cruel, inhumane and degrading, sometimes in public. They highlighted the case of a man who was deliberately blinded by Karaj authorities on 3rd March this year. The court sentenced him to retribution-in-kind (qesas) for throwing acid into the face of another man. Another example they provide is the case of two men who had four fingers amputated in June at the Central Prison in Mashhad, Khorasan Province. Floggings are also commonplace in the country. In June it was announced that nearly 500 people had been tried and convicted in less than 24 hours for breaking fast during Ramadan. Many of them received flogging sentences that were carried out in public. Dr. Rafizadeh said: If they truly defend social justice and individual rights, the Iranian regimes advocates and defenders in the West, human rights organizations, and dominant liberal media outlets need to initiate a full investigation on the use of torture in the Islamic Republic. One method to accomplish this is to use the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran. Otherwise, they are being complicit in these crimes committed by Iranian leaders. With the stories of these victims, and the undeniable evidence that remains on their bodies, no one can claim ignorance. | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: NCRI , October 13, 2016 Passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry: "I join President Obama and the American people in offering our deepest condolences to members of the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Thailand, and to the people of Thailand, on the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. "For over 70 years, His Majesty led Thailand with integrity and compassion, always mindful of the needs and aspirations of the Thai people. "His Majesty the King was one of Americas most valued and trusted friends, and was the only monarch in history ever born in our country. The Bhumibol Adulyadej Square in the city of Cambridge, in my home state of Massachusetts, marks his birthplace and will remain an enduring memorial to the special bond he created between our peoples. He will be long remembered and will be deeply missed. "The United States stands with the people of Thailand at this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with you." Assistant Secretary Malinowski and Acting Assistant Secretary Aponte Travel to Cuba Washington, DC - Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Tom Malinowski and Acting Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte will travel to Havana, Cuba, October 13-15, to co-chair the U.S. delegation for the U.S.-Cuba Human Rights Dialogue. The U.S.-Cuba Human Rights Dialogue will take place on October 14 in Havana, where officials will discuss the protection of universal human rights in Cuba and the United States. The U.S. delegation will include Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein, Special Representative for International Labor Affairs Sarah Fox, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs John Creamer, U.S. Embassy Havana Charge dAffaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis, and interagency representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Ambassador Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, Ministry of Foreign Relations Deputy General Director of Multilateral Affairs and International Law will lead the Cuban delegation. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Brand logos and typefaces are all about minimalism in the app-orientated world, to the point of tedium. Its with a fondness for more ornate ones that designer Sean Ross (who is from San Francisco, so he sees a lot of social media companies) reworked the logos of Twitter, Facebook, Google et al into metal album covers. He riffed on album covers by Danzig, Black Sabbath, Slayer and more, delighting in disrupting the brands uniform identities. As someone who thinks about visual culture, Im concerned that branding has become an afterthought in this space technology and function now lead the way over story and image whats under the hood, the core values and DNA of what it is youre voting for as a consumer, are sidestepped, Sean told Its Nice That. Sean Ross' metals up brands Show all 13 1 /13 Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands Sean Ross' metals up brands The visual language of disruption is much more exciting and strange then anything you see in tech; it usually stems from youth and street culture, not white dudes on computers, and its constantly shapeshifting. While the signifiers of rebellion are always eventually co-opted, it seems like were skipping over that part entirely, and immediately going for what blends in to the landscape, which makes sense when youre chasing adopters, but its so detrimental to brands being representative of anything unique or concrete. Having grown up in the 1980s, heavy metal music became the perfect spark for to explore these ideas, because metal does a pretty good job at visually representing what it actually isloud, disruptive and shockinganything but safe. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One of the last people you'd expect to see atop an Irish mountain is Mel Gibson - but that's exactly who three teens found when they reached the summit. Heather Fogarty, Michael O'Connor and Shane Gallagher had hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain in County Wicklow last Sunday (9 October) when they casually bumped into the actor-director who, the Derry Journal reports, was more than happy to pose for a photograph with them. Fogarty expressed her excitement about meeting the Oscar-winner on Instagram. Climbed the Sugar Loaf today, she wrote. It was great fun bit of yoga thrown in and to top it all off we met Mel Gibson at the summit! #SolidSunday. Gibson (Mad Max, Lethal Weapon) was having a day off from filming The Professor and the Madman which he's starring in alongside Sean Penn and Game of Thrones actor Natalie Dormer. Gibson acquired the film rights to the novel shortly after winning an Oscar for Braveheart in 1995. The bestseller from author Simon Winchester - originally published in England as The Surgeon of Crowthorne in 1998 - tells the story of Professor James Murray, the talented linguist who compiled the Oxford English Dictionary in 1857. His next film will be Hacksaw Ridge which stars Andrew Garfield as conscientious objector Desmond T. Doss. Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} If you think pizza is the ultimate comfort food that you can shove into your mouth with little thought, you are wrong. Experts, likely fed up of watching people sliding thin slices of Neapolitan pizza from their plates and watching the toppings slide off before dangling the scrawny remnants into their mouths, are very vocal about the right way to eat the Italian dish. The correct way to eat a Neapolitan pizza, with a thin stone-baked crust, is to fold a slice in half. Some even go a step further and fold the whole pizza in four like a wallet, as seen below. We've grown up to think pizza is a thing that you slice into perfect segments, pull a slice away by the crust and pick it up and put it in your mouth - like a bit of cardboard - and post it into your mouth, Jim Morgan, the co-owner of Rudys Neapolitan Pizza in Manchester told the Manchester Evening News. The correct way to eat pizza is such a touchy subject in New York, where there is a large diaspora Italian community, that politicians can find themselves in hot water if they use a knife and fork. In 2011, long before the 2016 Presidential race, Donald Trump and then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin were criticised for eating pizzas with a fork. Food trends in 2016 Show all 11 1 /11 Food trends in 2016 Food trends in 2016 Celeriac root We had a kale obsession in 2015, but 2016s vegetable sine qua non is predicted to be the knobbly celeriac root. Celeriac milk (Tom Hunt at Poco in Bristol serves it with winter mussels and wild water celery), celeriac cooked in Galician beef fat (from Adam Rawson of Pachamama, hot new chef in the capital) and salt-baked celeriac (to be found in Matthew and Iain Penningtons kitchens at The Ethicurean in the West Country) are just a few examples. Getty Images Food trends in 2016 Middle Eastern food The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook (24.95, Phaidon) by grand-dame Salma Hage, author of the bestseller The Lebanese Kitchen (whose halva is pictured here), is out in April Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton Food trends in 2016 Non-alcoholic cocktails Grain Store mixologist Tony Conigliaro has created Roman Redhead, a riot of red grape juice, beetroot, pale ale and verjus, and Rose Iced Tea (black tea, rose petals, anise essence, pictured here) Food trends in 2016 Gin The discerning will be slurping Hepple gin from chef Valentine Warner and cocktail guru Nick Strangeway which is punctuated with bog-myrtle nuances Food trends in 2016 Argyll and Bute Restaurant followers are getting in a froth about Pam Brunton in Scotland, who opened the Inver restaurant in Argyll and Bute to acclaim last year Food trends in 2016 Andy Olivers Som Saa One of the most eagerly awaited restaurants of 2016 will be the permanent incarnation of Andy Olivers remarkable pop-up Som Saa opening very soon in east London. Oliver, who worked at Thai god David Thompsons Nahm in Bangkok, raised a whopping 700,000 through crowdfunding, and is renowned for his piquant Thai flavours and obsessive attention to detail, including in his home ferments and DIY coconut cream Adam Weatherley Food trends in 2016 Venison Another ruminant in vogue is venison, with Sainsburys doubling its line for 2016. It provides a protein-packed punch, with B vitamins and iron, and its low in fat. Its entry into the mainstream is in part thanks to the Scottish restaurant Mac and Wild, just opened in London, whose Celtic head chef Andy Waugh (who also runs the Wild Game Co) has been touting it as street food for years (his venison burger pictured here) Food trends in 2016 Goat From Brett Grahams The Ledbury to Angela Hartnetts kitchens at Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest, Cabrito is the go-to goat supplier among the chef cognoscenti (roasted loin of kid pictured here) but this year, domestic cooks can get in on the action, as Sushila Moles and James Whetlor of Cabrito offer their meat through Ocado Mike Lusmore / mikelusmore.com Food trends in 2016 Coffee Coffee sage George Crawford is launching the much-anticipated Cupsmith with his partner, Emma. Crawford believes that 2016 is the year purist coffee will finally meet the masses; Cupsmiths mission will be to make craft coffee as popular as craft beer on the high street. The company roasts Arabica beans in small batches, improving its quality but sells it online, at cupsmith.com, in an approachable way: expect cheerful packaging and names such as Afternoon Reviver Coffee (designed for drinking with milk no matter how uncouth, most of us want milk) and Glorious Espresso Julia Conway Food trends in 2016 120-day-old steak Hanging meat for extremely long lengths of time has become an art. In Cumbria, Lake Road Kitchens James Cross is plating up 120-day-old steak (pictured here). The beef is from influential ager Dan Austin of Lake District Farmers, who is currently investigating the individual bacterial cultures that go into this maturing process Food trends in 2016 Lotus root Diners can expect root-to-stem dining - cue the full lotus deployed by the Michelin-starred Indian Benares in its kamal kakdi aur paneer korma Getty Images "It's not New York style," Adama Tourray, 25, a clothing store employee from the Bronx, told the New York Daily News at the time, adding he had never seen someone eat pizza with a fork in the Big Apple before. You got to grab it, he said. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A woman who let her brother-in-law to film her giving birth to her first child has been praised for sharing the beautiful video on Facebook. Ngaroma Crown from Christchurch, New Zealand, asked her brother-in-law to capture the moment she brought her daughter into the world. But her brother-in-law Matt went a step further. The video he presented her with documented the raw and emotional labour, from her enduring contractions to doctors placing newborn baby Nova onto Crowns chest for the first time. Crown wrote on Facebook that she wasnt sure if she wanted to share the personal and not so glamorous video on Facebook. She told Daily Mail Australia that the video made her cringe at first, but then I cried because it was so beautiful. On Facebook she wrote that she decided to share the "special moment with everyone" because of a newfound "respect and appreciation for our bodies as women". She added she felt "so proud" of her body and her baby's. Crown went on to thank her amazing midwife, her partner Peni and her sister Sarah for being the best support team I could ever ask for. But she reserved the biggest thanks to Matt for capturing all these special & not so fun moments and putting this video together for us. Even though this day was quite a blur to me (thankfully), the moment you were laid on my chest I will never forget. I felt my heart overflow, like how could I love someone this much. Addressing her new daughter, she went on: If there was anything I ever did right in this world, it would be you. Nova, you are my biggest & greatest blessing. My heart has never felt so complete. The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth Show all 15 1 /15 The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth First Place Winner: Marijke Thoen (Geboortefotografie) Underwater birth, baby with gorgeous curly hair The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth Best In Category: Labor (Apple Blossom Families) The Surge The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth Best In Category: Delivery (Birth Blessings Photography & Childbirth Services) En-Caul Unassisted Twin Water Birth The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth Best In Category: Postpartum (Natalia Walth Photography) Where peace begins The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth Honorable Mention: 'Love' (Krista Evans Photography) It calls to her both loudly and softly in song The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth Honorable Mention: 'Untethered Beginning for The Birthing Woman' (Angela Gallo) Maternal Grace The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth Honorable Mention: (alexandra kayy photography) In between two worlds The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'Untethered Beginning for The Birthing Woman' (Angela Gallo) The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'Support' (Ashton Renee Photography) The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'Earthside' (Amy Lynn Photography & Design) Amy Lynn Photography & Design The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'The wait in silence and calmness' (Senhoritas Fotografia) The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'A calm and loving support' (Coastal Lifestyles Photography) Shea Michelle Long The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'The Journey' (Bonnie Hussey Photography) Bonnie Hussey Photography The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'We did it!' (Chanda Williams, photographer doula) The most stunning photos that capture the beauty of birth 'She's here!' (Blue Muse Photo) The video has been watched on Facebook over 360,000 times. Viewers praised Crown for sharing the footage in the comments beneath it. Thank you for sharing this beautiful moment with us baby is gorgeous, wrote one user. Another added: Crying happy tears watching this beautiful moment. Thank you for sharing it with us all. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scotland will remain attached to Theresa Mays little England unless it becomes independent, Alex Salmond has said. The former First Minister said recent anti-foreigner policies and rhetoric emanating from Westminster were turning Britain into a closed, intolerant, backward-looking society. At the Conservative party conference earlier this month the Government was accused of pushing anti-foreigner policies including drawing up lists of foreign workers, a crackdown on foreign students, and the use of EU nationals as bargaining chips in negotiations. Its a tale of two countries, and indeed two countries. They say that people who choose to live and work in our country are a problem and need to be kicked out. We say theyre an asset and must stay with us, Mr Salmond told the SNPs conference in Glasgow. His comments come after the annual gathering heard on Friday that the Conservatives were flirting with fascism. Ms Salmond said Scotlands greatest national heroes William Wallace and Robert de Brus had been immigrants and that it should be free to choose our own way forward. We should be grateful for the Tory party. In their Birmingham conference they lifted the lid on the true intent and the emptiness of their programme. If we stick to London rule then we know exactly what lies in store for us, he said. Boiled down to its essence: a closed, intolerant, backward-looking society. Theresa Mays little England, has there ever been a more miserable, depressing, backward looking notion ever offered to the people of this nation? There is a better way for Scotland. No society can be offered a greater compliment by those who choose to live with us. After all, our greatest national heroes were William Wallace the Welshman, Robert de Brus, the Norman as part of our thousand-year history as a European nation. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell Let us proclaim our vision of a new Scotland, open, tolerant, prosperous, growing, and above all free to choose our own way forward. On Thursday Mr Salmonds successor Nicola Sturgeon announced that the Scottish Government would this week unveil a consultation on a possible second Scottish independence referendum. The First Minister took to the stage on Friday to greet the Brain family, an Australian family who had been threatened with deportation by the British Government. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The fallout from the mounting accusations of sexual assault being levelled at Donald Trump has taken another twist after several crucial Republican donors told the party leadership to cut all links with its presidential nominee. In another development that has few, if any, historical precedents in modern US politics, they said they believed the flood of allegations of sexual assaults, which Mr Trump has denied, are threatening to further damage the partys image and long-term future. The New York Times reported that the demands came as Mr Trump continued to try and brush off claims from a growing number of women who said he had assaulted them over the years. At a rally in Florida, the 70-year-old candidate labelled the accusations as outright lies and said the media was conspiring with his opponent to try and undermine him. Mr Trump denied the sexual assault allegations at a speech in West Palm Beach, Florida (Getty) Yet despite Mr Trumps denials about the assaults, which followed the emergence of a 2005 video recording in which he boasted about sexually assaulting women, the donors said the party should disavow its candidate and concentrate on so-called down ticket races such as Senate and House seats. At some point, you have to look in the mirror and recognise that you cannot possibly justify support for Trump to your children especially your daughters, David Humphreys, a Missouri business executive who contributed more than $2.5m (2m) to Republicans since 2012, reportedly said. Donald Trump Jr: If women can't handle basic workplace harassment teach kindergarten Bruce Kovner, a New York investor and philanthropist who has given $2.7m (2.2m) to Republicans over the same period, said: He is a dangerous demagogue completely unsuited to the responsibilities of a United States president. He added: Even for loyalists, there is a line beyond which the obvious moral failings of a candidate are impossible to disregard. That line has been clearly breached. Mr Kovner argued that the Republican National Committee should shift its attention to candidates who reflected its core values, like free markets and limited government. I hope the RNC. sticks to candidates who articulate these principles, he said. Mr Trump has never had anything other than a tense relationship with the senior leadership of the party, many of whom he has attacked and dismissed as Washington insiders. In the aftermath of the publication of the Access Hollywood recording, many of the top Republican leadership, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, said they would not campaign with Mr Trump and could not support him. They stopped short, however, of withdrawing their endorsement of the candidate. Mr Trump hit back, saying that he felt the shackles had been lifted from him by their actions, and he criticised Mr Ryan as a weak leader. Mr Ryan told fellow members of the House and Senate that they should concentrate on their own reelection battles, a comment that was taken to indicate that he believed the presidential race had already been lost. But the issue is not simple. Many Republicans in tight races believe they require the backing of Mr Trumps supporters if they are to win their contests and are continuing to stick with him. The issue underscores the pressure and disharmony within the Republican establishment, few of whom wanted Mr Trump as their candidate for the White House. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} French finance Minister Michel Sapin said that US banks had confirmed to him they would move some activities out of Britain to other European countries as the UK prepares to leave the EU. Sapin revealed that the executives of major US banks have told him they were working on contingency plans, after their meeting last week in Washington. While in Washington I spoke to large American businesses and banks, Sapin said at press conference in Paris. Until now their question was whether Brexit will happen or might it take longer than expected. Thats over. They are telling us clearly that there will be a transfer of activity. Its no longer a question of if, but when. I dont know to what extent or which ones. Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty Thats the inevitable consequence whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, he added. His comments came after Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council warned that a hard Brexit was Britains only option, dismissing the claims of the Leave campaign the that the UK could have its cake and eat it. Tusk added there could be no compromises on retaining benefits such as access to the single market and customs union, while rejecting the free movement of people. You can have 'hard Brexit' or no Brexit at all, EU council president warns UK In my opinion the only real alternative to a hard Brexit is no Brexit, even if today hardly anyone believes in such a possibility, Tusk told policymakers in Brussels. UK banks fear that a hard Brexit will result in the UK leaving Europes single market and therefore the loss of crucial passporting rights, which allow them to sell their services freely across the rest of the EU and give firms based in Europe unfettered access to Britain. Michel Sapin said Britain would not be the same following the Leave victory (BBC) The loss of these rights could be devastating to the City of London as nearly 5,500 firms registered in the UK use passporting rights to operate in other countries. A senior official at the Bank of England has warned that both the UK and the EU could lose out if Britains financial services sector fails to secure the right to offer services across the EU. He warned that removing passporting would raise funding costs while negotiations for a new arrangement will be a painstaking process. There are already warning signs that banks will shift staff out of London. Senior city bankers from US bank Citi and Morgan Stanley already said that jobs would have to move back into the EU if Britain was shut out of the single market. In a few weeks the American people will decide who will be our next president. While there is enough he said she said allegations and assertions concerning Trumps sexual conduct and Hillarys email scandals, obstruction of justice and lying to the American people, let us not forget this coming election will determine the direction in which our country will be taken. Do we want to continue importing the poverty stricken populations of other countries into our country which drives down earned wages for American citizens and creates unemployment [Hillarys plan], or do we want to secure our borders and regulate immigration into America in a manner which promotes the best interests of American citizens [Trumps plan]? Do we want to increase the flow of Syrian refugees into America by 550 percent when vetting them is problematic at this point in time [Hillarys plan], or do we temporarily halt immigration from war torn Islamic controlled countries until we can figure out a way to more effectively vet these refugees [Trumps plan]? Do we want to continue making destructive trade deals such as the NAFTA which promote the interests of international corporate giants who have no allegiance to America or any nation and are not in Americas best interests [Hillarys plan], or do we want to negotiate trade deals which promote an America first trade policy and are in the best interests of Americas labor force and her citizens [Trumps plan]? Do we want to continue with Obamas federal takeover of our nations health-care delivery system [Hillary Clintons plan], or do we want to repeal and replace Obama / Hillary care with a free market competitive system in which people will be able to exercise their unalienable right to choose their own doctors and health insurance needs [Trumps plan]? Do we want two or three more Justices put on our Supreme Court who will engage in judicial tyranny and advance their personal views of fairness, reasonableness, or justice as the Supreme Law of the land [Hillarys plan], or do we want judges and Justices appointed who will be faithful to their oath of office and support and defend the text and documented legislative intent of our Constitution [Trumps plan]? While both Hillary and Donald are not what most American citizens want, we ought to be focusing on the bigger picture which are the promised policies of each candidate should they become our next president ___ policies which will actually affect the common defense and general welfare of our country. It seems crystal clear that our Fifth Column news media personalities are determined to avoid discussing the proposed policies of each candidate and is intentionally creating a distraction which plays upon peoples emotions rather than offering debate concerning the direction which our country will take based upon what each candidate is proposing. And this is reminiscent of the old and tired bread and circus game of distraction. Are we not now witnessing how powerful our Fifth Column media personalities are and how they give aid and comfort to our Washington Establishment in their ongoing assault upon our lives, liberty and property? Let us recall the warning given to us in THE OLD GUARD, A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE PRINCIPLES OF 1776 AND 1787: Submit to despotism for an hour and you concede the principle. John Adams said, in1775, Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud. It is the only thing a people determined to be free can do. Republics have often failed, and have been succeeded by the most revolting despotisms; and always it was the voice of timidity, cowardice, or false leaders counseling submission, that led to the final downfall of freedom. It was the cowardice and treachery of the Senate of Rome that allowed the usurper to gain power, inch by inch, to overthrow the Republic. The history of the downfall of Republics is the same in all ages. The first inch that is yielded to despotism - the first blow, dealt at the Constitution that is not resisted - is the beginning of the end of the nations ruin. Vote wisely my friends! JWK "Absolute governments, (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with them, they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering springs; know likewise the remedy"___ Thomas Paines Common Sense. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Saudi Arabia is making a bid to become the worlds number one technology investor after joining forces with Japans Softbank to create a giant $100 billion fund which could become a dominant player in the industry. The mega-fund will be based in London and invest $20 billion per year - equivalent to one fifth of total global venture capital investment. Hit by low oil prices, the middle-eastern kingdom has used its enormous financial clout to pursue a number of eye-catching business ventures this year, including a $3.5 billion investment in Uber. The Public Investment Fund is focused on achieving attractive long-term financial returns from its investments at home and abroad, as well as supporting the Kingdoms Vision 2030 strategy to develop a diversified economy, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in a statement. Masayoshi Son, SoftBanks chief executive said: With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally. Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector. SoftBank has a track record of making billions from tech investments, including Yahoo and Alibaba. Earlier this year SoftBank bought Arm Holdings, one of the UKs most successful technology companies, for 24 billion in Europes biggest ever tech acquisition. The takeover was seen as the first test of Theresa Mays new interventionist industrial strategy. May had said she would not be afraid to step in to prevent the sale of important UK companies if it was in the national interest but declined to intervene in the SoftBank-ARM deal. Prince Mohammad, who is also the Saudi defence minister, is aiming to stake out a vision for the kingdoms future beyond the oil age by expanding its $160 billion sovereign wealth fund to $2 billion, making it the largest in the world. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. An aggressive overseas investor, SoftBank runs a solar energy business in Japan and has taken a critical stance against nuclear energy after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Its investment empire also includes financial technology and ride-hailing services. SoftBank may be trying to expand its ecosystem by investing in areas that may help to strengthen Arms business, said Toshihiro Uomoto, Nomuras chief credit strategist told the Financial Times. Its a natural move considering SoftBank has been shifting from its carrier business to the technology sector especially with the Arm acquisition. The companys shares rose three per cent after the announcement on Friday. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} MPs will vote next week on whether to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood after the retail magnate left BHS with a 571 million pension black hole shortly before it collapsed, leaving 11,000 people jobless. It will be the first time the commons has debated whether to annul an honour. The vote is not binding but if the motion is carried it will put significant pressure on the honours forfeiture committee, which has the power to take back Greens title. Conservative MP Richard Fuller, who put forward the motion with Michelle Thomson MP, said on Thursday: The idea that Green should continue to use a knighthood for services to retailing is just wrong This is about expressing a legitimate sentiment about the way someone has behaved. We hope that other MPs will add their names to this amendment and that it will be acted upon. Green was honoured in 2006 for services to the retail industry but has since been slammed for his role in the decline of the now-defunct high street chain. Green and his family, who are Monaco residents, extracted hundreds of millions in dividends and loan repayments from BHS and have been accused of underinvesting in the chain, leading to its ultimate collapse and the loss of 11,000 jobs. In June, Sir John Collins, who put Green forward for his knighthood said that he wouldnt now recommend Sir Philip for an award in light of how the tycoon steered BHS. From all I have read, integrity in relation to dividends paid and the going concern aspect of the company that left 11,000 people without jobs, and the sale of BHS and the quality of the due diligence and the decision to sale it with the question mark over whether the buyer had the credentials to make it work, Collins said. A very high level of dividends were paid out of the company and the company has now found itself no longer a going concern. You would have to questions whether those dividends were affordable. A parliamentary inquiry into Greens conduct issued a scathing report saying that MPs had found little evidence to support the reputation for retail business acumen for which he received his knighthood. Green rushed through the sale of the troubled retailer to twice-bankrupt Dominic Chappell, who had no retail experience, without adequate scrutiny, MPs concluded. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Navinder Singh Sarao, the British trader accused of making $40 million by manipulating global markets from his west London bedroom, lost his challenge against extradition to to the US to stand trial, a court heard on Friday. Sarao, 37, nicknamed the Hound of Hounslow, will now be flown to the US within 28 days where he faces 22 charges of fraud and market manipulation, carrying a maximum sentence of 380 years. US authorities have accused Sarao of contributing to the 2010 flash crash that temporarily wiped $1 trillion off the value of the US stock market. Sarao allegedly made 900,000 spoofing markets on the day of the crash. It is alleged that Sarao used a modified computer program that placed large sell orders for shares and commodities contracts, which pushed down prices. He then cancelled those trades and bought the contracts at the artificially low price, selling them for a profit when the value bounced back to its true level, often within seconds. Todays ruling ends an 18-month battle waged against his extradition after he was arrested in April 2015 at the semi-detached Hounslow home he shared with his parents. He is accused of spoofing the Chicago Mercantile Exchanges stock futures market over four years. Saraos lawyers argued he should be allowed to appeal his extradition because the US hadnt properly outlined the charges against him. The fact the request is silent on what is being communicated is fatal to making out a fraud case, James Lewis, Saraos lawyer, said before the ruling. Its not a fair and accurate, description of what the US is alleging. Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. Biggest business scandals in pictures Panama Papers: Millions of leaked documents expose how worlds rich and powerful hid money - April 2016 Millions of confidential documents have been leaked from one of the worlds most secretive law firms, exposing how the rich and powerful have hidden their money. Dictators and other heads of state have been accused of laundering money, avoiding sanctions and evading tax, according to the unprecedented cache of papers that show the inner workings of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Google's tax avoidance Google reached a deal with the HM Revenue and Customs to pay back 130 million in so-called back-taxes that have been due since 2005. George Osborne championed the deal as a major success. But European MEPs have since called for the Chancellor to appear in front of the committee on tax rulings to explain the tax deal. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. Mark Johnson, global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday. He will appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Bloomberg said. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Former PwC employees found guilty in 'Luxleaks' tax scandal - June 2016 Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies. Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly. The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. The products were designed to generate big profits for Goldman, the LIA claims.Goldman denies wrongdoing and says the LIA was treated as an arms-length customer Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former boss of BHS said his life was threatened - June 2016 Darren Topp, the former boss of BHS, has said former owner Dominic Chappell threatened to kill him when he challenged him over a 1.5 million transfer out of the business. MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked Mr Topp about a 1.5 million transfer Mr Chappell made from BHS to a company called BHS Sweden. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley admits paying workers below the minimum wage - June 2016 Mike Ashley admitted paying Sports Direct employees below the minimum wage at a hearing in front of MPs. The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Toshiba Accounting Scandal The boss of Toshiba, the Japanese technology giant, resigned in disgrace in the wake of one of the countrys biggest ever accounting scandals. His exit came two months after the company revealed that it was investigating accounting irregularities. An independent investigatory panel said that Toshibas management had inflated its reported profits by up to 152 billion yen (780m) between 2008 and 2014. Biggest business scandals in pictures FIFA Corruption Scandal Fifa, football's world governing body, has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since the summer of 2015, when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. It has now claimed the careers of two of the most powerful men in football, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, after they were banned for eight years from all football-related activities by Fifa's ethics committee. A Swiss criminal investigation into the pair is ongoing. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Libor fraudster City trader Tom Hayes, 35, has become the first person to be convicted of rigging Libor rates following a trial at London's Southwark Crown Court. Hayes worked as a trader in yen derivatives at UBS before joining the American bank Citigroup in Tokyo. He was fired from Citigroup following an investigation into his trading methods. He returned to the UK in December 2012 and was arrested following a two-and-a-half year criminal investigation by the SFO. Getty But two judges took just five minutes to reject Saraos request. Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Nicol said they would set out the reasons for their ruling in due course. Ruling at Sarao's previous extradition hearing in March, district judge Quentin Purdy said: The causes of the flash crash are not a single action and cannot on any view be laid wholly or mostly at Navinder Saraos door, although he was active on the day. In any event this is only a single trading day in over 400 relied upon by the prosecution. Essentially, has the US established that the same actions in this jurisdiction at the same time would be capable of being prosecuted for one or more offences known to the criminal law? This is not the forum for testing the evidence as in a trial. To my mind, when all is said and done, the US are correct in arguing they have shown dual criminality. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The chorus of voices opposing Donald Trumps suitability for President is growing following lewd comments he made about groping women and allegations from four women of sexual assault. Catastrophe star Rob Delaney has raised more than $50,000 to unseat 'spineless' Republicans, with funds to be diverted to Democrats opposing their seats. The New York Times has effectively dared Mr Trump to try and sue them for libel for publishing the sexual assault allegations, which he has strenuously denied. Michelle Obama took to the stage in Manchester to blast his routine degradation of women, saying his comments affected her deeply. Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY But Vivienne Westwood saved her criticism for his rival Hillary Clintons suitability as a candidate for the highest seat in office, branding leading Republican and Democrats all the same. The outspoken British fashion designer and environmental activist branded Clinton evil and a war monger in a scathing summary of the Democratic nominee. I don't expect the world to change with Hillary Clinton, she told CNBC. You know we're all going for climate change. I'm not pro-Trump. If I would be American, I would not vote for either of them except if there's a green person I would vote for a green person." Ms Westwood's discontent with the Democratic party ran deeper than its next hopeful for leadership, however. I wouldn't even pick Barack Obama over them either because the people are applying the terrible rotten financial system there's no difference between them," she said. So it's about war and about killing everything on the planet actually through climate change. They don't want their rotten financial system changed. You know so there's no choice between them, you cannot choose that. They are all the same. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Fans of Zayn Malik have taken it upon themselves to give his girlfriend Gigi Hadid a geography lesson. The model recently spoke about her Palestinian heritage while visiting Dubai. It was there that she also said her boyfriend, Malik of One Direction fame, was of Middle East heritage too. I love it here and I love going to places that remind me of my Dads side of the family, she told UAE newspaper Gulf News. I especially love it when you meet other Arabs. Theres such a sense of family regardless of whether you are blood related or not anywhere in the oworld. When someone comes up to me and they tell me, Im Palestinian and we make a connection, its beautiful. The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Show all 20 1 /20 The worlds highest-paid models 2016 The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Gisele Bundchen ($30,500,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Adriana Lima ($10,500,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Karlie Kloss ($10,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Kendall Jenner ($10,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Gigi Hadid ($9,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Rosie Huntington-Whiteley ($9,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Cara Delevingne ($8,500,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Candice Swanepoel ($7,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Liu Wen ($7,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Miranda Kerr ($6,000,000) Getty Images for The Huffington The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Lara Stone ($5,500,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Natalia Vodianova ($5,500,000) AFP/Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Kate Moss ($5,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Alessandra Ambrosio ($5,000,000) Getty Images for Coca-Cola The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Doutzen Kroes ($5,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Joan Smalls ($4,500,000) AFP/Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Lily Aldridge ($4,000,000) Getty Images for Victoria's Secr The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Jasmine Tookes ($4,000,000) Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Taylor Hill ($4,000,000) AFP/Getty Images The worlds highest-paid models 2016 Barbara Palvin ($4,000,000) Getty Images My boyfriend is also half Middle Eastern. Its just a connection that you make thats really cool. Its hard to explain but you feel like youre amongst [your] people. The issue was, as Gulf News pointed out, Malik is Pakistani-British, which some of his avid fans were keen to remind Hadid about. Hadid and Malik have been dating for just under a year and made their first red-carpet appearance as a couple at the Met Gala in May. She has also publicly supported him through his struggles with anxiety which have seen him cancel a number of shows in recent months. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister's plans for leaving the European Union are in tatters this morning after the result of one of the most divisive referendums in recent history was taken to Londons High Court. Gina Miller, a philanthropist and co-founder of the London-based investment fund manager SCM Private, was the lead claimant in a challenge heralded as one of the most important constitutional cases in generations. She challenged Theresa Mays bid to avoid a parliamentary vote on triggering Brexit, arguing that using the Royal Prerogative to invoke Article 50 to leave the European Union without asking MPs to approve it is unconstitutional. This morning, Lord Chief Justice Thomas and two other senior judges agreed the Prime Minister does not have the power to trigger Article 50 without a vote from Parliament. Her challenge was heard at the High Court in London where she was represented by QC Lord Pannick, a renowned human rights lawyer. Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty Speaking outside of the High Court, Ms Miller said she was delighted by the decision and hoped the Government would make the wise decision of not appealing. She was greeted by a round of applause from the crowds. Her statement in full: This result today is about all of us: our United Kingdom and our futures. It is not about how any of us voted each of us voted to do what we believed was the right thing for our country. This case is about process, not politics. My dedicated legal team Mishcon de Reya and counsel are, alongside myself and my supporters, pleased to have played our part in helping form a debate on whether the rights conferred on UK citizens through Parliament legislation 44 years ago could be casually snuffed out by the executive without Parliament or our elected representatives and without proper prior consultation about the Governments intentions for Brexit. However you voted on 23 June, we all owe it to our country to uphold the highest standards of transparency and democratic accountability that we are admired and respected for around the world. Thank you very much. What were her reasons for launching this challenge? Ms Miller broke down her argument during an interview with Audio Boom. She was unsatisfied with Ms Mays announcement that there would be a debate on the issue, dismissing it as merely political blustering. Recommended Read more We spoke to the woman whose landmark legal case could block Britain fr They can use this very antiquated, secretive Royal Prerogative to bypass Parliament. You have to question how they can possibly bypass a sovereign parliament? Surely thats what we wanted, was a sovereign Parliament? Im questioning whether the Government has the right to bypass Parliament and use this royal prerogative, which they are still saying that they do and that she does, and that she and a handful of ministers will be able to trigger Article 50 without any sort of legal certainty or scrutiny in Parliament. She said her case was not about delaying the decision and should not affect the timetable currently in place for triggering Article 50. Instead, she is focusing on ensuring the UKs sovereignty is not compromised. I dont want a precedent set which says a prime minister and a handful of MPs or ministers can take away or grant rights. What has the reaction been? While Ms Miller has enjoyed support from those wishing to remain a part of the EU, her legal challenge has come at a personal cost. The High Court has heard how Ms Miller received abuse, threats and insults after launching her action. Her position on whether Britain should leave or remain is not as cut and dry as her legal challenge might indicate Ms Miller told Business Insider: Actually, I managed to fall out with both sides Leave and Remain. I thought the question was far too binary and I kept saying I was not a remainer I was for Remain, reform, and review. I thought the question was far too binary. While I agree that we should remain, I don't believe that it's something to be taken for granted. Ms Miller, 51, was born in Guyana and raised in the UK. She launched Miller Philanthropy in 2009 and has contributed to the Margaret Thatcher infirmary at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, as well as to other charitable causes. This article appeared in its original form on 14 October. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jemima Goldsmith paid homage to embattled Republican leader Donald Trump on Tuesday evening, but it certainly wasnt the tribute he might have hoped for. The associate editor of the New Statesman magazine attended Unicef's annual Halloween Ball dressed as Melania Trump, complete with a plastic version of her husband strapped to her back. Mr Trump has been hit by allegations he kissed, groped and made unwanted sexual advances towards women, after sexist remarks he made about groping women in 2005 were unearthed last week. Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes Show all 6 1 /6 Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes Steve-Coogan Worst: Steve Coogan Getty Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes Poppy-Delevingne Best: Poppy Delevigne Getty Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes Jemima-Khan Best: Jemima Khan Getty Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes Hugh-Grant Worst: Hugh Grant Getty Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes George-Lamb Worst: George Lamb Getty Unicef Halloween Ball 2015: The Best And Worst Costumes Chloe-Green Best: Chloe Green Instagram/Chloe Green Mr Trump apologised for his lewd grab them by the p***y comments before dismissing them as locker room talk. He has vehemently denied the allegations of sexual assault brought forward by four women, branding the claims totally and absolutely false. Goldsmith also published two videos on her Instagram to illustrate her point further. Magazine covers have not been kind to Mr Trump since the revelations, with the Economist and Private Eye both mocking the 70-year-old after a week that has threatened to derail his campaign. It remains to be seen whether Goldsmiths costume is the first in a line of unflattering Trump tributes this Halloween. In the meantime, his attempts to regain control of his campaign amid mounting speculation over its viability continue. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Google Doodle is celebrating the life of Jamaican-born nurse Mary Seacole. Ms Seacole, who was born in 1805 and died in 1881, assisted the British army during the Crimean War, setting up a hotel for sick and wounded soldiers behind enemy lines. In 2004, she was voted the greatest black Briton of all time. During the conflict in Crimea, hundreds of soldiers died after contracting diseases including cholera, and the government approached Florence Nightingale to form a unit of nurses to support the diseased and injured. Ms Seacole was refused as a volunteer nurse, and travelled to the Crimea at her own expense. The best Google Doodles Show all 50 1 /50 The best Google Doodles The best Google Doodles Mister Rogers Google Doodle celebrating children's TV presenter Mister Rogers Google The best Google Doodles Lucy Wills Google Doodle celebrating haematologist Lucy Wills Google The best Google Doodles Falafel Google Doodle celebrating falafel Google The best Google Doodles St George's Day Google Doodle celebrating St George's Day Google The best Google Doodles James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating Hollywood golden age cinematographer James Wong Howe Google The best Google Doodles Seiichi Miyake Google Doodle celebrating Seiichi Miyake, developer of tactile paving Google The best Google Doodles Walter Cronkite Google celebrates US broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday The best Google Doodles Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating art critic Sergei Diaghilev Google The best Google Doodles George Boole Google marks mathematician George Boole's 200th birthday The best Google Doodles Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle celebrating soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein Google The best Google Doodles 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago The best Google Doodles Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates physician and suffragist Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday The best Google Doodles Sir William Henry Perkin Google Doodle celebrating chemist Sir William Henry Perkin Google The best Google Doodles Nelly Sachs Google Doodle celebrating poet and playwright Nelly Sachs Google The best Google Doodles Thanksgiving 2018 Google Doodle celebrating Thanksgiving 2018 Google The best Google Doodles Nigerian Independence Day Google Doodle celebrating Nigerian Independence Day Google The best Google Doodles Mary Prince Google Doodle celebrating abolitionist Mary Prince Google The best Google Doodles Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day The best Google Doodles Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google Doodle celebrating "father of football" Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google The best Google Doodles Octavia E Butler Google Doodle celebrating science fiction author Octavia E Butler Google The best Google Doodles Tamara de Lempicka Google Doodle celebrating painter Tamara de Lempicka Google The best Google Doodles Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google Doodle celebrating mathematician and physicist Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google The best Google Doodles Fanny Blankers-Koen Google Doodle celebrating Dutch Olympic gold medalist Fanny Blankers-Koen Google The best Google Doodles John Harrison Google Doodle celebrating clockmaker John Harrison Google The best Google Doodles Guillermo Haro Google Doodle celebrating astronomer Guillermo Haro Google The best Google Doodles St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google The best Google Doodles Carter G Woodson Google Doodle celebrating Carter G Woodson, a pioneering African-American historian Google The best Google Doodles St Andrew's Day Google Doodle celebrating St Andrew's Day Google The best Google Doodles Gertrude Jekyll Google Doodle celebrating horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll Google The best Google Doodles Children's Day 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Children's Day 2017 Google The best Google Doodles Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google The best Google Doodles Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating abolitionist Olaudah Equiano Google The best Google Doodles Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen Google The best Google Doodles Ladislao Jose Biro Google celebrates Ladislao Jose Biro's 117th birthday The best Google Doodles Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating ballet choreographer Amalia Hernandez Google The best Google Doodles Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating lexicographer Dr Samuel Johnson Google The best Google Doodles British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google The best Google Doodles Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating baritone singer Eduard Khil Google The best Google Doodles Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google The best Google Doodles Victor Hugo Google Doodle celebrating author Victor Hugo Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google The best Google Doodles Steve Biko Today's Google Doodle features anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko Google The best Google Doodles The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK The best Google Doodles Nettie Stevens Google celebrates geneticist Nettie Stevens 155th birthday The best Google Doodles William Morris Google celebrates English polymath William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google The best Google Doodles Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scovilles 151st birthday The best Google Doodles Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday Once there she set up her hotel near Balaclava, initially building it from driftwood and scrap metal. In her memoirs she described it as a place to provide a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers. Eventually, the hotel was able to provide comfortable accommodation and became a celebrated destination that was also used for theatrical performances and horse-racing events in between the battles. According to her autobiography, she said she saw much of Ms Nightingale, with whom she became friendly. After her death, Ms Seacole faded from public consciousness, but renewed interest in her life and role in 19th Century British society has seen her celebrated as an icon who fought ingrained racial prejudice. A memorial statue was erected in her honour at St Thomass Hospital this year. It is thought to be the UKs first statue built in the UK in recognition of a black woman. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump's wife has threatened to sue People magazine as the fallout rumbled on from a series of media reports alleging sexual assaults by her husband. Melania Trump said portions of the People article are "false and completely fictionalised". She demanded a retraction and apology, and threatened to sue the publication over the first-person account by Natasha Stoynoff of an interview she did with Donald and Melania Trump at their home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. Ms Stoynoff said that when Mrs Trump left the room, her husband pushed Ms Stoynoff against a wall and sexually assaulted her. The Republican presidential candidate says the account is untrue. Meanwhile, the New York Times rejected Mr Trump's claim that the newspaper had libelled him, saying its own story about two other women who said he sexually assaulted them was "newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern". Times lawyer David McCraw said Mr Trump "has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women" and that multiple women had already come forward. "Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself," he wrote. The Times reported that two women told the paper of unwanted sexual advances. Jessica Leeds said Mr Trump groped her on a plane more than three decades ago, and Rachel Crooks said he kissed her without invitation in 2006 when she was a 22-year-old receptionist for a real estate firm at Trump Tower. What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? Show all 8 1 /8 What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On the leaked tape from 2005 where he talks about sexually assaulting women I'm very embarrassed by it, I hate it, but it's locker room talk. It's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of Isis Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Hillary Clinton I hate to say it but if I win I'm going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. There has never been so many lies, so much deception. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Rex What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Bill Clinton What he's done to women, there's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that's been so abusive to women. AP What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On whether his alleged opposition to Iraq War had been disproven "Its not debunked. Its not debunked." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On exploiting tax loopholes "I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett, and so did George Soros and so did many people who Hillary is getting money from." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On claims he's sexist I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On what he respects about Hillary Clinton I will say this about Hillary - she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On his controversial immigration policies "Its called extreme vetting. Were going to areas like Syria, where they are coming in by the tens of thousands because of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wanting to allow a 550 per cent increase [of refugees] over Obama. People are coming into this country. We have no idea who they are, where they are from and what their feelings are about this country." Getty Mr Trump vehemently denies the allegations, blaming the media and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, and has demanded through his lawyer that the Times story be retracted. He said: "These vicious claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with women, are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it." His accusers, he added, "are horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars". Press Association For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It's been six days since a hot-mic tape in which Donald Trump makes a series of lewd and sexually suggestive comments about women went public. But until first lady Michelle Obama stepped on the podium at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton on Thursday in New Hampshire, no public figure has so effectively encapsulated how this moment has made many American women feel. An at-times emotional Obama admitted that she "couldn't stop thinking about" the comments made by Trump and had to address them in her speech." It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted," she added. Her speech reflected just how much Trump's remarks affected her. "This is not normal," Obama said at one point. "This is not politics as usual." At another she insisted that "strong men don't need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful." What Obama did in the speech is put a face and a name -- and a very high-profile one at that -- to Trump's words on that bus in 2005. She didn't say "words hurt" or "words have impact," but that was quite clearly the message she was sending. Even Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, knows what it is like to be ogled, to be treated as an object by men. That's powerful stuff. (If you have not seen or heard her speech, you should check it out here.) Obama's speech will go down as one of the most important of this political cycle, a moment in which she crystallized the feelings of many women in the wake of the Trump tape. She was outraged, yes, but also hurt -- for herself and for women more broadly. And she expressed all of those emotions in ways you rarely see any politician (or private citizen do) -- particularly one as well known as Obama. It seemed to me -- as I watched it live -- that she was putting a sort of exclamation point on the past five days, days that have been filled with lewd talk from Trump and a series of allegations by women who say the Republican presidential nominee groped them in the past 30 years. "Enough," she was saying. This is bad for women, yes. But it's also bad for all of us. This speech, along with her address at the Democratic National Convention, are two of the best speeches -- maybe the two best -- given by any public figure this year. Both, yes, were made by a partisan in support of a partisan candidate for president. But neither felt like the typical party pap. In that speech in July and again Thursday, Obama was able to tap into something far deeper than "Democrat" or "Republican." She was, in both instances, speaking to a shared humanity that we could all use more of no matter our political inclinations. Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A teacher was sacked after an affair with a 17-year-old girl after the student's father saw a love bite on his daughters neck, a hearing was told. Film and media lecturer Nia Davies allegedly began a 10-month sexual relationship with her teenager pupil during which she exchanged thousands of inappropriate messages. It was also claimed the 31-year-old shared a bed with her A-level student during trips to London galleries, The Telegraph reports. Ms Davies faces being struck off over the alleged relationship. She was dismissed by her college in Llanelli, The Education Workforce Council hearing was told how the students police officer father made a referral to her college after noticing what he described as love bites on her neck. He also alerted his colleagues, but the hearing was told Ms Davies was never charged. The teenager told police they had kissed and shared a bed, though she denied they ever had sex, reports WalesOnline. The student, now 19, told the hearing she had never admitted to anyone, including the police, that she had kissed her teacher, saying they were "confused". "We sent texts but they were social texts. They were only in the tens, not the thousands. I never admitted kissing Nia to my father, it's completely untrue. That conversation never happened and I can't explain it. We've had a conversation about my sexuality before, and I think there's a lot of confusion to be honest. Nia was just a supportive lecturer." UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty The hearing continues. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A leading wildlife group has called for an urgent inquiry into the escape of a large silverback gorilla from its enclosure at London Zoo. The 29st dominant male ape Kumbuka escaped from his main enclosure on Thursday, with reports suggesting a cage door was accidentally left open. London Zoo refused to be drawn on how the animal managed to escape, but said the gorilla had not smashed through any glass.The mammal made it as far as a non-public keeper area but the Born Free Foundation said it "could have ended very differently", calling for an inquiry into the incident. Born Free also stated that the conservation benefits of keeping gorillas in captivity is negligible at best. Chris Draper, associate director for animal welfare and care at the Born Free Foundation, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme there is also little educational benefit from keeping animals like gorillas in zoos. The conservation benefits of keeping gorillas at zoos is negligible at best, he said. ...The focus should shift away from keeping animals in captivity to looking at where the problems are actually taking places, habitat losses is accelerating at a ridiculous rate and we need to focus on where these animals have evolved to live, Mr Draper added. Visitors to ZSL London Zoo described fearing for their safety as they were ordered to take cover in buildings when the mammal got out of its den. Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at ZSL, refused to specify how the animal managed to escape, despite persistent questioning on Radio 4's Today programme. Mr Fitzpatrick said: "Categorically I can say that a male silverback gorilla Kumbuka did not break through any glass. "Kumbuka got out of his back dens into a secure keeper area." In a separate statement, the Born Free Foundation said the incident was a startling reminder of the risks of keeping dangerous wild animals in captivity. While we are relieved that this incident apparently ended without injury to visitors or to the gorilla, it is yet another startling reminder of the risks associated with maintaining dangerous wild animals in captivity, Mr Draper said. This incident could have ended very differently. We are calling for an urgent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding this escape, and into safety procedures at London Zoo. Visitors at London Zoo were asked to take cover in buildings after a male ape, named Kumbuka, got out of its den. Armed police were deployed and Kumbuka was eventually tranquillised and returned to its enclosure. The most controversial animal killings Show all 6 1 /6 The most controversial animal killings The most controversial animal killings Cincinnati Zoo worker shots and kills Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Zoo worker after a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure and was grabbed and dragged by Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to kill Harambe. A number of primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals in close proximity to humans and the need for better standards of care Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden The most controversial animal killings Walt Palmer (left), from Minnesota, who killed Cecil, the Zimbabwean lion (pictured here with another lion shot in Africa) Walter James Palmer has been named by Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force as the shooter of Cecil, a 13-year-old prized lion. He is now wanted by Zimbabwe officials on poaching charges. The lion was protected and the subject of a decade long study by the Wildlife Unit of Oxford University in the UK. He was outfitted with a GPS collar and was killed in Hwange National Park. The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Safari Operators Association said that two men were charged with poaching in connection to Mr Palmer The most controversial animal killings Kendall Jones hunting images Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old Texas Tech university student, has provoked worldwide fury after posting pictures of herself smiling next to animals she hunted, including a lion, rhinoceros, antelope, leopard, elephant, zebra and hippopotamus The most controversial animal killings Rebecca Francis hunting images Rebecca Francis, a huntress who has killed dozens of wild animals has been sent death wishes by furious social media users after a picture showing her lying down next to a dead giraffe was circulated. Rebecca Francis has a website and Facebook page dedicated to the animals she has killed in hunts across Africa and America. Francis, a prolific hunter who has also co-hosted the television show Eye of the Hunter, regularly posts pictures of herself posing next to dead bears, giraffes, buffaloes and zebras, among other animals. She uses a bow and arrow to kill her prey The most controversial animal killings The slaughter of Marius, an 18-month-old healthy giraffe in Copenhagen Zoo Copenhagen Zoo made the controversial decision to euthanise a healthy giraffe named Marius, which was later dissected and fed to lions as visitors watched. The slaughter sparked a furious backlash from social media users and zoo staff have received death threats by phone and email. Soon after the incident, Copenhagen Zoo faced an international outcry once again after four healthy lions were put down The most controversial animal killings Swiss Dahlholzli zoo kills healthy brown bear cub A Switzerland zoo faced heavy criticism from animal rights groups, after keepers put down a healthy brown bear cub to spare it from being bullied by its dominant male father. The 360 kg male bear Misha had already killed one of his 11-week old cubs in public and was bullying the second, staff at the zoo said, because he was jealous of the attention the cubs were receiving from their mother, Masha. Both adult brown bears had been donated to Berns Dahlholzli zoo in 2009. Campaigners condemned staff there for not separating the cubs, who are being referred to as Baby Bear Two and Baby Bear Three, and their mother from Misha after their birth in January Facebook Kumbuka had remained in a secure keeper area and a zoo official said members of the public were never in any danger. It is the second high profile case involving a gorilla in captivity after Harambe, a gorilla from Cincinnati Zoo, was fatally shot after a toddler climbed into his enclosure. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A judge has granted an appeal for a fresh inquest into the death of a young soldier at Deepcut barracks 21 years ago. Private Sean Benton, from Hastings in East Sussex, was found dead with five bullet wounds to the chest in June 1995 while undergoing training at the base in Surrey. The original inquest recorded a verdict of suicide but his twin brother, Tony Benton, and sister, Tracy Lewis, petitioned Londons High Court for a fresh hearing. On Friday, Mr Justice Collins granted a consent order after Private Bentons family used the Human Rights Act to access evidence held by Surrey Police. He said considerable fresh evidence had come to light that cast "some doubt" on the original finding and there was also material concerning the care given to Private Benton by the Army at the time. The 20-year-old's family said the original inquest took less than two hours and heard evidence from just six people. They said it failed to obtain Private Bentons medical and mental health records and no evidence was sought or given about the allegations of severe bullying at Deepcut. Ms Lewis said: "Our family had just 20 years with Sean. It has taken us another 21 to secure the thorough, independent inquiry we should have seen immediately after his death. For that reason, our parents are not here with us to see this day. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty "For two decades, our family has been tormented by questions about what Sean went through at Deepcut. If his death had been properly investigated in 1995, we would have been spared years of uncertainty and pain. "It should be a source of huge shame to the Ministry of Defence and Surrey Police that our mother had to fight for so long - far longer than she should have had to - to force the authorities to answer basic questions. We look forward to finally discovering the truth." Emma Norton, legal director of rights organisation Liberty and solicitor for Private Benton's family, said: "Just as with the Hillsborough families, the parents of Cheryl James and so many others, the Bentons' perfectly reasonable questions about their son's death were met with decades of stonewalling, silence and suspicion. "Just as in those cases, it was only the Human Rights Act - the law our Government remains determined to repeal - that enabled the family to access information to which they had every right. "Sean Benton was young and vulnerable. He deserved so much better. We are hopeful his family can now finally have their questions answered and that lessons are learnt so young recruits like Sean are better protected in future." A date for the new inquest is yet to be set. The hearing into Private Bentons death comes just months after a second inquest into the death of Private Cheryl James ruled she did killed herself in 1995 but the barracks had failed in their duty of care towards her. The father of the 18-year-old described the army barracks as a toxic and horrible environment for a young women, and we are in no doubt that this would have had a terrible impact on those that were required to live there. A photograph of 18-year-old Cheryl James who died in 1995 (PA) Private James and Private James were two of four young recruits to die at the barracks between 1995 and 2002. A dossier of around 60 allegations of abuse was made in 1995 by Surrey Police was submitted to a 2006 investigation by the Ministry of Defence. In the documents, one 18-year-old described his time at Deepcut as hell. Another female recruit, who was also 18, said she knew of at least one female recruit having been raped at Deepcut. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britains Brexit negotiation team should include trade unionists in order to guarantee that workers rights are respected in any deal, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress has said. Frances OGrady said any negotiating team had to go beyond cosy chats with business groups, be truly cross-party and include representatives of the UKs constituent nations, big cities, and organised labour. Ms OGrady criticised the Governments approach to negotiations so far and said it amounted to old white blokes in Westminster banging tables and hoping for the best. She said trade unionists could bring much needed negotiating experience to the team and joked that perhaps members of the Government should go on Stage 1 shop stewards training to improve their approach. If and when it comes to a negotiating team then that has to be a cross-party team. It has to represent the nations, and it has to represent the big cities in the north, and in London too, she told a fringe event at the Scottish National Partys annual conference in Glasgow. But critically, from my perspective, its not good enough to have cosy chats with the IoD [Institute of Directors] or the CBI [Confederation of British Industry] behind closed doors. This is about the future of working people and we want to have a voice at that table too. Because I think most of us are not entirely confident in the three Brexiteers, when our future lies in their hands whether its David Davis, Boris Johnson, or Liam Fox or to give him his full, title former disgraced defence secretary Liam Fox. I dont think anyone would rely on them to get the best deal for working people. The warning came the same day as Theresa May was accused of stacking an influential Cabinet committee on Brexit full of hard eurosceptics. The committee includes all six members of the PMs Cabinet who campaigned to leave the EU this summer, and will oversee Britains secession procession. Ms OGrady was appearing at SNP conference for the first time since she became general secretary of the trade union federation in 2013. Focusing on Brexit during her appearance, the general secretary warned that workers must not pay the price for leaving the EU. She continued: Im just a simple trade unionist but I dont recognise this as anything near negotiation. What weve got is a load of, excuse me, old white blokes in Westminster banging tables and thinking that people in Berlin and Paris and Madrid are going to respond well to that. This is the kind of stuff that trade unionists are sometimes accused of but in reality we know that part of the art of negotiation is not just figuring out what you want, but also what the people on the other side of the table want, and trying to close that gap. Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty I cant tell you how badly some of the theatre in Westminster and No 10 is going down in the rest of Europe. Ms OGrady defended some trade unions from criticism by SNP members at the event for their support for Trident and fracking. She said trade unions existed to represent their members interests. SNP conference has been dominated by the announcement on Thursday that the Scottish Government would bring forward a consultation on a second Scottish independence referendum in the next week. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A crowd-funded project to prosecute politicians for lying during the EU referendum campaign has raised over 175,000 and now wants to see dishonest politicians jailed, the projects founder has told The Independent. Marcus J. Ball, who founded the Brexit Justice campaign, says his team of lawyers are now building a case to take politicians to court to be held accountable for dishonest claims about Brexit. He set up the group online following the EU referendum citing his frustration at what he feels were misleading claims from some politicians during the campaign. After appealing for donations, he received more than 145,000 for legal fees as well as a salary of 32,000 for him to lead the project full time. Speaking to The Independent, Mr Ball admitted the project is a highly ambitious and difficult challenge. However, he believes it is essential to make politicians accountable for broken promises: We need to end this bizarre relationship we have with politicians, they are not untouchable. They are not above the law. The 27-year-old, from Norwich, says the group wants to set a legal precedent in the common law that prevents political leaders from lying to the public in the future. We also want to challenge the legitimacy of Brexit by legally establishing that it resulted from criminal wrongdoing on both sides. Mr Ball said he is unable to discuss at this stage which politicians he will be singling out as the focus of the legal action. He told The Independent: Now our solicitors have to build the case and formally instruct barristers, including some formidable QCs. Following the referendum result, a number of politicians distanced themselves from a controversial Leave campaign pledge that 350 million a week given to the EU could be redirected to the NHS. The pledge had infamously been projected onto buses in the build-up to the referendum. Hours after the referendum result, Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the pledge was a mistake and denied making it. Mr Ball said legal action against British politicians will show members of the political establishment they must be held accountable for broken promises. He said: When politicians lie, democracy dies. Your vote means nothing if you cant trust the leader you are voting for. We need to show politicians of this country whats acceptable and whats notI cant decide what happens to them, but if I could prison. Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty The High Court is currently hearing a challenge to Brexit which claims Parliament must be consulted before Article 50 is triggered. The case is comprised of a number of different groups, including the crowd-funded Peoples Challenge which raised money online to take the legal action. The case began on Thursday, with the challengers lawyers telling the court legal precedent states that only parliament can take away rights which have been granted to British citizens; meaning Theresa May cannot trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval. The case continues on Monday and Tuesday when the Attorney General will argue the Governments case. In Northern Ireland, a separate case is being considered by the High Court, arguing the Prime Minister must consult the devolved Assembly before EU withdrawal due to the negative impact Brexit could have on the Northern Irish peace process. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Dame Lowell Goddard, who resigned as chairwoman of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in August, has denied making racist remarks while head of the inquiry. According to The Times, Justice Goddard said Britain had so many paedophiles because it has so many Asian men. In a statement issued on Friday, Justice Goddard said the claims were false. I await the advice of my London lawyers on these articles, which I have only just seen. I confirm my absolute rejection of this attack, she said. I am confident that in New Zealand my known reputation from my work over many years will provide its own refutation of these falsities. I will be making no further statement and will not engage with those conducting this vicious campaign. She said her lawyers had informed The Times of the falsity of the matters raised, and the malicious background to them. Unnamed sources in The Times also alleged Justice Goddard treated staff with contempt and flew into rages, a claim she also denied. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty Home Secretary Amber Rudd claimed Justice Goddard resigned from her position because she was lonely and becuase the probe proved too much. Appearing in front of the home affairs select committee in Westminster, Ms Rudd cited a letter from Dame Lowell Goddard and said: I think she went ... because she found it too much for her, and although she could contribute to it and there was some good work done in the past year, ultimately she found it too lonely. She was a long way from home and she decided to step down, the Home Secretary added. A spokesperson for the Home Office 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. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} George Osborne has intervened in the airport expansion debate by urging Theresa May to back the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Mr Osborne, the former Chancellor, who was removed from his post in July when Ms May became Prime Minister, said the west London hub needs increased capacity so that Britain can be "outward-looking, free-trading and global". A decision on the capitals airport capacity is expected to be announced within the next few weeks after the Prime Minister told delegates at the Conservative conference the Government needed to make big and sometimes even controversial decisions about our countrys infrastructure. She added: It is why we will press ahead with plans for High Speed 2, linking London and Birmingham and, eventually, towns and cities in the North. Why we will shortly announce a decision on expanding Britains airport capacity. Recommended Read more Why Gatwick and Heathrow both expanding will be a good thing Her predecessor, David Cameron, had delayed such a decision until after the referendum on Britains membership of the European Union. The former Chancellor claimed that although building a second runway at the latter could be considered, it should not happen at the same time as Heathrow expansion. In a series of Twitter messages, the Conservative MP for Tatton wrote: "Time for a decision on airports and go for Heathrow. He added: "Economic case overwhelming. Connects Northern Powerhouse. Ensures Britain is open to world. If we want Britain to be outward-looking, free-trading and global, we must expand the great airport that connects us to that world and that trade. The most delayed UK airports in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 The most delayed UK airports in pictures The most delayed UK airports in pictures 1. Gatwick Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 2. Luton PA The most delayed UK airports in pictures 3. Manchester Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 4. Glasgow PA The most delayed UK airports in pictures 5. Heathrow PA The most delayed UK airports in pictures 6. Edinburgh The most delayed UK airports in pictures 7. Bristol Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 8. Stansted Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 9. Birmingham AFP/Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 10. Newcastle PA WIRE "We can consider Gatwick expansion. But not at the expense of Heathrow - and not in parallel or else, in practice, nothing will get built." But John Sauven, executive director at Greenpeace, described expansion of both airports in the capital as the worst of both worlds. But a decision to expand Heathrow could create tensions within the Cabinet as Justine Greening, the Education Secretary, has previously vowed to win the battle against the expansion of the aiport. Ms Greening is one of several high-profile Conservatives, including the former London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, who have openly opposed plans to build another runway, arguing it would mean extra noise pollution for their constituencies. The Education Secretary, who is also the MP for Putney, said during the Tory conference in Birmingham: Its a debate that Im still aiming to win. Its one of those issues that has people with very different views, but I'm certainly going to put my views across, and we'll see where we end up on the decision. When asked by BBC Radio 5 Live if her position in Cabinet would be untenable if the decision went against her, Ms Greening would not comment on a scenario that she described as hypothetical. Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, however, has called for an extra runway to be built at Gatwick rather than Heathrow. In a letter to the Prime Minister, also signed by 30 cross-party London MPs, council leaders and London Assembly members, he claimed a second runway at the west Sussex airport would be the best choice for the capital. The world's worst airports Show all 13 1 /13 The world's worst airports The world's worst airports 10326.bin The world's worst airports 10327.bin The world's worst airports 10328.bin The world's worst airports 10329.bin The world's worst airports 10330.bin The world's worst airports 10331.bin The world's worst airports 10332.bin The world's worst airports 10333.bin The world's worst airports 10334.bin The world's worst airports 10335.bin The world's worst airports 10336.bin The world's worst airports 10337.bin The world's worst airports 10338.bin Sarah Clayton, co-ordinator at AirportWatch, an umbrella group of environmental organisations and community groups, said: "It's the most crazy time for the Government to be building a runway, they've got Brexit, no idea what's happening with the pound, with the economy. "The whole thing is madness." She suggested that if both airports got the go-ahead for a new runway, then it would mean Gatwick would not be able to expand as it would lose out in competition with Heathrow for airlines. And if the runways were built, it would entail billions of pounds of spending on infrastructure which would have to be paid for by the taxpayer, she added. Of communities near Gatwick and Heathrow, and under their flight paths, Ms Clayton said: "People are really scared, they're genuinely distraught." Aviation minister Lord Ahmad, asked in the House of Lords earlier this week whether the Government will consider supporting one of the two Heathrow options as well as Gatwick, replied: "As far as expansion is concerned, the Commission reported back on the need to increase capacity by 2030 with the addition of one runway in the South East, and that is where the Government's decision is focused." Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Regular warnings about Dame Lowell Goddards allegedly offensive behaviour were ignored by Home Office staff and advisers, it is claimed. The growing concerns were being passed to both Theresa May's special adviser, Liz Sanderson, and to Mark Sedwill, the most senior civil servant at the Home Office, insiders told The Times. Under the terms of Dame Lowell's appointment in February last year to chair the inquiry, on a 500,000 salary package, only the Home Secretary had the power to sack her. Criticism is also focused on the explanation given by Amber Rudd, Ms Mays successor in the post, when she was asked to explain Dame Lowells resignation in August. Quizzed by the Home Affairs Select Committee last month, Ms Rudd said Dame Lowell had quit because she was a long way from home and found it too lonely. Mr Sedwill was sat next to Ms Rudd as she gave evidence, adding: That's all the information I have. A senior inquiry source told The Times that Mr Sedwill's silence, as the Home Secretary gave her explanation, smacks of a cover-up. The source said: Mark Sedwill knew the truth. He sat there and said nothing as his boss claimed that Goddard resigned because she was homesick. That wasn't true and he knew it. The Times had also revealed that Dame Lowell had been overseas for three months of her first year in office, prompting fierce criticism. A senior Labour MP who sits on the Home Affairs Select Committee, Chuka Umunna, repeated his call for it to fully investigate the crisis at the inquiry. He tweeted: If she agrees to our request to appear b4 @CommonsHomeAffs Judge Goddard wld have the opportunity to respond in full to these allegations. The Home Office declined to comment on the allegations about Dame Lowell's conduct, or on what Mr Sedwill and Ms Rudd knew about them. A spokesman insisted that due diligence checks were made before her appointment, while Ms Sanderson - who now works with Ms May at No.10 - referred questions from The Times to the Home Office. The newspaper was told by a spokesman for the inquiry that all human resources issues are confidential. There were suggestions that Ms May's failure to act against Dame Lovell was a legacy of the inquiry's earlier troubles, when her first two chairwomen were forced to resign over their perceived links to the establishment. Questions could also be asked of Professor Alexis Jay, a senior member of the inquirys staff, who went on to become its fourth chairwoman. Dame Lowell has described allegations made in The Times as falsities, malicious and part of a vicious campaign. The New Zealand high court judge added: I confirm my absolute rejection of this attack. I am confident that in New Zealand my known reputation from my work over many years will provide its own refutation of these falsities. The Times investigation also focused on the close links between the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and the Home Office, despite its purported independence. John O'Brien, who moved from a senior Home Office role to become inquiry secretary, was recorded as saying that the IICSA was separated from Government by a low brick wall. Of the 167 people working for the inquiry last month, 38 were former Home Affairs staff and another 38 came from other Whitehall departments. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Michael Gove, the former justice secretary, has accused those who were on the Remain side of the EU referendum of 'slut-shaming' the British public who voted to leave. In a column for the Times Mr Gove also claimed that EU advocates were now having an adolescent tantrum over the vote to leave. He wrote: During the referendum, those thinking of voting Leave were told they didnt understand what was in their own financial interests, that they should listen to people who brought you the crash of 2008 because they were clearly experts when it came to avoiding economic instability, Recommended Read more Michael Gove takes the blame for leadership spat with Boris Johnson The British people, understandably, didnt like being patronised or slut-shamed so they looked closely, and with increasing attention, to the arguments. It is unclear, however, what Mr Gove was referring to by his use of the word slut-shamed. The degrading, sexist act is unfortunately sometimes used to criticise the sexual activity of a woman. They saw that the reformed EU we were being invited to stay in was fundamentally unchanged and this latest promise that the Union would mend its ways was, like all other pledges of reform from Maastricht onwards, as empty as Jean-Claude Junckers burgundy bottle after lunch," Mr Gove added. Mr Gove returned to his former employee, the Times, after being sacked as justice secretary by Theresa May as she appointed ministers to her new administration in July. It is understood he had been hoping to carry on with prison reforms at the department, after he was eliminated from the Conservative party leadership contest in the second round of voting by MPs. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government is accused today of hiding evidence to thwart calls for the operator of crisis-hit Southern Rail to be stripped of its contract. A committee of MPs condemns the Department for Transport (DfT) for refusing to make available the statistics it will use to assess whether the number of cancelled trains should trigger a termination. Officials said the assessment would not be complete until long after the current industrial action is over, despite strikes being planned into December a delay attacked by MPs as unacceptable. Recommended Read more Commuters face huge delays as bitter walkout goes on As a result, growing calls for Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) to hand over the Southern Rail franchise after its emergency timetable cancelled hundreds of services every day have been dismissed. Todays report, by the Commons transport select committee, demands that the DfT make a decision on whether GTR is in default by early November. And it says: The DfT has a duty to hold train operating companies to account for poor performance; passengers expect and deserve this. It is unacceptable that the data required to scrutinise GTRs performance against its contractual benchmarks are not made readily available. The Departments evasive and opaque answers to our questions hindered our inquiry and delayed publication of this report. The report follows many months of misery for hundreds of thousands of passengers on routes into London from parts of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. GTR is locked in a bitter dispute the RMT rail union over whether replacing conductors with on-board supervisors is a threat to safety resulting in escalating chaos, overcrowding and delays. The last day of a three-day strike ended at midnight last night (Thurs), but 11 further days of industrial action are planned between now and early December. Ministers backed the company when its much-shrunken emergency timetable was introduced in July, blaming the RMTs unjustified industrial action and high levels of staff sickness for the crisis. Today, the transport committee concludes GTR was significantly in excess of the acceptable number of cancellations between May and August this year. Normally, this would be grounds for termination of the contract, if GTR had not claimed force majeure unforeseeable circumstances that prevented it fulfilling its contract because of the strikes. It is the statistics against which the July force majeure claims will be tested that the DfT is accused of refusing to disclose until six to eight weeks after the industrial action is over. In September, two months later, rail minister Paul Maynard told the committee the claims were exceptional in their complexity and unprecedented in scale and could not be settled any earlier. But the MPs said: It is also unacceptable that the department does not intend to conclude its assessment of GTRs force majeure claims until the current industrial dispute is resolved. Louise Ellman, the committees Labour chairwoman, added: The individual voices of customers suffering woeful service on Southern Railway, in particular, came through loud and clear during our inquiry. The DfT did not respond directly to the allegation that it was keeping evidence under wraps, but insisted ending the Southern Rail crisis was a priority for the Government. A spokesman said: Simply changing the management, or taking the franchise from GTR, would not address the issues and would only create uncertainty and cause further disruption. It could also delay the introduction of modern, more spacious trains by Southern. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Declaring independence could help Scotland escape the instability and uncertainty of Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon has said. The Scottish First Minister outlined the SNPs pitch to voters in any second independence referendum, suggesting that the debate had changed from 2014 when the last vote was held. The nationalists contrasting of independence as a chance to avoid the chaos of Brexit comes a day after Ms Sturgeon told the SNPs conference in Glasgow that the Scottish Government would release a consultation on a second referendum this month. Recommended Read more Scotland to publish plans for second independence referendum Scotland voted strongly to remain in the EU in June but Britain overall voted to leave. Theresa May has said she will involve the devolved administrations, including the Scottish Government, in Brexit negotiations. Ms Sturgeon warned that Ms May however had no mandate to take anyone out of the single market because some Leave campaigners had said leaving the EU did not involve leaving the single market. She also said that the Prime Ministers insistence on restricting freedom of movement made it essentially inevitable that the UK would lose single market access, and that this would be disastrous for Scotlands economy. Im the First Minister of Scotland, Ive got a duty to tell people straight what I think has to be done to try to protect our interests, the First Minister told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. Theresa May has suggested that immigration will be prioritised over single market access (AFP/Getty) If Scotland is in the position against our democratic wishes of being taken out of not just the EU but the single market, knowing that that is going to seriously damage our economy, our place and reputation in the world I think I would have a duty to give Scotland the ability to decide whether it wanted that or whatever it wanted to provide a different path. This debate has changed from 2014. Those who argued against independence said that it was very much against the economic certainty and stability of the UK versus the uncertainty of independence. Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty What we have now in the UK, particularly if it comes out of the single market is instability and uncertainty and lost economic growth. This would be a debate about what gives Scotland the best prospect. Ms Sturgeon yesterday threw down the gauntlet to Ms May, warning that she would trigger a second referendum if Scotlands interests were threatened. She said the SNP would work with other parties in the House of Commons to block a so-called hard Brexit that involved losing membership of the single market. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Muslim man who works in counter-terrorism has moved his family back to Pakistan after a series of attacks and discrimination against him, his wife and three sons in North Carolina. Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmanis wife witnessed their seven-year-old son, Abdul Aziz, walk off the school bus last week, battered and bruised. A group of classmates had kicked and punched him, twisted his arm and repeatedly called him Muslim. A picture of the boy in a sling - a fan of Captain America - was posted online and was shared and commented on thousands of times. Despite media attention, Mr Usmani told The Independent he had still not heard back from the school, which was telling parents and the media that his sons version of events did not corroborate with witness interviews. We havent received a response from the principal, [the school is] saying they cant connect with us, yet everyone else can, he said. Lisa Luten of the Wake County Public School System said an investigation had been launched by the principal of Weatherstone Elementary School. "They did not see anything and nor did the bus driver. [Abdul] did not report anything to the children around him or to the bus driver, she said. There was one seven year old sitting next to that child on the bus, and that child did report playfighting. But they werent aware of [Islamophobic] language Ms Luten told The Independent the school principal had tried to get in touch with the Usmani family by phone, but was unable to reach them. We have policies prohibiting that type of behaviour. Its not tolerated in our schools and when it happens its addressed. Mr Usmani took his family to Pakistan last week and is now trying to find an online schooling system for his three children. "Has Hilary Ever Called Islamic Terrorists 'Deplorable'?" - Trump Probably due to my work, I feel more safe in the US than Pakistan, yet my kids say they feel more safe in Pakistan than the US, so we are in a very interesting dilemma, he added. My children say they feel good but psychologically I know they are still trying to cope. Abdul said: I want to go back but only when I feel strong enough, so we have taken him to a psychiatrist. But other attacks against the family and the Muslim community in Cary, North Carolina, have been less well documented. His middle son, 8 years old, was called a terrorist at school because Mr Usmani had a beard. Abdul Aziz at school (Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani) The twice-Fulbright scholar and scientist said his eldest son, 14, saw his classmate bring in a knife his dad had bought in Colombia. When he brought it a knife his dad had bought in Pakistan, the school went on lockdown and he was suspended for six months. In June, a man burst into the Fayetteville mosque, which Mr Usmanis family attended, threatening to kill the congregation. Iraq War veteran Russell Thomas Langford, the man allegedly behind the attack, left packs of bacon outside - a common insult to Muslims who do not eat pork. In July, their family reported harassment from a neigbour who came to their house in the middle of the night, telling them to behave and how to live in the US. The local police department reportedly was really great in dealing with the situation, as reported by the Huffington Post. The neighbour eventually moved. In September, a Florida mosque that Mr Usmani said he used to attend when he was a student was set on fire. This all happened within a year. Mr Usmani told The Independent that his family was planning to move anyway, maybe to California where his employer was based, but they would consider moving back to the US if Donald Trump loses the election in November. Mr Tump has been accused of stoking Islamophobia by announcing he would implement a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the US, and would carry out "extreme vetting" of Muslims and refugees. Abdul Aziz in a photo posted by his father on Facebook (Courtesy of Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani) Mr Usmani, a scientist, has won awards for his work, and developed software in collaboration with the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education to model the damage of suicide bombings. He has a Ph.D and an Eisenhower fellowship and was formerly the chief technology officer of data company PredictifyMe. The family lived in Florida between 2004 and 2010, and lived in Pakistan until 2014. The family then moved back to North Carolina. Asked if he had a message for Americans, Mr Usmani told them not to assume anything. They dont know us or about our lives, where we come from or how we get treated in our home country, he said. The second thing is people need to understand that my son is a seven-year-old child. We dont want this to happen to any seven-year-old kid. We need to just give this much respect to our children. There is something wrong somewhere. Mr Usmani added that he has received mostly positive emails, but about 5 per cent of them were really nasty, with one even pointing out that he should be grateful his child was not shot in the head on the school bus, like Malala Yousafzai was by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012. These are my kids, they are our kids, it's a communal responsibility, he said. We should think beyond political rivalries and viewpoints and look into our hearts. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} While Andrew Frye lay dying on the floor of a Super 8 motel room in Akron, Ohio, last week, a party raged around him. The alleged attendees -- themselves high from a mixture of heroin and fentanyl -- weren't other teenagers but the 16-year-old's mother and grandmother, police say. Prosecutors say the very people who should have protected the teenager from the dangers of drug use were the ones who "walked him to a ledge" and "enabled" him to jump. "We have evidence of drug abuse by more than one person, more than one relative of the deceased," Summit County Sheriff Steve Barry told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "It appears his mother, her friend and his grandmother, and a friend of the grandmother, all had a hand in obtaining and disseminating heroin among themselves. "The evidence in this case turns my stomach," Barry said. The teen's mother, Heather Frye, and her mother, Brenda Frye, face multiple charges, including corrupting another with drugs, child endangering, tampering with evidence and involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 11 years in prison, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Two other people in the room at the time -- Heather's friend Jessica Irons, 34, and Brenda's friend Donald Callaghan, 58 -- face lesser charges in connection with the teenager's death, the paper reported. Barry told reporters that it was "quite apparent" that the teenager was beyond help by the time rescuers arrived, according to Fox affiliate WJW-TV. Citing court and prison records, the Beacon Journal reported that all four women have a history of drug-related crime and that the teenager's mother spent time in prion on three occasions between 2007 and 2014. During a news conference last week, Margaret Scott, deputy chief assistant prosecutor, told reporters that deaths like Andrew's are increasingly common in the region. The Plain Dealer reported that "during a 17-month stretch ending last May, nearly 1,000 people died from an overdose in Ohio." Over a 17-day period last month, the paper noted, "at least 29 people died from overdoses in Cuyahoga County alone." "Unfortunately, this isn't unusual," Scott said. "It's a horrible tragedy because of the age we see here, but it's not unusual to see family members, unfortunately, procuring and giving the heroin and fentanyl to one another. "If you're going to give someone else your poison and you know it's likely going to kill them," he added, "we're going to look at holding you criminally responsible." Heather Frye didn't have custody of her son, according to the Plain Dealer. A detective assigned to the case told the paper that the 31-year-old wanted to be "the fun weekend mom." Andrew was adopted by Tammy Smith, a great-aunt and legal guardian, as an infant, according to the Beacon Journal. With the help of her late fiance, John Sabini, she raised Frye alongside her three children like he was one of their own, she told the paper. When Sabini died in 2010, Smith said, Andrew was overcome by loss and began seeking the company of his biological mother, which worried family members. When his mother showed up a couple of times a year, family members told the Beacon Journal, she claimed that she was not using drugs and that she planned to clean up her life. "He just wanted his mother and to be around [her] no matter how bad it was," Julie Andrea, Tammy's 33-year-old daughter, told the Beacon Journal. "He wanted her to stop. He thought that if he was with her when she was using, at least he was with her." Unfortunately, the opposite occurred, and the teenager developed his own history of drug abuse, the Plain Dealer reported. And yet, he was still a teenager, family members told the paper, one who "liked animals, building computers, playing with his cousin's children and singing." "We think the only reason he did it was to get her approval", Andrea told the paper. On Tuesday night, the last full one that Andrew would spend alive, his biological mother showed up at Smith's door to take the teenager on an outing. The plan was for the pair to go shopping and then go swimming at a local motel. "He told me he loved me and he would come back," Smith told the Beacon Journal. In a recording of a 6:45 p.m. phone call to 911, a sobbing and hysterical Heather Frye can be heard telling a dispatcher that she awoke to find her child dead, according to the Beacon Journal. "He's not breathing," the paper quotes her as saying. "I woke up and my son is so cold." After telling the dispatcher that she suspected her son was dead of a drug overdose, she asked another sobering question: "Can I pick him up and hold him, please? ... I want to hold him," she said. "I just want my baby back." Smith, the teenager's adopted mother, told the Beacon Journal that she feels the same way. She was folding clothes when she learned that her son was dead. There is a hole in their family now, she said, and if she could, she'd give up her life to "truly trade places with him." "I miss that boy so bad," she said. "I wanted him to grow up and go to college." "She stole him," Smith added, referring to Andrew's biological mother. "I feel broken, I really do." Copyright Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} While traveling on a Delta Airlines flight, Dr Tamika Cross, a black doctor from Houston, says the airline staff refused to believe that she was a doctor during a mid-flight emergency. When Dr Cross attempted to treat an ailing passenger, who became unresponsive, she says she was met with unexpected racism from a flight attendant who doubted that she was a practicing physician. I'm sure many of my fellow young, corporate America working women of color can all understand my frustration when I say I'm sick of being disrespected, Dr Cross said, detailing the incident in a Facebook post last Sunday. Her story has received more than 55,000 reactions and over 20,000 shares. When she attempted to assist a passenger, who was crying for help and sitting a few seats in front of her, she received unexpected criticism from a flight attendant who doubted that she was a practicing physician. After the attendant called for a physician, Dr Cross raised her hand to get her attention. She said to me, 'Oh no, sweetie. Put your hand down. We are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel. We don't have time to talk to you, she explained. I tried to inform her that I was a physician but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks. Dr Cross, a fourth-year resident in the obstetrics-gynecology department at the University of Texas Health System, said an overhead announcement called for physicians onboard to press their buttons, and when she pressed her button, the attendant was still in disbelief. Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Show all 16 1 /16 Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter Black female doctors share #WhatADoctorLooksLike Twitter She said oh wow you're an actual physician? I reply yes. She said let me see your credentials. What type of Doctor are you? Where do you work? Why were you in Detroit? (Please remember this man is still in need of help and she is blocking my row from even standing up while Bombarding me with questions), she continued, answering the questions when a white male doctor approached the conversation identifying himself as a physician. [The attendant] says to me thanks for your help but he can help us, and he has his credentials. (Mind you he hasn't shown anything to her. Just showed up and fit the description of a doctor) I stay seated. Mind blown. Blood boiling. (Man is responding [to] his questions and is seemingly better now Thank God), she writes. Delta Airlines responded to the incident with the following statement. Discrimination of any kind is never acceptable. Weve been in contact with Dr Cross and one of our senior leaders is reaching out to assure her that were completing a full investigation. The airline recently came under fire in September after a Muslim couple said they were discriminated against when they were removed from a flight because an attendant felt uneasy. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has denied a claim he made inappropriate sexual advances towards a magazine writer in his own home by telling his supporters to look at her suggesting she was not attractive enough to have assaulted. In an article published on Wednesday by People magazine, journalist Natasha Stoynoff said Mr Trump had pushed her against a wall and forcibly tried to kiss her during an interview in 2005. Ms Stoynoffs story is one of a number of allegations of sexism and sexual assault to hit the Republican presidential candidates campaign following the leak of a video clip in which he said he had the right to do whatever he wanted with women, as he was a star. Im automatically attracted to beautiful [women]. I just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait, Mr Trump told presenter Billy Bush in the footage recorded in 1995 during the production of television programme Access Hollywood. Mr Trump apologised for causing offence with his comments, having initially dismissed them as locker room banter. In her article, Ms Stoynoff said she had travelled to the businessmans home in Florida to interview him and his newly pregnant wife Melania for a People feature on their first wedding anniversary. When we took a break for the then-very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion, she wrote. There was one tremendous room in particular, he said, that I just had to see. We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat. Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Show all 12 1 /12 Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger Schwarzenegger said he will not vote for Trump Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Mr McConnell condemned the remarks, but has not unendorsed him Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks House Speaker Paul Ryan Mr Ryan disinvited Mr Trump from a Wisconsin campaign event following the remarks Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former Sec of State Condoleezza Rice Ms Rice called for Trump to withdraw his candidacy Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Nebraska Sen Deb Fischer Ms Fischer called on Trump to step aside and give nomination to Mike Pence Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Texas Sen Ted Cruz Mr Cruz denounced the remarks, but still endorses Trump Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former Republican candidate Carly Fiorina Ms Fiorina wants Mike Pence to take the nomination Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Hewitt called for Trump to step down Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Utah Representative Mia Love Ms Love said she cannot vote for Trump after hearing his remarks Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former New York Gov George Pataki Mr Pataki said Mr Trump should step down Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks New Hampshire Sen Kelly Ayotte Ms Ayotte will write in Mike Pence when she votes Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Arizona Sen John McCain Mr McCain will choose Mike Pence on Election Day Getty She described Mr Trump as a looming figure and said he was fast, taking me by surprise and throwing me off balance. But at a rally in Florida yesterday, the presidential candidate refuted the story and said: She said I made inappropriate advances. And by the way, the area was a public area, people all over the place. Take a look. You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. Tell me what you think. I dont think so. Recommended Read more New York Times dares Donald Trump to sue over sexual assault claims Mr Trump questioned the veracity of the story by asking why Ms Stoynoff had not mentioned the assault in her feature at the time. Why didnt they make it part of the story? I was one of the biggest stars on television with The Apprentice and it would have been one of the biggest stories of the year, he said. Ms Stoynoff said she told a colleague at the magazine about the incident but was afraid of the possible consequences of making the story public. Like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression, she wrote. I doubted my recollection and my reaction. I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me, especially if I got his coveted People feature killed. Other women who claim Trump asssaulted them include Jessica Leeds, now 74, who told the New York Times he had groped her while they were travelling in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York over 30 years ago. They had not met before. Ms Leeds alleged the billionaire groped her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. He was like an octopus, she said. His hands were everywhere. Another woman, Rachel Crooks, told the paper that Mr Trump had kissed her on the mouth after she introduced herself to him in Trump Tower. Mr Trump vehemently denied the claims. He said: None of this ever took placeI dont do it. I dont do it. Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States Show all 11 1 /11 Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: A passerby kisses a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: A passerby looks at a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: A passerby takes a picture of a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: People gather around a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: People gather around a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: A passerby hugs a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: A passerby has a picture taken with a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 18: A passerby has a picture taken with a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 18: Park authorities haul away a statue of a naked GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that appeared in Union Square Park this morning on August 18, 2016 in New York City. The illegally placed statue drew hundreds of curious onlookers, who took selfie picture with the statue, which was signed "Ginger." A published report attributed the work to the anarchist collective INDECLINE, which titled the project "The Emperor Has No B--s." (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 18: A molded foot is all that remains of a statue of naked GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that appeared in Union Square Park this morning on August 18, 2016 in New York City. The illegally placed statue drew hundreds of curious onlookers, who took selfie picture with the statue, which was signed "Ginger." A published report attributed the work to the anarchist collective INDECLINE, which titled the project "The Emperor Has No B--s." (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Naked Donald Trump Statue Appears Across The States NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 18: Park authorities haul away a statue of a naked GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that appeared in Union Square Park this morning on August 18, 2016 in New York City. The illegally placed statue drew hundreds of curious onlookers, who took selfie picture with the statue, which was signed "Ginger." A published report attributed the work to the anarchist collective INDECLINE, which titled the project "The Emperor Has No B--s." (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images A spokesman for his campaign added that the claims in the New York Times article were absurd. He said: This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr Trump on a topic like this is dangerous. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr Trump trivialises sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election." Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Argentina has complained about military exercises that Britain is planning this month in the disputed Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. The Latin American country has for decades claimed sovereignty over the British-run islands it calls the Malvinas and the dispute led to a brief war in 1982. The overwhelming majority of the islands' 3,000 inhabitants say they want the islands to remain a British overseas territory. Argentina's foreign ministry said in a statement that it had sent a letter to the British ambassador demanding the country call off the "illegitimate" exercises, which are scheduled for 19-28 October and include the launching of Rapier missiles. Recommended Read more Israel sold weapons to Argentina at height of Falklands War A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Buenos Aires called it a "routine exercise" that takes places about twice a year. Argentina lodged its complaint just a month after the two countries agreed to work together toward removing measures restricting the oil and gas, shipping and fishing industries on the remote islands. Pro-business President Mauricio Macri has sought to improve relations since taking over in December after diplomatic tensions mounted under his predecessor, populist Cristina Fernandez. But in a blunder that embarrassed the administration last month, Mr Macri claimed he and British Prime Minister Theresa May had agreed, during a brief encounter at the United Nations General Assembly, to discuss the sovereignty claim. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra later walked back the remarks after Britain denied that the issue of sovereignty had come up. In Friday's statement, the foreign ministry said it had learned of the planned military exercises on Thursday. It said the exercises "contradict the principle of peaceful conflict resolution" and called the Falklands "Argentine territory illegitimately occupied by the United Kingdom." Last month, the two sides agreed to establish additional flights between the Falklands, located about 435 miles off the coast of southern Argentina, and third countries in South America. The last bout of serious tension over the Falklands occurred in June last year when an Argentine federal judge ordered the seizure of millions of dollars in assets owned by oil drillers operating in the area. Reuters Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Health experts are racing to control an outbreak of cholera in Haiti, where more than 200 cases of the potentially fatal disease have been reported since Hurricane Matthew struck ten days ago. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was sending a million doses of cholera vaccine, before the imminent rainy season intensifies the risk by spreading germs from overflowing lavatories. That high-risk period stretches from November to January. The top priority, clearly, for those people affected by the hurricane is to give them access to safe water. Thats the only way we can control cholera, Dr Dominique Legros, a WHO expert, said earlier this week. Reuters said Haiti is no stranger to the menace of cholera, a water-borne disease. Cholera killed around 10,000 people in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake, when UN peacekeepers introduced it to the country by emptying toilet waste into the Meille River, a major water source. Those already infected with cholera need treatment, but a quarter of the health centres in Haitis hard-hit southern area have been destroyed or seriously damaged, said Mr Legros. The powerful hurricane slammed into Haiti on 4 October, killing at least 1,000 people according to a tally of numbers from local officials. Cholera killed around 10,000 people in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake (AP) Cholera causes severe diarrhea 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 GrandeAnse department and 50 in South department since the hurricane struck. A further 28 cholera cases have been reported in Artibonite and six cases in North West, the WHO said. The 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 with a shorter protection period, said Mr Legros. 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, he said. After six months, you still have about 60 to 70 per cent efficacy [of the vaccine] for severe cases of cholera, those are the ones were interested in. Hurricane Mathew leaves Haiti orphans homeless In total, the UN has said 1.4 million Haitians are in need of assistance out of 2.1 million affected by the hurricane. US Marines are helping to distribute food aid, but doctors in the extreme southwestern tip of Haiti said they were still awaiting medicine a week after the hurricane struck. Food, medicine and fresh water has been arriving at the main city in the area but is slow to reach increasingly desperate remote communities. Theres no water, no antibiotics, Herby Jean told the Associated Press in the seaside village of Dame Marie. Everything is depleted. We hear helicopters flying overhead, but were not getting anything. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Paul Ryan said to supporters that although the US election had taken some dark turns, the Republican party represented more than its leader - an indirect reference to controversy surrounding Donald Trump. Speaking to a crowd in Madison, Wisconsin, the house speaker addressed the ugliness of the recent debate. I know sometimes this election has taken some very dark turns, which is exactly why I think its important that we take a step back and reflect what this election is all about, he said. Recommended Read more Ryan says he will not support Trump as open warfare breaks out Beneath all the ugliness lies a long-running debate between two governing philosophies: one that is in keeping with our nations founding principles, like freedom and equality, and another that seeks to replace them. His remarks were the closest it came to Mr Ryan addressing the slew of recent allegations against Mr Trump since the release of a 2005 video of the nominee bragging about sexual assault to former Access Hollywood anchor Billy Bush. Mr Trump dismissed the comments as "locker room talk". In about a week, Mr Trump has since been accused by more than 10 women of sexual assault, groping, and kissing them without consent. He has strongly denied all the allegations and threatened to sue publications like the New York Times, yet a swathe of Republicans still condemned their nominee. Mr Ryan claimed last week that he would no longer be able to defend Mr Trump before the election, canceling their first planned campaign event together on Monday, and instead focused on the Republican party as a whole. The deliberate absence of Mr Trump in his speech on Friday comes just four months after the house speaker officially endorsed him. He claimed that seven out of 10 Americans "agree that our country is on the wrong path", and insisted that "progressive liberalism" was a "patronising" government strategy that sought to take away a free society, strangle the economy with rules, programmes and debt. "We have a chance to start solving this countrys problems," he told supporters, insisting the Republican party was still about "core principles". "In elections, we dont just decide who our leaders will be, we get to choose what kind of country we will have for years to come and the kind of America we want is confident and determined." He warned that Republicans had to keep control of the senate, otherwise Bernie Sanders would be leading the treasury committee, raising some eyebrows from the people sat behind him in the crowd. Big Republican donors have demanded the party drop Mr Trump, yet few politicians have dropped their endorsements of the nominee. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police were called to investigate a report of suspicious-looking people near a school - and were met by two journalists, both of ethnic minorities. Two staffers for NBC5 were reporting a story near a school in Plano, Texas, when they were approached by police due to a report of an Hispanic-looking woman and black man with suspicious white truck and camera. Reporter Homa Bash is of Indian descent and photographer C J Johnson is black. Ms Bash, who joined the company from Cleveland last month, tweeted about the incident and it was re-tweeted more than 63,000 times and liked more than 125,000 times. It struck a nerve in a country that is grappling with racial tensions. One user replied: If you see something and youre a racist, say something racist. The police officer who responded to the call, Laurie Hunter, recognised the journalists were not a threat, said Plano police spokesman David Tilley. He said that he did not know whether the caller had cited the colour of their skin as a reason for why they were seen to be suspicious, or whether it was due to their camera equipment near a school. Police have been called on a white television reporter before, he added. They were allowed to continue reporting their story about a proposal to ban dogs from student campuses in the city. Ms Bash tweeted again that the police officer was "cool" for letting them get on with their work. NBC5 said in a statement that "the police officer and our crew were doing their jobs. Everyone acted professionally." While the legal recreational pot issue is on the table county wide, Albany is at the epicenter of the debate by cities within Linn County Albany residents will vote on Measure 22-156: Shall the City of Albany prohibit recreational marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers within the city limits?; and Measure 22-157: "Shall Albany impose a 3 percent tax on the sale of marijuana items by a marijuana retailer within the city limits? For the past year, city councilors and Mayor Sharon Konopa have wrestled with how to regulate, limit or outright ban the drug. Konopa and councilor Rich Kellum argue that voters are split 50/50 on the question of legal recreational pot. Voters approved Measure 91 by a 51-49 margin. And at an Oct. 3, 2015, work session, councilors spent more than an hour discussing whether to ban it. It was at that meeting that City Attorney Sean Kidd explained that not banning it would invite license applications that could not be denied. Councilors asked questions regarding ways in which a ban could be referred to voters on the November 2016 general election ballot. The council would push the issue back a few more times, ultimately voting to ban it at a November 1, 2015, work session, in order to pave the way to draft and then agree upon the language for the ordinance, and then put it to the voters in the November 2016 general election. The Council on Sept. 23 voted 4-2 to enact the ban. That move set the stage for campaigning, and led to a Political Action Committee, formed by councilors Ray Kopczynski and Dick Olsen, called "Keep Albany Open for Business," which seeks to convince voters that legal pot in all its forms will be an economic boon for the city. But as the D-H reported Oct. 5, a $25,000 contribution to the PAC from a Colorado-based business, as well as signs that some claimed violated city ordinances, reinforced the drama surrounding the issue. Kellum called the donation unseemly, while painting legal pot advocates as underhanded and sneaky. And now, as of Oct. 11, another $25,000, again from a Boulder, Colorado, business called Renaissance Solutions, has shown up the PAC's coffers. With the new donation, Mayor Konopa suggested the money comes from individuals in Oregon, who send the money to a pool in Boulder so that it will be sent back in batches to the PAC. PAC consultant Jake Weigler argued the donation to the PAC only illustrates the economic draw legal marijuana carries. "We've heard from a bunch of folks who are very interested in expanding their operations," he said. "We see this as a huge economic opportunity." Several other cities within Linn County are also asking voters to weigh in on the marijuana issue: Brownsville: Measure 22-149: "Shall Brownsville prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries, medical marijuana processing sites, marijuana producers, marijuana processors, marijuana wholesalers and marijuana retailers?" Measure 22-150: "Shall Brownsville impose a tax on sales of marijuana by recreational marijuana retailers in the city?" Gates: Measure 24-415: Would impose a 3 percent tax on the sale of marijuana items. Halsey: Measure 22-151: "Shall the City of Halsey prohibit medical marijuana processors, medical marijuana dispensaries, recreational marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers? Measure 22-152: Shall Halsey impose a tax on sales of marijuana items by recreational marijuana retailers in the city? Harrisburg: Measure 22-164 asks, Shall Harrisburg prohibit the establishment of recreational and medical marijuana facilities of all kinds within the city limits? Measure 22-163 asks voters if they wish to impose a 3 percent sales tax on marijuana should voters allow such sales. Lebanon: Measure 22-147 asks voters whether they want to allow production and sale of recreational marijuana, and should they approve it, Measure 22-148 would impose a 3 percent tax on recreational marijuana sales. Lyons: Measure 22-155 asks residents if they want to prohibit medical marijuana processors, medical marijuana dispensaries, recreational marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers within the City of Lyons? Mill City: Measure 22-143: Shall Mill City prohibit medical marijuana processors, medical marijuana dispensaries, recreational marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers in Mill City? Measure 22-144: Shall Mill City impose a 3 percent tax on the sale of marijuana by marijuana retailers in Mill City? Millersburg: Measure 22-145: Shall the City of Millersburg prohibit medical and recreational marijuana processors and dispensaries and recreational marijuana producers, wholesalers and retailers? Sweet Home: Measure 22-158: Shall the City of Sweet Home prohibit certain medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of Sweet Home? Measure 22-159: Shall City of Sweet Home prohibit registered marijuana processing sites and licensed marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers? Measure 22-160: Would impose a 3 percent tax on the sale of marijuana items by retailers. Tangent: Measure 22-153: Shall Tangent prohibit medical marijuana processors and dispensaries and recreational marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers within the city? Measure 22-154: Would impose a 3 percent sales tax should voters approve such sales. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} While Andrew Frye lay dying on the floor of a Super 8 motel room in Green, Ohio, in April, a party raged around him. The attendees -- high from a mixture of heroin and fentanyl -- weren't other teenagers but the 16-year-old's mother and grandmother, police said. Prosecutors would later say the very people who should have protected the teenager from the dangers of drug use were the ones who walked him to a ledge and "enabled" him to jump. "We have evidence of drug abuse by more than one person, more than one relative of the deceased," Summit County Sheriff Steve Barry told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in April. "It appears his mother, her friend and his grandmother, and a friend of the grandmother, all had a hand in obtaining and disseminating heroin among themselves. "The evidence in this case turns my stomach," Barry said. Six months later, the evidence was enough to persuade a judge to sentence the teen's mother, Heather Frye, and her mother, Brenda Frye, to nine years each in prison, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The women pleaded guilty in August to multiple charges, including corrupting another with drugs, child endangering, tampering with evidence and involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 11 years in prison, according to the paper. Two other people in the room at the time -- Jessica Irons, a friend of Heather Frye's, and Donald Callaghan, a friend of Brenda Frye's -- faced lesser charges in connection with the teenager's death. "The ultimate price was not paid by either of you," Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Lynne Callahan told the Frye women, according to ABC affiliate WEWS. "The ultimate price was paid by Andrew. It boils down to personal responsibility and because of that a 16-year-old boy is dead." "I want to apologize to my family and to everybody that loved Andrew," Brenda Frye said in court. Attorneys for the two women had argued that nobody in the hotel room intended for the teen to use heroin; instead, lawyers said, the drugs were intended for a friend, according to the journal. After the teenager's death, Barry, the sheriff, told reporters that it was "quite apparent" that the teenager was beyond help by the time rescuers arrived, according to Fox affiliate WJW. The adults with him had attempted to hide needles and drugs in the room. Citing court and prison records, the Beacon Journal reported that the women have a history of drug-related crime and that the teenager's mother spent time in prison on three occasions between 2007 and 2014. Margaret Scott, deputy chief assistant prosecutor, told reporters in April that overdose deaths are becoming increasingly common in the region. The Plain Dealer reported that "during a 17-month stretch ending last May, nearly 1,000 people died from an overdose in Ohio." Over a 17-day period last month, the paper noted, "at least 29 people died from overdoses in Cuyahoga County alone." "Unfortunately, this isn't unusual," Scott said. "It's a horrible tragedy because of the age we see here, but it's not unusual to see family members, unfortunately, procuring and giving the heroin and fentanyl to one another. "If you're going to give someone else your poison and you know it's likely going to kill them," he added, "we're going to look at holding you criminally responsible." Nationwide, opioids such as heroin and prescription pain relievers killed more than 28,000 people in 2014, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least half of all opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription drug, the CDC said, adding that the number of overdose deaths involving opioids has nearly quadrupled nationwide since 1999. Heather Frye didn't have custody of her son, according to the Plain Dealer. A detective assigned to the case told the paper that the 32-year-old wanted to be "the fun weekend mom." Andrew was adopted as an infant by Tammy Smith, a great-aunt and legal guardian, according to the Beacon Journal. With the help of her late fiance, John Sabini, she raised Frye alongside her three children like he was one of their own, she told the paper. When Sabini died in 2010, Smith said, Andrew was overcome by loss and began seeking the company of his biological mother, which worried family members. When his mother showed up a couple of times a year, family members told the Beacon Journal, she claimed that she was not using drugs and that she planned to clean up her life. "He just wanted his mother and to be around [her] no matter how bad it was," Julie Andrea, Smith's 33-year-old daughter, told the Beacon Journal. "He wanted her to stop. He thought that if he was with her when she was using, at least he was with her." Unfortunately, the teenager developed his own history of drug abuse, the Plain Dealer reported. And yet, he was still a teenager, family members told the paper, one who "liked animals, building computers, playing with his cousin's children and singing." "Never in a million years did we think she would get him into heroin," Andrea told the paper. "We think the only reason he did it was to get her approval." The last full night Andrew would spend alive, his biological mother showed up at Smith's door to take the teenager on an outing. The plan was for the pair to go shopping and then go swimming at a local motel, according to NBC affiliate WKYC. "He told me he loved me and he would come back," Smith told the Beacon Journal. At some point the next day, his mother, his grandmother and their friends gathered in the motel room and decided to shoot up with the teenager. Detectives told the Beacon Journal that Heather Frye told her son to shoot up in a bathroom so she wouldn't have to watch him do it -- the act bothered her. In a recording of a 6:45 p.m. phone call to 911, a sobbing and hysterical Heather Frye can be heard telling a dispatcher that she awoke to find her child dead, according to the Beacon Journal. "He's not breathing," the paper quotes her as saying. "I woke up and my son is so cold." After telling the dispatcher that she suspected her son was dead of a drug overdose, she asked another sobering question: "Can I pick him up and hold him, please? ... I want to hold him," she said. "I just want my baby back." Smith, the teenager's adopted mother, told the Beacon Journal that she longs for the same thing. She was folding clothes when she learned that her son was dead. There is a hole in their family now, she said, and if she could, she'd give up her life to "truly trade places with him." "I miss that boy so bad," she said. "I wanted him to grow up and go to college." "She stole him," Smith added, referring to Andrew's biological mother. "I feel broken, I really do." Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The lawyer for a woman who claims Donald Trump raped her when she was 13 years old has said the Republican presidential candidate will have to answer the charges in court. Cheney Mason is representing "Jane Doe" in court papers over accusations Mr Trump attacked her at a party in New York in 1994. Mr Mason told Buzzfeed News: This case, based on the sworn declarations of the victim and two corroborating witnesses, will be tried in court, where the defendants will be required to answer questions under oath and pursuant to the rules of evidence. The alleged victim claims the businessman raped her during a party at the New York apartment of Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Trump has vehemently denied the claims. His attorney, Alan Garten, said: The allegations are reckless, irresponsible and categorically untrue. He previously told LawNewz.com the claims were an obvious publicity stunt aimed at smearing my client. Mr Mason has filed two witness statements under the names Joan Doe and Tiffany Doe in support fo the claims made by Jane Doe. Donald Trump calls sexual abuse allegations 'pure fiction' Joan Doe claims Jane told her about the assaults in 1994-5, just a few months after the are alleged to have occurred. Tiffany Doe claims she saw Mr Trump rape the accuser multiple times. She says she acted as a recruiter to find young women to attend parties at Epsteins apartment. What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? Show all 8 1 /8 What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On the leaked tape from 2005 where he talks about sexually assaulting women I'm very embarrassed by it, I hate it, but it's locker room talk. It's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of Isis Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Hillary Clinton I hate to say it but if I win I'm going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. There has never been so many lies, so much deception. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Rex What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On Bill Clinton What he's done to women, there's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that's been so abusive to women. AP What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On whether his alleged opposition to Iraq War had been disproven "Its not debunked. Its not debunked." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On exploiting tax loopholes "I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett, and so did George Soros and so did many people who Hillary is getting money from." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On claims he's sexist I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On what he respects about Hillary Clinton I will say this about Hillary - she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter. Reuters What did Donald Trump say during the second presidential debate? On his controversial immigration policies "Its called extreme vetting. Were going to areas like Syria, where they are coming in by the tens of thousands because of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wanting to allow a 550 per cent increase [of refugees] over Obama. People are coming into this country. We have no idea who they are, where they are from and what their feelings are about this country." Getty An initial hearing in the case has been scheduled for 16 December. It comes as Mr Trump finds himself plagued by accusations of sexism and sexual assault. Since a leaked 2005 tape showed him talking about groping females, a number of women have come forward to claim they were attacked by the billionaire. Mr Trump denies the allegations, saying during the second presidential debate that he had never sexually assaulted a women and that seemingly sexist comments were just locker room talk, although he admitted to being embarrassed by them. Mr Trump sparked new controversy last night by appearing to suggest one of his victims was not attractive enough for him to assault. Natasha Soynoff, a writer at People magazine, claims the businessman cornered her after she was sent to interview him and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat. But Mr Trump told a rally in Florida: Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so. He has consistently denied all the assault accusations against him. Last night he told supporters: These claims are all fabricated. Theyre pure fiction and theyre outright lies. These events never, ever happened." "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it and they know well. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A new video has emerged relating to Donald Trump's attitude towards women, showing his reaction to being described as a "sexual predator". The footage is again from The Howard Stern show, the scene of many historic Trump indiscretions, and features the Republican candidate sat in the studio alongside his then-25-year-old daughter Ivanka Trump. In the video, believed to be from 2006, Stern begins asking the reality TV star a question, saying: "Donald seriously, you know all about sexual predators and things like that..." A woman's voice interjects from off camera, saying: "... You are one!" Here is how he responds: Other videos from Mr Trump's appearances on the show have resurfaced since he announced he would be running for the presidency. They include repeated comments about the body and appearance of Ivanka Trump, at one point telling Stern it is OK to describe her as "a piece of ass". It was also on Stern's show that Mr Trump described former Miss Universe Alicia Machado as an "eating machine". And it was speaking to the shock jock on the anniversary of 9/11 in 2002 that Mr Trump infamously supported going to war in Iraq - something he has consistently denied - saying: "Yeah, I guess so." In another Stern video tweeted on Thursday night, Mr Trump can be heard describing the intricacies of pre-nuptial legal agreements before his third marriage, to the supermodel Melania Knauss (now Trump). Boasting of how "in the history of the world, nobody has gotten more beautiful women than I have", Mr Trump describes the women he has slept with in the past as his "victims". It comes as the New York Times published a legal letter daring Mr Trump to sue over stories about his alleged sexual aggression towards women. In it, Times lawyer and 1st Amendment expert David McCraw suggests it would be impossible for the paper to have defamed Mr Trump with the article, given "the reputation that Mr Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself". Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Two speeches. Two Americas. A pair of apocalyptic arguments and one call to burn down the house. Thats the summation from just two remarkable hours Thursday that crystallized the final month of Campaign 2016. In back-to-back appearances, in what might be the two most compelling hours of the entire election, Michelle Obama in New Hampshire and Donald Trump in Florida delivered the fiercest, most provocative and hardest-hitting speeches of an election cycle that has been without precedent in hot rhetoric. The presidential campaign has been building toward all this. Day after day after day, the rhetoric has intensified, the charges and countercharges have escalated, the issues have been reduced to asterisks, and the gulf between the Trump and Clinton coalitions has widened. Sundays debate in St. Louis foreshadowed what was to come. Now there will be no turning back. Obamas was a scorching takedown of the Trump who was revealed in the Access Hollywood hot-mic video, a sexual predator who bragged about using his celebrity status to go after women. The impassioned first lady said that, no matter ones political affiliation, Trumps language is an affront to women and girls and to men and boys as well. She pleaded with voters not to allow him to occupy the highest office in the land. Trumps was an angry and all-out defense against overnight charges of sexual assault by multiple women coupled with a blistering attack on an establishment that he charged is led by Hillary and Bill Clinton, protected by a complicit news media and so totally corrupt that it threatens the very future of country. If the two speeches changed few minds and there probably arent that many left to change they were an indication of how charged the final days of this campaign are likely to be, and suggest that the conflict will not end with the declaration of a winner after 8 November. Michelle Obama has been on the campaign trail on behalf of Hillary Clinton before. She has delivered powerfully on Clintons behalf. Her speech in Philadelphia on the opening night of the Democratic convention helped turn a bad first day into a successful week. Subsequent speeches at campaign rallies have shown her to be as effective a surrogate as the former first lady has. Never has the country seen the first lady like this. Thursday brought out in Obama something different, something more personal, more passionate, more urgent. She was, she said, shaken by the Trump she saw in the Access Hollywood video. Trump in response to sexual assault claims - 'Look at her... you tell me' I cant stop thinking about this, she said. It has shaken me to my core in a way I couldnt have predicted. And so she threw away much of her standard pro-Clinton speech and laid bare her feelings with a sense of moral outrage and indignation over the idea that Trump could be the nominee of a major political party and a threat to win the presidency. She said she had listened closely to Trumps words. And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and Im sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. Its frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. She said that to dismiss what Trump had said as locker-room banter is an insult to decent men everywhere. She said that to treat the episode as just another chapter in a heated campaign does not do justice to the degradation to which many women are subjected regularly. Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Show all 12 1 /12 Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger Schwarzenegger said he will not vote for Trump Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Mr McConnell condemned the remarks, but has not unendorsed him Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks House Speaker Paul Ryan Mr Ryan disinvited Mr Trump from a Wisconsin campaign event following the remarks Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former Sec of State Condoleezza Rice Ms Rice called for Trump to withdraw his candidacy Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Nebraska Sen Deb Fischer Ms Fischer called on Trump to step aside and give nomination to Mike Pence Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Texas Sen Ted Cruz Mr Cruz denounced the remarks, but still endorses Trump Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former Republican candidate Carly Fiorina Ms Fiorina wants Mike Pence to take the nomination Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Hewitt called for Trump to step down Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Utah Representative Mia Love Ms Love said she cannot vote for Trump after hearing his remarks Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Former New York Gov George Pataki Mr Pataki said Mr Trump should step down Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks New Hampshire Sen Kelly Ayotte Ms Ayotte will write in Mike Pence when she votes Getty Republican leaders backing away from Donald Trump after lewd remarks Arizona Sen John McCain Mr McCain will choose Mike Pence on Election Day Getty This is not normal, she said. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful, it is intolerable, and it doesnt matter what party you belong to. No woman deserves to be treated this way none of us deserves this kind of abuse. Her speech lit up Twitter and the Internet. She spoke as Trump was waiting to appear, and on the cable networks two at least the images showed a fiery first lady dominating the screen with a tiny box in the corner of the crowded arena awaiting the GOP nominee. Both CNN and MSNBC broke away from regular coverage to show the Obama speech. Fox News did not carry it. When Obama had finished, Trump came out to thunderous applause, a sign that the support among his most loyal backers has not slackened in the face of the hot-mic video, the latest allegations against him, and the turmoil in his campaign and in the Republican Party. If anything, that support has hardened further, and if there were any concerns about that, Trump gave his supporters every reason to stand firm. He cast the choice in November as between a political-media-corporate establishment against the rest of the country, a divide-to-conquer strategy that has been urged on him by his advisers. Donald Trump caught on tape talking about sexually assaulting women: "Grab 'em by the pussy" This is not simply another four-year election, he said. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we the people reclaim control over our government. He said the most recent allegations of sexual misconduct were preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. He promised to produce evidence to refute them and appeared to take a swipe at a People magazine reporter who said he had kissed her and forced himself against her, seeming to suggest that her appearance should cast doubt on her allegations. You take a look. Look at her, he said. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so. I dont think so. Recommended Read more Big donors to Republican Party demand it drops Donald Trump He said the establishment will try to retain its grip on power through all manner of means. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed. They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family, they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that, they will do whatever is necessary. The Clintons are criminals, remember that. Theyre criminals. Not only criminals, he said, but also the leaders of an establishment whose goal is power and enrichment at the expense of everyday Americans. The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure, he said. Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents, in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors. Trump called the election a moment of reckoning as a society and as a civilization itself, and he issued an exhortation to his followers to overturn the current order. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you, he said. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people. In two hours Thursday, the lines were drawn as never before. Michelle Obama delivered a case against Trumps personal and moral fitness with a forcefulness that Hillary Clinton cannot match, given the past charges against her husband. Meanwhile, Trump has embraced fully the blow-it-up argument that will rattle Republican leaders but which animates those Americans who are most alienated from the countrys establishment. Those are the parameters of the political debate as it stands today and the choice that will be settled on Election Day. Washington Post Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spar daily over the future of Obamacare, officials in Minnesota have admitted its on life support in the state because of soaring premiums. Mark Dayton, the Democrat Governor of Minnesota who was one of the Affordable Care Acts most zealous supporters when it was first implemented five years ago, declared this week that the system in the state was suffering an emergency. Recommended Read more Big donors demand Republican Party drops Donald Trump His comments came days after Bill Clinton dropped a grenade into the presidential race by offering his own negative assessment of the law while campaigning on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clinton. In what was widely seen as an embarrassing gaffe, the former President told a rally in Michigan last week that Obamacare had become the craziest thing in the world and that consumers wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. Republicans, who have argued the law should be scrapped, seized on his comment. Minnesota appears now to be emerging as exhibit A of what Mr Clinton was talking about with insurance companies either opting to remove themselves from the system entirely or, if they remain, vowing to raise rates dramatically. Ultimately, the reality is that the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for an increasing number of people, Governor Dayton told reporters. It's got some serious blemishes right now and serious deficiencies. Under pressure from the insurance companies still participating in Minnesota, the state commerce commissioner Mike Rothman has authorised premium increases for 2017 of between 50 to 67 per cent over this years premiums. That follows price hikes for 2016 of 14 to 49 percent, making it three straight years when costs to consumers will have jumped. The first blow in Minnesota came when Preferred One, an insurance company that once accounted for 59 per cent of all plans brought through the Obamacare exchange, simply pulled out after declaring it was no longer economically viable. The state's largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, also plans to pull out. Consumers feeling the pinch include Madeline Sherman of Minneapolis, who is self-employed and recently received a letter saying her costs will rise from $200 (164) a month to about $265. I am a little worried. If it keeps going up I am going to have to look at the options, she said. I think that the idea behind Obamacare is great, the concept, Ms Sherman added. But if they are going to keep raising the rate, there is really no a point. The whole point was to help people with lower incomes to get insurance they could afford and its really getting to the point where I cant afford it any more. The presidential candidates clashed over the fate of the law at their debate last Sunday. Obamacare will never work. It's very bad, Mr Trump averred. He has consistently vowed to scrap the law though he has been vague about what he would replace it with. While she acknowledges that the law as it is set up now is encountering problems, Ms Clinton continues to argue that it can be salvaged with reforms. I'm going to fix it, Ms Clinton told the debate audience at Washington University in St Louis. I want very much to save what works and what is good about the ACA. But we've got to get costs down. Unless insurance companies can be persuaded to participate in the Obamacare exchanges two giant companies, Aetna and UnitedHealth, have both announced plans to pull out of markets in several other states costs are certain to keep rising. That puts pressure both on consumers who buy plans on the exchanges and also on the system of subsidies for consumers under certain income levels. Jennifer, another Minneapolis resident who withheld her second name, has her premiums paid for by the government. Yet, she has also concluded that Obamacare is beyond repair. It should go bye-bye, it should go back to the way it was she said on Friday, saying that in her view it was set up as a means for the government to keep track of citizens. Its not for our benefit, its for theirs. I have talked to a lot of people and there are a lot of high premiums that some people have to pay and if you dont get the Obamacare through the state, you have to pay fines and taxes and thats just ridiculous. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Indian authorities have intercepted a suspected "spy" pigeon and clipped its wings to prevent it from returning to Pakistan. The bird was "arrested" earlier in the month after a note addressed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was found tied to its foot. The note, written in Urdu, read "Modiji, we are not the same as we were in 1971 - Jaish-e-Mohammad", according to a police source. "The wings of the pigeon have been clipped to ensure the suspected spy does not fly back to Pakistan," a senior Punjab police official told The Telegraph India. "We have sent a preliminary report to the Union home ministry, including an X-ray report of the bird which did not reveal anything suspicious." Police sources said while they could not be sure the bird had come from Pakistan, its wings were clipped last week with the help of a veterinary worker as they didnt want to take a chance. The bird has been put in a cage and is being fed, according to reports. We don't know how long the pigeon will stay in the police station. Residents are flocking to the police station to see the intruder," a Bamial police source said. "The only thing we know for sure is that it was a female pigeon and not a male one as assumed earlier. However, animal activists have said clipping the birds wings amounts to cruelty. "They should have released the pigeon since they didn't find anything suspicious after getting the X-ray done," said Delhi-based animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi. "The mindless act amounts to cruelty to animals. It also shows how stupid as a nation we are becoming." The most controversial animal killings Show all 6 1 /6 The most controversial animal killings The most controversial animal killings Cincinnati Zoo worker shots and kills Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Zoo worker after a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure and was grabbed and dragged by Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to kill Harambe. A number of primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals in close proximity to humans and the need for better standards of care Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden The most controversial animal killings Walt Palmer (left), from Minnesota, who killed Cecil, the Zimbabwean lion (pictured here with another lion shot in Africa) Walter James Palmer has been named by Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force as the shooter of Cecil, a 13-year-old prized lion. He is now wanted by Zimbabwe officials on poaching charges. The lion was protected and the subject of a decade long study by the Wildlife Unit of Oxford University in the UK. He was outfitted with a GPS collar and was killed in Hwange National Park. The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Safari Operators Association said that two men were charged with poaching in connection to Mr Palmer The most controversial animal killings Kendall Jones hunting images Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old Texas Tech university student, has provoked worldwide fury after posting pictures of herself smiling next to animals she hunted, including a lion, rhinoceros, antelope, leopard, elephant, zebra and hippopotamus The most controversial animal killings Rebecca Francis hunting images Rebecca Francis, a huntress who has killed dozens of wild animals has been sent death wishes by furious social media users after a picture showing her lying down next to a dead giraffe was circulated. Rebecca Francis has a website and Facebook page dedicated to the animals she has killed in hunts across Africa and America. Francis, a prolific hunter who has also co-hosted the television show Eye of the Hunter, regularly posts pictures of herself posing next to dead bears, giraffes, buffaloes and zebras, among other animals. She uses a bow and arrow to kill her prey The most controversial animal killings The slaughter of Marius, an 18-month-old healthy giraffe in Copenhagen Zoo Copenhagen Zoo made the controversial decision to euthanise a healthy giraffe named Marius, which was later dissected and fed to lions as visitors watched. The slaughter sparked a furious backlash from social media users and zoo staff have received death threats by phone and email. Soon after the incident, Copenhagen Zoo faced an international outcry once again after four healthy lions were put down The most controversial animal killings Swiss Dahlholzli zoo kills healthy brown bear cub A Switzerland zoo faced heavy criticism from animal rights groups, after keepers put down a healthy brown bear cub to spare it from being bullied by its dominant male father. The 360 kg male bear Misha had already killed one of his 11-week old cubs in public and was bullying the second, staff at the zoo said, because he was jealous of the attention the cubs were receiving from their mother, Masha. Both adult brown bears had been donated to Berns Dahlholzli zoo in 2009. Campaigners condemned staff there for not separating the cubs, who are being referred to as Baby Bear Two and Baby Bear Three, and their mother from Misha after their birth in January Facebook However a police officer said: "It's not cruelty. Clipped wings grow fast and the pigeon will be able to fly soon. It's hale and hearty as it is being fed well." This is not the first time a spy bird has been captured by Indian authorities. "Both countries have always accused each other of spying," a senior IPS officer at North Block said, "but things are now getting farcical." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Paedophiles could be chemically castrated or even executed under harsh new laws passed by the Indonesian parliament in response to the brutal gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. The new laws will mean repeat offenders and those who abuse family members could face between 10 and 20 years in jail. The courts can also order their chemical castration or for them to be tagged with a microchip. In extreme cases, where the perpetrator murders their victim or leaves them with psychological trauma or a sexually transmitted disease, they could be executed. It follows the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl, Yuyun, by a gang of 12 men and boys in the village Kasiah Kasubun in Sumatra in April. Yuyun was abducted and attacked on her way home from school. Her body was found bruised and bloody with her hands tied in woodland three days later. Following an outcry by campaigners on social media which led to a protest outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, 12 males - including seven teenagers aged between 16 and 17 - were jailed for the crime. But human rights campaigners have objected to the move and the measure was fiercely debated in parliament with two opposition parties voting against it. One Reddit user pointed out on a comment thread that the latest Unicef data has revealed one out of every six Indonesian girls were married before they turned 18. The Indonesian Doctors Association said its members would refuse to administer chemical castration - which involves injecting men with female hormones - as it was a violation of its medical ethics. The chemical castration of paedophiles is already practised in several countries including Poland, South Korea, Turkey, Russia and some parts of the US. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Convicted paedophiles in the UK can also undergo the procedure voluntarily. Indonesias National Commission for Women (NCW), Azriana, criticised the laws and called for them to be re-evaluated annually to see whether they work as a deterrent. She told the BBC: Other countries that have chemical castration have not seen a reduction in sexual crime against children. Also it's a very expensive procedure and what we should be spending and investing our money in is services to support and help the victims. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} 86 per cent of Filipinos supported their controversial president Rodrigo Duterte at the end of his first three months in office, according to a recent survey. Mr Duterte was elected leader in June after urging citizens and police to kill drug dealers, at least 1,400 people have been killed by police in anti-drug operations, and hundreds more by suspected vigilantes. But the 71-year-old still has high trust and approval ratings within the country, the poll by Pulse Asia found. Results of the survey, conducted from 25 September to 1 October and released on Wednesday, showed that 86 per cent of 1,200 respondent approved of Mr Dutertes performance. Eleven per cent were ambivalent, but only three percent said they did not like him. Mr Duterte was most popular in his native Mindanao, where 93 per cent of respondents said they supported his work. Pulse Asia noted that ambivalence toward Duterte's performance is more pronounced than outright disapproval, with single-digit disapproval ratings across locations and socio-economic classes. Internationally, Mr Duterte's offensive outbursts and promotion of violence have made him extremely unpopular. The President has been condemned by defence ally the US, the United Nations, and the European Union, as well as human rights groups. He recently compared himself to Hitler (although he later apologised), and called President Obama a son of a whore. The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Show all 9 1 /9 The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On killing drug addicts These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, dont go into that, even if youre a policeman, because I will really kill you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Message to China I will go there on my own with a Jet Ski, bringing along with me a [Phillipino] flag and a pole, and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, Kill me AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Christmas message to law-breakers If you do not want to stop, and just continue committing crimes, then this would be your last Merry Christmas AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On sex life I was separated from my wife. Im not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On the drugs trade None of my children are into illegal drugs. But my order is, even if it is a member of my family, kill him'" AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting the Pope We were affected by the traffic. It took us five hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They answered, the pope. I wanted to call him: Pope, son of a wh**e, go home. Do not visit us again AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Joke about rape I saw her face and I thought, 'What a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first AFP/Getty The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting Barack Obama "Mr Obama should be respectful and refrain from throwing questions at me about the killings, or son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum" REUTERS The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants "If I have to face them, you know I can eat humans. I will really open up your body. Just give me vinegar and salt, and I will eat you. If you annoy me to the fullest... I will eat you alive. Raw" EPA In addition to his controversial anti-drugs campaign, he has implemented a number of progressive social policies and championed the rights of indigenous people. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} New images of the Great Barrier Reef have revealed the extent of the damage climate change has caused to the coral. The worlds largest reef system, which stretches for over 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia, has been severely affected by rising water temperatures. In May, researchers found more than a third of corals in central and northern parts of the reef had been killed and 93 per cent of individual reefs had been affected by a condition known as coral bleaching, where too warm water causes corals to expel algae living in their tissue and turn completely white. Corals depend on a symbiotic relationship with algae-like single cell protozoa, so when these are expelled they stop growing and often die. Scientists alarmed after Great Barrier Reef hit by worst coral bleaching in history The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures Show all 9 1 /9 The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures Satelite image of the Great Barrier Reef NASA The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures The Agincourt reefs are a small group of reefs known as ribbons that run parallel to the continental shelf on the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef Rex The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures Soft corals in the Great Barrier Reef Rex The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures Air view of the Agincourt Reefs which are a small group of reefs known as ribbons that run parallel to the Continental Shelf on the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Port Douglas in north-eastern Queensland, Australia Rex The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures Helicopter cockpit and aerial view of Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Queensland, Australia Getty Images/iStockphoto The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures Bat fish and Parrot fish in Great Barrier Reef Getty Images/iStockphoto The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures Green Turtle with Diver Underwater in Great Barrier Reef iStockphoto The Great Barrier Reef - In Pictures The great Barrier Reef Getty Images/iStockphoto New research shows the damage has worsened rather than begun to repair. Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the Australian Climate Council, said at the start of this year scientists had described the reef as 110% alive. "After the bleaching event in May, 60 per cent of what we saw was bleached very white, she said. Another 19-20 per cent was covered in sludgy brown algae. Even of what remained healthy, some looked a bit on edge. When we went back a few weeks ago to see if they [the affected corals] had recovered or died, quite a large proportion had died. (Climate Council (Climate Council) Ms McKenzie estimated around half the bleached coral in the site they visited, a popular offshore reef about 54 kilometres from Port Douglas, was dead. She said delicate corals had been particularly badly affected: while strong brain corals had mostly survived, many fragile varieties, such as plate corals, had died. Fish had also been affected she said, with far fewer species now living on the reef. (Climate Council (Climate Council) Leslie Hughes, professor of biology at Macquarie University in Sydney, said she had also noticed this. The composition of the fish community has changed, she said. There's still a lot of fish that eat the algae and they're doing quite well. But fish like parrot fish, that eat the coral, have disappeared. Professor Tim Flannery was also part of the team which visited the reef in September. He told ABC: We wanted to see how much repair there'd been, but the coral we saw bleached and in danger a few months back has now mostly died. On top of that we've seen a whole lot of new damage, a whole lot of white coral out there that's been killed by Crown of Thorns starfish because it was too weak to defend itself. If it [the reef] was a person, it would be on life support," he said. (Climate Council (Climate Council) Tourism operator John Rumney, who has been visiting the reef for 15 years, told the Australian news outlet he had also seen damage on a large scale. I can tell you this reef was more than 100 per cent alive and now you go down there and in certain patches about 40 per cent is dead, in others about 20 per cent is dead, he said. The value of tourism on the great barrier reef is estimated to be around 6 billion Australian dollars, or around 3.7 billion pounds. The industry employs 65,000 to 70,000 people. Mr Rumney said tourists were still visiting the reef, but there is definitely a major concern for its long term future." He added: The experience is still fantastic, but tourists don't know what they're looking at. They don't know what it should look like." (Climate Council (Climate Council) Coral which has not died from bleaching can recover, but severely bleached reefs can take more than a decade to return to their former condition. If there are repeated bleaching events over a short time frame, it will be difficult for it to recover, Ms McKenzie said. "Its not too late but we need to act to protect whats left of the reef and give it the best change of survival into the future. Its important people dont see the bleaching as a one off event, and its important people know the scale of the catastrophe that happened earlier this year." Ms McKenzie said although more than 600 miles of reef had been heavily affected, the worst damage was in an area where there are not many people, making it easier for the issue to be forgotten and fall off the political agenda. She said this must not happen, particularly because the fate of the reef has broad implications that exceed just the loss of a unique and beautiful ecosystem. "Its very illustrative that climate change is happening now," Ms McKenzie said. "Its not a future issue, its having an effect now on an enormous ecosystem you can see the great barrier reef from space. Rhat should be a warning bell for the whole world. This is happening now, and its worse than we expected. "I did expect to see big impact on reef in my lifetime but not so soon," she said. "We are all very shocked. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Italian authorities are finalising an emergency plan to evacuate 700,000 people after warnings of Mount Vesuviuss eruption risk were expanded earlier this year. The plan is in its final stages and will be published by the end of the month, according to officials from Italys southern Campania region and Department of Civil Protection. The 25 at-risk towns are due to share their evacuation strategies in the next two weeks, and plans for seven newly identified red zone areas are being drawn up. We have to equip ourselves to be prepared, regional president Vincenzo De Luca told Italian press, Mount Vesuvius is a problem of gigantic proportions. A strategy to single out priority areas within the high-risk region are also underway. Last year, the eruption red zone was dramatically expanded from 550,000 residents in 18 towns, to 672,000 residents in 25. However despite the increased warnings, Mr De Luca said alarmism is pointless. We have no particular problems right now, but it is our duty to be prepared. Either you can pretend not to see challenges, or you can face them head on even the most difficult, he said. We should take advantage of the fact that Vesuvius is currently dormant, that its giving no sign of movement, in order to prepare ourselves to cope with the emergency, should it wake up. The plans set out a strategy to evacuate the entire danger zone in under 72 hours, with 12 hours used for organisation, 48 hours for moving and an extra 12-hour security margin. Such measures would only be implemented if the highest of four eruption levels was activated, in which case the region would also deploy 500 buses and 220 trains to relocate residents. However, despite the increased organisational efforts, experts warn that the regions may still be unprepared. There is a thought-out plan from the National Civil Protection with previsions for the most likely scenario, said Italys National Council of Geology President, Francesco Peduto. But those who would have to put this plan into action that is, the local civil protection from the different towns involved dont study and may not be in a position to put it into action. Despite the expansion of the red zone, experts say that the entire region is not at risk, but its impossible to predict in advance in which direction the flows are likely to move. Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius Show all 10 1 /10 Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A marble statue of Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty and love, found in the volcanic remains of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A marble statue depicting the god Hermes, found in the volcanic remains of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A funerary marble statue, unearthed after the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A mosaic fountain, unearthed after the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A detail from a mosaic fountain, unearthed after the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A bronze gladiator's helmet, found in the volcanic remains of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A marble statue of Polyhymnia, one of the nine muses of Greek mythology, found in the volcanic remains of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius The body cast of a pig, found in the volcanic remains of Mount Vesuvius that erupted and wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A detail painting on a garden wall of a child angel, unearthed after the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Pompeii: Life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius A marble wall relief of mythical god Neptune, unearthed after the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out the Roman city of Pompeii more than 2000 years ago AP Mr De Luca also announced extra funding for the regional towns to aid infrastructure and spread awareness of the evacuation methods. The affected towns have each been twinned with another region of Italy, where residents would be hosted in the case of an eruption. A series of yellow zones has also been identified, the areas at secondary risk due to falling ash. The yellow zone is now made up of 63 municipalities, and three Neapolitan districts. In 2007, residents lodged a legal bid at the European Court of Human Rights claiming the previous escape plan, devised in 2007, was inadequate. In the early 2000s, the Italian government set up a relocation fund to encourage those living in the danger zone to leave the area, however it has not been successful. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Nearly 60 people have been executed by drowning in the Isis-controlled city of Mosul, after the jihadist group suspected them of attempting to organise a rebellion. An offensive on the city, still home to more than a million civilians, is anticipated in the coming weeks. Fifty-eight people were killed in connection with three weapons caches hidden in homes around the city, Reuters reported, citing numerous sources from inside the city. They were buried in a mass grave. Isis suspected the weapons were intended to be used to spark an internal uprising against them in the event an attack the city. They were discovered after one of the rebels was found by Isis with a message on his phone discussing the weapons. Reportedly among the rebels were disillusioned former Isis members and their leader was previously a close assistant to the elusive leader of the extremist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Security has been tightened in Mosul, as Isis prepare for a major offensive by the Iraqi army and various militias and backed by the US. Iraqi security services have reportedly been making contact with people inside the city who have been provided intelligence, leading to air strikes on Isis targets in the city. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty But the planned operation has also led to division, with Turkey determined to take part, fearing the use of Shia militias will stoke sectarian unrest and trigger an exodus of refugees. "We will convey our request to coalition forces that we are determined to take our place in a coalition in Iraq," Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "If they don't want us, our Plan B will come into effect. If Turkey isn't safe, nobody in the region is safe." Turkish soldiers have been training Sunni Muslim and allied Kurdish peshmerga units at Iraq's Bashiqa camp, near Mosul, and want them involved in the assault. Baghdad objects to the Turkish military presence in northern Iraq. Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been at the heart of Isis's self-declared caliphate in Iraq since 2014. The UN has said the fighting could displace a million people and cause a humanitarian catastrophe. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Israel has suspended ties with the UNs cultural agency Unesco, accusing the international body of denying Jewish history and aiding Islamist terror following a draft motion regarding holy sites in Jerusalem. Following the shameful decision by Unesco members to deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, I have notified the Israel National Commission for Unesco to suspend all professional activities, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said on Friday. A draft Unesco resolution proposed by several Muslim states criticised restrictions placed by the Israeli government on Muslim worshippers at the Temple Mount, as it is known in Judaism, or Haram al-Sharif, as it is called in Islam. The resolution is due to be formally validated next week. The Jerusalem hilltop is revered by Jews as the site of two destroyed Biblical temples. In Islam, it is said to be where the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven. While mentioning the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions, Unescos resolution only used Islamic names for the sites, a move which Israel said diminished the sites importance to Judaism and is politically motivated. A draft of the text also included a clause that said that the holy Western Wall which runs along the perimeter of one edge of the site should be considered part of the al-Aqsa mosque compound a space currently reserved for and administered by Muslims. Such a move could have been a starting point for removing the Jewish right to pray and leave written messages between the stones at the Western Wall. It was dropped from the final copy of the text. The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as el-Harem al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) with its golden Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine and lead-domed al-Aqsa mosque, dominates this aerial view of the Old City of Jerusalem, 2 October, 2007 (Getty) (David Silverman/Getty) Unescos draft decision was widely derided by Israeli officials as well as the Jewish community worldwide. Several last-minute campaigns were launched to ditch it. The passed text approved by 24 countries and rejected by six, including the UK and US was still very hostile towards Israel, Interior Minister Silvan Shalom said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page that the move was in the realms of the absurd. Is it any wonder the UN has become a moral farce when Unesco, the UN body tasked with preserving history, denies and distorts history? he asked. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Calls UN 'Joke' and 'Moral Farce' Denying Jewish ties to Temple Mount is like denying those of China with the Great Wall or those of the Egyptians with the Pyramids. Education Minister Naftali Bennett added that the decision on Jerusalem denies history and encourages terror. Muslim worshippers access to al-Aqsa or lack of it has been a recurrent flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian tensions in a renewed wave of violence over the last year. Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip welcomed the resolution. A spokesperson for Hamas which wants Israels destruction described it as a step in the right direction. Palestine became a full member of Unesco in 2011 despite intense opposition from Israel and the US. The decision was celebrated by Palestinians and campaigners who saw it as a stepping stone on the path to giving the Territories full statehood. Relations between Unesco and Israel have been rocky since. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An astrophysics professor from the West Bank has been sentenced to seven months in prison for incitement on social media. Professor Imad Barghouthi was handed down the sentence at Ofer military court on Sunday for his Facebook posts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Palestinian politics. The Al-Quds University employee was arrested at a checkpoint near Ramallah in April while travelling to his home town of Beit Rima, and detained without any formal charges being brought against him. After international petitions from the academic community calling for an end to his detainment, a military court ordered the 52-year-old's release in May, but prosecutors effectively overturned the decision by filing charges of incitement to racialised hatred and violence against Israelis. The sentence includes time served, meaning he should be released late November. During his trial, Palestinian media reported Dr Barghouthis lawyer said that prosecutors used the numbers of likes and shares his political Facebook posts received as evidence. The Israeli Defence Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment. UN on verge of labelling Palestine as 'non-member observer' Show all 2 1 /2 UN on verge of labelling Palestine as 'non-member observer' UN on verge of labelling Palestine as 'non-member observer' hamas.jpg Getty Images UN on verge of labelling Palestine as 'non-member observer' unations.jpg Getty Images While The Independent could not independently verify this, such a move is commonly used in incitement cases, West Bank-based Palestinian legal rights organisation Addameer said. Hundreds of Palestinians [have been recently] arrested in relation to their social media posts, particularly Facebook, for alleged incitement, Addameer director Sahar Francis said. Prosecutors use the numbers of likes and shares of specified posts, while failing to connect these posts or these individuals, to acts of violence. The trend is an alarming one, in which the right to freedom of expression is severely obstructed. Dr Barghouthi is said to be supportive of Hamas, the militant movement which controls the Gaza Strip. He was also arrested in 2014 for comments made at a Hamas rally which were uploaded to YouTube in which he encouraged Palestinians to take up arms to defend their homes against Israel during that summers bloodshed in Gaza. Netanyahu blames Palestinians for lack of peace in Israel Even so, there is currently no law on the books in Israel which relates to charging people with criminal offences for what they write online, the Palestine Information Center says, and the trend of arrests in the last year sets a dangerous precedent for anyone critical of Israeli policy or documented human rights violations. At least 150 Palestinians have been arrested or jailed for inciting racial hatred or violence towards Israelis online in recent months. Rights groups say that often the charge is used to target activists, journalists, poets and students who post about the occupation in a negative context. Recommended Read more Israel in crack down on Palestinian journalists Israels crackdown on social media posts is designed to stem a wave of fresh Israeli-Palestinian violence in the past 12 months which the government says is encouraged by inflammatory content online. A delegation from Facebook met with the Israeli Interior Minister last month to discuss how racial hatred can be better combated on the platform. Several Palestinian journalists have reported that their accounts have been temporarily blocked without explanation since the meeting took place. Facebook later said that the accounts had been suspended in error. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Bashar al-Assad has said victory in Aleppo would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey and said that Saudi Arabia had offered to help his regime if it agrees to sever ties with Iran. Rescue workers said that Syria's military backed by Russian warplanes had killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, in support of its offensive against the city. Rising casualties in Aleppo, where many buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have prompted an international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey, to go back to where they come from or to kill them. There's no other option," Assad said in an interview with Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move," added Assad. As the air strikes and shelling of the city's east intensified after a brief period of relative calm, Syria's government approved a United Nations plan to allow aid convoys into the most besieged areas of Syria, with the exception of Aleppo. The siege has caused outrage around the world with Syria and Russia being accused of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys. Assads latest also said that Saudi Arabia has offered to help his government if it agrees to cut ties with Iran, one of Syrias main allies. Recommended Read more France has accused Assad of war crimes in Aleppo He said the Saudis told him: If you move away from Iran and you announce that you disconnect all kinds of relations with Iran, were going to help you. Very simple and very straight to the point. Syria's civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 300,000 people and left millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers as well as inspiring jihadist attacks abroad. Assad is backed by the Russian air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shi'ite militias from Arab neighbours, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. Assad also told the newspaper that the country's civil war had become a conflict between Russia and the West. "What we've been seeing recently during the last few weeks, and maybe few months, is something like more than Cold War," Assad said. "I don't know what to call it, but it's not something that has existed recently, because I don't think that the West and especially the United States has stopped their Cold War, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union." Assad added that Turkey's actions in Syria constituted an "invasion, against international law, against the morals, against the sovereignty of Syria." Recommended Read more Saudi Arabia should not police its own war in Yemen As air strikes killed 13 people on Thursday in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of al-Kalaseh, Bustan al-Qasr and al-Sakhour, according to a civil defence official, European Union foreign ministers drafted a statement accusing Syria and its allies of violence that "may amount to war crimes." "Since the beginning of the offensive by the (Syrian) regime and its allies, the intensity and scale of aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," a draft of their statement seen by Reuters said. Syrian and Russian governments say they target only militants. To the south, hundreds of insurgents and their families have left two rebel-held towns on the northern outskirts of Damascus, residents and fighters said, under a deal with the government which is pushing its opponents to rebel areas further from the capital. The evacuation happened after the army gave community leaders in Qudsiya and Al-Hama - which had enjoyed relative calm under local truces - an ultimatum to get several hundred fighters out of their towns or face a wide-scale assault. "They gave us little option: Leave or all hell breaks loose," said Yousef al Hasnawi, a resident on the local rebel council. The Damascus government says such amnesties are a "workable model to bring security and peace," but its opponents say forcing Sunni Muslim fighters and their families from their hometowns could create new demographic frontiers and worsen sectarian tensions. US President Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria, US officials told Reuters. Some officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against Islamic State. US officials said they considered it unlikely that Obama would order US air strikes on Syrian government targets, and stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Switzerland on Saturday to resume their effort to find a diplomatic solution along with counterparts from some Middle Eastern countries. Moscow called on Thursday on states in the region not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebel groups, warning that any unfriendly actions against Russian forces would draw an appropriate response. Air strikes against rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo had tapered off over the weekend after the Syrian army announced it would reduce raids for what it described as humanitarian reasons, but they have intensified since Tuesday. "The bombing started at 2 a.m. and it's going on until now," Ibrahim Abu Laith, an official at the civil defence rescue organisation in Aleppo, told Reuters from the city. In pictures: Aleppo bombing Show all 14 1 /14 In pictures: Aleppo bombing In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Smoke rises after airstrikes on the rebel-held al-Sakhour neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family runs for cover amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Al-Qatarji in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man reacts as he stands on blood stains at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria, April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damage of the airstrikes in the rebel-held area of Aleppo on April 28 Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians evacuate an injured man amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following an air strike on a rebel-held of Aleppo on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man leads a woman in tears and child out of the scene after airstrikes hit Aleppo AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Civil defence members search for survivors after an airstrike at a field hospital in the rebel held area of al-Sukari district of Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported air strike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike in the Bustan al-Qasr rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers and rescuers remove a baby from under the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians help a wounded youth following an air strike on the Fardous rebel held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers evacuate people from a damaged building following a reported airstrike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab in the northern city of Aleppo Rescue workers said 154 people had been killed in recent days. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll. Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo - the anti-Assad rebels' most important urban stronghold - facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine. In Geneva, the United Nations said Damascus had partially approved its aid plan for October, giving the green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, which are also deprived of some vital supplies. But the Syrian government did not give approval for either eastern Aleppo or three districts near Damascus, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, the United Nations' deputy special envoy to Syria, said on Thursday, describing the situation as "dire." In a government-held area of western Aleppo, at least four children were killed and 10 wounded on Thursday when shells landed near a school, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said the school in the al-Suleimaniya area had been targeted in what it described as a terrorist attack. Reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The US military has warned it will retaliate against any new provocations from rebels in Yemen, after Houthi forces fired a missile at a US Navy warship in the Red Sea. On Thursday, US-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast. White House officials argued the missile strikes were strictly a self-defence measure and not an escalation of military involvement. "These strikes are not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "We want to make crystal clear that if you threaten our forces, you threaten our ships, we will be prepared to respond, as we did in this case." Video footage shows moment air strike hits funeral in Yemen The US is already involved in the conflict indirectly through its support of the Saudi-led fighting the rebels on behalf of the Yemen government. It was previously focused on al-Qaida in Yemen and the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week. It appears the USS Mason was targeted in retaliation after warplanes from the Suadi-led coalition struck a funeral in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a last weekend. The devastating air strikes killed nearly 140 people, most of them civilians. The Houthi missile fire missed the ship, but chief of naval operations Admiral. John Richardson said, "Enough was enough," and the Navy was ordered to launch five missile strikes. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said the sites "were specifically targeted in order to take out or in some way limit the ability for the Houthis to carry out these strikes". World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Shortly after the missile strike, two Iranian warships began steaming toward the Gulf of Aden on Yemen's southern coast. Although ostensibly deployed as part of a regular anti-piracy patrol, the timing suggested it was aimed at sending a signal to the US, which has vowed to retaliate against any new provocations from the Houthis. "We are prepared to respond if necessary to any future missile launches," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. He called on all parties to the conflict to abide by the terms of a fragile agreement reached in April. "Our belief is the violence should subside consistent with the terms of that agreement." Iran says it backs the Yemeni rebels but denies arming them. US officials have held open the possibility the Houthis may have captured some missiles from Yemen's army, but have also made clear Iran is supplying them as well. These missiles, State Department spokesman John Kirby said this week, "are provided by Iran to the Houthi rebels". US backing of the Saudi-led coalition has come under increasing criticism from lawmakers, human rights groups and others who have decried coalition air strikes on civilians in Yemen as possible war crimes. The US has said it is reviewing its support for the coalition. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far. Additional reporting by AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} 25,000 Muslims have gathered to celebrate religious freedoms and condemn extremism. Members of the Ahmadiyya community met at an annual conference on Ontario where their spiritual leader spoke out against violence carried out in the name of Islam. Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the caliph of the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam, condemned extremists and accused them of misinterpreting Islam. He said: These clerics or so called extremist mullahs they have really misconstrued the true teachings of the Holy Quran and most of the Muslims are just ignorant of the true teachings." The caliph said he didnt know where people get this message from and suggested the first thing [in tackling extremism] is to reform the clerics, according to the Toronto Star. He added: Islam prohibits all forms of extremism and terrorism and so suicide bombings, beheadings, the killing of innocent people are all opposed to Islams teachings. This is the message we are propagating and spreading far and wide." The importance and significance of this message is obvious in todays world given that violence and disorder has spread to so many parts of the world. Hence, the message of Love for All, Hatred for None is not only something for Muslims to follow but for all people." The Caliph told the Ahmadiyya conference that people should live by the message 'Love for all, hatred for none' (Makhzan-e-Tasaweer ) (Makhzan-e-Tasaweer) The gathering included hundreds of refugees from Syria, where Ahmadiyyas are routinely persecuted. Some said it was the first time they had been able to practise their religion in safety. The Ahmadiyya sect was founded in 1889 and now has tens of millions of members in over 200 countries. Followers are oppressed in many Islamic countries because they are deemed to not be sufficiently obedient to traditional Islamic law. Ahmadiyya Muslims believe the Messiah came in the 19th Century, categorically reject any form of terrorism and support the separation of mosque and state. They also recognise the importance of teaching by figures from other religions, including Moses, Jesus, Krishna, Buddha and Guru Nanak. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} El Salvador has been named as the least safe and secure country in the world, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. The epicentre of central Americas gang crisis, it has one of the highest crime rates in the world, and last year became the most deadly country outside a warzone after its murder rate soared to 104 per 100,000 citizens. Latin American countries dominate the list, with Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico suffering from similar gang-related issues to El Salvador, and Colombia and Venezuela also included in the top 10. Four African countries rank among the most dangerous, including Kenya and Egypt, both of which are struggling with active Islamist insurgencies on their fringes. And the top 12 is completed by Yemen in the Middle East and Pakistan, which continues to battle the Taliban. Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Show all 12 1 /12 Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Egypt Getty Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Mexico Getty Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Kenya Getty Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Guatemala Getty Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Colombia Reuters Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Mauritania Getty Images Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Honduras Getty Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Pakistan Getty Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Chad Getty Images Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Venezuela Reuters Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Yemen Reuters Revealed: The 12 Most Dangerous Countries in the World El Salvador Reuters The list makes up part of the WEFs Global Competitiveness Report 2016/17, which ranks 138 countries based on a broad range of factors to assess their relative productivity and prosperity. As such, countries like Syria, Iraq and South Sudan do not appear on the list at all, because they have been so ravaged by war that they no longer have functioning economies. Finland ranked top of all countries for security, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Iceland and Rwanda, a country which has undergone a remarkable transformation since the 1994 genocide. The UK ranks 34th for security in the list, sandwiched between Bahrain above and Malta below, and some way ahead of Germany in 58th. The US ranks 60th, France is down in 62nd, and the lowest European country is Ukraine, in 123rd. Klaus Schwab, the founder of the WEF, said on the release of the report at the end of last month that the world had undergone a 10-year fall in openness, seen across a range of factors, which was damaging the worlds ability to innovate and grow at all stages of development. Declining openness in the global economy is harming competitiveness and making it harder for leaders to drive sustainable, inclusive growth, he said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The next Secretary-General of the United Nations has pledged to combat terrorism and political populism, to promote gender equality and to seek a peaceful resolution to the Syrian conflict when he takes over the leadership of the organisation next year. Antonio Guterres, the former Socialist Prime Minister of Portugal, was appointed to the role of UN chief on Thursday after a unanimous vote by the international bodys 193 member states. In his first address at the UN headquarters in New York, he said he would be a bridge-builder and honest broker after he officially becomes the worlds top diplomat on 1 January. Mr Guterres, 67, spent a decade as the UNs High Commissioner for Refugees and is expected to be a more high-profile figure than the outgoing Secretary-General, South Korean Ban Ki-Moon, who is standing down after two terms. Mr Guterres, who was backed by every member of the UN Security Council, was one of 13 candidates for the position, including seven women. The first former head of government to be named Secretary-General, he enjoyed a warm reception from the assembled officials following the vote, even as he reminded them of the challenges faced by the organisation, and the limitations of his position. He promised to take a humble approach to the dramatic problems of todays complex world. His previous role saw him tackling refugee crises across the globe, not least in Syria, which remains the most pressing item on the UN agenda. Having previously urged Western powers to take a greater role in helping refugees, he will now press for those governments to find a solution to the suffering of the Syrian people, which, he said, breaks my heart. Following the precipitous breakdown of a recent ceasefire, the US and Russia are meeting for fresh talks on the Syrian war this weekend in Switzerland, along with regional and European powers. Whatever divisions might exist now its more important to unite, Mr Guterres said. Its high time to fight for peace. Mr Guterres was congratulated on his appointment by world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Obama said he had the character, vision and skills needed to lead the United Nations at this critical moment, while Mr Putin called from the Kremlin to wish him success in his important and demanding role. In his speech, Mr Guterres also warned of the mutually reinforcing rhetoric of terror groups and of populist political movements an apparent reference to the European far-right and to the rise of Donald Trump in the US. We must make sure that we are able to break these alliances between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side, and the expression of populism and xenophobia on the other side, he said. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Its a typical holiday scene: kids splashing about in the pool, a waitress bringing a tray of drinks to a young couple on sun loungers. And just out of sight are a vineyard and rolling green hills. Yet, this isnt the South of France, its the West Country. And though the sun is shining (remember summer?) there is a slight British chill in the air. My friend and I have just been for a long hike and are cooling off with a few gentle lengths before wrapping up and heading back inside; were certainly not hardy enough to join that couple sunbathing. The main house An outdoor pool and a vineyard are two of the little additions that the team behind Brooks Country House, just outside Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, hope will give it a cool members club vibe. Carla and Andrew Brooks, who already own hotels in Bristol, Bath and Edinburgh, bought this Georgian manor house last year, with a view to creating an affordable luxury country escape. And, largely, theyve been successful. It doesnt feel quite as luxe as some manor house hotels but then they might be twice the price. There is a lounge and a bar, complete with an outdoor terrace for sunny evenings. The restaurant, meanwhile, has lovely views over the surrounding countryside, though the food on my visit was hit and miss. We enjoyed delicious steaks at dinner, but at breakfast the next morning the sausages were worryingly undercooked. The lounge Other facilities include a small gym and a wedding marquee and there are plans to add two vintage Airstream caravans to the vineyard next spring. Location Its a good idea to have a car to get here and around; the closest train station is in Hereford, a 20-minute drive away, and this part of the world isnt well-endowed with pavements. That said, if you do have a car then the West Country and indeed Wales is your oyster. We went walking in the Brecon Beacons, parking in Abergavenny (about a 40-minute drive) and hiked up Sugar Loaf mountain. If you prefer to stay closer, there is a short stroll you can do from the hotel, or you can tackle part of the 136-mile Wye Valley Walk. There are various walking routes nearby Ross-on-Wye, five minutes drive away, is a pretty market town with plenty of quaint shops and cafes. Comfort The 22 bedrooms are spread across the main house and the renovated outbuildings, with a mix of grand king-size four-poster rooms and slightly more modern compact doubles. Throughout youll find classic patterned wallpaper in shades of gold, cream and silver, with antiques in among more contemporary pieces. One of the bedrooms, complete with unusual lamps Our room in the main building was a twin, decked out with a grand old wooden wardrobe and dressing table, as well as quirkier items such as bulldog-shaped lamps and silver bedside tables designed to look like packing trunks. There was also TV (though slightly oddly placed, side-on to the beds), a compact shower room and views out over the hotel grounds and beyond. Essentials Brooks County House, Pengethley Park, Nr Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 6LL (01989 730211; brookscountryhouse.com). Doubles from 89 per night midweek and 100 at weekends, including breakfast. Wi-fi: Free Parking: Free Pets: Dogs welcome for 10 a night in certain rooms, including a dog bed, treats and bowls for food and water Access: Three ground-floor rooms, including one that is wheelchair-accessible Rooms: *** Service: **** Value: **** Nicola Trup hired a car through Holiday Extras (0800 1313 777; holidayextras.co.uk), which offers car rental from numerous airports and city locations in the UK and abroad. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ryanair is making life tougher for passengers who choose not to pay extra for assigned seating. The airline, which is Europes biggest no-frills carrier, has told passengers paying only the basic fare that, from next month, the window for checking in online for free is shrinking from a week to four days. The move will infuriate passengers who are happy to have their seats allocated randomly, avoiding the charge. At present anyone who is on holiday for a week can check in and print out boarding passes for both legs or download them to the Ryanair app on the day of departure. From next month, such travellers will need to interrupt their holidays to find a computer on which to check in and print out their boarding passes, or find some wifi to use the Ryanair app (though some airports in Greece and Morocco cannot handle smartphones at check-in). Alternatively, travellers can opt to pay 6 per person, per flight for assigned seating. That allows check-in up to one month ahead of departure. Ryanairs email to passengers said: From 1st November, free online check-in will be available from 4 days to 2 hours ahead of departure. Customers who do not wish to reserve their preferred seat, can check-in online or on the mobile app free of charge between 4 days and 2 hours before departure and will be allocated a random seat. It goes on to point out that anyone who has booked a seat can check-in online and on the app, from between 30 days and 2 hours before their flight. The change applies to existing reservations as well as new bookings. The airline said: Affected customers who do not wish to accept this policy change have the right to cancel and request a refund, providing they do so within five days. A Ryanair spokesperson told The Independent the move was in response to extensive customer feedback and was intended to increase the choice available to customers who wish to reserve their seat onboard. Passengers responded swiftly to the news. Peter Lilley tweeted: I trust @Ryanair isn't returning to its old ways of thinking it doesnt matter how you treat customers? But Brian Watkinson tweeted: With BA, Air France etc you can only check in 24 hours ahead. So no big deal really. Ryanair's slogan is Always Getting Better. The airlines chief executive Michael OLeary predicted six weeks ago: Fares will fall by 10-12 per cent for the rest of the year due to fierce competition and weak demand following the EU referendum. Click here to view the latest travel offers, with Independent Holidays. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Go back to where you came from, we dont want you here. Those were the words thrown at 23-year-old Adrienne Kosowski, a first year junior doctor, on his way to work a week after the EU referendum. Ive always considered myself British, [but] I found myself questioning my identity after hearing those words, he tells me. Rob Waller, a company director on a business trip in Hampshire tells me how he wife was verbally attacked on the street. Days after the [EU referendum] vote, a group of strangers racially abused my wife. Even though shes white and British, she has gypsy heritage. The last time she was racially abused was in the 1980s during her school years. Last week, in Manchester, 20-year-old Hannah Moustafa, who wears the hijab, was approached by an angry elderly man on the bus. We had enough of your kind, take that off your head or join Isis, he shouted. She tells me: "Fellow travellers looked on and I felt alone on the train because no one said anything to him. I felt as though I was the odd one. These are just a few of the personal stories shared with me in the last 24 hours. As a nation, we should be ashamed that such deplorable incidents are now so common. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell Figures published yesterday by the Home Office reveal that police recorded 5,468 racially or religiously aggravated offences, known as hate crimes, in July up 41 per cent from 3,886 on the same month last year. Remember, however, these figures only reveal the number of hate crimes reported and most hate crimes are not reported. As Adrienne Kosowski, who chose not to report her experience, explained: Its your word against theirs. Id feel guilty for wasting police time. Another victim said they didnt want to relive the experience all over again by dragging on a case. The inflammatory anti-European, anti-immigrant rhetoric used during the Brexit campaign has now translated into violence, verbal and physical, and some hate crimes have been far worse than these personal stories of abuse. In just the last month a 34-year-old pregnant woman lost her baby after she was kicked in the torso in a Co-op supermarket in Milton Keynes in a violent racist attack, four teenage boys were arrested following an attack on a Polish man in Leeds and an eastern European immigrant died after six teenage boys brutally attacked him on hearing him speaking in his native tongue. In this febrile, post-referendum atmosphere, talking about this surge of xenophobic abuse can prompt a defensive response from Brexiteers. Pointing out the rise of hate crime around the EU referendum isnt an attempt to smear Leave voters as xenophobes or racists, nor is it to discredit the referendum result. The problems lies with the leaders and campaigners who failed to shut down inappropriate rhetoric during the Brexit campaign. That failure paved the way for closet xenophobes to share their prejudices, and gave them an easy way to justify their hate and anger towards those who appear to speak or look foreign. The small minority of Brits who believes it is acceptable to shout racist abuse at fellow residents, citizens and nationals now feel their intolerance has an official sanction that they, finally, have a democratic mandate to drive immigrants out of the country. Theresa May has also interpreted the Brexit vote as a demand for lower migration levels. Her response is to place limitations on free movement over retention of free trade with moves towards a hard Brexit. Last week the London School of Economics revealed that some of its academics have been barred from advising the Foreign Office on Brexit simply because they are not British. Sarah Hagemann, an assistant professor at LSE, tweeted: UK govt previously sought work and advice from best experts. Just told I and many colleagues no longer qualify as not UK citizens. Conservatives using Brexit as 'licence for xenophobia' We harnessed ourselves to forces of fear and rode a trend of intolerance towards foreigners in the pursuit of unspecified goals. Promises were made of liberal optimism in the battle of Brexit; by definition, we blamed foreigners for the political and economic failures of Britains governing leaders. Pointing out the rise in hate crimes post-Brexit is not an attempt to undermine the democratic will of the British people. We must stand firmly against xenophobia, regardless of our opinions on the referendum and its result. Remaining silent will give xenophobes an implicit mandate to continue with abuse. We should set aside some of what divides us and unite around a common objective: to put an end to hate and intolerance. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It is fortunate for Saudi Arabia and Qatar that the furore over the sexual antics of Donald Trump is preventing much attention being given to the latest batch of leaked emails to and from Hillary Clinton. Most fascinating of these is what reads like a US State Department memo, dated 17 August 2014, on the appropriate US response to the rapid advance of Isis forces, which were then sweeping through northern Iraq and eastern Syria. At the time, the US government was not admitting that Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies were supporting Isis and al-Qaeda-type movements. But in the leaked memo, which says that it draws on western intelligence, US intelligence and sources in the region there is no ambivalence about who is backing Isis, which at the time of writing was butchering and raping Yazidi villagers and slaughtering captured Iraqi and Syrian soldiers. The memo says: 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 groups in the region. This was evidently received wisdom in the upper ranks of the US government, but never openly admitted because to it was held that to antagonise Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies, Turkey and Pakistan would fatally undermine US power in the Middle East and South Asia. In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra Show all 4 1 /4 In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra The iconic Temple of Bel prior to being blown up by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in September 2015 and the remains of the temple after Syrian troops recaptured the ancient site In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra he Arc de Troimphe (Triumph's Arc) prior to being destroyed by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in October 2015 and the remains of the iconic structure after government troops recaptured the ancient city In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra The once vibrant museum is now full of empty displays after the destruction of artefacts In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra Corbis The Monumental Arch is among the many lost structures and treasures Corbis For an extraordinarily long period after 9/11, the US refused to confront these traditional Sunni allies and thereby ensured that the War on Terror would fail decisively; 15 years later, al-Qaeda in its different guises is much stronger than it used to be because shadowy state sponsors, without whom it could not have survived, were given a free pass. It is not as if Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and the US foreign policy establishment in general did not know what was happening. An earlier WikiLeaks release of a State Department cable sent under her name in December 2009 states that Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan]. But Saudi complicity with these movements never became a central political issue in the US. Why not? The answer is that the US did not think it was in its interests to cut its traditional Sunni allies loose and put a great deal of resources into making sure that this did not happen. They brought on side compliant journalists, academics and politicians willing to give overt or covert support to Saudi positions. The real views of senior officials in the White House and the State Department were only periodically visible and, even when their frankness made news, what they said was swiftly forgotten. Earlier this year, for instance, Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic wrote a piece based on numerous interviews with Barack Obama in which Obama questioned, often harshly, the role that Americas Sunni Arab allies play in fomenting anti-American terrorism. He is clearly irritated that foreign policy orthodoxy compels him to treat Saudi Arabia as an ally. It is worth recalling White House cynicism about how that foreign policy orthodoxy in Washington was produced and how easily its influence could be bought. Goldberg reported that a widely held sentiment inside the White House is that many of the most prominent foreign-policy think tanks in Washington are doing the bidding of their Arab and pro-Israel funders. Ive heard one administration official refer to Massachusetts Avenue, the home of many of these think tanks, as Arab-occupied territory. Despite this, television and newspaper interview self-declared academic experts from these same think tanks on Isis, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf are wilfully ignoring or happily disregarding their partisan sympathies. Recommended Read more We are facing the possibility of a second Cold War The Hillary Clinton email of August 2014 takes for granted that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funding Isis but this was not the journalistic or academic conventional wisdom of the day. Instead, there was much assertion that the newly declared caliphate was self-supporting through the sale of oil, taxes and antiquities; it therefore followed that Isis did not need money from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. The same argument could not be made to explain the funding of Jabhat al-Nusra, which controlled no oilfields, but even in the case of Isis the belief in its self-sufficiency was always shaky. Iraqi and Kurdish leaders said that they did not believe a word of it, claiming privately that Isis was blackmailing the Gulf states by threatening violence on their territory unless they paid up. The Iraqi and Kurdish officials never produced proof of this, but it seemed unlikely that men as tough and ruthless as the Isis leaders would have satisfied themselves with taxing truck traffic and shopkeepers in the extensive but poor lands they ruled and not extracted far larger sums from fabulously wealthy private and state donors in the oil producers of the Gulf. Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features Going by the latest leaked email, the State Department and US intelligence clearly had no doubt that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funding Isis. But there has always been bizarre discontinuity between what the Obama administration knew about Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and what they would say in public. Occasionally the truth would spill out, as when Vice-President Joe Biden told students at Harvard in October 2014 that Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war. What did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra and al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world. Biden poured scorn on the idea that there were Syrian moderates capable of fighting Isis and Assad at the same time. Recommended Read more Destruction in Kurdish capital in Turkey is mirror to Syria Hillary Clinton should be very vulnerable over the failings of US foreign policy during the years she was Secretary of State. But, such is the crudity of Trumps demagoguery, she has never had to answer for it. Republican challenges have focussed on issues the death of the US ambassador in Benghazi in 2012 and the final US military withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 for which she was not responsible. A Hillary Clinton presidency might mean closer amity with Saudi Arabia, but American attitudes towards the Saudi regime are becoming soured, as was shown recently when Congress overwhelmingly overturned a presidential veto of a bill allowing the relatives of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government. Another development is weakening Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies. The leaked memo speaks of the rival ambitions of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to dominate the Sunni world. But this has not turned out well, with east Aleppo and Mosul, two great Sunni cities, coming under attack and likely to fall. Whatever Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and the others thought they were doing it has not happened and the Sunni of Syria and Iraq are paying a heavy price. It is this failure which will shape the future relations of the Sunni states with the new US administration. Teachers from the ASTI union are to strike Hundreds of secondary schools will be forced to close on seven days over the next two months as teachers strike over a long-running pay row. The Association of Secondary Teachers' of Ireland (ASTI) said its members would stage a series of one day stoppages culmintaing in a two day walk-out in December. The union announced the strike days for Thursday October 27, then in November on Tuesday 8, Wednesday 16, Thursday 24, Tuesday 29 and consecutive days in December on Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7. Some 80% of ASTI members voted for the action over lower pay rates for newly qualified staff. President Ed Byrne said: "Recently qualified teachers spend five to six years training, including obtaining the required master's qualification for teaching at second-level. "They are then expected to teach alongside colleagues who have completely different pay arrangements for their entire careers. "The sense of injustice amongst all teachers is palpable. ASTI members are committed to achieving equal pay for equal work for all teachers." The ASTI is Ireland's largest second-level teachers' union with 17,500 members in more than 520 schools. Emer Kelly, an English teacher in the Royal and Prior Comprehensive in Raphoe, Co Donegal. "It's unfair. My colleague and I do exactly the same job teaching in the English department and she gets paid less than me. That is not right," she said. "If the salary was deemed too low a rate to live on when I began in 2007 how is it liveable now?" About a quarter of the teaching staff in the Royal and Prior are on the lower salary scale. Ms Kelly said the disparity does not dominate relations between younger and older teaching staff but there are concerns resentment will set in over younger staff feeling they need to take on more additional unpaid roles in order to further their careers and get more secure or permanent contracts. Along side the strike days ASTI members will also withdraw from supervision and substitution work from Monday November 7. Education Minister Richard Bruton said there is cash on the table to resolve the dispute over the Lansdowne Road Agreement and the gradual restoration of pay. Mr Byrne said: "ASTI members' democratic decision to reject the agreement was met with an extreme and hostile reaction by the Government, including targeting young teachers' access to job security. "Teachers are reluctant to take industrial action or to interrupt the running of schools in anyway. However, we have flagged our serious issues well in advance and remain available and committed to a resolution through talks without pre-conditions." Mr Bruton said the strike means severe disruption to students and parents is inevitable. He also said it was regrettable that the union was not cooperating with contingency plans to give schools enough time to have replacement staff for supervision and substitution duties go through Garda vetting. "The issues of concern to ASTI members can only be resolved through dialogue," a spokesman for the minister said. "The minister hopes that the union can now engage in constructive dialogue with the department. "The minister emphasised that he has not and will not be setting any pre-conditions to dialogue taking place. "This has previously been made clear to the ASTI leadership." The Barron family, which operates the home-grown Pamela Scott ladies fashion brand, last year ploughed 2.5m in loans into the business as it forecasts it to return to profit in 2018. In accounts just filed by Flairline Fashions Ltd, the directors confirm that the business is undergoing a restructuring plan that includes the closure of loss-making stores. The director said that in the 2016 financial year, the business shut down two outlets and mutually terminated the lease agreement on a third store. The business recorded a pre-tax loss of 856,557 in the 12 months to the end of August 31, 2015, as revenues dropped by 1.2m to 21.2m The shareholders are listed as founder and driving force Sean Barron, Michaelina Barron, John Barron, Richard Barron, Robert Barron and Scott Barron. The accounts said that they will continue to support the group for the upcoming year. The business is celebrating 40 years in business this year as its flagship Grafton Street store opened in 1976. Today, the Irish brand boasts 21 outlets around the country and has stores in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Athlone, Carlow, Castlebar, Clonmel, Ennis, Kilkenny, Mullingar, Navan, Newbridge, Sligo, Tralee, Waterford and Wexford. The directors stated that their five- year plan anticipates a return to profit for 2018. "The company expects the company to continue to grow its operations in the upcoming year," they said. The firm recorded the pre-tax loss of 856,557 in spite of exceptional gains including the write-down of a bank loan to the tune of 501,1580 and a 136,888 gain on the disposal of a lease. As the business restructured last year, pay to directors was slashed from 646,849 to 210,337. Numbers employed last year fell from 267 to 231. Staff costs, including directors' pay, reduced from 5.7m to 5.17m. The firm's loss takes account of lease costs reducing from 3.32m to 3.1m, non-cash depreciation costs of 253,372 and impairment costs of 52,647. European Union auditors say they have no way of knowing what the costs of Brexit will be for the bloc's budget, or what the UK will owe on exit. "It's a black hole," said the president of the European Court of Auditors, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, adding that the EU and UK positions now are "so far away" from each other that a divorce settlement might not even be completed within two years, the legal time limit set in the EU treaty. The UK has indicated that it will trigger an EU exit before March 2017. Press reports this week estimate the UK will owe the EU between 20bn and 40bn on leaving the bloc, taking into account the country's remaining EU budget commitments, pension liabilities for EU staff and contingent liabilities such as losses on loans and guarantees. British contributions post-Brexit will depend on whether the country chooses to pay to retain access to the EU's single market, though the UK government has said it will not pay close to current levels. Once the UK leaves the EU, the bloc will have to decide whether to reduce payments to farmers, students, poorer regions and for overseas development aid, or make up the shortfall by asking for more money from the remaining 27 EU members. UK contributions made up 16pc of the EU's 145bn budget last year, the second-highest contribution, behind Germany (at 20pc). Ireland's contributions made up 1.3pc. Ireland also owes an extra 280m to the EU budget - on top of the 1.8bn it paid in last year - as a result of the massive revision to 2015 GDP figures. "Brexit will naturally have significant implications for the revenues of the European Union, and its assets and liabilities," said Kevin Cardiff, Ireland's member of the Court of Auditors. The Brexit bill won't hit until early 2019, two years after the UK has indicated it intends to trigger divorce proceedings. Until then the UK will have to continue paying into the EU budget as normal. AN independent analysis of the Help-To-Buy scheme, which has been branded a "mansion grant", was carried out, the Government has insisted. Education Minister Richard Bruton has defended the tax rebate amid claims it will benefit wealthy people and push up the price of new homes. Fianna Fail's Barry Cowen described the 600,000 threshold to qualify for the scheme as "off the wall". "The average overall cost of providing a three-bed semi-detached house of 1,214 sq ft in the greater Dublin area is 330,493, including VAT. "The 600,000 limit is almost double this, which effectively turns the scheme into nothing more than a mansion grant," he said. Mr Cowen said a couple buying a home for 600,000 would require a deposit of at least 98,000 and an income of 145,000. "A couple earning this when starting out in life does not need 20,000 from the State, which is struggling to tackle a social housing waiting list of 130,000 homes," Mr Cowen added. "It means ordinary taxpayers are directly subsidising people earning four times the average wage to buy a home worth three times the national average price of a three-bed semi-detached house," he told the Dail. Mr Bruton said the Government wants to address the lack of starter homes being built. "There are plenty of expensive homes for trading up. There is a real problem in the starter home market." Read more: 'First-time buyers' allowance is madness, wasteful and inequitable' - Independent TD He said Housing Minister Simon Coveney wanted to help young people achieve a deposit which would meet the requirements set down by the Central Bank for getting a mortgage. "First-time buyers buying new homes will get a tax rebate of up to 20,000 and this will, effectively, be immediately reckonable towards the deposit requirement," he said. Mr Bruton added that this would "immediately" help young people. However, Mr Cowen said it was a "help to sell scheme" that would benefit developers. The Offaly TD cast doubt on Mr Bruton's statement that the Department of Housing had commissioned an independent assessment of the scheme, saying he doubted "very much" that they had. A spokesperson for Housing Minister Simon Coveney told the Irish Independent his department carried out a wide-ranging assessment of the property market during the summer which included issues around the lack of supply for first-time buyers. "For an entire generation, the basic aspiration of home ownership is slipping away," Mr Cowen said. "The dream of having a place to call one's own around which one can build a vibrant family life and play an active role in the local community is disappearing. "Instead of putting down roots, young people are paying up to landlords," he said. The Social Democrats' Roisin Shortall criticised Fianna Fail, saying they want to "sit on both sides of the fence" and were slow to realise the problems with the first-time buyers' grant. "It was clear in the immediate aftermath of this announcement that it would run the risk of artificially inflating house prices and ultimately benefiting developers rather than buyers," she said. No help to buy for emigrants Emigrants returning from abroad are unlikely to be able to qualify for the first-time buyers' grant worth up to 20,000. The scheme is based on home-buyers being eligible for a tax rebate at a rate of 5pc on the cost of a new home worth up to 400,000. Purchasers buying a property up to a threshold of 600,000 are also entitled to support - but the relief will be capped at 20,000. However, the rebate will be based on income tax paid over the previous four tax years. This means someone who has spent four years or more abroad is likely to be excluded. Before the Budget, there was controversy after the Department of Jobs suggested that emigrants should be encouraged to return home with a special tax rate. This was shot down by the Taoiseach. Fianna Fail's spokesman on finance Michael McGrath said denying returning emigrants access to the scheme "raises fundamental issues of fairness". Following huge public disquiet, Cabinet members will now to turn down 12,000 worth of increments due by 2019. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire The country's TDs are still set to get pay hikes of 2,707 next year despite confirmation that ministers will forgo their increases. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have not issued any instructions to TDs on how to deal with the increases which have caused considerable disquiet. Expand Close Sinn Feins Mary Lou McDonald has said her party will seek to block the implementation of the pay increases. Photo: Laura Hutton/Collins Photo Agency / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sinn Feins Mary Lou McDonald has said her party will seek to block the implementation of the pay increases. Photo: Laura Hutton/Collins Photo Agency It comes after the Irish Independent revealed that politicians are in line to see wage cuts applied during the recession restored from April 1, 2017. Following huge public disquiet, Cabinet members will now to turn down 12,000 worth of increments due by 2019. Education Minister Richard Bruton told the Dail: "The Government will confirm next week that ministers will not be taking the pay rise." However, the option of getting a salary boost remains open to TDs. They are due to get a 5,414 increase by January 1, 2018. Read more: Government climbdown on 12,000 pay hikes for ministers - but doubt still surrounds TDs 5,000 increase Read more: 'TDs giving themselves a pay-rise is very insensitive' - Ministers forced to answer the tough questions on Budget 2017 In the Dail, Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald said the Budget had delivered derisory increases to low-paid workers and the extra 5 weekly welfare increase contrasted starkly with planned pay for politicians. "Once again there is one rule for ordinary families and citizens. Look after 'Number 1' - the others can wait," she said. Her party will seek to block the implementation of the pay increases, with a spokesperson saying they will look for Fianna Fail support on the issue. However, a Fianna Fail spokesperson told the Irish Independent last night that the TDs' pay is linked to the civil service Principle Officer grade "to ensure transparency". "The legislation to begin reversing pay cuts imposed under emergency legislation was debated in the Dail and Seanad in 2015 and was supported by all the major political parties in the Oireachtas. "It is our view that the link should be retained and that TD pay should continue to be determined in this independent, objective and transparent way as decided in 2001," he said. Fine Gael said they had taken "no decision" in relation to TDs' pay. "In previous decades there was a separate wage plan for TDs which was not appropriate - the pay of politicians should be far removed from political influence. Now they are aligned to public service pay rates. "The Lansdowne Road Agreement secured a partial pay restoration for the public service on a phased basis, so any change for TDs is in line with public service rates," the party said. Similarly, the Labour Party pointed to the fact politicians are tied into the Lansdowne Road Agreement along with civil servants, although they do support ministers not taking their increases. A spokesperson for the Social Democrats said decisions on politicians' pay should be made by an independent body. Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall "do not believe that the politician's element of the pay restoration should go ahead". People Before Profit have not yet discussed the issue. During a Dail debate, Mr Bruton hit back at Sinn Fein, stating: "I am surprised at Deputy McDonald, when she is the very one who opposed FEMPI, which applied progressive cuts and where the cut in the Taoiseach's pay was 41pc and people on the very lowest pay did not receive any cuts." "I think she is shedding crocodile tears now, when she comes in and says that some individuals should not get pay increases." A statue is pictured next to the logo of Germany's Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. Photo: Reuters Part of a jobs expansion announced just weeks ago by Deutsche Bank in Dublin is on hold after the embattled bank imposed a worldwide hiring freeze. Last month the bank announced plans to create 165 jobs in Dublin. That included recruiting a staff of 40 for a new data lab and filling 125 new technology and operation roles. But the plan has fallen foul of the hiring freeze. A spokesman for Deutsche Bank told the Irish Independent that some of the new roles in Dublin will be filled, including jobs classed as critical to the business or where candidates had already accepted offers. However, further roles linked to the planned expansion are now not due to be advertised in the immediate future, he said. Deutsche Bank has frozen global hiring for new posts as it seeks to rein in costs amid investor fears that a pending US fine could cripple the bank. The German lender sent managers a memorandum about the freeze on Wednesday, Reuters reported, adding that this would not apply to the compliance department which ensures staff abide by the law. The hold on hiring is the latest in a series of responses by management to a crisis of confidence that has come to a head with the prospect of a multi-billion-dollar legal penalty. Worries a fine of that size would be difficult for Deutsche to absorb have sent its shares to a historic low, prompting speculation that Berlin could be forced to help a bank, whose returns have already slumped to zero. An organisational change, launched in October last year aimed to slash costs by cutting 9,000 staff, overheads and selling off some non-core businesses. A year on, headcount is in fact higher. (Additional reporting Reuters) Aer Lingus owner IAG wants an independent study to be undertaken for the economic justification of the planned new runway at Dublin Airport. It insisted that the planned 320m project, which the DAA hopes to have completed by 2020, has never been subject to a rigorous economic business case process. IAG, which is headed by chief executive Willie Walsh has welcomed the runway plans, but nevertheless urged the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) to initiate the study. Its plea came as the CAR considers an interim review of a 2014 determination on passenger charges that can be levied at Dublin Airport in order to help fund the runway development. And in an update published yesterday that determined the scope of the charges review, the CAR said that it will not allow Ryanair, Aer Lingus, or other runway users and stakeholders, to participate in the runway tendering process. The airlines had also called for the planned length of the new runway - at 3.1km - to be reviewed. But the CAR has insisted yesterday that there are "no exceptional circumstances" that would merit such a review. Both IAG and Ryanair have told the CAR that a 3.1km runway is not required, although the Irish Aviation Authority favours it for "future-proofing" the airport. While the CAR's 2014 pricing determination stated that the maximum charge per passenger that could be levied in 2016 by the DAA at Dublin Airport was 9.87, it included a trigger to remunerate the DAA for the capital costs of the new runway. That trigger added 59 cent to the price cap once 25 million passengers were served by Dublin Airport in a 12-month period. Dublin Airport handled just over 25 million passengers last year, and is on track to handle over 27 million this year. Last December, the CAR said there were substantial grounds for conducting an interim review of the runway trigger, with a view to potentially "realigning remuneration to more closely match the expected timeline for delivery of the project". The CAR has also eliminated capacity assessments of the runway, and a 50-50 risk-sharing mechanism that would see airlines cough up part of any overspend on the runway project, from its review. "Given that the final cost estimate of the project will not be known for some time, the revised estimate of 320m remains uncertain," the CAR said yesterday. "Therefore we do not believe the level of information is available to assess if substantial grounds exist to examine the cost allowance, and in particular if there are circumstances outside of the control of Dublin Airport that affected cost," it added. An Irish startup has been snapped up by Facebook-owned virtual reality company Oculus in a "multi-million euro deal". Cork-based InfiniLED makes low-power display technology that uses 20 times less power than normal LCD or OLED displays and is capable of producing four times more light. Oculus will use the technology in its own virtual reality headsets, which are among the best-selling VR devices in the world. Led by Joe O'Keeffe, InfiniLED's technology is based on research led by Dr Brian Corbett of the Cork-based Tyndall National Institute. Virtual reality is tipped to be the next big tech platform, with giants such as Facebook and Sony investing billions into it. This week's launch of the PlayStation VR console accessory saw queues outsides shops in a precursor to what analysts believe may become the biggest tech rush this Christmas. Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for 2bn and is best known for the Oculus Rift which provides virtual reality gaming, immersive movies and educational experiences. "A key impact of this acquisition will be to increase global awareness that Ireland has technology and research of this calibre," said Tyndall chief executive Dr Kieran Drain. "We anticipate further interactions with companies looking to merge hardware and software in efficient solutions, particularly for new devices that advance consumer electronics and the industrial internet." State sold its stake in Aer Lingus, which was acquired by IAG The first two investments have been made from the State-backed 335m Connectivity Fund, which was set up to spend the proceeds from the country's shareholding in Aer Lingus. The first two investments have been made from the State-backed 335m Connectivity Fund, which was set up to spend the proceeds from the country's shareholding in Aer Lingus. Dublin-based Aqua Comms DAC received the first investment of 25m (22m). The company is the operator of Ireland's first dedicated sub-sea fibre-optic network. The network will be used by major multinational tech and telecom firms to provide fast and secure data connections between Ireland, the US and the UK. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), which operates the Connectivity Fund, said the investment should further the growth of Ireland's digital economy. ISIF has also invested 35m into the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which operates Dublin and Cork airports. The spend was in the form of a new 2028 public bond, rolling on from an existing National Pensions Reserve Fund commitment. ISIF director Eugene O'Callaghan said there is an active pipeline for further investments. "We are looking forward to seeing connectivity investments being completed by ISIF, over time, in a range of commercially viable projects with economic impact and competitiveness benefits for Ireland," Mr O'Callaghan said. The strategic fund operates a double-line mandate, which looks to secure both commercial and economic returns from public money. Future investments are being explored in the areas of energy, air, sea and more data connectivity projects to help build Ireland's international links. The State received a 335m windfall from the sale of its stake in Aer Lingus in September of last year. The Connectivity Fund had lay idle since the sale with ISIF spending the time identifying potential investments. The Government received the proceeds after agreeing to sell its 21.5pc stake in the airline to British Airways owner IAG. The then Transport Minister, Paschal Donohoe, unveiled the new fund last May, saying any expenditure by it would not be included in Government spending. Mr Donohoe said the fund could be used for anything from developments in energy to improving the country's ports. Fellow former Aer Lingus stakeholder Ryanair said it shared its proceeds from the 1.36bn sale among shareholders. Shock lurches in official Irish growth figures - dubbed 'Leprechaun Economics - could happen again, the head of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has warned. Director general Padraig Dalton said a repeat of the 26pc GDP surge announced in July is unlikely. But because large foreign firms continue to shift intellectual property assets to Ireland, further jumps in GDP may take place, he said. "We could actually see additional level shifts, obviously not to the scale that we've seen in July, but we could see additional level shifts in our GDP and GNP because that environment still exists," Mr Dalton told the Oireachtas Finance Committee. The CSO's Jennifer Banim also told the Committee that Brexit could cause further complexity in the national accounts. Official figures released in July showing the economy grew by a massive 26pc last year - more than three times faster than first thought - were quickly dismissed as "farcical", with Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman describing them as 'Leprechaun economics'. Economists said that while growth is strong, the official figure was dramatically overinflated - because it was driven primarily by the activities of Ireland's multinational and aircraft-leasing sectors. Mr Dalton said yesterday that the headline indicators of GDP and GNO are of "limited value" in providing insights into what's going on in the Irish economy. He said the 26pc surge was driven by relocations of entire balance sheets to Ireland. "The relocated balance sheets were dominated by intellectual property, characterised as intangible assets. "The practice of relocating intellectual property to Ireland has been growing in recent years, but the scale of the relocation in 2015 was substantial, and added 300bn to Ireland's capital stocks." Mr Dalton said associated with the relocations were significant increases in contract manufacturing activity attributable to Ireland. As a result of this, the balance of trade in goods and services in the national accounts rose from 35bn to 70bn over the year. Mr Dalton said the accuracy of the figures produced by the CSO have not been called into question, despite being scrutinised by international organisations including the IMF, OECD and Eurostat. "They have all spoken about how the events and the publication of the figures in Ireland this year are now providing a basis for a conversation that has been going on for years about how do you deal with globalisation in a national accounts perspective? "How do you account for that in a way that is meaningful? And that has been happening in a conceptual way up until this year. Our publication this year has moved the conversation into the real world." Virgin Media hopes to complete its takeover of UTV Ireland by the end of the year, its boss has said. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Tony Hanway, chief executive of Virgin Media Ireland, didn't rule out cutbacks at the broadcaster, or a move into the North for TV3. UTV Ireland, the troubled channel launched by Belfast-based UTV, was sold by ITV for 10m (8.5m), earlier this year to Virgin Media - which already owned TV3. Launched by then UTV Media chief executive John McCann in January 2015, disappointing audience figures led to it costing UTV Media 13m, four times the original estimate. "We have been concentrating on getting through the competition process and hopefully are near the last stage," Mr Hanway, inset, said. The deal to take on UTV Ireland has already cleared the competition authority and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, but is still waiting sign off from the Minister for Communications. Mr Hanway said he hopes to get approval by the end of the year. "We are delighted... UTV had huge plans in the Republic and it didn't work out. We are very excited, great content and it's the right market." But he said while not currently in the pipeline, he would consider bringing TV3 to Northern Ireland. "It's not in the pipeline now, but we have received queries and feedback from consumers...it's something we would consider, but there are no concrete plans. "We have to work at things in a phased way... we will always listen to what consumers are saying and mull our options." Until UTV Ireland was set up, TV3 had shown top ITV programmes like 'Coronation Street' and 'Emmerdale' in the Republic. But Mr Hanway wouldn't say whether the takeover of UTV Ireland would mean a cutback to the combined workforce. "We have avoided any comment around that... there is no question it has been struggling." Irish mining company Kenmare Resources and building materials firm Grafton Group have both added to their boards this morning with non-executive appointments. Grafton have brought Susan Murray and Vincent Crowley in as non-executive directors. Ms Murray already holds the same role at FTSE 100-listed company Compass Group, which provides food and support services to over fifty countries, The former Farrow & Ball chairman has held positions on some of the world's biggest brands, including Pernod Ricard, Imperial Tobacco, and SSL International. Ms Murray was also chief executive of Littlewoods Stores and former chief executive of The Pierre Smirnoff Company. Grafton's second appointment Mr Crowley is currently a non-executive director at Bulmers-maker C&C Group as well as executive chairman of Atlas Investments. Mr Crowley also held the positions of chief executive and chief operating officer of Independent News and Media, the parent company of this website. Meanwhile, Kenmare Resources has added Tim Keating and Graham Martin to its board with immediate effect. Mr Martin will also take the role of chair of board's remuneration committee. Mr Keating is the head of mining investment private equity at the State General Reserve Fund, a sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman. Experienced natural resources executive Mr Martin is also general counsel at Tullow Oil. HP has been in Ireland for the past 45 years with the firm investing over $1bn in Ireland over the past 20 years. Computing giant HP Inc is looking to cut up to 4,000 jobs from its global workforce over the next three years, leaving Irish workers uncertain over their future. It is understood the company employs around 4,000 staff here at is base in Leixlip. The new wave of cuts comes after the company moved to reduce its staff count by between 25,000 and 30,000 in its enterprise products due to falling demand. The staff here work in manufacturing, R&D, customer support, and marketing. HP has been contacted for comment by Independent.ie. The additional jobs cuts come as the maker of printers and personal computers continues to struggle with a subdued market, sending its shares down 1.3pc in extended trading. HP, which houses the hardware business of former Hewlett-Packard, said in February it would accelerate its restructuring programme and slash around 3,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2016. HP Chief Executive Dion Weisler said the market continued to be volatile, facing pressures and uncertainties. "Our core markets are challenged and macro economic conditions are in flux right now," Weisler said. HP expects adjusted profit for fiscal 2017 to be $1.55-$1.65 per share. Analysts on average had expected $1.61 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Raising its quarterly dividend by 7pc, HP also said it would increase its share buyback programme by $3bn. The company expects restructuring and other charges of $350m to $500m and the move is expected to generate gross annual run rate savings of $200m to $300m beginning in fiscal 2020, HP said. According to research firm Gartner, worldwide PC shipments in Q3 fell 5.7pc, eighth consecutive quarter of PC shipment decline. Gartner also said that this is longest duration of decline in the history of the PC industry. HP shares have gained 28pc this year up to Thursday's close. (Additional reporting from Reuters) Fears of a campaign of cyber attacks on leading airlines have grown after a systems issue delayed dozens of United Airlines flights worldwide. A spokesman for United told The Independent: We are aware of an issue with our systems that is resulting in flight delays. We are working to resolve the issue and get customers to their destinations as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience. United is the worlds third-biggest airline, after Delta and American. More than 60 flights are known to have been delayed. The first flight from the UK was due out from Heathrow at 7.30am, to Washington DC, but left an hour late. Passengers were told it was delayed due to operational difficulties. The fact that the problem struck late at night in the US meant the impact was less that it would have been 12 hours earlier or later, but many passengers expressed frustration at the delay. Jason Witkowski, a passenger flying from San Francisco to New York, tweeted: Still here. Still cramped. Still waiting. Still want to get off. UA726 #UnitedAirlines #unitedwewait. Another passenger in Los Angeles tweeted: Still on plane waiting on the tarmac after landing over an hour ago at LAX UA887 this is ridiculous. At 3am local time at Newark airport, New York, Roxanne Lott tweeted: Thanks for all the info United. Way to totally not communicate at all. But simultaneously, said United said: The system issue has been resolved. Any delayed flights are resuming. In August, Delta Airlines the worlds biggest carrier experienced a worldwide systems failure which led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and delays to thousands more. The airline blamed a power problem, and denied that its system had been breached, but cyber-security experts were sceptical. Last month, British Airways passengers were hit with long delays after what the airline called a problem with our check-in system. Airlines are heavily dependent on their computer systems for almost every aspect of their operations, from issuing boarding passes to loading baggage and cargo. While they can revert to manual operations, the processes involved can cause severe delays which in turn lead to cancellations. There is no suggestion that flight safety is compromised. Pictured at the announcement is Ronan Doherty CEO, ElectroRoute with Atsushi Suzuki, Head of Power Business Planning Office, New Energy & Power Generation Division, Mitsubishi Corporation. Picture Andres Poveda Mitsubishi Corporation has taken a majority share in Irish energy trading firm ElectroRoute that will see it expand its operations beyond the eight European markets it currently operates in. ElectroRoute's entire senior founding management team will stay in place, including chief executive Ronan Doherty, despite Mitsubishi taking a 60pc stake in the firm. The company, which has grown from 4 employees in 2011 to 40 today, is now planning the opening of its first offices outside of Ireland thanks to the backing of Mitsubishi. The Irish business trades energy on a 24/7 basis across the entire spectrum of spot trading, futures trading, cross-border trading, and green certificates trading. It also provides managed trading services to energy assets, giving them access to pan-European markets and currently has over 600 megawatts of assets under management. ElectroRoute already has a presence in energy markets in Ireland, UK, Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Mitsubishi Corporation is Japan's largest trading and investment company and is also involved in finance, banking, chemicals, food, and perhaps most notable to Irish consumers, car manufacturing. However, the ElectroRoute move is the first of its kind for the Japanese firm as it looks to pursue new business models in the energy sector. ElectroRoute chief executive Ronan Doherty said the interest in his firm from Mitsubishi is a "wonderful validation" of the company's business model. "With their support, ElectroRoute is now ideally placed to strengthen our positioning within our international energy markets. The ElectroRoute team and I are extremely excited about the new avenues that this investment will open up for our business and we are already putting plans in place to accelerate our next phase of expansion," he said. Mr Doherty's company started off with support from the Bank of Ireland 'Start Up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund' as well as Enterprise Ireland. Mitsubishi's new enerrgy and power generation chief operating officer Yoshinori Katayama said the global giant was pleased to add the innovative firm to its portfolio. "It is a long-term strategy for our business to identify companies that will give us new business opportunities to pursue rather than traditional long term contracted IPP investment businesses. "We were very impressed with ElectroRoutes business model and talent pool, which we felt made it a unique proposition. It is vital for us to now ensure they will have the significant resources and the independence required to develop into a global enterprise. Following the deal with Mitsubishi, ElectroRoute will now press ahead with plans to expand its client services offering into the UK. Choosing to partner with Mitsubishi Corporation allows us to build upon the vision we had when we founded ElectroRoute. We will be able to develop our service offering for our clients, identify and expand into new markets, and grow our team. For the board members and investors who have been with us since the beginning, this is a very exciting time, added Ronan Doherty. RTE presenter Blathnaid Treacy, Julie de Bailliencourt, head of Safety Policy at Facebook, and Margaret Martin, director of Womens Aid, at the launch of A Guide to Staying Safe on Facebook yesterday. Photo: Sasko Lazarov A new guide to dealing with abuse on Facebook is the first result of the social media giant's partnership with an Irish women's safety NGO. Facebook joined forces with Women's Aid to draft and launch a set of guidelines for users who may be victims of revenge porn or dating abuse. Margaret Martin, director of Women's Aid, said the guide was the culmination of two years' work, which first began when her organisation contacted Facebook. She also said Women's Aid had seen increased reports of dating abuse and 'revenge porn', but said it was unclear whether or not this meant that incidents were becoming more common. "There may not be an increase in incidents, but it may be because more people are now comfortable talking about it." Ms Martin added that many instances of digital abuse, such as harassment via messaging or 'revenge porn', was perpetrated by current or ex-partners of victims. She also called for new laws that would sanction offenders who target their victims online. Such legislative change would see targeted awareness campaigns for younger web users, as well as a specific commissioner and office for digital offences, she added. "We know the dangers of speeding and not wearing a seatbelt, because we have developed a lot of campaigns to raise awareness," she said. "But we now need to do the same for digital abuse, and alert people to the harm they could cause. "If you upload intimate pictures and put them on a porn site, and put up the address and name of the woman on the website, it can be very dangerous for her wellbeing, mental health and physical safety." 'A Guide to Staying Safe on Facebook' was launched at the company's headquarters in Dublin yesterday, and aims to help women to better protect their privacy on the website. The guide was the result of two years' of talks with over 150 women's safety organisations and experts across the world. Julie de Bailliencourt, head of Safety Policy at Facebook in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the website's team was ready to help people suffering from digital abuse "24/7". Ms de Bailliencourt also said the guide and further dialogue with experts would help to inform their policies going forward. She also urged those suffering any form of bullying on Facebook to use the reporting controls available to them. "We see people, for example, who set up accounts and use them for the sole purpose of harassment. "If it is someone who is a victim of blackmail, we tell them they should also get support offline, such as a solicitor, police or NGOs," Ms de Bailliencourt said. Ewan McGregor with his co-stars Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly and Uzo Aduba at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre (AP) Ewan McGregor says he is hoping to forge a career behind the camera after making his directorial debut. The Scottish actor is the star and director of American Pastoral, an adaptation of Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. McGregor, 45, joined co-stars Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning at the film's Los Angeles premiere and revealed he was already looking for his next movie to direct. He told the Press Association: "Having done it for the first time, the responsibility of a feature film on your shoulders and one that's based on this enormously popular Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is quite great. "I wouldn't just put myself out on the market now as 'director for hire' and accept scripts. I'd really be looking for a great story to tell. "I never want to give up acting because I love acting. I would like to direct again because I learnt I really love that as well." McGregor said he had worked with "70 directors" during his career and had seen " what works... and what doesn't work". He added: "I learnt from the directors, some of them what not to do and from a lot of them what to do. The truth about directing is there's no right or wrong way to do it." In American Pastoral, McGregor plays a man whose life is torn apart when his teenage daughter is accused of an act of political terrorism in 1960s America. The Trainspotting star said the fact he is not from the US did not influence the way he told the story. "I don't tell the story as a Scottish person or a European person but as a person," he added. "I've played many, many characters in my career, maybe 3% of them have been Scotsmen. I don't see that my nationality should confine me in any way to just telling stories about Scotland. Video of the Day "My mindset is my mindset. It doesn't belong to Scotland or Europe, it's my own." American Pastoral is released in UK cinemas on November 11. Mel Gibson's pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross spotted getting Mexican take-out food from the Little Ass Burrito Bar on Dawson Street, Dublin. Ladies interested in working alongside Gibson must meet a very specific set of requirements and measurements. Photo by Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Mel Gibson (60) and his pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross (26) seen out for a stroll in Dublin Good news: the producers of The Professor & The Madman, starring Mel Gibson, are looking to cast Irish women in the period feature film. However, ladies interested in working alongside Gibson must meet a very specific set of requirements and measurements. Those covered in fake tan need not apply - there are to be no plucked or threaded eyebrows, and no Shellac nails. Ladies' locks cannot be dyed, tattoos and "body decoration" are a no-no, and a 34-36 inch bust is preferable. Those interested should be Caucasian and a slender 8-10 dress size. Expand Close Mel Gibson enjoys a night out in Dublin's FX Buckley Restaurant / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mel Gibson enjoys a night out in Dublin's FX Buckley Restaurant She should be roughly 5'3" to 5'8" in height, her hair shoulder-length - no pixie cuts or undercuts, I'm afraid. The ideal candidate must also possess a 26-inch waist. Expand Close Mel Gibson's pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross spotted getting Mexican take-out food from the Little Ass Burrito Bar on Dawson Street, Dublin. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mel Gibson's pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross spotted getting Mexican take-out food from the Little Ass Burrito Bar on Dawson Street, Dublin. Given that the average Irish women's waist is 32", the producers may be waiting some time to find their perfect woman. Thankfully, the age range is more inclusive; anyone between the ages of 20 and 60 can throw their hat into the ring. Climbed the Sugar Loaf today! It was great fun bit of yoga thrown in and to top it all off we met Mel Gibson at the summit! #SolidSunday #Mel #gibson #ireland #sugarloaf A photo posted by Heather (@heatherfogarty277) on Oct 9, 2016 at 7:04am PDT Providing, of course, they meet all of the above requirements. The drama, which also stars Sean Penn, is set in the 1800s and is about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. MovieExtras.ie are casting. A number of cars were burned out in a Limerick estate on the day of Christoper Guna Curtins funeral. Gardai said a large number of people gathered in OMalley Park in Limerick on October 6, the day the 22-year-old was buried. Videos of cars doing doughnuts around the estate on the day of the removal were also posted on social media over the past week. In one video, crowds can be seen gathered around a blue car as the driver performs a number of doughnuts. R.I.P Guna, you got a lovely send-off, the caption of the video read. Emergency services and a fire brigade were called to the scene. There were no arrests or injuries reported, but gardai are currently following up the incidents. Curtin received fatal injuries when the car he was travelling in as a passenger struck a ditch on the Fedamore to Limerick road on October 4. The driver of the car, a woman in her early 20's, received minor injuries and was taken to University Hospital Limerick where she was released a short time later. Curtin, of Salvia Court, Southill, was well-known to gardai. He had 40 previous convictions. In February 2012, while he was the subject of a garda manhunt, Curtin walked into Limerick circuit courtroom wearing shades to attend his sentencing hearing for burglary at the home of a prominent solicitor. He had escaped from custody two days previously as he was brought to prison on remand. Curtin was subsequently jailed for three years, with the final year suspended, after pleading guilty to burglary at the home of solicitor Turlough Herbert, a former Limerick hurler. The High Court has ordered the extradition of a convicted murderer, who was at large in Waterford after failing to return from temporary release from a UK prison. High court judge Ms Aileen Donnelly today delivered her judgement granting the States application for the extradition of Robert Donovan. The 57-year-old who was born in London but with an address at Newtown Road, Waterford City, was arrested by gardai on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by UK authorities in November, 2014. He had been serving a life sentence in the UK imposed at Bow Street Magistrates Court for the murder of a man on a London bridge in May 1974. Delivering her judgement to the court today which ordered the extradition of Donovan to the UK, Ms Justice Donnelly said that remaining unlawfully at large since failing to return to prison was an offence in excess of the minimum gravity. The judge said there was simply no basis for believing that there is a risk that any of the respondents rights will be violated when he is surrendered. The court heard that a central issue in these proceedings was the recent referendum vote in the UK to leave the European Union. Ms Justice Donnelly said the respondent had referred to a risk of lack of protection of ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) rights as a result of the UK leaving the European Union. There is simply no evidence of any such threat. This is truly wild speculation, she said. Ms Justice Donnelly then made an order directing that Donovan be surrendered to the UK. On June 19, 2010, Donovan was temporarily released from prison with a duty to return by 19.30 hours. He failed to return, was unlawfully at large and believed to be residing in Waterford, according to the warrant issued for his arrest. The warrant stated that Donovan had been out with his brother and a friend in the early hours of May 14, 1974 when he met the victim, a Mr Thornley, who invited them to join him for a drink at a place he knew. Their route took them across Hungerford Bridge where Donovan asked his brothers friend for a flick-knife. Donovan then put the knife to Mr Thornleys throat and asked him what he had on him. Mr Thornley was stabbed and died from a cut to this throat. His watch and golden bracelet were stolen, the warrant stated. Gardai arrested Donovan on foot of the warrant in Waterford and he was taken to the High Court for extradition proceedings. Donovan was remanded in custody today until October 21 when he is expected to be surrendered. A 21-year-old unaccompanied learner driver who was speeding when he hit and killed a teenager will be sentenced next week. Gareth Jones swerved to avoid three of the boy's friends as they crossed the road but hit Paul McCormack (16) who had changed direction to try to get back to the path. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard there was a fault with the ABS braking system in his Toyota Avensis but that Jones was unaware of this. Jones, of Mellowes Park, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Paul McCormack at Tolka Valley Road, Finglas, on June 26, 2015. The court heard that Jones told gardai he was doing 70kmh to 80kmh in the area, which had a speed limit of 50kmh. After the collision Jones remained at the scene, accepted responsibility and called an ambulance. Judge Melanie Greally adjourned sentencing until October 20 to allow her to consider the case. Garda Aidan McHugh told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting, that Paul McCormack and three of his friends were crossing the road towards Tolka Valley Park when they saw a car coming from the left which looked to be "ages away". One of the group said the car was driving "flat out". Paul changed direction and went back towards the other side of the road and was hit by the car. Paul was taken to the Mater Hospital where he was pronounced dead due to catastrophic brain injuries. Michael Bowman SC, defending, said Jones was a person of good character. A psychiatrist who specialises in sleep disorders has told a rape trial that she believes the accused has a history of sleep walking, night terrors and sexsomnia. The 29-year-old man claims he was sleepwalking when he raped his female friend after they went to bed together following a night out. The man who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of raping the woman at an apartment in Dublin in the early hours of September 28, 2008. Doctor Catherine Crowe, director of a sleep clinic based at the Mater Hospital, told Hugh Hartnett SC, defending that she believed the alleged rape was more likely an episode of sleep sex. She said the accused had a clear history of parasomnia, or sleepwalking, going back to early adolescence. Dr Crowe said he had a history of sexsomnia before the alleged rape and according to his former girlfriend, continued to have sleep sex afterwards. The event on the night could have been a sexsomnia episode. I don't know, I wasn't there. It is up to the court to deal with that, Dr Crowe said. She clarified when questioned further by Mr Hartnett that she thought it was more likely a sexsomnia episode, given the pattern of his behaviour. The end point was different, Dr Crowe said referring to the alleged rape but she said it was otherwise very similar to sexsomnia episodes which the jury have previously heard evidence of from three earlier witnesses. She told the jury she heard evidence during the trial and read witnesses statements and felt there was no contradiction to her diagnosis. There was no time that I thought 'Oh no I think I have got this wrong.' There was a consistency to the story that seemed valid to me, Dr Crowe said. Dr Crowe agreed with Paddy McGrath SC, prosecuting that what is alleged is a serious violation of the complainant and said it was absolutely correct that she never initiated sex nor did she ever consent to it. Dr Crowe said she never believed that the sex was consensual. There was no dispute of what had happened and that the accused was the instigator, she continued. She agreed with Mr McGrath that she was not aware of the complainant's evidence before she compiled her report but said having heard the evidence it doesn't change her mind over her conclusion. Dr Crowe accepted that this incident was the only evidence of full penetrative sex during the trial but added it doesnt jar on me. She said she believed that this may be due to the fact that it took the complainant a while to wake up given the fact she was sleep deprived and had significant amount of alcohol taken. She said she believed the accused came to a state of semi-consciousness following sex after he woke up to the complainant speaking to him. Dr Crowe accepted that the complainant gave evidence of a conversation between the accused and herself, unlike the other sexsomnia episodes the jury has heard. She said she believed evidence from the complainant that the accused was awake minutes after sex, sitting up in bed, was not significant. She said what was important was whether he was awake when he put his penis in her vagina. The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of eight men and four women. Dr Crowe earlier told the jury she met with the accused in October 2010. He had already undergone a sleep study at the Edinburgh Sleep Centre. He had also been assessed by a neurologist and had a MRI to determine if he was suffering from sleep epilepsy. She said epilepsy had been ruled out but a sleep deprived EEG, a test that detects electrical activity in the brain, showed up as abnormal. Dr Crowe said she assessed the accused clinically, taking into account his sleep study, the MRI, the EEG, his personal history, family history, a sleep diary and home videos of the man sleeping before diagnosing him as having parasomnia including sexsomnia. Twink at her Knocklyon home (Inset: Adele King, better known as Twink) Adele Condron-King, alias Twink, has been given a last chance by a judge to save her home from repossession by a bank. Judge Jacquelinne Linnane today adjourned possession proceedings by Start Mortgages against Ms Condron-King and her estranged husband, David Agnew, in relation to their former home, Idrone House, Idrone Avenue, Knocklyon, D16. Judge Linnane told solicitor Mark Doyle, for Ms Condron-King, that the matter had been going on since 2010 and his client had made no payment on the mortgage during five years. The judge said other payments had been very small. This shows the matter has been ignored, the judge said. Expand Close David Agnew and his former partner Twink / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Agnew and his former partner Twink Mr Doyle told the court that he was not on record yet but was acting on behalf of Ms Condron-King. He said there was an agreement in place with the bank and moneys had been transferred yesterday. He told the court that Ms Condron-King was now putting the house on the market and was looking for a six-month adjournment of the proceedings to allow the agreement to be implemented and the sale to progress. Barrister Shaula Connaughton-Deeny, for the bank, said her client was opposing the application because Ms Condron-King was in breach of the agreement. She said it stated that if moneys were not paid by the end of September last, the bank would seek possession of the house. Ms Connaughton-Deeny said the bank was owed about 250,000 including 18,000 arrears. Following difficulties in serving Agnew with the legal proceedings Judge Linnane last year granted leave for him to be served at his place of work, the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, at 163 Rathmines Road, Dublin. Ms Connaughton-Deeny said it would seem that no solicitor intended to come on record for Mr Agnew, who did not appear in court today. Last May, Judge Linnane had adjourned the proceedings after being told that Ms Condron-King had contacted the banks solicitors with proposals to deal with the outstanding arrears. Today the judge said she was not granting the bank an order for possession because it would interfere with an eventual sale of the house. The judge said Ms Condron-King had to address the arrears and had to decide the seriousness of the proceedings. She said the bank had made numerous efforts to address the matter. The costs are also mounting and the matter is now coming to an end. I therefore am allowing Ms Condron-King one final adjournment, Judge Linnane said. She adjourned the possession proceedings and directed Mr Doyle, who is to come on record, to keep the banks solicitors fully informed regarding the progress of the sale of the property, which should be actively pursued. The bridge in Tallaght, inset, Dale Creighton who died after being attacked on New Year's Day The trial of seven Dubliners charged with murder has heard two of them had blood on their clothing shortly after a group was seen fleeing the bridge where 20-year-old Dale Creighton was found unconscious. The jury was hearing evidence yesterday from the first garda on the scene in Tallaght on New Year's morning 2014. Dale Creighton died in hospital on January 2, 2014. The incident took place at the bridge over the Tallaght bypass between St Dominic's Road and Greenhills Road. A woman and six men, who are in their 20s and from Tallaght, have all pleaded not guilty to murder and are on trial at the Central Criminal Court. They are Aisling Burke (23) and David Burke (28), both with an address at Beechpark, Collinstown, Co Westmeath; Graham Palmer (26) with an address at Park Avenue, Portarlington, Co Laois; Ross Callery (23) of Gortlum Cottages, Brittas, Co Dublin; James Reid (26) of Glen Aoibhinn, Gorey, Co Wexford; Jason Beresford (23) with an address at Coill Diarmuida, Ard a' Laoi, Castledermot, Co Kildare; and Gerard Stevens (27) of Grosvenor Square, Rathmines in Dublin. Garda Jennifer Walsh was working in Tallaght garda station shortly before 4am that New Year's Day, when a call came in about an incident on the footbridge. She testified that she began watching a live feed of what was happening in the station's CCTV control room and alerted a local patrol car. Garda Avril Sharpe also watched some of the feed. She testified that she saw a number of males along with a female. She and two colleagues left for the bridge when they saw there was a person on the ground. "We stopped and observed a male. He was unconscious, not responding to us and badly beaten up," she said. A colleague stayed with the man while she and another garda ran after the group onto Main Street. She said the two eventually stopped for them. She said the male gave his name as Graham Palmer. "There were blood spots on his face, which he couldn't account for," she said. "There was blood on the sleeves of his jacket." The female gave her name as Aisling Burke. Her runners were soaked in blood. The trial continues. A man was found dead in his apartment three days after he called for an ambulance, an inquest heard. Carl Hogarty (40) of Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9, was pronounced dead on August 13, last year. Three days previously, Dublin Fire Brigade responded to a call within minutes of being contacted but could not gain access to the flat complex despite ringing all 16 doorbells. Speaking after the inquest, the man's father Carl Hogarty Snr said he could not understand how his son's call was not followed up. "I'm at a loss as to why his case was not followed up on the night," Mr Hogarty said. Dublin Coroner's Court heard that Mr Hogarty called for an ambulance at 9.44pm on August 10, 2015, complaining of breathing difficulties. He told the control room, "I feel I am going to die." A Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance arrived at the address at 9.52pm. The paramedics did not know the flat number so they rang all 16 doorbells but got no reply. A minute later the paramedics reported to control staff that they could not gain access. Three minutes later they were told control staff had made contact with Mr Hogarty and he was coming downstairs. At 10.03pm, the paramedics reported there was no sign of the patient. In the meantime, a passer-by with a serious head injury approached seeking assistance. Control room staff made two further attempts to contact Mr Hogarty by phone, at 10.05pm and 10.06pm, both calls went unanswered. A minute later, the paramedics contacted control staff to confirm they were taking the passer-by to hospital. Paramedic Tom Clare said paramedics were in an 'impossible situation.' "We had the option to break down the door and then break down another 16 doors," Mr Clare said. He said his concern for the caller was lessened as the man had answered his phone and told control staff he would come downstairs. "In this situation you have to make a judgement call. You can't just go into someone's house and break the door down," Mr Clare said. The court heard that Dublin Fire Brigade experience a 999 call every 90 seconds during the day and a high percentage of calls are malicious. Two days later, Carl Hogarty's mother tried to call him three times and became concerned when she got no reply. She contacted the man's father who called to the address the following day. Mr Hogarty was found dead on the floor inside the door of his flat. There was a syringe nearby. He was pronounced dead at 12.15pm on August 13. Cause of death was multi-drug overdose. A toxicology report found evidence of heroin use. Returning a verdict of misadventure, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said she would write to the emergency services asking if 999 callers reporting 'serious complaints' can be asked if there is anyone with them or close by that can assist them. A member of the Defence Forces was rushed to hospital after he suffered injuries during a skydiving exercise on Friday afternoon. Independent.ie has learned that the male soldier suffered what has been described as a "hard landing" during the routine exercise at Custume Barracks Athlone at 12 noon. It is understood that his parachute did open during the skydive. The gentleman was rushed to Tallaght Hospital this afternoon after the incident. He is described as being in a 'critical but stable condition'. Defence Forces said he is responsive to treatment. The incident occurred at approximately noon today. Further details about the name and rank of the soldier have not been released. He was treated by a doctor at the site before an air ambulance based in Athlone transferred him to Tallaght Hospital. A spokesperson for the Defence Forces said: "We can confirm that a member was injured during a routine training exercise in Custume Barracks Athlone this afternoon. "He was transferred by ambulance to Tallaght Hospital where he is responsive to treatment." It is understood a number of other Defence Forces personnel were also taking part in the exercise. Sources told Independent.ie that the incident will now be investigated by the Defence Forces and the Health and Safety Authority. Defence Minister Paul Kehoe spoke to the armys chief of staff about the incident on Friday evening. My thoughts are with the corporal and his family and I have asked for full details of what is a terrible incident, he said. Its understood the full safety precautions were in place. The students are on CAO courses in institutions such as Griffith College and DBS, Dublin, where typical fees are about 5,000. More than 200 third-level students who meet the criteria for a grant are losing out - because they are studying in private colleges. The students are on CAO courses in institutions such as Griffith College and DBS, Dublin, where typical fees are about 5,000. But as eligibility for State-funded grants awarded by the Susi agency is linked to attendance at a publicly funded college, they do not qualify. While there may be a perception that students in private colleges are from well-off backgrounds, that is not necessarily the case. The Wake Up Susi campaign, representing about 205 students from middle- and low-income families who meet the criteria for grant eligibility and who are attending private colleges, took their case to the Oireachtas education committee yesterday. Alisha Houlihan of Kiltimagh, Co Mayo, who addressed the committee, has received help from the Society of St Vincent de Paul, family and friends to help her to fund her journalism studies at Griffith College. Having impressed Griffith authorities with her potential, the college is supporting her with a 16,000 scholarship over three years. Last year, Susi paid out 370m in grants and fees and Wake Up Susi says that extending the scheme to students on CAO courses in private colleges would cost about 1.2m. Young teachers took to the Dail to protest the two-tier pay system which they have said is impacting on their quality of life. Dozens of teachers who graduated post-2011 gathered at a demonstration alongside their more seasoned colleagues just hours after the Association of Secondary School Teaches Ireland (ASTI) voted for industrial action. Expand Close William O'Brien. Picture: Arthur Carron / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp William O'Brien. Picture: Arthur Carron William O'Brien (33), from Rathfarnham in Dublin, teaches history in his alma mater Rockbrook Park School. He graduated in 2012 and said yesterday that he would have opted for a different career had he known the pay scales he would be faced with. "I don't know of any other profession in the public or the private sector where such a vast pay differential exists between two people doing the exact same job. "The cost of living hasn't gone down. The Celtic Tiger is back to an extent, but new teachers' salaries are back 20 or 30 years, so is it difficult to be a newly qualified teacher? Absolutely. Expand Close Madeleine Ni Ghallchobhair. Picture: Arthur Carron / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Madeleine Ni Ghallchobhair. Picture: Arthur Carron "Forget about buying a house, insurance costs, all of the things that go with living in a modern society and a modern capital city," he said. Mr O'Brien added: "Nobody gets into teaching to make money or become a millionaire, but there is an expectation that you work hard, you spend six years studying so that you'll have a relatively decent standard of living, doing a job that you love doing. One part of that is missing and that's the standard of living." Irish and English teacher Madeleine Ni Ghallchobhair (28), who teaches in the Dominican College on Griffith Avenue in Dublin, addressed the crowd and spoke about the current pay and conditions acting as a disincentive for teachers to upskill. "The quality of my education directly impacts on the quality of education I can pass on to the 300 or so students that I will have every year over my 45-year career," she said. "Encouraging teachers to upskill is absolutely important. "This depends on if, as a country, we want to attract the best people into teaching. Do we value the education of our students?" she asked. Another teacher, Sean Lynch (26) from Sligo, said some of his classmates from college were paid more because they were paid for their work experience while studying. Education Minister Richard Bruton said meeting the pay demands of the ASTI was not tenable because it would cost 2.3bn in knock-on payments to workers across the entire public service. He said that money would have absorbed the entire budget for this year and next, and would mean no improvements such as extra public service workers or tax cuts. It is not available, we have to balance the budget, Mr Bruton said, while attending the annual conference of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD). I understand that people feel aggrieved and that it has been a tough number of years, but we have to do it in balanced and fair way so that we are able to bring other people along, he said. The minister was speaking ahead of an announcement by the leadership of the secondary teachers union on industrial action in pursuit of full restoration of pay cuts imposed in the austerity era. It follows two separate ASTI ballots in which members voted overwhelmingly for strike action on the issue of pay equality for newly-qualified teachers and withdrawal from supervision and substitution duties. The ASTI disputes arise from the unions rejection of the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA) for public service workers, which has started the process of reversing austerity-era pay cuts. A withdrawal from supervision and substitution would force schools to close on health and safety grounds, unless they were in a position to recruit external supervisors, which would take several weeks. Mr Bruton said they were awaiting a response from the ASTI on a request to the union to co-operate with the necessary planning for the recruitment of external supervisors that could avert closures. We have yet to hear whether they will support that, that would be very important, to allow schools to remain open, he said. Mr Bruton said they had sat down with the two other teacher unions, the INTO and TUI , and had reached agreement on a range of pay restoration measures, and that was all available to the ASTI. We have shown that we are willing to invest in system, he said. He said it was very unfortunate that we are having dispute, there has been dialogue available. Liam Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, said it needs to be clarified how many of these 1,000 jobs are additional and what proportion are just a conversion from agency posts. Photo: Tom Burke The Government's much-vaunted Budget promise to hire 1,000 extra nurses may have limited impact on under-staffing affecting patient care in many wards, it emerged yesterday. The Irish Independent has learned a significant number of these jobs are only replacements for existing agency nurses who are needed to maintain over-stretched wards. This was not made clear at the announcement about the 1,000 nursing jobs at a Budget-day press conference led by Health Minister Simon Harris. It means that, even if hospitals manage to recruit full-time nurses, many of them will only be taking the place of an agency worker, leaving wards continuing to struggle. Questioned yesterday on how many additional nurses the recruitment would actually involve, the minister said he did not have a number at this stage and it is a matter for the HSE. It will be a mix of replacing agency staff and extra nurses, he said. Hospitals are currently spending 4m a month on agency workers because of the crisis in recruitment. Liam Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, said it needs to be clarified how many of these 1,000 jobs are additional and what proportion are just a conversion from agency posts. "There are 675 jobs every day filled by agency. Converting them to full-time posts would be a very good thing to do," he said. "But it won't yield extra manpower on the wards. That won't address the staff shortages." The minister also confirmed that nurses who graduated between 2011 and 2015 who lost out on increments are to have them paid. It will mean payment of an extra 1,040 and 1,477 per year. More than 7,500 nurses graduated in this time but the minister admitted only around 4,000 are working in the public service. Mr Doran said thousands have gone abroad. He said the measure would help to encourage nurses abroad to return here but would not be enough on its own. The HSE needs to look at the measures used by private nurses and hospitals in the UK to recruit nurses. The Mater private hospital is offering a start-up allowance of 6,000 and Bons Secours is offering 3,000. Languished Meanwhile, the country's hospital emergency department consultants warned that on Budget day, some 438 patients languished on trolleys. Six of these hospitals had in excess of 20 patients on trolleys, and three were struggling to care for more than 30 patients. "In 2016, in a developed country that spends 14.6bn on the health service this is simply unacceptable," said Irish Association of Emergency Medicine spokesman Fergal Hickey. "Many of these patients are elderly. Some in their 80s and 90s have been obliged to wait far in excess of 24 hours. "The absence of significant capital investment in the health service's decaying infrastructure and any real attempt to address the serious shortage of acute hospital beds is deeply disappointing. "It suggests that the government is happy to lose yet more of its citizens to premature death and disability. "There is clear evidence of the harm caused by overcrowding which results in an estimated 350 excess, avoidable deaths per year in Ireland as well as many more patients who have poorer medical outcomes." These tragedies remain at a low level when compared to other countries (Stock photo) The number of mothers dying in maternity hospitals has remained static even as the total births continued to fall last year. The figure of seven maternal deaths was the same as in 2014 - but overall these tragedies remain at a low level when compared to other countries, the HSE's annual statistical report on maternity services said. But further evidence that the baby boom is over emerged as births continued to fall - down to 64,435 from 65,987. The highest number of babies was born in the National Maternity Hospital which had more than 9,000 births. And South Tipperary Hospital maternity unit had the lowest number of births. The national perinatal mortality rate - deaths recorded at or around the time of birth - was 6.5 per 1,000 births, up from 6.1 per 1,000 births in 2014. This rate includes babies with birth defects. The rate of caesarean section went up again for first-time mothers from 31pc to 32.3pc. Obesity For mothers who already had children, the rate also rose from 28.6pc to 30pc. This is in line with previous years and has been linked to risk factors such as the growing number of older women given birth and obesity. There was a slight fall in the numbers of women opting for pain-free epidurals but it was still significant at 40pc. Complications such as ectopic pregnancy, where the baby develops outside the womb, rose slightly to 12.1pc of total mothers delivered. Coombe obstetrician Prof Michael Turner, who leads the National Clinical Programme in Obstetrics & Gynaecology said the gathering of this information enabled "senior managers in hospitals to monitor and manage their activities." Meanwhile, Phelim Quinn, the chief executive of Hiqa, the patient safety body said his inspectors had carried out a number of hospital and maternity unit investigations. Safety As a result of Hiqa's requirements, maternity units now all report monthly safety statements, he told the All-Ireland midwifery conference organised by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. "But there is still more to do; it is obvious that the length of time taken to investigate patient safety incidents is unacceptable; in some instances the process for their conduct remains ineffective and non-transparent," he said. "In our investigations into critical incidents and service failure in Galway and Portlaoise we also sought the development of a code of conduct for employers and managers, legislation for the establishment of hospital groups and a patient advocacy service. "Three years on, these key recommendations remain in development," he warned. He said that earlier this week Hiqa had submitted new national standards for safer better maternity standards. He called on Health Minister Simon Harris to approve them and ensure they are implemented. "We need to ensure women are at the centre of what we deliver in maternity services," he added. The Irish Independent has been named as winner of the Headline 2016 Overall Award and the Headline Voice Media Award for its responsible coverage of mental health and suicide related issues. The Headline 2016 Overall Award was awarded to the newspaper for positive media coverage of mental health an suicide related issues. The second award, from Headline Voice Media in conjunction with See Change, was given to the Irish Independent for its "excellent quality and quantity of media coverage given to people with self-experience". Jane Arigho, Media Project Co-Ordinator with Headline, praised the newspaper before adding that the media has an important role to play in how the public perceive mental health and suicide related issues. "Media discussion of mental health and suicide related issues is vital. Research has shown that the media has a significant influence on how the public think about suicide and mental health problems. "I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Irish Independent for their excellent work. Almost 10 per cent of all positive coverage of mental health and suicide related issues recorded by Headline last year was produced by the Irish Independent. "Positive coverage of mental health and suicide encourages help seeking behaviour and helps to remove the stigmas and myths that surround these issues," she said. Headline works with journalists and media to ensure that mental health and suicide related issues are responsibly covered in the media, while See Change is the national stigma reduction partnership. Upon receiving the prestigious awards, Editor-in-Chief at Independent News & Media Stephen Rae said: "Media has a duty to reflect the major mental health issues faced by Irish society. "For too long government, the health authorities and indeed the media were too willing to sweep mental health challenges under the carpet. "We take promoting mental wellbeing and advocating for better services for those suffering with psychiatric illnesses very seriously. Our most recent campaign across INM titles advocated treating mental health issues just as seriously as physical illness. "We are very grateful that our campaigns and journalism around these important issues have been acknowledged by Headline," he said. A three-year-old girl will spend her fourth birthday in Disneyland thanks to Make-A-Wish Ireland. Katie's three-year-old daughter has neuroblastoma. Shes doing really well at the minute, thank God, and well be going to Disneyland next month with Make-A-Wish for her fourth birthday, Katie told Independent.ie. To be honest, the day-to-day life for a child with cancer, its all routine about medicine, needles, dressing changes, and now they take all that away and give her some normality and happiness to forget about it for four days. "Its so important for a sick child to be happy. Participants of the Make-A-Wish Rope for Hope event shared emotional stories of their own connection to the charity today. Katie said she was nervous to abseil, but couldnt wait to help Make-A-Wish change another childs life with the money shed raised. Ross Flood took the plunge in memory of his brother-in-law Sean, who passed away two years ago at the age of 17. His wish to meet Stephen Gerrard and the Liverpool team had been granted before. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp It was very hard, its very emotional even trying to speak about it at the moment. "But it was absolutely fantastic to see him happy once again before he passed, its fantastic the way he got to smile again, Ross said. Anything I can do to help the charity is a bonus, you know, I think if everybody could do a little bit more then a lot more kids could have wishes granted." Seans uncle Wayne added; To see the smile on Seans face when he met the Liverpool team, money couldnt buy, Ross and Seans relatives were there cheering Ross on at the abseil. For more information see the official Make A Wish Ireland Facebook page Businessman and sailor Enda OCoineen will this year make the first Irish attempt at sailing non-stop around the world in the worlds hardest race. The event called the Everest of the sea, the Vendee Globe Challenge starts in Les Sables dOlonne in France and runs 29,000 nautical miles from east to west, around the three major capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and the Horn. Some 29 skippers will compete, all of them alone on a boat for months in what is considered one of the most difficult sporting events in existence. Speaking to Independent.ie, Enda OCoineen said: The preparation for the race started 18 months ago, but you could also say it started when I was born. Day-to-day you run every part of a boat that would normally have a crew of 10; you have to cook for yourself, desalinate your own water and if anything happens to the boat, you have to fix it on your own. Of course its a huge physical challenge, but the biggest challenge in the psychological part. Youre completely on your own for three months and that can take a toll. They keep in touch by satellite phone, but they will spend the challenge alone on the open water, not touching land until the race ends. Enda will prepare food for 120 days, but hopes to complete the race in 110. Enda hopes for this race to be a defining moments in an already adventurous career; he has completed six Round Ireland races and sailed across the Atlantic twice in an experimental raft not too different from an inflatable dinghy. The first time in 1977 I capsized off the west of Ireland and had to be recued, so I did it again in 1985 and completed it that time. Giving up is not a term Im familiar with. Enda left for France on Tuesday to prepare for the race, which starts on November 6. He was seen off by the Lord Mayor and Honorary Admiral of Dublin Port as part of a launch for the Atlantic Youth Trusts schools programme, which hopes to encourage young people to take up sailing. There have been seven Vendee Globe Challenges since 1989; 138 skippers have competed but only 71 have managed to cross the finish line. The record for fastest time is 78 days by the French sailor Francois Gabart in 2013. Primary schools have been invited to sign up to keep track of the race and receive free information and lesson plans; you can find those resources here: http://www.teamireland.ie/ The victim suffered serious head injuries after he was attacked at the junction of Lord Edward Street and Lower Careys Road, Limerick. Gardai have launched a murder investigation into the death of a man who was assaulted in Limerick October 12. The man, aged in his 50s, is a close relative of a convicted criminal who rode a bicycle through the Treaty City, armed with a sawn off shotgun, after he shot and injured a man who was sitting close to a group of children. The victim of Wednesday night's assault suffered serious head injuries after he was attacked at the junction of Lord Edward Street and Lower Careys Road, Limerick, around 7.45pm. He was rushed to Cork University Hospital where he passed away around 5.30am on October 13. Read More Gardai have conducted house to house enquiries in the vicinity of the attack and CCTV footage is being harvested. A Garda spokesman said the victim "died around 5.30am, and the investigation has been upgraded to murder". Gardai at Roxboro Road have appealed for witnesses to contact them on 061-214340. The victim was a close relative of Jason Freyne, who was jailed for five and a half years last May after he shot a man who was sitting on a wall next to a group of children. Freyne, (24), of no fixed abode, was wearing a bullet-proof vest and armed with a sawn-off shotgun and roaming Limerick on his bicycle, intent on shooting people, Limerick Circuit Court heard. When Gardai arrested Freyne he told them he would have killed someone had he not been apprehended. Freyne, (24), of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty to charges of possessing a 12 gauge sawn-off shotgun and cartridges at Hyde Rd, Limerick, on May 9, 2015, with intent to endanger life. Freyne previously escaped from custody as he was being returned to prison on remand after appearing at a Ennis courthouse, and went on the run for six days. He publicly taunting gardai via his Facebook page but later appeared at the front gates of Limerick Prison effectively returning himself to custody. An acquaintance of Freyne's had posted a picture of the film Catch Me If You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio to his page, urging him to watch it while he was at large. Freyne, with 46 previous convictions, responded in another posting along with photos of himself: "Who else is out today haha". George Reid at the rear of his house which overlooks the site where McDonalds wants to site a branch A pensioner has warned that a new McDonald's beside his home will only fuel the area's rodent problem. It comes as planners say the fast-food joint's latest restaurant should be refused. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, George Reid (70) said he's seen rats in and around his street and back yard as recently as a month ago. He has already had to reinforce his back gate to make sure the rodents don't make their way into his terraced house. He also says residents are also concerned about the impact of noise in the area. US fast-food chain McDonald's is planning to open a new 24-hour restaurant beside Asda on the Shore Road in North Belfast. Mr Reid's back yard on Oakmount Drive looks on to an empty plot of land which the new McDonald's is earmarked for. But now planners say the scheme should be refused. Issues raised include traffic concerns, noise and rodent problems. Mr Reid said: "There are two or three causes. The main cause is this... there are rats in this area. I had the men out (from the council) and there was a rat. "There was another woman down the side of the street, and she had them out for rats. "I have nothing against McDonald's in principle. I like a Big Mac as much as anyone else, but I don't like it in my back yard," he said. Mr Reid is worried that food sales and rubbish could increase the numbers of rats in the area, and noise levels would impact on his quiet suburban street, which he says is mainly home to older residents. "The third point is the noise in the street. It's mostly elderly people in this street," he added. "I may be a voice crying in the wilderness... is McDonald's going to be able to assure me that no rats go in to my back yard? People sit in their cars (and throw rubbish out). "A lot of people in this street are concerned about the rat situation." Mr Reid is also worried about the impact a large McDonald's could have on the value of his home. A spokesman for McDonald's said: "McDonald's can confirm that it is working with a local developer in relation to this planning application. "We await the formal response from Belfast City Council planning committee. "We understand some concerns have been raised by local residents and look forward to reassuring them as we move forward." Planners have said the proposal is contrary to the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015, as the site is zoned for housing and if permitted, would prejudice the delivery of housing in an area of current housing stress. "The proposal is contrary to the development plan and it is recommended that planning permission is refused," they said. Pauline Finlay (49) from Co Wexford is missing since March 1994. Photo: RTE Police in Wales have said there's a 'strong indication' that unidentified remains that washed up in Wales may be that of a missing Irish woman. Pauline Finlay (49) from Co Wexford is missing, believed drowned, since March 1994. According to RTE, police in Wales now believe an unidentified woman whose body was washed up on the coast near Holyhead in October of that year may be that of Ms Finlay. The 49-year-old disappeared while walking her dogs on a beach near Kilmuckridge in Co Wexford and it's believed she drowned in an accident but her body was never found. North Wales police are investigating a number of unidentified bodies and are working with gardai to see if there are any Irish connections. A DNA comparison has now been carried out between Ms Finlay's family and the unidentified woman. Police have told the Finlay family there is a "strong indication" the body is that of their loved one. An inquest will be held for a formal identification to be made. Members of the Finlay family will travel to Wales in the coming weeks to meet police and visit the grave which may contain the remains of Pauline Finlay. Volunteering is hugely valuable for young people in meeting challenges together and making new friends, said John McAreavey at the Zeminar youth event in Dublin. The former Down GAA star told young people at the RDS yesterday that people who volunteered with The Michaela Foundation, which he jointly founded in memory of his murdered wife Michaela, had found their own lives and careers had been enhanced by their participation with the charity. Expand Close Jenny Dixon, plays Kerri-Ann in Fair City. Photo: Douglas O'Connor / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jenny Dixon, plays Kerri-Ann in Fair City. Photo: Douglas O'Connor Michaela was murdered when the couple were on honeymoon in Mauritius in 2011. Mr McAreavey recently remarried. Doing volunteer work for good causes was "not a drag", but could lead to "true happiness" by helping a worthy cause, he said. 'Fair City' actress Jenny Dixon advised young people to dedicate themselves to pursuing their passions in life. Prior to becoming an actress, she was a secondary teacher. In college, she took first place and first-class honours in her science degree finals. Expand Close Dr. Rhona Mahony Master of National Maternity Hospital Holles St. Photo: Douglas O'Connor / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr. Rhona Mahony Master of National Maternity Hospital Holles St. Photo: Douglas O'Connor Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hospital, told young people to "go for it" when seeking their goals and not to be afraid of failure. All achievements were gained through adversity and young people needed to have courage, she said. The Zeminar event, attended by 15,000 teenagers over three days, aimed to connect young people with the many resources available to them in terms of advice, sports, hobbies, career guidance and well-being, said founders Damien Clarke and Ian Fitzpatrick. Women need more sleep than men because the female brain works harder during the day, research shows. Scientists found that women need around 20 minutes more sleep per night than men because of their multi-tasking brain. One of the major functions of sleep is to allow the brain to recover and repair itself, Professor Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, told the Mail Online. The more of your brain you use during the day, the more of it that needs to recover and, consequently, the more sleep you need. Women tend to multi-task - they do lots at once and are flexible - and so they use more of their actual brain than men do. Because of that, their sleep need is greater. Professor Horne explained that a man who has a complex job that requires a lot of decision making may need more sleep than the average man, although probably not as much as a woman. He also explained that some women may need more or less than an extra 20 minutes sleep, while the average adult needs between six and eight hours of sleep per night. But individual needs differ greatly - some people can get by easily on six hours while others can't. What is important is that people have enough sleep to ensure they do not feel excessively sleepy in the day. Halloween is an Irish thing. It comes from the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the onset of winter, a time when the doorways of the other-world opened to let in the souls of the dead. Halloween is still a time to celebrate strangeness. It's also the year's best excuse to dress up your house (and yourself) in a style that would make the Addams Family proud. "I definitely believe that Halloween is not just for kids," says Sharon Greene, designer with Queens of Neon and organiser of the Dublin Flea Market. "I grew up in a household that went nuts for Halloween, my mum decorated the whole house every year and we'd invite all the neighbours over for a fancy dress and spooky games party. It's a chance to get in touch with your inner freak, but it also resonates with our Celtic heritage on a deeper level." Ritual and ceremony in general, and this celebration in particular, are an important part of being Irish. When we celebrate Halloween, we're honouring our ancestors. Expand Close A1TB candle holders / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A1TB candle holders Halloween is also an opportunity to make and do. "I'm a big advocate of not buying lots of disposable plastic things in pound stores when we have so much material at home," Greene explains. "A homemade bat decoration will look much scarier than a perfect string of commercial cutouts. You just print out the picture of a bat from the internet and trace the shape on to black card." A colony of ragged bats hanging from a bare branch is not only atmospheric, it's also very cheap. If you want to create something really disturbing, Greene suggests you collect the heads and body parts of broken dolls and hang them from the ceiling. "We've done this at Body and Soul as part of an installation called Little House of Lost Toys. The weird thing was that it freaked the adults out, but the children didn't turn a hair. They hadn't seen the horror movies, so they had no association with a doll's dismembered leg being scary." If you have children, collect the casualties from the toy box and save them for Halloween. If you don't, buy the dolls from a charity shop and dismember them yourself. For Siobhan Lam of April And The Bear, Halloween is more about embracing the change in seasons than creating a Hammer House of Horrors. "There's a time and a place for bats and skull chains," she says. "But that's the American way. Irish people tend to be subtler about the way they decorate their homes. We celebrate the time of year, but we still want our houses to reflect who we are." Mass produced Halloween decorations are a great quick fix for children's parties - if you buy nice ones and store them carefully, they'll last from year to year, but you can also use the orange and black colour scheme in a grown-up way. "Orange and black is super-traditional, but I adore the contrast," says Lam. She suggests combining black and copper vases (from 6) with autumn leaves and small pumpkins. You can also create a Halloween wreath from thin spiky branches. "Look for fallen branches, bend the longest one into a circle and then layer it up with other branches. Spray it black and it instantly looks macabre." Expand Close Siobhan Lam and her faux bull skull / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Siobhan Lam and her faux bull skull In Lam's house, the Halloween decorations stay up through the autumn so she's careful to do it in a way that won't get boring after a few days. Fake cobwebs, for example, are all very well for Halloween night, but they're not something that you want to live with for any length of time. In general, she feels that fallen leaves and branches make for more effective decorations than shop-bought disposables. "I like using nature to decorate my house. It makes sense to me. It's a natural resource - I'm doing cool fun things with it and it's not hurting anyone." A few key pieces will help a lot. A bird of ill-omen, in the form of an artificial black crow, costs 20 from Dust, while a wall-mounted faux bull skull, complete with horns, is 305 from April And The Bear. It's an all-year-round piece that can be dressed up for Halloween with a string of function lights (95), industrially-inspired fairy lights with bare bulbs in black sockets. You could also go for the Jurassic style with a wall-mounted dinosaur head (495) made by Siobhan Lam's brother, the artist Vincent Lam. "It's not specifically a Halloween piece but it's incredibly scary," she explains. "You could make it even scarier by playing with the light around it." Because the dinosaur heads are individually made, allow two to three weeks for delivery. "I like to dress up the house for Halloween in a minimal way rather than going mad doing the American thing," says the interior designer Laura Farrell. One of her favourite tricks is to pin strips of black paper across the front window of the house so that it appears to be boarded up. "It looks really ominous! My latest thing is using the drill to decorate the pumpkin. It's better than cutting your fingers and ending up with a pumpkin with a misshapen eye." First, hollow out the pumpkin as normal, saving the scrapings for soup, then use a small hand drill to create rows of perforated holes around it. "You still get the Halloween glow, but it looks rhythmic and smart." Expand Close Halloween's a great time for make and do / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Halloween's a great time for make and do The next Dublin Flea Market takes place on Sunday, October 30 in the Co-op, Newmarket Square, Dublin 8. See dublinflea.ie. See also queensofneon.com, aprilandthebear.com and dust.ie. To contact Laura Farrell, email misslaurafarrell@gmail.com. A coastal hideaway within striking distance of Dublin has been named the Best Beach Holiday Home in Europe. Thatcher's Rest (above), one of a suite of six seaside cottages in Bettystown, Co. Meath, was a winner at the 2016 European Home Holiday Awards, held in Brussels. Entries from over 23 countries were submitted for the awards, which are run by the European Holiday Homes Association (EHHA). "We're over the moon," said Liz Pickett, who runs Cottages Ireland with her husband Roger, when contacted by Independent.ie Travel this week. "We had zero expectation of winning. We felt like we'd won being shortlisted, to be honest. We were up against gorgeous places ranging from Cornwall to an island in Croatia, with all the bells and whistles. It is a major wow to have won." The Picketts' six cottages are a mix of old-meets-new with their own private beach access, and though they may be little known to holidaymakers here in Ireland, guides like Sawday's and Premier Cottages have confirmed their reputation abroad. Expand Close Thatcher's Rest bedroom, Bettystown / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Thatcher's Rest bedroom, Bettystown 'They're basically these beautiful, 300-year-old cottages that we've renovated to 5-star standards," Liz explains. "It's a lovely, old-world feel but with cutting edge Wi-Fi, flatscreen TVs, luxury beds and linen... all the stuff you'd want to find." Rates at the cottages range from 420 for three nights at the Honeymoon Cottage, which sleeps two, to 1,260 for three nights at Thatcher's Rest, which sleeps six across three bedrooms. Seven-night rentals are also available. "We are very proud of the Picketts for their great achievement," said Dorren Quinn of the Irish Self Catering Federation (ISCF), of which Cottages Ireland is a member. "Irish self-caterers have reached the finals before, but this is the first Irish win." The Picketts will be presented with an award certificate during the ISCF AGM and Conference taking place in Dublin on Thursday, November 17. See iscf.ie and cottages-ireland.com for more details. The full list of European Holiday Home award winners is available on holidayhomeaward.eu. Read more: Premium Your personal finance questions Should I give up my tracker mortgage now that interest rates are rising fast? Q I am on a tracker mortgage so my mortgage bills have gone up twice since last July as a result of the two European Central Bank interest rate hikes. The interest rate on my tracker mortgage was 1.5pc before the ECB started to increase its rate in July. Now it is almost twice that at 2.75pc. Tracker mortgages have always been considered gold dust but I am now considering fixing my mortgage as I am worried the ECB may increase its rates again in the coming months, which would push my mortgage bills even higher. Would it be a good idea to give up my tracker and fix my mortgage? Political analyst Shane Coleman wrote the following in this newspaper in July: "Nobody in Leinster House is in any doubt that [the Citizens' Assembly] will result in a referendum on the Eighth Amendment." Tomorrow, the said Citizens' Assembly meets for the first time. The 99 randomly chosen members of the public who will make it up should consider Coleman's words carefully. Everyone thinks the outcome of the Assembly is pre-ordained, that is, it will recommend a referendum and the only thing to be decided is exactly what kind of referendum. In May, Minister Paschal Donohoe, said on Newstalk: "What I am certain will happen first is the process that we have committed to in relation to considering this issue - that [the Assembly] will happen - and it is my view that that will lead to a referendum on this issue in the coming years". So there it is. Some Assembly members may well go into tomorrow's first meeting thinking there is a big groundswell of support for a referendum, a genuine grassroots campaign. There isn't. What there is instead is an 'astroturf' campaign, that is, something designed to look like a grassroots campaign but which is actually artificial. A real grassroots campaign looks like what we see in, say, a rural area when ordinary people protest in large numbers against the closure of a local hospital. An astroturf campaign consists of activists and pressure groups making a lot of noise. This can fool people into thinking the noise is being generated by the general public when it's not. If the demand for an abortion referendum was being generated by ordinary voters, it would have come up on the doorsteps in a big way in the General Election earlier this year. It didn't. So the noise we are hearing is not the noise of a genuine grassroots campaign. But what about the opinion polls? Well, what about them? A lot of the time opinion polls are a mile wide and an inch deep. If you ask people for an opinion, they'll give you one. Polls show wide support for a referendum. However, if there was real, deep support for one, TDs would be hearing the demand for it from ordinary voters back in their constituencies. They are not. Far from it. In Britain, David Cameron only buckled under pressure to hold a referendum on EU membership when his own party was in danger of splitting down the middle, and, more importantly, because the Tories were losing a lot of votes to Ukip. Even then he was very reluctant because British membership of the EU was so fundamental an issue. Could a popular vote be risked? Well, how much more important is the right to life? So whether or not this Assembly recommends we hold a referendum should not be a foregone conclusion. If it does recommend a referendum, what precisely will it recommend? It seems to me that there are three basic options. The first is straightforward deletion of the Eighth Amendment. The Oireachtas would then enact legislation setting out the circumstances under which an abortion could take place in Ireland. The first piece of such legislation might be restrictive enough, but politicians would never again have to put the matter to the people. All we would need is a strong left-wing party in Government and the law would soon be much less restrictive. Another option is to replace the Eighth Amendment with a less restrictive version of the same thing. It might stipulate that abortion can take place in cases of rape, incest and when an unborn baby is terminally ill. (Question: why does a baby that might die a week or two or more after birth because of its terminal condition have less of a right to life than you or me?) Option two might be rejected on the grounds that it would be too hard to come up with the necessary constitutional wording. Option three is deletion of the Eighth Amendment and its replacement with a stipulation that a restrictive law, which would be published and put before the Irish people ahead of a referendum, would have constitutional standing and could not be changed without another referendum. Of all these options, the first is the absolute worst from a pro-life point of view. As mentioned, a 'restrictive' law could quickly be made less restrictive. Furthermore, constitutional expert Professor Gerry Whyte has argued recently that if the Eighth Amendment is simply deleted, then attempts to put in place legislative restrictions on a woman's 'right to choose' could easily end up being struck down by the Supreme Court. We could soon end up with something not far off an unlimited right to abortion. As for the mechanics of the Citizens' Assembly, let's see how well it is run. Its predecessor, the Constitutional Convention, rushed through issue after issue. A topic as important as marriage and the family was considered in a single weekend. Ridiculous. Also, some of the experts appointed by the Convention to inform the various sessions were arguably not as neutral as they were meant to be. But whatever the Assembly decides, it will not be the exercise in democracy the Government will purport it to be. Instead it will be a demonstration of the power of pressure groups, allied with the media, to make an astroturf campaign look like a real, grassroots campaign. By definition, that isn't very democratic. Entries are being invited for the 62nd Wicklow ICA Drama Festival which takes in Glenealy Village Hall from January 20 to January 22, 2017. This is an open festival, not confined to ICA groups. There are two sections in the festival. Section A is for one act plays or a single act from a full length play and Section B caters for sketches. The 61st drama festival proved a great success, with audiences enjoying six one act plays and five sketches over three nights. For full details and entry form contact Hilda Roche (087) 9833935 or email chroche@eircom.net. Edward is an adorable puppy: he's five months old, at that gawky stage of having a puppy's playful mind in the body of a young adult dog. Edward accompanied me last week on Irish breakfast television to highlight an important issue: puppy smuggling. Edward is now blessed with a lovely home, living with a family who dote on him. But his life didn't start out that way. He was bred by somebody who planned to use him to make a significant amount of cash. He was one of a group of twenty young puppies who were found crammed into the boot of a car in Cairnryan ferry port in Scotland in July. The puppies were all too young to travel, were not accompanied by pet passports and, although microchipped, they had not been registered. The puppies were seized by the Scottish SPCA and returned to Ireland. The rescued puppies, aged from 4 - 8 weeks old, including Shih Tzu's, Bichon Frise, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Pugs and Cocker Spaniels, all classic "on trend" breeds of dog that are much in demand. They were transported to the ISPCA's National Animal Centre in Longford, where they were given all of the treatment they needed to ensure that they had a good start in life. They were then successfully rehomed. Edward's story has a happy ending, but it rarely works out like this for smuggled puppies. Some of them die in transit, and the rest are sold for cash. They are treated as money-making commodities rather than sentient, living creatures. The people who buy them don't realise their origins, and after the stress they've been through, the pups are far more likely to fall ill, to develop behavioural problems and to have a range of long term issues. Every year, tens of thousands of under-age, unvaccinated, undocumented puppies are smuggled out of Ireland. It's a tax-avoiding, heartless trade, but it's now on the radar of the officials charged with controlling cross-border transfer of dogs. There are now serious EU-imposed controls on the export of dogs to the UK, with rules affecting pet dogs, and different rules for puppies destined for selling to new homes. Puppy smugglers try to dodge these rules, but the regulatory bodies are now on to their case, and there have been a high number of seizures of puppies at ports in recent months. It's now getting so difficult to smuggle dogs that hopefully people will be deterred from trying, so that the problem will ease. What are the rules for pets and for dogs that are planned to be sold in the UK? It's simpler for pet owners. All pet dogs must be microchipped, they need to have a pet passport (obtained from their local vet), and they must be given a rabies vaccination three weeks before travelling to the UK. The rabies vaccine lasts for three years, so for regular travellers, this is not an onerous demand. The rules are stricter for dogs and puppies that are destined to be passed on to new homes in the UK There is a specific European Directive - known as the Balai Directive - that governs the cross border transport of all dogs other than personal pets. Any dogs being exported for commercial purposes (e.g. any puppy to be sold or rehomed) must comply with Balai Directive, which has been in place for two years. This applies as much as dogs travelling from France to Germany, or the Netherlands to Belgium, as much as it does between Ireland and the UK. It's been introduced as a way of regulating trade in living animals. Other animals - such as farm animals - are equally tightly controlled for cross-border trade. The Balai Directive lays down strict rules for puppies and dogs that are crossing borders. They need to be microchipped, registered and vaccinated against rabies three weeks before travel. Critically, they have to be at least twelve weeks old on the date of travel (In fact, since the rabies vaccine cannot be given earlier than twelve weeks of age, no puppy is allowed to travel before it's 15 weeks old ). Additionally, all pups and dogs have to be health checked by a vet within two days of the date of transport, and they must have a certificate stating this. The premises where the dogs begin their journey must be registered and approved by the authorities in the exporting country as "Balai compliant premises", and they can only be transported in a "Type Two Transporter": this is a vehicle that has been formally registered for transporting dogs These rules involves a significant financial cost, and that's why so many people try to smuggle puppies out, in car boots and vans. Authorities in both the UK and Ireland have begun to crack down on the ferry port routes - often from the Republic via Northern Ireland and on to Scotland - used to transport pups. International, multi-agency action is clamping down on puppy smugglers. "Operation Delphin" is a joint operation by animal protection officers in Scotland and Ireland (SSPCA, RSPCA, ISPCA, DSPCA) as well as customs, Revenue Commissioners, ferry operators and other UK and Irish authorities. They have been using intelligence gained from observing people selling puppies in the UK to target vehicles and individuals at ports. So here's the good news: at last, the puppy smugglers are losing the battle. More than 800 leaks have been addressed by Irish Water so far this year, according to figures released by the utility provider. Irish Water has repaired 232 public water network leaks in Co Wicklow while a further 574 leaks have been repaired at properties under the 'First Fix Free' scheme. Works are continuing around the county on the public network. Repairs have been carried out on three leaks reported in Bray at Seapoint Court, Colahan Terrace and Main Street, Vevay, while five further leaks were repaired in Arklow and investigations have been undertaken on leaks in Greystones. In relation to Greystones, Irish Water has submitted an application for a road opening licence to carry out the repair at Blacklion. Leakage repairs on the public network are prioritised to address the most critical issues, ensuring a cost effective approach is undertaken to repair leaks in the network. Irish Water said that it is also is progressing with a contract to repair a number of non-priority leaks that have been identified on the public network. It is expected that the programme will commence shortly. The 'First Fix Free' encourages householders to contact Irish Water to request a free leak investigation and, if necessary, avail of a free fix on a leak within their property boundary that has occurred outside of their home. The 574 customer leaks repaired in Co Wicklow this year is estimated to be saving 1.18 million litres of water per day. Lost water due to leakage is estimated at 47 per cent nationally based on figures from the national metering programme, and in Wicklow the figure is 37 per cent across on 2015 figures. Irish Water says that the work carried out to date in tandem with the 'First Fix' scheme is helping to reduce leakage in Wicklow below the national average. A victim of flooding at the Holywell estate in Kilcoole said that she wants an independent survey to be carried out on the estate. The developers of the estate and Wicklow County Council have been working towards works to correct the issue. However, the resident said that she would prefer to see the council use the developer's bond to have independent contractors survey and correct any flooding dangers 'I was asked for an opinion on the proposal and my observations,' said the woman, whose house was one of eight flooded in the early hours of January 7. In the meantime, she said that the ongoing fear of flood waters returning during the winter is 'really concerning and upsetting' and that she has 'no peace of mind'. 'I lost my car and the ground floor of my home,' said the woman. 'I'm not an engineer so I'm not signing off on any proposal. 'I've lost faith in the county council due the length of time this is taking,' she added. Members of Greystones Municipal District heard at a recent meeting that this is a planning matter. According to District Engineer Ruairi O'Hanlon, planning officials have met with residents to go through the proposals and a process is being followed by the planning section. The estate is not yet in the charge of Wicklow County Council. Developers, planners, former OPW minister Simon Harris and members of Wicklow County Council met as far back as February, when developers Kings Cross agreed to carry out an analysis of the stream and put interim measures in place before coming up with a final plan. With the estate not in charge, the developers have responsibility for the area. Two Wicklow entrepreneurs have been short-listed on a prestigious list of 12 Irish start-ups who are in with a chance of winning the highly coveted ESB Spark of Genius Awards. Shane Byrne's company 'Responder Technologies' is located in Broomhall Business Park, Rathnew, and supports independent living through technology and will be hoping to be selected as one of the three finalists who will head to Lisbon to compete for the ESB Spark of Genius Award. The company was established in May of this year. Also on the shortlist is Mark Bennett's company 'BikeLook', whose mission is to use bluetooth sensors on bikes and racks to help combat Dublin's 10 million bike theft problem. The short-listed entrepreneurs will pitch to a panel of judges live on 2FM's The Eoghan McDermott Show. The panel of live judges include: John McKiernan, Head of External Collaboration at ESB; Joan Mulvihill, Irish Internet Association CEO; Emmet Ryan, Technology Editor, Sunday Business Post; Jenny O'Doherty, Head of Startups, Web Summit and Mikey Cannon, co-founder, Bizimply, who went on to win the 2015 Spark of Genius Award at last year's Web Summit. The ESB Spark of Genius Award provides a platform for high potential technology start-ups who have been in operation for less than three years and have received under 1m in funding. A fire at the council depot in Greystones on Monday evening may have been started by a stray firework. The fire broke out in materials used for road construction which were outside the building. The fire spread to the building itself and cause some damage to the wall of the depot. Two units of Greystones Fire Service, and one from Bray, attended the scene from approximately 7.30 p.m. The cladding on the outside of the back wall was burned, with extensive damage to the outside. It is understood that gardai may be investigating the possibility that a firework could have ignited the materials, which included rubber. There was a large amount of smoke produced, and a strong smell, but no injuries occurred. Patricia Shortt, manager, with tutors and staff of the Wicklow Trade Union Centre in their computer room 'It's a great joy in having someone come in and not know anything about computers and see them walk out with the skills and a smile on their face. There's a great joy when I take somebody on CE and see them go on to employment.' This was Patricia Shortt, manager of the Wicklow Trade Union Centre, on the work carried out in the office off Bray's Main Street. The centre was established in 1993 and was a response by the Trade Union movement to the problem of unemployment, at that time running at over 4,500 in the Bray area alone. The centre adopted a policy that its service would expand to all the unemployed and disadvantaged, whether coming from a trade union background or not. 'Initially it was set up for information so that people could access their entitlements and then provide secretarial services to provide with CVs and so on,' said PAtricia. 'When I came in 2000 we started training. We got a computer suite from the Bank of Ireland back then and started teaching ECDL, then equal skills, and other computer courses. Then in 2006 we became FETAC accredited so that meant we could offer more training to our client group.' The whole ethos of the centre is to help people out of unemployment. As well as offering CV and form-filling services, guidance and courses to the public, members of staff at the centre are on community employment schemes. 'All the staff are unemployed and on CE to get training to get employment. It's so successful this year that I've no staff! We've gone down to 11 staff from 19,' said Patricia.' People are working there in accounts, on reception, as tutors and in other areas, gaining the skills and confidence to apply for employment. They offer courses based on what the demand might be, and what can be funded. There are currently 13 people studying customer service, six in equal computer skills, and seven waiting for ECDL. The centre is also working with Skillsnet, under the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, to provide upskill training for people in employment. 'It's free training so the employer gets a better work force free of charge, and the individual gains new skills,' said Patricia. 'I feel the centre works holistically,' she said. 'People come to see the information officer. Things come out of that conversation and they might go for training at the centre or elsewhere. The most important part is the client - the service we have for the client.' The Bray centre is there and available for the entire county, as well as Shankill. Funding is provided by the government, directly for staff wages and overheads, and through the individual for things like training. One of the changes Patricia noticed during the downturn was the emergence of people with third level qualifications looking for CE places. Now, she said, there would appear to be more jobs out there. 'It's lovely to see them getting on,' she said. 'Of the staff who have applied for jobs, 99 per cent got them.' She said that working in Wicklow Trade Union Centre is 'a very rewarding and enjoyable job'. Two of Ireland's leading ensembles Chamber Choir Ireland and Chatham Saxophone Quartet will join forces for a programme of exquisite choral music in Drogheda. Given the beauty of the acoustics in St Peter's Church of Ireland, this will be a magnificent concert for any choral music lovers. The programme will feature works by great choral composers including Britten and Bruckner and also Arvo Part's famous Fratres, which many will recall was performed in the church in the presence of the composer himself in 2008. Recognised for its unique approach to recording and programming, Chamber Choir Ireland is Ireland's foremost choral ensemble. Under its award-winning Artistic Director Paul Hillier, the choir has gained a reputation for outstanding performances of works spanning early to contemporary music. Runaway winners of Music Network's Young Musicwide Award in 2012, the Chatham Saxophone Quartet has repeatedly won plaudits for its brilliant performances and versatility. This performance will be conducted by renowned and multi-award winning British musicologist James Wood. The Drogheda International Classical Music Series is presented in partnership with Droichead Arts Centre and funded by the Arts Council and Create Louth. The event will take place on Friday, October 21st at 7.30pm in St Peter's Church of Ireland and promises to be a programme not to be missed for all music lovers. Tickets are 18 / 16 conc. / 5 children & students. A season ticket can be purchased for just 100. Booking through Droichead Arts Centre on 041 9833946 or www.droichead.com Natalie Hughes is the second person to be kicked off The Apprentice. Apprentice candidate Natalie Hughes has admitted it was her time to leave the competition after becoming the second person to be fired by Lord Sugar. The hair and beauty salon owner from Glasgow was eliminated from the BBC programme for her apparent lack of involvement in a task to create an advertising campaign for jeans. Hughes, 30, confessed to feeling "out of my comfort zone" while taking part in the show, in which candidates compete to win a 250,000 investment from Lord Sugar for their business plans. She said it was the "right decision" to be given the firing finger after the business boss made the shock declaration that neither of the teams had won the challenge. The girls were led by Jessica Cunningham in the task, which required them to come up with packaging for Japanese jeans, as well as a brand name, digital billboards and a TV advertisement. Nebular struggled under online fashion entrepreneur Cunningham's leadership, with a particularly embarrassing moment coming as she failed to realise she had misplaced the jeans needed for their photo shoot. The boys team, led by digital marketing manager Mukai Noiri, also floundered as they did not manage to complete every element of the task amid rising tensions between the team members. Lord Sugar said to the candidates in the boardroom: "Normally, in this task, I make the decision as to which of those were the best. Well I tell you what, I am not putting my name to either of those advertising campaigns." He dubbed both campaign as "totally, absolutely useless" and revealed his anger that "not one of you geniuses came through and ran this thing properly". Cunningham opted to bring Alana Spencer and Hughes back into the boardroom for the showdown, while Noiri chose JD O'Brien and Karthik Nagesan as his bottom two. Video of the Day Lord Sugar came to the decision to axe Hughes from the competition as he could not see her as a potential business partner. He said: "Natalie, you've been a bit quiet, you've not been pushing yourself forward. It is regretful that this is only the second week but Natalie, you're fired." Hughes, who previously described herself as a "hustler", told the Press Association: "I think it was the right decision, I think he always makes the right decision... it's his show, his rules; whatever he says goes." She added that her team "should have won" the challenge because they managed to complete every part of the task, but admitted she "hated the two adverts, I hated it all". Hughes said that The Apprentice "wasn't for me at all" and that she was surprised how "quiet and unconfident" she came across on the programme. The Apprentice continues next Thursday at 9pm on BBC One. Michael Sheen said despite being born three years after the event, he 'grew up with an awareness of it' Welsh actors Michael Sheen, Sian Phillips and Jonathan Pryce are set to star in a 60 minute BBC film marking 50 years since the Aberfan disaster. Using verse, imagery, and music, the film, titled The Green Hollow, explores the identity of the village before and after the tragedy which claimed the lives of 144 people, including 116 children, in October 1966. Written by award winning poet, novelist and playwright Owen Sheers, the film-cum-poem draws on interviews with survivors, parents and those involved in the rescue operation, many of whom have never spoken about their experiences. The tragedy, which all but wiped out an entire generation of the community's schoolchildren, devastated the community after a coal waste tip slid down a mountain, engulfing a school and surrounding houses. Award-winning actor Michael Sheen said despite being born three years after the event, he "grew up with an awareness of it". He added: "Nothing can compare to the unimaginable suffering that was inflicted upon that community, but it was a suffering that resonated with the whole country and beyond. "From the moment you first hear the story of October 21st and try to imagine what that day must have been like for everyone there it stays with you for the rest of your life. It certainly has with me." Game Of Thrones actor Robert Pugh was a teenager and lived in the next valley to Aberfan in 1966. "Chaos - People shouting, men and women digging at piles of black waste and forming lines to pass down the buckets of mud. "It was chaotic, all mixed up and I'll always think of those men and women scrabbling around in that mud," Pugh said. Video of the Day Pirates Of The Caribbean star Pryce drew similarities with the disaster to the Syria civil war, saying: "Sadly, the images of children buried alive in Aleppo continue to remind us of the contempt with which our leaders still view the lives of innocents." :: Aberfan: The Green Hollow airs on BBC1 Wales on Friday October 21 at 9pm and on BBC Four on Sunday October 23 at 8pm. Jim Kowalczik plays with Jimbo at the Orphaned Wildlife Centre in upstate New York (AP) Jim Kowalczik plays with Jimbo at the Orphaned Wildlife Centre in upstate New York (AP) A New York couple have shown how they are not afraid of getting up close and personal with huge bears at their rescue centre. Jim and Susan Kowalczik care for bears including 1,500lb Jimbo at the Orphaned Wildlife Centre, 60 miles north-west of New York City. The couple have cared for Jimbo for almost 23 years, since he first came to the couple's haven for injured or unwanted animals as a bottle-feeding cub. "He'll play with you all day if you have the time," Mr Kowalczik said, adding that it's fortunate the bear doesn't throw his weight around casually. "If he lays on you, you've got a problem." Jimbo is among the 11 bears living at the couple's non- centre. One of them, a black bear named Frankie, was born in the wild and found his way here in 2012 after being hit by a car. The rest of the bears here were born in captivity, eight of them Syrian brown bears or mixes that came from a breeding programme. Jimbo came from a West Coast game farm with an injured leg. Mr Kowalczik has grabbed attention for his hands-on approach. One Facebook video of him playing with Jimbo has received more than 16 million views. He describes it as if it was something as natural as petting a dog. The bears are like his children, he said, and they have never injured him. "There's no false pretences like there are with people and stuff," Mr Kowalczik said. "What you see is what you get." The couple have been rehabilitating squirrels, ducks, deer, mink and other animals together since the early 1990s. The main goal is to release animals, but the bears here cannot be released because of injuries or because they are too accustomed to captivity. Bears are in 57-year-old Susan Kowalczik's bloodline. Her father, Albert Rix, was a well-known circus veteran from Germany who raised Syrian brown bears. Jim, 60, is a retired corrections officer. The Kowalcziks funded the venture out of their own pockets until creating the non-profit last year, which allows them to take donations. A metal detectorist who only started treasure hunting after his daughter rejected a detector he bought for her has sold an "extraordinarily rare" Tudor ring he found for a five figure sum. Lee Rossiter, 43, who found The Green Hammerton Ring, said he bought a cheap detector on eBay for his daughter but she did not want it and so he gave detectoring a go himself. Eighteen months later, Mr Rossiter was searching with the Yorkshire Searchers Metal Detecting Club at Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, in April 2015, when he found the 15th century gold ring. But he said he only found it by chance when his detector picked up a signal as he was walking back to his car to get a coat. Technical writer Lee said: "I got really excited. So far I had only found the odd silver coin but this looked like a proper piece of jewellery, which seemed to be made of gold. "One of my friends said it was far too yellow to be real gold and looked like costume jewellery, I should just throw it away. "But the ring was relatively heavy and I thought I better ask our dig organiser, Stuart Littlewood. Luckily he confirmed that this was definitely an antique ring, most likely Tudor Gold." The ring, which is a double-bezel chased finger ring in the form of a flower is set with a ruby and an emerald and is engraved in Medieval French. Scans at the British Museum showed the ring was 78-80% gold and confirmed the nature of the precious stones . The ring was classified as treasure but local museums were not able to raise the funds. Mr Rossiter agreed to split any proceeds from a sale with the landowner. Cheshire-based auctioneer Mark Littler advised him to sell directly to a collector rather than go through an auction. Mr Littler said: "I was excited when Lee first approached me as medieval jewellery is more often found in museums, not fields. "I knew immediately that this was an important find and would require some thought as to how best to sell it. It was decided that an auction might not be the best course of action as the ring would be worth more to a private collector if it had not already been presented to the market." He said he brokered a sale with dealers Wartski, in Mayfair, who have been supplying the royal family with jewellery for generations. "I contacted them and negotiated a private treaty sale for a five figure sum for my client which was a great result," Mr Littler said. Kieran McCarthy, director of Wartski, said : "We have a strong interest in medieval rings and were thrilled to have the opportunity of purchasing this one. "Jewels of this calibre are extraordinarily rare and it is magical when the ground presents them as gifts to those who look for them." The Twitter account of "King Harold" has fallen silent, after a final tweet marking the death of England's last Anglo-Saxon king at the Battle of Hastings 950 years ago. Throughout the year, key players in the struggle for the throne in 1066 have posted on Twitter their version of events, as part of a social media campaign by English Heritage to tell the story of the most famous date in England's history. The campaign has culminated in King Harold, Saxon farmers, William of Normandy and Norman knights tweeting their experiences of the battle's ebb and flow 950 years to the day after it was fought. But at 4.03pm a final tweet from @King_Harold66 was sent out, marking his death 950 years ago through the very modern medium of emojis - a bow and arrow, crossed swords and a skull. The twitter accounts of eight medieval characters who have been charting the year's events is just one of the ways charity English Heritage, which looks after the site at Battle, East Sussex, where the clash took place, is marking the anniversary. A group of re-enactors have commemorated the dash south made by King Harold, after defeating a Viking army led by Harald Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, to confront the Norman invaders. Over the weekend English Heritage will stage a re-enactment of the battle. There has also been a major 1.8 million conservation and re-presentation of the 1066 battlefield and abbey and creation of a sequel to the Bayeux Tapestry featuring the most important historic moments since 1066, as voted for by children across the country. Kate Mavor, chief executive of English Heritage, said: "Exactly 950 years ago today, two armies met on this very field in East Sussex, and the outcome defined England for centuries. "It was arguably the single most important battle in our history. The legacy of 1066 can be seen across our country, in our castles, in our language and laws, even our food. "Over this year, English Heritage has marked this anniversary in different ways, from opening up new spaces at the battlefield to engaging children in the story of 1066." Winnie-the-Pooh, based on author AA Milne's son Christopher Robin and his stuffed toys - was first published in 1926 (Egmont Publishing/PA) He is perhaps the most famous bear in literature and now, on Winnie-the-Pooh's 90th birthday, one academic believes the "Poohisms" uttered in AA Milne's classic children's books are life lessons that rival the wisdom of the greatest Greek philosophers. When Winnie-the-Pooh - based on the author's son Christopher Robin and his stuffed toys - was first published in 1926 it was an immediate success, selling 35,000 copies in Britain and 150,000 in the US. Pooh fascination endures to this day, and Catherine McCall believes part of the allure of the thoughtful little bear is that the stories pose life's big questions in a way children can understand simply. Dr McCall, a patron of the Philosophy Foundation, told the Press Association: "What I see in Pooh is really something just the same as the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, which is 'how to live a good life'. "That is really what philosophy started being about and has been about for most of 2,000 years. "Pooh addresses the same thing, but the way that the Poohisms are, they are a lot more accessible than reading ancient philosophers. "Somehow AA Milne really managed to encapsulate the thoughts of great philosophers in really simple, direct language that people can access and understand." Dr McCall believes the language given by Milne to his characters allow children and adults to explore complex ideas as they are reading. She said: "There's one (Poohism) I think is absolutely amazing, and it's so simple: 'People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day'. "As soon as you hear that you think about what 'nothing' means, because there are four or five meanings of 'nothing' in that little sentence, and you're thinking, 'what does impossible mean', and 'what does nothing is impossible' mean. Immediately you are thinking philosophically, whatever age you are." Dr McCall believes the 2,000-year-old ideas explored in Pooh are still vital today. She said: "I think they will always be relevant to human beings as long as we are human, because they are deeply to do with the human condition. "Every generation needs to discover for itself how to live the good life. We think that things like technology and modern items change life dramatically, but the really important things about being human don't really change." Such is the enduring love for Winnie-the-Pooh that i t was recently named the UK's favourite children's book of the past 150 years. A new book, The Best Bear In All The World, was released earlier this month to mark the 90th anniversary. One of its four authors, Brian Sibley, said the original books were still appealing because of Milne's "brilliant dialogue", which he said was "crisp and sharp and sparkles with wit". He said the books work on multiple levels, with children able to enjoy the simple plots and be rewarded by understanding what is happening far before the character themselves do. But adults can appreciate them because the characters reflect real life. He said: "That's the brilliance of Milne as a playwright and dramatist in that what you get is characters that we all identify with - in our office, in our family. "Wherever we are we all tend to know somebody who tends to be on the gloomy side like Eeyore, or a bit slow on the uptake like Pooh, or a bit nervous like Piglet, or bossy like Rabbit." Mr Sibley said the tales were "timeless", constructed in a world entirely reliant on itself and uncluttered by outside influence, similar to the worlds of Peter Pan or Wind In The Willows. He said the stories help readers u nderstand their own place in the world and tolerate other people who are not the same as them. To mark 90 years of Pooh, Disney has created a "Thotful Spot" bench that will tour the UK, complete with a talking Winnie-the-Pooh statue that voices the bear's top life lessons. When Warriena Wright, right, first issued the cry, Gable Tostee, left, responded: 'I would, but you have been a bad girl' The devastated mother of a girl who jumped to her death during a Tinder date heard her daughter's chilling last words in court. Warriena Wright (26) plunged to her death from a 14th floor balcony because she was so intimidated by a Tinder date, an Australian court heard. Gable Tostee is accused of killing Ms Wright after they met for the first time through Tinder and went back to his apartment. Ms Wright allegedly fell to her death in fear and was attempting to climb from a balcony when she slipped. Marzabeth Tagpuno Wright was distraught outside the Brisbane Supreme Court after she heard the tape of her daughter yelling, No, no no just before she plunged 14 stories to her death from Gable Tostees 14th-floor balcony at his posh Gold Coast apartment in Australia, the Courier Mail said. I did not want to hear my daughter screaming, No, no, no, the mom said in a statement. I did not want to have to remember her like that, she said. When this is over, I will go back to New Zealand and I want to be left alone. Expand Close Gable Tostee and Warriena Wright in his apartment just hours before she fell to her death. Picture:Supplied by Queensland Supreme CourtSource / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gable Tostee and Warriena Wright in his apartment just hours before she fell to her death. Picture:Supplied by Queensland Supreme CourtSource She said the media has made her time in Australia the most saddest, hardest trip I have ever had to endure. The pair had made contact on Tinder six days before the incident and had agreed to meet at a surf shop in a busy nightclub district near Tostees apartment in Surfers Paradise, a popular beachside holiday destination. Read More They met at 8.45pm on February 7, 2014, and bought beer before returning to Tostees apartment, where they were recorded talking about God, ninjas and the film Forrest Gump. Glen Cash, the prosecutor, told the Supreme Court in Brisbane that they had engaged in drinking and had been intimate before altercation took place early on the Friday morning. During the audio recording played to the court, Ms Wright could be heard asking to leave several times but the pair continued to drink and talk. At one point, she told him: Are you going to f---ing untie me because I will f---ing destroy your jaw." Expand Close Warriena Wright was so intimidated by her Tinder date that she plunged to her death from his balcony while trying to escape / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Warriena Wright was so intimidated by her Tinder date that she plunged to her death from his balcony while trying to escape He is heard to say: "I should have never given you so much to drink... You're not going to collect any belongings, you're just going to walk out. If you try to pull anything I'll knock you out, I'll knock you the f--- out. Do you understand?" Mr Cash said the prosecution was not alleging that Tostee had thrown or pushed Ms Wright but that he threatened her and left her with no other choice but to try to escape by climbing down from the locked balcony. The accused has pleaded not guilty and denied strangling Ms Wright, insisting that he restrained her in self-defence. His lawyer Saul Holt QC claimed that Ms Wright, who was visiting Australia for a two-week holiday, became violent and threw decorative rocks at him as well as hitting him with a clamp from a telescope. "What happened in this case is nothing like murder or manslaughter, it doesn't fit," Mr Holt told the court. "She is outside, he is inside and he has caused a locked door to be between the two of them. Gabriele Collyer-Wiedner, a retiree who lived in the apartment below Tostees, claims she was woken be the sound of banging furniture at 2am. She said she could see a pair of feet dangling from the balcony above. "Legs came down and dangled in the air," she told the court. "I froze there, then the body fell on my balcony railing. I screamed and somebody else screamed, I assumed it was her voice. Following Ms Wrights fall to the driveway below, Tostee attempted to call his lawyer and then called his father. She kept beating me up and whatever," he could be heard telling his father in the audio recording. "I forced her out onto the balcony and I think she might have jumped off." The case continues on today and further extracts of the audio recording are due to be played to the jury. An autopsy has confirmed that a Syrian man who was believed to have been plotting a bombing attack killed himself in his jail cell in Leipzig An autopsy has confirmed that a 22-year-old Syrian man who was believed to have been plotting a bombing attack killed himself in his jail cell in Leipzig, German authorities say. Leipzig prosecutor Ricardo Schulz told the dpa news agency the autopsy showed Jaber Albakr died after strangling himself with his T-shirt. Mr Schulz said: "As a result of the investigation, so far the Leipzig prosecutors' office believes the deceased committed suicide." Saxony officials have been widely criticised for their handling of the case, from initially letting Albakr elude them as they prepared to raid the apartment where he was staying - to allowing him to take his own life. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Friday again stressed "those responsible know there is still a lot of work ahead of them". President Barack Obama arrives to speak at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (AP) New allegations of sexual misconduct rocked Donald Trump's campaign on Friday as the candidate denounced his accusers, blasted news organisations that have reported the claims and said it all shows "the whole election is being rigged". The Republican presidential nominee said his advisers have urged him to talk about other issues, but he felt compelled to defend himself against a stream of accusations from women he said he has never met. "I feel I have to talk about it," he told a rally at Greensboro, North Carolina, adding, "It's a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are." The latest accuser, a former contestant on Trump's reality show, The Apprentice, said he made unwanted sexual advances at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007. Summer Zervos, 41, is among several women who have made similar allegations in the past week. Ms Zervos was an Apprentice contestant in 2006. She said she later contacted Mr Trump to inquire about a job with one of his businesses. She said she had an initial meeting with Mr Trump, and when they parted he kissed her on the lips and asked for her phone number. Weeks later Mr Trump called to invite her to meet him at a hotel, she said, and during their meeting he became sexually aggressive, kissing her open mouthed and touching her breast. Earlier Friday, the Washington Post reported the contentions of another woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Mr Trump. Kristin Anderson told the Post she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when someone's hand reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear. Ms Anderson told the newspaper that she pushed the hand away, turned around and recognised Mr Trump as the man who had groped her. "It's nonsense," Mr Trump said. "It's false." He said his accusers are looking for "fast fame" by making unsubstantiated claims. "These people are sick," he said. His running mate, Mike Pence, said earlier on Friday that the Trump campaign will soon produce evidence to support Mr Trump's denial that he forced himself on women. In his Greensboro remarks, Mr Trump took aim at the news media, accusing reporters of conspiring with Democrat Hillary Clinton to defeat his candidacy. "This whole election is being rigged," he declared. The accusations of sexual misconduct, he said, are "poisoning the minds of the electorate." "It's one big fix," he said. Mrs Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama say Americans are learning more about unacceptable behaviour by Mr Trump every day. "We can't expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, let alone for four years," the first lady told Clinton supporters at a rally in New Hampshire. In a passionate address on Thursday, Mrs Obama said that after years of working to end "this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect ... we're hearing these exact same things on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it". In an appearance on Friday on Fox News, Republican vice presidential candidate Mr Pence blamed the news media for what he characterised as an obsession with "unsubstantiated" claims by Mr Trump's accusers. "There will be more evidence coming out" to prove Mr Trump's innocence, Mr Pence said. Asked what evidence he was talking about, he said, "The campaign is working on bringing that information out." He did not elaborate. Mrs Clinton had no rallies planned on Friday, but President Barack Obama campaigned for her in Ohio. The president chided Mr Trump for claiming the election is rigged against him, and he asserted that the Republican poses a risk to the American political system. "Democracy is on the ballot," Mr Obama said in Cleveland. The allegations against Mr Trump and his counter-charges dominated the campaign on Thursday and have distracted attention from the release of thousands of hacked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta that include some potentially damaging information. A batch of emails released on Thursday by WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group, indicated that Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign had tried to move the Illinois Democratic primary to a later date, believing it might help her. On Friday WikiLeaks released a fresh pile of emails from Mr Podesta's private account. Mr Trump asserts that the news media is soft-pedalling the WikiLeaks emails at his expense. Five women have told publications detailed stories about encounters with Mr Trump that ended with groping, kissing and other unwanted sexual advances. Mr Trump's struggling candidacy is clearly having an impact on the Republican Party's ability to raise money. The Republican National Committee has raised about 25% less over the past three months than it did over the same period four years ago, when Mitt Romney was leading the ticket. The RNC said on Friday that it raised 39.4 million dollars last month, compared to 48.4 million dollars in September 2012. It says it has raised 262.3 million dollars since January 2015, about 20 million dollars more than it had by this time in 2012. Mr Trump's claims that he is being falsely accused of inappropriate conduct with women appeared undermined by a video that surfaced last week in which he bragged about kissing and groping women without their permission. Similar behaviour was detailed by women who accused Mr Trump in articles published late on Wednesday by The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post. Separately, a People magazine reporter offered a first-person account accusing Mr Trump of attacking her in 2005 while she was in Florida to interview him and his pregnant wife. The New York billionaire denied the allegations and blamed them on Mrs Clinton's campaign and a complicit news media. He promised to sue his media critics and said he was preparing evidence that would discredit his female accusers, whom he called "horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars". For her part, Mrs Clinton said "the disturbing stories just keep on coming." AP Police outside a house on the junction of Harwich Road with Tara Close in Colchester, Essex, after a baby boy was killed and a second child injured in a dog attack Credit: Sam Russell/PA Wire A four-month-old baby was killed and his 22-month-old brother seriously injured when they were bitten by a dog. The boys' mother was also hurt in the attack in Colchester, Essex. Police were called to a house in Harwich Road at 3.10pm on Thursday. Neighbour Scott Mills, who lives opposite, became aware of a "commotion" when he saw four police cars and two ambulances arrive at the family home. The 24-year-old was among a crowd of concerned neighbours and passers-by who gathered as emergency services cordoned off the road. He said: "When we heard that a baby had died, everyone was very upset. It's dreadful and so tragic. Expand Close Police outside a house on the junction of Harwich Road with Tara Close in Colchester, Essex, after a baby boy was killed and a second child injured in a dog attack Credit: Sam Russell/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police outside a house on the junction of Harwich Road with Tara Close in Colchester, Essex, after a baby boy was killed and a second child injured in a dog attack Credit: Sam Russell/PA Wire "There were a lot of children about because of the time - a lot of children were coming home from school." Mr Mills believes the dog was a Staffordshire bull terrier-type, although the breed has not been confirmed by police. "I saw the dog being taken away. At 4pm a black van arrived," he said. "The dog was taken out of the property at 4.30pm. It was on a pole lead. It wasn't a normal Staffie. It was a lot more chunky - probably a Staffordshire cross or some kind of bulldog breed. "No-one opposite knows the family but I wish them the best at this awful time for them after a tragic accident." Police have not confirmed the breed of dog involved in the attack but said the animal was put down with the owner's consent. No arrests have been made. Another neighbour, who did not want to be named but was at home at the time of the incident, said: "The whole community is in shock. It's all very upsetting. You are caught off guard with these things. "I am very upset about it all. My children saw it (the aftermath) and are very upset. "We suddenly saw police cars at the house and the fact that it was two children is very upsetting. The little baby couldn't have done anything. It's just so sad. "I didn't know the family well but you look out of the window and recognise your neighbours. I just can't believe it." Will Quince, MP for Colchester, spoke of his sorrow at the incident, tweeting: "So sad to hear of the death of a baby in a dog attack in Colchester. "My thoughts and prayers are with his brother now at Colchester Hospital." Chief Inspector Elliot Judge said: "This is a tragic incident that Essex Police is investigating. Specially trained officers are providing support to the family at this difficult time." There have been 83 deaths from dog bites in England and Wales in the last 35 years, the most coming in 2009 when there were six, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Between 1982 and 1986 seven people were killed, and another eight between 1987 and 1991, when the Dangerous Dogs Act was introduced. But in the following five years there were six deaths, between 1992 and 1996, and eight more from 1997 to 2001. This preceded a major upturn in the number of dog bite deaths. The number more than doubled between 2002 and 2006, when there were 17, followed by 19 deaths between 2007 to 2011. Including Thursday's tragedy there have been 18 deaths since 2012. Fears of a campaign of cyber attacks on leading airlines have grown after a systems issue delayed United Airlines flights worldwide. A spokesman for United told The Independent: We are aware of an issue with our systems that is resulting in flight delays. We are working to resolve the issue and get customers to their destinations as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience. United is the worlds third-biggest airline, after Delta and American. The first flight from the UK was due out at 7.30am, to Washington DC, but passengers were told that the plane would be an hour late. Passengers around the world expressed frustration at the delay. At 8.15am London time, United said: As of 3 am ET [Eastern Time], the system issue has been resolved. Any delayed flights are resuming. United troubles again! Flight for LAX to Boston now has been delayed 3 hours stuck on tarmac for over an hour #UnitedAirlines #dontflyunited John Vidovich (@jnvido) October 14, 2016 Knock knock? Who's there? An infant, a toddler & 2 tired parents stuck on the tarmac because of systemwide outage. #UnitedAirlines Carly Lodge (@carlylane_sf) October 14, 2016 What in the world is going on with #unitedairlines How does an entire airline's system meltdown? Ashley Stracke (@WhatAshleySaid) October 14, 2016 In August, Delta Airlines - the worlds biggest carrier - experienced a worldwide systems failure which led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and delays to thousands more. The airline blamed a power problem, and denied that its system had been breached, but cyber-security experts were sceptical. Last month, British Airways passengers were hit with long delays after what the airline called a problem with our check-in system. Airlines are heavily dependent on their computer systems for almost every aspect of their operations, from issuing boarding passes to loading baggage and cargo. While they can revert to manual operations, the processes involved can cause severe delays which in turn lead to cancellations. There is no suggestion that flight safety is compromised. First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon speaks as the SNPs biggest-ever conference began in Glasgow. Photo: John Linton/PA Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced legislation will be published next week that would allow a Scottish independence referendum to take place before Brexit. Yesterday she warned British Prime Minister Theresa May that she is not bluffing. Ms Sturgeon relieved the pressure from her party's rank-and-file and Alex Salmond to call a re-run of the 2014 vote by announcing at the SNP conference in Glasgow that the Scottish Government will publish a draft bill for public consultation. To rapturous applause and cheers from the delegates, she said this would allow another referendum to take place before the two-year Article 50 process for Britain leaving the EU is completed in 2019. Ms Sturgeon warned Ms May not to "think for one second that I'm not serious" about triggering another referendum if Scotland and the UK is not kept in the single market. However, she pointedly did not guarantee that another vote on independence would actually take place and it also emerged for the first time that her government will seek a deal with Westminster that would see Scotland remain in the UK. She will present Ms May with a series of demands for powers including flexibility to allow more immigration north of the border and to somehow remain in the EU single market while staying in the UK. Ms Sturgeon said she would judge whether Scotland's interests were being protected before deciding whether to proceed with another referendum. However, her spokesmen could later provide little detail on specifically what concessions would be required for this test to be met. Her intervention came after Alex Neil, an SNP grandee and one of her former ministers, stated that Ms Sturgeon should focus on winning "neo-independence" by seizing powers coming back from Brussels instead of a second referendum. Scotland's opposition parties said Ms Sturgeon's speech showed her priority was "to divide our nation once again" despite there being severe problems with the Scottish economy, NHS and education system. The first minister declared in the hours after June's Brexit vote that a second independence referendum was "highly likely" but has since rowed back amid opinion polls showing a majority of Scots are opposed to a re-run and would reject separation again. She has since shifted the goalposts by arguing that remaining in the EU single market is vital for Scotland's future. Ms Sturgeon told the conference: "A hard Brexit will change the UK fundamentally. A UK out of the single market - isolated, inward looking, haemorrhaging jobs, investment and opportunities - will not be the same country that Scotland voted to stay part of in 2014. "If that's the insecure, unstable prospect we face as part of the UK, then no one will have the right to deny Scotland the chance to choose a better future." She has previously announced that a referendum bill would be published and she said: "I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country's interests. "So I can confirm today that the Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week." Referring to the internal row in the SNP over whether to call a second referendum, she said there was "not a day that passes just now without someone advising me to hurry up" or to slow down. But she said she would be guided by one test: "What is best for the people of Scotland?" Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said: "This confirms that the SNP's priority is not education, or healthcare, or tackling poverty. Nicola Sturgeon's top priority is to divide our nation once again. "But our country is already divided following the Tories' reckless Brexit gamble and we should not be seeking further divisions. Our economy is in trouble, and the last thing we need is the uncertainty of another independence referendum." Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said: "Her comments show she has given up on speaking for Scotland and is now solely playing to the SNP gallery. This isn't the action of a first minister of Scotland but an SNP fundamentalist who puts independence first, last and always." ( Daily Telegraph London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] The parents of a four-month-old baby killed in a dog attack have paid tribute to him as their "beautiful little angel". Archie Joe Darby died after being bitten by the dog at a house in Harwich Road, in Colchester, Essex at 3.10pm on Thursday, while his 22-month-old brother Daniel-Jay was seriously injured and remains in intensive care in hospital. The boys' mother was also injured in the attack and has been released from hospital after treatment for minor injuries. The children's parents said: "Our beautiful sons Archie Joe Darby and Daniel-Jay Darby are so, so loved by us all and were such happy little loveable boys. "It doesn't seem real that our little Archie Bum has gone to heaven and our little Daniel is in intensive care because of a tragic, tragic incident involving a dog attack. "We have lost our gorgeous little four-month-old baby and our beautiful 22-month-old boy is currently being treated for his injuries. "Heaven has gained a beautiful little angel and he will be greatly missed by us all and our other little soldier is still fighting strong. "Please, please, please can you all respect our privacy at this time." A post-mortem examination on Archie's body is expected to take place next week, Essex Police said. The force said the dog, believed to be a Staffordshire bull terrier-type, had been put down with the consent of its owner and a post-mortem examination was due to take place on the animal on Friday. Chief Inspector Elliott Judge said: "This is a tragic incident where a young child has lost his life. "We can confirm the incident took place inside a house on Harwich Road, the dog has been destroyed, and no-one has been arrested. "An investigation to establish the facts surrounding what happened is ongoing. "This is obviously a very difficult time for the family, who are being supported by specially-trained officers. "I would ask again for the media to respect their privacy." Neighbour Scott Mills, 24, who lives opposite, became aware of a "commotion" when he saw four police cars and two ambulances arrive at the family home. Mr Mills was among a crowd of concerned neighbours and passers-by who gathered as emergency services cordoned off the road. He said: "When we heard that a baby had died, everyone was very upset. It's dreadful and so tragic. "There were a lot of children about because of the time - a lot of children were coming home from school." Another neighbour, who did not want to be named but was at home at the time of the incident, said: "The whole community is in shock. It's all very upsetting. You are caught off guard with these things. "I am very upset about it all. My children saw it (the aftermath) and are very upset." Will Quince, MP for Colchester, tweeted: "So sad to hear of the death of a baby in a dog attack in Colchester. "My thoughts and prayers are with his brother now at Colchester Hospital." Bashar Assad said taking back Aleppo would provide important political and strategic gains for his regime Syrian residents in the opposition-held eastern part of Aleppo hunkered under a fresh wave of airstrikes on Friday, amid intense clashes between government forces and rebels. A senior opposition official warned that supplies of food and medicines were fast running out in the besieged city. The aerial bombardment is part of a weeks-long devastating military campaign by Syria and Russia that the opposition says has killed dozens of people in the past three days alone. President Bashar Assad has expressed his intention to recapture the northern city's rebel eastern neighbourhoods, saying that a military victory in Aleppo would provide the Syrian army with a "springboard" from which to liberate other areas of the country. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they came from, or to kill them," Assad said in an interview with a Russian media outlet, Komsomolskaya Pravda, released on Thursday. "There's no other option," he added. Syrian government forces have encircled the eastern half of Aleppo, besieging tens of thousands of people and pounding the territory with airstrikes on daily basis. The siege and deadly bombardment has caused an international outcry with a number of countries and groups accusing Syria and Russia of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys. Mohammad Fadelah, the head of the Aleppo Provincial Council, said the opposition had brought in enough supplies to Aleppo under an emergency plan that would last six months. But he said that with the recent escalation and bombing of hospitals and bakeries, supplies were quickly running out. "We have emergency reserves but I think we can maybe go another month with what we have. Flour will run out in a month," he told reporters by telephone on Friday from the city of Gaziantep in southern Turkey. He estimated there were around 275,000 people in the besieged part of eastern Aleppo. US president Barack Obama planned to convene his National Security Council for a highly anticipated meeting about Syria on Friday. Having cut off diplomatic talks with Russia after a ceasefire in Syria failed, the Obama administration has been at a loss to find a new viable strategy to stem the violence even as the bloodshed in Aleppo and elsewhere continues to mount. The violence also gives additional urgency to the forthcoming meeting between Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow earlier this month. Late Friday, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will also attend the talks in Lausanne. Among the areas hit was the eastern Sakhour neighbourhood where one of the city's largest hospitals, known as M10, was stuck again. It had been hit several times over the past month, putting it out of service. Doctors Without Borders said three weeks of airstrikes on eastern Aleppo have killed 114 children and wounded 320 others. AP A resident attempts to pass a tree downed by the high winds of Hurricane Nicole in St Georges (AP) Hurricane Nicole has roared across Bermuda, pummelling the resort island with winds up to 115mph which snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water. The Category 3 system also flooded homes, damaged boats that broke away from their moorings and knocked out power to more than 27,000 customers who live in the British territory, which has sturdy infrastructure and is accustomed to heavy weather. By late Thursday afternoon, crews were clearing roads, and many islanders were posting pictures of calmer seas and clearer skies. "Nicole is now racing away," said James Dodgson, deputy director at the Bermuda Weather Service. "There's been a bit of sunshine trying to poke through." Forecasters expect to cancel a tropical storm warning later. Hours earlier, Bermuda's 65,000 people got a brief respite from the storm's fury when the eye of the hurricane passed overhead. Authorities urged everyone to stay inside. After the eye moved away, the wind grew strong enough to fling open a hatch on the weather service's radar, rendering it useless until the hatch could be shut, forecasters said. In Nicole's aftermath, government officials inspected bridges and other structures. The Royal Bermuda Regiment removed uprooted trees and other debris from roads. Clean-up efforts were continuing and the island's airport planned to reopen soon. Schools were scheduled to stay closed until Monday. The hurricane weakened to a Category 2 storm as it churned toward the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It was about 255 miles north-east of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 100mph. The system was moving north-east at 21 mph. After strengthening to a Category 4 storm late on Wednesday, the hurricane lost steam overnight. Although severe storms often affect Bermuda, a hurricane this strong is rare, the National Hurricane Centre said. American Airlines, Air Canada and other carriers cancelled flights to the island, and several cruise ships also called off visits. AP Saddam Hussein had a secret torture room built in the basement of the Iraqi mission to the United Nations in New York's Upper East Side, it has been reported. The Iraqi dictator ordered the installation of the "detention room" inside the five-storey building at 14 East 79th Street when he rose to power in 1979, two unnamed Iraqi officials told the 'New York Post'. "It was a dark room. The doors were reinforced in a way that nobody could break in or out. You didn't need to soundproof it," one official said. The other official added: "You're not going to hear someone screaming down there." According to the two Iraqi officials, who spoke to the 'Post' on condition of anonymity, the dictator's henchmen from the notorious Mukhabarat (Iraqi Intelligence Service), would hold Iraqis living in the US for up to 15 days to use them as leverage. Torture tactics employed by the intelligence service included pulling out prisoners' nails and beating them to a pulp, the officials claimed. A lack of cooperation could mean being executed and shipped back to Baghdad in diplomatic, customs-exempt boxes, the report stated. "This is diplomatic - nobody has the authority to examine it or open it," one official explained. The detention room was similar to others in Iraqi embassies around the world, including Eastern Europe and Arab countries, where evidence of torture was uncovered, the officials told the 'Post'. The mission, located close to the home of the city's former mayor Michael Bloomberg, was raided in 2003 following Saddam's fall from power in Iraq by federal investigators. The two men believe all evidence of wrongdoing was removed. "US government officials came in. They took hard drives, computers. They went into vaults - they smashed them open. Officially, they were running Iraq because we didn't have a government. We got the mission back in less than a year," the second official explained to the 'Post', adding that the Iraqi Secret Service was sent home for good. In 2014, the subterranean space was converted into a kitchenette during a full renovation of the mission. Nigeria's First Lady has openly questioned whether her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, is in control of his government and said she may not campaign for him if he seeks a second term. Aisha Buhari said her husband did not know many top government appointees, and she accused them of not sharing the vision of his All Progressives Congress party. She did not name names. The president, a former military dictator, was elected in 2015. He has not said whether he will run again in 2019. "He is yet to tell me, but I have decided as his wife that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again," Mrs Buhari said. President Buhari campaigned promising to crack down on corruption and turn the tide against the Boko Haram insurgency. His government on Thursday announced the first negotiated release of some of the almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. However, Nigeria's north east region faces a famine that threatens to kill tens of thousands of children after Boko Haram disrupted the region's transportation and farming. Some areas remain dangerous and inaccessible. Nigeria has also fallen into recession and lost its position as Africa's biggest oil producer - as militants attacked pipelines in the south. Mrs Buhari's criticism of her husband's administration focused on political appointments. "The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed - and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years," she said. She said she had expressed her concerns to her husband and claimed they were shared by "a lot of people". AP Foreign medics with orange stretchers and gallons of chlorine are stemming a cholera outbreak on Haiti's hurricane-struck coast but the focus on a disease U.N. peacekeepers brought here six years ago is slowing the delivery of food and shelter for storm victims. Hurricane Matthew ripped through this southwestern region of Haiti last week, killing at least 1,000 people and leaving 1.4 million in need of aid, including hundreds of thousands made homeless. It also trashed crops and unleashed a new cholera surge. Along the shattered coastal landscape of virtually flattened villages, angry residents have set up blockades of broken trees and branches to try to stop the trucks of food and other aid they have seen speed past them. The roadblocks reflect an anger that could quickly escalate if aid agencies and the government do not speed up relief efforts in the poorest country in the Americas. Expand Close A resident attempts to pass a tree downed by the high winds of Hurricane Nicole in St Georges (AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A resident attempts to pass a tree downed by the high winds of Hurricane Nicole in St Georges (AP) Read More "The donations keep passing and they don't stop. We need food and shelter," said Jean Jacques, 30, a fisherman and subsistence farmer. Around him, around 50 local residents complained nobody had helped them. The United Nations and aid organizations are now rushing out across areas hit hardest by the hurricane, the biggest relief operation in Haiti since a devastating 2010 earthquake. But the massive effort needed to control a new spike in cholera since the hurricane and the tensions over food deliveries are a reminder of the history of foreign help to Haiti that has at times done as much harm as good. In October 2010, Nepali peacekeepers accidentally introduced cholera into Haiti when their camp emptied infected sewage into a river. The disease has since killed more than 9,000 people. "They recognize they are guilty and for that reason they try to help," said Haitian doctor Marie Sophia Sanon, who heads the cholera unit in Jeremie, the largest town near the hurricane's path and now largely reduced to rubble. Since last week, she has saved 72 people suffering the disease that kills with diarrhea. At least $9.5 billion of aid sloshed into Haiti in two years after the 2010 earthquake, which the government says killed more than 300,000 people. But many aid groups had priorities that often did not chime with the country's needs. Expand Close A lorry submerged in floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, North Carolina (AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A lorry submerged in floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, North Carolina (AP) Too much food aid undercut prices for farmers' own produce and hit sales at stores, damaging the economy and making it harder for Haiti to get back on its feet. Read More Too many tents and not enough building materials trapped people in shanty and tent cities for years. The American Red Cross, which raised some $500 million for earthquake relief, was scorned for building just six houses, although it says it helped tens of thousands of Haitians with home repairs. This time, Haiti and its partners are determined to avoid those mistakes, even as the early days of the relief effort appear chaotic. "If they are not coordinated, we will have exactly the situation that we had after the earthquake, where everybody went in one place, where everybody brought the same sort of support," U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Mourad Wahba told Reuters. The Haitian Red Cross, which in 2010 focused on community first aid, food distribution and shelter, said on Tuesday its main concern now is cholera. Pouring resources into tackling the outbreak, however, means less is available to address other urgent needs. The United Nations, which has released $5 million from an emergency fund and launched a $120 million appeal for Haiti, has also made tackling cholera a priority of relief efforts. One of the most significant criticisms of reconstruction efforts after the earthquake was how little was done on disaster preparedness, while other densely populated, poor countries such as India and Bangladesh have made great strides. This year, the World Bank-managed Haiti Reconstruction Fund redirected $14 million earmarked for natural disaster mitigation in southern Haiti to energy projects, a June financial report showed. The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction on Tuesday said Haiti is "the world's most dangerous country" when natural disasters strike. "The question now has to be asked why six years after the Haitian earthquake, adequate multiple hazard warning systems are not in place to ensure minimal loss of life in events such as this," spokesman Denis McLean said. 'TERRIFIED' Cholera has killed up to 173 people since Hurricane Matthew ripped through the southern peninsula, churning human waste with river and well water and destroying homes, crops and livestock. Read More Tens of thousands of people are at risk and without adequate shelter weeks before Haiti's rainy season begins. The head of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, said on Wednesday the latest cholera outbreak was "a harsh reminder of the responsibility of the international community for the misfortunes affecting" Haiti. While people now know what cholera is, conditions in some areas mean they have no choice but to drink contaminated water. "Everyone here is terrified about cholera," said Adrienne Stork, who works for the United Nations Environmental Program near Port-a-Piment, where the water-borne sickness was spreading this week. The mayor of Chardonnieres, a small town near Port-a-Piment, told Reuters 125 people died there as a direct result of Matthew and another 160 in the cholera epidemic in his district, mostly in a village accessible only by foot or by helicopter. Jake Johnston, a researcher on Haiti's earthquake reconstruction at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington said the U.N. should have done much more to rid Haiti of cholera long before the hurricane. "Many lives would have been saved and the human toll from the hurricane would be reduced," he said. 'ANY GOVERNMENT WOULD STRUGGLE' Acutely aware of past mistakes, foreign governments and aid groups are this time letting Haiti's government coordinate relief efforts. It leads key meetings held in French and Creole, a contrast to U.N.-led meetings after the earthquake which were often in English, making it harder for Haitians to participate. The storm did not batter Port-au-Prince, so the government is able to respond in a way that it wasn't able to after the earthquake. Donations are taken to a government warehouse in Port-au-Prince before being dispatched, Interior Minister Francois Anick Joseph said. The new approach is not without pitfalls. Governments are bureaucratic and Haiti's is also small with limited reach in the provinces. Corruption is also a concern. "Any government would struggle with coordination for a hurricane of this magnitude," said Mike Weickert, the response manager of World Vision, a Christian charity. Some U.N. and charity officials say in private they are concerned slow decision making is holding up relief to remote villages and towns. One aid worker said trucks were turned back near Port-a-Piment for not going through government channels. Marie Claudette Regis, deputy mayor in port town Les Cayes, said the government had not responded to needs the municipality had communicated. "We have received nothing," she said. Instead, the municipality used its own funds to buy foodstuffs and building materials for people. One foreign aid worker attending a government coordination meeting in Les Cayes said Haiti had learned from the "free-for-all" of aid groups in 2010, but that the new approach was also dangerous. "In the long-term, it's probably the right thing," the worker said, asking not to be named to avoid souring her relationship with the government. "In the short term, people are hungry and thirsty and they are going to die." Teaching assistant Chelsea Lorson (25) was charged with having sex with two students A teaching assistant had sex with two students despite knowing she had two sexually transmitted diseases. Chelsea Lorson (25) was told she had two sexually transmitted diseases when she felt unwell after a trip to Haiti, according to The Daily Star. The mum-of-two still had sex with a 17-year-old boy just days after starting work at his school. A week later she had sex with his 16-year-old brother. The teens later told a doctor that they'd had intercourse and oral sex with Lorson multiple times over a two-week period. Lorson was arrested after bragging about the interactions to a pal and showing photos of the boys' figures. Lorson had worked just 18 days at Lewisburg Area High School, Pennsylvania, US, before the scandal broke in February. She was jailed for between two and 12 years for sexual and institutional assault. She had admitted both charges at an earlier hearing. Lorson must also register for 25 years as a sex offender. Judge Michael Hudock told her: "You made choices. They were bad ones." Five other charges, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, were dismissed as part of a plea deal. Schools superintendent Mark DiRocco said when Lorson was suspended after the "very disturbing" allegations surfaced: "The individual had been working at the school for a short time. "Our primary concern is for the well-being of the students and we will work to ensure that they are supported. "This allegation is very troubling to us as we work diligently to ensure the safety and well-being of all students." Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton takes photos with diners as she visits Tacos el Gordo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton turned up the heat yesterday on Republican candidates who are facing both tight election races and tough decisions on what to do about Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton turned up the heat yesterday on Republican candidates who are facing both tight election races and tough decisions on what to do about Donald Trump. She's now seeking to spread her new momentum to fellow Democrats on November ballots. At a rally in Colorado, Ms Clinton declared that Trump is "desperate" and running a "scorched earth strategy". "That's all they have left - pure negativity, pessimism," she said. Indeed, Trump kept up his unrelenting denunciations of Clinton at a rally in Florida. It's not enough for voters to elect him instead of her, he declared, "She has got to go to jail." The focus on Republican congressional candidates is the latest sign the Clinton campaign is moving past a narrow focus on winning the White House, and now is aiming to win big - by delivering the Senate to Democrats, making deep cuts into the Republicans' majority in the House and, possibly, winning states long considered Republican territory. "If you've got friends in Utah or Arizona, make sure they vote too," Ms Clinton told a raucous crowd in Pueblo. "We are competing everywhere . . . I think Americans want to turn out in as big a number as possible" to reject Trump's message, Clinton said. She had sympathetic words - serious or not - for Trump supporters who have begun to interrupt her events. As security escorted one man out in Pueblo, Ms Clinton said: "You have to feel a little sorry for them; they've had a really bad couple of weeks." Ms Clinton's new swagger and expanded ambitions come as Trump declares he feels unshackled and able to launch the sort of hard-edged, personal campaign his most ardent supporters love. In Florida, he highlighted a new batch of hacked emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta's account, published by WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group. He asserted that the emails show ever more clearly that the former secretary of state and her family are corrupt. "It never ends with these people," he said. Clinton aide Glen Caplin said on Wednesday that Trump's campaign needed to explain its "possible ties to foreign espionage". The campaign has accused Roger Stone, a long-time Trump adviser, of having advance warning about the leak. Stone has confirmed he had "back-channel communications" with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but denies knowing about the group's plans to release the trove of damaging correspondence. WikiLeaks, which US officials have said has ties to Russian intelligence, released a fourth instalment of private correspondence between top Clinton campaign officials on Wednesday. Podesta says the FBI is investigating Russia's possible involvement, raising the extraordinary prospect of a link between Russia and the US presidential election. The FBI said anew that it is investigating possible Russian hacking involving US politics, but made no comment on Podesta. First lady Michelle Obama criticised Trump in scathing terms in a campaign speech for Clinton in New Hampshire on Thursday. Her voice close to cracking with emotion, Obama said, "This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV." "It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life," she added. "The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman - it is cruel." Donald Trump assailed as "absolutely false" the allegations by several women that he groped them, and accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media and lobbyists of engaging in an effort to stop him from winning the White House. Expand Close Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Florida (AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Florida (AP) Read More With his numbers dropping in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election, the Republican U.S. presidential nominee told supporters at a rally in Florida that his campaign was engaged in "a struggle for the survival of our nation." Trump said accusations that he groped women in a series of incidents going back to the 1980s were part of a coordinated attempt to keep him from the Oval Office. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," he said, adding that "the Clintons know it." He said he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the charges. "I've never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories," Trump said later on Thursday during a speech in Ohio. Trump spoke after The New York Times reported that two women said they had endured sexual aggression from him, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets. The New York businessman's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. Read More Leeds told CNN on Thursday that Trump also kissed her face in an incident that lasted about 15 minutes. "That's long enough," she said. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm. Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters. The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected charges the article was libelous after a lawyer for Trump threatened legal action and demanded a retraction. SLUMP IN POLLS Trump has slumped in opinion polls in recent days as the uproar over the video threatened to engulf his White House campaign in a way that his earlier controversies had not. A Reuters/Ipsos survey showed one in five Republicans thought Trump's comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency. The poll showed him eight percentage points behind Clinton among likely voters. Trump trailed Clinton by up to 11 percentage points in other polls. Establishment Republicans have struggled to get behind Trump, alarmed by both his style and some of his policy proposals. Read More Within hours of The New York Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. "I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff said. Trump (70) denied the People story in a Twitter message and in his speech in Florida on Thursday, and mocked the writer. "I ask her a simple question. Why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 12 years ago? Why didn't they make it part of the story ... if she had added that, it would have been the headline." "Look at her and look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so." Trump's wife, Melania, on Thursday posted on Twitter a letter from her attorney to People that said details in the story were false, pointing to Stoynoff's recollection in the piece that she later ran into Melania Trump and spoke to her in New York City. The attorney, Charles Harder, said in the letter that Stoynoff and Melania Trump "were never friends or even friendly" and demanded that People "print a prominent retraction and apology." The Palm Beach Post reported an allegation by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant. "There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told the Post. Read More McGillivray could not be reached for comment. At the Florida rally on Thursday, Trump said he had been prepared for attacks, but "I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious." He said the "corrupt political establishment" was trying to stop him so it could carry out a program of "radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people." "Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning," he said. In the 2005 video, Trump bragged about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman. He said during a presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private "locker room talk." The Washington Post endorsed Clinton on Thursday. "In the gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot ... we endorse her without hesitation," it said. Palestinians officials are sounding out members of the UN Security Council on a new resolution demanding a halt to Israeli settlement building and on prospects for becoming a full member of the United Nations. Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said he had met about half the 15-member council in the last 10 days and expects to meet the rest in the next week. He said he will then report back to an Arab ministerial committee which will decide on next steps. Mr Mansour announced the new Palestinian initiatives ahead of an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on "Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution". It was organised by five non-permanent council members - Angola, Malaysia, Venezuela, Senegal and Egypt. The scheduled speakers include representatives from two Israeli human rights groups, Peace Now and B'Tselem, and Americans for Peace Now. Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon criticised the expected participation of the Israeli organisations. "During this time of year of reflection and prayer for unity amongst our people, it is sad and disappointing that Israeli organisations are providing moral cover for anti-Israel activities at the UN," he said. Mr Mansour criticised the "dangerous evolution of settlement activities which is threatening to destroy the two-state solution option". The Palestinians pushed for the Security Council to adopt a resolution against settlements in February 2011 but it was vetoed by the US. The 14 other Security Council members voted in favour of the resolution, reflecting wide support for the draft which had more than 100 co-sponsors. Mr Mansour said a new resolution would draw from the 2011 text which would have condemned "illegal" Israeli settlements and demanded an immediate halt to settlement building. "From what has been coming out from Washington, State Department, White House, and what has been written in the media ... there is a strong indication that the United States of America should be sympathetic to a resolution on settlements," Mr Mansour said, "although we don't know for sure because they did not tell us exactly what they will do." As for the possibility of Palestine becoming the 194th UN member state, the Security Council's admissions committee approved a report in November 2011 saying there was no consensus among the 15 council nations on the Palestinian application. That application is still before the council. Mr Mansour said the Palestinians, whose status at the UN has been upgraded from an observer to an observer state, have support from "more than nine" countries on the council for a new membership bid. But the US would almost certainly veto a membership resolution if there is no Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement - and at the moment there is not even a prospect of reviving peace talks. AP Coolio has been charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon with two prior convictions (Channel 4/PA) Rapper Coolio has failed to appear in court after he was charged with possessing a gun found at Los Angeles International Airport. The musician was arrested after the handgun was allegedly discovered in his bag during security screening on September 17. Coolio, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey, was charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon with two prior convictions, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. He was due to appear before a judge on Thursday but did not attend the hearing, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles Superior Court said. The rap star's lawyer told the judge his client had a performance in St Louis and could not get back in time, according to TMZ. Coolio, 53, has previous convictions for carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle in 2001 and possession of cocaine base in 2009, prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces a maximum of three years in prison. Coolio is best known for his 1995 hit Gangsta's Paradise. He also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2009 and Ultimate Big Brother in 2010. A beleaguered Donald Trump sought to undermine the legitimacy of the US presidential election on Saturday, pressing unsubstantiated claims the contest is rigged against him, vowing anew to jail Hillary Clinton if he is elected and throwing in a baseless insinuation his rival was on drugs in the last debate. Mr Trump accused the media and the Clinton campaign of conspiring against him to undermine a free and fair election. "The election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president," he said, referring to the several women who have come forward in recent days to say that Mr Trump had groped or sexually assaulted them. He has denied the claims, calling the women liars. Earlier Saturday, Mr Trump took to Twitter to warn that "100% fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton Campaign, may poison the minds of the American Voter. FIX!" "Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail," he added. "Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election." In a country with a history of peaceful political transition, his challenge to the election's legitimacy - as a way to explain a loss in November, should that happen - was a striking rupture of faith in American democracy. House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose decision not to campaign for Mr Trump angered the nominee, made clear he does not share the candidate's concern about the election's legitimacy. "Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity," said AsheLee Strong, speaking for him. It was not the first time Mr Trump has raised the idea the election is unfairly tilted against him, but it has become a resurgent theme for the New York billionaire and many of his supporters in the past several days as he has slipped in preference polls and faced allegations of sexual misconduct. As well, campaign money is tight, at least in comparison with his rival's resources, according to information that pre-dates the release of a 2005 video that showed him bragging about imposing himself on women. Mr Trump began this month with 75 million US dollars in his campaign and joint party accounts, he said on Saturday in a statement. That is exactly half of what the Clinton team said it had on hand - a worrisome financial disadvantage for the Republican side. There was trouble in Ohio, too, where Mr Trump severed ties with the state's Republican Party chairman, Matt Borges, who had become openly critical of the nominee at times. That crack in unity comes in a critical battleground state, where Republican governor John Kasich is also not behind Mr Trump. Mr Trump's Ohio chairman, Bob Paduchik, accused Mr Borges of undermining Mr Trump as part of a bid to be the next Republican National Committee chairman. Mr Trump's tribulations and accusations overshadowed the release Saturday of yet more emails hacked from accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, laying bare aspects of the campaign's internal deliberations. The latest batch showed the campaign worrying whether Senator Elizabeth Warren might endorse Bernie Sanders, wrestling with how to respond to revelations about her private email use, and lining up materials to respond to fresh accusations from Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of raping her decades ago. He denied the rape accusation, which was never adjudicated by a criminal court. On Mr Trump's accusations of a rigged election, Mrs Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, said in a statement that "what is fundamental about the American electoral system is that it is free, fair and open to the people". "Participation in the system - and particularly voting - should be encouraged, not dismissed or undermined because a candidate is afraid he's going to lose," he said. Mr Trump also suggested at one point on Saturday that Mrs Clinton had been on drugs during the last debate. Instead of spending the weekend preparing, he said, "I think she's actually getting pumped up, you want to know the truth." "I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate, 'cause I don't know what's going on with her," he said. Mr Trump offered no evidence to support the bizarre claim, which he appeared to base on his belief Mrs Clinton was energetic at the start of their second debate and downbeat at its conclusion. Nothing about Mrs Clinton's demeanour in the debate suggested she was under the influence. AP A Dutch court has rejected an appeal by anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders to throw out his hate speech prosecution before it goes to trial this month. "Prosecuted for what millions of people believe," Mr Wilders tweeted in his first reaction to the decision. Mr Wilders and his lawyers have branded his prosecution "a political witch hunt" and did not attend the brief hearing at The Hague District Court. Clearing the trial to start on October 31, Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the court "rejects the defence's objections". The case against Mr Wilders, who was previously acquitted in 2011 of insulting Islam, centres on comments made before and after Dutch local elections in 2014. At one party meeting, he asked supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands, drawing them into the chant of "Fewer. Fewer. Fewer". "We'll take care of it," he replied. The trial comes just months before parliamentary elections due in March, which could see Mr Wilders' Freedom Party emerge as the largest party. A poll of polls earlier this month had the Freedom Party narrowly behind the Liberal Party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte - who will be seeking his third term at the elections. The court said that previous cases in European courts have established that politicians must be given a wide-ranging freedom of expression, but at the same time should "avoid public statements that feed intolerance. Where the border lies between the two will be debated in this Dutch trial". The court also rejected Mr Wilders' argument that he should not be prosecuted now as he had not been prosecuted in the past for similar statements about Moroccans. At a previous hearing, Mr Wilders' defence lawyer, Geert-Jan Knoops, told judges that the freedom of expression is "the last freedom Mr. Wilders has left". The politician has lived with around-the clock protection for more than a decade because of repeated death threats. AP This week marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, a Category 3 storm which formed on October 22, 2012 and caused $70 billion in damage in roughly two weeks as it moved from the Caribbean to Canada, $11 million of which came from its impact in Rhode Island. Do you believe Rhode Island is more or less prepared to handle a large storm in the decade since Hurricane Sandy? Let us know in this week's poll question below. You voted: A suspect committed an armed robbery at the Jiffy Quick Convenience Store, 800 Sloop Ave. in Kannapolis, in the morning on Oct. 12. The Kannapolis Police Department is seeking help from the community to identify this person. Anyone with information about this crime and or the identity of this person can contact the Kannapolis Police Departments Criminal Investigations Division at 704-920-4001 or Investigator Harper at 704-920-4105. To remain anonymous and qualify for a reward of up to $1,000, contact Crime Stoppers at 704-93CRIME, 704-932-7463 or www.cabarruscrimestoppers.com. CONCORD- As Noah Prieto entered the halls of Rocky River Elementary on a sunny day in September, he was overwhelmed by what he found. Arriving at the school with his Cabarrus County Sheriffs Office motorcycle police escort, Noah was greeted by cheers and signs welcoming the hero back. I think he was so happy and excited. I think it was one of the best days of his life, his mother, Tracy Prieto said. On Friday, Sept. 16 kindergartner Noah received the VIP treatment and a heros welcome to celebrate his first day ay school. He missed last school year after he was diagnosed with leukemia. But at just 6-years-old his mother said she is in awe of his strength. Hes 6 and he doesnt see that he has cancer. He lives like a 6-year-old boy and nobody is going to tell him he cant do anything, she said. Hes so admirable. Im in awe of his strength. Tracy said Noah was diagnosed last October with leukemia with the Philadelphia chromosome, which is a specific genetic abnormality in chromosome 22 of leukemia cancer cells. Its a trait that makes his leukemia more high-risk than normal kids. He is at a higher risk of infections and all kinds of stuff. His doses of chemo are higher, Tracy said. She recently learned that because of the Philadelphia chromosome Noah will have to take a chemo pill for the rest of his life. She said this chromosome is extremely rare and it broke her heart to think about the effects the pill will have on his body. But he has the support of his school and Hometown Heroes that organized his welcome back to school. He loves going to school, he loves his classes, teachers and friends, she said. He is always smiling and happy. Shortly after Noah was diagnosed his kindergarten teacher, Winifred Starnes, told Tracy about the Hometown Heroes program. Hometown Heroes is dedicated to those kids that need some big friends. Its focus is to make the children and their families a member of their family. According to the organizations website it was created by a police sergeant in 1998 when he recognized a need and was compelled to help several children who suffered from terminal illness or debilitating injuries as a result of tragic accidents. Since then the nonprofit has continued to grow and provides household financial assistance, hospital and home visits to offer moral support, medical equipment such as wheelchairs as prescribed and whatever it takes to make life a little easier during difficult times. We love the Hometown Heroes. They are amazing and they help with bills, Tracy said. A lot of people dont know about it and they are a wonderful organization. They are amazing. When administration heard Noah was coming back to school escorted by his Hometown Heroes buddies, the planning begin. Principal Adrian Parry enlisted the help of the pep band and cheerleaders from Central Cabarrus High School and classes began making signs. It was great for the community to come together and see how to support each other, Parry said. All through the hallway kids had posters and signs for him. They loved it and were so excited. Before the man of the hour arrived, Parry said the students began chanting Noah all through the halls. The best thing was watching Noahs face. It was overwhelming seeing the entire school was waiting on him to get there. It was a great day, Parry said. Tracy cant thank the Hometown Heroes enough for being there to support her family. At first they were strangers and then they became family, she said. For more information about Noah and his fight with leukemia visit Noahs Fight on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Noahs-Fight-932564200147162/?fref=ts. A day that was all green Indian equity markets ended the day strongly in green today. Nifty 50 ended the day, up by 225.4 points. Sensex ended the day, up by 786.74 points. Top Gainers today were Ultratech Cement, Eich... October 31, 2022 | 4:12 pm Daesung Eltec and Minda corporation tie up for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems technology On Monday, the manufacturer of automotive components Minda Corporation announced a partnership with the South Korean company Daesung Eltec to provide India's next-generation solutions for advan... October 31, 2022 | 3:20 pm Ramkrishna Forgings stock jumps 3% on winning Rs113 crore worth export order Ramkrishna Forgings Limited, one of the leading suppliers of rolled, forged and machined products announced that a major Tier 1 manufacturer of Rear & Front axles has awarded a 4-year contr... October 31, 2022 | 3:01 pm Markets in a super rally with Nifty above 17,950; Sensex climbs 600 pts Domestic benchmark indices in a super rally today led by IT and Auto stocks outperforming. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks were higher 1% each amid positive global cues gleaming all over t... October 31, 2022 | 2:00 pm Vedanta shares tanks ~4% on subdued numbers in Q2FY23 Vedanta Limited shares fell as much as 4% to Rs274 in intraday trade on Monday after the company reported a 60.8% yoy drop in consolidated net profit at Rs1,808 crore for the quarter ended... October 31, 2022 | 1:54 pm As fascinating as the world's different cultures are, nothing compares to a full meal that leaves you satisfied. And if you're wondering what lunchtime looks like in different countries of the world, look no further. Here's a virtual trip around the world in 14 lunches that'll make your food look dull. 1. FRANCE In France, lunch time begins as early as 11.30 or at least that's when you can expect restaurants to start serving le Menu du jour or their fixed lunch time menu. If your hunt for food lasts beyond 1pm, you may have to hunt for several restaurants before finding one that's still on lunch hour. A typical lunch plate here consists of baguettes filled with cheese, ham and lots of crunchy, fresh vegetables. Last heard, lunch-time omelettes are slowly picking up too. IGA 2. GERMANY The Germans love their pork and beef. This translates to some amazing dishes that include Sauerbraten (sour roast), Blutwurst (blood sausage) or Schwarzwurst (black sausage) and the Wiener (Viennese). Adding to the list are potatoes in salad, mashed or fried; sausages, meat balls and fish sticks. And washing this rich meal down with a couple of jugs of authentic German beer makes for an appetizing affair. Flickr 3. ITALY When you think of Italy, you're reminded of melt-in-mouth cheese pizzas. Lunch break or pausa pranzo is a lengthy affair - it extends from 1:00 in the afternoon to 4pm. The first course or il primo at lunch (Pranzo) includes pasta and or risotto, later followed up with seafood or meat during the second course or il secondo which may or may not include il contorno or salads. anamericaninrome 4. GREECE Lunch is an important meal here with lunch time between 1:30pm and 2:30pm. In Greece, a popular lunch time (Mesimeriano) dish is the moussaka (meat ground with potatoes and vegetables), followed by salads and sandwiches if hunger persists. Also on the menu is their traditional vegetable casserole. Dishmaps 5. MEXICO Lunch (La Comida) here is an activity of leisure, lasting between 1 and 4 in the afternoon, with soups and salads as appetizers, followed by Tacos (for people on the go), tortillas, rice, meat, beans and vegetables for main course. Plenty of long conversations line the food table during this time of day. Shutterstock 6. MOROCCO Morocco opens for lunch hour by breaking bread. Literally. Bread is a main feature in a Moroccan meal. A meze (collection) of couscous, beef, mutton, lamb (some of the favourite meats in Morocco), tagine, salads and mint tea. Another worthy mention here is seafood that Morocco has plenty of thanks to its affinity to two coast lines. Pinterest 7. SPAIN Lunch (La Comida) is the largest meal of the day in Spain followed by siesta. On the menu is vegetable or seafood soup; green salads; paela (made with rice, seafood, vegetables and meat), beef fillets or filet mignon. This is another place where bread plays an important role in meals. Besides this, Spaniards love poultry and dairy that feature prominently in their lunch-time desserts. Days Of The Year 8. ICELAND Given Iceland's temperature and terrain, their quirky taste for shark or whale meat is understandable, and that's something that's eaten all over the country. Meat, lamb, potatoes, fruit soup are other preparations on the list. theCurrent 9. JAMAICA Much like in India, coconut milk is quite popular here. Other lunch time favourites include beef patty, cocoa bread, Grotto bread, meat loaf and buns. Knorr 10. ARGENTINA Argentina loves its sandwiches de miga (sandwiches stuffed with ham, egg and vegetables); and empanadas (pastries packed with meat, seafood or vegetables). Meats, seafood and vegetables are other prominent lunch time ingredients. 12 Tomatoes 11. CHINA China's love for noodles and rice remains unmatched. This love sees plenty of lunching hour variations with meat and vegetables, soups and broths, nian gao (rice cakes). Yet another staple is steamed bread or mantou. As opposed to other countries snacking on lack afternoon and early morning snacks, the Chinese limit themselves to three meals in a day. Chinese Food 12. THAILAND Thailand reinvented the lunching hour with Thai curry (a growing favourite the world over), Pad Thai (stir-fried noodles and rice dish with meat or seafood), chicken salads, shrimp soup, chicken curries, and tom yum soup. The Woks of Life 13. VIETNAM The Vietnamese baguette or bahn mi is one of the highlights of a typical lunch that also includes spring rolls, noodles and soup. If during this hour you happen to be walking down a street, it'll be hard for you to ignore the countless stalls serving Pho, a favourite here. A few other dishes include Bun Cha (noodle salad with pork patties), garlic beef, lemon shrimp and chicken salads. Food.People.Want 14. JAPAN Japan favours eating from bento boxes (packed with sushi, rice, meat, fish, tofu and vegetables). For a country always on the move, boxes with lunch make sense. Japanese lunch includes food with ranging temperatures, from hot to cold, even warm and consists of dishes like rice cakes, curry rice, noodles, pork buns, ramen and sashimi. Shizuoka Gourmet The government is moving to formulate rules that will require technology 'intermediaries' including email services like Gmail, chat apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat or even ecommerce firms like Amazon to retain user information, a development that is expected to be met with determined opposition. Reuters What the government is looking to do now is draft rules for Section 67C of the Information Technology Act, and this will be done by a committee that has been set up for the purpose. The rules whose drafting has been waiting since 2008 will spell out what type of data has to be stored, in which format, and for how long, according to three members of the newly-formed committee. All this so that law-enforcement agencies can access the information if they need it. Sharing of information between foreign firms and the Indian government has been a contentious issue, and experts said the mandate may be impossible to implement for firms such as WhatsApp that promise end-to-end encryption. Or for Snapchat - a chat app where messages disappear within seconds and are not even stored on the company's servers. Firms may also oppose the diktat, especially since most of them are not governed by Indian laws and also due to the high cost of data retention. The committee is headed by additional secretary in the ministry of electronics and IT (MEITY), Ajay Kumar, and has one representative each from the ministry of home affairs, department of telecom, department of personnel and training, Nasscom, Internet Service Provider Association of India (ISPAI), along with an advocate specialising in cyber law and a few officers from MEITY. The first meeting of the committee took place in the last week of September. fonpit.de "This is a fairly complex issue, compounded by the general lack of understanding of mobile apps and over the top service providers," said a person on the committee who did not wish to be identified. This person said that most technology players are based in the United States and they have always been at loggerheads about sharing of information with the government. "Even if it is for national security reasons, how much are these companies answerable to the Indian security establishment? And we do know how Apple refused to unlock the phone even for FBI." 'Huge balancing act' Reuters Supreme Court lawyer and cyber law expert Pavan Duggal said the section has been drafted in very "broad" terms and the move may be driven by the realisation that these companies are huge data repositories - some of which might be relevant to law enforcement investigations. "It will have to be a huge balancing act and will be interesting to see what this committee decides," added Duggal. While Section 67C refers to the obligation of the service providers to retain information, the nature of the data to be retained and the time period is not specified. Companies which do not comply with the law can be levied fine and its officers sent to jail. Another member on the committee said the ambit of this task is huge. "In the last meeting we argued that the rules should be the same for everybody and there should be no differential treatment for foreign companies such as Google or Microsoft," he said. This person said that ambiguity is rampant as various government arms have different sets of rules for data retention. For instance, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) asks for data to be stored for six months, while the Registrar of Companies mandates some information to be retained for one year while the income-tax rules mandate data storage for six-seven years. "There has only been one meeting so far. It is a long procedure and will require several rounds of consultation," said a third person on the committee. pocketnow Privacy activists like Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society said that one of the principles that's frequently cited while discussing international practices on surveillance is that data retention should not be required of service providers. And internationally too, there is no standard on this issue. "There were norms at the European Union-level regarding data retention, but they were struck down in 2014 by the European Court of Justice as being violative of human rights," he said. Turkish Police today raided country's top court of appeals with arrest warrants for 189 judges and prosecutors, alleging that they were involved in the failed coup attempt that Turkey witnessed in July. According to Anadolu news agency, Ankara's chief prosecutor has sought the latest arrests of members of the judiciary at the justice ministry, other courthouses and judges working at the Court of Cassation, the top court of appeals, and the Council of State, the highest administrative court respectively. AFP Since the coup attempt was foiled, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a massive crack down on the possible plotters. More than 32,000 people are in jail and 100,000, including top military figures, have been dismissed from jobs in the security and civil services. Though many political analysts claim that the coup was planned by President Erdogan himself to consolidate power and launch a crack down on his rivals. However, the main accused of coup, the US based cleric Fethullah Gulen, denies involvement in the unsuccessful coup that killed 240 people who resisted it and around 100 rogue troops. An official at the main Ankara courthouse was unable to confirm the report, and no one answered the phone at the press office. AFP The judges and prosecutors were accused for their alleged use of a smartphone messaging app called ByLock, Anadolu said. Turkish intelligence agencies have identified some 56,000 ByLock users, which they say Gulen's followers began using in 2014. Authorities have detained hundreds of police and members of the bureaucracy in the past week due to their alleged use of the app. Star newspaper reported on Friday that Police detained the prosecutor in charge of the local coup investigation in the central Turkish city of Konya after discovering he used ByLock. In another crackdown, Turkish education ministry removed 2400 teachers on Thursday as part of the coup-plot investigation, Anadolu reported. The human audacity to risk their lives have seen many empire rising, falling and rising again; and no matter how peace loving the man has become, the shadow of war always looms large. And India, a land blessed beyond imagination, too has had fair share of wars. But there are places of war which have been too unfortunate for home sides that every time, the invaders have had the last laugh. IndiaTimes Not many people know that the present day Haryana, which was the part of erstwhile United Punjab, has been India's battle ground where decisive wars have been fought; and except for once, each battle has seen home side losing. Here are major wars fought on soil of Haryana which proved to be India's Waterloo. 1. Mahabharata Every Indian or for that matter anyone, who has read any literature knows about this part of history. decodehindumythology.blogspot.com Mahabharata is believed to be a family feud fought between two branches of same clan-The Kurus. Kauravs who had possesion of land denied Pandavas their cousin brother their legitimate rights. Thus, Pandava fought Kauravas at Kurukhshetra, which means the land of Kurus. The eighteen day war resulted in defeat of Kauravas - the home side and Pandavas became the new rulers. 2. Tarain-II Tarain-I in 1191 AD was the only exception when Indian King of Chauhan dynasty, Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muslim invader, Mohammed of Ghor aka Mohammed Ghori. But Ghori again returned in 1192 with a bigger army to challenge Chauhan. This time, due to the lack of unity between the Rajput confederation, Chauhan was short on support from other Rajput kings, resulting in a massive defeat for Chauhan, the last Hindu king on the throne of Delhi. wikipedia The war established Islam in India, because unlike other Islamic invaders, who used to loot India and return to their lands, Ghori stayed back. He established an empire and before returning to Ghor, left Qutub-ul-Din Aibak, the man who laid the foundation of Qutub Minar in Delhi, as his regional governor. Later this event led to the foundation and rise of the Delhi Sultanate. 3. First Battle of Panipat and establishment of Mughal empire This war took place between the invader Babur from Fargana, and Delhis Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi in 1526. Many books, including Babur's biography, claim Babur was invited to attack India by Lodhis brother, Sikander Lodhi, and Mewar's King Rana Sanga, who thought that war with Babur would weaken the Sultan enough to defeat him. But like Ghori, Babur was mesmerized with the riches of the beautiful India, and didnt leave after defeating the Sultan. Instead, he laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire. Famous People Babur, later in 1527, defeated Rana Sanga in the Battle of Khanwa. But the Mughal rule was cemented in the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556, when his grandson Akbar defeated Hemu, the last hope of Hindu rule over Delhi. 4. Second battle of Panipat and one more hope Hindu rule perished This battle took place in 1556 when the Mughal heir, toddler Akbar under the guardianship of Bahram Khan fought against Hemu, the general of Adil Shah Suri, the heir of Sher Shah Suri who never allowed Mughal Humayun any quarter to follow his father Babur in India. Sher Shah Suri who died in an accident had defeated Humayun in all three wars he fought. Wikipedia But after his death, Mughals wanted to be seated in India once more and thus the 13 year Akbar took the charge. History books say that Hemu had routed the Mughal defences, but one arrow that hit in eye of Hemu, sitting on an elephant changed not only fate of war but also of India's and for the next 300 years, Mughals strongly or loosely ruled India. Wikipedia With Hemu, another hope of Hindu rule over Delhi faded. 5. Battle of Karnal in 1739 Afghan marauder Nadir Shah known for mass killing in Delhi invaded India in 1739. Mughals empire by then was just a shadow of its past and neither had the strength nor the will to defend India. Though just for the sake of defending the their reputation which was anyhow tarnished as many kingdoms including Maratha Kingdom, Mysore under Haider Ali, and Bharatpur under the Jat kings were looking to become apparent heirs of Delhi's throne. Wikipedia Anyways, Mohammed Shah, popularly known as 'Rangeela' because of his habit of living a leisurous life sent an army, which met Nadir Shah's troops in present day Karnal. The Mughal army lost the battle and irked Nadir Shah plundered Delhi and killed over 3,000 people within 24 hours in Delhi. While going back, Nadir Shah took the famous Peacock Throne of Shahjahan and world famous Diamond, Kohinoor along with him. Later, Marathas who were waiting for the right opportunity seized the chance and kept the week Mughal emperor on their pension and became the defacto rulers of Delhi. 6. Third battle of Panipat The heir of Nadir Shah, Ahmad Shah Abdali, in 1761 once again invaded Punjab and it became obligation of Marathas to protect the Mughal empire since Mughal emperor Shah Alam was in their protection. The war, between the Marathas and Afghan invader Agmad Shah Abdali, took place on 14th January 1761. The war is considered to be one of the most decisive battles in Indian history because it didnt decide who would become the successor of the Mughals in India, but who would not. panipat-online The Marathas, under the leadership of the Peshwas brother Sadashiva Rao Bhau, lost their war despite having twice the number of soldiers against Abdali. According to A Comprehensive History of Medieval India, the major cause of Maratha defeat was the lack of support from other Indian regional kings like the Rajputs, Sikhs, Jats and even the Nawab of Awadh. Panipat was thousands of miles away from their capital in Pune, and it resulted in soldiers dying of hunger. Maratha supply lines were cut by Abdali and his Indian allies. Out of compulsion, Bhau had to fight at Panipat. Initially, the ferocity of the Maratha attack was such that it took the Afghans by surprise, but soon the law of averages caught up and the Afghans dominated and defeated the Marathas. This defeat opened the gates of India to the British. A few years later, the British waged war against the Maratha empire and completely destroyed it by 1818 in the third Anglo-Maratha war. Once again Panipat guzzled the hope of Hindu rule over India. War has always been an unfinished business and even now there are countries who have their eyes set on India, but now things have changed and it's quite unlikely that any invaders would reach Panipat to script another change at the seat of Delhi. 26/11 was an event that jolted the entire nation in 2008 and till date, it remains a reminder of loss and grief. An Islamic militant organisation carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. Nearly 166 people died in the attacks and as many as 600 people were injured. gallinews Among the few who survived the event and helped through and through was a dog named Caesar. Caesar was the last surviving hero of the 26/11 attacks, but died of a heart attack on Thursday. The brave, alert & efficient Caeser will be remembered fondly for his services. An emotional moment for all of us @MumbaiPolice #RIPCaeser pic.twitter.com/RoQZCglKSx CP Mumbai Police (@CPMumbaiPolice) October 13, 2016 The 11-year-old Labrador Retriever was veiled in the Tricolour and received an emotional farewell from the city's police force. Caesar was the sole dog survivor among the squad of dogs that helped in bomb detection during the terrorist attacks. He died of a heart attack at a farm in Virar where he and his three canine buddies had been sent after retirement. Services of retired member of dog squad,during 26/11 wil b unforgettable.We will miss our hero immensely #RIPCaeser pic.twitter.com/RP7m3X9moF Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) October 13, 2016 During the attacks, it was Caesar who sniffed and recognised two grenades left by the militants at the CST railway station. He further served in the search operation as well, where the accused were supposedly camping for three days. Other than these, Caesar also served in the 2006 and 2011 serial blasts. This rockstar had detected grenade at CST station during 26/11. A life lived well... #RIPCaeser https://t.co/ywqbgIoav2 Suniel Shetty (@SunielVShetty) October 13, 2016 @darryl_edison @KapilSharmaK9 The brave, alert and efficient Caeser will be remembered fondly 4 his services.We will miss him #RIPCaeser Arvind Kejriwal FC (@KejriwaIFanClub) October 13, 2016 Earlier this year saw the loss of two other canines - Max died first on April 8, followed by Sultan on June 18. In a bid to corner Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar for the terrorist attack on the Pathankot IAF base, the National Investigation Agency is considering filing a charge sheet naming Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf and two other "handlers" involved in the terror strike. AFP The charge sheet is expected to reflect India's determination to pursue cases against Azhar and maintain pressure on the UN security council to sanction the terrorist mastermind despite China exercising a veto on behalf of Pakistan. The two handlers likely to be named by NIA are also Pakistani nationals Kashif Jaan and Shahid Latif. After completing its investigations and collecting substantial evidence by way of forensics and phone taps, the NIA is in a position to squarely blame Jaish and its chief. The Indian agency has also approached the US for more technical evidence. According to an official, NIA is examining legal options on filing a charge sheet against Azhar and other JeM members "in absentia". Once legal ramifications are examined approval of the home ministry will be sought. AFP Earlier, NIA had filed a charge-sheet "in absentia" in 2011 against Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley, Lashkar e Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, Zaki Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Tahawur Hussain Rana and two ISI officers, Major Samir and Major Iqbal, among others for their role in 26/11 Mumbai attacks. "Pakistan, like always, is not cooperating when it comes to sharing information and evidence in terror-related cases. The idea behind filing a chargesheet without Pakistan's support is that it will strengthen India's case legally and the charge-sheet can be used against Maulana Masood Azhar, Abdul Rauf and others," said the official. The charge sheet will be part of India's campaign to build international pressure on Pakistan to hand over the Pathankot attack masterminds to India, the official said. The Pakistani Army has for the first time acknowledged that Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chauhan is in their custody. Pakistan DGMO conveyed the information to his Indian counterpart on Thursday. Chavan, who was a part of the 37 Rashtriya Rifles, had inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control on September 30. The incident had happened amid the claims and counter-claims over the Indian army surgical strike in PoK. Also read: Grandmother Of Indian Soldier Dies Of Shock After Hearing The News Of His Capture By Pak Army Initially Pakistan had claimed that Chauhan was caught during a cross-border firing along the LoC. AFP/ Representative Image India had however said that Chandu had crossed the border inadvertently and was not part of the team which carried out the surgical strike. While confirming the development Indian army had said that he will be returned through an existing mechanism between the two countries over civilians and army personnel who cross the border by accident. There are 17 propositions on the California ballot in November. Vote-by-mail started Monday so I figured that instead of waiting, I'd do a quick rundown of the propositions with the DWT recommendations. Candidate recommendations will be coming soon. Vote yes. Vote yes. Vote no. Prop 53 is an important one to defeat. It's basically an initiative of right-wing millionaires who are trying to hijack the system so as not to pay their fair share, as usual. Vote no. Vote yes. Vote yes. Vote Yes. Vote Yes. This one repeals the ban on bilingual education. Vote yes. This instructs California's elected representatives to working towards overturning Citizens United. Vote no... I guess. I'm not 100% sure on this but it seems a little too authoritarian for comfort. Vote yes. Prop 61 is the important one Bernie has been campaigning for. There are an awful lot of phony TV spots paid for by Big Pharma against it. It's going to mean lower drug prices. Gaius went into the importance of this proposition at the end of August Vote yes on 62. Ideally, I'm not opposed to the death penalty. If Justice really were blind, I'm be a bid advocate. But Justice isn't and the rich always seem to get off while the poor fry. The racial component of death penalty cases is horrifying and the main reason I oppose the death penalty in practice. Vote yes. This will keep more guns and ammo out of the hands of people who should have neither. Example, if you are convicted of gun theft, you're not allowed to own a firearm. Does that sound too radical a notion? The initiative also strengthens background checks, always an excellent idea. Vote yes on 64 to legalize marijuana. Vote no. This is a really deceptive initiative-- very anti-environment but disguised as pro-environment being pushed by plastic bag manufacturers. It's meant to confuse voters who want to support Prop. 67. Vote no. Vote yes. This is the real pro-environment proposition. A DSP of Jammu and Kashmir Police has been suspended after he "unwittingly" passed on information about Indian army's deployment in Kashmir to a Pakistani intelligence official. AP/ Representative Image DSP Tanveer Ahmad, who was posted at the armed police control room is now facing an internal probe for his frequent contact with a Pakistani intelligence official via WhatsApp who was posing as an army official. According to Ahmad, who was in-charge of the control room in Srinagar' Batamaloo, he received a call from an army official who identified himself as 'Major Sanjeev' on August 20. The caller was seeking information about the details of the deployment of police and para-military forces at various places in the Valley. AFP He allegedly shared the details of 12 companies were deployed in the two districts to the Pakistani official using WhatsApp. According to The Times of India Ahmad said he shared the details with the caller only after taking permission from his SP. However, the MHA traced the call and investigated the details. The MHA then informed the DGP, who ordered a probe a fortnight ago. The probe is to ascertain whether he passed on the information deliberately or was it a mistake. The mother of a martyred Army Captain has accused Shahpur police in Madhya Pradesh of demanding bribe to make efforts to trace the bravery medals of her son that were stolen in 2014. ANI Bhopal (South) superintendent of police Anshuman Singh said the police had not received any complaint in this regard. "We got to know about this from the media only," he said. Nirmala Sharma, a resident of Shahpura locality in Bhopal said that her only son, Captain Devashish Sharma of Punjab Battalion, was killed on December 10, 1994, during Operation Rakshak. We will suspend the officials who have asked for bribe from the mother of martyr Devashish Sharma: MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan pic.twitter.com/3KOSPlVD9r ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that his government will suspend the officials who asked for bribe from the mother of martyr Devashish Sharma. Martyr medal stolen case: MP Home Minister Bhupendra Singh meets martyr Devashish Sharmas mother in Bhopal. pic.twitter.com/Dz4YJA1yOd ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 Captain Devashish Sharma was posthumously awarded Kirti Chakra by the government of India and a bravery award by the Jammu and Kashmir government. Forget about original, all I want is duplicate medals. I will be really thankful to govt if they help me: Nirmala Sharma (Martyrs mother) pic.twitter.com/paWVVwuf3y ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 The medals were stolen during a theft at their house on October 21, 2014, regarding which a report was lodged in Shahpura police station. "Forget about original, all I want is duplicate medals. I will be really thankful to govt if they help me", said the martyr's mother Nirmala. Even as the leaders of India and China are scheduled to meet in Goa in the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Beijing has made it clear that it will oppose any attempts by New Delhi for membership at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and efforts to put UNSC sanctions on Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar. Reuters Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that the country decision is based on the fact the UN members had "differing views" on UN sanctions on Azhar. I have stated Chinas position. I would like to reiterate that the UN committee dealing with the listing does it according to provisions of the UN charter. We maintain that this committee should work on true facts and make a decision according to consensus of its members. Xinhua On the NSG membership bid he said China wasn't in favour of the rules being changed for just one country. He however said the country is willing to work with india and reach on consensuses in both the issues. We are willing to work with India to implement the leaders consensus, strengthen communication and cooperation and deepen pragmatic cooperation across the board, Geng said. The statements comes a day before Chinese President Xi Jinping is to travel to India where he will be meeting Narendra Modi. Reuters India was reportedly planning to raise both the issues in the meeting. The relations between New Delhi and Beijing have been on the rough patch in recent time over the repeated Chinese efforts in Seoul during the NSG meeting and the unilateral protection it is offering to Pakistan by blocking the Indian efforts to sanction Azhar at UN. Apparently concerned over the health status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, two AIADMK supporters committed suicide by self-immolation. While a 39-year-old man set himself ablaze on Wednesday evening, a 21-year-old youth, who had set himself on fire on October 4, succumbed to burn injuries on Wednesday night. BCCL R Sargunam (39) set himself on fire near Tambaram on Wednesday evening and was rushed to the hospital by passersby who doused the fire. He was later admitted to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where he succumbed to injuries. In a second incident, 21-year-old S Rajavel of Uthapuram in Madurai who had attempted self-immolation on October 4 succumbed to the burn injuries late on Wednesday. AFP The Tamil Nadu chief minister has been hospitalized since last month. With the hospital suggesting that her recovery will take a while the AIADMK has already divided her portfolios among other ministers. The Pakistani Army has for the first time acknowledged that Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chauhan is in their custody. Pakistan DGMO conveyed the information to his Indian counterpart on Thursday. Chavan, who was a part of the 37 Rashtriya Rifles, had inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control on September 30. The incident had happened amid the claims and counterclaims over the Indian army surgical strike in PoK. Read more 1. India, Russia Finalise Agreement On Two More Units At Kudankulam India and Russia have finalised a general framework agreement and credit protocol for setting up units five and six at the Kudankulam nuclear plant. The formal announcement of the pact and the credit protocol is likely to be made after bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Goa on the sidelines of BRICS Summit. Read more 2. Senior Kashmir Cop Suspended For Inadvertently Sharing Army Information With Pak Agencies A DSP of Jammu and Kashmir Police has been suspended after he "unwittingly" passed on information about Indian army's deployment in Kashmir to a Pakistani intelligence official. DSP Tanveer Ahmad, who was posted at the armed police control room is now facing an internal probe for his frequent contact with a Pakistani intelligence official via WhatsApp who was posing as an army official. Read more 3. After Crackdown On Teachers, Turkey Arrests 189 Judges For Allegedly Plotting Coup Turkish Police today raided country's top court of appeals with arrest warrants for 189 judges and prosecutors, alleging that they were involved in the failed coup attempt that Turkey witnessed in July. According to Anadolu news agency, Ankara's chief prosecutor has sought the latest arrests of members of the judiciary at the justice ministry, other courthouses and judges working at the Court of Cassation, the top court of appeals, and the Council of State, the highest administrative court respectively. Read more 4. Madhya Pradesh Police Demanded Bribe To Trace Stolen Kirti Chakra Medal Of Martyred Soldier The mother of a martyred Army Captain has accused Shahpur police in Madhya Pradesh of demanding bribe to make efforts to trace the bravery medals of her son that were stolen in 2014. Bhopal (South) superintendent of police Anshuman Singh said the police had not received any complaint in this regard. Nirmala Sharma, a resident of Shahpura locality in Bhopal said that her only son, Captain Devashish Sharma of Punjab Battalion, was killed on December 10, 1994, during Operation Rakshak. Read more 5. Upset Over Jayalalithaas Health, Two Tamil Youths Commit Suicide Apparently concerned over the health status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, two AIADMK supporters committed suicide by self-immolation. While a 39-year-old man set himself ablaze on Wednesday evening, a 21-year-old youth, who had set himself on fire on October 4, succumbed to burn injuries on Wednesday night. R Sargunam (39) set himself on fire near Tambaram on Wednesday evening and was rushed to the hospital by passersby who doused the fire. He was later admitted to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where he succumbed to injuries. Read more 6. Small Time Retailers Bear The Brunt Of 'Boycott Chinese' Call As Customers Buy Indian Goods During Diwali Sales The campaign to boycott Chinese goods following the country's support to Pakistan after the Uri attack has started hitting Diwali sales, according to traders in Old Delhi's markets. Social media has been buzzing with calls not to buy Chinese goods this Diwali. Several politicians too have urged people to buy Indian goods only. While many Old Delhi traders agree with the sentiment of the campaign, they say it would lead to huge losses as thousands of traders and shop-owners have stocked Chinese goods worth lakhs over the past four months. Read more A self proclaimed exorcist sexually, exploiting women in name of treating them or freeing them from evil spirits, has been arrested from Kaimur district in south western Bihar for allegedly trying to rape a woman. According to police, the accused has been identified as Dharmraj Gond. The incident took place last week, when wife of a young man, who had come to him for being treated for cancer through exorcism, suddenly found the exorcist getting physical with her. She raised the alarm and called out her relatives who were outside the room. Representational Image (Reuters) Among the members of woman's family, one was an army man, who later informed Kaimur superintendent of police Harpreet Kaur, which resulted in prompt action from police and Gond was arrested. Five human skulls, Rs 18,000 cash and fake cash memos were recovered from the house. Initial inquiries revealed that Gond, who had criminal history and was jailed in a robbery case in 1993 had been in this business for the last 20 years. Later, the victim told that she was told by a youth that the Pooja by Gond can treat cancer of her husband which would cost Rs 20,000. But later, the deal was settled for Rs 15,000. She was asked to come to Gond's house at night with her husband. When they reached, she alone was taken to a dark room human forms resembling Goddess Kali and Bhairav Baba blessed her. I became suspicious when the voice of Kali was the same as that of Gonds daughter-in-law who I had met during our earlier visits. So, when I found Gond getting physical with me, I immediately raised an alarm and ran out of the room, the victim later told police and was quoted in Hindustan Times. The man posing as Bhairav was found to be a friend of Gond. Gonds daughter-in-law and the man posing as Bhairav are absconding, said Manoj Ram, sub divisional police officer, who led the raiding party. Investigations into the case were in progress, he added. The accused told the police he had brought the human skulls from his Gurus place in Uttar Pradesh. Unsure whether they were really human skulls, the police have sent them to Forensic Science Lab (FSL), Patna, for identification. The police have lodged cases under sections for cheating, criminal conspiracy and molestation. US and EU motor-makers join forces on system efficiency Electric motor manufacturers in North America and Europe are working together to develop efficiency standards for complete motor-driven systems, rather than focusing on motors in isolation. The trade organisations that represent the manufacturers Nema (the National Electrical Manufacturers Association) in the US, and Cemep (the Committee of Manufacturers of Electrical Machines and Power Electronics) in Europe have set up a working group to develop a new direction for global motor efficiency standards based on a systems approach, which they say, will lead to bigger energy savings. Originally, efficiency standards focused on isolated drive system components, but they are now evolving to encompass interconnected, multi-component systems. We believe the market will embrace a new systems approach to power drive standards that quantify total energy savings in place of efficiency for isolated components, says Robert Boteler of Nidec Motor Corporation, who chairs Nemas Motor and Generator Section Energy Management Committee. This will enable us to measure and minimise power losses for all segments of the motor-driven market. Nema and Cemep have set up a joint working group and this week presented a white paper, called a New Systems Approach to Motor Efficiency Standards Promises Electrical Energy Savings in Practical Applications, at the Motor Summit 2016 conference in Switzerland. The paper outlines an extended product approach that moves beyond individual motors, inverters, and controls, to include electronic speed controls, power drive systems (PDSs), pumps, fans, compressors, and other auxiliary electronics that make up complete motor-driven systems. The motor is a critical part of any electronic system, but it only makes up a small percentage of the energy losses inherent in any electrical system, points out Cemep president, Jurgen Sander. Incorporating power drive systems can increase energy saved by as much as six times the amount that could be saved when relying solely on the motor component. Future efficiency standards will consider all of the components involved in motor-driven drivetrains The Nema-Cemep working group is currently developing a new standard that uses loss reduction versus efficiency when considering total system energy savings. The group is also establishing the losses generated at various operating points and determining the savings in energy as a result of using a power drive system. The resulting standard will establish a series of points that can be used to evaluate and optimise energy savings. Motor efficiency classification started in Europe in 1998. In 2001, US motor manufacturers raised efficiency levels above the minimum requirement that Congress had established in 1992. In 2010, this premium efficiency level was added to regulations, establishing it as the minimum requirement. This brought greater savings to a category of motors that make up about 40% of the motors sold every year. In 2014, the most recent round of US regulations was released. It took effect June 1, 2016, and covers all polyphase motors from 1-500 horsepower (0.75375kW). Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving 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. MeMO 2016 is organized by the Surface Mining Society (SMS), the Underground Mining Society (UMS) and the Maintenance, Engineering and Reliability Society (MER), along with members of CIM Sudbury Branch, in collaboration with the CIM national organization. CIM Sudbury is proud to host this international mining event. MeMO conferences are typically held in a different Canadian city every one or two years, attracting hundreds of industry professionals from across the country and around the world. The City of Greater Sudbury, whose history is deeply rooted in mining, has a steadfast reputation as an international mining hub for research and technology, as well as being recognized as a major global supplier to industry. Each edition of the Met Coke World Summit and the Eurocoke Summit brings together a growing group of key decision makers from the coke, coal and steel industries to network and get up-to-speed on the latest technologies, processes and global market forecasts. For nearly 20 years, the Met Coke World Summit has hosted nearly 4500 attendees from six out of seven continents and built a reputation as the place to meet with almost every sector of the Met Coke industry. Connecting the most important international companies in the industry with key industry analysts, transporters, material providers, commodity investors, brokers and traders. Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter The announcement last week by the United States of the largest military aid package in its history to Israel was a win for both sides. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu could boast that his lobbying had boosted aid from $3.1 billion a year to $3.8bn a 22 per cent increase for a decade starting in 2019. Mr Netanyahu has presented this as a rebuff to those who accuse him of jeopardising Israeli security interests with his governments repeated affronts to the White House. In the past weeks alone, defence minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared last years nuclear deal between Washington and Iran with the 1938 Munich pact, which bolstered Hitler; and Mr Netanyahu has implied that US opposition to settlement expansion is the same as support for the ethnic cleansing of Jews. American president Barack Obama, meanwhile, hopes to stifle his own critics who insinuate that he is anti-Israel. The deal should serve as a fillip too for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic partys candidate to succeed Mr Obama in Novembers election. In reality, however, the Obama administration has quietly punished Mr Netanyahu for his misbehaviour. Israeli expectations of a $4.5bn-a-year deal were whittled down after Mr Netanyahu stalled negotiations last year as he sought to recruit Congress to his battle against the Iran deal. In fact, Israel already receives roughly $3.8bn if Congresss assistance on developing missile defence programmes is factored in. Notably, Israel has been forced to promise not to approach Congress for extra funds. The deal takes into account neither inflation nor the dollars depreciation against the shekel. A bigger blow still is the White Houses demand to phase out a special exemption that allowed Israel to spend nearly 40 per cent of aid locally on weapon and fuel purchases. Israel will soon have to buy all its armaments from the US, ending what amounted to a subsidy to its own arms industry. Nonetheless, Washingtons renewed military largesse in the face of almost continual insults inevitably fuels claims that the Israeli tail is wagging the US dog. Even The New York Times has described the aid package as too big. Since the 1973 war, Israel has received at least $100bn in military aid, with more assistance hidden from view. Back in the 1970s, Washington paid half of Israels military budget. Today it still foots a fifth of the bill, despite Israels economic success. But the US expects a return on its massive investment. As the late Israeli politician-general Ariel Sharon once observed, Israel has been a US aircraft carrier in the Middle East, acting as the regional bully and carrying out operations that benefit Washington. Almost no one blames the US for Israeli attacks that wiped out Iraqs and Syrias nuclear programmes. A nuclear-armed Iraq or Syria would have deterred later US-backed moves at regime overthrow, as well as countering the strategic advantage Israel derives from its own nuclear arsenal. In addition, Israels US-sponsored military prowess is a triple boon to the US weapons industry, the countrys most powerful lobby. Public funds are siphoned off to let Israel buy goodies from American arms makers. That, in turn, serves as a shop window for other customers and spurs an endless and lucrative game of catch-up in the rest of the Middle East. The first F-35 fighter jets to arrive in Israel in December their various components produced in 46 US states will increase the clamour for the cutting-edge warplane. Israel is also a front-line laboratory, as former Israeli army negotiator Eival Gilady admitted at the weekend, that develops and field-tests new technology Washington can later use itself. The US is planning to buy back the missile interception system Iron Dome which neutralises battlefield threats of retaliation it largely paid for. Israel works closely too with the US in developing cyberwarfare, such as the Stuxnet worm that damaged Irans civilian nuclear programme. But the clearest message from Israels new aid package is one delivered to the Palestinians: Washington sees no pressing strategic interest in ending the occupation. It stood up to Mr Netanyahu over the Iran deal but will not risk a damaging clash over Palestinian statehood. Some believe that Mr Obama signed the aid package to win the credibility necessary to overcome his domestic Israel lobby and pull a rabbit from the hat: an initiative, unveiled shortly before he leaves office, that corners Mr Netanyahu into making peace. Hopes have been raised by an expected meeting at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. But their first talks in 10 months are planned only to demonstrate unity to confound critics of the aid deal. If Mr Obama really wanted to pressure Mr Netanyahu, he would have used the aid agreement as leverage. Now Mr Netanyahu need not fear US financial retaliation, even as he intensifies effective annexation of the West Bank. Mr Netanyahu has drawn the right lesson from the aid deal he can act against the Palestinians with continuing US impunity. - See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2016-09-19/palestinians-lose-in-us-military-aid-deal-with-israel/#sthash.fL4Eq28N.dpuf 'It's About World War Three" - President Bashar Al Assad's Interview Video and Transcript 12 October President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to reporter of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" Daria Aslamova. We offer the full version of the interview Question 1: Thank you very much, Mr. President. It's a big happiness for me, and I'm very proud. Okay, I will start from my questions. The situation in Syria become more dangerous and more unpredictable. Why? Because this conflict draws inside more participants and more players. For example, who do we have now in Syria in the war? Iran, Lebanon - I mean Hezbollah - Russia, Turkey, USA's huge coalition, China shows interest. I mean, do you have any concerns that this conflict results in a third world war, or maybe it's already beginning of third world war. President Assad : If we want to talk about the problem, we have to talk about the crux of the problem, the source of the problem; it's the terrorism. And no matter who's interfering in Syria now, the most important thing is who is supporting the terrorists on daily basis, every hour, every day. That is the main problem. If we solve that problem, all this complicated image that you described is not a matter... I mean, it's not a big problem, we can solve the problem. So, it's not about how many countries interfering now, it's about how many countries supporting the terrorists, because Russians, Iran, and Hezbollah are out allies, and they came here legally. They support us against the terrorists, while the other countries that you describe who are interfering, they are supporting the terrorists. So, it's not about the number, it's about the main issue that is terrorism. Second, it's about world war three. This term has been used recently a lot, especially after the recent escalation regarding the situation in Syria. I would say what we have now, what we've been seeing recently during the last few weeks and maybe few months is something like more than cold war, less than war, a full-blown war. I don't know what to call it, but it's not something that has existed recently, because I don't think that the West and especially the United States has stopped their cold war, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Journalist : Yes, it's going on. President Assad : You have many stages in that regard, and Syria is one of these important stages. You see more escalation than before, but the whole issue is about keeping the hegemony of the Americans around the world, not allowing anyone to be partner on the political or international arena, whether Russia or even their allies in the West. So, this is the essence of this war that you described as third world war that exists, it is a world war, but it's not military war. Part of it is military, part of it is terrorism and security, and the other part is political. So, you're correct, but in a different way, not only about Syria; Syria is part of this war. Question 2: But you said Syria became stage of this war. Why Syria? I mean, okay, you are big country, I mean, you have oil but not like Saudi Arabia. Why exactly Syria? President Assad: It has many aspects. The first one, if you want to talk about the regional conflict, Syria has a good relation with Iran, and Saudi Arabia wanted to, let's say, destroy Iran completely, maybe in the political sense and maybe in the material sense or factual sense, for different reasons. So they wanted Syria to go against Iran, that's why destroying Syria could affect Iran negatively. That's how I look at it. The West, for them, Syria and Russia are allies for decades now, and again, if we undermine the position of Syria, we can influence the Russians negatively. But there's something else; it's about the historical role of Syria. Syria has played that role in the region for centuries, it was always the hub of the geopolitical dynamic in the Middle East. So, controlling Syria - since the Pharaohs, before the Christ, they used to fight for Syria, the Pharaohs and the Hittites, this is historical basis. So, it has a role, geopolitics, the position on the Mediterranean, the society, because Syria is the fault line between the different cultures in this region; whatever happens in Syria will influence the region, negatively and positively, so controlling Syria is very important. Although Syria is small, it's very important to control the rest of the region. Second, Syria is an independent country, and the West doesn't accept any independent country, whether Syria as a small country, or Russia as a great power. What's their problem with Russia? Because you say "yes" and "no. You have to keep saying "yes." That's the problem with the West. So, that's why Syria. Question 3 : Some Western media found that the war in Syria now became a straight conflict between Russia and USA. You agree with this? President Assad : Yes, for a simple reason: when I said at the very beginning that the issue about the terrorism; Russia wanted to fight terrorism for different reasons, not only for Syria, not only for Russia, for the rest of the region, for Europe, for the rest of the world. They understand what the meaning of terrorism prevailing, in a certain way, while the United States have always, since Afghanistan in the early eighties, till this day, they think "terrorism is a card we can play. We can put on the table." Journalist: Yes. President Assad: You can put in your pocket, and put it on the table anytime. So, you're talking about two different entities, two different ideologies, two different behaviors, two different approaches. That's natural to have this conflict; even if there is dialogue, they're not on the same page. Question 4: Now, we have a new player in this region. Okay, I mean, it was Turkish intervention, and nobody speaks about this now, like nothing happened. What's your opinion about the role of Turkey in this war, and about this intervention? President Assad: If we start from today, it's invasion. Journalist : Invasion! President Assad: This incursion is invasion, whether a small part, or large part of the Syrian territory; it's invasion, against international law, against the morals, against the sovereignty of Syria. But what do the Turks want from this invasion regardless of the mask that they wear to cover their intention, real intentions. They wanted to whitewash their real intention that they used to support ISIS and al-Nusra- Journalist : You think they don't support now? President Assad : No, they still support, but they came, they say "we are fighting ISIS, we're going to have-" Journalist: It's ridiculous. What they tell, it's ridiculous, when they tell "we are fighting with ISIS." They made ISIS. President Assad : Of course, exactly, they made ISIS, they supported ISIS, they give them all the logistical support and they allow them to sell our oil through their borders, through their territory, with the participation of Erdogan's son and his coterie; they all, all of them, were involved in the relation with ISIS. All the world knows this. But with this invasion, they wanted to change the package of ISIS, to talk about new moderate forces, which have the same grassroots of ISIS. They move it from ISIS. They say ISIS were defeated in some areas because the Turkish bombardment and troops and their proxies in Syria expelled ISIS from certain areas. Just a play, it's just a play for the rest of the world. The second one, because he wanted to support al-Nusra in Syria. Journalist: He wanted to support al-Nusra. President Assad: And he wanted to have - I mean, Erdogan in particular - wanted to have a role in the solution in Syria, doesn't matter what kind of role. He felt that he's isolated for the last year because of ISIS. Journalist : But he still feels like Syria is Ottoman Empire. For him it's just his territory. President Assad : Exactly. His ideology is a mixture between the Brotherhood ideology which is violent and extremist, and the Ottoman Empire, or Sultanate. Journalist: Ambitions, yes. President Assad : And so he thinks with these two ideologies, he can make a mixture to control this region. That's why he supported the Muslim Brotherhood in every country, including Syria. You are right. Question 5: After the Russian plane was shot down by the Turks, Russia stopped relationships with Turkey. Now, after, okay, his excuses, we again... it looks like again friendship, tourism, diplomatic relations everything. Putin called this a "knife in the back" when this plane was beaten by the Turks. Do you think maybe we Russians make a mistake to trust Erdogan again after his betrayal? President Assad: No, actually, I look positively to this relation. Journalist: You look positively? President Assad: Yeah, positively. Why? Journalist: Why? President Assad : We are talking about two parties, we're taking into consideration that these two parties, again, they don't see eye-to-eye, they are in different positions; Russia bases its policy on the international law, respecting the sovereignty of other states, and understanding the repercussions of the terrorism prevailing anywhere in the world, while the other party, the Turkish party, bases his policy on the ideology of Muslim Brotherhood; they don't respect the sovereignty of Syria, and they supported the terrorists. So, you can see there's polarization, each one is in the exactly or completely the opposite side. So, through this rapprochement, let's say, between Russia and Turkey, the only hope that we have as Syria is that Russia can make some changes in the Turkish policy. This is our hope, and I'm sure that this is the first goal of the Russian diplomacy toward Turkey these days; in order to decrease the damage of the messing-up with the Syrian territory by the Turkish government. I hope they can convince them that they have to stop supporting terrorists, stop allowing the flow of terrorists and money for those terrorists through their borders. Journalist: But for Erdogan, these terrorists are instrument of influence. He will never refuse from this instrument, it's his people, and if he will try to fight with them, they will start to fight with him. I mean, he... it's a big risk for him to refuse from sponsorship of terrorism, it's a big risk for his power. President Assad: Yeah, that's why I didn't say the Russians will change his policy; I said they will decrease the damage, because he - I mean, somebody who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood's violent and extremist and fanatic ideology cannot be a straight person, to be frank, and to be realistic. So, what you're talking about is very realistic. I agree with you a hundred percent. But at the end, you have to try, you try; if he changed one percent, that's good, if he changed ten percent, then that's good. You don't have to have the full change, and we don't have this hope, we don't raise our expectations a lot, especially with somebody like Erdogan and his clique, but any change in this moment, that will be good, and this hope, that we have I think the same that the Russians officials have this time, through this relation. And I think this is the wisdom of the movement of the Russian government toward the Turkish government, not because they trust this government, but they need good relations with the people, and that's completely correct. Question 6: For me, it's a very strange thing. Daesh, ISIS, with their ideology, never threaten Israel, and Israel never threaten Daesh, ISIS. It's like some kind of agreement about - maybe not on friendship - but neutrality. Why, you think, it's like this? And what's the role of Israel in this war? President Assad : Not only ISIS, of course, or Daesh, not only al-Nusra; anyone, any terrorist who holds a machinegun and started killing and destroying in Syria was supported by Israel, either indirectly through the logistical support on the frontier, or sometimes by direct intervention by Israel against Syria in different areas in Syria. Why? Because Israel is our enemy, because they occupy our lands, and they look at Syria as enemy of course, and for them they think if they undermine the position of Syria and make it weaker as a whole, as society, as army, as state, that will prevent Israel from moving toward the peace, and the price of the peace is to give back the Golan Heights to Syria. So, for them, Syria will be busy with another issue now, it would be busy to talk about the Golan or the peace process, or even to do anything to get back its land. That's why Israel is supporting every terrorist, and there's no contradiction between Israel and any organization like al-Nusra or ISIS or any Al Qaeda-linked organization. Question 7: Your army lost a lot of blood, it's obviously, but on the other side, when I sit in Damascus and see in cafes a lot of young people who drink coffee from morning, and ask "who are these young men, why are they not on the front?" It's students, it's students. After this I see fitness centers full of young people, is very good muscles. What are they doing here? Send them all on the front! I mean, I don't understand why didn't you make this general mobilization of army? Like, we made this in Patriotic War, in general, when we had big war, we sent all men to front! President Assad: What we have now is partial, let's say, mobilization. Why partial? What is the meaning of partial? It's not the highest level. The highest level of mobilization means for everyone to go to fight, to different, let's say, military fronts. It means you won't have anyone at the universities, you won't have teachers at schools, you won't have employees to do anything, even the trucks, the cars, will be managed by the government, and anything else that would be part of this war. That would be okay if this war will last for a few weeks, or a few months maybe, but for a war that's been there for now nearly six years, it means the paralysis of the society, and the paralysis of the state, and you won't win the war if you have a paralyzed society. So, you need to have balance between the war and between the basic needs of the society, the university, and the services that you should offer to the people. That's why it's crucial to make that balance. So, that's our point of view. Question 8: But, even your TV programs, I don't understand Arabic, but when I watch this, it's like it's peace in country, little bit from being in about war, and after this about sport, about children, about schools. I watch this and think "oh my God!" In country I hear how mines explosions in city, like nothing happened. Maybe it's too much, maybe people... if you want to push patriotism in people, you must explain to them every day, "guys, we're in big war!" And that's exactly what every country is doing, but I don't like this picture of peaceful life. It don't exist here! President Assad: Our, let's say, media are not disconnected from what's going on, but you need again to have the balance between how much you need to have close-to-natural life, not completely normal life...So you need this balance. Of course you have many different points of view regarding the media, because media is about the perception ..If you don't try to live this life, the terrorists will defeat you, because that's their aim. Journalist: We was living like this, when it was Great Patriotic War, all cities was empty, it was just women. Okay, doctors of course, some kind of teachers, but everybody was in the front. I will give you example from my family: four brothers was going to front with my father, and my father left school, in thirteen years, he was going to factory to make bombs. And, it was not normal. We would never win this war if we will not put all our men on front. President Assad: Yeah, but when you talk about war, war is not only military; war is everything. The most important part of our war, not only terrorists, which is in parallel, or as important as the terrorist issue, is the economy. We are under embargo, so we have to do our best to keep this wheel moving forward. Journalist : I understood. President Assad: That's why you need to put all your effort on this life, because without this natural life, you cannot have economy, if everyone wants to stay at home and just to live the life of the war, you don't produce. Question 9 : Why you ask help of Russia almost in the most critical moment? Almost when everything was crashed, and even your life was in danger? President Assad: First of all, there's a traditional relation between Syria and Russia, and during the worst times of this relation, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the relation was good, it wasn't bad. It wasn't warm- Journalist: That's why you could ask help much more earlier. President Assad: No, we asked for the help from the very beginning, but the escalation wasn't as last year, because before that, the Syrian Army was moving forward, and our enemies - let's put it in that term - our enemies, when they saw that we are moving forward on the ground, they started escalating by bringing more terrorists coming from abroad, more foreigners coming from more than one hundred countries. At the end, Syria is a small country, and even the population is not very big. So, we needed the help of our friends. Iran intervened, and Hezbollah, and Russia as a great power was very crucial in changing the balance of power on the ground. That's why it was natural to ask for the Russian help. They helped us before; maybe not directly through the air forces, they used to send us everything, every logistical support we wanted for that war. But they live with us, we have the military experts living in Syria for four decades. They saw on the ground that during that time in 2014, the balance started changing in favor of the terrorists, with the support of the West and other countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey and Qatar, and the Russians were ready to intervene directly. That's why we invited them, and because we trust them, of course. We trust their politics, politics based on morals before interests. We trust them because we know that they wanted to support us because they wanted to get rid of the terrorists, not because they want to ask us anything in return, and they never did. Till this moment, they never asked us for anything in return. All these factors encouraged me and the Syrian government and the institutions to ask for the Russian help. Question 10: Before this so-called revolution, I'm sure you got offers from your present enemies; some kind of offers, some kind of deals. What they wanted from you? I heard, for example, Qatar wanted to make tube through Syria. Is it true or not? You got some kind of offer before? President Assad : The offers started after the crisis. Journalist : Ah-ha, okay. President Assad: Because they wanted to use the crisis; "if you do this, we're going to help you." Journalist : But what they wanted from you? President Assad : But before the crisis, it wasn't an offer; they wanted to use Syria indirectly. Not offer, they wanted to convince us to do something. The main issue was, at that time around the world, was the nuclear file of Iran. It was the main issue around the world, and Syria has to convince Iran to go against its interests, that time. France tried, Saudi Arabia wanted us at that time to be away from Iran with no reason, just because they hate Iran. Journalist: But what about this tube? It's real that they wanted to make gas tube through Syria? President Assad : No, they didn't talk about it, but because Syria was supposed to be a hub in that regard, of power in general, a tube coming from the east; Iran, Iraq, Syria, Mediterranean, and another one from the Gulf toward Europe. I don't think the West will accept Syria - this Syria, Syria's that's not puppet to the West - it's not allowed to have this privilege or leverage, it's not allowed. So, we think this is one of the factors that they didn't talk about it directly. After the war, the offer was directly from the Saudis; that if you- Journalist : Directly from who? President Assad : From the Saudis. Journalist : From Saudis. President Assad : If you move away from Iran and you announce that you disconnect all kinds of relations with Iran, we're going to help you. Very simple and very straight to the point. Question 11: You said in one of your interviews that this war is difficult because it's simple to kill terrorists, but to kill ideology, much more difficult. And when I was speaking on the front with your officers, they told "look, how to fight with man who is not afraid to die?" For him it's just pleasure to die because 72 virgins wait for him in Paradise, yes. And our people, of course, normal people, they are afraid to die. And already it's morale spirit not the same, much more higher... terrorists have much more higher morale spirit. How to kill this ideology? President Assad: You're correct. If you talk about those fighters, ideological fighters, or terrorists, let's say, who are fighting our army, the only way is to fight them and kill them. You don't have any other way. They are not ready for any dialogue, and you don't have time to make dialogue, you want to protect your citizens, so you have to kill them. But that's not enough; it's like regenerating... like video games; you keep regenerating anything you want. You kill one, you're going to have another ten, so there's no end to that issue. The most important thing is in the mid-term and in the long-term is to fight this ideology through similar but moderate ideology. I mean you cannot fight extremism in Islam with any other ideology but the moderate Islam. So, this is the only way, but it takes time, it takes young generations, to work on these young generations, to work on the means and to suffocate the money that's being paid by the Saudi government and Saudi NGOs and Saudi institutions to promote the Wahabi ideology around the world. You cannot say "I'm going to fight this ideology" and at the same time allowing their sheikhs or imams promoting, at their madrasa, promoting this dark ideology. It's impossible. And that's what's happening in Europe. You're talking about generations that lived there for generations now, the third or fourth generation living in Europe, but they send us terrorists from Europe now. They never lived in our region, they don't speak Arabic, maybe they don't read Quran, but they are extremists, because they allowed the Wahabi ideology to infiltrate Europe. So, we need to deal with many things; you have to deal with the media, how to deal with their strong media that's being financed by the petrodollar in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to promote this extremism. How to deal with it? You need many aspects and many parallel paths at the same time. This is the only way you can defeat it. But dealing with the terrorists, this is the last part, and this is the compulsory part. You cannot avoid it, but it's not the solution. Question 12: Yes, but I always felt something mystic in this fighting for Damascus, and I understood after why there's so many mercenaries come here. One professor of theology, Islamic theologist, explained to me that they really believe in the city "Dabiq," it will be Apocalypse, and main battle between evil and good, and that's why they're now ready... because I was in Bosnia, for example; many mercenaries going through Bosnia, and they all tell "we are going to Dabiq." For them it's mystic meaning. How to kill this, I can't imagine. President Assad: Exactly, exactly. Journalist : Because it's big propaganda of this "go to Dabiq, go to Syria, because here it's main place for Apocalypse!" President Assad: A holy place now, for the fighting. Journalist : Yes, it's like a holy place. President Assad: I mean, if you want to go to Paradise, you have to go through Syria. Maybe if you die somewhere else, you won't go to paradise. This is part of the ideology. That's why they- Journalist: They are sure if they will die in Syria, they will go straight to Paradise? President Assad : That's how they think. Some of them, they think if they kill more innocents, they may have Iftar in Ramadan with the Prophet, for example. That's how they believe. They wash their brains completely, so you cannot blame them, they are ignorant, most of them are teenagers, they're being used. Journalist : Yes, yes, sometimes children. President Assad : Exactly. But it's about the machine that's been working for decades now to whitewash these brains and to spread this extremism around the Muslim world and the Muslim communities outside this Muslim world. Question 13: Do you satisfy with results of Russian intervention for this last year? They really made something serious here? President Assad : In brief, before that intervention, although there was this American alliance, so called "alliance" which is for me an elusive alliance, they did nothing, ISIS was expanding, ISIS and al-Nusra were expanding, they used to have more recruits, more recruitments. They used to have more oil to export through Turkey, and so on. After the Russian intervention, the same land under the control of the terrorists was shrinking. This is in brief. So, the reality is telling. Any other effect, I mean, is trivial. This is the main effect; they changed the balance on the ground not in favor of the terrorists. Question 14 : About Kurdish question, I was in Qamishli, and they want federation, they want to make federation. They said "our ideal model of state, it's like Russia. Russia has many nationalities and they make Russian Federation. Why Syria cannot be a federation?" And honestly, nobody from Syrian Kurdish was speaking with me about separation or to make independent state. No, they told "we want to be in Syria, but we want autonomy." You agree with this or not? Because they are really good fighters against ISIS. President Assad: Let me clarify the different aspects of this issue. First of all, we cannot talk about a community, a full community in Syria, that it wants something, like talking about the Kurds or the Turks or the Arabs or the Chechens or the Armenians or any other community we have. So, we can talk about part of the Kurds that they need this, part, only part of them. The majority of them, no, they don't ask for it. They never- Journalist: I don't speak about the Kurds in Damascus, of course they live here. President Assad : Yeah, I mean even in the north, part of them talk about this. This is first. Second, when you talk about federalism or any other similar system, it should be part of the constitution, and the constitution is not owned by the government - the constitution reflects the will of the Syrian people. So, if they need to have a certain political system in Syria, they need to promote it among the Syrians. They cannot discuss it with me, even if I say "yes, that's a good idea, I don't mind" as President or as an official or as a government. I cannot give it to them, I don't own it, I don't own the political system in Syria. Everything should be- Journalist : Like a referendum! President Assad : Exactly, to have referendum by the Syrian people to say yes or no. Second, some people, they talk about Kurdish federalism in the north, regardless of what I talked about, about most of the Kurds that they don't ask for this. Even if you want it, the majority in that area are Arabs. So how can you have Kurdish federalism while you have majority of Arabs? Journalist: But you have contacts with them? President Assad : Yeah, of course. We have dealing, we have negotiation, we always- Journalist: You have negotiations with them? President Assad : Of course, always, and we supported them during the war against ISIS. We sent them armaments, and your army knows all these details. Question 15: But honestly, when I was traveling by your country, I don't see any kind of opposition without guns, I mean, with whom you can speak? You have real partners for negotiations, or it is mission impossible? President Assad: This is a very important question, but you have to define the word "opposition." Now, most of the world used the word "opposition" about people who carry guns and kill people. You don't call them opposition; "opposition" is a political term; it cannot be a military term. Journalist: Yes, this is the problem, but everybody has guns. With who to speak? President Assad: Exactly. Now, if you want to talk about political opposition, of course we have. We have figures, I don't have names now, but we have figures. You can search for names. You have political currents or political movements- Journalist : Which one? What are the names of this...? President Assad: You have new parties, we can get you names, we have so many, I mean, not all of them have seats in the Parliament, for example, but during the crisis and even before the crisis, you have so many. We can bring you a list for all these, we have them. You have new parties who announce themselves as oppositions recently. Again, we can give you a list of all these, if I don't want to mention which name, I can give you the list. But we have them now, but the question here if you want to make negotiation, that's the crucial point of your question, it's not about who I am going to make negotiations with; the question is about who is influential on the situation, who can change the situation? Now, If I am going to sit with all these oppositions, whether inside Syria or outside Syria, whether they are real patriotic oppositions or opposition related to other countries, not to the Syrian people, let's presume that we are sitting with them, and we agreed upon anything, we said "this is good for the future of Syria." The question is: who is going to influence the terrorists on the ground? We all know that the majority of those terrorists belonging to Al Qaeda-affiliated groups, ISIS, al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Cham, and other organizations. They don't belong to any political movement, they don't care about any ideology but their own ideology, the Wahhabi Ideology. So, even if we negotiate with the political opposition, we cannot change the situation. So thats the most important part of the problem. So, you are correct; who I'm going to deal with? Journalist : Yes, with whom? President Assad : The most important is who's going to change the situation with me? As a government, I have my means. We can change. We are fighting terrorists. What those oppositions can do? That's the question. I cannot answer it. They have to answer it. They have to say "we can do this and we can do that." Question 16 : All Western media take information about the situation in Syria from this strange organization "Syrian Observatory of Human Rights," but I understood that it's just a one-man band? President Assad : One man living in London. Journalist: I don't understand this. I was shocked when I knew, I mean how they can use this like a source of information? President Assad : Yes, because that's what the West wants; they don't need anything real. They need somebody to promote any information that suit their agenda, and they promote it as a real one, as a fact, and as you know now, most of the people in the West are brainwashed regarding what's going on in Syria, and may be in Ukraine, I mean, the same in Russia; they tried to - and they succeeded - and brainwashed their public opinion, and this is one of the tools. So, it's not the only one, they have many tools, similar tools like the White Helmets recently. Journalist : What is... Who are they? President Assad: Actually, they work with al-Nusra in the area that's controlled by al-Nusra. How can you work in the same area if you are not under the control of al-Nusra? More importantly, many of their members - there are videos and pictures of them celebrating the death of Syrian Army soldiers, they were celebrating on their bodies- Journalist: What was... not long time ago, you mean when America was bombing Syrian Army, you mean this case? President Assad : No, no, in different areas, in Aleppo. Journalist : In different areas. President Assad: In Aleppo, you had fights, and they pictured themselves over the bodies of Syrian soldiers, the White Helmets with al-Nusra. So, this is changing of the package of al-Nusra under the word or under the title of White Helmet, that they are the good people who are sacrificing their life to help the others and children, and this emotional picture that would affect the public opinion in the West. Journalist : And you even don't know from where these pictures are? President Assad : Sorry? Journalist: Nobody knows from where these pictures? President Assad: No, no, they don't verify anything, it's not important. Now, in the internet, you can find anything, you cannot verify anything on the internet. You just watch, you feel emotional because the picture in Syria it should be in black and white; the good people versus the bad army or the bad President or bad government or the bad officials, let's say. This is the only picture they wanted to have in order to convince their public opinion that we should continue pressuring, that they are supporting the good Syrian people against their bad government, and so on. You know this propaganda. Question 17: But what will give you liberation of Aleppo, in strategic point? President Assad: Aleppo, we call it the "twin of Damascus" for many reasons. It is the second big city in Syria, Damascus is the political capital, while actually Aleppo is the industrial capital in Syria. Journalist : But no industry now, and I was there, everything is crashed. President Assad : Exactly. Most of the factories in Aleppo, they don't work; they were stolen, they were taken to Turkey. Journalist: But if you will take Aleppo, what will it change in the war? President Assad: Because it is the second- Journalist : Second city, but you can cut al-Nusra from- President Assad : First of all, it has political gain, on the strategic level, political gain and national gain. Then, from the strategic point of view, military point of view, no, you don't cut; it's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to another areas, to liberate another areas from the terrorists. This is the importance of Aleppo now. Journalist: Okay, it's liberation, but what's your next step? How to cut this connection between Turkey and Idlib? Because this is the main source, main stream of money, soldiers, everything. President Assad: You cannot cut, because Idlib is adjacent to Turkey, it's right on the Syrian-Turkish borders. So you cannot cut; you have to clean. You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. There's no other option. But Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move. Question 18: How many foreign mercenaries passed through your country for the last five years, approximately? President Assad: No one can count, because we don't have regular borders now; they don't cross the borders regularly, of course, but the estimation through one of the German research centers that was published a few weeks ago, they talk about hundreds of thousands of terrorists. Journalist: Hundreds of thousands? President Assad: Hundreds of thousands. They talk about more than 300 thousand, which is, I don't know if- Journalist: More than 300 thousands? President Assad: Yeah. I don't know if it's correct or not, or precise or wrong, but if you talk about hundreds of thousands, even if you talk about one hundred, it's a full army. It's a full army. Journalist: It's an army. It's a full army. President Assad : Exactly. That's why you keep killing, but you still have recruitment coming from abroad. So, you're talking about hundreds of thousands coming from different areas in the world, and this is very realistic; you have hundreds of thousands of terrorists around the world having the same ideology, the Wahhabi Ideology. That's very realistic. This is not an exaggeration. Question 19: I was speaking with your opposition in 2012 in Istanbul, with young people who told me "we want human rights, we want human rights." It was secular normal people without beard who were, by the way, drinking beer in Ramadan. But just for few years, they became fanatics. This is strange for me, and there was completely secular. And, who is commanders in Daesh, in ISIS? It's ex... ex-colonels, ex-majors from army of Saddam Hussein. They're secular people, too. How this become army of fanatics? I don't understand. President Assad : Part of it is related to what happened in Iraq after the invasion in 2003, where the American army or the Americans in general control everything in Iraq, including the prisons, and the leader of ISIS and most of his entourage were in the same prison. So, ISIS was created in Iraq under the American supervision. Journalist: It was maybe not ISIS, this period, but Al Qaeda? President Assad : No, it was called IS, it wasn't ISIS. It was "Islamic State of Iraq." Journalist: Islamic State? President Assad: Because it wasn't in Syria at that time. That's why it was called IS. That was in 2006. Journalist: 2006? President Assad: 2006, of course. Journalist: Already, it was Islamic State in 2006? President Assad : Of course. In 2006, of course, before the withdrawal of the Americans. That's why they played either direct role or indirect role in creating ISIS. Now, when it comes to Syria, when you talk about the very beginning of the problem before anybody was talking about al-Nusra or ISIS, they called it "Free Army" as a secular power fighting the government and the army. Actually, from the very beginning, if you go back to the internet and you have videos, you have pictures, you have everything, the beheading started from the very first few weeks. So, from the very, very beginning, it was an extremist movement, but they called it "Free Army." But when it becomes bigger and bigger, and the beheading couldn't be hidden anymore, they had to confess that there is al-Nusra, but actually it's the same one; al-Nusra is the same one as the "Free Syrian Army," the same as the ISIS. You have the same grassroots moving from area to area for different reasons. One of them is the ideology, the other one is out of fear, because if they don't move from place to place, they may kill you. Third one, for the money. ISIS used to give highest salaries for a certain time, one year ago, two years ago, and before, so many of the al-Nusra and "Free Syrian Army" joined ISIS for the money. So, you have many different factors, but the basic- Journalist : But, fanaticism? President Assad : But the same basic, the same foundation of extremism, is the common thing between all these different names and organizations. Question 20 : Can I ask you a personal question? President Assad: Yeah, of course. Journalist: In 2013, when your life was in so big danger, when America already... almost started to bomb Syria, why you didn't send your family to a safe place? President Assad: How can you convince the Syrians to stay in their country while you ask your family to leave your country? You cannot. You have to be the first, in any term used regarding the patriotic, let's say, headline. You have to be the first as a President; you, your family, anyone around you in the government, your staff. You cannot convince the people in your country that you can defend your country while you don't trust your army to defend your family. So, that's- Journalist: I understood, I understood. President Assad : That's why it was natural. We never thought... I never thought about this, actually. Journalist: Thank you very much for the interview. President Assad: Thank you for coming to Syria. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter For Email Marketing you can trust Donate Please read our Comment Policy before posting - It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. The Bayelsa State government said it has recruited not more than 250 youths to work with the state Oil and Gas Taskforce in tackling oil theft and pipeline vandalism. Gov. Seriake Dickson while inaugurating the new taskforce on Friday said the is for the youths in the state to be actively engaged in curbing revenue loss from pipeline vandalism. The governor through his Special Adviser on Oil and Gas, Mr Felix Bonny-Ayah who represented him added that it is imperative to secure oil and gas infrastructure against vandalism, bunkering and other anti social vices for the good of the state and the nation. According to him, the taskforce would also be used to shut down facilities of companies that violate laid down rules. Meanwhile, Dickson, has sounded a note of warning to the new employees not to see their recruitment as an opportunity to acquire wealth as he also enjoined them to remain law abiding citizens of the state and the country at large. Florence Otedola aka DJ Cuppy stars alongside Desmond Elliots in the new animated movie The Secret Princess. The film which sold out at the recent Hollywood Weekly movie festival in Los Angeles has become a bestseller in the first week of its DVD release on Amazon and is now available for download from www.TheSecretPrincess.com The Story The queen of the land switched her daughter(DJ Cuppy) for a farmers son at birth, knowing how badly the king wanted a son. Now, a young girl grows up unaware that she is a princess. Watch behind-the-scene clips here: And the Trailer https://youtu.be/er7ZVn8U97I The Arab Republic of Egypt, has donated some research books and magazines to the Darulkitab College, Ilorin, Kwara State, in a bid to boost education in the country. It noted that the educational materials would greatly assist students of the institution and others in their quest for productive research and intellectual development, a statement on Friday by the Press and Information Officer of the Embassy of Egypt in Nigeria, Mr. Ahmed Maher, explained. The donation comprises 55 Al-Azhar magazines issued by the Al-Azhar institution and 100 African perspective books donated by the State Information Service of Egypt. The statement added that Maher, who handed over the materials to the proprietor of the school, Dr. Abdul Salman, when he paid a courtesy visit to the Egyptian Embassy in Abuja, described the books as credible moral instruction manuals. It further said that Salman commended the Egyptian government for the donation, adding that the materials would be distributed to scholars and students of the college. It read, Recently, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Prof. Ahmed Tayyib, visited Nigeria, where he promised 10 scholarships to indigent persons living in the Internally Displaced Persons Camps in Abuja. Source: Punch The Governor of Kaduna state Nasir El-Rufai has ordered the immediate arrest of the irate youths who attacked Shia muslims in the state. El-Rufai, in a statement signed by his spokesperson Samuel Aruwan, urged security agents to uphold law and order as well as investigate and arrest anyone found culpable in the act. El-Rufai also cautioned security officers on attacks on the Muslim group. The governor said those who participated in the act must be brought to justice, as he warned against actions that would cause the death of anyone in the state. A mob of youths on Wednesday morning attacked a Shia leader Mukhtar Sahabi, and burnt his home along Zango Road in Kaduna. The attack was believed to have been carried out by youths residing in the area. The Shias Islamic school in the area was also reportedly demolished. There has been increased tension between Shiites and the Nigerian government. Prominent Shia organisation the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has been banned by the Kaduna state government, which claims it is an unlawful society. The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has impounded one of the cows that were grazing along Ado-Afao Road. The governors Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, posted on his Facebook page that the governor on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti led armed security men and some youths to impound the cow. He said as soon as the two herdsmen monitoring the cows sighted the governor, they ran into the bush, while some of the youths chased the cows and got one of them. He said, Governor Fayose was going to Ikole Ekiti when he came across herdsmen along Afao Ekiti Road in Ado Ekiti. The governor demonstrated the seriousness of the Ekiti State Anti-Grazing Law by personally seeing to it that one of the cows was arrested by youths after the herdsmen ran into the bush upon sighting the governors security men. The remaining cows ran into the bush too. Olayinka disclosed that the Ekiti grazing enforcement marshalls would start work in a few days. Fayose had on August 29 signed a law to regulate the grazing of cattle and other animals in Ekiti. The law provides that grazing activities must be from 7am to 6pm on a daily basis. According to the Ekiti State House of Assembly, any herdsman caught with firearms and any weapon will be charged with terrorism. The law also provides that any farm produce destroyed by the activities of the herdsman shall be estimated by an agricultural officers and the estimate should be borne by any arrested herdsman. Under the law, anyone found violating the bill, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to six months in prison without an option of fine. Source: Punch One of the parents of four freed pupils of the Lagos Junior Model College, Igbonla, Epe, Lagos State, has said the victims were brought back by the kidnappers to a bush behind the school, not far from where they were abducted six days ago. The parent, who pleaded that his identity be protected, told PUNCH Metro on Wednesday that the kidnappers brought the schoolboys, the teacher and the Vice-Principal to the area that they had passed through to invade the school on Thursday, October 6. Our correspondents learnt that some people in the school, who sighted the victims around 10.30pm, thereafter put calls across to their relations to announce their release. The kidnappers had last Friday, at about 8am, stormed the school premises while the junior school was rounding off the morning prayers and shot sporadically into the air. During the invasion, four pupils Okonkwo Emmanuel, Isaac Adebisi, Abu and Jeremiah were abducted while the English Language/Civic Education teacher, Lukman Oyerinde, and the Vice Principal, A.O. Oyesola, were also taken away by force. Our correspondents had reported the various stages of negotiation of ransoms between the attackers and the victims families, which was finally put at N1m ransom for each victim. PUNCH Metro gathered that the victims were hidden in a creek in the Epe area, which was said to be about four hours sailing from the school. It was gathered that the schoolboys, the teacher, and the VP were dropped off on Tuesday evening. The parent, who lived in the Ikorodu area, told our correspondent that he had relocated to a friends place in the Epe area since his child was kidnapped, adding that he did not pay any ransom. He said, I was called on the telephone by someone from the school around 12am on Wednesday that my son and other victims had been released. Since he was kidnapped, my wife and I had relocated from our house in Ikorodu to a friends place in Epe. When I rushed down to the school, I saw my son alive. We were told by the authorities that the boys walked into the school premises. They were left by the kidnappers around the boys hostel. We are grateful to God for sparing their lives. I did not pay any ransom. I do not know if other parents did. God knows I do not have any money to pay ransom. The parent of the schoolboy, who was reported to have paid N1m for his child who fell ill in the kidnappers den, said, I went through hell to raise the money. The kidnappers, after playing pranks with us for two days, left them not far from the school. I advise the state government to increase security in schools near waterways. A relation of one of the pupils, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said the kidnappers ordered the parents to wait at different location, while they dropped their victims in the school. He said, Two of the parents had been called by the kidnapers on Tuesday to wait for the arrival of the boys at a place in Epe. They waited for several hours. They later received an anonymous call that they should proceed towards the school. It was at the school area that we finally met our boys. When one of our correspondents got to the school on Wednesday, some policemen barricaded the gate, and prevented journalists from entering. A police source, however, confirmed to PUNCH Metro, that the gunmen dropped the victims about 11pm. It was learnt that the six victims were reportedly taken by the school authorities to the Epe General Hospital for checkups. PUNCH Metro gathered that they were taken to Female Ward 5 for treatment under police protection. Our correspondents learnt that two of the victims, who were diagnosed with typhoid and malaria respectively, were admitted at an undisclosed hospital in the Epe area. The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the police were on the trail of the suspects, adding that the pressure mounted on the kidnappers forced them to abandon their victims and flee. She said, The victims were rescued around 11pm and have been reunited with their families. No suspect has been arrested, but the police are on their trail, and there is no hiding place for criminals. The victims were not admitted to any hospital. They went to a hospital for checkups and they have been discharged. The police are not aware of the payment of any ransom. If the gunmen collected any money, it will be treated as robbery and they will be charged to court upon their arrest. Meanwhile, the state government, which also confirmed the release of the four pupils and their teachers on Wednesday, said it would spare nothing until it rid the state of criminal elements. A statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said the victims had undergone checkups after which they were reunited with their families. The Lagos State Government today (Wednesday) welcomed the release of the school pupils, vice-principal and teacher of Igbonla Model College, Epe, who were kidnapped by suspected Ijaw militants on Thursday October 6, 2016. The children are doing well; they have been taken through checkups and have been safely reunited with their families, the statement read in part. The commissioner, while restating the governments determination to protect lives and property, urged residents to be more vigilant and report suspected persons and objects seen within their neighbourhood to the appropriate security agency. He said, The determination of the government to ensure a 24-hour security of the state is evident in the huge investment in the equipment and welfare of security agencies, especially the police. Ayorinde stated that the government had taken steps to stem the tide of kidnapping in the state, noting that in line with the directive of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, plans had been concluded to commence the demolition of illegal structures erected across the state waterfronts and creeks. Often times, kidnapping is perpetrated through the waterways and as such, these illegal structures provide a leeway for these criminal elements to plan and execute their nefarious activities. This step, we believe, will go a long way to address this menace. The state government has also begun steps to boost community policing with the announcement by the governor that at least 5,000 neighbourhood watchers will soon be recruited to improve surveillance across the state, especially in the rural areas, Ayorinde said. Source: Punch A man, Olayinka Yusuf, 28, was on Friday arraigned before an Ebute Meta Magistrate Court sitting in Lagos for allegedly stealing 100 tubers of yam at broad daylight at the popular Oyingbo market in Lagos Mainland. The prosecutor, Insp. Emmanuel Silas told the court that the accused committed the offence on Oct. 13 at about 7.10 a.m. at Oyingbo market. The accused was asked to wheel the tubers of yam to a spot nearby but absconded with them, he said. According to him, the offence contravened Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 and prescribed three years jail term for offenders. In his defence, the accused who was charged on an account of stealing pleaded not guilty to offence. In her ruling, the presiding Magistrate, Mrs A.O. Ajibade, granted the accused a bail of N30,000 with one surety in like sum and adjourned the case to November 1. Nigerian newspaper headlines today: October 12 Thisday Irans Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned deadly attacks on Shiite Muslims attending religious mourning processions in Nigeria, stressing the Nigerian governments responsibility is to ensure security for people. Guardian Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, will on Tuesday, October 18 lead the panel of discussion at the Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) 23rd yearly forum in Abuja. Punch The Senate on Thursday summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, three commercial banks and some businessmen over alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act. Vanguard President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to return the N10 billion seized from the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, back to the commission. Premium Times The Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir, has denied the alleged abduction and forceful marriage of 17-year-old Habiba Isyaku. The Nation At least four persons were feared killed and three others injured yesterday after Nigerian Customs Service officers shot sporadically while chasing rice smugglers. Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on Friday, hosted former Head Of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and his wife, Justice Fati Abubakar, in his Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta office. The governor, while receiving the former Head Of State, recalled the role he played in the return of Nigeria to democracy. General Abubakar, on his part, praised the Ogun State Governor for what he described as his achievements in the office. A boy looks at a dead fish on a beach in Quang Trach district in the central coastal province of Quang Binh, April 20, 2016. The pollution scandal has scared tourists off many beach towns along central Vietnam. Photo by AFP Arrivals and tourism revenue in areas affected by the toxic spill fell by up to 90 pct. Pollution from Taiwanese steel firm Formosa along the central coast in April has almost destroyed tourism in the area, with arrivals and tourism revenue plummeting by up to 90 percent, officials said at a meeting on Thursday. Beach tourism revenue in Ha Tinh Province has dropped 90 percent from last year and money from other tourism services has fallen by 40 to 50 percent, local officials said at the meeting with the tourism ministry. Ha Tinh and nearby provinces Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue were directly affected by the toxic waste spill from Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, the Vietnam unit of Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group. Around 70 tons of dead fish washed up dead in the provinces, scaring people away from their once beautiful beaches and delicious seafood. The scale of the disaster still remains unclear. Officials from Quang Binh said the environmental scandal cost its tourism sector VND1.9 trillion ($85.2 million), while Quang Tri says it has lost VND250 billion ($11.2 million). Thua Thien-Hue reported no significant drops in arrivals or revenue as it has bigger attractions, such as the imperial city and royal tombs that date back to the early 19th century. Nguyen Van Ky, deputy director of Quang Binhs tourism department, said at the meeting that visitor numbers to the province have dropped by more than 70 percent. Other tourism activities such as cave tours have been unable to save the tourism industry, Ky said, referring to famous caves in the province including the worlds largest, Son Doong. He said construction at 17 new hotels in the province has been suspended following the drop in visitors. In August the Environment Ministry released a report assuring people that the water in the central coast is now safe for swimming and aquaculture. But many tourists are still discouraged, especially now that the Agriculture Ministry has set no-fishing zones over 800 square kilometers, saying these swaths of water need time to recover from the toxic spill. Officials at the Thursday meeting asked for support such as debt relief for tourism investors who are not entitled to any compensation for the disaster, possibly the biggest to hit the country. Formosa has transferred $500 million in compensation to the Vietnamese government, which is in the process of distributing it to those affected in the fishing industry. Related news: > Fish death disaster will hurt Vietnams economy for years to come: official > Revival plan for massive steel plant tests Vietnam after Formosa disaster President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari is currently in Germany to hold talks with its Chancellor Angela Merkel on issues ranging from terrorism to militancy. Buhari arrived the European country on Thursday. Here are photos of his arrival and meeting with the German leader: We are all still in shock with the bold statements Mrs Aisha Buhari, the Presidents wife made during an interview with BBC. The interview is so controversial that the Presidency reportedly tried to stop it from being aired. Below are five shocking things Mrs Aisha Buhari told the BBC: 1. I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again. 2. The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I dont know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years. 3. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position. 4. You will know them [the people who hijacked Buharis government] if you watch television. 5. On whether the president was in charge, she said: That is left for the people to decide. If we recall earlier that Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had, in June, warned that Buharis government had been hijacked by a cabal. The Presidency denied Sarakis statement but is yet to respond to Mrs Buharis comments. Nigerians are watching! INFORMATION NIGERIA FANS, whats your take on these revelations? The Consul-General of Equatorial Guinea in Nigeria, Juan Mbomio, and his wife, Maria, escaped death by a whisker after running into a gang of armed robbers at the boundary between Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. The duo, who are recuperating from injuries sustained in the encounter, were on their way from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Calabar in Cross River State, when the incident happened at about 8pm on Monday. The consul-generals Toyota Prado was sprayed with bullets, some of which pierced his neck and chest, while the wife sustained bullet injuries in her left knee. A family friend, Nkoyo Richard, told PUNCH Metro on Thursday that the driver, Isaac Eyup, and a consular attache, Innocencio Ngomo, as well as an unidentified police escort, were in the vehicle when the incident happened. Richard said the consul-general and his wife were recuperating at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital after the bullets were removed from their bodies. He said, The incident happened between 7.45pm and 8pm on Monday, October 10, at the area between Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. The robbers started shooting as soon as they sighted the Jeep. The vehicle was riddled with bullets. The bullets touched the consul-general and his wife. He was injured in the neck and chest, while the wife was injured in the left knee. The robbers forced the vehicle to stop and dispossessed the couple of their belongings, including money and phones. The robbers later fled and left the consul-general, his wife and others stranded because the tyres of the vehicle were punctured. The consul-general and those with him managed to find their way to Calabar that night. They got to Calabar at about 12 midnight and immediately went to a hospital. A source at the consulate in Calabar frowned at the lack of concern shown by the Cross River State Government since the incident occurred. She said the Federal Government had, through the foreign affair ministry and the Department of State Services, as well as the police, shown concern since the incident happened; but the host state, Cross River, did nothing despite being informed. We got calls from officials of the Federal Government, but no sign of concern from the Cross River State Government, where we have our major office. About 90 per cent of Nigerians going to Equatorial Guinea get their visas from the Calabar office. We are not happy that they did not show concern, she said. Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ben Ayade, Mr. Christian Ita, said he was not aware of the incident. Also, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo, said that the command was not officially informed about the matter. Source: Punch The Senate on Thursday summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, three commercial banks and some businessmen over alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act. The upper chamber of the National Assembly had instituted a probe into what it called the illegal transfer of $13.9bn by MTN from Nigeria to other countries between 2006 and 2016. The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions was mandated to carry out the probe by conducting an investigative hearing on the unscrupulous violation of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act. The summons was contained in the Notice of Appearance issued by the Chairman of the committee, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, to the affected organisations and individuals, and obtained by our correspondent. The notice read in part, Pursuant to Senate Resolution S/Res/017/02/16 of 27th of September, 2016 on the above subject matter, the organisations and individuals listed below are invited to appear before the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions on Thursday, 20th of October, 2016. The organisations and individuals who have not submitted the documents requested for in our earlier letter of 29th of September, 2016 are advised to do so on or before Tuesday, 18th of October, 2016. Mobile Telecommunications Network, Central Bank of Nigeria, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, Dr. Pascal Dozie, Colonel Sani Bello, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, Ahmed Dasuki, Gbenga Oyebode, Babatunde Folawiyo and Victor Odili. Also invited are Stanbic IBTC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank and Diamond Bank The Senate began the probe on September 27, 2016, when a member of the upper chamber representing Kogi-West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye, alleged that MTN illegally repatriated the sum out of the country through its bankers. The lawmaker alleged that MTN transferred through Stanbic IBTC the sum of $4.87bn; Standard Chartered Bank, $5.72bn; Citi Bank, $2.98bn; and Diamond Bank, $0.35bn. Melaye, who recalled that MTN, which is headquartered in South Africa, was incorporated in Nigeria as a private Limited Liability Company on November 8, 2000 and obtained its operating licence with $284.9m on February 6, 2001, alleged that the company did not request the Certificate of Capital Importation for the transaction. He said, The Senate observes that MTN did not request for the Certificate of Capital Importation from its bankers, Standard Chartered Bank, within the regulatory period of 24 hours of the inflow. The Senate observes also that the CBN was not notified of this inflow by Standard Chartered Bank within 48 hours of receipt and conversion of the proceeds to naira as required by regulations. It further observes that the sum of $117,683,987bn was also brought in by MTN between 2001 and 2003 in three different tranches. It is concerned that since inception, MTN had sought the collaboration of influential and unpatriotic Nigerians to assist them in looting our external reserves. The Nigerians, Melaye added, included a serving minister, who MTN allegedly used in moving $13.92bn out of the country, a sum that is over 50 per cent of the countrys external reserves, to floated and incorporated offshore Special Purpose Vehicles in the Cayman Island, Mauritius and British Virgin Island. Melaye added, The Senate was alarmed that the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, owner of CELTELCOM Investment Limited with address at No.608, St. James Denis Street, Port Lewis, Mauritius, purportedly claimed to invest in MTN on the 7th of February, 2008, got a Certificate of Capital Importation and filled the Form A on the same date) and closed his investment in Nigeria after receiving dollar payment for repatriation to New York same day. It is also aware that these offshore entities were offered shareholders loan and their repayment to the extent of repatriation of proceeds of dividends back to MTN International South Africa through the entities and operators of the SPVs brought on board as directors of MTN Communications. The Senate observes that after five years of operation in Nigeria, the management of MTN Nigeria Limited suddenly realised that they needed the Certificate of Capital Importation to enable them to commence repatriation of funds realised from their businesses. It observes also that MTN directed their bankers, i.e. Standard Chartered Bank, Citi Bank and Diamond Bank, to issue Certificate of Capital Importation for inflows that came in five to seven years ago, which their bankers obliged without the relevant approval from the CBN. The lawmaker stated that what MTNs bankers did was in strict violation of Section 15 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act, 1995. Source: Punch The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Oye, has said that the crisis in his party has been resolved. Oye was suspended by some members of the National Working Committee of the party on Thursday last week for alleged gross misconduct. But speaking with journalists at Amawbia, Anambra State on Wednesday evening, Oye said the crisis was caused by greed and ignorance. He said, The rebels didnt know the workings of APGA constitution. Even if you get the majority of the signatures of members of the NWC of APGA, you cant remove the national chairman. For you to remove me as the national chairman of APGA, you need to call a full national convention of APGA to succeed. Its not an easy task, but because of ignorance and greed, six members of the party thought they could do it and went on a mission impossible. But everything has been resolved. We thank His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Anambra State for his intervention. On the allegation that the state governor spent N200m to save him (Oye) from being removed, the APGA boss described the story as laughable. He said, Who will give them such money; for what purpose? We gave them spaghetti, egwusi soup, semo, and, of course, in such meetings, you are entitled to a stipend for transport, a total of all was less than N1m. Who will give them N200m? This is laughable. When contacted on the telephone, an APGA NWC member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Oye lied about what transpired at the meeting. I was at the meeting. We attended the governors meeting because of our respect for the governor as the leader and BOT chairman of the party. We rejected their food, hotel accommodation and money. We told the governor point-blank that Victor Oye could no longer lead us. His suspension subsists. So, what he told you people was a lie. What are we doing with their food? Oye must leave APGA, he said. The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Media, Mr. James Eze, confirmed that the governor held a meeting with some APGA stakeholders over the crisis in the party but denied that N200m was shared to save the situation. He said, How do you think that the governor, as an accountant and acclaimed auditor, can spend such money in a period of recession? He described the story as inconceivable. Source: Punch Felabration, the annual music festival in memory and celebration of Afro beats originator, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti kicked off in Lagos on Monday, October 10, 2016 with performance from Kcee, Jaywon and other stars. Watch: SugarBoys Performance at #Felabration2016 Watch highlights here: Video Credit: Goldmyne TV President Muhammad Buhari has found himself in political hot water less than two years after getting into power on the back of popular support. Despite his commitment to fighting corruption, the reality for many Nigerians has become a bad economy and a weakening Naira. The tide of public opinion is against a President whose anti-corruption drive has failed to convict a single person. Nigerias first lady, Aisha Buhari criticised her husband this week in an interview, suggesting she will not support his re-election in 2019 based on his poor performance. She made veiled references to the Presidents cabinet as well as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). President Buharis reply came in an interview today, suggesting his wife has no place in critiquing hos government. Buhari said : I dont know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room Comcast customers stood ready to cheer this week, as the company infamous for some of the worst customer service in America finally got its comeuppance: "Comcast hit with FCC's biggest cable fine ever." Wow -- take that, Comcast, for your rudeness, your Kafkaesque customer service calls, those cable installers who never show up, the inadequate coverage, and your $3,000 early termination fees! Hope you've learned your lesson! But wait hold that victory dance. Surely the "biggest cable fine ever" was more than the reported $2.3 million -- a decimal must have moved or a zero dropped. A $2.3 million fine doesn't even amount to a slap on the wrist for a company that raked in more than $19 billion last quarter alone. A $2.3 million fine is more like a gnat landing on its wrist. The "biggest fine ever" is dwarfed by the nearly $16 million Comcast funneled into lobbying the federal government last year. FCC called out Comcast for charging customers for services and equipment they didn't request -- otherwise known as "cramming." In many cases, the FCC said, customers expressly told Comcast they didn't want add-on options, but were charged anyway -- then were forced to spend "significant time and energy to attempt to remove the unauthorized charges." According to a Senate committee report released in June, 40 percent of Comcast customers who reported billing problems could not resolve them on the first call. Comcast, meanwhile, agreed to the fine but didn't admit guilt. The issues were due to "isolated errors or customer confusion," the company said in its statement. The only customer confusion is in understanding how Comcast skated with such an inconsequential penalty. How inconsequential is the "biggest cable fine ever" compared to other penalties levied for cramming? AT&T was fined a whopping $105 million for charging mobile customers for third-party subscriptions or services they never ordered. Sprint and Verizon were hit with a collective $158 million in fines over their mobile cramming practices. T-Mobile was slammed with $22.5 million in fines and at least $67.5 million in direct refunds to consumers for cramming its mobile bills, then ignoring complaints and requests for refunds. I guess mobile cramming stands in a category head and shoulders above cable cramming. Go figure. Comcast's cramming fine even pales in comparison to the nearly $26 million penalty the company agreed to pay California for improperly disposing of electronic equipment and customer records, and the $33.4 million it paid for publishing in its online directory the details of California customers who had signed up for unlisted service. Heck, the U.S. government fined a biotech company $3.5 million for mistreating goats. So, sorry Comcast customers, apparently no one feels your pain. Not only do you rate below goats, you won't even benefit from that $2.3 million fine; the money will go to the federal government. If you have a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 with a battery from LG that's giving you fits, you may be out of luck. Microsoft had previously said it would charge $200 to replace a bad battery, but there's a big stink on the Microsoft Answers forum claiming that Microsoft won't honor that promise -- and the only option for owners of SP3s with defective batteries involves spending $450 for a refurbished device with a 60-day warranty. This is not helping dispel the bad blood about the Surface Pro 3. You've probably heard about the Surface Pro 3 Simplo battery problem, dubbed "batterygate." It took Microsoft more than five months to fix a bug in its battery driver to bring those batteries back to life. You may have also read a more recent finding that the other major Surface Pro 3 battery -- this one from LG -- is failing long before its time. Complaints about the LG battery have been piling up for nearly a month, and Microsoft has yet to acknowledge -- let alone fix -- the problem. The main battery thread on the Microsoft Answers forum is now 134 pages long. Here's a report from MAB092, dated Oct. 12: Having same issues with my SP3, 18 months old out; not covered by warranty now. Battery is at 0%, sometimes not detected sometimes says plugged in but not charging. Downloaded the firmware 2x, refreshed and reinstalled surface pro 3 tools. Spoke with 2 techs, online and in store, both offered a replacement of 550C$+tax. for a USED UNIT AND 90 DAY WARRANTY. The techs pretended they didn't even know of this issues and replied with "thank you, I will forward this to management". Even when if I'm able to decide what battery my used device will have, it will likely be some poor user that had the same issue that I will have after a few months with a replacement unit; thanks to internet searches and this forum. A replacement and this firmware is no help to this default of Microsoft. Asked to downgrade my device to a S3 and/or laptop; nope it's not possible. Thanks for robbing me Microsoft. I'll make sure to forward all of this throughout the internet. Buying a Mac now, as much as I'm not a fan. Their customer support and quality is insured that my battery replacement will be replaced for $100. The complaints hearken back to a promise made by Surface honcho Panos Panay two years ago in a Reddit "Ask me anything" session: IF the battery fails during the warranty period, we'll replace the battery. IF the battery fails after the warranty period, you'll call Microsoft support and arrange for the battery to be replaced. The cost will be $200 USD. Now it seems Microsoft is unwilling to walk the talk. I've seen an excerpt from an email recently sent by a Microsoft tech support engineer to a complaining Surface Pro 3 customer, who's asked to remain anonymous. The pertinent part says: We [Microsoft tech support] are aware of the [Reddit] post and have raised it to PR [public relations] in the past. While the post was not correct at the time it was published, in the last 2 years our OW [out of warranty] prices have fluctuated so even if the post had been correct then, it would not be correct now. The best way a customer can see what the current price is for OW service is to visit https://www.microsoft.com/surface/support/service-order. The price of a battery replacement depends on a number of factors, most significantly location, but it's considerably more than $200. Many folks don't want to buy a $450 refurb with a 60-day warranty for fear of getting yet another bum battery. Many have used their SP3s very little, have a tablet that'll only work if it's plugged in, and believe the battery (or its driver) is defective. Microsoft isn't saying a word. By comparison, replacing the battery on a 2011 MacBook Pro costs $129 -- and as best I can tell, Apple doesn't change prices midstream. Is it true, as some have posited, that a Surface Pro is only good for maybe two years, then it's basically obsolete? Certainly, Microsoft's failure to live up to its servicing commitment should give one pause. Microsoft says it's selling a billion bucks' worth of Surfaces each quarter. I wonder how many of them have bad batteries? UPDATE: A Microsoft spokesperson advises: We are aware of a battery issue that is affecting a limited number of Surface Pro 3 users. We can confirm that the issue affecting these customers was not caused by the software updates issued on August 29th. Our team is actively looking in to the issue to determine the cause and identify a fix. We will post an update as soon as we have more information to share. We also recognize the possibility that some customers might have heard conflicting information about in- and out-of-warranty repairs and replacements. For more information about Surface warranty, Surface owners can visit https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/microsoft-surface-warranty-faq. Note: This post has been amended from its original version. Coffee Rebounds on Reduced Global Exports and Dry Weather in Brazil Barchart - 12 minutes ago December arabica coffee (KCZ22 ) on Monday closed up +7.90 (+4.65%S), and Jan ICE Robusta coffee (RMF23 ) closed up +4 (+0.22%). Coffee prices rallied after the International Coffee Organization (ICO)... KCZ22 : 177.70s (+4.65%) RMF23 : 1,853s (+0.22%) EXPLAINER: What Russia's suspension of grain deal could mean AP - 1 hour ago Russia has suspended its part of the deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain from its Black Sea ports safely amid a monthslong war, and it appears that the remaining partners are left to take their chances... $SPX : 3,878.78 (-0.57%) $DOWI : 32,789.16 (-0.22%) $IUXX : 11,422.42 (-1.07%) Hog Prices Mostly Higher Barchart - 1 hour ago The midday quotes in the lean hog market have the board down by 65 cents in the December contract, but up by $1.02 in May 23 hogs. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price was delayed due to technical... HEZ22 : 84.925s (-1.36%) HEJ23 : 93.600s (+0.97%) KMZ22 : 95.050 (-1.12%) Cotton Mostly Higher at Midday Barchart - 1 hour ago Cotton prices are running in the red through the first trade day of the new week. Losses are limited to 87 points so far in the front months, which has Dec 120 points off the low. The weekly Cotlook A... CTZ22 : 72.13 (+0.03%) CTH23 : 71.77 (-0.42%) CTK23 : 72.04 (-0.36%) Cattle Trading Red for Midday Barchart - 1 hour ago Live cattle futures initially worked lower on the grain rally, but the board has firmed up to just 12 to 62 cents weaker for midday. Feeders are down 0.2% to 0.5% so far, with November contracts $2 off... LEV22 : 146.775 (-2.39%) LEZ22 : 152.475s (-0.34%) LEG23 : 155.825s (-0.32%) GFX22 : 177.625s (-0.14%) GFF23 : 179.450s (-0.51%) Corn Working Off Highs at Midday Barchart - 1 hour ago Corn futures are trading with fractional to 6 1/4 cent gains at Mondays midday. December gapped ~16 cents higher into the new week on the Black Sea developments (Russia wanting out of the UN deal) and... ZCZ22 : 691-0 (+1.51%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.8328 (+1.69%) ZCH23 : 696-0 (+1.35%) ZCK23 : 695-0 (+1.28%) Beans Fractionally Higher for Mondays Midday Barchart - 1 hour ago Soybean prices are fractionally stronger through midday. Prices jumped to $14 Nov to start the new week of trading, but have since faded back. Meal is trading red for Monday, giving back $2.50 to $3/ton... ZSX22 : 1407-0 (+1.39%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.6953 (+1.58%) ZSF23 : 1419-4 (+1.37%) ZSH23 : 1427-0 (+1.28%) Fruit and veg outgrow rice to become Vietnam's third largest foreign-currency earner Fruits are displayed for sale at a market in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo by Reuters/ Kham Already a major coffee and rice exporter, Vietnam is now turning its attention to fruit and vegetables. Vietnams fruit and vegetable exports have jumped to $1.68 billion so far this year, up 28 percent from the same period last year, customs statistics show. Fruit and vegetables have become Vietnam's third largest hard-currency earner after coffee and cashews. According to the General Department of Customs, China is the biggest buyer of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables, but other major importers include the U.S., Canada and South Korea. For now, the country is still a relatively minor player on the international market stage, the eighth largest fruit exporter in Asia. However, Vietnams fruit and vegetables exports grew rapidly to $1.85 billion last year from $900 million in 2013 and just $622 million in 2011, according to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association. Industry experts forecast that Vietnam is set to earn up to $2.5 billion from exporting fruit and vegetables this year, up 35 percent from last year. The government is targeting a ten-fold increase over the coming years, with crops like longan, dragon fruit and lychees being given priority. For example, Vietnamese growers of tropical fruits, including lychees and fresh dragon fruit, are seeking ways to enter demanding markets which offer higher prices. Statistics show Vietnam exported more than 1 million tons of dragon fruit last year. As the fruit can stay fresh up to 40 days, it is mainly shipped to foreign markets by sea at transport costs ranging from 2 to 3 U.S. cents per kilogram. Low transport costs make Vietnamese fresh dragon fruit more price competitive. Vietnam has so far this year exported more than 10 tons of lychees to Australia, according to the Vietnam Trade Office under the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia, adding that the customer base for the fruit has quickly expanded, from the east coastal cities of Sydney and Melbourne to the west coastal city of Perth. Vietnam shipped its first consignments of lychees to Australia and the U.S. in 2015. More notably, as of mid-September, Vietnams exports of fruit and vegetables grew faster than other traditional agricultural commodities. The worlds second-largest coffee producer posted a 22 percent on-year growth in export value to $2.37 billion over the past nine months. Vietnams cashew exports also increased by 13.6 percent to over $1.89 billion. In the meantime, rice exporters saw a 14 percent slump from the same period last year to only $1.6 billion. Vietnamese rice farmers and exporters have been badly battered by prolonged drought and salt water intrusion. In the first four months of this year, the U.S. also rejected 1,700 tons of Vietnamese rice due to safety concerns, the Vietnam Food Association said, citing data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA said it found eight active chemicals in the Vietnamese rice shipments above the permissible limits set by the U.S. Agriculture Department. Related news: > Vietnam fears US ban on rice exports: govt official > Vietnam's lychee farmers still look to China as main export market > Enter the dragon fruit: Australia beckons Vietnamese growers > Mekong Delta fruit farmers being killed off by saline intrusion Since a 2014 police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, racial equity has been near the top of the national agenda in a way we haven't seen in decades. At the same time, though, the scholarly firepower focused on issues of race in U.S. universities has been in decline in recent years. Many black studies departments have been cut or reduced. Georgene Bess Montgomery, president of the National Council for Black Studies and associate professor at Clark Atlanta University, notes that although we would like for black studies to be considered mainstream like a traditional department, that is not always the case." Certain schools are seeing their programs cut in response to low enrollment numbers. Western Illinois University, for instance, recently cut its African-American studies major this summer after only 13 students picked it as their primary field of study in the 2015-16 school year, as the Chicago Tribunereports. Black studies also confronts challenges that the humanities and social sciences face. Do these majors translate into the employment opportunity after graduation? Black studies as a discipline was born out of the civil rights movement, as the demand for greater representation of black Americans in academia rose. Black students at San Francisco State University organized during that era to establish a black studies division with its own chair, faculty and staff, and the ability to grant a bachelor's degree in the field. The department, the first of its kind nationally, launched in 1968, according to a 2012 article in the Journal of Pan African Studies. Perhaps now, in an era of Black Lives Matter, with tensions at times spilling over to college campuses, black studies is poised for a comeback. Enter the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, which "supports research on the history and culture of people of African descent the world over and provides a forum for collaboration and the ongoing exchange of ideas." Prominent African-American Harvard professor and host of PBS' Knowing Your Roots, Henry Louis Gates Jr., directs the center, one of whose projects is to identify persons of color who served the continental cause in the American Revolution. The center's benefactor, meanwhile, is Glenn Hutchins, whom we've written about before. A Harvard graduate, Hutchins co-founded Silver Lake Partners, a successful private equity firm specializing in technology and technology-enabled companies. Hutchins, via the family foundation he runs with his wife, Debbie, has a particular interest in this area. The foundation's education grantmaking aims to "support world-class research in African and African American studies, to revitalize undergraduate residential life and learning, to promote excellence in high school math and science and to bring the work of the academy to the public square." OK, now, let's just state the obvious: We don't come across a lot of white finance guys who make it a point to support African African American scholarship. In fact, I can't think of any off the top of my head. In an interview earlier this year, Hutchins told us that a reason he was drawn to this area was because, while issues of race are hugely important, they attract very little money from donors. Like so many of the newer philanthropists we're tracking, Hutchins is looking for places where he and Debbie can catalyze something new that wouldn't otherwise happen. Their other big investmentsa research initative on chronic fatigue syndrome and a center on monetary and fiscal policy at the Brookings Institutionalso focus in niches that don't attract much other donor support. A few years ago, Hutchins and Debbie helped found and endow the Hutchins Center African & African American Research with a $15 million donation. Now comes news that Hutchins has given a $10 million gift to the Hutchins Center. Related: A Three-Pronged Focus: A Look At Glenn Hutchins' Philanthropy Some of these funds, $2 million, will be used for a new study of inequality experienced by African and African American residents in Bostons poorest neighborhoods, looking at housing, labor, criminal justice, and child welfare with the ultimate aim of influencing public policy. Prominent black sociologist William Julius Wilson will lead the effort, which will look at "cumulative adversity." By cumulative adversity, I mean people who have been exposed to multiple, different, and reinforcing hardships, racial hardships, and economic hardships, Wilson explains. Wilson, of course, is the preeminent black sociologist of his generation, best known for 1987 book, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Meanwhile, Harvard itself has been the site of race-related activism including Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and it's worth noting that many prominent institutions have been challenged to improve relations in their broader communities. As for Hutchins, expect the wealthy financier and family to continue to dig into this area in the coming years. Related: Glenn Hutchins Taylor/Theus Holdings Inc. has several self-storage facilities under development in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The assets are concentrated primarily in Florida and North Carolina and will be managed by real estate investment trust and third-party management firm Extra Space Storage Inc., according to a press release. In Florida, Taylor/Theus has received approval to build an 81,000-square-foot facility in Hollywood. The property at 1440 S. Dixie Highway will comprise 650 units. Its expected to be complete next summer. In addition, the developer has three other South Florida sites under contract. The company has six projects in various stages of development in North Carolina. It intends to build a 135,000-square-foot facility in Charlotte next to Ardrey Kell High School. The asset will comprise more than 1,000 units and include wine storage. The developer successfully rezoned the land in July after initially being denied by officials. Taylor/Theus expects to open three other facilities in Charlotte and another in Charleston, S.C., within the next 45 days, according to the release. The company is expanding an existing 65,000-square-foot facility at 3308 South Blvd. in Charlotte with a three-story, 60,000-square-foot addition. The other Charlotte developments nearing completion include a three-story, 108,000-square-foot project and a two-story, 100,000-square-foot asset. A fifth Charlotte project at 1014 N. Graham St. is under construction. It will be a five-story, 101,815-square-foot facility. The three-story Charleston project at 6933 Rivers Ave. is nearing completion and will comprise 116,325 square feet. In addition, Taylor/Theus is developing a facility at 2307 Hydraulic Road in Charlottesville, Va. The three-story asset will comprise 95,000 square feet. Its expected to be complete by late spring or early summer. The developer also has a site under contract in Atlanta. Taylor/Theus is a limited-liability company based in South Carolina. Since 2009, it has developed and sold eight properties to Extra Space comprising about 750,000 square feet in Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., and Charleston, Columbia and Greenville, S.C., the release stated. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 1,412 self-storage properties in 37 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The companys properties comprise approximately 945,000 units and 106 million square feet of rentable space. Update 11/2/16 With a 5-0 vote, the Surprise, Ariz., City Council approved a zoning change Tuesday that will allow Storage West to build a second location in the city. Mayor Sharon Wolcott and councilman Todd Tande were absent. Construction of the six-building development is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2017, according to John Hathaway, senior vice president of Storage West. During the meeting, councilman Skip Hall praised Storage West on the facilitys design, noting it will look more like office buildings than storage units. In addition, councilman Roland Winters, whose district includes the site, said it was a good location for a storage facility. It's about 275 feet back from Bell Road. I don't think a storefront or office building would work as well as a storage unit [at that site]. I believe it's a niche that needs to be filled because some of our storage places are filled up," he said. The Surprise, Ariz., Planning and Zoning Commission last week approved a zoning amendment and a site plan that could pave the way for a new Storage West Self Storage facility that would include vehicle storage. The city council will also need to approve the changes, according to the source. The 4.9-acre property is in the Surprise Village Marketplace, which lies east of a Sams Club warehouse store, the shopping centers anchor. The parcel is set back from the main street, Bell Road, and is about half of the undeveloped land remaining in the marketplace, which is just east of Arizona State Route 303. The land owner, James Stamatis of Bell Road & 303 LLC, has struggled for a decade to find a buyer for the parcel and had previously marketed the property for potential office buildings. "One of the challenges of this site is that it does not have an arterial presence. That is the primary concern [the owner] has heard, a lack of visibility," said Adam Baugh, an attorney with Withey Morris PLC, the Phoenix-based firm representing Stamatis. "I think it would be a long time before this property develops with any other use because of the obscure visibility." The land east of the proposed storage site is owned by New Song United Methodist Church, and theres an adult-care facility just south of the property. Landscaping and parking would provide a buffer, and the six-structure facility would resemble office buildings, the source reported. Storage West has a facility nearby at 14690 W. Bell Road thats about 90 percent full, Baugh said. Commission member Dennis Smith was the only one of the five members to vote against the rezoning and site plan. "I just can't bring myself to think that a self-storage facility and RV-storage lot fits in a village marketplace," he said. City planner Matthew Keating said hed agree in most cases, but believed the propertys design would blend well with the area. A storage facility would also benefit the neighboring businesses and residences. "I can understand Commissioner Smith's concerns, but after reading the materials, I can see the other side of things from the developer and landowner. They weren't having a lot of luck with what was originally envisioned for that site," Keating said. Commission chairman Ken Chapman voiced concerns that changing the zoning could lead to a modification of the citys development code. However, city attorney Donna Bronski assured him the planned urban development is older than the revised code. Andy Cepon, who lives near the proposed site, attended a neighborhood meeting with the developer earlier this year. At the time, he had questions about the facilitys hours of operation, lighting and what kind of traffic it would create. "As a neighbor of there, my concerns were answered sufficiently, Cepon said. Storage West Self Storage is a division of LAACO Ltd., a California limited partnership that acquires, builds and develops self-storage facilities. The company owns 52 facilities in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas. @Rwalt31 @PtboSpeedway @ptbocolours Peterborough, ON (October 14, 2016)- After leading 73 of 75 laps in the Autumn Colours Classic Limited Late Model 75 at Peterborough Speedway, Rick Spencer-Walt suffered a DNF as a result of a cut tire with two laps to go. Meanwhile, he posted a sixth place finish in the mini stock 50-lap feature. The 2016 Peterborough Speedway Champion started off the weekend by finishing sixth in his first heat. With the victory in the Chase for the Colours event earlier this year, Spencer-Walt got to start pole for the Autumn Colours Classic 75. Off the drop of the green flag, Spencer-Walt put the No. 31 Jim Wilson Chevrolet, Eisses pumpmytank.ca, HOTC, Auto Trim Design Barrie, GoHydroVac.com, RCP Dyno, Speedy Auto Machine, Heidis RV Superstore, Orser Technical Service, The Frame Shop and Baker Performance Parts Late Model out front ahead of Chris Mitchell and Paul Maltese. Throughout the event, it looked as though it was smooth sailing. Spencer-Walt showed good speed in the car, fending off each challenge over the course of the next 15 restarts, whether it was from Mitchell or Ryan Kimball. With the laps tricking down, things got intense and the restart following the 16th caution went a little crazy as Spencer-Walt found himself in a three-wide battle for the lead with Gord Shepeherd and Mitchell. Spencer-Walt was able to get through fine, holding serve as the caution came out for the 17th time. The following restart then saw contact between the top-two cars Spencer-Walt and Shepherd. The contact wasnt in Spencer-Walts favor as under the 18th caution, he made his way down pit road with a flat right front tire courtesy of the contact. Finishing the race on pit road, Spencer-Walt was handed a DNF. Theres no way anyone was catching us in those last few laps without the contact between Gord and I, Spencer-Walt commented post-race. I had way more in this car and didnt even have to push it. On the last restart, Gord jumped and chopped down going into 1. Then, he went to wash up towards the wall but I was still there and he went from the wall all the way down to the curb and into my right front tire. It almost spun us both out. I knew right away our tire was cut and was going down so I had to pull in. We had a bit of a rivalry already after our final year at Barrie together, but today has made that worse than it ever was before. This isnt over. I promise that. Hell get his on opening night next season. Its worth nothing in 13 races races this season (eight at Peterborough, three at Sunset, one at Sauble), Spencer-Walt had five wins and 12 top-six finishes. Behind the wheel of his mini stock, Spencer-Walt started off the weekend by finishing seventh in his first heat, followed by third place finish in his second heat. Starting mid-pack for the main event, Spencer-Walt began to make his way forward in the early stages of the event, running 12th as of the first caution at Lap 21. Following the restart, he continued to make his way forward, moving his way into eighth at Lap 27. He was then able to escape an incident ahead of him on Lap 30 with minimal damage, restarting ninth following a trip down pit road. He then got a good restart, getting alongside Craig Kamrath for eighth. He got the spot, getting alongside Terry Woodley for seventh on Lap 38. He was then able to complete the pass four laps later, taking the seventh spot ahead of Woodley. He then put together a good final eight laps, crossing the finishing line in sixth. Walt Motorsports is proud to be supported by Jim Wilson Chevrolet, Eisses pumpmytank.ca, HOTC, Auto Trim Design Barrie, GoHydroVac.com, RCP Dyno, Speedy Auto Machine, Heidis RV Superstore, Orser Technical Service, The Frame Shop and Baker Performance Parts. Keep up with Rick Spencer-Walt and Walt Motorsports by liking their facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Walt-Motorsports/524817640964689?fref=ts and following Rick Spencer-Walt on twitter at https://twitter.com/Rwalt31. Press Release by Ashley McCubbin/AM Marketing ashleymccubbin17@gmail.com The leading fund manager aims to boost foreign investment in the UpCom market. VinaCapital Group, the country's largest fund manager, plans to establish a new fund next month focusing on unlisted companies with a market capitalization of under $50 million. The VinaCapital Special Access Fund (VSAF) will help foreign players diversify their investment portfolios with the unlisted public company market (UpCom), the group announced at an annual investors meeting on Wednesday. The initial amount of each investment will be $5 million or more, the group said. The UpCom market was launched in 2009 and has since expanded at a fast pace, now with 350 companies. Stocks and convertible bonds are traded via continuous order matching and negotiation methods. Founded in 2003, VinaCapital has a diversified portfolio of $1.3 billion in assets under management. It manages three closed-end funds trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange. Its largest fund Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF) has a track record of successful investments in Vietnamese private equity and OTC firms with an average return of up to 25.9 percent over the last three years. Related news: > VinaCapital fund listed on London Stock Exchange > VinaCapital branches out with German fund in $30 mln wood market deal > VinaCapital funds back out of real estate to focus on unlisted, OTC firms Brokers absolutely have a role to play in the future of the sharing economy, according to an industry head.Speaking after the Aon Advanced Risk Conference, held in Melbourne this week, Lambros Lambrou , CEO for Aon Risk Solutions Australia, said that whilst brokers absolutely have a place in the sharing economy, new risks present the opportunity for the industry to change.We see ourselves as the trusted risk advisers for our clients and one of the things that our industry needs to get better at, quite frankly, is listening to our customers around their evolving needs, Lambrou told Insurance Business.A lot of our clients are becoming more and more demanding, and quite rightly so, around fact-based insights that they want to have at the table supporting informed decision making.Paul Mang, global CEO of Aon Analytics, said that the evolution of the sharing economy will bring new opportunities for brokers in the future.I happen to think that the sharing economy really does, and maybe even counterintuitively, place our roles right in the centre, Mang told Insurance Business.The sharing economy is going to move us in many directions.What we call emerging risk is really an opportunity for growth.If an industry wants to share its physical assets or its intellectual property or its labour, that is a growth opportunity.Mang stressed that the sharing economy will see many changes impact the insurance industry as moves are made away from traditional coverages. The instant nature of the sharing economy means that personal and commercial lines will need to have cross over as policies become shorter-term in nature.Mang highlighted services such as Trov which allow clients to turn insurance on and off instantaneously as one way the industry could look to grapple with the changing landscape between business and personal life.I think our relevance in this particular space, is that we can look across different sharing economy models and start collecting data across different product classes and even across different geographies, Mang continued. CSC, a global leader in providing technology-enabled business solutions and services, has unveiled 360Globalnets self-serve digital insurance claims technology for the first time in Australia and New Zealand.The advanced digital cloud-based claims solutions, offered in partnership with UK-based digital insurance solutions provider 360Globalnet, will enable customers to easily manage the end-to-end claims process via the internet.Michael Neary, head of insurance, CSC Australia and New Zealand, said: The capabilities will redefine the customer experience in claims management. Our collaboration with 360Globalnet will put customers in control of their own claims using smart features such as streaming video, data analytics, and fraud detection all designed with a view of improving customer experience and satisfaction.Back in March, CSC and 360Globalnet signed an agreement, which included a strategic investment by CSC in 360Globalnet, granted CSC exclusive worldwide rights to resell all 360Globalnet offerings to the insurance industry, including the digital claims solution.CSC will also provide systems integration services for 360Globalnets self-serve digital claims technology, which delivers unique and complementary capabilities in self-service, intelligent systems, smart mobile devices, live-streaming video, data analytics, and fraud detection.Paul Stanley, CEO, 360Globalnet, said: What if everyone involved in the settlement of a claim, from the first notice of loss to repair, had all the real-time data they needed in front of them text, images, and video moments after it occurred? Seamless, real-time visibility across the claims process is a winning proposition for insurers that can be implemented with low up-front costs, minimal disruption to existing software, and short implementation times.Other as-as services that will be offered through the new agreement include cloud-hosted web services that enable policyholders to report and manage claims online; a video platform facilitating the capture, secure hosting, and dissemination of videos and images; live video streaming services; and a data analytics package. Freedom Insurance, a direct insurance business that provides funeral, accident, and life insurance, will commence its marketing roadshow next week ahead of its November ASX run, it has been reported.Prospective investors will be told that pricing for Freedom will be set at a multiple of about 10 times future earnings, which Fairfax Media noted, may be viewed favourably compared to others in the sector trading at closer to 16 times.The company will lodge a prospectus for the circa $80 million initial public offering by October 31, with the ASX listing planned by the end of November. Managing the float are Baillieu Holst and Bell Potter, with Aura Capital serving as corporate adviser.Freedom founder and chief Keith Cohen and CFO Jenny Andrews will lead the roadshow meetings. Cohen also leads the companys move into mortgage insurance products.In January, Freedom secured a pre-IPO funding to help fund the purchase of Spectrum Wealth Advisers, which acquisition delivered 215 advisers and a relationship with Finsures large mortgage broking network, the report said.The company reported an 87 per cent increase in 2016 earnings, before, interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to $7.4 million.Former Tower Limited chief David Hancock has been tapped to lead Freedom as chairman. Hancock served as adviser to Freedom since December 2015. Willis Re has appointed Ronnie Carroll as head of Structured Solutions for Europe West and senior UK client advisor. He will report to Alkis Tsimaratos, managing director, head of Europe West. Carroll joins from Hannover Re where he was a senior underwriter, responsible for its advanced solutions business in the UK and Ireland. He previously held a number of senior underwriting and finance roles across the reinsurance and financial services industries including at General Reinsurance and Swiss Re. Tsimaratos said that Willis Re has revamped its UK and Ireland teams, combining a deeper strategic advisory approach with transactional expertise, which is what insurance companies are asking for. The appointment of Ronnie will further strengthen this effort and I know that his talent, experience and market relationships will add significant value to our client offering, he added. Source: Willis Re Topics Europe Willis Towers Watson The former CEO of a company that operates dozens of Indiana nursing homes and three others face federal charges in a kickback scheme worth millions of dollars, according to an indictment released on Oct. 12. Grand jurors charged former American Senior Communities CEO James Burkhart of Carmel with mail and wire fraud and money laundering. American Senior Communities fired Burkhart last September, three days after federal agents searched his home and the companys Indianapolis headquarters. Also charged are former company COO Daniel Benson of Fishers; Burkharts brother, Joshua Burkhart, of Fishers; and Burkharts friend, Steven Ganote, of North Salem. James Burkharts attorney, Larry Mackey, had no comment. Court records did not list attorneys for Benson, Joshua Burkhart or Ganote. All four men were released from custody after an initial court appearance where not guilty pleas were entered for each of them. Federal prosecutors in Indianapolis said the defendants owned shell companies and used them to falsify and inflate the costs of goods and services. This allowed the defendants to steal discounts and rebates and conceal kickbacks, prosecutors said, letting them divert, receive and launder millions of dollars for their personal benefit. Prosecutors said the defendants used the money to buy lavish items, such as vacation homes, diamond jewelry, Rolex watches, gold bars and coins, use of a private plane and Las Vegas casino chips. U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler called it unbridled greed. The defendants used American Senior Communities network of about 70 nursing homes and thousands of patients to their advantage, prosecutors said. American Senior Communities said in a statement that it was grateful to federal officials for the indictment and that the company will continue to cooperate. The company pointed out that patient care wasnt affected and that it has enacted safeguards and hired a new leadership team. ASC was the victim of a betrayal of trust by two of its former officers, the statement said. ASC has emerged from this process a stronger, more vital organization. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud Indiana Federal safety officials say that less than three weeks after being cited for exposing workers to unsafe trenches, investigators saw a Chicago plumbing contractor exposing the same four-man crew to trenching hazards as they worked on sewer and water utilities at two locations in Oak Park on consecutive days in March 2016. U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration has placed Og Plumbing LLC in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program and proposed penalties of $275,728. OSHA and issued one willful, three repeat and one serious safety citations to the plumbing contractor for the violations found at the job sites. The SVEP program focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. Under the program, the agency may inspect any of the employers facilities or job sites if it has reasonable grounds to believe there are similar violations. OSHAs inspection found: On March 28, 2016, a four-man crew on a job site in the 1036 Washington Blvd. in Oak Park was working in a five and one-half foot-deep trench without cave-in protection and a means to enter and exit the trench. In addition, inspectors found workers not wearing hard hats. On March 29, 2016, inspectors found the same crew working in a six-and-one-half-foot deep trench at 1035 Randolph St. in Oak Park without cave-in protection and a means to enter and exit the trench. After the investigator left the site, employees were seen re-entering the unprotected trench. As the investigator approached the trench the second time, the employees scrambled out of the trench. Shortly after this, a large section of the trench wall collapsed into the area of the trench where the employees were working. On March 10, 2016, OSHA inspectors observed a crew installing water lines in a trench about six-feet deep at 1632 N. Western Ave., in Chicago, without cave-in protection. OSHA issued penalties of $69,300 to the company on April 25, 2016, for one willful and one repeated safety violation following its inspection. OSHAs trenching standards require protective systems on trenches deeper than 5 feet, and that soil and other materials remain at least two feet from the edge of trench. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Source: OSHA Topics Workers' Compensation Contractors Illinois The U.S. Treasury Department softened new rules aimed at preventing multinational companies from shifting their profits offshore to lower-tax countries a response to sustained criticism from big business and from members of Congress, whod asked that they be delayed and scaled back. The rules, first proposed in April, aim to restrict lending among subsidiaries of the same corporate parent, which can create income streams in low-tax countries and tax-deductible interest payments in the U.S. But tax lawyers who represent corporate clients complained that the proposed language went too far, banning common cash-management practices that arent aimed at tax avoidance. In issuing final regulatory language Thursday, Treasury officials exempted from the new rules cash pooling, a common practice under which companies sweep daily excess cash from various subsidiaries into a single account. They also included limited exemptions for specific cases including for regulated financial and insurance companies, which are already restricted in their ability to issue debt among subsidiaries and delayed requirements for companies to document their related-party lending until Jan. 1, 2018. Even with the softeners, the rules drew concern from Representative Kevin Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who said President Barack Obamas administration was moving too quickly to adopt them. By rushing the review process despite the extensive comments received and finalizing these regulations so quickly, it appears that the Obama administration has ignored the real concerns of people who will be most impacted by these far-reaching rules, said Brady, a Texas Republican. He said he will study the regulations carefully and seek public comment on them. Senator Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, called it immensely concerning that the administration released final rules. There were a lot of positive steps and responsiveness to industry concerns, said Michael Shulman, a tax lawyer at Shearman & Sterling LLP. In terms of big picture, there are clearly some big exceptions that will be welcome. Shulman stressed that he was basing his remarks on a one-page summary of the changes not the hundreds of pages that will lay out the final rules. Earnings Stripping The regulations are in general aimed at a practice that tax officials call earnings stripping, by which companies shift their profit to low-tax jurisdictions. The strategy is frequently used by corporations that have moved their tax addresses offshore via so-called inversions. In an inversion, a U.S. company merges with a foreign firm then shifts its tax address overseas. More than 20 companies have undertaken inversions since 2012 and while the maneuver has become an issue in the 2016 presidential race, Congress has taken no action. Treasury officials say the new rules are intended to apply to intra-company loans that dont result in net new investments in the U.S. By limiting earnings stripping, the regulations are expected to save as much as $600 million to $700 million a year in tax revenue, a senior Treasury official said. This administration has long called for legislative action to fix our broken tax system, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said in a news release. In the absence of Congressional action, it is Treasurys responsibility to use our authority to protect the tax base from continued erosion. The new rule will make it harder for large foreign multinational companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes, and reduce the incentives for U.S. companies to shift income and operations overseas, Lew said. Such tax avoidance practices are wrong and should be stopped. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce criticized Treasurys approach in an e-mailed statement: While it appears that Treasury may have attempted to address at least some of the Chambers concerns, we continue to believe punitive, one-off changes to the tax law do nothing to address the root of the purported inversion problem: our antiquated and anti-competitive tax code. And the American Council for Capital Formation, a pro-business policy group, called the regulations deeply concerning. These hastily created regulations will increase the costs of doing business for potentially thousands of American companies and will penalize companies that have no intention of inverting, the group said in an e-mailed statement. Its now up to Congress to pursue a legislative remedy that will address those issues, the group said. The rules give Treasury officials and the Internal Revenue Service the authority to treat certain debt transactions among related parties as equity deals a status that would remove tax benefits associated with loans. Profound Impact Almost immediately after they were announced, the rules drew opposition from tax lawyers. As proposed, the rule could have had a profound impact on a range of modern treasury-management techniques, according to a research note that the Big Four accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers wrote in April. Lawyers and trade groups sent Treasury officials more than 80 letters commenting on the regulations. The American Bar Association penned a 177-page letter. In response to the criticisms, Treasury officials created the following exemptions: Cash pools and short-term loans. Companies use cash pooling to manage cash among their affiliates on a daily basis. Its not clear how the regulations will define short-term. Loan transactions among only foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies. Officials determined that foreign-to-foreign transactions have limited U.S. tax consequences. Transactions among subsidiaries organized as S corporations. In that organizational structure, the subsidiaries pass their income to their owners. Transactions among regulated financial companies and among regulated insurance companies. These firms are already subject to regulations that restrict their ability to issue intracompany debt or to issue instruments inappropriately characterized as debt, according to a Treasury fact sheet about the rules. Certain transactions between mutual funds that are regulated investment companies and real estate investment trusts. Andrew Eisenberg, an international tax lawyer at Jones Day, said it was obvious that officials had gotten rid of a lot of the problematic parts of the rules. But he added that he was still troubled by the rules broad treatment of debt as equity. Interest on debt is deductible, while equity is taxable. And Shulman, of Shearman & Sterling, said hes eager to see how Treasury will define short-term lending. The devils in the details, he said. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Carriers USA Legislation Profit Loss Federal safety officials have cited a Louisiana chemical manufacturer for nine serious and two other violations, and issued fines of more than $92,000. The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administrations Baton Rouge Area Office cited PPG Industries for violations at the companys Westlake, Louisiana, facility. OSHA said an employee complaint led to an investigation in which investigators found employees of the global chemical manufacturer exposed to hazards such as corrosive materials and a leaking, 30,000-gallon hot water tank. OSHA also cited the company for: Failing to inspect lock out/tag out procedures. Not inspecting safety relief valves. Allowing the use of deteriorated stair rails. Lacking a hazard assessment for confined space entry. The agency also identified two other violations issued for not illuminating exit signs and not having a protective cover on a junction box to prevent electric shock. Proposed penalties total $92,642. PPG Industries is a global manufacturer of paint and coating products. Based in Pittsburgh, it has approximately 47,000 employees worldwide of which 18,500 work in North America. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Source: OSHA Topics Workers' Compensation Louisiana Pollution Manufacturing Chemicals The Texas insurance regulators have fined human resources software startup, Zenefits, $550,000 for its past use of unlicensed health insurance brokers. The Texas Department of Insurance said YourPeople Inc., more commonly known as Zenefits, used unlicensed staff to sell and administer insurance plans from 2014 through late 2015. Launched in February 2013, Zenefits provides web-based human resources, insurance and benefits services to small business customers. The company has since come into compliance with state law and is using staff licensed in Texas for insurance transactions in the state, TDI said. Zenefits has been investigated and fined in other states for similar compliance issues, including California, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Washington. The investigations led to the resignation earlier this year of its co-founder and chief executive officer, Parker Conrad, and in July Zenefits reached a settlement with the Tennessee Department of Insurance and Commerce, agreeing to pay a fine of $62,500. Texas regulators said the commissioners order and fine follow a months-long investigation into the business practices of the California-based company, which provides online human resources and benefits services. While the companys owner was licensed in Texas, employees who were actually selling and administering insurance plans were not licensed. From Jan. 1, 2014, through Nov.20, 2015, Zenefits earned $1.6 million in commissions on Texas transactions using unlicensed staff, according to TDI. In addition to dismissing its former CEO, Zenefits has created a compliance team and confirmed that all employees who could potentially do insurance business in Texas are licensed, TDI reported. New controls have been implemented to ensure only employees with the required license handle insurance transactions, as well. The company is also paying for an independent review of past transactions. Texas order number 2016-4717 states that Zenefits experienced rapid growth after launching in 2013. In its first few years Zenefits corporate culture and values were not focused on compliance with state licensing requirements. Therefore, on a multitude of occasions over the first two years, Zenefits employees did the business of insurance in Texas when they were not authorized to do so. According to the order, Zenefits has admitted it initially failed on the corporate level to put in place compliance measures to maintain the proper authorizations. David Sacks replaced Conrad as CEO in February 2016. Reuters reported at the time that Sacks told employees in a letter, that many of our internal processes, controls, and actions around compliance have been inadequate, and some decisions have just been plain wrong. Reuters also reported that Zenefits has cut more than 350 jobs this year. The company said it made the cuts because it is now focusing on the small business market as opposed to large corporate clients. Related: Topics Texas Human Resources Debt-laden Vietnam will soon have to figure out how to pay for a rapidly growing number of old people. With higher life expectancy and a lower birth rate, Vietnams population is aging fast, and the countrys demographics are only heading one way. The United Nation considers a country to be aging when 10 percent of its population is aged 60 or over. Official statistics show that Vietnams population aged 60 or over has steadily increased to the current 10.5 percent from 9 percent in 2009, 8.1 percent in 1999, 7.2 percent in 1989 and 6.9 percent in 1979. While more than 60 percent of the world's aging countries reach that threshold when their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita exceeds $10,000 and 30 percent reach the threshold when their annual income hits $5,000, Vietnam official became an aging country last year when its GDP per capital was $2,110, economist Nguyen Xuan Thanh said on Thursday. Vietnam is one of the few countries in the world in which the population has aged before becoming rich or moderately rich, said Nguyen Trong Dam, deputy labor minister. Widening public debt is putting more pressure on the country's aging population. Soon enough, Vietnam will be grappling with a serious problem- how to pay for a growing number of elderly people. The governments out-of-control spending is burdening citizens with growing levels of public debt. Vietnams public debt is forecast to continue rise to 64.9 percent of GDP this year, relatively close to the ceiling of 65 percent set by the National Assembly, after soaring to 62.2 percent last year. The Southeast Asian countrys gross domestic product was worth $193.60 billion last year, according to the World Bank. The population of Vietnam is 93 million, so each citizens share of this debt is about $1,300, equivalent to 62 percent of individual annual income, said economist Do Thien An, a lecturer at the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnams GDP per capital is about one fifth of Malaysias. Each Vietnam citizen is carrying a heavier share of growing national debt, up to 62 percent of their annual income, compared to Malaysias 52 percent, said the economist. Under the national strategy to control public debt towards 2020, last years budget deficit was supposed to stand at 4.5 percent of GDP, but in fact the deficit far exceeded the target, Thanh said. Official figures show the budget deficit stood at 4.4 percent in 2011, 5.36 percent in 2012, 6.6 percent in 2013, 5.69 percent in 2014 and 6.1 percent last year. The National Assembly has tried to place a cap on the budget deficit in recent years, but state budget expenditure has remained higher than targeted. The Vietnamese government is aiming to lower the budget deficit to 4 percent on average for the 2016 2020 period. Economists are concerned that with a shrinking working-age population, the productivity of Vietnams economy will drop due to a critical lack of labor supply. The working-age population will shrink so quickly that by 2030, one in six Vietnamese will be over 60, and by 2060, one in four will be 60 or older, government figures show. Not to mention, labor productivity in Vietnam is among the lowest levels in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the International Labor Organization, productivity in Singapore was 15 times higher than in Vietnam in 2013. Even compared to Malaysia and Thailand, Vietnams labor productivity is only a fifth and two fifths respectively. The prospect of Vietnams aging population burdened with growing debt is very much todays problem, Thanh said. Related news: >Vietnam's pension books getting stretched to the limit >Retirement could be a long way off for aging Vietnamese workers >Vietnam's aging workforce on the road to retirement Its been nearly a week since Hurricane Matthew ravaged the Southeast coast but the insurance industrys job of responding to the devastation and assessing the total cost of damage from the storm is just beginning. With flood waters still rising in North Carolina, the industry is expecting to feel the effects of the storm for some time. By all accounts, the destruction left behind by Matthew wasnt as bad as what was originally anticipated. Storm experts say thats because the storm didnt hit land as the category 4 hurricane that impacted Haiti. When Matthew was nearing Florida, there was a large amount of uncertainty of whether there would be more wind and storm surge or less so because the storm was paralleling so close to the coast, said Tom Sabbatelli, RMS Hurricane Risk Expert based in the UK. Sabbatelli said the fact that Matthew stayed about 50 miles off the coast and the hurricane force winds remained around the center of eye made a big difference for the state, sparing it from extreme devastation: Florida avoided the strongest of the winds, he said. But, he added, remaining offshore for so long, an unusual phenomenon for a hurricane, also allowed the storm to keep its strength and stay a category 3 and category 2 storm as it traveled north over Georgia and the Carolinas. As it tracked up the coast it maintained its intensity, Sabbatelli said. There hasnt been a great amount of historical precedence for this track. Andrew Higgins, technical manager for Allianz Risk Consulting, said analysts expected Matthew would be more of a high-wind storm and the flooding that has occurred in South Carolina and North Carolina in its aftermath wasnt expected. We really didnt see that coming. Obviously with these types of events you have flooding and storm surge, but this storm slowed down as it made landfall in Charleston [S.C.] and dumped a tremendous amount of rain in North Carolina, Higgins said. RMS is now in the process of reconstructing the wind and storm surge through satellite imagery and observations so it can put together a final loss estimate. The consensus from other modeling firms have the storm impacting the industry in $3-$10 billion range: CoreLogic said it anticipates the industry will see about $4 to $6 billion in damage; Karen Clark & Co. estimated the losses to be about $7 billion; and AIR Worldwide put its damage estimates between $2.8 billion and $8.8 billion. KCC said the most impacted coastal areas include: Daytona Beach, Fla.; Tybee Island, Ga.; and Hilton Head Island, S.C. However, thousands of residents in North Carolina are still without power and dealing with major floods, which will undoubtedly lead to more claims over the next few weeks. Business interruption claims will be significant especially because of the long-term power outages, Higgins said. He suspects a lot of the damage will be flood related, particularly in eastern North Carolina, and those claims are not covered by the insurance industry unless claimants have private flood insurance. Since it didnt make a direct hit as a major hurricane, we wont see major wind damage claims, he said. But because it hugged the coast and went inland we will see more flooding. The good news if there is any good news to be had with this story is that this could have been a much worse event, said Neil Alldredge, senior vice president of state and policy affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC). For the people affected it is bad enough, but it was anticipated that with the way the storm tracked it could have been a much larger event. This is good news for the broader economy. Industry Response The insurance industry is now in full-fledged recovery mode and agents and carriers across the Southeast are diligently working on getting people back on their feet. Alldredge said NAMICs estimated 300 member companies in the affected states are prepared to handle claims from Matthew and help their clients, despite what may be said otherwise. It is troubling to see statements made anticipating a problem because for the vast majority of customers that is not the reality, he said. Insurers have every incentive to deal with customers fairly and swiftly and get them back to normal as quickly as possible. No insurance company wants a long drawn out saga. It is not in their best interest and not how they behave. Nevertheless, North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin activated the states Disaster Mediation Program to help homeowners resolve any disputes on residential property damage claims from Hurricane Matthew. In Florida, the claims volume hasnt been as significant as what was expected, said William Stander, executive director for the Florida Property & Casualty Association (FPCA). Claims appear to be straight up the coast and not necessarily in a particular location, he said. There isnt any concern of this affecting the stability of the marketplace. It is just a matter of getting out there and doing our job and helping the state recover. Citizens, Floridas state-run insurer of last resort, said it had received a total of 2,190 claims as of Oct. 12 123 commercial property claims and 2,067 personal residential. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) reported a total of 39,302 claims as of Oct. 12 with estimated insured losses at $218 million. Residential property accounted for 34,913 of these claims; 652 were commercial property; 1,827 were flood claims 28 private and 1,827 federal flood; 15 were related to business interruption losses; and 1,895 were classified as other lines of business. The claims include ones from Citizens, as well as hundreds of private insurers including national companies Allstate, GEICO, Progressive, and Travelers. South Carolina Insurance Director Ray Farmer issued a data call to state insurers to gather information from claims from the storm with the first deadline being Oct. 24. The insurance departments in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina urged residents to get in touch with their insurance agent or company and begin the claims filing process. Florida on Edge Floridas assignment of benefits (AOB) issue currently plaguing the state and leading to higher insurance rates is poised to become an even bigger problem in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the state fears. Citizens, which has seen a huge increase in AOB litigation from water loss claims particularly in South Florida, has been leading the charge to try and curb the abuse. The company has said that after a significant storm event such as Matthew the AOB problem could spiral out of control as unscrupulous contractors take advantage of homeowners in need of repairs. Michael Peltier, Citizens spokesperson, said the company has been taking a multi-faceted approach to get ahead of the problem, which has included auto dialing its more than 100,000 policyholders in affected areas and emailing agents to encourage them to reach out to their customers directly. We have been in contact with most of our policyholders within the area of the hurricane, trying to get ahold of them first and let them know if they have a claim to call us to start the claims process it is the most effective way to handle AOB abuse, Peltier said. We are trying to get to as many areas as we can to let customers know to call us first. There havent been any reports yet of AOB abuse occurring, but Peltier said it is much too early to know as AOB claims may not be reported until 30 days after a loss has occurred. We are right at the beginning of that cycle, he said. Stander of the FPCA said it is important the industry be on alert for AOB abuse. The association has issued a standing order to its members to report AOB abuse to FPCA. Certainly keep your eyes open for those examples of AOB that we can point to when policymakers return next session, he said. We know theres a problem its not a question of is it a problem its a question of what we do about it, and thats up for discussion and an area for the legislature to weigh in. Related: Topics Carriers Catastrophe Natural Disasters Florida Claims Flood Hurricane Property Market North Carolina South Carolina Anita Van Beveren has been returning day after day to watch the brown floodwater creep toward the rental home she shares with her two teenage children. While she got many belongings out, they couldnt move everything a bicycle is chained to a back deck surrounded by water. I cry and pray. Theres nothing else to do, said Van Beveren, who is staying with friends. We keep coming up here every hour. And every hour its worse. Many neighbors are keeping similar vigils on Van Beverens side of Willow Street, which runs parallel to the Tar River and has largely served as a boundary between those who evacuated and those who stayed. The leafy neighborhood one of many around North Carolina to suffer flooding after Hurricane Matthew includes one-story homes and small apartment buildings that house a mix of families and students from nearby East Carolina University. North of Willow, houses and apartments were filling up with water even before the river was expected to crest Thursday. The flooding triggered by heavy rain from Matthew which killed more than 500 people in Haiti has left at least 35 dead in the U.S. Matthew also brought record flooding to some areas of South Carolina. The National Weather Service reports the Little Pee Dee River near Galivants Ferry in Horry County has broken a flood record set almost 90 years ago. The storm closed more than 200 roads in the state. Officials say more roads are being reopened. And North Carolina officials say they are reopening a long section of the main road on the Outer Banks. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Thursday the number of power outages was down to about 55,000, form a high of nearly 900,000 when the storm hit last week. He said no new deaths have been reported, leaving the states death toll at 20. But McCrory said flooding continues to be a major problem in the eastern part of the state. The poorest of the poor are the ones that are being hurt the most by the floods, the governor said, citing conditions in Lumberton and smaller communities of Pembroke and St. Pauls. In Greenville, south of Willow Street and uphill from the river, homeowners expect their houses to be dry, and most stayed despite a mandatory evacuation. People that are staying are pretty comfortable because a lot of us were here for Floyd, and we know whats coming, said John Benson. He lives on a street that crosses Willow just uphill from a Dead End sign that marked the edge of the floodwaters from Hurricane Floyd in 1999. The Tar River isnt expected to get as high this time. Joe Davis owns houses on another street that crosses Willow, including a rental property where waist-deep water lapped at the foundation Wednesday. He watched a worker use duct tape and sheets of plastic to seal crawl space vents after placing sandbags at the doors. This is my first time doing this, so well see how this works, said Davis, who bought the rental house several months ago. Wearing duck-hunting waders, Andrew Brauns strode through the murky water after working on Davis rental house. He does maintenance for several property owners and said he put in several 15-hour days this week. These are going to be our two worst houses actually, he said, pointing to the rental house and one across the street. So weve really been trying to keep the water out. Under the houses, it can wash a bunch of the foundations away. Two tenants of another house surrounded by several feet of water Carolyn Raby and Nicole Beauchene walked up to survey the scene at the end of the street that dead ends near the river. They said their landlord has been letting them stay in another house he owns, but the ordeal has fried their nerves. I havent slept. I dont eat. The only normal thing I have is work and thats sad when works your only normal thing to do, said Beauchene, who works at the sandwich shop Jimmy Johns. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Flood North Carolina Gov. Robert Bentley on Wednesday signed an order banning outside fires across most of Alabama because dry conditions have led to fast-spreading wildfires. The governor signed the drought emergency declaration, putting 46 counties under the no burn order. The drought declaration prohibits campfires, bonfires, any trash or debris fires or any other open burning. Violators can be fined up to $500 and sentenced to up to six months in jail, according to the Alabama Forestry Commission. The declaration from the governor comes after fire officials this week also called for a halt to outside fires. Alabama Forestry Commission officials said 341 wildfires have burned over 4,100 acres in Alabama over the last seven days. State Forester Gary Cole said fire can spread quickly under the dry conditions in the state. We need rain desperately. Over the past couple of weeks weve seen an increase, not only in the number of wildfires, but also in the size of these fires. Several of them have been very large wildfires, Cole said. The remaining counties in Alabama are under a fire alert. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Alabama (Bloomberg) -- A growing number of people in Obamacare are finding out their health insurance plans will disappear from the program next year, forcing them to find new coverage even as options shrink and prices rise. At least 1.4 million people in 32 states will lose the Obamacare plan they have now, according to state officials contacted by Bloomberg. Thats largely caused by Aetna Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and some state or regional insurers quitting the laws markets for individual coverage. Sign-ups for Obamacare coverage begin next month. Fallout from the quitting insurers has emerged as the latest threat to the law, which is also a major focal point in the U.S. presidential election. While its not clear what all the consequences of the departing insurers will be, interviews with regulators and insurance customers suggest that plans will be fewer and more expensive, and may not include the same doctors and hospitals. It may also mean that instead of growing in 2017, Obamacare could shrink. As of March 31, the law covered 11.1 million people; an Oct. 13 S&P Global Ratings report predicted that enrollment next year will range from an 8 percent decline to a 4 percent gain. Vanishing Plan Last year in Minnesota, Theresa Puffer, 61, used Obamacare to sign up for a BlueCross BlueShield plan after leaving her job following a skin cancer diagnosis. I would have had a hard time finding any sort of coverage before the ACA, Puffer said by phone. Next year, Puffers plan is disappearing from Obamacare -- making her one of about 20,000 Minnesotans in the same situation. To make matters worse, premiums for other plans in the state will rise by at least 50 percent, though subsidies under the law can help cushion the blow. Trying to determine which would be the best plan for my situation is not easy, Puffer said. Her dermatologist appears to be out of network in other plans, she said. Im willing to pay a higher premium to see him, because when you have cancer you want to stay with the same group of doctors, she said. Ive spent so much time trying to figure out what my options are. Bloomberg contacted officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and the 1.4 million-person estimate includes 32 states and only plans sold on the individual exchange markets. In Texas, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri, insurers have pulled out, but regulators couldnt or wouldnt say how many people are affected. Three states didnt provide sufficient data. Eleven states, plus D.C., said they werent affected. Normal Disruption The U.S. agency that oversees Obamacare has said that some disruption is normal, and that choosing a new plan can help people get the best deal. Its part of the normal business cycle for insurers to discontinue, change, and replace plans from year to year, Benjamin Wakana, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said by e-mail on Oct. 5. Such changes dont prevent people from obtaining coverage. People can shop for new coverage through a transparent market. HHS said Thursday that it will contact people losing their coverage and encourage them to sign up with new plans. The law requires all Americans to have insurance or pay a fine. Nationwide estimates of the number of people losing their current plans are higher. For example, Charles Gaba, who tracks the law at ACASignups.net, estimates that 2 million to 2.5 million people in the U.S. will lose their current plans, compared with 2 million a year ago. Gabas estimate is based on insurance company membership data. Fewer Choices For the people losing plans, there are fewer and fewer choices. One estimate by the Kaiser Family Foundation predicts that for at least 19 percent of the people in Obamacares individual market next year there will be only one insurer to choose from. In North Carolina, for example, a BlueCross BlueShield insurer will be the only option in 95 of the states 100 counties after Aetna and UnitedHealth said this year that they would leave. That will leave 284,000 people looking for a new plan, according to the state. Without any significant statutory and regulatory changes on the federal and state levels, we may face the crisis again, said North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, a Democrat whos up for election this year. There needs to be a wholesale re-evaluation by leaders in Washington. Losing Access In Tennessee, UnitedHealth and the states BlueCross BlueShield plan are pulling back, and about 117,000 people will lose the plans they have now. Amanda Page Cornett, a 34-year-old musician and athletic trainer in Nashville, is among them. For 2015, Cornett was careful to pick a BlueCross BlueShield plan that covered specialists at Vanderbilt Health, to treat nerve pain stemming from a 2013 accident. Her condition worsened recently, she said, and shes worried about losing access to her doctor. Im hopeful that hes going to be able to help me, she said of her current physician. I feel like now I have two and a half months to figure it out before they shut me out. What Is a Limit Order? A limit order in the financial markets is a direction to purchase or sell a stock or other security at a specified price or better. This stipulation allows traders to better control the prices at which they trade. A limit can be placed on either a buy or a sell order: A buy limit order will be executed only at the limit price or a lower price. A sell limit order will be executed only at the limit price or a higher one. The price is guaranteed, but the filling of the order is not. Limit orders will be executed only if the price meets the order qualifications. The alternative to a limit order is a market order, which calls for a trade to be executed at the prevailing market price without any price limit specified. Key Takeaways A limit order guarantees that an order is filled at or better than a specific price level. A limit order is not guaranteed to be filled, however. Limit orders control execution price but can result in missed opportunities in fast-moving market conditions. Limit orders can be used in conjunction with stop orders to prevent large downside losses. A limit order is usually valid for either a specific number of days (i.e. 30 days), until the order is filled, or until the trader cancels the order. 2:43 How Do Limit Orders Work? How Limit Orders Work A limit order is the use of a pre-specified price to buy or sell a security. For example, if a trader is looking to buy XYZs stock but has a limit of $14.50, they will only buy the stock at a price of $14.50 or lower. If the trader is looking to sell shares of XYZs stock with a $14.50 limit, the trader will not sell any shares until the price is $14.50 or higher. By using a buy limit order the investor is guaranteed to pay the buy limit order price or better, but it is not guaranteed that the order will be filled. A limit order gives a trader more control over the execution price of a security, especially if they are fearful of using a market order during periods of heightened volatility. There are various times to use a limit order such as when a stock is rising or falling very quickly, and a trader is fearful of getting a bad fill from a market order. Additionally, a limit order can be useful if a trader is not watching a stock and has a specific price in mind at which they would be happy to buy or sell that security. Limit orders can also be left open with an expiration date. Limit Order Example A portfolio manager wants to buy Tesla Inc's (TSLA) stock but believes its current valuation at roughly $750 per share is too high and would like to buy the stock should it fall to a specific price. The PM instructs his traders to buy 10,000 shares of Tesla should the price fall below $650, good 'til canceled. The trader then places an order to buy 10,000 shares with a $650 limit. Should the stock fall below that price the trader can begin buying the stock. The order will remain open until the stock reaches the PMs limit or the PM cancels the order. Additionally, the PM would like to sell Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) stock but feels its current price of roughly $2,300 is too low. The PM instructs his trader to sell 5,000 shares should the price rise above $2,750, good until canceled. The trader will then put the order out to sell 5,000 shares with a $2,750 limit. Brokerage firms may not allow limit orders if they are illogical (i.e. if a limit to buy is placed at greater than price, Brokerage firms may also offer this service to investors for free. Limit Orders vs. Market Orders When an investor places an order to buy or sell a stock, there are two main execution options in terms of price: place the order "at market" or "at limit." Market orders are transactions meant to execute as quickly as possible at the present or market price. Conversely, a limit order sets the maximum or minimum price at which you are willing to buy or sell. Buying stocks can be thought of with an analogy to buying a car. With a car, you can pay the dealers sticker price and get the car or you can negotiate a price and refuse to finalize the deal unless the dealer meets your price. The stock market can be thought of to work in a similar way. A market order deals with the execution of the order; the price of the security is secondary to the speed of completing the trade. Limit orders deal primarily with the price; if the security's value is currently resting outside of the parameters set in the limit order, the transaction does not occur. What Is a Limit Order? A limit order is a direction given to a broker to buy or sell a security at a specific price or better. It is a way for traders to execute trades at desired prices without having to constantly monitor markets. It is also a way to hedge risk and ensure losses are minimized by capturing sale prices at certain levels. How Does a Limit Order Work? A limit order is placed with your broker. That limit order states the security, the quantity, the price, and whether you are in a buy or sell position. The order is not triggered until the specific desired market price is achieved. Even then, execution of the limit order is not guaranteed, especially in highly volatile markets or regarding highly volatile securities with low liquidity. What Is the Difference Between a Limit Order and a Stop-Limit Order? A limit order is an order requesting the purchase or sale of securities should a specific price be met. A stop-limit order builds one additional layer that requires a specific price be met that is different than the sale price. For example, a limit order to sell your security for $15 will likely execute when the market price reaches $15. Alternatively, a stop-limit order can be placed to sell your security for $15 only if the share price has dropped from $20 to $16. How Long Does a Limit Order Last? The term of the limit order will depend on your specification and your brokers policy. Many brokers default limit orders to day-only trades; any unfilled orders at market close are canceled without execution. Other brokers may offer a specific number of days often in intervals of 30 (i.e. 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days). Last, some brokers offer limit orders that are considered good until filled; the limit order will remain valid until it is filled or deliberately canceled by the trader. Top News - Investor Idea REE Stock News - Defense Metals (TSX-V: DEFN.V) (OTCQB: DFMTF) Drills 113 metres of 2.50% Total Rare Earth Oxide at Wicheeda Vancouver, British Columbia - October 26, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mining / Metals / Green Energy Stock News - Defense Metals Corp. (TSX-V: DEFN / OTCQB: DFMTF/ FSE:35D) is pleased to announce high-grade Rare Earth Element ("REE") assay results from one additional core hole, totalling 383 metres (m), collared within the northern area of Defense Metals' 100% owned Wicheeda REE Deposit. Top Cleantech News - Investor Idea Breaking EV Stock News: Pre-orders for Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) FIVE Electric-SUV Crossover Exceed Expectations as the FIVE 'Strikingly Different' Tour Begins BREA, Calif. - October 28, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today that the Mullen FIVE "Strikingly Different" EV Crossover Tour which began yesterday, in Pasadena, California, is off to a great start with first day reservations exceeding expectations and overwhelmingly positive customer feedback. Top Health and Wellness News - Investor Idea Health and Wellness Stock News - Endexx (OTCBB: EDXC) Secures Third Order for Non-Nicotine Vape Product HYLA Worth Approximately $1.5M in Revenue for First two Fiscal Quarters of 2023 CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - October 27, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Endexx Corporation (OTCBB:EDXC), a provider of innovative, plant-derived, and sustainable health and skincare products, today announces it has secured three key significant orders for its newly acquired, non-nicotine plant-based vape product, HYLA. Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore. Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas: Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by Investorideas.com Newswire: Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire Debt collectors will no longer be allowed to dress like gangsters at work. Vietnamese regulators are preparing to tighten the rules that govern debt collection in an effort to clamp down on collectors who pester and abuse customers. On the one hand, the Finance Ministry has removed the required minimum registered capital of VND2 billion ($90,000). On the other, it has introduced stricter rules for debt collectors. Debt collectors have a reputation for being rude and intimidating, so regulators are trying to curb this abusive behavior. Under the proposed regulations, debt collectors must have written proof to present themselves as an authorized worker for a licensed collection company. Law-abiding debt collectors are also not allowed to dress like gangsters when they meet debtors to ensure they do not feel physically threatened to make payment. Statistics show that Ho Chi Minh City currently has 19 licensed debt collection companies that employ around 160 people. In the past five year, they have been hired by lenders to recover funds worth up to VND1.12 trillion ($50 million), but have only managed to collect 14 percent of that amount. Related news: > Debt-ridden Vietnamese property group to sell rubber plantations in Laos > Vietnam state firm begs government for $300 mln in debt relief Select A TV Show - Select A TV Show - Les Vraies Housewives Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip Real Housewives di Napoli The Real Housewives of Amsterdam The Real Housewives of Athens The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Real Housewives of Auckland The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills The Real Housewives of Cape Town The Real Housewives of Cheshire The Real Housewives of D.C. The Real Housewives of Dallas The Real Housewives of Dubai The Real Housewives of Durban The Real Housewives of Hungary The Real Housewives of Jersey UK The Real Housewives of Johannesburg The Real Housewives of Melbourne The Real Housewives of Miami The Real Housewives of New Jersey The Real Housewives of New York City The Real Housewives of Orange County The Real Housewives of Potomac The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City The Real Housewives of Sydney The Real Housewives of Toronto The Real Housewives of Vancouver The Real Housewives Slovenia Vanderpump Rules ARE YOU A TOP COMPANY? What it Really Means to be a Top Company! To be a Top Company in Irish Construction Industry Magazines Top Companies listing means far more than just a rank and position in an ordered catalogue of names. To us, it means that your efforts to be the best you can be and to excel in your industry and sector have been effective and have paid dividends. To us, it means that your determination and commitment to develop and instil a positive work culture and environment have brought your business due success plus satisfaction. We see it as you being a supportive and inclusive place in which to work that strives to bring the best out of everyone across every level of the organisation. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE A Longford man accused of making bomb threats during the state visit of the UK Queen five years ago told gardai that the British monarch stood for the security forces in Northern Ireland and that he did not like her, the Special Criminal Court has heard. The court also heard that Donal Billings (aged 65), who is further accused of placing an IED on a Dublin-bound passenger bus on the eve of the royal visit, told gardai that allegations against him were "nonsense" and that he had been visiting his brother that evening. Mr Billings, of St Bridgets Court, Drumlish, County Longford is charged with the unlawful possession of an explosive substance at Longford railway station car park on May 16, 2011. He is further charged with four offences under the Criminal Law Act of 1976 of knowingly making false reports tending to show that an offence had been committed. The charges allege that he made a false report within the State on May 16, 2011, that bombs had been placed at Busaras in Dublin and at Sinn Fein's headquarters. He is also charged with making a false report on May 18 that two mortars were set for Dublin Castle, and with making a false report on May 20 that two bombs had been placed in the toilets at Cork airport. Mr Billings has pleaded not guilty to each of the five charges. Previously, the court has heard evidence on the eve of and during the royal visit three phonecalls were made to Longford garda station, threatening bombs on buses and the Sinn Fein headquarters, mortars at Dublin Castle, and two bombs in the toilets at Cork Airport on the day Queen Elizabeth was due to depart. Evidence that an improvised explosive device (IED) was found on a Dublin-bound passenger bus on May 16 of that year has also been presented to the court. Today, Sergeant Adrian O'Neill, from Galway, told the court that the accused man was interviewed by gardai in the Irish language. Reading the interviews to the court, the Sergeant said on May 21, 2011, gardai asked Mr Billings if he was at Longford train station on Monday evening, May 16, between 7pm and 8.30pm. The accused man said he was not and that he drove that evening to Mullingar, where he met his brother. Previously, the court has heard evidence about a SIM card allegedly found on Mr Billings after he was arrested in a LIDL carpark in Longford on May 20. It is part of the prosecution's case that the number associated with that SIM card was used to call in the bomb threats to Longford garda station. Sergeant O'Neill told the court that gardai asked Mr Billings about this SIM card. The accused man replied that after driving into the Lidl carpark he saw a purse on the ground and after picking it up a SIM card fell out of a small book. "There was nobody about so I kept it," he told the guards, the court heard. The court also heard that Mr Billings told the gardai he did not like Queen Elizabeth. "I have nothing against her as a person," he said during an interview on May 21 that year, the court heard, "But as long as England is in the six counties I'm not happy. "She stands for the security forces in the north." Mr Billings said he did not do anything to interrupt her visit, Sergeant O'Neill told the court He said that the accused man further stated, "People wanted to interrupt it. That's democracy. "They have the right to do it. I think that the people of Ireland have the same view. Look when Obama visited there were thousands on the street. "When Elizabeth was here they weren't on the streets. They gave the votes with their feet." Mr Billings told the guards that the allegations were "nonsense" and that he did not place anything on the bus. The trial resumes on Monday. The northern Syrian city of Aleppo was being pounded by fresh air strikes amid clashes between government forces and rebels, opposition activists said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported dozens of air strikes on eastern Aleppo overnight on Thursday. It added that clashes were taking place on the northern and southern edges of the city. The Aleppo Media Centre, an activist collective, said the strikes had killed and wounded a number of people, with some buried under the debris. The Observatory said on Wednesday that at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since a US and Russian-brokered truce collapsed on September 19. The UN says more than 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also included a limited ground offensive. Earlier, Syrian President Bashar Assad said a military victory in Aleppo would give the Syrian army a springboard to liberate other areas of the country from "terrorists". In an interview with Russian media outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda, he said the city is effectively no longer Syria's industrial capital but taking it back would provide important political and strategic gains for his regime. "It's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to other areas, to liberate other areas from the terrorists. This is the importance of Aleppo now," he said. "You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey to go back to where they come from, or to kill them. There's no other option. But Aleppo is going to be a very important springboard to do this move." It was an enlightened move by the previous government that has led to the creation of thousands of jobs. It also keeps us in line with other European countries. The uncertainty that arises each year about its retention is a negative influence for those considering developing new hotels. Claims hotel rates are too high in Dublin do not stand up to any objective scrutiny. Smith Travel Research (STR) is the most recognised research company in the world for the hospitality industry, in terms of tracking average room rates in cities. It gets its data from a large number of hotels in each city who submit room revenue and occupancy statistics on a daily basis. For the first seven months of this year, STR had the average room rate in Dublin as being 11th highest out of a basket of 31 large cities in Europe. Room rates may appear very high on busy nights when events are taking place, but this is normal in all major cities. The average room rate is the best measurement of how expensive or otherwise a city is, as it takes account of prices charged for all rooms in a hotel over the 365 days of the year. Using STR statistics, Dublin could not be considered expensive when compared to other European cities. As regards the towns and cities outside of Dublin, there is excellent value with most locations still at room rates below 2008 levels. The reduced Vat rate has helped revenues and profits get to levels where it now makes sense to build new hotels. There has been no net increase in the number of rooms in Dublin since 2008 because room rates were not at levels that could justify the investment cost of a new hotel. Dalata will have between 900 and 1,000 new rooms open by the middle of 2018 on the island of Ireland. This will create over 400 jobs and represents an investment of over 110m in the economy. It is just one example of the benefits of the reduced Vat rate being invested back into the economy. From the perspective of the hospitality industry, this is a positive budget. Dermot Crowley is deputy CEO of Dalata Hotel Group Mr Sheils told farmers at the annual general meeting of Commercial Mushroom Producers that any company with significant sales in one country may hold a natural hedge on its currency risk if it also generates expenses in that country. This may be limited for many mushroom producers due to the amount of locally sourced inputs, but can still be used to reduce the impact of currency movements on a businesss profits, he told the growers at the meeting in Mullingar, Co Westmeath. The garbage mountains in Dong Nam landfill, Thanh Hoa City, keeps piling up everyday. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Son Authorities in the provincial capital hope to address overflowing landfills with a new waste treatment project. Authorities in the northern province of Thanh Hoa approved a plan Friday to build a new domestic waste treatment plant in southwestern commune of Dong Nam. Work will begin in December on a 200,000 sqm site near the Dong Nam landfill, which sits roughly 10km from Thanh Hoa's provincial capital. Investors put up over VND647 billion (US$29 million) to build the facility, which will draw on a combination of biotechnology and incernation to address the stockpiled waste. The facility will include areas to sort solid waste to yield recycled metal and non-fired bricks. From that, the facility is expected to produce 71 tons of organic fertilizer and six tons of recycled plastic granules per day. At the same time, The plant is expected to process about 500 tons of domestic waste per day. Designers say the plant will last for 50 years and help improve the environment, create local jobs and alleviate overlfow at surrounding landfills. Dong Nam landfill is one of the two largest dumps in Thanh Hoa Town. Workers at the facility bury about 300 tons of unclasified waste on average, every day. According to the head of the landfills management company, the landfill has proven unable to keep pace with trash arriving from houses in the surrounding wards. Mountains of garbage continue to grow, every day. Related news: > Saigon stench culprit identified as landfill site > Saigon residents suffer from stinking landfill site > Hanoi starts work on $726-mil sewage treatment plant As I watched Michael Noonan deliver his offering, I could not help but reflect on this prediction, which in hindsight looks very prescient. It was effectively a budget prepared by Fianna Fail and the Independents, but presented by a Fine Gael minister. The 3:1 victory for expenditure over tax reductions was never a Fine Gael policy, at least not to my knowledge. It was very much the stance adopted by Fianna Fail and the Independents and one wonders what satisfaction Fine Gael could possibly get from being a Government in name only. The allure of power does many things. That is, of course, what new politics is all about and I probably should not have been terribly surprised that Budget 2017 has turned out to be a populist scatter-gun budget that left many people slightly better off, but nobody significantly better off. Perhaps I am an old- fashioned traditionalist, but the more I see of new politics the more disgusted and disillusioned I become with the whole concept. The new politics budget lacked any strategic vision or direction, which is exactly not what was called for in an environment where Ireland is facing into immense domestic and external challenges. I watched the budget on a TV screen on my desk, which is situated beside a Bloomberg terminal. As I watched the two ministers present their respective offerings, I was simultaneously watching sterling weaken sharply on the exchanges. This is not to suggest causation or correlation, but in an ironic way it highlighted the importance of delivering a budget that had a clear long-term strategic focus that would set Ireland up in a better way to cope with all of the challenges in the short to medium-term and beyond, but particularly with the immediate issue of Brexit- induced sterling weakness. I am not naive enough to believe that a single budget can change the world. This weeks budget package of 1.3bn may sound like a significant amount of money, but when considered in the context of projected gross voted current expenditure of 53.5bn in 2017; gross voted capital expenditure of 4.5bn; and projected tax revenues of just over 50bn, it is a relatively insignificant amount of money that would not be capable of changing very much. Having said that, Budget 2017 was presented in a markedly different environment than we have seen for some years and could have been used as the beginning of a strategic exercise aimed at enhancing Irelands competitiveness, rewarding work, and improving Irelands overall long-term productive capacity. Instead, we were treated to a ragbag of policy initiatives, none of which amounted to very much in isolation, and when taken as a package lacked any sort of strategic coherence. This is not the fault of the Minister for Finance, but rather is the product of so many diverse political interests all feeding into the trough. The USC package is costed at a not insignificant amount of 335m in 2017. Yet, when spread over hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, it will not make very much difference to anybody. Most workers will be better off by an amount of between 150 and 350 in a full year, much of which will be clawed back by the non-indexation of bands and allowances. In the aftermath of the budget there has to my knowledge been little reaction at the manner in which income taxpayers were treated. In my view, they were treated with total derision. However, that is the way taxpayers are dealt with in this country. We are just seen as a bottomless trough from which populist politicians can extract monies to curry favour with the non-tax paying sections of society. For example, the total failure in Budget 2017 to address a situation whereby somebody earning over 33,800 ends up paying the top marginal rate of tax, is criminal. In most EU countries, one would have to be earning over 150,000 before one would end up paying such marginal rates of tax. It is time that the rights of taxpayers and the contribution they make to society are recognised and appreciated, rather than demonised. The number of residences sold before completion in the period fell to 4,830 units from 5,636 a year earlier, according to report by researcher Molior London. Londons residential real estate market is grinding to a halt, with transactions falling 78% in the five months from April through August compared with the same period a year earlier, preliminary Land Registry data show. Political and economic turmoil, with the pound dropping 18% since the June Brexit vote, is discouraging buyers affected by rising taxes. The slide in the pound hasnt sparked as much interest as expected from overseas investors, according to Faisal Durrani, head of research at broker Cluttons. There are still too many unknowns about where the market is going and many overseas buyers are waiting on the fence, he said. Shares in Berkeley Group, Londons biggest homebuilder, have fallen more than 25% since the vote. A record 6,864 homes were completed during the third quarter, the most since data was first collected in 2009, the Molior report shows. Values in the capital will fall by 1.25% next year, the first decline since 2009, because of the turmoil caused by Brexit negotiations, according to Countrywide, the UKs largest real estate broker. There was a three percentage-point increase in the stamp-duty sales tax for landlords and second-home owners in April, which followed a rise in charges for all luxury-home buyers in 2014. That hike means a 12% tax rate is paid on portions above 1.5m (1.66m). The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its UK house-price gauge rose in August as an increasing number of agents reported appreciating prices. Values continued to fall in central London. The ladies fashion retailer is celebrating 40 years in business this year. It is owned by the Barron family, via its Flairline Fashions operating vehicle. Latest accounts show the business recorded a pre-tax loss of 856,557 in the 12 months to the end of August 2015. Revenues dropped 5.5%, or 1.2m, to 21.2m. In the directors report section of the accounts, the owners said their five-year plan anticipates a return to profit for 2018. They said that they expect the business to continue to grow its operations in the upcoming year. Pamela Scott has 21 outlets. Twelve shops exited examinership in 2013 after agreeing new rent deals. Earlier this year, the group said it would be opening two shops outside Dublin before Christmas, and would be upgrading existing shops in the chain. It has stores in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Athlone, Carlow, Castlebar, Clonmel, Ennis, Kilkenny, Mullingar, Navan, Newbridge, Sligo, Tralee, Waterford and Wexford. The firm recorded the pre-tax loss of 856,557 in spite of exceptional gains including the writedown of a bank loan to the tune of 501,1580 and a 136,888 gain on the disposal of a lease. As the business restructured last year, pay to directors was slashed from 646,849 to 210,337. Numbers employed by the business last year decreased from 267 to 231 as staff costs, including directors pay, reduced from 5.7m to 5.17m. The firms loss, last year, takes account of lease costs reducing from 3.32m to 3.1m, non-cash depreciation costs of 253,372 and impairment costs of 52,647. The business had a shareholders deficit of 2.3m as its cash decreased from 830,823 to 823,993. The companys shareholders are listed as founder and driving force Sean Barron, Michaelina Barron, John Barron, Richard Barron, Robert Barron and Scott Barron. The latest accounts state that they will continue to support the group for the upcoming year. Parvus Asset Management, a London-based activist investor that owns over 14% of William Hill, said it was extremely concerned by the potential combination with the Canadian online gambling company, which had limited strategic logic and would destroy shareholder value. Amayas core poker business would weaken William Hills position in the market as that business is unattractive, Parvus said in a letter to William Hills board. We strongly encourage that the board and management stop wasting valuable time and shareholder resources pursuing this value-destroying deal, said the letter, signed by Parvus co-founders Mads Eg Gensmann and Edoardo Mercadante. William Hill should consider all alternative options available, including a sale, they added. Given the strategic fit, diversification and potential synergies we have a responsibility to all our shareholders to fully assess this, a William Hill spokesperson said. However it is premature for us to draw conclusions while this work is ongoing. William Hill and Amaya said on October 10 that they were discussing a potential merger of equals, and the combined company would be worth around $5.5bn. William Hill recently staved off a takeover by smaller rivals 888 Holdings and Rank Group, and is seeking a new chief after ousting James Henderson after only two years in the job after the board lost patience with the slow pace of growth under his leadership. William Hill had rejected the 4.2bn bid, believing it undervalued its business, and said that it saw no merit in engaging with its suitors. Amaya has faced the possibility of being taken private by former chief executive David Baazov. William Hills shares were little changed, at 299p, in London trading yesterday. Dr Anne OFarrell of the HSEs Health Intelligence Unit led a team, including a representative of homeless charity Focus Ireland, which looked into in-patient admissions to acute hospitals for people of no fixed abode between 2005 and 2014. Over the study period there were 2,051 in-patient emergency admissions for people in that category. There was a 406% increase between 2005 (78 cases) and 2014 (395 cases). The research also highlighted the extent to which the homeless level is concentrated in the capital 370 of the 395 cases in 2014 were admissions to Dublin hospitals. The mean age of the patients was 40.6 years and 57% of them (1,176) had a mental/ behavioural diagnosis. The majority, 83%, were men and 29 died in hospital. More than one in 10 of the in-patient emergency admissions of homeless people were for, what were classed as ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) including convulsions/epilepsy (32.9%), cellulitis (22.1%), and COPD (10.4%). Many homeless people experience difficulties maintaining good health due to poor access to primary care and have worse health outcomes when compared to the general population. International studies have found individuals who are homeless are more likely to be hospitalised particularly for ACSCs, the authors said. The authors said the increase in emergency in-patient admissions among the homeless is likely to be contributing to the overcrowding difficulties in EDs. In addition, with an average length of stay of 6.5 days they are also placing demands on acute beds. Compared to emergency admissions generally the average age of the homeless patient is younger than the general population. Although health issues may have contributed to homelessness (e.g. alcohol and drug misuse), this finding does suggest that being homeless itself has a significant impact on health. Indeed, the average age of this cohort that died in hospital was 48.2 years, significantly lower than the current average life expectancy, they said. They said homeless services have long identified the discharge of vulnerable people from hospitals as one of the key areas where prevention strategies should be focused but said there has been less strategic focus on the overall interaction between hospital admission, primary health services and homelessness. Overall, the study suggests that the growing number of admissions of people who are homeless to acute hospitals represents both a serious problem and a real opportunity, they said. The problems reside both in the poor health of the homeless population and the substantial cost to the health service in dealing with these problems in a hospital setting. The opportunities arise in the potential to reconfigure the relationship between homeless services and health services so that the transition between the two systems cease to be places where vulnerable people can become lost and instead become intersections where pathways to appropriate supports can be identified and made available. According to the 2015 Annual Garda Report, a total of 167 members were found to be in breach of Garda discipline following internal affairs investigations last year. The report shows these members received a combination of monetary sanctions, cautions, warnings and reprimands and the total monetary penalty imposed on members was 71,934. The 167 reprimanded last year is coincidentally the same number of gardai reprimanded for breaches of discipline in 2014, when total fines of 80,360 were imposed. The 2014 total follows 153 members to be found in breach in 2013, when fines of 60,920 were imposed, and 169 gardai disciplined in 2012, when fines of 62,517 were handed down. The number of gardai disciplined internally last year represents less than 1% of the 12,816 gardai of all ranks employed at the end of last year. The report also confirms that there were 27 members on suspension at the end of the year and of those, 24 were subject to investigations in accordance with the Garda Siochana (Discipline) Regulations 2007, and the three were subject to investigations carried out by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission. This follows the situation at the end of 2014 when there were 28 members suspended. The reports for 2015 and 2014 record that no members of the force were dismissed or did resign. The 2013 report show that one member resigned as an alternative to dismissal, and the service of one member of the Garda Reserve was dispensed with under the provisions of Regulation 10, Garda Siochana (Reserve Members) Regulations, 2006. The 2012 report records that one member was dismissed under Regulation 39 Garda Siochana (Discipline) Regulations 2007 and another was dismissed following the findings of a board of inquiry and subsequent appeal under Part III Garda Siochana (Discipline) Regulations 2007. The service of one Reserve Member was dispensed with under the provisions of Regulation 10 Garda Siochana (Reserve Members) Regulations 2006. A Garda spokesman yesterday declined to comment, stating that the force did comment on internal disciplinary issues, while the Garda Representative Association (GRA) said that it wasnt in a position to comment. The annual report also shows that in 2015, 15 Gardai were nominated for Scott Medals for 11 separate incidents for 2014. The GRA spokeswoman said: The GRA are proud of all of their members and in particular those who have been awarded the Scott Medal. Every day, Gardai undertake a difficult and dangerous job to serve the Irish public, unaware when they report for duty, of the challenges they may face. The GRA applauds the bravery of all Scott Medal recipients. Under the budgets new childcare scheme aimed at the lower paid, parents will be entitled to a subsidy towards after-school and holiday childcare until a child is aged 15. However, after-school services are not governed by any regulations and are not inspected by the Child and Family Agency, Tusla or by Pobal, which completes inspects free preschool year providers. This means that while staff/children ratios exist for younger children and regulations around quality of education and care, there is no such system in place for older children. After-school providers have made a number of presentations in recent weeks to the Department of Education and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs inter-departmental group which is drawing up the new action plan. Its believed the Department of Children may look to set up a self-regulation model in the short term where they will sign up to adhere to a set of standards rather than be subject to a fully-resourced inspection system. The Oscar system in New Zealand is one such model that could be replicated here. Oscar-accredited after-school and holiday camps run services grounded in an agreed model of child wellbeing, health and safety, staffing, and governance. The Programme for Government has also made commitments to examine the use of schools for after-school services. Early Childhood Ireland CEO, Theresa Heaney, said the new single affordable childcare scheme was a golden opportunity to look at the after-school sector. She said she would be interested to see how much the voice of children will be listened to by the indepartmental group. Children contributed to their work and they have clear views on what kind of care they like when school is over, she said. Meanwhile, speaking on RTE radio yesterday, Ms Zappone strongly defended her new childcare schemes, saying the targeted scheme will help parents who want to go back to work or education. She said she is confident that childing-minding services will be able to meet demand from parents. In April of this year, Pobal said there are vacancies in services for the other age groups, the non-ECCE age groups. she said. Childcare scheme key points Single Affordable Childcare Scheme: Scheme One: Targeted at lower income families with children aged from 6 months to 15 years. The lower income threshold is 22,700 net. The higher income threshold is 47,500 net. The new scheme means that parents will only have to pay an average top-up payment of 12 for 40 hrs of childcare if they meet the lower threshold. Scheme Two: The circumstances of the OIG [US Office of the Inspector General] investigation over the last seven months has been extremely uncomfortable for Goal and we are working hard on correcting the weaknesses identified and providing all necessary assurances to our donors, Mr Andrews said in a statement yesterday. I do not for one moment resent the robust oversight of our donor partners and if we are serious about retaining public trust and managing large sums of taxpayers money, then this type of oversight is not only to be expected, but to be welcomed. Goal applies exacting standards to the management of its programmes and in my leadership role over the last few years I have endeavoured to apply those standards, he added. However, it has become clear to me that Goal requires a fresh start in terms of leadership. To that end, I informed Goals board of directors last August of my intention to step down as CEO as soon as a suitable replacement could be identified. He has served as CEO of the charity for the last four years and will continue as interim CEO until his replacement is in situ at the start of next month. I will continue, in the meantime, to lead the senior management team, working closely with the board, and to provide the necessary assurances to our donors that will allow Goal to continue providing life-saving services to its 12m beneficiaries, Mr Andrews said. Last April, Goal and other charities were ordered to halt procurement in Syria using some US funds because the United States Agency for International Development had started an investigation into alleged bribery and bid-rigging. Then last August, it emerged the Department of Foreign Affairs was withholding almost 3m in funding from the charity. The complaints from the Department of Foreign Affairs was that a story [in relation to the US investigation into Goal] appeared in the media and we didnt give them notification about that in advance, for which we acknowledge we should have done that and we apologise for it, said Mr Andrews last August. Following Mr Andews statement yesterday, one was released by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan: I have learned of the decision by Barry Andrews to stand down as CEO of Goal. I would like to acknowledge his personal contribution in the role over the past four years. I have been seriously concerned about the issues under investigation by the US relating to procurement practices for humanitarian assistance operations for Syria, since learning of the investigation at the end of April, he added. Mr Flanagan stated that more than 10m has been withheld from the Irish charity: The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has withheld 10.1m in planned funding for Goal pending further clarity on the US investigation and on the plans of Goal. Goal chairwoman Anne OLeary thanked Mr Andrews for his service to the charity, particularly following the departure of its founder and former CEO John OShea. Barry was appointed as CEO of Goal during a turbulent time in the organisations history. Not only was he largely responsible for helping stabilise the organisation in the months following his appointment; he also led Goal during a period of strong growth, she said. Separate rises for serving TDs though will have to be voluntarily returned, the Government confirmed, after calls for deputies to also give up top-up payments. Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe is set to bring a note to Cabinet next week to ask his colleagues to forego increases, due under the restoration of public service pay cuts. Changes in the Haddington Road Agreement meant cabinet members would receive 4,000 a year for the next three years and TDs 5,000 over the next two years. Opposition TDs have compared the planned increases to the meagre 5 weekly rise announced for pensioners, carers, and widows, among others, in this weeks budget. The previous Fine Gael-Labour government had decided all senior and junior ministers would not take the scheduled pay rises. A spokeswoman for Mr Donohoe yesterday confirmed a measure to reaffirm the freezing of the increases would be brought to Cabinet. Mr Donohoe had defended the increases earlier, saying that they were tied to a pay agreement. But there was a backlash after the budget. Education Minister Richard Bruton, however, confirmed the changes to the Dail. He said politicians need to take a lead in respect of being more economical. But Deputy Mary Lou-McDonald told the Dail a stop must be put to all hikes for TDs, ministers, and the Taoiseach. She also noted that, under the planned pay increase, Taoiseach Enda Kennys salary would have risen to 200,000 next March. Health Minister Simon Harris, however, hinted it would be more difficult to deny pay rises to TDs. We have a situation where TDs pay has been linked to civil service pay, he said, pointing out that in Ireland, unlike some other jurisdictions, politicians do not set their own pay. TDs, who are non-ministers, are linked to a grade in the civil service the pay went down when that grade went down and they go up when that grade went up. We would need to consider carefully unintended consequences of decoupling that and making the setting of politicians pay, political. Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice has said he will gift his increases back to the exchequer. Other TDs, including the Social Democrats Catherine Murphy, called on deputies to refuse their top-up payments. The American tourist checks his belongings forgotten on a taxi in Quang Binh Province. Photo courtesy of Quang Binh Online The bag contained cash, his laptop and personal papers. Police in central Vietnam have returned a bag containing cash, documents and a computer to a forgetful American tourist. The 24-year-old man, identified only as Patterson, recovered his bag containing VND18 million ($807), some foreign currency, a laptop, a tablet and his personal papers at a police station in Quang Binh Province on Wednesday. Patterson had mistakenly left the bag in a taxi, three days earlier. The driver turned it on the same night. Police helped the company track down the tourist. Nguyen Van Thanh, the taxi driver, said Patterson and another foreigner hired him to take them to the train station in Hoi An around 300 kilometers to the south. Thanh only noticed the bag lying on the back seat a half hour after the train left the station. On Thursday, the tourist sent a note expressing his thanks for the polices support and the honesty of the taxi driver. Quang Binh Province has become a popular tourist destination since the discovery of Son Doong, the world's largest cave. Related news: > Vietnam Airlines to fly non-stop to Los Angeles with Airbus planes > Foreign tourists to Vietnam in September grow 28 percent Fianna Fail will push for amendments to the housing bill as they claim the grant is simply a blank cheque for developers and will only push prices up. The Government was accused in the Dail yesterday of creating a help-to-sell scheme for builders which has been dressed up as a help-to-buy scheme. Describing the incentive as a mansion grant Fianna Fails housing spokesman Barry Cowenpointed out the 600,000 limit is completely out of sync with the reality of an ordinary first-time buyer. He told the Dail the average cost of providing a three-bed semi-detached home of 113sq m in the greater Dublin area is 330,493. For a new home worth 600,000 this requires a 98,000 deposit and an income of at least 145,000. This is four times the average industrial wage. A couple earning this level starting out in life does not need 20,000 from a State struggling to tackle a social housing waiting list of 130,000 homes. It means ordinary tax-payers are directly subsidising people earning four times the average wage to buy a home worth three times the national average price of thee bed semid. Fianna Fail will now put pressure on the Government to bring down the maximum home value that people can claim on to 400,000. I hope that the minister is willing to engage in meaningful discussion over how we can at the very least improve the scheme, Mr Cowen said. This was echoed by Social Democrat, Roisin Shortall, who said in the Dail: If it costs 600,000, it is not a starter home. Fianna Fails Darragh OBrien asked Minister Richard Bruton, who was taking Leaders Questions in the Dail, to give a commitment that he is confident the initiative will not lead to house prices throughout the country increasing further. Responding, Mr Bruton said the Government recognises that there is a housing supply problem. But he said the first-time buyers tax rebate of up to 20,00 would effectively, be immediately reckonable towards the deposit requirement set down by the Central Bank. This will immediately help more young people to get into the starter market. Sinn Feins Eoin O Broin called on Housing Minister Simon Coveney to rethink his help-to-buy scheme. Before the minister pressed ahead with the launch of this scheme the overwhelming majority of expert opinion told him that this scheme wouldnt work and that it would, in fact, make the housing situation worse. Minister Coveney must now provide more detail on how he intends to monitor the impact of the scheme and if evidence emerges that developers are increasing prices due to the scheme he must give a commitment to scrap it. An inspection report by the Mental Health Commission (MHC) found the 44-bed Department of Psychiatry in the hospital had a risk rating of critical in respect of five areas of compliance. On the first day of inspection last May, the team noted a serious incident where two female residents were accommodated in beds on the corridor of the acute area of the ward. The report noted that these residents were on full view to all residents, visitors, and staff in the acute area and no provision was made for safeguarding their privacy in terms of placing screens around the beds. One of the women had been accommodated in this manner for the previous six days, the report noted. Following discussion between the inspection team and senior nursing staff, staff were able to re-configure bedroom areas and accommodate both women in rooms. The MHC inspection team also noted a number of residents were observed to be dressed in hospital scrubs as night attire which did not respect their dignity. In the seclusion room, a door between the room and the lavatory had been taken off its hinges by a resident in the week before the inspection and, as a result, there were blind spots in the room where the resident could not be viewed at all times. The inspection team also expressed concern that electrical wires might be accessible above the ceiling which had appeared to have been damaged by a resident. The MHC also took issue with the fact a resident had the administration of medication continued without consent, despite the treating consultant psychiatrist certifying that the patient had the capacity to do so. A bench warrant was issued yesterday afternoon for the arrest of the Dublin Fingal TD, slammed by a district court judge for showing disrespect. Speaking in Leinster House, Ms Daly said she did attend Naas District Court yesterday morning but left to be in the Dail for the job she was elected to do. My solicitor was there and I will have to go back in a couple of weeks and deal with this matter then. I couldnt stay there all day. I had to be back here at Leinster House to be at the committee and my other work, she told the Irish Examine. On New Years day this year, at Ballymany Newbridge, Co Kildare, Ms Daly, with an address at Elmwood Drive, Swords, was detected driving at a speed of 59kph in a 50kph zone. Inspector Mel Smyth said Ms Daly had no previous convictions. Solicitor Cairbre Finan told the court Ms Daly was not present, but had come into court to instruct him to plead guilty on her behalf. When Judge Zaidan asked if she had given any reasons, Mr Finan said that she had not given any. The judge said: She saw how busy we were. A member of the Oireachtas came in and left, what kind of respect is that? Her solicitor argued Ms Daly did not mean any disrespect to the court. Mr Finan said because it was the first day of the court hearing, a weeks adjournment could be requested. Judge Desmond Zaidan refused an adjournment. He said: I have adjourned people who have been absent before and then they dont turn up and they are blaming everyone. I have stopped that to protect everyone, why should she be exempt? A bench warrant was issued for her arrest. Ms Daly has been an arch critic of Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan and her court appearance came 24 hours after the two women squared off at the Oireachtas Justice Committee. The report, which comes the week after the discovery of the bodies of deaf brothers Daniel and William McCarthy at their home in Dublin, calls on the Government to officially recognise Irish Sign Language (ISL). Lack of official recognition for ISL means deaf peoples right to communication is being denied says the Irish Deaf Society. The deaths of the McCarthy Brothers in Bluebell, Dublin has unfortunately highlighted in recent weeks the devastating effects due to the lack of support these brothers could have availed of, said Irish Deaf Society chairwoman, Lianne Quigley. There are 5,000 deaf people using ISL on a daily basis with an additional 35,000 hearing people using it daily, said Irish Deaf Society chief executive, Eddie Redmond: ISL is an innate and integral part of their personality. There is no national register of ISL interpreters and ISL teachers, and furthermore there are no accreditation or monitoring systems. We need to promote our Irish Sign Language and the importance of social inclusion by providing deaf awareness training for any communities, employment and health services. Accessing public services, medical information and online services are just some of the examples of social exclusion members of the deaf community face on a daily basis says Dr John Bosco Conama, a professor in deaf studies at Trinity College Dublin and a member of the deaf community. Deaf people often have to rely on family members to interpret their medical information which can lead to simple miscommunications but these could be putting someone in a life or death situation, says Dr Conama. They also face issues in accessing the workplace, a process Dr Conama says can be demotivating and can contribute to unemployment. He says there are simple steps people can take to make sure deaf members in your community are included like learning how to say hello and goodbye in ISL, or asking a neighbour to teach you a few words. The Oireachtas equality committee report was sent to Tanaiste and Justice and Equality Minister, Frances Fitzgerald, and ministers of state, David Stanton and Finian McGrath, yesterday. The committee called on the Government to fully support the Irish Sign Language Bill which is currently in the second stage in the Seanad. Committee chairman, Caoimhghin O Caolain, said meeting with members of the Irish Deaf Society showed the committee members the isolation deaf people face as a result of lack of sign language provision. Garda Denis OCallaghan was on duty at Clontarf St, Cork, at 2.30am on January 22, when he came across the unusual sight of a man looking up a lamp-post expecting to see his friend on top off it. Garda OCallaghan noticed Denis Hassett, was highly intoxicated and staggering on the footpath. The accuseds mother and brothers have also given evidence of a family history of sleep disorders, with one brother claiming he woke up to find himself initiating sex with his girlfriend. The 29-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of raping the woman at an apartment in Dublin in the early hours of September 28, 2008. The accuseds mother outlined incidents of him sleepwalking. She also told Hugh Hartnett, defending, that her husband, who died when her son was 19 years old, told her that he used to sleepwalk as a child. The accuseds university friend said that he and the accused were sharing a double bed while on a J1 visa in America in 2008. He had gone to bed early and woke up when the accused came back from a night drinking. They both went to sleep but he woke up later to find the accused lying very close to his face, with his hand on his chest and he was grinding up against him. He pushed him off and told him to go back to his side. The witness said he woke a second time again to the accuseds face being very close to his own. His leg was over his leg. He shook the accused and woke him; he apologised and went back to his side of the bed. The following day he asked him about it and the accused said he had been asleep and apologised. A second university friend of the accused told the jury that a group of them met up for a long weekend in Chicago, again in 2008. She was sleeping on a mattress with her boyfriend, beside the accused and his girlfriend, who were sleeping on another mattress next to them. She said she woke up to the accused grabbing at her. She said she realised it was him and tried to push him back onto his own mattress. He moved and she went back to sleep. The woman told the jury she woke a second time to find the accused rubbing her from behind. She pushed him away and was telling him to stop but it was harder to get him to stop than it had been the first time. She woke up her boyfriend and he managed to push the accused away. I had to assume that he wasnt aware of what he was doing, that he was asleep and that he didnt know what was happening. It was just really bizarre. It didnt make any sense, the woman told the jury. The accuseds brother recalled an incident when he woke up to find himself trying to initiate sex with his girlfriend. His girlfriend woke him up and told him to stop. I didnt have a clue how I got there, he said. The trial continues. Kevin Mulcahy, aged 57, of Creggan, Lombardstown, Mallow, Co Cork, had pleaded not guilty to a single charge of indecently assaulting the girl while on call to her family home on December 23, 1989. He was found guilty by a jury after a retrial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court following 39 minutes of deliberations and he was jailed for two years by Judge Sean O Donnabhain on November 25, 2015. Mulcahy was granted bail in December 2015 by the Court of Appeal pending an appeal against conviction, which was dismissed yesterday. Giving judgment on Mulcahys unsuccessful appeal, Mr Justice John Edwards said the doctor had regularly attended the home of the complainant to treat her mother who had terminal cancer. On one of these visits, the complainant was suffering from a head cold of sorts and while examining her, Mulcahy touched her vagina on the outside of her clothing for some minutes. Mulcahy was arrested and interviewed in 2011 on foot of a complaint of indecent assault. When asked if he recalled the girl being a patient of his, Mulcahy said he had a pre-prepared, typed statement in which he said the allegations were blatantly false. Following the signing of the statement, he was asked a number of questions and in reply said, I have nothing to say other than whats written in my statement, the judge said. These additional questions and answers were put before the jury, which Blaise OCarroll, defending, submitted breached his right to silence and irretrievably tainted his credibility in the minds of the jury. Prosecuting lawyers said Mulcahy was not saying nothing but that he had voluntarily commented at length in his statement. Mr Justice Edwards said it was clear Mulcahy did not elect to say nothing but to reiterate that he was relying on his statement. The supplementary questions merely afforded him the opportunity to add to or change the statement after hearing the specifics of the allegations for the first time or being reminded of them it was unclear which, the judge said. In relation to the second ground of appeal, that the trial judge failed to warn the jury about the danger of convicting in the absence of corroboration, Mr Justice Edwards said the trial judge was not asked to give a corroboration warning. Furthermore, when the trial judge said he half expected to be asked to give a corroboration warning and said he wouldnt have given one anyway, defence counsel said thank you, judge, Mr Justice Edwards said. He said the essential justice of the case did not require the court to intervene. Mr Justice Edwards, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Alan Mahon, said the appeal must be dismissed. Mulcahy was remanded on continuing bail on the basis that he was given a very early hearing date for his sentence appeal. The court heard that Mulcahy had met all requirements made of him and there was never any suggestion that he was a flight risk or had interfered with witnesses. Phelim Quinn, the chief executive of the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), said that the process used, in some instances, to investigate patient safety incidents is ineffective and non-transparent. He was speaking in Dublin yesterday at the All-Ireland Midwifery Conference hosted by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and the Royal College of Midwives. Members of the HRI board yesterday appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture to explain the circumstances that led to Mr Kavanagh, who has held the role since 2001, being reappointed for a third term despite government guidelines limiting semi-state CEOs to a single seven-year term. Earlier this year, it emerged that HRI sought ministerial approval to re-appoint Mr Kavanagh, despite the fact that the role had not been advertised, and the board had not formally approved the request. Joe Keeling, HRI chairman, told the committee he believed he had the boards support to seek Agriculture Minister Michael Creeds approval. Mr Keeling apologised to the committee, and said the process could have been done better. However, following questions from committee members, Mr Keeling went on to defend his actions. I thought the biggest issue with Brians reappointment was getting permission from the ministers. I was reflecting the informal board decision, I had absolutely no doubt. Ive been on a board for 45 years, I know when people are with you or not with you. I felt the board supported that view. [Fianna Fail senator Paul] Daly asked would I have acted differently if I had to do it over; I dont think so. I always acted in the best interests of Horse Racing Ireland, he added. Mr Keeling further said he was convinced Mr Kavanagh was the right man for the job and that it would have been a waste of money to seek applicants for the job. Sinn Fein TD Martin Kenny said that as HRI chairman, it was Mr Keelings job to focus on the legalities of the situation over the CEOs position, and that stating he felt the board was with him on his decision was not good enough. I put it to you that thats, and Im not trying to be personal with this, but quite an arrogant way of explaining this position. Independents4Change TD, Clare Daly, described the handling of the matter as a debacle and said she did not believe the HRI board understood the significance of the issue. She questioned the business case that the Mr Keeling sent Mr Creed to justify Mr Kavanaghs reappointment. Its quite clear now that the business case, which youve reiterated is kind of like ah sure big Brian is the best man for the job, everybody knows it, whats your problem, move on. That just isnt good enough. After two strong votes by members for industrial action about pay equality and teachers terms and conditions, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) is waiting until its 23-member standing committee meets today to decide if and when it should begin. But ASTI president Ed Byrne said he believes the union should direct members to withdraw from supervision and substitution work in about two weeks, meaning schools could be forced to close before the Halloween mid-term beginning the week of October 31. The Department of Education had requested a seven or eight-week delay on any action to allow replacement staff be recruited and Garda-vetted to cover the duties. The pay issue means possible strikes by ASTIs 18,000 members unless there is full restoration of equal pay to those who began teaching from 2011 or after. But withdrawing from supervision and substitution duties would lead to uncertainty for health and safety reasons about the ability to keep open schools attended by over 250,000 students. The department and school boards have made provisional plans to hire staff to cover non-teaching work by ASTI members Up to 550 of the countrys 720 second-level schools could be affected, almost 400 of them entirely staffed by ASTI members, and the rest staffed by mixes of ASTI and Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) members. Around three-quarters of ASTI members voted, with 78% support for the ballot to withdraw from supervision work, while 80% favoured action up to strike to seek restoration of equal pay for younger teachers. Mr Byrne told the Irish Examiner that the department and school management bodies have been making contingency plans for months and had plenty forewarning of the ballot and the likely result. How quickly we withdraw from supervision is down to our standing committee. But my own take is that Government knew what was going to happen, in getting ready to attack us on supervision and substitution, he said. They rehashed the financial emergency legislation prior to June 2015 and withdrew payment seven weeks ago, he said. Education Minister Richard Bruton expressed disappointment at ASTI members decisions. The issues of concern to ASTI members can only be resolved through dialogue. Following the ballot result today, the minister hopes that the union can now engage in constructive dialogue with the department, a spokesman said. The TUI is signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, meaning its members at second-level schools yesterday got the first salary increase to a payment previously given for supervision and substitution work, backdated to the start of September. An ASTI protest outside Dail Eireann highlighted the fact that recently qualified teachers are on inferior pay scales. Picture: Sam Boal While provisional plans have been drawn up by the Department of Education and school management to hire staff locally to cover non-teaching work done by ASTI members, a window of at least seven weeks is needed. This includes time to have successful applicants Garda-vetted, which was not a requirement when ASTI previously withdrew from these duties in 2002. The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents ASTI-only schools, is waiting to hear what the unions standing committee decides today before considering what arrangements to put in place. We would be very concerned at the threat of any industrial action and I would hope all parties might engage in dialogue as a matter of urgency, bearing in mind there are issues around junior cycle and planning in our schools of the so-called Croke Park hours that also need to be addressed, said JMB general secretary John Curtis. This century, The World Health Organization estimates that one billion people will die early from smoking cigarettes. Despite governments spending billions of dollars on tobacco control, and decades of programs designed to help smokers quit, the number of cigarette smokers worldwide continues to increase. But there is hope. Vapor technology found in e-cigarettes offers smokers their best chance to quit by using products that are at least 95 percent safer than cigarettes. Vapor technology does not require burning tobacco, so it can deliver nicotinethe chemical that makes cigarettes addictivewithout the tar or 40 other carcinogens found in cigarette smoke. When it comes to harm reduction, vaping is a clear positive step forward. As the saying goes, nicotine addicts, tar kills. Despite its health benefits, vaping faces strong opposition from the government and a variety of special interests. A Billion Lives, a new documentary that hits theaters worldwide on October 26th, is an in-depth response to Senator Ed Markeys claim that todays electronic cigarettes are no better than the Joe Camels of the past. In what follows, the films director Aaron Biebert exposes the special interests that will stop at nothing to ban the best hope for smokers who want to quit their deadly habit. Jared Meyer: Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration finalized rules that it estimates will destroy 99 percent of the U.S. vapor industry. But this was not the first time that the FDA tried to effectively outlaw the industry. Can you explain how the FDA previously tried to keep smokers from switching to vaping? Aaron Biebert: Back in 2009, the FDA began seizing shipments of vapor devices. A judge determined that doing so was illegal, but severe damage was already done. Many of the industrys early pioneers were forced out of business. Undeterred, the FDA started funding research to show that vapor technology was dangerous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also poured funding into public health groups such as the American Lung Association to lobby for new anti-vapor laws at the state level. JM: It is clear that vapor technologys increasing popularity threatens the profits of large tobacco companies. But your film shows how other special interests stand to gain by pushing bogus research that exaggerates the risks of vaping. Who are these special interests? AB: Large pharmaceutical companies are the biggest funders of the war against vapor technology . After all, they earn billions of dollars by producing nicotine gum, patches, and sprays, along with other smoking cessation drugs such as Chantix and Wellbutrin. These profits are at risk as vaping increases in popularity as an alternative to smoking. Since smoking is a leading cause of cancer and other diseases like COPD, emphysema, asthma, erectile dysfunction, and heart disease, there are also billions of dollars at stake with sales of their cancer drugs, chemotherapy, and other prescription medications. Simply put, smoking is a lifeline for Big Pharmas profits . Additionally, because of high tax rates and annual payments from tobacco companies based on sales, governments get a large share of cigarette profits. Since all this money provides funding for the pet projects of many politicians, it is easy to convince them to go along with bans, unreasonable restrictions, and damaging taxes on alternatives to cigarettes. Big Pharma even got a lobbyist for GSK (which markets Nicorette in the United States) to become head of the FDA division that is now de-facto banning 99% of vapor technology products. JM: What role does the pharmaceutical industry play in nonprofit health organizations opposition to vapor technology? Everyone from the World Lung Foundation to the American Cancer Society has condemned vaping as a dangerous choice that must be banned. AB: Tobacco control has gone from a grassroots movement for smoke-free offices to a multi-billion dollar industry that takes hundreds of millions of dollars from big pharmaceutical industries. The American Cancer Society even did an endorsement deal with Nicorette. The World Health Organization, a division of the United Nations, is getting funding directly from the pharmaceutical giants, and then protecting their products. Plus, the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and their worldwide affiliates will likely experience severe cutbacks in funding if smoking and cancer rates drop significantly. This is what happened in Sweden after wide adoption of snus, a smoke-free tobacco alternative. Since these charities get over a billion dollars a year in donations, grants, and pharmaceutical sponsorships, we are talking about a big loss in revenue. JM: A Billion Lives covers much more than the dangerous alliance between pharmaceutical companies, government health regulators, and public health nonprofits, but this is the most important story the documentary tells. These are the very groups that should welcome harm-reduction alternatives that could save hundreds of millions of lives, making their war on vapor technology even more troubling. Perhaps their opposition is driven by a realization that the market delivered what government and nonprofits could notan attractive, safer alternative to smoking. Jared Meyer is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and the author of Uber-Positive: Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy (Encounter Books, June 2016). Follow him on Twitter here. This article originally appeared in Forbes. Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief. James OSullivan, aged 49, of Caherdaniel, Bantry, Co Cork, went to the local Garda station on the evening of January 14 and threatened a named member of the force, saying he would kill him and ram a car into the front of the Gardas home. He left but later made menacing calls to the station making similar threats, also telling gardai he would burn down his own house, with his mother inside it. Bantry District Court yesterday heard that he then contacted the fire brigade and made a false report that his home was on fire and that his mother was inside. When fire fighters arrived at the scene, Mr OSullivan produced a shovel and began banging it on the side of the fire engine. Supt Brendan Fogarty, prosecuting, said gardai were under pressure at the scene as they had to determine whether Mr OSullivans mother was in any danger while the defendant was acting very aggressively, and because the defendant had two large alsatian dogs. Supt Fogarty said the named member of the force had been living in fear, having previously been assaulted in the toilet of a pub in Bantry by Mr OSullivan. The court heard that at the time of the offences in January, the defendant was on bail in relation to earlier offences involving that Garda, and that the force had to take special actions to protect the Garda and his family. The court heard Mr OSullivan has eight previous convictions and that he was sentenced to six months in prison last November for the assault on the named Garda a matter now under appeal in the circuit court. Other convictions date back as far as 2002. Mr OSullivans solicitor, Ray Hennessy, said his client was his mothers principle carer and that the visit to the Garda station in January was to complain about a lack of Garda response to an assault allegedly committed on the defendant some four years ago. Mr OSullivan said in that assault he sustained horrendous injuries including a broken nose and broken teeth, and he claimed the attack and other incidents, which he said were conducted by a local man, had even resulted in the doors of his mothers house being glued shut. He said he made 33 complaints to gardai but nothing was done about it and at one point he had been forced to leave his home area in Bantry. I would not expect anyone to live with what I went through, he said. Mr Hennessy said his client had also made a complaint to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC). However, Supt Fogarty told the court it was the first time he had heard these details regarding an alleged attack on Mr OSullivan. The court heard that the defendant had been undergoing psychiatric treatment since the alleged assault and in January Mr OSullivans medication had been changed. But Judge James McNulty said the defendant appeared to have a history of irrational and uncontrolled behaviour and that last January he made very specific and very serious threats against a named Garda. He sentenced Mr OSullivan to seven months in prison for threats to kill made at the Garda station; three months for making the false report to the fire brigade; and seven months for the threats made over the phone to gardai with the sentences to run concurrently. Mr Hennessy said his client would lodge an appeal. Of the 487 people to die by suicide in 2013, 391 were male and 78 were female with that discrepancy in death rates reflected in subsequent provisional figures for 2014 and 2015. Data from HSE publishes National Office for Suicide Prevention 2015 Report The figures for 2013, the latest to be confirmed by the Central Statistics Office, show the highest suicide rates were among men aged 45-54 and the lowest rates among 15 to 24-year-olds and the over-65s. The provisional figures for last year showed the highest rates among men aged 25 to 34 and 45 to 54. The National Office for Suicide Prevention said the level of suicide in Ireland was relatively low compared to the rest of Europe but that there has been an increase in the rate since recession hit the country nine years ago. Its research also showed that provisional figures for last year showed 451 suicides, and another 68 undetermined deaths which may include some "hidden" cases of suicide. The number of suicides peaked at more than 550 in 2009 and again in 2011. Junior minister Helen McEntee, whose father Shane died by suicide at his Co Meath home days before Christmas 2012, said the issue of suicide prevention is everyone's concern. "While I welcome the stabilisation of suicide and self-harm rates in 2015, every death is one too many," she said. "I am particularly concerned about the high rates of suicide and serious self-harm incidents in young people." Ms McEntee said the Government was committed to meeting a target for a 10% reduction in suicide by 2020. Overall suicide affects about four or five times as many men as women. The National Office for Suicide Prevention said suicide rates in 2013 were highest in Limerick city, Carlow, Roscommon and Tipperary North and lowest in Waterford city, and the Fingal and Dun Laoghaire regions of greater Dublin. In a separate study, the National Self-Harm Registry said 8,791 people were recorded in hospitals seeking care after a self-harm incident. It also said there is a continued increase in methods of self-harm with higher lethality among both men and women. If anything is troubling you, no matter how large or small the issue, why not contact The Samaritans or call the charity's free 24 hour helpline, Tel 116 123. The comments come after tense exchanges between Ms Mitchell OConnor and Fine Gael colleagues at a party meeting this week over the lack of jobs in rural Ireland. One senior minister said the meeting turned nasty after Ms Mitchell OConnor gave a presentation using her mobile phone and some members turned on her. Several TDs and senators have told the Irish Examiner the presentation was ill-prepared and unsatisfactory, as was the ministers reaction when Fine Gael colleagues raised issues. Exchanges between Ms Mitchell OConnor and Sligo-Leitrim TD Tony McLoughlin as well as with Clare TD Joe Carey were described as like fireworks. They and other members focused on the lack of job creation in their constituencies. Party members tore strips out of the jobs minister, sources said, after she praised her department. Mayo senator Michelle Mulherin was one who voiced her concern. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Sen Mulherin explained: Theres very little employment growth outside Galway. Theres a regional imbalance, we need more of a kickstart. The senator said the ministers presentation on Wednesday night was adequate. She agreed some members were frustrated but said some references to the meeting were unfair. Ms Mulherin said the minister has firmly grabbed the baton since her appointment. Michelle Mulherin But Ms Mulherin also claimed criticism is being levelled against Ms Mitchell OConnor because of her gender: From the outset in office, only because she is a woman has she been criticised. Theres no doubt, some of the attitude is because of her gender. I dont know if I would put it as sexism, its not just in Fine Gael. Theres a different attitude to women, rather than just men. But this was dismissed by other Fine Gael parliamentary members. Dublin South Bay TD Kate OConnell said: People didnt get answers. If she faced down the criticism, she would have been grand. Its essential backbenchers like myself get answers from any minister of whatever. The fact the minister tried to leave a few times created difficulties. I wouldnt have considered last night happened because of sexism. I dont think she was treated any differently because she is a woman. If a male minister said he had to leave, he would have had equal difficulties. If a man did the same, he would have got the same hassle. Ms Mitchell OConnor has not returned calls. However, speaking to Galway Bay FM yesterday, she said: As a Galway girl, its hard to tear strips off somebody [me]. The issue is about making sure that we create jobs and our target is 200,000 by 2020. Im absolutely focused on that. Another Fine Gael female member, who did not want to be named, said criticisms aimed at Ms Mitchell OConnor had nothing to do with her being a woman. However, Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone disagreed: I think certainly women have their issues in terms of being taken seriously across the board in politics and Mary would have that issue as well. A Garda spokesman said days of action took place under Operation Eggshell on both sides of the border on October 5 and October 7. The primary objective was the detection of labour exploitation in the fishing industry, with particular emphasis on any indicators of human trafficking. Officers from the Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit and the Garda National Protective Services Bureau were involved in the operations in Castletownbere and Howth. As well as gardai, the action here involved the Revenue Commissioners, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), the naval service and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA). The WRC led the inspections of 38 vessels in port (22 in Castletownbere and 16 in Howth) while the LE Niamh and LE Orla assisted by boarding vessels at sea. Gardai said that while no human trafficking evidence was detected, suspected breaches found included offences under the Atypical Work Permit Scheme; employment law offences; immigration offences; and tax offences. Assistant Commissioner Derek Byrne said immigration and human trafficking offences, including labour exploitation, were global issues and that it was pleasing to note that no cases of human trafficking were detected. He said some matters will require follow up investigation by An Garda Siochana, Revenue and the WRC. While he said the joint task force was working well with the industry as demonstrated through the take up of the Atypical Work Permit Scheme introduced last year to address concerns in the industry, there is still some room for improvement. He said there will be promotion of the scheme through briefing sessions with SFPA and gardai in the months ahead, and by meeting industry representatives at key fishing ports throughout the State. This was phase one of the operation and further days of action will take place into the future, he said. The WRC said the day of action will make a significant contribution to promoting an awareness of effectively enforcing employment rights and employment permits legislation with the overall objective of addressing labour exploitation in the fishing industry. Revenue said information collected from the operations will be analysed against the data held on its systems allowing us to quickly and effectively identify and confront non-compliance. A spokesman for the International Transport Workers Federation, which campaigns to promote fair and safe conditions for seafarers, said: The ITF welcomes this coordinated approach to the labour problems in the fishing industry, which is essential if the widespread exploitation of illegal fishers is to be stamped out. Since first highlighting the problem in 2009 the ITF has always sought to work with the industry and the statutory authorities to bring employment standards up to an acceptable international level. We would again ask the industry to engage with us to do so and eradicate rogue employers. The action, seeking damages for personal injury, has been brought by Jimmy Bishop, aged 55, Nangor Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, who works in the GPO in Dublin City Centre as a patrolman. The case arises out of the tiger kidnapping of the family of Liam OSullivan, an executive with An Post, on April 7, 2011. That morning, Mr OSullivan presented at the GPO and instructed Mr Bishop to let him into the mail room area. It transpired Mr OSullivan wanted access to the mail room so he could secure cash from an office located off the mail room to give to kidnappers who were holding members of Mr OSullivans family. Mr Bishop, after being told of what had happened, let the executive into the mail room. Mr Bishop also used a code word to colleagues which alerted others, and the gardai were called and arrived at the GPO, the court heard. In his evidence, he said that for several hours after the incident he believed that Mr OSullivans wife was going to die and it was my fault because I had given out the code word. An Post, it is claimed in Mr Bishops action, ought to have known about the likelihood of a tiger kidnapping but failed to have a comprehensive response in place so that all members of staff would know their particular roles should such an event occur. The company also failed to provide him with adequate counselling after the incident and failed to comply with the Safety Health and Welfare Act. An Post denies the claims. Mr Bishop described the events on the morning of the kidnapping to the court. When Mr OSullivan told him about what had happened and that the kidnappers had a gun to his wifes head, Mr Bishop said he allowed Mr OSullivan into the mail room. He described the situation as tense. When the gardai arrived on the scene after Mr Bishop used the code word, he said Mr OSullivan became upset. Mr Bishop also said nobody in the GPO knew what to do or if they should let the public into the GPO that morning. Afterwards he said he was all over the place. He said he was relieved when he discovered that Mr OSullivans wife was ok and safe. Mr Bishop said he returned home by taxi and went for a few pints with his family. He was asked by somebody at An Post if he was OK and he said he was grand. He had several meetings with a welfare officer with An Post, but later told Mr OSullivan he wasnt doing so well and asked if he could see somebody. The case continues. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Association (INMO), together with other unions representing nurses, had sought the removal of the pay anomaly since its introduction six years ago. Health Minister Simon Harris said the nurses would be given incremental credit for their 36-week student placement. This will push graduates who were affected by the cuts one point up the pay scale. The increment is worth between 1,200 and 1,500, depending on a graduates point on the pay scale and could benefit up to 7,500 nurses and midwives. The INMO said the withholding of incremental credit for the fourth year of the undergraduate programme was a very regressive measure that was introduced, unilaterally, in 2011. INMO general secretary Liam Doran welcomed the restoration, describing it as an important first step. He said more initiatives were needed to address the deepening crisis with regard to nurse/midwife staffing levels and the countrys inability to retain them in the public health service. Mr Harris said there were major challenges in recruiting and retaining nurses and described the restoration of the increment as a small step forward. This is not a panacea, nor am I presenting it as such to the recruitment issue, but I do believe that it is a very positive step forward. He said the pay restoration, which is a modest enough amount of money, would be another tool in the toolkit to lure nurses back from abroad. However, he admitted that the Bring them Home campaign has not worked, with only 88 nurses taking advantage of it. I am not going to pretend that was an overwhelming success,he said. Irelands most senior tax official confirmed the situation during a detailed Dail meeting in which it was also revealed that 40%-68% of people who self-assess for tax in this country under-pay the tax-man by thousands of euro every year. Speaking during the latest meeting of the cross-party Dail Public Accounts Committee, Revenue chairman Niall Cody said under plans due to be detailed in full next week, the Government will impose a fresh crackdown on international tax-dodgers. Currently, anyone found holding money in off-shore accounts to avoid paying full taxes can benefit from a 10% discount on the money they owe; keep their identity confidential; and avoid prosecution, because of the money which can be retrieved under the deals. However, under measures flagged by Finance Minister Michael Noonan in Tuesdays budget and which will be further explained in next Thursdays finance bill, Mr Cody said the discount, privacy and amnesty protections will be scrapped from May 1. From then on, Revenue will seek prosecutions for the criminal offence regardless of who is involved: Its an anti-amnesty law for serious tax evasion and involves off-shore accounts. It is a straight liability offence. Having the off-shore account will be a criminal offence. If a footprint is found, there are going to be the consequences. Meanwhile, the States Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy has revealed that 40%-68% of self-assessed people in this country underpay the tax authorities by thousands of euro every year. Speaking at the same committee meeting, the independent financial watchdog said a random Revenue review of 400 tax audits between 2013 and 2015 consistently found around 40% of [self-assessed] taxpayers have under-declared their tax liability, while a separate targeted review in 2015 revealed a 68% non-compliance rate. During the same meeting it also emerged that Revenue has until January 2 to provide the EU with an exact figure for how much money multi-national tech giant Apple allegedly owes this country. Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT), or hormone therapy, works by stopping the bodys supply of the male hormone, testosterone. Hormone therapy is the most commonly used treatment plan for prostate cancer that has spread outside of the prostate gland. However, there may be a serious danger associated with its use, as the study found patients undergoing hormone therapy are more likely to develop dementia in the five years after treatment than patients who were not treated by that method. Goserelin, sold under the brand name Zoladex, is the most commonly used hormone treatment drug in Ireland. Scientists examined 5m medical records from two hospitals in New York and California, finding 9,000 prostate cancer patients to analyse. A total of 2,397 patients were identified as being treated with ADT. Using patients histories, the team found patients who had been treated with ADT had almost doubled the chance of developing Alzheimers over the following years, compared to patients who did not receive ADT. The study also found that patients treated with ADT for longer than a year had more than twice the risk of developing Alzheimers than patients who had not. Men aged 70 and over availing of hormone therapy for at least 12 months are the most at risk at developing dementia, the study also found. However, prostate cancer patients receiving ADT should not change treatment without consulting their doctors, scientists warned. A spokesperson for the Irish Cancer Society said: It is important that in all stages of a cancer patients diagnosis and treatment that they are fully informed of the option available to them. In some cases, hormone therapy will be recommended by a patients doctor. Revenue chairman Niall Cody specifically rejected the claim during a detailed Dail meeting in which he also said Revenue will seek to retrieve 13bn in unpaid taxes from Apple from January regardless of the fact the Government is appealing the EU ruling. Speaking during the latest meeting of the Dails public accounts committee (PAC), Mr Cody was challenged to clarify Revenues position on the crisis which is threatening the credibility of Irelands tax system. During a high-profile 2013 US senate committee meeting on his companys international tax situation, Mr Cook said under oath that a special tax arrangement had been struck between the firm and Ireland in the 1980s. When pressed on the matter at the time, Mr Cook clarified under oath: We negotiated a tax rate which meant that our tax was calculated at less than 2%. However, asked yesterday by Deputy David Cullinane about Mr Cooks US senate comments that a deal had been struck, Mr Cody twice said the view was wrong and absolutely not correct. Tim Cook He is absolutely not correct... that was wrong, and I cant repeat that in any other fashion, Mr Cody said. Mr Cullinane said the fact the head of Revenue is saying Tim Cook gave false information, or incorrect information to a senate hearing is very, very, serious and must be addressed. However, despite PAC chair and Fianna Fail TD Sean Fleming suggesting it may have been a misunderstanding, Mr Cody again said no deal ever existed with Apple. The claim that Ireland offered Apple preferential corporation tax rates is central to a high-profile EU ruling earlier this year that this country provided the multi-national tech giant with illegal State aid and that the firm now owes Ireland 13bn. Ireland has rejected the claim and is appealing the case alongside Apple. Turning down the 13bn, the Governments case is that accepting the money would lead to confirmation Ireland is a tax haven. The issue is currently the subject of a separate review sought by Independent ministers in Government which is due to be completed in the coming weeks. However, Mr Cody yesterday said regardless of the appeal, Revenue must retrieve the 13bn in funds and has been asked by the EU to provide, by January 2, an exact figure of how much is owed. As well as the threat of school closures if ASTIs 18,000 members stop doing supervision and substitution before plans to hire replacement staff are finalised, which could take seven weeks, strike days are also likely in an effort to get all teachers hired after 2011 on equal pay with longer- serving colleagues. Clive Byrne, president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, said a positive atmosphere must be maintained in staff rooms and schools at all times. We are confident that this issue will be resolved and we are asking that all efforts are made to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion without delay, he said. Fianna Fail education spokesperson Thomas Byrne said the Education Minister Richard Bruton needs to move fast to ensure the prospect of prolonged industrial action in schools is avoided and does not close schools. ASTI president Ed Byrne said the union has been in talks with the department, but officials are not negotiating and continue to repeat the mantra the Lansdowne Road Agreement was the only way to address concerns on pay and conditions. The ASTI rejected the agreement but the TUI and INTO have accepted it, leading to recent agreements with the department on part-restoration of pay gaps for newer entrants, and staggered pay increases to match the amounts withdrawn from teachers for the supervision and substitution work that ASTI members are set to stop doing. Mr Byrne told the Irish Examiner there was no pathway in the deal with other unions for newly-qualified teachers to be given equal pay for equal work, which was the basis on which his members were balloted for industrial action. He said the calling of strikes after the mandate from members on this issue was also likely to happen very soon. He said the intervention of a third party to mediate the dispute might help find a resolution. In recent weeks, weve seen the solving of two industrial relations problems, at Dublin Bus and the Luas drivers, because both sides met without pre-conditions and were able to come up with a solution, he said. Mr Byrne said the union would not be acceding to the ministers call for a derogation, for some ASTI members, from industrial action on junior cycle reform. Unless that separate dispute is resolved, students of English teachers who are in the union will lose out on up to 10% of marks because they will not be able to write up classroom-based assessments that ASTI members are banned from undertaking as part of their campaign. The budget book, issued by the Department of Public Expenditure on Tuesday, said there are no new measures provided for 2017, but Mr Ross has said that he managed to secure a funding increase of 72m compared to this year. Mr Ross has come in for criticism from the Opposition for an apparent lack of action in his department since taking office, but he has rejected such claims. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Ross said the impression given that no additional money was inaccurate. I actually got a lot of extra money, it started with 20m, then 30m and then up and up. So it is important to make that clear, he said. He said its vital public transport, roads, bridges and the road network are not just maintained but enhanced. This includes new buses, the provision of 10-minute Dart, renewal of roads and bridges and all the other transport projects, he said. The additional 72m includes 54m for public transport to provide for bus market opening, accessibility provision and fleet expansion. Of this, he said 31m is ear-marked for public service obligation and 23m is for the Public Transport Investment programme. Another 10m has been designated for maintaining national and local roads. Mr Ross said he would like to see further improvements so he will increase the accessibility grants next year to 3m from 2.1m this year, a rise of more than 40%. This is for retro-fitting existing infrastructure to improve accessibility standards. All new infrastructure is built to accessibility standards and as the bus fleet is renewed all the new buses that will be coming on stream in 2017 will be fully accessible as will Luas Cross City. He will also be working to increase funding for accessibility works in the Capital Plan review, he said. Earlier this month, Mr Ross was criticised for not making public his priorities for his department. The Independent Alliance leader was appointed a full Cabinet minister on May 6. Fianna Fail spokesman on transport and tourism Robert Troy criticised what he described as an inordinate delay in publishing priorities. Judging on the pace so far he will be out of office before he knows what his priorities are, said Mr Troy. SuperValu advised shoppers that it may experience supply issues as a result of the row which has seen Tesco in Britain remove dozens of popular brands like Marmite, PG Tips tea and Pot Noodles from its website. In a statement, SuperValu said it was determined to ensure any savings as a result of the fall in sterling was passed onto its customers. Due to our refusal to accept what we consider to be an unjustified price increase, we may experience some supply issues on certain Unilever products. Negotiations with Unilever however, are continuing and we are examining all options open to us. We would stress that this is not our desired outcome, but we do not believe a price increase on the products under discussion is justified given the current exchange rate. In fact, we believe that a price decrease is warranted given the fall in the value of sterling against the euro, it said a statement. The standoff could mean that popular Unilever products sold in some stores here like Hellmanns Mayonnaisse, Lyons Tea and Knorr soups may not be restocked in the coming weeks once stock is sold. Unilever is also believed to have sought a price increase from Dunnes Stores but was also rejected. However, its supply chain is not expected to be affected. In Britain Unilever had been accused of exploiting consumers after reportedly demanding a 10% price rise due to the falling value of sterling. It was understood to have halted deliveries to Tesco when it refused. The move was understood to have hit online sales rather than products in store. Shoppers trying to buy items from Tescos website earlier yesterday were met with the message Sorry, this product is currently not available. However, last night Unilever said the supply situation with Tesco involving the price of Marmite and other products had been successfully resolved. In a statement, the company said the items were once again fully available. A spokesman confirmed: Unilever is pleased to confirm that the supply situation with Tesco in the UK and Ireland has now been successfully resolved. We have been working together closely to reach this resolution and ensure our much-loved brands are once again fully available. Meanwhile, SuperValu yesterday announced a major overhaul of its customer reward/ loyalty scheme; signing up Bank of Ireland as a corporate partner. Members of SuperValus Real Rewards programme will be awarded double points when they use their Bank of Ireland credit card to purchase groceries. They will also earn a point each time they spend 10 on their credit card for any other purchase. SuperValu is looking to build a portfolio of partnerships to enhance its rewards scheme. It already has a similar deal with Electric Ireland, where shoppers can save around 60 a year from their electricity bill. The supermarket hopes to add another two partners within the next four-to-five months and have around 10 in two years. A top US financial company will shortly set up at Plassey Technology Park, near the University of Limerick. It is not yet known how many will be employed. Over the past five weeks, 830 new jobs have been announced for the city and county. Among the new companies are four based in Texas (the IDA was wise to open an office). Mr Creighton, aged 20, died on January 2, 2014, in hospital. Aisling Burke, aged 23, and David Burke, aged 28, of Beechpark, Collinstown, Co Westmeath; Graham Palmer, aged 26, of Park Avenue, Portarlington, Co Laois; Ross Callery, aged 23, of Gortlum Cottages, Brittas, Co Dublin; James Reid, aged 26, of Glen Aoibhinn, Gorey, Co Wexford; Jason Beresford, aged 23, of Coill Diarmuida, Ard a Laoi, Castledermot, Co Kildare; and Gerard Stevens, aged 27, of Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, Dublin, have all pleaded not guilty to murder at the Central Criminal Court. Each accused also initially pleaded not guilty to violent disorder at the footbridge that New Years Day. However, Jason Beresford changed his plea on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to the violent disorder charge. Garda Jennifer Walsh was working in Tallaght Garda Station shortly before 4am that New Years Day, when a call came in about an incident on the footbridge over the Tallaght bypass between St Dominics Road and Greenhills Road. She testified that she began watching a live feed of what was happening in the stations CCTV control room. She said she was able to adjust the camera and the jury was shown the footage. I saw a number of males and females on the bridge and a man on the ground, she recalled. She said she alerted a local patrol car and called an ambulance. She said she saw her colleagues arrive and members of the group leave the bridge. I tried to follow them with a different camera, she said, confirming that her focus shifted to Main St. Garda Avril Sharpe also watched some of the live feed in the CCTV room. She testified that she saw a number of males along with a female in a short, white jacket. She and two colleagues left for the bridge when they saw that there was a person on the ground. She said that the group left as she and her colleagues climbed the steps of the bridge, where they saw legs hanging. We stopped and observed a male. He was unconscious, not responding to us and badly beaten up, she recalled. His eyes were badly swollen, he had blood all over his face, blood coming from his eyes and very laboured breathing. A colleague stayed with the injured man while she and another garda ran after the group onto Main St. We observed a male and then a female turn right, she said. She was wearing a white, fur jacket, skirt, and runners. She was running. We followed her. The male came back to the female and they were holding hands, she continued, confirming that they were walking at this stage. We shouted at them to stop, she said. They tried to flag down a taxi but it didnt stop. She said the two eventually stopped for them. She said the male gave his name as Graham Palmer. There were blood spots on his face, which he couldnt account for, she said. There was blood on the sleeves of his jacket. The female gave her name as Aisling Burke. I looked at her clothing and concluded she was the girl I had seen in CCTV, she said. Her runners were soaked in blood and she had muck on her jacket. She couldnt account for the blood. Garda Sharpe said she informed her that she had been mugged in a park a half hour before and pointed to the muck. She arrested her for suspected assault. The garda identified her runners in court, confirming that she had seized them due to the blood on them. She also identified a navy jacket in court. Thats the jacket Graham Palmer was wearing, she said, explaining that she had seized this due to the blood on it. She then pointed out the people she said were Ms Burke and Mr Palmer on the footage. The court heard that Graham Palmer was also arrested at that point and that James Reid was arrested at an address in Tallaght the following day. The trial continues. The case was before the High Court sitting in Cork yesterday where Mr Justice Michael Twomey expressed his condolences to Welsh-born Myfanwy Humphreys, of Behihane, Castlecove, Killarney, Co Kerry, on the untimely death of her husband Christopher Humphreys, who was 59, near his home on August 15, 2015. Counsel John OMahony said there was an offer of 259,000 from the insurers for the defendant motorist, Micheal OMahony, of Lackeen, Blackwater, Co Kerry. Mr Justice Twomey said he considered it a good settlement of the case and he was happy to approve the offer before the court. In the course of outlining the background to the case, Mr OMahony read from the pleadings in the case: The death of the deceased was untimely and unexpected. The plaintiff was in a state of severe shock and disbelief when she learned of the death of her husband. Her closest, fondest and most protective companion in her life was no longer with her. When the initial disbelief had passed and when the plaintiff realised the irreversible nature of what had occurred, she was engulfed in a deep and dark sorrow. The plaintiff and the deceases were true soulmates. Mr OMahony said the plaintiffs solicitor Philip Coffey had informed the plaintiff and her three adult children of the offer. Mr Justice Twomey said the case had been set out very clearly by the solicitor. Mr OMahony said that subject to the judges approval, the family are close, warm and unified family in all respects and are happy with the recommendation of the legal advis3rs. Mairead Kelly of The Grove, Athy, Co Kildare was pronounced dead on May 4 2015. Shed met Greg Ward, from Lucan on the Plenty of Fish dating website, Dublin Coroners Court heard. Mr Ward, a heroin addict, said she was aware of his drug use at an early stage and confronted him about it. She encouraged me to detox and said she would help me in any way she could, Mr Ward said. Miss Kelly was staying overnight at Mr Wards house on May 3 2015 because she was distressed and agitated over something in her past, according to Mr Ward. Shed received a written note through her door at her home in Athy during the week, he said. She was distressed that night and drinking vodka unusually quickly, Mr Ward said. She kept repeating he will get me in the end, Mr Ward said. He woke up later that night and noticed Miss Kelly was not in bed. He heard a noise from the living room where he found her in a collapsed state. He told paramedics and Gardai that she may have taken some of his heroin which he had left in a bag on the counter. Acting on his information, paramedics administered the opiate antidote narcem. Miss Kelly was rushed to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown where she was pronounced dead the following day. The cause of death was pneumonia due to intoxication of morphine and alcohol, according to pathologist Dr Michael Curtis. The morphine and alcohol in her system had a combined effect on her central nervous system and she developed pneumonia due to a repressed gag reflex, the court heard. There was no established link between the morphine and Mr Ward's heroin, as morphine can 'arise from many sources' Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said. Dr Cullinane returned a verdict of misadventure. Solicitor for the family, Fionan O'Muircheartaigh's said the Kelly's were a close and loving family and that Mairead was very much against drugs. This is illustrated by her efforts to wean him off drugs, Mr OMuircheartaigh said. THERES finally some good news for those who spend half their life struggling to control a mass of curly hair... Its officially back in fashion and the more natural the better. Curls were out in force at the AW16 shows from beachy waves to tight ringlets, volume and texture were king in complete contrast to the sleek, poker straight SS16 look. Its catching on in Hollywood too, with Mad Mens Christina Hendricks stepping out at the recent opening of Vivienne Westwoods Paris store with her flame-red locks tumbling to her shoulders in loose ringlets spirals. Its about time, says Michele Scott-Lynch, the curly founder of haircare brand Boucleme ( www.boucleme.co.uk ). When I was growing up, curly hair was largely ignored by the beauty industry. There was no advice on caring for curls, no curly role models and absolutely zero effective products on the market. "Hairdressers would encourage you to straighten it, so you couldnt even rely on them for tips, she says. The internet and social media changed all this: it became a mine of information as curly girls started sharing their daily routines and favourite products, and this strong global curly community just grew and grew. TOP TIPS FOR NATURAL CURLS Ready to banish your straighteners and let your barnet bounce free? Here are Michele Scott-Lynchs top tips on embracing your natural curls... 1. The most important thing is to understand that frizz is a sign your hair lacks moisture with proper hydration, frizz will transform into a wave/curl. A little bit of frizz is also your friend, as it helps give volume and shape to your curls. 2. Weekly deep conditioning helps boost moisture levels and if curls are dry, try leaving your conditioner in, rather than washing out. This, plus using a non-foaming (paraben and sulphate-free) hair cleanser, can be a game-changer. 3. At night, protect curls by tying them up in a loosely on top of your head. If your hair isnt long enough, try using a hair net. 4. Sleeping on a silk pillowcase helps prevent frizz due to friction (its also great for a line-free face in the morning!). 5. Find a hairdresser who specialises in curls; theyll have a greater understanding of the best products to use and how to dry/style your hair. Curly hair is best cut dry, when you can see where the curls sit naturally. When wet, curly hair stretches and its harder to work out the natural spring factor. If a hairdresser mentions razoring your hair to lose bulk, run a mile. Fortunately, there are more and more curly hairstylists popping up. TOP CURLY HAIR PRODUCTS OWAY Curly Potion, 24/ 27.50 ( www.oway.co.uk free p&p) Made from natural ingredients from a biodynamic eco farm in Italy, OWAYs Curly Potion helps nourish hair to give the perfect mix of support, bounce and definition to curls. A pea-sized amount detangles and defines, while also naturally moisturising, strengthening and providing an intense anti-frizz action, leaving hair soft, shiny and gorgeous. Boucleme Curl Cleanser, 15/ 16.70 Curl Conditioner, 17/ 18.90, Curl Defining Gel, 15/16.70 ( www.naturisimo.com free p&p) Made with all natural active ingredients no parabens or sulphates the Boucleme three-step cleanse, condition and define system moisturises hair without the feeling of sticky residue. The cleansers non-lathering and, for those with very dry hair, its recommended you leave the conditioner on, before lightly drying hair with a T-shirt or the Boucleme Curl Towel and then popping on the gel. Once dry, simply scrunch for beautiful, shiny ringlets. Moroccanoil Curl Defining Cream, 30.79 ( www.beautyfeatures.ie ) Smooth Moroccanoil Curl Defining Cream through damp hair for curl definition. Its quite a heavy cream so a small amounts all you need and make sure you spread liberally but ideal for thick, wiry locks that need taming, and the effects can last at least a couple of days. Goldwell Kerasilk Control Intensive Smoothing Mask, RRP 30.60, from Amazon Mark Leeson, Goldwell Kerasilk global creative ambassador, says: Curly hair naturally lacks moisture, so its important to prep using a good quality conditioning product to help moisten the hair and scalp and smooth cuticles, making hair much more manageable. "The Kerasilk Intense Smoothing Mask is the curly hair hero product; it smooths for long-lasting manageability and control and gives a beautiful, glossy shine. Aquis Lisse Luxe Hair Towel, 30/ 33.35 ( www.aquishair.co.uk plus p&p) Towel drying can add to the frizz, warns stylist Phil Smith, who has a Be Gorgeous Curly Locks range. Instead, tilt your head forward and using a T-shirt, gently squeeze to remove any excess water. Or invest in this Aquis Towel, which uses Aquitex fibres to wick water away, meaning fewer breakages and less frizz. Good day Madam. I am a civil servant, quite high up in the Department for Getting Rid of Foreigners, here in London. I am writing to inform you Paddys that you must do British passport control at Cork airport. Do you think you are up to it? Gerard, Im rather fond of spanking. At least we have one thing in common. I heard alright that London wants us to stop dangerous fundamentalists from getting into Britain. So if Boris Johnson ever pays a visit, well stop him from going home. Howzat? I have some bad news if you think you can stop Ireland being used as a back door by the great unwashed. They are already here. To see for yourself, I suggest a weekend in Waterford. Actually, seeing as you are such a big fan of masochism, why not make it a week. Cheerio. My daughter has been invited to a birthday party at school. The problem is the parents of the girl having the party are from Warsaw. This is obviously a disaster for me because I have no way of judging them based on the school they attended. Do you know if there is a Pres, Christians or Scoil Mhuire in Warsaw? Kate, Douglas Road, Im on my third bum. I remember your first one. It was visible from Macroom. I checked with my Polish friend at spinning. (Skinny old cow. Hate her guts.) She said that its considered vulgar to boast about going to private school in Warsaw. I said its considered vulgar here too but it beats people thinking that you went to St Als. She said whats St Als. I said a sign that your father wasnt a doctor or high up in insurance. She said Cork people are terrible snobs. I said thats unfair, were actually brilliant at it. Howre oo goin on? Herself is after doing a business development course in Bandon and has decided we should start making cheese. She has formed a company and who else do you think is vice president of research only my good self? So my question to you is, what is a foody? Dick Mike Mary, keep going beyond Crookstown until you see a man with someone elses false teeth. A foody is someone who thinks they are better than you. Their favourite phrases include we brought it back from Provence or I cant believe you dont like anchovies. If you want to see foodies in action, head for the Farmers Market at Mahon Point every Thursday. Theres no shortage of posh Cork women ogling the hot culchie guys selling foraged mushrooms. Im actually banned from there after I asked one of the young farmers to show me his mango. Thats the other thing about foodies they have no sense of humour. Hey lady. Im just kind of totally touring around Ireland right now. Ive heard reports of clowns chasing people around the place. It scares me. Whats going on? Lena, San Francisco, your different accents are so cute. You wont be saying that after you visit Clonmel. Im amazed that Americans are scared by clowns. Deranged people with crazy hair. I thought youd be used to that with Donald Trump. Its unusual to see people in hilarious outfits and bad makeup here in Ireland; unless of course you stand watching the locals come out of mass in Kanturk. I must say, I have no objection to being chased around the place by someone in fancy dress. Particularly if Im after a bottle of Chablis and its my Conor in a Batman suit. The things we get up to here on a Thursday night. You wouldnt see it in Kinsale. Hello old stock. All these matches in Pairc Ui Rinn are attracting people who have no business in Blackrock or Ballintemple. Is there any chance we could move the GAA grounds somewhere else? Reggie, Ballintemple, half the crowd last Sunday couldnt even speak English. That would have been the Glen Rovers fans. They probably didnt go to the same elocution teacher as yourself. A lot of the Erins Own fans parked down by my place. Our road still smells vaguely of Glounthaune, you know, that weird mix of manure and money. My father was right, he always said they were Norries with notions. Anyway, heres my solution to all the needless spectator traffic around Cork. The GAA and Munster Rugby should swap Pairc Ui Rinn and Musgrave Park. Theres just no need to be sending awful nobs like yourself all the way over to Ballyphehane. AMSTERDAM has a history of enticing foreign entrepreneurs with financial incentives. At the start of its golden age in the 17th century, the city used public funds to bring glassblowers from Venice, artisans making gilded leather wall hangings from Antwerp and hatters from France. And when the Dutch Republic captured two Portuguese silk ships, the city offered Lisbon merchant Manuel Rodrigues de Vega 120,000 guilders to set up shop because it was anxious not to miss out on yet another lucrative trade, according to Geert Maks Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City. Britains decision to leave the European Union will likely force scores of international companies and banks to move their European headquarters somewhere else inside the worlds largest trading bloc. The likes of Dublin and Paris are aggressively wooing firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Mitsubishi to relocate. At last weeks International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, Frankfurt displayed signs advertising the city as A place for bankers, hipsters and for you. Much as Paris and Frankfurt have their attractions, however, the London-based European head of one of Wall Streets top investment banks recently told me: The best place of all would be Amsterdam. I just question whether the Dutch want us. Its easy to see why modern masters of the financial universe have a soft spot for Amsterdam beyond its charming canals and the easy availability of cannabis sativa. Finance is in the DNA of the people, says Karl Guha, chairman of Van Lanschot, a Dutch wealth management and merchant banking group. Thats not hyperbole. In 1602, five years after a fleet of Dutch sailors established a trade route to India, Amsterdams merchants established the Dutch East India Company (VOC), effectively the worlds first limited-liability multinational enterprise. To trade the VOCs stocks and bonds and promote risk sharing, the city founded what was in essence the first stock exchange. The joint-stock company, which was granted a monopoly on Asian trade, was financed by more than 1,800 investors, who chose 17 directors to oversee its affairs. The City Exchange Bank, basically the worlds first central bank, opened in 1609 to handle the foreign coinage flowing into Amsterdam. The VOCs success led to the founding of a second enterprise the West India Company, which established the Nieuw-Amsterdam colony, today known as New York. It was arguably the most successful startup in human history. City leaders keenly recall Amsterdams heritage of financial innovation in their pitch to Londons banking exodus. To live in Amsterdam is to dwell in living history, with all the comforts of a modern metropolis, says Jan Paternotte, leader of the D66 party on the Amsterdam City Council. Add to this the established reputation as a hotbed of liberal innovations like same-sex marriage and regulated recreational drugs and you know it is a special place. Paternotte argues that Amsterdam is safer than other big European metropolises, loaded with culture and recreational opportunities, and nearly everyone speaks English. More practically, it has the transportation infrastructure bankers need: A world-class airport with connections throughout Europe and to Asia and the Americas thats 20 minutes by train from the city centre. When living in Amsterdam I often left my home one hour before departure and still made the flight without a sweat. Compare that to Heathrow or Charles de Gaulle, notes Joris Luyendijk, a Dutch author who chronicled banking culture in the City of London in Among the Bankers: A Journey into the Heart of Finance, which was published last month in the United States, and sold 300,000 copies in the Netherlands. Providing adequate housing to accommodate an influx of white-collar workers wont be easy. And there are not enough positions in international schools. But as the city councils Paternotte points out, the Dutch are good at finding creative solutions to problems just look at land they have reclaimed from the sea over the centuries. If we need to boost housing capacity, Amsterdam will find a way, he says confidently. Whats not to like? Top of the list is the Dutch Act on the Remuneration Policies Financial Undertakings, which came into effect in February 2015. The law sets a 20% cap on bonuses paid to financial industry staff. Thats even more draconian than the rules that apply in the rest of Europe, which limit bonuses to 100% of salary or 200% if shareholders approve. True, there are some nuances to the rule, which was adopted after the near failures of Dutch banks, principally ABN Amro, in the financial crisis. The cap, for instance, does not apply on an individual basis, but to the average bonus of such staff collectively, notes Floris van de Bult, a labour lawyer at Clifford Chance in Amsterdam. And some employees of foreign firms can avoid the restrictions altogether. As in much of the West, there is little appetite to relax the rules restraining the pay of wealthy bankers. If anything, Dutch legislators are more likely to extend them to other arenas of finance, like insurance or asset management. Realistically speaking, one could assume that no politician will get elected on a promise that they will eliminate the bonus cap, says van de Bult. That may be the biggest dealbreaker of all for Amsterdams pitch as a financial centre. While it might mean US, Swiss, and Japanese investment banks and trading firms can find ways to make Amsterdam their new European headquarters, they run the risk of creating second-class citizens of locals. Its hard to envision a worse way to revive the public fortunes of the banking class. Reuters HOW will Donald Trumps campaign to become president of the United States be looked back on? Think of those future explanations to people too young now to remember, or perhaps not yet born, who will imagine we are deluded as we detail the utter madness of it all. Perhaps we will be asked why Hillary Clinton was the first female president of the US, but that none followed in her footsteps for a further 20 years. We will explain that while it was extraordinary to see a woman in the White House, Clinton paid such a high price to get there, and was subject to such extraordinary abuse and double standards, that other potential female candidates, somewhat sensibly, decided not to bother. You can say now there is no way Donald Trump will be US president in less than a months time, after all that has gone on. But, in truth, there remains that nagging doubt; the fear that, maybe, just maybe, he could still pull it off. Then, you think, thats just crazy. But this political campaign has no decency threshold whatsoever. The sad truth for women is that Donald Trump could be a baboon and he would still be in the race, just as long as he was a baboon with a penis. If Hillary had a penis, rather, than, as Donald likes to describe it, a pussy, she would have Trump dead and buried politically at this stage. Any male candidate who didnt have him dead and buried would be dismissed as a wimp. But Hillary has simply had to suck it up. Observing the US election from afar is increasingly demeaning, merely by being a spectator. It appears there is nothing this misogynistic, bullying, pathologically lying, dangerous, psychotic fantasist cannot do or say that would preclude him from this presidential race. How utterly mad that we still expect that at the polls on November 8 he will be defeated. How is this nutjob even still on the ticket? Hillary Clinton was bang-on when she spoke, a while back, about how you could put about half of Trump supporters into a basket of deplorables. That other half who are still hanging in with him, despite all that has happened, deserve exactly the same description. How else to describe the people who support this appalling creature? Hillary Clinton I dont care how disenfranchised you are, or how much you have been failed by mainstream politics, if you still intend to vote for Trump, after all that has been said and done, you are worse than deplorable. You are despicable. But that much was clear to anyone who attended a Trump rally and heard the racist, sexist, and often criminal chants about women, Mexicans, Muslims, and gays. A while back, the New York Times released a video montage of some of the things people shout at these events: Hillary is a whore, Hang the Bitch, Trump that Bitch, Kill her. There were T shirts stating: Hillary sucks but not like Monica. Or badges with: KFC, Hillary Special: Two Fat Thighs, Two Small Breasts, Left Wing. At the end of each piece on Trump, the Huffington Post has an editors note that reads: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, and birther, who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims 1.6bn members of an entire religion from entering the US. On and on it has gone, becoming some sort of horrible normal. Obscenities continue to be shouted at rallies and one of the main news websites appends a warning at the end of each piece on one of the two candidates for the US presidency. Yet nobody has shouted stop. In that infamous hot mike video, the man who would be president boasted about groping women and kissing them without their consent, saying, Grab them by the pussy and When youre a star, they let you do it. He dismissed it, after, as locker room talk. The lead story in the Washington Post, on Tuesday, stated that the Republican Party tumbled towards anarchy. Trump was dropped by top Republicans, such as John McCain and Paul Ryan. What they will surely discover, in the years to come, is that once you have been willingly contaminated by Trump, your reputation will never really recover. Its interesting how so many of them suddenly discovered a concern for their wives and daughters, once those remarks were broadcast. Had they not been tuning in to what was being said at the Trump rallies or by the candidate himself? The real pity is that they didnt say that they were also concerned for their sons. Donald Trump Still, though, there were senior Repubicans who stuck by Trump this week, with some campaign officials claiming that grabbing a womans genitals would not constitute sexual assault. There it is, ladies of the United States, your pussy is literally up for grabs, and there is no law that says it shouldnt be so. Trump had finally crossed that line, or had he? On Sunday, Hillary Clinton still had to endure a presidential debate with him. Not only did she have to attend, she stood there and appeared to listen respectfully, as he said he would put her in prison, if elected, as he prowled around her and attempted to physically dominate her. She could not even allow herself as much as an eye roll. She had to humiliate herself further by continuing with the utterly fantastical charade that this man is her worthy opponent for the biggest political office in the world. There has been much talk, in this campaign, of how this false equivalence has been created, whereby a minor failing of Hillarys is equated to a major failing of Trumps. The ultimate example of that is the idea that he was ever worthy of even tying her shoelaces. In the debate, Hillary said her friend, Michelle Obama, advised when they aim low we go high. All the way through the campaign, it hasnt mattered how high she has taken it. Trump keeps pulling her back down into the gutter. The very least she deserves now is to win, although she deserved that from the moment he was declared as her opposition. Im not sure anything, even being president, will make it all worth it. Trump could be a baboon and he would still be in the race, just as long as he was a baboon with a penis News Arakan State Unrest Heightens Political Concerns Entrance to Maungdaw Township, Arakan State. / Narinjara NAYPYIDAWRecent attacks on border police posts in Arakan State have heightened public concern over the democratization process and civil-military relations, members of the political community told The Irrawaddy. Lower House lawmaker U Lwin Ko Latt, of Thanlyin Township, told The Irrawaddy that he is worried about the situation following the deaths of nine policemen, five soldiers, and fifteen other men. The military intelligence should have known about [the attacks] before they happened. The Defense Ministry is responsible for that. And under the circumstances, we want [the Burmese military] to only work within the legal framework. I dont want them to seek political gain out of this, he said. The event is a cause for concern for security. I am also worried if concerned governments will be able to handle this effectively, said U Lwin Ko Latt. As the conflict could hamper democratization in Burma, it was important that the government proceed with caution in line with the rule of law, said U Nay Myo Htun, a Lower House lawmaker representing Htantabin Township. U Ye Htun, a political analyst, said State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi seemed to be exercising caution in handling the issues in Arakan State. The military has violated laws in our [Shan] state. I think [the State Counselor] has sent the information minister to Arakan State to gather information on the ground so that she can make a judgment, said U Ye Htun. He also suggested sending the Arakan State Advisory Commission led by former UN general secretary Kofi Annan to Arakan State. Though the ministries of defense, home affairs and border affairswhich are addressing the unrestfall under military rather than civilian leadership according to the 2008 Constitution, responses are being made under the guidance of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, National League for Democracy spokesperson U Win Htein told The Irrawaddy. All the information about the Arakan issue reaches her. Though Defense and Home Affairs ministries are under the [army] commander-in-chief according to the Constitution, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi gets on well with them. She has taken the overall responsibility to handle it, said U Win Htein. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has told the media that the government is doing their best to solve the conflict following the attacks on border posts, and will handle them impartially under the rule of law. The Defense Ministry has to take responsibility to handle this transparently. The whole incident must be presented to the public in a transparent manner, otherwise public concern will remain high, because there have been many rumors including those on Facebook, said U Lwin Ko Latt. The Irrawaddy contacted the Presidents Office, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Border Affairs several times to ask about video files circulated on social media and for the governments responses to the Arakan issue, but was not able to obtain a comment. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko News Presidents Office Vows to Counter Arakan Attacks; Locals Call for an End to Violence People seek refuge at Thabyae Gone monastery in Maungdaw Township after fighting between the Burma Army and militant broke out nearby villages. / Rakhine Gazette / Facebook SITTWE, Arakan State Four suspects have reportedly confessed to taking part in and planning attacks on border guard posts in northern Arakan States Maungdaw Township with the financial backing of outside terrorist organizations, according to a Presidents Office statement released on Friday. Two of the men were transferred from Bangladeshi authorities to Burma and two were captured in Maungdaw Township. The statement said that the four men confessed to authoritieswhich were unspecifiedto taking part in an attack on border posts on Sunday with the aim of occupying Maungdaw Township, led by a group they identified as Aqa Mul Mujahidin, which the Presidents Office described as being affiliated with the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), last known to be active in the 1980s and 1990s. The statement also said an investigation had revealed that the group allegedly receives financial backing from Islamic terror networks and is led by a 45-year-old living in Kyauk Pyin Seik village of Maungdaw Township who attended six months of training in Pakistan. We will effectively counterattack any terror attack or attempted terror attack, the Presidents Office statement said. We will also investigate, identify and take harsh actions against those behind the terrorists, those who support them secretly, and organizations and individuals that aid and abet terrorism. The group was allegedly planning to attack six border posts with 400 armed men last Sunday, but, armed with machetes, instead attacked a border patrol police headquarters and two outposts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships, killing nine policemen and looting firearms. According to state-run media, the Tatmadaw arrested another man in Maungdaw Townships Warpaik Village on Wednesday and reportedly confiscated a MA-11 gun, 11 cartridges, 1,510 rounds of ammunition and flags and badges connected to the RSO. The man is the fifth suspect to have been detained in the area since Sunday. Military-controlled Myawaddy media said on Thursday that while Burma Army troops carried out a manhunt for the suspects Wednesday in Kyet Yoe Pin Village of Maungdaw Township, ten suspected militants were killed and one gun was seized in clashes. Five Burma Army soldiers have been killed in the manhunt, and 15 mensuspected militantshave been killed by government forces. Military Operation Areas Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships in northern Arakan State are designated as military operation areas until firearms looted from border police force are recovered, ministers told reporters at a press conference in the state capital of Sittwe on Friday. On Thursday, Arakan State Chief Minister Nyi Pu summoned NGOs and INGOs to the state government office to update them on the situation in Maungdaw Township. He told relief organizations that to work in areas of military operations they must apply for permission from the government and follow rules and regulations, according to his official Facebook page. Nyi Pu said that Although the neighboring town of Buthidaung has returned to normal and shops have opened, the market is closed in Maungdaw. Unless the government can recover the firearms, armed clashes could happen at any time. He mentioned that some attackers are from outside, referring to Bangladesh, and alleged that they had links to Maungdaw Muslim residents. Brig-Gen Thura Sun Lwin of the border police told international relief organizations, including United Nations (UN) organizations and partners, that foreigners are currently prohibited from entering Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships. Displaced Persons and Reports of Abuse A joint statement released on Monday by 14 Rohingya organizations in exile accused government soldiers of killing seven unarmed men in the village of Myothugyi; the Burma Army described the casualties of being those of suspected militants. The groups called on international organizations and governments to pressure the ruling National League for Democracy government to halt such actions, and end persecution against Muslims in the region. Since then, further accusations of abusesdetainments, and the burning of houseshave surfaced. Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu sought to quell rumors of abuse with a statement on Facebook saying that news from the government should be regarded as true. The Union government is trying to decrease the worries of the two communities and we [the state government] are also carrying out on-the-ground information for law enforcement and stability in this region, his post said. In Maungdaw Township, local sources say that ethnic Mro and Thet villagersfearing the unresthave been seeking safety in monasteries in Buthidaung. Arakan National Party (ANP) secretary U Tha Htun Hla visited Maungdaw yesterday to support the displaced villagers. According to him, about 300 people were sheltering at Buddhist monasteries. The Arakan State government office secretary U Tin Maung Swe said that local Arakanese from the area concerned for their safety would need to be relocated. The Burma Army has also airlifted 90 school teachers from areas of Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, according to the state government. Meanwhile on Friday, residents of two villages in rural areas of Maungdaw Township were taking refuge in Sittwe, saying they were too frightened to remain at their homes following Sundays attacks. A total of 36 people from the villages were staying at a Buddhist monastery in the state capital. Four women from the group met a delegation from the World Food Programme (WFP) headed by Stephen OBrien, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. My child and I are safe here, but my husband is at home and we dont yet know how safe he is, villager Daw Thein Shwe told the UN delegation, through tears. Rumors and the deaths of policemen in Sundays attacks had triggered the decision to leave Myaing Tha Ya and Aung Mingalar villages, she said. A total of 60 more people from the area were expected to arrive in Sittwe later on Friday, the delegation heard. A WFP representative told the villagers that it would work with the state government to provide assistance. Meanwhile, U Hla Shwe, a community leader from the Rohingya Muslim community in Sittwe worried that the violence would spread. We condemn those acting with violence, he said, adding that his community loved peace, and wished to live in peace. Ko Wai Hun Aung, an Arakanese social activist, said that using force may not be the best way to find suspects and that authorities should instead work with local religious leaders. Friday, October 14th, 2016 (8:34 am) - Score 1,525 The West Sussex County Council has proposed a new Gigabit West Sussex framework that will shortly start seeking suppliers to help it bring ultrafast [FTTP/H broadband] to as many parts of the County as possible, starting with a contract to deploy a new Dark Fibre network in Adur & Worthing. Delivering Gigabit (1Gbps+) capable infrastructure is already a priority under the local authoritys Surfs Up action plan, which the council views as being a useful tool for improving business / council productivity. Not to mention attracting investment from new sectors (creative, technology and manufacturing) and boosting income from business rates. As part of that the new Gigabit West Sussex framework has been proposed, which at present is at least partly an aspirational strategy and one that has not yet conducted either a risk assessment or a full examination of the required funding. WSCC Joint Strategic Committee Statement Ultrafast (or gigabit) broadband is rapidly becoming critical strategic infrastructure. It is the next generation of connectivity, capable of delivering speeds of 1Gb (1000Mb) using pure optical fibre, 100 faster than the UK average. West Sussex and Adur & Worthing Councils are working to bring ultrafast to as many parts of the County as possible, and this report outlines progress to date, and seeks support for the next steps in the project. Ultrafast is a big step-change on from superfast, requiring new infrastructure using optical fibre end-to-end. Superfast is typically delivered through a Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) approach, leaving the last mile running through slower legacy copper infrastructure. Copper sections introduce a particular problem with upload speeds which are so important for businesses (i.e. sending large files out). It may be a surprise to some that a typical upload speed for a superfast premise receiving 30Mb with a copper pair to the cabinet is just 5Mb , a striking comparison to the 1000Mb delivered with ultrafast. High speed connectivity is now recognised as cornerstone of the Governments Productivity Plan 2015, but the challenge for cities and towns is how to make their own way in delivering this new infrastructure, with current national strategy and initiatives falling well short. Crucially theres a lot of talk in the official strategy document about building a network across the whole county, although underneath that spin sits a much more familiar strategy. Initially the council would become an anchor tenant for the new fibre network to connect its own sites, which they say could later be extended to connect businesses and homes over time. The model being proposed is of course exactly the same approach as Cityfibre have been using in larger towns and smaller cities across the United Kingdom (the document even uses that example), which does indeed work reasonably well for public sector sites and business. But extending this model outside of dense urban areas isnt so easy (i.e. expensive and takes a long time), even though exploring how the network could be expanded into less dense urban and rural areas is listed as one of the objectives. Likewise it would probably require a major ISP partner to reach local homes, which has recently been tried with Sky Broadband and TalkTalk in York, but that was a commercial experiment and its future beyond York is very uncertain. Theres also a risk that BT and Virgin Media might also raise a few overbuilding concerns in some areas if public funding were used. However, for the time being the council is clearly focused more on the Dark Fibre side of things for public sector sites and businesses. The first call off from the framework will be Adur & Worthing. This is a network design covering Worthing/Lancing/Shoreham that connects all WSCC and Adur & Worthing local authority sites and CCTV in the geography. WSCC Joint Strategic Committee Statement The Gigabit West Sussex project will create a procurement framework accessible to all districts and boroughs, where dark fibre infrastructure can be procured to deliver 1Gb minimum speeds for all local authority and CCTV sites in dense urban geographies. The procurement process will also explore how a supplier might develop options for building dark fibre infrastructure in less dense urban and rural areas, potentially through strategic partnership with infrastructure providers operating in those market segments. The respective local authorities have already conducted a market engagement day and this weeks new strategy announcement reflects the positive feedback from that event, which we believe was attended by Cityfibre and a number of other operators. A bid was also developed over the summer by Adur & Worthing Councils to the Coastal Communities Fund. This was for 1.2m, which included a request for support with project costs, and a 1m fund for supporting business to connect to the ultrafast fibre network, based on an anticipated network extension of 20km. A decision is imminent at the time of writing. It is anticipated that following the securing of project funding, procurement will commence in November or December 2016 and then run through to February 2017. The plan suggests that construction could then begin in Adur & Worthing during Spring 2017 and its envisaged that this could take 12 months to complete (i.e. the first phase of connecting local authority sites). After that the strategy proposes that the supplier could move on to connecting businesses through 2018-2019 on a commercial basis. The project would then work to identify further district councils that wished to join the project, building a programme of implementations across the county. "Outlander" Season 3 is coming back on the small screen next year and as fans wait for the series, reports and fan speculations on Jaime (Sam Heughan) and Claire's (Caitriona Balfe) reunion are popping up. New casts members are also added to the much-awaited series. Speculations are high that Claire will go back in time to meet with Jaime, according to what happened in Diana Gabaldon's book, "Voyager," and their reunion will be a passionate one. It will explore the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising as Claire returns to the past meet with the Jaime, and the two will embark on a journey to Jamaica together. However, according to a report, "Outlander Season 3" will explore a storyline different from the one provided in author Gabaldon's books. Fans will have to wait how this will affect Jaime and Claire's character as well as their anticipated reunion. "Outlander" Season 3 will pick up from the events of last season. Claire is reunited with her husband, Frank. Claire, however, is pregnant with Jaime's child and will later learn that Jaime did not die in the Battle of Culloden. New faces will also be seen in the upcoming "Outlander" Season 3. Cesar Domboy will portray the adult counterpart of Fergus, a pickpocket who is trying to change and who regards Jaime as his father. It was described that he will be looking for his true love, like how Claire is to Jaime. Meanwhile, Lauren Lyle will play the grown-up Marsali, Laoghaire's daughter, who is described as the opposite of Fergus' personality. She rebellious, high-spirited, and is someone who will do everything to get what she wants; however, she is also reported to be a closet romantic. On the other hand, Sam Heughan and Catriona Balfe continue to make the headlines not just because of their respective characters in "Outlander" Season 3 but also of their on and off-screen chemistry. Rumors about the two dating have already been circulating for quite some time. After two long years, Sony has finally launched its new flagship - the Sony Xperia XZ. With a refined design and impressive features, the Xperia XZ is gearing up to compete with the Google Pixel XL, especially with its excellent camera improvement that might be better than Pixel XL's "best smartphone camera." The Sony Xperia XZ In A Nutshell Sony's new flagship, the Xperia XZ, looks very much like the Xperia Z5. But Sony refined the Xperia XZ's design and updated most of its specs to compete with other flagships released in today's market. Most of all, Sony seemed to revamp its camera with enormous sensors and other similar features to make its mobile photography capability even better. For those who do not know it yet, the Sony Xperia XZ is not without premium specs. It boasts the latest Snapdragon 820 processor, comes with a fingerprint scanner, a high-resolution audio with active noise cancellation, a dedicated microphone, an IP68 for water and dust proofing, and of course an impressive pair of primary and secondary cameras. The Sony Xperia XZ's full specs are pretty impressive but the handset's strongest point is its camera - strong enough to compete with what DxOMark's named as the best smartphone camera ever. The Google Pixel XL In Quick Review The Google Pixel XL, on the other hand, looks a lot like an iPhone 7 in Android version. It's a powerful phablet made with premium features and specs to fit the high-end market where it belongs. The Snapdragon 821 chipset that the Pixel XL is equipped with made it 10 percent faster than the Xperia XZ which has the 820 processor model. The Pixel XL has the advantage of having Virtual Reality capabilities too thanks to Google. But what makes the Google Pixel XL really special is that DxOMark called its smartphone camera as the "best" one to grace the smartphone industry. So Google has the right to call their new flagship as the best smartphone in terms of mobile photography. This is in competition with iPhone 7. Pixel XL won the test over which smartphone camera is best with its 12.3-megapixel shutter. Will Pixel XL remain the best now that the Sony Xperia XZ has some impressive camera features, even more impressive than Google's flagship? Camera Standoff: Google Pixel XL vs Sony Xperia XZ So let's look at our contender first, the Sony Xperia XZ. Compared to the Pixel XL's camera, the Xperia XZ's shutter is 50x more powerful in specs thanks to an impressive 23MP sensor on its primary camera. This is not something new since Sony makes powerful cameras for digital photography. Making their new flagship just as good in the camera department is no hardship. But in comparison to the Pixel XL, the Xperia XZ's shutter packs more power. With a 23-megapixel capability, taking shots in high-resolution is very easy. Sony did not remove their ultra-wide angle lens for professional-looking landscape shots, a feature that they have used before with the Xperia Z5. The XZ also has a mix of contrast and phase detection autofocus and the speedy laser autofocus system to take care of subjects in close distance. The innovative RedGreenBlueClear-Infrared (RGBC-IR) sensor is very useful too in correcting color temperature and adjusting white balance depending on the ambient light present. What's more, Sony's predictive autofocus technology locks in on a subject even if it moves so shots can be made in crisp and sharp quality even with a moving object. Lower Sensor But More Powerful With Google Pixel XL, you get a lower camera sensor at 12.3 megapixels but it performed excellently in reducing noise levels even in varying lighting conditions. DxOMark also notes that the Pixel XL is a definite winner when it comes to providing good contrast, white balance and fast autofocus. Google's new flagship is also suited for a wide number of photography modes. Even with a limited camera sensor, photos using the Pixel XL unexpectedly offer users with images in clear detail. More than that, the Google Pixel XL also has the capability to record 4K videos at speeds of 30 frames per second. For users who wish to save on the limited memory available, taking high-resolution 1080p videos are much faster at 120fps, a feat that not all smartphone cameras can do when taking fast-paced movements and catching it on video record. Besides that, low-light, indoor and outdoor photos all looked great with the Google Pixel. images are rendered in rich and life-like colors, individual photo elements are captured in great detail and Google also added hybrid autofocus feature that uses phase- and laser-detect pixels that is very helpful in low-light settings. The Pixel XL has a stable flash and boasts of the Auto HDR+ as its default camera mode. Our Final Say Obviously, having a bigger camera sensor is not enough to beat Pixel. Google's flagship still reigns with its best smartphone camera. With Sony, users have to manually set their photos to get the maximum 23MP quality. For Pixel owners, the norm is the Auto HDR+ camera mode with all its automatic correction of shadows, dynamic range, white balance, and noise levels. With the Xperia XZ, users might need to tweak their camera settings a bit to get their much wanted magazine-worthy photos. But with the Google Pixel XL, taking photos with a professional quality takes just one click. Our winner? Definitely the Google Pixel XL still. Alienware Aurora is the new mid-range gaming PC, characterized for being the most desirable machine these days, thanks to a number of specs and features that turn this mid-size tower into the best Alienware desktop that a gamer could buy. The performance of this PC is great, since it has an Intel Core i7 6700 processor, which makes your game run without any kind of problem. Also, its very adept at running high-end processing workloads as strategy games with a bunch of A.I. rivals, thanks to its Intel Hyper-Threading, reported by Trusted Reviews. Alienware Aurora gives you the best graphics About the graphic features, Alienware has supplied the Aurirawith Nvidia GeForce GTX 1090, which is one of the best graphics card you can find, allowing any gamer to play Full HD, 1080p and 1440p very easily. However, is it not recommended to play at maximum settings with 4K resolution, since youre going to get a locked 30FPS instead of a 60FPS, according to Ars Technica. Unlike many others of its kind, this desktop has a one-year premium support warranty, being more than just time considering that the possibilities of a disgraceful outcome are extremely low. This is because the Alienware Aurora is one of the smallest gaming PCs available, with ventilation slits in the front making a thermal shutdown something almost impossible. The most relevant specs and features In addition to these specs and features, this desktop has a 1TB hard disk, 4x front USB 3.0 ports, 4x rear USB 3.0 ports, 6x rear USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.1 port, AlienFX lighting, 8GB DDR4 RAM and Windows 10 Home 64-bit Operation System. Although the price of this gaming PC is really affordable - these can vary from $799 the lower to $2,179 the highest, depending on the specifications you are looking for- its quality is so incredible nice that its good value for money, being this little detail the best thing about Alienware Aurora, according to Ars Technica. However, far from being the perfect device, the main issue is that its upgrades are very expensive, and the fact that its plastic construction are not precisely strong. Apple has again reached another milestone as it confirmed the opening of their second new research and development center located right at the heart of China's hardware manufacturing spot, Shenzhen. The plan for the company's expansion was announced while Chief Executive Tim Cook was visiting the city for a nationwide innovation event that took place at the Four Seasons Hotel last Oct. 11. "We are excited to be opening a new Research and Development center here next year, so our engineering team can work even more closely and collaboratively with our manufacturing partners," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement. "The Shenzhen center, along with the Beijing center, is also aimed at strengthening relationships with local partners and universities as we work to support talent development across the country," Apple's spokeswoman said. The modern metropolis, Shenzhen is also referred to as China's Silicon Valley. This is where you'd find big time tech giants like Tencent, Huawei and Dajiang Innovation among others. Apple's new endeavor is aimed to strengthen relationships as well as to pave way for local talented software developers to its platform, the company told Reuters. It can also be perceived as the company's concern about its future in the country. Indeed, Apple continues to grow and make its presence known globally. After opening their first research and development center in Beijing and now in Shenzhen, we know there's more to come. The company has already set up research and development centers in Japan, Israel and the U.K., and is also planning to build more in Canada, India and Vietnam, according to Macrumors. Adobe Systems Incorporated, one of the largest and most reputable software companies in the world, is calling out all their Flash Player users for an important update. This is due to the instance where the company detected serious vulnerabilities in their 23.0.0.162 version of their Flash Player, version 18.0.0.375 of their Player Extended Support Release and 23.0.0.162 version of their Flash Player for Google Chrome. These were particularly discovered on the Flash Players of MacOS Sierra and OS X operating systems on Mac devices. As a part of their proactive strides against the issue, Windows and Linux users will also have the same fixes, as reported by MacRumors. According to SC Magazine, a total of 84 vulnerabilities were discovered in the company's Reader, Flash and Acrobat offerings. There were a dozen remote code execution flaws found in the Flash too. Tencent, Palo Alto Networks, Trend Micro and other researchers were some of the companies that have identified the latest vulnerabilities. In relation to this circumstance, Adobe immediately responded by creating a new security update for their users. These updates are created to address these critical vulnerabilities that can potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Mac users are urged to update their Flash Player to the latest version through the built-in update mechanism or through their website. Those who run the 11.3.x or the latest versions as well as those who chose the option to allow install updates" will inevitably receive the updates automatically. As for those with the 23.0.0.185 version, they will automatically be updated by Google Chrome. Adobe's Flash Player is one of the most used applications in different industries. Over the years, their software has been proven to be trusted and reliable, and with their efforts to go above and beyond to safeguard their clients, we know it's a company that's worth our while. Finally, the former UFC Women's Champion Ronda Rowdy' Rousey is back after almost a year of hiatus. She is scheduled to fight on December 30 against Amanda Nunes. It was November last year when we last saw Ronda Rousey in the Octagon. It was the first time as well that we saw the champ knocked out by an excellent striker in Holly Holm. The disadvantage is visible in the fight as Holm who dominated Rousey in the stand up stance. Ronday literally doesn't know where the strikes are coming from. Rousey was visibly shaken when he took a stiff straight jab and then Holm unleashes her signature move, the high left kick; which landed into Ronda's face. Ronda then fell flat on the floor and Holly Holm followed it up with few hammer fists. The loss ended Ronda's streak and the champ is in total shock as she is witnessing a new champion being crowned while she is still sitting down and getting attended to by the medical staff. Few days after the fight, Ronda Rousey is still in shock and depressed. UFC President Dana White commented on Ronda's situation. "Everybody wins or loses, it happens. I don't think anybody saw that coming, Ronda losing any time soon, which is what made it so shocking when it happened. It was never really about a psychological problem with Ronda," White explained when "The Herd". So the next question is, why Amanda Nunes? Why not the warmachine Cyborg? Ronda Rousey against Cris Cyborg' Justino is match made in heaven. Both competitors expressed already their desire to fight each other in many occasions. Cyborg is the most feared fighter right now in the women's division, no disrespect to the current champion which is Amanda Nunes. Here's what Dana White have to say about the topic. "I know that Cyborg wants that fight. Ronda wants that fight, too. Ronda's plan right now is to come back and try to win her title back and if that happens, the Cyborg fight will definitely happen." Right now, UFC fans have to wait if the dream match will happen or Ronda Rousey will have to deal with defeat again. Watch Ronda Rousey's highlight fight below and check why she was the longest reigning champ in the women's division. Leaked photos or documents of upcoming gadgets and business partnerships are not unique. Sometimes they are released unintentionally. VMware may have committed an honest mistake. An evident press announcement was published online. A statement explaining the partnership of WMware and Amazon hit the internet temporarily. It was then taken down from the original site. This happened before the press conference previously set by the two companies. It is expected to be up again on the site after the official announcement. The Premature Press Statement VMware's Vice President for Product and Cloud Platform Business Unit Mark Lohmeyer has written what they call as VMware Cloud on AWS. It basically means VMware software are made available through Amazon's cloud service. According to the Geek Wire, organizations that use virtualization can now easily run applications on any AWS cloud environment. This is a good strategy for both IT company to bring virtualization and cloud together. If it actually works well, data centers will be provided with a better service. VMware says it will bring their Software-Defined Data Center (SDCC) infrastructure software along with the vSphere, VSAN and NSX across compute, network and storage. How Will It Affect VMware's Own vCloud Air? According to the Business Insider, VMware's vCloud Air will become an alternative for customers. The partnership means that they have the option to link their data centers to Amazon's cloud. VMware and Amazon won't have to compete this time. The VMWare Cloud on AWS will just add another service provider to a number of VMware's service providers. The Official Announcement AWS CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged the benefit of collaborating with VMware. During the official announcement, he said that it will now be easier for customers to operate a consistent and seamless hybrid IT environment. Jassy added that they will not already be required to buy custom hardware, rewrite their applications or modify their operating model. Geek Wire also reports that VMware and Amazon revealed their early customers include Western Digital and Sysco. Samsung has just announced a new set of financial incentives that it'll award to all Note 7 owners in its home country who exchange their device for other models in its lineup, including its flagship Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. Samsung Customers' Big Inconvenience "We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carriers and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times," said Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer, Samsung Electronics America. "We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right," Baxter added. In a statement, Samsung explained that the incentives are a form of compensation for the big inconvenience that consumers had to experience. Those who opt for a complete refund are being offered a 30,000 won ($27) coupon, while those who picked up another Samsung phone are guaranteed 70,000 won ($61) mobile credit. The move appears as Samsung finds itself in the unenviable position of trying to rebuild its brand in the wake of firing Galaxy Note 7s. The smartphone was quickly found to have a manufacturing defect that caused its battery to overheat, to smoke, burn up and explode. Trusting Samsung Again Choices about whether probably to offer some form of compensation to consumers for sticking with Samsung through the recall or not are being left to local sales. This compensation thing movement comes as Samsung finds itself in the unenviable position of trying to rebuild its brand in the wake of exploding Galaxy Note 7s, as well as the trust of all buyers and enthusiasts. The next smartphones need to be quickly examined if it has a manufacturing defect that caused its battery to overheat, the smartphone to smoke, and in some cases, burn up and explode. Samsung's latest move is clearly a desperate act to save its reputation, restore faith in clients that its other units won't explode and reassure them that the Galaxy Note 7 battery fiasco was a remote incident. Verizon Communications Inc. is reconsidering the planned purchase of Yahoo. This is revealed by a counsel for Verizon. It definitely has something to do with at least 500 million Yahoo accounts hacked revealed last month. Verizon Has A Reasonable Basis Craig Silliman, Verizon's general counsel, has recently talked about the impact of Yahoo's data breach. Verizon has a reasonable basis to believe that the email hack may affect a clause in their $4.83 billion deal with Yahoo. Silliman also revealed that they are looking into it. Whether or not they pursue on purchasing Yahoo depends on the result of their evaluation. Verizon Chief Executive Lowell McAdam disclosed that the investigation is 50 to 60 percent complete, according to The Washington Post. The clause says that Verizon can withdraw, according to Reuters. This is possible when an event occurs that could be detrimental to the business. He added that Yahoo has to establish that the said breach is not unfavorable. A Yahoo spokesman reassured that they are going to continue their negotiation with Verizon. Yahoo said that they are confident in its own value. Verizon's Acquisition Of Yahoo Silliman admitted that Verizon had already talked to Yahoo about the hacking. But the company may need more information before they could actually decide. Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo has been approved by the US Federal Trade Commission. However, it still requires approval from the European Commission. Silliman further said that the proxy is being reviewed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. A Cheaper Purchase For Verizon Analyst Roger Entner said that Verizon might be trying to acquire Yahoo for a cheaper price. He also mentioned that Yahoo should have properly disclosed the data breach. Now, Yahoo has to make sure that the negotiation will end well. They have to convince Verizon that they are still worth that much. Tuberculosis is a disease that is rated in the top 10 killers in the world today, ranking higher than HIV and Malaria. Although world governments have attempted to clamp down on this epidemic, recent studies show that the disease is spreading. The World Health Organization just released their 2016 Global Tuberculosis Report and their study shows that world governments are failing to meet their goals in reducing tuberculosis infections and fatalities. The paper blames poor reporting and lack of government funding for falling short in achieving the two main ambitions of curbing the epidemic. Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, cried out for more action from WHO countries to battle TB, as she released a statement regarding the report. "There must be a massive scale-up of efforts, or countries will continue to run behind this deadly epidemic and these ambitious goals will be missed," Dr. Chan said. "We face an uphill battle to reach the global targets for tuberculosis." In the 2014 World Health Assembly, world governments agreed that by 2030, countries in the assembly would reduce respiratory infection deaths by 90 percent, and reported respiratory infection cases by 80 percent, compared to the number compiled by 2015. Unfortunately, the data procured from the WHO global TB database showed that 1.8 million deaths were due to the disease, and even with India's improved reporting, the global index still had a 4.3 million gap between reported incidents (6.1 million) and estimated new cases (10.4 million). The death toll is 300,000 more than last year, according to PRI. Most of the tuberculosis cases estimated hail from the Asian region (61 percent), with the WHO African Region (26 percent) coming in second. Amongst countries, the top six are India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. These six nations amount to 60 percent of the global total, showing that developing countries are the most hampered by the disease. Lack of funding to fight tuberculosis was also noted to waylay the achievement of the goals set in 2014. The estimated amount for TB cure, prevention and investments fell almost $2 billion short, for developing countries, according to the report. "This gap will widen to $6 billion by 2020 if current levels of funding are not increased," the report warned. With low- and middle-income countries continually short on funding, most rely heavily on international assistance, with 75 percent of the finance coming from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. The USAID TB isn't helping, as the NPR reports that by 2017, the budget for TB will be at it's lowest since 2009. In recent decades, a chemical known as hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) have been proposed as an industrial alternative to chlorofluorocarbon (CFC). CFC has been used in the past as a component in running appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners. The switch was due to CFC having been found as destructive to ozone layers, a region of Earth's stratosphere that protects people from harmful radiation. As such, HFC took its place and the alternative was a success. HFC Ban Due To Worsening Global Warming Just this year, scientists monitoring the ozone layer found signs of "the first fingerprint of healing." While the HFC did a great job of substituting CFC, it too came with its own negative side effect, said the Daily Mail. The organic compound is a thousand times better at retaining heat in the atmosphere compared to its predecessor, exacerbating global warming at an alarming rate. In addition, the compound is also the fastest growing greenhouse gas to date as the demand for air conditioning spiked up by 10-15 percent annually in rising economies. To curb the global threat that climate change poses, 150 countries are to meet in Kigali to talk about banning the use of chlorofluorocarbon. This issue has been given added urgency following the Paris climate change agreement, an accord focusing on slowing down global temperature rises below 2 Centigrade, or possibly 1.5 Centigrade, this century. "It's a big piece, these are the fastest growing greenhouse gases right now, although they are still a small percentage," said Durwood Zaelke, from the Institute for Government and Sustainable Development. "But an amendment could bend the curve down quickly and take out 100 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by midcentury, and by the end of the century you'll avoid up to half a degree of warming." Problems Between Emerging and Developed Countries Unfolds Amidst HFC Banning However, it seems that a specific year has yet to be decided as nations including the U.S. and U.N. are wanting 2021 as the peak year of usage. India, on the other hand, proposes a much later date of 2031 as it's the biggest manufacturer of the gases. There are negative impacts in both opting for early or late responses. An early peak will address the climate change issue faster but will cost more in terms of funding, particularly among poorer nations, according to BBC. An ideal approach would be to take the early phase so that emerging economies don't settle for the existing option but would choose to pick a more advanced and sustainable alternative. There are a lot of replacement gases that are being looked into including ammonia, hydrocarbons, and ironically enough, CO2. Toyota Motor Corporation is pulling out the Prius from the market after a potentially dangerous problem connected to the parking brake was discovered. Toyota has decided to recall all 2016 and 2017 models of the Prius made from August 2015 to October 2016. Unfortunately for the Japanese car maker, a total of 340,000 units of the car company's flagship hybrid are involved in this move. This number includes an estimated 92,000 from the United States while 17,000 in Europe and 212,000 in Japan were also recalled. Toyota came to the decision after receiving reports of crashes resulting from the parking brake malfunctioning. According to such reports, people were injured and some were even killed because of the failing brakes. After conducting their own thorough investigation into the claims, Toyota did not encounter any crashes that resulted in injury and death. They did, however, finally pinpoint the cause of the failing parking brakes. They discovered that the brake cable sometimes disengaged without warning. When this happens, the brakes become ineffective allowing the car to roll down. Because of the results of their investigation, Toyota came upon a "diligent but not exhaustive review" and decided that calling back the cars involved was for everyone's best interest. The controversy comes amidst the heels of the unfortunate death of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin who was pinned to death by his 2015 Grand Cherokee which rolled down his driveway. This isn't the first time that Toyota was involved in controversy. Back in 2009, millions of Toyota brands were recalled for various reasons. Floor mat problem and break override were the reason cited for the total of 4.2 million vehicles recalled on Nov 2. In January 2010, another 2.3 million were recalled due to faulty accelerator pedals while another 1.1 million followed. According to Bloomberg, 6 million cars were recalled due to a variety of defects. For years, the elephant population has seen a sickening decline due to poaching activities, which result in thousands of killed animals, all for the sake of acquiring their tusks. This illegal ivory trade has seen an upward spike a decade ago, the worst that Africa has experienced since the '70s and '80s. Government Agencies Need To Increase Effort To Curb Poaching Activities Even with the effort of conservationists tightening their vigilance at guarding the elephants, poachers aren't deterred and are even increasingly penetrating wildlife reserves, according to the Panda. While governments, both local and international, are involving themselves in stopping the trade it still has a lot of room for improvement. "Lack of political will is a key factor in the ongoing poaching of Central Africa's forest elephants," Lamine Sebogo, World Wildlife Fund African Elephant Program Leader, said. "The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has just given Gabon and Cameroon - two of the last bastions of forest elephants - 30 days to report on the progress of their national ivory action plans or face sanctions. But all countries in the region must urgently ramp up efforts to save this species," the program leader added. While it seems that the elephants are on the losing side of this battle, a recent arrest of a significant individual has sparked some life into the movement of the animal's preservation, reported the New Yorker. Park Rangers Capture Significant Player In The Ivory Trade Earlier this year, a group of newly trained rangers was scouting the Ndoki River when they happened on a poachers' camp just at the edges of the park. Upon detection, the poachers opened fire with AK-47s. The rangers immediately implemented small-unit tactics and quickly fanned the camp, firing back at the poachers as they did. The skirmish ended with the rangers taking over the encampment, recovering elephant tusks, high-powered weapons, and six empty magazine clips. As they did not manage to capture the poachers, they promptly contacted a rapid-reaction unit to block roadways to limit possible escape routes. While the roadblock didn't apprehend the fleeing poachers, they did catch a man named Samuel Pembele. Park officials say that Pembele plays a major role in one of the most notorious ivory-trafficking groups operating in Northern Congo, a group called 2Pac. Pembele will go on Trial on November 15 with charges of killing endangered species. Mark Gatley, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Congo program, said that due to increasing pressure from poachers, Nouabale-Ndoki had been forced to "professionalize and better arm the park's rangers." He also attributed the rangers' success as a result of having better equipment that allows real-time communication in the field. Another reason would be the valiant effort of a new wildlife crime unit in Quesso helmed by Jean-Robert Onononga, a Congolese wildlife biologist. Onononga and his team conduct covert operations against poaching rings, as well as tracking court cases to ensure that the poachers come to justice. "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 has been highly anticipated by fans especially with Nina Dobrev's expected return. However, the said return remains unconfirmed. With very little information about Dobrev's comeback, speculations arise that she might be replaced by someone else. Would it be her doppelganger Victoria Justice or a fellow vampire Kristen Stewart? Since Dobrev's return seems to be in a blur, rumors are rife that the producers of "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 are considering getting her replacement. With that, Kristen Stewart's name surfaced as a possible alternative. Rumors claim that Stewart's vampire franchise "Twilight" made her fit for the role. It was reported that the actress is in negotiations with showrunner and creator Julie Plec as well as the CW to make a cameo role for some episodes in the upcoming Season 8 of "The Vampire Diaries." It was also rumored that Stewart's experience and success with her vampire flick is a major advantage. However, there has been no confirmation yet whether Stewart's appearance on the show will come to fruition or not. Another name that has surfaced to take Dobrev's place is her doppelganger, Victoria Justice. The actress has been rumored to replace Dobrev's role for quite a while now. In fact, fans have been considering the actress even before Dobrev's official exit in the show. Victoria Justice is known to be Dobrev's look-alike in Hollywood. In fact, Us Weekly once made a story about Dobrev and put a photo of Victoria. The actress took it positively, saying, "I've never really had a doppelganger in my life, so this is like my first experience with this thing," Victoria quipped. "I thought that was hilarious the fact [US Weekly] put a picture of me thinking it was her." However, despite the similarities in appearance, the alleged replacement never really materialized in the past. There has been no confirmation as well whether it will be a possibility in the upcoming season too. For now, fans of "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 will have to wait for its official announcement about Dobrev's highly anticipated return. Google's Chrome browser is regarded as the world's best with its versatile and feature-rich ecosystem. Chrome has plenty of extensions from third-party sites that make browsing very easy. Google's web browser is also user-friendly which makes it a top choice among consumers that frequently visit the web. Chrome's major problem? It hogs a lot of memory that make PCs slow down. Chrome's Memory Problem There are plenty of users who simultaneously open multiple tabs when they browse using Chrome. This practice usually leads to Chrome taking a lot of computer memory that should have been used for other services and programs that run within the computer itself. But in the coming months, Google is planning to release an update that will help lessen the RAM consumption on computers. With the update, Google will be able to give PCs an instant turbo boost for free and reduce the memory footprint the browser eats up for each tab that is open. The company has already tested the Chrome 55 update and showed an impressive reduction in memory consumption by around 35 to 50 percent thanks to an upgraded JavaScript engine. Google's Solution: Chrome 55 Using the updated Chrome 55, users will be able to keep more tabs open and have multiple apps running in the background without actually affecting the computer's performance. Opening multiple tabs in Chrome has been a usual problem for consumers because it sometimes slows down the performance of PCs. The update is also geared for those who usually open multiple tabs in Chrome and forget to close them for a while. Chrome rose up to its fame as the world's best browser after Microsoft's Internet Explorer took a plunge in the market share of traffic networks. Still, IE holds the second spot for browsers who holds the most traffic at 41.3 percent. Google Chrome beats IE at 41.6 percent traffic. The rest of the traffic are shared by browsers like Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Konqueror. The Chrome 55 update will be released on Dec. 6 to replace the current public version, Chrome 53. Just not so long ago, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was hailed as the "finest" phone in the world, but since the device was discontinued, the title has been held by Apple's iPhone 7. But now, two new phones are on the scene to steal the show. Internet giant Google has launched two new smartphones, the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL. Buyers, however, do not need to panic when determining which one of the two phones that Google has launched is better. Unlike the iPhone 7, the only obvious difference between the two is their screens, with one having a 5.5-inch screen, while the other had a smaller 5-inch panel. Aside from that, the hardware and internals of the device are identical. The Display And Camera Compared to the reigning world's finest phone, the iPhone 7, the Google Pixel has a larger and crisper display. The iPhone 7, however, has 3D Touch functionality. Screen-wise, the iPhone7's LCD panel loses to the Google Pixel's AMOLED display. The Google Pixel and the iPhone 7's cameras are pretty much neck-in-neck, with both having 12 MP rear sensors. The iPhone 7, however, has a wider aperture. The Google Pixel makes up for this, however, with a far better front camera, which is lauded as one of the best. The Hardware And Software Google Pixel and iPhone 7 both have quad-core processors, but the Google Pixel has more RAM support. The Google Pixel also has a bigger battery capacity. The iPhone 7 has a very notable advantage, however, in the form of the device's waterproofing capabilities. The operating systems of the two devices could be no more different, with the Google Pixel running Vanilla Android and the iPhone 7 running iOS. Both devices also have personal assistants. What Makes The Google Pixel And Google Pixel XL The World's Finest Phones? These phones are true flagship devices, which means that they will be the first in line for security and software updates, which will download automatically in the background should you wish. They will also be the first phones to come with the with the Google Assistant built in. The Google Pixels marks another first too, as they are the first phones that are compatible with Google's new Daydream virtual reality platform. The state of Qatar gave a check for $1 million to former president Bill Clinton as a gift for his birthday in 2012, as reported by an email published by WikiLeaks. Julian Assanges whistleblowing organization took this document from the email of Hillary Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta. Donations From Qatar and Saudi Arabia Apparently, the director of foreign policy for the Clinton Foundation, Ami Desai, knew about this situation and told several other staffers about the check, according to the International Business Times. Desai was then meeting with ambassadors from Malawi, Rwanda, Brazil, Peru and Qatar, to discuss philanthropic and financial strategies for the Clinton Foundation. "[Qatar] would like to see WJC 'for five minutes' in NYC, to present $1 million check that Qatar promised for WJC's birthday in 2011. Qatar would welcome our suggestions for investments in Haiti - particularly on education and health. They have allocated most of their $20 million but are happy to consider projects we suggest. I'm collecting input from CF Haiti team," the correspondence read. The email was addressed to top aides Justin Cooper and Doug Band, former foundation COO Laura Graham and board chairman Bruce Lindsey, as reported by the Daily Mail. This foundation has been criticized many times by the Republican Party because of donations received from foreign governments such as Saudi Arabia. WikiLeaks To Influence U.S. Presidential Elections WikiLeaks has published more than 10,000 emails from the personal inbox of Podesta. The leaks have included information about Hillary Clinton that could be very harmful to her campaign, according to political strategists and analysts. For example, it was known that Podesta suggested that she stop her attacks on Bernie Sanders during the primaries, since he believed that they could count on his voters' support later. Also, her relations with Goldman Sachs was also revealed, which could allegedly aid the Clinton Foundation. However, the most delicate information revealed by these emails is that she might know about the clandestine funding that Qatar and Saudi Arabia was offering to the Islamic State. Although Democrats have discredited the reliability of these documents and blamed Russia for "weaponised" WikiLeaks, it is unknown how this situation could influence the presidential elections. There are mixed trends with regard to the state of religious freedom in Vietnam. The most significant differences between these trends, said U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein, is primarily between rural and urban areas. Religious groups still face onerous registration requirements in order to legally operate, and authorities continue to deny legal recognition to numerous groups. Over the past year, however, authorities have granted several religious groups national-level recognition. While traditionally wary of religious communities providing social services, recent government statements have supported such activities. For example, local authorities in Hanoi have partnered with evangelical house churches to provide drug rehabilitation services. While this trend is much more encouraging in the cities, many individuals in some rural and ethnic minority areas still face great challenges when seeking to exercise their freedom of religion, particularly those belonging to unregistered religious groups. Saperstein noted that local officials in many areas continue to harass, detain, and intimidate individuals gathering for worship at independent meeting points, and refuse to provide many groups with legal registration. Ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands region, often called Montagnards, are one such example. On a recent visit to the Central Highlands, Ambassador Saperstein noted that after his meetings, police detained some of the local religious leaders who had met with him. Such harassment is unacceptable, said Ambassador Saperstein. Despite these concerning incidents, the government of Vietnam has made progress in other areas. Notably, said Saperstein, there is a new law on religion and belief under consideration in Vietnam. Under current regulations, nearly all religious activities require advanced approval by the government. There are indications that some provisions in the new draft law move away from a restrictive approval-based system towards a notification-based system. Under this new model, a religious group would simply notify government officials of a planned activity instead of being required to secure formal approval. Saperstein views this reform, if enacted, as an important step forward. The U.S. government will continue to encourage Vietnam to move its laws and practices in a direction that will ease restrictions upon individuals on account of their religious beliefs. Everyone should be entitled to religious freedom no matter where they live. The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Japans SoftBank Group are creating a new global tech investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the largest in the entire world. The fund will be based in London with a working title of the "Softbank Vision Fund," and could be the biggest investor in the technology sector over the next decade. Other Investors To Be Part Of The $100 Billion Fund According to the International Business Times, SoftBank is set to invest at least $25 million in the next 5 years and Saudi Arabia PIF will be investing $45 million in the same period, while the remaining account would come from some large global investors who also want to be part of this lucrative deal. Apparently, the reason behind this move is Saudi Arabias intentions to make millionaires' business into non-oil industries, considering the problems that its economy is having due to low oil prices. SoftBank, for its part, seeks to become a global tech leader. "With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally. Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector. We will further accelerate the Information Revolution by contributing to its development," SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son said in a statement. SoftBank And Saudi Arabia PIF Are Natural Partners The Japanese company has been diversifying its own investment in the last years, acquiring web services such as Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan, in addition to the U.K. semiconductor firm ARM Holdings last month. Saudi Arabia PIF also made its move earlier this year, investing $3.5 billion in U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber, which was a total surprise for everyone. According to Reuters, this project will be led for SoftBank by Rajeev Misra, the group's head of strategic finance. The two nations are natural partners in their ambitions, and its investment might represent a huge step forward for technology and business. Theres never been a better time to give Linux a try. Wait, dont slam on that back button! Im not one of those rabid Year of the Linux desktop types. Windows works just fine for hundreds of millions of people, andsorry, Linux loverstheres little to suggest Linux usage will ever be more than a rounding error compared to Microsofts behemoth. That said, there are some pretty compelling reasons you might want to consider switching to Linux on your computer, or at least give it a hassle-free trial run. 1. Windows 10s taking away your choices Bear with me. This may seem off-topic, but its the crux of the issue for a lot of people. Linuxs most alluring feature for many wont be anything that Linux actually does, but what it doesnt do. And its all due to Microsofts folly. Windows 10 may be the best Windows ever (and I use it daily on my primary PC) but Microsofts pulled some tricks that range from questionable to downright gross in order to drive its adoption numbers higher, and to coax you into using the myriad Microsoft services and paid upgrades baked into the operating system. On a Windows 8.1 PC. Mostly full screen pop-up. No clear No thanks button, just download Windows 10 now or later. pic.twitter.com/RRoaFMST9r Brad Chacos (@BradChacos) December 11, 2015 It began with endless pop-ups on Windows 7 and 8.1 PCspop-ups that started innocently enough before crossing the line into deceptive malware-like tactics. When that didnt boost adoption numbers high enough, it morphed into nastier tricks and full-on forced upgrades that prompted some fearful owners to disable Windows updates completely rather than be pushed into Microsofts new operating system. More recently, the Windows 10 Anniversary Update bundled some severe negatives in with its plentiful positives. The Cortana digital assistant, which pings Bing servers whenever you search your PC, is damned near impossible to disable completely now. And when I upgraded my primary PC to the Windows 10 AU, I discovered that all of the settings related to the many ways Windows 10 pushes ads at you were re-enabled, after Id explicitly disabled them prior. None of my other system settings appear to have been touched. Yuck. LumpyMayoBNI via Reddit Eventually, Microsoft began pushing Windows 10 out as a Recommended upgrade, forcibly installing it on some systems. Whats more, Windows 10 changed the way it handles updates to more closely resemble mobile operating systems. You cant pick and choose which patches to install, or even refuse updates on consumer operating systems. If Microsoft pushes a Windows 10 update, you will receive it eventually. The company also tweaked the way Windows 7 and 8 handle patching. Now, you can no longer choose which individual updates to install; you have to take the whole kit and caboodle. By default, Windows 10 beams much more of your data back to Microsoft than previous Windows versions as well. Most of it can be disabled, but most people dont dive that far into system settings. Lots of people are still plenty happy with Windows 10, dont get me wrong. But these moves are also ruffling the feathers of a lot of users. At the same time 2. Linux is more polished than ever Most major Linux distributions never abandoned the basic principles of the desktop. While Microsoft enraged the world with the Windows 8 disaster, popular Linux distros like Fedora and Linux Mint kept their heads down and spit-polished the traditional PC interface. Linux Mint with the MATE desktop environment. For people used to Windows XP and Windows 7, some Linux distros may be easier to wrap your head around than Windows 8 and 10both of which have a learning curve, just like switching to Linux. Linux Mints Start menu bears much more similarity to the traditional Windows Start menus than Windows 10s Live Tile-infused alternative, thats for sure. Better yet, Linuxs dark days of rampant incompatibility with PC hardwareespecially networking and audio componentshave largely been eradicated. Most Linux operating systems just plain work with a wide swathe of modern PCs and PC hardware, though you may need to perform a few extra steps to install Linux on a PC with Intels Secure Boot enabled. Better yet, you can test Linux distros on your PC before actually installing them, so youll know whether everything works. Well get into that a bit later though. The key point, however, is that Linux is no longer a janky, broken mess useful only to dyed-in-the-wool geeks anymore. There are numerous polished, refined distros that anybody can pick up and use. 3. Open-source software is, too The qualityor lack thereofof open-source software was another longtime bugbear for Linux. No more. These days, Linux houses superb alternatives to all of the most-used Windows software, from Office rivals (Libre Office) to Photoshop alternatives (GIMP) to media players (VLC). That trio alone covers the typical software usage of many households, and PCWorlds guide to the best open-source software for everyday PC users features many more. Many top-notch video games even call Linux home now thanks to the arrival of Valves Linux-powered Steam Machines. Playing copy-protected movies and music used to be another major Linux headache. Once again, thats no longer the case. VLC will run virtually anything you throw at it, while Chrome (and Firefox soon) support streaming videos from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Chrome for Linux playing Netflix on Ubuntu. Oh Archer, youre so silly! But standard PC usage for a lot of people revolves around the webchecking Facebook, slinging email, browsing YouTube and Amazon, et cetera. Naturally, those all work just fine on Chrome and Firefox in Linux. The browsers work the exact same as they do on Windows. The modern Linux ecosystem can handle everything you throw at it, and handle it well (though hardcore gamers may still want to keep a copy of Windows handy). And did I mention most of the software available for Linux is free, too? Just like 4. Linux is free Hey, it is. Not only does that make it relatively risk-free to try, but it also means you wont need to spend $100 on a Windows license if youre building a PC from scratch or upgrading an old computer. 5. Linux runs great on old PCs Windows XP was tossed to the wolves long ago, and Windows Vistas end is rapidly drawing near. But hundreds of millions of people rely on PCs that are several years old. Installing Linux not only plops an up-to-date (and updated) operating system on your PC, it can breathe new life into your computer if you choose a lightweight distro designed for aging PCs, such as Puppy Linux or Lubuntu (a.k.a. Lightweight Ubuntu). The transition doesnt have to be painful, either. There are numerous easy Linux alternatives designed for Windows XP refugees. These distros offer dedicated Windows XP Modes that mimic the look and feel of Microsofts most venerable operating system. 6. Linux is easy to try Okay, okay, Ive sold you. Youre ready to test-drive Linux. Fortunately, Linux is dead simple to try. You dont even have to ditch Windows if youre feeling hesitant. Before you install a Linux distro on your PCs hard drive, I suggest giving your chosen operating system a whirl with a live drive or live DVD. With live drives, you install a bootable system of a Linux distro to a DVD or flash drive, then configure your PC to boot from that rather than your hard drive. It takes minimal muss and fuss, lets you try several Linux operating systems quickly, and doesnt touch the Windows installation on your primary storage drive. PCWorlds tutorial on creating a bootable Linux flash drive can help you set one up. But which Linux operating system should you try? Our guide to the best Linux distros for beginners can guide your decision. Personally, I think Linux Mint provides the best experience for experimental Windows users, because it mixes Ubuntus flexible approach to closed-source software with a Windows-like interface. Using Linux shouldnt be too much of a hassle, especially if you opt for an operating system with a Windows-like Start menu, but there are several core differences. Read our beginners guide to Linux to go in with both eyes open, and dont be afraid to ask questions if you run into a problem. Most major Linux distros offer an online forum with dedicated help sections. Installing Ubuntu Linux alongside Windows. If you decide you like Linux, you can use the same live drive (or disc) to install your new operating system on your hard drive. You can keep Windows on your PC if youd like, too. PCWorlds guide to dual-booting Linux and Windows explains everything you need to know. And again, if you run into pesky Secure Boot errors while trying to install your Linux OS of choice, refer to our primer on installing Linux on PCs with Secure Boot. See? That wasnt so hard. If youre running an older PC with limited hardware or a dead OS, or if youre irked at some of Microsofts recent decisions around Windows 10, theres no reason not to give Linux a try. You might just like what you findespecially if you spend most of your digital life in a browser and productivity suite. Social media is more than posts of cat videos and political rants as Facebook showed by getting hundreds of thousands of people to register to vote this fall. "Facebook has demonstrated the power of social media to engage more people to register to vote, helping thousands take a big step to casting a ballot this November," said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla in a statement. "For many who may be new to the political process, an invitation to register can be a powerful nudge to get involved." Facebook dove into the voter registration process this fall. On Sept. 23, Facebook sent reminders to its U.S. users, who were at least 18 years old, about registering to vote. The effort, which ran through Sept. 26, provided a link to voter registration sites at the top of Facebook's News Feed. According to Padilla, it caused a "major surge" in online voter registrations in California. The state reported that on Sept. 23 alone, 123,279 Californians completed registrations or updates of their registration information on the Secretary of State's online voter registration site. The next day another 43,888 registrations were completed online, and on the 25th, there were 29,256 more registrations or updates. Padilla said that before the Facebook reminder went up, there was an average of 9,307 completed registrations or registration updates per day in September, and many of those registering were younger voters. California reported that 23.8% of these registrations and updates were from people between 17 and 25 years old. Another 29.7% were between ages 26 and 35. Facebook, which has provided users with Election Day reminders for the past eight years, wanted to do more this year to encourage voter registrations. "Going back to 2008, we've been reminding people on Facebook to vote on Election Day and directing them to information on where to vote," Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook's product manager for civic engagement said in an email to Computerworld. "This is the natural next step. We want people to have a voice in the process, and getting registered means that there's one less hurdle for them." Facebook wasn't the only social network to get in on the election process. On Sept. 26, Google's doodle encouraged voter registration, and Instagram had a voter registration push similar to parent company's Facebook's effort. Facebook's efforts definitely got the most attention. The Center for Electronic Innovation & Research, a new organization focused on increasing voter engagement, said that almost every state reporting data showed a "massive increase" in total online voter registration activity on Sept. 23 the day Facebook's effort began -- compared to a week earlier. The spikes in voter registration generally lasted through that weekend. In Rhode Island, more than a third of the users of its online registration system, which went live on Aug. 1, came during the last week in September, according to the center. In Colorado, there were 2,996 online voter registrations on Sept. 22, but that number jumped to 20,172 the following day, when Facebook's vote registration drive kicked off. In Alabama, online registrants went from 896 on Sept. 22 to 20,246 on Sept. 23. Pennsylvania, a battleground state, had its online registrations jump from 5,432 to 21,013 on the same days. Georgia, which also largely credited Facebook, reported a 2,255% increase in visits to its online voter registration system on Sept. 23 compared to registrations on the same day the year before. This is the first year that Georgia residents can register to vote or update their information online, via text, or by using a smartphone app. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. ELKO An Idaho man suspected of murdering a Ryndon woman, whose decapitated body was found by a hunter Sept. 4 in a shallow grave off Mountain City Highway, appeared in Elko Justice Court Wednesday. The criminal complaint was filed Oct. 11 and brings forth the use of a deadly weapon, such as a hammer. It alleges Jose de Jesus Segundo-Huizar, 46, of Jerome, committed the alleged crimes on or about Aug. 24, either near a residence in Ryndon or a location near Mountain City Highway. Count one charges first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon; count two second-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon; count three burglary with the possession of a deadly weapon; count four kidnapping in the first-degree with the use of a deadly weapon, resulting in substantial bodily harm; count five child abuse; and count six alleges concealing or destroying the evidence at the commission of a felony. As the listed offenses are felonies and a gross misdemeanor, Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons could not take a plea. Five counts are connected to the victim Carmen Magallanes-Sanchez. There is also an allegation that there was use of a deadly weapon the defendant struck Carmen on or near the head and or other part of her body, as yet unknown, with a hammer or similar object, and or the defendant decapitated Carmen with a knife or similar object, and in some manner and means yet unknown, said Simons. Segundo-Huizars statement to law enforcement included the suspect claiming he hit the victim with a hammer, said Undersheriff Ron Supp. We did locate some evidence along Mountain City Highway we did find a hammer and some other things, said Supp. Authorities believe it appears Segundo-Huizar threw some items out of his vehicle, when making his way back to Idaho. These objects need to be sent to the Washoe County Crime Lab to verify they were used in the offense or offenses. The child abuse charge supposedly involved a victim with the initials A.A. The child, who is thought to be 9 months old, was alleged to have been left in a crib for approximately 12 hours. Public Defender Kriston Hill said Segundo-Huizar waived his right to a preliminary hearing within 15 days. District Attorney Tyler Ingram said the State anticipates approximately the same amount of witnesses as in the Donald Fleming preliminary hearing it could take two days as an interpreter is needed in this case. Several of the witnesses are from Idaho. Ingram said the matter is somewhat complicated by the fact Idaho State Police were involved. Deputy District Attorney David Buchler will be prosecuting the case with Ingram. The murder suspect was arrested Oct. 3, after showing Elko County Sheriffs detectives where the womans head was buried. Sheriff Jim Pitts suggested there was an altercation between the pair, where Segundo-Huizar pushed the victim. Detectives have been working on the case since Magallanes-Sanchez, 34, was reported missing Aug. 24 by her boyfriend, said Pitts. The preliminary hearing is set for the end of November. Segundo-Huizars defense said he is in the United States legally. The sheriffs office identified the body of Magallanes-Sanchez through fingerprints on Sept. 15. The grave was approximately 30 miles north of Elko just off of Mountain City Highway. The body was exhumed from the site and sent to the Washoe County Medical Examiners Office. Oct. 13 Heather J. Barker, 38, of West Wendover was arrested at the Elko County Jail for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $365 Camron G. Benware, 36, of Mesa, Arizona, was arrested at 467 S. Sixth St. for domestic battery. Bail: $3,140 Laura J. Evans, 48, of Elko was arrested at 2001 Errecart Blvd. for violation of probation or condition of suspension. No bail listed. Gentre E. Gonzales, 51, of Pico Rivera, California, was arrested at the Elko County Jail for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. No bail listed. Tylar J. Tower, 21, of Spring Creek was arrested at Lamoille Highway for headlamps not illuminated when required and DUI. Bail: $1,255 City: Vote no on marijuana Question 2 Editor: It is highly unusual for the Elko City Council to weigh in on a statewide ballot question, but Question 2 is one that deserves special attention. This measure would allow for the legalization of recreational marijuana sales on a statewide basis. There is no provision for cities and counties to opt out, or prohibit the sale of recreational marijuana if Question 2 passes in Nevada. In Elko, our law enforcement and courts already struggle with an over-abundance of drug-related crime. Advocates of Question 2 argue that legalization of marijuana will enable law enforcement to focus on hard drugs and free up resources to pursue more serious crimes. However, this has not been the case in Colorado, as the legalization of pot has brought new issues to their doorstep. There has been a marked increase in marijuana DUI arrests and robberies at the retail marijuana sales outlets (marijuana is a Category 1 drug and is illegal at the federal level, thus it is a strictly cash business). Another unintended consequence has been an increase in the homeless population. For those that have not given much consideration to the issue, it is important to realize that modern marijuana is a powerful, genetically modied drug that carries exponentially higher levels of THC (the chemical that is responsible for the drugs psychological effects). Passage of Question 2 will mean that in addition to the traditional smokable product, there will also be marijuana-laced candies. Legalization of marijuana sends a signal to our children that drug use is acceptable behavior and it opens the door to experimentation through the increased availability of the drug. The only winners in this proposed initiative are the pot-trepreneurs that stand to profit from a new industry with huge profit potential. The big losers will be taxpayers and our children, who will be faced with a new set of adult decisions about drug use. It is also imperative to note that as the capital of the gold mining industry, recreational marijuana will place a larger burden on mine safety. This initiative is so potentially harmful to our state that it has wide bi-partisan opposition among our state and federal elected officials. Our own Elko Chief of Police recognizes the perils of legalized pot and the danger that it poses to our communitys health and safety. Please join the Elko City Council in voting NO on Question 2. Mayor Chris Johnson and the Elko City Council Reddit Email 71 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Bob Dylan would no doubt be as distressed as the American corporate media to see an ideological interpretation of his 1960s anthems that helped win him the Nobel Prize in Literature. Especially after his 1966 motorcycle accident and retreat to Woodstock and domesticity, Dylan turned inward, exploring an internal life of ethical values and love and rejection of political cynicism (as with All along the Watchtower). But the early 60s were a different matter. Since the mass media wont tell you Dylan was in his youth a leftist or that some of his greatest work came out of a critique of our corporation-dominated, unequal, militaristic and racist society, it is important to underline it lest the celebration of his masterpieces become merely maudlin and sentimental (and he would hate that outcome, too). After a brief stint at the University of Minnesota, the small town Midwestern youth arrived in NYCs East Village in 1960 and joined the coffeehouse scene. That scene had been the incubator of the Beats (Jack Kerouacs post-War Beatitude movement influenced by Be-Bop and jazz and Omar Khayyam). It was also a scene for jazz. But in the late 50s coffeehouse performers began turning to folk, and Dylan arrived in New York during that transition. As Brian Lloyd* has argued, he brought with him a blues and rockabilly sensibility gained from listening to music drifting up from the Delta. (Elvis was a much bigger influence than most observers realize). Lloyd writes that in Greenwich Village, living with his leftist girlfriend Suze Rotolo, Dylan came under her influence and came in contact with organic intellectuals who turned him on to books. He says, Suze Rotolo, his lover during this period, introduced him to art galleries, off-Broadway plays, New Wave films, Living Theater productions, Brecht and Rimbaud and to the world of civil rights and ban-the-bomb activism (Rotolo 199 213, 233 35; Dylan, Chronicles 268 70). It is important to underline Rotolo as his intellectual guide in this period. It wasnt just guys who made the counterculture. The profound influence on him of the Left (Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weills Pirate Jenny was a revelation to him) and of the American Left (Woody Guthrie had strong Communist ties even if he wasnt a Party member and his song This Land is My Land, This Land is Your Land is a Marxist hymn) cannot be disregarded. Pirate Jenny from the Threepenny Opera is about a maids imaginary revenge on the class system that oppresses her. Other influences were Pete Seeger, who was hauled before the House Un-American Activities Committee and Dave von Ronk, a Trotskyite. Ron Radosh+ has argued that when Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, Seeger was distressed because he interpreted it as a bid to enter the market of capitalist consumerism. But he was hurt precisely because Dylan had been his protege. Anti-war beat poet Allen Ginsburg on hearing Dylan is said to have been satisfied that the counterculture would continue into the next generation. Dylan, being on the left, attacked the far Right John Birch Society in a song (the Society was an incubator for the Goldwater campaign and then the rise of the New Right). In 1963 he was booked to appear on the enormously influential Ed Sullivan Show (The Voice of its day), but when he was forbidden to sing Talkin John Birch Paranoid Blues, he walked out rather than accept censorship. Now I am going to do a riff on one of Dylans more radical songs, Blowin in the Wind, updating it for 2016. Because I dont think it can be read by this generation as it was intended the context has changed too much. The US had demobilized after the Korean War, and the looming Vietnam War was not viewed by the Left and by youth as normal (we now have a set of standing wars, so 60s anti-war sentimentas an insistence on return to normalcy cant even be imagined anymore). African-Americans still lived under Jim Crow and people were arrested for sitting at white lunch counters. Dylans strong sense of social justice, imbibed in part from his close-knit Midwestern Jewish community (ancestors came from Odessa and Turkey) and from the Hebrew Bible, and in part from the influence on him of the New York Left intellectuals, spoke to my generation viscerally, because we could read his poetic metaphors as allusions to a real set of crises. I know the below is too on the nose, and you shouldnt mess with a classic, but just hear me out and maybe weep a little for how far backward we went from Dylans youthful vision of a better future. Blown in the Wind (with apologies to Bob Dylan): How many roads must aliens walk down Before they become citizens? How many seas must a white dove sail till peace in Afghanistan? Yes, and how many times must the unmanned drones fly Before theyre forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind The answer is blowin in the wind Yes, and how many years can our seashores exist Before theyre washed to the sea? Yes, and how many years can women exist Before theyre allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesnt see? The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind The answer is blowin in the wind You get the idea. Peter, Paul and Mary Blowing in the Wind Notes * Brian Lloyd (2014) The Form is the Message: Bob Dylan and the 1960s, Rock Music Studies, 1:1, 58-76, DOI: 10.1080/19401159.2013.876756 + Ron Radosh, The Communist Partys Role in the Folk Revival: From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan, American Communist History Vol. 14, Issue 1. Date: 20/15/1/2/ Pages: 3-19. Over a year ago even before the first GOP presidential debate I wrote a column titled Trump Fever: Catch It! So Ive been a Donald Trump supporter for a long time. As such, I was certainly not a happy camper when a number of Republican elected officials recently withdrew their support from Trump over a leaked conversation that included locker room talk which actually pales by comparison to just about any Lisa Lampanelli comedy routine. One of those elected officials was Nevada Congressman Joe Heck, who is now running for Harry Reids U.S. Senate seat. In response, many Trump supporters are now saying they wont vote for Dr. Heck. And believe me, I get it. I had the exact same initial reaction. However Just like if you dont vote for Trump youre voting for Hillary, if you dont vote for Heck youre voting for Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto-Reid. And if she wins, that has potential consequences every bit as horrific as putting Crooked Hillary back in the White House. The fact is Republicans have only a slim majority in the U.S. Senate right now. And if you look at the electoral map, whichever party wins the Nevada seat could very well be the party that controls the majority when the Election Day smoke clears. If Masto-Reid wins, that means uber-liberal New York Sen. Chuck Schumer could be the next Senate Majority Leader. And if Trump wins, that means Schumer will bottle up all of the reforms and changes Republicans otherwise would be able to make. On the other hand, if Hillary wins that means Schumer will grease her agenda through the Senate the same way Reid did for Obama. Remember, thats how we got ObamaCare! Worse, Clinton and Schumer will be filling SUPREME COURT vacancies. And if we lose the Supreme Court, that wont just be a problem for our nation over the next four years, but for the next FORTY. Folks, if you dont vote for Heck and he loses, that means he gets to return to his private life as a very successful physician. But you and I will be stuck with Masto-Reid for the next six years, and possibly Majority Leader Schumer. So in reality, we wont really be hurting Dr. Heck so much as ourselves, Nevada and possibly the entire nation. Yeah, its a crummy hand. But at this late date and under these circumstances, those are the cards we have to play. Its too late to reshuffle the deck for this election cycle. On the other hand, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, Sen. Dean Heller and Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison all of whom fled the kitchen when it got too hot could well be on a GOP primary ballot in 2018. And that will be the right time and place to return the favor. #NeverForget. Reddit Email 0 Shares By TeleSur | After a series of violent attacks and recrimination, an esteemed Muslim academic flees the U.S. Abdul Aziz returned home from school last week, his face bruised, his body battered, after schoolmates punched him in the face, kicked him in the stomach, and twisted his arm while chanting Muslim. Aziz is 7. For the boys mother, Binish Bhagwanee, this was the final straw. Im done with the U.S., she told her husband, Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani Friday., according to the Huffington Post. The first grader is the North Carolina couples youngest child, who has been left traumatized by the incident. He was born and raised (in the United States). He was born in Florida. As American as you can think of. He likes Captain America. He wants to be president of the United States of America, Usmani told The Huffington Post Tuesday, speaking over Skype from Pakistan, where the family has since fled. Usmanis middle son, who is 8 years old, also returned home from school one day recently, distraught by a classmates ridicule: apparently, they had told him his dada Pakistani man with a beardwas a terrorist. He asked me if I was a terrorist, Usmani recalled. And then there was the time, Usmanis eldest son, 14, had a classmate bring a knife to school that his dad had purchased from Colombia. Following suit, Usmanis son brought a knife to school that his dad had bought in Pakistan. Students taunted him, mercilessly: ISIS, they said. Terrorist, they said. The school went on lockdown, and the teenager was suspended for six months. Usmanis son has been homeschooled ever since but continues to suffer from depression and anxiety. Earlier this year, a neighbor harassed the family, once threatening Binish. He came to our apartment twice at midnight and at 2:00 AM, passing racial slurs, teaching us how to behave and live in this country, mentioning Donald Trump and his desire to vote for him to kick us out of this country, Usmani wrote in an email to the Cary Police Department in July. This summer, at the mosque the family attends in nearby Fayetteville, North Carolina a man appeared with a handgun threatening to kill congregation-goers and bury them behind the mosque. The man, Iraq War veteran Russell Thomas Langford, also left bacon outside the mosque, as an affront to a religion that refrains from eating pork. Just last month, the Fort Pierce, Florida mosque where Usmani attended prayer services when he was a student, and where Omar Mateen, the gunman who committed the June mass shooting at the Pulse gay club in Orlando went, was set afire. The accused arsonist, Joseph Schreiber, had posted anti-Muslim, and pro-Donald Trump rants, on his Facebook page in the months leading up to the attack. All this happened in the last year, the same year in which U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed a ban on Muslims entering the country, a national database to track those who already live in the U.S., and surveillance of mosques. As 2016 has seen the most hate crimes against Muslims since 2001, Usmanis family felt they had no choice but to leave the United States. The family was thinking of moving out of their Cary, North Carolina home anyway and to Berkeley, California, where Usmanis employer is, but after Abdul Azizs altercation at school, they decided to head back to Islamabad, Pakistan. The irony is that Usmani is an award-winning scholar whose 21-page resume includes a Ph.D, two Fulbright scholarships, and and Eisenhower fellowship. In his former job as the chief technology officer of the Internet company PredictifyMe, he has also collaborated with the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education to develop software that models the damage of suicide bombings to protect buildings in Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, and Syria from terror attacks. While Usmani will split time between Pakistan and the United States because of his work, his family would consider moving back to the country if Donald Trump loses the election next month, saying they would absolutely feel safer then. But their country of origin is also not safe for the family. Three years ago, Usmanis team won first-place at the TiE StartUp Cup Pakistan, a business model competition. On our way back from the competition, we got robbed, Usmani wrote in an email to friends and colleagues at the time, as The Huffington Post reported. They were 9 Dacoits, they beat me up very badly, beat my wife and 10 years old son and took away all the cash, mobiles, laptop, camera, all debit/credit cards everything. So now I have a lazy eye, injured rib, and few less teeth. Usmani told The Huffington Post he believes he was attacked because of his work in counter-terrorism, which some see as an alliance with the U.S., which has repeatedly bombed sites in Pakistan since the beginnning of the war on terror 15 years ago. Im in a very interesting dilemma, he said. I guess I cant live anywhere in the world. Via TeleSur Related video: Muslim boy, 7, beaten onboard school bus in North Carolina because of Donald Trumps hateful rhetoric Wells Fargo [corporate website] on Wednesday announced [press release] that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Stumpf, will immediately resign from both positions. Hours after the news, Wells Fargo share prices increased [LA Times report] by 1.65 percent. Stumpf joined the company in 1982, became CEO in 2007, and Chairman in 2010. Tim Sloan, who will replace Stumpf as CEO, insisted on Wednesday that Stumpf was not forced to retire or asked to leave. He will reportedly not receive any severance from the company. Late last month Wells Fargo also announced Stumpf would forfeit [NPR report] $41 million in outstanding stock awards, would not obtain a salary during investigation, and forgo his bonus for 2016. Many critics believe Stumpf should face harsher consequences, including Senator Elizabeth Warren [official website], who wrote on Facebook [statement] that he should face a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation. Other Senate Democrats, including Bernie Sanders and Mazie K. Hirono [official websites] had also previously called for [press release] a criminal investigation into Wells Fargo executives last week. Wells Fargo is currently facing many legal challenges, after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency entrusted with consumer protection in the financial sector, announced [JURIST report] a $100 million fine against the bank for widespread illegal sales practices. Two former employees of Wells Fargo filed a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] later that month on behalf of employees whom they claim were penalized over the last 10 years for following the rules and not meeting sales quotas. A class action lawsuit was filed [JURIST report] in September in a US District Court in Utah against Wells Fargo by customers alleging invasion of privacy, fraud, negligence and breach of contract. Lastly, shareholders [JURIST report] have also filed suit against the banking conglomerate. [JURIST] A resident of Flint, Michigan on Wednesday announced that she filed a lawsuit asking a single-person grand jury to investigate whether Governor Rick Snyder [official profile] committed misconduct by using public funds to finance his legal defense. Reports have shown that he approved $2 million [ABC news report] in taxpayer money to pay for private criminal defense attorneys to combat criminal allegations concerning his involvement in the Flint water crisis. Snyders office maintains [Detroit News report] the use of public funds is permissible because he faces legal challenges in his official capacity as governor. The resident, Keri Webb, expressed disdain with the fact that the governor used taxpayer money while residents are still without clean water. Water contamination has been a major concern over the last year. Last month the US Senate approved legislation [JURIST report] amending the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide $100 million in emergency funding to repair pipes in cities suffering from lead contamination, such as Flint, Michigan. In May, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced [JURIST report] the filing of a lawsuit against Michigan officials over the Flint water contamination crisis. In April, David Leyton, a prosecutor in Genesee County, Michigan, announced [JURIST report] that a Michigan judge will allow criminal charges against three people involved in the water crisis in Flint, including the man who supervised the treatment plan as well as two state environmental officials. In March Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan was served with a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] over the water contamination in Flint, Michigan. The French Parliament adopted new legislation Thursday allowing transgender citizens to update their legal status without having to undergo sterilization procedures [Reuters report]. The change comes after backlash over the requirements [BBC report] and campaigns from several advocacy groups. Citizens will still have to go to court to have their update be recognized. Laws regarding transgender rights are undergoing reformation in other European countries as well, including Denmark, Ireland, and Malta, which have all dispensed with similar sterilization or medical requirements. The lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community (LGBT) continues to face legal challenges throughout the world. Last month tens of thousands of people marched in Mexico in protest of same-sex marriage [JURIST report]. In August the Belize Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] a law banning sodomy, declaring it unconstitutional and adversely impactful to the LGBT community. Last December voters in Slovenia rejected a law [JURIST report] that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. In November the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled [JURIST report] that same-sex couples can legally adopt children. The UN has become increasingly focused on the rights of LGBT individuals. In September 2015 twelve UN agencies released a joint statement [JURIST report] arguing that abuses toward the LGBT population are human rights abuses impacting society as a whole. In June 2015 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported [JURIST report] that members of the LGBT community continue to face discrimination and human rights abuses. [JURIST] Saudi Arabian led airstrikes on a funeral in Sanaa, Yemens capital, were an apparent war crime, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said on Thursday as it also called for [HRW report] a credible investigation. The airstrikes, which occurred on October 8 killed approximately 100 people attending the funeral and injured 500 more, including children. HRW said that the large presence of civilians mixed amongst some military personnel strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate. The initial report also provides a short description of the laws of war stating that an attack is unlawfully disproportionate if it may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life or damage to civilian structures that would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the attack. The rapidly deteriorating situation in Yemen has sparked significant international concern. Last month independent UN human rights expert Alfred de Zayas said [JURIST report] that [a]rms deals are a major threat to security, peace and human rights. Also last month international human rights groups issued a joint letter [JURIST report] to the permanent representatives of member and observer states of the UN Human Rights Council urging them to support the High Commissioners call [JURIST report] for an international, independent investigation into civilian deaths and injuries in Yemen. In July HRW urged [JURIST report] Saudi Arabia and other coalition members to create an independent international inquiry into their attacks on civilian economic structures in Yemen. In March two human rights groups called [JURIST report] for the US, the UK and France to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia due to accusations and evidence that the weapons are being used in attacks against Yemen. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] of Maldives announced its decision [press release] on Friday to quit the Commonwealth of Nations [official website] after the organization issued a warning to the country that it could be suspended because of its failure to promote the rule of law and democracy [Reuters report]. Stating that the decision was difficult but inevitable, the foreign ministry stated: Regrettably, the Commonwealth has not recognized that progress and achievements that the Maldives accomplished in cultivating a culture of democracy in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions. The statement pointed out that the current government has enacted 94 pieces of legislation specifically reinforcing the core values of the Commonwealth and that of these, 69 were specifically targeted toward promoting human rights, strengthening democratic governance and reinforcing the principle of separation of powers. Stating that these achievements produced tangible outcomes in strengthening democratic institutions in the country, the statement claimed the Commonwealths decision to penalize the Maldives was unjustified especially given that the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), established with the help of the Commonwealth, found that the transfer of power in the Maldives was consistent with the constitutional provisions. The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland [official website], expressed [statement] her disappointment over the decision and stated that the Commonwealth hopes Maldives will later return. Maldives has been a cause of concern for many human rights organizations and the international community since the resignation of former president Mohamed Nasheed in 2012. Last month Maldives President Yameen Abdul Gayoom signed into law a controversial bill criminalizing defamation with fines and jail terms despite widespread criticism. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression David Kaye issued a warning [JURIST report] Wednesday condemning the bill approved by the Maldives parliament. In February 2015 Nasheed was arrested [JURIST report] for alleged violations of the countrys anti-terrorism law. The next month the Criminal Court of Maldives sentenced Nasheed to 13 years in prison [JURIST report] for terrorism-related charges. Nasheeds trial garnered international attention from civil rights advocates. Immediately following the trial UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein condemned the trial proceedings for violations of due process [JURIST report]. In March 2013 Maldives police authorities arrested Nasheed [JURIST report] for missing a court appearance over charges that he illegally detained a judge prior to his resignation. A New Jersey judge signed a summons [complaint] on Thursday accusing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie [official website] of misconduct for his alleged role in the closure of bridge lanes in 2013. Christie was not charged by federal prosecutors or held responsible by other investigations into the George Washington Bridge lane-closure. The charges in the summons come from a citizens misconduct complaint. Activist Bill Brennan filed [BBC report] the misconduct complaint after testimony from a former Port Authority official was released stating that Christie was informed of the lane closure two days after the fact. The complaint alleges that Christie knowingly refrained from ordering that his subordinates take all necessary action to re-open local access lanes. Christie has repeatedly denied knowing about the lane closures and has stated he will appeal the ruling. It has been claimed that Christies staff closed the bridge as retaliation for Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich not endorsing Christie in his re-election bid. The Bergen County Prosecutors Office will now decide whether there is enough evidence to indict Governor Christie for official misconduct. If found guilty, he could face five to ten years in prison. Christie has faced several other legal challenges in recent years. In October 2015 Christie filed an eminent domain action [JURIST report] against Margate, New Jersey. Residents of Margate have stalled attempts by Christie to construct protective sand dunes along the coast of New Jersey forcing him to seize the property. In October 2013 Christie lost a battle with the New Jersey court system over same-sex marriage ultimately withdrawing his appeal on the ruling [JURIST report] supporting marriage within the state. In August 2013 Christie signed a bill banning sexual conversion therapy to minors [JURIST report] which was ultimately upheld by the court system. Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] rejected suggestions that his country could face war crimes charges because of its role in the airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria. Putin was primarily responding to remarks from France President Francois Hollande [official website] that the airstrikes were tantamount to war crimes. Putin told France media [BBC report] that these accusations were rhetoric and failed to consider the practicalities of the conflict in Syria adding further that he is convinced western countries, and in particular the US, are responsible for Syrias situation. Putin further exclaimed that Russia will pursue terrorists wherever they are, even if they are hiding among civilians, stating: We cant allow terrorists to use people as human shields and blackmail the entire world. Airstrikes in Aleppo, a rebel-held city, resumed after ceasefire talks failed, but the US and Russia agreed on Wednesday to resume talks to resolve the situation. According to the US Department of State [official website], the talks will be taking place on Saturday and would involve discussion of ceasing the violence and delivering humanitarian aid. The conflict in Syria [JURIST backgrounder] has continued for five years in a civil war surrounding the legitimacy of Bashar al-Assad [official website]. For much of that time attacks have taken place on humanitarian convoys, medical facilities, and other forms of critical civilian aid. Earlier this week French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault [official profile] stated [JURIST report] that France intends to pursue avenues for the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to initiate an investigation into the alleged war crimes committed by Syrian and Russian forces in Aleppo. Last week US Secretary of State John Kerry [official website] made a similar call [JURIST report] for an investigation into the alleged war crimes of Russia and Syria in Aleppo. In September the EU called attacks in Aleppo a breach of international humanitarian law [JURIST report], denouncing the targeting of a humanitarian convoy hit by an airstrike the week prior. That same month the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria urged parties in the Syrian conflict to return to the negotiation table after a new report highlighted an increase of violence suffered by civilians [JURIST report]. The report noted that along with summary executions, forced displacement, and indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes the Syrian people lack sufficient access to life-saving medical services. The UN Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) [official website] on Wednesday urged [press release] Ethiopian authorities to end the violence against peaceful protesters. These attacks by Ethiopian authorities have reportedly led to over 600 deaths in the past year. In response to this violence, the UN has called for an international commission and have requested that the Ethiopian government allow for them to investigate the protests and the violent tactics used against the peaceful demonstrators. Experts claim that there have been numerous allegations of mass killings and disappearances, thousands of protesters injured and tens of thousands arrested. There is also concern that many of those arrested have faced torture and ill-treatment in military detention centers. Another main concern is the use of national security and counter-terrorism legislation to target individuals who are exercising their rights to peaceful assembly. Protests began a year ago [UN News Centre report] in response to the Governments plan to expand certain boundaries displacing farmers, along with the annexation of Konso Wereda into the Segen Arae Peoples Zone. The conflict between the Ethiopian government and protestors has been widespread. Tensions increased over the past week when at least 55 were killed in clashes between police and protesters at a festival. Last month Ethiopias opposition leader and leader of the Oromo ethnic group, Tiruneh Gamta, demanded the release of all political prisoners [JURIST report] regardless of any political stand or religion or creed. The Oromo ethnic group, representing the largest group among the protesters, is largely credited with starting the protests last November when the government announced its plan to expand the capital into the Oromia region. Although the Oromos initially started protesting against what they viewed as a plan to remove them from fertile land in the region, the protests started taking on a different theme even as the government dropped its plan to expand the capitalone calling for the release of political prisoners [Al Jazeera report]. According to rights groups, at least 500 people have been killed and thousands arrested since the unrest began. In January several Ethiopian rights groups called on the international community to address the killing [JURIST report] of protesters. Release of the Department of Educations annual Nevada Report Card is not one of the most anticipated events of the year. The states dismal performance in most categories is a reminder that education faces many challenges or opportunities, if you want to take the optimistic viewpoint. One of the few accomplishments cited by state Superintendent Steve Canavero was a 2-percent increase in preliminary calculations of the four-year graduation rate in Clark and Washoe counties. Governor Sandoval and our State Legislature have made a commitment to improving our PreK-12 education system so this is one more step in the right direction, Canavero said in a statement released Thursday along with the report. Graduation rates can be difficult to interpret, with different measures used and changes made in formulas. Looking at the cohort graduation rate for the 2015-16 school year, Elko rated an 80 percent, compared with 74 in Washoe County and 72 in Clark County. Zander said Thursday he was pleased to see the rate increase at both Elko and Spring Creek High schools, the two largest in the district. The dropout rate in Elko was 1.8 percent, compared with 2.8 percent in Washoe and 3.3 percent in Clark. Elko schools also performed better when it came to bullying, which was up statewide. There was an increase in the number of reported cases of student discipline and bullying, Canavero said. It is possible that the enhanced focus on discipline and bullying created by the new social worker program, the establishment of the Office of Safe and Respectful Schools, and related training to school districts by that office led to cases that otherwise would have gone unreported being included on this years Report Card. According to Elko Superintendent Jeff Zander, there hasnt been a single case of bullying in Elko schools since the 2012-13 school year. Still, he thinks the social worker program is highly valuable, and the district has even gone to the expense of augmenting salaries for the staff it was able to rehire after a decrease in grant funding. Parents may be one reason Elkos scores are higher than Nevadas two major metropolitan districts. Parental involvement continues to be an emphasis for the district and there are many school highlights indicating a high rate of parent participation ... stated Elkos portion of the report. Still, like any district anywhere in the country, we face some barriers to success. Specific items mentioned in the report state: We cannot honor or identify good teaching. It is impossible, or too time-consuming, to provide grades every 6 weeks or progress reports every 3 weeks. There is not enough time for frequent teacher collaboration. Kids will not attend summer school or after school tutoring, theyre apathetic, or afraid of being stigmatized. There is not enough money or personnel to provide systemic tutoring for kids who need it. We think these are challenges that can be overcome, and Elko schools are doing a good job overall. While Nevada as a whole might want to leave its report card in the locker and forget to take it home to Mom and Dad, Elko County can be proud of its performance and the direction it is heading. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Drinks Daily News The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Drinks Weekly News A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Drinks Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Style Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Style Weekly Update A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Style Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter. The tub-shaped object found at the Turunuelo dig in Badajoz. CARLOS MARTINEZ In the middle of the hot, dusty landscape in Las Vegas del Guadiana, in Spain's southwestern Badajoz province, two archeologists from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) scrape patiently at the hard-baked earth with tiny trowels. They dont have to wait long for their reward. On the Turunuelo site where the remains of a vast 2,500-year-old building are being uncovered, all sorts of objects poke out of the soil: spearheads, pots, hooks and, excitingly, a bronze grill and large bronze cauldron. Understanding the culture is pretty complicated due to all the missing information Esther Rodriguez, dig co-director The room they are currently excavating is particularly notable for the cache of bronze artifacts, according to CSIC researcher and director of the Merida Institute of Archeology, Sebastian Celestino. He has just dug up a metal object representing two doves separated by an outstretched bullhide, a divine symbol common to the Tartessians a Bronze Age civilization that traded with the Phoenicians and who settled in the fertile southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, and whose mysterious origins and ultimate disappearance have given rise to a plethora of myths and legends over the centuries. Now, however, science is rapidly dispelling these myths and the Turunuelo dig, which is centered on one of the best-preserved architectural remains of the era, covering as much as a hectare of land, should go some way toward putting the remaining pieces of the puzzle in place. Doves and an outstretched bullhide are typical symbols of Tartessian culture. CARLOS MARTINEZ We are in the final phase of the Tartessian period here, in the fifth century BCE, says Celestino. The main hub was located around the Guadalquivir River and the modern-day city of Huelva, but after being struck by an economic crisis in the sixth century BCE, there was migration inland. And the people who settled around the Guadiana River put up these enormous buildings. Celestino is talking about three massive constructions in particular: the Cancho Roano sanctuary in Zalamea de la Serena, on which Celestino himself worked for over 20 years; La Mata in the district of Campanario, which appeared to have a commercial purpose, and this one in Turunuelo, whose function is yet to be revealed. All we know is that it was clearly used for worship, says Celestino who, along with the digs co-director, Esther Rodriguez, has only excavated 10% of the site. The three buildings shared not only a distant period of history but also a violent end. It seems they were destroyed by their own inhabitants, burned and then sealed with clay. At the end of the fifth century BCE and the start of the fourth century, Celts from the north started to move down. By destroying their own buildings, they not only saved them from the invasions, but also for posterity, explains Celestino. This didnt just happen with the main building others documented in the Valle Medio del Guadiana also appear to have received similar treatment, according to Rodriguez. The fact they were abandoned at the same time indicates that they were part of the same political system, she says. It appears that life in this period was organized around centers such as Cancho Roano or Turunuelo and radiated out. There was an even bigger site, el Tamborrio in Villanueva de la Serena, which had more political power. But the relationship between these bases is still difficult to establish. By destroying their own buildings, they not only saved them from the invasions, but also for posterity Sebastian Celestino, dig co-director While these self-destructive measures offer clues to the Tartessian political structure, the clay sealing has given scientists an incredible insight into the Tartessian way of life. Understanding the culture is pretty complicated due to all the missing information, says Rodriguez. But it is true that the level of preservation of the remains from Valle Medio del Guadiana allows us to at least document it. Consequently, archeological digs like this provide a better picture of Tartessian culture around the Guadalquivir from the 10th century BCE. We can conclude that these settlements were the only remnants of Tartessian culture once it disappeared from the lower Guadalquivir after the sixth century BCE, wrote Rodriguez in her recent PhD dissertation. They allow us to understand the regionalism of each territory since each has incorporated elements particular to their location. A Tartessian cauldron found at the dig. Carlos Martinez In Badajoz, this meant a rich combination of the Atlantic culture and that of the Mediterranean, which was transported west from the Guadalquivir. Impressed by the pace of discovery, Celestino and Rodriguez and their specialized assistant Melchor are about to wind up the second phase at the Turunuelo dig the first ended last year. After uncovering a main hall measuring 70 square meters, they have unearthed a long passageway with various rooms leading off, only one of which has been excavated. Now they are working out what kind of investment they will need once the funds provided by the National Research plan and the regional government of Extremadura run out. You have to set aside a significant amount for different analyses and also for the restoration of the numerous artifacts being uncovered, says Celestino. We are talking about a lot of time, depending on how much money we get, he adds. The more money, the quicker it will be done. English version by Heather Galloway. Senior PP officials in Congress, where their party has 137 seats out of 350. Uly Martin With the deadline for possible new elections looming dangerously close, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is expecting the opposition Socialists to finally let him form a minority government in Spain. While the management team temporarily leading the Socialist Party (PSOE) will not say so openly, its Federal Committee will likely meet on October 23 and vote in favor of an abstention at an upcoming investiture session in Congress. The PP is seeking ways to take the sting out of any future investigative committees A Socialist abstention at the investiture would let Rajoy return to La Moncloa in an official capacity, after 10 months of a political stalemate that has prevented the caretaker government from getting essential legislation passed in Congress. While the idea of helping Rajoy has fractured the PSOE, whose secretary general Pedro Sanchez recently resigned over the issue, supporters argue being in opposition will allow the Socialists to change laws they consider harmful to citizens. This is because a Rajoy administration will only have support from its own 137 Popular Party (PP) deputies inside the 350-seat Congress, making it the smallest governing group in Spanish democratic history. For their part, the 85 Socialist deputies could ally themselves with other opposition groups to keep the government in check, while forcing the PP to accept opposition proposals. Refusal to do so could lead to a vote of no confidence and a snap election. Javier Fernandez heads the interim management team leading the PSOE. Uly Martin If the PSOEs Federal Committee refuses to let Rajoy lead the nation, Spain will automatically see new elections in December. The October 23 meeting is expected to be highly charged as Socialists debate whether to take an unprecedented step to save Spaniards from a record third election. Its either new elections or a political agenda that cleans up what the PP has done, said Mario Jimenez, spokesman for the PSOE interim management team. An abstention should not be taken for granted, added Patxi Lopez, a former speaker of Congress. Taken for granted Yet the PP are already assuming that Rajoy will return to office, and are working to assess how their minority government will work around what is likely to be a mood of unremitting hostility in Congress. Although the reform party Ciudadanos and the small Canaries Coalition have already pledged support for Rajoys investiture, they refuse to enter into a stable coalition with the PP, meaning that Rajoy will have to seek case-by-case backing for each legislative proposal. In this new scenario of government weakness, the conservatives are already examining potential loopholes and looking at how to make an absolute Senate majority work in their favor as much as possible. They are also keen to find ways to take the sting out of any future investigative committees set up to probe the executives actions. The PP, for instance, claims that it is not possible to investigate the sprawling anti-corruption Gurtel case while the trial is still underway. The new governments first priority will be to get the 2017 budget and spending ceiling passed. English version by Susana Urra. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Mauricio Duenas Castaneda (EFE) More information Santos prorroga por segunda vez el cese al fuego bilateral hasta el 31 de diciembre The president of Colombia announced on Thursday that the current ceasefire between government forces and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) would be extended until December 31. The announcement marks the second such extension to the ceasefire since voters in the South American country narrowly rejected a hard-won peace deal in a plebiscite on October 2. That shock result has plunged the country into a dangerous limbo, and fraught three-way talks are now underway between the Colombian government, the FARC and the chief opponents of the peace deal a group headed up by former president Alvaro Uribe as the country seeks a new way forward for a peace deal that promised to help end a 52-year civil war which has cost the lives of 220,000 people. An earlier announcement by Santos that the ceasefire would only remain in place until the end of October was seen by many observers as a way of piling pressure on Uribe, now a senator, to come up with a way to push forward the stalled peace process as soon as possible. On Thursday, however, Santos, who was awarded this years Nobel Peace Prize for his role in brokering the deal with the FARC, said the new date was not an ultimatum or a final date. I hope this whole new process towards getting a new deal ends a lot earlier, he said. The second ceasefire extension comes after two weeks of talks with the Democratic Center party of former president Uribe. Uribe, who has emerged as the big political winner in the aftermath of the recent plebiscite, campaigned against the original peace deal on the grounds it would allow the FARC to enter mainstream politics and see former members escape prison time. I have extended the ceasefire because the young people at the peace camp in Bogota asked me to President Juan Manuel Santos He and his party have now submitted a 26-page document to Santos negotiating team which includes calls for tougher legal penalties for FARC members found guilty of crimes against humanity, and for those members to be barred from holding congressional or senatorial seats. But Santos on Thursday deflected attention away from Uribes role in the peace process, choosing instead to highlight the words of the people who have gathered at a makeshift peace camp in Bogota. They demanded that I set urgent limits. They told me we cant start again from scratch. Many of them insisted that the current [peace] accords have to remain in force, said the president. For this reason, and because these young people asked for it, I have taken the decision [to extend the ceasefire], he said. The reasons for the rejection of the peace deal in the recent plebiscite are numerous, with some key factors being a deep distrust of the FARC among Colombians, and the perceived arrogance of Santos and supporters of the peace deal in assuming voters would back the deal's text. Observers have also noted that President Santos and his campaign had certainly failed to convince many of the countrys 10 million Evangelists (out of a population of 48 million) that the accords with the FARC, which took four years to reach, did not endanger the traditional family. Santos was already very unpopular with Colombias fundamentalist Christian groups, which have vehemently opposed legislation liberalizing abortion rights and permitting same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. Colombias media has noted that Gina Parody, who led the governments Yes campaign in the run-up to the referendum, stepped down as education minister following the defeat. Parody, a lesbian, has faced a sustained campaign against her from right-wing groups over her sexual orientation. English version by George Mills. Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva at a recent event. AFP More information Se estrecha el cerco judicial sobre Lula con una tercera acusacion en su contra Brazils former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces a third set of corruption charges after a judge ruled on Wednesday he should stand trial in a case connected to a construction project in Angola involving his nephew. Seven executives from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, linked to the Petrobras graft case that da Silva is accused of masterminding, along with two associates from another Brazilian firm, Exergia, owned by Lulas nephew, also face charges of corruption and money laundering. Police say a 10-month investigation into a case that dates back to Lulas presidency in 2007 shows that construction giant Odebrecht paid $8.5 million to Exergia at the time of the alleged crimes. In return, Lula is alleged to have used his influence to help Odebrecht secure a loan from Brazils development bank, the BNDES, to finance its Angola project. He is charged with influence-peddling and bribe-taking. Lula served from 2003-2010 and left office with sky-high ratings and international approval The others indicted alongside Lula are his nephew, Taiguara Rodrigues, Marcelo Odebrecht, the former head of Odebrecht, and other Odebrecht executives. Rodrigues began working with his company in Angola a Portuguese-speaking country that has close ties to Brazil from 2007. He went on to win a large contract with Odebrecht in 2012. Prosecutors have separately named Lula, 70, as the mastermind of a huge corruption scheme in which the state oil company Petrobras was systematically plundered by a network of executives, politicians and big contractors such as Odebrecht. Marcelo Odebrecht is currently serving a 19-year prison sentence for Petrobras-related crimes. Lula already faces two court cases, one of which concerns alleged bribes taken from OAS, another construction company that allegedly benefited from sweetheart deals with Petrobras, as well as an obstruction of justice case. The Lula Institute, which represents the ex-president, said in a statement that lawyers would analyze the document from the federal police, which was leaked by the media and revealed in a sensational way before the defense had access. It added that Lula was the victim of a media massacre... to try to destroy the image of the most popular president in the countrys history, the institute added. The former president has repeatedly stated his innocence, saying he is being targeted to prevent him from trying to return to power in the 2018 presidential election. Indicted alongside Lula is his nephew, Taiguara Rodrigues Lula served from 2003-2010 and left office with sky-high ratings and international approval for his work lifting tens of millions of Brazilians from poverty while presiding over an economic boom. He remains one of the most popular potential candidates for 2018, opinion polls show. However, the Workers Party, which he founded, was trounced in recent municipal elections and Lulas legacy has been severely tainted by corruption scandals and the steep decline of the economy. His chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and removed from the presidency in August after being found guilty of breaking budget laws. Her former vice president and political enemy, the center-right veteran Michel Temer, took over the presidency. He also faces charges in the Petrobras scandal. If Lula is convicted of a crime, he could be barred from political office for a period stretching well beyond the 2018 election. English version by Nick Lyne. The debate over a European army is as old as the EU itself. While controversial, an army could be the answer to Europes crises, from migration to the rise of populism. The first attempt to create a common defence force dates back as far as 1950, when the terrible consequences of war were fresh in Europes collective memory. But it was aborted in 1952. Then in 1954, the Western European Union (WEU) the embryo of a possible army came to light. NATO had already emerged in 1949, but as time went by, it became clear that the two organisations had too many overlapping objectives. Even the idea that the WEU should become the European pillar of NATO was ended by the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Cooperation between the NATO-UN-WEU triangle was unsuccessful and in 2011 the WEU was formally abolished. By then, different plans had already come forward. The scale and implications of international events the first Gulf War (1990), the break-up of Yugoslavia (early 1990s) and the Rwandan genocide (1994) left no doubt that a comprehensive answer was needed. Thus, by the end of 1997, the Amsterdam Treaty put forward the idea of a High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy and, by December 1998, the St. Malo Declaration acknowledged the need for a European Security and Defence Policy ready to respond to international crises. From Solana to Mogherinis Global Strategies Javier Solana was the first High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, starting in 1999. In 2001, the World Trade Centre was attacked, two years later (May 2003) the invasion to Iraq took place and, in December 2003, the first European Security Strategy was proposed. Titled A Secure Europe for a Better World, the document envisaged a new global role for the EU and a more effective and capable foreign policy. Targeting a multitude of issues, the Solana strategy covered everything from the internal dynamics of state-building to the outer political arena. Failed states, organised crime, terrorism and criminals were all targeted. Fostering democracy, arms export control, solving economic problems, attacking terrorism through a mixture of intelligence, judicial means and effective policing in the post-conflict phases were some of the solutions Solana proposed. For the neighbourhood approach, Solana proposed a deeper engagement with the well-governed countries on the EUs eastern and Mediterranean borders, as well as with the Arab world. Assistance programmes should continue in order to ease the democratisation process in these countries. However, by the end of Solanas mandate, in 2008, it was clear that the outcomes were a far cry from what had been anticipated. So, before leaving office, he reported that, while some progress had been made, the EU was not capable, coherent or active enough. Conflicts remained unresolved, often spreading to other regions, weak states continued to affect security, organised crime, terrorism and radicalisation were on the increase. Catherine Ashton started her mandate in February 2010. The new High Representative developed a plan that targeted Turkey, the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Middle East. The strategy for the neighbouring countries, particularly the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean states, was based on prevention and democracy-building. Cyber and Maritime defence policies were priorities. But as early as 2013, Ashton acknowledged that the EU was not doing enough and argued that the Union should become a security provider, intervening directly in the neighbour states whenever necessary. She left the post in November 2014. Federica Mogherini took up the role of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in December 2014 and in June 2016, a new strategy came to light. Titled Shared Vision, Common Action: a stronger Europe, the document acknowledged that peace is no longer a given and that terrorism, hybrid threats and organised crime know no borders. Mogherinis proposed solution to the threat of terrorism involves stabilisation, premature disengagement, comprehensive agreements with all partners, cooperation at regional and global level and full defence capabilities with a more reactive Common Security and Defence Policy. Greater use of information, with intelligence sharing on violent extremism, terrorist networks and foreign terrorist fighters, is also highlighted. Above all, Mogherinis strategy focusses on preventing disruptive weak states from becoming sources of violent conflict that can spread to the EU and its neighbourhood. To achieve this, she proposes that the EU continue its role as a donor, acting hand in hand with the implementation of democracy, human rights and international law. Deter, respond and protect this is the spirit of the document. It is clear to see that, over time, the EUs strategies have been built on the same foundations: defending human rights, fostering democracy and upholding international law. And the EUs solutions have always been based on three main pillars: prevention, post-crisis solutions and assistance programmes. But has this recipe been successful? Has the world become a safer place? The simple answer is no. On the contrary. Arguably, the global security situation has deteriorated. In 2015, Europe was hit by 14 terrorist attacks. The Middle East, particularly Syria, Iraq and Yemen, is in disarray. North Africa is going through a nightmare. In Asia, North Korea, poses a significant threat. The European Unions eastern border is a continuous menace and the EU borders are fragile. Overall, in 2014 there were some 42 active armed conflicts in the world, killing around 180,000 people (source). These dangers have brought deep psychological, social and political consequences for Europeans. And the situation might become worse. Why the EU needs an army Is the creation of an army or a European defence force the right solution to the persistent anger and social unrest across the continent? Apart from meeting our obvious defence needs, would it not also promote cooperation at an international level? Making the EU an important player in terms of global security has been the focus of many arguments and has long been an ultimate aim for many European leaders. The emergence of a European army could make the difference in many ways. It could lessen Americas interference and influence in European affairs, both internally and externally, with the obvious consequences this has for the EUs prestige. It would also help make the Union a more consistent, reliable and powerful partner. Mogherini herself would become more influential in the international forums if she could really speak for 500 million people. Of course, the composition of the UN Security Council would probably have to be revised, with the possibility of the EU member states securing a rotating or permanent seat, perhaps replacing France. Additionally, a European army would strengthen the EU as far as military resources are concerned. A pooled European defence budget would make a difference for the EU and most of its member states. In fact, many of them cannot afford to spend much more on defence than they already do. And they certainly do not have enough resources both to defend themselves and to deploy troops if the EU asks them to. It is estimated that an integrated European budget would bring savings of 130 billion to 260bn per year (source). A European army could also help the economy, boosting the home defence industry by around 10%. Innovation would be accompanied by rewards and consequences that would be felt by the whole world. During his recent State of the Union speech, Jean-Claude Juncker demanded a European Defence Fund to turbo boost research and innovation. The terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels brought about a profound sense of insecurity. Europeans feel betrayed and unprotected by the EU. A dubious economic recovery, controversial austerity policies, an uncontrollable immigration influx and the constant threat of terrorism have all transformed the way citizens view Europe. The idea of ever closer union has become less attractive. To some, it even seems an aberration. The rise of the extreme right and the UKs vote to leave the EU are just the most visible consequences of this attitude shift. A European army could ease the existing uncertainty, psychological unrest and social instability. It would be a reassuring sign from the European leaders and a vehicle of hope for citizens. It would also address the problems the EU faces on its borders, which have become a political minefield that could threaten the very existence of the Union. Uncontrolled immigration may be used by terrorists to enter from Syria or similarly chaotic countries. This idea has caused a seemingly insurmountable political divide between some member states and Brussels. A European army could help strengthen and legitimise the recently-created European Border and Coast Guard Agency. It would make the European frontiers less prone to abuse by smugglers and drug and human traffickers, providing better protection for the EU. What kind of army? Of course, the most controversial question in this whole debate is what form the future army should take. Should the future European battalions be made up of national divisions, deployable whenever they are needed? Should they use NATOs assets? Should they be a NATO complementary force? The answer to this question is crucial, because it will determine the armys capabilities. Deployment is lengthy and complex, and complementing NATO might come at a cost to proficiency. To stand any chance of success, a future army must have European headquarters and a European budget. It should have battalions made up of European citizens directly allocated from anywhere in the EU, which should serve the European army exclusively. States should keep their own police forces, but the European army would take charge of defence, ready for deployment at home or abroad whenever necessary. But for that, the EU legal apparatus would have to be rearranged. A new treaty, a constitution perhaps, and certainly a new political system would have to be thought out and voted on. Such a reorganisation of the EUs political system would demand pervasive and momentous decisions a challenge that may be too daunting even for leaders with the most sincere European convictions. We must not forget that the present threats and difficulties have raised too many unresolved questions for European citizens. New realities, new facts, new threats demand brave new solutions. A European army could be one of them. Answering the basic human need of security, it could create space for hope and a European identity an impetus with far-reaching consequences. It would not be a silver bullet solution to all of the EUs problems, but it could certainly restore some much-needed enthusiasm for the European project. A group of women preparing food in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti. More information Haiti: en el ojo del huracan Hunger and cholera could lead to more deaths in Haiti than Hurricane Matthew itself. The residents of this country a place where the perfect storm of adverse meteorological phenomena, hunger, poverty and earthquakes, has brewed must grieve for the more than 800 people who died as the hurricane ripped through the island, while swallowing the fear of the hunger to come in the next few weeks. Oxfam, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has called for an urgent response to prevent hunger and cholera from further devastating the country. Our greatest fear is that the loss of crops and the possible spread of cholera and other diseases will cause more deaths than the actual hurricane over the next days and weeks, said Damien Berrendorf, Oxfams director in Haiti. We are talking about extremely vulnerable people who have lost absolutely everything Oxfam director in Haiti, Damien Berrendorf We are talking about extremely vulnerable people who have lost absolutely everything. They will not recover their livelihoods or reach minimum survival conditions without significantly more support, he added. According to the organization, crops and animals have been lost, condemning many to hunger. Most of those affected cannot afford to buy seeds or tools, a challenge that will only prolong and aggravate their suffering, especially since more than 80% of residents in the areas where the storm hit rely on subsistence farming. In light of these circumstances and given that 2.1 million people, including 500,000 children, have been affected, Oxfam is calling for immediate action from the international community to help mitigate the impact of the hurricane. A girl walks amid the debris of crumbled buildings and damaged trees in the wake of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti. HECTOR RETAMAL (AFP) Damage wrought by Hurricane Matthew to roads and power lines in some areas is of the same magnitude as that suffered after the 2010 earthquake. It is important that the big donors start to work as soon as possible, Berrendorf said. The other urgent issue is the spread of diseases due to lack of hygiene and clean water. After an initial review of the situation, Oxfam distributed hygiene kits and installed clean water tanks in affected areas. The NGO is also distributing temporary roofing material as tens of thousands of homes were completely destroyed or damaged. The organization is working in coordination with local authorities, especially municipal officials and Haitis civil protection department, as well as local and international organizations such as UNICEF to speed up relief efforts. A soldier carrying humanitarian aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Carlos Garcia Rawlins (REUTERS) Oxfam Intermon will also deliver three tons of water-purifying equipment to reduce the risk of waterborne diseases and mosquito nets donated by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). An AECID charter plane carrying the materials will leave Madrid this week. The Spanish Red Cross will also send almost six tons of humanitarian aid equipment in the form of plastic tents, mosquito nets, and flexible water tanks paid for by the Valencia regional government, according to a statement published by the organization. Oxfam Intermon will deliver three tons of water-purifying equipment to reduce the risk of waterborne diseases The Spanish Red Cross and Dominican Red Cross are coordinating a joint delivery to support the Haitian Red Cross in its efforts to provide clean water and hygiene services. In addition to its five delegates in Haiti, the Spanish Red Cross also sent two emergency experts to coordinate the delivery of water-purifying tanks from the Dominican Republic. Before the hurricane hit, the organization used its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to help the Haitian Red Cross prepare to dispense emergency services including plastic sheets, blankets, cooking kits and water-purifying tablets and deploy more than 3,000 personnel and volunteers throughout the communities in the hurricanes path. Haitians stand in line to receive food in Port-Salut (Haiti). RODRIGO ARANGUA (AFP) World Vision, a non-profit aid organization that has been working in the country for 38 years, has said there is a very high risk of a cholera epidemic after authorities registered 70 cases in GrandAnse Department, one of the regions most affected by the hurricane. The foundation has distributed emergency kits with blankets, tents, water bottles and flashlights, thanks to preparations made before the storm. Access to clean water is a serious problem. Pipes have broken in homes, but people cant leave their neighborhoods to buy clean water, explained Guy Vital-Herne, communications chief for World Vision Haiti. In some towns, the water sources have been contaminated. What used to be clean water no longer is, and you cant always tell by looking whether the water is safe or not, he added. English version by Dyane Jean Francois. KEARNEY A Kearney man who threatened a Nebraska State Patrol trooper and his family has been convicted of a misdemeanor in the incident. Jose Huerta, 30, pleaded no contest earlier this month in Buffalo County District Court to third-degree assault for threatening Nebraska State Patrol Trooper Paul Hazard. Making a no-contest plea neither admits nor denies guilt, but the plea is treated the same as a guilty plea. Deputy Buffalo County Attorney Mike Mefferd said the charge was reduced from a felony, making terroristic threats, to a misdemeanor because the assault charge better fit the crime. Based on the differences in the language of the two statutes, third-degree assault by threatening in a menacing manner was more accurate to the act Mr. Huerta engaged in than terroristic threat, he said. Judge Bill Wright ordered Huerta to undergo a presentence investigation to be conducted by the state probation department. Sentencing is set for October. As part of the plea agreement, Mefferd recommended Huerta be given credit for 71 days already served in jail. Third-degree assault is punishable by up to one year in jail. Huerta is free on bond. Court records outline the case: On Feb. 26, Huerta told Hazard that if he did not stop arresting big drug dealers that someone would hurt Hazard and his family. Hazard has a wife and two children. Hazard and several other law enforcement officers have been active in investigating drug cases in Buffalo County. Law enforcement officials believe Huerta has ties to Mexican drug organizations. e-mail to: LINCOLN Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts lives in a house divided, politically speaking. The Republican governors wife, Susanne Shore, has donated $4,700 to Democrat Hillary Clinton in both the primary and general election and $1,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising operation between the Clinton campaign and state parties designed to help get Democratic candidates elected at the local and state level. Shore also has officially registered as a Democrat. In contrast, her husband hasnt donated a single dollar to Republican Donald Trumps campaign, although his GOP mega-donor parents Marlene and Joe Ricketts have given at least $1 million to a pro-Trump super PAC. Ricketts has publicly endorsed Trump, but after a lewd tape emerged last week of Trump referring to women in derogatory terms, the governor released a statement condemning Trumps remarks as dangerous. After the tape, Ricketts said he would not donate any money to Trumps campaign, said Taylor Gage, the governors spokesman. Donald Trumps comments are not only reprehensible and offensive, but they are dangerous. His apology video was inadequate, the governor said. Since then, the governor who declined to be interviewed for this article has emphasized that he still plans to vote for Trump. The Rickettses are hardly the only family in America who have gone their separate ways in this years roller-coaster presidential election. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is among Trumps top surrogates, but his daughter, Caroline, is backing Clinton. Former GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush is a Never Trump guy, but his son, George P. Bush, is backing the flamboyant New Yorker. I would say Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts are experiencing the same kind of political differences that a number of couples across the land are experiencing, said Kevin Smith, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I would imagine it makes the discussion of the political race a little lively over the dinner table. Of course, Shores decision to back Clinton is hardly a huge surprise. She was a registered Democrat before her husband ran for public office. She switched her party affiliation to Republican during the gubernatorial primary in 2014 to vote for her husband and then registered as an independent. She has given to both Democrats and Republicans in the past, including Clinton in 2007 and Republican Mitt Romney in 2008. But her decision this year to donate to Clinton, along with her husbands decision not to write Trump a check, reflects a fundraising gap between the two presidential candidates in both Nebraska and nationwide. Clinton has outraised Trump in this Republican-rich state by more than a 2-to-1 ratio, with the help of old-guard Democrats such as Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett and former Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey. In contrast, many of the typical Republican donors such as Ricketts are missing in action on Trumps campaign finance report. In fact, both of Trumps state co-chairmen former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman and State Sen. Beau McCoy do not show up on Trumps campaign report. Heineman, however, hasnt consistently donated to presidential candidates in the past, although McCoy gave a $250 donation to Romney in 2012. Walter Scott Jr., chairman emeritus of Peter Kiewit Sons Inc., is another longtime Republican donor who has not given to either presidential candidate this year. Scott typically gives to GOP presidential candidates, with donations to Romney in 2012, John McCain in 2008 and George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Clinton had raised $572,000 and Trump had raised $259,000 in Nebraska as of Sept. 21, according to the Open Secrets website, which compiles and analyzes the candidates federal reports. Nationwide, Clinton also has trounced Trump in the money game, raising a staggering $373 million, compared with $165 million for Trumps campaign. Hal Daub, a former Omaha mayor, said he wonders whether many of Nebraskas Republicans prefer to donate to pro-Trump super PACs as opposed to giving to Trumps campaign. (Such donations are harder to track, in part because individuals can often hide their contributions by giving to a limited liability company, which does not have to disclose its donors.) Daub also noted that he does not believe that Trumps campaign has a finance chairperson in Nebraska. His job in 2012 as Romneys state finance chairman was to make contact with potential donors and to hold fundraisers in the state. Daub himself is a staunch Trump supporter. But he, too, has yet to donate to Trumps campaign. Daub said he made it a priority this year to give to local candidates, such as Don Bacon, who is running for the U.S. House in the Omaha-based 2nd District. He said he planned to donate to Trump later this week. Its on the schedule. ... Im not made of gold, you know, Daub said. Many of the Nebraskans who are aligned with Clinton have donated. Clinton has a leadership team of more than 50 in the state. And many of them, such as Buffett, have donated $2,700 to Clinton the maximum allowed under federal law. In fact, Clintons financial report is a whos who of Democratic politics. It includes such notables as former Omaha Mayor Mike Boyle and his wife, Anne Boyle, a former member of the Public Service Commission. It also includes former Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Google Ad Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens Serzh Sargsyan offers condolences over deadly bus crash Serzh Sargsyan sent today a letter of condolences on the accident with the bus travelling from Moscow to Yerevan and issued a number of instructions for the RA state bodies. The Presidents letter of condolences reads: Dear Compatriots, I learned with great sorrow the news on the night accident with the bus travelling from Moscow to Yerevan which resulted in the loss of human lives and casualties. At this grave moment, I express my condolences and support to the families of the victims, their relatives and friends. I wish a speedy recovery to all injured. A short time after the accident, the relevant bodies reported to the President that early this morning, at 4.30am a major accident took place at the Beslan-Vladikavkaz highway. A bus travelling on the Moscow-Yerevan route and a truck collided. According to the preliminary data, five were killed and 27 injured. Serzh Sargsyan instructed the Government of Armenia and RA Embassy in Russia to undertake urgent measures to provided necessary assistance to the victims and organize full-scale medical aid. He also instructed to provide necessary assistance to the families of those killed and injured. Relevant bodies in Armenia were instructed in a short period of time together with the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation to find out the causes of the accident and its circumstances and provide a comprehensive report. The President was also informed that representatives of the RA Consulates in Rostov and South Russia have already arrived at the site of the accident and in cooperation with the relevant bodies of the Russia are engaged in providing first aid to the injured. OSCE ODIHR Director fell in the trap of Azerbaijani propagandistic machinery - Ambassador Arman Kirakossian Head of the Permanent Delegation of Armenia to the OSCE expressed concern on the statement attributed to the Director of the OSCE ODIHR On October 13 the regular meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council took place, during which the Director of the OSCE ODIHR Michael Georg Link reported on the activities of the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The Head of the Permanent Delegation of Armenia, Ambassador Arman Kirakossian drew the attention of the participants of the meeting to the publications in the Azerbaijani media on the visit of the Director of the ODIHR to Baku this week and meetings held during the visit. In particular, Ambassador Kirakossian underlined that statements and assessments are attributed to M.Link, which qualify Azerbaijan as an excellent sample of interfaith relations. The Head of the Delegation of Armenia expressed regret that despite warnings of the Armenian side yet another representative of international organizations with high reputation fell in the trap of the Azerbaijani propagandistic machinery and was misused by the Azerbaijani authorities. The Head of the Armenian Delegation stressed that praising of non-existent good practices in Azerbaijan undermines reputation of the OSCE ODIHR as an institution, which is aimed at promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms. In this context Arman Kirakossian emphasized that the policy of promoting hate crimes and intolerance pursued at the highest level in Azerbaijan deserves only condemnation. If you're going to cross through our Ports of Entry, you'll want to know about a recent court case. This deals with your rights when you enter a Port of Entry to the United States. A woman in El Paso was attempting to cross the border, but was referred to secondary inspection. After some drugs were discovered in her suitcase, agents seized her phone without a warrant. The woman filed a lawsuit to suppress all evidence gathered from this search, but the judge denied her request. An attorney we spoke to explains what can happen when you go through a Port of Entry. "Anything that they would say that would protect national security," says attorney Stefani Nguyen Hobrecht. "If you had a laptop or any other computer devices, their position is that they have a right to seize it or search it." In a statement sent to us from Customs and Border Protection, it says all international travelers are subject to inspection, and that inspection may include electronic devices such as computers, disks, drives, tapes, mobile phones and other communication devices, cameras, music and other media players and any other electronic or digital services. If you refuse, you could be detained or denied entry into the United States. STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces Google Ad There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Google Ad Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens A man is under arrest in connection to last week's vehicle accident that sent seven people to the hospital. The Webb County Sheriff's Department says Jovanny Rodarte is charged with one count of Evading Arrest with a Motor Vehicle, six counts of Aggravated Assault, and two counts of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a public servants The department says Rodarte was fleeing from sheriff's deputies last Thursday, when he lost control of his truck and collided with a mini-van carrying three passengers. The three passengers in Rodarte's vehicle were undocumented immigrants. The investigation continues with the U.S. Border Patrol handling the case. Loreto Kilkenny has again been awarded the prestigious status of 'Ambassador School' by mental health advocacy group Cycle Against Suicide. The award is in recognition of the school's fulfilment of the 'Five Gears', and an exceptional commitment to the promotion of positive mental health. Loreto was represented at the recent awards ceremony in Dublin by Link Teacher Claire Treanor and students Muireann O Connell, Anna Phelan and Molly Purcell. They are understandably very proud of their achievements. The Ambassador School Awards ceremony was a great day, said Ms Treanor. Its wonderful to attend such a positive event, and have the efforts of the students recognised. Our participation in the Ambassador School Programme has had an enormously positive impact on our school community, fostered a school-wide approach to the promotion of positive mental health, and provided incredible opportunities for student leadership. This is the third consecutive year that Loreto Kilkenny have been awarded this Ambassador status. The programme, one aspect of a wide range of Cycle Against Suicide initiatives, is school-led, and involves the completion of 'Five Gears' aimed at raising awareness of the message that 'Its OK not to feel OK; and its absolutely OK to ask for help'. Minister for Education Richard Bruton congratulated the schools which completed the programme. The founder of Cycle Against Suicide, Jim Breen, thanked the Ambassador schools for 'their extraordinary commitment to breaking the cycle of suicide on the island of Ireland'. Each of them has gone the extra mile to raise awareness of our message, empowering themselves and others to build resilience, and seek help when necessary, he said. The efforts of these school communities, teachers, students and parents, is changing the mind-set, behaviour and culture of an entire generation. Have you ever considered sailing off in to the sunset? For most of us, its a type of metaphor for retirement, a dream thats realised in the sense of taking it easy in later years. But for Padraig and Myra O Maoilriada, a couple from Tullaroan, they literally sailed off in to six years of sunsets, and have just returned recently after a trip that literally was the trip of a life time. Their story really is one of a leap of fate, together, in to an unknown world that began with a health scare, but the final five years of their voyage was, so to speak, plain sailing. Myra and Padraig purchased a boat, trained up to the rank of yacht master and set sail around the world in their retirement. Its an amazing, courageous tale that they tell so matter of factly that, its like - what else would we have done? But the reality they began with was while they were well travelled, neither had ever sailed before making this decision, not even on a cruise ship, and in Padraigs case he could not, and still cant swim. So consider the vastness of ocean, and not seeing land for sometimes weeks at a time. For six years that was their life on board a ship that they called home - Saol Eile. It all began in 1042. Well not really, but a Carlsberg-sponsored viking ship in a Danish museum, admired by Padraig, was built that year in Dublin, and sailed to Denmark. That fascinated Padraig, and at home during his first Christmas of full blown retirement he announced he was setting sail. Around the world. Enquiring eyes turned to Myra, who was not expecting such an annoucement. At the time, she said no. But then she just couldnt let Padraig off on his own and they began to plan their circumnavigation of the globe. Padraig and Myra live in Tullaroan for over 40 years. He worked initially for Smithwicks in Kilkenny, and then transferred to Dublin - his profession being the building of breweries. In early 1999, he retired from Diageo, but continued working - setting up his own consultancy business which saw him travel the globe - and designing the worlds largest distillery - for Don Pedro brandy in Mexico. So globetrotting and building drinks manufacturing plants from whiskey to orange juice was Padraigs life. Indeed he reckoned he had worked in 50 different countries and 60 different cities. And as the consultancy grew, others joined him who had left the drinks industry so the workload began easing off. On one such visit to Beamish in Cork, Padraig and some pals decided to to go shares on a yacht. It was not instigated by Padraig, but he enjoyed it none the less. And then, what Padraig describes as a 'stroke of good fortune' occured. Padraig had a stroke in June, 2008. The Bank Holiday Monday. It was a blessing in disguise, added Padraig, who suffered the permanent loss of peripheral vision in his right eye. But what it made me do was focus, as Myra added, We went in to Bank of Ireland, and we had bought shares, and we wanted to cash them in. This was June, 2008, the shares were now at 9.38. The Reids had to sign a form stating they knew what they were doing, They were basically asking us were we crazy? said Myra, cashing in the Bank of Ireland shares. But their minds were made up. By Christmas, the shares were 13 cent. And so, Saol Eile could be purchased. Had they waited for a few months, their dream would have been dashed on the rocks of the greatest financial crash in the history of the state. The Reids hired a professional to to source their vessel - a yacht , 16 metres long, an Amel Super Mararua was the make, anchored in Mallorca. They travelled out, brought it back to Kinsale, and then worked with Zaver Guvay, a sailing instructor from Bantry, on achieving their grades in sailing and gaining both valuable advice and experience It took them over a year to become fully familiar with their vessel to begin their voyage. And on August 22, 2010, they embarked from Kinsale with two passengers, heading to meet the trade winds and on to Spain, the Canary Islands and the Carribbean. Family members were picked up along the way as they crossed the Atlantic in three weeks. They enjoyed the high life of St Vincents, St Lucia and that area before heading for Panama and crossing in to the Pacific ocean. Relative calm seas on all fronts so far. But the journey ended abruptly in Panama. Padraig had a health scare. Clots had formed in both lungs. I nearly died, I thought it was a chest infection but it got worse and worse, he said. I went in to a private hosptial immediatlely, they took me in, I was met by a consultant who said it was a lot worse than pneumonia. Previously, Myra had to threaten not to travel to ensure they went with health insurance, and boy was Padraig glad. It was very frightening, said Myra heading in to see him and this heamorrhage, as the doctors offered two methods of curing Padraig - both attached with high risk. But with excelllent medical care, Padraig pulled through, but he had to return to Ireland and had lost a lot of weight. Now all that mattered was recovering, and getting back to Saol Eile to continue the journey. But they had to be patient with trade winds mapping their destination, and they returned in 2011 to their boat to begin the journey again. Fun times on the high seas for the next five years. The Pacific is such a large expanse, I would suggest to other yachtees to just skip the Galapagos Island. It costs $1,000 to anchor and its just a rip off. Other than that it was wonderful, catching firsh and hoping to land them before it became shark bait, said Padraig. When youre crossing big oceans, you dont see many ships, you dont even see birds as you are so far from land, added Myra Fifty years married in 2017, Padraig and Myra were on, in one sense a sense of discovery of each other. Found it a little bit difficult because we are two very independent people, said Myra. We had our own lives, and suddenly we are now in a boat together all the time. Well we saw other sides to each other, we obviously did, as Myra added jokingly Im a glutton for punishment. Youre working on the boat a lot of the time, you do your three hours on, three hours off, so youre always working, she added, recalling the peaceful night watches she enjoyed.The sea and the night sky at night, the silence and the peace that came with it. Something she will never forget. So around the Pacific, down to New Zealand, New Caledonia around to Papua New Guinea. Thats a very sad, sad island, second biggest island in the world, one of the wealthiest in the world...but the people have nothing, politicians are corrupt, Australian, Chinese, New Zealanders, all in their raping the country. 95% unemployment, no police force. said Myra. A year in Indonesia, and Malaysia, touring the islands, around Borneo and the Chinese sea, described by both as absolutely wonderful. During their trip, they took internal flights, like in to Vietnam which they were very impressed with, and in particular the sense of humour of the people. The furthest west in Indonesia, the poorest it is and when you come in on a boat, youre just a novelty, added Myra. The poorer the people, the more welcoming they are. We tried to stay out of the major civilised places. Padraig was adverse to officialdom People looking for bribes to bring in your boat. Indonesia is a very muslim country, some places sell beer, some dont. Theyre very tolerant, said Myra as in restaurants, you can bring in your beer but not to flaunt it - indeed sometimes its discreetly sipped in a coffee mug. Guinness is widely available in Indonesia, as everyone knows its non-alcoholic, its a health drink, I drank it all the time out there, said Padraig with a smile They then headed to Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. Along the way, they made countless new friends, were accepted in homes, enjoying the hospitality from various cultures. You become like a big family, youd be looking out for other people and their yachts. You set up a radio network, said Myra as Padraig remarked You might be 200, 300 miles away from there, but you get a weather forecast, and you know whats going on. One time there was a roll call, when we were coming down the Indian ocean, they were looking for Silver Girl, her mast came down and a German couple, 80 miles ahead turned around, and 80 miles is a whole day, 24 hours, they came back to stand off her. No mast, in the Indian ocean, is not nice. Southern Ocean is always getting you on the side. The Indian Ocean was by far the most challenging. The yachtie community, with the help of various sites, are constantly posting up to date information - not just on weather but where to anchor for repairs and supplies. You never feel stranded. People make countries, We went in to a small island, one of the Cook Islands, were in the harbour but were out from the harbour wall. Were sitting on the boat and there is someone up there shouting, a man with green shorts and a green t shirt and a green cap. I go across on the dinghy, and he tells me hes Paddy Lynch, said Myra. Paddy Lynch is of course world famous. He left Britain to avoid being recruited to the army, he went to Southampton and jumped aboard a boat for New Zealand. Becomes a jockey,and trains a Melbourne Cup winner. He goes to Cheltenham every year. You notice how very similar people are. You hear the Americans go on about muslims, but we spent a lot of time in those countries, very courteous and gentle people said Myra as Padraig added South Africa is a dangerous place, but you learn, first thing you do is you learn where is dangerous, and you just dont go there. Padraig was very impressed with Nambia One place we visited, was unknown to me Namibia, used to beSouth West Africa, during the First World War the South Africans occupied it because it was German west Africa. Then the League of Nations gave it to South Africa as a trustee to hold it for the natives. When the Black states in the sixties started gaining independence, suddenly there was a block of African votes in UN and they forced through a vote that South Africa had to relinquish Nabia. The UN appointed Sean MacBride - his father fought the British in the Boer War. He took 300 Africans and put them in to college around the world, these guys run the country, it was truly a visionary thing to do, said Padraig. Padraig wants to go again, I miss my children and family, said Myra I have five grandchildren and four children. He wants to go around Cape Horn. I came home for a short period,to get Padraigs medication and the last time before now was 2014, said Myra adding I Skyped - but I started to cry, and be upset for a day or two, its easier to email. Our eldest grandkid was 14 when we left, now he is over in England working at 20 on the way to college. The whole voyage gave Padraig a great thirst for more. If you are considering a similar venture, try our own coastline first, said Myra. As a practise run, if they want to go around the world, go around Ireland. If you can sail around Britian and Ireland you can sail the world. We took months at it, stayed where we liked. Youre not in hurry real long days of sailing, its great. Padraig was what you would describe nowadays, as an extreme sportsman. He loves the adrenaline mix , and was a seasoned mountain climber in his youth. Its the excitment of it all that gave him a real buzz. When I had the stroke I realised I worked my whole life, and there had to be more to it. You have to enjoy yourself, and there is no enjoyment of going out in bad weather. We met 50 couples over the years, sometimes over and over again. We have come across four or five boats that were lost, crews are saved but the boats went down. Your boat is your home, you have personal stuff, all your gear, you dont want anything to happen it. Pitting your skills against the elements, we avoided storms, but we know people who wait for the storms, the Volvo race does that. Were cruisers, remarked Myra. The final leg of the journey was from Brazil, home to Ireland. It was their longest stretch at sea. We never met another Irish boat on our travels, said Padraig We only saw one on the way home, Sli Eile. So the Maolriadas return to Tullaroan, and you get the sense its almost like regrouping. Will they go again? Sin Sceal Eile. The late Michael Gibbons of Kilree, Kilkenny a giant of the farmers' rights movement in Ireland, is remembered this week. He was one of nine farmers, members of the National Farmers' Association (now the IFA) who, when refused a meeting with Agriculture Minister Charles Haughey, sat in protest on the steps of the Department of Agriculture in Dublin for 21 days and 21 nights, commencing October 19, 1966. Friday was the 50th anniversary of the start of the walk and Michael's widow Ann remembers the events of that time as if they were yesterday. Following on from this march and protest, the Gibbons family farm and home were raided by a huge squad of Gardai backed up by the Army in April 1967. This was part of the bitter dispute with the Government of the day over the non-payment of agricultural rates. Later this month, on Thursday, October 27, IFA President Joe Healy will lead a commemoration in Bantry to honour those who took part in the Farmers Rights Campaign. The attendance will include some of the 16 men who set out from the west Cork town 50 years ago and members of the Gibbons family. Plaque A plaque to mark the seminal event in the history of NFA/IFA will be unveiled as part of the ceremony. Other IFA County Executives will also hold events to mark the contribution of voluntary officers from around the country to the Farmers Rights Campaign and the successful outcome to the battle to secure negotiating rights with the Government. The march to Dublin culminated in the silent parade of 30,000 farmers through the streets to Government Buildings. When the Minister for Agriculture Charles Haughey refused to meet a deputation, a group of nine members of NFA sat outside for 21 days until the Minister agreed to meet them. The eight other farmers were: Rickard Deasy, TJ Maher, Joe Dunphy, Bob Stack, Jim Bergin, Sean Holland, Tom Cahill and Hugh Leddy. Joe Healy said he was honoured to lead the commemoration of those who had made immense sacrifices for farm families 50 years ago. The Farmers Rights Campaign of 1966 was the most significant event in the history of NFA/IFA. It galvanised farmers and showed them the true value of working together in unity to achieve better income conditions. The ideals of our founding fathers during that Campaign hold true today. Good news. Capital Research and Management, sponsor of the American fundsin my view, the best large shop for actively managed fundsjust opened its doors for the first time to individuals who prefer to invest on their own and want to avoid sales charges. Theyve been very good for a very long time, says Alec Lucas, a Morningstar analyst who covers 18 American funds. Since the American funds began operations in the early 1930s, the firm has sold its funds exclusively through investment advisers and brokers. Individual investors were turned away, and those who bought American funds through an intermediary often paid front-end sales charges of up to 5.75%. Thats all changed. The F1 share class of all American funds is now available commission-free on the Fidelity and Schwab online brokerage sites. Presumably, American will eventually offer its funds through other discount brokerages. Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up This is a big deal. The American funds offer a wide lineup of good funds. Whats more, their expense ratios tend to be lower than almost any other large fund firms except Vanguards. Those low expense ratios should bring added pressure on other fund companies to lower their prices to remain competitive. The American funds assets under management total $1.3 trillion, second only to Vanguards $2.7 trillion. The American funds move comes as most traditional fund firms have been losing assets to Vanguards low-cost index and actively managed funds and, increasingly, to low-cost exchange-traded funds from Vanguard, BlackRock (sponsor of iShares ETFs) and other firms. In contrast, more than half of the American funds assets are in mutual funds that charge up-front commissions. Those sales loads will likely soon be history thanks to the Labor Departments new fiduciary rule, which will require advisers and brokers to put the interest of retirement-account clients first. The rule will make it difficult to justify buying funds that levy sales charges or high annual fees when cheaper funds are available. Many investors have barely heard of the American funds. Thats because the funds have been targeted solely at advisers, brokers, institutional investors and other third parties, such as 401(k) plans and 529 college-savings plans. Until I became an adviser a decade ago, I never heard from the American funds. Since becoming an adviser, I hear from them all the time. Whats to like about the American funds? Consider. Solid long-term results. Most of the American funds boast first-rate long-term returns. The average returns of 15 American stock and hybrid (stock and bond) F1 share-class funds with records of at least five years topped the average return of the benchmark index assigned to each fund by Morningstar over the five-, 10- and 15-year periods through September 30. The average amount by which those funds outpaced their benchmarks was 0.6, 0.4 and 0.8 percentage point per year over the past five, 10 and 15 years, respectively. The American funds, for the most part, also exhibit relatively low volatility. All of its stock funds lost substantially less than Standard & Poors 500-stock index in the 2007-09 bear market. Consequently, Morningstar analysts have awarded gold, silver or bronze medalsthe firms qualitative rating for superior fundsto 22 of the 27 American funds its analysts cover. Low expenses. Compared with other actively managed funds, the American funds are a bargain. American Funds American Mutual F1 (more on this fund below), for instance, charges 0.66% annually. Thats no bargain compared with a Vanguard index fund or most ETFs, of course. Nor compared with the 0.41% annual expense ratio for the funds F2 share class, which advisers can tap. But its a lot cheaper than the average expense ratio of 1.15% for actively managed diversified domestic stock funds. Exceptional corporate culture. The American funds are head and shoulders above most fund firms on this qualitative measure. Most fund managers and analysts hired by the American funds stay their entire careers. Fund managers typically invest heavily in their fundsa move that tends to go hand in hand with strong returns. Like other fund firms with admirable corporate cultures, such as T. Rowe Price and Vanguard, the American funds are steady, never flashy. American rarely introduces funds to benefit from the hot investment fad du jour. The culture is so unique that Charles Ellis, best known as a proponent of indexing, in 2004 published a book about the firm called Capital: The Story of Long-Term Investment Excellence. Capital Research and Management firm has a collaborative culture in which decisions are arrived at by consensus, no one has a title, and no one has a corner office. The multi-manager system. Asset bloat is a huge problem for actively managed funds. As funds put up strong numbers, they tend to attract huge inflows of cash. As funds get bigger, it becomes harder for them to duplicate the results they achieved when they were relative runts. The American funds solution: Assign multiple managers to each run a slice of a fund, and base most of each managers pay on how that slice performs relative to a funds benchmark over long periods of time. The system doesnt always work. For example, I think the firms biggest fund, American Funds Growth Fund of America, with assets of $144 billion, is so enormous that even splitting the portfolio among 12 managers cant overcome bloat. But for the most part, the multi-manager approach works well. The company is far from perfect. Its too big to do a good job with small-capitalization stocksindeed, American doesnt offer any pure small-cap funds. And it hasnt done all that well with bonds. To the firms credit, it recently hired several senior bond fund managers from other firms in an effort to improve its fixed-income product line. But for large-company stocks in the U.S. and overseas, Capital Research offers some terrific funds. Below are brief descriptions of my favorites: American Funds American Mutual F1 (symbol AMFFX (opens in new tab)) is a moderately conservative fund. Over the past 10 years through October 13, it returned an annualized 6.6%. That trailed the S%P 500 slightly, by an average of 0.2 percentage point per year.. But the fund, by investing in steady dividend payers that trade at relatively low price-earnings ratios, was 17% less volatile than the S&P 500 over that stretch. It lost 48.3% in the 2007-09 bear marketcompared with a 55.3% loss for the S&P. American Funds New Perspective F1 (NPFFX (opens in new tab)) is a perfect vehicle for investors who want to stick a toe into foreign stockswhich are cheap based on such measures as P/Es but face big economic and political headwinds. New Perspective invests in both U.S. and foreign stocks; currently, its assets are about evenly split between domestic and foreign stocks. The managers focus on growing companies, trying to buy them when theyre underpriced. Over the past 10 years, the fund returned 6.3% annualized--an average of 4.6 percentage points per year better than the MSCI All-Country World index. American Funds New World F1 (NWFFX (opens in new tab)) is my favorite emerging-markets stock fund that is open to new investors. The fund divides its investments roughly evenly between companies domiciled in emerging markets and firms that are based in developed lands but do a lot of business in emerging nations. Managers stretch that definition to the extreme: Holdings include Alphabet, the parent of Google, and Dominos Pizza. The fund provides a much smoother ride than pure emerging-markets offerings. The fund returned 4.5% annualized over the past 10 years. Steve Goldberg (opens in new tab) is an investment adviser in the Washington, D.C., area. SHANGHAI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Finance auctioned 12 billion yuan ($1.80 billion) of three-month bills in the interbank market on Friday at an average yield of 1.9427 percent, traders said. The auction yield for the three-month bills came in below Thursday's benchmark secondary market yield of 1.9982 percent for three-month government bills . For stories on Chinese debt issues, click on . ($1 = 6.6685 Chinese yuan) (Reporting By the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) Sweden issues 3-yr dollar bond, yield 1.218 pct STOCKHOLM, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Sweden has raised 3 billion dollars in a new three-year benchmark bond at a yield of 1.218 per cent, the Debt Office said on Thursday. The transaction was priced at mid-swaps plus 6 basis points. The proceeds will be used to refinance loans to the central bank, the Debt Office said. (Reporting by Simon Johnson; Editing by Dominic Evans) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news HANOI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Vietnam reported a trade surplus of $870 million in September, compared with the previous month's surplus of $573 million, the customs department said on Friday. September exports fell 4.2 percent from the previous month to $15.4 billion, and imports decreased 6.2 percent from August to $14.55 billion, the Finance Ministry-run Vietnam Customs said on its website. Vietnam exported $128.6 billion of goods in the first nine months of this year, up 7 percent from a year ago, while imports rose 0.9 percent during the same period to $124.9 billion, leaving a surplus of $3.7 billion, the report said. (Reporting by My Pham; Editing by Richard Borsuk) Oct 14 (Reuters) - Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices for November delivery steadied this week while December widened its premium in a slow week of deal making as traders focused on tenders. The price of LNG for November delivery was $6.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), in line with last week, while December traded around $6.55 per mmBtu, according to trade sources. December prices may have been pushed higher from earlier this week by strong bids for four December-loading cargoes offered by Russia's Sakhalin II export facility, one source said. Demand from price-sensitive Indian buyers remained strong despite rising prices. "When the Indians are willing to pay market rates (above $6/mmBtu), it tells you something about the market," a Singapore-based LNG trader said. Earlier in the week, Korea Gas Corp tendered to buy four cargoes for delivery across November-February, as it seeks to replenish reserves. South Korean demand may firm as a new reactor went offline this week, adding to a fleet of reactors already taken out of service due to either last month's earthquake or planned maintenance. Indonesia's Pertamina tendered to sell one or two cargoes per month in 2017 from its Bontang liquefaction plant and is to be priced against a basket of Japanese crude oil grades, known as the JCC. And Angola's recently refurbished export facility continued to pump out cargoes as it launched its third tender for a November-loading cargo. Gains in spot prices may be capped by new production from the Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) project that is underway, and returning U.S. supplies. Cheniere's Sabine Pass is scheduled to come back from maintenance next week. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic in Milan and Mark Tay in Singapore; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) (Kitco News) - Gold price are losing ground, briefly falling below key support levels following positive U.S. retail sales data. Friday, Commerce Department said that advance retail sales rose 0.6 last month, compared to Augusts revised decline of 0.2%. Consensus forecasts were calling for a 0.6% rise. At the same time core retail sales were slightly stronger than expected, rising 0.5%% followings Augusts revised decline of 0.2%. Economists were forecasting a rise of 0.4%. Heading into the report gold futures were under modest selling pressure; December gold futures last traded at $1,249.90 an ounce down 0.61% on the day. However, the control group, was slightly weaker than expected, showing a rise of 0.1%, up from Augusts decline of 0.1% but down from consensus forecasts calling for a rise of 0.4%. Although the headline number was positive, matching consensus forecasts, Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at CIBC World Markets, describe the latest consumer data as disappointing. Although headline sales matched consensus with a nice 0.6% rebound, the core figure that strips out items like autos, gas, building materials and food services to best match what feeds into non-auto real consumption was soft, he said. That leaves it tracking a lean 0.3% annualized in Q3, taking a bite out of personal consumption forecasts in the process. Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, agreed that the underlying trend in retail sales remains weak; however, it wont be enough to stop the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in December, he added. The stagnation in underlying sales through the quarter is a clear illustration that consumption growth will be weaker in the fourth quarter, he said. This isnt enough to prevent the Fed from raising interest rates in December, but it is a disconcerting trend. By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com Follow @Neils_C OSLO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The average price of Norwegian farmed salmon is expected to change less in the coming week than has been the case recently, industry sources told Reuters on Friday. A salmon producer predicted the price per kilo could rise by up to two crowns, while a fish exporter said the outlook was more likely for unchanged prices around the 62 crowns obtained in the current week. Prices have risen for three consecutive weeks, from just over 50 crowns per kilo in mid-September. "Prices are up by a couple of crowns and I suppose they will show 63-64 crowns per kilo next week for deliveries in Oslo," one producer, who declined to named, told Reuters. The exporter meanwhile said he expected prices to remain at 62 crowns on average. "The market is strong, the competition among exporters is keeping prices high," he added. Prices have been volatile so far in 2016 and hit a record in July above 80 crowns per kilo as supply fell while demand rose. Prices then proceeded to fall to a level just above 50 crowns before rising again. Production costs in Norway have risen sharply in recent years to around 30-31 crowns per kilo on average. Norway is the world's top salmon exporter, with leading producers including Marine Harvest , Salmar , Leroy Seafood , Grieg Seafood and Norway Royal Salmon . Companies and analysts have predicted that the global supply of salmon will fall by 6-7 percent in 2016 due to declining production in Norway as well as in Chile, the world's second largest producer. (Reporting by Ole Petter Skonnord, editing by Terje Solsvik) MOSCOW, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Russia's largest gold producer Polyus has chosen Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Sberbank CIB and VTB Capital as bookrunners for a secondary share placement, three financial market sources told Reuters. Polyus, controlled by the family of Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, is preparing for the placement of 5 percent of its shares in Moscow as it needs to raise its free float to at least 10 percent to meet a requirement of the Moscow Exchange. Polyus is planning a public placement with either existing or new shares, its Chief Executive Pavel Grachev told Reuters last month. The sources did not provide details on the placement and did not specify whether more banks can join. The placement is seen happening in 2017, the sources said. Polyus did not provide an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters on Friday. (Reporting by Olga Popova, Oksana Kobzeva and Svetlana Burmistrova; writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Christian Lowe) HANOI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0413 GMT. Oct 14 Oct 13 USD/VND mid-point 22,011 22,012 USD/VND interbank 22,306/22,308 22,306/22,307 USD/VND unofficial 22,355/22,370 22,360/22,370 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 35.41/35.68 35.43/35.69 Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.3-0.9 0.3-0.9 1 week 0.4-0.9 0.4-0.9 1 month 1.4-2.2 1.4-2.2 3 months 3.2-4.2 3.3-4.2 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) (Adds more comments from AKK chief, background) By Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Hungary could issue a foreign currency bond next year to help meet its international debt commitments and following a sovereign upgrade to investment grade by two rating agencies, the head of the government debt agency said on Friday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has gradually shifted the country's debt programme to forint-denominated paper, aiming to reduce its reliance on foreign currency debt that has made it vulnerable to shifts in global sentiment in the past. Since 2014 Hungary has issued only two bonds on international markets, a dollar bond in 2014 and its first yuan bond earlier this year, and the proportion of debt denominated in foreign currency is expected to fall to 26 percent by the end of this year from above 50 percent in 2011. Debt agency AKK Chief Executive Gyorgy Barcza said Hungary could refinance part of around 2-3 billion euros worth of annual foreign currency bond expiries from fresh foreign issuance in coming years. Even then, the share of foreign currency debt would still decline further. Barcza said a foreign currency bond could come next year. "I would not rule out the possibility of a foreign currency bond issue this year, but that is not the most likely scenario," he told a news conference. He said that there was increased interest from investors for a foreign currency bond since Fitch and Standard and Poor's both raised Hungary's debt to investment category earlier this year. While it was reasonable to issue a eurobond for Hungary, it was also worth being present in the U.S., yen and renminbi markets, Barcza added. He did not say how big the planned issue might be. This year's offshore dim sum bond, for 1 billion yuan, was the first yuan debt issue from Central Europe. A Reuters poll showed that forint-denominated bonds could significantly outperform peers in Poland over the next year, as investors turn cooler on Polish debt amid persistent political concerns over the rule of law there. Moody's may also upgrade Hungary early next month, while Poland faces downgrade risks. (Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs; editing by John Stonestreet) Bainbridge resident Carol Carley (left) helps Ometepe resident Dora Gutierrez unload coffee beans, which were grown on the Nicaraguan island, last week at The Marketplace at Pleasant Beach. Nathan Pilling / Kitsap Sun SHARE Visiting delegates from Ometepe perform a traditional dance during the potluck fiesta celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association on Saturday at The Island School on Bainbridge Island. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN Visiting delegates from Ometepe take to the stage to perform a traditional dance during Saturday's potluck fiesta celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association at The Island School on Bainbridge Island. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN Visiting delegates from Ometepe sing their national anthem during Saturday's potluck fiesta celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association at The Island School on Bainbridge Island. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN Kim Esterberg chats with those attending the 30th anniversary of the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association celebration Saturday at The Island School on Bainbridge Island. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN By Nathan Pilling, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com BAINBRIDGE ISLAND For Carmen Lopez, the cup of coffee she had last week at Lynwood Center had a bit of added satisfaction, beyond its taste and caffeine bump. Lopez is a Nicaraguan coffee farmer whose beans are regularly sold in shops on Bainbridge and seeing the result of all the labor behind those beans, thousands of miles away from where that work took place, was a bit of an experience. "This coffee from the other place, to have it in my hands here, is a huge marvel," she said. "It's a source of pride to understand that a lot of people are drinking my coffee." Lopez was one of 11 delegates from Ometepe Island, Nicaragua, who visited Bainbridge this month as part of the 30th anniversary celebration for the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association, and one of three who spoke with the Kitsap Sun through a translator about their experiences with the association. BOSIA purchases coffee beans from Ometepe farmers like Lopez and imports them for sale on the island. Since 1988, more than 500,000 pounds of Ometepe coffee have been sold on Bainbridge. It's just one example of the many projects and relationships that have formed since the association's earliest days. "In addition to benefiting the farmers with the purchase of coffee, the profits from the sale of coffee return to Ometepe, where they have been used to help the poorest people and especially with schools, clinics and attention for people with special needs," Lopez said. To hear representatives from both islands talk about the bond, it's clear that the association produces more than the typical evidence of a sister city relationship: a sign at the city limits or two mayors shaking hands during a photo op. Over the years, Bainbridge efforts have included raising funds to provide grants for Ometepe health centers, as well as scholarships for Ometepe students to attend college and building water systems, a school library, cafeteria and auditorium. The association also has organized delegation exchanges like the one this month between the two islands for mutual education and friendship building. Members of the 30th anniversary delegation traveled to Bainbridge schools, the Helpline House and other sites around the island. Noe Gonzalez, an Ometepe high school math teacher, said he would take back his experiences to his students. "With what I've learned day by day, I will share it with them and in that way create a consciousness in every one of them of the necessity to continue to make stronger the connection between the two islands, to create new values," he said. Gonzalez sits on one of the committees that help to mediate the association's scholarships at the nine Ometepe high schools. Scholarship recipients are awarded the funds needed to complete a college degree. "The scholarship project has also raised the general (economic) level (on Ometepe) because students who graduate and get jobs are able to support their families," Gonzalez said. Of all the connections between the two islands, perhaps the closest bonds have formed through marriage. According to Dora Gutierrez, the manager of the BOSIA office on Ometepe, the association can be linked to three Bainbridge-Ometepe weddings. "It's pretty wild," said Siri Kushner, a Bainbridge resident who met her husband, Hector Guillen, while working in the BOSIA office on Ometepe. The two were married in 2003 and have two children. Diane Jennings, another Bainbridge resident, met her husband, Manrrique Castillo, in Nicaragua through connections she made while working with a medical delegation to Ometepe. The two were married in 2006 and have three children. The birth of the organization stretches back to the 1980s, when the Nicaraguan government faced opposition from various rebel groups, some of which were United States-backed. According to Kim Esterberg, one of BOSIA's founding members, those in the peace community on Bainbridge opposed U.S. involvement in the conflict, which set the stage for Esterberg's first trip to Ometepe. The trip would be an effort to reach out to Nicaraguans apolitically, "people to people," Esterberg said. "The idea would be that we would simply connect with people that are on this other island and that we might do this not just as a 'protest of the month' kind of thing, but we would try to make something that would last, where this connection might grow over the years and actually might manifest itself in different ways," he said. Esterberg brought back his impressions and within two years, an informal association between the two islands had formed. Three decades later, the association is thriving, long after the initial conflict that sparked its creation. How has it lasted this long? Its members have a focused mission, according to Gutierrez. "The most important mission is the friendship between the two islands," she said. "The connection with the families is deep and strong. The friendship is the first thing. The projects that we do come out of that friendship instead of the other way around." In the words of Esterberg: "islanders are islanders." "I was betting on that premise when I went there, that we don't have the same language, we don't have the same culture, they live 3,000 miles away, but we do share one thing: We're islanders," he said. "And lo and behold, that is quite the powerful thing to share." SHARE Aaron M. Chambers By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun SOUTH KITSAP Investigators are looking for a 33-year-old man with a history of gun crime suspected of a drive-by shooting in South Kitsap shortly after midnight Thursday. Aaron M. Chambers, a felon, is believed to be armed and dangerous. Those with information on the shooting or Chambers' whereabouts can contact Kitsap County Sheriff's Office investigators by calling 911. An arrest warrant for Chambers was issued Thursday afternoon for drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was last seen driving a black and white convertible 1995 Ford Mustang, license plate AVU5276, according to the office. No one was injured in the shooting, according the office. The shooting occurred in a residential neighborhood in the vicinity of Mile Hill Drive and Harrison Ave. SE, according to dispatch records. Investigators believe the shooter had targeted another vehicle. Chambers was convicted in 2004 of second-degree assault while armed with a firearm for shooting another man. The man survived. Chambers was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to court documents. He has other felony convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm, car theft and possession of drugs. Chambers is scheduled in January 2017 for trial in Kitsap County Superior Court. He is accused of being the driver in a South Kitsap shoplifting theft from January 2016. SHARE It should surprise no one that this presidential election the first ever to involve a female nominee from a major party has devolved into a contest of man's ultimate metaphor. I'm not referring to a spitting competition, if you're struggling here. Rather, the race apparently is to determine which is the worst man on the stage Bill Clinton or Donald Trump. Never mind that Hillary Clinton is the one running for president. This historic struggle for dominion over a winning narrative, either one of which would be a losing proposition in a sane world, proves yet again that we dismissed Dr. Freud too soon. And, if I may add a footnote for future discussion, that women have traded their superior powers in pursuit of the lesser distinction of being equal to men. Would that life were more complicated. Instead, we are hostage to a comedy. Shocked, shocked, I tell you, the people were to hear an 11-year-old recording of Trump talking dirty about women. Really? Democrats, who tolerated a president's abuse of power with an intern and, poor Freud, a cigar that wasn't just a cigar, couldn't believe their ears. Republicans couldn't believe the hypocrisy of Democrats. Tell me if you've heard this before. The revelation that sent Trump supporters scurrying to protect their women's skirts? The GOP nominee's bragging to Billy Bush about kissing beautiful women and grabbing their privates, presumably without their consent, because that, young man, is what celebrities get to do! No news here, folks. But speaking of weird, Republicans previously have been fine with Trump's racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic comments but, this p---- business won't stand. Meanwhile, poor Billy Bush, whose full name can't be said too often, has been suspended from his "Today" show job because he played along, laughing at Trump's absurd statements. Well, of course, he played along. He was a reporter for a Hollywood show at the time and this is what reporters do. They will laugh at just about anything to keep an idiot talking. But America is rediscovering its virtue, if, as always, selectively. Morning chatterboxes at Fox News remind us, as if we could forget, that Christians believe in redemption and second chances. Trump apologized. Others have said that "actions matter more than words." While Trump only talked about assaulting women (as far as we know), Clinton did have sexual relations with that woman, consensually, and possibly others who weren't so inclined. In either case, outrage is justified and I won't defend either man's behavior. But a little context might be helpful in understanding these two characters. Trump and Bill were born two months apart in 1946 into a revolutionary culture that soon would embrace a hip-swiveling crooner named Elvis Presley and Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine. Basically, everything you need to know about Bill Clinton and Donald Trump can be found in these two midcentury icons. A fellow Southerner, Clinton saw himself as Elvis. Even now, his face sometimes betrays Elvis' smoldering glance with the slightly curled lip. Trump, a New York City boy, was Hefner. He collected all the toys of the Playboy lifestyle boats, planes, cars the best of everything a gilt-mongering rich boy would seek to glam-up his sex appeal. Mar-a-Lago was his Playboy mansion. All three of his wives have been bunny quality, and Trump Tower isn't just a tall building. Of course, he believes that any woman would welcome his kisses. Why wouldn't Pussy Galore be within his reach? And then things got weirder. Trump has dismissed his casual chat with the much-younger Billy Bush as "locker room talk." Whereupon, offended athletes more recent to the locker room and to a greater awareness about sexual harassment and rape decried Trump's insult to their integrity. At a "news" conference before the second debate, Trump rounded up three women who shared recollections of their unwanted sexual encounters with Bill Clinton. A fourth woman condemned Hillary Clinton for serving as the court-appointed attorney in defending a man who raped her when she was 12. The women flanked Trump, who sat with hands neatly folded on the table, looking as pious as an acolyte about to recite the Apostles' Creed. Whether Hillary Clinton's attempts to contain "bimbo eruptions" are sufficient to undermine her global role in advancing women's rights will be a tough call only for those to whom Ken Bone's red sweater is a hero. As for Elvis and Hef, they are so yesterday. Personally, I never could stand either one. Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com. She works for The Washington Post Writers Group. It just gets worse for Donald Trump after he claimed his boasting of grabbing women without consent was just locker room talk, but he had never done it. Stuff reports: A fourth woman has come forward with details of Donald Trump touching her without consent. Natasha Stoynoff, who was working as a reporter for People magazine in 2005, revealed in a first-person accountthat the businessman kissed her without her consent right before an interview she was about to conduct with Trump and his wife. She was due to talk to the couple for a feature story on their first wedding anniversary. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat, Stoynoff wrote. He told her later: You know were going to have an affair, dont you? Stoynoff had been covering the Trump beat for a number of years, and maintained a professional relationship with the business magnate and his wife, Melania. The alleged assault happened after Trump invited Stoynoff to view a tremendous room. He then closed the door behind him and committed the offence. I feel sorry for Melania. Stoynoffs revelation comes after three other women accused Donald Trump of groping or kissing them without their consent, in news reports published on Wednesday. The accusations emerged just days after Trump insisted in the second presidential debate he had never engaged in such behaviour. One of the four women alleges Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt during a flight more than three decades ago, the New York Times reported. Manhattan woman Jessica Leeds said it was the first time they had met, and Trump happened to be sitting next to her in first class, during a business trip. He was like an octopus, she told the paper. His hands were everywhere. Leeds fled to the back of the plane after the encounter. It was an assault, she said. When Leeds heard Trump denying he had ever sexually assaulted women during the debate earlier this week, she said she wanted to punch the screen. Meanwhile, Rachel Crooks said she was experiencing similar feelings while watching the debate at her home in Ohio. Crooks said Trumps claim that his locker room talk never reflected his actions was a lie. She was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate investment and development company in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she encountered the Republican presidential candidate outside an elevator in the building one morning in 2005. Crooks told the New York Times she introduced herself to Trump and they shook hands but he wouldnt let go of her hand. She claimed he started kissing her cheeks, then he kissed her directly on the mouth. It felt like a violation, Crooks said. It was so inappropriate I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that. What amazes me is that these stories never came to light during the primaries. Where were the Republican researchers? Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Pashinyans idea begins to spread among pro-government forces - Tevan Poghosyan (video) Member of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Levon Martirosyan, does not see a need for new political forces ahead of the 2017 parliamentary elections. We need a strong opposition in Armenia, he said. Tevan Poghosyan, a member of the Heritage faction added, I must say that Nikol Pashinyans idea begins to gradually spread among the pro-government forces. Martirosyan says the most democratic countries have one united opposition. They do not need so many human, financial and other resources. So the only way for them is to unite, he said. There is an opinion both opposition and pro-government forces have discredited them. Perhaps, we need new forces Levon Martirosyan says we have no time. If they fail [to unit] , they will not be able to throw down the gauntlet at the governing force, moreover, they will not be able to achieve anything. Tevan Poghosyan says the HHK needs one opposition force and the Republicans may form that opposition force themselves. The party definitely has finances for it, otherwise their will not interfere. Why do Republicans care whether we have 6 or 7 oppositionists, whether the opposition is united or not? Let them mind their own business and not interfere. Mr. Poghosyan reminds the HHK lawmaker that people do not like Republicans and they had better step down for the sake of people. Have you ever heard a ruling party say it is stepping down? Levon Martirosyan said in reply. By Park Jae-hyuk Public officials from developing countries will deliver speeches about information and communications technology (ICT) convergence business models and the newest trends of leading domestic ICT companies at Soongsil University (SSU), southern Seoul. The university's Graduate School of Information and Science said Thursday that SSU will host the 2016 Global ICT Convergence Conference on Oct. 25 at Kim Dukyoon Chapel Hall on its campus. Attendees of the conference include entrepreneurs, who have been unable to expand toward overseas markets due to several restraints, and the core executives of specialized institutions which support overseas expansion of the government's official development assistance (ODA) business programs. The entrepreneurs will be able to satisfy their curiosity about the government's ODA business program toward developing countries and build worldwide networks with public officials from 27 developing countries, according to SSU. SSU's Graduate School of Information Science has offered a master's degree program in global ICT convergence, sponsored by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The university has invited public officials from developing countries who are working in the ICT fields and has taught ICT policy, academic theory and successful models of ICT convergence businesses. "Our nation should spread Korea's successful models overseas and then collaborate for mutual growth with them," an SSU official said. At the 2016 conference, public officials from 27 developing countries who are students in SSU's master's program have prepared speeches for three government officials from Mongolia, Pakistan and Ecuador to deliver. The speeches will be about how consumers see the cooperative business models. Korean experts in the field of ICT will also deliver lectures on how to spread successful examples of Korea's ICT and policy during the second and the third sessions. During the fourth session, five experts will discuss strategies to promote Korea's successful ICT models and policies. The official language of the event is English and interpretation service will not be available. By Park Jae-hyuk More department stores are focusing on the purchasing power of male customers for the final round of Korea Sale Festa, a nationwide discount event. Most department stores announced they would begin sales events for men this weekend. Galleria Department Store said Friday it will begin "Men's Week" from Friday to next Thursday, targeting more male customers. Galleria branches in Daejeon, Cheonan, Suwon and Jinju will sell men's suits, sportswear and outdoor clothing at special prices. The Jinju branch will offer 40 to 50 percent discounts for Louis Quatorze products until Oct. 19. Luxury brands including Anya Hindmarch, G.STREET 494, Philipp Plein and Kwanpen will offer 10 percent discounts until Sunday at Galleria's Luxury Hall East in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. The Chloe store in the hall will offer up to 50 percent discounts until Oct. 31. "Our branches will host various events before the end of Korea Sale Festa," a Galleria Department Store official said. "We expect Men's Week to attract more male customers in their 30s and 40s." Shinsegae Department Store also said it will finish Korea Sale Festa with a "Men's Week" event from this coming Thursday until Oct. 23. The department store is featuring various household items for male customers who live alone, as well as fashion brands. Customers can also get free gift certificates if they make purchases of over 300,000 won in a single brand store for men between Thursday and Sunday. Household items sold at Shinsegae during the event include bedding, dishware and handheld vacuum cleaners for men who design their own places. Shinsegae said it will sell Ralph Lauren Home cushions, Diptyque scented candles, Dyson cordless vacuums and Kartell table lamps. Men's luxury brands at Shinsegae Department Store are giving away free gifts. Tom Ford is giving away shirts and perfumes, Zegna is giving away leather goods, Brioni perfumes, Lardini shirts and ties, Givenchy brooches, Valentino wines and Neil Barrett clutches. Boon The Shop Classic will sell "lucky boxes" for 100,000 won, some of which contain 500,000 won worth of gifts. "These days, four out of 10 customers at our department store are men," a Shinsegae Department Store official said. "We will maintain our sales growth by providing large events for our male customers until the end of Korea Sale Festa." As well as the discount events, the department stores continue to promote events for male customers who are purchasing products for themselves, rather than for wives or girlfriends. Most department stores have opened men's shops that sell products for men's hobbies, not just fashion brands. Men's Agit in the main branch of Lotte Department Store sells kidult products and camera equipment. Other retail giants including Galleria, Shinsegae and Hyundai have also opened specialty shops to attract male customers. By Park Jae-hyuk IKEA will open its new Korean branch in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong Province. The South Chungcheong Provincial Government said Thursday the Swedish furniture giant bought a plot of land measuring 97,391 square meters in Gyeryong from Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). IKEA had been looking for the most suitable sites for its new branch since early last year, selecting the Gyeryong site because of its proximity to the Gyeongbu and Honam Expressways, according to the provincial government. The provincial government expects IKEA will be a new landmark in the interior region of Korea, hosting $135 million of foreign capital, employing over 2,000 people and attracting 1.1 million visitors per year. "IKEA's investment will possibly host the related businesses and enable collaborative growth, enhancing our province's retail, culture and tourism industries," a provincial government official said. The provincial government plans to expand its retail and logistics industries nationwide through its traffic infrastructure. The province had mainly hosted manufacturing businesses before IKEA's investment. The world's top furniture seller operates over 340 stores in 28 countries. Sales at its first Korean branch in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, have marked 345 billion won ($304 million) this year. It will additionally open three branches, one in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province, one in Daejeon or Chungcheong Province and one in Busan or South Gyeongsang Province, by 2020, after investing 1.2 trillion won. By Yoon Ja-young The country's conglomerates are increasing investments in so-called tax-haven countries, stirring suspicions that some of the investments may be aimed at hiding assets or evading taxes. According to Rep. Park Kwang-on of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, the conglomerates sent 441.5 trillion won to tax-haven countries over the past five years, which include the Cayman Islands, Vanuatu, Luxembourg, Bermuda and Panama. While most of the money paid for imports or was invested in another country, the conglomerates used part of the money for direct investment in the tax havens. The data compiled by the Bank of Korea, the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the National Tax Service showed that the conglomerates invested 22.9 trillion won in these countries. Direct investment refers to money the conglomerates spent to set up a company or a factory or to acquire real estate. Conglomerates have been increasing direct investment in tax havens, from 3.7 trillion won in 2011 and 4.3 trillion won in 2012, to 4.9 trillion won last year. Some analysts have raised concerns that part of the direct investment may be aimed at hiding the assets of chaebol or avoiding taxes. They point out that multinational companies often set up paper companies in tax havens for tax evasion. "Of course, investing in tax havens doesn't necessarily mean that they are hiding assets or evading taxes," the lawmaker said. "However, it seems that thorough examination is necessary for prevention." The tax agency has been unearthing an increasing number of tax evasion cases overseas during the past few years. It levied 1.1 trillion won in taxes for 223 cases of overseas tax evasion last year, which compares with 2011 when 285.8 billion won of tax was levied for 156 evasions. The National Assembly Budget Office said the so-called "Panama Papers," which leaked the offshore accounts of world leaders and the rich, put a spotlight on offshore tax evasion by the powerful and affluent in the country. Experts at the United Nations (UN) recently estimated that individuals manage to hide up to $25 trillion of funds offshore. The tax agency expects to uncover more offshore tax evasion when it exchanges financial information with 101 countries from next year, with agreements such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (MCAA). "The tax agency is determined to firmly cope with offshore tax evasion, and it seems to be getting more effective," the National Assembly Budget Office said. Jung Chung-rae who represented the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea By Baek Byung-yeul It has been about seven decades since parliamentary democracy was introduced in Korea, but many Koreans are known to hold little trust for lawmakers as they have witnessed a slew of politician-involved corruption scandals. A recent survey conducted by a local research institute about evaluating the credibility of major organizations of society makes this clear. According to Hyundai Research Institute's October survey of 1,009 people, the politicians of the country received the lowest credibility rating of 28 points, which was 12 points lower than a person you meet for the first time. By contrast, respondents gave the largest percentage to the politicians on the question that asked which major organizations of the society have the strongest authority. Last April, 24 million people exercised their right to vote for representatives of the 20th National Assembly and as a result 300 lawmakers were elected. And former lawmaker Jung Chung-rae who represented the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) emphasized the rampant distrust toward politicians can be overcome only through more active political participation of voters. In his new book "How to use a lawmaker," the 51-year-old introduces specific ways about how to handle lawmakers from the point of view of a civilian. He also spends time explaining why more and more people distrust politicians but why people need to consider them important nevertheless. This is his first book since the 51-year-old known for his critical rhetoric of the conservatives was barred from running for the April 13 general elections. He represented Seoul's Mapo-B district in the 17th and 19th Assembly. Comprised of three parts "How to differentiate a lawmaker," "How to use a lawmaker" and "How to become a lawmaker" Jung gives tips about how to make the lawmakers work more for the people. Cover of former lawmaker Jung Chung-rae's "How to Use Lawmakers" For the quick-tempered, Jung gives a detailed demonstration of how to distinguish the good lawmaker from the bad one in the first part of the book so that readers can understand what kind of jobs the lawmakers do and how good they are in their role. Stating that the top priority of lawmakers is in making and fixing laws, the best way to find a "good lawmaker" is to find out how many bills he or she has proposed and how many of them have been passed. Suggesting examples of good and bad lawmakers, Jung also emphasizes that voters should make the effort to seek good ones and criticize the bad ones. In the second part, Jung describes the job of lawmakers and what voters should do to become skillful at handling them. Jung writes that the role of lawmakers are so important what kinds of laws they propose, how they collect taxes and how they execute the government budget would determine the lives of 50 million Korean. Explaining how to handle lawmakers, Jung writes that communicating via social media sites is the best way to support or oppose them. Staging a one-man protest would be critical to deliver a strong message to lawmakers as well. For choosing the most effective protest spot, he recommends that voters have a demonstration in front of the entrance of the National Assembly or in front of the lawmaker's district office. For those who consider becoming a candidate contesting for a National Assembly spot, Jung's advice is to build stamina and have great passion first as you would probably have attend at least 20 scheduled events a day. By Jun Ji-hye South Korea has asked the U.S. to help beef up the country's missile defense capabilities ahead of the planned deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery. The military leaders from the two countries have agreed to "continuously develop effective response measures" to counter growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. They reached the agreement during the Military Committee Meeting (MCM) between Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Lee Soon-jin and his U.S. counterpart Joseph Dunford in Washington, D.C., Thursday. The annual meeting took place at a time when Pyongyang, which conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test early last month, continues to heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The North has indicated that it may soon fire a satellite, considered as a cover to test technologies used in the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The ICBM, believed to have a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, in theory is capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland. Gen. Lee stressed that Seoul and Washington will continue their cooperation, including the establishment of a practical collaboration system and the deployment of a THAAD battery. "In particular, Gen. Lee requested the strengthening of the tailored deterrence strategy, the establishment of a ROK-U.S. collaboration system in preparation for the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) threats, and enhancement of missile defense capabilities before THAAD deployment," the joint press release said. Regarding measures to enhance missile defense capabilities before THAAD deployment, observers noted that the two generals might have discussed the possible dispatch of a U.S. Aegis destroyer equipped with Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors to the peninsula and the additional deployment of Patriot missiles. The two nations announced in July that a THAAD battery will be deployed on South Korean soil by the end of next year as the North is moving forward with its weapons of mass destruction program. In 2016 alone, the reclusive state conducted two nuclear tests and launched more than 20 ballistic missiles despite warnings by the international community. For his part, Gen. Dunford affirmed that despite threats from the North, the ROK-U.S. alliance will continue to grow firmer and stronger, and the U.S. will continue its ironclad commitment to the defense of the Korean Peninsula, the release added. "Both senior military leaders strongly denounced North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations, stating they pose a serious threat to the Korean Peninsula, to the region and to global peace and stability," the release said. The MCM has been hosted alternately by South Korea and United States since the first meeting in 1978. The meeting provides strategic directives and operational guidance for the defense of South Korea and discusses the alliance's military issues. Ahead of this year's meeting, Lee and Dunford paid a joint visit to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, the JCS said, noting that it marked the first time the JCS chairmen of the two countries visited the memorial together. "Your sacrifices 66 years ago helped the Republic of Korea become what it is today," Lee said of the 1950-53 Korean War in which the U.S. fought alongside the South and U.N. forces. "We will overcome North Korea's nuclear and missile threats with the strength of the Korea-U.S. alliance forged in your blood and sweat," he added. During the visit, Lee handed Dunford an "Ambassador For Peace" medal to be awarded to Dunford's father, Joseph F. Dunford Sr., a Korean War veteran who as a young Marine participated in the landmark landing operation in the western port of Incheon that turned the tide of the war. Lee is scheduled to hold trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts Friday to discuss three-way cooperation to deal with the North's threats. New policy raises both hopes and concerns By Jung Min-ho Chinese tourists who come to Korea by cruise ships will be allowed to travel the country for three days without a visa, according to the Ministry of Justice and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Friday. Foreign visitors on three cruise ships Costa Serena, Sapphire Princess and Quantum of the Seas can enjoy the visa-free pilot policy until the end of March, and then the ministry will decide whether to maintain the policy. Chinese tourists, who account for the majority of tourists to Korea on the three luxury cruise ships, are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of the policy. Previously, Chinese tourists could enjoy the visa-free stay only when visiting Korea through group package tour programs, but now individual travelers can also receive the benefit. So far, Jeju Island has been the only part of Korea where all Chinese visitors could stay without a visa. This is the latest government policy to boost tourism, which is highly dependent on the Chinese. According to the KTO, the number of cruise tourists to Korea this year so far is 1.45 million. Among them, more than 1 million are Chinese. The Federation of Korean Industries, the country's largest business lobby group, as well as the Incheon Metropolitan Government openly asked the ministry to ease visa restrictions to bolster tourism. The number of cruise tourists is expected to reach as many as 2 million this year, double the 1 million in 2015, according to the KTO. Yet there are increasing concerns over the government's loosening border controls in return for more money from tourists. In April, five Chinese who came to Incheon by the Quantum of the Seas went missing upon their arrival. In October, 2015, 13 Chinese who arrived in Busan by the Sapphire Princess disappeared while shopping in the city. Many are concerned that more tourists and illegal immigrants may bring security issues to the nation, saying the long-term costs to solve them may be as high as what is earned. Such worries are becoming a reality on Jeju Island, where foreigners from 180 countries have been able stay for 30 days without a visa since 2008. The number of foreign tourists without visas on the island jumped to 629,724 last year from 69,569 in 2009, revitalizing the local economy and causing a boom in real estate. Meanwhile, the number of illegal immigrants there has soared from around 100 to 4,300 during the same period. Also, 393 foreigners were arrested for illegal activities in 2015, up from just 90 in 2009. Between January and July this year, police arrested 347 foreigners, up 59.2 percent from the same period last year. Among them, 69.2 percent were Chinese. The ministry said that, even during the pilot policy period, it will cancel the visa waiver benefit for cruise ships from which more than 20 passengers disappear for illegal stays. "We'll monitor the program and decide whether to continue it or not, and also whether to expand it," a ministry official said. By Kim Hyo-jin Cheong Wa Dae has refrained from responding to potential presidential candidates' attacks on President Park Geun-hye, dismissing them as "attention-seeking" political offensives. Several leading politicians from ruling and opposition parties have stepped up speaking against Park's policies on the economy and North Korea, as well as corruption allegations linked to her. "There is no need to make any statement about their criticism as it appears to be a typical tactic for potential candidates to bolster their political presence as the presidential term nears its end," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "At a time when we are facing the urgent tasks of responding to the North's nuclear threats and economic challenges, we don't have any space in our minds to pay attention to these criticisms one by one." Rep. Kim Moo-sung, a former chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, lashed out at Park's handling of Pyongyang, calling it a "failure." "It seems obvious that the North is stepping toward full-fledged nuclear ability," Kim said during an audit session of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Thursday. "South Korea consequently failed on North Korea policies and the Park government is no exception." The Saenuri's former floor leader, Rep. Yoo Seong-min, also denounced the government's idleness in dealing with rising household debt, job instability and the debt-ridden shipping industry, during an audit of the Strategy and Finance Committee. "Is the government just going to waste time until the end of the presidential term?" he said. Unhappy with the ruling party lawmakers' criticism, a presidential official said, "An offensive against the President might draw brief attention, but I doubt if it will be beneficial to their bid for the presidency in the long term." From the opposition side, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon has also denounced the central government over allegations that it has blacklisted 9,473 artists to withhold any support for them. Meanwhile, President Park's approval rating has declined to a record low since her inauguration in February 2013, according to a public poll, Friday, amid growing allegations over her aides. A Gallup Korea survey found that only 26 percent of respondents supported Park's job performance, 3 percentage points down from the previous week. Political analysts believe that her declining approval rating is due mainly to a series of corruption allegations the opposition parties have made against people known to be close to the President. By Yi Whan-woo North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is avoiding visiting flood-hit areas in the country's northeast, concerned of possible attacks against him using the hundreds of arms and ammunitions that were swept away from an armory during the flood, sources said, Friday. The sources from North Hamgyong Province said Kim is not likely to go there until the military retrieves all the arms and ammunitions that went missing. Over 500 people either died or went missing and another 140,000 people were left homeless after Typhoon Linorock hit the province in early September. The survivors have been angry about their regime's lack of relief efforts even though it had enough cash to carry out its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9, according to the sources. "The military is clueless about where to find the rifles and ammunition that are believed be underwater or are somewhere else," a source said. "In this climate, Kim is so concerned about terrorist attacks and assassination attempts in case the weapons fell into the hands of flood victims. It is rumored that the tyrant will visit the province only if his security is guaranteed." The sources said the young tyrant has previously scrapped plans to attend any scheduled events if even "a piece of weapon" was reported missing in the events' host cities. "The situation in North Hamgyong Province is much worse, and it is easy to imagine why Kim is not showing up there," a source said. Soldiers and civilians, including students, have been mobilized to retrieve the arms and ammunition. Some of them have explicitly made complaints about being treated like "cannon fodder." "The high-ranking officers are only interested in making sure that the lost items from the armory are back in place although there are still hundreds of dead bodies that need to be recovered," a source said. "Some people are grumbling that their lives are worth less than a bullet and that they will certainly be forced to die as cannon fodder when a war breaks out." Meanwhile, An Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher at the World Institute for North Korea Studies in Seoul, speculated that Kim may consider visiting the province if the relief program is completed. "It makes sense to say Kim is not visiting there owing to safety concerns. But it makes more sense to say Kim will wait until the devastated region has fully recovered so that he can stress his love for the people.'" Following the fifth nuclear test, Kim visited a farm run by the military and then an industrial plant on Sept. 13 and 15, respectively. His confidants are not encouraging him to visit the flood-devastated regions owing to fears that the scene may offend the unpredictable tyrant and consequently, prompt him to purge them. An average of 30 people have been publicly executed every year since Kim took power in December 2011. Many of them were killed for petty reasons, including then Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol, who was executed by anti-aircraft fire for snoozing in front of Kim at a meeting. By Kim Hyo-jin The Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters (SMFDH) is under suspicion of giving favorable treatment to a multinational helicopter manufacturer in its bid to purchase a rescue helicopter, an opposition lawmaker said, Friday. Rep. Lee Yong-ho of the minor opposition People's Party said during an audit session of the National Assembly Safety and Public Administration Committee that its public bid is virtually turning into a private contract due to the rescue agency's "unusual" required operational capability (ROC). The ROC stipulates that candidates need airworthiness certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) or Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT). As a result, the Anglo-Italian AgustaWestland's AW-189 was the only eligible bidder in the 34 billion won ($30 million) project, while the Surion utility helicopter, the first-ever Korean-made helicopter that is being used in rescue operations by the military and police, failed to make the cut. The first bid that closed on Oct. 5 failed due to a lack of participants and is scheduled to resume later this month. Should it fail again, the SMFDH will pick its chopper on a private contract, according to regulations. "There is no other helicopter that can meet the ROC set by the Seoul rescue agency," Lee said. "It was virtually a private contract." The controversy has lingered over the ROC among potential bidders since the rescue agency announced them in August. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the manufacturer of the Surion, claims that what type of certification a helicopter gets depends on the vehicle's purpose. For a military helicopter to be used for rescue operation, it needs a special airworthiness certification from MOLIT. A total of 12 imported military helicopters are currently used in rescue operations by nine regional agencies after getting the certification. "We told the SMFDH that the Surion will get a special airworthiness certificate to join the bid, but the agency only demands an airworthiness certificate that the Surion cannot obtain," said a KAI official. In addition, some regional rescue agencies that have launched equivalent bids have allowed helicopters with special airworthiness certification to join the competition. "I do not insist that a domestic producer be surely included in a bid, but it is obviously problematic that it only opens the door for a certain bidder," the lawmaker said. Iron trade between China and North Korea is continuing despite the latest United Nations Security Council sanctions resolution that bans such exchanges except for livelihood purposes, a United States expert said Thursday. The U.N. sanctions, adopted earlier this year in response to the North's fourth nuclear test in January, prohibits North Korea's exports of coal, iron and iron ore, as part of efforts to cut off sources of revenue that could be used for its nuclear and missile programs. Still, however, exports for "livelihood purposes" are allowed, a big loophole cited by many experts in what has been billed as the toughest sanctions ever imposed on Pyongyang. On Thursday, Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said that analysis of satellite imagery of the Musan Mine, one of the North's largest iron mines, and the nearby border with China shows that its iron trade is continuing. "Based on the imagery ... the Musan Mine remains active and traffic between the mine and the border crossing continues," Lewis said in a report on the website 38 North. "Although the area cannot be said to be 'teeming' with trucks in any of the images seen in this study, there are clear signs that trade is continuing." Comparing imagery from September 2015 and August 2016, it is clear that mining operations are ongoing even after the adoption of the latest resolution, as evidenced by new and growing spoil piles at the Musan Mine in northern North Korea, he said. "Overall, satellite imagery indicates that the Musan Mine remains active and iron ore continues to be exported to China. It is not possible to estimate whether the total amount of ore is significantly less than in previous years, but it appears that the livelihood exception ... has allowed this trade channel to remain open," he said. (Yonhap) By Tong Kim WASHINGTON With the Nov. 8 presidential election nearing, more and more experts in Washington are urging the next president Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump to address the North Korean issue as an urgent matter. These people include former senior officials of U.S. administrations and longtime North Korea watchers. In the last two weeks, some of them published their recommendations in op-eds by news outlets, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNN. Others expressed their views at discussions sponsored by some of the finest think tanks in America, including the Hoover Institute, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and the Bookings Institute. Their recommendations are many and diverse but they can be grouped roughly into two: (1) intensification of the current sanction regime, backed by enhanced deterrent and China's cooperation to pressure the North Korean regime to change its nuclear path and return to the table; (2) renewed engagement with the North in dialogue and negotiation to secure stability on the Korean Peninsula and first cap or contain its nuclear arsenal and stop the refinement of North Korea's missile delivery system before it can reach the United States. One thing in common in their assessments is that North Korea policies of the successive administrations for the past 20 years have failed to stop or restrict the North Korean nuclear and missile development; sanctions as applied so far have not worked; North Korea imposes a clear security threat for the U.S. and its allies; and therefore, the next administration should take a different policy. At a conference at the Wilson Center on October 13, John Merrill, former chief of State Department Intelligence and Research, said, "Regime change is no longer a viable policy. It is important to know what the North Korean motivation is for its nuclear program what has become a game changer'." "The regime does not involve Kim Jong-Un alone, but it involves everyone that has a stake in it." Merrill, now a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced Studies, expressed his doubt that the sanctions after being toughened further could reign in Pyongyang's nuclear program. He reminded the audience that U.S. sanctions on Japan in 1940 led to Pearl Harbor. Pressing on human rights issues is important but it should not be the top agenda above the issue of dealing with stabilizing the Korean Peninsula, according to the former state department official. "The U.S. goal is not clear, or it has too many goals, and its policy is incoherent," he added. He also called for moderation of U.S.-ROK joint exercises, mobilizing strategic bombers and nuclear submarines, to avoid "a knife-edge situation." At the Wilson Center, Keith Luse, executive director of the National Committee on North Korea, suggested the next administration should appoint a North Korea Policy Tsar, adding that if Hillary Clinton is elected, she could appoint Bill Clinton for that position, and if Trump is elected, he could appoint John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the UN under President George W. Bush. In contrast, Evans Revere, former principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, wrote a policy brief on "a nuclear armed North Korea" on October 4, calling for a stronger policy to "apply unprecedented pressure on the North Korean regime to compel it to return to the negotiating table and resume implementing its denuclearization commitments," sharpening the choice for Pyongyang between survival and a nuclear North Korea which will undermine its survival. This policy would require "improved U.S. and allied defensive and offensive military capabilities on and around the Korean Peninsula; enhanced extended deterrence and measures to physically demonstrate the determination of the United States," according to Revere, currently affiliated with the Brookings as a senior fellow. He also calls for "ramping up sanctions" to cut off Pyongyang's access to international financial institutions and invoking secondary sanctions on third country entities. In short, Revere's key recommendation is an enhanced, tougher version of the current course, as the goal of pressure is to bring the North to denuclearization talks. However, he does not favor other options such as military action except in response to a North Korean attack, accepting a nuclear North Korea, or a freeze on the North's nuclear program. In a different view from his, a freeze can be placed on all of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, if properly negotiated to insure inspections for verification. On October 11, the Korea Economic Institute held a discussion with surrogates of Clinton and Trump regarding North Korea policy. Kurt Campbell, former assistant secretary of state for East Asia, was surrogate for Clinton and Peter Hoekstra, former chairman of the House select committee on intelligence, was Trump's. The two agreed that their president would keep all options, including the military option on the table -- "at least at the initial phase until all stakeholders are sure of what their objectives are with regard to the North Korean nuclear and missile programs." Campbell said a Clinton administration would reassure South Korea and Japan of the U.S. commitment to defend its allies and work with them and China to pressure the North Korean regime to get rid of its nuclear weapons. Hoekstra in turn predicted that a Trump administration would review the existing agreements with South Korea and Japan, respecting their rights to defend themselves, to determine a fair share of the security burden. South Korea remains firm on its support for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the foreign ministry said Friday, affirming it is not pushing to bring in tactical nuclear weapons from the United States to counter growing threats from North Korea. "Our stance on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged," Cho June-hyuck, foreign ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing in Seoul. Cho made the remark in response to a question on whether South Korea and the United States will discuss deploying tactical nuclear arms on the southern part of the peninsula during the meeting of the bilateral foreign and defense ministers set to take place in Washington next week. "Both are expected to talk a lot about (Washington's) extended deterrence during the meeting," he said, referring to the U.S.' commitment to mobilize all military assets, including nuclear weapons, to defend its allies in crisis. In the face of the North's continued military provocations and worries that it is close to weaponizing its nuclear devices, some are raising the need for South Korea to arm itself with nuclear weapons by either introducing U.S. nukes or developing its own. Pyongyang detonated five nuclear devices since 2006 with the last being tested Sept. 9. On Thursday, a presidential advisory panel on reunification said it is necessary for the government to consider deploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to ensure deterrence against a nuclear-armed North Korea. The U.S. withdrew nuclear weapons from the South in the early 1990s after Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to keep the peninsula nuclear-free. Since then, the South has relied on the U.S. nuclear umbrella or extended its deterrence strategy to defend against North Korea. (Yonhap) By Oh Young-jin If exaggeration and wishful thinking are broadly categorized as lies, then South Korea is telling three lies regarding North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship. The three are: 1) arming itself with nuclear capabilities 2) having the United States reintroduce tactical nuclear weapons 3) preparing a preemptive strike. All three remain on the margins of public opinion. Still, some influential politicians are pushing for them and it can be seen that, depending on how the situation is with the North, they can gain more traction. The North is seen as getting closer to making deliverable nuclear weapons after five underground tests and numerous ballistic missile launches. Despite this growing threat from the Kim Jong-un regime, however, there is little chance of any of the three becoming a reality. The effort to go nuclear is pushed by a group of ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers, together with Chung Mong-joon, a billionaire and former lawmaker. They argue that the South needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against the North's asymmetric threat. Few dispute that it will mean Seoul terminating its alliance with the United States and getting isolated from the world system as we know it. The U.S. has two pillars in its foreign policy nonproliferation and human rights. If Seoul chooses an independent nuclear path, the U.S. would treat it as if it were another North Korea. As an open society integrated into the global system, the South wouldn't have either the will or capability to withstand the sanctions that have been imposed on the North, a hermit kingdom that only needs China to sustain its existence. How seriously the U.S. guards its proliferation policy over its ally, South Korea, is well captured by two cases. Korea successfully developed its own ballistic missile with a range of 180km on the basis of U.S Nike-Hercules ground to air missile in 1979. Then, the U.S. forced Korea to sign a promise not to develop missiles of ranges over 180km. It took 22 years for the U.S. to allow Korea to join the Missile Technology Control Regime and raise the range up to 300km. Only in 2012, did the U.S. grant Seoul the right to develop missiles with ranges over the previous limit of 300km. The new upper limit is set at 800km, covering most of North Korea. In 2004, Korea was also almost taken to the U.N. Security Council for experimenting with a small amount of nuclear material. John Burton, U.S. President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador, pushed for sanctions on Seoul. For the U.S., the alliance is conditioned on the other's compliance with nonproliferation. The reintroduction of tactical nuclear weapons onto the peninsula is being pushed as an alternative to independent development. The U.S. deployed tactical nuclear weapons here in the 1950s after the end of the Korean War. That was aimed at countering the Soviet Union, the patron of the North, as its military expansion was cresting toward the peak of Cold War rivalry. But they were withdrawn as part of the U.S. strategic restructuring through the 1980s. Still, the U.S. used the policy of "neither confirming nor denying" the existence of a nuclear arsenal in the South or the possession of it onboard warships involved in port calls or in joint drills. Now, Sung Kim, a Korean-born U.S. ambassador-designate for the Philippines, recently put his foot down in the capacity of North Korea policy coordinator, telling his Korean counterpart in public that Seoul doesn't need any such weapons. Obviously, the U.S. thinks that it is not necessary and whatever needs it has can be met through its bases in Japan and Guam or other strategic assets such as nuclear submarines or trans-continental bombers. The Clinton administration considered a preemptive strike against the North before it clinched the 1994 Agreed Framework in which the allies agreed to provide the North with light-water reactors in return for the freezing of its nuclear activities. That plan was killed because it was concluded that any such attempt would trigger an all-out war that would entail casualties to the tune of millions. Now, a war against the nuclear-armed North could entail a World War III Armageddon. What really makes these scenarios impossible is public opinion. For the deployment of the U.S. missile interceptor, terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD), residents of the site originally designated as the host, resisted it so vehemently that it was bounced to another site, where residents are also up in arms. It's not hard to imagine how much stronger public opposition would be against tactical nukes, for instance. There would be no place to deploy them, for sure. Then, why are these "fanciful" ideas capturing part of the public narrative? It's about pride. When the South was about to get rid of the constant bogyman the North, the impoverished nation has come up with a nuclear ticket. The South now is in a state of denial and takes a liking to these ideas as a psychological buffer. Just think how Koreans can remain sane after decades of living next door to the madcap nation whose main purpose of existence is to invade and conquer the South. Of course, there is more to it than that strategic considerations that were not necessarily started as such. It's about applying pressure on the U.S. to prove and renew its commitment to defend Seoul. The South is having more doubts about its ally as the North's nuclear brinkmanship is turning their existing security equation upside down. The U.S. has long promised a nuclear umbrella for the South but it is fast becoming "theoretically" obsolete as its main target the Soviet Union no longer exists and China is short of becoming its replacement as a military threat. The North is too small to become the Soviets or the Chinese. The South's reasoning goes: Would the U.S. be willing to use nuclear weapons against the North, if it uses one against the South without killing U.S. soldiers stationed here or hurling one against its mainland? Adding to the mix is the U.S. adoption of "extended deterrence" in lieu of the nuclear umbrella, the concept that is still nebulous at best. All told, the South has a strong extenuating case for telling these lies. Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact him at foolsdie5@ktimes.com foolsdie@gmail.com. A senior official at North Korea's spy agency defected to South Korea last year, a source said Wednesday, pointing to a rise in defections by North Korean elites disillusioned with the repressive regime. An unidentified official who worked for the Ministry of State Security escaped to the South last year, the source familiar with Pyongyang's affairs said, in an unusual defection by a North Korean in charge of gathering intelligence and cracking down on ordinary people. More North Korean elites, including diplomats, have deserted their country in search of freedom, which Seoul says points to signs of cracks in the North's regime. Pyongyang banished its vice foreign minister Kung Sok-ung to a cooperative farm as punishment after the North's leader Kim Jong-un became angry as several North Korean diplomats escaped to South Korea, according to a report by the JoongAng Ilbo. Kung, a veteran diplomat, was banished to a rural farm in an unidentified area in the wake of Thae Yong-ho's high-profile defection to South Korea, the daily said. Thae was the No. 2 man at North Korea's embassy in London. Thae defected to Seoul with his family in late July, making him one of the highest-ranking North Korean officials to arrive in the South. North Korea's leader is believed to have executed more than 100 state, party and military officials to consolidate power. In the face of international sanctions, North Korean officials working abroad, including diplomats, are under growing pressure to repatriate hard currency to the regime, experts said. (Yonhap) By Ngaire Woods OXFORD The United Nations is seeking a new secretary-general. The World Bank presidency is up for grabs. The World Health Organization needs a new head. The same goes for several other international organizations. At a time when conflicts of interest among the United States and its allies, together with the rise of China and Russia, are undermining global cooperation, the question of who fills these vacancies could not be more important. In the past, the process of selecting the right candidate has reflected rivalries among countries and popularity contests played out among governments, NGOs, and the media. This was clearly never the best approach. But, with a hegemonic United States willing and able to hold international institutions together, cooperation remained viable. Today, the unpredictable statements of US presidential candidate Donald Trump and the more isolationist vision that he is encouraging among his supporters has the rest of the world nervous about the changing nature of America's role in the world. And America's allies in Europe are not exactly at their most stable, owing to a combination of deep-rooted economic challenges, the United Kingdom's looming exit from the European Union, and surging support for populist political forces in many countries. Moreover, the US and its allies are not only unwilling to underpin global cooperation, they lack the capacity even to try. The International Monetary Fund's recent World Economic Outlook reports that the US and its allies will account for just 39% of global output in 2020, down sharply from 64% today, with the US share falling from 22% to 15%. For the international institutions, this means that communication, compromise, and consensus are more important than ever and not just among countries. Given strong anti-establishment and even nationalist sentiment in many countries, international institutions must also be more open with and responsive to the global public that they are supposed to serve. All of this demands a more meritocratic and unbiased approach to filling the top positions at the international institutions. To assess the candidates fairly and effectively, five key criteria should be used. First, candidates should have a proven ability not just to define a mission, but also to take on the more challenging task of mobilizing a broad coalition of stakeholders to achieve it. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, for example, had little trouble identifying critical issues, from specific humanitarian crises in countries like Haiti, Myanmar, and Pakistan to broader challenges like climate change and global poverty. But his success in spurring countries to work together to address those issues is dubious. Second, leaders must be able to persuade countries to fund their organizations. Former African Development Bank President Donald P. Kaberuka convinced countries to double their contributions during his tenure; during the same cycle, the World Bank's resources were increased by just one-third. But it is not just a matter of getting more money. Organizations need to focus on expanding their core resources, which are not tied to any specific task, rather than drawing more discretionary or earmarked resources. Otherwise, they risk becoming hired hands for a few pet projects, rather than critical platforms for broad cooperation. Unfortunately, in recent years, discretionary funding has largely taken over, and now accounts for more than 90% of resources in several agencies. The International Organization for Migration, the importance of which has been underscored by the ongoing refugee crisis, relies entirely on discretionary funding. To change this, international organizations need leaders who are convincing salespeople, which means that they must be widely perceived as genuine and trustworthy. The third criterion for effective leadership of an international institution is strong, results-oriented management. Successful candidates should already have experience leading an organization that performed well, achieving the results they set out to achieve. There should be evidence that the candidate can translate a vision into a plan, with clear benchmarks against which progress can be measured. The current slates of candidates is wanting in this regard. This can have far-reaching consequences. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has faced substantial criticism for his handling of his flagship initiative: an internal restructuring. That process has dragged on for four years, and many staff members claim that it is undermining the efficiency of lending operations. While it is difficult to assess these claims reliably, a leaked internal survey of the organization's employees indicates, at the very least, that the management culture needs improvement. This is closely related to the fourth criterion: hiring (and retaining) the right staff. No leader can do everything alone, so choosing a high-quality team is crucial. If those working at the organization are unhappy, recruiting the most talented and motivated people will be nearly impossible. Beyond creating an open, challenging, and supportive culture reflected in internal surveys that are shared publicly (not leaked) the leaders of international organizations must resist pressure from member countries to hire particular senior officials, who are not necessarily the highest-performing candidates. Moreover, they must be willing and able to identify and remove inherited senior managers who are not up to standard. The key words must be meritocracy and morale. The final criterion for effective leadership of an international organization concerns accountability. In the last couple of decades, heads of the IMF, the World Bank, and the UNHCR Refugee Agency have left office under a cloud of suspicion. Some leaders have lately established far stricter codes of conduct; it is up to the new ones to ensure that they are being enforced. Welcoming independent evaluation and disclosing the results is essential. The world needs strong international institutions more than ever. And strong institutions need outstanding leaders who can build consensus among increasingly bad-tempered governments, while attracting sufficient resources and mobilizing talented people to get the job done. This is no time to compromise for short-term political expediency. Ngaire Woods is dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and director of the Global Economic Governance Program at the University of Oxford. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate. By Jason Lim You know that that you've hit rock bottom when CNBC's Jim Cramer, the famous TV personality who doles out investment advice, compares you to the shoe bomber. According to NBC news, "Cramer on Tuesday compared the Samsung devices to a shoe bomber and said he would be nervous to fly. Transportation Security Administration, please stop it,' Cramer said on Squawk on the Street. Stop this phone from coming on our damn planes.'" He added that flight passengers should report immediately if they see a person with an activated Note device. If you see something, say something,' Cramer said. For your information, "If you see something, say something," is a public information campaign run by the Department of Homeland Security to recruit the public to identify any potential terrorist activities against the U.S.. In short, Cramer was likening the Samsung phone to potential terrorism. While we can take Cramer's rhetoric with a grain of salt since his brand is built on breathless, hyperbolic exhortations on everything, the at-large fear of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 exploding in mid-air, at home while being charged, or in your pocket while driving, is real. It's not an exaggeration to say that this has been the biggest crisis that Samsung has faced since becoming a global, household name company. Perhaps due to Samsung's overwhelming presence and influence in Korean lives, the Korean public debate over Samsung's handling of the Galaxy Note 7 crisis tends to fall into two camps. In one camp, you have the fawners who believe that Samsung can do no wrong and, if it faces a problem, it's usually a scheme hatched by its rivals (with Apple being the prime suspect) to victimize a native son Korean company done good. In the other camp, you have the paranoid conspiracy theorists that believe Samsung is the evil empire with tentacles that reach into every nook and cranny of the Korean society, a modern-day Freemason organization run by the Dark Emperor and his minions. Neither is the case, of course. In fact, I actually think that Samsung executed a textbook crisis management plan at the start of this misadventure when they put out a recall for all affected Samsung notes and provided replacement devices. They were transparent, prompt, and decisive. They admitted the problem, issued an apology, and provided a solution. Unfortunately, the problem went much deeper than previously suspected. The phones continued to experience problems even when the batteries, the original suspect, were replaced. Others blamed issues with the manufacturing process, or the very thin separators, or the faulty waterproofing, or the software... According to the Financial Times, "...ultimately, it will be down to Samsung to answer the question which continues to pummel its share price and earnings and tarnish its global reputation. According to a person close to the situation, all theories being posited are being investigated; and software, hardware and production issues' too." And I have no doubt that Samsung will eventually find the underlying cause. But what if the real problem doesn't have anything to do with engineering? What if the real problem is the organizational culture? This reminds me of NASA's Challenger disaster. I still remember where I was that day. I had stayed home from school for some reason. My brother called me to the living room TV when the Challenger exploded in the air, both of us staring in disbelief. Eventually, an independent commission appointed by President Reagan found that the O-ring seals around the rocket booster had failed, leading to the disaster. Even worse, it found "that Morton Thiokol, the company that designed the solid rocket boosters, had ignored warnings about potential issues. NASA managers were aware of these design problems but also failed to take action." In short, the underlying cause was NASA's organization culture of doing business as usual. This could also be the case for Samsung. Geoffrey Cain, writing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, From Crisis to Creative Destruction at Samsung" points out, "Vice Chairman Lee will need to dismiss aging managers who are too enamored with Samsung's old engineer-focused culture. He'll need to make room for a new generation of thinkers in marketing, design, software and other creative fields who can be entrusted to manage their own affairs. Lay-offs will invoke a different kind of crisis, but one that Samsung needs to have to open space for a younger and less authoritarian generation." Needless to say, cultural overhaul is easier said than done. It's especially difficult for Korean family conglomerates in which all key decisions flow from top down along a rigid hierarchy. However, this crisis shows that what got Samsung here won't get Samsung there. The key question is whether Samsung has the will and vision to get there by creatively destroying itself in an attempt to emerge stronger. It's huge risk. But what other option does it have? NASA did it. Maybe Samsung will, too. Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. Reach him at jasonlim@msn.com, facebook. com/jasonlimkoreatimes or @jasonlim2012. The government has pushed for a plan virtually to kick doctors out of the profession for performing illegal surgical abortions. Every year somewhere between 200,000 and 350,000 cases of artificial termination of pregnancy take place in the country but legal abortions account for only 5 percent of these. The problem is that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has so far failed to build a consensus about this complicated issue and paid little attention to a slew of side effects. The ministry has made public notice of its pertinent revisions aimed at including illegal abortions on the list of amoral medical activities together with the repeated use of syringes and sexual crimes against patients. In this revision, OB/GYN physicians will receive a one-year suspension of their licenses for a violation. The present one-month suspension has rarely been enforced. The doctors claim that the tougher penalty would force them out of business, threatening to boycott any abortion procedure, illegal or legal. In response, the ministry has vowed to implement the tougher penalty after the period of notice ends Nov. 2. It is feared that the revision would drive those seeking abortions underground: seeking unlicensed care, traveling overseas for the procedures and abandoning newborns. What we have to consider is the big rise in the number of unwanted babies when society is not ready reluctance toward adoption, stigma of babies born out of wedlock and lack of infrastructure for accommodating them. By all means, the revision spells a disaster in the making a medical and social crisis. At the root of this problem are history and the lack thereof. First, abortion was used as a key tool for population control when the nation was in the middle of rapid development and "enjoyed" a sky-high birthrate, which explains the current high number of abortions and the relative lack of a sense of guilt. In those days, the nation had been spared the strife between pro-choice and the Christian pro-life anti-abortionists as well as the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade landmark ruling for women's rights to choose in the U.S. The U.S. example, despite many side effects, proved to be a consensus-making process. For Korea, it's an issue for which the government shouldn't arbitrarily put forth a mandate to decide for the sake of expediency or at the whim of one influential individual or party. The opinions of all groups of society women, those for and against abortion, scientists, doctors, ethical philosophers and those from other walks of life should be considered in an effort to determine our path on this fundamental issue about the life of unborn babies, their rights and society's pertinent attitudes. Let's begin the discussion. JY should fill vacuum at top and take charge As with any problem with chaebol, the familiar litany of failures with the big family businesses top-down management, suppression of second opinions and lethargy in response are cited as reasons for Samsung Electronics' Note 7 debacle. As a solution, the usual litany of remedies is suggested, including the abolition of its military culture and streamlining the lines of communication. Some ask for a complete overhaul to the point of denying everything Samsung stands for. The whole process appears as if taken from the list of recommendations made against chaebol in the 1980s and 1990s. During the intervening years, Samsung has grown to be the world's biggest mobile phone maker, a fact that either eviscerates these claims or shows the conglomerate has overcome them. For its exploding Galaxy Note 7 phablets, however, there is bound to be another reason that ironically comes down to the issue of more chaebol or fewer. Most likely in an isolated case, Samsung's latest problem can be blamed for the less of it and more specifically on the absence of one very powerful owner at the top as the traditional chaebol chain of command calls for. Lee Kun-hee, Samsung Electronics chairman, suffered a heart attack in May 2014 and has not been in any condition to make management decisions. Lee is credited for the conglomerate's "new management" of changing everything except for wife and children, leading its transformation from local business to global powerhouse. During his absence, Samsung has been run by a collective leadership. Jae-yong, his only son, gets involved in key decisions to make the group reoriented toward future growth engines and easing up its corporate culture. But he is a vice chairman and not even a registered director. In chaebol, where ultimate power lies in one top leader, it means Samsung is in an abnormal situation and the Note 7 fiasco took place in this power vacuum. True, some speculate that Samsung has made extraordinary haste in introducing its latest gadget to prepare for the young Lee's ascension. That can be only guessed. Right now, Samsung's most important task is to deal with the aftermath that should exceed a kind of damage control that restores it back to the pre-Note 7 period. The priority is to normalize its command system as soon as possible. For that, Jae-yong can no longer shy away and stay behind the scenes. As planned, he should take the position of a registered director and declare himself to be the leader. This will certainly reduce uncertainty among investors and, equally essential, internally send the message about the change of power so that the big organization can rally around the new leader. At the same time, it will help enhance operational transparency and clarify the line of responsibility. In other words, there would be no doubt the buck would stop at Jae-yong for whatever happens in the future. Credit would go to him for any success as well. This fundamental change is pivotal to concentrate all Samsung has to overcome the hiatus caused by the termination of the Note 7 in the line-up of products on the market, as well as the gaping hole in its bottom line. All told, the fate of Samsung is at stake. A test ahead for Lee is a test for Korea Inc., as well. The next U.S. president should put unprecedented pressure on North Korea to force it to choose between regime survival and nuclear weapons, a U.S. expert said. "U.S. policy should focus on demonstrating that America is prepared to put at risk the one thing that the DPRK holds more dearly than its nuclear weapons -- the preservation of its regime -- in order to convince Pyongyang to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons," Evans Revere, a Korea expert who served as a principal deputy secretary of state, said in an article on the Brookings Institution website. The argument came as some U.S. experts have called increasingly for reopening negotiations with the North in order to curb its nuclear and missile development amid heightened fears in the wake of Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test last month that the regime is making real progress in its weapons programs. Revere stressed that the North is unlikely to trade away its nuclear program for any incentives or rewards. "Agreements with North Korea, starting with the Agreed Framework in 1994 and continuing through the so-called Leap Day agreement in 2012, were largely based on the expected attractiveness of incentives and rewards," the expert said. "That hypothesis was worth testing early on, but experience demonstrated that incentives were of little value. As American negotiators and the international community eventually discovered, Pyongyang was not building nuclear weapons just to trade them away," he said. The U.S. and its allies and partners "should make North Korea choose between nuclear weapons and survival," he said. "A more robust approach should aggressively build on current policy by going after the financial lifeblood of the North Korean regime in new ways," he said, adding that such measures include starving the regime of foreign currency, cutting Pyongyang off from the international financial and trading system, intensifying sanctions and squeezing its trading networks. "Such an approach carries risks, including more complicated relations with China and some danger for South Korea. Importantly, however, America's South Korean ally agrees that now is the time to take risks in order to avoid a darker future and starker choices," he said. Some experts have argued that the U.S. should accept the North's demand for a peace treaty in exchange for a freeze on its nuclear program or to remove what Pyongyang claims is the "root cause" of its nuclear development, but Revere said that such thinking is "delusional." "Buying into North Korea's proposal would seriously damage ties with the ROK, which is not prepared to negotiate a peace treaty with a nuclear-armed DPRK," he said. "Seoul would also not accept a peace treaty discussion in which it is not a central player. Peace on the Korean Peninsula can only be achieved if the two Koreas are at the table, and Pyongyang's proposal undermines this principle." He stressed that the North's missile program is of no less concern than the nuclear program. "North Korea's possession of reliable solid-fuel ballistic missiles would require the United States and its allies to consider a pre-emptive attack on the North's missile-related facilities to avoid being hit first," he said. (Yonhap) Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, the next secretary-general of the United Nations / Yonhap By Hong Dam-young Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been officially appointed as the next secretary-general of the United Nations, replacing Korea's Ban Ki-moon, who will step down at the end of the year. Guterres, a former U.N. refugee chief, 67, was elected on Thursday by the 193 members of the U.N. General Assembly. Fifteen members of the U.N. Security Council unanimously recommended last week that the assembly appoint Guterres. He will take office on Jan.1. Guterres pledged on Thursday to do his best to end the conflict and suffering in Syria and tackle other global issues, such as gender parity and protection of women. "We must make sure that we are able to break this alliance between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side and the expressions of populism and xenophobia on the other side," Guterres said, according to Reuters. Ban said Guterres is best known where it counts most, on the frontline of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering. U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power and other diplomats also expressed their support for the new secretary-general. "In Mr. Guterres, we have a candidate with both head and heart," Power said. Guterres was elected over 13 candidates -- seven of whom were women -- amid pressure from several groups for the first female chief. It had only been months since the conclusion of the hit Korean TV series 'The Descendants of the Sun' but actor Song Joong Ki is bringing back the feels when he was spotted wearing an army uniform reminiscent to his largely popular character Yoo Si-Jin. A photo of Joong Ki in an army uniform and was waiting to receive his reserve forces training went viral overnight when a netizen uploaded it on October. The photo was captioned "Wow it's Yoo Si Jin. [I'm] a reservist with Song Joong Ki hyung, sorry for taking the photo without permission." And while the netizen was sorry about taking the photo without Joong Ki's knowledge, his fans were ecstatic about the photo since it reminded them so much of his army captain character in the immensely popular show. In South Korea, males between the ages 18 and 30 are require to enlist in a mandatory military service which can last 21 to 24 months and no one, not even celebrities are exempted from enlistment. Failing to enlist can be considered a criminal act. Joong Ki had already finished his military service before he filmed The Descendants of the Sun. Syrian-Armenian looks for employers (video) Petros Gevorgyan, who moved to Armenia from Syria about a year ago, is looking for people to work in a shoe workshop established by him and his friend. A working person will find a job wherever he wants to get the job. If I make something and that product does not have great demand, I shall produce another item. Ones endeavours are important, he says. In a labour fair organized in Yerevan, the Syrian-Armenian speaks about the qualities he is looking for in his future employees. We are trying to find craftsmen like those that were popular in the 1970-80s. When the new and old generations start working together, the result is striking," he adds. Economist Sergey Movsisyan will turn 60 years old in a few days. A year ago, he was fired from his job because of illness and has been unemployed ever since. Mr. Movsisyan says employers set minimum age limits. They want their employees to be under 35, university graduates who have served in the army, know languages One can do it all until 40, that is not fair, he says. Sergey Movsisyan did not pin hopes on the fair though he went up to all pavilions and even inquired about jobs that had nothing to do with his profession. Financier Petros, 24, who has recently been demobilized, says he will only work by profession. If you see yourself in a definite field, you have the required qualifications that will be helpful to you in your work and if you do some other job, it will prevent you from achieving your goals, he said. According to the State Employment Agency, the number of job-seekers amounted to 16336 as of September 1, 2016, with 74,8 percent of them being females. There are a lot of engineers, educators, economists, and nurses among them. The Consul-General of Equatorial Guinea in Nigeria, Juan Mbomio, and his wife, Maria, escaped death by a whisker after running into a gang of armed robbers at the boundary between Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. The duo, who are recuperating from injuries sustained in the encounter, were on their way from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Calabar in Cross River State, when the incident happened at about 8pm on Monday. The consul-generals Toyota Prado was sprayed with bullets, some of which pierced his neck and chest, while the wife sustained bullet injuries in her left knee. A family friend, Nkoyo Richard, told Punch Metro on Thursday that the driver, Isaac Eyup, and a consular attache, Innocencio Ngomo, as well as an unidentified police escort, were in the vehicle when the incident happened. Richard said the consul-general and his wife were recuperating at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital after the bullets were removed from their bodies. He said, The incident happened between 7.45pm and 8pm on Monday, October 10, at the area between Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. The robbers started shooting as soon as they sighted the Jeep. The vehicle was riddled with bullets. The bullets touched the consul-general and his wife. He was injured in the neck and chest, while the wife was injured in the left knee. The robbers forced the vehicle to stop and dispossessed the couple of their belongings, including money and phones. The robbers later fled and left the consul-general, his wife and others stranded because the tyres of the vehicle were punctured. The consul-general and those with him managed to find their way to Calabar that night. They got to Calabar at about 12 midnight and immediately went to a hospital. A source at the consulate in Calabar frowned at the lack of concern shown by the Cross River State Government since the incident occurred. She said the Federal Government had, through the foreign affair ministry and the Department of State Services, as well as the police, shown concern since the incident happened; but the host state, Cross River, did nothing despite being informed. We got calls from officials of the Federal Government, but no sign of concern from the Cross River State Government, where we have our major office. About 90 per cent of Nigerians going to Equatorial Guinea get their visas from the Calabar office. We are not happy that they did not show concern, she said. Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ben Ayade, Mr. Christian Ita, said he was not aware of the incident. Also, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo, said that the command was not officially informed about the matter. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more PRESS RELEASE Senator Bob Graham: Ample Evidence 9/11 Could Not Have Happened Without Saudi Support Oct. 13, 2016 (EIRNS)Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who has been tireless in his efforts to get out the truth about who was behind 9/11, told McClatchy News, yesterday, that in the aftermath of the Congressional override of President Obamas veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), several things will now happen. "The victims families will have an opportunity for justice," he said. "And Saudi Arabia will be disabused of any idea that it has immunity from responsibility for its role in 9/11." Graham said, "But from what I know today, there is ample evidence that 9/11 would not have happened but for the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia...The result of that assistance was (nearly) 3,000 persons murdered, 90% of them Americans. And a new wave of terrorism with Saudi financial and operational support has beset the world." Graham dismissed Saudi claims that they are going after Islamic radicals, maintaining that whatever changes they have made since 9/11 have been minor. "What I dont think theyve changed is their Wahhabist commitment to the extreme form of Islam, which has served as the primary motivation for thousands of people to adopt jihad as their life goal," he said. Graham offered a deft, ironic twist on the question of how the G.W. Bush and Obama Administrations could have averted JASTA. He said that, the United States could have dealt with the Saudi role in 9/11, by the Bush and Obama Administrations negotiating with the Saudis for payment, in the same way that the Libyan government of Muammar Qaddafi ultimately compensated the families of victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing. JASTA? "It was self-inflicted," Graham said. PRESS RELEASE Negative Rates To Reach Six Percent? Oct. 13, 2016 (EIRNS)Prepare for a new criminal scheme for looting depositors worldwide, with an extension of negative rates on deposits and new forms of expropriations. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has signaled that Quantitative Easing might be extended beyond the deadline of March 2017. This means that negative rates for private customers "will definitely come," said Martin Hellmich, a professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, to the Financial Times on Oct. 10. Also Georg Fahrenschon, head of the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV) was quoted in Financial Times as saying he cannot rule out that negative rates for bank customers will come. Notorious Harvard hitman Kenneth Rogoff had already suggested that negative rates should reach 6% in case of a "severe financial crisis" in an interview with Welt am Sonntag on Sept. 18. In order ensure that depositors dont escape this expropriation by withdrawing their deposits, Rogoff has suggested abolishing all banknotes but the 10 note. Rogoff is not an isolated loony, but a member of the influential Group of Thirty and a precursor of the negative rates policy adopted by central banks. PRESS RELEASE Putin Calls for the Big Eurasian Partnership Oct. 13, 2016 (EIRNS)Russian President Vladimir Putin calls for a big Eurasian Partnership in an interview with Sputnik. "In this context, we also proposed that work on establishing the Eurasian Economic Union should be integrated with that on the Silk Road Economic Belt. This process could eventually provide a basis for the Big Eurasian Partnership that would involve a wide range of states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] and ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations]," Putin said. He stressed that such partnership would be open for accession by all countries concerned and would be built on the principles of transparency and mutual respect. "The BRICS cooperation potential may also be used to implement this initiative. We look forward to the support from India, which is earnestly interested in this proposal." PRESS RELEASE Rep. Lieu Warns of U.S. War Crimes in Supplying Arms to Saudis; New Report: Sanaa Funeral Strike Was a Made-in-U.S.A. Bomb Oct. 13, 2016 (EIRNS)Today Human Rights Watch issued a report, based on follow-up work on the ground in Sanaa, to the Oct. 8 Saudi bombing which killed more than 140 people, and wounded many more. The report, which terms the incident a war crime, identifies the bomb as made in the United States. The report states that the ballistic remnants still had an intact guidance fin, which had legible manufacturers markings. It was a GBU-12 Paveway II 500-pound laser-guided bomb. Earlier this week, Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat from California, wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (Oct. 11), calling on him to halt the sales of U.S. arms to Saudi Arabia and U.S. military support to the Saudi-led coalition in its campaign in Yemen. The letter comes in the aftermath of the Saudi Oct. 8 bombing of the funeral gathering in Sanaa. Lieu also cites an Oct. 10 Reuters dispatch that reports concerns among State Department lawyers that the U.S. could be held liable for war crimes that the Saudis commit with U.S. support. "The frequency and scale of the civilian killings by the Saudi military coalition make it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that war crimes have been and are continuing to be committed in Yemen," Lieu wrote, adding that human rights groups have counted, "at least 70 unlawful airstrikes on civilians by the Saudi coalition. And that was before the latest air strike on civilians at a funeral." This is far too many air strikes than can be defended as "errant" by "apologists" for the Saudi coalition, Leiu continues. "It appears that either the Saudi coalition is intentionally targeting civilians or they are not distinguishing between civilians and military targets," Lieu writes. "Both would be war crimes." Lieu is a former Air Force attorney. PRESS RELEASE Russian Ambassador Warns That Risk of Miscalculation Is Increasing Oct. 13, 2016 (EIRNS)Russias Ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, told CNN yesterday, that the danger of miscalculation between the United States and Russia is growing. "The risk of miscalculations has increased," especially with NATO forces "being deployed next to our borders," he said, adding that "normal channels of communication are frozen" between the United States and Russia. "We see the United States taking unfriendly steps toward Russia including sanctions, there are calls for isolating Russia," he said, adding, "it doesnt work with Russia and its not going to work." Colin Dickey was looking for a bargain during the real-estate fire sale following the 2008 mortgage disaster when he came across a foreclosed house in Echo Park that creeped him out. The trees in the backyard were hung with rotted citrus, the interior was jigsawed with strange partitions and a curious legend was scrawled on a bedroom wall: a murderer lived here. Even though the house which Dickey and his wife fondly recall as The Happy Murder Castle felt haunted, he didnt perceive a supernatural pall as much as he did the former owners pique at having lost the house to the bank, bitter and spiteful spirits, mingling with a sense of melancholy and regret. This spiritualization of corporeal feelings is the idea at the heart of Ghostland, a book that repeats this thesis over and over again, but does so in such creative and even ingenious ways that the reader pays no mind to that lingering echo in the basement. From ruined factories in Detroit to abandoned slave markets outside Richmond, Va., Dickey takes an erudite tour of haunted America and tells us repeatedly that the meaning of ghost stories lies not in what they claim about the occult but in what they inadvertently say about the anxieties and prejudices of the teller and the larger society. Dickey rings this idea like a spoon on a wineglass. Advertisement When we talk about the moans from the gothic insane asylum on the hill, for example, its really about our discomfort with the segregation of the mentally ill. Spirits twitching inside Nevada brothels are unquiet reminders of the furtive trade of bodies for rent and how it damages the women. And entire cities that have made a profit stream of ghosts New Orleans, for example have not made peace with their racial inequalities of the past and present. Tales of the inhuman, in other words, are all too human. This book is not about the truth or falsity of any claim of ghosts, Dickey writes, dispensing with any expectation that the reader has signed up for a tedious ride-along with the teams of paranormal investigators armed with electromagnetic detectors that populate cable shows like Ghost Hunters or Fear. In fact, Dickey writes with contempt about such expeditions. He is not a spiritual sleuth but a literary one, preferring to hit libraries and newspaper archives for the origins of the stories we tell about the scuzzy Los Angeles hotel where a serial killer once stayed, or that house in St. Louis where we heard the insane husband forced his poor wife to kill herself. As it turns out, many of these local yarns are either exaggerating the bloodshed or placing the moral blame for atrocities on the wrong parties. His analytical and reportorial talents are evident in the first chapter, which uncovers a bit of dirty laundry about the House of the Seven Gables, one of the faux-spooky landmarks of Salem, Mass., that played a role in the eponymous novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A hidden staircase to the side of the fireplace ominously reputed by docents to have been a refuge from witch hunters was actually added by 20th century promoters as an architectural puzzle to enchant tour groups; a little piece of there to represent the not there. We need these shadowy places, it seems, as a physical catchment for what we try to repress in our own histories. Californias serpentine Winchester Mystery House another haunted house with an admission price is also guilty of bending its own origins as badly as its front staircase. According to the official folklore, Sarah Winchester a New Englander who married into the Winchester rifle fortune and lost her daughter and husband to illness was told by a medium that the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles were plaguing her family. She was to appease them by building a house for them; as long as construction continued, she herself would be safe. But in her own letters, Sarah Winchester expresses far more wariness of her own family back East than of the supposed ghosts of Plains Indians slain by Winchester weaponry. The legend of her insistence that construction on her house be never-ending sprang from an anonymously penned story in a San Jose newspaper in 1895, which Dickey believes was a safe confirmation for readers anxieties that something must be dreadfully wrong with a rich woman who chose to live alone. Part of the special delight of Ghostland is its many informed asides, revealing Dickeys long hours of spading up obscure facts and quotes. These can be amusing, if trivial: We learn that policemen used to collect electrocuted ducks from the base of a giant electric tower in the heart of San Jose for later sale to restaurants, and that a Dutch movie about a haunted elevator called The Lift featured the unforgettable advertising tagline Take the stairs, take the stairs. For Gods sake, take the stairs!! But they are also thematically important, as in the case of the 1890s obsession with seances. Spiritualism, Dickey explains, was a social movement with a curious relationship to telegraphy that helped drive womans suffrage, earned the contempt of Ralph Waldo Emerson and did not so much die out as simply went mainstream. The book is not entirely free of rattles in the attic. Just as many ghost stories must start with a death, Dickey makes the choice to start with a dense and viscous introduction, light on the empiricism at which he excels. A reader might wonder if this is an application for the endowed chair of the ghost studies department. But the scholastic throat-clearing quickly gives way to a bravura performance of storytelling, in an elegant prose style throughout that does not sacrifice intelligence for readability. Dickey salts the narrative with vivid word-pictures. The Winchester Mystery House sprawls and flops in a dozen different directions, moving like a coral reef. A Monrovia hotel has to close its doors to ghost-seekers because of the dual succubi of money and fame. Dickey also has a populist taste that mingles nicely with the high academic voice of the book. There are several well-chosen references to Stephen Kings use of the uncanny in his novels, as well as a fascinating story about a haunted Toys R Us amid the bland consumer tableau of Sunnyvale, Calif. Things also get gory, as they must: a drug-scented 1979 murder at L.A.s Bonaventure Hotel led to human remains being taken out in trash bags. A particularly brilliant chapter contrasts the multiple rapes and murders committed inside the basement of a gloomy West Virginia prison with a 2nd century BC aboriginal burial mound outside its gates. Americans live on haunted land because we have no other choice, writes Dickey. The spirits of an older world surround us, lying restless in a tomb of memory, and this book challenges the reader not to make an easy hand-off to the paranormal and find better explanations for why these stories keep coming back, and back and back Zoellner is an associate professor of English at Chapman University. :: Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places Colin Dickey Viking: 336 pp., $27 After nearly seven decades, it is easy to forget the fierce, frantic terrors of the early Cold War. Despite victory in World War II, America had lost its nuclear monopoly due to Soviet spies, was confronting Soviet pressure in Europe, had lost China to communists and was battling the demons of McCarthyism at home. But the only shooting war in late 1950 was in distant Korea. U.S forces fighting under a United Nations mandate were being mauled by Chinese troops who had crossed into the country. Advertisement In Washington, President Harry Truman worried not only about Russia, China and other threats. He was unable to control Gen. Douglas MacArthur, his commander in Korea. For five years, the popular general had defied and insulted the president. MacArthur publicly challenged administration policies, refused to return from Asia to brief the White House, courted a presidential bid while in uniform, and most importantly, openly threatened to use nuclear weapons against China. When Truman insisted on a face-to-face meeting, MacArthur agreed to fly only half a day from his Tokyo headquarters to Wake Island in the central Pacific. Truman was forced to fly 14,400 miles to sit down with what he caustically called Gods right hand man. MacArthur assured Truman that the year-old communist government in China would not send troops into Korea, and that they would be destroyed if they did. He was dead wrong on both counts. And then he announced he was too busy to stay for lunch. Truman was livid. In the end, Truman fired MacArthur. The general returned to cheering throngs and ticker-tape parades, standing ovations from both houses of Congress, and then a failed run for the White House. All this provides ample grist for The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War, H.W. Brands highly readable take on the clash of two titanic figures in a period of hair-trigger nuclear tensions. This is ground well trod by others, often with greater flair and insight: think William Manchesters magisterial work on MacArthur, David McCulloughs ground-breaking biography of Truman and David Halberstams piercing look at the carnage in Korea, to name a few. Brands is a skilled historian and he mines letters, memoirs and transcripts to give gripping blow-by-blow accounts of internal debates. But its difficult to discern much new here and he neglects to explain just why Korea was divided at the 38th parallel after World War II, or how MacArthurs miscalculations led to needless American deaths. Still, history offers few antagonists with such dramatic contrasts, and Brands brings these two to life. Truman, a farmer and haberdasher before he entered politics, never attended college and was famously plain-spoken. A reluctant nominee for vice president in 1944, he only had met Franklin Roosevelt once or twice when the president died in April 1945, vaulting the untested Truman into the Oval Office. MacArthur, a career soldier, was ambitious, bold and brilliant. He had helped win the Pacific War (although most historians give him far less credit that he claimed), and as head of the occupation, was building a robust democracy from the ruins of postwar Japan. But at 70, he was pompous and arrogant, given to flowery language and bombastic pronouncements. He was surrounded by sycophants, obsessed with his public image, and in the view of his critics, a megalomaniac prepared to start World War III. Brands begins his tale in June 1950 when communist North Korean troops invaded the pro-Western south, sending U.S. and South Korean troops into panicked retreat. MacArthur, the U.S. commander in the Far East, was caught flat-footed and unprepared, Brands notes. It wasnt the first time. In 1941, when MacArthur held a similar post in the Philippines, Japanese warplanes destroyed most of his aircraft on the ground nine hours after hed gotten word about the attack on Pearl Harbor. His negligence guaranteed Americas bastion in the western Pacific would fall. Nine years later, Korea was not vital to U.S. interests but Truman and his aides were determined to respond to what they saw as Soviet-inspired aggression. They approved what Truman would call a police action, not a full-fledged war, wary of potential Soviet countermoves in Europe or the Middle East. To seize the initiative, MacArthur launched a daring amphibious landing at Inchon, behind enemy lines, in September 1950. A month later, U.S. troops captured Pyongyang, the northern capital, and then, despite orders from Washington, pushed north to the Chinese border. Theyd be home by Christmas, the general promised. Instead, the Chinese invaded that December, overwhelming and outmaneuvering American troops. MacArthur again claimed utter surprise and Brands surprisingly ignores scholarship that shows he and his aides discounted or dismissed multiple reports of a Chinese military buildup in the area. Refusing to concede any errors, MacArthur urged Washington to let him expand the war by bombing bases in China. His threats including one to plant minefields with radioactive waste worried allies, created turmoil in Washington and irked Truman no end. The final provocation came when MacArthur publicly called for all-out war against China just as Truman was trying to coax the Chinese into peace talks. Rank insubordination, Truman angrily wrote in his diary. The general, he decided, had to go. MacArthurs star quickly faded back home. Gen. Omar Bradley, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, helped seal his fate when he told Congress that the generals strategy would involve us in the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time and with the wrong enemy. History has been kinder to Truman than to MacArthur. Their epic collision of wills, egos and policies helped set Americas course in the Cold War as well the backdrop for current tensions in northeast Asia. Brands engaging book helps explain why. :: The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War H.W. Brands Doubleday: 448 pp., $30 Bob Drogin is deputy bureau chief in the Times Washington bureau. Google built its reputation by helping people sift through a deluge of information. Now its trying to help them find the facts. Just in time for Wednesdays final presidential debate, Google News will begin giving fact-check-style articles the kind that aim to validate or debunk statements made by a candidate or elected official a specific label, with similar ones highlighting in-depth stories or local coverage of major events. Its a move that could help ensure Google News remains a vital resource for political news but one that could also expose the tech giant to allegations of partisan bias. Advertisement Earlier this year, Facebook found itself mired in controversy when tech news site Gizmodo reported that former contractors who worked on the social networks trending topics feature suppressed stories about conservative topics and from conservative outlets. No one accuses Google of bias when its search engine ranks news articles based on their relevancy to a users query. So its possible the Mountain View, Calif., firm wont face scrutiny when it applies a new filter to emphasize fact checks, said Robert Hernandez, a digital journalism professor at USC. They have always, through SEO [search engine optimization] given the ability to have the cream rise to the top, he said. But Google may take criticism based on the publishers it deems eligible for its fact-check label. To qualify, stories must have easily identifiable claims and conclusions, and the analysis must be transparent about sources and methods, with citations and references to primary sources, according to Google. Headlines must indicate the story is a fact check and the code underlying the web page must include specific programming language so Googles algorithm can find it. But there is some element of human judgment Google says the organization publishing the story must be nonpartisan with transparent funding and affiliations and cant target one person or entity in its fact checks. Such rules would disqualify campaign-run fact checks, like the ones Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has touted at debates. In question, though, are media-run fact checks. A Google spokeswoman said newspapers like the Los Angeles Times could use the fact-check tag. But when asked whether conservative news site Breitbart News or progressive publication Mother Jones would be eligible, she declined to comment and referred back to the companys guidelines. If Google isnt consistent in the way it enforces its rules, it could pose a problem, said Finn Brunton, assistant professor of media, culture, and communication at NYU. Its a brilliant program, but at its heart, its a program that has to rely, at least in some degree, on people making those calls, Brunton said. If sites dont meet the companys criteria and try to obtain the fact-check tag anyway, Google said it could ignore the coding language or remove the site from Google News. Googles algorithm puts the burden of proof on publishers, making the company less likely to run into allegations of bias than Facebook, which at first relied on an editorial staff, said Susan Bidel, a senior analyst at Forrester who covers digital media. Theyre not picking a side, she said. Theyre saying this publisher is adhering to this set of guidelines or theyre not. If theyre not, then they wont have the tag. But algorithms arent infallible. After the controversy about Facebooks trending topics feature, the Menlo Park, Calif., social media giant said it transitioned to a more algorithmically driven process that would allow for more topics to be covered. Then hoaxes began surfacing on the feature, including a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With its expertise in search, Google is well-positioned to spotlight the best content, Hernandez said. With a lot of misinformation, we turn to diverse sources to get informed, he said. Google is one hell of a player in that space. The sheer amount of information, both true and false, on the Internet could make Googles new label useful and effective, Brunton said. Google and Facebook set out to organize and make available the worlds information and the way in which theyve done that has transformed them into de facto news organizations, he said. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com For more business news, follow me @smasunaga Federal regulators issued an emergency order Friday banning the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone from airplanes. The U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said the phones cant be carried on flights to, from or within the United States. Passengers cant put them in checked baggage, and the phones cant be shipped as air freight, the agencies said. The order goes into effect Saturday at 9 a.m. PDT. Advertisement We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk. Passengers who try to take their Galaxy Note 7 phones aboard aircraft may be forced to relinquish their devices and may face fines, the agencies said. Passengers who attempt to evade the ban by packing their phone in checked luggage are increasing the risk of a catastrophic incident, they said. Anyone violating the ban may be subject to criminal prosecution in addition to fines. A day after it halted global sales of the phones, Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday said it would stop manufacturing the Note 7, which was subject to a consumer safety recall. Some replacement phones issued to customers who had turned in their Note 7 phones after the recall also were found to be vulnerable to battery fires and explosions. Several airlines had begun packing extra fire equipment on planes to deal with potential explosions by the phones and other devices powered by lithium-ion batteries. Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Delta Air Lines added fire-resistant containment bags to their onboard fire equipment. The carriers said they have trained flight attendants to use the bags. The bags are specially designed for mid-flight lithium battery fires, said Halley Knigge, a spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines. She added that the bags can withstand heat of up to 3,200 degrees. During an earnings call with analysts this week, Delta Chief Executive Edward Bastian said his airline has added similar containment bags. Were aware of the concerns around lithium batteries, and were very mindful that safety is always our most important concern, he said. Other airlines say their planes have long been equipped with fire extinguishers in the cabin and fire detection and suppression systems in their cargo areas. hugo.martin@latimes.com To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter. ALSO Salesforce rules out Twitter bid Stone Brewing lays off about 5% of its workers South Koreans live in the Republic of Samsung, where the Galaxy Note 7 crisis feels personal Wells Fargo & Co.s new chief executive vowed Friday to take the necessary actions to restore our customers trust as the scandal-plagued banking giant posted a 3% drop in third-quarter earnings. My immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo, Timothy Sloan, who assumed the CEOs job vacated by John Stumpf only two days earlier, told Wall Street analysts on a conference call. Make no mistake: I get it and our team is on it. But there were signs of a consumer backlash last month in response to the banks improper sales practices, and some experts cautioned that the scandals full financial impact on Wells Fargo might be yet to come. Advertisement Its going to take them several quarters to get their arms around this, independent banking analyst Bert Ely said. Sloan, a longtime Wells Fargo employee who also remains the banks president, took over after Stumpf quit under intense pressure from lawmakers and other critics who were outraged over the banks aggressive cross-selling efforts dating back several years. Wells Fargo employees were found to have created as many as 2 million accounts in customers names without their consent, such as new credit card accounts. The tactics were first uncovered by the Los Angeles Times in 2013. The San Francisco-based bank reached a $185-million agreement with regulators over the issue, including $5 million for repayment to customers, on Sept. 8. In the three months that ended Sept. 30, Wells Fargos net income fell to $5.6 billion, or $1.03 a share, from $5.8 billion, or $1.05 a share, a year earlier. The results topped analysts forecasts of $1.01 a share in the latest quarter, according to FactSet Research Systems Inc. But third-quarter profit at Wells Fargos community banking division, which includes the unit responsible for the sales problems, fell 9% from a year earlier to $3.23 billion. There also were signs that potential new customers were backing away from the bank. In September, openings of consumer checking accounts tumbled 30% from August and were down 25% from a year earlier, Wells Fargo said. Applications for credit cards also fell sharply. It is hard to imagine how [numbers] like those from September ... will not have a more pronounced financial impact going forward, analyst R. Scott Siefers of Sandler ONeill & Partners said in a note to clients. Quick breakdown of the Wells Fargo scandal. Adding to the banks woes, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Friday that he is suspending Wells Fargo from doing business with state agencies or handling state bond offerings. Ohio joins California and Illinois in doing so. The bank also acknowledged that it potentially faced uncertain costs related to any civil lawsuits or regulatory enforcement actions but that its other lines of business, such as mortgage banking, remained strong. Wells Fargo, which has $1.94 trillion in assets, said its third-quarter revenue edged up 2% to $22.3 billion from $21.9 billion a year earlier. During his 1-hour conference call, Sloan outlined several steps Wells Fargo is taking in response to the scandal, including contacting all customers affected by the improper sales so that they can review their accounts. He also noted that Wells Fargos board of directors has commissioned an independent study of the sales practices but said he did not know when that inquiry would be completed or whether its results would be made public. We let down our customers, our shareholders and our team members, Sloan said. We had serious problems in our retail bank, where products became the focus rather than the relationships with our customers. The scandals hit to Wells Fargos profitability in the third quarter is not very material, but the hit to its reputation has been huge and we dont know yet how that is going to translate into an actual financial impact, said Nancy Bush, whose NAB Research tracks the industry. Sloan said a key lesson from the scandal was that the bank was too slow to recognize and fix its problems. When I think about the retail sales practices issues weve had at the company, I wish that the business had escalated the issue sooner to Wells Fargos top management, Sloan said. I wish when the business escalated the issue that while the senior management did a lot in response I wish we could have done more, he said. Weve got to escalate issues, wherever they occur within the company, sooner. Wells Fargo said it has fired about 5,300 workers for improper sales practices since 2011. When one analyst asked if Wells Fargo might consider bonuses or some other way of saying were sorry to its remaining employees who had been put through the wringer, Sloan replied: Saying we put our team members through the wringer is an understatement. Sloan said that while we offer a very competitive set of compensation and benefits for workers, all ideas are on the table to retain and attract employees. The same is true about whether Wells Fargo might offer a cut in fees or other discounts to keep customers and attract new ones, Sloan said. But he added that I would not expect us to lead with price because Wells Fargos strategy is building that lifelong relationship [with customers] thats not based on price. The third-quarter results were released before the markets opened Friday. Wells Fargos stock closed the days trading at $44.71 a share, down four cents. james.peltz@latimes.com Twitter: @PeltzLATimes ALSO Wells Fargo needs to change more than just its CEO New Wells Fargo CEO has one-week window to prove hes right choice, critic says Wells Fargo stock falls 2% as it tries to regain customers trust UPDATES: 2:50 p.m.: This article was updated throughout to include analyst comments and the companys closing stock price. 9:45 a.m.: This article was updated to include additional comments from Wells Fargo Chief Executive Timothy Sloan and to update Wells Fargos stock price. 7:25 a.m.: This article was updated to include comments from Wells Fargo Chief Executive Timothy Sloan. 6:50 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting. This article was originally published at 6:35 a.m. Relatively little attention was paid last year when President Obama called for creation of a database containing the DNA of a million volunteers as part of moves toward precision medicine, or tailoring healthcare to peoples individual needs. But to many in the healthcare field, Obamas embrace of a national repository of genetic information was seen as a turning point in advancing use of big data to reduce medical costs and improve peoples well-being by anticipating disorders before they become serious problems. The benefits of such a system seem obvious. Algorithms would piece together clues from doctor, hospital and drugstore claims, as well as other information such as social media postings, and alert physicians if it appears that a patient is at greater risk of a disease or a chronic condition. Advertisement But questions remain about safeguarding peoples privacy and how such information might be used. Precision medicine gives us one of the greatest opportunities for new medical breakthroughs weve ever seen, Obama said. He also said that privacy will be built in from Day One. Healthcare ethicists arent so sure. Big data and precision medicine might be good for society, but it could harm individuals, said Dr. Joseph Fins, head of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College. We have to find a balance. What happens, for example, when your insurer determines that out youre predisposed for a chronic disease? Does your employer have a right to such information? What are the individuals responsibilities once he or she is informed of a potential illness? Fins said that while medical-privacy laws are already on the books, technology is rapidly outpacing existing regulations. We have to be very careful about this, he said. We want to be able to identify healthcare conditions before they become diseases thats a really good thing. The question is whether such data will be so omnipresent that were looking at a Big Brother situation. In Tuesdays column I wrote about how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently signed a nearly $92-million contract with defense industry giant Northrop Grumman for the second phase of a computer system intended to reduce fraudulent claims and anticipate beneficiaries medical issues. Private insurers also are investing heavily in so-called predictive analytics, with a goal being to use big data to inform doctors that a patient may be in need of closer scrutiny. Ariel Bayewitz, Anthems vice president for provider management analytics, told me that leading insurers already are sharing data with one another. Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, director of Medicares Center for Program Integrity, said the federal system is keen to share its big data findings with others in the healthcare community. In a best-case scenario, all this data collection and sharing will offer a head start in spotting and addressing larger healthcare trends, such as the opioid epidemic now sweeping the nation, and provide for the medical breakthroughs envisioned by the president. The darker possibility, however, is a disturbing prospect of genetic haves and have-nots, and of discrimination based not on race, age or gender but on health. The federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 was intended to head off such concerns. It prevents insurers and employers from treating people differently because of indications in their DNA that suggest a possibility of illness. Everyone should care about the potential for genetic discrimination, says the governments National Human Genome Research Institute, which monitors growing use of genetic data. Every person has dozens of DNA differences that could increase or decrease his or her chance of getting a disease such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer or Alzheimers disease. But healthcare experts worry that the laws provisions are quickly becoming outdated, just as telecommunications rules written for the age of telephones have been stretched to the breaking point by the Internet. Every citizen should want this data to be private and secure, said Medicares Agrawal. Were trying to usher in the future but to also do it in a thoughtful manner. My sense is that when it comes to big data and healthcare, we dont know what we dont know. That is, the full benefits and dangers will become apparent only as these systems are brought online and start to interact. On the one hand, I agree with Ezekiel Emanuel, chairman of the University of Pennsylvanias Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, who told me that big data and precision medicine are vital because you have to figure out whos sick, whos sicker and whos likely to be sick. This, he said, is critical to delivering healthcare efficiently and effectively. See the most-read stories in Business this hour But I also agree with Gerard Magill, a professor of healthcare ethics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, who likened healthcare big data to services such as Google and Facebook. Yes, theyve changed society for the better in some ways, but the price has been forfeiture of a great deal of personal privacy. Privacy, Im afraid, were just going to have to get real its gone, he said. The important thing is that we dont enter this Brave New World all starry-eyed and cheerful. We need to be vigilant and prepared to adopt new protections as soon as the pitfalls are known. Remember that DNA database Obama called for last year? The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota recently was awarded $142 million in taxpayer funds to get it up and running. The future is now. David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com. MORE BUSINESS NEWS How I Made It: Ellen Chen and Mario Del Pero built Mendocino Farms by learning from mistakes Wells Fargo must do more than fire its CEO to mend its image, critics say Yahoos data breach may impact its $4.83-billion deal to sell to Verizon Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic came loaded with an all-German program at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Thursday night that had a train of thought. They started out with some brazen modernisms from this century, doubled back to the well-worn, comfortable affirmations of Johannes Brahms and concluded with what were once considered to be brazen modernisms from Richard Strauss. The present-day composer was Matthias Pintscher, 45, who is currently in charge of Paris Ensemble InterContemporain and was a Green Umbrella guest conductor here in 2014. His towards Osiris from 2005 a West Coast premiere purports to have an operating method, starting with, in the composers words, a totality of sound, which is then taken apart and reassembled in a different combination. For the record: An earlier headline for this review mistakenly made reference to three nights of performances. The run for Bell and the L.A. Phil is four performances, two at night and two during the day. SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter Advertisement Be that as it may, what we heard was a riveting display of shimmering, seething orchestral color with a huge collection of percussion instruments rattling, cobbling and bonging away in the Disney Hall acoustic. The whole compact metamorphosis took place in only a little over seven minutes, not overstaying its welcome in the least. Next, the Brahms Violin Concerto served as a synergistic vehicle for violinist Joshua Bell, whose new CD for Sony happens to be titled For the Love of Brahms. Yet for all of Bells extroverted physical crouching and bending even more so than usual for him and Dudamels alert accompaniment, this was not an emotionally involving performance. Score a few points for enterprise, though. The rambling first movement cadenza, which tried to develop a few themes from the piece, was credited to Bell. The post-intermission portion contained a pair of Strauss tone poems, Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks, both the work of a young man with a highly developed orchestral technique that was startling for its time. One could even apply the operating method of Pintschers piece here, with Pintscher taking lavishly orchestrated German tonality apart at the beginning of the program and Till patching its scattered pieces back together into a tonal framework at the end. In 2013, Dudamel recorded Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks with the Berlin Philharmonic for an all-Strauss CD that got a mixed response. (The Gramophones Philip Clark trashed the performance of Also Sprach Zarathustra on the CD, and after noting that Dudamel was then being considered as a candidate to succeed Simon Rattle in Berlin, he added a classic tag line: I hope he interviews well.) Well, no, the recording wasnt all that bad; it was just OK and no harm was done, for Dudamel will be touring with the Berlin in summer 2017. But Dudamels performances with his Los Angeles orchestra Thursday were a whole other story. Don Juan was full of brash, even rowdy energy and thrust, the fast portions mercurial, the love music luxuriant, better than the Berlin performance in every which way. So was Till Eulenspiegel, which was faster, more boisterous, more mischievous and more fully characterized, the escapades painted in lightning strokes, and the Philharmonic whizzed along at Dudamels tempos without a care. This was Dudamel at his tempestuous best, and it made me wish that it was these performances, not the Berliners, that were captured on the recording. Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel and Joshua Bell; Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; $65 - $201; (323) 850-2000 or www.laphil.com. Follow The Times arts team @culturemonster. Ava DuVernays new Netflix documentary, 13th, is an indictment of the racially charged way politicians on both sides of the aisle have handled criminal justice issues throughout American history. But when a Democratic National Committee staffer retweeted a montage from the documentary that draws parallels between Donald Trumps campaign and the countrys racist past, it drew the filmmakers ire. On Thursday, Adam Parkhomenko, national field director for the Democratic National Committee, retweeted a clip from 13th that intercuts footage of Trump at a rally telling his supporters about the good old days when protesters would be carried out on a stretcher with black-and-white footage of police brutality against civil rights protesters in the 1960s, including a shot of a protester actually being carried on a stretcher. Absolutely devastating Parkhomenko tweeted of the clip, which was first shared by a private citizen on Oct. 11, and has been reTweeted 160,000 times. https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/786472154661527552 The clip is not an official DNC campaign video, a DNC spokesman said. But DuVernay, who also directed the Oscar-winning Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma, objected to its use. Sir, The clip you shared unattributed was not made as political propaganda. I invite @TheDemocrats to view @13THFilm fully. Not cherry pick, she tweeted Thursday to Parkhomenko, a longtime Hillary Clinton aide. https://twitter.com/AVAETC/status/786590465587949568 Although the clip is not being used in any official capacity by the Clinton campaign or the DNC, DuVernays objection mirrors the issues some artists have had when their work takes on new meaning during an election. In this cycle, musicians including Adele and the Rolling Stones have asked Trump to stop using their songs at his events. In the case of DuVernay, her film tells a more complex story and one that isnt isnt entirely flattering to both the Republicans and the Democrats. Through statistics, archival footage and interviews with figures like academic Henry Louis Gates Jr. and activist Angela Davis, 13th, which is named after the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, draws a stark line between the institution of slavery and the high incarceration rate of black men in the U.S. in 2016. The film opened the New York Film Festival last month and premiered on Netflix on Oct. 7 to overwhelmingly positive reviews The Times Kenneth Turan said 13th makes its point with undeniable eloquence as well as persuasive force. In addition to the pointed Trump montage, 13th includes interviews with conservatives like Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist, as well as scenes that reflect poorly on the Democratic presidential nominees legacy on the issue of race and crime. Perhaps most damning is a clip from a 1996 speech Hillary Clinton gave in which she used the word superpredators. At the time, Clinton was speaking in support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which her husband, President Bill Clinton, had signed in to law. In the years since, many who study criminal justice have blamed the law for sending disproportionate numbers of African Americans to prison. After Black Lives Matter activists confronted Clinton about her use of the word superpredator during the contentious Democratic primary campaign in February, she released a statement to the Washington Post apologizing for her word choice. After his initial tweet of the clip from 13th, Parkhomenko later tweeted an attribution to DuVernay and her film along with praise, writing, Thank you for having the courage to make this. DuVernay was not immediately available for comment on this story, but when asked about her documentary on a red carpet at Varietys Power of Women event on Friday, the director told a reporter the Trump footage was part of an overall tapestry. https://twitter.com/Variety/status/787015665370529792 People are picking that out and its a little cherry picking from a documentary that tells the full story of racial oppression in this country. [Trump] is the least of it. Right now a lot of the focus is on him but hes not what its all about it. But certainly hes a side effect of many, many years of treating a certain group of people less than others. Trailer for Netflix's '13th' documentary. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour rebecca.keegan@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter for more movie news: @thatrebecca ALSO Ava DuVernay tackles mass incarceration in '13th' '13th' documentary simmers with anger and burns with eloquence UPDATES: 1:05 p.m. This article has been updated to reflect comments DuVernay made at an event on Friday. The article was originally published at 12:40 p.m. Newtown, a documentary about the 2012 massacre of kindergarten and first-graders in that small town in Connecticut, tells one of the saddest stories ever told. But while that is not a surprise, a lot about the way this devastating film is put together is different from what youd expect. For one thing, director Kim A. Snyder has made the choice not to tell this tale in strict chronological order, leaving, for example, the moment when distraught parents were informed what had happened inside Sandy Hook Elementary School until close to the end of the film. And Snyder has also chosen not to name the deranged individual who on Dec. 14 of that year killed 20 children, age 6 and 7, as well as half a dozen educators, his mother and himself. We learn a bit about who he was, but that is not what Newtown is all about. Advertisement Neither is the films focus on what can be done to stop this plague of gun madness. We see the parents of some of the victims embracing public advocacy and activism, testifying before committees and insisting that an unstable, suicidal individual shouldnt be allowed access to a military-style weapon that has no place in a home, but that is not the point either. Rather Snyder has chosen to make a documentary about collective grief. Shes created a devastating cry from the heart of a crisis that shows how the nightmare of the massacre swallowed Newtown whole, leaving not only the parents but many others in town dealing with the unimaginable. When Mark Barden says, Who knows how to do this? he is in effect speaking for everyone in the film and perhaps all of us as well. Barden, whose son Daniel was killed, is one of three parents of victims (along with Nicole Hockney, mother of Dylan, and David Wheeler, father of Ben) whose reactions are gone into in detail and whose stories make up the spine of Newtown. Director Snyder, whose last documentary was Welcome to Shelbyville, is an empathetic interviewer who clearly benefits from the great amount of time -- close to three years -- she spent in the town. Snyder did not even attempt to interview families who lost children until almost eight months into the project. And its clear from the emotional intensity and honesty of the responses that people were given the time and space to talk as long as they needed to. So we hear Mark Barden intimately lamenting, Every day I live I am one day further from my life with Daniel, listen as David Wheeler says, Were all terrified of forgetting what Ben looked like, and see Nicole Hockney confronting a room full of thousands of letters, gifts and portraits sent to her, most of which she has not had the emotional strength to open. Unashamed tears and deep feelings are common in Newtown, and not just from the parents involved but also from all the interviewees, so profoundly have the mass killings shaken everyones sense of what the dark boundaries of the possible are in small town America. So we hear from Monsignor Robert Weiss, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, who conducted eight funeral masses for children in a week, as well as Sgt. William Cario, a Connecticut state trooper and one of the first law enforcement people on the scene, who says simply, No one needs to know specifically what we saw. And then there is Melissa Malin, a neighbor of the Bardens. The children of both families were close, with her son Kyle being especially tight with Dylan. Just knowing what to do, what to say, how to act when Kyle survived and Dylan did not has wrenched all those lives in an unimaginable way. Though Newtown is unequivocal that for those involved getting over this is not an option, it is heartening to see people in a different psychological space after three years than when filming began. And some anecdotes, even the upsetting ones, leave a powerful mark. Like Cario reporting that he came across Dylans body with a teachers arm across it, and feeling comforted that the small boy did not die alone. Its heartbreaking stuff, and Newtown handles it all with a gentle grace. === No MPAA rating Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes Playing Laemmles Monica, Santa Monica, Edwards University Town Center, Irvine See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Sofia Richie is graduating from famous little sister to a style star in her own right. This month, she appears in a holiday 2016 campaign for U.K.-based fast-fashion retailer Pretty Little Thing, the brands first celebrity-driven effort. Brand founder Umar Kamani met Richie at Nobu Malibu on the Fourth of July and signed her up on the spot. The 18-year-old says shed like to follow in her mom Diana Alexander and older sister Nicoles footsteps one day and become a designer, but for now, shes happy to sit in the corner and take notes. WWD: How has your style evolved through your teenage years? Sofia Richie: Ive always stuck to what I liked. I started off really sporty and then I wanted to mix in girlier things, so its been fun. I found a comfortable place with my fashion where I can be girly and sporty at the same time. Advertisement WWD: Who are your fashion inspirations? S.R.: My friend Chloe Bartoli is a really cool stylist. Ive talked about fashion with her a lot over the years. And I love Rihanna. Shes rad. Through modeling, Ive gotten to know a lot of designers that are really cool. Stefano and Domenico of Dolce & Gabbana have been really sweet. WWD: Why do you think Los Angeles is such a fashion hotspot right now? S.R.: So many people in L.A. have such different styles. People either dress very similar or very different. Its interesting to find people who think outside the box and its interesting when you mix different mind-sets what you can come up with. WWD: Your mom was a designer, and so is your older sister. And youve said that one day youd like to follow in their footsteps. What did you learn from them? S.R.: Nicoles super boho. My moms very elegant. She reminds me of me a lot because during the day shell put on a casual sporty outfit and then at night shell put on this long beautiful dress with her hair and blah blah blah. So yeah, I love her because shes like a mix of all different styles. WWD: Where else do you find design inspiration? S.R.: Im the kind of person who will pull sheets out of magazines and print materials and put them in a book. Thats me, I do that. And Tumblr. I get a lot of good stuff from Tumblr, its just like a sea of pictures, the whole feed is stuff and stuff and stuff. WWD: How do you get into the mind-set of each brand you model for? S.R.: Whatever I put on I have to feel good in. Thats all that really matters to me. As long as I feel good in it, then I know its right. WWD: Youve said you cant live without your iPhone but do you ever take breaks? S.R.: I definitely find my time to be away from my phone because I think thats important, but when it comes to work and friends I feel like everything is on my phone. Ill, like, leave my phone in my room for a few hours when I need my space. WWD: Whats your beauty routine like? S.R.: Im a pretty natural person. I dont wear a lot of makeup because Im generally bad at putting it on myself. Im really bad at the whole concept, thats why Patrick [Ta] is here, killing it, helping me. I have my Lancer skin regimen that I always do. And Im coconut oil-obsessed. I travel with it. I just soak in it. When I sleep I put it in my hair and on my face. WWD: Do you work out to get those killer abs? S.R.: I like Barrys Boot Camp and SoulCycle. In conceiving her just-unveiled shoe line, Tamara Mellon set forth for herself a quartet of decrees: new rules, new luxury, new shoes, new chapter. The London-born entrepreneur and designer, who in 1996 co-founded the luxury footwear brand Jimmy Choo, has fully embraced these edicts as she rolls out her eponymous line of sophisticated footwear. Mellon, who had been living in London and New York, moved to Los Angeles in September, setting up the global headquarters for her new brand in West Hollywood. Already, Kate Walsh, Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin have been seen in her silvery, strappy, high-heeled sandals, cream-colored ankle booties and thigh-high patent boots. Advertisement This is not Mellons first go-round with her own brand after her tenure at Jimmy Choo ended. (She sold her shares of the company in 2011.) She had a Tamara Mellon label before but filed for bankruptcy protection and shuttered it late last year when it became apparent to her that the way people were shopping was drastically changing and that design houses needed to shift their thinking. So whats her approach this time? Bypass the stores and take the product directly to the customer online. This way, she said, she doesnt have to cut corners on quality (the new line is made in Italy), while being able to offer a high-end shoe to her customers at a more accessible price point. Her collection starts at $350. Mellon officially unveiled her latest footwear selections during a lunch in early October at the Beverly Hills home she shares with her partner, Creative Artists Agency co-founder Michael Ovitz. Guests included actresses Constance Zimmer and Sara Foster, fashion designer Rachel Roy, jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer and furniture designer Alexandra Von Furstenberg. Mellons shoes were artfully displayed in a spacious, airy room overlooking an expanse of sculpture-studded green lawn. Standout pieces included stretchy velvet boots in sapphire and amethyst; metallic gladiator-styled flats; and dangling delicately from a rack to one side, what will inevitably become a wardrobe staple: an ingenious legging-and-boot combo in suede or leather, which tops off her price range at $1,495. Wearing a long, black, vintage dress from Ossie Clark with a slick of red at her lips, Mellon talked candidly about new beginnings, what shes learned about how women want to shop and why you wont find her brand at your favorite department store. Why did you choose Los Angeles as your new home? For love. Weve been in a long distance relationship, and it just felt right to move everything here. I used to live in L.A. when I was younger; I drive by my familys former home every day. Its gorgeous here. Whats different this time with the shoe line? I realized that every industry is eventually going to be eaten up by technology. The first to go was music, then film, then Uber took over transport. Right now, the fashion industry is going through this digital revolution. The idea behind this company is to build a luxury brand for the next 20 years and not run on an old system thats been operating the same way for 60 years. How do you think women want to shop these days? I describe it like this: We all love and listen to music but we dont go and buy CDs anymore. We download. Its the same with fashion. Mine is going to be a purely digital business. I love shoes, the old craftsmanship and quality. I still work with the same artisanal family-run factories in Italy Ive known for 20 years. But Im making shoes now for women who see it today and want to wear it tomorrow. They dont necessarily want to go into a store or wait for a new collection to come out. We make it easy to shop online. Deliveries are free. And we have something called the Cobbler Concierge, where we refurbish your shoes at no charge. Imagine going into a department store and saying, I bought these shoes two years ago, can you refurbish them for free? Its not going to happen. Does that impact how you design? Weve decided we have no rules. My business model is to bring out new things every month that are season-appropriate, and then great, timeless pieces that are always available. If you see something you love, you want to buy it now not wait till its in stores. Thats so frustrating for the customer. She doesnt want to see something [in a magazine] and then wait six months to have it. Shes over that. How different is the Tamara Mellon aesthetic from Jimmy Choo? Jimmy Choo is in my DNA, but Ive created this line using my own DNA. I wanted to create shoes for every part of a womans life running the kids to school, doing errands, going out to dinner. I love those legging boots. They sound strange at first, and then you put them on and they are the most versatile thing. You can wear them under a boyfriend shirt or a big sweater or a sexy top to go out at night in. Although, I should probably put a warning somewhere that you shouldnt wear them if youre planning on going through airport security. image@latimes.com It wasnt the directions one might expect when attending a womens moon circle: We were supposed to enter through a garage door, off an alley on a quiet Venice street. No basking outdoors under the full moons glow? No unplugged sounds of nature? Set aside such preconceptions, and, perhaps, skepticism. Women in and around Los Angeles are increasingly connecting, sharing and bonding on new moon and full moon evenings, tapping into ancient rituals amid modern sensibilities. Advertisement At a time when many of us are struggling with demanding jobs and harried lifestyles that can lead to loneliness, isolation and depression, attendees say these gatherings arent just good for their health, but their spirit, too. Paula Mallis is a mother and doula who hosts new moon and full moon womens circles in her Venice home and in a nearby, renovated garage. She and co-facilitator Danielle Beinstein were inspired by their interest in astrology and spiritual counseling to gather girlfriends together, cook a meal and share what weve learned, Mallis said. I really feel called to connect during the moon cycles as I work with conscious conception, birth and women in general. The circles have evolved into a business: Attendees pay about $25 to $45 each session. Many attending a recent circle were in their 20s through 40s, and had the sheen of the well-groomed, yet natural-vibed, yoga-going women walking along nearby Abbot Kinney Boulevard. About 50 women in all sat in a circle. There were introductions, mantras, journaling, affirmations, intention setting, meditations and highly personal individual shares throughout the night. One woman shared about learning to trust more, another shared about her struggles with fertility. Several voiced what a help and relief it was to finally have a community of female fellowship and friends here in Los Angeles. Ground rules included no cross-talk, interjecting or giving an opinion. Its really just allowing people to speak their truth and just be heard, Mallis said. (Attendees said they also make new friends and business collaborators.) Its so profound to see the changes in their lives. The process allows manifesting more quickly. A group of women gather in the Venice home of Paula Mallis for a New Moon ceremony. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times ) Jessica Rush is a mother of two young boys who drives from Corona del Mar in Orange County to attend Mallis circles. She says they have helped with her postpartum depression. I tried therapy, acupuncture, cleanses, antidepressants, went gluten-free and still couldnt shift the void, says Rush. The circle was super emotional but I left there with hope. Speaking your mind and hearing other womens stories is very powerful. Olga Herranz of Los Angeles, who also attends Mallis moon circles, notes the lack of cattiness and cliques within the group, describing instead love, support and acceptance: The moon circle is a sacred time for myself that I set aside. Shel Pink, the Los Angeles-based founder of wellness and beauty brand SpaRitual, hosts her own moon circles tied to the Jewish calendar and the new moon. She often invites guest speakers on select topics. Im a working mother and I sometimes feel isolated or lonely, Pink said. Her moon circle friendships feel so good and make me feel so alive and such joy. A lot of us in L.A. are transplants. My mom lives in Michigan and I really miss her and miss that connection. I think this really has a lot to do with women seeking that out. I tried therapy, acupuncture, cleanses, antidepressants, went gluten-free and still couldnt shift the void. Jessica Rush Pink sees womens moon circles popping up at yoga and meditation studios, too: Theyre definitely an aspect of the wellness movement growing around the world. Women deeply connecting with other women about relationships, work, family and other matters is said to have positive health benefits, such as increasing levels of the hormone progesterone, which in turn helps boost well-being and reduce anxiety and stress. Dr. Christiane Northrup, a womens health expert and author of the upcoming book Making Life Easy: A Simple Guide to a Divinely Inspired Life, said, Women gathering around the moon cycles is one of the most ancient things we could be doing. Its helpful and healthful. Materials used during a new moon ceremony. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times ) We need support, said Northrup, citing UCLA professor Shelley E. Taylors Tend and Befriend research that many women respond to stressful conditions by protecting and nurturing their children, seeking support and social contact, especially with other women. We as women have the power and capability to really create, transform and manifest when we come together in a supporting, nonjudgmental way, Mallis said. When a loving, nonjudgmental, sacred space is held magic can happen. ALSO Why midnight snacking is the worst 7 reasons why you cant lose the weight Actress Sofia Vergaras secret? Lifting weights Los Angeles school board members are set to consider the second of three steps needed to put El Camino Real Charter High School back under district control. They could vote to issue an official notice of intent to revoke the Woodland Hills schools charter at their next meeting on Tuesday. The school district has accused the school of inappropriate spending, poor accounting and oversight, and violations of public meeting rules. Advertisement Earlier this year the Los Angeles Daily News reported that Executive Director David Fehte used a school credit card to pay for wine, first-class air travel and expensive hotel rooms. The latest Los Angeles Unified School District report acknowledges that the school has academic strengths but claims the charter has not done enough to fix its operations. Although El Camino has provided some remedies such as prohibiting the purchase of alcohol, instituted some changes to leadership, and adopted policies to address violations, staff still has ongoing concerns regarding the charter organization, its leadership, and its governing board, the report reads. In an emailed statement, El Camino accused the district of overstepping its legal authority and pointed to the schools increased graduation rate and staff growth as evidence of its success. As LAUSD continues to face financial difficulties, district officials have become more hostile towards charter schools, including El Camino, the statement read. KPCC radio noted that the board has issued a notice of intent to revoke only seven times since 2013. If it does so with El Camino next week, the school board could take the final step to remove the schools charter next month. El Camino could then appeal the decision to the L.A. County Board of Education and the state Board of Education. About 60 teachers and their supporters protested in front of the school last month, holding signs that said Shady Fehte and Tell the truth. Many demanded release of an internal investigations findings, though the El Camino administration also has its supporters. Charter schools are independently operated and exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. But the authorizing school district retains an oversight role and can revoke a charter or decline to renew it because of significant misconduct, mismanagement or poor academic performance. In El Caminos case, Fehte has denied wrongdoing. He said he inadvertently charged about $6,100 in personal expenses on his school credit card and reimbursed the school as soon as these charges were pointed out to him. The L.A. Board of Education took its first action against El Camino in August, issuing a formal notice of violations. The school responded Sept. 23 with a 42-page letter and nearly 400 pages of appendices. The charter school strongly believes that it has cured all alleged violations, and also that it has put in place mechanisms to ensure that such items do not happen again, wrote Janelle A. Ruley, an attorney representing El Camino. The items identified in the [notice of violations] occurred in the past; the remedies implemented ensure that they will not be repeated. sonali.kohli@latimes.com To read the article in Spanish, click here Twitter @Sonali_Kohli howard.blume@latimes.com Twitter: @howardblume UPDATES: 4:25 p.m.: This article has been updated to include a comment from the charter school. This article was originally published at 11:55 a.m. A Pico Rivera nightclub owner was sentenced to prison Thursday for laundering money in a drug-trafficking ring operating in the United States and Mexico, authorities said. Edgar Fragoso, the owner and general manager of El Rodeo nightclub, had admitted to laundering about $235,000 in cash through his Washington Boulevard nightclub, according to court papers. As part of a plea deal that called for all but one money laundering charge against him to be dismissed, Fragoso agreed to surrender his liquor license. Advertisement In a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday, U.S. District Judge George Wu imposed a two-year split-sentence of prison and home detention, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office. Fragoso was also ordered to pay a $14,000 fine and complete a three-year term of supervised release. He has been out of custody since posting $100,000 bail. His defense attorney could not be reached for comment. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided his nightclub and Hacienda Heights home in 2015 following an undercover investigation into Fragosos links to the illegal drug trade. The nightclub served as a drop-off point where undercover operatives for the DEA would fork over as much as $150,000 in cash at a time, according to a 52-page sworn affidavit by federal investigators filed on Feb. 20, 2015. As undercover operatives recorded his words, Fragoso openly discussed the various methods he could employ to launder the illicit funds, according to the affidavit. The investigation into El Rodeo was triggered by the 2012 arrest of two people who were trafficking methamphetamine in Texas, according to the affidavit. See the most-read stories in Local News this hour The pair, whose names were not released, told investigators that the alleged leader of a Mexico-based drug-trafficking organization used Fragoso to clean up the proceeds from the sale of methamphetamine, the affidavit said. Fragosos Pico Rivera nightclub had gained a reputation for violence. A valet was killed in 2013, and a decade before, a shooting there left one person dead and two others injured. matt.hamilton@latimes.com Twitter: @MattHjourno. ALSO Housejackers take a womans tiny home on tiny ride, police say New, state-of-the-art federal courthouse officially opens in downtown L.A. Officers Kevlar helmet deflects gunmans bullet, but mother and 9-month-old baby are wounded Contra Costa County prosecutors charged a pair of Texas men Friday with two counts of felony assault and hate crimes for beating a Sikh man and cutting off his hair in the Bay Area city of Richmond, last month. Chase Bryan Little, 31, of Beaumont, and Colton Tye Leblanc, 24, of Winnie, were charged with assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors added hate-crime enhancements to both counts. Maan Singh Khalsa, 41, who wears a turban and maintains his hair and beard unshorn as part of his Sikh faith, was attacked Sept. 25. Advertisement Sikh leaders said the attack was a hate-motivated crime directed at Khalsas religious beliefs and ethnicity. During the attack, Khalsas attackers yelled, Cut his hair, cut his ... hair! then used a knife to chop off a fistful of his hair, according to Sikh leaders. Richmond police arrested Little and another man but determined that the other man did not take part in the attack and will not face charges, according the prosecutors. According to the district attorneys office, Khalsa was stopped at a red light in Richmond, about half a mile from his home, on the night of the attack. A white Ford F-150, which was occupied by at least five men, pulled up alongside and beer cans were thrown at Khalsas car, authorities said. Khalsa was again stopped for a red light at the next intersection when two occupants of the truck got out and ran toward his car, authorities said. The two men repeatedly punched Khalsa in the face through an open window while he was seated inside his vehicle, the district attorneys office said. Khalsas turban was knocked off during the barrage. The assailants then began pulling his hair. While yelling obscenities, the assailants forced Khalsas head down and cut a significant portion of his hair, prosecutors said. Portions of the attack were overheard and recorded by a California Highway Patrol dispatcher who was trying to determine Khalsas location, they said. After the attack, Khalsa drove to a gas station where he waited for paramedics, authorities said. He suffered a swollen black eye, numerous damaged teeth and several knife wounds to his left hand, which led to an infection that promped the amputation of his little finger at the first knuckle. Khalsa, who is a U.S. citizen, has been living with his family in Contra Costa County for seven years. He works as an information technology specialist for the Social Security Administration as well as a certified caregiver for the elderly. The attack and other assaults across the U.S. have sparked fear within the large Sikh community in Richmond. In 2012, six Sikh worshipers were killed when a neo-Nazi walked into a temple in Oak Creek, Wis., and opened fire. Little is out on bail, with a pending court date of Nov. 21; a bench warrant will be issued for Leblancs arrest, prosecutors said. ben.poston@latimes.com Follow @bposton on Twitter. ALSO Former Apprentice contestant accuses Trump of unwanted sexual advances Hes been called a national nuisance, but this Cookie Monster cant be stopped 70-year-old ice cream vendors family says he was violently robbed in North Hollywood A suspect who barricaded himself inside a home is dead after he gravely wounded his girlfriend and 9-month-old daughter Thursday, then fired numerous shots at police, striking an officers Kevlar helmet, authorities in Tulare said. Larry Zamora, 37, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound following an hours-long standoff and gun battle with law enforcement, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said at a news conference. A hail of gunfire from the home forced officers to seek cover behind an armored vehicle, which was struck by multiple, untold number of rounds, Boudreaux said. An officers Kevlar helmet was struck by gunfire. The officer was taken a hospital and later released. Advertisement That Kevlar helmet, frankly, has saved his life, the sheriff said. The chaotic scene unfolded about 3 a.m. when sheriffs officials received a report of two gunshot victims in the 22400 block of Road 130. At the home, deputies found the 39-year-old woman and the 9-month-old infant suffering from gunshot wounds. They were listed in grave condition, Boudreaux said. Zamora went to the home to visit a friend who was throwing a party there, he said. At some point, Zamora got in a loud argument with the woman, with whom he was in a relationship, officials said. Zamora is the infants father, Boudreaux said. During the argument, witnesses told investigators they heard two abrupt and quick shots in a backroom, officials said. Zamora left and drove away. Police found him at another home in Tulare, where they were able to rescue two children and a woman inside before the gun battle began. As officers surrounded the neighborhood, Zamora emerged from a garage door and fired multiple rounds in rapid succession at them, Boudreaux said. Zamora took cover behind the door and continued firing at officers before turning the gun on himself, he said. The sheriff said the armored vehicle also saved the lives of many of the officers on scene. Tulare Police Chief Wes Hensley said the officer whose helmet was struck by gunfire was able to walk away on his own. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. An underground plume of toxic chemicals in Chula Vista threatens to contaminate the San Diego Bay and its largely the Navys fault, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week by the Port of San Diego. The suit cites the Navy as the lead defendant, along with the Air Force and a series of now-defunct federal agencies. Attorneys for the port allege that these parties either spilled a brew of toxins or allowed a defense contractor Rohr Aircraft, now owned by UTC Aerospace Systems to contaminate 48 acres of waterfront property along Lagoon Drive. As the legal, regulatory and environmental steward of the public trust tidelands of San Diego Bay, we would be remiss if we ignored this issue, the port said in a statement. Advertisement This litigation is one piece of many moving parts in our plan to remediate legacy contamination on the bay front. We are pursuing parties responsible for historic contamination of the site, including the U.S. government. Some remediation has already been completed, and our efforts are ongoing. Over the years, the port has worked with cities, shipyards, other companies and regulators to dredge contaminated sediment from the bay. Similar projects have been undertaken in harbors and bays up and down California, spurred by tougher water-quality rules, environmental groups lawsuits and public-health concerns related to fishing in polluted locations. The clean-ups have cost tens of millions of dollars. San Diego port officials said the Chula Vista property, hemmed in by the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge to the north and a sprawl of light industry and a marina to the south, contains 16 toxins that often double as industrial solvents, poisons, lubricants, refrigerants, degreasers, anti-corrosion sealers and soldering agents. Together, the substances could harm the liver, thyroid and kidney, and trigger neurological damage, skin problems, heart disease, cancer and, in rare cases, even death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Its important to note that there is no major development or residential use currently on this bay front land, and therefore we are not aware of immediate risks to human health from legacy contamination, according to the ports statement. The agency indicated that any potential threats to human health will be addressed through the remediation process with the defendants. Officials have not estimated the expense of cleaning up the plume, but the lawsuit seeks $75 million in damages. Mondays filing marked the 30th time since 1987 that the port has been a party to a federal lawsuit claiming environmental damage. The sides have settled and discontinued all but one case a complaint brought in August against defense contractor Lockheed Martin claiming pollution of the Marine Terminal Railway Facility along San Diegos Harbor Island Drive. Citing policy concerning ongoing litigation, the U.S. attorneys office in San Diego declined comment on the ports latest lawsuit. Industrial production began on the Chula Vista site shortly before Americas entry into World War II. Originally owned by Rohr, a portion of the property was purchased by the federal government in 1942 and leased back to the company. At its peak in 1945, Rohr employed more than 13,000 workers at the site, but most of the buildings were shuttered at the end of the war. During the Korean War, Rohr again leased that property from the government, hiring a force of more than 10,000 workers there before the conflict ended. In 1962, a change in California law transferred a large portion of the land to the port district, which wants to redevelop the contaminated site as part of its larger Chula Vista Bayfront revitalization project. Its the latest in a long-running series of efforts to create a mix of tourism, retail and other business and leisure activity in a heavily industrial area thats often termed a brownfield by urban planners. According to the projects environmental impact report, port officials knew as early as 1999 about potential contamination there. In 2010, the then-Chula Vista Redevelopment Authority ordered both Rohr and the port district to clean up the pollution. After they didnt comply, in 2012 the redevelopment authority sued Rohr in state court, according to legal filings. The following year, Rohr launched a lawsuit against the port to pull the agency into the litigation. The ports newly filed litigation in U.S. District Court draws the federal government into the fray. cprine@sduniontribune.com Prine writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune ALSO Manson follower denied parole for 1969 murder of musician Hes been called a national nuisance, but this Cookie Monster cant be stopped Malibu security guard shoots home intruder after being stabbed in eye Hoping to cement a major element of his foreign policy legacy, President Obama on Friday lifted additional restrictions on U.S. trade and travel with Cuba, including an end to strict limits on the Cuban rum and cigars an American visitor can take home. The measures mark the latest steps by the Obama administration to restore diplomatic and economic ties with the island nation after more than half a century of hostility. Obama and President Raul Castro announced the diplomatic opening on Dec. 17, 2014. Susan Rice, Obamas national security advisor, said the administration has gone as far it can to normalize relations while a U.S. trade embargo stays in place. Advertisement Only Congress can lift the trade embargo, which was imposed in 1960 against Cubas then-new communist government. Washington severed diplomatic ties with Havana the following year. Rice urged Congress to end the embargo, but that is unlikely given opposition from several powerful Republicans. Congress must do its part; we must lift the embargo once and for all, Rice said at the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. End this outdated burden on the Cuban people. Rice said the new measures, which Obama announced in a special presidential directive, will benefit both Americans and Cubans, even though most revenue generated by tourism in Cuba ends up in government hands. Administration officials said the White House was using the new rules to expand and solidify its opening to Cuba, especially before a different administration takes shape. It would be profoundly unwise and counterproductive to turn back the clock, Rice said when asked if a future president could tear up the deal. Rice also urged Congress to confirm Obamas nomination of Jeffrey DeLaurentis as U.S. ambassador to Cuba. DeLaurentis is a career diplomat who is already chief of mission in Havana. Rice noted that Friday was the 54th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war after the Kennedy administration discovered Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba and announced a naval embargo in 1962. Among the changes, the new regulations lift the cap on how much alcohol, tobacco and other Cuban merchandise that an American visitor can take home. Until now, a U.S. citizen could import only $100 worth of alcohol and tobacco. Now the same duties used for other countries will apply to Cuban products brought home for personal use. The new rules also make it easier for U.S. and Cuban researchers to conduct joint medical investigations and for Cuba to sell approved pharmaceutical products in the U.S. market. In addition, cargo ships will be allowed to dock at U.S. ports directly after visiting Cuba, ending a 180-day ban between those ports of call. Basically they are consolidating what they have already done, making it more difficult to undo, said Geoff Thale, program director for the Washington Office on Latin America, an independent research and advocacy group. In a statement, Obama said challenges remain in U.S. dealings with Cuba, primarily on Havanas poor record on human rights and democracy. But Obama said engagement is the best method to address the differences. For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter ALSO Thailand begins a year of mourning after the death of its beloved king Turkey pushes for extradition of U.S.-based cleric who they say directed failed coup The debate over saving rain forests has gotten ugly. Now a Brazilian environmental official is dead Trump campaign battles former Apprentice contestants allegations of unwanted sexual advances Donald Trumps campaign on Friday released a friendly email from a woman who had accused him earlier in the day of sexually accosting her, as well as a statement from the womans cousin questioning her motives. The disclosures came hours after Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, tearfully described darting around a hotel room in 2007 to avoid Trumps kisses and wandering hands as she sought employment from him. In the April 14 email to Trumps assistant released by the campaign late Friday, Zervos described operating a restaurant in Huntington Beach and asked to get in touch with the businessman-turned-reality television star. He has witnessed both my highs and lows operating a small business and I am pleased to report that business is good, Zervos wrote. I would greatly appreciate reconnecting at this time. He will know my intentions are genuine. The GOP presidential nominees campaign also released a statement from John Barry, who is identified as Zervos first cousin who lives in Mission Viejo. Barry said he is shocked and bewildered by Zervos allegations and noted that she repeatedly made glowing statements about Trump after appearing on the fifth season of The Apprentice. I think Summer wishes she could still be on reality TV, and in an effort to get that back shes saying all of these negative things about Mr. Trump, Barry said. Thats not how she talked about him before. I can only imagine that Summers actions today are nothing more than an attempt to regain the spotlight at Mr. Trumps expense. During a news conference earlier Friday, Zervos said that in 2007, Trump invited her to dinner but then had her ushered to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he kissed her repeatedly against her will, placed his hand on her breast and thrust his genitals at her. She also repeatedly spoke about her past admiration for Trump and having spoken positively about him when diners at her restaurant inquired about Trump during the GOP primary. But she said she grew increasingly anguished and reached out to him by phone and email in April, hoping for an apology. Mr. Trump, when I met you I was so impressed with your talents. I wanted to be like you. I wanted a job in your organization, Zervos said during the news conference. Instead, you treated me as an object to be hit upon. I was incredibly embarrassed by your sexual advances. You do not have a right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star. Trump responded by denying Zervos allegations and saying he vaguely recalled her from the reality-television show he hosted for more than a decade. To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how Ive conducted my life, Trump said in a statement. Zervos is one of several women who have alleged sexual misconduct by Trump in recent days. Melania Trump demands partial retraction of article by one of her husbands accusers Melania Trump, the wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, demanded Thursday that People magazine retract a portion of an article that alleged he made an unwanted advance on the author while she visited the Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to write about the couples first wedding anniversary. But the letter does not mention the most provocative parts of the article that as Melania Trump, then pregnant, went upstairs to change, Donald Trump guided writer Natasha Stoynoff into a room, closed the door behind them, pushed her against a wall and shoved his tongue down her throat. Stoynoff, in an article published on Peoples website Wednesday night, wrote that she tried to unpin herself, but that Donald Trump only stopped when a butler interrupted them to say that his wife was returning. Melania Trump is demanding a retraction and apology about a portion of the article where Stoynoff recounts running into the former model months later in front of Trump Tower in New York. Stoynoff wrote that Melania Trump asked why the couple no longer saw the author and gave her a hug. By then, Melania Trump had given birth to a boy, Barron, and Stoynoff wrote that she affectionately squeezed the boys foot. Trumps attorney says all of this is false. The true facts are these: Mrs. Trump did not encounter Ms. Stoynoff on the street, nor have any conversation with her. The two are not friends and were never friends or even friendly. At the time in question, Mrs. Trump would not have even recognized Ms. Stoynoff if they had encountered one another on the street, wrote attorney Charles J. Harder. The letter says if People magazine does not make a retraction and apology within 24 hours, Trump would consider legal action against the magazine. Marnie Perez, a spokeswoman for People, confirmed the magazine had received Trumps letter and said People stands by the story. The retraction demand comes as Donald Trump battles allegations from multiple women that he touched their bodies and kissed them against their will. The women, including Stoynoff, said they decided to speak out about their years-old experiences because the GOP presidential nominee dismissed a recording of him speaking crassly about women as locker room talk. Trump has responded by dismissing all the allegations as false concoctions and threatening to sue the New York Times. He also spoke out against Stoynoff on the campaign trail on Thursday, saying that the writer wrote a beautiful love story about the couple and questioned why she did not include the groping allegation in her piece, which he said would have made it one of the biggest stories of the year. Trump, speaking to supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., then alluded to the writers looks. Take a look at her. Take a look at her words. You tell me what you think, Trump said. I dont think so. Less than a week after denying at a presidential debate that he had engaged in the sort of sexual assault of which he boasted in the now infamous Access Hollywood tape, Donald Trump was confronted this week with a series of statements from women who said, yes, he had groped or kissed them against their will. The reports exacerbated the problem Trump created by his gross and demeaning language about women, not just in the Access Hollywood tape but on countless occasions. As First Lady Michelle Obama powerfully put it on Thursday: The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our intelligence, the belief you can do anything to a woman: It is cruel. Its frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts. The Republican nominee said that the latest totally and absolutely false accusations were the creation of Democrat Hillary Clinton and the news media. At a rally in Florida on Thursday, he also suggested that the attacks were designed to deflect attention from WikiLeaks release of hacked emails exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine. Advertisement Trump mostly has himself to blame for the declining fortunes of his campaign. Such conspiracy-mongering is par for the course for Trump. Even before the latest allegations surfaced, he had descended into a political bunker, muttering (or rather tweeting) about disloyal Republican leaders such as very weak and ineffective House Speaker Paul Ryan and declaring that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. Lately he has seemed less unshackled than unhinged: threatening to jail his opponent and warning that we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us. Increasingly, his objective seems not to win but to construct a narrative that will allow him to shift the blame for his defeat onto others, leaving the party that nominated him to try to reunite and reconcile his supporters. Yet Trump mostly has himself to blame for the declining fortunes of his campaign, engaging in one pointless and distracting fight after another rather than making a persuasive case for his election. And it was Trump who decided that sexual misconduct Bill Clintons, that is was a salient issue in the campaign, to the point that his campaign paraded a group of the former presidents accusers before the news media just before the last presidential debate. Now, of course, Trump and his beleaguered band of television surrogates object that the media and public are being distracted by the extraneous issue of Trumps behavior toward women. Trump is correct that the disturbing accusations against him have coincided with the release of emails from the account of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, which do contain information embarrassing to the Clinton campaign as would the ventilation of the private communications of any political campaign but no bombshells. Even if the emails were purloined by hackers associated with the Russian government, as U.S. intelligence officials believe, the contents shouldnt be off-limits for discussion any more than were the Trump tax returns surreptitiously provided to the New York Times. Clinton already has been pressed to explain comments she made at a speech to a housing-industry group that public officials need both a public and a private position. She likewise should respond to other details from the emails for example, Chelsea Clintons fear that associates of the Clinton Foundation were trying to capitalize on their government connections to aid their clients. But the fact that voters are more interested in Trumps obscene comments about women captured on tape and troubling allegations that he acted the way he talked isnt surprising. Nor is it a result of a conspiracy. Trump trained this spotlight on himself. For a complete list of The Times endorsements for the Nov. 8 ballot, go to latimes.com/endorsements. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook When Aliou Niasse, a Muslim immigrant from Senegal, noticed and reported smoke coming from a car parked in Times Square in May 2010, he prevented a terrorist attack and saved lives. Police were able to disarm a car bomb before it caused any casualties. Niasse was working as a street vendor, not an unusual job for a new immigrant in our country. If I see a terrorist, he said then, I am going to catch him before he runs away. Six years later, on September 16, 2016, a homemade bomb was detonated in New Yorks Chelsea district, and was soon linked to other devices found in Manhattan and New Jersey. Afghan immigrant Mohammad Rahami, the father of the suspect, said he had called authorities to report his sons erratic behavior. Two years ago, I called the FBI, Rahami said. My son hes doing really bad, OK? During Sundays debate, Donald Trump called on Muslims who come into the United States to report when they see something going on. As Niasse and Rahami illustrate, and as the FBI has attested, Muslim immigrants have already stepped up as allies to law enforcement. Newcomers to this country from the Middle East and South Asia, many of whom fled violence and tyranny when they came here, are especially aware of the threat posed to America and to Islam by terrorism. Advertisement Even as immigrants and refugees are invaluable in the fight against terrorism, they are subject to anti-Muslim bias and stereotypes. Yet paradoxically, even as immigrants and refugees are invaluable in the fight against terrorism, they are subject to anti-Muslim bias and stereotypes that see all Muslims as potential terrorists. That image is projected on refugee and immigrant communities by violent extremists in the Middle East and xenophobes in the United States, and it is based on a false narrative that Islam and the West are at war, and always will be. Muslim immigrants and refugees as well as native-born Muslims shouldnt be viewed as a security risk. The Koran, like biblical scriptures, tells us to protect life, not to destroy it. Like every good American and person of faith, when we see criminal activity, we report it to the authorities. Everyone appreciates the effectiveness of neighborhood watch programs; they arent about spying on each other but collective protection. What threatens America isnt the arrival of more Muslim immigrants or refugees from Syria but rather the alienation of immigrant communities. Marginalization and stigmatization of particular populations endangers us all, not only because we lose invaluable allies in the fight against homegrown terrorism, but also because these very factors create disaffection and exacerbate anti-social behavior. Stigmatizing Muslim immigrants and refugees and those of other religions and national origins fractures society and gives our enemies an edge. It threatens the stability and the resilience of the United States. Resisting marginalization makes us more united against terrorist threats; it enriches society and makes us safer. Last week, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Bipartisan Policy Center released a report examining immigration, national security and public safety. The best inoculation against immediate and future security threats comes from cooperation and building trust with immigrant and other communities, it concluded. Rather than seeking security by blocking immigrants with border walls and restrictive policies, the report suggested that rationalizing the immigration system with comprehensive reform will make Americas immigrant culture into a strong national security asset. The election season has conflated terrorism, immigration and refugee resettlement in ugly ways. But it has also sparked a productive dialogue about the need for reforming immigration policies and creating stronger systems to welcome and resettle newcomers as neighbors, colleagues and contributors to our communities, and as partners with not suspects of law enforcement. ISIS spreads the lie that Muslims do not belong in the West, especially in America. And yet Muslim citizens, refugees and immigrants know that the United States can be for them what it has been for so many others: the last best hope. The narrative that we as a country choose will not only demonstrate this nations values, it will determine the trajectory of our national security and our struggle against terrorism. Salam Al-Marayati is president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook That Hillary Clinton would make a better president than Donald Trump should be evident to any mammal. Substantiating this assertion does not require one to make a positive case for Clinton, so disqualifying are Trumps many negative qualities. Clinton does not challenge freedom of the press or threaten her political opponents with jail time. She is not a sociopath. She does not call for banning members of an entire religion from entering the country, or killing the families of terrorists, or any number of other blatantly unconstitutional measures. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has since endorsed Trump, previously said that the Republican nominee was an erratic individual who could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. Whatever one thinks about Clinton, launching a nuclear strike against another country out of pure spite is difficult to imagine. The case for Clinton, then, boils down to ones appreciation for the democratic values to which all of our elected officials, from city councilor on up, are expected to adhere. Clinton respects those principles, and Trump does not. The case for Clinton transcends ideology because Trumps strongest convictions have nothing to do with standard political principles and everything to do with sheer self-aggrandizement. Whats most important to Trump is Trump. Many conservative writers and intellectuals recognize this, which is why so many of them, along with former Republican administration officials, have endorsed Clinton, however grudgingly. Nonetheless, a significant number of conservatives and Republicans who realize the awfulness of Trump including many of those who have signed up to the amorphous #NeverTrump movement refuse to endorse the one candidate actually capable of beating him: Hillary Clinton. Operating under the delusion that Trump and Clinton are equally bad options, some anti-Trump conservatives have refused to vote, or pledged to support a third party candidate. Advertisement Considering what the world would look like with a President Trump, complaining about Clintons faults is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. As much as some of its denizens might wish to deny it, the conceit behind #NeverTrump (and the independent conservative campaign of Evan McMullin that arose from it) is effectively pro-Clinton, diverting elsewhere votes that would normally go to the GOP nominee. But at the end of the day, a posture of #NeverTrump that does not acknowledge the preferability of Clinton is a cop out, particularly for people who work in and write about politics. Come Nov. 8, either Clinton or Trump is going to be elected president, and its the job of people who opine about politics to inform voters which of the two options is better. That some cannot testifies to just how poisonous is the partisanship in our country, to the point where even those conservatives who acknowledge Trumps unfitness cannot bring themselves to admit that Clinton represents an even marginal improvement. American conservatives still wavering about supporting Clinton can look to an unlikely historical parallel for moral guidance: the French Socialists in 2002. That year, Jean-Marie Le Pen, then-leader of the far right National Front, won a surprise second place in the presidential election, defeating the Socialist Party candidate and entering into a runoff against center-right incumbent Jacques Chirac. In the second round, Socialist voters held their noses and rallied to Chirac, their longtime political adversary, helping deliver him an 82% victory. In so doing, they not only beat Le Pen, but sent a message to the world that, when threatened by a populist movement from the authoritarian right, France would defend its republican values. Just as French citizens from many different political tendencies backed Chirac as the democratic alternative to neo-fascism in 2002, so today must those Americans who support liberal democracy conservatives included hope for a Clinton victory. Granted, the analogy isnt perfect. In France, Socialist voters were forced to choose between a center-right candidate and an extreme right one, whereas here conservatives are being asked to vote for a mainstream Democrat over a nominal Republican. On the other hand, Trump has a far greater chance of winning the presidency than Le Pen ever did, making the role of right-of-center voters even more consequential to his defeat. Ultimately, the basic principle in both elections is the same: small r republicans must support the democratic option over an explicitly authoritarian one. Some #NeverTrump Republicans, in an attempt to nourish their belief that the Republican and Democratic nominees are ethically equivalent, cite President Obamas executive overreach as cause to believe that Clinton would be just as destructive to the rule of law as Trump. Theyre right to be concerned about these tendencies, but would executive orders on immigration and overzealous implementation of Dodd-Frank financial regulations really compare to a politicized IRS that rivals that of the Nixon administration, or a Justice Department war on the news media, or a Russian invasion of Eastern Europe while the U.S. is under a president who says NATO is obsolete? Considering what the world would look like with a President Trump, complaining about Clintons faults (and they are many) is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Any conservative alert enough to have joined #NeverTrump must wake up and realize that its his or her civic duty to protect the country from the ravages of a megalomaniac by voting for Hillary Clinton. James Kirchick is a fellow with the Foreign Policy Initiative. His book The End of Europe is forthcoming from Yale University Press. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Theres a constituency that has watched this years presidential campaign unfold with more horror than disbelief. This constituency, largely unseen, consists of men and women for whom the unprecedented emphasis on sexual behavior has been a trigger for the post-traumatic stress disorder that often results from sexual assault. A trigger is something that reminds you so vividly of your attack that you cant control your reaction. Triggers come from out of the blue, and your response is beyond your control. A trigger could be a scent, a sound or a combination of sensory things. It could be as simple as someone standing too close to you, or as complex as the faint aroma of someones pipe tobacco. With no warning, youre reliving the attack. You are physically in the present, but physiologically, psychologically and emotionally, you are under attack. This is what triggering feels like from the inside: Your gut clenches as fear overwhelms you; sometimes you are instantly nauseated. You may feel suddenly uneasy, panicky or even feel an overriding need to flee. Your breathing may increase, or you may find yourself holding your breath. You may feel angry, or exhausted and depressed. The rise of these feelings is overwhelming and inexplicable. You may or may not recognize that youve been triggered, or even what the trigger was. Advertisement When men are excused for vile, dehumanizing behavior with such dismissive phrases as boys will be boys and locker room talk, we perpetuate rape culture. Donald Trumps actions on stage at the second debate looming behind Hillary Clinton, bullying and threatening her coming after the revelation that he boasted about his unfettered ability to grope women, triggered the 50-year-old trauma of my molestation as a prepubescent child. When I wrote as much on Facebook, an unsettling number of the commenters said they, too, had found the debates triggering. The moment Trumps behavior is brought up, his supporters decry former President Bill Clinton as a worse sexual predator. Clinton has been accused of sexual impropriety with at least five women. Many people believe that Hillary Clinton was complicit in her husbands infidelities, and some, including Trump, assert that she threatened her husbands conquests. Whatever the truth of these allegations, theyre no comfort to those of us who have contended with the deep pain of sexual abuse. We are a large cohort. When blogger and social media star Kelly Oxford invited her Twitter followers to share the stories of their first sexual assaults, she received nearly 27 million responses over the course of three days. The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network reports that sexual assaults have fallen by more than half since 1993. While thats good news, RAINN also reports that: 1 out of 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime; about 3% of American men or 1 in 33 have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime; 63,000 children a year are victims of sexual abuse, one third of whom are younger than 12. One out of six women, one out of 33 men. But we have remained relatively quiet in the last few weeks because, for us, the whole campaign has of late been a potential trigger. So we turn off the television and radio, turn away from the lurid headlines in newspapers and tabloids, and scroll past those political posts on social media as fast as we can. We may figuratively, if not literally, cover our ears. We may say Im not interested, or Ive made up my mind, but privately, secretly, were avoiding the subject as completely as possible. Or, as I have done both here and on Facebook, we may confront the issue with anger and grief even as we relive those moments of terror. When men are excused for vile, dehumanizing behavior with such dismissive phrases as boys will be boys and locker room talk, we perpetuate rape culture. Rape culture empowers bullies and sexual predators, because it normalizes male sexual violence and shifts blame to its victims. It is a form of emotional terrorism employed against women and children. Men also suffer because they have to live up to hyper-aggressive definitions of what it means to be a man. This year, I hope youll vote your conscience. Those of us who have endured debasement and dehumanization will vote, too. The difference between us and you, however, is that neither Im with her or Make America great again will bring us peace. No matter who is elected, we can look forward to four years of continued shrill accusations and counter-accusations of sexual assault. Donald Trumps not going away, and neither is Bill Clinton. Robin Mather is a third-generation journalist and the author of The Feast Nearby. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: I empathize with Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck and his officers, who are reluctant to quickly release information and videos taken of police shootings. As imperfect human beings, none of us appreciates being exposed to intense public scrutiny. (L.A. Police Commission approves proposals to increase transparency, training for how LAPD officers use force, Oct. 11) On the other hand, L.A.s finest should learn from examples set by departments in cities like Las Vegas, where officers quickly post information about shootings online. First, bad things grow in the dark, and you cant set a behavioral standard without oversight. Second, transparency breeds public confidence in the department. Opening up will create more support for genuine peace officers, who will then be reassured that the public has their back. Advertisement Eric Foxman, West Hills .. To the editor: It is important to increase transparency, but it is more important to stop the horrific shootings of police and others in the first place. One way to do this is to provide more adequate protection of police in the field. Police must have full body coverage, as used in protest confrontations. Police cars must be made bulletproof. When police investigate a call reporting a dangerous individual in a home, full body coverage must be in place before knocking on that door. At a traffic stop, officers protected by full body coverage would be able to confront a person who seemed to have a weapon and investigate, because the police would be protected and not be in a life threatening situation. What is the alternative? More police lives lost? The unnecessary killings of victims who may be mentally ill or disoriented in some way? More street protests? We must find another way. Royce Daniels, Laguna Hills Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Pit bulls are the most abused dogs on the planet, and they need legislation to protect them namely, vigorous screening and home checks for people who want to adopt pit bulls, to prevent them from falling into abusive hands and laws requiring all pit bulls to be spayed or neutered. (Were safer without pit bull bans, Opinion, Oct. 11) Given the overpopulation crisis, a ban on breeding all dogs is vitally needed, but why not start by ending breeding of pit bulls, whom abusers target more than any other breed? These dogs are the ones most often kept chained 24/7, beaten to make them mean, and thrown into dogfighting rings to rip each other to shreds. They are also among the dogs most commonly admitted to animal shelters. Tens of thousands of them are euthanized each year for lack of homes. Advertisement The muzzling requirement of Montreals pit bull legislation is rightly being criticized. But protective measures such as spay-neuter requirements arent breed-specific discrimination theyre breed-specific protection, and people who have animals best interests at heart should support them. Daphna Nachminovitch, Norfolk, Va. The writer is senior vice president of cruelty investigations at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. .. To the editor: Ill be happy to stop typecasting pit bulls as soon as I can locate the owner one that attacked my dog near the Los Angeles Zoo and get him to pay my $1,100 vet bill. My dog, a 42-pound spaniel, is a bird dog whose favorite activity is chasing dragonflies; if she ever does bite, the damage would be minimal, as is the case with an overwhelming majority of breeds. The pit bull in the unprovoked attack was twice her weight and nearly succeeded in tearing her throat out. May pit bull bans spread far and wide across the U.S. Then rescind them in 25 years, after the people drawn to this dog have forgotten about them. If you want a dog for protection, there are many breeds that can do the job without ripping their victim to shreds. If you want the baddest dog on the block, you shouldnt be owning any animal at all. Donn Risolo, Altadena Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Nowhere in the Torah nor in Talmudic law is there a requirement to torture and slaughter chickens in order to perform the Jewish Kapparot ritual. Orthodox Jews recognize there is a compassionate alternative in the use of money rather than chickens for the supposed transference of sins. (Federal judge lifts temporary ban on ritual slaughter of chickens, minutes before start of Yom Kippur, Oct. 11) Just because the custom of using chickens has been practiced for 1,100 years does not justify such cruelty, slaughter and waste. Recent investigations into the use of chickens for Kapparot in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles have proved that the bodies of these poor birds are thrown into the trash rather than fed to the poor. The use of chickens for Kapparot is profit driven and it is a shameful practice that should be abhorrent to all who oppose animal cruelty. Advertisement Robb C. Curtis, Los Angeles .. To the editor: I do find ritualistic animal sacrifice pretty archaic, but killing animals is legal at the slaughterhouse. At my local grocery store I can find body parts from hundreds of slaughtered animals on display. Religious practices are generally protected under the U.S. Constitution, so if a religious group wants to engage in a completely legal practice, on what basis could you ban it? Erica Hah, Monrovia Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Shortly after Michelle Obama finished a rousing speech denouncing Donald Trumps behavior toward women, Hillary Clintons campaign texted supporters asking them to chip in $1 to fight for women. But that wasnt where the big dollars were coming from. Later that night, Clinton flew to Beverly Hills for a dinner with donors and a performance from Elton John the minimum ticket was $33,400, and $100,000 earned supporters premium seating. Although its not unusual for a presidential nominee to hold fundraisers close to the finish line President Obama attended at least eight in October 2012 Clintons schedule, which included three such events on the West Coast this week, reflects her deep reliance on wealthy contributors. Trump, who far outpaces her in the share of small donations that make up his fundraising total, has accused her of being beholden to special interests buying influence through large donations to her campaign. Advertisement Why dont you put $10 million or $20 million or $25 million or $30 million into your own campaign? Its $30 million less for special interests that will tell you exactly what to do, he said at their second debate Sunday in St. Louis. Hillary Clinton takes the stage with singer Andra Day at a fundraiser in San Francisco on Thursday. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press ) Just 24% of donations to Clintons campaign committee came in chunks of less than $200 as of Aug. 31, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission figures available. Obama, with his vast fundraising network, pulled in 48% at the same point in 2012 and 36% in 2008. Trump outdid them both, getting 65% of his money from donations under $200, a lopsided figure that reveals not only excitement from his supporters but his struggle to tap the rich contributors that Republican candidates have counted on in the past. Clintons campaign, citing internal calculations, insists that it has widespread support among small-dollar donors. Low-dollar contributions will become more critical for Clinton as election day draws closer, campaign manager Robby Mook predicted. As the amount of time the secretary and her surrogates spend fundraising [decreases], its our online donors who almost exclusively will be supporting the campaign, he said on a conference call with reporters. A campaign official also said that the true breadth of Clintons grass-roots fundraising is not easily quantifiable by a traditional measure the number of contributions less than $200 reported to the Federal Election Commission given low-dollar donors penchant for giving repeatedly. Using a different formulation that includes low-dollar contributors who made additional donations until their total exceeded $200, grass-roots fundraising made up half of the campaigns total, the official said. More than 142,000 donors who originally donated less than $200 gave again, pushing their total past that line. The campaign also pointed to the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee with the Democratic Party that is a vehicle for bite-sized donations. When both accounts are included, more than $231 million has been raised in chunks of $200 or less through the end of September, according to the campaign official, who requested anonymity to provide greater detail about fundraising. Follow todays coverage of the presidential campaign on Trail Guide But Clinton aides also acknowledge inherent barriers to generating the kind of windfall that powered Obamas campaigns and ultimately became a central part of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders underdog effort against Clinton in the Democratic primary. For starters, she was a significant favorite in the race, making it difficult to convince her supporters that contributions of $5, $10 or even $100 would be needed. Her database of active email addresses for her supporters, a key revenue-raising engine in modern politics, had been dormant for years and needed to be rebuilt as the campaign went on. It became a hurdle for Clinton in the primary as her smaller pool of donors bumped up against contribution limits set by federal law as Sanders continued to rake in tinier donations online. Even after securing the nomination, she has struggled to match the breadth of Sanders fundraising network. Sanders had received money from 2.8 million individual donors by the end of June, while Clinton reached 2.6 million at the end of September between her campaign committee and a joint fundraising account with the Democratic Party, according to the campaigns. Clintons difficulties tapping small donors support may reflect a lack of passion for her among the Democratic grass roots, who dont see her as the leader of a movement they want be a part of, the way many perceived Obama or Sanders. Small-dollar donations can be a sign not only of financial health but enthusiasm for a candidate, said Brendan Glavin, the data manager at the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. If people are giving $5 or $10 to a candidate, theyre going to have an engagement with the campaign, he said. Another challenge for Clinton is that Trump doesnt seem to motivate her supporters to chip in, said Michael Whitney, who was the digital fundraising manager for Sanders primary run. A lot of people dont believe he can win, he said of Trump. As much as you say hes a threat to people, theres a lack of believability there. Clinton has been doing relatively well given that small-dollar donors were unlikely to to flock to her in the first place, said Nicco Mele, director of Harvards Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Establishment candidates tend to struggle to raise money online, said Mele, the former deputy publisher of The Times. Online fundraising tends to favor more extreme positions and underdog candidates. Email lists are the biggest conduit for raising money online, and fundraisers said its important to capitalize on exciting moments during campaigns to make supporters reach for their credit cards. Mook said Clintons campaign has seen significant spikes in its online and low-dollar fundraising around such big events as the Democratic National Convention and the first two debates. An email sent to supporters on the night of the first debate generated the campaigns biggest small-dollar windfall of the year. We certainly expect to see that before and during the next debate, Mook said. Clinton clearly has the edge when it comes to money, said Lindsay Mark Lewis, a former national finance director for the Democratic Party. She finished August with $68.4 million in the bank, while Trump had $50.2 million, according to federal filings. Shes in great shape financially, he said. Lewis added, She doesnt have the same appeal as Obama or Sanders to the grass-roots donor network. Yet theyve built a pretty strong list. Now the campaign has an opportunity to unleash that. If Clinton keeps her solid lead in the polls, some of that money could be spread throughout the Democratic Party to help candidates trying to pry back control of Congress from Republicans. Theyre the ones who need the money in the last two weeks, Lewis said. Memoli reported from San Francisco and Megerian from Sacramento. chris.megerian@latimes.com michael.memoli@latimes.com Twitter: @chrismegerian, @mikememoli ALSO Hillary Clinton is exploring the outer limits of fundraising like no presidential nominee ever has Why Trump and Clinton sleep in their own beds most nights even though theyre on the campaign trail Michelle Obama delivers what may be a defining moment in the presidential campaign Two Southern California women came forward Friday to accuse Donald Trump of accosting them, the latest in a spate of sexual misconduct allegations buffeting the Republican presidential nominee. Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, described darting around a Beverly Hills hotel bungalow to avoid Trumps kisses and wandering hands in 2007. Kristin Anderson, a onetime aspiring model, said Trump slipped his hand up her skirt and touched her vagina in a New York City nightclub in the early 1990s. Both women said they decided to go public because of the emergence of a video last week in which Trump describes how he can kiss women and grab their genitals without their consent because of his celebrity, assertions he later dismissed as locker-room talk. Advertisement You do not have a right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star, Zervos said at a news conference. Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Sign up for the newsletter | The race to 270 She and Anderson joined several other women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct since he said at Sundays second presidential debate that he had never acted in the manner he described on the recording. One said Trump slipped his hand up her skirt on an airplane, another said he kissed her without her consent at Trump Tower and two others described separate episodes at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump angrily rebuffed all of the claims, dismissing the women as sick fame-seekers. He implied that the woman who described the airplane encounter wasnt attractive enough to warrant his attention. Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you, he told the crowd at a campaign rally in Greensboro, N.C. Trump asserted the new revelations were a setup meant to hurt his bid for the presidency. As he has in recent days, he repeatedly suggested that forces were conspiring against him and his supporters. The whole thing is one big fix. Its one big ugly lie. Its one big fix, he said. Trump trained his ire on the news media, particularly the New York Times, which published the first two accusers accounts this week. In a new twist, he asserted billionaire and Times shareholder Carlos Slim was behind the negative news coverage. Bringing up the new foe in his speech, Trump repeated several times that Slim is from Mexico. Reporters at the New York Times are not journalists, Trump said. Theyre corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and Hillary Clinton. Clinton, the Democratic nominee, pointed to the growing list of accusations against Trump. The disturbing stories keep coming, she said, adding that they werent limited to his treatment of women and referring to his derogatory comments about Mexicans, Muslims and others. Theres a long list, she said at a fundraiser at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. This is who Donald Trump really is. We know that. Now we have to demonstrate who we are. America is better than this. Anderson told the Washington Post she was at a crowded nightclub talking with friends when she suddenly felt fingers moving up her inner thigh and touching her underwear over her vagina. Anderson said she pushed the hand away, turned to look at who had touched her and recognized Trump. She told friends about it over the years, but decided to speak out publicly this week after hearing other womens experiences with Trump, she told the Post. Its a sexual assault issue, and its something that Ive kept quiet on my own, said Anderson, now 46 and working as a photographer in Southern California. And Ive always kept quiet. And why should I keep quiet? Actually, all of the women should speak up, and if youre touched inappropriately, tell somebody and speak up about it. Actually go to the authorities and press some charges. Its not OK. Trump said Andersons account was not credible because he never sits alone at clubs. Zervos, appearing shaken with eyes welling with tears, said she contacted Trump in 2007 seeking a job. They met in New York and he later called her, dubbed her his O.C. angel and proposed dinner during a planned trip to Los Angeles, she said. Zervos said she was summoned to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she expected to eat at a restaurant. Instead, she was ushered to Trumps bungalow. Trump tried to kiss her with an open mouth repeatedly, put his hand on her breast and thrust his genitals at her, Zervos said. Dude, youre tripping right now, Zervos said she told Trump as she sought to stop his advances. Zervos, who identified herself as a Republican, said she had frequently been asked about Trump since he began his presidential run because of her appearance on the fifth season of The Apprentice, his reality show. The Huntington Beach resident said she was always complimentary, but felt anguished internally over his conduct and tried to contact him in April with no success. Zervos, now 41, said she decided to speak publicly after hearing the recording of Trump speaking crassly about women. I want to be able to sleep when Im 70 at night, said Zervos, sitting alongside her attorney, Gloria Allred, who is known for staging media spectacles in taking on politicians of both parties over their treatment of women. Trump said he vaguely recalled Zervos from The Apprentice but denied her allegations. To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago, he said. That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how Ive conducted my life. Mehta reported from Los Angeles and Mason from Charlotte. Times staff writers Michael A. Memoli in Seattle and Hailey Branson-Potts in Los Angeles contributed to this report. seema.mehta@latimes.com melanie.mason@latimes.com Twitter: @LATSeema, @melmason Can you believe we still have 24 more days of this? These battleground states will decide our next president Hillary Clinton keeps fishing for big money while lagging behind with smaller donors Michelle Obama delivers what may be a defining moment in the presidential campaign A 36-year-old man convicted of attempting to kill two Burbank police officers by grabbing one of their guns and firing after he had been handcuffed and placed under arrest for stealing from a Kmart store was sentenced Thursday to 81 years to life in state prison. Jamie Warren Willard was found guilty in July of two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, two counts of assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm, one count of second-degree commercial burglary and one count of assault. The jury found true allegations that, in the crimes against the two officers, Willard personally discharged a firearm, causing them great bodily injury. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Jamie Warren Willard, 36, was found guilty of attempting to murder two Burbank police officers during an arrest. He was sentenced Thursday to 81 years to life in state prison. (Roger Wilson / Burbank Leader) Prior to Willards sentencing, his public defender, Mark Carrillo, asked the judge to consider his clients limited criminal history records show he was convicted of stealing from a San Dimas grocery store and noted that both officers who were injured went back to work and seem to have put this incident behind them. But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Suzette Clover said mitigating factors were far outweighed by aggravating factors. The crimes involved a high degree of cruelty, viciousness and callousness and were carried out in a way that indicated planning and sophistication, she said. Carrillo said Thursday that he plans to file an appeal. In Willards account of the incident which he shared with the Burbank Leader after his conviction in jailhouse and phone interviews and a handwritten letter he denied grabbing an officers gun. It wouldve been impossible, he said, for him to disarm a cop while handcuffed behind his back. He wanted to testify during his trial, he said, but his attorney advised him against it. I am not Jason Bourne. I have no Special Forces training, Willard wrote last month in his letter to the Leader. I dont even think Jason Bourne would be able to do the things they are saying. The case stretches back to the Friday before Fourth of July six years ago, when Burbank police responded to a Kmart store to investigate a theft. Employees had nicknamed Willard something along the lines of the Casper because, they told police, hed been in twice before to steal DVDs without getting caught. This time around, Kmart employees confronted him as he left the store. Willard dropped the stolen items and ran. They chased him down, put him in cuffs and called the police. Derek Green, a patrol officer at the time, was the first on scene. During his detention that hot July day, Willard went from being calm and cooperative to acting boisterous and uncooperative, Green testified during the trial. At one point, Willard started to cry. He told police he couldnt go to jail. He complained that his cuffs were too tight. Because of Willards size records show he was 6-feet tall and 220 pounds at the time Green used two sets of handcuffs to link Willards hands behind his back before he and his partner, Alex Gutierrez, walked him outside. Green said he opened his patrol car door to set his belongings on the passenger seat and turn on the ignition to run the air conditioner. Willard had been sweating profusely. According to a Los Angeles County district attorneys office review of the shooting, Willard had amphetamines and opiates in his blood on the day of the shooting. (Willard later told the Leader he was sober). From there, Green noticed a verbal exchange between Willard and Gutierrez turn physical. Before any shots were fired, Green said he heard Gutierrez yell, He has my gun! He has my gun! Green testified that he saw Gutierrezs pistol in Willards hand, prompting him to draw his own. He shouted for help on his radio while trying to get a clear shot, which was difficult because his partner and Willard were entangled. During the scuffle, Green said, Willard managed to point the gun at him. With five feet between them, the pair made eye contact before Green saw a muzzle flash and smoke and immediately felt the sensation of a bullet piercing his left hand. Green missed nine months of work and underwent four surgeries to reconstruct his hand, which could lose functionality down the road, court records show. According to Willards account, Gutierrez was trying to push him in a patrol car through a half-open door, but he held his ground, since he was too big to fit. During that scuffle, Willard said he felt Gutierrez lose his footing and fall backward. All in this motion, he finally lets go of my arm, Willard said. Thats when I hear his gun go off twice. Following the initial gunfire, a wounded Green said he fired eight rounds toward Willards lower extremities so he wouldnt hit his partner. Photos taken at the scene show seven strike marks in the ground. Both Willard and Gutierrez were struck by ricocheting bullets. Willard noted in his interview with the Leader that no gunshot residue was found on his hands, and none of his DNA or fingerprints were found on Gutierrezs gun. Carrillo argued at the trial that Gutierrez fired his own gun and said physical evidence suggests that Green shot himself, a story that the prosecutor called crazy. A Burbank police spokesman strongly disputed Willards account, noting that the jury, after considering all the evidence, found him guilty. When the verdict was read, Willard said, he felt an out of body experience. I felt like somebody killed me, but I was still alive watching it, Willard said. Why would I risk a life sentence for something like that? As he scanned the jury that afternoon, he noticed two jurors weeping. Neither stuck around afterward to share why. -- Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @atchek When Walter Knott became intrigued by the boysenberry, a mysterious fruit he had heard about in 1932, he and the Department of Agriculture tracked down Rudy Boysen, a horticulturist who had developed the berry from a blackberry, loganberry and raspberry. Knott asked Boysen if any of the vines had survived and Boysen gave him a few surviving vines for the Knott farm. Walter Knott nursed them back to health, said Maxine Schmidl, vice president of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society. And thats the origin of Knotts Berry Farm, then called Knotts Berry Place. Thats how the boysenberry came to be in all those pies." Had the farmer who created the amusement park not been persistent, an entire hybrid of fruit could have been lost. When many of us think of history, we dont often think of these colorful characters living out dynamic storylines. We think of textbooks and dates, and much less tangible information which is exactly what the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society is trying to avoid at its 19th annual Historical Cemetery Tour at Fairhaven Memorial Park and Santa Ana Cemetery. And costumed student actors from Orange County School of the Arts are bringing such stories to life. Props are strategically placed at each scene throughout the cemeteries and scripts are written by a small group of society and community members who have researched and written about historical figures buried in Fairhaven Memorial Park and Santa Ana Cemetery. This years theme, The Way We Learned: A History of Education in Orange County, is a two-hour guided tour taking place in 13 tour groups Oct. 22, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. As historians and preservationists, we know that too often history can seem dry just a recitation of facts, names, years, said Alison Young, Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society president. Because we change the theme of the tour every year, creating new scripts, and the scenes focus on individuals who are buried in Fairhaven Memorial Park and Santa Ana Cemetery, we provide a really broad range of history but with short, personal, relatable stories. A Trip Back Through O.C. History Guests of this years Cemetery Tour can expect an expansive look at education with the tours first scene talking about a little-known program called the Federal Art Project, specifically designed to put artists to work during the Depression. The story follows two starving but world-class artists Jean Goodwin and Arthur Ames, who designed and created two mosaics at Newport Harbor High School, which remain there today. Then theres the story about Toastmasters International, a club founded in 1924 in Santa Ana by Ralph Smedley who wanted to teach businesspeople how to communicate better, Schmidl says. Another scene tells of Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle, one of the first female physicians in Orange County whose house and medical museum is run by the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society and also serves as the societys headquarters today. Willella decided to study medicine to assist her husband in his medical practice, but at some point she became determined to become a doctor herself. They had one child when they picked up and moved to Chicago so Willella could attend Hahnemann Medical College in the 1880s. The storys setting is 1883 and Willella is in Chicago with her baby in a carriage while she studies her medical books. The Cemetery Tour typically ends at the Fairhavens 1916 mausoleum with a musical number. This years scene is A Night at Coney Island (by Way of Santa Ana), revolving around the history of the Ebell Club. The club, founded by Adrian Ebell in Oakland in 1876, was a way for women to gain access to more educational opportunities. Santa Ana Valley Chapter members wanted their own clubhouse, and in 1920 they decided to have a fundraiser, which was called A Night at Coney Island at The Yost Theater. The reenactment at the mausoleum is of that fundraiser. Finding the right stories to tell for each years theme takes a bit of effort by society members. Not only must each story be based on historical fact and fit under the years theme, it must revolve around someone buried in one of the tours two featured cemeteries. We do a lot of research online, plus we have a pretty extensive collection of local history books we can refer to, said Roberta Reed, an associate board member and co-chair of the Cemetery Tour who also is a script writer. With that information we determine if we have enough information for our scenes. Sometimes the results are surprising. For instance, as part of last years transportation theme, the society thought the story of agriculture pioneer James Irvine riding his bicycle with a friend all the way down from San Francisco to Orange County made a great story. Turns out that no one knows that much about it, except that he did it, Reed said. In the research process I was looking for bicycle shops at the time, a tip that came from Chris Jepsen from the OC Archives, and that led me to a story about an editor of the local newspaper who could not for the life of him learn to ride a bike, but wanted to enter a bike race. It was a great story. Its not always easy to tie the great stories to someone buried in the cemeteries. A couple of years ago they needed a character who was a young girl in her late 20s. Reed had to find someone of the right age who lived in Orange County in that time period. Women are particularly tough, because they get married and arent buried with the same name, Reed said. So we work backwards. With the help of her newspapers.com subscription and findagrave.com, she found who she was looking for. Then the writing of the scene could begin. Making History Fun Young said through costumes, props, quality acting and unique storytelling, the Cemetery Tour offers community members a personal link to the countys history. Hopefully this results in giving the public a desire to learn more about where they live, a feeling of connection to the area and a sense of pride in what has been built here, Young said. She said an added benefit is connecting to students at OCSA as the performances give students additional experiences that can be used for college and scholarship applications. The Cemetery Tour has generated a loyal following, according to Young, who notes the society receives inquiries as early as January regarding that years theme and event date. Barbara Burch, a resident of North Tustin, learned about the Cemetery Tour four years ago and has since attended it with friends and grandchildren. As a former teacher in the Tustin [Unified] School District, I feel this living history tour is an outstanding way to educate our youth about the famous people of OC with a real hands-on approach, she said. The students from Orange County School of the Arts really make it all come together. Santa Ana Historical Preservation Societys 19th annual Historical Cemetery Tour will be held Oct. 22, with all proceeds going to the societys two museums. Visit santaanahistory.com for ticket information. Kirk Palsma played his stand-up bass vigorously on a recent Friday afternoon, yet the sound possessed a bit of hard-to-hear imperfection. Each time he strummed Benny Carters Symphony in Riffs with the Orange County School of the Arts Ambassador Jazz Orchestra, the 16-year-old was commanded to start over. But it wasnt his usual OCSA teacher giving the lesson. Play softer, instructed nine-time Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis, adding that the instruments need to play off one another. Jazz music is democracy among instruments. Palsma did as instructed, saying later that he appreciated the lesson. The legendary trumpet player visited OCSA as part of the Master Artist Series, which kicked off last month with a visit by Glee star Matthew Morrison, who graduated from the school in 1997, and continued Wednesday with Grammy-winning violinist Joshua Bell. During Marsalis hour-plus class, which was held in front of an audience, the jazz legend compared music to the Constitution, stating that each instrument and note was included for a reason. I want my soul to feel like I keep falling in love, he told the 20 students, adding that he wanted to hear the soloists improvise. The Master Artist Series launched this year in celebration of OCSAs 30th anniversary. In the past, weve had some master artists just come to OCSA to work with our students, said series coordinator Melissa Wackerman. We started to realize that with our 30th anniversary here, this would be a perfect opportunity to make that program something more formalized and something that we are very proactive about promoting. Theres nothing like having someone at that level touch our children in such a personal way, where they can have an impact on their development. The Santa Ana school is hosting a variety of guests from Broadway actress Lindsay Mendez to Emmy award-nominated choreographer Spencer Liff to teach the lessons. Marsalis, who serves as the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, said his critiques came from a place of caring and to see the students grow. I love the kids, he said. Its deeper than how they play. Its like how you do with your own kids. Youre not assessing your kid every time they do something. Its a journey. We never pass out of the stage of learning. Im here to teach them, and theyre very serious and respectful. Marsalis was able to attend because of a convenient break in his tour schedule, Wackerman said. Dan St. Marseille, director of instrumental music at OCSA, said the jazz great brought an innovative touch to the class. I think the commitment that he has, and the energy that he brings, is really refreshing, he said. He really knows how to make the concepts become relevant to every situation, especially his use of analogies. Like music, he takes words, and he paints with his words. He really gets to a part of us that we dont often think about. Pianist Susana Schutza, 16, grew up listening to Marsalis music and prepared for his visit by looking up YouTube videos of his past lessons. Everything he says is so true and so helpful and stuff that we should take to heart and to the practice room, she said. brittany.woolsey@latimes.com Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey A man who admitted that he helped dump a womans body in Newport Beach after she was murdered for witnessing a gang-related shooting was sentenced to 16 years in prison Friday. But before the punishment was handed down, the victims sister had a message for him: My family and I do not blame you, nor do we hate you. You are not an evil person, Yara Morales told Jaime Rocha, a 42-year-old Santa Ana gang member, during a hearing in Orange County Superior Court. Rocha was a friend of Morales sister, 28-year-old Nancy Hammour, Morales said. But as the sun rose on Labor Day in 2013, he helped throw Hammours body over the side of a bridge spanning Newport Harbor. Earlier that morning, Rocha was driving when another gang member in the car shot Hammour in the face as the three traveled south on the 55 Freeway, according to the Orange County district attorneys office. The convicted shooter, 27-year-old Irvin Tellez, fired on Hammour because she had become hysterical after watching Tellez shoot another woman standing on a Santa Ana street minutes earlier. That victim survived. You have to live for the rest of your life knowing you heard Nancys last breath, Morales told Rocha on Friday. Being in your situation, I would have been scared for my life as well, and I understand why you went along with what Tellez wanted. After helping ditch the body, Rocha fled to Mexico with the rental car he drove during the shootings, according to prosecutor Jim Mendelson. But Rocha returned to the United States and was arrested after the rental company told him to return the car after he got in a traffic collision. While in custody, Rocha told Newport Beach police about both shootings, Mendelson said. Investigators arrested Tellez soon after. Rocha admitted that he helped dispose of Hammours body and agreed to testify against Tellez, Mendelson said. In exchange, prosecutors reduced a murder charge against Rocha to involuntary manslaughter, with a sentencing enhancement for gang activity. A jury convicted Tellez last month of first-degree murder, attempted murder and street terrorism, with sentencing enhancements including criminal street gang activity and personal discharge of a firearm causing death and great bodily injury. Tellez could face life in prison at his sentencing Nov. 20. The Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Department will hold its annual open house Saturday as part of Fire Prevention Month. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the fire station at 2300 Placentia Ave. and will include a fire and rescue demonstration and various skills challenges for children and adults. H.B. church to offer free flu shots First Christian Church at 1207 Main St. in Huntington Beach will provide free flu shots from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The shots are available to people 9 and older, though parents must accompany minors. Andersen Elementary to host fall festival Andersen Elementary School will have a fall festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday on campus at 1900 Port Seabourne Way, Newport Beach. The festival will feature food trucks, a disc jockey, a haunted house, a costume photo book and carnival games. Realty firm presenting pumpkin patch Torelli Realtys annual pumpkin patch event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 20 in the businesss parking lot at 1700 Adams Ave. in Costa Mesa. Festivities will include free pumpkins, a pie-eating contest, a bounce house, a petting zoo, pony rides and concession stands. For more information, visit torellirealty.com or call (714) 540-7355. H.B. library group to host mystery authors Friends of the Huntington Beach Library will hold a $25 mystery authors luncheon at noon Oct. 21 at the Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave. Authors Ann Parker, J.C. De Ladurantey and Camille Minichino will be the featured speakers. Reservations are required by Monday. For more information, visit fotlhb.com. O.C. fairgrounds holding art contest The OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa is sponsoring its #DrainsToOcean public awareness art contest seeking to remind people that because storm drains lead directly to the ocean, all should think about what they dump down the drain. Individuals or groups of up to four can submit family-friendly works that reflect the drains to ocean message. The top six entrants will be invited to paint their designs on a storm drain cover at the fairgrounds in December. The winning design will receive a 2017 OC Fair Super Pass. Designs must be submitted online at ocfair.com by 11:59 p.m. Nov. 4. Students in Edison High Schools advanced culinary class got a visit from a neighbor in Huntington Beach Thursday, who came bearing sweet treats and a bit of business advice. Priscilla Wilson, owner and executive baker of Bubba Sweets, passed down some knowledge on promoting products as well as online and social media presence, to the students during their class. The class is designed to teach the students culinary skills and entrepreneurship, according to the courses instructor Rebecca Richter. The students were extremely enthusiastic and, of course, they loved the food, Richter said. Its a great thing for the kids to hone in on so by the time they leave our program, they are career-ready and thats our goal. The bakerys previous owners Erieka Pimentel and her husband, James, put their cupcake-making skills to the test in 2013 for an episode of Cupcake Wars, season 7. With four teams in the challenge, the couple made it through three rounds of judging during the episode, ultimately winning the competition. The Huntington Beach bakery also won the Taste of Huntington Beach that year with their German Chocolate Cupcake. At the end of Wilsons presentation Thursday, Richters students snatched up samples of Bubba Sweets cupcakes, such as the chocolate Stormin Normin, the Lemon Love, and the Hershey-topped Willy Wonka. alexandra.chan@latimes.com Twitter: @AlexandraChan10 Its been a busy and momentous time for First United Methodist Church in Costa Mesa. The downtown institutions roots in Costa Mesa date to 1912, and its distinctive Spanish Colonial Revival sanctuary, built in 1928, predates everything around it. But in the past year, the church has had to dispel rumors that it was closing for good. Its worshippers the few who were left after decades of dwindling numbers dodged suspicions that the West 19th Street property was making way for a housing tract, as has been the fate of several other Costa Mesa church parcels in recent years. Join the conversation on Facebook >> The Rev. Sarah Heath is giving First United Methodist Church in Costa Mesa a more progressive bent than it has had in the past. Were not a church under a cause by any means, but we really are trying to be disciples in the community, which necessitates loving everyone and everyone being involved, Heath said. (Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot) In February, a vandal threw a brick that shattered a portion of a 90-year-old stained-glass window depicting Jesus. Adding to the mystery of the incident were reports of pentagrams a symbol associated with the occult drawn on the glass. The window has been fixed, with help from donations. In May, First United began a demolition project. By getting rid of the churchs add-on buildings, leaders hoped the nearly 1-acre property with only 19 parking spaces would have room to accommodate 70 to 75 more cars and, consequently, more worshippers. Then, on June 30, the churchs senior pastor, Amy Aitken, was reassigned to another Methodist church in Redondo Beach. She had been in Costa Mesa for a year. The Rev. Sarah Heath, a Duke University graduate and Mission Viejo resident, stepped in July 1. In an interview this week, Heath said still more changes are coming for First United. The Canadian-born Heath, 36, was appointed lead pastor after serving five years at Shepherd of the Hills in Rancho Santa Margarita. Since her first day, First Uniteds congregation has risen from a low of about 20 in June to about 60 now. Church leaders said its a far cry from the hundreds who used to call First United their church, but regaining such numbers will take time. Heath attributes the recent boost to word of mouth and First Uniteds exposure in new outlets like The Liturgists, a religion podcast. She was featured in a September episode about sexism. Heath also made an appearance on The Committee, a web series about a fictional church looking to reinvent itself a scenario not unlike whats happening at First United. Heath described her philosophy as bridging ancient traditions with modern ones. As an example, she pointed to First Uniteds new organist, a thirtysomething who promises to play the instrument in new and exciting ways. Other changes are coming to the sanctuary itself. Heath recently installed a childrens room that replaced an unused prayer chapel. The bathrooms were renovated, the pews polished. She wants to add a prayer room in the five-story bell tower. The church has a new website, costamesafirst.com, a Facebook page and an Instagram account, with hashtags galore #church, #historic, #newstart. The church also will take a more progressive bent than in the past, Heath said. In November, First United will host book launches for two authors: Brandan Robertson, a Christian LGBT activist, and Mike McHargue, aka Science Mike, who writes about the intersection of science and religion. Were not a church under a cause by any means, but we really are trying to be disciples in the community, which necessitates loving everyone and everyone being involved, Heath said. Were all about God and Jesus, and therefore everyone is welcome. -- Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com Twitter: @BradleyZint A man convicted of raping and murdering a Glendale woman in 1979 was spared the death penalty after a jury deadlocked Thursday on the third day of deliberations. Ten jurors voted for Darrell Gurule to spend the rest of his life in prison, while two felt he should be executed. The same jury convicted Gurule last month of killing Barbara Ballman, whose naked body, lying across the front seat of her Volkswagen Beetle, was found by fourth-graders on their way to Thomas Edison Elementary School one September morning in 1979. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Shed been raped and killed by a single shotgun wound to her abdomen, shortly after leaving her older sisters home, where shed babysat her nephew before eating sweet rolls and watching Donna Summer with her sister. He took away her life, her future, her ability to walk around this planet, her dignity, and left her there to die alone, said her sister Linda Benjamin, who filled 14 journals with notes to Ballman in the dozen or so years after her death. Theres a place she shouldve been that she isnt, and that can never be filled by anyone else. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry Gurule or to accept a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. In seeking the death penalty, the prosecutor pointed to Gurules violent criminal history, which included a 1977 sexual assault at gunpoint, as well as a 1987 kidnapping and murder. When Glendale detectives linked him to Ballmans death in 2004, he was already serving a life sentence for the 1987 crimes. The mistrial marked the culmination of the roughly three-week penalty phase of the trial, during which defense attorneys reached back in time to find those who could attest to Gurules troubled upbringing in an abusive household. An old neighbor who shared an Echo Park duplex with the Gurule family in the 1960s testified to hearing constant screaming and crying from upstairs. Shed see bruises on Gurule and his brothers, who were always hungry. Meanwhile, a social worker who handled the familys case in the 1970s described it as among the top 10 worst of her six-year career. A news reporter who wrote a 1973 newspaper article detailing how Glendale police found Gurules seven siblings Gurule was in juvenile hall at the time in a home alone, among rotting food, feces and overflowing toilets also testified. Gurules mother, who died in 1997, was on a date at the time. He didnt have a chance. He didnt have a fighting chance, Gurules maternal aunt Lita Hopkins told the jury during the trial. But in prison, defense attorneys argued, Gurule found Christianity and peace, and has for decades served as a model inmate. I think at the end of the day, our defense themes resonated, said Philip Peng, an alternate public defender who represented Gurule. I think the system worked. -- Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @atchek MORE CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY Hoover High community mourns 16-year-old classmate killed in motorcycle collision Church volunteer, a career criminal, arrested for allegedly stealing money from donation box Homeless man pleads not guilty to rape charges Local teachers and administrators stood in front of Glendale Unifieds 30 schools on Thursday before classes started to make passersby aware of three propositions on the Nov. 8 ballot that educators hope voters will approve. All three propositions 55, 52 and 58 will benefit the school districts students, said Taline Arsenian, president of the Glendale Teachers Assn. She rallied with other teachers, along with Glendale Unified Supt. Winfred Roberson Jr., in front of Glendale High School. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Those three initiatives are going to be most beneficial for our schools, she said. Its important for our local educators to ask our community to support our public schools. Passage of Proposition 55 would extend the current income tax on the states wealthiest earners, including couples who make about $525,000 or more per year, or individuals who earn roughly $265,000 or more annually. The proposition could send anywhere from $5 to $11 billion each year into K-12 schools and community colleges in California through 2030. Critics of the initiative take issue with state officials relying heavily on the states highest earners to pay for key services. Local teachers, however, worry that without its passage, they could face future budget cuts. Meanwhile, teachers are also advocating for voters to pass Proposition 52, which would provide $3 million annually in federal dollars to provide healthcare services for low-income families, children and seniors. The third initiative, Proposition 58, won backing from local teachers because it authorizes school districts to establish dual-language immersion programs for English learners and non-English speakers alike. Arsenian pointed to Glendale Unifieds many dual-language immersion programs as the major impetus for getting behind the initiative. Currently, students can participate in one of seven dual-language immersion programs, meaning they can spend the majority of their school day in elementary school learning in Japanese, Spanish, Armenian, French, German, Italian or Korean. Without the propositions passage, public schools would be required to teach most English learners in classes taught in English, according to the states voter guide. -- Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com Twitter: @kellymcorrigan MORE EDUCATION Hoover High community mourns 16-year-old classmate killed in motorcycle collision $20k grant helps fulfill Glendale Highs musical wish list Glendale students participate in Walk to School Day A local developer wants to swap a long-shuttered pool hall in Montrose for a condominium project. The same group that developed the Montrose Center that houses a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is looking to tear down the Mix at 2612 Honolulu Ave. to make way for ownership units. There are already enough apartments being built in Glendale, we dont need more, said Art Simonian, principal of development firm Metro Investments, in a phone interview. NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in and around your neighborhood >> He said his plan in its early stages is to build a two-story condominium structure within walking distance of local schools and churches. Simonians company bought the 21,030-square-foot lot for $2.3 million last August, according to Los Angeles County assessor records. Simonian has met with residents living near the former Mix building to get their feedback and, so far, theyve been supportive. Resident Mike Morgan said the initial pitch was for a three-story structure, but one floor has been deleted from the plans. Now, he said Simonians project will fit well in the neighborhood. Theres a transition on Honolulu [Avenue]. One side is more commercial and the other side is Sycamore [Avenue], which is all residential, and I think [Simonian] nailed it, Morgan said. The people on the residential side were concerned. They didnt want anything overbearing. Simonian, however, said he isnt certain how many units will be part of his condo project. He said hes waiting for feedback from various city departments before he will talk more specifics and that a proposal could head to the Design Review Board for consideration in about six months. Simonian is the boards chair, but he said he would recuse himself once his project comes up for review. Morgan said he heard during the developments presentation that the project could include 26 or 28 units. However, Simonian would neither confirm nor deny those figures. The Mix closed roughly five years ago. Before that, it was known for a flurry of police activity. In a 2010 article, the News-Press reported local police officers logged 112 calls for service to the pool hall bar, which briefly also had its alcohol license suspended. Melinda Clarke, executive director of the Montrose Verdugo Chamber of Commerce, recalled the Mix having many problems while it was open. "[The Mix] was an incredible nuisance to those who lived right by it, Clarke said. A lot of noise backed up to the residential areas. There was always police activity going on there. Prior to the Mix, the building was a dance bar called Lady Janes, and before that, it was the Three Oaks, a family restaurant. -- Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com Twitter: @ArinMikailian On Thursday, Oct. 1, a 26-year-old man walked into an Oregon community college classroom armed with guns, killed nine people and wounded 10 others. Soon afterward he exchanged fire with local police and was killed as well. As always happens, the killers identity was soon known and his name and picture soon saturated the media coverage of the mass shooting. The man identified as the shooter allegedly wrote about the recent high-profile double murder of a Virginia TV news reporter and photographer, shot and killed on air in late August. I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are, the man wrote, in reference to the gunman in that shooting. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more youre in the limelight. Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, whose department responded to the shooting at Umpqua Community College, has refused to utter the killers name, saying he wouldnt give him the fame he seemed to be seeking. This massacre has again brought up the debate around how media outlets cover mass murder, particularly those identified as the murderers. Some say the level of coverage which sometimes includes quoting the killer or reading from their manifesto could be inspiring copycats. Q: Should the media be more mindful of the coverage they give to the persons who carry out mass murder? Or do they have an ethical imperative to report as much as they can to provide the fullest picture of how these tragedies happened? -- Yes and yes. I look to responsible media for coverage which does not glorify these violent attackers while providing the full picture of mass shootings. I feel sympathy for the mourners and understand how hearing the killers name would cause them fresh pain, but denying reality wont bring their loved ones back. Some of the people in Roseburg, Ore., who like their sheriff refused to name the killer, also spoke vigorously against gun control, claiming that people with guns in the classroom could have prevented the slaughter. This kind of specious, dangerous thinking demands a reasonable, intelligent rebuttal. Quality sources of good journalism provided numerous examples of accurate, factual reporting, background and in-depth analysis. Firearm Fantasies is how a recent op-ed headline pointed out that guns are unlikely to keep their owners safe: a gun is 22 times more likely to be used in an accidental shooting, a homicide or a suicide than it is to contribute to a successful self-defense by the guns owner against an attack. Mass Killings Seen As A Kind Of Contagion headed research revealing that many, if not most mass-shooters intensely followed coverage of earlier mass attacks. (Followed online, I would add promoting a return to print news seems to me no more illogical than calling for more guns to keep us safer.) Since the Roseburg murders, there have already been two more college shootings. The higher a U.S. states gun ownership rate, the more gun suicides and homicides. Countries with tighter gun controls than ours (i.e., all of them) have fewer mass killings than we do. Colonists single-shot, front-loading muskets used in a well-regulated militia have morphed into a vast, high profitable, loosely-regulated industry whose main product is human misery. Censoring killers names wont help us any more than the magical thinking that we can kill our way out of this horrible morass. Roberta Medford Atheist Montrose -- Right now Im a minister, and I can understand the sentiment of not mentioning the killers name. But before I was a minister, I was in the news business, and even reported and anchored the news for KVAL-TV in Eugene, Ore., not too far north of Roseburg, where the most recent massacre occurred. So the news person inside this ministers skin wants there to be fair and open reporting always. While I understand the feelings of the law enforcement officer who did not want to mention the killers name, I am also a firm believer in the 1st Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press. In truth, what we need is not the withholding of bad and crazy guys names; we really need sane and sober gun laws that keep weapons from the hands of the deranged. Dont I believe in the 2nd Amendment, which allows for gun ownership? I suppose.....but I am not a Fundamentalist, whether it comes to Scripture or the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights. God gave us these wonderful minds to think with, and Jesus even said to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength (Matt 22:37). We need to use our God-given minds to come up with better gun laws, not simply omit the names of our killers. The Rev. Skip Lindeman La Canada Flintridge Congregational Church La Canada Flintridge In the In Theory column, the Rev. Bryan Griem once again preaches his brand of purity to us, and I imagine his congregation, not only for how we should worship but also, in his latest screed, how we should express our patriotism for our country. Here are a few of his choice phrases Id like to put to you good readers. In referring to Jehovahs Witnesses as a non-Christian cult who would, in his youthful education, remain seated ... and werent really faithful to the good of our nation, he reasons that they were thumbing their noses at us American kids. Leaving aside for the moment my disagreement with this, I cant help but wonder how the young, more innocent Griem treated these anti-American religious cultists when he was just a lad. Was he able to push aside their non-conformity and relate to them, just kids in his class? Was it really all that important to him way back then to sort out and categorize other children according to their customs and habits? Did he separate his patriotic friends back then from others who did not pledge their allegiance to the flag as he did? Were their religious backgrounds a criteria for his friendship? Having taught children for all of my professional life, I would have liked to have known the young Griem at a time when he was not yet tainted by the strictures of, How we should all be. Like most other children, he would likely have been more accepting, more open to differences in his fellow human beings, and less inclined to know the ways of the righteous and true believers. Oh, Rev. Griem, to be a child again. Dan Kimber Montrose .. Thorny road to regaining Sis To welcome the Armenian Pope, the flags of Armenia, Artsakh, U.S. and California, were raised along with the Boy Scouts fanfare at the Glendale Civic Auditorium on Sept. 30. We lost everything during the Armenian Genocide. We preserved our Armenian identity through family, school, church, and by having faith in Christ as church is a spiritual home, His Holiness Aram I Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia said. He filed a lawsuit to regain the Sis church where the Catholicos once resided, and which now stands in Turkey. It will not be a rosy road, but a thorny road. Sis located in Adana, Cilicia has major significance for Armenians: the ancient capital of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1080-1375), the Catholicos residence, Christendom haven, Kings coronation chairs, and it is where King Levon the Magnificents body was buried. The fall of Sis ended the last Armenian Kingdom. King Levon V attempted reconciling the French and the English during the Hundred Years War. He died in Paris 1393, before recovering his throne. Hes buried with the French monarchy in the Royal Saint-Denis Basilica. The Adana Massacre was perpetrated by the Turks in 1909. Armenians dispersed throughout diaspora and House of Cilicia relocated to Antelias, Lebanon. Aram I seeks recovering his house in Sis; we seek recovering our lands of Sis in its entirety through prayer to open the doors of hope welcoming our beloved Cilicia. The night ended by singing: As the doors of hope open, I yearn to see my Cilicia. Let Armenia always be glorious and overcome the thorny road. Rachel Melikian Glendale .. Gatto, meet Friedman Assemblyman Mike Gatto, who represents the 43rd District, is being termed out of office and is recommending Councilwoman Laura Friedman as his replacement. Gatto, who previously lived in Silver Lake when first elected to office, now rents an apartment in Glendale. He moved his family to Sacramento shortly after being elected. Therefore, how can he be aware of all the issues facing our Jewel City all the out-of-control construction in our central business district and elsewhere? Projects approved by Friedman have caused major traffic congestion and parking nightmares in nearby neighborhoods. Her voting record has reduced the quality of life for many Glendale citizens. Since Friedman was elected in 2009, her concern has been to ensure there is sufficient revenue in the citys coffers to pay for her CalPERS union supporters with their outrageous salary and pension benefits. Councilwoman Friedman has voted to raise our water and electric rate costs above the cost of delivery. Her vote to transfer approximately $20 million annually from Glendale Water & Power to the General Fund is a backdoor tax on the ratepayers. The increase in water and electric rates and the money transfer from GWP motivated previously uninvolved citizens to join and form the Glendale Coalition for a Better Government. When term limits were brought forward at Glendale City Council in 2014, Friedman voted against term limits for her city. Now, because of term limits at the state level, she benefits and is able to run for the 43rd District Assembly seat. Mike Mohill Glendale .. Clinton did her job as attorney That Donald Trumps attempt to smear Hillary Clinton by charging she volunteered to defend a rapist isnt met with outrage at Trump reveals how little many Americans understand about our Constitutional rights and the duties of attorneys as officers of the court. Start with the facts. Hillary didnt volunteer to represent a defendant charged with rape. She was appointed by a judge when the defendant requested a woman attorney and the public defenders office was unable to provide one because it had none. Hillary represented the defendant and secured a plea bargain to a lesser included offense after her client passed a lie detector test and an expert witness, a child psychologist, cast doubt on the complaining witness credibility. One of the cornerstones of American law is that all defendants in criminal cases are entitled to a presumption of innocence. The Constitution guarantees them the right to a fair and speedy trial and to be represented by counsel. The right to counsel was extended to defendants in state courts by the Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) 372 U. S. 335. Twelve years later public defenders offices were often still lightly staffed and judges frequently appointed private attorneys to represent defendants. An attorney appointed by the court in a criminal case has limited grounds for refusing the appointment. These include a conflict of interest or ill health. Not wanting to represent the defendant because of the nature of the crime charged is not an acceptable ground. Once appointed, Hillary was bound by the canons of ethics to represent her client zealously within the bounds of the law. The defendant was facing a sentence of 30 years to life if convicted. As his attorney she had an ethical obligation to provide the best defense she was capable of. Rather than holding Hillarys representation of a defendant in a rape case against her, voters should count that as a point in her favor. She accepted, however reluctantly, the obligation of a member of the Bar to ensure a criminal defendant received a fair trial. The case reminds me of the lawyer who defended the British soldiers charged with murder in the Boston Massacre. He feared it would be the end of his law practice and his budding career in politics, but he represented his 13 clients so well that 11 of them were acquitted and none of them was convicted of murder. Twenty-six years later John Adams was elected president of the United States. Mary-Lynne Fisher La Crescenta .. Kudos to News-Press staffers Staff writer Kelly Corrigan did an outstanding article on the front page of the Oct. 12 News-Press regarding the passing of Gertrude Ness at 110. Gertrude was indeed an inspiration to all fortunate to have known her and I am proud to have been one among many. Also, Joyce Rudolph did another awesome On the Town article about our upcoming Glendale College Patrons Clubs Scholarship Fundraiser. I am only sorry that the News-Press is published only twice a week now. I have enjoyed reading all the local news in it through the years and hope it continues to be in print. Karen Wharton Glendale .. A bear of a problem The threat is real as we scurry from our homes daily; looking over our shoulder, scanning the neighborhood where is the bear today? Residents wonder when more damage will be done (broken fences, planters destroyed, vehicles scratched, bears swimming in pools and threatening pets). The bear has entered a garage. What is next? We dial 911. The Glendale Police Department arrives via patrol car and helicopter. They watch, they wait and they leave. Their hands are tied; unless someone is attacked, they cannot take any action. Fish and Game says its the bears environment and that we should hide our trash cans and put pet food inside, etc. It seems they dont want to be bothered. My family has lived in this region since the 1930s; there were never bear sightings until recent years. Our long-established neighborhood is not in the forest; we are urban. We live steps away from Honolulu Avenue and the 210 Freeway onramp. We are told we are in the bears environment since when? Sightings are increasing. No one wants the bear(s) harmed, and we know from past experience they can be relocated. What is the city of Glendale waiting for? Our children may be in danger because they move too quickly or are innocently playing in their own yard. We need advice. Who do we contact? We need action to help protect ourselves. Is it like when a city has to wait for someone to be killed before installing a signal light? I do not want to wait for a terrifying attack to happen because someone innocently provoked or cornered a bear before necessary action had been taken. Maybe the city could start by giving us bear-proof trash cans to help eliminate the food source, or the maybe the bears can be relocated. Please do something! Jari Kirkwood Glendale Gordon Ramsays British empire just got a bit bigger with the opening of his fourth restaurant along the Strip in Las Vegas. Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips opened Oct. 7 along the Linq Promenade, across Las Vegas Boulevard from Caesars Palace. The celebrity chef from England, where fish-and-chips shops are about as common as 7-Elevens in the States, said opening his own chippie, the colloquial British word, has been a dream of his for many years. Advertisement The eatery joins Gordon Ramsay Steak at Paris Las Vegas, Gordon Ramsay BurGR at Planet Hollywood and Gordon Ramsays Pub & Grill at Caesars Palace. Fish suppers were a treat at home, he said. We finished Saturday and Sunday nights with a fish supper and we had to share, so Id share with my brother. My sisters would share one. We were never allowed a full fish supper [because of the cost]. The fried, sustainable cod filets are cracker, to use a glowing British adjective. The batter is remarkably crispy, and the fish is flavorful and tender, lacking the grease so common at other fish-and-chip stands. We lightly salt it for 20 to 25 minutes with lemon salt. It helps cure the fish, which stops it from being watery, Ramsay said. Water destroys the batter. We tested the batter. It stayed crispy for 32 minutes, he added. A three-piece portion with fresh-cut fries, homemade tartar sauce and malt vinegar runs $11.99. The small menu also includes a fried fish sandwich ($14.99), fried shrimp ($15.99) that have been marinated in basil and lavender, and a battered sausage ($13.99). Customers purchasing the sausage may compare its appearance to a corn dog, but thats where the similarity ends. Ramsay said the coating encases a proper British sausage, or banger, thats laced with fontina cheese. Meals come with fries and also with what Ramsay fondly remembers from childhood as the bits. Theyre all the little, crispy bits of batter that are scooped up at the end and salted, he said. Diners may be tempted to top off their meal with a decadent Biscoff or a sticky toffee pudding milk shake ($8.99). The restaurant has seating for 25 guests, but Ramsay said he expects 60% of customers to carry out their orders. The exterior is hard to miss, given its red doors that resemble old-fashioned British phone booths. The eatery is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and until 1 a.m. on weekends. Ramsay may bring his latest concept eatery to Southern California too. Were looking at doing one close to the pier in Santa Monica, but I want to get Vegas right first, he said. ALSO TripAdvisor will stop selling tickets for some animal attractions over concern for their welfare Where to make like a mermaid (tails included), from San Diego to Florida and Hawaii Where to spend Halloween in Las Vegas Celine Dion, who just notched 1,000 Las Vegas shows, adds 24 new concerts in 2017 When the Nigerian military drove Boko Haram from the towns it had claimed for its self-declared caliphate, life got much worse for Fatima Ahmadu. Like so many other women and girls stolen by the militants during years of attacks on civilians, she was taken to a camp in the Sambisa Forest, near the border with Cameroon. There, the 40-year-old mother of seven was imprisoned in a pit until she agreed to marry a fighter who went by the name Abu Sata. It was suffering upon suffering. He was always threatening me, saying he knew I wanted to escape, Ahmadu said of the man she was forced to marry. Advertisement One afternoon, she tried to creep away but was caught by the groups religious police, the hisbah, who began flogging her. My prayers were answered and a plane dropped a bomb as they were beating me, and everybody ran away, she said. Thats when I escaped. Ahmadu is one of hundreds of abducted women and girls from three northeastern states who have staggered to freedom in recent months, many of them pregnant or carrying babies fathered by Boko Haram fighters. Just this week, 21 girls taken from their school dormitories in the town of Chibok in 2014 were freed after negotiations between the Nigerian government and the militants. But nearly 200 others captured with them are still missing, and some are believed to have died. Nigerias government confirmed 21 of the 218 missing schoolgirls abducted in 2014 by the extremist group Boko Haram have been released. Thanks in part to a Twitter hashtag that went viral, #BringBackOurGirls, the world has closely followed the fate of the Chibok girls. But theirs is just part of a sweeping tragedy: Thousands of other women and girls in northeastern Nigeria were also abducted and forced into marriages to Boko Haram fighters. They tell harrowing stories of friends and neighbors killed for refusing to accept marriage to a fighter or for trying to escape, and of beatings for small infractions. Many of them were seized when Boko Haram took control of their towns in 2014 and 2015, then incarcerated in packed houses. As the group retreated under government fire, they endured terrifying bombing raids, hunger and disease alongside their captors. Ahmadu had already been abandoned by the father of her children when a massive convoy of Boko Haram fighters attacked her village of Pulka 22 months ago. They unleashed a storm of killing. They killed [people] any way they found them, either slitting their throats, or shooting them, or beheading them, or hacking them with machetes, she recalled. The whole place was burning. A Muslim who speaks the same Kanuri dialect as the fighters, she was spared killing. But her Christian neighbors were dragged from their house and shot dead in front of her. When she tried to plead their case, she said, the fighters threatened to kill her, too. After Boko Haram had control of the town, the militants called everyone to the main square to witness the execution of a prisoner, a member of a community resistance force. They also amputated the hands of five accused thieves, then plunged the severed limbs into a pot of boiling fat. It was suffering upon suffering. He was always threatening me, saying he knew I wanted to escape. Fatima Ahmadu, forced into marriage with a Boko Haram fighter Ahmadu managed to scrape together enough money to buy her childrens freedom and get them out of Pulka. But she said she couldnt afford the face-covering veil that the militants insisted she buy from them before they would let her go. She is now recovering from her ordeal at a sprawling camp in the northeastern city of Maiduguri that is full of people who fled Boko Haram. A disquieting aspect of the tragedy has been the differing responses by government officials and the global community to the Chibok girls versus the thousands of other abductees. One example is the lengths to which the Nigerian authorities have gone to recover the Chibok girls, including entering into negotiations with Boko Haram for the first time. Other abductees had to escape on their own or wait for a military rescue. When Hadiza Mala smuggled her four children out of a Boko Haram camp with another woman, the fighters tied her down under the blazing sun for a day. Mala, another abandoned wife, was unaware that her new husband was a Boko Haram commander when she married him in a village outside the town of Gwoza. Horrified when she found his gun, she said she reported him to local authorities, who did nothing. Her husbands fighters threatened to kill her for betraying him and told her she would never escape. Hadiza Mala, 40, married a man in her village outside the town of Gwoza, unaware that he was a commander in the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram. She betrayed him to Nigerian authorities, who did nothing. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times ) Two years ago, her husband took her into the forest after the military attacked their village. My children were enrolled in a Boko Haram indoctrination school. We were kept in harrowing conditions, in a hut with spikes around it, said Mala, 40. I saw them beating and humiliating so many other women. They even took some of them into the bush and killed them. She finally made her escape when the fighters were away on a night attack, and the guards who were supposing to be watching the camp had fallen asleep. Another difference between the Chibok girls and the many others who suffered the same fate is their treatment after being freed. The Chibok girls were flown to Nigerias capital, where a team of doctors and trauma counselors waited. Other abductees said they were placed in military detention camps and interrogated before being released into displacement camps. When 14-year-old Yakaka was seized from a village near Bama, one of the towns hit hardest by Boko Haram, the fighters who oppose Western-style education told her they were taking her away so that she could learn the Koran. She said every fighter in the Boko Haram camp had a wife, most of whom were abducted. She was married to a man named Modu Gana. I never liked him, said Yakaka, her expression numb and her voice a soft monotone. I was forcefully married, and if I refused, I would have been killed. I did it to survive. The Los Angeles Times is withholding her surname because she is a minor and a sexual assault victim. There was little food at the Sambisa camp and no medicine. There were problems like typhoid and yellow fever and all kinds of sicknesses, Yakaka said. People died. She escaped with several other girls by convincing the fighters that they loved their husbands, but wanted to visit their home village for a day. They trekked through the bush until they met Nigerian soldiers and surrendered to them. They were then placed in the notorious Giwa military detention camp and interrogated for two months. Yakaka was released from detention last week and sent to another displaced persons camp in Maiduguri. She was lucky. When her family saw her there for the first time, they ran and embraced her joyfully. Some girls face a heavy stigma for being Boko Haram wives and are shunned by relatives and community members who fear they may have been brainwashed by their captors. Four months pregnant, Yakaka is trying to assemble the building blocks to start her life again. She wants to go to school and get an education. Thank God I was able to escape, she said. Now Ill start a new life, with hope for my future. robyn.dixon@latimes.com Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT When business magnate and environmental activist Richard Branson challenged Adrian Grenier to a two-mile swim across the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, the actor-filmmaker was eager to comply. The feat was intended to highlight the importance of ocean health, a key cause of Greniers Lonely Whale Foundation, which works to bring people closer to the worlds oceans through education and awareness, and champions the well-being of marine wildlife. We want to inspire empathy with people through connection, because if you cant connect you cant care, and the oceans have so much need for our attention and our compassion and our empathy, Grenier said. Advertisement Using the hashtag #MakeASplash to encourage people to share how much they appreciate the ocean, Grenier, 40, and Branson, 66, completed the swim Sept. 27 in 1 hour and 24 minutes. The actor, best known for his role as Vincent Chase in the HBO series Entourage, shared some of his views about the health of the ocean and its marine life with The Times. His comments have been edited for length and clarity. Why should people care about the ocean? The oceans are fundamental to life. They create 50% of our oxygen. They provide food for billions of people. They are the source of all life. If you care about any other issue, you have to care about the oceans because the oceans affect every other issue. They are the most underserved aspect of our environment and yet 70% of our planet is ocean and they are perhaps the most important aspect of our environment, because if we can replenish them to a healthy state they can provide food, oxygen. They can sequester carbon from the atmosphere and they provide a lot of spiritual and mental benefits. If anybodys ever gone to the beach and had a good time, thats a positive social benefit. If youve ever swam in the ocean and then felt rejuvenated, or if its relieved your stress, that is a positive social benefit. The reason why theyre so underserved is because theyre so misunderstood. Theyre so vast and mysterious so abstract and complex, so one thing were hoping to do is demystify the oceans and make them more accessible to people. And one of the ways you can do that is by actually getting in and realizing that theyre not so scary. Actor Adrian Grenier, co-founder of the Lonely Whale Foundation, swam the 3.3 kilometer Strait of Messina in the Mediterranean Sea. How do humans affect the ocean? We certainly fish a lot. Because of industrial fishing practices, weve managed to fish 80% of the big fish out in the ocean. In the Strait of Messina where I just swam weve fished out 93% of fish in the Mediterranean. Weve also put a lot of plastic into the ocean. Plastic doesnt break down for a thousand years, so it subsists for many, many generations in the ocean. Because of overfishing and because of the increased plastic pollution, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean in 25 years. Its a horrifying thought, but its true. Tell us one thing we can do to protect the ocean? First and foremost find a partner. Find somebody that you can work with to inspire each other, to hold each other accountable. We cant do it alone. We cant take the weight of the world on our shoulders individually, but together we can actually make big differences. How was the swim? Ocean swimming is very difficult. There are constantly changing conditions. There are a lot of physical challenges, and mental ones too. I look at ocean swimming as sort of the trifecta. Its mind, body and spirit. Before I started training, I could barely swim four strokes before I had to sit up and breathe normally, because you have to have a very meaningful relationship with your breath. Theres a meditative quality. The oceans are vast, deep, dark and often scary, and the visibility isnt always great, and the waves are strong, and the currents too. So theres a lot to overcome as a personal athlete. When I first accepted the challenge, I didnt quite know how difficult it might be, but I quickly learned and over four months of concerted effort, I managed to get to a place where I could complete the swim, but it wasnt easy. Why was swimming the Messina Strait the way to get your message out? It was twofold. It was a personal challenge to overcome, but [it was] also recognizing that it is possible to achieve things that are hard. When we look at what the oceans are facing, the obstacles of the environment, it sometimes feels overwhelming and daunting and were scared and we lack motivation. But we can do it if we put in a little bit of effort every day. Just like I was able to achieve my personal challenge of swimming in the open ocean, we as a society can overcome the challenges facing the oceans and the environment if we make an effort. Did you #MakeASplash? Im proud to say we made a splash heard around the world. [We got] at least 65 million [social media] impressions the day of the event and several hundred since the beginning of the campaign. We wanted people to share with us why the ocean is important to them and talk about what we need to do to show that world that the oceans are important. And so what Richard and I did together was swim the Strait of Messina. I think its important that we dont just talk, that we dont just hashtag and post, but also get active and get out there and get wet. ann.simmons@latimes.com For more on global development news follow me @AMSimmons1 on Twitter ALSO How a tax on carbon has divided Northwest climate activists Thailand begins a year of mourning after the death of its beloved king This shoe salesman lived an unassuming life. Then he died, and his hometown got quite the surprise Thailand awoke Friday to grief and uncertainty as it began a one-year official mourning period after the death of the countrys beloved monarch of 70 years. The highly revered king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, died Thursday at age 88 after years of illness and was considered a rare unifying figure in the countrys recent tumultuous history. A national holiday was declared as leading newspapers and news websites published in monochrome, movies and concerts were rescheduled and all television channels were airing the same tributes to the late king, the worlds longest-ruling current monarch. Advertisement State officials and other civil servants were told to maintain an official mourning period of one year. The government asked Thais to avoid wearing bright colors or hold any festive events for 30 days. The kings body was moved Friday from Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok to the Grand Palace for a royal bathing ceremony. Lining the procession route, thousands of Thai mourners clad in simple black or white clothing waited patiently beginning in the early morning to pay their respects. Among those partaking in the bathing ceremony was Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, the only son of the late king, who was expected to take over the throne from his father. But no date has been set for a coronation. The leader of Thailands ruling junta, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, told reporters that the crown prince had decided to delay his enthronement to take time to express sadness with the people nationwide for the time being. The delay meant that Thailand was without a king for the first time in 70 years. The head of the Privy Council, Prem Tinsulaninda, will act as regent. Prem and the crown prince have had an acrimonious relationship over the years, sparking further speculation about the kings succession talk of which remains a taboo subject due to vaguely worded laws that prohibit any discussion seen as insulting to the monarchy. Yet in quiet conversations and online forums, the thrice-divorced Vajiralongkorn is widely seen as a playboy ill at ease with the highly public role his Massachusetts-born father played for decades. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders advocacy group released a statement calling on the junta not to restrict reporting, and not to crack down on all those, including journalists and internet users, who comment on King Bhumibol Adulyadejs death and its consequences. Thai officials were still grappling with the impact of the kings death on the countrys economy, 10% of which comes from tourism. The Thai stock market rose more than 4% in morning trading in a sign of confidence in the economy. Though some establishments in Bangkok closed early after news of the kings death, in the northern city of Chiang Mai, many businesses were operating as usual. Along the narrow streets, hawkers beckoned throngs of tourists while bars and shops remained open and as brightly lit as the day before. See the most-read stories in World News this hour Some Thais found more personal ways to express their grief. I wore black not because of Prayuth [asking it of the people] but because I wanted to show my grief myself, said Tong, who manages a wine bar in the old square and goes by only one name. The king was like my father. I wanted to cry. Tong said that although she agreed with the call to avoid loud music during the 30-day mourning period, many neighboring bars were avoiding the more severe prohibitions expected of them in order to continue attracting tourists. We rely on them, she said. If they come and we are all quiet or closed for long, I think then its also not good. So we go to our own wats [temples] and pray in private. Special correspondent Ramsey reported from Chiang Mai, and staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India. shashank.bengali@latimes.com Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia ALSO Thailands King Bhumibol, worlds longest-reigning monarch, dies at 88 In Thailand, longtime kings death opens country to political turmoil, instability Thailand mystery: 2 detainees suspected of insulting monarchy die in custody Xie Lihuas parents wanted a boy. But on the day Xie was born in a poor village in rural Shandong province, her mother learned she had given birth to a second daughter. She wept in anger. And she slapped her new baby. Another girl! she cried. The year was 1951. Girls were considered a worthless commodity in an agrarian society that relied upon the strength of young men to flourish. Xie grew up knowing her place -- as a handmaiden to her younger brother. My sister and I knew that all the good food went to him -- when he was done, then we could eat, she recalled. Advertisement Decades later, the plight of women in rural China is in many ways even worse. The worlds most-populous nation enforces a strict one-child policy to control its population growth. With more limited opportunities to have children, boys are more idolized than ever. But the little girl once groomed as a second-class citizen is tired of such insults. Today, Xie is a fierce activist for womens rights, working to inspire a quiet revolution. She wants to show a dominant male culture that the nations women deserve respect, and are equals. As important, she is trying to convince the women themselves. Xie is the founder of the groundbreaking Rural Women magazine, a crucial emotional outlet for generations of peasant women. Each issue includes a lengthy series of readers letters, a sort of chat room for far-flung villagers too poor to own computers. Although urban women have made strides toward equality, thanks to better education and opportunities within a growing white-collar workforce, rural women are often stuck in a harsh lifestyle unchanged from an earlier era. I tell them their life is the equal of any man. They were not born unequal -- society made them this way, Xie said. They just need opportunities to obtain their rights. Three of four Chinese women -- more than 450 million -- still live in the countryside, where rigid social customs breed loneliness and abuse. Domestic violence rates are high. Each year 150,000 women commit suicide in rural China -- the only place on Earth where more women kill themselves than men, according to the World Health Organization. Xies readers are country women taught to refer to male spouses not as husbands but masters. They inhabit a world where the emphasis on bearing sons is so strong that women bear names such as Zhaodi (looking for a little brother) and Aidi (loving a little brother). Along with her 14-year-old magazine, Xie founded the Cultural Development Center for Rural Women, Chinas first nongovernmental organization focused on women living outside the city. She has sponsored programs in literacy training and suicide prevention, as well as some aimed at increasing womens political participation. She dispenses micro-loans for enterprising rural women. These days, she focuses on the plight of Chinas largest underclass -- the millions of women who leave the countryside as migrant workers -- and especially on abduction and trafficking schemes that enslave women as prostitutes. She runs a hotline for battered spouses and women unfairly laid off from jobs and has pressured the government to devise more specific legal protections from sexual harassment. She seeks a minimum salary and basic insurance for domestic workers who are not covered under the nations labor laws. Her efforts have empowered multitudes, including rural women who have sought their fortunes in the city, such as the factory worker who challenged her company after it stopped paying her, and the physically abused waitress who sued her employer. Xie Lihuas magazine was the first that gave rural women any real voice, said Joan Kaufman, a former Ford Foundation program director in China who is now at Harvards Kennedy School of Government. She and others helped put the issue of domestic violence out there for people to begin talking about. Xies critics say she embarrasses China. Before one international trip, Xie was warned about bad-mouthing her homeland. Theres no minor thing in diplomacy, a party official warned. You will be responsible for anything you say abroad. But Xie is unbowed. At 56, she wears traditional Chinese blouses along with Western bluejeans. She continues talking to the Western press and anyone else who will listen. She has risked much with her fight, including the harmony in her own marriage. If I am a troublemaker, then so was Deng Xiaoping and his open-door policy, she said. If there is no change, even though it is painful, then there is no progress. Xie Lihua first realized that widespread changes were possible in China during the 1960s Cultural Revolution. But she believed the Red Guard armies that beat intellectuals got it all wrong. As head of her secondary school Red Guard committee, she balked at flogging her teachers in public. By then, she had left her village and moved to Beijing, and she began thinking about how to refocus the misplaced zeal of Mao Tse-tungs new revolution. Mao had proclaimed that women hold up half the sky, meaning they were capable of performing their share of work. Xie believed women also deserved equal rights as part of the bargain. Years later, she got her first chance to speak out. While working as a reporter for a publication called China Womens News, she traveled to Hebei province to profile a woman who cared for her older disabled husband. The woman had been cited by the government as a rural role model. But Xie found a young wife treated like a slave, who endured her situation because she had been taught that it was her destiny to serve men. This woman wasnt a role model, she said. She was a victim. Her story challenged what she called feudal ignorance. The piece triggered a storm of letters and a debate over womens role in rural culture that raged for months. In 1993, the China Womens News managers encouraged staffers to start their own magazines dealing with womens issues -- ventures that could be self-sustaining, without government aid. Xie founded Rural Women Knowing All magazine. She later shortened the name. She charged 40 cents, about the price of a bowl of noodles, but made it free to the poorest women. Her peers ridiculed her, referring to her project as a rustic ugly duckling for its name and content. The first months were difficult. Xie wrote and edited the first two issues by herself. Her husband questioned her devotion to rural female strangers. But her ugly duckling not only thrived, it also broke new ground. Readers discussed sex, love and marriage. Trapped women wrote that they longed for divorce and wanted to start their own businesses. Xie published a collection of letters detailing love stories and fantasies harbored by readers. She called it The Emotional World of Rural Women. Men bought the magazine as well. Some even wrote letters, explaining the male viewpoint on certain issues. The magazine highlighted the harsh realities of rural China, where the suicide rates are triple that of the city. About 80% of the deaths are the result of conflicts between husbands and wives, she says. In 1996, the magazine offered readers the equivalent of $12 for accounts of women who had killed themselves. Xie ran regular profiles of the suicides, along with a psychiatrists analyses. Research showed that many victims swallowed pesticides out of despair over abusive marriages or hopeless lives with domineering in-laws, with whom many come to live after marriage. They also endured forced abortions. Chinese law allows rural families to have a second child if the first is female. Women who become pregnant with a second girl face overwhelming pressure to abort in a country where such procedures are legal. Government officials criticized the magazine, saying its campaign was overblown. But Xie would not let up, and the government backed off, allowing her to become a voice for women. Today, the publication offers tips on having safe and fulfilling sex, and how to find jobs in the city. Columns exhort women to report spousal abuse. The rural thinking is that its a womans fault if she is beaten, Xie said. Shes not trying hard enough to please her master. Still, her hotline workers discourage women from seeking divorce, counseling them to be realistic about their husbands. Women cant expect too much from their husbands, she said. The more they expect, the more disappointed they will become. For a time, Xies own home life reflected that philosophy. Tensions grew with her husband, who wanted a more traditional wife. Xie wanted more support. They fought. Xie is lucky. In time, her husband came around. He said the biggest help he could give me was not standing in my way, she recalled. Todays China, she says, has become more tolerant of women charting their own destinies, something we couldnt have imagined even 10 years ago. There are setbacks. Like the former country girl who committed suicide after she was raped by a man who employed her as a domestic worker. Xie blames herself for the tragedy. Sometimes I think maybe I am a troublemaker, she said. If that girl had stayed in her village, she would still be alive. Maybe its not good to encourage everyone to come to the city. The moments of self-doubt are few. Xie is too busy. Rural women in China are everyones somebody, she said. Theyre somebodys wife, somebodys mother, somebodys daughter-in-law. I encourage them to follow one simple rule: You are yours. You are not anybody elses. john.glionna@latimes.com Gunmen have killed a city official known for strongly enforcing environmental laws in a Brazilian state where conflicts over ongoing, wide-scale Amazon deforestation have led to bloodshed. Luiz Araujo, environmental secretary for the city of Altamira, was killed in his home in front of his family Thursday night, the city announced. The two men fled on a motorcycle without taking anything, leading to speculation that they were paid assassins. Altamira is located the northern Amazonian state of Para, where environmental crime continues to be a major problem, with landowners often employing violence to silence threats to their business. Journalists, activists, and locals who collaborate with environmental authorities have been killed. Advertisement Araujo was known as a strict enforcer of environmental law. The government of Altimara has lost a dedicated servant and important figure in the fight for better environmental policies in the region, said a statement released by Altamira City Hall. Since 2014, he has performed his duties with brilliance and enormous competence and intelligence. He was admired by all. According to satellite data gathered by the Brazilian government, more than 2,300 square miles were deforested from August 2014 to July 2015 a 24% increase on the previous year and over a third of the loss took place in Para. Altamira is only one city in the vast Brazilian Amazon, but with an area of 62,000 square miles, the single municipality Araujo oversaw is larger than the state of Georgia. In a series of interviews with the Los Angeles Times last year, residents of Para and environmental authorities said they believed those who spoke or acted out against deforestation faced the risk of death. Hired gunmen known as pistoleiros are often the chosen method of enforcement. In addition to overseeing rules concerning deforestation often for the production of beef and soy Araujo also helped enforcement of prohibitions on illegal mining. A culture of lawlessness and the beef trade sometimes draw comparisons to days of the Wild West in the United States. There are a number of serious environmental problems in the Altamira area, including large-scale deforestation, illegal mining and the theft of land, said Olavo Perin Galvao, 33, an agent with Brazils IBAMA, or Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources. He has worked extensively in the region enforcing environmental laws and says his agency has suffered from serious budget cuts over the last year. We do not know what happened to [Araujo], but its a constant occurrence in this country that people attempting to defend the environment are murdered by pistoleiros, he said. Bevins is a special correspondent. ALSO Turkey pushes for extradition of U.S.-based cleric who they say directed failed coup Thailand begins year of mourning after the death of its beloved king 21 Nigerian schoolgirls released by Boko Haram will receive medical treatment, trauma counseling Serdar Kilic has one of the hardest jobs in Washington. Lobbying members of Congress, making speeches, handing out flash drives of supposed evidence, Turkeys ambassador here is leading what appears to be a quixotic mission: bringing a reclusive Muslim cleric, holed up in rural Pennsylvania, before Turkish courts. Turkeys government has asked the Obama administration to extradite Fethullah Gulen, insisting he masterminded the July 15 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that left more than 250 people dead. The wide-ranging conspiratorial plot that Turkish officials accuse Gulen of directing is breathtaking. Its also a tough sell. Advertisement Its like trying to explain a surrealistic Fellini movie, Kilic said in an interview. This is something very difficult for American people to understand. Turkey is a key NATO ally, is host to a major U.S. Air Force base and plays a critical role in the battle against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Washington is keenly interested in what happens there. Erdogans government considers Gulen a terrorist and his movement a terrorist organization. The U.S. government does not. And the extradition case is deepening tensions between Ankara and Washington. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag has told reporters in Ankara that investigators have confiscated half-a-million digital documents, including computer and smartphone records. The material, he said will leave no doubt about Gulens guilt. Gulen, now 75, has lived the last 17 years in self-imposed exile at the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center in Pennsylvanias Pocono Mountains, and rarely goes out. He leads what he describes as a peaceful religious, educational and cultural organization. He has acknowledged that some of his followers may have participated in the attempted government overthrow, but he said they were not acting on his orders and that he played no role. Nothing good will come out of coups, Gulen told CNNs Fareed Zakaria on July 31. Coups will divide, separate, disintegrate and make people the enemy of each other. This animosity will also affect future generations, just like it is in Turkey now. To hear Turkish authorities tell it, Turks loyal to Gulen, and trained in what critics portray as a cult-like empire of schools and mosques, have steadily, over years, infiltrated Turkish institutions and moved into positions of power. Gulens followers penetrated, this version contends, the top echelons of Turkeys military; many levels of the judiciary, intelligence services and police; financial institutions; schools across the board; newspapers and other media. They created, the Turkish government alleges, a parallel state determined to undermine the Erdogan administration. Armed with that vision, Erdogans government has arrested or fired more than 90,000 military officers, teachers, lawyers, journalists and others because of suspicions they supported Gulen and the failed putsch. Mehmet Mehdi Eker, a politician from Erdogans party and a former Cabinet minister, was in the Turkish parliament building the night mutinous troops shelled and burned it. He played the ally card when he visited Washington last month to lobby lawmakers and others. Turkey and the United States are allies and friends, and in difficult times in history we would like that our friends be well-informed and realize what is happening, Eker said in an interview at Ambassador Kilics residence. Gulens extradition to Turkey was our expectation given the rule of friendship between the two countries, Eker argued. Although Turkey immediately blamed Gulen for the coup attempt, it took Ankara nearly six weeks to make a formal request for his extradition and that was based on earlier alleged crimes, not for his supposed role in the coup. The Obama administration, which quickly condemned the coup, is formally considering the extradition request. But no decision appears imminent. Some officials worry that Gulen would not get a fair trial in Turkey, and are wary of Turkeys claims that he is a terrorist rather than a political opponent. Many find the alleged vast conspiracy to be far-fetched. If the Gulenist infiltration was as deep and destabilizing as the Turkish government claims, then why did no one outside Turkey notice the threat? That everybody missed this, that it was so Machiavellian, so stealthy, so sneaky that would be an astonishing feat if true, said John Hannah, an expert on Turkey who has worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations. It is hard to believe it is true, said Hannah, now a senior counselor at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank. I am willing to believe it, but I want to see actual evidence, said Eric Edelman, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and a former defense and national security official. The bar has to be high. Turkey hired attorneys to build a case against Gulen even before the abortive coup. Robert Amsterdam, an American lawyer based in London, has investigated Gulens work for more than a year. Any evidence he finds would not necessarily be part of an extradition case, but it could support Turkeys portrayal of Gulen as a crook. Amsterdam cites the network of charter schools that Gulens organization purportedly establishes and finances across the United States and in other countries. The Los Angeles Times reported this week that L.A. Unified School District authorities are considering whether to close three Los Angeles charter schools, operated by locally based Magnolia Public Schools, because they brought in teachers from Turkey. The chain has denied direct ties to Gulen. Until recently, it was hard for Amsterdam to meet U.S. lawmakers or law enforcement to discuss Gulen. He gets more of a hearing now, but says he still struggles to make his case, insisting that Gulens role is both clandestine and extensive. The Mafia couldnt be this well-organized, Amsterdam said. Times staff writer Del Quentin Wilber contributed to this report. For more on global affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter. All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. Five ladies have approached to blame Donald Trump for attempting to touch them improperly without their assent. The New York Times cases to have addressed two ladies who say they were casualties of the Republican chosen one in two separate episodes that occurred in 1980 and another in 2005. Those affirmations were then trailed by ones from the Palm Beach Post and People Magazine, while Yahoo News republished an allegation made not long ago. Trump's battle denied the allegations, saying they are "fiction" and 'totally false', as reported by The New York Times. His previous battle director Corey Lewandowski additionally brought up issues about the legitimacy of the claims, before attempting to contrast Trump's affirmed manhandle with Hillary Clinton's work as a legal counselor when she protected an attacker. Trump's lawful group likewise seemed to hit back against the case, sending the New York Times a letter requesting a withdrawal. 'Your article is rash, defamatory and constitutes criticism as such. It is evident from, in addition to other things, the planning of the article, this is simply a politically-inspired endeavor to annihilation Mr. Trump's appointment,' it peruses. In the interim, two sources in Trump's crusade told Mail Online a claim against the Times is now being drafted. One of those sources, a senior battle assistant, said the Republican chosen one for president is going to "war" against the daily paper. Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old previous representative who lives in Manhattan, was the main lady included in the New York Times story. Leeds told the daily paper she was "ambushed" by Trump on a flight when she was 38. The second lady the daily paper cases was touched improperly by Trump is Rachel Crooks. Criminals was a 22-year-old filling in as a secretary at Bayrock Group, a land organization situated in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without consent while in a lift in 2005. After months of sharp criticism of its business office, the Allentown School Board plans to bring in an independent consultant and an interim business manager. The Allentown School District is overhauling its business office. Chief Financial Officer Jack Clark will stay on in his current role but will take on other responsibilities, including grants, charter schools and tax assessments, according to a news release from the district. The board will vote Oct. 27 to hire School Business Intelligence LLC to conduct a study and review of the office and advise the district on challenges and restructuring recommendations. The contract is for $4,800. The board wants to hire consultant William R. Gretton III, of Strasburg, Pa., to serve as an interim business manager three days a week during the review. He will be paid $800 a day for his work. He served as interim business administrator for the Harrisburg School District. Eventually, the district plans to hire a new business manager. The move comes after months of the board questioning Clark's financial management of the district and the business office. The district is also searching for a new superintendent as retiring Superintendent Russell Mayo is on a year-long sabbatical for health reasons. "It was the right time to evaluate business office practices as the district prepares for a new administrator to take over the reins," Interim Superintendent Gary R. Cooper explained. "Dr. Clark is returning to a comparable position that he previously held and will focus on tax assessments and charter schools - critical areas for the district as we move forward." Clark noted that Allentown has 4,300 students in charter schools and Clark will act as a liaison to track the students and related charter school tuition payments. Allentown spends more than $30 million a year on charter and cyber school tuition payments. In 2015, the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials reviewed the business office after questions arose when the administration revealed $11.6 million more than expected in its fund balance. That review found the business office was severely understaffed but no money was mishandled. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Former Lehigh University professor Alvin Kanofsky may clean up the vacant lot next to his South Bethlehem building every time he is cited by the city. But the city is still having to hound the 77-year-old to keep the gravel lot next to the former Goodman Furniture building, 30 E. Third St., presentable, said Tony Hanna, executive director of the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority. That's one of many reasons Hanna was advocating Thursday afternoon for the Bethlehem Planning Commission to declare the lot blighted. The city has a thick code violation file on Kanofsky and has been aggressively trying to get the blighted property cleaned up. The city has already deemed the Goodman building blighted -- a designation Kanofsky has fought tooth-and-nail. Bethlehem is spending $135,536 to repair the Goodman building, including a stucco wall that is crumbling into the adjacent gravel lot that was the focus of Thursday's meeting. A lien is being placed against the property for the cost. Kanofsky argued against the blight designation, noting he always goes out and cleans up the lot within a day or two of getting cited. "It took me all of two hours to go and weed-whack," he said. "I'm 77 years old and I weed-whacked and cleared off what little bit of trash is usually there." Hanna acknowledged Kanofsky is quick to respond, but that's not the point, he said. "We continue to have it as a repeat problem," Hanna said. The planning commission voted to declare the adjacent gravel parking lot at 32 E. Third St. blighted as well. This is just the first step in the city's blight designation process, which was just overhauled. The matter will go to the blighted property committee next month, Hanna said. "What do I do to have to get it off the blighted list?" asked Kanofsky, who revealed during the meeting that after 50 years at Lehigh he was let go from his job as a professor in April. "Just fix it," Hanna said. "Pay your taxes. We are giving you the opportunity to do that." "I swear we'll do better," Kanofsky said. Kanofsky owes back-taxes to the Bethlehem Area School District dating to 2012 and city and county taxes dating to 2015 and 2014, respectively. There's also $200,000 of IRS liens against the property, which isn't even worth that much, Hanna said. Kanofsky said since losing his job, it has been tough financially, which assistant city solicitor Ed Healy disputed. He pointed out the back taxes go back years. Kanofksy alleged that Lehigh wants his property and that he's been approached by many developers interested in the prime location along Third Street. When asked what he wanted to do with the property he's owned for 30 years, Kanofsky pondered the question. "There are, of course, a lot of possibilities," he said."We'll just have to see as we go along." Recently, Northampton County Senior Judge Leonard N. Zito fined Kanofsky about $30,700 for failing to maintain the Goodman building, where he once operated a flea market for a short time. The building has no electric or water service now. Zito sentenced the former physics professor to serve five days in prison, but the sentence was postponed because Kanofsky appealed it. In September, Zito denied the city's request for bail. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A Bethlehem man was sent to Northampton County Prison after being found with a stolen handgun and a bag of crystal methamphetamine, according to police. Ray Rivera (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Ray Rivera, 26, of the 1400 block of Johnston Drive, was arrested just before noon Thursday by Bethlehem police, according to court records. Police were looking for Rivera since responding to a domestic incident Monday morning at a home in the 1900 block of Butztown Road in the city. A woman there told police she wanted him committed for a mental health evaluation and that he'd been seen with a black firearm tucked into the waistband of his pants, court records say. His instability paired with possessing a firearm made her fear for the safety of herself and others around Rivera, police said. Police monitoring Rivera's apartment saw him get into a black Toyota Sienna after placing items, including a large shopping bag, into the rear door of the minivan, records say. Officers followed the vehicle east on Johnston Drive and south on East Boulevard before stopping it approaching Butztown Road, records say. A search of the bag Rivera had placed in the van turned up a Glock 19 9mm handgun that had been reported stolen out of Freemansburg, records say. Also in the bag was a clear plastic bag of crystal meth and paraphernalia for packaging the drug for sale, including a digital scale, according to police. Rivera, who did not have a permit to carry a concealed firearm, admitted the illegal items were his, police said. Police also reported finding in his possession prescription medication for insomnia, contained in an unmarked pill bottle. A Glock 19 9mm handgun is seen in a photo from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A 26-year-old Bethlehem man was found in possession of this type of firearm, which had been stolen, during a traffic stop Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, in the city, according to police. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) He was arraigned Thursday night before on-call District Judge Douglas Schlegel on felony counts of prohibited possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license and drug possession with intent to deliver, in addition to misdemeanor drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. Rivera was sent to the prison in lieu of $50,000 bail and faces a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled Oct. 26 before District Judge James Narlesky. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A few Lehigh Valley public schools aced their report card, but many more failed. Those are the findings of the Pennsylvania Department of Education's School Performance Profiles for the 2015-16 school year. The PDE, which has been criticized by some local educators for using a formula that weighs standardized test scores too heavily, released the grades on Thursday. Gov. Tom Wolf has acknowledged the educators' concerns, Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera said Thursday in a statement. "At Gov. Wolf's direction, the department has been engaged in a dialogue with stakeholders for over a year to determine how to make the SPP a better, more holistic measure," Rivera said. Still, he said, the grades do represent one indicator on how schools are performing academically. And there's little doubt that many parents across the Lehigh Valley will be curious. The department does not calculate an average score or set a benchmark score as an indicator of success. Although, an analysis of all of the school SPP scores shows that the average score statewide was 70. We've compiled the grades of every public school in the region, including charter schools, in the map below. Click on the dots representing the location of each school to find its 2015-16 grade. Note that nearly a dozen public schools, including most in the Easton Area School District do not have scores. The PDE says on its website that this is a result of errors in the data the schools reported. In 2016, Wilson Area, Saucon Valley and Nazareth Area high schools were among the schools with the highest marks for academic performance. Many of the lowest marks went to schools in the financially-strapped Allentown School District. That's a significant part of the problem with the formula, according to Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph Roy. The scoring system does nothing to quantify or mitigate the effects of poverty, transiency and language proficiency when evaluating a school's quality, Roy said. Research has shown that a student's socioeconomic status is one of the greatest predictors of how they will fare on standardized testing. Typically, it is the urban schools, with the highest percentage of students living in poverty and transient student populations, that post the lowest scores. The English and math PSSA are taken in the spring by students in third through eight grade. The science tests are taken by fourth- and eighth-grade students. Keystone Exams are end-of-course exams taken by high school and some advanced middle school students. Students taking the PSSA and Keystones can score advanced, proficient, basic or below basic. Proficient is considered to be on grade level. A complicated formula, which relies heavily on standardized test scores, is used to calculate the SPP score. The 2016 school report cards are the first to reflect student performance on the new more rigorous PSSA, which is now fully aligned with the state's more rigorous Core Standards. Last year, the PDE didn't calculate scores for most Pennsylvania schools after student scores on state standardized reading and math tests dropped dramatically. Officials at the time emphasized the drop in students testing at or above grade level has been seen in other states moving to Common Core aligned tests. Roy issued a letter to the community ahead of the release of the scores repeating his call for the state to drop "the fabricated single score for schools because that number is meaningless and misleading." A building's academic performance can't be reduced to one number, he said. "Unfortunately, the state's School Performance Profile (SPP) is based overwhelmingly on state standardized test scores and does not align with BASD's roadmap goals," Roy said. His district focuses on educating the whole child and emphasizing the development of a variety of skills and knowledge. "SPP scores for schools across the state and in BASD dropped," Roy wrote. "It is important to note that the schools did not change, the state's standardized testing program changed." In 2015, on average, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on the reading PSSA dropped by 9.4 percent and in math by 35.4 percent. This year, about 42 percent of students scored advanced or proficient on the math exam -- up about 2.5 percent -- and 60 percent scored advanced or proficient in reading, which is similar to last year. This year, 68 percent of Pennsylvania students passed the Algebra I Keystone, 77 percent scored advanced or proficient on the literature test and 66 percent passed the biology test. This is a rise over last year. There continues to be a moratorium on the use of the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement until 2019. Locally, it looks like Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts students are ready for the mandate. The school had the Lehigh Valley's top combined proficiency score on the three Keystones -- 90 percent proficient in biology, 98.7 percent in English and 82.5 percent in Algebra I, Executive Director Diane LaBelle said. The school's overall SPP score was 84.7 up from 81 last year. "It reflects the Keystone exams but it also reflects the individual improvement of every student," LaBelle said. The school was also named a Title I high achievement school, putting it in the top 5 percent of Pennsylvania high schools, she said. She credits the school with meeting every child where they are academically and giving specialized attention to get them on grade. As a charter arts school, not everyone believes the school has a strong academic focus, but this proves them wrong, she said. "It shows not every kids learn in the same way, but when you address the way a particular student does best than they can be successful," LaBelle said. The Saucon Valley High School is proud of its high achievement but it is not resting on its laurels, district officials said. "We recognize there's areas where we still need to grow," Superintendent Monica McHale-Small said. Scores at the middle school dropped and data shows there is a problem with growing students in the middle years, principal Pam Bernardo said "This is only the second year of the new assessment, so it will take some time," Bernardo said. Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The Republican nominee for vice president rallied Lehigh Valley Republicans on Thursday night, 26 days out from Election Day. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence spoke at the Northampton County Republican Party Chairman's Dinner, hosted by the Hotel Bethlehem. Echoing the party's nominee for president, celebrity entrepreneur Donald Trump, Pence blasted President Barack Obama's leadership and the ideas and actions of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee on the ballot Nov. 8. Pence sought to paint the Trump ticket as the clear choice for security, prosperity and ensuring decades of a Supreme Court that will defend the "sanctity of life," Second Amendment and "God-given liberties enshrined" in the founding documents of the United States. "We can't keep electing the same people with the same bad ideas and expect a different result," Pence told a crowd of about 200 seated in the ballroom of the hotel on Main Street in Bethlehem. "If you want to change the direction in America, we've got to change the leadership at the highest level of our national government and that happens when Donald Trump becomes president of the United States. "I honestly believe this is not a choice between left and right, it's not a choice between Republican and Democrat, I think it's a choice between up and down. Those are words Ronald Reagan said back in 1964. I think they're just as true today." Pence brought up emails deleted by Clinton during her time as secretary of state under Obama, saying they were erased with everything from high technology to a hammer. "It doesn't sound like politics to me," Pence said. "It sounds like obstruction, and the American people are tired of it." Pence did not address the controversies surrounding Trump over the past week about comments he made in 2005 perceived as condoning sexual assault. The governor did, however, cast blame on the media chasing down "other issues" than the campaign's promises for a Trump-Pence administration. Northampton County Republican Chairwoman Lee Snover, in remarks prior to Pence's arrival, advised those gathered not to listen to the media and polls as they work to get out the vote. "We are united in Northampton County to elect Donald Trump," she said to applause. Pence earlier Thursday attended the Lehigh County Republicans' RepublicanFest at Willow Tree Grove in Lowhill Township. Though neither Trump nor Clinton has stopped in the Lehigh Valley, they've been making regular stops in Pennsylvania, underscoring its position as a key battleground state. Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump visited several southeastern Pennsylvania communities earlier in the day, as well, including Malvern, Drexel Hill and Ivyland, The Associated Press reported. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Pennsylvania's state university system and the schools' professors' union opened three days of negotiations Friday, facing an unsettling deadline. Signs in support of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties adorn a window in November 2012 at East Stroudsburg University, during contract talks at that time. The union now says its faculty and coaches have been working without a contract since June 30, 2015. (Lehighvalleylive.com file photo) The union, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, says it will strike beginning at 5 a.m. Wednesday without an acceptable contract in place with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Both sides have published online answers to questions from students about what a strike would mean. (Click here for APSCUF's and here for PASSHE's.) As is the case this year, professors took strike authorization votes during each of the last four rounds of contract talks, in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2012, the State Systems says. The last time APSCUF set a strike date was in 2007, although a strike did not occur. In a bid to reach an agreement, the State System says it has revised its proposal presented in June to the union. "We are eager to return to the bargaining table to continue working with the faculty union to finalize an agreement," State System spokesman Kenn Marshall said in advance of talks opening Friday. "We have informed APSCUF that we are ready to stay at the table to make it happen. We must remain at the table until we reach a deal. Our students deserve nothing less." APSCUF President Kenneth M. Mash says union negotiators will remain at the table throughout the weekend as long as progress is being made. "We're returning to the table because we are committed to our students and quality education, and it's time to get this done," he said in a statement. "Our students and faculties have been through enough. "We will do all we can to get a contract that is fair to students and to members. That's our goal: A fair contract, not a strike." Union members have been working under a contract that expired June 30, 2015. The State System says its latest offer to faculty includes raises ranging from 7.25 percent (plus cash payments totaling 5 percent) up to 17.25 percent over three years in exchange for health-care plan concessions and other contractual changes aimed at cutting costs. The health care changes would increase the share of the premium paid by faculty members from 15 percent to 18 percent, costing faculty about $7 to $14 more every two weeks. Other plan adjustments would include new deductible and co-insurance requirements for some medical services and higher prescription drug co-payments. According to the State System, the proposed changes are identical to those applied in January to all other employee groups covered by the plan, including university health center nurses; campus police and security officers; and all State System employees not represented by a union, including the chancellor, university presidents and other administrators and managers. They also are similar to changes agreed to earlier this year by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the state's largest union, in negotiations with the state. The State System has about 4,000 employees who are represented by AFSCME across its 14 schools. The State System universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Alexander Paul Alexander Paul of Palmer Township participated in a home invasion in Bethlehem in 2012. (Courtesy photo) (Courtesy photo) A tongue-lashing from a Northampton County judge left one Palmer Township defendant so unsettled he fainted. Alexander Paul had reason to be nervous on Friday. The 27-year-old was paroled in 2013 after serving 10 days in Northampton County Prison for his role in a Bethlehem home invasion. He was warned in 2013 and 2014 to keep making payments toward the victim's medical bills, but ignored those warnings and stopped paying. He was charged with drunken driving in April even though he is not supposed to drink alcohol while on parole. He skipped appointments with his probation officer. And he still owes more than $12,000 in restitution. Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta was asking Paul pointed questions Friday morning about his inability to follow directions when Paul fainted, according to both the prosecutor and defense attorneys. Neither attorney could recall the judge's exact words. "He was obviously disappointed with him and he let his disappointment be known," said Assistant District Attorney Tatum Wilson. Defense attorney Rory Driscole confirmed Paul fainted because he was scared. About an hour later, a pale Paul was back before Baratta. The judge sent Paul back into Northampton County Prison for nine to 23 months followed by three years of probation. Paul avoided a trip to state prison in part because he agreed to pay $1,000 toward his restitution. His father will contribute $2,500 toward the restitution. Paul's conviction stemmed from a home invasion in 2012. He and a friend broke into an apartment on East Fifth Street in Bethlehem and assaulted a man they believed was disrespecting a mutual female friend. The victim suffered a concussion and a broken nose. He needed five stitches to close a gash on his face. Paul pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and simple assault. Baratta warned Paul to continue to make payments while on work release. "I'm telling you, if I see you again you're going to state prison. Look at me." Paul looked. "You're going to state prison," the judge warned. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. While Portlaoise is already in the top ten of fastest broadband towns in Ireland, soon to get 1 gigabit signal, it may soon also offer free wifi in the town centre. Laois County Council is considering a project that would create a free seamless, wifi signal across the town centre, to boost business and tourism. Kieran Kehoe, Broadband officer with the council has announced they are looking into the possibility. It would be a fantastic service for shoppers, visitors and residents, he said. The council is examining similar projects in Cavan town and Dublin city centre to decide how it may work. Once we have more details on its operations we will advise council members and press, said Mr Kehoe. He confirmed the idea of free wifi for Portlaoise at the September council meeting, after it was suggested by Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald. We are actively pursuing the idea of it being a wifi town. It would be sponsored. We are actively looking at it, he said. Laois towns are covered for broadband by commercial companies because they are profitable, with Portlaoise leading the way. Portlaoise in an advance town as it is in the top 10 nationwide set to have 1000MBps broadband speed, said Mr Kehoe. SIRO will provide the service in Portlaoise as an advance town. Cavan County Council got their free wifi service set up within two months. With the co-operation of businesses in the town centre who agreed to provide their wifi infrastructure, it cost just 15,000 to set up. Dublin City Council used a private operator to set up their city centre wifi, whichoffers free low speed wifi of .5MBps, with a tariff for a higher signal. Laois children are among the worst affected by staff dental cuts in the HSE, with many of them needing teeth pulled by the time they are seen by a school dentist, in secondary school. HSE dentists have warned of the dire effect staff cuts are having on children's dental health, and are threatening industrial action unless more staff are hired . They cited Laois as one of the worst affected, where last year HSE dentists performed 1,200 dental extractions on children, and 1,800 fillings. In Offaly it is even worse, with 915 extractions done, almost as much as the 1,100 fillings carried out. The situation in Laois and Offaly is simply shocking. We believe this is a direct result of the collapse of the school screenings in these areas. Children in these counties are not being seen until they are in first year in secondary school, Chief Executive of the Irish Dental Association, Fintan Hourihan said at the HSE dentists annual seminar on Monday October 10. He listed shocking statistics since the staff moratorium began in 2008. The average age for children to undergo extractions under general anaesthetic is 6, while some children as young as 2 require this treatment. Some children are having more than 9 teeth extracted, he said. The population of under 16's in Laois has grown by 40 percent since 2002, but the number of HSE dentists has fallen by 42% since 2008. We pointed out last year that 10,000 children were undergoing extractions under general anaesthetic. There is no way this level of extractions should be happening in a first world country, he said. Mr Hourihan has called on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to intervene personally to sanction senior appointments. "If we are serious about turning back the clock on years of cut backs and mismanagement we need to establish a dedicated budget for HSE dental services and we need a full-time HSE Director of Oral Health and a full-time Chief Dental Officer independent of the HSE to be appointed" he concluded. A Portlaoise GP has offered to buy Portlaoise Hospital and continue running it as a joint private/public venture, in an effort to prevent the hospital being downgraded. We have to make sure we are looking after all the local people. The HSE will wash their hands and I will upgrade the service, said Dr Ashfaq Ahmad, who has practiced at the Kilminchy Medical Centre since 2006. He has revealed to the Leinster Express that acting with the backing of a number of investors, he approached the HSE to discuss the possibility of purchasing the local hospital to ensure that vital services are retained. However, the HSE rejected the proposal, saying: The HSE has no plans to sell or lease any of its hospitals to the private sector to operate as a private hospital. Dr Ahmad said he contacted Deputy Sean Fleming, which led to Deputy Fleming bringing the proposal to the Minister for Health. In a parliamentary question, Deputy Fleming asked the Minister to consider whether or not any HSE owned hospitals could be sold to the private sector to operate as a privately run hospital on a public/private partnership basis...or whether a premises could be leased to the private sector for them to provide the services. In a letter dated July 29 this year, Ms Angela Fitzgerald, deputy national director of the Acute Hospital Division, told Deputy Fleming that the HSE would not sell or lease any of its hospitals to the private sector. The HSE is focussed on effective use of public resources, she said. Dr Ahmad said that had his offer been accepted, he would have kept hospital staff as required and upgraded the hospital. What I am offering is, you sell the hospital to me and I will keep the services as they are, the same public service and we will provide the private service too, he said. If youre closing down your A&E at 7pm, where will the people go? Where will people deliver the baby? What are the chances you will survive a heart attack? he asked. Deputy Fleming was unavailable for comment at the time of going to print. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. More than 30 local mothers with their babies attended a celebration to promote breast feeding in Portlaoise last week. The Breastfeeding Support Group from Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise (MRHP), in association with La Leche League Ireland, hosted the event The mums were offered the opportunity to meet with the midwives and lactation nurses who supported them during the early days of their breastfeeding experience. While the event was a celebration, it also served to showcase the long term importance of breastfeeding and to promote a greater uptake among new mums. Susan Gunning gave birth to Freya in February. The early days were difficult and myself and Freya faced many obstacles. Freya was slow to put on weight and I was getting really worried. The support from the Lactation Nurse in Portlaoise Hospital definitely helped us to stay on our breastfeeding journey. It is vitally important to avail of any advice and expertise you can. This encouraged us to continue. Freya is thriving and I feel incredibly grateful for all the support we received concluded Ms. Gunning. Ms Maureen Revilles is Director of Midwifery. Our aim is to encourage new mums to breastfeed their infants and to support that choice in the community. As per the National Infant Feeding Policy we are endeavoring to increase our breastfeeding rates year on year. Breastfeeding is an important component of our maternity strategy in the enhancement of maternal and child health. That is why our event is so important. We want to let prospective mums know that help is on hand in MRHP to support breastfeeding. All of our midwives are trained in breastfeeding and lactation consultants are available where difficulties arise. Ms Mary Phelan, one of the lactation consultants at the hospital said it was good to see mums suceeding. The campaign message of this years National Breastfeeding Week was that Every Breastfeed makes a Difference and the aim was to encourage and support mothers to start breastfeeding, and to breastfeed for longer. It was lovely to see so many of our new mums returning today, with their thriving, healthy babies, and to relax over a cup of coffee and chat about their breastfeeding experience said Ms. Phelan. Local La Leche Leader, Shirley Butler, said the event gave midwives an opportunity to see the results of their hard work in helping and encouraging newly mothers to breastfeed. in the early days. These mothers can share with the midwives, and other staff, their stories and outline the supports which they valued the most. We are proud to have a strong group of mums in Portlaoise who support one another. We are delighted to be here today, working in association with MRHP, to celebrate with so many mums who are giving their babies the best start in life said Ms. Butler. The Gem has been closed for over a year and a half now. What is so surprising and disappointing is that it shows no sign of re-opening. For so long, this place was at the centre of our world. We were in an all boys school so the Gems location was the natural and very necessary meeting point between the CBS and St Mary's. At lunchtime, before study and after school, wed plot, plan and pitch-in for packets of fags when a cigarette was a conversation starter and something to hang onto more than a nicotine hit. In this guise the Gem was a matchmaker that even Lisdoonvarna couldnt compete with. And it grew just as gaudy and bright as the years went by. It feels a bit strange to lament the loss of a shop but its worth framing the place because I was caught off guard when I arrived home one weekend last year and found the Gem closed. It was unbelievable really - this was our Clearys clock on OConnell Street, our connection point before mobile phones. The Gem was glue like, sucked in students and held onto them like some giant magnet. It only ever closed on Christmas day and it was there long before the Great City moved in upstairs and started doing food by numbers with fried rice. We didnt have the spending power for Lemon Chicken with prawn crackers so we dined downstairs, Burger Bites and Meanies mainly, 10 Silk Cut Purple occasionally, and whatever brand of fizzy can that was doing a 33 per cent for free offer. Ben was permanently fixed behind the counter downstairs and uniformed students took up a permanent position outside. The Gem was prime real estate for generations of teenagers, a place so precious that it was alway under guard. I know people who dropped out of Carlow RTC just to take up sentry duty outside the shops entrance; that should never have left their post to take the Kavanaghs bus south in the first place. Then, like now, the Gem was about accumulating data; about being plugged in. There were no iPhones, you couldnt carry the place in our pocket so you had to get down there as to find out what was going on and who was getting on, or off, with who. Everyone was clocking everyone else at lunch time, and there was always some lucky f**ker getting off with everyone at the weekends - all the girls whod cross from St Marys and walk up the red mat at the shops entrance. This is a terrible cliche, but it felt like a catwalk. Not Paris but Poplar. The Gem was the local computer server of its time and the time investment was so great that the most committed became known as Gemmies. Even now. And sometimes the space out the front of the shop had to be shared with functioning members of society, like the man whod sell the charity raffle tickets on a Saturday. If you were flush - and that was probably once a year - youd buy one. And he'd tell you he'd keep his fingers crossed that you'd get the bit of luck that night. Poplar Square was hierarchical in the mid to late 90s. Everyone had their pitch and no one challenged anyone elses pitch, not when it was bright at least. After dark and at the weekends it was a different story. And I can still see the big windows wobbling under the strain of some scrap out the front, with Sallins most probably. It was a place of transition, a rite of passage, a building that I never identified a retail experience with, even though I spent in there. But that was secondary to it's function as a hub. You had your time and then unconsciously passed the baton to those coming behind when you left school. My older sister used to hang out there with people who felt important to my 11-year-old self just because they were stood there smoking. With this kind of context its no wonder people went into mourning. This was a meeting point, a feeding point, a talking point and a freshening-up point where you could top-up on deodorant with a discreet squirt of Lynx, down the back. In that sense the Gem was irreplaceable. Sure any place that could stand there longer than us had to be. Robert Mulhern is a London-based journalist contracted to RTE's Doc On One programme Plans for the 47-turbine Maighne wind farm have been axed by An Bord Pleanala. A decision on Kildares first ever wind farm had been postponed again to October 21. However, the applicants, Element Power, and those who made submissions were informed by letter today of the ruling. The company wanted to build 47 turbines, 169 metres in height and an electricity substation up the west side of the county, from townlands near Rathangan, Allenwood, up towards Donadea, Johnstownbridge and Enfield. One turbine would have been located over the Meath border. The turbines would have been the highest turbines built in Ireland. A decision had been anticipated in April, then July, September and then this month. There were three reasons given by the board for their decision. The board ruled that a large scale wind farm in a number of clusters spread over an extensive geographical area, straddling the boundary between the two counties, would be premature pending the adoption of a national wind energy strategy at national or local level. It also said the "widely dispersed cluster-based layout adopted in the present proposal" would have "inevitable adverse affects including a disproportionately large visual envelope, the need for extensive underground cabling in poor quality minor roads and undue proximity to areas of sensitivity from a heritage or residential point of view." It was An Bord Pleanala's view that the energy output might be realised in a "more efficient and less intrusive manner by a more spatially concentrated development." It also said the area had sections of "substandard legacy roads" and the proposed development could have "significant adverse effects on the long term structural integrity of significant elements of the local road network, is thereby likely to give rise to the creation of traffic hazards and to potentially increased maintenance costs to the local authority." The board also made several other observations under various headings. In relation to any possible threat to the equine industry, the board disagreed with the inspector that the wind farm would impact on the sector. "While this industry is undoubtedly of major significance in the economy of Co. Kildare, the board disagreed with the Inspector's view and noted the lack of any specific evidence that wind turbines pose a threat to the welfare of horses and declined to cite the matter as a reason for refusal," it said. As a child in South Africa, Rosemarie Gilchrists grandmother told her a story about an orphaned Irish boy, lost in Africa, who grew up in the bush, cared for by a local tribe until he was found by a man who then traced his family back to Counties Leitrim and Fermanagh. This amazing story has now become the subject of a documentary The Prospectors Son, set to broadcast at 2pm on RTE Radio 1 on Saturday, October 15. The boys name was Cyril Barton, and he was Rosemaries cousin. He was born in South Africa in 1875 to Irish parents, Florence and Folliott Barton. Cyrils mother, nee Florence Lyons Montgomery, came from an Anglo-Irish family who were landlords in Killargue, Co Leitrim. She married Folliott Barton from Pettigo, County Fermanagh, who also came from a landed family. Folliott, an engineer, set up a large scale mining enterprise in Belbulben, Co Sligo. However, things didnt go to plan and the enterprise ended five years into a 21 year lease. He was then declared bankrupt, and a hurried escape to South Africa followed. After a month long turbulent journey on the SS Asiatic, the Bartons disembarked in Cape Town, and travelled upcountry where Folliott hoped to find engineering work. Florence was a graphic letter writer, and her letters written to her family back in Ireland have survived, and document the birth of Cyril in Grahamstown in June 1875, along with the trials and tribulations of Florence, Folliott and Cyril and their travels through South Africa via ox-wagon. Rosemaries grandmothers story has always fascinated her, and years later she came across some old family documents from Ireland which give an account of what happened to Cyril and his parents. It tells us that Florence died of malarial fever. After her death, eight-year-old Cyril and his father then moved onto the gold fields of the Northern Province. En route, Folliott had his possessions and wagon stolen, and was killed. The maid travelling with them grabbed the young boy, Cyril, and took him to her tribe in the mountains. According to the family account, nothing more was heard of Cyril for many years although all enquiries were made as to what had become of him. Years afterwards, his grandmother, Mrs Barton, had a South African newspaper sent to her in which was an account of a white child having been found by a hunter in a wild tribal area far up country. She at once got into communication with the hunter and eventually Cyril was brought home to his father's people in Ireland. We later find Cyril in Dublin in 1933, working as a clerk in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. But what happened to him before and after? What became of him as a youngster and what effect did his strange upbringing have on him as a person? Rosemarie has heard this story about her cousin all her life, but is now piecing together what actually happened. Rosemarie and documentary maker, Sarah Blake, go in search of Cyrils story a trail that moves from Fermanagh, Leitrim and Sligo, to the remote Highveld of the Mpumalanga region of South Africa, and back to Dublin. It will be repeated on RTE Radio 1 on October 16 at 7pm. The programme will be available for podcast/download from Friday, October 14 on www.rte.ie/doconone. Iarnrod Eireann has launched its quest for Iarnrod Eireanns Best Station. The Competition will be tough as it is customers that get to decide who wins the overall title and the regional titles. Voting is now open. Entry forms can be obtained at your local station or you can vote online at irishrail.ie Customers will rate their station under the following criteria: Staff helpfulness, station presentation and customer information. All entrants will be entered into a draw to win one of five luxury weekend weekends courtesy of Select Hotels of Ireland, with Iarnrod Eireann also providing the train travel to and from the five great destinations. There is also the chance to win free DART travel for a year by voting for the Best DART Station. The Iarnrod Eireann Best Station Awards reward excellence in customer facilities, cleanliness, innovation and customer service in the countrys 144 railway stations. An Iarnrod Eireann spokesperson said: What is so important about these awards is that it is our customers that choose the winners. We would encourage all our customers to come out and vote and have their say The overall winner last year was Dundalk and the Best Customer Service Award went to Dromod. Awards are presented in the following categories: - Best Leinster Station - Best Munster Station - Best Connacht Station - Best DART Station - Best Customer Service - Overall Best Station A special awards ceremony to announce the winners will be held in the new year. Housebuilders in the Connacht region are meeting on the 20th October to discuss how they can meet the increasing demand for quality homes on the basis of changes announced in the budget, Minister Coveneys housing strategy and new standards of building introduced in the past five years. Justin Molloy, Regional Director of the CIF said Irish homebuilders in this region have found it difficult to build new homes for anywhere close to the prices of existing stock. The first-time buyers grant announced in the budget and the local infrastructure fund announced by Ministers Coveney and Donohoe have the potential for first time buyers to get mortgages, banks to lend and builders to build. "Home-builders in this region are coming together to discuss how these changes can support activity. The CIF is inviting all homebuilders to these events to help deliver housing supply but also to ensure it is of the highest quality, meeting all current standards of building. Our workshops will provide information to homebuilders, particularly those considering re-entry into the market, with all the information they need to access finance, and to meet quality standards such as those set out in the Building Control Amendment Regulation. Senior industry representatives from the Construction Industry Federations Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA) will meet with local builders to discuss blockages to housing supply across the Western region. They will provide insight and advice on accessing finance, skills, supports, meeting BCaR, how to apply for the Construction Industry Register of Ireland and on upcoming legislation and regulation that could impact on the ability of home-builders to build. The CIF continues to work with the Department of Housings Housing delivery unit that is tasked with increasing housing levels to meet sustainable demand. This experience allows the CIF to inform members of how best to engage in the planning process when delivering housing. Recent statistics from the department of Housing, Planning and Local Government show that only 602 housing units were commenced in the Connacht area this year, significantly less than the necessary amount to meet demand. The free workshop will take place in the Sligo Park Hotel on 20th October from 16.00 18.00. It is open to CIF members and non-members, specifically tradespeople and housebuilders operating in the area who are involved or considering homebuilding in the region. Attendees will be briefed on the evolving regulatory environment and have the opportunity to propose solutions to challenges they are facing in terms of the planning process, access to finance, skills shortages, levies, and changes to regulation. The workshop will map out what is holding them back from getting residential housebuilding moving across the country, and consider possible solutions to overcome these obstacles. The trial of a man accused of making bomb threats on the eve of and during the state visit of the UK Queen five years ago has heard evidence related to phonecalls made through various masts in County Longford at the time of the alleged offences. Donal Billings (65) of St Bridgets Court, Drumlish, County Longford is charged before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin with four offences under the Criminal Law Act of 1976 of knowingly making false reports tending to show that an offence had been committed. The charges allege that he made a false report within the State on May 16th, 2011, that bombs had been placed at Busaras in Dublin and at Sinn Fein's headquarters. He is also charged with making a false report on May 18th that two mortars were set for Dublin Castle, and with making a false report on May 20th that two bombs had been placed in the toilets at Cork airport. Additionally, he is charged with the unlawful possession of an explosive substance at Longford railway station car park on May 16th, 2011. Mr Billings has pleaded not guilty to each of the five charges. Previously, the court has heard evidence from gardai that on the eve of and during the royal visit three phonecalls were made to Longford garda station, threatening bombs on buses and the Sinn Fein headquarters, mortars at Dublin Castle, and two bombs in the toilets at Cork airport on the day Queen Elizabeth was due to depart. Yesterday (Thursday), Conor O'Callaghan, a telecoms engineer, told prosecuting counsel Garnett Orange SC that he provided data to gardai relating to five cell sites located around County Longford. A cell site or cell tower is a mobile phone site where antennae and transmitters are placed, usually on a radio mast or tower. Mr O'Callaghan said that on May 16th, 2011, a call made to Longford garda station from an 086 number was routed through a mast at Edgeworthstown. Previously, the court has heard evidence that the 086 number was associated with a SIM card found in a white Seat Ibiza Mr Billings had been allegedly driving. Mr O'Callaghan explained that masts in Ireland typically have a range of between 10 to 15 km. A second phonecall made from the same 086 number to Longford garda station on May 18th at 7.20pm was routed through a mast between Longford town and Edgeworthstown, the court heard, while a third phonecall, made on May 20th at 3.12pm, again from the same 086 number to Longford garda station, was routed through a mast on the outskirts of Longford town. The trial continues. Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar visited Carrick-on-Shannon this morning and as part of his visit he spoke to members of the media at the Social Welfare offices in the town. Discussing the perception of a lack of investment in the North West region, Minister Varadkar stated, "I think it's probably more than a perception, there hasn't been enough enterprise or IDA investment in the North West." He added, "It's not that the IDA and Enterprise aren't trying or the Government isn't trying, we just haven't had the degree of success that we want to have. There has been quite a lot of good announcements for Carrick-on-Shannon in recent years, maybe not so much for Sligo. It is something I know Tony McLoughlin has raised at the highest level in Fine Gael and something we are very aware of in the Government and absolutely we want to see more of those good multi-national jobs going in to the regions. "Inevitably most of them will go to Dublin, Cork and Galway but Dublin, Cork and Galway aren't in competition with Sligo or Leitrim, they are in competition with Manchester, London and Tel Aviv. If we lose those jobs to Dublin, we probably lose them to Ireland but there are other things that can go in to the big towns around the country. Wexford has done well, there has been a lot in Kerry and Sligo should be fighting for the same amount of investment and I would be very supportive of the Sligo representatives in doing that." For more on Minister Varadkar's visit to Carrick-on-Shannon see next Wednesday's Leitrim Observer. A Longford man accused of making bomb threats during the state visit of the UK Queen five years ago told gardai that the British monarch stood for the security forces in Northern Ireland and that he did not like her, the Special Criminal Court has heard. The court also heard that Donal Billings (65), who is further accused of placing an IED on a Dublin-bound passenger bus on the eve of the royal visit, told gardai that allegations against him were "nonsense" and that he had been visiting his brother that evening. Mr Billings, of St Bridgets Court, Drumlish, County Longford is charged with the unlawful possession of an explosive substance at Longford railway station car park on May 16th, 2011. He is further charged with four offences under the Criminal Law Act of 1976 of knowingly making false reports tending to show that an offence had been committed. The charges allege that he made a false report within the State on May 16th, 2011, that bombs had been placed at Busaras in Dublin and at Sinn Fein's headquarters. He is also charged with making a false report on May 18th that two mortars were set for Dublin Castle, and with making a false report on May 20th that two bombs had been placed in the toilets at Cork airport. Mr Billings has pleaded not guilty to each of the five charges. Previously, the court has heard evidence on the eve of and during the royal visit three phonecalls were made to Longford garda station, threatening bombs on buses and the Sinn Fein headquarters, mortars at Dublin Castle, and two bombs in the toilets at Cork airport on the day Queen Elizabeth was due to depart. Today, Sergeant Adrian O'Neill, from Galway, told the court that the accused man was interviewed by gardai in the Irish language. Reading the interviews to the court, the Sergeant said on May 21st, 2011, gardai asked Mr Billings if he was at Longford train station on Monday evening, May 16th, between 7pm and 8.30pm. The accused man said he was not and that he drove that evening to Mullingar, where he met his brother. Previously, the court has heard evidence about a SIM card allegedly found on Mr Billings after he was arrested in a LIDL carpark in Longford on May 20th. It is part of the prosecution's case that the number associated with that SIM card was used to call in the bomb threats to Longford garda station. Sergeant O'Neill told the court that gardai asked Mr Billings about this SIM card. The accused man replied that after driving into the LIDL carpark he saw a purse on the ground and after picking it up a SIM card fell out of a small book. "There was nobody about so I kept it," he told the guards, the court heard. The court also heard that Mr Billings told the gardai he did not like Queen Elizabeth. "I have nothing against her as a person," he said during an interview on May 21st that year, the court heard, "But as long as England is in the six counties I'm not happy. She stands for the security forces in the north." Mr Billings said he did not do anything to interrupt her visit, Sergeant O'Neill told the court He said that the accused man further stated, "People wanted to interrupt it. That's democracy. They have the right to do it. I think that the people of Ireland have the same view. Look when Obama visited there were thousands on the street. When Elizabeth was here they weren't on the streets. They gave the votes with their feet." Mr Billings told the guards that the allegations were "nonsense" and that he did not place anything on the bus. The trial resumes on Monday. The boil water notice on the North East Roscommon regional water supply scheme has been lifted and will be most welcome news for thousands of householders and business people in the region said Roscommon/Galway Fianna Fail TD Eugene Murphy. Deputy Murphy was in touch with officials from Irish Water on Friday as details of the news emerged. The scheme extends from Roosky in the east to Tulsk in the west and from Drumsna in the north to Ballyleague in the south. Deputy Murphy said it was most welcome news that the boil water notice on the North East supply was eventually being lifted and he noted he had campaigned and worked on this issue for the past number of years. This will bring most welcome news for some 5,400 customers who have been seriously inconvenienced for a long time and it is particularly good news for hundreds of publicans, hoteliers, restaurants, cafes etc who were still paying full price for both drinking water and wastewater charges despite the fact that there had been a boil water notice in place. The lifting of the boil water notice will now bring relief for many people, said Deputy Murphy. Deputy Murphy said that work on the design, supply, installation and commissioning of pressure filters, UV reactor and control panels at Lisheen Lake Pump house was completed in March 2016. Following this, a 3-month process proving and commissioning period commenced and was completed in July 2016. A temporary UV system at a cost of 800,000 euro has been in place for months now and following months of testing the boil water notice has now been lifted. It is important to point out that the temporary system is a moveable system which can be moved to other problem locations around the country once the permanent water treatment plant for the North East supply is in place so it is not a waste of money, said Deputy Murphy. A new water treatment plant for the North East Roscommon Regional Water Supply scheme is currently under construction at a new site located near Strokestown. This new plant is due for completion in May 2017, concluded Deputy Murphy. The US Presidential election has boiled down to this: If it is a referendum on Trump, Clinton wins. If it is a referendum on Clinton, Trump wins. At the moment, it seems to be an extraordinarily florid referendum on Trump. This is a shame, as policy doesnt seem to be getting a look in. But I suppose Americans are debating clearly the sort of person they want to see in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The main reason that the campaign has centred on Trump is, apart from the fact that he simply isnt qualified to be President, because he is a repeat offender when it comes to the First Law of Holes, attributed to Will Rogers and latterly to Denis Healey: if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. I remember some training in Cowley Street in the distant past. It said: if someone accuses you of something, give a brief riposte, then move on and turn the conversation onto what you want to talk about. Not our Donald. He gets in a fleet of JCBs and excavates well down into the earths crust. In the first debate with Hillary Clinton, the subject of a Miss Universe winner, twenty-odd years ago, came up. He could have easily ignored or brushed off the complaint and changed the subject. Instead he went into a prolonged, industrial-scale denunciation of the woman, covering about twenty news cycles. So, instead of getting twenty news cycles about policy or Hillary Clinton, he got twenty news cycles about his attitude to women. Similarly, the appalling video conversation with Billy Bush comes out, and he launches into a tirade about Bill Clinton and ancient history. His non-apology then sparks further revelations which consume another twenty news cycles. Paul Ryan, Republican leader in the House, says he is done defending Trump. Trump then launches repeated tirades against the man, dominating the news cycles with news of a Republican party civil war. And all the while this is going on, policy doesnt get discussed and Clinton rises in the polls. The Clinton campaign have managed all this masterfully such that books will be written about this campaign for years to come. But Trumps whole hole approach, apart from any other criticism, is just plain dumb. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings. GARDAI say they are aware of a number incidents which happened in-and-around the removal and funeral of Christopher Guna Curtin who died in road accident in County Limerick last week. The 22-year-old from Salvia Court, Keyes Park, Southill suffered fatal injuries when the car he was travelling in left the road and struck a ditch on the Fedamore to Limerick road shortly after 2am on October 4, last. A woman who was also in the car was treated at University Hospital Limerick but her injuries were not life-threatening. Investigations into the collision are continuing and files will be prepared by gardai for both the coroner and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Curtin, who had around 40 previous convictions, was disqualified from driving for 25 years a number of years ago and was well-known to gardai. Several videos have appeared on social media over the past week which appear to show mourners at his removal watching on as so called doughnuts are performed at OMalley Park near the Holy Family Church. In one video, recorded on the night of Curtins removal, large crowds of young people can be seen watching on as the driver of a cyan blue car performs a number of manoeuvres in the middle of the road. The 00 D-registered car can be seen drifting along the main road and at one point it mounts a footpath. Smoke can also be seen bellowing from the tyres as several doughnuts are performed while a passenger appears to be hanging out the window recording on a mobile phone. R.I.P Guna you got A lovely send off, reads the caption posted with the video which has been viewed almost 3,000 times. While gardai are not seen on the video footage, the Limerick Leader understands they maintained a discreet presence during the removal and funeral. Gardai say they are also aware that a number of cars were reportedly burned out in OMalley Park on the day of Curtins funeral. It is understood investigations have been launched. BANK of Ireland has been accused of neglecting the Garryowen community after it emerged its Parkway branch in Limerick city is to close. Mayor Kieran OHanlon, who represents the area on the council, said the closure of the bank branch will have a negative effect on people, due to its location. It is in the centre of many housing estates around that area, and there are a lot of elderly people around there. It is surrounded by Garryowen, Rhebogue, Lynwood, Norwood, Granville and all that area. To be honest, it provided a limited service, and many people going to the Parkway Shopping Centre would use this, he said. Bank of Ireland wrote to customers affected informing them of the closure, which will take place on Friday, November 18 next. In a statement, the lender said: We recently opened an on-campus branch in University of Limerick and with five branches in very close proximity the merger of two Castletroy branches allows us to reconfigure services and still maintain a strong branch presence in the area. The bank said it is in effect merging its branch in the Parkway Shopping Centre, with outlets at the University of Limerick and the Castletroy commercial campus. However, Mayor OHanlon said: I think banks must have some social obligation to sustaining a community facility. Residents are now faced with having to travel to Castletroy which is a long way away, at least a mile from the Parkway. Oct 14, 2016, 1 PM The United States 1961 4 Dr. Sun Yat-sen stamp (Scott 1188) is in demand in mint panes of 50. By Henry Gitner & Rick Miller On Oct. 10, 1961, the United States issued a 4 Dr. Sun Yat-sen commemorative stamp (Scott 1188). Sun, a medical doctor and convert to Christianity, was a nationalist revolutionary who led the movement to overthrow the last emperor of China and establish a republic. He became provisional president of China in 1911. In 1912, he co-founded the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT). In the chaos and civil war that followed, Sun brought the KMT into temporary alliance with the Chinese Communists. He died of liver cancer at the age of 58 on March 12, 1925, in Beijing. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter However, there is demand for the mint pane of 50, which is popular with Chinese collectors. We last tipped the mint pane of 50 in the March 19, 2012, Stamp Market Tips. It is time to tip it again. 9 Important Steps to Succesfully Soak Stamps: You can get a stamp collection going with just a few things most everyone can find around their home. Sign up for our free newsletter and we'll give you instant access to our exclusive Linn's Stamp News report. Demand for this pane has been steady through the years, and it continues today. Face value for the pane of 50 is just $2. The mint pane regularly sells in the $15-to-$20 price range. Shop around, and you might even find it cheaper. When buying, make sure that there are no perforation separations. Oct 13, 2016, 11 PM Allison Davis was commemorated on a 29 stamp in the Black Heritage series on Feb. 1, 1994. By Michael Baadke Allison Davis, a groundbreaking educator, researcher and anthropologist, was born Oct. 14, 1902, in Washington, D.C. In 1994, Davis was commemorated on a 29 stamp in the Black Heritage series (Scott 2816) for his pioneering work in education and other social sciences, according to the United States Postal Service. He challenged the cultural bias of standardized intelligence tests and fought for the understanding of the human potential beyond racial class and caste, the Postal Service stated in its Stamp News Release 94-007. His work helped end legalized racial segregation and contributed to contemporary thought on valuing the capabilities of youth from diverse backgrounds. In 1924, Davis graduated summa cum laude from Williams College in Massachusetts, and then earned his masters degree in comparative literature from Harvard. He taught at Hampton Institute in Virginia, and later joined the anthropology faculty of Dillard University in New Orleans after earning a masters degree from Harvard in that field. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1942 and became a member of the faculty there that same year. During the 1960s he participated in civil rights commissions under Presidents Johnson and Nixon. The stamp honoring Davis was issued Feb. 1, 1994, with a first-day ceremony at Williams College. A second-day ceremony was held on the campus of the University of Chicago. Oct 14, 2016, 9 AM Stamp ceremony participants unveil the image of four Jack-o-Lantern forever stamps during a Sept. 29 event in Anoka, Minn. Image courtesy United States Postal Service. Among those addressing the large crowd at the Jack-o-Lanterns first-day ceremony were U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and USPS Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Joseph Corbett. By Steven J. Bahnsen Four new United States Jack-o-Lantern forever stamps enjoyed a spectacular debut on their Sept. 29 issue date. More than 800 people came to City Hall Plaza in Anoka, Minn., for the 11 a.m. outdoor first-day ceremony on a perfect fall day. Anoka calls itself the Halloween Capital of the World. The city of more than 17,000 people is at the north edge of the Twin Cities area. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter In 1920, Anoka was home to the first Halloween parade in America. There are four different designs of the nondenominated (47) Jack-o-Lantern stamps printed in orange and black. The stamps are offered as a double-sided booklet of 20. At the ceremony, the stamps were sold at one United States Postal Service tent, while postmarks were available at an adjacent tent. The stamp sales were strong, and the lines were so long that I chose to visit Anokas post office a few blocks away to purchase my stamps. USPS reveals Jack-o'-Lantern die cut shifts: If the shift is severe enough to result in a stamp that is partially or wholly imperforate, such varieties are examined to determine if they are to be listed as production errors. Postmaster Daniel Stark had three clerks selling the stamps at all windows, so there were no delays. A first-day ceremony program from Postal Service headquarters enclosed in an envelope with a first-day cancel was distributed to those attending the ceremony. The available programs were all handed out, with no extras remaining. The ceremony was well-organized and moved right along. The Anoka High School band ensemble performed prelude music before the American Legion Post 102 color guard presented the colors and The Star Spangled Banner was played. Emily Engberg of Minneapolis-St. Paul television station KSTP served as master of ceremonies. A welcome was given by Peter Turok of the Chamber of Commerce. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the first woman elected to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate, returned from Washington and participated in the event, noting there was no government shutdown this year. She is a native of nearby Plymouth, Minn. The stamps were dedicated by Joseph Corbett, USPS chief financial officer and executive vice president. At the conclusion of his comments, he was joined onstage by Klobuchar and others for the unveiling of the stamp designs. Others who spoke at the ceremony included Minnesota State Sen. Jim Abeler, stamp photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce, and Rebecca Ebnet Mavencamp of the Anoka County Historical Society. Samantha Jenson of St. Stephens Catholic School spoke about pumpkins. As the ceremony ended, a two-story high banner of the Jack-o-Lantern stamps was unfurled from the top of the Anoka city hall. The band burst into song as the crowd applauded. This event enjoyed wide press coverage from Twin Cities radio and TV stations. Oct 13, 2016, 3 PM Illustrated on the 15-piaster high denomination of the Syrian postage due set is a stone sculpture of a Hittite lion. Syria issued this 8-piaster postage due stamp in 1931. Several floral images, including a vase of flowers, are pictured in the design. The -piaster low value of Syrias postage due set of 1925 and 1931 features one of the giant Hama water wheels located on the Orontes River in the Syrian city of Hama. The only vertically formatted stamp in Syrias 1925 and 1931 postage due set, the 1-piaster denomination depicts the ancient city of Antioch. In the design of Syrias 3-piaster postage due stamp featuring the town of Banias, a castle on a hill can be seen in the background. Syrias 2-piaster postage due stamp shows the Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa in Tartus. It was used both as a church and as a fortress. By Ghassan Riachi On March 1, 1925, Syria issued five postage due stamps. The denominations were piaster, 1pi, 2pi, 3pi and 5pi. Six years later, in 1931, there apparently was still an adequate stock of these five denominations available at post offices around the country. However, there was a need for two higher denonimations, 8pi and 15pi. Postage due stamps with these denominations were issued in March 1931. In this column, I will refer to all seven denominations as Syrias first permanent postage due stamp set or simply the set. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Prior to this set, all of the postage due stamps of Syria were provisional. French Levant postage stamps, French postage due stamps, Arab Kingdom of Syria postage due stamps, and surcharged Arab Kingdom of Syria postage stamps received surcharges or overprints in either French or in both French and Arabic. The stamps of the set were printed on unwatermarked, colored paper and perforated gauge 13. The perforated stamps are listed in the Scott 2016 Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940 as Syria Scott J33-J39. In the grade of very fine, a set of these stamps is valued at $13.30 in both unused and used condition in the Scott Classic Specialized catalog. A mint, never hinged perforated set, however, should be worth at least four times as much. If you want to add this set to your collection, I suggest you try to find it in mint, never hinged condition. These postage due stamps can also be found used. If you are looking for a challenge, though, try to find them on commercial covers. Such covers are very difficult to find, but well worth the hunt. Imperforate stamps also exist. There are 100 imperforate sets of the low denominations and 300 imperforate sets of the two high values. 9 Important Steps to Succesfully Soak Stamps: You can get a stamp collection going with just a few things most everyone can find around their home. Sign up for our free newsletter and we'll give you instant access to our exclusive Linn's Stamp News report. If you want to add imperforate stamps to your collection, make sure you buy them as pairs or blocks of four; avoid purchasing single imperforate stamps. I have seen single perforated stamps with trimmed perforations to make them appear imperforate. Collectors beware. Seven different beautifully detailed designs were adopted for this set, one for each denomination. In the margins below the designs of all five of the postage due stamps issued in 1925 are (from left to right) the name of the designer, J. de la Neziere; the name of the site pictured; and the name of the printer, Helio-Vaugirard. On the two 1931 stamps, only the names of the designer and printer are in the bottom margin. The names of the sites are included in the table accompanying this article, as are the paper and design colors and the quantity produced of each of the seven perforated stamps. The 1pi stamp is vertically formatted; all of the other denominations are horizontally formatted. The central design of the pi denomination depicts a Hama water wheel. Up to 66 feet in diameter, these giant water wheels are situated along the Orontes River in the Syrian city of Hama. Their purpose was to move water from a lower to a higher elevation for irrigation through aqueducts. Only 17 of these water wheels exist today. Although they are no longer in use, they are still in working condition. The Hama water wheels were given names. The largest one, named Al-Mohammediyyah, supplied water to the Great Mosque of Hama. The top central panel of the pi stamp contains the country name, Syria, in French. This is flanked by the Arabic word for Posts at right, and the country name in Arabic at left. To the right of the central design is the denomination and currency in Arabic. At the left is the French equivalent for pi to be collected. The bottom panel contains the following: Arabic for to be collected in the right corner, the Arabic equivalent for postage due stamp in the left corner, and the French for postage due in the middle. The 2pi, 3pi, and 5pi stamps have the same French and Arabic inscriptions as the pi stamp. A view of Antioch is featured in the central design of the 1pi denomination. An ancient city located on the eastern part of the Orontes River close to Turkey, Antioch has been referred to as the cradle of Christianity because of its importance in the emergence of early Christianity. Also, according to Acts 11:26, the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. During Roman times, Antioch had a population of half a million people, but, during the Middle Ages its importance declined because of earthquakes, wars and the trade routes no longer going through the city. The top panel of the 1pi denomination contains the country name in French. Below it is the French for 1pi to be collected. At the bottom is the French for postage due. Above it is the Arabic equivalent for Syria post, postage due stamp, 1pi to be collected. The central design of the 2pi stamp shows the Cathedral of our Lady of Tortosa in the Syrian city of Tartus. In the middle of the 12th century, the crusaders constructed the cathedral and it was used as a church and fortress. Many historians agree that the cathedral is the bestpreserved religious structure of the crusades. Today, the cathedral is the National Museum of Tartus. Tartus, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea, is considered to be one of the favorite vacation spots for Syrians. The central design of the 3pi stamp portrays a scenic view of Banias, a beautiful town at the base of Mount Hermon to the north of the Golan Heights. If you look closely at the design, you can see a castle on a hilltop. I believe the castle to be Qalaat al-Marqab (also known as Margat Castle), a massive crusader castle built in 1062. In 1168, and for more than a hundred years during the Crusades, this castle was a garrison for the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, the Catholic military order also known as the Knights Hospitaller. At that time, Qalaat al-Marqab must have been a formidable fortress. It is said that Saladin (1137-1193), the sultan who commanded Islamic forces during the military operations against the crusaders in the Levant, avoided attacking this castle. In addition to having been used by Christian and Muslim soldiers as a defensive fort, it also was a safe haven and a prison at different moments in history. Illustrated in the central design of the 5pi stamp is a view of the Krak des Chevaliers, a crusader castle sitting on top of a 2,130-foot high hill to the east of the city of Tartus, Syria. At one time, it was large enough to house a garrison of some 2,000 men. The original structure at this site was built in 1030 and occupied by Kurdish troops. In terms of its state of preservation, the Krak des Chevaliers is considered to be one of the most significant medieval castles in the world. War and earthquakes throughout the centuries have destroyed or damaged this castle, but it always found an owner who rebuilt it. In 2006, UNESCO declared the Krak des Chevaliers a World Heritage Site. As a result of the civil war that erupted in Syria in 2011, the castle has been damaged again. The central design of the 8pi stamp features beautiful floral scrollwork and shows several flowers coming out of a vase. Above the vase are the Arabic words Syria and due at the top and below them are the French words for Syria and postage due. On each side of the vase is the word Posts, in Arabic at right and in French at left. Also shown on both sides of the vase is an image of a single flower appearing to come out of the ground. Below each flower are the denomination and currency, in Arabic at right and in French at left. In total, the stamp depicts several different stylized kinds of flowers in bloom. Pictured on the 15pi stamp is a side view of a stone sculpture of a Hittite lion. At its peak, the Hittite Empire included a large part of Anatolia (in Turkey) in addition to segments of Upper Mesopotamia and northern Levant. The capital was Hattusa (in Turkey). In the Hittite society, images of lions were important. At Hittite sites in Turkey and Syria, free-standing lion sculptures have been discovered, and Hittite lions also are found protruding from stones and gateways. It is not clear what the purpose of these massive stone lions was, but it is believed that some of them may have marked water sources. These lions are considered to be impressive acts of Hittite engineering rather than great works of art. Above the lion shown on the 15pi stamp are the Arabic word due at right and postage due in French at left. In front and behind the lion are the word Posts, the denomination and currency, in Arabic at right and in French at left. Below the lion is the country name, Syria, in French at right and in Arabic at left. These postage due stamps are well worth collecting. Not only are they beautiful and affordable, but they also depict a stunning and rich history. Syria has some of the most phenomenal archeological finds in the world. Unfortunately, with the current war raging, these sights are no longer available for people to visit, and these stamps might be the last and only way we can enjoy these ancient places. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. October is Earthquake Preparedness Month, and people in quake-prone zones all over the world will be practicing their best "drop, cover and hold-on" moves as officials arrange events to remind people that the earth under their feet isn't so stable. Drills like the Great California Shakeout are one of the main weapons to prevent earthquake deaths, along with strict building codes and other preparedness measures. That's because, despite decades of study, researchers can't predict when an earthquake will strike so there's no way to evacuate people ahead of time, or even give them a few minutes' warning. That's not to say that researchers aren't still trying. Scientists are actively monitoring faults and searching for signals that they hope will warn them before something ruptures. At times, the goal has seemed tantalizingly close. In 1980, Congress created the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC), an advisory group that was supposed to evaluate the routine predictions scientists thought might soon be rolling in. Those never materialized. [Image Gallery: This Millennium's Destructive Earthquakes] "We have not been able to make observations of precursory phenomenon that give any sort of reliable indication that an earthquake is going to come," said Michael Blanpied, a member of NEPEC and the associate coordinator of the Earthquake Hazards Program at the U.S. Geological Survey. So, why not? Unfortunately, the reason may be that the Earth simply doesn't give off any warning signs before it trembles. Scams versus science A quick Google search of "earthquake prediction" will lead you to any number of shady sites, where laptop-wielding individuals claim to have cracked the problem. Anyone claiming to pull predictions out of publically available earthquake data is actually pulling your leg, said John Vidale, director of the Pacific NW Seismic Network at the University of Washington in Seattle. "In something like earthquake prediction that scientists have been working on for 100 years, the answer is not going to jump out of nowhere," Vidale told Live Science. Beware, too, those who claim to have made successful predictions, but hedge with vague generalities about the size of the quake or the area. According to a newly released report by NEPEC, a successful prediction needs to include unambiguous timing (e.g., "between Jan. 18, 00:00 GMT and Jan. 24, 23:59 GMT, 2019," and not "sometime around the full moon on Jan. 21"); a clear specification of the area (not simply "near" this or that fault); and a magnitude scale (earthquakes are measured logarithmically, so there's a big difference between a 5 magnitude and a 6 magnitude quake). Most people who claim to have predicted quakes in advance fudge these details regularly, Vidale said. But not everyone with an idea for preventing quakes is a tinfoil-hat type. The geoscience community is skeptical that prediction will ever become a reality, but there are serious researchers who are pursuing the problem. If any place is the geographical center of this effort, it's Parkfield, California, an unincorporated town along the San Andreas fault. The USGS has been intensively monitoring the rocks at Parkfield since 1985 because earthquakes there seemed so shockingly regular. There were magnitude 6 quakes in 1857, 1881, 1901, 1922, 1934 and 1966 about every 22 years. Each quake seemed to rupture the same area of the fault, leading geophysicists to believe that the seismicity was predictable. They predicted that another magnitude 6 earthquake would occur in or before 1993. [Photo Journal: The Gorgeous San Andreas Fault] No quake of that size happened until 2004. It was a blow to the field of earthquake prediction. Even with close monitoring and a known pattern of previous quakes, researchers couldn't say when Parkfield would shake. "Part of the reason that it's hard is that the Earth is very complex," Blanpied said. "There's enormous variation in types of rock, in the stresses. There are faults all over the place." Even a prediction in Parkfield wouldn't necessarily have translated to researchers' ability to predict quakes on another fault. Hidden precursors? For quake prediction to work, there must be a detectable early signal before the earth starts shaking. It's not clear that such a signal exists, Vidale said. Faults break when the stress in the crust overcomes the strength of the rock. And the failure point could be very small. It may just be a meter or even a centimeter-size fragment that fails, Vidale said. "When it's about to break, it apparently doesn't give us any warning," he said. "The process starts in a tiny volume and just runs away at the speed of sound in the rock." It's like breaking a sheet of glass versus a piece of plywood, Blanpied said. The wood starts to bend and splinter, indicating that a break is imminent. IIf Earth worked that way, prediction would be possible. But it's also possible that the crust is more like a sheet of glass that snaps suddenly. "There is a precursory process that starts before the point it goes 'snap,'" Blanpied said. "But it's completely unobservable without an electron microscope." Observation is a problem for earthquake prediction, too. Seismologists can typically measure areas in the half-mile (100 meters) range and they're watching complex fault zones that are miles underground and hundreds or thousands of miles long. Measuring the stress and strength of an entire fault zone simply isn't possible, especially if the breakage point is as small as a few meters or less. What's more, laboratory experiments and natural observations have led seismologists to conclude that all earthquakes start in the same way, Blanpied said. "They all start small, and then some of them get bigger," he said. "And if this is true, it's not very good news for earthquake prediction." Unless there's something fundamentally different about how big and little quakes start, he said, it's no good predicting that a temblor is coming: It's most likely to be a magnitude 1 or 2, undetectable without scientific instruments. Earthquakes in the air? Still, the search for precursors to earthquakes has led to odd places. Scientists have looked unsuccessfully for earthquake "hums," for unusual gas emissions, for trends in seismicity patterns. They've even turned to the ionosphere, or the layer of the atmosphere between about 50 and 600 miles (80 to 1,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface. One provocative line of recent research emerged after the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake that spawned an enormous tsunami in 2011. Kosuke Heki, a professor at Hokkaido University in Japan who uses satellite and other remote-sensing techniques to study the Earth, found that there was a disturbance in the ionosphere 40 minutes before the quake. Since then, Heki has found disturbances prior to other large earthquakes, and argues that a pattern of extra electrons in the lower ionosphere plus a decline in electrons in the upper ionosphere may be a predictor of huge quakes in the magnitude 9 range. "I would not have believed this if this preseismic ionospheric change had been discovered by somebody else," Heki told Live Science. No one knows why the ionosphere would change in this way before a major quake. One idea, Heki said, is that when rock is stressed, positive charges might be released and gather on the Earth's surface, pulling on the negatively charged electrons in the ionosphere and rearranging them. However, the charges so far don't seem strong enough to cause massive ionospheric change. "There are difficulties," Heki said. There is also disagreement about how to statistically analyze the ionospheric changes against the natural background fluctuation of the atmosphere. One 2015 paper, for example, argued that Heki and other researchers studying the ionosphere are measuring nothing more than typical electron fluctuation, and that these changes aren't predictive at all. Heki and his team continue to study the phenomenon, but the burden of proof is heavy. "There's a very rich connection between things going on in the ionosphere and things going on in the ground, but it certainly has not been established that there is a pre-earthquake process that's observable in the ionosphere," Blanpied said. "There's nothing that is particularly promising at this point." Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on Live Science. On Oct. 13, 2016, NASA's Terra satellite captured this visible image of Hurricane Nicole just east of Bermuda at 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 GMT). When Hurricane Nicole formed in the Atlantic Ocean right on the heels of Hurricane Matthew, which tore across Haiti and the Bahamas last week before lashing the southeastern United States, it was the first time on record that two major Atlantic hurricanes have occurred in the month of October. But these rare, back-to-back hurricanes may be an early sign of worse weather to come if La Nina climate conditions take hold across the globe, according to weather scientists. Hurricane Nicole battered Bermuda yesterday afternoon (Oct. 13) with torrential rain and winds of up to 130 miles per hour (209 km/h), causing widespread property damage and leaving thousands of homes without power. The storm is now moving northeast across the Atlantic, away from Bermuda, and is expected to become a post-tropical cyclone tomorrow (Oct. 15), according to an advisory posted today (Oct. 14) at 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). It was the second major hurricane to make landfall in the western Atlantic within five days, and the first time that two major hurricanes of Category 4 or Category 5 have formed in the Atlantic in October since record keeping began in 1851. [See Photos of the Tropical Storms and Hurricanes of 2016] On Oct. 4, as Nicole strengthened over the ocean and Matthew made landfall in Haiti, the storms were the first large hurricanes above Category 2 to occur at the same time in the western Atlantic since 1964, according to the NHC. The twin hurricanes may herald a much stormier time in the Atlantic, after a few years of relatively low hurricane activity, said Kevin Walsh, a professor of tropical meteorology at Australias University of Melbourne, who has watched the development of Matthew and Nicole over recent weeks. "We know during El Nino years in the Atlantic you get usually suppressed numbers of tropical cyclones and of course El Nino is all over now, and we may or may not be moving into a mild La Nina," Walsh told Live Science. "But, if a big La Nina does actually set in, then it's quite possible that we could have increased hurricane numbers in the Atlantic." The return of La Nina El Nino and La Nina are the opposite phases of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, caused by fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and the atmosphere in the tropical zones of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Each phase of the ENSO cycle can have different effects on the climate in different parts of the world. They usually last from nine months to a year, but some persist for several years, like the latest El Nino phase from 2011 to 2015, NOAA said. If the oceans and atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean are now entering a prolonged La Nina phase, then hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean are likely to become more common the longer it lasts, Walsh said. "The only thing that it really depends on is how long the La Nina hangs around and we don't know that at present, so it's a bit soon to be trying to predict for the Atlantic next year," he added. [A History of Destruction: 8 Great Hurricanes] Tropical Storm Matthew first formed in a relatively normal way off the African coast in late September. The storm gained strength as it tracked across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean, where it rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane on Sept. 30. But Tropical Storm Nicole took a strange route across the Atlantic Ocean after it formed in early October, and meteorologists predicted more than once that the storm could disappear entirely. "It is a bit unusual, partly because it's done a sort of funny loop-de-loop in the middle of nowhere, and then become quite strong after that," Walsh said. Growing a hurricane The way Hurricane Nicole lingered over the Atlantic likely increased its chances of becoming a stronger hurricane, Walsh said. For example, the storm may have intensified after running into an area of very warm sea temperatures, or when atmospheric conditions turned more favorable for hurricane formation, he added. Walsh also noted that an uncommon number of major hurricanes have hit Bermuda in recent years, although the region often endures several tropical storms each year. "It's pretty rare for a hurricane to strike Bermuda directly, but that's happened a lot in the last few years," he said. Only seven major hurricanes have passed within 40 nautical miles (74 km) of Bermuda since record- keeping began in 1851, but in 2014, the islands were hit by two hurricanes only six days apart: Hurricane Fay on Oct. 12, and Hurricane Gonzalo on Oct. 18. Hurricane Fay was a Category 1 storm when it made landfall, and Gonzalo had weakened from a Category 4 storm to a Category 2 before it struck the island, but the combined effect of the two hurricanes just days apart resulted in heavy damage and disruption. For now, the National Hurricane Center reports no "imminent tropical threats" in the Atlantic basin: no tropical storms or depressions that show the potential to develop into a hurricane. But more than a month remains before the official end of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, on Nov. 30 and until then, scientists and storm watchers will be keeping a keen eye on the tropics. Original article on Live Science. If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. School & Education, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events By EAC Network Published: October 14 2016 EAC Network's Teen Driving Equation program is heading to the north shore to promote safe driving techniques for our youth. Students will have the opportunity to navigate go-carts while texting on their phones through a prearranged driving course. Special blurred goggles will also allow students to experience the effects of alcohol and drugs on their vision while operating a motor vehicle. Mount Sinai, NY - October 14, 2016 - EAC Network and Mount Sinai High School will join forces on October 14th from 9am to 1pm to promote safe driving habits for all students and staff. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens age 14-18 in the U.S. EAC Networks Teen Driving Equation program cultivates and enforces positive driving skills and responsibilities among teens so they develop safe driving habits. Along with The Suffolk County Sheriffs Department, New York State Troopers, Cox Media Group WBLI, and Sprague Operating Resources LLC, EAC Network will provide hands-on activities that will simulate the dangers of inexperienced, distracted, and impaired driving. Students will have the opportunity to navigate go-carts while texting on their phones through a prearranged driving course. Special blurred goggles will also allow students to experience the effects of alcohol and drugs on their vision while operating a motor vehicle. Teen Driving Equation provides awareness events to promote safe driving decisions and to prevent injuries and fatalities among our youth, said Rachel Lugo, Division Director of Family Support & Vocational Services, EAC Network. It takes a village to keep our children safe and we are proud to be a part of the team along with law enforcement, local businesses, and the Mount Sinai School District. For more information, go to the Teen Driving Equation program. About EAC Network EAC Network (www.eac-network.org) is a not-for-profit social service agency that empowers, assists, and cares for over 71,000 individuals across Long Island and NYC. EAC Networks mission is to respond to human needs with programs and services that protect children, promote healthy families and communities, help seniors, and empower individuals to take control of their lives. The organization has grown tremendously since its inception in 1969 and now offers over 70 diverse programs that address many of societys core problems. Peoples lives are being destroyed by addiction, families continue to struggle to overcome poverty, abuse, and neglect, and seniors face isolation and abandonment. EAC Network aims to build a better community one individual at a time. About Sprague Operating Resources LLC Sprague Operating Resources LLC, one of the largest suppliers of energy products in the Northeast, operates a truck fleet in the New York Metropolitan area. Sprague is committed to promoting the safe operation of trucks and delivering vital energy products safely into our communities. Sprague is proud to participate in Teen Safety Day at Mount Sinai High School by providing a truck and professional drivers in a Share the Road / Trucks Eye View demonstration to educate the public about what the driver can and cannot see from the cab of the truck, as well as providing our future generation of drivers with safe-driving practices. School & Education, Local News, Arts & Culture, Press Releases By WFSD News Published: October 14 2016 Thirteen William Floyd High School students were recently recognized at the third annual Town of Brookhaven Advisory Board Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. The Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration is designed to bring community members, high school students and elected officials together for an evening of culture including performances, a food tasting and student recognition. Farmingville, NY - October 13, 2016 - Thirteen William Floyd High School students were recently recognized at the third annual Town of Brookhaven Advisory Board Hispanic Heritage Month celebration for their stellar academic performance by maintaining a grade point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher. The Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration is designed to bring community members, high school students and elected officials together for an evening of culture including performances, a food tasting and student recognition. Senior Steven Shaw was selected to deliver remarks at the ceremony and distribute awards to his classmates based upon achieving the highest GPA among Hispanic seniors at William Floyd High School. William Floyd students also honored for their achievements were Paula Godoy, Kaylyn King, Meliza Lozano, Gabriella Marroquin, Marcelo Ozuna, Liana Perez, Austin Nikolas Reyes, Emily Reyes, Anna Romero, Ashley Segura, Marilin Solorzano and Ezekiel Torres. The Brookhaven Town Hispanic Advisory Board was established in 2013 to help improve cultural understanding between the Hispanic community, civic and business leaders, Brookhaven government and town residents. The mission of the board is to discuss and address issues of importance and relevance to the Hispanic community and make recommendations regarding proposed legislation to the Brookhaven Town Board. Crime, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: October 14 2016 Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating the death of a man who was killed in Brentwood last night. The investigation is continuing. Detectives are asking anyone with information to call the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. Brentwood, NY - October 14, 2016 - Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating the death of a man who was killed in Brentwood last night. Third Precinct police officers responded to a 911 call reporting a man lying in the road in front of 231 American Blvd. on October 13 at 11:58 p.m. The victim, an adult male, suffered head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. His name is being withheld pending positive identification. The cause of death will be determined by the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The investigation is continuing. Detectives are asking anyone with information to call the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com Columnists Press Releases Senior commanders in the Sunni Palestinian Quds Brigade, known as the Liwa al Quds or the Syrian Arab Army Fedayeen, have been photographed receiving medals from Russian military officers for battlefield action. The latest interaction further indicates the deep level of Russian involvement and impact they are having on the Syrian civil war. The pro-government militia is drawn from the Palestinian diaspora in Aleppo province, and has openly operated as an auxiliary to pro-regime forces there since 2013. The unit numbers in the several hundreds. Late last month, the Quds Brigade and the Syrian Arab Army succeeded in taking the strategic Handarat Palestinian refugee camp and Kindi Hospital north of Aleppo proper, following the launch of an offensive in late September and several rounds of intense back-and-forth with the Islamist-led Fatah Halab coalition. Pro-regime forces and the Quds Brigade have been fighting to control the camp since 2014. The capture of Handarat was a significant victory, particularly for the Palestinian militia, whose members are drawn from the town. Capturing that area and the adjacent Kindi Hospital consolidates pro-regime control over a key road north of Aleppo, and has opened a front to push toward the rebel-held area of the city. The Quds Brigade has reportedly continued to make gains in the surrounding areas. Several days after the victory at Handarat, photographs surfaced of a Russian military officer bestowing medals to the militia chief Mohammad al Saeed, an engineer by vocation, and operations commander Mohammad Rafi (AKA the Godfather) (photo 1). Prior to launching the operation to fully retake the camp on Sept. 29, the two Palestinian commanders were photographed with what appears to be their Russian military advisor (photo 3). Earlier in August, Rafi had received a medal from a Russian Lieutenant General (photo 4). The patch on the senior commanders shoulder is the emblem of the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division (photo 5), a unit stationed near Grozny, Chechnya. Members from this unit have operated in Ukraine and Syria. In June, middle-aged men in Russian uniforms appeared in a photograph of Quds Brigade fighters (photo 6). And back in March, a Russian operative, whom pro-regime accounts claimed was an officer and appears to be special forces or a mercenary, was photographed alongside Russian media visiting the headquarters of the Quds Brigade and meeting with top commanders (photo 7). These relations indicate Russias support of the Quds Brigade. Weapons used by the groups show Russias influence on the battlefield. Below is the card of a dead fighter which was posted by Fastaqim Union, part of Fatah Halab, in late September (Photo 8). Weapons type: Russian rifle, is written on the card. It is unusual to put such information on a military card, though it indicates that the fighter is qualified to operate Russian weapons. There are also photographs of Quds Brigade fighters brandishing Russian weapons, though the models of those weapons date back to the Soviet era and they were abundant in Syria prior to the civil war. The Palestinian fighters, however, have wielded RPG-26 (photo 9); there is no evidence in open source that this was supplied to Syria prior to the war, though it was developed in the early 1980s, according to military experts who spoke with The Long War Journal. Russian state media, furthermore, has been embedded with the Quds Brigade. The crew of Anna News, for instance, accompanied combatants into Handarat Camp when they took the area briefly on Sept. 23. Russia is known to cooperate with forces allied with Bashar al Assad, such as the Syrian Peoples Protection Units (YPG) that also receives U.S. support. Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) passes intelligence to Russia for airstrikes. There are, however, indications of more intimate Russian support of the Quds Brigade: the open commendations of the Quds Brigade militia by senior Russian officers for battlefield achievements, the presence of Russian military advisers among combatants, and Russian media coverage of the militia. The Quds Brigade vows to continue fighting in Syria in support of the Syrian government, and has aspirations towards Jerusalem. On the anniversary of the foundation of the militia, which occurred on Oct. 6, a pro-militia account posted the following on social media: Today (October 6th) is the anniversary of the Liwa Quds founding, the honorable and proud Liwaa. We promise you of liberating Al-Quds and all of Palestine after cleansing our country dear Syria from the terrorist filth. A country you dont protect, is a country you dont deserve to live in. Boris Zilberman contributed to this article. Amir Toumaj is a independent analyst and contributor to FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Irans conventional Navy, known by its Persian acronym NEDAJA, reportedly deployed two vessels to international waters surrounding Yemen yesterday. First reported in the semi-official Iranian press, the story has also been noted in the Western press, where it was framed as part of the larger Saudi-Iranian rivalry, and the ongoing war in Yemen. The official Iranian motivation behind the deployment of the 44th Naval Flotilla which consists of one frigate (the Alvand) and one logistics/support vessel (the Bushehr) is to deter piracy and defend trade. However, this deployment to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which is a strategic chokepoint where over 3 million barrels of oil pass per day, comes amid an intensification of the war in Yemen. Most recently, the US has taken to responding to attacks on its military vessels in the region. Yesterday, the US responded with Tomahawk missile strikes against three coastal radar systems in Houthi-controlled territory. It remains unclear if these strikes will sufficiently deter future attacks. Some defense analysts have even alluded to the radar sites being previously rendered un-operational. The attack followed two separate occasions where anti-ship missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled territory at vessels linked to the coalition. On Oct. 1, Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship missile (likely a C-801 or C-802) at a United Arab Emirates logistics vessel on the Red Sea. That was followed by a thwarted missile attack on an American vessel in the Red Sea on Oct. 9. Iran has deployed naval flotillas from its conventional naval warfare fleet numerous times in the past. Often, these are trips to showcase a new vessel, or to dock in welcoming ports as a symbol of friendship. This flotilla deployment, however, appears to be aimed at sending a signal to the U.S. as well as the Saudi-led military coalition about Iranian resolve. In the past, Iran has promised retaliation and even war should its humanitarian vessels in Yemen be targeted. In fact, the Alvand is no stranger to confrontations with the US Navy, aiming its guns at an American MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and coalition auxiliary ship operating in the same waters in July 2015. It remains to be seen if they will make the same threat here. A Growing Pattern of Maritime Misbehavior This deployment by Iran appears to be more posturing than an attempt to actually clash with the US Navy. The 40-year-old Alvand, armed with C-802 missiles but lacking modern radars and defensive systems, would have little chance of surviving a skirmish against the larger and more advanced American destroyers (USS Mason and USS Nitze). As the Mason proved earlier this week, US countermeasures can easily thwart attacks from missiles similar to the Alvands and the appearance of Iranian vessels is unlikely to provoke a significant reaction from the US. If a confrontation were to occur it would be a continuation of Tehrans growing pattern of aggressive maritime behavior towards western vessels operating in the region this year. In August, Iranian craft harassed American warships on four different occasions in the span of a week, with one incident requiring the USS Squal, a Cyclone-class patrol boat, to fire warning shots in response. In a more serious incident in January, Iranian forces seized ten US sailors when their riverine patrol boats drifted into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. The dramatic images and videos of the crew in Iranian custody have been repeatedly used by Iranian media outlets for propaganda purposes and reports suggest the sailors disclosed sensitive information while at gunpoint. That incident came just days after members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy fired rockets near the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman as it transited the Strait of Hormuz. The purpose of increased maritime confrontations appears to be a desire to project Iranian moxie and capability against its enemies amidst conventional military weakness. While the deployment of the Alvand and Bushehr are likely a continuation of that effort, it could have the dual purpose of reassuring Tehrans Houthi allies. Patrick Megahan is a Research Analyst focusing on military affairs at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Behnam Ben Taleblu is a Senior Iran Analyst. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. On Oct. 9, a statement attributed to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the elusive al Qaeda veteran who has been reportedly killed multiple times, was distributed online. The message is a eulogy for Sheikh Ag Aoussa, a prominent Tuareg leader who was killed in an explosion in northern Mali the day before. Initial accounts attributed Aoussas death to a mine that exploded underneath his car. But the statement allegedly authored by Belmokhtar pinned the blame squarely on France, suggesting that a French airstrike killed Aoussa along with other unidentified young men. Indeed, the eulogy for Aoussa is the latest attempt by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to rally local tribes and other parties against the West. Various AQIM figures, as well as affiliated jihadi parties, have consistently decried Frances presence in Libya, Mali and elsewhere. According to Agence France Presse (AFP), Ag Aoussas car blew up shortly after he left a meeting at the UNs MINUSMA mission. The meeting was apparently one in a series of regularly scheduled sit downs between MINUSMA, the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), and members of Frances Operation Barkhane. CMA sources cited by AFP alleged that Aoussas death was actually an assassination, and not an accidental explosion. AFP also provided some biographical information on Ag Aoussa, describing him as a Tuareg from the Ifoghas tribe and the number two in the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA), which is one of a myriad of armed groups in northern Mali. Aoussa had served as the right-hand man to Iyad Ag Ghaly, who leads Ansar Dine. Documents recovered in Mali demonstrate that AQIMs leadership planned to use Ansar Dine as the local face for the jihadis governance efforts prior to the French-led intervention in 2013. According to AFP, Aoussa left Ansar Dines ranks after France intervened in Mali and joined a different group that would later become the HCUA. Belmokhtars eulogy is effusive in its praise for Aoussa, saying he had sacrificed the prime of his life during the blessed conquest of Azawad, meaning northern Mali. Aoussa was one of the first mujahideen to establish the Muslim rule in northern Mali, and worked to implement sharia law. We can never forget his hard strife and fight against the Zionists in the 1982 war in Lebanon and then his role fighting against the Crusader French invasion of Mali, the eulogy reads, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal. Therefore, Aoussa had an especially interesting career, taking him from West Africa to Lebanon and then back, over the course of more than three decades. The French attempted to lure him into a war against his mujahideen brothers, especially those in Ansar Dine, the eulogy reads, but Aoussa resisted. The statement refers to the members of Ansar Dine as Aoussas family. The eulogy continues by alleging that they (most likely meaning the French) plotted to assassinate Aoussa because he couldnt be swayed, just as the French allegedly attempt to strike down anyone who seeks to establish an Islamic system in Mali. The statement ends with a rallying cry addressed to the feuding tribes in northern Mali, pleading with them to set aside their differences and thwart their enemies plan to turn them against each other. Belmokhtar calls on everyone who has supported the French war on the mujahideen to abandon the Western effort and fight France, because it is supposedly the mother of all evil. The eulogy is further evidence that AQIM is attempting to build tribal support for its efforts in Mali. AQIMs emir, Abdulmalek Droukdel, discussed this strategy in a lengthy missive that was first discovered by the Associated Press. Even though AQIM and its allies seized much of Mali in 2012, Droukdel urged caution. We must not go too far or take risks in our decisions or imagine that this project is a stable Islamic state, Droukdel wrote. Instead, the jihadis should view it as an important golden opportunity to extend bridges to the various sectors and parts of Azawad society in northern Mali, including Arabs, the Tuareg people, and other Africans. According to Droukdel, this would end the situation of political and social and intellectual separation (or isolation) between the Mujahideen and these sectors, particularly the big tribes, and the main rebel movements with their various ideologies, and the elite of Azawad society, its clerics, its groupings, its individuals and its noble forces. Simply put, Droukdel was concerned with building broader popular support for the jihadists agenda. Interestingly, the eulogy attributed to Belmokhtar did not mention that Aoussa had participated in meetings with UN and French officials, even as Ansar Dine and AQIM repeatedly target UN forces. While the message honoring Aoussa blames France for his death, it says nothing about his reported attendance at a meeting at the UNs camp in Kidal shortly before his death. Belmokhtar has been reportedly killed on multiple occasions, but his demise was never confirmed. The jihadists, including AQIM, are acting as if he is alive and survived an American airstrike in Libya last year. As The Long War Journal has previously noted, AQIM has not released a proof of life audio or video from Belmokhtar. Several written statements attributed to the al Qaeda loyalist have released online over the past year. Belmokhtars group, Al Murabitoon, reunited with AQIM last year. The move was praised by multiple al Qaeda figures. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here. Cars / Cars and Bikes Fans of Lamborghini will be able to get up close with two of the luxury car manufacturers creations at the SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS. Oct 14, 2016 | By Vimi Haridasan SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS is gearing up to be a supercar haven from October 20 to 23 with an impressive lineup that will be parked on the lawn. Fans of Lamborghini will be able to see two of the brands creations out on the lawn at Raffles Marina, overlooking the luxury yachts that will be on display. One of the supercars is be the Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder. Boasting a naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10 engine packing 610 horsepower, the supercar is able to hit a top speed of 324 km/h. The design of the car is best described as a combination of the brands innovation, performance and appeal of the Huracan coupe. Well you could just take a look below, or better yet, drop by yourself to the SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS. The second supercar from Lamborghinis range calling the SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS home, is none other than the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 (main picture). Packing 700 horses and a top speed of 350 km/h, the Aventador is a lightweight creation that provides high-revving pleasure with low-end torque. With this much in store during the fun filled weekend, it would be a shame to give the event a miss. To purchase your tickets for the highly anticipated luxury lifestyle event, visit SINGAPORE RENDEZVOUS. Culture / Design Dubai is using its iconic skyscraper all for a good cause and has announced a new contender that may be the tallest building in the world. Oct 14, 2016 | By Staff Writer Thursday saw the Burj Khalifa become more than just the tallest building in the world. The facade of the building was bathed in pink, to help draw attention and raise funds for breast cancer. The developer of the Burj, Emaar Properties, will see that the lights are turned on for the next two days and will continue it on the same days for the rest of October. Visitors to the 823-meter tower are encouraged to show their support by dressing in pink. For each item sold by shops in the Tower during the month, one Emirati dirham will be donated to the Al-Jalila Foundation. Founded by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum, the foundation seeks to promote early detection and prevention as well as research on breast cancer. The ruler also announced this week a new development in the Gulf emirate of Dubai with the construction of The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour. Upon completion, that is expected to be in 2020, it will dethrone the Burj Khalifa to become the worlds tallest building. Set to stand at 828-meters, the tower is expected to cost US$1 billion and will feature observation decks and a 360-degree view of the city. The slender tower is designed by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls and resembles a minaret that is anchored to the ground with sturdy cables. This new addition highlights Dubais reputation for building dozens of futuristic skyscrapers that have transformed the skyline. Saudi Arabias Kingdom Holding is building a tower in Jeddah that is planned to surpass the Burj Khalifa, rising more than a kilometer. Obviously, that tower will be taller than even The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour. Luxury Vacations at the World's Most Spiritual Sites While pilgrimages of a very different, and vastly more humble nature have been taking place to these sites for many hundreds of years, the luxury market is now taking more travelers than ever before to experience closeness to God and the supreme being of just about every faith. Those seeking enlightenment, or wishing to satiate their curiosity, need look no further than stimulating resources such as The Way International blog ; sites such as this are a fantastic source of information, and inspiration.So, where should those in search of luxury, peace, and spiritual awareness head first?When it comes to luxury vacations few destinations are as beautiful, or rich in sights and sounds as Paris; named the City of Love , the French capital should certainly top any traveler's bucket list. Renowned for its role in French literary history as well as for its spiritual significance, Notre Dame de Paris is a glorious example of early French gothic architecture, boasting religious artifacts, striking stained glass windows, and impressive stonework. Considered one of the world's most famous church buildings, the Notre Dame de Paris, or Our Lady of Paris', invites travelers inside for a moment of quiet contemplation, or to marvel at the sheer beauty on show; the senses of romance and magnificence that hang in the air will inspire spirituality in the most reserved of tourists.The first word in luxury: Paris is an effortlessly luxurious destination, with five star hotels and boutique bed and breakfasts, and numerous fine-dining opportunities can be found along its historic streets. For the ultimate Parisian experience tourists should indulge in a cruise along the River Seine; ideal for spotting the sights they'd like to see next.Nestled in the heart of England's vast and beautiful countryside, and surrounded by mystery and intrigue, Stonehenge is one of the world's earliest religious sites; many believe that the stones have stood for some four or five millennia, and to this day they attract many hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. Stonehenge is undeniably mystical, an English Heritage Site of historic importance. Travelers to the monument come in search of enlightenment, peace, and to get closer to the pagan and druidic ways of life as well as celebrating seasonal events such as the summer solstice.The first word in luxury: While a group of stones may not seem the perfect focal point for a luxurious trip Stonehenge is located within easy reach of some gorgeous quaint villages, stunning landscape that is to be savored, and many other sites of historic and cultural importance. Afternoon tea, a quintessentially English pastime, must be enjoyed by anyone passing by.There can be few destinations as spiritual, or indeed holy, as Jerusalem, which stands at the heart of Christianity, Judaism, and the Islamic faith. Once mapped as sitting at the center of the world, Jerusalem is west of the Dead Sea and contains the City of David (part of the old city), the Temple Mount, the Muslim Dome of the Rock (pictured at top), and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, as well as a myriad of other sites central to all three monotheistic religions. Its importance to practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims around the world is insurmountable, while its ability to inspire those unsure of their spirituality is a wonder.The first word in luxury: From humble roots Jerusalem now has a burgeoning luxury market , spurred on by the many thousands of tourists paying a visit each year. There are numerous five star hotels to be found within the city's limits, while river cruises and tours will provide the perfect itinerary in this holy place.There are, of course, numerous religious and spiritual sites around the world, each offering something incredibly special to those choosing to make that pilgrimage. From Mecca to the ancient temples of South America and the home of Catholicism in Rome, to the tombs and monuments found in the furthest reaches of the Middle and Far East, such sites have been inviting travelers and encouraging a sense of spirituality long before luxury travel was invented. These days, however, luxury cruises, city breaks, and resort excursions are some of the very best ways to access these wonders, enabling travelers to sample the best of the ancient and contemporary worlds; they simply need to decide where to head to first These days, our lives are littered with the half-built scaffoldings of intelligent assistants and virtual agents. Voice-based interfaces are at a level with technologies like home automation and virtual reality: Popular enough to have seeped into our lives, but not yet refined enough that they have become fixtures for most of us. Apples version of Siri turns five years old this month, but as Ive before discussed, it doesnt seem to have progressed as much as one might have hoped. This week, veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg penned a scathing indictment of Apples voice-based assistant, in which he posed the question that most of us have asked at one time or another: why does Siri seem so dumb? Hes not wrong. While Ive had better luck than Mossberg in some of my interactions with the feature, I run up against rough edges pretty much every single time I try to use Siri for anything. Most of my iPhone-using friends tend to view Siri as more of a curiosity than a useful tool. Last year I put forth some ideas about what a Siri 2.0 should include, but lets take a step back and look at the bigger issues here. Putting out fires Mossbergs article brings up a number of specific issues: Siris inability to identify the presidential candidates, cluelessness about the date of the presidential debates, and even providing weather for the town of Crete, Illinois instead of Crete, the island. But its less the problem than the cure that bugs me here, as Mossberg says: If you try most of these broken examples right now, theyll work properly, because Apple fixed them after I tweeted screenshots of most of them in exasperation and asked the company about them. Heres the thing: if thats what it takes to get new functionality in Siri, thenpermit me to wax only slightly hyperbolicits doomed. This isnt the kind of feature you can address on a case-by-case basis. Its a bit like the trouble that Apple had when it first transitioned away from Google Maps to its own system: if people ask once and get the wrong answeror, in the case of Siri, no answer at alltheyre going to be dubious from there on out. Even more so with a feature thats less tried and true, such as voice-based assistants. Apple did tell that Mossberg its constantly working behind the scenes to try and make Siri better for the tasks people use it for the most: Apple stressed to me that its constantly improving Siri, and also stressed that it focuses its Siri efforts on the kinds of tasks that it says millions of people ask every day: placing phone calls, sending texts, and finding places. It puts much less emphasis on what it calls long tail questions, like the ones Ive cited above, which in some cases, Apple says, number in only the hundreds each day. To my mind, that just raises more questions. Do people use it less for those long tail questions because it doesnt tend to give helpful answers? And if Apple doesnt improve the handling of those kinds of queries, will people just give up on asking them, thus meaning they end up using Siri less as a whole? Its somewhere between a self-fulfilling prophecy and a chicken-and-egg problem. And Right now, Siri and most of the other voice-based assistants on the markets are still far from that uncanny valley moment where theyre so close to humans that people get creeped out by their interactions. Its still abundantly clear that youre talking to a machine, because they have roughly the same level of intelligence as, say, your dog. (No disrespect meant to our canine companions.) A dog, like Alexa or Siri, knows his name, and can perk up when he hears it. You can give a dog a specific command and have him understand you, but his ability to interpolate new instructions based on what he already knows is generally pretty low. For example, if I could point to one thing that I find holds back Siri and its competing intelligent agents, itd be pretty simple. Just a little word that we use probably dozens if not hundreds of times a day (25 times in this article alone!): and. The idea of and is simple to our human brains, and yet incredibly complex to a virtual agent. Tell your significant other to put milk and orange juice and bananas on the shopping list and chances are theyll do what youre expecting. Tell Siri and, well, you end up with something pretty differentand far less useful. Similarly, try joining two commands together. If you tell your kids to turn off the lights and the television, they can probably handle that (at least past a certain age). When I do that with my Amazon Echo, it means issuing a command, waiting until its resolved, and then issuing a second command. Its a bit eyeroll-inducing. If youre so smart, why arent you rich? Apples put a lot of energy into machine learning and AI. Back in August, veteran tech journalist Steven Levy did a deep dive into Apples efforts in those arenas. Perhaps the most interesting revelation was just how small a part of it Siri seems to bemaybe, given Siris current powers, a bit too small. Right now it may be okay that our virtual assistants arent smarter than the average fifth-graderwe probably wouldnt want fifth graders overthrowing our society either. (Although cake at every meal sounds pretty great.) But in order to get these intelligent agents to the point where theyre as useful as theyve been envisioned, itll take a significant leap from where we are today. And, frankly, theyre probably going to need to know the meaning of the word and. The exhibition is held by Vietnam Youth Federation in Ho Chi Minh city as part of activities marking the 60th anniversary of the Vietnam Youth Federation (October 15th, 1956). Young people to the exhibition (Source: sggp.org.vn) The photos depict the history, tradition and development of the Vietnam Youth Federation, achievements by the youth nationwide in general and in Ho Chi Minh city in particular, and outstanding young people in studying and production, contributing to building the city and the country more beautiful and richer. The exhibition will run until October 20th at the Youth Cultural House, Dong Khoi street, district 1./. Earlier today in Stockholm, Sweden, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to musician Bob Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. Blowing In The Wind Mr. Dylan was born on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota., and grew up in Hibbing. He played in bands as a teenager, influenced by the folk musician Woody Guthrie, the authors of the Beat Generation and modernist poets. Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Unplugged) Mr. Dylans many albums, which the Swedish Academy described as having a tremendous impact on popular music, include Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde On Blonde (1966) and Blood on the Tracks (1975), Oh Mercy (1989), Time Out Of Mind (1997), Love and Theft (2001) and Modern Times (2006). The Times They Are A Changin' 1964 President Obama said at a White House ceremony. Today, everybody from Bruce Springsteen to U2 owes Bob a debt of gratitude. There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music. All these years later, hes still chasing that sound, still searching for a little bit of truth. And I have to say that I am a really big fan. Mr. Tambourine Man (Live at the Newport Folk Festival. 1964) The Nobel comes with a prize of 8 million Swedish kronor, or just over $900,000. The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work. Like a Rolling Stone Step into the gorgeously minimalist Liu Jo flagship store and be transported to a warm and sophisticated environment fitted with modern decor, gleaming metals and reflective surfaces. While Liu Jo was previously located at Wisma Atria Mall, the boutique now sits within the prestigious Paragon Mall and boasts a much larger retail space of an impressive 3,305 square feet, no less to more readily display the brands array of luxury fashion goods. The boutique marks itself as the key flagship store for the South East Asian region, which means it houses the most extensive selection of the brands ready-to-wear collections and accessories. Loyal fans of the brand will be delighted to know that everything from the Liu Jo Black Label Collection to the Liu Jo Blue Denim Collection to Liu Jo Eyewear, Liu Jo Accessories, and even Liu Jo Fragrances will be available here. The Liu Jo flagship store is located at #02-49 Paragon Mall, 290 Orchard Road. Angela Goh Photos: Liu Jo Read more: Southeast Asias first UNIQLO Global Flagship Store throws open its doors in Singapore Marks & Spencer unveils brand new M&S Cafe in Singapore 30 Gorgeous print dresses to inspire you this fall Photo for illustration The Decision came after dozens of containers of cotton from this African country were detected to be contaminated with a pest species subject to Vietnams plant quarantine. The Ministry asked the Department of Plant Protection to strictly examine raw cotton lots from Ghana during the time the decision is pending. Meanwhile, the Department also sends official information to Ghanas competent agencies so that they can have thorough remedies. The Decision takes effect 60 days after October 11th./. US 2016 Presidential Election: Will US-China Relations Change After one of the most degrading races in postwar history, US presidential campaigns are getting still dirtier. But will US-China relations change? As Wikileaks has disclosed information about Hillary Clintons email and Benghazi scandals and deep ties with Wall Street, her campaign, with its cozy media relations, is promoting Donald Trumps obscene tapes and comments on women. In the first US presidential elections that have been Kardashianed, Clinton has a 5-10% lead against Trump. However, US electoral college is ruled by winner-takes-all principles, which give Clinton about 260 and Trump about 165 electors, respectively, while some 115 remain undecided. They are the ones Clinton and Trump are now courting - with big money.After marginalizing her Democratic center-left opposition, Clintons campaign has raised almost $375 million, plus $145 million from big lobbyists. In contrast, Trump has failed to unite the party behind his campaign. As a result, he has raised less than half of Clintons total and is shunned by most big donors. Clintons America: Sticks, carrots - and sticks According to US-based Pews survey, the Chinese are divided about Hillary Clinton. More than a third have a favorable view of her, another third has an unfavorable opinion, and the rest has no view. After all, Washingtons pivot to Asia a de facto effort to contain Chinas rise was first presented by Clinton as President Obamas foreign secretary. In that role, she also promoted the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for Asia; but to beat her Democratic rival Senator Bernie Sanders, she turned against it. As president, she could flip-flop again and support the TPP. She has also threatened to accuse China for currency manipulation, which today makes even less sense than before. Clinton supports the shift of 60 percent of US military ships to Asia Pacific, which has contributed to increasing rearmament and friction in the region. She is unlikely to cut military spending even though the US already spends $600 billion on defense annually; more than the next seven countries combined. She also fully supports the new Cold War against Russia. Indeed, the Bush era neoconservatives have joined Clintons campaign, including Robert Kagan who has supported Chinas containment since the late 1990s, and his wife, Victoria Nuland, who has played a highly controversial role as Obamas representative in Ukraine. Neoconservatives have embraced Clintons liberal internationalism, which justifies efforts at regime changes. In turn, 50 former Republican national security leaders have slammed Trump who would like to renegotiate US pacts with its allies. In Pentagon, Clinton means more of the same continuity. Trumps America: Defense has a (new) price According to Pew, two out of five Chinese see Trump unfavorably, or have no opinion about him, while only one of five sees him favorably. Trumps negative ratings have been boosted by his many references to China as an economic rival, political adversary and military threat. But his discontent covers much more of Asia. In foreign trade, Trump has pledged to tear up or renegotiate the TPP agreement which has potential to undermine Japanese Prime Minister Abes economic reforms and controversial security agenda. It would be a huge embarrassment to the ASEAN nations that have joined the TPP. To reduce the US trade deficit with the region, Trump would raise trade rhetoric, tariffs and import duties against China, Japan and low-cost ASEAN. Indeed, some of his murmurings whether NATO is still relevant; a more stable Middle East if Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were in power; mutual admiration with Russias Vladimir Putin, and so on suggest that Trump might focus his attention on renegotiating better deals and undermining bad ones. If Trump would go after US allies Japan and South Korea, Americas postwar defense system in Asia would crumble. Due to his America first stance, Trump would reassess US economic and security pacts around the world. He gave his first foreign policy speech in the Nixon Center, which stresses foreign policy realism, not interventionism. What next? Would Clinton - or Trump - walk the talk? Despite series of critical references to China, Clinton has a track-record of cooperation with China and Trump is a pragmatic deal-maker. However, a militarized US pivot to Asia has potential to split the region and defer the economic catch-up of emerging Asia. That would not only slow Chinas rise but undermine the promise of the Asian Century and Americas own security interest. Dr. Dan Steinbock is an internationally recognised expert of the nascent multipolar world. He is the CEO of Difference Group and has served as Research Director at the India, China and America Institute (USA) and visiting fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Centre (Singapore). For more, see www.differencegroup.net 2016 Copyright Dan Steinbock - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Could Nigeria Become Africas Offshore China RMB Hub? On October 1, the Chinese renminbi officially joins becomes the fifth international reserve currency. Over time, Nigeria stands to benefit from RMBs rising international role. On October 1, 2016, the Chinese renminbi (RMB) will officially join the International Monetary Funds (IMF) international reserve assets; that is, the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) basket. From the perspective of the IMF, this is recognition of Chinas success in opening up its markets. The future of the Chinese RMB is far from irrelevant to Nigeria. Last spring, after a successful visit in Beijing, President Buhari said that Nigeria had received a $6 billion Chinese loan to fund infrastructure projects.In the short-term, Nigerian authorities hope to rely on Chinas support to finance the 2016 deficit. But should they have even longer-term strategic RMB objectives? Three waves of capital inflows After October 1, RMB asset are likely to benefit from three consequent waves of capital inflows. The first wave involved the very inclusion of the RMB among the IMF international reserve assets. That caused a re-weighting of the SDR basket, which is currently valued at $285 billion. Today, the SDR assets remain dominated by the weights of the US dollar (41.7%), the euro (30.9%) and Chinese renminbi (10.9%), followed by the UK pound (8.1%) and Japanese yen (9 percent). The weight of the RMB translates to about $31billion into the RMB assets starting in October, probably gradually over half a decade. As long as Chinas economic growth prevails, even as it decelerates, and financial reforms continue, the RMB inclusion is likely to prompt another wave of capital inflows by central banks, reserve managers and sovereign wealth funds. Today, the allocated part of the global foreign exchange reserves the Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves, or COFER amounts to $7.2 trillion. The US dollar still accounts for nearly two-thirds of the total, against a fifth by the euro, while the pound and the yen are less than 5% each. Now, assuming that Chinas current share of global reserves is about 1 percent, the IMFs decision could cause a significant capital inflow (5%) about the weight of the yen or pound into the RMB assets, which would translate to some $360 billion by 2020. If, on the other hand, the RMBs COFER share would reflect its SDR weight, the inflow of capital could more than double to over $780 billion. A third capital inflow is likely to ensue as private institutional and individual investors follow in the footprints of the IMF and public investors. If these allocations rise to just 1 percent, they could unleash about $200 billion into the RMB assets by 2020. But again, if these allocations would reflect the renminbis SDR weight, capital inflows could double, triple or increase by a magnitude. Shifts among offshore RMB leaders Nothing reflects the behind-the-facade positioning for the renminbi as the dramatic expansion of offshore RMB clearing hubs that is, international financial hubs that can build liquidity and promote the use of the Chinese currency outside of China. Today, there are more than 20 offshore RMB clearing hubs appointed by the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC). These hubs are typically characterized by strong trading and investment ties with China. They are also strategically located in the key world regions covering all time zones. In the early days of the RMB internationalization, Hong Kong had a near-monopoly of all renminbi payments internationally. For all practical purposes, this dominant position endured as long as the mainland was mainly a destination of foreign capital. Today, as Chinese multinational companies and investors are internationalizing rapidly and Chinese capital is moving across the borders, Hong Kongs role as the leading RMB offshore center remains dominant in absolute terms but is declining in relative terms. It still has more than two thirds of offshore RMB traffic (70%). Until recently, Singapore was the strong second RMB offshore center in the world, but not anymore. After a year of Londons purposeful efforts to have a much closer relationship with China, the UK (6.5%) has replaced Singapore (4.5%) as the second largest RMB offshore center worldwide. While Singapore fell third among the RMB offshore centers, the tiny city-state remains a key hub, thanks to its location as a geographic hub for foreign multinationals and their treasury centers, as well as regional commodity trade. Thriving early RMB offshore hubs Until recently, the US had no role among the RMB offshore centers but unofficially that is changing as well. Today, the US (3.1%) ranks fourth after Singapore, barely ahead Taiwan (2.5%) and South Korea (2.1%). Nevertheless, like Londons City, Wall Street is likely to embrace the RMB over time. As London understood quite well a year ago, early entrants in the offshore RMB business stand to benefit from the Chinese currencys internationalization. During President Buharis visit to China, the RMB accounted for 7 percent of Nigerias $27 billion foreign exchange reserves, as opposed to the mighty US dollar (77%). However, the Buhari-Xi agreement on the flow of the RMB in Nigerian banks hoped to make the Chinese currency a part of Nigerias foreign exchange reserves, thus supporting Chinas goal of RMB internationalization. As long as it can deter separatist inclinations, Nigeria will continue to overtake South Africas role as the largest potential BRIC economy in the continent. Nevertheless, there are no Sub-Saharan offshore RMB centers, at least as of yet. The question is, could and should Nigeria seek to become the first one? Dr. Dan Steinbock is an internationally recognised expert of the nascent multipolar world. He is the CEO of Difference Group and has served as Research Director at the India, China and America Institute (USA) and visiting fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Centre (Singapore). For more, see www.differencegroup.net 2016 Copyright Dan Steinbock - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Gold Is A Great Hedge Against Politicians Goldman Sachs Gold has risen another 1.7% in British pound terms this week and is 1.8% higher in euro terms and is again acting as a hedge against currency devaluations, Brexit, eurozone and heightened political and geo-political risk in the UK, EU, U.S. and most of the world. Gold is marginally higher in dollar terms this week after surging on the open in Asia on Sunday night. Gold quickly rose 1% from $1,251/oz to $1,264/oz as China and the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) began trading again after being closed for the Chinese Golden Week. Since then gold prices moved lower despite the return of the worlds largest gold buyer India as seen in the return of gold premiums in the Indian gold market. Gold in dollar terms is now marginally higher for the week. Goldman Sachs has long been the most vocal, prominent and widely quoted bear in the gold market. However, in recent weeks there is a marked change in their tune and they are now bullish on gold in the medium and long term. They are concerned about further price weakness in the short term as we run into year end but believe this will be a buying opportunity. Goldman is now saying that the precious metal will be good to own in an environment of political uncertainty ahead of the November elections. Goldman Sachs Head of Commodities Research Jeff Currie told CNBCs Power Lunch this week that it is good to own gold in our current political state. I always like to say gold is a great hedge against politicians, and we have a lot of political risk in the market right now. So gold has a strategic purpose, he explained. Why? Whats the tie between gold and politicians? Brian Sullivan of CNBC asked Currie. Well, if you think about the correlation between rates and you think about when you debase a currency or weak dollar, what people gravitate to are hard assets and gold is the epitome of the hard asset, Currie explained. In a recent note, Goldman analysts Max Layton, Mikhail Sprogis and Jeffrey Currie wrote: Indeed, we would view a gold sell-off substantially below $1,250 an ounce as a strategic buying opportunity, given substantial downside risks to global growth remain, and given that the market is likely to remain concerned about the ability of monetary policy to respond to any potential shocks to growth. The bank also believed Chinese investment demand for gold may pick up after the current selloff, particularly from medium to long-term asset allocators. The potential drivers of increased Chinese physical buying include purchasing gold as a way to hedge for potential currency depreciation in the face of capital controls, and purchasing gold as a way of diversifying away from the property market, which has this year to date had a remarkable rally (with the government moving to rein in speculation and price growth), the analysts added. Peak gold, the largely unappreciated phenomenon of peak gold production is also another bullish fundamental factor that Goldman has written about. Given the particularly poor caliber of politicians in office and seeking office in much of the western world today, author, political activist and intellectual George Bernard Shaws witty quote regarding voting for gold, rather than for politicians and governments is very apt today. Ironically, the socialist agreed with Goldman Sachs and wrote: You have to choose, as a voter, between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability and intelligence of the members of the government. And with due respect to these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold. Gold Prices (LBMA AM) 14 Oct: USD 1,256.15, GBP 1,028.79 & EUR 1,140.08 per ounce 13 Oct: USD 1,258.00, GBP 1,029.93 & EUR 1,141.76 per ounce 12 Oct: USD 1,255.70, GBP 1,024.53 & EUR 1,139.05 per ounce 11 Oct: USD 1,256.40, GBP 1,021.58 & EUR 1,130.76 per ounce 10 Oct: USD 1,262.10, GBP 1,016.62 & EUR 1,129.71 per ounce 07 Oct: USD 1,255.00, GBP 1,012.91 & EUR 1,127.62 per ounce 06 Oct: USD 1,265.50, GBP 994.30 & EUR 1,131.23 per ounce Silver Prices (LBMA) 14 Oct: USD 17.47, GBP 14.28 & EUR 15.86 per ounce 13 Oct: USD 17.59, GBP 14.40 & EUR 15.95 per ounce 12 Oct: USD 17.44, GBP 14.23 & EUR 15.83 per ounce 11 Oct: USD 17.48, GBP 14.26 & EUR 15.78 per ounce 10 Oct: USD 17.78, GBP 14.31 & EUR 15.92 per ounce 07 Oct: USD 17.33, GBP 14.01 & EUR 15.55 per ounce 06 Oct: USD 17.76, GBP 13.98 & EUR 15.88 per ounce This update can be found on the GoldCore blog here. IRL 63 FITZWILLIAM SQUARE DUBLIN 2 E info@goldcore.com UK NO. 1 CORNHILL LONDON 2 EC3V 3ND IRL +353 (0)1 632 5010 UK +44 (0)203 086 9200 US +1 (302)635 1160 W http://www.goldcore.com/uk/ WINNERS MoneyMate and Investor Magazine Financial Analysts 2006 Disclaimer: The information in this document has been obtained from sources, which we believe to be reliable. We cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness. It does not constitute a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any investment. Any person acting on the information contained in this document does so at their own risk. Recommendations in this document may not be suitable for all investors. Individual circumstances should be considered before a decision to invest is taken. Investors should note the following: Past experience is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The value of investments may fall or rise against investors' interests. Income levels from investments may fluctuate. Changes in exchange rates may have an adverse effect on the value of, or income from, investments denominated in foreign currencies. GoldCore Limited, trading as GoldCore is a Multi-Agency Intermediary regulated by the Irish Financial Regulator. GoldCore is committed to complying with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. This means that in the provision of our services, appropriate personal information is processed and kept securely. It also means that we will never sell your details to a third party. The information you provide will remain confidential and may be used for the provision of related services. Such information may be disclosed in confidence to agents or service providers, regulatory bodies and group companies. You have the right to ask for a copy of certain information held by us in our records in return for payment of a small fee. You also have the right to require us to correct any inaccuracies in your information. The details you are being asked to supply may be used to provide you with information about other products and services either from GoldCore or other group companies or to provide services which any member of the group has arranged for you with a third party. If you do not wish to receive such contact, please write to the Marketing Manager GoldCore, 63 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2 marking the envelope 'data protection' 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. COLLINSVILLE A judge in Henry County General District Court Thursday appointed a public defender to represent a woman charged with felony embezzlement. Bassett resident Angela Dawn Stump, 39, is accused of embezzling $435 in Virginia lottery tickets from Speedway No. 4631 at 5740 Virginia Avenue, Bassett. An arrest warrant and criminal complaint by Investigator C.A. Ashley of the Henry County Sheriffs Office allege the following: On the morning of Oct. 11, Assistant Manager Matt Smith discovered that the lottery tickets were short $435 in tickets (not winnings). The store security video allegedly shows employee Angela Stump taking lottery tickets from the display without paying for them and cashing them, the complaint alleges. It is not known at this time how much money she has or will obtain from the tickets but it will be discovered in the near future, the complaint alleges. Ashley spoke with Stump by phone and she allegedly admitted to taking the tickets. She allegedly stated that her drawer balance wasnt short because she replenished the missing money with the winnings. A court date was set for Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. Also Thursday, during a bond hearing in Henry County General District Court, Judge Marcus Brinks set a $7,500 secured bond for Barry Wood Jr. , 33, of A.L. Philpott Highway, Martinsville, who is charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny; grand larceny; and destruction of property in connection with a Sept. 23 break-in at China Buffet restaurant, 1090 Memorial Boulevard. According to court records, two TVs, one gumball machine, jewelry and $200 cash together valued at $1,900 were stolen from the restaurant. Two surveillance cameras were damaged in the process. Judge Brinks set a number of conditions for the $7,500 secured bond, including that Wood have no contact with co-defendant Emily Ann Church, of Grand Lake Drive, Ridgeway, or China Buffet; that he possess no firearm or dangerous weapon; that he not have or use alcohol or drugs; that he not leave Virginia; that he live with his parents; that he maintain or seek employment; and that he abide by a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Paul Collins reports for the Martinsville Bulletin and can be reached at paul.collins@martinsvillebulletin.com. MARTINSVILLE-One man was sent to the hospital and another faces criminal charges after an incident this week at Martinsville Flooring. City police were called out around 3 p.m. on Tuesday to the company, located at 730 East Church Street, in response to an incident of shots being fired. When officers arrived, they were met by two Martinsville Flooring employees. Explaining what happened, both men told police they felt someone had been trying to steal from the store. According to the police report, one of the men, later identified as 64-year-old Martinsville resident Vaughn Lester Draper, approached the individual in question with a pistol in hand. This was before the officers arrived. The report states that as he was walking over to talk to the person, Draper accidentally fired a bullet from the pistol, hitting the concrete floor. Three individuals, including Draper, his co-worker and the third man believed to be stealing, were all hit with debris from the floor and fragments of the bullet. That third man then left the building and went to the Martinsville Police Department, to report the incident. None of the injuries appeared to be life threatening, according to the report. One man was taken to the hospital as a result. That was Drapers co-worker, who went for treatment to Memorial Hospital, transported by Martinsville EMS. As for the third man, the police investigation found that he was standing in the entry way at the rear of the store, waiting for a ride to come pick him up. Police officials said an investigation is ongoing to determine if there was any actual attempt to steal from the store. Draper was charged with reckless handling of a firearm and was released on a summons to appear in court. Anyone with additional information regarding the case is asked to contact Sgt. Sandy Hines at 403-5330 or Crime Stoppers at 632-7463. Artist Mustapha Boutadjine (middle) presents the portrait to the Vietnamese Ambassador to French (Photo: VNA) The portrait, with dimension of 1m x 0.8m, is made of small pieces of paper cut from colourful magazines, then assembled and glued on paper to create a true work of art. The painting shows a vivid image of President Ho Chi Minh with a high forehead, bright eyes, pensive face in faded khaki shirt. Artist Mustapha Boutadjine has captured the mien and subtly expressed the image of the leader of the people of Vietnam. Speaking at the ceremony, artist Mustapha Boutadjine expressed his respect and admiration for President Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the people of Vietnam, as well as a Communist soldier and a hero of the struggle of oppressed peoples around the world. The painting is in a collection of works of top leaders of the revolutionary movement in the world which he names "The rebels". He said that, for him, a painting of President Ho Chi Minh was a necessity. As a son of Algeria, the country has stood with Vietnam in the trenches against French colonialism in the 1950s, and he always felt affection and closeness to the people of Vietnam. For his part, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son expressed his pleasure when receiving the portrait of President Ho Chi Minh. According to the Ambassador, this was a significant event, expressing the sentiment of Algerian people as well as French people for the beloved father of the people of Vietnam. He also said that in his term of office, this was the second time he had witnessed the sentiment of international people and friends for President Ho Chi Minh. In February, the family of French Professor of Physics Pierre Biquard, a positive activist for the world peace movement, handed over to the Vietnamese Embassy in France a woollen hat that President Ho Chi Minh presented Professor Pierre Biquard when he led Frances movement for peace to visit Vietnam in January 1969. The Vietnamese Embassy in France then moved the woollen hat and many valuable documentary photos donated by the family to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. According to the Ambassador, the souvenirs about President Ho Chi Minh as well as the painting now presented to the people of Vietnam show that the image of President Ho Chi Minh, a leader, a strategist but also a very human and simple person of the people of Vietnam, stands bold in the minds of international people and friends./. When youre facing a budget hole at home, what do you do? I mean, the logical thing is to cut back, right? You go through the bills, find things you can do without and figure out a way to get by until youre back on your feet. If that works for us, why is it so hard for state lawmakers to follow suit? To be fair, for the most part it was a smart budget that Gov. Terry McAuliffe proposed on Thursday. As you can read on our front page, his plan to cut the commonwealths $861.4 million shortfall is to eliminate 300 vacant positions, potentially lay off 26 state workers, cancel all planned pay raises and pull some money from the states rainy day fund, set up for just this type of occasion. But then I turned the page and kept reading. I saw the same type of thinking that got us into this mess in the first place. See, the $861.4 million shortfall is just in this fiscal year. Next year, theres an additional shortfall projected of $654 million. McAuliffes plan to tackle that is to revive the push for expanded Medicaid programs in Virginia, to see federal dollars replace state funds for some expenses. The issue here is that while it sounds good at the beginning, there are holes on down the line. Im a big fiscal conservative. I get that from my grandfather, who taught me to never spend more than I make. We didnt have a lot growing up and so I developed into a penny pincher as I got older. Before I support a project, any project, I need to know the long term vision. Dont tell me how great it is today. Tell me how youre going to pay for it in five or ten years. I just say that so people understand where Im coming from. Its pretty clear we have a need for Medicaid expansion. For many people struggling to pay medical bills, its not because theyre too proud, its because theyre too poor to afford it. They dont have cash stashed away at home. Theyre broke, but still need treatment. Part of that if due to the Affordable Care Act, but thats another column for another day. So if we can agree that people need help, why arent we signing off? The problem is the sheer cost of Medicaid, presented earlier this year by the annual report of Virginias Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. The largest growing portion of the state budget isnt education and its not economic incentives. Its Medicaid. According to the commissions report, over the last decade, appropriations for Virginias Medicaid program grew by $3.7 billion, a 75 percent increase. The report also found that Medicaid made up 54 percent of all increases in general fund spending over the same time period. Basically, when the budget grew over the last 10 years, more than half the money went into one program. The University of Virginias Miller Center found that by 2024, Medicaids share of the total state spending would be 14.3 percent, up from 11 percent in the 2013 fiscal year. So first, we have to accept that this program is growing at a fairly large rate already. There are unfortunately plenty of people who need help. Before we expand the program, our responsibility should be to make sure theres enough money to cover the existing needs. Second, we need to understand that Medicaid expansion comes with its own share of risks. At first, yes, it would give us a band-aid to cover some of that shortfall. But thats a temporary solution. See, under the federal Medicaid expansion plan, starting in 2014, the costs for the first three years of expansion are covered 100 percent by federal dollars. In year four, that drops to 95 percent. In year five, which would be the 2018-19 fiscal year, it drops to 94 percent. For every year after that, the individual states have to cover 10 percent of the expanded cost. Thats my issue. Yes, it would fill a budget hole today. But if were struggling to pay our bills now, how is it going to help long term when we have to plan for that extra bill in two years? What else will we need to cut, in order to cover 10 percent of the expansion cost? Kentucky highlights why this is important. In this years session, the Kentucky General Assembly was told their Medicaid program is $125 million in debt and over the next two years, that number will grow to $611 million. The problem, health department officials said, was twofold. First, nobody expected more than 310,000 people in the state to sign up. They were apparently counting on about 100,000 less. Second, the state, like many others, never came up with a plan for how to cover their part of the cost. And thats where we are now. Nobody can tell me how were going to pay for this increase, but yet were supposed to push it through. Before you make a big purchase, you have to know where the moneys coming from. Try walking up to the cashier at Wal-Mart and explaining that youd like to buy a 50 inch TV, but youll figure out how to pay for it in a few months. Dont be shocked when Henry County deputies show up as youre trying to walk out with it. We cant fill our budget holes by expanding an ongoing program. That just doesnt make sense. Brian Carlton is the editor of the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at brian.carlton@martinsvillebulletin.com TODAYS WORD is nugacity (nug-a-city). Example: His opponents were stunned by the sheer nugacity of the candidates comments. YESTERDAYS WORD was vidiot (vid-e-et). It means a person consumed by video or television to the point of losing touch with the outside world. Example: For 12 straight hours, the vidiot sat on the couch and did nothing but watch tv on Netflix. Music Night This Friday is Music Night at the Spencer-Penn Centre. Doors open at 5 p.m., with open mic performances at 5:30 p.m. If youve got an instrument or just your voice, cmon and join the group. At 6:20 p.m., the Wildmans will take the stage for some bluegrass, while the Hard Times Band will perform at 7:10 p.m. At 8 p.m., Jason Harris and Friends will take the stage. A $4 donation is requested to get in. The center is at 475 Spencer Penn Road. High School Reunion Fieldale-Collinsvilles Class of 1976 will have a covered dish picnic on Saturday to celebrate their 40th reunion. Itll be from 12:30 to 5 p.m. at the Fieldale Ball Park. Kids and grandkids are welcome to come too. Looking for classmates Speaking of reunions, were you in the Fieldale-Collinsville Class of 1966? If so, some of your classmates want to find you. The groups 50th reunion is coming up Oct. 22 and while organizers have been trying to let people know, there are a few no one can reach. They include Carol Bryson, David Bennett, Lemmie Wright, JoAnne Keefer Ray, Beverly Ramsey, William Proctor, Ronnie Phillips, Barbara Moore, James Curtis Jones, Patricia Jarrett, Nancy Faw Janey and Sherman Davis. If youre one of the people on this list or just want an update on the reunion, call (276) 252-1538. Ruritan Apple Butter The Bassett Ruritan Club will be making apple butter at the club building on Philpott Dam Road this Saturday. The cost is $7 per quart and it will be ready at 11 a.m. Legion meeting The American Legion Homer Dillard Post #78 will hold its regular monthly meeting next Monday over at the post home, 139 Creekside Drive in Martinsville. Itll start at 7 p.m., with the executive board meeting at 6 p.m. Board of Trustees The Blue Ridge Regional Library Board of Trustees will meet next Wednesday at the Bassett Branch Library, 3969 Fairystone Park Highway. The meeting starts at noon. TRIVIA QUESTION: Lets talk about temperatures. What is the coldest place consistently inhabited by people? The South Pole and Antarctica can get frosty, but aside from scientists, humans stay away. With winter rolling in, what is the coldest place that humans currently live? The answer will be in tomorrows Stroller. TRIVIA ANSWER: Weve talked about the largest islands, the longest barriers, but today we have another distance question. What is the point farthest from any other land? It can be an island, a country or even a piece of rock. The answer is Point Nemo. Where is Point Nemo? Its the exact center of a triangle of three islands. That includes Ducie Island, Moto Nui and Antarcticas Maher Island. It is an estimated 1,450 nautical miles from any other type of land. The name comes from Captain Nemo, the character Jules Verne created in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. France witnessed a wave of intense class struggle earlier this year with the strikes and mass protests against the governments new law on labour relations. The law was eventually passed in July and the movement died down, but now the working class and youth is preparing to move from the trade union front to the political. This year witnessed two big movements that highlight the growing class conflict in France, the huge strikes against the Loi Travail (the new labour law), and the Nuits Debout mass gatherings in Pariss Place de la Republique and in other cities. All this, combined with the general economic crisis explains the growing instability, which is a reflection of the social and political polarisation taking place in French society. The Loi Travail, also known as the El Khomri law, after the name of the Minister of Labour who presented it in the French parliament on 17 February, was eventually approved by parliament in July. The law introduced significant changes to Frances Labour Code, rendering working conditions more flexible, making it easier to sack workers, but also introducing cuts to overtime pay and redundancy payments. The law also replaced national labour contracts with local agreements, clearly designed to divide the working class. This provoked the wrath of the French workers which was expressed clearly on March 9, when half a million workers and youth took part in demonstrations all over the country followed by further demonstrations on the 17th. [See Massive general strike being prepared in France] and again on March 31 [See March 31st - General strike stops France!]. Nuits debout Nuit Debout - Photo: Olivier OrtelpaArising out of the March 31 protests we also saw the emergence of the spontaneous Nuits debout movement aimed at blocking the Loi Travail, but which went beyond that, becoming a movement that has been compared to the Occupy Wall Street in the USA and the Indignados movement in Spain. It arose out of a group of protestors deciding not to leave Place de la Republique in Paris at the end of the March 31 trade union demonstration, but to hold public debates on the issues affecting the movement. There were similar occupations of city squares in other cities. An article, Nuit debout protesters occupy French cities in revolutionary call for change, that appeared in The Guardian on April 8th gives a taste of the mood: As night fell over Paris, thousands of people sat cross-legged in the vast square at Place de la Republique, taking turns to pass round a microphone and denounce everything from the dominance of Google to tax evasion or inequality on housing estates. The debating continued into the early hours of the morning, with soup and sandwiches on hand in the canteen tent and a protest choir singing revolutionary songs. A handful of protesters in tents then bedded down to occupy the square for the night before being asked to move on by police just before dawn. But the next morning they returned to set up their protest camp again. For more than a week, these vast nocturnal protest gatherings from parents with babies to students, workers, artists and pensioners have spread across France, rising in number, and are beginning to panic the government. Michel, a 60-year old former delivery driver, is reported as explaining that, Theres something here that Ive never seen before in France all these people converge here each night of their own accord to talk and debate ideas from housing to the universal wages, refugees, any topic they like. No one has told them to, no unions are pushing them on theyre coming of their own accord. Another indication of the mood was the generation revolution slogan scrawled on the pavement in the square in Paris. Government hard line In spite of this widespread opposition movement, the government dug its heels in and pushed for the law to be passed. The protests continued, but the trade union leaders, while expressing support for the movement and promoting days of action, did not attempt to widen it out and bring in other layers to increase the pressure on the government. [See France: The Movement Against the El Khomri Labour Law - How to Move Forward? for an analysis of the role of the trade union leaders and what they should have done]. Faced with the mass protests on the streets, the prime minister, Manuel Valls, on May 10th announced that his Socialist government would be forcing the law through parliament, invoking article 49.3 of the Constitution which allows for an acceleration of parliamentary procedure. This was combined with brutal police repression of the worker demonstrations. In spite of this continued hard-line position of the government, the union leaders did not escalate the strikes and street protests. In effect, they allowed the movement to be dragged out without any perspective of an escalation and therefore of success. And eventually on July 21st parliament passed the new law and the movement died down. Crisis facing France How do we explain these attacks on workers rights? It has become very popular on the left to explain them as being of an ideological nature. What is meant by this is that they arent really necessary and that a fairer more just way of running society can be found without doing away with capitalism. It is a fundamentally reformist outlook and it is also utterly false, because it ignores completely the real relations between the classes and also between competing companies and countries within the logic of the market economy, i.e. capitalism. The world economy is facing a serious downturn and it is in these conditions that we need to look at the real concrete situation faced by French capitalism. The French economy inevitably moves in line with the developments in the world economy. It is a major economic power, one of the top six in the world, and it needs to export on a large scale in order to survive. And in spite of all attempts to prettify the situation by the government, there are no signs of the beginning of a recovery in the global economy. The World Trade Organisation predicts that growth in world trade for 2016 will end with a figure of 1.7%, the lowest since the beginning of the crisis. In this context, the IMF has revised down growth for the French economy to 1.25%, and may even have to further revise this downwards as the second quarter [2016] figures that have recently been released and indicate a risk of recession with -0.1% fall in GDP. Figures for French unemployment show a growth of 50,000 more jobless. Three million people are unemployed, 10.6% a 180-year high compared to 4.3% in Germany, placing France much closer to Italy than its northern neighbours when it comes to the jobless. In 2015 industrial production grew by less than 2% and investments were at a standstill with 0% growth. Since 2004, the country has been running trade deficits as its export-oriented industries have weakened. Over 800 factories have closed in France since 2012, and nearly one million industrial jobs have been lost since 2001. This represents a colossal cutback in industry, and is a reflection of the falling competitiveness of French industry in the face of far more powerful and productive countries such as Germany and China. France also has one of the biggest national debts in the European Union and it has been growing over the past few years. In 2006 it was 64.4% of GDP, but by 2015 in just nine years it had shot up to 96.1% (around $2400bn) and is expected to reach close to 99% by the end of this year. The growth of the debt accelerated after the 2008 crisis, and it is destined to grow even more over the next few years, reaching close to $2700bn by the year 2020. With the present slowdown in the economy, that means its overall public debt will go well above the level of 100% of GDP. The fact is that France has been falling behind its main competitor in Europe, Germany, for the past decade. Prior to that France was holding up, but since 2008 the French economy has only grown by around 3 per cent, compared to Germanys 6 per cent, not to mention the USs 10% in the same period. The traditions of the French working class All these facts are concentrating the minds of the French bourgeoisie. The truth is that the French bosses have delayed taking the necessary from their point of view anti-working class measures that other countries adopted long ago. There is a good reason for that: the strong militant traditions of the French working class going back decades to the 1968 movement and even further back. The French bourgeois knows how the workers of France can react. Sarkozy during his presidency (2007-12) did push through cuts in the pension system and in public spending, but he held back from tackling the question of changing French labour laws and making drastic cuts to Frances benefits system. During the movement against the Loi Travail all the opinion polls revealed that more than 70% of the population wanted the law to be withdrawn, showing the depth of opposition to the plans of the government. The unions, although they organise less than 10% of the workforce, remain powerful organisations and in the past through very militant class struggle had achieved important conditions in terms of job protection and wage levels. They also made it difficult for the bosses to fire workers. Compared to Germany, French workers have a shorter working week and a lower age of retirement. What permitted the French bosses to live with this situation was the relatively high level of labour productivity of French workers thanks to high levels of investments in technology and infrastructure until a few years ago. That has now changed, as the dramatic fall in Frances manufacturing exports demonstrates. Thus, it is not a question of ideological cuts being demanded by the bourgeoisie. They are forced to go onto the offensive by the world situation and their own declining position within the world market. They either attack the working class or sink. The German model Bourgeois commentators, both internationally and in France, have been quoting the infamous Hartz reforms introduced in Germany over ten years ago. Productivity in the previous period (1980s to the 1990s) had been growing at a lower rate than wages. This is what forced the German bosses to go onto the offensive with a series of measures aimed at cutting production costs and increasing productivity. The Hartz reforms were a major restructuring of the benefits system in Germany, with big cuts in what the unemployed were entitled to. This was considered as necessary to give the jobless an incentive to look for work, in effect forcing them to take any job, however low the wages were. And if they did not actively seek work their benefits would be further cut. The flexibility introduced by these so-called reforms, meant that it became easier to hire and fire workers in accordance with the ups and downs of the market. Due to all these measures, in the period 1997-2010 real wages in Germany went down by 10% and hourly productivity went up by 8%. The overall result was a reduction of around 25% in the unitary cost of labour. This made German industry much more competitive. It was, however, the working class that paid for this success story, as an OECD report of April 2012 clearly outlines: Germany is the only [EU] country that has seen an increase in labour earnings inequality from the mid-1990s to the end 2000s driven by increasing inequality in the bottom half of the distribution. Just as today it is the French Socialist Party that has launched the offensive against the working class, so in Germany it was the SPD under Schroeder that introduced the Hartz reforms. The SPD paid for this in electoral terms, and prepared the ground for the right wing. From its 40.9% in the 1998 elections, the SPD went down to 34.2% in 2005 and 23% in 2009, losing over nine million votes and preparing the conditions for the CDU/CSU to dominate German politics under Merkel. To this day the SPD has not recovered from that experience. Hollande prepares ground for victory of the right Francois Hollande - Photo: Matthieu RieglerNow Hollande is preparing the ground for a similar return of the right to power in France. In fact, the general economic decline outlined above, together with the constant attacks on working conditions and on welfare, has led to the governments popularity plummeting. The PS (Socialist Party) will pay a heavy price at the next election, where they are destined to face their worst electoral defeat, even worse than that of Jospin in 2002. In the popularity ratings, Hollande has suffered a huge collapse since he was elected in 2012. The betrayal on the part of the Socialist Party leaders is preparing the return to government of the right, as the most likely scenario. The French Socialist Party risks a scenario like that of the PASOK, or at least of the PSOE in Spain, which after governing prepared the ground for the victory of the Popular Party. The tragedy of the situation is that the right-wing parties of France are not exactly riding on a wave of popularity. It is a case of no other credible alternative being offered by the official left. That explains why over past decades the trend has been for growing levels of abstentions, particularly in the legislative elections. In present-day conditions, according to the polls, it is highly unlikely that a centre-left Socialist Party candidate would be able to reach the second round of the French presidential election in 2017, no matter who that may be. Hollande would get 11% to 15% depending on who the other candidates are, but he has yet to state whether he will stand or not. Some polls seem to indicate that Socialist former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron who is considering standing might do better than Hollande, but he would still not get through to the second round, not going beyond the 20% mark. It is highly unlikely that a PS candidate would get through to the second. Although it cannot be completely ruled out, it would have to be a candidate of the left of the party who would have a big job on his hands regaining all the ground lost under Hollande. The problem with this perspective is that the right wing controls the Socialist Party firmly, and even the so-called left has an extremely moderate programme, that is practically indistinguishable from the Hollande leadership. It would therefore take major events to shake up the PS. Prospects for the right wing Marine Le Pen of the Front National, on the other hand, is running high in the polls and she would go through to the first round, and would face either Sarkozy or Juppe whichever of the two wins the primaries of Les Republicains (LR) in the second round. The majority of the ruling class would prefer Juppe, as they consider him to be less discredited, less unpredictable, and less of a provocation to the masses than Sarkozy. Juppe is also much more popular in the opinion polls than Sarkozy, who has been plagued by a series of scandals that have reduced his support. According to opinion polls, Juppe would pick up 33% and Le Pen 29% in one first-round scenario. In another, Sarkozy would reap 27% and Le Pen 29%. The choice in the second round would thus be between two right-wing bourgeois candidates. Although Le Pen has a serious chance of getting through to the second round, she is most unlikely to win the presidency. All opinion polls indicate that in a second round between either Sarkozy or Juppe against Le Pen, the vote would divide roughly two to one against Le Pen, as many people would rally against Le Pen. The fact is that the main wing of the French ruling class does not want Le Pen as President and we can be sure that in the second round they would rally around either Sarkozy or Juppe, as would the leaders of the PS and other parties. Unless something dramatic happens between now and next years presidential elections, it seems therefore most likely that a candidate of Les Republicains will be the next President of France. There would also be over 30% of the electorate that would not vote for either of the two bourgeois candidates in the second round. The growing popularity of Melenchon Jean-Luc Melenchon - Photo: Marie-Lan NguyenFrom a Marxist point of view, however, what is more important is what is developing on the left around Jean-Luc Melenchon. He was a member of the PS and a Minister in 2000-02, but left the party in 2008 to set up the Left Party (Parti de Gauche) which then went on to become a part of the Left Front together with the Communist Party in 2009. In the 2012 presidential elections he won just over 11% of the vote, standing as the candidate of the Left Front. Since then the Left Front has broken up, with the Communist Party seeking agreements with the PS purely on the basis of getting its candidates elected on joint lists. The Left Party, on the other hand, sought deals with the Greens who were also a party of government in a coalition with the PS. By behaving in this manner, the potential expressed for the Left Front back in 2012 was dissipated. However, in the recent period Melenchon has been rising in popularity. Paris Match published a recent popularity rating of the top 50 French political personalities, and had this to say about Melenchon: Fourth in the presidential election in 2012, Jean-Luc Melenchon has become one of the top five personalities most appreciated by the French, according to Ifop-Fiducial poll carried out for Paris Match and Sud-Radio. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy finds himself at his lowest level since 2012. () Jean-Luc Melenchon was the surprise; going from eleventh to fifth place (...) Never has a leader of the ultra-left risen so high. By increasing by two points, the former head of the Left Party has avoided the almost universal unpopularity that this month has affected 43 of the top 50 politicians in the Ifop poll. (Paris Match, 11 October 2016). Some recent polls indicate that Melenchon could win between 12 and 15% in the first round, which could see him coming third, ahead of a Socialist Party candidate. In October 2011 opinion polls gave him 6%, but he ended up winning 11%. This time something similar could happen on a higher level. Crisis in the Communist Party The emergence of Melenchon as the only real left alternative has provoked crisis inside the Communist Party. We are in fact witnessing a new stage in the historical decline of the PCF leadership, and one of the most serious crises in the history of the party. It has already been weakened for its joint electoral lists with the Socialist Party in the recent period, being thus tinged with the austerity measures imposed by the government. Melenchon realises that he is really the only show in town when it comes to a left candidate in next years presidential elections. That explains also his break with the Communist Party. He feels he does not need them, and is aiming to further weaken the PCF. In fact, he has also broken with his own party, the Left Party. He is determined to run his own show, as he knows that he can build on the previous 2012 success. That explains why he has launched his own movement, La France insoumise [Rebellious France]. This has provoked confusion in the ranks of the Communist Party. Some of its activists and leaders, among them former National Secretary Marie-George Buffet, are in favour of the party forming an alliance with Melenchon, while the majority of the leadership call for a candidate that could unite everybody standing to the left of Hollande. But all this is just an excuse not to support Melenchon. This explains why the party still has not stated what it is going to do, and will only decide on November 5 at a national party conference. At this stage, it is not clear which position will emerge from that conference, but if they do not support Melenchon this could result in the complete marginalisation of the party, and would provoke further crises and internal conflicts. The fact is that many rank and file members of the Communist Party have already declared their support for Melenchon and are participating in his movement. If the Communist Party leaders refuse to support Melenchon, it will serve to further deepen the crisis the party is facing and lead to a further decline in its fortunes, for alone it cannot win any elected positions and with the Socialist Party it would be signing its own death sentence! Melenchon connects with radical mood The most likely outcome is that Melenchon could come third, but it is not completely excluded that he could make it into the second round. Whichever of these perspectives emerges, it is clear that he is positioning himself on the left as the only viable candidate that can express the radicalisation to the left that has been developing in France. It is clear that the conditions are more favourable than ever for the development of a mass movement to the left of the PS. The reason why Melenchon is becoming so popular among a significant layer of workers and youth is that he stands out from the other candidates for his opposition to austerity, precisely at a moment when masses of working people have been fighting the cuts imposed by the present government. Having failed to stop this government, the idea is developing that it is not enough to go on strike and organise demonstrations, but what is required is a change at the top, a different government, one that reflects the interests of the workers. La France insoumise, in these conditions, has the potential to become a mass movement, similar to the rise of Podemos in Spain, or to SYRIZA before it reneged on its programme after the July 2015 referendum. Melenchons programme includes the call for free health care, the building of a million council homes, an increase in the minimum wage, etc. If he were to carry out the social measures in his programme this would radically and positively transform the lives of the mass of the population. Marxists support these measures and will support Melenchon in next years presidential elections, but they will also insist that his programme should be a fully worked out socialist programme. Much of what he says we can support, but unless he draws the logical conclusion that in order to carry out the reforms he promises he would have to proceed to nationalise the major monopolies and banks, then he risks being pushed in the direction of Tsipras at a later stage. France is moving in a similar direction to Spain and Greece in the recent period. The radicalisation we are seeing around La France insoumise and Melenchon is a product of the relative decline of French capitalism. Similar conditions produce similar phenomena. We can look with confidence to the growing class struggle and political radicalisation in France today. And once the French workers move this will give a huge impetus to the revolutionary process underway across the whole of Europe, as it did in the past with the movement of May 1968, but on a much higher level given the acuteness of the crisis gripping world capitalism today. Ambassador Luong Thanh Nghi speaking at the seminar (Photo: AVYLD) Speaking at the seminar, Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Luong Thanh Nghi introduced the basic features of the socio-economic development situation of Vietnam today. The Ambassador stated that after 30 years of renovation, Vietnam has gained important achievements with historical significance. Vietnam has become a middle-income country; an economic growth rate of over 6% per year in a long time has improved living standards of people along with extensive international integration. However, in the context of complicated development of the region and world, and the world economy's slow recovery, Vietnam has many opportunities but also faces many difficulties and challenges. The 12th National Party Congress has set out socio-economic development direction of Vietnam in the coming time, affirming economic innovation determination, restructuring state-owned enterprises and creating open conditions for foreign enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam. Ambassador Nghi said that the comprehensive partner relations between Vietnam and Australia are growing substantially and effectively in all fields. "Vietnam is the fastest developing trading partner of Australia among ASEAN countries. In spite of different economic development levels, with complementary strengths, Vietnam and Australia have many things to share. We have built a new platform from which our economic collaboration will become more prosperous," stressed the Ambassador. At the seminar, speakers including Mr. Allester Cox, former Australian Ambassador to Vietnam; Mr. Nigel Russell, legal consultant who is also Chairman of the International School in Vietnam; Ms Thao Nguyen, Regional Director of the Sydney Technical University; and Ms. Ta Chau, Chairwoman of Australias Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ho Chi Minh city, discussed business opportunities for Australian businesses from their own experiences in Vietnam. The speakers and participants at the seminar confirmed Vietnams economic development potential is huge due to the strategic location, increasingly improved business and investment environment, young labour force and especially, Vietnams increasing integration into the international economic life through the signing of a series of free trade agreements (FTA) with high standards such as FTA with the EU and Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. On this occasion, AVYLD was officially started. AVYLD was established from mid 2016 on the initiative of a group of young Vietnamese people in Australia in order to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries in general and the youth of the two countries in particular, creating cooperation opportunities to promote the socio-economic prosperity of both Australia and Vietnam. It is expected that the first dialogue session between the young leaders of the two countries will take place in Sydney in May 2017./. NORTHAMPTON -- Both Columbia Gas and Berkshire Gas are close, they say, to going public with plans to increase the supply of natural gas to Hampshire and Franklin counties. Increasing that supply would end the 2-year-old moratoriums on new gas service hook-ups both utilities have imposed on their territories in the northern half of the Pioneer Valley. The affected communities are Northampton and Easthampton in Columbia Gas' service territory and Amherst, Deerfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Greenfield, Montague, Sunderland and Whatley in Berkshire Gas' territory. The solutions might involve expanding the existing Northampton lateral gas line, which runs from a main gas line in Southwick north to Greenfield. The solution might also involve swapping capacity on that line with other utilities. Or it might involve creating stations where gas or propane can be added to the network in Franklin and Hampshire counties to backfill supply without over-taxing the Northampton lateral, executives from both companies said Thursday in separate interviews. If the plans come to pass, the moratoriums will be lifted in spite of the demise of the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project proposed by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan. Kinder Morgan dropped plans for the pipeline in May in the face of local opposition, federal regulatory burdens, angry cooperate investors and a lack of large-scale customers willing to commit to buying the gas. Berkshire Gas' plan will come out in a regulatory filing soon, said spokesman Christopher C. Farrell in a phone interview Thursday. "The solution will depend on whatever makes the most sense," he said. "Whatever it is, it won't happen before the next heating season." Stephen H. Bryant, president of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, said Thursday that he hopes to outline plans to lift his company's moratorium next month when he speaks to the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. Bryant spoke during a visit to Springfield for the grand opening of a new Columbia Gas operations center on Roosevelt Avenue. "This is the worst position for us to be in," Bryant said. "We never want to be in a position where we have to say no to people who want the service. We want to provide the service." Bryant said Thursday the Kinder Morgan pipeline wouldn't have solved his problem. "We are too far south," Bryant said. "The issue for us is capacity on that lateral. The NED pipeline wouldn't have helped me." Berkshire Gas' Farrell said the pipeline, which would have passed through Franklin County, would have been the cheapest way to get more gas into the region, alleviating Berkshire Gas' supply squeeze and freeing up capacity the company uses on the Northampton lateral. It also would have freed up capacity on the Northampton lateral for Columbia Gas and for the other two utilities that use it, Westfield Gas + Electric and Holyoke Gas & Electric. Bryant said Columbia Gas is negotiating with Holyoke and Westfield to see if there are other ways for those cities to get gas, ways that won't involve the Northampton lateral. "It would free up capacity," he said. Other solutions could be peaking stations. These are places where utilities can add propane or gas into the line from trucks or rail cars to backfill supply and bypass the lateral. Farrell said one solution Berkshire Gas is looking at is expanding the Northampton lateral. But he didn't want to go into details before the documents are filed with the state. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. owns the lateral as far north as Northampton; Berkshire gas owns it from Northampton to Greenfield. Berkshire Gas imposed a moratorium on new gas hook-ups in Amherst, Hadley and Hatfield in March of 2015. That decision followed a similar ban on new hook-ups the company imposed in Greenfield, Deerfield, Montague, Whatley and Sunderland at the end of 2014. Columbia Gas of Massachusetts imposed its own moratorium on new service in Northampton and Easthampton at the end of 2014. The moratoriums have proven hard for developers who had planned on offering gas heat and hot water and gas-fueled cooking to their residential and restaurant customers. Many builders turned to less efficient propane systems, where gas is delivered by truck and stored on site. Columbia Gas of Massachusetts Service Territory by Jim Kinney on Scribd There are some beautiful fall foliage spots around Massachusetts, including Tully Mountain in Orange, Massachusetts, where an Instagrammer captured this beautiful photo. MassLive Instagram followers voted for this photo as the #igMassachusetts photo of the week. Be sure to nominate your favorite photos throughout the week by using #FavMassPix or tagging us and check out our fall photo contest. Follow @Masslive on Instagram for updates. Where's your favorite place for leaf-peeping? SPRINGFIELD -- The indictment of 14 members of an alleged drug organization that brought deadly heroin to Western Massachusetts was hailed by law enforcement officials Friday as significant progress in the fight against opioid addiction. The suspects, all but one of whom were arrested Sept. 22, were indicted Thursday in U.S. District Court in Springfield on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin. The "Hollywood" and "Donald Trump" heroin they are accused of peddling has been linked to at least five overdose deaths in Chicopee and Holyoke. "Our city has unfortunately seen too many overdoses, and deaths, from heroin," Chicopee Police Chief William Jebb said in a press release issued by U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz's office. "Because of the efforts of all involved, this dangerous drug was kept off of our streets, and resulted in many lives saved." Ortiz's office said the drugs were supplied by sources in New York and the Dominican Republic. One of the indicted, Alberto Marte, 31, of Springfield, is described in court documents as the leader of the organization and operator of a "stash/mill house" at 152 Lebanon St. in Springfield. Co-defendant Julian Declet, 32, allegedly facilitated narcotics transactions out of AJ Buy & Sell, a glorified pawn shop at 895 Carew St. Ortiz's office said the organization transported 8 to 20 kilograms of heroin to the Springfield area per month. During the course of the investigation, more than 5 kilograms of heroin was seized by federal agents, Ortiz's office said. Nine of the other suspects are also from Springfield: Marcos Pena, 29, Jiovanni Rodriguez, 29, Jose Miguel Ramos, 36, Anyuly Tavarez, 30, William Brantley, 45, Mirelvy Vasquez, 26, Diolfi Antonio Marte Vasquez, 25, Anthony Patino, 31, and Juan Perez, 29. Also arrested were Pablo Rosario, 32, of the Bronx, New York, and Eduardo Ferndandez, 38, of Hazelton, Pennsylvania. The 14th defendant, Carlos Sierra, aka Rivera, remains at large. In court documents, Sierra is described as a heroin quality tester who reported to Marte. The eight-month investigation involved local and state law enforcement as well as the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations. "DEA and its law enforcement partners have effectively dismantled the command and control elements as well as the distribution network in New England and the Dominican Republic that are responsible for putting this poison on the streets of Springfield and Chicopee, as well as throughout New England," said Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Ferguson. "Here in western Massachusetts, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are successfully working together to combat the opioid crisis," said Hampden County District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni. "This investigation shows that we will hold accountable those who seek to profit from addiction by selling and trafficking drugs on our streets and in our neighborhoods." first congregational church of Chicopee.JPG The First Congregational Church of Chicopee is seen in this historic photographic. CHICOPEE -- A local church is organizing a health fair to help the community as well as its own congregation. The First Congregational Church of Chicopee (United Church of Christ) will open its doors at 306 Chicopee St. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday to offer blood pressure checks, vision screenings, flu shots and much more, said the Rev. William Imes, acting pastor of the church. Church members have passed out pamphlets around the neighborhood and hope to attract people from across the region who want information about health care. They are also hoping to make some new friends in the process, he said. "Like many old-time churches they are in decline," he said. "One of the clear options to grow is to become more mission-focused, and this is a fairly easy way to start." The congregation currently has about 85 members and is hoping to teach more people about the church and welcome them to join, Imes said. The program is called crossroads and has been practiced at a number of churches across the country, he said. In an effort to reach out to Spanish-speaking residents, members of the church have partnered with members of the Seventh Day Adventist church who rent the building on Saturday for their own services. Since a number of those members are bilingual they will offer translation services to any visitors who need them, Imes said. But members hope to help the community by offering services and information in a central location. Walgreens is providing flu shots and a nurse for the Chicopee Health Department will attend to hand out information and answer questions on a variety of topics ranging from preparing for a natural disaster to breast health, Imes said. The Lions Club, which is best known for work on eye care, is the anchor of the fair. Members will bring the mobile eye van and offer screenings for vision and to check for eye diseases but will also do much more. "A lot of people don't know they will check your hearing and blood pressure," Imes said. Some organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Diabetes Association do not have a representative available on Sundays, but each sent materials that will be handed out by church members, Imes said. Church members will also be grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and serving other free refreshments, he said. "We are hoping the neighborhood will respond and come out," he said. The information was released by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on October 12th. This activity is in the framework of the project on scaling up HKIs School Based Vision Care Services in Son Tay, Ba Vi, and Phuc Tho districts in Hanoi, Vietnam funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Helen Keller International (HKI)-Vietnam from March to February 2017. Of these 11,000, about 1,200 schoolchildren and teachers suffering from refractive errors who will be provided with quality eyeglasses prescribed by ophthalmologists. Providing eye glasses to students (Photo provided by USAID) In addition, the project has been training healthcare providers in basic ophthalmology, ophthalmologic nursing, refraction, eyeglass dispensing and vision screening (for refractive errors and child eye conditions). Necessary equipment was also provided for capacity building in refraction, treatment and overall eye health for the local schoolchildren and the community as a whole./. Of these, 65 educators are to be granted the title of professor, while 638 others will receive the title of associate professor. This years requirements for recognition were set higher to meet current demands and comply with international standards. Among the new professors for 2016 were six female educators, including Vu Thi Thu Ha from the Vietnam Institute of Industrial Chemistry; retired teacher Nguyen Khanh Van; Le Thi Son from Hanoi Law University; retired teacher Le Thi Chieu; Le Thi Hoai Phuong from the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies; and Bui Thi Thu Ha from Hanoi School of Public Health. The event in 2015. Photo for illustration In 2016, Tran Dinh Thang, a lecturer at Vinh University and born in 1975, is the youngest professor, while 32-year-old Tran Xuan Bach of Hanoi Medical University is the youngest new associate professor. The oldest educator to receive the title of professor this year is Le Thi Chieu, born in 1947, is a retired teacher in the metallurgy industry. Retired teacher Bui Manh Hung, who was born in 1950, is the oldest member to receive associate professor status. Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha was also honoured with the Professor title. The office of the State Professor Title Council also received two documents, which granted the Professor title in exceptional circumstances to Professor Bui Minh Phong from Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary and Professor Dao Van Lap from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia./. Sponsored by Canon Vietnam Limited Company (CVN) and Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU), it aims at following up and supporting activities for students and Tiep suc den truong program launched by HCYU as well. The handover ceremony of this years scholarship was held in Hanoi on October 14th. Photos: Hai Dang After three months of implementation, the Examining Board of this years event has already selected the most excellent 11 high school students and 16 universities students, with a total value of VND562.2 million in which scholarships for university students cost VND384 million (equal to VND24 million/set/year) and VND178.2 million for high school students (equal to VND16.2 million/set/year). Students that got scholarship in 2016- 2017 may get additional scholarships in the following years till they graduate, provided that they keep on studying well enough. At the same time, CVN and HCYU commit to following up and supporting pupils and students in their study and their career in their future, creating a firm fundamental base for the next generations development. In the 2014 - 2015 period, some 55 scholarships were given to 32 pupils (total cost VND518.4 million) and 23 students (total cost VND552 million). Organizers hope to contribute more and more for the next Vietnamese generations development particularly and for the national education generally, by creating opportunities and best conditions for the development of students./. From: Anita Hassan Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2016 08:55:00 +0000 Subject: Now regarding the bank demands Hello Dear, Good evening my lovely one, How are you doing over there once again today? thanks for your mail and for your ability to help me pending my arrival to meet with you, It shows you are a dependable and trustworthy man. Now regarding the bank demands from us i have with me here the Deposit certificate (which i will provide and the death certificate (which i will also provide) I thought it's the only Document the bank will need from us but since they need Power Of Attorney and Affidavit Of Oath from the High Court here in Dakar Senegal As i tell our Rev Father Francis about it and he gave me the contact of this lawyer below, He is a registered lawyer in the United Nation Camp here and he is also a registered member in Senegalese Bar Association and he has promised to provide the documents in your name once you contact him. Please i will like you to contact him through email and phone today and try to send your phone number to him for easier communication When your contacting him, tell him that you are my Foreign partner and you want him to help you prepare a Power Of Attorney and Affidavit Of Oath in your name to enable the ( HALIFAX BANK OF LONDON PLC ) to transfer my Late father's money to your ACCOUNT in your country. Here is the lawyer Contact Information are as follows: Name: Barrister Gilford Mutuma Diamond Law Chambers and Associate Phone No: (+221769206515) Emails: (barrister-gilfordmutuma@africamail.com) Emails: (advocategilfordmutuma@gmail.com) Please keep in touch with me as soon as you hear from the lawyer,hope to hear from you soon i cant waiting to meet you, am wishing you lovely day.Yours lovely Anita. From: Anita Hassan Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2016 08:57:08 +0000 Subject: Please try and file this letter and send it to the lawyer.So that he can help us get the document bank requested in your name.. Please try and file this letter and send it to the lawyer.So that he can help us get the document bank requested in your name..Hello Barrister Gilford Mutuma.I am Mr......................I Am from .................my age is ..................I am Miss Anita Foreign partner/Please i want you to help me prepare a Power Of Attorney and Affidavit Of Oath in my name to enable the ( HALIFAX BANK OF LONDON PLC ) transfer her Late father's money to my ACCOUNT in your country.This is my phone number................Please barrister Gilford i will be waiting to hear from you.yours Faithful..............Here is the lawyer Contact Information are as follows:Name: Barrister Gilford MutumaDiamond Law Chambers and AssociateEmails: (barrister-gilfordmutuma@africamail.com)Emails: (advocategilfordmutuma@gmail.com) From: BARRISTER GILFORD MUTUMA Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:14:42 +0200 Subject: FROM BARRISTER GILFORD MUTUMA. Cc: anitahassan24@hotmail.com [image: http://gandialawyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Gandia-Lawyers-Logo1.jpg] LEGAL PRACTITIONER & ATTORNEYS OFA SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE DIAMOND LAW CHAMBER. Pau, U2O, No 379, Unite Vain Parcelles,OfficeA A Dakar SenegalA Tel(00221709129097) Dear Client. I receive your TexA request for the preparation of aA POWER OF ATTORNEY" and Affidavit of Oath in your name to empower you as the beneficiary on behalf of Miss Anita Hassan Al-DrouiA (The next of kin) and to authorize the bank to transfer money into your account in your country.I have also communicate with the bank,So Before we can proceed in this service we would like you to forward to this law firm immediately, Your full information (Full Name, Phone Number, Address, Your Photocopy of your passport or ID Card) Forward us these things immediately as they are very important because it is what we will use to prepare the POWER OF ATTORNEYA and Affidavit of OathA for you in the Federal High Court of Justice here in Senegal for it to be authentic and to authorize the bank to make the transfer. Meanwhile, i have also gone to the Federal High Court Of Justice here and this is their requirements for the preparation of the power of attorneyA and Affidavit of OathA in your name before it becomes authentic to authorize the bank to transfer money to your account in your country. Due to the law conscientiously mandated by the Government of the Republic of Senegal on foreign investors in the Notary Republic of Senegal at the moment.Investors are hereby to fit the sum of ($287 Dollars) This is for the authentication of the power of attorney affidavit at the Federal High court and for notary stamping at the notary republic before it becomes valid. While our legal fee isA ($100 Dollars)Total $387 Dollars.Which is about 16.600 Gambia Dalasi. NOTE: You have to send us($387 Dollars) including our legal service charge which you are required to pay in other to enable us handle your inheritance matter by this legal firm. To adequately mobilize us on this assignment You are hereby required to send to us a total sum of($387 Dollars,The fee as stated below to enable us secured the legal documents from the high court. YOU HAVE TO COPY THIS INFORMATION BELOW IS MY OFFICE SECRETARY INFORMATION I MAY NOT HAVE THE TIME TO GO TO THE BANK USE IT TO SEND THE MONEY THROUGHA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER OR MONEY GRAM. RECEIVER NAME,LAWRENCE MADIBEBE COUNTRY.ADDRESS,A DAKARA SENEGAL ADDRESS..NO 379 UNITE VAIN PARCELLE PHONE NUMBER..+221709129097 MAKE SURE YOU INFORM ME IMMEDIATELY YOU SEND THE MONEY, SO WE CAN START THE PREPARATION OF THE LEGAL DOCUMENTS (WHICH WILL BE READY BY THE NEXT TWO WORKING DAYS)I AM WAITING TO RECEIVED THE MONEY IMMEDIATELYA TOGETHER WITH YOUR INFORMATION. The documents will be ready as soon the payment is made to the Federal high court Senegal.Bear in mind that we cannot continue in this work if you do not comply to our directives but we assure you an excellent service. Hon: Barrister GILFORD MUTUMA. From: Anita Hassan Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2016 17:55:57 +0000 Subject: I have see what the lawyer request for the POWER OF ATTORNEY and AFFIDAVIT OF OATH($387 dollars) . Good evening my lovely one,Sorry for my late reply try to understand my condition over here,Thanks for your effort your making to help me out of the condition how are you and your family hope all is well by the Grace of God If so thanks be to God almighty.Please i really want to hear your sweet voice.Am so happy to have you as my helper Honestly My dear you have brought my joy and happiness back since the death of my sweet parents i don't really know how to thank you but i pray and ask God to give you more wisdom and strength and also give you many blessing.I have see what the lawyer request for the POWER OF ATTORNEY and AFFIDAVIT OF OATH($387 dollars) to validate the documents from the federal high court here in Senegal, As you can understand my present situation now in Senegal that i don't have any money left with me here in the refugee camp, nor any body to run to and i talk to our Rev Father he don't have money with him now and he call the lawyer and the Lawyer said that the money is not belong to him is belong to the Federal High Court Of Justice here in Senegal and he cant not use his money and get the document,Please My love i will advise you to try all your possible best if you can get some MONEY and write to the Lawyer or call him and tell him how much you have now if he can help us get this POWER OF ATTORNEY and AFFIDAVIT OF OATH,please I am pleading with you to assist me and try all your possible best to get some amount and send to the lawyer so that he will start preparing the documents immediately,You know this POWER OF ATTORNEY and AFFIDAVIT OF OATH, is the only thing that hold this transfer now,please i want to come out from this so call refugee camp and i need to meet you soon over there in your country,My dear the most important thing is that the bank has accepted to transfer this fund once the documents is submitted to them they will transfer the money into your account within three working days so that i will come over there to leave a batter life once again,Please i am looking up to you because you are the only one i have now in my life, please my dear try your best and write to the lawyer or call him and tell him how much you have at hand if he can help us out,Please am waiting to hear the good news from you,yours lovely Anita. From: barrister-gilfordmutuma@africamail.com Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 11:29:06 +0200 Subject: Re: seeking permission OKAY AM STILL WAITING TO RECEIVE THE MONEY TO GO AND REGISTER THE DOCUMENT TO FEDERAL HIGH COURT IMMEDIATELY.MAKE SURE YOU USE THE INFORMATION I GIVE TO YOU TO SEND THE MONEY IMMEDIATELY. From: BARRISTER GILFORD MUTUMA Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 12:26:12 +0200 Subject: Re: seeking permission OKAY I UNDERSTAND HAVE YOU SEND THE MONEY? From: Anita Hassan Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 17:06:08 +0000 Subject: RE: seeking permission Good evening my lovely one,Please My love i will advise you to try all your possible best if you can get some MONEY and write to the Lawyer or call him and tell him how much you have now if he can help us get this POWER OF ATTORNEY and AFFIDAVIT OF OATH,please I am pleading with you to assist me and try all your possible best to get some amount and send to the lawyer so that he will start preparing the documents immediately,please my dear try your best and write to the lawyer or call him and tell him how much you have at hand if he can help us out,Please am waiting to hear the good news from you,yours lovely Anita. From: Anita Hassan Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2016 08:33:09 +0000 Subject: Good morning my lovely one. Good morning my lovely one,How are you doing over there today hope all is well with you?Thanks for your mail and for all the effort your making to help me out of this condition all mighty God will reward you,I have send mail to the lawyer and tell him how much you have and please try and contact him also and talk with him and hear from him please i will be waiting to hear the good news i cant wait to meet you over there in your country as soon as possible,Have a lovely day and God bless you.Yours lovely Anita. From: BARRISTER GILFORD MUTUMA Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2016 14:32:26 +0200 Subject: Re: seeking permission I RECEIVE YOUR MAIL AND ALSO RECEIVE A MAIL FROM YOUR PARTNER MISS ANITA THAT SHOWS ME THAT YOUR SERIOUS KNOW PROBLEM JUST GO AND SEND THE MONEY THROUGHA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER OR MONEY GRAM IMMEDIATELY LET ME START THE WORK. USE THIS INFORMATION AND SEND THE MONEY RECEIVER NAME,LAWRENCE MADIBEBE COUNTRY.ADDRESS,A DAKARA SENEGAL MAKE SURE YOU INFORM ME IMMEDIATELY YOU SEND THE MONEY WITH THE CODE TO RECEIVE THE MONEY, SO WE CAN START THE PREPARATION OF THE LEGAL DOCUMENTS I AM WAITING TO RECEIVED THE MONEY IMMEDIATELY. Hon: Barrister GILFORD MUTUMA. From: BARRISTER GILFORD MUTUMA Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2016 11:30:13 +0200 Subject: Re: seeking permission LOOK MR MAN DON'T YOU EVER PLAY WITH ME OKAY IF YOU TRY I HAVE YOUR INFORMATION I WILL GET YOU OKAY NEVER YOU CONTACT ME AGAIN OKAY IF YOU SEND MONEY GO AND GET YOUR MONEY AND LOOK FOR ANOTHER LAWYER OKAY From: BARRISTER GILFORD MUTUMA Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2016 13:41:37 +0200 Subject: Re: seeking permission NEVER YOU CONTACT ME AGAIN LOOK FOR ANOTHER LAWYER OKAY If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more.... The McDowell County Sheriffs Office is helping raise money for the family of fallen Shelby Police Officer Tim Brackeen. Every sheriffs office in North Carolina received 100 blue and black lapel ribbons, which can be purchased for a $5 donation. All of the proceeds go to Brackeens wife, Mikel, and their 4-year-old daughter, Daphney. Brackeen was shot on Saturday, Sept. 10 while on duty, serving a warrant. He died from his injuries two days later. Officer Brackeen is the epitome of a hero, said McDowell County Sheriff Dudley Greene. He laid down his life for the people of his community. Nothing we do can bring him back, but, hopefully, this money will lift some of the burden from his family. David Teddy, a Shelby attorney with Teddy, Meekins & Talbert, developed the idea for the fundraiser and presented it to Sheriffs Alan Cloninger of Gaston County and Alan Norman of Cleveland County, who hope to raise $50,000 for the family with ribbon sales. The math is pretty simple, Teddy wrote in a letter to all sheriffs. We are sending at least 100 ribbons to every sheriff throughout the state. If every sheriff can partner with our firm to distribute these ribbons in their respective counties in exchange for a suggested donation of at least $5.00 per ribbon, we will be able to match our initial goal of $50,000.00 for a total of $100,000.00. It is my hope that we will be able to deliver a check to Tims wife for $100,000.00 by Thanksgiving Day. The ribbon campaign began with homemade black and blue ribbons that were handed out to law enforcement in Shelby and then beyond in Cleveland County. The law firm is now close to distributing 10,000 ribbons. To purchase a ribbon locally, contact the McDowell County Sheriffs Office at 652-2235 or visit us at 593 Spaulding Road in Marion. by Sara Guaglione , October 13, 2016 Thrillist Media Group, NowThis Media, The Dodo and Discoverys digital network Seeker as well as its production studio SourceFed Studios are merging to form a new media company, called Group Nine Media. Discovery Communications is making a minority investment of $100 million in the new company. Ben Lerer, CEO of Thrillist will become CEO of Group Nine Media. Each of our brands has found great success independently, but with consolidation of digital content companies around the corner, there is extraordinary value in all existing under one multi-brand roof, Lerer stated. Almost all of the merging companies have a connection to the Lerer family. NowThis was founded by Eric Hippeau and Ben Lerers father Ken and The Dodo was founded by Bens sister Izzie, according to TechCrunch. Axel Springer will maintain its investment as Group Nine Medias second-largest shareholder. In the future, Discovery will have an option to buy a controlling stake in Group Nine Media, according to a statement. The partnership between Discovery and Group Nine Media includes a commercial agreement that will enable advertisers to buy campaigns that run across all four properties. Group Nine Media is an expansion of Discoverys push into the digital network space targeting millennials, the company stated. In 2013, the company bought Seeker and SourceFed Studios, known then as the DeFranco Creative, a group of online video channels and ventures. Discovery also led rounds of funding in The Dodo in 2014 and 2015. The brands sales teams and content studios will be combined to create a core advertising solutions group. Technology capabilities from Thrillist and NowThis will become a new publishing platform that will power all of Group Nine Medias brands. A centralized, long-form video department will be charged with creating OTT/on-demand and linear TV programming across all properties, leveraging Seekers production capabilities and program development. The brands will each remain editorially independent. According to Discovery Communications, the millennial-focused Group Nine Media is now one of the largest digital content companies, with over 3.5 billion monthly video views and more than 12 billion monthly social impressions. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, October 13, 2016 A filing from the Media Rating Council (MRC) describes the accreditation suspension status of Google DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) "mobile Web served Impressions and DFP Active View desktop viewability related statistics." The suspension status occurred in September, but the accreditation was revoked in July, according to the MRC, which notes in the report that it expects to reinstate Google's accreditation status once DoubleClick becomes compliant again. The suspension is specific to DoubleClick for Publishers and specific metrics tied to mobile impressions within the platform, the methodology for how Google accounts for mobile ad impressions. In April 2016, the MRC, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced new guidelines on how companies should measure and account for mobile Web and mobile app ad impressions. It changed the methodology for mobile metrics to "served" rather than "rendered." advertisement advertisement The slight alteration sent change in motion. It required Google to rebuild parts of the platform's infrastructure, but the MRC did not give the company enough time to make the change, roll it out, and educate publishers. "This is very temporary and we'll be back up before the end of the year," said a Google spokesperson, referring to the accreditation. No one can dispute that Google's methodology comes in a complicated wrapper. The rollout will happen in phases in an effort to not disturb business for publishers. All publishers using DFP will start to see the downloaded impressions in their DFP interface by the end of the year, but Google will not make them start using the feature with advertisers until they understand the change. "We're talking about a major shift in the foundation of digital advertising, the spokesperson said. Change is needed, says Rob Griffin, chief information officer at digital agency Almighty. Not just from the MRC, but IAB as well. While Griffin agrees with change, he says all change is incremental and suggests a full-scale overhaul. The industry spends too many hours arguing, trying to update standards, but their efforts, he claims, are futile. Advertisers and publishers use the MRC accreditation service to verify that their ads are accurately measured, but recently brands have become questioning the validity of the data and metrics they use to justify budgets. In September, Facebook and Dentsu separately came under fire for how the companies account for ad impressions. Facebook admitted to over inflating its video view metrics and Dentsu admitted to overcharging some companies. The MRC did grant accreditation for desktop digital video Viewable Impressions and related viewability statistics, among other services. by Larry Dobrow , Featured Columnist, October 13, 2016 The first school trip I remember taking was to the Ford plant in Northern Jersey - which, unbeknownst to the educators tasked with introducing a gaggle of hyperkinetic six-year-olds to the concept of industry, would soon be immortalized in song for all the wrong reasons. While one might debate the wisdom of bypassing the areas 62 petting zoos in favor of a journey into the soul of lunch-pail America, I was fascinated by the experience. Big buildings! Shiny cars! Gunk! It cemented in my mind a very specific image of the American auto industry, one that persisted long after Ford left town. Those industry-wide brand traits transferred to the city of Detroit by default. For me, Detroit was cars (and Bob Seger and Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell) and cars were Detroit. When my Dad bought a non-American vehicle, it felt borderline treasonous. Eventually I started driving a Subaru and became part of the problem. It had seat warmers. advertisement advertisement I digress. The point is: Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell have a stronger Cooperstown case than Bruce Sutter or Jim Rice or Catfish Hunter, and The Fire Inside might be the most underrated song in the Seger canon. Also, Ive spent maybe 11 nights in Detroit and its more alive to me than areas in which Ive lived for months, thanks to the impermeability of that initial association. This makes no sense, especially given the southern migration of the countrys auto assembly plants, but were only a few years removed from Chryslers Imported From Detroit campaign. Persistent brand associations die hard. Which brings us to Shinola, a brand about which I know exactly nothing (insert explosively clever shit-from-Shinola phraseology here). A quick glimpse at the website and product roster - watches, journals, high-end leather goods and bicycles? yes, bicycles - suggests that the company didnt do no fancy book-learnin when it came to devising a coherent business model. Id imagine that attempting to find a unifying thread across those product lines would prove challenging, so Shinola has instead decided the celebrate the virtues of its Detroit lineage. It aint much of a lineage: Shinola has been around for five years and took some heat over the choice of Detroit as its base (for what some saw as a manipulative appeal to industrial nostalgia). Given that I learned about this criticism right about the time I wrote that last sentence, I cant speak to the companys motives. But opening a luxury-goods manufacturing business in Detroit in 2011 - that sounds less like an opportunistic marketing play than it does an act of supreme confidence in the region. You can guess, then, where I land on Shinolas I Belong Here, which debuted this week during the CNN broadcast of the Presidential debate. Over the course of two minutes, photographer Bruce Weber alternates between a reading by poet Natasha Miller (of a poem celebrating Detroits spirit and diversity) and black-and-white images of Detroiters (Detroitians? Detromancers?) who embody that spirit and diversity. Its not the most subtle approach - the debate-time media buy sends a signal in itself - but it works, probably owing as much to our residual feelings (and guilt?) about Detroits brutal decline as to the virtuosity of the presentation. You can consume I Belong Here with your eyes closed and indulge in the cadence of the wordplay. You can consume it with the audio muted and be swayed by the elegance of the images. But however you choose to experience I Belong Here, it conveys a genuine sense of place. Thats not something that brands attempt to do anymore, because its a fine line to walk. Go too rah-rah on the geographic love and you undercut the depth of feeling; go too light on it and you create a generic Chamber of Commerce-ish travelogue. Shinola balances the tenor of its appeal adeptly; its Detroit is real and vital. Im not sure the video makes me want to run out and buy one of the companys leather-accented wallet watch bicycles, but it suggests that the companys heart is very much in the right place. Cliche or no, we could use more of that nowadays. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, October 14, 2016 Honda did the reveal thing with its 2017 CR-V inside Shed 3 at Detroits Eastern Market this week and the fifth-generation, perennially best-selling SUV seems, on first glance, to be bigger, more powerful, more fuel efficient and potentially better in every way, Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan tells us in a video report. You could almost feel a chill run through the competition namely the Toyota RAV4, Nissan Logue, Jeep Cherokee, Subaru Forester, Chevrolet Equino and Ford Escape. The automaker is anticipating so much demand in North America for the revamped CR-V, which is its No. 2 seller behind the Civic, that it will be assembling the vehicle at three plants, Brent Snavely writes in USA Today East Liberty, Ohio and Alliston, Ont., as well as Greensburg, Ind., which is undergoing a $52 million upgrading and will add 100 workers. It has sold nearly 4 million CR-Vs since its U.S. launch in 1997; it introduced the fourth-generation CR-V in 2011 and updated it in 2014. advertisement advertisement But Bloombergs John Lippert points out that Honda is facing a hard fight to retain its dominance as new models from Ford, General Motors and other automakers are challenging its dominance. The CR-V ranked 14th out of 20 vehicles for total quality in a Strategic Vision survey of customers who purchased 2016 model year vehicles between October 2015 and March 2016. The Subaru Crosstrek was first in the category, which includes exterior styling, and its being redesigned for the 2018 model year, Lippert writes. Honda shouldnt take their success for granted, Alexander Edwards, president of Strategic Vision, tells Lippert, as companies like Subaru develop a stronger brand image and as they offer better features. Honda SVP and GM Jeff Conrad exuded confidence that his spanking new model will prevail, of course, telling the assembled oil-stained wretches the new Honda CR-V raises the bar in every imaginable way, delivering more performance, space and premium content together with higher fuel economy ratings and value than ever before. Customers are going to love what they see and what they experience The fact that the engine is turbocharged made its way into most headlines this morning, although that 1.5-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine will only be available on the higher trim levels Honda currently offers five CR-V models Charles Fleming reports in the Los Angeles Times. But the 2.4-liter four-cylinder power plant will make 190 horsepower (up from 185 on the current engine) and offer improved fuel economy that Honda says will be the highest Environmental Protection Agency numbers in the entire SUV class, Fleming writes. There are front-end design refreshes, too, among other improvements, reports Kyle Campbell for the New York Daily News: The headlights are sharper, more aggressive and are available with LED accents; fenders are bigger; the hood is longer and features sweeping accent lines, if that sort of thing turns you on. Snavely has an interesting sidebar in the Detroit Free Press on the hows and whys behind Honda choosing to unveil the sleek CR-Vs in a produce-market shed between two trailers loaded with hay instead of at a glitzy presentation at an auto show, like (mostly) everybody else. Timing. Honda likes to keep its new models under wraps until theyre about to go into production. The New York Auto Show was too early; L.A.s too late. Coordination. Chevrolet had scheduled a ride and drive program for reporters for the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback on Wednesday, too. Once the two automakers learned they both inadvertently scheduled major media events on the same day, they worked together so that reporters and analysts could attend both events. The announcement of one particular feature actually drew applause from the gathered media, reportsForbes contributor Sam Abuelsamid. It should be noted that as a general rule, auto writers dont applaud at press conferences. They made an exception when American Honda vice president of communications announced that the CR-V would feature a new generation display audio system with wait for it! a volume knob! It seems that the volume control on Hondas touchscreen audio system, which was introduced with the 2014 Honda Fit, has always been a bit finicky and was probably the single biggest UX complaint about recent Hondas, Abuelsamid tells us. So Honda heard the voice of the customer and developed a new generation of this audio system with a classic rotary knob to turn up the tunes with a quick flick. Sometimes, old tech is just better. As the happy owner of 2005 CR-V with a rotary knob, jerry-rigged Bluetooth, no turbocharge in the engine and somewhat tawdry floor mats I agree. The dilemma of making cars so reliable that people want to buy them is, of course, that people dont have to buy them all that often. by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, October 14, 2016 With less than a month until the November 8 election, news media have found out how to cover the mind-bending and absurd spectacle of Donald Trump. The answer: give a platform to the Trump supporters, who are willing to stand up for him despite an avalanche of sexual-assault accusations. Media Matters, a Democratic-leaning organization that follows the news media, TV and radio in particular, put together a wholly astonishing array of statements from Trump surrogates, trying desperately to defend their nominee or reject the accusations of sexual assault in the wake of what they dub the locker-room tape. Jessica Leeds described an assault in the 1980s to The New York Times, About 45 minutes after takeoff, she recalled, Mr. Trump lifted the armrest and began to touch [her] He was like an octopus. One mind-numbing response to Leeds accusation was put forward by Trumps national spokeswoman Katrina Pierson. She had the gall to discuss what type of planes were in use in the early 1980s, as a way to debunk the charge. advertisement advertisement On Don Lemons CNN segment, to the utter amusement and astonishment of her co-commentators, Pierson began: Were talking about the early 1980s, Don, seriously. Back then, you had planes, what, a DC-9 a DC-10, an MD-80 and maybe an L1011. But she said specifically New York, and this is whats important: We can ex-out the L1011 and the DC-10. And what, first-class seats have fixed armrests. So what I can tell you about her story is she wasnt groped on a plane, it wasnt by Donald Trump, it certainly wasnt in first class. The argument here isnt that Donald Trump wouldnt grope a woman although he admitted to doing so in the "Access Hollywood" tape but that Leeds story was invented because the armrests on an MD-80 or a DC-9 couldnt have been lifted. On Fox News, Newt Gingrich came to Trumps rescue: Well, The New York Times goes back over 30 years to find someone who had a bad airplane flight, thats the essence here. Weve all had bad airplane flights. Really? When was the last time Gingrich was groped by a stranger on a plane? It is vile to use such dismissive language in the context of sexual assault. (For those who remember the Clinton/Lewinsky saga, which blanketed the news media for a year, Gingrich led the charge that Clinton should resign due to alack of character. For Gingrich and any Republican who touts "family values" but defends Trump, moral imperatives are elastic. They only apply to political foes, not political allies. This isn't a sane defense; this is moral bankruptcy.) Another common thread throughout Trumps defense: The timing is opportunistic. So is Trumps decision to hold a press conference with Bill Clinton accusers just hours before the second presidential debate. The timing defense took another troubling turn when Trump senior advisor AJ Delgado told Chris Hayes on MSNBC that if this actually happened: Any reasonable woman would have come forward and said something. We know from recent and past cases of sexual assault that this is patently untrue, particularly when the men in question are rich and powerful. Kayleigh McEnany, ubiquitous Trump surrogate on CNN, gave what appears to be the most ludicrous description of what was said on the "Access Hollywood" bus. Speaking with CNNs Anderson Cooper, she noted: I dont think he was condoning sexual assault. He said he starts to kiss a woman and then they let him do x, y or z. That implies consent, first of all. I dont think he was advocating sexual assault. Trump is in a tough spot with less than a month left until Election Day. His surrogates are flailing as they try to defend the waves of sexual-assault accusations. We are guaranteed to hear even more preposterous conspiracy theories, including the Breitbart-inspired Clinton conspiracy with the global elite. Whatever happened to the Republican cry of personal responsibility? by Larissa Faw , October 14, 2016 Space150 is appointing Char Roseblade to SVP account services to lead the agency's account services department. Clients include Buffalo Wild Wings, Nike, 3M, American Express, and Red Baron Pizza. She will be based in Minneapolis and report to space150 Chief Operating Officer Dutch Thalhuber. Most recently, Roseblade was SVP, group account director, at BBDO, where she oversaw the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchise business. Previously, she spent over a decade at Fallon both in Minneapolis and London where she worked with brands such as United Airlines, Citibank, Holiday Inn, and Nordstrom. She has also spent time at Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Carmichael Lynch. Char is an amazing brand-builder with deep expertise in emerging and traditional organizations worldwide, stated Thalhuber. If done right, account service in todays marketplace offers a true competitive advantage to our clients. Her insight, energy and brainpower will help our clients and agency better capitalize on the shifting tides of todays marketing landscape. Roseblade replaces Matt Benka, who joined Fallon earlier this summer as its new director of digital. by Sara Guaglione , October 14, 2016 Texas Monthly is returning to Texas ownership, after 18-years in the hands of Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corporation. Texas Monthly is being sold to the Hobby family for $25 million. The acquisition to private-equity firm Genesis Park LP also marks the Hobby familys return to Texas publishing. The Hobbys are a well-known political and business family in Texas, who once owned The Houston Post newspaper now part of the Houston Chronicle as well as TV and radio stations in Houston. Founding partner of Genesis Park Paul Hobby, whose grandfather William P. Hobby was once the states governor and whose father was once the lieutenant governor, said in a statement that they are honored to be the third steward of this beloved Texas brand. Our plan is to bring new ideas, strategic relationships and thoughtful investment that help to take this great story forward," Hobby added. The deal is expected to close early November. Texas Monthly was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and covers state politics, the environment, business and education. Levy told The Houston Chronicle that he is happy the publication is returning to its Texas roots. "His family is iconic, and the magazine is iconic," Levy said. Jeff Smulyan, chairman and CEO of Emmis, stated that this moment is bittersweet, the transaction allows the company to de-lever our balance sheet. Emmis, which also owns magazines in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Indianapolis, announced in August that it would put Texas Monthly and several other of its magazines up for sale. According to the magazines Web site, Texas Monthlyhas a paid circulation of 300,000 and is read by more than 2.7 million monthly. by Larissa Faw , October 14, 2016 Upland Brewing Company (UBC) and its agency Young & Laramore (Y&L) are refreshing Champagne Velvet (CV), the Indiana beer brand first brewed in 1902 and revived by UBC in 2013. The campaign is designed to increase awareness of the beverage and features refreshed packaging, a new bottle and can design, a new tap handle. It also offers print and in-store executions as well as a social component. The creative highlights CV as a good-time beer by using throwback language, like Unexpected houseguests come calling?" To ground the brand historically, the new design is based on the aesthetic of a 1940s Champagne Velvet can, a tribute to a peak time in the brands popularity, when it was a mainstay for numerous drinkers, says Y&L. advertisement advertisement The advertising push will likely be limited to Central Indiana, a bit larger than the Indianapolis DMA. Social components include paid support, while the print component will debut in 17. With its wide popularity in the 1940s, CV attained unofficial state beer brand status in Indiana. It was then sold nationwide. UBC celebrated its 15th anniversary by reviving this iconic label, honoring both CV beer and Indianas often-overlooked brewing history. by Barbara Lippert , Featured Columnist, October 14, 2016 Why is Trump running commercials on CNN? a friend asked me a couple of days ago. I wouldnt presume to speak for the Republican Presidential contenders media buying strategy, but my first guess was that his camp was running negative ads about Hillary on CNN for the same reason that every political campaign runs negative ads: because they work. Attack ads are effective mostly because they are damaging; they are down and dirty and help depress voter turn-out. On CNN and other cable news channels that Trump has otherwise denounced, he might be trying to reach the undecideds, hoping that they will get so fed up with all of the ugly and bitter shenanigans this political season that theyll say, A pox on both your houses. Im not voting. Not surprisingly, after allegations of Trumps inappropriate sexual behavior surfaced last week from accusers who say they were triggered by his behavior on the leaked Access Hollywood tape, he vigorously denounced both those accusers. and the media. advertisement advertisement Indeed, Trump on the stump lately has gone into an attack mode frenzy, blaming it all on corporate media (which like the international banks he also mentioned, were the same targets--minus the Jewish modifier--of 1930s fascist propaganda.) Working up the crowds, who regularly shouted Lock her up! at rallies Wednesday, Trump said, The corporate media have their own political agenda, adding that they are in the pocket of the "Clinton machine." Yet Trump, whos boasted regularly that hes a ratings machine (unlike the Clinton machine), has also spoken proudly of the billions of dollars of earned media coverage that he received during the campaign, so much so that he didnt have to spend a cent on advertising. He made hay of that fact and the corollarythat unlike him, Hillary Clinton had to spend time off the campaign circuit cajoling big bucks out of rich, corrupt donors in order to spend hundreds of millions of dollars against him on attack ads. Still, while attacking corporate media, even Trump would have to concede that his peeps at NBC, the very definition of a corporate media establishment, gave him the greatest platform ever for launching a Presidential run by featuring him as a rich-as-Croesus, golden real-estate godhead for 11 years on The Apprentice. Moreover, as he showed by resurrecting four of the women who are Bill Clinton-accusers and plunking them front and center in the audience at the second debate, Trump is a genius at having it both ways. This is also evident in a Trump commercial thats run a lot recently. On the surface, its about the daunting challenges we face in the world right now, and how Hillary Clinton failed in dealing with them as Secretary of State. (The voiceover uses the word failed in the context of Clinton three times in 15 seconds.) While, on the surface, its about the awful possibility of worldwide warclaiming that Trump is the only one who can protect us its also fanning the flames of domestic gender wars, right here in the good old USA. Dark and grainy, it opens on horrifying and ominous images of ground warfare in Iran, ISIS decapitations, and armies marching in North Korea. Then it switches to the Ive fallen and I cant get up female portion of the 30-second show. Thats when we see clips of Hillary Clinton coughing, behind her thick-lensed glasses at early Benghazi hearings and, in an image shot from behind, being dragged upstairs by two men, her arms outstretched like a captive. (I happen to like people who werent captured, Trump famously said while disputing whether John McCain was indeed a war hero.) The final image is the clincher with a telescopic lens, it shows Clinton falling into her van on the day she fainted at the 9/11 memorial ceremonies and later revealed that she had pneumonia. One of Trumps undeniable strengths as a candidate, which helps him mesmerize crowds at rallies,and have them screaming back his slogans, is that he boils down ideas to very simple statements. So the spot shows that war equals bad, Hillary equals failure and fallen down, and Trump equals the only one who can stand up and save us. Interestingly, in debates and in the media, Trump repeatedly knocks Hillary for voting for the war in Iraq and maintains that he never was for it. But this ad suggests something different. According to Rhonda Garelick, a professor at the University of Nebraska, author of Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History, and noted critic of gender politics, All those scary images have in common that they depict hordes of men with weapons, she says. Not a woman to be seen, of course, and vast seas of men. They put me in mind of the Nuremberg rally photos from the 1930s. Even as Trump uses this footage as evidence of our enemies whom only he can battle, it is also harnessing the implied military power it depicts as his own. This part of the spot speaks directly to Trumps male base, she says. This is his way of subtly appropriating the nefarious appeal and power of these images for himself. In the having-it-both-ways mode, she says Trump is effectively saying I alone can battle these hordesAND come join me in a horde of powerful men with weapons. Overall, its showing us that its a mans world, and women are too weak to enter into itthat perhaps we need a wall between us? The male voiceover repeats what Trump always says about Hillary, that she doesnt have the fortitude, strength, or stamina (a.k.a. penis and cojones) to be President. The voice says that over the image of Hillary at her undeniably lowest point: bent over, being carried horizontally into her van. Its meant to suppress votes, and it is utterly depressing to watch. In look and tone, its right up there with Revolving Door,the attack ads that Lee Atwater famously produced for George H.W. Bush, that got him the win against Governor Michael Dukakis. But Garelick also sees an unconscious message rising up from the fallen and weak Hillary side of the spot. Despite the photo showing Hillary in her thick glasses, it symbolizes a precursor to her later, much longer Benghazi testimony. Before the Benghazi committee, Hillary was indelibly strong, unflappable, indefatigable. It was one of her proudest moments, a moment when she demonstrated her astonishing stamina during an 11-hour ordeal. And the picture of Hillary in her sunglasses on her plane (looking at her phone) became a world-wide meme connoting her badass status. So give this spot another look. For Trump, a war of the worlds really comes down to a war of the sexes. Its true that the headstrong Trump doesnt really need advertisingin fact, his spoken message sometimes conflicts with the campaign ads. At the end of the second debate, when each was pressed to offer one thing that they admired about the other (and Hillary answered his children,), Trump called Hillary a fighter. His remarks quietly undid all of the failing, fallen-and-I-cant-get-up imagery by adding, I will say this about Hillary, she doesnt quit, she doesnt give up. by Jess Nelson , October 14, 2016 Yahoos 2014 email hack may cost the company $4.8 billion. Verizon hinted that Yahoos significant data breach could interfere with its acquisition of the technology company on Thursday while speaking to a roundtable of reporters in Washington. I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material, and were looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact, stated Craig Silliman, Verizons general counsel. If they believe that its not, then theyll need to show us that. This is the first time Verizon has publicly stated that Yahoos data breach could affect its acquisition of the embattled technology company. According to Reuters, the Verizon-Yahoo acquisition deal contained a clause that allows Verizon to back out of the acquisition if an event reasonably can be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, results of operation or financial condition of the business. advertisement advertisement Last month it was revealed that a Yahoo hack in 2014 resulted in the theft of 500 million email accounts. The half a billion account credentials that were stolen by hackers included email addresses, telephone numbers, birthdays, hashed passwords, and security questions and answers. Earlier this month, Yahoo disabled automatic email forwarding, stating that the feature was under development. Since email forwarding is most often used to automatically transfer emails from one account to another, it was likely an attempt to squash fleeing email users. Yahoo is now fighting a class-action lawsuit accusing the technology company of security negligence and failing to take care of sensitive information, and civil liberty groups have called upon Verizon to do better in safeguarding Yahoos data if and when the acquisition is finalized. Rates of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis are rising worldwide. The condition is a complication of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, where as well as there being fat in the liver there is also inflammation and damage. There are no effective treatments, especially once fibrosis or scar tissue develops. Now, a Japanese study has uncovered a mechanism through which a hormone called IGF-I may limit such damage. Share on Pinterest Researchers in Japan have discovered a mechanism through which the hormone IGF-I may limit fibrosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a complication of fatty liver. The researchers, from Kobe University in Japan, report their findings in the journal Scientific Reports. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition where, like alcoholic liver disease, fat builds up in the liver except it is also found in people who drink little or no alcohol. Scientists are not sure what causes NAFLD, although obesity is a clear risk factor. Other risk factors include diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high blood fats, advancing age, and smoking. The disease has a range of conditions and can develop through four stages. The stages are: steatosis (or simple fatty liver), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and cirrhosis. The major feature of NASH is fat in the liver, along with inflammation and damage. Most people with NASH feel well and may not realize they have it. However, NASH can progress to a stage where the liver develops fibrosis or scarring and then the more severe cirrhosis, where the organs fundamental biology is affected. Not everyone with NASH develops cirrhosis, but once it is present, few treatments can halt the progression. Crohns disease is notoriously difficult to treat due to the course and severity of the disease varying from one case to another. Research by University of North Carolina School of Medicine has discovered two subtypes of the disease with different gene expressions and clinical features which may reveal why such variations in disease progression surface between patients. Share on Pinterest The discovery of two classes of Crohns has implications for scientists to deliver more targeted treatments. Crohns disease a long-term condition that causes inflammation to the lining of the digestive system affects almost 1 million people in the United States. While there is no cure for Crohns, treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs and immune system suppressors can help improve symptoms. Around 70 percent of people with Crohns will eventually require surgery to remove damaged portions of the digestive tract and reconnect to healthy sections, and as many as 39 percent will require repeated surgery. Surgery may also close fistulas and drain abscesses. The study findings published in the journal Gut build upon existing knowledge of the biology of Crohns disease, and they could potentially lead to more effective strategies and personalized treatments to target the debilitating gastrointestinal condition. The one-treatment-fits-all approach doesnt seem to be working for Crohns patients, says co-senior study author Dr. Shehzad Z. Sheikh, Ph.D., assistant professor in University of North Carolinas (UNC) departments of medicine and genetics. Its plausible that this is because only a subset of patients has the type of disease that responds to standard therapy, whereas, for the rest of the patients, were really not hitting the right targets, he adds. Genes that varied between subtypes distinguish colon from ileum With co-senior author Terry Furey, Ph.D., associate professor in UNCs departments of genetics and biology, Sheikh and team analyzed colon tissue samples that looked healthy and non-inflamed in 21 Crohns patients who had undergone surgery. They then mapped levels of gene expression patterns amongst the samples, finding that there were two distinct groups. Although we saw a difference between the Crohns samples and samples from people without Crohns, we saw an even greater difference at the molecular level between these two subsets of the Crohns samples the healthy tissue from Crohns patients and the inflamed samples from Crohns patients, says Furey. Co-first author Jeremy Simon, Ph.D., a research assistant professor in UNCs department of genetics, notes that how the two disease subtypes differed was surprising. Despite the samples being colon biopsies, Simon says, many of the genes that were varied between the two Crohns subtypes were markers that distinguish the colon from the ileum the portion of the small intestine that empties into the colon and is usually the first area to be affected by Crohns disease. The pattern of gene expression in one of the disease subtypes resembled healthy colon tissue. However, the gene expression in the second subtype resembled patterns seen in the ileum. In addition to analyzing gene expression in the sampled tissue, Sheikh and colleagues observed indicators of the epigenetic state of the DNA tissue that can permit or repress nearby gene activity. The team saw a distinction between the two Crohns subtypes in the results that suggest the differences in gene expression emerge from variations in the core programming of the affected cells. The largest and longest running clinical trial of medical therapies for heavy periods has found that women can be greatly helped by having treatments just from their GP, with most avoiding hospital operations. Heavy menstrual bleeding is a common and debilitating condition which can significantly affect the quality of life of 25 per cent of women aged 18-54. Around one million women seek help for this problem every year in the UK and it accounts for 12 per cent of all gynaecology referrals. The multicentre NIHR-funded randomised controlled trial was carried out by researchers at the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham and Aston University. They followed the cases of 571 women from 63 general practices across the Midlands over a five-year period. The results are published in the British Journal of General Practice. The women who volunteered were randomly allocated to receive either a levonorgestrel Intra Uterine System such as the Mirena coil or commonly used oral medications - such as tranexamic/mefenamic acid or the contraceptive pill. The patients were asked to report their menstrual experiences using the Menorrhagia Multi-Attribute Scale. This measures the effect of heavy periods on practical problems, social life, psychological and physical health as well as on work and family life. Other consequences recorded were surgical intervention, general quality of life, sexual activity and safety. After five years, both groups had similar and very significant improvement in the heaviness of their periods and its impact on their lives. Rates of surgical intervention were also low (80 per cent and 77 per cent did not have any surgery such as endometrial ablation or hysterectomy) with no significant difference between the coil group and those who took oral medications. Leading the trial, GP and Professor of Primary Care, Joe Kai, said: "This is very encouraging news. Women were badly affected by heavy menstrual bleeding when they entered this trial, with most having problems for over a year beforehand. We know some women may be reluctant to seek help or be unaware that treatment is useful. Others may be put off by the idea of some treatments, such as having a coil, or of needing surgery. This trial shows women can be helped very considerably by treatments from their GP alone, with most avoiding hospital procedures up to five years later. It also shows women starting with either a Mirena coil or other oral medications will have similar benefit over time. This is helpful for women and their GPs to know when first considering what treatments to use, taking account of individual preferences and circumstances. If women troubled by heavy menstrual bleeding do choose to see their GP, we can be confident we can help." The researchers are following up the same women for a further five years - as by then around half will have reached the menopause - to assess if they are still using treatments or have needed surgical treatment for this problem. Article: Usual medical treatments or levonorgestrel-IUS for women with heavy menstrual bleeding: long-term randomised pragmatic trial in primary care, Joe Kai, Lee Middleton, Jane Daniels, Helen Pattison, Konstantinos Tryposkiadis, Janesh Gupta, British Journal of General Practice, doi: 10.3399/bjgp16X687577, published 11 October 2016. Repairing the sickle cell mutation in stem cells holds promise for new treatment. A team of physicians and laboratory scientists has taken a key step toward a cure for sickle cell disease, using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to fix the mutated gene responsible for the disease in stem cells from the blood of affected patients. For the first time, they have corrected the mutation in a proportion of stem cells that is high enough to produce a substantial benefit in sickle cell patients. The researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, UC San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) and the University of Utah School of Medicine hope to re-infuse patients with the edited stem cells and alleviate symptoms of the disease, which primarily afflicts those of African descent and leads to anemia, painful blood blockages and early death. "We're very excited about the promise of this technology," said Jacob Corn, a senior author on the study and scientific director of the Innovative Genomics Initiative at UC Berkeley. "There is still a lot of work to be done before this approach might be used in the clinic, but we're hopeful that it will pave the way for new kinds of treatment for patients with sickle cell disease." In tests in mice, the genetically engineered stem cells stuck around for at least four months after transplantation, an important benchmark to ensure that any potential therapy would be lasting. "This is an important advance because for the first time we show a level of correction in stem cells that should be sufficient for a clinical benefit in persons with sickle cell anemia," said co-author Mark Walters, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist and director of UCSF Benioff Oakland's Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program. The results will be reported in the journal ScienceTranslational Medicine. Sickle cell disease is a recessive genetic disorder caused by a single mutation in both copies of a gene coding for beta-globin, a protein that forms part of the oxygen-carrying molecule hemoglobin. This homozygous defect causes hemoglobin molecules to stick together, deforming red blood cells into a characteristic "sickle" shape. These misshapen cells get stuck in blood vessels, causing blockages, anemia, pain, organ failure and significantly shortened lifespan. Sickle cell disease is particularly prevalent in African Americans and the sub-Saharan African population, affecting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The goal of the multi-institutional team is to develop genome engineering-based methods for correcting the disease-causing mutation in each patient's own stem cells to ensure that new red blood cells are healthy. The team used CRISPR-Cas9 to correct the disease-causing mutation in hematopoietic stem cells - precursor cells that mature into red blood cells - isolated from whole blood of sickle cell patients. The corrected cells produced healthy hemoglobin, which mutated cells do not make at all. Future pre-clinical work will require additional optimization, large-scale mouse studies and rigorous safety analysis, the researchers emphasize. Corn and his lab have joined with Walters, an expert in developing curative treatments such as bone marrow transplant and gene therapy for sickle cell disease, to initiate an early-phase clinical trial to test this new treatment within the next five years. Notably, research groups might be able to apply the approach described in this study to develop treatments for other blood diseases such as -thalassemia, severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), chronic granulomatous disease, rare disorders like Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and Fanconi anemia, and even HIV infection. "Sickle cell disease is just one of many blood disorders caused by a single mutation in the genome," Corn said. "It's very possible that other researchers and clinicians could use this type of gene editing to explore ways to cure a large number of diseases." "There is a clear path for developing therapies for certain diseases," said co-senior author Dana Carroll of the University of Utah, who co-developed one of the first genome editing techniques over a decade ago. "It's very gratifying to see gene editing technology being brought to practical applications." The work is the fruit of the Innovative Genomics Initiative, a joint effort between UC Berkeley and UCSF that aims to correct DNA mutations that underlie human disease using CRISPR-Cas9, a pioneering technology co-developed by scientists at UC Berkeley that has made genome editing easier and more efficient than ever before. The project also leverages the expertise of physicians and scientists at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, a major center for research and treatment of sickle cell disease, and Carroll's expertise in the field of genome engineering. The research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, the Siebel Scholars Fund, the Jordan Family Fund and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. In leukemia cells it is often the case that genes are reactivated that, in physiological terms, mediate the self-renewal of blood stem cells. In a common subtype of acute myeloid leukemia, this abnormal activation of such self-renewing genes is apparently caused by structural modifications of the DNA packaging. In turn, these modifications are caused by two specific proteins of the so-called chromatin regulator group, on which leukemia cells are dependent. These discoveries were made by oncologist Dr. Michael Kuhn from the Department of Internal Medicine III, which is a part of the University Center for Tumor Diseases (UCT) at the Mainz University Medical Center, in a collaborative effort with researchers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Harvard University in Boston. The researchers were able to demonstrate that a targeted drug-based inactivation of the two chromatin regulators will interrupt the self-renewing program, thereby causing leukemia cells to revert to normal blood cells. The results have been published in the October issue of Cancer Discovery. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) refers to a group of disorders that are also known as blood cancer. AML is an aggressive disease of malignant immature blood cells which, if left untreated, almost always causes the death of the affected patient. The established method of treatment is the use of a combination of various chemotherapeutic agents. However, dependent on the genetic subtype and the age of the patient, only about half of those with AML respond to this kind of treatment. The goal of current research is thus to develop more efficient and less toxic forms of treatment. To achieve this, Dr. Michael Kuhn of the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has been collaborating with the work groups of Professor Scott Armstrong in New York and Boston. They built on the relatively recent scientific discovery that changes to the "packaging structure" of DNA can contribute to the development of cancers. These chemical modifications particularly occur in the so-called histone proteins. These proteins are responsible for the coiling of DNA in mammalian cells. Various chemical modifications of these histone proteins will result in an increase or decrease in the relevant gene activity. DNA wrapped around histones is also called chromatin. Accordingly, the proteins writing, reading, or removing the chemical modifications of histones are called chromatin regulators. These modifications represent a layer of information that can be passed from a parent cell to a daughter cell but is not encoded in the DNA sequence. This field of research is therefore known as "epigenetics". Medical research focusing on epigenetics is currently trying to block the enzymes that regulate these changes thereby silencing cancer promoting genes. One example of such research is the study undertaken by Dr. Michael Kuhn and his colleagues. Its subject is the NPM1-mutated (NPM1mut) AML subtype, which is one of the most common leukemias in adults under the age of 60 years. It has been known for quite some time that NPM1mut AMLs are associated with the activation of the so-called homeobox (HOX) stem cell genes. The HOX genes play a fundamental role in the developmental processes of organisms. They are particularly responsible for the self-renewal of blood stem cells. It has been assumed that activation of HOX genes turns normal blood cells into leukemia cells by initiating stem cell-like self-renewal. However, it has been unclear to date how this activation occurs. In an attempt to answer this question, the researchers undertook a targeted manipulation of leukemia cell DNA in the lab. Using a relatively new technology called CRISPR/Cas9, they managed to accurately cut out specific DNA sequences from leukemia cells. This enabled them to analyze the functioning of two proteins, namely, the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) protein and the disruptor of telomeric silencing 1-like (DOT1L) protein. Based on these experiments, the researchers were able to demonstrate that the survival of NPM1mut leukemia cells depends on these two proteins. Both proteins belong to a group of regulators that control chromatin and thus an important structural component of the cell nucleus. The researchers then used two highly specific chemical agents to block the specific functions of those proteins. While they were able to block DOT1L directly using an inhibitor substance currently being tested in a clinical trial for a different type of leukemia, a direct drug-based inhibition of MLL proved impossible. The researchers therefore inhibited chromatin binding of MLL using drugs that target this protein indirectly. Both drugs reduced the activity of the homeobox stem cell genes in NPM1mut leukemia cells, while the combination of the two compounds resulted in nearly complete inactivation of these genes. Following combined exposure to the two substances, the leukemia cells underwent substantial changes and, to the surprise of the researchers, started to turn back into normal blood cells. The described approach represents the first molecularly targeted treatment of NPM1mut leukemias by reversing a key mechanism of leukemogenesis and builds a basis for future clinical trials assessing these drugs in patients with NPM1mut leukemia. The research field of cancer epigenetics Cancer epigenetics is a relatively new field of cancer research that has raised tremendous attention within recent years. While all cells in a specific organism share the identical DNA sequence, only a fraction of those genes are activated in a given cell type. For example, it is possible for two people to carry the same cancer gene that is activated in only one of the two individuals and therefore causes cancer in only one of the two persons. Epigenetics involves the study of the circumstances that cause genes to be activated or silenced. The field of cancer epigenetics was recently transformed by the finding that genes encoding for epigenetic regulators are among the most commonly mutated genes in human cancers. Thus, many experts would agree that the next major developments in cancer research are expected in the field of epigenetics. Article: Targeting Chromatin Regulators Inhibits Leukemogenic Gene Expression in NPM1 Mutant Leukemia, Michael W.M. Kuhn, Evelyn Song, Zhaohui Feng, Amit Sinha, Chun-Wei Chen, Aniruddha J. Deshpande, Monica Cusan, Noushin Farnoud, Annalisa Mupo, Carolyn Grove, Richard Koche, James E. Bradner, Elisa de Stanchina, George S. Vassiliou, Takayuki Hoshii and Scott A. Armstrong, Cancer Discovery, doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-16-0237, published October 2016. A team of researchers from the United Kingdom has obtained the first complete genome sequence of Zika virus that was isolated from a semen sample. The research is published in Genome Announcements, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The motivation for this investigation was a 2011 case report in the US suggesting that Zika virus could be transmitted sexually. "Based on this report, we requested semen samples from all cases of Zika imported into the UK, in order to provide further evidence for this potential," said corresponding author Barry Atkinson, PhD, of Public Health England. Atkinson and his collaborators obtained this semen sample from a convalescent UK resident who had just returned from Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. Although the risk of sexual transmission has been well publicized during the current outbreak, few scientists have reported success in isolating Zika virus from the semen of infected males, said Atkinson. "Isolating Zika virus from semen has been a major challenge and little information has been published on this specific topic, so the methods we adopted may provide a template for others to follow," he said. Part of the problem may relate to the types of cells scientists use to try to grow the virus. Many researchers use 'Vero' cells as these typically allow Zika virus to replicate at high efficiency, but that may not be the best choice for semen samples, said Atkinson. "We tried to isolate the virus in two cell lines, the standard Vero cells, which are mammalian in origin, and in C6/36 cells, which are derived from mosquitoes," he explained. Isolation of the virus from this semen sample was successful only in the mosquito cells, he said. The successful isolation of Zika virus from this semen sample allowed the investigators to sequence the virus, resulting in the first genome of Zika virus isolated from semen. "We have many unanswered questions about how Zika virus is able to be transmitted sexually, whereas similar viruses are not," said Atkinson. "It is possible that the answers to these questions lie in the viral genome, but many more sequences from semen are required before scientists can see if there are any changes that shed light on this topic." "This is the first Zika virus genome isolated from semen, but we need many more," said Atkinson. "Hopefully this success will enable others to follow suit." Advertisement The study found an initial association between the genes associated with OXPHOS pathway and cancer prognosis. The study highlights the significance of mitochondrial function in metastasis and cancer progression. It provides a new line of study for further research and new targets for therapy. There are two types of genes that contribute to the growth of tumor cells, tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Tumor suppressor genes undergo a silencing mutation that prevents them from suppressing the growth of tumors.Oncogenes promote the growth of cancers and have been associated with many cancers. These genes are associated with the origination of cancer while the scientists in the study examined the underlying factors for disease progression.Scientists in the current study aimed at identifying the genes that play an important role in metabolic pathways that transform normal cells into cancerous cells. An insight into these genes will aid in understanding the steps involved in cancer growth and the pathways that lead to the progression of cancer.The study leader Dr. Christian Frezza and colleague Edoardo Gaude studied metabolic genes of 8161 solid tumors and non-cancer samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas."Cellular metabolism is known to be a key part of cancer progression. In our work we used data on patient's prognosis to identify a genetic signature related to metabolism that correlated with poor clinical outcome. Using this information, it could be possible in the future to tailor treatments specific to patients. This genetic signature also gives a new target for the development of drugs that could prevent a cancer from spreading throughout the body,"added Dr Frezza.The genes associated with OXPHOS pathway, which is a pathway in the mitochondria of the cell and is involved in energy production and associated with diabetes and obesity. However, the researchers in this study found that these genes could be used to predict the prognosis of cancer patients.The genes associated with the OXPHOS pathway are down-regulated in patients with poor cancer prognosis.: The suppression of the genes associated with OXPHOS pathway is an indication of poorer prognosis of cancer as it leads to metastasis."The work will inform future patient stratification efforts and demonstrates the important links between metabolism and cancer. Further validation of this work may allow us to predict with greater accuracy a patient's long term survival and design a treatment strategy personalized to improve their chances of living longer," said Dr. Adam Babbs, MRC's Program Manager for Research.Source: Medindia Advertisement The chemical heart of low-cost diagnostic tools capable of detecting the early stages of kidney disease may, in the near future, be a special polymer prepared by PhD student Zofia Iskierko under the supervision of Dr. Krzysztof Noworyta, in Prof. Wlodzimierz Kutner's group at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw. The polymer was designed and carefully constructed so as to particularly effectively entrap only one substance in its vicinity: lipocalin-2 (NGAL), a protein naturally occurring in human blood.For the clinician, an increase in the concentration of this compound in a patient is a valuable signal of still symptomless, but already developing, acute kidney injury. Work on the implementation of the polymer, funded by grant from the Polish National Center for Science, was carried out in collaboration with the University of North Texas in Denton, the Warsaw Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences and the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology."We deal with the creation of polymer recognition films for chemosensors that detect various substances. These include biomarkers and other biologically important compounds, whose presence or changes in concentration in body fluids carry information about the health of the patient. Our latest polymer can selectively capture lipocalin-2, a protein biomarker for acute kidney injury," says Dr. Noworyta."Before acute kidney injury develops, the concentration of lipocalin increases in patient's blood. So, we devised a polymer in whose structure there are molecular cavities that are a good fit for the shape and properties of the molecules of just this compound. The probability that any other protein will get caught in them is very, very small," explains PhD student Zofia Iskierko, the lead author of the publication in the journalThe new polymer was prepared by molecular imprinting. Molecules of lipocalin were first surrounded by appropriately selected (so called functional) monomers binding with the protein at specific locations characteristic only for itself. Then, a cross-linking monomer was introduced which combined with the functional one. Those monomers were later subjected to polymerization, after which the lipocalin was washed out of the resulting structure. Finally, a stable polymer film was obtained with molecular cavities matching lipocalin molecules both in terms of their local chemical features as well as their size and shape."When lipocalin molecules in the test solution come into contact with a polymer formed in this manner, some of them have the chance to be deposited in the cavities. Proteins, however, are quite large and they are reluctant to migrate through the polymer network. Therefore, the structure of our polymer had to be artificially loosened enough to ensure the lipocalin molecules had the best access to the greatest number of cavities, but not excessively, so that the polymer film would not collapse," describes Dr. Noworyta.The IPC PAS researchers obtained the required porosity, whilst retaining sufficient mechanical strength, by using MOF (metal-organic framework) inorganic-organic microporous materials. In terms of structure, MOF materials resemble three-dimensional lattices whose mesh sizes depend on the type of metal atoms and connecting ligands used. It was on this construction frame that the actual recognition film was fabricated. When the polymer had been immobilized, in the process of removing lipocalin molecules, the MOF skeleton - by this time redundant - was also destroyed. This treatment also resulted in an extension of the polymer surface, leading to an increase in cavities available for the protein molecules and ensuring better sensitivity of the chemosensor.The polymer mass increases after entrapping the lipocalin molecules. Therefore, if it were to be placed on a small piezoelectric oscillator, its easy-to-measure oscillation frequency would have to decrease. Another method of identifying the presence of lipocalin particles within the molecular cavities is to measure changes in the potential of the recognition film, which alters the current flowing in the processing field effect transistor component. Due to its simplicity and reliability, this latter solution would be particularly suitable for commercial chemosensors designed for mass production."Our research is of a basic, laboratory nature. It is, however, still a long way from the preparation of a polymer capturing lipocalin to the mass production of low-cost detectors for the prevention and early treatment of disease," says Prof. Kutner.Niels Bohr, the great Danish quantum physicist, used to say that predicting was difficult, especially when it comes to the future. However, it seems reasonable to suppose that in the next decade devices detecting various biomarkers and warning early on of a threat to health will become an integral part of the ubiquitous smartphone.Diagnosis would then become as simple as testing blood sugar using today's glucose meters: it would suffice to connect a removable, simple chemosensor with an appropriately selected polymer recognition film to the smartphone, apply a little physiological fluid to it and... wait for the smartphone to display the result. Everyone would be able to carry out advanced medical diagnostics as often as they deemed appropriate.Source: Eurekalert Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. Birth defects are also called congenital anomalies, congenital disorders or congenital malformations. They can cause long-term disabilities and have a significant impact on the affected individuals, their families, the society in general and health-care systems. They sometimes impact the survival of the child. Birth defects are abnormalities that occur in babies which affect how the body looks, works or both. They usually happen during the first three months of pregnancy. They can be identified prenatally, at the time of birth or later in infancy. The risk of having a child with a birth defect continues to be significant. Individuals of all age groups, races, education levels and socio-economic backgrounds are affected by birth defects. The most common severe congenital defects are Downs syndrome, neural tube defects and congenital heart defects. Teratology is the branch of medicine that specializes in the study of congenital defects. Some important facts of birth defects are: 7.9 million births with serious birth defects due to genetic or partial genetic cause occur every year, according to the March of Dimes (MOD) Global Report on Birth Defects published in 2006. with serious birth defects due to genetic or partial genetic cause occur every year, according to the March of Dimes (MOD) Global Report on Birth Defects published in 2006. Among those born with some kind of congenital birth defect, 303,000 die within 4 weeks of life every year worldwide. Birth defects account for 7% of all neonatal mortality and 3.3 million deaths that occur in children under five years of age every year. 94% of severe congenital anomalies occur in low and middle-income countries possibly due to lack of nutritious foods, infections and lack of proper healthcare and screening tests. Congenital heart disease and neural tube defects are common causes of deaths due to birth defects. The first-ever World Birth Defects day was observed on 3 March, 2015 to create awareness of birth defects. The prevalence of birth defects in India is between 61 and 69.9 per 1000 live births. It is a general notion that birth defects are a lifelong liability. Though this may be true in some cases, the truth is that many of the birth defects can be treated successfully. Some of them can even be prevented by appropriate protective measures. Advertisement Birth defects are mostly classified into two types - Structural and Functional. Structural birth defects are those that affect the development of body parts like the skeleton and certain organs. Examples are neural tube defects and congenital heart defects. are those that affect the development of body parts like the skeleton and certain organs. Examples are neural tube defects and Functional or Developmental Birth Defects affect how a body part functions or works. They often lead to intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) . They include: affect how a body part functions or works. They often lead to . They include: Nervous disorders like Downs syndrome and other chromosomal disorders, speech and movement disabilities, behavioral problems. like Downs syndrome and other chromosomal disorders, speech and movement disabilities, behavioral problems. Sensory problems like blindness and deafness. like blindness and deafness. Metabolic disorders like Phenylketonuria (increased blood levels of phenylalanine which cause intellectual disability) and hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid that interferes with brain development). like (increased blood levels of phenylalanine which cause intellectual disability) and hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid that interferes with brain development). Degenerative disorders like Muscular dystrophy (muscle weakness) and X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy (condition where the myelin covering of the brain is affected). The type of birth defect and the cases per birth in the United States, 2004-2006 estimated by the CDC and National Birth Defect Project are as follows: Birth Defect Description of the Condition Cases per births Central Nervous System Defects Anencephaly Absence of most part of head and brain. 1 in 4859 Spina bifida without Anencephaly Gap in the backbone 1 in 2858 Encephalocele Sac-like protrusion of the brain and its surrounding membranes through an opening in the skull. 1 in 12235 Other Nervous System Defects Craniosynostosis Early closure of head sutures. 1 in 2500 Microcephaly Small head size. 1 in 1428 Facial defects Anopthalmia / Micropthalmia Anopthalmia - Absence of one or both eyes. Micropthalmia - Small eye/eyes. 1 in 5349 Cardiovascular defects Common truncus Only a single common blood vessel comes out of the heart, instead of two - the main pulmonary artery and aorta. 1 in 13876 Transposition of great arteries The main pulmonary artery and the aorta that carry blood out of the heart are switched in position or transposed. 1 in 3333 Tetralogy of Fallot Four simultaneous heart defects that affect the blood flow through the heart. 1 in 2518 Atrioventricular septal defect Presence of hole in the partition between the right and left chambers of the heart. 1 in 2122 Hypoplastic left heart syndrome Underdeveloped left side of the heart. 1 in 4344 Orofacial defects Cleft palate without Cleft lip Split in the roof of the mouth. 1 in 1574 Cleft lip with and without cleft palate Split in the upper lip with or without a split in the roof of the mouth. 1 in 940 Musculoskeletal defects Upper Limb Reduction defect Absence of a part or a complete upper limb 1 in 2869 Lower Limb Reduction defect Absence of a part or whole lower limb 1 in 5949 Gastroschisis Defect in the abdominal wall with protrusion of intraabdominal organs. 1 in 2229 Omphalocele Protrusion of abdominal organs from a hernia in the belly button region. 1 in 5386 Chromosomal Anomalies Trisomy 13 A full extra copy or a partial copy of chromosome number 13 that causes multiple and complex organ disorders 1 in 7906 Trisomy 21 (Downs Syndrome) An extra chromosome (chromosome 21) in babies that changes how they develop physically and mentally. 1 in 691 Trisomy 18 An extra full or a partial copy of chromosome number 18 in babies that causes them to have a small head and heart defects. 1 in 3762 The main causes of birth defects include the following: Genetic factors like Chromosomal Disorders, Single Gene Defects and Multiple Gene Defects Consanguinity (when parents are related by blood) can cause rare genetic anomalies Advanced maternal age is a risk factor to get a child with Downs syndrome Micronutrient Deficiencies Lack of Folic acid in pregnant women causes neural tube disorders. Lack of iodine in pregnant women causes maternal hypothyroidism that results in cretinism in babies characterized by mental retardation, dwarfed stature, bone dystrophy, and a low basal metabolism. Maternal Infections Rubella or German measles can cause abnormalities of the eye, inner ear and heart. Exposure to Zika virus has been linked to having a child with microcephaly. Maternal Alcohol consumption has been linked to craniofacial abnormalities, brain damage, intellectual disability, heart disease, kidney abnormality, skeletal anomalies and eye defects Exposure to Toxic Substances including certain medications and environmental chemicals. Substances that can cause birth defects are called teratogens. Isotretinoin used to treat severe acne can cause serious birth defects Vitamin A when consumed above 700 g/day is a teratogen Trimethadione causes fetal trimethadione syndrome manifested as craniofacial, cardiovascular, kidney and spine malformations, as well as mental and physical developmental delay Valproate has anti-folate effects and can lead to neural tube closure-related defects Nitrate in drinking water causes CNS (Central Nervous System) disorders, musculoskeletal and heart defects Inhalation of carbon monoxide as first-hand or second-hand smoking causes stunted growth in babies Chronic Maternal Illness - There is an increased risk of congenital heart disease in the children borne by women having chronic medical conditions like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, connective tissue disorders and congenital heart disease. Exposure to High doses of Radiation can have an effect on the offspring like was seen after the Hiroshima attack Multifactorial or Unknown Causes - A combination of factors like genetics and environmental may be responsible where a single cause cannot be pinpointed. The specific cause for 50 % of birth defects is always difficult to identify Advertisement Prenatal tests refer to the use of tests for the diagnosis of certain birth defects before the child is born. Screening Tests: Towards the end of the first trimester between the 11th and the 13th week, two screening tests are done to check for chromosomal disorders. Maternal Blood Screen : This is a blood test that indicates a birth disorder if the levels of two proteins - human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and pregnancy associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) are abnormally low or high. : This is a blood test that indicates a birth disorder if the levels of two proteins - and are abnormally low or high. Ultrasound: An ultrasound done in the first trimester is also called nuchal translucency screening. It measures the fluid at the back of the fetus neck. An abnormal reading indicates a chromosomal disorder or a physical defect of the heart. During the second semester between the 15th and the 20 weeks, two screening tests are performed. Maternal Serum Screen: It is a simple blood test to check for neural tube defects and Downs syndrome. Depending on the number of proteins tested, it could also be called a r a quad screen (that tests the levels of 4 proteins alpha-fetoprotein, hCG, estriol, and inhibin-A.) or a triple screen (that tests for alpha-fetoprotein, hCG and estriol). Anomaly Ultrasound: A comprehensive ultrasound is done to check for structural anomalies (major physical defects in the brain and spine, facial features, abdomen, heart and limbs) as well as the size of the baby. Diagnostic Tests: Diagnostic tests are indicated in pregnant women with elevated levels of -fetoprotein or other abnormal results on screening tests to confirm the possible diagnosis of a birth defect. These tests may also be done: If the pregnant woman is above 35 years old Has had an earlier pregnancy affected by a birth defect Has a chronic disease like high blood pressure, diabetes, lupus or epilepsy High Level Ultrasound or Level 2 Ultrasound: This ultrasound is done between 18 and 22 weeks of pregnancy to look more in detail for any sign of birth defects indicated in the screening tests. Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS): This is a diagnostic test done between 10 and 12 weeks of pregnancy for women having abnormal screening test in the first trimester. A tiny sample of the placenta, known as the chorionic villus is tested for chromosomal disorders. Amniocentesis: Amniocentesis is done between 15 and 18 weeks of pregnancy. A sample of amniotic fluid, (the fluid which surrounds the baby), is obtained and analyzed for the following: Alpha-fetoprotein or AFP: The chemical -fetoprotein is produced by the fetal liver but its function is unknown. It could be the fetal form of serum albumin. Small amounts of - fetoprotein are present in the amniotic fluid of normal fetuses. Higher than normal levels in the amniotic fluid indicates an opening in the tissue, such as a neural tube defect (spina bifida or anencephaly) or a body wall defect, such as omphalocele or gastroschisis. However, a high level of - fetoprotein does not always mean that the fetus is defective, because other reasons could be responsible for the same. Acetylcholinesterase or AChE: The presence of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase in the amniotic fluid indicates an opening in the neural tube. Sometimes, birth defects are not diagnosed during pregnancy. Many of them are diagnosed at the time of delivery. Some congenital heart defects may be diagnosed only later in life. Take 400 micrograms of Folic acid every day to prevent neural tube disorders. every day to prevent neural tube disorders. A minimum dose of 250 microgram of iodine must be consumed through food and supplements daily during pregnancy to prevent maternal hypothyroidism. must be consumed through food and supplements daily during pregnancy to prevent maternal hypothyroidism. It is very important to visit your doctor on a regular basis. The number of visits depends on the trimester. Prenatal care has to be started as soon as you find out you are pregnant. Avoid alcohol at any point of time and at any dose during pregnancy. Alcohol consumption by pregnant women causes miscarriages, stillbirth and a wide range of physical, behavioral and intellectual disabilities collectively known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or FASDs. Avoid smoking during any point in the pregnancy as it can lead to preterm births and children with cleft lip or cleft palate. Avoid marijuana and other drugs strictly as they can have huge consequences on the baby. Keep infections at bay by washing hands regularly, cooking meat well and staying away from people with infections. Make sure that you are up-to-date with your vaccinations well before you plan to become pregnant. by washing hands regularly, cooking meat well and staying away from people with infections. Make sure that you are up-to-date with your vaccinations well before you plan to become pregnant. Keep diabetes under control during pregnancy. Maintain a healthy weight during pregnancy . Obese women tend to have complications during pregnancy and delivery . Obese women tend to have complications during pregnancy and delivery Medications should be taken during pregnancy only after consultation with your doctor to find out if there is any link between them and birth defects. Vaccines that are safe to be taken during pregnancy can help prevent infections thus keeping the baby healthy as well. Some vaccines like the flu vaccine and the T dap vaccine (adult tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis vaccine) are specifically recommended during pregnancy. Some birth defects can be treated on the birth of the baby or even prior to birth, while others may need lifelong treatment and rehabilitation. An examination of the baby at birth and certain tests give an understanding of any genetic, hematological, metabolic and hormonal disorders present. The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock, among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to [email protected] with "Membership" in the subject line.) Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to [email protected]. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email. EXCLUSIVE: AQIM Leader Calls On Libyan Muslims To Mobilize To Defend Benghazi, Attacks General Haftar, 'The Protege Of America' On October 9, 2016, Al-Andalus, the official media organ of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), released an audio recording in which the group's leader, Abu Mus'ab 'Abd Al-Wadoud, attacks General Khalifa Haftar and calls on Muslims to join the mujahideen in their defense of the city of Benghazi. The recording, titled "Benghazi and the Campaign for Steadfastness," was made on October 6, and published on Al-Andalus' Telegram channel, among other places. EXCLUSIVE: ISIS Announces Death Of Central Media Figure, Abu Muhammad Al-Furqan On October 10, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) announced the passing of Abu Muhammad Al-Furqan, whom it described as the Head of its Central Media Diwan (Department). ISIS did not note the circumstances surrounding Al-Furqan's death, merely stating that he was "martyred." ISIS also threatened the "nation of the Cross" and its allies with retaliation for his death. EXCLUSIVE: Portuguese Ex-Con Convert Expresses Desire to Immigrate To Islamic State, Chats With ISIS Recruiter A convert from Madeira, Portugal is an active member of a large pro-ISIS clique on Facebook. According to his Facebook posts, he was previously imprisoned, and reveals that he learned a lot about Islam while inside. Although he does not divulge much about his past, he stated that he once had aimed to become a famous rapper or major drug dealer. As is the case with some other Western ISIS supporters, he occasionally refers in his posts to aspects of popular Western youth culture, such as rap and video. Pro-ISIS Telegram Account Offers Tactical Tips To Lone Wolves In Saudi Arabia On October 5, 2016, Pro-ISIS Telegram channel Wahj Al-Jazrawieen published a document featuring tactical tips for lone wolves in Saudi Arabia to use before, during, and after jihadi operations. The document, titled "Tips to the Lions of the Peninsula," provided detailed logistical and operational tips to prospective attackers including the type of materials they need to carry, what food to eat, what color clothing to wear, how to discard of trash, and how to use ammunition. ISIS Shows Images Of Its Fighters Receiving 'Moral Guidance' In Garrison On October 13, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) media office of Hama province posted two images of its fighters receiving what it called "moral guidance" while garrisoned somewhere in the province. The images show a group of ISIS fighters sitting in front of a laptop, with the image of an unidentified man wearing glasses appearing on the screen. Warning - Graphic: ISIS Pictorial Report Shows Stoning Of Homosexuals, Adulterer In Al-Furat Province On October 10, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a pictorial report documenting aspects of the implementation of its shari'a-based punishments in the western sectors of its Al-Furat province, that extends over parts of eastern Syria and western Iraq. The photos show a large audience gathered to watch the punishments, which included the stoning of two homosexuals and of a married man convicted of adultery, and the amputation of two men's hands for theft. On Telegram, Taliban Issues Statement, Threats Of U.S. Invasion Of Afghanistan On October 7, 2016, the Taliban's official Telegram channel posted an entry titled "Statement of Islamic Emirate Regarding 15th Anniversary of American Invasion In Statements." According to the statement, because of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, the country is now one of the poorest nations in the world, and despite its abundant natural resources, it has advanced very little. The statement also blames the country's rampant government corruption and instability on the American presence, and concludes with an ultimatum to the Americans in Afghanistan to leave, or else "the believing Afghan nation will continue their legitimate struggle under the leadership of the Islamic Emirate, until the invaders are expelled from the country like the previous ones, [w]hen you will have lost tens of thousands more troops and wasted hundreds of billions of more dollars in exchange for a historical and humiliating defeat." The following is a list of Russia's military drills in the months of September and October: 2017 Strategic Command Staff Exercise And Kavkaz 2016 Drills Name: Kavkaz 2016 (Caucasus 2016) Date: September 5-10 Location: Southern Military District Number of Troops: 12, 500 Military equipment: 15 warships, 400 pieces of major military equipment, which included more than 100 aircraft and helicopters) and 15 warships were used. Previous exercises: Zapad-2013 (West-2013), Vostok-2014 (East-2014), Centr-2015 (Center-2015) The chief of the Russian armed forces' General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said that the next strategic command staff exercise will be held in western Russia in 2017. Gerasimov stated: "Strategic command staff exercises are held annually. The next, codenamed Zapad-2017 (West-2017) will take place in the west of the country." Gerasimov also commented on the preliminary results of the strategic command-and-staff exercise Kavkaz-2016, which was conducted in the Southern Military District (SMD), including Crimea and on the Black and Caspian Seas, on September 5-10.[1] The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the drill was intended to verify the readiness level of the military command bodies to control subordinate force groups. Kavkaz -2016 was notable for: the organization of troop control at all levels, tactical encounters with a simulated enemy on the other side of the barricade, testing new military equipment under field conditions, organization of mobilization and territorial defense, extensive employment of aviation and maritime forces of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian flotilla. As part of the strategic command-and-staff exercise, formations and units of the Land Forces, the Aerospace Forces, the Navy and the Airborne Troops practiced tactical encounters at the Southern MD ranges.[2] The Russian Defense Ministry's press-service said: "The Kavkaz-2016 exercise is the final phase of a package of command staff and special practices and drills for military command bodies and snap checks of troops' combat readiness due in 2016..."[3] It is worth noting that more than 120,000 troops, members of federal ministries and agencies and also specialists of the Central Bank of Russia were involved consecutively, at different periods in the Southern, Central and Western military districts. However, as Gerasimov previously stated, in the territory of the Southern Military District no more than 12,500 troops were involved in the exercise at any one time.[4] Assessing the Black Sea fleet drills results during Kavkaz 2016, Gerasimov stressed that the Black Sea fleet is capable of exterminating any enemy even before the enemy leaves his permanent location bases in the Black Sea. Gerasimov said: "The Black Sea fleet possesses every possible means for that purpose - surveillance systems, which track the targets from 500 kilometers, fire assets. Take the Bastions system for example - it has a 350 kilometers (range). It reaches everything including the Bosporus". He added that until recently the fleet's capabilities were lower than the Turkish fleet's capabilities in the Black Sea. "Several years ago the Russian fleet's combat capabilities were in stark contrast to that of the Turkish Navy. Some even said that Turkey was in full command of the Black Sea. Now it's different," Gerasimov said.[5] He also stated that the Black Sea Fleet was reinforced by submarines carrying the Kalibr missile system. Gerasimov also said that Russia's Black Sea Fleet is capable of destroying a potential enemy's amphibious force in the ports of embarkation. "The Black Sea Fleet should be able - and it has already demonstrated this capability - to destroy a potential enemy's amphibious force on the way, starting from the ports of embarkation," Gerasimov said. An enemy landing force should not be allowed to reach Crimea's coast, "wherever it may come from," Gerasimov added.[6] Regarding the operational scenario in the Black Sea and Crimea the observer may get to the conclusion that Russia gets ready to repel attack on Crimea. The operational scenario was described as follows: "The Western [countries] begin the offensive against the Northern Federation", reach naval and air superiority for three days and attempt to seize ground positions of the defending army in order to place the 'Southwestern republics' under Western control.[7] However, Gerasimov stressed that the drills were not targeted at Ukraine. Nevertheless, in planning and holding the military exercise, the Russian Defense Ministry took the US and Georgian joint drills, which conducted their own games alongside Kavkaz-2016, into account. Gerasimov said: "True, we took into account the US-Georgian exercise, bearing in mind that fifteen hundred troops were participating in them. We made allowances for their actions." It was also reported that Gerasimov stressed that Kavkaz-2016 attracted attention from foreign intelligence services, including those of NATO members.[8] Gerasimov added: "The southwestern strategic direction is a priority. First, the North Caucasus Military District, and later the Southern Military District - have been and remain a priority. They are the first to get advanced weapons and gear." An Iskander-M missile that was fired during the Kavkaz-2016 drills in southern Russia. (Source: Rt.com) The Western MD motorized rifle regiment located in the Moscow Region has eliminated a simulated enemy on the other side of the Don River during Kavkaz 2016. The servicemen overcame 500 meters of water and captured the other bank of the river. Helicopters of the army aviation covered the troops from the air. Having reached the other side of the river, the motorized rifle units engaged the simulated enemy capturing the bridgehead to ensure the crossing of the Don by the main forces. (Source: Mil.ru, September 7, 2016) Kaliningrad Region The Western Command District (WCD) started military drills in the Kaliningrad region. Shore-based forces of the Baltic fleet prepared to destroy with missiles and rockets the command and control centers, infantry, and heavy equipment of the simulated enemy. Shore-based forces will use Tochka-U short-range tactical missile systems during the drills. The exercise involved more than 100 soldiers.[9] In another set of drills in the WCD, armored forces launched drills to overcome water obstacles using tanks. More than 100 crews have been trained to cross rivers with maximum depth of 5 meters.[10] These drills may provide an insight into Russian military plans as crossing rivers does not generally dovetail with a purely defensive orientation. It is worth noting that Russia deployed Iskander -M tactical missile systems in Kaliningrad region. The move sparked tension in the Baltic States. On October 8, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Konashenkov said: "By the way, nobody made a big secret out of the transportation of the system onboard the freighter Ambal. I'll tell more - one Iskander system was deliberately exposed prior to the shipment to an American intelligence satellite, which was on its trajectory above (the region) - that was made in order to clarify (check out) certain parameters of this satellite." He also added that the Russian side did not have long to wait since the US partners in their "exposure impulse" have confirmed everything (that the Russians needed). He also stated: "The Iskander ballistic missile system is mobile, as during the training process missile force units improve their skills year-round [which involves] covering major distances across Russian territory by various means: by air, by sea and by their own movement." (Ria.ru, October 8) The Arctic Russia's Northern and Pacific Fleet warships took part in tactical naval drills in the Arctic region, near the New Siberian Islands. apt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said: "In line with a training plan, a joint tactical exercise of warships from the Northern and Pacific Fleets has been held in the area of the New Siberian Islands. After an arrival of a group of Northern Fleet's warships... a scenario involving the escort of ships by the Pacific Fleet's Ivan Susanin icebreaker was trained."[11] The Northern Fleet has conducted a series of drills involving anti-ship missile systems accompanied by the live firing of cruise missiles, Tu-95 strategic bombers and anti-submarine aircraft. According to the operational scenario, the navy landed and took under control of unspecified island territory and this involved raids and repelling potential enemy forces.[12] (Source: Stat.function.mil.ru) The Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet has conducted very similar drills. The fleet's press service wrote: "More than 20 crews of Su-27 and Su-24 warplanes, Mi-24 and Mi-8 military transport helicopters, as well as ship borne Ka-27 helicopters and An-26 military transport aircraft are taking part in the exercise. The crews of the naval aviation will drill interception and destruction of real air targets and the search for simulated enemy submarines."[13] The White Sea Date: September 27 Location: White Sea The Russian Defense Ministry said: "Today, on September 27, the Yuri Dolgoruky strategic nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine conducted experimental launches of two Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles from the White Sea to the Kura firing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula... Both missiles were fired from the submarine's silos in a routine regime. The first missile's warhead completed the entire cycle of the flight program and successfully hit the designated targets at the firing range. The second missile self-liquidated after the first stage of the flight program."[14] South Ossetia Date: September 20-24 Location: South Ossetia Troops and equipment: Around 4,000 servicemen and 1,000 pieces of equipment The drill's scenario is an air attack of a simulated enemy, "pass through contaminated areas on the ground in conditions of the use of weapons of mass destruction and electronic countermeasures by the enemy."[15] Central Military District Date: September Location: Buryatia Troops and Equipment: 300 personnel and about 80 pieces of military equipment An air defense regiment of the Central Military District, armed with the S-400 Triumph hit high-speed targets in its first exercise in Buryatia. an aide to the Central Military District's commander, Yaroslav Roshchupkin, said: "Six missiles were launched to destroy hard-to-hit high-speed missile targets Kaban travelling along a flat path at a speed of 1,200 meters per second at an altitude of 45 kilometers."[16] West And Central Russia Date: Main stages took place on October 5-7. The drills concluded on October 10. Location: Pskov, Ivanovo, Kostroma and Yaroslavl Regions Troops and equipment: 5,000 paratroopers. Units of the 76th air assault division (Pskov) and 98th airborne division (Ivanovo). In total, over 5,000 servicemen and around 900 units of military and special equipment. The Russian Defense Ministry said: "These are routine military exercise."[17] Jewish Autonomous Oblast Date: October Military equipment: Iskander-M tactical missile A missile regiment of the Eastern Military District stationed in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast was put on high combat readiness for snap checks.[18] Ural Region Russia is to establish one more armored division in the Ural region by the end of the year. The Ural region is part of Central Command. The new division is already at 70% strength in terms of personnel and heavy equipment. It will operate mainly diverse versions of the T-72 tank and will include a light infantry regiment, an artillery regiment, an air-defense regiment, and a couple of armored regiments and supporting units.[19] Topol Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile Date: September 9 Location: Plesetsky District On September 9, a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from Russia's Plesetsk launch site.[20] Topol, Topol-M, Yars Missile Launchers Date:September 22 Location: Tver Region to the Irkutsk Region Equipment: Around 1,700 units of equipment Over 60 standalone Topol, Topol-M and Yars missile launchers made intensive maneuvers on combat patrol routes from the Tver Region to the Irkutsk Region.[21] Iskander Missile Brigade Date: October Location: Western Military District Troops and equipment: 500 servicemen, involving 50 units of weaponry and military equipment. The Western Military District's missile brigade, equipped with Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile systems, has been placed on the highest combat alert level as part of the 2016 comprehensive military drill that was reviewed by the Ministry of Defense and the Chief-of-Staff. The Iskander-M units will deliver "a simulated preemptive strike against the missile systems and other remote critical targets of a simulated enemy."[22] Russian Arms' Orders From African Countries Russian arms exporter Rosoboron export announced that it has reached tentative orders of 21 billion USD from African countries. The major clients are Angola, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Uganda, while Mali. Namibia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mozambique, Tanzania are labeled "firm potential partners". The potential customers have expressed their interest in BTR-82A APC, Yak-130 light attack and training aircraft, Mi-28NE and Mi-35 M attack helicopters and Varshavaynka class cruise-missile equipped submarines.[23] Russia-Egypt Drills Name: Defenders of Friendship - 2016 Date: October Location: Egypt Troops:Airborne Troops of the Russian Armed Forces and of the Airborne Troops of Egypt - 10 units of military equipment and over 500 servicemen from the two countries. Military equipment: Aerodromes and 15 helicopters Russian Airborne Troops will hold joint drills together with Egyptian forces for the first time. They will practice destroying illegal armed groups in the desert. Representatives of 30 countries will observe the maneuvers. The defense ministry said that Russian and Egyptian servicemen "will develop common approaches to issues of cooperation when performing joint actions to localize and destroy illegal armed groups in the desert."[24] Russia-Pakistan Drills Name:Druzhba-2016 (Friendship-2016) Date: September 24-October 10 Location:Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan Troops and equipment:Around 200 service members The Russian Foreign Ministry wrote in anticipation Russian-Pakistani tactical military exercise Druzhba-2016 (Friendship 2016) that was staged September 24-October 10 at the Herat training ground in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Around 200 service members from both sides were to take part in fine-tuning their cooperation during mountainous anti-terror operations. Commenting on the drills, Professor Sergey Lunev of the Oriental Studies Department of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations said: "The exercise is not an index of friendly relations, but these are the first drills ever to be held with Pakistan. Before that, Russia abstained from military political contacts with this country [i.e. Pakistan], mainly because of very friendly relations with India in military political sphere and uncompromising opposition between India and Pakistan." Lunev stressed that India is Russia's largest partner in terms of military technical cooperation, since it accounts for about 40% of the Russian weapons exports. Lunev added: "Russia demonstrates discontent at the drastic reinforcement of the U.S.-India relations in the military political field as well in this project with Pakistan. Russia is an utterly important partner of India, we won't break relations, they are important for us." (Pravdareport.com, September 30, 2016) Russia-India Drills Name: INDRA-2016 Date: September 22-October 2 Location: Sergeyevsky range (Primorsky Krai) Troops and equipment: Over 500 servicemen, 50 units of equipment, a group of UAVs, and assault and ground-support aviation. Indian Contingent: 250 soldiers of the Kumaon Regiment. The Russian Armed Forces: 250 soldiers from the 59th Motorized Infantry Brigade. India-Russia joint drills INDRA-2016 took place in the Ussiriysk District in Vladivostok (at the Sergeyevsky range, Primorsky Krai),in Russia. The drills were held on September 22-October 2. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the drills were aimed at detecting, blocking, and eliminating simulated terrorist groupings and illegal armed formations with the use of aviation and artillery,[25] in semi-mountainous and jungle terrain under United Nations mandate.[26] Russia and India have been holding INDRA drills since 2003.[27] (Source: Rbth.com) Russia-China Drills Name: Joint Sea 2016 Date: September 12-19 Location: South China Sea Russia and China held Joint Sea 2016 drills September 12-19 in the South China Sea. The participants performed drills covering joint air defense, anti-submarine operations, landing, island-seizing, search and rescue, and weapons use. Russian commentator Aleksandr Hrolenko wrote in an article published by the RIA news agency that the drills were aimed at examining the probability and capability of mutual combat readiness for repelling U.S. fleet actions in the Southern China Sea, as the U.S. is the only country that could challenge China in those waters. The author added that acting by itself the Russian Pacific fleet regiment cannot change the military-political equation in the South China Sea, but via its presence and its cooperation with Chinese naval forces it helps reinforce Chinese defense capabilities and state sovereignty against American intervention. This is a mutually beneficial approach to both countries: China uses these drills as an additional argument in the territorial dispute over the South China Sea islands, while Russia projects power in distant parts of the ocean. (Mod.gov.cn, September 12; Ria.ru, September 12, 2016) Russia-Serbia Drills Name: BARS (Brotherhood of Aviators of Russia and Serbia)-2016 Date: October Location: Serbia Troops and Equipment: Crews of MiG-29 and Mi-8 aircraft from both countries. In total, up to 10 aircraft of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defense troops will be involved in the drill. In a statement describing the start in Serbia of the Joint Russian-Serbian BARS-2016 tactical flight exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry said: "During the day, participants in the drills will undergo classroom training at the Batajnica airbase, will study flight areas, conduct tactical training with the use of aircraft and drill teamwork skills with the flight control group."[28] The Russian Defense Ministry added that Mi-8 crews will practice landing and search-and-rescue operations, whereas MiG-29 crews will strike a simulated enemy and intercept aerial targets.[29] 'Frontier-2016' CSTO Drills Name: Rubezh-2016 (Frontier-2016), counter-terrorist operation at the drill of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Date: October 4-7 Location: Active phase in Kyrgyzstan Participating countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia Observers: US, China and India Troops and equipment: 1,000 servicemen from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. More than 200 items of hardware: T-72 tanks, BTR-80 armored fighting vehicles, Tigr armored cars, Grad multiple launch rocket systems and more than 20 helicopters and aircraft, including Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS long-range aircraft of the Russian Federation Air Force.[30] In October 2017, the CSTO plans to hold the Combat Brotherhood drills on the territory of Armenia, Kazakhstan and Russia.[31] Frontier-2016 drills. (Source: Rbth.com) Endnotes: There are no words that can describe the strength and honour of the Indian Army. Any tribute, any measure of love falls short when it comes to our brave men. The Indian army is one of the strongest armies in the world and their fighting spirit is admired by everyone. They are the sheepdogs that protect us from the evils of the world. Twitter Its not every day that we hear the words fashion and the Indian army in the same sentence but this exciting update will definitely make you swell with pride. As an initiative by the World News Network, a full-fledged fashion line, exclusively dedicated to the Indian army will be showcased as a part of the French European Indian Fashion Week (FEIFW) in Paris from October 21-23. Twitter Satish Reddy, the President of FEIFW, said, "I want to salute to our armed forces, who selflessly risk their lives to protect our beloved country and our families." A fashion flash-mob was witnessed by many in Delhis Connaught Place area over the weekend, and was aimed at generating some much needed buzz around the coming fashion week. The flash- mob saw children, models and acid attack survivors sashaying down the runway with pride. Twitter "It's a great pleasure organizing a fashion week on the Eiffel Tower and we are looking forward to promote fashion on all the Seven Wonders of the World. I want to thank all the French and Indian Dignitaries for supporting this iconic event and making a dream turn into reality," Reddy added. When you think of the royals in India, you might picture Maharajas on elephants, opulent palaces adorned with jewels, mistresses galore, wealth towering over the mountains and an aura of grandeur around the kings and the queens of old India. The Maharaja Of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh is one royal name that went down in history for the colourful life that he led which is still unmatched. Royal, promiscuous, garish and larger-than-life are a few words that can describe his insane lifestyle. Twitter There was this immense amount of mystery that surrounded his life. Freedom At Midnight, a book by Dominique Lapierre and Lary Collins dishes out certain details about the indulgent prince. In case you didnt know, he was crowned the Maharaja at the mere age of nine. He received the honorary title of Major General in 1918 and was also the first Indian to ever own an aircraft and even got an airstrip built for himself in Patiala. Twitter Twitter Can you believe that? Legend also has it that he had a fleet of over 20 Rolls Royce and the first car to be imported in the country, a French De Dion Bouton was owned by him. Twitter His shenanigans and opulence were unmatched and his promiscuous side was pretty popular back in those days. Bhupinder Singhs grandiosity makes him the Dan Bilzerian of old India actually. The book mentions a breastplate which was adorned with diamonds that the Maharaja owned. It was encrusted with 1,001 white and blue diamonds, but this fact is nothing compared to the custom that was related to it. Twitter According to legend, every year, the Maharaja would meet and greet with his loyal subjects, wearing nothing but the diamond breastplate, and showcasing his organ, in full glory! When he met Hitler while he was in Berlin, the dictator took an instant admiration towards him, and out of pure gratitude, he gifted Bhupinder Singh a personalised Maybach. He sent a trunkful of precious diamonds to Cartier in Paris and demanded the company to make a necklace out of it which took around two years to make. The Patiala necklace had 2,930 diamonds and weighed around 962.25 carats. His son, Yadavindra Singh, was the last Maharaja to wear that necklace which had an estimated price tag of $25 million. Twitter He was said to be a philanderer and the tales of his promiscuity were crazy even by todays standards. He had a plethora of concubines and an array of perfumers, jewellers, hair dressers, and even plastic surgeons were made available by him to cater to his favourite ladies. He was known to enjoy his summer afternoons swimming in his pool, with a group of bare-breasted women at his side. Talk about having a field day! He was apparently married five times, and he fathered around 88 children! His sex appetite even beat his appetite for food, as he was said to eat around 20 pounds of food in a day. Twitter I am guessing that probably the term live life king size was defined by him only. Twitter CASS CITY Cass City Public School District officials are taking extra steps to keep area residents informed. Although the Internet is a helpful and educational tool, there can be dangers that come with its use. Because of that, the Cass City Schools will host two programs in the gym on Internet safety presented my Michigan State Trooper Mark Swales. The programs will be Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m., for students in seventh through 12th grade, and then a program that night at 7 p.m., for parents. We are addressing issues on the Internet for students as well as for parents because parents only know a small fraction of what their kids know on using the Internet. Its about keeping kids and everyone safe online, said Superintendent Jeff Hartel. A parent came to us requesting this program. Schools have safeguards setup on district computers that restrict what sites can be accessed. Most home computers dont have that. We want students to be safe online and to educate them on that. That is why we contacted the Michigan State Police to present that program, Hartel said, noting there are predators out there. And, giving out too much personal information on social Websites can also be dangerous. In other informational issues, Hartel will be hosting a district spotlight program once a month. It will be kind of like a coffee hour that focuses on the district and education. It will focus on current school activities, new legislation that affects our schools, plans for the future of our district and any topic that pertains to Cass City Public Schools, Hartel explained. The first district spotlight meeting will be from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Nov. 4. at the Cass City Municipal Buildings conference room. The plan is to do the program monthly at the same time on the first Friday of the month. It will be an informational gathering to be more visible to the public. There will be time for questions and answers, and I hope to have students do a short presentation at each session to highlight the great things our students are doing, Hartel said. Everyone is welcome to attend whether or not they have a child in the district. The Bad Axe Rotary Clubs Little Free Library is now located at 1167 E. Hopson St. near the Courtney Manor Skilled Nursing and Rehab Facility. This Take a book Leave a book library is available for use by any member of the community. The library will be maintained through a partnership between the Bad Axe Rotary Club and the Bad Axe Area District Library. Creation of Rotary Little Free Libraries was the brainchild of Rotary District Governor Cheryl Peterson of Oscoda, who asked all 32 Rotary Clubs in her district to create and maintain at least one Little Free Library for the public to enjoy. This effort is part of the Districts Centennial Literacy Project, which celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Rotary Foundation and includes each clubs commitment to collect and send to the Philippines at least 300 childrens books to replace books that were lost when that country was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. (Submitted Photo) More than 2,500 Ukrainian army servicemen have been killed in the hostilities since the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. "A total of 2,533 servicemen have been killed defending Ukraine from the Russian aggressor," the president said during celebrations of Defender of Ukraine Day in the center of Kyiv on Friday morning. Approximately 280,000 Ukrainians have participated in the operation over the past two and a half years, and 266,000 of them have been recognized as combatants, he said. More than 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been decorated with state awards, including 33 servicemen awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine, Poroshenko said. This year alone over 57,000 Ukrainian volunteers joined the army on contract, and about 10,000 women are serving in combat units of the Ukrainian army, he said. Discharged servicemen have been assigned to the immediate reserve forces, which currently comprise almost 100,000 servicemen, he said. The following companies are subsidiares of Laboratory Co. of America: 1957285 Ontario Inc. dba Quality Underwriting Services, 2089729 Ontario Inc., 2248848 Ontario Inc., 3065619 Nova Scotia Company, 3257959 Nova Scotia Company, 8165335 Canada Inc., 8348596 Canada Inc., 896988 Ontario Limited, 9279-3280 Quebec Inc., Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., Assets of Pathology Inc, Beacon LBS IPA Inc., Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions Inc., CannAmm GP Inc., CannAmm Limited Partnership, Center for Disease Detection International, Center for Disease Detection LLC, Centrex Clinical Laboratories Inc., Chiltern, Clearstone Central Laboratories (U.S.) Inc., Clearstone Holdings (International) Ltd., Clinical Outreach Laboratory Services, Clipper Holdings Inc., Colorado Coagulation Consultants Inc., Colorado Laboratory Services LLC, Correlagen Diagnostics Inc., Covance Inc., Curalab Inc., Cytometry Associates Inc., Czura Thornton (Hong Kong) Limited, DCL Acquisition Inc., DCL Medical Laboratories LLC, DCL Sub LLC, DIANON Systems Inc., DL Holdings Limited Partnership, Decision Diagnostics L.L.C. (aka DaVinici/Medicorp LLC), Diagnostic Services Inc., DynaLifeDX, Dynacare - Gamma Laboratory Partnership, Dynacare Company, Dynacare G.P. Inc., Dynacare Holdco LLC, Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dynacare Laboratories Limited Partnership, Dynacare Northwest Inc., Dynacare Realty Inc., DynalifeDX Infrastructure Inc., Envigo's nonclinical contract research services business, Esoterix Genetic Counseling LLC, Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, Esoterix Inc., Execmed Health Services Inc., FirstSource Laboratory Solutions Inc., GDML Medical Laboratories Inc, Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratories GP Inc., Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratory Limited Partnership, HHLA Lab-In-An-Envelope LLC, Health Testing Centers Inc., Health Trans Services Inc., Home Healthcare Laboratory of America LLC, IDX Pathology Inc., Impact Genetics Corporation, Impact Genetics Inc., Kaleida LabCorp LLC, Lab Delivery Service of New York City Inc., LabCorp BVBA, LabCorp Belgium Holdings Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Canada) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (China) Inc., LabCorp Colorado Inc., LabCorp Development Company, LabCorp Employer Services Inc., LabCorp Health System Diagnostics LLC, LabCorp Indiana Inc., LabCorp Japan G.K., LabCorp Limited, LabCorp Michigan Inc., LabCorp Nebraska Inc., LabCorp Neon Ltd., LabCorp Neon Switzerland S.a.r.l., LabCorp Specialty Testing Billing Service Inc., LabCorp Specialty Testing Group Inc., LabCorp Staffing Solutions Inc., LabCorp Tennessee LLC, LabCorp UK Holdings Ltd., LabWest Inc., Laboratoire Bio-Medic Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Lifecodes Corporation, LipoScience Inc., Litholink Corporation, MEDTOX Scientific Inc., MNG Laboratories, MedAxio Insurance Medical Services GP Inc., MedAxio Insurance Medical Services LP, Medical Neurogenitics LLC, Medtox Diagnostics Inc., Medtox Laboratories Inc., Monogram Biosciences Inc., Monogram Biosciences UK Limited, Myriad Autoimmunes Vectra Testing Business, NWT Inc., National Genetics Institute, New Brighton Business Center LLC, New Imaging Diagnostics LLC, New Molecular Diagnostics Ventures LLC, Orchid Cellmark ULC, Ovia Health, PA Labs Inc., Paclab LLC, Path Lab Incorporated, Pathology Associates Medical Lab LLC, Pee Dee Pathology Associates Inc., Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., Persys Technology Inc., Pixel by LabCorp, Princeton Diagnostic Laboratories of America Inc., Protedyne Corporation, SW/DL LLC, Saint Josephs-PAML LLC, Sequenom Biosciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sequenom Inc, Sequenom Inc., Tandem Labs Inc., Toxikon Corporation, Tri-Cities Laboratory LLC, Viro-Med Laboratories Inc., Visiun, and Yakima Medical Arts Inc.. Read More The best known date in English history may be 1066, but how much do you really know about the battle that destroyed Anglo-Saxon England? Tickets to English Heritages re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings this weekend are sold out, but here are 10 alternative ways to mark the 950th anniversary of William the Conquerors victory over the Anglo-Saxons. 1. Visit one of the Conquerors castles in England When the Normans conquered England in 1066, they lost no time embarking on what is generally recognised as the biggest programme of castle-building Western Europe has ever seen. The two main castle-types that William brought to England were motte-and-bailey castles and stone tower keeps. So head to Dover, Hastings, Rochester, or Guildford this weekend to explore Englands Norman castles. See details of English Heritages top ten Norman castles here. 2. Explore the site of the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire Three weeks before the Battle of Hastings, King Harolds army won a stunning victory over the Norwegians at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, fought near York on 28 September 1066. The invaders were led by warrior-king Harald Hardrada of Norway. Hardrada considered himself the rightful heir to the English throne because his predecessor Cnut had been king of England, Norway, and Denmark in the early 11th century. Some historians think this battle reduced the capacity of Harolds army to fight effectively at Hastings, leading to the Anglo-Saxons defeat, but this has been debated. Nevertheless, the Battle of Stamford Bridge certainly did distract Harold from the looming Norman threat. You cant access the main battlefield anymore, but you can reach its eastern side, and explore the town and surrounding country. 3. Search for Harolds final resting place in Essex Harold stopped to pray at Waltham Abbey in Essex on his way from Stamford Bridge to fight William at Battle. Harold supported the abbey when he was alive, and he is said to have been buried here after his death. 4. Stay indoors and watch a documentary If youd rather not brave the elements, you can explore Anglo-Norman England from the comfort of your own home. There are lots of documentaries about the Norman Conquest, but we recommend the BBCs The Normans, presented by medieval historian Professor Robert Bartlett. Its no longer on iPlayer, but you can access all three episodes through BBC Store. 5. Find the tomb of Edward the Confessor in London The succession crisis in 1066 was sparked by the death of King Edward the Confessor, who died childless in January of that year. Edward was buried in Westminster Abbey and later made a saint. 6. Bring history to life at Chepstow Castle in Wales Norman lord William FitzOsbern began building Chepstow Castle in 1067, just after the Battle of Hastings. Built in the Welsh Marches, Chepstow Castle was strategically placed to defend England from Welsh attack, while also serving as an outpost for the Norman invasion of Wales. To commemorate the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, which led to the castles creation, Chepstow Castle is holding historical re-enactments this anniversary weekend. 7. Cross the Channel to see where it all began William the Conqueror was a powerful Norman duke. Visit his duchy today, and you can see the original Bayeux Tapestry in all its glory at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, France. 8. Take the train to Pevensey The Normans landed at Pevensey Bay on 28 September 1066. Duke William set up camp in an old Roman fort near the shore, before travelling east to Hastings. He later built a castle in Pevensey, the ruins of which are still visible today. Theres also a 1066-themed race on Sunday 16 October. 9. Investigate the Normans influence on Scotland Although the Normans did not conquer Scotland, Norman influence spread north of the border in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. David I of Scotland spent his childhood in Scotland, but was temporarily exiled to England, where he spent his time at the court of King Henry I, William the Conquerors son. There he was steeped in Norman culture. When he returned to Scotland, he brought with him many aspects of the Anglo-Norman government, and granted land to Normans who knew how to implement these systems. David was buried at Dunfermline Abbey, which he established in 1128. The abbey was built in the Norman style, and you can still visit it today. It is also the resting place of King Robert the Bruce (from the French de Brus), who was descended from Anglo-Norman nobility. 10. Go Norman castle-hunting in Ireland The Normans set sail for Ireland in the late 12th century. As much of the area fell under Anglo-Norman rule, new castles were thrown up to consolidate the invaders hold on the region. One such example is King Johns Castle in Limerick, completed around 1210 (look out for David Flinthams review of the castle in MHM 75, out 10 November). We covered the Norman invasion of Ireland in issue 17 of MHM. Click here to subscribe to the magazine, and dont forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. We covered the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest in an in-depth special feature in issue 73 of Military History Monthly. MHM Assistant Editor Hazel Blair profiled the men on the battlefield and analysed the battle itself, while contributor Jack Watkins explored the castles built by William the Conqueror after his victory on the field. This post includes edited excerpts from those articles. The Air Force identified an airman found unresponsive Sept. 23 at San Luis Beach, Guam, and later pronounced dead at Naval Hospital Guam as Capt. Jeffrey "Bull" Braden, said 1st Lt. Kaitlin Daddona, a spokeswoman for 15th Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Braden was an F-22 Raptor pilot assigned to the 19th Fighter Squadron of the 15th Wing and had been temporarily assigned to Andersen Air Force Base, an Air Force release said. San Luis Beach is located on the U.S. naval station on Guam. The service said the airman's death is under investigation. "It is the worst kind of tragedy when we lose a member of our Air Force family," said Brig. Gen. Douglas Cox, 36th Wing commander, in a statement Sept. 23. "Our condolences are with the immediate family and everyone affected by this loss." Exercise Valiant Shield 16, a large-scale war game in the Pacific, was ongoing all that week throughout Guam and off its coast. The exercise, which included 18,000 personnel and more than 180 aircraft from the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, concluded Sept. 23. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@Oriana0214. The U.S. military continues to provide refueling support for Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, but said it has not been providing targeting intel in the wake of the strike that hit a Yemeni funeral on Saturday. The airstrike hit a funeral hall packed with thousands of mourners in the capital city of Sanaa, killing more than 140 people and wounding hundreds, according to The New York Times. The incident has prompted the U.S. to launch an immediate review of its support operations for the Saudi-led coalition, the Times reported. U.S. Central Command has stressed that it is not providing intelligence of target locations in Yemen to the Saudis. "We have not provided any kind of intel to carry out strikes," Maj. Josh Jacques, media chief at CentCom, told Military.com. Throughout the month of September, Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-10 Extenders offloaded nearly two million pounds of fuel to nearly 200 Saudi-led coalition aircraft in the air war against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The service refueled Saudi-led aircraft as recently as Sunday, the day after the strike in Sanaa, Jacques said. There was no request, however, to refuel jets the day of the strike in Sanaa, he said. Jacques added that Central Command has received no order to stop refueling missions in support of the Saudi coalition. Meanwhile, a U.S. Navy ship launched cruise missiles and destroyed three radar sites from a rebel-controlled area in Yemen, the service announced late Wednesday. The announcement came a day after a Navy ship was apparently targeted for a second time by missiles originating from the area. In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the radar sites struck were in territory controlled by Houthi rebels on Yemen's Red Sea coast. They were hit early Wednesday morning, at roughly 4 a.m. local time, officials said. "Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed," Cook said in the statement. A defense official told Military.com the attacks were conducted using sea-launched cruise missiles and originated from the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze, but would not confirm the number of missiles fired, citing security reasons. The original attacks appeared to target the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mason, which has been patrolling near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce, also in the region. The strikes were recommended by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and authorized by President Barack Obama, Cook said in the statement. Earlier Wednesday, a military official confirmed to The Associated Press that a second round of two missiles had been fired from rebel territory at the Mason. The ship used countermeasures, the officials said, and the missiles went harmlessly into the sea. The first two missiles targeting the Mason and the Ponce were fired Sunday, originating from the same region on the coast of Yemen. A defense official confirmed to Military.com that the Mason had used countermeasures, firing two Standard Missile-2s and a RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile, and launching a Nulka missile decoy to lure the missiles away from the ship. It remains unclear whether these countermeasures were successfully employed against the missiles or whether the attack failed on its own. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at Oriana.pawlyk@military.com. -- Editor's Note: This story was updated to correct the reference to the volume of fuel in the sixth paragraph. The U.S. has yet to determine who was responsible for the launch of missiles at Navy warships in the Red Sea from areas in Yemen in the control of Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday. "We don't know who was pulling the trigger," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said, but the missiles were launched from "Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. Iran has played a role and been supportive of the Houthi rebels." The Houthis have denied carrying out the attacks. At 4 a.m. local time Thursday, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze launched missiles at three radar sites in coastal Yemen in retaliation for the attempted attacks on Navy warships, Cook said. The initial assessment was that the sites were destroyed and there were no indications of civilian casualties, he added. "These strikes were in response to attempted missile attacks in recent days against USS Mason and other vessels in the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb," Cook said at a Pentagon news conference. "We will be prepared to respond again" if ships in the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait are threatened, Cook said. He declined to respond to reports that Iran has deployed two of its warships off Yemen in the Gulf of Aden. "I'll leave it to the Iranians to describe the disposition of their ships." The Defense Department on Tuesday had warned of possible retaliation after a pair of missiles was fired at the Navy destroyer USS Mason on Sunday as the ship was in international waters near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. On Wednesday, another two missiles were fired at the Mason from an area believed to be in the control of the Houthis. None of the missiles struck the ship, and there were no injuries, U.S. officials said. The amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio and the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce were also operating in the area with the Mason at the time. The attempted attacks on U.S. ships were the first in the civil war between Shiite Houthi rebels fighting the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi that broke out in March 2015. At least 4,125 civilians have been killed in the fighting, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A cease-fire and peace talks collapsed in August. Saudi Arabia, which backs the fledgling Yemeni government, began conducting airstrikes in Yemen last year. A Houthi military official said that charges of missile launches by them at U.S. ships were an attempt at glossing over a Saudi airstrike on a funeral service Sunday that reportedly killed more than 150 people, the Houthi-affiliated Saba news agency reported. White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters that the strikes on the radar sites "were indeed authorized by the president. These were ordered in response to the missile launches threatening the USS Mason." "The intent of our strikes were to deter future attacks and to reduce the risk to U.S. and other vessels. We are prepared to respond if necessary to any future missile launches," Schultz said. He called the strikes a "purely self-defense action." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Militants in Donbas have shelled Ukrainian military positions 25 times in the past 24 hours, the press center of the Ukrainian army's headquarters said on its Facebook account on Friday morning. Fourteen shelling instances were recorded near the city of Mariupol, where militants fired machineguns, grenade launchers and small arms near Talakivka, Maryinka and Bohdanivka, and 120mm mortars and 122mm cannon artillery were used against positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Shyrokyne and Vodiane, the press center said. Militants shelled Ukrainian army positions in Luhansk region ten times. The Ukrainian military also recorded armed provocations near Novooleksandrivka and Stanytsia Luhanska, where small arms and grenade launchers were used and snipers operated. Ukrainian positions in Novozvanivka came under 152mm cannon artillery fire. One strike was recorded in Donetsk region, where militants used machineguns, grenade launchers and small arms, as well as 82mm and 120mm mortars in Avdiyivka. The Air Force marked the 10th anniversary Friday of the once-controversial Air Force Memorial, which features three stainless steel spires that beckon to the wild blue yonder and honor airmen who "climbed sunward and chased the shouting wind." The United States Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, stands as a fitting place "where we come to find meaning in this thing we call service" and symbolizes the service's mission to "go wherever evil lurks," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. It is also fitting that the memorial overlooks Arlington National Cemetery and the graves of the fallen, "standing watch -- top cover," Goldfein said. "Standing watch is what we do," he said. "So, how appropriate that this powerful, moving memorial stands watch over our fallen at Arlington Cemetery." Goldfein noted the remarks of former President George W. Bush in dedicating the memorial on Oct. 14, 2006, when he pointed out the meaning of the site to Air Force veterans: "A soldier can walk the battlefields where he once fought; a Marine can walk the beaches he once stormed. But an airman can never visit the patch of sky he raced across on a mission to defend freedom, and so it's fitting that from this day forward airmen will have this memorial." "To all who have climbed sunward and chased the shouting wind, America stops to say, 'Your service and your sacrifice will be remembered forever, and honored in this place by the citizens of a free and grateful nation,' " Bush said. In his remarks at Friday's ceremony, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James A. Cody made brief reference to the controversy over the choice of the site. He said it was a "hard-fought battle to actually have this memorial here" close by the Marine Corps War Memorial, known as the Iwo Jima Memorial. The reference was to former Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon, a New York Republican and Marine veteran, who introduced a bill in 1997 to prohibit the construction of any monument, memorial or other structure "within view" of the Marine Corps War Memorial. Solomon and others also filed suit to protect the site but lost in court. Formal groundbreaking began in September 2004, and construction of the three spires, which range in height to 270 feet, began in February 2006. The spires, designed by architect James Ingo Freed, are intended to evoke "the contrails of the Air Force Thunderbirds as they peel back in a precision 'bomb burst' maneuver." Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the spires also underline the importance the service attaches to the number three for the three domains in which it operates -- air, space and cyberspace. Officially, the memorial is intended to honor the service and sacrifices of the men and women of the Air Force -- including the 54,000 who gave their lives in service -- as well as its predecessor organizations. Those heritage organizations included the Aeronautical Division; the U.S. Signal Corps; the Aviation Section; the U.S. Signal Corps; the Division of Military Aeronautics; the Army Air Service; the U.S. Army Air Corps; and the U.S. Army Air Forces. James said those organizations inspired a proud and continuing tradition, from the Lafayette Escadrille -- the American volunteers for the Aeronautique Militaire of France in World War I -- to the "Doolittle Raiders" and Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, to the highly trained pilots now flying combat missions over Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. James, who was presented a red blazer to signify her induction as an honorary member of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., also urged the audience to take note of the London plane trees lining the walkways leading to the memorial. "These are trees that thrive in harsh conditions," she said, and "these trees truly represent the resilience of our airmen and their families." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Related Video: The U.S. Army announced Friday it will deploy about 500 soldiers from the Big Red One to Iraq this fall. The 1st Infantry Division Headquarters troops will assume the role of Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command-Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, according to an Oct. 14 Army press release. The Fort Riley, Kansas, unit will replace soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), providing command and control of coalition troops training, advising and assisting Iraqi Security Forces. "Our Big Red One soldiers are well trained and ready to continue the tremendous support the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the coalition are providing to our Iraqi allies," said Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Martin, incoming commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley. "We will assist in training Iraqi commanders, staffs, soldiers and police officers as they plan and conduct counter-ISIL operations in both the Tigris and Euphrates River valleys, with a central focus on the city of Mosul." In late July, the Army announced the deployment of about 800 soldiers from Fort Riley to Afghanistan. The service deployed 800 soldiers from 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, as part of a regular rotation of forces to the country in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel, the name of the U.S. counter-terrorism operation against the remnants of al-Qaida; an emerging offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS; and other terror groups. President Barack Obama announced in July a change in plans for U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan when he said 8,400 American service members would stay in the country into next year, leaving it up to his potential successor Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton to decide on the size of the military footprint there. The president initially planned to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan to 5,500 before he left office but changed course after a recommendation from Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in country. The current authorized level of U.S. troops in Afghanistan through the rest of the year stands at 9,800. The U.S. troops are split between two missions that will continue -- NATO's Resolute Support mission to advise Afghan security forces and the separate Freedom's Sentinel. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV. The U.S. Navy has fired a second littoral combat ship commander in the space of one year, the latest in connection with engine damage the ship sustained this summer. Cmdr. Michael R. Wohnhaas, commander of Crew 106 for the littoral combat ship USS Freedom, was relieved Oct. 13 by Vice Adm. Tom Rowden, commander of Naval Surface Forces, Pacific Fleet, the service announced in a news release. Wohnhaas was relieved "due to loss of confidence in his ability to effectively lead and carry out his assigned duties," officials said. At issue is the July 11 breakdown of the Freedom during participation in Rim of the Pacific exercises. The Freedom, the first in its class built by Lockheed Martin Corp., suffered a leak at its seawater pump mechanical seal, which allowed seawater to enter the engine lube oil system and damage the ship's second main propulsion diesel engine. When the ship returned to port in San Diego after the exercise, engineers determined the engine would either need to be removed and rebuilt, or replaced entirely. An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the seawater leak and following damage resulted in the commanding officer's relief, officials said. Wohnhaas, who was commissioned in 1996 and is a surface warfare officer by trade, previously served as the executive officer of the guided-missile destroyer William P. Lawrence and in the Future Ships Requirements Office at Naval Surface Forces Pacific, where he helped to draft the platform wholeness concept of operations for the new DDG 1000 Zumwalt class of destroyer, and led the LCS Fleet Introduction and Sustainability Panel, according to his official biography. He has been temporarily reassigned to Naval Surface Force Forces Pacific, officials said. Capt. Matthew McGonigle, deputy commodore of LCS Squadron One, has replaced him as temporary commanding officer. The Freedom still awaits repairs in San Diego, and officials said no final decision has been made yet on how to proceed. Wohnhaas' relief comes seven months after the commander of another Freedom-class LCS, the Fort Worth, was fired due to the circumstances surrounding the ship's breakdown in Singapore in January. Cmdr. Michael Atwell was relieved March 28 after preliminary results of the investigation into that casualty found lubrication oil was not properly applied to the ship's combining gears during engine start-up. The full results of that investigation have not yet been publicly released. Five littoral combat ships have sustained engine casualties of varying severity within the last 12 months. In September, the Navy announced a massive engineering review for the entire LCS program, including retraining for all engineering crews, and additional changes possible. Late last month, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told reporters in Newport, Rhode Island, that the LCS program remained on track and the problems it had were akin to those suffered by other new ship classes in their early days. "We're learning lessons as it starts up -- in engineering -- as we get this class of ship to sea," Richardson said. "In both hull forms, we're finding things we need to address from an engineering standpoint. We're seeing areas where crew training, preparedness of the crew to operate the ship -- we're learning lessons there as well." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@HopeSeck. As European allies watch Russian aggression in Europe with concern, the Norwegian government is considering allowing a small contingent of U.S. Marines to be based in the country to facilitate better military cooperation and be at the ready in the event of a crisis, Military.com has learned. The force under consideration is small, about 300 Marines, a defense official said. Pending the approval of the Norwegian government, the Marines would deploy in a six-month rotation, with additional rotations to follow if approved, the official said. It's too early to say whether the rotation would be similar to the Marines' crisis response task forces for Africa and the Middle East, or more like the Corps' unit deployment program, which sends Marines forward to Japan for six-month rotations, primarily for training and partnership exercises. The Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen reported that the Vaernes air station in Stjordal, Norway, is being considered to house the Marines. The air station also serves as part of Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway, a program that allows the Corps to store thousands of vehicles and other major pieces of gear in temperature-controlled caves, at the ready for joint exercises or a major European combat contingency. The base, located in central Norway, is about 1,000 miles away from Russia, with which Norway shares a border about 120 miles long at its northeastern limit. Ahead of an official signal to proceed by the Norwegian government, Maj. Gen. Niel E. Nelson, the commander of Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, would confirm only that the possibility is being considered. "We have a long and close relationship with our friends in the Norwegian Armed Forces, and a limited rotational Marine presence in Norway is one option being considered as a further development of this relationship," Nelson told Military.com in a statement. "However, at this time, it would be premature to discuss possible implementation of such an initiative before the appropriate Norwegian political processes are completed." The proposition must be approved by the Norwegian parliament, and it's not clear when that will take place, the official said. But local reports indicated the first rotation of troops could arrive as soon as January if the proposition is ratified. The Norwegian Ministry of Defense has expressed support for the arrangement. "Assessments have taken place within the military to look at the options for additional training, storage and this kind of thing," Norwegian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Ann Kristin Salbuvik said Oct. 10, according to a report from international outlet PressTV.com. This potential move is the latest in a series designed to improve collaboration with European allies for greater regional security. Last year, the Corps rolled out the Allied Maritime Basing Initiative, a strategy that placed a small number of American troops aboard French, Dutch and Spanish ships in a move designed to better enable Marines to respond to crises and reassure partners in the face of Russian hostility in Eastern Europe. In July, Army officials revealed plans to base a division headquarters and artillery brigade in Europe on a rotational basis in coming years. That would be in addition to an already-approved armor brigade that will move more than 42,000 additional soldiers into Europe by early next year. These plans fall under what the Pentagon is calling the "European Reassurance Initiative," begun in 2014 as Russian forces entered Ukraine, then annexed the Crimean peninsula. The Marine Corps already operates the Black Sea Rotational Force, a six-month deployment of about 500 Marines that conducts partner exercises with some 20 Eastern European countries to promote regional stability. That deployment rotation is expected to continue independent of plans to rotate troops through Norway, the official said. Earlier this year, nearly 2,000 Marines traveled to Trondheim, Norway, to participate in the annual exercise Cold Response, including 16,000 troops from 15 countries -- the largest multinational exercise in the country in more than 20 years. Speaking at a Washington, D.C., event in March, Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller made clear that this show of strength was not coincidental. "We were working to repopulate our [pre-positioning equipment] in the caves, and the Norwegians were happy to see us, and I'm sure our Russian friends were paying attention," he said of the exercise. "Mr. Putin has done us a great favor." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@HopeSeck. Related Video: U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and several other soldiers responded to a recent bus crash in Washington, D.C., and administered first aid to the accident victims, The Associated Press reported. Milley was traveling from Joint Base Andrews to Fort Myer in Virginia in a two-car convoy Wednesday night and came upon the accident. A Metrobus and a car had collided on Suitland Parkway near Stanton, according to the AP. Two soldiers helped pull one person from the car before it caught fire, and two others provided first aid to that person until the ambulance arrived, Army Lt. Col. Rob Shaw told the AP. Milley helped direct the response and assisted with the first aid, but the soldiers were unable to pull the other victim from the car because it was in flames, the AP reported. The accident left one dead and three others injured, according to the AP. Military.com reached out to Army public affairs for more details but has not yet received a response. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said Ukrainian military servicemen will get another batch of weapons and equipment on Saturday, October 15. "Tomorrow, I will continue the tradition of public handover of equipment and weapons to the army. This time, these will be military and transport aircraft, missile and artillery weapons, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, trucks and vehicles of logistics support," he said during the celebrations to mark Defender of Ukraine Day on Friday morning in the center of Kyiv. The president also said that he plans to meet with Ukrainian servicemen of the 6th wave of mobilization who have recently been discharged. According to the information available to Interfax-Ukraine, Poroshenko will visit Kharkiv region on Saturday where he will handover the military hardware and present the new regional governor, Yulia Svitlychna, who is currently working as acting head of the regional administration. Dear Ms. Vicki, I need help. My daughter just left for Army boot camp. When she was here, she would pay for her vehicle on her own. Now that she's gone, I don't know where I'm going to get the money to pay for it. Because she had no credit, I put the vehicle under my name and they won't postpone the payments for at least three months until she comes back. Do you have any advice? -- Postponing Bills Dear Postponing, Your daughter is getting paid now by the Army. She can still make her car payment. There are many options. First, she will definitely have direct deposit for her pay. This means she can do an automatic monthly debit from her account to make the car payment. Second, she can add you to her bank account and you can make the car payment for her. Third, she should give you a general power of attorney so that you can make decisions on her behalf when it comes to her finances. However, you can still be added to her bank account without having a power of attorney. Fourth, if she refuses to pay (as some adult children will do), you will have to make the decision to let the car get repossessed or voluntarily give the car back. Of course, this will hurt your credit too. Finally, don't ever co-sign for anything or for anyone, especially not your children. A co-signer is basically saying, "I will make the payment because the first signer never will." Think of it: If they paid their bills on time, if they made enough money or had good credit, they wouldn't need a co-signer. Let me know what you decide to do. -- Ms. Vicki Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri addresses Third Australian Conference on Islam Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, Chairman Supreme Council, MQI, delivered his keynote lecture at Third Australian Conference on Islam in Melbourne yesterday. He said that Islamic ideology is based on knowledge, peace, forbearance and tolerance and there is no space for terrorism and extremism in it. He said that it is not just Islam, no religion of the world allows taking the life of innocent people. He said that efforts to associate terrorism with religion and politics have been counterproductive and really helped the terrorist organizations get strengthened. The Conference was attended by leading intellectuals, religious leaders, opinion makers and civil society activists. Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din is on a two-week tour of Australia in connection with attending the Conference. In addition to speaking at various events, he would also address a peace conference under the banner of MQI Australia. Addressing the Third edition of the Australian Conference on Islam, Dr Hassan said that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forewarned of the mischief of ISIS some 1400 years ago. He had also informed about their identities and details of the methodologies and tactics of such groups. He said that the approach of branding ISIS and Al-Qaeda with Islam is not correct, which do not represent the mainstream Islam and Muslim community. He said that the phenomenon which the world knows as ISIS was described as Khwarij by Islam. He said that these are the people who spread mischief and anarchy in the world for the sake of their interests, take innocent lives and indulge in bloodshed. The Chairman of Supreme Council said that Islam is a complete code of life and peace is central pillar of its teachings. He said that the Holy Quran described the killing of one innocent person as the killing of entire humanity and likened the saving of one person to saving the entire humanity. He put forward a rhetorical question, asking how can a religion, which teaches civilization, peace, tolerance and respect for others, urge its followers to take the life of innocent people? Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that for terrorism and extremism to be eliminated for good, the nations of the world would have to forge unity in their ranks and come together on the agenda of saving humanity. He suggested to the governments to put forward peace narratives and formulate frameworks for their implementation. He said that Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri is one of the towering Islamic scholars who issued counter-terrorism Fatwa against suicide bombings besides authoring 25 books in Arabic, English and Urdu languages. He said that this historic document of Dr Qadri has won international applause and his work is a great service to the humanity. The son of Kreigh Collins, an artist who is probably best known for his nationally syndicated comic strips, will be the guest speaker at the next Ada Historical Society community event. Collins, who died in 1974, called Ada home for 40 years, but his art, which reflects his love of adventure as well as story-telling, is known around the world. The event, featuring his son, Kevin Collins, is free and is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, at Roselle Park, 1010 Grand River Ave., Ada. In addition to his comic strips, for which be became famous in the 1950s and '60s, Kreigh Collins was also known for his print illustrations, paintings, sketches and murals. Many of his paintings are in the Grand Rapids Public Museum archives. In addition, his widow donated photos, documents, an oral history, and cartoon storyboards to the Grand Rapids Public Library, according to Kristin Wildes, of the Ada Historical Society. Some of his larger works include murals. During the Depression, the federal government's Works Projects Administration (WPA) funded murals for public buildings, and Collins was commissioned to paint around the nation. Some of the local murals were lost when buildings, including the Civic Auditorium and original Ottawa High School, were torn down. The former East Grand Rapids High School building, which is now home to Wealthy Elementary, also was selected for a Collins mural. When that building was renovated, "someone was passionate about saving the mural," said Wildes. It was put into a frame and now hangs in the computer room. "These murals, which were painted in 1933 during the Great Depression, were reinstalled in our computer lab in the fall of 2015," said Wealthy Principal Carlye Allen. "They are a beautiful, artistic representation of our country's past. The juxtaposition of the historical paintings next to computers is a purposeful reminder to our students of the vast advancements that our country has made." The scene depicts settlers coming by ship, clearing of the land and moving westward, said Brian Collins, a grandson who is working on a book about the comic strips. "The school's mascot is the Pioneers, and it is interesting to me that the mural shows the settling of the land." The Kreigh Collins painting stretches across the Wealthy Elementary computer lab, but this small section shows the detail of his work. Kreigh Collins was a classically-trained fine artist who studied at art schools in the United States and in Europe. After returning to the States, he pursued his love of painting, until an injury to his right arm made the work impossible, according to his grandson. After the injury, he first did illustration work for books and magazines. "The Methodist Publishing House became a steady client and this connection led to Kreigh's foray into comics illustration and wide exposure," said Collins. A weekly "Bible Stories Comics" used in church school materials, reached an estimated 700,000 children each week and eventually led to a contract with the nationally syndicated newspaper. His first comic, "Mitzi McCoy" (1948-50) was set in the fictitious town of Freedom, Michigan. He may be best known for "Kevin the Bold," which ran from 1950 to 1968 and was featured in Sunday comics sections across the country, including the "Chicago Tribune." Collins was an avid sailor and his son Kevin, who lives in Ada in the house where he grew up with his father, is expected to share some stories about the years that the family took trips down the Mississippi, up and around Florida and as far north as Maine aboard a schooner. Another comic strip - "Up Anchor" - is a nautical dramedy about the family experiences. The artist's wife, Teresa, wrote weekly updates about the family trips for the "Suburban Life," a weekly local newspaper. The Ukrainian army has suffered no casualties in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Friday. Attacks on Ukrainian army positions continue, and the ceasefire regime has been breached twice near Stanytsia Luhanska, he said. Gunfire was observed in the Popasna district in the daytime and during the night; the hostiles first used light weapons and 15 shots were fired from 152mm howitzers at around midnight, Lysenko said, adding that the shooting was coming from Stakhanov. In all, ten provocations were staged in the Luhansk sector, including one by use of heavy weapons, he said. The hostiles once breached the truce in the Donetsk sector - mortars were fired on the Avdiyivka industrial zone, the ministry spokesman said. Heavy weapons were fired on the Vodiane-Shyrokyne area in the Mariupol sector, Lysenko said, noting that more than 200 mortar mines were fired on Ukrainian army positions. Light weapons were used in Maryinka, Bohdanivka and Talakivka, he said. In all, 14 violations of the truce were observed in the Mariupol sector, and five of them engaged heavy weapons, Lysenko said. US 23 9 mile road.png GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MI - The left lane of northbound U.S. 23 is blocked just north of Whitmore Lake Friday, Oct. 14. The Michigan Department of Transportation reported the closure at 3:34 p.m. on U.S. 23 at Nine Mile Road in Livingston County's Green Oak Township. Five vehicles are involved, MDOT reports. No further information was immediately available. ANN ARBOR, MI - Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the most important thing that ever happened to her was becoming an American. "I'm an immigrant. I'm a refugee," Albright told a crowd of several dozen mostly women at a women's organizing event for Hillary Clinton in Ann Arbor on Friday, Oct. 14, inside the home of Gil Omenn and Martha Darling. U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, left, introduces former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, seated, inside the home of Gil Omenn and Martha Darling, standing at right, in Ann Arbor on Oct. 14, 2016. Albright, 79, was born in Czechoslovakia. She was the first woman to become the United States secretary of state under President Bill Clinton in 1997. Before that, she was a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "I came here when I was 11 years old," Albright said, noting her father was a Czech diplomat. "We spent World War II in England, and then we went back, and then my father was ambassador in Yugoslavia. And then the communists took over, so we came to the United States and he defected and asked for political asylum." Albright said when they were in Europe, people would say, "We're so sorry your country has been taken over by a terrible dictator. You're welcome here. What can we do to help you? And when are you going home?" When they came to the U.S., instead of people asking when they were going home, she said, people would ask, "When will you become a citizen?" Albright said her father recognized that is what makes the U.S. different, and she said the nation can't forget that. She said it might sound self serving, but she thinks immigrants have done a lot for the country. Addressing a crowd that included several current and former female elected officials, female candidates for public office and other grassroots organizers, Albright discussed what's at stake in the 2016 election and why she thinks Hillary Clinton's experience as a U.S. Senator and secretary of state makes her fit to be commander-in-chief. She described Clinton's chief opponent in the Nov. 8 election, Republican Donald Trump, as a liar and a crook who makes promises he can't keep and is unfit to hold the nation's highest office. "I really, really am so pleased to be able to speak on behalf of Hillary, who is the most prepared candidate ever to be president of the United States," she said. Albright said she thinks Clinton was a terrific secretary of state, serving from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. "There is nobody ever that has had the kind of a background that she has to become president," Albright said, calling it a "bonus" that she's a woman. "I mean, her main job was to restore America's reputation after the mess of the previous administration," she said, adding Clinton traveled a lot and talked about American values and listened to people. "I can testify to the fact that, as a secretary, you have an awful lot of meetings in fancy rooms," Albright said. "But what is really important is going out and talking to people in the countries, and going to hospitals and schools, and meeting with groups of women, and just a real way of assessing what's going on. She did that. "She has a very exemplary record as secretary of state in terms of rebalancing to Asia, having an awful lot to do for democracy coming back in Burma, then also in terms of the relationship with Iran, the nuclear deal -- I think she really had a lot in beginning to put that together," Albright said. "Trying to figure out some kind of a relationship with Russia, and really beginning to lay the groundwork for climate change and a number of different issues." Albright noted that, if Clinton is elected, the nation will celebrate the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote during her presidency. Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, who has called some of Trump's comments about women "reprehensible and disgusting," continued to speak in support of Trump this week. In a statement after the last debate on Sunday, Oct. 9, Romney McDaniel said Trump wants to protect and abide by the U.S. Constitution, while Clinton wants to rewrite it. In terms of leading the nation, she said Clinton has had 30 years and represents the failed status quo. "Donald Trump wants to secure our borders and defeat ISIS, Hillary Clinton refuses to call radical Islamic terror by its name," she said. "With our Supreme Court on the line, we cannot afford activist judges who legislate from the bench. We cannot afford further foreign policy failures, and we cannot afford Hillary Clinton's economic agenda that will further bankrupt our nation and our citizens." Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speaks at a women's organizing event in Ann Arbor on Oct. 14, 2016. Albright said she has been involved in many elections over the years and never has she seen anything like the 2016 presidential election. "Trying to explain what is going on here is practically impossible," she said. "I think it's impossible to explain it to ourselves." Albright said she recently spoke to a group of Polish Americans in Chicago, and one of their questions was about a visa waiver program they want. "Trump went to see them and he said, 'Yeah, I can do that in two weeks.' That's not true. It is not possible," Albright said. "You know, people say Hillary is too wonky and that she explains things too long. She tells you the truth. She explains what the process is. So, I think she is dedicated to immigration reform, and she's going to work very hard with members of Congress to make it happen." Darling, who hosted Friday's event inside her home, called Albright a reminder of why immigration is a strength of the nation. "Because without immigration, we would not have had a fabulous U.N. ambassador, the first woman secretary of state, and a continuing mentor to many people in the government and in the world," she said. Augusta Oct 14 fire.jpg At 5:28 a.m. Friday, Oct. 14, Augusta Township Fire responded to Whittaker Oakes Mobile Home park, 11333 Whittaker Road in Augusta Township, for a structure fire that destroyed a residence. (Courtesy | Dave Music) AUGUSTA TOWNSHIP, MI - A newly-renovated mobile home is completely destroyed after a fire early Friday, Oct. 14 near Milan. At 5:28 a.m., Augusta Township Fire responded to Whittaker Oaks Mobile Home park, 11333 Whittaker Road in Augusta Township, for a structure fire. Fire Chief Dave Music said the fire was fully-involved when firefighters arrived. The mobile home was unoccupied, but the residences on either side were not, he said. "Firefighters did an excellent job of protecting the neighboring homes," Music said. Neither adjacent residence was damaged, and no one was injured in the fire. Michigan State Police Fire Investigation has listed the cause of the blaze as suspicious, Music said. Firefighters were on scene for several hours putting out the fire and tearing down the structure. Pittsfield Township Fire assisted at the scene. BAY CITY, MI -- Thirteen of what authorities are describing as some of the main heroin dealers in the Great Lakes Bay Region have been federally indicted on a combined 35 charges. On Wednesday, Oct. 12, a grand jury inside the federal courthouse in downtown Bay City handed down indictments against the baker's dozen Saginaw men -- Damarlin M. Beavers, 32; Derek D. Riley, 45; Alvin R. Pratt, 27; Brandon O. Pratt, 32; Javon M. Pratt, 19; Michael A. Pratt Jr., 25; Marquise D. Ashworth, 35; Eugene Smith III, 28; Jeremy A. Cameron, 31; Terence J. Johnson, 33; Lamar T. Simon, 26; Darreyon R. Mayfield, 20; and Jauane R. Allen, 20. All 13 are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. "The conspiracy as a whole involved 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine ... and 100 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of heroin," the indictment document reads. "As part of the conspiracy, Derek Duane Riley supplied cocaine and heroin to Damarlin Markeel Beavers and others, both known and unknown to the grand jury, for further distribution to other members of the conspiracy and to drug users in the Eastern District of Michigan." The document goes on to say the group used various locations and houses to conduct drug sales and store illicit substances, paraphernalia and firearms. The other 34 charges are spread across the defendants and include possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and heroin, distribution of those substances, and distribution of fentanyl. Fentanyl is an opiate the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states is 100 times more potent than heroin. "Drug trafficking organizations poison our neighborhoods and harm the quality of life our residents deserve," said U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade in a press release. "We are focusing our attention on traffickers like these defendants, who are contributing to heroin and fentanyl abuse." Eleven of the 13 defendants were arraigned on related federal charges earlier this year. According to sworn affidavits authored by FBI Special Agent Mitchell L. King, the defendants are believed to be involved with the Sunny Side Gang in the south side of Saginaw, with Beavers a ranking member of the organization. Beavers is still at large. King began investigating the gang in June 2015, the affidavits state. On Aug. 30, 2016, personnel with the FBI's Bay City-based Mid-Michigan Safe Streets Task Force executed eight search and arrest warrants in Saginaw as a result of an investigation into the area's heroin problem. "These are our main suppliers of heroin in Bay, Midland, and Isabella counties," Sgt. Greg Potts of the Bay City Department of Public Safety's VIPER Unit previously told The Times. Potts added the investigation began in Bay City, then carried into Saginaw. FBI Senior Resident Agent Steven T. Flattery also previously told The Times his agency became involved as a result of the large numbers of heroin-related overdoses. "What we were asked to address is the heroin problem in the mid-Michigan area," Flattery had said. "The overdose deaths have been horrible. That's how this started, looking at the flow of heroin. (The defendants) were looked at as being some of the major suppliers in the area." The investigation was conducted by the FBI Mid-Michigan Safe Streets Task Force, itself composed of the FBI, the Bay City Department of Public Safety, and the Michigan State Police. The Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team, or BAYANET, also assisted. The indictment states the illegal operation ran from June 2015 through August 2016. Investigators began intercepting wire and electronic communications between the defendants on June 14, 2016. Since then, "Law enforcement has observed a pattern whereby every three to six days, Beavers contacted Riley to obtain a re-supply of controlled substances," affidavits state. After getting his re-up, Beavers would pass the drugs onto his cohorts to further their distribution, the affidavits allege. "The conversations typically followed a pattern whereby the purchaser asked Beavers for a specific quantity and then worked with Beavers to find a mutually agreeable place to meet," King wrote. Also during the investigation, several of the defendants "distributed to undercover officers or confidential sources controlled substances, such as heroin, fentanyl, mixtures of heroin and fentanyl, and cocaine base." A case in point, on Feb. 10, a source bought a half-gram of heroin for $70 from Ashworth at a location in the 2400 block of Conley Drive in Saginaw Township. The product was submitted to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab, whose analysis indicated it was 0.37 grams of heroin, the affidavit states. With Alvin Pratt specifically, an undercover officer bought heroin from him 27 times between June 5, 2015, and Jan. 14, the affidavits state. On one occasion in November, an officer bought 7.35 grams of mixed heroin and fentanyl for $1,200 from Pratt, the affidavits state. On Aug. 30, the day investigators executed their search warrants, Riley had at least 28 grams of cocaine base, 500 grams of a mixture containing cocaine, and 100 grams of a mixture containing heroin, the indictment states. Heroin has been a hot-button issue throughout the country for some time. In June 2015, the Bay County Health Department declared the county in the grips of a heroin epidemic and issued a public health advisory. Throughout 2015, 27 people died of heroin overdoses, and Bay County Central Dispatch received a record 199 calls for overdoses. Police and health officials largely laid the blame for the uptick in overdoses on fentanyl. The Bay County Heroin Task Force also formed as a result. It is composed of three main areas -- law enforcement/courts, treatment providers and public health/prevention. Of the charged defendants, Jeremy Cameron, Alvin Pratt, and Brandon Pratt are all on probation for drug possession offenses. "The impact that these criminal gangs and drug traffickers have on the Bay City-Saginaw area communities is alarming," said David P. Gelios, Special Agent in Charge with the FBI's Detroit Division. "The FBI's goal to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations is best accomplished by working collaboratively with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. As a consequence of these efforts, we are reclaiming and making neighborhoods safer for many citizens throughout the mid-Michigan area." The defendants are due to appear before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Patricia T. Morris on the afternoons of Oct. 17 and 18. BAY CITY, MI -- Firefighters are on the scene of an apartment blaze on Bay City's East Side. The fire at 619 N. Sherman St. was reported shortly before 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13. The two-story structure is located between 6th and McKinley streets. According to a resident, the building contains four apartment units, three of which are occupied. All of the residents made it safely out of the building, including two cats, the resident said. As of 6:15 p.m., smoke was billowing out of the roof. Flames were also visible coming from the rear of the house. Three fire engines were on scene, all from the Bay City Department of Public Safety. greendot5.jpg Green Dot Stables (Ashley C. Woods | Mlive.com) The owners of Green Dot Stables, a bustling Detroit bar and restaurant known for unique gourmet sliders, plan to open a new location in Lansing, Metro Times food editor Serena McDaniels reports. According to the Metro Times, restaurateurs Jacques and Christine Driscoll and Les Molnar, plan to open an expansion location in the shuttered 12,000-square-foot former Whiskey Barrel Saloon, 410 S. Clipper, just east of Highway 127 on the east side of Lansing. Detroit's Green Dot Stables resides in a cozy, dimly-lit building with a horse-jockey-themed decor at 2200 Lafayette in Hubbard-Richard, a neighborhood west of downtown Detroit. The restaurant offers an array of pick-and-choose sliders names like the Quinoa Burger, featuring kale and chimichurri; pork belly schnitzel, Philly cheesesteak; the Korean slider, a beef patty with peanut butter and Kimchi; and the the ever-changing "mystery meat" -- which isn't much of a mystery if you look at the menu on the wall. Most cost $3 a piece, but a few -- peanut butter and jelly, fried bologna and one made with tofu -- cost $2. An Oct. 12 photo on the Green Dot Stables Facebook page features some of the other selections, including horse's neck and truffle fries. Clockwise from the right: BBQ Bacon, Wedge Salad, Horse's Neck, Truffle Fries, and Gyro. Posted by Green Dot Stables on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 An opening date for the Lansing locaation hasn't been announced. The owners opened the Detroit location in 2012 and also run Johnny Noodle King, Huron Room, an seafood restaurant and, oddly, another Green Dot Stables in Utama Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. MLive couldn't immediately reach the Driscolls, who are Michigan State University alumni according to Metro Times, for comment Friday. , which cuts through night club (that features "Dick" the mechanical bull) Thursday (Oct. 13) and plan to use the extra space that will double as an event venue. Whiskey Barrel Saloon c A Grosse Pointe Park businessman accused of illegally acquiring, shipping, selling and renting out various body parts, including severed heads, asked a federal judge to suppress potentially damning evidence before his case gets to trial. That evidence included numerous dissected body parts, some of them infected with sepsis bacteria, HIV and AIDS, that are currently stored in an FBI freezer; as well as evidence supporting claims Arthur Rathburn, with help from his wife, Elizabeth Rathburn, shipped body parts preserved in mouthwash, deceived grieving families to obtain and part out their dead loved ones' remains; and illegally discarded scraps of flesh and bone in the municipal sewer system. U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman denied Rathburn's request in a ruling filed Tuesday. While it's legal for certain entities -- such as researchers and universities -- to buy and sell remains in the U.S., provided strict laws are followed, the Rathburns were operating outside the law, the government claims. The Grosse Pointe Park couple procured donated human bodies, dismembered them, and provided parts to medical and dental professionals for a rental fee, according to federal prosecutors. The duo at times got body parts at a discounted cost, when they came from people who died of infectious diseases. They were sometimes used for training and the government claims the failure to alert handlers of the disease put them at risk. And they're accused of renting out those parts without notifying clients of the infections, according to the indictment. According to prosecutors, Rathburn, operated several shelter businesses to conduct his illegal scheme, including a warehouse where body parts were stored, dissected and shipped at 8640 Grinnell in Detroit. He sometimes falsified documents to conceal the truth behind the infected body parts he dealt, the government says. After being questioned by Centers for Disease Control about a shipment of eight heads from Israel in 2012, that included remains from a person listed in death records as having died of sepsis -- shipping documents said all of the body parts were "non-infectious" -- Rathburn told officials the shipment was harmless. He said the infected head was embalmed, transported in a Listerine-filled cooler void of blood and that he packaged the heads himself. Followup revealed the claims were lies, the government says. There was no Listerine and there was blood in the cooler, tests revealed. Inspection of another shipment of 18 severed heads in 2013 that were intercepted at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago revealed the paperwork didn't match the body parts. Investigators found multiple "critical discrepancies" between the cargo and paperwork, including incorrect sex and cause of death. Federal agents conducted raid at the Rathburns warehouse in 2013. They later seized records from the company that listed some body parts as having tested positive for both HIV and Hepatitis B. Investigators say Arthur Rathburn fraudulently presented his warehouse as funeral home to some customers -- even though it wasn't licensed as such -- and offered cremations services. When he received corpses to cremate, he sometimes dismembered them, removing the heads and other parts for his 'body broker' business, and only cremating the torso, which he never disclosed to the families. The Rathburns were charged with nine counts of wire fraud. Arthur Rathburn is also charged with transportation of hazardous materials and making false statements to the U.S. government. Elizabeth Rathburn accepted a deal offered by the U.S. government and pleased guilty to wire fraud in order to avoid trial. Her plea agreement suggests a sentence of four to 10 months in prison and $55,225 in restitution. Arthur Rathburn is scheduled to appear in Detroit's federal U.S. District Court for a status conference at 1 p.m. Friday. Judges full ruling on motion to suppress: The Venice Commission (VC) by next week should approve draft conclusions on the bill on peaceful demonstrations, VC President Gianni Buquicchio has said. "We received a request from Kyiv and have already prepared draft conclusions, which will be discussed and approved by the end of the week in Venice," Buquicchio said in an interview published by the Internet news service Yevropeiska Pravda (European Truth). Buquicchio praised the draft law. "I can't give you all the details of the document, but if we speak in general terms, I can say it is a good bill," the VC president said. In late September, Ukraine's Justice Ministry met with representatives of the Venice Commission and the EU Human Rights Court and the National Police of Ukraine to discuss draft laws "On Guaranteeing Freedom to Peaceful Assembly" and "On Guaranteeing Freedom to Peaceful Assembly in Ukraine" in order to determine their compliance with European principles and standards. VC representatives said then they would review the bills and prepare conclusions for legislation best representing European experience in this area. Members of the Azov Civil Corps non-governmental organization along with veterans of the Azov regiment of Ukraine's National Guard on Friday held a congress and created the National Corps Party. The Patriot Party, which was also named differently before 2015 and already registered by the Justice Ministry, renamed itself the National Corps. Congress delegates elected parliament deputy Andriy Biletsky to head the party for the next four years. Azov National Guard Headquarters Commander Nazariy Kravchenko was elected Biletsky's first deputy and members of the party high council were selected. Requisite changes to the charter of the political party and its program were approved. The program says the National Corps supports amending the Constitution of Ukraine to expand presidential authorities, granting him authority to be the chief of the armed forces as well as the head of government. The party also favors restoring Ukraine's nuclear power status and nationalizing enterprises which were government owned when Ukraine became independent in 1991. On foreign policy, the party advocates severing diplomatic, trade and culture ties with Russia. The party's priority foreign policy issue is forging an alliance with Baltic and Black Sea nations, called the Baltic and Black Sea Union. The party advocates expanding civic rights, including the right to bear arms. "All citizens who receive permission will be allowed to own and carry pistols," the program says. The party also said it would initiate public discussion on the issue of restoring the death penalty in Ukraine for treason and the embezzlement of government funds by officials in excessive amounts. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed during a phone conversation on Thursday evening to hold a conference call among the leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France soon. "The officials agreed to hold a three-way conference call among the leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France in the coming days," the press service of the Ukrainian president reported on Thursday evening. In addition, the Ukrainian president and the German chancellor discussed the ways to speed up the introduction of the EU visa-free regime for Ukrainians and the ratification of the Association Agreement. When speaking about the situation in Donbas, Poroshenko told Merkel the number of attacks by Russian militants had increased, especially at night. He also stressed the importance of putting permanent OSCE observation station in the areas of disengagement of forces. A consortium of local and US firms has won a tender to build a 300-megawatt power plant in Yangon, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Electricity and Energy. The tender was issued in July for a five-year contract to supply 300MW of power to Yangon each day the governments first tender after taking office in April. A consortium consisting of local companies National Infrastructure Holdings and MCM Pacific, and US companies APR Energy and Ace Resources Group were awarded the contract, the ministry said in an announcement in state media yesterday. Demand for electricity from Myanmars largest city is rising fast from 1050MW in 2015 to 1250MW in 2016 according to Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation. The winning group will built a 300MW power plant, which along with new power distribution line projects should help prevent frequent power failures. Their application was one of only three the ministry received that were in compliance with the requirements, government officials previously told The Myanmar Times. The other two compliant applications came from Karpowership Asia Company, and a Chinese consortium made up of China ITS, China Energy Engineering Corporation, Hunan Electric Power Design Institute, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division, Guangzhou Diesel Factory, and Khin Maung Nyunt Trading. Translation by Emoon Local businesspeople are optimistic that the countrys new investment law will help create a better environment for domestic and international investors. But the government needs to take care not to spoil the new legislation by making the accompanying rules and regulations overly complicated, they said. The long-awaited Myanmar Investment Law passed through both houses of parliament last week. When it comes into force, local and international investors will be covered by the same piece of legislation, which provides a clearer, simplified framework relative to the separate citizen and foreign investment laws it replaces, according to law firm VDB Loi. Local economists point to the importance of strong laws and policies in attracting foreign investment, which has the potential to be a major driver of economic growth in Myanmar. International and Myanmar investors are hoping the new law helps stimulate business, but want the accompanying rules and regulations to be drawn up carefully. U Thaung Htike Min, director of Thu Kha Yadanar Construction Company, thinks having one simplified investment law will help government efforts to end tax evasion. He also approves of provisions that will allow the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) to adjust tax incentives based on sector and geographic location, which could help spur investment in underdeveloped areas and industries. But I want them to draw the rules and regulations carefully so that its easy to do business when the law comes into force, he said. Local investors have long experience of laws that appear simple in draft form, but are then accompanied by complicated rules and regulations that are time-consuming and costly to navigate. U Hla Maung, a retired director general of the Ministry of Commerce now acting as a consultant to international investors, said it was crucial that regulations be clear and easy to understand. Right now its just a law, he said. It needs the by-laws to be written, and if those are clear and simple, the law will be effective [at improving investment]. The laws text has already brought more clarity and simplicity to the investment framework. VDB Loi notes that several poorly phrased provisions have been written more clearly. Some largely meaningless rules have also been dropped, such as a staggered maximum on foreign employees. A simplified version of the MIC permit an approval order is also available for smaller projects. The MIC permit will still be required for projects deemed strategic, that require large amounts of capital or have an impact on the environment. But it remains unclear just how these criteria will be defined. VDB Loi also notes the law stipulates that projects requiring only an approval order must first secure permission or a licence from the relevant government agency. Although this is sensible, it will empower the line ministries to the detriment of MIC, the law firm said. It will be harder for the MIC to play its role as facilitator and promoter of foreign investment if an investor cannot even get to the MIC without first securing line ministry approval, said VDB Loi. We are not yet certain if this will be a major problem in reality. The MIC might implement measures to prevent this from happening and the list of projects that continue to need an actual permit might be massive. Investors eager for the new law to take affect will have to wait for the rules and regulations to find out just how the framework will work in practice. Additional reporting by Steve Gilmore, translation by Zar Zar Soe, Khine Thazin Han and Win Thaw Tar With the new investment law sailing through both houses of parliament this month, formal approval appears imminent, as a signature from the President's Office is all that is required to see it passed. The Myanmar Times sat down with Myanmar Investment Commission secretary U Aung Naing Oo this week to discuss what the new law means for both foreign and local businesses and how the MIC plans to direct investment towards particular sectors and specific parts of the country. How will the new investment law make it easier for foreign investment? If you look at the new law there are actually two categories. One is MICs permitted business and the other one is MICs approved businesses. The idea is that if you also look at our previous, 2012 foreign investment law, all investment needs to be approved by the MIC. Anyone who wants to do business in Myanmar had to submit a proposal to Myanmar Investment Commission, regardless of whether it is a small business or a big business. And that would take a long time, because of the procedures. We would also need to consult with the different government agencies and that also took a long time. So in order to obtain a permit from the Myanmar Investment Commission it takes, maybe, around three months. It was very costly for inventors who had to consult with law firms in preparation of their proposal to make sure. Also they need to consult and discuss with the ministries for the ministries consent. So our idea is, after the propagation and the enactment of the rules for the new investment law, the procedures will be much easier, for not only foreign investors but for local investors as well. Only a few proposals will be screened and permitted by the Myanmar Investment Commission. Some of the businesses will be approved by state and regional governments. Some big business will be approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission. The idea is to grant easier access for business. There were concerns from local business that Myanmars investment laws favour foreign investors. How does the new law address these concerns? Actually this is one of the reasons why we have merged two investment laws into one. Previously, we had two laws for investment. One is for Myanmar citizens and one is for foreign investors. What was happening was that foreigners thought that our Myanmar citizens law favoured local businesses and also the local business community thought that the Myanmar Investment Commission was in favour of foreigners. They both thought that there was no fair competition between local and foreign businesses. Therefore, having one law makes it easier for us, and also for foreigners and the local business community. At the time of the propagation of the 2012 foreign investment law there were a lot of concerns from the local business community, because they thought that an influx of FDI meant the collapse of their businesses. We tried to make it more secure for both of them by setting up some rules and also releasing notifications. But this law is a single law, not only for foreigners but also for local businesses. If you look at the new investment law, we have some reservations for local SMEs and local businesses. So the law makes it very secure for local investors as well. Whats an example of that? If you look at, for example, land lease, according to the new investment law foreigners can lease the land either from the government or from the private owner for initially 50 years, and it can be extended two times. It is the same situation that existed in the previous law, but we have some reservations for the Myanmar business community. The MIC can consider better lease privileges for Myanmar businesses. So this is one of the privileges for local businesses. And if you look at one section of the investment law, we reserve some special treatment or special privileges for local SMEs, so the government can provide better support to local SMEs for their development, in terms of training, in terms of providing some technical support and market access. So they are some of the reservations for the local business community. What are the sectors that the government is trying to encourage foreign investment into and how will the investment law enable this? If you look at one of the provisions in the new law, especially the incentives, the government or the MIC will not allow all investment in Myanmar to enjoy corporate income tax holidays. We will allow only promoted sectors to enjoy corporate income tax holidays and it depends on the location of their businesses from three years to seven years. Promoted sectors will be set by the government in accordance with the law. We havent yet set which sectors will be the promoted sectors. But definitely, number one, will be manufacturing, particularly labour intensive manufacturing will be in the list of promoted sectors. Number two is infrastructure development. Private investment in infrastructure will be in the list of promoted sectors. Agriculture and food processing will also be included. About 70 percent of Myanmars population is either directly or indirectly involved in agriculture so we have to promote agriculture for foreign investment. We have also already made a public announcement to say that the MIC will promote investment into industrial zones across the country. So those will probably be in the list of promoted sectors, but it totally depends on the government policy. So the government might also consider other areas apart from the areas that I have explained. Is there an understanding of what regions and states investment will be encouraged into? We will consider incentives based on the development of different sates and regions. There will be different incentives for corporate income tax, but it will be up to the discussions in parliament. If we focus only, however, on the states and regions it will not be effective. In any given region or state there are different levels of development, from one township to another. Therefore we should not consider solely the states and regions as a whole, but we need to consider development of areas within the states and regions. If you look at Sagaing Region, for example, some areas in Sagaing Region are much more developed than northern parts of Sagaing Region, so we must treat them differently, with different incentives. Therefore, when the new law is enacted its not based on the states and regions it is totally based on the area of investment. We will discuss this with the governments of the different states and regions, to understand which areas they want MIC to direct investment to understand which areas are developed or underdeveloped or they want to develop. So while you are attempting to remove a lot of red tape, it sounds like there is still potential for a lot of bureaucracy involved in the decision making. Is it in danger of becoming too cumbersome? I have to say yes and no. This is a very new initiative, and we have to reduce a lot of the red tape and simplify procedures, which we are not familiar with. And also the state and regional governments are very new, so they dont have a lot of experience and exposure in decision-making or screening investment. So that can be a bit cumbersome for us because we need to educate the state and regional governments and to educate the local business community on how they can make use of the investment law. And also, we have to draft the rules to ensure the law progresses well, we have to consult with the state and regional governments for many areas and we have to consult with the ministries for setting up the promoted sectors. So that can be a bit cumbersome for us. But it is really good for the business community for us to do all this. There will be less red tape, easier access for business in Myanmar and it will help to develop the economy. So I have to say yes for us, but no for the business community. This law seemed to pass through parliament fairly quickly. Youre already moving on to the corporate law. Things seem to be moving fast. This can be challenging also how do you manage this? Actually, we expected to complete the whole process of the enactment of the new investment law by the end of 2016. But thanks to the leadership of the Lady [State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] the process has been completed earlier than expected, which is really good for us because the government will have more time for promotion of the law. Yes, we have another law that is also important, which is the companies law. Those two laws are really important for implementing better business in the country. Now the investment law is in place we have go through the process of drafting rules and go through the process of release of notifications and many other things. But the companies law, I think we will be able to submit the law to the parliament in the upcoming sessions so that the company law will be ready to be exercised by the end of this financial year, before the end of March 2017. Our idea is to complete all the legal framework improvement process before the end of this financial year. We will then be able to exercise all the new laws and new regulations by the beginning of the 2017-2018 financial year. In the past there has been tension between the MIC and the ministries about who has authority over what. How is this being addressed now? One of the key considerations of the new law and the government is to streamline the procedures and make everything more simplified for foreign investors. Therefore, while we draft the new rules for the new investment law, we will thoroughly consult with the ministries. We will try to reduce the communication with the ministries once an investor applies to the MIC or to the state or regional governments. So according to the new law there are a few areas of restrictions. Number one is that some businesses will be totally reserved for the state. So no foreign or local investors will be allowed to do business in the place of these state-run businesses. Number two is we will ask foreign investors to set up joint ventures with local partners. And number three is we will ask the investor, either foreigners or local businesses, to seek approval from a ministry. Without the ministrys approval those businesses will not be permitted. What I mean is, we are trying to make a clear demarcation between the ministries and the MIC. As long as the businesses are under the jurisdiction of the MIC, we wont consult with the ministry. MIC will decide for itself on a businesss establishment. Likewise, we will make it understood to the state and regional government that they can also decide for themselves for businesses in their respective regions and states. There will only be a few cases where it will need to be screened and we will need to consult with the line ministry. One of the big problems for foreign or local investors nowadays for their business is it takes a long time to consult and get green lights from the ministries. Some ministries are quite fast and some ministries are quite slow. So it takes too long for a foreign investor, therefore we are trying to reduce the communication with the ministries as much as possible. Is there going to be changes regarding certain sectors that can and cant be wholly foreign owned? Yes, the MIC will make that announcement subsequent to the release of rules for foreign investment for the investment law. So we will clearly identify which business needs a joint venture with a local partner, which business will not be allowed to foreign investors. But apart from the businesses in this list, all businesses will be allowed for foreign investment 100 percent. We will try to have as few restrictions as possible for foreign investors. We need to consult with the ministries, local business community and government agencies before this list is decided. We are trying to have all this completed by March 2017. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Finally, men are getting a look in. At least, if theyre willing to take the risk. And it took a Thai designer to do it. Thai designer Davis displayed his ready-made menswear brand dVIS at Myanmar International Fashion Week 2016 from October 7 to 9 at Shwe Htut Tin compound. His outfits were on the catwalk with those of our own Ko Latt, as well as other ready-to-wear casual brands like Bossini, Next Generation and Yoo Club. We also saw Memory wedding outfits alongside the tailored brand MILANO ESMOD. Menswear has never been more interesting than it is right now, and Davis message was simple: If you want to be trendy, boys, just break the rules. More than 30 outfits were paraded, mainly for men but with a sprinkling of ladies and childrens wear, and mostly centred on black, and featuring quantities of leather and fur. Davis is no stranger to these shores, having taken part in last years show, where audiences noted his use of Thai fabrics. He emerged as the man to watch. I did something new this year, because I think Myanmar audiences expected it, said the 44-year-old couturier. I made this collection especially for Myanmar and I hope it makes people happy. Myanmar men want to know what to wear in this winter. Thats why I came. Some of his pea jackets and collared coats may come across as gentlemanly. The glitter, faux fur and super-long jackets pushed the temperature up a few degrees. I love coming here because people are excited to see more fashionable designs. They want more creativity and new styles, said Davis. A veteran of the Thai TV, film and modelling industry as a designer and stylist, Davis has received many awards and distinctions, including a Nataraj Award 2009 (the Thai Oscars) for best costume designer. Myanmar International Fashion Week is bigger and better than previous years, and Im pleased that my designs have been shown here for two consecutive years, he said. He contrasts opposites, like the black waistcoat and necktie paired with skinny pants and glittering jacket, and amasses accessories: the double scarf, belts, hand chains and hats. But the Thai traditional look also shows through in his sashes, belts and turbans. I want to make people dress well and look good, he said. People can buy anything they want. But how can they know what is best for them? That would be dVIS. Local stylist Minn Myat Thu, however, said the collection did not meet his expectations. It was Davis offerings last year that brought Minn Myat Thu back this year. I like the way he modernised traditional tastes, said the 31-year-old stylist, who has been in the trade five years. Its quite fashionable while being extreme. I feel his collection is suitable for a performance or a runway look. But I liked his work from last year better. His creations were simple and smart, and tended to the casual. I came to see more of the same, he added, suggesting this years look was suited better to risk-takers, the red carpet and the stage. Ravaged by time and decay, Myanmars historic film heritage is being eroded. But a small band of enthusiasts, many with roots going back to the dawn of the movie era in the country, are fighting back. Last month, the Asian Economic Community film preservation workshop was held at the Thai Film Archive in Bangkok, attracting specialists from all over Southeast Asia. They included Myanmar film-makers Okkar and Chan Thar Kyi Soe, son of the famous director Kyi Soe Tun, as well as others from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia and the Philippines. Okkar is a grandson of the great film director Thardu and the son of director Maung Wanna. His struggle to preserve the ancient films of his forebears has made him an expert in the preservation of ancient films. He attended the Memory Film Heritage festival in 2014 and worked with Yangon Film School on research into the threat to Myanmars film heritage. He spent the summer in Bologna, Italy, at film restoration laboratory, Limmagine Ritrovata. Myanmar Film, which made the documentary of the funeral of U Tun Shein, Pe, Pu, Shein in 1920 and Myittar Nae Athura in 1923, will celebrate its centenary in 2020. But members fear they are losing the battle to preserve a centurys worth of film. The archive maintained by the Ministry of Information can collect films, but cannot preserve them, said Okkar. The expertise and technology, including temperature-controlled and light-controlled environment required, are missing. We have only a Teleceni copier, but no scanner to copy the HD quality. The government should buy a scanner to preserve old films as digital back up, said Okkar. Such archives do exist in the region, such as the Thai Film Archive, the Asian Film Archive in Singapore and Cinematek in Indonesia. Chan Thar Kyi Soe said, Although people in other Southeast Asian countries can use the preservation technologies taught in the workshop, we in Myanmar dont have the necessary facilities to do so. The Yangon Film School is now helping to convert the 2012 movie Chay Pha Wa Taw Nu Nu from Teleceni to HD quality and German company ARRI has provided figure and voice quality services. Non-profit organisation Memory Cinema, which organises the annual Memory Heritage Film festival in Yangon, has restored the 1934 film Mya Ganaing (The Emerald Jungle) the oldest Myanmar film for which elements still exist which will premiere at the Memory Film Festival in November. The Myanmar Film Archive and the Arsenal Institute each hold one copy of the restored version. Although the Myanmar Archive has preserved many films since 1980, works are being destroyed all the time, particularly since 1990, said Chan Thar Kyi Soe. I look to the Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation and the Ministry of Information to bring in the necessary technologies. Former MMPO chair and director U Kyi Soe Tun said, The earliest film preserved only goes back to 1934, because the value of preservation was not appreciated. The films do better overseas. The Japanese film archive has restored the 1973 Myanmar film Japan Yin Thwe, directed by U Nyi Pu. But U Kyi Soe Tun says many others have been lost forever. The situation has worsened. All the films of the actor Shwe Ba, a superstar in our period, have been lost. We may have preserved as little as 2 percent, U Kyi Soe Tun said. Okkar is working with the Memory Cinema organisation to create a Myanmar Film Archive. Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation needs three kinds of support: technological, financial and human. I sent Chan Thar Kyi Soe to the workshop so that we can start to build our human resources in this area. The films and non-film artefacts like photos, posters and paper must be preserved, said actress Daw Swe Zin Htike, secretary of the MMPO. Im going to try to raise the US$300,000 necessary for a machine that would preserve old films. If the MMPO is not interested, I will seek donations to buy it myself. A young child working tables at the neighborhood tea shop is a familiar sight in Yangon. While its easy to assume these children are helping at a family business or earning pocket money, an investigation by The Myanmar Times has highlighted just how exploitative this practice can be. Labour conditions in tea shops are covered by the Shops and Establishments Act. Recent amendments to the legislation upped the minimum age for hospitality employment from 13 to 14 years old. The wording of the Act is crystal clear: No person under the age of 14 shall be required or permitted to work in a shop or establishment, it says. But several experts told us that many tea shops continue to illegally employ workers under the age of 14. Aaron Greenberg, chief of child protection at UNICEF Myanmar, said this employment was extremely detrimental to the physical and psychological development of children. A childs engagement in work is often linked with dropping out of school, Greenberg said. A lack of access to education negatively affects longer-term outcomes for children. Additional risks for [these] working children include abuse and exploitation and a lack of access to support networks particularly if the child has migrated in search of work and is away from their family, he added. This point was elaborated by Selim Benaissa of the International Labour Organizations Myanmar Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour. Most children working in tea shops are also sleeping in the tea shops. [Theyre] a long way away from their families. This exposes them to abuse and health risks, he said. Benaissa said these children were often working to repay debts owed by their families to the tea shop owners. Allowing the situation to continue only produces more poverty, he said. Far from home Thirteen-year-old Than Win peeled ginger with the skill of someone that has done so for a very long time. Than Win is a full-time employee at a small tea shop in downtown Yangon. After finishing the ginger, he chopped other vegetables then zig-zagged around the venue to pour hot drinks and wipe tables. I dont go to school anymore, he quickly said between wipes. Than Win is like many illegal child workers who cook, serve and clean in this citys tea shops hes far from home. His village and the rest of his family is a few hours drive north in the central part of Yangon Region. Instead of going to school, Than Win was sent to Yangon to work tables. Most of his earnings are sent back to his village, the owner of the tea shop said. We give him a small amount to buy clothes. But the owner said that abject levels of poverty in regional parts of this country necessitates this system. And its a system that seems widely accepted. Read more: Yangon's lost children The Shops and Establishments Act prescribes that any employer who violates [the minimum age law] shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term not extending six months or with a fine which may extend from a minimum of 2 million kyat to 10 million kyat or with both. The one time Than Wins tea shop was checked by government representatives, little was done. I didnt lie, the owner said. I told them Than Win was under 14 and they did nothing The law is not enforced. The Myanmar Times visited numerous tea shops around Yangon for this story. Several employed children who looked significantly younger than 14, but when asked their ages commonly replied Im 14 before promptly disappearing. Tea shop owners told us there are two ways that young children ended up working in Yangon tea shops: sent voluntarily by their families, or through a more sinister system of brokers. There are brokers, said one tea shop owner who employs a young boy from the far southern tip of Myanmar. They go into poor villages around the country, especially those affected by Cyclone Nargis, and make deals with families. He described deals in which tea shop owners pay brokers a set fee of around K100,000 to find a young worker. This money is often taken out of the childs wages putting him or her in a position of forced bondage. The broker may then sell the same child again some years later to another tea shop. One owner, who said he did not use the broker system, put it bluntly: Its like human trafficking. A blind spot Child labour is pervasive in Myanmar. According to a recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, there are nearly 1.3 million working children around the country. This survey found that almost 80 percent of working children originally come from rural areas. But the use of underage labour in tea shops has been something of a blind spot for union governments past and present. [Child labour laws have been in place] since 1951 but we focused on factories because these workplaces are dangerous for underage workers, said deputy chief director of workplace and labour law inspection at the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population U Nyunt Win. For the child workers in Yangon tea shops, we have to think about both sides of the issue as their income may be supporting family members elsewhere. At worst this signals a tacit acceptance; at best it shows the dire economic apparatus that may take years to dismantle. Experts said the governments first step should be to address a lack of labour inspectors at the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population and work on more robust inspection techniques. This may be where the hard work really begins. Theres still no national support program for children who are identified as illegal child labourers in tea shops which raises the question, what happens if these children are removed from work? For other experts, the biggest challenge is promoting a widespread change of mindset especially in rural areas. We need to educate people that children must be in schools, not in the tea shops, said the manager of the child rights and development unit at Action Aid Myanmar, Win Theint Theint. Benaissa agrees. Awareness about the impact of labour on the social and physical development of a child at a community level is necessary, he said. For the time being, however, change seems unlikely. As one tea shop owner just off Bogyoke Road concluded somberly, Until the economy gets better until living costs get better until the education system gets better this will keep happening. Additional reporting by Nyein Ei Ei Htwe and Emoon Think: Vivaldi on a smartphone. Baroque Lounge, which melds 17th-century European music with electronics, will be presented at the Goethe-Instituts Goethe-Villa on October 18. The orchestra is Elbipolis, performing with DJ legend Brezel Goring from Stereo Total, a Berlin eclectic music group. I want to present a new form of music in Myanmar. Baroque mixed with electronic music will be a new experience for this country thats why were bringing it here, said Franz Xaver Augustin, director of Goethe-Institut Myanmar. The synthesis will be undertaken by the Hamburg baroque orchestra Elbipolis, which wants to inspire in younger audiences a love of early music. Since 2008 they have doing so with the help of Brezel Goring, Johannes Malfatti, Tim Exile and other leading artists of the electronic scene. Elbipolis, an eight-member ensemble, was founded by the violinist Jurgen Gro in 1999. Its members come from Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin. Brezel Goring, a Berlin musician, played as a teenager in various local bands, including Haunted Henschel. He also has performed solo under the name Prince Ziegler. Usually he makes techno music but he accomplishes something special with Baroque. Elbipolis is one of the leading orchestras in Europe theyre very successful in Germany and other European countries. Thats why ASEAN countries decided to invite them to tour. They will also perform in Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Hanoi and Bangkok. In Yangon, there will be only one concert, said Augustin. The result of combining these two types of music is a fascinating dialogue, experimenting with the dissolving of classical concert forms, allowing new possibilities for relaxation and exchange of spontaneous musical experiences he said. Baroque Lounge will perform at the Goethe Villa, 8 Ko Min Ko Chin Road, Bahan township, on October 18 at 7pm. Entry is free but places will be limited: Reserve tickets at [email protected]. After a quarter-century break, Khwardo is back. The ethnic Zomi New Year festivities will take place in Chin State this year, with the expulsion of demons scheduled for October 14-15. The celebrations will centre on the village of Lai Loe in Tiddim, said organising committee member Ko Htan Sant Htaung. We last celebrated Khwardo in 1991 at the national level. Since then, we havent had the money for an organiser to lead the festival in our state, he said. Khwardo extends over five days, but the celebrations will take place over two days only, because of financial and transportation problems, he said. Participants armed with traditional Chin drums will go from village to village, driving out evil spirits into the forest. Then they will bring beehives from the same forest to help them forecast the weather for the coming year, and consult mediums for spirit advice on their finances. On the second day, they will organise a Chin traditional alcohol (khaung yay) competition before joining together in a New Year song and dance, he said. The events at Tiddim are intended to complement the community-based tourism activities at Lai Loe village this year, as promoted by the Chin State government, which is also supporting the revival of Khwardo, said Ko Htan Sant Htaung. As usual, the food is the attraction. Corn on the cob, corn soup with meat, sat sam (varieties of corn) that looks and tastes like sticky rice all will be available. As for scenery, the four-hour drive from Kalay will provide you with plenty. Visitors can go on to Tonzang township to examine the ancient ethnic Chin stone inscriptions, the famous heart-shaped Reed Lake 23 miles from Tiddim and the Saing Zen traditional village to look at a centuries-old way of life. State Minister for Development Affairs, Electricity and Industry U Isaac Khen told The Myanmar Times last week, Chin State is very suitable for adventurous travellers because of its abundant natural beauties. Part of the adventure lies in getting there. Anyone coming by plane or car must pass through Kalay, 24 hours from Yangon by highway express and another four hours from Tiddim. The poorest state in Myanmar, Chin State is now implementing community-based tourism in Kanpetlet, Falam and Tiddim townships. They are also seeking to develop hotels in Hakha, Tiddim and Falam and Paletwa as part of the state government plan. There are already three guesthouses, with another due to open soon. With a fifth under construction at Tiddim, they can take a total of 150 guests, for about K7000 a night. Lai Loe village will also host a home-stay program. Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and German Ambassador to Ukraine Ernst Wolfgang Reichel discussed on Thursday the progress of reforms in Ukraine and the areas of bilateral cooperation development. The prime minister congratulated the ambassador on the beginning of his diplomatic mission in Ukraine, the government press service reported. Groysman said that Ukraine appreciates the high level of political dialogue with Germany and its support in the implementation of systemic reforms in the international arena. "He noted the intensification of bilateral cooperation and a the implementation of a number of activities within the framework of the agreements reached earlier. For instance, several large-scale events have been held recently: the 9th meeting of the [Ukraine-Germany] High-Level Group, the second Ukrainian-German economic forum and the opening of the German-Ukrainian Chamber of Industry and Commerce," the press service said. "The parties discussed the progress of reforms in Ukraine. In this context, the prime minister briefed the German ambassador on the government's agenda for their implementation," the Cabinet's press service reported. Next week, the government will present the Office Investment Support, which will assist companies investing in Ukraine, he said. Its embrace can bring wealth beyond measure, or instant death. It is a magnet for the most impoverished migrant workers and the most ruthless exploiters. Its haunts are a cauldron of armed conflict beyond the law of the land. In what could be one of its most challenging tests, how will Myanmars democratic government deal with the green curse of jade? A well-managed extractive industries sector would attract responsible domestic and overseas investors who employed well-paid workers protected by robust safety standards, producing rare and valued assets that would help fill the nations tax coffers and pay for its public services. How do we get from here to there? Kachin State has for decades been a cockpit of conflict between government forces and local armed groups. Hpakant, the epicentre of the jade trade, is not a destination for the faint of heart. The hundreds of thousands of workers who have made their way there are badly paid and exploited, and are often prey to drugs. Hundreds have died in the past year in landslides as the towering hills of tailings regularly collapse on wildcatters scrabbling for scraps that could mean the difference between life and starvation. Yet vast profits can be made there, mostly to the benefit of shadowy foreign companies and their local collaborators. Their depredations have been so voracious that some experts fear that the jade deposits could be stripped clean within 10 years. Under these circumstances, many in Myanmar might think to themselves, Good riddance. Data from the gems industry suggests there are 7400 active jade fields in Hpakant and Lone Khin, and 1000 expired fields. Heavy machines imported from China under the previous government are working day and night to extract the treasure that is left. Local residents want the digging to stop. Pyithu Hluttaw MP U Tint Soe (NLD; Hpakant) has urged the imposition of strict controls. The government should review jade excavations, or Hpakants jade will be gone within 10 years. We must stop excavation, he said. Between 2011 and 2016, the government received K1430.33 billion from the metals sector, K1060.33 billion from the gems sector and K1010.34 billion from jade sector. The total value of the jade exported to China and Hong Kong during that period was estimated at 5.1 billion euros (US$5.63 billion), according to Myanmar gems industry sources. But one year ago, Global Witness, an international NGO based in Britain, released a report saying Myanmars jade fields produced US$31 billion in 2014 alone, a sum equivalent to 48 percent of the countrys GDP and 46 times the size of its health budget. Of this sum, only about 10pc reverted to the state in tax. The cost is more than just financial. The once-green fields around Hpakant are a scene of industrial devastation, as towering, sterile mountains of slag thousands of feet high disfigure the landscape. Heavy rains turn those hills into killing traps. More deaths are caused by collisions between passenger cars and the heavy trucks employed by the mining firms. U Tun Hla Aung, secretary of the Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association, has called on all jade mining companies to devise an environmental management plan with input from the Union and state governments, local residents and experts. More than 300,000 people are estimated to be employed around Hpakant. They come from all over Myanmar. In 2015, at least 36 landslides were reported. In the landslide that occurred on November 26 last year, nearly 200 migrant workers were killed. Many of their bodies were never recovered. Yet still the scavengers come. Last May, at least 13 were killed in a pit collapse. U Ohn Win, Union minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, has threatened to arrest jade scavengers and send them home, and prevent others from coming to Hpakant. The government has since drawn attention to the Myanmar Gemstone Law, which provides for up to seven years jail for prospecting without a licence and related offences. Ko Myo Zaw, a Rakhine State native now scavenging for gems scraps in Hpakant, said, We have six family members. There are no jobs at home, so I have to work here and send money back to my family. I havent found any jade in six months. But what else can I do? Its not that he doesnt understand the risks. You have to follow the tracks made by the water in the slopes during the rainy season. You have to concentrate so hard you can miss the signs that a collapse is coming. Were all afraid to die. But we cant think about the risks when we have families to support. Many in Lower Myanmar stay at home, on the farms and in the fisheries, despite the low wages. Others, attracted to the mines by the lure of jade, now find they cant go home again. U Win Tun from Pakokku township, Magwe Region, has survived seven years of the scavenging life. I can earn enough to send my children to school and keep them healthy. But if I went back home, I could not survive. We are prepared to protest against the governments threat to send us to prison. We have to work, or we will suffer more. In response to such pleas, voices have been raised in favour of cracking down on the employers, rather than the employees. The scavengers are trying to strike gold in the rubbish heaps. They can lose their life doing that. The government should make the companies responsible for the safety of their workers, and try to improve the conditions of the scavengers, said the Hpakant MP U Tint Soe. He said he wanted amendments to a draft gemstones law coming before hluttaw that, he said, would in its present form provide insufficient help for mineworkers, local residents and freelance scavengers. According to Global Witness spokesperson Jumen Kubba, 90pc of the Hpakant entrepreneurs are Chinese, and 50pc to 80pc of the jade extracted was smuggled into China. U Tint Soe said, The government has to take action. The entrepreneurs are getting the profits, and our country gets almost nothing. New findings and analysis by Global Witness put the value of Myanmars jade production as high as $31 billion in 2014 alone. But little or none of that comes back to the government. The government needs to look into the operations of the entrepreneurs and the smuggling. There are so-called ethnic entrepreneurs who are working for the benefit of rich Chinese people, who form the majority of people in the jade industry. The information they assemble should be taken into account when they issue mining permits. Mandalays Mahar Aung Myay Kyauk Wine is Myanmars principal jade market. It has been very quiet for the past two or three years. Chinese customers, who used to dominate its halls, no longer come in great numbers, and the quality and quantity of jade available for them to buy have declined, say traders. To improve access to the larger international market, and to reduce dependence on the Chinese market alone, the commerce ministrys Trade Promotion Department is preparing to include the jade and gemstones sector in the National Export Strategy. It is not yet clear how far the recent promise by US President Barack Obama to remove remaining sanctions on Myanmar and its gems trade will help in this regard. Gems and jade were smuggled into China under the last government, and they are still being smuggled under this government, said trader U Myo Zaw. Improved management and government supervision, a crackdown on cross-border smuggling, tighter safety laws, and more effective collection of taxes will be needed if the jade industry is to be tamed and its revenues put to use by the state. This will require, at the very least, an end to armed conflict in Kachin State and the imposition of the rule of law. In its dealings with the Kachin Independence Organisation and its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, as well as in its handling of the governments own armed forces, the government will have to get to grips with these problems. Intensive negotiations over state regulation to improve security and tax collection will have to go hand in hand. And finally, economic and social development, fuelled by both foreign direct investment and the taxes to be derived from the jade mines, will have to be stimulated in the states and regions that are home to the army of scavengers, to enable them to find safer and better-paying work back home. Its going to take a lot of time and effort to escape the curse of jade. Translation by Khine Thazin Han, Win Thaw Tar, San Layy and Emoon A nightmare has become reality in this country: A Chimera has been born out of oppression, fear, deliberate provocation and complicit silence whose gestation has been surprisingly long but, having materialised, has already claimed dozens of lives. Whether, when its shape becomes clearer, it will be revealed to also include some aspects of international terrorism remains to be seen, but the new form of ethno-religious conflict now stalking Rakhine State is unlikely to be vanquished quickly or easily, or without further loss of life. Those who are at pains to point out that the public at least do not yet know who committed the attacks on three border police stations in northern Rakhine on October 9 killing nine officers, and allegedly shouting the name Rohingya are correct. But what we do know is this: Rakhine is witnessing the worst violence it has seen since the 2012 troubles and there are now videos circulating on social media which apparently show armed men calling for jihad in the name of the Rohingya cause videos that are being reposted by, among other high-profile figures, former information minister U Ye Htut. In response, the military has launched violent assaults on Rohingya communities around Maungdaw, purportedly targeted as attackers, but which rights groups have said are extra-judicial killings. Yesterday, helicopters were seen at Sittwe Airport. They were there, officials said, to evacuate teachers from Maungdaw, but were clearly armed with rocket launchers. With conflicts in other parts of the country now proving ongoing military impunity for war crimes and human rights abuses, the potential for death and destruction in Rakhine is manifold. This is the most-dreaded scenario, feared by all those engaged in finding, and hoping for, a solution to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Rakhine. As of yesterday morning, a tally of state media reports indicated that 43 people 30 alleged attackers and 13 security personnel have been killed. With senior authorities yet to divulge details or alleged affiliation of those accused of the attacks who have been capture alive, speculation has abounded. Initial allegations by local government officials named the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation as being behind the incidents. The claim prompted widespread debate about whether such a group last confirmed to have been active in the 1990s, but blamed by the government for a number of smaller-scale attacks on the border in the past two years is still even in existence in any relation to its initial incarnation. But the appearance of the two videos, which feature young men calling for jihad in the Rohingya language, has bolstered claims that there is at least some appetite for armed action among some minority Muslims, whatever name their group goes by. Even if the current situation is brought under control quickly, these videos are not going to be forgotten by those who seek to stir nationalist aggression in this country radical monk U Wirathu has inundated the internet with gleeful told you sos. Nor can their implication be avoided by those who seek to uphold the rights of the vast majority of Rohingya who have remained peaceful despite suffering longstanding rights abuses. A Rohingya representative speaking to The Myanmar Times yesterday rejected claims the attacks were drugs-related rather than representing some form of uprising. Nearly 7 million narcotics tablets, with an estimated street value of K14 billion (US$11.1 million), were seized during two raids in Maungdaw last month, leading some to speculate that the attacks on the police bases were some form of reprisal. However, the representative said that restrictions on movement meant large-scale involvement in, or serious profiteering from, the illegal trade would be difficult for people in Rohingya communities. Abdul Rashid, a Rohingya rights campaigner, confirmed that those who appeared in the jihadist videos spoke the Rohingya language with a Rakhine (rather than Bangladeshi) accent. He added that one man maybe studied in Saudi Arabia as he was speaking Arabic, but the rest appeared to be local, based on their speech. None of his contacts in Maungdaw recognised any of those who appeared in the videos, he added. Most of them appear to be very young men or even boys. I dont think they have leadership, he said, rejecting the involvement of terrorists from other Eastern countries and describing it as a small-scale response arising out of frustration and deliberately fuelled by those seeking to destablise the current democratically elected government. Nevertheless, this frustration created by years of deliberate oppression was something that needed to be addressed urgently, he said. He added that he had been warning the international community about such a threat and the possibility of such frustrations being used to further others agendas for a long time, but they had not taken his concerns seriously. It is something that can still be controlled, he said, but warned that this should happen through transparent democratic governance, not military attacks on civilians. Whether the attacks were part of a well-organised terror assault with international connections, as is being alleged by some in positions of authority, or the work of a few frustrated young locals enflamed by internal political provocateurs as suggested by some Rohingya representatives the immediate consequences are horrific. People are dying, homes are being burned, and people in both the ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya communities are living in fear for their lives. The dilution of bitterness, disintegration of barriers and hopes for a quiet easing of restrictions on the movements of Rohingya people four years after the original inter-religious violence have been dashed. Work by peacemakers in both local communities and by wider national and international bodies has been set back immensely. When violence erupted between Rakhines Muslim and Buddhist communities in 2012, any rumours of an active militant Rohingya group were backed up only by peoples fears and imaginations. Now, the spread of internet access and social media means people across the state and nationwide are seeing not only videos which appear to back that claim, but also a vast number of posts in which hate speech, anger and threats of violence abound from both sides of the divide. Those wishing to incite fear, hatred and division have already succeeded, whatever their underlying aims. And if the military happened to be looking for an excuse to up its presence in northern Rakhine and increase its aggression against the Rohingya, it certainly has one now. The case is not a normal case. Ordinary peoples concerns relate to the assorted stolen arms. It is very dangerous. The government should take severe action, U Than Shwe, an elder from a Rakhine community, told The Myanmar Times, adding that more security was needed even as troops amassed in the border region. As the government, military and international community seek to find a way to deal with the violence rolling out across the state, circumspection rather than clarity has so far won out. While those seeking to avoid speculative outrage initially supported calls for opinions to be withheld until facts were further established, five days on, the lack of active response from State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is set to leave for an official visit to India in the coming days is beginning to wear thin. State media yesterday quoted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as saying, As long as we are not clear what is what, we wont accuse anyone. Yet that has not stopped members of her senior leadership, including U Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the Presidents Office and former spokesperson for president U Thein Sein renowned for his inflammatory comments from referring to those who carried out the police station attacks as terrorists. It is a word rarely applied to armed organisations fighting for ethnic rights in other parts of the country, indicating that events in Rakhine are being treated differently and the religious aspect of the conflict is key to that. The word terrorism also appears regularly on a hastily created Twitter account for the Presidents Office aimed at addressing an international audience less used to getting its political messages via Facebook, as has become the norm in Myanmar. As has too often happened before in this country, silence from the highest ranks, while lower-level public figures opine in an inflammatory manner, is fuelling speculation and allowing the fear and hatred it engenders to flourish. This is by far the greatest challenge Daw Aung San Suu Kyis administration has faced yet, and the stability of not just Rakhine but also the country will rely on her ability to control the threat of greater violence, in the face of those who seek to either actively undermine her authority or to manipulate situations to their advantage. If there is one thing the world has learned, it is that disaffected youth are ripe for exploitation to violent ends. And it would not be surprising if the young Rohingya men who feature in the two widely circulated jihadist videos are, after years of unrelenting discrimination and oppression with no end in sight, far beyond disaffected. One key question that must be addressed in trying to understand these events is, Why now? Rohingya people were facing discrimination even before the 2012 violence, and yet even in the face of the rights abuses imposed after that time, no major sign of an uprising has occurred until now. According to authorities, suspects caught have confessed to planning these attacks over three months. Given the bloodied state of the accused in photos, the veracity or legal validity of such a confession must be questioned, but there is definitely cause for concern. It would certainly contradict claims that this weeks attacks are related to a demolition order announced on September 18 by Rakhine States Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Htein Lin to destroy hundreds of buildings in Muslim communities including 12 mosques and 35 madrasas in Maungdaw and Buthidaung due to claims that they had been constructed illegally. Yet allegations that such youths have been deliberately targeted by those seeking to stir up internal conflict must be considered, particularly in light of an increase in conflict elsewhere in the country. But there is not just one group to be held to account for what is currently occurring. Whether supported by international terror groups or not, the fact remains that were it not for the deliberate oppression of the Rohingya people, such provocateurs would have found it more difficult to find those willing to participate in the October 9 uprising and the battles that have followed. Those who, for their own political reasons, or to protect their national or organisational involvement in the country, either deliberately oppressed or who sat back and allowed the brutal oppression of the Rohingya people to continue for more than four years are at some point going to have to answer for what is unfolding now. In recent weeks, the US dropped sanctions and the EU dropped the UN rights resolution on Myanmar, giving the current regime their approval. Yet the country is in a more violent state than it has been in years and Daw Aung San Suu Kyis administration, bound as it is to the might and demands of the Myanmar military, will need international support if it is to address the challenges ahead. The recently created Advisory Commission on Rakhine State tasked, under the leadership of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, with finding a solution to the states sectarian divides, had yet to make an official comment as of press time. The silence does little to raise hopes that the commission will be able to express its opinions freely. Meanwhile, UN representatives, while expressing dismay at the crisis, have been accused by some rights groups of going soft on the alleged reprisals against unarmed Rohingya civilians. Top UN representatives are still stinging from the repercussions and downturn in relations with the former administration in 2014 after the UN made a strong response to an alleged massacre of Rohingya in Rakhines Du Chee Yar Tan village, which the government denied and which was later widely considered to have been greatly exaggerated. Yet this should not be grounds for ignoring reprisals and rights abuses now. Whatever terrible violence has occurred at the hands of Rohingya people in the past few days, the Myanmar military has the power to destroy innocent lives and four years of work toward peace. Even without direct violence, effects are being felt beyond Maungdaw. Already a newly imposed ban on Rakhine traders, who had been bringing food into Rohingya communities living around Sittwe under movement restrictions, is having effects. Sources on the ground say food supplies are already growing low as previously reasonable relations between the communities are cut short. There is no question that the current, dangerous dynamics at play have been exacerbated by those who have either directly or tacitly supported a situation in which Rohingya people have been forced to live in abhorrent conditions for years. And with the state on the edge of full-scale violence, it is not just the Rohingya people who have been failed, but their ethnic Rakhine neighbours as well. There is no excuse for the taking of innocent lives, and those who killed the border policemen must be held to account under laws in keeping with international human rights conventions as should those now accused of carrying out extra-judicial killings of Rohingya in reprisal. Everything possible must be done now to bring this current episode of bloodshed to an end while ensuring the protection of all people, as well as taking immediate action to end the circle of oppression that allows violence to flourish. The death toll in northern Rakhine State has risen to more than 40 as security forces and unidentified insurgents continue to clash in the aftermath of a brazen October 9 assault on border security posts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships. A contingent of government officials, including Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu and the state border and security affairs minister, yesterday visited the site of a skirmish on October 12, about 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) from the Myanmar Border Polices headquarters in Kyikan Pyin village, where one of the attacks took place early this week. According to a security officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, there was a brief exchange of gunfire between security personnel and unidentified assailants during yesterdays site visit but no casualties were reported. The security officer added that nearly 40 houses in Pyone Pyke village, Maungdaw township, were burned by militants yesterday. The ministers team had travelled to Maungdaw town on October 12 and met with both Buddhist and Muslim communities, promising residents that the government was working to protect civilians while also taking strong action against militants still at large in the area. U Min Aung, head of the Rakhine State Information Department, said he could not confirm the reported attack nor the Pyone Pyke village burnings because he had not received any communication from the field in those areas. U Khin Aung, who leads the education department for Maungdaw township, said he had heard some explosions yesterday in the morning but had not received word of any casualties. According to state media, a total of 43 people had been killed as of October 12, including 13 security personnel. The Global New Light of Myanmar and military mouthpiece Myawady identified the other 30 fatalities as violent armed men who either died during the initial border raids or engaged in hostilities with security personnel in the manhunt that has followed. The military-owned Myawady news outlet reported yesterday that armed assailants, presumably tied to the raids, targeted the staff quarters of a border post in Kyikanpyin village on October 12, engaged in a firefight with Tatmadaw troops and then withdrew, setting fire to 25 houses in Warpaik village in their retreat. In the wee hours of October 9, attacks by unknown armed assailants killed nine border guard police officers at three outposts in Maungdaw and neighbouring Rathedaung townships. State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the subsequent turmoil on October 12, pledging that her government would act in accordance with the rule of law as it seeks to quell the unrest and bring perpetrators of the coordinated assault to justice. She declined to accuse any specific individuals or organisations of involvement and would not speculate on motive, saying the government needed more information before going public with an explanation. As long as we are not clear what is what, we wont accuse anyone, she said during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nay Pyi Taw. When there is solid evidence, we will indict if we think it should be done. A Myanmar Times reporter witnessed several helicopter gunships landing one after another at Sittwe Airport yesterday afternoon, with a military official saying they were returning from Maungdaw township to refuel. A Tatmadaw officer disputed that assertion, however, saying it was not possible to know where the helicopters had come from. U Min Aung told The Myanmar Times the gunships so far had not been used to launch airstrikes on suspected militants and instead were providing logistical support by transporting security personnel and provisions to the conflict zone, as well as evacuating teachers from Maungdaw to Buthidaung township. More than 400 schools in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships were closed this week in the wake of the violence. The Tatmadaw picked up most of the stranded teachers today and the government is cooperating with them to ensure the safety of all people who are stuck [in the conflict area], said U Min Aung. The Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), meanwhile, became the latest of several groups to call on security forces to exercise restraint as they continue to comb villages and the wilderness in search of the attackers. The OIC has received disturbing reports of extra-judicial killings of Rohingya Muslims, burning of houses and arbitrary arrests by security forces in Maungdaw township and other villages in northern Rakhine State, read a statement yesterday from the grouping of 57 Muslim nations. The situation has caused many Rohingya to flee their villages and the subsequent blockade in the region has also left many in the area facing acute shortages of food, water and essentials. A majority of the population in northern Rakhine State self-identify as Rohingya Muslims, but the largely stateless group are a minority elsewhere in the state. Violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims in 2012 forced more than 100,000 people, mostly Rohingya, into displacement camps, where they remain and are subject to restrictions on movement, education and employment. Fagins who train children to beg from passers-by will face a government crackdown as part of the drive to take homeless youngsters off the streets and protect them from a life of crime. The Mandalay Region Department of Social Welfare is taking the lead in Myanmars second city to stamp out this form of child abuse, said department chief Daw Nann Mout Sai on October 12. The first step will be publicising the new policy, particularly at the locations where street children gather in Mandalays six downtown townships at traffic light intersections, railway stations and bus stops, and along Kan Nar Street. We will put up posters publicising the ban on begging by children, and distribute cartoons among the children themselves, starting this month. Starting in three months, we will take further action, she said. Those who train and control the children will face arrest, she said. Were working closely with the police. In the past, we would take the children in and rehabilitate them, and the adults would later take them back, promising not to reoffend. This time, we have to break the cycle. Now we will take action against them under the childrens law and the anti-trafficking law, she said. Kind-hearted members of the public who give these children money are just perpetuating the problem, the authorities say. Its hard to tell people not to give money to poor children who are begging. But if you give them money, our efforts to take homeless children off the streets wont work, said Daw Nann Mout Sai. U Soe Tint, Mandalays sanitation chief, said many street children are hooked on sniffing glue, and resist attempts by police to arrest them. In September, we sent 12 street children to the Department of Social Welfare. Were working with the department to eliminate the problem of street children. They should not be forced to do dangerous work. Even selling flowers at traffic lights can be hazardous. They are exposed to substance abuse, he said yesterday. A social welfare survey of 120 street children conducted last May found that 75 percent of them used some kind of drugs, 24pc smoked cigarettes, 15pc inhaled glue, 15pc chewed betel, 5pc drank alcohol, and 5pc used yaba and other drugs. Translation by Khine Thazin Han A fierce row over claims for millions in compensation following the sudden closure of a Mandalay newspaper has intensified, as the publisher concerned has threatened critics with a libel suit. On October 7, journalists from the now-defunct Mandalay Ahlin newspaper held a press conference to publicise their demand for nearly K26 million in back wages and fees they said they were owed. Former editor U Thant Zin Oo and deputy chief reporter Ma Thet Su Aung threatened legal action unless the money was paid to the 23 employees concerned. Now, The Messenger Media, named at the press conference as the publisher of Mandalay Ahlin, has threatened to take action for defamation in the courts against anyone linking them with the defunct journal. Action will be taken in accordance with the law if The Messenger Media name is used, said the groups lawyer, U Moe Swe. Reports that appeared in Yangon and Mandalay, including in The Myanmar Times, carried assertions made at the press conference concerning the media group. Former Ahlin editor U Thant Zin Oo has hit back against the threat. The reporters on Mandalay Ahlin and Messenger are under the administration of The Messenger Media. I dont understand why they should threaten court action against people for saying so, he said. Mandalay reporter Ko Aung Ko Oo said he was prepared to contest any legal action. Why cant we name the publisher of the newspaper? If they want to take action, let them, he said. U Myint Kyaw, a member of the Myanmar News Media Council, said, They [The Messenger Media] should be ashamed of themselves for threatening action for linking their group with Mandalay Ahlin. This is a threat to the freedom of the press. It has also emerged that the staff of the newspaper were paid for their last month of work before the newspaper closed. The K26 million claimed by the dismissed staff appears to represent the difference between what they claim in compensation and what the owners are prepared to offer them. It also appears that some media outlets included in their stories other allegations against The Messenger Media that were not aired in the press conference. The media group reportedly considers those allegations to be defamatory. U Thant Zin Oo said the dismissed journalists would be taking their case to the Myanmar Human Rights Commission and the labour disputes arbitration council. Translation by San Layy In a move toward the eventual introduction of organic agriculture and away from the overuse of harmful chemicals, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation is taking steps to protect rice and other crops meant for domestic consumption and export from hazardous chemicals. U Ye Tint Tun, director general of the Department of Agriculture, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that the decision would be applied to 12 different types of produce. Were taking action in accordance with good agricultural practice [GAP] so that the crops are free of insecticide chemicals, he said. The selected crops include sesame, peanuts, chillies, mangos, rice, pomelo, corn, mung beans and green gram. The move follows an October 10 seminar held by the agriculture department on GAP protocol writing at the ministry-owned research yard in Nay Pyi Taw. The intention is to bring practice into conformity with ASEAN standards. After the protocol is written, farmers will be encouraged not to spray crops with insecticide before the harvest. The GAP will also promote hazard-free fertilisers and insecticides, U Ye Tint Tun said. The protocol is expected to be finalised within three to six months. Proceeding toward an organic system of agriculture will take much longer, however, and reducing chemical use is just the first step, he said. U Ye Tint Tun said organic agriculture was not easy for farmers with little money to invest and less technology. Most farmers use chemical insecticides freely to maintain crop production rates. Ko Moe Zaw, a graduate of Yezin Agricultural University, said, Everybody uses insecticide nowadays, especially for vegetables. Otherwise, the insects will eat them. They will have to be trained not to spray before harvest. Farmer Ko Myo Win of Aye Chan Thar village group in Nay Pyi Taws Lewe township said, Farmers dont want to use insecticide because it costs extra. But we have no choice. Insecticide use is very widespread, especially with beans and vegetables, but it also kills beneficial insects, said U Thida Oo, a professor of entomology and zoology at Yezin Agricultural University. Translation by San Layy Yangon City Development Committee hopes to cut its reliance on groundwater by 2025, Water and Sanitation Department deputy head U Myo Thein told The Myanmar Times. According to an estimate from YCDCs master plan, 525 million gallons of water will be needed to service 8.5 million people by 2025, he said. New water resources are still being researched, U Myo Thein said. At the moment, YCDC can come up with 205 million gallons, he said at a water-related press conference. Another 16 million comes from groundwater and all the rest is from rain, he said. One new resource has been discovered, he said, which could bring in another 100 million gallons of water to YCDC. They are currently in the process of determining if the procurement process is practical. In Yangon, people pump groundwater from their ward wells while the government uses tube wells. Groundwater is limited, said Bamboo Lovers Federation president Daw Dawei Thant Sin. Reducing groundwater usage is welcome. Overuse of groundwater has caused parts of the earth to collapse in Bangkok, she added. Yangon's streets will again be lined with trees, as they were 30 years and more ago, city officials and conservationists say. Planting is to begin before the end of the year. Many of the trees that used to line the streets have been cut down because of road widening or to make way for light poles. U Kyaw Nyein, an executive committee member of the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association (FREDA), said the organisation was negotiating with the local authorities about carrying out the project. The planting will be coordinated with the City Love and Hope Foundation, and would begin by December, said corporate social responsibility officer U Aung Soe. The foundation is providing K50 million to plant 100,000 trees of 20 varieties, said U Kyaw Nyein. Of this, K5 million will be earmarked for planting trees along roadways in Yangon, while the remaining K45 million will be used to plant trees in four other project areas in Yangon Region. The trees will already be at least 6 feet high. We dont need to care for them so much if theyre already partly grown, said U Kyaw Nyein. FREDA said it would undertake the maintenance of the trees jointly with Yangon City Development Committee. As two National League for Democracy MPs sorted out sticky legal issues this month, some want to see the passage of a long-discussed law allowing the public to recall elected officials. MP U Nyan Lin (NLD; Shwe Pyi Thar) has been sued by the manager of Shwe Pyi Thar Motel for swearing and threatening motel staff on October 1, according to police records. In a separate incident, on October 9, MP U Soe Moe Thu (NLD; Myaungmya) is alleged to have been caught in an extra-marital affair at a Mandalay Region hotel. U Win Htein, a central executive member of the NLD, told The Myanmar Times that the party would not interfere with the police investigations, but would instead respect the rule of law and act on the judicial findings. We will proceed with the Shwe Pyi Thar case according to the law, he said. The other case of Soe Moe Thu shall also be pursued lawfully and we will not intervene. The decision to recall lawmakers is left to the parliament, of which NLD members constitute a majority. In the past, there have been attempts made by the public to oust elected members of parliament but they all fizzled out because there is no specific law that allows this type of action. According to section 396 of the 2008 constitution, a minimum of 1 percent of voters in an MPs constituency can submit a complaint to the Union Election Commission, setting in motion the recall process. Section 397 stated that the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw shall enact the necessary laws on matters relating to Election and on matters relating to Recall. To this day, those laws remain unwritten. In June 2012, the Union Election Commission submitted a draft of the Right to Recall bill but it has yet to pass. Parliament discussed it twice in 2013 and 2015 but the 1pc requirement for voters was a sticking point both times. Many MPs said the percentage was too small and could glom up the system with unnecessary complaints. They also pointed out that 1pc is not used as a benchmark for recall in any other democracy. In 2015, NLD and Union Solidarity and Development Party MPs suggested that the requirement be raised to 20pc. Other parties suggested 10pc. No compromise was made, and the bill was put on ice. The Right to Recall bill has not been mentioned in parliament this year. Without the right to recall parliamentarians, the participation of the public in this democratic transition is still being restricted, said political analyst U Yan Myo Thein. It means there is no check and balance to the parliament by the public. Opinion: Why MPs fear the right of recall bill Parliamentarians say the constitution needs to be amended first, so they will need more time before publishing the bill. Many civil society groups have suggested that, in the meantime, they publish a law with the 1pc requirement and change the number after the constitution is amended. Equality Myanmar director U Aung Myo Min, whose organisation has been active in human rights issues, said 1pc is suitable because all it does is allow for the submission of the complaint. Further investigation would come after the complaint, he said. It should not be that a parliamentarian can do whatever he wants because he knows the head of the parliament will cover for him, he said. The percentage to make the complaint should be 1pc but it is important to make the correct decision based on that complaint. The law would serve to check the power of MPs, U Aung Myo Min said. Compared to a normal citizen, an MP should definitely not violate his duty and should have good characteristics. Otherwise it means he is disrespecting his voters and his party, he said. U Khin Maung Swe, chair of the National Democratic Force (NDF), said that without the right to recall, it is difficult to control the parliamentarians. It goes against the democratic system, he said. I worry that they will have the wrong attitude that the parliament is above the law since the whole parliament is mainly seated with NLD MPs and that MPs can do whatever they want, he said. U Win Htein said that although he accepts the fact that Right to Recall is a necessary bill, there are more important bills at the moment, which is why they cannot discuss it yet. The Right to Recall bill had not been published by the previous parliament, he said. We accept it is a necessary to be enacted. However, there are more important bills so we cannot do it yet. Still, I accept the fact that we need the bill. He added that although there is no law yet, his party has strictly warned its MPs to follow existing rules and regulations. The Myanmar rural womens network May Doe Kabar was created one year ago, on October 15, International Rural Womens Day. The journey over the past year has been exciting. We have held talks on gender-based violence across the country, co-developed and launched a mobile phone application, and organised training to help women generate income. We have come a long way and we know we have a long way to go. May Doe Kabar, established with support from the United Nations Development Programme, brings together more than 22,000 rural women from the Ayeyarwady delta, the central dry zone, and Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Mon, Rakhine and Shan states. These women are members of smaller groups at their community level and carry out village improvement and development projects. The smaller groups come together at the township level, and May Doe Kabar brings together these township-leading groups at the national level. Since October last year, we have been working together with our members to raise awareness on gender-based violence and domestic violence against women at the community level. In rural areas, sexual harassment and abuse are not properly addressed due to the lack of knowledge among communities. Many rural women and girls dont know much about womens rights and legal protections. Moving forward, we need to expand these awareness-raising talks and campaigns in rural areas because there are many women who dont know about their rights or gender equality. Being rural women ourselves, we are aware that women who earn their living feel more empowered than those who do not. In rural areas, women do not have regular jobs and many of them are seasonal workers. To address the income challenges of rural women, we have provided vocational training relevant to the local context. For instance, we provided training on how to make brooms, slippers, bamboo hats and other such items. These skills development training sessions helped women earn stable incomes to support their families. May Doe Kabar is a rural womens organisation which recognises our members desire to be part of modern Myanmar. We were very excited to launch the iWomen Inspiring Women mobile application in March this year. This application was developed with the support from UNDP Myanmar. We are so proud of it. Our members helped design it. The application connects rural women from different parts of the country and enables us to share information and experience through technology. In recent years, more and more people in rural areas have acquired mobile phones, including a good number of our members. However, there are many rural women who do not have mobile phones yet, so were now negotiating with a Yangon-based phone company to make available mobile phones in rural areas through an instalment-based payment system. The leadership of May Doe Kabar keeps in touch via phones and the application, and every three months we have a board of directors meeting where we discuss our members needs and generate solutions to address them. Being a network composed of rural women with generally lower levels of education, we have challenges relating to language. Our counterparts from the UNDP are English-speaking people who dont speak Myanmar, and we dont speak English. Even though we have interpreters, we sometimes feel important information may be lost in translation. We feel the language barriers more acutely when we are preparing funding proposals in English. We have had to rely on other people to type our proposals because we did not know how to use a computer. We are also finding our feet as a national organisation. We have managerial experience at the township level but we lack the experience in managing a national-level organisation. We are constantly improving our managerial, coordination and communication capacities. We have to be very patient when communicating or coordinating with our members. Some of them are in areas where the mobile networks do not work well, making it difficult to send messages to our fellow members from one side of the country to the other. Sometimes it takes about three days to contact our colleagues from villages. Our biggest challenge is funding. When we established May Doe Kabar in 2015, the Township Leading Groups contributed initial funding of more than K1.55 million (US$1300) for our national program. A limited budget means we cannot expand our program as wed expected. As a result, while we have set up a small office, it is not equipped and does not have regular staff. We are now seeking partnership opportunities with local organisations and international funding agencies to expand our activities, particularly capacity development and awareness-raising programs. Its very important to promote gender equality in rural areas where many women dont know their rights. Also, we want to provide more livelihood skills training for women because we believe income stability is an important factor in lifting the lives of women and their families. In addition, it is important to provide rural-urban market linkage training for rural women entrepreneurs. We want to provide leadership and management training that enables women to become active leaders in their communities. At this moment, some of our fellow members are working as wardens in their local administrative units. We want more female village/ward administrators in Myanmar. By expanding womens participation in local governance, the voices of rural women are heard by policymakers, and their concerns are addressed properly. In the end, we want to change the negative gender norms for example, the restriction of womens participation in community affairs at the community level. Now we have more members in our organisation. It shows that our organisation is being recognised by more rural women. To maintain this momentum, we need to expand our activities, but financial constraints make this difficult. Thats why we are looking for partnership opportunities with local womens rights groups and international organisations. Daw Cho Aye from Kyaikto township, Mon State, is chair of May Doe Kabar, and Daw Hla San Htwe from Kyaiklatt township, Ayeyarwady Region, is vice chair. Race is perhaps the worst idea ever to come out of science. Scientists were responsible for officially dividing human beings into Europeans, Africans, Asians and Native Americans and promoting these groups as sub-species or separate species altogether. That happened back in the 18th century, but the division lends the feel of scientific legitimacy to the prejudice that haunts the 21st. Racial tension proved a major point of contention in the first 2016 US presidential debate, and yet just days before, scientists announced theyd used wide-ranging samples of DNA to add new detail to the consensus story that we all share a relatively recent common origin in Africa. While many human species and sub-species once roamed the planet, theres abundant evidence that beyond a small genetic contribution from Neanderthals and a couple of other sub-species, only one branch of humanity survived to the present day. Up for grabs was whether modern non-Africans stemmed from one or more migrations out of Africa. The newest data suggests there was a single journey that sometime between 50,000 and 80,000 years ago, a single population of humans left Africa and went on to settle in Asia, Europe, the Americas, the South Pacific and everywhere else. But this finding amounts to just dotting the is and crossing the ts on a scientific view that long ago rendered notion of human races obsolete. We never use the term race, said Harvard geneticist Swapan Mallick, an author on one of the papers revealing the latest DNA-based human story. Were all part of the tapestry of humanity, and its interesting to see how we got where we are. Thats not to deny that people vary in skin colour and other visible traits. Whether youre dark or light, lanky or stocky depends in part on the sunlight intensity and climate in the regions where your ancestors lived. Nor is it to deny that racism exists but in large part, it reflects a misinterpretation of those superficial characteristics. There is a profound misunderstanding of what race really is, Harvard anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman said at an event the night after the presidential debate. Race is a scientifically indefensible concept with no biological basis as applied to humans. Consider the fact that most of the race boxes people tick off on census forms were invented by creationists, such as Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus. In 1758, he declared that humans could be divided into races he described as white (European), red (Native American), black (African) and yellow (Asian). He also attributed various unflattering personality traits to all the races except for whites. In subsequent decades, scientists of European ancestry argued over whether God created the races separately or whether they diverged from a common creationist origin. In the 19th century, scientists used race not just to classify people but to justify slavery by painting Africans as inferior, according to Joseph Graves, a geneticist at North Carolina A&T State University who spoke at Harvard last week. One of the worlds most prominent American scientists of the mid-1800s, Samuel Morton, collected skulls from all over the world and attempted to demonstrate that those of European ancestry had the worlds biggest heads and were, so he claimed, intellectually superior. Scientists subsequently realised that Morton was wrong about whose heads were biggest and the connection between head size and intelligence. There is still controversy about whether Morton cheated or made a statistical error, but his conclusion remains debunked. Graves who is the author of several books, including 2005s The Race Myth said a key turning point occurred when Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. From his travels around the world, Darwin realised that there was no scientific reason to divide people into four races. It made just as much sense to him, he wrote later, to divide them into anywhere between two and 63 races. But not everyone took Darwins side. Another influential figure in 19th-century science was Swiss-American biologist Louis Agassiz, whom Graves describes as a giant both in his accomplishments and his sway over his contemporaries. Even after Darwin published his book, Agassiz continued to promote the notion that Africans and Europeans were different species. Agassiz proposed that the children of mixed couples would be infertile, as are the offspring of horses and donkeys. He was wrong, just like he was wrong in never accepting evolution. Darwins powerful idea didnt put an end to scientific racism the eugenics movement of the Progressive Era, for example, tried to cloak racism in evolutionary theory but in general, 20th-century researchers pushed racism to the scientific fringes. For example, historians have shown that Hitler could only fake the scientific credibility of his racist ideology. And in the 1980s, scientists used DNA to trace all humans back to an origin 200,000 years ago in Africa. This is recent in evolutionary time, given that our lineages split from that of chimpanzees perhaps 7 million years ago. Refining the story, contemporary scientists have analysed DNA collected from diverse populations Aboriginal Australians, Papua New Guineans, Basques, Bedouins and Pygmies. The very nature of the project acknowledges that these groups are distinct enough that their DNA matters in deciphering the human story but not so distinct that they represent separate races. Bones and teeth scattered through the Middle East and Asia show people left Africa in many waves, but according to this latest DNA analysis, only one of those waves made a substantial contribution to the current population of humans. Why are people still so determined to believe that racial categories are distinct, unchanging and rooted in biology? Its not rational, said Graves. He said one reason people are stuck in the 19th century when it comes to race is that many teachers are unprepared to teach human evolution or refuse to out of fear. Graves sometimes quizzes his students by showing them an image of a man and asking them to guess where he comes from. It appears to show someone most Americans would identify as a black man, and Graves says people assume hes from Africa or an African American community in the US. But hes from the Solomon Islands, which are in the South Pacific. Bloomberg 14.10.2016 LISTEN The Hook-Up Tour is an initiative of Next Media Concept and BK Multimedia which aims at providing opportunity for people to network, interact, discuss business and have fun. The maiden kicks off this Saturday, October 15 at Vienna City, Circle Accra with performance from Nii Funny, Ennwai (Dobble), Ephraim, Baafour, Richy Rymz, Strict Stylin, Allan Cash, Nautica and International arts from Naija [Vicky D and Cent Remmy]. TICKETS: Standard at 25GH and VIP at 35GH TIME: 9pm VENUE: Vienna City, Circle. China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has urged the removal of full-body X-ray scanners at airports and railway stations due to radiation risks. In an urgent document sent to the Department of Environmental Protection of Sichuan Province (DEPSP) on Monday and published on Wednesday, the MEP urged DEPSP to strengthen law enforcement and stop producing, selling and using full-body X-ray scanners without authorization to ensure the safety of the people. The document came after some travelers complained about radiation hazards and the use of full-body security scanners at airports and railways stations in Sichuan's capital city Chengdu and other areas. After receiving the MEP document, the DEPSP said on Wednesday that the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is suspected of violating environmental protection regulations by using the devices. The DEPSP has ordered the airport to remove the full-body X-ray scanners and asked Chengdu city to investigate the issue. The MEP found that the radiation dose that each person receives from the scanner has just a small effect on the human body, but as China has a large population and heavy travel volume, wide use of full-body X-ray scanners at airports, railways stations and ports is not appropriate. The MEP said that ionizing radiation devices should not be used to screen humans on a large scale. Ghanaian actress Elaine Attoh has acknowledged there is a challenge with the scriptwriting department of Ghana's movie industry, as she revealed actors sometimes have to confer with directors to edit scripts on set before acting out their roles. Speaking in an exclusive interview with NEWS-ONE, Elaine enumerated bad English language, non-challenging stories, among others, as some of the problems they have to put up with. According to her, she personally rejected a script in the past because she wasn't comfortable with it. Yes, I rejected a script because I like to challenge myself so if you give me a role that doesn't challenge me I won't take it. I think I don't want to put myself out there in a discrediting way. If I don't act well, it discredits me, the writer, the producer and the director. Maybe, some of them don't realise how far that can go but it will discredit you. As a writer, you need to be dynamic too. Let the person read the script and say wow! So yes I have rejected a script before because I wasn't challenged, she said. Maybe the genre of the writing. Maybe the English itself. I have a friend who is so particular about the English language. I think it is a thing with us because I read English. We are so particular about it. Even if we make mistakes, we have to be corrected. Not everybody is very particular about their English language, but some of us are. Elaine Attoh is a bold, intelligent, confident, daring and passionate actress who is obviously good at the English language. She started acting from Kidafest days and did stage acting for about 13 years before joining the movie industry about eight years ago. Among her movie credits are 'A Sting In A Tale' by Sparrow Production, 'Adam Apples 1', 'Living With Trisha' series, 'Hidden Passion', 'Game of Roses', 'Tenant', 'Sins of Our Forefathers', 'Poison Bait', Sunshine Avenue, among others. She said stakeholders must take note of the language in the scriptwriting sector and act appropriately because it does not speak well of any good growing movie industry. Not every storyteller is a good playwright. No! I think that should be checked, she said. Yes, language is one of the big challenges in the industry. It is. I know Majid Michel will reject a script if he has to reject. He will reject it because he can't sell himself short. I know Adjetey Anang will also reject if he has to reject, I know Yvonne Okoro will reject it if she has to reject because they can't sell themselves short. They won't discredit themselves. You have to be diligent enough to read and say this is wrong. So if the person you are going to work with doesn't accept it, opt out, she said. Though I am not a writer, I think we also have say when it comes to the stories that we indulge in. I love the way Shirley Frimpong Manso portrays her stories. As a viewer, you will be thinking oh this how Shirley will end the story but no way. It will end the other way, she added. Elaine who grew up with her grandmother started education at St Jude's Preparatory School and then to Ministry of Health Primary & JSS. She continued at the Presbyterian Senior High School at Osu and then to the University of Ghana, Legon, and finally Manifold Institute. She believes acting is her passion. She doesn't think quitting is the solution to the fact that she isn't getting the attention she wants. Elaine has played a number of minor roles in the past. But she thinks, there is nothing like minor roles. If you are a dynamic actress, you don't need the big thing. Yes the big roles you need them to sell yourself, but Mercy Johnson is still playing a maid role. The humble beginnings will make you humble yourself no matter the height you reach in life. For me no role is a minor. Elaine promised the industry to watch out for her. She is ever ready to challenge herself to achieving higher heights in the movie industry. If there is anything higher than Hollywood, I want to go there, she concluded. By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: [email protected] ) Celebrated Ghanaian gospel music producer, John Mensah Sarpong, who has over 40 albums to his credit, has disclosed that a large number of gospel artistes in Ghana today have diverted their attention to making money at the expense of saving souls for Christ. According to him, most of these artistes are interested in doing business with gospel music than promoting the teachings of Jesus Christ. The music producer who is also the chief executive officer of JMS Music Productions in an interview with Kumasi-based Abusua FM said, based on their attitude I have vowed never to produce any gospel artiste who comes to me under the pretext of doing evangelism. A large number of them you see around are using the word of God for business purposes and not to promote Christ and his teachings. John Mensah Sarpong, a former chairman of the Ghana Association of Phonographic Industry (GAPI), disclosed that gospel artistes are supposed to use gospel music as a tool to educate people about the teachings of Christ as well as win souls for the kingdom of God. He added that gospel music is also supposed to inspire and motivate Christians and non-Christians alike in their daily lives so that they could experience the love of God. But today, most of the gospel music or songs do not inspire and motivate the people because they lack good messages and the blessings of God, John Mensah Sarpong pointed out. He continued that the gospel music industry in Ghana has seen only a few enterprising gospel artistes who have been able to use music and their live musical performances to change the lives of many people. I can tell you, only Mama Esther, Amy Newman, Esther Nyamekye, Diana Asamoah and Elder Morelia are among a few ones doing pure evangelism through music, he added. He continuedI am a businessman and any artiste who comes to me must come with business mentality. Most of them you see are not sincere. John Mensah Sarpong is the brain behind the Gospel All Stars album titled 'W'aseda Nie' released in 2002. In that year, the song was awarded the Gospel Song of the Year by the Ghana Music Awards. His performance in the music industry has been distinct. This has culminated in his election as the President of the Ghana Association of Phonographic Industry (GAPI) for two terms. John Mensah Sarpong has produced albums for a number of seasoned gospel musicians, including Kwaku Gyasi, Ama Boahemaa, Stella Dugan, among others. By George Clifford Owusu President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour), will lay the remains of his late mother to rest on October 22. The final funeral rites of the hiplife artiste's mother will take place in Juaso in the Ashanti Region. The funeral, according to sources close to the MUSIGA president, is expected to be attended by some state officials, musicians and players in the creative arts industry. There will be a musical concert in honour of the MUSIGA president's late mother in Juaso on Saturday, October 22. Some of the artistes billed to perform at the tribute concert include Kojo Antwi, Amakye Dede, Samini, Tagoe Sisters, Tic Tac, Edem and E.L. The late Christiana Addo, affectionately called Aunt Christie, died on Sunday, July 24 after battling with a liver disease in the United Kingdom. She is survived by Obour and three other siblings. The late Ghanaian Highlife musician, Daasebre Gyamena, will be buried at Anomabo Ndasimam in the Central Region, as both paternal and maternal families come to a compromise. There has been a court injunction at a Koforidua High Court over the burial of the late Daasebre Gyamena by his maternal family for months. Whilst the paternal family believed that the deceased lived and schooled in Koforidua so must be buried there, his maternal family thought otherwise. The maternal family argued that they are obliged to perform all funeral and burial rites as customs demand hence the body should be conveyed to the Anomabo Ndasimam in Central Region. Both families couldn't reach a consensus leading to the maternal family placing an injunction on the burial of the late musician. In a Koforidua High Court Wednesday, both families agreed to settle the matter out of court. They resolved that the maternal family should go on and perform the necessary rites. Head of maternal family, Nana Kwaku Apah, disclosed that the family will meet next week to fix a date for the funeral. He assured the Wafom hitmaker's paternal family members of the needed protection before, during and after the funeral at Anomabo Ndasimam Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. By Adu Gyemfi, GNA Akwatia (E/R), Oct 13, GNA - Hundreds of people from the various political parties and faith groups in the Akwatia constituency have undertaken a four-kilometre peace walk to send strong message about the need for tolerance and responsible conduct as the nation inched closer to general election. They held placards with messages like 'Akwatia and Ghana want peace', 'Tolerance leads to peace', 'Say no to violence', 'Seek and pursue peace', 'Be an agent of peace' and 'Ghana before any political party'. The parliamentary candidates of the two major political parties - Alhaji Baba Jamal of the the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Madam Adu-Gyamfi Bello (Ama Sey), were on hand to lead the walk. The programme was put together by the Akwatia branch of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC). This formed part of the effort to help dial down tension and prevent any ugly incident in the area, which has been identified as a flash point, ahead of the December 07 election. It may be recalled that in the year 2008 election, ballot boxes were smashed and snatched leading to the cancellation of the poll results in six voting centres in the Akwatia town. A re-run of the poll in August, the following year, saw violent clashes and imposition of a curfew. It is against this background that the peace walk, is seen as both important and a right step. Osabarima Kofi Boateng III, the Akwatiahene, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Francis Aboagye, the District Commander and Mr. Ernest Billy, the District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), took turns to address the people at the Akwatia lorry terminal after the walk. The theme running through their addresses was the need for everybody to get right with the law and to accept to work together to safeguard the unity and stability of the society. GNA The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, has admonished students across the country to stay clear of voting for another 4-years for President John Mahama. According to Nana Akufo-Addo, ever the President assumed office, Ghanas economy has systematically shrunk, resulting in high levels of unemployment, rising costs of living, widespread hardships and suffering, and the creation of a future of hopelessness for the millions of Ghanaian youth. Nana Akufo-Addo also appealed to students to vote for him and the NPP in this years elections in order to secure their collective future. Nana Akufo-Addo made this known on Thursday, October 13, 2016, when he addressed thousands of students at the Pentecost University College, as part of his tour of the Anyaa Sowutuom constituency. Usually, when people come to speak to you, they talk about the future. This is because you are the future. But, I am going to say something a bit different. Every year, since John Dramani Mahama became President, our economy has shrunk, and, this year, we are going to have the slowest growth of our economy for 22 years, the NPP flagbearer told the students. This sad state Ghana currently finds herself in, according to Akufo-Addo, implies that your ability to walk out of here and get a job is being compromised right now. What I am trying to leave with you is that four more years of John Dramani Mahama will mean you that you have no future to look up to. The NPP flagbearer stressed that, the responsibility for you (students) is not about tomorrow, it is about today. That, together, all of us will make sure that the threat to our future that Mahama represents is removed in December, once and for all, so we can return our country onto the path of progress and prosperity. I am saying to you, (this election) is about your future. It is about now. If we continue on the path we are on now, let me repeat it, there will be no future for you to inherit. So the task is a simple one. In peace and in dignity, lets put Mahama aside, lets bring Akufo-Addo and lets chart a new direction for Ghana. The NPP flagbearer assured that the direction he is offering the people of Ghana is one which will concentrate on growing our economy and making sure there are more and more jobs available for the young people of our country. That is the vision which we are working for our country, and it is what we will do when we are in office. He, thus, urged all students across the country not to stay at home on December 7, stating that that day, 7th of December, is indeed about you and your future. While in the constituency, Nana Akufo-Addo also visited the Alhaji Station, Sowutuom Last Stop, Anyaa Market and the Ablekuma Tipper Station. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com The COP22 Moroccan Presidency, in collaboration with the COP21 Presidency, is organizing a Pre-COP Ministerial meeting in Marrakech on October 18 and 19, ahead of the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22), the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12), and the 1st Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) scheduled in Marrakech, November 7 to 18. The meeting will be chaired by COP22 President SalaheddineMezouarand COP21 President Segolene Royal, and include participation by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa as well as Ministers from 80 countries. More than 400 participants are expected, in addition to senior level representatives from the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Pre-COP Ministerial meeting is a continuation of the Informal Consultations, organized September 8 and 9 in Skhirat, Morocco and aims to address the convening of CMA1 in Marrakech during COP22, the development of the Paris Agreement rulebook, means of implementation of the Paris Agreement, matters relating to the Pre-2020 Agenda and the Global Climate Action Agenda led by COP22 High-Level Climate Champion, Hakima El Haite and COP21 High-Level Climate Champion Laurence Tubiana. The convening of CMA1 during COP22 is a result of the ratification of the Paris Agreement by 55 countries accounting for more than 55% ofglobal greenhouse gas emissions. This threshold was reached on October 5, thus triggering the early entry into force of the Agreement on November 4 and the first meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement to take place during COP22 in Marrakech. The Kingdom of Morocco deposited its Paris Agreement instruments of ratification with the United Nations in New York on September 21 at a special event organized by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the United Nations General Assembly. On October 17, ahead of the Pre-COP Ministerial, there will be a Civil Society Pre-COP in Marrakech featuringdebates between representatives from UNFCCC observer constituent groups (business, environment, local government, indigenous peoples, trade unions, women and gender, youth and farmers and agriculture) followed by a discussion with the COP22 and COP21 Presidents. Washington (AFP) - The winner of the 2016 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism, Burundi's Eloge Willy Kaneza, said Thursday the prize offers hope "that my country can be healed." Accepting the award at a Washington ceremony, Kaneza said the recognition encourages journalists in the violence-torn African nation to continue their efforts in delivering news and debunking rumors. "This gives courage not only to me, but to my friends, my colleagues, my collective of journalists," Kaneza told the audience at the National Press Club. "We gain courage and the force to continue doing our work accurately and professionally and to continue giving balanced information." The recognition from those outside the country, Kaneza said, is a positive sign for Burundi. "This is a time of hope that my country can be healed of its wounds," he said. Kaneza, 34, is the public face of SOS Media Burundi, a collective of mostly anonymous journalists formed after the closure of radio stations during the May 2015 coup attempt against President Pierre Nkurunziza. The collective uses Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp as tools, with rigorous verification of facts by teams inside and outside the country to help prevent the spread of rumors that can lead to panic. Kaneza views his role "as preventing people from consuming rumors, because rumors can kill," he said. SOS Media Burundi, set up within 48 hours of the failed coup, publishes via Facebook and Twitter as well as on the music sharing site SoundCloud. Reporters remain anonymous, work in isolation, and cope with the country's poor communications infrastructure by moving from one Wi-Fi hotspot to another. Editorial decisions are discussed via the encrypted mobile application WhatsApp Burundi has been in chaos since Nkurunziza announced plans in April 2015 to run for a third term, which he went on to win. More than 500 people have since died, and at least 270,000 have fled the country. UN investigators say that in the 12-month period after the crisis began, at least 348 people were victims of extrajudicial killings and 651 incidents of torture were recorded. The award came as the UN Security Council decided to dispatch an envoy to Burundi after the government in Bujumbura broke off ties with UN rights monitors and kept up resistance to the deployment of a UN police force. Also Thursday, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Burundi's national intelligence service to release radio journalist Salvador Nahimana, detained since October 2. The award, named for the late AFP journalist Peter Mackler, is presented by the Global Media Forum along with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Agence France-Presse. The prize was created in 2008 to honor the memory of Mackler, who died of a heart attack that year at age 58. WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 -- The United States has requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to examine China's export restraints on 11 raw materials, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said Thursday. The United States had held consultations with China over the matter from Sept. 8 to 9, but the two sides did not resolve the dispute, the USTR's Office said, adding requesting a panel is the next step in the WTO dispute settlement process. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body will consider the U.S. panel request at its meeting scheduled for Oct. 26, the office said. The United States claimed that China's export restraints, including duties and quotas, on antimony, copper and other nine raw materials "provide an unfair competitive advantage to Chinese industry at the expense of manufacturers and workers in the United States." But China's Ministry of Commerce has insisted that the duty and quota requirements on the export of 11 raw materials are imposed to protect the country's resources and the environment, and that they conform to WTO rules. The U.S. challenges on China on raw materials come at a time of increasing anti-trade rhetoric in the current U.S. presidential campaign. The Obama administration wants to demonstrate a tough stance on enforcing trade agreements in an attempt to draw support from lawmakers to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, a top legislative priority for President Barack Obama this year. But U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has recently said that the TPP agreement does not have enough votes to pass the Congress this year, noting the Obama administration has to makes changes to the agreement to get congressional approval. Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday wraps up a week of Africa diplomacy aimed at slowing the flow of migrants to Europe from a continent battered by conflict and poverty. She will host Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, having also met Chad's head of state Idriss Deby two days earlier following a three-day whirlwind tour of Mali, Niger and Ethiopia, the seat of the African Union. As Germany, Europe's top destination for people fleeing war and misery, looks to chair the G20 next year, it has pledged to step up efforts to help Africa and fight the causes of the mass migration. "I think we will need to take a vastly greater interest in the destiny of Africa," Merkel said at the start of her first major Africa trip in five years. "The well-being of Africa is in Germany's interest." Data backs up that notion -- while most asylum-seekers in Germany so far this year came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Germany has also taken in over 13,000 Eritreans and thousands from other African countries. More than 10,000 came from Nigeria, the oil-rich economic giant now grappling with a plunge in crude prices and the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency that has claimed over 20,000 lives and spilled into Cameroon, Chad and Niger. 'Life-threatening journeys' Merkel on her three-nation trip repeatedly warned Africans against crossing dangerous deserts and seas for an uncertain future in Europe. German chancellor Angela Merkel shakes hands with Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita upon her arrival at the Bamako aiport on October 9, 2016 "Often it's the young people who head for Europe with completely wrong ideas," she said in Addis Abeba. "They risk a life-threatening journey without knowing what's waiting for them or even whether they'll be able to stay." The best way to stop the mass flight would be to encourage greater stability in their countries of origin, Merkel said, picking up on the theme of an EU-African Summit held in Malta last year. The list of goals is ambitious -- promoting democracy, fighting terrorism and fostering prosperity through investment. In Mali, Merkel said it was crucial that "African countries don't lose their brightest minds" needed to develop their own countries. Merkel said that as chair of the Group of 20, Berlin would next year host a conference on investment in Africa, especially in the transport and energy sectors. In poverty-stricken Niger, a major migrant transit country, she pledged 10 million euros in military aid and 17 million euros to encourage human traffickers to switch livelihoods. The aid was relatively modest compared to something on the scale of the "Marshall Plan", the US's $12 billion post-WWII assistance to Europe, that President Mahamadou Issoufou called for from the EU. Migrant and refugees are rescued off a sinking rubber boat some eight nautical miles off Libya's Mediterranean coastline on October 12, 2016 "Merkel's trip was mainly a message sent to European and German audiences that said, 'we are actively doing something'," to reduce migrant flows, said Annette Weber of the German Institute of International and Security Affairs. With huge youth unemployment, repression and conflict in many states pushing people to leave home, she said, the migratory pressures were unlikely to stop soon. 'Accommodation centres' Merkel -- facing a backlash at home over last year's huge migrant influx -- is also working on more short-term solutions. Berlin has proposed EU deals with North African countries modelled on the pact the bloc this year struck with Turkey, the main transit country for Middle Eastern migrants. Under that controversial deal, the EU pledged billions in aid and eased visa access in return for Turkey taking back irregular migrants stranded on Greek islands and fighting traffickers. The EU Commission may take some convincing, however, of trying to apply the costly and uncertain approach in Africa. According to news weekly Spiegel, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn has already voiced his concern with the chancellery. Other approaches have also met with mixed success. Germany this year moved to declare Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia as safe countries of origin, to raise the bar for asylum requests. But the bill has been stuck in the upper house for months over human rights concerns in those Maghreb nations. On Thursday, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere suggested that migrants rescued at sea should be taken to "accommodation facilities" in north Africa. "Their need for protection would be verified and we would put into place a resettlement to Europe with generous quotas, fairly divided between the European countries," he told reporters in Luxembourg. "The others have to go back to their home countries." Folks, ever since Steve Malory (Executive Editor of the AfricaWatch magazine) published its lengthy report about the health status of the NPPs Akufo-Addo, a lot has issued forth to feed public discourse. We have heard dismissive and condemnatory reactions from the NPP camp to suggest that Mallory and his medium were being used by President Mahama to damn Akufo-Addo. We have also heard rebuttals from the Akufo-Addo camp to suggest that Mallory was out of his mind to go the way he did in publishing reports about Akufo-Addos personal health. In effect, then, Mallory was pursuing a lost cause. Well, he has come out now to serve notice to Akufo-Addo and his backers that he has a lot more to reveal about Akufo-Addo which will hurt his political ambitions. Ina simple language, then, Akufo-Addo is handicapped in many ways and shouldnt be upheld as fit for Ghanas presidency. A very damaging charge that is!! Steve Mallorys contribution to public discourse on Akufo-Addo has stoked much fire. He has been easily dismissed by those close to Akufo-Addo as a petulant, peeved, and unreliable person who broke away from Akufo-Addo and the NPP for weird reasons. Thus, anything published by his medium that doesn't favour the NPP is goaded by hatred for Akufo-Addo. Thats the mantra; but it has more to it. We have also been critical of Akufo-Addo only to be blackened by his supporters as hate-filled people bent on damaging his "hard-earned integrity" (whatever that may mean). Yooooooooooooooooo!! Having already published a report on Akufo-Addo's health situation only to be insulted by the NPP members, Steve Mallory has stepped out again to intensify the rhetoric. This time, he is reported to have vowed to expose Akufo-Addo if his followers continue insulting him for telling the whole world what he needed to reveal about Akufo-Addo's health and political misfortunes, not to talk about the wiliness of Fraudie Blay. Steve Mallory has already made good that vow, publishing more material (entitled Ghana, the Lies and Insults Must StopAfricawatch responds to Nana Addo) to confirm his earlier reports on the sordidness surrounding Akufo-Addo. Here are some notable aspects: 1. Edward Bumpty Akufo-Addo, the NPP Presidential candidates brother, is seriously ill. Bumpty, a leading member of NPP financiers status, is badly affecting the party which is currently broke and still facing difficulties in raising cash for campaign because of donor fatigue deepened by cracks within the party. 2. Akufo-Addo reportedly rewarded then deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia with the Vice Presidential slot for awarding the contract for printing of new currencies during the controversial redenomination exercise in 2007. 3. Akufo-Addo's Ghanaian doctor, Prof. Adu Gyamfi, lied about the true state of his client's life-threatening kidney and cancer diseases. 4. Akufo-Addo has hidden behind the smokescreen created by his running mate's public lecture on Ghana's economy to surreptitiously leave Ghana for medical treatment in London. He simply used Dr. Bawumia's event as a "decoy". What else has he been doing under such a cover? Can he be trusted? (A serious claim here). 5. The NPP is in a serious state of dilemma because of Akufo-Addo's bad health situation and also because of the mismanagement of funds donated for Akufo-Addo's previous campaigns, which explains why the big financiers are not willing to commit anything to the party's purse for Election 2016. 6. The Africa Watch Magazine is ready for further attacks on the NPP, mocking Akufo-Addo for failing to manage the NPP, leaving it in a state of quandary, with very influential leaders deserting him or sitting on the fence while the NPP awaits a shocking defeat in the upcoming elections. HINDSIGHT Steve Mallory says he stands by his publications and that he is ready at any time to produce evidence in support of these assertions, including those related to the recent story on the health status of Akufo-Addo. He said he was a personal friend to Akufo-Addo, whom he had supported in the past before quitting active politics in 2009 (after Akufo-Addo's defeat by Atta Mills) to concentrate on journalism. This is how he puts it: "For those who do not know and are saying all sorts of things, I have given Akufo-Addo money in the past to support his campaigns, but he has never, ever given me one cent or one pesewa for my personal use, contrary to what his men are alleging. I dare Akufo-Addo to prove me wrong". He has dared Akufo-Addo to say "Fi" in denial of his claims so he will come down more heavily on him, ridiculing him in this sense: "[It is] shocking and very disturbing, Akufo-Addos one clear response to all the issues at a rally in the Northern Region: Now, they say I have cancer, it will not work. The point is that such a curt reaction hides the truth about his health status. In the end, Steve Mallory puts everything together this way:Now it appears Akufo-Addo has hit a snag that poses a threat to the NPP campaign. Three critical factors have come into play: The first is the fact that Akufo-Addos ill health is taking a serious toll on him. Second, his brothers deteriorating health has become a major distraction for him as well. Third, the Akufo-Addo family is financially weak and the NPP is almost broke. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/AfricaWatch-vows-to-expose-Nana-Addo-in-response-to-NPP-s-insults-477193). MY COMMENTS So, whom should we believe now? Akufo-Addo and his evasive version of what has so far been revealed about him (personal health status, mismanagement of the party's funds, alienation of financiers, doom at the polls, etc.) or Steve Mallory and his evidence-based revelations? Has Steve Mallory shot down Akufo-Addo? Why would such a former personal friend turn the heat on him this way? Will Akufo-Addo call off Steve Mallory's bluff? And be ready for more punches? Already, Akufo-Addo has shied away from litigation by way of seeking redress. Atta Akyea has already told us that. As is to be expected, his supporters reacting to the publication on Ghanaweb have been quick to pour invective on Steve Mallory. Are they motivating him to come out with more revelations about Akufo-Addo? I hope that is the case so we can get to know what Steve Mallory has known about Akufo-Addo all these years that he can no longer keep to himself. Folks, what sort of man is Akufo-Addo that he should be so embroilled in controversies all over the place? No Ghanaian figure has had such tough battles to fight in the public domain as far as personal integrity and the pursuit of political ambitions are concerned. Why is it so? As for me, my mouth no be gun oooh!!. oes to feed into the NPP's negative public image as a violent party. It sustains the negative opinion of Akufo-Addo as a violent man whose main political tool is instigation of his followers to cause mayhem. In a democracy, negative acts of the sort put up by the NPP elements at Kokompe have no place. The exchange of ideas to woo voters is the best approach, not hooliganism. Of course, if the NPP thinks that lining up its supporters to hoot at the President will win the day for it, so will it invest resources in it; but at the end of the day, discerning voters will go where they feel comfortable to be given the peaceful atmosphere in which to live their lives, regardless of complaints about the cost of living. At the end of the polls, these NPP hooligans will end up biting their tongues for doing acts that have rather detracted from Akufo-Addo's worth in the eyes of the voters. Hooting at the President is an impotent and misguided political tool. The truth is that wherever President Mahama goes, he pulls crowds. Those who think otherwise can do all they please until December 7 stuns them. One lesson, though: Once the NPP people have begun using unorthodox means to sustain their rogue politics, our security agencies have to be on their toes. Their recourse to worse political tools should be foreseen and stemmed before anything horrible happens. The hooting is just the tip of the iceberg; but it is a clear harbinger that must be proactively monitored and dealt with before it turns into something ugly. I am speaking in parables here. We wait for more developments to confirm the notoriety of these sore losers who have chosen open hostility toward the Lion of Gonja that their negative politics over the years hasn't succeeded in degrading. Interestingly, the NPP leaders haven't said anything about that stage-managed hooting incdent. They appear to be happy that it happened. The party's followers are celebrating it as an accomplishment, describing it as a clear demonstration of bravado to foretell Akufo-Addo's victory at Election 2016. I pity them. I hope that NDC supporters won't counteract this negative attitude by doing anything untoward against Akufo-Addo when he enters their space. Decency counts in the search for votes!!I shall return The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has launched a new campaign to raise funds ahead of the 2016 general elections mainly to empower polling station agents who will be ensuring vigilance at the polls on election day. The campaign, dubbed 'adopt-a-polling-station campaign' affords party sympathizers the opportunity to sponsor the partys campaign activities. The campaign was launched at the Okaishie Drug-lane in the Greater Accra region. Peter Mac Manu, Manager for the Greater Accra Regional Campaign for the NPP said the party is greatly concerned about the activities at the various polling stations, and its men who will work there as polling agents during the elections. He noted that, the activities of its officers at the station require funds to ensure the NPP is able to deliver on its duties effectively. This requires a lot of money and time. We as sympathizers of the party, must therefore support the NPP in this regard. Some can bring foodstuff, money, your time and energy will also be appreciated; and any other thing you think you can help with is welcome. He said the NPP had about 29,000 polling agents it needs to resource adequately on the election day. John Boadu, acting General Secretary of the NPP, estimated that, the party required at least GH500 to cater for each polling agent. Ken Ofori Atta, the Chairman of the 2016 Presidential Campaign Finance Team in an interview on Eyewitness News said the party recognizes that if the polling stations are manned well, there will be peace and few disagreements after elections. To extend democracy means a certain ownership in the process and if the core unit is the polling station, how do you then draw people to own these polling stations such that they are concerned about and want to make sure that things go well, he said. He stressed that the campaign was also necessitated by calls from the partys members on how they could support its participation in the upcoming elections. Lots of our members are asking, how do I get involved in this party, how do I donate to you apart from coming to watch. So the adopt-a-polling-station so you then feel personally in charge not just as a lay voter or pew warmer but giving cash of 500 cedis or deciding that you were going to provide water or food or a vehicle, he added. The party said sympathizers can donate any amount of money via mobile money on 0548407629 or through bank via an account it has at the Kojo Thompson Road Branch of Zenith Bank under the name 'I am for Nana Foundation' with the account 6010614929. 'Adopt-A-Polling Station' forms have also been deposited at the various NPP offices across the country with soft copies available on www.iamfornana.com/adopt . By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana The Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service has set the end of October to political parties and organisations involved in the collection of personal data to register under the Data Protection Act or face sanctions. Already executives of some 60 companies have been cautioned for failing to register under the law. Executive Director of the Data Protection Commission, Teki Akuetteh Falkoner, has told Joy News her office has filed an official complaint against thousands of organizations including all the political parties who have failed to comply with Act. Because we are in a political season, during the beginning of the year, we sought to provide a guideline for political campaigning. Once we did this we wrote to them a second time reminding them of their obligation to register under the law, she said. The independent statutory body, Data Protection Commission, is established under the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) to protect the privacy of the individual and personal data by regulating the processing of personal information. The Act is aimed at protecting the privacy and personal data of individuals. The Commission provides for the process to obtain, hold, use or disclose personal information and for other related issues bothering on the protection of personal data. Director of Cybercrime Unit at the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Herbert Gustav Yankson, says heads of organisatons that violate the law could be jailed for two years. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party Nana Akufo-Addo has left Ghana for a private trip to Germany and the United Kingdom. The three-time NPP standard-bearer is expected back in Ghana on Tuesday October 18 to continue his campaign in the Ashanti region, a statement from his office announced. Akufo-Addo and President John Mahama of the ruling NDC are the frontrunners in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary polls. Below is the statement announcing his departure AKUFO-ADDO LEAVES FOR GERMANY, UK The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, left the shores of Ghana on Thursday, October 13, 2016, for a 4-day private trip to Germany and the United Kingdom. He returns to Ghana on Tuesday, October 18, ahead of the commencement of a 4-day tour of the Ashanti Region, beginning Wednesday, October 19, 2016. signed Eugene Arhin Press Secretary In view of the up coming Global Handwashing Day, which falls on the 15th October, the Miss Tourism Ghana Queen with her two Princesses Ms. Geraldine Atta Sappor, Maya Opoku and Daniella Akorfa Awuma, have initiated an ongoing handwashing awareness and demonstration in parts of Tema. The team led by the Coordinator, Robert T.K Amiteye visited the Community 7 /Nr.2, Basic, and Nurul Huda Islamic Schools. They engaged the pupils and teachers on the need to maintaining good personal hygiene with much focus on proper handwashing. The theme for this year's awareness course is Make Handwashing a Habit and it is a global advocacy day dedicated to increase awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. It is in the light of this call that the Miss Tourism Ghana Organisation in collaboration with the Abibiman Foundation are engaging sections of society to increase awareness on the need for keeping our hands clean in order to prevent sicknesses such as cholera and typhoid. The pupils and teachers of the various schools were elated to be involved in a participatory engagement. They used the veronica bucket facility and a sensor operated liquid soap dispenser and were taught the six step hand-hygiene techniques. They were provided liquid soaps and all had a chance to show what had been demonstrated. The pupils who answered some questions were given t-shirts. The Tourism ambassadors adviced them to make regular handwashing with soap and under clean running water a habit for better health and prosperity. Miss Abigail Osei Kankam, a National Service personnel expressed appreciation on behalf of the Islamic school which has no toilet facility. At the Tema Community 9 Market where they were warmly received by the market women and their leaders, the message was simple, 'that as the day for global handwashing approaches we should remember to teach our children at home to wash their hands regularly and at all times because we do not want the germs that settle on our hands to contaminate our food and drinking water. 3G Media announces that Adum African Market and Wholesale/Owusek Music Center which was located on the busy Edward Grant highway is moving to a new location. The store is one of the busiest African markets in New York. The one stop shop/supermarket has a new location on the busy 167 St in Bronx, NY. The business is managed by the famed record producer; Owusu Sekyere aka Owusek aka "The one man thousand". The new location is not too far from the previous one. The address is; 261-71 East, 167th Street, Bronx, NY 10456, Tel: 718 681 7065 Fax: 718 681 7066. Its huge warehouse is also located at Hunts Point. Adum African Market is also a proud sponsor of the 6th Annual 3G Awards in New York. Please take note of the new address and let us continue to support Adum African Market at this new location. It is also a community partner and supports events in the Bronx, NY The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has admonished students across the country to be mindful of the choices they make in this year's elections. He entreated them not to vote for President John Mahama for another four-year term in office. According to Nana Akufo-Addo, since President Mahama assumed office, Ghana's economy has systematically shrunk, resulting in high level of unemployment, rising cost of living, widespread hardship and suffering and the creation of a future of hopelessness for the millions of Ghanaian youth. To this end, the NPP flag bearer has appealed to all students to vote for him and the NPP in order to secure their collective future. Nana Akufo-Addo disclosed this on Thursday when he addressed thousands of students at the Pentecost University College as part of his tour of the Anyaa Sowutuom constituency of Accra. Usually, when people come to speak to you (students), they talk about the future. This is because you are the future. But, I am going to say something a bit different. Every year, since John Dramani Mahama became president, our economy has shrunk, and this year, we are going to have the slowest growth of our economy for 22 years, the NPP standard bearer observed. This sad state Ghana currently finds herself in, according to Akufo-Addo, implies that your ability to walk out of here and get a job is being compromised right now. What I am trying to leave with you is that four more years of John Dramani Mahama will mean that you have no future to look up to. Thus, the NPP leader stressed, The responsibility for you (students) is not about tomorrow, it is about today. That, together, all of us will make sure that the threat to our future that Mahama represents is removed in December, once and for all, so we can return our country onto the path of progress and prosperity. He continued, I am saying to you, this election is about your future. It is about now. If we continue on the path we are on now, let me repeat it, there will be no future for you to inherit. So the task is a simple one. In peace and in dignity, let's put Mahama aside; let's bring Akufo-Addo and let's chart a new direction for Ghana. Nana Addo gave the assurance that the direction he is offering the people of Ghana is one which will concentrate on growing our economy and making sure there are more and more jobs available for the young people of our country. That is the vision which we are working for our country; and it is what we will do when we are in office. He urged all students across the country not to stay at home on December 7, stating that That day, 7th of December, is indeed about you and your future. Whilst in the constituency, Nana Akufo-Addo also visited the Alhaji lorry park at Sowutuom Last Stop, Anyaa Market and the Ablekuma Tipper Station. Leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Eastern Region has vowed to carry out reprisal attacks on supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who attacked NPP members in the region if the police do not address gangsterism by activists of the ruling party. The NPP therefore appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor to call the NDC to order and stop its members from attacking and intimidating NPP members or else they would defend themselves. The Eastern Regional NPP sounded the warning at a press conference addressed by its chairman, Kiston Akomeng Kissi. Mr Akomeng Kissi, flanked by the regional executives, told journalists at the Suhum Constituency office that the NDC has adopted the use of violence as a campaign strategy in some constituencies in the region. In the Eastern Region, particularly Suhum, Abirem and Akwatia, they will continue to fulfill their purported ill-fated 50/50 agenda. According to the statement, The NPP, in the Eastern Region, will like to state in clear and unequivocal terms that we will not tolerate this going forward. The warning comes on the heels of an alleged attack by NDC thugs on NPP Loyal Ladies, a women supporters' group of the opposition party, who had gone to campaign at Suhum. They attack innocent citizens, and in some cases, in the full glare of the police, it stated. Reported Cases It cited the alleged attacks on the opposition party's polling station Chairman for Methodist Junior High School (JHS), Suhum, Ibrahim Yusif on August 26th, 2016; NPP youth called Abubakari Bala on 27th August, 2016, as well as the abduction and unlawful detention of an NPP youth activist, Akpabli Amenyo on August 28, 2016 According to the NPP, These violent schemes have the propensity of marring the peace and stability of the region before, during and after the elections. Inaction The Eastern Regional NPP called on the Peace Council and the law enforcement agencies to warn supporters of the NDC in the region to desist from such barbaric attacks. But it appears the Peace Council and the security agencies are reluctant in addressing the concerns of the opposition party in the Eastern region, considering the continuous reports of brutal attacks on NPP supporters by the NDC in the area. According to the party, We have come to the realization that the Eastern Regional Police Command, their Divisional and District Commanders are not being professional in their work. It said, Indeed, the Ghana Police Command in the Eastern Region has proven to us beyond reasonable doubt that our civil approach to the incessant aggression and attacks of the NDC will not work. The Eastern NPP stressed that we therefore caution that henceforth we will be forced to adopt a new approach to defend our supporters and our interests if need be. Probe The opposition party urges the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to, as a matter of urgency, commence thorough investigations into all the cases mentioned above and institute a probe into the conduct of the Suhum Municipal Police Commander and his Crime Officer. EC Accused Meanwhile, leadership of the Eastern Regional branch of the NPP has alleged that the Electoral Commission, by some of its actions and inactions, is scheming to give undue advantage to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the region. One of such actions is the unwarranted transfer of the District Electoral Officer of the Suhum District after he prevented unqualified people, who we have found were sponsored by the NDC from transferring their votes. According to the statement, We are reliably informed that his transfer was at the behest of the NDC parliamentary candidate. We are further reliably informed that the ransacking of the EC's offices was done by thugs sent by the Suhum Municipal Chief Executive cum NDC parliamentary candidate. Items taken by these rampaging criminals were taken to the Suhum Municipal Chief Executive's residence. It said, It will sadden you to learn that these thugs were driven in a vehicle belonging to the state. This vehicle is a dark blue Ford Expedition with registration number GB 24612. It is known to be used by a man nicknamed 'Cambodia,' a brother of Mr. Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff. When Suhum Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent Yahaya, attempted to retrieve the stolen items from the MCE's residence, he and his men were assaulted and held hostage. His phone was seized by the thugs who made him beg for it in the presence of the MCE. This must be investigated by the IGP and the feedback made public to avert any negative repercussions based on suspicion of bias, it declared. BY Melvin Tarlue &Daniel Bampoe, Suhum A total of six parliamentary aspirants in the Tema District of the Electoral Commission (EC) have been disqualified for various reasons. Most of the aspirants were disqualified because they failed to meet the commission's deadline for the submission of the GH10,000 filing fee while others did not complete the nomination process and were said to be voters outside the constituencies. All parliamentary aspirants of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People's Party (CPP) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP) were able to complete the nomination process. A total of 12 aspirants from five political parties filed nominations to contest for the four parliamentary seats in the area, including the Kpone-Katamanso constituency. Out of the total number, two persons were contesting as independent candidates. However, there was a sign of relief for all the aspirants whose forms had been received, as they were said to have been passed by the Tema EC. Nana Oduro Numapau, Tema Metropolitan Electoral Officer, told DAILY GUIDE that albeit seven people picked the nomination forms to compete for the Tema West seat, only five candidates were able to file them. He added that two out of three independent candidates were unable to pay their filing fees to complete the process. Tema East, according to the EC boss, had a candidate disqualified because the aspirant was unable to submit the nomination forms and pay the filing fee on time. Nana Oduro Numapau disclosed that persons representing four parties picked the forms but three of them namely, NPP, NDC and CPP, were able to sail through. He further stated that All People's Congress (APC) in Tema Central was disqualified because of various reasons. At the Kpone-Katamanso Constituency, Mrs. Doris Emefa Agbezuhlor, the District Officer of the EC, in an interview via telephone, said that four candidates out of the six who picked the forms sailed through the process. The qualified candidates' names were mentioned as the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo (NDC), Solomon Tetteh Appiah (NPP), Stanley Kwaku Klen (PPP) and an independent candidate, Pearl Agyemang. According to her, an independent aspirant was disqualified alongside the APC candidate, Ibrahim Sumani, who was kicked out for not being a voter in the constituency, among others. From Vincent Kubi, Tema Twitter users react to the news of the drastically changed leaked initial script for the new live-action adaption of Mulan that is planned for release in 2018. [Photo: Twitter] The hashtag #MakeMulanRight took Twitter by storm when reports surfaced that Disney planned to change the script of the new live-action version of Mulan to making her only a secondary character that is saved by a white male lead. Disney has since vowed the new film will not feature a Caucasian actor as the love interest and hired new writers to work on the story. The controversy started when the blog "Angry Asian Man" that focuses on Asian-American news and addressing Asian stereotypes found an initial draft of the upcoming 2018 live-action remake of the successful 1998 Disney film "Mulan." The new draft featured a white, European trader who comes to China and falls in love with Mulan, and then fights to protect her and becomes the hero by defeating the primary enemy of China. In an open letter to Disney the blog wrote about the new script, "The man is a 30-something European trader who initially cares only for the pleasure of women and money. The only reason why he and his entourage decide to help the Chinese Imperial Army is because he sets eyes on Mulan. That's right. Our white savior has come to the aid of Ancient China due to a classic case of Yellow Fever. In this script written by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin, more than half of its pages are dedicated to this merchant who develops a mutual attraction with Mulan and fights to protect her in the ensuing battles. To top it all off, this man gets the honour of defeating the primary enemy of China, not Mulan. Way to steal a girl's thunder." Criticism went viral after American actor Joel de la Fuente supported the allegations in a Twitter post. Mulan fans used the hashtag #MakeMulanRight to campaign for a script that would not whitewash Asian culture. Whitewashing refers to Hollywood practice of casting white actors in historically non-white character roles. Whitewashing can be seen from classic Hollywood movies such as "The Conqueror" where John Wayne plays Genghis Khan to new movies such as the Japanese live-action adaption of "Ghost in the Shell" with white actress Scarlett Johansson playing the lead. Further, the new script doesn't allow Mulan to be the hero of her own story, with accusations of very sexist overtones in the new story. The legendary Hua Mulan is an ancient woman warrior of China, known for being skilled in martial arts such as kungfu and swordplay. She is the epitome of women empowerment, and in 1998 Disney produced the animated film based on this Chinese legend that grossed over $300 million US worldwide, and received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. After Twitter users tweeted thousands of times about both the whitewashing of the cast and the sexist changing of the storyline, Disney finally listened. Vulture news reported that a source close to the project confirmed that the film will feature and Asian love interest. Further, the studio producing the film will also conduct a "global casting search" to find a Chinese actress to play Mulan. Further, new writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Jurasic World) have been hired to work on Mulan, and make sure that Mulan stays the lead character and hero of the story. By Bajin D. Pobia, GNA Wa, Oct. 13, GNA - A traditional ruler has said successive governments have not given the needed attention to the development of tourists sites in the region despite its importance to the economy. The Tokali-Naa Walaman-i Dayamgiri Seuba II, said successive governments have paid lip-services to the development of the industry in the region. 'Tourists' sites in this part of Ghana are not well-developed and roads leading to the few tourists' sites are also not accessible making it difficult for tourists to get to their destinations. Tokali-Naa Dayamgiri said this at the recent Upper West Regional Tourism Awards Night held in Wa, where 14 outstanding stakeholders of the industry were honoured for their various roles. He said accommodation facilities at tourists' sites are not available and cited the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary as an example. Tokali-Naa Dayamgiri said the lack of modern facilities and accessible roads often served as a hindrance to the growth of the tourism industry in the region which is home to several tourists' sites. He commended Calgary Zoological Society for providing a lodge at Wechiau, the Wa-West District capital for tourists visiting the Hippo Sanctuary, which is one of the flagship tourism sites in the country, and appealed for more aid for the struggling Sanctuary. Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister, said tourism contributes massively to Ghana's economy and also serves as a major source of employment. He said government would do everything possible to develop the sector. 'Road network in the region is being tackled and government is working assiduously to eliminate all bottlenecks hindering the progress of the sector', he said. Alhaji Sulemana urged stakeholders in the industry to improve on supervision to make them more competitive and enhance quality services to attract tourists to the region. Mr Henry Yeleduor, Upper West Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourism Authority, reminded service providers on the need to respect and care for their customers. In all 14 best service providers within the tourism industry were honoured for their dedication to service and product excellence with Nuoyong Empire Hotel wining the ultimate award as hotel of the year. GNA By Philip Tengzu, GNA Wa, Oct. 13, GNA - The Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC) has launched the Agro Policy Performance Barometer Report (APPB) report urging stakeholders and development partners to invest more in the agriculture sector. The Coalition said the betterment of the lives of the people depended on the improvement of the agriculture sector with particular emphasis on the small scale farmer. The report titled: 'The promise of success: adequate coordination and investment in small scale agriculture', sought to assess the Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP) in the 2014 and 2015 production years in relation to tomato and rice production. It focused on the indicators of the METASIP such as ensuring food security and emergency preparedness, increased growth in incomes as well as provision of extension services among others as the main basis for comparison and assessment of the performance of the agriculture sector. The study which was conducted in ten rice and tomato farming communities in nine regions of Ghana (with the exception of the Central Region), solicited views from 660 tomato and rice farmers on areas such as mode of land preparation, access to subsidized fertilizer, use of certified seeds, access to credit facilities as well as access to improved storage facilities. The report, among other findings, revealed that 80.3 per cent and 80 per cent of farmers sampled in 2014 and 2015 did not have access to subsidised fertilizers while 329 representing 52.7 per cent of the sample, used certified seeds in 2014 as against majority 95.5 per cent of them who had access to certified seeds in 2015. Mr Ibrahim Akalbila, Coordinator of the GTLC, who launched the document in Wa, said more than 80 per cent of Ghanaian farmers were involved in small scale production and called for adequate support for small scale farmers to help improve production and enhance their incomes. 'There is the need for the government and partners to support this group of farmers to improve on their yields so as to enhance their income status', he said. Mr Akalbila said the objectives of the METASIP 1 seemed to have been missed due to the inadequate access to agriculture mechanisation services, improved seeds, credit facilities and improved storage facilities. He urged all players in the agricultural sector to boost their policy implementation and coordination mechanisms to ensure strict adherence to policy objectives in order to better the lives of the vast majority in the agriculture sector. Mr Richmond Zinbonche, Wa Municipal Agriculture Extension Officer, lauded the initiative of GTLC in coordinating efforts to improve the agricultural sector in Ghana, especially in rice production. He said government has put appropriate measures to increase rice production through the Rice Sector Support Project and urged rice farmers to cultivate good varieties of rice. Mr Yanaa Yahaya, a rice farmer at Bugbelle, said lack of access to improved rice varieties and packaging resulting from unimproved processing and storage hampered their access to markets. He appealed to the government and other benevolent organisations to come to their aid by providing them with improved variety of seeds and create a rice value chain which would help improve yields and markets for their produce. GNA By Philip Tengzu, GNA Wa, Oct. 13, GNA - Mr Seth Terkpe, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to improve on their revenue generation efforts. 'Overdependence on central government revenue transfer must not be tolerated, adding it is high time regional ministers as well as MMDAs weigh up crusade to revamp the efforts of government machinery in revenue generation at the local government level'. The Finance Minister said a local government borrowing bill which would enable MMDAs to borrow funds from approved sources is currently before cabinet for approval and would be subsequently forwarded to parliament to be passed into a law. Mr Terkpe said government would enact a new law which would regulate local government borrowing and make it possible for local governments to source funds from the market for infrastructural development and improve service delivery. In a speech read on his behalf at Regional Composite Budget Hearing held in Wa, Mr Terkpe said the support of MMDAs was relevant to boast the efforts of government to control the wage bill and save more resources for infrastructural development. 'The support of both political and administrative leadership at the local level is needed particularly relating to adhering to the guidelines of recruitment, replacement and the elimination of ghost names', Mr Tekpe said. He said government has enacted a new Public Financial Management Act, 2016; Act 921 to strengthen government's efforts in regulating the management of public resources within a sound macroeconomic and fiscal framework The act is envisaged to underpin Ghana's ongoing Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms which had been designed to address the persistent weaknesses in the PFM system and help promote fiscal discipline at all levels. It would also help improve the credibility of the budget, strengthen expenditure controls and reduce cash rationing, all of which would contribute to improving the overall financial management of the public sector, the Finance Minister said. Mr Tekpe said a Regional Integrated Budget System (RIBS) had been introduced to help facilitate the integration of regional level departments and agencies in the budgeting process. He said the RIBS would help harmonise the existing budgetary allocation and transfer to the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) and the regional departments as well as place the RCCs in a better position to perform its functions of coordination, monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting'. Mr Peter Addo, Deputy Head of Budgeting at the Ministry of Finance, said the new Public Financial Management Act, 2016; Act 921 has made provision for sanctions to be meted out to public officers who misconduct themselves while in office in matters relating to public financial management. He said offences under the Act included any public officer who makes unauthorised financial commitment resulting in the financial obligation for the government, any officer who fails to collect monies due the government as well as accept money or any valuable item for the performance of his or her official duty. Any person responsible for any improper payment of funds, willfully signing of false certificates or any person acting in public office who spends outside the approved budget, among others are some of the offences under the act and are punishable by law. The Wa Municipal Assembly projected a total budget of GH12,640,930.21 pending approval by the General Assembly which would be used for the running of the activities of the assembly in 2017 as against GH12,324,283.41 which was approved in 2016. GNA By Francis Ameyibor, GNA Accra, Oct. 13, GNA - The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to join forces to sensitize the electorate to actively participate in the December Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. By the MoU, the NCCE and GNA would also embark on an educational campaign to promote peaceful, free and fair elections. Mr Francis Rex Annan, GNA Director of Administration signed on behalf of the Agency and was witnessed by Mr Francis Ameyibor, Deputy News Editor and Project Coordinator whiles Mr Samuel Asare-Akuamoah, Deputy Chairman of NCCE, signed on behalf of the Commission and was witnessed by Mrs Joyce Afutu, NCCE Director of Communications. Alhaji Mohammed Nurudeen Issahaq, Acting General Manager of GNA, explained that the collaboration with NCCE would also focus on enhancing public awareness on the importance of safeguarding Ghana's democracy. 'We are collaborating to implement activities intended to inculcate in the citizens of Ghana the awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights and obligations as a free people,' Alhaji Nuredeen stated. The GNA Acting General Manager said the Agency would support the NCCE through strategic advocacy and in-depth reporting of programmes and activities of the Commission across the country. Mr Asare-Akuamoah indicated that the Commission was organizing Focus Group Discussions and Community Durbars, undertaking 110 Inter-party Dialogue Committee activities, organizing three Presidential Dialogues, and 275 Parliamentary Debates in the run up to the elections. He noted that the collaboration with GNA will provide the needed conduit to reach out to the larger target audience. Mr Ameyibor explained that the 2016 general election posed a great challenge to all institutions that had significant and vital roles to play for the attainment of a peaceful, free and fair poll, and that the GNA will continue to provide accurate, balanced and truthful news to the wider society. 'We have helped to create an enabling environment for all stakeholders including political parties, independent bodies and Civil Society Organizations to use our network across the country to reach out to the electorate'. GNA Accra, Oct 13, GNA - A Research Report has shown a positive outlook for Social Enterprises in Ghana with the current support systems by government and other development partners, including the British Council. The report launched on Wednesday showed that 98 Social Enterprises in Ghana currently employ 998 youths directly and is impacting 103,148 lives. Speaking at the launch Liliana Biglou, Head of British Council Ghana, underscored the importance of Social Enterprises. ''Business have the power not for profit alone, but to bring social empowerment to societies,'' she said, adding that the United Kingdom is keen to partner with Ghana's enthusiasm for innovation, hence the need for socially relevant solutions. According to the report, out of the 26,000 social enterprises operating in Ghana, 98 are currently employing more than 900 young people annually with an economic gain of more than GHa 8 million. However, the report outlined some major setbacks affecting the rapid growth of social enterprises, including 71 per cent reporting access to financing, 47 per cent debt and equity, 32 per cent lack of understanding of social enterprise operational model, 26 per cent lack of technical skills and 32 per cent lack of advisory and other support services. The report also highlighted 59 per cent reporting increase in sales and customers, 61 per cent expanding to new geographical areas and 59 per cent attracting new investments as some growth plans for the social enterprises ecosystem in Ghana. Sydney Hushie, Head of British Council Ghana Social Enterprise programme disclosed that the British Council with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Social Enterprise Ghana were partnering to develop a social enterprise policy for Ghana which would streamline the operation of social enterprises. Mr Hushie said the connection of social enterprises to the UK market was through the setup of a social enterprise network and support of the Social Enterprise Award with the Association of Ghana Industries. ''Typically, all business want wealth. Social enterprises want wealth too, but wealth for the many, not the few. Social enterprise is a good conduit to doing business ethically,'' he said. Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Trade and Industry, outlined the importance of social enterprises to create jobs, transfer technology and create new products and services hence government's efforts at fostering an enabling environment for social enterprises to prosper. Dr Spio-Garbrah said the government has a rural entrepreneurship programme currently running in 161 districts, as well as opportunities for funding made-in -Ghana technology through the GRATIS Foundation. The British Council Ghana social enterprise programme focuses on providing young people with life changing opportunities by equipping them with skills for employment and entrepreneurship, English and Exams through strong partnership. According to the report, the British Council globally, from 2011-2013 have partnered with more than 15, 390 governments, business and social leaders worldwide in the delivery of services. It has reached more than 19.8 million people through events and programmes resulting in creating opportunities and connecting beneficiaries with learning creative ideas to build a mutually beneficial relationship between them and the UK. The social enterprise programme aims at creating opportunities and improving lives by promoting social investment to help foster a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future as well as proving social entrepreneurs and enterprises with training, business consulting and mentoring, access to funding and investment opportunities, study tours and international networking. GNA Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central constituency and Minister of Roads And Highways, Inusah Fuseni, has dragged Western Publications Limited, Publishers of Daily Guide newspaper, to an Accra High Court for defamation. According to the plaintiff, the paper defamed him when it reported in its October 3, 2016 edition that he had paid "an amount of over GHE80,000 to bring self-acclaimed dance hall artiste, Shatta Wale," to perform at his campaign launch in Tamale in the Northern Region. Lawyers for the plaintiff stated that the story headlined, "Minister Blows E80,000 On Shatta Wale," indicated that Shatta Wale, performed alongside two other local artistes in the region who were also said to have been paid GHE20,000 each. Also joined to the suit are Fortune Alimi and Eric Kombat, Editor and Northern Regional Correspondent of the paper respectively. Statement Of Claim Lawyers for the minister in a 33-paragraph statement of claim, said aside the publication, the paper again on page three of its October 5, 2016, edition published a caricature of plaintiff headed: "Tamale Fusena" depicting him with a bag of money on his back, holding a microphone in his hands and singing. The writ indicates that the words in the headline on the front page of the paper on October 3, together with the words contained on page three of the said publication and the caricature published on the same page on October 5, "in their natural and ordinary meaning means and were understood to mean that" the Roads and Highways Minister is a wasteful and unconcerned person who does not have the interest and the development of the Tamale Central Constituency at heart; but is only interested in perpetuating himself as the MP for the constituency by whatever means." The lawyers further argued that the said words and caricature complained of in their natural and ordinary meaning, meant and means that the minister is a corrupt MP bribing his electorate with fuel coupons - an act which is an offence under the Representation of the People Law 1992 (PNDC Law 284), implying that he is a suspected criminal not competent to remain in Parliament. The plaintiff, among other things, claimed that the words and the caricature complained of in their natural and ordinary meaning, means and were meant to mean that he is incapable and unable to address the basic needs of his constituents as a parliamentarian. Reliefs As a result, the Roads and Highways Minister aside cost of legal fees, is asking the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants jointly and severally either by themselves, agents or assigns, from publishing or causing to be printed the said defamatory words. The plaintiff is seeking GHE1,000,000 as exemplary damages and GHE3,000,000 as general damages. The Tamale Central MP wants a retraction of the story in the same prominence as the publication. President John Mahama has said he cannot comprehend what informs Dr. Mahamudu Bawumias analysis on the economy. According to him, it is difficult to appreciate why the NPP running mate continues to talk down the Ghanaian economy in spite of the ample evidence that the economy is on track. ..Despite all the scientific basis even from outside...If somebody says the economy is going back, then I cant understand, I cant think far, I cant think madness but I know that it is propaganda because I have been a student of history, I have been a student of social psychology, a student of politics and others, so I know that when you want to win power you create a feeling of crisis; like the country is collapsing, and that is what they are doing here like it was done during the Brexit vote. I can tell you on authority as President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces that this country is not in crisis and this country is not going backwards. She is going forward, the president told students of the University of Ghana as part of his campaign in the Greater Accra region. The comments come on the back of Dr. Bawumias attack on the Presidents understanding of the economy in recent times. The former deputy governor of the Central bank has persistently described the President as incompetent in the discharge of his duties. Under-Secretary of State for External Economic Relations Matti Anttonen will lead a Team Finland trade mission to South Africa on 17-21 October. The destinations of the visit will be Johannesburg, the economic hub of South Africa, Pretoria, the capital, and Cape Town. The Under-Secretary of State will be accompanied by a Finpro delegation. The aim of the visit is to promote Finnish companies' business opportunities in South Africa by strengthening the position of the companies that already have established operations there and by advancing the creation of new cooperation relations. The sectors participating in the visit represent water and sanitation, renewable energy and the environment, consultancy and innovation services, and information technology. South Africa is among Finland's most significant trading partners outside the OECD area and the biggest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa both in terms of export and import. In 2015, Finland's exports to South Africa totalled about EUR 279 million and imports about EUR 194 million. South Africa is planning to launch extensive energy and infrastructure projects in the next few years. On October 12, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov met with President of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and held consultations with Abdoulaye Diop, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and International Cooperation, in Bamako. The officials exchanged their views on the traditionally friendly relations between Russia and Mali and their future development. They reaffirmed the mutual resolve of Moscow and Bamako towards boosting trade, economic and investment cooperation, and also discussed specific issues of promoting business relations in mining, infrastructure and agriculture, as well as in culture. They focused on the strengthening of their bilateral foreign policy cooperation on current issues on the international and African agenda. President Keita shared his views on the situation in Mali and Sub-Saharan Africa, pointing to the need to consolidate efforts to rally effective resistance against terrorism and extremism in Africa. Mr Bogdanov reaffirmed Moscows consistent respect for the territorial integrity and unity of Mali, in accordance with the fundamental principles of international law on non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. Nairobi (AFP) - When a photograph of a smiling President John Magufuli, sitting in an economy class plane seat, appeared on Twitter this month it was widely praised as another example of his personal austerity and common touch. That the picture was in fact an official photo opportunity at the launch of two new Air Tanzania planes -- Bombardier Q400s that only have an economy class and never left the ground -- made no difference to his fans in Tanzania and beyond. Since winning last October's election Magufuli has shown a talent for publicity-grabbing stunts that bolster his no-nonsense, corruption-busting, man-of-the-people reputation and have made him wildly popular. He won the October poll with 58 percent of the vote. A recent opinion poll gave him a staggering 96 percent approval rating. Yet at the same time his readiness to act on impulse, regardless of due process or political niceties, worries some who see a wide authoritarian streak at the core of his populism. Magufuli has shut down newspapers, banned opposition rallies, switched off live broadcasts of parliamentary sessions, applied a draconian "cyber crimes" law to jail critics, and permitted a messy and unfair election to pass in semi-autonomous Zanzibar. "We're being a bit blind to the negative stuff that he's doing," said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of African politics at Oxford University, who argues that Magufuli's good and bad moves stem from a worrying willingness to break the rules. "When he marches into a place and sacks people without due process he's acting in a populist way, but at the root of that is the same thing that sees him going against the rules in banning opposition rallies. It's the same inspiration and process." 'Master stroke' Magufuli, whose nickname "tingatinga" means "bulldozer" in Swahili, began his presidency by sweeping the streets on independence day, appointing a streamlined cabinet, summarily firing government officials suspected of ineptitude or corruption, sacking latecomer civil servants during surprise visits to their offices and banning first class tickets, expensive foreign travel and costly 'per diem' allowances for officials. The cost-cutting earned him the approving and popular #WhatWouldMagufuliDo hashtag with which Twitter users shared their often-humorous money-saving ideas. It played well in the impoverished East African country where generations of same-party rule had left the youthful population disenchanted with traditional politics. The selection of a relatively unknown 56-year-old former works minister, unencumbered by the baggage of corruption, was "a master stroke" by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, said Nicodemus Minde, a Tanzanian political analyst. "The CCM brand was tarnished, but Magufuli's was not," Minde said, allowing for a semblance of change while perpetuating CCM rule, in power since independence in 1962. Opposition politicians rail against Magufuli for turning Tanzania into a "dictatorship". The claim is surprising given their performance in last year's vote in which the opposition won control of major cities, including Arusha and Dar es Salaam, and more parliamentary seats then ever before. Adjoa Anyimadu, a researcher at the Chatham House think tank in London, points out that Tanzanian presidents generally serve two five-year terms meaning it is "too early to say whether this constriction of democratic space is going to continue to tighten over Magufuli's presidency." Nevertheless, he appears "a bit of a throwback to the early days of multiparty democracy in Tanzania," a sentiment shared by some who see him as a "reincarnation of Julius Nyerere", Tanzania's founding father and an authoritarian socialist. The company he keeps The company Magufuli keeps offers clues to his leadership style. As president he has made just two visits abroad, to Rwanda and Uganda, and hosted the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. All three are notorious hardliners bent on staying in power. Magufuli has skipped two African Union summits and been a no-show at three trade and development forums in Kenya, leading Minde to worry that Magufuli's stated focus on domestic issues may damage Tanzania's regional and international standing, as well as being seen as rude and undiplomatic. Magufuli's campaign slogan was "Hapa kazi tu!" meaning "We're here to work!" and that desire is used to justify clampdowns on those perceived to be blocking his political programme. But the concern that democracy is being sacrificed in the name of development is a serious one, particularly in a region with precedents, among them Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, where success in development and economic growth gave leaders a pass on rights and freedoms with foreign donors. "When a leader gets used to breaking rules, institutions get weaker and then the question comes further down the line: are the checks and balances on power still there?" said Cheeseman. (Photo/People.cn) On Sept. 21, Chinese doctors in southern Chinas Guangdong province carried out an operation on a 28-week-old fetus in order to fix a cardiac developmental defect of the unborn baby. Using a miniature needle, a tiny balloon and a catheter, the doctors successfully operated on the unborn infant's heart - which was about the size of a walnut. The surgery, done by Guangdong General Hospital, is the first heart operation performed on a fetus in China. The mother, surnamed Xie, was told that one valve of the fetal heart was developing to be too narrow - a condition known as severe pulmonary stenosis. This meant that the amount of blood coming from the heart to the lungs was severely restricted. Without surgery, the child would likely have been born with two ventricles evolving into one, a life-threatening condition that couldn't be fully repaired even after surgery. Instead, a team of specialists carried out a nerve-wracking 20-minute operation on Sept. 21. They slowly inserted a tiny needle into the exact point of the narrow pulmonary valve, where a catheter was then installed to expand the valve. A tiny balloon attached to the catheter was passed along the wire and inflated, stretching the narrow valve. Four days after the operation, doctors said the fetus had increased blood flow in the cured pulmonary valve, a sign of a successful operation. This means that the baby's right ventricle has a chance of recovering good function. They said a healthy baby is expected to be discharged in three months. The mother is also recovering well after the procedure. I delve into this debate not because I want to hold brief for either Dr. Prosper Yao Tsikata or Mr. Michael Yao Wodui Serwornoo in their recent friendly intellectual feud that erupted as a result of the revelations by Dr. Tsikata and Dr. Dotse of what can best be described as bad academic practices especially in the UPSA. But I am here just to shed some light on most of the issues raised concerning poor academic practices and standards in our academic institutions. It is better to be blunt and plain on this matter rather than bury our heads in the sand neglecting the serious concerns raised by Dr. Prosper Yao Tsikata and Dr. A. Kobla Dotse in their recent article where they cited the supposed academic blemishes surrounding Prof. Okoe Amarteys, the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of UPSA, academic credentials. Since September 6, 2016 a number of related developments took place which culminated in a follow up rejoinder by Dr. Tsikata and Dr. Dotse to central UTAGs press statement on the matter. In that article the duo vent their anger at UTAGs position not to interfere in matters that concerns the internal structures, rules and principles used to run any sister university. This pushed some UTAG members to raise their voices against their local UTAG executive for condoning rot and compromising proper academic standards regarding the issues of accreditation, promotion of lecturers and publication of academic work. For instance, the local UTAG of UCC was severely criticized for endorsing the central UTAGs position on the matter especially when it is holding their University management at ransom for indulging in a similar practice. But this is really not what worries me much. My worry is that, to the best of my knowledge, since these issues emerged, the management of UPSA including Prof. Okoe Amartey has not come out to respond to any of the accusations labeled against them by Dr. Tsikata and Dr. Dotse. The only statement made, which I am currently privy of is that of UTAG on the matter. But why should this be my source of worry? Those who have read the first article questioning Prof. Amarteys nose diving speed of progression to his current status as a full professor and his completion of two PhD degrees under two years will recall that the authors bluntly challenge (Prof.) Okoe to publish his full CV online, with his publications for an independent review for the public to assess it themselves and make their judgment on the matter. But surprisingly, I am yet to stumble on Prof. Amarteys CV published anywhere online. For me I think this is a singular gesture Prof. Amartey can embark on to clear his name and remove the specter of doubt that clouds his academic credentials for all of us to see. Once this is done, this matter will be laid to rest and Dr. Tsikata and Dr. Dotse will have to render an unqualified apology in good faith to undone all the damages caused. I have an inkling that they will be willing to apologize if it is discovered that they had soiled the hard earned reputation of a colleague. Another pressing case relates to the issue of predatory journals and publications which have now assume a centre stage in most of the intellectual discussions in recent times. Recently, this matter surfaced in the University of Cape Coast when there was a policy formulation to increase the number of publication required for the progression of lecturers from one rank to the other. The main reason given to buttress upward adjustment of publication was hinged on the premise that many lecturers now submit far more papers than it is required for promotion due to the proliferation of e-journals all over the internet. For this reason the number of publication should be increased to keep members abreast with the technology of online publication. This issue immediately attracted a barrage of response from colleagues who felt that the policy is giving credence to all on-line journals when we know very well that some of them are inherently predatory. I must say, it is this type of reasoning that propels lecturers to look for all avenues to publish their papers without recourse to genuine academic and intellectual standards. The real magic is not the number of publication one is able to do in a very short period. It is the level of quality that determines credibility of ones publications. Prof. Emeritus Edmund Gettier of the United States of America published a two page paper in epistemology in 1963 and that paper has remained the most cited paper till this day. It is therefore important that we refrain from hinging one intellectual prowess on the number of publication one has been able to make. The point I am making here is that it is the advent of predatory journals that is pushing a lot of pressure on us to substitute quality for quantity in a bid to keep ourselves abreast of the technological advancement of our time. And so if Dr. Tsikata and Dr. Dotse hint on its adverse effect to the credibility of intellectual materials generated in our universities in the Sub-Saharan Africa, we should offer them our support as we design constructive strategies for arresting the situation. This notwithstanding, I should quickly note that a number of colleagues have raised eye brows regarding the classification of certain journals as predatory and argued that the issue could generate epistemic injustices in the system since the benchmark being used to judge whether a journal is predatory on not are western oriented. Others have argued that though Dr. Tsikata and Dr. Dotse are right about the supposed rot prevailing in UPSA, it is not an enough sample to warrant the sort of generalisation that they make from their revelations. This, I presume, is part of the issues raised by Mr. Michael Yao Wodui Serwornoos rejoinder to Dr. Tsikata. As I hinted earlier, I am not here to fuel this friendly intellectual feud but to promote collegiality. It is a fact that most of the issues raised by Dr. Tsikata and Dr. Dotse are revelations that needs to be taken seriously. In the same vein, Mr. Michael Yao Wodui Serwornoo needs to be applauded for being the first person to publish a rejoinder, as far as I know, on this matter for everyone to read on the internet. For me the debate is impressive. As I said elsewhere, it offered me a refreshing moment to take a break from a lot of political news trash in our online news media this morning to engage in matters that relate to my career. I termed the engagement a friendly intellectual feud because for me it is a healthy exchange. I invite colleagues to engage themselves in this debate and share their opinions on this matter. This way, we can help to bring the change we desire in our various institutions. Remember, we jaw-jaw, we dont war war. Husein Inusah (PhD) Lecturer Department of Classics and Philosophy University of Cape Coast Niamey / Geneva (ICRC): The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, completed today a two-day mission to Niger. With life-saving aid not reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the Lake Chad region, Mr Maurer called for more sustained and long-term international efforts to address the massive needs in the four countries affected. In Nigers Diffa region, Mr Maurer visited Garin Wanzam, a village whose population of 1,500 multiplied by 20 in the space of just 72 hours in June, as it became a refuge for people desperately fleeing the fighting nearby. It now hosts 30'000 displaced people, who are dependent on humanitarian aid and still fearful of returning home. With only one well providing water for the whole village, Garin Wanzam was unable to cope with such an unexpected influx of people and needs ongoing emergencysupport. I have been deeply moved this week by the people Ive met. So many lives have been torn apart. The village of GarinWanzam is just one example of the vast human tragedy playing out across the entire Lake Chad region, where some 2.6 million people have been driven from their homes and more than 6 million are caught up in a daily struggle to put food on the table, said Mr Maurer. The ICRC president also called for all parties involved in the regional conflict to protect and respect civilians, detainees and the wounded, as per their obligations under International Humanitarian Law. The sheer scale of the suffering here is unimaginable. War has rained chaos on millions of lives: separating families, destroying access to food, water, education,shelter, health care. The scourge of sexual violence has left dreadful physical and psychological scars. Many people arestigmatised and met with distrust when they return to their communities, creating yet more division. In Niamey, Mr Maurer met with the President of Niger, Mr. Mahamadou Issoufou, Prime Minister Brigi Rafini, as well as with the General Secretary of the Diffa Governorate and other officials. They discussed the humanitarian situation of peopleaffected by the violence and considered ways to improve their economic security and protect them from the brunt of the conflict. President Maurer underlined the ICRCs willingness to continue supporting the people of Niger through its humanitarian programmes, and its wish to strengthen humanitarian services in places of detention. Humanitarian aid cannot address the underlying grievances driving this conflict. A military response alone cannot bring a solution. To turn around the lives of millions of people in the Lake Chad region, we need to see greater commitment and concerted engagement from political leaders and the development community. Governments in the region need enhanced international support, said Mr Maurer. The ICRC conducts substantial humanitarian activities throughout the Lake Chad region. Over the first half of this year, theorganization delivered food to over 500,000 displaced people. Its overall budget allocated to the region in 2016 amounts to136 million Swiss francs. Justice Denis Adjei assisting the Queen mother of Frafraha to cut the sod A total of 586 criminal cases have been brought before the Adentan Magistrate Court, which was established almost a year ago, for adjudication, according to Justice Denis Adjei of the Appeals Court. Justice Denis Adjei, who represented the Chief Justice (CJ) Her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood, disclosed this last Wednesday during a sod cutting ceremony for the construction of a three-storey Court complex at Adentan in the Greater Accra region. The Justice explained that out of the 586 criminal cases, 465 and 121 were recorded in 2015 and 2016 respectively. According to him, the increase in both criminal and civil cases indicates the high patronage of judicial services by residents in the municipality and its catchment area. Justice Denis Adjei lauded the assembly for the execution of the project, saying that the building would house the three courts (Magistrate, Circuit and High). It is important to bring justice to the doorsteps of the people, as courts promote peace among factions, he mentioned. The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Adentan, Benjamin Angenu, mentioned that the building, which would be constructed on 0.48 acres of land at Frafraha, will be funded from the assembly's Common Fund (DACF) and Internally Generated Funds (IGF) over 12-month period valued at GH1,308, 627.60. He noted that the establishment of the Magistrate Court in the municipality has reduced travel time and ensured the timely prosecution of accused persons. The challenges associated with residents and people living in adjoining communities travelling outside the municipality for adjudication were obvious to not only the litigants but security agencies, especially the police service, he disclosed. He mentioned that the building would contain the courts, a banking hall, judicial offices and library, among others, adding that each floor will be disability friendly. By Solomon Ofori Some students of the Nalerigu Midwifery & Nurses Training College in the East Mampurugu District of the Northern Region have described the promise by President John Mahama to bring back the scrapped trainee allowance as deceit and vote buying. The NDC administration scrapped all trainee allowance in the country, with the belief to give space for schools to admit more students. But the president has recently promised to restore the allowance, particularly for nursing trainees, a decision that has been heavily criticised. The students in an interview said President Mahama's recent pronouncement about restoring the allowance at GH150 instead of GH450 is aimed at buying their votes. One of the students, Cynthia Addah, told Al-miral News GH that President Mahama made the promise because he wanted students to vote for him come December 7, which, according to her, will not be possible. Saying he will bring back our allowance is just to buy our votes, she mentioned. The students said the taking off of the allowance has made living very difficult for them and they cant forget the pains that the Mahama-led administration has put them through. They said, The president can decide to bring back the allowance or not, nobody can arrest the president or send him to court for that On the election day, it is we and the ballot paper alone, and we already know what to do when we get there. So the President can do all what he likes, the students stated. The withdrawal of the nursing trainee and teacher trainee allowances has become problematic for the Mahama administration, promising to restore the nurses' allowances which the students say it is intended to buy their votes. Recently, Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur was greeted with wild protest by students of Bolgatanga Nursing Training school on the issue of the allowance withdrawal. The vice president had visited the school as part of his campaign visit to the Upper East Region, only to be greeted with placard-wielding protesting students to the embarrassment of their teachers. Some of the placards read: 'A hungry nurse is a potential killer', 'We are tired of promises; we want our allowances back', 'We can't pay fees; allowance now' and 'Employ our Enrolled/Cert Nurse', among other inscriptions. We are suffering, President Mahama. Without our allowance, we can't pay our school fees. At times, we are sacked in the middle of an exam because we owe, a student lamented from the crowd. The matter got to a head when the agitated students chanted away away to Mahama Ayariga, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, who wanted to explain the reason for the withdrawal of the allowance. We do agree with you that you need to be supported whilst you are in school. But the policy is that you will be given the same treatment as your colleagues in the universities and in the polytechnics. That process is ongoing and we want to assure you that it will be implemented. But the process of transitioning you from taking allowances to taking student bursaries and loans will take some time. And so, the Ministry of Health took a decision that they would restore the allowances in a certain form in the interim whilst we carry out the transition, Ayariga said, with students chanting away! away! When the vice president took his turn, they were not in any mood as they walked out on him, leaving him with empty hall to address. FROM Abdul-Fatawu Adam Wunizoya, Tamale THE DESIRE of the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) to win one million votes in the Ashanti Region during the upcoming polls to help the party to hang onto political power, is in great danger as mass defection had hit the party. More than one thousand NDC supporters, mainly women, in the AtwimaNwabiagya North Constituency in the Ashanti Region, have defected to join the New Patriotic Party (NPP), with just 60 days to the December 7 elections. Section of the defectors, marched through the township of AsuofiaAsaaman on Saturday morning holding placards with inscriptions that President Mahama and the NDC had failed so they must be voted out of political office. Doris Amoah, leader of the defectors, who was NDC executive member in the constituency, said they had left the NDC party because the government was incompetent so its policies and programmes had impoverished them. She pointed out that President Mahama, who will be leaving office in 60 days' time, was yet to fulfill just one of his numerous juicy campaign promises during the 2012 polls, saying that the financial burden of the masses had been compounded. Doris Amoah, who is considered as the mother of NDC at Asuofia and the nearby towns, bemoaned that all the social intervention policies introduced by the NPP administration to help the poor, like school feeding programme, NHIS, among others, had been collapsed by the NDC. She said their children were roaming about in the house without going to school due to exorbitant school fees, stating that she and her group had realized that another political term for the NDC would see the country being totally destroyed. Doris Amoah, who was addressing the media, noted that they had realized that Nana AddoDankwaAkufo-Addo and the NPP has the vision to transform the country so that the lives of the people would be significantly improved. MrBenito Owusu-Bio, the NPP MP for the constituency, who officially welcomed the defectors to the NPP, commended the former NDC supporters for having strong faith in Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP. He urged them to feel at home and work together with other NPP members in the area, so that the NPP's votes would see significant improvement, stressing that the NPP would introduce several social intervention programs to better their lives, if it wins the polls. FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi THE MARITIME Professionals Club (MPC), a group made up of players in the maritime sector, has called on government to reinstate the defunct national shipping line, the Black Star Line to generate revenue for the state. According to the club, Ghana has the professionals to handle the shipping line when any government shows commitment to restore it. They were of the view that Ghana currently generates about 30 percent of its total revenue from the maritime sector and losing millions as a result of under-utilization of the sector. The group explained that shipping, at present, is more vibrant than ever and continues to play a pivotal role in the global trade and transport through technical innovations geared at improving maritime transport efficiency and safe navigation, consequently, the need for the government to invest in the sector to boost the economy. Addressing a media conference in Tema on Wednesday, Engineer Teddy Mensah, First Vice Chairman of the MPC who outlined strategies to revamp the shipping line, urged Ghana to learn from countries like Singapore whose economy thrives on well-resourced and vibrant shipping hub which provides various services and technical support to all types of marine transport as well as the oil and gas industry. He called on government to strategize and enact policies aimed at redirecting and enhancing the total development of all resources in the marine industry. Revamping the Shipping Line, Eng. Mensah stated, shall bring onboard the Tema Shipyard to improve the maritime sector stating that Being the first and largest shipyard and dry dock in sub-Saharan Africa when it was established, it is nothing but a shame to see the sorry state of affairs at the dry dock today. Plans shall be put in place to ensure parallel growth of the dry dock alongside other port infrastructure to reposition the Tema dry dock as the preferred ship repair yard in Africa and to provide the necessary technical support to the national shipping line by way of repair and maintenance services. The redevelopment of the shipyard and the restoration of the national shipping line, according to the Vice Chairman of MPC will create employment for graduates from the Regional Maritime University. From Vincent Kubi, Tema Accra, Ghana, October 14, 2016 --- Ghanas leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) of the year, has announced their partnership with TEDxAccra in the upcoming biggest exclusive event on Friday, October 28 at the British High Commissioners Residence in Cantonments, Ghana from 4pm to 9pm. In a media release in Accra today, Head of External Relations and Communications, Ms. Cynthia Ofori-Dwumfuo said, this exclusive TEDxAccraWomen event themed Its About Time, will bring together 12 of the most amazing female doers of our time. With a focus on young achievers, the speakers comprise entrepreneurs, academics, technologists and scientists who will reveal their secrets to staying motivated in their path to success! Ms. Ofori-Dwumfuo added, It is a rare opportunity for women of diverse backgrounds to converge under impactful thought-leadership. Well have speakers revealing insights on their distinctive accomplishments. Ultimately, its about women, for women; its about time. Also, speaking was the Commercial Manager, Internet Solutions Ghana (IS), Mr. Alfred Nkrow, who said IS stands for innovation and believes partnering with TEDxAccra undoubtedly proves their commitment. Mr Nkrow said attendees of the exclusive event will experience IS fast internet speed with Free Wifi. Adding those people watching live on www.tedxaccra.org will also experience the stability of IS internet capabilities. Internet Solutions (IS) is a pan-African telecoms service provider to public and private sector organizations that has been providing innovative end-to-end telco solutions and related services for more than 20 years. At the forefront of Internet Protocol-based technologies, IS builds solutions and services tailored to the increasingly complex demands of organizations across the enterprise, public sector, global carrier and growing small-to-medium business sectors. Other sponsors for the event include: Joy Fm as the official Media partner, Jumia Group as the official Network Partner, Infinix Ghana as the Inspirational Partner and other sponsors as the conversational partners comprises of Business & Financial Times, Daily Heritage, Twelve spring Investment Group, Ipay Ghana, Egotickets, Market Express Ghana, Three Sixty GH and Wanjo. Tickets are available online at www.tedxaccra.org The Vice Presidential nominee of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Nana Gabby Nketiah has arrived in the Volta Region to canvass support from electorates for the paty ahead of the general elections. The Director of Communication for CPP, Issifu Kadiri Abdul Rauf told Citi News the party is stepping up its campaign across the country following their clearance from the Electoral Commission to contest in the upcoming elections. He said the Presidential candidate, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet has also begun work to mobilize the various youth groups within the party to facilitate their campaign activities. Ivor Kobina Greenstreet is actually on the campus of the University of Ghana where he is meeting with the leadership of the tertiary chapter of the Convention People's Party (CPP). We want to draw them into our main campaign so he is meeting them to assess their various needs and how he can support them to be able to execute the election agenda, he said. The flagbearer is also expected to hold some private meetings with certain stakeholders on strategies to promote their subsequent campaign activities. Issifu Kadiri Abdul Rauf said Nana Gabby Nketia is trying to do some community outreach and also to touch base with some constituencies who are requesting to see him, in the Volta Region. He added that the CPP is poised to garner massive votes across the country through their campaign activities ahead of the elections. The CPP's presidential candidate, Ivor Greenstreet is among four candidates who were cleared by the Electoral Commission on Monday to contest in the upcoming presidential elections. EC disqualifies 13 aspirants The EC disqualified 13 presidential aspirants from contesting in the December polls for their inability to appropriately fill their nomination forms as required by electoral laws. The EC however cleared the National Democratic Congress' John Mahama, the New Patriotic Party's Nana Akufo-Addo, the Convention People's Party's (CPP), Ivor Kobina Greenstreet and Jacob Osei Yeboah, an independent candidate to contest in the polls. By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, left the shores of Ghana on Thursday, October 13, 2016, for a 4-day private trip to Germany and the United Kingdom. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he returns to Ghana on Tuesday, October 18, ahead of the commencement of a 4-day tour of the Ashanti Region, beginning Wednesday, October 19, 2016. Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com Conakry (AFP) - Idrissa Kallo's expert eyes dart across the waters off Guinea's port capital, Conakry, looking for fish that always seem fewer and far between his nets. As African governments gather for a summit in Togo aimed at cracking down on illegal fishing, Guinea's corrupt officials and lack of resources to prevent the looting of its waters exemplify the problems facing the continent's west coast. The Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG) has estimated that over $100 million (90 million euros) in marine products are caught illegally in Guinean waters every year, with the worst offenders being Chinese, South Korean and Spanish trawlers. "They come here during the night and fish until five or six in the morning, then leave our waters," Kallo told AFP onboard his "pirogue", a narrow wooden fishing vessel typical to west Africa. "Sometimes the inspectors are complicit, and cut the surveillance systems," he added. "It's the ones who hand out the licences who have been to blame for years now." A report by Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI) estimated in June that more than 300,000 new jobs could be created in Africa if measures such as a global tracking system for fishing vessels were instituted, legal loopholes were closed and vessels who repeatedly infringed the law put on a global blacklist. The sale of fishing rights to foreigners netted Africa $400 million in 2014, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, but could in theory generate $3.3 billion if the continent's own fleets caught and exported the fish. Connivance As African governments gather for a summit in Togo aimed at cracking down on illegal fishing, Guinea's corrupt officials and lack of resources to prevent the looting of its waters exemplify the problems facing the continent's west coast Taking matters into their own hands when out on the high seas, Guinea's fishermen call their colleagues back on land if they observe suspect behaviour, who in turn pass on the information to the authorities, Kallo said. "(We) proposed a system of joint surveillance," where fishermen would join inspectors on boats caught in the act. Authorities did not go for it, he said, because it risked unveiling -- and thus preventing -- corrupt practices. "When they (inspectors) catch a boat breaking the law, the contents belong to them. It's a business," he claimed. Due to the poaching, local fishermen's families lose out and so do the people on land whose livelihoods depend on fish. Conakry's famous smoke houses, for example, are almost all staffed by women who can ill afford a collapse in fishing stocks. The suspicion of connivance between the authorities and illegal trawlers runs deep in Guinea, the sole country in Africa to have been slapped with a ban on imports by the European Union in 2013 for its failure to act on "illegal, unreported and unregulated" fishing. But the ban was lifted this week after concrete steps were taken to deal with the problem -- a well deserved prize, said the man in charge of securing Guinea's seas, maritime commissioner Diomande Doumbouya. A maritime operations centre monitored its waters 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he said, tracking information from GPS systems built into boats. A Chinese fishing ship seized by Guinean authorities, in Conakry on October 8, 2016 "If a vessel is engaged in illegal activities, it is reported. We can then board (the vessel) straight away," he added. They have had some successes: two Chinese vessels were among 14 identified as operating illegally in a joint operation mounted by The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal between August 28 and September 1. The crews face combined fines of more than three million euros ($3.3 million), though one of the vessels escaped. Doumbouya is adamant that the problem is not one of greed, but of poor resources. "If the state were able to provide speedboats and the means to send out patrols more frequently... that would put these people off," the colonel said, adding that the trawlers simply waited for days when there were no maritime police present. Regional solution? Guinea's fisheries minister Andre Louah believes the country now has the right data to inform the authorities of the problem, but admits it often lacks the means to do anything about it. "More than once, I have been informed that there have been unauthorised vessels which were probably fishing illegally in our waters," the minister told AFP. However, the National Centre for Surveillance and Protection of Fishing (CNSP) failed to respond, Louah said, underlining a fundamental disconnect. The sale of fishing rights to foreigners netted Africa $400 million in 2014, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization "It's good to have information, but if we don't have the necessary means to get there and board these ships, it becomes a little difficult," he added. The solution, he believes, is better regional co-operation, of the type that netted the Chinese ships during the summer. That EU and World Bank-backed monitoring operation was a success of the type the summit in Togo hopes to encourage. Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said ahead of the African Union maritime security summit on Friday the problem had be resolved with a joint effort. "Most African countries that have a coastline are victims of one of these problems (illegal fishing, pollution, piracy), which is why it's so important for African leaders to sit down and try to find solutions." Chen Jia breaks a hard cobblestone. Chen Jia, a 27-year-old man, recently demonstrated his rock-splitting skills at a park in Henan province. The skill is one of many that Chen possesses, joining an arsenal that includes blowing out a candle from 3 meters away using only wind created by his fist. The latter feat Chen accomplished for the first time four years ago. After several attempts, Chen succeeded in splitting a hard cobblestone weighing 4 kilograms using nothing more than his hand on Oct. 12. Some passersby gave him a thick 1-meter stick to break, and he also managed to do that. Chen Jia shows the broken cobblestone. Later, at home, Chen gave another amazing performance. He cut in mid-air a candle that was stuck to a board. His movements could only be seen when played back in slow motion because they were too quick to be captured by the naked eye. It took Chen over a decade of practice to accomplish this trick. By doing push-ups and strength exercises, he finally managed to recreate the movements in traditional Chinese martial arts. Both foreign and domestic media outlets have invited Chen to be a guest on various television shows, but Chen said he started practicing such movements because of pure interest - not to become famous or earn money. The Italian Cabinet has approved the proposal put forward by Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni to open three new Embassies: in Niger (Niamey), in Guinea (Conakry) and in the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo). More specifically, the opening of an Embassy in Niamey gives Italy an important operating advantage in the light of the current dynamics in the Sahel region, which could have repercussions on the security of Italy and Europe, and of Nigers role in stabilising the region. The reopening of the Embassy in Conakry (closed in 1998) follows Guineas revived dynamism within the region and the enormous potential of furthering bilateral cooperation, especially in business relations and in managing migration flows from West Africa. The reopening of the Embassy in Santo Domingo (closed on 31 Dec. 2014) confirms the existence of sound bilateral political, economic and cultural ties, in the perspective to further strengthening them in the future. The Embassy will also be responsible for the interests held by Italy in several Caribbean Countries, which are currently promoted by the Embassy in Caracas. 14.10.2016 LISTEN Once again we Ghanaians are very much fascinated by the various issues making the news headlines every week. Our country has turned into a Talking Nation with everyone claiming to be an expert on any issue that comes up every week. I just love the way we discuss these issues for one or two weeks on radio, tv and also on social media, then forget about it. Surprisingly we tend to forget the issues once another one comes up. The media outfits also do their very best to dissect the issues with the help of so called Social Commentators ( I wonder what qualifies one to be called a social commentator). These social commentators, what do they actually do? In fact are they not employed elsewhere? Are they paid for talking on these morning shows? One aspect of this time wasting venture is when the issue is political and they call in the party representatives to slug it out on live tv and live radio. Thats where the insults, invectives and unprintable words start flying if the host of that particular show is not strong enough to control or moderate the discussion. A classic example will be the Montie Trio Remission/Pardon that was discussed thoroughly by the media and social media enthusiasts. There and then some people tried to express their opinions on the legal implications of what the President has done. There were those who supported the Presidents action and also those who were not in support of his action. The legal experts also joined the fray and they quoted sections of the 1992 Constitution particularly Article 72 which gives the President the power to pardon convicted persons. Whiles Ghanaians were arguing about the Montie Trio Remission, another issue came up. A pastor, Daniel Obinim of the International GodsWay Church was alleged to have flogged some youth in his church for engaging in premarital sex leading to pregnancy, then aborting the baby. This video was shared on social media and the reaction from Ghanaians was swift. The police invited him for questioning and threatened to declare him wanted if he does not show up. Upon honoring the invitation of the police, another charge of defrauding was proffered against him after someone claimed he gave Obinim GhC11.1million and asked him to perform some rituals on the money, but he was not getting his money back from after several attempts proved futile. He had no option than to report him to the police. His church members massed up at the police station and protested and the police responded with water cannons and other crowd control measures. He was detained overnight and subsequently released within that same week. I bet you, another issue will come up and the above issues will be confined into the annals of history. This is Ghana where we talk more and we do less action. If you dont believe this, just tune into any of the radio stations in Ghana in the morning and your jaw will drop. These are some of the matters arising in Ghana. The youth who believed in the capabilities of the flag-bearer took it upon themselves to campaign massively for him and see him come to power hopefully January 7, 2017. Early hours of yesterday, the youth moved from street to street in the NPP T-shirts and related materials with just one message Vote4Change It has become the agenda for the entire NPP team to counter the 1 million votes the NDC wants to attract from the Ashanti region. According to the youths, the coming weeks will see more campaigns. See photos after cut. Berlin (AFP) - Indigenous Namibians lashed out Friday at Germany for refusing to pay reparations for the genocide of their people a century ago, calling it a "phenomenal" insult to victims' descendents. Germany has been in negotiations with its former colony Namibia over a joint declaration on the massacre of the Nama and Herero people in 1904 and 1905 which would include an apology for the mass killings. But Berlin has repeatedly refused to pay reparations. It argues that hundreds of millions of euros it has contributed to development aid since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was for the benefit of all Namibians. Leaders of both Namibian indigenous groups said they would not accept any apology not backed by reparations.. This is because it "would seriously constitute a phenomenal insult to the intelligence not only of the Namibians and the descendents of the victim communities but to Africans in general," said Vekuii Rukoro, the paramount chief of the Herero people. "It would represent the most insensitive political statement ever to have been made by an aggressor nation to the victims of its genocide," he added. Germany had not only apologised to the Jews for the Holocaust, but had also paid reparations, Rukoro said. "Because we have a different skin colour, the German government is saying to us: it's only an apology and that's it," he said, adding that the "rest will be cheque-book diplomacy through our government, which will be given development assistance, and then we must shut up." "Guess what? The Hereros and Namas of Namibia, victims of genocide, we will not ever, in another 100 years to come, accept that," he stressed. 'Futile exercise' Berlin ruled what was then called South-West Africa as a colony from 1884 to 1915. Incensed by German settlers stealing their land and cattle and taking their women, the Herero people launched a revolt in January 1904 with warriors killing 123 German civilians over several days. The Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905. The colonial rulers responded ruthlessly and General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious extermination order against the Hereros. Rounded up in prison camps, captured Namas and Hereros died from malnutrition and severe weather. Dozens were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls sent to German researchers in Berlin for "scientific" experiments. Up to 80,000 Hereros lived in Namibia when the uprising began. Afterwards, only 15,000 were left. Parliament Speaker Norbert Lammert, writing in a guest column for news weekly Die Zeit, said the Herero and Nama peoples had been systematically targeted for massacre by German imperial troops. Since then, the government has also used the term genocide to describe the killings. The Nama and Herero leaders also demanded a seat at the negotiating table between Windhoek and Berlin, saying they had so far not been privy to the talks that directly concern their people. Moses Kooper, the Nama people's traditional chief, said: "We want to be part and parcel, as affected communities, in these negotiations, otherwise it will be a futile exercise." Esther Muinjangue, who heads the Herero Genocide Committee, said that until representatives of the indigenous people are represented, the talks should be halted. "We don't know what is being discussed at all... Where are we in the process?" she said. "That's why it's a failure and that's why they should stop." El-Jadida (Morocco) (AFP) - The equestrian art of tbourida, inspired by the historical charges of the feared cavalrymen of Morocco, fascinated Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix two centuries ago and still draws enthusiastic crowds today. At this week's "Salon du Cheval" show in El-Jadida, western Morocco, thousands have been enthralled by the spectacle of groups of riders in colourful traditional dress charging in a line and then suddenly coming to a halt with a synchronised firing of their muskets in a deafening and pungent blast of gunpowder. The 15 finest troops of cavalrymen from across the North African country competed in the first King Mohammed VI Grand Prix of tbourida, taken from the word for gunpowder in a local dialect, at the sandy exhibition grounds of the port city of El-Jadida. The event showcased "the traditional equestrian art of Morocco dating back to the 13th century", Hamid Benazzou, who heads an association on Moroccan horses, told AFP. The 15 finest troops of cavalrymen from across Morocco compete in the first King Mohammed VI Grand Prix of Tbourida in the port city of El-Jadida Mustapha Mallagui, 42, a civil servant and part-time farmer who rides with the "sorba", or troop, from Fes-Meknes in central Morocco, said "tbourida and its horses are like a work of art", as seen in many magnificent paintings by the French master Delacroix. "Historically, (Arab and Berber) tribes would celebrate victories with the tbourida to display their equestrian knowhow, their handling of guns, the beauty of their harnesses. It was a sort of military parade," Mallagui said, standing under one of the huge red-carpeted tents set up for competitors. Today, the tribal wars are over but the rituals remain a part of traditional festivities in the countryside. Villages and towns all have their own sorba and a nationwide contest selects the best troop from each region. The colourful harnesses of the horses, the regional costumes of the riders are a sight for the eyes, with their embroidery, kaftans, pompoms, the "burnous" Arab hooded cloaks, shoulder belts and turbans. Shiny curved daggers, swords, powder horns and pearl-encrusted guns with chiselled grips add to the visual feast of handicrafts. Fusion of man and horse The tradition of tbourida is deeply-ingrained in central Morocco and the southern deserts, where cavalrymen in their majestic blue "gandoura" tunics fire not in the air but into the ground because, as Mallagui explained, "the enemy is hidden in the sand and not in the mountains". "Before, there were no tanks, no planes in wars... there was only the horse," he said. Tbourida was above all the fusion of man and horse, especially the Barb, an ancient North African breed famed for its hardiness and stamina. The tradition of tbourida is deeply-ingrained in central Morocco and the southern deserts It was introduced to Europe centuries ago and became the favoured horse of royal courts and on the battlefield right up to the time of Napoleon. Each sorba is made up of between 11 and 15 riders, mounted proud and straight-backed, with a captain at the centre who loudly coordinates the movements of his men and horses. The troop makes a first pass, called the "hadda", at a slow gait followed by a trot, to exhibit their equipment and their mastery of beast and weapons. The "talqa", or charge, is next with a synchronised gallop that comes to a finale with simultaneous firing of the muskets at the captain's command before the horses come to a sudden standstill right in front of the jury. Errors are common, with riders falling off their horse or guns failing to fire. "To be a sorba rider, you need the discipline of a soldier," one of them said as the two-hour spectacle drew to a close. Chief Physiotherapist at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH), Albert Kofi Acquah, has expressed concern over the increasing cases of Cerebral Palsy (CP) disease reported at the facility. He said the Hospital which hitherto recorded maximum of 15 cases of CP in a month, is currently recording as high as 60 cases referred from health facilities in and around Cape Coast and described the figure as disturbing and a big worry to the health authorities. Mr Acquah expressed the concern at a meeting with parents and care givers of CP children, to enhance their knowledge on the management of the illness. The meeting, organised by the Physiotherapy Unit of the Hospital in collaboration with Global Host Project (GHP), a United States based non-governmental organisation, discussed the challenges associated with the disease. It also sought to give the parents the basic handling techniques to be able to understand how to treat CP cases and continue with the physiotherapy at home. Mr Acquah said the upsurge of the disease presented a huge economic and social cost to the nation. He said there is the need for intensified education for parents to understand the problem in order to ease the mental trauma that came to them as a result of the disease due to the societal stigma attached to it. He asked pregnant mothers to visit antenatal clinics regularly and must endeavour to give birth at a health facility. He also urged them to critically assess their children to see if they had any abnormalities at birth for the necessary interventions to be put in place to address them. Mr Acquah explained that cerebral palsy comes about when the child fails to come out early from the birth canal to breathe its first air. Once it is slot out of the mother's womb it must come out quickly so that the first air will come out by a form of a cry, once the baby cries it gets the air and the oxygen begins to let the senses work so that the brain develops well. So if the oxygen does not go in early for the brain to start developing, the brain acts slowly, he added. He said a child could also get cerebral palsy out of severe malaria or any disease that could result in convulsions. Dr Stephen Laryea, Head of the Paediatrics Department of the CCTH advised parents of children with CP to seek early medical help for appropriate interventions to be put in place to ensure their safety. He said mothers must desist from applying glucose, breast milk and exposing their children to early morning sun when they noticed their babies have yellowish eyes and report promptly at a health facility for treatment. He said such practices did not achieve any desired result but rather delayed seeking proper interventions and eventually ended up in CP. Dr Laryea expressed worry that majority of the hospitals in the country did not have enough facilities to help CP children reach their potential. He appealed to corporate institutions and other philanthropists to assist the neonatal, photo-therapy and physiotherapy units at the various hospitals with machines and equipment to be able to adequately treat children with CP. Mr Oduah Kwesi Sampson, Country Director and Co- Founder of GHP, Ghana said the organisation would facilitate forums, training sessions and education broadcast at the various hospitals within the Region to educate parents on the disease. He said similar training sessions would be organised for the staff of the CCTH to make them aware of the differences that were necessary in care and treatment of individuals affected with disabilities. He said GHP would continue to support the Cerebral Palsy Foundation to expand education and resource management. The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) has dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) to the Auditor General and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for issuing a false receipt to the party. We have written a letter to the Auditor General and EOCO to investigate the EC because it is dangerous if we have an EC who can issue false receipts to a political party the partys communication director, Paa Kow Ackon told Adom News on Thursday evening. The partys flagbearer, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom had hinted at this move by the party while speaking on Adom FMs Morning Show, Dwaso Nsem on Thursday. We gave the EC GHC1,700.00 to the EC as payment for our Parliamentary candidates but we were issued with a receipt of GHC1,700 by the commission...I acknowledge that is a mistake, he said. This mistake, the partys communication director, Paa Kow Ackon said has not been let to go by the party. He told Adom News on Thursday evening that the party has dragged the EC to the Auditor-General and EOCO for issuing them a false receipt. He said the EC after the investigations would come to the realization that everyone can make mistakes in life. Dr Nduom disqualified The PPP was among the 13 presidential hopefuls that were disqualified by the commission for failing to meet one regulation or the other in the filing and filling of nominations. The party after the disqualification held a press conference demanding that the be offered a five minutes meeting with the EC Boss, Charlotte Osei. However after the meeting, the party seems not satisfied and hence has threatened to proceed to court if Dr Nduom is not permitted the permission to contest the polls. Dr Nduom has also vowed to do everything in his power to fight his purported disqualification from the December polls. He is of the firm belief that the Electoral Commission trampled on his rights by purporting to disqualify him from taking part in the contest to be Ghana President on January 7, 2017. The National Petroleum Authority, for the second time has embarked on a blood donation exercise to improve the position of the Korle-bu blood bank. Speaking on the motivation behind the initiative, Head of Public Relations and Consumer Service, Yaro Kasambata, said the NPA was moved by the depletion of blood at the Korle-bu blood bank hence the exercise to augment the blood bank. The NPA is therefore collaborating with the Blood bank to make this exercise an annual exercise. The issue about the depletion of blood at the country's blood banks has been a major source of worry for many. It is hoped the NPA donation will add to the pints needed to sve lives. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com The Electoral Commission (EC), has asked the Independent Parliamentary aspirant in the Lawra constituency, Samson Abu, to change the colours he has been using on is campaign, because they are too similar to that of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Samson Abu, the incumbent MP for the area on the ticket of the NDC, defected from the party after his narrow defeat in the NDC primary where he lost to Bede Ziedeng by 14 votes. In a letter signed by Upper West Regional EC Director, Azu Bosco Anyigire, the EC explained to Samson Abu that the similarity of his colours to that of the NDC is in breach of the law. I humbly wish to inform you that your colours as an independent candidate are similar to that of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). This is a breach of the law and I advise that you change your colours with immediate effect. The Commission will apply all sanctions if you fail to comply, the letter added. Bede Ziedeng Following Samson Abus defeat at the primary, his camp leveled allegations against Bede Ziedeng, accusing him of manipulating the voters register to his advantage. Though Bede Ziedeng denied the accusations, attempts by the NDC hierarchy to mend the rift between the two proved futile, as Samson Abu eventually presented his nomination forms to EC to contest as an independent candidate. Anthony Abayifaa Karbo This turn of events has presented the New Patriotic Party (NPP) its best chance to win the seat with its aspirant for the area, Anthony Abayifaa Karbo, looking to take advantage of the the anticipated split votes between the Samson Abu and Bede Ziedeng. Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Steve Garrington, InterSystems Vice President of International Business delivered a speech at the summit. (Photo provided to People's Daily Online) Internet technology has spawned many emerging businesses in China, and nowpublic medical institutionsare taking theirturn. A number of public hospitals have been testing and promoting electronic medical record systemsin order to better serve patients.Many anticipate that, following healthcare reform, more and more public hospitals will move toward thesesmart medical services. We are probably the very first public hospital in China benefiting from the use of informationtechnology,said Xiong Fang, deputy director of the network and information office of Xiangya Hospitalin Hunan province. At the 2016 InterSystems China Summit on Sept.22, Xiongdescribed how the 110-year-old hospital made use of big data and Internet technology to establish an electronic medical record sharing platform. Xiangya Hospitalfirst established its computer-based medical record system in 2009, with the help of InterSystems, a leading technology system provider. Using the advanced system, the hospital is able to automatically collectnot only vital signs like blood pressure and pulse readings, but also data generated from the treatment process. That data then forms the patients electronic medical record, which can be easily accessed by the consulting doctor. Whats more, the patient can consult with doctors from various departments without having to repeat any tests. The system has multiple benefits. It saves time and money. It also helps the hospital to manage the flow of patients more efficiently, Xiong said. Besides, it makes remote diagnosis and monitoring possible. Under Chinas old healthcare system, there are just 1.4 physicians for every 1,000 people, compared to 2.4 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization. However, Chinese citizens are increasingly raising their expectations for accessibility and affordability when it comes to healthcare.With the release of the new healthcare reform plan in early April, China is at a turning point. Steve Garrington,InterSystems Vice President of International Business, also believes that smart healthcare is a solution for China. As a large and developing country, China confronts the challenges of an aging population, increasing chronic diseases, surging medical costs and inadequate medical resources. In this case, smart healthcare is particularly urgent, he said in an interview with Peoples Daily Online. InterSystems first entered the Chinesemarket in 2004, and the market has grown especially rapidly over the past three or four years. Now,InterSystemsprovides their data-generating and sharing platform to 120 healthcare providers across the country. Garringtonnoted thatsmart medical care brings many advantages to Chinas medical system, including a more balancedand efficient allocation of medical resources. By the end of January 2012, over 30 percent of public hospitals had set up electronic medical record systems, according to a report released by Chinas Ministry of Health.However, Xiangya Hospital has gone one step further. Under the guidelines of healthcare reform, the hospital developed regional health networks covering 13 healthcare providers in Hunan province that integratedata from hospitals, clinics and medical centers. Both patients and physicians can access patientshistorical health data, including cardiac test results and x-rays, which are stored in an online database. The database provides large samples for cross-regional and interdepartmental studies, as well as remote instruction for county hospitals and health centers. It strengthens both the primary care system and the hierarchical medical system. And thats what China has been promoting, said Xiong. Information technology investment in Chinas healthcare sector has been relatively weak, and the level of computerization is still lower than in many other countries. However, in April 2016, a new round of reform was launched. By 2020, three national databases will be established containing health information, health profiles and medical records all in an electronic format. The government will also continue to encourage the adoption of online healthcare products, and telemedicine is expected to thrive in the coming years. The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has reviewed, upwards, the producer price of cocoa, from GH6,720 per tonne, to GH7,520 for the 2016/2017 season. A statement issued in Accra, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the Board has hence announced new cocoa prices for the cocoa season pegging it at GH470 per bag of 64kg gross weight. The statement, signed by Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, said the new rate for the cocoa price took effect from October 1. Dr. Opuni said: COCOBOD and government have decided to pay bonus to farmers at the time of sale of their produce, which will trigger the payment of additional GH5 per bag. Dr. Opuni explained that every farmer had to be paid GH470 per bag, with GH5 as bonus, summing up to GH475 per bag, and cautioned the purchasing companies to ensure total compliance with the new producer prices of the crop. Licensed buying companies are to take note of this and pay our cherished farmers accordingly, he said, adding, all licensed buying companies must comply. Dr. Opuni advised all cocoa farmers to insist they are paid GH475 per bag of 64kg gross weight. Source: GNA 14.10.2016 LISTEN Compiled by Richard Kofi Attenkah. Tema-based Fixit Fast ICT Center has organised an ICT Quiz for selected schools within the Metropolitan area dubbed Tema Metro Fixit Fast ICT Quiz, to help the students to take their lessons seriously. Initially, the Metropolis was divided into three, namely, Tema West, Tema East and Tema Central, where representatives of registered schools contested for honours. We started the quiz at the Tema East sub-metro. Each sub-metro was divided into two groups for the purpose of the quiz, and the winner from each group was selected to contest at the grand finale, which is the Tema Metro Fixit Fast ICT Quiz, Mr. George Boateng, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Center, told Tema File. He continued: There were 11 schools in the Tema East Sub-Metro, and at the end of that contest, which was held at the Twedaase JHS, two schools Shinning Star JHS and Twedaase JHS came tops. There were nine schools at the Tema Central Sub-Metro, which took place at the Tema Community Eight No 1 JHS, and we picked the winners of each group, he explained. According to him, the quiz for the Tema West Sub-Metro, which comprised of 14 schools, was held at the Sakumono School Complex on September 29, 2016. At the end of the contest, Star Junior High School (JHS) emerged winner of the maiden Tema Metro Fixit Fast ICT Quiz, which was organised by Fixit Fast ICT Center, based at Community One (1), a suburb of Tema. The school received two sets of computers and a trophy as its prize, while each of the two students who represented the school, walked home with three sets of ICT books, a pen drive, as well as a certificate each from Fixit Fast ICT Center. The first runner up was St. Stephen JHS, which had 22 points, one less than what the overall winner got (23), followed by Naylor SDA JHS, with 20 points. St. Stephen JHS received, as its prize, a computer, while the two students who contested on behalf of the school, were given a certificate and pen drive each. On its part, Naylor SDA JHS received a Samsung printer, and the two contestants each had a certificate and three sets of ICT books. Speaking in an interview with the Accra File, George Boateng said the decision to organise the quiz came up, when My team of ICT experts conducted a survey throughout the Tema Metro. He explained that during their research, they discovered that the students needed some support to make what they were being taught in school complete, adding, it was at this juncture that we sent a proposal to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to conduct an ICT quiz for all the JHS schools within the Metropolis, to enhance teaching and learning of ICT in the various schools. GES gave us the approval, and sent letters to all the 174 junior high schools within the Metropolis to apply to participate in the quiz, and majority of the schools applied. Application was free, and the questions were based on the GES syllabus, he continued. The Fixit Fast ICT Center boss said it was their hope that, all things being equal, next year, they would include Ashaiman and Nungua to the quiz, and then, in their third year, they would go regional. He was optimistic that by their fourth year, they hope to go national, adding, It is our vision that we take this programme globally, where representatives of Ghana would be competing with other countries in ICT quiz. From William Nlanjerbor Jalulah, Bolgatanga. The Upper East Regional Police Command has identified 949 polling stations as electoral flash-points, ahead of the December 7 general polls. The identified flash-points (polling stations) are out of the total 1,222 polling stations in the region. Deputy Commission of Police (DCOP) Simon Afeku, Regional Police Commander, who announced this at a one-day media engagement organised by the regional Media Advisory Committee in Bolgatanga on Wednesday, October 12, said apart from these flash-points, his administration considers every polling station a potential flash-point, because human behaviour is unpredictable. However, those identified have a high possibility of generating into disturbances. In Ghana, electoral flash-points are areas likely to spark violence during elections. Such areas are identified by the nature of past and prevailing electoral tensions. Recently, the police administration announced 5,500 electoral flash-points across the country, and gave the assurance it was putting in place measures to ensure those flashpoints do not pose any risk, going into Election 2016. DCOP Afeku said, for the security agencies to preside over a peaceful election, society, civil society groups, the Electoral Commission and peace ambassadors should all update them on the social environment, as far as election elated issues are concerned, to enable them put appropriate measures in place to avert any potential disturbances. According to him, some electoral disturbances are perpetrated along ethnic, land, political, religious and chieftaincy issues. Based on history and current developments, and the experience from other countries where such issues were taken for granted and latter assumed uncontrollable proportions, which led to loss of lives and destruction of properties, should not be allowed to occur here, in Ghana. He said the actions of some traditional and religious leaders, who now veer into politics and make all manner of comments, are themselves threats to peaceful elections, because those people are seen in high esteem by their followers, and, as such, comments they make have an influence on their followers. DCOP Afeku also reminded the media not see and report all violent issues during elections as politically-motivated, because some miscreants will take advantage of the elections to commit crimes, and the police will deal with those as criminal issues, as the law requires. 14.10.2016 LISTEN Meridian Port Services (MPS) has announced the start of its unprecedented corporate social initiative (CSR) for the enhancement of Tema Roundabout, in collaboration with the Ministry of Roads and Highways. The project would create a new road network near the future port to alleviate traffic congestion and improve traffic flow. The announcement was made at a sod-cutting event in Tema to mark the commencement of the CSR initiative. The Tema Motorway roundabout currently suffers from serious traffic bottlenecks, which impede the movement of private and commercial vehicles, and affect inter-city commuters who use the facility when commuting to and from the Greater Accra Region, as well as the Eastern and Volta regions. The congestion also hinders the smooth transportation of cargo in and out of the port. To ease daily travel for commuters, MPS would create four slip roads to reduce the number of vehicles approaching the roundabout, and create an additional third lane to widen the roundabout. Most importantly, the project would also improve the entry and exit from the northern side (Akosombo), by widening it from the current single to double lane. This upgrade would significantly ease traffic for all commuters going in and out of the city, thereby reducing travel time and improving productivity. The initiative would also contribute to the convenience of the Trans-West African Highway for travel to and from neighbouring countries. Ghana is now the hub for shipping activities in the sub-region. Certainly, this project will facilitate the free flow of goods and services for the benefit of all. We congratulate MPS for this bold initiative, said Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister of Roads and Highways. This is part of the vision that President John Dramani Mahama has for the development of all roads in Ghana, said Mr. Richard Anamoo, Director General of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. He added: We are pleased to work with our partners in MPS on this project. The port development plan will greatly benefit the economy, and this initiative is a good example of Corporate Social Responsibility, as it will help substantially to ease congestion in the Tema communities. MPS has appointed Associated Consultants Limited as project managers, and Sinohydro Ghana Limited as the contractor for the Tema roundabout project. The appointments were based on the proven track records of technical ability, and the preparedness of both companies to start work immediately. The project is expected to be completed in nine months. MPS, a company jointly owned by APM Terminals and Bollore Transport & Logistics, in partnership with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, is poised to start a major expansion of the Tema Port, designed to leverage Ghana's strategic location in the heart of West Africa, to make it a major trading hub and attract more investment. The CEO of MPS, Mohamed Samara, said: This associated CSR project is probably the largest social investment of its kind undertaken by a private company, and I am proud that this initiative has been so strongly endorsed by the MPS Board of Directors. Commenting on the local content for the Tema Port expansion project itself, the Chairman of the MPS Board, Dr. Alhaji Asuma Band,a said 95 per cent of the material for all works would be locally procured, with the exception of sophisticated container gantry cranes, while a significant quantity of plant equipment would also be sourced internally. Notably, more than 1,000 skilled Ghanaian managers, engineers and craftsmen would be employed for the marine construction at the port. It is estimated that a total of 5,000 jobs, in civil works and building construction, would be created for local contractors and subcontractors during the project. The port investment would also bring a series of upgrades within the area of technical and IT services, which would also impact positively on the Ghanaian talent pool. The transfer of knowledge and experience to Ghanaians would secure the future for the generations to come, and it is a clear display of what a truly successful partnership with strategic investors can achieve for a determined company and people. Present at the event were MRH and Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority officials, as well as other stakeholders with a vested interest in good transportation networks within the country. Source: GNA The Ashanti Regional branch of the ruling National Democratic Congress is gearing up for a massive campaign launch slated for tomorrow Saturday, October 15 at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi. Bigwigs of the party, including the Chairman, Mr. Kofi Portuphy, the General Secretary, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah and the National Organizer, Kofi Adams are expected to grace the occasion which is expected to be attended by over 5,000 supporters of the party. Reports indicate that the Vice President, His Excellency Mr. Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, may attend the ceremony as the Special Guest of Honour but it is however not confirmed. The Ashanti Regional Secretary of the party, Mr. Raymond Tandoh, stated in an interview that "everything was set for the big occasion". According to him, the programme will start at 10 am and travel deep into the evening, stressing that the main activity would be to outdoor the campaign team. He said they would also be addresses from party bigwigs. Mr. Tandoh added though they are expecting the vice President to grace the function as advertised, he cannot confirm 100% that the second Gentleman of the Land can honour the invitation. On the 24th of July 2012, dark clouds besieged our country Ghana. Everyone regardless of our political affiliation, ethnicity or religion was saddened by the sudden and untimely demise of our then President, His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills. By 2pm, the streets had become empty, businesses were generally slow, and the country was silent except for echoes of radio and TV stations which were transmitting the biography of our lost president and at the same time, tributes from the local and the international communities. As per the constitution of our motherland, the then Vice President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as our President. I can vividly recall the demeanor of President Mahama when he walked into the parliament house to undergo the swearing in before he could be pronounced as the President. He mustered courage to overcome the sorrow and shock that had engulfed the nation. This in my view, is by far the saddest day of the fourth Republic. By the close of 24th July 2012, we had a new president. A young, energetic, dynamic, determined but heartbroken gentleman who was a former member of parliament for the people of Bole/Bamboi, a former member of the Pan African parliament, a former Deputy Minister, a former Minister, a vice President and now President. He is by far the first and only politician who has risen through all the political stages of our countrys history. An astute communicator, a good husband and a father for all. Whilst anguished by the loss of not only his boss, but also his mentor and best friend, the biggest test of his life was presented to him; to lead his people. Accordingly, president Mahama was also immediately by unanimous decision, made flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He had a huge task of competing with similarly experienced politicians like Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 2012 elections for the Presidency. During this same period, the NDC was greatly divided into many factions. The former first lady had broken away to join a newly formed party known as the National Democratic Party (NDP), the founder had fallen out with the party and there were rumors of team A and B. As their leader, President Mahamas first move was to restore unity within the rank and file of his party if indeed he was to stand any chance of tasting victory in the then forthcoming elections. The death of President Mills opened a new chapter for members of the NDC. Disputes were immediately settled except that with the former First lady who was eventually disqualified from contesting by the Electoral Commission and therefore could not contest in the elections. The NDC with its new proactive and visionary leader had gathered all its arsenal in preparedness for the 2012 elections. President Mahama had only three months to campaign while discharging his duties as President. Some called him the lucky one while others referred to him as the Chosen one. I saw a man with vision, determined and poised to take his country to the promise land where opportunities will be made available to all without paying regard to ethnicity, religion, political background, social class or gender. The above qualities he exhibited among many others informed my decision to vote for President Mahama in 2012. Election 2012 was keenly contested and President Mahama came out victorious and thus was pronounced the winner by the EC. His victory marked the fourth for the NDC since the countrys return to democratic rule. The atmosphere was euphoric especially for members in the NDC camp and dignitaries came in from different parts of the world to support us on the occasion. As we ushered the new leader of the country, the NPP cried foul alleging electoral malpractices by the EC and the NDC and went ahead to contest the Presidential elections at the Supreme Court. This was the beginning of the challenges to confront President Mahama. The Challenges Unlike the relatively saccharin foundation of the other heads of states, President Mahamas commencement of office was rather a very rough period. The first nine months of his first year of ascending to the presidency through the ballot was rocked with challenges prominent among them being that of the Court case. The NPP and its candidate Nana Akufo-Addo sought justice from the Supreme Court in an effort aimed at averting the will of the people. Undoubtedly, this slowed down the pace of activities that were outlined by the President in his 2012 manifesto but in no way distracted his genuine attention and mission for his people. The President was cited in the famous election case as a second respondent and was duly represented by his abled lawyers. In the end, the Supreme Court maintained that the elections were free and fair. As if this was not enough, a series of calamities followed suit. Fire outbreaks guttered many business centers across the country. This extended to some other institutions for example the medical store in Tema. There was also an unprecedented series of strike actions by various workers from the public sector. The famous June third disaster cannot be left out. Frequent power outages famously known as Dumsor added insult to injury. This is by far the biggest test any leader of our country has had to deal with. President Mahama did not panic, he accepted all these as challenges that come along with the job and worked assiduously to manage them. This I believe was due to the fact that, prior to his assumption of office, he had anticipated the enormous task ahead, thus understood the challenges and expectations and contained them. He mustered courage to believe, the courage to envision, and the will to fight and above all to never relent on his promises to the Ghanaian people. Achievements Ghana under the tenacious leadership of President Mahama has seen an unparalleled infrastructural upgrade from all sectors of the economy. Indeed he has been touted as the redeemer. Many have rated him to be at par with Kwame Nkrumah our first President in terms of infrastructural development. According to Kofi Annan; a former UN Secretary General, Education is the single most important tool that has the potential of liberating a nation from the shackles of poverty and conflict. In his own words, President Mahama said education remains the surest path to victory over ignorance, poverty and inequality. To this effect, the NDC government made a commitment and worked at ensuring that quality and affordable education is made accessible even to all from the best of urban areas to the remotest of rural areas in the country. Great efforts have been made to eradicate schools under trees. There are more children enrolled in schools now than ever. Both the basic and secondary cycle levels have seen major boosts in terms of infrastructural advancement. As the saying goes, our health is our wealth. President Mahama is addressing our health needs like never witnessed before. The Police Hospital, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, The Legon Teaching Hospital, the second phase of the Tamale teaching hospital, Military Hospital in Kumasi, Upper West Regional Hospital etc. are all in their final stages of completion. This will not only improve our healthcare needs, but increase quality as well. We are gradually getting to a point where Ghanaians will no longer need to move out of the country in search of quality health services. Apostle Dr. Kpakpa Sraha in his opening prayer at the commissioning of the Teshie Nungua water desalination plant said today we celebrate a great victory over draught and lack of portable water. The famous Kuffour gallons are now a thing of the past. It is very evident now that people no longer have to queue for portable water. President Mahama has lived by his own words through his continuous work to deliver to the people of Ghana, good portable drinking water. His vision is for the attainment of universal access to this vital resource by the year 2025. In the interim, he is working to ensure 85% of urban and rural dwellers have access to portable water by the end of 2016 a feet which is almost achieved as significant investments have been made to this effect. Some of these projects include: Kpong water supply expansion project phase 1, Accra-Tema Metropolitan Area water project and the Teshie-Nungua desalination water project In his 2015 state of the nation address, President Mahama made a bold and determined statement that he was going to fix our power situation which has bedeviled the country over the years. Ghana has suffered from insufficient power generation and this of course has been due to the initiation of limited actions by all previous governments aimed at solving the problem. The situation worsened when President Mahama took over as president. Ghana had to resort to load shedding to be able to contain the situation while a more lasting solution was being pursued to curb the menace. Since his assumption to office, president Mahama has worked tirelessly at meeting the power needs of Ghanaians. A number of additions have been made to our generation capacity and these include; 110MW steam component of the T2 power plant at Aboadze, 250MW Ameri Power Plant, 225MW karpower barge, 220MW Kpone thermal power plant etc. Government has also moved to engage independent power producers (IPP) through power purchasing agreements. Notable among these IPPs include: Sunon Asogli Phase II 180MW, Sunon Asogli (coal fired) 750MW, CenPower 350MW, Jacobsen 260MW, Amandi 240MW and GE 1000MW. All of these investments have contributed tremendously in containing the power situation. Gradually, we are moving away from the persistent power outages to a more stable power supply situation. It is however important to note that His Excellency has not relented in his efforts to fix the problem. The forecast is that, by the end of his second term In Shaa Allah, Ghana will be energy sufficient. In the green book, it is estimated that the total motorable road network stands at 71,063km. The road sector has seen a major improvement throughout the country. The GH 3 billion Cocoa Roads Improvement Program (CRIP) has provided a major boost to the road sector especially in cocoa producing areas. Currently, all the Regional capitals in the country have had/are having their major roads asphalted. Beyond these works, major road networks such as the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, the Kasoa Interchange, Sofoline Interchange, Spintex Road Bypass, the Adome Bridge and many others are all being constructed in an effort to reduce road congestion, traffic and motor accidents. Other sectors such as Agriculture, Transportation, Communication, Tourism, the Security agencies have all received their fair share of development under the stewardship of President Mahama. Indeed Ghana has never been safer than it is today. Freedom of speech is practiced at its peak. Corruption unlike in previous administrations where it was back dated to the era of Adam, has been accepted as the countrys biggest challenge. Persons accused of engaging in corrupt activities are being reported and handed over to the appropriate institutions to be appropriately dealt with. President Mahama has not only restored confidence in our economy, but also made governance in spite of all the challenges look easy. The above achievements accomplished by our President gives me hope for the future. It reaffirms my belief in his ability to continue working for his people. I have studied the options available to me and I have come to the conclusion that indeed His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama is the right leader for our country. As I conclude, I will like to urge my fellow countrymen and women to rally behind and vote massively for President Mahama and the NDC for a prosperous Ghana for he is indeed changing lives and Transforming Ghana. Long live President Mahama Long Live NDC Long Live Ghana Adnan Mustapha Phone: 0207585652 Ghana National Fire Service should collaborate with manufacturers and estate developers to design burglar proof systems to facilitate escape in the event of fire. Thats a suggestion by Ashanti Regional Minister, John Ackon, following recent domestic fires in which occupants were trapped because there were no escape routes. He spoke at the launch of the 2016/2017 National Bushfire Prevention Campaign in Kumasi. Bush or wild fires remain one of the biggest challenges, especially to farmers, and a threat not only to food security but lives as well. Food and cash crop farms have over the years come under the devastation of bushfires, almost an annual ritual caused largely by human error. Public education therefore becomes very crucial in preventing and minimizing the destruction of the ecology. Fire officials want the wild fire education to go alongside domestic incidents which have in recent times claimed lives. It is for this reason a national home fire safety certification project dubbed; Dumgya is being rolled out, with the Ashanti Region taking the lead. The theme is Ensuring Effective Home Fire Safety Certification and Practices Mr. Ackon lamented over the frequent loss of lives from fire. He is however confident the Fire Service has what it takes to find innovative answers to such tragedies. The human being sees you, he cannot come out he is burning he cannot still come out, if you want to save him you cannot enter, he said. I am sure you are capable, Mr. Ackon added. Chief Fire Officer, Dr. Albert Brown Gaisie, asked Ghanaians to change their attitudes to environmental conservation issues, failure which the national Gross Domestic Product will ultimately suffer. Dr. Brown Gaisie also indicated that dealing decisively with fire offenders is another challenge due to interference from traditional authorities and opinion leaders. Meanwhile, Chief Director at the Ministry of Interior, Adelaide Annor-Kusi, is advocating harsher penalties for breach of fire prevention and control laws. Mrs. Annor-Kusi led the contingent to commission newly-constructed guard post and reception named after Interior Minister, Prosper Bani. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Running Mate to Nana Akufo-Addo, in response to the Presidents claim that the NPPs proposal for the economy will not work, has expressed amazement at how the President, under whose watch the economy has collapsed in the last 8 years, can claim to know what will make the economy work and what will not work, and wondered why the President will not focus on fixing the economy instead. Dr. Bawumia said that he was baffled that the man who had collapsed the Ghanaian economy could be claiming that alternative proposals for reviving the economy from the ditch he had sent Ghanaians into will rather ruin the economy. The NDC and President Mahama are going around saying that these tax reductions as part of our comprehensive programme of economic reform and our manifesto promises will ruin the economy. I am so baffled. You are the President and you have presided in eight years over the collapse of our economy. If you knew the plan that could work with the economy and be successful, why havent you implemented that plan in eight years? he said while interacting with students of the Nyankpala Campus of the University for Development Studies on Thursday. Nana Akufo-Addos Running Mate advised the President that he should focus on making the economy he has ruined work in the short time he has left and noted that the Presidents record disqualifies him from becoming a judge on what will work or not work for the Ghanaian economy. If you know what can work for our economy, why is the economy collapsing in your hands after eight years? You clearly dont understand the economic plans underpinning the NPP manifesto; your task is to make our economy work and is clear you cannot do it so you clearly have no legs to stand on in saying that the NPP plan cannot work because your own plan has collapsed the economy and we are bringing a new plan for the economy and this new plan will work, he stated. Dr. Bawumia recalled the record of the Kufuor-NPP Administration which reduced Corporate Taxes to stimulate the private sector, create growth and at the same time cause an increase in government revenue and reiterated the pledge by the NPP to introduce more of such policies to create growth and jobs and revive the economy. We reduced taxes under the NPP corporate taxes were brought down from 32% to 25% and at the same time we saw a major increase in revenue and so it makes economic sense and we are going to focus on production. The President for now should focus on fixing the collapsed economy, he noted. Dr. Bawumia has been touring Constituencies in the Northern Region since Tuesday. He has so far toured the Nanton, Kumbungu and Tolon Constituencies. This year marks the centenary of the creation of the legendary Trans-Siberian railway of Russia. By an ironic twist of fate, this falls right in the middle of an epochal change in geopolitical and geo-economical scenarios, whose main powers involved are also responding by creating and planning great infrastructure works. There is actually no doubt that in the profiled context the continental infrastructures constitute an essential moment for recovery, able to affect both technological modernisation processes and foreign affairs stability. This is true if one considers a nation's economic development, and by effect its geopolitical clout on a global scale, depends heavily on 'voluntary geography' improvement via implementing a modern, technologically advanced transport infrastructure system able to face and overcome the 'distance' factor. As well as works broadening the Suez Canal and Panama, which surely highlighted the role maritime connections are playing, one must in no way ignore the importance of the land ones, which see the Asian continent as one of the main players. Asia is actually the continent most concerned and involved in these projects foreseeing the creation of Roads, tunnels and railways that should pass it from one line to another. And for some years now China - playing a main role in this process - has got down to creating some. The economic power developed in the latest periods by the Chinese colossus is actually supported a series of strategic infrastructural projects that are useful in accompanying, protecting and raising the Country's spread ability. These surely include the great land and sea 'New Silk Road' project, devised by Peking and with the main objective of bringing China closer to the rest of the Euro-Asian continental mass, as well as developing the inland zones that are still behind the coast band. There is no doubt that full realisation of such an ambitious project will have weighty geopolitical repercussions if one just considers it aims to link Europe and Asia in infrastructure and economy and at the same time contrast US replacement on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These routes are split through the middle by the Trans-Siberian, which is weekly passed by tens of freight trains, leaving Moscow to reach the Chinese city of Manzohuli and vice versa, and generating a 700% increase in container traffic coming from China and heading for Europe, according to data provided by the Russian State. As well as China, the Indian government is also seeing to setting up new transport infrastructures, useful in propelling the Country to an industrial economy. It was recently reported that New Deli is working on developing a vast infrastructure network able to link India to Central-Southern Europe, passing through Iran, Central Asia and Russia, so circumventing Pakistan, a historically rival State, whose geographical position constitutes a heavy obstacle for the Ganges Country. This project would let one save various days' travel, allowing Indian freights to reach European markets swiftly. Russia is doing no less: it is still busy creating the Razvite megaproject, which recovers the tradition of Great Plans to promote Russia's industrialisation in the last century and also aims to recompose the European-Asian continent as the foremost active subject on the worldwide scene. More in detail, this is the project for a multi-infrastructural corridor, to be created over 20 years, aiming to link via a completely new system the Pacific Coast with the Baltic Sea and Atlantic, involving countries like China and Japan in the East and numerous European states in the West. This corridor will cross the European-Asian continent and will be made up of a mix of rail, road and motorway links, electric lines, cable lines, petrol and gas conducts, and water channels; moreover, the path will be accompanied by the foundation of technological parks and (at least 10) new cities. This project faces ambitious challenges and aims for environmental sustainability. These ambitions will be supported by a technological platform with its terminals in the East, in China and Japan, with lengthenings in South East Asia, aiming to express real change prospects, relating to development and exchange dynamics, like in fact those expressed in its time with the Trans-Siberian and Suez Canal creation. In 2013, Moscow also placed 17 billion dollars to modernise the Baikal-Amur tract of the Trans-Siberian itself, aiming to raise and increase the business exchange volume. Beyond the lasting mega dilema pinned down by prof. Anis Bajrektarevic as the (Trans-Siberian/Maglev train of) Heartland or (Mare Liberum of) Rimland?, this current development should be seen as an opener not a dividing line. No doubt, these projects could be a good opportunity for Europe too, and in particular more so for the enterprise system, including those operating in the technological sector, which could work for modern infrastructure creation, smart cities and technological poles the project foresees. For Europe, especially the Mediterranean, it could also turn out to be a valuable chance to finalise its infrastructural projects, including the TEN T corridors. This completion would make the European transport network more organic and would especially help develop outskirts areas, including the Balkans, via interconnection. Improving transborder connections with this area could indeed favour both its concrete, real stabilisation and integration with Europe's Eastern part, and work as a bridge to the effervescent European-Asian area and the Pacific which, as is known, are living a period of unstoppable growth and expansion. Filippo Romeo: Director of the Infrastructure and Territorial Development Programme, IsAG Rome. 14.10.2016 LISTEN By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA Cape Coast, Oct. 14, GNA - A book, which seeks to shed light on examination anxieties in the educational system has been launched in Cape Coast. The 93 - page book titled: 'How to Win over Examination Anxieties,' written by Mr Enoch Kojo Forson, a psychologist and a social counsellor, provides in-depth discussion on the characteristics, types, causes, signs and symptoms of examination anxieties and how students could manage them. The nine-chapter book, published by Abundance Grace Publication, and forwarded by Professor Josephus Anamuah-Mensah, a Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, provides helpful guide to students, teachers and parents looking for solution to examination anxieties. Addressing the launch, the author, Mr Forson, said examination anxieties had always been an unpleasant feeling for students with many of them suffering silently, hence his decision to write the book to provide solutions. He said although examinations formed an important component of the learning process, it had the tendency to generate fear among many students. He noted that those concerns and worries did not receive much attention from headteachers, teachers, school counselors and parents, leaving students to struggle with their fears without much external support. He said after speaking to more than 1,000 students, including tertiary students, school counselors and parents for four years, the impression was that when students were not performing well in their examinations, it meant that the students were not studying hard. 'This is coupled with the fact that society puts extremely high expectations on students, which tend to create an overwhelming fear and failure in students,' Reviewing the book, Dr Stephen Agyefi Mensah, the Head of Department of Building and Technology at the Cape Coast Polytechnic, said fear and anxiety accounted for the high rate of poor performances in examinations such as the BECE and the WASSCE. He noted that examination was a necessary and an indispensable exercise for academic progress, but very little practical steps had been taken on how to overcome the anxieties that came with it. He expressed optimism that the book would fill that gap in the educational system and help students to sail through their examinations successfully. He recommended it for parents, teachers and students at all levels. The first copy of the book was bought at Gha500.00. GNA (File photo) China has become a major victim of overseas cyber attacks, with Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), a network hacking process, angling for information about the country's military, scientific and maritime affairs, a leading Internet security company warned. Qi Xiangdong, president of the company, Qihoo 360, said that various Chinese cities and provincial regions have been affected by APT attacks. By mid-August, the company had detected dozens of Chinese targets in working units or institutions mostly focusing on science, education, military and infrastructure construction. Qi also said that several APT hacker organizations were detected by the companys SkyEye Labs, including OceanLotus, HangOver, DarkHotel and ProjectSauron. The last one, originating from the West, works on sensitive information theft in countries including China and Russia. OceanLotus has been found to be operating from an unidentified Southeastern Asian country neighboring China. The organization's early attacks on China can be traced back to 2011. It mainly attacks governmental bodies and research institutes on maritime affairs. HangOver is based in southern Asia, targeting Asian countries including China and Pakistan. HangOver pursues sensitive information, especially on scientific studies, education and military affairs. East Asia-based DarkHotel, meanwhile, concentrates its efforts on information theft from Chinese government agencies and institutions related to aerospace and aviation. Qis remarks were made on Oct. 13 at the Information Security Technology Conference & Expo 2016, held in Qingdao, Shandong province. More than 150 companies attended the expo. By Belinda Ayamgha/Winifred Zuur Accra, Oct. 14, GNA - Mrs May Obiri Yeboah, the Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), has said Ghana has made strides in the attainment of the targets under the National Road Safety Action Plans for 2015-2017. Speaking at the opening of a stakeholders' conference to assess the status of implementation of the Plan 2015-2017, under the National Road Safety Strategy III, she said the specific targets were, however, yet to be achieved despite the significant improvement in road safety. The strategy, which was developed by the NRSC and its partners in 2011, is to cover 2011 to 2020, under the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety. It was evaluated last year to see how it had fared in meeting the UN targets of stabilising deaths and serious injuries as of 2015. It aims at reducing deaths and serious injuries by 50 per cent, by end of 2020. Mrs Obiri Yeboah said the conference was also aimed at evaluating the implementation of the 2026 action plan, strategise where necessary, identifying challenges and also finding ways of speeding up achievement of the targets. She said Ghana topped 23 African countries that were reviewed as part of United Nations Economic Commission review of countries' implementation of action plans. 'We came out tops because we have done most of the things we said we would do in our action plans and they were impressed by it' she stated, adding it showed that Ghana was committed to road safety. She said the NRSC had greatly improved its coordination of the various stakeholders, and had attracted countries such as Nigeria, Lesotho, Ethiopia and the Gambia to understudy the NRSC's coordination of its road safety stakeholders. She said although it had not met its annual targets, it had come quite close to doing so, a feat she described as unprecedented. She said the number of deaths from road accidents had reduced since 2011. 'Child pedestrian deaths have gone down, deaths involving the heavy goods vehicles have gone down and general pedestrian deaths have also reduced', she said. She said the Commission had projected to keep traffic related deaths at a level not exceeding 1,440 this year. 'In September 2016, 1,579 deaths were reported, and that exceeded the yearly projected target by 15.7%. In the 3rd quarter, 9,205 road traffic crash cases were reported, involving 14,342 vehicles, 8,006 injuries with 2,086 pedestrian knock-downs,' she stated. Mr. David Silcock, a Road safety Consultant with the World Bank, said the Bank was in discussions with the Government to provide additional funding for road safety and to renew the Ghsector Improvement Project. He said the Bank's support would be a mixture of both new and existing projects, with some in highway improvement, particularly, in the Northern Region. There are also proposals on activities to promote child safety, including road safety education in schools, a lollipop crossing programme, as well as training for SHEP coordinators in the schools.. Stakeholders, including the National Ambulance Service, St. John's Ambulance, the National Disaster Management Organisation, and the Ghana Red Cross Society, have also made strides in the implementation of their action plans. These involve the training of emergency medical technicians, first aiders, education on road safety, setting up of ambulance posts, among others. They, however, identified funding as a major constraint to the full implementation of their plans. GNA 14.10.2016 LISTEN ABUJA, Nigeria, ACCRA, Oct.14, (UPI/GNA) - The wife of the President of Nigeria may support him for re-election unless he shakes up the government, she said Friday. Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, told a BBC interviewer her husband, 74, is not aware of who he has appointed in ministerial positions, adding that a "few people" behind the appointments in the ruling All Progressives Congress party have "hijacked" the government. "The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years. He is yet to tell me [if he will run for re-election] but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again." He was elected in 2016 after a campaign in which he promised an end to government corruption. Mrs. Buharui added her husband's greatest achievement since taking office in May is improved security in northeastern Nigeria, where the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram has seen its authority decline in recent months. "No-one is complaining about being attacked in their own homes. Thankfully everyone can walk around freely, go to places of worship, etc. Even kids in Maiduguri [the city where Boko Haram was founded] have returned to schools," she said. Part of the interview was aired Tuesday, after which the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust reported the BBC received a letter from the President Buhari, asking them to forego broadcasting the rest of the interview. GNA 14.10.2016 LISTEN NEW YORK, ACCRA, Oct. 14 - (UPI/GNA) - Donald Trump said this week he's planning to take on the Republican establishment, but apparently his campaign's co-chair in Virginia isn't permitted to do that. The campaign fired Corey Stewart for taking part in a protest outside the Republican National Committee's national headquarters in Washington, D.C. Stewart said beforehand that he was upset about claims the RNC was planning to divert funds away from Trump and funnel them toward helping down ballot GOP races. "I stood up to the RNC. I stood up to the establishment," he said Thursday. Because of his growing frustration, Stewart joined the demonstration organized by Women for Trump groups in Maryland and Virginia. Apparently, though, Trump's campaign didn't appreciate him pulling such a "stunt." "Corey made this decision when he staged a stunt in front of the RNC without the knowledge or the approval of the Trump campaign," the GOP nominee's deputy campaign manager, David Bossie, said in a statement Thursday. "He is being replaced, effective immediately." Stewart was responsible for various management duties in Virginia -- a battleground state the Trump campaign now appears to be conceding to Democrat Hillary Clinton. "They threatened to fire me if I didn't shut down the demonstration, and they made good on that threat," Stewart said. The Virginia co-chair said he knew he'd be fired if he went ahead with his involvement, but said he did anyway because he needed to call out Republicans for trying to "sabotage" Trump's White House bid. Stewart was the only prominent Virginia Republican to defend Trump after an audio recording emerged last week, in which the billionaire made insensitive remarks about women. "[Trump] acted like a frat boy, as a lot of guys do," he said in his defense. GNA Mexico City, ACCRA, Oct.14, (dpa/GNA) - Aid offers to Haiti were pouring in Friday, hours after the country's civil defense authority reported that the provisional death toll from last week's Hurricane Matthew had climbed to 546 people. The World Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations agency, said in a statement it had provided emergency food rations to 30,000 people for the past six days, and has stocks ready to feed "up to 300,000 people for a month." "Many people I have met are surviving by eating fruit from fallen trees," Carlos Veloso, a WFP representative in Haiti, said. "What we are bringing to their families is nutritious food to help them rebuild their lives," he added. In Berlin, a foreign ministry spokesman said Germany had increased emergency aid from 600,000 to 1.6 million euros (660,000 to 1.75 million dollars), while the Vatican said Pope Francis had donated 100,000 dollars. Haiti's Civil Protection Department said late Thursday that as well as 546 dead as a result of Hurricane Matthew, there were also 128 people missing, 439 injured and more than 175,500 who lost their homes. Some media reports spoke of higher numbers of fatalities, while rescue workers in the affected areas told dpa that the number of victims is still likely to rise. In addition, more than 500 people are now infected with cholera, with aid agencies now focusing on delivering fresh water and fixing sewage infrastructure. Matthew struck Haiti on October 4, packing wind speeds of 230 kilometres per hour and causing extensive flooding, destroying homes, and uprooting trees, before moving on to hit five US states causing further fatalities. According to the United Nations, 1.4 million people in the impoverished Caribbean nation are in urgent need of help. GNA Sydney, ACCRA, Oct. 14, (dpa/GNA) - Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in London Friday that Britain "regrets that the Maldives has chosen to leave" the Commonwealth. The Maldives said Thursday it had decided to leave the group of mostly former British colonies after what it called "unjust and unfair" criticism of its human rights record. In September the 53-nation group had warned the small Indian Ocean nation that it risked suspension from the Commonwealth if did not improve levels of democracy and human rights in the country. But in a statement Thursday, the Maldives accused the Commonwealth of wanting to "become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the Charters of the UN and the Commonwealth." Britain will not cut ties with the Maldives. "We will continue to work with the Maldives government to help strengthen democracy, particularly freedom of speech and the media and independence of the judiciary," Johnson said in his Friday statement. "The stability of the country must be central to what happens next," he said. Amnesty International said the country's authorities "should address their own human rights situation rather than lash out at legitimate criticism." "Human rights have been in a complete freefall in the country over the past few years," said Champa Patel, Amnesty's South Asia director. "The government has locked up opponents through politically motivated trials and led an unprecedented crackdown on independent media," Patel said in a statement. The Maldives government accused the Commonwealth of using the country to "increase the organization's own relevance and leverage in international politics." The decision to leave was "difficult, but inevitable," it said. The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland responded in a statement on Thursday, saying she was sad and disappointed by the Maldives' decision to leave. "We hope that this will be a temporary separation and that Maldives will feel able to return to the Commonwealth family and all that it represents in due course." The Maldives are a group of islands with a population of some 345,000. Islam is its official religion and the legal system is based on Islamic law. The country has close ties to India but has increased economic links to China in recent years. GNA Accra, Oct 14, GNA - The 2016 Rotary Family Health Days (RFHD) programme is to be held from 20th October to 22nd October, on the theme: 'Healthy Families, Healthy Communities'. The event would be preceded by a National Launch, on Tuesday, 18th October and a Regional launch at Ho on the 19th October. The programme's target this year is to reach 50,000 in 50 underserved communities in six regions, including Hohoe (Volta), Kumasi (Ashanti), and Sekondi/Takoradi (Western). The RFHD was initiated by Rotarians for Family Health and AIDS prevention (RFHA) to provide comprehensive, free healthcare services to families lacking access to routine care. The programme started in 2011 in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. Ghana joined the other countries in hosting its first RFHD event in 2014 during which more than 23,000 health seekers benefitted. RFHD mobilises resources and expertise from a broad spectrum of partners, including governments, community-based organisations and private sector companies. Rotary clubs mobilise community participation and manages health sites. Recent studies in Ghana, however, have shown a persistent increase in the rise of Diabetes and hypertension among both adults and children due mainly to rapid urbanisation and poor lifestyle choices. The incidence of Tuberculosis is also increasing and has been found to be due to, among other risk factors, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, poverty and overcrowding. The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is doing its best to contain the situation and needs all the support it can get in terms of funds, supplies and volunteer hours. It is in response to this need that Rotary started this partnership dubbed 'Rotary Family Health Days' (RFHD), as an annual three-day free health outreach programme designed to benefit women, men and children in selected deprived areas. In 2014, more 23,000 health seekers were served in 30 communities out of a target of 30,000 people in the Accra-Tema Metropolitan areas alone. In 2015, the programme was expanded to include three additional regions (Volta, Eastern and Central), with a target of 40,000 health seekers, out of which 37,000 were served in 40 communities within the Accra-Tema Metropolitan areas, Ho, Koforidua, Winneba, Apam, and Agona Swedru. Major sponsors in 2014 were Coca Cola Foundation, the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Rotary Foundation, the Ghana Health Service, and Rotary Clubs in Ghana. Once again, for the 2016 campaign, major sponsors are the Rotary Foundation, USAID, Rotary Clubs in Ghana and Zones 33 and 34 in the United States. The programme, which thrives on authorisation and direction from in-country governments, has received endorsement from the Ministry of Health as an annual event. Key services to be offered are Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Tuberculosis Screening. Other services include HIV Testing and Counseling, Childhood Immunisations and Vitamin A supplementation, Eye screening, De-worming and distribution of Mosquito bed nets and Condoms. Health workers of the GHS would provide the technical services, with support from Rotarians from some 36 clubs. Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world's most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Since 1985, Rotary International has been at the forefront of polio eradication worldwide, and in Ghana Rotarians have collaborated with the GHS by providing volunteers, polio vaccines and other inputs for the national polio immunisation days (NIDs), such that for the past two years, no child has been diagnosed with the polio virus. GNA There has never been so much heat in national politics in recent times as was experienced last Monday. The language of most of the affected people disqualified by the Electoral Commission from contest in the 2016 general elections was raw and in some instance even insulting. In a radio interview Hassan Ayariga, the Presidential aspirant of the All Peoples Congress (APC) described the ECs decision as foolish. Almost all the disqualified aspirants have threatened to drag the EC to court and to place an injunction on the 2016 elections. Mr Kofi Akpaloo, presidential aspirant of the Independent Peoples Party (IPP) said the EC chair cannot arrogate to herself powers she does not have. The National Treasurer of the Peoples National Convention (PNC) has gone as far as to suggest that Dr. Kwadwo Afari Djan performed much better than the current chair of the EC. Mr Akane Adams said under Dr Afari Djan the 13 presidential aspirants would not have been disqualified. Interestingly the four candidates whose nomination papers were accepted as flawless have been tight lipped. They are Ivor Kobina Greestreet of the CPP, Nana Akufo- Addo of the NPP, John Yeboah, an independent and John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). London (AFP) - Goldman Sachs won a high-profile legal battle with Libya's sovereign wealth fund Friday, with a British court dismissing claims the bank duped Libyan officials into investments worth $1.2 billion (1.5 billion euros). The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) accused the investment bank of exploiting the fund's inexperienced staff, pushing them into "inappropriate" transactions in a series of shady deals. The derivative trades ended up being virtually worthless when the equities they were tied to fell in the 2008 financial crisis. Dismissing the claims, a British judge ruled there had been no "undue influence" from Goldman Sachs over the LIA, a $67 billion sovereign wealth fund set up by Moamer Kadhafi, who was toppled from power in 2011. "Their relationship did not go beyond the normal cordial and mutually beneficial relationship that grows up between a bank and client," judge Vivien Rose said in a written decision. The LIA said it was "naturally disappointed" with the outcome, adding in a statement: "Time will be needed fully to digest the judgment and all options are being considered at this time." The case, brought in 2014, alleged that Goldman Sachs laid on lavish corporate hospitality and tried to garner influence with foreign trips and prostitutes. The Wall Street giant denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the LIA lost money due to the global financial crash, not their close but controversial working relationship. In a statement after the ruling, the bank said: 'We are pleased to win this case, with a comprehensive judgment in our favour." The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Director for Africa, Neil Wigan had calls on the Prime Minister, the Minister for Commonwealth and Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary General at the Presidency and several other key interlocutors covering Prosperity, Security and assistance to refugees and displaced persons in Cameroon by the UK. Neil Wigan also used his visit to commend the contribution of the Business Coalition Against Corruption to the Government of Cameroons efforts fighting against corruption in the country. Later in the week Neil Wigan flew directly to NDjamena to meet the Secretary General at the Chadian Presidency, the Secretary General and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and members of civil society, media and the diplomatic community. The visit underlined the determination of the United Kingdom to remain a steadfast supporter of the Chadian people and highlighted opportunities by which the United Kingdom may be able to increase current levels of support including to help with improving security and with meeting the urgent demands for humanitarian and development support. Government has been cautioned not to develop insatiable taste for issuing dollar denominated bond after Ghana's first local dollar denominated bond was oversubscribed yesterday. Government yesterday raised a total of 94.62 million dollars at a rate of 6.0 percent with a maturity term of two years. Total bids were 99.6 million dollars but government accepted 94.62 million dollars, above its original target of 50 million dollars. By this, the cost of the bond is lower compared to government's last Eurobond which was issued in September this year at a coupon rate of 9.25 percent. Finance Minister Seth Terkper had earlier explained to Citi Business News that the move is aimed at raising funds to finance the budget at cheaper rate as well as refinance more expensive domestic debt. But speaking to Citi Business News, an Economist Dr. Eric Osei-Assibey was of the view that even though the bond was successful payment period is in the medium term, hence measures must be taken to avert undue pressure on the cedi when it matures. So much as it's a welcoming development for government to look within to raise domestic bond in dollar denominated, we still have to be careful so that we don't over indulge in it because a 6 percent rate for a two year bond will soon mature and if by that time we haven't been able to stabilize the currency definitely its going to put a lot of liquidity pressure, he warned. To prevent currency depreciation in the future, Dr. Osei-Assibey stated that measures must be taken now before the bond matures since government's obligation to pay is in dollars. He advised that it will be prudent to create an escrow account for the money since it cannot be accounted for if channeled through the Consolidated Fund. We also have to be mindful what we are using the money for. If it is going into development project, productive sectors, then off course we must ensure that we create the necessary escrow account for the repayment otherwise it is going to be put into the Consolidated Fund for recurrent expenditure then it is quite dangerous, he said. Govt's loan plan The bond is part of government's revised time table to raise 25 billion cedis from August to December this year through bonds and treasury bills. The announcement was a revised issuance calendar indicating government's plan of borrow from August to December. The report showed that about Gh24 billion of the funds raised will be used to clear previous bonds issued that are maturing, with the remaining going to support fresh commitments. As part of the plans, a three-year bond will also be issued in November to raise GH700 million while government hopes to issue its first 10-year local bond of GH200 million. According to government, the calendar aims at continuing the objective of lengthening the maturity profile by reducing short-term borrowing. It adds that the 3, 5, and 10-year issues will be done per the calendar through the book-building method with settlement on the last Mondays of each month. By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana Thin blue mushroom The Chinese Internet buzzword thin blue mushroom was registered on Oct. 13 as a companys brand in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, with registered capital of 500,000 RMB. When spoken in the regional dialect, the Chinese for sad and feeling like you want to cry (nan shou xiang ku) sounds similar to thin blue mushroom (lan shou xiang gu). The phrase was popularized thanks to a video in which a young man in Guangxi expressed his disappointment in love affairs. After the video was released several days ago, the phrase soon becomes popular among netizens. According to the new company's registration information, the business scope of Thin Blue Mushroom covers a wide range of domains, including equipment manufacturing, engineering and trade. "prehistoric powers" Before this, other buzzwords also became registered brand names in China. After the womens backstroke semifinal in the Rio Olympic Games, Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhuis exaggerate facial expressions and attribution of her success to prehistoric powers gained huge acclaim from netizens. Just two days later, "Prehistoric Power" was registered. Additionally, Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China and chairman of Wanda Group, rececently discussed his "small" goal of earning 100,000,000 RMB, attracting many reactions across social media. After one week, a company named Earning 100,000,000 RMB registered in Shenzhen, with capital of 2,500,000 RMB. "small" goal of earning 100,000,000 RMB Pretoria (AFP) - South Africa's anti-corruption watchdog on Friday called for the prompt release of a potentially explosive report into allegations President Jacob Zuma allowed a powerful Indian business family undue political sway over him. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's call came after Zuma launched last-minute court action delaying the release, saying he had not had time to respond to questions about so-called "state capture" by the Gupta family which stands accused of wielding so much power it was even able to nominate a cabinet minister. "I disagree with those who say the 'state capture' investigation was not urgent," Madonsela told reporters. "This matter has created so much fracture in the executive and in the country, it was necessary for the investigation to be done and to be done fast so that any cloud is cleared." The report was expected to be released on Friday, the last day in office for Madonsela, who has regularly clashed with the president. The Guptas -- brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh -- built an empire in mining transportation, technology and media after coming to South Africa from India in the early 1990s. One of Zuma's sons, Duduzane, is a business partner of the Guptas. In March, deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas accused the family in a statement of offering him the job of finance minister, something he said he rejected. Zuma, 74, has survived a series of damaging scandals, but has faced increasing criticism as the economy has stalled and after the ruling ANC party suffered unprecedented losses in local polls. "Just because sometimes we deal with underhand people, it doesn't mean we also have to be underhanded," Madonsela told her farewell news conference, adding that she was not directly referring to Zuma. Madonsela said she had handed the report to parliamentary Speaker Baleka Mbete for "safe keeping", pending a court hearing next month. But, in the latest political move, Mbete on Friday evening refused to accept the report saying that keeping such documents was not within the Speaker's duties. Corruption buster Madonsela declined to comment on new reports that ANC lawmaker David van Rooyen had met the Guptas the night before his appointment as finance minister in December. Van Rooyen replaced the widely-respected Nhlanhla Nene, but was removed from the job after only four days, following a market plunge and wave of political outrage. Under Madonsela, the Public Protector's office gained a reputation as a formidable corruption buster, handing down scathing findings against Zuma, state agencies and public companies. Reflecting on her much-praised time in office, she said: "It is about finding the truth and telling it the best you know how in an effort to help the government treat its people properly." In 2014, she dealt a major blow to Zuma in a report that found he had "unduly benefited" from the refurbishment of his Nkandla rural home. Zuma fought the case until being berated by the Constitutional Court and ordered to pay back public money spent on upgrades including a chicken coop and a swimming pool. After serving her seven-year term, Madonsela has been replaced by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, a home ministry official. Zuma endured another bout of criticism this week after Pravin Gordhan, who took over as finance minister from van Rooyen, was summoned to court on separate graft charges. Gordhan, a vocal campaigner against corruption within the government, has alleged that the case against him is politically motivated. The Secretary-General welcomes the reported release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls, following more than two years of captivity. He remains deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the remaining schoolgirls and other victims of abduction by Boko Haram, who are still in captivity. The Secretary-General urges the international community to continue supporting the government of Nigeria in its efforts to secure their release, rehabilitation and reintegration. He calls for increased efforts to ensure additional humanitarian access in the north-east of Nigeria, and reiterates the continued commitment of the United Nations in this regard. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, in his capacity as High Representative for Nigeria, continues to engage with the Nigerian authorities and international partners on this matter. File Photo 14.10.2016 LISTEN In my earlier rendition, which received a wide publication across the media landscape almost two weeks ago, I lamented on some of the dire ramifications of illegal mining and how we can turn the misfortunes of illegal mining to fortunes and hence the above title. I thank my editors and publishers for doing a good job. You can read it here if you had not read. This will enable you align the issues since this piece is only a continuation. Illegal Mining: Turning the Situation Around to Steer Economic Development http://www.gh2ghonline.com/2016/10/06/illegal-mining-turning-the-situation-around-to-steer-economic-development/ Also on, http://m.modernghana.com/news/723832/daffiama-bussie-issa-district-students-union-wage-war.html The issue still remains dear to my heart and I will continue to succinctly state what is fueling it in recent times. I don't need to repeat that mining is one of the most lucrative ventures in Africa and elsewhere and people naturally will want to explore in that area to make a living. People of all ages are therefore seen in the mining sites trying their luck. Of course, the major cause is the increasing unemployment in the country. Unemployment continue to be an albatross on many developing countries like Ghana. This affects the economic conditions of the people who must live at all cost. Remember life is a natural right and not a privilege. We have a section of the elite class, middle school leavers and the illiterates who rule themselves by the natural principle of survival of the fittest. This has left few alternatives of making a living in the hands of these poor but capable human labour. Many of them have therefore taken up illegal mining as a chosen vocation. This is the more reason why I think we can use that to change the destiny of such youth. Poverty is the direct outcome of unemployment and inadequate opportunities for the vast majority of citizens. There are many who are not able to meet the increasing cost of living in the country. Students from poor backgrounds use illegal mining to sponsor their own education whilst some parents also depend on that to take care of their families. I personally think that it is better than engaging in social vices like armed robbery, stealing, prostitution, internet fraud among others. If you ever visit a galamsey site, you would testify that indeed, those who engage in it are hard working as they work in terrible conditions with ambitious mindset of making life comfortable. Frankly, speaking, a lot have made it through this illegal mining. I know a couple of friends who have built beautiful houses and drive latest cars from their toils in that dreadful but lucrative business. Any attempt to abolish it therefore, means that a lot more development challenges would be precipitated directly since those who consider it a salvation, will have nothing to depend on than doing the unthinkable for survival. More importantly, I think government should also be blamed because the worse offenders of this act are the foreigners (mostly Chinese) who are all over with heavy buzzing machines excavating our virgin lands for minerals. It is conspicuous that their actions rather cause more harm to our environment. The question I ask is, who gives them that authority to excavate our lands and how much do they contribute to our national development? If our poor youth who are into this business have had the chance of using such sophisticated machines, I believe they could have been in a better position to contribute significantly to our national development. We must keep thinking. We cannot allow foreigners to engage in all sorts of heinous acts with impunity whilst we keep our poor citizenry at home to die of deprivation. That is absolutely absurd. Past and present governments cannot exonerate themselves from this. I think that some of the youth too believe in what I called "short cut" and usually drop from schools to engage in this business with the aim of living luxurious lives. It is short cut indeed because a lot have lost their lives too in their quest to make it by battling the "earth and its battalion of soldiers" down there. It is high time the youth got to know that there are better opportunities in school. Let's not allow peer influence to push us to such dead traps in the name of making money. Let's be content with the little given to us to stay in schools. Even parents elsewhere push their wards into this business because they see education to be a " mecca journey " very long a process to go. Yes I believe you are shaking your head in disbelief but I can state emphatically that there are a number of young ones even at very tender age who engage in illegal mining just to cater for family needs. Isn't that atrocious on the part of some parents? Going forward, I am very optimistic that the act could be turned into a fortune for nation building because it can employ over 50% of our youth if we commit time and resources to transform and streamline the operation of small scale mining by modifying and integrating these illegal miners. I am not by this piece encouraging anybody to go into illegal mining in its current state since the knowledge of its adversities are not an uncommon knowledge. The climatic changes, deterioration of our virgin lands, extinction of wildlife, drought, polution in different forms and loss of lives are just a few of the many consequences of illegal mining. My call is on all stakeholders and policy makers to consider studying and transforming this misfortune into a fortune considering the many benefits it stands to bring in, to catalyze our national development. It is the matter of national commitment. It is absolutely impossible to create employment to cater for everybody in the formal and informal sectors but our creativity can place people in a better position to explore many opportunities for national development. Everybody has a role to contribute in developing this country and our policies must be largely integrative and inclusive. We can put politics aside for policy because politics have not been able to curb the issue of illegal mining since independence. Shall be back..... Denis Andaban [email protected]. Cairo (AFP) - An attack on an Egyptian military checkpoint killed 12 soldiers and wounded six others on Friday in the Sinai Peninsula where security forces are fighting jihadists, the army said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Mortar rounds and rockets were fired at the army post, a police official and a medic told AFP. The army spokesman said in a statement that soldiers clashed with the assailants in the northern Sinai. "Terrorist elements attacked a checkpoint in the northern Sinai. The clashes left 12 soldiers dead and wounded six others," the statement said. It said that "15 terrorists were killed". But the jihadist IS group, in a statement on the smartphone app Telegram, said its "soldiers" were "safe and sound" and had seized arms and ammunitions during the attack on the military checkpoint. Egypt The attack took place in the Bir al-Abd area west of El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, the officials said. The Egyptian affiliate of IS has claimed several attacks on security forces and foreigners in the Sinai in the past. Bir al-Abd has so far been largely spared the violence that has rocked northern Sinai over the past three years. Jihadists in Egypt have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. They pledged allegiance to IS more than a year later, and their attacks have persisted despite a sweeping military campaign in the peninsula which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. Earlier this month, gunmen killed five Egyptian police conscripts in El-Arish. The jihadists claimed the bombing last year of a Russian airliner carrying tourists home from a Sinai resort. All 224 people on board were killed. The disqualified Flagbearer of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey has taken a swipe at the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) Mrs. Charlotte Osei for disqualifying the Party to contest the 2016 Presidential race over what he described as genuine errors that could have been corrected. The lost Presidential hopeful, who seems to be perturbed about the decision of the Commission issued a five day ultimatum (from today 13th to 17th October, 2016) to Mrs. Charlotte Osei to rescind her decision and grant them amble time to make the necessary corrections or else, face them in court. The Electoral Commission in a statement indicated that prior to the close of nominations on the 29th and 30th September, candidates whose nominations forms had obvious errors and who submitted early enough, were called by officers of the Commission and given the opportunity to correct the obvious errors or omissions on their nominations forms. It further added that the law permits such corrections only within the nomination period hence their earlier call on candidates to submit as early as possible. The Electoral Commission said it is unable to accept Dr. Henry Herbert Larteys nominations because the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. The Commission disqualified Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey on grounds that pages 18-22 do not contain the signatures of subscribers as required by law. Dr. Lartey accused the Electoral Commission of failing to execute its work diligently because their records shows that the nomination forms (pages 18-22) were duly signed by the subscribers Speaking at a press conference in Accra, the Flagbearer of GCPP vowed to pursue Mrs. Charlotte Osei in every section of the law to ensure that the EC rescind her decision for him to join the Presidential race for the 2016 general elections come December 7. According to the Flagbearer of GCPP, the Party also provided the personal records of its Vice Presidential Candidate yet the Commission went ahead to disqualified them for failing to provide those details. The EC further stated that one subscriber, Amadu Babia Latifah with same voter ID number and Polling Station also supported the nominations of another candidate and further detected that the said subscriber has different signatures on both candidates nominations raising questions as to the legitimacy of both signatures. Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Lartey is of the view that he cannot be held responsible for someones error since one cannot tell whether a person endorsing a candidate forms had also endorsed the nominations of another candidate. Lawyer Mauris Ampaw, the Legal Aid to Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey vowed to pursue Mrs. Charlotte Osei to the latter to ensure that the Commission reconsiders his client quest to allow him ample time to correct those errors rather than booting him out of the race. He described the EC Chair as arrogant person for calling the bluff of all the Presidential Candidates who were disqualified to go to court for redress. A new report, Social Enterprise Activity in Ghana Research Report has shown that 98 social enterprises in Ghana currently employ 998 young people directly and impacting 103,148 lives in Ghana. This was recounted at the British Council Ghana high level launch of the Social Enterprise Activity in Ghana Research Report Launch. The report which was held at the at the British Council in Accra brought together the private sector, development partners, civil society, academia, government and social enterprise experts. In his keynote address, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Trade and Industry, spoke on the potential of social enterprises to create jobs, transfer technology, and create new products and services. He mentioned governments efforts at fostering an enabling environment for social enterprises to prosper. According to Dr Spio-Garbrah, the government of Ghana has a rural entrepreneurship programme currently running in 161 districts, as well as opportunities for funding made-in-Ghana technology through the GRATIS foundation. Liliana Biglou, head of British Council Ghana, recounted her experience with some underprivileged women in Kenya which motivated her to appreciate the value of social enterprise. Businesses have power not for profit alone, but to bring social empowerment to societies. She iterated that the British Council is keen to leverage the UK experience with Ghanas flair for innovation and the need for socially relevant solutions. The report emphasises that there are about 26,000 social enterprises operating in Ghana. About 98 social enterprises sampled nationwide for this research are currently employing over 900 people annually earning over GHC 8 million Ghana cedis. The research identifies some key bottlenecks affecting the growth of the social enterprise ecosystem in Ghana. These include 71% reporting access to financing, 47% debt and equity, 32% lack of understanding of social enterprise operational model, 26% lack of technical skills and 32% lack of advisory and other support services. The report also highlights some growth plans for the ecosystem in Ghana including 59% reporting increase in sales and customers, 61% expanding to new geographical areas and 59% attracting new investments. The report highlights a positive outlook for the social enterprise in Ghana with the current support systems by government and other development partners including the British Council. Highlighting some of the achievements in the ecosystem in Ghana, Sydney Hushie head of British Council Ghana social enterprise programme indicated that the British Council in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and SE Ghana are in the process of development of a social enterprise policy for Ghana which is to streamline operation of social enterprises. He also mentioned the setup of a social enterprise network, support of the Social enterprise Award with the AGI and connection of social enterprises to the UK market. The United Nations General Assembly today (October 13,2016) formally appointed Mr. Antonio Manuel de Guterres, the former Prime Minister of Portugal as the next United Nations Secretary-General, to succeed the current one, Mr. Ban Ki-moon when his term ends on December 31, this year. Sixty-seven year old Guterres will start his new job as the ninth Secretary General from January 1, next year to December 31, 2021. He was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, former President of the European Commission and former President of the Socialists International. The 193-member Assembly approved by acclamation the recommendation made by the 15-member Security Council on October 5, this year. This was by adopting a consensus resolution put forward by the GA president, Peter Thompson to confirm Guterres, as the next UN Secretary General. The adoption was greeted with applause from the Member-States. For the first time in UN history, the selection of the new Secretary-General was not traditionally decided behind closed-doors, but involved televised, public discussions with each of the 13 candidates (seven women and six men) campaigning for the world's top diplomatic position. An elated Guterres, who is generally seen as an answer to the terrorism and refugee crisis worldwide, thanked the Assembly for the appointment and the trust reposed in him. He was particularly thankful to the Member States for the transparent and open selection process. Guterres credited with the most profound structural reform in the UNHCR's history and its ability to respond to the largest displacement crisis since the Second World war said that the process for his appointment means that the true winner today is the credibility of the UN. He remarked that "And it also made very clear to me that, as Secretary-General, having been chosen by all Member States, I must be at the service of them all equally and with no agenda but the one enshrined in the UN Charter. The Secretary General designate stressed that alleviating the suffering of the vulnerable people, in particular the refugees and those in conflict zones, and gender equality would remain key priorities for him during his tenure. "We must make sure that we are able to break these alliances between all the terrorist groups or violence extremists on one side and the expression of populism and xenophobia on the other side. We must be able to fight both of them with determination", he pointed out adding that the protection and empowerment of women in the organization will continue to be a priority commitment. The Secretary-General-designate also reiterated his belief in the values of peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity, climate change, as well as his belief that diversity is a tremendous asset and not a threat. Mr. Guterres praised the hard work of the current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and promised to continue the work ahead with honour. Congratulating him on his appointment, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon said that the Secretary-general designate is best known where it counts most- on the frontlines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering and hoped he will build on the progress of the past decade in addressing the insecurity of today's world. Mr. Ban also lauded the Member States for the selection process which for the first time in the UN history included public hearings with the General Assembly where each candidate presented his vision and answered questions from member states, stating that it opened the process to the world. He further noted that the new steps taken this year had established a new benchmark of openness and engagement. President of the GA expressed the confidence that Mr. Guterres will serve the global community with dedication, as a moral authority, and be the voice of our collective conscience and humanity, throughout his term. Commenting on the selection process, Mr. Thompson, noted that It was a process that specifically sought out candidates who embody a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the [UN] Charter; who exemplify the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity; and who have proven leadership and managerial abilities, extensive experience in international relations, strong diplomatic, communication and multilingual skills. On his part, Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), also congratulated the Secretary-General-designate, describing him as a humanitarian advocate and a successful leader. Guterres a devout Roman Catholic, is a former Secretary General of the League of Nations and the United Nations, a member of Council of State of Portugal is married with children. He studied physics and electrical engineering at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon. He speaks Portuguese,English, French and Spanish. Luxembourg (AFP) - The EU on Monday warned the Democratic Republic of Congo it faced sanctions if it does not hold early elections and condemned recent deadly violence between opponents and supporters of President Joseph Kabila. More than 50 people died in clashes in the capital Kinshasa in September as the opposition called on Kabila, in power since 2001, to step down amid fears he wanted to stay in office after his term ends in December. European Union foreign ministers said the bloc was "deeply concerned by the political situation (and)... strongly condemns the acts of extreme violence." "The EU will use all the means at its disposal, including individual restrictive measures against those responsible for serious human rights violations, those who promote violence and those who would try to obstruct a consensual and peaceful solution to the crisis," a statement said as the ministers met in Luxembourg. EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini will now study the issue, it added. Diplomatic sources told AFP last week the bloc was looking at people close to Kabila as possible sanctions targets. Shortly after the September killings, Washington put two Kabila allies -- army commander Major General Gabriel Amisi Kumba and former inspector of police General John Numbi -- on its sanctions blacklist for undermining democracy. Kabila first took office in 2001, and in 2006 a new constitutional provision limited the presidency to a two-term limit which expires in December. At the beginning of this month, the DRC's electoral commission said it would seek to delay a vote until November 2017. The foreign ministers said Monday that a political "dialogue must lead to the holding of presidential and legislative elections as soon as possible in 2017." Their statement did not mention a specific date but said the issue must be resolved by December 19 when Kabila's term official ends. The EU has previously imposed a series of sanctions -- trade restrictions, asset freezes and travel bans -- on the DRC over rights abuses. The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) is guilty of abuse of incumbency in the lead up to the December 7 polls, the Ghana Integrity Initiative has said. Findings of a research conducted by the anti-graft organisation found the NDC has engaged in various forms of abuse as the party pushes to snatch a second term bid for President John Mahama in the general election. The 10-page report said on July 17 during a rally organised in Jirapa to outdoor the NDCs parliamentary candidate, Dr Francis Dukurah, 10 new motor bikes were distributed to party officials. The candidate was also capture on camera sharing GHC2.00 notes to the party supporters at the function. On Wednesday 27 July, 2016 the First Lady Mahama donated medical equipment and supplies to the Navrongo War Memorial Hospital as part of efforts to reduce mother to child transmission of HIV. The event took place at the forecourt of the hospital. In attendance was the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, the MP Hon. Mark Woyongo, the Upper East Regional Minster Hon. Albert Abongo and his deputy, the MCE Dr Stanislaus Kadingni, the NDC National Womens Organiser, Chiefs and Queen mothers as well as NDC party supporters." "The MP, Hon. Mark Woyongo, used the function to campaign by highlighting the achievements of the NDC government and the promises he will fulfill if he is re-elected into office, the report said. Refresh the page for more Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com Monday was probably one of the worst days in the lives of some 12 presidential hopefuls of the 2016 general elections. This happened a day after the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) manifesto launch and mammoth rally at the International Trade Fair Centre. Related: Full text: Akufo-Addo's speech at NPP 2016 manifesto launch The 12 presidential candidates, including the Progressive People's Party's (PPP) Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom; National Democratic Party's (NDP) Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and All People's Party's (APC) Hassan Ayariga were all disqualified by the Electoral Commission (EC). From left - Dr Nduom, Dr Edward Mahama, Hassan Ayariga, Mrs Rawlings and Madam Akua Donkor The reasons for their disqualification were spelled out by the EC but some of the aggrieved candidates in their responses to the EC threatened court action against the commission. Related : If EC doesnt know my identity the court will tell her Ayariga threatens The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei Discussions about the decision which will never be forgotten in Ghana's history books continued on Tuesday as Dr Nduom demanded a five minutes meeting with the Electoral Commissioner. The Commissioner, however, called the bluff of the disqualified aspirants after their threats of suing the EC. With about 53 days to the general elections, it is not surprising that another big political story followed Dr Nduom's demand. President John Dramani Mahama questioned the cost of the cedi redenomination undertaken by President Kufuor in 2007, with NPP vice presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia then as Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG). In a response, Dr Bawumia said the request by the President was another "demonstration of incompetence." Dr Bawumia (L), President John Mahama (R) Related: Hot Audio: Mahama, Bawumia trade jabs Then on Wednesday it emerged that a military man, Private Osei Owusu was under investigation for taking a photograph in his uniform with a Kalyppo fruit drink. Private Osei Owusu Although the investigations were over on Thursday, the Director of Communications of the Ghana Armed Forces, Col Aggrey Quarshie, would not comment on the outcome except to say that the investigations are over and Private Osei Owusu is going about his official duties. Also on Thursday, the lawyer for the EC said his client acted within its powers by disqualifying the presidential candidate of the NDP and 11 others. On the same day, the 2016 Presidential candidate of the PPP, pointing out errors committed by the EC on a receipt given to him for payment of GH1.7 million as filing fees for the party's 170 parliamentary candidates, said the EC should pardon errors on his presidential nomination form. On Friday, the party called on the National Peace Council and the National Chief Imam to intervene in the disqualification of the 12 presidential hopefuls. Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Akosua Asiedua Akuffo | [email protected] The mantras and phenomena of "dominating markets" and "maximizing profits" have contributed to reproducing a status quo that many have understood to be "under-development," or the development of a "Third World." Many have also attributed these phenomena, primarily, to the shrewd and dubious prescriptions of the World Bank and IMF, since the terms underdevelopment and Third World are essential economic indicators or descriptors. However, when the dust settles, and the political left and right put down their swords for a parley (in the form of the G8/G20/G77 meetings), the battlefield draws a stark and bloody picture. The steady rise in unemployment, the depletion and pollution of vital resources, unnecessary and unmitigated violence upon the vulnerable in society, and most importantly, the wanton exploitation and disenfranchisement of the majority of peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America all highlight the pressing need for radical responses to change the status quo. At face value, China and South Africa are two nations with vastly different capabilities, challenges and plans. Their geo-political footprints and objectives are so different that it is as though one was comparing the Chinese Panda with the tropical African Silverback Gorilla. However, with a more nuanced analysis of interests, it appears there is a binding theme that plays a very important role in positioning these two nations as catalysts of change. This theme, grounded in the notion of unity, or as Chinese foreign policy dictates, a harmonious world, is more than just idealistic or altruistic posturing. The most successful tool in galvanizing the productive and strategic-planning capacities of African peoples over the past century and a half has been the vision of Pan-African unity. In fact, African nationalism was born out of Pan-Africanism, and any successful institutional achievement has been under the umbrella of Pan-Africanism. It is only under this pre-condition that any meaningful economic development agenda can take root in Africa. For China, at a time when its soft diplomacy in Africa is being heavily scrutinized, its ability to understand the strategic interests and deficits of the various African nations in fierce competition is crucial. It must realize that it is only through a shared vision of political and economic unity that it would gain any substantial benefit and advantage. In practical terms, this means shifting the emphasis away from dealing with African nations bilaterally. The current neo-colonial political and economic architecture in Africa does not bode well for any development agenda. Therefore denouncing and disregarding it is paramount. This means that any realistic developmental agenda proposed through the BRICS will have to address these non-productive and unconstructive elements of political and economic organization. Both South Africa and China have in the BRICS, and its corresponding banking platform (the New Development Bank), an opportunity to facilitate the formulation and construction of long-lasting mechanisms. Such mechanisms would have far-reaching consequences for the reform and eventual overhaul of international financial capitalism and trade. By banking on the BRICS, a meaningful alliance would mean that South Africa and China cooperate on strengthening intra-African parliamentary processes, which at present are under the aegis of the poorly financed African Union (AU). By focusing on this source of political power, one is then able to focus on harnessing the different skill sets within African society, and focus efforts on supporting the necessary regional development plans, such as energy-producing networks, transportation networks and related services. For the New Development Bank (NDB) to chart new paths and open up new opportunities, it has to defy its operational mandate, which is to primarily accrue profits from lending money, and the investments it makes. Redistributing value by making bonds available to labor unions, collectives and consortiums directly related to development initiatives on the ground becomes crucial to the realization of the agendas set by the AU, and also secures the interests of Chinese investments in Africa. The NDB would also have to invest heavily in indigenous and localized capacities to ensure new business initiatives. By doing this, one encourages the youth within society to take the initiative in how they create business, on their terms. Lastly, to counter-balance the pressure put on the NDB by the World Bank and IMF regarding profitability, campaigning for the downgrading or erasure of national debt is imperative. The Euro-American financial oligarchies draining African economies have to account for their colonial legacy, and their business interests need to be brought into line. In light of these tasks, China and South Africa can chart new paths and avenues of change through the BRICS. The upcoming eighth annual BRICS summit, to be held between Saturday and Sunday in Goa, India, represents an auspicious moment to engage with these challenging, but manageable issues. (The author is a research fellow with the Pangoal Institution, a Beijing-based public policy research think-tank.) Fertilizer imports into Ghana and the West Africa sub-region especially from abroad is expected to drop drastically by the third quarter of next year. This follows cement manufacturer Dangote's commencement of the construction of a $2 billion fertilizer production plant with the capacity of processing over 3 million tonnes of the product annually, the largest single-fertilizer complex in the world. The plant which covers 500 hectares of land is aimed at not only meeting the supply needs of farmers across the sub-region towards boosting crop yield but also to reduce product cost. Speaking with JOY BUSINESS's Kuuku Abban at the site at Lekki, Lagos state in Nigeria, General Manager of Dangote Fertilizer Limited, Anurag Jaiswal, said the impact on the economy of Nigeria and the entire region cannot be overemphasized. "This is going to be one of the largest single capacity complex in the world producing in total 8,000 tonnes of urea daily. We'll be having two trains of ammonia and two trains of urea and each train will produce 4,000 tonnes. So in a year it will be 3 million tonnes. "It is much expensive to import from abroad due to freight cost but it will certainly be cheaper if you are importing from Nigeria. It will have a huge impact on the Nigerian economy because we will be saving a lot of foreign exchange," he noted. He also spoke about the impact of stopping fertilizer import from abroad on the Nigerian economy emphasising that the foreign exchange savings will be huge. "This will also be good for African countries because if they import from Nigeria it will be cheaper than from abroad. "We will also sell it much cheaper because the cost of production will be low due to the fact that we will be producing our own natural gas," he stressed. Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Kuuku Abban | Joy Business The Hague (AFP) - Rights organisations Friday condemned a vote by Burundian lawmakers to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, warning the government was trying to hide abuses from the eyes of the world. If Burundi quits the tribunal it would be "a significant escalation of the regime's policy to isolate itself," said Dimitris Christopoulos, president of the FIDH, which represents human rights groups around the world. "This attempt to deprive the international community of its eyes and ears in Burundi in order to continue to commit serious crimes with impunity and without the world knowing, requires a strong and immediate response from the African Union and the United Nations," he added. Burundian lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to withdraw from the tribunal in the Hague, taking the central African nation a step closer to being the first ever to quit the body. The move is the latest snub of the international community by Burundi, which has been mired in 18 months of violent political crisis since President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term in office. A spokesman for the ICC said withdrawing from the Rome Statute which underpins the tribunal was "a voluntary and sovereign decision which is the prerogative of all states." But Burundi appears not to have formally written to the UN secretary general informing him of the decision. The decision to withdraw from the ICC tribunal takes the central African nation of Burundi one step closer to being the first country ever to quit the body Once formal notification is received, the country's departure from the 124-nation body will only become effective after a year. However, ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah told AFP that even if a country leaves the ICC it is still bound by any ongoing actions. In April, ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda launched a preliminary investigation into reports of "killing, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as cases of enforced disappearances." The initial probe is aimed at determining whether there is enough evidence to proceed to a full-blown investigation by ICC prosecutors which could result in charges against those believed responsible for the violence. Abdallah said the court had had "overwhelming support of African states" when it opened in 2002 as the world's only permanent war crimes court. Its mission was "to fight impunity for atrocity crimes, and by so doing, strengthen the rule of law, break the cycles of violence and to contribute to peace and stability." Spokesperson for Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari, has jumped to the defense of his boss, saying he was only joking when he remarked that his wife belongs to the kitchen. Mallam Garba Shehu in a tweet urged people to see it as a joke, adding that the President has promoted many women: My friends, cant a leader get a sense humour anymore? Mr. President laughed before that statement was made. Mallam Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) October 14, 2016 Mr. President respects the place of women in our society. He believes in the abilities of women. Mallam Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) October 14, 2016 Buhari has been intensely criticized on social media following his comments which was supposed to be a response to his wife, Aishas interview on the BBC where she questioned his leadership. In an interview during a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the AP news agency quoted Buhari as saying I dont know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room. Aisha's concerns Muhammadu Buhari's wife had warned him that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government. She suggested the government had been hijacked, saying a few people were behind presidential appointments. She said people who did not share the vision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were now appointed to top posts because of the influence a few people wield. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position. Asked to name those who had hijacked the government, she refused, saying: You will know them if you watch television. By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana [with files from BBC] The Director of Research of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) says government is not deliberately denying the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) funds for its operations because of its watchdog role. Dr William Ahadzi says PIAC is facing the same financial challenges other state institutions go through yearly in the hands of government. Speaking on the Joy FMs Ghana Connect programme held at the University of Professional Studies, Accra Friday, the former Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA) said the NDC government is committed to transparency in the use of oil revenue in the country. PIAC has indicated in 2011 that its activities are threatened because of financial constraint. As a result, the body said it has become difficult if not impossible for them to undertake its activities as mandated. It was created by the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, PRMA (Act 815) to oversee Ghanas oil and gas sector. The law mandates the body in section 53 (1) to; (a) Consult widely on best practice related to management and use of petroleum revenues; and (b) Determine the rules of procedure under which it will operate. (2) The Accountability Committee shall have its own secretariat that will facilitate the performance of its functions The committee has executed its roles and has courted the displeasure of some government functionaries. In July 2016, Chairman of the Committee, Professor Paul Kingsley Buah-Bassuah decried governments lack of documentation in its use of the oil money. After inspecting a project in the Upper East Region, Prof Buah-Bassuah said: It came to light during a visit to the Zebilla Senior High Technical School in the Bawku West District in the Upper East Region of Ghana, that school authorities, as well as some officials in the District Assembly, had no idea that the construction of a two-storey dormitory for the school was being funded by oil revenues. Although it has been given an independent oversight responsibility over the management of petroleum revenues, PIAC has since its inception faced financial challenges, a situation which has weakened the resolve of Committee members. Many political commentators had said the Committee was being punished because of the stern manner it scrutinizes government spending of oil revenues but Dr Ahadzi holds a contrary view. He said like many other institutions competing for limited funds, PIAC is facing the same financial challenges. As far as oil revenue and expenditure are concerned, the NDC functionary said government has put in place the requisite measures to ensure transparency in what the money is used for. We set up the Ghana Infrastructure Fund (GIF) and the Heritage fund which essentially define what we put the oil revenue into, he said. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | Email: [email protected] By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA Accra, Oct 14, GNA - Ghana would participate in the up-coming United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) scheduled for October 17 to 20 in Quito-Ecuador. Mr Emmanuel Kwadjo Agyekum, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development would lead the delegation, which include officials from the Ministries of Local Government, Water Resources and Works and Housing. Officials from the UN Habitat in Ghana, Zoomlion Ghana, GIZ and Cities Alliance would also be part of the conference. The National Development Planning Commission, Tema Metropolitan Assembly, La Dadekotopon Municipal Assembly and other partners would also be at the conference. The objective of Habitat Conference, the third conference in line with the bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 2016) is to invigorate and secure renewed global political commitment to sustainable urbanisation to focus on the implementation of a 'New Urban Agenda', building on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996. It is also to assess the accomplishments to date, address poverty, identify and address new and emerging urban challenges for the establishment of the 'New Urban Agenda'. Mr Sylvanus Adjornu, the Head of the Urban Development Unit at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra, on Friday, that Ghana had a lot to showcase at the conference. They include its constitutional democracy, successes of its decentralisation, urban policy, programmes and projects. He said Ghana had also participated in three preparatory conferences in New York, USA, Nairobi, Kenya and Surabaya, Indonesia. Mr Adjornu said the President John Dramani Mahama was also nominated by the UN Habitat to champion the Urban Development Agenda in Africa to create awareness among African Heads of States on the need to promote urban development on the continent. He said Africa was the fastest growing continent with about 47 per cent of its population in urban centers. He said the New Urban Agenda that would be ratified in Quito, Ecuador, was prepared by urban development experts, the academia, the Government and other global stakeholders. He said the conference was the major agreement on urban development, coming after the ratification of the Sustainable Development Goals. Mr Adjornu said since 2009, the majority of the world's population lived in cities. He described cities as 'economic and productive innovation spaces, which provide opportunities for improving access to resources and services, as well as options in the social, legal, economic, cultural and environmental fields.' GNA A.B. Kafui Kanyi, GNA Ho, Oct. 14, GNA - Mr Ekow Afedzie, the Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), has identified sole proprietorship as the reason for which many local companies become stagnant and collapse after few years in operation. 'The desire to be sole owners of small businesses is the challenge for our indigenous enterprises,' he stated. 'The 'ownership culture' is killing our small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). Our people believe in quantity and not value.' Mr Afedzie made the assertion in Ho at a forum organised for members of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). It was on theme 'Raising Capital through the Ghana Alternative Market'. He said it was better to own 10 per cent of a one-billion-worth enterprise than being the sole owner of an unproductive business. He, therefore, encouraged SMEs to go into partnerships to expand their businesses. Mr Afedzie said partnership was the way to grow businesses now as it helped to raise long-term capital for equipment and expansion. The Ghana Alternative Market (GAX), he said, was introduced to cater for domestic companies and advised participants at the forum to take advantage of the initiative, which comes with a lower cost. Madam Joyce Boakye, Head of Listing at the GSE, said the Ghana Alternative Market focused on businesses with the potential to grow, including start-ups and existing enterprises. She said it offered easier access to long-term capital at relatively lower cost, reduced risk and improved liquidity, among others. Mr Philip Kobina Abodoh, the Officer at the Ghana Alternative Market (GAX), encouraged SMEs to contact stock brokers and convert their businesses to public limited liability companies to benefit from GAX. GNA Accra, Oct 14, GNA - The Vodafone African SME Summit opened in Accra, on Thursday with a call on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to look at collaboration in the execution of big ticket deals and contracts to be able to beat the competition. The panelists, who made the call said, it was necessary for the SMEs to come together to make things happen and deliver on contracts rather than trying to do it alone, saying that was the only way to ensure the growth and sustainability of the businesses. Professor Pikay Richardson from the Manchester Business School, a member of the panel, said all over the world business trends were changing from competition in favour of collaboration. He said while in the past companies were asked to dwell more on their competitive advantage, the best strategy now was to even collaborate with one's competitors to be able deliver the goods. 'In today's world the best option is to collaborate,' he added. 'Sometimes people don't feel safe when you talk about partnerships but get into a kind of collaboration with somebody else and that can ensure you more ahead,' Prof. Richardson added. With Vodafone as the headline sponsor, the two-day Vodafone African SME Summit is running from 13th to 14th October on the theme: 'Entrepreneurship- Being a Ready Business.' The Summit is organised by events and marketing communications firm, Creative Trends, and would provide SMEs opportunity to learn from major industry players and also understand business growth essentials. The summit would also provide networking and mentoring opportunities for SME owners and avenues for them to showcase their products. Mr Yaw Asamoah, the Convenor of the Summit, said SMEs were important players for accelerated economic development and there was the need for entrepreneurs to learn new skills for sustainable businesses. He said the seminar had been designed to empower and offer SMEs with essential business knowledge and solutions to help increase their productivity drive efficiency and increase growth. The African SME organisation defines medium enterprises as organisations with revenue base of up to $30m and employing up to 300 people. Small enterprises are those with not less than 100 employees and an annual turnover of US$5 million, while micro enterprises as those employing not less than 10 and with not less than US$1 million annual turnover. Among the speakers are Professor Pikay Richardson from the Manchester Business School, Professor Matthew Tsamenyi from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS); Mr Dhananjay Tripathi, and Mr Victor Yaw Asante of First National Bank. The summit is also supported by First National Bank, Phoenix Insurance, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), the National Investment Bank (NIB), with Graphic Business as the main media partner. GNA 14.10.2016 LISTEN By Gifty Amofa/Stephen Asante, GNA Kumasi, Oct 14, GNA - The National Peace Council (NPC) has called for journalists to go the extra mile to make sure that the truth is never sacrificed under any circumstance for political expediency. Mr. Francis Azuimah, the Executive Secretary, said they should avoid indiscretion - anything unethical, likely to inflame passion and throw the country into turmoil as it inched closer to the presidential and parliamentary elections. 'We have had enough of electoral violence on the African continent and you owe it a duty to this nation to be professional and truthful in the discharge of your duties.' Addressing a two-day workshop for the media in Kumasi, he reminded them about the need to be accurate, factual and balanced in their reports. The programme was put together by the NPC with support from the European Union (EU) to build the capacity of the media to provide effective coverage of the coming polls. Mr. Azuimah indicated that the journalist had critical role to play to keep the nation united and calm. The NPC, he said, was therefore determined to deepen the conversation with the media to promote responsible journalism, to dial down political tension and prevent ugly clashes. He announced plans to organize training programmes for the owners of media houses to get them to properly streamline things to aid their workers to stick to professional ethics. Mrs. Elizabeth Kankam-Boadu, the acting Ashanti Regional Chairperson of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), asked her colleagues to exercise good professional judgement at all times. GNA By Laudia Sawer Nungua, (GAR) Oct 14, GNA - The Ledzekuku-Krowor Municipal Inter Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) has held its second meeting with a call on political party representatives to desist from taking entrenched positions on issues. The IPDC, which was inaugurated on September 29, met on Thursday to deliberate on peace promotion programmes including holding of community durbars and parliamentary candidates' dialogue. Imam Abu Khartey of the Accra East Central-Mosque, in an interview, said when political party representatives always take entrenched positions on issues it negatively affects the development of the country. Imam Khartey added that instead of looking for opportunities to pull each other down, political party activists must believe in the capabilities of each other and work towards uniting the country. He said it was about time they set aside their party lenses and put the nation first by deliberating on issues as patriotic citizens instead of party functionaries. The Imam further urged Ghanaians to learn from the mistakes of others and use it as an opportunity to move on instead of capitalizing on them to fuel chaos before, during and after the elections. Reverend Father Aaron H.N.D. Dodoo of the St Peter Anglican Church, Nungua, who chaired the meeting, reminded politicians not to incite their followers to violence but be good examples to them. Rev Fr. Dodoo asked them to work towards obtaining a good name instead of being vessels of destruction in the country. Mr Nicholas Tetteh Atiogbe, Ledzekuku-Krowor Municipal Director, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), said dialoguing on issues was the best approach to solving electoral misunderstanding among parties. Mr Atiogbe added that it was for that reason that the IPDC was formed by the Commission to serve as a platform to promote peace in the two constituencies under the district. He indicated that with the support of the European Union, his outfit has organized a number of voter educational programmes for some vulnerable and marginalized groups in the District. He gave the assurance that intensive education on voting procedures; proper thumb printing and public order law among others would be done. Mr Atiogbe implored the various political parties to adhere to the political party code and encourage their followers to observe all electoral laws. GNA 14.10.2016 LISTEN By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA Cape Coast, Oct.14, GNA - More than 17,000 people in Ghana die annually as a result of exposure to air pollution, with children and women being the most affected victims, Mrs Gina McCarthy, a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, had said. More numbers of allergies in both adults and children would also be recorded due to the high amounts of hydrochloric acid being released into the atmosphere, she added. These were stated during a panel discussion on Climate Change and its impacts on public health at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), on Monday. Mrs McCarthy said air pollution was the largest environmental health risk in the world, as more than seven million people globally died annually from that. The EPA administrator said poor women and children paid a heavy price from indoor air pollution as they spent more time at home breathing in smoke and soot from leaky coal and wood cook stoves. She said cleaning up the air could save lives and prevents non-communicable diseases and also reduce disease risks among women and vulnerable groups, including children and the elderly She, therefore, urged Ghana to take advantage of the efficient technologies available to continue to grow economically in a manner where natural resources would be more effectively protected. She called on Ghana and other African countries to invest in efficient renewable energy for energy security, promote low-carbon transport for less congestion and pollution and low-input agriculture to boost food security. Mrs Mc Carthy said Climate Change strategies must also look at ensuring higher efficiencies in fuel-wood utilisation and how it could contribute to improved health and profit margins of women traders. She said people must be educated on the devastating effects of climate change and the need to shift to clean technologies that were vital to a stable and successful future. She said Ghana must learn from the challenges and successes of the US at a time when the country was becoming more urbanised and industrialised. She also indicated that Ghana could follow some of the legal steps the US had taken in the industry, energy and transportation sectors to reduce carbon emissions. Dr Frederick Ato Armah, the Head of Department, Environmental Science, UCC, said Africa must stop playing victims of the impact of Climate Change and be more proactive in dealing with the issue because they had in a way contributed to it. Dr Sabastian Eliason, the Head of Department, Community Medicine of the School of Medical Sciences, UCC, said the impact of Climate Change posed great danger to public health and pragmatic measures were needed to address it. GNA Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived Thursday in Cambodia for a two-day state visit, with experts saying that the trip would push the traditional friendship to a new high, and will further promote regional development and integration, despite the challenges that lie ahead. Thirty-one agreements, including soft loan deals of around $237 million, were signed on Thursday following the meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Hun Sen, Reuters reported. Xi also pledged to urge Chinese investment in building high-speed rail in Cambodia and an airport in Siem Reap province, as well as provide an additional 500 scholarships. The Chinese leader has also canceled around $89 million in debt, according to EangSophalleth, an aide to Hun Sen. "This is historic in terms of the number of agreements signed and pledges," Sophalleth said, adding that Beijing had also pledged another $14 million in military aid. Xi on Thursday also met with Cambodian King NorodomSihamoni at the Cambodian Royal Palace, vowing to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday in a joint written interview with the Chinese media that friendly relations between the two countries have witnessed remarkable progress. The two countries now face various challenges from domestic to international, including economic development, regional security, terrorism, climate change and others, said Hun Sen. "Xi's visit shows that Cambodia and China have cemented their friendship and pushed bilateral ties to a new high amid frequent exchanges at all levels," said Chen Shilun, a research fellow from the Guangzhou-based Institute of Advanced International Studies of Sun Yat-sen University. Xi's visit will contribute further to promoting Cambodia-China cooperation in areas of infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, education, trade and investment, ChheangVannarith, chairman of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies was cited by Xinhua as saying. China is now Cambodia's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment with bilateral collaboration expanding in many areas, including trade, investment, connectivity, energy resources and infrastructure. Statistics from China's Ministry of Commerce show that trade between China and Cambodia reached $4.43 billion in 2015, indicating an annual growth of 17.95 percent. China and Cambodia have a lot of complementarities in national development and dealing with regional issues - China could offer a hand with Cambodia's economic development, and if it thrives, it will also represent China's efforts in promoting regional development and stability, Chen said. China has provided more than $3 billion in loans and grants to Cambodia since 1992. In July, China agreed to provide $600 million to Cambodia for infrastructure, education and health. Chen also noted that compared with the influx of aid from Western countries which has come under some conditions, China's aid has no strings attached. Standing together In a signed article published on the Cambodian newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea on Wednesday, Xi said that China and Cambodia have stood together and supported each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns. "Cambodia was firm in supporting China's efforts to restore its lawful seat in the UN. When China acted to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime interests and was devoted to resolving related disputes through peaceful negotiation, Cambodia did not hesitate to speak out to uphold justice," Xi said. Cambodian Foreign Minister PrakSokhonn said during an ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in July that maritime disputes in the South China Sea are not an issue between ASEAN and China, adding that the South China Sea arbitration has damaged regional stability, Xinhua reported. Cambodia also plays a key role in mediating China's relations with other ASEAN countries, which may counter US and Japanese accusations against China over the maritime disputes, Zhou Fangying, a professor at the Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies, told the Global Times However, it may belittle Cambodia's role as some observers say that China is trading for the country's support over maritime or other political disputes, Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times. China is trying to expand its diplomacy from not only maintaining good political relations with neighboring countries or offering financial aid, but also to seek regional development, said Zhao, pointing out that Cambodia has played an active role in implementing the "Belt and Road" initiative. The booming Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone stands as testimony to how fruitful China-Cambodia cooperation can be. By June 2016, 100 companies were operating in the zone with a total investment of $280 million, creating over 13,000 jobs. Kigali (AFP) - World envoys were Friday putting the final touches to a deal in Rwanda to phase out potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners, a major step in curbing global warming. Tough negotiations have seen major developing nations such as India put up a fight over the timeline to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and the financing of the transition. However some delegates were already praising an early agreement in principle, and were hammering out the final details in late night sessions. "Country representatives are now negotiating the final details of the amendment," read a tweet from Rwanda's natural resources ministry. HFCs and the greenhouse effect "This is a huge win for the climate. We have taken a major concrete step in delivering on the promises we made in Paris last December," said Miguel Arias Canete, a commissioner with the European Union in a statement ahead of the adoption of the agreement. "The global phase-down we have agreed today could knock off up to half a degree of warming by the end of the century." However thrashing out the nitty-gritty of the deal could take talks into the early hours of Saturday. 'Issues of cost' HFCs were introduced in the 1990s to replace chemicals that had been found to erode the ozone layer, but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming. Delegates attend the official opening of the 28th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali on October 13, 2016 However swapping HFCs for alternatives such as ammonia, water or gases called hydrofluoroolefins could prove costly for developing countries with sweltering summer temperatures, such as India. These countries want a later date for the phase down to begin. "There are issues of cost, there are issues of technology, there are issues of finances," said Ajay Narayan Jha of India's environment and climate change ministry. "We would like to emphasise that any agreement will have to be flexible from all sides concerned. It can't be flexible from one side and not from the other." Last month, a group of developed countries and companies offered $80 million (72 million euros) to help developing countries make the switch away from HFCs. 'Give it teeth' US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier acknowledged that while the US would be ready to begin phasing out HFCs by 2021, other countries might move at a slower pace. US Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech during the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, on October 14, 2016 "But no country has a right to turn their back on this effort," he told delegates, warning that the world already faces droughts, flooding, agricultural disasters and waves of climate refugees. "And if we're going to give this amendment the teeth it needs to prevent as much as a half-degree of warming, then we need to make sure we're pushing for the most far-reaching amendment we can adopt," he declared. Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, said that if the agreement was adopted, "it will be one the most important global meetings in this year." HFCs' predecessors, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were discontinued under the 1987 Montreal Protocol when scientists realised they were destroying the ozone layer. This blanket of gas in the upper stratosphere protects Earth from the Sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays. But it emerged that HFCs, while safe for the now-healing ozone, are thousands of times worse for trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. According to the Berkeley National Laboratory, air conditioning is the cause of the largest growth in HFCs -- and the world is likely to have another 700 million air conditioners by 2030. Last year's Paris climate agreement aims to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels. But continued use of HFCs could prove a serious stumbling block to attaining the goal. HFCs -- though they are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol. Any amendment to the protocol will be legally binding. you are here: Chinese President Xi Jinping kicks off a visit to Bangladesh Friday. The visit is taking place three decades after the former Chinese president Li Xiannian visited Dhaka in 1986. Both China and Bangladesh have great expectations for this historic state visit. In recent years, the leaders of China and Bangladesh have had frequent interactions on different occasions. In 2014, the President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid and the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited China separately in November and June and had talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. The leaders of both sides reconfirmed they would promote a closer bilateral comprehensive cooperative partnership to constantly score new results. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong made an official visit to Bangladesh in 2015 and the cultural and educational ties between the two sides have been strengthened. Xi himself visited Bangladesh in 2010 when he was vice president. His state visit this time will bring the Sino-Bangladeshi relationship to a new level. On the one hand, China is the biggest trade partner of Bangladesh and Bangladesh is the third biggest South Asian trade partner of China at the moment. Xi's visit will bring new opportunities to the two countries' trade cooperation and the development of the Bangladeshi economy. During this visit, the two sides are expected to sign agreements in more than 20 projects, including the construction of transportation, electricity and energy infrastructure. These projects will help develop Bangladesh and improve local people's livelihoods. Moreover, Bangladesh is located in the Bay of Bengal and borders on India and Myanmar. It is not only China's important cooperative partner in South Asia, but also has a key place in the development of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor. Chinese investment in Bangladesh will help increase regional infrastructure connectivity and create more possibilities in cooperation among the four countries. Besides, the two countries' industrial structure is complementary and it is feasible that the labor intensive industries of China will be moved to Bangladesh in future. In June 2016 the two sides signed a memorandum for the establishment of a Chinese Economic Industrial Park in Chittagong, Bangladesh. It means there will be more Chinese enterprises investing and starting business in Bangladesh in near future and their rich experience in infrastructure construction and manufacturing can contribute to Bangladesh's development. Undoubtedly, Bangladesh is eager to draw from China's successful experience and seize the chances brought by the construction of "One Belt and One Road" and promote bilateral connectivity. At the same time, China will benefit from the excess manufacturing capacity and these actions will help China to reach out internationally to create new drives for growth. On the other hand, Xi's visit will help deepen the mutual understanding between the two countries' people and create more chances for governmental and non-governmental exchanges between the two sides. For a long time, information about Bangladesh has been rarely seen in Chinese mainstream press and the news about Bangladesh is no more than natural disasters. As a result, the Chinese people usually have a vague impression of the country. It is significant that the state visit will open a new window for Chinese people to learn about the society and culture of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, there are more and more Bangladeshi youngsters learning Chinese and planning to take further education in China, it is important for them to know the real China in the proper and right way. This visit will be a perfect opportunity for China to share the fruits of development with Bangladesh and present the image of itself as a responsible country. With the construction of "One Belt and One Road" and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor, Xi's visit to Dhaka will mark a milestone in the Sino-Bangladeshi relationship and bring new opportunities to bilateral cooperation, just as he pointed out in 2015 that "China and Bangladesh have nothing but friendship, trust and cooperation." It is clear that China will make more specific plans to enhance the ties with Bangladesh in future. The author is lecturer in Bengali studies, Communication University of China. October 14, 2016 NYT Finds "Hidden Hand" In War On Yemen Yesterday the U.S. openly attacked Yemen by firing cruise missiles against old Yemeni radar stations. This, allegedly, in response to four missiles fired on two days against a U.S. destroyer at the Yemeni coast. The U.S. Navy said the missiles fell short. They were unable to reach the ship. No one but the navy, especially no one in Yemen, has seen or reported any such missile launches - short or long. The U.S. is in alliance with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries in bombing Yemen for 18 month now. They totally blockade the coast of the country that depends on imports of food and medicines. The actively fighting countries are heavily supported by the U.S. military. This has been widely admitted by U.S. officials and in military reports. The U.S. government even feared of being help legally responsible for the carnage it causes. But since the launch of the cruise missile U.S. media have totally forgotten all of this. Now the U.S. "has been attacked", without any recognizable reason, and is only "defending" itself. No legal consequences are to fear now. Anyone who believes that the U.S. is somehow responsible for the at least 10,000 dead and the many starving people in Yemen must somehow believe in a mysterious conspiracy. Just consider this New York Times headline, from today, after the U.S. attack on Yemen. Yemen Sees U.S. Strikes as Evidence of Hidden Hand Behind Saudi Air War. The NYT tweeted the piece with this text: New York Times World @nytimesworld For the U.S., it was retaliation; for Yemen's Houthi rebels, it confirmed a long-held belief nyti.ms/2e9mKyb 6:30 PM - 13 Oct 2016 Wow. The Houthi rebels "believe" in a "hidden hand". Must be crazy people. They unreasonably attacked. And they deserve such strikes. The NYT piece reads: WASHINGTON For the United States, it was simple retaliation: Rebels in Yemen had fired missiles at an American warship twice in four days, and so the United States hit back, destroying rebel radar facilities with missiles. But for the rebels and many others in Yemen, the predawn strikes on Thursday were just the first public evidence of what they have long believed: that the United States has been waging an extended campaign in the country, the hidden hand behind Saudi Arabias punishing air war. How could the Houthis come to "believe" of such a "hidden hand"? Was it really because the strike was the "first public evidence"? Or was it because the NYT and all other media reported many times over that the U.S. actively supports the Saudi attacks? Did the Houthi probably read yesterday's NYT piece on Yemen written by the very same main authors? Up to now, the Obama administration put limits on its support for the Saudi-led coalition, providing intelligence and Air Force tankers to refuel the coalitions jets and bombers. The American military has refueled more than 5,700 aircraft involved in the bombing campaign since it began, according to statistics provided by United States Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East. So the "first evidence" of the "hidden hand" were, unlike the NYT today claims, not yesterdays strikes but official reports on the public CentCom website? Maybe frequent discussions of the war on Yemen the U.S. Congress held since a year ago also count as evidence? Various public reports over the last 18 month detailing the enormous amount of ammunition the U.S. openly sells to the Saudis were also just sightings of "hidden" hands? Such reporting as in today's NYT is just laughable. It flies in face of all reports of the last 18 month as well as extensive evidence given by the U.S. and other governments. The strikes on the radar sites were just "retaliation". They have no larger context. This is a typical reflection of the U.S. myth of "immaculate conception" of U.S. foreign policy. According to that believe the U.S. always only reacts to being "attacked" or "threatened" for completely incomprehensible reasons when it bombs this or that country and kills thousands or even millions of foreign people. That is even more evident in the reports by CNN and others. These reports only mention the 18 month of extensive U.S. support for the Saudi campaign down in the middle to end of their pieces. For any but a thorough reader the alleged "missile attacks" and all Yemeni enmity against the U.s. has no history at all. It comes from unreasonable and hostile people who willfully misunderstand U.S. well-meaning. Thus no U.S. attack is ever unjustified or just a cruel continuation of decades of U.S. insidiousness, hostility and greed. It is always the other side that initiates the fight. It is easy for the U.S. government propaganda to make such false claims. And U.S. media don't report such but perpetrate anticipatory stenography. They write what the U.S. government wants and U.S. imperialism demands even when not directly ordered to. That is no longer astonishing. Astonishing is how easy the U.S. public swallows this without any self awareness and protest. Posted by b on October 14, 2016 at 10:17 UTC | Permalink Comments next page DHAKA, Oct. 14 -- The leading Bangladeshi newspapers of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo on Friday carried a signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping on the occasion of his state visit to the country. The full text of the article is as follows. China-Bangladesh Cooperation Will Bear Golden Fruits By H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China At the kind invitation of President Abdul Hamid, I will pay a state visit to the beautiful country of Bangladesh in this golden harvest season of autumn. It has been six years since my last trip to this country and I look forward to meeting friends both old and new and discussing with them how China and Bangladesh can work together for common development. Bangladesh is a fascinating and promising land. It is where the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna rivers flow into the sea. Its vast expanse of fertile fields which normally have the color of emerald green become a sea of golden yellow at the time of harvest. Endowed with rich natural resources, this land is home to a hard-working and talented nation and a time-honored and splendid culture. In fact, famous poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote many of his most notable works in Bengali. Bangladesh is a land filled with hope. Since its independence, Bangladesh has come a long way. With strenuous efforts, it has started from scratch and successfully met the livelihood needs of its 160 million population, contributing significantly to global poverty reduction. In recent years, by seizing the opportunities of economic globalization and focusing on reform and development, Bangladesh has kept its economy growing at above 6 percent and made steady progress in industrialization and urbanization. Bangladesh is well on track to achieve Vision 2021 and become a middle-income country. The people of China and Bangladesh have been good neighbors and friends since ancient times. Stories of our friendship and exchange witnessed by the Southern Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road throughout the millennia are still being told today. Eminent Chinese monks Faxian and Xuanzang travelled west for Buddhist scriptures. Atisa Dipankara Shrijnana, a Bengali religious master, spread Buddhism in China. They were the pioneers of our cultural exchange. Famous navigator Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty visited Bengal twice. According to his description, "This is a richly endowed and teeming land with lovely people and fertile fields." Believed by the Chinese then to be a qilin (an auspicious mythical animal), the giraffe that the Bengali king gave to the Ming emperor brought much excitement to the court and general public in China. More recently, having endured repeated wars and incessant poverty, our peoples fought tenaciously for national independence and liberation, strove for development and progress and forged unshakable trust and friendship in the process. In the 1950s and 1960s, Premier Zhou Enlai visited Dhaka twice and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited China twice. The seed of friendship was thus planted by the veteran leaders of our two countries long before diplomatic ties were established. It has now grown into a giant tree with deep roots and rich fruits. As a Chinese proverb goes, "Only friendships built on sincerity can last long." Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 41 years ago, China has always regarded Bangladesh as its true friend and partner for development. China highly values its relations with Bangladesh. We firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests. Successive Chinese and Bangladeshi leaders have maintained sound interactions at bilateral and multilateral events and provided positive guidance to the growth of bilateral relations. In September 2015, I had a good meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New York on the margins of the UN summits marking its 70th anniversary. We agreed to expand cooperation across the board, jointly advance the Belt and Road Initiative and the BCIM Economic Corridor and take bilateral relations to a new height. With the unremitting efforts of our two peoples, China-Bangladesh practical cooperation has produced fruitful results. China is now the largest trading partner of Bangladesh and Bangladesh China's third largest trading partner and third largest project contract market in South Asia. Bilateral trade soared from 900 million U.S. dollars in 2000 to 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, registering an annual increase of around 20 percent. Jute products from Bangladesh are increasingly popular in the Chinese market. Chinese companies have built the Shahjalal Fertilizer Factory, the most advanced modern fertilizer plant in Bangladesh, the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, the largest one in Bangladesh, and are now building the Padma Bridge, the dream bridge of the Bangladeshi people. As a matter of fact, one can find Chinese and Bangladeshi people together making tireless and pioneering efforts in many sectors of Bangladesh such as transportation, electricity, energy and telecommunications. One of the first batch of projects financed by loans from the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is the Power Grid Network Strengthening Project in Bangladesh, which will benefit tens of millions of rural residents. We have also made significant progress in our cooperation in defense, security, education, culture and other fields. Both China and Bangladesh are developing countries with a huge population. Our national conditions have a lot in common and our development goals are well-aligned. The "Sonar Bangla" dream of national strength and prosperity is in perfect harmony with the Chinese dream of great national renewal. The Belt and Road Initiative put forward by China heralds new opportunities for win-win cooperation between our two countries. Bangladesh, with its favorable geographic location and huge population, market potential and cooperation space, is an indispensable partner for China to advance the Belt and Road Initiative and production capacity cooperation in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. During this visit, I look forward to working with Bangladeshi leaders to further grow our bilateral relations, identify key areas of cooperation, advance exchanges and cooperation in various fields and bring China-Bangladesh relations to a new level. -- We need to step up political communication for greater mutual trust. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman put forward the vision of "friendship to all, malice to none." China will always be Bangladesh's trustworthy friend and partner. Our two sides should, from a strategic perspective, strengthen high-level exchanges and top-level planning, cement traditional friendship and political ties, set more ambitious goals and build a better framework for our bilateral relations and lay a solid foundation for lasting friendship and all-round cooperation. -- We need to align our development strategies for win-win outcomes. There is huge potential and complementarity in our cooperation. China is ready to synergize its 13th Five-Year Plan with Bangladesh's Seventh Five-Year Plan with a view to leveraging our respective comparative advantages, increasing economic exchanges and trade, building key projects in areas such as infrastructure, production capacity, energy, electricity, transportation, information, telecommunications and agriculture, strengthening practical cooperation under the BCIM Economic Corridor and delivering to our people tangible benefits of our cooperation. -- We need to enhance South-South cooperation for common development. China stands ready to offer more assistance and support to Bangladesh to the best of its capability, enhance mutual assistance and cooperation with Bangladesh in areas such as disaster prevention and mitigation, vocational training, medical and health care services, climate change and women and children, work together with Bangladesh to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and make China-Bangladesh cooperation a fine example of South-South cooperation. -- We need to build a bridge of friendship for greater affinity and mutual understanding. Friendship between our two countries dates back a long time. In fact, both the Chinese and Bangladeshi people drink water from the same river, known as Yarlung Zangbo River in China and Jamuna River in Bangladesh. China will work to increase exchanges and mutual learning between the Chinese and Bangladeshi culture so as to bring our people closer to each other. It is important that we facilitate exchanges and cooperation in areas such as education, media, think tanks, tourism and youth and at the sub-national level so that more of our people will be mobilized to support closer ties between China and Bangladesh. I believe with the joint efforts of our two peoples, China-Bangladesh cooperation will bear even more golden fruits. It was a moment in time when Dania Yadagos life came full circle. Yadago, a Christian refugee from the Middle East, had been asked by members of her new church in Winston-Salem to pack Operation Christmas Child boxes, a ministry of Samaritans Purse, at a distribution center in Charlotte. When she saw the symbol on the boxes, the memories came flooding back. Each year, Samaritans Purse organizes volunteers worldwide to pack millions of shoeboxes with gifts for children in third-world countries for Christmas. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate Gods love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, according to www.samaritanspurse.org. When Yadago was 5 years old, she received one of these boxes. My father worked two jobs, but it was still hard to afford even the basic necessities, Yadago said of her life at the time. The place we were living in was empty. We couldnt afford food or clothes or anything a normal family would have. But my parents were very supportive and encouraged my brother and me to trust God and pray for everything we needed. She said the family had been praying specifically for a radio to help them keep up on the news. This was an expensive item out of the reach of their budget. Time went by, and Yadago and her brother were taken to church around Christmas for a special surprise. They told me to stand in line and wait for my name to be called, Yadago said. As I entered the sanctuary, I saw huge brown boxes on the top of the stage, and my excitement got bigger, because I knew it was a big deal. I went forward to get my shoebox, and it was just an overwhelming joy inside my heart. She was thrilled to discover, that for the first time in her life, she was being given new items and not hand-me-downs from family members. There was a Beanie Baby inside the box, and I was so excited because every time I had wanted a toy, my mom had told me we couldnt afford it, Yadago said. I couldnt believe that someone that didnt even know me would pack all these items and have them sent to me. It meant so much to me. Then she saw a smaller box inside the shoebox. We looked in the box and realized that it was actually a radio, Yadago said. At first, we thought it was a toy. We couldnt believe it was a real radio. But it had a place for batteries and it actually worked. We couldnt explain it, except to say it was God answering our prayer. We believe that God is the one who planned the whole thing, because he knew what we needed before we even asked. Each item in the box meant so much to us. It was that big of a deal. Yadago said she kept her shoebox and the items in it with her throughout her childhood, and used them as a source of hope and comfort, especially when her family moved to another Middle-Eastern country whose citizens were hostile to Christians. She said the family was prohibited from going to church and often threatened with violence for their beliefs. This was one of the biggest gifts, not by size, but by impact, that I ever received, Yadago said of the OCC box. (It was a blessing) just to know that youve got a box filled with things that are just for you, that you know you cant get where you are. I could look at the items and just be still and know that the God that was with us in the other country was still with me and my family and still answered prayer. After several years of hard work and saving, Yadagos family was finally able to immigrate to the U.S. as refugees and practice their faith freely in the Winston-Salem community. The day Yadago came to the OCC distribution center, she eagerly shared her story about how the shoebox she received impacted her life. Church members put her in touch with representatives from Samaritans Purse, who asked her to become what they call a Full Circle Speaker for the project. She agreed, and now goes on periodic speaking tours as she studies to become an elementary education teacher at a local college. Yadago stopped in Morganton on Sunday, Oct. 9 at the First Assembly of God Church to tell her story of being uplifted by a simple, small gift. Samaritans Purse is asking people across the globe to fill shoeboxes with small gifts for children, such as toys, school supplies, toiletries and notes of encouragement. The National Collection Week for the boxes is Nov. 14-21. Morganton residents can drop off filled boxes at several locations throughout the area. For a list of drop-off sites, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ or contact 828-433-6171. Tammie Gercken can be reached at tgercken@morganton.com. Students at North Liberty School were able to think outside the classroom on Thursday during a field trip through the city of Morganton. They are learning about all the things that are available to do in Morganton, said North Liberty Exceptional Childrens teacher, Ashley Hall. They have been reading a book called Morganton, Morganton what do you see? that has visuals of places in Morganton that they eventually went to visit, Hall said. Students were able to visit the Morganton Public Library, the Morganton History Museum, The Old Burke County Courthouse, Marquee Cinemas, a barber shop, Morganton Department of Public Safety police and fire station and many more. At each stop students made they learned the purpose and goals of each place. We talked about things that you can do in your community, Hall said. It was a community outing and we talked about community helpers. Prior to their community outing, each class would discuss what a variety of places do, such as how a bakery makes desserts, she said. She wants her students to make connections from what they learn in the classroom to actual real places near to where they live. We have a ' News to You ' curriculum, which is based on our students level and they just sent (a news story) about a museum opening in Washington, so my kids knew the term museum, she said. They have learned about places they can go if they need help and that it is okay to go to a police officer or a fireman and not to be scared . When visiting the Morganton Department of Public Safety fire department, students were greeted by three MDPS firefighters Clay Rudicill, Allen Davis and Robert Bailey. Students were taken through the living quarters and were shown the different parts of a ladder truck that was parked at the station. Bailey brought out fire safety gear they wear when fighting fires so students would not be afraid of them if they were ever in a situation where they needed to be rescued from a fire. Some of them they get scared and we try not to scare anybody, Rudicill said. Because in a fire itself they could run away from us and make things harder for us. Bailey put on the gear and face mask, so students could see that it was a person underneath all the gear and not someone they should be afraid of in an emergency situation. Even though it is fire prevention month, MDPS tries to hold events like this year round, Rudicill said. October we are booked every day and we usually see about 1,000 kids, he said. They not only try to inform kids about fire safety but adults , too. We are starting to go back out in the community and emphasize the importance of checking your smoke detector batteries twice a year, Rudicill said. Overall, the firemen hope students learned about safety. They want the younger crowd to know what to do and learn about techniques such as stop drop and roll or get low and go and having a meeting place with their family at home, Rudicill said. He encouraged parents to setup up a place outside of their home to meet in case of a fire. If something happens at school these kids know exactly what to do, Rudicill said. He hopes that parents take what students have learned and implement it at home. To schedule a time for MDPS to hold a fire safety event, call 828-437-1211. Staff Writer Jonelle Bobak can be reached at jbobak@morganton.com or 828-432-8907. We live in the information age, which is called that for the same reason the ice age got its name: an overwhelming proliferation of the stuff. We automatically assume that more information is better than less. But as the dinosaurs learned about ice, even something useful can be dangerous in excess. The lesson is, so far, lost on most lawmakers and regulators. In July, President Barack Obama signed a bill requiring foods containing genetically modified organisms to be labeled as such. It's an outwardly innocuous requirement that is supposed to leave consumers better informed but will actually cause many to be misled. The implication of the mandate is that there is some important difference between foods that contain GMOs and foods that don't. But there isn't. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that genetically engineered food is safe for humans, animals and the environment. This scientific reality is at odds with public opinion. A June poll by ABC News showed that only one-third of Americans think genetically modified foods are safe to eat. Federally required labels will encourage them to persist in that delusion. What's the harm in telling people a simple fact? "A government-mandated label operates as a de facto warning to consumers," writes Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan H. Adler in the fall issue of Regulation magazine. "A mandatory label for organic produce that says 'Produced with animal feces' could be literally true, but would also stigmatize the products at issue." The government says tomato sauce may contain trace amounts of maggots. But it would not make sense to make companies publicize that ingredient, because the disclosure would raise false fears. There are other ways in which labeling requirements can be harmful. Starting next year, the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants to publish the calorie count of each beer on their menus. But there's scant evidence this sort of information makes much difference. Julie Downs, a scholar at Carnegie Mellon University, says that "putting calorie labels on menus really has little or no effect on people's ordering behaviors at all." This rule, however, may have an unintended effect on ordering behaviors by taking some beers off the table. The tests needed to provide accurate information entail costs that are trivial to mass-market manufacturers, which can spread across huge volumes, but not to small breweries, which can't. The expense is even greater, notes Berry College economist E. Frank Stephenson, for breweries "that rotate beers frequently, produce seasonal specialties or occasionally tweak their recipes." Not surprisingly, the big beer-makers are in favor of the rule. The Brewers Association, a trade group for smaller ones, is not so keen on it. The added cost imposed by the new rule is not likely to yield commensurate benefits. Drinkers who prefer low-calorie beers already know what to order, while craft beer aficionados generally put a priority on flavor over everything else. The consumers who get the least benefit will bear the costs of the mandate, in higher prices or fewer options. (Full disclosure: My stepson works for a craft brewery.) Beer and food are not the only realms where more data works to the detriment of consumers. Most states issue report cards for hospitals. This may sound like a foolproof way of protecting patients from incompetent providers. The truth is more complicated. University of Chicago law professor Omri Ben-Shahar tells me that "healthier and wealthier people are disproportionately likely to use the report card." Hospitals that get high marks will attract more of these patients and they have an incentive to cater to them, because treating healthier patients leads to higher scores. But the higher-rated hospitals don't have unlimited capacity. So less educated and sicker patients, who are less likely to pay attention to the report cards, will find them less accessible, diverting them to hospitals that get worse scores. "The most vulnerable patients, including a large, disproportionate share of African-American patients, are the ones most likely to suffer," Ben-Shahar says. A lot of disclosures are merely useless, because they go unread like the "terms and conditions" for iTunes, which run to 6,700 words. But politicians and bureaucrats feel no compunction about generating more and more data that will go unheeded at best and prove harmful at worst. Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." If she had lived to read the iTunes user agreement, she might have changed her mind. Steve Chapman blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman. Follow him on Twitter @SteveChapman13 or at www.facebook.com/stevechapman13. To find out more about Steve Chapman, visit www.creators.com. Body of late Thai king to be moved to Grand Palace BANGKOK, Oct. 14 -- The remains of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away Thursday in Siriraj Hospital, are set to be moved to the Grand Palace Friday afternoon, local media reported. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will depart from Dusit Palace to Siriraj Hospital at about 3:30 p.m. local time (0830 GMT), said the Matichon newspaper. Round 4:00 p.m. (0900 GMT), the crown prince, Wat Bowonniwet Vihara's abbot and doctors will accompany the king's body to leave from the hospital and head for the Grand Palace by a motorcade. The crown prince will preside over the bathing of the king's body in the Grand Palace, which is a traditional Buddhist funeral rite. Many Thais were waiting for the process outside the hospital and the palace as more people were flocking to these two places. The deeply revered king, who reigned the country for 70 years, died on Thursday at the age 88. Oct. 15 marks the second anniversary of a symposium for Chinese artists, chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi has called for artists to create more works that are both artistically outstanding and morally inspiring. In the past two years, encouraged by his words and stories, Chinese artists have risen to the challenge. As the second anniversary draws near, Peoples Daily published a story on Oct. 13 summarizing several of Xis favorite books and describing his great passion for literature. Below are some excerpts from those stories. 1. Serve the country with supreme loyalty Xi read more literature when he was a teenager, and more political books as he grew older. Two books he read in his childhood tell the story of Yue Fei, a national hero from the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The books were bought for him by his mother. One story that particularly impressed Xi is the story of Yues mother tattooing Yue with a reminder to serve his country. This way, his mother told him, those words would always be embedded deeply in Yues mind. 2. Read all the classics he could find Xi said his generation was deeply influenced by the concepts of self-cultivation, family harmony, country management and world peace. Understanding the necessity of reading for self-improvement, Xi read many books while working in rural areas alongside other young people. Xis fellow workers, all from different schools, maintained a lively book exchange. Classics like The Red and the Black, War and Peace and textbooks from the Qing and Ming Dynasties were some of the books he read in those days. 3. Epigrams from literature in the Ming Dynasty The books written by Feng Menglong, a Chinese vernacular writer and poet of the late Ming Dynasty, also left a deep impression on Xi, even inspiring him to memorize some passages. Feng was the magistrate of the remote Shouning County in Fujian province. Shouning County is subordinate to the city of Ningde, where Xi once worked. With personal experience of the hard life there, Xi was very impressed by Fengs spirit and has often quoted his words later in life. 4. What Is to Be Done and perseverance Xi also read a lot of Russian literature, such as works by Alexander Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy. He read What Is to Be Done by Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky while he was living in a house cave in Shaanxi province. Inspired by the protagonist in the book, he removed his bedding and slept on a hard brick bed, exercising even in the rain and snow. In this way, he enhanced his perseverance in order to prepare for future hardships. 5. Walked 30 miles to borrow a Faust book Xi read The Sorrows of Young Werther when he was 14. He was so eager to read Goethe's Faust that he walked 30 miles to borrow it from another student. As Faust is hard to digest, he once told German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several German sinologists that he didnt quite understand it. In the end, he was reassured by their response they said that even Germans dont always fully understand the book. 6. Visited Hemingways Cuba Xi didnt read much American literature, but he was impressed by the book Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman as well as several books by Mark Twain. His favorite American author is Jack London. Londons short story collection Love of Life was also a favorite of Lenins. According to Xi, another book that impressed him was Hemingways The Old Man and the Sea. In order to experience the authors spiritual world, Xi, during his first visit to Cuba, went to the place Hemingway wrote about in The Old Man and the Sea, finding it to be exactly as Hemingway had described. During his second visit, he saw the local bar where Hemingway used to write. 7. Impressed by the works of Victor Hugo Xi developed an interest in French literature in his youth. The countrys history, philosophy and art also intrigued him. Stendhals The Red and the Black has been a prevailing influence, though Balzac and Maupassant rank first in Xis mind when it comes to descriptions of the secular world. Xi once said that the novels written by Victor Hugo impressed him the most. He found the moment when Bishop Myriel enlightens Jean Valjean to be quite moving. According to Xi, its literature like this that possesses the ultimate power to move people and shape morality. Who would have thought that the first casualties of the Brexit vote would be PG Tips and Marmite? Yet this week we had a 24-hour stand-off between Tesco (TSCO) and Unilever (ULVR) that will have serious implications for supermarkets and their suppliers. Supermarkets have a history of squeezing their suppliers sometimes into the ground - especially when, as now, there is a price war in full swing. Few suppliers are big enough to stand their ground and risk losing their biggest customers. Unilever is an exception. Details have not been disclosed but the Anglo-Dutch household goods manufacturer apparently demanded a 10% price increase. Supermarkets do not like that. They like to dictate terms. Even Premier Foods (PFD), maker of branded products such as Oxo, Batchelors Soups and Sharwood sauces, has a weak bargaining position. Its trading update this week showed sales down 5.4% in the 13 weeks to 1 October, with the grocery division down a whopping 9.5%. Premier blamed the warm September for the poor showing in what is the companys second quarter and promised that profits for the full year to the end of March would be up to expectations because of careful management of costs. Nonetheless, first half profits will be down on last year so Premier is counting on a better second half. I dont like companies blaming the weather, and cutting costs is rarely a satisfactory substitute for increasing sales. The decision to reject a takeover offer six months ago from American spice giant McCormick looks ever more foolish and I can see no reason for holding the shares, which fell below 50p on the update - and could fall further. Unilever is made of sterner stuff, with underlying sales growth of 3.4% in the third quarter of 2016, but even so, the gain was down to price increases rather than selling more and growth also tailed off compared with the first half. The shares have done well over the past 12 months and although they fell back on the update they look better value than Premier. However, the spat with Tesco was a game of bluff that is potentially damaging for both sides. Unilevers argument is that the fall in the value of the pound has raised manufacturing costs in this country because imported ingredients cost more. Unilever products disappeared from the Tesco website with remarkable speed, driving shoppers to rival products and rival supermarkets. We dont know what compromise was struck because if, as one assumes, Tesco has given ground other suppliers will demand similar price increases. As the fall in the pound shows no signs of abating, this battle may well be fought with various protagonists over and over again. Will Sliding Pound Favour Defensive Stocks? There is no doubt that the vote for Brexit has triggered the latest slump in the pound but it is not the root of the problem. The hefty balance of payments deficit was unsustainable and was being funded by inward investment. In effect, we were selling British assets to allow us to live beyond our means. London-quoted share prices have largely offset the fall in sterling, which means shareholders have effectively been shielded from the pounds discomfort. That does, however, make picking investments particularly tricky. My inclination is to go with defensives rather than cyclicals and to favour companies with heavy overseas earnings that will translate into more pounds from now on. Encouraging Departure for WH Smith At long last the unjustified slide in shares of WH Smith (SMWH) has been reversed thanks to another encouraging update. Perhaps Im biased because I hold shares and am aggrieved that I am nursing a loss on them but the policy of expanding at stations and airports while cutting back on the High Street continues to deliver improvements. Results for the year to the end of August showed sales up 3% and profits up 8%. The dividend total is 11% higher than last year. The shares are still down 3 since they peaked at 1878p in early April. They should recover more ground soon. Rodney Hobson is a long-term investor commenting on his own portfolio; his comments are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. With new federal rules setting tighter requirements set for borrowers, Canadian banks will be closely monitoring movement in the national markets, starting with updated data to be released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).The Bank of America adjusted its initial Canadian real estate growth predictions of 1.6 per cent down to 1.4 per cent during this quarter and 1.5 per cent in the next.The new rules will likely slow down the housing market, which could weigh on growth, Bank of America economist Emanuella Enenajor told the Financial Post.Despite the slight downgrade, however, Enenajor stated that the Bank of America is in the camp that the moves wont trigger a severe downturn in housing but rather a temporary period of slowing activity.Meanwhile, Conference Board of Canada chief economist Craig Alexander said that spending on household times like furniture and appliances might taper down, as the new federal rules will require a significant number of families to pay more for their home purchases.Consumer spending growth is going to continue to be a solid contributor to Canada, its just not going to be capable of providing strong economic growth, Alexander stated.Under the stricter regulations, households might lose as much as 20 per cent of their purchasing power. For instance, a family earning $100,000 would be approved to buy a $490,000 homea far lower value than the $580,000 home they could have procured prior to the new rules.RBC Capital Markets agreed with the forecasts of a slight slowdown, predicting that housing and consumer spending will together account for 1.1 per cent growth next year. This is in contrast to the 1.7 per cent average over the past 24 months. China willing to cooperate in drug control with Philippines: FM BEIJING, Oct. 14 -- China supports Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign against drugs and is willing to strengthen cooperation with the Philippines in this area, a spokesperson said Friday. Calling narcotics "an enemy of mankind," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said combating drug crimes is a responsibility shared by all countries. He said the Chinese government was committed to eliminating drug-related crimes and the nation has been actively engaged in international cooperation in this regard. "President Duterte will also be engaged in activities related to drug control during his state visit to China. China and the Philippines are keeping in close touch about this," Geng said. The drug control departments in both countries have begun to discuss cooperation, with results likely to be released soon, the spokesperson added. Duterte is waging a war against "narco-politics" in the Philippines, saying about four million Filipinos are into illegal drugs. The Philippine government plans to build more rehabilitation centers for drug addicts. Spooky sites Fall is the season of holiday spectacle in Moorpark. In December, of course, Pinedale Road transforms into Candy Cane Lane and dazzles visitors with Santa splendor. But for those who... Local hula group inspires global connections When the pandemic ushered everyone indoors, Moorpark resident and longtime dancer Lisa Rauschenberger decided to get people back outsidesocially distanced, of course. She began to hold weekly hula lessons at... Teens face high stakes in the Oval Office A press room befitting Americas commander in chief was set up inside the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. Journalists and others gathered inside. Ladies and gentlemen, I need you all... Vehicles run on a smog-shrouded road in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang) BEIJING, Oct. 14 -- Beijing raised its alert for air pollution to yellow on Friday afternoon as smog is forecast to persist another two days. The Air Quality Index (AQI) rose above 300 on Friday, with hazardous fine particulate matter PM2.5 being the major pollutant. Residents are advised to take protective measures, and construction sites and factories have also been ordered to reduce emissions. The Chinese capital will see a small respite from the smog on Saturday, when light rain is forecast to arrive, said Qiao Lin, head of the municipal meteorological center. The weather is expected to improve starting Sunday evening with the arrival of a mild cold front, said the Beijing Environmental Protection Monitoring Center. On Thursday afternoon, the city issued a blue alert for air pollution. China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue. The authorities issue alerts when the AQI reaches 200 and severe air pollution is forecast to last at least one day. Beijing aims to keep average PM2.5 levels below 60 micrograms per cubic meters in 2017. The density of PM2.5 in Beijing decreased by 12.5 percent year on year to 63 micrograms per cubic meter from January to August. In 2015, the level was 80.6 micrograms, down from 95.7 micrograms in 2012. Dont get too comfortable with the recent court ruling that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unconstitutional because the agency may have strong grounds for challenging it. The US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the CFPBs structure was unconstitutional because the agencys director can only be removed for cause. This, the court held, was a violation of constitutional separation of powers because the director wasnt sufficiently answerable to anyone else. The court reached a decision that it was unconstitutional because according to the court, the setup has the director with more power than anyone except the president of the United States and within the CFPB, more power than the president of the United States, because this person is not answerable to the president or anyone else, Thomas Rohback, partner with the law firm of Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider, told MPA. The court ruled that the president should be able to remove the head of the CFPB for any reason. While the ruling was a setback for the CFPB, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one of the architects of the agency, said it really only amounted to a small, technical tweak. In that regard, I think thats where Elizabeth Warren is right, Rohback said. Its kind of a so what in most instances. Theres still a CFPB, theres still a Dodd-Frank. The court just said, Were going to change whether this individual can be removed without cause by the president. If thats the case, then whats the difference? Statutory questions Where the decision gets interesting, Rohback said, is in the way the court approached PHHs specific complaint. The more interesting part is that the court then goes, because our constitutional ruling will not halt the CFPBs ongoing operation or the CFPBs $109 million order against PHH, we must also consider PHHs statutory objections to the CFPB enforcement action in this case, he said. The court ruled that the CFPB had misapplied Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. And the fact that it could rule on the statute by itself, Rohback said, calls into question the need for it to rule of the constitutionality of the CFPB at all. The issue was also raised by a member of the appeals court, Judge Karen L. Henderson, who concurred that the fine against PHH was improperly levied but dissented on the courts finding about the CFPBs constitutionality. At issue, Rohback said, was a longstanding judicial principal that constitutional question are only taken up when all other remedies fail. Its a jurisprudential bedrock principal that courts to not reach constitutional issues if they dont have to, Rohback said. (Henderson) is saying all of this analysis about the composition (of the CFPB) and the removability of the director was unnecessary if all youre going to do is say, You know what, we think the decision is wrong because youve misinterpreted or misapplied Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. And the fact that the court considered constitutional issues, when it could (and eventually did) merely rule on the merits of the fine, gives the CFPB a plausible argument to challenge the ruling, Rohback said. The learning and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court over the years is that we reach the constitutional issue if theres no other way to resolve the decision, he said. Here its very clear that what the court did is say, We find this to be unconstitutional, but that doesnt matter because we can fix it. And now we have to get to the statutory issue. You could have done that step one. From PHHs perspective, they might look at it and say, Yeah, we think weve got the better of this argument on the interpretation of Section 8. We dont need to go up to the Supreme Court, he said. But it may be that the CFPB wants to do that to establish what is and isnt right. And I wouldnt be surprised if the Supreme Court said that the circuit court never needed to get to the constitutional issue. Further fallout That doesnt mean the agency wont see fallout from the decision, however. Rohback said it was likely at least in the short term that other companies fined by the agency would use the appeals court decision to challenge their penalties. I think youre going to see a lot of people picking up the arguments raised here by the court, he said. They may ultimately be unsuccessful, but theyre going to take a lot of these arguments and say, We had a decision here where the director could only be removed for cause. Therefore, it was an institution which in itself was constitutionally infirm so any decision they made should be vacated. Those are arguments I suspect litigants are going to make. Whether they succeed or not is a very different story, but you may see a flurry of litigation where people start to challenge CFPB rulings on these grounds. In a way, Elizabeth Warren is right that it may not affect the way the organization runs and makes decisions right now, but that doesnt mean you might not see a lot more litigation challenging this for now. Female executives, immigrants to impact real estate development The next ten years will see a change in the demographics of our cities and real estate developments will need to reflect the new-look communities. Thats the finding of a study by the Urban Land Institute which highlights that higher numbers of female executives, affluent immigrants and retirees will be among the key factors impacting housing requirements. Government policies, economic cycles, new technologies, and shifts in social acceptability have driven massive shifts in real estate demand over the decades. The executives who identify the trends early and adapt always win, said John Burns, chief executive officer of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, which carried out the research. While urban downtown areas have seen a revival, the report forecasts that 79 per cent of the coming wave of new households will be in the suburbs and that rental demand is likely to be strong particularly for single-family homes. Slight dip for Houston home sales There was a 0.5 per cent decline in home sales in Houston in September but year-to-date sales remained above the level of the same period in 2015. Houston Association of Realtors sold 6,652 homes in the month with the single-family home median price rising to $219,990, up 4.8 per cent year-over-year and a new September high. "With home sales ahead of where they were at this time last year a record sales year in a market that continues to suffer energy-related job losses, I believe were doing well, said HAR Chairman Mario Arriaga with First Group. Inventory is still moving in the right direction, and consumers that were not buying homes in September accounted for strong rental activity throughout the month," he added. Miami realtors target Indian buyers at New Delhi event Real estate agents from South Florida were in New Delhi, India in August highlighting the benefits of their region for Indian investors. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and ranks among the largest foreign buyers of U.S. real estate, Miami Association of Realtors CEO Teresa King Kinney said. Indian home buyers and investors are increasingly purchasing Miami real estate because of our growing job base, robust technological hub, diversity and world-class educational opportunities. Asian Indians are the second largest nationality within the Miami Asian population (Chinese rank first with almost 13,000 residents). Asian Indians (9,512 residents) account for 23.2 percent of the total Miami Asian population, according to 2010-2014 U.S. Census Bureau data. Although it has been just shy of a year since naming Rev. Emily Wright-Magoon as the minister for Unitarian Universalist Church of Midland, the congregation will celebrate that on Saturday. The installation service is a way to not only recognize Wright-Magoon, but also to promote the shared ministry in the church. In short, time was given to her to see settle in. We like to believe in the concept of shared ministry and so this isnt just about me, but how we as the church do ministry together, she said. The native Midlander was hired on as temporary minister by the U.U. board for the church in September 2015 and then subsequently named as the settled minister in November by the congregation. In her time since, Wright-Magoon has gathered much about the community she grew up in. Ive learned a lot about how this church community has always been a place for the search for truth and meaning and the living out of our faith in the world, she said. Ive also seized that promise for expanding that great foundation to bring forth our mission fully into our own lives. The event is open to the public and she encourages everyone to attend the ceremony and reception. Rev. Dr. Susan Ritchie from Ohio will deliver the sermon. The service will include other visiting guests. Rev. Chuck Freeman, executive director of Texas U.U. Justice Ministry and the founding minister of Free Souls Church in Round Rock will give the Charge to the Minister. Rev. Lora Brandis, minister at Horizon UU in Dallas, will give the Charge to the Congregation. Rev. Scottie McIntyre Johnson of San Marcos will lead the Prayer and Rev. Aaron Stockwell of College Station will introduce the offering. The service will also include feature a performance by the Permian Basin String Quartet. This would be a great opportunity for the public to learn about Unitarian Universalists, she said. Growing up in Midland and having attended St. Anns and Trinity before heading off to seminary, she wished she had known about a place like U.U. I wished that when I was growing up here. I had found a community like this. I was missing something like this, a place for radical acceptance and love. Now, she gets to spread the word about the churchs message she missed out on. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 -- China and Cambodia signed a joint communique here Thursday during Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to the Southeast Asian country, pledging to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and traditional friendship. During his visit, Xi met with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, respectively. The two sides conducted in-depth exchange of views on further deepening the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as well as international and regional issues of common concern, and reached broad consensus, said the document. China and Cambodia agreed to accelerate the alignment of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the 13th Five-Year Plan with Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy and Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025, while working to raise bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, the statement said. A total of 31 cooperation documents were signed on a wide range of fields covering economy, technology, infrastructure, efforts to curb human trafficking, tax and maritime cooperation, among others, according to it. China pledged more investment and cooperation with Cambodia on such fields as energy, telecommunication, agriculture, industry and tourism. The Cambodian side congratulated China on successfully hosting the Group of Twenty Summit in Hangzhou last month, and praised China's active contribution to global economic growth and sub-regional development. The two countries also agreed to further consolidate coordination under multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting, East Asia cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group while maintaining close and effective communication on issues concerning each other's major interests, said the document. The two sides believed that the South China Sea issue is not a problem between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which should be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations by directly concerned sovereign states. Meanwhile, China reaffirmed in the document its firm support to Cambodian's efforts on maintaining national sovereignty, independence and political stability. Cambodia also renewed its adherence to the one-China policy. Recognizing the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China, the Cambodian side opposes "Taiwan independence" in all forms while holding that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, said the document. China and Cambodia should jointly safeguard and carry forward their traditional friendship forged and cultivated by Chinese and Cambodian leaders of previous generations, including Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk, the statement said. Under new international and regional situation, the two countries will enhance strategic communication, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and constantly enrich their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, so as to better serve their peoples and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the whole world at large, it said. Xi arrived here Thursday noon for a state visit to Cambodia. It is his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president. The Victor Martinez Story Part 2 | His Trials, Tribulations & Triumphs Written by Peter McGough & Photography by Per Bernal 13 October 2016 The Victor Martinez Story Part 2 His Trials, Tribulations & Triumphs Victor Martinez won his pro card in 2000 and is one of the longest established competitors on the scene. Hes enjoyed a great competitive career but offstage he has endured more drama than the complete series of The Sopranos. This is the concluding part of Victors story. The first part was posted last Tuesday, July 21 (see link: http://forums.musculardevelopment.com/showthread.php/151570-The-Victor-Martinez-Story-His-Trials-Tribulations-amp-Triumphs). In that first part we covered four major events in Victors life, here we present the concluding three trials of his life. TRIAL FIVE: DEATH OF A SISTER The late evening of July 7, 2009, started out as a strange one for Victor, and then it descended into a horror story. For some unknown reason he was restless and uptight. Usually he switched his phone off at 11.00pm to watch late night TV. Not being able to relax he put the phone back on and there was a message from one of his sisters saying their oldest sister Eridania hadnt returned from her shift as an office cleaner in Manhattan. Victor froze a little. You could set your watch by Eridania. The 46 year old went to work, finished her shift, and came home. She never dropped in anywhere first or was late home. He left his Edgewater, New Jersey home and went to the office block she worked in. She wasnt there. He made a few enquiries and found out that an elevator operator, Joseph Pabon, had left a few hours earlier even though he was on double overtime. Victor is something of a Sherlock. He called the police told them about his sisters disappearance and Pabons departure but was told such cases cant be investigated until a person has been missing for 24 hours. Victor pleaded with them, But youre giving this guy time to possibly clean up the crime scene wherever it is and get rid of evidence. His protestations were in vain: the police were insistent nothing could be done for 24 hours. As befits a kid whos lived most of his life in the city that never sleeps Victor has street smarts. He rallied the family and organized them into contacting every local newspaper, TV and radio station to tell them of their missing sister. The media contacted the police and inundated with enquiries they waved the 24-hour embargo and visited Pabon at his home. He had scratches to his neck that eventually connected him to Eridanias DNA. But still Eridania hadnt been found. On Saturday July 11, four days after her disappearance, Victor received a call from a police officer, Im sorry Victor we found a body that may be your sisters. Eridanias body was found stuffed into an air conditioning duct on the twelfth floor of the office block she had worked in. Her hands, legs and face had been duct-taped. A crucifix has been taped over her mouth and she had died from asphyxiation. Victor was called upon to identify the body. Walking into the morgue he was told that some decomposition had taken place and there were other injuries that made it clear she had fought for her life. As he viewed the body he couldnt help but be mortified imagining the hell shed gone through in her final moments. I knew it was her, but it didnt look like Eridania. Even to this day Ive never described, even to the family, what I saw. Some wanted to see her one last time. I said, You dont have to see her as she is now thats not her. Remember her how she was when you last saw her. I was the only one who saw her. The Eridania Victor remembers is the one who cooked all his meals during most of his contest preps, who supported him throughout his career. The Eridania whose knee he climbed onto when he was a snotty nosed kid. On April 2, 2012, Pabon, whose DNA was found under Eridanias nails, was convicted of second-degree murder and first degree kidnapping. Two months later he was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years to life in prison. During Pabons trial Victor was in detention. He says, I would have attended every single day. When he was sentenced I was in court looking right into his eyes. TRIAL SIX: THE SHOE FINALLY DROPS As previously stated (in Part 1) a non-US citizen having committed a felony will at some future date, possibly years afterwards, have to face an immigration court where a decision is made whether he can stay in the country or be deported. Since his 2003 conviction every time Victor has flown back to the US from an overseas commitment he knew he faced the possibility that his number would finally be called. On Wednesday October 12, 2011, that possibility became a reality when three days after winning the Arnold Classic Europe in Madrid, Spain, he flew back into JFK New York and was told by customs officials that the immigration service has instructed them to detain him. He was told he could go home and the immigration guys would pick him up the next day. Victor refused. He didnt want to be arrested in front of his family, so he said, Why dont you just take me in now. He was taken to Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, New Jersey under the belief the issue would be sorted out in a week or two and he would go free. After four weeks inside he was told by his lawyers that his Go free or go home to Dominican Republic court date may not happen for a year. Eventually they somehow fast-tracked it by getting to court in seven months. He settled into life behind bars and lived an existence far removed from that of a professional bodybuilder. For the first four months he was in a cell on his own and for the last three months he was in a dormitory of about 12 inmates, which he preferred. A typical day began at 6.15am with breakfast, which would be powdered eggs, half a cup of grits, a piece of corn bread and a small carton of milk. After that most inmates went back to bed but Victor would read or watch a movie. Lunch was at the unusual hour of 10.00am and comprised of fare like two slices of baloney, four slices of toast, a small salad, and maybe a couple of cookies. Dinner would be at 4.30 pm and was usually some sort of pasta dish. Total calorific intake was between 8-900 per day, way down from Victors usual consumption of 7,000 calories. Friends would bring him protein bars. They also offered to bring him in food but after he realized he was in for the long haul he decided to exist on what the facility gave him. Without my training, and cardio, my need for calories and fuel wasnt that great and my appetite went south. Plus I knew without exercise we only did an hour in the yard once or twice a week if I stuffed myself with fatty calories Id just get a beer belly, without the beer. So I restricted my intake and leaned down to 220 pounds compared to the 250 I came in at. Some of the guards were friendly and knew they had one of the worlds best bodybuilders in their midst. Others he confides had an attitude of, I dont give a fuck who you are. Im running this house. Youre nothing in here. I kept my head down. The way I looked at it they were doing time inside as well just it was in 8 hour shifts. He confesses that although he remained positive that the court verdict would go his way there was always, That psychological black cloud over your head, making you wonder if it would all go wrong. After all I was initially told it would be over in two weeks and then the months started to tick by. Whatever confidence he had he kept to himself out of respect for his fellow inmates: Some where in there for stuff theyd done in the80s and then 30 years later they get hauled into jail. Some could have got out on $5,000 bail but they just didnt have the means to raise it. I was lucky in that I was still receiving my monthly paycheck from Steve Blechman at MD and Gerard Dente at MHP and could afford lawyers. So to those guys I kept it downbeat didnt want to act like my situation was better than theirs. Ladies and gentlemen thats the kind of guy Victor is. In February 2012 he was told his for-all-the-marbles court date would be April 27, in front of the immigration court at New Yorks Federal Building. This was it: the day he would get the Go free or go home to the Dominican Republic ruling. TRIAL SEVEN: A VOICE FROM THE PAST At 8.30am on that fateful morning the court convened and Victor was somewhat shaken to learn that the veteran presiding judge had a record of deporting 84% of his cases. It would be unfair to say Victor gets no luck: He gets loads of luck, only its all bad. He looked across the court and there to support him was Steve Blechman, Gerard Dente, John De La Rosa, Rob Yuells and a host of other friends and supporters. Thats the kind of loyalty Victors good nature recruits. His lawyers laid out their case. They spoke of how their client was in full time employment, had paid his taxes all these years, did numerous charity events, was well thought of in the community, and financially supported all his four children. With this resume they felt he should be allowed to stay as a green card resident of the United States. The prosecution passed on making any presentation to deport Victor, which was an extremely encouraging sign. The judge addressed the court. He castigated Victor for his 2003 felony and that he must be prepared to take his punishment. It was then that the man in the dock sensed that something almost magical, kind of otherworldly and spiritual was happening . Victor realized that the inflections (not the accent) in Mr. 84 Per Cents voice was similar to his fathers. The judge and his father would not be far apart in age and then it dawned on the defendant that he had been here before. The judge was almost channeling his father in saying, You screwed up -- you have to pay the price. It was like his Dad kicking his ass all over again. The comparison didnt unnerve him. Instead it made him feel strangely comfortable. He had been in this situation before and survived. Nearly an hour had passed when the judge excused himself for a rest room break. Victor hoped this wasnt a sign that his case, like the judge, was headed down the toilet. After a couple of minutes Mr. 84 Per Cent returned, sat down, looked toward Victor and simply said, in tones familiar to the 38 year olds ears, Okay, Im going to grant your stay. There were muted cheers and sighs of relief from the gallery. Victor smiled, shook his head, and thought to himself, Thanks Dad. Whaddya know, you finally came through for me. After over 11 years of suspense it was over. Victor was free to stay in the US, continue his profession and look after his kids. A few days after that climactic decision you ask Victor how he deals with all the traumas hes endured: his fractious relationship with his Dad; not being able to be there when his Mom died; the barbaric murder of his sister; the difficulties of being the father of two autistic children; the 2003 felony conviction for which he spent 90 days in jail; not being accepted for the fire service and shortly afterward his chance of US citizenship being rescinded; being overlooked for a Weider contract; losing one of the most controversial Olympia in recent years; being incarcerated for seven months with the threat of deportation hanging over his head. How the hell do you deal with it, Victor? He looks you straight in the eye and with a big wide smile, characteristic of someone of Caribbean origin, drawls philosophically, Everyone has highs and lows, you have to look on the bright side. Lets put it this way. After seven months of not being a pro bodybuilder, Ive got the cleanest receptors in the sport. When I start doing my thing again Ill take off like a Saturn rocket. He lets out a huge bellow of a laugh before concluding, Like Forest Gump says, Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what youre going to get. Doncha just love the guy. Victor Martinezs favorite chocolate is milk chocolate creams. If the cosmic forces that determine our individual fate in life had any conscience and sense of fair play, they would deliver a truckload of milk chocolate creams to Victors front door right now. THE VICTOR-STEVE CONNECTION Steve Blechman changed my life when he signed me in 2003. He never ceases to amaze me; he always comes through. As busy as he is he makes personal time for all his athletes. Hes the savior of bodybuilding. Through all my bad times hes stood right beside me. For the actual Bossman to be in court on April 27, 2012, to support me and be ready to give a character reference is unbelievable. As is the fact that he got Arnold and Jim Lorimer to write a letter of recommendation to the court for me. Gerard Dente was in court also and Im lucky to have those two guys as employers and as friends. No one will ever say anything negative about Steve or Gerard while Im present. Ill fight to the death protecting their character. -- Victor Martinez THE VICTOR-FAN CONNECTION To me fans are friends I havent met yet. While in prison I received countless letters from fans worldwide. It really made a difference to my spirits. I read most of the letters several times. I got into bodybuilding as a fan not knowing that I would be good enough to be a pro. Most of the fans out there dont make it to the pros but follow the sport. I still identify with being one of those guys so any time I interact with fans I want them to feel good that I took the time to talk to them and didnt brush them off like I was something special. I had an experience with a pro bodybuilder who competed in the 70s [Authors note: Sorry readers Victor absolutely refused to give his name]. I was about 18 and I saw him in the gym and thought I want to be like this guy. I asked him if he could show me how to do squats properly. He said, Sure, if you pay me. When I turned pro I said, I will never be that guy. -- Victor Martinez DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE ON THE MD FORUM READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS IN THE MCGOUGH REPORT SEE MORE VIDEOS & ARTICLES ON VICTOR MARTINEZ Cambodian students hold portraits of President Xi Jinping and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni during Xi's arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport on Thursday. [Photo/Agencies] China and Cambodia inked 31 cooperative documents on Thursday during President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the Southeast Asian neighbor. Features of the agreements and memorandums of understanding, whose signings were witnessed by Xi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, include loans, trade deals and construction of power plants. Additionally, China has agreed to import 200,000 tons of rice from Cambodia. The two countries also agreed to jointly implement the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in production capacity. The initiative, consisting of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was proposed by Xi in 2013 with a focus on infrastructure. During his talks with Hun Sen, Xi said he received a magnificent and friendly welcome "from the moment I stepped from the plane". Hundreds of students welcomed the delegation with portraits of the two countries' leaders on the streets outside the airport. China will continue to offer more support to Cambodia to help the country maintain stability and improve people's livelihoods, Xi said. Under the leadership of Hun Sen, Cambodia has gained stable social order and rapid economic development, improved people's livelihoods and promoted the country's international status, Xi said. The Cambodian prime minister called Xi's visit historic and said it will strengthen the traditional bilateral friendship. He also expressed gratitude for China's medical treatment of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath. Xi was making his first state visit to Cambodia since he became China's top leader in late 2012. He will fly to Bangladesh on Friday morning and then go to Goa, India, to attend the eighth BRICS Summit. In July, Cambodia voiced support for China's stance on the South China Sea issue after the ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in a case unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III. Ye Hailin, a senior researcher of South Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Xi's visit will not only strengthen bilateral ties with Cambodia, but also have great influence on the Southeast Asian region. "Cambodia is not a big power, but the country's role is quite prominent in the Southeast Asian region," he said. The visit will deepen China-Cambodia cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, he added. "Cambodia is a young country that has great potential in infrastructure and industrial upgrade, and what Cambodian people expect is the same as what Chinese investors expect," Ye said. We have independently selected these offers and products because we love them and we think you might like them at these prices. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may earn a commission if you buy something through our links. Items are Geng Shuang at a press briefing held on Oct. 13 in Beijing [Photo: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs] China on Thursday urged the British government to stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a half-year report on Hong Kong released by the British government recently. "Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kong affairs belong to China's domestic affairs and any foreign countries has no right to interfere," said Geng. "We demand that the British side be cautious in words and deeds, and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs." Geng said the policy of "one country, two systems" has scored remarkable achievements since Hong Kong's return to China in 1997. The policies of "one country, two systems," "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong," and a high degree of autonomy have been fully implemented, he said. The central government has strictly followed the Constitution and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, and given full support to the chief executive and the SAR government in governance according to law, he said, adding that the Hong Kong people enjoy full rights and freedom in accordance with law. China has strong confidence and unswerving will to continue implementing the "one country, two systems" policy, the spokesperson said. Akufo-Addo should have apologised over hardship ... Charles Bolden (L) is pictured here with Tan Ruisong (R), vice president of the CAE. [Photo: cannews.com] A Chinese civil aviation company will work with NASA to help airports better manage their busy route schedules, amid mounting complaints over delays in recent years in China. "Our ability to work closely together will help to improve predictability of ground delays so air carriers can better plan departures to increase efficiencies," said Charles Bolden, a NASA Administrator. NASA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment (CAE), a research institute under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the first of its kind in over 2 decades. Under the five-year MoU, NASA and CAE will collaborate on aeronautics research based on data from Chinese airports. Their analysis is expected to improve air transportation concepts and technologies for inside and outside of China. "China is expected to see a substantial increase in air travel in the near future. Our ability to work closely together will help to improve predictability of ground delays so air carriers can better plan departures to increase efficiencies. That will have a positive impact on U.S. carriers operating in China and the global aviation community," said Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, when he visited China back in August. Bolden discussed details of the MoU with officials from CAE and China's civil aviation authority in that visit. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva Trend: Azerbaijan regrets that during the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), some delegations once again misused their participation for promotion and propaganda of the illegal separatist regime established by Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, said Azerbaijani delegation at the OSCE Permanent Councils special meeting. It has been internationally recognized that this regime is the product of illegal use of force against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan accompanied by heinous crimes, including ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity, said the delegation in its statement. In this context, the participation of an NGO associated with and actively promoting the illegal separatist regime can by no means be in line with the principles that the OSCE stands for and therefore, diametrically contrary to the very aim of HDIM, says the statement. Azerbaijan feels compelled to remind that in accordance with OSCE Helsinki Document of 1992, non-governmental organizations, which resort to the use of violence or publicly condone terrorism or the use of violence, wont be allowed to participate in the OSCE events, according to the statement. In light of the abovementioned, we reiterate that admission of NGOs propagating separatism to HDIMs is unacceptable and must be ceased, says the statement. Otherwise, this will further undermine the very credibility of this event. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Details added (first version posted on 12:37) Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 Trend: The statement by the Russian presidential aide, Yuri Ushakov, on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is surprising and regrettable, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman of Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, told Trend Oct. 14. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Oct. 13 that Moscow is not optimistic about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the near future and added that Moscow will continue to work with Baku and Yerevan on the issue. These remarks by Yuri Ushakov contradict the spirit of the Vienna and St. Petersburg meetings of the presidents and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs statements, voiced repeatedly at the presidential level, on unacceptability and volatility of the status quo, said Hajiyev. He also said the statement doesnt correspond to the detailed discussions held for the conflicts resolution during the visits of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the region. We have repeatedly stated that according to the spirit of the Vienna and St. Petersburg meetings of the presidents, Azerbaijan supports substantive talks towards the step-by-step resolution of the conflict, he noted. The substantive talks should ensure changing the current status quo, which is unacceptable and unsustainable, and the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, added Hajiyev. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Sacramento, CA Among the 17 ballot measures that Californians will decide on November 8, the Mother Lodes Congressman is in support of four. Congressman Tom McClintock is endorsing Proposition 53, which requires a public vote for revenue bonds, Proposition 54 which mandates bills be in print for 72 hours before a vote, Proposition 64 which would legalize marijuana for recreational use and Proposition 66 which a pro death penalty measure sponsored by law enforcement and victim organizations. McClintock is encouraging a no vote on the other 13 measures, which range from increasing taxes on tobacco to requiring porn actors to wear condoms. On the contentious marijuana proposition, McClintock says he abhors the use of marijuana, but feels that current laws have only created a violent and criminal black market that actively and aggressively markets to young people. You can read the Congressmans written take on the ballot measures below: Proposition 51 Add $1,400 To Your Credit Card Balance: NO. When Jerry Brown calls a measure fiscally irresponsible, well, my God! This $9 billion bond measure will cost $17.6 billion ($1,400 per household) to repay over the life of the loan. The bond is for local schools, and a big chunk of it is for routine maintenance. This violates basic principles of sound borrowing. First, statewide bonds should be for statewide purposes; local schools should be paid for with local bonds. Otherwise, we end up robbing Piedmont to pay Pasadena. Second, bonds should be for capital projects with a lifespan at least equal to the debt. If our children are to pay off these bonds, they should benefit from them. Their generation will have their own painting and weed-pulling to do, without having to pay for our generation as well. Proposition 52 Tax Extension for Medi-Cal: NO. Medi-Cal is the governments failing poverty program to provide health services for the poor. It is done with a federal match: states put in half the amount and the feds do the same. In 2009, the legislature imposed a tax on hospitals in order to pay its share off the books. That tax is due to expire on January 1, 2018. Prop 52 makes the tax permanent and makes it harder to repeal in the future. Hospitals support it because they pass along the tax to patients and get twice the matching funds back. Politicians like it because it lets them shift their Medi-Cal budget to other stuff. In my view, if were going to fund Medi-Cal, it should be spread across the entire tax base and not concentrated as a permanent tax on sick people. Proposition 53 Public Vote for Revenue Bonds: YES. General obligation bonds are repaid from the states general fund; revenue bonds are repaid by users of a project (e.g. tolls to repay a bridge bond). Since taxpayers are on the hook for GO bonds, voter approval is required, but not for revenue bonds. Thats as is should be projects that benefit a specific class of users should be paid by the users. The problem is that this common-sense funding mechanism has been so badly abused that many of todays revenue bonds come directly from taxpayers. My favorite example is the Pete Wilson fiction that prisons can be paid for by revenue bonds because prisons generate money from taxpayers! Now this ploy is being used by Jerry Brown for boondoggles ranging from his train-to-nowhere and his jaw-droppingly expensive tunnels project. This measure requires revenue bonds over $2 billion to be approved by voters, and is backed by taxpayer groups across the state. Proposition 54 Read the Damn Bills: YES. This forbids the legislature from voting on a bill until it has been in print for 72 hours and available to both legislators and the public to read. It stops the dangerous practice of having to pass a bill so we know whats in it. Proposition 55 Eat the Rich: NO. In 2012, Californians made a mistake in approving the highest personal income tax rate anywhere in the country on the very wealthy people who make over $250,000 a year. It is due to be phased out in 2018. This proposition would make it permanent. Whats wrong with soaking the rich? For openers, a lot of these very wealthy people arent wealthy and they arent even people. Theyre struggling small businesses filing under subchapter S. The really rich folks just re-arrange their schedules so theyre not legal residents and dont pay the tax. As Arthur Laffer has often said, Theres nothing in the world more portable than money and rich people. Proposition 56 Another Tobacco Tax: NO. This adds another $2.00 per pack tax on cigarettes, making California one of the heaviest taxed states for tobacco (like everything else). It discourages smoking and provides new revenues for health care whats not to like? For openers, that means permanent spending programs are being funded with a declining revenue and eventually taxpayers will end up paying the difference. Excessive taxation increases the incentives for black markets, and ultimately produces tragedies like the killing of Eric Garner in 2014, who was choked to death by New York City cops for the heinous crime of selling cigarettes to folks who couldnt afford the tax. Proposition 57 This Proposition Could Kill You: NO. This is Jerry Browns latest measure purporting to release only non-violent felons from prison. But as the law works, this would include rapists, child molesters, gang-bangers, arsonists and human traffickers to name a few and not to mention violent criminals who plea-bargained to lesser crimes. Ironically, while Jerry Brown and the Democrats are busy letting criminals out of prison, they are working overtime to disarm law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves. Violent crime in California is up 10 percent last year because of a similar ballot measure this widens the prison exit door, right into our neighborhoods. Proposition 58 Only Spanish Spoken Here: NO. In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 227, which forbade the practice of segregating Spanish-speaking children and teaching them in Spanish-only classes (a practice with the Orwellian title, bi-lingual education.) It originated out of Latino communities in Los Angeles who wanted their children to speak English and assimilate into American society. What a difference a generation makes. This measure would stop this vital assimilation program and return classrooms to Spanish-only instruction. Proposition 59 Repeal the First Amendment: NO. The Citizens United case protects the right of ANY group of Americans to pool their resources to participate in the public policy debate. Citizens United produced a documentary critical of Hillary Clinton and sought to syndicate it prior to an election. The FEC blocked them under the McCain Feingold campaign finance law. The ACLU sided with Citizens United, as did a majority of the court, ruling that although government may regulate direct contributions to candidates, it may not pick and choose who gets to participate in the larger public policy debate. This proposition calls on elected officials to overturn this decision and in so doing repeal the First Amendment. Most of our elected officials are leftists who are doing so anyway. Im not and I wont. Proposition 60 Lights, Condoms, Action: NO. This one proves there is no end to the minutiae that occupies the minds of todays public nannies it requires actors in pornographic films to wear condoms. Enough said. Proposition 61 Price Controls for Drugs: NO. Sounds good on the surface: the state should pay no more for drugs than the Veterans Administration does. Why would taxpayer and veterans groups oppose it? Because it will likely increase overall drug costs as the market adapts and create drug shortages along the way. Price controls always sound good in theory but in practice they always create shortages of whatever commodity is being controlled. Proposition 62 Kill the Death Penalty: NO. Here is the sum total of the leftist ballot measures on crime: release dangerous felons from our prisons (Prop. 57), disarm law-abiding citizens (Prop. 63) and provide old-age retirement plans for murderers (Prop 62). Yes, Californias liberals really are out of their minds. Proposition 63 Stop or Ill Throw my Gun at You: NO. Unable to confiscate firearms because of the Heller decision (soon to be repealed if Hillary Clinton gets to pick the next Supreme Court justices), the left is moving to put ammunition out of reach for Californians. This is the first step requiring a permit (renewable every four years) to purchase ammunition, accompanied by fees and background checks (of people who have already passed background checks to purchase their firearm in the first place). Proposition 64 Marijuana Legalization: YES. I abhor the use of marijuana, and believe we should do everything we can through education and persuasion to discourage its use. But our current laws have failed us, and have created a violent and criminal black market that actively and aggressively markets to young people. Legalization takes the criminal profit out of the equation, and allows us to regulate marijuana the same way we currently regulate alcohol. This should make it more difficult for minors to obtain marijuana; it should remove illegal cultivation from our neighborhoods and forests and move it to normal agricultural operations; and it should replace the criminal gangs that traffic marijuana with law-abiding farmers and shopkeepers. Proposition 65 Disposable Bag Fees for Wildlife Conservation: NO. The legislature passed a law that bans most disposable bags at grocery stores and charges 10-cents for others. It is being referended as Proposition 67. The law was part of a corrupt bargain that imposes these charges on grocery store customers and lets the grocery stores keep the revenue as extra profit. Prop. 65 would instead expropriate these taxes for Wildlife Conservation. If that sounds all warm and fuzzy, beware: these programs invariably become slush funds for environmental groups to push their agenda, which often has very little to do with wildlife conservation and a great deal to do with leftist political activism and environmental extremism. Lets just vote down Props 65 and 67 and keep our grocery bags. Proposition 66 A Death Penalty We Can Live With: YES. This is a pro-death penalty measure sponsored by law enforcement and victims organizations that streamlines Californias death penalty and puts it back in play. The overwhelming preponderance of evidence is that a death penalty, consistently applied, suppresses the murder rate and saves innocent lives. And it has a guaranteed ZERO rate of recidivism. Proposition 67 Grocery Bag Nannyism: NO. A yes vote means no more disposable plastic bags at the grocery store (with certain exceptions for meat and other perishable items, which will cost you 10-cents each). A NO vote means much more than just preserving this one little convenience it means repudiating the nanny state that California has become. Voting this down means saving yourself from the aggravation of cans rolling around in your car, and it means saving ten cents per bag to keep your chicken juice from seeping into your car carpet. But saying no to the nannies? Priceless. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 Trend: Turkey can play a positive role in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, TASS agency reported Oct. 14 citing Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The fact that Turkey can play a positive role by ensuring Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement, ensuring normal economic cooperation in the region, is such an important factor that we always consider it, Lavrov told reporters. Our sense is that the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement will be the key to Armenia-Turkey relations normalization, he added. Earlier, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that the OSCE Minsk Group should intensify its efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. A Seminole County woman is facing child-neglect charges after deputies say she let a 7-year-old boy drive a vehicle, then posted a video of it to social media. Woman accused of letting 7-year-old child drive a vehicle Deputies say she filmed it from passenger's seat Kwaniqua Glenn charged with child neglect Kwaniqua Glenn, 34, is accused of video-recording the boy driving while she was in the passenger seat. The Seminole County Sheriff's Office was alerted to the video on social media by a school resource officer who saw it and recognized the child as a student at the school to which he's assigned, deputies said. They said she met the boy at his bus stop and told him to get behind the wheel and drive through the neighborhood. Investigators think the driving incident happened sometime around Sept. 20 in unincorporated Altamonte Springs. Based on viewing the video, deputies estimate that the boy drove for about .3 to .4 mile at an average speed of about 29 mph during one .2-mile stretch. No property was damaged and no one was injured. Glenn was arrested Thursday morning and was charged with child neglect. She bonded out of jail late last night. A tree-trimmer was killed late Friday morning after an apparent electrocution by a live power line in Volusia County, the Sheriff's Office said. Tree-trimmer in Deltona killed Friday morning Deputies say he was in a lift in backyard of residence Witness reported hearing scream; man seen slumped over in lift Arthur Grimes, 52, of Osteen, who was at a residence on Leeward Drive in Deltona, was up in a lift in the backyard trimming limbs on a large pine tree with a pole saw, according to deputies. A witness heard the worker scream, and he was seen by two residents slumped over and unconscious in the lift. They called to Grimes and banged on the metal frame of the lift but got no response. Firefighters and paramedics arrived just after 11 a.m. Grimes was taken by ambulance to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford, where he was pronounced dead at 11:59 a.m. Florida Power & Light shut down the power grid briefly while the man was lowered to the ground. The Sheriff's Office is investigating. Walk With a Doc Texas, including the local Walk With a Doc organization, has accepted a challenge from the U.S. Surgeon General to get active, particularly during the next two weeks. And they want everyone to keep up with their increased level of participation by recording each step they take. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, issued the nationwide two-week Step It Up challenge to get Americans to commit to move more, and track their steps. The challenge runs Oct. 13-26. Dozens of physicians across Texas who already host monthly Walk With a Doc Texas events are seizing this opportunity to rally their patients and neighbors to lace em up and get out there to meet the challenge. Plainview stages its Walk With a Doc event monthly, with the October excursion held Oct. 1 during the Plainview Fall Festival. It was led by Dr. Brad Hough from Regence Health Network. As a result, Plainview wont have an organized Walk With a Doc during the two-week challenge, local coordinator Christine Cummins said that wont stop local participants from taking part in the challenge virtually through the internet. They can sign up at www.stepitupusa.org (there will be a link through the Walk With a Doc Plainview Facebook page) and then keep up with their steps through Fitbit and log in with their results. We really encourage everyone to accept the challenge and see how they do, Cummins said. A press release from the Texas Medical Association on the Step It Up challenge explains that the Walk With a Doc concept is simple: Physicians organize walks in their communities and invite their patients, their patients families, and community members to join them. Participation is free and pre-registration is not required. Community members share a walk with the host physicians and other healthcare professionals who host a brief informational talk and also answer questions during the event. In the three years since TMA first partnered with WWAD and began supporting physicians to sponsor walks in their communities, Texas doctors have responded enthusiastically. Now 33 physicians sponsor monthly walks (some more often than that), and more than 7,500 Texans walked in 2015 alone. WWAD Texas is overseen by the national nonprofit Walk With a Doc organization. The group was founded by a physician in Ohio. The Step It Up campaign has a similar goal: Walk your way toward better health. The Surgeon General has been challenging communities across the country to get up and get moving for a year now, so this intensifies that push to a two-week activity window. The challenge contains four steps: Commit to move more (see how many steps you can take in two weeks); join/create teams; start face-offs (compete with other teams); and track your progress via online dashboard. They are partnering with Fitbit as one means to track progress. Step It Up encourages people to watch a funny introductory video and sign up at www.stepitupusa.org. TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 49,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the state. TMAs key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans. TMA Foundation, TMAs philanthropic arm, raises funds to support the public health and science priority initiatives of TMA and the family of medicine, including Walk With a Doc Texas. In 2016, Walk With a Doc Texas also is funded with major support from the TMA Insurance Trust and Prudential. Walk With a Doc is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage healthy physical activity in people of all ages, and reverse the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle to improve the health and well-being of the country. Walk With a Doc was started in 2005 by David Sabgir, MD, a board-certified cardiologist in Columbus, Ohio, who practices with the Mount Carmel Health System. Details added (first version posted at 16:26) Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 Trend: The leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member-states will not adopt the statements on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian president, said, TASS agency reported Oct. 14. "The statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will not be adopted today," Peskov told reporters. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. The CSTO summit is being held in Yerevan on October 14. MERIDEN A vigil was held Friday evening for the woman killed in a hit-and-run on Springdale Avenue a week ago. Police shut down the street Friday evening and more than 100 people gathered to remember Dania Cedeno Del Rosario, 40, who pushed her seven-year-old daughter to safety before she was fatally struck by a car the night of Oct. 7. The fact that she saved her daughter tells me everything I need to know about the type of person Dania must have been, state Sen. Dante Bartolomeo said. Officer Fred Rivera, a member of the police departments Neighborhood Initiative Unit, led the emotional gathering of friends, family and coworkers. Many in attendance held candles and wore shirts commemorating Cedeno Del Rosario, who moved to Meriden three years ago from her native Dominican Republic. Cedeno Del Rosario was employed at Fosdick Fulfillment in Wallingford, where she was recently promoted. There, she worked with Riveras wife, Nancy. She was a hard worker ... a loving mother, a great wife, Fred Rivera said. Several police officers attended the vigil, which Rivera closed by asking for peace and remembrance. Keep the love alive, he said. Keep the name alive. Darangellis Batista worked with Cedeno Del Rosario for two years and said she remembers Cedeno Del Rosario always having a smile on her face. Police say Cedeno Del Rosario pushed her daughter, Denisse Guerrero, out of harms way before she was struck by a car. She was later pronounced dead at Hartford Hospital. The car that struck Cedeno Del Rosario fled the scene. Police have released footage of the car and are asking for the publics help identifying the driver. The photos show what appears to be a dark-colored vehicle traveling in the area that night. Police are looking for a vehicle with a missing side mirror and possible damage to the front quarter of the drivers side. A side mirror found at the scene indicates it was manufactured by Nissan. Reports of the vehicles color have been conflicting, police said. Initial reports indicated that the car was red. This was a horrific incident which has left a seven-year-old girl without her mother and the Meriden Police Department will work tirelessly trying to locate the operator and the vehicle involved, said police spokesman Sgt. Darrin McKay. We need the publics help to solve this and bring closure to the family, Fred Rivera said. Somebody out there knows something ... come to us, make a phone call, you dont even have to leave your name. Between law enforcement and the community, we have to be one, Fred Rivera added. We cant be apart, we have to come together. Cedeno Del Rosario was a parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. Besides her daughter, she is survived by her husband, Marco Guerrero, and sons Michael Antonio and Marcos Guerrero. Her daughter, Denisse, is a second grader at John Barry Elementary School. Since the incident, the family has received support from the school district and community as a whole. School and city officials are engaging in several efforts to raise money for the family. During a recent interview with the Record-Journal, Denisse Guerreros grandmother, Amparo Del Rosario, said the loss has destroyed their family. I dont think I have words to describe my daughter ... not just because Im her mother, but coworkers, friends described her as a great person, Amparo Del Rosario said. We werent prepared for this. You never think something like this is going to happen. We liked this week Local chain retailers are banking on a robust holiday shopping season and plan to hire thousands of workers as consumers express more confidence in the economy. Anchor stores at the Westfield Meriden mall, such as Macys and Boscovs, have held or are planning job fairs to fill seasonal positions in sales as well as inventory, distribution and customer service. Amtrak officials said construction of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line remains on schedule. As part of the project, a second set of tracks is being placed along the line, which will allow for additional commuter service beginning in January 2018. Officials at the states community colleges have backed off plans to seek a steep tuition and fee hike for thousands of students starting next semester, and instead plan to study the idea. Meriden is working with a consultant to get City Hall listed on the National Register of Historic Places, allowing the city to qualify for grants to cover repairs to the clock tower. The city recently hired a consultant to research the buildings structure and history. The research will be used to submit an application to the Connecticut Register of Historic Places panel, which determines eligibility before sending the request to Washington, D.C. A local missionary group will send a relief team to Haiti to help with the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew, which killed more than 1,000 people and left 350,000 Haitians in need of immediate aid. A group of about eight people from Wallingfords Bethesda Evangelical Mission is traveling to Haiti, bringing food and emergency medical attention. The Old State House in Hartford will reopen to the public on a limited basis, possibly as soon as Nov. 1, based on an agreement announced by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and state legislative leaders. The agreement returns control of the landmark to the Office of Legislative Management, ending a plan to shift oversight to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. It also ensures that paintings, antiques and other memorabilia slated for removal will remain in the 1796 building. On Sunday, Marjorie Low will have nearly 40 pieces of her artwork on display at the Southington Community Cultural Arts building, as part of an exhibit titled The Skys the Limit. Low, who uses the third floor of her home as a studio, is 95. Wallingford Police are planning to close a section of North Main Street for trick-or-treating on Halloween evening. Police Chief William Wright said the exact location and time of the closure has not been determined, but estimated it would last for a few hours in the area near Dutton Park. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been awarded the U.S. Navys highest civilian award for public service. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Maybus presented the Democrat on Wednesday with the Distinguished Public Service Award during an informal ceremony in Malloys capitol office. Maybus credits Malloy with helping to strengthen relations between Connecticut and the Navy, highlighting how the state has committed tens of millions of dollars to help pay for improvements at the U.S. Submarine Base in Groton. We didnt like this week Verizon will close call centers in Meriden and Wallingford in March 2017, the company said in a statement Wednesday. About 550 jobs will be relocated 490 from Wallingford and 60 from Meriden. The jobs are moving to other states. The General Assemblys Office of Fiscal Analysis is predicting Connecticut could lose $68.3 million in revenue once MGM Resorts Internationals planned casino opens in nearby Springfield, Mass., in the fall of 2018. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 Trend: Pakistan is one of the closest friends and allies of Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev. Ilham Aliyev was making statements for the press after his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Baku on Oct. 14. President Aliyev said Pakistan is one of the first three countries to recognize Azerbaijan as an independent state. That time, Nawaz Sharif was serving as Pakistans prime minister, and since then, the two countries have built very close friendship relations, added the president. Ilham Aliyev noted that the two countries always support each other in such international organizations as the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international structures. He pointed out that Pakistan and Azerbaijan support each other on the Kashmir problem and on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan fully supports the settlement of the Kashmir problem based on the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, said the president. At the same time, Pakistan fully supports the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, he added. President Aliyev said that unfortunately, these resolutions, which were adopted decades ago, are not fulfilled and this is a proof of a double standards attitude, because, sometimes, the resolutions of the UN Security Council are fulfilled in several days, or even in several hours, but when it comes to Azerbaijan, it takes such a long time. The mutual support of Azerbaijan and Pakistan to each other in such painful issues has united the two countries, he added. Azerbaijan is grateful to Pakistan that it doesnt recognize Armenia due to its occupation of Azerbaijani lands and hasnt created any diplomatic relations with that country, said President Aliyev. This is a proof of brotherhood, he said, adding that Azerbaijani people praise this brotherly attitude. Azerbaijan is also grateful to Pakistan as its Senate officially recognized the Khojaly massacre as genocide in 2012, said President Aliyev, adding this is another proof of friendship and partnership. Therefore, the people of Azerbaijan love Pakistan, said the president, adding that Azerbaijan is very grateful for this support and, for its part, always supports Pakistan in all the issues. President Aliyev further said that political contacts between the two countries stand at a very high level. Reiterating that Pakistan and Azerbaijan support each other in international organizations, the president said that today, they reviewed these issues with Nawaz Sharif and talked about the future activities. President Aliyev said that undoubtedly, the political contacts between Azerbaijan and Pakistan will continue successfully, but the two countries should work even much in the economic sphere, investment making and creation of mutually beneficial joint ventures. Ilham Aliyev also said the sides are not satisfied with the current level of the bilateral trade, therefore, today, they discussed the ways of increasing the volume of trade turnover. He noted that such issues as what Azerbaijan can export to Pakistan and what Pakistan can export to Azerbaijan will be resolved is the coming months. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When Teresa Goines opened Old Skool Cafe in the Bayview in 2012 she wanted to sell liquor. The jazz-themed restaurant employs at-risk youth, and Goines thought liquor sales would help the struggling restaurant become profitable. A first-time restaurateur, she was shocked to learn the cost of buying a full liquor license: around $300,000. It was way too expensive, said Goines. She abandoned the idea and sells beer and wine. Goines experience isnt unique in the Bayview, a historically blue-collar, African American neighborhood that has seen a modest influx of new housing and retail in recent years. Not a single restaurant on its Third Street commercial corridor has a liquor license, according to the city. That could change next year. For the first time in 77 years, the state will sell new liquor licenses to restaurants in San Francisco for $13,800 apiece under a state law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month. It takes effect Jan. 1. The licenses there are only five will be sold to restaurants located among seven outlying commercial corridors: Third Street in the Bayview, Mission Street in the Excelsior, San Bruno Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Noriega Street, Taraval Street and parts of Visitacion Valley. Those corridors have largely been left out of an open-market system where restaurants sell liquor licenses to one another at high prices. Most of the restaurants that can afford them are in wealthier neighborhoods that see a lot of tourists and foot traffic. Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle The reason for their high cost is a 1939 state law that ties the number of licenses for restaurants and bars to a countys population 1 per 2,000 residents. Thats about 418 licenses under San Franciscos current population. When the law was enacted, the city was allowed to keep the 1,000-plus licenses already issued. None has been issued since. The hope is that the new licenses will spur economic activity in outlying neighborhoods. It is a very creative approach to revitalizing challenged neighborhood commercial districts and will provide new businesses and new job opportunities, said state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who wrote the new law. A full-service liquor license for a prospective restaurant can be a determining factor in its success. Andrea Ferrucci, co-owner of the Dark Horse Inn in the Excelsior, said she will try to get one of the new licenses. In the five years since Ferrucci opened the Dark Horse Inn, which specializes in craft beer, the restaurant has attracted a loyal neighborhood following. Ferrucci wants to open another restaurant in the Excelsior that serves fancy cocktails. The profit margin on food is so small that you definitely need the alcohol sales to balance things out, she said. Whether Ferrucci opens the new restaurant hinges on winning one of the new liquor licenses. Ferrucci said she absolutely cannot afford the $300,000 it costs on the open market. To get one of the five new liquor licenses, restaurants in the seven corridors bars dont qualify have to show that the community supports the application and pay $13,800 to enter a lottery. If they arent selected, they are refunded the money, minus $100. Restaurants that win the licenses are prohibited from reselling them. If the restaurant closes, it has to relinquish the license to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which will hold a lottery to issue it to another establishment. Five licenses isnt a lot. Leno and city officials sought 28 new licenses four for each designated neighborhood but the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization reduced the number to five. The committee was concerned that approving 28 licenses would set a bad precedent, especially considering that no county had ever been given more than five extra licenses in a given year. Does this mean that Los Angeles County might be eligible for up to 364 licenses since its population is approximately 13 times greater than San Francisco County? the committee analysis report said. The analysis also criticized the idea that community support or opposition for a restaurants liquor license application could be properly judged. Who would be empowered to make the final determination of gauging the success, or lack thereof, relating to the meeting? the report said. Todd Rufo, director of the citys Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which sponsored the legislation, doesnt foresee problems with the law. He thinks it will not only spur economic activity but also contribute to a neighborly feel for those residents who want to get food and a cocktail close to home. The goal is to demonstrate success, and take it further, Rufo said. Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen Two men from Texas were charged Friday and a third was cleared of wrongdoing in a brutal attack on a Sikh man in Richmond last month that left him with sheared hair, nerve damage, a black eye, broken teeth and a pinky finger requiring amputation, prosecutors said. Chase Bryan Little, 31, and Colton Tye Leblanc, 24, were charged with felony assault with hate-crime enhancements in the attack on Maan Singh Khalsa. A man previously identified as a suspect, Dustin Albarado of Louisiana, was cleared of criminal liability, said Simon OConnell, Contra Costa County deputy district attorney The savage cutting of Mr. Khalsas unshorn hair, a sacred article of his faith, constitutes a hate crime under the law, OConnell said in a statement. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Richmond Police Department Show More Show Less 2 of 3 The Sikh Coalition Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Little and Leblanc were fired from their jobs at Koch Specialty Plant Services, a firm associated with Koch Industries, the behemoth company run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. The men were in the East Bay for contract assignments at the Chevron refinery in Richmond. Little is from Beaumont, Texas, while Lablanc is from Winnie, Texas. The confrontation unfolded the night of Sept. 25 as Khalsa, 41, was leaving a Richmond Walmart and stopped at a red light at the intersection of Blume and Hilltop drives. A white, four-door truck with five men inside pulled up next to Khalsa, and a man in the back seat threw a half-empty beer can at him, Khalsa told police. Khalsa told officers he said, You forgot something, as he got out of his car and threw the can back at the truck. The men in the truck started screaming and cursing at him, and as soon as Khalsa left the intersection, driving east on Hilltop Drive, the truck followed him, officials said. At an intersection before the Interstate 80 overpass, the truck again pulled up to Khalsa, who sensed something wasnt right and called 911. Before police could arrive, according prosecutors, two men in the back seat got out of the truck and began punching Khalsa in the face through his open window while yelling profanities at him and knocking off his turban an important part of Sikhism thats made some of its wearers targets of violent anti-Muslim bias by people confusing the two religions. After they were done beating him, one of the men yelled, cut his f hair off, Khalsa told police. Little used a knife to cut Khalsas hair and stab Khalsa in the hand as he tried to protect himself, officials said. As Khalsa tried to drive away, the three men chased him while the driver of the truck attempted to get in front of his car to stop him. Eventually, after making a number of quick turns, Khalsa was able to get away as he began blacking out from the pummeling. No community should be attacked because of their faith, ethnicity, gender or sexuality, said Harsimran Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, which had pressed for the hate crime charges. Little is out on bail, and a bench warrant will be issued for Leblanc, OConnell said. Jenna Lyons and Kimberly Veklerov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno @kveklerov Two men from Texas were charged Friday and a third was cleared of wrongdoing in a brutal attack on a Sikh man in Richmond, Calif. last month that left him with sheared hair, nerve damage, a black eye, broken teeth and a pinky finger requiring amputation, prosecutors said. Chase Bryan Little, 31, and Colton Tye Leblanc, 24, were charged with felony assault with hate-crime enhancements in the attack on Maan Singh Khalsa. A man previously identified as a suspect, Dustin Albarado of Louisiana, was cleared of criminal liability, said Simon OConnell, Contra Costa County deputy district attorney The savage cutting of Mr. Khalsas unshorn hair, a sacred article of his faith, constitutes a hate crime under the law, OConnell said in a statement. Little and Leblanc were fired from their jobs at Koch Specialty Plant Services, a firm associated with Koch Industries, the behemoth company run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. The men were in the East Bay for contract assignments at the Chevron refinery in Richmond. Little is from Beaumont, Texas, while Lablanc is from Winnie, Texas. The confrontation unfolded the night of Sept. 25 as Khalsa, 41, was leaving a Richmond Walmart and stopped at a red light at the intersection of Blume and Hilltop drives. A white, four-door truck with five men inside pulled up next to Khalsa, and a man in the back seat threw a half-empty beer can at him, Khalsa told police. Khalsa told officers he said, You forgot something, as he got out of his car and threw the can back at the truck. The men in the truck started screaming and cursing at him, and as soon as Khalsa left the intersection, driving east on Hilltop Drive, the truck followed him, officials said. At an intersection before the Interstate 80 overpass, the truck again pulled up to Khalsa, who sensed something wasnt right and called 911. Before police could arrive, according prosecutors, two men in the back seat got out of the truck and began punching Khalsa in the face through his open window while yelling profanities at him and knocking off his turban an important part of Sikhism thats made some of its wearers targets of violent anti-Muslim bias by people confusing the two religions. After they were done beating him, one of the men yelled, cut his f hair off, Khalsa told police. Little used a knife to cut Khalsas hair and stab Khalsa in the hand as he tried to protect himself, officials said. As Khalsa tried to drive away, the three men chased him while the driver of the truck attempted to get in front of his car to stop him. Eventually, after making a number of quick turns, Khalsa was able to get away as he began blacking out from the pummeling. No community should be attacked because of their faith, ethnicity, gender or sexuality, said Harsimran Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, which had pressed for the hate crime charges. Little is out on bail, and a bench warrant will be issued for Leblanc, OConnell said. Jenna Lyons and Kimberly Veklerov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno @kveklerov San Antonio-based artist Cruz Ortiz has been tapped to create original artwork in support of Hillary Clintons presidential bid by Hillary for America, the Democratic nominees official campaign organization. His design - a flag with the Spanish word ganas (desire) printed under a series of nesting right angles - is currently featured on a micro-site for the Latinos for Hillary coalition. The online version is animated, so the flag ripples as if blown by the wind. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Alamo City's most-fashionable were out and dressed to the nines for the second annual San Antonio Fashion Awards, hosted at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Thursday evening. Style Lush TV, local fashion online fashion network, organizes the event to recognize the city's leading gurus, from the shutterbugs behind the camera to the striking models posing before them. RELATED: San Antonio approves tax incentives to lure Hollywood filmmakers Burgundy Woods, Style Lush's founder, told mySA.com she has witnessed the city's rise in the fashion world throughout the last three years. In the planning stages of the company, she faced doubters who didn't believe San Antonio had enough style to report on, she recalled. "I feel like the fashion scene was more of an underground thought in the community at that time," she said. "People thought I was crazy." RELATED: 13 local fashionistas making San Antonio their runway on Instagram Just a few years later, an array of San Antonio style was showcased at last night's glittering affair with enough talent to comprise 13 awards categories. Former San Antonio Express-News fashion writer and emcee of the night, Michael Quintanilla, was honored with the the first-ever "Award of Excellence" for his 40-year career and contributions to the San Antonio fashion scene. Woods feels the awards are pivotal in the growth of the blossoming community, because it provides a "measure" for the next generation. RELATED: 25 San Antonio Instagrammers keeping the city double-tapping "The talent, passion and drive has always been there, but they're showing it off even more because they know someone cares," she added. "(San Antonio) has something special, I've traveled enough to know there's nothing like us in the world, we're here and we're talented." RELATED: 19 women who run San Antonio The 2016 San Antonio Fashion Awards winners included: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Describing the San Antonio crime story as "a Texas-sized case of love, infidelity, rage and possibly murder," veteran news magazine "48 Hours" explores the incidents that led up to a widow's sensational local trial in "Driven to Extremes" at 9 p.m. Saturday on CBS. In reality, however, the jury's verdict didn't contain the word "possibly." Last month, Frances Hall was convicted of murdering her husband, trucking tycoon Bill Hall. According to stories by Express-News reporter Elizabeth Zavala, the death happened when Hall knocked her spouse's motorcycle off the highway with her Cadillac Escalade while chasing his lover, Bonnie Contreras, who was in another vehicle. What made the case especially notable was Hall's punishment for the crime: two years behind bars, which Zavala described in her story as "the lightest possible murder sentence." The decision indicated that the jury agreed with the defense that Hall acted out of "sudden passion.""48 Hours," however, is approaching the case as if it were a mystery, at least according to the show's press release. "Exactly what happened leading up to that moment is what's up for debate," the release states. "Was it an accident or did Frances Hall intentionally kill (her husband) after being driven into a jealous rage by menacing texts sent by her husband's mistress, Bonnie Contreras?" In the story, "48 Hours" reporter Peter Van Sant travels to San Antonio to examine the incidents that led to the road death. A clip shows him quizzing Hall's daughter, her defense attorney and the prosecutors. "You have this toxic love triangle," Leigh Cutter, Hall's attorney, says in the CBS piece. "You have this multimillionaire husband and wife, and you have this mistress trying to wedge her way between them." "Frances Hall took a two-ton death tank to what should have been a fistfight," counters Bexar County prosecutor Stephanie Paulissen. "She was out for blood." jjakle@express-news.net Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: Attracting Turkey as a mediator in resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can contribute to its settlement, says Nikita Isaev, director of the Russian Institute of Contemporary Economics. Inclusion of new active and effective intermediaries in the regulatory process of a conflict, which is of historical and protracted nature, always has a positive effect, Isaev, who also chairs the presidium of the Russian Rodina partys political council, told Trend Oct. 14 He noted that Turkey may become sufficiently independent mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement. The expert said that currently the general political and economic approaches are being formed in the South Caucasus with Russia's mediation. In particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently met with Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the expert said. The meeting will be held between President Putin and Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan as part of the CSTO meeting in Yerevan today. "Joint efforts on the conflict settlement can bring results today," he said. He said that the recent cooling of the US-Turkey relations gives a possibility for the diplomacy of the South Caucasian countries. "It will be much easier to agree without the US destructive position, he said. So, I think that Turkeys participation as a mediator in the settlement of this conflict should be welcomed." The further evaluation of Turkey as a mediator will depend on the specific suggestions and actions which will be announced by the Turkish side, Isaev said. Turkey can play a positive role in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Yerevan earlier. Lavrov said that Turkey can play a positive role by ensuring normal economic cooperation in the region. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO Taco joints, Italian restaurants and an upscale country club are among the establishments cited for health code violations this week, as 18 restaurants and bars across the city made the dirty list. To make the Express-News' list of dirtiest restaurants, an establishment must earn a score of 89 or below or anything less than an "A" during a random city inspection. While common violations include cross contamination hazards and dirty food contact surfaces, inspectors also observed bloody freezers and dead insects in food. On the Far North Side, The Dominion Country Club at 1 Dominion Drive received demerits when an employees personal drinking cup was stored in a cooler holding ready-to-eat foods for customers. It was also cited when an inspector observed employees handling ready-to-eat foods with bare hands. At Elizabeths Restaurant, 5251 Timberhill, the inspector was certainly checking every detail when an employee was observed preparing food with dirty nails. Taqueria Vallarta, 3219 Blanco Road, received demerits for not cleaning up dried blood on the floor of a walk-in freezer. On the Northwest Side, El Rodeo Mexican Grill at 6565 Babcock Road was cited when dead bugs were found in a flour container. Get all the highlights from this week's dirtiest restaurant list in the slideshow above. RELATED: San Antonio restaurant inspections: The worst reports from last week The San Antonio Express-News examines hundreds of restaurant inspections each week conducted by the San Antonio Food and Environmental Health Services division to bring you the eateries with scores of 89 or below. Restaurants are graded on a 100-point system, where "100" is a perfect score, and demerits are based upon the number of violations found during a regular food establishment inspection. There are three categories of demerits and each are assigned a demerit score of 3, 2 or 1 points, according to the health division. Scores and demerits listed are only representative of the state of the restaurant at the time of inspection and are surveyed at random. rsalinas@mysa.com Twitter: @RebeccaLSalinas Bethlehem Eleven water sources at two Bethlehem elementary schools tested positive for lead at levels requiring them to be shut off and remediated, according to emails the district issued to parents this week. One source was a water fountain. If a source shows lead levels above 15 parts per billion, a district is required to turn off the source, and develop and implement a lead remediation plan under a new state law requiring all public schools in New York to test water outlets currently or potentially used for drinking or cooking purposes. The new law, passed on Sept. 6, makes New York the first state in the nation to require all of its public schools to conduct lead testing on all sources of potable water. District officials received water test results for Slingerlands Elementary School on Tuesday. Of 107 samples taken, eight tested above the recommended levels. None of those samples were drinking water. Sites that tested positive for lead were as follows: Sink in Room A (Ms. Platek's music room) had an action level of 18 ppb Sink in Room 2 (Ms. Fitzpatrick's room) had an action level of 23 ppb Sink in Room 45 (Ms. Gough's ESL room) had an action level of 24 ppb Sink in bathroom in Room 19 (Ms. MacMillan's room) had an action level of 28 ppb Sink in the gymnasium had an action level of 18 ppb Sink in the library office had an action level of 26 ppb Sink in Room 1A (Teacher Workroom) had an action level of 40 ppb Dishwasher Sprayer in the Kitchen had an action level of 18 ppb Officials received results for Elsmere Elementary School on Thursday. Of 69 samples taken, three tested above the recommended levels. One was from a water fountain. Sites that tested positive for lead were as follows: Sink in Room 35 (Mrs. Peter's math room) had an action level of 22 ppb Sink in bathroom in Room 3 (Mrs. Barcomb's room) had an action level of 24 ppb Hallway water fountain (in front wing near handicapped entrance) had an action level of 22 ppb Lead exposure is particularly harmful to young children, and research has shown prolonged exposure can result in lower IQs, behavioral problems and brain damage. Districts had until Sept. 30 to test elementary schools. They have until Oct. 31 to test all other schools. The Times Union will be posting results from schools across the Capital Region on the Schools Blog as they come in. BRIDGEPORTA brazen trio appear to have led law enforcement on high-speed chase Thursday night and effectively escaped local police. The pursuit appeared to have begun when a Bridgeport patrol officer noticed that a stolen car with three occupants was being driven along a city road, according to police dispatch reports. Its unclear where the vehicle was first spotted, but according to dispatch reports the car fled along Boston Avenue, North Avenue, and on to Route 8. Officers pursuing the vehicle reluctantly abandoned the chase the when recalled, after the suspects continued North on Route 25. They sent description of the vehicle and a license plate to State Police, who did not immediately comment on the outcome of the pursuit. City officials had not concluded their investigation of the start of the pursuit, but Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez spoke generally on the departments general policy on calling off high-speed chases. Wantonly engaged, Perez said, someone can die in a police pursuit. City limits do not mark safe harbor for criminals. Bridgeport police can pursue and arrest suspects far from town. But patrol supervisors must weigh the perpetrators suspected crime with the public safety risk. If theyve got a gun, or someones wanted for murder then yes, you go all the way, Perez said. But if its something thatsay youve got the license plate or you know who the vehicle belongs toyou dont want to put anyones life at risk. If State Police are notified its not to pass the pursuit baton but as a general heads up, according to Perez. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH For the second time in less than 24 hours, incumbent state Rep. Fred Camillo locked horns Friday with his Democratic challenger, Dita Bhargava, in a debate for the 151st District seat. This time, the venue was Lisa Wexlers WGCH radio show. On Thursday, the candidates debated at Greenwich Town Hall. The candidates discussed the racial balance in Greenwich schools, highway tolls, affordable housing and repeated their opposition to the way the state budget has been administered in Hartford. Fiscal conservancy was a strong influence in both of the candidates answers. I am a different type of Democrat. Im a person that votes Democratically on a lot of social issues, but fiscally I am conservative, Bhargava said. My ideas to grow our revenues is to entice businesses and families to move to the state. Camillo is running for his fifth term. He grew up in Cos Cob and now lives in Old Greenwich. He runs Camillo Consulting LLC and has previously served as chairman of the Greenwich Republican Town Committee and briefly as a high school history teacher. Bhargava, a newcomer to the political scene, has lived in Greenwich for nine years. She was born and educated in Canada, and worked as a portfolio manager and senior trader at Citibank, Citadel and Credit Suisse in New York City and RBS in Stamford. Since moving to Greenwich, she has been a founding board member of the India Cultural Center of Greenwich. Racial balance in schools Wexler took questions from callers in a town hall style of moderation for a portion of the debate, and one caller asked if the candidates thought racial balance could ever be fully achieved in Greenwich schools. The candidates agreed that while racial balance would be good, it was not as important as other things. I believe integration is very important, but more that every student should have access to a high quality education, and that is what we should be looking at, Bhargava said. Camillo said he lived briefly in Byram a few years ago, and he didnt think the kids there necessarily wanted to be shipped across town to go to a different school. He said he supported universal pre-kindergarten. You have to do what you can, Camillo said. Camillo also said he thought the Connecticut judge that issued an order earlier this year to redistribute money to inner-city schools had overstepped his boundaries. Bhargava said she would not support any additional taxes on Greenwich to give to inner-city schools, and that the state should use the funds it already takes from the town more efficiently. The candidates were uniformly against increasing taxes, and when asked if they would ever vote to put a toll on the Merritt Parkway, they both said no. I am actually opposed to any type of tax, Bhargava said. I would generally vote no on tolls. I have never voted for a tax increase in my life, Camillo said. Affordable housing Wexler asked about 830g, a state law that established minimum target levels of affordable housing in the state and made it easier for developers with affordable housing components built into their proposal to get approved by municipal agencies. I thought it was a horrible law, Camillo said. He said he had proposed legislation that would allow seniors who were rich in housing but not income to rent out space in their homes to police, firemen and EMT workers, but it was shot down by Democrats. Bhargava said she wasnt that familiar with 830g, but thought affordable housing was important for the town and the state. She said having affordable housing would help keep young people in the state, ensuring a broad future tax base. She said one of the first things she would like to pass is a program that forgave student loan debt for college graduates who remained in the state. The candidates agreed that they were skeptical of regional governance, and were worried it would lead to Greenwichs wealth leaking out to surrounding communities. I generally dont believe in too many layers of government, Bhargava said. The candidates also agreed, when Wexler asked, that they both supported animal welfare. I love animals, in fact Im a vegetarian, Bhargava said. I dont believe in cruelty to animals in any sense of the matter. Camillo said he would like to increase the penalty for animal abusers charged under Buddys Law, legislation he wrote which helps hold people who harm companion animals accountable. He also said he helped form the first ever animal welfare caucus in the country. My heart hurts for the monkeys that are still in cages in Yale, Wexler said. pfrissell@hearstmediact.com; @PeregrineFriss Albany A coalition of New York's good-government groups are calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature to hold immediate hearings into the scandal that has engulfed several upstate development projects, including the so-called "Buffalo Billion" initiative, in an attempt to head off future potential cases of self-dealing and bid-rigging. "Something's rotten in the way contracting is happening in New York State," said Blair Horner in a news conference at the Capitol. " ... The focus on speed and getting things done even at the expense of public accountability has had a predictable result: People tried to loot the public treasury." Three weeks ago, state and federal prosecutors announced charges against nine individuals, including former Cuomo aide Joe Percoco and SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros, for allegedly rigging bids and doling out other official favors. Kaloyeros was suspended, and resigned earlier this week. Many of the contracts in question were struck between developers and SUNY Poly's two nonprofit development arms, Fuller Road Development Corp. and Fort Schuyler Development Corp. On Thursday, the advocates called for all state agencies, authorities and affiliates such as the SUNY Poly nonprofits to adopt a uniform set of procurement and contracting standards to ensure competition and transparency, with existing state agency standards set as the minimum. The coalition also wants to see all economic development awards handed off to Empire State Development Corp. In the wake of the unveiling of last month's criminal complaints, Cuomo tasked that state agency with taking over the projects previously overseen by SUNY Poly. Also, the groups said that all state authorities, corporations and nonprofits should be prevented from doing business with their board members. They also want New York to consider writing rules that limit the amount of campaign contributions a politician can take from an individual or business seeking a state contract. Nineteen states have adopted similar restrictions. John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany warned that using nonprofits in a way that allows contracting to be done out of public view was essentially creating a "shadow government" fueled by public funds. The advocates also called on Cuomo to release any report handed to him by private investigator Bart Schwartz, who was hired by the administration this spring after the governor's office was served with a federal subpoena related to the development probe. A Cuomo spokesman said that the administration had received nothing neither drafts nor final work product from Schwartz to date outside of a brief memo recommending a set of changes to the procurement process. cseiler@timesunion.com 518-454-5619 @CaseySeiler 1 Death penalty: The Florida Supreme Court ruled Friday that a death sentence requires a unanimous jury. The court struck down a newly enacted law allowing a defendant to be sentenced to death as long as 10 out of 12 jurors recommend it. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Floridas death penalty sentencing law unconstitutional. State legislators responded by overhauling the law. 2 Illinois endorsement: The Chicago Tribune on Friday endorsed Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth for the U.S. Senate, arguing that incumbent Republican Mark Kirk is unable to fully do the job after recovering from a stroke. The newspaper said that due to forces beyond his control, Kirk no longer can perform to the fullest the job of a U.S. senator. Kirk spokesman Kevin Artl called it a low blow and cheap shot thats not based on fact or reality. Kirk suffered a stroke in 2012 and returned to the Senate in 2013. The critics job is to explain why he or she feels a certain way about a work, not to tell you how to feel. Thats why most art critics and curators generally avoid talking about beauty. The word is, at best, a grossly imprecise measure of value. Nevertheless, a new show at the San Jose Museum of Art organized by New Yorks Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum goes there in a big way. Beauty is the bold title of the Cooper Hewitts most recent design triennial, a grab bag of clothing, jewelry, home furnishings, graphics and more. It was presented in the New York museums old mansion rooms earlier this year and comes west for the first time, a bit clumsily refashioned for San Joses big, modern galleries. Like all the best design exhibitions, the show sustains deep attention. It charms and confounds in just the right proportions. But it gets us no closer to a useful definition of beauty than the shopworn proverb would have. Theres a page in the middle of the exhibition catalog devoted to attempts by participating designers to talk about beauty. I like the one from the Swedish team Simogo: When you really cant explain why something is beautiful, then maybe that is beauty? Beauty is an experience. It is not an attribute, like texture, shape or scale. It isnt directly perceived by the senses it doesnt have a scent or a sound. Colors might go in and out of style, but the essence of our concept of beauty is, itself, style: That Victorian sitting room was beautiful in the 19th century, ugly by 1930, beautiful again 40 years ago. Beauty must be alive or, at least, experienced live. Thats why most paintings and photographs of sunsets are not truly beautiful: They are the carcass of something once beautiful, shriveled and drained of vitality. They are plastic replicas like the fake bouquet that can only, at best, look real. The exhibition includes a fair number of garments. They hang lifelessly on mannequins, like the pathetic skin of a once-free animal draped on vacation cabin furniture. Fashion can be truly beautiful only in relation to the sentience, the sensuality of the wearer. It has to breathe and move. It can be a soft echo, a countermelody or a jolting note of dissonance, but it must become the being it clothes. If a photograph or a dummy is all we have, we are left with a kind of pornography. We yearn to engage the actual but are left with cold illusion. Take American Jean Yus Overflow bodice (2015). A scarcely there womens teddy formed of nothing but a single sheet of folded silk gazar is a useless thing, except to veil a lovers body. Discard the exhibitions central thesis, such as it is, to focus not on surface elegance but conceptual clarity. Among the 280 works by 57 designers are some extraordinary finds. Israeli jewelry designer Noa Zilberman works, tellingly, not with gold but with gold-plated brass. Her Wrinkles Jewelry (2012) consists of fine metal strips that fill the age lines on the wearers face. It propels the idea of ornamentation past external attractiveness to see someone wearing certain of her pieces at a social occasion would be downright scary to a celebration of maturity, an embrace of individuation. Aaron Koblin, a visual media designer, worked with Canadian director Vincent Morisset on Just a Reflektor (2013), a how-did-they-do-that interactive music video for the band Arcade Fire (you can see it here: www.justareflektor.com). As complex as the coding must be, the imagery is simple, even simplistic, allowing a kind of high-tech doodling over recorded motion. But theres no denying the works catchy visual energy, and the ability to peel back pictorial layers with the touch of a finger suggests further possibilities of storytelling. Truly advanced design does not merely rejigger the look of things, however. Israeli American Neri Oxman plausibly conceives a future life wherein our costume will be our salvation. Oxman is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is developing the idea of synthetic human organs to be worn externally, like elaborate clothing or backpacks. Channels, tubes and capillaries would be filled with engineered microorganisms bred to help us digest, breathe, stay warm and otherwise sustain ourselves in deadly environments. Oxman suggests far-off planets, but one can also imagine their use in the spoiled world we may leave to succeeding generations. A world where beauty may be defined as a gasp of fresh air or a sip of clean water. Charles Desmarais is The San Francisco Chronicles art critic. Email: cdesmarais@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Artguy1 Beauty Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays. Through Feb. 19. $5-$10. San Jose Museum of Art, 110 S. Market St., San Jose. (408) 271-6840. http://sjmusart.org To see a video of one of Neri Oxmans wearable, synthetic organ systems: http://bit.ly/mushtari Conroe City Councilman Duane Ham is questioning the viability of the city's self-funded insurance plan after learning the program has a $2 million shortfall. Running an annual deficit of around $500,00 over that past two years, that is expected to grow to $2.5 million over the next year. During the council's workshop meeting Wednesday, Brent Weegar with IPS Advisors, the city's insurance consultant, presented information indicating the number of high claims by employees are pushing the city's plan deeper in the hole. "A significant amount of $25,000 claims or more have hit the plan and is the main reason we have seen such a large cost increase," Weegar said. "The major cost driver has been the PPO plan." Weegar proposed changes to the city's program, including eliminating out-of-network benefits and increasing deductibles. The self-funded insurance plan covers health-related claims and the fee to contract with Cigna Health Care, said Andre Houser, Human Resources director. Once the insured meets the deductible, the city pays 80 percent of claims, with the insured covering the remaining 20 percent. Cigna, Houser said, is a third-party administrator and helps process the claims. "Have we looked at doing a regular plan," said Ham, referring to the city exploring the idea of moving away from the self-funded program. Houser said the city did a competitive bid process last year for the third-party administrator. The staff requested the companies, including Cigna, to provide information regarding a traditional insurance program. "We only had one that responded; and it was more costly than staying with Cigna," Houser said. Ham asked why a bid process was not done again this year and that information provided to council. Houser said the city entered into a three-year agreement last year for the administrative services for the self-funded plan. "There are only two ways to solve the $2 million; that is either cut the benefits or increase the (premiums)," Houser said. Ham said the council needs to have other options before approving any changes to the existing plan. "We are stuck with what (Weegar) is telling us," Ham said. "The only thing frozen on this is the administrative fees, so we could open this up for bid every year. Insurance is getting worse and worse and worse, yet we are going to ask for more and more money." Councilman Guy Martin stopped Weegar's presentation telling him he was rushing through it without giving the council many details. "We aren't getting near enough information to vote," Martin said. "I need to know everything there is to know about this new program for our employees." Currently, the city has three insurance options for employees: a Preferred Provider Organization, Health Savings Account or KelseyCare. Premiums for the KelseyCare and HSA are $40 and $60 for an employee, respectively. For family coverages, those premiums are $171 and $238, respectively. Premiums for the PPO are $100 for an employee and $355 for a family. Most of the city employees, about 334, are enrolled in the PPO plan, with 163 enrolled in the KelseyCare and 65 with the HAS. In an effort to reduce costs last year, the city introduced the KelseyCare plan and encouraged employees to choose that option. That plan limits the employee to using only Kelsey Seybold clinics around the Houston area. Councilman Duke Coon proposed polling employees on the KelseyCare to see what their experience is with the plan. "If it is the city's plan to drive more employees to KelseyCare, then we need to know more about it," Coon said. "I think we need some more study." The council is expected to revisit the issue at a future meeting. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13 By Anakhanum Hidayatova Trend: The EU is currently discussing a draft mandate to negotiate a new agreement with Azerbaijan, the EU press service in Brussels told Trend. This reflects the emphasis on differentiation in the EU's recently reviewed European Neighbourhood Policy, the press service added. Earlier, Deputy Head of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev said that the EU may issue Azerbaijan a mandate to start negotiations on a new agreement on strategic partnership in October 2016. "Azerbaijan is an important partner of the EU," the press service noted. "We hope to launch negotiations on the new agreement soon." The EU delegation is scheduled to take part in the EU-Azerbaijan Justice, Freedom and Security (JFS) and Human Rights Subcommittee meeting October 12-13. "The main purpose of the meeting is to take stock of the JFS, Human Rights and Democracy situation in the country, assess the progress made by the country in all relevant areas, and explore ways to deepen the EU-Azerbaijan cooperation in this new context of our bilateral relations," said the EU press service. Currently, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of the partnership and cooperation agreement which was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999. The new agreement envisages bringing Azerbaijan's legislation and procedures closer to the most important international and trade standards of the EU. This process is meant to improve the access of Azerbaijani products to the EU markets. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Technology has been changing the way people do business ever since the invention of the wheel around 3500 B.C. revolutionized how Mesopotamian farmers and tradesmen moved goods to and from market. Likewise, todays internet is changing how entrepreneurs start businesses, connect with customers, compete more effectively and grow to scale. Related: Netflix Launches Website to Test Your Internet Speed How is the internet changing the world of entrepreneurship? Start with the following three ways. 1. The gig economy and online entrepreneurs As many as 15 percent of American workers are currently employed full-time in the gig economy: as contract workers, freelancers, and temps. By 2020, this number is expected to grow to as many as 40 percent of American workers. The internet is a significant factor making this possible, as sites like Craigslist and Upwork make it easier for workers to find clients in need of their services. But internet entrepreneurship isnt all about freelancers. The internet has given rise to a whole new class of online entrepreneurs and content creators who develop and host games, operate online stores, run affiliate link sites, host ecommerce businesses and more. Whether its a side-hustle or full-time gig, what the internet can provide entrepreneurs connects them to the markets they serve. Yet until recently, slow internet connections, data transfer caps and unreliable service hampered many entrepreneurs efforts to get established online. Most start-up businesses are created from the home -- whether that be the basement of a single-family residence in the suburbs or a high-rise apartment building in a downtown metropolitan area. And unfortunately, the internet is not a mobile commodity that can be picked up and delivered to the consumer. Instead, it's a utility that is delivered over an integrated, continuous physical or part-physical, part-wireless infrastructure. Historically, internet service companies owned and maintained a completely wired infrastructure, but even Google Fiber has recently realized that its expensive to bring wired fiber all the way to that house in a suburban cul de sac. As a result, more beginning entrepreneurs are realizing that they can get super-fast internet in apartments and condominiums in downtown areas, at a fraction of what is available in suburban and rural areas. This fixed wireless, also referred to as microwave technology, is leading the way for increased competition, which is driving prices down and increasing speed expectations. Related: 6 Things You Need to Know About Google Fiber Its absolutely true; we have changed the market here in Chicago. In less than two years, the expectation of speed has increased by nearly tenfold and price points have dropped substantially as a result of our technology, says Keegan Bonebrake of Everywhere Wireless. Were delivering up to 1,000 megabits per second in residential units, for $99 a month. "Were seeing the consumer demand skyrocket for big bandwidth in residential buildings, and were seeing that consumer demand is driving changes in building owners thinking. Ryan Folger, the president and founder of Anexis Development, says he refused to move into an apartment building at 500 North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago unless he could gain access to Everywhere Wireless and its gigabit speeds. The building has AT&T internet included in the rent, but its only six Mbps, which is simply unusable at this point," Folger says. "I started Anexis a few months ago, and Im transferring large amounts of data daily," Folger says. "I needed fast download and upload speeds, which is why I petitioned the property manager to allow Everywhere Wireless to provide its Gigabit service to me. Luckily, they saw the value and accommodated my request. 2. Communication, connection and collaboration Its hard to imagine starting and running a business without email and instant messaging. Yet, before these tools were in common use, scheduling meetings and communicating essential information to people outside your office was actually quite challenging -- not to mention, slow. Now, meetings can be scheduled and carried out at the click of a button, while email and messaging enable information to be shared quickly and easily. But perhaps the internets biggest change for entrepreneurs is the ability to connect with potential new customers and markets for relatively low cost. In the past, entrepreneurs invested big budgets in advertising and marketing to reach their audience. Today, social media allows them to inexpensively and easily spread the word about their startups and target new customers and investment opportunities. How important is social media for todays entrepreneur? A recent survey on LinkedIn indicated that 81 percent of participating small businesses were using social media, more than 94 percent of them for marketing purposes. One challenge with social media, however, is that it can be difficult to tie social efforts to actual profits. This is changing as businesses becomes more adept at using retargeting and other social media tools to drive sales. There are also other crucial benefits that social media can provide. Chief among these is the ability to better understand and more efficiently reach your target market with the data and analytics that social media provides. 3. The cloud: hIgh tech, low cost Once upon a time, even small businesses had significant startup costs, especially when it came to technology. Today, the internet, thanks to the cloud, allows entrepreneurs to access high-quality technology for a fraction of the up-front cost of installed hardware and software. In a recent survey of 1,300 U.K. and U.S. business owners, 62 percent of respondents agreed with the idea that the cloud was enabling a boom in entrepreneurship and startups. Why are so many entrepreneurs turning to the cloud? One major attraction is its ability to help you scale. Businesses that today only have one or two users can easily add users by increasing their subscription level. But the cloud isnt just about applications. Servers, phone systems, online storage -- in fact, most of a companys hardware and infrastructure needs -- can all be managed via the cloud. The cloud puts enterprise-grade technology into the hands of any entrepreneur with an internet connection. Related: Get a Grip on Your Operating Costs By Moving to the Cloud Internet-enabled startups, connection and collaboration, and low-cost access to technology are just a few of the ways that the internet is changing the world of entrepreneurship. The internet has become an invaluable tool for solving many important business problems, including research about and purchase of, the products and services a business needs, and the connections its founders need to make with partners, investors and customers alike. Related: Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved I oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, better known as the TPP agreement. I believe it will result in even more Americans losing their jobs. The House of Representatives will vote yes or no on TPP soon. I contacted the office of U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, who represents my district. I spoke with a staff member and I specifically asked what the Congressmans decision was on the TPP agreement. Will he vote yes or no? The staff member told me that she does not know at the moment how he will vote. To the Editor: My name is Lori Langdon and I, along with my husband, Ryan, and six children, enthusiastically support Sen. Tony Hwang. We admire Tonys steadfast commitment to our community and state. When not in Hartford, Tony is attending community events and meetings. In particular, his support for the Pequot Library and its many initiatives is of great importance to our family. Tony has also showed tremendous commitment to education. He has been involved with National History Day as a judge and is always present at the awards ceremony to offer congratulations to the students. He has helped our children with their projects by bringing them to the state capital and attending a meeting with them and the Connecticut Attorney General, George Jepsen. He has also met with them to discuss campaign finance reform. We need people like Tony in Hartford. The state is in such financial shambles, and Tony is not afraid to take a stand and fight for our rights as taxpayers. Please join me in voting for Sen. Tony Hwang on Nov. 8. Lori Langdon Fairfield This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Kano, Nigeria Twenty-one of the 218 missing Nigerian schoolgirls abducted in 2014 by Boko Haram militants were released Thursday as a result of negotiations with the extremist group, government officials said. The girls were released in northern Borno State, rescued by a military helicopter and transported to the state capital, Maiduguri, said Mallam Garba Shehu, spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari. Officials said the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government acted as neutral intermediaries leading to the first major breakthrough since the girls' kidnapping in April 2014. Nigeria's minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, told reporters in Abuja that the rescued girls were being flown to the nation's capital for treatment and trauma counseling. "Ahead of their arrival, we have assembled a team of medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, trauma experts to properly examine the girls, especially because they have been in captivity for so long," he said. "They will also be adequately debriefed." Mohammed said the government was in the processing of contacting parents and relatives. He denied media reports based on unnamed officials that the girls were swapped for Boko Haram commanders. "As we have always said, we have been working on the safe release of the girls and following all the leads available," Mohammed said. "Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides. We see this as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok girls in captivity." Shehu said in a statement on Twitter: "The president welcomes the release of the girls but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30,000 fellow citizens were killed by terrorism." Nearly 200 girls still are missing, some believed to have been killed in Nigerian air force strikes on militants' positions. Shehu said negotiations were continuing to secure the release of the other girls. Before the latest release, only one of the missing 219 schoolgirls kidnapped from the town of Chibok had been freed. Amina Ali Nkeki was found in May with her Boko Haram husband in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of the extremist militia. The 276 girls initially abducted were sleeping at a school in preparation for examinations, at a time when Boko Haram had been targeting schools, killing teachers, firebombing dormitories and warning schools to close. Several dozen escaped, but the remaining 219 were taken into the Sambisa forest by gunmen. The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, announced in a video shortly afterward that the girls were "slaves." Like thousands of other women and girls abducted in northern Nigeria in recent years, the girls are believed to have been forced into marriage with Boko Haram fighters. Yakaka, 14, a Nigerian girl from a village near Bama, in Borno State, one of thousands of women and girls seized by Boko Haram in recent years, said she witnessed many of the Chibok schoolgirls killed in a Nigerian air force airstrike this year. She spoke to the Los Angeles Times in an interview in Maiduguri last week. Her surname is not used because she is a minor and a victim of sexual assault. Yakaka said that after being abducted while fetching water and forcibly married to a Boko Haram fighter, she was taken by the insurgents with other women to a camp in the Sambisa forest. She escaped two months ago and was held by the Nigerian military until this month, before being transferred to Dalori, a camp for displaced persons in Maiduguri. She is four months' pregnant. In the militants' camp, she saw several dozen girls held nearby, who Boko Haram fighters said were abducted in Chibok in April 2014. She and other abductees in her camp were not allowed to approach the Chibok girls. Beirut Overnight shelling and over a dozen airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 11 people, bringing the death toll over the last three days in the embattled city to at least 65, activists said Thursday. Meanwhile, rebel shelling of government-held areas in the divided city killed two girls at a school. The airstrikes came a day after an air raid hit eastern Aleppo's biggest market, killing at least 15 people and leveling buildings. Aleppo's unabating violence has given additional urgency to the upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on efforts to find a peace deal in Syria in Switzerland on Saturday. It will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington broke off bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow on Syria over the violence in Aleppo earlier this month. In other developments in Syria's multi-layered conflict, two Iraqi militia commanders said Thursday they have started withdrawing some of their elite forces from Syria, where they are fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad's government, to Iraq in preparation for the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group. The battle for Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition air-power. Since Mosul first fell to IS in June 2014, the extremists have been pushed from more than half of the territory they once held in Iraq, according to figures released by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office. Iraqi Shiite militias are not expected to take part in the operation, although they are likely to be part of the offensive to capture areas nearby such as the town of Tal Afar, which used to have a large Shiite population. The two commanders, from Iraq's powerful Asaib Ahl Haq and Kataib Hezbollah militias, said more than 2,000 of their fighters have been withdrawn from Syria, mostly from in and around Aleppo, for redeployment near Mosul and the IS stronghold of Hawija. The two spoke to The Associated Press in Baghdad on condition of anonymity. MADISON, Miss - Reports are coming in from across the southeast of people seeing fireballs flying through the sky. Jay Bird, a 16 WAPT viewer from Madison, said about 7 a.m. Wednesday, he saw a long, white line of light and then heard an explosion with a faint boom. "It had a fluorescent blue cloud that stuck around for about five minutes," Bird said in an email. RUSH TO MARS: Obama hopes Americans won't just visit, they'll stay According to the American Meteor Society, close to 200 people have reported seeing a fireball around the same time as Bird. The reports span from eastern Georgia to east Texas. NASA said it received more than 100 reports from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. Unfortunately, NASA said its cameras were turned off when the event happened. "All sky cameras in the region had already shut down to protect themselves from the bright Sun, forcing us to rely solely on the eyewitness reports for trajectory analysis,"NASA spokeswoman Karen Northon told WDSU -- 16 WAPT's sister station in New Orleans. The object was a meteor, NASA said. It was first seen 65 miles above Sawyersville, Alabama and moved west at about 89,000 mph. "It appears to have fragmented 41 miles above Louisville, Mississippi," NASA said. "Estimates of the brightness indicate that the object weighed about 5 pounds and was roughly 5 inches in diameter." Because of no photos or video, NASA said that a reliable orbit can't be determined, which means the source of the object is a "mystery." What NASA can say, though, is that it was a natural meteor. However, it wasn't part of the Orionid meteor shower. Story originally appeared on wapt.com. NORWALK A verbal dispute at the Norwalk Registrar of Voters Office on Wednesday resulted in police being contacted the following day to investigate alleged social media threats. A lady came in Wednesday and thought she would be able to sign her daughters voter registration card, Lyons said of the unidentified woman involved in the altercation. When I told her she couldnt, she became very upset and had to be escorted out by security. The woman allegedly then posted comments such as watch out and watch your back on Lyons Facebook page. At the urging of Lyons family, and in an abundance of caution, Lyons contacted Norwalk police and officers responded to City Hall at 1:57 p.m. on Thursday. These days, you just never know, Lyons said. My family wanted the police to have a record of this and to speak with her. Police said that Lyons and the other party were spoken to and the parties were advised to discontinue the conversation on social media. The womans comments have since been deleted, but Lyons comments are still publicly visible. At 9:20 p.m. on Wednesday Lyons posted on Facebook: Wow what a day. Had a woman creating voter fraud and was so rude and threatening, we had to have Security at City Hall take her out ... Guess we will have to police in our office. Soon. On Thursday, at 12:14 a.m. Lyons posted: Life is great. Follow the law with elections and you will be fine. If not...fines and jail. Im glad the police spoke to her and that her comments were taken down, Lyons told The Hour on Thursday. If I see her again, I will treat her courteously and I expect that she will do the same. llake@hearstmediact.com NORWALK The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra will open its 77th season on Oct. 29 with renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz, known for bringing a fresh ear to familiar music and participating in groundbreaking collaborations. Haimovitz, a well-known cellist since the age of 13, made his solo debut with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic. He is an associate professor of music at McGill University in Montreal, and Leonard Rose at the Julliard School described him as "probably the greatest talent I have ever taught." We are so thrilled to have someone of Matts caliber to open our season, NSO Director Jonathan Yates said. Ive been honored to know him since we were undergraduates at Harvard, and through his evolution from an exciting prodigy to a innovative world artist, hes always been a probing musician of great intellect and deep passion. The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, comprised of professional musicians, has served Norwalk for more than 75 years with the mission to provide the community with the opportunity to explore orchestral music in an informal fashion. NSO was founded in January 1939. Through 1985, the symphony was primarily a community orchestra composed of volunteer musicians from the greater Norwalk region. In 1956, the Norwalk Youth Symphony was formed, and younger musicians from surrounding communities were frequently invited to be part of the orchestra. From 1980 to 2000, a new music director expanded the musical aspirations of the NSO and demanded an increasingly rigorous standard of performance from its musicians. During this time the profile of the musicians shifted to a fully paid professional orchestra. Yates is the seventh director of the NSO and is starting his sixth year in the role. The opening concert will begin with Rossinis Overture to II Signor Bruschino. The featured highlight is Dimitri Shostakovichs First Cello Concerto with Haimovitz as soloist. The evening will conclude with the Fourth Symphony by Brahms. The concert will take place at the Norwalk Concert Hall at 125 East Ave. Tickets range from $10 for students to $50 for the best seats and can be purchased online at the symphonys website, norwalksymphony.org, or by calling the office at 203-956-6771. KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: Azerbaijan and Poland will discuss further cooperation as part of the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation in Warsaw, Marek Tsalka, Polish ambassador to Azerbaijan, told Trend Oct. 14. He said that the meeting of the commission is scheduled for December 20. During the meeting the sides will consider the agenda for further cooperation after the government was changed in Poland in late 2015, the ambassador added. The Law and Justice right-wing conservative party won the parliamentary election in Poland in 2015. The party obtained such a number of mandates that it could form the government without a coalition with other parliamentary factions for the first time in post-communist Poland. The representatives of the left-wing parties have not been represented in the Polish Sejm for the first time since 1989. The diplomat added that organizing further meetings between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Poland are planned to be discussed during the meeting. Two Polish deputy foreign ministers intend to visit Baku soon, Tsalka said. The dates of the visits are being coordinated. According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Poland amounted to $49.37 million in January-August 2016 compared to $44.3 million in the same period of 2015. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova A 29-year-old Houston man was arrested Oct. 8 for a DWI. A deputy responded to a fast-food restaurant in the 25000 block of Interstate 45 North involving a man passed out in a vehicle that was in the drive-through lane. The deputy detained him. District 2 South County * A 41-year-old Magnolia man was arrested Oct. 3 for a public intoxication. A deputy was sent to the 6600 block of FM 1488 in reference to an intoxicated man inside a business. The deputy located the man and detained him. * A 38-year-old Houston woman was arrested Oct. 4 for a public intoxication. A deputy was notified that an intoxicated woman had left an unknown bar and was possibly headed for a bar on Rayford Road. The deputy located the female in the 2900 block of Rayford Road and detained her. * A 41-year-old Conroe man was arrested Oct. 5 for a DWI. A deputy stopped a vehicle on a traffic violation in the 24600 block of Interstate 45 North. The male driver was found to be intoxicated. * A 35-year-old Spring woman was arrested Oct. 6 for a DWI and drug possession. A deputy responded to the 25300 block of Borough Park Drive in reference to an intoxicated woman whom was observed driving her vehicle and crashing it into another vehicle. The deputy located the woman and detained her. * A 22-year-old Spring woman was arrested Oct. 7 for a public intoxication. A deputy was sent to the 24700 block of Interstate 45 North in reference to an intoxicated woman. The deputy located the woman and detained her. * A 21-year-old Houston man was arrested Oct. 7 for possessing fraudulent identifying information. A deputy observed a suspicious vehicle in the 300 block of Pruitt Road. During the investigation, the deputy discovered the male driver to be in possession of fraudulent identifying information. District 6 Woodlands * A 28-year-old man was arrested Oct. 4 for criminal mischief. A deputy was dispatched to a burglary in progress in the 2500 block of South Millbend Drive. The suspect had an argument with the tenant and left, returning a short time later using a patio chair to break a window and retrieve a dog from the apartment. * A 35-year-old man was arrested Oct. 5 for public intoxication. A deputy was dispatched to a welfare check at 2201 Lake Woodlands Drive. Upon arrival, deputies began a search for the subject in question but only located his bicycle. A sergeant located the suspect on the west side of a church. The suspect was found to be highly intoxicated and a danger to himself. * A 37-year-old man was arrested Oct. 6 for possession drugs. A deputy conducted a welfare check on a vehicle at Woodlands Parkway. The driver was found to have marijuana and amphetamines within the vehicle. * A man was arrested Oct. 9 for public intoxication. A deputy was dispatched to a residence on Lacy Oak Circle in reference to a trespasser in progress. Upon arrival, the deputy found a former resident passed out in a vehicle in the driveway. The suspect had bloodshot eyes and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person. The Plainview High School Choral Department, under the leadership of Dr. Debra Flournoy-Buford and Sally Bass, will present a patriotic program entitled My America on Monday, Oct. 17, in the PHS auditorium. Nearly 200 students from five PHS Choral Department choirs will be involved in singing a variety of songs representing American patriotism including original melodies and arrangements by Dr. Buford. Music for the program will include military service songs, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Homeland, God Bless the USA, God Bless America, Texas, Our Texas and a special rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. Members of the audience who have served our country will be invited to stand when they hear their military service song. Dr. Buford and Bass hope for this to be an interactive and impressionable evening for everyone who attends. It is a challenging time for our country as we face the November presidential elections, said Dr. Buford. It is interesting to note that people are currently very cautious about stating their political views about anything right now. This concert is not about any type of political view, but is presented to serve as a reminder of our right to sing and express aesthetic appreciation for American heroes and patriots. Its a reminder of who and what this country stands for in the context of our everyday lives because of those who have served. We are always only one generation away from forgetting history and the implications of historical events that brought us to our present American society, she said. We hope that this concert of American patriotism will not only bring comfort and remembrances to our community, but also give students a reminder of the past to ensure they never forget and carry on the traditions of music that reflect who we are as a nation. The patriotic event is free and the community is encouraged to come and enjoy an evening of music to refresh the soul and the heart of all patrons. For more information about this event and upcoming PHS Choral Department Concerts, you can follow the choir on Facebook under the name of PHS A Cappella Choir. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.14 Trend: Following the meeting in a limited format, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev had an expanded meeting with Pakistans Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Baku Oct. 14. During the meeting, President Aliyev said he is very happy with the Pakistani PMs official visit to Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani president reminded that he had a good meeting with Nawaz Sharif in Davos in early 2016, where they held talks and once again emphasized the strategic significance of the cooperation between the two countries. The Pakistani prime ministers official visit to Azerbaijan shows that a very close cooperation continues between the two countries, added President Aliyev. He noted that Pakistan is one of the closest friends of Azerbaijan. Further noting that Azerbaijan and Pakistan intend to develop their relations in various spheres, President Aliyev said the two countries have very close political ties. The Azerbaijani president said he and the Pakistani PM had discussions on the high-level political cooperation between the two countries. He noted that Azerbaijan and Pakistan should develop their cooperation in economy and investments, boost their trade turnover, pay great attention to humanitarian issues and have a very broad and effective cooperation. Ilham Aliyev further said the two countries support each other on all international issues. He noted that Azerbaijan always supports Pakistan in the issues related to Kashmir, and Pakistan, for its part, always supports Azerbaijan in the issues related to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President Aliyev said the two countries stand side by side in all the international organizations. He noted that Nawaz Sharifs visit gives a good opportunity to review the work done and to set the future plans. President Aliyev expressed gratitude to the Pakistani PM for accepting his invitation and visiting Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 Trend: Following the meeting in a limited format, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev and Pakistans Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif held negotiations in an expanded format in Baku Oct. 14. Nawaz Sharif thanked President Aliyev and said it is great honor for him to visit Azerbaijan. Baku has become a beautiful city in the past 10-15 years, said the Pakistani PM, adding that it is amazing that such a progress was achieved in less than 15 years. He added that Baku is one of the cleanest cities he has ever seen. Nawaz Sharif also recalled his visit to Azerbaijan in 1998 and expressed his gratitude to the Azerbaijani president for the warm reception. He also congratulated the president and the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of Azerbaijans Independence Day. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif noted that the people of Pakistan appreciate the foresight of Azerbaijans late president Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan's progress, development, and President Ilham Aliyevs wise leadership. Azerbaijan has achieved remarkable progress in the last 25 years, he added. He also said Azerbaijans development and success are a source of pride for all the Muslim countries and is an example for many developing countries. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Seba Aghayeva Trend: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will take part in the 43rd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend Oct. 14. The session of the council will be held October 18-19 in Tashkent under the slogan Education and Enlightenment: The Path to Peace and Creativity. Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov is planned to give speech at the session and to hold bilateral meetings. During the 43rd Session of Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC in Tashkent, it is planned to approve more than 100 resolutions, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said earlier. The Tashkent Declaration, which will reflect the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian issues on the agenda of the OIC, as well as the priorities of the upcoming presidency of Uzbekistan in the organization, should become the main final document. The OIC was established in September of 1969 to ensure Islamic solidarity in social, economic and political spheres. The organization has 57 member states. Uzbekistan became an OIC member in 1996. A decision on Uzbekistans chairmanship in the organization in 2016 was made at a meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Kuwait in May 2015. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Asebaa U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro toured the new East Meadows housing complex on San Antonios East Side today and urged the city to invest more in affordable housing opportunities. East Meadows first phase, a $41.7 million development containing 215 apartments, was built where the old Wheatley Courts public housing complex used to stand. Castro, a former San Antonio mayor who supported the project during his tenure here, called the new development a fantastic example of revitalization that will improve the quality of life for residents on the East Side. Before touring the new apartments this morning, Castro called for the city to make greater investments in affordable housing. San Antonio is at a point where the rent is going up. The cost of homes is going up significantly, Castro said. While San Antonio continues to perform well economically and is still growing, those factors bring more pointed challenges, Castro said. We need more investments like this, Castro said of East Meadows. But the opportunities to pursue such investments will only dwindle as home prices get higher and higher, he said. The city needs to invest in affordable housing now, he said. City officials explored the possibility of including an affordable housing bond in its proposed $850 million bond package going before San Antonio voters next year. But the city was unable to include that component because the current city charter only permits bonds to be issued for public works projects. However, the proposed bond package going before San Antonio voters in May includes $20 million for neighborhood improvements, which would allow the city to buy deteriorated properties and prepare them for development. Those preparations could include demolition and cleanup, extending utilities to such sites and constructing sidewalks and curbs. The East Meadows housing development unveiled by the San Antonio Housing Authority and developer McCormack Baron Salazar today was the result of multiple public and private investments. So far, the City of San Antonio has allocated $17 million in funding to the housing authority to make various improvements in the East Side neighborhood. Those city funds were used for demolition, site preparation, new streets and other infrastructure. pohare@express-news.net Two journalists in North Dallas had the cops called on them Wednesday because they looked suspicious. Homa Bash, an NBC5 reporter, and photographer C.J. Johnson were in Plano, a suburb of Dallas, working on a story when a police officer arrived after receiving a call about a "Hispanic-looking" woman and black man who had a suspicious white truck. RELATED: Balcones Heights City Hall evacuated for suspicious package, turns out to be barber tools When you get the cops called because a Hispanic-looking woman & black man with a suspicious white truck & camera are near a school, Bash tweeted Wednesday. Bash is not Hispanic, she is Indian, and Johnson is black. Since then, the tweet has accumulated more than 60,000 retweets and more than 115,000 likes. Many have responded to the tweet saying they had similar experiences while reporting. RELATED: Reporter ousted from autism event Bexar DA was attending Bash said the officer who responded to the call told them: So, youre marked in every way, not sure whats confusing for them here. Plano police spokesman David Tilley told the Dallas Morning News that Laurie Hunter was the officer who responded to the call. Hunter, Tilley said, realized the reporters were not a threat at all and they were in the neighborhood to do their jobs, according to the newspaper. Tilley did not reveal the identity of the caller. RELATED: Ex-TV reporter gets prison for stalking, harassing San Antonio couple Tilley said the police department has had similar calls before twice the department responded to a call that ended up being a white TV reporter doing their job. Tilley told the newspaper that the caller described Bash and Johnson when prompted to give a description to the police, which is regular protocol so the department knows who to look for. The police officer and our crew were doing their jobs. Everyone acted professionally, NBC5 said in a statement to the Dallas Morning News. kbradshaw@express-news.net Twitter: @kbrad5 A federal grant is giving the city of Converse two additional police officers for the next three years as the city moves to bolster the number of law enforcement officer it puts on patrol. Under the Department of Justices 2016 COPS Hiring Program, Converse will receive funds to hire two additional police officers, receiving $237,443 to be spread out over a three-year period. The federal grant will pay 75 percent of the cost of hiring the pair of officers for the first year, 50 percent for the second year, and 25 percent of the cost the third year. One condition of receiving the grant is that Converse must keep the officers on staff for at least a fourth year, which falls completely on the city to fund. The citys matching funds in the program amount to $79,148, which City Manager Lanny Lambert said is money well spent for a city already trying to build its force. Were hiring four new officers in this years budgets, and these two morewill give us an additional two per shift more than what we currently have, Lambert said. Lambert anticipates no issues keeping the two COPS-funded officers on the city payroll once the program expires. We calculate that, for the last three to four years, about 50 new people a month have moved to Converse, he said. We believe by that time (the grant ends), well need them (the officers) and expect to be hiring more. Converse Mayor Al Suarez thanked Converse employee Stella Calvillo for aggressively pursuing participation in the COPS program that has eluded Converse in the past. An Oct. 3 letter outlining the grant stated that the grant award date is retroactive to Sept. 1. Weve had tremendous growth and we havent had any additional police officers in three or four years. We just didnt have the money to do it, so Id say we are way behind (in police staffing), Lambert said. We think we can get them right away because were already in the process of (having) an interview panel and an applicant pool. Thats perfect timing for our process. He said he anticipates having all six hired in the next 30 days or less. Currently, Converse staffs three to five officers per shift, with additional emphasis on weekends. The influx of six officers will allow for five to seven officers per shift. jflinn@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Mayor Ivy Taylor has faced a social-media backlash this week over her statement criticizing police officers for wearing Donald Trump campaign caps during the Republican presidential candidate's visit to San Antonio. On Tuesday night, Taylor posted a statement on Facebook that criticized the officers for apparently taking sides in a political battle while they were on duty. "I am deeply disappointed by some of our SAPD officers' lack of judgment," Taylor wrote. "While on duty, police must be above politics with an obligation to serve everyone equally. Everything they do should send that message and today's actions did not." READ MORE: SAPD motorcycle cops violate city policy by wearing Donald Trump hats Taylor's statement was consistent with one released earlier that day by Police Chief William McManus, but the mayor encountered vitriolic responses from Facebook followers who argued she should have stayed out of the situation. Some Trump supporters who said they backed Taylor for mayor in 2015 -- even accused her of being biased toward Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. Terrence Jeffrey Johnson called Taylor a "disgusting Hillary-loving HACK." Thank you Texas! If you haven't registered to VOTE- today is your last day. Go to: https://t.co/HfihPEA3Sp & get out on 11/8/16 to #MAGA! pic.twitter.com/KlRx4GoO64 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Joel Leonardo Arroyo wrote, "I can't wait to vote you out. I will be recruiting people to vote for your opponent." Daniel Rodriguez wrote, "Ivy, you won't get elected again!! I voted for you over Leticia" Van de Putte. He added, "I'm extremely disappointed in you and for attacking good officers based on your hitlery choice." The "hitlery choice" was an apparent reference to Clinton. Taylor has stayed out of the presidential race, and made a point of correcting a Clinton campaign press release last year that mistakenly included her on a list of Clinton's Texas supporters. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed condolences to General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand over the death of Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand. I was deeply saddened by the news of the death of Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, the president said. We share your grief on the occasion of this heavy loss, and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to you, all members of the Royal family and the friendly people of Thailand, the president added. V is a sixth-grader at Harris Academy. Shes soft-spoken, yet plucky. Shes into video games and drawing. Shes in the schools science club and active in her church, La Iglesia del Senor. None of that stopped the San Antonio Independent School District from putting her in handcuffs last week and treating her like a criminal. Shes not a criminal. Shes 12. Shes a kid who made a mistake and hurt another student when she playfully pushed him. It was reckless, but also an accident. V has no history of acting out or aggression. Shes not really an honor roll student only once or twice, she said last week but shes not a troublemaker, either. Her mother, Senaida, said V has never been in detention. Until last week, she had never been suspended, or put in handcuffs, or driven to juvenile detention jostling around in a police van. Im not using Vs name in this column because it would be unfair to have this story stick with her on Google years from now when she is searching for a job or applying to college, when she is old enough to look back and fully understand how poorly SAISD and administrators handled a tough situation. It started last week when V pushed another student, a boy in the seventh grade. She was roughhousing and trying to scare him. He fell on his face. The nurse couldnt stop his nose from bleeding. He had a big cut on his cheekbone. As San Antonio Independent School District spokeswoman Leslie Price said, the boy did sustain some significant injuries from what was deemed a forceable push. V and her mother feel terrible about what happened. They make no excuses and are truly apologetic. No one is minimizing the boys injuries. I was playing around with him and it got too far, V said. I understand she needs punishment, her mother said. But the district response has been way more than punishment. Its absurd, reflecting a lack of nuance and discretion. V was placed in handcuffs and charged with assault at the request of the boys parents. She sat in an office with school resource officers for a while, crying and afraid. She was then taken away, still handcuffed, in a police van for processing. She wasnt buckled in very tight. She said her head hit the back of the van as they drove. While the boys parents were called immediately, Vs mother didnt get a call from Harris principal until about 10 minutes before the end of school. Senaida said the principal told her not to pick V up at school since she had been charged with assault and was no longer on campus. My first thought was, where is she? Senaida said. The principal couldnt say. The mother was told to wait by the phone. Someone will call with more information, you know, eventually. Your 12-year-old daughter has been charged with assault. We dont know where she is. Please wait by the phone. Price said the district regrets what happened. At a certain point the principal did realize it was getting close to dismissal and she did call, Price said. She wasnt sure whether they were taking the child directly to our district police department or whether they would go straight to juvenile detention center. As for handcuffing V, We have a 12-year-old, which is young, Price said. Big picture, Price said the district is reviewing its policies about when a student should be placed in handcuffs. This is a priority of Superintendent Pedro Martinez and the districts new police chief. We dont want to be handcuffing students (except) in extreme situations, she said. Certainly, if they are violent or they are going to hurt themselves. If only the story ended here. V will spend 20 days at SAISDs alternative school, Estrada Achievement Center. It mostly serves high school students. Vs mother said she was told for the bus ride to school, V should sit behind the driver so the older students dont mess with her. Naturally, shes worried about her daughters safety. Shes worried about disruption to her daughters schooling. Shes going to explore charter school options. How do you send your kid to Estrada and then back to Harris? She is not a bad kid, the mother said. It surprises me that she is going through all this. Its heartbreaking for me. Its more than heartbreaking. Its pointless and harmful. Theres no teachable moment here. No reconciliation. No meaningful change in behavior. The district took a bad situation and made it much worse. But no one puts administrators into handcuffs for stuff like that. Republicans have been after Rep. Lloyd Doggett for a long time, gerrymandering his congressional district to help rig the election against him. Whether his district stretched to the border or was mangled to include both parts of Austin and parts of San Antonio call it the fajita-shaped district the aim was to either have a Republican win or get Latino voters to elect a Latino representative. No, that wasnt a pang of inclusion striking Republicans it was all to remove Doggett. This tells us something aside from the need to wrest control of redistricting from the Legislature. Doggett has been the hard-to-silence loyal opposition when the GOP rules the House roost. And when Democrats rule, he has been too tempting a progressive target since the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature draws the lines. But he always seems to find favor with those he represents. The Editorial Board recommends Lloyd Doggett in the 35th Congressional District. There are Libertarian and Green candidates in the race, but his major-party challenger is, again, former San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz. Doggett has been a consistent voice for progressive ideas on pharmaceuticals, education, child and senior welfare, the safety net generally, and war and peace. We havent always agreed, but his is a principled voice. Narvaiz touts her ability to get along with others, demonstrated by her three terms as San Marcos mayor. She has a compelling life story once in poverty, she has built a successful business and public life. She cites congressional dysfunction. But her party has been in charge for a while now. And moderate Republicans havent been able to move the dial on bipartisanship (or even intraparty collaboration). Different in this election is Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. Narvaiz hasnt publicly endorsed him but led the pledge of allegiance at one of his rallies on invitation, she told us. And she wont say how she will respond to Trump at the polls. This is the kind of equivocation that is souring much of the electorate. Even if the latest disclosure Trumps lewd comments about sexual assault cause pangs, this is too late. There is nothing known about Trump now that wasnt known before. Moreover, while Doggett fully recognizes the human role in climate change, Narvaiz says there is a discussion to be had. The only discussion should be on how to respond to global warming driven by emissions by humans. Narvaiz doesnt seem to grasp this. This is the issue of our times. Doggetts ideals are a better fit for the district. Voters in District 120 will name a true successor to Ruth Jones McClendon, who admirably served this East Side area for years. Technically, independent state Rep. Laura Thompson is the incumbent, having succeeded McClendon after winning an election to fill the post. But we recommend Democrat Barbara Gervin-Hawkins. Thompson does not know the issues. She would be painfully unprepared for the upcoming legislative session. During a meeting with the Express-News Editorial Board, Thompsons answers on topics ranging from trash pickup in unincorporated areas of Bexar County to the ongoing debate over school vouchers to revenue caps potentially being placed on cities and counties demonstrated a troubling lack of knowledge about key issues facing voters in District 120. As superintendent and co-founder of the George Gervin Academy, Gervin-Hawkins has said education will be her priority. We do not share Gervin-Hawkins enthusiasm for charter schools, but her passion for improving education funding and quality is evident. Unlike Thompson, Gervin-Hawkins does not support vouchers for private schools, which would drain funding from the public school system. Gervin-Hawkins is also interested in harvesting much-needed economic development opportunities in District 120, where more than 20 percent of residents live in poverty. She would be a voice for Medicaid expansion and workforce training. One issue on which we would like to see her develop more focus is advocating for mandatory trash pickup in unincorporated Bexar County. With the city not annexing the Camelot II area, the Legislature must give the county some mechanism to require that property owners have trash service. Our hope is Bexars entire delegation will make this issue a priority. We recommend Gervin-Hawkins for state representative in District 120. Unenforced laws Re: Gov. Pence, that Mexican thing is more than a thing, O. Ricardo Pimentel, Saturday: Mr. Pimentel includes a quote from a National Academy of Sciences report: Immigration is integral to the nations economic growth. The inflow of labor supply has helped the United States avoid the problems facing other economies that have stagnated as a result of unfavorable demographics. Fair enough. But his opinion does not mention that the U.S. addresses this and admits almost 1 million immigrants a year legally from all over the world per our immigration policy. This includes family, work-based, asylum and refugee immigration. The Immigration and Nationality Act limits how many immigrants annually can come to the United States from any one country. The countrys limit for permanent legal immigrants is 7 percent of the total immigrant admissions. Our immigration laws are not broken. They are not enforced. It would be enlightening if Mr. Pimentel provided a glimpse into Mexican laws, in which illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison. Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter Mexico can face imprisonment for 10 years. Ken Valentine, New Braunfels Glad youre here! For over a year, citizens have complained about which one of Donald Trumps insults has offended them the most. No one ever mentions the day Donald Trump yelled at news anchor Jorge Ramos to Go back to Univision! When I think of all the people I know who have emigrated from Mexico, including my late husband, artist Alberto Mijangos, I see only the richness and beauty of their culture and the incredible contributions they have made to our society. That Mexican thing is what makes San Antonio such a wonderful and unique American city. Instead of yelling, Go back to Univision, we should be proclaiming, Thank goodness you came! Kay Karcher Mijangos Dont dump Trump Shame on GOP members who have decided not to support Donald Trump, abandoning him over things that he said 11 years ago. Shame on the media for constantly writing and saying unfavorable things about Trump and never anything about what Hillary Clinton has done during her years in office. What about what President Bill Clinton did all his life, including his time in the White House? Hillary Clinton had the nerve to say, What difference does it make now? about what happened in Benghazi. I will tell you what difference it made; it made a difference to all the families of those poor people who lost their lives. She was secretary of state during that attack. If you abandon Trump, you give a vote for Clinton and another four years of Barack Obama. Grace Webb More like Tramp Regarding the American political scene, a new spelling of one of the candidates names is appropriate. Change the u to a, and the new spelling will say it all. The candidate with the new spelling needs to renounce his entire past. He needs a total reformation of his moral compass. He is a complete disaster. In charity, pray for the man. He is a tragedy. Tony Hearn Grate again Forget Donald Trump! I have long contended he would be in jail before he would be in the White House. The U.S. is a better country without the likes of Trump and his deplorable supporters. The DNC lost my support by tilting the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton during the primaries, but Hillary, with all her shortcomings, is still a far superior candidate to Trump. Trump is a joke. His supporters put party above patriotism. His lies, racism, misogyny and thin-skinned egomania have been flaunted in our faces for months. All but those with the same qualities could see that. People like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Kellyanne Conway, Ted Cruz, FOX News hosts and an endless list of others worked hard trying to sell citizens a shiny cowpatty. Even Mr. Christian first Mike Pence denied the things we saw on video. With clothespins on their noses, they tried to convince voters Trump would make America great again. I believe grate would have been a better word. Forget Trump but dont forget the basket of deplorables who tried to palm him off on us. They have their own agenda in mind, not the welfare of this country. Joe M. Velasquez Race obsession Re: Entertainers seek to put a smiling face, front page, Oct 7: I read this article with interest until I reached the statement that some clowns lost their way over the years, performing in blackface for minstrel shows. That practice now is frowned upon, though, surprisingly, its still legal in the U.S. Why, oh, why did you choose to interject a racial component into a subject when it wasnt required, and why would you suggest infringing on First Amendment rights by suggesting that choosing to perform in blackface should be illegal? Stick to the relevant point of the article, and quit trying to editorialize and make everything about race. Daniel Gonzales Sensible advice Im reading business columnists Scott Burns and Michael Taylor more these days. Their columns seem to be about everyday finances that affect me. I have a pension (lucky me) and rely on Social Security as well. No big stock funds for me. Im sitting right here at the edge of middle class. These guys are talking to me. Please keep these types of columns and aim them at young and old folks in the middle. They are readable and fill in some of the holes in my basic financial knowledge. Francille Radmann Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 Trend: Azerbaijan and Pakistan can work jointly to launch production in defense industry, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev making statements for the press after his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Baku on Oct. 14. He said a significant part of the discussions with Nawaz Sharif was dedicated to the cooperation in the military sphere. President Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Pakistan have a very good cooperation in the military sphere, adding that today he and the Pakistani PM discussed the plans regarding the joint military drills of the two countries armed forces. The Azerbaijani president noted that Pakistan has a very developed defense industry, and that the sides have thoroughly discussed the cooperation in this sphere. The president reminded that Azerbaijan has been for nearly 10 years developing its defense industry, adding that the country wants to buy the most modern and high-tech weapons from Pakistan. He said there is understanding between the parties on this issue. The president said he and Nawaz Sharif also mulled the cooperation in other sectors of the economy, particularly in agriculture and tourism. Ilham Aliyev expressed hope that once the electronic visa system is implemented in Azerbaijan, it will be very easy for the Pakistani citizens to come to Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani citizens will enjoy the same opportunities in traveling to Pakistan. The president further said the sides also had discussions on the opening joint pharmaceutical enterprises in Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev said this sphere is very developed in Pakistan, noting that Azerbaijan wants to develop this sphere too, as it is mainly dependent on imports. The president said he and the Pakistani PM also mulled other issues of mutual interest, adding there is absolutely mutual understanding on all the issues between the sides. He said this once again shows that the relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan are based on friendship and history. Historically the peoples of Azerbaijan and Pakistan had contacts, they worked together, said the president, adding that there are numerous marks of the Pakistani culture in Baku. Ilham Aliyev also said the current ties between the two countries are very important for regional security and cooperation. The president said he believes that transportation is one of the issues to be dealt with in the future by the two countries, as the new transportation projects implemented by Azerbaijan jointly with its neighbors will create new opportunities for transportations from Asia to Europe and from north to south, and will open new routes. Azerbaijan is located at the intersection of these transportation projects, he added. Re: Police facing discipline over campaign caps, Front Page, Wednesday: We see another reason the public feels uncertain about the integrity of law enforcement. In business, the principle of good will simply means that when you identify with a brand, you carry with you what that brand represents, be it good or bad. So one must wonder how many cases are being tried against minority citizens and noncitizens alike that will be compromised by the appearance of bias demonstrated by those who serve Donald Trump while in uniform. They are making a statement by endorsing this brand, and that statement is clear: We are indifferent to racism, sexual violence against women and the rule of law. If it were one rogue cop, this would be less troubling, but it is more than a dozen who support a candidate who sees himself as a strongman. Any punishment less than termination, if permitted, is a tacit approval of this egregious behavior. In the meantime, for those who are not white male, and for those brazen enough to publicly support Hillary Clinton, the uniform of the SAPD must be considered a threat to the safety and good will of this community. Ron Moore Fresh scandal News flash! Investigative reporters have discovered that Donald Trump rented a movie from his local neighborhood video store back in 1985 and then returned the tape without rewinding it. Its a damaging revelation, and I fully expect to see this story splashed across the front page of the San Antonio Express-News. Donald Smith Next label: Loser Donald Trump isnt bothered if he is called a bigot, a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobe, a hypocrite. And he is all of those things. But on Nov. 9, there is absolutely one thing he will hate to be called ... a LOSER. Ken Horn Nasty reality show At this time perhaps more than ever before in memory, we Americans thirst to hear real views and proposed answers to the most important questions facing us, not a slugfest of one-upmanship to see which candidate can hurl more invective than the other. This election and this debate should not be about two pompous personages posing onstage but about us, the American people, and the real issues we face. We tuned in to the Great Debate Sunday hoping to hear real proposals for solving these important problems, maybe some answers lacking the usual political doublespeak, but we didnt hear many real issues amid the mayhem of personal insults and recriminations. What a pathetic disappointment, demeaning to America. Cant we do any better, or is this down-and-dirty reality sitcom really us? Our carefully considered votes might show that we can. William Cornelison, Bandera Political parasites I doubt that anyone in America is happy with the two presidential candidates, but the sad fact is, it really makes little difference who is in the Oval Office. Until we get term limits for Congress, we will have a logjam that makes it difficult to get anything done. Surely someone with some clout can organize a campaign for a grass-roots movement to set term limits for these people who sit on their butts for years and do nothing. I realize this would be difficult to do since Congress would have to vote it in, which is never going to happen. But if we started now and enough intelligent people joined the cause, surely we could get it on the ballot by 2020. Something has to be done to get rid of the political parasites who sit and do nothing for years and then draw a pension for life. Rita Ennis, Schertz Back to the past Re: Nothing new, Your Turn, Oct. 9: I remember the 1950s also. And I would like to add civilized to the traits people displayed back then, when society lived by the golden rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, not The guy with the gold makes the rule. Audrey Dlugosz Hospital report Re: Building problems plaguing S.A. State Hospital, Front Page, Monday: I was pleased about the architectural report recommending that every building at the hospital be demolished. In the early 80s, as president of the statewide Council of Community Centers executive directors, I forwarded a similar recommendation to Texas mental health officials for all such institutions. Our alternative plan was to develop smaller, more modern inpatient facilities financed by sales of excess hospital acreage. We received no response. It was apparent then that these early-penal campuses were in decline. Most patients regress in a long-term hospital stay and can be better served in a more normal environment. Andre J. Ognibene, M.D., a progressive board member, directed the San Antonio center to reorganize its care system, leading to a reduction of 100 beds allocated for Bexar County residents at the hospital. This earned the center enough incentive funds to open a crisis unit. Our dedicated staff was also working on a plan to better serve mentally ill prisoners at the county jail, but that plan was also ignored after my departure. George Farias Wrong flag? Oops! Re: From Boston to Southwest Harbor; Aimless in Maine; Hardbergers take 55-foot trawler out for summer journey, Phil Hardberger, Travel, Sunday: I really enjoyed the column by former Mayor Phil Hardberger. However, there seems to be a glaring error. The photo described the American flag on the front of his boat, Aimless. It was a Texas flag flown upside down! I was always taught that the white is on top (like the clouds). This gave the impression that the red was on top. Oops! Brenda Davis Google Maps The $30 million Windsor House apartment complex near the Interstate 10 corridor has been bought by Presidium, a firm that specializes in acquiring distressed multifamily properties, rehabilitating them and selling them at a profit. The purchase marks a change in strategy for Presidium, which has offices in Austin and Dallas and owns several other apartment complexes in San Antonio. Windsor House is the first class A apartment complex the firm has bought previously, it concentrated on class B and class C properties, said Elan Gordon, its director of acquisitions. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Sea lion pups are in much better shape this fall than last year, when unusually warm Pacific Ocean waters caused an alarming increase in deaths along the California coast, but the birth rate for the flipper-footed mammals is not yet back to normal, federal scientists said Friday. The number of California sea lion pups in their primary breeding grounds on the Channel Islands increased by 9 percent compared with 2015, when some 18,000 pups were born on San Miguel Island. Yet the numbers are 41 percent below the high point in 2012, when a little more than 32,000 sea lions were born, said Sharon Melin, a research biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Alaska Fisheries Science Center. The 3-month-old pups, studied in the summer and early fall on San Miguel and San Nicolas islands, averaged 37 pounds, a normal weight and a promising sign after several years of trouble, she said. The main takeaway is that the population seems to be doing better, Melin said. Even though we had a better year this year, the population is still depressed. ... The good news is that the ones born are actually doing better. Its the first year in the last five that weve had normal weights. Justin Viezbicke, the NOAAs California stranding network coordinator, said more than 2,100 sick sea lions have been taken this year to the eight rehabilitation centers between San Diego and Marin County. Thats half the number at the same time last year, but about the same count as in 2013 and 2014. Obviously this news is really good news, but we are going to continue to prepare ourselves for high numbers of strandings this winter, Viezbicke said. If we dont have it, that would be fantastic. The pups measured last year were 31 percent below their normal weight on average the lowest in 41 years of testing. Biologists collected 3,340 sick, starving and dead sea lions that washed ashore in Central and Southern California from January through May 2015, more than 10 times the average for that period, NOAA officials said. The sickness and death came after four years of poor ocean conditions, prompting the declaration of an Unusual Mortality Event, which triggers federal protective measures. In the mid-2000s, more than 60,000 pups were born annually on the rookeries in the Channel Islands. But the conditions worsened dramatically in 2013 when a wall of atmospheric pressure over the Pacific blocked storms from hitting California, contributing to the drought. The phenomenon, dubbed the blob, covered a 1,500-mile patch of water in the Northern Pacific and kept cold, stormy air from stirring the ocean and moderating temperatures. The warm water disrupted the food web, forcing sea lion mothers to roam farther. As a result, many pups, which are typically born in June, starved and beached themselves throughout the fall and winter and into April, when the pups wean from their mothers. Nate Mantua, a climatologist for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, said water temperatures are still a bit above average between Santa Barbara and the Mexican border, but weve come to the end of a period of really extraordinarily high temperatures. Sea lions have been protected from hunting for the past four decades, and there are now an estimated 300,000 off the California coast. Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.14. By Anvar Mammadov Trend: Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) paid compensations worth over 323.27 million manats (1,597 AZN/USD on Oct. 14) to depositors of Dekabank, Kredobank, Zaminbank, Parabank, Caucasus Development Bank, AtraBank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Ganjabank, Texnikabank and Bank Standard, ADIF said in a message Oct. 14. Below is the list of closed banks and the volume of obtained compensations as of Oct. 13: Banks Paid compensations (million manats) Insured deposits (million manats) Bank Standard 58.01 460 Zaminbank 50.85 - Dekabank 2.85 5.59 Kredobank 17.98 30.21 Caucasus Development Bank 1.85 2 Atrabank 13.87 13.9 Bank of Azerbaijan 24.09 24.2 Ganjabank 0.97 1 Texnikabank 119.98 122.6 Parabank 32.82 43.79 Acceptance of applications from insured depositors of DekaBank, KredoBank, Zaminbank and Parabank began Aug. 1, 2016 and the payment of compensations has been carried out since that day. Compensations to the insured depositors of Caucasus Development Bank and AtraBank are being paid starting from Aug. 23. Clients of Atrabank can receive compensations in the branches the deposits were placed in. However, those who concluded the contract in the Khazar branch must approach to the banks main office. Depositors of Caucasus Development Bank receive compensations at the banks main office. Payment of compensations to insured depositors of Bank of Azerbaijan has been carried out since Jan. 29, 2016 at branches of Muganbank and Rabitabank, and since Sept. 8 at ADIFs office. Clients of Ganjabank receive compensations since Feb. 4 at the branches of Rabitabank, Unibank and Kapital Bank. Payment of compensations to insured depositors of Bank Standard started Oct. 11, 2016 at the banks main office and its branches in the regions of Azerbaijan and will continue for one year. The licenses of all the ten banks were cancelled during 2016 as the aggregate capital of these banks didnt meet the minimum requirements [50 million manats]. In general, they havent fulfilled the regulators instructions. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Azad Hasanli Trend: Azerbaijan and Iran intend to cooperate in protection and quarantine of plants. An agreement on this was recommended at a meeting of Azerbaijani Parliaments Agrarian Policy Committee on Oct. 14. Eldar Ibrahimov, chairman of the committee, in his speech said that given Azerbaijans neighborhood with Iran, it is very important to establish control over the import of vegetables and fruits. Of course, the significance of this agreement is clear to everyone, MP Eldar Guliyev said. Iran is our neighbor and we have similar climatic conditions, and vegetables and fruits are grown in similar conditions. Annually we supply vegetables and fruits from Iran, he added. Quarantine and protection of plants are very important not only in terms of control over the products, but also for the protection of human health. The recommended agreement envisages exchanging information and conducting joint research on protection and quarantine of plants. In accordance with the document, Azerbaijan and Iran may use all the necessary means, as well as limit or prohibit the import of products of plant origin, and carry out laboratory tests in order to secure themselves from harmful organisms on their territory. Despite the presence of a phytosanitary certificate, the sides will be able to carry out analyzes and tests to make sure that the product is really free from harmful organisms, and return contaminated products back or liquidate them in case if such organisms are identified. In accordance with the document, Azerbaijan and Iran wont be able to use grass and other various plants during the packaging of the imported goods, as well as import the land. The agreement is designed for five years after it comes into force. Azerbaijan and Iran signed an agreement on cooperation in protection and quarantine of plants on August 7, 2016. MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has issued a prophetic message assuring the people of Zimbabwe that the country will soon experience a total transformation that will see a supersonic development. Chamisa said the country will experience a new phenomenon where new minerals shall be discovered. Read the prophecy below: WE THE PEOPLEBeyond this doom, the rise of Zimbabwe shall be a surprise to all & the breaking news to the whole world. The changes will be dramatic and transformation supersonic. New minerals shall be discovered. Economists will not be able to explain the boom. https://twitter.com/nelsonchamisa/status/1181449419121729536?s=20 Chamisa is a practicing Minister of the Gospel at the Apostolic Faith Mission. Social media users have often castigated Chamisa of failing to provide real solutions and resorting to offering spiritual hope to the problems affecting the country. When questioned whether his word will solve the problems, Chamisa said, I know what we about to go through. The problem with many of us is we dont understand that the answer and solution to any question or problem is always revealed to the chosen. Action without strategy is futile. Strategy without action is fatal. Fortunately, we have both! Byo24 Breaking News via Email BATTLE CREEK, Mich. Kellogg Company announced a new goal to create three billion better days for people around the world by fighting hunger through the companys global purpose platform, Breakfasts for Better Days. John Bryant, Kellogg Company chairman and CEO, emphasized the companys long-range commitments to food security in his remarks during the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium and World Food Prize ceremony this week in Des Moines, Iowa, in advance of World Food Day on October 16. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the World Food Prize, established by Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug as a major summit on global hunger and food security. Through Breakfasts for Better Days, we are fighting hunger every day and, at the same time, partnering with farmers and others who will play important roles creating longer-term solutions to these challenges for generations to come, Bryant said. As a global food company, we are passionate about doing our part to make sure there is enough food for everyone in a world with a growing population and increasingly limited natural resources. To create three billion Better Days by 2025, the companys five key commitments include: Donating food to people in need, including 2.5 billion servings of food in partnerships with hundreds of food banks across five continents; Expanding breakfast programs so that 2 million children worldwide can get the best start to their day; Supporting 500,000 farmers, their families and communities with Climate Smart Agriculture practices to increase yields, improve climate resiliency and reduce post-harvest food loss and food waste; Committing to 45,000 volunteer days by Kellogg employees at their local community food banks, community farms and breakfast programs; and Engaging 300 million people to join Kellogg in its hunger relief efforts, through Kellogg commercial promotions, engagement online and social media participation. At Kellogg, we share peoples passion about where their food comes from, the people who grow and make it, and that there is enough food for everyone, said Kris Charles, ? senior vice president, global corporate affairs, Kellogg Company. Through this next generation of our Breakfasts for Better Days global purpose platform, were not only honoring our heritage of philanthropy and conservation, but also fulfilling our companys purpose of nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive. Through Breakfasts for Better Days, which launched in 2013, Kellogg Company will have helped to provide more than 1.9 billion servings of food to people in need, exceeding its original goal to provide 1 billion servings by the end of 2016. The company has also already supported the livelihoods of thousands of farmers around the world, including smallholders and women. The country will soon ban lighting up in public with one of the regions most stringent anti-tobacco laws. MANILA, Philippines The Philippines will soon ban smoking in public, Reuters reports. Health advocates have been campaigning for years for such a ban in Southeast Asias second-most populous nation. President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to sign the tough anti-tobacco law later this month, and the ban would go into effect in November. Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said the ban would eliminate smoking in both indoor and outdoor public places. Parks, bus stations and even in [public] vehicles. All these are considered public places, she said. The bill provides for designated smoking areas outside of buildings. Currently, about a third of the adult population in the Philippines smoke. Sandra Mullin of Vital Strategies estimated that a public smoking ban would lower smoking by 4%. Already, the Filipino government has proposed hiking cigarette and tobacco taxes. The national ban would be the most stringent in Southeast Asia and would include electronic cigarettes. Analysts predict such a prohibition would impact tobacco companies. A smoking ban could see any further recovery in the sales dynamics in the market stall, said Owen Bennett, equity analyst at Jefferies International. This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 203 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our initial target, tech infrastructure Now that Well Fargos CEO John Stumpf has, by accident, set a precedent of having a top executive at a financial services firm respond to a chorus of calls for him to suffer for overseeing an organization that stole from customers, why arent there more calls for the Stumpf Standard to apply elsewhere? Here are the markers Elizabeth Warren set down in her Senate grilling, recapped on Twitter: A bank teller would face criminal charges & a prison sentence for stealing a handful of 20s from the cash drawer. Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016 As I said: @WellsFargo CEO Stumpf should resign, return every nickel he made during the scam, & face DOJ/SEC investigation. Hes 1 for 3. Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016 Despite Warren being absolutely correct on the gaping disparity between the treatment of small fry and the elites, Corporate America is chock full of devices to protect supposed leaders from suffering any real consequences of profiting from chicanery, such as reporting chains that allow them to throw subordinates under the bus and the extensive use of outside experts as liability shields (our lawyers said it was OK). So while the public should keep up the pressure for a criminal investigation of Stumpf and the executive that ran the business that created all the bogus accounts, Carrie Tolstedt, what about also demanding more accountability the regulators that impose fines and similarly situated executives elsewhere? Admittedly, the OCC is making a gesture in that direction by making a horizontal review to see whether other banks engaged in Wells-style hyper aggressive sales and fake account generation. Thats a start, but misses a more basic point: there are financial services industry chiefs who had to know stealing that was taking place on their watch, yet have been given a free pass. Look no further than private equity. Recall that the New York Times Gretchen Morgenson pointed out earlier this month that state and city treasurers who were public pension fund trustees were eager to get their names in headlines by withdrawing their business from Wells Fargo. Bear in mind the actual amount of money that Wells appears to have purloined from customers was $2.4 million (although they were clearly harmed in other ways less easily measured, most importantly credit score damage). Yet the amount of pilferage by Apollo, the focus of Morgensons article, was $40.3 million per a recent SEC settlement.1 Were these trustees, who have a much higher standard of care in that role than as treasurers, going to put Apollo in a penalty box as they did Wells FArgo? The answer was either silence, or worse, defenses of investing in private equity. This sort of complacency is sadly typical of badly captured investors, as weve documented over the past three years. But in light of the Stumpf Standard, theres no justification for the SEC failing to fine the executives of private equity firms. To make it easy, well look at two firms that were fined by the SEC, Apollo and KKR, which are also the purest private equity plays among the private equity firms that have gone public. The bottom line: The Im the CEO and I know nothing excuse doesnt wash at private equity firms. Private equity contracts not only specify who key men are, but these terms are also among the few that limited partners negotiate heavily. The key men are considered to be so integral to the operations of the fund that if they stop working on its business to the degree specified, the fund is required to curb many of its operations until suitable replacements are installed. Here is the definition of Key Man Clause from the Institutional Limited Partners Associations glossary: If a specified number of key named executives cease to devote a specified amount of time to the Partnership, which may include time spent on other funds managed by the manager, during the commitment period, the key man clause provides that the manager of the fund is prohibited from making any further new investments (either automatically or if so determined by investors) until such a time that new replacement key executives are appointed. The manager will, however, usually be permitted to make any investments that had already been agreed to be made prior to such date. Its crystal clear where the buck stops in private equity. The SEC cant credibly take the position that these individuals didnt know what was happening in their funds. And the SEC similarly cant pretend that its hard to figure out who was responsible. Lets look at the key man, or in its new politically correct version, key person, language from Apollo VIII, a limited partnership agreement in our Document Trove. Not surprisingly, its not all in one tidy place, but these sections give you the drift of the gist: Key Person Event: At any time a majority of the Senior Principal Partners or a majority of the Additional Principal Partners cease to devote the relevant Required Time Commitment (including as a result of prolonged inattention, prolonged absence for any reason, termination of employment, death, disability, or removal). Senior Principal Partners: Leon Black, Joshua Harris and Marc Rowan; provided that, other than for purposes of determining whether a Key Person Event has occurred, such individual has not ceased to be engaged in the management of the Partnership, the General Partner or the Management Company pursuant to Section 6.14 or otherwise remains actively affiliated with the General Partner or the Management Company. Additional Principal Partners: Those individuals listed on Schedule IV hereto and any successors to or substitutes for or additions to any of the foregoing individuals approved by the Advisory Board; provided that (a) other than for purposes of determining whether a Key Person Event has occurred, such individual has not ceased to be engaged in the management of the Partnership, the General Partner or the Management Company pursuant to Section 6.14 or otherwise remains actively affiliated with the General Partner or the Management Company, and (b) the aggregate number of any successors to, substitutes for or additions to the individuals listed on Schedule IV hereto may not exceed four. So if it wasnt obvious, theres a short list of people who can be held responsible for bad conduct in that fund. Unlike big bank execs, who sit in an adminisphere well removed from daily operations, the heads of the firms are deeply expert in the business and actively involved. Stumpf was unable to answer most of the nitty-gritty questions of about how the retail business worked in the Congressional hearings. Based on having some very large bank clients back in the stone ages when the megabanks were a fraction of the size they are now, that was unlikely to be a convenient memory lapse. Someone at his level gets at most very forgettable PowerPoint overviews of processes and procedures. In traditional commercial banking, executives oversee large numbers of people through many layers of hierarchy. Stumpf described branch managers, managers of managers, and yet another layer of managerand that still seemed to be below area presidents. Tolstedt, the head of the community banking, was higher up the food chain than that. So you have five layers of manager sitting over branch staff through and including Tolstedt. And despite her lofty pay and meeting with Stumpf once a week, the organization chart suggests she reported to the chief operating officer, and not to Stumpf directly ( note this organization chart isnt conclusive regarding her reporting line, but she is on the same level as a lot of other profit centre managers, and its conventional for them to report into C level execs). By contrast, private equity firms as entire entities are vastly smaller than banks and have much flatter organizations. Wells Fargo, per Stumpfs Congressional testimony, has 268,000 employees. Even large private equity firms are a full two orders of magnitude smaller. KKR has roughly 1200 employees and Apollo, 960. And even though both are relatively pure private equity firms (compared to the more diversified alternative investment mangers Blackstone and Carlyle), both Apollo and KKR have other types of funds, like credit and real estate vehicles. And the individual funds are profit centers within the businesses that have their own teams and draw on firm general resources, so the decision chains on a fund level are even more compact. And remember, that the SEC has sought restitution and fines in private equity based on misconduct in specific funds. Moreover, unlike managers in banks, who get the top by virtue of being (perceived to be) good managers as opposed to having expertise, private equity big dogs grew up in and built their firms. The business of their business is knowing how to structure and price deals, negotiate, and cultivate and manage relationships with their investors. They are the antithesis of the sort of administrators at a remove that you see in big banks or Corporate America generally. The heads of private equity firms can routinely afford to pay the entire fines and restitution that the SEC has imposed so far all by themselves without breaking a sweat. Remember how indignant the public was that even the $41 million clawback that Stumpf paid was only a small percentage of the estimated at $240 million hed then accumulated over his career at Wells and its predecessors? Leon Black made more tha double that in 2014 alone, a cool $564 million. KKRs annual shows Henry Kravis and George Roberts to be not as well paid, with Kravis reported as taking home $52.3 million in 2015 and $62.2 million in 2014, and Roberts pulling down $52 million in 2015 and $64 million in 2014. But KKR also has undergone a restructuring, so there may be more here than meets the eye. Nevertheless, even this less egregious pay level, particularly given how fabulously wealth both men are, is more than enough for them to have been able to easily cough up the KKR restitution and fines just between the two of them. These pay packages contrast with the total fines and restitution paid by Apollo of $52.7 million and for KKR, $28.7 million in recent SEC settlements. Similarly, Ive gotten informed guesstimates of the income of specific founders of private equity firms that grew to the mid-sized level that are only middle-of-the-packinsh performers. When one individual succeeds in retaining most of the firms profits for himself (a more common state of affairs than youd think; the leavings are still attractive enough to retain senior people for at least a while), hes often pulling down $100 million a year for himself. So why had the SEC apparently not even considered making these private equity barons at public companies bear at least some of the cost of misconduct that they cant credibly claim they missed? In fact, their brethren in the firms that are still private, which represents the bulk of the industry, have a legitimate beef against the SEC: when they pay fines and give money back, it does come out of an entity owned by firm members, and thus hits their bottom lines. Yet the very biggest players in the industry, with some of the highest earning general partners, get to dump the cost on public shareholders. The obvious reason is bad incentives at the SEC. To them, what matters is the number of headlines they get, not the quality or impact of what they do. And law firms who want to falsely depict the SEC as fierce. That makes their job of defending clients against the CESs wet noodle lashings seem seem more difficult than it is. So they dutifully propagate the agencys propaganda that the raw number of enforcement actions is a proxy for effectiveness. See this breathless Morrison & Foerster missive to clients as an example. As a private equity insider commented via e-mail: Morrison & Foerster complains that the SEC took a YUGE number of enforcement actions in the just-ended federal fiscal year, but that people like Elizabeth Warren are unreasonable and implacable in viewing the agency as toothless: Of course, the agency is all about quantity, not quality for exactly this reasonso that it and its allies can present the SEC as tough, even though the reality is otherwise. Even though experts, the press, and the general public increasingly demand that individuals be held accountable, figuring out who was culpable and determining a basis for assigning fines is more work. And thats before you get to the fact that the officers of public companies are much more willing to write checks than individuals. So the SEC, as it does in so many other ways, follows the course of least resistance by letting miscreants off easy. ___ 1 If youve been following the sordid tale of private equity abuses at Naked Capitalism, youll know that its very likely that Apollo and the other big firms whove settled could and should have been fined on other grounds as well. The SEC has adopted a posture of selective enforcement, of hitting one firm with one set of abuses to show the SEC takes a dim view of that, and then using another to illustrate other practices it does not like. But that means a lot of conduct is still going unpunished. For instance, as weve written repeatedly, the overwhelming majority of private equity firms have been charging transaction fees while not providing them through a registered broker-dealer. Thats a black letter law violation subject to dollar-for-dollar fines for the fees charged, a harsh sanction designed to show serious this misconduct is. Yet so far the SEC has dinged only an itty bitty firm for this abuse. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Azad Hasanli Trend: Investors who put their funds in Azerbaijan in accordance with the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model have been exempt from the state duties. The corresponding amendments to the law On state duty were approved by Azerbaijani MPs at the plenary session of the countrys parliament Oct. 14. In accordance with the BOT model provided by the law On implementation of investment projects due to construction and infrastructure facilities on the basis of specific funding, the investment costs will be reimbursed to investors through the purchase of their products by authority or consumers. However, if such form of payment is wholly or partly impossible, then the investor will be paid financial aid. The validity of a contract concluded within the framework of the BOT model cannot exceed 49 years. This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 205 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our initial target, tech infrastructure Yves here. This post is important because a vocal contingent of economists bitterly opposed the idea of extending unemployment insurance during the worst of the post crisis period. The claim was that the longer employment insurance term would lead the unemployed to become dilatory about their search and/or too fussy about what was on offer. By Christopher Boone, Assistant Professor, Cornell University; Arindrajit Dube Research Economist, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Lucas Goodman, PhD Student, University of Maryland; and Ethan Kaplan, Assistant Professor of Economics, Stockholm University. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website As joblessness soared during the Great Recession, one of the key policies enacted by Congress was to extend unemployment insurance (UI) duration. The change was dramatic: Prior to the recession, all but two states provided a maximum of 26 weeks of benefits. During the recession, however, most states reached a maximum duration of 99 weeks. Economists have long been concerned about the possible negative effects of extended benefits in reducing job search and thus the level of employment, while simultaneously recognizing the social insurance value of unemployment benefits. Whereas a substantial body of literature in economics has estimated the impact of UI generosity on individual employment, the literature on aggregate-employment effects is small and fairly recent. What is the difference between the individual and the aggregate effect of UI on employment? One difference is aggregate demand. In addition to dis-incentivizing workers from searching for employment, UI also provides liquidity to workers who are well below their usual income levels, likely liquidity-constrained and therefore very likely to finance their consumption out of their UI earnings. This may have a positive impact on economic activity in general and on employment in particular, even if UI disincentivizes workers from searching for new jobs. On the other hand, there are some concerns that more generous UI benefit could raise workers reservation wages, which in turn could lead employers to cut back on vacancies and job creation. Unfortunately, the nature of the UI extensions during the Great Recession makes it difficult to estimate the aggregate employment effect. The benefit-extension programs were structured to grant longer benefit lengths to states with higher unemployment rates, leading to a reverse causality problem. To avoid this estimation problem, we examined 1,161 county pairs that straddle state borders. Within each pair, counties share a similar geography and economic environment, but often had different maximum lengths of benefits. In other words, these county pairs provided good controls for one another while receiving differential treatment. We then compared changes in county employment to changes in the maximum length of benefits within each pair for the 2007-2014 time period. So what do we find? First and most importantly, we find no disemployment effect from the UI benefits as measured by the employment-to-population ratio. Our estimates suggest that, at worst, increasing UI duration from 26 to 99 weeks led to a 0.09 percentage point decline in the employment-to-population ratio, and at best had the effect of boosting this ratio by 0.41 percentage points. Given the fact that this was a massive increase in benefits (almost quadrupling the pre-recessionary level of UI duration), it suggests that the concerns about disincentivizing job-search efforts may be overblown. Our estimates are consistent with modest reductions in labor supply as found in some micro-based estimates from the Great Recession, coupled with a moderate-sized aggregate demand effect from increased local spending. The findings also suggest that, at the price of $50 billion per year, the federal government was able to provide substantially more generous income support for hard hit households without constraining economic recovery. These findings are summarized in the following figure, which plots the employment response to national level policy changes, namely the 2008 expansion and the 2014 expiration of the UEC. When the policy change occurs at event date 0, there is a clear increase of around 10 weeks additional benefits in one side of the border as compared to the other, and this change is quite persistent. In contrast, employment appears to remain largely unchanged over the following 12 months. Our findings have important policy implications in the event of another deep recession. Policymakers should keep in mind that extending policy benefits is likely to entail a very small effect on aggregate employment, even as the social-insurance value of extending benefits to those who lost jobs is likely to be large. NASCAR championship contenders have plenty of ARCA Menards Series experience The Championship 4 have been set for the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the contenders in each series all have plenty of experience and in most cases success within the ARCA Menards Series platform. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: The 7th Azerbaijani-Russian Interregional Forum will be held in Baku Oct.31-Nov.1, RIA Novosti reported. Interregional and cross-border cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia, prospective infrastructure projects, interregional cooperation in the economic and financial field will be discussed within the forum, Trade Representative of Russia in Azerbaijan Eldar Tlyabichev said earlier. He added that problems and prospects of Russian-Azerbaijani humanitarian space, the strategic relations between the two countries will be also reviewed at the forum. At the same time, various round table meetings and exchange of contacts for representatives of business circles of the two countries will be held. Tlyabichev added that 17 subjects of the Russian Federation implement trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation agreements with their Azerbaijani counterparts. The institutions and companies of more than 70 regions of Russia have trade ties with Azerbaijan. Wells Fargo & Co., the lender whose chief executive officer stepped down this week amid a scandal in its branch network, posted a third-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as loan-loss provisions improved and revenue from mortgage banking increased. Net income slid to $5.64 billion, or $1.03 a share, from $5.8 billion, or $1.05 a share, a year earlier, the San Francisco-based company said Friday in a statement. The average estimate of 28 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for per-share profit of $1.01. Total revenue increased 1.8% to $22.3 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations. Last month's revelation that employees may have opened millions of unauthorized accounts has stained the bank's reputation and prompted Wednesday's resignation of CEO and Chairman John Stumpf. The scandal is forcing the firm to scale back its push to sell more products to customers, while officials including California's treasurer call on government agencies to suspend dealings with the company. Customer visits with branch bankers fell 10% in September compared with the previous month, while the number of consumer checking accounts opened dropped about 30%, Wells Fargo said Friday in a slide presentation, without giving a cause for the declines. Credit-card applications were down 20% from a year earlier, the bank said. "We know that it will take time and a lot of hard work to earn back our reputation," Tim Sloan, who replaced Stumpf as CEO, said in the statement. "We will work tirelessly to build a stronger and better Wells Fargo." Total loans increased less than 1% to $961.3 billion from the previous quarter, while mortgage banking revenue climbed 4.9% to $1.67 billion, according to the statement. Expenses rose 7% to $13.3 billion on higher compensation costs and litigation accruals. Third-quarter provisions for credit losses declined 25% to $805 million from the previous quarter and climbed 15% from a year earlier, Wells Fargo said. Net interest income, including the loan-loss provision, increased 3.7% to $11.1 billion. Wells Fargo's stock is down 18% this year, with much of the drop following a $185 million settlement last month with authorities including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Investigators said the bank may have opened more than 2 million deposit accounts and credit cards for unwitting customers, generating fees and damaging credit scores. The abuses triggered public outcry, probes by other agencies and hearings on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged Stumpf to resign. Politicians and labor groups said the company put undue pressure on workers to meet sales goals, then blamed them for misconduct without holding senior leaders accountable. The scandal was rooted in the bank's retail unit, which historically generates about 60% of Wells Fargo's profit. For the quarter, the division's net income declined 9.4% to $3.23 billion from a year earlier, while revenue fell 4.2% to $12.4 billion. Stumpf agreed on Sept. 27 to forgo more than $41 million in pay, the biggest forfeiture of compensation from a major U.S. bank chief since at least the 2008 financial crisis. Former community banking chief Carrie Tolstedt, who oversaw the business during the years authorities found abuses and has since left the firm, will waive about $19 million in unvested stock, the company said. She won't receive severance, the bank said Friday. Third-quarter profit from wholesale banking rose 6.3% to $2.05 billion from a year earlier, while wealth-management net income gained 12% to $677 million, according to the statement. Net interest margin, the difference between what a bank earns on loans and pays to depositors, was 2.82%, a four-basis-point decline from the previous quarter. Return on equity fell about a percentage point to 11.6% from a year earlier. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Orkhan Quluzade Trend: Turkey wants to connect Israeli gas supplies to the Southern Gas Corridor project, said Cemil Ertem, advisor to the Turkish president, in his interview with the TRT Haber news channel Oct. 14. Ertem noted that Turkeys Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak discussed this issue during the meeting with his Israeli counterpart on Oct. 13. He added also that energy agreements between the two countries can be a catalyst for solving problems in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East regions. On the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Turkeys Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak and his Israeli counterpart Yuval Steinitz discussed the possibility of a gas pipelines construction between the two countries. Currently, Israels proven gas reserves are estimated at 900 billion cubic meters. The countrys promising gas reserves are 2.2 trillion cubic meters, according to Steinitz. Meanwhile, total volume of Israels natural gas reserves is about three trillion cubic meters. The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. Other sources can also join this project at a later stage. As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of TANAP and TAP. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.14 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: Five members of OPEC and two non-OPEC countries held constructive informal consultations on the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress (WEC), said OPECs website. Oil and Energy Ministers from OPEC member countries Algeria, Gabon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Venezuela, were joined in the talks by Russian energy minister and Mexican deputy energy minister. OPEC conference president, Qatars Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada said after the talks that participants had agreed to invite key non-OPEC countries to participate in the high-level committee set-up by the Algiers accord. In September, OPEC producers agreed during the informal meeting in Algiers to cut down the oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from current production of 33.24 million bpd. Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak stated after the meeting that it has been constructive and instrumental to moving the process forward. Meanwhile, Al-Sada told reporters that a high-level committee created under the Algiers accord to study the finer details of the agreement is scheduled to hold a technical experts meeting on Oct. 28-29 in Vienna, Austria. He explained that the first day of this meeting will be dedicated to discussions among the OPEC member countries, while the second day will be set aside for deliberations between OPEC and non-OPEC representatives. Novak noted that the forthcoming High-Level Committee Meeting to which he stated that Russia will participate will advance the implementation of the Algiers Accord which was welcomed by non-OPEC countries. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.14 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: It is in Turkeys national interest not to sign any pipeline gas agreement with any country unless the new contracts are aligned with the changing dynamics in the gas markets, Director of Hydrocarbons, France, Mediterranean Energy Observatory (OME), Sohbet Karbuz told Trend Oct.14. He was commenting on the possibility of connecting the Israeli gas supplies to the Southern Gas Corridor. Earlier, Cemil Ertem, advisor to the Turkish president, said that Turkey wants to connect Israeli gas supplies to the Southern Gas Corridor project. The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. Other sources can also join this project at a later stage. As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of TANAP and TAP. Karbuz said that every gas producing country around Turkey sees the country as a significant potential market for pipeline gas. Azerbaijan will sell an additional 6 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Turkey after 2018. Iran wants to sell additional gas to Turkey, possibly as much as 10 billion cubic meters per year. Northern Iraq, too, would like to export 10 billion cubic meters or more of gas to Turkey by 2020. Israeli gas is also waiting in the line, said the expert. The problem is that does Turkey need that much gas. Why nobody asks this question? Is Turkey the best place to export gas at best prices for sellers? said Karbuz. In my opinion, Turkey will not need that much gas. Talking about the route of connecting the Israeli gas to the Southern Gas Corridor, the expert said that a 450-475 kilometers long potential gas pipeline from the Leviathan field, a large natural gas field located in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel, to Mersin in Turkey could connect to BOTAS system or alternatively to TANAP if a connection line to TANAP is constructed. If one takes into account the provisions of Israeli gas framework in terms of gas prices and adds to it the transport cost from TANAP, I wonder whether Israeli gas can find any buyer in the European market, said Karbuz. I warmly welcome the election of Antonio Guterres as Secretary-General of the United Nations. I am confident that under his leadership, the UN will continue to fulfil its vital role in tackling the global challenges of the 21st century. Based on a shared commitment to international peace and security, NATO-UN cooperation contributes to addressing those challenges. The relations between our two organisations have grown steadily over the past years. Today, our dialogue and cooperation encompasses a broad range of issues: from Women, Peace and Security and the Protection of Civilians, to Alliance support for enhancing UN peacekeeping efforts. I look forward to working with Secretary General Guterres to further advance and deepen the relationship between NATO and the United Nations. Chairman of the Military Committee, General Petr Pavel visited Rome from 12 to 14 October to meet with Italys President Sergio Mattarella, Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti, Chief of Defence General Claudio Graziano, and NATO Defense College Commandant Major General Janusz Bojarski. He also visited the Joint Special Forces Operations Headquarters, the Italian Joint Operations Headquarters, the NATO Modelling and Simulation Centre of Excellence, and the European Union Naval Force - Mediterranean. Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Pavel visited Italy, a strong and committed NATO ally who has continuously contributed to NATO efforts over the past 60 years. In discussions with Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti, General Pavel thanked Italy for its commitment to NATO operations, missions and activities. "Italy is a valued Ally. You continue to contribute to NATO in many areas for which we are grateful, and your contributions serve as an example to others. Meeting the Chief of Defence, General Graziano, talks focused on Italys ongoing contributions to Maritime operations in the Mediterranean Sea as well as the importance of equal opportunities for women in the armed forces. The Chairman emphasized: the complementary skills of both male and female personnel are essential for the effectiveness of NATO operations. General Pavel visited the Joint Special Forces Operations Headquarters in Rome where he was welcomed by Commander Major General Nicola Zanelli and received a briefing by the Joint Forces Staff. The Chairman then went to the Italian Joint Operations Headquarters where he met with Vice Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone and attended a briefing by the Italian Joint Operations Staff. Touring the European Union Naval Force Mediterranean, headquarters of Operation Sophia, the Chairman noted: The loss of life in the Mediterranean is a tragedy. Security in the Mediterranean is a priority for both NATO and the EU. Closer cooperation between NATO and the EU is key to dealing with current and emerging security challenges. During his visit of the NATO Modelling and Simulation Centre of Excellence, the Chairman acknowledged their excellent work in supporting NATO and its allies in their transformation efforts by providing subject matter expertise on all aspects of modelling and simulation activities. While in Italy, General Pavel accompanied by the Military Committee participated in celebrations commemorating the 65th anniversary of the NATO Defense College and the 50th anniversary of its move to Rome. They joined the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the North Atlantic Council, and Italian dignitaries in praising its contributions. For 65 years, the NDC has played a critical role in fostering strategic level thinking on political and military matters. NATO is proud of this centre of education, study, and research said the Chairman. 'Looming global crisis' Urgent action required (NaturalNews) Tens of thousands of people in the United States die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2013, the number killed by superbugs was 23,000.As shocking as these figures are, all evidence suggests that the problem is just going to keep getting worse. According to a 2014 study by the British government's Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, the global death toll from superbug outbreaks is likely to reach 10 million per year by 2050. That figure is higher than the 8.2 million who die from cancer and the 1.5 million who die from diabetes,The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance was commissioned after the UK's Chief Medical Officer issued a report in 2013 warning that the threat posed to society by antibiotic resistance is as dire as that of terrorism.The review's first paper sought to quantify the scale of the problem, both now and into the future. It found that at least 50,000 people per year die from superbugs in the US and Europe when combined; globally, the number is probably 700,000. The more-than-tenfold increase is expected to come from the ongoing spread of drug-resistant genes through microbial populations worldwide, and the continued development of resistance to new drugs.The numbers in the study are for deaths from only six pathogens:, MRSA, HIV, TB and malaria. Deaths from these superbugs are expected to hit Asia and the global south the hardest. For example, the researchers estimated that by 2050, a quarter of all deaths in Nigeria could be caused by superbugs.These death tolls also fail to take into account people who would die from being unable to undergo medical procedures that are only safe with the use of effective antibiotics. These procedures include all surgeries (including cesarean section deliveries), cancer treatment and organ transplants.The researchers also noted that the healthcare costs of unchecked drug resistance will be enormous, severely hampering economies worldwide."This is a looming global crisis, yet one which the world can avert if we take action soon," the researchers wrote.In November 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) echoed a warning, with WHO head Margaret Chan saying that allowing drug resistance to continue on its current course would "mean the end of modern medicine as we know it.""The rise of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis," Chan said. "More and more governments recognize (it is) one of the greatest threats to health today."That same month, the WHO launched a global campaign called "Antibiotics: Handle with care," aiming to educate doctors and patients about appropriate use of antibiotics."Doctors need to treat antibiotics as a precious commodity," Chan said."One of the biggest health challenges of the 21st century will require global behavior change by individuals and societies," said Keiji Fukuda, the UN chief's special representative on antimicrobial resistance."Antibiotics are really one of the miracles of the time that we live in. They are a global good ... that we cannot take for granted," he said.What can be done to prevent the nightmare future that experts keep warning us about? In May, the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance issued its final recommendations, calling for a global public awareness campaign about the problem of drug resistance; the development of new antimicrobial drugs; more sparing use of antibiotics in humans and improvement in diagnostic technology to aid that goal; and a dramatic reduction in the use of antibiotics in agriculture.The report particularly urges governments to dramatically restrict or preferably ban the agricultural use of drugs that are also used in human medicine. Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more. Receive Our Free Email Newsletter Take Action: Support Natural News by linking to this article from your website Permalink to this article: https://www.naturalnews.com/055648_Donald_Trump_health_freedom_Hillary_Clinton.html Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): Donald Trump believes in health freedom, not government dictates Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Follow Natural News on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. The Pope of Physics: Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age Gino Segre and Bettina Hoerlin. Henry Holt: 2016. 9781627790055 The megalomaniac physicist Edward Teller was always certain that he was smarter than all his colleagues on the Manhattan Project, except one, a younger colleague of his (Robert Sachs) told me in 1993. That exception was Enrico Fermi, the nearest we physicists had to a Pope. Enrico Fermi at the controls of the synchrocyclotron particle accelerator at the University of Chicago, Illinois, in the 1950s. Credit: Bettman/Getty Fermi's infallibility is one of the prominent themes of The Pope of Physics, the first popular cradle-to-grave biography in English of the most famous Italian scientific investigator since Galileo Galilei. The authors are married: Bettina Hoerlin, formerly a health executive, and Gino Segre, a nephew of one of Fermi's most distinguished colleagues, Emilio Segre. They each met their subject independently, and plainly found his career an inspiration. Fermi's many contributions to nuclear science and technology such as the creation of the first nuclear reactor have been recounted ad nauseam, so he might not seem the most promising candidate for a biography. Segre and Hoerlin, however, seek a new perspective. They quickly hit their stride with a lucid account of how Fermi was born in 1901 to a middle-class family in Rome and became one of the very few physicists to be in the front rank in both theory and experiment. The authors engagingly describe how Fermi taught himself basic mathematics and physics to a high standard by the time he was 17. Blessed with a prodigious ability to identify the essence of every physics problem, he matured as a researcher in the 1920s, at just the right time to make his mark on two open frontiers: nuclear science and quantum theory. Fermi was often quicker than more formal thinkers to apply abstract ideas to improve the understanding of nature. In 1926 he became the first to use quantum theory to study large aggregations of electrons, one of a class of subatomic particles later called fermions, and he later set out the first quantum field theory of radioactive decay. Yet his forte was experimental physics, as he demonstrated at the Sapienza University of Rome, which appointed him a professor at the age of 24. He made the Italian capital one of the world's most productive centres of modern physics. Fermi and his talented colleagues found that slow neutrons are remarkably effective at inducing radioactivity in some heavy chemical elements. That won him the physics Nobel in 1938. However, when Fermi and his group studied the products of some of the nuclear reactions that they induced, their interpretations were sometimes wrong, as he later acknowledged. To be fair, the great radiochemist Otto Hahn and his group in Berlin made the same mistake at about the same time, before they recognized that uranium nuclei undergo the process later called fission. The authors describe movingly how the rise of Fascism in Italy led the Fermi family to emigrate to the United States. Fermi arrived in New York City on 2 January 1939, and soon took up a post at Columbia University. Although some US officials were wary of putting foreigners in leading positions in secret projects, Fermi was indisputably the best person to lead the development and construction of the first nuclear reactor, CP-1, which began operation on 2 December 1942: a crucial stage in the development of nuclear weapons. Robert Oppenheimer invited him to join the Manhattan Project and created a unit named after him. 'F division' dealt with especially tough problems in experimental and theoretical nuclear physics. The biography sometimes has a hagiographic whiff. Segre and Hoerlin agree with the consensus that he was largely apolitical and was a scientist pure and simple, as his Hungarian colleague Leo Szilard once described him. I suspect that the truth is deeper, although it will probably remain hidden. The authors tiptoe around some of his less endearing characteristics, such as his ability as a father. Fermi's daughter told me in 1992 that he was always a distant figure, and that 40 years earlier her father had approached her out of the blue one day, suggesting that they get know each other better by doing a few experiments around the house on the then-new material Silly Putty. He did not repeat this initiative, which did little to improve their relationship. In my view, Segre and Hoerlin underplay Fermi's considerable influence on young physicists after the Second World War. It would have been revealing to read, for example, more from the great theoreticians Murray Gell-Mann and Chen-Ning Yang, who worked closely with him. Likewise, it would have been rewarding to have heard more about Fermi's ideas on the origin of cosmic rays and his thinking about the future of subatomic-particle accelerators. In January 1954, he gave a far-sighted lecture in which he envisaged the possibility of building an ultrahigh particle accelerator that girdled the entire planet by 1994. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev , who has recently been under the treatment due to a cold-related disease, held working meetings with the countrys Attorney General Zhakip Asanov and Mayor of Astana city Asset Issekeshev, the press service of the Kazakh president reported. These are the first working meetings by Nazarbayev following the news of his illness. On Oct. 11 Kazakh presidents press secretary noted that Nazarbayev is being treated for cold. Later Nazarbayevs Press Secretary Aidos Ukibay said Nursultan Nazarbayev would not be able to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia October 12-14 due to a cold-related disease and his participation in international events is not planned until the end of this week. Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Until now, history accounts that Marco Polo was among the first Europeans to interact with China in the 13th century, but new evidence found by archeologists revealed that Ancient Greeks artists could have traveled to China 1,500 years -- before Marco Polo -- to help construct the famed Terracotta Army. The Terracotta Army is a form of funerary art composed of a collection of Terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The 8,000 pieces of clay were placed to guard the Emperor as he lays to rest in eternal life. Read: Buddha's Skull Discovered in Ancient Crypt in China According to The Independent, the incredibly surprising claim was based on a European DNA discovered at sites in China's Xinjiang province from the time of the First Emperor in the Third Century BC. "We now have evidence that close contact existed between the first emperor's China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought," Li Xiuzhen, a senior archaeologist at the Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum in China, told The Guardian. "We now think the Terracotta Army, the acrobats, and the bronze sculptures found on site, have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art." National Geographic notes that the eminent pits of Terracota Warriors were unearthed by local workers while digging outside the city of Xi'an, China, in 1974. Aside from the soldiers, with their own unique facial expressions, the pits also contain some ancient weapons, clay horses and wooden chariots. There are a total of four pits. While the three are filled with clay warriors, the one is left empty, an implication that the mausoleum might not have been finished. Read: Golden Lotus: The True Story Behind the Persistent Foot Binding in China Many more pits of Terracotta Warriors were unearthed, but this particular one has the most elaborate design and the most unique. Further suggesting, that it is one-of-a-kind. Aside from the European DNA found on the site, the archeologists were also able to compare the style of Teraccota acrobats to Ancient Greek art. Startlingly, the styles are the same, Science Alert said. The findings will be aired in, The Greatest Tomb on Earth, later this month, a documentary made by the BBC and National Geographic. HFCs, used in exchange of CFCs to save the thinning ozone layer, is now getting banned as well. The decision was agreed by participating countries at a summit in Rwanda to resolve the issues of this compound's hazardous effects to the environment. Under the Montreal Protocol adopted in 1987, chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs were banned due to its persistence and capability to break down ozone particles while hampering its regeneration in the natural setting. In exchange of the CFCs, hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs were introduced in the 1990s. Though saving the planet against CFCs, problems have on the use of HFCs have now emanated decades after. In an article from Tribune, Vincent Biruta, the Natural Resources Minister of Rwanda, said that they are meeting up with different nations to amend the Montreal Protocol, including HFCs to be banned internationally. For developing countries, they proposed a phase-out by 2040 while first-world countries to totally be HFC-free by 2030. We are meeting here in Kigali with unity of purpose: to pass an ambitious amendment to the Protocol that would phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, said Biruta. From an in-depth news of Nation.co, Paula Carbajal, Global Strategist of Greenpeace, said that HFCs are "the fastest-growing greenhouse gas" with an estimated increasing rate of 10 tp 15 percent annually. HFCs capacity can add up to 0.1 degree Celsius within the century and can spike up to 0.5 degree Celsius by 2100. Since the Paris Agreement including 195 nations regarding establishment of temperature increase ceiling at 2 degree Celsius, controlling HFCs should be included in their action plans to help hit the target. "If HFC growth is not stopped, it becomes virtually impossible to meet the Paris goals," advocacy group Natural Resource Defense Council's David Doniger emphasized. One hundred and ninety seven representatives of different countries, which included 40 ministers and US Secretary of State John Kerry, are attending the said summit, hoping for a consensus to be finalized today. A mystery space plane has been orbiting earth for 500 days and up to now, nobody knows what exactly is it doing up there. IFL Science said that the 8.9-meter-long (29.3 feet) secretive vehicle by the US Air Force, was built with the help of Boeing and was launched into orbit by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Space.com notes that the vehicle, tagged as X-37B space plane is now on its fourth mission. It was launched May last year from Cape Canaveral in Florida to kick off the Orbital Test Vehicle-4 (OTV-4). According to the US Air force website, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is "an experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Air Force." Although its primary objectives state that it is intended for "reusable spacecraft technologies for America's future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth," details about what the plane's task is in every mission while out of orbit and when will it return are not known. Live Science has rounded out some mindboggling theories about the vehicle and its mission. One of which is that X-37B has high-tech monitoring gear designed to thoroughly inspect on certain regions of Earth, making it a very powerful surveillance tool. The others are X-37B is taking out other satellites that are a threat to the U.S. government and is spying on Chinese space stations. Meanwhile, Space.com says the initial OTV was launched April 22, 2010, and ended 224 days in orbit. The second OTV lasted after 468 days on orbit while the OTV-3 spent nearly 675 days in orbit, the longest so far. In the past, all three X-37B flights landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on autopilot. For the fourth OTV, none has been detailed yet. After hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Nicole has threatened Bermuda as NASA and NOAA's GOES project spotted the eye of Hurricane Nicole. The NASA/NOAA GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland rendered an image of Hurricane Nicole with its eye visible in the center at around 12 p.m. on Oct. 12. Based on the report, the storm has "well-rounded" feeder bands with thunderstorms near the center or the eye. They form a band on the eastern side of the hurricane's eye. NOAA's satellites are crucial in capturing the images of storms from space. NASA/NOAA GOES Project create the photographs, images and animations based on the data collected by NOAA's satellites. A warning was issued last Oct. 12 covering the Bermuda area. This warning also prompted NASA to postpone the Orbital ATK's resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) original set to deliver goods to the ISS this Thursday. Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo spacecraft will not fly this Oct. 13 due to the threat of the storm. Instead, it was rescheduled for the liftoff on Sunday after the storm has passed. Technicians will conduct an assessment of NASA's facility affected by hurricane Nicole and decide if it's operational before giving the launch a green light. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the warning was supposed to tell the residents of the affected area that a devastating hurricane is to be expected. Preparations for safety and even evacuation if needed are to follow after a warning was issued. Hurricane Nicole is expected to move northwards with a speed of 100 miles per hour (155 kph) said NHC; while the minimal central pressure is about 969 millibars, according to a report. At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the large eye of Hurricane Nicole was located near about 295 miles (480 km) south-southwest of Bermuda near 28.4 degrees north latitude and 66.9 degrees west longitude. Nicole was moving toward the north near 7 mph (11 kph), and the NHC expects a northward motion with some increase in forward speed is expected today, Oct. 12. A turn toward the north-northeast is forecast tonight, followed by a northeast turn on Thursday with an additional increase in forward speed. On the forecast track, the core of Hurricane Nicole will pass near or over Bermuda on Thursday, Oct. 13. The latest minimum central pressure reported by an Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft is 969 millibars. As of today, Hurricane Nicole already moved passed Bermuda into the sea according to a report by CNN. A new study revealed that about 9,000 square kilometer of forestland, roughly about the size of Puerto Rico, in Brazil was cleared from 2008 to 2012. The study, published in the Journal of Conservation Letters, showed that Brazil's official Monitoring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by Satellite Project (PRODES) was unable to detect the deforestation that occurred beyond the primary Amazon rainforest. "PRODES has been an incredible monitoring tool and has facilitated the successful enforcement of policies," said Leah VanWey, senior deputy director at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and co-author of the study, in a statement. "But we show evidence that landowners are working around it in ways that are destroying important forests." For the study, the researchers compared data from PRODES with two independent satellite measures of the forest cover in Brazil. Their comparison revealed that deforestation in large plots of primary have declined. However, cleared areas in regions not included in PRODES monitoring have significantly increased. Despite the vast contribution of PRODES to Brazil's reforestation efforts, the researchers discovered a major flaw in the monitoring system. The researchers found that PRODES excludes secondary forests and dry forests in its monitoring. Additionally, PRODES also treats discreet forest plots smaller than 6.25 hectares as non-forest. The researchers fear that the flaw in PRODES monitoring system could affect Brazil's efforts to stick with the Paris Agreement. PRODES is used to calculate how much greenhouse gas the country emits through the burning of forest biomass. However, with so much deforestation occurring in areas not included in PRODES measurements, Brazil could be overestimating their emission reductions. Furthermore, the deforestation-related greenhouse emissions in Brazil could even be twice as high as PRODES estimates. These findings clearly show that PRODES has been very effective in Brazil's battle against deforestation. However, the researchers noted that Brazil needs to update its detection and enforcement strategy not only to protect priamary Amazon rainforest, but other small forest areas as well. A new study involving researchers from Kansas State University' Biosecurity Research Institute showed that people who are infected with Zika virus may developed immunity against possible reinfection. The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, showed that primary Zika virus infection elicits protective immunity, providing complete protection against other strains derived from the primary Zika virus. "The research shows that infection provides excellent protection against reinfection," said Stephen Higgs, director of the Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University, in a press release. This means people infected during this current epidemic will likely not be susceptible again. When a large proportion of the population is protected - known as herd immunity - the risk of future epidemics may be low." For the study, the researchers infected rhesus and cynomolgus macaques with a strain of Zika virus that are highly related to the ones currently circulating in the Americas. The researchers then re-infected the animals 45 days after the primary infection with a heterologous strain. The re-infection of heterologous strain after the primary infection resulted in a complete protections, suggesting that primary Zika virus infection elicits protective immunity. During the study, the researchers also discovered that Zika RNA can be detected in blood plasma as early as the first day on infection. The researchers were able to detect Zika RNA saliva, urine, cerebrospinal, semen and vaginal secretions. Within 10 days of infection, the blood plasma and urine were cleared of Zika RNA. However, the viral RNA can still be detected in the saliva and seminal fluids at least three weeks after the Zika RNA was cleared from the blood. Furthermore, the researchers were able to identify ZIKA RNA in some tissues, including brain and the reproductive organs of both male and female animals during the early and late stages of the viral infection. At present, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received about 3,936 cases of Zika Infection in the United States and 25,955 cases in the US territories. Iran's government has long tried to keep out American pop culture, but it seems happy to let Iranians watch the backstabbing, deceitful machinations of fictional U.S. politician Frank Underwood in "House of Cards." Iran's hard-liners point to the show and say: This is what America is really like. The sudden arrival of the Netflix series, which stars Kevin Spacey as a South Carolina congressman who connives his way to the presidency, illustrates the reach and popularity of Western television and film. It also offers a window into the thinking of Iran's censors, who have approved the dark portrayal of power politics and even murder in the corridors of Washington but not the bedroom scenes. "It shows how politics is dirty in the United States," said Mohammad Kazemi, a student of mechanics at Tehran's Azad University. "They do anything to reach power." Every night at 11 p.m., the state-run Namayesh channel airs the program dubbed into Farsi, calling it "Khaneh Poushaly," or "Straw House." It started playing the show in late September, beginning with its first season, which follows Underwood as the manipulative House majority whip. The arrival of "House of Cards" has caused something of a stir in Iran, where American programming is extremely rare, and where authorities routinely denounce Western pop culture as decadent and un-Islamic. The government blocks many websites, but a ban on satellite dishes is rarely enforced. Many Iranians, particularly the young, watch foreign shows on the internet or purchase pirated DVDs of movies and TV series, which are widely available at street markets. Farnaz Rahmani, a 17-year-old high school student, said she thinks state TV is showing "House of Cards" to prove that U.S. politicians are deceitful. "For me it is a chance to fill my spare time with a good TV series. Maybe it is also a chance for the TV to attract more people to Iranian channels," she said. Iranian media have also noted its arrival, with the conservative website Tabnak praising Spacey's "brilliant portrayal" of Underwood, who conspires with his wife to amass power in Washington through blackmail and betrayal. On social media, users have shared a clip of Spacey and co-star Robin Wright dubbed over in Farsi, discussing how to navigate the halls of power. The drama offers a jaundiced view of American politics that plays well in a country long suspicious of U.S. intentions. Iranians still blame America for the CIA-engineered coup in 1953 that installed the shah, and fury at the United States boiled over during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, leading to the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Nearly 40 years on, Iranian hard-liners still portray the United States as the "Great Satan," hatching conspiracies involving everyone from Israel's Mossad spy agency to the Islamic State group in other words, as the Frank Underwood of the Middle East. "'House of Cards' has been able to skillfully show the deception in the complicated political sphere of liberal American civilization, as well as treason, power-hungriness, promiscuities and crimes behind those ruling in the country," the hard-line website Mashregh wrote. The show was approved by the massive Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting corporation, whose chief is directly appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian television previously broadcast the British series that inspired the show. Neither Namayesh nor the IRIB have commented publicly on the decision to air "House of Cards," and there are no figures for viewership. Calls to the IRIB were not immediately returned this week. It's also unclear what deal, if any, Iran struck with the show's producers. Iran and the U.S. have no official agreements on copyright protection, and Netflix is not available in Iran. Netflix, based in Los Gatos, California, said it did not have a global license to sell "House of Cards," without commenting on its newfound home on Iranian state television. A public relations firm for Media Rights Capital, the production house behind the show, did not respond to requests for comment. The IRIB is happy to show Iranian viewers the seductions of power, but not the more literal variety. The show has been edited to remove the steamier scenes between Underwood and young reporter Zoe Barnes, played by Kate Mara, in line with Islamic sensibilities. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 14 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: The Turkmen Finance Ministry and the World Bank (WB) signed an agreement on rendering paid consulting services in the financial sector and macroeconomics, the Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state news agency (TDH) reported Oct. 14. According to the message, the signing ceremony took place as part of at the annual meeting of the IMF and WB Group's Boards of Governors. The activities planned to be held in accordance with this document are aimed at supporting the business model and corporate governance reform in the banking sector and facilitating the development of the credit reporting system, the message said. According to the message, the activities are also aimed at assessing national risk in the field of combating money laundering, financing of terrorism and strengthening of macroeconomic statistics. The investments are planned to be made and consulting services are planned to be rendered to the Turkmen private financial institutions and companies as part of the agreement, the message said. "The adopted document testifies to Turkmenistans systematic approach to gradually bring the financial sector and macroeconomic accounts in accordance with the international standards," TDH cited Cyril Muller, WB vice-president for Europe and Central Asia, as saying. TDH draws attention to the fact that IFC has expressed its readiness to provide support for foreign direct investments through loans and other financial instruments. MediMarts, a medicinal marijuana shop in San Jose, is offering to pay the city $1.3 million for 4 years of unpaid taxes, however, the deal also requires certain concessions that are now raising red flags with city leaders. I think there are concerns, said Richard Doyle, San Jose City Attorney, who described MediMarts' actions as "unusual." "Any time you deal with a regulated industry, like this, you want to make sure that those that are complying have a reason to comply, and they're not looking at somebody else and saying theyre getting away with stuff while we play by the rules," Doyle said. The medicinal marijuana shop has openly refused to pay San Joses 10-percent business tax, which is required of all medicinal marijuana shops in the city. I wasnt going to pay a tax that breaks state and federal law and be looking at ten years to life, said David Armstrong, who owns MediMarts. Armstrong and his legal team believe paying the tax could leave him vulnerable to federal prosecution since they believe the payment would represent a legal admission that the business sells marijuana, which continues to be illegal under federal law. Our position is that if the tax were worded differently -- if it were for different reasons -- then there's no problem, said Dania Alvarenga, an attorney who represents MediMarts. This has the word sales is in there. The word business is in there, so it's a matter of characterization and a matter of what it's for." NBC Bay Area MediMarts is a self-described medical marijuana collective. In order to obtain marijuana, customers must first secure a free membership to the shop, which requires a Santa Clara County Medical Marijuana Card, a doctor's prescription for the drug and proof of California residency. Attorney Stephen Horner, who also represents MediMarts, says the business is co-owned by its members. As a result, he argues, the marijuana is "shared" with customers, rather than "sold." Medimarts is complying with all the state laws and all the city of San Jose regulations, except for one -- and that is the medical marijuana business tax, Horner said. To finally make good on his years of unpaid taxes, Armstrong recently extended a $1.3 million dollar olive branch to San Jose, but the deal comes with a catch: the city must classify the payment as a contribution instead of a tax. Additionally, San Jose must also forfeit its right to randomly inspect the shop, which is currently allowed under the citys marijuana policies. But the city attorney may not be willing to negotiate. "Its not a question of turning it down -- they owe it," Doyle said. "They owe more than that. They owe $1.3 million, plus penalties and interest." While federal law does ban the use of marijuana, the federal government did issue a set of guidelines in 2014, which say prosecuting someone is not likely if they are following local laws and regulations. In fact, of the 16 marijuana shops that are in good standing in San Jose, the city tells us none have ever faced prosecution for paying their taxes. Across the country, 26 states currently have laws on the books allowing the use of medical marijuana. That number could increase next month when voters in 9 other states head to the polls to decide whether to legalize marijuana in their communities. There is going to have to come some day of reckoning, because right now we really are speaking out of both sides of our mouth -- the state is saying this is okay for people to use, and the federal government is saying this is not okay for people to use, said David Ball, a law professor at Santa Clara University who specializes in marijuana policies and regulations. While Ball acknowledges the disconnect between state and federal laws regarding marijuana use, he believes MediMarts legal argument is flawed. As long as they are admitting that they possess marijuana, as long as they are admitting that they are enabling other people to possess marijuana -- that's the part that exposes them to criminal liability, Ball said. The only way they can protect themselves from federal prosecution is by not engaging in any possession of marijuana at any point. NBC Bay Area The San Jose City Council is expected to join City Attorney Richard Doyle in a closed-door session by the end of the month to discuss whether to accept Armstrongs deal or keep fighting him court. Whether we come to some terms or agreement with them that they pay it voluntarily, or the city ends up having to go on another collection case and having to collect it, one way or another we're going to try to get the money, Doyle said. To say there isn't continuing resources and everything spent by the city to continue to fight this is that a consideration? It always is. In July, a judge ordered MediMarts to pay the city, but the shop has since appealed to the California Supreme Court. While a decision is still pending, San Jose is confident they will continue to prevail in court. According to the City Manager's Office, San Jose has never lost a case when trying to collect civil penalties from medical marijuana businesses that violate the city's regulatory process. Since 2011, San Jose has collected $30.5 million dollars through the city's marijuana business tax. If you're asking me to break the law -- state and federal law -- simply, so you can collect a tax on the sale or a transaction of a controlled substance, we simply can't do it that way, Armstrong said. I seem to be the only one who's figured it out and understands how it's supposed to be done. Polly Wyke didnt plan to spend her golden years on the street, but thats where she ended up. It all started eight years ago, when she and her husband went through a nasty divorce. Things didnt happen correctly, and I lost my house, she said. Unable to afford the East Bays skyrocketing rents, she became homeless. Although Wyke is usually able to find a warm bed and meal at a shelter or a friends place, she misses the stability and comfort of her own home. Wykes story is not unique. In fact, she said that she considers herself lucky. There are more than 1,700 people living without homes in Contra Costa County, according to records, and every night, shelters are at full capacity. It's a problem that Contra Costa's homeless services have been battling for years, with some degree of success. Data shows that homelessness has slowly been on the decline in the past decade, perhaps in part due to the newly established coordination of housing, health and rehabilitation organizations. Project Homeless Connect, an annual event for homeless and low-income populations, is a reflection of that joint effort. The 11th iteration took place Thursday and saw more than 600 people, including Wyke, shuttled to the Antioch Fairgrounds, where service providers gathered as a one-stop shop for critical resources. The event visits different cities each year, with more than 50 care providers on site. The Department of Motor Vehicles provided identification cards and registered new voters. The countys animal services department administered vaccinations and handed out free food and collars to pet owners, while dentists and doctors gave examinations to people who hadnt had them in years. Volunteers were seen giving haircuts and even washing feet. For organizers, the event is the culmination of months of planning. This is a one-day, one opportunity for us to bring together a lot of life-saving services to people in need in order to help them, said Lavonna Martin, the homeless services chief at Contra Costa Health Services. Weve been doing this since 2006, and every year its gotten bigger and bigger and our reach has been tremendous. At around 8 a.m., lines snaked around the fairgrounds as people waited for warm pancakes and fresh apples. Antioch Mayor Wade Harper and Assemblyman Jim Frazier kicked off the event, both talking to a growing crowd about the importance of county services and introducing some of the day's offerings. The event ran until 3 p.m. Many of those who attended dropped their pets off at a makeshift kennel, where animal county services provided vaccinations and fit microchips, free of charge. Noel Crosse, a manager with the department, said the goal was to keep families and their pets together. With the gentrification of all of our neighborhoods, people are losing houses, losing jobs and having to move to apartments that dont allow pets, she said. The housing crisis is causing an animal crisis. For Wyke, the day was a brief reprieve. She could laugh with people she knew from different shelters and finally see a doctor for her bad back. The food here is fabulous, she said with a laugh, noting that it was a rare treat. But eventually, she knew the day would end and her worries would return. When the cold weather hits, those worries will be much worse. There are homeless people in every town in America," she said. "Some of 'em are kids, which makes it harder to adjust, you know? I think everybody should have to spend a weekend homeless. Then, I dont think we would have this homeless problem." Gillian Edevane covers Contra Costa County for NBC Bay Area. Contact her at Gillian.Edevane@NBCuni.com. Police opened fire at a man who allegedly drove a vehicle at an officer in San Bruno on Wednesday before he was pursued into San Francisco and arrested, police said. San Bruno police responded at 8:27 p.m. to the 500 block of El Camino Real where an auto burglary was in progress, according to police. Officers tried to stop the suspect, 25-year-old San Francisco resident Vernon Evans-Carmichael, while he was in his vehicle, but he allegedly drove toward an officer who was on foot. The officer shot at Evans-Carmichael and missed as he sped away. Officers caught up with him in San Francisco, police said. San Francisco police and the California Highway Patrol assisted in the arrest. No one was injured. Evans-Carmichael was booked into the San Mateo County jail on suspicion of assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon, possession of stolen property, evading arrest and for outstanding warrants. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call San Bruno police at (650) 616-7100 or send anonymous tips to sbpdtipline@sanbruno.ca.gov. In the days after Hurricane Matthew grazed the Florida coast, families of residents living in the deadly storm's track wondered if their loved ones in the Sunshine state were safe. One Nebraska family, desperate for news of their grandmother who lives alone in Palm Coast, decided to get creative after attempts to reach her failed. Eric Olsen of Omaha, Nebraska, hadn't heard from Grandma Claire Olsen for several days after the storm, according to NBC affiliate WBBH. After calls to the local police department and sheriff's office in Flagler County went unanswered, the worried grandson thought of a way to get someone to check in on her, WBBH reported. Lance Tyler was running deliveries at the only Papa John's pizzeria in Flagler County when Eric Olsen called in an order from Nebraska. The pizza, however, was destined for Grandma Claire's house on Parkway Drive. Tyler told WBBH when he arrived in the neighborhood and looked at the receipt, there was a phone number and special instructions to call once he arrived at the house. Tyler said he assumed it was because the owner of the home "had some big dogs they needed to put away, or something." But when Tyler called the number, a concerned Eric Olsen asked "Is she there? Is she OK?." "The way that he answered the phone," Tyler said. "It sounded like he was worried." Tyler knocked on Olsens door, who was reluctant to answer. "He said 'Delivery.' I said, 'I didn't order anything.' He says, 'Your grandson did,'" grandma Olsen said, according to WBBH. Eric Olsen was finally able to speak to this grandmother, quelling his worries. Grandma Claire's pepperoni pizza was "fantastic and much appreciated. Tyler said connecting the two topped every tip he's ever received. "Her expression was just priceless," he said. "The way she was like 'Whoa!'" Hillary Clintons running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, appeared on North Carolinas Power 98 FM Wednesday touting a new nickname just as the station finished playing Chicagoan Chance the Rappers hit song No Problem, which features Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz. They call me Lil Kaine not Lil Wayne, the senator said to a smattering of laughs from No Limit Larry & The Morning Madhouse. During Wednesday's interview, Kaine also discussed his campaign playlist, which includes Gnarls Barkley, Sly & the Family Stone and the Isley Brothers Work to Do. The Democrat also shouted out the Dave Matthews Band, who recently performed at a Clinton event in Denver alongside Kaine. Kaine, whos well known for his harmonica playing, is also an avowed fan of Minneapolis rock band The Replacements, Esquire reports. According to Billboard, Chance endorsed Clintons candidacy earlier this month. Not to sound selfish, but shes from Chicago so I would hope that shed be engaged in our citys current troubles and needs, Chance told Billboard. She has a certain sincerity thats hidden by the media. Im not sure if its because shes a woman or because Donald Trump just has a stronghold on the media, but shes unfairly treated. Chance noted that he cant really speak on her policies, but feels a certain connection to Hillary Clinton thats just not there with Donald Trump." Gov. Bruce Rauner says he condemns sexual assault "in the strongest possible way" after women alleged Donald Trump groped them, but the Illinois Republican refuses to say whether he'll vote for the GOP presidential nominee. Rauner did not mention Trump's name during his remarks Thursday and reiterated that he has not made an endorsement in the presidential race. In March, Rauner said he would "support the Republican Party's nominee for president." Trump was the front-runner then, but not yet the nominee. Trump has denied sexual assault allegations published in the New York Times and other outlets. Rauner's cautious approach regarding Trump comes as Illinois Republicans try to diminish Democrats' supermajorities in the Legislature. Some contested races are in conservative areas of the state where voters are likely to favor Trump. Andrew Buchanan could not believe what flew in front of his face. Just a few inches away. It was the most terrifying experience, he said. Because it was literally right in front of my face. Buchanan and his wife were in their Rogers Park alley when a rat sprang out from their garbage can. I said oh my god. My wife was like was that a rat? I was like yes. She goes ehhhhhhhhh!" The summer of 2016 saw an explosion of rat complaints. In fact the whole year, according to the city, has seen an overabundance of rodent reports. Theres been about a 37% increase in rodent complaints, says Charles Williams, who heads the city Department of Streets and Sanitation. The large increase, he says, is the result of a mild winter and an effort to get people to report rat sightings. In the months of June, July and August of 2014 the city received 10,568 complaints, according to statistics released through a public records request. In 2015 there was a slight increase to 10,749. But this summerin 3 months---the number spiked to 13,520. The complaints came from all over Chicago, including nine rat complaints from the 900 block of West 36h Street and one from the address of the Harold Washington Library. But by far the largest number catalogued on a large map in a City Hall conference room came from the north side, in many cases areas known for pricey homes and expensive restaurants. Rats, after all says Commissioner Williams like good food. Even the mayors street in Ravenswood was not immune. Someone in an apartment building directly across from the Mayors house filed a complaint. The only way to manage their population is by killing the rodents. Nothing else is going to work, Williams said. The city says it has added ten new crews and baiting increased by 40%. In addition the city is experimenting with dry ice to suffocate rats, while the CTA, he said, is using chemicals to advance menopause in rats to reduce the birth rate. Most of all, the city says, close those garbage can lids, pick up after your pets and dont scream when you see a rat---call 311 But for some, like Audrey Colone, those remedies havent been good enough. It wouldnt just be one or two, it would be multiple, she said of the rats in the 5700 block of North Artesian. And it wasnt just a night. In the daylight, in the evening, all hours of the day, she noted. Folks dont like rodents running around their property, said Williams. Audrey Colone agrees 100%. Last month she moved. One of the key factors in moving was the rats, she said. She now lives in a northern suburb, where when asked if she still has rats she laughed, No. I have rabbits. Two women were injured in a shooting on Chicagos South Side Thursday afternoon, police said. The women, 25 and 32, were wounded at the intersection of West 67th Street and South Racine Avenue in the citys Englewood neighborhood, police said. The 25-year-old was shot in the head and the 32-year-old suffered a wound to the bridge of her nose, police said. They were both taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition. Police originally said both women were shot later said only the 25-year-old was shot. It was unclear how the 32-year-old was injured. This is a developing story, check back for details. The Chicago Cubs have always encouraged fans to embrace the tradition of the team, but one tradition that has been around for decades has seen a massive surge in popularity over the past two seasons at Wrigley Field. That tradition is the flying of the white W flag, which has been done to indicate Cubs victories since the 1930s. In more recent times, fans have been encouraged to #FlyTheW by the team itself, and sales for the items have been brisk as the Cubs have won more and more games. So how did the tradition start? To answer that question, one has to go back nearly a century to the days when the Wrigley family owned the team. The Wrigleys also owned a company called Wilmington Transport, which ferried fans and players alike out to the teams spring training facility on Catalina Island in California. As fans can probably surmise, the companys ships would bear a W flag, but instead of the current white flag with a blue letter, the flag instead was blue with a white letter. After the Cubs constructed the new bleachers and hand-operated scoreboard in the late 1930s at Wrigley Field, it became a tradition for the operators to raise a W flag for Cubs wins and an L flag for losses. The colors remained the same until the 1980s, when the team began retiring the numbers of legends like Ernie Banks and Billy Williams. Once those flags became fixtures atop the foul poles at Wrigley, the W flag was changed to a white banner with a blue letter, and thus the current flag came into use. Now, with the tradition having been around for nearly 80 years, Cubs fans are being encouraged like never before to display their pride in the team, and the Cubs are taking advantage of it. In videos posted to their Twitter feed, fans are shown throughout the world displaying the W flag to celebrate the teams postseason success, and Kyle Schwarber even starred in an ad about the famous banner. The Obama administration announced Friday it is eliminating a $100 limit on the value of Cuban rum and cigars that American travelers can bring back from the island. The administration is also lifting limits on cargo ship travel between the U.S. and Cuba and easing U.S. and Cuban researchers' ability to conduct joint medical research. The measures are contained in a package of relatively small-scale regulatory changes meant to ease U.S. trade with Cuba. Cuban rum and cigars will now be subject to the same duties as alcohol and tobacco from other countries, meaning most travelers will be able to bring back as many as 100 cigars and several bottles of rum. Because high-end Cuban cigars can sell for more than $100 apiece outside Cuba, every U.S. traveler can now legally bring back many thousands of dollars of Cuban products, potentially generating hundreds of millions of dollars in new annual revenue for the Cuban state. The previous limit restricted travelers to a combined value of $100 in rum and cigars, although enforcement of the limit notably declined after President Barack Obama declared detente with Cuba in December 2014. "Challenges remain - and very real differences between our governments persist on issues of democracy and human rights - but I believe that engagement is the best way to address those differences and make progress on behalf of our interests and values," Obama said in a statement announcing the changes. Rum and cigar production is entirely government-run under Cuba's centrally planned communist economy. However, these sweeping changes are getting some mixed reactions in Miami. "This reconciliation process is gonna take years," said Andy Gomez. Gomez, an author and expert on Cuba, shared his thoughts on new amendments to Cuba sanction regulations. "We have diplomatic relations and that's good, but the reconciliation, I don't see it happening any time soon," Gomez said. "No matter what we do, politically they're not going to change and I think we realize that and we begin then to define the Cuban government in one pocket and the Cuban people in the other." Politicians opposing the thawing of relations continue to come out against the President and his plans. "After two years of President Obama's Cuba policy, the Castro regime has made out like bandits and received numerous concessions from the U.S. without lifting a finger to return the fugitives it is harboring from American justice, pay Americans for their stolen property, or allow the Cuban people to exercise their God-given freedoms," Senator Marco Rubio from Florida said in a statement. "Today's announcement reaffirms the fact that President Obama's Cuba policy puts the Castro regime's interests first, profits ahead of America's national security, and the Cuban people's rights and dignity dead last." More than 160,000 American travelers visited Cuba last year and that figure is expected to double this year. Hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans visit family on the island each year and will also be able to take advantage of the new measure, which comes a month and a half before the restart of commercial flights to Havana after more than 50 years. The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Aug. 31 after departing from Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. The package of regulatory changes announced Friday also allows cargo ships to visit U.S. ports directly after docking in Cuba. They had been barred from U.S. ports for 180 days after visiting Cuba. Cuba blamed that measure for harming its ability to import and export and dampening hopes that a new military-run port in the city of Mariel could serve as a major link in the regional cargo shipping system. The Obama administration says it is eliminating a $100 limit on the value of Cuban rum and cigars that American travelers can bring back from the island. Cuban rum and cigars will now be subject to the same duties as alcohol and tobacco from other countries, meaning most people will be able to bring back as many as 100 cigars and several bottles of rum. High-end Cuban cigars can sell for more than $100 apiece outside Cuba, meaning every U.S. traveler can now legally bring back many thousands of dollars in Cuban products. The previous limit restricted travelers to a combined value of $100 in rum and cigars. eliminating a $100 limit on the value of Cuban rum and cigars that American travelers can bring back from the island. Cuban rum and cigars will now be subject to the same duties as alcohol and tobacco from other countries, meaning most people will be able to bring back as many as 100 cigars and several bottles of rum. High-end Cuban cigars can sell for more than $100 apiece outside Cuba, meaning every U.S. traveler can now legally bring back many thousands of dollars in Cuban products. The previous limit restricted travelers to a combined value of $100 in rum and cigars. The new rules also will allow for more partnerships in the world of pharmaceuticals between the two nations. As a reminder, the embargo is still in effect and only congress can lift it. These new changes will begin on October 17 of this year. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct. 14 By Demir Azizov Trend: The 43rd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be held in Tashkent on October 18-19 under Uzbekistans chairmanship, Gayrat Fazilov, Uzbek deputy foreign minister, said. Fazilov made remarks at a briefing in Tashkent October 14. "The foreign ministers of 26 OIC member-states officially confirmed their participation in the session," Fazilov added. Fazilov added that Iyad Ameen Madani, OIC secretary general, Bandar Al-Hajjar, president of the Islamic Development Bank, special envoys of the US, France, UK, Italy, Switzerland to the OIC, as well as representatives of the UN, the OSCE, the League of Arab States, Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Economic Cooperation Organization will attend the meeting. According to the approved program and agenda, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbek acting president, will deliver speech at the opening meeting. The meeting participants will discuss the maintenance of the interstate dialogue, making joint efforts to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as intensifying cooperation in political, economic, scientific, educational and cultural spheres. More than 100 resolutions are planned to be adopted during the meeting. The Tashkent Declaration, which will reflect the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian issues, which are on the OIC agenda, as well as the priorities of Uzbekistans forthcoming chairmanship in the OIC, must be the main outcome document. The OIC was established in 1969 to ensure Islamic solidarity in social, economic and political spheres. The organization has 57 member states. Uzbekistan became an OIC member in 1996. Select Regal Cinema theaters will be screening the final presidential debate this week, including three locations in Connecticut. The theater said it is "excited to offer voters, debate teams, political science classes or regular Joes the chance to watch Clinton and Trump" on "the big screen". Regal Cinema theaters in Connecticut screening the debate on Oct. 19: Regal Brandford Stadium 12 325 E Main St. Branford, Connecticut Regal Brass Mill Stadium 12 Brass Mill Center, 495 Union St. Waterbury, Connecticut Regal Stonington 10 85 Voluntown Rd. Pawcatuck, Connecticut A free small drink with purchase of popcorn will be offered. The school of the deceased flying student who intentionally downed a plane in East Hartford this week is inviting the aviation community to join them in mourning. "Those that want to tell or hear stories, those that need to be comforted, those that can help are all invited," American Flight Academy wrote on its Facebook on Friday. On Tuesday, the student pilot identified as Feras M. Freitekh and the instructor Arian Prevella got into some kind of argument or struggle while flying a twin-engine plane, a law enforcement official told NBC News. Freitekh was at the controls during the time of the crash, the official said. Prevalla, the owner of American Flight Academy in Hartford, escaped from the burning plane and treated at the hospital. Freitekh was found dead inside the charred remains of the plane, officials said. The Facebook post from the school noted that it will not be commenting on the accident, but instead, wanted to focus on the grief linked to the tragedy. "I would like to look inward to our aviation community to help us grieve for the loss of a young man that so many loved and cared about. We will never understand why he did what he did," the post reads. "It is difficult to look back and think to ourselves, 'what could I have done?' The answer to that question is 'nothing'." The school explains how members of the aviation community fly for different reasons: delivery packages, transporting people, conducting flight training, or recreational flying. "Everday people look up and see airplanes in the sky." The statement says that most people do not know the complexities of keeping an aircraft operating safely, which is why people often want to find a "villain" for incidents like the East Hartford crash. "Since something like this is so rare it is easy to want to point fingers and try to find a reason for the madness. People that dont know any better want to find, or create, a villain that almost never exists." The school calls on members of the aviation community to mourn and support each other. Grief counselors will be made available for anyone, the school said. Contact the Hartford Jet Center for information on a time and date of the event and leave a name and how many people will be attending. Police at Central Connecticut State University said they were investigating a sexual assault report on campus, but the school has since said the incident did not happen at the school. On Thursday, CCSU police were notified about a sexual assault that allegedly occurred on Oct. 8 around 12:30 a.m. The victim was not a CCSU student, the school said. No description of the alleged attacker or clothing was released. CCSU will provide additional patrol coverage in the area where the assault happened and people are advised to use caution and report any suspicious activity to police. Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact Lieutenant Edward Dercole (860-832-2394), Detective Densil Samuda (860-832-2381) or the CCSU Police Dispatcher at 860-832-2375. Connecticut's Comptroller, Kevin Lembo, formally responded Thursday to recent confusion over whether the state is facing a renewed fiscal crisis. Lembo told Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes, who handles budget matters for the Malloy administration, that sending one projection to Lembo and another to agency heads, "can undermine confidence in the state's financial statements." Barnes sent a letter to all state department heads on Sept. 6, urging them to provide budget options for their specific agencies as a way to prepare for a probably $133 million budget shortfall. On Sept. 20, the administration sent a letter to the comptroller, telling his office the budget was in balance and revenues were coming in as expected. Lembo said he's not accusing the governor's administration of hiding poor budget figures, but said such letters don't do much to help the discussion about the state's finances. Its not so much a question of 'is that revenue number right as of this moment?' The question is, why put that other number out so it just seemed unnecessary and added confusion. In response to Lembo's letter, Barnes with OPM told NBC Connecticut that telling departments to prepare for both predictable and unpredictable budget factors is "consistent practice." He also said the two letters are meant for entirely different purposes. "It is essential that the governor have a variety of significant budget reduction options to consider as he develops a budget recommendation for the coming biennium. The forecast we used was appropriate to that goal. he said. On Thursday, nonpartisan analysts released their most recent projection that shows the state's budget is running $78 million in the red, but is considered to be even worse because expected legal settlement funds will disappear in the next fiscal year. Lembo said he trusts the estimates coming from OFA. One group that doesn't trust them is Senate Republicans. Minority Leader Len Fasano, who also raised questions about the dueling letters earlier this week, accused the governor's administration of hiding bad news. "The only logical reason for withholding the true numbers would be to prevent the public from finding out just how bad our state finances are until after November," Sen. Fasano said in a statement. The wrongful death lawsuit brought by Newtown families who want to hold a gun company responsible for their loved ones' deaths in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre was thrown out by a Connecticut judge on Friday, according to court documents. Gunmaker Remington Arms was being sued by families of children and adults killed by a with a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle made by the company. In June, a lawyer for the Madison, North Carolina-based gun maker asked a Connecticut judge to dismiss the lawsuit. On Friday, Superior Court Judege Barbara Bellis granted the motion to strike the lawsuit, filed by the families of nine children and adults killed and a teacher who survived the attack. Bellis cited the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act passed by Congress in 2005 that protected gun makers from such lawsuits. The families' lawyers said their lawsuit was allowed under an exception to the act, but Bellis disagreed. "While the families are obviously disappointed with the judges decision, this is not the end of the fight. We will appeal this decision immediately and continue our work to help prevent the next Sandy Hook from happening," said Josh Koskoff, one of the lawyers representing the families. A memorandum of the decision said Congress has broadly prohibited lawsuits "against manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers of firearms...for the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products... by others when the product functioned as designed and intended." The document adds that the deaths of the plaintiffs' decedents were "caused solely by the criminal misuse of a weapon by Adam Lanza." Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at the Newtown elementary school. Governor Malloy expressed his disappointment in the dismissal: "While today is a deeply disappointing day for the families, their appeal will continue this fight for justice. As I have stated before, the laws providing unique protections to gun manufacturers need to be changed to give crime victims a right to pursue legal remedies," the state's governor said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A fugitive wanted for murder in Manchester, New Hampshire, was arrested Friday morning in New Britain, Connecticut, U.S. Marshals have announced. Authorities confirm 23-year-old Maldonado Cancel has been charged with second degree murder. A warrant had been issued for Cancel's arrest after 25-year-old Jonathan Vazquez-Ojeda was shot to death on Sept. 14. U.S. Marshals Fugitive task Forces in Connecticut and New Hampshire responded with Homeland Security and New Britain Police to capture Cancel in New Britain. He has been charged as a fugitive from justice and will be returned to New Hampshire. It was not immediately clear if Cancel had an attorney or the exact date authorities intended to extradite him. Parents who send children to Clockwork Learning Center in Southbury said the daycare owner sent them a letter to let them know this week would be the center's last and now they are trying to figure out what to do next week. Holly Sullivan, whose 2-year-old daughter is one of 20 children who attend the center, said they love the center and the staff and cannot believe it is all coming to an end. "Absolute panic. I'm a single-working parent, so I need daycare for Monday," Sullivan said. "This is a big shock for everybody, and it's a true hardship for these families." David Lyme, the president and CEO of Clockwork Learning, wrote in part, that enrollment has been down for the past year, costs have increased and it finally caught up to them. We have tried very hard to prevent this from happening but the business is in a position that is totally unsustainable and can no longer exist," the statement also says. Sullivan said the staff was notified that there were no funds to pay them. A staff member said the owner told them he doesn't know if he'll be able to pay them for October, and several other parents spoke to NBC Connecticut off camera and said they've been told there is no money to give them refunds but that they'll all eventually be paid back. "Many families have paid through the end of October and put down deposits," Sullivan said. Sullivan said despite the uncertainty of payment, the staff is still working through today to take care of the kids. "God bless them for being here because it's allowing us to make arrangements elsewhere, to get to work, do what we have to do," Sullivan said. Lyme told NBC Connecticut that the business became unsustainable due to low enrollment in the last year. "We have tried to make this as easy as possible for everyone but its been very hard and is difficult when young children need to be uprooted, I just wish the circumstances where different," Lyme said. Lyme also said the building's landlords gave him a final date to vacate the property. "I have never said that the parents would not be refunded there money," Lyme said. "I have been emailing parents to notify them that they certainly will receive any money due, and this will need to be paid over a period of time as the company does not have any money." Parents and staff said they've already reached out to state agencies for help. Scientists from coast-to-coast are studying an increase in cases of a polio-like illness in children. As of August, at least 50 people in 24 states were confirmed to have acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, a viral illness that targets the bodys nervous system and can lead to paralysis and death. Eleven of those cases are in Texas and at least five of them are in North Texas, according to doctors. Infection with AFM leads to the limb weakness and paralysis. Other symptoms include drooping eyelids, facial weakness and slurred speech, breathing problems, gastrointestinal infections and difficulty swallowing. "The similarities to polio are frightening and real," said Dr. Benjamin Greenberg, pediatric neurologist at Children's Health and associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. "What we see in children today is quite similar to what we saw in polio going back over a hundred years," Greenberg said. Doctors are troubled by the increase in cases this year. "We think we are going to see more cases. We don't know how many. When we look to 2014, we saw a spike in cases, going through July, August and September. Then, as it got to October, November, December, the cases declined, but we hope we are on the tail end." Greenberg says the suspected cause of the condition is a virus called enterovirus-D68. "We think this is triggered by a virus, specifically something called the enterovirus-D68 sub type, but there's a lot of debate on proving causation. In 2014, there was a large outbreak nationwide. We saw 120 kids of more nationwide come down with this paralytic conditions," Greenberg said. "Not all kids recover and we are still looking at ways to improve those outcomes in any way possible. There's nationwide study trying to understand why some people get this condition and other don't, and of those who get it, why it's severe or mild," he adds. Enterovirus-D68 is transmitted through casual contact and doctors say the best prevention is proper hygiene, like washing hands and avoiding contact with others while sick. It's still not clear, however, whether the virus was the definite cause of AFM in 10-year-old Faith Dibley, of Frisco. She went to bed one Saturday night in July with a strange pain in her left hand. "It was stinging, so I thought I might have just injured it. I thought I needed a good night sleep," she said. By Sunday morning, she wasn't able to move her legs, in addition to her left hand. Her parents, Glenn and Kittren Dibley, say they knew right away they needed to take Faith to the emergency room. "Her telling us, 'I can't walk, my legs feel funny,' and of course, her hands were still in a closed abnormal position," said Glenn Dibley, as he described the point they decided Faith needed medical attention. They took her to Children's Medical Center of Dallas, where doctors had treated several cases like hers before. They gave her therapies to "dampen down the immune system" in her spinal cord, which was inflamed, according to Dr. Greenberg, who says there is no FDA approved treatment therapies for AFM. Faith recovered function of legs but still needs occupational therapy to regain full function of her left hand. "I always thought when I was in the hospital, 'Why me? Why did it have to be me that got it out of billions of other people?' I was confused but I realize that God, he knows what's best so I was just trusting that it's gonna heal. It is going to get better so whatever happened, it's for the best," Faith said. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Texas Department of Health and Human Services have issued warnings about the uptick in AFM cases and are asking doctors to report any suspected cases to them as soon as possible. Doctors at UT Southwestern and Children's Health are the lead site of an international study on Myelitis. They say if your child develops any kind of weakness in the arms or legs, you should get him or her to the pediatrician right away. "The likelihood is they will never become paralyzed. This is an extremely rare event. If you ever have a child develop weakness of any kind, weakness of arm or leg, it is very important to seek medical care with pediatrician," Greenberg said. NBC News: Mysterious Polio-Like Illness Paralyzing U.S. Children Police said a 6-year-old girl was wounded in a drive-by shooting in South Dallas Thursday night. [[397057651,C]] Dallas police said they responded to reports of the shooting at 9:34 p.m. near the intersection of South 2nd and Metropolitan avenues and found the girl who had been shot. Investigators said the girl was in a vehicle with her father when two men in a red SUV began shooting at a nearby business. A bullet passed through the driver door and struck the girl. The girl was transported to a hospital with injuries that police said were not life threatening. No other injuries were reported. Police asked that anyone with information about this incident call 911, Det. Nathan Heathcote at 214-671-4259 or Crime Stoppers at 214-373-8477 (TIPS). Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to an indictment. The Dallas Police and Fire Pension crisis worsened Thursday as trustees learned a run on the fund has shortened the time to insolvency and boosted the bailout amount needed. Instead of the $650 million suggested earlier as a taxpayer contribution to balance the fund's liabilities the figure suggested now is $1.1 billion. Instead of being insolvent by 2030, the fund would now fall short of ability to pay promised benefits by 2027 without major changes in the fund's finances. Members have withdrawn about $20 million a week recently from deferred retirement investments over fear of declining benefits. "We are in dire straits here. We need some support from the city. We cannot do it ourselves. We're in that bad a condition," said Police & Fire Pension Chairman Sam Friar. The board discussed a series of benefit reductions and increased contributions Thursday. But that plan, which was to have solved 66 percent of the shortfall problem, will now solve only 43 percent because of the shrinking investment pool still on hand. Police and fire representatives on the pension board expressed reservations Thursday about some of the benefit cuts. "We're trying to stop the run on the bank," said board member Clint Conway, a Dallas Fire-Rescue captain with a Texas Christian University finance degree. Conway said employees want 3- or 4-percent interest to keep their money in the fund. Currently deferred retirement option plan money is receiving a guaranteed 6 percent. One change would reduce that to 3 percent. Four Dallas City Council members also serve as members of the pension board. "Our system is in trouble today because we were aggressive with benefits," said Councilwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates. "Why try to do it again." Employees must approve the changes in a vote scheduled for November. Friar said pension people have been educating employees about the situation. "They come in very apprehensive but they leave with a lot more understanding of the plan, and for the most part I think they'll vote for it," Friar said. The board delayed final approval of employee ballot language until next week with details still being adjusted. If employees reject the changes, the crisis would only be larger. "Bottom line is, we need a police force and fire department to run this city and if we did not have a pension plan, I'm not sure what the result of that would be," Friar said. Police retiree Dan Wojcik, also a former pension board member, said the current board is moving too quickly. "This is a complicated, confusing issue, and if the board themselves are confused about it, they're not ready to put this out for a vote of the members," Wojcik said. By comparison, the potential $1 billion bailout from taxpayers would represent half of all the city's deferred street and transportation needs. The largest figure suggested for a proposed 2017 Dallas capital improvement bond referendum is $800 million. The pension liability would require all of that and more. "It's going to be very difficult to find this kind of money," said City Councilman Scott Griggs, who is also a pension board member. "The situation has already adversely affected our bond rating, downgraded as we saw last week. So the situation is very serious and we'll continue to work through it." Griggs said the solutions could also wind up being decided in a court of law. Past pension plan changes have sparked lawsuits. And Griggs said a criminal investigation is also underway. "We have been told at previous board meetings that there is an FBI investigation," Griggs said. The Police & Fire Pension problems are blamed on a combination of risky investments in 10 past years that returned far less than expected along with benefits more generous than the fund could afford. State-run energy giant Pertamina officially received a cargo of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran on Oct.13, marking Irans first shipment as a new supplier of LPG to Indonesia, The Jakarta Post reported. Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto welcomed the 44,000 metric tons of LPG transported from Asaluyeh Port in Iran 13 days ago by its VLGC Pertamina Gas 2 vessel, at Kalbut Port in Situbondo, East Java. According to him, the LPG shipment from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) would open up other business development opportunities between Pertamina and the NIOC, in both the upstream and downstream sectors. "It marks a new chapter of cooperation between Pertamina and the NIOC and makes trade cooperation between Indonesia and Iran more significant," Dwi said in a statement on Thursday. Earlier, the NIOC agreed to supply Pertamina with a total volume of 600,000 tons of LPG for 2016 and 2017. Following the arrival of the first cargo, the NIOC will immediately send the next cargo, which is expected to arrive on Nov. 20. In addition to the LPG purchase , the two state-run companies signed an agreement to conduct a preliminary study of two giant oil fields in Iran, namely Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, which have an oil reserve of more than 5 billion barrels. A Dallas woman faces charges in the shooting of a 20-year-old family member, police said Friday. According to a police spokesman, officers were called to a shooting in the 4100 block of Tioga Street at about 8:20 a.m. Thursday. Upon arrival, police observed a 20-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to Baylor Hospital by Dallas Fire Rescue. Lisa Lashawn Caraway, 37, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, family violence, and causing a serious bodily injury, police said. Investigators did now say how the gunshot victim is related to Caraway. No further information was released. The former vice president of UNT's Health Science Center has been arrested, police say. Fort Worth police arrested Stephen Don Barrett, 41, for indecency with a child on Wednesday. He was booked into the Tarrant County Jail, where he was later released on a $10,000 bonded. UNTHCS released the following statement regarding the incident: "Stephen Barrett is no longer an employee at UNT Health Science Center. He was terminated Wednesday afternoon." Further details have not yet been released. The incident does not involve UNTHSC in any way other than it is Barrett's former employer, officials said. A Johnson County man was sentenced to six months in federal prison for aiming a laser pointer at a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter in July 2015. Austin Lawrence Siferd, 24, of Cleburne, pleaded guilty earlier this year to an indictment charging one count of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft. The pilot of a DPS helicopter was able to follow the beam and direct Johnson County sheriff's deputies to a rural home in the 9000 block of County Road 604. The night of the incident, the DPS chopper was responding to reports that several commercial aircraft had been hit with a laser in the area. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford confirmed in incidents reported in July 2015 involved two flights each from American Airlines and Envoy (formerly American Eagle) headed into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, two Southwest Airlines flights headed into Dallas Love Field Airport and two FedEx cargo flights inbound to Fort Worth Alliance Airport. A man is in jail after eight commercial airliners and a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter were reportedly hit by a laser while flying over North Texas, the FAA says. Lunsford said the planes were inbound over Johnson County when they were targeted by the laser. One plane was 11,000 feet in the air at the time. Controllers were able to safely reroute the planes, and no crew members or passengers were injured. Siferd does not face charges in those incidents. Austin Lawrence Siferd, of Alvarado, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of illumination of an aircraft by intense light after several commercials planes at DFW Airport and a DPS helicopter had to change paths to avoid a laser light. Earlier this summer, federal judges handed out prison sentences ranging from eight months to two years for two men who targeted DPS helicopters with laser pointers in separate incidents. In both cases, both men faced up to five years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000. DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/2290169-siferd-laser-indict.js", { width: 650, height: 800, sidebar: false, container: "#DV-viewer-2290169-siferd-laser-indict" }); Siferd Laser Indict (PDF) Fort Worth police still want the public's help finding a woman missing under "suspicious circumstances." Friends and family continued their search for Typhenie Johnson on Saturday. Fort Worth police will resume their search on Monday. Volunteers, family & friends searching rough terrain for Typhenie Johnson -- missing since Monday. Ex-bf charged with kidnapping pic.twitter.com/pQDYTUG5e4 Homa Bash (@HomaBashWEWS) October 15, 2016 On Friday, Fort Worth police officers searched an area near Sandy Lane Park and near Trinity Boulevard and State Highway 360, while friends and family searched near the Texas Star Golf Course. Johnson, 25, was last seen Monday afternoon at the Post Oak East Apartments in the 13000 block of Tristian Lane. Officers continued searching Friday for Typhenie Johnson, who hasnt been seen in more than five days. I saw it on the news, I knew it was here. Ive been here going on four decades in this area. I know this land very intimately, so thats why I knew I needed to be over here to guide and help as best I could, said Art Sahlstein. If you feel like you know something call, said Tiona Vines, a friend of Typhenie Johnson. We definitely have to stay positive, so if anybody has anything that could come out and help we would greatly appreciate it. The family would love it, explained Venice Ford. The Sullivan family showed up with two horses to join the search. NBC 5 spoke with 17-year-old Jacob Sullivan moments after returning. Theres not much down there except for too much of a rocky terrain to get this horse through, Sullivan said. Chopper 5 shows police searching an area near Sandy Lane Park for missing Fort Worth woman Typhenie Johnson. Many of the searchers hold out hope they will find Typhenie alive. Shes coming home. Im positive she is. She just doesn't know the area, said Vines. On Thursday afternoon, police released the arrest warrant affidavit for her ex-boyfriend, 32-year-old Christopher Steven Revill. He was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping. Fort Worth police continue to search for missing woman Typhenie Johnson, who was last seen Monday evening. "Anytime you have a missing person and the clock ticks every hour, every minute every second counts," said Fort Worth Police Officer Jimmy Pollozani. "We are definitely, desperately looking for her right now and trying to find her whereabouts and return her home safely to her family." While a search is underway at Sandy Lane Park Thursday afternoon for Typhenie Johnson, Fort Worth police released the arrest warrant affidavit for her ex-boyfriend, Christopher Steven Revill. In the affidavit, police said Johnson and Revill dated for approximately eight months but that Johnson had ended the relationship approximately two months ago. Johnson's twin brother, Asher, told police Typhenie was talking to Revill outside her apartment and told Revill it was over. After 20 minutes the conversation moved to the side of the apartment out of sight, according to Johnson's brother. After 20 more minutes Revill came to the apartment to collect some things, and according to the affidavit when Asher Johnson asked Revill where Typhenie was, Revill said she left with someone who was going to fix her car. Asher Johnson tried to call her but there was no answer. According to the affidavit, when Asher went outside he saw Revill's car was moved to a grassy dirt area nearby and the trunk was open. Asher said he went around the building to get a better view but Revill shut the trunk and drove away. Asher told police when he walked over to where Revill's car was parked he saw items belonging to Typhenie. "What the officers located on the scene were actually a cell phone, keys and a sock belonging possibly to Typhenie Johnson, and it was confirmed, through her brother, that it was her belongings," said Fort Worth Police Officer Jimmy Pollozani. "[Revill] is releasing limited information to detectives and he's not cooperating." According to the affidavit (see below), Asher called and asked Revill to come back, and after 15 minutes, when he didn't, Asher called Fort Worth Police. When officers arrived they talked to Revill on the phone and asked him to return to the apartments. According to the affidavit, after 25 minutes, when he did return he was sweating and said it was because it was warm, though police note it was 64 degrees and no one was sweating but Revill. "Initial officers on scene and working the case noticed that the temperature was in the 60 degrees, that night and when he came back he was sweating and that was a red flag," said Pollozani. Other officers went to Revill's home and according to the affidavit in the backyard they found a bra with the wire clasp stretched out as if pulled apart, a ladies shirt, a smart watch with a broken clasp and a man's tank top. Revill's parents said those items were not there earlier and didn't belong to them, and according to the affidavit they had been at dinner and shopping during the time Typhenie Johnson disappeared. "Based on the actually evidence that was out there in the crime scene and the apartment complex and the information at the parents house and thats why were suspecting foul play and we need the publics help to locate her and bring her back to her family," said Pollozani. After he was read his rights, Revill told police he didn't harm Typhenie Johnson and denied parking in the grass, according to the affidavit. Revill is being held at the Mansfield Jail on $50,000 bond. Fort Worth police confirm Revill had child with a woman who disappeared in 2006. Taalibah Islam is still missing, but police told NBC 5's Cory Smith officers didn't think Revill was involved in her disappearance. Taalibah Islam had child w/ Chris Revill b4 disappearance in 2006. FWPD didn't think Revill was involved #NBCDFWNow pic.twitter.com/Vghm2Ub92A Cory Smith (@CoryNBC) October 13, 2016 SEARCH CONTINUES FOR TYPHENIE JOHNSON On Wednesday, Asher Johnson and several of Typhenie's friends passed out flyers with her picture on it. "We're trying to make sure that she gets home," said Asher Johnson's coworker, Jewel DeCasta. "[Asher's] taking it OK, but at the same time he just needs help finding his sister." Meeting underway to coordinate continued search for Typhenie Johnson. If you have information about her whereabouts please call 911. pic.twitter.com/q7pHGfOx5o Fort Worth Police (@fortworthpd) October 14, 2016 Typhenie Johnson is about 5 feet 4 inches tall and 135 pounds with brown hair and eyes. She as last seen wearing a pink shirt and black and white pants. Police asked anyone who saw the vehicle or Typhenie Johnson between 9 p.m. and midnight Monday to contact the Fort Worth Police Department. "We don't know where she could be at, if she's OK, if she's breathing, if she's helpless, we just don't know," DeCasta said. "We just want to make sure our little sister is OK." NBC 5's Courtney Gilmore, Cory Smith and Tyler Sieswarda contributed to this report. Arrest Affidavit: // Johnson-Affidavit (PDF) Johnson-Affidavit (Text) A new residential development could mean a massive population boom for a small Wise County city. Right now, Rhome is home to about 1,600 people, but plans for a new housing development on the city's east side would bring more than a thousand new homes to the area more than doubling the city's size. "We currently have 14 employees; 15 volunteers with the fire department, so with that much growth well need to see additional increases in staffing to accommodate the growth," said Mayor Michelle Pittman. "We have 550 water accounts currently. By the end of the construction, 1,100 additional water accounts would triple the number of accounts we have, so Public Works would see significant increases on demand." Briscoe and Company is the real estate development company behind the project. Owner Jim Briscoe told Rhome's City Council this week he hopes to break ground on the first few dozen homes by next autumn. Eventually, the development will extend to more 1100 homes over 350 acres, over a period of 10-years. "Well have to build the roads for the infrastructure, we are working on the funding and financing for the roads," Pittman said. "We'll have to accommodate all those homes into the wastewater system." The developer has plans to build one new school, too. "With 1100 new homes, wed expect wed need at least one other school. Currently we have one elementary school, one middle school, and we have a site for a high school that hasnt been built yet," Pittman said. "He has included a site for an elementary school." Pittman said the homes are expected to sell from $225,000 to $350,000. "This is a huge deal. We have never experienced this type of growth," she said. "Our property tax base will increase significantly. It's mind-blogging." The developer told city council this week Rhome is the kind of small-town, bedroom community that's prime for growth. With hundreds of residents commuting to jobs in Dallas or Fort Worth, it's exactly the kind of community that new residents with young families want to move into. "Rhome is a small town. Its a bedroom community, a lot of families work in Dallas-Fort Worth. Its a small town here, everyone knows everyone. And people are drawn to that," Pittman agreed. The plan is to break ground next autumn. A 15-year-old boy is suspected in the sexual assault of a woman who was attacked while walking in Deep Ellum last month, police say, and a second person is still sought. The Dallas Police Department announced Thursday that a DNA test helped identify the 15-year-old, who was arrested Wednesday and charged as a juvenile with aggravated sexual assault. The identity of the second person is unknown, police said, and investigators released photos Thursday in an effort to locate the person. On Sept. 18 at around 3 a.m. police said a woman in her 20s was walking alone in the 3300 block of Elm Street, when two males grabbed and sexually assaulted her. One of them had a weapon, police said. Anyone with information on the identity of the person in the photos is asked to contact Detective Chris Anderson at 214-671-3616, or Crime Stoppers at 214-373-TIPS (8477). James Doe's quest to collect the remainder of his $3.5 million hush-money from disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert could soon face a major decision in court. A judge on Friday listened to arguments from both sides regarding a motion to dismiss the breach-of-contract lawsuit filed last month. The judge said he would take those arguments under consideration and rule by Nov. 29. In court Friday, attorneys for one of Hastert's victim's, known as James Doe, claimed Hastert was the first to reveal the existence of the alleged arrangement and said Hastert was trying to get out of paying the remainder of the deal "on a technicality." Mr. Hastert has publically admitted he entered into this contract. He's never denied it. In fact, he public admitted it in open court," attorney Kristi Browne said. My client gave uphis right to sell his story, speak about it publicly, gave up his right to speak to anybody about what happened to him and that is substantial consideration for this motion. Meanwhile, Hastert's attorney argued James Doe, also referred to as "Individual A," "breached that obligation when he disclosed not only the agreement but the subject matter of the agreement." In his lawsuit, James Doe said that it was not his fault that a hush-money deal fell apart when Hasterts bank withdrawals caught the attention of the FBI. Hastert did not deny the abuse, the mans attorney, Kristi Browne wrote in the motion, filed in Kendall County Court. Hastert admitted his wrongdoing and agreed to compensate Plaintiff. The former Speaker and his now-adult victim had entered into a verbal pact where Hastert was to pay the man $3.5 million dollars. But the payments stopped after $1.7 million, when banking officials became alarmed at the frequency of the former Speakers withdrawals. Hastert pled guilty to a crime known as structuring, making withdrawals of less than $10,000 to avoid being detected by federal regulators. The plaintiff requested that Hastert consult an attorney, to ensure their agreement could be legally executed, but Hastert declined, promising to pay every last dollar of their agreed monetary settlement, Browne wrote. The banking issue was brought to Hasterts attention, but to preclude further scrutiny, Hastert chose to make more overt violations of the banking laws he was warned about. In a motion seeking dismissal of the case, Hasterts lawyer has argued that the man has no further claim, because the statue of limitation had expired. But Doe, known previously in Hasterts criminal case as Individual A, rejected that argument, at one point comparing the case to a parent who must make good on paternity to an illegitimate child. Hastert has an ongoing moral obligation to any child victim for any harm his conduct caused, the motion states. Was the confidentiality provision of the parties agreement worth $3.5 million? Hastert certainly thought so. Hastert's attorney also argues that the lawsuit should be dismissed because Doe violated the confidentiality agreement when he spoke to federal authorities, citing a breach-of-contract. The parties return to court again Friday. Hastert is serving a 15-month sentence at a Federal prison in Rochester, Minnesota. First lady Michelle Obama's stump speech for Hillary Clinton on Thursday won widespread praise for running Donald Trump's rhetoric about women through the mud, with one magazine calling it "this election's most important speech." NBC News reports that, despite initally being considered a potential liability for her husband, Obama now polls as one of the most beloved and trusted figures in the United States. Her involvement in the 2016 campaign marks a departure from some recent first ladies, like Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan, yet her reported reluctance to become a political spouse separates her from Hillary Clinton. "There has never been anything quite like this," said author Kate Andersen Brower, who was "stunned" by how emotional Obama's speech was and expects Obama to leave a big mark on the position for years to come. National City is demanding Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign pay nearly $30,000 for police overtime and other costs from a May rally. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that National City demanded $28,337 in a letter sent Tuesday after several collection attempts. The costs are from a rally at Kimball Park on May 21, shortly before California's presidential primary. The letter says the city will "pursue all available legal remedies" if the bill isn't paid by next Monday. National City Director of Neighborhood Services Armando Vergara says the Sanders campaign maintains that police overtime costs are the responsibility of the Secret Service. The city disagrees. The rally's media contact didn't immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press on Wednesday. Bombardier's CEO says that the company was a little late on chasing opportunities in Iran but should be able to catch up with its rivals following Canada's lifting of sanctions. "We started maybe a little bit behind but I'm pretty sure we're going to be able to catch up now," Alain Bellemare said in an interview with The Canadian Press. He said Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion's move earlier this year to lift sanctions has been useful in helping to gain market access. With teams on the ground now in Iran, Bellemare said he's not concerned about winning its share of new orders, although the process is challenging. The Montreal-based plane and train maker (TSX:BBD.B) sees opportunities to sell regional rail services along with regional jets and CSeries planes as Iranian companies look to modernize. Meanwhile, Bellemare said Bombardier will fine-tune but not overhaul its CRJ regional jets as it focuses on production of the new CSeries aircraft that will be the company's main driver of commercial aircraft growth for years to come. He said the company is working on adding a bit more cabin space to CRJs to address the size advantage of Brazilian rival Embraer's E-Jets. "We're looking at ways to improve that but you're not going to see a major upgrade on the CRJ," he said in Ottawa. "It's going to be fine-tuning because customers flying it today like it." Since launching in 1992, Bombardier has received about 1,900 CRJ orders. Embraer has eaten into Bombardier's industry-leading market share in recent years, selling more than 1,500 aircraft since 2004. New players entering the regional jet market include Russia's Sukhoi and Japan's Mitsubishi MRJs. Bellemare said Bombardier's new Global 7000 business jet is "a few weeks away" from its first flight after completing its first engine runs. Launched in 2010, the long-range Global 7000 and 8000 business jets meant to better compete with new aircraft from rival Gulfstream are more than two years behind schedule following changes to the wing. The 17-passenger Global 7000 priced at US$73 million is scheduled to enter into service in late 2018. On Thursday, DBRS confirmed its rating of Bombardier at B with a negative trend. It said the rating reflected the "highly speculative credit quality and high level of uncertainty regarding its ability to meet financial obligations." DBRS said Bombardier has enough cash for at least 12 months after receiving a US$1 billion investment from the Quebec government and sale of a 30-per-cent stake in its railway division to Quebec's pension fund manager. The federal government said it is also willing to invest in the company nearly a year after a request for US$1 billion in funding was made. Amid a shifting craft beer landscape, Escondido-based Stone Brewing announced they have laid off a fraction of their staff. The company laid off five percent of their team members recently. "This reduction was not a reflection of the work they did, but a careful decision made to ensure that our company will remain competitive and profitable," a statement from Stone Brewing Co. read. The announcement comes during a year of strong growth for Stone Brewing. In 2016, the company opened two new breweries: one in Berlin, Germany, and one in Virgina. They also announced the construction of a new beer-centric hotel in Escondido and expanded the availability of their brews to new locations across the U.S. Stone Brewing also recently launched True Craft, a company geared toward investing in smaller craft breweries to help them stay independetly owned. Customers of Stone Brewing expressed their surprised over the layoffs. "I just find it hard to believe with the growth in beer across the country--can't believe it's slowing down," said Mike Hilfiker, a tourist from Indiana. NBC 7 spoke to an employee of another local brewery who says the market for beer is becoming too big. "People are just making beer upon beer upon beer and it's kind of saturating the market a little bit," said Eric Shelley, Head Brewer at Thorn St. Brewery. "Tremendous pressures" from larger beer company's acquisition strategies and the growing amount of small, hyper-local craft breweries prompted the company to think about restructuring, they said in a statement. Stone officials said the craft beer industry has become increasingly unpredictable and, by restructuring their company, they are positioning themselves for a better future. "Even given this unfortunate circumstance, we will continue to be fiercely independent and, importantly, Stone remains one of the largest if not the largest employers in the craft brewing segment," Stone Brewing said in a statement. The company said they do not foresee additional layoffs in the future. A father is asking a dog owner to come forward after his adult son was mauled outside an Eagle Rock sandwich shop Thursday night. Ian Alli, 20, was asking for money about 7 p.m. outside the restaurant in the 2600 block of Colorado Boulevard, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The dog's owner gave Alli $10 and returned about two hours later with a pit bull mix on a leash, police said. "He asked to pet the dog and they said yeah, no problem," said Brian Alli, the man's father. "And as he put his hand down to ... let it sniff his hand, that's when the dog lunged at him and attacked him." Alli was taken to the hospital, where he went into surgery for bites to his face. He was listed in stable condition. The dog's owner took off before officers arrived. There were conflicting reports Friday about whether the owner was a man, or two women in their 20s. Police said the owner could face charges for leaving the scene. "I can't even imagine leaving another human being bleeding on the ground in a vicious dog attack, and being more concerned about the dog than the human being," Brian Alli said. In a Facebook post, Brian Alli shared photos of his bloodied son. He said his son was collecting donations for DARE, the drug education group he works for. He said the attack was unprovoked. "Please share this and find them," he said. Officers said they planned to interview the victim once he was out of surgery. "He has a dog himself, we're pet lovers, we understand that things could happen, but you don't run from them," Brian Alli said. "That's what's really frustrating." Opponents say Prop 57 will release dangerous criminals back onto the streets but proponents say the ballot measure puts authority back in judges' hands. The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, endorsed by California Governor Jerry Brown, would make anyone convicted of a non-violent felony and sentenced to state prison eligible for parole consideration after the completion of the full term of their primary offense. Cornelius Bowser, of the Charity Apostolic Church, supports Prop 57 because he feels its important to help juveniles who are tried as adults and end up incarcerated in adult prisons. Those inmates are victimized or suffer from depression or suicidal thoughts, he said. We believe Prop 57 will fix that and take the authority and power out of prosecutors hands and place it back into the judges hands, Bowser said. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has called the measure "Prop 47 on steroids" adding the initiative will create new problems for cities across the state. Among the crimes that would fall under the proposed ballot measure are domestic violence, hate crimes involving physical injury and assault with a deadly weapon, the mayor explained. Marc Klaas, victims rights advocate and father of Polly Klaas, spoke in San Diego this summer and called Proposition 57 a Get out of jail free card. On his blog, he lists convictions that he says will fall under the proposed legislation. Klaas 12-year-old daughter was kidnapped at knifepoint from her Petaluma home in October 1993. Her body was found 65 days later. Since Pollys murder, California has passed Three Strikes and Megans Law to keep tabs on those convicted of violent crimes. Should criminals convicted of human trafficking involving sex acts with a child be allowed back on the streets before serving their full sentence, Klaas asked. If you answered no please join Police, District Attorneys, Crime Victims and local community leaders to stop the insanity by opposing Proposition 57. Susan Fisher, former chair of the parole board and sister of a murder victim, has seen the system first hand. She's concerned that violent offenders may be released because of how their crimes are categorized under the measure. Things like use of a date rape drug, physical child abuse, spousal abuse, those are not [considered] a serious and violent crime, Fisher said. Bishop Cornelius Bowser from the Charity Apostolic Church and former parole board chair Susan Fisher discuss the measure on NBC 7s Politically Speaking. This is the second part of the discussion. "If Prop 57 passes, there are going to have to be certain rules as to how it's actually going to be applied," legal analyst Dan Eaton told NBC 7's "Politically Speaking." "That's how you're going to have to get into what really qualifies as a non-violent felony for purposes of eligibility for early release," Eaton said. Bowser Prop 57 encourages prisoners to go through rehabilitation programs. "We want them to be released into our society safely," Bowser said. There is no guarantee, he said, because inmates must go through education and training programs to prepare them for success outside prison walls. "Anybody can do a program, that doesn't make them rehabilitated," Fisher argues. Read more on the ballot measure here. A driver who killed two teens and a man who stopped to help them after an accident in southwest Miami-Dade more than two years ago will be spending the next 15 years behind bars. Christopher Masferrer, 33, pleaded guilty to 3 counts of DUI manslaughter Thursday and will now head to state prison. He will also serve two years of house arrest and eight years of probation. "I wouldn't accept my apologies either," Masferrer told the families of the three victims he killed 2 years ago during Thursday's sentencing hearing. "I have failed everyone in my life, I have caused irreparable damage." On April 13th, 2014, Eduardo Hernandez had stopped to help two 17-year-old best friends after a minor accident. Masferrer approached the intersection of Miller Drive and Southwest 157th Avenue at high speed and crashed into Caroline Agreda, Anapaula Saldana and Hernandez, killing them on the scene. "I miss her so much that it's unexplainable, knowing that she is no longer part of my life hurts," said Agreda's sister, Jaqueline Gonzalez. A toxicology report found Masferrer's blood alcohol level was recorded at 0.193 and 0.167, more than twice the legal limit, according to police. "He will never see our kids graduate from school, marry, become parents, this brings me so much sadness," said Hernandez's widow, Fatima. "My kids have been cheated from having him there with them." Masferrer will begin serving his sentence immediately. He had been out on bond since his arrest. Had he been found guilty by a jury, Masferrer would have been sentenced to 96 years in state prison instead of his plea of 15 years behind bars. As Florida looks again to be one of the crucial states that will decide the next President of the United States, one South Florida media outlet is putting its support behind a specific candidate. The Miami Herald on Friday published its endorsement for Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, choosing the former Senator and Secretary of State over Republican Party nominee and businessman Donald Trump. In their endorsement, the paper cited what they say is Clintons experience while calling Trump a damaged human being. Ms. Clinton is a pragmatic, tough-minded woman of accomplishment and political conviction with a demonstrated mastery of policy, the paper wrote. Mr. Trump is the elite, one who has managed to talk a good game to fire up frustrated and frightened mostly white Americans with a campaign of hate and xenophobia. The Herald endorsed President Barack Obama both in 2008 and 2012. The other major newspaper in the area, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, endorsed Clinton last month after supporting Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. A manatee that was rescued off the coast of Cape Cod and later found to be pregnant will be moved from Connecticut's Mystic Aquarium to SeaWorld Orlando. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Charles Underwood tells the Cape Cod Times the manatee will be moved on Tuesday to SeaWorld, where it will undergo further rehabilitation before being released into the wild. The 800-pound pregnant female, dubbed ``Washburn,'' was picked up in September in Nantucket Sound off Falmouth, Massachusetts, by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The group said the animal was well out of its range and was rescued just before water temperatures dropped below 67 degrees - too cold for it to survive. Underwood says the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership will decide where the animal will be released in Florida. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14 By Emil Ilgar Trend: Boeing reached an agreement with an American bank to get finance for building airplanes for Iran from a Japanese bank, Tasnim reported Oct.14. An Iranian official said on the condition of anonimity that despite Boeing said it wouldn't deliver any airplanes to Iran in 2016, the company has solved its financial issues for delivering 100 airplanes to Iran in the coming three years. The official didn't mention the names of the US and Japanese banks or the amount of financing, but the value of the deal is $25 billion. Iran also has a deal with Frances Airbus to purchase 118 airplanes,worth $27 billion. The country also wants to purchase 20 airplanes from ATR. Two fired day care workers accused of instigating scuffles among the children as part of what New Jersey prosecutors called a "Fight Club" were sentenced to three years probation Friday. Erica Kenny, 23, and Chanese White, 29, pleaded guilty to child abuse charges as part of an agreement with prosecutors in August. Prosecutors recommended the lighter sentence for both women because they are first-time offenders. As part of the agreement, the women are barred from teaching or working with children. Prosecutors and police say Kenny and White instigated the "Fight Club" among children ages 4 to 6 at the Lightbridge Academy in Cranford in August 2015. Authorities also say Kenny recorded video of the fights and shared the clips with several friends on social media. Union County investigators say about a dozen boys and girls were shown shoving one another to the ground and trying to hit one another. The children apparently didn't suffer any serious injuries. The off-duty Yonkers police detective killed on Valentine's Day when the vehicle he was driving collided with a fire department ladder truck was drunk at the time of the accident, authorities said Friday. Frank Fernandez, 45, a 15-year veteran of the police force, had a blood alcohol content of 0.22, more than twice the legal limit of .08 in New York, when he veered across the double yellow lines onto the eastbound side of Palmer Road near Sunnybrook Feb. 14 and hit the fire truck, officials said. Fernandez was pronounced dead at the scene. Four firefighters riding in the ladder truck were treated for minor injuries after the accident. Authorities say Fernandez may also have been speeding. Yonkers Police Commissioner Charles Gardner said the department remains saddened by Fernandez's death. "Detective Frank Fernandez was a valued member of the Yonkers Police Department with over 15 years of dedicated service to the department and the Yonkers community," Gardner said. "This unfortunate and tragic accident leaves behind a wife and two small children, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family." A school bus crash in Delaware left 14 children hospitalized Friday morning. The bus collided with a minivan around 7:05 a.m. at Pulaski Highway (U.S. Route 40) near Scotland Drive in Bear, said Delaware State Police. The injuries to the children appeared to be minor as the children were taken to A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children as a precaution, said police. No word yet on what caused the wreck. A school bus also crashed in Pemberton, New Jersey Friday morning leaving the driver of a car injured, said Burlington County dispatchers. No one on the bus was hurt. A 16-year-old student is facing criminal charges in Pennsylvania after posting threatening clown messages to a social media account because she didn't want to go to school. Berks County detectives say the girl admitted to posting the messages on Oct. 4 from her West Lawn home, about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The Wilson School District student threatened violence at four other Berks County school districts because she thought school officials would cancel classes, according to authorities. The Berks County district attorney filed seven charges against the girl, including multiple counts of terroristic threats. Detectives searched the girl's home Thursday and seized electronic devices believed to be used in the incident. She is being held in a juvenile detention facility. A teenage driver rushing to see his father in the hospital ran a red light along Philadelphia's Roosevelt Boulevard causing another driver to collide with his car overnight Friday, police said. The collision killed two teen friends of the driver who were headed to the hospital with him. The teens were speeding southbound in a red Hyundai Sonata along the busy boulevard around 12:30 a.m. when they flew through the intersection at Rising Sun Avenue in the city's Olney neighborhood, police said. A 55-year-old woman, driving a Ford Explorer SUV, collided with the sedan as she drove along Front Street. The impact sent the car into a light pole. Maggie Goloff, who was sitting in the back, appeared to have head trauma and a broken neck, police said. Medics pronounced the 16-year-old Northeast Philadelphia girl dead at the scene. [[397118211, C]] "Just a beautiful person inside and out," said Goloff's friend Jamie O'Connor. "She always had everybodys back, even if they were in the wrong situation." Medics rushed Osman Zeylnov, 19, to Einstein Medical Center where he died a short time later. Zeylnov's friend, Ahmed Shain, was behind the wheel, police said. The friends were rushing to Temple University Hospital to be with Shain's father who had been robbed at gunpoint and physically assaulted with a gun while delivering pizza, according to preliminary information obtained by investigators. (Police initially said the Shain and Zeylnov were brothers, but family members tell NBC10 they were close friends.) Shain, 18, remained conscious as medics took him to the hospital in stable condition with facial injuries. The SUV driver, who wasn't identified, also was hospitalized in stable condition, police said. Family Photo Police reviewed surveillance video and interviewed both drivers as they investigated the crash. Investigators determined Shain "disregarded the red signal at the intersection," police said. Witnesses said it appeared the sedan was going faster than the speed limit at the time. "He was going too fast, trying to run the light. Probably about 70 miles an hour," witness Emile Stanton told NBC10. "Oh man, when I saw him hit that car, I just shook my head. I just began to start praying," she said. No word if any charges will be filed. The deadly crash had at least one of Goloff's friends reconsidering getting her own license. "My drivers test is coming up on October 21st and Im not taking it now because of this," said O'Connor. "I dont want to drive." A New Jersey man has been convicted of murder in the death of a woman who was beaten with a hammer, kicked and dumped in a wooded area two years ago. Omar Galvez, 36, was found guilty Thursday of killing 37-year-old Jennifer Cruz-Chavez in Fairfield Township. The woman was last leaving a Bridgeton party in 2014 and getting into a van with Galvez and Jose Martinez. Her body was found in a wooded area by hunters, according to The Daily Journal. Galvez previously rejected a plea deal. He now faces up to life in prison. The Bridgeton man will be sentenced in December. Martinez took a deal offered by prosecutors and pleaded guilty in June to aggravated manslaughter. Martinez, 29, is scheduled to be sentenced to 20 years behind bars next month if the court accepts his plea. Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia say a member of the Pagans motorcycle gang has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a scheme to distribute prescription pain pills. Prosecutors say Joseph Mitchell Sr. was sentenced on Thursday. Records show William O'Brien, a former doctor of osteopathic medicine, worked with the gang and their associates to run a pill mill out of O'Brien's medical offices. Officials say O'Brien wrote bogus prescriptions for oxycodone and other drugs. They say the Pagans recruited "pseudo-patients" to buy the fake prescriptions. The prescriptions were then filled and the pills were resold on the street. O'Brien was sentenced earlier this month to 30 years in prison in the scheme. Eight other co-defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. What to Know A group following Pedals the bipedal bear said in a Facebook post Friday that a hunter killed the animal with an arrow New Jersey fish and wildlife officials said that there was no way to verify if any of the bears killed during this month's hunt was Pedals Pedals gained internet fame after video of the animal walking through a neighborhood was posted on social media. A group supporting Pedals, New Jersey's famous upright-walking bear, says that the animal was killed during this week's hunt. In a post to the "Pedals The Injured Bipedal Bear" Facebook page Friday morning, supporters said that a hunter fatally shot the bear with an arrow and bragged about wanting the animal dead for nearly three years. The animal was taken to the Greenpond check station where observers "confirmed it was 'the bi-pedal,'" the group said. "For the hundreds and thousands of animals lovers who were following his story, I am sorry that we have this sad news to bring to you," supporters said in the post. "PEDALS is at peace now because his beautiful soul left his body when he was killed." Fears began to rise on Thursday that the bear, which has an injured leg or paw that doesn't allow it to walk comfortably on all four paws, had been killed in the state's annual hunt. The hunt is aimed at culling black bear populations after increasing interaction between the animals and humans. New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife officials said in a statement Thursday that it had no way of verifying the identity of any bear that had not been previously tagged or had a DNA samples collected. It said that multiple bears had been oveserved at different check stations with injured and missing limbs, so it couldn't verify that any of the animals killed during the hunt was Pedals. State officials didn't have any update on the bear Friday. Pedals was a familiar site in parts of central New Jersey, and the animal was often seen stomping through backyards and peering into mailboxes at the end of cul-de-sacs. The bear became a social media sensation after it was first spotted more than a year ago. Supporters had long advocated for Pedals to be placed in a sanctuary in New York state, but New Jersey officials have said they would not allow the bear to be captured and transferred to the facility. [NATL] Unbelievable Animal Stories: Dog Befriends Abandoned Baby Giraffe What to Know Young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to Listeria infection There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions Consumers who may have purchased the affected products can return them to the place of purchase for a full refund Nutrisystem is recalling one of its popular high-protein bars over concerns about possible listeria contamination, which can cause serious and sometimes deadly infections in young children and the elderly. The company's Nutricrush Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bar, manufactured by Noble Foods, Inc., contains an ingredient that may be contaminated with the bacteria, Nutrisystem said. Only 455 cases of the affected product were shipped to ShopRite and Hannaford stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and nine other states; it was also sold online through Amazon.com and Walmart.com. The product, sold in a box of five, can be identified by the UPC 6 32674 85579 4, Enjoy by Aug 22 2017 and Lot Code NF082216A. No other Nutrisystem product is affected by the recall, which the company said it is initiating out of an abundance of caution. No illnesses have been reported to date. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to infection. Anyone who purchased the affected products can return them to the place of purchase or call Nutrisystem's customer service at 1-866-293-8118. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13 By Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Addressing concerns about appointing a possible successor for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has long been a challenge for those interested about developments in the Islamic Republic. From time to time, political analysts in Iran and abroad give rise to speculations about the successor of the supreme leader on various occasions. Appointing the successor of the supreme leader became a matter of speculation since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei underwent a successful prostate surgery in September 2014. Although it was announced that there was no concern about his health, discussions about the next supreme leader remained as a main topic of conversation since then. In a very recent move, a group of Persian media outlets based outside Iran, came up with a new candidate for the role of supreme leader, Ebrahim Raisi. Ebrahim Rais-Sadat, commonly known as Ebrahim Raisi, is an Iranian cleric and the current chief custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi, a charitable organization holding trusteeship of the eighth Shia Imams shrine. Raisi in the meantime, serves as the prosecutor of the Special Court of the Clergy and is a member of the Assembly of Experts, a powerful clerical body that oversees the work of supreme leader and appoints his successor. Media speculations about Ebrahim Raisi stirred up since a group of Iranian media over the past several weeks described him as an "Ayatollah" rather than "Hojatoleslam", a title more fitting for Raisi, according to local religious practices. The term Ayatollah in Shia religious seminaries is mostly described as a high-ranking cleric who is expert in Islamic studies while Hojatoleslam is the next lower rank. According to the Iranian constitution the countrys supreme leader should be a deeply knowledgeable and experienced cleric. It comes as no surprise that media and political observers show such a keen interest in identifying candidates for the role of supreme leader as he will be the Islamic Republics highest authority outranking all politicians, including the president. A group of members of the Assembly of Experts is charged with putting potential candidates for supreme leader on a list which is not made public. The speculations, so far, have suggested that the list would contain a group of key figures including former President Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former heads of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi and Mohammad Yazdi, as well as current judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani. Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the current supreme leader is also a possible candidate. And the most recent one is Ebrahim Raisi. It appears that the endless speculations will continue to dominate headlines from time to time as no one knows when the country will need a new supreme leader and who he will be. The 77-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei who has ruled Iran since 1989 succeeded the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. A Pinellas County sheriff's deputy has been let go after being accused of stealing drugs on the job and pawning his service weapon. Deputy Steven Smith, 32, was arrested Wednesday on charges of grand theft and drug possession, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said. Gualtieri says Smith, who had worked as a narcotics detective, landed on desk duty after his performance started falling off. He was eventually fired. Smith is accused of stealing "numerous bottles" of Oxycodone pills belonging to a deceased person that were brought into the station for disposal. Gualtieri says Smith was caught on camera swiping about 300 pills instead of destroying them. His girlfriend turned him in. Smith denied stealing the pills but admitted to having a drug problem, deputies said. He's also accused of selling his department-issued gun to a pawn shop for $250. The missing weapon, valued at $450, was discovered when deputies collected Pinellas County Sheriffs Office property that Smith had, NBC affiliate WFLA. Smith admitted to having pawned the weapon at the New Port Richey Silver Dollar Pawn, investigators said. It's unclear if Smith has an attorney. Editor's Note: Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput is among leaders in the Catholic church reacting harshly to "anti-Catholic" emails from the Clinton campaign that were leaked. Here is his weekly column, in its entirety: Back in 2008, in the weeks leading up to the Obama-McCain presidential election, two young men visited me in Denver. They were from Catholics United, a group describing itself as committed to social justice issues. They voiced great concern at the manipulative skill of Catholic agents for the Republican Party. And they hoped my brother bishops and I would resist identifying the Church with single-issue and partisan (read: abortion) politics. It was an interesting experience. Both men were obvious flacks for the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party creatures of a political machine, not men of the Church; less concerned with Catholic teaching than with its influence. And presumably (for them) bishops were dumb enough to be used as tools, or at least prevented from helping the other side. Yet these two young men not only equaled but surpassed their Republican cousins in the talents of servile partisan hustling. Thanks to their work, and activists like them, American Catholics helped to elect an administration that has been the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, institutions, concerns and liberty in generations. I never saw either young man again. The cultural damage done by the current White House has apparently made courting Americas bishops unnecessary. But bad can always get worse. Im thinking, of course, of the contemptuously anti-Catholic emails exchanged among members of the Clinton Democratic presidential campaign team and released this week by WikiLeaks. A sample: Sandy Newman, president of Voices for Progress, emailed John Podesta, now the head of Hillary Clintons campaign, to ask about whether "the bishops opposing contraceptive coverage" could be the tinder for a revolution. "There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages [sic] dictatorship," Newman writes. Of course, Newman added, "this idea may just reveal my total lack of understanding of the Catholic church, the economic power it can bring to bear against nuns and priests who count on it for their maintenance." Still, he wondered, how would one "plant the seeds of a revolution"? John Podesta replied that "We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this . . . likewise Catholics United" (emphasis added). Another Clinton-related email, from John Halpin of the Center for American Progress, mocks Catholics in the so-called conservative movement, especially converts: "They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy." In a follow-up, he adds "They can throw around 'Thomistic' thought and 'subsidiarity' and sound sophisticated because no one knows what . . . theyre talking about." On the evening these WikiLeaks emails were released, I received the following angry email myself, this one from a nationally respected (non-Catholic) attorney experienced in Church-state affairs: "I was deeply offended by the [Clinton team] emails, which are some of the worst bigotry by a political machine I have seen. [A] Church has an absolute right to protect itself when under attack as a faith and Church by civil political forces. That certainly applies here "Over the last eight years there has been strong evidence that the current administration, with which these people share values, has been very hostile to religious organizations. Now there is clear proof that this approach is deliberate and will accelerate if these actors have any continuing, let alone louder, say in government. "These bigots are actively strategizing how to shape Catholicism not to be Catholic or consistent with Jesus teachings, but to be the religion they want. They are, at the very core, trying to turn religion to their secular view of right and wrong consistent with their politics. This is fundamentally why the Founders left England and demanded that government not have any voice in religion. Look where we are now. We have political actors trying to orchestrate a coup to destroy Catholic values, and they even analogize their takeover to a coup in the Middle East, which amplifies their bigotry and hatred of the Church. I had hoped I would never see this day a day like so many dark days in Eastern Europe that led to the death of my [Protestant minister] great grandfather at the hands of communists who also hated and wanted to destroy religion." Of course it would be wonderful for the Clinton campaign to repudiate the content of these ugly WikiLeaks emails. All of us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be so very grateful. In the meantime, a friend describes the choice facing voters in November this way: A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots. In a nation where "choice" is now the unofficial state religion, the menu for dinner is remarkably small. Two new polls of critical swing states shows mixed fortunes for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as their push for the White House reaches their final few weeks, NBC News reports. Clinton leads Trump by four points in North Carolina but trails him by one in Ohio, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls released Thursday. In North Carolina, 45 percent of likely voters backed Clinton compared to 41 percent for Trump. In Ohio, Trump's 42-41 percent lead is inside the poll's margin of error, making the state a toss-up. For Trump to win the election, he likely needs to sweep North Carolina and Ohio, as well as Florida and Pennsylvania. Local Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood. SoundDiego is pleased to report that our friend and colleague, Robin Roth, is returning to San Diegos airwaves. Today, radio station 100.7 KFM-BFM -- just KFM-BFM to fans -- announced her addition to the variety rock stations on-air staff. Roth, a longtime SoundDiego contributor and local DJ, will host her first show for the station on Sunday from 4-8 p.m. "I love KFM-BFM and listen all the time. Now I get to be part of it! Looking forward to working with Garett, the legendary DSC, Sara, Mike V., Rick, Dan, JT and the rest of the family," Roth told SoundDiego. Thats quite the compliment coming from one of San Diegos most seasoned veterans of the music scene, as evidenced by her long stint as the music of director of 91x. Robin is one of the most plugged-in and knowledgeable stars in San Diegos musical galaxy, and its great that local radio listeners will once again get to take advantage of her talents and hear her made-for-radio voice, said SoundDiego executive producer Eric S. Page. For listeners and colleagues alike, its clear that Roths reputation precedes her. With more than 20 years of experience as one of San Diegos premier radio personalities, its easy to see why. Robins great attitude, dedication to all things San Diego and passion for all types of rock & roll music make her the obvious choice to join our team. I cant wait to hear her say KFM-BFM, said program director Garett Michaels. And we cant, either. Rutger Rosenborg was almost a Stanford neuroscientist before he formed Ed Ghost Tucker. He is currently on a national tour with the Lulls, and he makes music on his own when he's not writing. Follow his updates on Facebook or contact him directly. Update Oct. 28: San Diego Police told NBC 7 that the ShotSpotter program is coming on line. The time frame for the system to be installed and operational in the Skyline/Encanto area is not known at this time. The cost for the program is $235,000, with funds coming from the asset forfeiture program. The $300,000 request from SANDAG that was rejected by the U.S. Department of Justice was for supplemental support for the ShotSpotter system. The name says it all: the ShotSpotter. Its an acoustic surveillance technology that tracks gunshots, alerting police agencies where the shots came from using real time data 20 to 45 seconds after a gun is discharged and it will soon be used in San Diego. The Newark, California based companys technology is already in use across the state, including in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno and Oakland. The plan, according to records obtained from the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) would be to invest in ShotSpotter technology in an identified high-crime area. Update Oct. 13: SANDAG told NBC 7 late Friday that the grant for a possible ShotSpotter program has been rejected. NBC 7 is reaching out to the San Diego Police Department, seeking clarity on this development. According to the project description, the area targeted will be in various locations within the boundaries of the Encanto and Skyline-Paradise Hills Community Plan Areas. The technology uses acoustic sensors that are scattered (normally between 15-20 per square mile) to triangulate gunshot activity. The sensors sit above the ground, thirty to forty feet, in building rooftops, street lights, light poles and cell towers. In order to move forward with the project in San Diego, the San Diego Police Department had to apply for an environmental exemption. Click here to see the request for environmental exemption sent to the city. The SANDAG submitted a grant request to the United States Department of Justice for the technology. In the request SANDAG said violent crime has increased and law enforcement is struggling in some communities to deal with over 140 gangs and 6,617 documented gang members adding to this are an increasing number of ex-offenders returning from custody with little or no supervision...community members who are fearful and as a result, reluctant to cooperate with police. Its part of a plan to create a Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC), the SANDAG said. The goal is strengthen community ties by better understanding the nature of unreported shootings in the Encanto-Skyline area. The data created, the agency says, will support the CGIC efforts to identify, arrest, prosecute and convict violent crime repeat offenders. In Miami, the ShotSpotter program identified 8,280 bullets in its first year of operation in a high crime area, according to an article in the Miami Herald. It was found that in some corners of Miami gunshots are so commonplace no one calls the 9-1-1 operator making the only trace the high-tech gunfire detection system. Police in that Florida city say they use the information to track and respond to gun shots. Over ninety cities worldwide now use the system. In New York City, a WNBC report found the city was doubling down on their technology, expanding the area covered by the program. A report from the mayors office highlighted that in three out of every four shootings captured by ShotSpotter no witnesses picked up the phone to call 911. An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity brought into question the reliability of the technology. Reporter Matt Drange dug into thousands of alerts in cities across the country and according to the news organization a clear pattern emerged: lots of calls, few tangible results. In June NBC 7 Investigates requested information from all local police agencies about their plans to use of the ShotSpotter technology. At that time, most agencies responded to our California Open Records Request, saying they had not had any communications regarding the possible purchase or use of the technology. The El Cajon Police Department responded and said it had been in contact with the company. Click here to read the response from El Cajon PD. An 8-year-old has a long road to recovery after a car crashed into the restaurant he was eating at Wednesday night, sending him to the hospital with serious injuries. The crash happened Wednesday evening when a car crashed into a Panda Express restaurant, pinning Emilion between the car and a restaurant door frame. "I couldn't move, 'cause I was like, why is it going up?," Emilio Rissolo told NBC 7 San Diego, recalling the crash. "And I was thinking, so I just got hit." Emilio will spend a few days in the hospital after surgery on his leg. The accident left him with a huge, bone-deep gash, but thankfully nothing he can't overcome with physical therapy. Emilio had stopped at the Kearny Mesa Panda Express after gymnastics class at the local YMCA with his mom and brother. The family was throwing away their trash when the car jumped the curb and crashed through the double doors. "It was like, a half a second chance, to get scared," Emilio recalled. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long for qualified medical attention, because a trio of doctors and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) on their dinner break rushed over to help. The trio were able to stop the bleeding until an ambulence came. "He was surprisingly calm during the whole thing, but it was hearing his older brother wailing in terror of what happened," said his mom, Zoe Abrahams. The driver wasn't cited, according to police, and struggled with her emotions well after Emilio was rushed off to the hospital in an ambulance. The 8-year-old will spend at least one more night in the hospital before heading home. A man who illegally crossed the border into the United States from Mexico had to be rescued in the mountains early Thursday morning. The Imperial County Sheriffs Office (ICSO) received a distress call from a man claiming to be alone and lost in the mountains southwest of Octillo at around 3 a.m. The ICSO transferred the call to the U.S. Customs and Border Protections El Cento Sector dispatch and provided agents with GPS coordinates of the lost mans location. BORSTAR, the El Centro Sector Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue team, was immediately activated. The man was found shortly after in good health and required no medical attention. [DONT CHANGE MAIN HEADLINE] San Diego's Border Busts Agents identified the man as a 20-year-old Mexican national who was in the country illegally. BORSTAR transported the man to the El Centro Station for processing. This rescue is another reminder of the risks and dangers associated with illegally crossing into the United States, Assistant Chief Patrol Agent David S. Kim said. This lifesaving event can be attributed to the dedication and commitment of our agents who work tirelessly to protect and secure our borders. A trio of U.S. Navy ships will deploy from San Diego Friday with a combined 4,500 service members on board all bound for the western Pacific and Middle East. The vessels include amphibious assault ship, USS Makin Island, amphibious transport dock ship, USS Somerset, and amphibious dock landing ship, USS Comstock. USS Comstock was the first to deploy at 8 a.m. The two other ships will leave from Naval Base San Diego at 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Loved ones of the thousands of Marines and sailors aboard the ships gathered at Naval Base San Diego to say their goodbyes a very difficult day in the life of military families. "I'm so, so proud to be marrying such a selfless, incredible man, that he's willing to give up so much of his life for our country," one woman, whose fiance boarded one the ships, told NBC 7. "We are sad, but we are happy because we know that he's fighting for our country," another woman said of her loved one aboard one of the ships. 'He's the best; we are so proud -- all of us." The three ships are part of the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, on a mission to help with maritime security operations in the Middle East and to be there in case of a crisis situation. A U.S. Navy lieutenant commander has pleaded guilty to accepting cash, luxury hotels and prostitutes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis, "Fat Leonard," in exchange for proprietary Navy information, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Lt. Cmdr. Gentry Debord pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bribery Thursday before U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino. He was charged in the multi-million dollar Navy bribary case in May. NBC 7 has been following this investigation since September 2013. [GALLERY] Criminal Probe Alleges Secrets Swapped for Prostitutes, Travel Debord admitted he instructed Francis and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), to add charges for fake services into invoices sent to the U.S. Navy; those charges were used to mask the illegal gifts he received in turn. The fraud lasted from November 2007 to January 2013. According to his guilty plea, Debord used code language and fake email accounts to communicate with Francis and others involved in the fraudoften referring to prostitutes as "cheesecakes" and "bodyguards" to avoid being caught. In one instance, Debord asked for three hotel rooms, two cell phones, a van and $2,000 in Singaporean money from a GDMA executive during a port visit to Singapore. He then told the employee to inflate the charges billed to the U.S. Navy for potable water and trash removal service on a U.S. Navy ship. This conduct is a disgrace to the U.S. Navy and an affront to U.S. taxpayers who were left to foot the bill for parties and prostitutes. We are pressing forward in this investigation until we are certain that all involved have been held accountable, said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. Sixteen people have been charged during the investigation. In 2015, Francis pleaded guilty to bribing senior Navy officials in exchange for specific U.S. Navy warship movements so his company could overbill the Pentagon. Two former executives of his company were also charged for their involvement in the bribery scheme in September 2016. Earlier in the year, Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau pleaded guilty to one felony charge in the multi-million dollar bribery scheme. He became the highest-ranking U.S. Navy officer to be charged in the case. Former civilian Defense Department Officer Paul Simpkins also entered a guilty plea in a federal court in San Diego. Retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edmond A. Aruffo, U.S. Navy Capt. Daniel Dusek, U.S. Navy Capt. (Select) Michael Misiewicz, Lt. Cmdr. Todd Malaki, NCIS Special Agent John Beliveau, Cmdr. Jose Luis Sanchez and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dan Layug have also pleaded guilty. Layug, Malaki, Dusek and Misiwicz have been sentenced, while Gilbeau, Beliveau, Sanchez, Simpkins and Aruffo await sentencing. Retired Capt. Michael Brooks and Cmdr. Bobby Pitts were charged in May, along with Debord. Their cases are pending. Debord is scheduled to appear in court for his sentencing on Jan. 13, 2017. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. At least 15 people were killed late Thursday when a bomb-laden vehicle exploded in the northwestern Syrian province of Aleppo, according to initial reports, Anadolu reported. According to local security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns, dozens of people were also wounded in the explosion, and some of the injured were taken to hospitals in neighboring Turkey. The explosion hit Aleppos Azaz district, near the Turkish border. The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) will host a Veterans and Families Career Fair on Saturday, Nov. 19, in an effort to solve a teacher shortage by employing veterans. The event in San Diego will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 19, at Scripps Ranch High School, located on 10410 Treena St, 92131. Veterans with college degrees will be shown how to enter the classroom as a teacher with full credentials. Those who are not interested in teaching will be informed about other positions available, said an SDUSD official. On site interviews will be held at the fair for substitute clerical positions and substitute teachers, according to SDUSD. Attendees interested in working as classroom assistants can take the Classroom Assistant Proficiency Exam (CAPE), with the standard $7 fee waived. The staff will speak with veterans, and answer questions on the application and hiring process. With a lack of diverse candidates, the large urban school districts are facing a concerning amount of hiring obstacles. Besides teachers, there's a need for support staff jobs such as bus drivers, IT, diesel mechanics, instructional aides and food service positions, said an SDUSD official. On the other hand, many military members are being unexpectedly forced to leave the military due to federal budget cuts. An ever-growing number of military service members must leave voluntarily, and subsequently, struggle to find employment, said an SDUSD official. In the week after Veterans Day, 12 large school districts are collaborating across the nation, to bring veterans and their spouses to events that showcase all the employment opportunities in education. All participants are encouraged to register for the San Diego event online. The man once accused of stabbing a Lemon Grove man to death in Encanto will not be charged in connection with the crime, the San Diego County District Attorney's office announced Thursday. The 20-year-old suspect turned himself in to authorities Monday in connection with the homicide, San Diego Police said. However, the DA will not file criminal charges against the 20-year-old suspect. The man's attorney told NBC 7 spoke with investigators after his client was taken into custody and presented his case to the DA's office. The DA's office elected not to file murder charges, according to Vikas Bajaj, the suspect's attorney. Bajaj said he could not go into specifics because the case is still under investigation. The suspect is accused of stabbing 44-year-old Robert Acevedo of Lemon Grove. Officers found Acevedo early Sunday morning after a witness reported the stabbing to police. SDPD officers are not pursuing any further suspects in the case, SDPD Homicide Lt. Manny Del Toro said. The incident is under investigation. Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to call the San Diego Police Departments Homicide Unit or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. The Sweetwater Authority Board voted to reserve more than $8 million to fund an improvement project for the Sweetwater Dam. The action, taken at a Wednesday Board meeting, came weeks after David Gutierrez, Chief of the State of California Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD), gave a presentation at a September 28 board meeting highlighting unsafe features of the dam. During the presentation Gutierrez said that the dam may be unsafe under certain hydraulic conditions and that the DSOD could restrict the Sweetwater Reservoirs storage capacity if improvements were not made. Required improvements to the dam include adding anti-erosion walls and new concrete armored surfaces to the sides of the dam. In addition, the height of the South Dike, the structure that helps contain the water on the south side of the reservoir, will be elevated. Approval of project designs and an environmental review, which carry an estimated cost of $300,000, make up the first phase of the project. Construction is scheduled to begin during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The project is expected to be completed by December 2018. Three D.C. restaurants received two-star ratings in the District's first-ever Michelin Guide, released Thursday. The Michelin Guide recognizes the best restaurants and hotels in cities in 28 countries, giving top restaurants a rating of one to three stars. Jose Andres' Minibar (855 E St. NW), Aaron Silverman's Pineapples & Pearls (715 8th St. SE), and Patrick O'Connor's The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia were each awarded two stars. The chefs and restaurant owners took to Twitter Thursday to celebrate the honor. Michelin's International Director Michael Ellis said in a press release Thursday that Washington's culinary offerings have significantly developed over the past five years. These changes to D.C.'s restaurant scene "have made its local cuisine among the most dynamic in the world," the release reads. After Bon Appetit named D.C. its Restaurant City of the Year in August, receiving a Michelin Guide is the latest testament to what the city's culinary scene has to offer. "We've been looking at the D.C. area for quite a while now, and we noticed a real evolution, a real dynamic, going on in the cooking scene," Ellis told News4's Eun Yang on Wednesday. "We thought the timing was good, so we started last year, and we came up with what we think is a very good selection." Nine other restaurants received one star: Aaron Silverman's Rose's Luxury, Jeremiah Langhorne's The Dabney, The Blue Duck Tavern, Kinship, Plume, Tail Up Goat, Masseria, Fiola and Sushi Taro. Almost 80 percent of restaurants that appear in the guide did not receive a star rating, but that doesnt mean they aren't great, Ellis said Wednesday. "Just the fact that a restaurant is in the Michelin Guide is already a sign of very good food," he said. Anonymous inspectors rate restaurants on quality of ingredients, mastery of cooking technique, harmony and balance of flavors, regularity over time and throughout the menu and value for your money, Ellis said. The inspectors always pay their bills to ensure their independence, he added. Michelin also named 19 District restaurants to its Bib Gourmand list of high-quality but affordable options earlier this month. The full 2017 Washington Guide is available on the Michelin Restaurants U.S. app and in bookstores for $12.95. A tiny number could be the difference between saving or losing thousands of dollars for your childs college education. The News4 I-Team found fees tacked on to 529 plans -- government-run college savings programs -- can make a big difference in how much you can save. If you've got kids, you should have a 529 plan," according to Georgetown Universitys personal finance expert Dr. James Angel. "The tax breaks are too good to pass up." But even after D.C.s tax breaks, we found some parents living in the District might be able to save more money for college by investing in Maryland or Virginia even after they pay taxes. The example above shows comparable plans for a couple filing joint taxes in D.C. with children currently under the age of three. They could potentially save $3,000-$6,000 over the course of 15 years by choosing a plan in Maryland or Virginia instead of D.C., based on their income, filing status, tax breaks, and the respective plans' fees/expense ratios. Its because of the fees, called expense ratios, that are tacked onto each fund. "Investment managers don't work for free," Dr. Angel said. "Different money managers charge different fees for their services. Some funds are more expensive to manage. So if you get a plain vanilla index fund, those generally have the lowest fees. If you get funds that do more asset balancing as the child ages, those are more expensive to run, and they're going to have a higher fee." The News4 I-Team found more than half of D.C.s 529 choices come with fees in excess of one percent. They are definitely higher than the fees in the neighboring states of Virginia in Maryland," Dr. Angel noted. "If you're paying more than 0.5 percent or 0.6 percent, I'd be asking serious questions of, 'Am I getting services that are worth that much?'" In this example, we compare some of the highest fees/expense ratios for funds in each state, with potential future values calculated for a couple filing jointly in D.C. over the course of 15 years. The higher-fee D.C. option is projected to accumulate nearly $11,000 less than the higher-fee options in Maryland and Virginia. That is the critical question for District resident Phil Bye, who wants to know why D.C.s fees seem to be so high. "The thought of saving for three kids to go to college who are coming two years apart from each other -- it starts to give you the night sweats when you think about it that way," Bye told the I-Team. But after looking at the fees and consulting with their own financial adviser, Bye and his wife decided even without paying taxes, the D.C. plans didnt save them as much money as 529 plans they found in other states. "If they're charging five, six, seven, eight times more than someone else, then I better be getting five, six, seven, eight times more than everyone else, and that didn't seem to be the case," he said. This example shows the highest potential future values for a couple filing joint taxes in D.C, were they to start investing today by saving the maximum tax-free contribution or the next 15 years. The D.C. plan option is projected to save more than the Maryland option here, but the Virginia option which has the lowest expense ratio could still save the most. A spokesperson for D.C.'s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, which runs the District's 529 program, initially refused the I-Team's request for an on-camera interview, saying they're prohibited by the Securities and Exchanges Commission from speaking about the program. But when the I-Team sent him a long list of questions -- including "How much does the D.C. government take from each plan to administer it?" and "Why do some of D.C.s 529 plans have expense ratios so much higher than the surrounding jurisdictions?" -- the spokesman wrote back, When the D.C. Plan was initiated it had a smaller asset base than our neighboring states and a smaller pool can be more expensive." He also wrote, "We understand participants' concerns and we strive to make the plan as efficient as possible." The CFO's office said the city is also seeking a new 529 fund manager in hopes of offering "a lower overall cost structure" that "will be in a better position to compare the District plan to other states." Calvert Investments, the company currently managing the funds in D.C.'s 529 program, did not respond to the I-Teams request for comment . The good news, according to Angel, is that 529 plans are "incredibly flexible" -- and you're not limited to investing in your home state. The I-Team created a special 529 calculator that compares all of the funds in D.C., Maryland and Virginia - calculating any possible taxes you might have to pay by taking into account where you live, your marital status, how much you make and how old your child is -- to give you a customized, side-by-side comparison of each fund and how much you could potentially earn during before your child goes to college. But as Angel cautions, "A lot depends on what the market's going to do, and it's notoriously hard to predict." He held up a tiny crystal ball he keeps on his desk at Georgetown. "I ask, 'Crystal ball! What will the market do?' And I never seem to get a very good answer. All I know is, it will fluctuate." The D.C. man who admitted pretending to be a top aide to U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was sentenced to three months home confinement Thursday. Jarrett Lewis, an employee of a D.C.-based non-profit, pleaded guilty in July to a federal charge of impersonating a US government official. He faces up to three years in prison. Jarrett Lewis, who is of no relation to the congressman, admitted to using the yearlong scheme to obtain field passes from the Washington Redskins and special access at the famed Clevelander bar on South Beach in Miami. According to prosecutors, employees of the bar notified the office of Rep. John Lewis. The scheme was executed between 2014 and 2015, according to prosecutors. According to prosecutors' court filings, the bar tipped off Rep. Lewis about the scheme. They said he even created an email account to convince people he was the congressman's top aide. In a statement to the judge, Jarrett Lewis apologized, including to Rep. Lewis and his real chief of staff, Capitol Hill veteran Michael Collins. He also apologized to the NFL. Jarrett Lewis admitted listing the address of the Rep Lewis' Cannon House Office Building office suite when sending emails as part of the scheme. Jarrett Lewis was a student at Syracuse University before serving with a D.C.-based non-profit, according to testimony and court records. Police say a missing Montgomery County man with Alzheimer's was found safe in Prince George's County Friday morning. Richard Edwards Miller was last seen leaving his home in the 11400 block of Ledbury Way in Germantown at 7:50 p.m. Thursday. Investigators said he may have been driving to the 500 block of Wilson Bridge Drive in Oxon Hill or the VA Medical Center on Irving Street NW in Washington, D.C. He was found safe Friday morning in Prince George's County, Montgomery County police said. A man convicted of stabbing his 95-year-old neighbor last year likely will spend the rest of his life in prison. A Montgomery County judge sentenced 62-year-old Eric Dyson to 47-and-a-half years in prison. In May, a jury convicted Dyson of second-degree murder in the February 2015 death of Dan Belvin at the Randolph Village Apartments, a senior living facility in Colesville, Maryland, where they both lived. Prosecutors said Dyson killed Belvin for money, making multiple withdrawals totaling more than $5,000 from Belvin's bank accounts after the murder. Dyson was captured on store video surveillance using the cards, according to charging documents. He also had Belvin's identification, authorities said. Dyson claimed he performed sexual favors for the victim but stabbed him due to unwelcome sexual advances, police said. Witnesses said he used the money to fuel a drug binge, according to the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office. To stab a 95-year-old man over 50 times so you can get high is utterly unforgivable, but further still to besmirch a mans reputation by claiming he sexually abused you adds insult to injury, States Attorney John McCarthy said. Belvin was a World War II Navy pilot and Korean War veteran. Two special police officers who detained a man at an apartment complex in Southeast D.C. this winter will face no charges after the 27-year-old died, prosecutors said. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia determined there is insufficient evidence to pursue local charges or federal criminal civil rights charges against the two guards who held down Alonzo Smith. "After this review, the U.S. Attorneys Office concluded that the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Special Police Officers violated Mr. Smiths civil rights by using excessive force or that they possessed the requisite criminal intent at the time of the events," a statement from prosecutors issued Thursday said. Evidence showed that Smith, who reportedly was a teacher for students with special needs, died of a cardiac incident while under the influence of "an exceedingly high amount of cocaine," prosecutors said. Being restrained may have contributed to the medical problem, officials concluded. Two civil rights groups protested the determination outside the U.S. Attorney's Office on Thursday. Smith died after he was detained by two guards at the Marbury Plaza apartments on the 2300 block of Good Hope Road SE. Then-Police Chief Cathy Lanier said in December that 911 dispatchers received at least four calls just before 4 a.m. Nov. 1 about a person yelling. Two D.C. police officers arrived moments later and found the guards had restrained Smith, who then fell unconscious, Lanier said. The officers called an EMS crew, and Smith was rushed to a hospital, where he died. In an eight-minute-long video released in December, a guard can be heard telling the officers he believes Smith is on PCP. Smith lies on his back in a stairwell with no shirt or shoes. An officer steps outside and calls for help. "Security already has him in handcuffs. Adult male conscious and breathing," the officer says. When he returns to the stairwell, a security guard appears to have his knee pressed against Smith's back. Lanier said after a first police body-camera footage of the incident was released that neither officers nor security guards are trained to use their knees to hold down arrestees. The officers perform CPR on Smith for more than five minutes, cursing and begging him to breathe. One of the officers can be heard on the 8-minute video asking that handcuffs be taken off Smith. "When the [ambulance is] here, I don't want these f---ing handcuffs in their way," he says. News4s Mark Segraves speaks about D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowsers and Police Chief Cathy Laniers remarks on the death of Alonzo Smith. He died after he was detained by private security officers, police said. Smith was a Southeast D.C. resident and father of a 6-year-old boy, The Washington Post reported. He worked as a teacher at Accotink Academy Learning Center in Springfield, Virginia, which teaches students with special needs, the paper reported. Smith's mother, Beverly Smith, previously said she believed security guards were unjustified in hurting him. "Even if he did have cocaine in his system or any other drug in his system, it does not give them the right to beat my son to death," the late man's mother said. The roommate of the man suspected of shooting two police officers before being shot and killed by other officers Wednesday night in East Boston is speaking out about the moments leading up to the firefight. Diego, an necn employee who moved to Boston just four months ago, said he was sleeping in his room upstairs on Wednesday night when he heard his two roommates arguing. The suspect, 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa, was a sworn constable and former Army reservist. "The way he put it, he was trying to revolutionize the policing world," Diego said. Additionally, Diego recalls, Figueroa seemed to be racist against white people. "Race played a big part in Kirk's life. He would constantly talk down on 'white people,'" Diego said. "When he first moved in, he told me, 'Good thing you're Latino ... I would have a problem if you were a white guy.' He tells me, 'I refuse to have a white person sleeping over my head.'" What ended in chaos, with three people lying shot on the floor of his apartment, at first didn't seem like a major incident to Diego. "I woke up to them screaming and cursing," he told necn Investigates. "I didn't really think much of it." Eventually, he said, the screaming died down and he assumed the argument had ended. "Maybe 10 minutes later, I heard knocking on the front door. I opened my room door and police busted down the front door, guns drawn, saying, 'Hands up! Who are you? What are you doing here?'" Police said they responded to a 911 call just before 11 p.m. The caller said his roommate, later identified as Figueroa, was threatening him with a knife. Diego said he was taken outside in his underwear, barefoot, and had no idea what was going on. Two minutes later, the shooting started. Two officers had entered the home and were shot by Figueroa, who was then shot and killed by other officers. "It's hard to describe," Diego said. "It all kind of happened so fast. It took a while to sink in. I see they're lying on the floor. You hear all these gun shots, people screaming, 'Shots fired, shots fired.' The radio is going crazy. You see the helicopter. "It wasn't until later that I really noticed, I just heard my roommate die. To hear his screams, it's chilling." Diego told necn investigates that he believes his roommate "snapped" and might have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Figuero served as an Army reservist from 2003 to 2011 and told his roomates he had an extensive weapons collection. The two officers he allegedly shot Richard Cintolo and Matthew Morris remain in stable but critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital, but they are expetected to survive. Diego said he's still shaken by what happened, but is just grateful that no one else was killed. Turkish forces entered Iraq with Baghdad's consent, a senior State Department official said Thursday, Anadolu reported. The Turkish military began to train some of these forces on the ground at the invitation of the Iraqi government, according to the official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The official stressed that as long as Turkish forces continue to have the consent of Iraq's government their presence there is "fine". They need to be coordinated with the Iraqi government, he said. Turkey and Iraq have engaged in a war of words about the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq's Bashiqa. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi asked for the formation of a military base in Bashiqa. Erdogan told Abadi to "know his limits," reminding him that Turkeys military presence in Iraq was due to a demand made by Baghdad. The countries have summoned respective ambassadors for consultations. The spat "is not constructive", the U.S. official said as anti-Daesh forces prepare to oust the group from its Iraqi capital, Mosul. Turkey says its troops are going to be there to prevent any potential sectarian conflict in and around Mosul after the city is taken from Daesh. The operation could begin as soon as next week if preparations are completed. AAA Northeast and the State of Connecticut have struck a deal to continue serving non-members after the company announced that it would terminate services to residents who were not registered members. The company, which operates stores in New Haven and Fairfield counties, stopped serving non-members a few weeks ago because doing so took up too much time and too many resources. On Thursday, the governor's office announced that an agreement was made between the state and AAA Northeast. "We appreciate AAA Northeasts willingness to join us at the table and discuss how to continue to serve the best interest of Connecticut drivers. As a result of our recent discussion, AAA Northeast has committed to continuing to service to divers until the end of its current contract. The continuation of this working partnership between AAA and the DMV will benefit both AAA members and non-members alike. I look forward to our ongoing, future conversations regarding a longer-term arrangement," Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement. At the beginning of October, Connecticut DMV commissioner said AAA Northeast -who announced that it will no longer offer driver licensing services for non-members- was violating its contract with the state. According to a new release from the governors office, AAA Northeast has offered licensing services to all Connecticut residents since 2001, regardless of membership. Commissioner Michael Bzdyra said the contract, which was executed in 2011, states that AAA Northeast "may terminate this agreement upon 60 days written notice to the DMV contract representative." In a letter written to AAA Northeast, Bzdyra said the company failed to provide 60 days' notice prior to terminating these services. "This will serve as formal notification that you are in default of the contract and must take corrective action immediately," Bzdyra wrote in the letter. The DMV was requiring AAA Northeast to offer services to members and non-members before submitting a written termination notification 60 days before the effective date. Failure to take actions by Oct. 14 would have resulted in legal action as a result of AAA Northeast's breach of contract, the commissioner said. AAA Allied, which services Hartford, Middlesex, New London, Tolland and Windham counties, will continue to service all residents. The body of a man who opened fire on two police officers in East Boston has been removed from the crime scene as officials continue to investigate what led to the fatal exchange of gunfire. The officers were called late Wednesday night to an apartment in the East Boston neighborhood, where Kirk Figueroa, 33, was allegedly threatening his roommate with a knife, police Commissioner William Evans said. "His roommate met the officers out and clearly said that he was being attacked over an issue going on inside that apartment,'' Evans said. According to police, the roommates may have been fighting over the thermostat, but there likely were other issues. When the two officers entered the home they were shot by Figueroa, who was armed with a tactical shotgun and wearing body armor, police said. Figueroa was then shot and killed by other officers. "I don't know what was going through his mind,'' Evans said. "All I can tell you is he was a dangerous individual and our officers went in there unsuspecting of what took place.'' The injured officers were identified as Richard Cintolo, a 27-year veteran, and Matt Morris, a 12-year veteran. Both were listed in critical condition early Friday, but they are recovering, officials said. "Thank God they will be going home sometime soon,'' said Mayor Marty Walsh. Nine other officers were treated at a hospital for trauma, stress and minor injuries. Police officers, city officials and community members gathered Thursday night for a prayer vigil. The police captain who heads the East Boston district station choked back tears as he spoke of the heroism of the two wounded officers and their colleagues. An artery in Morris' leg was severed in the shooting, and his life was mostly likely saved by another officer who tied a tourniquet on it, Evans said. That officer had undergone training on how to properly tie a tourniquet just the week before. Evans said he spoke to Morris, who was aware that a fellow officer had saved his life. "He knows how close he was to death. His father knew how close he was to death'' Evans said. "I don't want to identify that officer at this time, but he clearly praised the officer who saved his life.'' Police towed Figueroa's car from outside his home Thursday morning. The vehicle was decorated with the name of a website called elitepolicing.org. On the site, a man who identifies himself as Kirk Figueroa says his company, Code Blue Protection Corp., provides police support, fugitive apprehension and extradition services, and armored car training. Figueroa, who was not licensed to have a gun in Massachusetts, described himself as a Boston constable, a former member of a U.S. Army Reserve military police unit, a bounty hunter in California and a former corrections officer. He also said he was trained in mixed martial arts. Constables are authorized to serve subpoenas and other legal documents in civil cases. An Army spokesman confirmed that Figueroa was in the Reserves but could not provide dates. California authorities said it could not immediately confirm whether he was a bounty hunter. Figueroa was shot and killed by several other officers who entered the home at the sound of gunfire. Diego, an necn employee and Figueroas roommate, told necn investigates that he believes his roommate "snapped" and might have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Figueroa served as an Army reservist from 2003 to 2011 and told his roommates he had an extensive weapons collection. Diego said he's still shaken by what happened, but is just grateful that no one else was killed. As is standard protocol following such events, the district attorney's office said there would be an investigation into the use of deadly force. Boarding a plane could soon become complicated for some in Maine. The federal government has alerted Maine's secretary of state that time is up to bring state ID cards and drivers licenses up to Homeland Security standards. If the state does not make changes to IDs by 2018, Maine residents will have to show an alternative form of identification, such as a passport, to board a commercial airplane. The 2005 Real ID Law changed several requirements for state IDs, including photographs that can run through facial recognition software. The law also requires the state to scan and collect documents such as birth certificates. In 2007, the Maine legislature decided against complying with the Real ID law. "We have some profound concerns about the cost and effectiveness, and how you would safe guard privacy," said Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap. Dunlap said it would cost Maine "millions" of dollars to make those changes to the ID cards. Passengers flying out of the Portland Jetport were surprised and frustrated to learn about the situation. "I think we should do the same as other states, and make it easy enough for the passengers," said Becky Marvil. "It's crazy," said Anne Adams. Passengers worried that they'd have to pay for a passport or not be able to fly come 2018. "I'm sure it's going to be a big inconvenience for a lot of people," said Gail Brassbridge. Maine is one of five states in the country out of Real ID law compliance. Over 500 Harvard University dining hall workers are protesting with pictures of their children in hopes of appealing to Harvard University President Drew Faust on October 14, 2016. Workers are protesting for a higher salary and against out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. The dining hall workers have been on strike since Oct. 5, requesting $35,000 a year and more affordable health insurance. Workers were unable to reach an agreement with Harvard administrators. They are looking to reach out to fellows as well as top officials. The rally will take place during Faust's speech at an alumni reunion. Demonstrators believe that Faust will be able to help the two parties come to an agreement that will benefit them and their families. Faust is ranked as the 33rd most powerful woman in the world and is Harvard University's first woman president. Students, faculty and alumni will join the dining hall workers during the protest. Protestors will gather for a 2 p.m. rally at Science Center Plaza in Cambridge, Mass. and march at 3 p.m. to Harvard Square. Prosecutors are preparing to bring murder charges against a driver accused of causing the crash that left five teenagers dead in Vermont. Meanwhile, a new fund is collecting donations for the families of the victims. Late Thursday afternoon, Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan announced the alleged wrong-way driver, Steven Bourgoin, 36, of Williston, would face five counts of second-degree murder for his role in the collision. High school juniors Eli Brookens of Waterbury, Liam Hale and Janie Cozzi of Fayston, and Mary Harris and Cyrus Zschau of Moretown died in the crash Saturday night. Police said the childhood friends were traveling south together on I-89 when Bourgoin was barreling north in the southbound lane toward them. The collision caused the teens' car to catch fire. They were pronounced dead at the scene. Bourgoin was injured, but his condition was upgraded to "good" Thursday morning, according to the University of Vermont Medical Center. It was not immediately known if Bourgoin has secured an attorney, but he will have his chance to answer to the accusations at the arraignment, which Donovan said was expected for Friday morning inside the hospital. Donovan said earlier this week that he was convinced Bourgoin's alleged wrong-way drive was an intentional act. More details related to the accusations are expected Friday. Meanwhile, thousands of dollars have been raised for the victims' families through a new memorial fund. "The response has been phenomenal," said Dana, the administrator of the Mad River Valley Community Fund. Dana asked to not show her face or use her last name in news reports, out of concern for the privacy of recipients she is often with, which may include victims of disasters, crimes, and financial hardships. Dana said financial support for the community fund's new "Five Families Fund" has flowed into Vermont from as far away as California, Florida, and Utah. The money will be shared with the Brookens, Hale, Cozzi, Harris, and Zschau families to cover immediate needs, such as funeral expenses, travel costs for out-of-state relatives, and accommodations for relatives. "It's just been a nationwide response," Dana said of the donations to the Five Families Fund. The Mad River Valley Community Fund is a more than 25-year-old charity that is registered in the state of Vermont. Dana said one reason the non-profit wanted to collect donations was to provide people a secure way to give, without fear of scams. "You can't replace a life," Dana said. "You can't. But we're hoping to make things easier for the families." For more information on the effort, visit this website. If there's leftover money, the Community Fund expects to establish scholarships at Harwood Union High School in the students' names, Dana noted. NBC 5 News contributed to this report. A New Hampshire judge once again is facing a case against women ticketed for going topless at a town beach, a case that led to a Facebook spat among legislators about a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for women to expose their nipples in public. Three women supporting the Free the Nipple Movement were cited by police for appearing topless at Weirs Beach in Laconia over Memorial Day weekend. The Laconia Sun reports the women filed a motion last week to dismiss the charges. Police say they violated an ordinance that prohibits women from going topless. The women said their constitutional rights were violated. A court hearing was scheduled Friday. The judge dismissed a similar case last year. An attempt by lawmakers to change a state law to prohibit the exposure of female nipples in public failed. Police in Lebanon, New Hampshire, say they have arrested a man after confiscating more than two pounds of marijuana, and a "significant" quantity of mushrooms. An investigation by the Lebanon Police led to the arrest of Matthew Clair, 33, of Lebanon. With the help of the New Hampshire Attorney Generals Drug Task Force and New Hampshire Probation and Parole, Clair was arrested on October 12. Police confiscated a large amount of money, mushrooms, and over two pounds of marijuana from Clair at the time of his arrest. Clair is facing multiple drug charges including possession with intent to sell. Personal recognizance bail was set at $5,000. He will appear in court on November 7. It's not clear if he has an attorney. Two Boston police officers who were shot and seriously wounded as they responded to a domestic disturbance call went through additional surgery Friday. Commissioner Evans visited MGH Saturday morning and said Officer Cintolo is recovering and is in good spirits. In statements posted on Twitter, police say Commissioner William Evans visited both officers at Massachusetts General Hospital on Friday morning. Evans reported that one of the officers was undergoing surgery and the other is awaiting surgery. Both officers also had surgery shortly after the shooting. "The outstanding staff at MGH continue to help our officers during this difficult time," Evans said in a statement posted on Twitter. "I can't thank them enough." He also thanked everyone for their continued prayers for the two officers. Both officers continue to be listed in critical but stable condition. They have been surrounded by family and fellow police officers as they recover from multiple gunshot wounds from Wednesday night's shootout in East Boston. Richard Cintolo, a 27-year veteran of Boston Police, and Matthew Morris, who has spent 12 years on the job, were critically injured in the shootout with Kirk Figueroa, 33, of East Boston, a bounty hunter who lived with two other roommates. Figueroa was then shot and killed by other officers. Police say Morris, who grew up in Dorchester, was shot in the leg. The bullet pierced his main artery and could have caused him to bleed out, but fellow officers saved his life by using a tourniquet to slow the bleeding. Cintolo comes from a family of officers who have served Boston. The Boston Police Department has been receiving countless messages of support from the public, especially District 7 where the injured officers worked. Nine other officers were treated for minor physical injuries and stress from the ordeal and have since been released. Fort Fairfield, Maine police are searching for a missing juvenile. Tyana McLaughlin, 16, was last seen leaving her residence in Fort Fairfield on October 13, 2016 around 4:30 p.m. McLaughlin's mother, Nicole Leseure briefly spoke to her that evening but was unable to make contact with her since then. Officers believe McLaughlin is still in the area, and possibly hiding in Washburn or Caribou. Anyone with possible information on her whereabouts is requested to contact the Fort Fairfield Police Department at 207-532-5400. A Clinton, Connecticut teenager who posted online videos of flying drones shooting a gun and a flamethrower in his backyard has been arrested, accused of enticing a minor and attempted sex assault. Austin Haughwout, 19, of Clinton, turned himself in to police at 5:45 a.m. Thursday on an outstanding warrant and has been charged with enticing a minor, fourth-degree attempted sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. The father of an 18-year-old boy who built a drone with a gun attached and posted video of it on YouTube with the title flying gun says they broke no laws. Read more here. Police said the warrant was issued after a lengthy investigation by police in Clinton, as well as other law enforcement agencies. Haughwout made headlines when he built a drone with a semi-automatic gun attached and posted a video of it on YouTube with the title "flying gun." The video showed a gun affixed to a drone discharging several times while hovering several feet off the ground in a wooded area. The teen's father said his son, an engineering student, custom-built the drone device with a gun that Haughwout owns. The FAA immediately launched an investigation, but at the time the device didn't appear to break any laws. However, the video sparked a national debate about the weaponziation of drones. In July, a federal judge ordered Haughwout and his father to testify under oath at depositions and hand over documents about the drones shown online. Haughwout is due in court for arraignment today. Haughwout also has several other pending cases and is due in court on Oct. 22. On June 29, 2016, he was arrested on child pornography and attempted sexual assault charges. In July 2015, he was charged with attacking police officers in the lobby of the Clinton Police Department. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an "emergency order" banning the Samsung Galaxy Note7 from air transportation, due to the device's habit of catching fire, Sputnik reported. "We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement released by the FAA, Department of Transportation (DOT), and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). "We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk." The ban also states that the Note7 "cannot be shipped as air cargo." The order will take effect on Saturday, October 15. On Tuesday, Samsung announced the suspension of sales of the smartphone and the full recall for any already sold, due to spontaneous fires that have been associated with the device. More than 90 claims made for vehicle damage, new figures reveal THE number of successful pothole claims in West Berkshire has drastically fallen in the last financial year, despite the total number of claims being put to the council remaining more or less the same. New figures reveal West Berkshire Council paid out for just one pothole compensation claim of 251 in 2015/16, well below the 2,098 paid in 2014/15 for seven successful claims. However the total number of claims put to the council has remained almost the same with 91 in 2015/16 and 90 claims made the year before. The figures mean that just three per cent of the claims put to the local authority in 2015/16 ended up being successful significantly below the national average of almost 27 per cent. The data also reveals that West Berkshire Council received more requests for compensation than any other local authority in Berkshire with Windsor and Maidenhead council receiving 41 claims, Bracknell Forest and Reading received 27 claims and 16 claims respectively, and Slough received just five compensation claims. Both Bracknell Forest and Reading Borough Council paid out for one successful claim each, while motorists in Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and Slough received no payouts. Wokingham Borough Council provided figures for the calendar year 2014 during which it received 39 claims with two of those successful. The figures, released by the RAC Foundation, place West Berkshire 61st for the number of total claims made out of 204 local authorities across the country. The council with the highest number of claims made against it was Hampshire (1,952), followed by Surrey (1,412) and Hertfordshire (1,369). Across the UK drivers made 31,483 claims against councils for vehicle damage caused by poor road conditions equating to a claim being submitted every seventeen minutes in 2015/16. A total of 1,559,232 was paid in compensation by councils. Director of the RAC Foundation, Steve Gooding, said: These figures are symptomatic of the inadequate funding available for local road maintenance. Year in, year out, the backlog of work on local roads is estimated to run to several billion pounds. A pitted road surface isnt just a problem for motorists for those on two wheels it can be life threatening. Just last week the Chancellor acknowledged that there had been decades of underfunding in the nations infrastructure and that he was keen to support targeted, value-for-money public investment. Providing the funds to fix our roads would be a great place to start and would show rapid results. By PTI BEIJING: Calls for boycott of Chinese goods in India following China's opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar have failed as sales of Chinese products in the country hit a record high during the festive season, official media here said today. "Diwali, one of the most important Hindu festivals and one of the biggest shopping seasons in India, is coming at theend of October, but encouragement to boycott Chinese goods has been spreading in the last few days on Indian social media, and even a few Indian politicians are exaggerating facts," an article in the state-run Global Times said. "However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian media's hysteric reports of a "doomsday" for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation," it said. "The boycott has not achieved success. Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ platforms," the article said. Referring to the boycott calls over China's technical hold on moves to bring about a ban on Azhar as well Beijing obstructing India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG), it said. "Chinese products are often the victim when regional situations get tense, and this phenomenon has been existing for quite a few years. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue," it said. "The bilateral trade relationship is one of the pillars of the Sino-Indian relationship. The trade volume was over USD 70 billion in 2015, and China's investment in India soared to around USD 870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014," it said. India has been expressing concern over the trade deficit which last year touched USD 46 billion. "To some extent, the economic relationship is the barometer of the political relationship. There shouldn't be huge fluctuation in terms of economic cooperation if the political relationship keeps steady between the two," it said. "For the dragon and elephant, enhancing economic ties would be a preferable way to promote the comprehensive bilateral relationship. The more economic cooperation exists, the more opportunities there will be for Chinese products to enter the Indian market. "India is a big potential market, and people using smartphones and doing online shopping has become the irreversible trend in the new era," it said. The commercial cooperation between these two countries could also be focused on e-commerce, service and financial investment. BEIJING: Calls for boycott of Chinese goods in India following China's opposition to a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar have failed as sales of Chinese products in the country hit a record high during the festive season, official media here said today. "Diwali, one of the most important Hindu festivals and one of the biggest shopping seasons in India, is coming at theend of October, but encouragement to boycott Chinese goods has been spreading in the last few days on Indian social media, and even a few Indian politicians are exaggerating facts," an article in the state-run Global Times said. "However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian media's hysteric reports of a "doomsday" for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation," it said. "The boycott has not achieved success. Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record. Amazingly, the Chinese mobile phone company Xiaomi sold half a million phones in just three days on the Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ platforms," the article said. Referring to the boycott calls over China's technical hold on moves to bring about a ban on Azhar as well Beijing obstructing India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG), it said. "Chinese products are often the victim when regional situations get tense, and this phenomenon has been existing for quite a few years. Now Chinese goods are on the stage again due to the Kashmir issue," it said. "The bilateral trade relationship is one of the pillars of the Sino-Indian relationship. The trade volume was over USD 70 billion in 2015, and China's investment in India soared to around USD 870 million in 2015, six times what it was in 2014," it said. India has been expressing concern over the trade deficit which last year touched USD 46 billion. "To some extent, the economic relationship is the barometer of the political relationship. There shouldn't be huge fluctuation in terms of economic cooperation if the political relationship keeps steady between the two," it said. "For the dragon and elephant, enhancing economic ties would be a preferable way to promote the comprehensive bilateral relationship. The more economic cooperation exists, the more opportunities there will be for Chinese products to enter the Indian market. "India is a big potential market, and people using smartphones and doing online shopping has become the irreversible trend in the new era," it said. The commercial cooperation between these two countries could also be focused on e-commerce, service and financial investment. By Express News Service CHENNAI: In the hope to inspire more people to donate their eyes, volunteers were requested to spend an afternoon blindfolded on Thursday. The sighted folk who were brave enough to participate in the one kilometre walk at Canal Bank Road in Adyar were led by the hand, ironically, by 200 visually challenged residents. The event was organised by The Project Vision, a Bengaluru-based NGO in collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind in Chennai to mark World Sight Day (Oct 13). And similar initiatives were held across 55 locations across the globe, including other countries like the US, Nepal, China and Sri Lanka. With one-third of the worlds visually challenged living in India (15 million), events like these are organised with the hope that it would sensitise the majority of us that often take our sight for granted. We wanted to give people an idea of what its like to not have their sight for an hour, said Alex Koshy, a volunteer with The Project Vision. Curious and philanthropic participants included corporates, school and college students and NCC cadets. And the vibe about this walk was far from pity seeking, with sighted individuals finding an opportunity to chat and share a laugh with visually challenged people of all age groups, walking in their shoes, if only for an hour. For the 500-plus volunteers who showed up, this was an eye opener with their eyes closed. Although when CE caught up with participants after the walk expecting adjectives like scary and disorienting oddly, it was quite the opposite. In the company of those who know their tread of the land without any light whatsoever, most said they felt quite secure being led by a blind friend. There was a security in placing my hand on a calm shoulder and knowing I wouldnt trip, said Vijay Raghavan (65). Although he admitted, I did get a bit unnerved when we chanced upon some uneven soil. CHENNAI: In the hope to inspire more people to donate their eyes, volunteers were requested to spend an afternoon blindfolded on Thursday. The sighted folk who were brave enough to participate in the one kilometre walk at Canal Bank Road in Adyar were led by the hand, ironically, by 200 visually challenged residents. The event was organised by The Project Vision, a Bengaluru-based NGO in collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind in Chennai to mark World Sight Day (Oct 13). And similar initiatives were held across 55 locations across the globe, including other countries like the US, Nepal, China and Sri Lanka. With one-third of the worlds visually challenged living in India (15 million), events like these are organised with the hope that it would sensitise the majority of us that often take our sight for granted. We wanted to give people an idea of what its like to not have their sight for an hour, said Alex Koshy, a volunteer with The Project Vision. Curious and philanthropic participants included corporates, school and college students and NCC cadets. And the vibe about this walk was far from pity seeking, with sighted individuals finding an opportunity to chat and share a laugh with visually challenged people of all age groups, walking in their shoes, if only for an hour. For the 500-plus volunteers who showed up, this was an eye opener with their eyes closed. Although when CE caught up with participants after the walk expecting adjectives like scary and disorienting oddly, it was quite the opposite. In the company of those who know their tread of the land without any light whatsoever, most said they felt quite secure being led by a blind friend. There was a security in placing my hand on a calm shoulder and knowing I wouldnt trip, said Vijay Raghavan (65). Although he admitted, I did get a bit unnerved when we chanced upon some uneven soil. Ankara hopes that Russia will soon grant Turkish citizens visa-free entry, Turkish Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci said Thursday, Sputnik reported. Russia reinstated visa regime with Turkey after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian frontline bomber near the Syrian border last November. The attack soured relations between Moscow and Ankara for months. They started improving after the Turkish president apologized in a letter in late June. "This issue is under consideration. I hope that we will soon be back to what we had before November 24, 2015," Tufenkci said. S Bachan Jeet Singh By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The pockmarked city roads are not only inconveniencing the commuters but have also claimed lives over the past few days. A 24-year-old Ch Chanakya Reddy, a software engineer, was rushing to his office on his bike on Sept 13 when he skidded near the Hitech city flyover while avoiding a pothole. He was run over by a speeding taxi. In another incident, S Kashyap (25) suffered grievous injuries when he fell from his motorcycle on the Greenlands flyover in front of Chief Ministers camp office. These two incidents clearly tell us about the pathetic conditions of potholed roads in the city and how driving on these roads are giving commuters a nightmare. The city roads, which were already in a bad shape due to poor maintenance by the engineering wing of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), were further damaged in the recent rains. A total of 1,78,973 metres length of road have been damaged across the city. Roads in 1,124 areas in the city were badly damaged. GHMC to take up repair works Facing flak from every side, the GHMC has finally decided to take up road repair works from Friday onwards. At least `100 crore is needed to rebuild the damaged roads in the city. For now, we are going to recarpet the roads up to a length of 180 km across the city. This would cost around `75 crore. From Friday onwards, the works will be carried out at a brisk pace. We have divided the total works into 486 packages, the GHMC officials said. However, the way the civic body is taking up temporary patchworks to fill the potholes seem to be of no use as Bituminious Tar (BT) is peeling off in no time. Hence, commuters on the city roads are demanding that roads be rebuilt, instead of taking up piecemeal approach. All roads in the city are filled with potholes. But, till date GHMC has not filled the potholes, M Shravan Kumar, a resident of SR Nagar said. Bad roads a result of poor governance Social Scientist C Ramachandraiah said pathetic roads in Hyderabad are a result of poor urban governance. Instead of strengthening the governance and providing adequate funds for developmental activities, state government is weakening the civic bodies by controlling the ULBs, he alleged. According to him, as the mayor has no say in GHMCs day-to-day activities, any developmental work has to get the consent of the CM or Urban Development minister KT Ram Rao. HYDERABAD: The pockmarked city roads are not only inconveniencing the commuters but have also claimed lives over the past few days. A 24-year-old Ch Chanakya Reddy, a software engineer, was rushing to his office on his bike on Sept 13 when he skidded near the Hitech city flyover while avoiding a pothole. He was run over by a speeding taxi. In another incident, S Kashyap (25) suffered grievous injuries when he fell from his motorcycle on the Greenlands flyover in front of Chief Ministers camp office. These two incidents clearly tell us about the pathetic conditions of potholed roads in the city and how driving on these roads are giving commuters a nightmare. The city roads, which were already in a bad shape due to poor maintenance by the engineering wing of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), were further damaged in the recent rains. A total of 1,78,973 metres length of road have been damaged across the city. Roads in 1,124 areas in the city were badly damaged. GHMC to take up repair works Facing flak from every side, the GHMC has finally decided to take up road repair works from Friday onwards. At least `100 crore is needed to rebuild the damaged roads in the city. For now, we are going to recarpet the roads up to a length of 180 km across the city. This would cost around `75 crore. From Friday onwards, the works will be carried out at a brisk pace. We have divided the total works into 486 packages, the GHMC officials said. However, the way the civic body is taking up temporary patchworks to fill the potholes seem to be of no use as Bituminious Tar (BT) is peeling off in no time. Hence, commuters on the city roads are demanding that roads be rebuilt, instead of taking up piecemeal approach. All roads in the city are filled with potholes. But, till date GHMC has not filled the potholes, M Shravan Kumar, a resident of SR Nagar said. Bad roads a result of poor governance Social Scientist C Ramachandraiah said pathetic roads in Hyderabad are a result of poor urban governance. Instead of strengthening the governance and providing adequate funds for developmental activities, state government is weakening the civic bodies by controlling the ULBs, he alleged. According to him, as the mayor has no say in GHMCs day-to-day activities, any developmental work has to get the consent of the CM or Urban Development minister KT Ram Rao. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The Aditya Housing Company, one of the company which has challenged the technical eligibility criteria and bid submission process under the Swiss Challenge method, on Thursday told the division bench of the High Court that the action of the Andhra Pradesh government to entrust the job to Singapore consortium is contrary to the provisions of law. In fact, the clause employment generation was not present in the tender documents prepared for the purpose of selecting a contractor for constructing the core area of Amaravati capital city, it pointed out. The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice U Durga Prasad Rao was dealing with an appeal filed jointly by the state government and the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) challenging the interim order of a single judge who stayed all further proceedings of the notification issued for development of start-up area of Amaravati city. The appellants sought to vacate stay on bidding process to develop start-up area under Swiss challenge method. Senior counsel D Prakash Reddy, appearing for the respondent Aditya Housing company, alleged that the government usurped the powers of statutory authority CRDA. There is no provision for penal clause to deal with the situation arising out of failure of Singapore consortium failing to attract investors who could general employment in the new capital city. In fact, the state has formulated the tender conditions with an intention to eliminate Indian companies from participating in the bidding to develop start-up area of Amaravati capital city under the Swiss challenge method. The state is bringing in new theories to suit its agenda from time to time, he said. Earlier, AP advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas told the bench that the government has intended to build the capital city through Swiss challenge method in order to ensure that a company which has proven credentials in building world class facilities on a foreign soil come forward to build the new capital city for AP state. Mere building ability is not sufficient, but the built-in-space should be allotted to foreign companies. Besides, they should bring in part of their operations to AP state. The bench posted the matter to Monday for further hearing. HYDERABAD: The Aditya Housing Company, one of the company which has challenged the technical eligibility criteria and bid submission process under the Swiss Challenge method, on Thursday told the division bench of the High Court that the action of the Andhra Pradesh government to entrust the job to Singapore consortium is contrary to the provisions of law. In fact, the clause employment generation was not present in the tender documents prepared for the purpose of selecting a contractor for constructing the core area of Amaravati capital city, it pointed out. The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice U Durga Prasad Rao was dealing with an appeal filed jointly by the state government and the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) challenging the interim order of a single judge who stayed all further proceedings of the notification issued for development of start-up area of Amaravati city. The appellants sought to vacate stay on bidding process to develop start-up area under Swiss challenge method. Senior counsel D Prakash Reddy, appearing for the respondent Aditya Housing company, alleged that the government usurped the powers of statutory authority CRDA. There is no provision for penal clause to deal with the situation arising out of failure of Singapore consortium failing to attract investors who could general employment in the new capital city. In fact, the state has formulated the tender conditions with an intention to eliminate Indian companies from participating in the bidding to develop start-up area of Amaravati capital city under the Swiss challenge method. The state is bringing in new theories to suit its agenda from time to time, he said. Earlier, AP advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas told the bench that the government has intended to build the capital city through Swiss challenge method in order to ensure that a company which has proven credentials in building world class facilities on a foreign soil come forward to build the new capital city for AP state. Mere building ability is not sufficient, but the built-in-space should be allotted to foreign companies. Besides, they should bring in part of their operations to AP state. The bench posted the matter to Monday for further hearing. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) has announced the commencement of flight operations by Mumbai-based low cost carrier GoAir from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here. GoAir started its daily flights from Hyderabad to Chennai on Wednesday. From October 23, GoAir will commence its daily flights from Hyderabad to Bengaluru and Kolkata. The airline plans to add significant capacity over the next few months from Hyderabad, a release by GHIAL said. With addition of GoAir, Hyderabad Airport will now be served by 10 domestic carriers connecting 33 domestic destinations while 15 foreign and four Indian carriers are connecting the city with 19 international destinations. HYDERABAD: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) has announced the commencement of flight operations by Mumbai-based low cost carrier GoAir from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here. GoAir started its daily flights from Hyderabad to Chennai on Wednesday. From October 23, GoAir will commence its daily flights from Hyderabad to Bengaluru and Kolkata. The airline plans to add significant capacity over the next few months from Hyderabad, a release by GHIAL said. With addition of GoAir, Hyderabad Airport will now be served by 10 domestic carriers connecting 33 domestic destinations while 15 foreign and four Indian carriers are connecting the city with 19 international destinations. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said he would oppose the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and send answers to the questionnaire circulated by the Union Law Commission soon. Speaking to media on Thursday, Owaisi said he would respect the decision taken by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), which decided to boycott the questionnaire. However, AIMIM, as a political party took a decision three days ago to send its view on the questionnaire, Owaisi said. I have been consistently and repeatedly saying that the UCC will not be good for a great nation like ours which has diversity and pluralism, which is the ethos of our country, Owaisi said. For example, can an agreement be reached on what should be the inheritance of Niksha and Dayabhaga? Can we take away the cultural rights of Nagaland and Mizoram? he asked. Owaisi further pointed out that the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) tax benefits could be extended to Muslims. Every community or caste has different cultures. So, Uniform Civil Code is not at all good for the nation, he said. Why is the government talking only about one directive principle and not talking about all the directive principles, he wondered. The government has failed to revive the economy. The industrial growth has been negative. These are the questions no one wants to ask. The government too is conveniently turning around the debate on Muslims, by centering it on reforms, Owaisi said and added that MIM would submit its views soon. HYDERABAD: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said he would oppose the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and send answers to the questionnaire circulated by the Union Law Commission soon. Speaking to media on Thursday, Owaisi said he would respect the decision taken by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), which decided to boycott the questionnaire. However, AIMIM, as a political party took a decision three days ago to send its view on the questionnaire, Owaisi said. I have been consistently and repeatedly saying that the UCC will not be good for a great nation like ours which has diversity and pluralism, which is the ethos of our country, Owaisi said. For example, can an agreement be reached on what should be the inheritance of Niksha and Dayabhaga? Can we take away the cultural rights of Nagaland and Mizoram? he asked. Owaisi further pointed out that the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) tax benefits could be extended to Muslims. Every community or caste has different cultures. So, Uniform Civil Code is not at all good for the nation, he said. Why is the government talking only about one directive principle and not talking about all the directive principles, he wondered. The government has failed to revive the economy. The industrial growth has been negative. These are the questions no one wants to ask. The government too is conveniently turning around the debate on Muslims, by centering it on reforms, Owaisi said and added that MIM would submit its views soon. By Express News Service KOCHI: The Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) has been appointed as referral hospital for the citizens of Madagascar, the island nation off the south-east coast of Africa with a population of about 2.2 crore. An agreement to this effect was signed by the hospital with the Medical Council of Madagascar (MCM). Under the collaboration, patients from Madagascar will be sent to the AIMS for advanced treatments and surgeries. The pact also involves a student-exchange programme, under which medical students from the island nation will be imparted advanced training in complex surgeries and procedures at Amrita. MCM vice-president Dr Nadia Estelle, MCM advisor Dr Hery Rakotovao and Special Advisor to the Government of Madagascar Robin Varghese visited the AIMS to sign the agreement. Two months ago, a delegation from the AIMS had visited Madagascar to meet office-bearers of the MCM and the government for a detailed discussion. KOCHI: The Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) has been appointed as referral hospital for the citizens of Madagascar, the island nation off the south-east coast of Africa with a population of about 2.2 crore. An agreement to this effect was signed by the hospital with the Medical Council of Madagascar (MCM). Under the collaboration, patients from Madagascar will be sent to the AIMS for advanced treatments and surgeries. The pact also involves a student-exchange programme, under which medical students from the island nation will be imparted advanced training in complex surgeries and procedures at Amrita. MCM vice-president Dr Nadia Estelle, MCM advisor Dr Hery Rakotovao and Special Advisor to the Government of Madagascar Robin Varghese visited the AIMS to sign the agreement. Two months ago, a delegation from the AIMS had visited Madagascar to meet office-bearers of the MCM and the government for a detailed discussion. By Express News Service KOLKATA: Shalishi Sabha or Bengal's Khap panchayat strikes again, this time in capital metropolis Kolkata, that too in a community club. The accused are allegedly Trinamool workers. A few days after a Shalishi Sabha ordered 108 lashes and cutting of a woman's hair in a Murshidabad village accusing her of adultery, a Shalishi Sabha convened in a community club in Ultadanga area of Kolkata allegedly beat up a woman in front of her kin. According to sources, victim Anita Singha and her sister-in-law Anu Singha were called in a club in Gorapada Sarkar Lane in Ultadanga and Anita Singha was allegedly beaten up by outsider women on Wednesday in a way of 'solving' a dispute. The prime accused Toton and Basu Dutta have been absconding since the past two days. However, Ultadanga Police says the feud was a 'family matter' in which outsiders intervened. "Cases under Sections 323, 341, 506 and 114 of IPC have been booked. Both sides have been absconding since the incident happened. Investigation is underway," Ultadanga police station in-charge told Express. Distancing Trinamool Congress from the incident, Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee said the accused would be removed from the party. KOLKATA: Shalishi Sabha or Bengal's Khap panchayat strikes again, this time in capital metropolis Kolkata, that too in a community club. The accused are allegedly Trinamool workers. A few days after a Shalishi Sabha ordered 108 lashes and cutting of a woman's hair in a Murshidabad village accusing her of adultery, a Shalishi Sabha convened in a community club in Ultadanga area of Kolkata allegedly beat up a woman in front of her kin. According to sources, victim Anita Singha and her sister-in-law Anu Singha were called in a club in Gorapada Sarkar Lane in Ultadanga and Anita Singha was allegedly beaten up by outsider women on Wednesday in a way of 'solving' a dispute. The prime accused Toton and Basu Dutta have been absconding since the past two days. However, Ultadanga Police says the feud was a 'family matter' in which outsiders intervened. "Cases under Sections 323, 341, 506 and 114 of IPC have been booked. Both sides have been absconding since the incident happened. Investigation is underway," Ultadanga police station in-charge told Express. Distancing Trinamool Congress from the incident, Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee said the accused would be removed from the party. By Associated Press NEW YORK: Drake earned a record-breaking 13 American Music Awards nominations on Monday thanks to his latest album, "Views," shattering Michael's Jackson's mark of 11 nominations in a single year from 1984 when the King of Pop had "Thriller." Rihanna got seven nominations and Adele and Justin Bieber tied with five each. Beyonce and The Chainsmokers each received four nominations. Bryson Tiller, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood, Fetty Wap and The Weeknd earned three nominations each. Nominees for artist of the year are Adele, Beyonce, Bieber, Drake, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood and The Weeknd. The 10 nominees will be cut in half by Nov. 14 based on fan votes. Voting on artist of the year will close Nov. 17. Nominees for the title of new artist of the year are Alessia Cara, The Chainsmokers, DNCE, Shawn Mendes and Zayn. There is no overall song of the year category this year; instead honors will be handed out for best song in the categories of pop/rock, country, rap/hip-hop and soul/R&B. Nominations are based on a metric that includes sales, airplay and social activity tracked by Billboard magazine and its partners. Winners are determined by fan votes on the show's website or through Facebook and Twitter. Last year, One Direction won artist of the year honors, Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" was crowned song of the year and Sam Hunt was named best new artist. The awards show will air live Nov. 20 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on ABC. NEW YORK: Drake earned a record-breaking 13 American Music Awards nominations on Monday thanks to his latest album, "Views," shattering Michael's Jackson's mark of 11 nominations in a single year from 1984 when the King of Pop had "Thriller." Rihanna got seven nominations and Adele and Justin Bieber tied with five each. Beyonce and The Chainsmokers each received four nominations. Bryson Tiller, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood, Fetty Wap and The Weeknd earned three nominations each. Nominees for artist of the year are Adele, Beyonce, Bieber, Drake, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood and The Weeknd. The 10 nominees will be cut in half by Nov. 14 based on fan votes. Voting on artist of the year will close Nov. 17. Nominees for the title of new artist of the year are Alessia Cara, The Chainsmokers, DNCE, Shawn Mendes and Zayn. There is no overall song of the year category this year; instead honors will be handed out for best song in the categories of pop/rock, country, rap/hip-hop and soul/R&B. Nominations are based on a metric that includes sales, airplay and social activity tracked by Billboard magazine and its partners. Winners are determined by fan votes on the show's website or through Facebook and Twitter. Last year, One Direction won artist of the year honors, Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" was crowned song of the year and Sam Hunt was named best new artist. The awards show will air live Nov. 20 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on ABC. Daniel Thimmayya By Express News Service Movie: The Accountant Director: Gavin O'Connor Cast: Ben Affleck, J K Simmons, Anna Kendrick Rating: The Accountant is one of those films that you'll absolutely love parts of and totally hate the rest. In fact, the more I think about, it feels like there were two distinct movies joined at the hip with a hint of dark comedy. Melancholy, is the word that sums it up best. The story starts off promisingly enough. Strong characters are introduced in bursts and spurts and really set up this sense of anticipation in you that great things are to to come when their paths cross. Ben Affleck is an autistic kid. A maths genius who is afraid of touch, light or loud sounds, his military dad puts him and his brother through a weird brand of tough love - the kind that involves having martial arts masters plastering them all over the backyard in Jakarta and having them beat bullies to a pulp in the back alleys of France. He eventually grows up to be an ace accountant who crunches numbers for the world's biggest criminals and shoots pumpkins with an anti-aircraft rounds out of a sniper gun. Understandably, he's socially awkward. Autism does that to you. J K Simmons plays a wizened old Treasury Department Director who wants to find 'The Accountant' before he retires and asks his badass analyst Cynthia Addai Robinson to get the job done. Joe Bernthal is this slick mercenary-style assassin who kills people practically all the time without ever worrying the cops, feds or spooks. Anna Kendrick works as an accounting exec who detects a shortfall in the robotics firm she's working at. That's the good part. Here's where it all goes wrong. Using all of these characters in a screenplay that careens between flashes from the past and violent action scenes in the present, Gavin O'Connor seems to have gotten quite a few sums wrong while making this film. Not only does it get dreary and boring when each character has this protracted back story, there are times when the dialogue gets so mundane and tedious that you're hoping that Ben Affleck's violent, killer mode gets switched on again. At least, there are some bad jokes to laugh at in there. Ben Affleck turns in a stoic performance as a troubled autistic savant, brilliant when he's trying to grapple with normal human emotions like love, care, kinship, fear and intrinsically silly when he transforms into the 2016 equivalent of Van Damme's Universal Soldier. Maybe, just maybe, if we'd gotten to see more of the former and less of the latter, The Accountant would have been a clear home run. It's never a bad idea to tie all your storylines, but you know that someone's short of ideas when adversaries end up being brothers and the girl gets the one thing the reclusive hero treasured in the world. And when a woman in a home for the mentally ill, who cannot coordinate her movements long enough to walk straight, and stopped talking 30 years ago, uses a computer to turn into a super-spy's secretary, sexy voice and all. Now that's the pits. Not even Pam Anderson's VIP hit those depths. Verdict: If you like black comedy, hang in there, play with your phone during the action scenes, and laugh when appropriate. If you liked Commando, strap in and tide through the long dialogue-ridden scenes. Death by pummelling is coming Movie: The Accountant Director: Gavin O'Connor Cast: Ben Affleck, J K Simmons, Anna Kendrick Rating: The Accountant is one of those films that you'll absolutely love parts of and totally hate the rest. In fact, the more I think about, it feels like there were two distinct movies joined at the hip with a hint of dark comedy. Melancholy, is the word that sums it up best. The story starts off promisingly enough. Strong characters are introduced in bursts and spurts and really set up this sense of anticipation in you that great things are to to come when their paths cross. Ben Affleck is an autistic kid. A maths genius who is afraid of touch, light or loud sounds, his military dad puts him and his brother through a weird brand of tough love - the kind that involves having martial arts masters plastering them all over the backyard in Jakarta and having them beat bullies to a pulp in the back alleys of France. He eventually grows up to be an ace accountant who crunches numbers for the world's biggest criminals and shoots pumpkins with an anti-aircraft rounds out of a sniper gun. Understandably, he's socially awkward. Autism does that to you. J K Simmons plays a wizened old Treasury Department Director who wants to find 'The Accountant' before he retires and asks his badass analyst Cynthia Addai Robinson to get the job done. Joe Bernthal is this slick mercenary-style assassin who kills people practically all the time without ever worrying the cops, feds or spooks. Anna Kendrick works as an accounting exec who detects a shortfall in the robotics firm she's working at. That's the good part. Here's where it all goes wrong. Using all of these characters in a screenplay that careens between flashes from the past and violent action scenes in the present, Gavin O'Connor seems to have gotten quite a few sums wrong while making this film. Not only does it get dreary and boring when each character has this protracted back story, there are times when the dialogue gets so mundane and tedious that you're hoping that Ben Affleck's violent, killer mode gets switched on again. At least, there are some bad jokes to laugh at in there. Ben Affleck turns in a stoic performance as a troubled autistic savant, brilliant when he's trying to grapple with normal human emotions like love, care, kinship, fear and intrinsically silly when he transforms into the 2016 equivalent of Van Damme's Universal Soldier. Maybe, just maybe, if we'd gotten to see more of the former and less of the latter, The Accountant would have been a clear home run. It's never a bad idea to tie all your storylines, but you know that someone's short of ideas when adversaries end up being brothers and the girl gets the one thing the reclusive hero treasured in the world. And when a woman in a home for the mentally ill, who cannot coordinate her movements long enough to walk straight, and stopped talking 30 years ago, uses a computer to turn into a super-spy's secretary, sexy voice and all. Now that's the pits. Not even Pam Anderson's VIP hit those depths. Verdict: If you like black comedy, hang in there, play with your phone during the action scenes, and laugh when appropriate. If you liked Commando, strap in and tide through the long dialogue-ridden scenes. Death by pummelling is coming By Express News Service NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of Russia holding an unprecedented joint military drill with Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Vladimir Putin to take stock of Indo-Russian bilateral ties ahead of the BRICS Summit. President Putin will reach Goa on October 14th where he will participate in the 17th India-Russia Annual Summit with Prime Minister Modi. These are interesting times, with Russia recalibrating its strategic relations with the two nuclear armed neighbours in the Indian subcontinent. The rebalancing has followed New Delhis growing proximity with Washington to diversify its weapons and military suppliers. In such times the former Cold War rivals - Russia and Pakistan - held the wargames very aptly codenamed Friendship-2016. For India the only saving grace was that the exercise did not take place in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as planned. Later on Moscow did condemned the Uri Attack on an Army Cantonment and exhorted Islamabad to do more to contain terrorism emanating from its territory. At the bilateral 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, a Ministry of External Affairs statement said. Despite India looking at arm suppliers from other countries many deals with its arch-patron Russia are also on the negotiation table. Some of the most important defence deals are purchase of 5 S-400 Triumf long-range air defence missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and upgradation of the Sukhoi 30-MKIs. Another project under focus would be the long pending joint development of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). India is also keen to lease another Akula-class nuclear submarine from Russia. The two leaders are expected to discuss the current situation in the Middle East, as India is likely to propose a BRICS fund for the reconstruction of war-ravaged Syria at the BRICS Summit in Goa to be held on October 15-16. The proposal is significant as Russia has been playing an active role in the conflict by fighting on the side of the Syrian President Bashar-al Assad and Indian position has also been perched in favour of the incumbent Syrian establishment as it has been advocating against foreign intervention in the country. Other BRICS member countries do not have immediate stake in the Syrian conflict and; India and Russia would want to coordinate with each other on this. It was in August that India in a major outreach to the conflict-ridden country, sent Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar to meet President Assad. The objective position of India was not lost on President Assad, who asked New Delhi to play a greater role in the reconstruction of the war-torn country. NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of Russia holding an unprecedented joint military drill with Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Vladimir Putin to take stock of Indo-Russian bilateral ties ahead of the BRICS Summit. President Putin will reach Goa on October 14th where he will participate in the 17th India-Russia Annual Summit with Prime Minister Modi. These are interesting times, with Russia recalibrating its strategic relations with the two nuclear armed neighbours in the Indian subcontinent. The rebalancing has followed New Delhis growing proximity with Washington to diversify its weapons and military suppliers. In such times the former Cold War rivals - Russia and Pakistan - held the wargames very aptly codenamed Friendship-2016. For India the only saving grace was that the exercise did not take place in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as planned. Later on Moscow did condemned the Uri Attack on an Army Cantonment and exhorted Islamabad to do more to contain terrorism emanating from its territory. At the bilateral 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, a Ministry of External Affairs statement said. Despite India looking at arm suppliers from other countries many deals with its arch-patron Russia are also on the negotiation table. Some of the most important defence deals are purchase of 5 S-400 Triumf long-range air defence missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and upgradation of the Sukhoi 30-MKIs. Another project under focus would be the long pending joint development of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). India is also keen to lease another Akula-class nuclear submarine from Russia. The two leaders are expected to discuss the current situation in the Middle East, as India is likely to propose a BRICS fund for the reconstruction of war-ravaged Syria at the BRICS Summit in Goa to be held on October 15-16. The proposal is significant as Russia has been playing an active role in the conflict by fighting on the side of the Syrian President Bashar-al Assad and Indian position has also been perched in favour of the incumbent Syrian establishment as it has been advocating against foreign intervention in the country. Other BRICS member countries do not have immediate stake in the Syrian conflict and; India and Russia would want to coordinate with each other on this. It was in August that India in a major outreach to the conflict-ridden country, sent Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar to meet President Assad. The objective position of India was not lost on President Assad, who asked New Delhi to play a greater role in the reconstruction of the war-torn country. By PTI NEW DELHI: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code and decided to boycott it. This came days after the union government told the Supreme Court that Triple Talaq, Nikaah Halaal and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices. "Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," said AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rehmani. "It is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practice their culture and religion," he told the media. "Uniform Civil Code is not good for this nation. There're so many cultures in this nation and they have to be respected." Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) president Maulana Arshad Madni, who was at the briefing, said: "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it. "Modiji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added. NEW DELHI: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday rejected the Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code and decided to boycott it. This came days after the union government told the Supreme Court that Triple Talaq, Nikaah Halaal and polygamy were not integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices. "Uniform Civil Code is divisive and will lead to social unrest," said AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rehmani. "It is against the spirit of the Constitution, which safeguards the right of citizens to practice their culture and religion," he told the media. "Uniform Civil Code is not good for this nation. There're so many cultures in this nation and they have to be respected." Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) president Maulana Arshad Madni, who was at the briefing, said: "The Muslim Personal Law is based on Quran and Hadith and we cannot alter it. "Modiji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) wants to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy," he added. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.14 By Orkhan Guluzade Trend: Nobody was injured as a result of a rocket attack on Turkeys Kemer-Antalya highway, not far from local fishing companies, Haberturk newspaper reported Oct. 14. Reportedly, three rockets were fired by the unidentified people from the mountains in the direction of the sea. The rockets hit buildings of a local fish-processing company. Highway traffic is blocked. Police have cordoned off the area, rescue teams and emergency medical services have been sent to the scene. Other details of the accident are not disclosed. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistani troops along the frontiers and over three month long unrest in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmirs former chief Minister Farooq Abdullah convened meeting of the opposition parties, here Friday to discuss the prevailing alarming situation and called for resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue and talks between central government and separatists. The meeting of opposition parties was convened by National Conference president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at his residence at Gupkar, here. It was attended by a delegation of J&K Congress leaders led by State president Ghulam Ahmed Mir, senior NC leaders, CP(M) legislator Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, Chairman Peoples Democratic Front Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen and President Democratic Party Nationalist Ghulam Hassan Mir. War between India and Pakistan was not an option to solve any issue, Abdullah told reporters after the meeting. He said India and Pakistan should resume the dialogue process to resolve the Kashmir issue. Terming the prevailing situation in State as alarming, Abdullah said sooner the dialogue process is started to resolve the Kashmir issue, the better it would be for the State and the entire sub-continent. The former Chief Minister also stressed on central government to start dialogue with the separatists. Since the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the need for dialogue to find a lasting solution to the political issue, it is imperative that the Central Government to initiate talks with stakeholders including separatists within the State to resolve the Kashmir Issue, Abdullah said. He said the PDP-BJP alliance in its Agenda of the Alliance has promised a dialogue between New Delhi and stakeholders of different opinions and they cannot escape their responsibility to initiate a political process. Abdullah also demanded that J&K government should release detained separatist leaders and facilitate a meaningful and credible political dialogue between Hurriyat Conference and the Central Government. He said for any political process to start, it was a must that all political prisoners including Hurriyat leaders and civilians are released from jails. The State government has launched massive crackdown on separatists and youth after eruption of unrest in the Valley on July 9 to end to unrest and restore normalcy. Over 7000 people including separatist leaders and youth have been arrested and more than 400 of them booked under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). Abdullah, who has been three-time Chief Minister of the State, sought ban on pellet guns and demanded probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into the civilian killings in Kashmir during the ongoing uprising. At least 89 civilians and two policemen have been killed in the over three month long unrest in the Valley. Over 12,000 people have been injured in the security forces action on protestors during protests in Valley in last 97 days. Most of the injured have been hit by pellets. Abdullah asked the PDP-BJP coalition government in State to convene a special Assembly session to discuss the prevailing unrest in the Valley. I appeal the government to think over it, he said. When asked whether legislators should resign as government was not listening to them, Abdullah said, The resignation by legislators or political leaders was not the solution to come out of the prevailing unrest in Kashmir. The solution lies in fighting and finding the way through. SRINAGAR: Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistani troops along the frontiers and over three month long unrest in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmirs former chief Minister Farooq Abdullah convened meeting of the opposition parties, here Friday to discuss the prevailing alarming situation and called for resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue and talks between central government and separatists. The meeting of opposition parties was convened by National Conference president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at his residence at Gupkar, here. It was attended by a delegation of J&K Congress leaders led by State president Ghulam Ahmed Mir, senior NC leaders, CP(M) legislator Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, Chairman Peoples Democratic Front Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen and President Democratic Party Nationalist Ghulam Hassan Mir. War between India and Pakistan was not an option to solve any issue, Abdullah told reporters after the meeting. He said India and Pakistan should resume the dialogue process to resolve the Kashmir issue. Terming the prevailing situation in State as alarming, Abdullah said sooner the dialogue process is started to resolve the Kashmir issue, the better it would be for the State and the entire sub-continent. The former Chief Minister also stressed on central government to start dialogue with the separatists. Since the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the need for dialogue to find a lasting solution to the political issue, it is imperative that the Central Government to initiate talks with stakeholders including separatists within the State to resolve the Kashmir Issue, Abdullah said. He said the PDP-BJP alliance in its Agenda of the Alliance has promised a dialogue between New Delhi and stakeholders of different opinions and they cannot escape their responsibility to initiate a political process. Abdullah also demanded that J&K government should release detained separatist leaders and facilitate a meaningful and credible political dialogue between Hurriyat Conference and the Central Government. He said for any political process to start, it was a must that all political prisoners including Hurriyat leaders and civilians are released from jails. The State government has launched massive crackdown on separatists and youth after eruption of unrest in the Valley on July 9 to end to unrest and restore normalcy. Over 7000 people including separatist leaders and youth have been arrested and more than 400 of them booked under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). Abdullah, who has been three-time Chief Minister of the State, sought ban on pellet guns and demanded probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into the civilian killings in Kashmir during the ongoing uprising. At least 89 civilians and two policemen have been killed in the over three month long unrest in the Valley. Over 12,000 people have been injured in the security forces action on protestors during protests in Valley in last 97 days. Most of the injured have been hit by pellets. Abdullah asked the PDP-BJP coalition government in State to convene a special Assembly session to discuss the prevailing unrest in the Valley. I appeal the government to think over it, he said. When asked whether legislators should resign as government was not listening to them, Abdullah said, The resignation by legislators or political leaders was not the solution to come out of the prevailing unrest in Kashmir. The solution lies in fighting and finding the way through. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Even as India is contemplating to bring a proposal at the upcoming BRICS summit for reconstruction of the war-ravaged Syria, dignitaries from the five major economies have appealed to the Heads of the five major economies congregating in Goa to call for probe into war crimes committed in the West Asian country. Nineteen dignitaries from the five BRICS member countries, including Dr. Shashi Tharoor, former Ambassador to Iran KC Singh have written an open letter to the BRICS leaders Brazils President Michel Temer, Russias President Vladimir Putin, Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinas President Xi Jinping and South Africas Jacob Zuma. We call upon the BRICS leadership to unreservedly condemn all unlawful attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure, humanitarian convoys and personnel. The credibility of this condemnation will rest upon accompanying demands for accountability and justice. We therefore call upon the BRICS leadership to fully endorse the UN Secretary General's decision to investigate the recent attacks, the letter said while exhorting the leaders to work towards getting the perpetrators to justice under international law. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)[2], 373 attacks on 265 medical facilities have taken place since the adoption of Security Council resolution 2139 which demanded an immediate cessation of all attacks against civilians in February 2014. A consensus on the issues is seems unlikely to be arrived at the BRICS Summit. After maintaining studied silence on the conflict that has been raging in Syria since 2011, India has taken a position alongside incumbent Syrian President Bashar-al Assad as it sent Minister of State MJ Akbar as emissary to the country in August. President Assad while appreciating Indias objective position in the conflict had called upon New Delhi to play a more active role in the countrys reconstruction. India has been against a foreign intervention to depose President Assad, a position that is aligned to Russias interests in the region. Last year when the five countries established the New Development Bank, it showed willingness to pool together resources to provide reconstruction aid to Syria and other war-torn countries across the world. However, a proposal to pass at the BRICS summit would need support from all the member countries. NEW DELHI: Even as India is contemplating to bring a proposal at the upcoming BRICS summit for reconstruction of the war-ravaged Syria, dignitaries from the five major economies have appealed to the Heads of the five major economies congregating in Goa to call for probe into war crimes committed in the West Asian country. Nineteen dignitaries from the five BRICS member countries, including Dr. Shashi Tharoor, former Ambassador to Iran KC Singh have written an open letter to the BRICS leaders Brazils President Michel Temer, Russias President Vladimir Putin, Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinas President Xi Jinping and South Africas Jacob Zuma. We call upon the BRICS leadership to unreservedly condemn all unlawful attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure, humanitarian convoys and personnel. The credibility of this condemnation will rest upon accompanying demands for accountability and justice. We therefore call upon the BRICS leadership to fully endorse the UN Secretary General's decision to investigate the recent attacks, the letter said while exhorting the leaders to work towards getting the perpetrators to justice under international law. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)[2], 373 attacks on 265 medical facilities have taken place since the adoption of Security Council resolution 2139 which demanded an immediate cessation of all attacks against civilians in February 2014. A consensus on the issues is seems unlikely to be arrived at the BRICS Summit. After maintaining studied silence on the conflict that has been raging in Syria since 2011, India has taken a position alongside incumbent Syrian President Bashar-al Assad as it sent Minister of State MJ Akbar as emissary to the country in August. President Assad while appreciating Indias objective position in the conflict had called upon New Delhi to play a more active role in the countrys reconstruction. India has been against a foreign intervention to depose President Assad, a position that is aligned to Russias interests in the region. Last year when the five countries established the New Development Bank, it showed willingness to pool together resources to provide reconstruction aid to Syria and other war-torn countries across the world. However, a proposal to pass at the BRICS summit would need support from all the member countries. By PTI AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government today decided to suspend mobile Internet services for four hours on October 16 during the clerk-level competitive examination in a bid to prevent adoption of any unfair means by candidates but revoked the order hours later. Earlier in the day, Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB) chairman Asit Vora had informed the media that district collectors have been asked to take steps to suspend mobile Internet services on October 16 to prevent adoption of unfair means by candidates sitting for the examination. However, an official statement quoting Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja later said, "The state Home department has decided not to ban mobile Internet service in connection with the subordinate service competitive examination on Sunday, October 16." "Mobile Internet services will continue as usual across state," it added. Vora had earlier said, "On our request, district collectors have been asked to ban mobile Internet services between 10 AM and 2 PM on Sunday so that mobile phones are not used for unfair means during the written examination for the post of class IV non-Secretariat clerks and office assistants for cheating." Ahmedabad in-charge collector A B Gor had also said that district administration has been asked to do the same if it is required to prevent malpractices during the examination. As many as 7.67 lakh aspirants will sit for the test at various centres located in district headquarters across Gujarat, for around 3,000 vacancies. AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government today decided to suspend mobile Internet services for four hours on October 16 during the clerk-level competitive examination in a bid to prevent adoption of any unfair means by candidates but revoked the order hours later. Earlier in the day, Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB) chairman Asit Vora had informed the media that district collectors have been asked to take steps to suspend mobile Internet services on October 16 to prevent adoption of unfair means by candidates sitting for the examination. However, an official statement quoting Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja later said, "The state Home department has decided not to ban mobile Internet service in connection with the subordinate service competitive examination on Sunday, October 16." "Mobile Internet services will continue as usual across state," it added. Vora had earlier said, "On our request, district collectors have been asked to ban mobile Internet services between 10 AM and 2 PM on Sunday so that mobile phones are not used for unfair means during the written examination for the post of class IV non-Secretariat clerks and office assistants for cheating." Ahmedabad in-charge collector A B Gor had also said that district administration has been asked to do the same if it is required to prevent malpractices during the examination. As many as 7.67 lakh aspirants will sit for the test at various centres located in district headquarters across Gujarat, for around 3,000 vacancies. By Express News Service BENGALURU: India on Friday conveyed its readiness to help Pakistan in eradicating terrorism if the neighboring country cannot fight terrorism on its own. Addressing a BJP rally after inducting ex-IAS offiicer K Shivaram into the party, at National College grounds on Friday evening, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, "We are not against people of Pakistan. We are only against their terrorists." Referring to international isolation of Pakistan after the Uri attack, Rajnath said the surgical strikes by India after 18 Indian soldiers were martyred in the Uri attack has conveyed a strong message that India would not tolerate such acts of terrorism any more and it would be hit back strongly. Reiterating India's interest to have cordial relations with Pakistan, Rajnath Singh said "Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharrif was invited for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi. We extended our hand of friendship and they took undue advantage of us." India has no animosity towards people of Pakistan, India only wants to fight Pakistani terrorists and root out terrorism. If it is proving difficult for Pakistan to fight against its terrorists on its own, then it can take India's help. "We are ready to help them root out terrorism," Rajnath declared. "India is no longer a weak country and we have today sent out a message to the entire world that we are strong, he added BENGALURU: India on Friday conveyed its readiness to help Pakistan in eradicating terrorism if the neighboring country cannot fight terrorism on its own. Addressing a BJP rally after inducting ex-IAS offiicer K Shivaram into the party, at National College grounds on Friday evening, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, "We are not against people of Pakistan. We are only against their terrorists." Referring to international isolation of Pakistan after the Uri attack, Rajnath said the surgical strikes by India after 18 Indian soldiers were martyred in the Uri attack has conveyed a strong message that India would not tolerate such acts of terrorism any more and it would be hit back strongly. Reiterating India's interest to have cordial relations with Pakistan, Rajnath Singh said "Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharrif was invited for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi. We extended our hand of friendship and they took undue advantage of us." India has no animosity towards people of Pakistan, India only wants to fight Pakistani terrorists and root out terrorism. If it is proving difficult for Pakistan to fight against its terrorists on its own, then it can take India's help. "We are ready to help them root out terrorism," Rajnath declared. "India is no longer a weak country and we have today sent out a message to the entire world that we are strong, he added By IANS NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is slated to reach Goa on Friday for the upcoming eighth BRICS Summit and the first ever BRICS-BIMSTEC meet saying that the outreach with the BIMSTEC leaders was significant. "The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi tweeted. The two-day BRICS summit will be held from October 15 to 16. The Prime Minister, in a tweet also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Michel Temer of Brazil, who will also reach Goa on Friday. "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa," the Prime Minister tweeted. Modi said that he looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges. "As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," he said. Both Putin and Modi will stay at the Taj Exotica while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an inter-governmental organisation of which Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are members. "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand," Modi said in another tweet. According to the reports, a joint meeting of the BRICS and BIMSTEC leaders will be held on October 16. India is also counting on the BIMSTEC in a bid to corner Pakistan after 19th SAARC summit which were scheduled in Islamabad were cancelled. NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is slated to reach Goa on Friday for the upcoming eighth BRICS Summit and the first ever BRICS-BIMSTEC meet saying that the outreach with the BIMSTEC leaders was significant. "The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi tweeted. The two-day BRICS summit will be held from October 15 to 16. The Prime Minister, in a tweet also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Michel Temer of Brazil, who will also reach Goa on Friday. "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa," the Prime Minister tweeted. Modi said that he looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges. "As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," he said. Both Putin and Modi will stay at the Taj Exotica while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an inter-governmental organisation of which Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are members. "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand," Modi said in another tweet. According to the reports, a joint meeting of the BRICS and BIMSTEC leaders will be held on October 16. India is also counting on the BIMSTEC in a bid to corner Pakistan after 19th SAARC summit which were scheduled in Islamabad were cancelled. Harpreeet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: Its theme is Breaking Barriers but the current Indo-Pakistan tensions have cast a shadow on the fifth Khushwant Singh Literature Festival which got off at Kasauli today. No writer from the neighbouring country has felt safe enough to participate in the festival this year. Pakistanis writers were popular participants in each of the previous four editions of the festival, held in honour of the late writer and editor Khushwant Singh. Despite the bitterness in relations between India and Pakistan since the attack on the Uri Army base last monoth, a few invites did go out to some Pakistani writers, such as art historian Fakir, Faiz Ahmed Faiz s daughter Muniza, and former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri. But none chose to dare the present dark mood in the country against anything Pakistani. The last named would only too well remember the treatment meted out to him and fellow dignitaries during the lauch of his book in Mumbai in October last year. The Shiv Sena kicked up a fuss and smeared black paint on the chief guest Sudheendra Kulkarni. Although Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, which used to be Khushwant Singhs summer getaway, is far removed from the Senas Mumbai, it is not inured to the present nationalistic fervor sweeping the country. And in keeping with the mood of the moment, two minutes silence was observed during the inaugural for the soldiers who died in the Uri attack. Started in 2012, when Khushwant Singh was still alive, the litfest is the only such event named after an individual and also the only literary festival held in Himachal Pradesh. CHANDIGARH: Its theme is Breaking Barriers but the current Indo-Pakistan tensions have cast a shadow on the fifth Khushwant Singh Literature Festival which got off at Kasauli today. No writer from the neighbouring country has felt safe enough to participate in the festival this year. Pakistanis writers were popular participants in each of the previous four editions of the festival, held in honour of the late writer and editor Khushwant Singh. Despite the bitterness in relations between India and Pakistan since the attack on the Uri Army base last monoth, a few invites did go out to some Pakistani writers, such as art historian Fakir, Faiz Ahmed Faiz s daughter Muniza, and former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri. But none chose to dare the present dark mood in the country against anything Pakistani. The last named would only too well remember the treatment meted out to him and fellow dignitaries during the lauch of his book in Mumbai in October last year. The Shiv Sena kicked up a fuss and smeared black paint on the chief guest Sudheendra Kulkarni. Although Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, which used to be Khushwant Singhs summer getaway, is far removed from the Senas Mumbai, it is not inured to the present nationalistic fervor sweeping the country. And in keeping with the mood of the moment, two minutes silence was observed during the inaugural for the soldiers who died in the Uri attack. Started in 2012, when Khushwant Singh was still alive, the litfest is the only such event named after an individual and also the only literary festival held in Himachal Pradesh. By PTI DEHRADUN: One of the two ailing Polish mountaineers stranded at a height of over 5,000 feet on way to the Himalayan peak of Shivlinga in Uttarkashi district fell to his death while his compatriot is missing, a senior police official said today. Lukasz Jan Chrzanowski tottered and fell into a deep gorge on Thursday evening as he tried to come down in order to make it easier for the rescuers to reach him, Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Dadan Pal told PTI. As he was ailing and week he seems to have faltered while coming down and fell to his death, he said. Lukasz's compatriot and companion Grezegorz Michael Kukurowski, who is also ailing is yet to be located, the official said. Lukasz's body has been brought to the base camp at Tapovan while a search is on to find Kukurowski, he said. The authorities are in touch with the Polish embassy to find out how to hand over Lukasz's body to his family. Meanwhile, the search is on by a combined team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Garhwal Scouts (mountaineering squad from Gulmarg) and the Army's 12 Grenadiers to trace the other ailing mountaineer, the SP said. The duo, who were part of a five-member team of mountaineers from Poland, took ill on way to Shivlinga peak located at a height of 6,543 metres above Gomukh on Wednesday, police said. Rescue operations were launched after other members of the group returned to their base camp and informed authorities about it, Pal said. The Polish mountaineering team had begun the expedition on September 22. DEHRADUN: One of the two ailing Polish mountaineers stranded at a height of over 5,000 feet on way to the Himalayan peak of Shivlinga in Uttarkashi district fell to his death while his compatriot is missing, a senior police official said today. Lukasz Jan Chrzanowski tottered and fell into a deep gorge on Thursday evening as he tried to come down in order to make it easier for the rescuers to reach him, Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Dadan Pal told PTI. As he was ailing and week he seems to have faltered while coming down and fell to his death, he said. Lukasz's compatriot and companion Grezegorz Michael Kukurowski, who is also ailing is yet to be located, the official said. Lukasz's body has been brought to the base camp at Tapovan while a search is on to find Kukurowski, he said. The authorities are in touch with the Polish embassy to find out how to hand over Lukasz's body to his family. Meanwhile, the search is on by a combined team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Garhwal Scouts (mountaineering squad from Gulmarg) and the Army's 12 Grenadiers to trace the other ailing mountaineer, the SP said. The duo, who were part of a five-member team of mountaineers from Poland, took ill on way to Shivlinga peak located at a height of 6,543 metres above Gomukh on Wednesday, police said. Rescue operations were launched after other members of the group returned to their base camp and informed authorities about it, Pal said. The Polish mountaineering team had begun the expedition on September 22. By PTI BHOPAL: Security was heightened in the Madhya Pradesh capital ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here on Friday, said police official. Railway stations, airports, bus terminals, important markets and localities in the city were secured ahead of the high profile visit. Vehicles were screened at different check points to ensure no untoward incident occur. The administration also issued a circular asking all government and semi government offices to suspended work post 3 p.m. Modi will be inaugurating the newly built war memorial -- Shaurya Samarak -- and address a meeting of former servicemen at Lal Pared ground, here during his three-hour visit, ahead of the BRICS meet in Goa. The Prime Minister is scheduled to leave New Delhi at 2.30 p.m. on Friday and arrive here at the Bhopal Airport at 4.05 p.m. He will be at Lal Pared ground between 4.30 p.m. and 5.20 p.m. He will also call on Acharya Vidysagar Maharaj at the Habibganj Jain temple. Later he will proceed to the Arera Hills for the inauguaration of 'Shaurya Smarak' that portrays the patriotic journey of a soldier. The valour gallery showcases the tradition of military honour. At 7.05 p.m. Modi will leave for Panaji. BHOPAL: Security was heightened in the Madhya Pradesh capital ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here on Friday, said police official. Railway stations, airports, bus terminals, important markets and localities in the city were secured ahead of the high profile visit. Vehicles were screened at different check points to ensure no untoward incident occur. The administration also issued a circular asking all government and semi government offices to suspended work post 3 p.m. Modi will be inaugurating the newly built war memorial -- Shaurya Samarak -- and address a meeting of former servicemen at Lal Pared ground, here during his three-hour visit, ahead of the BRICS meet in Goa. The Prime Minister is scheduled to leave New Delhi at 2.30 p.m. on Friday and arrive here at the Bhopal Airport at 4.05 p.m. He will be at Lal Pared ground between 4.30 p.m. and 5.20 p.m. He will also call on Acharya Vidysagar Maharaj at the Habibganj Jain temple. Later he will proceed to the Arera Hills for the inauguaration of 'Shaurya Smarak' that portrays the patriotic journey of a soldier. The valour gallery showcases the tradition of military honour. At 7.05 p.m. Modi will leave for Panaji. By PTI LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today said the party's Chief Ministerial candidate will be decided by elected party legislatures after the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. "The Chief ministerial candidate will be decided by the elected party legislatures and parliamentary board. This is our job. This is not your (media) work," he told reporters here when asked whether his son Akhilesh Yadav was still the SP's Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming elections. The remarks come as another setback to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was recently removed from party's state president post owing to an apparent feud in the first family of the state. They also contest the 'undisputed' position of Akhilesh as the Chief Ministerial candidate of Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam, however, parried questions regarding Akhilesh making Janeshwar Mishra Trust office as "war room" ahead of the state polls and his departure before the SP chief's arrival during Lohia death anniversary programme. "There is no dispute in the family. Shivpal had met him (Akhilesh) this morning. In the last elections, votes were sought in my name but I made him (Akhilesh) the state's CM," he said. "Kise kahan baithana hai, hum khud tai karenge (I will decide whom to place where)," he said. The family feud in the party had came to the fore after the merger of Quami Ekta Dal was cancelled at the behest of Akhilesh. Akhilesh's supporters, including some MLCs and presidents of party frontal organisations, led protests against his removal but had to backtrack after Mulayam's intervention. The supporters were later expelled by newly appointed state party chief Shivpal from the party. LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today said the party's Chief Ministerial candidate will be decided by elected party legislatures after the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. "The Chief ministerial candidate will be decided by the elected party legislatures and parliamentary board. This is our job. This is not your (media) work," he told reporters here when asked whether his son Akhilesh Yadav was still the SP's Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming elections. The remarks come as another setback to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was recently removed from party's state president post owing to an apparent feud in the first family of the state. They also contest the 'undisputed' position of Akhilesh as the Chief Ministerial candidate of Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam, however, parried questions regarding Akhilesh making Janeshwar Mishra Trust office as "war room" ahead of the state polls and his departure before the SP chief's arrival during Lohia death anniversary programme. "There is no dispute in the family. Shivpal had met him (Akhilesh) this morning. In the last elections, votes were sought in my name but I made him (Akhilesh) the state's CM," he said. "Kise kahan baithana hai, hum khud tai karenge (I will decide whom to place where)," he said. The family feud in the party had came to the fore after the merger of Quami Ekta Dal was cancelled at the behest of Akhilesh. Akhilesh's supporters, including some MLCs and presidents of party frontal organisations, led protests against his removal but had to backtrack after Mulayam's intervention. The supporters were later expelled by newly appointed state party chief Shivpal from the party. Michel Danino By (The articles second and concluding part; it was abridged for the print edition.) The Zero and the Decimal Place-Value System Meera Nanda moves on to the notion that Bharat gave zero to the world, which she calls the sacred cow of Hindu sciences. Her all-too-predictable line is that China is the likeliest source for both the concept of zero and the positional decimal system of numeral notation. That system the one the whole world uses today is technically called decimal place-value system of numeral notation, since the value of a numeral depends on its place: 261 is not the same as 621 (whereas the value of XXIII, 23 in Roman numbers, does not change if the two Xs are switched: it is not a positional system). Nanda cites Needham (who wrote on Chinese mathematics in 1959) and a more recent scholar, Lam Lay Yong, to suggest the possibility of the South-East Asian transmission of zero from China. She complains that Lams rigorously argued and evidence-backed thesis has met with a deafening silence in India. What are the rigorous arguments, then? First, the absence of place value in Indian numerals until around the sixth century of the Common Era, and secondly, [the fact] that the first physical evidence of zero comes not from India but from Cambodia [in 683 ce] and other South-East Asian countries that lie between India and China. Nanda combines the second point with Needhams and Lams thesis to argue that the mathematical zero is traceable to China, not India. There is nothing wrong in giving credit where credit is due, and ancient Chinese civilization did witness brilliant advances in mathematics and other sciences, not to speak of technologies, often far ahead of the rest of the world. As it happens, however, Nandas two arguments can only be maintained by sweeping under the (Chinese silk) carpet a mountain of evidence. Needham could be excused for advancing them six decades ago (far more tentatively and detachedly than does Nanda), but fresh material has come to light since his pioneering research, all of which Nanda ignores. The work of epigraphists and historians of science, both Indian and non-Indian, all of it equally rigorously argued and evidence-backed, now permits a definite answer. As a complete survey of the evidence would easily fill a thick tome (the French historian of mathematics, George Ifrah, devotes over 200 pages of his monumental Universal History of Numbers to the Indian systems and the zero), I will restrict myself to a few instances (and can supply references on request). Let us begin with three inscriptions deciphered by D.C. Sircar, from all accounts the greatest post-Independence authority on Indian epigraphy: The Mankuwar Buddha image stone inscription of 428 ce includes a small globular symbol representing zero. This is not a positional context, however: zero here acts as a mere place-holder. The Dabok stone inscription (near Udaipur, Rajasthan) bears the date of 701 (in the Vikrama Samvat era, that is, 644 ce), again not in a true positional fashion, but with a symbol for 700 followed by a dot (zero as a place-holder) and 1. The Khandela stone inscription of Rajasthan gives its date as 201, now in the proper positional system, and with a small circle for the zero. Sircar applied the date to the Harsha era, which yielded 807 ce. The Mankuwar and Dabok inscriptions, both of which antedate the Cambodian inscription of 683 ce, are conclusive epigraphic evidence for an early use of the symbol for zero in India (initially in non-positional systems). Even the common notion, relayed by Nanda, that the zero in a positional context is first depicted in India in the Gwalior inscription of 876 ce is belied by the Khandela inscription. Besides, the famous Bakhshali manuscript, a mathematical work dated to the 7th century ce by the Japanese scholar Takao Hayashi, author of the most thorough study on it (of course, others have proposed older as well as more recent dates), manipulates numbers in the decimal place-value system, with the zero represented as a dot. In fact, many more inscriptions bearing a symbol for the zero (always a bindu or small circle) predate the Cambodian one. I have not listed them as they are on copper plates, and according to Nanda, many of [the copper landgrant plates] have been later proven to be fake. The trick of declaring many (how many?) copper-plate inscriptions fake has long been resorted to whenever their dates proved inconvenient to the prevailing theories but the said fakeness is almost never proven; it is no more than a matter of opinion. That is what happened to the well-known copper-plate inscription of Sankheda (Bharuch), which records its date as 346 in a local era, equivalent to 596 ce. Its authenticity was questioned but, as Bibhutibhushan Datta (with A.N. Singh) and Ifrah independently explained at length, without valid ground. In any case, stone inscriptions such as the above cannot be faked. Ifrahs conclusion as regards the epigraphic evidence is categorical: There exist very numerous records [other than the Sankheda inscription] of perfect authenticity which prove beyond dispute that the zero and the positional decimal numeral system are definitely and solely of Indian origin, and that its discovery goes back to a far more ancient period than the oldest known inscription on a copper plate. Are Inscriptions the Only Evidence? The strongest evidence is however not of epigraphic nature. Consider: The system of computation found in Pingalas Chhandasutra (variously dated between 400 and 200 bce), a set of rules on Sanskrit prosody, used a binary system to classify all possible metres (no numerals are involved, let us note, only Sanskrit letters and syllables). In the course of the calculations, which demand a place-value notation, Pingala refers to the symbol for shunya or zero, which, as the historian of science S.R. Sarma demonstrated, had to be an integral part of the system. This does seem to be its conceptual origin, after which it took a whole millennium to be worked out with numerals and to spread across the subcontinent, and beyond. The Buddhist philosopher Vasumitra (1st century ce) wrote, When [the same] clay counting-piece is in the place of units, it is denoted as one, when in hundreds, one hundred, when in thousands, a thousand, which is plainly a positional system of counting. A few Jain savants between 100 bce and 100 ce have been credited with similar statements, but more research is required to bring out their contributions. Vyasabhashya, before 400 ce, made a statement similar to Vasumitras: The same stroke [i.e., numeral 1] denotes 100 in the hundreds place, 10 in tens place and 1 in units place. Sphujidhvajas Yavana Jataka, an adaptation of a Greek work on astrology, gives its own date in a system called bhuta-samkhya which is strictly equivalent to the decimal positional system; the date is 191 of the Shaka era, that is, 269 ce. Concludes Kim Plofker, Evidently, then, positional decimal numerals were a familiar concept at least by the middle of the third century, at least to the audience for astronomical and astrological texts. Lokavibhaga, a Jain text of 458 ce, explicitly uses (with words rather than numerals) the modern place-value system along with zero. Aryabhata, who wrote his celebrated Aryabhatiya about 500 ce, spelt out a number of rules for mathematical and astronomical applications. Although he created his own semi-positional system of numeral notation based on Sanskrit syllables, that system will not work for the algorithms he formulated for the extraction of square and cube roots instance, among other procedures: only the full-fledged place-value system with zero, as we know it today, will work with such algorithms. This was briefly noted two decades ago by the current Indian doyen of historians of science, R.C. Gupta, then was amplified by Ifrah, who offered a rigorous mathematical proof of this, which anyone familiar with school-level maths can follow. This is irrefutable evidence that the modern system was well known to the Indian scientific community in the 5th century ce. Subandhu, in his Vasavadatta of the 6th or 7th century ce (but often dated two or three centuries earlier), compared stars to shunya bindus, that is, zero dots. Finally, in 662 ce, the Syrian bishop Severus Sebokht wrote about the science of the Indians ... their subtle discoveries in astronomy, discoveries that are more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians, and their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description ... done by means of nine signs. This is a clear reference to the place-value system, which will not permit valuable methods of calculation without the integration of zero. Why should a Christian bishop go out of his way to acknowledge the scientific advances of Pagans if there was not good ground to do so? Let us note the date, 221 years before the Cambodia inscription. I wonder why Nanda is deafeningly silent about such incontrovertible evidence, some of which was discussed as early as in 1929 by the U.S. Sanskritist W.E. Clark. Even the highly conservative historian of Indian astronomy David Pingree conceded that there is evidence in Buddhist and Jaina texts of uncertain date, but near the beginning of the Common Era, that a decimal place-value system was in use, but there is no certain evidence that a symbol for zero was in place before the fifth century A.D. As we saw, the second part of his statement can arguably be pushed back by two or three centuries, but it is good enough for our present purpose. From India to China? Desperate to somehow connect the issue to Hindutva propaganda (apparently Sangh Parivar hotheads discuss the sacred cow of the numeral system everyday at breakfast), Meera Nanda makes it appear as a recent one. In reality, the debate of the origins of the place-value numeral system and the zero goes back well over a century and initially was conducted wholly among Western scholars. Leaving aside Alexander Wylie, who wrote in 1897, let me come to the British scholar G.R. Kaye, author of studies on Indian mathematics and astronomy and a strong proponent of the colonial prejudices that Indians could have created no science of their own: it had to be always derivative, borrowed the Greeks, the Persians or the Chinese. As a result he declared all early Indian inscriptions to be fakes and insisted that the place-value system originated in Southeast Asia under Chinese influence and travelled thence to India a thesis he first formulated in 1907, and which is almost verbatim Nandas. A couple of decades later, the French scholar George Coedes, revered as the unchallenged dean of Southeast Asian classical scholarship and author of numerous volumes of inscriptions from all Hinduized states of Southeast Asia, as he called them, gently rebuked Kaye for his strange opinion and plainly favoured an Indian origin. In fact, according to Needham himself, The circular symbol for zero is first found in print in the Su Shu Chiu Chang of Chhin Chiu-Shao (+ 1247), but many have believed that it was in use already during the preceding century at least. Thus the Chinese depiction of the zero is not only centuries later than the Indian inscriptions we saw above; it is also some 500 years more recent than the Cambodia inscription Nanda makes so much of: if the latter is evidence of Chinese influence, as she argues, why do we not have much earlier depictions of the zero in China itself? And while Nanda is so sensitive to unnamed Hinducentric historians, she ought to know that Chinese scholars are far more nationalistic as a rule than their Indian counterparts. This is the case of Lam Lay Yong cited by Nanda; Lams theory of the Chinese origin of the place-value system is neither rigorous nor evidence-based, as she completely ignores the Indian evidence (as a glance at the bibliography of the revised 2004 edition of her Fleeting Footsteps: Tracing the Conception of Arithmetic and Algebra in Ancient China, co-authored with Ang Tian Se, will show). Lam is no doubt a sound scholar of early Chinese mathematics, but she is ill-qualified for crosscultural studies, which is why her thesis, first propounded over 30 years ago, has met with no growing acceptance, despite to Nandas assertion to the contrary. Indeed, in a review of their book, the noted Sinologist Jean-Claude Martzloff was critical of Lams and Angs approach as regards India: referring to the early Tang dynasty or 7th century ce as a period of intense contacts between China and India (where the concept of zero in its written form was already developed), Martzloff pointed out that Chinese translations of Indian mathematical and astronomical texts were made at this time and one of these, dated 712 AD, mentions precisely an Indian written zero in the form of a small dot. This aspect of the question is well documented, and certain of these translations have even survived. Still more significantly, the representation of numbers in Chinese Buddhist literature is often borrowed from Indian culture, especially in the form of phonetical transliterations of Sanskrit words into Chinese. Conversely, as far as I know, Chinese mathematical terms have never been detected in Indian or Islamic technical literature. Unfortunately, these aspects of the problem are passed over in silence in Fleeting Footsteps. That is the crux of the whole issue: while no positive evidence of Chinese transmission to India exists as far as the number system is concerned, there is plenty in the opposite direction, as many scholars have documented. But even a brief survey of Indias contributions to Chinese mathematics would require another longish article, and it is now time to rest my case. Concluding Thoughts First, let me clarify that I have not attempted to prove that India invented the zero, as is often and wrongly stated. The Mesopotamians, the Mayans and the Chinese all had some concept of a zero, mostly as a place-holder (just as it was used in India before the place-value system spread across the subcontinent). Indias unique contribution, as explained by Ifrah with meticulous care, was to integrate the zero in a positional system, in a way that zero now became a mathematical operator. Again, let us give credit where credit is due. Secondly, there is no need to be obsessed with priority, unless clear evidence is available, much less with supposed superiority. There is also nothing wrong in discussing the occasional errors of Indian savants (Aryabhata, for instance, gives wrong formulas for the volume of the pyramid and the sphere; his diameters for the planets and the sun are also far too small). Indian mathematics rests on many well-documented breakthroughs from the Shulbasutras to the Kerala School, especially in geometry, algebra and calculus; that is more than sufficient. Indian students, if those breakthroughs were not inexplicably concealed from them, would have a better and more intelligent appreciation of their countrys intellectual history. Meera Nanda, clearly, wants none of this to happen. She is no doubt entitled to her opinions, neo-colonial prejudices and even pet hates, but disregarding or concealing all material that runs counter to ones choices is poor scholarship. Worse, misleading the lay public into believing that the genuine accomplishments of early and classical Indian mathematics and astronomy are no more than Hindutva-created fictions reflects a jaundiced view of the whole field which not even the most contemptuous colonial scholar would have dreamt of. The mind boggles, and I wonder what Nandas next targets will be. I wish her well in her explorations, but hope she will first study basic research methodology, without which no scholarly work can endure. (Concluded) Note: Except for long vowels, I have made no attempt to use standard diacritics for Sanskrit words, opting instead for spellings closer to their actual pronunciation. bce and ce stand for Before Common Era (or BC) and Common Era (AD). I am thankful to Dr. M.D. Srinivas for a few inputs on Bhaskaracharyas treatment of the so-called Pythagoras theorem and on Lam Lay Yongs work. ************* Michel Daninos main interests lie in Indian protohistory and the history of Indian science and technology; he has also authored a few papers and educational modules on the latter. He teaches at IIT Gandhinagar and is a member of ICHR. Email: micheldanino@gmail.com. (The articles second and concluding part; it was abridged for the print edition.) The Zero and the Decimal Place-Value System Meera Nanda moves on to the notion that Bharat gave zero to the world, which she calls the sacred cow of Hindu sciences. Her all-too-predictable line is that China is the likeliest source for both the concept of zero and the positional decimal system of numeral notation. That system the one the whole world uses today is technically called decimal place-value system of numeral notation, since the value of a numeral depends on its place: 261 is not the same as 621 (whereas the value of XXIII, 23 in Roman numbers, does not change if the two Xs are switched: it is not a positional system). Nanda cites Needham (who wrote on Chinese mathematics in 1959) and a more recent scholar, Lam Lay Yong, to suggest the possibility of the South-East Asian transmission of zero from China. She complains that Lams rigorously argued and evidence-backed thesis has met with a deafening silence in India. What are the rigorous arguments, then? First, the absence of place value in Indian numerals until around the sixth century of the Common Era, and secondly, [the fact] that the first physical evidence of zero comes not from India but from Cambodia [in 683 ce] and other South-East Asian countries that lie between India and China. Nanda combines the second point with Needhams and Lams thesis to argue that the mathematical zero is traceable to China, not India. There is nothing wrong in giving credit where credit is due, and ancient Chinese civilization did witness brilliant advances in mathematics and other sciences, not to speak of technologies, often far ahead of the rest of the world. As it happens, however, Nandas two arguments can only be maintained by sweeping under the (Chinese silk) carpet a mountain of evidence. Needham could be excused for advancing them six decades ago (far more tentatively and detachedly than does Nanda), but fresh material has come to light since his pioneering research, all of which Nanda ignores. The work of epigraphists and historians of science, both Indian and non-Indian, all of it equally rigorously argued and evidence-backed, now permits a definite answer. As a complete survey of the evidence would easily fill a thick tome (the French historian of mathematics, George Ifrah, devotes over 200 pages of his monumental Universal History of Numbers to the Indian systems and the zero), I will restrict myself to a few instances (and can supply references on request). Let us begin with three inscriptions deciphered by D.C. Sircar, from all accounts the greatest post-Independence authority on Indian epigraphy: The Mankuwar Buddha image stone inscription of 428 ce includes a small globular symbol representing zero. This is not a positional context, however: zero here acts as a mere place-holder. The Dabok stone inscription (near Udaipur, Rajasthan) bears the date of 701 (in the Vikrama Samvat era, that is, 644 ce), again not in a true positional fashion, but with a symbol for 700 followed by a dot (zero as a place-holder) and 1. The Khandela stone inscription of Rajasthan gives its date as 201, now in the proper positional system, and with a small circle for the zero. Sircar applied the date to the Harsha era, which yielded 807 ce. The Mankuwar and Dabok inscriptions, both of which antedate the Cambodian inscription of 683 ce, are conclusive epigraphic evidence for an early use of the symbol for zero in India (initially in non-positional systems). Even the common notion, relayed by Nanda, that the zero in a positional context is first depicted in India in the Gwalior inscription of 876 ce is belied by the Khandela inscription. Besides, the famous Bakhshali manuscript, a mathematical work dated to the 7th century ce by the Japanese scholar Takao Hayashi, author of the most thorough study on it (of course, others have proposed older as well as more recent dates), manipulates numbers in the decimal place-value system, with the zero represented as a dot. In fact, many more inscriptions bearing a symbol for the zero (always a bindu or small circle) predate the Cambodian one. I have not listed them as they are on copper plates, and according to Nanda, many of [the copper landgrant plates] have been later proven to be fake. The trick of declaring many (how many?) copper-plate inscriptions fake has long been resorted to whenever their dates proved inconvenient to the prevailing theories but the said fakeness is almost never proven; it is no more than a matter of opinion. That is what happened to the well-known copper-plate inscription of Sankheda (Bharuch), which records its date as 346 in a local era, equivalent to 596 ce. Its authenticity was questioned but, as Bibhutibhushan Datta (with A.N. Singh) and Ifrah independently explained at length, without valid ground. In any case, stone inscriptions such as the above cannot be faked. Ifrahs conclusion as regards the epigraphic evidence is categorical: There exist very numerous records [other than the Sankheda inscription] of perfect authenticity which prove beyond dispute that the zero and the positional decimal numeral system are definitely and solely of Indian origin, and that its discovery goes back to a far more ancient period than the oldest known inscription on a copper plate. Are Inscriptions the Only Evidence? The strongest evidence is however not of epigraphic nature. Consider: The system of computation found in Pingalas Chhandasutra (variously dated between 400 and 200 bce), a set of rules on Sanskrit prosody, used a binary system to classify all possible metres (no numerals are involved, let us note, only Sanskrit letters and syllables). In the course of the calculations, which demand a place-value notation, Pingala refers to the symbol for shunya or zero, which, as the historian of science S.R. Sarma demonstrated, had to be an integral part of the system. This does seem to be its conceptual origin, after which it took a whole millennium to be worked out with numerals and to spread across the subcontinent, and beyond. The Buddhist philosopher Vasumitra (1st century ce) wrote, When [the same] clay counting-piece is in the place of units, it is denoted as one, when in hundreds, one hundred, when in thousands, a thousand, which is plainly a positional system of counting. A few Jain savants between 100 bce and 100 ce have been credited with similar statements, but more research is required to bring out their contributions. Vyasabhashya, before 400 ce, made a statement similar to Vasumitras: The same stroke [i.e., numeral 1] denotes 100 in the hundreds place, 10 in tens place and 1 in units place. Sphujidhvajas Yavana Jataka, an adaptation of a Greek work on astrology, gives its own date in a system called bhuta-samkhya which is strictly equivalent to the decimal positional system; the date is 191 of the Shaka era, that is, 269 ce. Concludes Kim Plofker, Evidently, then, positional decimal numerals were a familiar concept at least by the middle of the third century, at least to the audience for astronomical and astrological texts. Lokavibhaga, a Jain text of 458 ce, explicitly uses (with words rather than numerals) the modern place-value system along with zero. Aryabhata, who wrote his celebrated Aryabhatiya about 500 ce, spelt out a number of rules for mathematical and astronomical applications. Although he created his own semi-positional system of numeral notation based on Sanskrit syllables, that system will not work for the algorithms he formulated for the extraction of square and cube roots instance, among other procedures: only the full-fledged place-value system with zero, as we know it today, will work with such algorithms. This was briefly noted two decades ago by the current Indian doyen of historians of science, R.C. Gupta, then was amplified by Ifrah, who offered a rigorous mathematical proof of this, which anyone familiar with school-level maths can follow. This is irrefutable evidence that the modern system was well known to the Indian scientific community in the 5th century ce. Subandhu, in his Vasavadatta of the 6th or 7th century ce (but often dated two or three centuries earlier), compared stars to shunya bindus, that is, zero dots. Finally, in 662 ce, the Syrian bishop Severus Sebokht wrote about the science of the Indians ... their subtle discoveries in astronomy, discoveries that are more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians, and their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description ... done by means of nine signs. This is a clear reference to the place-value system, which will not permit valuable methods of calculation without the integration of zero. Why should a Christian bishop go out of his way to acknowledge the scientific advances of Pagans if there was not good ground to do so? Let us note the date, 221 years before the Cambodia inscription. I wonder why Nanda is deafeningly silent about such incontrovertible evidence, some of which was discussed as early as in 1929 by the U.S. Sanskritist W.E. Clark. Even the highly conservative historian of Indian astronomy David Pingree conceded that there is evidence in Buddhist and Jaina texts of uncertain date, but near the beginning of the Common Era, that a decimal place-value system was in use, but there is no certain evidence that a symbol for zero was in place before the fifth century A.D. As we saw, the second part of his statement can arguably be pushed back by two or three centuries, but it is good enough for our present purpose. From India to China? Desperate to somehow connect the issue to Hindutva propaganda (apparently Sangh Parivar hotheads discuss the sacred cow of the numeral system everyday at breakfast), Meera Nanda makes it appear as a recent one. In reality, the debate of the origins of the place-value numeral system and the zero goes back well over a century and initially was conducted wholly among Western scholars. Leaving aside Alexander Wylie, who wrote in 1897, let me come to the British scholar G.R. Kaye, author of studies on Indian mathematics and astronomy and a strong proponent of the colonial prejudices that Indians could have created no science of their own: it had to be always derivative, borrowed the Greeks, the Persians or the Chinese. As a result he declared all early Indian inscriptions to be fakes and insisted that the place-value system originated in Southeast Asia under Chinese influence and travelled thence to India a thesis he first formulated in 1907, and which is almost verbatim Nandas. A couple of decades later, the French scholar George Coedes, revered as the unchallenged dean of Southeast Asian classical scholarship and author of numerous volumes of inscriptions from all Hinduized states of Southeast Asia, as he called them, gently rebuked Kaye for his strange opinion and plainly favoured an Indian origin. In fact, according to Needham himself, The circular symbol for zero is first found in print in the Su Shu Chiu Chang of Chhin Chiu-Shao (+ 1247), but many have believed that it was in use already during the preceding century at least. Thus the Chinese depiction of the zero is not only centuries later than the Indian inscriptions we saw above; it is also some 500 years more recent than the Cambodia inscription Nanda makes so much of: if the latter is evidence of Chinese influence, as she argues, why do we not have much earlier depictions of the zero in China itself? And while Nanda is so sensitive to unnamed Hinducentric historians, she ought to know that Chinese scholars are far more nationalistic as a rule than their Indian counterparts. This is the case of Lam Lay Yong cited by Nanda; Lams theory of the Chinese origin of the place-value system is neither rigorous nor evidence-based, as she completely ignores the Indian evidence (as a glance at the bibliography of the revised 2004 edition of her Fleeting Footsteps: Tracing the Conception of Arithmetic and Algebra in Ancient China, co-authored with Ang Tian Se, will show). Lam is no doubt a sound scholar of early Chinese mathematics, but she is ill-qualified for crosscultural studies, which is why her thesis, first propounded over 30 years ago, has met with no growing acceptance, despite to Nandas assertion to the contrary. Indeed, in a review of their book, the noted Sinologist Jean-Claude Martzloff was critical of Lams and Angs approach as regards India: referring to the early Tang dynasty or 7th century ce as a period of intense contacts between China and India (where the concept of zero in its written form was already developed), Martzloff pointed out that Chinese translations of Indian mathematical and astronomical texts were made at this time and one of these, dated 712 AD, mentions precisely an Indian written zero in the form of a small dot. This aspect of the question is well documented, and certain of these translations have even survived. Still more significantly, the representation of numbers in Chinese Buddhist literature is often borrowed from Indian culture, especially in the form of phonetical transliterations of Sanskrit words into Chinese. Conversely, as far as I know, Chinese mathematical terms have never been detected in Indian or Islamic technical literature. Unfortunately, these aspects of the problem are passed over in silence in Fleeting Footsteps. That is the crux of the whole issue: while no positive evidence of Chinese transmission to India exists as far as the number system is concerned, there is plenty in the opposite direction, as many scholars have documented. But even a brief survey of Indias contributions to Chinese mathematics would require another longish article, and it is now time to rest my case. Concluding Thoughts First, let me clarify that I have not attempted to prove that India invented the zero, as is often and wrongly stated. The Mesopotamians, the Mayans and the Chinese all had some concept of a zero, mostly as a place-holder (just as it was used in India before the place-value system spread across the subcontinent). Indias unique contribution, as explained by Ifrah with meticulous care, was to integrate the zero in a positional system, in a way that zero now became a mathematical operator. Again, let us give credit where credit is due. Secondly, there is no need to be obsessed with priority, unless clear evidence is available, much less with supposed superiority. There is also nothing wrong in discussing the occasional errors of Indian savants (Aryabhata, for instance, gives wrong formulas for the volume of the pyramid and the sphere; his diameters for the planets and the sun are also far too small). Indian mathematics rests on many well-documented breakthroughs from the Shulbasutras to the Kerala School, especially in geometry, algebra and calculus; that is more than sufficient. Indian students, if those breakthroughs were not inexplicably concealed from them, would have a better and more intelligent appreciation of their countrys intellectual history. Meera Nanda, clearly, wants none of this to happen. She is no doubt entitled to her opinions, neo-colonial prejudices and even pet hates, but disregarding or concealing all material that runs counter to ones choices is poor scholarship. Worse, misleading the lay public into believing that the genuine accomplishments of early and classical Indian mathematics and astronomy are no more than Hindutva-created fictions reflects a jaundiced view of the whole field which not even the most contemptuous colonial scholar would have dreamt of. The mind boggles, and I wonder what Nandas next targets will be. I wish her well in her explorations, but hope she will first study basic research methodology, without which no scholarly work can endure. (Concluded) Note: Except for long vowels, I have made no attempt to use standard diacritics for Sanskrit words, opting instead for spellings closer to their actual pronunciation. bce and ce stand for Before Common Era (or BC) and Common Era (AD). I am thankful to Dr. M.D. Srinivas for a few inputs on Bhaskaracharyas treatment of the so-called Pythagoras theorem and on Lam Lay Yongs work. ************* Michel Daninos main interests lie in Indian protohistory and the history of Indian science and technology; he has also authored a few papers and educational modules on the latter. He teaches at IIT Gandhinagar and is a member of ICHR. Email: micheldanino@gmail.com. Russia may consider the possibility of delivering missile defense systems to Turkey, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president, said. Peskov was answering the questions of journalists about the visit of the Russian president to Turkey held Oct.10, TASS news agency reported. Indeed, the issues related to cooperation in the military and technical sphere were on the agenda of Putin and Erdogan's contacts, he said. Different missile defense systems were mentioned, Peskov said. In case if the Turkish side wants, Russia may consider the possibility of their supply to Turkey in various forms, he added. But this is a purely commercial matter, its a very sensitive area of cooperation, he noted. Santwana Bhattacharya By In this season of credit-taking and blame-giving, no one is moving gingerly. No doubt the scent of elections excites all sorts of political hormones, and all sides claim the licence for a spot of soapbox oratory. And to be fair, Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur form a high-stakes game for everyone as the year turns. With many small, individual stakes that, cumulatively, can affect the big picture. In tiny Goa, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is the defending champion, by proxy. In Punjab, the Akali-BJP alliance is hoping to cling on to power third time in a row against the Captains Congress and what could be called a start-up company, Arvind Kejriwals Aam Adami Party. Uttarakhand and Goa are also places where the Congress is battling to retain its last few footprints in state politics. But the contest is nowhere as fierce as it is in Uttar Pradesh-the biggest Indian state, by landmass, population and the electoral numbers it throws up. AMIT BANDRE For the first time in two decades, a party wrenched majority in the Lok Sabha when it swept UP. The battle for Lucknow, therefore, is loaded with all sorts of political consequences. With the Uri terror attack and a retaliatory surgical strike providing the background score, the verbal fusillade has touched deafening levels. The Indian Army has become unwitting fodder for a verbal duel-with no less than four parties and their rent-aquotes trying to outdo each other to take credit for their operations, overt and covert, past and present. Why issues have to be outsourced in a state election can be obtained in UP itself: all four contestants want the focus a tad diverted. Of the local claimants, young Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs Samajwadi Party is looking a bit frayed at the edges thanks to a recent family fracas he had with his patriarch Mulayam Singh and his brother Shivpal Yadav. His closest rival, former CM Mayawati, is seeing her best shot at a return marred by considerable attrition in her party -- this despite her reputation as a comparatively good implementer of law and order in a semi-feudal, caste-ridden state, and fine record as a developer of state infrastructure (never mind the strange Ambedkar parks with her own statues rubbing shoulders with that of Dalit icons.) As for the national parties, the BJP, hoping to wrench the assembly away from the two regional satraps after a decade, has everything to gain by resorting to the vocabulary of national security. Its natural that two of its top leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home-grown Home Minister Rajnath Singh, are at hand. That is not counting the Rasputin-like Defence Minister Parrikar, who shoots from the mouth to compliment the Indian armed forces and himself in the same breath. And lastly, the grand geriatric party attempting to come out of a 27-year coma, convinced that the road to Delhi runs through Lucknow. Bereft of any caste or community leader of repute or stature, it has imported an ageing Sheila Dikshit from Delhi hoping to tap into Brahmin sympathy, and fallen back on a Gandhi to do a bleeding-heart campaign. With no tangible wave either in favour or against any of the main contenders, the curious vacuum came to be filled with public anger over the Uri attack that claimed the lives of 18 foot-soldiers of the Indian Army and the euphoria/critique over the surgical strikes across/along the LoC. The triumphalism that inevitably crept into the BJP pitch has skewed the poll prospects of the others. It has created a scenario where the Prime Minister can be projected with the enhanced image of a doer and avenger. Hot pursuit without a single casualty affords a victory slogan without the debilitating effects of a real war. Its too much to expect that it would not be milched for electoral benefit. The 1971 war victory that led to the formation of Bangladesh, courtesy the Indian Army, may not have yielded Indira Gandhi immediate electoral benefit-- the war began in October 71-and by 1977 she was out of power, post the terrible decision of Emergency. But the Congress has never been shy of claiming credit for 1971, Rahul Gandhis mere daadi ne Pakistan ke do tukde kar diye statement being a pointer. However, the Congress, having failed to make political hay out of a similar cross-border strike in 2011, Operation Ginger, now says that covert surgical strikes cannot be used for electoral benefit. From accusing the BJP and the PM of trading in the blood of soldiers to asking the Government to provide proof of the surgical strike to disprove Pakistani propaganda that it never took place, the Congress has been on a daily sparring bout with the BJP not exactly wanting in returning fire. This our strike versus your strike has virtually overshadowed all other issues, even the fact that Jammu and Kashmir has come to a standstill. The credit-taking is not confined to the two national parties, SP chief Mulayam Singh has since claimed that the Prime Minister decided to give a go-ahead to the surgical strikes on his advice, and BSP chief Mayawati claimed the PM forgot to mention the Army as Ram when he came to burn the effigy of Ravana at a Lucknow Dussehra. The calculations are obvious. The BJP would like to unify the majority voters, Hindus to be more precise, with the avenging acts against Pakistan. Mayawati, anticipating consolidation of Dalit votes, has asked the Muslims not to waste their votes on the SP and the Congress. The SP wants to retain its Yadav plus backward votes with a bit of Thakur and the minority votes on the side to see itself through. And the Congress wants to reclaim its Dalit, Muslim and Brahmin vote bank (without a single local leader from any these castes or communities to bring them back to the fold) to push the state towards a hung assembly. In this see-saw battle, the poster war and heightened rhetoric over terror is the only way to try make the mandate decisive. In this season of credit-taking and blame-giving, no one is moving gingerly. No doubt the scent of elections excites all sorts of political hormones, and all sides claim the licence for a spot of soapbox oratory. And to be fair, Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur form a high-stakes game for everyone as the year turns. With many small, individual stakes that, cumulatively, can affect the big picture. In tiny Goa, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is the defending champion, by proxy. In Punjab, the Akali-BJP alliance is hoping to cling on to power third time in a row against the Captains Congress and what could be called a start-up company, Arvind Kejriwals Aam Adami Party. Uttarakhand and Goa are also places where the Congress is battling to retain its last few footprints in state politics. But the contest is nowhere as fierce as it is in Uttar Pradesh-the biggest Indian state, by landmass, population and the electoral numbers it throws up. AMIT BANDREFor the first time in two decades, a party wrenched majority in the Lok Sabha when it swept UP. The battle for Lucknow, therefore, is loaded with all sorts of political consequences. With the Uri terror attack and a retaliatory surgical strike providing the background score, the verbal fusillade has touched deafening levels. The Indian Army has become unwitting fodder for a verbal duel-with no less than four parties and their rent-aquotes trying to outdo each other to take credit for their operations, overt and covert, past and present. Why issues have to be outsourced in a state election can be obtained in UP itself: all four contestants want the focus a tad diverted. Of the local claimants, young Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs Samajwadi Party is looking a bit frayed at the edges thanks to a recent family fracas he had with his patriarch Mulayam Singh and his brother Shivpal Yadav. His closest rival, former CM Mayawati, is seeing her best shot at a return marred by considerable attrition in her party -- this despite her reputation as a comparatively good implementer of law and order in a semi-feudal, caste-ridden state, and fine record as a developer of state infrastructure (never mind the strange Ambedkar parks with her own statues rubbing shoulders with that of Dalit icons.) As for the national parties, the BJP, hoping to wrench the assembly away from the two regional satraps after a decade, has everything to gain by resorting to the vocabulary of national security. Its natural that two of its top leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home-grown Home Minister Rajnath Singh, are at hand. That is not counting the Rasputin-like Defence Minister Parrikar, who shoots from the mouth to compliment the Indian armed forces and himself in the same breath. And lastly, the grand geriatric party attempting to come out of a 27-year coma, convinced that the road to Delhi runs through Lucknow. Bereft of any caste or community leader of repute or stature, it has imported an ageing Sheila Dikshit from Delhi hoping to tap into Brahmin sympathy, and fallen back on a Gandhi to do a bleeding-heart campaign. With no tangible wave either in favour or against any of the main contenders, the curious vacuum came to be filled with public anger over the Uri attack that claimed the lives of 18 foot-soldiers of the Indian Army and the euphoria/critique over the surgical strikes across/along the LoC. The triumphalism that inevitably crept into the BJP pitch has skewed the poll prospects of the others. It has created a scenario where the Prime Minister can be projected with the enhanced image of a doer and avenger. Hot pursuit without a single casualty affords a victory slogan without the debilitating effects of a real war. Its too much to expect that it would not be milched for electoral benefit. The 1971 war victory that led to the formation of Bangladesh, courtesy the Indian Army, may not have yielded Indira Gandhi immediate electoral benefit-- the war began in October 71-and by 1977 she was out of power, post the terrible decision of Emergency. But the Congress has never been shy of claiming credit for 1971, Rahul Gandhis mere daadi ne Pakistan ke do tukde kar diye statement being a pointer. However, the Congress, having failed to make political hay out of a similar cross-border strike in 2011, Operation Ginger, now says that covert surgical strikes cannot be used for electoral benefit. From accusing the BJP and the PM of trading in the blood of soldiers to asking the Government to provide proof of the surgical strike to disprove Pakistani propaganda that it never took place, the Congress has been on a daily sparring bout with the BJP not exactly wanting in returning fire. This our strike versus your strike has virtually overshadowed all other issues, even the fact that Jammu and Kashmir has come to a standstill. The credit-taking is not confined to the two national parties, SP chief Mulayam Singh has since claimed that the Prime Minister decided to give a go-ahead to the surgical strikes on his advice, and BSP chief Mayawati claimed the PM forgot to mention the Army as Ram when he came to burn the effigy of Ravana at a Lucknow Dussehra. The calculations are obvious. The BJP would like to unify the majority voters, Hindus to be more precise, with the avenging acts against Pakistan. Mayawati, anticipating consolidation of Dalit votes, has asked the Muslims not to waste their votes on the SP and the Congress. The SP wants to retain its Yadav plus backward votes with a bit of Thakur and the minority votes on the side to see itself through. And the Congress wants to reclaim its Dalit, Muslim and Brahmin vote bank (without a single local leader from any these castes or communities to bring them back to the fold) to push the state towards a hung assembly. In this see-saw battle, the poster war and heightened rhetoric over terror is the only way to try make the mandate decisive. By Express News Service BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and BJP leaders continued to cross swords on finding an amicable solution to the Mahadayi water dispute through negotiations between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. BJP leaders had said that Opposition Congress leaders of Goa and Maharashtra too should have been persuaded to participate in the talks to be held between the chief ministers of the three states in Mumbai on October 21. Reacting to this, Siddaramaiah said, BJP leaders should stop finding fault where none exist. The scheduled meeting on October 21 is a meeting of the chief ministers of the three states, not a meeting of leaders of Opposition parties. It is not right to trigger new controversies when the need is to find an amicable solution for the Mahadayi river water dispute through cordial talks. BJP leaders should understand that there are other opposition parties like NCP apart from Congress in Maharashtra and Goa, Siddaramaiah said. What is the use of BJP leaders meeting the Maharashtra CM to resolve the issue? Ideally they should have met the Goa CM, he added. Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting of floor leaders in both the Houses of the state legislature, MPs and MLAs of northern Karnataka on October 19 to discuss the states strategy ahead of the talks. BJP differs with CM BJP leaders will participate in the all-party meeting convened by the chief minister on on October 19, party state president B S Yeddyurappa said here on Thursday. Yeddyurappa reiterated that the leaders of the Opposition of both the Houses of all the three states should be invited to the meeting of the chief ministers. He appealed to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge to persuade the Opposition leaders of Goa and Maharashtra to participate in the meeting. Opposition leader in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar demanded withdrawal of false cases booked against those who participated in the Kalasa-Banduri agitation in northern Karnataka. Cases were slapped against 187 protesters, Shettar said. He also wanted the state government to make public the probe report on the alleged police excesses on the protesters. Complaint against CM over electoral malpractice Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs recent speech at a public meeting in Mysuru about his victory in previous elections could land him in trouble. The CM, during his address recalled the mandate the people of Varuna constituency gave him in 2008 and 2013. He claimed that in some villages he polled 100 per cent votes and said that going by the vote count, even the dead had voted for him. Marilingagowda Patil, an activist, who lodged a complaint, urged the Election Commission to conduct an investigation into the claim and ascertain if irregularities had been committed during the polling and if unfair means were adopted to ensure his victory. BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and BJP leaders continued to cross swords on finding an amicable solution to the Mahadayi water dispute through negotiations between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. BJP leaders had said that Opposition Congress leaders of Goa and Maharashtra too should have been persuaded to participate in the talks to be held between the chief ministers of the three states in Mumbai on October 21. Reacting to this, Siddaramaiah said, BJP leaders should stop finding fault where none exist. The scheduled meeting on October 21 is a meeting of the chief ministers of the three states, not a meeting of leaders of Opposition parties. It is not right to trigger new controversies when the need is to find an amicable solution for the Mahadayi river water dispute through cordial talks. BJP leaders should understand that there are other opposition parties like NCP apart from Congress in Maharashtra and Goa, Siddaramaiah said. What is the use of BJP leaders meeting the Maharashtra CM to resolve the issue? Ideally they should have met the Goa CM, he added. Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting of floor leaders in both the Houses of the state legislature, MPs and MLAs of northern Karnataka on October 19 to discuss the states strategy ahead of the talks. BJP differs with CM BJP leaders will participate in the all-party meeting convened by the chief minister on on October 19, party state president B S Yeddyurappa said here on Thursday. Yeddyurappa reiterated that the leaders of the Opposition of both the Houses of all the three states should be invited to the meeting of the chief ministers. He appealed to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge to persuade the Opposition leaders of Goa and Maharashtra to participate in the meeting. Opposition leader in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar demanded withdrawal of false cases booked against those who participated in the Kalasa-Banduri agitation in northern Karnataka. Cases were slapped against 187 protesters, Shettar said. He also wanted the state government to make public the probe report on the alleged police excesses on the protesters. Complaint against CM over electoral malpractice Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs recent speech at a public meeting in Mysuru about his victory in previous elections could land him in trouble. The CM, during his address recalled the mandate the people of Varuna constituency gave him in 2008 and 2013. He claimed that in some villages he polled 100 per cent votes and said that going by the vote count, even the dead had voted for him. Marilingagowda Patil, an activist, who lodged a complaint, urged the Election Commission to conduct an investigation into the claim and ascertain if irregularities had been committed during the polling and if unfair means were adopted to ensure his victory. By Express News Service MYSURU: University of Mysore (UoM) in collaboration with Franco-Indian Film Society (FIFS), France, will set up a School of Cinema and Television in the city. The foundation stone for the same was laid in the city by France based Indologist Tara Micheal on Friday in the presence of Madhu Thyagarajan, founder of FIFS. The new school will be housed in a 20-acre campus at the foot of the Chamundi Hills with state of the art facilities. With an ambiance of a film city, the school will be open to experiment and to produce films for the international market. The classes will begin from the academic year 2017-18 at School of Design located in Senate Bhavan until the new building is constructed. Vice-chancellor prof. K S Rangappa said the FIFS will construct the new school building with its own resources. Named Franco-Indian School of Cinema and Television, Mysuru (FICTUM), the infrastructure will offer 31 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and master degrees, and Ph.D programmes in the area of Cinematography, Script Writing, Editing, Direction, Sound Engineering, Costume Designing, Dance, Choreography and Lighting. The curriculum is designed, developed and will be delivered by both European and Indian faculty. Also the Indian faculty will be trained hands-on at universal studios across the globe for the present day technology in making of films. MYSURU: University of Mysore (UoM) in collaboration with Franco-Indian Film Society (FIFS), France, will set up a School of Cinema and Television in the city. The foundation stone for the same was laid in the city by France based Indologist Tara Micheal on Friday in the presence of Madhu Thyagarajan, founder of FIFS. The new school will be housed in a 20-acre campus at the foot of the Chamundi Hills with state of the art facilities. With an ambiance of a film city, the school will be open to experiment and to produce films for the international market. The classes will begin from the academic year 2017-18 at School of Design located in Senate Bhavan until the new building is constructed. Vice-chancellor prof. K S Rangappa said the FIFS will construct the new school building with its own resources. Named Franco-Indian School of Cinema and Television, Mysuru (FICTUM), the infrastructure will offer 31 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and master degrees, and Ph.D programmes in the area of Cinematography, Script Writing, Editing, Direction, Sound Engineering, Costume Designing, Dance, Choreography and Lighting. The curriculum is designed, developed and will be delivered by both European and Indian faculty. Also the Indian faculty will be trained hands-on at universal studios across the globe for the present day technology in making of films. Mathew A Thomas By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The allegations of nepotism against Industries Minister E P Jayarajan could not have come at a better time for the Congress-led Opposition UDF. As the state is poised to witness a political climax on the fast pace of developments centred around Jayarajan, the Opposition, which already scored brownie points in the self-financing (SF) medical college fee issue, finds that Dame Luck has finally smiled on it. The issues dogging the four-month old Pinarayi Vijayan government has given some badly-needed ammunition to the Opposition, which was suffering a rough patch after the rout in Assembly polls and the exit of Kerala Congress(M) from the alliance. The Jayarajan issue has also allowed it to reinvent its striking power and prove that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cannot simply steamroll everything. Adding to it are the unabated political violence and killings in Kannur. Several other issues concern the people, including the hike on registration and stamp duty for family partition deeds, which the UDF will take up soon unless the government withdraws it, former CM Oommen Chandy told Express. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala remarked, In fact, the Left government lost its moorings through its various policies and approach in issues like the SF fee issue. The actions of ministers like Jayarajan have compounded it. There will be no slowdown in the UDF stirs, he added. When the second session of the 14th Kerala Assembly resumes business on Monday (October 17) after a 12-day recess, the government will be on a really weak wicket, as it is almost certain that Jayarajan may lose his chair for his alleged actions. The Quick Verification ordered by the Vigilance against him dealt a big blow to the Left camp. Congress has taken a strong stand that acts of nepotism under the CPM-led government are tantamount to corruption and there will be no compromise in their demands to bring all those guilty to book. Rattled after the setback in the assembly polls, the UDF finds the current scenario a big turning point, politically, opined KPCC Vice-President V D Satheesan. He added: If the government faux pas in the SF fee issue was due to lack of homework, the appointment row is stemmed from the arrogance and hegemony of CPM. The CPM indulged in such practices earlier, too, but the CM was forced to yield now only because his trusted lieutenant was caught red-handed. At present, UDF is closely watching the controversies surrounding the Left government, while also scanning actions of ruling coalition partners, especially CPI. It is also following the growing differences of opinion in the CPM camp, between Kannur lobby and others, and its likely fallout. The UDF feels the gulf will only widen as long as Pinarayi Vijayan is heading the government.The oppositions job will be rather easy now. We were expecting all this, but not in such a short timespan, commented a top Congress leader. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The allegations of nepotism against Industries Minister E P Jayarajan could not have come at a better time for the Congress-led Opposition UDF. As the state is poised to witness a political climax on the fast pace of developments centred around Jayarajan, the Opposition, which already scored brownie points in the self-financing (SF) medical college fee issue, finds that Dame Luck has finally smiled on it. The issues dogging the four-month old Pinarayi Vijayan government has given some badly-needed ammunition to the Opposition, which was suffering a rough patch after the rout in Assembly polls and the exit of Kerala Congress(M) from the alliance. The Jayarajan issue has also allowed it to reinvent its striking power and prove that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cannot simply steamroll everything. Adding to it are the unabated political violence and killings in Kannur. Several other issues concern the people, including the hike on registration and stamp duty for family partition deeds, which the UDF will take up soon unless the government withdraws it, former CM Oommen Chandy told Express. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala remarked, In fact, the Left government lost its moorings through its various policies and approach in issues like the SF fee issue. The actions of ministers like Jayarajan have compounded it. There will be no slowdown in the UDF stirs, he added. When the second session of the 14th Kerala Assembly resumes business on Monday (October 17) after a 12-day recess, the government will be on a really weak wicket, as it is almost certain that Jayarajan may lose his chair for his alleged actions. The Quick Verification ordered by the Vigilance against him dealt a big blow to the Left camp. Congress has taken a strong stand that acts of nepotism under the CPM-led government are tantamount to corruption and there will be no compromise in their demands to bring all those guilty to book. Rattled after the setback in the assembly polls, the UDF finds the current scenario a big turning point, politically, opined KPCC Vice-President V D Satheesan. He added: If the government faux pas in the SF fee issue was due to lack of homework, the appointment row is stemmed from the arrogance and hegemony of CPM. The CPM indulged in such practices earlier, too, but the CM was forced to yield now only because his trusted lieutenant was caught red-handed. At present, UDF is closely watching the controversies surrounding the Left government, while also scanning actions of ruling coalition partners, especially CPI. It is also following the growing differences of opinion in the CPM camp, between Kannur lobby and others, and its likely fallout. The UDF feels the gulf will only widen as long as Pinarayi Vijayan is heading the government.The oppositions job will be rather easy now. We were expecting all this, but not in such a short timespan, commented a top Congress leader. By PTI BEIJING: China plans to launch an X-ray pulsar navigation satellite next month to test autonomous spacecraft navigation, the country's Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Fifth Academy said today. X-ray pulsar navigation is an innovative navigation technique in which periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space, said Shuai Ping, chief system designer of the satellite. The satellite (XPNAV-1), developed by CASC Fifth Academy, weighs more than 200 kilogrammes and carries two detectors, state run Xinhua news agency reported. In its mission, the satellite will test the detectors' functions in responding to the background noise of the universe, outline pulsar contours, and create a database for pulsar navigation, the academy said. X-ray pulsar navigation techniques will help reduce the reliance of spacecraft on ground-based navigation methods and are expected to achieve autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future, it said. BEIJING: China plans to launch an X-ray pulsar navigation satellite next month to test autonomous spacecraft navigation, the country's Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Fifth Academy said today. X-ray pulsar navigation is an innovative navigation technique in which periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space, said Shuai Ping, chief system designer of the satellite. The satellite (XPNAV-1), developed by CASC Fifth Academy, weighs more than 200 kilogrammes and carries two detectors, state run Xinhua news agency reported. In its mission, the satellite will test the detectors' functions in responding to the background noise of the universe, outline pulsar contours, and create a database for pulsar navigation, the academy said. X-ray pulsar navigation techniques will help reduce the reliance of spacecraft on ground-based navigation methods and are expected to achieve autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future, it said. By PTI WASHINGTON: Terming Hillary Clinton as a "criminal" who destroyed 33,000 emails, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed that media is the greatest weapon wielded by his Democratic rival. "Right now, our government has been taken hostage by global special interests that will stop at nothing to drain every last ounce of wealth from this country for their personal benefit," Trump told his supporters at an election rally in Cincinnati, Ohio yesterday. "The greatest weapon wielded by the Clinton Machine is the media. The WikiLeaks emails show that the Clinton Machine and the Corporate Media are one in the same they collaborate and conspire together," he said. Claiming that the Washington establishment will stop at nothing to stop him and his supporters, Trump, 70, said these are the people who had given the country decades of endless wars producing only death and bloodshed, but no victory. "These are the same people who have flung our doors open to Radical Islam, putting us on the same path to France of multigenerational struggles with violence and extremism embedded in our communities. These are the people who've allowed violent international cartels to invade our country and prey on our most vulnerable citizens. Victims like Marilyn Pharis, raped by an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record and beaten to death with a hammer," he said. "These are the people who've let drugs pour into our country and poising our children. These are the people who emptied the jobs out of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina and shipped them to other countries," Trump said. He said that the political powers trying to stop him are the people who've stripped the jobs form inner cities, trapped millions of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in impoverished, crime-besieged neighborhoods, and left 70 million American women and child in poverty or near the brink of poverty. "At the center of this assault on American prosperity is the Clinton Machine. They don't work for you, they don't work for America, the work only for themselves and their donors including foreign government and foreign actors," he alleged. "Hillary Clinton is a criminal who destroyed 33,000 emails after a Congressional Subpoena. She ignored hundreds of requests for security in Benghazi, causing the deaths of four brave Americans and then she lied to the faces of the grieving parents about the reason for the attack," he said. He alleged that Clinton defended a man who violently and viciously raped a 12-year-old girl by horribly smearing and blaming the victim and then she laughed about getting the rapist off the hook. "Speaking in secret to a foreign bank, Hillary pledged her support for 'open borders'. That means tens of millions of new foreign workers to compete against you for your jobs, your wages, your futures she's selling out the future of young American, of all backgrounds, to enrich her donors," he said. WASHINGTON: Terming Hillary Clinton as a "criminal" who destroyed 33,000 emails, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed that media is the greatest weapon wielded by his Democratic rival. "Right now, our government has been taken hostage by global special interests that will stop at nothing to drain every last ounce of wealth from this country for their personal benefit," Trump told his supporters at an election rally in Cincinnati, Ohio yesterday. "The greatest weapon wielded by the Clinton Machine is the media. The WikiLeaks emails show that the Clinton Machine and the Corporate Media are one in the same they collaborate and conspire together," he said. Claiming that the Washington establishment will stop at nothing to stop him and his supporters, Trump, 70, said these are the people who had given the country decades of endless wars producing only death and bloodshed, but no victory. "These are the same people who have flung our doors open to Radical Islam, putting us on the same path to France of multigenerational struggles with violence and extremism embedded in our communities. These are the people who've allowed violent international cartels to invade our country and prey on our most vulnerable citizens. Victims like Marilyn Pharis, raped by an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record and beaten to death with a hammer," he said. "These are the people who've let drugs pour into our country and poising our children. These are the people who emptied the jobs out of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina and shipped them to other countries," Trump said. He said that the political powers trying to stop him are the people who've stripped the jobs form inner cities, trapped millions of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in impoverished, crime-besieged neighborhoods, and left 70 million American women and child in poverty or near the brink of poverty. "At the center of this assault on American prosperity is the Clinton Machine. They don't work for you, they don't work for America, the work only for themselves and their donors including foreign government and foreign actors," he alleged. "Hillary Clinton is a criminal who destroyed 33,000 emails after a Congressional Subpoena. She ignored hundreds of requests for security in Benghazi, causing the deaths of four brave Americans and then she lied to the faces of the grieving parents about the reason for the attack," he said. He alleged that Clinton defended a man who violently and viciously raped a 12-year-old girl by horribly smearing and blaming the victim and then she laughed about getting the rapist off the hook. "Speaking in secret to a foreign bank, Hillary pledged her support for 'open borders'. That means tens of millions of new foreign workers to compete against you for your jobs, your wages, your futures she's selling out the future of young American, of all backgrounds, to enrich her donors," he said. By Associated Press CHICAGO: A Chicago disability rights group sued Uber Thursday over wheelchair accessibility, arguing that the mobile ride-hailing company's adherence to federal disability laws "ranges from token to non-existent" despite its expanding role in the nation's transportation system. The 19-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago on behalf of Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago and several individuals, seeks an order requiring that Uber comply with the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA, by making far more wheelchair-accessible vehicles available. "(Uber's) position threatens a return to the isolation and segregation that the disability rights movement has fought to overcome," the filing says. A Chicago spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Uber, Molly Spaeth, emailed a brief statement that didn't address specific allegations in the lawsuit. It said Uber is committed to "increasing mobility and freedom for all riders and drivers, including those members of our communities who are disabled." Both Uber and rival Lyft, which allow customers to use a cellphone app to pay drivers who use their own cars, have argued previously that they are technology, not transportation firms, and so aren't subject to the ADA, considered landmark legislation in bids for equal rights for the disabled. A few related suits have been filed elsewhere. Uber and advocates for the blind this year reached a settlement in San Francisco in which Uber agreed to require that drivers confirm they understand their legal obligations to transport riders with guide dogs or other service animals. Uber didn't admit any liability and denied violating any laws. What distinguishes the new suit is that it seeks a definitive ruling about whether the ADA applies to Uber and similar companies, said Access Living attorney Charles Petrof. "Once this is resolved with Uber, the rest of the industry will have to follow," he said. The ADA contains an exemption for taxi companies on wheelchair-accessibility rules, but such requirements do apply to cabs in Chicago due to a local ordinance, Petrof said. Advocates tried but failed to push through provisions that would force Uber and similar companies to meet the same city requirements. If Uber isn't a cab company it could be subject to the ADA requirements, but if it is, the Chicago ordinance could apply, Petrof said. Uber does offer a service called UberWAV, which allows would-be customers to locate vehicles with ramps or lifts. But Thursday's suit says Uber's mobile map frequently indicates that no such vehicles are available anywhere in or near Chicago. In an attempt to demonstrate how hard it is for disabled people to utilize Uber, the suit cites data that Uber provided nearly 2 million rides in Chicago in June of last year alone. But it says Uber gave just 14 rides to motorized wheelchair users over a four-year period starting in 2011. Rahnee Patrick, a plaintiff in the case who uses a wheelchair, says the lack of suitable Uber vehicles shouldn't force her and her husband to travel separately. "Going to dinner with my husband should be the same for me as it is for everyone else," she said in a statement released by Access Living. There are around 200 wheelchair-accessible Chicago cabs, Petrof said. To approach similar levels of service, he said Uber should have similar numbers available. CHICAGO: A Chicago disability rights group sued Uber Thursday over wheelchair accessibility, arguing that the mobile ride-hailing company's adherence to federal disability laws "ranges from token to non-existent" despite its expanding role in the nation's transportation system. The 19-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago on behalf of Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago and several individuals, seeks an order requiring that Uber comply with the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA, by making far more wheelchair-accessible vehicles available. "(Uber's) position threatens a return to the isolation and segregation that the disability rights movement has fought to overcome," the filing says. A Chicago spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Uber, Molly Spaeth, emailed a brief statement that didn't address specific allegations in the lawsuit. It said Uber is committed to "increasing mobility and freedom for all riders and drivers, including those members of our communities who are disabled." Both Uber and rival Lyft, which allow customers to use a cellphone app to pay drivers who use their own cars, have argued previously that they are technology, not transportation firms, and so aren't subject to the ADA, considered landmark legislation in bids for equal rights for the disabled. A few related suits have been filed elsewhere. Uber and advocates for the blind this year reached a settlement in San Francisco in which Uber agreed to require that drivers confirm they understand their legal obligations to transport riders with guide dogs or other service animals. Uber didn't admit any liability and denied violating any laws. What distinguishes the new suit is that it seeks a definitive ruling about whether the ADA applies to Uber and similar companies, said Access Living attorney Charles Petrof. "Once this is resolved with Uber, the rest of the industry will have to follow," he said. The ADA contains an exemption for taxi companies on wheelchair-accessibility rules, but such requirements do apply to cabs in Chicago due to a local ordinance, Petrof said. Advocates tried but failed to push through provisions that would force Uber and similar companies to meet the same city requirements. If Uber isn't a cab company it could be subject to the ADA requirements, but if it is, the Chicago ordinance could apply, Petrof said. Uber does offer a service called UberWAV, which allows would-be customers to locate vehicles with ramps or lifts. But Thursday's suit says Uber's mobile map frequently indicates that no such vehicles are available anywhere in or near Chicago. In an attempt to demonstrate how hard it is for disabled people to utilize Uber, the suit cites data that Uber provided nearly 2 million rides in Chicago in June of last year alone. But it says Uber gave just 14 rides to motorized wheelchair users over a four-year period starting in 2011. Rahnee Patrick, a plaintiff in the case who uses a wheelchair, says the lack of suitable Uber vehicles shouldn't force her and her husband to travel separately. "Going to dinner with my husband should be the same for me as it is for everyone else," she said in a statement released by Access Living. There are around 200 wheelchair-accessible Chicago cabs, Petrof said. To approach similar levels of service, he said Uber should have similar numbers available. PK Balachandran By Express News Service COLOMBO: The formation of a Hindu political group Siva Senai (Sivas Army), with the vowed purpose of defending Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus from other religious groups and securing for the Hindus their rightful place in Tamil political parties commensurate with their dominant status in Tamil society, is seen by observers as a regressive development in Sri Lankan Tamil politics. Veteran columnist D.B.S.Jeyaraj sees it as an attempt to bring back an inter-religious division in Tamil politics which was there in the first three decades of post-independence Sri Lanka. Jeyaraj remembered that in the 1970 parliamentary election in Kakesanthurai, C.Suntharalingam, an orthodox Hindu, had challenged Samuel. J.V.Chelvanayakam, the Christian leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), by asking voters to choose between the Siluvai and the Soolam the Cross and Trishul. But the largely secular Tamils chose neither and voted for Chelvanayakam. the Christian leader of the secular Federal Party. Tamils generally ignored communal appeals and sent many Christians like Alfred Duraiappah, C.X.Martyn and Joseph Pararajasingham to parliament, Jeyaraj said. In the era of militancy, from 1983 to 2009, the secular Tamil Tigers did not allow religious affiliations to split the Tamils. In fact, the Catholics played a key role under in the LTTE as they did in the democratic phase of the Tamil movement earlier. But the moment the over-arching control of the Tamil Tigers ceased, following their military defeat in May 2009, religious divisions began to appear as one of the instruments of political mobilization. Just as the re-eminence of Chelvanayakam was resented in the early days, the present day pre-eminence of M.Abraham Sumanthiran in the ITAK, is resented by a section of Hindu Tamils. Not surprisingly, the Siva Senai is targeting Sumanthiran. Parading a Hindu identity, which was not a part of Sri Lankan Tamil politics earlier, is no longer taboo. The Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran wears all the hallmarks of an orthodox Hindu and makes it a point to start his speeches with a Sanskrit sloka. He is also close to Hindu institutions in Sri Lanka and India. Interestingly, he has a running battle going on with Sumanthiran, whose pre-eminence in the ITAK he resents. Former MP, Murugesu Chandrakumar, who wants Tamil leaders to look into caste inequalities and social injustices in Sri Lankan Tamil society, feels that the Siva Senais decision to ignore the internal problems of Hindu society and to focus on the external threats, will only perpetuate age old injustices in Sri Lankan Hindu society. Economist and social activist Ahilan Kadirgamar says that a Seva Senai modeled after the militant Shiv Sena of Maharashtra can become uncontrollable. But Rajan Hoole ,who has chronicled human rights violations, believes that Siva Senai will fail just as previous attempts to infuse communalism failed. A comment on Facebook asked if the leaders of the Siva Senai know that the Indian Shiv Sena had opened its political innings by bashing up Tamils in Mumbai. Some like Thirnavukkarasu Gopahan of the Green Trincomalee Movement, see India hand in the formation of Siva Senai. India is again trying to shape the politics of Tamil politics in North Sri Lanka Gopahan said in a Facebook posting. The Siva Senai has made no secret of its intention to get funds from India primarily. One of the Senais founders, S.Yogeswaran MP, is close to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. COLOMBO: The formation of a Hindu political group Siva Senai (Sivas Army), with the vowed purpose of defending Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus from other religious groups and securing for the Hindus their rightful place in Tamil political parties commensurate with their dominant status in Tamil society, is seen by observers as a regressive development in Sri Lankan Tamil politics. Veteran columnist D.B.S.Jeyaraj sees it as an attempt to bring back an inter-religious division in Tamil politics which was there in the first three decades of post-independence Sri Lanka. Jeyaraj remembered that in the 1970 parliamentary election in Kakesanthurai, C.Suntharalingam, an orthodox Hindu, had challenged Samuel. J.V.Chelvanayakam, the Christian leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), by asking voters to choose between the Siluvai and the Soolam the Cross and Trishul. But the largely secular Tamils chose neither and voted for Chelvanayakam. the Christian leader of the secular Federal Party. Tamils generally ignored communal appeals and sent many Christians like Alfred Duraiappah, C.X.Martyn and Joseph Pararajasingham to parliament, Jeyaraj said. In the era of militancy, from 1983 to 2009, the secular Tamil Tigers did not allow religious affiliations to split the Tamils. In fact, the Catholics played a key role under in the LTTE as they did in the democratic phase of the Tamil movement earlier. But the moment the over-arching control of the Tamil Tigers ceased, following their military defeat in May 2009, religious divisions began to appear as one of the instruments of political mobilization. Just as the re-eminence of Chelvanayakam was resented in the early days, the present day pre-eminence of M.Abraham Sumanthiran in the ITAK, is resented by a section of Hindu Tamils. Not surprisingly, the Siva Senai is targeting Sumanthiran. Parading a Hindu identity, which was not a part of Sri Lankan Tamil politics earlier, is no longer taboo. The Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran wears all the hallmarks of an orthodox Hindu and makes it a point to start his speeches with a Sanskrit sloka. He is also close to Hindu institutions in Sri Lanka and India. Interestingly, he has a running battle going on with Sumanthiran, whose pre-eminence in the ITAK he resents. Former MP, Murugesu Chandrakumar, who wants Tamil leaders to look into caste inequalities and social injustices in Sri Lankan Tamil society, feels that the Siva Senais decision to ignore the internal problems of Hindu society and to focus on the external threats, will only perpetuate age old injustices in Sri Lankan Hindu society. Economist and social activist Ahilan Kadirgamar says that a Seva Senai modeled after the militant Shiv Sena of Maharashtra can become uncontrollable. But Rajan Hoole ,who has chronicled human rights violations, believes that Siva Senai will fail just as previous attempts to infuse communalism failed. A comment on Facebook asked if the leaders of the Siva Senai know that the Indian Shiv Sena had opened its political innings by bashing up Tamils in Mumbai. Some like Thirnavukkarasu Gopahan of the Green Trincomalee Movement, see India hand in the formation of Siva Senai. India is again trying to shape the politics of Tamil politics in North Sri Lanka Gopahan said in a Facebook posting. The Siva Senai has made no secret of its intention to get funds from India primarily. One of the Senais founders, S.Yogeswaran MP, is close to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. By IANS WASHINGTON: US first lady Michelle Obama has urged all Americans to say "enough is enough" to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's "intolerable" treatment of women, as "this is not normal and cannot be ignored". "This wasn't just locker room banter, this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour," Obama said on Thursday at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire, Efe news reported. "Enough is enough, this has got to stop right now," the first lady said, adding that Trump's comments have "shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted." "It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable," she added. Obama admitted at the rally that since the release on last Friday of a 2005 videotape on which Trump can be heard making lewd and sexist comments about women, she had been unable to stop thinking about the fact that a candidate for president had bragged about sexually assaulting women. "The men in my life do not talk about women like this," she said. "This is not how decent human beings behave and this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the US behaves." Trump has called his comments on the videotape "locker room talk" and has issued heated denials of claims by several women that he sexually assaulted them, as reported by The New York Times and People magazine, calling the stories politically-motivated and threatening to file a defamation suit against the Times. "The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION," the billionaire said on Twitter. WASHINGTON: US first lady Michelle Obama has urged all Americans to say "enough is enough" to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's "intolerable" treatment of women, as "this is not normal and cannot be ignored". "This wasn't just locker room banter, this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour," Obama said on Thursday at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire, Efe news reported. "Enough is enough, this has got to stop right now," the first lady said, adding that Trump's comments have "shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted." "It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable," she added. Obama admitted at the rally that since the release on last Friday of a 2005 videotape on which Trump can be heard making lewd and sexist comments about women, she had been unable to stop thinking about the fact that a candidate for president had bragged about sexually assaulting women. "The men in my life do not talk about women like this," she said. "This is not how decent human beings behave and this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the US behaves." Trump has called his comments on the videotape "locker room talk" and has issued heated denials of claims by several women that he sexually assaulted them, as reported by The New York Times and People magazine, calling the stories politically-motivated and threatening to file a defamation suit against the Times. "The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION," the billionaire said on Twitter. By Associated Press JOHANNESBURG: Greenhouse gases that are more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Africa. Experts say cutting hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, is the fastest way to reduce global warming. The United States is among the countries that want the world to quickly phase out the use of HFCs, and Secretary of State John Kerry is there to encourage a deal. Here's a look at a potential global climate agreement that has been described by the Natural Resources Defense Council as "the world's biggest climate protection achievement in the year after Paris." ___ IT'S NOT ABOUT THE OZONE LAYER The ozone layer has been healing for a while, thanks to the global agreement known as the Montreal Protocol. In 1987, countries alarmed by the discovery of a huge hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica signed the treaty to eventually end the use of chlorofluorocarbons, which at the time were used in refrigerators and aerosols like hair spray. HFCs were introduced to replace CFCs, and scientists realized only later that they have a strong effect on global warming. Although HFCs don't harm the ozone layer, their ability to trap the heat radiating off the Earth is hundreds or thousands of times more potent than that of carbon dioxide. The U.N. Environment Program says that reducing HFCs under the treaty could reduce global warming by .5-degree Celsius by the end of this century and environmental groups say the step is essential to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. ___ WHERE THE U.S. AND CHINA AGREE The United States and China have their difficult issues, but the world's two worst polluters have pushed to fight climate change. The two heavyweights agreed in 2013 to pursue a deal to phase out HFCs, which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foams. The U.S. and China are urging the countries gathered this week in Kigali, Rwanda, to extend the Montreal Protocol to include HFCs. They also want agreement on an "early freeze date" for when countries must cap their use of them. The U.S. and India, the world's third worst polluter, also have agreed to try to use the treaty to phase out the chemical. ___ A THREAT AS URGENT AS EXTREMISTS? HFCs have been called the world's fastest-growing climate pollutants, though they are less plentiful than carbon dioxide. The growth comes as more people in developing countries make enough money to buy appliances. Last month, Kerry said HFCs currently emit as much pollution as 300 coal-fired power plants. At an international climate meeting in July for state parties to the Montreal Protocol, Kerry stressed the urgency of fighting climate change, saying it is as dangerous as the threat posed by the Islamic State and other extremist groups, if not more so. ___ AFRICAN, ISLAND STATES IN A HURRY Small island states and other countries, including many in Africa, that say they face the biggest threat from climate change are urging action on HFCs, and soon. At the July meeting by states parties to the treaty, many countries favored capping the growth of HFCs in 2021. China was said to prefer later in the decade, with India aiming at the end of it or beyond. Whatever the timing, less-developed countries are seeking help from richer ones to help them implement the treaty. JOHANNESBURG: Greenhouse gases that are more powerful than carbon dioxide are the focus of a global gathering this week in Africa. Experts say cutting hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, is the fastest way to reduce global warming. The United States is among the countries that want the world to quickly phase out the use of HFCs, and Secretary of State John Kerry is there to encourage a deal. Here's a look at a potential global climate agreement that has been described by the Natural Resources Defense Council as "the world's biggest climate protection achievement in the year after Paris." ___ IT'S NOT ABOUT THE OZONE LAYER The ozone layer has been healing for a while, thanks to the global agreement known as the Montreal Protocol. In 1987, countries alarmed by the discovery of a huge hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica signed the treaty to eventually end the use of chlorofluorocarbons, which at the time were used in refrigerators and aerosols like hair spray. HFCs were introduced to replace CFCs, and scientists realized only later that they have a strong effect on global warming. Although HFCs don't harm the ozone layer, their ability to trap the heat radiating off the Earth is hundreds or thousands of times more potent than that of carbon dioxide. The U.N. Environment Program says that reducing HFCs under the treaty could reduce global warming by .5-degree Celsius by the end of this century and environmental groups say the step is essential to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. ___ WHERE THE U.S. AND CHINA AGREE The United States and China have their difficult issues, but the world's two worst polluters have pushed to fight climate change. The two heavyweights agreed in 2013 to pursue a deal to phase out HFCs, which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foams. The U.S. and China are urging the countries gathered this week in Kigali, Rwanda, to extend the Montreal Protocol to include HFCs. They also want agreement on an "early freeze date" for when countries must cap their use of them. The U.S. and India, the world's third worst polluter, also have agreed to try to use the treaty to phase out the chemical. ___ A THREAT AS URGENT AS EXTREMISTS? HFCs have been called the world's fastest-growing climate pollutants, though they are less plentiful than carbon dioxide. The growth comes as more people in developing countries make enough money to buy appliances. Last month, Kerry said HFCs currently emit as much pollution as 300 coal-fired power plants. At an international climate meeting in July for state parties to the Montreal Protocol, Kerry stressed the urgency of fighting climate change, saying it is as dangerous as the threat posed by the Islamic State and other extremist groups, if not more so. ___ AFRICAN, ISLAND STATES IN A HURRY Small island states and other countries, including many in Africa, that say they face the biggest threat from climate change are urging action on HFCs, and soon. At the July meeting by states parties to the treaty, many countries favored capping the growth of HFCs in 2021. China was said to prefer later in the decade, with India aiming at the end of it or beyond. Whatever the timing, less-developed countries are seeking help from richer ones to help them implement the treaty. Alibaba is one of China's biggest online shopping sites. (Photo : Getty Images) China will host for the third time the World Internet Conference in Zhejiang Province in November. President Xi Jinping will be giving a speech via video, according to Ren Xianliang, deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). The conference is set for Nov. 16 to 18 and will be attended by Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. Advertisement Ren said, "The WIC will display leading technologies and achievements in China and the world's Internet development. " This year's conference theme is "Innovation-driven Internet development for the benefit of all--building a community of common future in cyberspace." There will be a special expo for 300 domestic and foreign leading Internet companies. There will also be 16 forums. According to the organizer, the WIC will discuss 20 Internet-related topics, including the economy, innovation, culture, regulation and collaboration in cyberspace. The first WIC in China was themed "an interconnected world shared and governed by all." "Join us in building up a peaceful, safe, open and cooperative cyberspace," urged Internet chief Lu Wei. However, human rights group Amnesty International criticized China for suppressing freedom of speech online and convinced other countries to do the same. In a statement, Amnesty International said, "Now China appears eager to promote its own domestic Internet rules as a model for global regulation. This should send a chill down the spine of anyone that values online freedom." Google's Eric Schmidt also criticized China's online censorship. He said, "You can't build a high-end, very sophisticated economy... with this kind of active censorship." Rupert Murdoch of News Corp commented that the level of high technology in communications "pose an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere." The Chinese online marketplace is still growing despite government regulation. At present, there are 600 million online consumers in China. By AFP WASHINGTON: Donald Trump savaged US media Thursday for reporting claims that he groped and forcibly kissed women -- allegations he insisted were "outright lies" -- as First Lady Michelle Obama blasted the Republican nominee in a campaign trail tirade. With just 26 days until Americans choose a successor to her husband on November 8, a visibly angry Obama delivered a fiery takedown of the real estate mogul and his "disgraceful" behavior. "Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say, enough is enough," Obama told a rally for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. "This has got to stop right now." But the 70-year-old billionaire was not cowed, castigating his accusers as "horrible liars" and decrying his Democratic rival as complicit in a coordinated media attempt to sabotage his campaign. Claims by at least six women have come to light in accounts reported by The New York Times, NBC, People Magazine and other outlets, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday's debate with Clinton that he never sexually assaulted women. Trump's accusers countered that statement, saying he made unwanted physical advances against them. With his campaign in free-fall, Trump lashed out in battleground Florida, denying the alleged incidents occurred. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it very well," Trump told a rally in West Palm Beach. "They're pure fiction. And they're outright lies." The attacks, he added, "are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies." Trump said his lawyers were preparing a lawsuit against The New York Times -- which published the accounts of two women who accused him of groping and kissing them -- unless the paper retracts the article. The Times refused to back down. "We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern," and Americans are entitled to hear the women's claims, the paper's assistant general counsel David McCraw said in a letter to Trump's lawyers. "If Mr Trump disagrees... we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight." 'Disgraceful, intolerable' The women's accusations surfaced days after a video emerged of Trump boasting in 2005 that his fame allowed him to grope women with impunity, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity. He has apologized and, trying to reverse his deficit in national polls to the 68-year-old Clinton, sought to minimize the comments as "locker room talk" -- a remark that went too far for the first lady. "This wasn't locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women," said Obama, 52. "It doesn't matter what party you belong to... no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse," she said. "This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable." Speaking in deeply personal terms, Obama said the Trump scandal "has shaken me to my core." The allegations against Trump suggest a decades-long pattern of sexually inappropriate behavior. Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman, told the Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the early 1980s, grabbing her breasts and reaching up her skirt. "He was like an octopus," Leeds said. "His hands were everywhere," she added. "It was an assault." Accuser Rachel Crooks said she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower in 2005 when she encountered Trump outside an elevator. After she introduced herself, he "kissed me directly on the mouth," she told the Times. 'Against the wall' A photographer's assistant alleged that Trump grabbed her rear end at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2003, while a former staff writer for People accused Trump of forcibly kissing her during an interview there in 2005. "Trump shut the door behind us," Natasha Stoynoff wrote. "I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." Trump dismissed the Stoynoff account out of hand. "Look at her. Look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so." Two beauty pageant contestants also accused Trump of either groping or forcibly kissing them. Trump rejected the claims again at a speech to young voters in Columbus, Ohio. "I never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories filed right before the election," he said. "I wonder if that had anything to do with this." With the campaign mudslinging in full force, Trump had repeatedly threatened to damage Clinton by reviving allegations of sexual misconduct by her husband. He made good on that promise by appearing with three of Bill Clinton's female accusers ahead of Sunday's debate, and alleging on stage that the former president was "abusive." He also turned deeply sinister Thursday, charging that Clinton met "in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers." Clinton, visiting a campaign field office in San Francisco, briefly addressed the ugliness of the presidential race. "We cannot let this pessimism, this dark and divisive and dangerous vision of America, take hold in anybody's heart," she said, adding that he has attacked more than just women. "There's hardly any part of America that he's not targeted." WASHINGTON: Donald Trump savaged US media Thursday for reporting claims that he groped and forcibly kissed women -- allegations he insisted were "outright lies" -- as First Lady Michelle Obama blasted the Republican nominee in a campaign trail tirade. With just 26 days until Americans choose a successor to her husband on November 8, a visibly angry Obama delivered a fiery takedown of the real estate mogul and his "disgraceful" behavior. "Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say, enough is enough," Obama told a rally for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. "This has got to stop right now." But the 70-year-old billionaire was not cowed, castigating his accusers as "horrible liars" and decrying his Democratic rival as complicit in a coordinated media attempt to sabotage his campaign. Claims by at least six women have come to light in accounts reported by The New York Times, NBC, People Magazine and other outlets, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday's debate with Clinton that he never sexually assaulted women. Trump's accusers countered that statement, saying he made unwanted physical advances against them. With his campaign in free-fall, Trump lashed out in battleground Florida, denying the alleged incidents occurred. "These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it very well," Trump told a rally in West Palm Beach. "They're pure fiction. And they're outright lies." The attacks, he added, "are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies." Trump said his lawyers were preparing a lawsuit against The New York Times -- which published the accounts of two women who accused him of groping and kissing them -- unless the paper retracts the article. The Times refused to back down. "We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern," and Americans are entitled to hear the women's claims, the paper's assistant general counsel David McCraw said in a letter to Trump's lawyers. "If Mr Trump disagrees... we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight." 'Disgraceful, intolerable' The women's accusations surfaced days after a video emerged of Trump boasting in 2005 that his fame allowed him to grope women with impunity, sending the White House race into unprecedented levels of vulgarity. He has apologized and, trying to reverse his deficit in national polls to the 68-year-old Clinton, sought to minimize the comments as "locker room talk" -- a remark that went too far for the first lady. "This wasn't locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women," said Obama, 52. "It doesn't matter what party you belong to... no woman deserves to be treated this way. No one deserves this kind of abuse," she said. "This is not normal. It is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable." Speaking in deeply personal terms, Obama said the Trump scandal "has shaken me to my core." The allegations against Trump suggest a decades-long pattern of sexually inappropriate behavior. Jessica Leeds, a 74-year-old former businesswoman, told the Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the early 1980s, grabbing her breasts and reaching up her skirt. "He was like an octopus," Leeds said. "His hands were everywhere," she added. "It was an assault." Accuser Rachel Crooks said she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower in 2005 when she encountered Trump outside an elevator. After she introduced herself, he "kissed me directly on the mouth," she told the Times. 'Against the wall' A photographer's assistant alleged that Trump grabbed her rear end at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2003, while a former staff writer for People accused Trump of forcibly kissing her during an interview there in 2005. "Trump shut the door behind us," Natasha Stoynoff wrote. "I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." Trump dismissed the Stoynoff account out of hand. "Look at her. Look at her words," he said. "You tell me what you think. I don't think so." Two beauty pageant contestants also accused Trump of either groping or forcibly kissing them. Trump rejected the claims again at a speech to young voters in Columbus, Ohio. "I never met these people. I don't even know who they are. They're made-up stories filed right before the election," he said. "I wonder if that had anything to do with this." With the campaign mudslinging in full force, Trump had repeatedly threatened to damage Clinton by reviving allegations of sexual misconduct by her husband. He made good on that promise by appearing with three of Bill Clinton's female accusers ahead of Sunday's debate, and alleging on stage that the former president was "abusive." He also turned deeply sinister Thursday, charging that Clinton met "in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers." Clinton, visiting a campaign field office in San Francisco, briefly addressed the ugliness of the presidential race. "We cannot let this pessimism, this dark and divisive and dangerous vision of America, take hold in anybody's heart," she said, adding that he has attacked more than just women. "There's hardly any part of America that he's not targeted." By PTI WASHINGTON: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that if voted to power he would recognise Jerusalem as "one true" capital of Israel. "I have said on numerous occasions that in a Trump Administration, the United States will recognise Jerusalem as the one true capital of Israel," Trump said last night. The UN's attempt to disconnect the State of Israel from Jerusalem is a one-sided attempt to ignore Israel's 3,000-year bond to its capital city, and is further evidence of the enormous anti-Israel bias of the world body, he alleged. "Jerusalem is the enduring capital of the Jewish People and the overwhelming majority of Congress has voted to recognise Jerusalem as just that," he claimed. "The decision by the Obama Administration to strike the word 'Israel' after the word 'Jerusalem' in the President's prepared text was a capitulation to Israel's enemies, and a posthumous embarrassment to Shimon Peres, whose memory the President was attempting to honour," Trump, 70, said. "In a Trump Administration, Israel will have a true, loyal and lasting friend in the United States of America," he said. Official US policy refrains from recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital until the Israel-Palestine conflict is resolved. Last month, when US President Barack Obama visited Jerusalem, the White House initially sent out a copy of Obama's remarks at former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres' funeral in Jerusalem, indicating that the remarks had been given in Jerusalem, Israel. But later, it sent out a correction to the previous email, striking out "Israel" from the header of the transcript. WASHINGTON: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that if voted to power he would recognise Jerusalem as "one true" capital of Israel. "I have said on numerous occasions that in a Trump Administration, the United States will recognise Jerusalem as the one true capital of Israel," Trump said last night. The UN's attempt to disconnect the State of Israel from Jerusalem is a one-sided attempt to ignore Israel's 3,000-year bond to its capital city, and is further evidence of the enormous anti-Israel bias of the world body, he alleged. "Jerusalem is the enduring capital of the Jewish People and the overwhelming majority of Congress has voted to recognise Jerusalem as just that," he claimed. "The decision by the Obama Administration to strike the word 'Israel' after the word 'Jerusalem' in the President's prepared text was a capitulation to Israel's enemies, and a posthumous embarrassment to Shimon Peres, whose memory the President was attempting to honour," Trump, 70, said. "In a Trump Administration, Israel will have a true, loyal and lasting friend in the United States of America," he said. Official US policy refrains from recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital until the Israel-Palestine conflict is resolved. Last month, when US President Barack Obama visited Jerusalem, the White House initially sent out a copy of Obama's remarks at former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres' funeral in Jerusalem, indicating that the remarks had been given in Jerusalem, Israel. But later, it sent out a correction to the previous email, striking out "Israel" from the header of the transcript. By AFP SIRTE: At least 14 pro-government fighters were killed on Friday in clashes with the Islamic State group in the jihadists' former Libya bastion of Sirte, a medical source said. "Fighting today began at 9am (0700 GMT) and the toll to now is 13 dead and 25-30 wounded," hospital official Abdellatif Abdel Ali said. One fighter, who was shot, later died after being operated upon. Ali said the majority of those killed were shot in the head by sniper fire. Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have cornered IS fighters in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, since launching an offensive on May 12. After a pause in fighting on Thursday, pro-GNA fighters resumed the battle against IS holdouts in a seaside residential district of Sirte. At least three US air strikes hit IS positions on Friday, an AFP journalist in the city said. A pro-government forces commander told AFP that IS snipers were slowing the anti-jihadist advance. "These gunmen are well trained and equipped. The haven't given in even with air raids and the seige we've imposed on them," Al-Hedi Issa told AFP. "So we prefer to advance slowly in order to preserve the lives of our fighters." The fighting has left more than 550 GNA fighters dead and 3,000 wounded. The IS death toll is not known. SIRTE: At least 14 pro-government fighters were killed on Friday in clashes with the Islamic State group in the jihadists' former Libya bastion of Sirte, a medical source said. "Fighting today began at 9am (0700 GMT) and the toll to now is 13 dead and 25-30 wounded," hospital official Abdellatif Abdel Ali said. One fighter, who was shot, later died after being operated upon. Ali said the majority of those killed were shot in the head by sniper fire. Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have cornered IS fighters in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, since launching an offensive on May 12. After a pause in fighting on Thursday, pro-GNA fighters resumed the battle against IS holdouts in a seaside residential district of Sirte. At least three US air strikes hit IS positions on Friday, an AFP journalist in the city said. A pro-government forces commander told AFP that IS snipers were slowing the anti-jihadist advance. "These gunmen are well trained and equipped. The haven't given in even with air raids and the seige we've imposed on them," Al-Hedi Issa told AFP. "So we prefer to advance slowly in order to preserve the lives of our fighters." The fighting has left more than 550 GNA fighters dead and 3,000 wounded. The IS death toll is not known. China prohibits schools from spreading religious ideologies. (Photo : Getty Images) The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region released new guidelines that encourage parents to call the police if they see their children subjected to extremist education or being influenced by a religious ideology. Article 9 of the regulation also bans any form of religious activities in schools. Advertisement The rule stated, "Any group or individuals have the right to stop such behavior and report them to the public security authorities." In China, religion and education are separate entities and educational institutions must not be used to promote a particular religious belief. According to the state law, "no organization and personnel can use religion to interrupt the activities of State's educational system." Article 16 of the new policy stated that the schools must teach students on logical thinking and "respects science, refuses ignorance and opposes superstition." "It is highly important to contain religious extremism and terrorism and build a harmonious society, and the regulation will protect our minors from the harm of extremism," said Xi Wuyi, an expert on Marxism and religious studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This measure is echoed by Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the U.N., who made an appeal to stop using schools to manipulate children toward extremist thinking. He said, "We should increase education of children and help children from a mentality of respect, openness, and tolerance, reject violence and avoid negative influence of terrorist and extremist ideologies." "We should give full play to the role of families, schools, and communities to form a protective umbrella against the encroachment on children by terrorist ideologies," he added. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon then said that "children still pay the highest price in wartime." "Extremists are torturing, detaining and killing children, sending them on suicide missions and selling them as sex slaves," he said. China willl implement a new maritime strategy when dealing with conflicts at sea. (Photo : Getty Images) The Xiangshan Forum was recently concluded with various nations agreeing on a new maritime consensus. Over 500 military heads attended the forum in Beijing. Cai Yingting, president of the PLA Academy of Military Science, concluded the forum and thanked all the participants for engaging in the discussion. Advertisement According to the forum's website, "The subjects for discussion at the four concurrent panels include Major Power Relations and Global Strategic Structure, Globalization vs. Deglobalization: Implications for International Security, Latest Developments in Terrorism and Creative Approaches to Cooperation, Maritime Crisis Management, and Regional Stability." The delegates of the forum were from countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Russia and New Zealand. Various academic and military experts were also in attendance. Many ASEAN representatives were eager to discuss strategies on how to implement military policies with governance and how to manage a maritime crisis. The consensus of the forum was to increase coordination on various security mechanisms and to build a model of security governance characteristic in the Asia-Pacific region. The participants also agreed to take an Asian approach that values mutual respect through consultations, ensuring fairness in all sides. Liu Zhenmin, Vice Foreign Minister of China, said in his plenary speech, he said, "China is ready to promote and implement this new security concept together with other regional countries, and push forward the building of an Asia-Pacific security architecture featuring wide consultation, joint contribution, shared benefits, and win-win outcome." Liu emphasized that the new security concept means that all countries at stake will be given an opportunity to coordinate and engage in dialogue and will aim for a resolution of differences. He also stressed that the "new security architecture" shall be based on "the universally recognized international rules and international laws, including the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, the 1982 UNCLOS and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia." China is Cambodia's largest trading partner. (Photo : Getty Images) President Xi Jinping went to Cambodia as part of his tour of Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. He met with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other Cambodian leaders to discuss trade and other issues. During the president's visit, companies from the two countries signed eight trade deals valued at $62 million on Tuesday in Phnom Penh. The Ministry of Commerce facilitated the agreements and they state willingness to buy Cambodian cassava starch and granite materials. Advertisement China is the biggest trading partner of Cambodia. Trade from China totaled to 4.4 billion last year. According to cabinet chief Keo Piseth, "Leaders of both countries have worked to build the relationship, which has approached a high point we have never seen before." The Chinese government sees Cambodia as a strategic partner for transportation and the ancient maritime Silk Road connecting East and West, according to Xiong Bo, China's ambassador to Cambodia. Analysts agree that the partnership between the two countries is strategic and will produce good results. Cheunboran Chanbore, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Studies of the Australian National University, wrote, "Economically, China plays an increasingly important role in the socio-economic development of Cambodia as its primary trading partner, the largest source of foreign direct investment, and top provider of development assistance and soft loans." He added, "Moreover, Cambodia will reap enormous benefits from new Chinese initiatives such as the Maritime Silk Road and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank." The researcher believed that the relationship between China and Cambodia is also dependent on the relationship between Vietnam and China. Cambodia has received the cold shoulder from Vietnam due to the pressing issue of the South China Sea. Chanbore elaborated, "While the reasons for the deterioration of Cambodia-Vietnam relations remain uncertain, it is certain that the more perceived unease or threat Phnom Penh has from its neighbors, the closer Cambodia will grow to China. This explains Phnom Penh's inconsistency on the South China Sea, with its latest position actually that of Beijing." Vote now! Who is The Daily News Athlete of the Week for Oct. 24-30? Fiber-optic cables are attached into a server inside a communications room in London. (Photo : Getty Images) An ultrafast Internet cable will be laid between Los Angeles and Hong Kong by a Chinese company in partnership with Facebook Inc. and Google owner Alphabet Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported. Advertisement TE Subcom, the U.S. subsidiary of TE Connectivity Ltd., a Swiss technology supplier under contract to build the link, said that a new fiber-optic technology will be used on the 12,800-kilometer Pacific Light Cable Network to support the highest-capacity route. TE said that the system is expected to be launched in 2018. Pacific Light Data Communication Co., a new Hong Kong company, will finance the project, together with the two U.S. tech giants as co-investors. The financial terms of the project were not disclosed. "It is certainly gratifying that global technology companies like Google and Facebook have become co-investors" in the project, Wei Junkang, chairman of Pacific Light, said in a statement. The report said that Pacific Light Data has no experience building networks, being newcomer in the industry. The company filings said that earlier this year, Wei paid $11.3 million to acquire the project from a company chaired by his own son, China Soft Power Technology Holdings Ltd. China Soft Power is a holding company listed in Hong Kong but incorporated in Bermuda. On Oct. 7, the company informed its investors that it expected to "record a significant decrease in its net loss" for the six months ended Sept. 30. It also reported a loss of about 1.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($154.7 million) on revenue for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of dollars were invested by Google, Facebook and Microsoft Corp. in underwater cables to carry the world's Internet traffic and ensure sufficient network capacity to transport information between their data centers. The investments have affected the telephone companies, which dominate the market for almost a century. According to the report, Google is familiar with the Pacific market and Pacific Light would become its third publicly-disclosed investment in the region. Earlier this year, Facebook also bared plans to build a new trans-Atlantic cable with Microsoft and Telefonica SA, a Spanish telecom provider. Both Facebook and Google have tried to penetrate into the Chinese market but they were blocked from the country. However, Hong Kong is considered a major regional network hub outside of China's firewall. "If you can get a good reliable cable into Hong Kong, it really puts the content providers in a really good position to serve those lucrative Southeast Asian markets," Michael Ruddy, director of international research for industry consultancy Terabit Consulting, said. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Reporter/Columnist Julie Wurth is a reporter covering the University of Illinois at The News-Gazette. Her email is jwurth@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@jawurth). One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 Chinese gamers play online computer games at an Internet cafe in Shanghai. (Photo : Getty Images) Tech firms doing business in China may have to make changes in its operations to comply with new requirements as China is set to strengthen its Internet child-safety policies with new proposed rules, The Wall Street Journal reported. Advertisement Under the draft rules, online-game operators would have to prevent anyone below 18 years old from Internet cafes between midnight and 8 a.m. The rules also called for increasing the number of websites warning minors about unsuitable content. Industry experts said that a strict implementation of the rules would compel foreign tech firms to adopt Chinese censorship software, which they believe could be used for surveillance. The proposed rules cover "smart devices," which also include all makers of computing devices sold in China, such as Apple Inc., Dell Inc., HP Inc. and others. The proposed rules, which was posted online on Sept. 30, did not specify if companies can use their existing control systems or if they would have to adopt the government-approved software. The Cyberspace Administration of China, however, said that it will support the development of web-filtering software and would decide which products comply with the requirements. The proposed rule is the latest in a series of measures that require tech companies to help strengthen China's Great Firewall although most private companies are already required to manage their platforms for unlawful content. The report enumerated highlights of the country's tightening censorship over the Internet, which includes the following: - In 2009, personal computers sold in the country were required to include a filtering software called Green Dam, which was immediately scrapped after heavy criticism. - In 2011, users of social-media services like Weibo were asked to register under their real names and posts which could "disrupt social order" were banned. - In 2013, Chinese authorities crack down on online rumors and online personalities, especially public commentators. Some prominent Weibo bloggers were interrogated or detained. - In 2014, the government placed restrictions on instant-messaging services such as WeChat and similar to social media, required real-name registration and banned certain types of content. - In 2015, the National Security Law was enacted which called for enhanced information security and criminalized threats to the government, national unity, economy and other interests. - In 2016, the government proposed child-protection rules which required smartphones and other computing devices to be pre-installed with child-proof censorship software or to make installation easy. Minors were also blocked from online games after midnight, and websites must post warnings of objectionable content. Experts, however, said that the draft rules' wordings are vague which opens the possibility that companies can use in-house software. Some companies like Apple has parental control setting already installed on their devices. The report said that the rules are open for public comment until Oct. 31. A survey is being launched today [Friday 14 October 2016] to help understand the psychological impact on surgeons of errors or complications which arise as a result of surgical procedures. It is hoped that the research will examine the impact that both complications and errors have on a surgeons professional and personal life and generate a national picture of how surgeons react when things go wrong, and allow for the creation of intervention strategies that will mitigate the negative effects on surgeons and allow them to flourish within their work environment. The research is being conducted by a research team at Bournemouth University and The Royal Bournemouth Hospital. PhD student Catherine Johnson said: This research aims to generate a detailed understanding of the impact there is on surgeons when complications and errors occur. Once we understand what is going on we will be better placed to create support for surgeons to not only ameliorate the negative impacts of adverse events, but to ensure that their practice is maintained to the highest possible standards. Once surgeons complete the survey, we will have a detailed idea of the ways in which they respond to complications and errors. We recognise that all surgeons are different and that we cannot put every individual who opts for a career as a surgeon into the same box. However, because we have the opportunity to reach tens of thousands of surgeons with our survey and we hope to gain a much more detailed an understanding we will have of the different ways in which surgeons may be affected by adverse surgical events. In this way we will gain valuable insights into how they might best be supported when such events inevitably occur. The research is being supported by The Royal College of Surgeons England and the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh. Mr Kevin Turner, Consultant Urological Surgeon at Royal Bournemouth Hospital and a supervisor of the research project, said: We all know that things can go wrong in surgery and dealing with the consequences of complications and errors is part and parcel of a surgeons life. Very little is known about the impact that adverse events have on surgeons both professionally and personally. Our survey will provide a detailed national picture of the challenges, responses, and resilience surgeons have when dealing with adverse events and will allow the development of better targeted support. I have been very pleased to work with Bournemouth University on this project. Ultimately, I believe our research will help surgeons and will benefit our patients. Catherine Johnson concluded: The bottom line is that surgeons who are supported through adverse events will provide better patient care in the future. That is what we are aiming to achieve through this research and why it is so important. Surgeons across the UK are being encouraged to participate in the survey, which takes around 15 minutes to complete, and contribute to this important research, and can do so at www.surgeonwellbeing.co.uk. Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas are sweating the small stuff in their efforts to develop a wearable device that can monitor an individual's glucose level via perspiration on the skin. In a study recently published online in the journal Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, Dr. Shalini Prasad, professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, and her co-authors demonstrated the capabilities of a biosensor they designed to reliably detect and quantify glucose in human sweat. The team has previously demonstrated that their technology can detect cortisol in perspiration. But for diabetics and those at risk for diabetes, self-monitoring of blood glucose, or blood sugar, is an important part of managing their conditions. "Fitness trackers that monitor heart rate and step count are very popular, but wearable, non-invasive biosensors would be extremely beneficial for managing diseases," said Prasad, the Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor in Systems Biology Science. Typical home-use blood glucose monitors require a user to obtain a small blood sample, usually through the prick of a finger and often several times a day. However, the UT Dallas textile-based sensor detects glucose in the small amount of ambient sweat on a person's skin. "In our sensor mechanism, we use the same chemistry and enzymatic reaction that are incorporated into blood glucose testing strips," Prasad said. "But in our design, we had to account for the low volume of ambient sweat that would be present in areas such as under a watch or wrist device, or under a patch that lies next to the skin." Prasad said that researchers who work with sweat often use a process called iontophoresis, which sends an electric current through the skin to generate enough perspiration for sensing experiments. However, because this method can lead to rashes and burns on the skin, the team sought an alternative that would work with small amounts of sweat. Their design works with volumes of sweat less than a microliter, which is the approximate amount of liquid that would fit in a cube the size of a salt crystal. The technology also provides a real-time response in the form of a digital readout. Prasad and bioengineering doctoral student Rujuta Munje, lead author of the journal article, incorporated an off-the-shelf polymer-based textile material in their glucose sensor and used UT Dallas clean-room facilities to construct the electronic elements. The prototype is a small, flexible, rod-shaped device about an inch long. "We used known properties of textiles and weaves in our design," Prasad said. "What was innovative was the way we incorporated and positioned the electrodes onto this textile in such a way that allows a very small volume of sweat to spread effectively through the surface." Typical blood glucose testing strips also contain a molecule that ultimately amplifies the signal from the chemical reactions on the strip enough to register electronically on a monitoring device. But if used in a device that is worn next to the skin, those molecules can be irritating, Prasad said, which presented another challenge. To ensure that such a tiny amount of sweat would generate a strong enough signal, Prasad and Munje modified the surface topography of the textile material. "Our modifications allow this material to entrap glucose oxidase molecules, which effectively amplifies the signal," Prasad said. "We did it this way because we are thinking about possible commercialization -- to make these, we need a fabrication process that is not complex." Prasad and Munje also were able to account for the fact that the chemistry of a person's sweat changes throughout the day. "Glucose is a tricky molecule to monitor because other factors can confound a signal," Prasad said. "For example, the pH, or acidity, of your sweat can vary greatly depending on the circumstances." She noted that when individuals exercise or are under stress, the level of other compounds in their sweat, such as cortisol and lactic acid, change as well, and these can interfere with glucose detection. "We have shown that with our technology, we address three critical issues: low volume of ambient sweat, interference from other compounds and pH swings," Prasad said Prasad and Munje tested their prototype using samples of human sweat from donors. While a consumer product based on the technology is still a few years away, the concept was developed with commercialization and scaled-up production in mind. "At this point, we are thinking of this sensor as something you use for a day and toss out, and we believe it could easily be incorporated into existing consumer electronics platforms," Prasad said. "We're very excited about the potential for licensing this technology." New data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its 2016 Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report show that countries need to move much faster to prevent, detect and treat the disease if they are to meet global targets. Governments have agreed on targets to end the TB epidemic both at the World Health Assembly and at the United Nations General Assembly within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. They include a 90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reduction in TB cases by 2030 compared with 2015. We face an uphill battle to reach the global targets for tuberculosis, said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director General. There must be a massive scale-up of efforts, or countries will continue to run behind this deadly epidemic and these ambitious goals will be missed. The WHO 2016 Global TB report highlights the considerable inequalities among countries in enabling people with TB to access existing cost-effective diagnosis and treatment interventions that can accelerate the rate of decline in TB worldwide. The report also signals the need for bold political commitment and increased funding. Higher global burden of disease and death While efforts to respond to TB saved more than 3 million lives in 2015, the report shows that the TB burden is actually higher than previously estimated, reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India. In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide. Six countries accounted for 60% of the total burden, with India bearing the brunt, followed by Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. An estimated 1.8 million people died from TB in 2015, of whom 0.4 million were co-infected with HIV. Although global TB deaths fell by 22% between 2000 and 2015, the disease was one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide in 2015, responsible for more deaths than HIV and malaria. Gaps in testing for TB and reporting new cases remain major challenges. Of the estimated 10.4 million new cases, only 6.1 million were detected and officially notified in 2015, leaving a gap of 4.3 million. This gap is due to underreporting of TB cases especially in countries with large unregulated private sectors, and under-diagnosis in countries with major barriers to accessing care. In addition, the rate of reduction in TB cases remained static at 1.5% from 2014 to 2015. This needs to accelerate to 4-5% by 2020 to reach the first milestones of the World Health Assembly-approved End TB Strategy. Tackling drug resistance and other challenges Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis. WHO estimates that 480 000 people fell ill with MDR-TB in 2015. Three countries carry the major burden of MDR-TB India, China, and the Russian Federation which together account for nearly half of all cases globally. Detection and treatment gaps continue to plague the MDR-TB response. In 2015, only one in five of the people newly eligible for second-line treatment were able to access it. Cure rates continue to remain low globally at 52%. The dismal progress in the TB response is a tragedy for the millions of people suffering from this disease. To save more lives now, we must get newly recommended rapid tests, drugs and regimens to those who need them. Current actions and investments fall far short of what is needed, said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme. The world is finally waking up to the threat of antimicrobial resistance -- now is the time to accelerate the MDR-TB response. In 2015, 22% of HIV-positive TB patients were not enrolled on antiretroviral therapy (ART). According to WHO recommendations, ART needs to be made available for all HIV-positive TB patients. Nearly a million children under five, and people living with HIV, who are especially vulnerable to TB and who were eligible for preventive treatment, were able to access it in 2015. This needs to be rapidly expanded. Closing critical gaps in TB financing For TB care and prevention, investments in low and middle-income countries fall almost US$ 2 billion short of the US$ 8.3 billion needed in 2016. This gap will widen to US$ 6 billion by 2020 if current levels of funding are not increased. Overall, around 84% of the financing available in low and middle-income countries in 2016 was from domestic sources, but this was mostly accounted for by the BRICS (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) group of countries. Other low- and middle- income countries continue to rely heavily on international donor financing, with more than 75% coming from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. In addition, WHO estimates that at least an extra US$ 1 billion per year is needed to accelerate the development of new vaccines, diagnostics, and medicines. The resources deployed against TB, the leading infectious killer in the world, are falling short, said Dr Ariel Pablos-Mendez, Assistant Administrator for Global Health, of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) - the leading bilateral funder of the TB response. Everyone has a part to play in closing the gap. As the report shows, we need universal health coverage, social protection mechanisms, and public health financing in high burden countries. The development aid community needs to step up more investments now, or we will simply not end one of the worlds oldest and deadliest diseases. Source: http://www.who.int/ One Medicine: how human and veterinary medicine can benefit each other Professor Roberto La Ragione News-Medical speaks to Professor Roberto La Ragione, Chair of Trustees at Humanimal Trust, about the concept of One Medicine and how human and veterinary medicine can collaborate, share knowledge, and initiate research for the benefit of both humans and animals. New Delhi: Recovering from a two-month decline, exports went up by 4.62 percent to $22.9 billion in September. Sectors that helped the outbound shipments revive include engineering (6.51 percent), gems and jewellery (22.42 percent), handicrafts (23 percent), textiles (12.62 percent) and chemicals (6 percent). However, the country's imports contracted by 2.54 percent to $31.22 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $8.33 billion in the month under review. The trade gap is, however, the highest in the last nine months. It was $11.66 billion in December 2015. In September 2015, the trade gap was $10.16 billion. Reacting to the data, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said, "if this trend continues, we can achieve $280 billion or even more in exports in the current fiscal". The support given by the government will be more visible in the exports figure in coming months as exporters have factored them in their prices to increase competitiveness, it said in a statement. During April-September this fiscal, exports dipped by 1.74 percent to $131.4 billion. Imports too contracted by 13.77 percent to $174.4 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $43 billion. Exports of petroleum goods, however, dipped 1.43 percent to $2.55 billion in September. Oil imports during the month grew by 3.13 percent to $6.88 billion. Non-oil imports, on the other hand, shrank by 4 percent to $24.33 billion. Since December 2014, exports fell for the straight 18 months till May 2016 due to weak global demand and slide in oil prices. Shipments witnessed growth only in June this year thereafter again entered into negative zone in July and August. The export sector which recorded negative growth includes rice, tobacco, cashew, leather, cotton yarn and man-made yarn. Non-petroleum exports in September increased by 5.44 percent to $20.33 billion, the commerce ministry data showed. It said that the growth in exports have fallen for USA, EU, China but Japan exhibited positive growth for July 2016 over the corresponding period of previous year. Further, it said services exports in August grew by 4.74 percent to $13.38 billion. The net export of services for April-August 2016-17 was estimated at $26.9 billion, which is lower than net export of $28.17 billion in the same period last year, it added. A Russian firm has caused a stir after putting on sale a children's bed in the shape of a Buk missile launcher of the kind that shot down a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet in eastern Ukraine in 2014. International prosecutors said last month the airliner had been shot down by a Buk missile fired from a village held by pro-Russian rebels. Moscow denies any involvement and points the finger at the Ukrainian army. All 298 people on board flight MH17, most of them Dutch, were killed. The children's bed, made by the company in St Petersburg, has angered many Russian consumers who have vented their spleen online complaining that it is in bad taste. But Anton Koppel, who runs CaroBus, which makes unusual furniture for children, shrugged off any political overtones as he spoke next to a camouflage-coloured bed crafted to look like the Buk surface-to-air self-propelled launcher. Retailing at 11,000 roubles ($176.78) at a shopping centre in St Petersburg, Russia's second city, the bed has a red star and Russia's tricolour flag. But instead of "Buk" it bears the name "Defender" - a concession to angry consumers. "We didn't want to traumatise people, many people wrote about this being related to the situation in the Donbass (separatist region), to the downed plane and other horrific things, but this is not what we think," Koppel told Reuters. He said the bed's frame was simply a design that had proved popular with customers. "This is simply a military vehicle which looks really cool. But nevertheless, we understand that people can be different, we appreciate their interest in this. And of course, we didn't mean to traumatise anyone and we simply renamed it Defender." No matter your political preference, Michelle Obama's speech on Thursday in New Hampshire was powerful and riveting. She is a bright lady. Jeff Washburn (@JeffWashburnJC) October 14, 2016 This Michelle Obama speech is going to be remembered for years Emily Cahn (@CahnEmily) October 13, 2016 I've heard three people suggest Michelle Obama should be president. I'm onboard. Maggie Hendricks (@maggiehendricks) October 13, 2016 Michelle Obama is giving one of the most important speeches of the entire campaign. Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) October 13, 2016 I could barely breathe listening to this speech. I've watched it twice now. She is absolutely brilliant here, and... https://t.co/ZKQlKbOaWS Elaine Lucia Sings (@elainelucia) October 14, 2016 Oh yes, I watched every minute of Michelle Obama's speech & it left me with goosebumps. If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you do. https://t.co/hsuEh39RU6 Gurnoor Kaur Behl (@GurnoorKBehl) October 14, 2016 Michelle Obama's speech in New Hampshire made me freaking cry we are so lucky to have her mackenzie (@g2bfr3sh) October 14, 2016 Every time you get depressed knowing this world has a Donald Trump, stop and remember it also has a Michelle Obama. Tyler Hansen (@tjhansen) October 13, 2016 I watched Michelle Obama's 30 minute speech from yesterday. One the most powerful speeches I've heard in ages. Outstanding. Nicholas Straight (@NickStraight) October 14, 2016 @Flotus U R truly one of the classiest woman I have ever known of, Michelle Obama. Felt your 'righteous anger'. You spoke for MOST women. https://t.co/rXeUcSimLC Robin Henderson (@5678cloverdale) October 14, 2016 Michelle Obama on Thursday was lauded and appreciated on Twitter for delivering a powerful speech at a campaign rally in New Hampshire for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.While the First lady of the United States touched on several keys issues that dominate the upcoming elections, she also shared her thoughts and views on the sexual assault allegations against the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump.She said that Trump's boast on a 2005 tape about his fame allowing him to "do anything to women" shook her to the core.Speaking at the campaign rally, Mrs. Obama called the comments "shocking and demeaning." She also dismissed Trump's claim that the remarks were simply "locker room talk," saying they were an affront to every woman, parent and citizen in United States.Michelle Obama said the comments made by Trump are part of a long history of belittling and ill-treating women."We have a candidate for president of the United States who over the course of his lifetime, over the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are shocking, so demeaning," she said. "I simply will not repeat anything here today. Last week, we actually saw this candidate bragging about sexually assaulting women. I can't believe I'm saying that, a candidate for president of the United States bragged about sexually assaulting women."Mrs. Obama's powerful speech and hard-hitting comments won hearts.Her speech was lauded as one of the most powerful of the entire campaign.In fact, a lot of social media users thanked her for restoring their faith in the otherwise dismal elections.Here's how social media user praised the First Lady for delivering a speech as powerful as this.With input from AP. (Photo: AP/ music CD's of Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma are on display at a store in Kathmandu, Nepal.) There is one Buddhist nun everyone in Nepal knows by name not because she's a religious icon and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, nor for her work running a girl's school and a hospital for kidney patients.Ani Choying Drolma is famous as one of the country's biggest pop stars.With more than 12 albums of melodious Nepali tunes and Tibetan hymns that highlight themes of peace and harmony, the songstress in saffron robes has won hearts across the Himalayan nation and abroad."I am totally against the conservative, conventional idea of a Buddhist nun," the 45-year-old nun said. Some people "think a Buddhist nun should be someone who does not come out in the media so much, who is isolated ... always in a monastery, always shy. But I don't believe in that."Neither do her fans, who greet her with a roar of applause whenever she walks out on stage, and fall silent as she closes her eyes to sing."Every time I get frustrated with life or get angry, I just listen to Ani's music and I calm down," said one fan, Sunil Tuladhar. "She is my music goddess."But with a career deviating sharply from what conservatives in Nepal believe to be the proper path of a Buddhist, she's caught criticism as well. One Buddhist monk at the famed Swayambhu Shrine questioned how she can reconcile the simple life of a religious ascetic with the fame and wealth she's amassed over her two-decade musical career."How can a nun be making money by selling her voice, living a luxurious life and yet claim she is a nun?" Surya Shakya asked.Despite her fame, Drolma looks every bit the typical Nepalese Buddhist nun, with her hair shaved short and an ever-present smile. She travels the world giving concerts in countries including the United States, Brazil, China and India.Popular composer Nhyoo Bajracharya, who has worked with Drolma, describes her music as a fusion of traditional Tibetan and Nepali styles. "They are religious songs, slow rock with flavors of blues and jazz combined," he said.But Drolma believes her singing goes beyond delivering a catchy tune. Her 2004 hit "Phoolko Aankhama," which means "Eyes of the Flower" in the Nepali language, features lyrics that touch on religious teachings: "May my heart always be pure/May my words be always word of wisdom/May the sole of my feet never kill an insect."Her singing offers listeners a way to practice meditation and "is about invoking a spiritual quality," she said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "That is what I rejoice in."She refused to say how much money she has earned from album sales and concerts, but said she donates much of it to education charities through her Nun's Welfare Foundation and runs a kidney hospital.Still, compared with most Nepalese living in this impoverished mountain nation, Drolma lives like a rock star with a luxury car and a new home in an upscale neighborhood of the capital of Kathmandu."It is a very conservative point of view thinking that a nun should be poor and wearing rags. That's a wrong attitude," she said. "My concerts make very good money, my CD sales make very good money, and I think that helps me to afford such comfortable life."Drolma said she was 13 when her mother allowed her to join the Nagi Gompa nunnery to escape from an abusive father. She also dreaded getting married, as she would likely have been forced to do as it was the custom in Nepal at the time."I had the impression that getting married was the worst thing to do in life," she said.At the nunnery, just north of Kathmandu, she learned to chant the Buddhist scriptures. But while most recited the lines quickly, she stood out chanting melodiously and drawing the other nuns' admiration.In 1994, American musician Steve Tibbetts visited the nunnery and, being impressed with her voice, recorded her singing. He returned after receiving interest from U.S. record companies, and recorded Drolma's first album, "Cho," released in 1997.The album royalties and performance fees that came after left Drolma a bit stunned. Most Nepalese have humble lives, with a quarter of the country's 28 million people living in poverty and heavily reliant on subsistence farming and remittances from family members working abroad."The question was, what do I do with the money?" she said. "I realized that this money can help me fulfill my dream, so that is how I started the school."She set up an educational foundation and opened the Arya Tara school, on a mountainside just south of Kathmandu. The boarding school offers about 80 girls, aged about 5 to 18, free lessons in Buddhist scripture as well as math, science and computer skills. The foundation also covers the cost of sending the girls to college.The students, similarly clad in saffron robes, giggle and smile when talking about Drolma."Ani is more than my mother. My mother gave me birth, but Ani raised me, gave me education, took care of me and is the only reason that I have reached this far," said 17-year-old Dolma Lhamu, who is now enrolled in college.Drolma is similarly adored at the kidney hospital she runs in Kathmandu, where hundreds of patients receive free dialysis twice a week.She said it's her work at the hospital and school that keep her singing and accepting invitations to perform. For the critics who question her globe-trotting lifestyle or high income, she has little patience."People in society will have different opinions," she said. "I try my best to see how I can improve my attitude toward life, toward people and toward the world, and to find ways to make the best use of my life."I am famous today, but tomorrow people will not know me. It fades away. That is the reality," she said. Inside the Samsung lab where they fixed the original Note7 pic.twitter.com/BpWbQUtF99 Josh Constine (@JoshConstine) October 13, 2016 A message from Apple to Samsung. pic.twitter.com/ygYOZArPmV Russian Market (@russian_market) October 11, 2016 Reading Twitter on your Samsung phone. pic.twitter.com/oyLZbWPDTA Russian Market (@russian_market) October 11, 2016 When you leave your Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in the car: pic.twitter.com/wA1aD1v1oe Matthew Kick (@MatthewKick) October 11, 2016 In Memoriam: Galaxy Note 7 (Aug. 19, 2016 - Oct. 10, 2016) pic.twitter.com/z1EARBTSRF Tim Wrobel (@Timotato) October 10, 2016 Samsung Electronics may not be having a good time as far as its flagship handset Galaxy Note 7 is concerned, but Internet users are certainly on a roll with reports of the Note 7 handsets going up in flames.While the reports over the smartphone blowing up in flames has led to serious safety concerns for people who have bought it, the company, which issued directives calling for a global recall of the defective Galaxy Note 7, is struggling and striving each day to restore confidence and trust in the quality of the firm's products.In fact, seeking to retain customers, Samsung is giving an incentive of a $100 credit to Note 7 owners who switch to another Samsung phone.And while the firm is working on various strategies to win back its customers trust, some social media users are having a crazy time online creating hilarious memes around the sparking of the Note 7 smartphones.Here are some memes created by Internet users that are sure to 'blow' your mind.In the United States, 1.9 million Note 7 phones are subject to the two recalls. Samsung also recalled about 200,000 phones in China and about half a million phones in South Korea.The Note 7 device was one of the most expensive smartphones in the market with all the latest technologies from Samsung, including the ability to unlock the phone by scanning a user's iris. It was sold for between $850 and $890.With input from AP. Tourists Play With Seagulls In Kunming (Photo : Getty Images) If young Hong Kong residents have no place to have sex because of the expensive and tight spaces in the region, a growing number of Chinese women have the whole world to enjoy sex with a stranger, while traveling for free. Young women in China who read the account of others like them who love to travel, stay in expensive hotels, eat in fancy restaurants and shop, but could not afford it on their salary, try the travel-for-sex scheme and often like the results. They try it once, like the perks and do not mind having sex with a temporary moneyed boyfriend if it could bring them to places in and out of China without spending a yuan. Advertisement The scheme was discussed on Sept. 20 in a radio program on The Himalayan, an audio sharing platform in China with about 660,000 listeners. Upon listening to the discussions, Chinese netizens debated on the topic with people expressing approval and disapproval of the emerging lifestyle, Global Times reported. It begins often with a woman posting online her interest in finding a temporary boyfriend willing to spend for her airfare and other needs in exchange for sleeping with him during the time they are together. She specifies the things she looks for in a man in terms of physical appearance, and if they agree, a deal is reached. Women who are into the scheme have been to different placed such as Lhasa in Tibet, Sichuan and Fujian. Experts say the women in that kind of scheme do not break the countrys law but are also not protected. A 27-year-old saleslady in Beijing met her temporary boyfriend in Xiamen and had sex with him on the first night. On the second day, he refused to pay for their lunch and then disappeared. The woman decided against reporting the incident to the police, although she is also grateful because he did not harm her, or take nude photos to use against her later as revenge porn. The scheme is use by both men and women, although majority are women which is an indicator of how development of gender equality in China has regressed, said Shenzhen-based anthropologist Wang Qianni. Bhopal: Security was heightened in the Madhya Pradesh capital ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on Friday, said police official. As the Prime Minister makes his way to the city to inaugurate a war memorial, the dogs in the city have been put on notice and will be kept away from the roads. The District Magistrate has ordered that the route to be taken by the Prime Minister's cavalcade from the airport to the parade ground should be dog-free. All the stray dogs should be put under observation and be released only after the event gets over, said the order. This has been done in order to ensure a hassle-free passage to the Prime Minister's cavalcade. The city is being spruced-up, and the path along which the PM will be travelling has been done up with colourful flags. Railway stations, airports, bus terminals, important markets and localities in the city were secured ahead of the high profile visit. Vehicles were screened at different check points to ensure no untoward incident occur. The administration also issued a circular asking all government and semi-government offices to suspended work post 3 p.m. Modi will be inaugurating the newly built war memorial - Shaurya Samarak - and address a meeting of former servicemen at Lal Parade ground, here during his three-hour visit, ahead of the BRICS meet in Goa. The Prime Minister is scheduled to leave New Delhi at 2.30 p.m. on Friday and arrive here at the Bhopal Airport at 4.05 p.m. He will be at Lal Pared ground between 4.30 p.m. and 5.20 p.m. He will also call on Acharya Vidysagar Maharaj at the Habibganj Jain temple. Later he will proceed to the Arera Hills for the inauguaration of 'Shaurya Smarak' that portrays the patriotic journey of a soldier. The valour gallery showcases the tradition of military honour. Modi is expected to leave for Panaji later in the evening. (With agency inputs) Triple talaq and Uniform Civil Code are two contentious issues that the Sangh Parivar has been accused of taking political mileage of every now and then. Last week, Law Commission chairman Justice (Retd) Balbir Singh Chauhan told News18 in an exclusive interview that he was sending out a questionnaire to seek public comments on adopting a Uniform Civil Code. A few days later, the BJP-led central government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court terming the practice of triple talaq unconstitutional. Predictably, both the steps have the Muslim clergy up in arms and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has directly accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of digging up these issues for electoral dividends.News18sspeaks to Mahmood Madani, general secretary of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, one of the largest Muslim organisations in India, about the polarising debate.There are political intentions behind the Law Commission questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and the affidavit on triple talaq. The intentions are wrong, which is why the Board and other Muslim outfits like us boycott it. We believe that the way in which the questionnaire has been prepared, the kind of questions that have been listed and the way they have been mentioned tells volumes about their intentions. The overall spirit of the document is not in adherence to the principles of understanding but it is about passing judgement.Both. It is being raked up so that the benefits can be reaped in Uttar Pradesh elections. The other motive is also there (yeh bhi ho jayega aur election me bhi fayda). Only time will tell the effect of the issue in polls, they have failed in real issues and are now taking an easy route by these things.It is too early to comment on this situation. But we are working on it. Time will tell if court agrees with us or not but when we go to court we will present our case on the grounds of diversity of India. There are many religions, cultures and traditions practised in India. The makers of modern India kept all of that in mind and not just kept Muslims but also the small minority of Nagas in mind (with regard to personal laws). Sentiments of all communities were kept in mind.I dont believe in this Shariah over SC debate. There is no competition between court and sharia. This competition is not needed, I understand what the court is thinking with regards to practices prevalent in the society. Their concern is genuine and I agree with it. But what is wrong is the treatment of the problem. The court has assumed that Muslim women are denied justice. This is not correct. Islam has given equal rights to women. It is in line with the concept of gender justice, but what is not happening is the implementation of that principle enshrined in Islam. To counter that problem we cannot leave Islam. What can be done is work towards it in the society.We are not the followers of any country. Our faith is not imported from any other country. The interpretation of Islam done by ulemas (clergy) of India is the best for the pluralistic society. The others changed things in their political circumstances, we cant be their followers. I am not for any such change (tabdeeli) that shows the influence of Pakistan. New Delhi: India is getting ready to host the eighth BRICS Summit, but Indian diplomats have much more on their plate this weekend. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sit down for some very crucial meetings during the Indo-Russia, BRICS and BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meetings. The Indian government would like to isolate Pakistan further by trying to bring the attention of world leaders to cross-border terror emanating from Pakistan. First on the government's agenda, are the extremely important bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin. Despite Russias open show of support following the Uri attack, South Block has been quite uncomfortable with the joint military Friendship Exercise between Russia and Pakistan. What is most worrying is that Russia went ahead with these exercises even though the Indian government had expressed its reservations after the Uri attack. In fact the Indian Ambassador to Moscow, Pankaj Saran, told a Russian News Agency that, We have already conveyed to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan which practices terror as a matter of State policy is a wrong approach and will only create further problems. Therefore it is likely the Prime Minister may raise the issue with the Russian president as well. At the same time Modi would like to reassure Putin on how much India values the strategic and diplomatic relations with Russia despite growing proximity with the US. India and Russia are celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations, and both sides are likely to mark the event by signing several agreements including major defence deals. According to reports, there have been discussions on supply of S400 Triumf long range air defense systems, Kamov helicopters, up-gradation of Sukhoi-MKI and the fifth generation fighter aircraft and these deals could be finalized in talks on Saturday. There could also be an agreement on building more nuclear reactors. Hours after concluding sensitive negotiations with the Russians, the Prime Minister will meet BRICS leaders over dinner in Goa on Saturday. Over 115 meetings of BRICS nations have taken place in the run up to the summit including the important meeting of National Security Advisors in Delhi in September. The NSAs of BRICS nations decided that it is important to stop the source of funding of terror groups and look at sources from where they receive their weapons. Amar Sinha, a top diplomat in the ministry of foreign affairs said, When the summit statement comes out, there will be very strong paragraphs on terrorism including how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries and safe havens and cut down on their financing Over the last few months and more so after the postponement of SAARC there has been a demand among foreign policy hawks about giving more importance to other regional groupings like BBIN(Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) and BIMSTEC(Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral and Technical Cooperation) of which Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are a part of. On Sunday BRICS Leaders will have a meeting with all BIMSTEC nations to look at ways to facilitate trade between countries. India would like to strengthen this regional group in order to further isolate Pakistan diplomatically. India is a founder member of the group which came together twenty years ago. MEA Secretary Preeti Saran who is in-charge of BIMSTEC said, What is very positive about this grouping is, one there are a lot of commonalities and there are no irritants in the relationship. Prime Minister Modi will have bilateral meetings with all heads of state from BRICS and BIMSTEC countries over the next three days. His meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping will be closely analysed. Sources say the PM will try and convince his Chinese counterpart about the need to impose sanctions on Pathankot and Uri mastermind Maulana Masood Azhar. China is the only country in the UN sanctions committee which has opposed sanctions on the JeM terrorist till now. India and China have set up a dialogue mechanism to look at Indias NSG membership and while the issue may be raised, it is unlikely that any immediate progress will be seen. PM Modi is also likely to seek help of BRICS leaders in one-on-one meetings to facilitate Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Incidentally, barring India, all BRICS nations are members of the NSG Myanmars state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will also be attending the BRICS BIMSTEC outreach meeting and she also has several high level engagements in India next week. Our statement on a concocted and baseless News International Pakistan story pic.twitter.com/QcqQTJUM0C Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) October 14, 2016 The German embassy in New Delhi has said that a Pakistani newspaper report on a purported conversation between its ambassador and the Indian Foreign Secretary denying surgical strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is "without truth"."The story in The News is unfounded and without truth," the acting spokesperson of the German embassy in New Delhi told News18 on Friday over the phone. Ambassador Dr Martin Ney couldnt be reached for comment as he is out on a business trip.The Pakistani daily's report on October 14 said India's Foreign Secretary "admitted" to the German Ambassador in a recent meeting that Indian Army did not in fact carry out surgical strikes across the Line of Control.The report claimed that German authorities shared this information with Pakistan embassy officials in Berlin.The report was also rubbished by Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, who in a statement on Twitter called Swarup called it concocted and baseless. Kigali: India on Sunday announced that it will eliminate the HFC-23 gas and directed all five plants in the country that produce it as a by-product to "destroy" the super greenhouse gas with high global warming potential. "The government, hereby directs that...All HCFC-22 plants to destroy HFC-23 produced as a by-product of HCFC-22 production through incineration using an efficient and proven technology such as thermal oxidation," says the order signed by Manoj Kumar Singh, joint secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). HFC-23 is as a by-product of HCFC-22 production. The order was issued soon after Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave announced at the venue of Conference on Montreal Protocol here that India will eliminate the HFC-23 gas, a potent greenhouse gas with high global warming potential, as part of its commitment to combat the threat emanating from climate-damaging Hydrofluorocarbons. Dave is in Kigali to attend the high-level segment of the conference on Montreal Protocol. The Environment Ministry ordered five registered enterprises producing HCFC-22 in India, namely SRF Ltd, Gujarat Fluorocarbons Ltd, Navin Fluorine International Ltd, Chemplast Sanmart Ltd and Hindustan Fluorocarbons Ltd to ensure proper upkeep and maintenance of incineration plants of HFC-23, "so that the down time of incineration plants is maintained below 10 per cent". It also directed the companies to create and maintain sufficient storage capacity to ensure that all HFC-23 is stored during any authorised incineration shutdown, so that no vending occurs. Earlier, giving the go-ahead for releasing the order for incinerating the HFC-23 by producers of HCFC-22 gas, Dave said "HFC-23 gas, a potent greenhouse gas with global warming potential 14,800 times more than CO2 is produced as a by-product of HCFC-22 manufacturing, and if vented out in environment, it is a threat to the environment". The minister clarified that the companies have to internalise the cost of this environmental externality, and create sufficient storage facility to take care of down time and run the incinerators. It is noted that some HCFC-22 producers even in developed world are not handling the HFC-23 in most professional manner, a statement said. A N Jha, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), said this decision of India at this juncture fortifies the determination and commitment of the country on climate issues. "This will have a positive impact on the discussions on HFCs and will make the governments and producers of HCFC-22 in both developed and developing countries to think on emulating this practice," Jha said. The government said it is now hard for the teams from countries which are producers of HCFC-22 to negotiate for funding from Multilateral Funds for creating facility for incineration or financial support for incinerating the gas. Malkangiri (Odisha): 50 infants died due to Japanese encephalitis in last 34 days; preventive steps being promoted among masses pic.twitter.com/pybNlc9H4i ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 With three more deaths, the toll due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) on Friday climbed to 51, all children, in a month in Malkangiri district of Odisha where a police complaint was lodged against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and others holding the government responsible for the situation.Three children, including two girls, died at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the district headquarters hospital here, said Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) US Mishra.Unconfirmed reports, however, put the toll at 54 due to the vector-borne disease which has affected around 45 villages spread over six blocks in the backward district where it surfaced around 36 days ago.At present, 32 children afflicted with JE are undergoing treatment at the district headquarters hospital and six of them are in the ICU, said Malkangiri Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarty.A large number of pigs have been isolated in over 140 specially set up enclosures away from human habitats, while fogging and spraying of mosquito repellents have been intensified in over 100 villages, he said.Meanwhile, Ura Madhi of Kuimetla village in Kalimela block, who lost her child, lodged a complaint against the chief minister and some other ministers and officials, holding them responsible for the death of so many children due to the disease in the district, police said.Madhi, who was accompanied by Odisha Congress chief Prasad Harichandan and other senior party leaders, alleged in her complaint, filed at Malkangiri police station, that the disease took such a heavy toll because of the "utter negligence" of the state government.Though the disease had surfaced in the district way back in 2011, no effective preventive measure was taken by the government to check it, she alleged."We have received the complaint and the matter is being examined," said Inspector In-Charge of Malkangiri police station RK Dash. The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2016 I look forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil & Russia on key global & regional challenges. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2016 As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is slated to reach Goa on Friday for the upcoming eighth BRICS Summit and the first ever BRICS-BIMSTEC meet said that the outreach with the BIMSTEC leaders was significant."The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi tweeted. The two-day BRICS summit will be held from October 15 to 16.The Prime Minister, in a tweet also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Michel Temer of Brazil, who will also reach Goa on Friday."India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia Annual Summit, which will also take place in Goa," the Prime Minister tweeted.Modi said that he looked forward to useful conversations with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges."As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," he said.Both Putin and Modi will stay at the Taj Exotica while the other heads of state will be put up in other hotels.The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an inter-governmental organisation of which Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are members."I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand," Modi said in another tweet.According to the reports, a joint meeting of the BRICS and BIMSTEC leaders will be held on October 16. India is also counting on the BIMSTEC in a bid to corner Pakistan after 19th SAARC summit which were scheduled in Islamabad were cancelled. New Delhi: Delhi Police on Friday filed a charge-sheet against a man in a court here for murdering a 21-year- old woman by stabbing her 22 times on a busy road here in front of several onlookers last month. The charge-sheet was filed before a link magistrate who fixed the matter for Saturday before the court concerned for the purpose of taking cognisance. Surender Singh, 34, who was arrested on September 20 was named in the charge-sheet for the offence of murder under Section 302 of the IPC. The accused is currently under judicial custody. The brutal murder, which was captured in CCTV camera, took place on September 20 when Karuna Kumar, a teacher in a North Delhi school, was going for her work, police said, adding that Surender had been stalking her for over 18 months. Police said Karuna, along with her cousin Neha, was on her way to work when Surender attacked her with a pair of scissors near Labour Chowk in Burari. As Surender caught Karuna off guard and plunged the single blade of scissors in her body, a man rushed to stop him but soon backed off fearing attack on himself. Within about three minutes, Surender had stabbed Karuna 22 times, as onlookers kept away, it said. Neha told police that she was also threatened by Surender and had to back off but she kept shouting for help. The victim was taken to Sushruta Trauma Centre in Civil Lines where she was declared brought dead. The accused was beaten up by the locals, who caught him and handed him over to the police. He was arrested and a case of murder under Section 302 IPC was lodged against him. Surender, son of a retired Delhi Police sub-inspector, is going through divorce proceedings and has two kids. Bengaluru: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said India is ready to help Pakistan eradicate terrorism from its soil if the neighbouring country felt it was not able to do so. "We have nothing against the people of Pakistan. We are only against terrorism getting a free hand there. If Pakistan wants to eradicate terrorism and is not able to do so, tell us. We are willing to help you root out terrorism in your country," Singh said at a function in Bengaluru. The Home Minister said India tried to build a good relationship with Pakistan by inviting their leaders and taking them into confidence but the neighbouring country took undue advantage of the olive branch extended. But despite that there is no hate towards the people of Pakistan, he added. Singh said the surgical strikes carried out by the Army against terror launch pads across the Line of Control showed the world that India is not a weak country. "Pakistani terrorists came into India and killed 19 of our jawans. People asked why was the government sitting quiet. But we have shown the world that India is not a weak country now," he said. Bhardwaj said India was originally a land for the majority community and it was time that minorities stop being rigid about their beliefs and embrace other ideologies as well. I am a Pandit and I am not used to being hit below the belt but I think now the time has come for me to start digging in," Bhardwaj said. The 144-year-old Indian Evidence Act is outdated and should be reformed along the lines of millennia-old Vedas and shastras, a member of the Law Commission, which advises the government on legal reforms, told News18.Abhay Bhardwaj, a lawyer from Gujarat, was recently appointed as a part-time member to the Law Commission of India. His selection had kicked up a row since Bhardwaj was the lawyer who defended the accused in the Gulberg Society massacre of the 2002 Gujarat riots.Bhardwaj, who described himself as an RSS swayamsevak, said reforming the Indian Evidence Act the corner stone of the criminal-justice system along the lines of ancient religious texts would usher in an era of positivity in judiciary.The evidence act can be reformed on the lines of the ancient Vedas, upanishads and shastras. Various means of evolution of evidence has been from the ancient Hindu texts. In Jain Shastra, there are seven shlokas of evidence, and if the judges apply these shlokas, then there will be no difference in judgment from the trial court to the Supreme Court, he told News18.The 21st Law Commission was instituted last year and is being chaired by the former Supreme Court judge, Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan. Although advisory in nature, the law commission comprising of its full-time and part-time members are the ones appointed to draft legislations and submit them to the Ministry of Law & Justice for perusal. The Commission generally acts as the initiation point for law reform in the country.When an Indonesian leader was at Jama Masjid to deliver a lecture, standing at the pulpit he said he was feeling blessed to speak from the land of Rama and Krishna. However, he was reprimanded by the grandfather of the Imam, who reminded him that he was speaking from a mosque. But the leader replied that I havent forgotten that I am speaking from a mosque but perhaps you have forgotten that the mosque is in India, he said.The Rajkot-based lawyer also slammed critics who had opposed his appointment to the Law Commission citing his legal defence of Gulberg accused."This perception needs to change that whenever someone defends a Hindu, eyebrows are raised. Did anyone question Shanti Bhushan when he appeared for Yakub Memon? Does anyone question Indira Jaisingh? Did anyone question the apex court judges who woke up at 3am to deliver a verdict in the Yakub Memon case? Then why are questions raised only when a Hindu is defended? he said.Abhay Bhardwaj joins the law commission at a time when the panel is deliberating on the possibility of implementing the Uniform Civil Code in the near future.The Law Commission chairman had put out a questionnaire last week seeking public comments on the adoption of a Uniform Civil Code. On Thursday, a slew of Muslim community leaders held a press conference in Delhi where they accused the panel of working for the Narendra Modi government instead of being an independent body.Bhardwaj (who spoke to News18 before the allegations were levelled) insisted that the Uniform Civil Code is the only way out for a peaceful democracy like India.America is considered to be a secular country but does anyone question Obama swearing by the Bible and not the Constitution? Then why is there a problem in India to swear by the Bhagavad Gita? Even in a secular country, you cannot marry according to Muslim rights but have to go through an American Marriage Registration Act. So basically Quranic law does not apply, so why this is the case still in India? he asked.I am a communist in RSS and an RSS man in a communist. Communism does not have roots in the western countries, it has roots in our Vedas. Have you ever said Pandurang Shastri was a Communist when he said we should have common farming and common wealth? he said. The new addition to Samsung's high-end Galaxy S series - Galaxy S8 - will have a 4K high-resolution display at 860ppi. (Photo : isamsunggalaxys8) Officially, Samsung has declared the Galaxy Note 7 dead as production and selling of the recalled device has been halted. But new rumors indicate that the phablet flagship is far from becoming history and likely to be rebranded as the Galaxy S8 Plus. Reports say that in the aftermath of the Note 7 battery explosions, Samsung is keen on killing the brand that started the phablet craze if only to rehabilitate the company's damaged reputation. The plan is to retire the Note series not necessarily the phablet lines that the South Korean tech giant has started. Advertisement According to BGR, citing media reports from Russia and Europe, there is no chance that the Galaxy Note 8 will see the light of the day next year. But to be clear, there is no chance that Samsung will abandon the phablet models that it invented. Yes, the Galaxy maker will continue issuing jumbo smartphones as evidenced by the mid-range variants of the Galaxy A9 Pro, Galaxy A8, Galaxy A7, Galaxy E7, Galaxy J7 and the Galaxy C7/C9. These handsets will likely be refreshed in 2017 but there is no stopping Samsung from making the phablet - the one to take the place of the ill-fated Galaxy Note. The guess is the Korean will simply attach the rebranded Note follow up to the upcoming S8 series. Speculations are rife that Samsung will build two Galaxy S8s - in 5-inch and 5.5-inch screen profiles. But if the BGR report is to be believed, a third version is on the way too, likely boasting of a 5.7-inch display like the Note 7 and aptly named Galaxy S8 Plus. Pointing to TechTastic as source, BGR said that the S8 Plus will unpack bearing some of the well-known Note signatures. There will be the Note stylus that most likely Samsung will not call the S Pen to disassociate the S8 Plus from the damage Note reputation and give the replacement a fresh start. The same source by BGR also claimed that the biggest of the S8 will impress with a 4K screen resolution in Super AMOLED display. But the report stopped short of providing more specifications. The regular Galaxy S8, however, is tipped to rock the most powerful processing chips to come out in 2017 - the Snapdragon 830 from Qualcomm and Samsung's very own Exynos 8895 SoC. And supporting any of two powerhouse chips is up to 6GB of RAM provision. It safe to assume that in the event that Galaxy S8 Plus becomes a reality, what will be found on the regular models will be found on the phablet edition - inside and out. And that should include an all-screen curved display that will eliminate the screen bezels, physical control keys and sensors. Samsung is said to introduce the Galaxy S8 February 26 next year to prepare for a March 2017 release date. Likely, the Galaxy S8 Plus will follow months after or in the second half of 2017. Meerut: A school principal has been arrested on Thursday for allegedly posting controversial content on Facebook on the Prime Minister and RSS leaders on Dussehra. Mudassir Rana, who heads a private school in Saradhna area, has been charged under Section 153-A of IPC (promoting disharmony) and relevant sections of IT Act, police said here. Rana was arrested following a complaint and sent to jail, they said. It is alleged that Rana had in his Facebook post depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other Sangh leaders, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and yoga guru Ramdev in an objectionable way. New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said he will go ahead with plans to build an expensive 7-km-long steel flyover in Bengaluru despite objection from civil society and allegations of corruption from political opponents. The bridge planned between the Chalukya Hotel Circle behind Vidhana Soudha and Hebbala lake on the way to Bengaluru International Airport will cost roughly `1,800 crore `264 crore per kilometre easily making it one of the costliest in the country. While Opposition parties are questioning the huge cost, with former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy even alleging it is to fund the Congress poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, activists point out that more than 1,000 trees along the Sankey Road would need to be cut down ruining the charm of old Bengaluru. Reacting to the allegations, Siddaramaiah told News18: "We have listened to all. I am aware of the objections being raised by civil society and the opposition. The decision has been taken after following the due procedure. It is an old proposal. The Opposition can say anything. We are doing it to improve infrastructure in the city. Kumaraswamy's charges against the Congress had been shared by his father and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, triggering a fierce debate. "Karnataka is the only state which can generate money for the Congress. They are milking the state dry to fight elections in other states," Kumaraswamy told News18. Bengaluru Urban Development (BDA) Minister KJ George, who recently returned to the state Cabinet after getting a clean chit over the suicide of a police officer, said it will decongest traffic in the city. The proposal was first mooted by the BJP government in 2010. A year after taking charge as Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah revived that. We have thoroughly studied all aspects, pros and cons. Just because some people are making wild allegations, we cant drop it," he said. Former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar has demanded that the government must take public sentiments into consideration before going ahead with such a huge and ecologically sensitive project. The governments attitude is suspicious. They are trying to hide something and is in a hurry to float a tender. The earlier plan was for `1,400 crore. At that time, cost of steel per tonne was `52,000. It has now come down to `40,000 per tonne. But the cost of the project has gone up to `1,791 crore. It clearly shows that there is something more to it, Shettar said. Many activists believe the steel flyover will be an ungainly sight across the cityscape and have started an online campaign against it. The Namma Bengaluru Foundation has already challenged it in the Karnataka High Court, which ordered the government to seek public views on it. Bhopal: The family of the late Captain Devashish Sharma found some respite when the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh visited their house and assured them that there would be a reinvestigation into the stolen medals case. Earlier, Nirmala Devi Sharma, the mother, alleged that she was asked to pay a bribe to investigate the case and was also told by the police to drop the case altogether. There had been a robbery at the their home and Captain Sharma's Kirti Chakra and Virata Chakra medals were also found missing after the incident, claimed the family. "My son won't come back, at least return his honour," said Nirmala Devi Sharma, mother of Captain Sharma. Soon after the story was flagged by CNN-News 18, the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister visited the family and assured them that all efforts will be made to get back the medals. "The case will be reinvestigated and reopened," assured the Minister. Also after the CNN-News18's intervention, Nirmala Devi Sharma has been invited to the war memorial programme to be inaugurated by Modi in the city on Friday. Capatin sharma was deployed with the 26 Punjab Regiment and was only 25 years old when he was killed in Operation Rakshak against Pakistan in 1994. Srinagar: A jawan of the Sashastra Seema Bal was killed and eight others injured when militants attacked their convoy in Zakura area near Srinagar on Friday evening. Militants fired at the vehicles of the paramilitary force which were ferrying the personnel to their camp after performing law and order duties in the city, a security force official said. The injured, who included a policeman, have been admitted to a hospital for treatment, the official said. Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched search operations to track down the militants. The attack comes two days after the army eliminated two terrorists holed up in a multi-storey government building, ending a three-day gun battle on the outskirts of Srinagar. Security has been tightened across the state since PoK-based militants killed 19 soldiers at an army camp in Kashmirs Uri last month, and the subsequent punitive strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control. Heres a look at the major militant attacks in the state since the Uri terror attack on September 18: OCTOBER 12: Two militants killed in 56-hour gunbattle between security forces and militants holed up in a government building in the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) complex. OCTOBER 8: Policeman killed by terrorists in Shopian sector at a police post. Terrorists manage to flee. OCTOBER 6: Three militants were killed during an early morning attack on an RR Army camp at Langate in north Kashmir. OCTOBER 4: Suspected terrorists attack a police station in Yaripora, Kulgam in Jammu and Kashmir. OCTOBER 4: Militants attack BSF and army camps in Baramulla town, killing one BSF soldier and wounding another. SEPTEMBER 30: Militants attacked a joint picket of police and CRPF at Behibagh in Yaripora area of Kulgam district of south Kashmir but no one was hurt in the incident. SEPTEMBER 26: Five CRPF men were injured in south Kashmirs Kulgam district when unidentified militants hurled a grenade at Army vehicles on the national highway near Wanpoh. (With PTI inputs) On 23 August 1985, Arif Mohammad Khan, minister of state for home affairs in Rajiv Gandhi government, delivered a passionate speech in the Lok Sabha defending the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case. It was in the backdrop of a private member bill that was moved in the Lok Sabha by an MP named GM Banatwala, seeking to exempt Muslims from the purview of Section 125, an exemption that was nullified by the apex court judgement. A few minutes after the bill was introduced, Khan wrote his resignation,and told an interviewer, afterwards, that with this new legislation "Indian Muslim women will be the only women to be denied maintenance anywhere in the world". As the issue of 'triple talaq' and the desirability of uniform civil code (UCC) is once again being debated, Firstpost spoke to Khan to understand what has changed in last three decades and whether he feels that this time around, Muslim women will get their due and their right to equality. When asked about his expectations from the judiciary and government Khan said, the question is what the citizens and in this case, women of India should expect from the government and judiciary. Naturally, the expectation will be that they uphold the law of land and ensure the basic constitutional guarantee of equality before law and equal protection of the laws which includes equality in marital rights. Reacting to government's notion of triple talaq being a violation to the right to equality of women, as well as their dignity, Khan said that 'triple divorce' does not negate equality and dignity of Muslim women as human beings and citizens of India. In fact the Personal Law Board publication titled The Compendium of Islamic Laws itself describes this form of divorce as "talaq bidat", where bidat means innovation, or something that is not part of the original scheme. The Islamic laws describe it as "good in law and bad in religion and it is indeed bad because it seeks to dehumanise women. The important question is how you can defend something in the name of religion that you admit to be bad in religion. He further said that it is an attempt to perpetuate something that is repulsive both to religion and good conscience. "It is important to note that few years after the death of the Prophet, when triple divorce found legal sanction, the men who resorted to triple divorce were awarded 40 lashes as punishment as they were perceived to have committed a crime. Today you cannot resort to lashing, so a new law may be enacted providing for four years of rigorous imprisonment for the crime of triple talaq." Khan also said that securing a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India, is a constitutional principle, not enforceable by the courts but fundamental in the governance of the country. If the state is serious about carrying out this obligation, then we can always endeavour to find common ground. To my mind the basic thing to be ensured is that the law should not have any provision that prescribes a thing that is prohibited by any religion. But this debate can start only when we have in hand some proposed draft. Having explained what motivates the Personal Law Board, Khan said that the problem is not the Personal Law Board, but the lackadaisical attitude of political establishment. "It is not the Muslims who have chosen the Board as their representative organisation. It is the political establishment that gave them credibility and legitimacy. The board has moved in a calculated manner and now has started claiming the status of "the sole spokesman as Muslim League had done in 1930s. I feel that the political establishment must engage every organisation to enlist their cooperation for the solution of a problem, but it must be wary of any organisation that claims to be the sole spokesman of a religious community.", Khan said. It was this 'sole spokesman' business that divided India in 1947 and today, this can divide India from within, he reiterated. It was a setback for Karan Johars big Diwali release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil on Friday afternoon as Cinema Owners and Exhibition Association Of India consisting of single screen owners asked its members to refrain from screening movies involving Pakistani artists and technicians. After the meeting, Nitin Datar, President of the association, added We were already contemplating not screening films with Pakistani artists and now we have taken this decision. This move comes after MNS threatened to block the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. Although the decision is not binding on the members, comprising single screen owners from the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Gujarat, Datar has said that the association would contemplate action against those who dont abide by the decision. This would be a huge blow to a big ticket film such as Ae Dil Hai Mushkil with thousands of multiplex and single screens booked across the country. The only other film releasing that week is Ajay Devgns Shivaay and both films were expecting to take the lion's share of the screens. As of now the Multiplex Association of India has not taken a decision regarding this issue. Sources in the association say that the matter has been self-resolved and a call will be taken closer to the release depending on the situation. Meanwhile the producers of the film Dharma Productions and Fox Star Studios have not reacted to the decision and are expected to go ahead with the release of the film as planned. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil also starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is slated to release on October 28th. Cinema Owners and Exhibition Association Of India may have decided to ban the screening of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, but The Film & Television Producers Guild of India has extended its support to Karan Johars film.In an official statement, the Guild said that it supported the recent steps that the Government has taken to counter terrorism but also requests the Government to take into account the genuine concerns of the producers who have Pakistani artistes working in their films. There are many film producers who have either already shot their films or are in the process of completing their unfinished films prior to the escalation of hostilities with our neighbors, including Karan Johars soon to be released film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil which has also been certified by the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC). Similarly, there are many other films which are scheduled to be released in months ahead including Dear Zindagi and Raees, which also feature artistes from across the border, the statement points out.The statement further adds, Whilst reassuring the commitment of the Guild and Film industry to abide by the decisions of the Government and pledging its absolute support to the sacrosanct national interests, the Guild urges the Central and State Governments to not only ensure smooth release of such films including Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, as well as to guide the industry on the way forward with respect to the mechanism to be adopted in hiring or utilization of talent associated with our neighbors.Meanwhile Dharma Productions, the producers of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, has issued a statement citing that the film will be releasing on the decided date, that is, 28th October and that it has got a U/A certificate from the censor board.The statement reads: Karan Johar's Diwali entertainer Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has been cleared by the Censor Board of India with an U/A certification. The film starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan celebrates love this festive season. The characters in the movie navigate through life and relationships to discover their true essence of love.Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions says, "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has been cleared by the censor board and we are gearing up for its release on the 28th of October. Diwali is all about love and Ae Dil is all about spreading love."Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, adds, "Karan Johar's films present love in its most purest yet unique and modern way and this Diwali he is celebrating love, friendship and heartbreak. We are set for the film's release on October 28. There can be no better way than celebrating Diwali with Ae Dil, a quintessential family entertainer."The film has been produced by Fox Star Studios and Dharma Productions. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's Industries Minister EP Jayarajan on Friday resigned following controversies over the appointment of his relatives as head of key public sector units. The resignation comes after the state government asked Chief Secretary S M Vijayanand to look into the controversial appointments to key PSUs made recently, including those of Jayarajans relatives PK Sudheer and Deepthi Nishad. It is also a day after the state cabinet decided to bring a legislation to check nepotism in appointments to key positions in public sector units. The main controversy was over the appointment of Sudheer - son of CPM central committee member and Kannur MP P K Sreemathy and a relative of Industries minister E P Jayarajan - as the managing director of Kerala State Industries Enterprise Ltd (KSIE). The appointment was scrapped after widespread criticism. Earlier this week, Deepthi Nishad, who is the daughter-in-law of Jayarajans brother too resigned from the post of general manager of Kerala Clays and Ceramics Ltd following a controversy over her appointment. Jayarajan is a powerful Marxist leader from the Kannur belt, but none at the top, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had supported these appointments. Google Pixel marks the end of Nexus era. Googles Nexus series introduced some of the best smartphones, notably the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6P. With the launch of Pixel smartphones, Google is taking forward the same legacy but under a different banner.The exorbitant prices of the Pixel smartphone might prevent the maximum mileage for especially Google Assistant. The Nexus 6P should be ideally compared with the 5.5-inch Google Pixel XL, however, the steep starting price of Rs 67,000 for the Pixel XL might be a deterrent. So, if you were wondering what is special about the new Pixel smartphone and how it is different from the perfect Nexus 6P, here is the comparison.Of course, the Nexus 6P is powered by the older Snapdragon 810 SoC, but even after a year, the Google Pixel will not woo people who love to droll over spec sheets.Going by what Google believes, it is the all overall experience, powered by great software and supported by powerful hardware that matters. Talking of which, the same promise holds for the older Nexus 6P as well. Check out the comparison table below to decide for yourself.For starters, the Nexus 6P has been already upgraded to Android 7.0 Nougat in India. Here are other features Nexus 6P users will not get.The Pixel is the first Android smartphone to come with the latest version of Android Nougat and built-in Google Assistant. Google might release it to other Android phones in future, but it will surely not do it for now.So, if you own the Nexus 6P, then download Google Allo to enjoy Google Assistant for free. Or, you can root your device to get it.If you are using Google Photos to save images then it is good news for you. Pixel and Pixel XL will offer unlimited storage for your photos and videos in original quality on Google Photos.Like any other launchers, the Pixel launcher is also a cosmetic feature that will remain exclusive to Pixel phones for now.If you face any problems with your new Pixel smartphone, you can contact customer support via chat anytime.The Nexus 6P features an excellent camera. However, Google claims to have improved it further in its Pixel smartphones and flaunts the highest DxOMark rating of 89. Optical Image Stabilisation is missing on the both the devices, but the Pixel smartphones come with video stabilization.The Pixel smartphones are splash proof (NOT water proof). The Nexus 6P has no such protection. Also, the Nexus 6P is heavy at a whopping 178 grams and the 5.7-inch screen might make it difficult to grip for many users. On the other hand, the 5-inch Google Pixel weighs 143 grams and offers a slim design that is easy to grip.Fingerprint scanners are available on both the devices along with USB Type-C charging port. The good news is Google has retained the 3.5mm headphone jack.The Nexus 6P is backed by a 3,450mAh battery while the smaller Pixel is powered by a 2,770mAh. Both devices offer a similar battery life. "All concerned are requested to take immediate action in the matter" - yes, please! pic.twitter.com/nz7AY19G4P cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 14, 2016 Pakistani journalist Cyril Almeida who was grounded last week is now free to fly abroad.A circular issued by Pakistans interior ministry said his name was being deleted from the Exit Control List. The decision came after representatives of the countrys media organisations met interior minister Chaudhry Nisar on Friday.The move curiously comes on the same day as a meeting of Corps commanders. Pakistans top military commanders expressed serious concern at what they termed feeding of a false and fabricated story of an important security meeting which they viewed as a breach of national security. The meeting was presided over by the Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif.The Dawn journalist was placed on the list for reporting a story about a purported rift between the government and the military on the issue of dealing with non-state actors. The Prime Ministers office issued three denials on the story but Dawn stood by the reporter and the story.No plans to travel anywhere other than to see mum, nephews in their home in Khi. Not sure why I'd run away from my home, which is Pakistan, Almeida tweeted as soon as the circular was issued.Pakistani news channel Geo News reported that the decision to remove the journalists name came after a delegation of APNS and CPNE met with the interior minister. APNS is the All Pakistan Newspapers society and CPNE is the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors.But the removal of the name would in no way affect the ongoing inquiry into the matter and the inquiry would continue till its logical conclusion, Geo report said.Dawn newspaper, for whom Almeida works, said on its website saying a notification issued by the Interior Ministry confirmed the removal.According to reports, the interior minister reiterated during the meeting that the independent media must play its role not only towards safeguarding national interests and security but also counter negative propaganda by enemies of the state.On October 11 Almeida tweeted that he had been informed he was on the exit control list, a law which bars people from leaving the country. West palm Beach, Florida: Lashing back, Donald Trump heatedly rejected the growing list of sexual assault allegations against him as "pure fiction" on Thursday, hammering his female accusers as "horrible, horrible liars" as the already-nasty presidential campaign sank further into charges of attacks on women. Campaign foe Hillary Clinton said "the disturbing stories just keep on coming" about her Republican opponent, but she let first lady Michelle Obama's passionate response carry the day. Obama, in battleground New Hampshire, warned that the New York billionaire's behavior "is not something we can ignore." After years of working to end "this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect ... we're hearing these exact same things on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it," Obama declared, her voice cracking with emotion. "We can't expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, let alone for four years." With Election Day less than four weeks away, Republican Trump was again forced to defend himself against allegations of sexual misconduct, five days after a video surfaced in which he bragged about kissing and groping women without their permission. Similar behavior was detailed by women who accused Trump in articles published late Wednesday by The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post. Separately, a People Magazine reporter offered a first-person account accusing Trump of attacking her while she was in Florida to interview him and his pregnant wife. Ever defiant, the New York billionaire denied the allegations and blamed them on Hillary Clinton's campaign and the complicit news media as he campaigned in Florida. He promised to sue his media critics and said he was preparing evidence that would discredit his female accusers, whom he called "horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars." He went further during an evening appearance in Columbus, Ohio, saying he "never met" some of the women. "I don't know who they are," he insisted and said they "made up stories." "These vicious claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with women, are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it," he said earlier. He offered no evidence discrediting the new reports except to ask why his accusers had waited years and then made their allegations less than a month before the election. His comments came soon after he called a reporter "a sleazebag" for asking whether Trump had ever touched or groped a woman without her consent. Trump's attacks on his accusers' credibility marked an awkward break from campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, who earlier in the week highlighted a Clinton tweet that said "every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported." Conway hoped to encourage more women to come forward with allegations against Bill Clinton, building on the campaign's Sunday decision to bring three of the former president's accusers to the second presidential debate. "His campaign is promising more scorched-earth attacks. Now that's up to him," Clinton said during a San Francisco fundraiser. "He can run his campaign however he chooses. And frankly, I don't care if he goes after me." Trump running mate Mike Pence ditched the national reporters who pay to travel with his campaign in Pennsylvania. The Indiana governor's Twitter account showed him meeting with faith leaders and stopping at a restaurant after a Pence spokesman said the vice presidential nominee was attending closed-door fundraisers. Republican leaders across the country said they were deeply troubled by the allegations against Trump, but there was no evidence of new defections. Over the weekend, dozens of Republican senators and congressmen vowed they would not vote for him, with many calling on him to step aside. Some recanted after an aggressive weekend debate performance. And in what he called an increasingly "muddy" election, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised complaints about Hillary Clinton Thursday but wondered aloud what could change voters' minds at this point. "Is there a deal-breaker out there? How many emails have to be destroyed? How many investigations have to be concluded with question marks? How many comments have to come out from one campaign in reference to religious institutions that raises concerns?" More Trump accusers may be coming forward, according to attorney Gloria Allred, who said women have contacted her office in recent days. "The dam has broken, and more women will be coming forward," she said. The stories about Trump and his countercharges against Clinton's husband have plunged an already rancorous campaign to new lows. They also have distracted attention from the release of thousands of hacked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta that included some potentially damaging information. A new batch indicated on Thursday that her 2008 presidential campaign had tried to move the Illinois Democratic primary to a later date, believing it might help her. The emails are being parceled out by WikiLeaks. For Trump, the cumulative effect of recent revelations and allegations about his personal life appears to be a tumble in the battleground states he needs to win in November. What was already a narrow path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory has virtually disappeared unless there's a significant shake-up before Nov. 8 He promised Thursday to focus on issues in the final weeks, even as his campaign crafted plans to highlight decades-old accusations against Bill Clinton. Trump confidant and informal adviser Roger Stone has long encouraged him to make Bill Clinton's alleged assaults a centerpiece of the campaign. Steve Bannon, the campaign's chief executive, until recently ran a conservative website that eagerly promotes conspiracy theories about the Clintons. Back in New Hampshire, Michelle Obama said, "Enough is enough." If Americans let Trump win the election "we are telling our sons it's OK to humiliate women. We are telling our daughters this is the way they deserve to be treated. We are telling all of our kids that bigotry and bullying is perfectly acceptable." New Delhi: The government has so far not discussed the issue of withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. India, she said, had extended the MFN status to Pakistan as a "goodwill gesture" way back in 1996 but unfortunately the neighbouring country has not yet extended the same to New Delhi. "On the issue of the withdrawal of MFN from Pakistan, strictly speaking, that has not yet been discussed," she told reporters here. The decision to withdraw the status or not will have to be taken by the government and "I cannot comment on that", she added. Last month, government had decided to review the MFN status given to Pakistan at a meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the meeting was postponed. The review decision was taken in the wake of the Uri attack. India also considered the option of dragging Pakistan to WTO over non-extension of the status. The neighbouring country has missed its own deadline of December 2012 for giving India this tag. As per the global trade norms, member countries of the WTO are required to give non-discriminatory market access as part of the MFN status to each other. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 2.61 billion in 2015-16. Talking about increasing imports from China, the minister said there is no instrument to completely stop imports from one country. It is impossible to completely ban imports from one country, she added. "But if one wants to restrict the imports because that country is giving more subsidy or on quality issue, then we have instruments like we can impose anti-dumping duties or safeguard measures," she added. India has time and again raised the issue of widening trade deficit with China. In her meeting with Chinese Vice Minister for Finance and Commerce Wang Shouwen, Sitharaman has asked for providing greater market access for Indian products there. China has assured India that it will act on the concerns expressed by India. In 2015-16, India's exports to China were USD 9 billion, while imports were USD 61.7 billion, leaving a huge trade deficit of USD 52.7 billion. Washington: The recent comment made by a visiting Pakistan envoy that the outgoing American President Barack Obama is now just a guest at the White House is "ridiculous", the US has said. "That's a ridiculous comment," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Thursday when asked about the remark made by the visiting Special Envoy of the Pakistan Prime Minister on Kashmir Issues Mushahid Hussain Syed here last week. "Obama is a guest for the next few months," Syed had said in response to a question about his expectations from the US government during a panel discussion on Kashmir at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank. Syed turned his answer to the next US administration after being asked the American government, underlying that the current incumbent was outgoing. "What Pakistan would like from the US - and I'm talking of the incoming administration because Obama is a guest for the next few months, 20th of January 2017, there will be a new administration - that they have to see the region where they have a more comprehensive perspective and do not try to compartmentalise peace and security, because that is not possible," Syed had said. CONCORD After weeks of walking through rain and fog, with the occasional swollen feet, retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Moore walked his last mile Thursday afternoon of a solo, 220-mile journey across various trails in Virginia to bring awareness to an issue very close to his heart: suicide among veterans. Moore served three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he was wounded. Those injuries, including several concussions, nerve damage and a dislocated hip, led him to receive a Purple Heart. He said he had suicidal thoughts before attending the first-ever class the Concord-based Providence Farm offered for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2015, according to his Gofundme page, where he raises money for the farm. Even in our own lives, we face challenges Brian walked for hope, said James McLeod, founder of Providence Farm the volunteer-run, nonprofit farm. Moore's walk through the Blue Ridge Mountains brought him into contact with numerous strangers to whom he was able to talk about the suicide rates among veterans. He said he was surprised by how open and welcoming the people he met on the trail were. I met nothing but strangers. Once I said what I was doing, they wanted to help, Moore said. Others asked why he carried a white shepherds staff with black stripes on it. He said the staff had 22 stripes, which represent the number of veterans who commit suicide every day across the country. That statistic comes from the Department of Veterans Affairs 2012 Suicide Data report, which calculated the percentage of veterans suicides out of all suicides listed on death certificates from 21 states from 1999 to 2011. That number 22 percent was divided by the number of days in a year to reach the statistic of 22 veteran suicides per day, according to The Washington Post. Moores walk began at the Blue Ridge Parkway, where he had planned to camp, but a park ranger told him he wasnt allowed. So he said he stayed in hotels and ate at area restaurants. He would park his truck, walk for the day and then walk back to his truck and figure out where he was going to stay for the night. Moore said his first week on the Blue Ridge Parkway, there was very heavy fog. Cars would drive by, and the people inside would turn around with a look of terror, Moore said. After that, he decided to only walk on the Parkway during sunny days. His walk was scheduled to end earlier this week, but he was delayed because of the rain from Hurricane Matthew. The trails he intended to walk became like little streams, he said. Moore concurrently raised money during his walk of about $3,000 that was donated to Providence Farm. The nonprofit opened in September 2015 and offers 12-week classes for veterans and the families of veterans to help cope with the aftereffects of being in combat. About 47 percent of veterans who participate in the classes end up volunteering and giving back to the organization that helped them, McLeod said. Almost all veterans who participate in classes served in conflicts ranging from the Vietnam War to present-day conflicts. The goal is to have up to 1,000 veterans graduate from the nonprofits program each year. He added there are 800,000 veterans in a four-hour radius of Providence Farm. McLeod said he wants to use the money from Moore for numerous projects, including getting the farm ready for winter, building cabins for a future overnight one-week camp, and holiday meals for the soldiers and their families. A former Bedford County Animal Shelter employee was charged with felony animal cruelty after authorities said he hurt a cat out of frustration, which led to the cat being euthanized. Bryan T. Skinnell is accused of injuring the cat while performing cleaning maintenance at the shelter, the Bedford County Sheriffs Office said Friday. The sheriffs office said Skinnell was frustrated because the cat kept escaping its cage. Animal Control deputies received a complaint about the incident Aug. 10. The cat was taken to a local veterinarian, where it was euthanized because of its injuries. The cause of death was blunt force trauma. Skinnell was fired, the sheriff's office said. On Sept. 26, he was arrested and taken to the Bedford Adult Detention Center. He was released on his own recognizance. Donald Trumps decision Wednesday to pull some campaign staff out of Virginia could affect down-ticket races including the 5th Congressional District, where the Republican nominee isnt ready to concede the state. The day after the announcement University of Virginia Center for Politics newsletter Sabatos Crystal Ball circulated showing the open seat as moved from likely to leans Republican. The 5th District has hosted an engaged race between state Sen. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham, and Democrat and former Albemarle County supervisor Jane Dittmar. It doesnt change anything for us. Weve talked about it. It just doesnt change any of our metrics, Garrett said Thursday afternoon, adding he wont forfeit the state to the Democratic Party. ... Were going to keep on working with the same people we were working with. Were going to keep working for us and the top of the ticket as well. Trump was particularly popular in Virginias Southside, where Garretts campaign expects strong turnout. The lack of Trump competition in mobilizing voters, though, could leave Democrats less inspired. It could potentially weaken GOP campaign efforts, which in turn could hurt Garrett, University of Virginia Center for Politics Geoffrey Skelley said in an email regarding the Trump announcement. Still, if the race isnt close in Virginia, that might slightly dampen overall turnout, too, which could also hurt Dittmar, too. So its hard to say how much it affects the race. Dittmars campaign didnt provide a specific response regarding how Trumps retreat from Virginia would change the district race but provided a statement from the candidate. My congressional race is about getting good jobs, quality education, and a healthy environment for the people of the 5th district, Dittmar said in the statement. I have denounced Trumps hateful rhetoric and disrespectful behavior and called on my opponent to rescind his endorsement. I remain focused on the people of the 5th district and what we need to do to move our districts economy. Trumps lewd and predatory comments made in the Access Hollywood video reported by The Washington Post pushed some Republicans to distance themselves from the candidate over the last week. Trump is also now facing allegations of sexual assault. Following the Washington Post story, Garrett condemned Trump's words but not Trump. The districts label as only leans Republican is the first time during the race the Crystal Ball out of the university inside the district showed it as anything other than likely Republican, although Skelley said its been in discussion for a while now. Dittmar has led the race in money raised and spent, although both candidates are heading into the home stretch with comparable cash on hand, according to numbers presented by each campaign Monday. Dittmar has outraised and outspent Garrett, and with Trumps trouble at the top of the ticket in Virginia, the conditions are better for a Democrat than they might otherwise have been. Garrett remains the favorite because of the districts makeup, but Dittmar has placed herself in a position where shes a competitive underdog. Garrett said his information shows his campaign is in good position. I think were accelerating down the stretch. I think shes fading, Garrett said. I have data to base that on. I dont know what Sabatos looking at, but I know what Im looking at." In the 24 hours since they publicly declared their disassociation from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a group of Liberty University students collected at least 2,100 virtual signatures toward their cause. While the group that wrote and published the statement titled Liberty United Against Trump said it has verified 1,000 Liberty student emails as signatories, it plans to continue distancing its own student body from university President Jerry Falwell Jr.s support of Trump. The goal wasnt the signatures but the message, according to one of the organizers, Dustin Wahl. We didnt realize this would go viral, Wahl said Thursday. Honestly, weve been just doing this to express to the world what Liberty Universitys actually like to correct the false assumption that we like Donald Trump and want to be associated with Donald Trumps campaign. Thats been our goal, and its been successful so far. The statement titled Liberty United Against Trump went online Wednesday afternoon and quickly made rounds through social media sharing and attention from national media outlets. We are Liberty students who are disappointed with President Falwells endorsement and are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history, the statement said. Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him. Wahl, a junior who was class president as a freshman, said he learned about good governance in class at Liberty, which he said Trump cannot fulfill. A Liberty motto is the university is training champions for Christ. Many of us have been actively involved in efforts in our personal capacity to show we dont support Trump, Wahl said. Vice presidential candidate Mike Pences presence on campus Wednesday contributed to the timing of the release of the statement, but it wasnt planned out to specifically coincide with the visit, Wahl said. Libertys voting precinct only turned out 7 percent for Trump in the March primary, behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. It hasnt been a reaction to anything specific, just the many deplorable things Donald Trump has said, Wahl said. The statement released this week highlights the 2005 Access Hollywood recording reported last week by The Washington Post in which Trump brags about preying on women sexually. It decries Falwells continued support for Trumps candidacy. Associating any politician with Christianity is damaging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But Donald Trump is not just any politician. He has made his name maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose, the statement said. The statement references a biblical parable in which a man removes a speck of dust from his brothers eye and ignores the log in his own before accusing Falwell of touring the country championing the log in his eye. Falwell said in a written statement to The News & Advance on Wednesday night he is proud of these few students for speaking their minds, but I am afraid the statement is incoherent and false. He said he is not touring the country as the statement claims and is not associating Liberty with any candidate. I am only fulfilling my obligation as a citizen to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars by expressing my personal opinion about who I believe is best suited to lead our nation in a time of crisis, Falwell said in text message Wednesday night. This student statement seems to ignore the teachings of Jesus not to judge others but they are young and still learning. Falwell has spoken on several cable news shows in favor of Trump, including on CNN on Wednesday. He also stumped for Trump in Iowa ahead of primary caucuses and gave a speech at the Republican National Convention. In a longer statement to media Thursday, Falwell also took issue with the statements claim a majority of Liberty students, faculty and staff are not supporting Trump. The group of students now speaking out against Trump represents a very small percentage of the Liberty student body of 15,000 resident students and 90,000 online students, Falwell said in the statement. While Falwell takes pains to point out his support for Trump comes as a private citizen, these students believe Liberty is inextricably connected to his name and speech. Every time President Falwell is on screen or on stage, Liberty University is right next to it, and we feel that associates us with Donald Trump, Jacob Broadway said. We decided to say something on behalf of the student body. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has ordered the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip be opened on Saturday and Sunday as well as from 19 to 22 October, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. The border crossing will be open on both sides to allow humanitarian cases to cross. One and a half million Palestinians living in Gaza have been under land, air and sea blockade by Israel since 2006. The border wtih Egypt has been kept closed by Egyptian authorities for several years, although Cairo periodically opens the border for short periods to allow civilians with foreign passports, Palestinian students and those with medical needs to travel back and forth. Search Keywords: Short link: State employees had high hopes for the two-year budget the General Assembly adopted in March, but seven months later, those hopes have been dashed against a projected $1.48 billion revenue shortfall that has claimed the pay raises they were promised, left hundreds of new positions unfunded, and could cost 26 of them their jobs. Its just so frustrating, lamented Col. M. Wayne Huggins, executive director of the Virginia State Police Association. You work so hard to make some progress and it all goes south so quickly. State police were among the losers in budget cuts that Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Thursday to close an $861.4 million shortfall in this fiscal year alone. The governors plan will cancel scheduled pay raises that the legislature had tied to revenue projections, tap the rainy day fund for almost $400 million, and cut executive agency budgets by $73 million, requiring up to 26 layoffs, including 15 at the Library of Virginia. The cuts will delay the opening of a womens prison in Culpeper County, and despite McAuliffes pledge to protect public safety and other core services, eliminate almost $1.3 million in funding for new positions promised to state police for a new special operations division and to staff its office in the New River Valley. The moves also will replace $5.5 million in general funds for state police with money from four special funds, including one earmarked for technology upgrade of the sex offender registry. This could have been so much worse, said McAuliffe, whose staff described cuts to state police and the Department of Education budgets as administrative, rather than aimed at programs or direct services. The governor also offered hope that the 26 employees who would lose their jobs either could take retirement or fill vacant jobs elsewhere in the state bureaucracy. In addition to the state library positions, the jobs to be cut are: four layoffs at the Department of Conservation and Recreation; two each at the Department of Health, the Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, and the Department of Forensic Science; and one research position at the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. The biggest blow to state employees came when the state fell short by $279.3 million in revenues for the fiscal year that ended June 30. That triggered provisions in the budget that suspended and then canceled $346 million in pay raises and other compensation that were scheduled to take effect Dec. 1. The package included $125.1 million in the current fiscal year. The lost raises included money for state police to deal with salary compression in which pay for new hires exceeds that for veterans and sent morale plummeting at the department. Huggins, a former state police superintendent, said the department has 237 vacancies in sworn law enforcement positions. The hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper, he said. R. Ronald Jordan, executive director of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association, said, The pay situation for state employees is intolerable. Jordan called on McAuliffe and the General Assembly to walk the talk when the governor presents budget amendments in December for the legislature to consider when it convenes in January for a 45-day session. The governor and General Assembly often praise the talent and hard work of state employees, he said. It is time for the governor and General Assembly to put state employees first when budget priorities are developed. Senate Finance Co-Chairman Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Augusta, said Thursday that pay raises may require quicker action, especially for state police. Its something we need to talk about, he said. We may need to address that sooner than later. Hanger also expressed concerns about the reduced number of state police positions the budget had funded. Thats one area I think were going to have to ante up, he said. However, McAuliffe and the General Assembly face an additional revenue shortfall in the next fiscal year that now is projected at $654.3 million. Revenues showed some sign of recovery in the first quarter of this year, growing by 3.6 percent, compared with projected growth of 1.7 percent, but the governor and legislative leaders say its too early for optimism. That is one quarter we have three to go, the governor said. One of McAuliffes proposed solutions will be a renewed attempt to use federal money to expand Medicaid, which he said would free up $211 million a year in state funds now spent on mental health, inmate hospital care, and subsidizing uncompensated hospital care of uninsured Virginians. We cant continue to leave that money on the table, he said. McAuliffe, who has tried and failed three times to persuade General Assembly Republicans to expand health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, signaled that he will attempt again to use a provider assessment on hospitals to pay the states share of future costs in expanding Medicaid and enable the health care industry to collect federal dollars for what is now uncompensated care. The governor did not provide details of his proposal, but said, We will work closely with the hospitals. Julian Walker, a spokesman for the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, responded, While we have not seen the governors latest proposal, Virginias hospitals and health systems have consistently expressed a desire to work with elected representatives in both parties to find bipartisan solutions that improve health care access and safeguard the important economic contributions that hospitals and health systems make in their communities. House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, offered no hope for proponents of Medicaid expansion surviving the Republican-controlled House of Delegates. The last three years, the House has been very clear in its opposition to Medicaid expansion, Jones said. Hanger, who supported an effort to expand health coverage in 2014, said he also doesnt expect the governors proposal to survive, but he added, Then Ill probably put something else on the table. I think its a conversation we need to have again. A Richmond man told police he opened fire on another driver along Interstate 295 in Henrico County earlier this year because he was frustrated that no one pulled over to help him after his car became disabled, according to Henrico prosecutor Robert J. Windle. John I. Maddox, 24, of Richmond, entered an Alford plea Thursday to attempted malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of felony. In an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges, without admitting guilt, that the evidence is strong enough for a conviction. Two additional counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony and two counts of maliciously shooting at a vehicle were dropped. Windle said a driver was headed south on I-295 near the New Market Road exit at about 6:30 a.m. May 17 when he saw a man, whom he would have identified as Maddox had the case gone to trial, on the side of the highway waiving his arms. Thinking Maddox needed help, the man started to pull over. But after seeing a gun in the mans hand, the motorist sped away, Windle said, recounting the evidence in the case. Maddox fired at least two shots at the passing truck, upset that no one had stopped to help, Windle said. Forensic detectives found a bullet hole in the rear drivers side of the vehicle and three shell casings beside a disabled, abandoned sedan parked on the shoulder of I-295. Virginia State Police traced the disabled cars registration to Maddox and arrested him four hours later. A Hi-Point .40 caliber handgun was recovered from Maddoxs girlfriends home. Maddoxs attorney, Robert Walker Jr., told a Henrico Circuit Court judge that he spoke to the victim. After hearing the mans testimony, he advised his client to enter a plea. Sentencing is set for Dec. 22. Maddox faces a minimum of 5 years for the malicious wounding charge and 3 years for the weapons charge. Pence defends the indefensible Poor Mike Pence! He keeps trying to rescue a failing campaign, but Donald Trump keeps making that task harder. In his Oct. 12 speech at Liberty University, Pence painted a picture of Trump very different from reality. He tried to put the best face on Trumps misbehavior toward women. By the same evening, at least four women came forward, saying that Trumps actions matched his locker-room words. One of those women was Miss Arizona in Trumps Miss USA pageant. Most of her statement was corroborated by none other than Trump himself, in a radio interview with Howard Stern. In his speech at LU, Pence said we should respect our institutions of government. Trump has repeatedly encouraged disrespect for institutions of government, including the military. For example, Trump has said that the election will be rigged and he disparaged former POWs like John McCain. Pence said in his speech that a Trump administration would never abandon our friends abroad. Trump has said he would consider abandoning our friends, specifically NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, if Russia attacked them. That would also mean abandoning a United States treaty obligation. The NATO Treaty obligates NATO members to consider an armed attack on any member as an attack on all members. JEFF ROSNER Lynchburg Clinton far worse than Trump Donald Trump might talk coarsely and have rough edges, but consider the alternative. Although a politicized Justice Department refused to prosecute Hillary Clinton, she clearly violated the law when she used an unsecured email system to transmit classified data. This is punishable by up to a $10,000 fine and up to 10 years in jail. She is not guilty of murder, but she is responsible for the death of four Americans in Benghazi. She cant be charged with theft, but she presided over a State Department, that misplaced $6 billion. While it is not illegal that she tried to destroy the women Bill Clinton was abusing, it is certainly not what we look for in a national leader and certainly not a lady. In addition to this, the election of Clinton would mean a continuation of corruption at the IRS, a politicized Justice Department and a State Department which negotiates treaties like the one with Iran. Also, dont look for the improvement in job prospects for the middle class. Lastly, her Supreme Court appointees will be justices who will not only legislate from the bench, but refuse to strike down illegal executive orders which conform to their liberal beliefs. Also, look for new interpretations of the First Amendment on freedom of speech and the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms. TALBOT HUFF Huddleston The airstrikes, which took place in February 2015, were in coordination with the Libyan army Egypt successfully launched 13 airstrikes in Libya last year against "terrorist targets", as retaliation against the killing of 20 Egyptian Christians by militants in the country, the commander of Egypt's air force told local media on Thursday. The airstrikes, which took place following the February 2015 killings, were carried out in coordination with the Libyan army. Egypt didnt immediately announce the number of attacks it conducted but said at the time that they targeted terrorist training camps and arms depots. Commander Younes El-Masry, speaking to the press ahead of Air Force Celebration Day on 14 October, said that the attacks were based on accurate information and thus they were precise and there weren't major losses among civilians, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. At the time of the attack, Libyas army announced that 64 Islamic State group militants were killed. [Last years attack on ISIS in Libya] is a message to anyone who thinks about threatening Egyptians or Egypts national security, El-Masry stated. Search Keywords: Short link: Hawk Claus spreads Christmas cheer in DC's Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer first look Take a look at two stories from the DC holiday special including the titular chapter and a Hawkwoman and Hawkman tale Last week signs of tension surfaced between Egypt and Saudi Arabia Egypts Prime Minister Sherif Ismail described the country's relationship with Saudi Arabia as good and solid after recent reports of diplomatic tensions between the two countries, Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Friday. Last week, signs of tension surfaced between Egypt and the kingdom over Cairo's votes on two rival UN Security Council resolutions on Syria. The Saudi ambassador to Cairo, Ahmed Kattan, left the country for a three-day visit to the kingdom while Saudi oil company Aramco did not deliver the monthly oil shipment to Cairo for October. Commenting on reports about an Egyptian delegation flying to Riyadh soon, Ismail told Al-Ahram that deliberation and exchange of point of views between the two countries is normal and supports the two countries relationship. He also stated that Aramco had a number of technical issues regarding its monthly oil shipment, which was discussed with the Egyptian oil ministry. He added that these issues will not affect oil deals with Aramco. 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. Search Keywords: Short link: Kind-hearted Lillyann meets PM Rowley Yesterday, at the Office of the Prime Minister, Williams was awarded with, among other things, a copy of the Prime Ministers biography, From Mason Hall to White Hall. About the book, Williams, who is a grocery attendant in San Fernando, said, I am really excited to read it. Apart from Rowleys biography, Williams also received a certificate of appreciation along with a wreath of flowers which she said, she is particularly fond of. I have never seen flowers like those before, she said, and quipped, They were the most beautiful flowers Ive ever seen. Williams shot to national fame within 24 hours of Kiram Ankar posting a picture on Facebook of her feeding Deoraj Singh, 66, while he awaited transportation outside JTA Supermarket, Cross Crossing, where Williams works. The picture was shared thousands of times by citizens who posted glowing comments about her act of kindness. But for Williams, the act was nothing out of the ordinary for her. In fact, she was not aware that a picture was taken of her until she walked into her workpalce the next day. Williams told the Newsday yesterday, They were showing me the picture. I went and stood up in the same spot, I watched the angle of the picture, and I really couldnt remember seeing anybody standing there. By then, she was already a national sensation for people on social media who welcomed the good news. JTA promptly promoted Williams from grocery packer to Customer Service Initiator. She was later acknowledged by San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein and by Rowley. And how did Williams respond to all of the public attention? I just normal, she said, I am just very normal. At the ceremony, Rowley said that seeing pictures of Williams helping the differently-abled man,lifted my spirit. Rowley commended Williams saying, You have shared love where there is so much hate; you have shared caring where there is so much indifference. Williams most immediate goal is to write and pass CSE C Mathematics in January 2017, to aid in her application to join the Coast Guard. The former San Fernando West Secondary student is so focused on joining the Coast Guard, that she plans to start training her body with a strict regimen of running, weight-lifting, and swimming so as to make the transition into the service easier. She will also be pursuing an electrician course at NESC. Fifteen of the attackers were killed in the shootout that ensued Twelve army personnel and 15 militants were killed early on Friday when an armed group assaulted a North Sinai security checkpoint, Egypts army spokesman said in a Facebook statement. The assailants attacked the army checkpoint in 4x4 vehicles and a shootout ensued, according to the statement. A number of attackers and six army personnel were also injured. Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones in Sinai since July 2015. Army forces are currently combing the area to find the assailants. The armed forces assert that these despicable acts will not deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people, the statement added. Hundreds of security forces in North Sinai have been killed in similar attacks by Islamist militants since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Egyptian security forces also killed hundreds of suspected militants in North Sinai during the same period. Search Keywords: Short link: Install the Newser News app in two easy steps: 1. Tap in your navigation bar. 2. Tap to Add to Home Screen. (Newser) For the past couple years, the Guardian and Washington Post have kept better data on US police shootings than any law enforcement agencya fact FBI Director James Comey said last year was "embarrassing and ridiculous," per the Guardian. Now the government wants to remedy that, with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announcing Thursday the DOJ will start compiling self-reported data in 2017 from nearly 180,000 officers in US police departments and law enforcement agencies at the state and federal level, the Guardian reports. An online portal will be set up, and each department will be asked to enter each instance of police force used, whether or not it's lethal (a major difference from previous info-culling). This, then, includes whenever using force causes serious bodily harm or when a gun is even fired "at or in the direction of" a person. The program grew out of an Obama commission set up in 2014 to figure out how to salve tense police-community relations, per the New York Times. Before the initiative tackles local police departments nationwide, it's going to analyze stats from larger law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, the DEA, the US Marshals Service, and the ATF, USA Today reports. The Times notes some possible issues with the pilot program, including the fingers-crossed hope that law enforcement groups and police departments will actually log all incidents (the nonlethal reporting part of the program is voluntary), while civil rights activists want to know what financial repercussions will result if some don't report deaths while in custody, as per a 2014 law passed by Congress. "The initiatives we are announcing today are vital efforts toward increasing transparency and building trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve," Lynch said in a statement. (Here's how police violence affects 911 calls.) (Newser) After her husband was killed in a hit-and-run in 2004, Christine Fensome essentially hid in her house for five years, her family says. Then she met a man with whom she found happiness again. That happiness, however, was cut short. Just 10 days after their Sept. 17 wedding, the British woman awoke on her honeymoon in Mexico with "terrible sickness and diarrhea with funny sounds coming from her throat," her mom tells the Telegraph. Fensome, 54who had eaten grouper the previous night, per the Sunwas rushed to a hospital, where she died within 10 minutes. The cause: ciguatera poisoningan illness caused by eating contaminated reef fishwhich caused her to have a heart attack, her brother says; fatal cases are rare. Experts explain a toxin produced naturally by algae and found primarily in the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Central America is consumed by small reef fish, which are eaten by larger reef fish like snapper and amberjack that make their way onto dinner plates. A study notes cooking doesn't eliminate the toxin, usually concentrated in organs or viscera; it can lead to months of nasty symptoms from poor circulation to shooting pains. Though as many as 50,000 cases of ciguatera poisoning may occur annuallythe number is expected to spike as the algae moves into the Gulf of Mexico and US southeast Atlanticinformation about this "hidden death sentence ... appears to be quite limited," says Fensome's brother. "If anything can come from my sister's death it is raising awareness about eating fish abroad." (This newlywed was killed by lightning.) (Newser) Seemingly innocent posts on the Facebook page of South Carolina man Charlie Carver are in fact deeply disturbing, friends and family say. Carver and girlfriend Kala Brown disappeared on Aug. 31, and loved ones say the posts that have appeared on the account this month were clearly written by somebody else, the Daily Beast reports. A post a week after the disappearance said they were "fine," and Carver's history was retroactively edited Oct. 1 to include life events that never happened, including an announcement of Brown's pregnancy, their marriage, and the purchase of a house. When the couple disappeared, they left behind medication and even their Pomeranian dog, NBC News reports. Carver, who started dating Brown earlier this year, was in the middle of divorcing another woman. Brown's best friend tells the Daily Beast that her friend had complained about Carver's estranged wife stalking her and doing "all kinds of really crazy scary stuff." Police say they're investigating the disappearance, but they have not identified any suspects or subpoenaed Facebook to discover the source of the Carver postswhich, chillingly, have included posters issued in the search for the missing couple. (A creepy video turned out to be a dead end in the search for a missing Wisconsin teen.) (Newser) Thailand has declared a full year of mourning for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was the world's longest-reigning monarch before his death on Thursday at the age of 88. The AP reports that a public holiday was declared Friday, the country's first day without a king in 70 years, though the stock market and banks remained open. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the former army chief who led 2014's military coup, said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is set to succeed Bhumibol, but he has asked for more time to mourn. The Bangkok Post reports that soon after the beloved king's death was announced on Thursday, broadcasting on all television channels, including international news networks like CNN, was replaced with black-and-white footage of the king. Authorities say television broadcasts will be restricted for the next 30 days. Movie screenings, concerts, and sporting events have also been canceled for the next month and the public has been asked to wear black and avoid "joyful events," the BBC reports. (Read more Thailand stories.) Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz to discuss strengthening economic cooperation and bilateral trade on Friday in Vienna. According to a statement from Egypt's foreign ministry, Kurz on his part said that there are 600 Austrian companies looking to invest in Egypt. Shoukry inaugurated on Friday the Egyptian-Austrian business forum to enhance bilateral commercial relations, state news agency MENA reported. The two counterparts tackled a number of regional and international issues including efforts in the United Nations Security Council to combat terrorism and end the Syrian conflict. Egypt was elected a non-permanent UNSC member in 2015 for a two-year term. Shoukry stressed Cairo's stance on the necessity of a political solution in Syria and the importance of humanitarian aid reaching civilians. During the 71st United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York late September, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern to discuss Egyptian-Austrian political and economic relations. Search Keywords: Short link: (Newser) It may sound nuts, but an analysis at FiveThirtyEight lays out the longshot scenario of how the nation's next president could be ... Evan McMullin. As Benjamin Morris writes, the chances of the independent candidate claiming the White House "are slim, not none." And it's all about Utah: A traditional Mormon conservative, McMullin has positioned himself as an alternative to Trumpand that may be a winning strategy in his home state, where Trump has acknowledged a "tremendous problem" rallying support, per the Deseret News. If McMullin snatches Utah's six electoral votes, he could prevent any candidate from collecting the 270 electoral votes required to win. In that situation, the election would be decided in Congress, opening up the chance for McMullin. With many House Republicans turning their back on Trump of late, it's possible they'd choose McMullin over the man atop their party's ticket. (Morris lays out in detail the convoluted process in the House and Senate that could conceivably put him over the top.) You'd be forgiven for not recognizing the nameonly 52% of Utahans know who McMullin is, based on a recent state poll. (The former CIA officer's bio is here.) Still, McMullin was polling at 22% in the stateahead of Gary Johnson and trailing the deadlocked Clinton and Trump by just four percentage points. With residents in what one BYU professor describes as a "full-scale revolt" against Trump, there's a real possibility McMullin can take the state, especially if he secures Mitt Romney's endorsement. Read the full analysis here. (Read more Election 2016 stories.) (Newser) When Tamika Cross heard a mid-flight call for a doctor to help an unresponsive passenger aboard a Delta flight from Detroit to Minneapolis, she immediately threw her hand in the air. "Oh no, sweetie, put [your] hand down, we are looking for actual physicians or nurses," the OB/GYN, who's black, says she was told by a flight attendant. The "blatant discrimination" didn't end there, Cross wrote in a Sunday Facebook post shared 36,000 times. Once she conveyed that she was in fact a doctor, Cross says the flight attendant bombarded her with questions about her credentials and why she'd been in Detroit before ushering a white male who said he was a physician and "fit the 'description of a doctor'" to the unresponsive passenger. Cross says the flight attendant later returned to seek her advice on the passengerwho was treated by paramedics in Minneapolis, per MLiveand she assisted "despite the choice words I had saved up for her. The patient and his wife weren't the problem." The flight attendant later apologized and offered to give her Delta SkyMiles, but "I don't want SkyMiles in exchange for blatant discrimination," Cross says. "I'm sure many of my fellow young, corporate America working women of color can all understand my frustration when I say I'm sick of being disrespected." The Washington Post reports her post has inspired other black female doctors to speak out against stereotypes on Twitter using the hashtag #WhatADoctorLooksLike. Delta says it's investigating. (Read more Delta Air Lines stories.) (Newser) DeVry University's ads are about to get an overhaul. That's because the school's oft-touted claim that since 1975, 90% of its graduates looking for employment found jobs in their field within six months actually has no basis in fact, according to the Department of Education. The university was asked to back up the assertion last year, but it "could not provide evidence to substantiate this claim," the department announced Thursday. As part of a settlement, DeVry must now abandon the claim, post a notice on its website for two years noting the claim is unproven, and keep at least $68.4 million in reserves in case of any future issues, report NPR and the Wall Street Journal. However, unlike competitors Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institutewhich recently folded after misstepsDeVry will keep its access to federal funding. DeVry, which has more than 50 campuses nationwide, says it's "pleased" to have the issue cleared up, though it suggests its claim wasn't all that bogus. It says it simply lacked "student-specific data for the period from 1975 to October 1980." The university adds it will "continue communicating its strong student outcomes." DeVry is currently fighting an FTC lawsuit over another of its claims: that its graduates have 15% higher incomes one year after graduation than graduates from all other universities. (Read more false advertising stories.) (Newser) The final known person still imprisoned over his role in China's 1989 Tiananmen Square protests is due to be released on Saturday, the AP reports. Miao Deshunwho reportedly suffers from schizophrenia and hepatitis Brefused to admit guilt or repent for participating in the pro-democracy protests. Miao, 51, has spent half his life in prison for throwing a basket at a flaming tank, which was deemed an act of arson. He was originally sentenced to death but had his term reduced several times for good behavior. Still, according to a former fellow prisoner, Miao's refusal to repent alienated him from the other prisoners and made him a frequent target of abuse from the guards. "It is already a miracle that he is alive," says that ex-prisoner, Wu Wenjian. "We all thought he would not make it out of this." Miao will be released into a world that bears little resemblance to the one he left. Speaking with the Washington Post, human rights activist Hu Jia said Miao is "likely to find himself surrounded by state security police upon his release, something unimaginable before he went to jail. Release from jail does not necessarily mean more freedom. While the government might be letting Miao go free, Chinese state media isn't too sympathetic to the abuse he suffered. The English-language South China Morning Post reports that state-run paper Global Times recently ran an editorial saying "the life of anyone who bet on the wrong side of history weighs less than a feather." (Read more China stories.) (Newser) Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari might have to get used to the doghouse after claiming his wife belongs in the kitchen. In a BBC interview aired Friday, Aisha Buhari openly criticized her husband, suggesting a few people have taken over the government and convinced him to appoint their allies to top positions. "The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years," she said. "If things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before." In response, President Buhari told reporters in Berlin, "I don't know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room, per the AP. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was meeting with Buhari at the time, gave him "a short glare" and then laughed, according to the AP. Citing his three unsuccessful presidential campaigns before his fourth run in 2015, Buhari continued, "I claim superior knowledge over [my wife] and the rest of the opposition, because in the end I have succeeded. It's not easy to satisfy the whole Nigerian opposition parties or to participate in the government." Though Nigeria is struggling with its first recession in a decade and a famine in the northeast of the country, the first lady did commend her husband's government for a decline in attacks by militant group Boko Haram. (The group just released 21 captives.) (Newser) Reports of the Great Barrier Reef's death are greatly exaggeratedand "wildly irresponsible," according to scientists. The Huffington Post reports Outside Magazine published an "obituary" for the reef on Tuesday, giving 2016 as the year it died. And while the article may have had its heart in the right place, coral scientists worry that it will do more harm than good for the Great Barrier Reef, which is still very much alive and in need of saving. That's especially a concern as the story has gone viral, garnering misleading headlines like "Great Barrier Reef pronounced dead by scientists." If theres nothing that can be done, lets not do anything and move onto other issues, NOAA's Russell Brainard worries people will think. And the Great Barrier Reef could very much benefit from people not moving on to other issues. Recent coral bleaching impacted 93% of the reef, killing 20% of it this year, ThinkProgress reports. According to the Telegraph, fewer fish are living in the reef, and climate change continues to be a threat. It may not be dead, but one scientist says the Great Barrier Reef is "on life support." Still, a recent study showed dead portions of reefs can come back if they're protected. Coral scientist Terry Hughes says a better message would be to let people know that it's not too late if we join together to fight for the Great Barrier Reef. As Brainard tells the Huffington Post, "We're very far from an obituary." (Read more Great Barrier Reef stories.) (Newser) A Texas prosecutor urged jurors to put a 64-year-old serial drunk driver away for a long time so "we can all sleep at night," the Houston Chronicle reports. So after nearly six hours of deliberation Thursday, a jury sentenced Jose Marin to 99 years in prison for his eighth DWI, according to KXAN. Marin had been convicted of driving drunk in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, and twice in 1998. He was sentenced to nearly 43 years in prison total for those convictions but was released on parole in 2003. He was still on parole in January 2015 when he was arrested doing 75mph in a 45mph zone, KVUE reports. Prosecutor Jennifer Stalbaum said the only way to keep Marin from driving drunk again is to keep him in prison. He'll be eligible for parole after 15 years. (Read more drunk driving stories.) (Newser) Arnold Jones was one of more than 29,000 drug offenders who asked President Obama to commute their sentence. But when he was granted executive clemency in August, he turned it down. USA Today delved into the unusual story when it noticed the White House listed only 774 commuted sentences under Obama when it should have been 775. The sticking point for Jones: enrollment in a mandatory residential drug program that's been a condition of nearly 100 of Obama's commutation grants. The requirement would have required Jonesthe first person to refuse clemency based on itto be separated from the general prison population for nine months while undergoing four hours of therapy every day. Jones is currently in a low-security federal prison in Texas. He was sentenced for drug trafficking in 2002 and has six years left on his sentence. But if he gets good behavior, he'll only be stuck in prison for eight months longer than if he had accepted Obama's clemency and enrolled in the treatment program. Records show Jones used crack weekly before he was arrested and that he hasn't had success with drug treatment programs in the past. When USA Today spoke to Jones' mother this week, she was still excited about the president commuting her son's sentence. She didn't know he had turned it down. Read the full story here. (Read more clemency stories.) (Newser) Authorities say a mother who mailed drugs to her incarcerated daughter is now an inmate in the same Florida jail, the AP reports. Monroe County Sheriff's spokesperson Becky Herrin said in a news release that a deputy at the jail near Key West found the envelope and noticed it had a chemical smell. He opened the envelope and saw a substance inside. An incident report says the substance turned out to be Buprenorphine, a synthetic opioid. Deputies arrested 55-year-old Nadine Carroll on Thursday. Now Carroll is in the same jail as daughter Shannon Carroll. Records show Shannon Carroll was arrested Sept. 15 on charges of driving with a suspended license and possession of cocaine. Nadine Carroll is charged with smuggling contraband into jail. (Read more parenting stories.) (Newser) Federal prosecutors plan to announce charges related to a planned attack on the Somali immigrant community in Kansas, the AP reports. A law enforcement official said Friday that federal prosecutors in Wichita, Kansas, are announcing the arrests of three men in connection with the plot. The official was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Acting US Attorney Tom Beal and FBI Special Agent Eric Jackson have scheduled a news conference late Friday in Wichita. The Justice Department's National Security Division created a new position a year ago to help coordinate investigations into violent homegrown extremism, like the one that resulted in the three arrests. (Read more terrorist attack stories.) Twelve army personnel and 15 militants were killed early on Friday when assailants attacked an army checkpoint in North Sinai Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi offered his condolences on Friday to the families of 12 army personnel who were killed early this morning when an armed group assaulted a North Sinai security checkpoint, referring to them as "heroes." In a statement on his official Facebook page, El-Sisi vowed that such a tragic incident would only "increase our determination and persistence to continue our battle for development and survival." Egypt's cabinet, Parliament and the top Sunni Muslim authority Al-Azhar strongly condemned the attack, in statements reported by official state news agency MENA. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail added that "the state is determined to cleanse Egypt from these evil elements." Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal said that these attacks, which aim to target the state and terrorize the society, will not succeed. Twelve army personnel were killed and six injured while 15 militants were killed and a number injured early on Friday when assailants attacked an army checkpoint in 4x4 vehicles and a shootout ensued, Egypts army spokesman said. Hundreds of security forces in North Sinai have been killed in attacks by Islamic militants in the past three years since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Egyptian security forces also killed hundreds of suspected militants in North Sinai during the same period. Search Keywords: Short link: (Newser) Passengers and flight crews will be banned from bringing Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on airline flights under an emergency order issued Friday by the Department of Transportation, the AP reports. The order, which goes into effect on Saturday, says the phones may not be carried on board or packed in checked bags on flights to and from the US or within the country. The phones also can't be shipped as air cargo. Passengers caught attempting to travel with the phones will have the phones confiscated and may face fines, the department said. Samsung has recalled more than 2.5 million of the smartphones, citing a battery manufacturing error that can cause them to catch fire. The South Korean company discontinued the product earlier this week, less than two months after its August release. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says there have been nearly 100 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the US. One fire erupted on a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this month. In another case, a family in Florida reported a Galaxy Note 7 phone left charging in their Jeep caught fire, destroying the vehicle. The Federal Aviation Administration had previously warned passengers not to pack the phones in their checked bags and to power them off and not charge them while on board planes. "We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority," transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said. (Read more Galaxy Note stories.) (Newser) A surgeon removed a kidney from the wrong patient last July in what a Massachusetts hospital is calling a "deeply unfortunate situation," the Boston Globe reports. According to the Worcester Telegram, two patients with the same name had CT scans done in June. One of the scans showed a large tumor on the patient's kidney. Unfortunately, according to a federal report released Thursday, that CT scan was assigned to the wrong patient. The patient had surgery at Saint Vincent Hospital in July. During the operation, the surgeon found there was no tumor on the patient's kidneyunfortunately making that discovery only after said kidney was removed. The patient was later given a replacement kidney. The hospital blamed the mistake on an outside physician, but the report faulted Saint Vincent for not verifying the patient's identity through their birth date or some other identifying feature prior to surgery. The AP notes the two patients were several years apart in age. The Department of Public Health investigated the hospital in August, finding a number of "serious safety lapses," including three other cases where patients weren't correctly identifying. The hospital is facing potential termination from Medicaid and Medicare programs. Saint Vincent says it's taking "all necessary steps" to avoid further problems, including training staff on how to make sure patients are who they are. (Read more surgery stories.) The infamous court battle between Apple and Samsung is expected to end by the ruling of Supreme Court and the tech companies are waiting for the verdict to see how the court would decide on the compensation for patent infringements. Analysts say that it would decide the way tech companies working and most of the companies are aspiring the court order in favor of Samsung. They feel that if it goes against Samsung, it will make the tech environment more restricted. A look back at the timeline of Apple vs. Samsung battle shows that both the companies have fought in the courts of countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea, U.K., France, Italy etc., on patent infringements. The verdicts in those courts were not subjective to a greater impact in those markets or required a major change in the fining procedure. The case in front of U.S. Supreme Court becomes more complex with respect to the current patent laws. The Supreme Court has found Samsung guilty in infringing Apple's round corners, app grid icons and its bezel last year, reports BBC. The U.S. patent law states that such infringements should be fined with either $250 or the full profit of the device, whichever is higher. By considering the full profit of the infringed devices at $548 million, the court has asked Samsung to pay it, in December, which they did. Now Samsung feels that it should be given back at least $399 million, cited The Wall Street Journal. In the court fight between Apple and Samsung, the later feels that only for minor infringements, full profit compensation is not justifiable. The other tech companies also feel the same way how Samsung does. They say that the existing law should modified to contain the needs of modern world. Also the companies feel that these rigorous punishments would stifle tech innovation. The new and small companies would be discouraged to make creativity within the tech platforms and environment. Apple vs. Samsung verdict would be a landmark in the U.S. court rulings. Syrian and Russian warplanes carried out dozens of air strikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo on Friday, a monitor said, as world powers prepared for new talks on a ceasefire. "Very intense air raids targeted several neighbourhoods from dawn until mid-morning," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He had no immediate word on casualties. Ibrahim Abu al-Leith, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force in Aleppo, said that air raids had battered the city and its outskirts overnight but had calmed by 11:00am (0800 GMT). "There are still people stuck under the rubble in (the opposition-held district of) Tariq al-Bab and the rescuers are working to get them out," Abu al-Leith told AFP. Syria's military had said earlier this month that it would reduce bombardment of eastern parts of the city to allow civilians to leave, but strikes have intensified again this week and left dozens dead. More than 370 people, including nearly 70 children, have been killed in regime and Russian bombardment of east Aleppo since government forces announced a landmark offensive to take the entire city on September 22. An estimated 250,000 people still live in eastern parts of Aleppo, under opposition control since mid-2012. On Thursday, regime ally Moscow said it was prepared to secure safe passage for rebels to leave the war-ravaged second city. "We are ready to ensure the safe withdrawal of armed rebels, the unimpeded passage of civilians to and from eastern Aleppo, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid there," Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said. Russia has faced growing international criticism over the rising civilian death toll in Syria, including Western accusations of possible war crimes. Since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow, Aleppo has been engulfed by some of the worst violence of the five-year conflict. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to hold new ceasefire talks in Lausanne on Saturday along with counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces. Search Keywords: Short link: The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. New Delhi: Indian news channels have been reporting about India-Pakistan relationships and graphics are also used to make the viewers understand the news story. But, a rare style of TV reporting has been noticed from a Russian TV channel Russia Today (RT). Russia and Syria are into war for quite some time now. The war started in 2011 and many Syrians have been killed so far. The news has been reported on various TV channels across the world. But, Russia Today has broadcasted it in June 2013 in a completely unique way. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was so impressed with the style of broadcasting that they even saw it in the studio. The report was presented with excellent animated effects where anchor is presenting the story in a manner as if he is reporting it from the battle field. Fighter planes and tanks appear around the anchor and it seems that all is happening within the studio. Bombs are also exploded within the studio. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: National Investigation Agency is mulling to file a charge sheet against Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar for the terrorist attack on the Pathankot IAF base. The NIA is also likely to name Azhars brother Abdul Rauf and two other "handlers" involved in the terror strike. The chargesheet is expected to reflect India's determination to pursues cases against Azhar and maintain pressure on the UN Security Council to sanction the terrorist mastermind despite China exercising a veto on behalf of Pakistan. The two handlers likely to be named by NIA are also Pakistani nationals Kashif Jaan and Shahid Latif. After completing its investigations and collecting substantial evidence by way of forensics and phone taps, the NIA is in a position to squarely blame Jaish and its chief. The Indian agency has also approached the US for more technical evidence. According to an official, who didn't wish to be identified, NIA is examining legal options on filing a charge sheet against Azhar and other JeM members "in absentia". Once legal ramifications are examined approval of the home ministry will be sought. Earlier, NIA had filed a charge-sheet "in absentia" in 2011 against Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley, Lashkar e Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, Zaki Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Tahawur Hussain Rana and two ISI officers, Major Samir and Major Iqbal, among others for their role in 26/11 Mumbai attacks. "Pakistan, like always, is not cooperating when it comes to sharing information and evidence in terror-related cases. The idea behind filing a chargesheet without Pakistan's support is that it will strengthen India's case legally and the charge-sheet can be used against Maulana Masood Azhar, Abdul Rauf and others," said the official. The chargesheet will be part of India's campaign to build international pressure on Pakistan to hand over the Pathankot attack masterminds to India, the official said. Pakistan, despite repeated reminders through MEA, has not provided any evidence in the Pathankot attack and has also remained silent on allowing an NIA team to visit or giving access to Azhar and other suspects. While NIA has technical and forensic evidence pointing to the involvement of Pak-based perpetrators in the deadly attack, the US has also provided crucial evidence in the form of chats and email conversations of JeM members to the agency. Pakistan has so far not acted on the Interpol's red corner notice issued against all the suspects, which shares evidence, including phone conversations of the four slain terrorists, their addresses, family members' details, financial details of Al-Rehmat Trust (financial arm of JeM) and chats/messages of JeM handlers. India had allowed a Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to visit Pathankot to collect evidence, but Islamabad has violated the terms of reciprocity. "Now, we don't think Pakistan will ever act on evidence given by us because it doesn't want to," said an official. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia could sell missile defense systems to Turkey. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, in comments carried Friday by Russian news agencies, that Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed potential arms deals at a meeting in Istanbul earlier this week. He said that Russia would considering selling various missile defense systems if Turkey wants them. Turkey was negotiating a nuclear defense deal with China, which had been a source of tension with NATO partners, before the talks broke down last year. The statement comes just a few months after Russia agreed to restore ties with Turkey. Relations between the two nations were nearly severed after Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Turkish-Syrian border last year. Search Keywords: Short link: Indore: Opposing Madhya Pradesh government's invitation to representatives from China for the upcoming Global Investors' Summit (GIS), an RSS-affiliate body on Thursday said that country should not be given even an inch of land in the state for investment as it is "providing financial assistance to Pakistan to fan anti-India activities". The Madhya Pradesh government will hold its flagship event on October 22 and 23. "China has been constantly providing financial assistance to Pakistan to fan anti-India activities. Hence, we demand the state government should immediately withdraw the invites given to representatives from China for the two-day GIS," Suresh Bijolia, Indore-Ujjain convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), said in a statement. "We also demand from the Chief Minister that no Chinese company should be given an inch of land in the state." Bijolia said they have handed over a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister to Indore Divisional Commissioner's office regarding their demands. On October 10 here, MP Industries Minister Rajendra Shukla had said that the goods made in China were being opposed in India. But, if the Chinese companies invest in Madhya Pradesh and start their production, the move will give fillip to the 'Make in India' campaign, he had said. Chinese investment in Madhya Pradesh would generate employment for local residents and rev up state's revenue, he had said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police has suspended a senior officer for dereliction of duty after he allegedly passed on information about the deployment of security forces to a Pakistani intelligence officer posing as an Army officer. The suspended police officer was identified as Inspector Tanveer Ahmad and was in charge of the Armed Police Control Room at Batamaloo in Srinagar. On August 20, amid protests in the Valley, a Pakistani intelligence officer posing as Major Sanjeev called the Armed Police telephone number and inquired from the inspector on duty about deployments and other engagements of security forces in various parts of Kashmir, officials said. The Pakistani officer then reportedly sought deployment details in Handwara and Bandipore. Ahmad allegedly gave details about Handwara, and said he needed to check the information about Bandipore and passed the phone to his subordinate. Another officer then allegedly told the Pakistani officer that 42 companies were deployed in Kashmir range, and gave the range-wise details of deployment. The phone call to the Armed PCR was traced by the home ministry, which took up the matter with the J&K DGP. An investigation was ordered and Ahmad suspended, officials said. A senior officer said the preliminary investigation showed that the involvement of Ahmad was unintentional. All control rooms and police officials in the state have been instructed not to provide sensitive information to anyone whose identity is not known to them. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Multan: Pakistan says security forces, acting on a tip, raided a militant hideout in the central province of Punjab and subsequently killed eight militants during a shootout at the scene. The Punjab Counterterrorism Department says the shootout took place late yesterday near the town of Dera Ghazi Khan. It says officers asked the militants to surrender but they started firing. The statement also says the security forces returned fire and when the firing stopped, they found eight bodies of "terrorists." It says three other militants managed to flee from the scene and that a search is underway to trace and arrest them. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif confirmed death sentence handed to 10 terrorists by military courts on Thursday. These people were punished for their involvement in the murder of civilians, polio workers and armed forces personnel. The 10 condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel outfit, were convicted by speedy trial in military courts. "These terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, polio workers, NGO employees, police officials and armed forces personnel," army said. Fire-arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession. The military courts were set up in Pakistan to expedite the trial process for terror-related offences following the December 2014 Talibans massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar in which over 150 people, mostly school children, were killed. Following the attack, the government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty and the Parliament passed the 21st amendment which established military courts which was challenged in the Supreme Court. The apex court ruled in favour of setting up of the courts in August last year. It is not known where the trial was held and when the verdict of conviction announced, as the military courts work in secrecy due to fear of backlash by militants. Also Read: Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif visits Line of Control after surgical strike Also Read: Pak civilian govt tells its army to take action against terrorism mushrooming from its soil or else face international isolation For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bengaluru: India's second-largest IT company Infosys on Friday reported a 6.1 per cent rise in its second quarter net profit but cut its annual sales growth forecast for the second time in three months on an "uncertain business outlook". Consolidated net profit was Rs 3,606 crore in July-September quarter, up from Rs 3,398 crore a year earlier, the company said in a statement. It, however, projected a 7.5-8.5 per cent rise in sales in US dollar terms in the year ending March 31, down from 10 per cent growth it had forecast in July. Its earlier revenue growth target of 10 per cent had been lowered already from up to 11.5 per cent projected in April this year. Also read: Infosys revises pay packages of top leadership including COO and CFO In constant currency, revenue is now expected to grow 8-9 per cent this fiscal for Infosys. The target is much below the growth estimates for IT exports that has been pegged at 10-12 per cent by industry body Nasscom. Reacting to the cut in guidance, Infosys shares fell 2.38 per cent to Rs 1,027.00 apiece on the BSE. The impending US presidential elections and implications of Britain's exit from the European Union have slowed growth in the banking and financial services sectors, and companies are tightening their contracting budgets, adopting a more cautious spending approach. In August, Infosys lost a key contract with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. "While we continue to navigate an uncertain external environment, we remain focused on executing our strategy and increasing momentum of our software plus services model. Considering our performance in the first half of the year and the near-term uncertain business outlook, we are revising our revenue guidance," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said. He added that in the long term, it's increasingly clear that the IT industry's future lies in evolving from a cost-based, people-only model, to one in which people are amplified by software and artificial intelligence (AI). Sikka said the company will stick to its aspiration of achieving USD 20 billion revenue by 2020. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday extended a warm welcome to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reached New Delhi for BRICS summit to be held on October 15-16 in Goa. PM Modi and Putin will also meet for a bilateral session in which the two leaders are likely to ink a Rs 39,000 crore defence deal for stealth frigates and S-400 anti-aircraft system. Taking to social media site Facebook to express Indias delight to host the 8th BRICS Summit, Pm Modi asserted that that India looks forward to finding common resolve and solutions. Also read: India, Russia to sign defence deal: Read all about stealth frigates, S-400 anti-aircraft system and Kamov 226T helicopters India is delighted to host the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa on 15-16 October 2016, followed by a first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. I look forward to extending a warm welcome to the ten leaders of the BRICS and BIMSTEC families, the prime minister posted. The Prime Ministers message especially acknowledged Indias bilateral meetings with Russia and Brazil. In Goa, I will also have the honour to receive President Vladimir Putin of Russia for the India-Russia Annual Summit and President Michel Temer of Brazil for a bilateral visit. President Putins visit will give us an opportunity to consolidate and reaffirm a unique time-tested friendship and partnership with Russia. President Temers visit will open up new areas for cooperation with Brazil, an important strategic partner. PM Modi also welcomed his fellow leaders from China and South Africa.I also look forward to useful conversations with my fellow leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on addressing pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals. As Chair of the BRICS this year, India has embraced a stronger emphasis on promoting people-to-people linkages in diverse fields including trade, sports, education, films, scholarship, and tourism. It is anchored in the belief that our people are pivotal partners in our effort to craft responsive, collective and inclusive solutions. We will launch new initiatives in Goa even as we mark the successful operationalization of initiatives like the BRICS New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform. In a first, I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with the BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sir Lanka and Thailand. "Representing nearly two thirds of humanity together, we hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring. India looks forward to building bridges to new partnerships and finding common resolve and solutions to our entrenched problems. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump has denied allegations of sexual assault on women and asked New York Times to retract its story Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately. Further, his team has also threatened the newspaper with a lawsuit threat. However, New York Times has stood by their story and dont seem to bow down to Trumps legal threats at any cost. Times lawyer David McCraw dismissed Trumps charges that the story was libellous and wrote a letter to Trumps attorney claiming that American citizens had a right to hear the truth. Also read: US first lady Michelle Obama takes down Trump for his lewd comments Also read: Donald Trump touched two women inappropriately? His lawyer sends legal notice to New York Times Also read: Two American women accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate touching, says report For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The premier educational institutes, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) may be soon allowed to set their own fee structure without consulting the apex council governing the prestigious institution. According to sources, the move to give a free hand to the institution's various campuses is aimed at enhancing their autonomy. "The Board of Governors are likely to be given theauthority to decide the fee structure for the respective IIT.Currently, they are part of the fee deciding process but arenot the final authority," a source said. However, it wasn't immediately clear whether the idea if approved, will be applicable to all IITs or limited campuses. At present, the fee structure is determined by the IITcouncil, the top decision-making body, which is chaired by theUnion human resource development minister and includes IITdirectors and board of governors of each institute. The IITs are autonomous public institutes of higher education. The 23 IITs are located in the following cities:Bhilai, Chennai, Delhi, Dhanbad, Dharwad, Goa, Guwahati,Jammu, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai, Roorkee, Bhubaneswar,Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi,Palakkad, Patna, Ropar, Tirupati and Varanasi. Former HRD Minister Smriti Irani had in April announcedan increase in the annual fees for undergraduate courses fromexisting Rs 90,000 to Rs 2 lakh, a rise of 122 per cent, for new enrollments from the current academic session. The Ministry had also decided to give a total fee waiverfor the differently-abled, students from SC and ST communityand those belonging to families with annual income less thanRs 1 lakh, following a proposal by a high-level IIT panel. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Government on Friday rebuked the All India Muslim Personal Law Board for trying to politicise the law panels move to seek feedback on uniform civil code and said it should not be linked to triple talaq, where the core issue is gender justice and ending discrimination against women. Calling for an enlightened debate on Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the real mood of the country was to end triple talaq and some people were trying to create confusion over the two issues. You (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) join the debate. Let there be enlightened debate you put forth your point of view. Let a consensus be evolved. Why are you trying to bring in the name of Prime Minister and call him dictator, Naidu told reporters. ALSO READ | Triple talaq row: Muslim Personal Law Board says Uniform Civil Code not good for India Governments sharp reaction came a day after All India Muslim Personal Law Board and various other Muslim organisations announced that they will boycott Law Commissions process to take views on the contentious Uniform Civil Code. They said the move amounted to the Modi government declaring war on their religious rights and that UCC will kill Indias pluralism. Naidu said some people were confusing the issue of triple talaq with Uniform Civil Code. The real mood of the country is that people want this triple talaq to end. People do not want any discrimination on basis of any religious faith agianst women. As I told you the issues are gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women, he said. Criticising AIMPLB, Naidu even said, If you are so interested in making political comments you can as well join any political party of your choice. This is not expected from Muslim Personal Law Board and other religious leaders. You have to confine yourself to the issue and the issue is put forth for discussion by the law commission, he added. Also Read: (All you need to know about Uniform Civil Code) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be seen a whole new brand look in his upcoming musical "Munna Michael". The musical by Sabbir Khan will show the star attired in leather jacket, high boots, and ostentatious earrings. Also starring Tiger Shroff, the film will see Nawazuddin in a never-seen-before avatar. Talking about the 42-year-old "Gangs of Wasseypur" actor, Sabbir, in a statement, said "while writing Nawazudin's character I knew exactly how I wanted him to look, how he would walk, talk. "Once we started workshops on the script and Nawaz had got into the skin of the character, I explained how I wanted him to look and expected him to raise a few questions but there were none. He surrendered completely and went through everything patiently." Sabbir changed the whole look of Nawazuddin by giving him front curls, adding boots, earrings, sunglasses and a leather jacket. The actor will also be seen dancing in the movie. "Sabbir makes commercial films but he's focused on detailing, doesn't overdo things on the set and wants the film to look realistic. I like it when directors don't play to the galleries," Nawazuddin said, praising his director. The actor said he is happy he will get to romance on the screen as he has been wanting to show that side of his to the audience. "There's a lot of romance, apart from the dancing, in this film. I want to play a romantic hero." Produced by Viki Rajani, the film traces the journey of Munna, a street kid who dreams of becoming the King of Pop Michael Jackson. Debutante Nidhhi Agerwal is the leading lady and Nawazuddin plays a quirky character with many shades. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A senior Russian diplomat says a new United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria should include a U.N. envoy's proposal for the al-Qaida-linked militants to leave Aleppo. Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday the resolution also must endorse provisions of a U.S.-Russian cease-fire deal that fell apart amid a Syrian army offensive on Aleppo. Gatilov told the Interfax news agency that U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura's proposal for the Fatah al-Sham Front to leave Aleppo in exchange for a halt in Russian and Syrian army attacks should be part of the U.N. resolution. The militant group already has rejected de Mistura's suggestion. Gatilov spoke a day before a meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and their counterparts from several other nations. Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi: Describing India as a university of tolerance, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday asserted that religious persecution will never be allowed in the country. Tolerance is essential for peaceful existence. People from all religions live peacefully in India and practise their religion without any fear of discrimination. That is why India is a university of tolerance, Singh said at a meeting of Christian leaders organised by India Christian Council here. Singh said Christianity came to India almost 2,000 years ago and Kerala is home to St Thomas church which is one of the worlds oldest churches. He said India cannot forget the contribution of Christiansfrom Saint Thomas to Mother Teresawho tried to eradicate evils from our society. There were incidents of attacks on churches in Delhi which came up in the run up to elections (to Delhi Assembly). But I would like to say that religious persecution will never be allowed in India whether it is before or after election, he said. Targeting Pakistan, Singh said while India chose to be a secular country, Pakistan declared itself a theocratic state and was now pursuing terrorism as state policy In 1947, India was divided on the basis of religion and despite that, it chose to be a secular state. The nation (Pakistan) separated from it declared itself a theocratic state. That country uses terrorism as a state policy. It is very unfortunate that some countries make terrorism a state policy. There can be differences between people that can be resolved through dialogue but not by taking up guns, he said. Singh said a terrorist does not belong to any cast, creed on religion. Not only India, but many countries in the world have been affected by terrorism. A terrorist is a terrorist who does not belong to any caste, creed or religion. Although, some people link terrorism with religion but it is wrong, he said. The Home Minister said in India, people from all religions get respect and it is the only country where all sects of Islam are found. All important religions find place in India, he said. The meeting was attended by BJP MP and National Chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations Udit Raj and Joseph DSouza, Moderator Bishop, Good Shepherd Church, India and President of All Indian Christian Council. DSouza asked the Christian community to stand with the government and support it in the fight against terrorism. The Council requested Singh to send a circular to state governments and police to ensure protection of Christians and places of their worships. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Panaji: India is expected to continue with its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the issue of terrorism originating from there when it plays host to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa at the Summit of five-nation BRICS grouping here on Sunday. Even preceding the BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise these issues with Putin and Xi on Saturday when a series of bilateral meetings are slated at the seaside venue. With the Summits taking place within weeks of Uri terror strike by Pak-based terrorists, India will be forceful in its demand at BRICS Summit, which will also have a BIMSTEC outreach meet, for intensified efforts to tackle terrorism including action against countries providing safe havens to terrorists and arming them. India has made strong references both at UNGA as well as G-20 regarding Pakistans continued support to cross-border terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without naming Pakistan at G-20, had said that one single nation in South Asia is spreading agents of terror in the region and it must be isolated while External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the UNGA had said confessions of captured terrorists involved in terror strikes in India including in Uri is a living proof of Pakistans complicity in cross-border terror. Apart from the heads of governments of BRICS to attend the Summit on October 16, Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) will be here to participate in the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. New Delhi will also make all out efforts to revive Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) when Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (State Counsellor) attend the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach meet. This also assumes significance given the collapse of recent SAARC Summit after four countries apart from India pulled out of the meet to be hosted by Pakistan over the issue of cross-border terrorism, maintaining that environment was not conducive to hold such an event. Indian officials have made it clear that Indias effort would be to have strong language in the BRICS outcome document on terrorism including how to deal with countries that provide sanctuaries, safe havens and finances. Terrorism is a global problem. It cannot be tackled individually and has to be tackled collectively. We cannot have a differential policy towards terrorism. There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist. So, these are the issues on which there will reiteration of national positions, Secretary (Economic Relations) in External Affairs Ministry Amar Sinha had said. During the meeting of NSAs of BRICS grouping, India had strongly pitched that action should not only be taken against sources of finances but also sources from where terrorists get arms and ammunition. Three MoUs including those on cooperation in the area of environment and customs have been agreed upon by the BRICS countries, Sinha had said, adding the pact pertaining to customs will help in breaking the trade barriers between these countries. The other key issues to be taken up during these significant diplomatic outreach events include cooperation in areas of economy, tourism, connectivity, cultural, education and sports. The main BRICS Summit on October 16 will begin with a photo opportunity followed by restricted talks between the leaders and later a meeting of business captains from the member-countries. In the second half, after the speech of the leaders, there will be BRICS and BIMSTEC retreat. Security situation in Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan is also expected to be discussed when the BRICS leaders take up important regional and international issues. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: MNS on Friday welcomed the decision of Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) to not to release movies which have actors from Pakistan in four states a Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa. aI congratulate Cinema Owners Association for taking such a decision. Won't allow any movie with Pak artists to release,a MNS leader Amey Khopkar said. Amid growing demands for a ban on Pakistani artists, Khopkar lashed out at filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt for supporting Pak actors and said the latter is not an Indian and should go to Pakistan. aMahesh Bhatt is not even an Indian, he should go to Pakistan. I don't care about what he says,a Khopkar said. The COEAI announcement on Friday put an uncertainty on the release of Karan Joharas aAe Dil Hai Mushkila, which sees Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in a supporting role and is slated to arrive in theatres this Diwali. In the wake of Uri attack last month, Fawad, Mahira Khan and other Pakistani actors were targeted by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which had issued an ultimatum to them to leave India within 48 hours or be forced out. The party has also threatened to stall the releases of aAe Dil Hai Mushkila and aRaeesa, starring Mahira in the lead role. (With inputs from PTI) I congratulate Cinema Owners Association for taking such a decision. Won't allow any movie with Pak artists to release: Amey Khopkar, MNS pic.twitter.com/sn7wSwuVfK a ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed the ex-servicemen at the inauguration of a war memorial Shaurya Samarak at Lal Parade Ground in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Lauding the efforts of the Indian Army soldiers, PM Modi said our forces "don't speak but act". The Prime Minister's statement could be a reference to the 'surgical strikes' carried by the Indian Army on September 29, however, he doesn't mentioned it directly. Bhopal Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Raman Singh Sikarwar said 5,000 policemen have been deployed at the airport, route and the venue of the three events. He said police were keeping an eye at public places like stations, bus stands, hotels and hostels. The Shourya Smarak is built at Arera Hills spread over an area of 12.67 acre land and constructed with a cost of Rs 41 crore. Modi is scheduled to meet the Jain saint Acharya Vidhyasagarji Maharaj at a Jain temple. ALSO READ | PM Narendra Modi says Indian Army rescued a few Pakistanis in Yemen: Top 10 quotes Here are the highlights of PM Modi's address in Bhopal: #WATCH Crowd in Bhopal cheers as PM Modi says, "Army doesn't speak, only displays its valour" pic.twitter.com/rAbUlV7rOn ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 #In some countries whenever people see jawans at airports or railway stations, they stand up and applause, we should also adopt this #Govt decided to give skill development training to soldiers in last year of service so that they doesn't have to struggle for jobs #Previous Govts had made empty promises on OROP but when we came to power we fulfilled our promise and implemented it #Shaurya Smarak is a Tirtha Sthan for us and for our coming generations #Sena bolti nahi, parakram karti hai #Roz mere baal noch diye jaate the, 'Modi so raha hai', lekin hamaari Sena bolti nhi,parakram karti hai #Like our army doesn't say but displays its valour, similarly our Defence Minister also doesn't speak #The biggest strength & weapon of our army is its determination & will power and that is derived from the 1.2 billion ppl of India #Hindustan ka itihaas is baat ka gawah hai ki humare purvajon ne kisi ki ek inch zameen ko apna banane ke liye jhagda nahi kiya hai #About 1.5 lakhs Indian soldiers fought and lost their lives during the two World Wars. World must never forget this #Army, BSF, CRPF, Coast Guard jawans sacrifice their lives so that we can sleep peacefully: PM Modi in Bhopal #Kashmir mei prakritik aapda mei fase logon ko bachate hue desh ke jawano ne kabhie ye nahi socha ki ye to un par pathar maara karte the #While rescuing Indians in Yemen, Indian army also rescued a few Pakistanis, this is the example of humanity of our Indian army #India is one of the biggest contributors to the UN peacekeeping forces #When we think of armed forces, we remember their bravery and also their role during a natural disaster #It is the call of humanity that inspires our armed forces when they're helping people during natural disasters.Nothing else matters #While extending help, my soldiers did not for once think that these are the same people who pelt stones at them #During floods in Srinagar, army men extended their help for the rescue and relief operation in the area #When we talk about our soldiers, it is mostly abt their uniform, their valour but we must also see them as an example of humanity #It is my privilege that I have the opportunity to pay my tributes to our brave soldiers here on this historic day #PM Modi addresses ex-servicemen at the inauguration of a war memorial in Bhopal (MP) Highlights of MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's speech: #We have decided that the parents of the martyrs from the State will be given Rs 5000 every month respectfully for their sacrifice: MP CM #We're grateful to our brave soldiers. Shaurya Smarak is not just a Smarak, it's a temple of their bravery: #We have among us, those who devoted their youth in protecting our nation. This is a special gathering: MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Manohar Parrikar: #The inauguration is happening at time when our soldiers displayed their extraordinary valour on Sep 29 (SurgicalStrike) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bhopal: Just like our armed forces, our Defence Minister doesnt say anythingPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed the ex-servicemen at the inauguration of war memorial Shaurya Samman in Bhopal. He lauded the Indian army soldiers and their sacrifices for the country. He said that just like our army soldiers our defence minister also doesn't speak. Below are the top 10 quotes from PM Modi's speech": 1. Previous Govts had made empty promises on OROP but when we came to power we fulfilled our promise and implemented it 2. Shaurya Smarak is a Tirtha Sthan for us and for our coming generations 3. Our soldiers dont speak but act 4. Like our army doesn't say but displays its valour, similarly our Defence Minister also doesn't speak 5. While rescuing Indians in Yemen, Indian Army also rescued a few Pakistanis, this is the example of humanity of our Indian army: PM in Bhopal Watch video | Army doesn't speak, it acts, says PM Narendra Modi in Bhopal 6. Indian Army is one of the very best in the world, one of the biggest contributors to the UN peacekeeping forces 7. Call of humanity inspires our Army when they are helping people during natural disasters. Nothing else matters 8. While extending help during Kashmir floods, Army didn't think these are same people who pelt stones at them 9. During floods in Srinagar, army men extended their help for the rescue and relief operation in the area10. Army, BSF, CRPF, Coast Guard jawans sacrifice their lives so that we can sleep peacefully For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Filmmaker Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" has been given U/A certificate by Central Board ofFilm Certification (CBFC) and the film is set to release on October 28. The movie has been produced by Fox Star Studios and Dharma Productions and stars Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. "'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' has been cleared by the censor board and we are gearing up for its release on the 28th of October. Diwali is all about love and 'Ae Dil....' is all about spreading love," Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions said in a statement. Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, added, "Karan Johar'sfilms present love in its most purest yet unique and modern way and this Diwali, he is celebrating love, friendship and heart break. We are set for the film's release on October 28.There can be no better way than celebrating Diwali with 'Ae Dil...' a quintessential family entertainer." In the aftermath of Uri attacks, the romantic drama has been embroiled in a controversy, with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), issuing an ultimatum to Fawad along with other Pakistani actors to leave India. The party has also threatened to stall the release of"Ae Dil Hai Mushkil". Meanwhile, a Cinema Owners' body today refused to screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in the four states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Srinagar: At least one jawan was killed and 8 were injured when terrorists attackedA a SSB patrol party near a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Zakura, outskirts of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, reports said. According to reports, the militants opened fire at around six vehicles of the SSB patrol party.A The attack comes 2 days after the Pampore encounter. Here are the Live updates: #Search operation ends #Of the 8 SSB jawans injured, 3-4 are critically injured. Search operation is now underway: IG SSB, Deepak Kumar #Jawans retaliated but couldn't fire aggressively given the civilian population. 1 jawan lost his life, while 8 others are injured: DKumar #3 companies of SSB patrol party were returning to camp from duty when at around 7:30 pm terrorists opened fire on 1 of the vehicle: IG SSB #One SSB jawan lost his life in terrorists attack on SSB patrol party in Zakura (J&K) #7 SSB jawans have been injured in terrorists attack near CRPF camp in Zakura (J&K), while they were returning from duty: IG SSB, Deepak Kumar said. 7 SSB jawans injured after terrorists attacked SSB patrol party returning from duty in Zakura (J&K),search ops underway (Visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/adKFhyv5d6 a ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 #WATCH Search operations underway in Zakura (J&K) after terrorists attacked SSB patrol party, 7 SSB jawans injured (Visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/Kwhy9Hzvyo a ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 Two militants were killed in a 56-hour gunbattle between terrorists and security forces in Pampore. The terrorists were holed up in a government building on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated after the September 29 surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army across the LoC in reply to the Uri terror attacks, which had left 18 Indian army soldiers martyred. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Lahore: Eight al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists got killed by Pakistani security forces in the Punjab province of Pakistan, officials told. The terrorists were about to target atomic installations and offices of intelligence agencies. Punjab police's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said their officials were working on intelligence input that militants were planning to attack a Shia procession near Multan district, about 350 kilometres from Lahore. CTD officials and other security agencies conducted combing operations in Shujaabad area of the district. During these operations, the CTD team learnt that the militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda had moved to Dera Ghazi Khan. "Yesterday, when a CTD team raided the suspects' hideout in Dera Ghazi Khan the terrorists opened fire and hurled hand-grenades. The CTD team retaliated in self-defence. When the firing stopped, eight terrorists were found dead," it said. Three militants managed to escape. Official sources said the militants were planning to hit atomic installations and offices of intelligence agencies. They said the terrorists had stored a "good amount of ammunition" including Kalashnikovs, hand-grenades and explosives at their hideout in Tonmi Road of DG Khan. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Cairo: At least 15 terrorists and 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed on Friday in a major attack on an army check point in the Sinai Peninsula, which has for years been battling Islamist insurgency. A group of suspected Islamist in 4x4 vehicles attacked an army security point in North Sinai, following which agun-battle broke out between the forces and the terrorists,army spokes person Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. Egypt banned all 4x4 vehicles in army-operation zones inSinai in July 2015. The militants targeted a military base about 80 kilometreseast of the Suez Canal, local media reported. Apart from 15 militants and 12 soldiers killed, Samir saida number of terrorists and six security personnel were also injured in the attack. "The armed forces assert that these despicable acts willnot deter it from its duty of protecting the great Egyptian people," Samir said in a statement. Security forces have launched combing operations in thearea to find if any assailants escaped. Egypt has has been battling Islamist militancy thatprimarily targeted policemen, judges and military personnel. The militants are led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak from power, North became the main stage of many violent attacks. The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following huge protests against his rule. More than 700 security personnel have been killed inviolence since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area,arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Goa this evening to participate in the BRICS summit which is beginning on Saturday. Modi was received at INS Hansa base by states Governor Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis DSouza and others. The Prime Minister drove to a five-star resort at Benaulim where the summit will begin on Saturday. Over next few days, India will host world leaders for the 8th BRICS and 1st ever BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit, Modi tweeted earlier. I look forward to useful conversation with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges, he said. As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic, and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly, the Prime Minister said. India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia annual summit, which will also take place in Goa, the PM said. We also welcome President of Brazil for a bilateral visit, which will open new areas of cooperation with Brazil, the PM said. I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Britain will present a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire in Yemen following the deadly air strike on a funeral ceremony, the British ambassador said Friday. "We have decided to put forward a draft Security Council resolution on Yemen calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a resumption of the political process," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. The draft text which will also press for access for humanitarian aid is expected to be circulated to the council's 15 members in the coming days, diplomats said. The decision to seek a formal resolution came after Russia blocked a statement drafted by Britain that condemned the air strike, apparently carried out by the Saudi-led coalition, that killed more than 140 mourners. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the statement was "wishy-washy," and called for "some very serious thinking" on how to address the deteriorating situation in Yemen. One of the poorest countries in the Arab world, Yemen slid deeper into chaos when the coalition launched an air campaign in March 2015 to push back the Iranian-backed Huthi rebels who seized territory including the capital Sanaa. Russia, which has friendly relations with Iran, has criticized Western backing for the coalition and pointed to the carnage in Yemen in response to criticism of Moscow's campaign in Syria. A US warship in the Red Sea was targeted by a missile fired from territory held by the Huthi rebels after the attack on the funeral ceremony. The Huthis have denied any involvement. The United States, which has said it will review its support to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, has launched cruise missiles at Huthi sites in retaliation. More than 6,700 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed in Yemen since the coalition first intervened, according to the United Nations. Yemen ranks as a level 3 emergency -- the highest on the UN humanitarian scale -- with nearly 70 percent of the population of 21 million facing food shortages. Search Keywords: Short link: Massive crowds of weeping Thais and saluting soldiers lined the streets Friday as late King Bhumibol Adulyadej was borne through Bangkok, a day after his death left an apprehensive country facing an uncertain future. Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, passed away at 88 on Thursday after years of ill health, ending seven decades as a stabilising figure in a nation of deep political divisions. The phenomenal reverence towards him in Thailand was on clear display as mourners sat for hours in Bangkok's urban heat awaiting the passage of his motorcade, in scenes reminiscent of religious devotees. Pensive-looking men and women dressed in black were jammed cheek by jowl along roadsides in the capital on the short route from the hospital where Bhumibol died to his royal palace. Some fainted and were carried away on stretchers, while others shouted "King of the people!" as the convoy of several vans bearing his body and the royal family slowly wheeled through hushed streets. The king ruled 70 years and was the only monarch most Thais knew. "We no longer have him," wept Phongsri Chompoonuch, 77, as she clutched the late monarch's portrait. "I don't know whether I can accept that. I fear, because I don't know what will come next." At the palace, the crown prince was to preside over the bathing of the king's body, a traditional Buddhist funeral rite and the start of official mourning that will include at least 100 days of chanting by monks and months more of palace rituals. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, is the king's named successor but has made a surprise request to delay formally assuming the throne, according to Thailand's junta leader, who appealed for citizens to "not cause chaos". Bhumibol was seen as a pillar of stability during his politically turbulent reign, and uncertainty for the future rests largely on doubts over whether his son can exert the same calming moral authority. The crown prince spends much of his time overseas and does not command the reverence at home that his father did. There was no indication of a threat to the crown prince's eventual succession, however, and analysts said the pause could merely be out of respect for the deeply revered king. Strict lese majeste laws muffle detailed discussion of the sensitive succession issue. "We maybe shouldn't read too much into (the delay)," said David Streckfuss, an expert on the Thai monarchy. "But we have already departed from what should have been a normal succession process. An element of ambiguity has been injected into the situation." The current junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014, saying it wanted to end a decade of political strife. Yingluck's brother, exiled tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, had previously been ousted in a 2006 coup. Since then, tensions have simmered between his throngs of supporters and a competing faction seen as aligned to the crown and military. Some analysts believe the 2014 takeover was prompted in part by concerns over an unstable succession in which Thaksin's faction could seek to exert influence. Bhumibol's reign saw decades of rapid economic development but also frequent military coups that set back democracy. Although the king approved most of the army's many successful coups, he also sometimes intervened to quell political violence, and his loss worries many Thais. "Now I am afraid of what may happen, about the administration of the country, the type of regime in the long term," said Arnon Sangwiman, a 54-year-old electricity company employee. Government offices and state-run enterprises were closed out of respect Friday, but commercial activity otherwise carried on. Stocks, pressured all week as the king's health worsened, rebounded Friday, with the benchmark index closing 4.59 percent higher. Authorities continued to interrupt all television programming in the country -- including international networks such as the BBC and CNN -- using their signals to broadcast non-stop hagiographic fare on the king's life. But colour was restored, a day after all TV images were transmitted in black and white out of mourning. Praise for Bhumibol's role as a ruler devoted to his subjects has poured in from across the globe including from US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Search Keywords: Short link: Rights organisations Friday condemned a vote by Burundian lawmakers to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, warning the government was trying to hide abuses from the eyes of the world. If Burundi quits the tribunal it would be "a significant escalation of the regime's policy to isolate itself," said Dimitris Christopoulos, president of the FIDH, which represents human rights groups around the world. "This attempt to deprive the international community of its eyes and ears in Burundi in order to continue to commit serious crimes with impunity and without the world knowing, requires a strong and immediate response from the African Union and the United Nations," he added. Burundian lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to withdraw from the tribunal in the Hague, taking the central African nation a step closer to being the first ever to quit the body. The move is the latest snub of the international community by Burundi, which has been mired in 18 months of violent political crisis since President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term in office. A spokesman for the ICC said withdrawing from the Rome Statute which underpins the tribunal was "a voluntary and sovereign decision which is the prerogative of all states." But Burundi appears not to have formally written to the UN secretary general informing him of the decision. Once formal notification is received, the country's departure from the 124-nation body will only become effective after a year. However, ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah told AFP that even if a country leaves the ICC it is still bound by any ongoing actions. In April, ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda launched a preliminary investigation into reports of "killing, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as cases of enforced disappearances." The initial probe is aimed at determining whether there is enough evidence to proceed to a full-blown investigation by ICC prosecutors which could result in charges against those believed responsible for the violence. Abdallah said the court had had "overwhelming support of African states" when it opened in 2002 as the world's only permanent war crimes court. Its mission was "to fight impunity for atrocity crimes, and by so doing, strengthen the rule of law, break the cycles of violence and to contribute to peace and stability." Search Keywords: Short link: Donald Trump is warning President Barack Obama that women could wrongly accuse him of sexual assault, as he claims has happened to him. Several women have come forward in recent days accusing the Republican presidential nominee of groping them or kissing them without permission. Trump has tried to discredit the women, mocking their appearances and accounts. But Trump said at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, that those women "could say it about anybody." And he says the president of the United States "better be careful" because women could say the same thing about him. Search Keywords: Short link: The Scan Pyramids project is using new technology to explore the internal architecture of Egypt's pyramids The archaeological committee formed by Egypt's antiquities minister to follow up on the work of the Scan Pyramids project met on Thursday to hear a report on the results of the project's work over the past year inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Dahshur Bent Pyramid and to request an extension. The Scan Pyramids project started last year; it uses new technologies in an attempt to explore the internal architecture of Egypt's pyramids. The committee following up on the project is led by former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass and includes Mark Lehner, the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates; Merslav Barta, director of the Czech archaeological mission in Saqqara; and Riner Schtudlmen, former director of the German archaeological institute. At the meeting Hani Helal, the Scan Pyramids coordinator, said that more research is required for the Bent Pyramid but inside the Great Pyramid the mission located two anomalies: one at the upper part of the entrance gate and the second at its north-eastern side. Helal said that during the coming period more research and studies are to be carried out in order to identify the nature and size of these anomalies. Hawass said that the members of the committee approved in principal the results of the research carried out by the project. He said that the committee is to prepare a detailed final scientific and archaeological report on the project's progress from its inception to the current time. The report will be sent to Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany for discussion. Hawass also said that members of the committee approved in principal Scan Pyramids' request to extend the project for another year, on condition that it is approved by the ministry's permanent committee and follows all legal procedures. Search Keywords: Short link: Nuclear war preparation? Russian government officials calling for citizens to return to Russia Much of the mainstream American media has been so preoccupied with GOP nominee Donald Trumps 11-year-old comments that they seemed to have missed a development in Russia that has extremely ominous undertones. According to a translation of this Russian news story, the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered state officials and government workers whose children are studying abroad to bring them home immediately, even if it means taking them out of class before the formal end of the semester. As reported by Zero Hedge, the recommendation applies to everyone from administration staff, to regional administrators and lawmakers of all levels. Employees of state-owned corporations are also subject to the quasi-order. One of the sources who spoke to the Russian publication said failure to comply would be a complicating factor in the furtherance of their public sector career in other words, they would likely be fired, or worse. The official added that there has been several such cases in recent months. But its what another expert said, perhaps in speculation, about the impetus of the edict that is very worrisome. Officially, the government appears to be concerned about the appearance of a public double standard. Putin, you may not have known, is having a major diplomatic row with the United States over Syria. Washington and some Western governments have imposed economic sanctions on Moscow over its reported involvement in Ukraine. As such, some speculate the optics of having children of Russian governing elite being educated abroad while their parents appear on Russian TV talking about patriotism and the country being surrounded by enemies. However, one Russian official, Stanislav Belkovsky, had this to say about why Putin wants government officials to bring their kids home now. On the one hand, this is all part of the package of measures to prepare elites for some big war even if it is rather conditional, on the other hand this is another blow to the unity of President Putin with his own elite, Belkovsky, a political analyst said. Wouldnt a world leader want the children of those serving in his government safe before hostilities arise between said enemies? Whatever the real reason motivating Putin to issue such an edict, one thing is clear diplomatic relations between Russia and the West have sunk again to a new low. As it sinks, Zero Hedge noted, it will result in even greater collapse in global commerce and a further slowdown to world economic growth, which may ultimately lead to an armed conflict, whether regional or global, as the only possible outcome. Sources: ZeroHedge.com Reuters.com Submit a correction >> Its important that Shariah is understood because to say Shariah is incompatible with Western civilization is erroneous and dangerous. Newt Gingrich commented to Sean Hannity, Fox News: Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be. Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Shariah, they should be deported. Shariah is incompatible with Western civilization. Modern Muslims who have given up Shariah, glad to have them as citizens. Perfectly happy to have them next door. The current Shariah was introduced in the 7th century as a progressive doctrine that is as relevant in our present-day context as it was at the time of its revelation. Reformation of corrupt cultural norms of racism and socio-economic inequities was implemented gradually in tandem with reformation of matters of faith to effectively legislate standards of justice, equality and human rights. Shariah is commonly called Sharia Law and equated with the stoning of adulterers, oppression of women, and cutting the hands of thieves. Actually, Shariah means law, but more than penal law, it is an entire framework of moral, ethical, theological, and legal teaching of Islam. Its a permanent, comprehensive, and holistic mode for living revealed by God in the Quran and exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims living in non-Muslim-majority countries are bound by the tenets of Islam to follow the law of the land, providing it does not obstruct religious rights. It was because of the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion that my parents chose to immigrate to the United States from Guyana, South America. The main objective of the Shariah espouses compassion by guaranteeing basic human rights. These are unalienable rights endowed by the Creator, which guarantee that all people - regardless of gender, race, religion, and ethnicity - have the right of preservation of life, religion, wealth, family, intellect, and dignity. The right to life means the protection of life and the right to means and opportunities to ensure health and well-being to lead purposeful lives. The right to religion means the freedom to practice the religion of ones choice without compulsion or obstruction. The right to preservation of wealth forbids all nefarious dealings such as theft, embezzlement, money laundering, breach of contracts, etc. Trade and commerce are encouraged to establish economically strong and stable societies. The Shariah strives to protect the family structure, as its the foundation of moral and stable societies. It demand that justice exist within the family - thus each member has inherent rights and responsibilities. Further, the Shariah outlaws oppression of any family member. Among the teachings of Prophet Muhammad are these sayings: * The best among you are those who are best to their family * Treat your wives well and be kind to them for they are your committed partners and helpers * They are not from among us who are not merciful to the young and who are not respectful to the elders. The Shariah prohibits anything that will violate the sanctity of the family such as adultery. The right to preservation of the intellect means each individual has the right to reach full intellectual capacity without impairment caused by intoxicants or corruption from vulgarity or lack of access to education. The right to preservation of honor and dignity means no society is allowed to disenfranchise or cause harm to people because of their race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status. Another aspect of Shariah is hudud - limits of permissible behavior and fixed punishment for transgressing those limits. They are five: retaliation, adultery, false accusations, highway robbery, and theft. The problem with hudud isnt their application but their misapplication in some Muslim-majority countries - that is, enforcing them without meeting the necessary proofs. For instance, no one could be punished for adultery without four witnesses to the act, and if it were proven in a court of law. Hudud are, first and foremost, to serve as a deterrent, and secondly, they are there to protect the most vulnerable members of a society. Professor Frank Griffel of Yale University points out that Shariah goes beyond what most Americans consider legal discourse, for it extends to matters concerning proprieties of clothing, conduct between spouses, filial piety, behavior at funerals, and other questions that Westerners would treat not as legal, but as moral issues or mere etiquette. Muslims will incorporate the Shariah to varying degrees: some will intertwine opposing customs and culture along with Shariah, some will, lacking knowledge, selectively apply Shariah - all which leads to a distorted perception of Shariah. Whether for the purpose of examination or application, the Shariah must be approached in its entirety. Any attempt to fracture it into individual components will lead to erroneous conclusions and implementation. Chaplain Shazeeda Khan is director of Islamic Education and Interfaith Liaison at Baitul Mukarram Masjid of Greater Danbury 339 Main St., Danbury. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Carol Kaliff / Carol Kaliff Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Hearst Connecticut Media file photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 DANBURY Federal officials say former nightclub owner Ian Bick should pay at least $250,000 in restitution to his victims when he is sentenced on fraud and money laundering charges later this month. According to a document filed in federal court this week, Bick owes at least $250,000 and perhaps as much as $500,000 to victims of a scheme in which he took money for investors for concert promotions and online electronic sales but used it instead for personal expenses and paying off previous investors. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW MILFORD Dozens of residents came out Thursday night to hear a plan to build a power plant the old Century Brass mill site. While residents seemed to approach the proposal with an open mind, many raised questions or concerns about what the project would mean for the environment and the towns economy. Residents were also wary because of a previous proposal from Sempra Energy to build a power plant in town in the late 1990s, which was overwhelmingly rejected by the town. This isnt Sempra, Mayor David Gronbach said at Thursdays Economic Development Commission meeting. Its a different site. Its a different technology. Hopfeully, its a different attitude. Give these guys an opportunity. Under the proposal, Panda Power Funds, a company based in Dallas, would buy the site for $2.8 million and build a 550-megawatt plant powered by natural gas on eight to 10 acres of the 70-acre parcel. The project is expected to provide 300 to 500 jobs during construction and then 25 to 30 full-time jobs to operate the plant when it comes online, which company officials expect would be in 2021. Officials from Panda Power Funds unveiled the plan at Tuesdays Town Council meeting and were on hand at Thursdays commission meeting. According to its website, Panda Power Funds is a private-equity firm that develops, owns, operates and manages investments in clean energy. Bill Pentak, vice president of investor relations and public affairs for Panda Power Funds, stressed it was still very early in the process and there would be many opportunities for the public to learn about the project and speak with representatives. Residents would have to approve the sale of the land at a town meeting. If the plant is rejected after the vote, the company would leave and the land would revert back to the towns control. Air quality was the biggest environmental concern at Thursdays meeting. Pentak said building this new plant would replace a less efficient or coal-powered plant somewhere else in the country, which would ultimately improve the countrys air quality. While everyone at the meeting agreed natural gas was cleaner than coal, they worried the emissions would pollute New Milfords air, which already has toxins blown in from industrialized areas in surrounding states, including Pennsylvania. Some residents also challenged how clean natural gas is when its added to the pipeline Panda would use. Company officials said they didnt have specific emissions figures yet, because a lot depends on the equipment select. But they said the plant would meet the emissions regulations set by the state and use state-of-the-art emissions controls. When Sempra tried to build in New Milford last time, health officials said hills would prevent emissions from leaving the valley. Residents worried Thursday that the same thing could happen with this plant. Its an absolute addition to an area ... known for having a big cluster of children with asthma conditions, said Julie Baylor, a resident. Brandon Upchurch, senior director of development for Panda, said the state would not approve the plan if it was the same scenario as the last proposal. Residents at the meeting also questioned when the town could start to see the millions of dollars expected to come with the project into the community and surrounding region. Upchurch said the company requested an abatement during construction, but would begin paying once the plant was online. He said the town could see economic benefits during construction though, especially as local people are hired and the workers use restaurants and stores in town. Frank Wargo, commission member and Town Council member, said the town wasnt receiving taxes on the site now, and the two-year abatement would lead to millions of dollars later. Other residents also questioned whether the power plant would negatively affect their property values, either with noise, pollution, or compromised views. The towers are expected to be between 80 and 120 feet tall. kkoerting@newstimes.com DANBURY Dr. Bernie Siegel, a retired Connecticut surgeon and book author, will discuss his philosophy and perspectives on inner wisdom and uncovering self-potential at Western Connecticut State University. Siegel will also talk about his book, The Art of Healing, at the event on Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m., in the Ives Concert Hall on the universitys midtown campus. A book signing will follow his presentation. Hoping to make Connecticut's power grid smarter and reduce power outages across the state, Eversource Energy announced Thursday it's installing 200 "smart switches" around the state that can decrease outages by 30 to 50 percent. The switches can be controlled from the company's operations center to restore outages without having to send out crews to repair issues. Over the past two years, Eversource said they have installed about 50 of these switches throughout the state. In 2016, more than 60 devices were added, with 90 more set to be installed in 2017, according to the company. "In Fairfield County, smart switches have been, or are scheduled to be installed, in Darien, Norwalk, Stamford, Danbury and Ridgefield," Mitch Gross, Eversource Energy spokesperson, said of the installations. Eversource's "smart switches" are able to identify where an outage occurs, isolate issues, and re-route energy to customers, the company said. The switches are being added to areas more frequently affected by outages in recent years. "Our continued investments in the electric grid, including self-healing technology like smart switches, are helping keep the power flowing for our customers," Ken Bowes, Vice President of Engineering at Eversource in Connecticut, said in a release. "This automated equipment requires no human action, which allows us to restore an outage much more quickly oftentimes within one minute. "In many cases, customers may not even be affected by the outage," Bowes added. The installations follow the company's 5-year, $300 million plan to improve system reliability through tree trimming and removal, weather- and tree-resistant wiring, pole and other hardware upgrades, and equipment automation. Eversource serves an estimated 1.2 million customers in 149 cities and towns and provides natural gas to 226,000 customers in 72 communities in Connecticut. (Beijing) Beijing has released a new batch of public-private partnership (PPP) projects with investments totaling 1.17 trillion yuan ($174 billion). The Ministry of Finance revealed on its website late Thursday a list of 516 pilot PPP projects that the government hopes will boost infrastructure construction and private investment. Covering transportation, energy, agriculture, education and other sectors, the latest list of projects is the third batch of PPP projects announced by the government. In 2014, the investment value of the first batch of 30 projects was 180 billion yuan, while the second batch of 206 projects, released in 2015, totaled 659 billion yuan. The PPP model initially received wide attention back in 2013 when the third plenum of the Communist Party's 18th Central Committee called for more private involvement in infrastructure building and public utility projects through such arrangements. By inviting private investors to participate in government-backed infrastructure projects, the PPP model coincides with Beijing's reform vows to increase the power of the market and the private sector while scaling back government decisions over resource allocation. However, the progress of the PPP pilots has fallen short of the central government's expectations as private investors have remained lukewarm due to uncertainties about the projects' profitability and vague local policies. Meanwhile, some local governments have offered favorable access to locally owned enterprises in such projects. Dwindling investment from the private sector, which accounted for more than 60 percent of nationwide investment, has become a major concern as China's economy continues to slow down. During the first eight months of this year, private investment grow only 2.1% year-on-year, much lower than the 8.1% growth in the country's total investment and a sharp decline from an 11% gain in the same period 2015, according the National Bureau of Statistics. The Finance Ministry in a Thursday statement required local governments to give priority to private investors in PPP projects and push forward the progress of the projects at a faster pace. The ministry set a timeline for the first batch of projects to complete necessary procurements by the end of this year. The second and third batch of projects should finish procurements by March and September 2017. The MOF will track the progress and offer rewards for qualified projects, the statement said. Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com) Brics an opportunity to attract investment: Brazil Brazil,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Diplomacy,Business/Economy, Thu, 13 Oct 2016 IANS Brasilia, Oct 14 (IANS) Brazilian President Michel Temer will leave on Friday to India to participate in the eighth Brics Summit and then to Japan to attract investment. According to Temer's spokesperson, Alexandre Parola, on Thursday, the President's Asia visit will be an opportunity for the government to show "a new Brazil" of "investment opportunities, stability and fiscal responsibility", Xinhua news agency reported. Temer's first stop will be in Goa for the Brics Summit, where he will formalise four new cooperation mechanisms with the other member countries (China, India, Russia and South Africa). Temer will arrive in Goa on Saturday and enjoy a formal dinner with the leaders. On October 16, the five heads of state will meet before holding a Brics business meeting, followed by a signature ceremony and a meeting with Bay of Bengal countries (BIMSTEC). Temer will also hold a private meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which Parola said would help in re-launching the two countries' bilateral strategic partnership. "India is reaching high levels of economic growth. At a time when Brazil is seeking to return to the paths of sustainable development and job creation, India is a natural partner to which we turn with renewed emphasis," he explained. The new mechanisms will include an agricultural research platform to share technological advances. A deal between customs authorities will seek to finalise technical aspects in order to make trade easier between members. An environmental cooperation commitment will see the five nations aim to work together on air quality, water management and climate change. Finally, the countries' diplomatic corps will seek to work in closer cooperation. In recent years, the Brics have made important steps forward, with the creation of the New Development Bank, which will seek to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries. Temer will then be in Japan on October 17 and 18, the first visit by a Brazilian president to that country in 11 years. He will meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before meeting business leaders to present "Brazil's new economic reality and the opportunities opened up by the Investment Partnership Plan". --IANS py/in Stable Afghanistan in interest of India, Pakistan: US United States,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Defence/Security,Diplomacy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Washington, Oct 14 (IANS) The US has reiterated that peace in Afghanistan will be in the interest of both India and Pakistan, the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbours. "With regard to Afghanistan, it's in the interests of both India and Pakistan to see a stable, secure Afghanistan emerge from the years of fighting," US State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said in the daily press briefing here on Thursday. He was responding to a question on a group of Pakistani envoys carrying the message that Pakistan would not let have peace in Afghanistan unless US helped "solve" the Kashmir issue. "And certainly, in the interest of regional security as well, there's a lot of contentious issues, as you note, between India and Pakistan, but the two countries we would encourage to take a more conciliatory approach to each other and to work through some of these issues for the greater good of the region," Toner said. Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated with the Indian Army carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) last month in Jammu and Kashmir on terror launch pads. This came in the wake of the September 18 cross-border terror attack on an army base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives. India has blamed the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. In September, India, the US and Afghanistan held a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, the first such since 2013. Both the US and Afghanistan appreciated India's role in development work in the war-torn South Asian nation. --IANS ab/ksk Xi arrives in Bangladesh on state visit Bangladesh,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics,Diplomacy, Fri, 14 Oct 2016 IANS Dhaka, Oct 14 (IANS) Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Bangladesh on Friday for a state visit, the first such visit by a Chinese head of state in 30 years. Xi is scheduled to meet Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Xinhua news agency reported. China and Bangladesh established diplomatic ties in 1975. In 2010, Xi paid an official visit to the nation as Vice President. Two-way trade between China and Bangladesh reached $14.7 billion in 2015, up 17 per cent year-on-year. China is currently Bangladesh's largest trading partner, while Bangladesh is the third largest of China in South Asia. Bangladesh, in dire need of capital for development, is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The AIIB has approved $165 million in loans for a Bangladeshi project -- the first batch of loan for the country from the China-led development bank. As an important cooperative partner for China in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, Bangladesh is working closely with China on the Belt and Road Initiative and an economic corridor linking the two countries, as well as India and Myanmar. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. In an interview with Xinhua, Hasina expressed confidence that Xi's visit would usher in "a new era of intensive cooperation" in trade, investment and other sectors between the two nations. Xi's visit to Bangladesh will be a "milestone", Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou said earlier, noting that both sides would make deals and bilateral relations would improve. Xi met Hamid in November 2014 in Beijing. During Hasina's visit to China in June 2014, she said Bangladesh will continue to support China firmly on issues involving its core interests and major concerns. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's visit, which already took him to Cambodia. He will also travel to the western Indian state of Goa to attend the eighth BRICS summit on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Xi will return to Beijing on October 17. --IANS ksk/vt CALGARY, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Cervus Equipment Corp. ("Cervus") (TSX: CVL) today announced that it will host its third quarter 2016 results conference call on November 9, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Company intends to disclose its financial results after markets close on November 8, 2016. President and CEO, Graham Drake, and CFO, Randy Muth, will discuss Cervus's financial and operating results for the quarter ended September 30, 2016, and then take questions from securities analysts and institutional shareholders. Interested parties may access the conference call by dialling (647) 427-7450 or 1-888-231-8191. Please connect approximately 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call. The conference call will be archived for replay until Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at midnight. To access the archived conference call, dial (416) 849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056 and enter the reservation number 96967765 followed by the number sign. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1286356&s=1&k=2B9793D82F6F5BB105433AF4AA9973E2 Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be required to join the webcast. The webcast will be archived at the above website for 90 days. About Cervus Equipment Corporation Cervus acquires and operates authorized agricultural, construction, materials handling and transportation equipment dealerships. The Company has interests in 72 dealerships in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The primary equipment brands represented by Cervus include John Deere agricultural equipment; Bobcat and JCB construction equipment; Clark, Sellick and Doosan material handling equipment; and Peterbilt transportation equipment. The common shares of Cervus are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol "CVL". SOURCE Cervus Equipment Corp. For further information: Graham Drake - President & CEO, (403) 567-2095, [email protected]; Randy Muth - Chief Financial Officer, (403) 567-2097, [email protected] Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) TORONTO, Oct. 14, 2016 /CNW/ - CitiFinancial is pleased to be entering its sixth official year of partnership with Food Banks Canada. This relationship began at a grassroots level in 2006 with employees participating in volunteer events held at their local food banks, and developed into an official nationwide partnership in 2010. Since then, CitiFinancial's support of Food Banks Canada has resulted in over 50,000 lbs. of food donations, more than 6,000 employee volunteer hours and almost $430,000 toward the fight against hunger in Canada. "Each year, when we renew our commitment to Food Banks Canada, we are reminded of the impact that a company like CitiFinancial can have in local communities across the country," says Scott Wood, President and CEO, CitiFinancial Canada, Inc. "We support Food Banks Canada because it's a great fit; our nationwide branches are located in the same communities as many food banks, we're neighbours with the same people that food banks serve and we, like the food banks, believe strong communities are an integral part of a healthy, prosperous Canada." CitiFinancial's coast-to-coast food drive, held in support of local food banks, collects thousands of pounds of food each fall. This year CitiFinancial collected over 15,000 lbs. of food in time for Thanksgiving; using Food Banks Canada's meal metric, which estimates that 1 lb. of food becomes one meal, those 15,000 lbs. of food could become meals for 15,000 Canadians. "CitiFinancial has again demonstrated its commitment to relieving hunger in Canada with its generous donation to Food Banks Canada," said Pam Joliffe Food Banks Canada Executive Director. "Their support ensures we are able to continue to provide Canadians in need with access to essential food. We are also very grateful for their ongoing support of local food banks." CitiFinancial employees volunteer their time at local food banks in support of their communities. Through coast-to-coast engagement in Citi's Global Community Day (June) and CitiFinancial's 'Feed the Need' food drive (September), CitiFinancial is proud to continue its tradition of people helping people, because community matters. About Food Banks Canada Food Banks Canada supports a unique network of over 3,000 food-related organizations in every province and territory that assists over 850,000 Canadians each month. Together the network shares over 200 million pounds of essential safe quality food annually, provides social programs that help to foster self-sufficiency, and advocates for policy change that will help create a Canada where no one goes hungry. For more information visit www.foodbankscanada.ca. About CitiFinancial CitiFinancial is Canada's leading alternative lender of personal loans. With the stability of over 200 branches coast to coast and lending roots dating back to 1923, CitiFinancial has the expertise and experience to provide responsible credit solutions that meet today's unique borrowing needs. CitiFinancial also offers flexible consumer retail financing across Canada through customized private label credit card and industry programs. CitiFinancial takes pride in making a difference in the communities where we live and work. For more information visit CitiFinancial.ca CitiFinancial is part of Citigroup, the leading global bank, which has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citigroup provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com. SOURCE CitiFinancial Canada, Inc. For further information: Marzena Gersho, Director Communications, Food Banks Canada, (905) 602-5234 ext. 228, [email protected]; Shawna Van Esch, Citi Canada Public Affairs, (416) 947-5741, [email protected] NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2016 /CNW/ - Five in six children under two years old are not fed enough nutritious food for their age, depriving them of the energy and nutrients they need at the most critical time in their physical and cognitive development, according to a new UNICEF report. "Infants and young children have the greatest nutrient needs than at any other time in life. But the bodies and brains of millions of young children do not reach their full potential because they are receiving too little food, too late," said France Begin, Senior Nutrition Adviser at UNICEF. "Poor nutrition at such a young age causes irreversible mental and physical damage." UNICEF data show that poor nutritional practices including the delayed introduction of solid foods, infrequent meals and lack of food variety are widespread, depriving children of essential nutrients when their growing brains, bones and bodies need them the most. The findings reveal that: Young children wait too long for their first bites. One in five babies hasn't been fed any solid foods by the age of 11 months. Half of children aged six months to two years are not fed the minimum number of meals for their age, increasing their risk of stunting. Less than one-third of children in this age group eat a diverse diet meaning from four or more food groups daily causing deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. Almost half of pre-school aged children suffer from anemia. Only half of children aged six to 11 months receive any foods from animal sources including fish, meat, eggs and dairy which are essential to supply zinc and iron. The high cost of foods from animal sources makes it difficult for the poorest families to improve their children's diet. In Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia , only one in six children from the poorest households aged six to 11 months eats a minimally diverse diet, compared to one in three from the richest households. , only one in six children from the poorest households aged six to 11 months eats a minimally diverse diet, compared to one in three from the richest households. Improving nutrition for young children could save 100,000 lives a year. Making nutritious foods affordable and accessible to the poorest children will require stronger and more targeted investments from governments and the private sector. Cash or in-kind transfers to vulnerable families; crop diversification programs; and fortification of staple foods are key to improving nutrition for young children. Community-based health services that help caregivers learn better feeding practices, and safe water and sanitation absolutely critical in preventing diarrhea among children are also vital. "We cannot afford to fail in our fight to improve nutrition for young children. Their ability to grow, learn and contribute to their country's future depends on it," Begin said. Download broadcast quality photos and video. Note to editors UNICEF's report From the First Hour of Life, provides a global mapping of infant and young child feeding practices. Part I, released on 29th July, focuses on breastfeeding; part II, released on 14th October, is on complementary feeding for children aged six months to two years. World Food Day Week is celebrated annually on 16th October to raise awareness about undernutrition and to secure commitments for ending hunger in all its forms. About UNICEF UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization. We work tirelessly to help children and their families, doing whatever it takes to ensure children survive. We provide children with healthcare and immunization, clean water, nutrition and food security, education, emergency relief and more. UNICEF is supported entirely by voluntary donations and helps children regardless of race, religion or politics. As part of the UN, we are active in over 190 countries - more than any other organization. Our determination and our reach are unparalleled. Because nowhere is too far to go to help a child survive. For more information about UNICEF, please visit www.unicef.ca. For updates, follow us on Twitter and Facebook or visit unicef.ca. SOURCE UNICEF Canada Image with caption: " UNICEF/UNI183083/Nesbitt A woman feeds to her child a nutritious porridge made from locally available products, at the health post in the village of Maderia, in Ethiopia. (CNW Group/UNICEF Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161014_C8502_PHOTO_EN_795709.jpg For further information: To obtain the full report or arrange interviews please contact: Stefanie Carmichael, UNICEF Canada, 416-482-6552 ext. 8866, 647-500-4320 (mobile), [email protected] BANGALORE, Oct. 14, 2016 /CNW/ - Q2 sequential revenue growth at 3.5% in USD terms; 3.9% in constant currency terms Q2 year on year revenue growth at 8.2% in USD terms; 8.9% in constant currency terms H1 year on year revenue growth at 9.5% in reported terms; 10.5% in constant currency terms Operating margins expanded 80 bps sequentially to 24.9% Volume growth at 4.0% during the quarter Q2 Utilization excluding trainees up by 200 bps sequentially to 82.5% FY 17 revenue guidance revised to 8.0% - 9.0% in constant currency Financial Highlights: Consolidated results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 Quarter ended September 30, 2016 Revenues were $ 2 , 587 million for the quarter ended September 3 0 , 2016 QoQ growth of 3.5 % in reported terms; 3.9 % in constant currency terms YoY growth of 8.2 % in reported terms; 8.9 % in constant currency terms Operating profit was $ 644 million for the quarter ended September 3 0 , 2016 QoQ growth of 7.0 % YoY growth of 5.6 % Net profit was $ 539 million for the quarter ended September 3 0 , 2016 QoQ growth of 5. 5 % YoY growth of 3.8 % Earnings per share (EPS) was $0.24 for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 QoQ growth of 5.5% YoY growth of 3.8% Liquid assets including cash and cash equivalents and investments were $5,349 million as on September 30, 2016 as compared to $4,918 million as on June 30, 2016 and $4,894 million as on September 30, 2015 . as on as compared to as on and as on . The Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of INR 11 per share ( $0.17 per ADS based on USD-INR rate of 66.62). The record date for interim dividend is October 24, 2016 and the payment will be made on October 26, 2016 (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 ) "We focused on strong execution in Q2 with our core IT services business showing good progress on the strength of our innovation and operational initiatives. While we continue to navigate an uncertain external environment, we remain focused on executing our strategy and increasing momentum of our software plus services model. Considering our performance in the first half of the year and the near-term uncertain business outlook, we are revising our revenue guidance." said Dr. Vishal Sikka, CEO. "Longer-term, I believe it's increasingly clear that our industry's future lies in evolving from a cost-based, people-only model, to one in which people are amplified by software and AI, and are freed to innovate in areas that are strategic to our clients' future. And in this all-important transformation, I am glad to see us make continued progress." "We had well-rounded growth during the quarter in our market segments. Our delivery and support teams executed well on their plans for resource management during the quarter, leading to an uptick in utilization." said U B Pravin Rao, COO. "I am also pleased that the changes we made to employee engagement, policies and rewarding high performers continue to help retain our high quality workforce." "Our margins expanded during the quarter on the back of further improvement in operational efficiency." said M.D. Ranganath, CFO. "Operating cash flows for the quarter were healthy and we effectively navigated a volatile currency environment through prudent hedging." Outlook* The Company's revenue outlook (consolidated) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, under IFRS is as follows: Revenues are expected to grow 8.0% - 9.0% in constant currency* The above constant currency guidance translates to 8.2% - 9.2% in USD terms based on March 31 st rates, 7.5% - 8.5% based on June 30 th rates and 7.5% - 8.5% based on September 30 th rates *FY 16 constant Currency rates - AUD/USD - 0.73; Euro/USD - 1.10; GBP/USD - 1.51 Currency rates as of March 31, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.77; Euro/USD - 1.14; GBP/USD - 1.44 Currency rates as of June 30, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.75; Euro/USD - 1.11; GBP/USD - 1.35 Currency rates as of September 30, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.76; Euro/USD - 1.12; GBP/USD - 1.30 Board Changes On the recommendations of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, the Board of Directors inducted Mr. D.N. Prahlad as an Independent Director of the Board effective October 14, 2016 D. N. Prahlad is the founder and CEO of Surya Software Systems Private Limited, Bangalore. Surya focuses on products for financial risk management of financial institutions in general and banks in particular. He is on the advisory board of Computer Science and Automation Department of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Prahlad is a B.Sc. with honours in mathematics from Bangalore University and B.E. (Electrical technology and Electronics) from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Prior to founding Surya, Prahlad played a key role in the rapid growth of Infosys, being associated with the company during its formative years. Welcoming D.N. Prahlad, Mr. Seshasayee, Chairman of the Board said, "We are delighted to welcome Prahlad, a distinguished technologist to the Board. Prahlad brings with him, not only his deep knowledge of the Company, but also sharp insights into the Industry". Nomination and Remuneration Committee The Board of Directors in their meeting held on October 14, 2016, on recommendation of Nomination and Remuneration Committee, have approved the revised annual compensation of Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer and Whole Time Director of the Company, with effect from November 1, 2016, subject to the approval of the shareholders. The compensation includes fixed compensation of INR 4.62 crores per annum and a variable compensation of up to INR 3.88 crores per annum. Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, 27,250 restricted stock units (RSU) and 43,000 stock options would be granted under 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation Plan ( 2015 plan) approved by the shareholders in the postal ballot dated March 31, 2016. These RSU and stock options would vest over a period of 4 years which shall be exercisable within the period as approved by the committee. The exercise price of the RSUs will be equal to the par value of the shares and the exercise price of the stock options would be market price as on the date of grant as approved by the shareholders. RSU and stock options, in future periods, will be granted on achievement of performance conditions, as may be decided by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. The Board of Directors in their meeting held on October 14, 2016, on recommendation of Nomination and Remuneration Committee, have approved the revised compensation structure of M.D. Ranganath, Mohit Joshi, Sandeep Dadlani, Rajesh K Murthy, Ravikumar S., David Kennedy, Krishnamurthy Shankar and Manikantha AGS with effect from November 1, 2016. The revised aggregate compensation of the above individuals includes fixed compensation of INR 24 crores and variable compensation of upto INR 20 crores. Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, restricted stock units (RSU) of 245,750 and stock options of 502,550 will be granted on November 1, 2016 under 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation Plan (2015 plan) approved by the shareholders in the postal ballot dated March 31, 2016. These RSU and stock options would vest over a period of 4 years which shall be exercisable within the period as approved by the committee. The exercise price of RSU will be equal to the par value of the shares and the exercise price of the stock options would be market price as on the date of grant. The Audit committee in their meeting held on October 13, 2016, resolved to include Mohit Joshi, Sandeep Dadlani, Rajesh K Murthy, RaviKumar S., Krishnamurthy Shankar and David Kennedy as key managerial personnel as defined under IndAS 24 - Related Party Disclosures effective from the date of the meeting. Vishal Sikka, Pravin Rao, M.D. Ranganath and Manikantha AGS are key managerial personnel as defined under Section 2 (51) of the Companies Act, 2013. The Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Board of Directors of Infosys Limited at its meeting held on October 13, 2016, based on fiscal 2016 performance, approved the grant of upto 906,275 RSU and upto 943,810 stock options which shall be made on November 1, 2016, to a total of upto 425 eligible and identified high-performing executives of the Company and its subsidiaries under 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation Plan (2015 plan) approved by the shareholders in the postal ballot dated March 31, 2016. The RSUs and stock options shall vest over a period of 4 years from the date of grant, which shall be exercisable within the period as approved by the committee. The exercise price of the RSUs will be equal to the par value of the shares and the exercise price of the stock options would be market price as on the date of grant. Business Highlights We continued to execute on our Renew-New strategy through automation and innovation, fueling this through our culture of learning and education. Renew In Q2, we deepened existing client relationships in core services, won large traditional deals, and focused on driving automation and grassroots innovation into every aspect of our service offerings through Infosys Mana and our Zero Distance initiative. "Data volumes continue to grow exponentially, and humankind now converts data into knowledge at unprecedented rates, making it impossible to codify such expertise and intelligence in software. Our systems need to learn. Those that do also need to be put to some practical use. It seems that Infosys Mana is doing just that." - Report title: Infosys Mana uses AI to extract knowledge from processes and control business outcomes, Authors: Carl Lehmann, Katy Ring, 451 Research, Date: October 4, 2016 "Infosys is a preferred partner for development and support across our portfolio of off-the-shelf and custom applications, including our most critical business applications. We're keen to create an enterprise for the future by leveraging AI and machine learning to solve business issues. We've selected Infosys Mana to help optimize these business processes and provide a better experience for our users by driving automation, improving efficiencies, increasing productivity, and reducing business process level disruptions, while at the same time reducing the total cost of our IT operations." - Andy Bynum, Corporate Vice President - IT, AMD "We are very pleased to award Infosys the GPS L2 Application Maintenance & Support Vendor Consolidation engagement. Infosys impressed us with the overall depth of the solution and commitment to service transformation through use of its Mana platform which covers automation, analytics and knowledge management. We believe that this deal will help us achieve our objectives of driving significant productivity improvements and optimizing and enhancing the services. This is a major step forwards in the strategic relationship between our organisations and we look forward to a successful journey in delivering the program together." - Hans-Juergen Rieder, UBS Managing Director - Global Production Services "Beyond the millions of dollars that we're going to be saving here at APS, the benefit is truly with our end customers in having a system that's going to be flexible and nimble and meet all of their needs. Through our partnership with Infosys and with this Zero Distance initiative we were able to solve complex problems that the utility's been facing for some time." - Christine Gonzales, Program Management Office Lead, Arizona Public Service "What we're trying to do with world-class customer service is really reinvent, completely transform and turn inside out the way we deliver customer service here at Cisco. We're looking to use digitization to be able to simplify, standardize, and automate many of the processes that drive work, so that we can change the investment we have in people, so that they are then able to have better conversations with a customer. Our largest savings has been 80% of savings in terms of dollar spend, we've removed 2 million hours of customer wait time in one particular process alone. It's been a great ride, we really appreciate Infosys' flexibility and ability to change with us - I hope we continue this partnership for the next 20 years." - Steve Power, Senior Director, Global Service Offerings, CISCO Gap Inc., a leading global specialty retailer, has chosen Infosys as its primary technology services provider supporting its entire applications and infrastructure portfolio. This critical milestone strengthens the 18 year relationship between the two organizations even further. New In Q2, we continued to work with clients and partners on new areas, and new frontiers. And we made Design Thinking central to every engagement. "GE and Infosys have a shared vision for the merging of our physical and digital worlds. As an early adopter of our Predix platform, we are partnering with Infosys to foster co-innovation of new applications with advanced concepts in digital twin, brilliant factory and AI. Our joint innovations will deliver a range of services to customers, including Industrial Internet solutions and applications to help companies simplify, automate and transform their businesses." - Bill Ruh, Chief Executive Officer, GE Digital & Chief Digital Officer, GE "I have just returned from our recent visit with the Infosys design team in Palo Alto along with 15 heads of marketing and customer experience from Australian superannuation funds. Infosys delivered an incredible session of learning around the theory and practice of design led thinking to develop a leading customer experience strategy. The group thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent with the team and have a framework they can take back into their business and start to employ immediately." - Theresa Hoogland, Executive Manager Strategy and Marketing, Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) "Design Thinking helped bring the teams together for reimagining the collaboration experience at USG Boral. It also helped them to think big and then bring these thoughts together to achieve actionable insights in a really short amount of time. Moreover, it was fun and engaging at the same time." - Paul Monzella, Chief Financial Officer - USG Boral "Infosys and Kohls are working together, using Design Thinking, and the Skava digital platform to enhance experiences from the customers, associates and overall Kohls perspective." - Ratnakar Lavu, Chief Digital Officer, Kohls Skava, Panaya & EdgeVerve This quarter we launched Skava Commerce, a new standard for modern, mobile-first and modular e-commerce platforms to provide businesses a future-ready architecture that will enable next generation shopping experiences. Skava, an e-commerce startup acquired by Infosys, developed the platform to help retailers to quickly launch new offerings, improve conversion rates of digital channels, amongst other benefits, by leveraging flexible cloud-based microservices and white label applications, along with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, natural language processing and virtual reality (VR). Infosys and TOMS Shoes are working together, to implement an omni-channel platform leveraging Skava Commerce. "In just 8 weeks, Skava and Vantiv worked collaboratively to launch the newly improved Vantiv Advantage Program App. We extended and simplified the digital engagement experience so Vantiv's partners could sell and grow their businesses faster. Rather than converting an existing partner portal into the mobile app, the Skava team took a step further and re-authored the entire application in SkavaSTUDIO, which allowed the Vantiv team to take full ownership and control of the app to publish updates and changes. The Skava team did a great job to get us to the launch. We are now looking forward to getting this published in the app stores and seeing the adoption. Stay tuned for mobile transformation at Vantiv." - Balaji Devarasetty, Chief Technology Officer - Integrated Payments, Vantiv LLC Panaya The COOP Group, one of the biggest Swiss retail trade and wholesale companies, selected Panaya for a seamless migration to SAP HANA with its upgrade from EHP5 to EHP7. "With the support of Panaya's solution, we were able to import many references into the system. We haven't done anything like that before. We were able to ensure an overall better quality of the SAP system - even beyond the upgrade. After the go live, there were no more critical errors. Our development department was excited because they were able to start with the corrections even after the first modification adjustment. For further upgrades we will definitely cooperate with Panaya again." - Davyd Dappen, Manager IT Processes Product Management ACES at COOP EdgeVerve This quarter the EdgeVerve business delivered a strong performance with 48 wins and 23 go-lives from both the Finacle and Edge suite of solutions across various markets. Finacle continues to be the solution of choice for new-generation digital banking businesses. Building upon its success in the payments bank space, the Finacle solution suite was chosen by Aditya Birla group for their upcoming payments bank. EdgeVerve continued to gain strong traction for Edge products with several new clients added this quarter across various solutions such as AssistEdge, BrandEdge and TradeEdge. This quarter Infosys Finacle also announced the global availability of its industry leading Finacle Universal Banking Solution Suite on Huawei's FusionCloud based cloud platform. Culture We continue to invest in education to help our employees maximize their potential. We are enhancing our capabilities at the Infosys Global Education Center and through partnerships with organizations such as Udacity. "Udacity and Infosys share a similar vision for lifelong learning, that education is no longer about years-long course work with a singular end goal, but rather, learning is a lifelong endeavor in which we continuously renew ourselves and expand the knowledge we already have, and learn entirely new kinds of skills. With Nanodegrees in particular, we can drive rapid acquisition of new skills when needed, for the most in-demand skills. As part of this effort, we are excited to launch the Udacity FastTrack program exclusively for Infosys, making available Udacity's online Nanodegree certifications for all Infosys new-hires. We will complement Infosys' world class Mysore training programs with Nanodegrees in several high demand and constantly evolving areas such as user experience, mobile and web development to rapidly scale the skills and expertise in these areas, and more. We are also excited to leverage the deep expertise of Infosys to bring the critical hands-on course work to our Nanodegrees through projects based on real-world experiences in the most sought after skills in the industry." - Sebastian Thrun, Founder & President, Udacity Awards & Recognition Winner , Seven 2016 Oracle Excellence Awards , Seven 2016 Oracle Excellence Awards Leader , Infosys Finacle - 'The Forrester Wave: Customer-Centric Global Banking Platforms, Q3 2016' report , Infosys Finacle - 'The Forrester Wave: Customer-Centric Global Banking Platforms, Q3 2016' report Winner, Infosys Finacle Omnichannel Hub - "Digital Banking 2016, Best System Solution", Juniper Research Infosys Finacle Omnichannel Hub - "Digital Banking 2016, Best System Solution", Juniper Research A Leader , IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Oracle Implementation Services 2016 Vendor Assessment , IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Oracle Implementation Services 2016 Vendor Assessment Winner , 2016 European ISG Paragon award , 2016 European ISG Paragon award Leader, Software Testing NelsonHall Vendor Evaluation & Assessment Tool (NEAT) Software Testing NelsonHall Vendor Evaluation & Assessment Tool (NEAT) First Runner-Up , "Best Use of CEM Technology" for AssistEdge at the Customer Experience Asia Excellence Awards, 2016 Singapore , "Best Use of CEM Technology" for AssistEdge at the Customer Experience Asia Excellence Awards, 2016 Singapore A Leader, IDC MarketScape: WW Oil & Gas Professional Services 2016 Vendor Assessment IDC MarketScape: WW Oil & Gas Professional Services 2016 Vendor Assessment Winner ' s Circle, HfS Blueprint Report: Energy Operations HfS Blueprint Report: Energy Operations Winner ' s Circle, HfS Blueprint Report: ServiceNow Services HfS Blueprint Report: ServiceNow Services Leader , OVUM Decision Matrix (ODM) - Selecting a Distributed Agile Delivery Model for ADM Services, 2016-17 , OVUM Decision Matrix (ODM) - Selecting a Distributed Agile Delivery Model for ADM Services, 2016-17 Leader and Star Performer, Everest Group Global Banking AO Service Provider PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 and Everest Group Global Banking AO Service Provider PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 Leader, Everest Group IT Outsourcing Global Capital Markets PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 Everest Group IT Outsourcing Global Capital Markets PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 A Challenger in Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Services for Communications Service Providers, Worldwide Beyond Business We continue to contribute back to the communities in which we are present. In India, through the Infosys Foundation, we have made several investments in the areas of rehabilitation, healthcare, education and arts & culture. Some of the initiatives this quarter include handing over a residential enclave of 200 houses to families that were rendered homeless in the aftermath of cyclone HudHud in 2014, launching an Institute of Robotic Surgery in partnership with Narayana Health, and funding travel stipends for top researchers at IIT Kharagpur, as well as sponsoring a study about the antiquity of Indus Valley undertaken by the institute. Infosys Foundation USA supported quality computer science and Maker professional development for teachers via CS PD Week, the CS for All Community Giving program, and commitments announced at the White House Summit on #CSforAll. Additionally, the Foundation announced new grants to support the largest CS teacher organization (CSTA), recognize excellence in CS teaching through Awards, and assist New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). About Infosys Ltd Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve these effectively. Our team of 199,000+ innovators, across the globe, is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience, across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age. Safe Harbor Certain statements in these results concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts and inability to accurately predict economic or industry trends, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that the date of this release is October 14, 2016, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. Contact: Investor Relations Sandeep Mahindroo +91 80 3980 1018 [email protected] Media Relations Sarah Vanita Gideon, India +91 80 4156 3373 [email protected] Infosys Limited and subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Balance Sheets as of (Dollars in millions except equity share data) September 30, 2016 March 31, 2016 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 4,763 4,935 Current investments 323 11 Trade receivables 1,737 1,710 Unbilled revenue 584 457 Prepayments and other current assets 777 672 Derivative financial instruments 13 17 Total current assets 8,197 7,802 Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 1,681 1,589 Goodwill 566 568 Intangible assets 136 149 Investment in associates 15 16 Non-current investments 289 273 Deferred income tax assets 95 81 Income tax assets 788 789 Other non-current assets 108 111 Total non-current assets 3,678 3,576 Total assets 11,875 11,378 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities Trade payables 46 58 Derivative financial instruments - 1 Current income tax liabilities 578 515 Client deposits 2 4 Unearned revenue 222 201 Employee benefit obligations 216 202 Provisions 93 77 Other current liabilities 929 940 Total current liabilities 2,086 1,998 Non-current liabilities Deferred income tax liabilities 36 39 Other non-current liabilities 23 17 Total liabilities 2,145 2,054 Equity Share capital- INR 5 ($0.16) par value 2,400,000,000 (2,400,000,000) equity shares authorized, issued and outstanding 2,285,651,730 (2,285,621,088) net of 11,292,934 (11,323,576) treasury shares, as of September 30, 2016 (March 31, 2016), respectively 199 199 Share premium 574 570 Retained earnings 11,553 11,083 Other reserves - - Other components of equity (2,596) (2,528) Total equity attributable to equity holders of the company 9,730 9,324 Non-controlling interests - - Total equity 9,730 9,324 Total liabilities and equity 11,875 11,378 Infosys Limited and subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Comprehensive Income (Dollars in millions except share and per equity share data) Three months Three months Six months Six months ended ended ended ended September September September September 30, 2016 30, 2015 30, 2016 30, 2015 Revenues 2,587 2,392 5,088 4,647 Cost of sales 1,638 1,488 3,231 2,922 Gross profit 949 904 1,857 1,725 Operating expenses: Selling and marketing expenses 134 129 271 258 Administrative expenses 171 165 340 316 Total operating expenses 305 294 611 574 Operating profit 644 610 1,246 1,151 Other income, net 114 121 226 240 Share in associate's profit / (loss) (1) - (1) - Profit before income taxes 757 731 1,471 1,391 Income tax expense 218 212 421 396 Net profit 539 519 1,050 995 Other comprehensive income Items that will not be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss: Re-measurement of the net defined benefit liability/(asset) (6) (1) (9) (2) Cumulative impact on reversal of unrealized gain on quoted debt securities on adoption of IFRS 9 - - (5) - Equity instruments through other comprehensive income - - - - Items that will be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss: Fair valuation of investments - 5 - 3 Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations 119 (242) (54) (379) Total other comprehensive income, net of tax 113 (238) (68) (378) Total comprehensive income 652 281 982 617 Profit attributable to: Owners of the company 539 519 1,050 995 Non-controlling interests - - - - 539 519 1050 995 Total comprehensive income attributable to: Owners of the company 652 281 982 617 Non-controlling interests - - 0 - 652 281 982 617 Earnings per equity share Basic ($) 0.24 0.23 0.46 0.44 Diluted ($) 0.24 0.23 0.46 0.44 Weighted average equity shares used in computing earnings per equity share Basic 2,285,641,710 2,285,614,029 2,285,632,081 2,285,612,157 Diluted 2,285,949,303 2,285,713,042 2,285,875,988 2,285,696,678 NOTE: 1. The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Balance sheet and Condensed Consolidated Interim Statement of Comprehensive Income for the three months and six months ended September 30, 2016 have been taken on record at the Board meeting held on October 14, 2016 2. A Fact Sheet providing the operating metrics of the company can be downloaded from www.infosys.com IFRS-INR Press Release: https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/quarterly-results/2016-2017/q2/Documents/IFRS-INR-press-release.pdf Fact Sheet: https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/quarterly-results/2016-2017/q2/Documents/fact-sheet.pdf SOURCE Infosys MONTREAL, Oct. 13, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (TSX: SNC) will announce its third quarter results on Thursday, November 3, 2016. A conference call will be held on the same day with the financial community at 3:00 p.m. EDT. Participants will be Neil Bruce, President and Chief Executive Officer and Sylvain Girard, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. Members of the media are welcome to participate on a listen-only basis. To join the conference call, please dial toll free at 1 866 530 1553 in North America, 416 847 6330 in Toronto, 514 223 0613 in Montreal, 080 0279 0444 in the United Kingdom, or 180 099 2284 in Ireland. A live audio webcast of the conference call and an accompanying slide presentation will be available at investors.snclavalin.com. A recording of the conference call will be available on our website within 24 hours following the call. About SNC-Lavalin Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is one of the leading engineering and construction groups in the world and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure. From offices in over 50 countries, SNC-Lavalin's employees are proud to build what matters. Our teams provide engineering, procurement, construction, completions and commissioning services together with a range of sustaining capital services to clients in four industry sectors: oil and gas, mining and metallurgy, infrastructure and power. SNC-Lavalin can also combine these services with its financing and operations and maintenance capabilities to provide complete end-to-end project solutions. www.snclavalin.com SOURCE SNC-Lavalin For further information: Media: Louis-Antoine Paquin, Manager, Media Relations, 514-393-8000, ext. 54772, [email protected]; Investors: Denis Jasmin, Vice President, Investor Relations, 514-393-8000, ext. 57553, [email protected] TORONTO, Oct. 14, 2016 /CNW/ - The Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF) is contributing $15,000 to support relief efforts in Haiti and Cuba in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. "The devastation from this hurricane is felt most strongly by vulnerable families and individuals who cannot afford to lose what little they had," said Ken Neumann, Steelworkers Humanity Fund President. "Steelworkers are proud to be able to contribute to relief and rebuilding efforts in Haiti and Cuba." The Steelworkers Humanity Fund's contribution will be directed to Oxfam Quebec, which is working directly on relief efforts responding to the Hurricane Matthew devastation. "Our union has many members of Haitian origin, particularly in the taxi industry," said Alain Croteau, member of the SHF Board of Directors and the United Steelworkers (USW) Quebec Director. "Their community of origin, their brothers and sisters, have been hit hard. It's crucial that we support them, through the Steelworkers Humanity Fund, to which thousands of our members contribute on an ongoing basis," Croteau said. Founded in 1985, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund is a registered charitable organization that focuses primarily on development projects and emergency aid in developing countries, and supports Canadian communities in crisis. United Steelworkers members contribute to the fund through clauses negotiated into collective agreements. In some cases employers make matching contributions. SOURCE Steelworkers Humanity Fund For further information: Ken Neumann, Steelworkers Humanity Fund President, 416-544-5951; Doug Olthuis, Steelworkers Humanity Fund Executive Director, 416-544-5957, [email protected]; Bob Gallagher, USW Communications, 416-544-5966, 416-434-2221, [email protected]; Clairandree Cauchy, USW Communications Quebec, 514-774-4001, [email protected] In 2011, Foxconn had announced a plan to replace 500,000 mainland Chinese workers with 1 million robots over the next 3-5 years. Foxconn is the company that builds Apples iPhone and iPad hardware and many of the android smartphones as well. Foxconn, has so far installed 40,000 production robots across China as it looks to minimize the number of people it employs. With the exception of some components like servo motors and speed reducers, the robots are being built entirely in-house, Foxconns Dai Chia-peng told Taiwans Central News Agency, as quoted by DigiTimes. Its unclear how many of the so-called Foxbots are being used to manufacture Apple products. The machines are, however, said to be operating an industrial facility in Zhengzhou, a tablet plant in Chengdu, and computer/peripherals plants in Kunshan and Jiashan. Dai commented that Foxconn is currently manufacturing 10,000 robots per year. Each one can potentially go far towards replacing human labor in Kunshan alone, Foxconn is known to have cut 60,000 workers. Thirty-five Taiwanese companies, including Apples supplier Foxconn, spent a total of 4 billion yuan (HK$4.74 billion) on artificial intelligence last year, according to the Kunshan governments publicity department. So it was robotics, artificial intelligence, process changes and demand changes that impacted the workforce. As many as 600 major companies in Kunshan have similar plans, according to a government survey. The job cuts do not augur well for Kunshan, which had a population of more than 2.5 million at the end of 2014, two-thirds of whom were migrant workers. Factories and other buildings cover about 46 per cent of the land a figure which is far higher than the cap set by the central government. The local government, which was reshuffled after the blast, has promised to maintain zero growth in land development and decrease its population by 2020. Kunshans latest growth figure is far from impressive. The county grew by less than 3 per cent in 2014 and 2015 amid the central leaderships bid to restructure the worlds second largest economy into a greener, more tech-intensive one. Xu Xujiong, head of a local firm, Huaneng Welding, reflected on the hard times faced by the local units owing to the transition. At its peak, Kunshan manufactured 120 million laptops a year, but output had fallen to only 51 million because of falling demand, said local officials. Smartphone manufacturing, however, is trying to bridge the gap about 20 million units were made last year. Kunshan is home to about 4,800 Taiwanese companies, which contribute over 60 per cent of its GDP, and the county is encouraging more people from across the strait to start businesses there to boost its economy. SOURCES- Digitimes, South China Morning Post, Apple Insider Hyperloop One talking to Russia about a cargo Hyperloop to connect Russia with China The model for the Hunchun-Zarubino cargo system assumes six containers departing per minute, 20 hours a day, 365 days of the year. A Hyperloop involves using magnets to levitate pods inside an normal pressure tube. Fans blow on the pod blow air around the pod to enable speeds of just under mach one 750 mph (1,200 kph). Hunchun, like so many of Chinas new boomtowns, is a thriving manufacturing center with a growing population of 250,000. Its a bit off the beaten path, tucked up North into a strategic nook near the borders of Russia and North Korea. But Hunchun, being so close to the border, boasts the largest logistics terminal in northeastern China, preparing textiles, electronics, grain and automobiles for export. If only Hunchun had an easier way to get to the coast. Unlike the far bigger export hubs to the south, Hunchun is separated from the Pacific by rugged mountains. Sure, theres a new $6 billion passenger high speed rail link between Hunchun and the provincial capital of Jilin to the east, but to the west and south Hunchun is hemmed in by Russias Primorye region. In winter months, roads are often impassable. Russian economic planners have long had their eyes on developing better, faster links between Chinas interior and deep water, ice-free ports along the Primorye coast south of Vladivostok. Demand for export of goods from Hunchuns logistics center is projected to surpass 40 million tons per year by 2030. There happens to be a couple of optimal places to build a port. One of them is the seaside town of Zarubino, which had long been a fishing village until Russian government began taking steps to develop a cargo export operation there several years ago. With a little vision, investment and long-term planning, Zarubino has the potential to become an important stop on the global cargo circuit. All it needs is a direct, high-capacity link back to Hunchun and its surrounding region. Thats where the Hyperloop enters the picture. Hyperloop Ones Executive Chairman Shervin Pishevar met in June with Russias transport minister to confirm plans to develop a passenger system for the Moscow area and a cargo route in Russias Far East. Last month Hyperloop One and Russian investment firm Caspian Venture Capital presented a preliminary feasibility study for that latter option: use of Hyperloop technology to connect Hunchuns logistics center with the planned Zarubino port. The study, carried out by transport institute MGTNIIP, which has offices in Moscow and Irkutsk, confirms that an investment in a Hyperloop One system can generate a sizable operating profit transporting cargo on the Hunchun Zarubino line. The model for the Hunchun-Zarubino cargo system assumes six containers departing per minute, 20 hours a day, 365 days of the year. The system calls for building twin Hyperloop tubes on columns that would thread through the terrain for the 65 kilometers between Hunchun and Zarubino. Thats a short enough route not to the break the bank but long enough to take advantage of the energy efficiency of Hyperloop cruising speeds. The project as proposed would be built in two stages commencing in 2020 and 2023 with a total estimated capital cost of $1.5 billion to $2.3 billion. By the time both stages are completed and operational, cargo demand for the Zarubino Hyperloop is projected to be roughly 900,000 TEUs per year, equivalent to half of the current volumes at the ports of Houston, Genoa, or Fuzhou. (An TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent unit, is a standard unit of measure in the container cargo business.) The system when fully operational would incur $77 million in annual operating costs and operating income of close to quarter billion dollars a year. The lines maximum capacity would be 50 million metric tons in each direction, which would propel Zarubino into the ranks of the worlds 50 busiest container ports. Hyperloop is often associated with speed, as in a system capable of moving at 1,000 kilometers per hour quietly and comfortably. But for cargo use, speed is not the primary factor. Shippers want availability, or system uptime, which is one of Hyperloops advantages over rail or roads. The model for the Zarubino study assumes six containers departing per minute, 20 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Being an autonomous system enclosed in a tube eliminates a lot of safety hazards such as grade crossings, but also takes weather and operator error out of the equation. And its not as if the cargo is inching along. Average speeds attainable on the proposed line would be 540 kilometers an hour. Shippers also get flexibility. A Hyperloop can send a container when it is received instead of waiting for a mile-long train to be loaded with hundreds of other containers. Its magnetic non-contact traction allows it to climb grades three times steeper than the 5% for traditional freight rail, which will come in handy in the mountainous region between Zarubino and Hunchun. If the project gets the green light from Russian and Chinese authorities, it will take 2 or 3 years to prepare the detailed feasibility study and work with regulators to update the operating framework before construction begins in earnest. Project co-developer Caspian VC, also an investor in Hyperloop One, is the venture arm of Summa Group, a diversified industrial firm based in Moscow with interests in logistics, oil pipelines and port infrastructure. Its chairman Ziyavudin Magomedov has made it a goal to bring Hyperloop to Russia and envisions a day when cargo can zip overland at subsonic speeds from China to Europe across the vast Russian interior. Its a wildly ambitious idea with world-changing potential, reducing the time it takes cargo to get from East to West from weeks to hours. Hyperloop One has raised an additional $50 million as it prepares for a full-scale test of a Hyperloop system in the first quarter of 2017. Hyperloop One got its latest round of funding from DP World Group of Dubai. The $50 million takes its total funding to $160 million. Abubakar Atiku's American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, today hailed the news of the 21 Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram te... Abubakar Atiku's American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, today hailed the news of the 21 Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists after 913 days of their abduction from school in Borno state.I am thrilled that the young women have been released and hope that after they recover and able to continue their lives and education in peace, said AUN President Margee Ensign in a statement.We stand ready to help rebuild the lives of all of these young women and their families, she saidDr. Ensign said AUN has a special bond with all of the victims and their families, noting that out of 58 of the girls who escaped that night in April 2014, 24 are now studying at AUN on full scholarships provided by a donor from the U.S having met JAMB requirement, and four more were fully enrolled this fall, she added.Dr. Ensign commended the Nigerian government for its ongoing efforts to seek the release of the girls, and urged authorities to work tirelessly to free those still being held. Governor Ayodele Fayose has said that he hope Aisha Buhari, wife of the Nigeria's president will not suffer for the BBC interview. Governor Ayodele Fayose has said that he hope Aisha Buhari, wife of the Nigeria's president will not suffer for the BBC interview.Governor Fayose's aide, Lere Olayinka reacting to Aisha's interview on BBC said: "I just hope Aisha Buhari won't suffer the same fate like Safinat Buhari... Just thinking ni ooo".Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's wife has warned that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government.In a BBC interview, Aisha Buhari said the president "does not know" most of the top officials he has appointed.History shows that the Late Hajiya Safinatu got married to her husband Gen. Muhammadu Buhari two days after her graduation from Women Teachers College Katsina at the age of 18.In 1998 Hajiya Safinatu was diagnosed to be diabetic in far away Saudi Arabia. She died on the 14th day of January, 2006 after battling with Diabetes for 8 years.One wonders what Fayose and his cohorts are thinking about wife of the president, Aisha Buhari on her interview with the British Broadcasting Corporatiion, BBC after accusing her on alleged involvement in the Halliburton scandal Acting National Publicity Secretary of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank, has thrown his weight behind re... Acting National Publicity Secretary of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank, has thrown his weight behind reports credited to wife of the president, Aisha Buhari to the effect that her husbands administration has been hijacked by extraneous elements who never worked for the emergence of the current administration.In a statement issued Friday in Abuja, Frank said the comments were not meant to discredit the present administration but to sound a note of caution for the betterment of Nigerians and the country at large.I think Mrs. Buhari deserve commendation because she is actually speaking the minds of not only the party members but Nigerians. What Mrs. Buhari has said is not different from what some of us have been saying that it is high time the President shakes-up his cabinet and bring in people who understand the manifestoes of the party and could help the party deliver on its change mantra, especially, the economy of the country needs an urgent attention.Some of our leaders like the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, have made this same observation in the past and I think they meant well for the administration and the country. I will also join them in appealing to the president to do the needful, he said.Frank however warned opposition politicians not to rejoice or read negative meaning to the interview, adding that Mrs Buhari spoke out the minds of many party men and women who felt sidelined in the present government. Nigerian women in politics and other wives of president in the world have a lot to learn from what Mrs. Buhari has done. We should not forget in a hurry that this is what the former first lady Mrs.Patience Jonathan failed to do to her husband when few people hijacked his government and brought the government down. The APC spokesman also called on the president to act fast and correct some of the abnormalities currently threatening the existence of the APC as a party. The First Lady, Aisha has warned her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari that she may not back him at the 2019 election unless he shakes... Aisha in an interview with BBC said, the president does not know most of the top officials he has appointed.She said: The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I dont know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years.Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position.In the BBC interview, the First Lady refused to name those who had hijacked the government, saying: You will know them if you watch television.On whether the president was in charge, she said: That is left for the people to decide.Mrs Buhari also said her husband had not told her whether he would contest the 2019 election.He is yet to tell me but I have decided, as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again. Controversies have continued to trail the comments of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari in an interview with BBC Hausa-language service broadca... Controversies have continued to trail the comments of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari in an interview with BBC Hausa-language service broadcast last Friday, where she alleged that cabals had hijacked her husbands party and that she might not support her husband should he decide to contest the 2019 elections.President Buhari who is currently on a state visit to Germany has responded to his wifes claims by saying she belongs to his kitchen and other rooms.However, below is the full transcription, as translated by www.nishadi.tv, of the Hausa version of the interview the First Lady, Aisha Buhari granted BBC Hausa.This is the full text from the interview of First Lady of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari, by BBC Hausa Service:It has been One and a half years since President Muhammadu Buhari came into power, a lot of people are expressing their unhappiness over the way few acquaintance of the President have hijacked power while neglecting people that work for his success. Like we have promised, here is how the interview with Aisha Buhari and Naziru Makailu from Abuja goes.People have goodwill towards President Muhammadu Buhari, especially looking at the things he did before, but since coming into power things have not been working the way they should, what do you thing is the cause?I am not a government official, but in my opinion as a woman, a mother, what I think is it is well known that the first 4 years are not going to be easy. Firstly, it was people that brought the government into power.More than half of those people are not appointed into the government. Some people that are not politicians, not professionals were brought into the government. They dont even know what we said we want and what we dont during the campaign. They even come out and say to people we are not politicians, but they are occupying the offices meant for politicians.Some have parted with their wives, some lost their children lost, some women too have parted with their husbands because of politics, a lot happened during the time. The way things are going I too I am not happy. We are just starting, we have not finished. Some people that worked for the government have been appointed. But those heading government agencies you can find one fighting his state governor, they contested together during election one in APC while in PDP.Who are those doing these kinds of things?Everybody knows them. Those people should know that people voted singly. Even Buhari too had one vote. Nobody voted 5 times. 15.429 Million People. That one that people are thinking too, he had only some 2 or 3 people. I am pleading to them to have the people at heart and embrace everybody so that we can all move together.Not even now in 2016 or 17, lot of people are creating divisions within the APC, which is our source of concern. They think they have worked for the government while those appointed some of them had no voters card. What I fear is uprising of 15.4 million people.Is the President aware some people are subverting his government?Whether he knows or he do not, those that voted for him knows.But you are the most closest to him, did you tell him?There is nothing I can tell him, he is seeing things himself. Out of the people he has appointed, take 50, 45 of them I dont know them. Perhaps he doesnt know them too. I have been living with him for 27 years.Do you think there are some people that are dictating to the President things to do, not him?That is what I am saying, those that know they dont have voters card, they should give chance to those that have, they are the ones that struggled and knows what we want to do. Some of them if you go to a meeting with them they will tell you, we are not politicians, if somebody is wise, they will not accept to take any political office. They didnt even work for it. Even if you are asked to, you should say it is not my profession. Those places not headed by politicians will cause people discontent.One would wonder to hear you say some people have hijacked the government without him knowing, but who do you think are those people?I dont know them, I dont know them. I dont know themBBC Hausa: But some people are calling names, saying 2 or 3 are the ones, do you that as well?: Yes I agree. Because of those appointed apart from Fashola, Ameachi and some others, not much, I dont know them, most of us too dont know them, and he too does not know themOne would wonder that Buhari is not the one charge knowing him as a person who had leadership experiences, people would not believeYes it is surprising; nobody thought it is going to be like this. But now that it is sosometimes when one is doing something wrong without him knowing, but when people talk to them, they should listen. Because in the future, whether he is going to contest or not, it is that same people that would vote for APC. We hope those people dont come back, and everybody dont hope so too.You said Whether he is going to contest in the future or not, has he disclose it to you whether he is standing or not?He didnt tell me, but I have made up my mind. Mr Suleiman Hashimu, who trek from Lagos to Abuja to celebrate the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 general elections, is to ... Mr Suleiman Hashimu, who trek from Lagos to Abuja to celebrate the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 general elections, is to embark on another trek for the president.Hashimu, however, said on Friday that this time around, he would not use his legs but vehicles in touring the 36 states and FCT.He said he wants to showcase the achievement of the president so far. I will be embarking on another trek for President Muhammadu Buhari.This time, my trip is with a vehicle, not my usual trekking. I would tour the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.This is to showcase achievement recorded by this administration so that they will appreciate the achievements recorded so far.President Buhari has achieved a lot in security and anti-corruption crusade. People that are untouchable in this country are answerable to the law of the land.Another big achievement recorded on Thursday was the rescue of the 21 of the over 200 kidnapped Chibok school girls. This is no doubt a great achievement.I will like to tell Nigerians to continue to support President Muhammadu Buhari to achieve all the promises he made during his campaign for the presidency,Hashimu arrived in Abuja on April 20 to celebrate the presidents victory in the 2015 general elections after trekking three weeks from Lagos, covering over 700 kilometres. President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday disclosed that a new bank, Development Bank of Nigeria, would soon begin operations to strengthen th... President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday disclosed that a new bank, Development Bank of Nigeria, would soon begin operations to strengthen the governments economic diversification programme.According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke while addressing the German-Nigeria Business Forum in Berlin.Buhari was quoted as saying that the bank, when fully operational, would support small and medium enterprises in the country, by improving their access to financing.Our ambitions of creating a diversified and inclusive economy in Nigeria can only be achieved by having a mix of small, medium and large businesses.This is why we worked with the German development agency, KFW, in designing the Development Bank of Nigeria which will support the small and medium size enterprises both financially and technically to ensure they take their rightful place in the industrialization value chain.I am pleased to announce that Development Bank of Nigeria will be taking off soon and should be a game changer in our economic diversification plans, he said.Buhari, who described Foreign Direct Investment into Nigeria from Germany as modest, urged prospective investors at the gathering to go beyond the expressions of interest and make binding commitments for trade, investments and industry in the key priority sectors of Agriculture, infrastructure, solid minerals and digital economy.He said Nigeria which recorded a trade volume of 2.96 billion Dollars with Germany in 2015, still had a great deal of unexploited potential and room to diversify its exports to Germany and increase overall trade volumes. President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria is not yet where she should be and would like to be. President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria is not yet where she should be and would like to be.Buhari speaking in Berlin, Germany on Friday according Garba Shehu, the presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said that Nigerians are determine to change but corruption is one of the reasons that in spite of rich human and natural resources seventy percent of her population live in poverty.He further said that he is confident that the government and people of Nigeria are determine to change and that Nigeria a country with potential was in a hurry to develop and realise its potential. Nollywood comic actor, Osita Iheme, aka Pawpaw, in this interview with Punch says he doesn't believe he has to meet Miss Right before he makes up his mind about settling down.Unlike his comic pair, Aki (Chinedu Ikedieze), Osita is still a bachelor. Asked why he has not followed Akis example, the comic actor looks confused and he is speechless for awhile. Then he says;The actor dismisses the rumour that he is still waiting for the proverbial Miss Right, saying;Despite the popularity that he enjoys among millions of movie fans across Nigeria, even beyond the countrys borders, Osita says that he has been publicly embarrassed by the same fans and admirers on some occasions.Recalling a particular incident, which occurred somewhere in neighbouring Benin Republic, he says; The release of 21 Chibok girls by the terrorist Boko Haram group Thursday was the culmination of more than two years of negotiation and pe... The release of 21 Chibok girls by the terrorist Boko Haram group Thursday was the culmination of more than two years of negotiation and perseverance by a team which first assembled about two years ago.The key actors who first initiated the process made their initial attempt to rescue the girls around July 2014, during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, but that effort floundered in the last minutes.The initial team comprised Shehu Sani, now a senator; rights activist, Fred Eno; a lawyer, Mustapha Zanna; the Nigerian Army, then led by Kenneth Minimah; the Swiss government; and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which was called in to play a neutral intermediary role.Mr. Sani, the sources said, began the process when he reached out to the Swiss Government through its Embassy in Nigeria and then linked them to Mr. Zanah who in turn connected the Swiss authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross with the leadership of Boko Haram.Mr. Jonathan appointed elder statesman, Edwin Clark, to liaise with the team and government.After a few weeks of work, the team nearly secured the release of the girls in 2014.Highly placed sources familiar with the negotiation told newsmen at the time that the deal fell through due to the clumsy manner in which the Jonathan administration handled it.It boils down, basically, to three key issues: inflexibility and lack of realism on the part of the insurgent forces; lack of support for a negotiated settlement to the insurgency on the part of security forces; and what appears to be governments acceptance that the security forces were right, the sources said.The president desperately wanted the girls released, but politics of positioning stood in the way of progress, Mr. Eno told reporters at the time.After the initial effort failed, according to our sources, Messrs Sani, Eno and Clark moved on to other things.But other members of the team remained tenacious and kept exploring available options for the release of the girls, this newspaper learnt.The State Security Service (SSS) led the fresh negotiation with the team using the existing line of dialogue established in 2014.The Nigerian military was left out of the initial negotiation after the Boko Haram leadership reportedly insisted it would have nothing with an organisation that had been killing its members, and had killed some of the Chibok girls in aerial bombardments.It was learnt that the SSS was therefore enlisted to lead the negotiation, gather intelligence regarding the reliability of the release window and provide other support services essential to the operation.After a deal had been struck, the Red Cross was called in to meet the leadership of the sect as well as sight the girls.A date and location was then agreed for the release of the girls.On Wednesday, October 14, the military was contacted to deploy some of its men to a particular location in Banki, a border town in Bama local government area of Borno State, to pick up the 21 girls, officials said.The girls were released at 5:30 am on Thursday and immediately flown to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in a chopper.The Nigerian government announced the release of the girls on Thursday morning, hours after they were successfully received from insurgents in the highly confidential operation.The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, dismissed reports that the girls were rescued in exchange for top-level suspected Boko Haram detainees across the country.The release was a product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides, Mr. Mohammed said at a world press conference Thursday afternoon. Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release.Mr. Mohammeds comments that the girls were not released based on a prisoner swap deal immediately sparked speculation that the government may have paid ransom.However, presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, denied that any ransom was paid.Mr. Buhari had repeatedly stated his willingness to rescue the girls even if it required swapping them with suspected terrorists in custody.A government source said negotiations for the release of the remaining girls was continuing. Governors of all 19 states in northern Nigeria are expected to spend three days in Washington DC next week at the invitation of the United... Governors of all 19 states in northern Nigeria are expected to spend three days in Washington DC next week at the invitation of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).They will be participating in the Northern Nigeria Governors Symposium from October 18 to 21 with civic leaders from the Senior Working Group of Nigeria and representatives of the Federal Government of Nigeria.Organized by the institute with support of U.S. State Departments Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, the upcoming Symposium is the second such event in as many years.The first one which held in May 2014 discussed security challenges caused by the Boko Haram insurgency and strategies for stabilization and development in northern Nigeria.Speaking on Tuesday at the pre-symposium media briefing, USIP Senior Advisors and former ambassadors, Princeton Lyman and Johnnie Carson said the institutes Northern Governors symposium was designed to bolster Nigerias commanding stature in Sub-Saharan Africa by addressing causes of instability and seeking opportunities for durable peace in the north.Describing the country as a significant powerhouse, whose position in Africa compares to that of India in Asia and Brazil in South America, Mr. Carson said Nigeria also became one of the worlds premier democracy after the epochal election of 2015.Mr. Lyman, who was U.S. ambassador to Nigeria 1986 to 1989, said Boko Haram insurgency opened new frontiers for engagement and opportunity to address the disconnect between political power and development in northern Nigeria.While all 19 governors got invitation to the Symposium, as of last week, only Governors Abdullah Abubakar (Bauchi), Kashim Shettima (Borno and head of the Northern Nigeria Governors Forum), Bello Masari (Katsina), Bako Lalong (Plateau) and Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto) have confirmed their participation.Minister of the Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, and Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, have also confirmed their attendance.The governors and other participants will meet with officials from U.S. government, public agencies and corporate bodies.USIPs Senior Program Officer for Nigeria, Oge Onubogu, said the visiting Nigerian governors will also meet with Steve Hayes, chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa and Gayle Smith, USAID director, to discuss project priorities for northern Nigeria.USIP officials are confident that the upcoming Northern Governors Symposium will build on the tangible successes of the first symposium which, according to Ambassador Carson, include the growing confidence of democratic governance as evidenced by the laudable outcome of the 2015 elections and improved governance environment with lessening of the disconnect between northern governors and the federal government. ORANGE -- A city firefighter has been suspended after allegedly being found with heroin in his car, officials said. A file photo of an Orange fire truck. (Bill Wichert | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) According to Orange spokesman Keith Royster, the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police arrested firefighter Vincent Piserchio on Sept. 4 on charges of driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled dangerous substance. After police pulled Piserchio over, they allegedly found heroin inside his car, Royster said. The firefighter is suspended without pay pending a hearing on disciplinary charges and the outcome of the criminal charges against him, Royster said. A spokesman for the Morris County Prosecutor's Office confirmed Piserchio is scheduled to appear for a pre-indictment conference on Oct. 31 in front of Judge Thomas J. Critchley. According to a statement from Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Tara Vyas, Piserchio will be offered a deal to plead guilty to third degree possession. If he agrees, his sentence would include the forfeiture of his job as a firefighter and a ban on public employment in New Jersey, officials said. Piserchio, who according to public records has been employed in Orange since 2006 and earns $73,000 a year, could not immediately be reached for comment on the charges. Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook. UPDATE: 20-year-old city man charged BAYONNE -- Muslims arriving for prayer this morning at their place of worship -- the basement of a local Catholic school -- were met with anti-Muslim graffiti on the windows and walls outside the building. But among predictable profanities such as "F--- Muslims," "F--- Allah," and "F--- Arabs!", something else was spray painted on the wall: "Donald Trump." Waheed Akbar, a spokesman of the Bayonne Muslim community, said the Republican presidential nominee's rhetoric during this campaign season likely encourages the vandalism. "He's gone to places that no other presidential candidate has gone. He's exploiting people's fears," Akbar said. An email to Trump's campaign this afternoon about the use of his name in the anti-Muslim graffiti -- and about Akbar's remarks -- was not immediately returned. For years, the Muslim community has rented out the basement of the closed St. Henry's School at 27th Street and Avenue C and used it as a temporary place of worship. The community is hoping to convert a warehouse at 109 E. 24th St. into a permanent community center that would include, among other things, a mosque, classrooms and a soup kitchen. The city zoning board has not yet approved that plan. At a protest of the plan outside of City Hall earlier this year, at least one protester held a sign reading "Trump." At St. Henry's School today, Akbar said he found out about the graffiti at around 5:30 a.m. from a member of the Muslim community who arrived at the school before he did. His first reaction, he said, was to think of the ignorance of the person who carried out the act. "You can't really get upset at stupidity. I wasn't as mad as I was just concerned that somebody would go to that level," Akbar said, adding that some Muslims did get "upset and angry." The city Public Works department scrubbed off most of the offensive graffiti this morning. In a statement, the Muslim community called the vandalism "a cowardly and hateful act," but noted that it was an "isolated incident." "The people of this great city make up a great community, one of love and understanding. It is our position that the individual(s) who committed this atrocious and bigoted crime represent neither the people of Bayonne nor of this great nation," the statement read. The community went on to say that "divisiveness is not a trait befitting the diverse and accepting people of this wonderful city." Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis issued a statement this afternoon, saying "the graffiti sprayed on St. Henry's School is something we will not tolerate. We condemn all forms of racial and religious bigotry." "Hate crime is unacceptable in our community," the statement said. "Our Police Department moved swiftly to make an arrest in this case. Our Public Works Department used its equipment to remove the hateful words that were sprayed on the parish school building. We will not accept either hatred or vandalism." Asked what he would say to the person who conveyed the hate-filled language, Akbar said he would invite him or her to an upcoming open house that the Muslim community is hosting. "Maybe after having a conversation," the person might realize what he or she did was wrong, he said. The open house is on Oct. 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. at St. Henry's School. "That's all we really want to get out of this incident. It's just understanding and better awareness," Akbar said. Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. BAYONNE -- Dozens of people were displaced from their homes today after city officials found what they said were electrical and fire hazards in a three-story apartment building. Construction official Rich Bielinski of the city Building Department said officials who went to the 14-unit building at 89-91 East 25th Street found multiple instances of unsafe wiring. "We come here, we find out that they've got extension cords running 40 feet because the electric is out in three apartments," he said. Bielinski said officials also discovered several fire hazards, including a locked roof hatch and non-working or non-existent smoke detectors in the apartments. In addition, it was determined that the building's temporary certificate of occupancy had expired on Oct. 10, he said. According to Bielinski, the owner bought the building within the last 30 days and was issued a temporary certificate of occupancy under the condition that he bring the building up to code. The owner did not obtain the permits to carry out that work, and he also did not obtain another certificate of occupancy, the official said. The owner, who couldn't immediately be reached to respond to Bielinski's remarks, told The Jersey Journal earlier that he did not have any knowledge of the building's code violations when he purchased it. The owner -- who only identified himself as Jacob -- said officials called him around 10 a.m. after a tenant reported unsafe wiring. Officials told him the building had to be vacated by 3 p.m., he said. Beginning in the mid-afternoon, over 18 tenants were left standing on the curb outside their building at East 25th Street and Avenue F, unsure of where they were going to stay for the night. Those displaced included babies, toddlers and teenagers, who milled around or sat on the stairs in front of the building as night fell and the temperature dropped. Raquel Lopez -- a 31-year-old tenant who has a 13-year-old son who goes to a nearby school -- was clearly frustrated. "We don't know how long it's going to take to fix. We don't know nothing," she said. The owner of the building, who remained at the scene in his car several feet away from the tenants, was eventually able to find housing for all of them by 7:50 p.m. Second Ward Councilman Sal Gullace, who arrived at the scene in the evening to assist tenants, said the owner will pay for all costs associated with transporting and housing the tenants. Some are staying with relatives, while others are staying in hotels, he said. When the tenants would be able to return home depends on how quickly the building's owner acts to address the code violations, according to Bielinski. Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. NEWARK -- Two reputed MS-13 gangsters appeared in federal court in Newark on Thursday to face charges they planned to kill a member who supplied information to authorities. An alleged member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang is shown in a July file photo. Juan Pablo Escalante-Melgar, 26, and Elmer Cruz-Diaz, 27, both of Union City were previously indicted one one count apiece of conspiring to kill an individual to prevent them from communicating with a law enforcement officer. Each faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Both men are suspected of being in the country illegally and are being held without bail, according to U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman. They have been in custody since Sept. 3, 2015 after being picked up on immigration charges. According to the complaint, the penalty for MS-13 members who cooperate with authorities is death, though executions must be approved by high-ranking gang leaders in California or El Salvador. Authorities said the gang takes its time carrying out such executions to avoid prosecution, typically by following the accused member to learn his movements and habits. In August 2015, authorities intercepted a phone conversation between a high-ranking M-13 leader and Escalante-Melgar securing permission to kill the unidentified informant, Fishman's office said. Four days later, authorities intercepted a conversation between Cruz-Diaz and another gang member indicating the killing had been sanctioned, Fishman's office said. There was no word on why the alleged victim was communicating with investigators. Other intercepted conversations involved instructions for gang members to track the informant's movements in Union City. Three other gang members were also targeted for execution, Fishman's office said. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- A fight that broke out last week at a meeting of Downtown Democratic committee people shows how much uglier the 2016 Jersey City school board race is compared to last year's sleepy campaign. At the Oct. 5 meeting, held in the basement of Grove Street restaurant The Bistro, two men who are allies of opposing slates of school board candidates began bickering about a controversial Facebook post by the school board's vice president, according to sources with knowledge of the incident. The fight turned physical when one man spat on the other and the man who was spat on returned the favor by licking the other man's face, the sources said. Two women who witnessed the fight had to pull the men apart. In recent years, school board elections in Jersey City have centered around big issues like the hiring of a new superintendent or settling a teachers' contract. There's no major issue driving this year's race but, as the fight inside the Bistro's basement shows, the campaign remains contentious. Ten candidates are vying for three three-year terms that expire January. The three incumbents are not seeking re-election. DEJA VU This year's campaign is dominated by two opposing slates, one called Education Matters, which is backed by local teachers union the Jersey City Education Association, and another called Jersey City United, which is supported by the same group of self-declared school reformers whose influence on the board has waned in the last two years. On the Education Matters slate are Sudhan Thomas, 41, the CEO of a subsidiary of a financial tech firm; Angel Valentin, 60, a city health inspector; and Gina Verdibello, 40, a parent activist. The Jersey City United slate includes Asmaa Abdalla, 23, a Kean University student; Luis Felipe Fernandez, 34, pastor at a Communipaw Avenue church; and Matthew Schapiro, 42, a communications consultant. Though each slate has issued policy proposals they favor -- Thomas wants to provide more busing for high school students, while Schapiro's slate wants to require the district to provide Halal and Kosher meals -- the campaign in recent weeks has seen a return of the union versus reformers dynamic of past races. The JCEA's political committee this week released an ad accusing "Wall Street billionaires" of funding Schapiro's ticket as a way to privatize public education. The billionaires in this case are David Tepper and Alan Fournier, the men behind school reform group Better Education for Kids (B4K), whose political arm is supporting the Abdalla/Fernandez/Schapiro slate. Schapiro, who has worked behind the scenes in support of Tepper-backed candidates in previous races, told The Jersey Journal the union's ad is proof the Thomas/Valentin/Verdibello slate has no "real ideas." The union's leadership in the past has promulgated "conspiracy theories" in the past about the alleged motives of reformer candidates that never turned out to be true, Schapiro said. Reform-minded board members "practice good governance ... and do the best for the children of this city," he said. "That's all we've ever done. That's all we will ever do." Thomas, whose team is backed by most of the city's political establishment, including Mayor Steve Fulop, countered by blasting Schapiro for accepting support from a group linked to Tepper. Tepper's aim is to fund charter school expansion in Jersey City, Thomas said. "The very fact that Matt Schapiro is taking money from a guy" -- Tepper -- "whose hands are tainted, that shows you where his loyalty lies," Thomas said. Larry Rogers, B4K's treasurer, called Thomas' comments "asinine." Tepper and B4K made one small donation to a Newark charter school and many more donations to public-school systems statewide, including $1 million to Jersey City's public schools, Rogers said. "We believe that's what needs to be fixed, not the creation of more charter schools," he said. FOUR MORE HOPEFULS There are four more candidates in the race, two college students who are paired on a slate called Fix it Now -- Mussab Ali and Kimberly Goycochea, both 19 -- and two school board hopefuls running solo, Natalia Ioffe, 36, a parent activist, and Mark Rowan, 67, a retired Jersey City teacher. Like their opponents, the four have devised policy proposals they believe will improve the district: Ali and Goycochea want to create mentorship programs to help make schools safer; Ioffe wants to establish an outside fund to help bring more money to the district; Rowan wants school resource officers to intervene with troubled students to keep them out of the criminal justice system. All four agree on one thing: the atmosphere at raucous school board meetings needs to change. "Some people are turned off by it," Ioffe said. "It's just a circus." Ali, a recent graduate of McNair Academic High School who is now studying biology, economics and Middle East studies at Rutgers-Newark, said the political infighting among the board's nine members trickles down to the classroom. "Some of the teachers wouldn't agree with some of the board's decisions" because of who the board members were affiliated with, Ali said. "There were times in classes where we were doing things that the board wouldn't approve of." Rowan said his friendly relationship with his opponents and with sitting board members would help ease tensions. "I think the cohesiveness of the board will greatly improve" if he is elected, Rowan said. The political infighting was touched on in a joint statement issued by the three board members whose terms expire in January: Micheline Amy, Jessica Day and Ellen Simon. None of them opted to seek re-election after they each served one term on the board. In the statement, they praised improvements they see in the school district and expressed disappointment in what they call a "political shift in Jersey City of interested parties away from parents and students. "Until we have political leaders in Jersey City who are willing to put children ahead of politics, we fear the board will remain on its current unfortunate course," they said. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. KEARNY - School can seem a lot less boring when you're maxing out the horsepower of a Ford Mustang. That will be the task of 20 students in automotive classes at Kearny High School, who got their first glimpse of a 2001 Ford Mustang they will be fixing up and modifying as part of the Quaker State "Best in Class Challenge," a national competition to empower the next generation of auto technicians. "It needs work. It has a little bit of surface rust on the right panel," said Justin Montanino - a senior at Kearny High School - of the white 2001 Mustang revving its engine on the school's track Wednesday morning. Montanino was all business Wednesday morning, but that's because he and several other students have a national competition to win. The challenge is to earn as many points as possible based on overall improvements made to the car within a six-week period. Each school in the competition is given the same model and year vehicle, along with $2,000 to spend on parts necessary to make the vehicle as efficient possible. "We're one of five schools nationwide that are presented with a car to work on," said Victor Ribeiro, a Kearny High School teacher and shop class adviser. "And we can modify the car in any way possible - interior, exterior, performance, etc." This is the second consecutive year that Kearny High School has been in the competition. As part of the overall challenge, schools in designated regions must be voted on by the community in the "nomination phase" in order to make it to the "challenge phase," which Kearny has made two years in a row. The challenge phase will run until Nov. 20 and students will be subject to critiques from judges via Facetime at the three-week mark and then again at the end of the six weeks. The two judges are Sung Kang, an actor who has starred in movies such as "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," and Tommy Pike, president of Tommy Pike Customs, which specializes in modern muscle performance and cutting edge customization. Students spent the first half of their school day on Wednesday in the sun checking out the white Mustang. In order to gauge the performance of the car, the school rented a Dino - akin to a treadmill for cars - which measures different variables, like horsepower and torque. These variables will be used as baselines for which judges will award points. As it turns out, the decade old muscle car was be able to muster 162 horsepower. "Overall I like it," Montanino said. "But there's a lot of work to do." Last year, students were given a 2002 Chevy Impala to work on. They didn't win the competition, but they feel good about their chances this year. "Compared to last year, this car is a lot better," Montanino added. "It gives us a little more to work with than last year. This particular car you can do a lot for cheap." All five cars from each school will go through two rounds of judging, with the final round deciding the winner. The victor will then get the chance to take an expenses-free trip to West Palm Beach, Florida for an opportunity to try and auction the car off at the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction. Proceeds for the sale will go back to the school. Kearny High School will be up against schools in Florida, North Carolina, Chicago, and Georgia. There's at least one vocational school they're up against, which may be a disadvantage given a tech school may be better equipped. "They have a little more resources than we do, but at the same time I think we can beat them," Riberio said. "We'll start checking it out and see what the car needs, come up with ideas how to modify it in whichever way possible," he added. "We'll have to start ordering parts." secaucus police car.jpg A Connecticut man was arrested on gun charges in Secaucus earlier this month, police said. (Journal file photo) A 29-year-old Connecticut man was arrested this month while carrying a handgun and hollow point bullets, and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a prohibited device. The man had a concealed-carry permit for Connecticut, but stringent New Jersey gun laws only permit out-of-state gun owners to transport their weapons in a locked container inside a vehicle and away from passengers. This is not the first time this issue has sparked controversy. Last summer, a Florida woman was arrested and faced up to 10 years in prison for trying to bring her weapon on a ferry ride to Ellis Island. NJ.com readers have been debating the issue of state gun laws. Here are some of your comments: Runna524: "While Cotto had a concealed-carry permit for Connecticut, New Jersey gun laws do not allow people with of out-of-state permits to carry or openly transport handguns inside the state." He broke the law. mackomatic: If someone has a CC permit it should be good throughout the united states...This state to state doesn't make sense to me. Dooberstien: If he wasn't committing a crime? Hopefully he'll get pardoned. Joe Chump: Gov. Christie will pardon him. If Cotto can wear a gun in Connecticut, what about entering NJ makes him more likely to use it? NOTHING. If anything, he makes things a bit safer because an armed person is around. Concealed permits mean extremely law abiding people. NeverTrump: Why bail? The guy had a hidden gun with cop killer bullets on him while visiting a nursing home. What possible good reason could he have for doing so? Other states are out of their minds with letting every Tom, Dick and Harry run around with a gun on them 24 / 7. Throw the book at him and make him server a full sentence. Thank god the family dispute didn't turn deadly. enchootche: Another one bites the dust in New Jersey with the insane sane gun control measures. Peter Goldwing: The no gun to anyone works well. For the last few years nobody got shot and killed from Newark to Trenton to Camden. It works just as it was supposed to. Im glad that the drugs have been outlawed too . I have not heard of anyone using them. The politicians made all the crimes illegal thus putting the cops out of business. Way to go New Jersey. beach3333: I personally don't wear a gun while visiting someone at a nursing home. In my opinion that is a little wacky. CLINTON - A Hunterdon County lawyer is facing multiple ethics violations filed by the state's Office of Attorney Ethics for allegedly using a trust account to hid income from creditors during a time when he filed for bankruptcy. The violations came to light when TD Bank informed the office that Paul F. Clausen's attorney trust account was overdrawn by $67.10. In January, Clausen also received a reprimand from the state Supreme Court for failing to file a lawsuit on behalf of a client and not paying a settlement with the client in a timely fashion. According to a five-count complaint filed on Sept. 27, an audit by the office revealed 77 occasions when Clausen allegedly "withdrew his fees directly from the trust account rather than issuing a check payable to his business account." The complaint was first reported on Random Notes on NJ Government on Thursday, a website run by New Jersey watchdog John Paff. State ethics law requires attorneys to deposit and withdraw their fees from an attorney account, rather than from a trust account. The latter is only to be used to hold money for others, such as clients. The office performed an audit on Clausen's accounts from March 1, 2014, to April 23, 2015, according to the complaint. Attempts to reach Clausen as of Friday morning were unsuccessful. Clausen's "deposit of his earned and unearned legal fees in his trust account and subsequent cash withdrawals therefrom was intended to insulate (his) personal assets and to attempt to place them beyond the reach of his creditors," it was stated in the complaint. According to an analysis of his income in 2014, done during an audit by the office, Clausen, who has been an attorney since 1982, withdrew some 46 percent ($56,040) of his revenue in the form of cash from his trust account. "Records on file with the court and interviews with creditors confirm that there were numerous attempts to collect on their debts by levying on respondent's personal and attorney business accounts as well as seizing his office equipment and personal vehicle both prior to and during the period covered by the demand audit," according to the complaint. One client had a default judgement totaling $29,254 against Clausen because he had not filed a personal injury lawsuit on her behalf in 2010. The client tried to levy Clausen's attorney bank account in order to recover the funds, but found the accounts empty, according to the complaint. In January of this year, Clausen received a reprimand from the state Supreme Court for failing to file the lawsuit. Clausen allegedly agreed to pay the client $25,000 and claimed he had made multiple payments to her prior to a Disciplinary Review Board hearing for failing to file the suit, it was stated in the complaint. It is also alleged that Clausen had stopped responding to his client, resulting in the legal action being taken against him. "The first payment, in the amount of $1,000, was made in June 2014, after the hearing before the District VIII Ethics Committee," according to the complaint. "The second payment, in the amount of $24,000, was not made until June 4, 2015, after the DRB hearing." In 2013, Clausen was also given a reprimand for "practicing law while ineligible for failure to pay the annual attorney assessment to the New Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection." The landlord of the building Clausen was renting an office in also could not collect unpaid rent through Clausen's attorney bank account and seized his 2004 Lexus ES330, selling it at public auction in September 2014, according to the complaint. Within a month, Clausen allegedly deposited $4,500 as a retainer into his trust account and, on the next day, withdrew "$4,100 from his trust account in the form of cash and deposited it into the bank account of his client, Park Avenue Auto Lot, to be applied as down payment toward the purchase of another car." According to the complaint, attempts by the landlord to collect rent from April to December 2014 "coincided with respondent withdrawing significant amounts of cash from his trust account on an almost monthly basis." On Jan. 8, 2015, TD Bank informed the office that Clausen's trust account was overdrawn by $67.10. The audit allegedly revealed the overdraft was caused when Clausen deposited $250 from a case on Jan. 6 and, on the same day, withdrew $250 for fees. During the April 23 audit, which Clausen was present for, he stated he had never filed for bankruptcy, however, records showed he had done so on Feb. 3, 2015, according to the complaint. Records showed he owed more than $500,000 to creditors. The bankruptcy had been dismissed by the court on April 17 because Clausen had failed to make payments to the trustee and failed to resolve trustee and creditor objections. Also during the April 23 audit, Clausen denied taking cash withdrawals from his trust account, but bank statements showed "multiple instances during the audit period of respondent taking $100 cash withdrawals directly from his trust account," it was stated. On Aug. 6, during a continuation of the audit, Clausen reportedly said he took cash from the trust account because his business account had been frequently overdrawn during the audit period. He said he did this to avoid bank overdraft fees charged to his attorney account, according to the complaint. Clausen also "unequivocally denied having large debts or that he was trying to hide money from anybody. He also stated that there were no liens or garnishments against his business account." According to the complaint, Clausen failed to list of all of his creditors when he filed for bankruptcy, specifically two personal loans totaling approximately $216,800 given to him in 2011 and 2012. During the audit, he stated he only filed the bankruptcy petition to stop a Hunterdon County Sheriff's sale of his residence. "The purpose of the bankruptcy code is to afford the honest but unfortunate debtor a fresh start, not to shield those who abuse the bankruptcy process in order to avoid paying their debts," it was stated in the complaint. "Moreover, debtors are not allowed to pick and choose the debts and creditors that they list in bankruptcy." Craig Turpin may be reached at cturpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NJeditor. Find NJ.com on Facebook. FLEMINGTON - A Scotch Plains police officer arrested in August after leaving the scene of an accident has been indicted by a Grand Jury on a charge of third-degree eluding, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office announced. Stephanie Roggina, 26, of Flemington, who joined the Scotch Plains Police Department in Union County in June, was indicted by a Hunterdon County Grand Jury on Thursday, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns, III, said. She remains suspended without pay from the department. "Ms. Roggina was stopped by the Readington Township Police Department on August 26, 2016, and subsequently arrested for eluding and driving while under the influence," Kearns said. "An arraignment date will be scheduled by the court." Roggina allegedly appeared intoxicated during the stop, it was previously reported. She was also charged with driving while intoxicated and issued motor-vehicle summonses for reckless driving, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, leaving the scene of a crash and obstructing the passage of other vehicles. She is still facing additional hearings on all of those charges. Roggina, a 2008 graduate of Hunterdon Central Regional High School, earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Kean University in 2012. According to her LinkedIn page, she worked as a security officer at the university from 2012-2015, becoming an officer in the university's police department for just over a year before being appointed to the Scotch Plains Police Department on June 10. Craig Turpin may be reached at cturpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NJeditor. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEW BRUNSWICK -- A jury on Friday found an Old Bridge man guilty of aggravated manslaughter instead of murder in connection with the stabbing death of a Sayreville man he met on a dating site. After two and a half days of jury deliberations in Superior Court in Middlesex County, Robert McGranahan was convicted of the lesser charges of aggravated manslaughter, instead of murder, and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose in the March 2013 death of Edward Demko Jr. Authorities said McGranahan, then 26, met Demko, 65, on a dating site, went to Demko's Sayreville townhouse and had a sexual encounter with him. After the encounter, McGranahan stabbed Demko to death, authorities said. Demko suffered nearly two dozen injuries from the attack, including stab wounds to his back and chest, authorities said. McGranahan sustained a wound above his eye and scratches on his back. McGranahan's attorney, Michael Policastro, argued his client was acting in self-defense. But Assistant Prosecutor R. Scott LaMountain said it's clear who the attacker was. "The only person with injuries from an altercation in this case is the guy who is dead on the floor," LaMountain said during his closing arguments on Tuesday. On Friday, before the jury shuffled into the courtroom, McGranahan read passages from the Bible. The victim's family held each other tight. After the jury forewoman read the verdict, McGranahan took his glasses off and placed his head in his hands. He broke his silence only to thank Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves as the judge exited the courtroom. Demko's family members said outside the courtroom that the verdict means justice was served for their brother. "He can rest in peace now," said Demko's sister, Diane DiGangi. Policastro, McGranahan's attorney, commended the prosecutors in the case, and said he believes Judge Nieves gave a "very fair trial." "I respect any time 12 people from the community unanimously agree on anything," he said. "It could have been hung, but it wasn't. So I respect that." McGranahan, who faces 30 years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6, 2017. Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEW BRUNSWICK -- Two men were sentenced on Friday to lengthy state prison sentences in connection with the fatal 2013 shooting of a Maryland man who was killed while visiting relatives in Carteret. Daniel Gillens, 24, of Newark, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and Hakeem Mercer, 30, of Carteret, was sentenced to 10 years, for their roles in the homicide of Deonte J. Shackleford, 26, of Baltimore, on April 5, 2013, according to a statement from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. In accordance with the No Early Release Act, Superior Court Judge Michael Toto, who presided over the sentencings, ruled the two men must serve at least 85 percent of their terms before being eligible for parole. Gillens and Mercer both pleaded guilty in May after their attorneys reached plea agreements with Middlesex County assistant prosecutors Allysa Gambarella and Akesha Williams. Gillens pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated manslaughter and Mercer "admitted he conspired to commit an aggravated assault upon the victim," the statement said. While on patrol, authorities heard gunshots fired in the Chrome section of Carteret, the statement said. After arriving to the intersection of Pershing Avenue and Union Street, police found Shackleford on the sidewalk. He was later pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Rahway. Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook. ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS -- The owner of a building in Atlantic Highlands was given a choice -- cover up some murals painted on sealed windows on her building or face up to a $2,000 fine. Teresa D'Aguanno wasn't interested in handing over that much money to the borough so now the window mural is covered by cardboard, according to News 12 New Jersey. The borough's sign ordinance prohibits windows from being painted over, the report said. The Atlantic Highlands Art Council created the murals. Other building owners had also expressed interest in sprucing up their windows but will now wait. The borough council said it will consider revising the ordinance. The ordinance on says signs can "advertise only the name of the occupant of the building, office or store... the business conducted or products sold therein, and does not cover more than 30% of the area of such window." Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. MIDDLETOWN -- A pedestrian was hit by a van and injured on a highway in Middletown, authorities said Friday. The crash occurred on Route 36 and Seventh Street at 9:10 p.m. on Thursday as the van was traveling east on the highway, said Lt. Paul Bailey, spokesman for the Middletown Police Department. Bailey, who did not have details about the crash, did not immediately know the gender of the victim and said authorities are not releasing the pedestrian's identity at this time. A New Jersey State Police helicopter airlifted the victim to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, Bailey said. He said the van's driver stopped at remained at the scene. The investigation is continuing, he said. MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Bridgegate hearing Bill Baroni could be on the witness stand as early as Monday, as his defense team began putting on a series of witnesses in support of the former Port Authority executive. (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) NEWARK -- Bill Baroni, who has yet to tell his story about the Bridgate scandal, is expected to take the witness stand on Monday to testify in his own defense. After four weeks of testimony by prosecution witnesses in the federal trial involving a scheme of political retribution, the one-time Port Authority executive will have his turn to explain what happened in September 2013 when several toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge were shut down to local traffic from Fort Lee, causing massive gridlock in the borough. Prosecutors charge that Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Chris Christie Kelly, helped orchestrate the lane closures to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich after he declined to endorse the governor for re-election. The admitted mastermind of the scheme, David Wildstein, another Christie insider who held a $150,000 patronage job at the Port Authority, has already pleaded guilty in the case and testified for eight days against Baroni and Kelly. The prosecution rested its case Thursday after showing the jury a nearly two-hour video of Baroni's November 2013 testimony before a state legislative committee, when he claimed the lane shutdowns were part of a legitimate traffic study. Wildstein testified earlier in the the trial that he cooked up the bogus cover story about the traffic study. Baroni's defense team so far has put up only a few witnesses, including a series of character witnesses on Friday morning. Charles McKenna, the governor's former chief counsel, who was tasked to fire Baroni as questions about Bridgegate began to grow, testified he had been under the impression that the problems at the George Washington Bridge were in fact part of an authorized traffic study, and did not ask further questions. "It was Port Authority business," he said. Pressed by defense attorney Michael Critchley, who represents Kelly, McKenna repeatedly said he had little recollection of the back-scenes discussions in the governor's office over Bridgegate as the scandal over the lane closures grew. Critchley asked him specifically about January 8, 2014, after the email from Kelly to Wildstein that said "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" first surfaced. "That was the day Bridget Kelly became a human pinata," Critchley declared. Prosecutors objected. Critchley, citing testimony by Wildstein that Christie was told about the lane closures while they were still ongoing, suggested that those around the governor were fearful that any disclosures by Kelly would be damaging to Christie's political campaign. Prosecutors, meanwhile, returned to Baroni's testimony before the legislature, and McKenna's role in helping prepare him for his appearance. "Did you advise Mr. Baroni to lie during his testimony?" asked assistant U.S. attorney David Feder about the testimony before the legislative committee in November 2013, two months after the lane closures. "No," McKenna replied. In an abbreviated court session Friday before U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark, attorneys for Baroni also put on three character witnesses. Among them were a former political running mate, a friend and a woman who attended a weight loss clinic with him. The defense also entered a final motion seeking an acquittal because of a lack of evidence. The judge did not immediately rule. Trial resumes on Monday with possibly one more witness, before Baroni takes the stand. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook. mckenna2.JPG Charles McKenna, the governor's former chief counsel, was the first witness for the defense in the Bridgegate trial, testifying that the September 2013 lane closures at the George Washington Bridge were not on anybody's radar in the weeks after the story broke. (Martin Griff | Trenton Times file photo) NEWARK--Their voices have yet to be heard. But Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, now on trial in the Bridgegate scandal, could both be on the stand as early as next week as their attorneys began their defense of the two former Christie administration insiders charged with shutting down lanes at the world's busiest bridge in an alleged scheme of political retribution. Prosecutors rested their case Thursday after showing the jury a video of Baroni's November 2013 testimony in which he misled a state legislative committee on the lane closures, claiming they were part of a planned traffic study. A final prosecution witness, FBI special agent Michelle Pickels, testified that a search of Kelly's private email account found several incriminating emails that had been sent to David Wildstein, the architect of the lane closure scheme, were missing. The implication was the emails--which they had already obtained from Wildstein's account--had been deleted from her account. The missing emails included the now infamous August 2013 message from Kelly to Wildstein that said: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Pickels said she could not tell when they were removed, or why. Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly, who had been a top aide to Gov. Chris Christie, are charged with orchestrating a series of unannounced lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 to create massive traffic tie-ups in Fort Lee, after the borough's mayor declined to endorse the governor for re-election. Christie has denied any involvement in the scheme. Wildstein, the admitted mastermind of the scheme, has already pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing. The first witness for the defense Thursday afternoon was Charles McKenna, former chief counsel to the governor, who was tasked to fire Wildstein and Baroni in December 2013 as the extent of the scandal began to come to light. McKenna, however, maintained he did not know about any political retribution plot until the email from Kelly surfaced in January of 2014. McKenna said he never discussed the lane closures with the governor while the scandal was brewing. McKenna said he had no reason to disbelieve that the lane shutdowns at the George Washington Bridge were anything other than a traffic study, and had reviewed the points Baroni planned to make before the legislative committee a month earlier regarding that supposed study. He said Baroni had the facts and figures to back up the issues he planned to raise in his legislative testimony. McKenna said the lane closures were never considered a big issue. "I believed it was a traffic study. There was nothing nefarious about a traffic study," he said. Questioned about concerns raised publicly by Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority who believed the lane shutdowns had been an "abusive decision" and possibly illegal, McKenna said he thought it was grandstanding by the official from New York. The bi-state agency operated by New York and New Jersey has been likened by one witness to the ongoing gang warfare between the Sharks and the Jets of West Side Story. McKenna noted that even though Foye had made some serious allegations, he did not start an investigation or go to federal prosecutors. He just went to the newspapers, he added. "I was under the impression this was a traffic study. A traffic study that didn't go well, but a traffic study nonetheless," he said. Trial continues Friday before U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook. TRENTON -- A Union County man holds the dubious distinction of possessing the largest cache of child pornography ever found by state investigators, according to the head of the New Jersey State Police. Charles Diggs, 36, was indicted by a state grand jury Thursday after authorities allegedly found him sharing at least a dozen images of child rape on Twitter. When investigators from the state Internet Crimes Against Children task force tracked the Twitter account to Diggs, they obtained a search warrant and seized his computers, authorities said. He was arrested in September and a forensic review of his electronic devices found more than 325,000 images and videos of child pornography, according to the state Attorney General's Office. State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said the volume of illicit material was "a record that has helped damage countless children." Diggs' arrest comes weeks after the conclusion of Operation Statewide, a sweeping investigation that led to 40 arrests in every corner of New Jersey earlier this year. Elie Honig, the director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, said Friday that the latest case shows "offenders are finding new ways to distribute child pornography, such as Twitter, and they are amassing huge collections of this filth." Diggs faces charges of second-degree distribution of child pornography and third-degree possession of more than 100 files of child pornography. An appearance in Superior Court in Union County has not yet been scheduled. Diggs could not be reached and it was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney. He is currently free on $125,000 bail. S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- Nearly four weeks of testimony in the George Washington Bridge lane closure trial produced some surprising revelations about the scandal. One after another, witnesses pulled back the curtain on how the scandal unfolded and the inner workings of Gov. Chris Christie's administration. On trial in the scandal are Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, who had been a top aide to Christie. The two are charged with orchestrating a series of unannounced lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 to deliberately create massive traffic tie-ups in Fort Lee, as political retribution after the borough's mayor declined to endorse the governor for re-election. Here are seven times witnesses under oath admitted or conceded they either lied or were not completely honest about circumstances surrounding the Bridgegate scandal. 1. Pat Foye: "Immaterial" Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority and an appointee of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, had ordered the lanes reopened on the morning of Sept. 15, 2013, the fifth day of the lane closures. He testified he gave the order because he was mystified by the closures and suspected foul play was involved. However, despite his concerns, Foye released a statement to the press the same day that claimed "the Port Authority has conducted a week of study" at the bridge and the agency would "review those results and determine the best traffic patterns at the GWB." Foye had approved the statement, which was sent to him by Baroni. "And you knew that was false, according to you?" Michael Critchley, defense attorney for Bridget Kelly, asked, referring to the traffic study. Foye responded: "I didn't believe it was true, yes." Later, when defense attorneys questioned Foye, the public official called the revelation "immaterial." 2. Mark Sokolich's phony op-ed In November 2013, two months after the traffic jams that the Fort Lee mayor said ground his town to a complete halt, Mark Sokolich had an op-ed published in The Star-Ledger, challenging a news story the paper had published. The mayor had been consistently asked for weeks by reporters about what he believed the motive was for the lane closures. In the op-ed, he wrote that he did not believe the access lanes to the bridge were closed as result of punishment for refusing to endorse Christie's re-election bid. "This is simply not true, Sokolich wrote. "I have consistently and without deviation stated on the record that in no way do I believe that these lane closures are a result of my refusal to support the governor," Sokolich wrote. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. However, the mayor testified in court week that during the time of the lane closures he believed the gridlock to be "punitive." Critchley latched on. "A little inconsistent?" he asked Sokolich. "It is," the mayor responded. "One's the truth and one's false?" Critchley pressed. "One's the truth, one's a lie?" Sokolich: "That's correct." The mayor said he lied in the op-ed. Later, when given a chance to tell the court why he penned the false letter, Sokolich told jurors he wrote the letter because he was scared of further retribution. 3. Wildstein's 'degree' Much of Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly's defense signaled they planned to undermine the character of prosecutors' star witness: David Wildstein. One way they attempted to do so, besides Baroni's lawyer describing Wildstein's co-workers who referred to him as in vulgar terms was to show that he lies. In his application to work at the Port Authority, Wildstein, who plead guilty to federal charges last year in connection to the case, indicated he had a degree from George Washington University. Former Port Authority executive David Wildstein. From defense attorney Michael Baldasarre: "So let's talk about David Wildstein's double life at the Port Authority. Shocking as it may seem, the evidence is going to show his entry in the Port Authority started on a lie. His job application says: 'I have a degree from George Washington University.' He doesn't. That simple. He doesn't." 4. Wildstein to P.A. officials: "It was a a traffic study" Wildstein testified he helped secure endorsements for Christie's 2013 re-election bid from various Port Authority police unions, but Critchley said had overstated his role. The defense attorney painted a picture of someone who routinely engaged in deceit most of his life, including the lies told to Port Authority senior managers when Wildstein was first planning the unauthorized lane shutdowns designed to send massive traffic backups into Fort Lee. In Wildstein's direct testimony, he admitted telling Robert Durando, the general manager of the George Washington Bridge, that the lane closures were part of a traffic study. "It was not a true statement," Wildstein acknowledged "It was a lie," insisted Critchley. 5. Port Authority's "internal review" When press inquiries about the closures continued, the Port Authority decided it needed a way to handle questions, so the agency launched an investigation. "Now you have to come up with another strategy to deal with the media because they're still asking questions and there's only so many false statments you could put out, correct?" Critchely pressed Foye during cross-examination. Foye disagreed with the assertion, but both men agreed as to what happened next: The Port Authority conducted an internal review. Port Authority Executive Director Patrick J. Foye. "Now when the newspapers are asking questions, ... you could say, 'It's under internal review, right?'" Critchley asked. "That statement was made, yes, sir," Foye responded. Except, the review consisted of interviewing only three people -- not including David Wildstein, who Foye testified he thought was the "culprit" of the lane closures -- and then stopped after a few weeks. But Foye and Port Authority officials continued to tell reporters a month after the internal review ended that they couldn't comment on the closures because of the review. "It was just a gimmick to say to the press," Critchley asserted. Foye disagreed with the wording. But he also conceded that he was still telling the press a review was ongoing even after it ended. 6. Police department's bogus statement Shortly after the lant closures, Wildstein said he needed to put an end to the questions and prove to people outside of the Port Authority that the lane closures were legitimate. He turned to the Port Authority Police Department. The department's Patrolman's Benevolent Association, led by Paul Nunziato, went along with Wildstein's request and agreed to issue a false statement saying the union had requested a traffic study. "Why issue the statement then if you didn't agree with it?" a defense attorney pressed the top union cop. Officer Paul Nunziato, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association. "Mr. Wildstein asked for the statement," Nunziato responded. "I was trying to protect my members. I didn't want to get on the wrong side of Mr. Wildstein and Mr. Baroni." 7. Baroni pressures police: "He's full of [expletive]!" As it became clear that questions surrounding the closures and the motives behind them weren't going away, New Jersey Assembly lawmakers convened a hearing on on the matter. They asked Baroni to come and speak. Prior to heading to Trenton, Baroni told Nunziato and his second in command, Michael DeFilippis, he planned to tell legislators that their department requested the study, citing traffic safety concerns for their officers. But Nunziato testified that none of his officers had complained about safety issues and he knew he was being asked to be complicit in a lie. "Leave (DeFilippis) and me the [expletive] out of it," Nunziato recalled telling Baroni. Later, Baroni named the two men during his testimony. DeFilippis later testified that while watching a live video of Baroni's statements to lawmakers, he decried "he's full of [expletive]!" Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Given the choice, parents in Newark are enrolling their children in charter schools by overwhelming margins. The reason is simple: Students in the charters, even the poorest kids, are doing much better than those in traditional schools. The most respected national study on charter schools, from Stanford University, found that Newark's charters are among the best in the country. The expansion of these schools is one the great success stories in New Jersey over the last decade. At the two best chains, North Star and TEAM, nearly all graduates go on to college. Over the last decade, as they have expanded, the chances that a Newark student is enrolled in a good school that beats the state average on test scores has tripled. So why is Phil Murphy, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, ready to tap the brakes on this success story? Murphy is a board member of the NAACP, the sclerotic civil rights organization, which is considering a resolution on Saturday to freeze the expansion of charter schools nationwide. As of Thursday evening, Murphy would not say where he stands on it. That's not the first bad sign. Murphy said earlier this year that local school boards should be granted more power to block the establishment of new charter schools. That's like giving General Motors the power to block Chrysler from building a new plant. In most school districts it would be tantamount to a moratorium. Why would Murphy be hostile to charter schools? With the NAACP waging political war on the charter movement, why is he AWOL? The most charitable explanation is that he is searching for common ground in the charter wars, and wants to establish himself as a neutral arbiter. It could be that he doesn't know the issue well, a sign that his lack of political experience comes with a cost. But there is a darker possibility. Murphy could be selling out to the state's largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, which recently endorsed him. The NJEA is hands-down the most powerful special interest group in the state, always in the top ranks in lobbying and campaign spending. And it has done all it can to kneecap the charter school movement, which relies mostly on non-union labor. Murphy filled out a questionnaire to get the union's endorsement. But he will not release his answers, bowing to the confidentiality request of the union. That is a rookie mistake. The union is not his master, and he is free to discuss his views on charter schools, with or without union permission. His refusal to do so says, in effect, that the union has a right to know his views but the public does not. The Democratic Party's alliance with the teachers union is poisonous, and undercuts the party's claim to represent the interests of the poor and disadvantaged. The union fights to protect bad teachers by opposing strong tenure reform; it opposes testing that can expose the rampant failure in urban schools; and it opposes the growth of charter schools, even when they are proving successful and popular. Many Democrats, including President Obama, have shown real courage by breaking with the union on each of these issues. So the question is whether Murphy stands with orthodox liberals like the unions and the NAACP -- or with the party's more progressive voices on education, like Obama. Stay tuned. In Newark, most charter schools expand by one grade per year, as the oldest class moves up the ladder. To block that expansion would force these kids back into the conventional district schools, from which they fled. Who wants to break that news to the family? This is not a close call. Charters are not magic; they sometimes fail. But New Jersey has been managing this expansion well, closing down those that are failing, and ensuring that charters in Newark and Camden take their fair share of at-risk kids. Murphy needs to make it clear that he won't derail this success. More: Tom Moran columns Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. sheneman_choo_choo.jpg What does one get for their fare on a NJ Transit train? Well, there's the seat (assuming one is available), the company of your fellow commuters and a decent, but not great, chance you'll make it to your destination without derailing or plowing headlong into the station. The word "decent" in the last sentence may seem slightly alarming to some of you when used in reference to avoiding a large scale rail disaster. That's good. You're paying attention. The reason your chances of arriving unscathed are only "decent" is because NJ Transit's rail system, the third largest in all the land, is dangerously antiquated. I know what you're saying to yourself, "How can that be? Millions of people ride those trains every year! The government should do something about this!" Good news and bad news: The good news is the government did do something about it. The federal government mandated new technology called Positive Train Control be installed in all transit trains. PTC is designed to avoid human error in crashes like the one in Hoboken that took the life of a young mother. The bad news is this is New Jersey, and Chris Christie is our governor. So take a wild guess how much PTC has actually been installed? During his administration, Christie has failed to address New Jersey's rapidly aging fleet of commuter trains. The governor has the delightful habit of raiding NJ Transit funds to pay for other stuff and he's appointed a variety of cronies to the NJ Transit board so there's no outside pressure for him to do a damn thing. Enjoy your commute. Follow NJ.com Opinion on Twitter@NJ_Opinion. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Hillary Clinton Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (AP Photo) Eight years ago, Americans made history by electing our nation's first African-American president, Barack Obama. Let's make history again by next month electing the first woman to the highest office in our land. Former Secretary of State, former U.S. Sen. and former first lady Hillary Clinton deserves our ballots not simply because her election will make history. She deserves our ballots because she will bring to the Oval Office unparalleled experience and proven empathy for people of all walks of life. She will bring a vision for the future that is empowering for the vast majority of Americans. And she will bring the strength to see that vision through to reality. America got its first view of Clinton as a woman of bold action in 1993 when, as first lady, she tackled one of the most daunting issues we face: how to ensure affordable health care in an industry beset by greed. While that original reform plan was defeated, it laid the groundwork for the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, which has resulted in millions of Americans finally being able to take care of their most precious asset - their health. In the years since, we have watched Clinton face one uphill battle after another and come away unbowed. She has had many successes to tout, has worked on local and global stages, has acknowledged and learned from her mistakes and has consistently met adversity with dignity. We stand with her on so many issues -- gun control, immigration, raising taxes on the wealthy, equal rights, clean energy, and more - and we trust her to nominate justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who will abide by the spirit of the U.S. Constitution and ensure it is applied to all of us. We in Hudson County are particularly drawn to her politics of inclusion. As she remarked in the second presidential debate: "I want to send a message -- we all should -- to every boy and girl and, indeed, to the entire world that America already is great, but we are great because we are good, and we will respect one another, and we will work with one another, and we will celebrate our diversity. "These are very important values to me because this is the America that I know and love. And I can pledge to you tonight that this is the America that I will serve if I'm so fortunate enough to become your president." As the Democratic nominee, Clinton is facing Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 contest, the run-up to which has been the most dejecting and demeaning national campaign in memory. Rather than watching a spirited debate of how best to better our lives, our country and our world, we have been forced to watch a sideshow of staggering ignorance, anger and ugliness that emanates from Trump and his followers. Those qualities cannot make their way to the White House. Indeed, as a historic home to immigrants, Hudson County's well-being is directly threatened by Trump. The wall Trump says he'd build along America's southern border is a stunt, not the comprehensive, meaningful immigration reform that our country needs. Further, his innuendoes and hate-filled attacks on countries so many of us hail from slander our native cultures. Trump's lies have directly touched Hudson County. By repeating and embellishing the absurd urban legend that Muslims in Jersey City celebrated the fall of the World Trade Center on 9/11, he has denigrated our community and defamed our love for our country. His ill-considered policies jeopardize our safety and our jobs. His pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act undermines the stability of health care and of Hudson County's largest private employers, our six acute-care hospitals. Trump's darkness grossly overlooks the optimism and exciting growth in our midst. For Trump, urban America is a dingy, dysfunctional hell. We in Hudson are clear-eyed about our challenges -- but also about the opportunities we see taking root around us, as a new generation of pioneers looks to leverage the investments made in urban infrastructure. His verbal and, now a number of women charge, physical assaults on women are inexcusable. Trump is the wrong choice for America. But he is particularly the wrong choice for Hudson County, a place where people of many cultures and many languages find hope, promise and new beginnings. Clinton's assertion that Americans are "stronger together" speaks to the cooperative, hopeful soul that has moved Hudson for more than a century. Yes, Clinton is not perfect. No candidate ever is. And, yes, we urge her to make transparency a hallmark of her administration. To do otherwise would be a bitter disappointment. She is, however, the best candidate for the job and one we trust will make history - for all the right reasons - beyond Inauguration Day. The Jersey Journal urges you to cast your ballot on Election Day for Hillary Clinton. Everyone agrees that $4 billion in private investment is a great thing, especially if it helps create 43,000 jobs (directly and locally), generates revenue that will help seniors and people with disabilities, and turbocharges the revitalization of Atlantic City. That's what the proponents of casino expansion say can happen next month if voters approve the constitutional amendment on the ballot, which calls for two more gambling facilities in North Jersey. So what's not to like? Drill deeper, and it's not hard to find out. A prime objective is to help Atlantic City transition to a broader tourist economy by diverting an unspecified share of the revenue generated up north, but the 73-word initiative is so vaguely drawn it's hard to know how quickly that transition will come. The amendment makes no mention of the tax rate imposed on the new casinos, and Assemblyman Chris Brown (R-Atlantic) accuses legislative leaders of giving developers too much of a voice in that decision: "If this isn't the tail wagging the dog," he says, "I don't know what is." It also doesn't specify casino locations, and how much the state must contribute for infrastructure. Even though it is widely assumed developers Paul Fireman and Jeff Gural would build in Jersey City and the Meadowlands, they are essentially given free reign and a blank canvas. And consider: Atlantic City's gaming future already appears dismal, so adding casinos in Bergen and Hudson Counties could cannibalize the market, unless it expedites AC's non-gambling development, job placement programs, and infrastructure improvements. For these reasons, we encourage voters to vote no on Public Question No. 1 on Nov. 8. That's already how it's been trending: A Rutgers poll from Sept. 10 has 58 percent opposing casino expansion and only 35 percent approving; a Stockton poll from Sept. 21 has 68 percent opposed. The Fireman-Gural group, known as OUR Turn NJ, has already suspended its ad campaign. But we also encourage lawmakers and developers to take another crack at it - preferably before the ban on New York City casinos ends in 2020 - because this might be the last chance New Jersey has to keep its disposable income from flowing into neighboring economies. They can start by heeding the lesson from previous initiatives. In 1974, there was a referendum to establish casinos in unnamed places with proceeds going to state treasury, and it was defeated in a 60-40 rout. Two years later, a referendum specified casinos in Atlantic City - with revenue going towards reducing property taxes and paying utility costs for seniors and the disabled - and it passed easily (56-43). The next referendum must erase hypotheticals, specify the sites where they'll plant the shovels, and explain the tax structure. That way, it can't be beaten to death by New York-based opposition groups such as Trenton's Bad Bet, which spent $11.3 million warning us that casinos and traffic will soon clog our backyards. That doubt has come to dominate the referendum debate. Polling released by OUR Turn NJ showed that only 19 percent of New Jerseyans believe the state is headed in the right direction, that only 10 percent believe that the state can deliver on the estimated $500 million in annual revenue from the new casinos, and 50 percent think that revenue would be filched by politicians "for their own priorities." Cynical bunch, New Jerseyans. The Legislature tried to clarify it last month by proposing Assembly Continuing Resolution 206, which Gov. Christie supports. It states that casinos would be located near "appropriate infrastructure" that would minimize "impacts on residents," and that a panel would provide input on selecting the license-holders. But the ACR still doesn't specify the tax rate, or how much revenue would flow to Atlantic City. And it may be too late to erase electoral doubt. Voters aren't stupid. Until shown otherwise, they believe that Trenton can't deliver a sound strategy to reshape the gaming tableau, and their skepticism is justified. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. whitman.JPG Christine Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey governor and Environmental Protection Agency administrator (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media) Voter wants better Dem choices As an interested Democratic voter in New Jersey, I was looking forward to a reasonably open gubernatorial primary season. There was to be a wide field of candidates, a few of whom might even be qualified. It could have been up to the voters to choose a candidate based on their records and positions. Now it seems that the party bosses have decided who the candidate will be, long before the rest of the pack even has a chance to file their intentions. What are Phil Murphy's qualifications? To me he is an unknown. The only qualification I can see is that, like Jon Corzine, he is a rich banker who can self-fund his campaign. Let's hope that New Jersey is not again governed in the interests of Wall Street rather than of the residents of the state. Gerard D Cannie, South Amboy Bramnick not wanted as governor On Friday, Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union) turned his back on the voters of his legislative district and the taxpayers of New Jersey by voting yes on the vote to pass the 23-cents-a-gallon tax hike on gasoline. Does he really believe voters in New Jersey will forget his vote should he run for governor? His Assembly district mate, Nancy Munoz, simply did not cast a vote and his Senate district mate, Tom Kean, voted against the gas tax. In a Sept. 1 article, Jon Bramnick was quoted as saying, "I haven't ruled out a run for governor next year." As a result of his gas tax vote, he shouldn't have to worry about presenting himself to the voters of New Jersey. As Republican, I am tired of the same old, same old candidates, who once they believe they have obtained a fancy title, that will spring board them into the governor's office. The Republican Party needs a new and fresh leadership with a solid record of accomplishment to show the electorate of New Jersey. The same old names or candidates will not capture the excitement of the voters of New Jersey. Wake up, Republicans, and nominate someone with new ideas to face the problems of New Jersey. Harry P. Pappas, Springfield Whitman's word doesn't mean much So former Gov. Christie Whitman thinks that a Clinton presidency promises more of Barack Obama's failed policies ("Whitman: Why I'm with Clinton," guest op-ed article, Oct. 8). That's rich, especially since less than a month ago, New Jersey Policy Perspective named Whitman directly as the cause of the first three of "N.J.'s seven biggest financial blunders" (news article, Sept 16). Dennis Gronan, Hillsborough By Brian Regal The Strongman wants to rule tough. He has no time for silly ideas such as cooperation, consensus or compassion. He works alone and keeps his own council. The Strongman sees the citizenry as useless, there to be exploited rather than defended or worked with. He wants them to stay hidden under their beds while he threatens and blusters to smash things and blow them up. The Strongman's only strategy is to use force, even if it means knocking your house down, to get what he wants. Ultimately, what he does most is disappoint. The Strongman will tell you how bad things are and that they are the only ones who can save you. Indeed, the Strongman will tell you whatever you want to hear. We are obsessed with the idea of a take-charge kind of guy (never a woman) who will come in, sweep all foolishness aside and fix everything. We might love the concept, but history shows us that the Strongman approach never works. In fact it always leads to disaster. A long line of dictators, demagogues, self-appointed moralists and holier-than-thou narcissists have told people the only way to be saved is to allow them to take over. Benito Mussolini, for example, told the Italian people he would make Italy great again, while Adolf Hitler said the same to Germans (his supporters even said God had ordained it). Joseph Stalin, whose name means "man of steel," Chairman Mao Zedong, "Papa Doc" Duvalier, Pol Pot and others nearly ran their countries into oblivion with their Strongman routine: and that's just the 20th century. History also shows that the most successful societies are the ones in which all participate to run things, rather than a lone Strongman. Despite the mythology, this country was built far less on lone heroes than on groups of people of all kinds working together to build communities, places of worship, social circles and civilization. In our own lives we've all had help from families, teachers, friends and even strangers. None of us really gets anywhere totally on our own or because some Strongman showed up at the right moment to save us when all hope was lost. Strongmen often turn themselves into dictators -- though not in the original meaning of the word. The original idea of a dictator comes from the Romans. In times of crisis, a capable man would be given power to deal with that moment. The senators and the military would follow the dictator's lead until the trouble passed. The dictator would then step back, give up his power, and everything went back to normal. That's not the way it works anymore. The problem is that sooner or later -- usually sooner -- the Strongman sees he can do anything he wants no matter what. Before Julius Caesar wound up on the wrong end of half a dozen daggers, his followers cheered his every move regardless of how outrageous. "Had he stabbed their mothers," Shakespeare wrote in his play about him, they would have loved Caesar no less. The people who will be most disappointed when the Strongman goes bad are his passionate supporters, not his detractors. When the Strongman fails to come through on his promises or simply ignores those promises once in power, his ardent followers will feel it the most keenly. Mussolini was removed by his own Fascist party -- then executed by partisans -- when he failed to deliver all he promised. We don't need a Strongman who says he will do everything for us, treating us like children. We need strong people: those brave enough to work together, get involved in society, help their neighbors and just do good. When looking for leaders don't look for a Strongman or Strongwoman, someone who promises the world. We must all participate in leading our nation forward in a positive way using rationality, compassion and intelligence, not force. Because, eventually, the Strongman always disappoints. Brian Regal is a fellow of the Kean University Center for History, Politics and Policy. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie on Friday signed a bill raising the gasoline tax 23 cents per gallon, the first tax hike in his 2,460 days in office and the state's first increase in the tax on gasoline since 1988. New Jersey drivers will no longer pay the second-lowest state gas taxes in the U.S., a rare exception in an otherwise high-tax state. The new, higher price will take effect Nov. 1, while corresponding sales, estate and income tax cuts will be phased in over years. The governor on Friday also lifted the executive order shutting down statewide nonessential construction projects. "Through this legislation, we are continuing our commitment to providing tax relief for working New Jerseyans of all income levels, senior citizens, military veterans and property owners, while ensuring solid, reliable, state-of-the-art roads, bridges and mass transit systems," Christie said in a statement. Christie, a Republican, struck the deal with Democratic leadership in the state Legislature after months of political wrangling that resulted in a statewide construction freeze idling more than 1,000 road, bridge and rail projects and taking crews off the job at the height of construction season. The Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for road, bridge and rail work across the state, ran out of money for new projects over the summer. The 23-cent gas tax hike, along with increases in diesel fuels and non-motor fuels, will produce $1.23 billion annually to finance an eight year, $16 billion transportation program. A referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot will ask voters to amend the state Constitution to dedicate the new revenue to transportation projects. Negotiations over that tax hike pitted Christie's demand for "tax fairness" and broad-based tax cuts against a bipartisan plan out of the Senate that that offered smaller, more targeted cuts that Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) deemed more affordable. The tax fight consumed Trenton in recent months, even killing a proposed referendum to constitutionally protect contributions to the public employee pension system destined for the fall ballot. The final product, signed into law Friday, eliminates the estate tax, raises the retirement income tax exclusion, increases the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor, creates a tax deduction for veterans, and rolls back the sales taxes three-eighths of a percentage point. Christie has praised the tax cuts as making New Jersey more affordable, though budget analysts questioned the soundness of giving up $1.4 billion a year while the state struggles to make ends meet and fully fund education and public worker pensions. Moody's Investors Service weighed in, saying the lost revenue, "equivalent to 2.9 percent of current revenues, will worsen the state's existing budget challenges." Though Sweeney agreed to the deal, his support took on a more matter-of-fact tone, pleased that it would bring an end to the shutdown and produce billions for a fraying infrastructure network, but aware of the coming budget crunch. "I wasn't crazy about the deal," Sweeney said Thursday. "We couldn't go 18 or 15 more months without the Transportation Trust Fund. We couldn't do it. Our roads are crumbling and our people are out of work." The slight reduction in the sales tax, from 7 percent to 6.625 percent over two years, and the elimination of the estate tax account for the biggest hit to the treasury, at $634 million and $522 million by 2021, respectively, according to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. Beginning on Jan. 1, New Jersey will no longer tax estates under $2 million. The tax will be eliminated entirely the following year. Conservative lawmakers have long objected to New Jersey's low estate tax threshold, which they argued drives residents and their wealth. Lawmakers from both parties made a similar argument against the retirement income tax as forcing retired workers to move away from their families in favor of lower taxes. Though dropping the estate tax will carve more than $500 million annually from the state budget, supporters hope retaining taxpayers will ultimately replace those lost revenues. In the years long march to a transportation deal, progressive groups condemned that tax cut as a giveaway to the state's wealthiest residents. At the same time, they successfully urged the Legislature to offset the impact of the higher gasoline tax for low-income workers with a bump in the Earned Income Tax Credit. The expansion, from 30 percent to 35 percent of the federal limit, will benefit about a half million New Jerseyans, three quarters of whom earn less than $20,000 a year. Sen. Steve Oroho (R-Sussex), a sponsor, called the tax package a "matter of economic necessity," that will also improve the state's tax landscape. "This is a plan that delivers tax fairness with a tax structure that is good for the economy and that provides savings for the working poor, for retirees who often live on fixed incomes, for veterans, and for parents, grandparents and small business owners who want to pass down their assets to their family," he said. But Republican senators opposed to the deal accused the governor and other lawmakers of ignoring the concerns of New Jersey drivers, who, according to AAA, will face about $170 in additional gasoline taxes each year. "The overtaxed people of New Jersey have demanded that we find another way to fund our transportation needs without taking more out of their pockets," said Sen. Kip Bateman (R-Somerset), who plans to introduce legislation repealing the increase. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump's accusation that Hillary Clinton "meets in secret with international banks" drew criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, which said such charges "historically have been used against Jews." Trump said Clinton was in the center of a "global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities." .@TeamTrump should avoid rhetoric&tropes that historically have been used ag. Jews & still spur #antisemitism. Lets keep hate out of cmpgn https://t.co/9LMnurQ3Xg Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 13, 2016 "@HillaryClinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich" her donors. - DJT Official Team Trump (@TeamTrump) October 13, 2016 Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to a request for comment. During his campaign, Trump defended a tweet showing Clinton and a Jewish star against a background of dollar bills, told Jewish Republicans that they wouldn't support him because he didn't want their money, and used as his campaign slogan "America First," the name of the World War II-era group that opposed fighting the Nazis and blamed the Jews for trying to push the U.S. into war. In addition, a Trump adviser retweeted an endorsement from an anti-Semitic group, drawing more criticism from the ADL. The Republican nominee's presidential campaign has been reeling since his performances in two debates, several accusations of sexual harassment, and the release of a video showing him describing women in vulgar language. Trump denied the allegations and blamed Clinton at a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday. "We've seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers," Trump said. The emails, which may have been obtained through Russian hacking, were released by WikiLeaks, whose founder Julian Assange has said he wants Clinton to lose. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Friday that they are "confident" that the Russian government has "directed" the hacking of emails from U.S. political organizations and others, and singled out WikiLeaks as one of the sites receiving the stolen documents. "These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process," the statement said. "We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities." Trump at one point appeared to have invited Russian hacking. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said at a news conference in Doral, Fla., during the Democratic National Convention. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." At the second presidential debate in St. Louis on Sunday, Clinton accused Russia of trying to influence the U.S. election and support Trump through its computer hacking. "WikiLeaks is part of that, as are other sites where the Russians hack information, we don't even know if it's accurate information, and then they put it out.," Clinton said. "And believe me, they're not doing it to get me elected. They're doing it to try to influence the election for Donald Trump." Trump refused to accept the U.S. government's findings. "She doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking," Trump said during the debate. "Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they're trying to tarnish me with Russia." Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook WASHINGTON -- New Jersey's congressional delegation on Friday urged the U.S. Transportation Department to provide NJ Transit with the $10 million it requested to help install an automatic speed control system. All 14 members signed the letter at the behest of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that oversees public transportation. NJ Transit has applied for a $10 million federal grant to help install positive train control, which was not in place when a commuter train crashed into Hoboken Terminal last month, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others. The train was traveling at twice the 10 mph speed in the terminal, the National Transportation Safety Board said. "As you know, PTC has the potential to save lives and reduce injuries by preventing rail crashes from occurring," the lawmakers wrote to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "Although we do not yet know the cause, the recent fatal rail crash at Hoboken Station is a stark reminder of the need to improve safety for the nation's transit riders." The grant would help pay for a system that would interact with Amtrak, which already has installed positive train control on all of the Northeast Corridor tracks it owns. It would go to buy, install and test equipment. Foxx, at New York's Penn Station for an update on the Gateway Tunnel project, said he had received NJ Transit's request. "I take it very seriously," Foxx said. "I believe in PTC. But we have a process. We'll take a look at it." NJ Transit reported no progress earlier this year on installing positive train control in advance of the Dec. 31, 2018 deadline. Menendez also has said that the state should contribute funds from its new Transportation Trust Fund, and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-9th Dist.) also called for state investment in positive train control. "The state needs to put some serious time, attention, and resources into New Jersey Transit rail operations," Pascrell said. Automatic speed control could automatically have slowed down the train. The absence of such a system contributed to a Mother's Day crash of an commuter train at the same Hoboken station in 2011, and was blamed in part for the 2015 fatal derailment of an Amtrak passenger train on a curve in Philadelphia. Installation of positive train control is among the National Transportation Safety Board's most wanted safety improvements. NJ Advance Media reporter Larry Higgs contributed to this report. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook Some prominent donors to the Republican National Committee plan to withhold their support for Donald Trump for the remainder of the presidential race, saying they've had it with his alienating rhetoric and are embarrassed by his comments about women, according to a report in the New York Times. The release a week ago of a surreptitiously recorded conversation between Trump and TV personality Billy Bush in 2005 - in which Trump boasted he could kiss or touch women as he pleased because of his celebrity - continues to dominate campaign headlines. Several women have since come forward to share allegations of unwanted sexual advances by the real estate mogul. Some donors with the deepest pockets also questioned the leadership of Reince Prebus, RNC chairman. William E. Oberndorf, a California investor who has given more than $3 million to Republicans since 2012, said, "The R.N.C. long ago should have cut ties with Donald Trump. "Reince should be fired and replaced with someone who has the competence and leadership skills to rebuild the R.N.C.," Oberndorf said. "At some point, you have to look in the mirror and recognize that you cannot possibly justify support for Trump to your children -- especially your daughters," said David Humphreys, a business executive from Missouri. He has contributed $2.5 million to Republican candidates from the 2012 campaign cycle through this spring. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey of likely voters Monday put Clinton ahead of Trump, 52 percent to 38 percent. A similar poll taken last month before the first presidential debate gave Clinton a 48 percent to 41 percent advantage. Some rank-and-file members of the RNC remain steadfast in their support for Trump, however, according to the report. "He is our candidate," Rosie Tripp, a Republican committeewoman from New Mexico, told other committee members in an email. "I am dismayed by our own Republicans who are bailing like rats off a ship. He who is without sin can cast the first stone. I am sure they are not as pure as the driven snow, either." Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. 5 take plea deals in Bunny Friend Park shooting case, 3 get at least 10 years in prison Residents of St. Roch and neighboring areas ask for more police presence, action WASHINGTON (AP) The House Jan. 6 committee plans to unveil "surprising" details at its next public hearing about the 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol. The session Thursday afternoon is likely to be the last public hearing before midterm elections next month. The panel is expected to include new evidence from the U.S. Secret Service about its actions with Donald Trump that day. Ahead of a report later this year, the panel is summing up its findings. The committee says Trump, after he lost the 2020 presidential election, launched an unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory. They say the result was the deadly mob siege of the Capitol. Welcome to nonleaguedaily.coms news provision, your go-to source for all non league updates, rumours, interviews, and much more besides. Founded by a team with a genuine passion for the world of non league football, nonleaguedaily.com understands exactly what supporters of the so-called lower leagues are looking for. You want the high-quality reporting, in-depth analysis, and match reporting that matches that is more commonly found in the journalism for the top flights, but with the focus firmly fixed on the national leagues. We understand that your passion, interest, and dedication is constant, and we believe you need a news service that matches that commitment with its own dedication and thoroughness so thats what you can expect from our site. The latest non league news, as and when it happens Conventionally, non league news has always travelled fairly slowly, especially when compared to the instantaneous, constant breaking news cycles found in the upper leagues. Tales are told on terraces, rumours passed between pub patrons and circled between supporters at the latest game, often forced to remain somewhat local initially before word eventually spreads to other locales. For us, this slow spread may be fairly organic in nature, but it simply isnt compatible with the modern football environment. Its also not conducive to the current fast-paced, always-available media landscape, nor the way that people tend to consume news nowadays. Thats why we have put together a non league news source that fans can turn to for the latest updates, as and when they happen, and as and when you want to read them. Non-league news now is the only acceptable speed at Betting.co.uk. We update our non-league football news coverage constantly, bringing you all the latest developments and seeking to spread the word as quickly and accurately as possible. So if youre wondering whats happening both with your local team and with the lower leagues as a whole, you can visit us for non league news now, and be confident the stories you find are completely up to date. News reported by passionate fans Our efforts to bring you the very best non league football news are undeniably a professional concern, and one that we take seriously. We are if youll excuse the uncharacteristic tooting of our own horns good at what we do, and we know that the efforts we make in this regard are one of the reasons our site has enjoyed such success thus far. However, everyone who writes for us also shares our readers enthusiasm for non league football. Were not just churning out content in the hopes of cashing in on a professional dream; were here because we want to be, and will always be dedicated and committed to non league football as an entity and thriving in the experience of being able to talk about our favourite subject whenever we can. We create non-league news now that is written by genuine fans and enthusiasts, for fans. We know what you want to know and what matters most to an ardent non league supporter, and we always ensure that focusing on these elements is our guiding principle as we seek to solidify our status as an online non league paper fans can always rely on. When compiling non league news, we think with the mind of a fan first and foremost. We cover the angles and stories that we find compelling and that we know our fellow non league enthusiasts also care about. News doesnt have to be dry and formulaic, in our opinion. When its written by people who are genuinely as fascinated by the stories they are reporting on as their readership will be, we believe news can be interesting, compelling, and even have a sense of personality and humour. News content written with passion and expertise We believe that thanks to our dedication, insightfulness, and commitment to our subject matter of non league today, we are offering the best of both worlds to those searching for an online non league paper. We give you the professional approach we feel is appropriate for news about one of the most intriguing aspects of UK football; an aspect that we genuinely feel does not receive the interest and plaudits that it should be generating. Nevertheless, we dont let that professionalism take over everything we do: we remain committed fans, nurturing our own personal interest in non league football and ensuring every word we compose is infused with a sense of passion and dedication that enhances the posts we create. Its therefore obvious that our non-league content today isnt ever going to be dry, basic, or put together by a tired staff writer who has never heard of any team below the Championship before they rush off to the pub for the evening. Our writers are genuine experts: were covering non league football because we want to, because we believe in it, and because its where our strengths lie. The result is informed content that capitalises on our deep knowledge of the history, as well as the present-day realities, of non league football in the UK. Beyond news: the nonleaguedaily.com interview series One of our goals with nonleaguedaily.com is to not just dryly report the news from an outsiders perspective, effectively regurgitating press releases that are devoid of genuinely illuminating information. We also go right to the source of the stories: the managers and club insiders who have direct experience, and often influence, on the sport and how it is managed. We regularly conduct interviews as part of our news provision, asking the questions that are on everyones lips and providing the best possible view into the non league world. We have reporters pitchside at matches, microphone to hand and plentiful questions ready to be asked. The end result for you, the reader, is the kind of information and close-up looks into the non league world that just cant be found anywhere else. As our commitment to providing interesting interviews amply demonstrates, we want to be involved in breaking the stories that everyone then talks about, rather than following along and focusing solely on what everyone already knows. If youre looking for leading content that you cant find anywhere else, and that goes right to the centre of the non league world, then you can turn to nonleaguedaily.com for all the benefits of a conventional non league paper, but in electronic, easily-accessed form. A host of other content to enjoy alongside the non league today Our focus on providing non league news will always be maintained: we consider this aspect the most important of what we do, and it will always be the recipient of our time, dedication, and interest. Well be here, a consistent and trustworthy news portal, for as long as non league football news exists. With that said, when you have read up on the latest goings-on, were here with further content for you to enjoy. Naturally, given our partnership with leading brand Betting.co.uk, we provide guidelines for those interested in the world of sports betting. Well help you find the best UK bookmaker with our plentiful coverage of existing brands; ideal if youre looking to put your newfound knowledge, courtesy of us, about non league to use and place a few bets. Furthermore, we also provide highlights of all the latest UK betting offers, so you can ensure youre achieving the best value with all the latest betting deals whenever youre betting on the latest non league matches. Youll find all of this coverage is as consistent and reliable as our non league news provision, Non league features and deep dives Returning to the world of non league football, we also provide a range of feature content that goes deeper and further into the non league world than ever before. Less instantaneously topical but still hugely relevant to the modern game, our features are the dream deep dives that we feel non league fans deserve. Were always striving to do better, offer more, and ensure that non league fans can enjoy the same wealth of content as followers of the top tiers, so you can expect top-flight content with the same commitment and dedication as found throughout the upper echelons of the sport. So whether youre looking to find the most recent non league football news, seeking a new bookmaker for your non league bets, or hoping to delve deep into a niche non league-related topic, nonleaguedaily.com is always going to be worth a visit. Return to nonleaguedaily.com for all your non league news needs Weve told you what you can expect from nonleaguedaily.coms news; now we need to put our confidence where our promises are, make sure we deliver on those promises, and establish trust as an online non league paper you can trust. We look forward to welcoming you back to our news section and showcasing the best we have to offer, from exciting new non league interviews to cutting-edge news to transfer speculation. If you want to truly have your finger on the non league pulse, then nonleaguedaily.com is always going to be here for you. Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. Dropouts from exchange push up rates of remaining insurers, but tax credits will grow OMAHA About 82,000 Nebraskans will pay more than expected for individual health insurance next year because Blue Cross wont offer policies on the Affordable Care Acts exchange. Extra increases averaging as much as 15 percentage points, on top of higher prices already set by the two remaining companies on the ACA exchange, will push the premium increase to an average of 55.3 percent for Medica Health and 40.5 percent for Aetna Health from their 2016 rates, according to a sampling of policies by the Nebraska Department of Insurance. Aetnas increases in the dozen health plans sampled by the state range from 16.9 percent to 65.9 percent. Medicas increases range from 40.6 percent to 73.3 percent. The size of each persons increase can vary widely from plan to plan and for different ages and locations in the state, and out-of-pocket costs would be partly offset by higher tax credits available to most of the people on the exchange. State Insurance Director Bruce Ramge said that the bigger increases are intended to help Medica and Aetna at least break even as they take over coverage for the 20,000 people covered by ACA exchange health plans this year from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska. Aetna and Medica cover about 45,500 people on the exchange this year. When the two companies calculated their 2017 premium rates last summer, UnitedHealth Group had already said it would end its exchange insurance, which covers about 16,500 people this year. Blue Cross was still expected to offer plans on the exchange for 2017 and most likely would have signed up some of UnitedHealths former clients, too. Based on those calculations, the state estimated 2017 premium increases averaging 39 percent for Medica and 30.5 percent for Aetna. But when Blue Cross announced Sept. 23 that it would not offer exchange plans in 2017 because of continuing losses with those policies, Ramges office asked Medica and Aetna to review their premiums. The result: bigger increases. For example, a Medica plan for a family of four with 35-year-old parents would increase from $1,116.70 to $1,651.72 per month. An Aetna plan for a 50-year-old with three children in Hastings would increase from $999.55 to $1,659.69 per month. A chart showing the states sample list is posted on Omaha.com. Aetna spokesman T.J. Crawford said Blue Cross departure raised the financial risks for the remaining insurers. Risk can shift very quickly based on changes in the competitive landscape, especially late changes, Crawford said. Aetna offers narrow plans on ACA exchanges, meaning they do not cover some medical providers but tend to be lower-priced. The big increases in individual rates contrast with group insurance rates, which have been fairly steady in recent years. The Kaiser Family Foundation said its survey of U.S. employers showed a 3 percent increase in health care costs this year compared with 2015. Blue Cross said most of its Nebraska customers, including group customers, will see increases between 10 and 25 percent for 2017, with some seeing bigger increases and some smaller. But the individual market is adjusting to changes and the first few years of the Affordable Care Act, which has attracted millions of previously uninsured people and changed many of the rules on who qualifies for insurance. Some states, including Nebraska, blocked expansion of Medicaid coverage for the poor and have taken other steps that undermined the Affordable Care Act. In states that embrace the law, the problems have been less serious, the costs lower and the choices broader. The exchange is an online marketplace where individuals can compare available health plans, sign up for coverage and qualify for income tax credits or other subsidies to reduce their out-of-pocket medical costs. Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the Affordable Care Act, said in a speech earlier this month that, on average, health plans on the exchange have been underpriced. Nobody knew what it would cost to cover sick people, he said, because people with pre-existing medical conditions were denied coverage. The Affordable Care Act ended that practice. But he said average rates nationally are still 18 percent below what the government had projected. As rates continue rising, he said, the law provides increased tax credits and, if rates go up too much, rebates. In Nebraska, the 2017 Aetna and Medica increases do not affect Medicare or other government-sponsored programs, the 2016 rates for people with Aetna and Medica coverage or people who have insurance through employer groups. Were in a very difficult situation right now with the rate increases the way they are, said Dannette Coleman, general manager of individual and family business for Medica. The company, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, has individual exchange and off-exchange customers in Nebraska this year for the first time. Any time you have a carrier who is exiting the market, that is certainly a sign of some problems that are going on in the market, Coleman said. Its not unique to Nebraska, and indicates that medical claims are outpacing premium revenue. She said Medica is losing money on the 7,000 people it covers in the state this year. But we do believe in the market. ... Were hoping that well start to see stabilization in the market. The 2017 pricing, based on the companys estimates of who will sign up for coverage and what their claims will be, is intended to result in a 1 or 2 percent profit margin during 2017, she said. The Affordable Care Acts open enrollment period for the exchanges is from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31. Its not certain where all the former Blue Cross and UnitedHealth customers will end up. Some will buy Medica or Aetna policies on the exchange. Some may drop coverage. Some may look for coverage outside the exchange, such as joining a spouses group plan. In addition, some employers may begin offering affordable group plans. Other individuals may come onto the exchange for the first time. Coleman said its important to remember that as the premium rates go up, the tax credits and other subsidies on the exchange also increase. That means the out-of-pocket increase for the customers may be substantially less than the amounts estimated by the State of Nebraska. The individual market is a very unstable market right now, Coleman said. The employer market is much more stable. Were going to have to really look at what are the things that could be done to stabilize the individual market. She said Medicas plans offer broad access and coverage for most doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. Coleman said raising rates is absolutely a slippery slope because it can discourage healthy people from buying coverage and result in higher average claims. Even so, she said, We are prepared to see a significant growth in our members. We just dont know how much. Ramge, the state insurance director, said Blue Cross abrupt announcement, which took place only hours before the deadline for companies to decide whether to sell health plans on the exchange, was just a unique situation. When the rates were originally filed earlier in the year, they (Aetna and Medica) didnt have a good understanding of the experience for 2016, Ramge said. By September they had better knowledge of what the claims experiences truly were looking like. If rates are too high and companies make too much profit, he said, the Affordable Care Act requires refunds at the end of the year. If theyre too low, claims during 2017 will eat into the companys financial reserves. Thats why so many companies have dropped out of the marketplace, because they dont want that to happen, Ramge said. They feel they have an obligation to maintain their financial integrity. Maintaining solvency of insurance companies also is a duty of the Insurance Department, he said. Ramge said Medica and Aetna have the financial capacity to absorb the former Blue Cross and UnitedHealth clients. Aetnas a very large company, and Medica is a very sizable regional carrier, he said. Were confident they have that capacity to absorb all of them. For the many Nebraskans concerned that outdated criminal justice laws are endangering public safety and ruining peoples lives, its heartening that Congress has indicated that it hopes to take up the issue during the coming weeks. But it remains unclear whether any legislation will make it to the presidents desk. Thats why the roughly 39,000 employers that call Nebraska home should consider voluntarily taking action themselves. Businesses have a powerful role to play in giving individuals with criminal records a second chance. The easiest step they can take is to ban the box. Right now, most employers require job seekers to check a box on an application if they have any criminal record. Too often, this can function as an automatic application denied for individuals who have any blemish in their past. Nationwide, some 650,000 incarcerated individuals rejoin society every year, and they desperately need jobs to help them transition back into society and to provide for themselves and their families. But the criminal record box often shuts them out of the job market before they can get a foot in the door. A 2009 study by Harvard and Princeton researchers showed individuals who checked the box reduced their chances of a callback by 50 percent, with blacks hurt twice as much as whites. Sure enough, unemployment among those with a criminal record remains staggeringly high: A third of men without jobs between the ages of 25 and 54 have a criminal record, The New York Times has reported. And the lack of employment is one of the key reasons why over two-thirds are re-arrested, over half are re-convicted and two out of five are re-incarcerated within three years of release. Ex-offender unemployment not only holds back individuals working to improve their lives, it also stifles our economy. A 2010 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated the annual lost economic value at between $57 billion and $65 billion. These are a few of the reasons why my employer, Koch Industries, officially banned the box on our job application last year, including for applicants in Nebraska. Now we delay the question until later in the hiring process. This allows us to consider a candidates past record in the context of their other life experiences. Companies big and small have made the same choice because it makes sense from a business perspective. With an estimated one in three adults in the U.S. having some sort of criminal record, its shortsighted for an employer to potentially eliminate one-third of the available applicant pool. We should seek the best talent period with or without a record. Over the years at Koch, individuals hired with a past record have been dedicated employees who have succeeded at the company. They are valuable contributors, and more importantly, they are on a path toward a productive and fulfilling life. We recognize that banning the box may not make sense for every business, which is why a government mandate isnt the solution. Each employer needs to make its own decision on this issue. If the roughly 39,000 employers in Nebraska voluntarily considered banning the box, the social and economic landscape could be defined by more opportunity and prosperity, especially for the least fortunate. Thousands of Nebraskans with criminal records try to rejoin society every year, and they want to contribute to their communities and improve their lives. Nebraska businesses can help them by breaking down barriers that stand in their way. No one should be judged forever based on what they did on their worst day and everyone deserves a second chance. Mark Holden is general counsel and senior vice president at Koch Industries. Theres no longer any need to venture into Chicago or Wisconsin to visit a specialty cheese shop filled with fancy, foreign, artisanal and other hard-to-find cheeses. Say Cheese! opened in Ross Plaza in Merrillville earlier this year. The gourmet cheese shop at 4701 81st Ave. in Merrillville also carries many accompaniments to cheese, including crackers, charcuterie, chorizo, pesto, pates, stuffed olives, high-end sausages and jams. It also has a lunch menu. "They offer several Italian panini sandwiches," said Gordy Gorseki, the wife of owner Lucas Pacukovski. "They are to die for. We needed a place like this for a long time." Gorseki and Pacukovski say it's arguably Northwest Indiana's first cheese shop with an exclusive focus on cheese. The Region does have gourmet grocers or specialty shops like Charcuterie, in Griffith; the Tasty Olive Company, in Highland; Produce Depot, in St. John; and Old World Market, in downtown Valparaiso. The last in that list says it has a "reputation as the best cheese shop this side of Chicago" but also is known for a wide array of other products such as fine wines, craft beers, imported pasta and cured meats. "Basically we wanted to bring Northwest Indiana something it didn't have," Gorseki said. "You don't have to go to Chicago or Indianapolis to find quality artisan cheeses." Fancy cheeses are becoming more widely available in Northwest Indiana. The Schererville Whole Foods that opened last year has 200 varieties of cheese and not to be outdone the recently renovated Strack & Van Til in Schererville has 300 different cheeses. Pacukovski said his shop carries few of the processed cheeses available in supermarkets, importing a wide array of cheese varieties from all over the world, including France, Denmark, Italy, Holland and Greece. "Our main goal is to show customers how to appreciate cheeses from different parts of the world," Pacukovski said. "We offer different tastes from different traditions. We have cheeses from 10 different countries and plan to bring more." Aged cheddars from England are a top seller, but Say Cheese! also carries pungent cheeses with strong flavors, including a pumpkin spice gouda, a horseradish cheddar and a stinky Limburger from Germany that's for the "brave of heart." Say Cheese! also has luxury items, including several cheeses with truffles. Pacukovski worked in the IT field in downtown Chicago before deciding it was time to start something on his own. "It comes from a love of cheese," he said. "I travel and always go to places to try interesting types of cheese. I like new, interesting, daring cheeses. With luck, a cheese shop is something people in this Region will appreciate." INDIANAPOLIS Gunfire has struck an Indianapolis police department district office, and officials said Friday that investigators believe whoever is behind this attack also shot at another city police district office this month. No one was injured in either shooting, the latest of which happened about 11 p.m. Thursday at the North District Headquarters. "This person is extremely violent," Chief Troy Riggs of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told reporters early Friday. "It's someone that we need to be vigilant in trying to capture quickly." During a news conference later Friday, Mayor Joe Hogsett, a former federal prosecutor, said those responsible for targeting the police will be arrested and held "fully accountable for these acts." "Your senseless violence does not represent this community. Your senseless violence does not represent any group of people or gang or social movement. Your senseless violence represents one thing and one thing only, the acts of a coward who doesn't deserve the honor of living in a city that is the home of the brave men and women of IMPD," Hogsett said. After the first shooting, Riggs had said it may have been in response to a recent crackdown on drugs that included arresting suspected drug dealers and taking more than $3 million in narcotics off the street. Department spokesman Sgt. Kendale Adams said Friday that remains a possible trigger, but with no one in custody related to the shootings it can't be stated definitively. "We're looking at a lot of different angles, and that's one we're looking at," he said. On Thursday night, police say officers inside the building heard shots and took cover before trying to find a suspect. Some windows and walls were damaged, and a vehicle in a parking lot was struck by gunfire. Witnesses reported hearing a vehicle speed away afterward. Police didn't immediately confirm how many shots were fired, but Riggs said at last one bullet entered the building. In a statement, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said that an initial investigation suggests the suspect or suspects who shot at the North District headquarters also was responsible for the shooting Oct. 4 at the Northwest District Headquarters. In the first shooting, which also is under investigation, the building's front was struck by at least a dozen bullets and at least two windows were damaged. Fighting the flow of illegal drugs into the Region just got a boost. LaPorte and Marion counties have been added to the Lake County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The HIDTA designation from the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy will allow those two counties, along with existing members Lake and Porter counties, to access federal resources to combat drug operations and increase enforcement. Created by Congress in 1988, the HIDTA task force program serves as a catalyst for coordination among federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug trafficking regions of the United States. Law enforcement organizations working within HIDTAs assess drug-trafficking issues and design specific initiatives to decrease the production, transportation, distribution and chronic use of drugs and money laundering. LaPorte County Sheriff John Boyd called the inclusion of LaPorte County in the HIDTA task force huge. This was one of the most rigorous processes we ever went through, he said, adding they submitted their application, which also includes LaPorte police, Michigan City police and the LaPorte County prosecutor, on Jan. 1, 2015. We have a significant drug problem in LaPorte County. We cant do it locally; we need to fight it from a regional standpoint. We know the drugs are coming from Chicago, he said, adding the interstates and rail allow dealers easy access to the Region. We will be able to pool intelligence and strategies, run investigations together and be joined by federal and state agencies, said Boyd, adding those involved are holding a news conference in late October to address the HIDTA designation. David Capp, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, said LaPorte County is the logical extension in efforts to try to impact and disassemble drug trafficking in the Region. We have a longstanding relationship with LaPorte County, and this will only enhance that relationship, said Capp, adding HIDTA has a very effective intelligence center and bringing LaPorte and Marion counties into the fold will bring more information that can be assessed and analyzed. Capp said while Marion County is not contiguous, it is a part of the reality of drug trafficking in the state, and will allow all parties to better coordinate efforts. This is tremendous for law enforcement. This has been discussed for more than a year, said Porter County Sheriff Dave Reynolds. Porter County was added in 2011. Especially the addition of LaPorte County from our perspectives. We know the drugs are coming from Chicago, and then to Lake and Porter and LaPorte counties. This will allow us to solidify our efforts. We will be a stronger organization with LaPorte County, Reynolds said. A lot of drugs and gangs are going down 65 to Marion County. We know there is a direct connection, so it makes perfect sense to add Marion County, he said. I am proud to have worked since day one to secure and support a federal HIDTA designation for Lake County, and the subsequent addition of Porter County. I am pleased today that by expanding the Lake County HIDTA to include LaPorte and Marion counties, we will be able to further improve our ability to regionally coordinate federal funding and intelligence resources to address the transportation corridors of drug traffickers and keep our communities safe, said U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky in a written statement. As Indiana, and our country, fight the drug epidemics that are devastating families and communities, I was proud to support LaPorte County in applying for this designation that will bring resources to help law enforcement combat drug trafficking, said U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly in a written statement. Donnelly said it will take cooperation at every level of government, along with community partners, to provide a comprehensive response to the drug epidemic by rooting out drug traffickers, expanding prevention efforts and increasing access to treatment and recovery services. VALPARAISO A former Lake County Sheriffs Department deputy pleaded guilty to four felony drug charges in a plea agreement presented Friday in court. Gary Pilipovich, 33, faced numerous charges dating back to 2012 and had been suspended with pay by the Sheriffs Department, pending a hearing. Pilipovich was arrested and charged in June of 2012 in Porter County with felony counts of possessing cocaine, possessing a syringe and possessing a controlled substance, and misdemeanor counts of possessing marijuana and paraphernalia. The charges stemmed from a search of Pilipovichs Willowcreek Estates apartment triggered when an officer claimed he saw bag of marijuana in plain view earlier in the day while assisting with an eviction. Police said they found cocaine in the closet of the master bedroom and marijuana in several locations around the apartment, including in a Lake County sheriffs bag. Police said they also found a multi-colored smoking pipe in the apartment and a collection of painkillers, amphetamines and anti-anxiety pills in Pilipovichs red 2000 Pontiac Trans Am car. Additional drug charges were filed in March 2013, including Class B felony counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and manufacture of a controlled substance. Both counts involve steroids, according to court documents. Then, in January 2015, Pilipovich was arrested again on allegations of bomb-making and additional drug charges. Prosecutors said in court in 2015 that black powder and ball bearings were found within a few feet of a fire Jan. 1 at Pilipovichs new residence in the 200 South block of Calumet Road in Chesterton. He was charged in 2015 with felony counts of possessing a destructive device, dealing in the illegal drug Ecstasy and illegally possessing the prescription drug Cialis. He reportedly told fire officials he was making fireworks. On Friday, Pilipovich pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, possession of Ecstasy, possession of steroids and possession of a hypodermic needle all Class D felonies. Class D felonies are punishable to up to three years, but the plea agreement calls for capping prison time at five years. Porter Superior Judge Bill Alexa said he would take the agreement under advisement and set a sentencing hearing for 9 a.m. Dec. 9. HAMMOND Former Lake Station mayor Keith Soderquist has begun his prison term for public corruption. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons website Friday states Soderquist, 47, of Lake Station, is in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. He is serving a four-year sentence. His 58-year-old wife, Deborah, is currently scheduled to surrender Oct. 31 to the U.S. Marshals service for her two-year sentence. The Lake Station couple misused tens of thousands of dollars from the mayors re-election campaign fund and the citys food pantry account to gamble at nearby casinos. The former mayor also is being punished for attempting to cover up his stepdaughter Miranda Brakleys embezzlement of Lake Station City Court money. Keith Soderquist had asked U.S. District Court Judges Rudy Lozano and James Moody last month to postpone his sentence to give him time to undergo surgery, which had been scheduled to take place Thursday. The judges agreed that if he underwent surgery Thursday he could put off his prison reporting date until Nov. 14. But, Soderquists lawyers filed a new petition this week for another delay since his surgery date was canceled. His insurance company hadnt agreed last month to approve the medical procedure. The Bureau of Prisons website doesnt state where the couple will serve their time. Their lawyers last month asked for them to live at a nearby minimum security facility that would allow them to visit their medical providers. Lozano said last month he is confident the two can receive adequate health care services from the Bureau of Prisons. Keith Soderquist, who had served nearly eight years in office, came under state and federal scrutiny four years ago following a public feud between him and former Lake Station City Judge Christopher A. Anderson, who was elected to replace Soderquist in the mayors office. Anderson fired Miranda Brakley, the mayors stepdaughter, for stealing money held by the court from those arrested and posting bond in Lake Station. Federal authorities discovered Keith and Deborah Soderquist lost more than $100,000 between 2009 and 2012 at casino slot machines and made dozens of withdrawals during the same three years from his campaign fund and the citys food pantry account. A jury last year also found the former mayor and his wife guilty after an eight-day trial of all counts. Brakley, 35, of Lake Station, received six months home detention July 7 for her guilty plea to the theft. CROWN POINT After deliberating for less than four hours Thursday, a jury of six men and six women found Gary resident Evan Juantay Hodge, 34, guilty of murder in the December 2014 shooting death of East Chicago resident Martin Joshua III in Gary. Hodge was charged with shooting Joshua twice with a .45 caliber handgun in the 5600 block of Fourth Avenue. Prosecutors also charged Hodge with carrying a handgun without a license and as a habitual offender. The jury found Hodge guilty of carrying a handgun without a license and guilty of the use of a firearm enhancement during separate, short deliberations. While the jury was deliberating the enhancement charge, Hodge pleaded guilty to the enhancement that took the charge from a misdemeanor to a felony level 5, said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michael Toth. He also pled guilty to the habitual offender charge, Toth said. Much of the case revolved around Joshuas verbal identification of his killer before he died. According to the probable cause affidavit submitted by Gary Detective James Bond, Ruthie Foster heard someone knocking on her front door the evening of Dec. 19, 2014. When she answered the door, Joshua, whom Foster knew as Marco, stumbled into the house and collapsed on the kitchen floor. The victim told Ruthie Foster that he was shot by Tay Tay, a nickname for Evan Hodge, the court records state. I heard one shot. I was in my basement, Fosters grandson Terrell Foster is heard saying on the 911 tape played during the trial. Police arrived at the home and found Joshua lying on the kitchen floor shot multiple times in extreme pain, bleeding profusely with a portion of his intestines protruding from his abdomen, according to the affidavit Before being transported to Methodist Hospital Northlake, Joshua told Gary police officers twice that he was shot by Evan Hodge, the affidavit states. Joshua died at Methodist Northlake at 2:29 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2014. Hodge was arrested by Gary police on Dec. 29, 2014, after Bond filed a probable cause affidavit with the Lake County prosecutors office, and has been in custody in Lake County Jail since then. During Hodges murder trial that began Tuesday before Lake Criminal Court Judge Pro-Tem Michael Lambert, a war of words erupted between Toth and Hodges defense attorney, Matthew LaTulip. The attorneys disagreed loudly at times about evidence, its presentation at the trial, the methods police used and whether the 39-year-old victims dying words identified the shooter as Hodge. The verbal fireworks extended into closing arguments with LaTulip stating that the prosecutions case is gross negligence at worse, but more likely manipulation. The defense attorney focused on the procedures used by the Gary police and compared the case to getting a hamburger with wilted lettuce, greasy mayonnaise all over it. In his rebuttal, Toth said to jurors, I did not promise you a Whopper Junior or a hamburger. I promised you a murderer and there he sits pointing to Hodge. Sentencing before Lake Criminal Court Judge Samuel Cappas begins at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 16. VALPARAISO A Gary man was arrested early Friday morning outside a local tavern after two people said he pointed a gun at them. Eric Baker, 34, was charged with two counts of intimidation, two counts of pointing a firearm and disorderly conduct. Police were called just after 2 a.m. to Northside Tap, 712 Calumet Ave., where an officer spoke to a 40-year-old Valparaiso man who said he was talking to a woman, who is Bakers ex-girlfriend, in her vehicle, which was parked in the parking lot. He told police he saw Baker drive up, and he got out of the vehicle. He said Baker confronted him, pressed a handgun against his cheek and told him to leave. He told police he started to leave and heard Baker argue with the woman, so he went to the bar and asked employees to call 911, according to the police report. The woman told police Baker confronted her and pressed a handgun against her collarbone. Police found a handgun in Bakers car, but he denied pointing it at them. He was arrested and taken to Porter County Jail. A Chicago man was charged with felony theft after a Griffith detective recognized him in a police bulletin about an alleged con man identified in Illinois, police said. Randall E. Brown, 58, is accused of entering the Subway restaurant at 100 W. Ridge Road dressed as an electrical worker and deceiving employees out of $150. Police said Brown asked employees to call the restaurant's owner. Once a connection was established, he allegedly cut the phone cord out of the employees' sight and appeared to carry on a conversation. An employee, who heard Brown purportedly acknowledge he was to receive $150 from the cash register, gave him the money, police said. Griffith police Detective John Mowery recognized the scam after the department received a bulletin from police in Homewood, Illinois, about a man who had been posing as a Commonwealth Edison employee at a Game Stop store, police said. With the help of Homewood police, the Subway employee identified Brown as the suspect in the Griffith theft, police said. Brown was charged Oct. 7 in Lake Criminal Court with Level 6 felony theft, records show. St. John police have joined the ranks of more than 125 other law enforcement agencies participating in a national initiative to increase transparency and accountability. St. John residents now can visit the departments website and view five data sets, including use of force cases, police-involved shootings, crime maps, daily lists of calls for service and a community engagement list that includes upcoming events. The St. John Police Department has gone through some turbulent times in the past year and a half. Several current and former female employees have accused a now-retired commander of sexually harassing them, and protesters targeted the department in April after it was alleged an officer might have been racially profiling Latinos during traffic stops. That officer has since resigned. St. John Police Chief James Kveton said hes found the community wholeheartedly supports the Police Department, but some still have questions about law enforcement. This gives them easy access to information to answer those questions and to help them trust and be confident in their law enforcement, he said. President Barack Obama in 2014 established a Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which issued a report the next year calling, in part, for the use of data and technology to improve community trust. The White House started the Police Data Initiative in May. On Thursday, the president and U.S. Department of Justice announced at the Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that a total of 129 agencies now are participating in the initiative. Kveton said hes not sure why he received an invitation last summer to visit the White House to join in a discussion about the final report of the presidents task force, but he was honored to receive it. Kveton already was familiar with the report and is a member of a number of police chiefs associations in Illinois and Indiana. After the meeting, Kveton agreed to participate in the Police Data Initiative and has participated in regular conference calls since July, he said. The data St. John is providing already is public record, he said. The initiative removes barriers for residents wanting to view it. The department plans to add more data sets as staff identify whats available, he said. To view St. John Police Data Initiative information, find the initiative webpage at stjohnin.com. St. John police, under the direction of former Police Chief Fred Frego, began publicly sharing crime maps last year at the Regional Crime Report page at nwi.com. The crime maps are created as part of a partnership with Indiana University Northwest. Other Northwest Indiana departments sharing crime maps at nwi.com include Cedar Lake, Dyer, East Chicago, Gary, Griffith, Highland, Lake Station, LaPorte County/Michigan City, Munster, Portage, Porter County, Schererville, Valparaiso and Whiting. GARY Two 18-year-olds were gunned down Thursday night in a vehicle parked several blocks from their home in the citys Glen Park section. Zantrell Collins and Koreena Ramos, both of Gary, each were shot multiple times in a double homicide, according to the Lake County coroners office. Gary police were called about 8 p.m. to the 700 block of East 49th Avenue for a report of gunshot victims in a vehicle, Lt. Dawn Westerfield said. Police found a man and woman, who each were pronounced dead by coroners investigators about 9:15 p.m. at the scene, officials said. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Detective Kristopher Adams of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit at (219) 755-3855. To remain anonymous, call (866) CRIME-GP. This month has been particularly violent in Gary. In late September, the city had been on track to record one of the lowest annual homicide totals in decades. As of Sept. 30, the city had logged just 26 homicides. The lowest number recorded since at least 1985 was 30 in 2011. The city logged 50 homicides in 2015. However, seven people have been found dead in October, including three on Thursday. Samuel Moore, 43, was shot dead Oct. 1 in the 1300 block of Harrison Street and his car was stolen. On Oct. 8, Akeem Oliver, 29, of Gary, was shot to death and another man was wounded in the area of East 20th Avenue and Virginia Street. A mans body was pulled from the Little Calumet River in Gary on Oct. 6. The mans identity and cause and manner of death are pending toxicology and DNA testing, according to the coroners office. Dan Hardy, 25, of Gary, was stabbed Oct. 8 in the 2000 block of West Fifth Avenue. Police took a woman into custody in connection with Hardys homicide the day he died, Westerfield said. In addition to Collins and Ramos deaths Thursday, an unidentified man was shot dead and another man was wounded in a fight on the citys East Side. The mans shooting marked the third in that area in less than a week. GARY A police officer shot and wounded a man accused of attempting to run down the officer with a vehicle early Friday while the officer was investigating a report of suspicious vehicle, officials said. The driver was taken to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary and later to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He was in serious but stable condition Friday, according to the Lake County Sheriffs Department. The Gary officer, a 10-year veteran of the department, was dispatched about midnight to the area of West 15th Avenue and Colfax Street, Lt. Dawn Westerfield said. The officer located the vehicle reported as suspicious, and its driver the only occupant accelerated toward the officer, sheriffs spokesman Mark Back said. The officer fired his department-issued gun, and a bullet struck the driver. The Gary officer wasnt injured, Back said. Police did not release the identities of the driver or the officer. In accordance with its policy, the Gary Police Department asked the Sheriffs Department to handle a review of the officer-involved shooting, Westerfield said. The Sheriffs Department plans to present the case to the Lake County prosecutors office upon completion of the investigation, Back said. Gary police do not use body or dash cameras, he said. VALPARAISO A 37-year-old Valparaiso man pleaded guilty Friday to possession of child pornography after being accused of hiding his cellphone in a teenage girls bedroom in an attempt to film her naked. Paul Blanton, of the 1200 block of Emma Court, was originally charged with child exploitation and possession of child pornography. Blanton pleaded guilty to the single count of possession of child pornography. The child exploitation charge was dropped. The girl told police she came into her room in July 2014 after taking a shower and noticed a crayon box out of place with something inside, according to court documents. She found a black cellphone inside with the video mode running. She stopped the recording and played it back, observing herself come into the room and change into clothes, police said. She also saw Blanton placing the phone inside the box and leaving the room. The girl reportedly told police she deleted the video and did not find any similar videos or photos on the phone. While Blanton initially denied any knowledge of the incident, he later admitted to placing the phone in the girls room to see if she was cutting herself, police said. He then said he used the phone recorder to see her naked. The judge took the plea under advisement and set a sentencing hearing for 9 a.m. Dec. 9. PORTAGE Brian May had decided he was going to attend college to study graphic design. After Friday morning, May, a Portage High School senior, isnt so sure. He was among 200 PHS juniors and seniors who toured local manufacturing companies in the morning and then spent the afternoon at Ivy Tech learning about various training opportunities aligned with potential employment in the Region. At Fronius USA, May said he might be switching to computer design after watching workers. Manufacturing Day 360 was organized by the Portage Economic Development Corp., Portage Township Schools and Ivy Tech. The students, who had to apply for one of the 200 spots, visited Construction Advancement Foundation, Feralloy Processing, PSC Machining and Sheet Metal Workers Local 20 in addition to Fronius. The idea for the day, said Portage Economic Development Director Andy Maletta, is to let students know what types of good paying jobs are available in Portage and what kind of training is necessary to obtain those jobs. The kids open their eyes up to whats available. They will get a good job, stay in Portage and be able to raise their families here, said Maletta. Aco Sikoski, campus president of Ivy Tech Valparaiso, said it boils down to meeting the workforce needs in the region. By seeing what jobs are available, Ivy Tech can align their program offerings to meet the needs of the industries, he said, putting training and jobs together. It is a perfect, seamless pathway to see employment opportunities, said Sikoski. Senior Josh McCarty enjoyed the tour, especially when the students had an opportunity to try their spot welding skills at Fronius. I wanted to go because Im very interested in welding, forging and metal work in general, he said, adding the trip and tour of facilities showed him what types of jobs are available in machining and welding in the area. CROWN POINT Feeding her heroin addiction led her to break into homes and take items she could sell, a 20-year old Crown Point woman admitted during her sentencing hearing in Lake County Criminal Court. Chelsea Nicole Klemoff pleaded guilty to two level 6 felonies of residential entry in Dyer and Schererville during 2015 in accordance with her plea agreement. Those offenses occurred on Aug. 1 in Schererville and on Oct. 14 in Dyer, court records indicate. Klemoff appeared Tuesday shackled and dressed in jailhouse garb with her defense attorney, Linda Kollintzas, before Lake Criminal Court Judge Pro-Tem Karyn Price-Boswell. In a tearful victim impact statement, Melissa Krenkel described how Klemoff changed her life and that of her children by breaking into their Schererville home on Aug. 1, 2015, ransacking the house and taking some treasured items. The break-in was discovered when the family came home, the victim said. Ive never been so scared, said Krenkel, a high school teacher. Our sense of security is gone. One of the items taken was a bassoon that Krenkel played and was teaching her children to play. To replace it costs $6,000, an amount the victim said she cant afford because her insurance wont pay out that much. Ive had to give up playing music, Krenkel said. Ill never be able to get another gift from my dad, the earrings you took. However, Krenkel also said she hoped Klemoff would take charge of her life, stay clean from her heroin addiction and get her GED. You have to make better choices, Krenkel said. In apologizing to Krenkel and the court, Klemoff said she didnt realize that her heroin addiction would take her down this path. If anyone did that to me and my house, I dont know what Id do, Klemoff said. Im determined to turn my life around. Price-Boswell accepted the plea agreement worked out between Kollintzas and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Maureen Koonce. In the Schererville case, Price-Boswell sentenced Klemoff to 2 1/2 years to be served in Lake County Community Corrections with an initial placement in the inpatient drug treatment program. She also ordered Klemoff to pay a total of $1,297 in restitution to Krenkel. The prosecutors office agreed to dismiss two additional charges in this case. The plea agreement in the Dyer case called for a sentence of 1 1/2 years in the Indiana Department of Correction to be suspended and served on probation. Prosecutors also dropped two charges in this case. Price-Boswell said the sentences will be served consecutively. LAPORTE A LaPorte man is standing trial in Circuit Court on allegations he engaged in sexual activity with two underage victims over several years. David Flynn, 45, is charged with child molesting, two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and four counts of incest. Just one of the counts could bring a sentence of 20 to 50 years, while four other counts each have a 6- to 20-year sentencing range. Its alleged Flynn began molesting the victims beginning in 2009. During opening arguments Wednesday, Flynn was portrayed by the defense as a family man who, after a break-up in South Carolina, moved back to LaCrosse with custody of all five of his children. His attorney, Mark Worthley, told jurors Flynn worked long hours as a mechanic and his mother, to help care for the children, moved in with the family. The molestation allegedly began later and continued after he moved to LaPorte, LaPorte County deputy prosecutor Catherine Breitweiser-Hurst said. Breitweiser-Hurst said Flynn was methodical in his approach to keep others from finding out. But, in 2015, a police officer talking to one of the victims about a different matter expressed concern about the victims behavior. Thats when the allegations came to light, Breitweiser-Hurst said. (The victim) had no intention of saying anything. (The victim) was keeping it a secret until then, said Breitweiser-Hurt, who alleged that Flynn confessed to the allegations. Worthley told jurors his client is falsely accused and was shocked when first contacted by the police for questioning. He also said Flynn, because of the pressure and stress he was under during police questioning, was manipulated into giving a confession. The things David said in his statement are not indicative of the truth, said Worthley. LaPorte County police are investigating how a man ended up lying injured Friday morning on Interstate 94 near Michigan City. Emergency crews were dispatched at 8:24 a.m. to an area on the interstate near the U.S. 421 exit and found a 21-year-old man with serious injuries in the right lane, according to LaPorte County sheriffs police. The man either fell or jumped from a bridge onto the highway, a drop of about 25 feet, police said. The man was taken to Franciscan St. Anthony Health hospital in Michigan City with serious injuries, police said. The mans vehicle was found near the U.S. 421 bridge that crosses over I-94, police said. Police did not release the mans name pending notification of his family. Indiana State Police, the LaPorte County EMS and Coolspring Township Fire Department assisted, police said. STOCKHOLM When the young Australian cervical cancer patient learned she had to lose her womb in order to survive, she proposed something audacious to the doctor who was treating her: She asked if she could have a womb transplant, so she could one day carry her own baby. This was nearly two decades ago, when the Swedish doctor Mats Brannstrom was training to be a physician abroad. I thought she was a bit crazy, Brannstrom said. But Brannstom didnt dismiss her idea. Instead, after he returned to Sweden he began a series of painstaking research projects to learn whether it might be possible to transplant a womb, despite criticism that the unheard of procedure was dangerous, medically unnecessary, and impossible. Brannstrom went on to become the first doctor to deliver babies five so far from women with donated wombs. No other doctor in the world has succeeded, despite attempts in the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and ongoing efforts in China, Britain, France, the Czech Republic and elsewhere. The first of Brannstoms patients babies was born in 2014 and the fifth arrived in January; another is due in early 2017. Brannstrom is working with doctors at Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic to help women beyond Sweden get access to the procedure. Doctors at Baylor University in Texas, including two former members of Brannstroms team, announced this week they performed four womb transplants. One was successful, but not yet ready to attempt a pregnancy. And scientists, many of whom were both doubtful and critical before, now believe Brannstoms work could help them extend the use of organs for those who need transplants and learn how embryos implant in the uterus after conception, a poorly understood but critical stage in pregnancy. To figure out if womb transplants were even feasible, Brannstrom first asked Rana Akouri, then one of his doctoral students, to start experimenting in rodents in 1999. He picked Akouri because of her delicate surgical skills a mouse uterus is only less than an inch long (about 2 centimeters). The surgery was so complex Akouri needed four custom-made tools to perform the microscopic operations. After nearly two years, Akouri noticed one day that the belly of one of her mice a slight bulge. Too impatient to wait, she performed a cesarean section that evening and found two tiny babies inside. I called Mats at 10pm and told him, one of our mice is pregnant! she said. That night, Brannstrom said, was the first time he thought that a womb transplant in humans might actually be possible. If it hadnt worked in mice, we would have quit, he said. Over the next decade, Brannstrom and his team performed hundreds of uterus transplants in rats, sheep, pigs and monkeys. Because Sweden forbids experiments in non-human primates, Brannstrom and 10 other doctors and nurses flew to Kenya nearly 20 times to perfect things like their surgical technique and the use of immune-suppressing drugs in baboons. Brannstrom described the less-than-ideal conditions in Nairobi no regular showers and power failures during surgery as team-building experiences. Wooden carvings of African birds picked up during those trips now adorn several shelves at Brannstroms fertility clinic in Stockholm. In 2012, it was time to try the surgery in humans. He obtained ethical permission to perform womb transplants in nine Swedish women. He then held an information session one evening in the southern city of Gothenburg, where the operations were to take place. We were quite frank in telling them, This is not an infertility treatment, youre participating in a scientific trial, he said. Were going into the unknown. Of the nine women who had the transplants, two had their wombs removed when complications arose. Five women had healthy babies and the last two are trying to get pregnant. At the time, many fertility experts considered it an outlandish pursuit. I thought this was crazy, a high-risk surgery for no reason, said Dr. Tommaso Falcone of the Cleveland Clinic in the U.S. But a trip to Sweden to see Brannstroms clinic changed his mind. Falcone is now at the forefront of the Cleveland Clinics womb transplantation project. He and colleagues performed the first such operation in the U.S. in February, although the organ had to be removed after the patient developed an infection. Falcone predicts that Brannstroms work will lead to a better understanding of embryo implantation. And he marveled at the fact that babies have been born from organs once flushed with a cold solution rendering them technically dead before being placed into the recipient. Miscarriages are happening all over the place but here you have these dead uteruses that can carry a baby, he said. Other experts thought it was astonishing that wombs of some post-menopausal women were able to grow healthy babies after being transplanted. Doctors typically expect younger organs to work better, but in the case of womb transplantation, organs from older women appeared rejuvenated after being dosed with hormones. All of a sudden, you have this old organ doing things that you only expected a young uterus to do, said Dr. Stefan Tullius, chair of transplant surgery at Harvard Medical School, who said that could lead to insights into extending the use of other organs. Until now, Brannstrom has only used live donors, considered by some to be unethical because it means putting a healthy woman at risk for a procedure that isnt life-saving. The wombs are intended to be kept for a maximum of two pregnancies and are then removed so that patients can stop taking anti-rejection medicines. Brannstrom believes doctors in other countries will soon deliver more babies from women with transplanted wombs and predicts that the surgery will one day become routine. Emelie Eriksson, who received a womb transplant and then had a baby boy in 2014, said she could never thank Brannstrom enough. I think I need to thank him a thousand times more, she said. Hes my hero. He made it possible for me to have a child. LAPORTE The patients dying wish was to take his wife to Alaska to see the northern lights. Since Doris Agemy, a nurse at LaPorte Hospital, couldnt bring them to Alaska, she brought Alaska to them. She brought in a projector and projected the northern lights onto the walls of a hospital room, which she decorated with real Alaskan beach glass and a life-sized, stuffed moose costume. She catered the couple a candlelit dinner, for which her son was the waiter. I try to take care of my patients the way I want my family to be taken care of, she said. As this story attests, Agemy goes above and beyond in caring for patients. She was recently honored with the Indiana Hospital Associations inaugural caregiver of the year award. Theres not a time I walk by and theres not a patient telling me how nice she is, unsolicited, said Chris Atherton, director of electrophysiology services at LaPorte Hospital. She makes them feel comfortable, makes them feel secure, makes them feel safe. Agemy, of Michigan City, has been a nurse for a quarter century, spending nearly the past nine years at LaPorte Hospital. She currently works in the cardiac catheterization lab. Shes what nursing is all about, said Mary Drewes, executive director of nursing operations at LaPorte Hospital. She reminds us why we started in the profession. Added Debi Baughman, the hospitals director of human resources: Shes very synced to the needs of the patient. Its on a different level than just asking, What can I do for you? Baughman would know. Her husbands uncle had been a patient of Agemys in the cath lab. One day, he fell ill and was taken to the emergency department. Even though Agemy wasnt working or on call, she showed up in the uncles room to give him a hug and offered to ride with him in the ambulance to a Chicago hospital. Baughman still doesnt know why Agemy was there that day. Her family believes it was divine intervention. They call her the uncles angel. VALPARAISO Valparaiso University recently banned the use of e-cigarettes on campus. While not directed at the social and private lives of the employees, the universitys policy now states, this policy is directed at the use of tobacco and any tobacco related products including, but not limited to, nicotine products, smokeless or chewing tobacco, and electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) (hereinafter collectively referred to as tobacco products) on Valparaiso University Property. We applaud Valparaiso University for taking the next step toward a healthier future, said Ryan Singh, program coordinator for Tobacco Education and Prevention Coalition for Porter County. Singh said recent studies have found that e-cigarettes contain propylene glycol, heavy metals and tobacco-specific nitrosamines, as well as other cancer-causing substances. The Tobacco Education and Prevention Coalition for Porter County is also touting the Quit4Life campaign, which it is rolling out with Porter Regional Hospital. The campaign is designed to encourage employees and patients to make a quit attempt by calling 800-QUIT-NOW. For more information, contact Singh at (219) 464-6722 or ryan.singh@valpo.edu. Friends and family gathered at a wake Friday afternoon for Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, who died Sunday, less than a week after he announced he was taking a leave for cancer treatment. "What he did in a short time showed how committed he was to Brooklyn," said former Bronx DA Robert Johnson. "He left the private practice. From all appearances, he was doing well in that, and he came here to do public service." Thousands of people attended the wake at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn. Many people remember Thompson also as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's office in the borough. Thompson took over as the district attorney in 2014 and made many changes, including saying he would not go after people for low-level offenses. People attending his wake said Thompson did a good amount of work in a short amount of time as the district attorney. "I saw how committed he was to justice," former City Councilman Sal Albanese said. "He was there for the people," one woman said. "He wanted the rights for everybody." "It's a tragedy for his family, and the people of his office, the people of Brooklyn, and others who worked alongside with him," Johnson said. Thompson also served as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, hired by Zac Carter in the 90s. "He was a real and making sure that enforcement efforts never had a disparate impact on whether brown black and brown people," Carter said. But many remembered his work as a private attorney, including an emotional Nafissatou Diallo. Thompson represented Diallo after she accused powerful French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan hotel in 2011. It became an international case. "Mr. Thompson helped me," Diallo said, in tears Friday. "He was there for me, he made people believe me, fight for me. He was always there for me." Thompson also assisted in convincing the Justice Department to reopen the 1955 murder case of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was killed by a group of white men in Mississippi. "Ken stepped up," said investigative filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. "He stepped up and represented me from the beginning of stages of me handing over evidence to the federal government to get the case reopened. And he helped push." For Thompson, he started as a kid growing up in Harlem and The Bronx and made it big in the legal world. Many say they are hoping Thompson's work and dedication will continue in the DA's office and across the city. A special celebration of his life drew hundreds of people Thursday. City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul were among the elected officials who attended the event in Clinton Hill. One man who wound up being exonerated by Thompson said the district attorney changed his life. "I asked that my case be investigated for 25 years. He got into office and investigated it and said, 'Derrick', he called me to his office and said, 'I promise you I will call a spade a spade. I investigated, I found that you're innocent, and I'm exonerating you.' That was the most rewarding day of my life," said Derrick Hamilton, whose conviction was overturned by Thompson. Thompson died from cancer over the weekend just days after going public about his disease. He was 50 years old. But this theory didnt hold up when it was tested by a team of British and North American psychologists. They found no pattern in the upward eye movements of liars and truth tellers, whether they were observed in the laboratory or during real-life news conferences. The researchers also found that people who were trained to look for these eye movements did not do any better than a control group at detecting liars. There is no Pinocchios nose no one cue that will always accompany deception, says an author of the eye-movement study, Leanne ten Brinke, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. She and some researchers argue that it may nonetheless be possible to detect certain kinds of high stakes lies by training experts to look for a constellation of body cues. Stephen Porter of the University of British Columbia says the poor success rate in studies is caused partly by the limitations of laboratory experiments in which subjects are often asked to lie about things that dont really matter to them. Liars may show more stress in a real-life situation when much depends on being believed. In a study last year, psychologists at the University of British Columbia trained professionals in forensics to look for an array of facial expressions and other signs of stress or inconsistency in someone telling a story. Then these professionals looked at news footage of people pleading for the return of a missing relative. Some of the pleaders were sincere, but others were lying (as eventually revealed by evidence that they had already murdered the relative). The trained professionals were able to identify the liars with an 80 percent accuracy rate. Thats an impressive record, but its only one experiment, and many researchers question how reliably these techniques can be applied in the real world. Other studies, including ones involving police interrogations, have found that people are not always better at detecting high-stakes lies than lesser ones. The fear of being charged with a crime can make an innocent person look suspiciously nervous, too. Patricia Barry, a prolific television actress who appeared in more than 100 series and movies, beginning in the mediums earliest days, died on Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 93. Her death was confirmed by her publicist, The Associated Press said. Ms. Barrys career began in the 1940s, when she won a Rita Hayworth look-alike contest; the victory led her to Hollywood and a contract with Warner Brothers. After three uncredited screen roles (as nurse, showgirl and music student), she finally got a character name in The Beast With Five Fingers, a 1947 horror film remembered best for scenes in which a dead pianists disembodied hand, up to no good, creeps its way around an Italian mansion. Ms. Barry, then billed as Patricia White, made more than 20 movies over the next four years. In 1950 she discovered the new medium television, and vice versa. I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE (2007) 8:55 p.m. on Comedy Central. Chris Rock plays an investment banker who seems to have it all: a beautiful wife (Gina Torres), two adorable children, a lovely house in the suburbs and a good job with a high-end Manhattan firm. But hes bored. Then along comes Nikki (Kerry Washington), and with her, trouble. Mr. Rock directed this film and wrote the script, which he adapted with Louis C.K. from Eric Rohmers Chloe in the Afternoon. Writing in The Times, A. O. Scott called it an unusually insightful and funny mainstream American movie about the predicaments of modern marriage. GRAMMY SALUTE TO MUSIC LEGENDS 9 p.m. on PBS. Great Performances applauds this years lifetime achievement award honorees, including Ruth Brown; Celia Cruz; Herbie Hancock; Jefferson Airplane; Linda Ronstadt; Run-DMC; and Earth, Wind and Fire. Wells Fargo had been celebrated for years as the nations best-run bank, but it took less than 40 days for that sterling reputation to evaporate. Since regulators announced a $185 million settlement with the bank in early September, Wells Fargo has been consumed by the scandal. Prosecutors in three states have begun investigations, and state treasurers in Illinois and California have pulled business with Wells. Hillary Clinton denounced the bank on the campaign trail. Overcoming this rancor now falls to Mr. Sloan, an Ohio native and father of three grown children, who is known for his dry wit and direct manner. He made no pronouncements on an overhaul of the Wells Fargo culture. In a brief interview on Wednesday, Mr. Sloan said, We are going to enact the changes that have already been announced, including ending the sales goals in the retail bank that former employees and others including lawmakers and regulators blamed for the problems. What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? Whats their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. Learn more about our process. Mr. Sloan added that it was important that he not interfere with the board and its internal investigation into the fake accounts and the banks handling of them. Some former employees in Wells Fargos bank branches said in interviews that nothing would improve until the bank renounced the corporate culture where Mr. Sloan was groomed. SAN FRANCISCO SoftBank of Japan has already earned a reputation as one of the most ambitious technology companies around, unafraid to strike huge deals. Now the conglomerate is aiming to become one of the worlds biggest investors in tech potentially with the help of Saudi Arabia. SoftBank announced on Thursday that it would form a new investment fund that could invest up to $100 billion in technology companies worldwide. SoftBank will invest at least $25 billion into whats provisionally called the SoftBank Vision Fund over the next five years, while Saudi Arabia is weighing putting in at least $45 billion. They may draw in other partners who could eventually push the funds size to its maximum. SAN FRANCISCO Verizon Communications may seek to renegotiate its $4.8 billion purchase of Yahoos operating business, dealing another blow to the struggling internet company. Verizons top lawyer said on Thursday that his company thought that the hacking of 500 million Yahoo email accounts in 2014 disclosed last month, well after the deal was announced had materially diminished the value of Yahoo, potentially allowing Verizon to reopen the sale discussions. I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material, and were looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact, Craig Silliman, Verizons general counsel, told reporters in Washington. If they believe that its not, then theyll need to show us that. The data breach, most likely the largest ever at a private company, is still under investigation by the companies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. F.B.I. officials have confirmed that the Yahoo breach has the hallmarks of a state-sponsored attack, but they also say it is too early to say which country was behind it, according to two people who with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Sam Sifton emails readers of Cooking five days a week to talk about food and suggest recipes. That email also appears here. To receive it in your inbox, register here. Good morning. Turkey recipe is starting its slow annual climb of the trending search terms at Google. Maybe youll be leaf peeping this weekend or apple picking or going to see the Jerusalem 1000-1400 show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But some maniacs I know are gearing up for Thanksgiving rehearsal meals, and you may wish to join them. Thinking of frying a turkey this year, or smoking one? Want to make a turducken? If you havent done so before, Thanksgiving Day is not the day to learn. Perhaps you could take a dry run this weekend, using a capon or a duck as a stand-in for the big bird if you dont want to go full turkey. Ive told you cooking is a practice. That is a concrete statement as much as a spiritual one. Those who cook a recipe well cook a recipe often. The Op-Doc Paraiso (Paradise) reveals the beauty and danger of three immigrant window cleaners work on Chicagos skyscrapers. The film connects to themes as varied as the immigrant experience, the American dream and dangerous ways to make a living. Students might consider: What sacrifices would they be willing to make to try to create a better life for their family? Students 1. Watch the 10-minute film above. While you watch, you might take notes using our Film Club Double-Entry Journal (PDF) to help you remember specific moments. 2. After watching, think about these questions: What moments in this film stood out for you? Why? Were there any surprises? Anything that challenged what you know or thought you knew? After our conversation, I asked her aides if they would allow me to put any of our discussion on the record. It was their prerogative to decide, given the off-the-record provision to which I had agreed. I sent large portions of the Clinton transcript in an email to Jennifer Palmieri, the campaign communications director. These exchanges were pretty interesting, I wrote. Would love the option to use. Ideally Palmieri would have reviewed portions of the interview about 2,000 words and come back with a simple Fine, use what you want. There was nothing damning or embarrassing in there, at least that I could tell. I heard nothing for a few days. Palmieri shared my email with others in the campaign, including Podesta, apparently. Finally, after consulting with Clinton herself, Palmieri said they would agree to put two sections of the interview on the record. One of them was an icebreaker exchange between Clinton and me in which I mentioned that I had just seen a moose on the side of the New Hampshire road. This elicited an animated response from Clinton about how she herself had encountered lots of moose up-close when she worked in Alaska one summer during college. Simple enough, right? Well, not quite. Palmieri demanded that I not include an aside that Clinton made in the midst of her moose monologue about Sarah Palin. Now it can be told. I always got a big kick out of Sarah Palin with all of her Were cooking up some moose stew here, Clinton told me. She did not seem to be belittling the former Alaska governor in any way, though I should also point out and this does not come through in the transcript that Clinton uttered her were cooking up some moose stew here line with a passable Palin impersonation. I have no idea why Clinton would not want this Palin aside in the article, though Im guessing she did not want to invite a public back-and-forth with Palin, as can happen. As it turns out, one of the newsier takeaways from this weeks WikiLeaks trove involved the Palin remark. NY Times Mark Leibovich Obeyed Request to Cut Palin Joke From Hillary Interview, said a headline Tuesday in Breitbart, the adamantly pro-Trump news site. Putting aside that it wasnt really a joke, the word obeyed here goes to the essence of the criticism, mockery and vitriol Ive been receiving from the right in recent days. Hillary, lets make a deal! Palin tweeted on Wednesday. Ill swap ya my special moose chili recipe for your nifty-shifty trick that lets you edit media coverage of yourself. Or as Trump put it Wednesday night at a rally in Florida, The Times granted Clinton veto power over her quotes in a story, he said. Nobody ever called and said, Mr. Trump, weve written this story, would you give us a little feedback? This is obviously not what happened in my case, but given the sausage-grinding revealed in the leaked back-and-forth, I can see how the uninitiated might get that impression. Politicians in fact go off the record with reporters with some frequency. As soon as the reporter grants the off-the-record provision, he is effectively allowing veto power over that material. That part of the conversation remains private unless he or she says otherwise. Thats the nifty-shifty trick Palin was referring to. The building, a tower known as Sea Rise II, has been the subject of almost 20 complaints for out-of-service elevators since January 2015, with some as recent as last month, city records show. It also has at least 50 current building code violations, including four for its elevators, according to the records. This isnt a freak accident, said a tenant on the 21st floor who gave his name only as Mike. These elevators always have problems. And its been going on like this for 20 years. It was more than 20 years ago, in fact, in 1991, Mike said, that one of his close friends, Chandler Johnson, was leaving an apartment in the same complex and fell to his death in an elevator shaft. Calling the persistently broken elevators a big mistake, Mike added, This wasnt supposed to happen again. He said he had two girls and always kept them away from the elevators while we were waiting. City buildings officials said the elevator involved in the girls death had passed a thorough five-year inspection in January and was tested again in August. During the last inspection, officials said that the elevator phone was out of service but that the car itself could remain safely in operation. The Buildings Department said it was shutting down the elevator pending a full investigation. The buildings other elevator has been out of service since Wednesday. We are saddened by todays tragic incident, said Jordan Isenstadt, a spokesman for the building. The incident is now under active investigation, and we are cooperating fully with all authorities and agencies to determine the facts surrounding the event. When students at the City College of New York, the flagship of the largest urban public university in the country, showed up for classes on Thursday for the first time since an extended holiday break, they returned to a vastly different campus from the one they left last Friday. That was when the colleges president, Lisa S. Coico, abruptly resigned, a day after The New York Times contacted officials with new questions about her administrations handling of more than $150,000 of her personal expenses a subject that is currently being investigated by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. By the time classes resumed after the break for Columbus Day and Yom Kippur, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been spotted on campus, apparently to interview employees; students were burning up social media with Brace Yourself memes inspired by the Game of Thrones TV series; and the chancellor of the City University of New York system had convened emergency meetings to assuage the concerns of shellshocked faculty members and alumni. Small wonder, then, that many students and faculty and staff members interviewed on campus said they felt discombobulated by the torrent of troubling news. Melissa Mark-Viverito, the speaker of the New York City Council, revealed this week that she was the victim of sexual abuse as a child, saying at an emotional news conference that she was compelled to go public in reaction to the video in which Donald J. Trump is heard boasting about foisting himself on women. This is the first time I ever publicly talked about this, Ms. Mark-Viverito said on Thursday, speaking to reporters at City Hall and appearing at times to hold back tears. Twenty percent of young girls unfortunately experience some form of sex abuse and molestation. And, she added, pausing as her words caught in her throat, I fall in that category. Between the ages of 5 and 8, I was molested by two different individuals at two different points in time, and its a reality that you live with every day. Ms. Mark-Viverito, 47, a Democrat, said she decided to speak out about her experience after watching the video of Mr. Trump that emerged last Friday, in which he is heard bragging of being able to kiss and grope women and get away with it because he was famous. Mr. Trump, now the Republican nominee for president, was speaking on the tape, recorded in 2005, with Billy Bush, a host of the NBC program Access Hollywood, who was heard laughing and egging him on. The rivalry between two companies vying to put their body cameras on police officers across the country flared on Thursday in Manhattan at a public hearing on a new contract for the New York Police Department. The department, under a federal mandate to outfit officers with body cameras, recently awarded a $6.4 million contract to Vievu L.L.C., a Seattle-based company, sending shock waves through a market dominated by Taser International, the stun-gun maker. With a contract with countrys largest police department at stake, Taser is seeking to unravel the deal. At the hearing, the company raised doubts about the integrity of Vievu, its systems and the procurement process. Taser said Vievu has not shown how it will deliver on the terms of its bid, which came in lower than Tasers. Going from one job to the next, and lulled by the No. 4 train as it rolled from the north Bronx toward Midtown Manhattan, Jessamine Irwin settled into a nap. No, maybe it was more of a doze, a nod toward sleep, a floating out of the present tense. Ms. Irwin, 26, had just finished teaching Intermediate French at Fordham University in the Bronx and was on her way to another class, Elementary French 2 at New York University. She is an adjunct instructor, a member of a vast wandering tribe of academic nomads who hold down many classes at the citys colleges and universities. It was around 3 p.m. on Oct. 5. We werent like sardines, but kids were getting out of school, Ms. Irwin said. She had been able to take a seat toward the back of the train, near the door leading to the next car. Nothing happened until we got to 59th Street, Ms. Irwin said. There, she heard a loud slam on the door. Two people were in the small space between her car and the one ahead. OPENING CREDITS \u201cRED STATE\u201d Leon Wolf (VO) Gregg Abbot, Carly Fiorina, Ben Sasse, Ken Cuccinelli (VO) We\u2019re gonna have an all-star lineup of Republicans from around the country FADE IN Denver skyline TEXT CARD Join us, along with hundreds of other grassroots activists, as we rally 90 days before the most important election of our lifetime. \u2013 The RedState Blog Erick Erickson delivering speech. Erick Erickson One of the reasons why I wanted to create the RedState gathering so many years ago is to get people off the Internet, face-to-face. Screen display in Grand Hyatt Hotel Carly Fiorina (VO) There are lots of things that make me mad about Hillary Clinton. But the thing that makes me maddest of all is when she talks to us all about - Carly Fiorina delivering speech Carly Fiorina (continues) \u2026being a feminist. Montage of cameras in the dark, and people moving in the crowd Glenn Beck (VO) How many times have we all said - how could people no see this, how can people not see what Barack Obama is doing? How can people not see what\u2019s happening to our country? Glenn Beck delivering speech Glen Beck How can you not see we\u2019ve abandoned people in Benghazi? Erick Erickson delivering speech Erick Erickson If in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, then God created marriage and we\u2019re not aloud to change that. LOWER RIGHT Erick Erickson FOUNDER, REDSTATE Erick Erickson (continues) If in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth\u2026 Three young people, two seated at a table and one standing in front Katie Pavlich (VO) I think people are trying to figure out\u2026 Katie Pavlich interview LOWER LEFT Katie Pavlich FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR Katie Pavlich (continues) \u2026where we go from here. It\u2019s very clear that there is an issue with the Republican Party. Glenn Beck delivering speech Glenn Beck I want you to know if you are voting for Donald Trump, that\u2019s fine. I don\u2019t condemn you, I \u2013 honestly \u2013 I\u2019m not voting for Donald Trump Audience sitting in the dark Katie Pavlich (VO) There\u2019s enormous pressure to fall in line simply because he\u2019s the nominee. Katie Pavlich interview Katie Pavlich And leaders of the conservative movement saying its immoral not to vote for Trump TEXT CARD In 2015, Donald Trump was disinvited from the RedState Gathering after his blowup with the Fox News host Megyn Kelly. Erick Erickson (VO) I uninvited Trump last year from the RedState Gathering. Erick Erickson interview And I\u2019ve never had either a gay rights activist in my advocacy for traditional marriage\u2026 LOWER LEFT Erick Erickson FOUNDER, REDSTATE Erick Erickson (continues) an Obama supporter or a Clinton supporter, I\u2019ve never had anyone treat me or my family this way. Uh, but the Trump supporters showing up at my house, yelling at my kids at the grocery store, calling my office, detailing how they were gonna come to the office and hide in particular bushes, and shoot me for opposing Trump \u2013 that\u2019s not healthy. I kind of wrote the piece that kicked off the Never Trump movement just saying I\u2019ve come to the conclusion I cannot ever support this guy. Glenn Beck delivering speech Glenn Beck Anybody who is trying to stand up for the truth right now in our own ranks \u2013 pretty miserable. Glenn Beck interview Margaret (interviewer) What was your tipping point with Trump? How far does that go back? LOWER LEFT Glenn Beck RADIO AND T.V. HOST Glenn Beck I\u2019ve, you know, when he announced I was on the air and we were\u2026 we played it live\u2026 and, we were joking during it. We were like how is this gonna work? Erick Erickson interview Erick Erickson You know, Republicans have largely been programmed since 1992 that the Clintons are terrible, that the Clintons are bad and we must oppose the Clintons, so\u2026 when a Clinton runs for the White House, you\u2019re going to have a lot of Republicans who have been so systematically trained and taught for thirty years that we must stop the Clintons\u2026 and of course they\u2019re going to go with Donald trump to stop the Clintons. Outside the doors of a banquet hall, looking in at Leon Wolf Shot of audience members Leon Wolf seated onstage speaking to the audience Leon Wolf November\u2019s gonna be bad, alright? So I understand that. LOWER RIGHT Leon Wolf RED STATE MANAGING EDITOR (continues) no no no, wait, I am being upbeat. I\u2019m gonna be upbeat, give me a second. I had to acknowledge this, let\u2019s acknowledge this, it\u2019s gonna be bad. Leon Wolf interview Leon Wolf I will say the number one thing he did, that finally convinced me to say, look even if this guy is running against Hillary \u2013 who\u2019s someone I hate - I will actively oppose him\u2026 uh, was when he made fun of the disabled reporter. I mean\u2026 I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s sad that that didn\u2019t make an impact on people to me. And uh\u2026 yeah, I don\u2019t know. Montage of people seated at a registration table, a woman walking down a hallway at the convention Man standing with a camera Margaret Brown (VO) Can you amplify how you think the Republican Party got to this moment, like can you expand on that some? Glenn Beck talking to this press at a podium UPPER RIGHT GLENN BECK PRESS JUNKET Glenn Beck Yeah. Um, I\u2019ve done a lot of soul searching INSERT: Small boy listening in the audience (continues) I mean virtually you can\u2019t be as universally disliked as I am by so many Americans, and not do some soul searching\u2026 unless, you\u2019re Donald Trump. INSERT: Man listening in the audience (continues) I, believe it or not thought I was helping open the valves of steam\u2026 but that\u2019s not what happened. Um, so people became angry. INSERT: Man in audience recording with iPad (continues) So you start to say, gosh, am I that guy? Am I doing that? Lots of mistakes I made at Fox. Lot\u2019s of mistakes. INSERT: Man seated in audience (continues) Brought a lot of it on myself. High-rises in Denver Glenn Beck (VO) This president has exposed himself as a guy\u2026 INSERT: Clip of Glenn Beck on Fox News in 2009 (continues) \u2026over and over and over again, who has a deep-seeded hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don\u2019t know what it is. Reporter for Fox, speaking to Beck You can\u2019t say he doesn\u2019t like white people. David Axelrod\u2019s white, Rahm Emmanuel is his chief of staff and white, I think 70% of the people we see everyday are white. Robert Gibbs is white\u2026 Glenn Beck I\u2019m not saying he doesn\u2019t like white people, I\u2019m saying he has a problem. He has a \u2013 this guy is, I believe, a racist. Montage of high-rise in Denver, cars outside the Hyatt Hotel Glenn Beck speaking to the press Glenn Beck I apologize for those mistakes, I didn\u2019t mean to divide. I was doing my best to get people, to shake them, to get people to listen. So now where did we go wrong? Katie Pavlich interview Katie Pavlich I mean I don\u2019t know if I like talking in emotional terms because I try to leave my emotions out of it, but it is an emotional time. INSERT: montage of people seated at tables, visiting booths at the convention Katie Pavlich (VO) It\u2019s a very challenging year for a lot of different reasons, not just the challenge of Hillary Clinton on the Left, but who we are as a party I guess you would say. Or who we are as conservatives and what our principles are what really matters. Empty hotel hallway (VO) Antonia Okafor talking, laughing Interview with Antonia Okafor, Katie Pavlich, Kimberly Corban, and Amanda Owens Katie Pavlich The argument that is made against conservatives in general is a very dehumanizing experience because \u201cyou\u2019re a terrible person if you don\u2019t believe a certain way.\u201d I know on the second amendment especially, a lot of time, if you\u2019re pro-second amendment the immediate response from the anti-gun left is \u201cwell you\u2019re not interested in saving our children. And it\u2019s a very extreme position to take, and how are you supposed to have a conversation about that? Antonia Okafor And I see that a lot, and even as a Black person\u2026 LOWER MIDDLE Antonia Okafor STUDENTS FOR CAMPUS CARRY (continues) I\u2019ll get people who say, \u201cwell you\u2019re a traitor to your race.\u201d Or, \u201cyou\u2019re not even a woman if you\u2019re pro-life.\u201d Well, I\u2019m pretty sure I love myself\u2026 I don\u2019t know! I\u2019m pretty sure, so it\u2019s just; it\u2019s a volatility that has been upped to the extreme. Katie Pavlich We\u2019re not racists. We\u2019re not bigots. We\u2019re not misogynists. We are human beings too that probably care about a lot of the same issues that liberals do, on some levels. Maybe a lot of levels. Leon Wolf interview Leon Wolf If you go over to Europe and look at people like Le Pen or Wilders, whoever it might be, this is the message that they preach, that there are people who want to hear, that the reason we\u2019re losing jobs is because of the immigrants. Or because the foreigners have screwed us on our trade deals. Now, for years, those people did not have a political home in the United States because the Democrats ignored the immigration half of that, and the Republicans ignored the trade half. And Donald Trump is the first person I think that\u2019s combined those two. Now that they\u2019ve heard the Trump message I don\u2019t think the toothpaste is going back in the tube for those people. Montage of Ben Sasse Speech, people recording on their phones Erick Erickson interview Erick Erickson He really is fostering a world where these alt-right, white supremacist guys think that they\u2019re in charge, and I can\u2019t be a part of that, I don\u2019t want to be a part of that. Montage of Ben Sasse speaking, people in the audience. Leon Wolf (VO) I don\u2019t feel comfortable with the extent to which they blame problems on things like immigration\u2026 INSERT: Leon Wolf interview (continues) \u2026and I don\u2019t want to be a part of a party that is made appealing to that blatant scare mongering, my affiliation will not be with that. Montage of people in audience, recording speeches on their phones, Ben Sasse speaking Erick Erickson (VO) Republicans for forty years tried to convince Black voters that the GOP\u2019s okay. Erick Erickson interview Erick Erickson Donald Trump has completely blown up everything on that front. Hispanic voters, he\u2019s completely blow up the bridge on that point. And I\u2019m wondering if the brand is so damaged beyond repair that there needs to be a new political party that is not associated with the sins of the Republican party. Montage of sun rising over Denver cityscape, audience watching speeches Glenn Beck (VO) I have said to my kids, recently like three weeks ago, I\u2019m out of answers. Glenn Beck delivering speech Glenn Beck Everything I say seems to set everyone on fire. I\u2019m out of answers. For the first time in your lifetime, dad is coming to you. Any ideas? Guy Benson sitting on stage Guy Benson (VO) I\u2019m not going to throw up my hands and say it\u2019s all over. Guy Benson interview LOWER LEFT Guy Benson THE MILLENIAL CONSERVATIVE Guy Benson (continues) That the party\u2019s over, you know, we\u2019re dead, but it\u2019s bleak. It\u2019s bleak right now. Guy Benson Katie Pavlich seated at panel on stage Guy Benson Who can pull this thing back together? INSERT: shot of audience members (continues) we need leadership desperately, so desperately. And I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s an answer to that question right now. Leon Wolf speaking at podium Leon Wolf Glad to have all of you here. Hope you have a safe flight home. God bless you all, thank you. Leon Wolf (VO) I think most of us in this business who are still kind of opposed to Trump\u2026 Leon Wolf interview Leon Wolf (continues) \u2026have spent a lot of time in the last three months, you know, kind of thinking to ourselves to what extent we contribute to this problem. I know I spent some time talking with Glenn Beck yesterday who was here, and I know he\u2019s done a lot of that. I have myself. INSERT: montage of sun rising, Denver cityscape Margaret Brown (VO) What would you have done differently? In this soul searching? Glenn Beck speaking to the press at a podium Glenn Beck I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve thought about that a million times. I\u2019m trying now to, I\u2019m trying now to listen\u2026 more. Glen Beck interview Glen Beck I\u2019m not sure. I\u2019m reaching out to anybody who will listen. And who is open to a different kind of conversation. So I think, I mean, honestly I\u2019ve reached out to GLAAD in New York and met with the leaders of GLAAD who, you know, it\u2019s not popular for them or me. But we have got to start talking to each other. And there are principles we can grab on to. Even if we strongly disagree. So I think I\u2019m interested in talking to anybody who will listen and who\u2019s willing to try to chart new course for the country. CUTS TO BLACK Not long ago, an astonishing book landed on my desk. Its called Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan and it weighs in at an impressive 1,076 pages. The author is Anthony Kronman, the former dean of the Yale Law School. In an age of academic specialization, this is an epically ambitious book. In an age when intellectuals have lost their sense of high calling, this is an intellectual adventure story based on the notion that ideas drive history, and that to dedicate yourself to them is to live a bigger, more intense life. Kronman has always had an abiding obsession: to understand the meaning of the modern world. Since I first began to think about such things in even a modestly self-conscious way, he writes, I have been haunted by the thought that destiny has placed me in a world with a unique historical identity and been anxious to know what this is. Kronman has never been religious, but he felt that to understand the current era, you had to understand it in relation to all the other moments in history. Colombian voters narrowly rejected that agreement in a plebiscite early this month, many of them swayed by a hyperbolic and misleading campaign led by Mr. Uribe. He and his allies accused Mr. Santos of offering blanket amnesty to Marxist war criminals whom he warned could end up taking power in the country. He also asserted, without evidence, that the deal would hurt the private sector. The politician who oversaw Mr. Uribes No campaign, Juan Carlos Velez, even admitted in an interview that they had steered clear of explaining the content of the agreement and instead focused on a message of indignation. This week, Mr. Santos announced that his government would soon formally start peace talks with the second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, in Ecuador. In order for the FARC deal to get back on track, and for talks with the ELN to succeed, Mr. Uribe will need to play a constructive role. After the referendum, Mr. Uribe made a series of unrealistic demands on the peace deal with the FARC, including scrapping the transitional justice system with a special tribunal that was at the heart of the deal. That tribunal would offer amnesty to most rank-and-file fighters and leniently punish guerrilla members who confess to grave crimes. If Mr. Uribe has a better, workable idea, he should dispatch a delegation to Havana, where the FARC leaders are currently based, to seek compromises on issues involving justice and political participation. If all sides are willing to negotiate in good faith, a final peace agreement could be reached before the end of the year. In recent days, thousands of Colombians who support the peace agreement have taken to the streets to call on the political establishment to work together toward a prompt resolution. If the fight drags on beyond this year, international aid pledged for the implementation of the peace deal will very likely start to fizzle. The United Nations, for instance, has already sent teams of observers, who will monitor compliance with the agreement and take custody of the weapons of the rebel fighters. Those teams cannot be expected to wait around indefinitely for a political breakthrough. Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Heres the sign-up.) Lets turn it over to Conor Dougherty, a technology reporter based in the Bay Area. When tenants started collecting signatures to expand rent control in Silicon Valley earlier this year, organizers knew that they were in for a tough political fight with landlords. Now, with the election fast approaching, that fight is heating up. On Thursday, tenant activists gathered outside the Hayward regional office of the California Apartment Association, a trade group for landlords, to protest what they describe as a deceptive mailer that the association sent out to urge voters to reject the various rent control measures on the states November ballot. The mailer in question was emblazoned with the logo of Californias nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office, causing groups favoring rent control to charge the C.A.A. with impersonating a government agency. Organizers said they plan to file complaints with the California Fair Political Practices Commission. A spokeswoman for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Jacquee Wahler, said, As we have said all along, this lawsuit was completely baseless, and we are gratified by the decision. The former workers cases hinged on their argument that the companies had violated clauses of the visa law requiring employers to show that hiring H-1B workers will not adversely affect the working conditions of other workers in similar jobs. The law also requires large outsourcing companies that employ many H-1B workers to certify in some circumstances that those workers will not displace any similarly employed U.S. worker within six months of applying for the visa. The outsourcing companies argued that the law would apply to them only if the American workers who were displaced by visa holders they hired had originally been their employees, not Disneys. Judge Presnell was persuaded by that argument, although he did not entirely reject the idea that the Americans were adversely affected by being fired. The decision was a broad victory for Disney and its contractors, but Judge Presnell left the former workers a small window to amend their lawsuits and to try again. Mr. Perrero said the decision was a dismaying surprise. This has become an effective business model in the IT industry where two companies can come together and wipe out American jobs without much fear of legal action, he said. I just hope that greed isnt taking our country in the wrong direction. IVYLAND, Pa. When Donald J. Trump is in trouble with women voters, he has often called on his daughter Ivanka, an executive and entrepreneur as smooth as he is rough-hewed, as calming as he is potentially alarming. Ms. Trump had attacked the false narrative of her fathers misogyny on television a month ago, and she declared in the spring that he was not a groper in response to a New York Times account of his treatment of women. It was Ms. Trump, 34, who persuaded her father to add child care support to his policy proposals. Ms. Trump returned to the campaign trail on Thursday for the first time since the emergence of a recording of Mr. Trump vulgarly describing how he liked to grab women by the genitals and force kisses on them. On a carefully stage-managed swing through the Philadelphia suburbs, Ms. Trump avoided mentioning the 2005 recording or a series of accusations by women who said the Republican nominee had gone beyond braggadocio to active groping. WASHINGTON Several of the Republican Partys most generous donors called on the Republican National Committee on Thursday to disavow Donald J. Trump, saying that allegations by multiple women that Mr. Trump had groped or made inappropriate sexual advances toward them threatened to inflict lasting damage on the partys image. To an elite group of Republican contributors who have donated millions of dollars to the partys candidates and committees in recent years, the cascade of revelations related to Mr. Trumps sexual conduct is grounds for the committee to cut ties with the partys beleaguered standard-bearer, finally and fully. At some point, you have to look in the mirror and recognize that you cannot possibly justify support for Trump to your children especially your daughters, said David Humphreys, a Missouri business executive who contributed more than $2.5 million to Republicans from the 2012 campaign cycle through this spring and opposed Mr. Trumps bid from the outset. Bruce Kovner, a New York investor and philanthropist who with his wife has given $2.7 million to Republicans over the same period, was just as blunt. He is a dangerous demagogue completely unsuited to the responsibilities of a United States president, Mr. Kovner wrote in an email, referring to Mr. Trump. Donald J. Trump on Thursday accused Hillary Clinton of guiding a global power structure that has rigged the economy against the working class, language that some suggested echoed anti-Semitic themes. Mr. Trump made the accusation in a speech in West Palm Beach, Fla., in which he also defended himself against several accusations of sexual harassment, published by The New York Times and others. Early in the speech, he said that a global elite had stripped the United States of its wealth in order to line the pockets of corporate and political interests. The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure, he said. Weve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors, he said, referring to the group that has, most recently, published thousands of hacked emails from Mrs. Clintons campaign chairman. KINSTON, N.C. At a community college turned hurricane shelter, Frednesa Pope, 37, wondered on Wednesday if the floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew, which are expected to crest here on Friday, would force her and her family out of an apartment they could barely afford. This week, Gregory King-Yates, 58, who lives on a fixed income and was taking shelter from the flooding in Fair Bluff, N.C., to the southwest, knew that the truck he had just bought was flooded. And over the weekend, Ethel and Austin Chavis of Lumberton, N.C., ripped the carpets out of their flooded home and wondered how much it would cost to make things right again and where they would find the money. Weve got to find some assistance, Ms. Chavis, 66, said as she looked at the floorboards buckling around her, because we definitely need it. Dr. Yutaka Yoshida, a native Hawaiian and a son of Japanese immigrants, was working as a police officer in Honolulu when Japan bombed the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, plunging America into World War II. The Territory of Hawaii was placed under martial law that day, and constitutional rights were suspended out of fear of a possible Japanese invasion, sabotage or espionage. (The edict remained in effect until October 1944.) Dr. Yoshida, a retired surgeon who died on Sept. 13 at age 104 in Honolulu, was 29 then and a veteran of nine years with the police, and he faced a wrenching task on the Sunday of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to accompany F.B.I. agents as they rounded up prominent members of the Japanese community in Honolulu, among them a Buddhist priest, whom he helped take into custody. Even though it was his job, he still cannot forget how sad it was to point his gun at the tiny old Issei priest, wrote Masayo Duus, who interviewed Dr. Yoshida for Unlikely Liberators, a history of Japanese-American soldiers in World War II originally published in 1983. BOGOTA, Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia on Thursday extended a cease-fire with the countrys largest rebel group through the end of the year as he seeks to revive a peace accord to end five decades of war after voters rejected the deal in a referendum. The original cease-fire, which was put in place in August, was nullified when the peace agreement was rejected this month. He had already extended it to Oct. 31. Mr. Santos and his team are considering proposals from representatives of those who opposed the accord which was rejected by a margin of less than half a percentage point as too lenient on the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. He will take the proposals to the FARCs leaders in Havana, who have said they are willing to discuss new ideas. Joseph L. Birman, a physics professor who was honored for his humanitarian work with scientists facing repression in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere, helping scores of them to come to the United States, died on Oct. 1 in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was 89. The cause was complications of cancer, his son Carl David Birman said. Dr. Birman, a theoretical physicist at City College in New York whose specialty was condensed-matter theory, was widely known for his work with organizations like the Committee of Concerned Scientists. With the French-American theoretical physicist Pierre Hohenberg, Dr. Birman set up the committees Program for Refugee Scientists, which helped more than 100 emigres restart their scientific careers in the United States in the 1990s. In 2010, he was one of three recipients of the Andrei Sakharov Prize, given by the American Physical Society in recognition of outstanding leadership or achievements in upholding human rights. He was a member of the societys committee on the international freedom of scientists. WASHINGTON For the United States, it was simple retaliation: Rebels in Yemen had fired missiles at an American warship twice in four days, and so the United States hit back, destroying rebel radar facilities with missiles. But for the rebels and many others in Yemen, the predawn strikes on Thursday were just the first public evidence of what they have long believed: that the United States has been waging an extended campaign in the country, the hidden hand behind Saudi Arabias punishing air war. For the Obama administration, the missile strikes also highlighted the risks of a balancing strategy it has tried to pursue in Yemen since a bitter sectarian war engulfed the country two years ago. The United States has not formally joined the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of Yemens deposed government and has tried to push the warring factions toward a peace deal but it has refueled coalition bombers, trained Saudi pilots and provided intelligence to the bombing campaign. A year and a half of bombing along with the deaths of thousands of Yemeni civilians has stoked anger in Yemen not only toward the Saudis, but also toward their perceived patrons in Washington. This weeks attacks on the Mason, an American destroyer, and the Pentagons response show how rapidly the United States can go from being an uneasy supporting player to an active participant in a chaotic civil war. If I had to categorize the French-Algerian choreographer Rachid Ouramdane, Id label him an expressionist minimalist. I cant think of anyone else to whom that tag applies in dance, and Mr. Ouramdane reminds me of nobody else. His vocabulary is small, but it suggests that he has urgent points to make that go beyond dance. Hes original, peculiar, limited, irksome, haunting. In Far, presented at Dance Theater Workshop in 2008, he created a strange documentary theater about political torture in which his dancing seemed to express a numbed state of post-invasion, post-traumatic stress syndrome. Ordinary Witnesses, shown at New York Live Arts in 2011, was partly a docudrama about peoples efforts to convey the effect of mass killings and political brutality, partly a dance quintet that suggested the wordless consequences of such violence on individuals. The subject of Tordre (Wrought), the duet he is presenting this week at Baryshnikov Arts Center, is female self-revelation, and the production has a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning and end are deliberately trite, with showbiz music; but the middle is separate, extended, odd. The start is a joke, a series of entrances in which Annie Hanauer and Lora Juodkaite keep returning to the stage to strike Here we are poses; the end, though with a few more steps, is equally conventional. Between these sections, most of what occurs are extended solos. Ms. Hanauer, tall and lissome, has a left arm that is visibly artificial from the elbow down but deployed as an organic part of her motion. Whats memorable about her solos is the expressive way she angles her body between knee and neck: She leans, arches, tilts. Ms. Juodkaite, dressed in black tights and polo-neck sweater, spins around the stage for several minutes on end, more than once. As she spins, she changes positions of arm, head and upper body. Louis Stettner, a photographer who explored the streets of the two cities he called his spiritual mothers, New York and Paris, recording the daily lives of ordinary people, died on Thursday at his home in Saint-Ouen, France. He was 93. His death was announced by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Mr. Stettner, a New Yorker, was a product of the Photo League and its emphasis on socially conscious, documentary work, exemplified by members and supporters like Weegee, Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank. I have never been interested in photographs based solely on aesthetics, divorced from reality, he wrote in his photo collection Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets, published in 1999. I also doubt very much whether this is possible. While living in Paris after World War II, he also found inspiration in a new wave of French photographers, including Robert Doisneau, Brassai and Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose outlook seemed to dovetail with the leagues. The first work, Lumiere et Pesanteur, set the mood for the evening. Ms. Saariaho wrote the piece for Mr. Salonen, inspired by his 2009 performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic of her oratorio La Passion de Simone, which explores the life and writings of the Jewish French philosopher and social activist Simone Weil. Lumiere has eight sections, or stations, like a passion ritual. The mostly slow, pensive music churns and breathes with hazy and mystical harmonies that linger, swell and overlap. Sudden bursts will take off, sometimes inciting a fluttering tremolo or gnashing percussion volley. But an overall cosmic feeling pervades. Moment to moment, the music is filled with haunting variations of texture and color. Yet pieces like this one can have a surface sameness, which was the one downside of a program that mostly emphasized Ms. Saariahos contemplative side. Also, Mr. Barrieres videos, dominated by swirling clouds and shapes, emphasized the murky qualities of the music, whereas images that provided more contrasts and activity might have been better. Dom le Vrai Sens (2010), the next work, a substantial concerto for clarinet and orchestra, was written for her Finnish compatriot Kari Kriikku, a brilliant clarinetist, who performed it here commandingly. The piece was inspired by six medieval tapestries, The Lady and the Unicorn, exploring the five senses, as well as a mysterious sixth one. There was more in the way of jarring undercurrents and agitation in this work. During whole sections, Mr. Kriikku played while circulating either among the audience, directing his clarinet right at those seated on the floor, or at his player colleagues, who would stand up and reply with some animated phrase. In certain episodes, he sounded like an avant-garde jazz clarinetist, all reedy lines, rude bleats and banshee shrieks. I wish there had been more of these moments. Ms. Saariaho wrote Lonh, for soprano and electronics, in 1996, and describes it as a prologue to LAmour de Loin. The title comes from a Provencal word meaning far away; the text is a poem attributed to the medieval troubadour Jaufre Rudel, one of the three characters in the story. Jennifer Zetlan brought her luminous soprano to the solo part, while also moving ritualistically among people seated on the floor. Her warm sound carried the elegiac vocal lines beautifully and mingled with the diaphanous, tingling electronic sounds. You probably need to be left-leaning or at least politically neutral to enjoy the new Epix comedy Graves, which begins Sunday, though really everybody should savor Nick Noltes performance in it. The guy was born to be a growly old man. Mr. Nolte plays Richard Graves, a former Republican president of the United States, now grumbling through retirement on his ranch out West. To the party faithful, he was the last great Republican president. To many others, he was the worst president in American history, as Bill Richardson yes, the real Bill Richardson, a former governor of New Mexico reminds him in the premiere, teasingly citing an article on Slate.com. Says you beat James Buchanan and he dissolved the Union, Mr. Richardson says. Cheeky cameos like Mr. Richardsons are not uncommon in this series, whose early episodes also feature glimpses of Rudolph W. Giuliani and Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. That such Republican stalwarts would take part is a little odd in that Graves has a late-life identity crisis and realizes that the conservative policies he put into effect when in office 25 years earlier have done long-term damage, which he sets about trying to undo. For Graves, of course, you might well read Ronald Reagan this fictional president even survived an assassination attempt. But an element of the Clinton story is also woven in: Party leaders are urging Gravess wife, Margaret (Sela Ward), to run for the Senate. LONDON Winnie-the-Pooh is back, and he has a new friend. Penguin, a friendly winter bird, makes his first appearance in Winter one of four stories released this month in The Best Bear in All the World, a new sequel to A. A. Milnes original Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The book was published in Britain and Australia to coincide with the honey-loving bears 90th birthday, and will be released in the United States on Oct. 25. Milnes Winnie-the-Pooh, the first full volume dedicated to the bear, was released in October 1926. This is only the second sequel to Milnes stories officially sanctioned by Pooh Properties, which handles the rights to the character and stories. The first was David Benedictuss 2009 Return to the Hundred Acre Wood. Brian Sibley, who wrote Winter, is one of four authors who contributed to the new book, which features stories focused on each season of the year. Mr. Sibley has written and edited several books on Pooh, including Three Cheers for Pooh and The Pooh Sketchbook. Paul Bright, Jeanne Willis and Kate Saunders wrote the volumes other stories. LONDON Libya, in the words of one lawyer, was like the Wild West in 2008, when Goldman Sachs bankers arrived in the capital, Tripoli. With the lifting of sanctions against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafis regime, the country was beginning to open to foreign companies after years of isolation. For banks like Goldman, the desert nation had a promising potential client: a newly created sovereign wealth fund backed by billions of dollars of oil wealth. What happened next was fought out in a London courtroom this summer. In a trial that revealed tales of prostitutes and lavish spending on hotels and meals, the Libyans accused Goldman of exerting undue influence over its employees and pushing the fund into improper investments that led to more than $1 billion in losses. Goldman argued that the Libyan fund was far more sophisticated than it had claimed and was simply suffering from buyers remorse. On Friday, a London judge came down heavily in Goldmans favor, sparing the Wall Street firm from paying a huge sum in damages. The ruling also provides some relief after several embarrassing overseas predicaments that have dogged Goldman and its reputation this year. Is Verizon having second thoughts? It has expressed doubts about paying $4.8 billion for Yahoos operating business after the internet company reported that the email accounts of at least 500 million users had been hacked in 2014. I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material, and were looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact, Craig Silliman, Verizons general counsel, told reporters in Washington on Thursday. If they believe that its not, then theyll need to show us that. Verizon is still determining the financial effect of the hacking, which was disclosed after the deal between Verizon and Yahoo was announced. One component is the cost of remediation, which includes increased security spending, as well as customer notification and litigation. Wells Fargo disclosed on Friday that new account openings had taken a nose-dive since the scandal over illegal activity at the bank erupted: Bank executives said customers opened 25 percent fewer checking accounts and applied for 20 percent fewer credit cards in September compared with a year ago. Wells Fargo executives acknowledged that customers may have shunned the bank as the extent of the problems came to light. Timothy J. Sloan, who was named the chief executive on Wednesday, said on the companys third-quarter earnings call that he understood the gravity of the situation. As a new C.E.O., my immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo, Mr. Sloan said. In other measures of the fallout, the bank said that a gauge of customer loyalty which asks customers whether they would recommend Wells Fargo to family and friends was also down in September. SEOUL, South Korea Samsung Electronics said on Friday that it expected about $3 billion in operating profits to evaporate over the next two quarters because of its decision to ditch the troubled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. Authorities in the United States announced a ban on Galaxy Note 7s aboard airplanes, citing the risk of fire. Previously the Federal Aviation Administration had urged passengers to turn off and not charge the phones aboard planes. Samsung said in a news release that the reduction in profits tied to that decision was expected to be in the mid-2 trillion won range in the October-December period and about 1 trillion won, or $900 million, for the first quarter of next year. Since its decision to recall millions of Note 7 devices and end production of the model, Samsung has been readjusting profit estimates. On Wednesday, it revised its previously estimated profit of 7.8 trillion won for the third quarter, cutting it to 5.2 trillion won. They would seem to make odd broadcasting bedfellows: the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and the Global Service Center for Quitting Chinese Communist Party. Yet the two organizations are partnering on the airwaves, with two radio stations starting next month at 105.5 FM in Queens. Weekday mornings and early afternoons, the dioceses WDMB will air daily Masses, rosary prayers and call-in shows. At 2 p.m., the Global Services WQEQ will take the microphone to disseminate info about the Chinese Communist Partys crimes against humanity as it declares in its mission statement. The common thread? Both stations will broadcast solely in Mandarin, focusing on the growing Chinese community in Queens. We have a similar target audience, said Msgr. Kieran E. Harrington, the dioceses vicar for communications. These are just two of the nearly 2,000 FM stations across the country that have received new licenses from the Federal Communications Commission over the last two years. All are classified as Low Power FM operating at 100 watts with a broadcast range of roughly five to 15 miles, depending on the surrounding terrain and the proximity of other FM transmissions. About a third are already on the air. He is not positioned as an icon, a Verizon spokeswoman said at the time. His role is to give visibility to the real people in the company who test the network. Mr. Marcarelli made dozens of commercials with Verizon. His relationship with the company formally ended in 2012, he said, though in the fall of 2010, he was told that Verizon would be taking a new direction in its advertising. A 2011 profile in The Atlantic made it seem as if he were glad to leave the job behind. But Mr. Marcarelli said that was not the case. We all set out to build and direct a career for ourselves, and I think the career shapes itself, sometimes in spite of our best efforts, he said. We come to acknowledge the gifts inherent in that, as well as the drawbacks. This spring he was approached by Sprint, which asked if he would like to try its service. It was understood that a role in an ad campaign was in the works. Mr. Marcarelli tried the service and, as he says in the commercial, liked it enough to switch from Verizon (and to receive what is, no doubt, a lucrative contract). He would not discuss financial details but joked, This is not my volunteer job. He expressed gratitude that Sprint was letting him play himself, describing a pretty amazing conversation that he had with some Sprint employees after having already switched his carrier. I happened to mention to them that my husband has always been with Sprint, he said. And I asked them: Incidentally, do you have any discomfort about the fact that Im married to a dude? Is that going to be an issue? If it is, thats kind of a deal-breaker for me. As Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York turns toward his re-election fight next year, an issue that galvanized his first run achieving significant police reform is suddenly becoming a liability. Caught in the gap between his soaring rhetoric as an outsider candidate and the realities of leading a city with a hair-trigger sensitivity to crime, Mr. de Blasio is disappointing many who once supported him, in a community he can ill afford to lose: the black voters who propelled him to office. All I know is, in all our circles, folks have conversations and theres a buzz going around about the disappointment, said Bertha Lewis, the former leader of Acorn who served on Mr. de Blasios transition team in 2014, but has become a vocal critic. Theres a growing enthusiasm gap. In November 1951, as Bhumibol Adulyadej, 23, was heading back to Thailand to take his throne, a group of generals overthrew the royalist government and stripped the Constitution of the substantial powers it accorded the monarchy. Bhumibol became king in 1946 but had been living in Switzerland, studying. His return home was supposed to be a celebration; it was greeted with a blow to the monarchy. This was an inauspicious start, but it may have been a great blessing. King Bhumibols death on Oct. 13 concluded an extraordinary reign of seven decades, during which he arguably became one of the most popular and most respected monarchs in the world. King Bhumibol spent his first years on the throne engaging in what looked like politically benign activities. He made public appearances with his attractive, dynamic family. He played jazz over the radio. He sponsored charities and farm projects. Like many pious young Thai men, he was briefly ordained as a Buddhist monk. Just saying. Societies slide into dictatorship more often than they lurch, one barrier falling at a time. Just a buffoon, people say, and vulgar. And then its too late. Ive been reminded in recent weeks of the passage in Fred Uhlmans remarkable novella, Reunion, in which a proud German Jewish physician, twice wounded in World War I, and convinced the Nazis are a temporary illness, lambasts a Zionist for trying to raise funds for a Jewish homeland: Do you really believe the compatriots of Goethe and Schiller, Kant and Beethoven will fall for this rubbish? How dare you insult the memory of twelve thousand Jews who died for our country? Germans fell for the rubbish. The Republican Party fell for the garbage. Today, millions of Americans who plan to vote for Trump are apparently countenancing violence against their neighbors, people who might be different from them, perhaps Muslim or Latino. Its easy to inject the virus of hatred: just point a gun. That Trump traffics in violence is irrefutable. His movement wants action deportations, arrests, assassination and torture have been mooted. The most worrying thing is not that Trump likes Vladimir Putin, the butcher of Aleppo, but that he apes Vladimir Putin. Speaking of Latinos, heres what happened the other day to Veronica Zuleta, who was born in El Salvador and became an American citizen more than a decade ago. She was in the upscale Draegers Market in Menlo Park when the man next to her said: You should go to Safeway. This store is for white people. Zuleta was shocked. Never had she encountered a comment like that about her brown skin. But even the Democratic bastion of Silicon Valley is not immune to the Trump effect: Once unsayable things can now be said the world over. Go back to where you came from is the phrase du jour. PARIS If you want a lively dinner party conversation in Paris these days, just mention les voies sur berges the express car lanes that run along the Seine and your guests will soon be at one anothers throats. Ignoring the advice of an experts committee, Mayor Anne Hidalgo last month imposed a permanent ban on traffic on a central section of the drive, which was built in the 1970s, when motorists ruled the city. Today is a different era, of bikers and shared electric cars. Ms. Hidalgo, a Socialist elected in 2014 with the support of ecologists, wants clean air in the City of Light and the riverside express lanes turned into pedestrian walkways. She has declared war on private cars. Parisian drivers feel trapped in a dark plot to eliminate them. And it hurts. The Socialist mayor is betting on a phenomenon called evaporation of traffic. The experience of other cities shows that when streets are permanently closed to traffic, drivers tend to alter their habits: They change their itinerary when possible, or choose another means of transportation. What is not evaporating, though, in the first weeks of the experiment on the voies sur berges, is the anger of motorists stuck in rush-hour traffic on parallel streets, still stubbornly clinging to their steering wheels. So when the government announced, in the same week, that it was planning to make room somewhere in Paris for a nudist camp hardly a priority in a city struggling with terrorist threats and refugees, not to mention Kim Kardashians travails tempers flared. Ms. Hidalgo was derided as Notre-Drame de Paris (our drama queen) by a business magazine, Challenges, and branded Queen of the Bobos (bourgeois bohemians) by conservative opponents who accuse her of catering to the left-leaning yuppie voters of a gentrified French capital. They mock her authoritarian management style: She wants to make happiness compulsory. Dr. Tamika Cross, a black physician at the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston, could not immediately come to the phone on Friday. She was busy delivering a baby boy by C-section. So, yes, in case anyone has any doubt, Dr. Cross is an actual physician. But the 28-year-old doctor said that was the question hanging in the air, raised by a flight attendant, when she volunteered to treat a sick passenger on a Delta flight from Detroit to Minneapolis on Sunday. Dr. Cross wrote about the episode in a Facebook post later that day, saying she had put her hand up to help, but was met with the kind of skepticism she had encountered before as a black doctor. A flight attendant demanded her credentials and confirmation that she was a real physician. She said to me: Oh no, sweetie put ur hand down; we are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel. We dont have time to talk to you. A few customers can generate big costs. Even a small number of customers with serious conditions can greatly increase costs. Roy Vaughn, a senior vice president at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, said that just 5 percent of the companys marketplace customers had accounted for nearly 75 percent of its claims costs. The company recently announced that it would stop selling marketplace plans in Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville. There are other reasons insurers are raising their rates or leaving the marketplaces. A big one is that the Obama administration, thwarted by Republican opponents in Congress, has paid out only a fraction of the $2.5 billion it owes insurers under a provision of the health law that was supposed to protect them from unexpectedly large losses during their first few years in the marketplaces. But these payments would not be so important if more of the roughly 10 million marketplace customers were in good health. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association reported in March that new customers who bought marketplace plans from its member insurers in 2014 and 2015 had higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, depression, H.I.V. and hepatitis C. Chronically ill patients are worried about next year. Many of these customers are in better shape after a few years with health insurance. But they are scared about the Affordable Care Acts future. LOGAN, Utah On a night when Donald J. Trumps campaign was staggering under new accusations that he had groped and sexually assaulted women, 900 voters streamed into a middle school auditorium in this reliably Republican and mostly Mormon city, desperate to hear something different. This is the only time in my life Ive not known what to do, said Holly Shapiro, 54, a conservative who has never missed a presidential election, but may stay home in November. Her daughter Nicole, sitting next to her, described Mr. Trump as profane and immoral, and Ms. Shapiro nodded, saying, I want to vote for a moral, upstanding person. Backstage, Evan McMullin was getting ready to make his pitch that he was just that candidate. He has little money and no major-party backing, and he is little known outside Utah, his home state. But lately, Mr. McMullin, 40, has been drawing big crowds in Utah and thousands of online supporters who see his moonshot run for president as a final refuge for Never Trump conservatives. Some polls show him turning the battle here into a three-way race with Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton. People come up and they just thank us for running, in a relieved sort of way, Mr. McMullin said at his campaign offices on a tree-lined street in downtown Salt Lake City. Some people say that they were praying for another option. As Republican candidates for the House and Senate have been rolling out their final round of political advertisements before Election Day, one thing has been conspicuously absent: love for Donald J. Trump. The release of a video showing Mr. Trump boasting of sexually assaulting women followed by more allegations from women saying he touched them inappropriately has made the Republican nominee increasingly toxic to vulnerable Republican candidates who are looking to hold onto their seats. The narrow path that they walk in appealing to undecided voters without angering Mr. Trumps base of supporters is particularly evident on the airwaves. In Pennsylvania, where recent polls show Hillary Clinton opening up wide lead, Senator Pat Toomey this week released an ad that was focused entirely on his skepticism about Mr. Trump. I have a lot of disagreements with Donald Trump, Mr. Toomey said in the opening moment of the ad in which he casts himself as someone who would be a check against Mr. Trumps bad ideas. Ive been very clear about that. Polls have shown that voters are willing to separate their support for certain House and Senate candidates from their feelings about the top of the ticket. In an effort to bolster Ms. Comstock and other vulnerable Republicans, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Republicans, announced Friday that it would invest an additional $10 million into 15 targeted races, including hers. Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin also has tried to ensure his party holds its House majority, offering a policy agenda and promising appearances in dozens of cities to lend his fund-raising power. His campaign said on Thursday that Mr. Ryan had raised $15.4 million in the third quarter, collecting more than $48.2 million in 2016. He has transferred more than $31 million of that to the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Mr. Ryan having disinvited Mr. Trump from their first planned joint appearance in Wisconsin last weekend after news of the recording broke effectively cut his members free on Monday, saying he would not defend nor campaign with Mr. Trump. He has instead shifted his focus to the argument that Republicans need to be re-elected to serve as a bulwark against a potential President Hillary Clinton. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, has proved once more to be a fund-raising powerhouse, raising $34.6 million for House Democrats in the third quarter and $127.7 million this election cycle, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said on Wednesday. Your typical Trump rally this was not. First there was the ritual Hindu fire, a yagna, which burned in his honor. Then there were the posters, standard Donald J. Trump head shots except for a touch of artistic interpretation: a tilak, the red dot symbolic of the spiritual third eye in Hindu culture, smudged on his forehead. This celebration of Mr. Trump in New Delhi in May, and others like it in India this year, are the work of a small, devoted and increasingly visible faction of Hindu nationalists in India and the United States who see Mr. Trump as the embodiment of the cocksure, politically incorrect, strongman brand of politics they admire. That some of Mr. Trumps most passionate followers are Indian may seem, at first, somewhat strange, given how fond he is of scorning Asian countries where cheap labor saps demand for American workers. A poll on Asian-Americans political leanings conducted in August and September found that just 7 percent of Indian-Americans said they would vote for Mr. Trump. But in one of the more peculiar pairings of this most peculiar political season, Mr. Trump has unwittingly fashioned a niche constituency in the overlap between the Indian right and the American right, which share a lot of the same anxieties about terrorism, immigration and the loss of prestige that they believe their leaders have been too slow to reverse. CLEVELAND President Obama on Friday implored voters here to reject a dark and pessimistic vision offered by Donald J. Trump and urged a robust turnout on behalf of Hillary Clinton in a state where the presidential candidates are locked in a razor-thin contest. Following by a day Michelle Obamas deeply personal denunciation of Mr. Trump, the president also assailed the Republican nominee as a morally compromised and intellectually inferior person who fakes his concern for the working class in America. The guy spent 70 years on this earth showing no regard for working people, Mr. Obama said, describing Mr. Trump as a wealthy opportunist who is pretending to be something he has never been. And then suddenly, hes going to be the champion of working people? Come on. Come on, man. Mr. Obama cited a litany of statements from Mr. Trump as evidence that the Republican nominee is unfit to be president, and said people do not have to be a husband or a father to know that Mr. Trumps comments about women were unacceptable. CINCINNATI The boos at the Trump rally were scattershot as the first laptop-toting reporter emerged from the black curtains covering a side entrance a few hundred feet from the spotlighted stage. Within moments, they grew to a menacing, thunderous roar. Donald J. Trumps supporters have aimed their verbal ire at undocumented immigrants, Republican rivals and Hillary Clinton. This week, they have settled on a new target: the news media. But even reporters long accustomed to the toxic fervor of Trump rallies were startled and even frightened at the vitriol of a Cincinnati crowd on Thursday evening as more than 15,000 supporters flashed homemade signs, flipped middle fingers and lashed out in tirades often laced with profanity as journalists made their way to a crammed, fenced-in island in the center of the floor. The Trump supporters crowded by the metal barriers protecting the area, leaning over to get in one last insult before returning their attention to the stage as Rudolph W. Giuliani strode out. OSAGE COUNTY, Okla. As the sun set on the honey-colored prairie here, a herd of wild horses grazed belly deep in Indiangrass and big bluestem. On the next ridge, a dozen more horses nibbled in the pasture, and beyond them even more, dotting the hills almost as far as the eye could see. The head of the Bureau of Land Managements wild horse program, Dean Bolstad, tipped up his cowboy hat and looked out at the animals from a hilltop. I love seeing this, he said, but its also an absolute anchor around our neck. The horses were grazing on a ranch the agency rents, one of 60 private ranches, corrals and feedlots where it stores the 46,000 wild horses it has removed from the Wests public lands. The cost: $49 million a year. Trying to make that rent has pushed the wild horse program into crisis. The expense eats up 66 percent of the federal budget for managing wild horses, and it is expected to total more than $1 billion over the life of the herds. The program cannot afford to continue old management practices that created the problem in the first place, or afford to come up with solutions that might fix it. LAGOS, Nigeria People fanned out on bicycles and on foot across a remote region of northeastern Nigeria on Friday to notify the families of 21 girls that they had been liberated by Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group, after two and a half years of captivity. Roads in the area are poor, and Boko Haram had blown up cellphone towers in the region, so many people had not heard the news that the 21 girls among the more than 270 who were seized from a boarding school in the town of Chibok on April 14, 2014 were freed on Thursday in a deal brokered by the Swiss government. We are not all in the same towns, Yakubu Nkeki, the chairman of a parents group that has urged more aggressive efforts to secure the girls release, said in a phone interview on Friday, adding that some of the relatives lived as far as 12 miles from Chibok. But even as the nation rejoiced, relatives of an additional 197 girls who are believed to still be held by Boko Haram were crushed when a handwritten list of the freed girls was released and they saw that their sisters, nieces and daughters were not on it. A week has passed since the hurricane tore through this remote stretch of Haitis southern peninsula, leaving an apocalyptic landscape of treeless countryside, disarticulated homes and a land robbed of its natural riches. But for many, the torment has only started. Cholera, the disease at the heart of Haitis last disaster, is being spread again by this one. About 10,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been sickened since cholera first appeared in late 2010. Scientists say it was brought to Haiti by United Nations peacekeepers stationed at a base that leaked waste into a river. After years of deflecting blame, the United Nations this summer acknowledged its own involvement in the suffering Haiti has experienced from the disease. Now, cholera is stalking the areas gutted by the hurricane, a long peninsula of coastal towns and mountain villages where clean water was already hard to find, long before the storm. Here in the remote town of Rendel, a grueling four-hour trek to the nearest paved road, the disease has spread to every crevice of this valley and the hills above. We are all at risk, said the last official in Rendel, Pierre Cenel, the magistrate. A father raced down the hill to the clinic with his young daughter draped over his back, clutching her legs, his face fixed in fear. She must have cholera, the magistrate said. He is running to save her life. Cholera was creeping through the mountains even before the hurricane, claiming the lives of untold numbers as its pushed toward town. First came the sick, who trudged down to Rendel, desperate for medical care. Then, when the floods came, cholera was carried down by the water itself, which swept up fecal matter dumped on the hillsides, contaminating the river and other drinking supplies. A tour employee immediately leaps forward to open the top hatch of the cage to allow the shark to escape. About 20 harrowing seconds later, the shark finally wriggles free, breaching as it finds its way back to open water in the Pacific Ocean. The footage was captured by the operator of the Gabe and Garrett YouTube page, an adventure-themed account for children. The boys father, who identified himself as Brian but would not give his last name out of concern for the safety of his children, said in an interview that two divers had left the water about two minutes before the encounter, which was good timing on their part. In a telephone interview, Mr. Chan said he did not have time to take photos of the encounter, and could not see what was happening as the shark was thrashing because the cage was rattling so sharply. He said he was not afraid to be trapped inside the cage with the shark. Honestly at that moment I dont have time to get afraid, he said. Because the shark is coming, a very sharp moment, two seconds. WASHINGTON President Obama on Friday moved to cement his administrations historic opening with Cuba by issuing a sweeping directive that will last beyond his presidency, setting forth a new United States policy to lift the Cold War trade embargo and end a half-century of clandestine plotting against Cubas government. The action formalizes the shift toward normalization that the president unveiled nearly two years ago with the announcement that he and President Raul Castro of Cuba had secretly agreed to repair their countries relationship. Mr. Obama on Friday also made what aides said were likely his final major modifications to loosen United States sanctions on Cuba before leaving office, including lifting the $100 limit on bringing Cuban rum and cigars into the United States. It is Mr. Obamas latest use of executive power to press forward in the face of lingering opposition in Congress to repealing the embargo, this time through a 12-page document that essentially transforms what has been a presidential priority into a set of official mandates that will shape United States policy toward Cuba for decades. POCHEON, South Korea Lee Min-boks house, fashioned out of two shipping containers, is monitored by 12 police surveillance cameras. Dogs woof at any stranger walking up the dirt path. Plainclothes detectives check his mailbox and tag along wherever he goes to protect him from possible assassins sent by North Korea, which openly threatens to kill him. But that has not stopped him. On days when the wind blows to the north, Mr. Lee, 59, ventures out with his secondhand five-ton truck, hauling a large hydrogen tank to the border with North Korea, an hours drive away. There, he fills dozens of 23-foot and 39-foot barrel-shaped balloons with the gas and lets them drift away. The balloons carry special payloads: radio sets, one-dollar bills, computer memory sticks and, above all, tens of thousands of leaflets bearing messages that Mr. Lee says will debunk the personality cult surrounding Kim Jong-un, the youthful leader of North Korea. My leaflets are a poison for Kim Jong-uns regime, because they help North Koreans wake up to his lies, Mr. Lee said during an interview at his home. I just want to send him to heaven, said Supasit Chinwinitkul, a university student who said he had come to the palace at 6 a.m. He did so much for us. Just waiting for a short time is a small sacrifice for me. He did thousands of times more for us. The kings motorcade left the hospital late in the afternoon, moving slowly, escorted by police officers on motorcycles. Spectators bowed as it passed, and members of the military along the route dropped to one knee. Many in the crowd sobbed, and some wailed. The government declared Friday a holiday, but malls, shops and street stalls were open, as were banks and the Thai stock market. Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the head of the military junta that seized power in 2014, had urged Thais to continue with business as usual even as they mourned the king. But signs of Thailands loss were inescapable in Bangkok. People everywhere wore black, and some newspapers and websites went to a black-and-white format. Television channels, both domestic and foreign, broadcast documentary footage about the king at the governments request. They were told they could resume showing their own content starting at midnight, but without showing entertainment programs. TUTZING, Germany For more than two years, the king of Thailand lay ill in a Bangkok hospital. During much of that time, his son, the heir to Thailands throne, was far from the kingdom, flying around Europe in his Boeing 737 and ensconced in luxury villas and hotels amid the misty lakes and mountains of southern Germany and Austria. The lavish European lifestyle of the son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, and his tastes for airplanes, fast cars, women and the high life have caused great anxiety in the kingdom for decades. Now he is on the cusp of ascending the throne. The death of the beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday has set in motion a succession that many Thais say they wish they could avoid. King Bhumibol had been a unifying figure in a country that is torn by deep divisions of class and politics and is currently ruled by a military junta. The issue is whether the prince, seen by many Thais as lacking the deep public devotion that his father enjoyed, can hold the country together. The princes ascension also raises questions about the future of the monarchy, as a less-beloved king could give strength to a republican movement that has gained a foothold in recent years. Among the issues at stake is control over one of the worlds great royal fortunes, an estimated $31 billion in real estate holdings alone. Succession may force the consideration of an unresolved and rarely discussed question of whether those assets and others are the property of the royal family or of the Thai public. The curriculum changes are part of the balancing act that Jordans monarchy has long attempted to appease its conservative citizens; the United States, a loyal ally that provides crucial aid; its noisy secular elite; and its influential Christian minority. (Even as the government issued the new textbooks, it arrested a Jordanian writer, Nahed Hattar, for sharing a cartoon on Facebook that many saw as mocking God. Mr. Hattar, 56, a prominent writer from a Christian family, was fatally shot when he showed up at a courthouse on Sept. 25 to face criminal charges of insulting Islam.) The problem with the previous Jordanian curriculum, advocates for change said, was that Islam dominated every subject, without teaching children about the shared humanity of non-Muslims, including other Jordanian citizens. For instance, Jordanians are taught, You are a Muslim, and therefore you are moral, said Oraib al-Rantawi, director general of Al Quds Center for Political Studies, which argued for revisions. So the question is, what of others? Non-Muslims? Are they moral? Pressure to change the curriculum came in 2015, after a Jordanian Air Force fighter pilot, First Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, was burned alive in a cage by ISIS militants. Some leading Jordanians hesitated to condemn his killing, appearing to sympathize with the militants. At the time, hundreds of Jordanians were already in neighboring Syria fighting for militant groups. Government officials began to question how the education curriculum was influencing Jordanians, said Mr. Shteiwi, the sociologist. We began feeling that what we are doing in our schools was an important factor, he said. Mr. Shteiwi, along with other academics and religious figures, was summoned by the Education Ministry in the spring. As they worked on the curriculum, a sense of urgency grew. In June, three intelligence officers and two government employees were killed at a Palestinian refugee camp. In November, a police officer fatally shot five security officials, including two American trainers, a South African and two fellow Jordanians, at a compound in Amman, bringing fears of infiltration by Islamist militants into one of the Arab worlds safest cities. The curriculum changes were meant to give students a better chance to enter the labor market, and to make them more immune to extremist ideas circulating against them, said Mohammad Momani, a government spokesman. It is unclear how effective the new curriculum will be in a country with around 1.7 million students and 30,000 teachers working in 4,000 schools, many of them overcrowded. The United Nations has formally approved its next Secretary-General. Antonio Guterres of Portugal will become the world body's ninth leader on January first, succeeding Ban Ki-moon, who leaves office at the end of this year. The former Portuguese prime minister and former UN refugee agency chief said he feels humility and gratitude, as well as a profound sense of responsibility in the face of so many global challenges. "The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a humble approach -- one in which the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views; one in which the secretary-general makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved," he said Thursday. Just as Savile Row does for lovers of custom tailored mens wear, Fleet Street in London stands for something in the popular imagination: the British press. So it was a notable moment in the life of Britains capital when two journalists packed up recently and left the London office of a Scottish newspaper, The Sunday Post. They happened to be the last of their kind actually working on Fleet Street. The thoroughfare was for generations the center of a thriving newspaper landscape, clustering the offices of the most famous publications together in a historic part of London, sandwiched between the citys financial and political districts. Though Britains national papers were (and remain) fierce competitors, their employees tended to mix and congregate after hours in the same Fleet Street bars and pubs. We have a gallery that will do all our fair, and Ive confirmed that the prices will be different with Art Wynwood 2017 because of this show, she said. Dr. Julio Ortiz, an eye surgeon in Miami, has seen the effect. He said he bought pieces by the Cuban artist Roberto Fabelo for $30,000 a few years ago. But after his work was shown in museums in the United States and Europe, similar works fetched $100,000. I wouldnt say the quality is so different, but theres more demand, Dr. Ortiz said. Using museum shows to inform investments is not limited to living artists. Michel Witmer, a collector in New York City, said a show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that was centered on the painters represented by Paul Durand-Ruel, a Parisian art dealer at the turn of the 20th century, persuaded him to buy a work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, an artist he had never liked. When I went to the Durand-Ruel show, I got to learn more about Renoir and why he was so important, he said. Shortly after the show, he bought a Renoir at auction. I wouldnt have bought that piece if I hadnt seen the show, he said. It may seem odd that it took a museum show to persuade a collector with the means to buy a Renoir to buy one at last. But Mr. Witmer disagreed. I have a home in Greenwich, and Im fond of my friends there, he said. But there are people who want to buy something because theyve seen it in the homes of well-known collectors. Going to shows in museums helps us become better individual art collectors. MANY children learn to save by stashing cash in a piggy bank or jar, then graduate to a basic savings deposit account. But as teenagers, they start to spend more lunch while on a field trip, a movie with a friend and may need an account that lets them make purchases with a debit card. A variety of options are available, including traditional checking accounts with debit cards, as well as prepaid debit cards, that parents can manage jointly with a child. The cards give children control over their own cash but allow parents to monitor the spending and offer guidance as needed. You can start by asking if your own bank or credit union offers an option for joint accounts with teenagers, said Laura Levine, chief executive of JumpStart Coalition, which promotes youth financial literacy. Some institutions dont permit minors to have debit cards under their own name until they are at least 16, but others offer them to children who are 13 or even younger. Parents should look for features like no or low fees for funding and maintaining the account, online account monitoring, convenient A.T.M. access and the ability to set spending limits. Concealed by bedraggled vegetation alongside a freeway, the path would beckon to Anthony Hernandez; and like an urban archaeologist, hed venture forth to find, in a clearing beneath a sheltering overpass, the traces of an unknown civilization: hundreds of cigarette butts, food in a plastic bag suspended from a tree, a chair constructed from two slabs of plasterboard. The homeless people who slept there would be out scavenging. And in their absence, Mr. Hernandez would set up his camera and tripod, and record the scene in sharply detailed color images that are both forensic and poetic. Those photographs, from a series he calls Landscapes for the Homeless, make up a small section of a revelatory exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art that runs through Jan. 1. It is the first career retrospective for Mr. Hernandez, 69, who for half a century has been compiling a singular record of his hometown. Los Angeles appears on countless rolls of photographic film, but the terrain Mr. Hernandez travels is largely unexplored. I grew up taking pictures in downtown L.A., because this was my neighborhood, it was someplace I know, the poor places of L.A. Compton, South Central, Watts, Mr. Hernandez, a modest, engaging man, said in San Francisco. No one questioned him. It helps to have brown skin, he said. Maksiks 2013 follow-up, A Marker to Measure Drift, is my favorite of his novels. A young Liberian woman whose father was loyal to the dictator Charles Taylor has escaped to Spain and then the Greek island of Santorini after her family is slaughtered in front of her. The opening scenes are tense with risk. She has no money, no food, no shelter, no friends, and she must survive and also come to terms with this violent past and keep her sanity. There are a few weak points a running conversation with her dead mother and distracting metafictional asides, akin to those throughout Shelter in Place, discussing memory and narrative but overall its a powerful and affecting work. While Maksik tries in his new novel to evoke moments of euphoria as well as despair, no scene from Shelter in Place can match the vividness found in A Marker to Measure Drift, in actions as simple as going for a swim, eating eggs and toast or saying a few honest words to another person. Maksik creates a living intensity here that cannot be refused. Thats not to say Shelter in Place lacks intensity. It is, indeed, built around three different kinds of intensity, each with high stakes. The first is bipolar disorder, which attacks Joe suddenly enough to knock a paperback from his hand. A life without any hint of depression or other mental illness and then suddenly, in one moment, thick tar inching through my body . . . a blue-black bird, its talons piercing my lungs. Joe compares the diseases arrival to a sucker punch or a spiked drink or a needle pressed into his vein: Look, one moment I was a strong, happy kid reading a book, he tells us. And then out of thin air it arrived. My own father died of suicide because of bipolar disorder, so I have trouble believing in its sudden onset without any previous cause or symptom but this is what the novel insists on (Joes theory is that he has inherited his mothers mental illness), so I tried to accept it. Yet the tar and bird metaphors are reductive, labored and repetitive. Always the tar and bird, offset by euphoria, and the only real sign that the disorder is progressing is something Joe refers to as failing filters, in which light and sound seem increasingly harsh. The books second intensity is its true inciting incident: We learn in the opening pages that Joes mother has killed a man with a hammer. Seven blows to the head in a hardware store parking lot after watching him berate and abuse his wife and kids. While in prison afterward, Anne-Marie March gains a kind of power, inspiring others who would fight back against male violence, and the book acquires a measured, righteous outrage as it considers the unpunished, tolerated and even celebrated drumbeat of daily violence toward women. Those seven hammer blows drive Joes sister away from the family forever, change his fathers life into something smaller but ultimately more spiritual, and push Joe and Tess and a friend into a plot of revenge against a professor who regularly beats his wife. This revenge leaves Joe and Tess and their friend disappointed, ashamed and enervated, and it is among the strongest and most interesting discoveries of the novel that violence, even justified violence, is failure. Nothing ever overshadows the inciting hammer attack in importance, though, which inevitably makes the reading experience a bit flat. This is compounded by the fact that the narrative unspools at a time of waiting. The novel is really a love story the third intensity is Joes unlimited, exuberant love for Tess, in all her wildness and flaws but Maksik could not have picked a more static time frame, as Joe waits two years for her return. And the denouement takes 80 pages, which seem especially slow on a second reading: after the plotted revenge, 80 pages of just wrapping up and reflecting, with nothing more to look forward to except several deaths by old age and some curiosity about whether Tess will return. It is, Joe admits, an indistinct shape, a hum of years. WHEN PARIS SIZZLED The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends By Mary McAuliffe Illustrated. 329 pp. Rowman & Littlefield. $29.95. Early in Mary McAuliffes fact-filled tour of les Annees Folles, she perfectly sums up that effervescent postwar interlude with a quote from Raymond Radiguets novel Le Bal du Comte dOrgel: It is at these troubled periods that frivolity, even license, are most easily understood, he writes, because one enjoys with gusto what tomorrow may belong to somebody else. But, as McAuliffe well knows, 1920s Paris belongs to us all at least to all those Francophiles who share a fascination with the carefree, joyous, bohemian existence immortalized in so many novels, paintings and films. And yet, no matter how much one loves Paris, its daunting to try to compete with, or even do justice to, the art that came out of that magical decade. How many books about the Crazy Years can one Francophile read without feeling as if its Groundhog Day at La Coupole? To satiate this curiosity and hunger for near-obsessive detail, few can top When Paris Sizzled, a book so packed with intriguing character sketches and associations as to be almost encyclopedic. McAuliffe, the author of several books about Paris, draws on the troves of material left behind by the eras great writers and expats to bring the city to life in a kind of you-are-here-with-Cocteau-and-Chanel tableau vivant. And everyone is here at McAuliffes proverbial Montparnasse party: Paul Poiret, Fernand Leger, Kiki, Soutine, Ravel, Diaghilev, Cocteau, Le Corbusier, Stravinsky (with financial aid from Coco Chanel), Andre Citroen (manufacturing Frances first mass-market automobile) and even the 28-year-old captain Charles de Gaulle. And the Americans, of course! They flooded the city after the armistice, drawn in part by the falling franc, but mostly by the glamour of free-flowing booze and loose sexual mores. Cole Porter (he arrived with a piano keyboard with collapsible legs), Ernest Hemingway, Man Ray, George Gershwin, Ezra Pound, Helena Rubinstein, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Elsa Maxwell. Every day was like a sparkling holiday, said this stylish American hostess, who was in Paris for the peace talks of 1919. Im very good at accepting those people on their own terms, bending them subtly to do things that I think are useful. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I fail. But I do think my childhood was helpful for that. Can you talk more about how you learned the art of nudging people? When you get the job as creative director, your first inclination is to agree with everything people present to you, because you want them to like you. But then when it doesnt come out well, then you actually have to think, inform the discussion and get the person to come back again with something slightly different and feel good about that. And they may have to change it again. I try to see the work through the eyes of the people who did it because I dont want to demoralize them. Why are they excited about their approach? Then I judge it from the best part of it. Sometimes there isnt a lot there, and so Ill say, You guys are doing a good job of thinking about it because this problem is not easy. So I give them some credit for the time that theyve put in and for the perspective that theyve got on it. Sometimes I also have an idea for fixing the problem. Sometimes its a lame idea, and they walk out of the meeting thinking, I can beat that. But thats fine. I give them a lot of rope to do what they think is right. How have your parents influenced your leadership style? I see a lot of my dads influence. When I would go to work with my dad, he would be friendly and know everybody in the office. He was one of those guys who knew the names of the security guards kids. Ive tried to be that way in life as much as I can. The three met in the 1990s while working at what was then Columbia Management in Portland, Ore. In the early 2000s, Mr. Smoluch and Mr. Marvin created a predecessor to their fund at Roxbury Capital Management. A few years later, they recruited Mr. Swank, and, in 2013, the three started Hood River Capital Management, also in Portland. Image Brian P. Smoluch, a manager of the Hood River Small-Cap Growth Fund , said, Our typical company might have only six analysts following it, compared to maybe 50 for Apple. Credit... Toni Greaves for The New York Times As stock pickers, theyre generalists, surveying all parts of the market. They will scoop up several companies in a field if they see growing companies benefiting from a broader trend. They have done that in fiber optics, with holdings like Oclaro, Fabrinet and Finisar, all recent double-digit gainers. For a while, there was a huge overcapacity of components for fiber networks, Mr. Smoluch said. But youve had a major industry consolidation combined with accelerating demand, as networks upgrade to meet the bandwidth needs of smartphones, cloud computing and video streaming. In researching a promising company, they talk with its competitors, customers and suppliers. They estimate they make about 1,000 calls a year. Talks with pharmaceutical and biotech executives led them to a holding in PRA Health Sciences. Its a contract research organization that manages clinical trials, Mr. Swank said. Based on our conversations, we believe its gaining market share, and the entire industry is being helped along by the high level of biotech financing that happened in 2015. Even after two big shuffles at the top, Wells Fargo is still working from the same playbook. And for the banks stockholders, that could mean more frustration lies ahead. John Stumpf abruptly exited late Wednesday from his chief executive and chairman posts at the bank, taking responsibility for the banks phony accounts disaster. But the elevation of Timothy J. Sloan, the Wells Fargo president and former chief operating officer, to succeed Mr. Stumpf, and the simultaneous appointment of an independent board chairman seem like incremental moves from a bank that really needs a do-over to repair the damage. Is Mr. Sloan, an almost 30-year veteran of Wells Fargo and a seasoned insider, the best executive to lead the bank out of crisis? Some of the experts I talked to dont think so. Sarah Bloom Raskin, deputy secretary of the United States Treasury and a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said that Wells Fargo needed to shift from a reactive crisis-management stance to proactive risk management. And this may require more significant change than the company is offering. Last November, Shaun Reed, 32, drove up a winding road in Ione, Calif. In the back of the vehicle, unperturbed by the journey to the old gold-rush town, rode a flop-eared, cocoa-colored goat. Mr. Reed was sure it was the perfect gift for Heidi and Randy Ilich, who he hoped would soon be his in-laws. The night before, Mr. Reed, who had flown to California from his home in Colorado, had formally asked for the blessing of the Ilichs to marry their daughter Cassandra. He planned to propose a few months later, though, so he swore them to secrecy about his trip west. Mr. Ilich had moved to California from Serbia as a teenager, and he and his wife had raised their two daughters, Cassandra and Sabrina, to be proud of their Serbian heritage. Offering a gift of livestock as a bride price, he had been told, is an old Serbian country tradition, so Mr. Reeds four-footed travel partner was a lighthearted yet meaningful way of making sure the Ilichs knew he was committed to their daughter, even as they laughed over the bleating. Mr. Reed figured the goat would soon be on the grill as part of the St. Archangel Michaels Slava (Saints Day) festivities, an annual celebration, with friends and family, of the Ilich familys patron saint. Instead, the goat became a family mascot. A top U.S. diplomat has warned North Korea of dire consequences if it continues to arm itself with nuclear weapons. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Russel told reporters in Washington D.C. on Wednesday that Kim will "immediately die" if he decides to equip his country with weapons advanced enough to launch a nuclear strike. "Perhaps he's got an enhanced capacity to conduct a nuclear attack and then immediately die. But that can't be plan A," Russel said. The warning comes amid calls from several senior U.S. figures for a preemptive strike on North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities. The dinner was Reichardts first introduction to any sort of life outside the mainstream. She began sleeping on her neighbors couches, attending their parties. She took night classes to get access to equipment, which she used to film their projects; the films, in turn, became her application to art school. After graduating from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, she moved to New York City and, after a few years, began writing her first feature film, River of Grass. Reichardt once described River of Grass, which was met with positive if not career-catalyzing reviews, as a road movie without the road, a love story without the love and a crime story without the crime. It was released in 1994, a full 12 years before her next movie. She spent half that time couch-surfing, including a few months in Hollywood, trying and failing to get something made in a place that, as she realizes now, required skills like pitching and schmoozing that she didnt even knew existed. I came back to New York thinking: This is torturous. What do I even like about this? she said. The answer, it turned out, was: I like holding my camera. I like shooting and thinking about frames. She went back to making short Super 8 films, mostly shot outside. They were really not good, she insists. Still, one made it to the Venice Film Festival. Of course my producer and I werent invited to any of the parties, she said. So we sat on the riverbank and watched these parties that were happening on boats. It really was an epiphany. I thought, This is exactly where I want to be: not at the party but on the bank of a river, with my friend, looking on at it. She used $30,000 she inherited from a great-aunt to make Old Joy, a misanthropic buddy film shot on 16-millimeter and co-starring the indie-rock musician Will Oldham. Since then, Reichardt has worked continuously, releasing a new film every two or three years. For her, this pace is an act of self-preservation. Im not great with the production of real life the car, the insurance, the dentist all those things that seem to mount up if you dont have a project and become the meat of your day, she told me. If Reichardts ineffectual years in Hollywood taught her anything, it was the value of identifying undesirable ways of working and living and then developing the confidence to avoid them. She lives alone in a rent-stabilized apartment in New York and maintains a normal persons sense of money. Its still like a house, she says when the budgets for her pared-down productions come up. In exchange for working outside the system, she has earned the privilege of final cut. Nobody comes into my editing room, ever, she told me. Art by committee is a really bad idea. Certain Women, her latest film and arguably the most precise expression of Reichardts vision to date, is a triptych based on three short stories by the Montana-raised author Maile Meloy. It follows a small-town lawyer (Laura Dern) trying fruitlessly to convince a man injured on a contracting job that making a claim against his former employer would be hopeless; an unhappily married couple (Michelle Williams plays the wife) in the midst of harvesting sandstone for a weekend house; and a recent law-school graduate (Kristen Stewart) who becomes the object of fixation for a reclusive female ranch hand. Though each restrained vignette is connected by only a blink-and-you-miss-it narrative delicacy, an active loneliness unites the characters, whose inner desolation seems at least in part a reaction to the barren winter plains of southern Montana. Like so many of Reichardts protagonists, each of the women is a figure of repose, to quote Robert Warshows famous essay The Westerner people whose melancholy comes from the simple recognition that life is unavoidably serious. On the night of Saturday, Sept. 10, between the hours of about 8 and 11, six women, each of them walking in Midtown Manhattan, were approached by a group of young men who sought to light them on fire. Although the attacks were mercifully unsuccessful no one was injured one woman, standing at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and East 54th Street had her skirt set aflame, while another, walking past a Valentino store, the police reported, felt something warm on her left arm, only to realize that her blouse was on fire. Six days later, a 14-year old boy was taken into custody, and charged with attempted assault and harassment. Given that everyone targeted for conflagration was female, the police have considered these hate crimes. That four of the encounters occurred on a stretch of Fifth Avenue just outside Trump Tower may bear no actual relationship to our current political misfortunes, but their symbolic freight is hard to overlook. For whatever it has done and failed to do, the presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump has revived a national discussion of misogyny, which, as a word, an idea and worldview had long ago fallen out of favor, lost to the 1970s and obscured instead by the cheerfully appointed goal posts of contemporary feminism. If you are concerned about misogyny, you are worried less about how we can create a better world for women who want to share whole-grain breakfasts with their children and still make it to Teterboro on time for the flight to the board meeting in Sun Valley, and more about the cultural damage inflicted by collective male rage. You take to heart Margaret Atwoods famous saying that men are worried that women will laugh at them while women are worried that men will kill them. You are a generalist, really, and you see that the problem goes beyond whatever hindrance men might pose to your making partner or getting the dishwasher emptied. One kind of feminism imagines men as an existential threat, another merely as an inconvenience. The former, of course, is a dark and not consistently rational way to think. That is why many women particularly educated, affluent women who live in cities where crime rates are at historical lows and the presence of physical danger and extreme prejudice seem distant dont easily imagine that they could be set on fire on their way to dinner. Did your conscience ever bother you? Burton Turkus, the crime-busting assistant Brooklyn prosecutor, asked Abe Reles, the homegrown gangster who organized Murder Inc. in the 1930s. How did you feel when you tried your first law case? Mr. Reles responded Socratically. I was rather nervous, Mr. Turkus admitted. After the second case, he was still a little nervous, but after that, he recalled, I was all right; I got used to it. You answered your own question, Mr. Reles said. Its the same with murder. I got used to it. In Murder, Inc. and the Moral Life: Gangsters and Gangbusters in La Guardias New York (Empire State Editions/Fordham University Press, $29.95), it takes a while, too, for the reader to get used to Robert Weldon Whalens efforts to parse evil and tease the urban anthropology from what is, first and foremost, a timeless cops-and-robbers narrative. Professor Whalen, who teaches history at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina, imposes an ethical prism to explore the cinematic, sociological and political implications of contract killings, during an era of ethnic succession when Jewish gangs and Italian organized crime were dominant. He sighed. But people are eating it up, he said. I cant believe it. Mr. Estrada, who is 73, knows better than most that borders are more than lines on a map. Born in Mexico, he arrived in America at the age of 1. Until the 1970s, he said, the border had an organic quality. During the Cinco de Mayo fiesta, dancers paraded from Mexico into America then back again; beauty queens from both countries sat together on a platform that straddled the border; white tourists crossed into Mexico for the bullfights, the night life and the rum runs cheap alcohol. Then the drug wars exploded, and in 1995, a fence started to rise. Crime fell sharply, but the drop exacted a cost. Tourism withered, the curio shops closed and there was a painful tear in the cross-border culture. The dynamic changed, he said. The sheriffs nostalgia pointed to a wider truth: Walls are not just about whom a country wants to keep out; they are a mark of what it is trying to preserve, its idea of itself. With the rise of Mr. Trump, Americas sense of itself is suddenly less sure. And so I spent a week in the southern borderlands, flitting between Mexico and America, trying to figure out what, in this febrile election season, that idea might be. The fence itself is a formidable sight, spanning about one-third of the 2,000-mile frontier from California to Texas, and patrolled by about 20,000 agents. One of the most tightly guarded stretches is around the city of Nogales, which straddles the border. Here, the first world abuts the third. American Nogales, orderly and somniferous, pushes up against Mexican Nogales, an unruly metropolis of 300,000 souls where the Sinaloa cartel looms large. John Lawson, a border patrol officer born in Pennsylvania, took us on a tour of the fence, a slatted metal barrier, 18 to 30 feet high, that undulates along the hills on either side of Nogales. It was built at a cost of $4 million per mile, which includes an array of military-style fortifications. We passed pole-mounted cameras, radars, vibration sensors and, in the dip of valley, a line of World War II-style Normandy barriers meant to stop any Mexican vehicle from crashing through Americas front gate. The border patrol reaches into the air, too, with a fleet of drones, balloons and Blackhawk helicopters. And yet, the migrantes and the traficantes still slip through. Officer Lawson pulled up on a small bluff overlooking the border and pulled out his binoculars. Half a mile away, inside Mexico, three young men trudged along a ridge, then vanished behind a splash of foliage. Farther along we saw other groups: spotters, employed by the cartel, Officer Lawson said. They use their cellphones to direct traffic, telling migrants and drug smugglers when to make a run for it. Looking left and right, on the American side, I counted six patrol jeeps, parked on hillocks. We figured wed save some money, said Ms. Avery, 38, who works as the director of marketing for the real estate developer Steiner NYC. She and Mr. Avery, who had been living in a studio in Chelsea, purged their possessions, and then they purged some more. The apartment has two closets one of which is largely occupied by a washer and dryer which they had planned to supplement with a good-size storage system from the Container Store. Less than a month later, Ms. Avery found out she was pregnant. The nook near the bed where the storage system was to have gone was hastily reassigned to nursery duty, and the storage system was itself sent to storage, along with most of the couples remaining possessions. They started renting a 3-by-3-by-7-foot storage unit in the buildings basement in September, just in time to accommodate the bassinet that arrived, courtesy of Ms. Averys mother. The baby is due in January. Its good that well have a few months to figure out how to work around it, said Ms. Avery, as she scooted sideways past the bassinet to open the doors of a full but uncluttered closet. Initially, it had taken her a little while to adjust to not being able to throw things in another room when people came over, she explained, but then she realized that a storage locker just an elevator ride away was another room. The waterfront along Greenpoint in Brooklyn is rapidly changing, as construction crews work full throttle along West Street on several large residential projects that will bring thousands of new residents to the area. The developments include condominiums and rentals, and they range from a 14-unit building to a 40-story waterfront tower. At 50 Greenpoint, where sales are expected to begin in mid-November for 44 condominium units, one main selling point for the building was its views of the Manhattan skyline. Now another is access to the G train, said Brendan Aguayo, the managing director of Halstead Property Development Marketing, which is handling sales. I think some people who have been looking to buy a home on or near the L train line will now look in Greenpoint, Mr. Aguayo said, because of the tunnel repairs between Manhattan and Brooklyn that will disrupt L train service to Williamsburg for 18 months starting in 2019. For almost a century, the Beaux-Arts building at 213 West 23rd Street housed the Y.M.C.A.s celebrated McBurney branch. It was there that Charles Merrill met the stockbroker Edmund Lynch, and the playwright William Saroyan first took up residence after arriving in New York. Other notable members have included Andy Warhol, Edward Albee and Al Pacino. But the stately limestone-and-brick structure, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, might be best known for its role in the Village Peoples enduring Y.M.C.A. video. Although the building was sold in 2002, and a couple of years later converted into a boutique condominium, remnants of its former life remain. If youre painting your floors for the first time, its best not to try anything too fancy. When converting her den into a playroom last year, Emily Cisz, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother in Hilton, N.Y., decided to whitewash the dated parquet floors. Although she rented an orbital sander from Home Depot (for about $40) to remove the existing finish, the result still turned out yellowish, said Ms. Cisz, who chronicled the project on Elizabeth Joan Designs, a blog she started with her sister, Erin Cole, using their two middle names. To fix the problem, Ms. Cisz sanded the floor again and, after wiping away the dust, applied a coat of primer followed by two coats of gray paint mixed from leftovers she had. Then she topped that with three coats of Minwax water-based polyurethane, to give it a durable finish. A year later, she said, the floor is holding up great. Just remember that in order for the paint to stick, most floors will require some level of roughing up to remove any wax or sealant. And while solid hardwood floors can generally be sanded and refinished repeatedly, engineered floors (made of plywood layers with a hardwood top) can be sanded down only so many times. So consider the thickness of the wood before scuffing it up. I had a client several years ago who wanted to stain and finish his existing parquet flooring in order to save on the cost of installing new flooring, said Logan Yost, an interior designer and consultant for Mirador Real Estate in Manhattan. Against both my advice and the advice of the contractor, he refinished the floors. We hadnt even finished our furniture deliveries when the floors started splintering and falling apart. For that reason, he said, I recommend either replacing parquet floors with a good quality hardwood or leaving them as is and doing what you can to make them work. Image Credit... Trevor Tondro for The New York Times THE PROBLEM Your floors are too thin to sand. THE SOLUTION Decorate strategically. Painting your walls a dark neutral, rather than a light color, can help tame those honey-colored parquet floors often found in 1960s and 1970s New York apartment buildings, Mr. Yost said. And large area rugs are not only a cost-effective way to hide your floors, he added, they can also help soften and define a space. Alyssa Kapito, who founded the Manhattan interior design firm Kapito Muller with Vivian Muller, suggested using sisal: The tone of the material blends well with the color of most parquet floors, and its easy to layer a decorative rug on top. Then throw in some accents to your scheme with a strong visual pop, like white lacquer furniture or shiny brass hardware, she said, pointing out options like the curvilinear midcentury table lamp from West Elm ($119) or the odyssey white dining table from CB2 ($199). That will not only grab your eyes attention away from your floors, she said, but it will also make your space feel a little more contemporary. But the themes in Notes From the Field are unusually personal, she said in an interview in Cambridge, Mass., in late August. Her mother was a teacher and then a principal in the Baltimore public school system; many aunts and family friends were also teachers. All these women believed strongly in the power of education to lift children out of poverty. But her interviews revealed a system that no longer seemed able to do that in most cases. Instead, many children came to school angry, hurt or simply without the requisite self-regulation and quickly got into trouble. Some of the most disturbing stories she heard about harsh discipline early on were about the Baltimore schools. I was like, Oh my God, Ive been gone from there all these years, and this is not the Baltimore that I knew, she said. And I was like, Man, it is time to go home. She was sitting in a rehearsal room after a matinee at the American Repertory Theater, where she performed the play before its current run at Second Stage Theater, where it is in previews and opens on Nov. 2. Having just spent two hours onstage, she appeared tired, but still paused twice, amid answering questions about the play, to ask a reporter what she thought of certain issues in education. She was wearing soft white pants, a white T-shirt and neon rubber slip-on sandals. She sipped tea out of a Harvard mug. By Private Jet Private jet trips can encircle the globe in a matter of weeks. Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts (fourseasons.com) sends its 52-seat private jet on a 24-day trip departing Sept. 3, 2017, from the United States for Asia, Africa and Europe, staying in each stop for a few days at its resorts to snorkel in the Maldives or go on safari in Tanzania ($135,000 a person). Since 1995, TCS World Travel (tcsworldtravel.com) has been offering trips around the world by jet. It has four trips scheduled for both 2017 and 2018, including its 24-day Around the World Classic trip departing Sept. 27, 2017, that stops at Machu Picchu; Easter Island; the Great Barrier Reef; Angkor Wat; the Taj Mahal; the Serengeti Plain; Petra, Jordan; and Marrakesh, Morocco ($79,950 a person). They had gunshot wounds in their heads and their hands and legs were bound with duct tape. A police official said, "All three had been shot in their temples, while one victim's body was found in a ditch." The official said these were telltale signs of an execution-style murder. The National Police Agency on Thursday said the bodies of one Korean woman and two men were found in a sugar cane field in Bacolor, a small city of around 30,000 people. Korean police have dispatched a team of investigators to Manila, which is convulsing under a spate of extrajudicial killings encouraged by the thuggish new President Rodrigo Duterte. Three Koreans were found dead of bullet wounds to their heads in an apparent vigilante killing amid a murderous campaign against alleged drug dealers in the Philippines. Besides the vigilante attacks, some apparently carried out by police killer squads, vendettas and contract-style killings are also common in the Philippines, and killers can apparently be hired for just around W2.5 million (US$1=W1,138). The Foreign Ministry here has taken samples of the victims' fingerprints and confirmed that they were Korean nationals. The two men left Korea on Aug. 16 and entered the Philippines via Hong Kong, while the woman left for the Philippines on Aug. 19. The three were not related. A police spokesman said, "All three had records of minor offenses but they were not on the run from the law. They entered the Philippines on tourist visas but do not appear to have gone there for sightseeing." The official said they had acquaintances in the Philippines, which suggests they had been there for some time. The Foreign Ministry had warned Koreans not to travel to Bacolor. This is the fourth murder of Korean nationals in the Philippines this year, bringing the number of victims to six. The number of Koreans murdered in the Philippines stood at 12 in 2013, 10 in 2014 and 11 in 2015. Police said none of the victims were tourists but either evangelical missionaries or businesspeople. Around 90,000 Koreans live in the Philippines, and around 1.2 million visit the country each year. Peak tourist season in Paris may be winding down, but several new and innovative tours in the city are keeping it a vibrant destination in the fall and winter, too. Many of the sites these excursions cover arent new; the way to see them, on the other hand, is. How about solving a murder mystery, for instance, to learn about the French Revolution? With the interactive French Revolution: A Murder Mystery Tour from the tour company Paris Muse, visitors take a trip to 18th-century Paris and crack the case of a real-life political assassination. Along the way, they meet the suspects a literature hawker and a prominent socialite are among the bunch learn their views on the Revolution and visit the sights where they worked and lived, including the Palais Royal, the Louvre and Ile de la Cite. Clues at each spot lead to the real murderer at the end (two and a half hours, 320 euros or about $352 for groups of six or fewer). A private tour of the under-the-radar Musee Jacquemart-Andre, a jewel box of a museum in an ornate 19th-century mansion near the Champs-Elysees, is available with the registered guide and art expert Jean-Jacques Serres. This former estate of Nelie Jacquemart and Edouard Andre, a couple who were passionate art lovers, houses their collection of works by renowned artists like Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and Rembrandt (two hours, 150 euros for up to five people). For those who want to avoid crowds, the Paris-based bespoke travel company My DMC can arrange a historian-led tour of Notre-Dame, the Gothic cathedral dating to the 12th century, before its doors open to the public (90 minutes, 1,150 euros). Mr. Fossett, an American businessman-cum-adventurer, became the first person to complete a solo hot-air balloon flight around the world in 2002. His journey, from Australia and back again, took nearly two weeks and covered roughly 20,000 miles. Three years later, he made the first solo, nonstop flight around the world without refueling. That journey began and ended in Kansas and lasted 67 hours. He died in a plane crash in the Sierra Nevada in 2007. Types of Guns owned in the U.S. 1994 2015 4 4 42% 33 20 34% 36 26 Handguns Rifles Shotguns Other Handguns Rifles Shotguns Other Types of guns owned in the U.S. 1994 2015 4 4 42% 33 20 34% 36 26 Handguns Rifles Shotguns Other Handguns Rifles Shotguns Other Types of guns owned in the U.S. 1994 2015 4 4 42 33 20 34 36 26 Handguns Other Handguns Other Shotguns Shotguns Rifles Rifles The study, conducted in 2015 by researchers from Harvard and Northeastern, sought to better understand the size and composition of the countrys gun inventory. It found that handguns made up 42 percent of the countrys privately owned firearms, up from 34 percent in 1994. Protection is now driving Americas gun habits. Beth Alcazar, a mother in Alabama, carries two handguns nearly all the time, a practice she began in 2014. Often, she wakes up, slips one in a purse and the other in a belly band, and heads out for the days errands. Ms. Alcazar, 41, lives in a suburb called Chelsea and has little interest in hunting. Her primary reason for carrying? Protection. I have three very important reasons why I carry a gun, she said in a recent interview. And those are my children. Reasons given for gun ownership Protection against people 63% 20 Protection from animals 40 Hunting 28 Sporting use 34 Collection 40 Other Reasons given for gun ownership 63% Protection from people 20 Protection from animals 40 Hunting 28 Sporting use 34 Collection 40 Other The survey indicates that a growing number of gun owners are like Ms. Alcazar they cite personal safety as a major incentive for owning a gun. In 1994, 46 percent of respondents chose protection as the primary reason to own a gun. Two decades later, 63 percent of respondents made that selection. (In the first survey, participants could select just one reason for ownership. In the second, they could choose several.) The shift comes at a time of conflicting narratives about gun violence in America. During the past 25 years, violent crime has decreased dramatically in the United States. But the number of mass shootings per year has surged, according to the F.B.I. Applications for concealed-carry permits have hit records in some places, giving rise to a group of people who consider themselves part of a concealed-carry lifestyle. Ms. Alcazar, who bought a gun in 2013 after an armed man took five girls hostage at her daughters middle school, counts herself among them. The episode pushed her to become a firearms instructor and focus her writing career on guns. She now runs an Alabama chapter of the Well Armed Woman, a national network of gun owners, and contributes to Concealed Carry Magazine. It was a fire that sparked within me, she said of the hostage situation. Oh, my God, this is six miles from my home, these are my children. And I need to know everything I can about protecting them. The number of guns is still rising. While the percentage of households with guns has declined to 22 percent from 25 percent, the net numbers of guns and gun owners have gone up. In 1994, about 44 million Americans owned 192 million guns. Today, about 55 million Americans own 265 million guns. 2015 survey estimate of gun stock 300 mil. 250 Firearm manufacturing estimate, adjusted for depreciation 200 1994 survey estimate 150 100 50 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 2015 survey estimate of gun stock 300 mil. 250 Firearm manufacturing estimate, adjusted for depreciation 200 1994 survey estimate 150 100 50 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 Source: Newton and Zimring, Kleck, and ATF; 1% depreciation value applied by the National Firearms Survey The 2015 study also revealed that many of Americas guns were concentrated in a small number of hands. About half of the nations guns are owned by 3 percent of the population. The demographic profile of these super-collectors has changed little since the last significant study. Most are male, white, older than 30, from rural areas and have an annual income above $25,000. The 265 million guns in the United States Half of Americas guns are owned by only 14 percent of gun owners. One square represents one million guns. The 265 million guns in the United States Half of Americas guns are owned by only 14 percent of gun owners. One square represents one million guns Who owns the handguns? Academics and others watching the gun industry cite a number of reasons for the shift to handguns. A 24-hour news cycle has made the world feel more dangerous. A declining rural population and waning interest in hunting have pushed gun companies to look for new customers. Industry groups have heavily marketed the idea of concealed carry and personal protection. The demographics of handgun ownership By gender Handgun Long gun Both 25 Male 22% 56 42 17 42 Female By race White 20 24 52 Hispanic 38 19 44 Black 7 57 36 The demographics of handgun ownership By gender Handgun Long gun Both Male 22% 25 56 Female 42 17 42 By race White 20 24 52 Hispanic 38 19 44 Black 7 57 36 The authors of the 2015 survey, however, caution that several studies show that owning guns does not make people safer. Two widely cited examinations, published in 1992 and 1993 in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that people who kept guns in the home faced a 2.7-fold greater risk of homicide and a 4.8-fold greater risk of suicide. But the accounts also shows off the caring side of the murderous regime, like officials releasing pheasants and roe deer into the wild in Hwanghae Province. The accounts have been used to post photos of official events surrounding the founding anniversary of the Workers Party on Monday and visits to a statue of regime founder Kim Il-sung. Later on Monday there were some fetching night views of Pyongyang. North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri has started using the photo and video sharing site Tumblr even as Internet access remains blocked for nearly all North Koreans. The North has drastically increased online propaganda in recent days, according to data Saenuri Party lawmaker Lee Jong-myung received from the Defense Ministry on Thursday. The activities peaked with nearly 10,000 posts in July, when the regime was frantically engaged in nuclear and missile tests and South Korea decided to let the U.S. station a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here. According to the Defense Ministry, the North has 27 social media accounts, including three on Twitter, five on Facebook, six on YouTube accounts, three on Flickr and three on Tumblr. The main aim is to bypass South Korean blocks on propaganda websites, allowing it to take part in heated political debates here. Between March and May last year, the regime posted some 200 messages a month on social media as the THAAD missile battery debate first reared its head. South Korea has trouble coping with the flood of North Korean propaganda. In 2014, police blocked three pro-Pyongyang sites overseas and 960 social media accounts. But in the first half of this year alone, they blocked six pro-Pyongyang sites overseas and 565 social media accounts and shut down 42 discussion threads. The Lee County Board of Registrars is being inundated with voter registration forms. Ann Bennett, a Lee County registrar, said the office is receiving a record number of requests for forms. The Lee County Commission approved a temporary worker position for the board in June in anticipation of voter demand. Were going to have more poll workers in November than weve ever had because were going to have more voters than weve ever had, Probate Judge Bill English said in June. That prediction is coming true. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told the Opelika-Auburn News in July that there were a record number of voters registered in the state for the 2016 election Its a very intense election year, and people have come in saying, Ive just got to make sure Im registered to vote, Bennett said. Theres just been a real intensity in their desire to be registered. The intensity is coming from all sides of the political spectrum, Bennett said. Concerned voters have been calling and stopping by the office after registering to vote asking for their voter registration card, Bennett said. Voters who have not received a card yet or misplaced their card can still find their voter information online at AlabamaVotes.gov or on the countys website at LeeCo.us. They can also register to vote online at those websites. We want to assure them they will be registered, Bennett said. They will have a voter card mailed to them. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 24. Voters who mail a registration form postmarked on Oct. 24 or voters who register online before 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 24 will be on the voter rolls on election day, Bennett said. Voters can also apply for an absentee ballot online, but absentee ballots are handled by the Lee County Circuit Clerk, not the Board of Registrars. The Circuit Clerks office has set up a temporary location at the Lee County Meeting Center at 205 S 10th St. in Opelika for absentee voters. Voters registering multiple times online has become a problem slowing down processing time, Bennett said. They think theyre supposed to have a card mailed to them that moment (when they register online,) Bennett said. Bennett said voters should check their current registration status online at AlabamaVotes.gov before registering to vote. If a voter has voted in any election in the last eight years, then they are still registered to vote, Bennett said. If voters live in an apartment, they should include the unit number in their application to be sure they receive their voter card, Bennett said. A voter card is not required to vote, but lists the voters polling location, which can also be found online. However, government issued photo identification is required to vote. Be patient with us, Bennett said. Register once, give complete information - including the apartment or lot number - and you will be registered. We will get it done. North Korea's exports of iron ore to China have surged dramatically despite fresh UN Security Council sanctions against the North in April, Voice of America reported Thursday. Quoting data from the Korea International Trade Association, VOA reported that Chinese imports of North Korean iron ore increased 67 percent on-year from April to August. In April, Beijing banned trade of 25 items like iron ore, coal, aviation fuel and rocket fuel with the North. But it allows import and export of goods necessary for people's livelihood, and the drastic increase in iron ore trade shows how China and the North are taking advantage of loopholes and exceptions. Overall trade of banned items between the two countries, however, dropped 8.1 percent on-year. China's exports of aviation and rocket fuel to the North fell 16 percent. "The sanctions against the North are kicking in to some extent, but in many cases like the iron ore trade, it's taking advantage of loopholes," a government official here said. "They must be plugged in a fresh round of sanctions that is being discussed at the UNSC." COSTA MESA With just under a month to go in one of the most contentious presidential elections on record, the celestial bodies have already declared a winner: Hillary Clinton. Six astrologers unanimously tabbed the Democratic nominee to take the White House during an astrology presidential panel discussion in front of more than 200 people Thursday night at a the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa. The panel, comprised of astrologers from Turkey, Canada, Slovenia, England, Serbia and an American from La Jolla, studied birth and election charts and planetary alignments to find a winner. The discussion came on the opening night of the four-day International Society for Astrological Research conference, where more than 500 astrologers from around the world are gathered to attend workshops, classes and discuss predictions and their consequences. http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]); Nick Dagan Best, a panelist from Montreal, found that Mars, Pluto and Saturn were aligned at the same point on the ecliptic, or Zodiac ring, signaling a win for Clinton. The next one is expected around 2020, he said, adding that past triple planetary alignments last century came in the midst of life-changing events. In 1982, the only time in her life that those planets made a conjunction was when she adopted the name Clinton, he said. Shes got that triple conjunction and it would just stand to reason that she would be the one in office when this occurs next. The lone American on the dais, Edith Hathaway of La Jolla, said the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn within months of a presidential election or inauguration bodes well for whichever political party is in power. Trumps chart shows him nearing the end of the Rahu, an 18-year period of success and great heights, she said. Typically when that ends, theres separation and loss, Hathaway said. Though the six featured astrologers used different methods to come to the same conclusion, all agreed that Clintons time of birth, which remains in dispute, makes it harder to create her birth chart. On several occasions, Clinton has said she was born at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Oct. 26, 1947 in Chicago. She has also said she was born at 2:18 p.m. The problem is we have to dance around it, said Shelley Ackerman an astrologer and spokeswoman for the events organizers, the International Society of Astrological Research. The issue is of such importance that Ackerman, who once obtained Bill Clintons birth time from his mother, created a petition that would mandate congressional candidates to release long-form birth records. Christeen Skinner, a panelist from London, said Clinton will win the election, but may not make it to her inauguration due to highly publicized health concerns. I just dont see that inauguration taking place, she said. Theres a big dispute about her time of birth, so it could be maybe she gets the flu. Who knows. Skinner said Trumps chart is steadily losing power, possibly from the battles he faces over allegations of sexual harassment, lawsuits and a troubled campaign. Astrology faces criticism from skeptics, who rely more on polling data than the cosmos. Its not about the stars, said Ema Kurent, who served on the panel. Its about us being synchronized with planetary rhythms. The conference runs through Sunday. Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@scng.com California voters should pass Proposition 62 and abolish the death penalty in the state. But at the very least, they should reject Proposition 66, which seeks to speed up the imposition of the death penalty and therefore increases the risk of executing innocent people. Because these two ballot measures are obviously incompatible, the one that gets the most votes will be implemented if both are approved by the voters. But my strong hope is that people will vote yes on Prop. 62 and no on Prop. 66. The debate over the death penalty is not new. Yet, the overwhelming trend is toward abolishing it. Since 2000, eight states have eliminated the death penalty. It now exists in 31 states, but it is rarely used. Only seven states have carried out an execution in the past two years. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978 in California, more than 930 people have been sentenced to death row and just 13 people have been executed. The U.S. is the only Western nation that still has the death penalty. In fact, an Amnesty International Report in 2014 documented that there are only nine countries in the world that still use the death penalty and the U.S. is in the company of nations like Iran, China, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and North Korea. Why eliminate the death penalty? Some believe that it is wrong for the state to kill people. But why should someone who believes in the morality of capital punishment vote to pass Prop. 62? There is too great a risk of executing an innocent person. Any human system will make mistakes and the reality is that innocent people are wrongly convicted. Across the country, DNA and other new evidence have proven the innocence of more than 150 people after they were sentenced to death. In California, 66 people have had their murder convictions overturned because new evidence showed they were innocent. Moreover, there is a greater likelihood of wrongful convictions in capital cases. As Justice Stephen Breyer has explained: [T]he crimes at issue in capital cases are typically horrendous murders, and thus accompanied by intense community pressure on police, prosecutors, and jurors to secure a conviction. This pressure creates a greater likelihood of convicting the wrong person. Also, the death penalty is administered in a racially discriminatory fashion. Many studies have documented that African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be sentenced to death than whites on the same factual record. For example, a study in Philadelphia found that African Americans were four times more likely than whites to receive a death sentence for similarly severe crimes, controlling for the prior criminal records of the defendants. Numerous studies have documented that individuals accused of murdering white victims, as opposed to black or other minority victims, are more likely to receive the death penalty. Over 20 years ago, Justice Harry Blackmun, explained that [p]erhaps it should not be surprising that the biases and prejudices that infect society generally would influence the determination of who is sentenced to death. Nor does the death penalty have any benefit in preventing crime. For every year between 2008 and 2013, the average homicide rate of states without the death penalty was significantly lower than those with capital punishment. A few years ago, the National Research Council (whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine) reviewed 30 years of empirical evidence and concluded that it failed to show that the death penalty had a deterrent effect. Prop. 62 would replace the death penalty with life in prison with no possibility of parole. This actually would save the state a great deal of money. The states independent Legislative Analyst confirmed Prop. 62 will save $150 million per year. A death row sentence costs 18 times more than life in prison. The death penalty is so rarely carried out in California that its administration is arbitrary. The average delay between sentencing and execution in California is 25 years. A few years ago, Orange County federal court Judge Cormac Carney in a carefully reasoned and meticulously documented opinion explained: Indeed, for most, systemic delay has made their execution so unlikely that the death sentence carefully and deliberately imposed by the jury has been quietly transformed into one no rational jury or legislature could ever impose: life in prison, with the remote possibility of death. As for the random few for whom execution does become a reality, they will have languished for so long on Death Row that their execution will serve no retributive or deterrent purpose and will be arbitrary. Why not just deal with this aspect of the problem by speeding up the imposition of the death penalty, as Prop. 66 seeks to do? It would have trial courts hear post-conviction proceedings and require that their proceedings be concluded within five years. Even if one believes in the death penalty and rejects Prop. 62, Prop. 66 is a terrible idea. It does not deal with the underlying causes of delay: the process of direct review by the Supreme Court, the lack of qualified attorneys to handle death penalty cases, the need for multiple levels of review. An initiative cannot create more lawyers able to competently handle death cases. Nor is faster better when it comes to handling death cases. Eliminating procedural protections exacerbates the likelihood of executing innocent people. The time has come to eliminate the death penalty in California. Prop. 62 would do just that. Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of the UC Irvine School of Law. POOLER, Ga. Waist-deep floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew coursed down the street and seeped under Lori Galemores doors, swamping the carpets and furniture as she and her three sons retreated upstairs, where they stayed until firefighters arrived by boat. Galemore and her neighbors in Pooler, a community about 35 miles inland from the evacuated Georgia coast, were deluged not by seawater driven ashore by the hurricane, but by rain and runoff that overwhelmed a drainage ditch at the end of their cul-de-sac. Everybody said, Youre not in a flood plain. You dont need flood insurance, Galemore recalled Wednesday as her husband and sons threw out soggy furniture, waterlogged books, towels and blankets and wet chunks of drywall. And flood insurance is expensive. Who wants to pay that? Galemores story is all too common. Many Americans dont have flood insurance, some because they dont want to pay for it, some because they dont see the need for it. As of August, only 19 percent of homeowners in Florida had flood insurance, 2 percent in Georgia, 9 percent in South Carolina and 5 percent in North Carolina, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Even in high-risk flood zones where homes are required to have coverage, the rate in those states ranged from just 25 percent to 65 percent. Industry officials say it is a troubling situation, especially since the risk of flooding appears to be on the rise. We seem to be having more and more flooding events, be it climate change or other things. Were seeing areas that are experiencing flooding events that may not have experienced them in the past, said Cynthia DiVincenti, a vice president at Aon National Flood Services. Ordinary homeowner insurance typically covers wind damage torn-off roofs, fallen trees but not flooding. While banks require homes in high-risk zones to buy flood insurance, lots of flooding takes place outside those designated hazard areas. That was the case when heavy storms flooded parts of South Carolina last year and an unnamed storm recently inundated the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. The damage in Baton Rouge was put at $660 million, and most people there had no flood insurance. Flooding is the most common and costly disaster we see in the United States, said FEMA spokesman Rafael Lemaitre. Flood claims have averaged more than $1.9 billion per year since 2006, according to federal officials. Flood insurance in low- to moderate-risk areas averages $400 to $600 a year, according to FEMA. FEMA, through the National Flood Insurance Program, offers flood insurance because its generally not profitable for private insurers to sell it. Matthew sideswiped Florida and Georgia last week before blowing ashore briefly in South Carolina and unloading more than a foot of rain on North Carolina, where it triggered disastrous flooding. The U.S. death toll is well over 30. Walter Cokers fish camp on the Matanzas River in Crescent Beach, Florida, was inundated. The 4-foot surge destroyed a warehouse on the property where he stores furniture imported from Indonesia. The boat slips he rents out were torn apart, with the huge wooden pilings used to hold the docks jerked out of the river bottom. Floodwaters inundated his bait and tackle shop, ruining the coolers that hold bait and beer. Coker didnt have flood insurance. I did look into it. It wouldve been very expensive, he said. Its one of those things you dont buy it on something you dont think will happen. The floodwaters were waist-high inside Kathy Fingers elegant two-story brick home with crystal chandeliers in Nichols, South Carolina. Now she is unsure how to proceed without flood insurance. I wouldnt imagine that hardly anyone had it, the 67-year-old said of her town near the Lumber River. The river had never overflowed before, and no one had any reason to fear it would, she said. Homeowners without flood insurance may qualify for federal grants for shelter and food, but those are typically small sums and arent meant to replace all losses. Homeowners can also apply for low-interest disaster loans, which must be repaid. Paul Mueller estimated his Pooler home has up to $80,000 worth of damage from the foot of water in his house. Like his neighbors, Mueller doesnt have flood insurance either. Were all in the same boat here, he said. If we had trees to come down on our houses, wed have been covered. Thats the sad truth. Kennedy reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press writers Jason Dearen in Crescent Beach, Fla., and Meg Kinnard in Nichols, S.C., also contributed to this story. Need to sweat off a few pounds? Three new 24 Hour Fitness centers will land in Orange County next year to help make it happen. Avison Young, a real estate firm based in Toronto, negotiated three leases with 15-year terms on behalf of the gym. The gyms include: Santa Ana: 1350 W. Edinger at Plaza Edinger The location will open in the first quarter of 2017 and will be the anchor tenant at the property, which includes Smart & Final and Factory-4-U. The space was formerly an OReilly Auto Parts Super Store. Huntington Beach: 9051 Atlanta Ave. at Huntington South Center The gym also will open in the first quarter of 2017 and will occupy a space that was previously an Albertsons. Other tenants within the center include H&R Block, Juice It Up!, Subway, and Starbucks. Fullerton: 130 E. Imperial Highway The new 24 Hour Fitness will open in the second quarter of 2017 in a space formerly occupied by Office Depot. Other tenants at the center include Best Buy and Floor and Decor. Camilla Lackberg proves why shes called Swedens 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. Back on the job after sick leave, Patrik and his fellow detectives investigate the murder of Mats Sverin, Fjallbackas 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 towns 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. Delving into the intricacies of police work, Lackberg also turns The Lost Boy into a psychological thriller that digs deep into each characters psyche. While the shadowy ghosts permeate the story, Lackberg keeps this supernatural aspect akin to those in the gothic masterpiece The Turn of the Screw. Are the ghosts real or are they in the characters mind? Korea's exports in the first 10 days of this month plummeted 18.2 percent compared to the same period of last year. Exports fell for 20 months running, which was longer even than the stagnation during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, but rebounded in August, raising cautious hopes of a recovery. But they fell again in September and have been declining sharply since. Exports to the U.S. fell 23 percent, to the EU 27 percent, to China 18 percent, to India 30 percent and Russia 21 percent. THE HAGUE, Netherlands The International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor said Thursday that she is deeply concerned about reports of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users in the Philippines. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda also said that statements by high officials in the Asian nation seem to condone such killings. The written statement by Bensouda appeared aimed as a blunt warning to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose anti-drug crackdown has left an estimated 3,000 people allegedly involved in the drug trade dead. The Philippines is a member state of the International Criminal Court, the worlds first global court prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity, so crimes committed there could be prosecuted at the Hague-based institution. Any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing, in any other manner, to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable to prosecution before the Court, Bensouda said. She said her office will closely monitor developments in the Philippines in coming weeks with a view to establishing whether she should open a preliminary investigation. Since becoming president in June, Duterte has drawn widespread criticism for his countrys deadly war on drugs. Last week, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. remains deeply concerned by reports of widespread extrajudicial killings by or at the behest of government authorities in the Philippines. The use of that kind of tactic is entirely inconsistent with universal human rights and the shared values of our two countries. SANTA ANA A 22-year-old man was ordered Friday to spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty to killing his parents in their sleep and trying to kill two younger siblings during a late-night attack in the familys San Juan Capistrano home. Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg L. Prickett sentenced Ashton Sachs to four life sentences two without the possibility of parole as well as nearly 100 additional years in prison for the use of a firearm and other sentencing enhancements. The life sentences bring to an end a murder investigation that drew national interest and shocked a quiet, tight-knit community. Last month, Sachs, in a surprise hearing, abruptly changed his plea to guilty, heading off a court trial. Sachs did not testify or lay out his version of events during courtroom arguments, doing little to illuminate how a young man took such a violent turn. During Fridays sentencing hearing, Sachs shook his head no when asked by the judge if he wanted to make a statement to the court. In announcing the sentences, Prickett pointed to the apparent planning that went into the murders, as well as the many times Sachs could have changed his mind about shooting his family members. The judge noted that Sachs shot his father a dozen times, once point blank to the face, and his mother 10 times before trying to shoot his siblings. He also pointed out that Sachs initially lied to authorities when asked about the killings. Lisa McGowan, Sachs aunt, told the judge Friday that Sachs will never care or understand what he has done to his family. McGowan was among family members who attended the sentencing but was the only one to speak. The rest left without commenting once the hearing was over. You had a choice, Ashton, McGowan said. You had apparently been thinking about what you were going to do for a long time. Ive been told by my friends and family that I need to forgive you. Well, I cant forgive you today. Sachs, who had moved out of the family home to attend college in Washington, entered the house, in an exclusive San Juan Capistrano neighborhood, during the early morning hours of Feb. 9, 2014. He shot his parents, Bradford and Andra Sachs, to death as they slept in their bed. He then shot his 7-year-old brother, Landon, and tried to shoot his 17-year-old sister, Alexis, prosecutors said. Landon is now paralyzed. Alexis was not injured. At the time of his arrest, Sachs told investigators that he was angry at his parents, blaming them for his depression and believing that they were favoring his siblings and that they hadnt taken a previous attempt at suicide seriously. But in recent talks with the probation department, prosecutors said Sachs told officials he had a good relationship with his parents. Senior Deputy District Attorney Mike Murray described Sachs in his remarks to the judge as someone who was raised in a loving family and had a life of privilege. However, the prosecutor noted there were several warning signs during Sachs teenage years, including a time when he was caught with a knife at school and an incident in which he was found shooting animals, shooting birds. Murray pointed out that Sachs mother had bought him a condo to live in while he went to college, an opportunity the prosecutor said Sachs had squandered. He doesnt go to class, he sits in the condo his mother is paying for, smokes pot and plays Xbox all day, Murray said. Murray alleged that Sachs continually lied to authorities throughout the investigation, including the young mans contention that he initially bought a rifle to end his own life. He then has the audacity to eulogize his parents at their funeral, to talk to his paralyzed brother about not giving up until he finds the person who committed this horrible atrocity, Murray told the judge. The defendant is a sociopath. He has no remorse. He has no empathy. All he cares about is himself. In recent months, Sachs represented himself after letting go of his court-appointed attorney. Asked after the hearing about Sachs possible motive for the killing, Murray said it was as simple as his being a sociopath. He was going to college, Murray said, mom was paying for everything, and the gravy train was coming to an end. Contact the writer: semery@scng.com Donald Trump has indulged in conspiracy theories about President Barack Obamas birthplace, the FBIs rigged probe of Hillary Clinton, the Federal Reserves political agenda and whether Ted Cruzs father was linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. With his presidential campaign in full-blown crisis on Thursday, Trump was at it again, putting a new spin on a familiar tactic. This time, there was a bigger, badder villain a global power structure of corporate interests, the media and Clinton engaging in subterfuge. This time, it was about him. They knew they would throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved ones, said Trump at a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me. But I never knew, as bad as it would be, I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious. In the face of mounting accusations from women that he groped and kissed them without their consent, dozens of media outlets carefully vetting their claims and a Clinton campaign eager to exploit worries about his behavior toward women, Trump decided to lump them together. For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that dont have your good in mind. Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they havent seen before, Trump said. He is not just talking about Obamas birth certificate. He is talking about himself, said Mark Fenster, a University of Florida law professor and author of a 2008 book about conspiracy theories and American culture. This now becomes a much more personal enterprise about him. A day earlier, Trump appeared to allege, without evidence, that House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wisconsin) and other GOP elected officials who distanced themselves from him were involved in a mass scheme to undermine him. Theres a whole deal going on were going to figure it out. I always figure things out. But theres a whole sinister deal going on, he said. While spreading information ranging from the questionable to the outright inaccurate with no evidence a distinctive feature of his campaign Trump often qualifies his ideas by attributing them to unnamed people he claims are speaking about them. Some of the ideas he has embraced have been denounced by critics who charged that they were racially or culturally derogatory. @TeamTrump should avoid rhetoric&tropes that historically have been used ag. Jews & still spur (hash)antisemitism. Lets keep hate out of cmpgn, Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted Thursday. He was responding to Trumps comment that Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors. For years, Trump was at the vanguard of the birther movement doubting that Obama was born in the United States despite clear evidence that he was. Only last month did Trump officially put his doubts to rest. In doing so, he falsely blamed Clinton for starting the rumors about Obama. Last year, Trump said he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey as the World Trade Center buildings fell during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down, Trump said on ABC News in November. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down. Fact checkers found no evidence to support his claim. At the end of the Republican primary, Trump said Cruzs father, Rafael Cruz, was associated with Lee Harvey Oswald around the time he shot Kennedy. His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being, you know, shot, Trump told Fox News in May. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this? Right? Prior to his being shot. And nobody even brings it up. Trump appeared to be talking about a photograph published by the National Enquirer that showed Oswald and another man distributing pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans in 1963. Cruzs campaign denied that it was his father. No proof emerged supporting Trumps claim. Federal agencies have not been spared in Trumps unsubstantiated attacks. The Fed, which operates separately from the executive branch, was being totally controlled politically, he said during remarks on the economy in New York last month. The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment, Trump tweeted in July, in response to the FBI recommending no charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server. Lately, his rhetoric has become more personal more about his movement, his supporters and himself. Were going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study, make sure other people dont come in and vote five times, Trump said at a campaign stop in Altoona, Pa., in August, voicing concerns about voter fraud that he has repeated with urgency in recent weeks. Studies have shown that documented instances of voter fraud are very rare and that efforts to tighten voter ID laws affect African Americans and younger voters more heavily than others. Trump said Thursday that the world had reached a moment of reckoning. He told his backers that his campaign is not about me; its about all of you, and its about our country. He portrayed the powers he says have banded together to rally against him and his advocates as ruthless and cunning. They will attack you; they will slander you; they will seek to destroy your career and your family; they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation, Trump said. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that; they will do whatever is necessary. SEAL BEACH Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Joe Woyjeck and his wife were driving home to Seal Beach from Arizona on the I-15 when Anna Woyjeck noticed it was designated a veterans memorial highway and thought of their fallen son. Wanting to follow in the footsteps of his father, Kevin Woyjeck joined an elite crew of 20 young firefighters on the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew in Yarnell, Ariz., when they were overtaken by an out-of-control blaze on June 30, 2013. He was only 21 when he, along with 18 of his crewmates, perished. We have to do something, Joe Woyjeck, 54, recalled on Thursday, choking up in front of a crowd at Orange County Fire Authority Station 48 in Seal Beach. We cant just do nothing. var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]); http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js Three years after Kevin Woyjeck died, and a year-and-a-half after his parents drove by the memorial sign, Kevin is getting his own sign on the stretch of I-405 through Seal Beach: Hotshot Firefighter Kevin J. Woyjeck Memorial Highway. Sometimes I just have to pinch myself to feel like, Wow, people really do care, Anna Woyjeck, 53, said at the dedication on Thursday. Nobody ever questioned it and its become a reality now and Im just amazed. Anna Woyjeck approached Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) about dedicating the I-405 from the 22 freeway to the I-605 in her sons name and the politician didnt even blink an eye, she said. The proposal passed in the state Legislature with bipartisan support in May. Youll always know this is what the state of California said, Allen said, handing Anna and Joe Woyjeck a framed copy of the resolution. Everybody is going to see it. Theyre going to know about it. It says it right there Hotshot Firefighter. A Los Alamitos High School graduate, Kevin Woyjeck began his quest in the Explorer Program and joined the Care Ambulance Service working with Seal Beach, among other jurisdictions. In April 2013, he joined the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew. After successfully fighting wildland fires and saving lives and property in New Mexico and Arizona, Kevin Woyjeck and most of his crewmates were ambushed by shifting winds while battling the Yarnell Hill fire. Everything was good and normal, a tearful Joe Woyjeck, a captain in Lakewood, recounted on Thursday. And then I got up and it wasnt the same. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said there was no doubt in my mind that Kevin Woyjeck was on track to become an L.A. fire officer as he dreamed. For those of us that are first responders, we recognize the philosophy of service above ourselves, Osby said. Obviously, Kevin understood that too and unfortunately he had to make the ultimate sacrifice in that effort. In 2015 the state of Arizona settled a lawsuit filed by the Woyjecks and 11 other families claiming that a breakdown in communication between the Hotshots and the Prescott Fire Department contributed to the firefighters deaths. Family and friends founded the Kevin Woyjeck Explorers for Life Association in honor of him and his fellow Hotshots to help young men and women pursuing a career in firefighting through the Explorer Program. The highway memorial sign is set to be installed in both directions of the I-405 in January. I think he would have been a bit timid about it to be honest, but honored in the end, Kevins sister Maddie Woyjeck, 19, said Thursday. If he could see himself now, he would know that he was doing the right thing and everyone loved him and this is where he came from. Its been a long three years, Joe Woyjeck said, but every day it gets a little bit better. Well see Kevins name every time we drive down that highway and shed a tear, his father said. And then smile. Contact the writer: 714-796-7762 or jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong A thoughtful husband in Singapore recently ended up fighting to save his marriage after buying three Pokemon plush toys as a surprise for his wife, a big Pokemon Go fan. The poor guy, known only by his handle featherlit on online marketplace Carousell, posted an ad on October 12, pleading with people to get three Snorlax plushies off his hands and help him save his marriage. In the item description section, he wrote how he decided to buy the adorable plush toys for his wife, as she was always talking about how cute and dumb the Pokemon character looked. So without giving the much thought, he went online and ordered three plush Snorlax figures. Featherlit was expecting to receive miniature versions of the Pokemon that they could set on the living-room coffee table as decorations, but to his great surprise, the three Snorlaxes tuned out to be life-sized, with each one measuring around 1.5 meters tall. But that was nothing compared to the shock he got when his wife flew into a rage, after seeing most of their living space taken up by the huge plush toys. He was forced to put them up for sale, after the spouse threatened to move back to her moms home if he didnt get rid of them. Please pleaseguysbuy them away before she divorces meI will be glad to transport it to your place, the man implored in his Carousell ad. Luckily, the internet is always willing to help. In order to salvage your (sic) marriage and your (sic) willingness to let go at an (sic) unacceptable price, I sacrifice myself and my room for u. Bro, one user replied. If nobody is buying from you and your wife is one foot out of the door, I am willing to give up half my room space for one of these, another posted. Although its not clear how much featherlit paid for the three giant Snorlax toys, his asking price for each of them was 250 Singapore dollars ($180). That sounds insanely expensive, but I hear Singapore is not the cheapest country in the world to live in. In an update to his original ad, the desperate husband announced that all three inconvenient had been sold. Hey guys, snorlax has been soldthanks everyone! he wrote. Moral of the story: guys, the next time you want to do something nice for your wives, dont! It will probably blow up in your face. via Asia One Kiyoto Saito, a young rice farmer from Kengo, Japans Yamagata prefecture, is trying to change peoples perception of agricultural work through his unusual attire. Whether hes driving a tractor, or is standing up to his knees in the marshy rice fields, Kiyoto is always wearing an elegant suit complete with shirt and tie. Kiyotos family has been cultivating rice in the fields around Kengo for around 400 years, but as a teenager he found the tradition boring, and moved to the city. He returned to his native town a few years ago determined to start a family and get involved in the family business, but decided to put his unique twist on it. The idea of wearing a suit in the fields started as a joke. One day, at the dinner table, his brother joked about farming in an elegant suit, but Kyioto took it seriously. He viewed the idea as the perfect way to change public perception of agricultural work in Japan. Most people think of farmers as dirty all day and not making much money, he told Zoomin TV. I want youngsters to think farming looks fun. Photo: Kaburamai Blog But getting his point across was a bit difficult at first, and no one seemed to understand what he was doing in a rice field dressed as a businessman or office worker. I stood out so much, they couldnt understand why I wore a suit, Kiyoto recalls. One farmer said Are you making a fool out of us? Even his family was surprised by his choice of farming attire, at first. His grandfather worried that doing farm work in a suit would be dangerous, and his father admits he was confused the first time he saw Kiyoto in the fields, but he didnt say anything about it. But things changed as time went by and people learned about the young farmers quest to challenge preconceptions, and today Kiyoto Saito says many people support his style. So Ill keep wearing my suit, he says. A dapper rice farmer is a rare sight, so its no wonder that Saito has been featured in Japans biggest newspaper, Yomiuri Simbun, as well as other publications, and invited on various television shows. He also has a blog where he regularly posts his farming experiences and photos of himself all dressed up. Sources: ZoominTV, Kaburamai Johnathon Briggs As healthcare communicators, we are asked to provide counsel on a range of digital tactics in the age of Google and Facebook, from email and social media campaigns to video storytelling and online advertising. These strategies may seem the province of marketers, but as we navigate the ever-shifting landscape of U.S. healthcare, we find our communications toolbox expanding to address this new reality: information finds people as much as people find information. Ill say that again: information finds people as much as people find information. Thats because technology in the form of faster processing speeds and smaller devices has dramatically changed the way consumers across every industry, including healthcare, access information and connect with the physical and digital world. Consumer engagement Nowadays, just about any question we may have about our health is a Google search away. And the digital footprint we leave in the wake of our search (data generated by our web-browsing think cookies) allows marketers to target us with the right content at the right time to influence what McKinsey & Company describe as our consumer decision journey. Most of us have come to accept the way ads follow us around the internet, how the jeans we clicked on but didnt buy keep popping up here and there even though we left them behind hours (sometimes days) ago. Its no wonder then that the healthcare industry continues to invest in the development of online information resources, mobile apps, and personal health devices. As Deloittes 2015 Survey of U.S. Health Care Consumers notes: These tools are designed to increase consumer engagement, to help individuals take action to improve their health, make informed decisions, and engage effectively and efficiently with the healthcare system. Deloitte survey authors Dr. Harry Greenspun and Gregory Scott highlighted three findings that caught my eye: 52 percent of consumers report searching online for health or care-related information. Use of social media, patient portals, and performance scorecards is growing. One-quarter of consumers said they looked at a scorecard or report card to compare the performance of doctors, hospitals, or health plans compared to 19 percent in 2013. Among Millennials who needed medical care, scorecard use grew from 31 percent to 49 percent. At Public Communications Inc. we gain inspiration from these trends, while recognizing both the opportunities and challenges they signal for our healthcare clients. Value is the buzzword We work with clients who are making a positive difference in the world whether they are educating patients about better treatment options, introducing new medicines, sharing important research findings or shattering myths about who gets sick and why. Our clients range from healthcare providers and patient advocacy groups to accrediting organizations and professional associations representing physicians, dentists and allied health professionals. What each client has in common is the need to communicate value: the health outcome or healthcare benefit achieved for every dollar spent or every policy advanced. We help shape their reputation as thought leaders and providers of choice who are transforming healthcare for the better and delivering innovative solutions. Value is the buzzword of the moment. Spurred by the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. healthcare industry is shifting from a fee-for-service model where providers are paid by the number of visits and tests they order to a value-based model in which they are incentivized to deliver coordinated care that is cost-effective, keeps people healthy and improves the health of those living with chronic conditions. This shift requires our clients to develop compelling new messages and content and deliver both in highly targeted ways to various audiences: patients, caregivers, payers, policymakers, media, advocacy organizations and even their own employees or members. In turn, our clients ask us as communications strategists to demonstrate the value of public relations in a complex, mobile-first world where Gary Grates, Principal of the W2O Group of marketing and communications firms recently noted, people are tied to platforms, apps, and outlets as a means of filtering information and content that most interests them. Bypass the filter Breaking through todays fragmented media landscape requires increasingly sophisticated techniques. For example, audience segmentation tools on platforms such as the Google Display Network allow us to identify, target and reach people who may fit a specific psychographic profile or belong to a population that has traditionally been hard to reach or underserved. Pharmacy store apps now send customers reminders as they shop (e.g., a personalized coupon offer for smoking cessation kits based on their historical data and product reviews). Our agency currently runs a digital campaign on behalf of an AIDS organization that encourages Mexican men in Chicago living with HIV to seek treatment if they are not in care. The campaign delivers culturally specific visuals and messages through websites, Facebook, Instagram and hookup/dating apps. Because the majority of the campaigns audience uses mobile devices, a click-to-call phone number appears in the ads. When men choose this option, their call is directly routed to a counselor who can connect them to care. The campaign is continuously reviewed to ensure it drives quality traffic to a central website and prompts action. A phone call or email to the counselor to request care. This assessment of real-time metrics allows us to switch or alter creative visuals or messages to optimize what works and avoid wasting resources on what doesnt. What weve learned: Timely and relevant content helps you bypass the filter. This echoes the Deloitte survey conclusion that healthcare organizations that figure out how to address their customers needs for better informational and digital support may strengthen satisfaction and retention through increased engagement, while also enhancing the value of the services and products they deliver. The trick, however, may be coming up with a set of strategies that will work across the consumer segments that are present in the market. One strategy will not fit all. Thats the beauty of the digital world: everything can be tailored. * * * Johnathon Briggs, MPH, is Senior Vice President, Digital at Public Communications Inc. Communications Week, whose media partners includes AdWeek, Commpro, ODwyers and other ad/PR media, is an event in New York starting Oct. 19 on the theme of Reinventing the Industry. The Week was founded by Tiffany Guarnaccia of Kite Hill PR, New York. Tiffany Guarnaccia The event opens at 9 a.m. at 156 Fifth ave. with remarks by Erin Ade, host of BizWire TV. Angela Tucciarone, senior manager, PepsiCo Brand Communications, will discuss current industry topics with Frank Washkuch of PRWeek. Reinventing brands through communications will be discussed by Dan Mazei, Reebok, Global Newsroom; David Berkowitz, Serial Marketer and previous CMO of MRY; Wendy Goldberg, EVP & CCO of iHeartMedia; Bruce Kelley, Chief Content Officer at Reader's Digest; moderated by Patrick Coffee of Adweek. A panel at 11 a.m. will discuss whether artificial intelligence is the future of communications. Panelists include Michelle Castillo, advertising & media reporter, CNBC Digital; Jennifer Wise, senior analyst serving B2C marketing professionals, Forrester; Carol Chung, SVP media technology, Digitas; Merrill Brown, Director, School of Communication and Media, Montclair State University, moderated by Andy Guarnaccia Speaks Oct. 21 Guarnaccia, former Director of Communications for The Huffington Post, will introduce the final sessions and shares highlights from Communications Week 2016. 9:30 AM Panel: How Technology is Changing the Content Marketing Landscape? Custom publishing has been around for well over a century, but the rapid change in technology in the past 10 years has taken this industry from a print-based discipline to an exciting and varied multi-channel practice. Content agencies are no longer the sole creators of content strategy now publishers, PR companies and media partners are creating content for brand clients. It seems everyone is getting in on the act. Our panel of experts will discuss developing and distributing content across new and innovative platforms - and where print fits in a digital era. Moderated by The Content Council's Lori Greene, founder LPG Enterprises, panelists include Denise Burrell-Stinson, T Brand Studio, The New York Times; Sloan Gaon, CEO, PulsePoint; Cam Brown, founder & CEO, King Fish Media; Janet Levine, Group Planning Director, Mindshare and Randi Lidodice, SVP, Kaplow. 11 AM Panel: Leveraging Video for Immersive Storytelling | How to Incorporate VR and 360 Video into Your Content Strategy "Hot tech trends like 360 video and augmented reality have the ability to transform storytelling for brands, creating completely immersive experiences without ever meeting the consumer directly. In fact, these platforms allow companies to provide 'even better than reality' environments through ideal conditions that showcase extreme customer experiences." This panel will feature experts in journalism, technology and PR, including Katie Creaser, VP at Affect, a social media and PR agency; Laura Clayton McDonnell, GM Microsoft; Duy Linh Tu, associate professor of professional practice & director, digital media program, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism Technologies; moderated by Sean Czarnecki, corporate reporter, PRWeek. Reservations are required. Cost is $25 plus $2.37. People hoping to retire early now have more choice and ownership of their pensions than ever before because of new rules for pensions introduced by Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD earlier this year. Thats according to EarlyRetirement.ie, Irelands leading financial advisors on early retirement and pensions. The new pension rules come at an important time as the Central Statistics Office (CSO) projects that the number of older people (65+) will increase by 63% in the Midlands region including Offaly, between 2016 and 2031. Furthermore, in their QNHS Module on Pensions (Q4, 2015), the CSO found that over three quarters of workers who were members of an occupational or personal pension scheme expected their pension to be their main source of retirement income. The new rules mean that members of defined benefit pension schemes will now be able to purchase approved retirement funds (ARFs) with the proceeds of their pension fund. The new rules will be of particular interest to people who have a pension with a previous employer and want to explore the options that are now available to them given the rule change as well as for people who have a previous employer based pension and the scheme is in difficulty. Encouraging Offaly natives to find out how they might benefit from the new pension rules, Johnny Mulholland, Managing Director of EarlyRetirement.ie explained: Previously, if you were retiring early, you were forced to buy an annuity. An annuity is a pension for life. You give your lump sum to life assurance company and they give a percentage of that back to you as income for the rest of your life. This is what we tend to think of when we hear pension. However, with the new rules, after you withdraw the lump sum, you can reinvest the pension funds and take the money out when you need it. You can take the 25 per cent as a tax free lump sum and invest the balance as you wish with an approved retirement fund (ARF). You can take a monthly amount to live on or you can invest some or all of it into investment funds that track the performance of bonds, shares or the property market. Many companies are under considerable pressure to maintain their defined benefit pension schemes for a number of reasons including low economic growth across the Eurozone; low bond yields; the impact of the Brexit vote; and the introduction of a requirement to hold a statutory Risk Reserve from January 2016. Mr Mulholland continued, People in a defined benefit scheme with a large deficit will benefit greatly from the rule change as they can avoid the inherent risk of a scheme which is finding it challenging to meet the minimum funding standards including reducing members benefits; offering a reduced transfer value; and winding up the scheme entirely. Non-retired members of defined benefit schemes do not enjoy the same security as retired members. If you have concerns that your former employer will not be able to back up their pension promise, its a good time to take back control by taking advantage of a transfer value as this pension value will be secured for a specific guaranteed period before it potentially decreases. In addition to this, ARFs allow people to change what happens to their pension when they eventually die for example, when a person dies, their spouse can take ownership of the fund and on their death, the balance can be inherited by the couples children or indeed, left to whomever they wish. For more information, please visit www.earlyretirement.ie. Minister of State for Health Promotion Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, TD, has welcomed additional funding for Health and Wellbeing in Budget 2017. Included in the funding is: Establishment of Healthy Ireland Fund - 5m Expansion of Breast Cancer Screening - 2.5m Expansion of Childhood Vaccine Programme - 7.8m Advance Purchase Agreement for Pandemic Vaccines - 1.5m Minister Corcoran Kennedy said the allocation of additional funding to Health and Wellbeing in Budget 2017 showed the Governments commitment to the implementation of Healthy Ireland, the National Framework for Improving Health and Wellbeingand to the commitments in the Programme for Government. The Offaly TD described the establishment of the Healthy Ireland Fund as a major initiative. The Fund will allow Government to support innovative, cross sectoral, evidence-based projects, programmes and initiatives that support the implementation of the key national policies in areas such as Obesity, Smoking, Alcohol, Physical Activity and Sexual Health. The Minister said that Healthy Ireland seeks to empower people and communities to improve their health and wellbeing. It is vital that critical sectors such as Education and Local Government can build their capacity at local level to integrate and align local action with national policy, and to do so with appropriate support and guidance from the health sector. The Department of Health will announce details of how the Fund will operate before the end of the year. The Minster said she was particularly pleased that she was able to continue the planned extension of BreastCheck to all women aged 50-69 on an incremental basis from 2015-2021. There is also additional funding for vaccination to allow for the introduction of Rotavirus and Meningitis B vaccine for newborns. The Minister pointed out that the extension of Breastcheck and the expansion of the childhood vaccination programme are commitments in the Programme for Partnership Government. The Minister also welcomed the announcement of an increase in the price of tobacco products and encouraged all smokers to consider quitting for the sake of their health. She reminded all smokers of the considerable supports to those wishing to quit such as the Quit Service. Mairead McGuinness MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament has met with Patriarchs representing the three Christian churches in Syria, calling for peace in Syria. The religious leaders brought letters and drawings from Syrian schoolchildren with them who have called for an end to war so they can return to school safely. "Today, I and other EPP Group MEPs met with the highest ranking representatives of the Christian churches in Syria - Melkite Catholic, Syrian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox. They called on the EU to raise its voice and press the international community to speed up the process of finding a peaceful solution to the conflict," McGuinness said. Over 15,000 children have died in the Syrian war according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (September 2016). 2,960 schools have been destroyed in the war and 2.1 million Syrian children are unable to attend school now due to the conflict that has been ongoing for over five and half years. Many children are traumatised and are not only victims of direct acts of war, but also of abduction, torture and sexual exploitation and many been orphaned by the conflict. "The appeal for peace is a joint initiative involving around 1 million Syrian children of both Christian and Muslim faith, organised by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians in Syria with the support of members of all other religious communities in Syria. The aim is to raise awareness of the plight of children in Syria and their plea to end the conflict. The religious leaders stressed that Muslims are not at war with Christians in Syria despite the emerging narrative in some reports and that everyone is affected by the conflict. "The EPP Group calls on all sides to end the bloodshed in Syria and bring peace to the region so that reconciliation can begin, with the help of interreligious dialogue in the communities," McGuinness added. The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has welcomed the retention of the 9% tourism VAT rate announced by Minister Noonan as part of Budget 2017. Joe Dolan, President of the IHF, said the rate has been instrumental in the recovery of the tourism industry, which has created some 50,000 new jobs since the measure was introduced in 2011. This measure has been the single most important fiscal initiative for Irish tourism in the last decade and we are pleased the Government has retained the rate. It demonstrates that it has been highly effective in job creation and also acknowledges that we have a pro-tourism Government who see the value the industry brings to every part of our country located on the periphery of Europe. The decision is a vote of confidence in the tourism industry at a time of uncertainty due to Brexit, he said. Mr Dolan added: Tourism is one of Irelands largest employers. It currently supports some 220,000 jobs and is on-track to create a further 40,000 new jobs by 2021. Direct actions by the government including the 9% VAT rate [and the zero rate travel tax] have helped level the playing field for tourism businesses to compete for visitors with other European destinations and are vital in underpinning and sustaining that growth. Tourism makes an important contribution to the economy of every town and village in Ireland. While the industry has returned to growth, with Brexit on the horizon, a weaker sterling and an uncertain global outlook, there is no room for complacency. Mr Dolan acknowledged the important support provided by Government, Ministers Michael Noonan and Paschal Donohoe and by Tourism Ministers Shane Ross and Patrick ODonovan as well as those public representatives across the country who strive to ensure that tourism remains at the centre of Government economic policy and its important role in growing the Irish economy is recognised. Continuing with the schedule of centenary themed exhibitions, the launch of Kathleen Kingston the strength of a woman from Birr will take place in Aras an Chontae, Tullamore on Thursday 27th October at 6:30pm. The exhibition will feature images printed on linen and cotton by artist Hazel Greene, a visual artist and designer, based in her studio in Shinrone. Hazel Greene trained in the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design (1994-1998). She was awarded Accessory Designer of the Year 2015 and in 2016 was accepted as a member of the Council of Irish Fashion Designers. Hazel explains; When I set out to find a subject for my 1916 project, I was delighted to come across Kathleen Kingston, a woman from Birr, my local town; who went to school in the Convent in Roscrea, as I did; and who moved to Dublin, again as I did; and who sold womens clothing in Nassau Street as I do now I reckoned this was a story I could tell. As an artist who works in textiles, I thought Id tell this story in the textiles you would have found in Kingstons shop. Kathleen Kingston was baptised Catherine Mary and born into a prosperous shop keeping and land owning family in Birr. There was a strong Celtic movement in Ireland at that time. This Celtic movement appealed greatly to Kathleen and she joined Irish language classes, held in Green Street, Birr, run by the Gaelic League. It was here she met Cathal Brugha (born Charles William St John Burgess, educated in Belvedere College, Dublin) who travelled around Ireland with his work and in support of Irish culture. Cathal and Kathleen were married two years later. Now known as Caitlin Brugha, nee Kingston, she joined Cumann na mBan. Widowed in 1922 with six children under the age of 10, Caitlin went on to campaign and won two Dail elections, 1923 and 1927. In accordance with Sinn Fein policy of the time she did not take her seat in Dail Eireann. Caitlin opened and ran a successful men's clothing store, Kingston's Ltd. in Dublin for many years. Caitlin Brugha, nee Kingston died in 1959, aged 80. The exhibition will be opened by her grandson Professor Cathal Brugha. Georgie Kingston, Kathleens niece who lived with her, and who is the daughter of Kathleens brother Charles, a previous Offaly County Secretary, along with many other family members, will be attending the exhibition launch on Thursday 27th October at 6:30pm. Kathleen Kingston The strength of a woman from Birr exhibition will be open weekdays from 9:30am to 4pm. The exhibition is free and will continue until Friday 18th November in Aras an Chontae Tullamore. All are welcome to attend. For more information please visit www.offaly.ie/2016 Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... Two motorists were seriously injured late Thursday in a four-vehicle crash at South 84th and L Streets in Omaha. Police said around 11:35 p.m. officers were dispatched to the crash that sent two drivers to the Nebraska Medical Center. A 2002 Acura SUV was eastbound on L Street, approaching the 84th Street intersection, when it entered the turn lanes for northbound 84th Street, striking a 1999 Lincoln Town Car and a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu, police said. The Acura continued east and struck a westbound 2002 Ford Explorer nearly head-on, with the Acura eventually stopping at the southeast corner of the 84th and L intersection, police said. The driver of the Acura, Hunter Owensby, 27, of Davenport, Iowa, was treated for chest injuries, which were not considered life-threatening, police said. The Explorers driver, Khoa Nguyen, 43, of Omaha, was treated for chest injuries and a knee laceration. His injuries also were not considered life-threatening, police said. Police said that prior to the 84th and L Streets crash the Acura was involved in a hit-and-run accident at 168th and Pacific Streets, where it struck a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and fled from the scene. The Jeep pursued the Acura before the Grand Cherokee driver lost sight of the Acura at 108th and L Streets, police said. Later, the Jeep arrived at the 84th and L Streets crash. The Omaha motorist was ticketed for reckless driving after telling officers that he pursued the Acura at high speed, police said. Police also said that the crash remained under investigation and that additional charges may be filed later. The drivers of the Lincoln, Chevrolet and Jeep were not injured. OGALLALA, Nebraska A Florida truck driver accused of causing a deadly pileup on Interstate 80 in July has pleaded not guilty. Tony A. Weekly Jr., 53, made an appearance in Keith County District Court on Friday morning where he entered a not guilty plea to six counts of felony motor vehicle homicide and one misdemeanor count of reckless driving. According to authorities, Weekly, of Baker, Florida, was distracted and failed to slow down at a construction zone on I-80 near Brule on July 31. The resulting crash involved five vehicles. A family of five from Minnesota died at the scene and another individual died later of injuries caused by the accident. Five others were injured. District Judge Richard Birch of North Platte set a follow-up hearing for Jan. 20. Weekly remains free on bail. Thats all she wrote. The Nebraska Department of Education released Friday the final batch of writing test scores from the open-ended, essay-prompt tests schoolkids have taken since 2001. Seventy percent of public school students scored in the proficient range last school year, a 2-point drop from a year earlier, according to the Nebraska Department of Education. The stand-alone writing tests taken annually in fourth, eighth and 11th grades part of the Nebraska State Accountabiltiy suite of tests go away this school year. State officials are replacing them with significantly different tools to gauge whether students know how to write. This year, for the first time, the state will pay for every high school junior to take the ACT college entrance exam, including the ACT writing test. The 40-minute ACT writing test consists of one writing prompt that describes a complex issue and presents three different perspectives on it. Students are asked to read the prompt and write an essay in which they develop their own perspective on the issue. Students in grades 5 to 8, instead of taking separate reading and writing tests, will take a single English language arts test combining the two subjects. Within that test, students will be required to read texts and answer an essay question using evidence pulled from the texts. Just how the state will assess writing in future years is a work in progress. Officials are preparing a request for proposals inviting companies to provide new assessments beginning in the 2017-18 school year. But the notion of making kids read and then write about what they read appears likely to be in the mix. Nebraska Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said the current year is a transition year for state writing tests. We anticipate new assessments in the future will include some form of written response and may include a performance writing portion, he said. We will also learn more as we implement ACT writing over the next year. We hope to explore new methods for large-scale writing assessment, as well as encourage strong instructional practices. State officials launched the state writing tests in 2001, hoping to spur better writing. Students would write essays from open-ended prompts. Fourth-graders wrote a narrative essay. Eighth-graders wrote a descriptive piece, and 11th-graders a persuasive one. Over the years, some experts said the format writing about an experience or an idea with no advance research or required content didnt replicate real-world writing. They said the way the tests were scored on six traits common to good writing tended to produce formulaic writing. Valorie Foy, the states director of assessment, said the read-and-write type of question is quite different than the old NeSA writing test. For example, she said, the prompt for the 11th-grade persuasive essay might say the school is adding an extracurricular activity. The students would be asked to choose an activity they want to add and write about why it would be good for their high school. The new ones are actually asking students to read text and then answer a question supporting their answer with evidence from the text, she said. The combination of reading and writing is something new for Nebraska assessments, though schools have been teaching it for years, she said. Its called evidence-based analysis, Foy said. So its not pulling out prior knowledge or anything like that, she said. Everythings provided right there for them to read and draw deductions to answer the prompt that theyre given. The test will provide enough space to write 6,000 characters, or about three typewritten pages, Foy said. She said she doubts many students will write that much. Students need to adequately answer the question proposed in the prompt; and so we dont predetermine that length, she said. In fact, it may be that very, very skilled writers are able to do that efficiently. The ability to support ones writing with evidence is one of the Nebraska English language arts standards adopted in 2014. The standards are a list of academic skills and content state leaders believe a child should know at each grade level. Students who meet or exceed the standards on state tests are deemed proficient. More than 67,000 students took the NeSA writing tests last school year. Statewide, 69 percent of fourth-graders scored proficient. Seventy percent of eighth-graders and 71 percent of 11th-graders were proficient. In Omaha Public Schools, results were mixed. Elementary school students showed gains. Sixty-three percent of OPS fourth-graders were proficient, up from 57 percent a year earlier. In eighth grade, proficiency was 48 percent, down from 49 percent. Proficiency for 11th-graders dropped from 57 percent to 54 percent. Scores at four of seven OPS high schools were down: Benson, Burke, Central and South. At Central, 67 percent of 11th-graders were proficient the highest in the district but thats down from 73 percent a year earlier. The lowest percentage was notched at Benson, where 33 percent of juniors were proficient, down 3 percentage points. OPS officials said one factor in the elementary gains could be the districts efforts to give teachers additional training in writing instruction. The decline in high school scores could reflect an influx of non-English speaking and refugee students who are entering the secondary grades. Elkhorn Public Schools students topped metro-Omaha schools in 11th-grade proficiency, with 94 percent. Springfield Platteview led for eighth grade, with 98 percent. In fourth grade, Douglas County West led the way with 88 percent proficient Elkhorn was right behind with 87 percent. * * * * * Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Elkhorn Public Schools students topped metro-Omaha schools in both eighth- and 11th-grade proficiency. LINCOLN Nearly four of every 10 child welfare workers in Nebraska have to handle more cases than state law allows, according to a report delivered Thursday to state lawmakers. A top official with the State Department of Health and Human Services said he hopes to solve the problem by finding efficiencies and expanding efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect. Doug Weinberg, the children and family services director, said he will have a better idea within six months whether additional staff is needed to ease caseloads. But members of the Legislatures Health and Human Services Committee expressed concern that the agency is not doing enough to turn around a long-standing problem. State Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha said high caseloads have been blamed in the deaths and serious injuries of 26 children in recent years. To me, its a crisis that reaches the level of crisis that we see in (the Department of) Corrections, she said. We need to re-evaluate if the department has the budget they need to meet the caseload standard. Howard introduced the legislative resolution leading to Thursdays interim study hearing. She said HHS has been fighting high child welfare caseloads for more than a decade. Those concerns led to the law setting caseload caps. Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, the committee chairwoman, said she believes that the state does not have enough workers to protect Nebraska children. I worry, I truly worry, she said, noting that HHS did not ask for additional child welfare employees in its recent budget request. The new report showed that as of the end of June, 158 of the 424 front-line child welfare workers had caseloads higher than the standard set out by state law. Under that standard, workers doing initial assessments of child abuse and neglect reports should have no more than 12 cases. Workers handling ongoing abuse and neglect cases should have no more than 17 cases. But some workers exceeded that standard by six or more cases, including 19 who exceeded it by more than 10 cases. Workers in the western, northern and eastern services areas of the state were more likely to have heavy caseloads. Weinberg said HHS is pursuing several strategies to better manage the work. Some seek to streamline the paperwork involved with child welfare cases. Others aim to help front-line workers by better training supervisors and giving more duties to support staff. The department also is developing a way to assign cases based on the amount of time that they require, such as the size of the family, the risk of future problems and travel time. In addition, HHS has launched a review of all non-case manager positions in child welfare to see if any can be reassigned. Weinberg said he expects the review and the new case assignment system to be done next year. Julie Rogers, the states inspector general for child welfare, told the committee that her office has repeatedly cited high caseloads as a major problem in child welfare. When staff have too much work, corners get cut, things get missed and errors are made, she said. Rogers told of one case that her office investigated this year in which a 4-year-old boy wound up in the hospital with a broken skull and bruises covering his body. She said high caseloads contributed to that result, which occurred despite 11 calls to the child abuse hotline over the prior six months that went unheeded or were deemed unfounded. LINCOLN Nebraska lawmakers need to do more to ensure the states most vulnerable citizens dont become victims of voter fraud, while still protecting their voting rights, a legislative committee was told Thursday. Carol Tritsch voted by absentee ballot in elections for the nearly 20 years she lived in an Omaha nursing home, her niece Emily Wynn told the Legislatures Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. But Tritsch, who suffered asphyxia at birth, was a people pleaser who functioned at about a 7-year-old childs level. She loved to count change and color. I guarantee you that never once would this have been Carols vote, but it wouldve been (that of) the person helping her, Wynn said. Tritschs family believes she was exploited, and it wants to make sure other families loved ones arent being influenced in voting, too. Others at the hearing questioned the legal consequences of stripping the right to vote from someone with diminished capacity. They also wondered at what point a voter is declared incompetent, particularly those with memory issues who may have good and bad days. And they cautioned against setting a threshold of when a voter has had a guardian appointed. Omaha State Sen. Sara Howard asked for the interim study hearing at the request of Wynn, a constituent. Sen. John Murante of Gretna, chairman of the committee, said he believes the matter deserves legal research. I think theres a problem to address here, he said. Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins agreed, saying that he was advised when running for office to be nice to nursing home staff, presumably because of their influence over residents. This is out there, he said. The concern is likely to become more widespread as the population ages and more elderly people move into extended care facilities. The Nebraska Constitution disqualifies people from voting if they are declared non compos mentis, or mentally incompetent, by the court. But its a little-known route thats been rarely used in recent years. State law prohibits anyone from improperly assisting someone with his or her ballot. But state law allows election officials to train others to administer ballots to residents of nursing homes and hospitals on request. Brad Meurrens, a public policy specialist for Disability Rights Nebraska, said any change to Nebraska law cannot be so broad that it takes away rights of people who are capable. This is a very fine line issue, he said. Meurrens suggested that efforts to combat fraud should target the perpetrators, not the victims. That might mean educating staff members of nursing facilities about providing voting assistance, he said. Spike Eickholt, government liaison for the ACLU of Nebraska, said that local government officials could provide more direct assistance to voters who are residents of nursing homes. Mary Ellen Metcalfe, Carols sister and co-guardian, said she was very involved in Carols life, yet wasnt aware Carol was registered to vote until about a year before she died in 2013 at age 75. Metcalfe said she believes guardians or family of residents should be alerted if their loved one is registered to vote, and should have the choice to help them vote, along with a neutral party. Wynn said she sees the fine line between protecting ones right to vote and protecting vulnerable citizens. At what point in the decline is it absolutely not going to be their vote, and youre just setting them up to have their vote hijacked? she said. LINCOLN A live-in boyfriend who says he was wrongly convicted of beating his girlfriends toddler lost a legal battle Friday before the Nebraska Supreme Court. The high court reversed a Nebraska Court of Appeals decision, which determined there was not enough convincing evidence to convict Cody Olbricht of physically abusing the 3-year-old child. Olbricht, 27, was accused after his girlfriends child was admitted to a Scottsbluff emergency room in September 2014. An emergency room doctor suspected that the child had been abused and notified authorities. Olbricht was charged with intentional child abuse resulting in serious injury and later convicted in district court. A Scottsbluff doctor testified in Olbrichts trial that the child suffered a brain bleed and a liver laceration injuries he said presented a substantial risk of death as well as bruising on the face, torso, arms and legs. The diagnosis of a doctor in Denver who saw the child for further treatment was battered child. He testified that the injuries were likely not an accident, and that he believed the child was hit with a wire hanger because of triangular bruises. The doctor testified that the childs liver injury was likely caused by blunt trauma similar to the amount of force a body would suffer in a car accident. Several witnesses testified about the regular bruising on the childs body. A baby sitter testified that the child said daddy which is what the child called Olbricht would hurt the child. Olbrichts defense included family members and acquaintances who testified that Olbricht never abused the child. The childs mother, called by the defense, said that in addition to the times the child was injured while in Olbrichts care, the child also fell down stairs and was hit in the head by a swing while with her. Olbricht didnt dispute the childs history of injuries while in his care, but disputed that he had caused them. The appeals court found that the evidence against Olbricht never showed that the childs injuries occurred when Olbricht was the only adult around. At least two other individuals could not be excluded from having caused the injuries, the court said. One doctor testified that the brain bleed could have occurred from five minutes to two weeks before the child arrived at the emergency room, while the other doctor said it could have been within a few days. Neither gave a specific time frame for the liver injury. The appeals court called circumstantial evidence that the child was afraid of Olbricht insufficient. But the high court said the state shouldnt have to disprove every hypothesis of non-guilt in order to convict Olbricht. The high court said state law does not require the state to prove a child was in the exclusive care of the defendant when the abuse took place. Reached Friday, Leonard Tabor, Olbrichts attorney, declined to comment. Olbricht is serving 15-30 years in prison. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts lives in a house divided, politically speaking. The Republican governors wife, Susanne Shore, has donated $4,700 to Democrat Hillary Clinton in both the primary and general election and $1,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising operation between the Clinton campaign and state parties designed to help get Democratic candidates elected at the local and state level. Shore also has officially registered as a Democrat. In contrast, her husband hasnt donated a single dollar to Republican Donald Trumps campaign, although his GOP mega-donor parents Marlene and Joe Ricketts have given at least $1 million to a pro-Trump super PAC. Ricketts has publicly endorsed Trump, but after a lewd tape emerged last week of Trump referring to women in derogatory terms, the governor released a statement condemning Trumps remarks as dangerous. After the tape, Ricketts said he would not donate any money to Trumps campaign, said Taylor Gage, the governors spokesman. Donald Trumps comments are not only reprehensible and offensive, but they are dangerous. His apology video was inadequate, the governor said. Since then, the governor who declined to be interviewed for this article has emphasized that he still plans to vote for Trump. The Rickettses are hardly the only family in America who have gone their separate ways in this years roller-coaster presidential election. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is among Trumps top surrogates, but his daughter, Caroline, is backing Clinton. Former GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush is a Never Trump guy, but his son, George P. Bush, is backing the flamboyant New Yorker. I would say Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts are experiencing the same kind of political differences that a number of couples across the land are experiencing, said Kevin Smith, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I would imagine it makes the discussion of the political race a little lively over the dinner table. Of course, Shores decision to back Clinton is hardly a huge surprise. She was a registered Democrat before her husband ran for public office. She switched her party affiliation to Republican during the gubernatorial primary in 2014 to vote for her husband and then registered as an independent. She has given to both Democrats and Republicans in the past, including Clinton in 2007 and Republican Mitt Romney in 2008. But her decision this year to donate to Clinton, along with her husbands decision not to write Trump a check, reflects a fundraising gap between the two presidential candidates in both Nebraska and nationwide. Clinton has outraised Trump in this Republican-rich state by more than a 2-to-1 ratio, with the help of old-guard Democrats such as Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett and former Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey. In contrast, many of the typical Republican donors such as Ricketts are missing in action on Trumps campaign finance report. In fact, both of Trumps state co-chairmen former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman and State Sen. Beau McCoy do not show up on Trumps campaign report. Heineman, however, hasnt consistently donated to presidential candidates in the past, although McCoy gave a $250 donation to Romney in 2012. Walter Scott Jr., chairman emeritus of Peter Kiewit Sons Inc., is another longtime Republican donor who has not given to either presidential candidate this year. Scott typically gives to GOP presidential candidates, with donations to Romney in 2012, John McCain in 2008 and George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Clinton had raised $572,000 and Trump had raised $259,000 in Nebraska as of Sept. 21, according to the Open Secrets website, which compiles and analyzes the candidates federal reports. Nationwide, Clinton also has trounced Trump in the money game, raising a staggering $373 million, compared with $165 million for Trumps campaign. Hal Daub, a former Omaha mayor, said he wonders whether many of Nebraskas Republicans prefer to donate to pro-Trump super PACs as opposed to giving to Trumps campaign. (Such donations are harder to track, in part because individuals can often hide their contributions by giving to a limited liability company, which does not have to disclose its donors.) Daub also noted that he does not believe that Trumps campaign has a finance chairperson in Nebraska. His job in 2012 as Romneys state finance chairman was to make contact with potential donors and to hold fundraisers in the state. Daub himself is a staunch Trump supporter. But he, too, has yet to donate to Trumps campaign. Daub said he made it a priority this year to give to local candidates, such as Don Bacon, who is running for the U.S. House in the Omaha-based 2nd District. He said he planned to donate to Trump later this week. Its on the schedule. ... Im not made of gold, you know, Daub said. Many of the Nebraskans who are aligned with Clinton have donated. Clinton has a leadership team of more than 50 in the state. And many of them, such as Buffett, have donated $2,700 to Clinton the maximum allowed under federal law. In fact, Clintons financial report is a whos who of Democratic politics. It includes such notables as former Omaha Mayor Mike Boyle and his wife, Anne Boyle, a former member of the Public Service Commission. It also includes former Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle. When leaders of the architectural firm HDR announced in June that they will build their new headquarters in downtown Omaha, it was mentioned that the new 18- to 20-story building will house all of its area staff about 900 employees who are currently in three locations in the city. Moving the headquarters from 84th Street and Indian Hills Drive to downtown in a block bounded by Capitol Avenue and Dodge, 11th and 12th Streets helps show that the company believes in Omahas growth, said Omaha architect Bruce Carpenter, senior vice president of HDR. This city is vibrant and successful, he said, adding that the new building will help improve the area. Carpenter noted many other examples of architecture that have improved the quality of downtown Omaha, including the Holland Performing Arts Center, TD Ameritrade Park, the Orpheum Theater and the Durham Museum. Ive spent my entire career with community-minded projects and buildings that show pride and spirit in a community, he said. Its good to be part of a feeling that shows a community is improving the quality of life for the people who live and work there. Othello Meadows III also believes that good architecture can improve a community. Meadows, the director of 75 North Revitalization Inc., said his organization wants to build anew along 30th Street between Parker and Patrick Streets, where the Pleasantview Homes public housing project stood before being torn down in 2009. Wed like to see 300 units of housing in there, said Meadows of the 23-acre site where he also envisions businesses, educational facilities, and green spaces for agriculture and recreation. Thats multi-family apartment buildings, row houses, senior residences and houses for single families. Working with the Kansas City architectural firm el dorado inc., Chicagos Landon Bone Baker Architects and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture of Omaha, Meadows said the architecture portion of the project is 70 percent complete. Architectural design figures significantly, Meadows said, because it can help energize the people living and working in the project area, which is called Highlander. Jeffrey L. Day, Omaha principal of the Omaha/San Francisco architecture firm Min/Day, was hired by Blue Barn Theater in 2013 when its owners wanted a new home for the theater on the southwest corner of 10th and Pacific Streets. Adjoining the theater would be Box Car 10, a three-story building consisting of three condos and a sidewalk-level restaurant. Just west of the buildings would be Green in the City, a new park owned by Blue Barn but open to the public. The park could be used for special events by the theater, Day said, noting that the theater can open its large back door to connect with the park, which was designed by el dorado inc. Day also said the park was designed to be open-ended without any predetermined use for its space. Anyone who has recently driven through the Blackstone District on Farnam Street between 35th and 42nd Streets has likely noticed some changes in the neighborhood. Storefronts have been improved, and new businesses have moved in that offer wine and cheese, flowers, bicycles, a retro-bar atmosphere, food, yoga, fine clothing and more. GreenSlate Development, run jointly by Matt Dwyer and Jay Lund, has redeveloped six properties in the area. A developer has a general idea of what a place can look like, said Lund, who has been working mostly with Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture and The Architectural Offices. The architects bring it down, put it on paper, make it feasible with details and refine it with their ideas, he said. In a first, two inmates of Institute of Mental Health tie the knot Jayalalithaas health: Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet Tamil Nadu CM tomorrow Chennai oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Union minister of state for highways and shipping Pon Radhakrishnan on Sunday told reporters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would soon visit Chennai to enquire about the health condition of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. [Also read: In Pics: Leaders visit Jayalalithaa, wish her a speedy recovery] However, the union minister did not specify the exact date of PM Modi's visit to Chennai. Amma (as the CM is popularly known to her fans) is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital at Greams Road, Chennai, since September 22. "The Prime Minister is keen to know about the health condition of Jayalalithaa and get updates on it and will soon visit Chennai," he told reporters. Earlier some unconfirmed media reports suggested that PM Modi was likely to meet Jayalalithaa at the hospital on October 15. Since almost a month now, several top leaders from various political parties, including Rahul Gandhi, Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah, had visited the hospital to enquire about the ailing Chief Minister's health. OneIndia News Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh 40 down and counting: Forces on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorists in Valley Age old Pak spy trick lands J&K police officer in soup India oi-Vicky It is an age old trick that the Pakistani spies play. Ironically they succeeded and managed to extract information from an officer in the Jammu and Kashmir police force. The officer, Tanveer Ahmed, has been placed under suspension after he gave out information about the deployment of security forces in Kashmir. On August 20, an intelligence official from Pakistan called Ahmed. He introduced himself as Major Sanjeev and sought information from the inspector about the deployment of security forces. He further went on to ask about the deployment of the army at Baramulla and Kupwara districts. Ahmed informed him that there were 12 companies that had been deployed. The Pakistani officer then went on to seek information about the deployment of forces at Handwara. This information was shared too. The old trick that still works This is an age old trick that Pakistan plays in a bid to seek out information. Immediately after the Hyderabad Dilsukhnagar blasts took place, one officer from Pakistan called the NSG office. He posed as a senior Indian official and sought to know when the NSG would be moving to Hyderabad. The information was handed over to him. There have also been several other incidents where Pakistani spies have called railway stations and sought information about the movement of the forces. The call is made to the station master who unsuspectingly hands out information. This is a trick that is being played for long and officials say that in such times those taking the call must be cautious. Each time such a call is received, the one answering the call must be cautious. Instead of immediately handing out information, he should say he will call back. He should intimate his senior who in turn would check with the army or any other security force concerned if such information was sought. Some officials also say that this is easier said than done. The receiver of the call also would have at the back of his mind that he should upset a senior. What if it is a genuine call? Senior officials also should put egos aside if they are told that their call would be returned. This is being done in the interest of national security and hence all must understand the risks, the senior intelligence bureau official also said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, October 14, 2016, 9:51 [IST] Centre misleading nation over disability pension: Congress India oi-PTI Chandigarh, Oct 14: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today accused the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of misleading the nation over the issue of disability pension of armed forces. Rejecting the Centre's claim that there had been no reduction in the disability pension, he said the BJP-led government was using selective data, projected by vested interests, to spread lies. "The government should stop playing dirty games with the armed forces, which was the only institution in the country that is respected by all communities and sections," Singh said, adding that why the government could not give the same respect to the forces as was given by the common man. Terming as "ridiculous" the fact that there was not a single person from the armed forces on the 7th Pay Commission panel, the Congress leader said figures were being interpreted and projected by the government in such a way to suggest that the disability pension had not been cut. The fact is, the disability pension had been reduced across several key categories of defence personnel, he said, adding that the large number of personnel of various ranks will actually not get benefits of the new scales. Rather, only those jawans would benefit who are invalided out with minimal service at the beginning of their careers, which is a rare possibility in any case, said Singh, himself an ex-soldier. He said under the slab system, Jawans would benefit only if their pay at the time of release from service is less than Rs 34,800 (basic) plus Rs 5,200 (military service pay) under the 7th CPC rates since below this, 30 per cent of basic pay would fall to less than Rs 12,000. Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) will only benefit if their pay at the time of release is less than Rs 51,000 plus Rs 5,200 since below this, 30 per cent of basic pay would be less than Rs 17,000. Commissioned Officers will only benefit if their pay at the time of release is less than Rs 74,500 plus Rs 15,500 since below this, 30 per cent would be less than Rs 27,000. Since most of the retirees at the Jawan level are above the basic level of Rs 34,800 plus Rs 5,200, they will not be benefitted from the slab system introduced as per the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, he said. They will gain only under the percentage system of calculation, the PCC chief said, adding that the same logic applied to other ranks also. "In any case, if the slab system is beneficial for lower ranks then why had not it been made applicable to other services, including the Central Armed Police Forces?" he said. PTI Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win Cinema owners' body bans films with Pak artistes in 4 states India oi-PTI Mumbai, Oct 14: Indo-Pak tensions today rocked Bollywood when a Cinema Owners' body refused to screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, dealing a blow to Karan Johar's upcoming Diwali blockbuster "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" that features Fawad Khan. The decision, taken by the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) at its meeting here, mainly covers single screen theatres and has been slammed by various personalities, including Censor Board chairman Pahlaj Nihalani. It comes amidst tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri terror attack last month. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma play lead roles in "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil". Datar said the decision was not taken due to any political pressure and that the Association was keeping "patriotic feelings" of people in mind. "The COEAI has decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and the national interest of our country all our members and exhibitors will refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artiste, technicians, directors, music directors etc," the Association president Nitin Datar told reporters. "Under our association we have several members including single screen theatres and few multiplexes. Our members are based in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of Goa and Karnataka," he said, adding, "the decision stands until things(Indo-Pak relations) get normal." The release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" faced trouble last month when Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) issued an ultimatum to Pakistani actors to leave India and also sought a ban on them. The party had threatened to stall the releases of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and "Raees", starring another Pakistani actor Mahira in the lead role. Subsequently, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) passed a motion to ban artistes from across the border from working in the industry till Indo-Pak relations are normalised. The body, however, has criticised COEAI's decision, saying the films which have already completed production should not be targeted. "We stick to our stand, We feel films that are completed shouldn't be banned," TP Aggarwal, IMPPA President, told PTI. Datar said that while the decision not to screen certain films would cause monetary losses for the theatre owners, there might have been greater damage if their screens were vandalised. The decision drew criticism from the film fraternity but it was welcomed by the MNS. "I congratulate all the members of COEAI... I think multiplexes haven't taken any stand yet but we are firm on our stand that we won't allow any movie which features Pakistani artistes to release in Maharashtra," MNS leader Amay Khopkar said. Censor Board chairman Nihalani said the decision is wrong as the film mostly features Indian actors. PTI In his maiden visit to Russia since Ukraine war, Jaishankar to hold talks with Lavrov Confident Russia will consider concerns over military exercise with Pakistan: Official India oi-IANS By Ians English Panaji, Oct 14: New Delhi is confident that Moscow will reflect on Indian concerns over Russia's participation in military exercises in Pakistan last month, Indian Ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran said on Friday. "We are confident Russia will reflect on our concerns; that is where we stand right now," Saran said. Earlier this week, Saran expressed unhappiness over the joint military exercise. In an interview to a Russian news agency, Saran said military co-operation with Pakistan, "a state that sponsors and practices terrorism as a matter of state policy, is a wrong approach and it will only create further problems". Summit-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to be held in Goa on Saturday. The Indian Ambassador said it was natural for issues related to terrorism to come up for discussion by the two leaders at the India-Russia summit. India conveys its opposition to Russia over military exercise with Pakistan He said the bilateral relationship was built over decades and it would not be legitimate to pitch the same against the joint military exercise, a one-off incident in question. "... your question alludes to a specific incident or an episode that occurred a few weeks ago. I do not think it is at all legitimate to induce this relationship, that has been built up over several decades, over what happened a few days ago," Saran said when asked if Russian participation in a military exercise with Pakistan reflected a change in Moscow's long-standing disposition towards India. As to whether Pakistan-sponsored terrorism will be discussed at the bilateral meeting, Saran said: "I would not like to pre-judge in any manner what exactly will be the agenda for discussion tomorrow (Saturday)". IANS Cow vigilante case: The larger political agenda behind Barun Kashyap's story India oi-Vicky New Delhi, Oct 14: A visit to the home of an Aam Admi Party leader is what led to the suspicion that there could have been a political motive behind the complaint given by Barun Kashyap who had alleged harassment by Gau Rakshaks. While his confessional statement clearly indicates that he had cooked up the story because of his hatred towards Hindus, the police also state that he is a publicity monger. Kashyap a film executive in Mumbai had alleged that he was beaten by an auto driver after being accused of carrying a leather bag made of cow hide. While posting about this incident on Facebook, he also went and registered a complaint with the DN Nagar police station on August 19. Political vendetta: The police while investigating this case found several discrepancies in his description of the incident. The CCTV footage obtained show that Barun had left his home at 1 PM and not at 11 AM as he said. The police also got suspicious about his visit to Aam Admi Party leader Preeti Sharma Menon's house in Chembur. It was found that after the incident he went to her house and stayed over there for two days. The police are trying to ascertain the reason behind this visit by Kashyap. It cannot be a mere coincidence a police officer said while also adding that they are trying to ascertain why he approached a political party for legal assistance. Kashyap's u-turn has changed the dimension of this entire case. After he narrated the incident, he got a lot of support. This had even led to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis issuing a statement. However his statement to the police tells a completely different picture. He says that he put out such a story because he hated Hindus. He further states that he thought he could get some free publicity. Further he also adds that he was running late to work and hence thought he could use this as an excuse to report late. The police say that there are many aspects to this case that are under probe. While through his confession he has said that this was a cooked up story, the police are also ascertaining if there was a larger political vendetta behind it. Mumbai: Man heckled on suspicion of carrying leather bag made of cow hide Although he lists out reasons for cooking up this story, the police feel that there is more to it. ( As per law a confessional statement is not admissible in court. The police will need to prove the allegations against him in a court of law) It may be recalled that after Kashyap was arrested he had threatened to go on a hunger strike. He was arrested on charges of making a false complaint. The volunteers from AAP had also decided to protest along with him outside the police station in Mumbai. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, October 14, 2016, 12:53 [IST] From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet Fighting terror: India hopes to re-introduce CCIT at BRICS summit India oi-Vicky New Delhi, Oct 14: Indian officials are working towards re-introducing the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the BRICS summit that will be held in Goa. After National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval had proposed the CCIT to the NSA's from BRICS in September, Indian officials are working closely to re-introduce CCIT in the Goa declaration. Officials are hopeful that the declaration would be issued. India has been pushing for CCIT since 1996 when it was prepared. Since then India has pushed for the CCIT at almost every major forum. However, there has not been any major progress. This time, however, India is hopeful of it going through. Doval during the meet in September with the BRICS NSAs had made a push for the CCIT and explained the importance of the same. He said that CCIT could focus on cooperation in anti-terrorist operations. He also said that this could be done without getting entangled on the issue pertaining to the definition of terrorism. What is CCIT CCIT calls for a universal definition of terrorism. This means no nation can describe terrorists as good or bad. However, this has been a contentious issue which has led to many countries opposing it. Doval, however, said that CCIT can go through without getting entangled into the definition of terrorism. It also calls for a ban on groups irrespective of country. Further it will also ensure access to funds and safe havens are cut off. Further it provides for the prosecution of all groups including cross border groups. An amend to domestic laws to make cross border terror an extraditable offence is also provided for. CCIT has been blocked after many countries raised concerns. The US and its allies have expressed concern over the definition of terrorism. Further the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had also expressed concerns that the CCIT would be used to target Pakistan and also restrict rights of self-determination groups in Kashmir and Palestine. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, October 14, 2016, 9:23 [IST] India's steel industry now 2nd biggest, target is to double crude steel output in 10 years: PM Modi Fact Check: Rishi Sunak never said India needs a PM like Manmohan Singh From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet India, China agree on closer cooperation in energy India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Oct 14 India and China have agreed to cooperate in the energy sector, including on sourcing energy from international markets, the Indian government said on Thursday. Releasing the minutes of the 4th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue last week, an official statement here said the two sides called "for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the international energy markets." The Indian side at the dialogue was led by Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India Arvind Panagariya, and the Chinese side was led by Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). On renewable energy, both sides agreed to speed up solar module manufacturing in India and expand cooperation in promoting solar rooftop systems "India offered huge investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector by way of participating through equity support, offsetting hedging cost, taking up of masala bonds, partnering in the solar projects, among others," the statement said. "Chinese investors showed keen interest in financial investment and participation in large solar park projects in cooperation with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)," it added. The two countries also "agreed to push forward the feasibility study on Delhi-Nagpurhigh-speed railway and construction of Delhi-Chennai high-speed railway," it said. They also agreed on closer cooperation on coastal manufacturing zone development by encouraging projects in areas like infrastructure, automobile, energy and electronics in next one year, it added. IANS India to mount diplomatic offensive against Pak at BRICS meet India oi-PTI Benaulim (Goa), Oct 14: Seeking to further isolate Pakistan on terror, India will mount a major diplomatic offensive against it and push for stepped up cooperation, including support for a comprehensive global convention to tackle the menace, when it hosts the annual summit of BRICS, a 5-nation grouping representing nearly half of the world's population. The summit, being attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa, is likely to deliberate on a range of key issues including confronting threat of terror and boosting trade and investment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the leaders will discuss ways to address "pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals". "I am optimistic that the BRICS Summit will strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation and advance our common agenda for development, peace, stability and reform," the Prime Minister said in a Facebook post. The five BRICS countries represent over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world population and they have a combined GDP of USD 16.6 trillion. India is likely to push for unity among the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) members to remove the logjam at the UN on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) for effectively dealing with terror. Fighting terror: India hopes to re-introduce CCIT at BRICS summit Initiated by India, the CCIT is stuck at the UN due to lack of agreement among its members about the definition of terrorism. India is also expected to push for enhanced cooperation among BRICS nations in the area of counter-terrorism. Preceding the BRICS summit, Modi is likely to raise the issue of terrorism with Putin and other leaders tomorrow when a series of bilateral meetings are slated at the seaside venue. Addressing a press conference today, India's envoy to Russia Pankaj Saran, replying to a question on Russia's recent military exercise with Pakistan, said India expected Moscow to reflect on its concerns. As the top leaders of the grouping meet within weeks of Uri attack by Pakistan-based terrorists, India will be forceful in its demand at BRICS Summit as also the BIMSTEC outreach meet being held the same day, for intensified efforts to tackle terrorism, including action against countries providing safe havens to terrorists and arming them. "Representing nearly two thirds of humanity together, we hope to tap the potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," Modi said on the first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit. India has made strong references both at UNGA as well as G-20 regarding Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism. PTI Love Jihad: How Pakistan's ISI honey-trapped two Indians into spying for it India oi-Vicky Wealth and women-it just took these two promises for the two alleged ISI spies to share information about the movement of the Indian army. The Gujarat ATS had two days back arrested Alana Hamir and Shakoor Sumra from Bhuj in Gujarat on the allegation that they were spying for the ISI. A high alert had been issued across the country especially in the border towns following the surgical strike conducted by India. The intelligence and the police kept on their radar all suspicious activities. It was then that frequent visits by Hamir to Pakistan came under the radar of the agencies. The agencies started checking on those people who made frequent visits to Pakistan and this is when Hamir's name cropped up. It was found that since 2014, he had made four visits to Pakistan. The Gujarat ATS finally nabbed him when he was meeting with Sumra and discussing the information to be passed on to Pakistan. Women and wealth Hamir had visited Pakistan in 2014 to meet a relative. During his visit to Tharparkar district in Pakistan he met a 17-year-old girl. He instantly fell in love with her. As investigations progress it has come to light that the girl was set up to honey trap Hamir. The girl then introduced him to her handler. The ATS says that it was the handler who trained Hamir on how to gather and pass on information. The girl also said that if he did this work he would get paid for it. Hailing from a poor background, he fell for the trap and bit the bait. Hamir then roped in Sumra. Since Hamir is an illiterate, he roped in his educated friend Sumra, the ATS also says. Together they collected information and regularly and passed it on to Pakistan. When they were arrested, the ATS found on them a mobile phone with Pakistan SIM cards. Photographs and maps too have been recovered from the duo who have now been booked under the Official Secrets Act. OneIndia News PM Narendra Modi chokes up as he talks about Morbi tragedy | Video News Flash: PM Modi arrives in Panaji for BRICS Summit India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Oct 14: Narendra Modi to visit Bhopal this evening; will dedicate a war memorial and address ex-servicemen. Get all the latest news updates of the day: 10:55 pm: Supporters of AAP MLA Naresh Balyan protest outside Uttam Nagar police station after Balyan was arrested in an assault case. 10:40 pm: Home Minister Rajnath Singh speaks to SSB DG after Zakura terrorists attack on SSB patrol party. 9:30 pm: British man dies in a paragliding accident in Chohar valley near Barot in Himachal Pradesh. 9:15 pm: Jitan Ram Manjhi's grandson Vikki Manjhi arrested by Bihar police near Kotwara for possesing liquor. 9:05 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Panaji (Goa) for the BRICS Summit 9:00 pm: Delhi Police arrests AAP MLA Naresh Balyan in an assault case. 8:30 pm: Zakura attack: One jawan martyred. 8:20 pm: Zakura attack: Total of 7 SSB jawans injured. Search ops underway: IG SSB,Deepak Kumar 8:15 pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal arrives in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) for a four-day tour of the state. 7:50 pm: Lt Gen Surinder Singh,Gen Officer Commanding-in-Chief,Western Command visited Pathankot,Samba & Jammu to review readiness in border areas. 7:37 pm: Terror attack at CRPF camp in Zakura, outskirts of Srinagar. 7:36 pm: Mumbai: 21-year-old Navy sailor, Sitaram Paraswa, found hanging in his room, reportedly committed suicide; FIR registered. 7:21 pm: CBI arrests an inspector of NDMC in connection with a bribery case. 7:10 pm: Pakistan government removes restrictions on journalist Cyril Almeida from leaving the country: DAWN TV. 7:02 pm: BJP's Dhamm Yatra has been a flop, they only want Dalit leaders who can go along with their ideological agenda: Mayawati. 6:40 pm: Mayawati hits out at Amit Shah, says RSS and BJP men were masqueraded as Dalits and Buddhist Monks in Shah's programme in Kanpur. 6:31 pm: India is the only country which has never differentiated on the basis of caste and religion. Our country has given this message, the whole world is a family: Rajnath Singh. 6:30 pm: I want to say if Paksitan wants freedom from terrorism then let them take our support. We will help them root out terrorism: Union Home Minister. 6:28 pm: Pakistan is our neighbour. We did everything to extend a hand of friendship with Pakistan. Modi invited Sharif for his swearing in. Pakistan took undue advantage of this. We do not hate the people of Pakistan, we hate their terrorists says Rajnath Singh. 6:27 pm: Pakistanis terrorists entered India and killed 18 of our soldiers. people said this government is quiet and does nothing. Did you see what our soldiers did. India is no longer weak, we have sent out that message to the world said Rajnath Singh. 6:19 pm: Narendra Modi after taking oath had said we dedicated our nation to the poor. This is the first time that any Prime Minister has said this. Rajnath Singh speaking at a BJP event in which former IAS officer K Shivram is being inducted into the party. 6:05 pm: Have conveyed our concerns to Russia; confident they'll reflect upon it-Indian envoy to Russia Pankaj Saran on Pak-Russia Jt military exercise. 5:45 pm: Govt decided to give skill development training to soldiers in last year of service so that they doesn't have to struggle for jobs: PM. 5:40 pm: I salute the mothers who have given our nation such brave Indian soldiers for the service of the motherland: PM Narendra Modi in Bhopal. 5:35 pm: Previous Govts made empty promises on OROP but when we came to power we fulfilled our promise and implemented it: PM. 5:24 pm: Like our army doesn't talk but displays its valour, similarly our Defence Minister also doesn't speak: PM Modi addresses ex-servicemen at Shaurya Samman Sabha in Bhopal. 5:18 pm: The biggest strength & weapon of our army is his determination & will power and that is derived from the 1.2 billion people of India: Modi. 5:16 pm: India never fought any war for a single inch of land, but Indian forces never held back when it came for fighting for country's pride: PM. 5.13 pm: Army, BSF, CRPF, Coast Guard jawans sacrifice their lives so that we can sleep peacefully: PM Modi in Bhopal. 5.12 pm: While rescuing Indians in Yemen, Indian army also rescued a few Pakistanis, this is the example of humanity of our Indian army: PM Modi. 5.10 pm: India is one of the biggest contributors to the UN peacekeeping forces: PM Modi in Bhopal. 5.00 pm: PM Narendra Modi addresses the ex-servicemen at the inauguration of a war memorial in Bhopal (MP). 4.49 pm: We have among us, those who devoted their youth in protecting our nation. This is a special gathering: MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 4.47 pm: The inauguration is happening at time when our soldiers displayed their extraordinary valour on Sep 29 (Surgical Strike): Manohar Parrikar. 4.37 pm: PM Modi at the inauguration of war memorial "Shaurya Samarak" in Bhopal, will also address the ex-servicemen in 'Shaurya Samman Sabha'. 4.36 pm: Suspected Islamic militants attack army checkpoint in Sinai, killing 12 soldiers, says Egyptian officials (Source: AP). 4.30 pm: Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne of Maharashtra break Ranji record of highest run partnership ever by scoring 594 runs. 4.25 pm: PM Modi arrives in Bhopal, will inaugurate a war memorial "Shaurya Samarak" & address ex-servicemen in 'Shaurya Samman Sabha'. 4.21 pm: Theatre owners should use security measures and release films (with Pak actors),as ultimately loss is of our producers and financers, says TP Agarwal. 4.20 pm: We also had decided that from now on no Pak actors will be taken till situation improves,but not agnst films already made:TP Agarwal,IMPPA. 4.11 pm: Mahesh Bhatt is a stupid man, I think he is not even an Indian, he should go to Pakistan. I don't care about what he says: Amey Khopkar, MNS. 4.00 pm: I congratulate Cinema Owners Association for taking such a decision. Won't allow any movie with Pak artists to release: Amey Khopkar, MNS. 3.24 pm: After Pakistan banned our content, we decided to boycott Paki actors, technicians etc in India: Nitin Datar (Pres, Cine Owners Association). 3.14 pm: 199 Star Tortoise and Black Pond Turtles seized from the baggage of two UAE passport holders at Mumbai Airport. 3.04 pm: Free WiFi introduced on Airport Express Line of the Delhi Metro. MD Mangu Singh present at the launch. 2.58 pm: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav speaking at the launch of women helpline 1090 in Lucknow. 2.36 pm: Congress is satisfied with the briefing to Parliamentary Committee on Defence: Congress sources on Surgical Strike. 2.31 pm: We have decided that we will not screen these films (with Pak actors): Nitin Datar, Cinema Owners Association. 2.30 pm: We will suspend the officials who have asked for bribe from the mother of martyr Devashish Sharma: MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 2.27 pm: Jo apne ghar ko nahi sambhaal pa rahe vo poora rajya kya sambhaalenge. Akhilesh ji pehle apna kunba theek kar lo: Amit Shah. 2.20 pm: Haridwar (Uttarakhand): Fire breaks out at garment showroom in Jwalapur; 4 fire tenders at the spot. 2.18 pm: Daliton ke liye agar koi party hai jo kaam karti hai toh vo BJP hai: Amit Shah 2.15 pm: We never had any division in our family, neither will have in future: SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav 2.09 pm: Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan honours the families of martyrs. 1.55 pm: 17 people died after a bus falls into a gorge in Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh). Rescue op underway. 1.45 pm: Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Bahadur Ali alias 'Saifullah', sent to judicial custody till 22 October by Patiala House court 1.43 pm: Kerala Industries Minister EP Jayarajan resigns after facing nepotism charges 1.33 pm: We never had any division in our family, neither will have in future: SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav 1.19 pm: 17 people died after a bus falls into a gorge in Ratlam. Rescue op underway. More details awaited. 1.00 pm: We are concerned about peace, we don't care about surgical strikes. Indian and Pakistan must sit down at a table to talks: Farooq Abdullah. 12.51 pm: What is the objection I don't understand and why to bring in PM? Let us have a healthy debate on the core issue: Venkaiah Naidu on AIMPLB. 12.50 pm: Cauvery water row: DMK leader MK Stalin leaves after meeting Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Paneerselvam in Chennai. 12.40 pm: We are only interested in peace, India and Pakistan must sit down and resolve their issues: Farooq Abdullah. 12.30 pm: I'll bring this before Home & Defense Minister, there must a provision in army to provide duplicate medals: MP Home Minister Bhupendra Singh. 12.21 pm: Wholesale Price Index: Inflation slows to 3.57 % in September from 3.74 % in August. 12.12 pm: 2 died after a head on collision between two motorcycles in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh. 12.10 pm: Two Canara Bank employees Ramesh and Suresh arrested in Coimbatore for spreading rumours regarding Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa's health. 12.06 pm: Madhya Pradesh: Bus carrying more than 40 people falls into a gorge in Ratlam. Rescue op underway. 11.59 pm: Delhi: People from Tibetan community protest outside Chinese embassy opposing the visit of Chinese Pres XI Jinping in Goa for BRICS summit. Srinagar: Farooq Abdulla convenes all party meeting over Kashmir situation pic.twitter.com/wgfWyJvpbk ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 10.54 am: Delhi Dep CM Manish Sisodia reaches ACB to join the probe for alleged recruitment scam in Delhi Waqf board 10.04 am: AIADMK women offer prayers outside Apollo Hospital (Chennai) for speedy recovery of Jayalalithaa. Chennai: AIADMK women's wing cadres offer special prayers outside Apollo Hospital for the speedy recovery of Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa pic.twitter.com/PZEg6YVzCl ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 CPM Kerala wing to meet & discuss the nepotism charges against Industries Minister EP Jayarajan. Meeting underway pic.twitter.com/ngKWy3uWnD ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 10.45 am: Home Minister Rajnath Singh speaking at All India Christian Council meet in Delhi 10.35 am: Farooq Abdullah has called for meeting of all opposition parties of J&K at his residence at 11 AM to discuss political scenario in the state. 10.30 am: India & Russia to sign more than 15 agreements tomorrow during BRICS summit in Goa. 10.23 am: AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh, Gopal Rai & Kapil Mishra to meet Pres. Pranab Mukherjee today evening on the issue of illegal appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries in various states. 9.45 am: The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring: PM 9.43 am: Happy that India is facilitating an outreach Summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand: PM 9.25 am: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to arrive in Goa today for the BRICS summit. 9.18 am: The BJP is set to join the Pema Khandu led PPA government in Arunachal Pradesh. Tamiyo Taga of the BJP will be inducted as a minister in the Arunachal Pradesh Government. 9.05 am: CPM Kerala wing to meet and discuss the nepotism charges against Industries Minister EP Jayarajan, today. 8.45 am: News International Pakistan's story titled "Indian FS admits surgical strikes was a bluff" is completely concocted & baseless: Vikas Swarup. 8.22 am: Narendra Modi to visit Bhopal this evening; will inaugurate a war memorial "Shaurya Samarak" and address ex-servicemen in 'Shaurya Samman Sabha'. PM to visit Bhopal this evening; will inaugurate a war memorial "Shaurya Samarak" & address ex-servicemen in 'Shaurya Samman Sabha' pic.twitter.com/uoxVQSk5x6 ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 8.12 am: Uttarakhand CM's adviser Sanjay Chaudhary attacked by unknown men last night as he travelled to Khanpur village. Investigation underway. Uttarakhand CM's adviser Sanjay Chaudhary attacked by unknown men last night as he travelled to Khanpur village. Investigation underway. pic.twitter.com/vEAjaC4egb ANI (@ANI_news) October 14, 2016 8.00 am: Delhi Metro is going to introduce 'Free Wi-Fi' facility for its commuters on the Airport Express Line. OneIndia News 5-year-old dies after being attacked by pack of dogs in MP MP CM hosts Diwali party for over 400 children orphaned by COVID Woman killed, 23 others injured as fuel tanker overturns and catches fire Agniveer drive in Bhopal: 3000 on Day 1; 40,000 expected to participate till Nov 7 PM Modi to inaugurate war memorial in Bhopal today, security heightened India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Oct 14: Modi will be inaugurating the newly built war memorial -- Shaurya Samarak -- and address a meeting of former servicemen at Lal Pared ground in Bhopal today. Security was heightened in the Madhya Pradesh capital ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here on Friday, said police official. Railway stations, airports, bus terminals, important markets and localities in the city were secured ahead of the high profile visit. Vehicles were screened at different check points to ensure no untoward incident occur. The administration also issued a circular asking all government and semi government offices to suspended work post 3 pm. Modi will be inaugurating the newly built war memorial -- Shaurya Samarak -- and address a meeting of former servicemen at Lal Pared ground, here during his three-hour visit, ahead of the BRICS meet in Goa. The Prime Minister is scheduled to leave New Delhi at 2.30 pm. on Friday and arrive here at the Bhopal Airport at 4.05 pm. He will be at Lal Pared ground between 4.30 pm and 5.20 pm. He will also call on Acharya Vidysagar Maharaj at the Habibganj Jain temple. Later, he will proceed to the Arera Hills for the inauguaration of 'Shaurya Smarak' that portrays the patriotic journey of a soldier. The valour gallery showcases the tradition of military honour. At 7.05 p.m. Modi will leave for Panaji. IANS For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, October 14, 2016, 12:30 [IST] Pradhan blames Odisha govt for Encephalitis deaths India oi-PTI Bengaluru, Oct 14: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said the Odisha government's "failure" to take preventive measures to check Japanese Encephalitis had led to the deaths of 50 infants. "The local government (Naveen Patnaik government) failed to take preventive measures, and that is the main reason for this kind of alarming scenario in Malkangiri district of Odisha," he told reporters after inaugurating Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited's Green R&D Centre near Hoskote, about 30 kms from here. Pradhan said the Centre was extending all kind of support to the Odisha government to bring the disease under control. "The government of India is extending every kind of help. Hope that things are under control. It could have been prevented by taking preventive measures. Now, let us see - let us work together to prevent that epidemic," he said. PTI UK PM Liz Truss resigns after 45 days in office, successor to be elected next week Iraq gets a new government after a year of deadlock Prime Minister Modi arrives in Goa for BRICS summit India oi-PTI Panaji, Oct 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Goa this evening to participate in the BRICS summit which is beginning here tomorrow. Modi was received at INS Hansa base by state's Governor Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza and others. The Prime Minister drove to a five-star resort at Benaulim where the summit will begin tomorrow. "Over next few days, India will host world leaders for the 8th BRICS and 1st ever BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit," Modi tweeted earlier. "I look forward to useful conversation with leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on key global and regional challenges," he said. "As BRICS chair this year, India embraces a stronger emphasis on enhancing economic, and people-to-people ties. This will benefit us greatly," the Prime Minister said. "India is honoured to welcome President Putin for the India-Russia annual summit, which will also take place in Goa," the PM said. "We also welcome President of Brazil for a bilateral visit, which will open new areas of cooperation with Brazil, the PM said. BRICS should trade in their own currencies: Ansari "I am happy that India is facilitating an outreach summit with BIMSTEC leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The outreach with BIMSTEC leaders is significant. We hope to tap the huge potential for cooperation and the dividends this will bring," he said. PTI Bear-hug: How Modi intends to keep Putin happy, and away from Pakistan India oi-Raghotham By S Raghotham New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hand out some big 'Diwali gifts' to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin when the latter arrives in India for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Goa on Saturday, a full two months ahead of the regular India-Russia strategic dialogue in December. When we say big, it is in the billions of dollars, and these 'gifts' will come in the form of big military buys that may prove enough to restore Russia as India's biggest arms supplier and re-establish a level of dependence on Moscow that India has been trying to pull out of with equally large purchases from America, Israel and France. For Russia, fast running out of the money that Putin had stored in two large sovereign funds as oil prices continue to remain depressed, the Indian buys could well be a god-send to sustain the Russian Bear through the winter of Western sanctions. For India, the stakes are mighty big. Keeping Russia on a leash and away from Pakistan -- with which it conducted an unprecedented military exercise recently against Delhi's strident objections -- is a strategic necessity, especially as Russia falls ever deeper into the China trap. A potential Russia-Pakistan-China alliance -- an alliance with the ability to squeeze Afghanistan and Central Asia, even Iran, into its fold -- would be India's ultimate nightmare. China and Pakistan are already thick allies, even if not exactly 'all-weather friends' as Pakistan believes their relationship to be, with the latter acting as Beijing's willing cat's paw against India. Letting Russia, a long-standing friend that has for decades helped India against Pakistan, drift into the arms of Islamabad and Beijing would be foolhardy. It's with Russia in mind that Modi recently re-constituted the National Security Advisory Board, naming a former Russia hand, Ambassador P.S. Raghavan, to head it. And well-knowing that with Putin's impoverished Russia only money talks, the government has lined up some big purchases. These include, according to reports: The S-400 'Triumpf': Billed Russia's most advanced air defence system, India is expected to buy five 'Triumpf' systems, along with their radar and control systems, each full system costing a neat billion dollars! These are missile systems meant to defend India's important cities and critical installations, such as military bases, against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missile attacks. The system is said to be capable of tracking some 300 targets and shoot down around three dozen of them simultaneously over a range of hundreds of kilometres. Kamov-226 helicopters: India's HAL and Russia's Rostec are to set up a joint venture to produce some 200 Kamov-226T helicopters, meant for search and rescue, disaster relief, medical evacuation and patrol missions, in Tumakuru, near Bengaluru, in a billion-dollar deal. Frigates: India is also set to buy four 'stealth' frigates for the Navy for $4 billion, two to be built in Russia, two in India. In all a cool $10 billion in one shot. Happy, Mr. Putin? OneIndia News TN fishermen call off fishing boycott India oi-PTI Rameswaram (TN), Oct 14: Fishermen from the coastal hamlet here will resume fishing operations from tomorrow, after over a week-long stir to press for various demands, including the restoration of traditional fishing rights. A resolution to this effect was adopted at a meeting of Fishermens associations here today, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Mechanised Boats' Fishermen Association General Secretary, NJ Bose said. "The decision was taken keeping in mind the festive season," he said. Fishermen here had resolved to boycott fishing from October 6, to condemn the alleged attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Naval personnel and press for a slew of demands. The Lankan navy had attacked the fishermen with stones besides ramming and sinking a mechanised boat and destroying fishing nets of several other vessels off Dhanushkodi, on October 6. PTI Godavari is Now Cooking in Charlotte, NC International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia USA, North Carolina, Oct 14th 2016: Godavari South Indian restaurant giant flows into North Charlotte, to dish out themed cuisine, strategically located in North Charlotte. Godavari South Indian restaurant chain, the fastest growing Group offering authentic south Indian cuisine across several US cities, has now entered the city of North Charlotte. The restaurant is strategically located in a high density corridor close to the corporate offices of Wells Fargo, IBM, AllState and the University of North Carolina. Welcoming Indians to the original taste of the Indian kitchen, Godavari Charlotte will also be the biggest desi restaurant able to accommodate around 200 people along with a spacious Patio seating and a nice view. The signature Godavari buffet on the day of grand opening will dish out interestingly themed attractions that include the recent Godavari recipes of "Keerai Vadai", "Get Well Jaya" Kozhi Kolumbu, "Karunanidhi" Naatu Kozhi Varuval, "Pondicherry Varutha Curry", "Bilal Bhai Talapakattu Mutton Pulao", "MGR Kheema Sambar", "Rasam Idly", "Pakka Local Badam Halwa" and many more.... "Team" Godavari along with its food lovers is sincerely praying for the speedy recovery of the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Ms. Jayalalitha. Elaborating the launch plans, Raja Munaga, franchise owner of Godavari Charlotte, expressed happiness and excitement to be part of 'Team Godavari'. "It is a pleasant surprise to experience a family-like culture in the team, especially the passion towards offering authentic Indian food thousands of miles away from the homeland. I am in full praise for the energy levels of Team Godavari that drove me to work tirelessly and open up this location in such a short span. I am also overwhelmed with the committed attitude of the team that has been the main reason behind quick and consistent success of Brand Godavari across America," he said hoping Godavari Charlotte would, in a short time, become the hallmark restaurant in North Charlotte and grow in strength to make the Indian community feel at home. Murali Chigurupati, franchise owner of Godavari Chicago and Austin, and a long-time associate of the Godavari Family, explained the chain's expansion plans and revealed in the immediate future Godavari will be all set to flow into several different directions introducing innovative and trendy concepts to amuse foodies and set benchmarks in the industry. Godavari is actively working with the Government of Andhra Pradesh, India, and is looking forward to participating in the "Food Olympics" to be held in Vizag. Godavari recently launched its restaurant in the state of Rhode Island. The restaurant offering South Indian signature dishes has been well-received with an ever-increasing patronage. On the occasion, the promoters thanked Rhode Island and the Indian community for making the restaurant a success in a short time. Click Here to View The grand opening trailer of Godavari Cumberland, RI: https://youtu.be/ll_5TLbywcM "Team" Godavari also signed up for the Harrisburg, PA and Detroit, MI locations with great landmark spots in both the cities. Godavari on the occasion wishes to make it clear to its patrons that it doesn't own or operate any branches in South Charlotte, and is in no way responsible for any restaurant claiming the association, or for quality and dishes knowingly or unknowingly carrying the Godavari brand tag. Please come and enjoy Godavari recipes and its authenticity from Oct 15th at: GODAVARI CHARLOTTE: 520 UNIVERSITY CENTER BLVD, CHARLOTTE, NC - 28262. Ph: 704-910-1024 For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, October 14, 2016, 18:16 [IST] LeT responsible for deaths of hundreds of innocent lives: US International oi-PTI Washington, Oct 14 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives, including American citizens, the US has said even as it refused to comment on the outfit's leader Hafiz Saeed. "I'm not going to respond to comments that may have been attributed to him (Hafiz Saeed). He's listed by the UN Security Council or UN Security Council 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee for targeted sanctions due to his affiliation with the terrorist group Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT)," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said. "Both the LeT and Saeed are designated by the US government. The LeT is obviously responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens," Toner said in response to a question yesterday. 10 LeT terrorists were involved in carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed and around 300 were injured. While the attack mastermind and LeT operations commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi is living at an undisclosed location after being released from jail on bail a year ago, the other six suspects are in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. The case has been underway in the country for more than six years. PTI Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win No back-door diplomacy with India: Pakistan International oi-IANS By Ians English Islamabad, Oct 14: There is no back-door diplomacy between Pakistan and India and contacts between the two countries were based on the desire of the two neighbours, Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said. According to Radio Pakistan, Aziz said in an interview: "There is no back-door or track-II diplomacy between Pakistan and India." Aziz said Islamabad enjoys good bilateral ties with the US, Britain, the European Union, the Middle East and other regions of the world and that Islamabad has been pursuing various connectivity projects in the South Asia region such as CASA-1000 and the Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline. Aziz's remarks come as relations between India and Pakistan have soured after the September 18 attack on an Army camp in Uri town of Kashmir Valley in which 19 security personnel were killed. The relations further dipped after Indian security forces on September 29 carried out surgical strikes at terror "launch pads" across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. IANS George W. Bush opens up about his friendship with Michelle Obama Melania, Ivanka arrive in Saudi without headscarves, Trump had slammed Michelle for the same An ex-US prez & ex-first lady were doing something at McCains funeral and the media saw it Michelle Obama most admired woman in US in 2018, finds survey; replaces Hillary Clinton US Presidential Election: Michelle Obama emerges as the real winner International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Washington, Oct 14: As Barack Obama's tenure at the White House is all set to end soon, the "Obama factor" is still very much omnipresent in the politics of the United States. However, it is not the POTUS, but his wife, Michelle Obama, who is winning the voters' hearts with her honest and fervent appeal to vote and vote for the right candidate (read Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton), as the country is all set to decide who will be its next President on November 8. Michelle Obama's defining moments According to the Los Angeles Times, the first lady starred in a defining moment of the presidential race when on Thursday she delivered a stinging and emotional condemnation of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's behaviour towards women. Also read: Michelle Obama slams Donald Trump over his comments on women Michelle spoke about what it means to be a woman, a mother and a professional and strongly condemned Trump and his sexist remarks against women. Read the full speech by the first lady here: Twitter gives thumbs-up to Michelle After she finished her speech, the first lady started trending on Twitter. Here are a few tweets praising the first lady: Michelle Obama nails it again. Her speech gives voice to more than a billion women living with violence and sexism https://t.co/iw8KuwHPnJ Elizabeth Broderick (@LizBroderick) October 14, 2016 Every minute of Michelle Obamas 30 minute speech today is worth watching. https://t.co/itu19KLRQy by #LisaClaire9090 via @c0nvey @now10grandkids (@now7grandkids) October 14, 2016 Not everyone is impressed It is not that her passionate speech got approval from all the voters, especially the die-hard supporters of Trump were critical of Michelle. Here are a few tweets lambasting the first lady: I don't care what Michelle Obama has to say.. Regular women love Trump! But Media don't want you to see this.. Spread online#TrumpDrSeuss pic.twitter.com/DWe75DeuOB Tennessee GOP (@TEN_GOP) October 13, 2016 Shut up Michelle Obama. Your endless vacations with your freeloading mom & kids "shake me to my core". Don't get me started on Jihadi Obama! Amy Mek (@AmyMek) October 13, 2016 OneIndia News Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said the issue of ending triple Talaq practice should not be linked with uniform civil code and should not be politicised. A day after All India Muslim Personal Law Board held a press conference against the uniform civil code, Naidu said uniform laws would be based on consensus and they should be discussed. OK! Magazine 31 Oct 2022 Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson welcomed their second child, a baby boy, via surrogacy in July, months after the NBA pro's.. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Rumble 04 Aug 2022 Three-year-old Brazilian twins who were born conjoined at the head were separated after undergoing a 27-hour-long surgery in.. A subsidiary of European drinks giant Diageo is teaming up with a Cuban state-owned distillery to market its rum worldwide, in.. Rumble 13 Aug 2019 Business Wire 28 Oct 2022 NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) recognized Isabelle Kenyon, Founder & CEO of Calibrate, as one of the Most.. Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Maine to the east, Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state's capital and most populous city, as well as its cultural and financial center, is Boston. Massachusetts is also home to the urban core of Greater Boston, the largest metropolitan area in New England and a region profoundly influential upon American history, academia, and the research economy, Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing, and trade. Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade. Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva for New Managers: When German fund manager Catana Capital launched its Big Data fund on 30 June, it broke into unfamiliar territory - for the fund management industry at least. The fund invests exclusively on independent trading signals generated from Big Data analysis, combined with artificial intelligence algorithms. But it has had its birth pangs. The fund was down -3.9% in July-September, while the DAX index lost -0.8%. "The reasons for Catanas negative performance within the last three months are identified, addressed and have been already sorted out to a large degree," says the company in its latest report to investors. But just to make sure the sorting out is all done well, Catanas founding partner Bastian Lechner, who is currently head of business strategy at Commerzbank, will join his firm as a full-time CEO as from December (subject to regulatory approval). The current CEO and CRO is Holger Knauer, who was formerly a risk manager at 1.8bn Celios Investment and its predecessor Prisma Investment AG. The firm attributes the negative performance to two system properties; "These two settings caused the system to interfere with the overall direction of the alpha-signal and close DAX index position too early." The programmers knew i...................... To view our full article Click here Opalesque Industry Update - Its business as usual was the clear and primary conclusion of a debate on the Impact of Brexit on Fund Management Firms, hosted by SuMi TRUST Global Asset Services, Asset TV and the alternatives asset management law firm M J Hudson. The discussion was held at the RSA on Wednesday 28 September 2016 in front of a room comprising representatives from across the UK asset management industry. Sitting on the panel were Charles Bathurst, Consultant to SuMi TRUST, Duncan Crawford, Global Head of Hedge Fund Sales and Capital Introductions at Societe Generale and Martin Cornish, Partner at M J Hudson. The discussion was held to mark the relaunch of the Hedge Fund Association (HFA) of America in the UK. The HFA is an International not for profit industry trade and nonpartisan lobbying organisation devoted to advancing transparency, development and trust in alternative investments. Martin Cornish, partner of MJ Hudson and Tim Baker, Group Head of Sales for Asset TV will be taking on the role of Co-Directors of the HFA in the UK to promote the associations principles, partnerships and membership within the UK industry. The main conclusions of the discussion, which included thoughtful and well informed comments and questions throughout the debate from many members of the audience, were: Most alternative managers are playing a waiting game , seeking greater clarity on the direction, nature and intensity of Brexit before making any significant changes as regards their future primary domicile, fund structures and asset raising strategy; , seeking greater clarity on the direction, nature and intensity of Brexit before making any significant changes as regards their future primary domicile, fund structures and asset raising strategy; A number of managers are reviewing the setting up of parallel Management Companies in Dublin or Luxembourg to cover their bets; Management Companies in Dublin or Luxembourg to cover their bets; The primary reason for management firms deciding on the location of their fund vehicle at launch is the domicile or geography of their target investors to maximise fund raising and not other factors; on the location of their fund vehicle at launch is the domicile or geography of their target investors to maximise fund raising and not other factors; The British fund industry should not feel unduly challenged by the exit from the EU even though the shape and timing of this is at yet unclear. The two dominant countries in Europe for raising assets for alternative funds are the UK and Switzerland both of which will be outside the EU so Brexit won't be a game changer . The traditional UK long only industry has already established operations in Luxembourg and Ireland to passport their funds pan Europe. . The traditional UK long only industry has already established operations in Luxembourg and Ireland to passport their funds pan Europe. The UK alternatives asset management industry already operates in full compliance with AIFMD . The move to UK domestic regulatory oversight in the wake of Brexit is expected to necessitate technical adjustments only and a smooth transition process with little real disruption to how managers operate or market themselves in Europe. On the basis that "equivalence" is granted on the same basis as other countries that have received positive indications of this from the EU, then the current passporting regime would remain in place, with the U.K. becoming a recognised third country; . The move to UK domestic regulatory oversight in the wake of Brexit is expected to necessitate technical adjustments only and a smooth transition process with little real disruption to how managers operate or market themselves in Europe. On the basis that "equivalence" is granted on the same basis as other countries that have received positive indications of this from the EU, then the current passporting regime would remain in place, with the U.K. becoming a recognised third country; The attractions of London as a global financial centre will not be altered or lessened by Brexit and there will be no disruptive exodus of people and talent or re-domiciliation of firms as a result. US managers considering their plans in Europe remain strongly attracted to the UK as a result of common language, skilled human resources and support systems and service providers; as a global financial centre will not be altered or lessened by Brexit and there will be no disruptive exodus of people and talent or re-domiciliation of firms as a result. US managers considering their plans in Europe remain strongly attracted to the UK as a result of common language, skilled human resources and support systems and service providers; Any concept of Fortress Europe needs to be carefully considered by the European authorities as moving in this direction would in effect be shooting themselves in the foot as this could impact all managers domiciled outside the EU looking to raise assets; needs to be carefully considered by the European authorities as moving in this direction would in effect be shooting themselves in the foot as this could impact all managers domiciled outside the EU looking to raise assets; Strong evidence of new firms locating to the UK from Europe and other countries and limited movement away from the UK as a primary domicile. The U.K. is now a cheaper place to operate from for overseas players, further tax cuts are envisaged for companies and likely to be even more flexible in terms of regulation going forward and in contrast to the EU. Bg Related article: 12.Oct.2016 Other Voices: The impact of Brexit on UK asset managers marketing into the EU The California Supreme Court, San Francisco (Image by public) Details DMCA In California, only 13 of 951 death sentences have been carried out since 1977. This is a key statistic in the official rationales for two competing death penalty ballot initiatives. Entirely overlooked is the state's 3 in 951 death row exoneration rate. Occasionally, death penalty advocates cite it to show that there are virtually no false capital convictions and that review weeds them out; while anti-death penalty advocates cite it to show that there really are innocents on death row. Neither side recognizes that California's exoneration rate is scandalously low--one seventh the rate in other states. Together with commonsense observations and in-depth analysis, this statistic squelches the California Supreme Court's "careful examination" excuse for extreme delays. Even assuming that an innocent lives long enough for his direct appeal to be heard, he has at most a quarter of the chance of exoneration that he would have elsewhere. This article presents excerpts from the first part of a two-part paper, California's Death Penalty:People v. Masters v. The California Supreme Court's Carefulness Con, which shows that the CSC's automatic and automatically accepted excuse for extreme delay--that it assures careful examination of the claims raised--is a confidence trick. Despite outspending other states, California in fact takes by far the least care in exonerating its share of innocents. The first part of the paper (I. The California Supreme Court's Carefulness Con) explains the confidence trick in its legal, political, historic and numerical context, culminating in a terse description of the most urgent case of an obviously credible claim of innocence--that of Kevin Cooper. The Ninth Circuit ultimately let stand Cooper's death sentence by a 16-11 vote, which five of the dissenting judges passionately protested in a voluminous opinion. [1] The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which (acting under the Organization of American States' charter) independently but with merely persuasive powers decides claims brought under the American Declaration, recommended that Cooper be reprieved, pending a new investigation. An unorthodox last-ditch clemency plea, seeking precisely such a conditional reprieve, has been before Governor Brown since mid-summer. The second part of the paper (II. People v. Masters) will be published and reviewed in a couple of weeks. It will particularly demonstrate careless death penalty review by an in-depth presentation of the relatively unknown case of Jarvis Masters. In 1990, Masterswas sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of San Quentin prison guard Sergeant Howell Burchfield. Having a strong innocence claim, Masters wrote to the court, protesting delays. Yet he had to wait 26 years for his appeal to be decided. The grand result, People v. Masters, [2] is pervasively careless. In unanimous laundry list mode, without addressing crucial factual and legal defense contentions, the opinion reproduces the state's version of the facts, perfunctorily discounts numerous claims of basic trial court error, and without discussion ridiculously adds that, even had the trial court made every mistake claimed, the cumulative errors would beyond reasonable doubt have been harmless--i.e. beyond reasonable doubt, no reasonable doubt could have been raised in a reasonable juror's mind. The imposition of the penalty of death demands the greatest reliability which the law can require. [3] U.S. Supreme Court. The following short quotations fully express both the CSC's careful examination excuse for extreme delays in reviewing capital cases, and the prevailing acceptance of that conclusory excuse by federal judges: [A]llowing each case the necessary time, based on its individual facts and circumstances, to permit this court's careful examination of the claims raised is the opposite of a system of random and arbitrary review. [4] "[T]he automatic appeal process following judgments of death is a constitutional safeguard, not a constitutional defect"because it assures careful review of the defendant's conviction and sentence. [5] California Supreme Court. [S]uch delays are the product of a constitutional safeguard, not a constitutional defect, because they assure careful review of the defendant's conviction and sentence. Federal Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit. [Citation to CSC.] [6] As a matter of law, the careful examination excuse misses the point. Under Furman, [7] the delay differences are arbitrary and so cruel and unusual because, in executing less than 2% of the condemned, the selection is driven by factual and procedural incidentals that have nothing to do with the reprehensibility of the crime or the criminal. But in any case, as a matter of fact there is no such careful examination. Outside of the state and federal judiciaries, no-one disputes that California's death penalty is dysfunctional, and November's ballot includes competing proposals to fix this--Proposition 62 seeks to eliminate the death penalty, Proposition 66 to accelerate it. [8] The extreme delays in California's death penalty review processes are notorious: since 1973, there have been only 13 executions from 951 death sentences, versus 71 deaths from natural causes and 25 from suicide. What is often not recognized is that the delays are not primarily due to dilatory legal tactics, but to the rule that every appeal be heard by the California Supreme Court (CSC)--a rule that the acceleration proposal lets stand. What is never recognized is that, far from assuring careful examination of the claims raised, the extreme delays result in equally extreme failures to exonerate inevitable innocents, of which California has its full share. Delay may of course allow time for exonerating evidence to surface. However, the main cause of California's capital review delays is certainly not time spent taking additional care. It is time spent waiting for counsel and then for a decision by the CSC. There are now about 350 appeals and 150 habeas corpus petitions pending before the CSC due to the requirement--ironically touted as a superior right--that all death penalty review proceedings be before CSC. [9] The result is unending pressure on the CSC to dispose of death penalty appeals rapidly, when at long last they are heard de novo, without having been trimmed into key legal issues by a regular court of appeal. [10] For political reasons, there is no prospect of having appeal courts do the job they were designed for, even though directing death penalty appeals straight to the CSC deprives defendants of the two-step review ordinarily due, and even though the result is less speed and less accuracy, due to the impossible and politicized CSC burden. [11] The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) publishes an Innocence List containing all death row exonerations since 1973--i.e. post-Furman. An "exoneration" is recognized by the DPIC only if and when (1) all charges related to the crime are dismissed by the prosecution, (2) a retrial or appeal results in acquittal on all charges related to the crime, or (3) a pardon issues because of exculpatory evidence. As of October, 2015, there were 951 California post-Furman death sentences, with no pardons, one full acquittal, and two full dismissals. [12] Since the 1970s, outside of California 150 of 6,916 death sentences (i.e. 2.17%) have terminated in exonerations. However, the exoneration rate for California is only 0.32% (3 of 951), one seventh of the out-of-state rate. [13] Here are the exoneration rates for all states that handed out more than 200 death sentences from 1977: [14] Death Row Exonerations By State (Image by Clifford Johnson) Details DMCA The extreme delay in California's death penalty review processes accounts for less than half of this exoneration rate gap. On its face, a mere 3 exonerations in 951 death sentences (with 489 already affirmed on appeal)--would seem to show a virtually meaningless right of review. Because (as follows) the state's capital trials are apparently less accurate than the norm, adopting conservative assumptions of equal trial court accuracy inside and prompt appeals outside California, this means that an innocent on California's death row not only has twice the nationwide chance of dying before his innocence claims are resolved, but, even if he survives to have his first appeal decided, he has at best only a quarter of the chance of exoneration that such an innocent has outside of California. [15] Even after California's death penalty review processes have been exhausted, 60% of federal habeas corpus petitions have found prejudicial constitutional error due to ineffective counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, judicial mistake, etc. Nationwide, the federal reversal rate, although large, is significantly lower, at 40%. [16] Thus, California's uniquely low exoneration rate correlates with death penalty review processes already adjudged to be exceptionally in accurate. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). President Obama indicated the GOP in a speech he gave inColumbus where he blasted the GOP for their intransigence and for creating Trump. He did not pull any punches. The President drew the path from the GOP's irrational intransigence during his administration directly to the creation of Trump. "The people who knew better didn't say anything," Obama said. "They didn't say 'Well I disagree with his economic policies, that goes too far.' They didn't say 'I am not sure his foreign policy is the right one for America but we can't allow our politics to descend into the gutter.' People like Ted's [Strickland] opponent [Rob Portman (R-OH)], they stood by while this happened. And Donald Trump, as he is prone to do, he didn't build the building himself. He just slapped his name on it and took credit for it. And that's what happened in their party. All that bile, all the exaggeration, all the stuff that was not grounded in fact just kind of bubble up, started surfacing. They know better, a lot of these folks who ran and they didn't say anything. And so they don't get credit at the very last minute when finally the guy that they nominated and they endorsed and they supported is caught on tape saying things that no decent person would even think much less say. Much less brag about. Much less laugh about. Or joke about. Much less act on. You can't wait till that finally happens and then say that's too much. That's enough. And think that somehow you are showing any kind of leadership and deserve to be elected to the United States Senate. You don't get points for that. In fact, I am more forgiving of the people who believe it than the people who know better and stood silently by out of political expediency." Aleppo University Hospital (AUH), Syria " Attacking hospitals and medical workers is a non-negotiable red line. As such, it must be set out -- in clear and simple terms - in all military manuals, rules of engagement and standard operating procedures. Too often, unverified intelligence, or opaque claims that a hospital is a quote "command and control center," is justification enough for an attack. To stop this, there must be accountability. There must be credible investigations. And not just by the perpetrators. Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) International President, Dr. Joanne Liu, addressing the United Nations Security Council, 9/26/ 2016 As of today, the increasingly well documented legal cases, with respect to more than 2000 alleged indictable War Crimes in Syria is leading to many governments insisting on holding accountable those who are committing these crimes against humanity. Not just in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, but also in Yemen and Iraq. It is increasingly likely these appeals will eventuate in post-conflict Special International Tribunals with criminal jurisdiction. Those who currently stand accused are military forces funded and equipped by at least ten countries including the United States, UK, Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, among others. If International Humanitarian Law is supported by the increasingly horrified and outraged global community, at least some officials from the above named will have their day in court. Meanwhile, some political water-carriers and internet "activists" some paid-some apparently with lots of time on their hands and who are supporting one side in the Syrian civil war are waging a malicious campaign against Syrian volunteers who are risking their lives daily to save the lives of their families and community. Being targeted are as many as a dozen youth, student, Red Cross type organizations as well spontaneously formed local committees across Syria who with no other emergency assistance available or likely to arrive to their neighborhoods anytime soon, are digging through rubble to try to save lives. Among the lifesaving volunteer organizations being vilified are the White Helmets, The Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society (SARCS), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF), the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) to name just a few. The much acclaimed White Helmets rescuers, working in east Aleppo and Idlib governorate are being particularly viciously defamed, but SARCS, MSF and several others have not been spared. The White Helmets are being attacked with all sorts of unfounded accusations and conspiracy theories that have nothing to do with who the volunteers are, what the rescue workers are actually doing, why they are doing it, and their contacts, if any at all, with political factions abroad. This week the White Helmets are being accused of helping save the lives of "terrorists" to the exclusion of others. This charge is nonsense. With the Hippocratic oath as their policy, White Helmets treat the wounded without regard for a war victims political views, race or religion. Whether street beggar, scholar, government supporter, Shia, Sunni, Christian, atheist, Taliban, Huthi rebel or Islamic State (IS) or other fanatics-all of whom have received lifesaving assistance in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria. During interviews, White Helmets rescue workers insist that under the Geneva Conventions, ratified by 196 countries, including the 193 UN Member states, all human beings have a right to medical treatment even in a war, if she or he is stricken and no longer fighting. The same body on International Humanitarian Law also protects Syrian Civil Defense workers. That protection was stripped from the 110 White Helmets killed while on rescue missions during the past three years. Also the SARCS volunteers killed when their aid convoy was attacked last month. The Geneva conventions are under serious threat in this era of the War on Terror and this development is extremely dangerous for humanitarian aid workers. Many warring parties see them as supporters of terrorists or of the government and are disregarding the neutrality of medical professionals in war zones. As a result, hospitals have gone from being protected zones to becoming, like schools, death traps. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Ken Rudin collection (Image by Ken Rudin) Details DMCA In a vacuum of serious policy decisions and debates, minor parties can be effective catalysts for issues that are eventually absorbed by the major parties. In his book The Other Candidates: Third Parties in General Elections, author Frank Smallwood observed that alternative political candidates "have often been successful in advancing initiatives that have later been incorporated into our political life. Even on those occasions where their ideas have been rejected, third parties have acted as a sounding board by providing a forum for discussion and debate." A wide range of pundits have expressed their frustrations with the bipartisan choke-hold on competition. New York Times writer Micah Sifry describes the two-party monopoly as "a peculiar and long-lasting arrangement that has stifled political competition from other forces for more than a century." Conservative commentator Lou Dobbs asserts, "I can't take seriously anyone who takes the Republican or Democratic Party seriously -- both are bought and paid for by Corporate America and special interests." And from the left, Ralph Nader maintains, "as the Republican and Democratic parties take more money from the same sources, they morph into one corporate party with two heads." Third parties have shouted truth to the ruling duopoly with some success. The Socialist Party first advocated laws establishing minimum ages and limiting hours of work for children in 1904. The Keating-Owen Act established such regulations in 1916. The Prohibition Party promoted women's suffrage during the late 1800s and by 1916 both Republicans and Democrats supported it. The Colorado Libertarian Party had elected a mayor, two city-council members, and a sheriff before passage of the successful referendum to decriminalize the use of marijuana in that state. Seattle was one of the first big cities to pass a $15 minimum-wage law in 2015. City councillor Kshama Sawant of the Socialist Alternative Party was elected in 2013 in large part by advocating a $15 minimum wage. According to a Gallup poll last month, 57 percent of voters say a third major party is needed. A Fox News survey revealed that 55 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of Hillary Clinton and 63 percent have a negative impression of Donald Trump. Come November, those numbers will intersect. The candidates and platforms of the Libertarians, Greens, Legal Marijuana Now, Socialist, and a dozen other third parties will test the mettle of the power elites. I humbly predict third-party candidates, especially for down-ballot offices, and their similar views on interventionist foreign policies, Wall Street bailouts, military spending, auditing the Federal Reserve, and more will give the political ruling class a bloody nose. If so, James Madison will be pleased. He wisely advised future generations of voters that, "When the variety and number of political parties increases, the chance for oppression, factionalism, and non-skeptical acceptance of ideas decreases." Responding to this link, http://theduran.com/wikileaks-bombshell-hillarys-8-point-plan-to-destroy-isis-and-syria-qatar-and-saudi-arabia-providing-financial-support-to-isil/, my contact in Syria sent me this astonishing report: Syria, Iraq border (Image by quapan) Details DMCA Dear Deena, Yes, this is all what we had guessed, and knew to be true in theory, but the emails are actual proof and documentation. It gets a lot worse. Have you ever heard people say the USA is supporting ISIS? I have heard that so many times, but felt it was not true. I felt that USA could use ISIS, but not really invent it and support it fully. I was wrong and naive (again). USA is removing ISIS from Mosul, and re-locating them to Syria. Not a theory or rumor, but fact. The Iraqi government is watching it happen and they are flabbergasted. First, Obama long, long ago said, "We can not eradicate ISIS, we can only contain them." That was code-word for "We invented them and we are using them." Next, the US military very recently bombed completely and utterly every single BRIDGE which spans the Euphrates River in Syria . Why? Because the US has decided that the Euphrates River will be the borderline of the New Syria. On the East side of the River will be the Islamic State officially sanctioned and supported by USA. It sounds far-fetched, but true. As we speak, the USA is overseeing the movement of thousands of ISIS terrorists from Mosul, along with wives and children, on their way towards Deir Ez Zor area. The US will give them air support all along the way and protect them. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). It was an "emperor's new clothes" moment. You know the story: "scoundrels" show up at court, pretending to be tailors. They promise to make am elegant robe that will be invisible to those unfit for their positions. When the con-men pretend to present the robe, all the courtiers pretend to see and admire it, and the emperor, fond of new clothes and afraid to appear unfit, wears it on parade. Along the curb stands a young boy, "who had no important job and could see only things as his eyes showed them to him." "The emperor is naked," he cries out. The occasion for me was not a parade but a coffee. In my retirement, I love to meet with younger people. When I raised the subject of Syria with a college student, he proposed a series of simple questions: The emperor's new clothes (Image by kevin dooley) Details DMCA Knowing at least highlights of US actions abroad in the last 70 years, I start by asking: on what grounds does any U.S. administration arrogate to itself the right to "change" or throw out the regimes of other countries? In particular, now that Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya have all been transformed into failed states, is it really wise to attack Syria in support of the "good" rebels, the "moderate" rebels, against the ruler of that country? Why are we "shocked, shocked" by the brutality of rulers who don't follow our directions while overlooking the brutality of dictators who side with the U.S. [I didn't know people were still alluding to the movie "Casablanca."] Regardless of what we may think of Mr. Putin, was he not invited by the government of Syria as an ally? Does Russia not have a base there, as the US does in many other countries? Wasn't it a wise rule of the Cold War that the two big nuclear powers should never confront one another directly, but only through what they thought of as proxies? (When this rule was broken during the Cuban missile crisis, those 13 days were called the most dangerous in human history.) Why does the U.S. have the right to declare a "no-fly zone" over any country other than our own?. Is it not an abdication of responsibility for Congress to authorize the executive to "use military force" in the President's sole judgment, indefinitely, anywhere around the globe, in a so-called war of terror? Are we winning this "war on terror," or are we arousing hatred that will last a lifetime or longer? On balance, has liberty been "made safe" or safer, by the mass surveillance exposed by such whistleblowers as Edward Snowden? Is that even an adequate question? Would it not be wise to get out of Syria--"boots on the ground," weapons sent to shady rebels, warplanes in the air bombing government forces "by accident," whatever? Are we so stupid as to accept any military action labeled as "humanitarian"? Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). From Our Future Republican Party Civil War of Self-Destruction (Image by armstrongeconomics.com) Details DMCA Whom among us, upon hearing of the grave and perhaps existential threats now facing the Republican Party, is entirely immune to the siren song of schadenfreude? Who from the liberal classes can entirely resist the temptation, when reading about the bitter divisions now rending the GOP, to mutter, "Now that's a god damn shame," and then issue forth with a soft and mordant chuckle? And as Donald Trump spirals down ever further, his descent into humiliation propelled by his own pheromonal and lubricious self-regard, what right-thinking human being can resist whispering a quaint saying of yesteryear? You know the one: It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Any description of today's Republican right needs a trigger warning, and this one's no exception. We keep getting additional revelations of Trump abuses, each more shocking than the last. As of this writing, the latest involve new charges of sexual assault and the backstage ogling of half-dressed (or less) teenaged girls. And as Trump dominated the airwaves, an unexplained rash of scary-clown sightings was reported across the United States. These are strange times indeed for the American psyche. As the nation learned more about the GOP nominee, his poll numbers fell faster than the revenue projections in a Trump bankruptcy proceeding. Republicans began falling all over themselves to repudiate their leader's behavior -- even though many still endorsed his candidacy. Their motto? "Hate the sin, love the candidate." Their professed outrage mustn't become a "get out of jail free" card for their own misogyny and bigotry. Trump is not an aberration in the Republican Party's history. He is its culmination, the poisonous fruit of a foul plant. He is his party's sniffling, lascivious id. Parties, like people, eventually get the face they deserve. The Republicans deserve Trump's -- a face that took on so many hostile expressions in the last debate that they could have illustrated the Big Book of American Scowls. His is the face of the true GOP, the red, angry, babylike yowling face of the American right. They're Dorian Gray, and Trump is their picture. Some Republican donors who contributed to the Trump campaign are now reportedly asking for their money back. They've forgotten the old capitalist maxim: You break it, you buy it. Meanwhile, many of the male Republican politicians rejecting Trump said his behavior offended them as "the fathers of daughters," a posture that's patriarchal and possessive -- not to mention hypocritical. Where was their concern for America's women -- their daughters or anyone else's -- when their Republican colleagues in Virginia were trying to force women to undergo the invasive procedure known as a transvaginal ultrasound as punishment for behavior they didn't like? Trump may have spoken of grabbing women's bodies, but they tried to do the same thing with their legislative authority, rather than their hands. Where was their concern for the women of America when the Republican attorney general in Kansas was attempting to pry open women's most private medical records? Where were they when the Republican economic agenda began disproportionately harming women? Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Word To Mother (Image by vandalog) Details DMCA This campaign discredits the critics' old gripe That candidates' words are nothing but tripe. It's clear what they say does indeed pack a punch, Just only when packaged to produce a loud crunch, Highlighting e'lan and the candidate's grain, His peeves, tastes and grit, above all the mundane. I refer of course to that vid late conspired, The bus pulling in as the audio fired A blabfest of guys being guys at their worst: Blabbing of women as of choice liverwurst. Talk backed by vid for versimilitude, To give us pure Don at his guy-shtick most crude. Eleven years of journey did that bus tape see, Like a note in a bottle on the media's sea, Washed on the beach before second debate, But intact and on time, like FedEx air freight. Or maybe, just maybe, it got squirreled away, Held in reserve for a campaign rainy day. Which lends some cred to Trump's "Nice, three on one," Regarding how hard that debate made him run, And while I opine ol' Don is a turkey, He has a point when he says it's beef jerky Into which by the media he has been turned, By establishment bigwigs, by the party he's spurned. After all that drubbing you'd think that his polls, Would tank down to nothing among U.S. proles. Yet well-loved is he by the outraged and mad, Whom the gang-up on Don makes only more rad, And who on the Ninth when Trump won't concede, Will hear him shout "Rigged!" and nod quite agreed. So don't be surprised at the next time around, When Hillary's critics and wars will abound, That the bitterest Republican comes out on top, The one most irate and who knows how to chop, Endorsed by ol' Don who's lighted the way: But for his mouth he'd have conquered the fray. Trump and Palin at Iowa State University - 1/19/2016 (Image by aj.hanson1) Details DMCA [Donald Trump and Sarah Palin at Iowa State University, Jan. 2016] Iowa's statewide and congressional elected officials -- Governor Terry Branstad, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, and Members of Congress Rod Blum, David Young, and Steve King --- are doing great harm to Iowa, themselves, and a future Republican Party, by continuing their endorsements of Donald Trump. This is not a partisan, pro-Hillary Clinton judgment. I supported Senator Bernie Sanders. As a Democrat, I want to "make the Republican Party great again." The evolution of a democracy's wise public policy requires the thorough consideration of alternatives that can only emerge from civil, cooperative, and yes, compromising, conversation between those whose differing opinions are grounded in agreed-upon facts. I'm old enough to remember that Republican Party, and to long for its return. That day is only delayed by Republican officials who say, in effect, that Donald Trump's actions and words represent their values. Is Donald Trump really someone they hold up to their children as a model? Do they really think he has the knowledge of domestic needs and world affairs, experience in government, mature judgment, people skills, respect for others, and values to be one of America's best presidents? Is he even a conservative? Numerous Republican officials share my view. The party's highest ranked official (Speaker Paul Ryan), most recent presidents (George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush), and presidential candidates (Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney) have refused to support Trump. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). "People always think something's all true." --Holden Caulfield When a wonderful program like Democracy Now does a story on the White Helmets in Syria, the problem is not that the White Helmets don't exist, or that they're not rescuing anyone, or that they're actually filmed in Los Angeles -- all of which is ridiculously untrue. Or perhaps it's not ridiculous. Syria has been the subject of a tidal wave of faked videos, many of them filmed elsewhere. But those things are untrue. The problem is that the guest who's on Democracy Now to promote the rescuers repeatedly claims that the war in Syria consists of people being slaughtered by Syria and Russia -- and nothing else. And nobody corrects that. There is no mention of people killed by U.S. bombs or by U.S. weapons given to fighters on the ground. The problem is that the White Helmets' partners, media allies, and funders promote a one-sided story and, far from working for peace, promote an escalation of the war, demanding a "No Fly Zone" from which to work for the overthrow of the government. In fact, the U.S. government gave the White Helmets $23 million with which to work on "transition" to a different government. It's good media practice to reveal funders. We protest when retired generals go on CNN to push for war without revealing their financial ties to weapons makers. We should protest when promoters of the White Helmets go on TV without revealing that they're funded by Western governments, including the U.S. government which has been pushing for the overthrow of Syria for years. Now, when the U.S. government funds something good, we ought to celebrate that. A color revolution in someplace like Serbia that develops creative new techniques and nonviolently overthrows a dictator to create a more democratic country is not wholly evil because the U.S. government supported it. But neither should we blind ourselves to that support or its motivations. And when those motivations, at the highest levels of the U.S. government, appear disreputable, that of course does not tell us the motivations of all the staff people and volunteers involved. The U.S. government's dishonest demonization of someone like Milosevic doesn't make him a beloved and law-abiding leader. The U.S. facilitation of a coup in Ukraine doesn't mean there weren't Ukrainians with good grievances. The world is just not a simple place. When it comes to Syria we need to recognize that many people in Syria had and have legitimate grievances against their government, and that the United States and allies have been working for many years now to overthrow the Syrian government, and that U.S. actions in Iraq and Libya and Syria have played a huge role in creating the current disaster, and that Russia and Saudi Arabia and Turkey and Qatar and Iran and ISIS and al Nusra and other "extremist" mass murderers and "moderate" mass murderers and the United States and Syria have Syrian blood up to their shoulders. We also need to recognize that there are a lot of people trying to help, trying to make things better. And their good work should not be used, with or without their consent, as propaganda for further escalation of the killing and destruction. The way to peace does not lie through greater war. And greater war is the goal of the organized demonization of one side, of the manufacturing of selective outrage. On the contrary, the way to peace lies through taking a different approach entirely, an approach that faces all of the facts and treats as the enemy, not this side of the war or that side of the war, but the institution of war. ISIS uses U.S. weapons which the U.S. continues supplying to fighters in Syria who are trying to overthrow the government. Meanwhile Russia is backing the government against those fighters. In that context, the U.S. and Russia are proposing to work together while threatening each other. These are nuclear nations. What we need is not slick demonization of one side through appeals to our humanitarian concerns, but disarmament, cease-fire, and actual aid on a much greater scale. The spokespeople for the White Helmets say they don't work in government controlled areas because the government will not let them. That may be true. And it may be true because of suspicions that are easy to understand. But it is also probably true that if the White Helmets were making movies of themselves rescuing people on that side of the war, much of their funding would dry up. Remember that the U.S. government tried to make a case for bombing Syria in 2013 by claiming that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons. President Obama claimed to have solid evidence of that, which three years later we still haven't seen. The public prevented that escalation. But a year later, following the release of ISIS videos, the U.S. public put up little resistance to the U.S. entering the war on multiple sides, including the opposite side from what it had advertised for in 2013. But the U.S. government was stuck with a problem. How to direct the war against Syria when the U.S. public seemed not to be upset about Syria at all but seemed willing to be scared entirely out of its mind about ISIS? For the past two years we've witnessed campaigns aimed at demonizing Assad and Putin. That the White Helmets are saving lives doesn't change the fact that they are part of those campaigns. We need to observe them with open eyes. There is, after all, a potential for support of the White Helmets to backfire against war mongers. If the general public caught on that nonviolent aid is the decent, effective, noble, and heroic path, perhaps the U.S. government would shift more than a tiny fraction of a percent of its Syria budget to that approach. If actual humanitarian aid and unarmed civilian peacework (and videography) were scaled up and done in an actually neutral manner, war would end -- and the White Helmets would have shown the way. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. We volunteer in India providing ample opportunities for Volunteer in India We volunteer in India providing ample opportunities for Volunteer in India www.wevolunteerinindia.com www.wevolunteerinindia.com India is the land having diversified culture where people of all the religions live together. There are number of beautiful travel destinations in India that attracts number of tourists every year to this beautiful country. Numbers of people who visit India have the desire of volunteering in India so that they can help those who are needy to live a better life. What if you get chance to travel to the famous tourists destinations, explore the colorful culture of India and visit to the famous National parks of India while volunteer in India. Yes, We Volunteer in India provides ample opportunities to all the interested participants who want to volunteer in India.We volunteer in India provide opportunities such as travel while volunteer in India to the famous tourist destinations, National parks etc. the travel and volunteer option provided by We volunteer in India gives opportunity to the volunteers to enjoy their visit to India by exploring the famous destinations of this country while volunteering in India. Their visit to India becomes special when they get chance to work for the people and help them leading a better life.The women empowerment program of We volunteer in India help the women so that they can become independent and enjoy their rights. Proper education is provided in the women empowerment program to make them aware of their rights and also to make them self dependent. This helps them to live a better life and make them able to contribute towards the betterment of their family and the society as well.Volunteer in India for street kids provide the volunteers with the opportunities to work for the poor and needy children. Helping someone who is in need provides the volunteers with a sense of satisfaction and inner happiness as their work is helpful to bring betterment in the life of others. While volunteering with We volunteer in India, the volunteers are also provided with the unique home-stay option that where the volunteers get the chance of over-viewing the Indian culture. This is helpful for all those who are visiting India for the first time. This option represents the Indian culture where there is a tradition of Atithi Devo Bhava. This means that in India, the guest is God and this is why people in India takes it as a great pleasure to welcome the guests. In this manner, when the volunteers get the home stay option, they receive warm welcome and can also enjoy Indian cooking, receive benefits from meditation and yoga and lots more options as well.While volunteering with We volunteer in India, the volunteer are also provided with the option of volunteer in India for teaching in which they can help those who are uneducated to live a better life by educating them.The volunteers are therefore provided with ample opportunities with We volunteer in India where they can enjoy their visit to India along with working for those in need and can also enjoy travelling to the famous tourists destinations in India, visit to National parks etc. that adds to their volunteering experience in India.We Volunteer in India() provides the participants with number of options while volunteering in India such as travel to famous tourists destinations, work for women empowerment program, travel to famous national parks in India, explore the Indian culture, work for the needy ones and lots more with affordable volunteering in India.AVI - Adventures and Volunteering in IndiaBlue Moon Cottages,VPO: Kanwar Pura,Sikar, RajasthanIndia - 332001Phone : +91- 9610121328 Asian Cleanroom Technology Market is Expected to Witness the Fastest Growth (6.5% CAGR) Globally during 2015 2020 www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/cleanroom-technology-market www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/cleanroom-technology-market/report-sample www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/healthcare www.psmarketresearch.com The global cleanroom technology market was valued at $3,107.8 million in 2014, and it is expected to grow with a CAGR of 5.7% during the period 2015 - 2020. The global cleanroom technology market is increasing, due to growing demand for certified products. In addition, pharmaceuticals, such as vaccines, injections, and ointments, and medical devices need to be prepared in an environment that is free from microbes and particulates .This has generated the demand for cleanroom technology globally.Based on types, the global consumables market segment is expected to witness fastest growth during the forecast period. Among the construction segment, standard cleanrooms had the largest market size in the global Cleanroom technology market during 2014; however hardwall cleanrooms are expected to witness fastest growth, with 6.1% CAGR during the period 2015 2020.Explore Report Description with Detailed TOC on Global Cleanroom Technology Market at:The demand for certified products is increasing worldwide. Various certifications, such as National Safety and Quality Health Standards (NSQHS) and ISO check are required for maintaining the standard of products manufactured, and the process used for manufacturing them all over the world. These certifications ensure that the quality of products and process is at highest levels. Also, these certifications demand the product to be manufactured in a cleanroom, to ensure minimal or no contamination in the products.Explore Report Sample at:However, the lack of properly qualified, skilled, and experienced professionals for working in the cleanroom is hindering the growth of the global cleanroom technology market. In addition, high cost of cleanroom is also restraining the growth of the global cleanroom technology market. The rural areas in the developing countries are providing ample opportunities for the growth of the global cleanroom technology market. The increasing awareness about certified products in developing countries, such as China, India and Brazil, are laying significant opportunities for the growth of the global cleanroom technology market. The Asia cleanroom technology market is expected to witness fastest growth, with a CAGR of 6.5% during the period 2015 2020.Browse Related Research Reports-The key companies operating in the global cleanroom technology market include M+W Group GmbH, Clean Air Products, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Taikisha ltd, Azbil Corporation, Illinois Tool Works, Ardmac ltd., Alpiq Group and Royal Imtech N.V.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:DeepAssistant Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:347 5th Ave. #1402- 210New York CityUnited States Global Industry Insight: Commercial Printing Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2020 www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/commercial-printing-market www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/semiconductor-and-electronics https://www.psmarketresearch.com The global commercial printing market is growing, due to technological proliferation along with increasing applications of commercial printing across end users. Among all the printing technologies, lithographic process dominates the market; however in the coming years, lithographic process is expected to lose its market share to digital prints, as digital prints are more capable for shorter print runs. The falling unit selling prices and decreasing sales of commercial printers are restraining the industry profits from service providers and manufacturers, which is further hindering the growth of the commercial printing market. Additionally, with the introduction of digital media, it has been gradually replacing print form. The global recession has also reduced the advertising budgets and consumer spending on commercial printing, which is restraining the growth of the global market.To Browse Full Report Visit Here:The increasing demand for advertising and packaging print processes in developing countries of Asia-Pacific, such as Japan, China, and India is supporting the growth of the Asia-Pacific commercial printing market. The end users of commercial printing in Canada and the U.S. were early adopters of the technology. The countries of Europe have highly focused on developing eco-friendly processes and products, in order to create a sustainable environment. Hence, the governments in the European countries encourage the use of energy-efficient print solutions.Generally, offset technology is used in commercial printing; however the conventional offset technology has been changed to advanced digital high-speed inkjet technology. The advanced digital high-speed inkjet technology offers more efficient and effective way, than offset technology for printing complex messages and mails. The inkjet technology also has better return-on-investment and provides reduced costs for color prints.Browse For Related Research:Global Commercial Printing Market SegmentationBy Print TechnologyLithographic PrintDigital PrintFlexographic PrintScreen PrintGravure PrintOthersBy ApplicationAdvertisingPeriodicalsCatalogsOffice ProductsDirectoriesLabels and WrappersOthersBy GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia -PacificRest of the WorldAbout P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:DeepAssistant Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb: Global Industry Insight: Wood Coating Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2022 www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/wood-coating-market www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/chemicals-materials-and-energy https://www.psmarketresearch.com Some of the major drivers behind the growing demand of global wood coating market include rise in new construction (both residential and commercial), recovery of global economy, increasing disposable income and increasing urbanized population. The growing construction of residential and non-residential buildings is driving the demand for wood coating. For infrastructure development, the U.K governments public sector investment was increased by $4.9 billion to about $77.7 billion in 2013 2014, over 2012 2013. It is expected to further increase to about $92.0 billion in 2016-2017. With the increase in infrastructure investment, the demand for wood coating is expected to increase. The increasing disposable income across the globe has enhanced the living standards of people, with increased spends on houses; which also contributed to the increased demand for wood coating. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the annual per capita disposable income of urban households in China increased from $2,271.0 in 2008 to $3,408.5 in 2012. The overall annual disposable income in medium households in India increased from $1,366.2 billion in 2010 to $1,587.6 billion in 2013.To Browse Full Report Visit Here:In the current scenario, the homeowners are interested in investing more in the upkeep of their floors, fences, siding and decks. Properly managed and highly maintained home adds value of the home and saves money in the long term. Moreover, the increasing competition, stringent regulations and new product developments are some of the important factors for the growth of the wood coatings market. However, the availability of quality and cheaper alternatives, such as plastic wood and wood composite is expected to hamper the growth of the wood coatings market. These substitutes are frequently sturdier and require less maintenance, in contrast to wood items. Despite the fact that substitutes are accessible, wood is an essential choice for residential and commercial purposes owing to wide accessibly in the market.Based on coating type, the global wood coating market is segmented into stains and varnishes, shellacs, water repellents and others. Based on end-user, the global wood coating market is segmented into furniture, cabinets, siding, flooring, decking and others.Browse For Related Research:Geographically, Asia-Pacific is the largest market for wood coating followed by Europe and North America. During the forecast period, the Asia-Pacific wood coating market is expected to grow at the fastest rate, owing to increase in the disposable income and construction activities in the region.Global Wood Coating Market SegmentationBy Coating TypeStains and VarnishesShellacsWater RepellentsOthersBy End-UserFurnitureCabinetsSidingFlooringDeckingOthersBy GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificLatin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaAbout P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:DeepAssistant Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb: Global Coconut Water Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 http://www.globalinforesearch.com/goods.php?id=679[url] http://www.globalinforesearch.com/goods_all.php http://www.globalinforesearch.com/goods_all.php Coconut water is the clear liquid inside young green coconuts (fruits of the coconut palm). Coconut water has long been a popular drink in the tropical countries where it is available canned, or bottled. In this report, we count the coconut water, which is based on manufacturing packaging plants. Coconuts are mainly stemed from Southeast Asia in other regions. And coconut are mainly stemed from Hainan Province in China.Published by: GIR (GlobalInfoResearch)Catalog: Food & BeveragesPublishing Date: Aug 2016Single User License: USD 3480Corporate Users License: USD 4680Delivery time: 24 hoursPages: 112Tables and Figures: 137Full information [url]Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Coconut Water in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversVITA COCOCoca-Cola(Zico)Pepsico(ONE,Amacoco)Naked JuiceMaverick BrandsTaste NirvanaC2O Pure Coconut WaterTradecons GmbHAmy & BrianEdward & SonsSococoPECUGrupo SerigyCocoJalCoconut Palm GroupYeniuYedaoBeiqiMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversPure Coconut WaterMixed Coconut WaterMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into0-14 yrs15-34 yrs35-54 yrs55 yrs upThere are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Coconut Water market.Chapter 1, to describe Coconut Water Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Coconut Water, with sales, revenue, and price of Coconut Water, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Coconut Water, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Coconut Water market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Coconut Water sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.BettySales DirectorE-mailbetty@globalinforesearch.comTel: HK:00852-58197708 USA:0013479661888Add: Room 1902 Two International Finance Centre 8 Finance Street, Central Hong KongWebsite:GlobalInfoResearch is a customer interest-based suppliers. Is in the best interests of our clients, they determine our every move. At the same time, we have great respect for the views of customers. With the improvement of the quality of our research, we develop custom interdisciplinary and comprehensive solution. For further development, we will do better and better.GlobalInfoResearch will with excellent professional knowledge and aexperience to carry out all aspects of our business. At the same time, we will fully look for information, to give a more comprehensive development.BettySales DirectorE-mailbetty@globalinforesearch.comTel: HK:00852-58197708 USA:0013479661888Add: Room 1902 Two International Finance Centre 8 Finance Street, Central Hong KongWebsite: Strong Therapeutic Pipeline in Global Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Treatment Market Lends Hope to Patients http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4807 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pipeline-review-of-glioblastoma-treatment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is considered as the most aggressive of gliomas. Most patients of GBM die within less than a year of their disease and presently no treatment procedure has been able to extend the survival span of patients This characteristic of glioblastoma multiforme has attracted a massive attention, however, GBM has evaded increasingly elaborate attempts of therapy discovery for more than 50 years. Nevertheless, several firms in the global glioblastoma multiforme treatment market are incessantly working towards providing more effective GBM treatment drugs and therapies.According to the findings of a report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global glioblastoma multiforme treatment market will demonstrate a healthy 11.4% CAGR during the forecast period from 2014 to 2022. In 2013, the global glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment market was estimated at US$0.34 billion and is expected to be worth US$0.91 billion by end of the forecast period.Interpret a Competitive outlook Analysis Report with PDF Brochure:Robust R&D Environment to Drive the Global GBM Treatment MarketThe robust R&D landscape in the global glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment market will drive this industry to a great extent. Furthermore, companies are increasingly launching new therapies that are expected to offer effective treatment against GBM. This month (June 2015) several treatment for GBM were announced. These are:A team of Miller School of Medicine researchers have found out that the dark matter of the genome is crucial for the growth of GBM and a new type of drug which is being tested in GBM patients actually works by modifying the dark matter of genome.Another novel therapy is being practiced by doctors in Brisbane. This treatment involves combating viruses such as cytomegalovirus (CMV). Past research shows that half of the glioblastoma multiforme tumors carry evidence of CMV.Another therapy being practiced in Northern Colarado uses electric field therapy to slow GBM. Optune from Novocure is used in this therapy that is placed on the patients scalp.Global strategic Business report :Strong Pipeline to Benefit the Global GBM Treatment MarketThe global glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment market based on pipeline review is divided into early stage, i.e., phase I and II, and late stage, i.e., phase III. The phase III drugs include Rindopepimut (CDX-110), DCVax, and others. Some of the phase I and II drugs are SGT-53, ANG1005, Endostatin, Crenolanib, Cotara, AV0113, ARC-00, and ABT-414.The FDA approved drugs in the global glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment market include Bevacizumab (Avastin), Temozolomide (Temodar and Temodal and Temcad), and Carmustine (BiCNU). Bevacizumab is the latest drug addition, while temozolomide led the global glioblastoma multiforme treatment market in 2013 due to its effectiveness when it is combined with surgery. In 2012, temozolomide lost the market exclusivity and bevacizumab acquired substantial market share as it is more effective than temozolomide.The key companies operating in the global glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment market are AbbVie, Activartis, Agenus, Arog Pharmacueticals, Cavion, Cortice Biosciences, Eisai, Exelixis, and OncoSynergy.Companies operating in the global glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment market can benefit from focusing on development of biological and immunotherapy treatments. Furthermore, the development of novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) will also help firms to survive in the intensely competitive global market for glioblastoma multiforme treatment. Strategic partnerships and acquisitions can also help companies to penetrate in the global glioblastoma multiforme treatment market effectively.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Biological Safety Testing Market To Be Driven By Exponential Growth In The Production Of Biologics And Medical Devices That Demand Stringent Safety Requirements Till 2024 http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/biological-safety-testing-market http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/healthcare The biological safety testing market is expected to reach USD 5.54 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The biological safety testing market is primarily driven by exponential growth in the production of biologics and medical devices that demand stringent safety requirements. The growing disease burden is anticipated to be the major cause for high production of biologics thus contributing toward market growth.The overwhelming adoption rate of unhealthy lifestyles has resulted in the high prevalence of chronic diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, which is serving as a key contributing factor toward increasing drug development and their subsequent commercialization. This is presumed to raise the need to scrutinize and ensure the safety of targeted and specialized therapies, evaluate their outcomes, and circumvent probable shortcomings.As a consequence of the high manufacturing intensity, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are increasingly incorporating biological safety testing tools to produce highly potent and contamination-free biologics to cater to the large population suffering from target diseases.In addition, stringent regulations issued by healthcare organizations globally are presumed to be responsible for the high uptake of biological safety testing tools, thus resulting in a wider scope for the biological safety testing marketFor instance, the European Medical Device Directives are believed to have a higher influence on the implementation of the defined imperative regulations to meet the growing safety requirements, thus translating into improved biological safety and contributing to overall growth of this vertical.Browse full research report on Global Biological Safety Testing Market:Further Key Findings From the Study Suggest: Reagents & kits held a substantial share of the product segment of over 42.0% in 2015 as it forms an indispensable part of the overall testing process and the high dependency of the testing results on the quality of reagents employed to perform the tests. In 2015, vaccine and therapeutics accounted for the largest market share in the application segment owing to the rising development of vaccines that are highly vulnerable to adventitious agents and necessitate stringent safety measures to prevent potential contamination due to unspecified agents The endotoxin tests held the largest share of 24.0% in the tests segment as of 2015. This large share is attributed to the high clinical urgency to reduce the threat of endotoxins during the development of bio-pharmaceuticals In 2015, North America dominated the regional biological safety testing vertical with a share of over 36.0%. The dominant share is a consequence of high investment in the biotechnology sector, its increasing adoption in cancer research, and for the development of new biologics, vaccines, and drugs. Asia Pacific is expected to witness growth at an exponential CAGR of over 13.0% during the forecast period. The exponential growth rate can be attributed to the increasing healthcare spending, the demand for better infrastructure quality in laboratory & clinical research, and the adoption of compact and low cost techniques in clinical research. The prominent players are involved in undertaking new product development and collaborative strategies to gain a higher share of the vertical. For instance, in June 2016, Charles River acquired Blue Stream Laboratories, Inc., an analytical contract research organization. This acquisition was carried out to enhance its existing capabilities in safety assessment and manufacturing of biologics.Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research:Grand View Research has segmented the biological safety testing market on the basis of product, application, test, and region:Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Reagents & kits Instruments ServicesApplication Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Stem Cell Tissue & tissue-based products Gene therapy Blood & blood-based therapy Vaccines & therapeuticsTest Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Sterility tests Cell line authentication and characterization tests Bioburden tests Endotoxin tests Adventitious agent detection tests Residual host contamination detection tests OthersRegional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo UKo Germany Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao India Latin Americao Mexicoo Brazil MEAo South AfricaAbout Grand View ResearchGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Press ContactSherry James - Corporate Relations Specialist28 2nd Street, Suite 3036San Francisco, CA 94105United StatesPhone: 1-415-349-0058Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Arts fairs offerings quickly snapped up From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-10-14 01:46 ORIGINAL productions, made both at home and abroad, are finding buyers at the 2016 Shanghai Performing Arts Fair that began yesterday. Five agreements were signed in the first morning. Among them was Papas Time Machine, an unconventional puppet theater by Chinese visual artist Maleonn, which will premiere as China Shanghai International Arts Festivals commissioned work this year. The steam-driven, punk-style, large-sized puppet theater won much attention among representatives from art festivals and program buyers after a brief showcasing at the SIAF Performing Arts Fair last year. The script is based on the everyday experiences of Maleonn and his father, who has Alzheimers, leading audiences into a world of poetic fantasies. The theater bagged the rights to perform at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in 2017 or 2018, and won an agency contract with Arts Midwest and Barbash Arts Consulting Services for its touring project next year in the West. Rising Artists Works, a multi-arts series, will be staged at Southbank Center, London, next year, while the music film Zhan Duan (Kill and Judge) will be shown at the center as early as this December. The arts fair will run until Sunday, with more than 410 organizations home and abroad taking part. Meanwhile, local residents and expats will be offered more than 100 cultural and art events at the 2016 Suzhou Creek Cultural and Art Festival, which opens on Tuesday. The annual cultural program of Putuo District, which will be running for about a month, is celebrating its 10th year. Among this years events will be art and photography exhibitions themed on the history and development of Suzhou Creek, cultural performances and poetry recitation competition. Global Harbor, the largest shopping mall in Putuo District will host piano concerts, dance performances and clown shows. A highlight of the festival is a grand grassroots singing competition of New Shanghainese. More than 2,400 people have applied to enter. Global G-Protein Coupled Receptors Market to Exceed US$3.53 bn by 2022, Boosted by Focus on Drug Discovery http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=550 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/g-protein-coupled-receptors-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com GPCRs market comprises assays and kits that aid in drug discovery and development. GPCRs is a large family of cell surface receptors that respond to a diverse range of external stimulus and play a major role in modern pharmacology due to their significant function in cell communication. More than 30% of the drugs available in the global market target GPCRs and most of the drugs that are currently under clinical and preclinical studies target this highly studied receptor protein. A wide range of GPCR assays such as cAMP assays, calcium level detection assays, etc. have been developed over the years that have helped in drug discovery processes worldwide.Download exclusive Brochure of this report:The global GPCRs market has been categorized based on six assay types: calcium level detection assays, GTPS binding assays, cGMP assays, reporter gene assays, receptor internalization assays, and cAMP assays. The cAMP assays segment held the largest share of the market, followed by the calcium level detection assays segment in 2013. Key factors attributed to the high growth of this segment are increasing demand for cAMP assays in high throughput screening (HTS) and various other major drug discovery platforms, introduction of advanced cAMP assays and wide applicability of these assays in a range of therapeutic applications.In terms of therapeutic areas, the market has been segmented into seven categories: cardiovascular system, central nervous system (CNS), respiratory system, immune system, reproductive system, oncology, and others (abdominal, urinary, orthopedics, etc.). Oncology was the largest segment of the global GPCRs market in 2013. The segment includes several prime cancer therapeutic areas such as breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and/or several other malignant tumorous outgrowths. High prevalence and increasing incidence of several of these cancers are expected to drive the growth of the segment in the near future.Geographically, the GPCRs market has been categorized into four regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). North America dominated the global GPCRs market followed by Europe owing to high geriatric population and rising obesity-related diseases due to unhealthy lifestyle habits, unhealthy eating habits, excessive alcohol intake and smoking leading to cardiovascular diseases. The regions also account for high number of research and development activities for the development of highly effective therapeutic drugs, which would require increased usage of GPCR assays. Asia Pacific was the third largest market for GPCRs, and is expected to register the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Large untapped opportunities, improving health care infrastructure, rising research and development activities, expansion of large pharmaceutical manufacturers and CROs, and rising geriatric population in the region would contribute to the growth of the market.Global strategic Business report :Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., EMD Millipore, Becton, Dickinson and Company, PerkinElmer, Inc., Cisbio Bioassays, Enzo Life Sciences, Inc., DiscoveRx Corporation, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, QIAGEN N.V., Promega Corporation, Abcam plc, and HD Biosciences Co. Ltd. are the major players operating in the global GPCRs market. Most of these players constantly innovate and develop technologically advanced and/or improved GPCR assays and assay systems to maintain their positions in the global market. For instance, Tango GPCR Assay System and GeneBLAzer Validated Functional Assays from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., ACTOne cAMP Assay from Becton, Dickinson and Company and Cyclic AMP cell-based assay kits from Cisbio Bioassays, would help in capitalizing on future customer preferences. These market players also collaborate with other companies as well as various global organizations through long-term agreements to develop innovative, technologically advanced or improved GPCR assays, assay platforms and systems.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Food Retail Market Worth $8,541.9 Billion by 2020 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3922 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/food-retail-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Food Retail: Supermarkets/hypermarkets Segment To Witness Highest Growth by 2020, the global Food Retail market was valued at USD 5,643.6 billion in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.1 % from 2014 to 2020, to reach an estimated value of USD 8,541.9 billion in 2020.Rise in the global population, changing customer preferences, and emerging economies are making the way for the food retail industry. It is a dynamically progressing industry and contributes to the development of several industries such as food packaging. Rising middle-class population is creating growth opportunities for food retail market and is expected to drive the market further. According to a U.S.-based research firm, about 1.5 billion households globally would be in the middle-class category by 2020, up from 1.2 billion households in 2012. China and India are among the countries witnessing a fast growth in their middle-class population. In 2012, there were 227 million and 149 million middle-class households in China and India, respectively. In addition, due to busy life schedules many working peoples have less time to shop for food items. Therefore, increasing online retail shopping through online retail formats such as in-store pickup and pure-play online grocers is expected to drive the food retail market in the years to come.View Sample Report @The restraining impact of lack of supply chain effectiveness in less developed countries is expected to be medium in the short and medium terms, and low in the long term. Government investment in infrastructure and the entry of global food processing companies in developing countries are expected to minimize the impact of supply chain-related restraints. The threat from unorganized players is expected to be high in the short term, medium in the medium term and low in the long term. The number of organized players is increasing in developing countries due to increasing urbanization and per capita income. In India, discussions regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail are currently under way, and if it is approved by the Indian government it may add benefits to the food retail industry.Asia-Pacific is the largest market for food retail. Increasing per capita income, growing level of education, smaller families and increasing urbanization and westernization are the key factors driving the growth of food retail industry in this region. Europe is the second largest market for food retail due to the presence of the large number of branded stores and discounters such as Aldi, Carrefour, Auchan and Tesco which offer fresh and branded products. They are then followed by North America. Health and nutritional concern among consumers are the major factors fuelling the growth of the food retail market in this region. RoW region has experienced the fastest growth in the past few years and is likely to hold its position in the years to come.Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report :Food Retail is categorized under distribution channel into four different segments: supermarkets or hypermarkets, independent and specialist retailers, convenience stores and others. Supermarket or hypermarket segment holds the largest share of the overall market in 2013 at USD 2,925.8 billion and is expected to reach USD 4,448.5 billion by 2020 at a CAGR of 6.2 % during 2014 to 2020.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Tech-nology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Elec-tronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business deci-sions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solu-tions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global High Voltage Transformer Market Size, Trends and Forecasts, 2016 to 2020 http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-high-voltage-transformer-industry-research-report-2016-73992 https://goo.gl/4RdIlc http://www.marketresearchstore.com Professional and In-depth research report on Global High Voltage Transformer Market.The review has been based on the report titled, " High Voltage Transformer Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016 - 2020." It analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc.The report on the High Voltage Transformer market analyzes and estimates data regarding the business sector for High Voltage Transformer in the globally. The business has been gauged in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ million) during the forecast period 2016 to 2020. It moreover covers the impact of drivers and limitations on the demand for High Voltage Transformer during the forecasting horizon. The report includes an investigation of opportunities in the High Voltage Transformer market at the worldwide level.Browse full report with TOC @Essential exploration of market information incorporates facts gathered from interviews with market stakeholders. Secondary research incorporates an investigation of organization sites, yearly reports, stock analysis presentations, and press releases.The study gives a conclusive view of the High Voltage Transformer market, which is examined by segmenting it into applications and products. All the product and application segments have been researched in light of present and future patterns globally. Regional division of the market makes clear the current and estimated demand for High Voltage Transformer from all over the world.The report discusses the demand and supply progression of the High Voltage Transformer market worldwide, alongside statistics related to export and imports and a top-to-bottom elaboration on the upstream raw materials chain and the downstream demand chain. Developments that have taken place in the High Voltage Transformer market recently have also been analyzed in depth in this research report.Get a Free Sample Copy of the Report @The report utilizes several analysis tools, namely investment return analysis, market attractiveness analysis, Porters five forces analysis, and SWOT analysis to assess the High Voltage Transformer market globally. This gives an exhaustive review of the historical changes in the worldwide High Voltage Transformer market and also investigates various gainful business procedures for new as well as leading market players. Furthermore, a segmentation of prominent players on the basis of geography is also conferred via this report.Market Research Store is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Market Research Store is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Joel JohnTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.comWeb: Global Clinical Nutrition market is predictable to riseat a CAGR of 4.1% from 2014 to 2020 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/2812 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/clinical-nutrition-market/toc According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Clinical Nutrition: Infant Nutrition Segment To Witness Highest Growth by 2020, the global Clinical Nutrition market was valued at USD 36.9 billion in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2014 to 2020, to reach an estimated value of USD 48.6 billion in 2020.View Sample Report @Nutrition provides human beings with the required amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, water, vitamins, and minerals essential for proper cellular functioning and physiological activities and to maintain energy balance in the body. Rise in the number of victims of malnutrition receiving treatment, high birth rate, and high number of premature births are some of the important factors driving growth of the clinical nutrition market. Malnutrition is a widespread problem affecting the lives of millions of people globally. It is a condition that occurs due to deficiency of essential nutrients in the body. In 2010, around 40% of all hospital patients across the world were malnourished. In Europe, around one-third of all hospital patients were malnourished in 2012. Clinical nutrition is the most efficient way to treat malnutrition and avoid associated costs. Additionally, high birth rate as well as the high number of premature births is expected to drive the global clinical nutrition market. Countries such as India and China have high birth rate, which is expected to boost the demand for clinical nutrition products, especially that of infant nutrition products. According to the World Bank Group, the birth rate was highest in India (around 21.0 per thousand people), followed by China (12.0 per thousand people), in Asia Pacific in 2012. The U.K. (13.0 per thousand people) and France (13.0 per thousand people) had the highest birth rate in Europe in the same year, while in the U.S.; it was 13.0 per thousand people.Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report :Asia Pacific is the largest market for clinical nutritional products globally. Increasing birth rate paired with increasing geriatric population is driving the clinical nutrition market in the Asia Pacific region. Some of the major factors contributing the growth of clinical nutrition market in North America include Increase in consumer awareness about health and wellbeing paired with increasing healthcare cost. Growing aging population coupled with high birth rate in some European countries, such as the U.K. and France, are driving the clinical nutrition market in the region.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Tech-nology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Elec-tronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business deci-sions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solu-tions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research valuesContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Orthopaedic Prosthetics Market Worth to Expand at 5% CAGR through 2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1443 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1443 www.futuremarketinsights.com The global orthopaedic prosthetics market, estimated to be worth US$ 1.62 Bn in 2015, is expected to increase at 5% CAGR through 2026, according to a new report by Future Market Insights (FMI). The report titled, Orthopaedic Prosthetics Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026, offers 10-year forecast on the basis of product, technology, end-users, and region.On the basis of products, the market has been segmented into,Modular componentsSocketsLinersUpper Extremity ProstheticsLower Extremity ProstheticsFMI estimates the lower extremity prosthetics segment to increase at 5.9% CAGR during the forecast period. Demand for lower extremity prosthetics is driven by amputation resulting from diabetes and peripheral vascular diseases.On the basis of end-users, FMI has segmented the market into,HospitalsProsthetic clinicsRehabilitation CentresOthersRequest Free Report Sample@Prosthetic clinics account for significant demand for orthopaedic prosthetics, with this end-use segment expected to increase at 5.7% CAGR during the forecast period. Favourable reimbursement options is a key factor driving patient preference for prosthetic clinics.On the basis of technology type, the global orthopaedic prosthetics market has been segmented into,Conventional orthopaedic prostheticsElectric-powered orthopaedic prostheticsHybrid orthopaedic prostheticsAmong these, electric-powered orthopaedic prosthetics accounted for the highest revenues on the basis of technology type in 2015. This segment was valued at US$ 731.1 Mn in 2015, and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 6% through 2026.North America Orthopaedic Prosthetics Market Valued at US$ 622.3 Mn in 2015North America is the largest market for orthopaedic prosthetics, and was valued at US$ 622.3 Mn in 2015. FMI expects the North America orthopaedic prosthetics market increase at a CAGR of 5.4% through 2026. Presence of key regional players, strong distribution network, and developed healthcare infrastructure are the key factors driving the growth of the market in North America.Ask The Analyst@Key trends identified by FMI in the global orthopaedic prosthetics market include use of new polymer material and development of prosthetic device as per the functional need of patients. Manufacturers are focusing on developing lightweight, yet highly durable orthopaedic prosthetics to cater to the needs of users.Key Players in Orthopaedic Prosthetics MarketThe key companies profiled by FMI in its report include Ossur, Hanger Inc., Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH, Blatchford Ltd., Touch Bionics Inc., The Ohio Willow Wood Co., Fillauer LLC., and Howard Orthopaedics Inc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Europe Connected Cars Market Report 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-44 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-44 www.futuremarketinsights.com Connected cars are considered to be the future of automobile industry. In addition to wireless LAN devices, connected cars have active safety solutions and automated driver assistance systems. Enabling car owners to connect with all the connectivity devices that are inside and in the vicinity of cars, connected cars also assure to maintain safe distance between cars on roads.These cars also allow drivers to mechanically monitor cars performance and physical condition. The connected car technology can also be used to connect to cars through smartphones or other mobile devices.Research indicates that the market for connected cars, after 2010, has been growing in a nascent stage each year. Providing a wide range of opportunities to automotive and telecom industries, as well as consumers, the market is anticipated to gain mass penetration and witness substantial growth in the near future.Europe, which is currently the second largest market for connected cars, is estimated to outpace North America and create the largest market by 2020 end. Rising demand for vehicle safety and security will continue to be a key driver for market growth.Europe Connected Cars Market: Key DriversIncreasing demand for electric vehicles from European consumers is playing a crucial role in boosting the market for connected cars. Moreover, the market is predicted to gain traction due to widespread adoption of mobile and wireless technologies.Some governments within EU are introducing various regulations and initiatives regarding vehicles safety, which could be a favourable move for connected car manufacturers and dealers. In addition, availability of advanced telecom and road infrastructure will also continue to fuel the European market for connected cars.Request Free Report Sample@Key RestraintsWhile the connected car technology and smartphone technology are conjoint in this industry, the difference in their lifecycles is significant. Car development is a five-year cycle but the smartphone is developed within a much shorter time span. This is expected to act as a major restraint for connected cars in tandem with smartphone technology.Moreover, car manufacturers will need long-term, compatible mobile partners, which is currently a challenge.A recent survey concluded that many consumers from the U.K., Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, and Italy are concerned about the lack of standards across connected car manufacturers. This is anticipated to be a major barrier in the market.Research reflects significant reluctance among consumers about data privacy and digital safety. A sizeable consumer population still prefers to personalise their cars web connection via smartphones USB or Bluetooth, rather than buying a connected car with built-in options. This is another factor that could be a major roadblock to market.Furthermore, many people are not yet ready to pay separately for embedded car connection, which is foreseen to be a setback for the market in Europe.Segmentation: Europe Connected Cars MarketFMIs research on the European market for connected cars provides a six-year forecast, segmenting the market on the basis of technology, hardware, service, and application.On the basis of technology, the market is segmented into long-term evolution (LTE), Wi-Fi, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), and others.The hardware segment is further segmented as processor, sensor, CPU, memory device, and wireless and cellular module.Based on the service, the market is segmented into original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) services, connected services, after-market services, and other services (e.g. safety services).According to the application, the market is segmented as telematics, navigation, safety and security, infotainment, and communications. However, the safety and security segment is expected to outperform all the segments, followed by infotainment, which is said to record the fastest growth in the European connected cars market.Europe Estimated to Surpass the Current Market Leader, North AmericaThe EU has always been highly supportive in promoting the connected car technology. The European CEN and ETSI have set certain standards for cooperative intelligence transport systems (ITS), as per the demand from the European Commission for safer, more efficient, and more sustainable transport. The latest standards make it mandatory for manufacturers to equip each car model with a GPS system and 3G/4G connectivity. Moreover, the technology is expected to interconnect drivers with automakers, dealers, and auto repair shops. This has been a major breakthrough for the connected cars market in Europe.Request For TOC@Influential Trends in the Connected Cars MarketComplete smartphone integration, teen drivers monitoring, digital dashboards, GPS navigation systems with travel guidance, and self-driving (driverless cars) technology are the most notable trends in the connected cars industry, in Europe and globally.In the recent past, Volvo has launched a corporate initiative, according to which self-driving cars and autonomous driving features will be in market in the near future. The companys Drive Me Project in 2017 also featured 100 self-driving Volvos on public roads.Key Players: European Connected Cars MarketKey players in the European connected cars market include Apple, Inc., Airbiquity, Inc., BayerischeMotorenWerke AG (BMW), Delphi Automotive LLP, Ford Motor Company, Microsoft Corporation, TATA Consultancy Services Ltd., Toyota Motors Corp., Verizon Communications, Inc., and AT&T, Inc.Major car manufacturers have already started taking efforts toward smartphone integration to cater to connectivity demand from consumers. Since several companies from telecom and software verticals are rapidly entering the connected cars market, OEMs are expected to concentrate on strengthening their hold in the market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Energy Harvesting Market To Increase at Steady Growth Rate http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-58 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-58 www.futuremarketinsights.com Energy harvesting, one of the most promising technologies to address the energy crises without altering the existing energy sources, is foreseen to witness staggering demand and innovation in the near future. The process of energy harvesting harnesses the power of ambient energy to use later in varied applications. With growing use of ambient energy and advent of the energy harvesting technology, the energy harvesting market is currently heading at a considerable pace globally.FMI extensive research indicates that the global energy harvesting market is anticipated to gain momentum and grow at a double-digit CAGR by 2020 end. A number of newly innovated efficient energy applications and widespread acceptance of renewable energy sources are expected to play a vital role in the growth of the global energy harvesting market during the forecast period 2014-2020.Key Drivers: Energy Harvesting MarketDuring the past decade, there has been growing demand for safe, power efficient, and enduring systems, which require minimum or no maintenance. This is a major driver of market growth, expected to continue pushing the demand for devices based on the energy harvesting technology. Growing applications of the energy harvesting technology in building and home automation is another key driver to the market growth.Moreover, industrial WSN demand energy harvesting on a large scale, which is expected to continue during the forecast period as well. The green energy trend is effectively governing the market, while favourable initiatives by various governments are also boosting the market on a global level.Abundance of renewable energy sources, including tidal, wind, and ocean energy provide a dependable platform for the innovation of energy harvesting applications. This is also an influential factorcontributing to the growth of market.Request Free Report Sample@Key Restraints to Market GrowthThe technology based on energy harvesting is typically used off-grid or on-demand. However, both of these usage patterns possess some technological complexities, which may restrict the widespread demand for energy harvesting devices in the market. Another deterring factor includes inadequate awareness among consumers about the availability and usage of the devices based on harvested energy.Moreover, relatively higher initial costs associated with these devices are expected to curtail the growth of the market globally. The energy harvesting technology generates lower current, which makes it incompatible for the application in all types of energy domains.Global Energy Harvesting Market: SegmentationFMIs research on the global energy harvesting market provides a six-year forecast, segmenting the market on the basis of different energy sources/fields, applications, and geography.On the basis of different energy sources/fields, the energy harvesting market is segmented into radiation (solar, electromagnetic, and light), mechanical (fluid, elastic, kinetic, and potential), chemical (battery, fuel cells, and phase change), nuclear, magnetic, electric, thermal, and gravitational. Among these, electric and magnetic fields form the most common source for harvesting energy.Based on the application, the energy harvesting market is segmented as wireless sensor network (WSN), consumer electronics, industrial, building, bicycle dynamo, military and aerospace, automotive, healthcare, and others (research, animals, and farming). Among these, consumer electronics, including mobile phones, wrist watches, calculators, and piezoelectric gas lighters cover the maximum share of the global energy harvesting market, followed by military and aerospace-based applications. However, building and home automation is the fastest growing application segment in the energy harvesting sector. Energy harvesting is also an integral part in a wireless sensor network (WSN) these days.According to the geography, the energy harvesting market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Japan, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Among these, Americas are projected to remain the dominating markets in 2016, with a significant market share. However, Europe will be the fastest growing market, owing to burgeoning promotion and investments by The European Commission in R&D of energy harvesting and storage devices. North America and Asia Pacific will also account for remarkable market shares by 2020 end. In North America, the U.S. will dominate, whereas in APAC, Japan will reportedly contribute the largest share to the total energy harvesting market revenues.Request For TOC@Notable Market TrendsBuilding and infrastructure, automation of lighting, security, and electronics at homes, and WSNs for bridges include some of the most sought after applications of energy harvesting since the past few years.The use of mmWave (millimetre wave) for 5G cellular networks has been a popular trend of wireless energy harvesting.The market is expected to gain traction from growing application of energy harvesting in wearable devices and mobile phones.Energy harvesting is estimated to find increasing applications in automobile industry in the near future.The advent of nanotechnology has offered ample of growth opportunities to the energy harvesting market. Since nanotechnology helps manufacturing of compact-sized devices, the emergence of portable devices based on energy harvesting technology is the most likely occurrence in the market.Key Players: Global Energy Harvesting MarketSome of the prominent players competing in the industry include ABB Limited, Arveni, Enocean, Fujitsu, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., Green Peak Technologies, Honeywell International, Inc., Levant Power Corporation, Marlow Industries, Inc., Microchip Technology, Inc., MicroGen Systems, Maxim Integrated, G24 Innovations Limited, Texas Instruments Inc., and STMicroelectronics.Other notable players include Silicon Laboratories, Inc., Siemens AG, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Mide Technology Corporation, Laird Plc., Lord Microstrain, EnOcean GmbH, Cymbet Corporation, POWERleap, Inc., Schneider Electric, Linear Technology, Microstrain, and Micropelt.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Market Forecast Report on Medical Electronics, 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-72 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-72 www.futuremarketinsights.com Medical electronics is a branch of electronics that deals with design, implementation and use of electrical devices and equipment for medical purposes such as research, examination, diagnosis, treatment, assistance and care. Medical electronics utilizes field disciplines of both electronics and biomedical.Portable biomedical electronic devices are essential to movemedical products from the hospital atmosphere to home, and to move medical examination from the laboratoryand offer one-touch access to users. These devices offer secure access and enable both patients and doctors to stay in touch with each other remotely.Conventional medical devices have evolved over time, which is obvious with the advent of handheld smart phone-sized ultrasound systems, digital stethoscopes and digital X-ray systems.Small-sized medical devices are available for monitoring blood sugar levels, insulin, blood pressure and blood coagulation levels at home, and can send periodical reports to a doctor in a connected environment. Even consumer devices such as toothbrusheshave become modernized enough to send periodic information to dentists in a similar connected environment.The potential benefits associated with this technology includes improved quality of healthcare, increased output accuracy, remote health data availability,precise billing mechanism, easy to update patient electronic records and increase in level of patient experience. On other hand, there are some negative aspects such as decrease in productivity of medical professionals, lack of standard terminologies, significant learning difficulties and issues related to violation of patient data security.Request Free Report Sample@Increase in income levels,higher standard of living, rising health awareness rise in aging population in developed countries and development in health facilities in developing countries are key factors driving the rapid growth of the medical electronics market. High availability of electronic components such as microcontrollers, memory devices, display technologies etc., has contributed majorlyto the development of biomedical devices and equipment.The acceptance of electronic medical devices is difficult for the users as well as the doctors due to its high prices.The global medical electronics market is segmented on the basis of type, components, application and geography. Medical electronic device types vary depending on size, from handheld devices to heavy base devices, wearable gadgets to wireless connected devices, and from RFID-based health tracking device to RADAR technology-based ultrasound machines.On the basis of components, the market is segmented into sensor, battery, display, processors and memory. On the basis of application,the market is segmented into imaging, health monitoring, digital assistance, digital diagnostic, medical therapy, fitness and wellness and healthcare. On the basis of geography, the market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Japan, Western Europe, EasternEurope and the Middle East & Africa.The advancements in medical electronics include dynamic power path management, remote patient tracking, integrated analog front ends and tissue analysis of cancer cells. Some of the innovative products still in the developmental stage, which are to be introduced in the future, includeneedle-free diabetic care, robotic checkups andtouchscreen systems for treatment rooms.The opportunity for handheld wireless monitoring devicesis high.Request For TOC@Siemens AG,Analog Devices, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Canada), GE Healthcare (U.K.), Maxim Integrated (U.S.), Texas Instruments Incorporated (U.S.), Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc.,ON Semiconductor Corporation (U.S.), STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (U.S.), Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, GE,and Biotronik GMBH & CO.KG. (Germany) are some of top players in the medical electronics market. The key strategies adopted by most of these players to maintain and enhance market sharesinclude mergers& acquisition, joint ventures, product launches and product enhancement. The medical electronics market is expected to grow along with technological innovations and focus more on accuracy, cost effectiveness and technological platform portability with other medical equipment. With the rise in data security threats and legal claims from patients, more technologically safe and data secured devices need to be deployed in the market to meet the medical infrastructural needs of society.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: New Research Report on Convenience Foods Market, 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-96 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-96 www.futuremarketinsights.com The convenience foods market is driven by busy lifestyles and ageing population. It includes a range of processed foods that has longer shelf life and are easy to use. The major attributes that consumers look for in convenience foods are ease of use, packaging, nutritional value, safety, variety and product appeal. These are prepared by adding various preservatives at specific conditions and few of them need an efficient supply chain and storage to retain their properties. Convenience foods save time and energy for preparing food at home or hotels. Technology and innovative packaging options have widened the food choices that are available in the market in various categories such as frozen, chilled, packaged foods, etc.The market has been segmented by type as canned foods, frozen foods, ready-to-eat snacks, meals, chilled foods and others. The market can also be segmented on the basis of distribution channels into supermarkets and hypermarkets, departmental stores, mom-and-pop shops, convenience stores and others. Geographically, the market can be segmented into Asia-Pacific, North America (the U.S., Canada and Mexico), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & North Africa and RoW (Rest of the World, including Latin America and South Africa).Request Free Report Sample@With more women in the workforce, the demand for convenience foods is rising, primarily in emerging economies. The rapid growth of the food service industry in large number of developing markets is also expected to fuel the demand of packaged ready-to-eat snacks such as potato fries, bakery products and meat products. However, lack of proper storage and logistics is a threat to the frozen and chilled category of convenience foods in developing countries. There are stringent regulations on labelling and manufacturing of convenience foods in both developed and developing nations. One of the major drivers for convenience foods industry growth is widened distribution channels and tendency of consumers to buy off-the-shelf especially in emerging markets of BRICS and MENA.The U.S. is the largest market for convenience foods in the world and the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America would fuel the future growth of the same. The U.S. will remain a strategic market for convenience food processors in the forecast period due to declining trend towards away-from-home dining and at-home cooking. There is a rising demand for meal solutions/ready-to-eat meals that can be prepared in two-step cooking. For instance, in December 2013, ConAgra Foods launched 23 new varieties of quality meals and desserts in Bertolli and P.F. Changs brands to enhance consumers at-home dining experience with convenience. In addition, consumers are looking for meals with foraged, hyper-local ingredients with different flavours and blends such as mushrooms, nettles, blackberries, rose hips, seaweeds, truffles, etc.The global convenience foods market is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR from 20142020. Some of the emerging markets may even experience a double-digit growth rate through the forecast period in significant categories.Request For TOC@Large multinational corporations follow multiple strategies to develop and penetrate the market for convenience foods in different regions. However, providing products that match local consumer taste is of utmost importance. Pricing is another important factor for convenience foods, however nowadays, consumers are ready to pay a premium price if they get to buy quality convenience foods with health benefits. Some of the common strategies that companies have adopted in recent times are portion controlled packaging, in-store promotions, mergers & acquisitions and health claims in labels. There is a growing trend towards healthy convenience foods that are rich in proteins, functional fibres, vitamins, probiotics and omega-3 fatty acid. For this, many market leaders are integrating their operations by acquiring ingredient manufacturers to increase their technical know-how. Availability of customized food ingredients has become a boon for convenience food manufacturers as they can provide large varieties in each category.Some of the key companies manufacturing and distributing convenience foods are Amy's Kitchen, Inc., Cargill, Incorporated, ConAgra Foods, Inc., General Mills, Inc., Tyson Foods, Inc., Mondel?z International, Inc. and Kraft Foods Group Inc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Denmark Market Size For Cardiovascular Devices Market Outlook to 2022 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816961 https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Denmark Cardiovascular Devices Market Outlook to 2022 - Cardiac Rhythm Management, Interventional Cardiology, Peripheral Vascular Devices, Electrophysiology, Prosthetic Heart Valves and Others provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"GlobalDatas new report, Denmark Cardiovascular Device Market Outlook to 2022, provides key market data on the Denmark Cardiovascular Device market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars and volume (in units) within market categories - Cardiac Assist Devices, Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, Cardiovascular Monitoring Devices, Cardiovascular Prosthetic Devices, Cardiovascular Surgery Devices, Electrophysiology Devices, External Defibrillators, Interventional Cardiology, Peripheral Vascular Devices, Prosthetic Heart Valves and Clot Management Devices.Note: This is an on-demand report and will be delivered within 2-3 business days of the purchase (excluding weekends)The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for the market category, and global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants. Based on the availability of data for the particular category and country, information related to pipeline products, news and deals is available in the report.The data in the report is derived from dynamic market forecast models. GlobalData uses epidemiology and capital equipment-based models to estimate and forecast the market size. The objective is to provide information that represents the most up-to-date data of the industry possible.The epidemiology-based forecasting model makes use of epidemiology data gathered from research publications and primary interviews with physicians to establish the target patient population and treatment flow patterns for individual diseases and therapies. Using prevalence and incidence data and diagnosed and treated population, the epidemiology-based forecasting model arrives at the final numbers.Capital equipment-based forecasting models are done based on the installed base, replacements and new sales of a specific device/equipment in healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers. Data for average number of units per facility is used to arrive at the installed base of the capital equipment. Sales for a particular year are arrived at by calculating the replacement units and new units (additional and first-time purchases).Extensive interviews are conducted with key opinion leaders (KOLs), physicians and industry experts to validate the market size, company share and distribution share data and analysis.Download Sample copy of this Report at :Scope- Market size for Cardiovascular Device market categories - Cardiac Assist Devices, Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, Cardiovascular Monitoring Devices, Cardiovascular Prosthetic Devices, Cardiovascular Surgery Devices, Electrophysiology Devices, External Defibrillators, Interventional Cardiology, Peripheral Vascular Devices, Prosthetic Heart Valves and Clot Management Devices.- Annualized market revenues (USD million), volume (units) and average selling price ($) data for each of the market categories. Data is provided from 2008 to 2015 and forecast to 2022.- 2015 company shares and distribution shares data for Cardiovascular Device market.- Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Denmark Cardiovascular Device market.- Key players covered include Medtronic plc, Boston Scientific Corporation, St. Jude Medical, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Cordis Corporation and Others.Reasons to buy- Develop business strategies by identifying the key market segments poised for strong growth in the future.- Develop market-entry and market expansion strategies.- Design competition strategies by identifying who-stands-where in the market.- Develop investment strategies by identifying the key market segments expected to register strong growth in the near future.- What are the key distribution channels and whats the most preferred mode of product distribution - Identify, understand and capitalize.Follow us on LinkedIn:Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 81.2 List of Figures 122 Introduction 172.1 What Is This Report About? 172.2 Cardiovascular Devices Market Segmentation 172.3 Definitions of Markets Covered in the Report 203 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark 373.1 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), 2007-2021 373.2 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue Mix ($m), 2014 393.3 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Category Contribution by Revenue ($m), 2014 403.4 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), 2007-2014 423.5 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), 2014-2021 453.6 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units), 2007-2021 483.7 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units), 2007-2014 503.8 Cardiovascular Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units), 2014-2021 534 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark 564.1 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue Mix ($m), 2014 564.2 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Segment Contribution (%), 2014 574.3 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 594.3.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 614.3.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 634.4 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 654.4.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 674.4.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 694.5 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 714.5.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 734.5.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 754.6 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 774.6.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 794.6.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 814.7 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, Denmark, Distribution Share, Revenue ($m), 2007-2021 835 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, Denmark 845.1 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue Mix ($m), 2014 845.2 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, Denmark, Segment Contribution (%), 2014 855.3 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 875.3.1 Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 895.3.2 Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 915.3.3 Pacemakers Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 935.4 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 955.4.1 Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 975.4.2 Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 995.4.3 Pacemakers Market, Denmark, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 1015.5 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 1035.5.1 Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 1055.5.2 Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 1075.5.3 Pacemakers Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 1095.6 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 1115.6.1 Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Market, Denmark, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 113MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Police show their softer side to a homeless man From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-10-14 01:46 A homeless man, known as Master Li, who lives under an elevated metro station in downtown Shanghai, was approached by the police recently not to drive him away but to offer him a job as a parking assistant. In fact, Li, who is 49, had been voluntarily doing such a job at Zhongtan Road Station for two years when the metro police officers discovered him as a result of Shanghai running a city-wide campaign to restore traffic order around metro stations. I didnt ask for any return, nor do I ask for anything now, he told Shanghai Daily yesterday. Im only satisfied with doing good deeds. Li, a native of Danyang city in neighboring Jiangsu Province, was sentenced to prison on three occasions for theft before he began living on the streets. He asked not to be identified by his real name. The bridge at Zhongtan Road Station provides him with shelter from the rain, but the messy parking of bikes in the free-of-charge parking space where he lodges annoyed him. Out of his need for a tidy place to rest, he found himself moving around bikes there every day. Some unfriendly bike riders told me its none of my business, Li said. But it turned out that parking the bikes neatly into rows not only helps himself, but also makes space for pedestrians, commuters and firefighters at the exit of the metro station. Li said it was the only thing he was able to do to return kindness shown to him from nearby residents, who brought him clothes, bedding and even cooked food. Officer Wang, who works for the police station serving Shanghai Railway Station Metro Station, said officers were surprised to see Li tidying up the bikes a few months ago. We had never seen a vagabond dressed in rags helping with parking, he said. Wang said the police officers missed out on him previously because a parking company was responsible for the parking space and vagabonds were under the radar of city management team members. Li, meanwhile, told Shanghai Daily that he had never thought of getting a job via the police because he was ashamed of himself. After talking to the parking company, the police officers helped Li to get a part-time job at the company as an official parking assistant. He now works five to six hours every day during the morning and evening rush hours. My job has been made much easier in recent months as I have put on a uniform, he said. People are also obviously more aware of the parking rules and less likely to park just anywhere when they see the whole parking space is in order. Apart from his parking assistant duties, Li also works part-time in a restaurant on daily basis. With the help from the parking company and the community in this area, he has made his little spot under the bridge a home. Among all vagabonds, I fare the best, Master Li said with a proud smile. Geothermal Power in Italy, Market Capacity, Generation,Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles Outlook to 2030 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816314 https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The Report Geothermal Power in Italy, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz""Geothermal Power in Italy, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the wind power market in Italy.The report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global geothermal power market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Italy (includes conventional thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details renewable power market outlook in the country (includes wind, small hydro, biopower and solar PV) and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Italy geothermal power market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to geothermal power is provided in the report. The research also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants.The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalDatas team of industry experts.Download Sample copy of this Report at :ScopeThe report analyses global renewable power market, global geothermal power market, Italy power market, Italy renewable power market and Italy geothermal market. The scope of the research includes -- A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.- An overview on global renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends, generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. The information is covered for the historical period 2006-2015 (unless specified) and forecast period 2015-2030.- Renewable power sources include geothermal, solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), small hydropower (SHP), biomass, biogas and wind.- Detailed overview of the global geothermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major geothermal power countries in 2015.- Power market scenario in Italy and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.- An overview on Italy renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2006-2030), generation trends(2006-2030) and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources in 2015.- Detailed overview of Italy geothermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends and major active and upcoming geothermal projects.- Deal analysis of Italy geothermal power market. Deals are analyzed on the basis of mergers, acquisitions, partnership, asset finance, debt offering, equity offering, private equity (PE) and venture capitalists (VC).- Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewable power sources in general and geothermal power in particular.- Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.Reasons to buy- The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner.- Identify key growth and investment opportunities in Italy geothermal power market.- Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for geothermal power market.- Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential.- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.- Identify key partners and business development avenues.- Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.Follow us on LinkedIn:Table of Contents1 Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 51.2 List of Figures 62 Executive Summary 72.1 Government Support in Conjunction with Technology Development Driving Global Renewable Power Installations 72.2 Thermal Power is the Dominant Source in the Power Mix 72.3 Renewable Sources Forecast to Witness Maximum Growth 83 Introduction 93.1 Carbon Emissions, Global, 2001-2015 93.2 Primary Energy Consumption, Global, 2001-2025 113.3 Technology Definition 143.3.1 Conversion Technologies 143.4 Report Guidance 164 Renewable Power Market, Global, 2006-2030 174.1 Renewable Power Market, Global, Overview 174.2 Renewable Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity, 2006-2030 184.2.1 Renewable Power Market, Global, Cumulative Installed Capacity by Source Type, 2006-2030 184.2.2 Renewable Power Market, Global, Cumulative Installed Capacity Split by Source Type, 2015 and. 2030 204.2.3 Renewable Power Market, Global, Comparison among Various Sources, Cumulative Installed Capacity, 2015 - 2030 224.3 Renewable Power Market, Global, Power Generation, 2006-2030 244.3.1 Renewable Power Market, Global, Power Generation by Source Type, 2006-2030 244.3.2 Renewable Power Market, Global, Power Generation, Source Comparison Based on Power Generation, 2015-2030 264.4 Renewable Power Market, Global, LCOE Comparison of Power Generating Sources, 2014-2015 285 Geothermal Market, Global, 2006-2030 305.1 Geothermal Power Market, Global, Overview 305.2 Geothermal Market, Global, Installed Capacity, 2006-2030 315.2.1 Geothermal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 335.2.2 Geothermal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 355.3 Geothermal Market, Global, Power Generation, 2006-2030 375.3.1 Geothermal Market, Global, Generation Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 395.3.2 Geothermal Market, Global, Generation Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 416 Power Market, Italy, 2006-2030 436.1 Power Market, Italy, Overview 436.2 Power Market, Italy, Installed Capacity, 2006-2030 446.2.1 Power Market, Italy, Cumulative Installed Capacity by Fuel Type, 2006-2030 446.2.2 Power Market, Italy, Share in Cumulative Installed Capacity Split by Source Type, 2015 and 2030 466.3 Power Market, Italy, Power Generation, 2006-2030 487 Renewable Power Market, Italy, 2006-2030 507.1 Renewable Power Market, Italy, Overview 50MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Mozambique Power Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Market Trends, Regulations and Competitive Landscape http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816985 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of " Mozambique Power Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Market Trends, Regulations and Competitive Landscape " worldwide.This report elaborates Mozambique's power market structure and provides historical and forecast numbers for capacity, generation, and consumption up to 2030. Detailed analysis of the Mozambique power markets regulatory structure, import and export trends, competitive landscape, and power projects at various stages of the supply chain is provided. The report also gives a snapshot of the power sector in Mozambique on broad parameters of macroeconomics, supply security, generation infrastructure, transmission infrastructure, degree of competition, regulatory scenario, and future potential. Financial performance of the leading power companies is also analyzed in the report.Download Sample copy of this Report @Scope- Snapshot of the countrys power sector across parameters - macro economics, supply security, generation infrastructure, transmission infrastructure, degree of competition, regulatory scenario and future potential of the power sector.- Statistics for installed capacity, power generation and consumption from 2000 to 2015, forecast for the next 15 years to 2030.- Break-up by technology, including thermal, hydro, renewable and nuclear- Data on leading current and upcoming projects.- Information on grid interconnectivity, transmission and distribution infrastructure and power exports and imports.- Policy and regulatory framework governing the market.- Detailed analysis of top market participant, including market share analysis and SWOT analysis.Reasons to buy- Identify opportunities and plan strategies by having a strong understanding of the investment opportunities in the countrys power sector- Identification of key factors driving investment opportunities in the countrys power sector- Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events- Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential- Identify key partners and business development avenues- Identify key strengths and weaknesses of important market participants- Respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.Table of Content :Table of Contents 2List of Tables 3List of Figures 4Report Guidance 5Clinical Trials by Region 6Clinical Trials and Average Enrollment by Country 7Top Five Countries Contributing to Clinical Trials in Asia-Pacific 9Top Five Countries Contributing to Clinical Trials in Europe 10Top Countries Contributing to Clinical Trials in North America 11Top Five Countries Contributing to Clinical Trials in Middle East and Africa 12Top Five Countries Contributing to Clinical Trials in Central and South America 13Clinical Trials by G7 Countries: Proportion of Pulmonary Tuberculosis to Infectious Disease Clinical Trials 14Clinical Trials by Phase in G7 Countries 15Clinical Trials in G7 Countries by Trial Status 16Clinical Trials by E7 Countries: Proportion of Pulmonary Tuberculosis to Infectious Disease Clinical Trials 17Clinical Trials by Phase in E7 Countries 18Clinical Trials in E7 Countries by Trial Status 19Clinical Trials by Phase 20In Progress Trials by Phase 21Clinical Trials by Trial Status 22Clinical Trials by End Point Status 23Subjects Recruited Over a Period of Time 24Clinical Trials by Sponsor Type 25Prominent Sponsors 26Top Companies Participating in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Therapeutics Clinical Trials 27Prominent Drugs 29Clinical Trial Profile Snapshots 30Appendix 118Abbreviations 118Definitions 118Research Methodology 119Secondary Research 119About GlobalData 120Contact Us 120Disclaimer 120Source 121MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E : sales@marketresearchreports.biz New Zealand Cardiovascular Devices Market Outlook to 2022 Examined in new market research report http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816969 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report New Zealand Cardiovascular Devices Market Outlook to 2022 - Cardiac Rhythm Management, Interventional Cardiology, Peripheral Vascular Devices, Electrophysiology, Prosthetic Heart Valves and Others provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"GlobalDatas new report, New Zealand Cardiovascular Device Market Outlook to 2022, provides key market data on the New Zealand Cardiovascular Device market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars and volume (in units) within market categories - Cardiac Assist Devices, Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, Cardiovascular Monitoring Devices, Cardiovascular Prosthetic Devices, Cardiovascular Surgery Devices, Electrophysiology Devices, External Defibrillators, Interventional Cardiology, Peripheral Vascular Devices, Prosthetic Heart Valves and Clot Management Devices.Note: This is an on-demand report and will be delivered within 2-3 business days of the purchase (excluding weekends)The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for the market category, and global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants. Based on the availability of data for the particular category and country, information related to pipeline products, news and deals is available in the report.The data in the report is derived from dynamic market forecast models. GlobalData uses epidemiology and capital equipment-based models to estimate and forecast the market size. The objective is to provide information that represents the most up-to-date data of the industry possible.The epidemiology-based forecasting model makes use of epidemiology data gathered from research publications and primary interviews with physicians to establish the target patient population and treatment flow patterns for individual diseases and therapies. Using prevalence and incidence data and diagnosed and treated population, the epidemiology-based forecasting model arrives at the final numbers.Capital equipment-based forecasting models are done based on the installed base, replacements and new sales of a specific device/equipment in healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers. Data for average number of units per facility is used to arrive at the installed base of the capital equipment. Sales for a particular year are arrived at by calculating the replacement units and new units (additional and first-time purchases).Extensive interviews are conducted with key opinion leaders (KOLs), physicians and industry experts to validate the market size, company share and distribution share data and analysis.Download Sample copy of this Report at :Scope- Market size for Cardiovascular Device market categories - Cardiac Assist Devices, Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, Cardiovascular Monitoring Devices, Cardiovascular Prosthetic Devices, Cardiovascular Surgery Devices, Electrophysiology Devices, External Defibrillators, Interventional Cardiology, Peripheral Vascular Devices, Prosthetic Heart Valves and Clot Management Devices.- Annualized market revenues (USD million), volume (units) and average selling price ($) data for each of the market categories. Data is provided from 2008 to 2015 and forecast to 2022.- 2015 company shares and distribution shares data for Cardiovascular Device market.- Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the New Zealand Cardiovascular Device market.- Key players covered include Medtronic plc, Boston Scientific Corporation, St. Jude Medical, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Cordis Corporation and Others.Reasons to buy- Develop business strategies by identifying the key market segments poised for strong growth in the future.- Develop market-entry and market expansion strategies.- Design competition strategies by identifying who-stands-where in the market.- Develop investment strategies by identifying the key market segments expected to register strong growth in the near future.- What are the key distribution channels and whats the most preferred mode of product distribution - Identify, understand and capitalize.Table of Contents1 Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 81.2 List of Figures 122 Introduction 172.1 What Is This Report About? 172.2 Cardiovascular Devices Market Segmentation 172.3 Definitions of Markets Covered in the Report 203 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand 373.1 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), 2007-2021 373.2 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue Mix ($m), 2014 393.3 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Category Contribution by Revenue ($m), 2014 403.4 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), 2007-2014 423.5 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), 2014-2021 453.6 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units), 2007-2021 483.7 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units), 2007-2014 503.8 Cardiovascular Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units), 2014-2021 534 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand 564.1 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue Mix ($m), 2014 564.2 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Segment Contribution (%), 2014 574.3 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 594.3.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 614.3.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 634.4 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 654.4.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 674.4.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 694.5 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 714.5.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 734.5.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 754.6 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 774.6.1 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 794.6.2 Ventricular Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2014-2021 814.7 Cardiac Assist Devices Market, New Zealand, Distribution Share, Revenue ($m), 2007-2021 835 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, New Zealand 845.1 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue Mix ($m), 2014 845.2 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, New Zealand, Segment Contribution (%), 2014 855.3 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 875.3.1 Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 895.3.2 Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 915.3.3 Pacemakers Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2007-2014 935.4 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 955.4.1 Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 975.4.2 Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 995.4.3 Pacemakers Market, New Zealand, Revenue ($m) by Segment, 2014-2021 1015.5 Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 1035.5.1 Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 1055.5.2 Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) Market, New Zealand, Volume (Units) by Segment, 2007-2014 107MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Power Quarterly Deals Analysis: M&A and Investment Trends - Q2 2016 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816981 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of " Power Quarterly Deals Analysis: M&A and Investment Trends - Q2 2016 " worldwide.GlobalDatas Power Quarterly Deals Analysis: M&A and Investment Trends - Q2 2016 report is an essential source of data and trend analysis on the mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and financings in the power industry. The report provides detailed information on M&As, equity/debt offerings, private equity (PE), venture financing and partnership transactions recorded in the power industry in Q2 2016. The report portrays detailed comparative data on the number of deals and their value in the last five quarters, categorized into deal types, segments and geographies. The report also provides information on the top PE, venture capital (VC) and advisory firms in the power industry.GlobalData derived the data presented in this report from proprietary in-house Power eTrack deals database and primary and secondary research.Download Sample copy of this Report @Scope- Analyze market trends for the power market in the global arena- Review of deal trends in wind, fossil fuels, cogeneration, solar, hydro, biopower, geothermal, transformation technologies, energy efficiency, energy storage, energy infrastructure, and nuclear energy markets.- Analysis of M&A, Equity/Debt Offerings, Private Equity, Venture Financing and Partnerships in the power industry- Summary of power deals globally in the last five quarters- Information on the top deals that took place in the power industry- Geographies covered include - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South & Central America, and Middle East & Africa- League Tables of financial advisors in M&A and equity/debt offerings. This includes key advisors such as Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Goldman SachsReasons to buy- Enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner- Find out the major deal performing segments for investments in your industry- Evaluate type of companies divesting / acquiring and ways to raise capital in the market- Do deals with an understanding of how competitors are financed, and the mergers and partnerships that have shaped the power market- Identify major private equity/venture capital firms that are providing finance in the power market- Identify growth segments and opportunities in each region within the industry- Look for key financial advisors where you are planning to raise capital from the market or for acquisitions within the industry- Identify top deals makers in the power marketTable of Content :1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 41.2 List of Figures 72 Power Industry, Global, Deals Summary 102.1 Power Industry, Global, Deals Analysis, Q2 2016 102.2 Power Industry, Global, Number of Deals by Type, Q2 2016 132.3 Power Industry, Global, Top Deals, Q2 2016 143 Power Industry, Global, Top Deal Makers, Q2 2016 154 Power Industry, Global, Deals Summary, by Type 164.1 Power Industry, Global, Merger and Acquisition Deals, Q2 2016 164.1.1 Top M&A Deals in Q2 2016 174.2 Power Industry, Global, Asset Transaction Deals, Q2 2016 184.2.1 Top Asset Transaction Deals in Q2 2016 194.3 Power Industry, Global, Asset Finance Deals, Q2 2016 204.3.1 Power Industry, Global, Project Finance Deals, Q2 2016 214.3.2 Power Industry, Global, Self-Funded Projects, Q2 2016 244.4 Power Industry, Global, Equity Offering Deals, Q2 2016 264.4.1 Top IPOs in Q2 2016 274.4.2 Top Secondary Offerings in Q2 2016 284.4.3 Top PIPE Deals in Q2 2016 284.5 Power Industry, Global, Debt Offering Deals, Q2 2016 294.5.1 Top Public Debt Offerings in Q2 2016 304.5.2 Top Private Debt Placements in Q2 2016 314.6 Power Industry, Global, Venture Capital Deals, Q2 2016 324.6.1 Power Industry, Global, Top Venture Financing Firms, Q2 2015-Q2 2016 344.6.2 Top Venture Financing Deals in Q2 2016 354.7 Power Industry, Global, Private Equity Deals, Q2 2016 364.7.1 Power Industry, Global, Top Private Equity Firms, Q2 2015-Q2 2016 384.7.2 Top Private Equity Deals in Q2 2016 394.8 Power Industry, Global, Partnership Deals, Q2 2016 404.8.1 Partnership Deals in Q2 2016 415 Power Industry, Global, Deals Summary, by Sector 435.1 Power Industry, Global, Wind Deals, Q2 2016 435.1.1 Wind - Deals of the Quarter 445.2 Power Industry, Global, Solar Deals, Q2 2016 465.2.1 Solar - Deals of the Quarter 475.3 Power Industry, Global, Fossil Fuel Deals, Q2 2016 495.3.1 Fossil Fuels - Deals of the Quarter 50Contact us:MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E : sales@marketresearchreports.biz Market Research Report On Taiwan Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Market Outlook to 2022 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816660 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ MarketResearchReports.Biz presents this most up-to-date research on "Taiwan Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Market Outlook to 2022 "GlobalDatas new report, Taiwan Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market Outlook to 2022, provides key market data on the Taiwan Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars, and volume (in units) and average price data (in US dollars), within market segments - Distraction Systems and Plate and Screw Fixators.Note: This is an on-demand report and will be delivered within 2-3 business days of the purchase (excluding weekends)The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for the market category, and global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants. Based on the availability of data for the particular category and country, information related to pipeline products, news and deals is available in the report.The data in the report is derived from dynamic market forecast models. GlobalData uses epidemiology and capital equipment-based models to estimate and forecast the market size. The objective is to provide information that represents the most up-to-date data of the industry possible.The epidemiology-based forecasting model makes use of epidemiology data gathered from research publications and primary interviews with physicians to establish the target patient population and treatment flow patterns for individual diseases and therapies. Using prevalence and incidence data and diagnosed and treated population, the epidemiology-based forecasting model arrives at the final numbers.Capital equipment-based forecasting models are done based on the installed base, replacements and new sales of a specific device/equipment in healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers. Data for average number of units per facility is used to arrive at the installed base of the capital equipment. Sales for a particular year are arrived at by calculating the replacement units and new units (additional and first-time purchases).Extensive interviews are conducted with key opinion leaders (KOLs), physicians and industry experts to validate the market size, company share and distribution share data and analysis.Download Sample copy of this Report at :Scope- Market size for Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) market categories - Distraction Systems and Plate and Screw Fixators.- Annualized market revenues (USD million), volume (units) and average selling price ($) data for each of the market categories. Data is provided from 2008 to 2015 and forecast to 2022.- 2015 company shares and distribution shares data for Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation market.- Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Taiwan Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) market.- Key players covered include DePuy Synthes, Inc., Stryker Corporation, KLS Martin, Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. and others.Reasons to buy- Develop business strategies by identifying the key market segments poised for strong growth in the future.- Develop market-entry and market expansion strategies.- Design competition strategies by identifying who-stands-where in the market.- Develop investment strategies by identifying the key market segments expected to register strong growth in the near future.- What are the key distribution channels and whats the most preferred mode of product distribution - Identify, understand and capitalize.Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 41.2 List of Figures 42 Introduction 52.1 What Is This Report About? 52.2 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market Segmentation 52.3 Definitions of Markets Covered in the Report 63 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan 73.1 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), 2008-2015 73.2 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), 2015-2022 93.2.1 Distraction Systems Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2008-2015 113.2.2 Plate and Screw Fixators Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2008-2015 133.2.3 Distraction Systems Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2015-2022 153.2.4 Plate and Screw Fixators Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2015-2022 173.3 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), 2008-2015 193.4 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), 2015-2022 213.4.1 Distraction Systems Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2008-2015 233.4.2 Plate and Screw Fixators Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2008-2015 253.4.3 Distraction Systems Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2015-2022 273.4.4 Plate and Screw Fixators Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2015-2022 293.5 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Average Price ($), 2008-2015 313.6 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Average Price ($), by Segment 2008-2015 333.7 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Distribution Share by Revenue ($m), 2008-2022 353.8 Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market, Taiwan, Company Share by Revenue ($m), 2015 364 Overview of Key Companies in Taiwan, Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) Market 384.1 DePuy Synthes, Inc. 384.1.1 Company Overview 384.2 Stryker Corporation 384.2.1 Company Overview 384.3 Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. 384.3.1 Company Overview 384.4 KLS Martin LP 394.4.1 Company Overview 394.5 Medtronic plc 394.5.1 Company Overview 39MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Discover the Global Taiwan Spinal Surgery Market Outlook to 2022 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816662 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/pressreleases http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Taiwan Spinal Surgery Market Outlook to 2022 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"GlobalDatas new report, Taiwan Spinal Surgery Market Outlook to 2022, provides key market data on the Taiwan Spinal Surgery market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars, and volume (in units) and average price data (in US dollars), within market segments - Spinal Fusion, Spinal Non-Fusion, Vertebral Body Replacement Systems, Minimal Invasive Spinal Devices and Vertebral Compression Fracture Repair Devices.Note: This is an on-demand report and will be delivered within 2-3 business days of the purchase (excluding weekends)The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for the market category, and global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants. Based on the availability of data for the particular category and country, information related to pipeline products, news and deals is available in the report.The data in the report is derived from dynamic market forecast models. GlobalData uses epidemiology and capital equipment-based models to estimate and forecast the market size. The objective is to provide information that represents the most up-to-date data of the industry possible.The epidemiology-based forecasting model makes use of epidemiology data gathered from research publications and primary interviews with physicians to establish the target patient population and treatment flow patterns for individual diseases and therapies. Using prevalence and incidence data and diagnosed and treated population, the epidemiology-based forecasting model arrives at the final numbers.Capital equipment-based forecasting models are done based on the installed base, replacements and new sales of a specific device/equipment in healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers. Data for average number of units per facility is used to arrive at the installed base of the capital equipment. Sales for a particular year are arrived at by calculating the replacement units and new units (additional and first-time purchases).Extensive interviews are conducted with key opinion leaders (KOLs), physicians and industry experts to validate the market size, company share and distribution share data and analysis.Get the Free Sample copy of this Report @Scope- Market size for Spinal Surgery market categories - Spinal Fusion, Spinal Non-Fusion, Vertebral Body Replacement Systems, Minimal Invasive Spinal Devices and Vertebral Compression Fracture Repair Devices.- Annualized market revenues (USD million), volume (units) and average selling price ($) data for each of the market categories. Data is provided from 2008 to 2015 and forecast to 2022.- 2015 company shares and distribution shares data for Spinal Surgery market.- Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Taiwan Spinal Surgery market.- Key players covered include Medtronic plc, DePuy Synthes, Inc., Stryker Corporation, Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. and others.Reasons to buy- Develop business strategies by identifying the key market segments poised for strong growth in the future.- Develop market-entry and market expansion strategies.- Design competition strategies by identifying who-stands-where in the market.- Develop investment strategies by identifying the key market segments expected to register strong growth in the near future.- What are the key distribution channels and whats the most preferred mode of product distribution - Identify, understand and capitalize.Read our latest Press Release atTable of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 41.2 List of Figures 42 Introduction 62.1 What Is This Report About? 62.2 Spinal Surgery Market Segmentation 62.3 Definitions of Markets Covered in the Report 73 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan 93.1 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), 2008-2015 93.2 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), 2015-2022 113.2.1 Minimal Invasive Spinal Devices Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2008-2015 133.2.2 Spinal Fusion Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2008-2015 153.2.3 Spinal Non-Fusion Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2008-2015 173.2.4 Vertebral Body Replacement Systems Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2008-2015 193.2.5 Vertebral Compression Fracture Repair Devices Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2008-2015 213.2.6 Minimal Invasive Spinal Devices Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2015-2022 233.2.7 Spinal Fusion Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2015-2022 253.2.8 Spinal Non-Fusion Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2015-2022 273.2.9 Vertebral Body Replacement Systems Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2015-2022 293.2.10 Vertebral Compression Fracture Repair Devices Market, Taiwan, Revenue ($m), by Segment, 2015-2022 313.3 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), 2008-2015 333.4 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), 2015-2022 353.4.1 Minimal Invasive Spinal Devices Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2008-2015 373.4.2 Spinal Fusion Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2008-2015 393.4.3 Spinal Non-Fusion Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2008-2015 413.4.4 Vertebral Body Replacement Systems Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2008-2015 433.4.5 Vertebral Compression Fracture Repair Devices Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2008-2015 453.4.6 Minimal Invasive Spinal Devices Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2015-2022 473.4.7 Spinal Fusion Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2015-2022 493.4.8 Spinal Non-Fusion Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2015-2022 513.4.9 Vertebral Body Replacement Systems Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2015-2022 533.4.10 Vertebral Compression Fracture Repair Devices Market, Taiwan, Volume (Units), by Segment, 2015-2022 553.5 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Average Price ($), 2008-2015 573.6 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Average Price ($), by Segment 2008-2015 593.7 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Distribution Share by Revenue ($m), 2008-2022 633.8 Spinal Surgery Market, Taiwan, Company Share by Revenue ($m), 2015 644 Overview of Key Companies in Taiwan, Spinal Surgery Market 664.1 Medtronic plc 66MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Thermal Power in Italy, Market Capacity, Generation, Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles 2030 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/816987 https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of " Thermal Power in Italy, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles " worldwide."Thermal Power in Italy, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the Thermal Power Market.The report provides in depth analysis on global thermal power market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in the Italy(includes thermal, nuclear, large hydro, pumped storage and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details thermal power market outlook in the country and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in the Italy thermal power market. A detailed coverage of energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to thermal is provided in the report. The research also provides details of active thermal power plants in the country, upcoming thermal installation details and company snapshots of some of the major market participants.The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalDatas team of industry experts.Download Sample copy of this Report @ScopeThe report analyses global thermal power market, the Italy power market and the Italy thermal power market. The scope of the research includes -- A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.- Historical period is during 2006-2015 (unless specified) and forecast period is for 2015-2030.- Detailed overview on the global thermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends, market forces analysis (drivers, restraints and challenges), installed capacity by fuel type, installed capacity split by region, installed capacity split by major countries and cross country comparison among thermal sources such as coal, oil and gas.- Power market scenario in the Italy and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.- Detailed overview of the Italy thermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity by fuel type, net capacity addition by fuel type, owners share, market size of major equipments such as steam generator and turbine, and information on major active and upcoming projects.- Key policies and regulatory framework supporting thermal power development.- Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.Reasons to buyThe report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner. It will allow you to -- Identify key growth and investment opportunities in the Italy thermal power market.- Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for thermal power market.- Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential.- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.- Identify key partners and business development avenues.- Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.Follow us on LinkedIn:Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 61.2 List of Figures 82 Executive Summary 92.1 Global Thermal Power will Continue to be the Major Source of Electricity, despite Decreasing Growth Rate of Capacity 92.2 Thermal Power is the Dominant Source in the Power Mix 92.3 Gas to be the only Source to Witness Net Capacity Additions in Italy 113 Introduction 123.1 Carbon Emissions, Global, 2001-2015 123.2 Primary Energy Consumption, Global, 2001-2025 143.3 Report Guidance 174 Thermal Power Market, Global, 2006-2030 184.1 Thermal Power Market, Global, Overview 184.2 Thermal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity, 2006-2030 194.3 Thermal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 214.3.1 Thermal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 224.3.2 Thermal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Segment, 2015 and 2030 244.4 Thermal Power Market, Global, Power Generation, 2006-2030 254.4.1 Thermal Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 274.4.2 Thermal Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 294.4.3 Thermal Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Segment, 2015 and 2030 315 Coal Power Market, Global, 2006-2030 335.1 Coal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity, 2006-2030 335.1.1 Coal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 355.1.2 Coal Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 375.2 Coal Power Market, Global, Power Generation, 2006-2030 395.2.1 Coal Power Market, Global, Generation Share by region, 2015 and 2030 415.2.2 Coal Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 436 Oil Power Market, Global, 2006-2030 456.1 Oil Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity, 2006-2030 456.1.1 Oil Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 476.1.2 Oil Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 496.2 Oil Power Market, Global, Power Generation, 2006-2030 516.2.1 Oil Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 536.2.2 Oil Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 557 Gas Power Market, Global, 2006-2030 577.1 Gas Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity, 2006-2030 577.1.1 Gas Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 597.1.2 Gas Power Market, Global, Installed Capacity Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 617.2 Gas Power Market, Global, Power Generation, 2006-2030 637.2.1 Gas Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Region, 2015 and 2030 657.2.2 Gas Power Market, Global, Generation Share by Country, 2015 and 2030 678 Power Market, Italy, 2006-2030 69MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Network Security Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Forecasts upto 2018 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=579 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global network security market is experiencing constant growth as a result of the growing virtualization of servers leading to adoption of newer network security solutions. There is also an increasing use of network security solutions by small and medium-sized businesses. The growing complexity of the IT infrastructure is the major challenge faced by the network security market, which is affecting the growth rate of this industry. Another major factor contributing to the growth of the network security industry is the rising demand for workforce mobility that is necessitating improved security solutions for protecting laptops, PDAs, and smart phones from malwares and cyber attacks. As there is an increase in complexity of the IT infrastructure, more robust and complete solutions will be required to ensure safety of network. Development in network technology to ensure better safety solutions is helping in the growth of the network security industry.Majority of firms connected to the Internet are aware of vulnerability of data to cyber attacks, which encourages the need for network security tools. Most government offices and private firms are implementing appropriate network security technologies and procedures to maintain confidentiality of information in order to avoid making that information vulnerable to any kind of threats.Get Sample PDF file of Network Security Market :Market SegmentationVirtual Private Network (VPN) GatewaysLow End Hybrid SolutionsHigh End Hybrid SolutionsNext Generation Hybrid SolutionsIntrusion Detection/Prevention Systems (IDS/IDP)This research report on the network security market analyzes its market segmentation and major geographies. Geographical regions analyzed under this research study areNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldThis report includes a comprehensive analysis of the current market trends, industry growth drivers, factors affecting market growth, industry structure, and market projections for the near future. The report also includes an analysis of the recent developments in the network security industry, Porters five force model analysis, and detailed company profiles of the top industry players. It also provides a review of the micro and macro factors essential from the point of view of the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.Some of the major players dominating this market are Cisco Systems Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Juniper Networks Inc., Fortinet Inc., IBM ISS, McAfee, Alcatel, Assured Digital, Avaya, Computer Associates, CyberGuard, Enterasys, Fortress, Intrusion, ISS, Lucent, NetScreen, Network Associates, NFR, Nokia, Nortel, SonicWall, Symantec, WatchGuard, and others.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us :-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: LED Display Market - Global and China Forecast, Share, Size, Growth, Industry Analysis Upto 2020 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=127 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Light Emitting Diode (LED) display is a flat panel display that use light emitting diodes for the video display. An LED display consists of several display panels, each including large number of light emitting diodes for video display. Light emitting diodes used in LED displays offer several benefits as compared to other light emitting sources. For instance, high brightness offered by the light emitting diodes has allowed LEDs to be increasingly used in outdoor displays such as billboards, store signs, and digital name plates in transport vehicles. LED displays also offer illumination along with the visual display, as and when used for stage lighting or other decorative purpose.The overall global LED market has witnessed robust growth in the recent years. The steady growth can be attributed to the rising awareness about energy conservation amongst end-users. With swift penetration of LED technology in backlights of LCD TVs, laptops, and monitors, the LED display market has witnessed increased investment in by manufacturers across the globe. Looking at the opportunistic growth in the overall LED industry, the number of new players entering the market are expected to swell in the next few years. To gain competitive advantage in this technology driven market, the players are striving to offer end-to-end solutions (manufacturing, installation, and after sales service) to their customers. Increasing investment in R&D by the global manufacturers has led to improvements in the LED technology. In addition, it has led to developments in manufacturing processes and packaging, which, in turn has resulted in gradual decline in the price of the technology.Get Sample PDF file of LED Display Market :Increasing demand for LED displays in outdoor advertisements is one of the major factors driving the market growth. Enhanced features such as energy efficiency, environment friendly, low operational cost, and durability have encouraged marketers and advertisers to use LED displays for outdoor promotional campaigns and advertisement. Furthermore, rising number of live concerts, sport competitions, and corporate exhibitions have further fueled market momentum. High initial cost of LED displays has somewhat inhibited the growth of the LED display market, especially in price sensitive economies such as China and India. However, with the advancements in technology, the prices of LED displays are expected to fall, thereby minimizing the impact of this challenge over the forecast period. Europe and North America collectively accounts for the major chunk of the market revenue. However, over the forecast period, Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth, majorly on account of infrastructural development and rising number of sport events expected in emerging economies such as China and India.The Light Emitting Diode (LED) display market is segmented on the basis of types, applications, color display, and geography. The LED Display market is segmented on the basis of its types into two major categories, namely - conventional LED displays and surface mounted LED displays. On the basis of applications, the LED display market is segmented into two major categories, namely backlighting and digital signage. The backlighting segment includes the application of LED displays for television, laptops, mobile and smartphones, and PC monitors among others. Similarly the digital signage application segment is further segmented into two major categories, namely outdoor signage and indoor signage. On the basis of color display technology, the LED display market is segmented into three major categories including monochrome LED displays, tri-color LED displays, and full color LED displays. Furthermore, the LED display market is also segmented into four major regions, namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (Latin America, Middle East, and Africa). China and Japan are the major LED display markets in Asia Pacific.Some of the key players in the LED display market include Barco N.V. (Belgium, Sony Corporation (Japan), Panasonic Corporation (Japan), LG Electronics, Inc. (South Korea), Daktronics, Inc. (U.S.) Toshiba Corporation (Japan), Samsung LED Co. Ltd. (South Korea) others.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us :-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Green/Intelligent Buildings Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Forecast Upto 2020 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=140 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Green and intelligent buildings are those structures that are energy efficient and environment friendly throughout their life cycle. They integrate various Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems and other building functions so as to effectively manage the available resources. This enhances the operational performance of the buildings by optimizing energy usages through automated controls and also guards against repair costs, productivity and revenue losses.The majority of the materials that are used in green and intelligent buildings are renewable and non-toxic in nature. They include fiberglass, recycled metal, lumber and use renewable sources of energy such as wind power, hydro power, and solar power for onsite generation of green energies. Also, there are low energy consumption appliances that are used in such buildings that keep the costs of energy consumption low. Further, rain water harvesting methods are implemented to conserve and reduce water wastage. Thus, green and intelligent buildings reduce the overall environmental impact and due to their energy efficiency, low operational costs and low carbon emissions they are widely used for industrial, commercial and residential purposes. The institutional applications include government, educational, public recreation and religious buildings.Get Sample PDF file of Green/Intelligent Buildings Market :The increasing impact of global warming on the environment and the rising awareness for preserving the ecological balance is the prime factor fuelling the growth of green and intelligent buildings market. Implementing the concept of green and intelligent buildings optimizes the energy consumption and reduces carbon dioxide emissions thereby improving the ecological balance. Also, government in developing nations such as India and China, looking to invest in renewable sources of energy in response to the rising rates of electricity consumption and growing energy (power) deficits, has added to the growth of this market. Another factor fuelling the growth of green and intelligent buildings market is the strategies implemented by the property developers to attract buyers and tenants while maximizing the green value. With the improving lifestyles, people are looking for luxurious and energy efficient systems that reduce the operating costs and enhance their well-being. Therefore, to cater to such increasing demand property developers invest in green and intelligent building, which in turn results in increased asset values and rental rates and reduces the risk of depreciation. This increases their returns on investments in such concepts thereby adding to the growth of this market.However, the high cost of materials used to construct these buildings leads to high prices of such residential facilities that are unaffordable in majority of the cases. This restrains the growth of green and intelligent buildings market. Also, the investments involved are long-term and the end-users can expect returns after a certain period of time. Further, lack of skilled personnel to train the end-users in operating the systems and poor awareness of technology add to the factors restraining the growth of green and intelligent buildings market.The major players in the market are being recognized and awarded for offering aesthetic roofing solutions. For instance, Bauder Ltd. (United Kingdom), one of the prominent players in green and intelligent buildings market, on May 17, 2014 was awarded by National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) for offering sustainable roofing at Tintern Abbey Gift Shop and Fulham Jetty in United Kingdom. The environmental qualities, problem solving and degree of difficulties were taken into consideration by NFRC while awarding Bauder Ltd. Some of the other prominent players in the market include The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (U.S.), Gilbane Inc. (U.S.), Hensel Phelps Construction Company (U.S.), Turner Construction Company (U.S.), Clark Group (United Kingdom.), Forbo Intrnational SA (Switzerland), Certain Teed Corporation (U.S.), Binderholz GmBH (Germany), and Alumasc Group PLC (United Kingdom) among others.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us :-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Li cites innovation in visits to high-tech firms 2016-10-14 09:45 Premier Li Keqiang inspects Han's Laser Technology Industry Group Co in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Thursday. The company, a leading global manufacturer of laser equipment, is one of China's flagship high-tech companies. Li said such companies show how Chinese manufacturing can be upgraded.Wu Zhiyi / China Daily Premier links cutting-edge work to success of 'Made in China 2025' In a noisy workshop, laser machines roared and shot out sparks as they cut metals into different shapes. Chinese characters for "Made in China 2025" were prepared this way for Premier Li Keqiang's visit. The premier showed great enthusiasm about the high-tech equipment manufacturing during a half-day tour focusing on the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing sector in Guangdong province. Li's visit encouraged more corporate efforts as the central government promotes the strategy "Made in China 2025" to maintain and increase the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. The scene occurred on Thursday morning as the premier visited Han's Laser Technology Industry Group Co, a leading maker of factory machines that employ lasers in the industrial hub of Shenzhen. Li paused more than 10 times in the workshop, which is rare for him when inspecting a domestic manufacturing company. He asked questions about every piece of equipment, and the company's research, design and potential customers. Before that, the premier also visited a mobile phone manufacturer - Oppo Mobile Co - in Dongguan, a city near Shenzhen that made its reputation as a pillar of traditional manufacturing and is having some difficulties as it makes changes amid a decline in low-cost, low-technology processing. The two companies represent two major subareas of China's manufacturing sector, especially when the country's exports are facing hard times and dropped to a seven-month low in September, the General Administration of Customs said. As the world economy is recovering sluggishly with diminishing international trade, China's manufacturing sector faces challenges from developed and developing economies, said Ma Baocheng, director of the Decision-Making and Consultation Department of the Chinese Academy of Governance. At Han's Laser, Li said the equipment that employs lasers demonstrated the path and hope for China's manufacturing sector. A key to "Made in China 2025" is to transform and upgrade the country's manufacturing sector by introducing new technologies, he said. Gao Yunfeng, chairman and general manager of Han's Laser, said the company has a number of unique and patented laser technologies and produces the largest amount of equipment using lasers for world-renowned companies such as the Apple Inc. Oppo used to manufacture music players but now exports mobile phones to 19 countries and regions with the fourth-largest number of phones being produced annually in the world. "In the future, you have to promote more effective marketing campaigns to meet and lead consumers' demand like what foreign phone makers have done," Li said. Dongguan's officials said the traditional manufacturing of clothing dropped by 15 percent from last year while new industries such as high-end electronics increased by more than 20 percent. huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn Food Service Equipment Market Driven by advancement in refrigeration technologies http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1547 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/food-service-equipment.htm http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Refrigeration is the process of transferring the heat from one location to another. In this case the heat is taken from the foods and other edible items and transferred out from the refrigeration units. The commercial refrigeration equipments are primarily used in the hospitality industry. The changing lifestyle and increase in number of hotels and restaurants is fuelling the market for growth. The commercial refrigeration equipments are generally segmented by the types of equipments. Continuous technological advancement in refrigeration systems is owing to the growth of this market.The food service equipment (commercial refrigeration) market is considered to be volatile as a result of the fluctuation in the trends of various equipments and application markets across the globe. The rise in number of hotels and restaurants across the globe is owing to the growth in food service equipment (commercial refrigeration) market. In addition, the changing lifestyle of the working population is also ensuring the demand for ready to cook food. This is resulting in the rise of retail outlets and supermarkets leading to the demand for commercial refrigeration equipment. Moreover, commercial refrigeration equipment also find their application in hospitals to preserve medicines and vaccines.PDF Sample For Latest Advancements with Technological breakthroughs is @Acceptance of high end technologies and the expansion of hospitality industry across various geographic locations is creating new opportunities for the food service equipment (commercial refrigeration) manufacturers globally. However, the high initial investment is acting as a restraint for the market. Regionally, North America has the highest penetration rate for food service equipment (commercial refrigeration) as they are the early adapters of latest technology.This report covers the global food service equipment (commercial refrigeration) market along with their performance in regions such as North America, East Europe, South West Europe, North West Europe, Central Europe, Asia Pacific and Russia among others. The report provides in-depth analysis for each region along with market estimates and forecast from 2013 to 2020 in terms of revenues and volumes.This market research study analyzes the food service equipment (commercial refrigeration) market globally, and provides estimates in terms of revenue (USD million) and volume (thousand units) from 2014 to 2020. In addition, the drivers and the restraints that are affecting the industry have been recognized. Furthermore, they have been analyzed to understand their impact over the forecast period. Moreover, it identifies the significant opportunities for market growth in the coming years.By region, the market has been divided into North America, Latin America, East (Europe), South West (Europe), North West (Europe), Central (Europe), Asia-Pacific (APAC), Russia, China, India, Turkey & Middle East and Africa and these have been estimated in terms of revenue (USD billion) and volume (thousand units). In addition, the report segments the market based on the equipment type, which include ice machines, refrigerated vending machines, beverage dispensers, glass door merchandisers (GDMs), commercial fridges/freezers, blast freezers, ice cream machines, ice cream cabinets, and walk ins among others.In order to have a better understanding of the food service equipment (commercial refrigeration) market, a detailed value chain has been provided. In addition, the Porters five forces affecting the market have been identified. Furthermore, the study also includes the market attractiveness analysis where the applications have been benchmarked based on the growth rate, scope and attractiveness in general.The report provides company market share analysis of various industry participants. The key players have also been profiled on the basis of company overview, financial overview, business strategies, and the recent developments in the field of food service equipments (commercial refrigeration). Major market participants profiled in this report include .Ali Group, Meiko, Hobart Corporation, Manitowoc Company Inc., Hoshizaki Electric Co., Ltd. Cambro Manufacturing Company Inc. and Dover Corporation among others.Market Insight can be Viewed @Food Service Equipment (Commercial Refrigeration) Market: By geographyNorth AmericaLatin America (LAM)East (Europe)South West (Europe)North West (Europe)Central EuropeAsia PacificRussiaChinaIndiaTurkey & MEA (Middle East and Africa)Food Service Equipment (Commercial Refrigeration) Market: By product typeIce machinesRefrigerated vending machinesBeverage dispensersGlass Door Merchandisers (GDMs)Commercial fridges/freezersBlast freezersIce cream machinesIce cream cabinetsWalk insOthersTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Skin Replacement Therapy Market Propelled by Increasing Prevalence of Skin Diseases and Injuries among People http://bit.ly/2e9XKXB http://bit.ly/2enesCz http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Skin replacement therapy helps treat severe skin burns or chronic skin wounds. Skin cancer, eczema, and psoriasis are some of the skin diseases that can be painful and can compromise the quality of life led by a person. Thus arises a need for skin replacement therapy. The skin is the largest external organ of the human body and is one of the organs most vulnerable to injuries and damages. Since the skin protects the musculoskeletal system, the organs, and also helps maintain the temperature of the body, it becomes very essential for the skin to function properly. Moreover, the skin also regulates the level of fluids in the body. Thus, any skin disease or injury needs to be treated immediately as the lack of it can impact the persons ability to lead a normal life.Request Sample of Research Report:The global skin replacement therapy market is segmented on the basis of material used, end user, and geography. On the basis of material used, the market is segmented into spider silk and collagen. By geography, the global skin replacement therapy market is segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Rest of the World.The report is a professional and detailed study on the current state of the market, taking into consideration historical figures. The future projections of the global skin replacement therapy market is forecast for the period from 2016 to 2024. The report offers accurate data and compiles fruitful information with the help of primary and secondary research methods, enabling enterprises and interested individuals to have a competitive edge above the rest.An increasing prevalence of skin diseases and injuries among people and subsequently the rising consciousness among them to have healthy and beautiful skin are driving the global skin replacement therapy market. The continual expansion of product range available in the market enables consumers to access specific skin replacement therapies in line with the skin condition they are suffering from. The ability of consumers to spend on these therapies or products has motivated manufacturers to develop and introduce newer products, thus helping the global skin replacement therapy market to grow.The global skin replacement therapy market is challenged by the availability of low-cost substitutes. The lack of clinical support is another probable factor that may threaten the growth of the global skin replacement therapy market. However, bio-engineered skin replacements will open new opportunities for growth in the market. These replacements are capable of closely mimicking almost all functions of the natural skin and are thus expected to be in huge demand.Browse Research Report:By geography, North America contributes a significant portion to the skin replacement therapy market revenue. The demand for skin replacement therapies in Asia Pacific is expected to rise in the coming years as many countries in the region are offering attractive medical tourism packages.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Standard Based Communication Servers Market Explores New Growth Opportunities By 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/standard-based-communication-servers-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/6095 Standard based communications servers are open computing systems that function as a carrier-grade universal platform for an extensive assortment of communications applications. These servers enable the equipment providers customize the system architecture as per the requirement by adding potential value to it. Irrespective of the differentiated features and specification, the standard based communications servers offer attributes such as open platform, carrier grade and flexible. The standard based communications are designed in accordance with the industry standards and provide interoperability with the architecture. Moreover, standard based communications servers offer carrier grade attributes as they provide extended lifecycle support, high availability, and longevity of supply. Additionally, these servers are upgradable without any disruption and offer high speed for real time communication applications to ensure high quality of service.Browse through the full Report @The standard based communication servers offer an introductory platform for building a network infrastructure using the several equipment for applications such as IPTV, wireless broadband and other IP multimedia subsystems. These servers are based on managed industry standards such as Advanced Telecommunication Computing Architecture (ATCA), Advanced Mezzanine Card, Micro Telecommunication Computing Architecture, High Platform Interface (HPI), Carrier Grade Linux and Application Interface Specification (AIS). The Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) refers to string of specifications by Peripheral Component Interconnect Industrial Computers Manufacturers Group (PICMG), which is developed to meet essential necessities for carrier grade equipment. In addition to these standards, the standard based communication server is governed by different industry associations and vendor alliance programs. The industry associations include SCOPE Alliance and Communication Platforms Trade Associations. The vendor alliance programs include Intel Communications Alliance, Motorola Communications Server Alliance and Mobicents Open Source Communications Community.ATCA integrates the latest interconnect technologies, manageability and serviceability, improved reliability and next generation processors. The specifications provided by PICMG for Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) identify the base-level necessities for a variety of mezzanine cards that are optimized for ATCA Carriers. AMC enhances ATCAs flexibility by widening bandwidth and provides multi-protocol interface to individual servers. MicroTCA specification is basically a framework for directly combining AMC modules, instead of using an ATCA. Moreover, MicroTCA is designed for smaller equipment for application running on low entry cost, small physical size and high scalability. This framework is primarily used for Wi-Fi, wireless base stations, VoIP access gateways and WiMAX radios.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @Carrier Grade Linux is basically an enhanced version of Linux that is used by the communication servers to offer high security, high availability, scalability and easy maintenance. HPI and AIS are defined by Service Availability Forum (SA Forum) for telecommunication platform to maintain the availability of communication services. The HPI specifies the interface used between the middleware and the primary hardware and the operating system. The AIS specifies the interface between the application and middleware. Moreover, AIS enables applications to run over a variety of computing modules and provides easy migration between the platforms.The standard based communications servers market is primarily driven by the rising demand for high speed and compatible servers across the communication industry. The progressive and vigorous communication server ecosystem consists of several hardware and software providers, server vendors, standard bodies, vendor alliance programs, industry associations and the end-users.Leading players in standard based communication servers market are NEC Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, AltiGen Communications, Inc., Emerson Network Power, Barrcuda Networks, Inc., Fenestrae B.V., Estech Systems, Inc., B Labs, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Siemens Enterprise Communication GmbH, Cisco Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems, Avaya, Inc. and IBM Corporation.Key geographies evaluated in this report are:North AmericaEuropeAPACLatin AmericaKey features of this reportDrivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Standard Based Communication Servers market dynamicsLatest innovations and key events in the industryAnalysis of business strategies of the top playersStandard Based Communication Servers market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each PMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With a wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports strive to serve clients and satisfy their overall research requirement.For information regarding permissions, contact:Persistence Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Fiber Optics Components Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Analysis and Forecasts 2017 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=505 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The science of transmission of data, pictures and voice by the passage of light through thin transparent fibers is called fiber optics technology. It is the technique that utilizes glass or plastic threads for the transmission of data over a network. It comprises of bundled threads of fiber optics used to transmit data over a network which are modulated into light waves having a specific wavelength. It is a flexible, transparent thread made of glass, slightly thicker than the human hair. It performs the function of waveguide to transmit data that has been modulated in the light waves, thereby transmitting it from one end to the other.Fiber optics is very useful in transmission of data over long distance without any attenuation. They are used instead of the metal wires where huge amount of data is lost during the transmission process. They are less affected by electromagnetic interference, providing accurate and integrated data. The fibers that allow multiple modes or transverse modes are known as multi mode fibers while those that carry the waves in only one direction are called single mode fibers.Get Sample PDF file of Fiber Optics Components Market :Considering the increased usage of high speed broadband services in the field of Internet, the market is shifting towards more sophisticated and advanced techniques which also includes optic fibers. Considering the shift or change in the utilization of Internet technology, the growth rate as recorded happens to be USD 1900 million in 2011 and considering the current utilization and the shift towards fiber optics, the expected market is around USD 2900 million in 2017 with a CAGR of 9.5%.The growing concerns of safety and security with usage of new sophisticated technology are fuelling the market of fiber optics. Fiber optics supports remote sensing, a type of technique, wherein no actual physical medium is required for the transmission of data, thereby helping in the reduction of wear and tear of the fiber materials used. This has helped to transmit data over regions which were inaccessible using the traditional technology.The utilization of alternative cost efficient raw material for are fuelling the market of fiber optics, reducing the operating costs and increasing its revenue.The higher cost involved in the manufacturing process and the higher installation cost prevents many consumers from utilizing such an efficient technology. They turn to the traditional metal wires, leading to huge loss of data. Fiber optic cables are required to be covered with material to protect it from wear and tear and transmit data without attenuation; this extra coating also increases the operating cost.The complex procedure involved in splicing of the ends while connecting the optic fibers to one another and the installation of repeaters is reducing the market growth. The complex installation process is one of the major restraints to the fiber optic market.The depleting resource of raw materials and its increasing prices, which happens to be silica -one of the major components, is increasing the cost of fiber optics. The installation of the extremely costly machinery for the production of fiber optics is acting as the key entry barrier for the fiber optics business.The New York based glass and ceramic manufacturer - Corning is leading the optic fiber market. They invented the thin fiber threads, transmitting the data at light speed. It registered USD 271.45 million revenue. Corning leads the market, with Lucent Technologies following it at the number two position and Alcatel at number three. Corning nearly covers 30% of the total market geographically. It generates about 70% of its revenue from its telecommunications business.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us :-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global artificial intelligence market was valued at US$126.24 bn in 2015 and is predicted to reach US$3,061.35 bn by 2024, Market will expand at an extraordinary 36.10% CAGR from 2016 to 2024 Artificial Intelligence Market http://bit.ly/2d4pRmi http://www.mrrse.com/artificial-intelligence-market Albany, New York: Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has announced that its repository now features a new report, titled Artificial Intelligence Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024. The report, by Transparency Market Research, predicts that the global artificial intelligence market was valued at US$126.24 bn in 2015 and is predicted to reach US$3,061.35 bn by 2024. The market will expand at an extraordinary 36.10% CAGR from 2016 to 2024.Request A Free Sample Report :As per the report, the market for artificial intelligence is experiencing an exponential growth owing to companies utilizing cutting-edge technologies for effective positioning of their solutions or services. In addition, the increasing applications of artificial intelligence are also boosting the growth of the market. On the other hand, as per the report, the high initial investment, low access to funding, and the absence of skilled workers are amongst the chief factors that may inhibit the growth of the market in forthcoming years.Moving further, in terms of product type, the report segments the market for artificial intelligence into digital assistance systems, artificial neural networks, expert systems, automated robotic systems, and embedded systems. Amongst these, in 2015, the segment of expert systems emerged as the top revenue-generating segment. This is owing to the rising usage of artificial intelligence in numerous sectors such as process control, diagnosis, design, scheduling, planning, and monitoring.In the next section, on the basis of application, the market is segmented into smart robots, deep learning, digital personal assistants, image recognition, language processing, querying methods, speech recognition, video analysis, gesture control, cyber security, and context aware processing. Amongst these, the segment of image recognition is poised to be the most rapidly developing segment of the market in the forecast horizon.On the basis of geography, the report segments the market into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Amongst these, in 2015, the North America artificial intelligence market dominated the market and held a share of about 38% in the market on the basis of revenue. This region is predicted to maintain its superiority all through the forecast horizon. This is owing to the robust technological base and the increasing funding by governments in this region. On the other hand, the MEA region is also predicted to rise at a remarkable 38.2% CAGR from 2016 to 2024.As per the report, the prime players dominant in the market are QlikTech International AB, IBM Corporation, Google, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Next IT Corporation, eGain Corporation, and Nuance Communications, among others.Browse Full Report:About UsMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTelephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com Systweak is now Distributing Intel Device Advisor to offer its customers an enhanced PC Experience http://www.ddni.com/systweak-ida.html Systweak Software, a prominent IT solutions company, based out of Jaipur, India is now distributing the Intel Device Advisor App to its customers for an enhanced user-PC experience.The Intel Device Advisor app analyzes your system to make sure its meeting your computing needs and provides an insight on your systems performance. This ensures optimal computer performance while providing personalized suggestions to make user experience even better.The idea behind this initiative is to serve our customers in a superior and advanced way. Intel Device Advisor is a great tool to analyze the system and to determine how well your current PC is meeting computing goals. So in all, it will really benefit the users to increase their systems performance. At the end we all want our PCs in good health said Mr. Shrishail Rana, CEO, Systweak Software.Intel device advisor will update user about the system needs, a personal score card which will tell system performance report, recommended products and eligibility for an extended PC warranty. Where in, Systweak apps ensure better user engagement with their PC.It works for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 for both 32-bit and 64-bit machines.Intel Device Advisor can be downloaded for free, directly from Intels official webpage or from this link:About the Company: Systweak Software develops and distributes Windows, Mac, iOS and Android apps since last 16 years to improve average users digital experience. It has recently been featured in 100 most promising Microsoft Solutions Provider list by the enterprise solution magazine review.Some of the companys flagship are featured on Newswatch, the Discovery Channels tech news bulletin. Systweak Software has a large user base in North America followed by several countries in Europe and Asia.572 & 573, G-1, Tower B-1 Evolve, IT/ITeS Mahindra World City, Village Kalwara, Taluka Sanganer, Jaipur- 302037, INDIAPhone: +91-141-2243030, 2243031 (5:00 AM to 5:00 PM G.M.T.) FAX: +91-141-2577982 Blood Gas and Electrolyte Analyzers Market size to exceed $700mn by 2023 Blood Gas and Electrolyte Analyzers https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/428 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/blood-gas-and-electrolyte-analyzers-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/428 https://www.gminsights.com Blood gas and electrolyte analyzers market size was valued at USD 484.5 million in 2015, with over 4.8% CAGR growth expectation from 2016 to 2023; as per a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Rising number of patients in the emergency wards, through rising chronic disease prevalence, and upsurge in PoC analyzers demand is likely to drive the global blood gas and electrolyte analyzers market size.Combined analyzers will remain a very attractive application avenue for industry participants, estimated to grow at a healthy 5.5% CAGR, from 2016 to 2023. Technology innovation has been recently introduced in point-of-care devices and rising demand for high throughput multi-parameter monitoring devices.Point-of-care analyzers pose a significant growth opportunity, with target market likely to exceed USD 240 million, by 2023. Moreover, growing geriatric population base that is more succumbed to chronic diseases is expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period.Request for a sample of this research report -Major product segments analyzed in this report include bench-top and portable blood gas and electrolyte analyzers. Blood gas, electrolyte, and combined analyzers are key industry application segments.The need for expanded test menus is additionally integrating the functionalities of both electrolyte and blood gas analysis to offer multiple testing of blood urea nitrogen, bilirubin, creatinine, and electrolytes from a single sample.To access sample pages or view this report titled, Blood Gas and Electrolyte Analyzers Market Size By Product (Benchtop, Portable), By Application (Blood Gas Analyzers, Electrolyte Analyzers, Combined), By End-User (Central Laboratories, Point-of-care) Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, Spain, France, China, India, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa), Application Potential, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2023 in detail along with the table of contents, please click on the link below:Key insights from the report include: Global blood gas and electrolyte analyzers market size estimates were USD 484.5 million in 2015, with over 4.5% CAGR growth expectations by 2023. North America dominated the overall market, accounting for a share of 40% in 2015, followed by Europe, Asia Pacific, LATAM and MEA. U.S. blood gas and electrolyte analyzers market should exceed USD 230 million by 2023. Portable blood gas & electrolyte analyzers market dominated industry share in 2015 with revenue exceeding USD 300 million. New entrant threat is expected to remain moderately high, due to lack of a rigidly defined regulatory scenario. With optimistic growth expectations, new players may be attracted to enter the market over the forecast period. Portable blood gas analyzers and electrolyte market is marked by constant innovation and technology improvements which are amongst key factors for demand evolution. Innovation and technological advancements have resulted in the development of novel devices from bench-top to more compact, handheld, and sleek point-of-care devices. Sleek point-of-care devices offer portable, rapid arterial blood gas analysis at the point of need due to its portability, accuracy, ease-of-use, and short turnaround time. Presence of high unmet medical needs and rapidly improving healthcare infrastructure in the APAC region should act as a catalyst for the market growth.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Corporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1 888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Hearing Aids Market Worth US$ 7 Billion by 2022 Hearing Aids Market http://www.marketresearchengine.com/requestsample/hearing-aids-market http://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/hearing-aids-market http://www.marketresearchengine.com/ New York, October 14: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Hearing Aids Market By Product Type (Canal hearing aids, In the ear, Receiver in the ear, Behind the ear), by Type of Hearing Loss (Conductive, Sensorineural) and by End Users Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016 - 2022The hearing aids market is expected to exceed more than US$ 7 Billion by 2022.Download Free Sample Report:Hearing aids device are mainly useful for improving the hearing and speech knowledge of people who loss hearing that results from injury to the sensory cells in the hair cell. Hearing aids are the medical device which is used to improve hearing and regulated by some regulations. Hearing aids device consists mainly three parts such as speaker, amplifier and microphone. The device obtains sound through a micro phone after receiving sound it converts it into electrical signal and send it into the amplifier. After that amplifier raise the power of signal and send into ear through the speaker.The major driving factors of hearing aids market are as follows:Increasing aging population globallyGrowing the technology in hearing AidsHigh frequency of hearing lossThe restraining factors of hearing aids market are as follows:Low access rate of hearing AIDsHigh price of hearing AIDsBrowse Full Report:The hearing aids market is segmented on the lines of its products, end user, type of hearing loss and regional. Based on product segmentation the hearing aids market covers hearing implants and hearing aids. The hearing implants market is further segmented into bone anchored systems and cochlear implants. Under hearing aids segmentation it covers canal hearing aids (ITC), (CIC) and (IIC), in the ear (ITE), receiver in the ear (RITE) and behind the ear (BTE). Based on the end user segmentation it covers adult and pediatric. The hearing aids market is segmented on the lines of its type of hearing loss like conductive and sensorineural. The hearing aids marketis geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geography market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for hearing aids and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for hearing aids.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for hearing aids market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Cochlear Limited, GN ReSound Group, GN Otometrics A/S, Siemens Healthcare, Sonova Holding AG, and Starkey.. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary,business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Hearing Aids Market has been segmented as below:By Product AnalysisHearing implantsBone anchored systemsCochlear implantsHearing AidsCanal hearing aids (ITC), (CIC) and (IIC)In the ear (ITE)Receiver in the ear (RITE)Behind the ear (BTE)By End-user AnalysisAdultPediatricBy Type of Hearing Loss AnalysisConductiveSensorineuralBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldAbout MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite: Global Biodefense Market size forecast to exceed $17bn by 2024 Biodefense Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/714 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/biodefense-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/714 https://www.gminsights.com Biodefense Market size was USD 9.7 billion in 2015, with 6.9% CAGR estimation from 2016 to 2024; according to the latest research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Growing R&D spending for product innovation by key industry players and rising government research funding is expected to boost global biodefense market size. The presence of favorable federal government initiatives such as Project BioShield and Emergency Use Authorization of medical products is expected to catapult growth in the coming years. Moreover, growing threats regarding chemical, biological, and radiological warfare should heighten the need for continuous technology upgrades. The biodefense market has witnessed surge in R&D investments aimed at catering to threats involving the recent Ebola outbreak.The emergence of technologically advanced centers for innovation in advanced development and manufacturing, continuous development of next generation detection systems such as CIP based detection, environmental detection and vulnerability detection is anticipated to drive revenue.Request for a sample of this research report -Global surveillance measures against the threats of bioterrorism and pandemic outbreaks has improved public health preparedness to effectively monitor and control community health. The focus is shifted towards development of precise analytical instruments, tests and procedures that detects and identifies bio threat agents. Countries have entered into mass production and stockpiling of antibiotics effective against the bacterial agents and resumed the halted offensive biological weapons programs.Protective measures implemented by international associations will serve as strategic deterrents. For instance, a treaty between U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) reinstates the commitment of the use of weapons of mass destruction against any member state would represent an attack against all NATO members. Other protective and instant response measures include development of the CDC Rapid Response and Advanced Technology laboratory, National Electronic Data Surveillance System (NEDSS), Health Alert Network (HAN), and Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X). These protective measures are anticipated to reduce the cost of responding to any emergency bio threat.North America biodefense market share represented the largest regional segment in 2015. Implementation of Project BioShield coupled with presence of government and private funding are some of the factors fueling demand. Furthermore, countries such as Japan and China should experience high growth in the coming years due to advancing healthcare infrastructure, and the presence of favorable political and regulatory environment.Browse key industry insights spread across 82 pages with 30 market data tables & 8 figures & charts from the report, Biodefense Market Size By Product (Anthrax, Small Pox, Botulism, Radiation/ Nuclear), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, U.K, Germany, China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024 in detail along with the table of contents:Key insights from the report include: Global biodefense market size was driven by the anthrax segment, which was USD 3 billion in 2015 and is anticipated to grow at 5% from 2016 to 2024. Revenue growth will be propelled by smallpox segment that is set to increase at 7.4% CAGR estimations to exceed USD 4 billion by 2024. Eminent companies entered into contracts with the government for addressing a range of healthcare, scientific, national security and international security issues, which has led to high U.S. biodefense market share. European countries of Germany and UK are set to witness lucrative growth rate due to designated funding policies in place. Companies operating in the industry include Xoma Corporation, Emergent Biosolutions, Cleveland BioLabs, Nanotherapeutics, SIGA Technologies, etc. Presence of extensive product portfolio and strong pipeline will contribute to profitability.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Corporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1 888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Global Welding Equipment Market Poised for Healthy Growth; Revenues to Reach US$ 10.45 Bn by 2016 End http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4702 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/welding-equipment-market/toc The global welding equipment market is expected to thrive at an impressive CAGR of 7.9% over the forecast period, 2016-2024. Staggering demand from automotive and transportation sectors will remain a key driver. In terms of sales, the market will reach a value of US$ 19.16 Bn by 2024 end, up from US$ 10.45 Bn estimated for 2016. Arc welding segment will remain the key segment with around 50% of the total market share.Rapid growth of the automobile and transportation industry in developing economies is anticipated to provide a major impetus to the demand for welding equipment. Growing urbanization and industrialization will continue to raise demand for quality infrastructure projects, which will in turn augment the demand for welding equipment. Burgeoning demand from natural gas and oil sectors is also expected to fuel the market growth throughout the forecast period. Introduction of innovative, cost-effective welding techniques will continue to bolster the demand, in addition to rising end-use application of welding technology. Growing demand from fabrication industry will play a key role in bolstering the market growth.Download Sample @Developing markets are however witnessing lower adoption rate of advanced welding techniques, which is estimated to challenge rapid widespread adoption of welding equipment. As emerging economies continue to face inadequate skilled labor, the demand for welding equipment in manufacturing industry is increasing. This will sustain long term demand in the global market.Based on welding technology, arc welding will remain the largest segment with 47.6% value share by 2016 end, reaching a value of US$ 4.97 Bn. It will expand at an impressive CAGR of 7.0% to reach the revenues of US$ 8.58 Bn by 2024 end. Resistance welding is estimated to be the second largest segment, accounting for over 20% of the market share. Laser beam welding segment is foreseen to grow significantly and create an incremental dollar opportunity of US$ 1.77 Bn from 2016 to 2024. It is estimated to contribute over 17% to the total market value over the forecast period.By application, the highest consumption of welding equipment will be registered by automobile and transportation segment. It will remain the largest application segment, expanding at a CAGR of 8.1% over 2016-2024. In terms of volume, automobile and transportation segment will reach 603.7 thousand units in 2024, up from 394.2 thousand units in 2016. Building and construction is projected to be the second largest but the fastest growing segment, recording a CAGR of 7.0% in terms of value. By volume, this segment will reach 345.4 thousand units by 2016 end, which is expected to be nearly 491.9 thousand units by 2024 end.On the basis of level of automation, automatic and semi-automatic segments will represent the key segments with remarkable growth rates. The former is expected to account for over 65% value share of the overall market revenues, whereas the latter will contribute over 25% to the market in 2016. By 2024 end, automatic segment will witness a CAGR of 8.5%, whereas semi-automatic segment will reflect a CAGR of 7.3%.Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:Asia Pacific will remain the market leader throughout the forecast period. With over 32% of the total market value share in 2016, APAC market will witness approximately 1.9X growth in terms of value by 2024 end. From US$ 3.44 Bn estimated for 2016, the Asia Pacific market will reach US$ 6.58 Bn by 2024 end. Anticipated to witness a healthy CAGR of 8.5%, this region will gain an attractive incremental opportunity of US$ 3.14 Bn during the forecast period. The market in the Middle East and Africa is also predicted to grow significantly, representing the most lucrative market for welding equipment. With over 8% of the total market value share in 2016, the MEA market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 8.6% over 2016-2024, reaching a value of US$ 1.64 Bn in revenues.The key players in the global welding equipment market include voestalpine AG, Colfax Corporation, The Lincoln Electric Company, Obara Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Illinois Tool Works Inc., Fronius International GmbH, Rofin-Sinar Technologies, Sonics and Materials, Inc., Arcon Welding Equipment, DAIHEN Corporation, Amada Miyachi, Inc., and Nelson Stud Welding (Doncasters Group Ltd.).Long-term Outlook: The global welding equipment market is expected to expand at an impressive CAGR of 7.9%. Compared to 2016 revenues i.e. US$ 10.45 Bn, the market will reach a value of US$ 19.16 Bn by 2024 end.Note to Members of Press: Analysts who have compiled this report are available for interviews and quotes at press@persistencemarketresearch.comSummary: Global welding equipment market slated to grow at a healthy CAGR of 7.9%. APAC and MEA to represent key markets for welding equipment globally, over 2016-2024.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Tech-nology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Elec-tronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business deci-sions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solu-tions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com School promotes boys gender education From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-10-13 11:32 A local school wants to promote boys gender education based on a newly published textbook, claimed to be the first of its kind in China. The textbook Little Man, published by the Shanghai Educational Publishing House, aims to promote manliness among boys and to help resolve any confusion over the physical and psychological aspects of puberty. With its principal You Rui as the chief editor of the textbook, Zhabei No.3 Central Primary School contributed its experiences over 10 years of sex education for boys. Now the school is preparing lessons based on the book that it hopes will be followed across the city. The model lessons will be taught in front of teachers from other schools next month. Chen Laixiu, a leader of gender education at the school, said she had been covering boys gender education for 10 years. We decided to do it as society and schools realized there were sissy problems in our boy students when most fathers were absent from childrens education. The textbook targets fourth and fifth graders (10 to 12-year-olds) and has six sessions to make boys aware of gender differences and to learn self-recognition, communication skills and a sense of responsibility, among other knowledge. A book for girls gender education was also being planned. Battlefield Management Systems Market Forecast By End-use Industry 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-211 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-211 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/category/electronics-ict www.futuremarketinsights.com Battlefield management systems provide accurate real-time information to military unit for effective decision making. These systems integrate information acquisition and processing to improve control and command of a military unit. Battlefield management systems (BMS) enable absolute situational awareness by efficiently displaying vital data to the field commander. This system offer integrated COP (common operating picture) with the help of collaborative planning tools. This helps tactical commanders to take knowledge based and responsive decisions and implement highly efficient control over operations in fluid and dynamic battlefield.The BMS aid soldiers in performing their tasks by displaying the command and control (C2) information related to different plan overlays, enemy troops, own troops and terrain features. In order to provide such data BMS consist of highly advanced hardware components and enhanced software. The main building blocks for battlefield management systems are a computer and touch screen. Keyboard is also incorporated in order to enter textual information into the BMS. BMS stations are connected to global positioning system receiver to obtain information regarding the present location. Sensors such as laser range finder can also incorporated in order to enhance the performance. BMS employ combat net radio communication for the distribution of information. However, LAN (local area network) and wireless LAN can also be used in more static environments.Request Free Report Sample@Foremost component in success of military operation is the capability to translate intelligence data into an information benefit that can be leveraged on the combat zone. In such a case BMS enable evaluation, real-time situational awareness and planning and eases implementation and orders of executive actions. It provides accurate information, virtual reconnaissance, flexible communications and dynamic situational awareness to the battlefield. It also improves operational tempo, intelligence surveillance, co-ordination, navigation, logistics management and alerts.BMS is highly mobile tactical control and command information system. It is integrated with decision making tools, weapon platforms and sensors. It also includes hand-held or wearable information systems with individual commander or soldiers and vehicle mounted information system. These are integrated via data enabled communication networks. BMS include several platforms such as air, land and naval platforms. Battlefield management systems consists of different subsystems including networking system and infrastructure-less communication, database server, application server, relational database management system, compute platforms, integrated GIS and GPS embedded systems. Trackers used in BMS are handheld systems provide individual dismounted soldiers accurate communication, precise information and tools to execute particular mission. Integrator used in BMS is a configuration that offers functionality of tracker with the extension of numerous operator capabilities and sensors. It has a server and several connected workstations. Integrator can be design for mobile and fixed applications.Visit For TOC@Rising need to reduce friendly fire, improve military troop efficiency and security of military troops worldwide are some of the factors supporting the growth of BMS market. However, development of battlefield management systems offers several challenges in terms of interoperability, training, functionality, man machine interface, data communication and training.Some of the major players in battlefield management systems market include Rockwell Collins, Inc., General Dynamics Corporation, Saab Group, Harris Corporation, BAE Systems, L-3 Communications Corporation, Thales Group and Exelis Inc. among others.More Research Reports@About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Software Defined Radio (SDR) Market Value Chain and Forecast 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-235 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-235 www.futuremarketinsights.com With the evolution of digital electronics the radio market and communication technologies have evolved a lot. Though the concept of software defined radio (SDR) is not new, in the recent years, this market has undergone many changes in terms of technology and uses. SDR is a type of radio communication system where communication is carried out by the use of software on embedded system or personal computer instead of implementing hardware such as filters, amplifiers, mixers, detectors, demodulators and modulators, among others. SDR are capable of transmitting and receiving a wide spectrum of frequency. When the data from a source is converted into digital format, the remaining activities involved in radio communications are carried out with the help of software driven automated functions.SDR optimizes the tactical information system as embedded software used in SDR helps in the dynamic selection of the communication channel. The number of digital service users is increasing resulting into the improved adoption rate of software defined radio. Public safety, military and commercial use are the three major end-use applications of SDR systems. The demand for SDRs in expected to increase in coming years owing to efficiency and cost effectiveness offered by them. The industry has undergone transformation from analog to digital. Thus, the advance capabilities of digital radio are expected to drive the growth of SDR market. Multiple regulations govern the SDR market and this affects the market growth and trends. For instance, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) legally created a newer class for equipment of SDRs that had streamlined equipment authorization procedure.Request Free Report Sample@Military modernization programs being carried out by several countries such as South Korea, India, Germany, Japan and the U.S and the interoperability provided by SDR are major driving forces for SDR market. The issues faced in the integration of the various sub systems pose a challenge to the SDR market. Further, the development of software platforms, technologies and tools, which allow flexible specification, design and implementation of radio systems, is another significant challenge. Players in software defined radio market have potential opportunity in technical advancements of SDR technology such as resolving the problem of frequency congestion, wide frequency range (spectrum) and improved broadcasting services in future.Software defined radio market is segmented on the basis of type, end-user application and geography. On the basis of type of SDR, the market is segmented into ideal software defined radio, baseband software defined radio (BBSDR) and high frequency software defined radio (HFSDR). On the basis of end-user industry, SDR market is segmented into defense industry, telecom industry, manufacturing plants, public safety vendors and personal use. U.S. Canada, Japan, France, Brazil, South Korea, India, Germany and Italy have emerged as the leading countries for software defined radio market.Visit For TOC@Some of the key vendors in software defined radio market are BAE Systems PLC, Elbit Systems Ltd., IndraSistemas, L3 Communications Corporation, Raytheon Co., Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co KG, Thales Group, Viasat Incorporated, SAAB AB, Rockwell Collins, Northrop Grumman Corp., ITT Corporation, Harris Corporation and Datasoft Corporation, among others.About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Nanocellulose Market worth $250 Million by 2019 Nanocellulose Market, Nanocellulose Market Report, Nanocellulose Market Research Report http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/nano-cellulose-market-56392090.html http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=56392090 http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical http://www.marketsandmarkets.com The report Nanocellulose Market by Type (Cellulose nanocrystals, Cellulose nanofibrils, cellulose nanocomposites, and others), Application (Composites and Packaging, Paper and Paper Board, Biomedicine, Rheology Modifier, Flexible Electronics and Sensors, and Others), and Geography - Regional Trends & Forecast to 2019 defines and segments the nano cellulose market with an analysis and forecast of value by type, such as cellulose nanocrystals, cellulose nanofibrils, cellulose nanocomposites, and others.Browse 117 market data tables and 53 figures spread through 165 pages and in-depth TOC on Nanocellulose Market - Regional Trends & Forecast to 2019"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.Along with this, the value and volumes of nano cellulose by application and region are also discussed in the report.Nanocellulose market is projected to register a market size in terms of value of $250 Million by 2019, signifying firm annualized CAGR of 19% between 2014 and 2019.The report also identifies the driving and restraining factors for nanocellulose market with an analysis of drivers, restraints, opportunities, and strengths. The market is segmented and the value has been forecasted on the basis of important regions, such as Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World (RoW). Further, the market is segmented and the demand and value are forecasted on the basis of various key applications of nano cellulose, such as composites and packaging, paper and paper board, biomedicine, and other applications.Rising demand for technological advancements in end-user industries is driving the nanocellulose marketThe application of nano cellulose in the end-user industries is witnessing a revolutionary change mainly due to the commercial development of nano cellulose driven by the increasing petroleum prices and the high-energy intensity in the production of chemicals and synthetic polymers. Nano cellulose is being developed for the novel use in applications ranging from scaffolds in tissue engineering, artificial skin and cartilage, wound healing, and vessel substitutes to biodegradable food packaging.Download PDF Brochure:The nano cellulose is considered as a viable alternative to the more expensive high tech materials such as carbon fibers and carbon nanotubes. Since nano cellulose is made from tightly packed array of needle like crystals, it becomes incredibly tough. This makes it perfect for building future body armors that are both strong and light. Nano cellulose is also being used to make ultra-absorbent aerogels, fuel efficient cars, biofuel, and many more. Nano cellulose has also been used as a tablet binder in the pharmaceutical companies, with gradual increasing applications in tampons, advance wound healing, and developing a vital role in existing healthcare products.North America is projected to drive the highest demand for nano cellulose in its end-user industries by 2020North America is the largest market for nano cellulose currently and the same is expected to continue till 2019. This is because of continuous technological innovations, advancements in healthcare industry, and rising focus on biodegradable food packaging. Europe market is expected to register second highest growth rate after North America. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to show a steady growth rate but the market is currently lower than North America and Europe. The U.S. and European countries are projected to be the hub of nano cellulose manufacturing in the world and are projected to be the major consumers of nano cellulose by 2019.About MarketsandMarketsMarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.M&Ms flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.Contact:Mr. RohanMarketsandMarkets701 Pike StreetSuite 2175, Seattle,WA 98101, United StatesTel: +1-888-600-6441Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.comVisit MarketsandMarkets Blog @Visit MarketsandMarkets @ Silent Cancer Therapeutic Market: Latest Innovations, Drivers and Industry Key Events 2015 to 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/silent-cancer-therapeutic-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4215 Silent cancer refers to those types of cancer which are undiagnosed in early stages. This is due to asymptomatic nature of the disease which makes it difficult to identify the disease till it progresses to advanced stages. Major silent types of cancer include brain, cervix, esophagus, mouth and larynx, ovarian, pancreatic, kidney, and liver cancer. Some silent types of cancer such as ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer show symptoms in their early stages. Ovarian cancer occurs in epithelium or lining cells of the ovary. Major signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer include pain or cramps in the belly, nausea, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and bloating. Pancreatic cancer is one of the fastest growing types of cancer worldwide. Esophagus cancer is more common among the older population, compared to adults. This cancer is mainly treated by chemotherapy, surgery, and radiosurgery. Moreover, physicians also use combination therapy for the treatment of silent cancer. For instance, the combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy is very effective in the treatment of silent cancer.View Full Report@The global silent cancer therapeutic market is categorized based on type, and mode of treatment. Based on type, the report covers tumors, brain, mouth and larynx, esophagus, liver, renal, pancreatic, cervix, and ovarian cancer. Based on mode of treatment, the report covers chemotherapy, targeted therapy, pharmaceutical drugs, surgery, and radiotherapy.North America has the largest market for silent cancer therapeutic, followed by Europe. This is due to technological advancements in cancer treatment devices, increasing prevalence of cancer, rise in aging population and improved healthcare infrastructure in the region. The silent cancer therapeutic market in Asia is expected to experience high growth rate over the next few years. This is due to evolving R&D activities in the field of cancer, increasing government support for research, rise in number of cancer patients, growing awareness about various types of silent cancer, increasing elderly population and developing healthcare infrastructure in the region. Moreover, growing demographics and economies in developing countries such as India and China are expected to drive the silent cancer therapeutics market in Asia.Technological advancements such as non-invasive radiation therapy and increasing prevalence of cancer are key drivers for the global silent cancer therapeutics market. Also, increasing government support in the form of funding and research in oncology has fueled the market growth. Furthermore, growing aging population and rising obesity are driving the growth of the silent cancer therapeutics market.However, high costs involved in research activities and the expiry of patents of some blockbuster drugs (drugs that have an annual sale of USD 1.0 million and above) are hindering the growth of the market. Despite the high costs involved in R&D, pharmaceutical companies are showing interest in this field, which, in turn, has increased investment in the development of novel therapeutics for silent cancer.Request for Table of Content@Increasing number of mergers and acquisitions and rapid product launches are some of the latest trends in the global silent cancer therapeutic market. Some of the major companies operating in the market are Abbott Laboratories, Amgen Inc., Bayer AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, GE Healthcare, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline plc, CTI BioPharma Corp. and AstraZeneca plc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Single-Use Technologies for the Biologic Market: Recent Industry Trends and Projected Industry Size by 2015 to 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/single-use-technologies-biologic-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4220 Single-use, also known as disposable, refers to products that are intended for one-time use. These products are made from a plastic (polyamide {PA}, polyethylene {PE}, polycarbonate {PC}, polyethersulfone {PESU}, polypropylene {PP}, polyvinyl chloride {PVC}, polytetrafluorethylene {PTFE}, cellulose acetate {CA}, and ethylene vinyl acetate {EVA}) and are disposed after use. Single-use products have revolutionized the field of bioproduction. These products are becoming popular in the biopharmaceutical arena as they reduce the risk of contamination during development and production. Various disposable products such as laboratory instruments, including petri plates, flasks, filling and tubing systems, cell culture apparatus, filters, pumps, bioreactors, are used in bioproduction.View Full Report@Single-use technologies are mainly used in bio-therapeutic development and manufacturing processes. These technologies facilitate the development of small amounts of drug products for use in preclinical and clinical testing procedures.The global single-use technologies market is categorized based on technology and application. Based on technology, the report covers membrane adsorber, bioreactors, disposable mixing systems, tangential flow filtration, tubing and connectors, depth filtration, buffer containers, waste containers and media bags, and filter cartridges. The application segment is further sub-segmented into monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, gene therapy, recombinant proteins, and blood derivativesIn terms of geography, North America dominates the global single-use technologies market. This is due to improved biopharmaceutical industry in the region. Moreover, increased awareness about therapeutic applications of biotherapeutics has also fueled the market in North America. The U.S. represents the largest market for single-use technologies in North America, followed by Canada. In Europe, Germany, France, and the U.K. hold major shares of the single-use technologies market. The single-use technologies market in Asia too, is expected to experience high growth rate over the next five years. This is due to improving Life Sciences arena in the region. Furthermore, increased foreign investment in this field is also supporting the growth of the single-use technologies market in the region. India, China, and Japan are expected to be the fastest growing markets for single-use technologies in Asia.Rising awareness about therapeutic applications of biotherapeutics is a key driver for the global single-use technologies market. Also, increasing demand of biologics and advancements in medical technology are fuelling the growth of this market. Low manufacturing and maintenance costs of single-use products and instruments attract end-users to adopt this technology in bioproduction. Increasing research on cell biology and stem cell is propelling the demand for single-use products.Moreover, drug pricing control is forcing large and emerging biotech companies to change their overall approach in development and production of bioproducts. This is leading to rise in demand for improved process optimization and more efficient operations such as single-use technologies and bioengineering. This is creating growth opportunities for single use-use technologies market.However, stringent regulations imposed by various governments hamper the growth of global single-use technologies market. Increasing number of mergers and acquisitions of biotech and pharmaceutical companies and rapid product launches are key trends in the global single-use technologies market.Request for Table of Content@The major companies operating in this market are Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, Applikon Biotechnology B.V., GE Healthcare, Pall Corporation, NewAge Industries, Inc., Saint-Gobain S.A., BioPure Technology Limited, Sartorius AG, RENOLIT, Novasep, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., EMD Millipore, and Dow Corning Corporation.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Global Smart Infrastructure in development of Smart Cities - Market Challenges, Statistics and Forecast: 2016 Edition http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=839735 http://www.researchmoz.us/global-smart-infrastructure-a-smart-approach-to-smart-cities-in-2016-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Slowly but surely we are beginning to see a transformation take place in many parts of the world, as governments and councils realise they need to take a holistic approach to future city-wide development. In Australia, for example, we see that Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Sydney, Ipswich and Sunshine Coast have all been identified as being among the leading smart cities. The Netherlands also has great examples of emerging Smart Cities including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven.While it can be difficult for councils to obtain funding for Smart City projects there are many things that cities can do within their existing budget. Every city needs to develop its vision and leadership from the top down and requires a Smart Council to lead initiatives. Councils need to consider how one aspect of a Smart City can benefit another. For example, how can communication technologies such as WiFi, mobile broadband, apps, M2M, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart micro-grids be used to achieve synergy or asset sharing?Even more importantly, perhaps, is establishing community Buy-in for Smart City projects. Directly engaging with citizens, businesses and others can establish the essential support required for developments - and they can also assist in building business models that can lead to investment.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:For those operating in the telecoms sector smart city developments offer enormous opportunities going forward. Billions of dollars are already being poured into the essential telecoms infrastructure and technologies required for smart cities. Implementing an holistic IoT infrastructure using sensors and M2M requires the heavy involvement of the telecoms industry. Establishing the networking solutions is also important and this is where developments such as Low-Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) are being closely monitored.To progress towards a smart city, local councils should lead the vision, set the strategy, and work side-by-side with their citizens, neighbourhood communities, businesses, local stakeholders and others. They need to abolish the internal silo mentality. Most of the political and financial powers still reside with state and federal governments and transformation is also often needed to create a better and more equal level of collaboration between all levels of government. As local councils still have a long way to go, state and federal governments will need to guide and support local councils in this complex transformation process.Key developments:- As we look towards 2017 there are some great smart city examples emerging both nationally and internationally.- State-of-the-art telecommunications are vital to a citys economic health and well-being.- Developments linked to Block Chain may be useful for Smart Cities and Smart Grids.- Smart cities present significant opportunities for telecoms operators.- In 2016 Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft continue to show a keen interest in Artificial Intelligence developments.- Wearable technology has become a thriving industry, with an ever-broadening range of possible uses and devices for our smart communities of the future.- In May 2016 the ITU and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) launched an important initiative called: United for Smart Sustainable Cities, with the abbreviation U4SSC.- In 2016 the global smart city market is estimated to be worth around $1 trillion.- The most difficult issue to resolve in building smart cities is the funding.- In mid-2015 the ITU members decided to establish a study group which would focus specifically on smart cities in terms of the standardization requirements for the broader Internet of Things (IoT).Browse more details at:ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Mr. NachiketAlbany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at: Global Talc Market Is Expected To Generate Huge Profits by 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/talc-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4609 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Talc is a mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate and is an important industrial and commercial mineral. It has broad applications as an industrial mineral due to its resistance to heat, electricity and acids and oil and grease adsorption. Talc has extensive commercial use because of its luster, softness, purity, fragrance retention, softness and whiteness. It is the softest known mineral and has a rating of 1 on the Mohs hardness scale. It can be scratched by a fingernail and is also sectile that means it can be cut by a knife. It has a specific gravity of 2.5 -2.8 and has clear luster. Talc is slightly soluble in dilute mineral acids and insoluble in water. It is a metamorphic mineral and occurs due to metamorphism of magnesium minerals such as olivine, amphibole, serpentine and pyroxene in presence of water and carbon dioxide. Talc is a tri-octahedral layered mineral and has a similar structure to that of pyrophyllite.Checkout full Report:Talc can be used as an ingredient in paints, roofing materials, ceramics, insecticides, rubber, talcum powder and insecticides among others. It is also used by the cosmetics industry, pulp and paper industry and food industry. Talc is often used to manufacture laboratory countertops and electrical switchboards due to its resistance to heat, acids and electricity. It is used by the cosmetic industry as a lubricant and as a filler by the pulp and paper industry. Talc is extensively used to make astringent baby powders that prevent rashes covered by a diaper. Talc is used by the pharmaceutical industry as a glidant (a substance that is added to powder to improve its flow ability) and by the food industry as an additive. In the European Union the additive number is E553b. In medicine, talc is used as a pluerodesis agent to prevent pneumothorax or recurrent pleural effusion. Talc is also an effective dispersing agent and anti caking agent and helps fertilizer plants and animal feeds to function efficiently and can be used for fertilizers.The paper and pulp industry remains the largest global end market for talc and is the key driving factor for the talc Industry. The automotive industry, ceramics industry and the paint and coatings industry are the other major consumers of talc. The use of talc as a filler in the paper industry is declining today but the use of talc for the manufacture of under the hood automotive parts is substantially increasing that has further lead to surge in demand for talc by the automotive industry.Asia Pacific is the largest market for talc with China, India, Japan, Bhutan, and South Korea being the key markets in this region. The Indian talc industry is the worlds third largest and continues to grow due to increase in domestic consumption. North America and Europe are other regions with a substantial market share of talc. Austria, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and United Kingdom are the major consumers of talc in Europe.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @:Some of the major companies dominating the talc market are Imerys talc, Mondo Minerals, Golcha Group, American Talc, IMI FABI, Nippon Talc, Minerals Technologies Inc, the Jai Group, Aihai Talc, Behai Talc, Shuiquan Talc, Xin Talc, Haumei Talc, Guiguang Talc and Xin Talc among others. Imerys talc is the worlds leading producer of talc followed by Mondo Minerals.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Valeraldehyde Market: Trends,Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015-2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/valeraldehyde-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4611 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Valeraldehyde is an alkyl aldehyde used in flavorings, resin chemistry and rubber accelerators. Valeraldehyde is also known as PENTANAL, FEMA 3098, Valeral, n-C4H9CHO, n-valeral, 1-pentanal, N-PENTANAL, butylformal, pentan-1-al, n-C4H9CHO and Pentanenal among others. Valeraldehyde is chemically stable but highly flammable. Valeraldehyde vapor is denser than air and can travel long distances and accumulate in coastal areas creating an explosion hazard. It is incompatible with strong oxidizing agents, acids, strong alkalies and strong reducing agents. Valeraldehyde occurs as a colorless liquid with a pungent odor. Valeraldehyde is slightly soluble in water and less dense than water.Checkout full Report:Valeraldehyde is an important industrial chemical and is used as a chemical building block in the production of valeric acid and amyl alcohol. In addition, it is used as a fragrance additive and rubber accelerator additive. Valeric acid is used as a precursor or chemical intermediate to manufacture synthetic lubricants, perfumes, agricultural chemicals, flavors and pharmaceuticals. Valeraldehyde is also used as a flavoring agent in foods. Commercially, valeraldehyde is prepared by reduction of n-valeric acid or by oxidation of the corresponding alcohol, 1-pentanol. Valeraldehyde can be industrially prepared by the oxo process, which involves the reaction of olefins with hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the presence of a catalyst. In addition, valeraldehyde is used as a synthetic and natural flavoring agent. It is used to flavor a product to give it a specific taste (fruity or nutty flvour) and is an ingredient of rose oil used to flavor chewing tobacco, beverages and food.The growth in the end-user industries is expected to be the major driving factor for the growth of valeraldehyde market. The growth in the fragrance industry is expected to increase the consumption of valeraldehyde. In addition, the demand for fragrance in expected to increase substantially in emerging economies due to rapid economic development and rise in disposable incomes. The increase in demand in emerging economies is expected to boost the consumption of valeraldehyde. However, availability of substitutes could hamper the growth of this market.Valeraldehyde is a versatile chemical, which has a global demand due to its features and broad range of applications. Valeraldehyde is the fastest-growing oxo chemical and has steady demand in the major economies. Demand for valeraldehyde in the U.S. is expected to grow moderately while consumption in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a high rate. Asia Pacific, Europe and North America are the largest markets for valeraldehyde. China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore are major consumers of valeraldehyde in Asia Pacific. The long-term prospect for valeraldehyde in Western Europe has improved considerably due to consolidations and capacity reductions which have resulted in improved efficiencies and capacity utilization. Many of the key players are shifting their manufacturing facilities to the Asia Pacific due to availability of land and cheap labor.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @:Some of the key players in this market are BASF (Germany), Dow Chemical (U.S.), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Mitsubishi Chemical (Japan), LG Chem (South Korea), AkzoNobel (Netherlands), Sumitomo Chemical (Japan), Mitsui Chemicals (Japan), Toray Industries (Japan), Eastman Chemical Company(U.S.), and Evonik Industries (Germany) among others. Dow chemical manufactures valeric acid using the oxo process. Butylene is reacted with synthesis gas (hydrogen mixture and carbon monoxide) in the presence of a catalyst which yields valeraldehyde. Valeraldehyde is then oxidized to valeric acid.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Carol Joy London launches Pure Collagen Spray: is this the breakthrough in anti-aging skincare weve been waiting for? www.caroljoylondon.com Weve all heard of it, but what is collagen and why is it so important? The structure of skin is held together by complex collagen constructions. In fact, collagen is the main structural component in the bodys connective tissue and accounts for up to 35% of the entire bodys protein content. The 3D network of collagen helixes directly influences the external appearance of the skin due to its role as a structural protein within living tissue.Skin collagen production declines at a rate of approximately 1% per year after the age of 30. This depletion can occur at an even younger age depending on a number of factors such as genetics. Depletion of collagen means a reduction in skin firmness and plumpness as the skins underlying structure diminishes over time. We all want to look young for longer and it seems collagen is the gateway to youthful and radiant skin for longer.In recent years, contemporary approaches to cosmetics and skincare have recognised the effects of collagen. Alongside this, the discovery of biologically active peptides opens up further a variety of opportunities regarding the application of this protein within the beauty industry. The way forward involves products and treatments that directly impact the skins collagen production in order to keep skin looking fresh.Skincare companies have been using collagen in face creams and serums for years now, but not one has tapped into a collagen so potent that it achieves visibly instant and transformational results until now.Carol Joy London has developed a unique collagen technology derived from Medical Grade Collagen. This medicinal collagen is routinely used in medical industry to treat burns victims as a result of its regenerative and repairing effects.Their newly launched product is the Pure Collagen Spray or as it has been heralded, a facial in a can. A world first, this anti-aging spray contains collagen derived from the medical grade protein used in burns recovery. Carol Joy London advise using the spray on the face and decolletage to boost cell activity and leave the skin refreshed, revitalised, and luminous. Instantly.The Pure Collagen Spray contains soluble collagen and collagen peptides. The soluble fibres infuse moisture into the upper levels of the epidermis and the collagen peptides regenerate the skin while stimulating cell metabolism.STATISTICS:Skin texture efficacy improves skin texture by up to 34%Skin smoothing efficacy improves skin smoothness by up to 26%Wrinkle smoothing efficacy reduction in wrinkles improves by up to 25%Results included 95% of users confirming more revitalised skin, 90% more moisturised skin, and 85% reported a more even skin tone.Carol Joy London is a luxury skincare, haircare, and spa treatment brand, born in Britain out of one womans quest for the answer to age defying skincare. The founder, Carol Joy Hatton, travelled the world and invested over 10m into discovering her solution. She returned to the UK armed with Refined Golden Millet Oil and Pure Medical Grade Collagen. With expertise drawn from leading Swiss manufacturing and German engineering, combined with quintessential British refinement and service, a skincare collection was sympathetically created to allow all women to recapture their skins vitality and radiance.Carol Joy Londons flagship hair salon is located at The Dorchester on Park Lane, where they also provide the hotels signature facials. Behind the facade of tradition that exudes from The Dorchester hotel, the services on offer utilise pioneering techniques and ingredients including Hyperbaric Oxygen, Pure Collagen, Caviar Algae and 24 Carat Gold, combined with Myofascial massage, Nourishing Steam and Diamond Microdermabrasion.Carol Joy London also operates in premier locations on an international scale including Fairmont Monte Carlo, Four Seasons Hong Kong, and The St Regis Dubai, to name just a few.18 Hanover StreetLondonW1S 1YN Automotive Gears - Global Market Outlook (2016-2022) According to Stratistics MRC, Global Automotive Gears market is accounted for $28.47 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $46.12 billion by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 7.1%. Increasing expenditure capacity of households owning the vehicle, increased production of automobiles, rising demand for consumer comfort for a smoother ride experience are the major factors driving the market. Technological advancements in non-ferrous metal castings and demand for durable polymer materials are other factors fuelling the market. However, availability of Just-In-Time Spares is the key challenge to the market.Planetary Gears segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The favourable growth is attributed to its applications in automotives including transmission and differential systems. Asia Pacific accounted for the largest share in the market owing to increased demand for vehicles. However, North America is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period.Some of the key players in Global Automotive Gears market include Cone Drive Operations Inc., Universal Auto Gears LLP, IMS Gear GmbH, Gleason Plastic Gears, Univance Corporation, American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc., ZF TRW, B & R Machine and Gear Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Taiwan United Gear Co., Ltd, AmTech International, Showa Corporation, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Bharat Gears Ltd., GKN PLC, Dynamatic Technologies Ltd. and Franz Morat Group.Material Types Covered: Plastics Metallic Gears Non-Metallic Gears Other Material TypesShaft Axis Types Covered: Intersecting Shaft Gearo Spiral Bevel Gearo Straight Bevel Gears Parallel Shaft Gearso Rack & Pinion Gearso Helical Gearso Spur Gearso Herringbone Gears Skew Shaft Gearso Worm Gearo Hypoid gear Planetary Gears Other GearsApplications Covered: Transmission System Steering System Differential System Other Automotive GearsVehicle Types Covered: Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV) Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) Passenger CarRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando Rest of Asia Pacific Rest of the Worldo Middle Easto Brazilo Argentinao South Africao EgyptWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsWe offer wide spectrum of research and consulting services with in-depth knowledge of different industries. We are known for customized research services, consulting services and Full Time Equivalent (FTE) services in the research world. We explore the market trends and draw our insights with valid assessments and analytical views. We use advanced techniques and tools among the quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the market trends. Our research reports and publications are routed to help our clients to design their business models and enhance their business growth in the competitive market scenario. We have a strong team with hand-picked consultants including project managers, implementers, industry experts, researchers, research evaluators and analysts with years of experience in delivering the complex projects.STRATISTICS MRC17049 King James Way, Gaithersburg,MD, 20877, USA Global Cellulose Acetate Fibers Market: Impact of Existing and Emerging Market 2015 - 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/cellulose-acetate-fibers-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4612 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Cellulose acetate is the acetate ester of cellulose. It is processed from wood pulp for commercial purposes. The wood pulp is first processed using an acids known as acetic anhydride which goes on to form acetate flakes from which products are then manufactured. As this fiber is processed from wood pulp, which is a renewable source, it is biodegradable unlike other fabricated fibers. Besides wood pulp, the other technique involved in the manufacture of cellulose acetate is treating cotton with acetic acid and using sulphuric acid as the catalyst.Checkout full Report:The main applications of this fiber include its use in spectacle frames, film media, use in some coatings, synthetic fibers, cigarette filters among others. Its main use lies in the textile and cigarette-manufacturing industries as these industries are rapidly growing. The key properties of cellulose acetate fibers include high transparency, very lustrous, good toughness and a very soft and natural feel. Its biodegradable quality makes it the most wanted fiber globally. The trade name for this acetate includes Acele, Avisco, Celanese, Chromspun and Estron. This acetate has very similar properties as that of rayon and were earlier believed to be the same textile. However, the two textiles differ from each in the use of acetic acid in the production of acetate fibers. The two fabrics are now treated and used very differently. Rayon resists heat while cellulose acetate burns or melts when heated. Cellulose acetate fiber textiles should be laundered gently and either hand washed or dry cleaned. Due to its rich and smooth, satiny texture is is a good synthetic alternative to silk and is usually used in bridal clothing and other attire.The main factors that drive the market for cellulose acetate fibers is its use in cigarette products. The demand for cigarettes is increasing rapidly for the past few years. Cellulose acetate fibres are used in the production of cigarette buds and hence the demand for this material is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. The textile industry also makes use of this fiber in the manufacturing of garments and as the material is rich, smooth and satiny, it is a cheaper alternative to silk with similar qualities. the use of this material in textile industries is expected to drive the market continually especially its use in wedding gowns as the wedding industry is also a huge multimillion industry and generates huge revenues throughout the year. This material is considered biodegradable as it is made from wood pulp. Hence more industries would prefer to use this material as a raw material in order to manufacture their end product. The end users for this market include ophthalmologists, textile industries, cigarette industries which are rapidly growing industries globally and demand for these end product is still high and is expected to grow over the next few years.The key segments for this market include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. the usage of this fiber in the U.S. was the maximum for the past few years and was a mature market for this material.China follows the U.S, after which comes the rest of Asia Pacific and then Europe. The market for cellulose acetate fibers is expected to rise in Asia pacific countries as the number of textile industries is increasing and is anticipated to rise in the next few years. The demand for biodegradable fabric is very high and its use will enhance the sale of end products especially in North America and Europe as there wont be any stringent regulation against its use.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @:The main companies profiled for the manufacture of cellulose acetate fibers include BASF AG, Formosa Plastics Group, Sinopec, Du Pont- Akra Polyester LLC, Bayer AG among others.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Market Intelligence Report Fiber Cement, 2015-2025 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-366 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-366 www.futuremarketinsights.com Fiber cement, formerly known as a composite building and construction material, is used in the manufacture of facade and roofing products owing to its properties such as high durability and strength. Cement is a substance which reacts chemically with water therefore, forming a hard stone. The presence of fiber reinforcement in cement contributes in making strong and long lasting building and construction material. At present, fiber cement has great scope for construction products such as roofing and cladding due to its primary function, i.e., enhancing performance and decreasing commercial value. Fiber cement siding market is expected to be the fastest growing market because of its product features and high demand from construction professionals.Request Free Report Sample@The key drivers for the growth of fiber cement market include factors such as growing construction activities in various regions on global basis and rapid industrialization which are poised to register demand of fiber cement products. Huge demand for fiber cement in terms of construction activities is reported from Asia Pacific. In addition, there is a growing demand for fiber cement from developed economies of North America and Europe due to the presence of stringent regulations and turnaround of manufacturing industries in these regions. The U.S. and Japan are stated as the fastest growing market for fiber cement with huge demand for the product. However, fiber cement market is expected to face competition from other products in the market such as vinyl siding.Visit For TOC@The key players in the fiber cement market includes Akzo Nobel NV, Building Materials Corporation of America, Central Fiber LLC, Canfor Corporation, Dow Chemical Company, Elementia SA de CV, Ecolab Incorporated, Hardie (James) Industries plc, Mercer International Incorporated, Imerys SA, PPG Industries Incorporated and US Silica Holdings Incorporated among others. The market is highly fragmented in nature owing to the presence of several manufacturers. This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically-supported and industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology.About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Molybdenum Oxide Market 2016: Rio Tinto Kennecott,Moxba-Metrex,Climax Molybdenum-2022 Molybdenum Oxide http://bit.ly/2e6ECW5 http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-molybdenum-oxide-market-2016-production-sales-supply.html http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/category/chemicals-and-materials.html MRS Research Group addsGlobal Molybdenum Oxide Market 2016 Share,Size,Trends and Forecast to 2022 Market Research Reportreports to its database.Global Molybdenum Oxide market report is sole collaboration of the data and market research methodology to gain highest performance.Our research team has put immense efforts to make it better to understand. The report global Molybdenum Oxide market represents recent developments, technology, raw material, restraints and opportunities in the market.Market information will includes demanding sector and opportunities, challenges and future trends.We offer our reports to small, medium and big organization.We gather information from multi-dimensional sources like primary, secondary and direct sources.Request Sample Report @We provide an experts knowledge to the client which offer solution to the client specific needs.We explore recent technology and R&D to resolve complex problems of the client.Our team is accompanied with analyst, research team, talented expert and which serves you worlds best report.It keeps belief to retain customers by providing them comprehensive analysis about market attractiveness, future forecast, recent trends and its competitors.This report offers you accurate and authentic first hand information on market that will help user to plan the organizations actions in future.The report will provide you deep knowledge of historical information, market drivers and related parameters of the market.The report includes accurate and sharp information on global market which allow you to take proper decision.It handles numerous reports on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, food and beverages etc.The 'Global Molybdenum Oxide Industry, 2016-2022 Market Research Report' is starts with definition, application, products, technology and others.Access Full Report @It includes major players of the market, company profile, installed capacity, competitors strategies and others.The report will allow you to understand easily with schematic diagrams and statically data.It also represents supply and demand, production capacity, import and export and many more.Further it covers points segments on the basis of products, types, application; end users, geography whichever applicable for the competitive landscape analysis.Table of Content (Index) :1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications1.1.1 Definition1.1.2 Specifications1.2 Classification1.3 Applications1.3.1 Heating1.3.2 Air conditioning1.3.3 Refrigeration1.3.4 Industrial applications1.4 Industry Chain Structure1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis2.3 Labor Cost Analysis2.4 Other Costs Analysis2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.6 Manufacturing Process AnalysisBrowse More Report Related To Chemicals and Materials Industry @The chemical industry plays a crucial role in the existing business as well as manufacturing units. This industry manufactures a variety of chemical substances which are used in various sectors and fields which include agriculture, medicine, automobile, healthcare and many other commercial purposes. These industries make use of metals, oil, natural gas and water to create a range of chemicals as well as chemical products that are used by various organizations throughout the world. Chemical companies purify and process the raw materials to produce pure chemicals. Chemical can be classified in two different categories i.e. basic chemicals and petrochemicals.MRS Research Group is the worlds giant collection of the Market research Reports. Where we specialized in global publisher, tailor made reports and specialists consulting. Global Publisher provides in-depth analysis of global and Chinese market. Tailor-made reports represent methodologies deliverable to proper insight of the client. While, expertise research specialist helps to provide strategic solution in specialists consulting. It consists of head such as, latest report, category, niche market and news. Reports published on the million of category like chemical, machinery and equipment, consumer goods, manufacturing and construction etc. Latest national, international, business News published under news portal.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free : +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@mrsresearchgroup.com Cloud ELN Service Market Poised for Steady Growth in the Future http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1984 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1984 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/cloud-eln-service-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Electronic lab notebook (ELN) are computer applications which performs functions of laboratory notebooks digitally. With the help of ELN, data is captured and recorded with better accessibility and security. It helps to achieve better efficiency with lower costs. ELN services are been offered on premise and are preferred by many organizations because the data is kept within their own firewall and is been considered more secured mode for data storage.Many ELN supplier are now providing ELN services hosted as Software as a Service (SaaS) through cloud where the service is offered on a subscription model by the vendors and can be accessed by any device from any location by the user. The market is in its infancy stage but growing number of engineers, technicians and scientists have started using the application and is expected to attract more number of users because of its advantages over on premise ELN services where various functionalities are been managed by vendors such as performing periodic system backups, software up gradation, server support etc. Access to data is allowed to allotted user where the data can be encrypted by signatures and passwords so as to make portability of the service more convenient without compromising on the security of the data.Cloud ELN Market SegmentationSegmentation of cloud ELN market on the basis of mode of deployment:Public Cloud:Public cloud supports multiple users with single code basis and since many clients can be supported by the same systems, these services are cost effective because the overall costs are been distributed over larger set of users. Also since there is no requirement for hardwares such as servers and networking devices, the service requires no investment.Although public cloud hosted ELN services are suffered by certain drawbacks such as lack of customization for individual users, high risk on data security etc. but will be in demand from medium and small scale organizations, research firms, individual doctors, scientists, technicians etc.Request Free Report Sample@Private or Hosted Cloud:In private or hosted cloud, service providers hosts the application for limited number of users where the applications are been supported individually and no other user share the same code. The host manages other operations such as backup and data security. Private clouds although suffer by performance issues because the same hardware supports all the clients on distributed systems, corporate organization are expected to choose private over public cloud because of customized applications and better data security.Segmentation of cloud ELN market on the basis of usage in different industries:PharmaceuticalsChemicalsLife ScienceResearch LabsAcademic InstitutionsOthersOn the basis of usage cloud ELN can be segment into corporate, academics & research, government and other sectors. Corporate, academic and research usages are expected to contribute maximum because these sectors are expected to use the technology in its nascent stage as they are been considered early adaptors compared to government sector who are expected to use cloud based ELN services at a later stage because this sector is more hesitant in using any new technology offered in the market and normally follows any technology only after it has been adopted by the corporate sector.Visit For TOC@Regional OverviewOn the basis of geography, global cloud ELN market can be segmented into four key markets namely North America, Europe, Asia and rest of the world. North America is expected to dominate market for cloud ELN among all the regions. USA in particular is expected to account for largest share in cloud ELN market and is expected to grow at highest CAGR. Europe market for cloud ELN trails behind the North American market. With increasing healthcare, research and IT developments, Asia-Pacific provides lucrative opportunities for the cloud ELN market. In rest of the world, countries belonging to Latin America and East Asia are expected to contribute more because of increasing healthcare and IT industry.Increasing adoption of cloud computing services in healthcare and research fields will motivate more users to move towards ELN and cloud ELN because of their latent advantages over paper based lab notebooks such as data security, portability, accuracy of the data, cost effectiveness etc. In todays scenario where most of the records in the fields of healthcare and research are been stored on servers instead of traditional paper based storage systems, more and more users will be attracted towards benefits offered by cloud based ELN services. ELN offered as public cloud is expected to attract more individual users because of its cost effectiveness which is expected to come down further with increasing number of users for the same shared service.Acceptance of SaaS for keeping confidential data such as patent related information in the cloud can be challenging task for the users who will fear from data security issues and can be a major restrain for cloud based ELN services. Although the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks but data security is one such fear which will be difficult to overcome for the users. Resistance to change can be a restrain for the market as users have been using paper lab notebooks from a long time and may show reluctance in using cloud ELN. Even on premise based ELN services can be a substitute for cloud ELN and will be preferred by corporate and government agencies who are quite critical about data security.Full Report Analysis@Some of the major companies offering Cloud ELN services are PerkinElmer, Dassault Systemes, Core Informatics, Arxspan and Biovia. Many a companies are offering on premise ELN as well as cloud supported ELN both so as to meet the demands of varying set of customers. Cloud ELN being in its nascent stage is expected to drive the demand more after few years compared to on premise ELN.About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Chilled Processed Food Market: Rising Need for Healthy Alternatives to Traditional Meals Driving Demand, notes TMR http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=302 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/chilled-processed-food-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global chilled processed food market is studied in a new report from Transparency Market Research (TMR). The report, titled Chilled Processed Food Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, And Forecasts 2012 - 2018, presents a detailed overview of the markets historical development trajectory and its current figures. A solid analysis of these statistics is used to derive insightful information about the chilled processed food markets future growth.View exclusive Global strategic Business report:Chilled processed food has gained demand in the last few decades due to the rising need for conveniently consumable food. The hectic lifestyle of most urban consumers makes it impossible to prepare elaborate meals, necessitating the use of alternatives to make sure the individuals nutritional requirements are met. Chilled processed food has emerged as a key candidate for the role, since it can easily be stored for long periods and prepared in a relatively short time.While traditional gender roles meant women were usually responsible for cooking, the increasing number of working women has led to a rising need for convenient meal options. Processed chilled foods have thus become a mainstay in many urban households due to the absence of a dedicated homemaker.The report segments the global chilled processed food market into processed vegetables and potatoes, processed poultry, processed red meat, ready-to-eat meals, processed fish and seafood, soup, noodles, pizza, and bakery products. Among these, the demand for chilled processed vegetables is rising steadily due to their nutrient-dense nature. The demand for ready-to-eat meals and chilled processed soup is also on the rise due to their high nutrient content and convenience.Geographically, North America and Europe are the leading contributors to the global chilled processed food market. The easy availability of advanced transportation facilities have driven the production of chilled processed food in these regions, as effective packaging and transport solutions are crucial in making the most of a cold chain. Many of the key players in the global chilled processed food market are located in North America or Europe, which also gives these markets an edge in the regional hierarchy of the global market.In the coming years, Asia Pacific is likely to emerge as a key regional market for chilled processed food. This is primarily due to the increasing disposable income of consumers in dynamic economies such as India, China, Singapore, Thailand, and South Korea, and the rapid urbanization observed in the region, which is necessitating a steady rise in the demand for chilled processed food.Browse Full Report with TOC :The report also examines the competitive landscape of the global chilled processed food market by profiling the leading players operating in it. Key companies examined in the report include Nestle, General Mills, Fonterra Brands Ltd., Schwan Foods, Tyson Foods, Birds Eye Food, Heinz Co., Pinnacle Foods Corp., ConAgra Foods, Unilever, and Wal-Mart Stores.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: How to Global Economic Environment and Survey Examines Factors has forced Travelers to adopt a More of Changing for Business Travel Booking in 2016-2017 http://www.researchmoz.us/changing-trends-in-business-travel-booking-in-2016-2017-report.html http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=839350 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=839350 http://www.researchmoz.us/travel-services-market-reports-154.html www.researchmoz.us/ Changing Trends in Business Travel Booking in 2016-2017 Size and Share Published in 2016-10-11 Available for US$ 1950 at Researchmoz.usDescriptionThe majority of travel and tourism executives have no preferred travel provider. Comfortable seating, free baggage check, and free Wi-Fi access on flights are most likely to influence travelers when choosing one airline over another. The majority of travelers favor car rental companies that offer car drop-off and pick-up services. Moreover, 24-hour on-road and in-car assistance service, and GPS navigation services are other key factors likely to influence the selection of a car rental company. The highest percentage of travelers intend to spend fewer than two days on leisure when extending a business trip. However, executives premium travel plans largely affected by global economic uncertainty and rising expenses. Volatility in the global economic environment has forced travelers to adopt a more cautious approach towards travel expenditure, as focus shifts towards cost containment.To Browse a Full Report at:Key Findings-The majority of executives have no preferred travel provider-Pricing, well-known brands, and availability of deals and packages are decisive for airline bookings-The highest percentage of executives favor car rental companies that offer car drop-off and pick-up services-Most senior executives consider travel meta-search options crucial for business travel plans Rising expenses and global economic uncertainty influences cuts in premium travelSynopsisCanadeans changing trends in business travel booking in 20162017 survey examines factors influencing airline and hotel bookings, and examines executives responses when a business trip is extended to a leisure trip. It also provides information about key parameters influencing airline and car rental company choices, and assesses the significance of travel meta-search options for business travelers.Get a Sample Copy of the Report:What else does this report offer?-Key factors for airline selection: the report examines reasons, other than lower ticket prices, that are most likely to influence business travelers to opt for one airline over another-Vital parameters affecting car rental company choices: the report identifies key factors, other than lower rental costs, that are most likely to make business travelers choose one car rental company over another-Significance of travel meta-search options: the report assesses the importance of travel meta-search options for creating business travel plans, and identifies popular travel meta-search websites used by business travelers in the last six months-Factors influencing hotel booking decisions: the report identifies key factors that are decisive for hotel bookings-Companies' approach to business travel booking: the report examines how companies manage business travel bookings-Reasons affecting cutbacks in premium travel plans: the report identifies key reasons for cutbacks in premium travel plans-Staying preferences during extension of business trips: the report examines the staying patterns of executive when a business trip is extended to a leisure trip-Cutback expectations for group incentive travel programs: the report assesses executives' viewpoints about cutbacks in group incentive travel programsReasons To Buy-The report highlights companies' approaches to business travel bookings, enabling travel operators to restructure their business travel plans-The report enables readers to make strategic decisions by understanding the relevance of travel meta-search options, and identifying popular travel meta-search websites used by business travelers-The report examines key factors influencing executives' airline and hotel-booking decisions. This will help companies to improve customer service and implement development strategies-The report provides cutback expectations about group incentive travel programs, which are likely to influence growth prospects-The report highlights staying preferences during extensions of business trips to leisure trips, along with the number of extra days spent for leisure purposes. This will help to gauge consumer behaviorInquiry on this report:Table of Content1 Introduction1.1 Definitions1.2 Methodology and sample size1.3 Respondent profile2 Company's approach on selecting airline and car rental choice for business travel2.1 Companies' approaches to business travel booking2.1.1 The majority of executives have no preferred travel provider2.1.2 The highest percentage of large companies have a preferred air carrier, compared to small and medium-sized companies2.2 Key factors for airline selection2.2.1 Airline choice is influenced by comfortable seating, free baggage check, and free Wi-Fi access on flights2.2.2 Good communication with airlines for pre-flight check-ins, flight updates via text message, etc. is a key selection criterion for executives operating in Europe2.2.3 Ability to select seatmates prior to the flight is the least favored criterion for airline selection among senior-level executives2.3 Decisive criteria for airline booking2.3.1 Pricing, well known brands, and availability of deals and packages are decisive for airline bookings2.3.2 Price the most influential factor in airline booking, regardless of region2.3.3 In addition to pricing, the majority of executives from medium-sized companies prefer to select airlines on the basis of deals and packages2.3.4 Good online reviews have relatively little impact on airline booking decisions by senior executives2.4 Key parameters for car rental company2.4.1 The highest percentage of executives favor car rental companies that offer car drop-off and pick-up services2.4.2 Of executives from large companies, 67% choose a car rental company on the basis of provision for car drop-off and pick-up services2.4.3 Of senior-level executives, 51% prefer a car rental company that provides car drop-off and pick-up services2.5 Factors influencing hotel-booking decisions2.5.1 Good online customer reviews, and deals and packages are key factors for hotel booking2.5.2 Overall, 77% of executives operating in Asia-Pacific consider official star rating a factor in hotel-booking decisions2.5.3 Of respondents from large companies, 83% each assign importance to deals and packages, and well-known brands for hotel reservationsBrowse All Travel Services Market Research Reports at:ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ bit.ly/1TBmnVG Global Kombucha Market Propelled by Increasing Demand for Healthy Food and Beverages http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/kombucha-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=8476 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global kombucha market is expected to experience significant growth throughout the forecast period from 2015 to 2021. The rising awareness among the consumers about the benefits of this drink is a primary factor contributing in the growth of this market. In addition to this, kombucha market is the fastest-growing market in the functional beverages category. Increasing demand for natural and healthy food & beverages is promoting the growth of this market. Kombucha is a health drink, thus the market for this beverage is expected to witness high growth in the near future. As a result, the companies operating in the market are expected to experience higher profits from manufacturing of this. Increasing health concerns and changing lifestyle are some of the factors driving the market for kombucha. The kombucha market is segmented into by type of microorganisms used in its manufacturing, by flavors and by geography. On the basis of type, the kombucha market is segmented into yeast, bacteria and mold among others. Based on flavor type, the market is bifurcated into citrus, herbs & spices, berries, coconut & mangoes, apple, flowers among others. Geographically, kombucha market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World.Browse Full Report with TOC:There are several new domestic and international companies manufacturing kombucha. In addition, numerous established beverage brands are trying to enter into this market. Due to its health benefits, governments in several countries are taking initiatives for manufacturing, marketing, and regulating the production & consumption of kombucha. Kombucha is a conventional fermented tea-based beverage, which has several health benefits. Furthermore, the key ingredients used in producing kombucha are sugar, water, and kombucha culture or starter culture. Moreover, the kombucha culture or starter culture is made up of microorganisms, such as bacteria and yeast. After the the fermentation process, kombucha is carbonated and integrated with amino acids, vinegar, probiotics, antioxidants and vitamins. In addition, to add different taste to the drink, a variety of different flavors can be added. The prominent flavors of kombucha are citrus, herbs & spices, berries, coconut & mango, flowers, apple and others.North America dominated the global demand for Kombucha market in 2014 in terms of revenue mainly contributed by the U.S. Developing countries such as China and India are expected to experience a strong upsurge in the demand for kombucha in the near future. In addition, demand for kombucha may be driven by an increase in production and innovation in segments such as health drinks and energy drinks. However, the demand for usage of kombucha is expected to grow at a decent pace in countries, such as Germany and Japan, whereas high growth of the kombucha market is experienced in India and other countries in Asia-Pacific. Furthermore, Asia provides the cost advantage in terms of production and processing of these products. High demand along with low cost of production is a key feature, which aids suppliers of kombucha.Enquiry before Buying @Some of the key players operating in kombucha market are Millennium Products, Inc. (U.S.), Reeds, Inc. (U.S.), The Hain Celestial Group (U.S.), Revive Kombucha (U.S.), Kosmic Kombucha (U.S.), Cell - Nique Corporation (U.S.), Buchi Kombucha , Gts Kombucha (U.S.), Townshends Tea Company, The Humm Kombucha Llc (U.S.), Red Bull Gmbh (Austria), Makana Beverages Inc., Nesalla Kombucha (U.S.), Live Soda Kombucha (U.S.), and Kombucha Wonder Drink (U.S.) among others. These companies are adopting numerous market strategies such as innovative product development, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships and expansion of existing facilities to strengthen their position in the global kombucha market.About UsTransparency Market Research is a market intelligence company providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Microcontrollers (MCU) Market Gains Significant Impetus From The Increasing Popularity Of Touch Sensing Technology. http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/microcontrollers-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=255 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The rising demand from the automotive industry has been aiding the global microcontrollers (MCUs) market . A considerable number of MCUs are required in an average automobile to make it function effectively. Furthermore, with the integration of novel features such as GPS and keyless entry, an automobile now requires MCUs embedded with their support circuits more than ever. In a report, titled Microcontrollers (MCU) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2012 - 2018, Transparency Market Research studies the growth trajectory exhibited by the global market for microcontrollers and presents insights into the factors influencing its growth trends.Browse the full Global Microcontrollers (MCU) Market by Product (8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast, 2012 - 2018 report atAccording to the report, the global market for MCUs is expected to reach an estimated valuation of US$28.49 bn by 2018, from US$15.7 bn in 2011. If the figures hold true, the global MCU market will exhibit a CAGR of 9.0% between 2011 and 2018. By volume, the market stood at 10.64 billion units in 2011 and is expected to reach 29 billion units by 2018, therefore, exhibiting a robust CAGR of 16.0% from 2012 to 2018.Microcontrollers are application-specific circuits and are embedded inside the device they control. Hence, these circuits are also referred to as embedded controllers. MCUs include memory devices, a processor, and peripherals. Since, these microcontrollers are integrated inside devices depending on user interaction and requiring real-time control, the market for MCUs gains significant impetus from the increasing popularity of touch sensing technology.The market for MCUs has been witnessing rising demand ever since the advent of smartphones, phablets, tablets, and other smart gadgets. Additionally, the most widely used consumer electronic products such as microwave ovens, televisions, and washing machines also depend on MCUs for their operation. Despite registering impressive growth over the last few years, the market may face occasional hindrances due to its moderately fragmented nature and the sheer volume of operations carried out by the enterprises vying for a major share of the market. Nevertheless, the increasing demand for advanced healthcare equipment such as portable blood pressure monitors and portable glucometers, which have MCUs embedded in them, will fuel demand from the global microcontrollers market in the near future.PDF Sample For Full Details with Technological breakthroughs is @To provide a holistic analysis of the market operations, the report segments the market on the basis of application, product-type, and geography. Based on product type the market has been segmented into 32-bit, 16-bit, and 8-bit. In 2011, the 8-bit MCUs segment dominated the market with a share of 40% in the market. However, during the forecast period, the 32-bit segment is likely to exhibit the fastest CAGR of 16.2%. In terms of application, the market has been segmented into industrial, automotive, consumer goods, communications, and computers. Of these, the automotive segment accounts for more than 32% of the overall demand registered in 2011.Regionally the global microcontrollers market is spread across Asia Pacific, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), North America, and Rest of the World. Among these regions Asia Pacific led the global market in 2011, accounting for a share of 35%. Also the regional market is expected to expand at an impressive CAGR of 9.2% between 2012 and 2018.To provide a comprehensive overview of the prevailing competitive landscape, the report also profiles some of the most prominent companies operating in the market, such as, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Fujitsu, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc, Infineon Technologies, and Texas Instruments.The report segments the global microcontrollers market as:Microcontrollers Market, by Product Type:8-bit16-bit32-bitMicrocontroller Market, by Application:AutomotiveIndustrialConsumer GoodsComputerCommunicationsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Biopesticides Market Growth 2015 2021 https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/biopesticides-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/toc/biopesticides-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/biopesticides-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/biopesticides-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Pesticides are ubiquitous, toxic and synthetic agents. It mainly kills or prevents pests present on plants and animals. The other functions of pesticides are crop protection, prevention of vector-borne diseases and preservation of food and materials. As of April 2016, there are around 299 registered biopesticides active ingredients and 1401 active biopesticides product registrations. Biopesticides target the organisms affecting the growth as compared to the conventional pesticides which are harmful for birds and other animals.Request for sample report @Biopesticides can be applied using different formulations. They are mainly used as liquid solution or in dry form. The liquid solution can be directly sprayed on plants or in the soil whereas dry form can be thrown over the field. However, this formulation type solely depends on the crop type. Biopesticides are derived from the natural resources and can be mainly classified into three major groups such as biochemical pesticides, microbial pesticides and Plant-Incorporated-Protectants (PIPs) pesticides. Microbial pesticides are extensively used pesticides owing to their high effectiveness.Read TOC of Report @The report provides a comprehensive view on the biopesticides market. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the biopesticides market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein product segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.Biopesticides are considered to be eco friendly and hence rising awareness for use of eco friendly products drives biopesticides market. Ample support and funding from the government for the use of eco friendly biopesticides further stimulates the growth of this market. Furthermore, increasing incidence of crop diseases coupled with growing demand for organic food fuels supports the demand for biopesticides. However, lack of awareness from the developing and underdeveloped regions may hinder the growth of the biopesticides market. Research and development expenditure for biopesticides is low as compared to the conventional pesticides. This factor may persuade the inventors to focus on the development of innovative products.Do inquiry before buying visit atThe biopesticides market can be segmented on the basis of type, which includes biofungicides, bioinsecticides, bionematicides and bioherbicides. On basis of end user the biopesticides market can be segmented as fruits & vegetables, grains & oilseeds and others. Fruits, vegetables, grains and oilseeds are the most prominent segments due to high consumption of biopesticides. The biopesticides can be applied by means of soil treatment, post harvest, seed treatment, and foliar spray among others.North America dominated the biopesticides market in 2015 followed by Europe owing to high use of organic products. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest pace and is likely to continue the traction in the forecast period. This growth is mainly attributed to rapidly developing agricultural sector and growing demand for eco friendly, organic products. Also, continuous demand for high productivity due huge population base and cost effective techniques in production of food further contribute to the market growth. Latin America is anticipated to experience decent growth over the coming years due to high growth in agricultural sector in Brazil. Middle East and Africa may show sustainable growth in the estimated period owing to rising living standards and abundant arable land for agriculture.Bayers CropScience Ag, Parry America, Inc, BASF SE, Monsanto Company, Certis USA L.L.C, Isagro S.p.A, Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. and The Dow Chemical Company are some of the major key players in the biopesticides market. Companies primarily focus on the extensive R&D for the development of innovative products in order to maintain their shares in the market.Read More @The report segments of the underfloor heating market into:Biopesticides Market: Type Segment AnalysisBiofungicidesBioinsecticidesBionematicidesBioherbicidesBiopesticides Market: End User Segment AnalysisFruits & vegetablesGrains & oilseedsOthersBiopesticides Market: Type of Usage Segment AnalysisSoil treatmentPost harvestSeed treatmentFoliar sprayOthersBiopesticides Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaAbout UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact US:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Stainless Steel Market 2016 - Acerinox, Aperam, Thyssen Krupp, Pohang Iron & Steel (Posco), Ta Chen International, Jindal Stainless, Allegheny Flat Rolled Products http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/11298/request-sample http://www.fiormarkets.com/report/global-stainless-steel-market-2016-by-manufacturers-regions-11298.html www.fiormarkets.com http://longshortreport.com/ Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, containing less than 2% carbon.Stainless steel contains a maximum of 1.2% carbon, a minimum of 10.5% chromium (standard EN 10088-1) and other alloying elements. The presence of chromium confers on stainless steel its principal quality: its corrosion resistance.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Stainless Steel in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request for sample report atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAcerinoxAperamThyssen KruppPohang Iron & Steel (Posco)Ta Chen InternationalJindal StainlessAllegheny Flat Rolled ProductsNorth American StainlessAK SteelOutokumpu EuropeOutokumpu USAMexinoxShree Khodal Industrial Engineering CompanyMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversCold-Rolled StainlessThin Gauge300 Series SS400 Series SSPH 17-7 SS400 Series (Ferritic)300 Series (Austenitic)Super Ferritic / Super AusteniticDuplexMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPetrifaction IndustryFood IndustryMechanical IndustryElectricity IndustryAccess full report atThere are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Stainless Steel market.Chapter 1, to describe Stainless Steel Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Stainless Steel, with sales, revenue, and price of Stainless Steel, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Stainless Steel, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Stainless Steel market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Stainless Steel sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog: Melamine Market 2015-2021: Major market players are Borealis AG, BASF SE, Cornerstone Chemical Company, Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GSFC), and others http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/request-for-sample.html?flag=S&repid=77242 http://bit.ly/2d2MS87 http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/market-analysis/melamine-market.html http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com The report covers forecast and analysis for the Melamine market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on volume and revenue (USD Million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes study of opportunities available in the Melamine market on a global level.Get a copy of free Sample Report @In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the Melamine market, we have included a detailed competitive scenario, and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters five forces model for the Melamine market has also been included, strategic development along with patents analysis is included in this report. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, where in type segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Get in-depth TOC (Table of Contents) with Tables and Figures @Melamine finds widespread applications in Adhesives & Sealants, Laminates, Molding Compounds, Paints & Coatings, and Other Applications. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2021.The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Borealis AG, BASF SE, Cornerstone Chemical Company, Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GSFC), Mitsui Chemicals Inc., Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL), Nissan Chemical Industries Ltd., OCI N.V., Qatar Melamine Company (QMC), and Grupa Azoty Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy S.A. (ZAP).Browse detail report @This report segments the Melamine market as follows:Melamine Market: Applications Segment AnalysisAdhesives & sealantsLaminatesMolding compoundsPaints & coatingsOthersMelamine Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout US:Syndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries includsing energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@SyndicateMarketResearch.comWebsite: Global Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes Consumption 2016 Market Research Report http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/global-strip-type-waterproofing-membranes-consumption-2016-market-research-report/ http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=486562&ptitle=Global+Strip+Type+Waterproofing+Membranes+Consumption+2016+Market+Research+Report&req=Sample http://www.reportbazzar.com/discount-form/?pid=486562&ptitle=Global+Strip+Type+Waterproofing+Membranes+Consumption+2016+Market+Research+Report&req=Discount http://www.reportbazzar.com/ SummaryThe Global Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes Consumption 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes market.First, the report provides a basic overview of the Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures.Secondly, the report states the global Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes market size (volume and value), and the segment markets by regions, types, applications and companies are also discussed.Browse Report Summary with TOC @Third, the Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes market analysis is provided for major regions including USA, Europe, China and Japan, and other regions can be added. For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Get Sample Report @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.1 Definition and Specifications of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.1.1 Definition of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.1.2 Specifications of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.2 Classification of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.3 Applications of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.5.1 Industry Overview of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes1.7 Industry News Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes3 3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales and Sale Price Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes3.1 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes 2011-20163.2 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Regions 2011-20163.3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Types 2011-20163.4 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Applications 2011-20163.5 Global Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Companies 2011-20163.6 Global Sale Price of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Regions 2011-20163.7 Global Sale Price of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Types 2011-20163.8 Global Sale Price of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Applications 2011-20163.9 Global Sale Price of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Companies 2011-20164 USA Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales, Sale Price and End Users Analysis of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes4.1 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes 2011-20164.2 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Types 2011-20164.3 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Applications 2011-20164.4 USA Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Companies 2011-20164.5 USA Sale Price of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Types 2011-20164.6 USA Sale Price of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Applications 2011-20164.7 USA Sale Price of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by Companies 2011-20164.8 USA Regional Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes 2011-20164.9 USA End Users with Contact Information and Consumption Volume of Strip Type Waterproofing Membranes by ApplicationsEnquiry For Discount @Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarOffice # 203,Vishal Shopping Complex,DSK Ranwara, Bavdhan,Pune 411021, IndiaIndia: +91 20 66528525US: +1 (212) 389-6363Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite: Laboratory Chemical Reagents Market , 2015 - 2021 Key Players : Beckman Coulter Inc., Life Technologies Corporation, Promega Corporation and Other https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/laboratory-chemical-reagents-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/toc/laboratory-chemical-reagents-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/prebook/su/laboratory-chemical-reagents-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/laboratory-chemical-reagents-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Laboratory chemical reagent is a compound that is utilized in a chemical reaction to identify, examine, determine or produce other chemical substance. The chemical reagents play an essential role in the accuracy of a chemical experiment. Whereas preparing the chemistry reagents in a laboratory, correct proportion of chemicals and solvents as well as procedure is very crucial.Request for sample report @The worldwide market for laboratory chemical reagent is expected to grow at significant rate due to extensive chemical reagents applications and research activity. Constant improvements and evolution in technologies such as bio-therapeutics, cell culture and recombinant DNA technology that facilitated the production of numerous essential therapeutic agents also fuel the demand for laboratory chemical reagents. Furthermore, increasing demand from biotechnology industry may boost the market growth in upcoming years. Protein synthesis and DNA sequencing reagents market has increased dramatically in recent years.Read TOC of Report @The report covers forecast and analysis for the laboratory chemical reagents market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on revenue (USD Million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes study of opportunities available in the laboratory chemical reagents market on a global level.Global laboratory chemical reagents market has been segmented on the basis of product, end user and region. On the basis of product, laboratory chemical reagent market is classified into molecular biology, cytokine and chemokine testing, carbohydrate analysis, immunochemistry, cell/tissue culture, environmental testing and biochemistry. Molecular biology accounted for largest share of the market in 2015. Whereas, cytokine and chemokine testing is expected to emerge as the fastest growing segment in near future.Pre-Book Copy of report @End user segment includes biotechnology, academic segment, non-academic segment and corporate segment. Currently, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technologies are being used extensively in several applications such as forensic labs, gene expression and DNA sequencing. The reagents used in real time PCR testing offer quick and quality results compared to conventional PCR testing method which is consequently expected to increase the sales of PCR reagents. PCR market is rising on account of increasing acceptance and awareness for real time PCR.Geographically, laboratory chemical reagent market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. North America dominated the laboratory chemical reagent market in 2015 owing to technological advancements and innovations in molecular biology. Asia Pacific region is estimated to emerge as the fastest growing region due to development of new academic centers across the region mainly in the biological and chemical science area. Additionally, entry of new pharmaceutical companies and increasing clinical research outsourcing activities in the Asia Pacific region can increase investment in research and development consequently enabling more laboratory test analysis.Browse full report @Beckman Coulter Inc., Life Technologies Corporation, Promega Corporation, SAFC Biosciences, Inc., EMD Chemicals Inc., Wako Pure Chemical Industries Ltd., GE Healthcare, Takara Bio Inc., Meridian Life Science Inc., Sigma-Aldrich Corp., Shimadzu Biotech and PerkinElmer Inc. are some of the major players operating in laboratory chemical reagents market.This report segments the Bionematicides market as follows:Laboratory Chemical Reagent Market: Product Segment AnalysisMolecular biologyCytokine and chemokine testingCarbohydrate analysisImmunochemistryCell/tissue cultureEnvironmental testingBiochemistryLaboratory Chemical Reagent Market: End User Segment AnalysisBiotechnologyAcademic segmentNon-academic segmentCorporate segmentBionematicides Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact US:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: Polyester Coatings Market Global industry analysis, competitive insight and key drivers; research report 2014 2020 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2712 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/polyester-coatings-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ http://globalresearchanalysis.blogspot.in/ Polyester coatings are also called as oil-free alkyds coatings and used can be used as substitute for alkyd resins. These are most widely used coatings due to low cost, high acceptance and versatility. Polyester coatings can be tailored with additives for specific end-use applications. These offers high flexibility, hardness, chemical resistance and high strength. The applications of polyester coatings include construction, automotive, OEM coatings, infrastructure, aviation, industrial coatings and packaging.Growing demand for polyester coatings from construction industry is expected to drive the market growth. Demand for construction is due to growing population and rising disposable income of middle class. Owing to rising income in developing countries people are going for second home plans as investment option that is driving the construction industry. Further increasing investment in infrastructure building is expected to drive the polyester market. Governments bodies are investing heavily in improving overall infrastructure of own countries. These infrastructure projects include domestic as well as industrial and transportation infrastructure. In addition demand from OEM coating is expected to boost the market for polyester coatings.Download And Get Sample PDF File Of Polyester Coatings Market :OEM coatings include coil coatings, paper & paperboard coatings, powder coatings, radiation cured coatings, wood furniture & composition board finishing, appliances coatings. The demand for OEM coatings is rising with changing lifestyle and improving per capita income across the globe. Rising demand from special purpose customized coating is expected to boost the polyester coatings market growth. Special purpose coatings include marine coatings, industrial maintenance, aerosol coatings, automotive coatings, wind energy and aerospace coatings.However, volatile raw materials and environmental regulations are expected to inhibit the market growth for polyester coatings market. Polyester coatings are manufactured from ethylene which is a petroleum derivative and is subjected to crude oil price volatility. Additionally, polyester coatings are required to have solvents for solubility and application on the surface. These solvents are environmentally hazardous and pose threat to human health as well. Therefore, environmental regulations by governments bodies are expected to hamper the polyester paintings market growth.Customized coatings for specific applications and bio-based polyester coatings are expected to provide opportunities for the players in this market. Bio-based polyester coatings are manufactured from renewable raw materials and are biodegradable. Further, waterborne polyester coating is expected to be new opportunity, as they are environment friendly as compared to solvent based coatings.Asia Pacific was largest market for polyester coatings in terms of consumption with China contributing highest to the demand. Few multi-functional producers of coatings and resins have established their manufacturing plants in China due to high demand. Construction industry and hybrid coatings are expected to drive the polyester coatings market in this region. Demand from Japan has declined significantly in last few years due to high performance, high cost alternatives available in this region. Due to enacted legislation in some part of North America and Europe, the demand for polyester coatings has declined. Players are developing new products those meet requirements of the regulations in these regions. Demand for waterborne polyester coatings is gaining momentum in this region due to low to no solvents. Market for polyester coatings in Europe is experiencing very slow growth rate due to strict environmental regulations.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :Global polyesters coatings market is highly fragmented with few major international companies dominating the market. Some of the major players in the polyester coatings market are AGC Chemicals, The Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, Huntsman Corporation, Du Pont, 3M Company, Momentive Chemicals among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit : Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market : Recent Industry Trends, Analysis and Forecast 2026 Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/food-beverages-filling-systems-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11137 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Introduction:The process of filling something with a material such as any product of food and beverages industry is known as food and beverages filling systems. The piece of equipment used on a packaging line to fill product into containers is called a filler. Different products are filled such as beer, wine, edible oils, dairy products, fruit juices, soft drinks, etc. through different filling systems. Liquid filling systems have evolved in the last decades with the appearance of aseptic technology. They were first introduced in the 60's with the introduction of the carton packaging. Filling is done in several equipment such as PET bottles and other plastic containers, aluminum cans & metal box, glass bottles and others. The filling processes in particular must satisfy ones highest quality requirements. Therefore, the company need high-performance, flexible, and efficient filling solutions.Browse full Report @Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Dynamics:The global market of food and beverages filling system is anticipated to be driven by escalating consumer trends for packaged food. Now-a-days, mostly people consumed packaged food and hence filling system is required to improve with the latest upgraded methods and technology. The filling systems provide accurate shot sizes, uniform fill volumes, and drip-free cutoff, all of which reduce waste, spillage, cleanup costs, and product rejects. There are different types of fillers used in the filling system like auger or agitator filling machines, flow filling machines, tablet filter, positive displacement pump filters, etc.Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Segmentation:Different systems and different technologies may be used. The global food and beverages filling system market is segmented on the basis of type such as Rotary, Volumetric, Aseptic, and Net Weight. On the basis of process, the global food and beverages filling systems are divided into manual, semi-automatic, and automatic. In manual process the entire process is carried out manually, whereas semi-automatic process is carried out manually as well as with the help of machines, whereas automatic process is carried out by the machines with negligible human involvement. The global food and beverages filling system market is also segmented on the basis of product such as liquid, solid, and semi-solid. On the basis of surface treatment the global food and beverages filling system is segmented into hot-end treatment and cold-end treatment. Hot-end treatment is designed to prevent superficial damages on hot bottles and as a result, the strength of containers should be improved. Cold-end treatment on the other end, may be used on annealed containers i.e. residual strain has been removed.Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global food and beverages filling system industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Asia-Pacific contributes the highest market share, followed by Europe, North America and then rest of the world over the forecasted period.Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market PlayersThe key market players identified across the value chain of global food and beverages system are OCME S.r.l, ALL-FILL Inc., SIG Combibloc, Adcor Industries, Buhler AG, Bosch Packaging Technology, Siemens AG, Krones Group and others. The global food and beverages filling system market is driven by the development of advanced filling technology and increasing automation in the food and beverages industry. The market is very competitive and the market players are spending more on the product development and innovation to meet and drive consumer demand.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types and applications.The report covers exhaustive analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Value ChainRegional analysis includes: North America Latin America Asia Pacific Japan Western Europe Eastern Europe Middle East & AfricaThe report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts, and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors, along with market attractiveness within the segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and various geographies.Report highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintThe Report covers exhaustive analysis on: Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Segments Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Dynamics Historical Actual Market Size, 2013 2015 for Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Size & Forecast 2016 to 2026 Supply & Demand Value Chain Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved in Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Technology Value Chain Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market Drivers and RestraintsRegional analysis for Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems Market includesNorth Americao US & CanadaLatin Americao Brazil, Argentina & OthersWestern Europeo Germanyo Italyo Franceo U.K.o Spaino Nordicso BeneluxEastern Europeo Russiao PolandAsia Pacifico Australia and New Zealand (ANZ)o Greater Chinao Indiao ASEANo Rest of Asia PacificJapanMiddle East and Africao GCC Countrieso Other Middle Easto North Africao South Africao Other AfricaThe report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics of the Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems industry In-depth market segmentation of Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems industry Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value of Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems industry Recent industry trends and developments of Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems industry Competitive landscape of Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems industry Strategies of key players and product offerings in the Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems industry Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth in Global Food and Beverages Filling Systems industry A neutral perspective towards market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.Contact UsPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Plant Growth Regulator Industry 2016 Market Research Report http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/global-plant-growth-regulator-industry-2016-market-research-report/ http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=497636&ptitle=Global+Plant+Growth+Regulator+Industry+2016+Market+Research+Report&req=Sample http://www.reportbazzar.com/discount-form/?pid=497636&ptitle=Global+Plant+Growth+Regulator+Industry+2016+Market+Research+Report&req=Discount http://www.reportbazzar.com/ ReportBazzar has announced a new report titled Global Plant Growth Regulator Industry 2016 Market Research Report to their offerings.Browse report summery with TOC:The Global Plant Growth Regulator Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Plant Growth Regulator industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Plant Growth Regulator market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Plant Growth Regulator industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Request Sample Report:Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Plant Growth Regulator1.1 Definition and Specifications of Plant Growth Regulator1.1.1 Definition of Plant Growth Regulator1.1.2 Specifications of Plant Growth Regulator1.2 Classification of Plant Growth Regulator1.3 Applications of Plant Growth Regulator1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Plant Growth Regulator1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Plant Growth Regulator1.5.1 Industry Overview of Plant Growth Regulator1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Plant Growth Regulator1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator1.7 Industry News Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Plant Growth Regulator Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Plant Growth Regulator Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Plant Growth Regulator Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Plant Growth Regulator Major Manufacturers in 20154 Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Plant Growth Regulator by Regions, Types and Manufacturers4.1 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Plant Growth Regulator by Regions 2011-20164.2 Global and Major Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate of Plant Growth Regulator 2011-20164.3 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Plant Growth Regulator by Types 2011-20164.4 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Plant Growth Regulator by Manufacturers 2011-2016Get Discount:About Us:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarUnited States30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.US: +1 (212) 389-6363India: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite: Harmonic Filter Market: Increasing Uptake of Variable Frequency Drives to Stimulate Revenue Growth http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1411 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/world-harmonic-filter-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com According to a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global harmonic filters market is a highly concentrated arena in nature, with nearly 63% being represented by the top six companies. Since the market is in its growth stage, the majority of manufacturers are looking to expand their business and achieve a competitive position in the market by maintaining strong partnerships with components suppliers ensuring continual supply. The six leading companies in the global harmonic filters market are ABB Ltd., Schneider Electric, Emerson Network Power, Schaffner Holding AG, Danfoss AS, and EPCOS AG.Strong sales distribution network, better compliance with technical standards and regulations, and large customer base of established players pose barriers to the swift entry of new players. However, with the promising growth of the market and the immense scope of technological development, a large number of players are expected to enter the market in the forthcoming years, says the author of the report.PDF Sample For Latest Innovation And Upcoming Advancements @The global harmonic filters market was valued at US$697.2 mn and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2016 to 2024, reaching a value of US$1,212.3 mn by 2024. By type, the passive harmonic filters segment will continue to dominate the market until 2024, accounting for about 74% of overall market revenue. However, due to the growing awareness about the returns and benefits offered by active filters in terms of harmonic mitigation and voltage stability, the active segment is anticipated to rise at a CAGR higher than the passive segment during the forecast period.Asia Pacific to Lead Owing to Increasing Demand for Quality PowerGeographically, Asia Pacific was the leading revenue contributor in 2015. The increasing demand for power is putting pressure on this region to ensure improved power quality, resulting in rising demand for harmonic sales. Owing to this factor, this region is anticipated to retain its leadership until 2024. However, with the increasing non-linear loads arising from variable frequency drives and improving power transmission and distribution facilities, the Latin America market for harmonic filters is estimated to exhibit a noteworthy CAGR of 9.2% during the same period.Rising Deployment of Harmonic Filters to Minimize Energy Loss to Fuel Growth ProspectsThe rising penetration of automation across different commercial and industrial applications, increasing capital investment to improve infrastructure development, and growing emphasis on electrical efficiency are driving the demand for power quality drives and variable frequency drives (VFDs). Despite their efficiency and accuracy, the fluctuating voltage levels in these drives can result in the generation of harmonics. Harmonics affect the machines efficiency by causing voltage stress or dielectric thermal stress, which results in premature aging of electrical insulations in electrical equipment, says a TMR analyst. Therefore, increasing demand for power quality drives and VFDs is supporting the demand for harmonic filters, thereby propelling the growth of the market.To address scarcity in power production, energy conservation forms a critical factor that can cater to the electricity needs. By maintaining power quality through harmonic mitigation, power losses can be significantly reduced and appreciable energy savings can be achieved. Thus, the ever-increasing demand for power is fuelling the growth of the global harmonic filters market.On the flip side, the lack of consumer awareness pertaining to ill effects of harmonic disturbances is hampering the adoption of these filters across a number of end-use industries. Moreover, the high cost of harmonic filters is also reflecting negatively on the sales of these filters. However, the escalating demand from the IT sector is likely to create tremendous growth opportunities for harmonic filter manufacturers in the near future.The information presented in this review is based on a Transparency Market Research report, titled,Harmonic Filter Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024.Read Report @The global harmonic filters market can be segmented as follows:Global Harmonic Filter Market, by TypeActive Harmonic FiltersPassive Harmonic FiltersTuned Passive Harmonic FiltersDe-Tuned Passive Harmonic FiltersGlobal Harmonic Filter Market, by Voltage LevelLow Voltage Harmonic FiltersMedium Voltage Harmonic FiltersHigh Voltage Harmonic FiltersGlobal Harmonic Filter Market, by End-UseIndustrialIT And Data CentersAutomotiveOil & GasOthersTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Tuberculosis Testing Market growing due to Importance of Asset Management in Industry https://goo.gl/T4OP04 http://www.mrrse.com/tuberculosis-testing-market A considerable portion of the population across geographies are suffering from a wide range of infectious diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis, AIDS, and several other bacterial and viral diseases. Tuberculosis or TB is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Currently, organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) have contributed largely towards improving global awareness regarding TB, its diagnosis, and available treatment options through TB control programs such as Stop TB. According to the WHO, in 2013, there were around 9 million new TB cases and close to 1.5 million TB deaths worldwide.The global tuberculosis testing market has been categorized into seven segments based on major TB test types - smear microscopy, culture based tests, nucleic acid testing, Mantoux test, radiography (chest x-ray), drug susceptibility testing, and other tests such as serological tests, Interferon-Gamma Release Assays (IGRA), phage based tests, antigen-based tests, antibody-based tests, etc. Among such TB testing procedures available, culture based tests was the largest contributor in the global TB testing market. Culture based TB tests include both solid as well as liquid culture tests that have been most widely accepted due to their relatively high specificity and accuracy than other TB tests available in the global market. However, other TB tests segment that includes IGRA, serological tests, and others is expected to register fastest growth during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020 due to many advantages such as fast result generation, high accuracy, requirement of single visit ,etcRequest a Free Sample Copy of the Report @The global tuberculosis testing market was valued at USD 1,936.1 million in 2013 and is expected to reach USD 2,619.4 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 4.3% from 2014 to 2020. Some of the major driving factors facilitating the growth of this market are increasing incidences of tuberculosis and the rising acceptance of new, innovative, and advanced molecular and rapid culture diagnostic tests worldwide. In addition, increased involvement of some of the worlds leading non-profit healthcare organizations for the development of new TB diagnostic tests would further boost the growth this market. Moreover, the TB diagnostics market is observed to be a propelling as many new product developers and manufacturers are expected to venture into the market with a robust pipeline of testing technologies.Asia Pacific dominated the global tuberculosis testing market in 2013 followed by North America. Key factor responsible for Asia Pacific dominating the global TB testing market is the presence of a vast patient pool, which is growing at a rapid pace due to very high incidence rate of the disease, especially in some of the emerging economies of the region, such as India and China. In contrast, North America has a relatively smaller patient pool with lower disease incidences. However, higher awareness, well developed healthcare infrastructure, rapid acceptance of improved but expensive TB tests and better purchasing power are contributing towards the second highest market share of North America.Read Complete Report @Becton, Dickinson and Company, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd., Hain Lifescience GmbH, bioMerieux SA, Hologic, Inc. QIAGEN, Akonni Biosystems, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Alere, Inc., Cepheid, Epistem, Plc. and Sanofi are some of the major players operating in the global tuberculosis testing market. Among these, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and Hain Lifescience GmbH are the leading players in this market aspiring to introduce novel TB testing technologies in the global market.About MRRSEMRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.Corporate Office State Tower 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207,United States Global Bromine Market : Asia Pacific Demanding Region http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4274 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/bromine-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Global demand for bromine market will reach 483 kilo metric tons (KMT) in 2016, up from 470 KMT in 2015. Demand will be impeded by growing regulation and legislation, especially in the European Union (EU), where the use of certain brominated flame retardants is banned or restricted.Flame retardants will continue to remain the largest application segment, accounting for 203 KMT volume in 2016, a y-o-y increase of 2.8% over 2015. Use of bromine in oil and gas drilling will continue its upward momentum in 2016, growing at 4.3% in terms of volume the fastest among all the application segments.Download Report Sample @The chemicals industry will remain the largest consumer of bromine, accounting for 292 KMT volume in 2016, representing market value worth 1,284 Mn. Use of bromine in the oil and gas sector will also continue to witness steady growth, as clear brine fluids gain traction for drilling purposes. Demand will be offset by sluggish adoption in the electronics industry, as use of brominated flame retardants continues to face stricter regulations. Demand for bromine from electronics sector will witness a growth rate of 2.1% in 2016 over 2015.Browse Complete Report @Asia Pacific will remain the largest market for bromine, representing annual revenues worth US$ 1,087 Mn in 2016, up from 895 Mn in 2015. This is primarily due to expansion of end-use industries such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and electronic in APAC. Latin America will continue to offer growth opportunities to manufacturers, with global demand witnessing a 2.0% volume growth in 2016 over 2015. Demand will face constraints in the mature markets of North America and Western Europe in 2016 as well.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Managed Print Services Market: Cloud-based Deployment to Remain Leading Contributor http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=7859 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/managed-print-services-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com According to TMR, the global managed print services market is expected to reach a valuation of US$31.5 bn by the end of 2016 and further rise to close to US$95 bn by 2024 at a robust CAGR of 14.8% from 2016 to 2024.By deployment, the global managed print services market is segmented into on-premise, cloud-based, and hybrid services. Of these, cloud-based managed print services accounted for a share of around 44% in the global market in 2014, but are expected to hold a majority share in the market by the end of 2024, exhibiting a solid 16.3% CAGR between 2016 and 2024. Hybrid deployment of managed print services is also likely to gain steady demand in the coming years, with a 15.6% CAGR expected for the segment in the 2016-2024 forecast period.Download Research PDF for Technological Insights:The healthcare, education, government, telecom and IT, legal, and BFSI sectors are the leading consumers of managed print services, followed by construction and manufacturing. The steady and consistent rise in the demand for managed print services is illustrated by the high expected CAGR of these segments, with all of the aforementioned expected to exhibit a double-digit CAGR in the 2016-2024 forecast period, said TMRs lead analyst. The government and public sector is likely to remain the leading consumer of managed print services by the end of 2024, with an expected 2024 valuation of US$14.2 bn.Regionally, North America is the leading contributor to the global managed print services market. The strong presence of market leaders such as Xerox Corporation, ARC Document Solutions, and HP has been beneficial for the North America market, since the economic environment in the region is highly conducive to technological innovations, which have helped the managed print services industry remain relevant in the digital age.Environmental Benefits, Improved Data Security Crucial for Widespread Adoption of MPSOne of the key drivers for the global managed print service market is the increasing awareness about the environmental benefits of adopting MPS. Due to the reduced need for dedicated printing hardware, the volume of digital waste is reduced drastically. This is a significant advantage for the managed print services market, as e-waste is already becoming a key concern due to the booming consumer electronics industry.Managed print services providers have also made significant efforts to improve the security of the client data handled during printing. Due to the rising threat of cybercrime, this has become a key driver for the global MPS market. Authentication as well as encryption services are now being used in the managed print services industry to ensure the safety of client data, with players increasingly looking to collaborate with digital security providers.View Report:Increasing Preference for Digital Content Holds Back Demand for Managed Print ServicesOne of the key restraints on the global MPS market is the increasing use of digital rather than physical content. Due to the convenience of being able to save data on the cloud from virtually any modern communication device, paper printing has taken a distinct back seat in the corporate sector and is likely to remain in that position in the coming years. However, the constant need for documents in sectors such as government, education, and law is expected to help the managed print services industry achieve steady growth.Managed print services have become popular primarily among large businesses, whose diverse printing needs can be best served through outsourcing. However, for small and mid-sized enterprises (SME), managed printing may often be more expensive than in-house printing, as the volume of the data is too low to necessitate specialist services. Coming up with a modified cost structure to make managed print services lucrative to SMEs is thus a key opportunity for key market players.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Bismuth Market Worth US$ 226.1 Mn by 2016 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/bismuth-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4398 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The global bismuth market is expected to reach US$ 400.0 Mn expanding at a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period (20162024). Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the largest market for bismuth, with a market share of 46% in overall sales by the end of 2024.Browse Complete Report @Global demand for bismuth is expected to grow at a Y-o-Y growth rate of 4.9% by 2016 end. China is a major consumer, producer, and exporter of bismuth and is anticipated to maintain its dominance in the global market in the near future. The country is estimated to account for 27.0% share of overall bismuth sales by the end of 2016. The increasing use of bismuth oxide in growing manufacturing industries is anticipated to drive consumption in the region. The rapid growth of the automobile end-use industry is expected to drive further market growth.Increasing environmental regulations regarding lead usage in various end-use industries would drive demand for bismuth and bismuth derived compounds. Stringent regulations and initiatives by leading manufacturers in end-use industries to phase out lead production is expected to spur bismuth market growth. Major paints & coatings manufacturers such as BASF SE and PPG Inc. are actively offering bismuth-based products replacing their lead based portfolio, in order to provide environmentally-friendly product offerings.Download Report Sample @The bismuth market in APAC is anticipated to witness higher growth rates due to increasing manufacturing activities in China and India. Demand in Europe is also anticipated to be above average due to stringent lead restricting directives in the region, while demand in North America, Latin America, and MEA is expected to be moderate. Declining lead production due to regulations and declining consumption of lead-acid batteries is anticipated to be a major restricting factor for the global market. The increasing use of bismuth alternatives in pharmaceuticals and alloys is also a major obstacle to market growth.Hunan Jinwang Bismuth Industry Co. Ltd., Hunan Bismuth Co. Ltd., and Nui Phao Mining Company Limited are some of the top producers of bismuth, with a cumulative annual production capacity of 11,000 metric tons.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Stetten am kalten Markt, 10.10.2016 Negotiations between the owners of Opertis GmbH and primion Technology AG have been successfully concluded today. primion will take over Opertis with effect from 10th October 2016.Opertis GmbH, headquartered in the Hessen town of Bad Arolsen develops, produces and sells electronic locking systems. Their solution portfolio, sold under the brand name eLock, covers mechatronic cylinders, as well as the Comfort door lock system, with the corresponding administration software packages eLOCK EM, eLOCK eXpress and eLOCK eXpert.primion Technology AG stresses that is their declared strategy to continue with and to improve the products and solutions from Opertis GmbH, in order to be able to offer their customers and partners an attractive range of products, going forward. We are also very keen to continue the cooperation with the wide network of Opertis Sales Partners in Germany, stated primion CEO, Horst Eckenberger.The integration of the solutions from primion and Opertis will lead to an enhanced solution portfolio and a wider and an improved product offering. There will be some organisational changes at Opertis, in order for the expected synergies to be achieved. The Board is convinced that the integration of Opertis into the primion Group will drive up both company and shareholder value, by enabling the company to better service the growing market for Access control and Security systems. Through this acquisition, primions successful journey towards becoming the European market leader continues in a consistent and systematic way.About primion:The primion group is an internationally operating group of companies, with subsidiaries and regional offices throughout Europe and a widespread international network of System Integration Partners. primion develops, produces and installs Access control and Time recording software and hardware together with systems for comprehensive security management. primion offers tailored security technology and hazard management solutions from standardised components for security-critical environments and infrastructures such as airports, research institutes, laboratories, banks, public buildings, and many more. We are continually expanding our position in the market with our reliable solutions, our innovative products and our top consultancy services across all industries and for all sizes of company and organisation. First class references from around the world as well as our numerous awards and certificates and sought-after international Design Prizes add weight to this claim. Around the world, more than 5,000 customers have placed their confidence in the primion solutions. primion, its subsidiaries primion S.A.S. In France, GET in Belgium and Digitek in Spain as well as System partner companies operating around the world, share the responsibility for sales and of course for the full range of after-sales services. By Mike Rogoway | The Oregonian/OregonLive and Kristian Foden-Vencil | Oregon Public Broadcasting Short school years. Large class sizes. Untreated drug addictions. A ballooning deficit in state pension accounts. What if you could tackle several of Oregon's chronic funding issues in one shot? That's what the backers of Measure 97 have in mind with a one-of-a-kind tax engineered to make large corporations pay the bills for several state programs. They say the $3 billion in new cash expected each year would build up the state by forcing businesses to contribute taxes more equitably. The money doesn't come out of thin air, though, and it may not be just large corporations paying the bills. Consumers across Oregon will wind up paying, too -- though how much, and for what, remains entirely unclear. Utilities, for example, have a legal right to pass along higher costs to their customers. But some academics and economists expect consumers will end up paying more for everything from cable TV to gas and groceries. "I think that's almost certainly the case and I don't think anyone really disagrees with that. The issue is: How much?" said Fred Thompson, a professor of public policy at Willamette University. Because of the way initiative backers wrote the tax, exempting certain businesses while taxing others, some prices may rise more than others. Predictions, though, vary considerably. A study by the nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Office last spring estimated the total cost to a typical Oregon family might be $600 a year in higher prices and, for some kinds of jobs, diminished wage growth. Supporters have countered that prices set nationally are unlikely to change. "It really is a giant step in the dark," Thompson said. "There is no tax anywhere in the world that works like this one." Ben Unger, the former Democratic lawmaker now leading the Yes on 97 campaign, argues the tax is "designed to be a noticeable reinvestment, to restore what's wrong." "And in order to do that," Unger said, "everyone knows we're talking about billions of dollars in reinvestment, not millions." An unusual tax Here's what makes the measure unusual: The initiative creates a 2.5 percent tax that applies to most sales in Oregon above a $25 million annual threshold. Few other states have a gross receipts tax like this, and no one has a tax rate this high. Most sales taxes, which are similar to a gross receipts tax, exempt wholesale trades, like when a grocery store purchases beer from a distributor. Measure 97 has no such exemption, so that could create a "pyramiding" effect, with new taxes piled atop one another at each level of the supply chain -- potentially triggering price hikes greater than the 2.5 percent tax. A conventional sales tax charges the tax at the cash register, and consumers see it every time they make a purchase. Measure 97 embeds the tax in the cost of the product, so it's not apparent how much -- if any -- of the added cost retailers pass on to consumers. Sales taxes generally exempt food from taxation. Measure 97 does not, though its supporters insist grocers would not pass their higher taxes to consumers. Some businesses are exempt from the tax -- partnerships, for example, and companies organized for "public benefit." About this series The Oregonian/OregonLive and Oregon Public Broadcasting have teamed up to examine Measure 97, a controversial proposal on the November ballot that would raise $3 billion a year by increasing taxes on certain large corporations. : A look at the tortured tax road -- and decades of budget choices -- that have Oregon voters staring at Measure 97's politically toxic fight. : For some local businesses that sell in high volumes, but have low profit margins, the new tax could be very painful. Today : Consumers across Oregon will chip in for Measure 97, too. But precisely how much remains a mystery. If two companies in the same industry are taxed at different rates, what happens to prices? WinCo would not pay the tax, for example, but Safeway, Fred Meyer, Walmart and Costco all would. So if WinCo keeps its prices fixed, does that mean Fred Meyer must absorb the cost of the tax to remain competitive? Or does it mean that Fred Meyer raises prices to cover its higher costs and WinCo matches, taking a higher profit? At this point, Thompson said, the answers are theoretical. He said academics would love to study Measure 97 in action, but warns consumers may not be pleased. "I really find it intellectually exciting," said Thompson, who said he will be voting against the tax. "I just wish these exciting experiments were carried out somewhere else, rather than where I live." Oregonians split Polls show Oregonians closely split on the measure as they weigh the benefits of boosting state support for schools and other key services against the initiative's implications for businesses, and its impact on pricing. Though lawmakers will face pressure to spend the new money as directed, that's not guaranteed. To Bobbi Harrold Frost, a dairy farmer in Creswell, Measure 97 is a sales tax in disguise. She's opposing it, worried the tax would compound down the supply chain and eat into her family's budget. "It's like being able to go and visit my husband's family in Utah at the holidays," Harrold Frost said. "That's travel money. That's plane-ticket money." Monmouth retiree Patty Taylor-Dutcher is all in, lamenting the current state of Oregon schools. "I'm just such a believer in education, because I've seen the benefits of education among my own family," she said. "And I've seen the sad outcomes when kids aren't well educated and aren't prepared for any jobs." Her husband, Don Dutcher, is wary of what the measure would mean for prices. But he said he's leaning toward supporting it, even if he's not happy about it. "I suspect deep down that I will support the measure. But I'm going to be thinking of every reason why I shouldn't," he said, right up until he marks his ballot. Opponents are quick to assert consumers will pay more under Measure 97 -- tossing out numbers as high as a 6 percent spike in grocery prices. It's all guesswork, though, and the measure's backers scoff at the notion of any price hike at all. The Yes on 97 campaign points to newspaper ads that show groceries advertising the same prices across states, and say big retailers aren't likely to create a separate pricing structure just for Oregon and won't raise prices in the rest of the country to offset a new tax in a relatively small state. "They set their prices nationally so I doubt it's really going to have an impact on the consumers," agrees Roberta Mann, a tax law professor at the University of Oregon who supports the measure. She testified about the initiative's impact before a citizen commission that voted narrowly to support Measure 97. Pressed on the measure's benefits, backers will talk only in general terms. How many more school days each year? How many fewer kids in the average class? Supporters won't even guess. But they insist families will enjoy real, tangible benefits. "They might notice that their kids are in school a bit more and they might notice they can reach the teacher a little bit more readily because the teacher isn't trying to juggle 35 to 45 kids in the classroom," said Tonia Hunt, executive director, Children First for Oregon. "They might notice that they can get into the doctor's office for preventive care, not just for emergency care." Utility hikes Nothing about Measure 97 is undisputed. Take the utility taxes: Oregon law allows a regulated utility like Portland General Electric to pass along its costs to customers. In a filing with Oregon's utility commission, the utility says it plans to do that if Measure 97 wins -- passing along not only the cost of the tax, but also added costs from the "pyramiding" effects as suppliers and contractors hike their own prices. By the utility's reckoning, that works out to a 3 to 4 percent increase altogether -- $30 a year for a typical electric customer. Of course, the utility has an incentive to make its estimate as high as possible, leaving it to regulators to deny an increase if they find it unjustified. Still, with taxes driving up costs, it might seem clear that families will pay for that on their electric bills. Not so, Measure 97 supporters insist. The initiative's backers say they will ask regulators to offset every penny of the added costs. Regulators can do that, supporters of the measure say, by collecting deferred taxes they feel utilities should already pay. Some of the measure's backers, including Gov. Kate Brown, say it should be obvious to voters that they will bear some of the initiative's costs. Mann acknowledged companies with significant market power and little competition, like Comcast, would probably pass along at least a portion of the cost. The state study of the initiative's impacts found the retail and wholesale sectors would bear the biggest impacts from the tax hike, more than $1.1 billion a year. Wholesale taxes alone would increase nearly sevenfold, adding a major new cost to the supply chain for products sold in Oregon. "It will work its way to consumers," Mann. "The pyramiding issue is that it just multiplies as it works its way to consumers." Still, Mann said, businesses in Oregon pay relatively low taxes. She said she would have structured the initiative differently but will vote for Measure 97 in the absence of an alternative. "It's worth a try because these are corporations that are getting away without paying taxes, or paying a low, low amount of taxes," Mann said. Correction: This article has been corrected to note that Safeway is subject to Measure 97's taxes. The original version of the article stated, correctly, that Safeway is subject to the tax. Safeway then issued a statement that it was exempt. The grocer now says its statement was incorrect, and that it is not exempt from the tax. -- Mike Rogoway mrogoway@oregonian.com 503-294-7699 @rogoway -- Kristian Foden-Vencil 503 293 1977 The prosecution's key witness in a 2011 Gladstone murder-for-hire plot denied claims Thursday that he lied when testifying against a former police sergeant accused in the death of his wife. The testimony came as defense attorneys for Sgt. Lynn Edward Benton rested in the Clackamas County case. Closing arguments are set for Friday, suggesting the end is near for a trial now in its fifth week. Travis Layman, a Multnomah County inmate, said he never discussed the case against Benton with an inmate in a neighboring cell. That inmate, Aaron Schaffer, had accused Layman of lying on the witness stand. Schaffer also said Layman told him he was cooperating with prosecutors to cut his sentence related to a 2014 armed home invasion robbery in Portland. Layman on Thursday denied claims that he told Schaffer last month that he was a state's witness in Benton's trial, had signed a cooperation agreement with Clackamas County prosecutors or that a third inmate gave Layman the idea to tell investigators that Benton had used fentanyl in the past to try to kill his wife. The third inmate, Michael Carducci, also testified and denied Schaffer's claims, calling them "ridiculous" and "absolutely false." Benton, 54, faces aggravated murder and other charges in the May 2011 death of his 54-year-old wife, Debbie Higbee Benton, who was found shot, beaten and strangled at her Gladstone beauty shop. Layman testified Benton, while they were in jail together, confessed to his role in the murder plot. Layman, Carducci and Benton were once all housed in the same Multnomah County jail unit. Carducci said he brought up Benton with Layman once while talking about the time he threw coffee at the former sergeant during an argument over a cup. "There was no reason for (Benton) to come up," Carducci said. "He just wasn't an active player in my life." Schaffer testified Tuesday that he saw Layman speak to Carducci in September. Afterward, Schaffer said, Layman returned to his cell and told Schaffer that Carducci was "a genius" who told him to tell investigators about Benton and fentanyl. Benton is also accused of hiring his friend, Susan Campbell, and her son, Jason Jaynes, to kill his wife. Campbell, 58, and Jaynes, 36, also face aggravated murder charges in Higbee Benton's death. They're being tried separately from Benton. Layman testified last month that Benton had confessed to offering Campbell and Jaynes money to kill his wife when both were held in the Multnomah County Jail. Layman said Benton admitted that Campbell shot Higbee Benton and Jaynes later beat her to death in Higbee Benton's beauty salon in May 2011. Layman also testified Benton told him of a past attempt to kill Higbee Benton that involved trying to get her to overdose on prescription fentanyl patches, but didn't know when. Layman, Carducci and Schaffer all stayed in neighboring cells in protective custody for nearly a week early last month, said Scott Sudaisar, an Oregon State Police detective and one of the lead investigators in the murder case. Carducci and Layman were in the same unit, but on opposite levels, for two days in March 2015 and again on opposite levels in June 2015. Layman first mentioned fentanyl being used by Benton during an interview with investigators in July 2015, Sudaisar said. Carducci said he didn't talk to Layman until April 2016. He said he and Layman were "single-serving friends," who would likely only associate in jail. Carducci, who is being held for probation violations related to a 2014 harassment conviction and a fourth-degree assault conviction in 2015, testified that he found out Layman was testifying via a letter Layman sent to him in late September. Carducci said Layman never mentioned his involvement with the case in person. If he had, Carducci said he would have stopped talking to him. He said being a state's witness while in jail or prison had negative consequences and claimed that him being in the courtroom that day "creates problems" for him. Defense attorney Dianna Gentry read a portion of Layman's cooperation agreement during cross-examination. It said Layman wasn't allowed to discuss the agreement or his involvement in the case without permission from the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office. Layman said he didn't have permission before sending the letter. "I didn't know that I couldn't tell anybody in the world I was testifying and I knew it was going to be all over the news and everyone was going to keep asking me about it," he said. Layman said he sent the letter before testifying. He said prosecutors haven't told him he violated their agreement. Layman also said he told at least two other inmates and wrote letters to his cousin and others informing them he was testifying. Under questioning from Senior Deputy District Attorney John Wentworth, Layman said he told other inmates because Wentworth named him repeatedly during opening statements Sept. 14. Layman said he wanted to head off retaliation. "I've had feces and (urine) thrown on me over this and I've been threatened to have it thrown on me before," Layman said. "So I wanted to get out ahead of it and say this is what I'm doing and if you have a problem, don't throw feces and (urine) on me." Also on Thursday, prosecutors played video clips of investigators' interviews with Layman. In one portion, Layman claimed Benton said investigators never found the weapon that killed Higbee Benton -- even though it was in plain sight at the salon. According to Layman, Benton claimed he didn't think Layman was a "snitch," but felt he couldn't go into specifics about the weapon because he wouldn't be able to "explain it away." -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com 503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey By Patty Torchia Looking to explore new cooking horizons beyond what you find at your neighborhood grocery store? In the Portland metro area, adventurous home cooks have a nice selection specialty stores offering worldly flavors from Asia, the Middle East and the Old World. Here's a look at three stand-out international groceries that will give your cooking some global flair. World Foods, from the land to the table. When the Lebanese couple John and Mirna Attar decided to open a specialty grocery store in Portland they didn't know anything about the business. "They just had a contagious passion for food that attracted a lot of customers," explains Adam Krants, the general manager of World Foods. The first World Foods opened in Southwest Portland in 2004. Ten years later, a second location opened in the Pearl District with a specific goal: bringing people together and using food as the conduit for community. "We sell items that nobody else sells in Portland," Krants says. "We have more than 900 chocolates, candies, different olive oils, 630 type of cheese, vinegars and rare spices from all over the world." The produce department is predominantly organic. "We partner with farmers throughout the state, some of them available only at our store," Krants says. A specialized deli offers fresh food and many Lebanese dishes. Wine lovers can choose from more than 1,000 wines and a coffee bar serves locally roasted coffee, beer and wine. 9845 S.W. Barbur Blvd.; 503-244-0670. 830 N.W. Everett St., 503-802-0755 Uwajimaya: From Asia with love Salmon with Bok Choy in Parchment Paper. Teryaki Beef with Suomono Salad. Ahi Tuna Sushi with Citriburst Finger Limes. Do any of those dishes sound enticing? To make them, all you need is Uwajimaya. And, perhaps, a dictionary. The Beaverton specialty grocery store carries more than 30,000 items from Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. It's one of the 4 grocery stores built by the Japanese family Moriguchi. In 1928, Fujimatsu Moriguchi started this business selling homemade fishcakes from the back of his track in Tacoma, Washington. "We give people the opportunity to learn something new from the Middle East" says Warren Huch, assistant store director. "Here we show the difference within Asian cultures." The deli department offers a variety of ready-to-eat Asian foods, all made with zero trans-fat oil. "We are known for having the best seafood in the Northwest," Huch says. Uwajimaya's gift department has a large selection of Asian cooking tools and beauty products. Customers will also find an outpost of Kinokuniya Bookstore, Japan's largest chain of bookstores, and a recently opened restaurant, Ramen Ryoma. 10500 S.W. Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy., Beaverton; 503-643-4512 Edelweiss: A bit of Europe in Oregon. If you want handcrafted ingredients in the European tradition, Edelweiss Sausage & Delicatessen has you covered, with 120 different types of sausage, 60 cheeses, luncheon meats, smoked hams, chops, dry cured salamis, and different kind of mortadella. The family-owned business has been operating in Portland since 1981, specializing in imported goods from Germany and other European countries. "We are unique," says Tony Baier, Edelweiss' owner. "We are small, but able to make more than hundred products by ourselves." Since almost every sausage and meat product is handmade onsite, Edelweiss is able to offer lower prices. "Our bread is produced in Germany and partially cooked. Once it comes over here we finish the job," Baier explains. There are many European wines and Bavarian beers, but what really gives Edelweiss the original German hallmark is one of the largest beer steins in the world - it's four feet tall and holds more than eight gallons of beer. From the recently upgraded kitchen you can get schnitzel and other different traditional German dishes. "We don't want to get bigger," Baier says. "Our goal is keep everything fresh and make our customers feeling at home." 3119 S.E. 12th Ave., Portland; 503-238-4411. -- Patty Torchia is an Italian journalist currently living in Portland. Headwaters, the ambitious new restaurant by Vitaly Paley in the grand, old Heathman Restaurant space, opens Friday, October 14, at 5 p.m. for dinner. A monumental remodel is coming to a close and the kitchen and wait staff of around 100 has been groomed, with the guidance of Paley (Paley's Place, Imperial), a James Beard Award-winning chef; executive chef Ken Norris (Riffle) and general manager Garrett Peck (Imperial, Portland Penny Diner). The pieces have been falling into place since spring, when the complete gutting and rebuilding of the Heathman space began. Jeff McCarthy (KitchenCru) is pastry chef, Brandy Feit (protege of Jeffrey Morgenthaler) is bar manager and Thomas Hebenstreit is general manager and wine director. The now bright, modern space features wood floors, moss green banquets, exposed concrete columns and commissioned artwork made of cedar that invokes the movement of water. Wait staff will wear shirts in shades of pink, light blue and sage green. See below for menu highlights. Expect a cornucopia of the Pacific Northwest's freshest ingredients, harvested from the ocean and land. The Sea Bar will have raw, smoked and kippered offerings. With a tip of the hat to the French cooking that the Heathman Restaurant was famous for under James Beard Award winners Greg Higgins and Philippe Boulot, the Headwaters menu looks to push forward with modern flair and Russian influence to reflect Paley's heritage. That heritage is heavy on putting the concept of family front and center. Yes, there's the sour cream cake (steopka) recipe borrowed from Paley's grandmother that will be served at the Heathman's new Russian Tea Service starting next month. And, one will notice pennies perched atop baseboards throughout the restaurant (a good luck tradition insisted upon by Paley's mother). The preview dinner Wednesday night resembled a family reunion at times. Paley excitedly embraced Philippe Boulot, who is happy for his friend. "The good thing with Vitaly is he wants to succeed and he's not greedy," says Boulot. "Other restaurateurs are so greedy. Vito wants to have a good restaurant. So, he's going to do everything he can to make it happen, which is definitely a different mindset." Boulot reminisced about several Headwaters staff members that used to work for him at the Heathman, including general manager Garrett Peck. Steven Sill, a waiter hired by Peck at the Heathman and now at Headwaters, bustled about, attending to guests' needs. He says he's thrilled to be working breakfast and lunch for once, something Peck suggested so that Sill could be with his daughter at home after school. This familiarity is by design. Paley says his employees' experience level was less important to him than their willingness to grow. "They need to have personal perseverance and good character and know what it's like to work with people, both as their colleagues as well as the customers that are coming to dine here." And if Paley's wish comes true, people who eat at Headwaters will feel the love, due to the precise way the dishes have been conceived. While developing the menu, Paley says his team brainstormed a list of guiding ideas, including: be creative and crave-worthy; simple and approachable yet complex; genuine; with purpose; balance of sweet, salty, sour and spicy; lighthearted and playful yet serious and confident; generous. On that last thought: "We're not talking a big plate of food, but the dish has to show some generosity of spirit," Paley explains. "We want to evoke emotions with scent and taste. When you put something in your mouth and all of a sudden you have a flashback to your past because it reminds you of something---that's what we're after, that emotional connection to the past. If we can make that little connection, we've achieved our job." If you go 1001 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205 Although dinner service starts Oct. 14 at 5 p.m., lunch service starts Oct. 17 and brunch service starts Oct. 22. Breakfast service start has not been determined. After then, expect Headwaters to be open daily, for breakfast Monday through Friday 6:30 to 11 a.m., for lunch Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., for dinner Sunday through Thursday 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m., brunch Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Happy hour will be Monday through Friday 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 3 to 6 p.m. Menu highlights Dinner Dockside Chowder, bacon, tarragon, pernod Crab Luigi, mixed lettuce, bayonne ham, louie dressing Albacore + Green Bean Salad, pickled red onion, toast crumbs Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad, lemon, hazelnuts, pecorino Spit-Roasted Cauliflower, broccoli sauce, vadouvan Seafood Cassoulet, heirloom beans barigoule Crispy Fries, whole grain mustard aioli Potato + Turnip Tartiflette, bacon, onion, morbier Fennel Gratin, bread crumbs, bottarga Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, sherry vinaigrette Clams Casino Royale, bacon, spicy bread crumbs Ligurian Style Stuffed Mussels, mortadella, crushed tomatoes, olive oil Baked Oysters Roasted Sea Creatures (by the pound): Sea Bass, Bone-in Halibut, Spot Prawns Seafood According to the French En Papillote, black cod, fall vegetable ratatouille, saffron vin blanc sauce Bonne femme, petrale sole, mushrooms duxelles, sea urchin beurre fondue Armoricaine, dungeness crab stuffed lobster, harissa, lobster roe creme fraiche Entrees Seared King Salmon, squid carbonara, guanciale, pea tendrils Half Dungeness Crab, shishito peppers, crab fat cider jus Diver Scallops, hazelnut romesco, wilted spinach Rotisserie Chicken, roasted lemon, herbs Bucatini, olives, capers, preserved lemon Duck a l'orange, fall fruit & vegetable hash, blood orange gastrique New York Strip, smoked mushrooms, sauce bordelaise Headwaters Burger, greens, white cheddar, pickles Braised Pork Shank, cabbage, chanterelles, shrimp & grits Sea Bar (Crudo, Ceviche & Tartare) King Fish + Polynesian flavors Diver Scallops + truffle vinaigrette + shaved foie gras Raw Clam Chowder Geoduck + preserved lemon Sea Urchin + tomato water shot Sea Bass + lobster roe vinaigrette Smoked & Kippered, served with matzo crackers and smoked herring schmear Salmon, beet cured Sturgeon, pastrami Salmon, mustard, kippered Sablefish, smoked Caviar Buterbrodi Golden Brook Trout House-cured King Salmon Oysters & Clams, served with house rye, sweet butter and variety of sauces Colville Bay Island Creek French Kiss Daisy Bay Dosewallips Composed Oyster, bloody mary + fresh horseradish Composed Oyster, yellowtail ceviche Other sea creatures Cherrystone Clams King Crab legs Shrimp 1/2 Lobster Dungeness Crab Dessert Pistachio Financier, saffron cremeux, ginger milk crumbs, yogurt coulis Gingerbread Baba, rum glazed hasselback pear, butter pecan ice cream Pumpkin Semifreddo, espresso cake, spiced meringue Seasonal Fruit Board - citrus, half-candied cara cara, grapefruit flan, funnel cakes, blood orange sorbet "Sexual Chocolate", devil's food, passionfruit, hazelnut flake, ice cream Ice Cream & Sorbet Scoop, toast, chocolate, coconut lime Lunch Dockside Chowder, bacon, tarragon, pernod Butternut Squash + Pear Bisque, pear relish Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad, lemon, hazelnuts, pecorino Crab Luigi, mixed lettuce, bayonne ham, louie dressing Chopped Salad, Asian pear, balsamic vinaigrette Albacore + Green Bean Salad, pickled red onion, toast crumbs Headwaters Burger, greens, white cheddar, pickles Chicken Paillard, kale, caesar dressing Spit-Roasted Cauliflower, broccoli sauce, vadouvan Seared King Salmon, fall ratatouille, mussel jus Flatbreads According to the French Tarte Flambee, clams, bacon, creme fraiche Socca, chickpea pancake, harissa, feta, winter squash, honey Le Grec, rotisserie chicken, fries, cucumber yogurt Brunch Headwaters yogurt parfait, granola & berries Ajurli Khachapuri, Georgia cheese bread with a baked egg Chocolate Cinnamon Babka French Toast, berry butter Smoked Salmon Hash, shallots, fried eggs Duck Hash, fall vegetables, fried eggs Crab Luigi, mixed lettuce, bayonne ham, louie dressing Albacore + Green Bean Salad, toast crumbs, pickled red onion Dungeness Crab + Fideo Stir Fry, fried egg NW Hangtown Fry, bacon, oysters, scrambled eggs Apple Dutch Baby, powdered sugar, maple syrup Headwaters Burger, greens, white cheddar, pickles Knuckle Sandwich, lobster, tarragon aioli, potato roll Waffles Schuck Norris Style, yeasted, maple syrup Eggs According to the French Frisee aux Lardons, savory custard, gruyere Oeufs de Pecheur, fisherman's style poached eggs, mussels, tarragon cream, toast Oeuf Mollet Florentine, soft boiled egg, spinach, Mornay sauce, toast Cocktails Late for Dinner: duck confit Dickel Rye whiskey, spiced orange tea syrup, bitters, big cube Rained Out: Mezcal Espadin, hopped liqueur, lime, sugar cane syrup, smoked salt Heel Clicker: Bulleit bourbon, cachaca, bonal, benedictine, bitters Claim to Fame: Cognac, amaro, cherry bark bitters, lemon, lime, sugar, soda Heathman Sour: Macchu Pisco, fino sherry, blood orange, thyme, egg white, lavender Must Go On: New Deal Old Tom Gin, yellow chartreuse, honey, grapefruit, sparkling rose Sweater Puppies: Starka, Calvados, Cardamaro, apple butter KVASS Punch (our nod to 'The Aloha Room'): Spiced and dark rums, Russian 'bread wine', Curacao, lime, pink peppercorn Cocktails on Tap Boulevardier: Bourbon, bitter orange liqueur, sweet vermouth, on a rock Chrysanthemum: French vermouth, Benedictine, St. George Absinthe ITT Tech fallout Oregon students are still eft in the cold after the collapse of for-profit giant ITT Tech Portland Community College may set up a new nursing program specifically to accommodate hundreds of students affected by ITT Tech's closure in September. Oregon's Higher Education Coordinating Commission took the unusual step of "proactively" approving an associate's of applied science degree in nursing at PCC during a meeting Thursday in Salem despite the fact the program is still being developed. Ben Cannon, the agency's executive director, said the community college was one of many studying whether it could accommodate the hundreds of nursing students left hanging by the ITT closure. The Indiana-based for-profit school shuttered all 138 campuses across the country on Sept. 6 after nearly 50 years of operation. The closure was widely expected followed the announcement from federal education officials that ITT Tech could not enroll new students who accept federal financial aid. The closure affected more than 35,000 students across the country. Among them were 555 Oregon students, including 275 enrolled in the Portland nursing program. Cannon said the agency awarded PCC a $50,000 grant to study whether it could feasibly add the nursing students. The community college would need approval from its regional accrediting body as well. Under the grant agreement, the college is required to submit a plan by Dec. 1 to the state breaking down how it would accept transfer credits from the students and set up the short-term program. In a statement, Cannon said the state was encouraged by the efforts by Oregon colleges to help ITT Tech students. "We have been greatly heartened by the spirit of commitment and creativity of PCC and of all parties and institutions involved to support Oregon students, and we look forward to the results of PCC's assessment," he said. Cannon said HECC and PCC may ask the state for emergency relief later this year to help pay for startup costs, which he said could be upward of $1 million. ITT Tech's downfall isn't an anomaly in the for-profit higher education world. The accrediting agency tasked with overseeing ITT Tech also faces intense federal scrutiny. Many community colleges and four-year schools, such as Oregon Tech, have said they wouldn't accept transfer credits from ITT Tech in part due to its beleaguered accreditor, The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. But in mid-September, federal education officials urged state agencies to do what they can to accommodate students affected by the for-profit giant's closure. One principal issue in Oregon community colleges was a lack of capacity in existing programs to absorb the 275 nursing students. PCC hopes to set up an independent program to help some of those students who were close to graduating. PCC has 142 students in the nursing program at its Sylvania campus, which prepares students to be registered nurses, and has a separate nursing assistant's program at its Central Eastside training center. Elizabeth Lundy, PCC's vice president of academic affairs, said January is the likely start date if the school is successfully able to help the ITT exiles. She told HECC that further delay isn't an option. "I think we would lose significant number of students who would otherwise be interested," Lundy said. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Coos Bay in Coos County Officials have not figured out what caused a mysterious illness in Coos Bay. (The Oregonian/OregonLive) It was probably not the narcotic. Coos Bay deputies who experienced light-headedness, nausea and euphoria after being in a house with an elderly woman who uses Fentanyl patches have recovered, but police still don't know what caused their symptoms. They suspected it was the Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller, but the head of the Oregon Poison Center in Portland, Dr. Zane Horowitz, ruled that out. "Unless they stuck them on their skin and left them there, there would be no way they would be exposed to that," Horowitz said. "Something happened, but blaming it on the Fentanyl is not plausible." A deputy responded Monday afternoon to call from a caregiver who reported that seven or eight vandals were trying to take the roof off her vehicle. The woman, 52, cares for a 78-year-old woman who uses Fentanyl patches. The deputy found nothing. The caregiver called back early the next morning, reporting the same thing. He called a colleague with a suitable car to take her to Coos Bay Hospital on a mental hold. After that the deputies experienced the symptoms. The elderly woman was also taken to the hospital. A haz-mat team visited the house but found nothing suspicious. And so the mystery continues though police are still investigating, said Sgt. Patrick Downing, spokesman for the Coos Bay Sheriff's Office. -- Lynne Terry 1trump.JPG Donald Trump prepares for an appearance on "Days of Our Lives" in 2005 with actress Arianne Zucker, accompanied by "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush. (Stephen Battaglio/Los Angeles Times) By Leonard Pitts, Jr. Look, I'm a guy, all right? So I've spent a lot of time doing guy things in guy places: barbershops, locker rooms, even men's prisons. Back during my music critic days, I hung out backstage with a veritable army of rock lords and soul men. But I have never, not ever, not once, heard a man speak the way Donald Trump and Billy Bush do in that 2005 outtake from "Access Hollywood" that was unearthed Friday by The Washington Post. You've seen it, I've seen it, alien creatures in Alpha Centauri have seen it, the astounding clip that required the august New York Times to use the f-bomb and occasioned a lively live debate on CNN over repetition of a certain feline synonym for the female genitalia. In the clip, Trump speaks with casual crudity about his propensity for sexual assault, about how he kisses women without permission as though their bodies were his entitlement, how he grabs them by the pudenda like, one assumes, grabbing one's dog by the leash, one's bag by the handle or otherwise taking control of one's property. "And when you're a star," he says, "they let you do it. You can do anything." All while Bush is giggling dementedly along, playing Milhouse to Trump's Bart Simpson - except that Bart has a better moral compass and Milhouse a sturdier backbone. A day later, CNN reported on a 2004 radio interview in which Howard Stern wonders if it's OK to call Trump's daughter Ivanka "a piece of a--," and Trump says, wistfully, "yeah." It's hard for me to conceive of any father who wouldn't want to smash the face of the man who described his daughter thus, but Trump goes with it. His defense to all of this, echoed by his coterie of sycophants, is that boys will be boys. It's just "locker room" talk, they say. It ought not be news to anyone by now that the Republican nominee for president is a sentient tower of excrement in a red power tie. But forgive me if, as a guy, I take particular offense at his attempt to conscript me and mine as conspirators in his loathsomeness, to make us guys human shields for his repugnant juvenility. Don't get me wrong. I claim no sainthood for my gender. We are not strangers to raunch. And I'm sure your average server at Hooters could tell tales of male misbehavior that could curdle your milk. But nonchalantly boasting about sexual assault? Casually concurring with some professional letch who demeans your very own daughter to your very own face? Don't put that on us. There is nothing inherently male about that. No, that behavior reflects the stunted emotional maturity of a then-59-year-old frat boy, a pampered rich kid who never grew up. And how telling is it that a raft of Republicans, headlined by Sen. John McCain and House Speaker Paul Ryan, has withdrawn support for their nominee since the video was released? They were able to stand with him through his bigotry, his Islamophobia, his bullying, his misogyny, his mockery of a disabled man, his endorsement of violence, his manifest ignorance and his general noxiousness, but boasting of sexual assault was the deal breaker? Why? Of course, those GOP leaders are all profiles in courage by comparison with the one in three American voters who still, astonishingly, consider this piece of scum worthy of the Oval Office. Fine. That's their right, and democracy requires no IQ test. But let them not rationalize Trump's godawfulness by retreating into the fiction that this is just How Men Are. Donald Trump is no man. He's just a really poor excuse for one. Readers can write to Leonard Pitts at lpitts@miamiherald.com (c) 2016, The Miami Herald This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate We all have dreams. Some are fulfilled while many go unfilled. However, for Tim Middleton, the dream has become reality as he and Cheryl Roggenbuck have found a location for Underwater Antics scuba sales, service and training at 639 W. Isabella Road (M-20). Ive wanted to run my own scuba shop for years, Middleton said. After I first got certified I would go to the local scuba shop and drink in the smell of neoprene when I first entered the door, it was like magic. Almost two decades later I am opening the door to my own shop and the smell of neoprene is still magic. Originally incorporated in 2007, Underwater Antics is an official National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) dive scuba shop committed to training scuba divers at a fun and safe pace. Recently Middleton and Roggenbuck found a brick and mortar location in the building that formerly housed Mullins Restaurant. The building also houses a complementary business, Great Lakes Underground, a full rock and mineral section that caters to all ages. Now we have people starting to rock collect underwater, which we will be offering in the future to tie the two together, Middleton said. Its a romp through earth and ocean sciences both. But, scuba diving is the main attraction and its those dive trips that captivates divers and brings excitement and adventure to diving. The majority of those trips take divers around Michigan to places like Higgins Lake, shore dives in Traverse City or Petoskey, or a trip to Munising to view shipwrecks. The Great Lakes, in my opinion, has the best shipwrecks in the world. A lot of the wrecks look like they just went down yesterday, Roggenbuck said. Plans are underway for a dive at Cooper River, South Carolina, on April 14-16, 2017, to search for Megalodon shark teeth and fossils. Also, plans are formulating for a trip to Bonaire, an island municipality of the Netherlands, and one of the top dive destinations in the Caribbean. Mostly, we dive wherever we can, whenever we can, Middleton said. If divers are searching for a place or people to dive with we have a divemaster in the water almost every week creating dive opportunities for all levels of divers in numerous locales. Diving also evokes enthusiasm and joy for children. Kids are the best part of what we get to do. Whether its rocks and minerals or scuba, we get to see the lights turn on in their eyes and watch them develop an interest in the world around them. It takes them from behind the video game/pc screen and brings them outside into a whole new world, Middleton said. To prepare divers for trips, Underwater Antics offers scuba classes from introductory scuba and snorkeling up to certification to become an instructor. Divers can also can take advantage of a full array of first aid/CPR, AED and emergency oxygen administration classes suitable for any level of responder from day care workers to dive professionals. We have a great team in place that takes pride in staying committed to our students and customers after the certification class is over. We really strive to keep divers diving, Middleton said. This winter, Underwater Antics will be offering an ice diving class along with a water fitness class directly aimed at divers who wish to improve their water skills and maintain their general scuba fitness level. The scuba shop offers training, regulator service and repair, cylinder testing and inspection, suit repair, and bank both air and nitrox for on-the-spot fills. For those interested in paintball, Underwater Antics will fill their cylinders. We offer, Try Scuba, Roggenbuck said. So, if someone is interested in scuba, but not sure they are ready to take the full blown course, for a small fee, well take them into the pool, give them a little bit of instruction and let them try it. Divers may visit Underwater Antics: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 4:30 - 8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.; and closed on Wednesday. To contact Underwater Antics, call (989) 832-4149, or visit its Facebook page or websites: uwantics.com or greatlakesunderground.com In 2011 I collaborated with John McLaughlin Williams on a two part feature about the composer and pianist Philippa Schuyler, who is seen above on the cover of a 1962 edition of Sepia magazine . The firstarticletold her life story, while inher Nine Little Pieces for piano were analysed by John using a recording he very generously made especially for the blog - listen via YouTube below.Philippa Schuyler was the scion of an interracial marriage. Her father, George Schuyler, was a renowned and controversial black journalist, and her mother, Josephine Cogdell, was a blond, blue-eyed Texan heiress. Philippa rose to prominence as both a composer and pianist, and her compositions were performed by the Chicago and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras and the New York Philharmonic. But in the early 1960s her career stalled and she died in 1967 at the age of 36 when the US military helicopter in which she was a passenger inexplicably crashed in Vietnam. As a result of our articles the BBC broadcast a radio programme about Philippa titledin which John participated and which used his piano recordings.In the five years that have passed since the twofeatures and the BBC programme appeared great strides have been made towards giving women musicians the equality that is rightly due to them. But that equality has brought a new inequality, with women musicians of colour still not being given their fair share of opportunities and critical attention. It is no credit to classical music that the appointment of a few white women to prestigious positions in a repressive music establishment has been hailed as the end of decades of institutionalised, deep-rooted and continuing discrimination Recently John McLaughlin Williams revisited our collaboration on Facebook, and this prompted a response from the black American composer and conductor Kevin Scott which is published below. In 2011 I wrote that the apparently insurmountable problem to assessing Philippa Schuyler's merit as a musician is that there are no commercial recordings of her as pianist or composer, and there are no published scores of her orchestral works. Kevin Scott's assessment of her orchestral music is an important step towards making the commercial recording which will finally bring her music to the audience it doubtless deserves. Thearticles about Philippa continue to attract a very large readership, and they are one of the projects that I am most proud of. If Kevin's advocacy results in a recording, I will at last be able to carry out my oft-repeated threat to retire the blog with my work done. Here is Kevin Scott's commentary on Philippa Schuyler's music. Record companies and crowdfunders are you listening? I am one of the few musicians who has reviewed most of Philippa Duke Schuyler's orchestral music. Suffice it to say, it would fill one CD comfortably. What is the music like? In her brief lifespan she composed a significant number of works, all of which were heard during her lifetime. All of the compositions, save Manhattan Nocturne, reside in the Arthur Schomburg branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem. The works are: Three Short Pieces (ca. 1939 - one movement for brass, one for strings and one for chamber orchestra) Manhattan Nocturne (1942; orchestrated from her piano piece - the score resides at Syracuse University) Rumpelstiltskin (Scherzo for Orchestra)(1944) Sleepy Hollow Sketches (Two pieces for Orchestra)(1946) The Nile Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra (Two versions: first version a one-movement concert piece, date unknown and never performed, second version an expanded four-movement concerto premiered in Egypt around 1965) The CD could feature both versions of the Nile Fantasy (1st version ca. 15 minutes, 2nd version ca. 22-25 minutes) in addition to all the other works whose total time is approximately 33-35 minutes. With the exception of her setting of excerpts from T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom for recitant and piano (Similar to Strauss' Enoch Arden), all works between 1946 and the mid-1960s are unfinished and in such a state that they can't be reconstructed (Example - her setting of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for chorus and orchestra barely lasts some thirteen to twenty measures in full score, unless complete sketches abound in another box of her music either at NYPL Schomburg or Syracuse University). "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", on the other hand, can be orchestrated, although the music serves more as an atmospheric accompaniment to Lawrence's prose, as one critic likened the music to Bartok, so anyone who attempts to orchestrate Schuyler's setting would have to take many things into consideration. One of the works that fascinated Philippa the pianist was Charles Tomlinson Griffes' thorny, expressionistic piano sonata which may play a significant role in her later compositions, both finished and incomplete. It was my goal back in the 1980s, and again around the late 1990s or early part of this century, to record the entire corpus of Schuyler's completed orchestral works. I had tried to interest Naxos to include her in their American Classics series, and almost had a deal to record the music in Belarus which fell through. To date I have not returned to this music, so when John McLaughlin Williams took an interest in it, I informed him of what the music is like and figured, since his connections are far more solid than mine are at present, that he could get a hold of the music and record it himself. I should note that I believe Schuyler's executrix is no longer with us, and that John or myself should contact Kathy Talalay, who has seen all of Schuyler's music at Schomburg. BLOOMINGTON When Cindy Stephenson couldn't lift her arms above her shoulders following surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer, "I thought that was just as it was going to be." "Your body changes after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy," she said. "I thought that (limited range of motion) was just part of being a cancer survivor. "I made do," Stephenson recalled. "I didn't know." "People just accept that after (cancer) surgery that this is the way it is," said Kristine Cottone, physical therapist with OSF Rehabilitation Services. "But it doesn't have to be this way." Cancer rehabilitation is growing in popularity in Central Illinois. "Cancer rehabilitation is a relatively new concept that has picked up steam (nationally) in the past five to 10 years," Cottone said. "The trend is toward more therapy," agreed Monica King, physical therapist with Advocate BroMenn Therapy Services. "Cancer rehabilitation is for anyone who has negative effects as a result of cancer treatment," said Stephanie Dotson, rehabilitation services director for OSF HealthCare's Eastern Region. "This program is for all cancer patients, not just breast cancer patients," said Lisa Lowry, breast health navigator at the Community Cancer Center, Normal. "All cancer patients can benefit from rehabilitation but to varying degrees, depending on their treatments," Lowry said. "The more aggressive the treatments, the more potential benefit." Cancer rehabilitation is an exercise and manual, hands-on therapy program whose goals are pain reduction, improved range of motion and better quality of life. It is multidisciplinary including physical, occupational and speech therapy and is covered by most insurers, Dotson said. "Research has shown that exercise and manual therapy each are effective but what is most effective is therapy that includes both," Cottone said. Cancer treatments are increasingly effective in extending lives but frequently have side effects. Side effects of treatment specific to some breast cancer patients include swelling, or lymphedema, in the arms following radiation or surgery, and decreased arm mobility following surgery, Cottone said. Potential side effects of treatments for many cancer patients include fatigue, weakness, foggy memory (or "chemo brain") and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. "Research says that 90 percent of cancer patients who go through treatments have at least one functional impairment," Dotson said. "But, nationally, fewer than 60 percent are referred for rehabilitation." OSF Rehabilitation Services experienced a doubling in patient referrals to its STAR (Survivorship Training and Rehabilitation) program from 2015 to 2016, Dotson said. STAR, which OSF began offering in 2013, will be renamed OSF Cancer Rehabilitation Program on Dec. 1. "Before this program (STAR), patients could go to physical or occupational therapy, which is fine, except the therapists may not have had specific training for oncology patients," Lowry said. Advocate BroMenn also is experiencing increased referrals to its therapy services, King said. The cancer center is seeing increasing numbers as its twice monthly lymphedema clinics, Lowry said. Cancer patients who experience side effects of treatment should talk with their oncologist or primary care doctor to get a referral for cancer rehabilitation, therapists said. The first visit with a therapist is an evaluation to assess the patient's condition and goals. An individualized treatment plan is developed. For example, patients experiencing lymphedema receive lymphatic massage and compression garments are recommended. Patients experiencing shoulder pain (sometimes called "frozen shoulder") and decreased range of motion of their arms are led in upper body exercises. Patients with scar tissue may be given soft-tissue or scar tissue mobilization, a form of massage. Patients with fatigue are led in exercises to improve their endurance, strength and balance. Those with memory problems may work on memory strategies. "The goal is to get patients back to their prior level of function or as close to it as we can," Dotson said. OSF offers STAR at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, Center for Health at Fort Jesse in Normal and OSF Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center in Pontiac. "We average seven visits per patient," said Dotson, adding that the therapy generally is covered by insurance. Then patients are given exercises to do on their own to maintain their improved level of function. Ann Lamkey, 65, of Bloomington, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2014, had a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation. "I experienced extreme fatigue," Lamkey said. "Not normal fatigue but total fatigue that affected every cell in my body." Lamkey spoke with a nurse at the Community Cancer Center who referred her to STAR. Lamkey first met with Cottone in August 2015. They met weekly for seven weeks. "She (Cottone) created these balance, endurance and stretching exercises that I still do to this day," Lamkey said. "They strengthened my leg and shoulder muscles and improved my balance and range of motion of my arms," Lamkey said. "The fatigue was dissipated. I had more energy. By seven weeks, I was functioning where I wanted to be functioning." "It made me feel that I was more in control of my life," Lamkey said in the OSF Rehabilitation Services' Gym at the Center for Health at Fort Jesse. "I felt empowered." Stephenson, 48, of Normal, was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2012, had a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. When she was at a follow-up appointment with her doctor, she explained that she couldn't lift her arms above her shoulders and was experiencing shoulder pain so that dressing herself was difficult and she couldn't reach items from upper kitchen shelves. "I was 44 at the time and didn't want to live like this," Stephenson recalled. She was referred to STAR and had several sessions with Cottone in 2013. Cottone performed manual therapy on Stephenson's shoulders and helped her with exercises to improve her strength and range of motion. The result was an improvement in activities of daily living. Recently, Stephenson told a radiation oncologist that scar tissue under her left breast and at the base of her left armpit still felt tight and she experienced spasms there. Stephenson found out that STAR therapists again could help. Scar tissue is not as pliable as healthy tissue, sometimes resulting in tightness, spasms and pain, Cottone explained. She began working with Stephenson once a week earlier this month to break up the scar tissue through soft tissue or scar tissue mobilization and exercises to improve her upper body tissue flexibility using a True Stretch stretching device, a pulley system and an arm bike. "It is helping," Stephenson said during the second of her seven sessions in the OSF Rehabilitation Services' Gym last week. "I have had no spasms since I started (therapy) and it is helping my range of motion. I can still feel the tightness but that will take time." "This is a great program," Stephenson said. "They understand what it's like to be a cancer survivor." Zoo plans first pumpkin contest BLOOMINGTON Miller Park Zoo is holding its first pumpkin decorating contest. Pumpkins may be carved or painted and must follow the theme Rock Star Pumpkins. Divisions are kids, ages 5-11; teens, ages 12-17; and adults, ages 18-105. Information and registration forms are at the zoos gift shop. Pumpkin drop-off is Oct. 26-28 at the zoo, with judging Oct. 29. The pumpkins will be used to decorate for Spooktacular. For more information, call 309-434-2250. Event promotes after-school programs BLOOMINGTON YWCA McLean County, 1201 N. Hershey Road, will host Lights on Afterschool to celebrate after-school programs, from 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 20. The nationwide event celebrates the need for safe, after-school programs. Community members are invited to the YWCA to learn about programs at the YWCA and other locations such as Normal Public Library and Upper Limits. There will be hands-on activities for children. People who cannot attend are urged to turn on their porch lights from 5 to 7 p.m. BLOOMINGTON U.S. Cellular Coliseum Executive Director Curtis Webb has been fired for using a company debit card for personal expenses, including buying airline tickets. "We discovered it in a routine quarterly review of all our accounts," VenuWorks President Steve Peters said Friday. "We saw some suspicious activity charges that didn't appear to be business related." The company conducted an investigation after discovering the charges on Tuesday. On Thursday, Peters and other company officials came to Bloomington to confront Webb. "Personal airline tickets were the red flag; there were multiple tickets to a destination that didn't seem to be appropriate for business," said Peters. "Curtis admitted the errors in judgement, and we had to terminate him," said Peters. "We just don't stand for that activity in our company." VenuWorks informed city officials later that day of the firing after confirming "an act of fraud occurred in its operation at the Coliseum," according to a city-issued statement Friday. Mayor Tari Renner, who is visiting Cuba, could not be reached for comment. "I think all of us were surprised that this incident happened with Curtis Webb," said alderman Karen Schmidt, who is mayor pro tem in Renner's absence. The Coliseum is located in Schmidt's Ward 6. "I really appreciate the swift action from VenuWorks and the integrity with which they have handled this," she added. The firing is not related to an ongoing investigation by the Illinois State Police into the operations of the Coliseum prior to April 1, said city attorney Jeff Jurgens. In my conversations with the State Police, that investigation is ongoing and could continue for some time, he said. VenuWorks began managing the Coliseum on April 1, after Central Illinois Arena Management (CIAM), which managed the city-owned venue since it opened a decade ago, did not renew its contract when it expired March 31. The Ames-based company manages 52 facilities across the country. "It certainly is an ironic situation," said Peters. "But I want to point out that we were open about this. As soon we discovered it we brought it directly to the city. We took action. And we're paying the money back." Initial estimates indicate VenuWorks will reimburse the city about $16,000, the total amount of expenses charged on the debit card since the card was issued in June, said Peter. It is not yet known how much of that amount is related to fraudulent activity. "A few of those were suspicious, and we're paying back the whole amount," said Peters. "We're not going to quibble over whether this charge was for personal purposes or that charge for business. We're paying back every charge on the card." The debit card is tied to the operating account of the Coliseum, an account that VenuWorks maintains under its own federal ID number for the payment of operating expenses, Peters said. VenuWorks' comptroller will be at the Coliseum all next week "looking into whether or not there are more (credit card) charges that we haven't found," said Peters. "As soon as we have that number we're going to wire that money to the city directly." Before taking over daily management of the Coliseum on May 1, Webb, 44, spent three years heading up the Sanford Center that VenuWorks manages for the city of Bemidji, Minn. The search for a new executive director will start immediately. While the City is disappointed and saddened with the actions of the individual, we continue to be very pleased with the conduct of VenuWorks as an organization," said City Manager David Hales. "VenuWorks corporate team discovered the issue early and took corrective action swiftly," Hales added. "This is exactly why we hired them and trust them to manage the Coliseum." "We've never had a case of an employee using a credit card improperly like this in the past," said Peters. "We're saddened by it. We will be having conversations with all of our staff around the country to be sure that we're on our guard for this kind of thing." URBANA Unlike their presidential nominees, the two major party candidates for the 13th Congressional District kept their tone civil and arguments focused on policy during a debate Thursday. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a Taylorville Republican, and Democratic challenger Mark Wicklund of Decatur covered a range of topics during the event at the WILL-TV studio on the University of Illinois campus. The debate was hosted by Illinois Public Media, NPR Illinois and the League of Women Voters of Champaign County. Davis, 46, is seeking his third term in office. Wicklund, 48, is a former Macon County Board member and president of the Decatur-Macon County Opportunities Corp. board. While Davis initially endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during the primaries, he later supported eventual Republican nominee Donald Trump and agreed to serve on his agricultural advisory committee. He ended both on Saturday after the revelation of a 2005 recording of Trump making vulgar comments about women. Its a decision that my wife and I made across the kitchen counter when we heard the recent comments, Davis said, citing the example he wants to set for his three teenage children. What we heard was something that I dont think should be heard from anyone, let alone candidates running for the president of the United States. Wicklund backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders but has since thrown his support behind Hillary Clinton, calling her the most experienced candidate. He doesnt agree with all of her actions, though. Well, you know, thats Basic Ethics 101 when youre running for public office. ... She shouldve known to separate her email accounts and keep them that way, he said. The FBI has looked at those and felt there was no need to file any charges. Shes promised to do better going down the road, and Ill hold her to that promise. Both candidates said they support Second Amendment rights and spoke about the need to address mental health issues as part of any strategy to reduce gun violence. Wicklund said he wanted to close the gun show loophole, which allows private individuals to buy firearms at gun shows in some states without passing a background check. If they can go next door to Indiana, go there and purchase a weapon of any caliber they want and bring it back to Chicago (Closing the loophole) will tighten that up and reduce the amount of guns coming into the Chicago area, Wicklund said. Davis said criminals dont follow gun restrictions. Every time a new law is passed to address a problem that criminals will never follow anyway, it only affects law-abiding citizens, he said. Thats something Im going to fight against. They agreed that attacking law enforcement was not the way to resolve issues, and both called for judicial reform. In different terms, they spoke of the need for improved communication between law enforcement officers and the communities they protect. Davis continued his call to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He has repeatedly supported replacing it with other legislation that would include allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines. Wicklund acknowledged problems with the health care legislation, but said it was a good starting point. He indicated support for a Medicare-for-all or single-payer addition to the system. The debate will be rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Monday on WILL-TV. Huawei Mate 9 is rumored to launch next month in Munich, Germany. Although it may not be the cream of the crop, it can, in some peculiar way or another, elbow some of its bigger rivals. Take the case of Huawei Mate 9. The Chinese Smartphone maker has been a standard in releasing an array of handhelds, with the Mate lineup as its frontline. Its design, features and specifications are often too common and will not immediately impress a consumer, but Huawei Mate 9 can provide a subtle alternative for those who want to own a Samsung-esque device without hurting their wallet. Rumors are now spreading that Huawei is set to release a new smartphone in their upcoming event in Germany. Many insiders believe that this could be the Huawei Mate 9. As reported by Value Walk, Huawei teased the upcoming device with a humble poster with a hashtag, "#AStepAhead". It also included 03.11.16 as the date and Munich as the venue for the announcement. Huawei hasn't released an official statement whether or not the Mate 9 will indeed be unveiled next month. In one hand, Huawei Mate 9 teaser poster offered little truth about what's going to happen in Munich. On the other, Value Walk added that "there is no mention of a different device that could be set for launch" from Huawei. On the flipside, tech website Android Police blasted the Huawei Mate 9 design, saying that it "shamelessly rips off Samsung's edge devices". According to them, the flagship Mate 9, with its "most premium specifications" and curved screen, "looks almost exactly like the Galaxy Note 7", or an S7 Edge, to be more blunt. Even the logo placement, sensors shadows that of Sammy's torchbearers. The Huawei Mate 9 is speculated to sport a 5.9inch, 1080p display screen, alongside a soon be released HiSilicon Kirin 960 chip. Potential owner will also have the option to go 6GB RAM and 256GB onboard storage, while its 20megapixel primary camera and 12megapixel front facing clicker should take care of the phone's image processing. Huawei Mate 9 will also support Daydream VR and should come in two variants, the "Manhattan" and the "Long Island". Four out of 51 contestants from the 1997 Miss Teen USA pageant said that Presidential candidate Donald Trump suddenly entered their dressing room while they were changing back then. Many would question why talk about it just now? Former Miss Vermont Teen USA, Mariah Billado, said that Trump told the contestants, "Don't worry ladies, I've seen it all before." Some of the ladies were of 15 years of age that time. "I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here." Billado told Buzzfeed. Three other contestants backed up her claims, while others said they cannot remember it happened. There is a similar claim from a former Miss USA contestant named Tasha Dixon. "Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis," Dixon told CBS. She said that Trump just came strolling right in and so there was no way they can put a robe on right away. Some of the girls were topless and even naked. The incident with a reporter from People Magazine in 2005 is being brought under the limelight again. From People's report, it is remembered how Trump forced an unwanted kiss from the reporter while his pregnant wife Melania was just around near them. Trump's inflammatory words and sexual behavior are among the aspects that would cost him a lot of loss for his votes, according to political experts. On the other hand, a psychologist told The Atlantic about how Trump's behavior and extraordinary personality might shape his possible presidency. His disposition, mental habits, motivation and self-concept are just too special so as to lead to many significant changes under his possible headship, the Atlantic reports. How America would judge Trump's behavior and leadership capabilities is unpredictable this time. Everyone will know in November. The famed "Call of Duty" franchise will be once again releasing a new instalment in the series in the coming year, and the 2017 game will be set in Vietnam, possibly during the time of the Vietnam War. Rumors of the new "Call of Duty" game have surfaced, and are hinting that the new chapter of the franchise, which is said to be released in November of 2017, will be set in Vietnam. According to Frag Hero, the developers of the new "Call of Duty" game, Sledgehammer Games, have picked up the arc of the 2017 from a previously canned title called "Call of Duty: Fog of War," which was supposed to be set in Laos. Due to the issues during the development for "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare," the development for the "Fog of War" game was paused, and the arc was ultimately cancelled. Now that "Infinite Warfare" is finished and will soon be released, Activision's focus is now on the next instalment of the franchise. According to Game Transfers, Sledgehammer Games has spent a lot of time to document the Vietnam War to release a game that transcends the usual shooting and killing enemies and do justice to how deeply damaging the war was. If this were to be true, then it will take some time for the new "Call of Duty" title to be released. The "Call of Duty" franchise was initially made popular by its gritty and gripping storylines, coupled with great action, based on World War II events, with plot arcs such as the Normandy Landing during D-Day in 1944 and Operation Overlord of the Normandy Battles on "Call of Duty" and "Call of Duty 2," respectively. It has captured the hearts of their fans and has since started a loyal following for the first person war shooter. The franchise has now moved on to the approach of having more futuristic angles since 2014, with the release of "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare," which was a critically acclaimed title but was far from the World War II roots of the "Call of Duty" franchise. Since then, fans have begged for a return to the original grittiness of the first few games. "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" will be released on Nov. 4, 2016. A veteran radio personality has suggested that traditional sex education lessons taught among students in the secondary level should be scrapped in schools. Dame Jenni Murray of Radio 4 in the U.K. said that as a replacement, the students must be made to watch pornography in their Biology class. She also called for a separate subject on gender education in the bid to rebuild sex education in this day and age. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, the radio presenter said that perhaps students should be asked to analyze pornography the way they are asked to analyze a Jane Austen novel in English class. "You put boys and girls together in a class and you show them a pornographic film and you analyze it in exactly the same way as you teach them to read all the other cultures around them," Jenni Murray said, according to Independent. The dame also believes that putting pornography viewing under Biology class would be met with less opposition from parents. "No parent is going to say 'Oh, I don't want my child getting involved in biology or science,'" Jenni Murray said, per Telegraph. Consequently, having a gender education class instead of a sex education class would be less off-putting. "It doesn't have the word sex in it so nobody can complain or be upset," she said, Brietbart reports. The mother of two emphasized that moms and dads must be aware of how easy it is for their children to access pornography on the internet. Children as young as 11-years-old are even sharing explicit photos with each other on their mobile phones. Thus, parents' involvement in teaching the kids about sex education is just as important as the school's role. The dame's suggestion, however, has been shunned by critics, who said that allowing kids to watch such sensitive materials would be an irresponsible move. What do you think parents? Does the dame's point hit the mark? Would you be OK with the school teaching kids about pornography? Let us know what you think in the comments below. Twenty20 chief coordinator Sabu M Jacob has said his party is against mixing politics with religion. This story has been updated on Monday Oct. 17, 2016. Almost two months after allegedly committing a gruesome Florida killing of a couple, Austin Harrouff is now sent off from the hospital straight to jail. The "teen cannibal" has lost a lot of weight and still looking weak. The 19-year-old student of Florida State University was accused of killing a couple in August. One of the victims had gross marks on the faces, pointing to Harrouff's attempt to eat the skin or flesh off his face. Harrouff reportedly was making animal sounds during the crime. He was so strong that neither a stun gun nor a police dog was able to remove him from the victims, Sheriff William Snyder told NBC. Harrouff was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The young man is also facing one count of attempted murder, resisting arrest and burglary. The teen suspect was hospitalized for two months after the day the crime happened. His physical condition has only worsened since then. The investigators said that Harrouff ingested some chemicals in the garage causing clogging in his esophagus, malfunctioning in his liver, and fluid in his lungs. Initial tests found no traces of cocaine or marijuana in the teen's system. The synthetic zombie drug also known as flakka is suspected to have given him the "superhuman" behavior and the unbelievable strength for the attack, Harrouff remains too weak and heavily medicated to provide a statement at this point in time. Meanwhile, blood tests results sent to the FBI have not yet been released to confirm whether the teen is indeed positive with flakka or not, NBC station WPTV of West Palm Beach reports. Wade Harrouff, the teen's father, was very emotional in his interview with Dr. Phil and expressed his grief about what happened. He could not believe the attack was flakka-induced, though. He said that it might have also been drawn from an undiagnosed mental illness. After the incident in Florida, flakka is still feared to be a source of other gruesome behavior from strangers in the bus, train, mall or anywhere down the streets. What Flakka users can do seem to have no limits, that is why it is called a zombie drug. This synthetic drug can just turn an ordinary person into a monster. The wait for the "Kingdom Hearts 3" release date confirmation could prove to be a grueling wait for many expectant fans. Since Square Enix has previously claimed that there will be no significant updates to be disclosed for the upcoming title, online reports have slowly turned to speculations and theories on what the new game could offer. It was previously hinted by series creator and director Testuya Nomura that the new title will have a significant connection to the unreleased "Kingdom Hearts 2.8." Nomura also claimed that "Kingdom Hearts 3" will be a massive release and brushing up on the previous KH titles could be very helpful in having a firmer grasp of the new game's storyline. In fact, Nomura recently shared that the the box art for "Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix," "Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix" and "Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue" all have subtle clues about "Kingdom Hearts 3" when pieced together. As IGN noted, the illustrations subtly depict Sora's development throughout the franchise, and it also suggests what can be expected in the final chapter. Meanwhile, some of the previous "Kingdom Hearts 3" release date updates are confirming that the new title will be made available on the Sony PS4 and Xbox One. Predictions are rife that the earliest launch for the KH3 could be in 2017, however, many fans are claiming that a 2018 release date could be more feasible. While still unconfirmed, a previous report also speculated that an episodic release could be underway due to "Kingdom Hearts 3" game's massive size. However, Gamepur disproved the rumors by claiming that Nomura still has to decide to go that route as it might affect the fans' anticipation and excitement for the title. Stay tuned for more "Kingdom Hearts 3" release date for PS4 and Xbox One updates here! A barbershop in Michigan has piqued the Internet's interest due to its gimmick involving children. The Fuller Cut barbershop in Ypsilanti, Michigan provides a $2 discount to kids who read aloud to their barbers during haircut appointments. The 75 to 100 diverse books offered by The Fuller Cut barbershop all feature African-American role models ranging from athletes and astronauts to writers, Ryan Griffin told The Huffington Post. Griffin is the barber who introduced the discount program to the establishment. The Fuller Cut's discount program isn't entirely a new concept. The practice was also seen all over the United States such as Dubuque, Iowa, Houston, Texas and Columbus, Ohio. The books offered by The Fuller Cut came from Griffin's home and now, older children want to give their old books to the barbershop so other kids can use it. Griffin said that The Fuller Cut's program helps children lose their shyness when it comes to reading out loud in class. The concept serves as practice for them and builds their confidence. The progress of the young participants in The Fuller Cut's program is tracked by the barbershop. For instance, if a child doesn't finish the book he/she is reading during a haircut appointment, he/she will have to continue where he/she left off during the next session. For Griffin, this rule can determine whether a child's reading comprehension is improving. He also hopes that the program would have a long-term effect on the kids. "If we can get kids to come back to the Fuller Cut as adults in college and they tell us, 'Because you guys had us read here, it made me want to be a writer or journalist,' that's really the end goal," Griffin explained, as quoted by the Huffington Post. According to the 2013 British Cohort Study, children who frequently read books for pleasure and more than once a week had high examination results at school when they turn 16. Basically, reading for pleasure increases kids' chance of a bigger intellectual progress in spelling, vocabulary and mathematics. Jim Trelease, an educator and author of the book "Read Aloud Handbook," said that books, magazines, newspapers and other reading materials expose children to a rich vocabulary and complete sentences, according to a separate report from the Huffington Post. Aside from these, early readers also have increased self-esteem and better communication skills. Did you read plenty of books when you were a child? How did the practice benefit you? Tell us below. 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 Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Yesterday Patently Apple reported that Apple's CEO was the first customer to use Apple Pay to ride Japan's famous Yamanote Transit Line and that Tim Cook met with Nintendo executives in Kyoto. To round off Cook's business trip this week, he enjoyed a great meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and shared with the nation's leader how important Japan is to the future of Apple. Back in 2014 PM Abe announced that Apple would be building a world class R&D center in Yokohama. Abe's top spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing held earlier today that Apple's CEO confirmed that Apple would complete its construction of a site in Yokohama, just outside of Tokyo, by December and that it would be used as a development facility. Cook further stated that there were a number of manufacturers of all sizes here being keenly eyed by Apple as having great potential for working on future devices requiring components made in Japan. Apple's R&D site was previously used by Japan's Panasonic Corp. and their new development plans are evidence the maker of the ubiquitous iPhone has plans connected to Japan that extend well beyond just end user sales, sources close to the matter said Friday. Cook's visit to Japan comes on the heels of a visit to Shenzhen in China, where he announced Apple's plans to open a research and development facility there next year. Apple's CEO will leave Japan tomorrow. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. - On Sunday Donald Trump denied ever sexually assaulting women. As he did so, numerous women across the country yelled liar! at the screen. These women have now begun coming forward publicly, telling their stories of being groped and unwillingly kissed by Donald Trump. One woman told of being groped while sitting next to Trump on an airplane. As she explained to the New York Times, she subsequently fled the seat and found somewhere else to sit for the remainder of the flight. Here is how Newt Gingrich responded to this allegation: Well, when The New York Times goes back over 30 years to find somebody who had a bad airplane flight, thats the essence here. Apparently now were calling being groped by the man sitting in the seat next to you having a bad airplane flight. You know, like its something akin to having a rude flight attendant or experiencing bumpy flying conditions. Like, oh, thats a bummer. You had a bad airplane flight. It happens. But Gingrich didnt stop there: Im happy to stipulate Donald Trump in the past, this is not the Donald Trump that Callista and I know, but Donald Trump in the past may have been crude, if youre willing to stipulate that Hillary Clinton is both corrupt and dangerous. Wait, thats what were calling it now? Being crude? He groped a woman? Oh, you know, he was just being crude. Theres a reason people pointed out that Trumps comments werent just lewd (as they were initially called). Committing sexual assault is not the same thing as being crude. But then, those are Gingrichs words. Its not like he has a lily white past to point to. What about Trumps own campaign? Have a look: To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election. Im sorry, what? How exactly does bringing up a decades-old incident of sexual assault trivialize sexual assault? WTF does that even mean? It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story . . . First of all, it is not at all absurd to think a rich and powerful business leader caught on tape bragging about his ability to sexually assault women in fact sexually assaulted women. Second of all, Trump also has a history of dispensing of the women hes empowered when he feels theyve risen too high or summarily disparaging them when he feels theyve become overweight. . . . and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all. Does no one at this campaign know how sexual assault works? Im guessing not, because as far as I can tell his campaign is being run by his kids and that guy from Brietbart. Still, how is it not obvious that more women are coming forward now specifically because Trump lied about his actions on a public stage? And are they really expecting us to ignore the fact that Trump already had women publicly accusing him of groping and uninvited kissing last May? Or that at least one of Trumps accusers went public with her story as early as 1997? Besides this, essentially every single one of Trumps accusers has explained both why they kept silent at the time and why they decided to speak up now. You should read those explanations, because theyre an excellent education in the dynamics surrounding sexual assaultand in how men like Trump get away with it. And then theres Corey Lewandowski: I find it a little egregious that because Anderson asked a question and they didnt like his answer after all of the other things, that they decide now this is my impetus to come forward. That is Sunday. Today is now Thursday. It took them four days? Im not sure if Lewandowski knows this, but the New York Times story broke Tuesday and the Palm Beach Post story broke Wednesday, and it actually takes time for women to contact reporters and for reporters to interview them, vet and verify their stories, write the actual news articles, and publish them. Im impressed the Times did all that so quickly, and the Post wasnt far behind. The People Magazine story also came out on Wednesday, but its my understanding that magazine articles can take longer to write and process than newspaper articles. I cant even with this election season. Evangelicals are falling all over themselves to defend Trumphes just a sinner like the rest of us, were informedand Im starting to forget which way is up and which way is down. Also, how did Trump think flat-out lying at Sundays debate would be a good idea? Did he honestly think that all of the women hes sexually assaulted over the years would stay silent in the face of that? Can it please be November 8th now? Im ready to be done. I have a Patreon! Please support my writing! Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday flagged off the 'Jagriti Rath' from Patna Saheb Gurudwara to spread the teachings of Guru Govind Singh, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, across eleven states. Kumar, who participated in the Thursday prayer at the Takht Shri Harmandir Ji Gurudwara, said the city was prepared to host millions of people who would be coming to Patna to take part in the 350th birth anniversary celebration on January 5, 2017. "We are doing our best to make sure the visitors do not face any inconvenience during their stay in Patna Saheb. The area is being cleaned and an over-bridge is being built for the pedestrians. Three 'tent cities' are also being erected to accommodate the visitors," he said. The Chief Minister, who has fallen into the habit of touting his dream of an alcohol-free India, compared consumption of liquor in India to the widespread use of opium in China saying just as China became an economic power after banning opium, Indians would be able to compete with the Chinese after prohibition is enforced in the entire nation. The 'Rath' carrying 16 'shastras', or weapons, of Guru Govind Singh and the Guru Granth Saheb, the holy book of the Sikhs, will travel through nine states including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Punjab before returning to Patna Saheb in the last week of November. The 50-member team is being led by Jathedar Iqbal Singh. Two large buses, two mini buses and one sedan are the part of the caravan that includes accountants to keep track of all donations and prominent Sikh religious leaders to talk about the message of peace as envisioned by the 10th Sikh Guru. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Iran Disrupts IS Plot to Bomb Religious Commemorations, State Media Says 10/14/16 Report by VAO_URL; photos by Mehr News Agency A re-enacts the events of Ashoura in Nushabad, Isfahan (central Iran) Iran has disrupted an Islamic State bombing plot targeting the Shi'ite religious commemoration of Ashoura, according to state media reports on Thursday. "Intelligence ministry agents, with the cooperation of other security forces, succeeded to defuse one of the anti-security plots of the 'takfiri' terrorist groups and prevent an inhuman crime in the ceremonies," Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said, according to the official IRNA media outlet. The term takfiri is used by Iranian officials when referring to militant Sunni Muslim fundamentalist groups such as IS. Women lighting candles in Ahvaz, southern Iran Alavi did not provide details as to how the alleged attackers entered Iran. IRNA quoted Alavi as saying some 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives were confiscated and several foreign nationals were arrested. The attacks were planned in Iran's southern Fars province, police said. "During multiple complex operations, 11 non-Iranian terrorists were arrested, and intelligence equipment and an enormous amount of explosives, cars, and guns were discovered and seized from them," General Ahmad Ali Goodarzi, the head of Fars province police, told Iranian media outlets. The carnival-like mourning ceremonies in Minab, southern Iran Ashoura commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It is a high holy time for Shi'ites. Ceremonies through the years in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and other Mideast and Persian Gulf nations have been disrupted by Sunni extremism attacks in sectarian rivalries. "Sunni extremists and takfiris use every chance to attack Shia rituals and especially Ashoura," said Abdolhossein Amiri a political analyst in Tehran. "They have attacked Shia mourners several times in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and no wonder that they have tried to plot attacks in Iran." Alavi said Iran's foreign "enemies" were involved in the plot but offered no further details. Iran said in June that it broke up a plot by what authorities said were Sunni extremists who had planned to carry out a series of bomb attacks during the holy month of Ramadan. A re-enacts the events of Ashoura in Nushabad, Isfahan (central Iran) Women lighting candles in Ahvaz, southern Iran The carnival-like mourning ceremonies in Minab, southern Iran Ten Things You Should Know About Iran's Multi-Billion Dollar National Internet Project 10/14/16 Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran National Internet Aims to Give State Control Over Iranians Access to Information VP Eshagh Jahangiri speaking at the inauguration of the national internet in August 2016 A few months after the Iranian government launched the first phase of its national information network (NIN), many questions still surround Irans domestically hosted, state-controlled and censored internet. In this article, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran discusses ten critical questions about NIN, the countrys most expensive internet-related project. Progress on NIN reflects the continuation of the states efforts to restrict Iranians access to information by promoting state-approved content. First proposed ten years ago, the project remains plagued by conflicting claims regarding its purpose, its functionality, and the security it provides to users. NIN currently coexists alongside pre-existing internet services. Today, users in Iran can still access the global internet, albeit heavily censored and filtered by state authorities-and they can bypass state filtering controls if they have censorship circumvention tools that enable unfiltered internet access. But if all available online content in Iran were hosted on servers based inside the country in a controlled environment-as the NIN project appears geared towards-then the Iranian government would theoretically be able to monitor, restrict, and censor all online activity much more efficiently. It remains to be seen if that goal is a viable option. 1) What exactly is NIN? NINs official name, like its mission, has changed over the past 10 years. What Iranian officials initially called the national internet, also referred to by them as halal (permissible in Islam) internet, has now been launched as the national information network. For the purposes of this report, the Campaign uses NIN to refer to Irans recently launched national internet project. When NIN was first proposed, many speculated that the government aimed to cut off its population from the World Wide Web (global internet) by forcing all citizens to exclusively use NIN, but officials soon realized that achieving that goal was nearly impossible. Isolating the country from the rest of the internet would paralyze many public and private institutions that require access to websites and networks based abroad. Every user would also have to be issued an access code, which would require complicated planning and processing. Due to its nature, no internet can be completely controlled because it always allows the possibility of a user uploading unapproved-state content in a covert way before it is quickly removed. That said, the continued development of NIN implies that-impossible or not-hardliners are still pursuing that goal. As of today, NIN is a closed network wherein Iranian users can access government-approved sources of online content-including search engines, email, and financial websites-exclusively through domestic servers. These servers, and all the user data they store, can be easily accessed by security agencies, including the Intelligence Ministry, the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization, the National Security Council, and Irans cyber police. If the project could satisfy all the desires of the security establishment, NIN would be the only available internet option in Iran. Nevertheless, according to research by the Campaign, NIN does not properly function as a national internet or even a national intranet (a local or restricted communications network). The only promise the expensive project can keep so far is providing faster speeds and cheaper access rates to government-approved online content exclusively hosted on Iranian soil-while functioning as a means to further monitor and restrict user activity. 2) How much money has been spent on NIN? First proposed during the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-13), exactly how much money has been spent on NIN in the past 10 years remains unknown. However, according to statements from officials, the Campaigns research indicates that at least 6 billion dollars of public and private sector funds have been put into the project. In the budget for the Iranian year of 1384, ending March 20, 2006, the government had allocated about one billion dollars for the NIN project. But between 1386 and 1388, (March 2007 and March 2009), Irans Parliament only approved 566 billion tomans ($180 million USD) for the projects infrastructure. In August 2007, the Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry allocated an additional 350 billion tomans ($111 million USD) to the project. In the years that followed, billions of public and private sector dollars poured into the project. In the past three years, 20 trillion tomans ($6.3 billion USD) have been expended on this project, said Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri in a speech at the inauguration ceremony. He added that the government had contributed 20 percent of that figure while 80 percent had come from the private sector.In January 2016, additional funds for the project were dropped from the Sixth National Development Plan in a move that was widely criticized by conservatives. To appease them, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi denied the cut on social media. The Campaign was unable to verify exactly how much the administration of Hassan Rouhani has expended on the project. In 2013, when he was campaigning to become president, Rouhani advocated improved internet freedom. While his administration has failed to follow through on his promise, it remains engaged in an ongoing tug of war battle with political hardliners over the issue. Despite Rouhanis promise, hardliners maintain and enforce a robust censorship regime on all domestic internet traffic, routinely blocking and banning non-state approved content as it appears on the radars of security agencies. NIN was envisioned by hardliners as the most effective way to implement that regime. 3) Does NIN cut off users from the World Wide Web? Iranian officials have denied that NIN would block all user access to websites hosted outside of Iran, but this is untrue. The Campaign has learned that some internet providers that offer NIN, including AsiaTech, are already explicitly telling customers that they would not be able to surf websites hosted abroad while using NIN. In the list of services offered by Iranian internet provider AsiaTech, customers are warned in red that choosing the NIN option would block access to the World Wide Web. In the list of services offered by Iranian internet provider AsiaTech, customers are warned in red that choosing the NIN option would block access to the World Wide Web. 4) Why did the Iranian government create NIN? The government began developing NIN during the Ahmadinejad administration with the ambitious goal of further restricting the publics access to web content by only offering government-approved and domestically hosted online content, and to improve the online data security of governmental agencies, the security establishment, and major institutions, such as banks. Officials also said a domestic network would decrease prices and increase access speeds. The security establishment has put the most pressure on the government to complete NIN, but the end result is not as extensive or powerful as officials claim. We were working on this project, but we had to stop in the middle because there was a lot of pressure from the security forces to cleanse the network of any [religious, cultural and political] impurities, said a former NIN project contractor, who asked the Campaign not to be identified, on August 30, 2016. NIN is not even an Intranet. It has been reduced to a closed content-delivery network (CDN) using Cisco Caching Servers. A CDN is a network of proxy servers deployed in multiple data centers throughout a territory aiming to serve online content to end-users reliably and quickly. Prior to the launch of NIN, the Rouhani government was already using CDNs in various parts of the country to expedite online access if users were trying to access websites hosted within Iran (externally hosted websites could only be accessed at slower speeds) and to appease hardliners who wanted to further control online user activity. At this phase of the projects launch, NIN only offers CDNs using Cisco servers. 5) Why did Irans security agencies push for NIN? Speaking to the Campaign, the contractor said that security agencies, particularly the Revolutionary Guards, were instrumental in pushing NIN during a high-level governmental meeting in 2016, where internet policies were discussed. The Revolutionary Guards, which own the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), has been a strong proponent of gaining full surveillance over online traffic. In most policy meetings the security agencies are represented by anonymous individuals participating under false names who believe that the internet cannot be controlled, and therefore their only solution is to close it off from within the country. This is the same policy put forward by the Ahmadinejad administration. They want their own internet, the contractor told the Campaign. The Campaigns research indicates that the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has personally insisted on NINs implementation. Most recently, on August 24, 2016, shortly before NINs launch, Khamenei said in a speech: The National Information Network is a very important domestic project that has not gone forward. Our friends in the government all believe in this project, but it hasnt gotten anywhere. God Willing, we must follow up on this so that we dont cause irreversible damage. 6) Will NIN improve the safety of Iranian user and government data? Even though experts unanimously agree that complete online security and privacy is impossible, Esmail Radkani, a NIN project manager, assured users in May 2006 that their data would be more secure on NIN than it would be on the World Wide Web. Radkani meant that on NIN, users would be provided with DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) protection and access to anti-phishing tools. But these user security measures are weak and outdated compared to the sophisticated malware, which can be introduced into any closed network, that are constantly being developed by states and criminals. NIN is less vulnerable to a DDoS attack, a favored tactic of Iranian cyber security agencies in shutting down websites run by political or ideological opponents. However, NIN users wouldnt need to protect themselves against those kinds of attacks because theyd be much less likely to upload non-state-approved content in the first place. In 2010, the U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies collaborated to infect Iranian computers with a sophisticated virus to disrupt Irans nuclear program. Irans institutions would remain vulnerable to similar attacks within NIN. Actions taken by Irans security agencies strongly indicate that they wish to fully control cyberspace by all means, often by going above Irans own laws to more efficiently access the online accounts and restrict the activity of their targets. NIN, if it is fully developed, would bring that goal closer to reality. If NIN reaches its final phase of development, all users would have to register and receive an identity number, according to Deputy Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Nasrollah Jahangard. All data belonging to these unique identity numbers would be individually saved, making it easy for network administrators to conduct surveillance and restrict user activity. 7) Does NIN offer advantages to Irans online users? As already mentioned, NIN offers faster speeds than internet services in Iran that allow access to the global internet, but domestically hosted servers using CDNs already offered those speeds. NIN will be cheaper than internet options that allow access to the World Wide Web, according to officials. The cost of using NIN should be a third of the world wide webs cost, said AsiaTechs (ISP) technical vice president, Shahab Vahabzadeh. ... In other words, if a user is charged a certain amount to use Google, he/she would pay a third of the cost for using Zoomit (website hosted inside Iran) and accessing domestic websites. To summarize, besides exclusively providing cheaper and exclusively government-approved content based on Iranian soil, NIN offers nothing new. 8) Why does Iran want to store all online data on domestic servers? All of Irans domestic content and traffic could be handled and managed by servers inside the country, but many companies and individuals avoid them in favor of more secure servers based abroad, according to Vaezi. Company executives have told me in private that they prefer to have their servers managed abroad because if they are filtered, they wont lose their foreign customers, he said at a technology conference in Tehran on March 8, 2016. User data stored on domestic servers can be controlled and monitored by state agencies. News media outlets, which are already heavily censored in Iran, also operate under the assumption that their domestically hosted website could be shut down by the government at any time. On August 31, 2016, several news websites hosted on domestic servers were blocked by security agencies for publishing an official report on corruption in Tehran. 9) How did Iran equip NIN? Most of the hardware used for NIN was procured through the black market as international sanctions have prevented the Islamic Republic from gaining unrestricted access to the latest technologies. The former NIN project contractor who spoke to the Campaign under the condition of anonymity said that the Cisco servers used for the project were purchased from middlemen without service contracts or warrantees, which could result in technical problems in the future. The lack of access to more reliable hardware through normal and official channels has already caused some technical impediments from the perspective of security agencies. In August 2016, when the Tehran prosecutor ordered nine websites to be shut down, some of them could still be accessed after they were blocked due to malfunctioning hardware. 10) What does online content look like on NIN? In NIN internet content would be closely monitored by the Iranian authorities, thus reducing the governments need to filter politically sensitive material. In this kind of environment, users would also be less likely to post content that could offend the authorities in the first place. Those who use NINs domestic search engine would also not be able to access any web results located abroad. For example, if they tried to access banned sites through a Google search, a message would pop up indicating that they were blocked from accessing Google. Google search engines use secure sockets layer (SSL) cryptographic protocols for secure communications over a computer network, which Irans cyber army has been able to disrupt-with NIN, this ability remains in use. The search results for the BBC Persian Services website on the ParssiJoo Iranian search engine. For example, when users type BBC Persian, which is banned in Iran, in the ParssiJoo domestic search engine, the results show a number of propaganda sites set up by Irans security agencies. Other websites that provide independent news or carry political content deemed impermissible by the Islamic Republic face the same fate on NIN. Iran Sends Warships Off Yemeni Coast Amid U.S. Missile Strikes 10/14/16 Source: RFE/RL Iran has sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, where the United States conducted missile attacks. The announcement came after the U.S. military launched cruise-missile strikes to knock out radar sites in Yemen controlled by Iran-allied Huthi forces, after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer. Iranian warships Alvand (file photo) "Iran's Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels from piracy," the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported on October 13. But Tasnim said the two Iranian destroyers were dispatched on October 5 and it was not in response to U.S. actions in Yemen. Tasnim said the Iranian warships will patrol the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen, which is one of the world's most important shipping routes. The strikes on October 13, authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama, were Washington's first direct military action against Huthi targets in the Yemen civil war, although the United States has provided logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels. The Pentagon stressed that the strikes were defensive and aimed at radar that enabled the launch of three missiles this week against the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mason. "These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate." Huthi rebels deny they have targeted any warships. A Saudi-led coalition is carrying out an air campaign against the Huthi rebels. U.S. support for the coalition has come under strain following an air strike on a funeral in Sanaa last weekend that killed 140 people. Iran's key regional rival, Saudi Arabia, accuses Tehran of providing support to the Huthis, a charge Tehran denies. With reporting by AFP and Reuters U.S. Charges Iran Supplied Yemeni Rebels With Missiles Aimed At U.S. Ship Source: RFE/RL Top U.S. officials are charging that Iran supplied Yemeni rebels with the missiles that were aimed at a U.S. Navy warship in several attacks this week. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who was briefed by the Pentagon on the three failed missile attacks on the USS Mason destroyer, said on October 13 that Iran likely provided the missiles. McCain endorsed the Pentagon's move to retaliate by launching cruise missiles that destroyed mobile radar sites used by the Huthis to launch their missiles, which were believed to be C-802 antiship weapons. "The United States Navy has delivered a strong message" that it won't tolerate such aggression, McCain said. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby also said this week that the missiles were "provided by Iran to the Huthi rebels," although he said it was also possible the Huthis captured some missiles from the Yemeni government army. Iran has been openly allied with the Shi'ite Huthis, but denies arming them. Still, Iran sent two warships to the gulf off the coast of Yemen after the United States struck back at the Huthi radar sites. Iran said the move was to "protect trade vessels from piracy." Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org Related Reports: 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 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 Russia has fulfilled delivery of S-300 missile systems to Iran: Report 10/14/16 Source: Press TV Moscow has reportedly concluded the supply of the Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile defense systems to Iran. Russia's RIA news agency quoted the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) as making the announcement on Thursday. "All divisions have been supplied," said FSVTS Director Alexander Fomin. Russian-made S-300 missile defense system during a military parade in Tehran in April 2016. (Photo by Mehr News Agency) Russia delivered the first parts of the S-300, the missile tubes and radar equipment, to Iran in April. Moscow was committed to delivering the systems - which are used to target tactical and ballistic aircraft and projectiles - to Tehran under an $800-million deal in 2007. However, Russia banned the delivery of the systems to Tehran back in 2010, citing the fourth round of the UN Security Council sanctions, which bars hi-tech weapons sales to the Islamic Republic. In this file photo a Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system is on display at the opening of the MAKS Air Show in Zhukovsky outside Moscow. (By AP) Moscow's refusal to deliver the systems prompted Iran to file a complaint against the relevant Russian arms manufacturer with the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva. In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on the delivery of the S-300 and Moscow subsequently signed a new contract to supply Iran with the systems by the end of that year. Months later, Tehran dropped the lawsuit after Moscow agreed to fulfill its commitments under the 2007 accord. TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. The fallout from the Note7 debacle, which is expected to take a big chunk out of Samsungs third-quarter profit, will keep hurting its business into next year, the company said. The fourth-quarter impact on Samsung Electronics operating profit will be in the mid-2 trillion won range, the company said in a press release early Friday. Using the midpoint of 2.5 trillion South Korean won, that would be about US$2.2 billion. The damage will continue in the first quarter of next year, with an impact of about 1 trillion won, Samsung said. The company announced Tuesday it had permanently stopped production of the Note7. It had launched a recall of the phone just weeks after it went on sale because of fires and explosions that destroyed some of the devices. Then, some replacement units it sent out as part of the recall had the same problem. Also on Friday, the company said it would make significant changes in its quality assurance processes to enhance product safety for consumers. Samsung didnt forecast how the Note7 incident would affect sales in the coming quarters, but said it will normalize its mobile business by expanding sales of other high-end phones, such as the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. On Wednesday, the company estimated the Note7 problem would cut about 2.6 trillion won out of a third-quarter operating profit of 7.8 trillion won. It also expects to report revenue of about 47 trillion won, down from the 49 trillion won it had forecast earlier. A bipartisan group of 48 U.S. lawmakers wants two government agencies to explain a surveillance program in which Yahoo reportedly scanned all the messages of its email users on behalf of the FBI. After recent news reports of the email scanning program, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence need to brief Congress about the efforts, the lawmakers said in a letter to the two agencies. The first news reports about the program contained conflicting reports about which legal authority was used for the email scans, said the letter, organized by Representatives Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, and Ted Lieu, a California Democrat. There is a significant confusion regarding the existence and nature of the program described by these reports and the legal questions implicated by the accuracy of specific details, the letter added. The DOJ and ODNI should provide a briefing to lawmakers as soon as possible to resolve the issues raised by these reports, the letter said. In early October, news reports suggested Yahoo had scanned the messages of users of its web-based email service looking for code used by a foreign terrorist group. Yahoo called the initial news report, from Reuters, misleading. Representatives of Yahoo and the DOJ didnt immediately respond to requests for comments on the letter. Other lawmakers signing the letter included Representatives Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat; Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican; Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat; and Jim Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican. HP Inc. is cutting between 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years as part of a restructuring plan worked out by the company. The PC and printer firm, which was created about a year ago after Hewlett-Packard was split into two companies, said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that it expects about 3,000 to 4,000 employees to exit between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019. The companys printing business is challenged right now but the PC business is hitting on all cylinders, said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy. The PC Group is gaining market share, increasing profits and innovating more than I have seen in years, he added. The workforce changes will vary by country, based on local legal requirements and consultations with employee works councils and other employee representatives, as appropriate, HP said in the filing. The company said earlier that it would be cutting 3,000 jobs during the companys 2016 fiscal year ending Oct. 31. It had nearly 50,000 employees as on Nov. 1, according to its website. The new job cuts are expected to cost HP US$200 million in labor costs related to the workforce reduction out of $350 million to $500 million in total restructuring and other charges. The entire restructuring plan, approved by the HP board earlier this week, has been forecast by the company to generate gross annual run rate savings of about $200 million to $300 million starting in fiscal 2020. Although its core markets are challenged and the macroeconomic conditions are in flux, the company continues to see long-term growth opportunities in commercial mobility and services, the disruption of the A3 copier market, and the digitization of graphics and manufacturing through our leading 3D printing solutions, company President and CEO, Dion Weisler said. The company is on track to achieve more than $1 billion in savings since the separation, which it will invest back in the business in such areas as research and development, Weisler said at an analyst meeting on Thursday. HP recently said it would acquire Samsungs printer business with over 6,500 patents in a $1.05 billion deal, with the aim to push more efficient A3 multifunction printers in the traditional copier market. Brew Rebellion, a popular craft brewery and tasting room in San Bernardino, is expected to open a microbrewery in downtown Banning, making it the only such establishment in the San Gorgonio Pass. The City Council this week approved a deal for the company to lease a city-owned building at 33 S. San Gorgonio Ave. Headquartered near the former Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, Brew Rebellion plans to open in early 2017, said co-owner Ed Parker. Parker, a Banning resident, said the city is the ideal location for a business like his. Banning and Beaumont have been like the stepchild of the Inland Empire, he said. I think there are great opportunities out there. There are a lot of houses in this area, there are a lot of families. People shouldnt have to drive to Redlands or Palm Springs. Parker said being near the Fox Theater is a plus, as is being near Russos Haven. He said people can buy food at Russos, which doesnt sell alcohol, and a beer at his place, which does not serve food. I think it will be a good mix, he said. The location is near the civic center and not far from the new Banning Justice Center. It means a great deal for the downtown because it will be a destination point, City Manager Michael Rock said. Economic Development Manager Ted Shove, who helped broker the deal, said the brewery will mix in well with other downtown businesses. Its a walkability feel, he said. Its something to do. Lets go downtown catch a movie, have a bite and have a beer, he said. Shove said Brew Rebellion has a reputation as a destination, and it should attract visitors passing through town on the 10 Freeway on their way to Palm Springs or Los Angeles. The 1,500-square-foot building on the southwest corner of Ramsey Street and San Gorgonio has been vacant for a number of years, according to the city. The Haven Art Center and Bettys Bookkeeping and Tax Service are previous tenants. Rent will start at $975 per month and go up 2 percent per year over the five-year lease. Brew Rebellion also will be responsible for upgrading the facility. Over the term of the lease, the city expects to net $50,000, plus whatever sales taxes are generated. Parker will work with John Weeks, who operates the Museum of Pinball near the Banning Airport, to furnish the tasting room. Well have classic, old-school pinball machines and on the other side, well have millennial stuff, he said. Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@scng.com Pilots flying into and out of the Redlands Municipal Airport after dark will soon have greater visibility. The city has hired a company to install runway and taxiway lights, navigation aids and signage to improve safety at the city-owned airport. It will greatly improve the safety of nighttime operations and add tremendous value to the airport, said Ted Gablin, president of the Redlands Airport Association, during Tuesdays City Council meeting. The council on Tuesday awarded a $820,870 contract to RB Construction to complete the work, which also includes implementing LED lights to reduce operational and maintenance costs. Gablin said the project is much needed, recalling an incident he witnessed last year when an airplane nearly went off the runway and into an adjacent drainage ditch because of a lack of lighting. The proposal would eliminate that hazard and a few more, he said. In February 2015, the city hired Parsons Brinckerhoff in San Bernardino to prepare the Redlands Airfield and Lighting Plan, according to the city staff report. The Redlands Airport Advisory Board and pilots assisted in the development of the plan. The project is estimated to cost $919,374, which includes the construction contract and additional costs, according to the staff report. About $868,808 of the cost will be paid by a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration and the California Department of Transportations Division of Aeronautics. The remaining amount is from the citys Aviation Operating Fund. I love the leveraging of that money, Councilwoman Pat Gilbreath said to city staff Tuesday. Contact the writer: semerson@scng.com; @TheFactsSandra on Twitter SAN BERNARDINO Current and former leaders clashed Thursday in a televised debate over whether replacing the city charter would help or hinder economic development, corruption and the future of the city. Measure L would replace the citys charter in place, with amendments, since 1905 with a new one. In broad strokes, that means the city would go from a modified version of a strong mayor form of government to a council-manager form; the positions of city attorney, city clerk and city treasurer would no longer be elected; and elections would shift from odd-number to even-number years, among other changes. But what that means for the average citizen was the source of passionate disagreement. We need a new modern city charter thats consistent with the broadly accepted best practices that successful cities all around us have been using for years, said Susan Lien Longville, arguing in favor of Measure L. We need to close the door on the old, cumbersome charter that helped pave the way down the road to bankruptcy. Former City Attorney James F. Penman disputed that the charter had anything to do with bankruptcy: The city thrived under it for years, and bad political decisions are to blame for squandering a budget surplus, he said. What the proposed new charter would do, he said, is take power away from the people. It would change from a voter, citizen-friendly charter to a City Hall-runs-the-roost charter, he said, referencing the first and 16th president of the United States in support of more elections. Abraham Lincoln said, In leaving the peoples business in the hands of the people, we cannot be wrong. Are you going to leave the peoples business in your hands, the voters, or are you going to hand it over to someone hired by a politician? Longville partnered with Carey Davis, the citys mayor, in an hour-long debate against Penman and resident Amelia Sanchez-Lopez, hosted by the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce. Opponents of the proposed charter zeroed in on how the proposed new charter shifts power from being directly in the hands of elected officials accountable to the people to officials hired by the City Council who they say cannot as effectively combat corruption. Proponents of the new charter say having those positions elected causes confusing lines of authority and encourages officials to act politically rather than give good counsel. And if the current charter protects against corruption and nepotism so well, Davis asked, why did then-City Attorney Penman hire former Mayor Judith Valles son for a $6,000 monthly retainer and a 25-percent commission? The City Council approved the hire to Penmans staff in 2013. It may not in fact be nepotism, but it certainly looks like it, Davis said. Penman said he thought it was a fair and effective hire. But if you disagree, OK you recalled me, he said. Thats not an option you have with appointed city attorney. Voters in the Jurupa Unified School District could pick a new face or re-elect a veteran board member to a third term when they go to the polls Nov. 8. Trustee Sheryl Schmidt, who serves as the boards president and joined the board in 2008, is challenged by Silvia Ortega, a family support worker for a nonprofit group that helps pregnant women and infants. Schmidt and Ortega are vying to represent Trustee Area 2, which encompasses the area roughly from Mission Boulevard on the north, Etiwanda Avenue on the west, Pedley Road on the east and the Santa Ana River bed on the south. Linda Chard, who represents Trustee Area 4, is running unopposed for re-election. All voters in the district of about 19,100 students will be able to cast ballots, regardless of where they live. Trustees serve four-year terms and earn a $420 monthly stipend. Name: Sheryl Schmidt Age: 57 Resides: Jurupa Valley Family: Married, two adult children Occupation: Teacher of visually impaired students for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Education: Bachelors of Arts in liberal studies from the University of La Verne, masters degree in special education from Cal State Los Angeles Campaign phone number/email: 951-361-9069, Schmidt4schools@aol.com Interesting fact: Twenty-three years ago, a class of blind and visually impaired students moved to my campus. I soon found myself driving into Cal State L.A. to get my credential for teaching visually impaired. I love working with these students and the many challenges of meeting their needs in education. What is the most important issue facing your district? Our most important issue is meeting the needs of the whole child. Todays children face many issues before they even come to school for an education. Over the past several years, Jurupa Unified has grown a fantastic array of programs and partners that benefit the families of Jurupa Valley. Todays schools are so much more than educating our students; its about educating the whole family and providing supports to meet their needs. I am proud to say that we will soon be building a parent center where families can come to get information and help all at one location. What sets you apart from your opponent? Having served on the JUSD board for the past eight years, I have seen the struggles, as we in education have faced budget cuts and tough decisions. I have also had the good fortune to see resurgence in education as districts regain control of how their funding is spent. I believe I have a strong understanding of how districts are run, what the needs of students and staff are, and how to get these needs met in a productive manner that benefits all. Name: Silvia Ortega Age: 29 Resides: Jurupa Valley Family: Single, no children Occupation: Family support worker for a Jurupa Valley-based nonprofit home visitation program for pregnant mothers and infants Education: Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and minor in hospitality management from Cal Poly Pomona Campaign phone number and website: 951-250-6919, Electsilviaortega.org Interesting fact: I am one of seven children born to immigrant parents who came to Jurupa Valley in 1988. One of my greatest achievements was to be the first from my family to go to college. My close friends and family also know me as a big soccer fan, health advocate, photographer and a very generous person. It is in my blood to help people and give back with expecting nothing in return. What is the most important issue facing your district? My pledge as your school board representative is to be active in support of student achievement and parent engagement. To aid students in their success, we need greater opportunities in the areas of special education, higher education, safety and health. Our school district is not broken. We are not fully engaged with what the important needs and necessities of our students, parents, and educators are. My aspirations and plans for improvements are simple, yet effective. Through popular education we together will be inspired to create social change in our district. Popular education encourages people to teach and learn from each other about issues that matter most. What sets you apart from your opponent? I am a passionate and dedicated citizen who genuinely cares for the well-being of her community. My experiences as a JUSD graduate have given me the understanding of what the needs are in our district. I am a product of the teachers, principals and classrooms of West Riverside, Mission Middle and Rubidoux High schools. My academic business background will allow me to analyze how we can better fund and allocate proper funding to each and every school, teacher and student. As a family support worker I am equipped to take the lead in supporting the needs of children and families. Contact the writer: 951-368-9292, stwall@scng.com, @pe_swall A fire sparked at a homeless encampment behind Riversides Toys R Us this week underscores concerns about transient crime. The fire started at about 8 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in a fenced-off area behind the store, in the 10000 block of Magnolia Avenue. It comes days after Riverside city officials held a daylong workshop to address homeless issues. Flames spread to the ivy growing up the side of the building, causing about $100,000 damage to the generator and the buildings exterior, Riverside Fire Department officials said. Large amounts of trash and clothes were near the fires origin, Riverside fire Investigator Greg White said. Employees noted there have been ongoing issues with homeless people living in the area, White said, adding that the fire is still being investigated. We deal with frequent homeless fires across that entire area. The department responds to about 20,000 incidents a year involving homeless issues, including 451 fires from July 2015 to July 2016, at a cost of about $6 million, Fire Chief Michael Moore has said. Common causes of fires at homeless encampments are drug manufacturing or use, fires used for warmth, stripping copper or cooking, and retaliation among homeless individuals, White said. Several arrests have been made this year. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, saving an estimated $3.3 million, fire officials said Friday. No injuries were reported. Toys R Us was open by Friday. Riverside and other Inland cities are dealing with growing complaints involving the homeless such as public camping, trash and panhandling. Riverside Parks Director Adolfo Cruz has said 22 of the citys 46 parks see regular impacts from the homeless. Parks workers have been bitten and spat on and clean up human waste daily, he has said. Staff writers Anne Millerbernd and Alicia Robinson contributed to this report. Strong ties to the community have helped First Baptist Church in Corona survive for 125 years, its pastor says. The church recently was awarded a proclamation by the city council to mark the occasion. Jon Castillo serves as chaplain to the Corona Police Department a role also taken on by Harry Kries, First Baptists care pastor and a church member for more than 30 years. Kries also had served as care pastor for the local hospital, where he ministered to people with sick relatives. Also, First Baptist was the original site for Gods Kitchen, a ministry that served the homeless in Corona for more than 30 years. The program since has been taken over by the city. Bettie Schultz, one of the original founders of the program, is still a member of the church, said Castillo, who has been First Baptists pastor for the past five years. And, Castillo said, Bob Henson, who is one of the oldest members of the congregation, was one of the first Eagle Scouts in Corona. The church, which takes up most of the block at Eighth and Main streets, has grown to encompass three buildings: the church building; an assembly hall, which is used for Wednesday; and Sunday services, and a preschool. Church officials are particularly proud of the preschool. People have moved to Corona because of the preschool, said Kendra Meier, director of Circle City Preschool. Meier, who has been at the school for 30 years, said she has seen three generations of certain families go through the educational institution. The church is the second in Corona to turn 125 this year: On Sept. 25, St. Johns Episcopal Church had a service to commemorate its anniversary. First Baptist, which was awarded a proclamation by the City Council to mark its anniversary, currently has 150-200 congregants and is growing. We are on the upswing, Castillo said. Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com Brad Larson dreams about restaurants. I fall asleep at night and I can see the whole layout of a kitchen, said Larson, 61, who inspected retail food facilities in San Diego County for more than 20 years. It sounds boring to somebody, but for me I just, I liked it. Inspecting restaurants has never been just a job for Larson. He loves food, the industry and the fast-paced atmosphere behind kitchen doors. But now, being part of the environmental health family has much more meaning. When he heard about the Dec. 2 terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Larson, who retired from the San Diego County health department in 2012, felt something for his longtime profession. Thirteen of the 14 people killed in the mass shooting inspected pools, school kitchens and restaurants for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Healths Environmental Health Services Division. More than 20 other employees of the division were wounded. I was reading about it and then I saw environmental health and I go wait a minute, those are inspectors, said Larson, one of 30 retired environmental health specialists who has been working for the county this year as part of a contract with the California Association of Environmental Health Administrators, a network of environmental health directors and professionals from across the state. In the wake of the attack, the division relied heavily on mutual aid from other health departments in Southern California to continue providing services as many of the victims and other county employees went on leave. What we realized pretty quickly was it would be unfair or unrealistic to expect these other counties to continue providing help, San Bernardino County Environmental Health Director Joshua Dugas said. In late February, Dugas reached out to the association which, in turn, reached out to its members, asking if anyone was willing to work for the county on a temporary basis. The response was immediate. We got 30 people hired in two weeks, said Sheryl Baldwin, manager of the association. A lot of the people are retired so they feel obligated to help their environmental health family and they already know what to do. The contract, which was recently extended through December 2017, has allowed the environmental health division to continue providing services and focus on training new staff, Dugas said. Temporary employees were given 90-day contracts to help facilitate the food program, manage vector control and serve in other supervisory roles, according to Baldwin. Many of those employees renewed their contracts for another 90 days. Larson was recently hired as a permanent employee. (The contractors) have provided us the ability to heal and rebuild, he said. Theyve been an amazing resource and theres no way we would be where were at if it wasnt for them. For Larson, the opportunity was a new lease on life. After retiring, he tried consulting businesses in the food industry, but he said he got a little overwhelmed. Returning to the field with his notepad, flashlight and thermometers renewed him. Its just a fresh environment and its a noble cause, Larson said on a recent morning before a round of restaurant inspections in downtown Redlands. He said as a new employee he doesnt want to bring up the tragedy that brought him to San Bernardino County, but within minutes of walking into the kitchen at Pieology Pizzeria one of the victims came up. Nick (Thalasinos) was our standard health inspector for my Rancho location, so he was the one to do my last health inspection over there and give us a hundred before, said Christal Chavez, general manager of Pieology. Larson beamed. He had heard about Thalasinos before. He gave you a hundred? Larson said almost in disbelief. The late inspector was known as one of the toughest in the Rancho Cucamonga office. Wow. Growing up, Larson loved food and wanted to be a chef but he ended up getting his bachelors degree in environmental health because of some advice from a UCLA Extension counselor who said this way hed get to spend time in thousands of kitchens. I took the advice and finished my degree, he said. As other contractors wrap up their time in the county, Larson and the new inspectors will have to learn how to fill the shoes of Thalasinos and the others. Nick, what a personality everybody said. He was really tough, but they loved him cant be a better inspector than that, Larson said. He ended up giving Chavez a 100 on her inspection that morning. It was one of two or three perfect scores hes given out since April. She said she owes her high food safety standards, in part, to Thalasinos and the other inspectors shes worked with over the years. They teach you about the industry, Chavez said. They teach you what to look for, they teach you how to be patient, they teach you like everything. Contact the writer: sbaer@scng.com, @skbaer on Twitter When first questioned by San Bernardino County sheriffs deputies about his neighbor Erin Corwin, Christopher Brandon Lee said he hardly knew her, according to court testimony Thursday during Lees murder trial. Mr. Lee said they were mere acquaintances, not friends, and he only saw her when she came and left the apartment complex, said sheriffs Cpl. Cathy Tabor, who in June 2014 interviewed Lee along with Deputy Danny Millan. But Tabor and Millan sensed something a little off about Lee. He didnt seem like he wanted to talk. He answered quickly, Tabor said. Tabor and Millan later learned Lee had been having an affair with the 19-year-old Corwin. The deputies interviewed Lee the day Corwin was reported missing by her husband, Jonathan Corwin, on June 29, 2014. Erin Corwin was last seen alive the previous day. The Corwins lived next door to Lee in an apartment complex on the Twentynine Palms Marine base, and the young couple was friends with Lee, as well as Conor and Aisling Malakie, who lived in an apartment downstairs. But things got too close for comfort when Aisling Malakie caught Lee kissing Erin Corwin on her living room couch on Valentines Day 2014, according to her testimony Wednesday. The affair caused a rift between the Malakies, Lee and Erin Corwin. Lee, 27, was about to be discharged from the Marines and was preparing to move with his wife and daughter back to his home state of Alaska when Erin Corwin was last seen alive at the military housing fourplex. Corwins body was found Aug. 16, 2014, at the bottom of a 140-foot mine shaft on the eastern border of Joshua Tree National Park, where a cluster of abandoned mining camps comprise the Rose of Peru, Brooklyn and Old Dale mining districts. A homemade garotte, believed to be the murder weapon, was wrapped around Corwins neck, and spent 22-caliber shell casings, a white propane tank and two 5-gallon water jugs with the words Property of U.S. Government were found discarded in the mine shaft next to her badly decomposed body. The bullet casings in the mine matched ones found in Lees Jeep, and the water jugs were like ones used by the military, according to court testimony and Lees arrest warrant. On Wednesday, Conor Malakie testified he saw a white propane tank in the back of Lees Jeep prior to Corwins disappearance. When he asked Lee what he was going to do with it, Lee said he was going to blow up a mine shaft by pouring gasoline on it and shooting it. Lees friend, Joseph Hollifield, testified Tuesday he had gone with Lee to the mining district area where Corwins body was found a week prior to do some off-roading, and Lee brought his 22-caliber rifle. While they were examining some of the mines, Hollifield said he encountered a rattlesnake, which Lee shot and killed. Lee was charged on Aug. 19, 2014, with one count of first-degree murder, with special circumstances including lying in wait. He was extradited from Alaska, where he had moved shortly after Corwins disappearance. Corwins disappearance triggered a six-week search that began July 2, 2014, said San Bernardino County sheriffs Cpl. Robert Whiteside, his departments search and rescue program coordinator. RELATED: Contact the writer: jnelson@scng.com; @SBCountyNow on Twitter Two Riverside County-based Cal Fire veterans who died from job-related illnesses will be honored this weekend in Sacramento where their names are being inscribed on the California Firefighters Memorial. At age 54, a heart attack felled Firefighter Barry Andrew Rezac on Sept. 27, 2015, at a hospital near his Apple Valley home. During his long career, hed survived an explosion, a long fall, brush fire injuries, and even a pair of charging Rottweilers that he repelled with his fists to save a family from attack. Though born in Arkansas, he grew up in Riverside and joined Rubidoux Community Services District Fire Department before it became part of Cal Fires Riverside County Fire Department. Rezac also was an avid horseman. He and his wife, Sandra, lived for years in Norco before moving to Apple Valley in 2012. Their children include Joshua, Jennifer and Rachel. Engineer David Garrett Lezchuck began his career by graduating at the top of his Cal Fire academy class. Among his accomplishments, Lezchuck was an expert in cliff rescues and a member of the departments helicopter engine unit. He died of job-related cancer on May 17, 2011. Rezac and Lezchuck are among 29 firefighters whose names will be added at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at the state capitol to the 1,300 already inscribed on the memorial that honors firefighters who die of job-related traumatic injury or illness. The ceremony includes hundreds of firefighters who perform a uniformed sea of blue procession, commemorations from state and local fire service leaders, flag presentations to families of the honorees, and the traditional bell-ringing of the Last Alarm. Trade volume between China and Ghana as at the end of 2015 was $6.604 billion, representing an18.2 per cent increase from the previous year. This ranked Ghana as the sixth major trading partner for China in Africa, a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Ghana, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, has said. Chinas exports to Ghana in the same year was $5.308 billion, an increase of 28.39 per cent from the previous years. The statement said Chinas imports from Ghana was, however, $1.296 billion in 2015, a decrease of 10.81 per cent from the previous years. Chinas non-financial direct investment in Ghana in 2015 was 174 million dollars, ranking it also at sixth in Africa. That brings Chinas non-financial direct investment in Ghana up to 2015 at 1.3 billion dollars, according to the statement. The statement said the newly signed contracts by Chinese enterprises of international construction in Ghana the same year, was $1,286 billion, ranking 14th in Africa. In effect, the statement said, the newly signed contracts by Chinese enterprises of international construction in Ghana up to 2015, stood at $15 billion. The statement said since 2008, China has helped trainned more than 2,500 persons free of charge every year. In 2015 alone, China trained 700 Ghanaians. About 4700 Ghanaian students are being trained in China, the highest number of foreign students in the country, the statement added. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Techiman circuit court has adjourned sitting on the case of the embattled Municipal Fire Commander, Philip Ansah Andoh, whose manhood was reportedly bitten by his lady subordinate. Philip Ansah Andohs male organ was allegedly bitten by a 24-year-old community fire protection assistant, Ataa Takyi, who claimed her boss attempted to forcibly sleep with her. The court, presided over by Juan Eyi Kin, has asked the accused person to reappear on October 27, 2016. Ms Takyi was however, not spotted in court for the second time and there was no explanation from the prosecutor as to why she failed to turn up. Narrating what happened before the chief fire officer was injured, Takyi told the media that she answered a knock on her door only to see Mr Ansah Andoh standing there with a large plastic bag. According to Ms Takyi, when she collected the bag and turned to enter her room, the fire chief followed her and sat on one of the chairs, claiming that when she asked him to leave the room because she was going to bed, Mr Andoh refused to do so. Instead, the lady claimed the officer began fondling her breasts and pulling her cloth. I resisted initially and later he threatened me saying he is the commander and so anything he wants he gets it; and because he said that, I got scared he would do something bad to me, Miss Ataa Takyi narrated. Being afraid of losing my job, I decided to give in with a different motive to defend myself. I told him I am ready and so he should do whatever he wants to do with me; but after romancing with him for three minutes, I grabbed his penis and bit it hard, Ms Tayi said. She said the officer collapsed as blood was oozing from his manhood. She said she realised he was bleeding and feared he could lose his life and therefore called for help, adding that Mr Ansah Andoh was taken to the Dr Kesse Hospital at Techiman for medical attention. He was treated and discharged. However, the embattled fire commander explained that Ms Takyi had been his girlfriend for the past three to four months and so there is no way I would rape a woman I am going out with. Mr Ansah Andoh stated that contrary to claims by the lady that he visited her after midnight and tried raping her, he said he never did such a thing. Its a routine visit as I took my clothes to her to wash, Mr Ansah Andoh said, still wondering what led to her reaction that night. The fire officer has been suspended over the alleged sexual escapade. The police have however, presented the case to the Attorney Generals office for advice after completion of its preliminary investigation. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu has warned that administration of public universities in Ghana will grind to a halt if government fails to permit universities to employ more lecturers. He said most universities still grapple with high student-to-teacher ratio which keeps increasing every year. He expressed worry governments moratorium on the recruitment of teachers by public universities continue to cause a strain on the activities of the Universities. Speaking to Citi News, he noted that admission of fresh students at the University of Ghana had increased by almost 20%, increasing the worrying on the high rates of student-to-teacher ratio. The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), earlier hinted it may be compelled to suspend its services if the situation continues. Government recently approved the recruitment of about one thousand teachers to the various tertiary institutions in the country but Professor Oduro Owusu said government must give universities the free hands to employ more staff. Basically in the universities, people are employed based on their expertise. So if someone who teaches algebra retires or passes on, you dont expect me, an entomologist to go and teach algebra. It will demand that we have an algebraist to go and teach algebra. This is the understanding that people in authority would have to get and grant us some leverage to be able to employ, he said. He noted that If things continue like this for some time, I am afraid our system might grand to a halt. Because if you have very high student-lecture ratios, what it means is that you are reducing the contact hours and the implication of all this is that we will be having less quality products coming out. So it has an effect on the quality. So I am hoping that people in authority will understand this simple logic and grant the universities the free hand to employ to fill the gap, he concluded. Source: citifmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ghanas Second Lady, Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur has donated a 33 seater Eicher Bus to the Kinder Paradise School to support its operations. The school, a non-profit institution caring for deprived children and youth is located in the Prampram area of the Greater Accra Region. Speaking at her office during the donation in Roman Ridge, Mrs. Amissah-Arthur a friend of Kinder Paradise over the years said she was motivated by the activities of the school hence the need to help them. She revealed that founder of Kinder Paradise, Mrs. Silke Roesner, put the request to her when she attended the Speech and Prize Giving Day of Kinder Paradise. And through the assistance of Mr. Thomas Svanikier who is the Executive Chairman of Svani Group, she was able to acquire the bus for the school. She called on individuals and organizations to always help institutions like Kinder Paradise. Mrs. Amissah-Arthur added that this would help fill the gap where government cannot provide sufficient aid to help the needy. On her part Mrs. Silke Roesner, thanked the Second Lady and the Executive Chairman of Svani Group for the continuous support that they give to the school. She promised that they would put the bus to a good use to for the benefit of the children. 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. Featured Video The Vice President says Kwesi -Arthur has stated that hes impressed with the progress of work on the 650-bed University of Ghana Teaching Hospital, built at a cost of 217 million dollars. Government is expected to take over the completed works next month. Mr. Amissah described the super tertiary teaching hospital as unique and hinted that government in the near future will put up a similar facility in the northern sector of the country. This came to light when the Vice President paid a working visit to the New University of Ghana Teaching Hospital. The project coordinator Prof. Aaron Lawson accompanied by the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Ebenezer Owusu Oduro, took the Vice President round the teaching hospital. Authorities at the University of Ghana confirmed to the press that the University of Ghana Teaching Hospital is being financed by the Government of Ghana through a 217 million dollar loan facility secured from Israel. Prof. Aaron Lawson said that government has also secured an additional 48 million dollars for the second phase of the project for additional 400 beds. He said the University has demonstrated the capacity to pay back the loan to government. As part of the project, a number of Ghanaian health professionals have undergone training at the Sheba Medical Centre in Israel. They are expected to constitute a critical mass of staff to be engaged when the teaching hospital commences operations. He announced that more than two thousand people will be engaged to work in the facility when the second phase is completed. The University of Ghana Teaching Hospital Project which has been on the drawing board for decades commenced on 12th March, 2011 with sod cutting ceremony by the late President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills. That same year, government solicited a loan facility from a bank in Israel for the design, construction and installation of medical equipment for a 617- bed Hospital facility for the University of Ghana. The main contractor is Messers Engineering and Development Consultants Limited of Israel, with Sheba Medical Centre, also in Israel, as the medical consultants. Cabinet and Parliamentary approvals were granted in June and July 2011 respectively. Following a value for money audit process, the commercial contract was signed in November 2012. 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. Featured Video If you will recall, Peacefmonline.com and the Kokrokoo team started updating you on the 123 Community Senior High Schools built by the Mahama-led administration from Monday. We brought you report from the Western Region on Thursday. Thursdays tour of the Western Region revealed that work has not started on two of the plots allocated to be used for the construction of Assakai and Nsuem Community Senior High School. According to our reporter, Appiah Dankwa, the project at Tarkwa Nsuem Municipal has now been awarded to a contractor; no one knows when he will start work. At Sekondi-Takoradi-Assakai, they have now finished with access route to the site. According to this reporter, the first contractor in charge of the project had to run for his life because he was being threatened by residents. No one knows why he was being threatened. Authorities are yet to give the contract to a different contractor. Meanwhile, out of the 123 SHSs, 13 are in the Western Region and out of that only 1 has been completed. Ten is uncompleted and work is yet to start on two. Below are pictures of the yet to start project at Nsuem and Assakai and the completed one at Nzema East Bamiankor. Sekondi-Takoradi-Assakai Tarkwa Nsuem Municipal - Western Region Tarkwa Nsuem Municipal - Western Region Completed Nzema East Bamiankor Community SHS Completed Nzema East Bamiankor Community SHS Completed Nzema East Bamiankor Community SHS Completed Nzema East Bamiankor Community SHS 0 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. Featured Video Famous American outdoors magazine Outside has scored potentially its first ever story which might be construed as viral with a provocative obituary declaring our beloved Great Barrier Reef as very, very dead. Headlined Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016), the piece bemoans the death of one of the most spectacular features on the planet thanks to increased sea temperatures and ocean acidification. The reef was born on the eastern coast of the continent of Australia during the Miocene epoch. Its first 24.99 million years were seemingly happy ones, marked by overall growth. It was formed by corals, which are tiny anemone-like animals that secrete shell to form colonies of millions of individuals. Its complex, sheltered structure came to comprise the most important habit in the ocean. As sea levels rose and fell through the ages, the reef built itself into a vast labyrinth of shallow-water reefs and atolls extending 140 miles off the Australian coast and ending in an outer wall that plunged half a mile into the abyss. With such extraordinary diversity of life and landscape, it provided some of the most thrilling marine adventures on earth to humans who visited. Its otherworldly colors and patterns will be sorely missed. The obit doesnt hold back on condemning successive Australian governments for not giving a toss about the reef referring to the Queensland governments attempt to sell off the reef to mining companies back in the 60s, and the more recent attempts to dump mass volumes of coal silt onto the reef. I mean, this is obviously a grand metaphorical statement, not an actual announcement that the reef is dead, but there are always teens online willing to misinterpret grand metaphorical statements: honestly yall how we kill the Great Barrier Reef? weedprincess666 (@evilclownboi69) October 14, 2016 Industrialization began around 230 years ago. The Great Barrier Reefs been around for 25 million years and humans managed to kill it.. pic.twitter.com/jciPAVoa12 Elmedin Zeric (@Elmedin_Zeric) October 13, 2016 the earth reached its carbon tipping point, the bees are endangered, & now the Great Barrier Reef is deadi just need a moment.. em (@emilyyy_aileen) October 13, 2016 Look, its it nice were getting recognition as a nation for our efforts toward conserving one of our great national treasures oh wait, no. Thats not happening at all. The Great Barrier Reef is dead and we murdered it, apparently. Cool. Read the full obit HERE. Source: Outside. Photo: Getty Images. Its been 8 years since the incomparable Chris Rock last released a stand-up special, 2008s Kill The Messenger, and at 51-years-old and given the career hes enjoyed, youd probably forgive him if he decided to hang up the microphone for good. But like pretty much every other comedian ever, the itch of the bright lights and the big stage is too great to ignore. Rock will officially return to stand-up comedy with two specials on Netflix, after inking a deal thats smashed records for comedy specials. The streaming giant has reportedly agreed to a deal worth as much as $40million, which is the largest amount ever paid to a single comedian for a filmed stand-up show. Rock previously had a long and historic working relationship with HBO, who released his 5 previous specials, stretching all the way back to 1994s Big Ass Jokes. Its understood that HBO also bid aggressively for the new specials, but were beaten out by Netflix who has established themselves as a major player in the stand-up market. Stand-up comedy is a huge draw for SVOD services, which explains the record price tag. Netflixs chief content officer Ted Sarandos pumped the signing up in a statement issued to media: Chris Rock is a beloved actor and director, and his remarkable stand-up makes him comic royalty. There is no one like him, and Netflix offers the global platform and creative freedom that will serve as a perfect home for someone with his incredible talent. The first of the two specials will be filmed in 2017 in conjuncture with a planned world tour (AUSTRALIA MAYBE?). At the very least, this is definitely news that Michael Scott will be frothing on. Source: Deadline. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty. ICYM the shit-show of the last 24-hours, no less than 11 women have come forward with stories of sexual assault or inappropriate behaviour by Donald Trump. QZ has a succinct summary of them over here, but the ones you need to know about for this story are the two accounts published by the New York Times of women who say Trump inappropriately touched them. (He was like an octopus shudder.) Both women say they were spurned to speak out about the assaults after seeing his denial during the second Presidential Debate that despite the leaked audio of him bragging about kissing women without permission and being allowed to grab them by the pussy, these remarks were both locker room talk and hed never actually acted on them. Within hours, Trumps lawyer Marc E. Kasowitz sent a letter to the NY Times demanding an apology and a retraction, or legal action would be pursued. Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se, Kasowitz wrote. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trumps candidacy. Trump is also having his usual meltdown on Twitter: The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016 However, the NY Times lawyer David E. McCraw is unconcerned. In his reply (now going viral), McCraw argues that as the essence of a libel claim is the protection of ones reputation, the NY Times cannot be held accountable for damaging Trumps reputation more than he himself has already damaged it. You write concerning our article Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately and label the article as libel per se, he writes. You ask that we remove it from (our) website, and issue a full and immediate retraction and apology.We decline to do so. The essence of a libel claim, of course, is the protection of ones reputation. Mr. Trump has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women. He has bragged about intruding on beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms. He acquiesced to a radio hosts request to discuss Mr. Trumps own daughter as a piece of ass. Multiple women not mentioned in our article have publicly come forward to report on Mr. Trumps unwanted advances. Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself. ~ pause for supa hot fire gif ~ The letter continues: But there is a larger and much more important point here. The women quoted in our story spoke out on an issue of national importance indeed, an issue that Mr. Trump himself discussed with the whole nation watching during Sunday nights presidential debate. Our reporters diligently worked to confirm the womens accounts. They provided readers with Mr. Trumps response, including his forceful denial of the womens reports. It would have been a disservice not just to our readers but to democracy itself to silence their voices. We did what the law allows: We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticise him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight. Photo: Getty / Alex Wong. Some things just arent meant to happen. Great White sharks arent meant to penetrate so-called shark-proof diving cages, and if one of those bitey mofos does break in, the unlucky diver within certainly isnt meant to survive. Welp, Ming Chen did somehow fend off a Great White under those exact circumstances, and video of the ordeal essentially redefines the concept of terror. In truth, Chen faced three of the all-time great fears at once claustrophobia, drowning, and goddamn sharks and lived to tell the tale to The Project. While 99.9% of the population would probably choose to see out the rest of their days in the foetal position afterwards, Chens interview proved beyond all doubt he simply DGAF. When asked about his initial reaction to the massive oceanic death machine thrashing about on top of him, Chen said we dont have time to [be] afraid of it. We dont have time to be frightened. Everything happened so suddenly. He said ten years of working as a diving instructor in his own right may have prepared him in some way. Just as well, cause he described pushing the beast away from him and he revealed he didnt even chuck a Mick Fanning by punching the thing: No punch its a lovely animal, I dont want to punch it. The incident happened in Mexican waters, so were confident in saying the bloke has serious cajones. Have a gander: We meet the diver who was stuck in a cage with a shark! #TheProjectTV | WATCH the encounter: https://t.co/kJMsUE2Ixv https://t.co/iXUhMncxom #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) October 14, 2016 Source: The Project / Twitter. Photo: Gabe And Garrett / YouTube. Farrking hell. French police are now investigating after footage taken of Kim Kardashian shortly after she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris was leaked to media. According to The Sun, the three-and-a-half minute footage shows Kim wrapped in blankets on the couch, speaking to someone on FaceTime while police search her hotel suite for evidence. She appears to be unaware she is being filmed, making the recording illegal under French law (where it is illegal to record someone without their consent in a private setting). The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $66,000 fine. The footage appeared on websites earlier this week, but Kims legal team shut it down by warning the media outlets that it was obtained illegally. A source told TMZ that Kims legal team is now working with French authorities to determine who took the video. Photo: Instagram / Kim Kardashian. Welp, its official: Australia is absolutely gagging for Playstation VR. In fact, we want it so damn bad that its already sold out on pre-orders alone. Sony Australia have confirmed that their launch units had already pre-sold out ahead of their October 13 release. If you havent pre-ordered, you probably wont get one on launch day. PlayStation Australia has been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and demand Australians have shown for PlayStation VR, a Sony spokesperson told Kotaku. The October 13 launch shipment of PlayStation VR has pre-sold out and we are working closely with our retail partners on additional shipments to ensure customers are not disappointed. If you are keen on to get your hands on one of these mad machines before Christmas, Sony says you should pre-order right bloody now. But even then, some retailers reckon even their second shipments are completely sold out, in which case, youre totally boned and will have to wait until next year. Its safe to say that the VR revolution is well and truly in full swing. Source: Kotaku. Photo: Getty. Book Review: Seeking Refuge Most of us are aware and concerned of the refugee crisis surging against Europes shores, though media attention has moved on by now. Greek Coast guard members continue to pull desperate people out of the ocean almost daily, and huge refugee camps in Greece and elsewhere are home to tens of thousands of refugees, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. I recently read Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis by several World Relief staff. I knew Id be educated about the current refugee situation, but I never expected their words to have so much to do with our persecuted brothers and sisters. While presidential candidates, politicians and pundits speculate about the imagined results of resettling refugees into our country, Seeking Refuge provides a different perspective. Namely, that serving the alien, aka the refugee, is a Biblical mandate that all Christ followers are called to pursue. The authors explain this mandate using various Scripture passages. Most enlightening though, is how serving refugees in America can be a way to serve our persecuted brothers and sisters. According to a World Relief study, about 340,000 professing Christians of one tradition or another have been admitted into the United States as refugees between 2003 and 2015, more than any other religious tradition [emphasis mine]. Many of those individuals and families were persecuted particularly because of their Christian faith. Of approximately 125,000 Iraqi refugees admitted since 2007, for example, more than 35 percent have been Christians many times more than the Christian share of the Iraqi population because Christians have been uniquely persecuted. [pg 25] Perhaps that new Iraqi family I see walking their children to school every morning are believers. And perhaps theyre feeling lonely and alienated in a new culture and climate. One of World Reliefs major endeavors is partnering incoming refugees with a welcoming church family who will help them bridge the gap as they settle into a foreign new place. As the authors say, If we were forced to flee our country, we would hope that a Christian brother or sister in the country to which we fled would be there to welcome us, to help us adjust, and to lament with us what we had lost. We have the opportunity to stand with the persecuted church as many come into our country each year. [pg 25] At The Voice of the Martyrs, we encourage our readers to engage with and stand with the persecuted. What if our persecuted brothers and sisters arent oceans away but instead are moving into apartments just down the street? If we fear incoming immigrants, were operating under false assumptions. According to missiologist Timothy Tennent, the percentage of immigrants in North America who either arrive as or become Christians is significantly higher than the Christian share of the native population.[pg 32] If we act in fear, We risk ignoring a divine mandate if our sole priorities are safety, comfort and convenience. The authors exhort us to begin thinking biblically not merely politically or economically about immigrants. [pg 32] Safety is fine, but it is not cannot be our ultimate value if we follow Jesus.[page 68] So how do we think biblically about immigrants? These new arrivals present a huge mission field, people and religions we might never have encountered otherwise, brought right to our doorsteps. As we support and encourage persecuted believers who are reaching their enemies for Christ, how can we not reach out to our enemies in love? The authors acknowledge that serving people is hard. Its messy and complicated. Many of the new arrivals bring with them deep trauma. Their languages and customs are different. But again, as followers of Jesus, our obligation is not to neat, safe, ordered lives. Instead it is to engage to serve the persecuted and to reach the lost. And somewhat surprisingly, we can do that right here in America by welcoming an immigrant. Dory P has been on staff with The Voice of the Martyrs for nearly 10 years. As a freshman at Wheaton College, she interned at World Relief DuPage, giving her brand new eyes for immigrants. At that time, most of the arriving immigrants were from the Sudan and the Balkans. Disclosure: VOM is part of the Amazon Associates program. If you click on the links in this post and purchase the book from Amazon, VOM will receive a very small percentage of your purchase as a referral fee. Downtown Petoskey celebrates Halloween in style with annual parade The sun was shining on Saturday morning as hundreds of trick-or-treaters took to the streets of downtown Petoskey for the annual Halloween Parade. Rosneft puts the 'private' in privatization BFN Business Finance News Rosneft privatization: eating its own tail NEW YORK Petroleumworld.com 10 14 2016 Self-actualization is the process of realizing one's full potential. Self-privatization is how Rosneft helps the Kremlin pay its bills. Rosneft, the London-listed Russian oil champion roughly 70-percent owned by the state, is on a privatization binge -- albeit one with peculiar characteristics. It announced on Thursday it had paid about $5.2 billion for a majority stake in Bashneft , a fellow Russian oil and gas company, previously owned by the government. Meanwhile, CEO Igor Sechin has been pitching close ally President Vladimir Putin about the government's plan to privatize a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft, worth roughly $11.7 billion at current prices. Sechin's ingenious plan: Let Rosneft buy the stake itself. Rather than images of clapping executives ringing bells on stock-exchange floors, this privatization conjures up an animal eating its own tail. At least the roadshow should be easy. If, as seems likely, Sechin's plan is approved, the government will end up owning 50 percent of Rosneft and, directly and indirectly, about 35 percent of Bashneft -- although, as the Kremlin will still control Rosneft, it will retain effective control of Bashneft anyway. In exchange, the government should get roughly $17 billion -- albeit from a company it still controls and which, producing more than 40 percent of Russia's oil, really is too big to fail. Remarkably, Rosneft can afford it. Based on figures compiled by Bloomberg, the company's pro-forma net debt would rise from $23 billion to about $40 billion. So net debt to trailing Ebitda would rise from 1.4 times to 2.1 times -- higher, obviously, but not enormous and likely to fall within a year if oil prices continue to rise. Moreover, with Bashneft's output jumping by double-digit percentages in the past two years, Rosneft likely needs the deal to offset declines at existing fields and bolster slowing production growth. Yet the Russian government's apparent decision to further consolidate the country's oil sector under Rosneft -- and, thereby, itself -- is telling. For one thing, it represents another setback to persistent, yet fruitless, hopes of economic reform besting short-term expediency. Should Saudi Arabia deliver on pledges to IPO its own oil champion , Saudi Aramco, then Moscow's approach will be thrown into even starker relief. Such short-termism is echoed in Russia's budget-setting process, which is wrapping up at the moment. Government finances have obviously suffered as result of the crash in energy prices, as evidenced in the ruble's slump and the decline in Russia's foreign exchange reserves. RUSSIAN CUSHION Russia's reserves have been dropping since late 2013, roughly a year before the oil-price crash took hold Source: Bloomberg, International Monetary Fund It now looks like the government will approve plans to spend about 16.2 trillion rubles in 2017, up from earlier pledges of a more austere 15.8 trillion and blowing the target of limiting the budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP (this would be even worse without the privatization proceeds from Bashneft and Rosneft). Much of the extra spending will be on defense, as Russia's military commitments have ramped up from Ukraine to Syria (which in itself has provoked sanctions stymieing such investment goodies as Exxon Mobil's strategic partnership with Rosneft ). Spending is supposed to ease up from there. But with presidential elections due in 2018 and relations with the U.S. and some European countries deteriorating further, don't count on it. One set of observers who should be taking note of all this: OPEC's members. In defiance of a long history of disappointment, as well as some decidedly mixed messages from Putin and Sechin over the past week, hopes have risen again that Russia will contribute something meaningful in terms of cutting oil supply in coordination with OPEC to support prices. In theory, placing more of Russia's oil output under Kremlin control should make it easier to do that. In practice, acquiescence to Sechin's plan in the wider context of fast-shifting budget priorities and persistent deficits should be a warning that the Kremlin's overriding priority is raising cash. When it comes to oil, Russia could well contribute a cut of maybe 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day quite easily, especially as production hit a post-Soviet high in September. Cutting less than 2 percent of production in exchange for an agreement with OPEC that has already, merely as a possibility, added 10 percent to oil prices in the past month alone is an economic no-brainer ( in the short term at least ). That is especially so if the jolt to sentiment helps with upcoming bond sales to finance the deficit and bolstering Rosneft's standing as it prepares to stretch its balance sheet. But Russia's preferred approach has always been to free-ride on OPEC's cuts, reaping the full benefit itself. And as Moscow looks around, it can see other producers in far worse shape, which may deliver the necessary cuts by default (exhibit A: Venezuela ). So neither OPEC nor other oil bulls should be surprised if Russia's pledges to cut prove symbolic or short-lived. Did U.S. policies accelerate China's space program? For many U.S. lawmakers, not participating in a space race may be as bad as losing one. Rep. Brian Babin, the Texas republican who chairs the House space subcommittee, opened last month's "Are We Losing the Space Race to China?" hearing with a tirade on the Obama administration, and its decision to cancel NASA's return-to-the-moon Constellation program in 2010. "This vacuum of leadership facilitated the ascendance of China as a leading space-faring nation," Babin said. "China has capitalized on this administration's weakness by offering partnerships with other nations, like a return to the moon, which the U.S. chose to walk away from." In the hearingas well as in an email to The Planetary Society in response to our Horizon Goal seriesBabin pointed out the Obama administration slashed Constellation funding in 2009 prior to an independent review that deemed the program, among other things, underfunded. (The review report addresses this charge on page 59 by pointing out that while the first Obama budget indeed cut Constellation dollars, the program was already falling short of original funding projections.) For Babin and others, then, the rise of China's space program is coupled tightly with perceived policy missteps by the Obama administration. But China's current spaceflight aspirations, including the goal of a permanent space station, have been around much longer. And that was when the possibility of bilateral cooperation with the United States still existed; since 2011, the House of Representatives has inserted language in NASA funding bills prohibiting such a possibility. Right now, as far as the United States is concerned, China has to go it alone. How China's space program benefits the country Dennis Shea, who chairs the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said during the hearing that the line between China's military and civilian space activities was much blurrier than that of the United States. "China's military controls the majority of the country's space assets and operations," Shea said. "Even apparently civilian projects such as space exploration can directly support the development of PLA (People's Liberation Army, the armed forces of China's communist party) space, counterspace and conventional capabilities." Mark Stokes, the executive director of the Project 2049 Institute, a non-profit Asia-Pacific security issues think tank, agreed. "This is part of a conscious policy referred to these days as MCFMilitary Civilian Fusion, for short," he said. To what extent this is actually happening is less clear, given China's lack of transparency. But many defense experts point to the country's anti-satellite capabilities, which have been on the rise since a 2007 test that destroyed a defunct weather satellite and created a massive cloud of dangerous space debris. China has since conducted similar, debris-free, tests. Beyond military benefits, China's burgeoning space program bolsters the ruling communist party's domestic legitimacy and international prestige. Like NASA, the program also supports spinoff technologies, which improves China's ability to compete in the global commercial space market. All of that is beneficial to the country's economy, said Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center. "The Chinese see an advancing space capability almost like a locomotive that will pull along other parts of the Chinese economy," he said. Uniqueness challenged Tensions between the U.S. and China certainly exist. And China continues to be make worldwide watch lists for human rights violations. But the narrative that the two countries are engaged in a space race akin to that of the U.S. and former Soviet Union does not entirely fit. Why, then, do some American lawmakers consider China's space ambitions such a threat? According to Cheng, the real answer might lie in the fact that for almost half a century, the U.S. has stood alone in being able to claim the most prestigious feat of all time: landing people on another world and returning them safely to Earth. "The reality is, the day the Chinese are able to [land humans on the moon] is the day that American uniqueness will be openly challenged," Cheng said. "And Chinese prestige will be placed on the same level as that of the United States." Boston Police Officer Richard Cintolo and Officer Matt Morris were critically wounded in a firefight Wednesday night. (Photo: Boston PD) Two wounded Boston police officers are undergoing another round of surgeries today, police said. The officers, who were injured in a shootout with a heavily armed suspect on Wednesday night, are at Massachusetts General Hospital where they are undergoing treatment for multiple gunshot wounds, reports the Boston Herald. "The outstanding staff at MGH continues to help our officers during this difficult time," Boston police commissioner William Evans said. "I cannot thank them enough." Officers Matthew Morris and Richard Cintolo were injured in a firefight with 33-year-old constable Kirk Figueroa, who was killed during the gun battle, authorities said. Both officers were rushed from the scene to Massachusetts General where they immediately underwent surgery due to the severity of the injuries and a massive amount of blood loss, police said. The nature of todays surgeries was not disclosed. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to give all Texas patrol officers ballistic vests that can withstand rifle rounds and to exempt the spouses of fallen first responders from paying property taxes until they remarry. He laid out both initiatives during a Wednesday press conference, saying he'll prioritize them during next year's legislative session, reports the Texas Tribune. So far this year, 17 law enforcement officers have died on the job in Texas, more than in any other state, Patrick said. Outfitting the 59,000 officers who are regularly on patrol in Texas with rifle-resistant vests could cost the state up to $20 million, Patrick said though he didn't specify where lawmakers would find that cash in what's expected to be a tight budget year. Patrick said his proposal was in part inspired by the July shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers by a sniper during an otherwise peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. "We saw law enforcement officers give their lives to protect people who were protesting them minutes before," Patrick said. State Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, and members of the law enforcement community stood with Patrick at Wednesday's event. In September, Eltife and the city of Tyler announced a similar initiative to provide rifle-resistant vests to local law enforcement. Photo: Genetec Genetec Inc., provider of open-architecture, IP security solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Point Blank Enterprises (PBE,) known for its development, manufacturing, and distribution of high-performance body armor. Through this partnership, Genetec and Point Blank plan to be able to offer law enforcement professionals a direct integration between the IRIS CAM body-worn camera and the all new Genetec Clearance, a case management system designed to speed up investigations by allowing different organizations to collect, manage, and share video evidence and other relevant case information. Genetec and Point Blank will demonstrate this integration at the IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police) conference in San Diego, CA, October 15th18th 2016, on the Genetec booth #3517, and Point Blank booth #4825. Genetec Clearance is designed to allow police officers, investigators, and security managers to gather digital evidence from a variety of sources such as the IRIS CAM, or other video management systems, as well as in-car systems and cellphone footage from bystanders and witnesses, and easily store, manage, review, and share it from a single application. The Point Blank IRIS CAM can help law enforcement agencies improve evidence collection and enhance officer accountability. Built in a ruggedized enclosure, the IRIS CAM provides ultra-high definition recording with a 140-degree FOV, getting even closer to the action. Additionally, the IRIS CAM ensures not a moment is missed with 30 seconds of pre-recording and a long lasting lithium polymer battery that can last an entire shift. The integration of the IRIS CAM system with Genetec Clearance will allow for automated uploads, saving law enforcement officers time at the end of their shift. Once uploaded, the video can be viewed immediately, without the need for conversion. Post-incident tagging can also be added to the recording, to help with further classification of the event, and aid in locating the file for future searches or investigations. Recordings can also be shared with both internal and external users, at the click of a button, speeding up the case management workflow. The unique identity redaction tool in Genetec Clearance can be applied to mask or blur sensitive information, which will protect the privacy and identity of individuals when evidence is shared with prosecutors or in response to FOIA requests. "The partnership with Point Blank allows us to offer a turnkey body-wearable camera/evidence management solution to our customers. It will provide an intuitive and streamlined way to capture, manage and administer video evidence from the IRIS CAM into Genetec Clearance, eliminating manual processes and saving agencies time and money spent on managing cases," said Christian Morin, Vice President Cloud Services, Genetec Inc. "Law enforcement agencies will be able to benefit from enhanced intra- and inter-agency collaboration and transparency," added Morin. "By offering this integrated technology approach from Point Blank and Genetec, our respective end-users and channel partners will be able to bring a unique hardware/software turnkey solution to law enforcement and case management customers that has not previously been available," said Paulo Motoki, Chief Operating Officer, Point Blank Enterprises. Genetec Clearance and IRIS CAM integration is expected to be available from Genetec channel partners and resellers in Q4 2016, and will be fully FedRAMP and CJIS compliant. For more information about Genetec, visit: www.genetec.com. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print In a blow to Republicans living in an alternate reality, President Obamas approval rating continues to soar even higher in a brand new Fox News poll released on Thursday. According to the poll, 56 percent of Americans approve of the job the current president has done the eighth Fox poll in a row to show Obamas approval rating at 50 percent or higher. 3: Another poll with Obama approval at a recent peak. 56% approve/41% disapprove. pic.twitter.com/l6OJn8MorK Nick Gourevitch (@nickgourevitch) October 13, 2016 The new numbers directly contradict constant Republican assertions that Obama has destroyed the country and turned the U.S. into a hellscape. Americans actually think the current president has done a pretty good job. Other recent polling consistently shows the same thing as the Fox Poll: A majority of Americans approve of the job President Obama is doing. According to RealClearPolitics, the current presidents job approval stands at a strong 52 percent when averaging recent polling. This isnt just good for the outgoing president, though. Its also good for the current Democratic nominee. Obamas increasing popularity is proof that tying Hillary Clintons candidacy to him and calling her a third Obama term wont hurt the Democratic nominee if anything, it will only help her chances next month when voters go to the polls. As we reach the mid-point of October and approach the final few weeks of this campaign, these numbers should have Republicans particularly Donald Trump shaking in their boots. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print At the Ohio Democratic Party State Dinner in Columbus on Thursday, President Obama launched into a blistering attack on Donald Trump and slammed the swamp of crazy within the Republican Party that helped create him. Obama also took aim at comments Trump was heard making in a 2005 Access Hollywood video, saying no decent person would even think the things Trump said. But he didnt just slam Trump. Obama also went directly after Republicans who have spent the campaign supporting him and are only now deciding to abandon him when its politically convenient. Video: Obama on Republicans who unendorsed Trump: They know better they didnt say anything, so they dont get credit. https://t.co/HY5x2vlLqI NBC News (@NBCNews) October 14, 2016 Obama said: They know better, a lot of these folks who ran, and they didnt say anything. So they dont get credit for, at the very last minute when finally the guy that they nominated and they endorsed and they supported, is caught on tape saying things that no decent person would even think, much less say, much less brag about, much less laugh about or joke about You cant wait until that finally happens and then say, Oh, thats too much, thats enough, and think that somehow youre showing any kind of leadership and deserve to be electedYou dont get points for that. Obama also went straight after the GOPs hypocrisy when it comes to supporting a man like Trump, and tied all Republicans up and down the ballot to their nominee. You claim the mantle of the party of family values, and this is the guy you nominate and stand by and endorse and campaign with? Obama said. Of the culture of crazy in the Republican Party, Obama said, Dont act like this started under Donald Trump. The president instead blamed years of ridiculous conspiracies and vicious attacks on him for the eventual nomination of Donald Trump a man who is essentially the embodiment of nearly a decade of GOP lunacy. [Trump] didnt build this house by himself. He just slapped his name on it and took credit for it, the president said. As Trump implodes and is increasingly unlikely to become the next president, Obama went for the jugular and tried to take the GOP the party that has aided and abetted Trump for over a year down with their unfit nominee. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* Contempt is the mindset of egotistical cretins that a person, or a thing, is beneath their consideration, worthless, and deserves their scorn. There is raging contempt among conservatives for any and everything not evangelical, not Caucasian, not wealthy and not barbaric. Over the past couple of years there has been more than one occasion where some state-level Republican blatantly showed their contempt for the Constitution, federal laws and federal and state court orders. Demonstrating contempt of court is a crime consisting of disobeying a court of law and its officers; typically in the form of behavior blatantly defying the authority of that court of law. Yesterday, the Department of Justice announced it was filing criminal contempt-of-court charges against one of Arizonas, and Americas, most contemptible bigots for violating federal court orders. Sheriff Joe Arpaio has persisted in targeting and arresting countless numbers of suspected undocumented immigrants and Latinos in Arizona despite more than one federal court order to cease and desist. Arpaios department has been accused of racial profiling by regularly detaining Latinos and darker-skinned people in the name of public safety. Arpaio also never ceased using his self-appointed authority to throw alleged violators in prison or employ racial discrimination even when ordered to stop doing so by a Federal District judge. That is contempt of court and it is also a criminal, not a civil, charge according to the Justice Department. This defiance of federal laws and courts is a regular practice of Arpaio and his chief deputy, Jerry Sheridan who continued to target Latinos months after U.S. District Judge Murray Snow issued a court order in August for them to stop. The August order was necessary even after a 2011 federal court prohibited Arpaios county-level department from trying to enforce federal immigration laws; something Arpaio allowed his deputies to continue unimpeded even after the courts order. In the August order, U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow said that Arpaio may have also given false statements under oath to obstruct the court. Judge Snow left it up to federal prosecutors to bring the criminal case and they delivered Tuesday. Judge Snow also said that Arpaio and Sheridan have a history of obfuscation and subversion of this courts orders that is as old as this case. What that means in street vernacular is that besides defying a Federal Court order (contempt), Arpaio and Sheridan likely lied under oath for years like the Republicans they are. Judge Snow continued that, There is also probable cause to believe that many, if not all, of the statements were made in an attempt to obstruct any inquiry into their further wrongdoing or negligence. What that means is that Arpaio probably committed perjury as well as obstruction of justice because he is an elected official. He could face serious jail time although due to his age, 84 years old, he would only be in prison for six months; if he is only convicted of misdemeanor contempt of court. A court date for his case is set for December 6. Donald Trump has only talked about profiling Hispanics and people with darker skin for the sake of public safety, Arpaio has taken action on his own self-bestowed authority. Arpaio is a subscriber of the constitutional sheriff dogma proffered and embraced by un-American supporters of the Bundys standoffs and acts of sedition against federal authorities. The constitutional sheriff movement is dedicated to defying federal and state laws, ruled constitutional or not, that the ultra-conservative movement concludes are illegal. According to the constitutional sheriff crowd, like the Oathkeepers, the arbiter and creator of the law of the land is each local countys sheriff; not the U.S. Constitution, not the U.S. Supreme Court, not any federal or state legislatures and certainly not a Federal District Court. If there is a question about whether an act or law is legal and constitutional, the people have to depend on the local county sheriff because according to constitutional sheriffs, they are, for all intents and purposes, the ultimate law of the land. The Department of Justice and Federal District Court Judge Murray Snow disagree with that boneheaded idea and an anti-immigrant bigot is going to federal court. There is an old saying attributed to the author of The Art of War (Sun Tzu, Sun Wu) that says, The Wheels of justice grind slow but grind fine. It is like that for thousands of Latinos and darker-skinned people in Arizona, the wheels of justice have ground excruciatingly slow while a self-appointed tyrants dealt out punishment according to his racial bias. But now that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing criminal contempt of court charges in a federal case, it appears the real law of the land, and the real arbiters of justice are finally catching up to a real un-American bigot. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print A supporter at a Trump rally tried to threaten the press with a swastika and drew the swastika wrong. Jim Acosta of CNN tweeted this from the press pen at a Trump rally: A Trump supporter left behind this sign on media table in press pen. Shows swastika with word "media" pic.twitter.com/egrMm4shgl Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 13, 2016 The genius Trump supporter who drew this got the swastika wrong. They drew a Z with a Z that looks like it is taking a nap laying across it. Thats not a swastika. The point of attempting to intimidate the press with Nazi imagery is chilling, but also confusing. Was the person who drew this calling the press Nazis, or warning that Nazis are coming for the media? For a campaign that gets outraged when the word Nazi is used to describe the candidate and his supporters, it is self-incriminating for swastikas to be showing up at Trump rallies. Donald Trump is believed by neo-Nazis, but the attempt at a threat was so sad and pathetic that it was almost funny. Trump and his supporters have reached the point where even when they try to intimidate the press with vile imagery, they cant even get that right. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print During a Cincinnati rally in which Donald Trump spewed the normal venom from his podium, it was someone in the audience one of his supporters that grabbed everybodys attention because of a shirt she was wearing. Picture via Hollywood Reporter writer Ryan Parker: Woman in crowd, standing behind Donald Trump as he speaks at Cincinnati rally, is wearing a shirt stating: Hey Trump, Talk Dirty to Me. pic.twitter.com/S9EozC5ssR Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) October 14, 2016 Of course, the shirt which said, Hey Trump, Talk Dirty To Me!!! may not have gotten anybodys attention if not for the recent release of a videotape in which Trump is heard not just talking dirty, but openly bragging about how hes entitled to do whatever he wants to women. This Trump supporter and millions across the country seem to be suggesting that their candidate is only guilty of, to paraphrase the shirt, talking dirty. But the more news that comes out, the more we realize that these are not just words. Trump has a history of acting despicably when hes around women. He believes his very existence entitles him to kiss or grope whoever he wants. Some of his most ardent supporters dont seem to have a problem with this, though, as yet another Trump supporter proved with her handmade shirt: This is a shirt pic.twitter.com/SjFNHpZlMi Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) October 14, 2016 In any case, the recent Trump controversy is about more than what the man says. Its about who he is and how he has behaved throughout his 70 years of life. Some of his most loyal apologists may be okay with it and even try to make light of it, but most Americans think there is nothing funny about it. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The New York Times treated Donald Trump like a punk by mocking his lawsuit threat with a fiery and highly factual response. Here is the laughably terrible letter that Trumps lawyer, who is surprisingly not named Lionel Hutz, sent to The New York Times: Here it is: Trump campaign lawyer sends letter to @nytimes demanding "full and immediate retraction and apology" of article==> pic.twitter.com/yQpk5lgGOB Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 13, 2016 Here is the response from NYT attorney David McCraw: In other words, bring it on. The New York Times isnt going to be intimidated by the same tactics that Donald Trump has used to scare individuals, and smaller companies into giving him what he wants. The Times generates more revenue in a year than Trumps entire net worth. If Donald Trump wants to sue The New York Times, the paper would be thrilled to drag him into court, get him under oath, and force him to discuss his history of inappropriate touching of women. Donald Trump was just treated like the two-bit punk that he is by one of the nations newspapers of record. As usual with Trump, his lawsuit threat is all about empty bluster and looking tough instead of actually being tough. Donald Trump doesnt want to tangle with The New York Times. The NYT isnt afraid of Trump, and they just put the reality television star firmly in his place. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a statement Thursday declaring that a Trump presidency represents a threat to press freedom unknown in modern history. The statement excoriated the Republican nominee for his contempt for the role of the press and for making his opposition to the media a centerpiece of his campaign. Donald Trump, through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the United States, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values. On October 6, CPJs board of directors passed a resolution declaring Trump an unprecedented threat to the rights of journalists and to CPJs ability to advocate for press freedom around the world. Since the beginning of his candidacy, Trump has insulted and vilified the press and has made his opposition to the media a centerpiece of his campaign. Trump has routinely labeled the press as dishonest and scum and singled out individual news organizations and journalists. There is good reason for these fears, and one does not have to look far to find examples of Trumps attitude toward the media. Speaking at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, yesterday, Donald Trump lashed out at the media, accusing The New York Times and other media outlets of being part of a concerted, coordinated, and vicious attack on him: The establishment and their media neighbors wield control over this nation through means that are very well known. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, rapist, xenophobe and morally deformed. They will attack you. They will slander you. They will seek to destroy your career and your family. They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that. This is just the latest in a by now large sampling of attacks on the media, and as CJP reminds us, Throughout his campaign, Trump has routinely made vague proposals to limit basic elements of press and internet freedom. At a rally in February, Trump declared that if elected president he would open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. CPJ goes on to point out that in addition to inciting violence against the media (which includes a recent incidence of drawing a swastika on a media press table), Trump has refused to condemn attacks on journalists by his supporters. His campaign has also systematically denied press credentials to outlets that have covered him critically, including The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, Univision, and The Des Moines Register. Their conclusion is damning: Through his words and actions, Trump has consistently demonstrated a contempt for the role of the press beyond offering publicity to him and advancing his interests. For this reason CPJ is taking the unprecedented step of speaking out now. This is not about picking sides in an election. This is recognizing that a Trump presidency represents a threat to press freedom unknown in modern history. The facts are undeniable. All the things Trump says the media lies about are true. He is on record. The video can be viewed, his words heard. Trump wishes to shape a reality at odds with actual events, even especially when it comes to the words coming out of his own mouth. And right now, the only thing standing between Trump and his fake reality becoming our reality, are journalists brave enough to risk the threat of intimidation and lawsuits. Bad as it is now, it will, as CPJ warns, get a whole lot worse if Trump wins in November. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump Jr. is proud to have inspired a 9 year old to say, Hillary is a bad lady I hope you put her in jail. Here, courtesy of the party of family values: Such an awesome letter from a 9 year old supporter who came to one of my NC rallies yesterday. https://t.co/5hGCXxCe31 Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 14, 2016 A crop of the letter: A 9 year old didnt just come up with put her in jail thats something a kid hears and repeats. Donald Trump said it over and over again on national TV and now kids think this is okay. During the second presidential debate, Donald Trump said to Hillary Clintons face that he was going to put her in jail. I hate to say it, but if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, Trump said to Clinton. Clinton wasnt impressed by Donald Trumps temperament and that caused him to spew, like an angry child, Because youd be in jail! Donald Trumps supporters think this was a big score on Trumps side, but thats because they dont value the basic freedoms and liberty that built this country. Jailing political opponents is something dictators like Stalin and Hitler did and something Vladimir Putin is accused of doing, not something the president of the United States does. This is what Donald Trump is doing to our children, and the Republican Party is endorsing, enabling and supporting. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print In her first interview since the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton spoke for so many women who were enraged by Donald Trumps menacing skulking behind her when she said that Trump stalked her while on stage. On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Democratic nominee for president said that Trump was really angry because of the Access Hollywood video that captured him bragging about sexual assault, he was really all wrought up, and you could just sense how much anger he had. Lets talk about the debate What did you make of that? host Ellen DeGeneres asked. It was clear that my opponent Donald Trump was going to dominate the space, almost to the exclusion of the people sitting there. I mean they were sitting there so that we could talk to them and they could ask questions and we would then answer. Because of the revelation of the public video, and everything that came out on Access Hollywood, you know, he was really all wrought up, and you could just sense how much anger he had, Clinton said. And so, he was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage. Ellens face was priceless, and mirrored the reaction of so many women regarding Trumps recognizable intimidation tactics: It was so odd, because Id go to talk to somebody, and I would just feel this presence behind me The audience broke out into laughter with Clinton and you know, I thought, Whoa this is really weird.' The audience and Ellen joined Clinton in their side-eyeing laughter over Donald Trumps bizarre behavior. Weird is a diplomatic way of putting it. Clinton was right when she said Trump stalked her around the stage. Trumps menacing behavior was immediately noticed by women watching the debate, but it took the media a good few hours to realize that being aggressive to that point wasnt a winner in the eyes of American women. Some even thought Trump had won the debate by being so on offense, not realizing that he had in fact been offensive. Clinton is right to attribute Trumps behavior to his humiliation and rage over the tape that caught him bragging about sexual assault. Numerous professional women have told stories about Donald Trump harassing them after they spurned his advances or somehow embarrassed him by telling the truth about him. Donald Trumps rage was directed at Clinton because he holds her responsible for his own behavior, feels entitled to not be held accountable for his behavior, and cant stand losing to a woman. Trump has tried to deny his creepy behavior on stage, claiming Clinton She walks across the room. Shes standing in front of me, right next to me. However, the Republican presidential candidate is seen walking right up behind her and standing there menacingly, looking down at her bottom (right after being caught saying he grabs women by their p*ssy), and standing behind her at one point appearing to hump a chair. Clinton did women a favor by naming Trumps behavior. Its easy for Trumps tactics to gaslight Americans, so it helps when powerful people name it so we can process the intimidation and fight it. Image: Screencap of ABCs Ellen Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print In her first interview since the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton told Ellen DeGeneres that in spite of the string of accusations Trump threw at her, she was trying to keep my composure, interact with the moderators, but really for me, more with the people there. In spite of Donald Trumps stalking her around the stage and the falsehoods he threw at her, Clinton stayed focused on answering the questions of the people. Watch the clip from ABCs The Ellen Degeneres Show here: Clinton talked about how important it is to try so speak accurately, and that everyone makes mistakes and shes made more than her share. But that Trump took that to a new level. To run against somebody and debate somebody who is consistently just spewing falsehoods and when you catch him and say No, wait a minute, you said this, you were on the record saying this,' the former Secretary of State told the ABC host of Donald Trumps denial of his own words, No I wasnt, no I wasnt and just hoped, I guess, that people would forget it. So I could have spent all of my time saying, No, you told interviewer x and you said on y, but I thought no, Im going to tell people to go to my website HillaryClinton.com, look at the evidence we have and Im going to keep trying to talk about what this election should be about, which is peoples lives and our country and what were going to do to help each other. The audience clapped. This is something I noted while watching it; Clinton focused on the people and on answering their questions. This is exactly what a candidate for president should be doing, not trying to harass an opponent, but listening to the people and answering questions. The pundits at first seemed to miss this, with some criticizing Clinton for not pushing back against all of Trumps lies. But to do that would have given Trump the win, because as long as he succeeds in distracting her from discussing policy with the people, he wins. Hillary Clinton just did the medias job for them by pointing out how difficult it is to debate someone who is lying constantly. When Mitt Romney did this in 2012, it threw President Barack Obama off his game because its impossible to debate someone who denies their own policies and in Donald Trumps case, his own words. Donald Trump denies reality when it suits him, and it suits him most of the time because Donald Trump spends most of his time creating a false image of himself to sell to the public. It is simply not possible to debate someone who lies about their positions. Thats not a debate, its mud wrestling. The media needs to stop acting like lying is a win. Lying is not only not a win in the long run after the candidate gets fact-checked, but its should not be considered a win while its happening and immediately after in hot takes. Its the medias job to set standards for debates, and a candidate who lies about what they said and their positions to the extent that the person on the stage doesnt even represent the person whos been campaigning should not be rewarded for misleading the public. Hillary Clinton did the right thing by focusing on the people. Not once has Donald Trump chosen the people over his own ego. Clinton managed to make the decision to focus on the people even as Trump was stalking her on stage and trying to physically intimidate her. This is who she is. No matter how low Trump goes, Clinton is focused on the people. Image: Screencap of ABCs The Ellen DeGeneres Show Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print President Obama debunked the myth of Donald Trump as a blue collar populist while rallying voters in Ohio for Hillary Clinton. Video: Obama weighs in on Trump's "conspiracy" speech "COME ON, MAN!" pic.twitter.com/x9nJrpnuRE Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) October 14, 2016 The President said: Apparently, in a speech yesterday, he started talking about global elites that there was a conspiracy of global elites. This is a guy who spent all of his time hanging around trying to convince everybody that he was a global elite. Talking about how great his buildings are. How luxurious, and how rich he is, and flying around everywhere. All he had time for was celebrities. And now, suddenly, hes acting like hes a populist out there. Man, Im gonna fight for working people. Cmon, man. You wanna know what somebodys gonna do? Look what theyve been doing their whole lives. In less than three-quarters of a minute, President Obama debunked the myth of Donald Trump blue collar populist and reinforced the idea that the Republican nominee is an out of touch reality television star who is only interested in celebrity. Donald Trump is a man whose life has been dedicated to advancing his personal fame and wealth. Trumps career has been about making himself famous. Before there was reality television, Trump was reality TV. The idea that Donald Trump is going to fight for, or even give a second thought to working people if he wins the White House is absurd. President Obama is on a different level than Trump. This generations greatest political talent is focusing his attention on the most fatally flawed presidential nominee in decades, and the outcome is not pretty for Republicans. Hillary Clinton is deploying her secret weapon, and the result is pure devastation for Donald Trump. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Just when you think the GOP nominee for president cant sink any lower, Donald Trump defended himself from an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman on an airplane by claiming that the woman was not hot enough for him to sexually assault. Video: While campaigning in Greensboro, North Carolina, the REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT said: They read these stories and people might not know how untrue they are. Its really a disgrace. The whole thing weve been going through, and weve been going through it for a long time. Bernie Sanders, the whole thing is a rigged deal. The whole thing is one big fix. Its one big ugly lie. Its one big fix. The press cant write the kind of things they write, which are lies, lies, lies. The stories are fabrications and false, and the only thing I say is hopefully, our patriotic movement will overcome this terrible deception. Hopefully, our great movement and theres never been anything like this in the United States, and the only way they figure they can slow it down is to come up with people that are willing to say oh, I was with Donald Trump in 1980. I was sitting with him on an airplane, and he went after me. Yeah, Im going to go after you. Believe me. She would not be my first choice. That I can tell you. Man. You dont know. That would not be my first choice. Trumps main defense against allegations of sexual assault is that the women are lying. Trump said his main accuser in the recent New York Times story was not hot enough for him to sexually assault. Never does Donald Trump say that he has not touched women inappropriately, or that he is disgusted and appalled by the allegations. Instead, Trump is trying to smear his accusers, while continuing to assert his male privilege and judge woman as pieces of meat. It is clear that Trump believes that he is entitled to assault women, but only the women that he deems worthy get to be illegally violated. This is the man who the Republican Party has nominated to be President Of The United States. Republican voters saw fit to put forward this piece of filth who is masquerading as a human being as a potential president. For this reason, alone, Republicans up and down the ballot should pay dearly for their supporting and enabling of sexual predator Donald Trump. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print If Donald Trump isnt echoing his spiritual guru Vladimir Putin, he is reading out of the book he keeps at his bedside table and invoking the specter of Adolf Hitlers ethnic nationalism, and century-old fears of a Jewish conspiracy to rule the world. In a speech in Palm Beach, Florida, that Newsweeks Kurt Eichenwald called straight out of Nazi propaganda, Donald Trump unleashed a very National Socialist attack on what he termed a corrupt global establishment, to which he tied Hillary Clinton. Or course, Trump is the candidate with all the questionable business ties with the global establishment, but its called the big lie for a reason. In both Mein Kampf and in his early speeches, Hitler warned of the powers of international supra-State finance, and Trump is more than willing to do the same: Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends, and her donors. As if to make his point clearer, according to Trump, Clinton doesnt care for you unless youre Wall Street or Hollywood, which are two places anti-Semites have long said are dominated by Jews. Hypocritically, the man who is receiving help from Russia to subvert the U.S. elections, went on to accuse Clinton of being in league with these shadowy forces to rig the system: This election will determine whether were a free nation, or whether we have only an illusion democracy but in are in fact controlled by a small handful of special global interests rigging the system, and our system is rigged. These are old anti-Semitic tropes, dating back to Czarist Russias fabricated Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which heavily influenced Adolf Hitlers own propaganda. Adolf Hitler gave his first ever live radio speech at the Siemens Dynamo Works in Berlin on November 10, 1933, and like Trump, took the opportunity to denounce the international clique seeking to destroy Germany: The struggle between the people and the hatred amongst them is being nurtured by very specific interested parties. It is a small, rootless, international clique that is turning the people against each other, that does not want them to have peaceThey are the only ones who can be addressed as international, because they conduct their business everywhere, but the people cannot follow them. Trumps language was so blatantly echoing Hitlers own that the ADLs Jonathan Greenblatt called on Trump to put a stop to it: .@TeamTrump should avoid rhetoric&tropes that historically have been used ag. Jews & still spur #antisemitism. Lets keep hate out of cmpgn https://t.co/9LMnurQ3Xg Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 13, 2016 CNNs Brian Stelter also issued a warning against language like this, saying, That speech was paranoid and that speech was dangerous. it sounded a lot like a dog whistle. Must-see. CNN's @brianstelter: "That speech was paranoid and that speech was dangerous. it sounded a lot like a dog whistle." #Trump pic.twitter.com/oTvPD31ywb John Aravosis (@aravosis) October 13, 2016 People ought to be disturbed. Very disturbed at hearing things like this. According to Trump, again echoing Hitler, This is not simply another four-year election. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we, the people, reclaim control over our government. The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration, and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry. Donald Trump has consciously or unconsciously followed Adolf Hitler throughout his campaign: from the stiff-armed Hitlergru, or Hitler Salute given by Trump and returned by his followers; to the personal oaths of loyalty he has extracted from his followers; to inciting violence at his rallies against those who oppose him. There have been other Nazi tropes as well, from his hostility to a free press to his disturbing embrace of the GOPs ethnic nationalism and its signature anti-Semitism, as seen here. Hitler warned in 1923, and it is clear Trump is warning the same of the US, that Germany has been turned into a colony of the outside world. Trump has been revealed as a misogynist and a racist. If any doubts have remained about his embrace of anti-Semitism, however heartfelt, they should now be banished by these deplorable words, which so closely echo those long used to foster prejudice and violence against Jews. Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. Friday's Answer Man column has an intriguing item on the recusal of two Rochester Planning and Zoning Commission members from Wednesday night's vote on the Miracle Mile residential-retail project. Click here for that. But I learned about another recusal today that we'll likely have in Friday's edition: Olmsted County District Judge Kevin Lundhas excused himself from presiding over the Rochester City Lines case regarding the city of Rochester's request for proposal process for the city bus service. Why? At least in part because of an unnamed but highly identifiable Rochester City Council member -- Michael Wojcik-- and his work on the $110 million Alatus luxury apartment development proposed for Second Street Southwest by Saint Marys Hospital. Lund lives in the Folwell neighborhood, he vehemently opposes the project as designed -- as he demonstrated at our PB Dialogue on the project in June -- and he has concerns about Wojcik's conduct related to the project. The City Council clearly is a party to the City Lines action regarding the bus contract -- but the way Lund singles out Wojcik in his statement -- without naming him, though he aggressively confronted him at our Dialogue meeting -- makes you wonder if there's not another shoe to drop. Cadet Abbiy Browning likes the feeling of being 3,000 feet in the air, traveling 120 mph in the front seat of a Cessna 172. "It's an adrenaline rush," Abbiy said. "I like being in the air. It's a different view of the world we live in." She's getting this different view of her world as part of five, hour-long orientation flights she is participating in as a cadet in the Southeast Minnesota Composite Squadron , the local branch of the U.S. Air Force's Civil Air Patrol (CAP.) Abbiy is one of six cadets who will be participating in the flights over the next several months, and will learn from the passenger seat what it's like to fly a small aircraft like the Cessna 172. "Each flight has a syllabus to accompany it," said Captain Karen Barrie, who serves as both mission and orientation pilot for the squadron. ADVERTISEMENT Cadets learn about the instruments in the aircraft, how to talk to the tower, and information about taxiing and take-off. Each consecutive flight, the cadet has more hands-on experience. The flights are now possible due to the squadron's recent allocation of the Cessna 172. The aircraft will support the Civil Air Patrol's three primary missions: aerospace education, cadet programs, and emergency services. "The last time the squadron had their own aircraft was in 1994," said Ellen Browning, deputy commander for cadets, who also happens to be Abbiy's mom. "After that, a lack of pilots and an inability to complete the required 200 hours of flight time caused the reallocation of their aircraft to another squadron." Ellen said since the acquisition, the aircraft has been used in a Search and Rescue weekend, when pilots were trained what to do in the event of a downed aircraft or a missing person. It has also taken Senator Carla Nelson in a fly-over of her district. The aircraft would be used for aerial photography in the event of a natural disaster, such as a flood or tornado, to assess and photograph damage. Aerial photography is one area of interest Cadet Browning is considering in her post-graduation career options. Currently a 10th grader at Mayo High School, she plans to attend the Air Force Academy after high school. "I am definitely interested in a career in aviation," she said. "I have been since I was 8 years old." She recently participated in an opportunity to further explore her options in aviation through Delta's first national "Girls in Aviation Day." Abbiy was one of more than 120 young women and the only girl from her squadron who participated in the day, which included an all-girl flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Boeing Field in Seattle, where they toured the Museum of Flight and talked with female pilots, flight attendants, engineers and others. ADVERTISEMENT "The day definitely inspired me and gave me a wider view of the field of aviation," she said. "The field tends to be limited because of sexism, but the 'Girls in Aviation Day' was a huge opener for me. It created a more equal field for men and women." Next up for Abbiy is to get her pilot's license when she turns 16, and to continue to consider career options in the field of aviation. "I would like to improve and create new planes using the latest technology," she said. A former Rochester resident accused of sexually assaulting a young girl multiple times has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail and ordered to complete a sex offender program. Ekpan Wilfred Amon, 38, pleaded guilty in July in Olmsted County District Court to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct-victim under 16 years old. Additional counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and bribery of a witness were dismissed at Thursday's sentencing. All charges are felonies. In addition to the 360 days in jail and sex offender treatment, Amon, who now lives in South Bend, Ind., was also placed on probation for 25 years and ordered to complete 100 hours of community work service, among other conditions. The investigation began with a referral from Olmsted County Child Protection Services about the sexual abuse. According to the criminal complaint, the girl told a social worker that Amon had "raped" her several times during the past several years. The victim said Amon told her not to tell anyone, especially her mother, because it is "an African thing." Winona County Green Card Voices on display in Winona WINONA Central School is hosting an exhibit from Twin Cities nonprofit Green Card Voices. The display features portraits and stories of Minnesota's refugees and immigrants, seeking to dispel stereotypes and let immigrants define themselves to their communities. The exhibit is open 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday. It is open through Oct. 27 and free to the public. ADVERTISEMENT Mower County Estate auction includes snowmobile The Mower County Fairgrounds will host an auction at 9 a.m. Saturday for the Jens Andersen Estate. There will be a selection of antiques, primitives and collectibles, plus a motorcycle, snowmobile and a boat. A preview will be held Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The fairgrounds are at 700 12th St. SW, Austin. For more, visit www.thompsonauctionservice.com. Dodge County Triton Public Schools to discuss operating levy Triton Public Schools will hold three community information meetings regarding the upcoming operating levy vote. ADVERTISEMENT Attendees can gather information and ask questions at these meetings. The first is 7 p.m. Tuesday at Claremont City Hall. The second is 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at West Concord City Hall. The third is 7 p.m. Oct. 26 in the Triton High School Performing Arts Center. Fillmore County Chatfield Council discusses tax levy The Chatfield City Council prepared for the 2017 fiscal year at its Sept. 26 meeting. The proposed 2017 property tax levy listed in the meeting's agenda stood at $1,544,864, an 8.6 percent increase over last year's levy, with a general fund amount planned at $1,257,766. It's the most wonderful time of the year in Minnesota about two-thirds of the state is in peak fall color form. For those of us in southern Minnesota, fret not. The lower third of the state is 50 to 75 percent turned but should reach peak season in the next week or so. You can track the progression of red, gold and orange across the state with the Department of Natural Resources' interactive fall color finder map. Here are this week's top picks for leaf-peeping: Afton State Park ADVERTISEMENT Check out the overlook near the middle picnic area for a breathtaking view of the St. Croix Valley, just southeast of the Twin Cities metro area. Or, hike from the upper picnic area along the St. Croix on the North River Trail, and up to the northeast overlook and back down through the backpack campground. Bonus: Watch for migrating birds riding the thermals along the bluffs. Lake Carlos State Park The maples and oaks on the Maple-Basswood or Forestry Demonstration trails are in full color. Or, if you're just driving through the park, which is northeast of Alexandria, head to the upper campground to see the red oaks, then down the main park road to the beach area to see the colors of the tamaracks. Finally, check out the Lakeview Group camp area. If you're in the mood for fall prairie color, take a drive up to the horse camp, park and walk west on the trail. Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park Wander along Fawn Trail or through the campground to catch the best colors. And this isn't fall color-related but the DNR says another must-see is the waterfall it has "bountiful flow" from all the recent rain. The park is northeast of Faribault. Updated at 2:19 p.m. Oct. 14 to correct information on how long Lund has presided in the case. An Olmsted County District Court judge has recused himself from presiding over a Rochester City Lines and city of Rochester lawsuit due to a personal issue with a Rochester City Council member. Judge Kevin Lund has heard the Rochester City Lines case since December. Previously, District Judge Joseph Chase presided, in 2012 and 2013. The case went to the Minnesota Supreme Court last year, and that court sent a portion of the case back to be heard again in Olmsted County. Lund filed a notice of recusal with the court on Sept. 27, according to a court document. "Despite having spent months familiarizing myself with this complex and important case, events over the past month or so have led me to conclude that I cannot be fair and impartial to the City of Rochester as it relates to the remaining trial issue," Lund wrote in the notice of recusal. ADVERTISEMENT "More particularly, a member of the city council, who will be a key witness for both parties, has exhibited a decided lack of private and public candor and honesty as it relates to a development project directly impacting my family's home," he wrote. Lund lives in the Folwell neighborhood. At a Post-Bulletin Dialogue meeting on June 27 , however, Lund had a heated exchange with City Council Member Michael Wojcik regarding the $110 million Alatus luxury apartment and retail project, proposed for the Folwell neighborhood by Saint Marys Hospital. The City Council has given preliminary approval to the project but final approval is pending. Lund couldn't be reached for comment this morning. When contacted today by the Post Bulletin, Wojcik said he was aware of Lund's recusal but "I have no idea why, other than he is mad about Alatus." In another court filing, Rochester City Lines has asked the city to delay the 2017 request for proposals process that will select an operator for the city's public transit system beginning Jan. 1, according to a city council document prepared by City Attorney Terry Adkins. City Lines has objected to the city's request for proposals process, alleging it was wrongfully and unfairly prepared, according to a city document. An attorney representing the city dismissed that complaint. The company last month followed up its protest by filing a lawsuit in the Minnesota Court of Appeals challenging the dismissal. As part of that suit, City Lines asked for the city to agree to a stay that would suspend the selection process until the appeals court rules. The city council had been scheduled to act on the request for proposals at its Monday meeting. The council now will have to decide whether it will agree to the stay, and it's required to hold a public hearing and receive testimony and statements before making its decision. "The council has to take into consideration the existing vendor and the possibility to extend the existing contract and some other things that are tied up in the timing," said Justin Templin, a Special Assistant City Attorney handling the request for proposals matter. Due to the long list of public hearings set for Monday's council meeting and the need for more preparation time, Adkins has suggested the city council delay the public hearing until Oct. 24. ADVERTISEMENT Transit timeline Elisa Skjordal was a 27-year-old mother of two young girls when she died as a patient at the Rochester State Hospital. A white wooden cross was erected over her gravesite with a simple notation on it: 4344. It was her hospital case number. But her name was not included. Mental illness was viewed as such a shameful stigma at the time that patients were buried anonymously, their secret carried even into death. For more than a century, Skjordal's remains have rested, as time and encroaching vegetation all but obliterated the state hospital cemetery at Quarry Hill Park, as well as the memories of Skjordal and the more than 2,000 people who came to be buried there. Until now. Thanks to a decade-long grave marker project and the work of genealogists, the memory of Skjordal and hundreds of other patients buried there is being resurrected. Along with their names and the cemetery, a part of Rochester's history is being restored. ADVERTISEMENT "If you go to any old cemetery, you see tombstones and gravestones that are just filled with history," said Buff Hennessey, executive director of The Arc of Southeastern Minnesota, a disability advocacy organization. "And here it was kind of absences." That void now has been filled with row upon row of granite markers. Each marker, 18 inches by 30 inches, bears the person's name, date of birth and date of death. The project cost more than $400,000 to complete. Most of the money came from the state Legislature but also included local dollars. "It's been a labor of love," said Beth Thompson, a Rochester genealogist and volunteer who, along with her husband, John, have used state hospital records to retrieve the identities of the people buried at the cemetery. On Sunday at 1:30 pm., a dedication celebration will be held to mark the restoration of the cemetery, located at the Ninth Street Northeast entrance to the park. And in the process, a glimpse is being afforded into the lives of these one-time patients the people who, because of mental illness or depression, disability or chronic inebriation, found themselves housed at the Rochester State Hospital. The Rochester State Hospital opened in 1879. And until its closure in 1981, it represented a societal attitude toward the mentally ill and disabled that called for their segregation and separation from society. It became a community within a community. Some were admitted against their will. Others voluntarily admitted themselves. But once inside, none had rights that need be respected. The state hospital could be a place of despair. Some patients ended their lives there by hanging themselves or jumping out of third-floor windows. In one case, a man jumped into a furnace. But it also could be a self-contained society, with its own mini-economy, where patients farmed and harvested their food and canned their own vegetables. ADVERTISEMENT If patients died there, oftentimes their bodies were retrieved by family members and buried in their home cemetery plots. But a fraction, whether due to disconnection from family or cost, were buried in the sloped hospital cemetery nearby. They were placed in wooden caskets made by patients. In winter, when the ground was too frozen for digging, the caskets would be placed in a mortuary cave at the top of the cemetery hill until spring thaw made the burial possible. That practice ended in the 1950s. A new land What we know about the life of Elisa Skjordal, one of the patients buried there, has been pieced together by the work of Beth Thompson and her husband, John. Their research is based on state records available at the Olmsted County History Center and Minnesota Historical Library. Skjordal was born Elisa Karoline Olsdotter in Norway on July 20, 1869. Her life, one gets the sense from the historical record, was not an easy one. At age 8, she lost both her mother and father within days of each other. She married Olaf Skjordal, and in 1895, Skjordal, her husband and the couple's 4-year-old daughter set sail for the U.S. to become immigrants in a new land. Skjordal was four months pregnant at the time of her journey. The family settled in Austin and took up farming. But soon after giving birth to her second child, Skjordal began to suffer symptoms associated with postpartum depression. She was brought to the state hospital by a sheriff's deputy. Skjordal was described as quiet. She spoke no English. She complained frequently of headaches and was treated with massages, electrical treatment and "eggnog twice a day." She worked in the hospital dining room, and her condition improved. She was visited by her husband. Ten months after her arrival, Skjordal returned home with her husband, deemed to be "quite normal mentally and in good physical condition." But three months later, she was back at the state hospital, physically ill, running a fever and in declining condition. Skjordal died a week later, the listed cause of death being "meningitis." ADVERTISEMENT Without a wife or family support system to fall back on, Olaf put his two young daughters in an Iowa orphanage. He moved to South Dakota and farmed there, eventually bringing back his daughters as they got older. No longer recognizable Many of the early patients to die at the state hospital were immigrants. The early graves were marked with a wooden cross with a number on it. When the crosses began to deteriorate and rot away, they were replaced by cement can markers. By 2004, the state hospital cemetery the resting place of Skjordal and more than 2,000 patients was no longer recognizable as such. Overrun by trees and long grass, the cemetery had returned to a meadow-like state. Sledders used the sloped cemetery in winter to glide over the graves. The only thing that identified it as a cemetery were a dozen tombstones poking out of the long grass laid by family members. It had become a forgotten place. But that was about to change. Beth Thompson and her husband, John, were hiking at Quarry Hill one day in 2004 when they stumbled across an assortment of can markers. Each was stamped with a number. The markers had been pushed out of the ground by the frost, and city workers had tossed them aside when their mowers bumped into them. "We weren't sure at first what they were, and then determined them to be the grave markers for the state hospital," Beth Thompson recalled. "I was just aghast that these markers were piled in the woods, discarded. A number was all that these people were given to remember them by." Their discovery was part of an alignment of events that would lead to the cemetery's restoration. Through the years, efforts had been made to restore the cemetery, but lack of funding had proven to be the biggest obstacle. In 2003, Jim Behrends, now director of Olmsted County Adult and Family Service, arrived in Rochester from St. Peter, where he had worked at the old state hospital there. He was aware of state dollars that could be tapped for cemetery restoration because St. Peter was doing the same thing there. "I wasn't even thinking that might be an issue here, until I took a walk out there and realized, 'Oh, my gosh, we've got the same issue here,'" Behrends said. Working through the disability advocacy group Advocating Change Together and its Remembering with Dignity project, dollars began to pour in to make the cemetery project a reality. Officials say the final piece of the project is to complete a kiosk at the cemetery entrance. It will provide a history of the cemetery as well as a directory to help those searching for a gravesite. Thompson said the project has been a dream of Rochester leaders and others going back decades. "Those people really wanted this cemetery marked. That was their desire years and years ago," Thompson said. "They all had a dream to mark the cemetery with names." A Burnsville woman was killed Monday night when a driver crashed into her vehicle while fleeing police. That high-speed chase had begun after a hit-and-run accident miles away. The intersection of County Road 5 and 131st Street in Burnsville was still littered with shards of glass and metal from the crash later in the week. And just two houses down is where the Ocampo family lives in a four-bedroom home. Sitting at the kitchen Wednesday, Adrianna Macias said Leticia Ocampo had been her best friend. "Leticia or Leti, how we all knew her she was a very happy person, very friendly, a very good mom, and she always cared for others," Macias said. "She cared a lot for her family back in Honduras, and for everybody here." As Macias spoke, two of Ocampo's five children sat at the table, quietly eating slices of pizza. They said they would miss their mom's traditional Mexican corn soup. ADVERTISEMENT Ocampo's husband, Octavio Iniguez, was born in Mexico. She was born in La Ceiba, a city along Honduras' northern coast, known for its beautiful beaches and nearby national parks. Adrianna Macias described Ocampo, 39, as a woman full of life who loved the outdoors, the trails and camping. "Oh it was fun! I think she was the only one that did not complain about the camping experience," Macias said. "She enjoyed being out there, sitting by the bonfire, talking, and hiking. She was the one who always kept up the pace." While a TV played in the background, 13-year-old Cinthia Guzman-Ocampo smiled, thinking back to the family's recent trip to Willow River State Park in Wisconsin. "We went up by a waterfall, we stayed there for a little bit, and then we went to eat ice cream," Cinthia recalled. She said her mother was fun, joyful and physically affectionate. "When I'd get home from school, I'd have to say, like, bendicion, like blessings, and then we'd like kiss on the cheek," she said. "And then before I went to bed, we would kiss on each cheek, and then the forehead, and then hug." "I will miss coming home to her," she said. "And before I go to bed." It was the same in the mornings, too, said Ocampo's oldest son, 14-year-old David Guzman-Ocampo. "She would say, did you forget something?" he said. "And then we'd be like, 'Oh, good morning,' and give her a kiss." ADVERTISEMENT Holding Ocampo's youngest child, one-year-old Lupita, Anna Ocampo said the loss of her sister has changed her life forever. The 36-year-old came to Minnesota from Maryland only a week ago. "For the past week, I've been here with them," she said through a translator. "And now my sister has left us, and I'm the sister that's closest, and I have to take care of them with their dad. And it's very difficult. Very difficult." She doesn't know how to get counseling for the kids, and is trying to help raise funds to take Ocampo's body back to Honduras. That's where her mother lives, with Ocampo's oldest daughter. Across the street, neighbor Chuck Mattingly was in his kitchen when he heard the accident, which also killed the driver, Matthew John Vogel, 22, who had been fleeing police. He says it's a heartbreaking loss for the five children. "The father, or whoever is taking care of them, they've got a terrible job on their hands," he said. "It never gets any easier for the people that are alive." If youre a parent, you will give your life to save your child, said Dr. Thomas Shieh, during the bone marrow drive for Noah Cruz held Friday afternoon at the Agana Shopping center. The drive continues today and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sadly, Noah passed away at Childrens Hospital Colorado on Thursday morning, Guam time. He was 4 years old. Noah's parents, Michael and Britney, have decided to continue the bone marrow drive, in memory of their sons passing, said Dr. Shieh. The Guam Medical Association, along with the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry, organized the drive for Noah to try to find a donor to save the young boys life. 'An outgoing kid' Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. He was an outgoing kid, he loved to play, a very active little boy, said Darlene Cruz, Noahs aunt. When we first got the call, it was just a matter of doing what we needed to do, she said, when asked about the reaction of the Cruz family on first learning of Noahs condition. A look of tiredness graced her face, and it was apparent that she and the rest of the Cruz family have gone through a lot. The news of Noahs death has yet to set in, and the family is in shock, she said. Noah was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a life-threatening condition. It is often caused by an inherited problem of the immune system, which is called primary or familial HLH. In patients with primary HLH, the cells of the immune system do not work properly to destroy infected or damaged cells as they should. Because of this, the immune system becomes overstimulated and over activated. The immune system then begins to damage the patients own tissues and organs, including the bone marrow, the liver and the brain. If that was you, wouldnt you want someone to help you? said Roy Yonashiro, senior community representative of the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry. The registry is part of a national database that works with 30 other countries to match donors with patients in critical need. When asked how many times hes been out to Guam for a drive, he said, once every five years. When asked why his trips were so few, he cited the travel cost, adding that in the past costs were handles by Dr. Shieh, who is a donor representative himself. The preferred donor, Yonashiro said, is between the ages of 18 and 44. We are looking for younger donors because they make the best candidates for patients, he said. Yonashiro explained that the decision to become a donor is not an easy one. When you're 18, you just graduated high school the first thing on your mind is not saving a life," he said. "When youre 30, you are thinking about your marriage or your career. Not how can 15 minutes of my time, on one day, save someone I might know. When a potential donor is called to be a match, Yonashiro said, a lot of them turn down to opportunity. Yonashiro hoped the drive will do more than just help find new donors, but also educate the people who are on the registry, and encourage them to keep coming out and answer the call when it comes. The registry only does 15 percent of its collections as bone marrow, a majority of what the registry collects are stem cells from donors through a simple, non-surgical process. Everyone carries stem cells throughout their body, which act as repairmen to stimulate healing and speed up repair for bone, muscle, joint, soft-tissue and nerve injuries. How a typical drive works is an individual registers, their name goes on list after a health check and the inside of their cheek is swabbed to collect DNA. Thats it no blood taken. If a potential donor gets a call the odds of that happening are about 1 in 540 it is then their decision to continue forward into the next phase of the process. This involves a blood test that can be done at a lab on Guam. There, a health care professional will take a sample of blood and send it to the transplant center that matched with the donor's results. The center will then decide if its a good match or not. The registry will again make sure the donor wants to continue. If so, the next phase is scheduling time for the individual to fly for free to Honolulu, Hawaii, if they still qualify for the procedure at this stage. Once in Hawaii, the donor-to-be will undergo a physical exam, X-rays and a consultation with doctors regarding the test results to make sure they are a match for the patient, who is paying for all of this through their insurance. The drive, the procedure and the travel is not free, Yonashiro explained. I dont know if Im coming back to Guam," Yonashiro said. "If the numbers arent good enough ... this island may be tapped out. Shieh added that "if there is a match ... the family is happy. Come on and register, dont wait for another Noah. Be on the registry. If you get called, step up." For more information on how to be a donor, or to volunteer, email Rhodora Cruz at rodora.cruz@gmail.com, or Shieh at doctorshieh@yahoo.com. 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? Todays news is dominated by claims that years ago, Donald Trump made crude comments about women, or inappropriately touched women, or intruded into a womens dressing room, and so on. Gone from the campaign are such issues as the economy, Obamacare, national security and immigration. As Election Day approaches, the news is all Trump scandals, all the time. Some will sayI may have saidthat Republican primary voters asked for it by nominating a man with obvious personal vulnerabilities, instead of a more upright (and more electable) Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Ted Cruz or whoever. But whats a Republican to do? Last cycle, we nominated the ultimate Boy Scout: Mitt Romney. Whatever you think of Romney from a policy perspective, he is as admirable a man as you will ever meet. To find a presidential candidate of better moral character, you probably have to go back to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Romney never said a rude word about a woman in his life. So what happened? Did Romney and the GOP get credit in the press for the candidatess outstanding character? No. Romney, who helped to create tens of thousands of jobs at Bain Capital, was denounced as a vulture capitalist and blamed, absurdly, for one womans developing cancer. The Washington Post made a front page story of the fact that 50 years earlier, when he was in high school, he and others had cut a classmates hair. Oh, and Romney was a racist, too. Does anyone remember why? I dont. The cycle before that, GOP voters nominated John McCain. McCain is a great patriot, a man of extraordinary character and courage who survived years of torture and abuse as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Did the liberal media give Republicans credit for nominating such a hero? No. The New York Times, to its everlasting shame, peddled a false rumor that McCain had an affair with a lobbyist. (Bill Clinton would have done that before breakfast.) It also berated McCain for failing to release his medical recordswhich, actually, he did, unlike Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The Lefts permanent smear campaign against conservatives doesnt just extend to Republican presidential candidates. Recall how the Democrat/media complex treated the Tea Party. Prominent House Democrats lied, disgracefully: they claimed, falsely, that Tea Party activists at a protest in Washington had hurled racial insults at black Democrats like John Lewis. The press ate it up. They printed the Democrats lies as facts, and to this day reporters and editors have never corrected the libel, even though a $100,000 prize to anyone who could substantiate the Democrats lies went unclaimed. Whats the point? Im not really sure. I certainly am not in favor of nominating candidates of poor or marginal character. But the hypocrisy of the liberal media is galling. In this election cycle, lewd comments made decades ago are apparently of earth-shattering importance. Really? Where was that standard when Bill Clinton was running for office? Or John Kennedy? Or Lyndon Johnson? And how about Barack Obama and Joe Biden? Has anyone actually investigated to see what they might have said about women over the last thirty years? What is the point of nominating someone of extraordinary moral stature, like Mitt Romney, if the political press will not only unanimously refuse to acknowledge the fact, but worse, join in a campaign of deception to smear Romney in the eyes of voters? These days there is lots of gnashing of teeth over the decline of our political culture. And it surely has declined, as manifested in the current presidential campaign. But one must ask, why has that happened? It seems to me that the medias permanent smear campaign against the Republican Party, waged cycle after cycle regardless of the actual merits of Republican nominees, is the largest part of the answer. Ammo Grrrll is moving onfrom Minnesota, as she announces in THE BOOKCASE. She writes: The other day a moving van arrived with some leftover furniture from our Minnesota house. We are fixin to sell that house by Spring and just maintain the one residence in the great state of Arizona. Hot in the summer? Oh, yeah. Also the Spring and Fall. Well manage. Governor Crazy-Eyes McTrustfund of Minnesota more or less ordered us to leave though its not entirely clear he was free-associating about us specifically since we both did better than B-Plus in school but, we cleared out anyway, just to be on the safe side. We advise all other thinking, and especially, tax-paying, people to do the same. Once the discussion turns to how many millions it will take to convince your states enormous Muslim refugee population to pretty please refrain from becoming jihadis or stabbing their generous, tolerant, infidel hosts at the mall, its time to call Mayflower. In the history of U.S. immigration, has there ever before been another population we had to beg and bribe not to kill us? Irish Catholics? Norwegian Lutherans? Jews from the Ukraine? But that is not the point of this column. One of the items on that moving van was a very homely, scarred but sturdy, little two-shelf bookcase. It hasnt even been refinished. Anyone in his or her right mind would have given it to Goodwill decades ago, and certainly would not have paid (by weight) to include it in the van. But it is one of our most prized possessions. In 1967, we found the bookcase abandoned in an alley in Evanston, Illinois, behind our 4th floor walkup efficiency apartment. Since it was in a poor and student neighborhood, its hard to estimate how many indigents had rejected it previously. We were thrilled! At the time, we owned a mattress and box spring of uncertain provenance, four kitchen chairs and a table, and a cute, yet uncomfortable, loveseat called a Deacons Bench. The Deacon must have felt he merited eternal punishment and might as well get started now to beat the rush. We got it on Clearance at The Unpainted Furniture Place and never actually painted it. It remained naked pine until we gave it away when we moved to Minnesota. It was in pristine condition because nobody could ever sit on it for over two minutes. Our decorating style then could have been called Early Poor, Immature and Lazy. We also owned an electric broom because we couldnt afford a vacuum, but found out that it only worked when it was turned on and pushed about. Who knew? Alas, buying a cleaning appliance did not guarantee a clean apartment any more than buying Lean Cuisine guaranteed a svelte figure. Sad. Since that exciting day, the serendipitous bookcase has sat in the kitchen of whatever house or apartment we lived in at the time, holding several dozen cookbooks. It has moved with us something like 15 times in almost 50 years. Though Bob Dylan felt, When you aint got nuthin, you got nuthin to lose, we felt that when you got nuthin, ANYTHING is sumpthin. This philosophy would serve us well through many used cars, garage sale baby equipment, and pitiful hand-me-down furniture until we kept trading up to nicer cars and nicer stuff and now feel encumbered by too MUCH very nice stuff. We are trying to downsize. But the bookcase stays. It reminds us of who we were, how far we have come and who we still are. This is not a sad or self-pitying tale, my dear readers and friends. I actually consider being hard up for an extended period of time to be one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. I feel sorry for kids including our own who have had too much handed to them and who didnt have the OPPORTUNITY to struggle and achieve something through scrimping, saving, discipline, and delayed gratification. You see, I know absolutely that when Obama says, You didnt build that, that he is talking about himself to be sure, but not about us. And when Hillary says that she and Bill were dead broke, that she was speaking about their moral compass, not their bank account. Trust me, she wouldnt know dead broke if it kicked her in the seat of her power red pantsuit, not that I am for a minute suggesting such a thing. In the late 60s, many major recessions ago, when we had both been looking for work for a couple of months, Mr. AG had finally landed a good new job. Woohoo! But he missed the cutoff by two days to receive a paycheck for that pay period. By the time payday rolled around, we were down to our last $8.00 in the world, had no credit cards, and had eaten nothing but popcorn for 3 days. We had two boxes of Kraft Mac N Cheese, but couldnt spare the money for the milk and butter to make it. Mr. AG needed the money for bus fare to get to that wonderful new job. THAT, my friends is what dead broke looks like. It was, financially at least, what AA refers to as rock bottom, and we were never that poor again. Either set of parents would have gladly given us some money to bridge the gap, in fact, would have been horrified if they had known how close to the bone we had cut it. But even at 23, we identified as responsible, independent, married adults who did not want to ask our mommies and daddies for money, not even as a loan. It all worked out. Popcorn, by the way, is quite filling. Few, however, were busier than the state, local and federal agencies whose social media teams pulled long shifts with little sleep. Officials from the city of Savannah, Georgia, tweeted about mandatory evacuations. TheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned about storm surges. The Federal Emergency Management Agency tirelessly retweeted safety information and offered its own warnings and tips. Theres no doubt that the work of folks at NOAA and the folks at FEMA and local and state as well saved lives, says Mike Kruger, director of digital engagement for the U.S. Commerce Department, which includes NOAA and the National Weather Service. In recent years, the communications landscape has changed. Social mediaTwitter, YouTube, Facebook and Periscope, among othershave emerged as the go-to means of pushing out news. Similarly, mobile is essential when trying to inform people scurrying to cover windows in plywood or rush their kids to the car. South African Government on Friday confirmed the arrival of Riek Machar, the South Sudanese rebel leader, in the country to receive medical treatment after fleeing fighting in July. The Department of International Relations said in a statement in Johannesburg that Mr. Machar arrived on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and his period of stay in the country was not yet known. The office confirmed in the statement that Mr. Machar sustained a leg injury during fighting between his troops and the army in the South Sudanese capital Juba in July. It said that Mr. Machar fled the fighting to Congo, from where he moved on to Khartoum for treatment. A power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Mr. Machar, escalated into a military conflict in December 2013. Tens of thousands have been killed and about 2.5 million displaced. The two sides formed a unity government in April, with Mr. Machar reinstated as vice president, but renewed fighting erupted in July, dashing hopes of peace. (dpa/NAN) The National judicial Council has officially reacted to the raid at judges residences by operatives of the State security Service over the weekend, describing the operation as the height of impunity. In a statement after its two-day meeting Thursday, the NJC condemned the operation as an attempt to intimidate the judiciary. It denied shielding corrupt judges, and provided details of exchanges it had with the SSS regarding corruption in the judiciary. The council said it will not allow the independence of the judiciary, or its impartiality to be mocked by the SSS or any arm of government. Read its full statement below: PRESS RELEASE THE POSITION OF THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL COUNCIL ON THE RECENT INVASION OF THE RESIDENCES AND ARREST OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES (DSS) At its last Emergency Meeting which was held on 11thOctober, 2016, Council decided among other matters, as follows: That the National Judicial Council is a creation, by virtue of Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, with its powers specified in Paragraph 21 of Part One of the Third Schedule whereof. That by virtue of Section 160 of the 1999 Constitution, Council fashioned out: i) Judicial Discipline Regulations; ii) Revised NJC Guidelines and Procedural Rules for the Appointment of Judicial Officers of all Superior Courts of Record; iii) Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and iv) National Judicial Policy to inter-alia, regulate its own procedure while exercising its Constitutional Powers. That Section 158 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, has unequivocally provided for the independence of the National Judicial Council vis-a-vis directing or controlling it by any authority or person while exercising its powers. Reiterated its absolute confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari Administration and its unwavering determination to uphold the Principles of Democracy, Separation of Powers and the Rule of Law enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended and the United Nations Charter, which Nigeria is a Member. That it shall continue to support the President Buhari Administration in its fight against corruption in all its ramifications in the Federation; and in cleansing the Judiciary of corrupt Judicial Officers. However, expresses its grave concern on the recent invasion of the Residences and arrest of some serving and suspended Judicial Officers by the Department of State Services (DSS); and condemned the action in its entirety. Viewed the action as a threat to the Independence of the Judiciary, which portends great danger to our democracy; and also considered the action as a clear attempt by the DSS to humiliate, intimidate, denigrate and cow the Judiciary. BACKGROUND FACTS 8.1 RE: HON. JUSTICE SYLVESTER NGWUTA The Public is aware that Hon. Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, was arrested after his House was invaded by heavily armed and masked operatives of the Department of States Security on Friday 7th October, 2016. The operatives did not leave his house until 12.00 noon of the following day, when he was whisked away to the (DSS) office. 8.2 RE: HON. JUSTICE INYANG OKORO The Residence of Hon. Justice Inyang Okoro, a Justice of Supreme Court of Nigeria, was raided in the same manner and was arrested by the same operatives of the DSS. Contrary to the claim by the DSS and as published in the electronic and print media, Council has never received any petition against the aforesaid Judicial Officers: Hon. Justices Ngwuta and Okoro of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, by the DSS. 8.3 RE: HON. JUSTICE MUHAMMED LADAN TSAMIYA OF THE COURT OF APPEAL At its Meeting which was held on 29th September, 2016, Council had found His Lordship culpable of professional misconduct contrary to Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the provisions of Section 292 of 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Accordingly, he was recommended to Mr President for compulsory retirement from office following the petition written by one Mr Nnamdi Iro Oji for demanding the sum of N200,000,000.00 (Two Hundred Million Naira) bribe. It is to be stressed that from the evidence before the Council, Hon. Justice Ladan Tsamiya did not receive N200m bribe. The Petitioner adduced evidence to support his allegation that Hon. Justice Tsamiya only demanded for the money. In the exercise of its power, Council had suspended Justice Tsamiya from office, pending when the President will act on the recommendation. And Mr. President has approved the recommendation of the Council and compulsorily retired His Lordship from office yesterday, the 12th day of October, 2016. 8.4. RE: HON. JUSTICE I. A. UMEZULIKE, OFR Hon. Justice I. A. Umezulike, OFR, Chief Judge, Enugu State, was recommended for compulsory retirement from office to Enugu State Governor for gross misconduct, pursuant to the petition written against him by Mr. Peter Eze. In the meantime, National Judicial Council has suspended His Lordship from office pending when the Governor of Enugu State will act on its recommendation. 8.5. RE: HON. JUSTICE A. F. A. ADEMOLA, OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT Hon. Justice A. F. A. Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division has been petitioned by Hon. Jenkins Duviegiane Gwebe on allegations bordering on corrupt practices. Currently, a Committee of the Council is investigating the allegations. There is no other petition against Hon. Justice Ademola from DSS pending at the National Judicial Council. 8.6. RE: HON. JUSTICE KABIRU AUTA, KANO STATE HIGH COURT Hon. Justice Kabiru Auta was investigated by Council based on allegations of corrupt practices levelled against him in a petition forwarded to Council by one Alhaji Kabiru Yakassai. His Lordship was recommended to the Governor of Kano State for removal from office by dismissal. Council wrote separately to the AIG Kano Zone 1, for Police to prosecute Hon. Justice Auta. Council has suspended His Lordship from office pending when the Governor will act on its recommendation. 8.7 RE: HON. JUSTICE MUAZU PINDIGA OF HIGH COURT, GOMBE STATE The DSS petitioned the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council alleging corrupt practices against Hon. Justice Pindiga, inter-alia:- i) That the Hon. Judge in a bid to illegally enrich himself, perfected plans through third party proxies/conduits, with a view to influencing the outcome of the Election Tribunal in the governorship polls in favour of the incumbent Governor Nyesom Wike. ii) That further ongoing discreet investigation, Justice Pindiga is observed to have illegally enriched himself through corrupt means. Part of the illegitimate proceeds suspected to have accrued to Pindiga includes the underlisted: a) Two (2) completed blocks of six (6) units 2 bedroom flats in Federal Low Cost Estate in Gombe metropolis; b) Four (4) units of bungalow in another part of the Estate; c) An uncompleted property at GRA in Gombe Metropolis; d) a Mercedes Benz C300 car in the name of MUBAJJAL; e) A Toyota Venza-Model SUV. iii) From all indications, it is apparent that Pindiga, who is a very Senior Justice in Gombe State, is highly corrupt. His continuous stay as a Justice in any capacity would likely embarrass the current administration and pervert the cause of justice. In view of the foregoing, it is strongly advised that immediate necessary administrative and judicial measures be taken on him, including appropriate sanctions and trial to set a precedent to others of his like. The complaint containing the allegations of corrupt practices against the Hon. Judge were conveyed in a letter Ref No. DGSS71/3161 and dated 26th February, 2016, written by the DSS to the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council. The petition was not supported by a verifying affidavit deposed to by the DSS, as required by the National Judicial Council Discipline Regulations 2014. The Petition should have been disregarded for non-compliance with the National Judicial Council Regulations, but by letter Ref. No. NJC/S.15/HC.GM/5/1/128 dated 19th April, 2016, the DSS was notified and requested to comply and to depose to a verifying affidavit in support of the allegations of corrupt practices levelled against the Hon. Judge. By letter Ref No. LSD.232/4/68 dated 6th May, 2016, to the Council, the DSS deposed to a verifying affidavit in respect of the allegations against Justice Pindiga. On the directive of the Council, Hon. Justice Muazu Pindiga responded to the allegations against him by DSS. Thereafter, a Committee comprising Members of the Council investigated the allegations of corrupt practices. Both Parties The DSS and Hon. Justice Muazu Pindiga, together with their witnesses and counsel appeared before the Panel set up by Council in compliance with the National Judicial Discipline Regulations and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, on the Right to Fair Hearing. The DSS was represented by a Director, S. U. Gambo, Esq. who is also a Legal Practitioner in the Department and Hon Justice Pindiga was represented by Joe Agi, SAN. At the end of the investigation, the DSS could not substantiate any of the allegations of corrupt practices either by documentary or oral evidence against the Hon. Justice Pindiga. Consequently, at its Meeting of 15th July, 2016, Council decided to exonerate Hon. Justice Pindiga of the allegations of corrupt practices levelled against him by DSS. The Councils decision was conveyed to Hon. Justice Pindiga in a letter Ref. No. NJC/HC.GM/5/1/132 of 9thAugust, 2016 and copied the DSS. 8.8. RE: HON. JUSTICE NNAMDI DIMGBA OF FEDERAL HIGH COURT ABUJA DIVISION Council is aware that DSS had written a complaint alleging corrupt practices and professional misconduct against Hon. Justice Dimgba by a letter Ref. No. LSD.158/2/31 dated 5th August, 2016. At its Meeting of 29th September, 2016, Council constituted a Fact Finding Committee comprising its Members to investigate the allegation. During the last Emergency Meeting of the Council, it received a Report from Hon. Justice Nnamdi Dimgba that his Residence was also raided and ransacked; and in the process, his nephew and driver were man-handled, using a wrong search warrant which was not meant for the search of his house. The Committee has commenced the process of investigating the allegations before the recent unfortunate raid and search of Hon. Justice Dimgbas Residence. Council meticulously considered the entire unfolding events that led to the arrest of the Judicial Officers and the misinformation and disinformation making rounds in both Electronic and Print Media that the DSS acted thus because the National Judicial Council was shielding the Judicial Officers from investigation and prosecution for corrupt practices and professional misconduct. Council noted particularly, that from the available records, the DSS forwarded only two(2 no.) separate complaints containing allegations of Corrupt Practices against Hon. Justice Pindiga; and corrupt practices and professional misconduct against Hon. Justice Dimgba. The impression created and widely circulated before the public, that the DSS forwarded a number of petitions containing various allegations of corrupt practices and professional misconduct against some Judicial Officers to the Council, and they were not investigated, is not correct. The Council urges the DSS to make public the particulars of such petitions to put the records straight. Given the above background facts, on behalf of the Judiciary, Council is constrained to inform the general public that all petitions and complaints forwarded against Judicial Officers bordering on corrupt practices and professional misconduct, have been attended to and investigated, where applicable, by Council since year 2000 to date, within the powers conferred on it by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. Therefore, any Judicial Officer that was reprimanded by Council or recommended for removal from office by compulsory retirement or dismissal to the President or Governor, was done in compliance with the Constitutional power, Rule of Law and Due Process. From year 2000, when the National Judicial Council held its inaugural Meeting to 2016, 1808 petitions and complaints against Judicial Officers, including Chief Justices of Nigeria, Justices of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal were received by the respective Honourable, the Chief Justices of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council. Eighty-two (82 No.) of the Judicial Officers were reprimanded (suspension, caution or warning), by Council, in the exercise of its exclusive Constitutional Disciplinary power over Judicial Officers. Thirty-eight (38 No.) of the Judicial Officers were recommended to the President or Governor where applicable, for compulsory retirement from office; while twelve (12 No.) were recommended to the President or Governor as the case may be, for dismissal from office. In conclusion, Council wishes to state as follows:- 1) That it maintains its earlier decision that no Judicial Officer shall be invited by any Institution including the DSS, without complying with the Rule of Law and Due Process. That explains why when the DSS wrote to the Council by letter Ref. No. LSC.960/4 dated 14th September, 2016, to direct Hon. Justice Muazu Pindiga to appear before it, The Hon. The Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council directed the Hon. Chief Judge of Gombe State to ask Hon. Justice Muazu Pindiga to report to DSS, which His Lordship did. 2) That the National Judicial Council has never shielded nor will it shield any Judicial Officer who has committed any misconduct. 3) That the Department of State Services is an Agency in the Presidency and its functions as specified in the statute establishing it, is primarily concerned with the internal security of the Country. 4) That the action of the DSS is a denigration of the entire Judiciary, as an institution. 5) That by the act of the DSS, Judicial Officers are now being subjected to insecurity, as criminals might take advantage of the recent incidents to invade their residences under the guise of being security agents. 6) The Council vehemently denounces a situation whereby the Psyche of Judicial Officers in the Federation is subjected to a level where they would be afraid to discharge their Constitutional judicial functions, without fear or favour, intimidation, victimization or suppression. 7) The Council will not compromise the integrity and impartiality of the Judiciary. 8) The Council wishes to reassure the public that any person who has a genuine complaint against any Judicial Officer is at liberty to bring it up to the Council for consideration, after following due process vide its Judicial Discipline Regulations. 9) At the end of the Meeting, Council unanimously agreed to recommend Hon. Justice W. S. N. Onnoghen, CFR, as the most senior, suitable and competent Justice of the Supreme Court to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for appointment as the next Chief Justice of Nigeria to succeed Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed GCON who retires from office on 10th November, 2016. Soji Oye, Esq Ag. Director (Information) Aisha, the wife of Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari has said she may not back her husbands re-election in 2019 unless he shakes up his cabinet. In an interview with the BBC, Mrs. Buhari said the president does not know most of the top officials he appointed to office. Mr. Buhari has not indicated whether or not he will seek re-election, and according to his wife, he has not told his family too. He is yet to tell me (if hell seek re-election) but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again, she said. The Nigerian leader is allowed by the constitution to seek re-election for a second term in office. Should he seek re-election, he is expected to be the candidate to beat for his All Progressives Congress, APC, party; although he could be challenged by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who lost to him in the 2014 primaries. Mrs. Buhari also gave an indication of something which has caused silent anger amongst some leaders of the APC. She said some of the presidents appointees did not share the vision of his party and were appointed because of the influence of a few people. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position, she said. Asked to name those who had hijacked the government, she refused, saying: You will know them if you watch television. One name that has been repeatedly mentioned as having a strong influence in Mr. Buharis appointments is his cousin, Mamman Daura. Mr. Daura, who holds no official position, is said to be the most powerful man in the presidency and is said to have Mr. Buharis ears. There had been rumours within the Aso Villa of him having clashes with Mrs. Buhari over his influence on the president. On whether the president was in charge of his administration, Mrs. Buhari said: That is left for the people to decide. Mrs. Buharis decision to go public with her concerns may shock many people, but it shows the level of discontent with the presidents leadership, the BBC quotes its reporter Naziru Mikailu, as saying Abuja. Speaking further on the appointments, Mrs. Buhari said, The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I dont know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years. She also mentioned the improvement of security in the north-east as her husbands major achievement. No-one is complaining about being attacked in their own homes. Thankfully everyone can walk around freely, go to places of worship, etc. Even kids in Maiduguri have returned to schools, Mrs. Buhari said. Nearly one in five students who sat for the August/September 2016 final examinations of the Nigerian Law School, failed and will not be called to the bar, official results have shown. The result contained in a statement signed by the executive director of the Nigerian Law School, Olanrewaju Anadeko, shows that 17.8 per cent of the student who sat in the last examination failed and will not be called to bar this November. The figure represents 980 students out of 5, 517 who participated in examination. According to the statement, 4, 178 of the candidates passed the examination without any conditions while 359 of them had conditional passes. That means 75 per cent of the candidates passed without conditions, while 6.5 per cent had conditional passes. A similar examination conducted in April recorded 23.6 per cent failure rate, as 709 candidates out of 3, 056 of them who sat for that batch of the final examination from the NLS, did not make the pass mark. Potential candidates to the bar must sit and pass the final examination by the school, while complying with other provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act to be qualified for the call to bar. According to Section 4 of the Act, candidates must meet all other requirements to qualify before they can be allowed to partake in the exercise. Section 4 (2) of the Act implies that the 359 candidates with conditional passes cannot rely solely on their kind of result to make it to bar. Information provided by the school states that after concluding their study at the Nigerian Law School, successful candidates are given their certificates by council. They are later called to bar by the Body of Benchers, subject to the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act. The Council of Legal Education is the regulatory body for the Nigerian Law School, which must be attended by persons willing to practice law in Nigeria. It also determines the steps to be taken by persons who have obtained a university degree in law from a foreign institution and are willing to practice as lawyers in Nigeria. The Nigerian law school and the Council of Legal Education were established in 1962, following the enactment of the Legal Education Act to ensure the study of the Nigerian customary law by prospective members of the bench. President Muhammadu Buhari has responded to a remark by his wife, Aisha, that his government has been hijacked by a cabal. Mr. Buhari spoke in the German capital, Berlin, when he answered reporters questions. I dont know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room, the Associated Press quoted the president as saying. So I claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition because in the end I have succeeded. Its not easy to satisfy the whole Nigerian opposition parties or to participate in the government. Mrs. Buhari had said she might not back her husbands re-election in 2019 unless he shakes up his cabinet. In an interview with the BBC, Mrs. Buhari said the president does not know most of the top officials he appointed to office. My wife "belongs to my kitchen", says Nigerian President @MBuhari after first lady criticises his leadership https://t.co/FP49H1q5qo pic.twitter.com/8fkthOu8hV BBC Africa (@BBCAfrica) October 14, 2016 Mr. Buhari has not indicated whether or not he will seek re-election, and according to his wife, he has not told his family too. He is yet to tell me (if hell seek re-election) but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again, she said. The Nigerian leader is allowed by the constitution to seek re-election for a second term in office. Should he seek re-election, he is expected to be the candidate to beat for his All Progressives Congress, APC, party; although he could be challenged by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who lost to him in the 2014 primaries. Mrs. Buhari also gave indication of something which has caused silent anger amongst some leaders of the APC. She said some of the presidents appointees did not share the vision of his party and were appointed because of the influence of a few people. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position, she said. Asked to name those who had hijacked the government, she refused, saying: You will know them if you watch television. One name that has been repeatedly mentioned as having a strong influence in Mr. Buharis appointments is his cousin, Mamman Daura. Mr. Daura, who holds no official position, is said to be the most powerful man in the presidency and is said to have Mr. Buharis ears. There had been rumours within the Aso Villa of him having clashes with Mrs. Buhari over his influence on the president. On whether the president was in charge of his administration, Mrs. Buhari said: That is left for the people to decide. Mrs. Buharis decision to go public with her concerns may shock many people, but it shows the level of discontent with the presidents leadership, the BBC quotes its reporter Naziru Mikailu, as saying Abuja. Speaking further on the appointments, Mrs. Buhari said, The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I dont know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years. She also mentioned the improvement of security in the north-east as her husbands major achievement. No-one is complaining about being attacked in their own homes. Thankfully everyone can walk around freely, go to places of worship, etc. Even kids in Maiduguri have returned to schools, Mrs. Buhari said. The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to department stores in the Federal Capital Territory to withdraw all Genetically Modified (GM) food items from their shelves. The Director General of the agency, Rufus Ebegba, gave the ultimatum in Abuja on Friday during a meeting with department store operators in the FCT. Mr. Ebegba said the move was in line with the mandate of the agency to ensure safety of human health and the environment. The director general said the agency would not hesitate to shut down or prosecute the management of any departmental store that failed to abide by the directive or contravened its Act. He said the meeting was to intimate the operators on the provisions of the Act establishing the agency so that they would not feign ignorance of it. This is in line with the Act of the agency to refocus Nigeria in the area of modern biotechnology practice to ensure proper regulation for safety of human consumption and the environment. According to him, no GMO should be in any of the supermarket stores, either labelled or not, until permits are obtained from the agency. We have segmented our meeting with stakeholders particularly those in the food and agriculture sector. This meeting is for them to understand that some of their products need to be properly ascertained before they are imported so that they will not run foul of the law. We are aware that some of these stores import foods from countries that are already consuming GMs. We understand the economic benefits of these stores to the Nigerian economy, especially in the areas of job creation and markets, but we must know that the law is not a respecter of persons. The idea that Nigerian laws are not being implemented by government agencies should be ruled out of this. NBMA will not make the mistake in the enforcement of this. We are very serious about this, he said. Mr. Ebegba said the agency was currently working with the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and National Agriculture Quarantine Service (NAQS) to ensure that permits were adequately issued. Umar Yahaya, the Customer Service/Surveillance Manager of NEXT Cash and Carry Mall, appealed to the agency to provide guidelines for the permit to enable operators comply with the laws. Mr. Yahaya, who declined further comments, said that appropriate measures would be taken by the management of the store. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that representatives from Shoprite, a South African-based chain stores operating across the country also attended the meeting. (NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed optimism on the release of more of the kidnapped Chibok girls, after 21 of them were freed by Boko Haram Thursday, following more than two years of captivity. Speaking at a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday in Berlin, President Buhari said negotiations will continue until all the girls secure their freedom. On the Chibok girls, we have been able to secure the release of 21 of them, so over 100 more are still in the hands of the terrorists somewhere in the Lake Chad Basin area which include Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. In getting this 21 out, we hope we will get enough intelligence to go about securing the rest of them. We are very grateful to the UN for their participation in trying to secure the release of these girls. Please dont forget that as a result of terrorism in Nigeria, no fewer than 37,000 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram. Right now we have about 2 million people in IDP camps, 60 per cent of them are women and children and 60 per cent of those children are orphaned. This is a major challenge for government; we have to provide infrastructure especially for education and health, take them back to their villages and towns and reintegrate them so that they can have normal life, he said. The president thanked the German government for their humanitarian assistance and support for Nigeria in dealing with the effects of terrorism. Responding to a question on the BBC interview with his wife, Aisha, the president said his wife and the opposition needed to appreciate the depth of the problems he met on the ground. He caused laughter at the press conference when he said: I claim superior knowledge compared to her and the opposition, referring to his three attempts at the polls to become president of Nigeria over a 12-year period, succeeding in the fourth attempt. He also said; I dont know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room. The Human Rights Watch has condemned the recent attack on the Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria, (IMN) and called on government to ensure accountability for violence against the group. In a statement on Thursday, Human Rights Watch described the recent ban of the group as The latest in a series of repressive actions by the Kaduna State government and Nigerias security forces targeting the group. The ongoing mob attacks against adherents of the Shia religious faith across five northern Nigeria states is the latest in a string of abuses in which government forces have also been implicated, said the statement by the groups senior researcher, Nigeria, Mausi Segun. The move to ban the Shia umbrella body, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), by the Kaduna State government appears to have triggered a wave of discrimination and violence against Shia elsewhere in the country. Authorities should take urgent steps to respect the rights of Shia to security and religious freedom. They should also ensure accountability for violence against the group, including the killing of 347 IMN members by soldiers in Zaria in December 2015, the statement said. At least eight members of the IMN were killed during attacks in various states of the north on Wednesday. Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Kebi states had earlier banned the groups activities. Four members of the Shia sect were earlier in the morning killed in the Tudun Wada area of the Kaduna South Local Government Area when some irate youth attacked the sect, and torched the residence of its leader. The mob also demolished the Shiites Islamic school in the area. The police in Sokoto said hoodlums killed a Shiite member in Tudun Wada in Sokoto North Local Government Area. The News Agency of Nigeria quoted Mr. Sunusi as saying that the victim was seriously beaten and killed, while his Toyota Avensis vehicle with registration number BRK 144 CM was burnt by the hoodlums. In Katsina State, the police said at least three persons died during a clash between its officers and members of the IMN in Funtua, Funtua Local Government Area of the state. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Usman Abdullahi, said two policemen were injured during the clash. A leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on the release of 21 Chibok school girls. In a statement issued Thursday, Mr. Tinubu said news of the release came to him as a delightful relief. I congratulate the families of these young ladies who have endured so much anxiety and pain on account of this horrendous experience, said Mr. Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State. I am also grateful that these budding young stars now have the opportunity to again pursue their dreams and aspirations. I know there is road to recovery and readjustment ahead, but I am confident that the support of their families, our communities, and the assistance of our many collaborators at home, and internationally provide the tools required for this. Mr. Tinubu said security and ending the Boko Haram insurgency remains atop the agenda of the APC-led federal government. This president, I am assured, will not rest on his oars until all the girls in captivity are freed and returned to their families. The girls were released by Boko Haram on Thursday after more than 200 of them were abducted from their school hostel in 2014. Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, said via his official twitter handle that he was incredibly happy at the news. A lesson, hope always wins. Prayers for the release of the remaining #ChibokGirls. The 2014 abduction of the girls triggered an international outcry that led to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, a social media movement that later moved offline to organise regular gatherings in Abuja and Lagos. Of the 58 students who escaped that night in April 2014, 24 are now studying at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, on full scholarships provided by a donor from the US, the institution said in a statement Thursday. The students, the school said, are placed under a preparatory Foundation program at AUN where they receive specialized tutoring in English and Math. Last year two of the young women were admitted into the universitys undergraduate programs, having met JAMB requirement, and four more were fully enrolled this year. I am thrilled that the young women have been released and hope that after they recover they are able to continue their lives and education in peace, said AUN President Margee Ensign. One of the Chibok girls studying to be a medical doctor in the institution said they were happy beyond words that some of our sisters and friends are now free. We hope and pray that those still held will be given their freedom soon, and that some will join us here so that we can all work to rebuild our home. AUN said it does not release the identities of the students for security reasons. Ms. Ensign commended the Nigerian government for its ongoing efforts to seek the release of the women, and urged authorities to work tirelessly to free those still being held. We stand ready to help rebuild the lives of all of these young women and their families. The Nigerian police have released a report which ranked its state commands according to the number of public complaints against them. The report, released on Thursday by the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) of the police, shows that the Rivers State Command tops the ranking, with 78 complaints which represents 19.26 per cent of the total complaints made nationwide against the police, in the third quarter of the year. The report, signed by Abayomi Shogunle, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in-charge of the CRU, covers only two months July and September. Out of the 78 complaints against the police in the oil-rich state, 13 had to do with the excessive use of force against citizens, while 24 were on professional misconduct, and 41 on the demand for money for bail, according to the report. The police have consistently said that releasing suspects on bail does not require payment of money, and that people should report to the CRU whenever officers make such demands. In the report, Lagos comes second in the ranking, with 72 complaints. Abuja, Anambra, and Akwa Ibom come in at third, fourth, and fifth positions, with 48, 25, and 23 complaints respectively. Others are ranked as follows: Edo, 6th; Delta, 7th; Ogun, 8th; Oyo, 9th; and Enugu, 10th. According to the report, no single complaint was recorded against the police in six states Bauchi, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Osun, and Sokoto. Also, no complaint has been made against the police in Kebbi since the inception of the CRU. The report says the police, during the period under review, recovered N2.7million bribe money from an assistant commissioner of police in an unnamed state. Three hundred and twenty-four cases have been resolved or closed, out of the 405 complaints received nationwide by the CRU, while 51 cases were classified as false or unrelated, and 30 pending, the report said. The report indicates a sharp drop in the number of complaints against the police in the period under review. While 1054 complaints were recorded in the first quarter of the year, and 906 in the second quarter, only 405 have been recorded for this quarter. The CRU, launched last year, enables the public to lodge complaints against misconducts by police officers through phone calls, sms, emails, and other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp. The report said, The Inspector-General of Police has directed that all cases forwarded to State Commands and Formations should be resolved within 24hrsand report of actions taken forwarded to the CRU. The Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir, has denied the alleged abduction and forceful marriage of 17-year-old Habiba Isyaku. Emir Kabir made the denial during a meeting with the Katsina branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Thursday in Katsina. The emir, represented by one of the king makers, Nuhu Abdulkadir, the Kauran-Katsina, said it was the Commissioner of Police who sent the matter to the palace for resolution. He said the girl embraced Islam on her own volition. According to him, the father of the girl, Isyaku Tanko, had petitioned the police that one Jamilu Lawal had abducted his daughter, converted her to Islam and married her without their consent. Mr. Lawal is said to work in the palace of the Emir Kabir. The Emir said that during investigation, the palace discovered that Habiba embraced Islam on her own volition. He said that the girl had indicated her interest in marrying Jamilu, who is from the same area with her, and that the Emirate Council married her to her heartthrob, who paid N50,000 as dowry. He said the palace interviewed the girl to ascertain if she was forced to accept Islam, and she said no, and declined following her father home. The Emir further said that the father of the girl had written an apology to the palace after discovering that he had made wrong accusations to council, and showed the letter to journalists present. In his remarks, the Katsina State CAN Chairman, Nelson Onyekachukwu, said the palace should always contact CAN in the state on such matters. We should be given time to go home and discuss with the parents and Kankara CAN branch on the matter and report back to the palace, he said. Meanwhile, Tanko had told a news conference organised by Stefanos Foundation in Abuja on Wednesday that Jamilu had admitted to abducting his daughter. He said that his daughter would be 15 years old on Saturday, and that she was kidnapped from her school, Government Senior Secondary School, Kudun Kankara, Kastina State by one Jamilu Lawal. He also said that she had been forcefully converted to Islam and married off by the Emir without her parents consent. My little girl was abducted on the 16th of August, 2016, from her school. After my investigations, I discovered that Jamilu Lawal, who lives in the same community, was responsible for my daughters disappearance. He said that he had lodged a formal complaint with the Commissioner of Police in Kastina, and that he had also gone to the palace to retrieve his daughter but his mission was unsuccessful. On arrival at the Palace, the Emir informed me that my daughter has been converted from Christianity to Islam henceforth. There is no longer any relationship between me and my daughter and we can no longer inherit each other. He further informed me that he has received the sum of N50, 000 as dowry from Jamilu Ibrahim for my daughter. Therefore, he will give her out in marriage in accordance with Islamic rites and injunctions. He accused me of defaming him at the Police Station and I was threatened, intimidated and coerced to sign an apology drafted on my behalf in his Palace. He appealed to well-meaning Nigerians and those in authority to help assist him to secure the release of his daughter. On his part, Mark Lipdo, the Programme Coordinator for Stafanos Foundation, an NGO, said that the organisation intervened in conflicts. We have been trying to intervene in the conflicts going on in Nigeria; we believe in the human rights of all citizens and encourage that fundamental rights be upheld at all times to maintain a sane society. He noted that Habiba, who had just completed her Junior Secondary School with very good grades, had much prospects. He said the foundation had petitioned the Inspector General of Police with a view to securing the girls release but had yet to get a response. The girl is a minor and things like this have to stop happening in this country because if it continues, people are going to resort to self-help, Mr. Lipdo said. (NAN) A pro-democracy group, Centre for Democracy and Development, in Nigeria has condemned Wednesdays attacks on members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, the countrys foremost Shiite sect across the country. In a statement on Thursday, the group warned that such violence against a religious group is capable of radicalising its members. We have enough insurgencies and violent conflicts in Nigeria and the Centre for Democracy appeals to authorities and the civil populace to beware of pushing out country to more violent conflicts, said Idayat Hassan, Director of the Abuja-based CDD. More than eight members of the IMN group were killed in a wave of violence against the sect that began in Kaduna and then spread to, at least, two other northern states. The IMN issued a statement late Wednesday saying that no fewer than 13 of its members had been killed in multiple clashes with the police and some hoodlums in Funtua, Sokoto and Kaduna. Last week, the Kaduna State Government announced a ban on the activities of the Shiite members, describing the group as an unlawful society. Days later, Kano, Katsina, and Kebbi States followed suit, saying the proscription was due to the groups unlawful processions, obstruction of public highways, and unauthorised occupation of public facilities without regard to other citizens and the public peace. The proscription came ten months after over 300 members of the sect 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 its members were targeted in an extra judicial killing, and had continued to demand the release of its leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who had been detained since then. This act of the Kaduna State Government has been a trigger that unleashed these attacks on members of the Shia community all over the country, said Ms. Hassan. It is estimated that there are about three million members of this religious community all over the country and it is very irresponsible for a State Government to proscribe their operations. So far, the army has killed six out his (El-Zakzaky) seven sons and now his organisation has been proscribed in Kaduna State while their members are being attacked all over the country. It appears that there is an attempt to push the Shiites in Nigeria to popular revolt. Shiite sect culpable However, the Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency, a civil society organisation, blamed the Shiite members for the violence and demanded further government crackdown on their activities. Joyce Adamu, the groups Executive Director, said the sects insistence on going ahead with their procession despite their proscription was intended to provoke confrontation. The leadership of IMN must be held responsible for the latest incidence of violence, said Ms. Adamu. They must be told in clear terms that their attempt to make laws for themselves to govern other Nigerians is the height of callousness and to dare the sovereignty of Nigeria is a life threatening provocation. Ms. Adamu urged the Nigerian government to designate IMN as the latest terror group in the country and proceed to seek international support to prevent its funding from Iran. We urge Nigerians of all faiths to resist the temptation of being brought down to the level of IMN by losing regard for the sanctity of human life. They must at all times invite law enforcement agencies to deal with the Shiite menace as they are the only ones legally empowered to do so. An aide to the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Friday said his boss had been vindicated by the recent outburst of President Muhammadu Buharis wife, Aisha, about her husbands leadership. Bamikole Omisore, a media aide to the Senate President said the fact that Mrs. Buhari could come out to openly express reservations about her husbands appointees showed that his boss earlier argument that the government had been hijacked was in good faith. Mr. Saraki on June 27 said some individuals within Mr. Buharis government were running a government within the government. It has become clear that there is a government within the government of President Buhari who have seized apparatus of executive powers to pursue their nefarious agenda, Mr. Saraki said at the time. Mr. Buhari pushed back against the comments, describing them as a figment of Mr. Sarakis imagination. But in an interview with the BBC, Mrs. Buhari appeared to agree with Mr. Sarakis position. She criticised her husbands choices of cabinet members and heads of agencies. The first lady said her husband packed his cabinet with people he barely knew, suggesting that the government had been hijacked. She also said she might not support her husbands re-election if the president failed to shake up his cabinet. Mr. Omisore said in a tweet on Friday morning that Mrs. Buharis comment came months apart from Mr. Sarakis own complaint about the same thing. Mr. Omisore said Mr. Buhari and those who criticised Mr. Saraki at the time he made the comments should understand that both the presidents wife and his principal meant well for the administration. Aisha Buhari and Bukola Saraki both have the best interest of President Buhari at heart, Mr. Omisore said in the tweet. Mr. Omisore further expanded on his principals position in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday morning, saying Mr. Saraki still strongly believes that Mr. Buhari had been sidelined by a few men in his government. It is true that we still believe that theres a government within the government. We do believe that the president has good intention and were behind him, Mr. Omisore said. But a situation where a few people are in charge does not bode well for the image and the future of our country. Mr. Omisore said recent development in which the Minister of Finance openly disagreed with the Governor of Central Bank on economic matters clearly showed that administration officials were taking directives from conflicting authorities. A situation where people that work within the executive say one thing and other people that work in the same administration say and even do another thing. It shows that people are getting directives from different authorities, Mr. Omisore said. Mr. Omisore said Nigerians should pay attention to Mrs. Buharis statement because shes a mother for the whole country. Mrs. Buhari is our mother and she has come out to say that the way things are being run, where APC manifesto has been abandoned and the party completely left out of governance, should not continue for too long, Mr. Omisore said. Mr. Saraki has been facing corruption charges at the Code of Conduct Bureau since September 2015. He was also arraigned alongside his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, in a separate case in which they were accused of forgery in the Senate. The government withdrew the case a few days ago. Mrs. Buharis explosive interview rattled the presidency so much that PREMIUM TIMES authoritatively gathered that the officials there pressured the BBC to step down the remaining part of the interview. BBC, however, vowed to run the full exchange as scheduled. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says it has prepositioned counselors to provide urgent psychosocial support and reproductive health services for the 21 rescued Chibok girls. This is contained in a statement Friday, by the Executive Director of UNFPA, Babatunde Osotimehin. The statement said the service would cover the rescued girls and other affected girls from the North East crisis ridden region. It welcomes the release of the 21 Chibok school girls who were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents. The statement commended the Government of Nigeria on its commitment towards the liberation of more girls and other survivors who have been abducted. It said UNFPA calls for and anticipates the release of more abducted girls, boys and women. The statement added that the fund was also ready to continue working with governments and other partners to immediately meet their sexual and reproductive health needs, including psychosocial support and counselling. Amidst the crisis, UNFPA provides reproductive health kits that contain live-saving commodities to bridge the gap so affected women and girls continue to have access to sexual and reproductive health services. Beyond physical health there is the trauma the women and adolescent girls endure and the violence they face when emergencies occur. UNFPA responds by providing psychosocial support and counselling to survivors to begin the process of healing and rehabilitation, it said. According to the statement, since the commencement of the fund intervention to Boko Haram crises in 2014, UNFPA has assisted the safe delivery of 87,910 pregnancies in the crisis-affected states. It also provided psychosocial support to more than 174,118 survivors. The statement noted that Boko Haram conflict continues to pose a major human security challenge in Nigeria. The conflict, which started in 2009, has predominantly affected the States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa; destroying health systems, schools and infrastructure. Lives and livelihoods have also been destroyed, with about 1.8 million people internally displaced, 7,000 women and girls kidnapped and about 30,000 people dead. (NAN) The trial of former Interior Minister, Abbah Moro, slated to continue on Friday, stalled following the arrest of seven judges by operatives of the State security service last weekend. One of the arrested judges, Nnamdi Dimgba, of the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over the trial of Mr. Moro since he was charged for alleged diversion of almost N1 billion, meant for the conduct of recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service in 2014. Despite raising about a billion naira from the job seekers, the tests were poorly organised at different centres across the country, resulting in deadly stampedes with at least 18 deaths confirmed, majority from the Abuja stadium stampede. At the last sitting on September 30, a witness, Tabugn Sylvanus, said only N45 million out of N201, million needed for the exercise was provided for, by government. Justice Dimgba had adjourned the trial on September, 30 to October 14, but could not continue due to the recent development. Neither Mr. Dimgba nor his colleague from the same court, Adeniyi Ademola, have had any court sessions since the raid. The SSS accuses the affected judges of corruption. The governorship campaign of the Ondo State All Progressives Congress, has suffered another setback, as an aspirant, Ajayi Boroffice, on Friday, dissociated himself from a press statement credited to him, which declared his support for Rotimi Akeredolu, the partys candidate. A widely circulated press statement on Thursday purportedly signed by Mr. Boroffice, quoted him as accepting the verdict of APCs National Working Committee which upheld Mr. Akeredolus election as the partys candidate. He was also quoted in the statement to have declared his total support for the lawyer. He also urged all his supporters to make themselves and their resources available to the candidate in the effort to win the next governorship election in the state. The spokesman for the Akeredolu campaign group, Yemi Olowolabi, told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the statement was a product of series of meetings between Messrs. Boroffice and Akeredolu which started on Sunday. It is unfortunate that we are seeing a rebuts, he said. That is the kind of politics we are seeing here, where we see people speak from both sides of the mouth. Mr. Olowolabi denied writing the statement or knowing who did. But what I can tell you is that the statement came out from the meeting held between the two groups and both of them were supposed to hold the press conference on Wednesday, but that did not happen, he said. But Mr. Boroffice, a senator who represents Ondo North senatorial district, said the statement did not emanate from him. Speaking through his media aide, Kayode Fakuyi, Mr. Boroffice said he did not address any press conference on Wednesday as claimed by the statement. The Media Office of Professor Ajayi Boroffice, OON has noted with utmost consternation a press statement that was purportedly issued by the senator representing Ondo North senatorial district, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice on Wednesday, 12th of October, 2016, Mr. Fakuyi said. The said press statement, which appeared to have been circulated on the social media by its originators, did not emanate from Prof. Boroffice. It should also be noted that the senator did not address any press conference on Wednesday. By this statement, I wish to draw a line and detach Prof. Boroffice from the views and admonitions expressed in the said press statement. It bears repeating that Prof. Boroffice remains one of the founding fathers of the All Progressives Congress in Nigeria and a loyal leader of the party in Ondo State. However, that does not confer any modicum of privilege to any person or group to write whatever press statement they like and falsely present it to the public as views of Prof. Boroffice, the statement said. Mr. Fakuyi, however told PREMIUM TIMES that the senators media did not want to react immediately it saw the statement, as Mr. Boroffice had a good relationship with Mr. Akeredolu. He said the denial became necessary given the wide publicity given to the statement and its attendant misrepresentation of the true position of the senator. A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday declared businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim, as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the coming governorship election, throwing the ruling party into disarray. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that news of the judgment triggered series of meetings among leaders of the party. A source close to the party said the party leadership was greatly disturbed by the pronouncement of the judge, Okon Abang, conferring authenticity on Jimoh Ibrahim. As soon as the news of the judgment came, there has been series of meetings to discuss the next line of action. the source said. There are serious worries whether to continue with the litigation by appealing the judgment or move the party, achingly to the Labour Party, which is still largely controlled by Governor Olusegun Mimiko. A statement by the publicity secretary of the PDP, Banji Okunomo, said the governorship candidate of the party could only emerge through due process in consonance with the constitution of the PDP. He urged party supporters to disregard the judgment saying the partys governorship candidate would not be produced through the back door or some unconstitutional procedures. The Supreme Court of Nigeria has made it clear that only the National Executive Committee (NEC) of a party could nominate the governorship candidate of parties, Mr. Okunomo argued. This was done in the nomination of Eyitayo Jegede (SAN). As such, no High court can invalidate or alter this position which is clearly defined by the highest ruling court in Nigeria. The PDP wishes to allay the fear of party members as appropriate steps are already being taken in this regard to quash obnoxious and baseless ruling. Such judgement or ruling, if it ever existed, is appealable with expedition and for want of legal justification shall never stand. More so, Mr Jimoh Ibrahim who took the case to court is not a registered member of the PDP. Mr. Okunomo maintained that Jimoh Ibrahim had ceased to be a member of the PDP, whose non-membership of the PDP had been verified at the ward, local government or State levels, having openly defected to the Accord Party. While accusing Mr. Ibrahim of trying to destabilise the party, Mr. Okunomo said, He would fail and is only working for some fifth columnists outside the PDP. The PDP called on its members and supporters to remain focused and steadfast, urging them to continue with the Eyitayos campaign which will be actualised However, the Jimoh Ibrahim faction of the PDP described the judgement by Okon Abang of the Abuja federal high court, Abuja as a welcome development. It said the judgement did not only recognise the factional executive committee, but also validated and consolidated an earlier ruling by same court recognising the faction in the state. The director of publicity/communication of Jimoh Ibrahim campaign group, Sola Akinuli, said the judgment was an elegant testimony to the beauty of the rule of law and an eloquent evidence to the uprightness of our judicial officers. The judgement has put a seal on all controversies on who is what in the political architecture of the PDP in Ondo state which expectedly will usher in its attendant peace and tranquility to the beleaguered said. We salute the courage of Justice Okon Abang who stood on the side of the rule of law despite the present cloud over the integrity of our judges. We praise him for his Davidic courage which has informed this Solomonic judgement. This epochal verdict, we hope will act as speed breaker to the gale of impunity that has pervaded the party, a malignant cancer the Sheriff exco has come to heal. The Bolshoi Ballets cinema season begins this weekend with a satire of Roaring 20s club life in a seaside city where the mob and business thrive. Sounds like Atlantic City history. The Golden Age centers on the love triangle of a cabaret dancer, a gangster and a young worker. Its jazzy music is by Dmitri Shostakovich and choreography is by Russias great Yuri Grigorovich. The worlds largest and some say greatest ballet company will perform the ballet live Sunday in Moscow with a full symphony orchestra. It will be simulcast digitally on the big screen at the Regal 14 at the Hamilton Commons in Mays Landing, where tickets are a tiny fraction of the cost of seeing it in person. All shows in the 2016-17 season start at 12:55 p.m. Sundays at the Regal Theater in Mays Landing. Tickets are $20.61 for adults, $17.40 for seniors and $17.05 for children. During intermissions, Bolshoi spokeswoman Katerina Novikova interviews ballet luminaries backstage, translating Russian on the fly into English and French. A synopsis of the story also is provided. The past Bolshoi season saw stunning performances by prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova and principal Olga Smirnova. Another of the companys many stars, Nina Kaptsova, will dance the lead in The Golden Age. The current season includes Bolshoi classic favorites such as Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, the modern A Hero of Our Time that debuted last year, and an evening of shorter contemporary ballets. In November, the Bolshoi will dance an updated version of The Bright Stream with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky (now at American Ballet Theater), also to music by Shostakovich and, like The Golden Age, banned by Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin shortly after its premiere. These simulcasts of top ballet performances are part of a wide range of special theater showings that also include operas, concerts, plays and events. For example, Young Frankenstein with an introduction by director Mel Brooks will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets for that show are $14.73. All listings can be found on a calendar at fathomevents.com. The former owner of the Old Bay Restaurant and Bar in Egg Harbor City has been indicted on a murder charge in the 2014 shooting death of his wife. An Atlantic County grand jury ruled Sept. 27 that Sergio DeRosa, 57, of Pleasant Mills Road in Mullica Township, knowingly and purposely caused the death of his wife, Lynn DeRosa, who was found dead at their home just before 9:30 a.m. Sept. 26, 2014 with a shotgun wound to the head. An autopsy determined the manner of death to be homicide. The DeRosas used to own the Old Bay Restaurant and Bar, which later became the Burger Pub. The restaurant, in the 200 block of Philadelphia Avenue, closed a few years ago. Sergio DeRosa was originally indicted on a charge of manslaughter Sept. 9, 2015, and has been free on bail since. DeRosas murder charge, supersedes the previous indictment. He turned himself in to Major Crimes Unit detectives this week. No information has been released on what may have led to the shooting. DeRosa is now free again on $150,000 bail but is required to wear an electronic monitoring device at all times. He is not allowed to leave the state. Anyone with information regarding the incident can call the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office Major Crimes Unit at 609-909-7666 or the Mullica Township Police Department at 609-652-2037. BRIDGETON A Pennsylvania man accused of fatally shooting his friend in Vineland made no comments during his first Superior Court appearance in the case Friday. The only attempt by Larry John Pulcine Jr. to reply to a question from udge Robert Malestein was cut short by his defense attorney, Yaron Helmer. Pulcine was about to say whether he understood Fridays proceedings. Helmer stopped him, telling Malestein his client understood what was happening. Pulcine motioned to some people in the courtroom when he first entered. No information was available as to whether they were family or friends. They made no comment as they were led out of the courtroom to a nearby conference room by Helmer following the proceedings. The five-minute court appearance was otherwise routine. Malestein kept bail for Pulcine, who is in the Cumberland County jail, at $750,000 cash. Pulcine, 34, of Duncansville, is charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Authorities provided no new information about the case Friday. They said earlier Vineland police found the body of 33-year-old Ivan S. Strayer, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in a room at the Wingate by Wyndham Vineland hotel in the 2100 block of West Landis Avenue about 5:15 a.m. Monday. The discovery, which revealed Strayer was shot multiple times, was made as officers responded to a report of a possible unconscious person. Pulcine was eventually arrested after a joint investigation by Vineland police and the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office. Vineland police said Strayer and Pulcine were acquainted with each other through their employment with a company that was doing work in the area. Police arent disclosing the name of the company or the nature of the work. Superior Court records indicate Pulcine has no criminal record in New Jersey. The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call the Police Departments Detective Bureau at 856-691-4111, ext. 4181, or Crime Stoppers at 856-691-0345 BRIDGETON A Pennsylvania resident will have his first Superior Court appearance Friday on charges he fatally shot a man this week. Larry John Pulcine Jr. is scheduled to appear before Superior Court Judge Robert Malestein at 9 a.m. in the Cumberland County courthouse. The 34-year-old Duncansville resident is charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is at the Cumberland County jail on $750,000 cash bail. Pulcine is charged with killing 33-year-old Ivan S. Strayer III of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Vineland police said they found Strayers body in a room at the Wingate by Wyndham Vineland hotel in the 2100 block of West Landis Avenue about 5:15 a.m. Tuesday after responding to a report of a possible unconscious person. Strayer had been shot multiple times, they said. Pulcine was arrested after an investigation by Vineland police and the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office. Authorities have yet to disclose what prompted the shooting. Vineland police said Strayer and Pulcine were acquainted with each other through their employment with a company that was doing work in the area. Police did not release the companys name or the nature of the work. Superior Court records show Pulcine has no criminal record in New Jersey. The death remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call the Vineland police Detective Bureau at 856-691-4111, ext. 4181, or Crime Stoppers at 856-691-0345. Cape May County Republican committee members voted for Upper Township Committeeman Jeffrey Pierson to replace Kristine Gabor on the Board of Freeholders at a special convention this week. Gabor, also of Upper Township, had served as a freeholder since 2011 but resigned Sept. 16 to focus on a new job that requires out-of-state travel. Drone conference draws businessmen, hobbyists to Cape May CAPE MAY Marcus Silva had only been flying drones for eight months before he participated Her resignation was three days after a deadline that would have put the decision to replace her to a public vote. Instead, due to the vacancy occurring so close to Election Day, 183 Republicans from around the county cast votes Wednesday night to appoint her successor, County Clerk Rita Fulginiti said. Pierson, a retired Army brigadier general, won a majority with 99 votes, according to Fulginiti. He will be sworn in at the Oct. 25 freeholder meeting. Pierson will serve the rest of Gabors term, which ends Dec. 31, 2017. Another Cape GOP convention will be held in March 2017 to select a candidate for the 2017 general election, according to party Chairman Marcus Karavan. That candidate will be seeking the full three-year freeholder term. Freeholders earn $17,972 per year without benefits. Three others were vying to replace Gabor: Barbara Tomalino, president of banner plane company Paramount Air Service in Middle township; Dennis Township Republican committee member Edward Beck; and Lower Township Construction Official Gary Playford. Tomalino received 70 votes, Beck nine and Playford five, Fulginiti said. Pierson will join fellow Republicans Gerald M. Thornton, Leonard Desiderio, E. Marie Hayes and Will Morey on the Board of Freeholders. No Democrats are on the board. Thornton and Hayes are running for re-election this year against Democrats Daniel Kurkowski and John Amenhouser. ATLANTIC CITY Democratic congressional nominee for New Jerseys 2nd District Dave Cole attempted Thursday to draw attention to a connection between his opponent, U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, and Donald Trump. In front of the dark Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino on Thursday afternoon, Cole revealed a memo allegedly sent from former Plaza CEO Barry Cregan that urged casino executives to donate to LoBiondos campaign during his first re-election campaign. Cole said the Aug. 21, 1996, memo was sent on behalf of Donald Trump and had a subject line of campaign donation requests, detailing a political fundraiser Trump was to hold for LoBiondo that year, along with a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Richard Zimmer. Jason Galanes, a spokesman for LoBiondo, pointed to support from casino workers the congressman has received throughout his career. Congressman LoBiondo is proud of the continued support he has received from casino employees throughout his time in Congress, including his endorsement again this year by the men and women of Unite Here Local 54, Galanes said in a statement. Cole said Trump and his casino company executives made more than 30 contributions to LoBiondos campaign, totaling $18,000. Trump made a personal contribution of the maximum amount of $1,000, he said. The memo also included suggested donation dollar amounts based on seniority within the Trump organization. Were here because Donald Trump has had a lasting reign of devastation here in the Atlantic County area and surrounding parts of South Jersey, Cole said Thursday. It is illegal to use corporate resources to fundraise for a political campaign, and this is what we have here. Galanes rebuffed the claim, saying Cole mixed up state and federal election laws. Congressman LoBiondo was a federal official in August 1996, though Mr. Cole appears confused, given his reference to state election law, Galanes said. When LoBiondo first ran for Congress in 1994, Cole said at the conference, he originally refused campaign contributions. Then, he met Donald Trump, Cole said. The information released in this memo shows the beginning of a relationship between Trump and LoBiondo, Cole said. The Democrat detailed his own opposition to Trumps presidential campaign Thursday, but added now with LoBiondo pulling back his unconditional support for Trump, its hard to believe that Congressman LoBiondo has had a true change of heart. OCEAN CITY Press meteorologist Dan Skeldon apologized to city business owners who gathered Thursday night at the Port O Call Hotel. The Hermine debacle was kind of unfortunate, he said. I do ... try to be responsible with my forecasting.(tncms-asset)57c68130-918e-11e6-8930-00163ec2aa77"}} Skeldon spoke at the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerces annual business summit about how weather affects business. The gathering gives leaders a chance to assess the citys summer tourism season Shawnda McGinnis, the chambers marketing director, said a survey of chamber members found 80 percent of respondents thought the summer was moderately good to great. It was a good summer season in Ocean City, said Michele Gillian, the chambers executive director. Though she added there were challenges, such as occasional weather events. This summer was a serious grind, said Wes Kazmarck, president of the Ocean City Boardwalk Merchants group. It was a long summer, then we hit Labor Day and the storm that wasnt, he added, later saying most Boardwalk merchants could take the results of the summer season. Kazmarck said weather is a big deal for Boardwalk businesses, and Gillian said she invited Skeldon, who lived in Ocean City for 10 years, to explain the connection. Obviously, weather absolutely, 100 percent impacts business, Skeldon said. When we give a forecast, there are a lot of implications to that forecast. Will people come down the shore? Will they evacuate when we tell them to? Skeldons long-range forecast is a warm, dry summer next year. This story has been updated to reflect the correct titles of Shawnda McGinnis and Michele Gillian. With a little luck, South Jersey will be able to see the launch of a private rocket Sunday night. The Cygnus cargo ship will be deployed from an Antares rocket no earlier than 8:03 p.m., according to Space.com. The rocket, a two-state Antares rocket developed by Orbital ATK, will launch from Wallops Island, Virginia headed to the International Space Station. To see the launch, look south-southwest. The launch will appear as a bright, moving star, visible once it is at least five degrees above the horizon. Sunday night's forecast calls for mostly clear skies and a sunset at 6:16 p.m. According to the report on Space.com, the rocket will be visible to New Jersey viewers approximately 90 seconds after launch. Most of the East Cost will have a chance to see the launch. NASA TV will also broadcast the launch. VENTNOR A former firefighter is getting his job back after being convicted of drunken driving and child abuse related to a crash on the beach in 2014. Mike Tripician, who was drunk when he flipped his sport utility vehicle on the beach in Atlantic City with his two young children inside, will be reinstated to the Ventnor Fire Department, Mayor Beth Holtzman said in a statement. Lou Barbone, Tripicians attorney, did not immediately return a request for comment. Fire Chief John Hazlett said he could not comment on a personnel matter or what date Tripician would return to work. The city had sought to fire Tripician, but an agreement between the two parties will allow him to return to the department after a six-month suspension. As part of the agreement, Tripican, who had been a lieutenant with the department, will be subject to random alcohol testing and will be demoted from lieutenant to the rank of firefighter, according to the statement. The agreement was reached in an effort to avoid the uncertainty and cost of future litigations, the statement said. Tripician overturned his SUV on March 4, 2014, on the Kingston Avenue beach in Atlantic City, according to the original police report. When police arrived, he ran into the ocean and kicked an emergency medical technician in the face, officials said. The EMT was not injured and declined to file a complaint. Tripicians children were in their car seats and were not injured in the crash. Tricipcian pleaded guilty to fourth-degree child abuse and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended on the condition of compliance with certain requirements. He also was ordered to pay fines and penalties totaling $155, court records show. After the incident, Tripician was suspended from the department and pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated. According to the mayors statement, the agreement is considered a last chance for Tripician, meaning he will be fired if he is convicted of a major disciplinary event in the next 10 years. Ventnor will not pay back any legal fees Tripician has accrued during the process. The city said it is aware that Tripician has been going through rehabilitation and has volunteered his time speaking with and helping other people at treatment centers. As we all have learned, over the last year Atlantic County has maintained the dubious distinction of having the highest foreclosure rate in the entire country. Realtytrac reports that 1 in every 253 Atlantic County homes is presently in some stage of foreclosure. My town of Absecon has a rate of 1 in every 221 homes, up 26 percent from a year ago. With the Taj Mahal Casino now closed, some 2,800 employees have been put on the street (over 100 from Absecon). Many of those individuals, as well as numerous others laid off from businesses dependent upon the Taj, will likely lose their homes to foreclosure in the months ahead. What has been done to stem this crisis? Until now, not much. But that may soon change. Over the last few months, Sen. Jim Whelan and I have been in touch with the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency in an effort to identify funding to help keep folks in their homes. The HMFA is about to receive new federal funds for its Hardest Hit Fund. That fund has two components, a HomeSaver Program providing eligible homeowners with financial assistance to modify their existing mortgage in order to reduce their payments, and a HomeKeeper program to cover arrearages and/or mortgage payments for up to 12 months. The amount of funding available statewide is uncertain. It could be from $25 million to $50 million. That may sound like a lot of money, but its not. Although HMFA recognizes that Atlantic County is at the epicenter of the states foreclosure crisis, much of that money will be distributed elsewhere. This is where all of our federal, state and county representatives can help. Over the past few years, the federal government settled billion dollar civil claims with the big banks responsible for the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Much of that money was to go for relief of debtors stuck with housing mortgages they could not afford. As the hardest hit community in the nation, more of those funds or other available federal subsidies should be directed to Atlantic County to support HMFAs programs here. We need our elected officials to go after that money. Whelan already has petitioned U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, but we need all hands on deck to keep as many Atlantic County residents in their homes as possible. I urge everyone to support that effort. John Armstrong is mayor of Absecon. System needed to prevent unwanted telemarketing calls Bravo for the letter on unwanted phone solicitations. Telemarketing is a serious affront to telephone clients, especially to handicapped seniors and juniors. I am 83 years old. Being old-fashioned and hoping a phone call will be from one of my daughters, a friend or the doctor, I answer the phone. I dont need help with my computer. No one is going to lower my electric bill. Bridget, if thats your name, my credit card is really safe. When I responded to your number for help and told them I had no balance on my credit card for them to make money on, they hung up. Nice. I fortunately know the federal government (Social Security, etc.) doesnt make personal phone calls and have not been one to fall for those scams. In Florida, citizens may pay $5 (10 years ago, it may be more now) to keep telemarketing calls away. The system there works. Why doesnt New Jersey run such a system and alleviate the constant irritating telemarketing calls to clients who pay their phone bills for service, not for harassment? Phyllis DArgenio Absecon Weight of world or a woman The world is going down the porcelain convenience at a breakneck clip, and all we hear about from the two people who would be the future leader of the free world are the pros and cons of Miss Universe. Terrifyingly hysterical. Michael Maggio Egg Harbor City Trump remarks hit new low Donald Trump has bragged that he could assault women sexually because he is a star. By dismissing his remarks as common locker room talk, he insults men and slanders stars who never talk like that. Trump also has bragged that he could get away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. He talks as if he has sociopathic inclinations toward killing innocent people as well as assaulting women sexually. As a presidential candidate, Trump is not over the top; he is under the bottom. Earl Warman Atlantic City Change the establishment If the establishment wins, America loses. Change is needed, pronto! Gerry Kerns Ocean City Election is outsider vs. insider In a recent Rasmussen poll, 67 percent of those polled believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. So why would anyone support Hilary Clinton, a basic clone to President Obama and his failed policies? Donald Trump is far from perfect but he is right on one thing. Both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are to blame for the massive problems and gridlock this country has. If Clinton were to be elected, we could count on one thing, more of the same, something this country cannot afford considering we are $20 trillion in debt, much of which was added during Obamas eight years in office. Trump has struck a chord with people who are tired of Washingtons endless gridlock and wasteful spending of tax dollars. Its time to choose Clinton, a Washington insider who most Americans believe is not honest or trustworthy, or Trump, the Washington outsider who has a clear vision to put America first. Wayne Williams Seaville Clinton spreads corruption Hillary Clintons extensive lies have elevated her to the top of lying presidential nominees. Her lying has corrupted the FBI, the U.S. attorney general, Democratic senators and representatives, and the news media, forcing them to use extreme malarkey (sorry Joe, you dont own the word) in hiding the truth about her health, the Clinton Foundation and her accomplishments. By corrupting the FBI, she has reduced the agents and director to ridicule and Director James Comeys legacy to excrement. Robert J. Caroccio Sr. Ocean City Not long ago, Dina Engel and Sherry McCracken came to a crossroads. They were at the point in their respective film careers when they decided they would either have to find something to do in South Jersey or move to New York City. They chose Ventnor. The result of that choice is the newly opened Little Rock Films and Studios, which offers a variety of classes in acting, writing, photography and filmmaking. For owners Engel, 49, and McCracken, 56, the new studio is a chance to bring their experience working in the film industry into the classroom. With the opening of Little Rock, McCracken said she and Engel have come full circle in their lives. Dina and I have done the three movies. We do have the experience and networks and understand what it takes to get to the next level, McCracken said. Together, the two have worked on movies such as Natural Selection, with actor Anthony Michael Hall, and The Suspect, with Sterling K. Brown, who recently won a prime time Emmy for his role as Christopher Darden in the FX miniseries, The People v. O.J. Simpson. In Natural Selection, Engel was both the movies co-producer and appeared in a role as a science teacher. McCracken shot the movies still photographs and served as executive producer. McCracken also shot the stills for the The Suspect, for which both women hold executive producer credits. During the shooting of their most recent movie, a horror film called Bloodletting, Engel played the role of a police officer and served as producer along side McCracken, longtime friend Mary Jo Barthmaier and Barthmaiers husband, Stuart Connelly, who also wrote and directed the film. Bloodletting was also McCrakens first shot as head cinematographer. Im older, so I grew up in a different time, when women werent cinematographers, and were just starting to see it happen now, McCracken said. One, because it was just a mans world, and two, the equipment was so big and heavy. Doing most of the camera operating for Bloodletting is something she wouldnt have been able to do even a few years ago, she said. Theres no stopping girls now, McCracken said. Engel said the agent who sold The Suspect told the crew if they could make a high-quality horror movie on a shoestring budget, it would be a profitable formula. It was an amazing thing to accomplish, she said. We came in under budget, we produced a quality film, we did it with our friends and were still friends with them. Plot twists Despite a solid career in the film industry, McCracken and Engel both said their path to Little Rock has been full of twists. As a kid, I was always a little shy and a little different, and I found that acting classes got me out of my shell and helped me build this self esteem I didnt naturally have, Engel said. When she was 26, Engel had the opportunity to start her own business, and acting fell to the wayside. She was 47 when she realized she was the same age as her mother had been during her last, healthy year before she died from breast cancer. Engel said she knew she was done with the business world. The second I went back into acting class, the very first minute, I felt like I came home, she said. It was a great experience, I felt like I could let go again. She sold the company and came to Ventnor with McCracken. The studios name is a nod to the time she spent as a child at her parents and grandparents guest house on Little Rock Avenue in Ventnor. It was also a place her mother loved. My mom was the most special person in my life, and she passed away when she was my age now of breast cancer, Engel said. I stayed away from Ventnor for a long time. It didnt feel happy anymore. I came back one day and I felt, Wow, I feel her here. She was just an inspiration to me. The pull of photography McCrackens career in photography also had its detours. I started shooting a camera when I was probably 14. My dad gave me my first camera, and I was way into it, she said. After attending Antonellis School of Photography, McCracken started her own photography business called Sherry Shots a name she laughs about now. It was really corny, but I thought it was cool back then, she said. McCracken shot many weddings, mostly for her friends, and, she said, burnt out very quickly. Eventually, she went back to school for computer science. When cameras be-came digital, McCrackens self-described techie brain gravitated to photography again. About 12 years ago, she started doing wedding photography again on the side. Now theyve come together, she said. It comes naturally to me. Engel said some families come back to McCracken year after year to have their family photos taken. For McCracken, capturing real, candid memories is one of the highlights of her career. Only in their first few weeks of classes, Engel and McCracken have been enjoying an outpouring of support from the community. Those taking the classes in Ventnor with the duo are enthused about the addition to the community. Photographer Rusty Silverman, who will be taking a video class, said he liked the idea of being in a school with a more intimate neighborhood setting, rather than in a university. For Realtor Tina LoBiondo who is taking the acting class, performing was something she had been interested in since childhood. Rachel Albanese, who is the writing class and works next door to the studio at Design Nation, said she wanted to take the class to work on her movie script. Having instructors at Little Rock, who all have industry experience in the field, has been a perk too. Its cultural, its different, its exciting, its fun and were learning, said Ventnor resident, Cathy Kasper, who is taking a photography class with McCracken. Ventnor resident Teresa Katz, who enrolled in Engels acting class, moved to the area from New York City 13 years ago. A retired jewelry designer, Katz said she thought the acting class would be a good opportunity for her to work on her stage presence. There are not very many artistic venues at the shore, so I thought this was an interesting thing for me to get into, she said. In New York, you have many outlets for creativity, and we are very limited here. I thought what Dina and Sherry were doing was a great opportunity for us all to take advantage and support them. In the future, Engel and McCracken hope to work on more movies, expand the class offerings and hold kids camps in the summer. I appreciate so much this feeling of people being behind you. It warms our hearts and were happy to provide something people are really interested in and want, Engel said. We didnt know that going into it. (tncms-asset)efc57de6-949b-11e6-a817-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)If you closely watched the southern skies for a planned rocket launch Sunday evening and were disappointed, theres good reason you didnt see anything. The rocket launch originally planned for Sunday evening was delayed 24 hours, and is currently planned for 7:40 p.m. Monday evening. The delay was due to a problem with one of the cables near the launch pad, which is expected to be fixed by the time of Mondays launch. If the launch goes off as planned with no further delays, South Jersey will be able to see the launch of the private rocket from a NASA facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, Monday evening. Thats presuming skies are partly to mostly clear, which is the current forecast. The two-state Antares rocket developed by Orbital ATK and carrying a Cygnus cargo ship to the International Space Station is scheduled to launch at 8:03 p.m. Sunday evening, weather conditions permitting. The NASA facility is about 80 miles south of Cape May, which gives most of South Jersey a good seat to view the launch. According to a report on Space.com, the rocket will be visible in South Jersey 60 to 90 seconds after launch and reach a maximum height about 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon. Those hoping to see the launch should look toward the south to southeast sky and have a clear view of the southern horizon. The last time an Antares rocket launch was attempted from Wallops Island was Oct. 28, 2014. That mission failed when the rocket exploded seconds after liftoff. The launch window is only five minutes long. If conditions arent ideal, the launch will be delayed. In South Jersey, the best view will be along the shore and the lower Cape, closer to the launch site, where the rocket will reach a higher point in the sky. However, all of South Jersey will have a view of the launch, weather permitting. NASA TV will broadcast the launch. 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. TAIPEI, Taiwan, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AMobile Intelligent Corp., a joint venture by MediaTek and Arbor Technology and an expert in mobile IoT devices, will exhibit its five latest mobility solutions at GITEX in Dubai World Trade Center (Hall 6, MAC6-91) from Oct. 16th to 20th. The solutions are applicable to Mobile Healthcare, Thermal Inspection, Warehouse Management, Internet of Vehicles, and Unified Cloud Service, facilitating connected device management and realizing industrial IoT applications. According to Deloitte and marketsandmarkets.com, it is estimated that the market size of mobile health management will grow to 59.15 billion US dollars by 2020, with the CAGR of 33.4% from 2015 to 2020. "In response to the market demand driven by of aging population around the globe, we have worked closely with medical ecosystem partners to launch the mobile healthcare pack M6501. Combined with the identity recognition technology and cloud-based service, it helps people and their family manage daily body conditions to stay healthy," said Eric Lee, Chairman of AMobile Intelligent. The market researcher, Radiant Insights expected that the global thermal imaging market is reaching 6,499.5 million US dollars by 2020, and thermal imaging technology utilized in mobile phone and high-resolution cameras is projected to be a significant opportunity for industries. "We will introduce the SMART thermal handheld device G60 with powerful PTT (Push-to-Talk) function. Featuring SMART -- Security, Management, Advance, Ruggedness and Thermal -- G60 is a powerful mobile device with not only rich wireless communication, but also multi-data capture, connectivity, and secure management for industrial applications. They include fire cause determination, maritime, detect and rescue, metallurgy, building quality inspection, medical, etc., to increase work efficiency and accuracy," said Joseph Han, Sales Director of AMobile Intelligent. About AMobile Intelligent Corp. Headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan, AMobile, a joint venture by the IPC leading company Arbor Inc. and the pioneer semiconductor company MediaTek, is an expert in mobile IoT devices for every industry, such as logistics, retail, healthcare, etc. Leveraging group resources of manufacturing and services from wistron, software and solutions from ACloud, IPC know-how and distribution channels from Arbor, mobility technology and support from MediaTek, we are dedicated to being a reliable long-term partner with our customers around the world through outstanding technologies, sophisticated designs, and superior services, to realize industrial IoT applications. For more information, please visit AMobile website at www.amobile.com.tw. Media Contact: Ginger Chin ginger@amobile.com.tw +886-2-8226-8558 ext.305 Related Links http://www.amobile.com.tw SOURCE AMobile DUBLN, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Cloud Computing in Education Market - Global Forecast to 2021" report to their offering. It's estimated the global cloud computing in education market will grow from USD 8.13 billion in 2016 to USD 25.36 billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 25.6%. The cloud computing in education market is growing rapidly as the institutions are more focused towards centralized system. However, factor such as security of data is the major restraint in the overall growth of the market. Public cloud deployment type is estimated to have the largest market size in 2016 owing to increased deployment of web and mobile applications among different user groups. The growth in public cloud can also be attributed to the fact that it is a low cost and pay-as-you-go model. Other factors responsible for its largest market share include technology advancement, cost-flexibility, and easy deployment. PaaS applications do not require constant upgradation, which is the main reason for its higher adoption. The PaaS model is gaining traction in the education sector as it develops applications that can be shared by several users simultaneously. This segment is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period because of its features like easy deployment, scalability, and highly reliability. APAC includes emerging economies, such as India and China, which are rapidly deploying cloud computing in education services. This is mainly due to the competition among various institutes and adoption of cloud services by educational institutes for reducing management burden in the region. Companies Mentioned: Adobe Systems, Inc. Amazon Web Services, Inc. Cisco Systems, Inc. Ellucian Company L.P. IBM Corporation Microsoft Corporation NEC Corporation Netapp Oracle Corporation VMware, Inc. Key Topics Covered: 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 5 Market Overview 6 Industry Trends 7 Cloud Computing in Education Market Analysis, By Service Model 8 Cloud Computing in Education Market Analysis, By Deployment Model 9 Cloud Computing in Education Market Analysis, By User Type 10 Geographic Analysis 11 Competitive Landscape 12 Company Profiles 13 Key Innovators 14 Appendix For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8vcwh7/cloud_computing 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 BANGALORE, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Q2 sequential revenue growth at 3.5% in USD terms; 3.9% in constant currency terms Q2 year on year revenue growth at 8.2% in USD terms; 8.9% in constant currency terms H1 year on year revenue growth at 9.5% in reported terms; 10.5% in constant currency terms Operating margins expanded 80 bps sequentially to 24.9% Volume growth at 4.0% during the quarter Q2 Utilization excluding trainees up by 200 bps sequentially to 82.5% FY 17 revenue guidance revised to 8.0% - 9.0% in constant currency Financial Highlights: Consolidated results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 Quarter ended September 30, 2016 Revenues were $ 2 , 587 million for the quarter ended September 3 0 , 2016 QoQ growth of 3.5 % in reported terms; 3.9 % in constant currency terms YoY growth of 8.2 % in reported terms; 8.9 % in constant currency terms Operating profit was $ 644 million for the quarter ended September 3 0 , 2016 QoQ growth of 7.0 % YoY growth of 5.6 % Net profit was $ 539 million for the quarter ended September 3 0 , 2016 QoQ growth of 5. 5 % YoY growth of 3.8 % Earnings per share (EPS) was $0.24 for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 QoQ growth of 5.5% YoY growth of 3.8% Liquid assets including cash and cash equivalents and investments were $5,349 million as on September 30, 2016 as compared to $4,918 million as on June 30, 2016 and $4,894 million as on September 30, 2015 . as on as compared to as on and as on . The Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of INR 11 per share ( $0.17 per ADS based on USD-INR rate of 66.62). The record date for interim dividend is October 24, 2016 and the payment will be made on October 26, 2016 (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 ) "We focused on strong execution in Q2 with our core IT services business showing good progress on the strength of our innovation and operational initiatives. While we continue to navigate an uncertain external environment, we remain focused on executing our strategy and increasing momentum of our software plus services model. Considering our performance in the first half of the year and the near-term uncertain business outlook, we are revising our revenue guidance." said Dr. Vishal Sikka, CEO. "Longer-term, I believe it's increasingly clear that our industry's future lies in evolving from a cost-based, people-only model, to one in which people are amplified by software and AI, and are freed to innovate in areas that are strategic to our clients' future. And in this all-important transformation, I am glad to see us make continued progress." "We had well-rounded growth during the quarter in our market segments. Our delivery and support teams executed well on their plans for resource management during the quarter, leading to an uptick in utilization." said U B Pravin Rao, COO. "I am also pleased that the changes we made to employee engagement, policies and rewarding high performers continue to help retain our high quality workforce." "Our margins expanded during the quarter on the back of further improvement in operational efficiency." said M.D. Ranganath, CFO. "Operating cash flows for the quarter were healthy and we effectively navigated a volatile currency environment through prudent hedging." Outlook* The Company's revenue outlook (consolidated) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, under IFRS is as follows: Revenues are expected to grow 8.0% - 9.0% in constant currency* The above constant currency guidance translates to 8.2% - 9.2% in USD terms based on March 31 st rates, 7.5% - 8.5% based on June 30 th rates and 7.5% - 8.5% based on September 30 th rates *FY 16 constant Currency rates - AUD/USD - 0.73; Euro/USD - 1.10; GBP/USD - 1.51 Currency rates as of March 31, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.77; Euro/USD - 1.14; GBP/USD - 1.44 Currency rates as of June 30, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.75; Euro/USD - 1.11; GBP/USD - 1.35 Currency rates as of September 30, 2016 - AUD/USD - 0.76; Euro/USD - 1.12; GBP/USD - 1.30 Board Changes On the recommendations of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, the Board of Directors inducted Mr. D.N. Prahlad as an Independent Director of the Board effective October 14, 2016 D. N. Prahlad is the founder and CEO of Surya Software Systems Private Limited, Bangalore. Surya focuses on products for financial risk management of financial institutions in general and banks in particular. He is on the advisory board of Computer Science and Automation Department of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Prahlad is a B.Sc. with honours in mathematics from Bangalore University and B.E. (Electrical technology and Electronics) from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Prior to founding Surya, Prahlad played a key role in the rapid growth of Infosys, being associated with the company during its formative years. Welcoming D.N. Prahlad, Mr. Seshasayee, Chairman of the Board said, "We are delighted to welcome Prahlad, a distinguished technologist to the Board. Prahlad brings with him, not only his deep knowledge of the Company, but also sharp insights into the Industry". Nomination and Remuneration Committee The Board of Directors in their meeting held on October 14, 2016, on recommendation of Nomination and Remuneration Committee, have approved the revised annual compensation of Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer and Whole Time Director of the Company, with effect from November 1, 2016, subject to the approval of the shareholders. The compensation includes fixed compensation of INR 4.62 crores per annum and a variable compensation of up to INR 3.88 crores per annum. Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, 27,250 restricted stock units (RSU) and 43,000 stock options would be granted under 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation Plan ( 2015 plan) approved by the shareholders in the postal ballot dated March 31, 2016. These RSU and stock options would vest over a period of 4 years which shall be exercisable within the period as approved by the committee. The exercise price of the RSUs will be equal to the par value of the shares and the exercise price of the stock options would be market price as on the date of grant as approved by the shareholders. RSU and stock options, in future periods, will be granted on achievement of performance conditions, as may be decided by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. The Board of Directors in their meeting held on October 14, 2016, on recommendation of Nomination and Remuneration Committee, have approved the revised compensation structure of M.D. Ranganath, Mohit Joshi, Sandeep Dadlani, Rajesh K Murthy, Ravikumar S., David Kennedy, Krishnamurthy Shankar and Manikantha AGS with effect from November 1, 2016. The revised aggregate compensation of the above individuals includes fixed compensation of INR 24 crores and variable compensation of upto INR 20 crores. Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, restricted stock units (RSU) of 245,750 and stock options of 502,550 will be granted on November 1, 2016 under 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation Plan (2015 plan) approved by the shareholders in the postal ballot dated March 31, 2016. These RSU and stock options would vest over a period of 4 years which shall be exercisable within the period as approved by the committee. The exercise price of RSU will be equal to the par value of the shares and the exercise price of the stock options would be market price as on the date of grant. The Audit committee in their meeting held on October 13, 2016, resolved to include Mohit Joshi, Sandeep Dadlani, Rajesh K Murthy, RaviKumar S., Krishnamurthy Shankar and David Kennedy as key managerial personnel as defined under IndAS 24 - Related Party Disclosures effective from the date of the meeting. Vishal Sikka, Pravin Rao, M.D. Ranganath and Manikantha AGS are key managerial personnel as defined under Section 2 (51) of the Companies Act, 2013. The Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Board of Directors of Infosys Limited at its meeting held on October 13, 2016, based on fiscal 2016 performance, approved the grant of upto 906,275 RSU and upto 943,810 stock options which shall be made on November 1, 2016, to a total of upto 425 eligible and identified high-performing executives of the Company and its subsidiaries under 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation Plan (2015 plan) approved by the shareholders in the postal ballot dated March 31, 2016. The RSUs and stock options shall vest over a period of 4 years from the date of grant, which shall be exercisable within the period as approved by the committee. The exercise price of the RSUs will be equal to the par value of the shares and the exercise price of the stock options would be market price as on the date of grant. Business Highlights We continued to execute on our Renew-New strategy through automation and innovation, fueling this through our culture of learning and education. Renew In Q2, we deepened existing client relationships in core services, won large traditional deals, and focused on driving automation and grassroots innovation into every aspect of our service offerings through Infosys Mana and our Zero Distance initiative. "Data volumes continue to grow exponentially, and humankind now converts data into knowledge at unprecedented rates, making it impossible to codify such expertise and intelligence in software. Our systems need to learn. Those that do also need to be put to some practical use. It seems that Infosys Mana is doing just that." - Report title: Infosys Mana uses AI to extract knowledge from processes and control business outcomes, Authors: Carl Lehmann, Katy Ring, 451 Research, Date: October 4, 2016 "Infosys is a preferred partner for development and support across our portfolio of off-the-shelf and custom applications, including our most critical business applications. We're keen to create an enterprise for the future by leveraging AI and machine learning to solve business issues. We've selected Infosys Mana to help optimize these business processes and provide a better experience for our users by driving automation, improving efficiencies, increasing productivity, and reducing business process level disruptions, while at the same time reducing the total cost of our IT operations." - Andy Bynum, Corporate Vice President - IT, AMD "We are very pleased to award Infosys the GPS L2 Application Maintenance & Support Vendor Consolidation engagement. Infosys impressed us with the overall depth of the solution and commitment to service transformation through use of its Mana platform which covers automation, analytics and knowledge management. We believe that this deal will help us achieve our objectives of driving significant productivity improvements and optimizing and enhancing the services. This is a major step forwards in the strategic relationship between our organisations and we look forward to a successful journey in delivering the program together." - Hans-Juergen Rieder, UBS Managing Director - Global Production Services "Beyond the millions of dollars that we're going to be saving here at APS, the benefit is truly with our end customers in having a system that's going to be flexible and nimble and meet all of their needs. Through our partnership with Infosys and with this Zero Distance initiative we were able to solve complex problems that the utility's been facing for some time." - Christine Gonzales, Program Management Office Lead, Arizona Public Service "What we're trying to do with world-class customer service is really reinvent, completely transform and turn inside out the way we deliver customer service here at Cisco. We're looking to use digitization to be able to simplify, standardize, and automate many of the processes that drive work, so that we can change the investment we have in people, so that they are then able to have better conversations with a customer. Our largest savings has been 80% of savings in terms of dollar spend, we've removed 2 million hours of customer wait time in one particular process alone. It's been a great ride, we really appreciate Infosys' flexibility and ability to change with us - I hope we continue this partnership for the next 20 years." - Steve Power, Senior Director, Global Service Offerings, CISCO Gap Inc., a leading global specialty retailer, has chosen Infosys as its primary technology services provider supporting its entire applications and infrastructure portfolio. This critical milestone strengthens the 18 year relationship between the two organizations even further. New In Q2, we continued to work with clients and partners on new areas, and new frontiers. And we made Design Thinking central to every engagement. "GE and Infosys have a shared vision for the merging of our physical and digital worlds. As an early adopter of our Predix platform, we are partnering with Infosys to foster co-innovation of new applications with advanced concepts in digital twin, brilliant factory and AI. Our joint innovations will deliver a range of services to customers, including Industrial Internet solutions and applications to help companies simplify, automate and transform their businesses." - Bill Ruh, Chief Executive Officer, GE Digital & Chief Digital Officer, GE "I have just returned from our recent visit with the Infosys design team in Palo Alto along with 15 heads of marketing and customer experience from Australian superannuation funds. Infosys delivered an incredible session of learning around the theory and practice of design led thinking to develop a leading customer experience strategy. The group thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent with the team and have a framework they can take back into their business and start to employ immediately." - Theresa Hoogland, Executive Manager Strategy and Marketing, Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) "Design Thinking helped bring the teams together for reimagining the collaboration experience at USG Boral. It also helped them to think big and then bring these thoughts together to achieve actionable insights in a really short amount of time. Moreover, it was fun and engaging at the same time." - Paul Monzella, Chief Financial Officer - USG Boral "Infosys and Kohls are working together, using Design Thinking, and the Skava digital platform to enhance experiences from the customers, associates and overall Kohls perspective." - Ratnakar Lavu, Chief Digital Officer, Kohls Skava, Panaya & EdgeVerve This quarter we launched Skava Commerce, a new standard for modern, mobile-first and modular e-commerce platforms to provide businesses a future-ready architecture that will enable next generation shopping experiences. Skava, an e-commerce startup acquired by Infosys, developed the platform to help retailers to quickly launch new offerings, improve conversion rates of digital channels, amongst other benefits, by leveraging flexible cloud-based microservices and white label applications, along with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, natural language processing and virtual reality (VR). Infosys and TOMS Shoes are working together, to implement an omni-channel platform leveraging Skava Commerce. "In just 8 weeks, Skava and Vantiv worked collaboratively to launch the newly improved Vantiv Advantage Program App. We extended and simplified the digital engagement experience so Vantiv's partners could sell and grow their businesses faster. Rather than converting an existing partner portal into the mobile app, the Skava team took a step further and re-authored the entire application in SkavaSTUDIO, which allowed the Vantiv team to take full ownership and control of the app to publish updates and changes. The Skava team did a great job to get us to the launch. We are now looking forward to getting this published in the app stores and seeing the adoption. Stay tuned for mobile transformation at Vantiv." - Balaji Devarasetty, Chief Technology Officer - Integrated Payments, Vantiv LLC Panaya The COOP Group, one of the biggest Swiss retail trade and wholesale companies, selected Panaya for a seamless migration to SAP HANA with its upgrade from EHP5 to EHP7. "With the support of Panaya's solution, we were able to import many references into the system. We haven't done anything like that before. We were able to ensure an overall better quality of the SAP system - even beyond the upgrade. After the go live, there were no more critical errors. Our development department was excited because they were able to start with the corrections even after the first modification adjustment. For further upgrades we will definitely cooperate with Panaya again." - Davyd Dappen, Manager IT Processes Product Management ACES at COOP EdgeVerve This quarter the EdgeVerve business delivered a strong performance with 48 wins and 23 go-lives from both the Finacle and Edge suite of solutions across various markets. Finacle continues to be the solution of choice for new-generation digital banking businesses. Building upon its success in the payments bank space, the Finacle solution suite was chosen by Aditya Birla group for their upcoming payments bank. EdgeVerve continued to gain strong traction for Edge products with several new clients added this quarter across various solutions such as AssistEdge, BrandEdge and TradeEdge. This quarter Infosys Finacle also announced the global availability of its industry leading Finacle Universal Banking Solution Suite on Huawei's FusionCloud based cloud platform. Culture We continue to invest in education to help our employees maximize their potential. We are enhancing our capabilities at the Infosys Global Education Center and through partnerships with organizations such as Udacity. "Udacity and Infosys share a similar vision for lifelong learning, that education is no longer about years-long course work with a singular end goal, but rather, learning is a lifelong endeavor in which we continuously renew ourselves and expand the knowledge we already have, and learn entirely new kinds of skills. With Nanodegrees in particular, we can drive rapid acquisition of new skills when needed, for the most in-demand skills. As part of this effort, we are excited to launch the Udacity FastTrack program exclusively for Infosys, making available Udacity's online Nanodegree certifications for all Infosys new-hires. We will complement Infosys' world class Mysore training programs with Nanodegrees in several high demand and constantly evolving areas such as user experience, mobile and web development to rapidly scale the skills and expertise in these areas, and more. We are also excited to leverage the deep expertise of Infosys to bring the critical hands-on course work to our Nanodegrees through projects based on real-world experiences in the most sought after skills in the industry." - Sebastian Thrun, Founder & President, Udacity Awards & Recognition Winner , Seven 2016 Oracle Excellence Awards , Seven 2016 Oracle Excellence Awards Leader , Infosys Finacle - 'The Forrester Wave: Customer-Centric Global Banking Platforms, Q3 2016' report , Infosys Finacle - 'The Forrester Wave: Customer-Centric Global Banking Platforms, Q3 2016' report Winner, Infosys Finacle Omnichannel Hub - "Digital Banking 2016, Best System Solution", Juniper Research Infosys Finacle Omnichannel Hub - "Digital Banking 2016, Best System Solution", Juniper Research A Leader , IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Oracle Implementation Services 2016 Vendor Assessment , IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Oracle Implementation Services 2016 Vendor Assessment Winner , 2016 European ISG Paragon award , 2016 European ISG Paragon award Leader, Software Testing NelsonHall Vendor Evaluation & Assessment Tool (NEAT) Software Testing NelsonHall Vendor Evaluation & Assessment Tool (NEAT) First Runner-Up , "Best Use of CEM Technology" for AssistEdge at the Customer Experience Asia Excellence Awards, 2016 Singapore , "Best Use of CEM Technology" for AssistEdge at the Customer Experience Asia Excellence Awards, 2016 Singapore A Leader, IDC MarketScape: WW Oil & Gas Professional Services 2016 Vendor Assessment IDC MarketScape: WW Oil & Gas Professional Services 2016 Vendor Assessment Winner ' s Circle, HfS Blueprint Report: Energy Operations HfS Blueprint Report: Energy Operations Winner ' s Circle, HfS Blueprint Report: ServiceNow Services HfS Blueprint Report: ServiceNow Services Leader , OVUM Decision Matrix (ODM) - Selecting a Distributed Agile Delivery Model for ADM Services, 2016-17 , OVUM Decision Matrix (ODM) - Selecting a Distributed Agile Delivery Model for ADM Services, 2016-17 Leader and Star Performer, Everest Group Global Banking AO Service Provider PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 and Everest Group Global Banking AO Service Provider PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 Leader, Everest Group IT Outsourcing Global Capital Markets PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 Everest Group IT Outsourcing Global Capital Markets PEAK Matrix Assessment 2016 A Challenger in Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Services for Communications Service Providers, Worldwide Beyond Business We continue to contribute back to the communities in which we are present. In India, through the Infosys Foundation, we have made several investments in the areas of rehabilitation, healthcare, education and arts & culture. Some of the initiatives this quarter include handing over a residential enclave of 200 houses to families that were rendered homeless in the aftermath of cyclone HudHud in 2014, launching an Institute of Robotic Surgery in partnership with Narayana Health, and funding travel stipends for top researchers at IIT Kharagpur, as well as sponsoring a study about the antiquity of Indus Valley undertaken by the institute. Infosys Foundation USA supported quality computer science and Maker professional development for teachers via CS PD Week, the CS for All Community Giving program, and commitments announced at the White House Summit on #CSforAll. Additionally, the Foundation announced new grants to support the largest CS teacher organization (CSTA), recognize excellence in CS teaching through Awards, and assist New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). About Infosys Ltd Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve these effectively. Our team of 199,000+ innovators, across the globe, is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience, across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age. Safe Harbor Certain statements in these results concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts and inability to accurately predict economic or industry trends, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that the date of this release is October 14, 2016, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. Contact: Investor Relations Sandeep Mahindroo +91 80 3980 1018 Sandeep_Mahindroo@infosys.com Media Relations Sarah Vanita Gideon, India +91 80 4156 3373 Sarah_Gideon@infosys.com Infosys Limited and subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Balance Sheets as of (Dollars in millions except equity share data) September 30, 2016 March 31, 2016 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 4,763 4,935 Current investments 323 11 Trade receivables 1,737 1,710 Unbilled revenue 584 457 Prepayments and other current assets 777 672 Derivative financial instruments 13 17 Total current assets 8,197 7,802 Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 1,681 1,589 Goodwill 566 568 Intangible assets 136 149 Investment in associates 15 16 Non-current investments 289 273 Deferred income tax assets 95 81 Income tax assets 788 789 Other non-current assets 108 111 Total non-current assets 3,678 3,576 Total assets 11,875 11,378 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities Trade payables 46 58 Derivative financial instruments - 1 Current income tax liabilities 578 515 Client deposits 2 4 Unearned revenue 222 201 Employee benefit obligations 216 202 Provisions 93 77 Other current liabilities 929 940 Total current liabilities 2,086 1,998 Non-current liabilities Deferred income tax liabilities 36 39 Other non-current liabilities 23 17 Total liabilities 2,145 2,054 Equity Share capital- INR 5 ($0.16) par value 2,400,000,000 (2,400,000,000) equity shares authorized, issued and outstanding 2,285,651,730 (2,285,621,088) net of 11,292,934 (11,323,576) treasury shares, as of September 30, 2016 (March 31, 2016), respectively 199 199 Share premium 574 570 Retained earnings 11,553 11,083 Other reserves - - Other components of equity (2,596) (2,528) Total equity attributable to equity holders of the company 9,730 9,324 Non-controlling interests - - Total equity 9,730 9,324 Total liabilities and equity 11,875 11,378 Infosys Limited and subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Comprehensive Income (Dollars in millions except share and per equity share data) Three months Three months Six months Six months ended ended ended ended September September September September 30, 2016 30, 2015 30, 2016 30, 2015 Revenues 2,587 2,392 5,088 4,647 Cost of sales 1,638 1,488 3,231 2,922 Gross profit 949 904 1,857 1,725 Operating expenses: Selling and marketing expenses 134 129 271 258 Administrative expenses 171 165 340 316 Total operating expenses 305 294 611 574 Operating profit 644 610 1,246 1,151 Other income, net 114 121 226 240 Share in associate's profit / (loss) (1) - (1) - Profit before income taxes 757 731 1,471 1,391 Income tax expense 218 212 421 396 Net profit 539 519 1,050 995 Other comprehensive income Items that will not be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss: Re-measurement of the net defined benefit liability/(asset) (6) (1) (9) (2) Cumulative impact on reversal of unrealized gain on quoted debt securities on adoption of IFRS 9 - - (5) - Equity instruments through other comprehensive income - - - - Items that will be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss: Fair valuation of investments - 5 - 3 Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations 119 (242) (54) (379) Total other comprehensive income, net of tax 113 (238) (68) (378) Total comprehensive income 652 281 982 617 Profit attributable to: Owners of the company 539 519 1,050 995 Non-controlling interests - - - - 539 519 1050 995 Total comprehensive income attributable to: Owners of the company 652 281 982 617 Non-controlling interests - - 0 - 652 281 982 617 Earnings per equity share Basic ($) 0.24 0.23 0.46 0.44 Diluted ($) 0.24 0.23 0.46 0.44 Weighted average equity shares used in computing earnings per equity share 2,285,641,71 2,285,614,02 2,285,632,08 2,285,612,15 Basic 0 9 1 7 2,285,949,30 2,285,713,04 2,285,875,98 2,285,696,67 Diluted 3 2 8 8 NOTE: 1. The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Balance sheet and Condensed Consolidated Interim Statement of Comprehensive Income for the three months and six months ended September 30, 2016 have been taken on record at the Board meeting held on October 14, 2016 2. A Fact Sheet providing the operating metrics of the company can be downloaded from www.infosys.com IFRS-INR Press Release: https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/quarterly-results/2016-2017/q2/Documents/IFRS-INR-press-release.pdf Fact Sheet: https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/quarterly-results/2016-2017/q2/Documents/fact-sheet.pdf SOURCE Infosys TSX: JAG TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX: JAG) is pleased to report that a majority of holders of senior secured Convertible Debentures (the "Debentures"), representing approximately 80% of the principal amount of total outstanding Debentures, have elected to convert their Debentures into common shares of the Company ("Common Shares"). The conversions of Debentures have resulted in an increase in the Company's outstanding Common Shares to 257,035,227, which will be reflected on the TSX in the coming days. This will also result in an increase in the Company's market capitalization to approximately C$193 million (based on 257,035,227 shares valued at C$0.75 per share). With the conversion of the majority of the Debentures, the Company has significantly strengthened its balance sheet with the reduction of its senior secured debt and savings of US$645,000 per quarter (approximately US$2.6 million per year) in interest payments, reflecting an immediate savings in the Company's annual cash outflow. The Company is now in a zero "net debt" position, considering the balance sheet at June 30, 2016. Net debt is defined as total debt, less cash. On October 28, 2015, the Company announced the closing of a US$21.5 million private placement of the Debentures with a maturity term of three years (refer to the news release dated October 28, 2015 for full details). The Debentures are convertible at the holder's option into Common Shares at a price of C$0.15 per Common Share, being a ratio of approximately 8,781 Common Shares per US$1,000 principal amount of Debentures, based on a fixed exchange rate of US$0.7592 per C$1.00. Rodney Lamond, President and Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar commented, "With the majority of our Debenture holders electing to convert their holdings into Common Shares, Jaguar is well positioned to further strengthen its balance sheet with a significant reduction in debt. The voluntary and early conversion of the Debentures also reflects the strong confidence Debenture holders maintain in the potential of our operating assets and management's ability to create lasting shareholder value. We will continue to be financially prudent as we execute our operating and exploration growth strategy and re-invest funds, previously disbursed to paying the Debenture coupon, into our core operating assets for future growth." Mr. Lamond continued; "Lastly, we are pleased to welcome our new majority shareholders, the Tocqueville Gold Fund and Eric Sprott. We value their support as an integral part of our new capital structure." Tocqueville Gold Fund and Eric Sprott represent 77% of the Debenture holders electing to convert their Debentures in exchange for Common Shares. On October 5, 2016, the Company issued a notice of redemption to holders of the outstanding US$4,885,000 principal amount of Debentures. As set out in the notice of redemption, the outstanding Debentures will be redeemed as of November 8, 2016 (the "Redemption Date"), upon payment of a redemption amount of US$1,212.79 for each US$1,000 principal amount of Debentures, being equal to the aggregate of (i) US$1,200, representing the price equal to 120% of the principal amount of Debentures (the "Redemption Price"), and (ii) all accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding the Redemption Date. Each holder will have the right to convert their Debentures into Common Shares of the Company, at a conversion price of C$0.15 per Common Share at any time on or prior to November 7, 2016. On August 3, 2016, the Debentures commenced trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX"), allowing Debenture holders to trade the Debentures. About Jaguar Mining Inc. Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes, and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims covering an area of approximately 191,000 hectares. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the Turmalina Gold Mine Complex ("Mineracao Turmalina Ltda" or "MTL") and Caete Gold Mine Complex ("Mineracao Serras do Oeste Ltda" or "MSOL") which combined produce more than 90,000 ounces of gold annually. The Company also owns the Paciencia Gold Mine Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected", "is forecast", "is targeted", "approximately", "plans", "anticipates" "projects", "anticipates", "continue", "estimate", "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. This press release contains forward-looking information regarding the status of the Debentures and changes in the market capital of the Company. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions about the estimated timeline for conversion and redemption of the Debentures and general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this press release, see the Company's most recent annual information form and management's discussion and analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this press release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. For further information: Rodney Lamond, President & Chief Executive Officer, rodney.lamond@jaguarmining.com, 416-628-9601; Joanne C. Jobin, Vice President, Investor Relations, joanne.jobin@jaguarmining.com, 416-628-9601 Related Links http://www.jaguarmining.com SOURCE Jaguar Mining Inc. PUNE, India, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Polysilicon Market by End-use industry (Solar PV (Monocrystalline Solar Panel and Multicrystalline Solar Panel) and Electronics), and Region (Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe and Middle East & South America) - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is estimated to grow from USD 4.71 Billion in 2015 to USD 8.90 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 13.0%, in terms of value. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 84 market data Tables and 41 Figures spread through 116 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Polysilicon Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/polysilicon-market-126521569.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The market is driven by the rapid growth in key end-use industries, such as solar PV and electronics. Solar PV industry accounted for the highest demand in the polysilicon market The solar PV segment has been witnessing significant demand in recent years due to increasing awareness and the adoption of sustainable energy sources among consumers. Moreover, governments of various countries are offering several subsidies, tax exemptions to both, manufacturers and end-users of the solar PV market. Governments are focused on reducing emissions from power plants by switching to cleaner solar energy which is driving the growth of the solar PV market. The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market for polysilicon The Asia-Pacific region is currently the largest Polysilicon Market. Significant growth in solar PV and electronics industry in China, Japan and India are driving the demand for polysilicon in this region. North America is the second largest market for polysilicon, both, in terms of volume and value. The increasing number of solar photovoltaic installations in the U.S. and Canada drives polysilicon consumption in the North American market. Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=126521569 The key players in the polysilicon market are GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited (Hong Kong), Wacker Chemie AG (Germany), OCI Company Ltd. (Korea), REC Silicon ASA (Norway), Daqo New Energy Corp. (China) Tokuyama Corporation (Japan), Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. (U.S.), SunEdison, Inc. (U.S.), Woongjin polysilicon Co. Ltd. (Korea), Activ Solar Gmbh (Austria) and others. Browse Related Reports: Conductive Inks Market by Application (Photovoltaic, Membrane Switches, Displays and Automotive), Type (Silver Flake, Dielectric, Silver Nanoparticle, Copper Flake, Carbon Nanoparticle, and Carbon/Graphene) - Global Trends and Forecasts to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/conductive-ink-market-154484169.html Thin Film Material Market by Type (CdTe, CIGS, a-Si, Others), End-User Industry [Photovoltaic Solar Cells, MEMS, Semiconductors and Electrical (Circuit Boards), Optical Coating, Others], and Deposition Processes - Global Trends & Forecast to 2018 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/thin-film-material-market-232915487.html Subscribe Reports from Chemicals & Materials Domain: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets 701 Pike Street Suite 2175, Seattle, WA 98101, United States Tel: +1-888-600-6441Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets DUBLIN, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Sheet Metal Equipment Market 2016-2020" report to their offering. The global sheet metal equipment market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6.69% during the period 2016-2020. According to the report, increase in demand from end-user industries will be a key driver for market growth. Industrial outputs that had taken a hit in many countries following the global economic recession of 2008 are showing signs of slow recovery. Automation is employed on a large scale in industrial sectors, such as such as automotive, aerospace and defense, electrical and electronics, medical devices, industrial machinery, and renewable energy. This adoption is contributing to these industries' positive growth and is reflected in the stabilized manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMIs.) Further, the report states that China is a leading consumer of machine tools. However, the growth of the manufacturing sector in China, especially industrial machinery, is experiencing slowdown due to overcapacity in the market. This factor combined with the country's effort to shift to consumer-led economy will have a negative impact on the demand for press brakes in the country. China and Japan constitute a major portion of the market share. Therefore, a slowdown in China's economy and its impact on the demand for Japanese press brakes is a major challenge to the market growth of the market. 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: Amada TRUMPF U.S. Industrial Machinery DMTG DMG Mori Allied Machine & Engineering BYJC-OKUMA ( Beijing ) Machine Tools ) Machine Tools Doosan Infracore Fair Friend FANUC GF Machining Solutions Haas Automation Hardinge JTEKT Kennametal Komatsu Makino Milling Machine Sandvik 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 segmentation by application PART 07: Geographical segmentation PART 08: Market drivers PART 09: Impact of drivers PART 10: Market challenges PART 11: Impact of drivers and challenges PART 12: Market trends PART 13: Vendor landscape PART 14: Key vendor analysis PART 15: Appendix PART 16: About the Author For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7x7g7g/global_sheet 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 VANCOUVER, October 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TSX:SLW NYSE:SLW Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX: SLW) (NYSE: SLW) will release 2016 third quarter results on Wednesday, November 9, 2016, after market close. A conference call will be held Thursday, November 10, 2016, starting at 11:00 am (Eastern Time) to discuss these results. To participate in the live call please use one of the following methods: Dial toll free from Canada or the US: 1-888-231-8191 Dial from outside Canada or the US: 1-647-427-7450 Pass code: 99437889 Live audio webcast: http://www.silverwheaton.com Participants should dial in five to ten minutes before the call. The conference call will be recorded and available until November 17, 2016, at 11:59 pm (Eastern Time). The webcast will be available for one year. You can listen to an archive of the call by one of the following methods: Dial toll free from Canada or the US: 1-855-859-2056 Dial from outside Canada or the US: 1-416-849-0833 Pass code: 99437889 Archived audio webcast: http://www.silverwheaton.com Patrick Drouin, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Silver Wheaton Corp., Tel: +1-844-288-9878, Email: info@silverwheaton.com, Website: http://www.silverwheaton.com SOURCE Silver Wheaton Corp. HANGZHOU, China, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spreadtrum Communications ("Spreadtrum"), a leading fabless semiconductor company in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G, and 4G wireless communication standards, announced a strategic cooperation with Qianxun Weizhi, an open positioning service platform, at the Computing Conference in Hangzhou today. The two firms plan to leverage their respective advantages in technology, marketing and expertise in positioning service platforms, and combining with cloud computing, data technology and the present ecosystem, to build a complete eco-industry chain for positioning services and to promote the commercial development of Chinese BeiDou Satellite Navigation System. Qianxun Weizhi owns the BeiDou Ground Base Enhancement System (BGBES), a network consisting of a series of ground base stations, an operating system and a precision positioning system, as well as the core algorithm and extensive experience in managing internet networks. As part of the strategic cooperation, Qianxun Weizhi will provide Spreadtrum's platforms with FindNow, a standardized augmentation of a global navigation satellite system (A-GNSS) that supports three major satellite systems, A-BDS/A-GPS/A-GLONASS, high precision differential positioning services as well as extended ephemeris technology. Based on its present core platform, Spreadtrum will support Qianxun Weizhi in terms of service interfaces and, at the same time, leverage its advantages in the marketing of mobile communication chips and the technology behind the Beidou navigation chip, in a move to expand the application market for Beidou and to improve the positioning service industry across China. "We feel honored to cooperate strategically with Qianxun Weizhi." Dr. Leo Li, Chairman and CEO of Spreadtrum Communications, said, "Spreadtrum, with its leading technology and market advantages and as the first chip manufacturer in China to apply Beidou navigation technology on mobile terminals on a mass scale, looks forward to joining hands with Qianxun Weizhi and providing our users with more products and solutions based on high precision positioning service technology." Qianxun Weizhi CEO Mr. Chen Jinpei commented, "Every public service can have on hand a wide variety of hardware and applications, which can give the appearance of a provider of with a phenomenal position in the market. A basic public service just needs software with more capabilities and that delivers a better experience, which, in the end provides more value. Spreadtrum is Qianxun Weizhi's core chip provider partner, facilitating our ability to deliver the service level that we need to deliver. The cooperation with Spreadtrum has expanded the range of applications available on the Qianxun Weizhi service platform and holds significant meaning in terms of helping us accelerate the commercial development of BeiDou and the build out of related applications." About Spreadtrum Communications As an affiliate of Tsinghua Unigroup, Ltd, Spreadtrum Communications is a fabless semiconductor company that develops mobile chipset platforms for smartphones, feature phones and other consumer electronics products, supporting 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards. Spreadtrum's solutions combine its highly integrated, power-efficient chipsets with customizable software and reference designs in a complete turnkey platform, enabling customers to achieve faster design cycles with a lower development cost. Spreadtrum's customers include global and China-based manufacturers developing mobile products for consumers in China and emerging markets around the world. For more information, visit www.spreadtrum.com. About Qianxun Weizhi Based on the concept of "Internet + Location (Beidou)", Qianxun Weizhi is committed to strengthening the integration and construction of BGBES, building an open positioning service platform with the advantages technology in satellite positioning, cloud computing and big data. At the same time, Qianxun Weizhi provides centimeter-level high-precision location services to meet the demand of the national, industry, mass market for accurate location services. For more information, visit www.qxwz.com Related Links http://www.spreadtrum.com SOURCE Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. BALI, Indonesia, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- World Culture Forum 2016, held on Oct.10-14 in Bali, Indonesia, and participated by 63 countries, developed the Bali Declaration, 10 points of collective commitments to strengthen the role of culture as the enabler and the driver of sustainable development. Themed "Culture for an Inclusive Sustainable Planet", WCF 2016, organized and initiated by Indonesia through Ministry of Education and Culture, is an avenue to discuss strategic issues and recommend policies for sustainable development, particularly with respect to peace, prosperity, preservation, and development of the high quality of life towards the global civilization. Over 1,500 participants from around the world have flocked up to Bali to experience and learn how culture can shape the world and make it a better place to live in. In addition, WCF 2016 also features a number of side events dedicated to the youth, such as International Youth Forum (IYF) and International Folk Dance Festival (IFDF) as well as symposiums series, Ministerial Forum, and Cultural Tour. A number of keynote speakers are expected to attend the Forum, such as Ban Ki Moon (UN Secretary General), Irina Bokova (Secretary General of UNESCO), Megawati Sukarnoputri (Indonesian 5th President), King Abdullah II (King of Jordan), and Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada). Meanwhile, the symposium series will present well-known names such as Ridwan Kamil (Mayor of Bandung), Aleta Baun (Village Head Mollo of East Nusa Tenggara), Celio Turino (Culture Points, Brazil), Jill Cousins (CEO of Europana), Shinsuke Ota (Japan Water Agency), Wayan Windia (Expert Subak), and Desi Anwar (CNN Indonesia). Director General of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia, Hilmar Farid, explained the purpose of the implementation of the framework of WCF 2016. "WCF 2016 is a part of master plan as stated in Bali Promise. This forum is designed to carry forward the implementation of the grand idea emerged in WCF 2013," said Farid. Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture of Indonesia, Muhadjir Effendy, added, "Culture is an important component. This forum provides an opportunity on how culture helps sustainable development. We have to be able to conduct the cultural partnership in all aspects of our lives." For further information, please visit: https://worldcultureforum-bali.org/ Related Links https://worldcultureforum-bali.org/ SOURCE World Culture Forum SOUTH RIDING, Va., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 1Rivet, a northern Virginia consulting firm specializing in strategic information technology consulting, outsourced services and talent acquisition, is No.27 on Consulting Magazine's Fastest Growing Firms 2016 list. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428736LOGO 1Rivet provides IT mergers, acquisitions and divestiture, systems integration, strategic outsourcing and talent acquisition expertise to leading enterprises. "Our clients and employees are the reason we've received this honor," said 1Rivet CEO Eric Middleton. "We're true collaborators focused on building scalable solutions and leveraging advanced technologies to boost operational performance. We're not PMP box-checkers, we do what makes sense for your organization and complements your brand." 1Rivet's consultants consistently tackle complex financial and operational challenges. The firm's high-value, quality technology, talent and outsourcing solutions meet clients' long-term strategic objectives, resulting in sustained, measurable improvements. Its success in seamlessly merging the IT systems of two high-profile regional banks in a short timeline last year highlighted 1Rivet's expertise in systems integration, data integration, data warehousing and core banking systems. 1Rivet's Talent Acquisition division understands the unique technical requirements and cultural needs organizations face. "Our 1BullsEye app builds an exclusive resourcing profile for your business, then sources, places and tracks qualified candidates tailored to your profile and projects," Middleton said. In 2016, the company launched a Strategic Outsourcing practice offering 1Rivet's expertise to organizations seeking to outsource operations tasks such as IT development and testing, hospitality supply services, running a help desk and supporting mail room functions. "Decades in the business have given us a vast network of contacts in those areas," Middleton said. "It's one of the reasons we're a great resource." About 1Rivet Working from offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Toronto and Valsad, India, the company's three core divisions offer: Strategic Technology IT mergers and acquisitions, systems integration, data integration, data visualization and analytics, delivery management and customer experience. Strategic Outsourcing Development and testing, project management, customer service, IT help desk, mail room, shipping and receiving, executive administrative support, reception, concierge, hospitality supply services, facilities, managed ED print services, imaging and records management, audio visual and conference room management. Talent Acquisition Strategic hires, contract-to-hire and scalable workforce solutions. Visit them at www.1Rivet.com CONTACT: Dona DeZube, (301) 490-9997, Email SOURCE 1Rivet Related Links http://www.1rivet.com The ACSI uses an economic model of buyer choice applied to voting behavior. Like consumers, voters choose candidates based on the expected satisfaction (or utility in economics) that a candidate will deliver once in office. In the market for goods and services, expected satisfaction is predicted by past satisfaction. In the absence of "actual" prior satisfaction in advance of the inauguration of a new president, the ACSI uses a proxy: satisfaction with each candidate and his or her campaign. This measure is informative about the strength/weakness of a candidate's support. The expected satisfaction is forward looking and used to predict market share, or in this case, voter share. The ACSI characterizes supporters as "strong" or "weak" depending on the gap in satisfaction and expectations between candidates. By this measure, strong supporters are unlikely to shift. Clinton continues to hold an edge in strong supporters, 36 percent to Trump's 25 percenta new low for the GOP candidate. While strong support for Clinton slips to 36 percent, the downturn is offset by a gain among weak supporters to 13 percent. Trump's voter share declines in both strong and weak categories. Undecideds, or those who gave both candidates equal satisfaction scores, increase 1 point to 14 percent. The ACSI surveyed 634 registered voters nationwide between October 10 and October 13, 2016, for a total of 12,072 since the survey began on August 1, 2016. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points for voter share. The ACSI Presidential Election Survey will report results weekly through Election Day. Visit our blog ACSIMatters.com for additional data and tables. Follow ACSI on Twitter at @theACSI and Like us on Facebook. No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this release without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC. About ACSI The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. The ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with more than 300 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies. ACSI results are released throughout the year, with all measures reported on a scale of 0 to 100. ACSI data have proven to be strongly related to a number of essential indicators of micro and macroeconomic performance. For example, firms with higher levels of customer satisfaction tend to have higher earnings and stock returns relative to competitors. Stock portfolios based on companies that show strong performance in ACSI deliver excess returns in up markets as well as down markets. At the macro level, customer satisfaction has been shown to be predictive of both consumer spending and GDP growth. ACSI and its logo are Registered Marks of the University of Michigan, licensed worldwide exclusively to American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC with the right to sublicense. FOR MORE INFORMATION Chaat Butsunturn, 415-391-7900 x1214 [email protected] OR Amanda Roberts, 202-535-7800 x1114 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428798-INFO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140822/138938 SOURCE American Customer Satisfaction Index Related Links http://www.theacsi.org WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Governor of Puerto Rico released a revised Fiscal Plan and made a presentation to the recently appointed Oversight Board. In response, the Ad Hoc Group of Puerto Rico's General Obligation (GO) Bondholders released the following statement: "In his new fiscal plan and his remarks to the Oversight Board, Governor Garcia Padilla continued to demonstrate a wholesale disregard for fiscal soundness, factual accuracy, and his obligations under PROMESA and Puerto Rico's Constitution. We look forward to working with the Oversight Board and the next Governor to reach a solution for Puerto Rico." SOURCE General Obligation Bondholders of Puerto Rico "Aflac's longstanding fight on behalf of children with cancer and their families has been a source of great pride, motivation and inspiration for the broad Aflac family for over 20 years," Aflac Foundation President Kathelen Amos said. "We are pleased to welcome Cardon Children's Medical Center to our ongoing Duckprints celebrations and to honor each of these heroes for their unique contributions in this ongoing effort to eradicate childhood cancer." The 2016 Duckprints Awardees are: McKenzie Monks Foundation The foundation was created in honor of 4-year-old McKenzie Monks who lost her battle with cancer but leaves her footprint with each Kenzie Kase that is given to another child undergoing cancer treatment. The McKenzie Monks Foundation also created Kenzie Korner , a special place for young patients to take a break during treatment, at Cardon Children's Medical Center. The foundation was created in honor of 4-year-old who lost her battle with cancer but leaves her footprint with each that is given to another child undergoing cancer treatment. The McKenzie Monks Foundation also created , a special place for young patients to take a break during treatment, at Cardon Children's Medical Center. Joel Nava A former patient at Cardon Children's Medical Center and a soon-to-be nurse at Cardon, Nava has a long history of bringing cheer to the hospital halls even through his leukemia diagnosis at age 13. A former patient at Cardon Children's Medical Center and a soon-to-be nurse at Cardon, Nava has a long history of bringing cheer to the hospital halls even through his leukemia diagnosis at age 13. Scott Starr A former Cardon patient whose cancer diagnosis did not slow his dreams of graduating high school, Scott now gives his time as a mentor to other pediatric cancer patients and raises awareness for childhood cancer. Local entertainer Lucky Romero, a longtime volunteer and now volunteer coordinator for Banner Desert and Cardon Children's Medical Center, is host of the event. Childhood cancer is the No. 1 cause of death by disease for children under the age of 15, according to the National Cancer Institute. However, less than 5 percent of federal funding for cancer research goes to pediatric cancer, according to the Children's Cancer Fund. Since 1995, Aflac has contributed more than $110 million to bridge the gap in funding and help find the cure. As part of the grassroots Duckprints campaign that began in 2013, Aflac is calling on people across America to become active in the cause. Aflac is donating $2 to the fight against children's cancer for each Duckprints-related social media activity on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and/or Instagram, up to $1.5 million. Related social actions include: Twitter - $2 for any tweet using the hashtag #Duckprints or for retweets of Duckprints-related tweets. Facebook - $2 for any share of specific posts related to Duckprints or using #Duckprints. YouTube - $2 per view of the Duckprints videos on YouTube. Instagram - $2 for every post using the hashtag #Duckprints. Aflac also created a website (aflacduckprints.com) that enables users to nominate unsung heroes in their community who have made a difference in the lives of children and families facing cancer. People can follow the Aflac Duck on his journey to hospitals around the country honoring those who have made a difference in the fight against childhood cancer. In addition, merchandise such as plush Aflac Ducks and Duckprints-related T-shirts, slippers and other items are available for purchase at aflacduckprints.com, with all of the net proceeds going toward the treatment and research of childhood cancer. About Duckprints Award recipient McKenzie Monks Foundation McKenzie Monks was just 3 years old when those dreaded words were heard: "She has cancer." McKenzie was diagnosed with bilateral Wilms tumor cancer in both kidneys. Life would never be the same for her and those who loved her dearly. Immediately, McKenzie and her family took action. McKenzie faced a new life of doctors, needles, 11 months of chemo, 12 surgeries, 50 radiation treatments, intense pain and the brutal process of undergoing a bone marrow transplant. During her courageous journey, McKenzie was often seen pulling her Hello Kitty suitcase filled with some of her favorite things to keep her busy and provide her comfort during treatment. After 19 months, McKenzie left the life of pain she had come to know, but what she left behind continues to be a gift to so many. McKenzie's family her mom, Denise Monks; dad, Richard Monks; and sisters, Michelle and Mandy Monks knew they wanted to keep her spirit alive. Their footprints began with the creation of the McKenzie Monks Foundation. The mission of their work is to help children cope with the long days of battling cancer. Since 2004, nearly 3,000 Kenzie Kases have been given to children that are fighting cancer. These Kases were inspired after the Hello Kitty suitcase that brought McKenzie joy and comfort. Each child receives a Kase with an iPad (or DVD player), blankets, toys and crafts. Not only does the McKenzie Monks Foundation provide Kenzie Kases, but it has also created a special space at Cardon Children's for young patients. Kenzie Korner was built for children to step away from their treatment for much needed breaks where they can relax, have fun and just be a kid. About Aflac Duckprints Award recipient Joel Nava Joel Nava was diagnosed at 13 years old with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in May 2003, and later it relapsed in his central nervous system. He was a quiet, caring and polite young teen who was very bright and had plans for high academic achievement. The two things that Nava loved most were his family and school. His biggest worry at diagnosis was that he was just about to start at Brophy College Preparatory school and missed the entire first year. Because of his love of academics, it took a lot to keep him busy and not bored on long hospital stays especially when he had shingles and had to stay in his room. In fact, he decided to write a hospital newsletter and posted it in the staff bathroom for all to know the happenings and gossip of the unit. The newsletter frequently had doctor and nursing tidbits in it regarding life events such as who was in school, who was getting married and who was pregnant. The nurses still talk about Nava's newsletter. Nava also made a paper snowman once and would change the theme of the snowman on the unit wall when he came in for admissions to correspond with the holiday or someone's birthday. He loved to teach the nurses Spanish and would laugh when he would make them say crazy things. As a young adult, Nava took a trip to Japan in a World Study Abroad Program. While there he decided he wanted to pursue a career in nursing. Nava went on to ASU Nursing School and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and health innovation. He credits his pediatric oncology nurses as his mentors, saying, "My nurses were there for me," and they "epitomize the idea of compassion and empathy." Nava is joining the team at Cardon Children's Medical Center as a pediatric oncology nurse. About Aflac Duckprints Award recipient Scott Starr Scott Starr left his footprints at Cardon Children's Medical Center from the beginning of his battle with Burkitt's lymphoma at the end of his junior year of high school in May 2015. The diagnosis came right as Starr was beginning his lifelong dream of entering the Marines. Starr soon learned that because of his diagnosis, he would not be able to meet the Marine health requirements. However, this did not stop him from moving forward to plan B, which included finishing high school. Starr's cancer treatment included several severe surgeries, planned and unplanned, along with chemotherapy. Not only did he endure this difficult treatment, but he spent weeks on a ventilator in the pediatric ICU. Yet Starr never let himself be defined by his cancer. Starr never lost his smile, positive attitude and sense of humor. He remained who he was, passionate about the military, his family, his friends, and his will to overcome each and every obstacle. Following Starr's last surgery, doctors informed his family it would be several days and maybe even weeks before he would be up and moving again. Starr was up and out of his bed within 24 hours of his final surgery. Due to all the challenges he faced during treatment, it was unclear whether Starr would be able to meet the requirements to graduate from high school. As graduation approached, Starr worked hard on completing his school work and was able to fulfill his dream of graduating. Starr is now cancer free and has since been considering becoming an EMT or a firefighter. Though he has completed all his treatments, he continues to leave his footprints on Cardon Children's Hospital through his involvement in community programs to help raise awareness as well as through mentoring of several other patients who are battling cancer. About Lucky Romero Banner associate Lucky Romero has been involved with Banner Health since 2001, when he became a volunteer at Banner Desert Medical Center. In 2003, Romero was hired as a Banner associate at the hospital he volunteered with for nearly 300 hours of service. Since then, Romero has been an advocate for giving back to the community and has helped with many campaigns, events and councils as the host, coordinator or chair. It is only fitting that Romero is one of the volunteer coordinators today for Banner Desert and Cardon Children's Medical Center. This truly is a role he enjoys because he gets to work with compassionate people on a daily basis who aspire to give back to their community by becoming a volunteer in a medical facility. 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. Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus and American Family Life Assurance Company of New York. Aflac Group herein means Continental American Insurance Company and/or Continental American Life Insurance Company. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428675 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100423/CL92305LOGO Media contacts Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or [email protected] Analyst and investor contact Robin Y. Wilkey, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX: 706.324.6330, or [email protected] SOURCE Aflac Related Links https://www.aflac.com ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Competitiveness Alliance (ACAlliance), a leader in calling for immigration reform that strengthens our modernizing economy, in partnership with Orlando Inc., will co-host a community luncheon on October 18 at the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce. The luncheon will focus on how immigration reform can help America maintain its status as an economic superpower and remain the top destination for the world's brightest talent. Matthew W. Slaughter, Dean of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and recent Member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the 43rd President of the United States, will be releasing a groundbreaking paper on immigration at the luncheon. ACAlliance co-chair, former Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) who also served as U.S. Energy Secretary and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations will be the keynote speaker. Immigration reform is certain to again be a hot topic when the next Congress convenes in 2017. Governor Richardson and Dean Slaughter will lay out their vision on how we can build a brighter future for all Americans and drive economic growth here at home. The luncheon will focus on how a modern immigration policy can enhance America's global competitiveness by attracting and retaining talent in Florida and across the United States. WHEN: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 TIME: 11:45 AM 1:30 PM LOCATION: Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce 75 South Ivanhoe Blvd. Orlando, FL 32804 MEDIA: Members of the news media interested in interviews with the speakers, please contact Diana Muggeridge at [email protected] or 508-439-2135 About the ACAlliance The American Competitiveness Alliance (ACAlliance) is a coalition of organizations dedicated to advancing modern immigration policies that ensure America's global competitiveness by attracting and keeping talent here in the United States. Led by Co-Chairs former Treasurer of the United States Rosario Marin and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the ACAlliance works to educate and inform stakeholders of the positive impact immigration reform can have on our economy, while cautioning against proposals that would do our economy harm. Visit us online at www.acalliance.org or follow us on Twitter: @AC_Alliance. CONTACT: Diana Muggeridge [email protected] SOURCE American Competitiveness Alliance Related Links http://acalliance.org PHOENIX, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- American Housing Income Trust, Inc. ("AHIT" or the "Company") (OTCQB: AHIT), an internally managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates single-family rental properties, has launched a $3.0 million direct public offering as a result of its recent post-effective amendment to its registration statement. Proceeds of the offering, which is being priced at $1.00 per share, are intended to expand the Company's single-family residence portfolio. "The recent adjustments are a result of perceived market acceptance which we were able to determine after significant strategic planning and corroboration both inside and outside the company," commented Jeff Howard, president and chief executive officer of American Housing Income Trust. "We continue to look for avenues to grow our portfolio of single-family homes that are consistent with investor and market feedback." "The proceeds from the offering will provide us the necessary capital to execute our strategic growth plans and business strategies," Howard added. Please email AHIT at [email protected] or call the Company at (623) 551-5808 if you have any questions. You may also obtain a written prospectus for the offering by contacting the Company at the foregoing email address and phone number or by writing to the Company at American Housing Income Trust, Inc., ATTN: Investor Relations, 34225 N. 27th Dr Bldg 5 Ste 238, Phoenix, AZ 85085. You may also find more information regarding the offering at http://ahitrust.com/Public-Offering.asp. About American Housing Income Trust, Inc. American Housing Income Trust Inc., is incorporated in the State of Maryland owns and operates single family rentals in Arizona, Nevada and Texas and has plans to scale its operations nationally. American Housing Income Trust Inc. is a publicly traded company on OTC Markets Group Inc. OTCQB listing venue as a compliant, fully reporting entity with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's focus is on employing a disciplined acquisition strategy, operational efficiencies, as well as maintaining a full understanding of local, regional, and national housing fundamentals. As part of its marketing strategy, it promotes the benefits of single-family rental living compared to apartment dwelling. The company intends to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes and would not be subject to federal income tax to the extent that it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. American Housing Income Trust Inc. has incorporated the assets of its subsidiaries that launched their initial business plan to acquire portfolios of SFR's in 2010 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona through its wholly-owned subsidiary, American Realty Partners, LLC. For information on American Housing Income Trust, visit www.ahitrust.com. Forward Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements that relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements may be identified by use of words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," or "potential" or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends. Statements such as those concerning potential acquisition activity, investment objectives, strategies, opportunities, other plans and objectives for future operations or economic performance are based on the Company's current expectations, plans, estimates, assumptions and beliefs that involve numerous risks and uncertainties. Any of these statements could prove to be inaccurate and actual events or investments and results of operations could differ materially from those expressed or implied, including the ability of the Company to qualify and operate as a REIT. To the extent that the Company's assumptions differ from actual results, the Company's ability to meet such forward-looking statements, including its ability to invest in a diversified portfolio of quality real estate investments and to qualify and operate as a REIT, may be significantly and negatively impacted. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements and the Company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, future events or other changes. Please refer to Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for further information. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151202/292640LOGO SOURCE American Housing Income Trust, Inc. Related Links http://www.ahitrust.com ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- World-renowned tenor Anthony Kearns of the PBS super-group, The Irish Tenors, will make a debut performance in Mount Dora, FL on Sat., Oct. 29, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. "I visited Mount Dora for the first time about two years ago and was struck by its beauty. It's a gem hidden in Lake County, known for its arts and crafts, unique stores and antiques," said Kearns. "Mount Dora is the perfect setting for a concert with music of beauty throughout the ages." The program will feature "literally something for everyone"-- with favorite classical and inspiring songs, folk music, Broadway hitsand of course, music from Mr. Kearns' native Ireland. Mr. Kearns first took the American television audience by storm in 1999 as the youngest member of The Irish Tenors, with whom he has five PBS Specials and 10 CDs. His solo career includes high-profile celebrity engagements, major television appearances, concert tours, leading operatic roles, and collaborations with the finest orchestras, including the Boston Pops, the Chicagoland Pops, and the National Symphony Orchestra. He has performed for three U.S. Presidents, and most recently, for Pope Francis I in 2015. Kearns recently released his first solo album, "With a Song in My Heart." Last year, Kearns was invited to perform a special September 11 Tribute at a local benefit hosted by Tobias Harris of the Orlando Magic. Kearns, a favorite of Floridians, has performed leading tenor roles with Opera Naples, including Romeo and Juliet: Then and Now -- which combined Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet and Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story as well as "Edgardo" in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Charles Gounod's Faust. Additional roles include tenor role of "Nemorino" in Gulfshore Opera's production of Gaetano Donizetti's comic opera, L'Elisir d'amore. Earlier this year, Kearns headlined a concert at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and the launch of the world-wide commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising in New York City. He also headlined "The Celtic Concert" with the Grand Rapids Symphony at the DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, MI. Upcoming Kearns' concerts and appearances include Phoenix, AZ (Oct.15), Mt. Dora, FL (Oct. 29), Chicago, IL (Nov. 12 and 13), New York (Dec. 2), with others to be announced. DETAILS: The concert, "An Evening with Tenor Anthony Kearns of the World Renowned Irish Tenors," will take place on Saturday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Building Theater (520 Baker Street, Mount Dora, FL 32757). For tickets, visit anthonykearns.net/tour/ or mountdoralive.com / 352.735.7183. SOURCE Kirsten Fedewa & Associates, L.L.C. (on behalf of Anthony Kearns) Related Links http://anthonykearns.net/tour/ SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Launchpad Digital Health, the leading next generation of seed funds + accelerator for digital health, is open for applications to its second cohort of companies for Launchpad Digital Health Ground Zero (LDH-GZ). Launchpad Digital Health Ground Zero (LDH-GZ) is a new, four-month digital health program for entrepreneurs desiring to pressure-test and expand their business. Ground Zero companies will be eligible for funding in multiple ways. The LDH-GZ second cohort runs from November 1, 2016 to February 28, 2017. The program includes co-location in our new headquarters in San Francisco, alongside LDH portfolio companies, mentors, and corporate partners. LDH-GZ is designed to immerse entrepreneurs in our digital health hub, testing and calibrating their business plans, operations, scaling, partnerships, and more. The co-founders of companies in the first cohort of LDH-GZ said: "Launchpad is not an accelerator but a digital health family, you love, you fight, you pivot, you learn and you come out stronger on the other side! We couldn't have chosen a better path for Vitls!" Louise Vorster, Vitls COO & Co-Founder "If you are entering the US market, you must understand that domain-specific, value-added guidance is critical. Launchpad provides it. On a daily basis. And this is real value. I've learned an invaluable amount in a very short period of time." Giangiacomo Rocco di Torrepadula, Amicomed - CEO & Co-Founder "We entered the LDH-GZ program with a product and vision seeking a market. From their experience with B2B digital health, LDH-GZ recognized what we were trying to do; called out our ignorance when they saw it; encouraged us when we were onto something; and gave us the resources, network, and methodologies to build our business. We have since refined our value proposition and go-to-market strategy, expanded our team, landed our first customer, and prioritized new product iterations largely derived from our customer research spurred by the LDH-GZ program." Andrew Trees, Agathos - CEO & Co-Founder "Working alongside other startups in this digital health ecosystem hub was a tremendous boost. We all went through the same process, and the open willingness to share experiences added great value to the program." Yulin Li, Aegle Palette - CEO & Co-Founder "I love the way this program is organized and operated. It provides a lot of insights, tips, and advice while letting me run my business at full speed. The program is especially helpful when looking for institutional funding the managing partners are really experts, and they help tremendously during the group sessions and 1:1 meetings. The community of LDH portfolio companies and fellow program members is fantastic as well." Michael Pliskin, MedM America CEO "What was most valuable about being at LDH-GZ was our proximity and interaction with all the other companies in this space. We built long-term relationships with other teams and gained exposure to other technologies in our space. Our relationships have led to several new collaborations in business and technology which would have otherwise been much more difficult to achieve." Malekeh Amini, AVA Health - Founder & CEO We require no equity from companies in Ground Zero. The total cost for companies includes rent and all aspects of the program. All companies, upon completion of the program, have opportunities for investment: The top company, judged by our experts at LDH (partners and advisors) will receive at least $100,000 investment. Three companies from GZ will present at the Launchpad Digital Health Finalist Day for consideration as LDH investments, which will be held in 2017. LDH-GZ graduates will be connected to our partnered healthcare funding networks, including preferential presentations with our new partners at Life Science Angels. LDH-GZ also has corporate partnerships for this program. The AWS (Amazon Web Services) partnership for hosting credits alone allows for immediate payback of the program. Applications may be submitted at www.launchpdh.com. About Launchpad Digital Health Launchpad Digital Health is a next generation accelerator more capital , more time and more intensity for its portfolio companies and their founders. Each company accepted into the accelerator program receives: 1) more capital in the form of up to a $500,000 investment, 2) more time commitment in the form of a full one year-long program co-located with other startups in digital health sector and the Launchpad Digital Health founders, and 3) more intensity in the form of daily and weekly engagement with Launchpad Digital Health's founders, partners and mentors as critical business decisions are made continuously with advisors assisting all along the way. The founders of Launchpad Digital Health have funded and operated companies throughout the healthcare and technology sectors, including digital health companies, for the past two decades. Launchpad Digital Health Ground Zero extends this ecosystem to companies that, with more intensive time and effort over the 4-month LDH-GZ immersion program, can become eligible for the LDH accelerator and investment. To find out more about LDH and LDH-GZ, visit us at www.launchpdh.com and see how your startup can benefit from this next generation accelerator programs, as its next class of companies begins. SOURCE Launchpad Digital Health Related Links http://www.launchpdh.com NORFOLK, Va., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern Corporation's safety train rolled into Atlanta this week, hosting 92 area emergency responders who received advanced training in safely handling potential rail incidents involving hazardous materials. "The safety train is a mobile technical training center a vocational school for the continuing education of first responders and representatives of government agencies who support Norfolk Southern's commitment to incident-free handling of hazardous materials," said David Schoendorfer, Norfolk Southern's system manager hazardous materials. "It's a whistle-stop train that helps keep our communities safe." Staged this week at the Atlanta Amtrak station, the safety train attracted representatives of a number of area agencies, including Georgia Department of Transportation HERO units, law enforcement officers from the Habersham County Sheriff's Department, and fire and rescue personnel from Atlanta, Cobb County, DeKalb County, Griffin, Henry County, Smyrna, and Spalding County. "This training provides continuing education and familiarization with processes and equipment Norfolk Southern uses," said Michael Lewis, battalion chief, DeKalb County Fire & Rescue in metro Atlanta. "It helps us understand the potential hazards of working with railroad equipment, and it builds relationships that enable us to work as a team with Norfolk Southern in any kind of rail emergency situation we may encounter. For us to be able to come here locally and receive this training is awesome." The train is visiting 18 cities in 13 states during its inaugural tour this year. To date, 1,515 emergency responders have received professional instruction on the train. At every location, emergency responders can choose from among three days of free training that includes instructor-led and hands-on learning. The train includes two boxcars converted into classrooms, four types of railroad tank cars used in transporting all types of chemicals, and two specially equipped flat cars. "Norfolk Southern has a great safety record, but in the unlikely event of a train derailment involving hazmat, we want to make sure the communities we serve are prepared," Schoendorfer said. "We are focusing on areas where we have significant hazmat shipments. It's a best business practice to help with preparedness." The train's next stop will be in Chattanooga, Tenn., Oct. 25-27. To register in advance for training in Chattanooga or at other stops scheduled this year, visit www.joinNSoar.com and click on "Training" and "Download Invitation" near the bottom of the page. The training is beneficial for all emergency responders, including representatives of fire departments, law enforcement, emergency medical services, hazmat response teams, emergency management personnel, military, homeland security personnel, rail regulators, shippers, and customers. The dedicated safety train is part of Norfolk Southern's "Operation Awareness and Response" initiative launched in 2015 to educate the public about the safe movement of hazardous materials by rail and to connect emergency first responders in Norfolk Southern communities with information and training resources. Including instruction on the train and through other course offerings, Norfolk Southern in 2016 has trained nearly 4,000 local emergency responders throughout its operating territory. About Norfolk Southern Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway Company subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal, automotive, and industrial products. SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation Related Links http://www.norfolksouthern.com PUNE, India, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Market Research Future Published a Cooked Research Report On Autonomous Vehicles Market. The Global Autonomous Vehicles Market is expected to grow over the CAGR of 26.2% during the period 2016 to 2027 from USD 3.6 billion in 2015. Market Highlights The Global Autonomous Vehicles Market has been evaluated as growing market and expected that the market will touch high growth figures. Since the technology has arrived in the automotive industry, many players are concentrating on developing a car which can be self-driven without any human command. Heavy investment in R&D and strategic collaboration is driving the market of autonomous vehicle with CAGR of 26.2% Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 20 market data tables and figures spread over 86 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on "The Global Autonomous Vehicles Market Research Report - Forecast to 2027. Access Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/global-autonomous-vehicles-market-research-report-global-forecast-2027 Autonomous Vehicles Market: There are various changes which are taking place in the automotive industry and companies are trying hard in order to gain high market share as well as increase in profit by deployment of advance technologies in the automotive sector. Autonomous vehicle is one of the concept which has emerged decades ago but now coming into picture. These vehicles are equipped with high class technology and sense the environment for safe and secure ride. Driverless cars are capable of taking you from one place to another without any input of yours. They can find the best route, give the ride information, can pick up you at time and can park itself. As the technology is growing and companies are making several attempts to make this reality, it is expected that these cars will hit the road by the end year 2020. Request a Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample-request/global-autonomous-vehicles-market-research-report-global-forecast-2027 The major participants of this market are Google (U.S.), General Motors (U.S.), Volkswagen (Germany), BMW (Germany), Ford Motor Company (U.S.), Baidu (China), Toyota (Japan), Tesla (U.S.), Audi (Germany), Jaguar (U.K.) among others. Market Research Analysis: Autonomous vehicles or driverless cars could be a revolutionary product for the automotive industry. Need of change is what makes the industry sustain and run and with the advancement of technology, people do expect some revolutionary product. Autonomous vehicles could change the whole automotive industry and can make the life of a person easier. Aging population, increase accident rate around the world and increasing consumption of passenger and commercial vehicles are some key drivers for the market of autonomous vehicles. Market Research Future has estimated that the market size of autonomous vehicle market will reach to US $65.3 billion by the end of forecasted period from US $3.6 billion in 2015 with CAGR of 26.2%. The Early Diners are Offered Free Customization - Up to 20% on this Report. Make an Enquiry for this Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/global-autonomous-vehicles-market-research-report-global-forecast-2027 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Ruwin Mendez, Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune - 411028 Maharashtra, India 1-646-845-9349 Email: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161006/415948LOGO SOURCE Market Research Future Related Links https://www.marketresearchfuture.com SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BASF Automotive Refinish revs up to make a colorful splash at the 2016 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas when it unveils the latest in restyled and custom vehicles, new color offerings, advanced business solutions, custom paint solutions and its inaugural 'Color of the Year'. BASF will host a press conference, held at booth #20367 located in the Racing & Performance area of Central Hall, at 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 1, featuring: The 2017 BASF 'Color of the Year' As the leading chemical supplier to the automotive industry, BASF will announce its first 'Color of the Year' featured on a custom 2009 Nissan Skyline GT-R; As the leading chemical supplier to the automotive industry, BASF will announce its first 'Color of the Year' featured on a custom 2009 Nissan Skyline GT-R; New R-M ONYX HD / Diamont "Zyrilliant" Colors A collection of 108 new inspirational colors that provide solutions for custom car builders with extreme effects; A collection of 108 new inspirational colors that provide solutions for custom car builders with extreme effects; Chip Foose Custom '39 Cadillac Coupe SEMA Hall of Famer and Legendary Custom Car Builder, Chip Foose unveils his latest creation featuring Glasurit 90 Line paint; In addition to the press conference, BASF will feature advanced business solutions to drive efficiency, growth and profitability to the Collision Repair market, along with the following vehicles and events at its booth: Custom Display Vehicles 1955 Chevrolet Roadster from G3 Rods finished in Glasurit 90 Line 1961 Chevy Impala from Greening Auto Company finished in Glasurit 90 Line 2017 Ford Petty Mustang from Petty's Garage painted with R-M Diamont "Zyrilliant" 2012 Harley Davidson Street Glide from Camtech Custom Baggers featuring R-M Diamont Carizzma. The Glasurit Best Paint Award Wed., Nov. 2 at 9:00 AM Chip Foose will present the second annual Glasurit Best Paint Award, judging participants on the fit and finish, quality of preparation and final presentation of their Glasurit painted vehicles; will present the second annual Glasurit Best Paint Award, judging participants on the fit and finish, quality of preparation and final presentation of their Glasurit painted vehicles; Autograph Sessions Chip Foose - immediately following the Tuesday press conference Ryan Friedlinghaus , Nov 1 , 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. Richard Petty , Nov 2 , 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. KC Mathieu, Nov. 2 , 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. and Nov 4 , 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. "BASF will showcase its largest display yet at SEMA featuring our latest advancements for the Automotive Refinish market," said Dan Bihlmeyer, BASF North America Marketing Head, Coatings Solutions. "With five world class vehicles, exciting and unique new paint colors and tools, BASF displays a wide variety of products and services to help our collision repair customers and distributors be more productive and drive their overall profitability." To see all BASF is featuring at SEMA visit basfrefinish.com/SEMA2016 For press photos and captions, please click on the following link: https://www.basf.com/us/en/company/news-and-media/news-releases/2016/10/P-US-16-200.html About BASF Automotive Refinish BASF's Automotive Refinish business manufactures and markets coatings for the collision repair, commercial fleet and automotive specialty markets. Its paint products are supported by technical training programs, advanced color information systems, business management and planning tools. For more information visit http://www.basfrefinish.com About BASF BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has nearly 17,500 employees in North America, and had sales of $17.4 billion in 2015. For more information about BASF's North American operations, visit www.basf.us. At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 112,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of more than 70 billion in 2015. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information at www.basf.com. SOURCE BASF Related Links https://www.basf.com BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Metro Detroit birth injury law firm Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers welcomes new Associate Attorney Ewa Pasik to the team! Ewa joins Reiter & Walsh, P.C. from the Wayne County Circuit Court and brings with her a deep passion for helping individuals with birth injuries and disabilities. A graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Pasik has set her sights on helping make the legal system more navigable for those with birth injuries. Ewa Pasik Joins Reiter & Walsh. Learn more at http://www.abclawcenters.com/about-the-firm/about-the-attorneys/ewa-pasik/ Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428513 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428514LOGO "My brother was born with cerebral palsy. As time passed, my parents decided to move to the United States because there were more opportunities for him here. Navigating the U.S. medical system and the bureaucracy of paperwork was very intimidating since we didn't know the English language when we moved here. Seeing the struggles and successes of my own family gave me a unique perspective on the problems facing individuals with disabilities, especially those who lacked access to certain resources and support. I'd like to help these people get the support they need to live fulfilling lives." Pasik comes to Reiter & Walsh, P.C. with an extensive background in legal research and writing, having interned for four terms at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan with then-Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen. She then worked as a Contributing Attorney Editor for the Rutter Group and as a Judicial Research Attorney with the Wayne County Circuit Court under Judge Michael F. Sapala and Judge Maria L. Oxholm. Reiter & Walsh P.C. founder and owner Jesse Reiter highlights Pasik's dedication to disability-related causes: "We are extremely happy to have the opportunity to have Ewa join our team; we are always on the lookout for attorneys passionate about helping children with disabilities, and Ewa stood out as exceptional in her dedication." Reiter & Walsh, P.C. focuses solely on helping individuals with birth injuries seek justice and secure their future. Media Contact: Jesse Reiter Email (248) 593-5100 SOURCE Reiter & Walsh, P.C. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Baton Rouge Belaire Teen Unit Belaire Teen Unit Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana Granberry Unit "After-school hours are a critical time for the health and wellness of our nation's kids and teens," said Sonya Nelson, president of Amerigroup Louisiana. "With Louisiana youth back to school, we are committed to helping fill their open afternoons and weekends with constructive games and fun activities that will help build lifelong healthy habits." As Boys & Girls Clubs of America's proven health and wellness program, Triple Play is a game plan for the mind, body and soul. Supported by founding sponsor The Coca-Cola Company and co-sponsor, Amerigroup Foundation, the program's three components encourage Club members to eat healthier (mind), become more physically active (body) and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships (soul). "Year after year we experience tremendous adoption of our Triple Play programs, and thanks to continued support from our partner Amerigroup Foundation we are able to bring Triple Play to even more Clubs across the country," said Dr. Jennifer Bateman, national vice president for programs, training and youth development with BGCA. "The new grants in Louisiana will create a healthy environment where our youth can thrive, and the funds will have a lasting impact on the kids and teens served by these Clubs." Amerigroup Foundation is committed to improving health and strengthening Louisiana communities. Through its Healthy Generations grant program, Amerigroup Foundation works to identify the issues most in need of attention and then directs its financial support and volunteer efforts toward improving health in those areas. Promoting youth health and active lifestyles is an ongoing focus of the foundation. The Triple Play grants announced today are part of a five-year, $10 million commitment from Amerigroup Foundation's parent company foundation to BGCA to promote healthy lifestyles. About Boys & Girls Clubs of America For more than 150 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (GreatFutures.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,200 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 54 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at http://www.bgca.org/facebook and http://bgca.org/twitter. About the Amerigroup Foundation The Amerigroup Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Amerigroup, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anthem, Inc. Together, with local, regional and national organizations, the Amerigroup Foundation works to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Amerigroup and its affiliated health plans serve. Amerigroup Foundation funding is focused on strategic initiatives working to address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative with five areas of focus: Healthy Heart, Cancer Prevention, Healthy Maternal Practices, Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, and Healthy Active Lifestyle. These disease states and medical conditions include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company's year-round Associate Giving program which provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign pledges, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. To learn more about the Amerigroup Foundation, please visit www.anthem.foundation. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130710/MM44829-b SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America Related Links http://www.bgca.org Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Charleston Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Charleston St. Albans Unit "After-school hours are a critical time for the health and wellness of our nation's kids and teens," said Mitch Collins, president of UniCare Health Plan of West Virginia. "With West Virginia youth back to school, we are committed to helping fill their open afternoons and weekends with constructive games and fun activities that will help build lifelong healthy habits." As Boys & Girls Clubs of America's proven health and wellness program, Triple Play is a game plan for the mind, body and soul. Supported by founding sponsor The Coca-Cola Company and co-sponsor, Unicare Foundation, the program's three components encourage Club members to eat healthier (mind), become more physically active (body) and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships (soul). "Year after year we experience tremendous adoption of our Triple Play programs, and thanks to continued support from our partner Unicare Foundation we are able to bring Triple Play to even more Clubs across the country," said Dr. Jennifer Bateman, national vice president for programs, training and youth development with BGCA. "The new grants in West Virginia will create a healthy environment where our youth can thrive, and the funds will have a lasting impact on the kids and teens served by these Clubs." Unicare Foundation is committed to improving health and strengthening West Virginia communities. Through its Healthy Generations grant program, Unicare Foundation works to identify the issues most in need of attention and then directs its financial support and volunteer efforts toward improving health in those areas. Promoting youth health and active lifestyles is an ongoing focus of the foundation. The Triple Play grants announced today are part of a five-year, $10 million commitment from Unicare Foundation's parent company foundation to BGCA to promote healthy lifestyles. About Boys & Girls Clubs of America For more than 150 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (GreatFutures.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,200 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 54 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at http://www.bgca.org/facebook and http://bgca.org/twitter. About the UniCare Foundation The UniCare Foundation is the philanthropic arm of UniCare Health Plan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anthem, Inc. Together, with local, regional and national organizations, the UniCare Foundation works to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that UniCare Health Plan and its affiliated health plans serve. UniCare Foundation funding is focused on strategic initiatives working to address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative with five areas of focus: Healthy Heart, Cancer Prevention, Healthy Maternal Practices, Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, and Healthy Active Lifestyle. These disease states and medical conditions include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company's year-round Associate Giving program which provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign pledges, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. To learn more about the UniCare Foundation, please visit www.anthemcorporateresponsibility.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130710/MM44829-b SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America Related Links http://www.bgca.org MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's healthcare environment, it is essential to invest in solutions that help streamline workflows while having features that can assist healthcare professionals with their compliance efforts. Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, will showcase its teleretinal imaging solution during this year's American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois from October 15-18, 2016. Visitors to the Canon booth (#3803) will have the opportunity to interact with Canon eyecare technology and witness firsthand how these devices and solutions can be used to better assist ophthalmologists in treating a variety of ailments relating to the eye. Visitors to booth #3803 will have the opportunity to experience the Canon CR-2 PLUS AF, as well as the CX-1 Hybrid Digital Mydriatic/Non-Mydriatic Retinal camera, both of which capture ultra-high resolution images quickly, efficiently, and automatically. Designed around advanced Canon EOS optics and CMOS image-capture technology, both the CR-2 PLUS AF and CX-1 feature a customized 18 megapixel digital camera. With the press of a button, CR-2 PLUS AF users can switch between auto and manual focusing for ultimate control and ease-of-use. The Auto Capture function of the CR-2 PLUS AF determines the appropriate moment to capture an image by analyzing when exposure and alignment are ideal. The CX-1 allows users to capture Intravenous Fluorescein Angiography (IVFA) images using either the Mydriatic or Non-Mydriatic alignment mode. Both cameras include a non-invasive Fundus Autofluorescence imaging mode that provides the reviewer with the ability to quickly assess the condition of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer. On display will be the Canon teleretinal solution, featuring the Canon CR-2 PLUS AF Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal camera and imageSPECTRUM Image Management software1 (sold separately). By utilizing the CR-2 PLUS AF in conjunction with imageSPECTRUM software, healthcare professionals with the Windows 7 or the Windows 10 operating systems with SQL 2016 can perform retinal screenings then quickly transmit the images to doctors' offices thousands of miles away, both domestic and abroad2, to assist in making a diagnosis. Canon imageSPECTRUM Image Management software provides users with an intuitive software solution that offers image management and portability to help improve workflow. Featuring digital RGB filters for more critical viewing of suspect pathologies, the software includes the Opacity Suppression selectable filter tool. This software filter can be used to subdue the effects of ocular opacities in an image to help correct blur and enhance the clarity of blood vessels, helping eye care professionals to view clear images of patients' eyes. Additionally, visitors to the booth will have the opportunity to interact with eyecare solutions including: CR-2 AF Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal Camera: The CR-2 AF incorporates Canon EOS technology and provides superb retinal images under just about any condition. With integrated AutoExposure, AutoFocus, AutoFundus, AutoCapture and Image Error Detection, Low-Flash and Quick Preview modes, this retinal camera is a breeze to operate. Enhanced from the previous CR-2 Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal Camera, the CR-2 AF features Canon contrast enhancement technology never before offered in a Canon retinal camera to emphasize the differences in "redness" and "brightness" of blood vessel structures relative to their surroundings. The CR-2 AF incorporates Canon EOS technology and provides superb retinal images under just about any condition. With integrated AutoExposure, AutoFocus, AutoFundus, AutoCapture and Image Error Detection, Low-Flash and Quick Preview modes, this retinal camera is a breeze to operate. Enhanced from the previous CR-2 Digital Non-Mydriatic Retinal Camera, the CR-2 AF features Canon contrast enhancement technology never before offered in a Canon retinal camera to emphasize the differences in "redness" and "brightness" of blood vessel structures relative to their surroundings. RK-F2 Full Auto Ref-Keratometer : Including a Full Auto Mode which allows professionals to automatically align, focus, and acquire a reading for one eye and continue to the opposite eye to perform the same function all with one touch of a button. This feature contributes to a comfortable, efficient screening process for the patient. : Including a Full Auto Mode which allows professionals to automatically align, focus, and acquire a reading for one eye and continue to the opposite eye to perform the same function all with one touch of a button. This feature contributes to a comfortable, efficient screening process for the patient. TX-20 Full Auto Tonometer: Designed to be compact and lightweight, the non-contact tonometer is easy to transport and install. With soft air puffs, the TX-20 tonometer easily measures Intraocular Pressure (IOP), enhancing patient comfort and allowing doctors to perform simple eye exams efficiently. The TX-20 Tonometer, as the RK-F2 Keratometer, also offers one-touch Full Auto Mode to automatically align, focus and capture readings. For more information about Canon ophthalmic devices and solutions, please visit http://www.usa.canon.com/eye-care. About Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2015 and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2016. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. # # Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. 1 Requires Windows 7 or Windows 10 with SQL 2016 operating system. Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. 2 Requires internet access and imageSPECTRUM Image Management software to both send and receive data. Canon U.S.A. Web site: http://www.usa.canon.com For sales information/customer support: 1-800-970-7227 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160119/323578LOGO SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc. Related Links http://www.usa.canon.com ATLANTA, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to work with Florida health officials to investigate new cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection in Miami-Dade County. Florida today announced a new area of active Zika transmission in an area of about one square mile in Miami-Dade County (NW 79th St. to the North, NW 63rd St. to the South, NW 10th Ave. to the West and N. Miami Ave. to the East). The Florida Department of Health (FLDOH) has identified five people, two women, and three men, in the new area. Three live in the area; the other two either work in or have visited this area. FLDOH has evidence that Zika is only actively being transmitted in this new area and the existing area in Miami Beach. Based on this new information, CDC and Florida health officials recommend at this time: Pregnant women should avoid travel to the newly designated area, in addition to the previously identified designated areas in Miami-Dade County , because active local transmission of Zika has been identified. , because active local transmission of Zika has been identified. Pregnant women and their sexual partners who are concerned about potential Zika virus exposure may also consider postponing nonessential travel to all parts of Miami-Dade County . . All pregnant women in the United States should be evaluated for possible Zika virus exposure during each prenatal care visit. Each evaluation should include an assessment of signs and symptoms of Zika virus disease (acute onset of fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis [red eyes]); their travel history; as well as their sexual partner's potential exposure to Zika virus and history of any illness consistent with Zika virus disease to determine whether Zika virus testing is indicated. should be evaluated for possible Zika virus exposure during each prenatal care visit. Each evaluation should include an assessment of signs and symptoms of Zika virus disease (acute onset of fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis [red eyes]); their travel history; as well as their sexual partner's potential exposure to Zika virus and history of any illness consistent with Zika virus disease to determine whether Zika virus testing is indicated. Pregnant women and their partners living in or who must travel to the designated areas should be aware of active Zika virus transmission and follow steps to prevent mosquito bites. Women and men who live in or who have traveled to the newly designated area since August 26 th should be aware of active Zika virus transmission in the area. should be aware of active Zika virus transmission in the area. Women and men who are planning to conceive in the near future should consider avoiding nonessential travel to this newly designated area. Women who are diagnosed with Zika should wait at least 8 weeks after a positive laboratory testing before trying to get pregnant. Men who are diagnosed with Zika should wait at least 6 months after a positive laboratory test before trying to get their partner pregnant. Women who traveled to this area should wait at least 8 weeks before trying to get pregnant, regardless of whether they had symptoms. Men who traveled to this area should wait at least 6 months before trying to get pregnant, regardless of whether they had symptoms. Women and men who live in or frequently travel to this area and who do not have signs or symptoms of Zika should talk to their healthcare provider to inform their decisions about timing of pregnancy. Detecting local spread of Zika virus is difficult for several reasons: The incubation period for Zika virus infection is up to two weeks, Many infected people have no symptoms or only mild symptoms, and Diagnosis and investigation of cases may take several weeks. For this reason, it is possible that other neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County have active Zika virus transmission that is not yet apparent. CDC is working closely with Florida state and local health officials to review current testing recommendations. CDC support for Florida CDC has been working with state, local, and territorial health officials to prepare for the possibility of locally transmitted Zika virus in the United States. Officials from Florida participated in all these activities, and their experience in responding to mosquito-borne diseases similar to Zika virus disease has been an important source of knowledge in this effort. To date, CDC has provided Florida more than $8 million in Zika-specific funding and about $27 million in emergency preparedness funding that can be used toward Zika response efforts. Next week, CDC will provide Florida with more than $2.6 million in Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) funding that can be used to support Zika response efforts. These funds are part of the $44 million of PHEP funding that was included in the Zika emergency supplemental passed by Congress in September. Since February, CDC has sent enough materials to Florida for approximately 11,025-12,600 Zika antibody tests, including materials for 6,300 tests shipped in August in response to Florida Governor Scott's request. CDC's Atlanta and Fort Collins, CO, laboratories are also assisting by testing specimens from pregnant women for the Florida Department of Health and are working with Florida on other possible support for Zika lab testing. As of October 11, 5 CDC personnel were deployed in Florida and 8 are pending, with a total of 30 since the beginning of the response, including 12 CDC laboratory staff. It is understandable that women will be especially concerned, and there are things that everyone can do based on what is currently known. While there are still many unanswered questions about Zika, CDC is working hard to find out more about these infections. Here is what is known: Zika is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito ( Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus ). species mosquito ( and ). Zika virus can pass from a pregnant woman to her fetus during pregnancy or around the time of birth (periconceptional/intrauterine/perinatal transmission). We do not know how often this happens. Zika virus infection is associated with birth defects and adverse pregnancy outcomes, especially microcephaly. A person who is infected with Zika virus can pass it to sex partners. Most people infected with Zika virus won't have symptoms or will only have mild symptoms. No vaccines or treatments are currently available to treat or prevent Zika infections. As of October 12, 2016, 3,936 cases of Zika had been reported in the continental United States and Hawaii, including 878 pregnant women with laboratory evidence of possible Zika infection. These cases also include 32 believed to be the result of sexual transmission and one case that was the result of a laboratory exposure. For more information about Zika: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services CDC works 24/7 saving lives and protecting people from health threats to have a more secure nation. Whether these threats are chronic or acute, manmade or natural, human error or deliberate attack, global or domestic, CDC is the U.S. health protection agency. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151112/286865LOGO SOURCE Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Related Links http://www.cdc.gov WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- In September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, observed during the week that included Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. In 1989, Congress expanded the observance to a month-long celebration (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) of the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161006/428773-INFO Sept. 15 is the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively. Population 56.6 million The Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2015, making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or racial minority. Hispanics constituted 17.6 percent of the nation's total population. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2015/PEPASR6H?slice=hisp~hisp!year~est72015 1.2 million The number of Hispanics added to the nation's population between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015. This number is nearly half of the approximately 2.5 million people added to the nation's total population during this period. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2015/PEPASR6H?slice=hisp~hisp!year~est72015 2.2% The percentage increase in the Hispanic population between 2014 and 2015. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2015/PEPASR6H?slice=hisp~hisp!year~est72015 119 million The projected Hispanic population of the United States in 2060. According to this projection, the Hispanic population will constitute 28.6 percent of the nation's population by that date. Source: 2014 National Population Projections, Table 10 www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2014/summarytables.html 63.4% The percentage of those of Hispanic or Latino origin in the United States who were of Mexican origin in 2015. Another 9.5 percent were Puerto Rican, 3.8 percent Salvadoran, 3.7 percent Cuban, 3.3 percent Dominican and 2.4 percent Guatemalan. The remainder were of some other Central American, South American or other Hispanic or Latino origin. Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table B03001 http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/B03001 States and Counties 10.7 million The estimated population for those of Hispanic origin in Texas as of July 1, 2015. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2015/PEPASR6H/0400000US48?slice=hisp~hisp!year~est72015 9 The number of states with a population of 1 million or more Hispanic residents in 2015 Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Texas. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2015_PEPSR6H&prodType=table 54.5% The percentage of the Hispanic population in the United States that lived in California, Florida and Texas as of July 1, 2015. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2015/PEPASR6H?slice=hisp~hisp!year~est72015 15.2 million The Hispanic population of California. This is the largest Hispanic population of any state. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2015/PEPASR6H?slice=hisp~hisp!year~est72015 4.9 million Los Angeles County had the largest Hispanic population of any county in 2015. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2015/PEPSR6H/0500000US06037?slice=Hisp~hisp!Year~est72015 49,000 Harris County in Texas had the largest numeric increase of Hispanics from 2014 to 2015. Source: Vintage 2015 Population Estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2015_PEPSR6H&prodType=table Families and Children 16.2 million The number of Hispanic households in the United States in 2015. Source: Families and Living Arrangements, Households, Table H-3 www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/households.html 47.7% The percentage of Hispanic households that were married-couple households in 2015. Among all households in the United States, 48.2 percent were married-couple households. Source: Families and Living Arrangements, Table H-3 www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/households.html 57.6% The percentage of Hispanic married-couple households that had children younger than age 18 present in 2015, whereas for all married-couple households it was 64.3 percent. Source: Families and Living Arrangements, Table H-3 www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/households.html 66.8% The percentage of Hispanic parent/child family groups that included two parents in 2015, whereas for all parent/child family groups, it was 69.5 percent. Source: Families and Living Arrangements, Table FM-2 www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/families.html 46.0% The percentage of Hispanic married couples with children under age 18 where both spouses were employed in 2014, whereas nationwide it was 59.7 percent. Source: Families and Living Arrangements, Table FG-1 www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/cps2014FG.html Spanish Language 40 million The number of U.S. residents age 5 and older who spoke Spanish at home in 2015. This is a 131.2 percent increase since 1990 when it was 17.3 million. Those who hablan espanol en casa constituted 13.3 percent of U.S. residents age 5 and older. More than half (59 percent of all Spanish speakers and 57.4 percent of Hispanic Spanish speakers) spoke English "very well." Source: 1990 Decennial Census https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table DP02 http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/DP02 Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (Hispanic or Latino) Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table B16006 http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/B16006 Language Spoken at Home Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table S1601 http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/S1601 72.9% The percentage of Hispanics age 5 and older who spoke Spanish at home in 2015. Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table B16006 http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/B16006 Income, Poverty and Health Insurance $45,150 The median income of Hispanic households in 2015. Source: Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015, Table 1 www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-256.pdf 21.4% The poverty rate among Hispanics in 2015. Source: Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015, Table 3 www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-256.pdf 16.2% The percentage of Hispanics who lacked health insurance in 2015. Source: Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2015, Table 5 https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-257.pdf Esta es una version parcial del comunicado. Para tener acceso a la version completa, visite aqui. Public Information Office 301-763-3030 / [email protected] census.gov Connect with us on Social media Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91889LOGO Related Links http://www.census.gov SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Crestline Investors, Inc., a credit focused institutional alternative asset manager, today announced the closing of a $361.0 million collateralized loan obligation ("CLO"), known as Crestline Denali CLO XIV, Ltd., by its Crestline Denali Capital unit. The CLO will be backed by a portfolio of primarily senior-secured leveraged loans and will have an approximately four and one-quarter year reinvestment period and a two-year non-call period. This is the second CLO to be sponsored by Crestline in 2016 following the $358.8 million Denali Capital CLO XII, Ltd., which closed March 31, 2016. David Killion, Chief Executive Officer of Crestline Denali Capital, said: "We are pleased with the successful closing of CLO XIV, our second issuance this year. We have continued to grow our base of investors globally including attracting investors from the United States, Europe and Asia. The continued growth of our investor base and the ability to issue two CLOs this year affirms the benefits of the Crestline Investors platform and our ability to structure transactions to meet the ongoing changes to the regulatory framework of our industry." "The success of this transaction affirms Crestline's strategy of structuring CLOs intended to meet risk retention standards in the United States or Europe," said Douglas Bratton, Managing Partner & CIO of Crestline. "After the U.S. regulations take full effect at the end of this year, organizations such as Crestline that have prepared for the new regulatory requirements will be in a strong position to continue to pursue new issuance." BNP Paribas acted as the arranger for the CLO. About Crestline Investors, Inc. Crestline Investors, Inc., founded in 1997 and based in Fort Worth, Texas, is a credit focused institutional alternative investment management firm with approximately $9.5 billion of assets under management. Crestline specializes in credit and opportunistic investments. In addition, the firm manages a multi-PM equity market-neutral hedge fund, and provides Beta and Hedging Solutions for Institutional clients. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the company maintains affiliate offices in New York City, Chicago, London, Toronto and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.crestlineinvestors.com. About Crestline Denali Capital, L.P. Crestline Denali Capital, formed in October 2014 as a partnership between Crestline Investors and Denali Capital LLC, a specialized asset management company located in Oak Brook, Illinois. The company manages portfolios of leveraged commercial loans and related assets on behalf of its investors. The company currently has approximately $1.9 billion of assets under management and is an active investor across a broad spectrum of the syndicated leveraged loan market. Media Contact: Dmitriy Ioselevich 212-279-3115 ext. 243 [email protected] SOURCE Crestline Investors, Inc. Related Links http://www.crestlineinvestors.com DALLAS, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Widely respected Dallas lawyer Deborah Hankinson has earned recognition in Benchmark Litigation as a Local Litigation Star among Texas appellate attorneys. It is the second time the former Texas Supreme Court justice has been selected for this prestigious honor. Produced by London-based Legal Media Group, Benchmark Litigation is the only publication to focus exclusively on U.S. litigators and litigation-focused law firms. Attorneys undergo rigorous screening by the publication's editorial team. The team also conducts extensive face-to-face interviews with judges, leading appellate lawyers and general counsel of Fortune 500 companies to make its final selections. For more information about Ms. Hankinson's work, please visit http://hankinsonlaw.com/our-team/deborah-hankinson/. Benchmark Litigation is just the latest honor earned in 2016 by Ms. Hankinson. In recognition of her mediation, arbitration and appellate work, earlier this year she also was named to: The Texas Super Lawyers list of the state's top legal practitioners for a 14 th consecutive year. consecutive year. The Best Lawyers in America for 2017. Best Lawyers is among the oldest and most respected legal guides based in the United States . for 2017. is among the oldest and most respected legal guides based in . Texas Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her tenure on the Texas Supreme Court and for her role in the establishment of the Texas Access to Justice Commission. Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her tenure on the Texas Supreme Court and for her role in the establishment of the Texas Access to Justice Commission. The National Law Journal's inaugural ADR Champions listing, recognizing the top 48 alternative dispute resolution trailblazers from across the nation. inaugural ADR Champions listing, recognizing the top 48 alternative dispute resolution trailblazers from across the nation. D Magazine's Best Lawyers in Dallas for an 11th time. Hankinson LLP, the pre-eminent civil appellate firm in the Southwest, provides clients with innovative legal insights and judicial perspective in all phases of litigation. The firm's attorneys work with trial teams to develop strategies designed to put a case in the best position before, during and after trial. Dallas-based Hankinson LLP represents national clients, regional companies, governmental bodies and individuals with trial and appellate matters, and offers mediation and arbitration services as well. Learn more about the firm at http://hankinsonlaw.com. For more information, please contact Rhonda Reddick at 800-559-4534 or [email protected]. SOURCE Hankinson LLP Related Links http://www.hankinsonlaw.com FLINT, Mich., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. (NYSE: DPLO) has been selected for the fourth year in a row as one of Michigan's Best and Brightest in Wellness as part of an initiative that celebrates quality and excellence in worksite health. To learn more about Diplomat's career opportunities, click here. Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy The Best and Brightest in Wellness celebrates companies that are making their businesses, employees, and communities healthier. The Best and Brightest programs provide yearlong education, benchmarking, assessment tools, and interaction amongst the best employers throughout Michigan. Evaluation criteria included the following categories: Culture and environment Employee input Leadership Benefits and programs Participation and incentives Outcomes, analysis, and tracking Diplomat scored a perfect 10 in culture and environment; employee input; leadership; benefits and programs; and outcomes, analysis, and tracking, while the regional average score in those areas was eight. Diplomat scored a 9.8 overall. The regional average overall score was 8. "This is an exciting and crowning achievement recognizing Diplomat's commitment to health and well-being for our employees," said Diplomat CEO and Chairman Phil Hagerman. "We have taken great strides in expanding and improving the programs that we offer our employees. Wellness is not just about healthy eating or exercise; it also represents the entire mind, body, and spirit of employees and what keeps them performing their best at work and at home." Diplomat offers a wide range of support and encouragement for employees looking to live a healthier lifestyle at home and in the workplace. The company's corporate headquarters features an on-site fitness facility available to employees free of charge. The full gym includes weight and cardio machines, as well as palates and yoga equipment. Additional initiatives include free fitness classes, lunch-and-learn speakers related to health and wellness, weight-loss challenges, personal trainers for small and large groups, walking challenges, and various special events. To learn more about Diplomat, visit diplomat.is. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements give current expectations or forecasts of future events or our future financial or operating performance. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on management's good-faith belief and reasonable judgment based on current information. These statements are qualified by important risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those forecasted or indicated by such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, you should review Diplomat's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including "Risk Factors" in Diplomat's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as may be required by any applicable laws, Diplomat assumes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date hereof or the earlier date specified herein, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. About Diplomat Diplomat (NYSE: DPLO) serves patients and physicians in all 50 states. Headquartered in Flint, Michigan, the company focuses on medication management programs for people with complex chronic diseases, including oncology, immunology, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, specialized infusion therapy and many other serious or long-term conditions. Diplomat opened its doors in 1975 as a neighborhood pharmacy with one essential tenet: "Take good care of patients and the rest falls into place." Today, that tradition continuesalways focused on improving patient care and clinical adherence. For more information visit diplomat.is. CONTACT: Kali Lucas, Public Relations Specialist 810.768.9580 | [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140928/148820 SOURCE Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. Related Links http://www.diplomat.is Discovery Familia's new series QUINCEANERA , will air every Thursday at 9PM E/P starting October 20, and will take viewers inside cousins Alexis and Jarlings' Miami store. Along with Alexis's wife Daniela, they work with their clients creating beautiful memories, like finding the perfect dress, planning the long awaited father-daughter dance, or even coordinating special fancy arrangements such as over-the-top photo shoots, or numerous mid-party outfit changes. No request is too big or out of the question for this experienced family who has been in the Quinceanera business for more than 45 years. Each of the eight episodes of the series features our planning experts fulfilling the dreams of a demanding clientele, including the preparation of a photo session with an alligator, organizing a glamorous party, or producing music videos that rival those of the biggest teen pop sensations. For more about network programming, please follow us facebook.com/discoveryfamilia , and Twitter @DiscoveryFam About Discovery Familia Part of Discovery Communications, Discovery Familia is the Spanish-language network dedicated to Hispanic women and the things that matter in their lives. During the day, the Discovery Kids block provides a safe environment for children aged 2-6 with entertaining, curriculum-based programming to prepare them for the world around them. In the evening, the channel offers programming for women, focusing on topics such as home decor, food, health, beauty and parenting. For more information, please follow us on facebook.com/discoveryfamilia and Twitter @DiscoveryFam. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428435 SOURCE Discovery Familia SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- During the third quarter of 2016 (3Q16), Embraer (NYSE: ERJ; BM&FBOVESPA: EMBR3) delivered 29 jets to the commercial aviation market, 38% more than the same period of 2015. The company delivered 12 large executive jets, 33% more than the same quarter of last year. However, total executive aviation deliveries fell around 17% when compared to 3Q15. On September 30, Embraer's firm order backlog totaled USD 21.4 billion. See the details below: Deliveries by Segment 3Q16 2016 Commercial Aviation 29 76 EMBRAER 175 (E175) 24 64 EMBRAER 190 (E190) 4 8 EMBRAER 195 (E195) 1 4 Executive Aviation 25* 74 Light jets 13 48 Large jets 12 26 TOTAL 54 150 * 1 Phenom 100E, 12 Phenom 300, 2 Legacy 650, 6 Legacy 450 and 4 Legacy 500 The main highlight of 3Q16 was the order of up 10 E190-E2 by Indonesian airline Kalstar Aviation, signed during the Farnborough Airshow. The contract included five firm orders and five purchase rights for the same model. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2020. Later, additional 5 purchase rights were added to this contract. During the event, Embraer also announced a Letter of Intent with Israeli airline Arkia for up to 10 E195-E2 aircraft. The contract has an estimated total value of USD 650 million. Still in the quarter, Embraer announced the order of up to five E190 jetliners by China's Colorful Guizhou Airlines. The contract includes two firm orders and three purchase options. The contract has an estimated value of USD 249 million at the current list price, if all purchase rights are exercised. The two aircraft will be delivered in 2017. In business aviation, the main highlight was the deal with China's Colorful Yunnan, which signed a firm order for two Phenom 300 business jets. The aircraft will be used in several missions, such as medical rescue and humanitarian aid. Both aircraft are scheduled to be delivered by the end of this year. Follow us on Twitter: @EmbraerSA For more information, please visit www.embraer.com Contacts: Headquarters (Brazil) Saulo Passos [email protected] Cell: +55 11 94254 4017 Tel.: +55 11 3040 1799 North America Alyssa Ten Eyck [email protected] Cell: +1 954 383 0460 Tel.: +1 954 359 3847 Europe, Middle East and Africa Guy Douglas [email protected] Cell: +31 (0)657120121 Tel.: +31 (0)202158109 China Mirage Zhong [email protected] Cell: +86 185 1378 5180 Tel.: +86 10 6598 9988 Asia Pacific Nilma Missir-Boissac [email protected] Cell: +65 9012 8428 Tel.: +65 6305 9955 SOURCE Embraer S.A. Related Links http://www.embraer.com DALLAS, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Energy Hunter Resources, Inc., an oil-focused energy company headquartered in Dallas, Texas (www.energyhunter.energy), announced today the appointment of Victor G. Carrillo to the Company's Board of Directors effective immediately. The appointment of Victor G. Carrillo to the Energy Hunter Resources' Board marks the third independent director appointment to the Company's Board. Gary C. Evans, Chairman and CEO of Energy Hunter Resources said, "I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Victor G. Carrillo to our Board of Directors. Victor's proven track record, combined with his wisdom as demonstrated in the past, will further strengthen the depth of our existing Board. Victor has served on numerous committees, commissions and boards during his distinguished career, including the Texas Railroad Commission, the Texas Energy Planning Council, the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and as the former Chairman of the West Texas Energy Consortium. In addition, Mr. Carrillo holds a JD from the University of Houston Law Center with an emphasis on environmental and oil and gas law." Evans continued, "The combined knowledge and insights gained through these experiences will help us strengthen and forge new relationships in the industry and assist in managing the increasingly complex regulatory environment within the oil and natural gas business today. Moreover, Victor's background and experience in both the legal and public markets arena will provide additional bench strength to our experienced team of professionals as we move closer to our planned initial public offering in the coming weeks." Mr. Carrillo currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. ("Zion") (NYSE: ZN), a publicly-traded company engaged in onshore oil and gas exploration in Israel. Mr. Carrillo has served as a director of Zion since September 2010, and served as President and Chief Operating Officer from October 2011 through June 2015. Carrillo served as a Director at Magnum Hunter Resources from 2011 through early 2016. From 2003 through 2010, Mr. Carrillo served as a statewide elected commissioner on the Texas Railroad Commission, overseeing the Texas oil and gas sector. Currently, Mr. Carrillo serves on the Advisory Board of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University and on the board of directors of the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce. During his time of service on the Texas Railroad Commission, Mr. Carrillo served as Chairman of the Governor's Texas Energy Planning Council, Chairman of the Outer Continental Shelf Advisory Committee to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and Vice Chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. In 2002, Victor was elected as County Judge for Taylor County, a post he held when Governor Rick Perry appointed him to the Texas Railroad Commission in February 2003. In 2004, he won his first statewide election with almost four million votes, securing a six-year term of office. Mr. Carrillo received a B.S. in geology from Hardin-Simmons University, an M.S. in geology from Baylor University, a Juris Doctorate with emphasis in both environmental and oil and gas law from the University of Houston Law Center and an honorary Doctorate from Hardin-Simmons University. About Energy Hunter Resources, Inc. Energy Hunter Resources, Inc. is an independent oil company headquartered in Dallas, Texas with a mission to own and operate properties within some of the most prolific resource plays in the United States. Initially focusing on the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin, Energy Hunter's aim is to create substantial shareholder value through a balanced program of acquisitions and low-risk development and exploitation opportunities utilizing horizontal drilling and fracture stimulation technology. Legal Disclaimer Energy Hunter Resources, Inc. may, in the future, undertake a public offering pursuant to Regulation A under the Securities Act. No money or other consideration is being solicited at this time with respect to such an offering, and if sent in response to these materials for such an offering, it will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received for an offering under Regulation A until an offering statement is qualified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and any such offer may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time before notice of its acceptance given after the qualification date. An indication of interest made by a prospective investor in a Regulation A offering is non-binding and involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160713/389516LOGO SOURCE Energy Hunter Resources, Inc. Related Links http://www.energyhunter.energy FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FMD K&L Inc. (FMD K&L) and iMEDGlobal Corporation (iMEDGlobal) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a merger agreement. FMD K&L is a privately owned Contract Research Organization (CRO) with headquarters in the USA and China. iMEDGlobal is a privately owned CRO with headquarters in the USA and with main delivery centers in India and the Philippines. The services, clientele, and delivery centers of the companies are complementary in nature, providing alignment towards the same strategic direction. The merger enables the combined entity to realize cost and revenue synergies across operational integration, a broader spectrum of services, an extended customer base, an expanded global presence, and a stronger sales force. It will also be better equipped to create sustainable value for the clients and institute better business focus for the company and the workforce. By leveraging the joint capabilities across both firms, including FMD K&L's extensive experience in CRO services which include Clinical Operations, Data Management, Biostatistics, Statistical Programming, and eSubmissions/CDISC as well as iMEDGlobal's service inventory across Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory, Toxicology, and Medical Affairs, it enriches the existing service portfolio of the individual firms and will in turn create benefits to our clients, geographies, and markets. The merger results in a wider geographical coverage with 19 offices across the globe in countries like the USA, UK, Philippines, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Armenia. The combined entity will have over 1200 employees. It will be able to provide flexibility in delivery and engagement models, coverage in all time zones, and faster access to the local service team. Backed with an in-house multi-lingual workforce, the company will be in a position to extend regional support for global projects, especially in markets which have language dependencies. "The combined entity will be led by a strong leadership team possessing substantial prowess in the Pharma and CRO industry," says Dr. Xin Ke, CEO, FMD K&L. "Driven by our core values of accountability, innovation, leadership, quality, and partnership, the company will be prepared to expand its operations across the globe. The combined team of leaders share the same vision, culture, and values which will help in the smooth transition and will also be pivotal in propelling the company for monumental performance." "The merger itself resulted in achieving synergies in terms of better geographical coverage, a stronger talent force, and a more comprehensive service menu for our clients in the life sciences industry," states Dr. Dan Zhang, Executive Chairman, FMD. "Further, the company will be better positioned to take up large-scale projects in new and existing markets." Mr. Prashanth Visweswaran, Founder and Executive Chairman, iMEDGlobal states, "The merger represents a culmination of business interests to propel the company to the next level. The strategic advantage of complementary businesses will be instrumental in unlocking greater value for worldwide clients, stakeholders, and the employees. As near-term benefits from this merger, we foresee upward trajectories in revenues, global expertise in service delivery, and growth opportunities for our employees." About FMD K&L FMD K&L is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) offering data management, biostatistics, statistical programming, CDISC compliant eSubmission, medical writing, and clinical operations to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries worldwide. In addition, we provide regulatory affairs services in China and South East Asia. We continuously strive to raise the standard of excellence through accuracy and efficiency. This results in high quality output to get our client's drug or medical product approved faster and to improve the lives of patients. About iMEDGlobal iMEDGlobal is a global CRO specialized in regulatory affairs, product safety and toxicology, medical affairs and technology, and clinical operations for biopharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer healthcare industries. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, iMEDGlobal has a presence in the USA, UK, India, and Philippines with delivery centers across these areas ensuring fast execution of the services. Contact: Catherine Ditzler Gargi Kumari Senior Marketing Manager Global Marketing Head FMD K&L iMEDGlobal 1-215-283-6035 1-609-759-6900 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE FMD K&L Inc. Related Links http://www.klserv.com (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428765 ) The main features of the simple and user-friendly FreshTunes online interface are: Free registration and 24 hour content upload to all major digital stores - allowing artists to manage their releases, artwork, track descriptions and monitor sales and streaming statistics via an elegant dashboard. Music is distributed to all major music platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Deezer, GoogleMusic, Amazon music, Shazam, YouTube, SAAVN, Guvera and more. Fresh Tunes takes no cut of revenues, royalties or rights - the artist keeps 100%. Additional value-added services such as artwork production, lyric video production, ringtone production, promotion of artist videos on the FreshTunes YouTube channel, LANDR automated music mastering and MFiT to fit music to iTunes quality standards. The Business Model is completely transparent, simple and unique - Fresh Tunes makes money from the value- added services it offers and some interest on the money that is left in the account, as users can withdraw in multiples of 25. This way, the standard service will stay free for everyone, always. Fresh Tunes entered the market in Spring 2016, and already the service has exceeded all targets - with users in 84 countries, including the UK, US as well as Russian Federation, India and Brazil. In just six months, FreshTunes has amassed a growing list of nearly 50,000 tracks. Fresh Tunes has already given independent hip hop star Oxxxymiron a #1 album (Hip Hop chart, iTunes Russia), as well as distributing the music of Jamala the Ukrainian winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Fresh Tunes was co-founded by Nikolay Okorokov, it is headquartered in Dubai with the tech and operational hub in Moscow, a city that is fast becoming a global hub for tech and creativity. The startup has also already set up offices in Brazil and the UK. Nikolay Okorokov said: "I believe we've created a new model that is fair and gives the best value for money for all independent artists. It is one that we believe will create a new shift in digital music distribution. So many artists now are choosing to stay independent, even after achieving global success - it's a trend that hasn't gone unnoticed and FreshTunes is all about empowering and supporting the independent community of musicians around the world to truly run their careers on their terms." Across nearly a twenty year career, 38 year old Okorokov has built an impressive track record in the digital music content, tech and communications business through founding and leading his diverse range of companies Iricom, Rightscom, Kedoo, animation studio 3D Sparrow and his stake in Russian label NDA. Okorokov's visionary business approach, expert leadership and responsiveness in a fast moving digital world, has seen him become a leader in the booming Russian digital content market. Okorokov added: "Everything is going free, services are now affordable for everyone, it is the same for music. FreshTunes has a 'freemium' model, the main service of distributing music onto digital platforms is totally free, and if users want a value added service on top, then they are happy to pay a small fee. We truly believe everyone deserves to share their art, build their communities and reach a global audience for free." SOURCE FreshTunes HOUSTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fuddruckers, home of the "World's Greatest Hamburgers," is increasing its presence in the Dominican Republic and its capital city of Santo Domingo in partnership with Giancarlo Bonarelli of Franchise Management Group LTD. Based on the success of a 3,500-square-foot flagship restaurant in the upscale Galeria 360 mall, the team debuted a new Fuddruckers Express location earlier this week the Caribbean's first in the center's food court. Galeria 360 features more than 120 stores and restaurants plus a large movie theater. According to Peter Tropoli, Chief Operating Officer, "Since joining forces with Franchise Management Group LTD for our 2014 debut in the Dominican Republic, we've been thrilled with their enthusiasm, brand loyalty, high standards and market expertise. We look forward to much success ahead for them as they continue to win over customers in the Caribbean." Fuddruckers Express will offer diners a curated and market-tailored menu of burgers, fries, hand breaded onion rings and chicken tenders, salads, wraps, plus sweet treats ranging from fresh cookies to brownies. Since 1980, Fuddruckers has been obsessed with making the world happier, one great hamburger at a time. Grilled-to-order burgers feature always fresh and never frozen, 100% USDA premium-cut beef with no fillers or additives. Delicious, sesame-topped buns are baked from scratch on-site throughout the day to achieve the perfect combination of crisp crust and melt-in-your-mouth texture. And while burgers are the signature, the engaging menu offers variety for many tastes with an array of sandwiches, platters and salads. No matter what they choose, customers can customize their meal with a trip to the legendary Build Your Own produce bar, which features fantastic fixings like sun-ripened tomatoes, lettuce, sliced onions, dill pickles, pico de gallo and classic cheese sauce. About Luby's, Inc. Luby's, Inc. (NYSE: LUB) operates restaurants under the brands Luby's Cafeteria, Fuddruckers and Cheeseburger in Paradise and provides food service management through its Luby's Culinary Services division. The company-operated restaurants include 91 Luby's Cafeterias, 74 Fuddruckers restaurants, eight Cheeseburger in Paradise full service restaurants and bars and one Bob Luby's Seafood Grill. Its Luby's Cafeterias are located primarily in Texas. In addition to the company-operated Fuddruckers locations, Luby's is the franchisor for 110 Fuddruckers franchise locations across the United States (including Puerto Rico), Canada, Mexico, Panama, Italy, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Luby's Culinary Services provides food service management to 24 sites consisting of healthcare, higher education and corporate dining locations. SOURCE Fuddruckers Related Links http://www.fuddruckers.com LONDON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- About Labels Labels are made of different types of material, such as cloth, film, paper, and plastic and have different features, such as in-mold and pressure-sensitive adhesives. Sleeve labels hold a minimal percentage in the global label market, but because of their various advantages, such as 360-degree coverage, we expect the sleeve label market to grow rapidly. Digital sleeve labels have become popular in many retail outlets. With many new products being launched by vendors, packaging companies are being encouraged to adopt technologically advanced sleeve labels, which has resulted in the growth of the market. A rise in demand for sleeve labels from the manufacturers of consumer products has resulted in an increased demand for sleeve labels in the global market. Hence, vendors are trying to develop new materials and technologies to improve their product portfolios and tap into the markets of emerging countries. Technavio's analysts forecast the global sleeve label market to grow at a CAGR of 5.11% during the period 2016-2020. Covered in this report The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global sleeve label market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the production of sleeve labels. The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: - APAC - Europe - North America - ROW Technavio's report, Global Sleeve Label Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Key vendors - Avery Dennison - Bemis - CCL Industries - Clondalkin - Constantia Flexibles - Huhtamaki Other prominent vendors - Intertape Polymer - Klockner Pentaplast - The DOW Chemical Company - Macfarlane - SleeveCo - Berry Plastics - Cenveo - Constantia Flexibles - Karlville Development - Hood Packaging Market driver - Growing demand for plastic bottles - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market challenge - High initial investment cost - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market trend - Focus on developing sustainable labels - For a full, detailed list, view our report Key questions answered in this report - What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? - What are the key market trends? - What is driving this market? - What are the challenges to market growth? - Who are the key vendors in this market space? - What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? - What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors? Methodology Research methodology is based on extensive primary and secondary research. Primary research includes in-depth interviews with industry experts, vendors, resellers and customers. Secondary research includes Technavio Platform, industry publications, company reports, news articles, analyst reports, trade associations and the data published by Government agencies. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4143790/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Good Start Genetics announced its plans to present data from three scientific studies focused on preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). These studies cover new research using EmbryVu, the company's PGS test, developed to detect chromosome abnormalities in embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF). This information can be used to select healthy embryos for transfer leading to an increase in IVF success. The test uses the company's own proprietary next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform and technology exclusively licensed from Johns Hopkins University, enabling Good Start Genetics to offer EmbryVu at considerably lower prices than other PGS tests currently on the market. The Company's low cost of testing enables more patients to access high-quality technology to help improve their chances of pregnancy. The data will be presented by Greg Porreca, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, and his team and will cover the validation of the assay and clinical experience. Good Start Genetics will present the following abstracts: "Accurate Detection of Segmental Aneuploidy in Preimplantation Genetic Screening Using Targeted Next-Generation DNA Sequencing" This presentation will cover Good Start Genetics' validation of its NGS-based PGS ability to detect segmental aneuploidy. Using a combination of cell-line derived samples and simulations, Good Start Genetics was able to conclude that in addition to whole chromosome abnormalities, EmbryVu can accurately detect segmental aneuploidies of 10 Mb or greater across the genome. "Segmental Aneuploidy in Preimplantation Genetic Screening Stratified by Age and Clinical Indication Using Targeted Next-Generation DNA Sequencing" This presentation will summarize Good Start Genetics' clinical experience in detecting segmental aneuploidy using their NGS-based PGS assay. The study found that segmental aneuploidies were seen in both embryos with and without additional whole chromosome aneuploidies and that segmental aneuploidy rates were similar across all age groups. These findings are similar to published rates using other technologies. "Clinical Experience With a Targeted NGS-based Preimplantation Genetic Screening Assay" This presentation will summarize Good Start Genetics' clinical experience in detecting whole chromosome aneuploidy using their NGS-based PGS assay. Observed aneuploidy rates were dependent on egg age and are in line with published rates using other technologies. About Good Start Genetics Good Start Genetics is an information solutions company delivering best-in-class genetics offerings to growing families. Using advanced clinical sequencing, proprietary methods and information tailored to the individual, the Company's suite of offerings arms clinicians and patients with insightful and actionable information to promote successful pregnancies and help build healthy families. The newly launched VeriYou broadens the Company's product portfolio to deliver carrier screening to families of all economic backgrounds. Its flagship genetic carrier screening service, GeneVu, is a comprehensive menu of highly-accurate tests for known and novel mutations that cause inherited genetic disorders, and its proprietary and advanced preimplantation genetic screening test, EmbryVu, based on technologies exclusively licensed from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is helping a wider range of couples find their paths to pregnancy at significantly lower costs. Good Start Genetics complements these offerings with world class customer care and genetic counseling to help families stay well-informed and best prepare for tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.goodstartgenetics.com or join us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160803/395265LOGO SOURCE Good Start Genetics, Inc. Related Links http://www.goodstartgenetics.com CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced today that it has completed an investment in Riverchase MSO, LLC ("Riverchase" or the "Company"), a leading dermatology practice management business headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida. Founded in 2000, Riverchase has grown to become one of the largest dermatology practice management platforms in the U.S., with 25 locations in Florida. Riverchase provides general, surgical and cosmetic dermatology, along with related pathology lab services, all while maintaining a strident focus on clinical quality. As part of the transaction, GTCR partnered with Founder and CEO, Andrew Jaffe, M.D., and the current Riverchase management team to continue to grow the Company and expand its geographic footprint. GTCR expects to commit additional equity capital to fund future acquisitions and organic growth initiatives. "Dr. Jaffe and his team have built a unique, high-quality dermatology practice that is well positioned to expand and serve the increasing demand for dermatology services," said GTCR Managing Director Sean Cunningham. "With the increasing prevalence of skin cancer, an aging population and broader insurance coverage, we expect to see continued growth in this part of the healthcare market, and we're excited to partner with Riverchase for its next chapter of growth," he added. Andrew Jaffe, M.D., said, "Riverchase will continue to expand to serve our patients with an unwavering focus on high quality care and patient experience. GTCR brings significant resources and experience to support us through this next phase of our long-term growth strategy, geographically broadening patients' access to superior dermatology services. We're excited to partner with GTCR to further develop Riverchase." Dean Mihas, Managing Director at GTCR, added: "We are very excited to work with Dr. Jaffe as we look to build upon the strong foundation he has created at Riverchase over the last 16 years. This transaction is an excellent example of leveraging GTCR's experience in investing in multi-site healthcare businesses and demonstrates our continued enthusiasm for investing in market-leading, consumer-driven provider groups." GTCR's investment in Riverchase was funded from GTCR Fund XI, a private equity fund raised in 2014 with $3.85 billion of limited partner equity capital commitments. Golub Capital, NXT Capital and Northwestern Mutual provided financing for the transaction. Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor to GTCR, Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel and PricewaterhouseCoopers served as accounting advisor. William Blair & Company served as financial advisor to Riverchase and DLA Piper provided legal counsel. About GTCR Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare, Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Growth Business Services industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy - finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $12 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com. About Riverchase Riverchase is a leading dermatology practice management business providing general, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology services along with related pathology lab services. Riverchase Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery was founded in Naples, Florida in 2000, by Andrew T. Jaffe, MD. The Company is the largest and most comprehensive Dermatology practice in Southwest Florida, treating all types of skin disorders and cosmetic concerns with the latest advances in medicine. Riverchase associates include many of the most accomplished clinicians in their respective fields. The Company strives to provide excellence in medical care while treating each patient like family. Riverchase is headquartered in Ft. Myers, Florida. For more information, visit http://www.riverchasedermatology.com Media Contact: Eileen Rochford [email protected] 312-953-3305 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160106/319670LOGO SOURCE GTCR Related Links http://http://www.riverchasedermatology.com COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Telecommunication and carrier professionals will have the opportunity to connect with one of the Midwest's largest fiber network operators when they attend the 2016 INCOMPAS Show, Oct. 23-25 in Dallas. Horizon Network Partners, a leading broadband and fiber optic data services provider, will be operating out of booth #208 at the INCOMPAS Show, in Dallas. As an expert backhaul and fiber network solutions provider, Horizon works with carriers nationwide, helping them meet their customers' needs by devising creative backhaul and Ethernet solutions. "Across our six-state region, we work with some of the industry's largest carriers to provide bandwidth solutions over our pure optical, 21st century network," said Steve Steele, president and chief operating officer of Horizon Network Partners. "As a carrier that's committed to providing customizable solutions that solve problems, we're looking forward to telling our story at the industry's most important show of the year." With a presence in Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Horizon has been working consistently for 120 years to become one of the most trusted Midwest carriers in the industry and the premier provider in the markets served. Attendees who stop by the booth during the show can learn about the solutions and expertise Horizon offers, as well as a chance to win door prizes. To learn more about how Horizon Network Partners connects communities and businesses, visit horizonconnects.com. About Horizon With corporate offices in Chillicothe, Ohio, and a regional office in Columbus, Ohio, Horizon Network Partners is a leading broadband provider of advanced data services in southern and eastern Ohio. Utilizing its extensive network of fiber optic cable, Horizon delivers advanced high speed data services, Internet, voice, digital video, security and monitoring services. Horizon's entrepreneurial heritage and long-standing commitment to remarkable customer care ensures its devotion to connecting its customers to their worlds through the delivery of cutting-edge broadband technology and proven telecommunications systems. For more information about Horizon, visit horizonconnects.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349755LOGO SOURCE Horizon Network Partners Related Links http://horizontel.com NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Idaho Mesothelioma Victims Center is the best branded source for mesothelioma compensation in Idaho. The Center is urging a recently diagnosed person with this rare cancer in Idaho or their family members to call them anytime at 800-714-0303 for extremely sound advice about why it is so vital for them to literally have the top compensation lawyers in the USA, especially if the diagnosed person was exposed to asbestos on a Navy ship, at a mine, or power facility. Miner Idaho State Flag Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428497 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428498 These types of people with mesothelioma in Idaho can get financial compensation over a million dollars-as the Center would like to explain anytime-the caveat is they must have the nation's most skilled lawyers to receive these kinds of financial results. http://Idaho.MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com The Center says, "We are extremely familiar with Navy Veterans and we will almost instantly know how or where they were exposed to asbestos, we are also very familiar with the mines and former smelter in Northern Idaho, and we are very knowledgeable about power plants, public utilities, or military facilities in Southern Idaho. We once talked to a victim's daughter whose dad's mesothelioma was caused by asbestos exposure at a military facility in Southern Idaho. The dad was literally told by his foreman-all of you guys will probably get mesothelioma or asbestosis." "It is nearly impossible to not get passionate about helping people with mesothelioma in Idaho when you have had the opportunity to meet so many. These people need very honest advice and we want to help them make the very best choices. Not only do we invite a diagnosed person with mesothelioma in Idaho to call us anytime at 800-714-0303-our offer includes their daughter, son, or wife. If you live in Idaho and you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or this is your family member-please call us anytime for the most honest and good advice you will ever get." http://Idaho.MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com For the best possible mesothelioma treatment options in Idaho the Idaho Mesothelioma Victims Center strongly recommends the following heath care facility with the offer to help a diagnosed victim, or their family get to the right physicians at this hospital: * St. Luke's Mountain States Tumor Institute Boise, Idaho: http://www.stlukesonline.org/cancer_care/ The Idaho Mesothelioma Victims Center's unsurpassed services are available to a diagnosed person anywhere in Idaho including communities such as Boise, Nampa, Meridian, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Coeur d'Alene, Twin Falls, Wallace, or Lewiston. High risk work groups for exposure to asbestos in Idaho include US Navy Veterans, miners, power plant workers, manufacturing workers, smelter workers, pulp or paper mill workers, military base workers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, machinists, or construction workers. In most instances these types of people were exposed to asbestos in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. http://Idaho.MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com The states with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, West Virginia, Florida, Wyoming, and Washington. However, mesothelioma does happen in Idaho as the Idaho Mesothelioma Victims Center would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303. For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html Media Contact: Michael Thomas Email 800-714-0303 SOURCE Idaho Mesothelioma Victims Center Related Links http://Idaho.MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com This year marks the program's 20 th anniversary. Since 1996, the Voya Unsung Heroes program has awarded nearly $5 million in grants to more than 2,000 K-12 educators across the U.S. in support of their innovative teaching methods, creative educational projects and ability to positively influence the children they teach. In looking back at the winning projects from the program's 20-year history, Voya has also been able to track the popular trends and compelling concepts that have shaped our country's education system. (See infographic: "Voya Highlights 20 Years of Teaching Trends" ). As the second place winner, selected from more than 1,350 applications, this group of educators will receive $10,000 in addition to an initial $2,000 grant. This will bring their total financial award from Voya up to $12,000. The money will be used to help fund "No Holds Barred," the award-winning program they are implementing at Cedarville High School. "Voya Financial is honored to salute Shea Havens-White, Angela Yake, Grant Rogers and Jason Siwek, who have the vision to pioneer new teaching methods and creative ideas in the classroom that inspire learning," said Heather Lavallee, president of Tax-Exempt Markets at Voya Financial. "Each day, we help individuals plan, invest and protect their savings to prepare for their financial future, and we are proud to recognize these men and women who prepare students for their future. Teaching is one of the most important professions in the world, and we are privileged to help this group of educators continue to make a positive, lifelong impact on the children they teach." The team's innovative teaching idea, "No Holds Barred," is focused on helping students in business, science and technology classes take their learning beyond textbooks and use their knowledge to create an actual enterprise. The students will engage in a project-based learning experience where they will have the opportunity to build, design, market and sell products of their own creation. Students from four different classes with four different teachers will work together collaboratively throughout the process. Students will begin by learning the basics of entrepreneurship and business management as they form their own small business. Students in engineering classes will then use their skills in mathematics, technology and science to create the unique products by using specialized software and equipment like 3D printers and 3D cutters. The product will then be packaged and sold by business classes on the school's e-commerce site. The project will help students see the real-life connection of what they learn in the classroom, while also encouraging them to think like scientists, artists and entrepreneurs. "We are incredibly proud of Shea Havens-White, Angela Yake, Grant Rogers and Jason Siwek. 'No Holds Barred' gives our students a chance to think outside the box, while exploring their business and entrepreneurial skills," said Chad Haemmerle, principal of Cedarville High School. "We are delighted to give this exciting and valuable learning opportunity to the students. The extra grant money from Voya Financial will help take this program to a new level. Thank you Shea, Angela, Grant and Jason for being passionate about what you do." The $12,000 grant will enable the teachers to purchase the equipment needed for their students' startup business. Specifically, the funds will be used to buy approximately a dozen iPads, a laser cutter and other required tools for a 3D printer. To learn more about this year's winning projects, as well as those from previous years, visit the Voya Unsung Heroes website (unsungheroes.com). Applications for the 2017 Voya Unsung Heroes awards are currently being accepted through the website until April 30, 2017. Media Contact: Bill Sutton Voya Financial Office: (860) 580-2626 Cell: (315) 373-9685 [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. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428604 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160229/338931LOGO SOURCE Voya Financial, Inc. Related Links http://www.voya.com ATLANTA, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Job Creators Network (JCN) and Senator John Albers announced they are hosting a series of Bring Small Businesses Back events around the Atlanta, GA area on Thursday, October 20th. The events will feature Georgia State Senator John Albers and JCN President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz discussing the threats that small business owners face. Georgia State Capitol from 8:30 A.M. to 9:00 A.M. ET 206 Washington Street. SW, Atlanta, GA 30334 RSVP for the event here. Sandy Springs Chamber from 10:00 A.M. to 11:15 A.M. ET 6 Concourse Parkway, Suite 3300, Sandy Springs, GA 30328 RSVP for the event here. Johns Creek Chamber from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. ET 10475 Medlock Bridge Road, Johns Creek, GA 30097 RSVP for the event here. Alive After 5 in Roswell beginning at 5:00 P.M. ET 12 Norcross Street, Roswell, GA 30075 To address the burden small businesses face, Sen. John Albers will work with his colleagues to introduce three pieces of legislation. They will aim to reduce the regulatory burden levied onto small businesses, encourage their growth, and increase customer service. The events are part of JCN's Bring Small Businesses Back campaign which consists of a nationwide bus tour to hear the challenges that real local small businesses are facing. Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of JCN, will present on this campaign as well as JCN's Employer to Employee (E2E) education program. "Our goal is to educate small businesses on what is being done on the federal and state level to promote their growth and success," said Sen. Albers. "Small businesses have the burden of dealing with numerous regulations and laws. A priority for me this upcoming session will be to address any burdens or issues small businesses face. I will work with the Job Creators Network and my colleagues to cut down regulations and to provide incentives for small business owners who hire new staff. We will also work to create a one-stop shop for all businesses when it comes to permit processing and applications. I look forward to working with JCN, my colleagues and small businesses around the state." "The Bring Small Businesses Back campaign is working to unleash the power of free enterprise," said Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network. "With the help of Georgia lawmakers, such as Sen. Albers, we can get the economy working again for everyone in both Georgia and the entire country. Together, we can bring small businesses back." The events will focus on finding solutions to the problems most commonly cited by small business owners: overregulation, overtaxation, and lack of access to credit. With small businesses in Georgia making up 97 percent of all employers in the state, it is vital for their concerns to be heard. In a nationwide poll of small businesses commissioned by JCN earlier this year, two-thirds of respondents identified overtaxation as preventing their businesses from thriving. Three-fifths said the same about overregulation. As a result, the survey also found that only one in five small business owners plan to hire additional employees over the next year, and only around one-quarter believe that doing business over the next year will be easier than the previous one. To schedule an interview, contact Jackson Shedelbower at [email protected] or (470) 223-7356. The Job Creators Network (JCN) is the voice of real job creators that has been missing from the debate on jobs and our economic crisis. JCN members talk about paychecks, not politics, helping the public and policymakers understand how to create jobs. For more information, please visit www.JobCreatorsNetwork.com. SOURCE Job Creators Network (JCN) Related Links http://www.JobCreatorsNetwork.com CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexumo, developer of the world's first automated service for continuously monitoring Internet of Things (IoT) code for critical open source vulnerabilities, today announced that its cloud-based platform has been constantly protecting customers from the SSHowDowN vulnerability (CVE-2004-1653) well prior to Akamai's recent announcement. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428971LOGO Akamai reports that hackers are now exploiting the 12-year old OpenSSH vulnerability to mount mass-scale attacks from millions of compromised IoT devices, including routers, cable modems, satellite TV equipment, and IP-connected cameras, DVRs and NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. The attacks create unauthorized SSH tunnels which are then used to route malicious traffic against victim sites while hiding the attackers' identities. Attackers also use the devices as beachheads to launch internal attacks against corporate networks. Lexumo uses graph analytics and machine learning developed for DARPA to precisely identify public vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed, Shellshock (Bashdoor), and SSHowDowN in IoT code. The platform also provides detailed instructions for remediating vulnerabilities in order to avoid their exploitation by cyberattackers. The company was recently recognized as an IoT Company to Watch and a Machine Learning Startup to Watch. "Cyberattackers look for the path of least resistance and vulnerabilities that have been around for years are a great place to start," said Richard Carback, PhD, co-founder and Chief Architect at Lexumo. "Unlike with zero days, information about public open source vulnerabilities is broadly available via public message boards and email lists. Many IoT devices are particularly vulnerable because they haven't been designed with security in mind, so there's a good chance this type of attacker technique will become significantly more popular in the future. It would seem like a minimum standard of due care for manufacturers to use automation to ensure they're not shipping devices with vulnerabilities like SSHowDowN." The impact of shipping insecure IoT devices was also illustrated a few weeks ago when cyberattackers exploited vulnerabilities in 1.5 million IoT devices to generate the world's most powerful Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack to date. The unprecedented attack successfully disabled the website of well-known security researcher Brian Krebs. Cyberattackers also leveraged their massive botnet army to launch a separate DDoS attack on European ISP OVH that reached nearly one terabit per second (Tbps). Brad Gaynor, Lexumo Co-Founder and CTO, will be speaking about these topics at the IoT Security Summit in Boston next week. His talks include Balancing Security and Technology Spending in the Industrial IoT (October 19, 2:40-3:20pm) and The Next Generation of Embedded Security (October 20, 2:40-3:20pm). Lexumo will also be demonstrating its innovative code security solution in Booth #202, where attendees can meet the company's founders and discuss IoT cybersecurity with Lexumo's experts. About Lexumo Lexumo secures the world's open source software. Our cloud-based service enables developers to securely adopt the best open source available so they can ship great products faster. Lexumo uses "Big Code" analytics to precisely identify critical vulnerabilities without the inaccuracies associated with legacy open source software (OSS) governance solutions, even when code has previously been modified or patched. Built on a massively-scalable, AWS-based cloud stack, Lexumo's service integrates with existing developer workflows (Jenkins, Jira, etc.); provides actionable information in the form of detailed patching instructions; and continuously monitors your code for vulnerabilities without requiring any developer interaction. For more information, visit https://www.lexumo.com. Media Contact: Phil Neray Email 1-617-539-6823 SOURCE Lexumo Related Links https://www.lexumo.com The Bright Horizons program was established in 2013 when Liberty Power co-founders, David Hernandez and Alberto Daire, committed $100,000 over five years to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) Foundation. The Bright Horizons Scholarship endeavors to promote and encourage educational efforts in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through awards to college students majoring in these fields who also have an interest in pursuing a career in energy and the environment. "It's a continued pleasure to collaborate with Liberty Power on the Bright Horizons Scholarship. The USHCC Foundation is honored to be involved in promoting the advancement of STEM education, particularly among ethnic groups that are under-represented in these important fields," said USHCC Foundation Chairman, Nina Vaca. The grand prize, a $10,000 scholarship, was awarded to Twymun K. Safford, who is earning undergraduate degrees in Physics and Mathematics from the University of West Florida. "I am honored to be recognized as a Liberty Power Bright Horizons Scholarship winner," Mr. Safford stated. "My goals include pursuing a Ph.D. in nuclear and high-energy physics in order to contribute to research endeavors that will yield safer, more efficient energy alternatives." The $6,000 scholarship was awarded to Agni Guerrero, an undergraduate student at New Mexico State University who is majoring in electrical engineering. "The Liberty Power Bright Horizons Scholarship will provide me with the financial support needed to pursue a master's degree," Ms. Guerrero said. "I will be able to spread the message to other minority students that no matter what your current situation might be, with dedication and the right tools it is possible to achieve your educational and career goals." Samantha Michael was awarded the $4,000 scholarship. She is earning her undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering at North Carolina State University. "I hope to play an integral role in the development of the newer, more robust technology that is going to be needed to further promote zero-emission power sources," Ms. Michael stated. "Such a prestigious award as the Liberty Power Bright Horizons Scholarship will provide the increased credibility I need to have my ideas taken seriously." Winners were chosen by a panel of judges comprised of policymakers and business leaders within the energy industry, previous Bright Horizons Scholarship winners, the USHCC Foundation, and a collective vote from Liberty Power team members. The three winners were honored by Nina Vaca, USHCC Foundation Chairman, Alberto Daire, co-founder and President of Liberty Power, as well as Tim LoCascio, Liberty Power's Director of Marketing and Bright Horizons Program Director, during the annual convention's closing gala on October 11. "We are extremely proud to be able to support such an exceptional group of talented students," Daire stated. "It's personally very rewarding to be able to support the educational pursuits of the future generation and provide them with a memorable experience." The fifth annual Liberty Power Bright Horizons Scholarship application period is scheduled to open in Spring, 2017. About Liberty Power Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Liberty Power is the largest owner-operated retail electricity provider in the United States based on 2015 DNV GL rankings of electricity retailers. The company is also the first minority-owned provider with a national footprint, and the largest Hispanic-owned energy company in the United States according to Hispanic Business magazine. Liberty Power provides large and small businesses, government agencies and residential customers with competitively-priced electricity and exceptional customer service. For more information please visit www.libertypowercorp.com About the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation The USHCC Foundation is committed to giving Hispanic entrepreneurs life-long learning by developing and implementing initiatives and educational campaigns to awaken and nurture their entrepreneurial spirit. The Foundation leverages corporate and public support to ensure that existing and aspiring Latino entrepreneurs gain access and achieve success in the world of business. Please visit www.ushccfoundation.org for more information. About the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Founded in 1979, the USHCC actively promotes the economic growth and development of Hispanic entrepreneurs and represents the interests of nearly 4.1 million Hispanic-owned businesses across the United States that together contribute in excess of $661 billion to the American economy each year. It also serves as the umbrella organization for more than 200 local Hispanic chambers and business associations in the United States and Puerto Rico. For more information visit www.ushcc.com Liberty Power is a registered trademark of Liberty Power Corp. LLC, whose subsidiaries are certified and licensed to provide retail electric service by the PUC / PSC of CA, CT, DC, DE, IL, ME, MD, MA, MI, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TX and VA. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428537LOGO Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428538 SOURCE Liberty Power Related Links http://www.libertypowercorp.com SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MassRoots, Inc. (OTCQB:MSRT), one of the largest technology platforms for the cannabis industry, is pleased to announce it has recruited principal engineers from some of the world's leading technology companies to accelerate the roll-out of several planned features. MassRoots' development team is led by Lance Galey, former Chief Software Architect of Cloud Services for Autodesk and Vice President and Principal Architect at Salesforce, where he led the architecture and development of numerous core infrastructure and platform services underlying a large portfolio of Salesforce SaaS applications. In 2013, Mr. Galey was selected as the executive MVP for the technology division of Salesforce.com. "Over the past three months, we've recruited some of the most talented engineers from the world's leading technology companies who are fascinated by the incredible opportunity the cannabis industry presents," stated MassRoots CTO Lance Galey. "All great technology companies are built by talented engineers. With a world-class team now in place, we believe MassRoots is progressing at a higher velocity than anyone else in the space." Recent additions to the MassRoots engineering and design teams include: Brian Bureson - Mr. Bureson joined MassRoots this May as the Director of User Experience. Before MassRoots, Mr. Bureson was a Principal Interaction Designer at Motorola where he led the interaction design for the 2015 Moto 360 watch. Prior to joining Motorola, he was a Senior Interaction Designer at Microsoft where he led the interaction design for Skype's Android phone and tablet apps through three major releases: Skype 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x. Mr. Bureson also oversaw the interaction design of Skype's video messaging application Skype Qik on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. Skype's Android application has over 100 Million users globally. JC Polanycia - Mr. Polanycia joined MassRoots in September as a Senior Reliability Engineer. Before joining MassRoots, Mr. Polanycia designed and implemented large-scale core infrastructure services for a number of industry-leading companies, including Autodesk, Salesforce, and Cisco. He will be bringing his expertise at building and maintaining highly-scalable, reliable backend systems to ensure that MassRoots offers a world-class experience for its users and a highly-dependable backbone for its engineering efforts. Teagan Glenn - Ms. Glenn joined MassRoots in September as a Senior Software Engineer. Ms. Glenn has a heavy background in mathematics, physics, and software engineering. Before joining MassRoots, she worked on critical third-party integration functionality for a commercial real estate software company. Earlier in her career, she architected and built large-scale power plant monitoring tools for an industry-leading energy company. Ms. Glenn has a deep expertise in data acquisition, performance testing, database design and architecture, client side and server-side applications and web-applications. Kevin Shiuan - Kevin Shiuan is the Product Manager responsible for MassRoots' mobile and web apps. Before MassRoots, Kevin was a Product Manager at Fiksu where he led strategy, design, and development for Fiksu's Social Ads SaaS platform. He is responsible for ensuring that our design and engineering efforts are focused on solving the most compelling problems in the legal cannabis industry. Kevin holds a Master of Biomedical Engineering from Boston University. MassRoots COO Dan Hunt will be hosting a Facebook Live Q&A from the New West Summit today, October 14, 2016, at 2:00pm EDT on MassRoots' Facebook Page. About MassRoots MassRoots is one of the largest and most active technology platforms for cannabis consumers, businesses and activists with over 900,000 registered users. It is proud to be affiliated with the leading organizations in the cannabis industry, including the ArcView Group and National Cannabis Industry Association. MassRoots has been covered by Fox Business, CNBC, Fortune, Denver Post, and The Financial Times. For more information, please visit MassRoots.com/Investors. Forward-looking Statements Certain matters discussed in this announcement contain statements, estimates and projections about the growth of MassRoots' business, potential partnerships, new features, and related business strategy. Such statements, estimates and projections may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time. MassRoots undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The recipient of this information is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. SOURCE MassRoots, Inc. Related Links http://www.MassRoots.com McCall and Lee, both authors and members of the board, were honored with the award by Michael Kollins' son, Richard Kollins, the board's chairman. The ceremony recently took place at the Detroit Public Library's main branch on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. McCall joined the board as a trustee and editor of Wheels, the journal of the National Automotive History Collection, in 2000. He previously worked as spokesman for Chrysler of Canada and as auto editor for the Windsor Star. He also has published several books on historical fire engines, ambulances, hearses and flower cars. Lee, currently vice chairman of the NAHC board, joined the organization more than 30 years ago and has served as its treasurer and chairman. He previously was a technical writer for both Ford and General Motors and has written seven books about the history of fire engines. The NAHC Board of Trustees provides funding to the NAHC which is a special collection of the Detroit Public Library. With more than 600,000 documents, it is the world's most extensive public archive of automotive information. About the NAHC Located in the Detroit Public Library's Rose and Robert Skillman Branch at 121 Gratiot Avenue in downtown Detroit, the NAHC is open to the public by invitation and serves automotive journalists, authors, collectors and enthusiasts. Its collections include books, magazine documents, business papers, photos, sales brochures, service manuals and engineering specifications. More than 40,000 photos from the NAHC are available online. Access to historical photos is available on the library's website at: http://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/ More information about the NAHC is available at: http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/branch/national-automotive-history-collection Note to Editors: A high resolution photo is available on request. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161014/428800 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140625/121565 SOURCE NAHC OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A class action lawsuit filed on October 7, 2016 alleges Specialized Loan Servicing (SLS) improperly processed loan modification applications for customers in California that often led to overpayments on the loan and unjust foreclosures of the borrower's home. To stem the tide of defaults and foreclosures after the Great Recession of 2007 and 2008, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) implemented a series of guidelines designed to force banks and mortgage servicers to process loan modification requests quickly, accurately, and transparently. The guidelines went into effect in January 2014 and give homeowners the right to sue mortgage servicers who violate them. This class action lawsuit alleges that SLS violated the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new guidelines and failed to bring its system for processing loan modification applications into compliance. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that SLS, among other things: (1) Failed to timely respond to loan modification applications; (2) Failed to inform borrowers what information was missing in order to process their loan modification application; (3) Falsely told borrowers their application was missing information that had already been provided on numerous occasions; (4) Denied borrowers' loan modification requests without an appropriate explanation; and (5) Wrongfully threated foreclosure while a borrower's application was still under review. Margarette Smith, an 88-year old homeowner and the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, experienced all of the above behavior as she attempted to comply with the requirements set forth by SLS in numerous letters each month. Despite providing SLS with all the paperwork requested, often several times, Ms. Smith was still denied a proper loan modification. Consequently, the inability to modify her mortgage means Ms. Smith may lose her home. We are interested in hearing from consumers nationwide. Homeowners who have applied for a home loan modification with SLS since January 2014 and were denied a modification, or believe their application was processed improperly, may contact Tycko & Zavareei for a free consultation by calling Kristen Sagafi at 510-254-6810 or Lorenzo Cellini at 202-417-3660 or by using this link. Tycko & Zavareei LLP is a bicoastal law firm with offices in Washington, D.C. and Oakland, CA, and has a long, successful record of litigating complex cases. The firm routinely handles large and complex matters throughout the country, advocating on behalf of individuals fighting for their civil rights, employees asking for their rightful wages, consumers seeking redress for unfair business practices, whistleblowers exposing fraud and corruption, and non-profit entities and businesses facing difficult litigation. www.tzlegal.com. SOURCE Tycko & Zavareei LLP Related Links http://www.tzlegal.com AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH, ASX: FPH) today welcomed new research on the benefits of its Optiflow nasal high flow therapy. This research will be presented at the American Association of Respiratory Care (AARC) Congress in San Antonio, Texas from October 15-18. Last week, the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published another study led by Associate Professor Hernandez M.D, which investigated the use of nasal high flow (NHF) therapy in comparison to non-invasive ventilation (NIV) for patients at high-risk of reintubation.1 The randomised clinical trial was conducted across three intensive care units and used Fisher & Paykel Healthcare's Optiflow nasal cannula. The research showed that among high-risk adults who had undergone extubation, NHF was not inferior to NIV for preventing reintubation and post-extubation respiratory failure. The multicentre randomised non-inferiority clinical trial, involving 604 adults in three intensive care units in Spain, found that the proportion requiring reintubation was 22.8% with NHF therapy vs 19.1% with NIV, and post-extubation respiratory failure was observed in 26.9% with NHF vs 39.8% with NIV, reaching the non-inferiority threshold. As secondary outcomes, median time to reintubation was not significantly different in the two groups but median ICU length of stay after randomisation was lower in the NHF group: 3 days vs 4 days. In addition, adverse effects requiring withdrawal of the therapy were observed in none of the patients in the NHF group vs 42.9% of patients in the NIV group. This research follows on from an earlier study this year by Assoc. Prof Hernandez and colleagues, also published in JAMA, which found that the use of Optiflow NHF therapy reduced the risk of escalation for extubated patients within 72 hours when compared to conventional oxygen therapy. The much better comfort and tolerance of NHF compared with NIV, permitting nearly 24 hours of daily use, are significant advantages3 and together, these two studies published by Assoc. Prof Hernandez in JAMA comprise compelling clinical evidence of the benefits of Optiflow NHF therapy. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare at AARC Congress At this year's AARC Congress, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare will be at booth 323, showcasing our family of Optiflow NHF therapy products, including the Optiflow+ cannula, Airvo 2, Optiflow Junior, and F&P 850 heated humidification system. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is also hosting Prof Jean-Damien Ricard and Dr Gonzalo Hernandez as special guest speakers at a clinical breakfast symposium where they will be discussing the current evidence and mechanisms of action for nasal high flow therapy. 1 Hernandez G, et al. Effect of Postextubation High-Flow Nasal Cannula vs Noninvasive Ventilation on Reintubation and Postextubation Respiratory Failure in High-Risk Patients. JAMA. 2016 doi:10:1001/jama.2016.14194 2 Hernandez G, et al. Effect of Postextubation High-Flow Nasal Cannula vs Conventional Oxygen Therapy on Reintubation in Low-Risk Patients. JAMA. 2016 doi:10:1001/jama.2016.2711 3 Spoletini G, et al. High-Flow Nasal Oxygen or Noninvasive Ventilation for Postextubation Hypoxemia, Flow vs Pressure? JAMA. 2016 doi:10.1001/jama.2016.2709 - Ends - About Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of products and systems for use in respiratory care, acute care, surgery and the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. The company's products are sold in over 120 countries worldwide. For more information about the company, visit our website www.fphcare.com. SOURCE Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited Industry titan brings three decades of market knowledge and deep-seeded relationships to growing commercial real estate firm NEW YORK CITY, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Mitti Liebersohn, Avison Young Principal and President of the firm's New York City office, today announced that Nicola (Nicky) Heryet has joined the company in New York City. Effective immediately, Heryet becomes a Principal of Avison Young and will continue to represent both tenant and landlord clients in the leasing and strategic planning of commercial real estate assets throughout the New York City market. She brings more than 30 years of industry experience and long-standing client relationships to Avison Young, having closed more than 25 million square feet of transactions throughout her career. "Nicky is a highly respected professional throughout our industry and another invaluable addition to our already strong team," comments Liebersohn. "She possesses strong leadership skills and commercial real estate proficiency, and brings with her a long list of brand-name clients. Both our clients and team members will benefit from Nicky's proven expertise, and we are thrilled to have her on board." Heryet, a well-known leader in the real estate industry who has long been recognized for her achievements, was most recently a Senior Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield in New York. Before then, she was a Principal at DTZ/Cassidy Turley and Colliers ABR. Heryet has represented Kellwood Company, a major designer and manufacturer of premier fashion brands, for more than 20 years with the most recent transaction being a renewal of leases totaling 80,000 square feet (sf) in Manhattan. Additionally, she represented Answers Corporation in the lease of 30,000 sf in Manhattan, a 70,000-sf renewal in Ann Arbor, MI and leases in Tel Aviv and London. "Nicky's leadership and participation within the real estate community, together with her ability to provide thought leadership to her long-term clients, exemplify the unique Principal-led, client-centric culture of our firm," adds Arthur Mirante, Avison Young Principal and Tri-State President. "And, I know Nicky will play an integral role in our future success as we continue to boost our presence throughout the New York City market." As the leasing agent for 654 Madison Avenue, a 150,000-sf boutique office building in the Plaza district, Heryet developed full-floor opportunities and repositioned the building, thus creating high-end, pre-built units and then leasing them to a variety of tenants. In the past five years, she has renewed existing tenants and leased to new tenants for a combined total of more than 110,000 sf at the property. Other clients that she has serviced during her career include Avon Products, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., Donna Karan Company, LVMH, Lambda Legal, Securitas Security Services USA, Inc., UN Population Fun, United Federation of Teachers, Vince and the World Health Organization. Heryet is a graduate of the University of Westminster in London. She has received numerous professional recognitions, including the Real Estate Board of New York Robert T. Lawrence Memorial Award for the 740,000-sf relocation of the United Federation of Teachers headquarters; the Young and Senior Real Estate Woman of the Year Award from the Young Men's/Women's Real Estate Association of New York; and was named one of the Women Real Estate Leaders for the 21st Century by Real Estate New York. In addition to her professional accolades, Heryet has also been commended for her community leadership. She is a past co-chair and active board member of Nontraditional Employment for Women, a not-for-profit organization that prepares women for careers in construction, transportation, energy and facility maintenance industries. She is also a former President and remains an active board member of the James Lenox Housed Association, a not-for-profit community for senior living, and a board member of the New York Pops. "I am excited for the opportunity to join a firm that has, in a short period of time, established itself as one of the premier players in the New York City real estate market and the industry as a whole," says Heryet. "The Avison Young platform is unique and will allow me to meet the needs of my clients while providing them with additional services under our full-service model. Furthermore, the client-focused, silo-free approach will benefit all of my clients, and I look forward to working side-by-side with the other Principals and team members in New York and across the company." 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. For further information/comment/photos: Kelly Ferraro , Great Ink: 212.741.2977; [email protected] , Great Ink: Tom Nolan , Great Ink: 212.741.2977; [email protected] , Great Ink: Arielle Herzfeld , Senior Director of Marketing, Tri-State, Avison Young: 212.729.7465 , Senior Director of Marketing, Tri-State, Avison Young: Sherry Quan , Principal, Global Director of Communications & Media Relations, Avison Young: 604.647.5098; cell: 604.726.0959 , Principal, Global Director of Communications & Media Relations, Avison Young: cell: Mark Rose , Chair and CEO, Avison Young: 416.673.4028 Chair and CEO, Avison Young: Earl Webb , President, U.S. Operations, Avison Young: 312.957.7610 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 Editors/Reporters Please click on link to view and download photo of Nicola Heryet: http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/NicolaHeryet.jpg SOURCE Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (BC) Related Links www.avisonyoung.com SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC) today announced a new partnership with Western Governors University (WGU) that allows Ohio community college graduates to seamlessly transfer their coursework to WGU while also receiving discounted tuition to the accredited, online university. "The needs of adult college students are different than those attending straight out of high school. 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," said Jack Hershey, President of the OACC. "By partnering with an online, competency-based university, Ohio community colleges are once again responding to a call from Governor John Kasich and doing our part to help increase the number of Ohioans who will obtain a bachelor's degree and advance in the workforce." The idea to expand online, competency-based education options for Ohioans, particularly adult students and workers, as well as the idea to establish more transfer pathways in the state that allow students to complete their first three years of education at a community college, were both part of a higher education reform package offered earlier this year by Governor John Kasich. Today's agreement moves the ball forward on both of the Governor's proposals. Under the terms of this agreement, WGU will: Offer Ohio community colleges' graduates and staff a five percent tuition discount. community colleges' graduates and staff a five percent tuition discount. Graduates and staff of OACC colleges will also be eligible to apply for scholarships offered through the WGU Institutional Partner Fund. Scholarships are valued up to $2,000.00 . . Prepare seamless associate degree to bachelor degree articulation agreements for all related degree programs in education, business, Information Technology and health professions. Create a 3+1 transfer option for OACC colleges' nursing graduates who possess an Ohio RN license and are employed as a nurse. OACC college nursing graduates who are eligible for the 3+1 program may also enroll in the MS, Nursing bridge programs, in nursing education or nursing leadership and management. The BS, Nursing degree is awarded to the 3+2 student as they progress toward the MS, Nursing degree. WGU will work with OACC colleges to develop a reverse transfer program. The reverse transfer program will permit OACC college students, who may transfer to WGU without an associate's degree, to obtain an associate's degree from their OACC college, while enrolled in a WGU bachelor's degree. Upon completion of the associate's degree, these students will be eligible for the 5% tuition discount. "Even before signing this partnership, we have already seen 500 graduates from Ohio community colleges go on to earn their bachelor's degree from Western Governors University, but that is a number that we now expect to see grow significantly," said Hershey. "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. " About WGU Established in 1997 with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education, WGU now serves more than 74,000 students nationwide and has more than 70,000 graduates in all 50 states. Driving innovation as the nation's leading competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House, state leaders, employers, and students as a model that works in postsecondary education. It has become a leading influence in changing the lives of individuals and families. WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and has been named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. The university's 2015 Annual Report is now available online. About OACC The Ohio Association of Community Colleges represents the trustees and Presidents of all 23 Ohio Community Colleges. Follow WGU: http://www.facebook.com/wgu.edu http://www.linkedin.com/companies/western-governors-university http://twitter.com/wgu http://www.youtube.com/WesternGovernorsUniv http://google.com/+wgu http://news.wgu.edu/news/news.xml Contact for media inquiries: Joan Mitchell VP of Public Relations 801-428-5463 [email protected] Contact for enrollment information: 866-225-5948 wgu.edu Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151012/276234LOGO SOURCE Western Governors University Related Links http://www.wgu.edu BOSTON, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ovuline, the leading women's healthcare technology company behind the Ovia Fertility, Pregnancy, and Parenting apps, announced today it has raised $10 million in new funding and will rebrand as "Ovia Health." "We changed our name to Ovia Health to reflect our broader commitment to women's and family health and our expertise in driving the innovations needed to shape the future of healthcare," said Paris Wallace, CEO and President of Ovia Health. "The name is also inspired by the millions who've trusted the Ovia apps with the health of their families." With over 5 million users, Ovia Health boasts one of the largest healthcare networks of women and families and engages approximately 40% of U.S. births. The company has secured a $10 million investment to support the growth of Ovia Health and to expand its maternity benefits solution to employers and insurers nationwide, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Activision Blizzard, Optum and General Electric. "The new funding recognizes the immense impact we are making on so many women and families," said founder and CTO Alex Baron. "Our users are delighted by our products, and employers and health insurers value our secure platform and data-driven approach. We're creating a new kind of family healthcare." With 1.7 million women in the workforce starting a family each year, employers are looking for better ways to support working moms, parents, and parents-to-be. Ovia Health helps employers recruit and retain parents in the workplace, engaging 87% of participants as early as their first trimester in pregnancy. As of today, Ovuline and its associated business units will align under the name Ovia Health. This includes Ovia's mobile apps: Ovia Fertility, Ovia Pregnancy, and Ovia Parenting (the newest member of the Ovia app family, launched earlier this month), and Ovia Media, which provides life-stage marketing solutions for leading brands and millennial moms. Ovia Health's mobile maternity benefits solution for employers and insurers will also be included. "When we founded the company in 2012, our core belief was that women want to take control of their health, and they deserve more from the healthcare system," said Gina Nebesar, Chief Product and Marketing Officer. "Four years later, we believe it even more strongly, and we're so proud to have helped millions of women and families monitor their reproductive health, have beautiful babies, and live fuller lives." About the company Ovia Health is the leading digital health platform for women and families. Trusted and loved by millions, Ovia Health's mobile apps for fertility, pregnancy, and parenting empower people to take control of their healthcare and start families with confidence. Get the Ovia apps! Ovia Fertility, Ovia Pregnancy, and Ovia Parenting are available on the App Store and Google Play www.oviahealth.com/join. For more information, please visit www.oviahealth.com. Contact Danielle Rand [email protected] 631-806-8496 SOURCE Ovia Health SNOW SHOE, Pa., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn today joined state Rep. Mike Hanna in announcing riding and parking improvements to heighten ATV enthusiasts' enjoyment of the Bloody Skillet ATV Trail near Snow Shoe, Centre County. "Working in cooperation with Rep. Hanna, DCNR is moving to offer more riding miles on the existing Bloody Skillet Trail," Dunn said at a media event at the Snow Shoe Township Building. "In addition, our Bureau of Forestry hopes to offer trail riders expanded parking and access, and will be taking a hard look at the feasibility of linking this trail with the nearby Whiskey Springs Trail." Long a proponent of expanded ATV riding opportunities in the state, Rep. Hanna (D-76th Dist.) hailed the expansion possibilities. "I have long been a supporter of ATV enthusiasts and believe it is time that the riding trails throughout our region receive the enhancements they so desperately need," Hanna said. "After years of championing development efforts of ATV trails and riding opportunities in our state forests, I am pleased that DCNR is reviewing and considering expansion possibilities." One of 11 designated, state forestland ATV riding trails across the state, Bloody Skillet offers 38 miles of summer and winter trails to riders. It is off Route 144, about 19 miles north of the Snow Shoe Exit of US Route 80. Pointing to the recent reopening of the nearby Whiskey Springs ATV Trail in Clinton County after extensive mine reclamation work, Secretary Dunn noted," We now have over 120 miles of ATV trails within an hour of Renovo. "Riders are invited to try the Whiskey Springs and Bloody Skillet trails, as well as the Denton Hill ATV Trail System and Haneyville ATV Trail." Specifically, as proposed Bloody Skillet will offer: Addition of 3 miles of trail within the exiting Bloody Skillet trail system; The opening a parking lot at Bloody Skillet in conjunction with an additional 1.2 miles of trail along a former rail road grade from Orviston west to the existing connector trail; The commissioning of a feasibility study to examine connector trail corridors between the Bloody Skillet trail system and the town of Renovo ; as well as from Renovo to the Whiskey Springs ATV trail system; The study also would look at the safety and sustainability of the same two ATV trails and provide suggestions for improvement; As well as offer a series of public and stakeholder meetings to explain and gather local input regarding the connector proposals. As of the end of the summer, ATV active registrations were just short of 166,000. Riders are Invited to legally travel on 11 designated ATV trails on state forestland across the state, which offer 267 miles. For maps and other ATV riding information visit http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/recreation/atv/atvplacestoride/. MEDIA CONTACT: Terry Brady, 717, 705-2225; [email protected] SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Related Links http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pluralsight, the global leader in online learning for technology professionals, today announced that it won the Business Intelligence Group's BIG Award for Business in the 2016 New Product of the Year category. The organization's annual awards program was launched to reward companies, products and people that are leading their respective industries. Launched in June, Pluralsight's technology learning platform provides a fully digital learning experience that empowers enterprise technology teams and individuals to expand proficiencies, increase productivity and gain a competitive edge. The on-demand, cloud-based solution allows technology professionals to assess their current skill level through dynamic skills tests, follow directed learning paths, learn through expert-authored courses, test drive new technologies via an interactive lab environment and access live one-on-one mentoring. "Differentiation is a common theme among many of our winners, and we hope that trend continues," said Russ Fordyce, Managing Director of the Business Intelligence Group. "Modern companies are now relying on their customers for inspiration and direction to improve and launch new products. We are so proud of all of the winners this year. It is truly a select group." For more information on Pluralsight, visit pluralsight.com. About Pluralsight Pluralsight is an enterprise technology learning platform that delivers a unified, end-to-end learning experience for businesses across the globe. Through a subscription service, companies are empowered to move at the speed of technology, increasing proficiency, innovation and efficiency. Founded in 2004 and trusted by Fortune 500 companies, Pluralsight provides members with on-demand access to a digital ecosystem of learning tools, including adaptive skill tests, directed learning paths, expert-authored courses, interactive labs and live mentoring. For more information, visit pluralsight.com. About Business Intelligence Group The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry award programs, business executivesthose with experience and knowledgejudge the programs. The organization's proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and then rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160907/405106LOGO SOURCE Pluralsight Related Links https://www.pluralsight.com/ NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform. EXPERT ALERTS Important Role Pharmacists Play in Wellness Important Role Pharmacists Play in Management of Medications Chronic Loneliness a Public Health Crisis Watters' World: Chinatown on 'O'Reilly Factor' Appalling and Irresponsible News Reporting Five Halloween Tips for Parents Tips for Parents What Your Halloween Costume Reveals About You MEDIA JOBS Copy Editor Law360 (NY) American Metal Deputy Editor Argus Media (TX) Reporter Law360 (NY) OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES Become a Better Writer: 12 Offbeat Residency Programs 5 Tips to Boost Election News Engagement On PRN: Obama Pens Essay, Economic Optimism at 10-Year High, ATM Fees Set Record EXPERT ALERTS: Important Role Pharmacists Play in Wellness Dr. Murray Cohen Board Chairman Global NGO Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd. "Stopping disease spread in the U.S. government alone could have a great impact on this country and thereby the world. Pharmacists' work with laboratories, testing, medication research and disbursement is critical to the health care industry." Dr. Cohen can speak on the Zika virus, our first line of defense in preventing the spread of infectious disease, what hospitals are doing to prevent infectious disease among staff and patients, as well as the importance of humidity in preventing infectious disease. He is an internationally recognized expert in bioterrorism, workplace safety, biosafety, industrial hygiene and infectious disease control. He is also the owner of a veteran-owned small business named Consultants in Disease and Injury Control (CDIC Inc.). He served for 21 years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a career public health service officer, specializing in the prevention of occupationally transmitted infections, including bacterial diseases (anthrax, tuberculosis) and blood-borne viruses (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, Ebola). He also serves as a consultant to Wello Inc. ProfNet Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/murraycohen Contact: Jeannie Lewis, [email protected] Important Role Pharmacists Play in Management of Medications Alan C. "Rik" Heller Chairman and CEO FreshLoc Technologies, Inc. "Pharmacists are spread thinly with all of their various duties in ensuring safety in both selecting and managing pharmaceuticals. Pharmacists rely on quality automated environmental systems when they can to improve patient safety and help them focus on their substantive work." A leader in indoor sensory monitoring, Heller created Bill Gates' residence location monitoring system. His expertise includes: patient and employee care and safety, hospital acquired infection (HAI) technology, CDC guidelines, patents, temperature compliance, environmental monitoring compliance, particle sensors, humidity, disease spread, contagion, fever, patient care and more. ProfNet Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/rikheller Contact: Jeannie Lewis, [email protected] Chronic Loneliness a Public Health Crisis J. Walter Freiberg Justice of the Peace Commonwealth of Massachusetts What happens when loneliness engulfs us? How do we manage life when the absence of adequate connections becomes an excruciating hunger? To Freiberg, loneliness is simply the perception of inadequate connections, in precisely the same way that hunger is the perception of inadequate food, and thirst is the perception of inadequate hydration. It is a sensation, not an emotion, and, it's not reserved for the rejected seniors who populate our nursing homes, sequestered from the younger generations of their families. Children, even babies, can feel terribly alone and disconnected: "In contrast to the loneliness we all experience when connections in our lives are severed is the chronic loneliness that plagues the lives of an ever increasing share of the American population. Current research indicates that something like a third of Americans lead truly isolated, lonely lives, with no one to go home to, no one to call or be called by, no one to care for, and no one who cares. One in four Americans report that they spoke with no one about something important to them in the past six months. Imagine that." Freiberg, a social psychologist-turned-lawyer, recently published a book, "Four Seasons of Loneliness," that explores the consequences of lost connections through his unique lens. In the book, he explores the consequences of chronic loneliness through four case studies. Freiberg has had a long and storied career that included an assistant professorship at Boston University, a teaching position at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and positions at several of Boston's oldest and most prestigious law firms. He has written highly acclaimed books, "Critical Sociology: European Perspectives" and "The French Press: Class, State and Ideology," as well as more than 35 articles, book introductions, and other scholarly works on social psychological and legal issues. During his career, Freiberg has been awarded a Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Research Fellowship, and a Centre National de al Recherche Scientifique Fellowship. He continues to practice law on a reduced basis, serves as a Justice of the Peace for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and lives in Boston with his wife, near their children. Website: www.jwfreiberg.com Contact: Penny Sansevieri, [email protected] Watters' World: Chinatown on 'O'Reilly Factor' Appalling and Irresponsible News Reporting Jean Lau Chin, EdD, ABPP Professor of Psychology Adelphi University "Correspondent Jesse Watters was sent to NYC Chinatown on Oct. 3 to sample political opinion after China was repeatedly named in negative tones during the presidential election. Watters' video of these 'interviews' with Chinatown residents for Fox News' 'O'Reilly Factor' is racist and reprehensible from the start. It starts and ends with a flurry of anti-Asian stereotypes, mocking the Chinese as foreign, bizarre and dumb. He could have gone to many community sources if he truly wanted to find out what the Chinese community thought. Instead, he selectively chooses individuals and edits the interviews to portray them in a most unfavorable light. He accosts an elderly woman who apparently does not speak English, and mocks her smiling non-response as dumb and ignorant. He invokes stereotyped images of Chinese practicing exotic customs, and as dealers of the black market. He invites a kung-fu punch from one of his interviewees and then depicts it as a weak excuse for the real thing. The post analysis of the video by Watters and O'Reilly was depicted as 'showing what the community thinks' and as 'gentle fun.' I was appalled with this racist and derogatory portrayal, and poking fun on the backs of the Chinese community. The segment does nothing more than play up every offensive stereotype of Asian-Americans that we have fought against. I am dismayed that, in this day and age, with the many Chinese Americans who are English speaking American citizens and voters in the U.S. that Watters and O'Reilly would use such a ruse to continue to portray Asians in such a negative light. A number of Asian-American groups and leaders have called for Fox News to do more responsible broadcasting and to take corrective action against such portrayals. A petition is already out to have Fox News: 1) issue an immediate apology and retraction for the Watters' World: Chinatown segment; 2) cancel Watters' World segments and/or scheduled specials from future broadcast; 3) take some immediate corrective next steps at Fox News to sample and portray Asian-American opinion." Chin is a distinguished educator, administrator, clinician and scholar. She was the first Asian-American psychologist to be licensed in Massachusetts and has held numerous leadership positions in the field. She also spearheads the NYC Chinatown Oral History Project and authored "Who are the Cantonese Chinese?: New York City Chinatown During the 1940s-1960s." Book: http://amzn.to/2dG7rtB Website: http://www.adelphi.edu Media Contact: Kali Chan, [email protected] Five Halloween Tips for Parents Florence Ann Romano The Windy City Nanny Halloween is a chance for kids to play dress-up, be out after dark and, of course, indulge in a plethora of candy. For parents, however, it might be a bit more hectic than exciting. To keep things as stress-free as possible, Romano shares some reminders for parents this Halloween: 1) Socializing: "Halloween is a chance for children and families to socialize. Get a group together from your kid's school to meet their friends and their parents!" 2) Allergies: "If your child has an allergy, it's imperative that they do not eat the candy without you. And make sure the group they're with knows what to do in an emergency." 3) Costumes: "Don't let your kids dress sexy if you can help it. Remind your girls that less isn't necessarily more." 4) Manners: "Please, thank you, kindness, etc. And remember, children with special needs participate in Halloween too, and need extra TLC." 5) Trick-or-Treating: "Young children should always have an adult present during trick-or-treating. If your older children will be going alone, ensure you know the route they will be taking and agree on a specific time to be home." Romano is a dedicated philanthropist and former nanny who worked for more than 15 years as a nanny. She shares her experiences in "Nanny and Me" (Mascot Books, May 2015), her beautifully illustrated debut book for children making the transition from being cared for solely by their parents to having a nanny in their home. Born and raised just outside Chicago, Romano earned a degree in performance theatre at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. She is the owner of Trinity, LLC, a 100% woman-owned new family company that runs the Original Six Media production company. Romano also serves as president and founder of a junior board for young professionals that support autism awareness for children and adults. Website: www.WindyCityNanny.com Contact: Mark Goldman, [email protected] What Your Halloween Costume Reveals About You Dr. Frieda Birnbaum Research Psychologist, Psychoanalyst Dr. Birnbaum can discuss what your Halloween costume reveals about you: 1) The Pimp: "Likely worn by an insecure man who's acting out his fantasy of dominating women. It's really not an original costume and is often a choice for the uncreative types." 2) Celebrity: "Outgoing individuals tend to dress up like celebrities because it almost guarantees they'll get lots of attention." 3) Gross/scary: "Horror is popular in pop culture, and if a person goes for the gross and scary costume, chances are they will be a low-key individual who doesn't seek the limelight. These are likely also boring people." 4) Disney/cartoon character: "This is a safe choice that is G-rated for all audiences. It's a people pleaser and often worn by someone who doesn't prefer to rock the boat." 5) Superhero: "Kind-hearted individuals tend to flock to these costumes, as they wish to help others and be seen as making a difference." 6) Funny/original: "When you see a costume that makes you look twice of three times, chances are the wearer of that costume is an A-type personality and highly creative individual who probably spent the past nine months creating their costume." 7) Congress costume: "Considering how unpopular Congress is today, anyone who would dress up like them probably enjoys being scorned and reviled. People who dress up like members of Congress this year should probably seek professional counseling." 8) No costume: "Likely a choice of people completely out of touch with their inner child or those who feel they are 'too mature' to be dress up in costumes. They have the potential to bore people physically to death." Based in the New York metro area, Dr. Birnbaum is a research psychologist, psychoanalyst and author of "Life Begins at 60: A New View on Motherhood, Marriage, and Reinventing Ourselves." She's an expert on depression, women's issues, and attaining happiness. Contact: Ryan McCormick, [email protected] MEDIA JOBS: Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/ Copy Editor Law360 (NY) American Metal Deputy Editor Argus Media (TX) Reporter Law360 (NY) OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES: Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line. BECOME A BETTER WRITER: 12 OFFBEAT RESIDENCY PROGRAMS TO GET ON YOUR RADAR NOW. Carving out a career in writing isn't easy. As you know, the types of writing jobs are endless, including news reporting, blogging, freelancing, ghost writing, feature writing, business writing, sponsored content, book writing, and technical writing. So if you're managing several assignments at the same time, switching gears can be particularly taxing. We dug up a dozen unique writer residency programs that aim to help writers do one thing: keep up the good work: http://bit.ly/2dqqQwE FIVE TIPS TO BOOST ELECTION NEWS ENGAGEMENT. Although the right story idea and content distribution channel can get your election news noticed, you need to do more to inspire audiences to take the next step. Here are five ways to boost election content engagement: http://prn.to/2d2xopm ON PR NEWSWIRE: OBAMA PENS ESSAY, ECONOMIC OPTIMISM AT 10-YEAR HIGH, ATM FEES SET RECORD. With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire for Journalists. Here are some of this week's most newsworthy releases you might have missed: http://bit.ly/2dOhmNh PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150416/199234LOGO SOURCE ProfNet Related Links http://www.profnet.com Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine began providing whole genome sequencing in July 2016 with clinical interpretation in a meaningful, timely and highly accurate manner to critically ill children. This rapid method allows the simultaneous evaluation of nearly all of the 4,500 known genetic diseases in a single test. Rapid diagnosis is essential in acute care situations, particularly in NICUs where medical decision-making must happen in minutes and hours, not weeks. "Rapid diagnosis of critically ill newborns is no longer an academic exercise, it's a reality for critically ill newborns admitted to the NICU and PICU at Rady Children's Hospital . The information we receive from this rapid and comprehensive testing is already helping our medical teams make treatment decisions and impacting the lives of these babies and their families," said Stephen Kingsmore, M.D., D.Sc., president and chief executive officer of the Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine. "Development of this ultra-rapid test could not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of our key partners, including Edico Genome. We look forward to working with Edico on evolving the platform and making this rapid testing capability available to additional NICUs around the globe." Up to one-third of babies admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit in the United States have a genetic disease, and more than 20 percent of infant deaths are caused by genetic illnesses. Treatments are currently available for more than 500 genetic diseases; for many of these, initiation of therapy in newborns can help prevent disabilities and life-threatening illnesses. The cost of whole-genome sequencing has fallen to the point of feasibility for clinical testing of these and other conditions, and the DRAGEN bioinformatics chip is reducing time needed for analysis, facilitating the use of genomic medicine in acute medical care. "Rapid diagnostics is essential to fundamentally changing our ability to inform clinical care," said Narayanan "Ray" Veeraraghavan, Ph.D., director of information technology, Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine. "Deploying whole-genome based testing at the bedside becomes practical and actionable when results are consistently and expeditiously returned to the attending physician(s)." In 2015, while at Children's Mercy Kansas City, Dr. Kingsmore and his team successfully diagnosed critically ill newborns in 26 hours, as published in the journal Genome Medicine, using time-shrinking technologies including in-house software, Edico Genome's DRAGEN Bio-IT Processor for data analysis and one of Illumina's high-throughput sequencing instruments. "We could not be prouder that newborn babies are receiving rapid and potentially life-saving care based on the speed and accuracy of DRAGEN," said Pieter van Rooyen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Edico Genome. "This ultra-rapid NICU testing is the first clinical application of the DRAGEN platform. It's not enough for one institute to implement this technology though this testing needs to be scaled for easy use by NICUs around the world. We look forward to working with Dr. Kingsmore and his team to realize the vision of an all-in-one appliance where the ultra-rapid test can be performed onsite or in the cloud and can be expanded to include analysis of additional clinically relevant variants, such as structural and copy number variants." DRAGEN accelerates secondary analysis of next-generation sequencing data, reducing the time required for analyzing a genome at 30x coverage from approximately 30 hours to nearly 22 minutes. DRAGEN uses a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to implement genome pipeline algorithms, including BCL conversion, compression, mapping, alignment, sorting, duplicate marking and haplotype variant calling. The platform includes whole genome and exome, transcriptome, joint genotyping, methylation, and GATK pipelines, and allows users to develop custom algorithms as well as refine and improve existing pipelines. Updated versions are made available for customers through simple remote downloads. Dr. Veeraraghavan will discuss the ultra-rapid NICU test in more detail at the 2016 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting. To register for this discussion, visit Edico's website. About Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine was founded by Rady Children's Hospital San Diego and brings together world-class scientists and clinicians into shared research infrastructure for accelerated translation of research discoveries into prevention, diagnosis, treatment and ultimately cures for childhood diseases. This integrated, process-driven approach to precision medicine includes genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, metabolomics and proteomics, and provides a comprehensive view of a child's health status and risk factors for disease. About Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego is a 551-bed pediatric care facility providing the largest source of comprehensive pediatric medical services in San Diego, Southern Riverside and Imperial counties. Rady Children's is the only hospital in the San Diego area dedicated exclusively to pediatric healthcare and is the region's only designated pediatric trauma center. In June 2016, U.S. News & World Report ranked Rady Children's among the best children's hospitals in the nation in nine pediatric specialties the magazine surveyed. Rady Children's is a nonprofit organization that relies on donations to support its mission. For more information, visit www.rchsd.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo. About Edico Genome Edico Genome has created the world's first bioinformatics processor designed to analyze next-generation sequencing data, DRAGEN. The use of next-generation sequencing is growing at an unprecedented pace, creating a need for a technology that can process this big data rapidly and accurately. Edico Genome's computing platform has been shown to speed whole genome data analysis from hours to minutes, while maintaining high accuracy and reducing costs, enabling clinicians and researchers to reveal answers more quickly. For more information, visit www.EdicoGenome.com or follow @EdicoGenome. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150421/199916LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428656LOGO SOURCE Edico Genome; Rady Childrens Institute for Genomic Medicine Related Links http://www.edicogenome.com BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominent Maryland law firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC (RWL), co-lead counsel, joined other firms in reaching a settlement of a landmark class action suit involving Whirlpool-manufactured dishwashers, approved by the Los Angeles federal court on October 11, 2016. The settlement could affect up to 20% of the U.S. population, covering consumers' repairs for the dishwasher models involved in the suit, rebates for buying new models, and additional safety protections. The settlement could be worth $100 million. Charles S. Fax, a partner at RWL with extensive experience in complex civil litigation including class actions, was co-lead counsel in the case. Liesel Schopler from RWL also served as counsel for the plaintiffs. The court's opinion approving the settlement, and awarding Faxs firm and the other plaintiffs' counsel almost $15 million in attorneys' fees, was highly complimentary of their efforts. Wrote Judge Fernando Olguin: "The results obtained by class counsel are impressive. Achieving these results undoubtedly took a high level of skill on the part of counsel whom the court has already described as 'among the most capable and experienced lawyers in the country in these kind of cases.'" Fax commented, "We're very happy to settle this case on behalf of millions of U.S. dishwasher owners, and we are delighted with the results. Judge Olguin's acknowledgement of our efforts is also heartening." The case was filed by 18 owners of Kenmore, KitchenAid or Whirlpool dishwashers purchased between 2002 and 2007, who complained that their machines had a defective circuit board that could start a fire. The case initially covered 11 states, but the five law firms representing plaintiffs eventually reached a nationwide settlement with the defendants. The legal fees sought by plaintiffs' counsel, however, were hotly contested. Alan Rifkin, Managing Partner of RWL, added, "We're pleased and gratified by the court's decision. It benefits consumers across the country." Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC is one of Maryland's leading law firms. With offices located in Baltimore, Annapolis and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the firm provides an important link to the state's principal business, commercial and governmental centers. SOURCE Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC Related Links http://rwlls.com NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This BCC Research report provides the recent advances and trends in manufacturing, applications, technologies, and global and regional markets for rigid transparent plastics. Forecast trends and sales in these markets are included through 2021. Use this report to: - Gain information about the major types of rigid transparent plastics and their future demand. - Analyze the recent advances and trends in manufacturing, applications and technologies of the rigid transparent plastic industry. - Gain insight into the structural dynamics of the rigid transparent plastic industry. - Gain information about the international targets and regulations related to rigid transparent plastic industry. Highlights - The global market for rigid transparent plastics will grow from $16.5 billion in 2016 to nearly $21.4 billion by 2021 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% for the period of 2016-2021. - The polycarbonate (PC) market is the largest segment of rigid transparent plastic industry and will grow from $6.3 billion in 2016 to $8.7 billion by 2021, with a CAGR of 6.6%. - The poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) market is expected to increase from $2.5 billion in 2016 to $3.1 billion by 2021, with a CAGR of 4.4%. This chapter provides a general introduction for this report, describing the study goals and objectives, reasons for doing the study, intended audience, scope, methodology, information sources and analyst credentials, and related reports published by BCC Research. STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The goal of this study is to help readers form a comprehensive understanding of the recent advances and trends in manufacturing, applications, technologies, and global and regional markets for rigid transparent plastics. In this report, rigid transparent plastics refer to rigid plastics with light transmission percentage of more than 80%. Four objectives are met in this report. First, major types of rigid transparent plastics and the future demand for these are described. Second, main technologies of rigid transparent plastics manufacturing are discussed. Third, commercial applications in which rigid transparent plastics are used are discussed. Last, present consumption and future demand for rigid transparent plastics are divided into five world regions: China, Asia, Europe, South America and the rest of the world (ROW). The first four regions will be evaluated and analyzed. The ROW segment is very small; to simplify the analysis, this report doesn't include the ROW market. In this report, China refers to Mainland China and does not include Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; Asia does not include Mainland China, but covers Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and other Asian countries. This report does not cover the North American rigid transparent plastics market, which is described in the separate report Rigid Transparent Plastics (code PLS003J) by Melvin Schlechter. However, North American manufacturers are addressed if they supply the above five regions. Trends in technology are analyzed and the impact of governmental regulations and international agreements is ascertained. Patents involving rigid transparent are discussed. The structural dynamics of the rigid transparent plastic industry are outlined, along with profiles of key manufacturers in the United States, China, Japan, Korea, India, Brazil, France, Germany, Taiwan, and other countries or regions. This report reviews global markets for rigid transparent plastics and forecasts trends and sales in these markets through 2021. Important manufacturers, technologies and factors influencing demand are discussed. The rigid transparent plastics market is closely related to the production and supply of raw materials such as ethylene, phenol and methyl methacrylate (MMA); therefore, raw material production and supplies are briefly described. BCC Research's goal in conducting this study was to determine the current status of the rigid transparent plastics industry and to assess its growth potential over the five-year period from 2016 to 2021. The primary objective is to present a comprehensive analysis of the current rigid transparent plastics market and project its future direction. REASONS FOR DOING THE STUDY There are three main reasons for doing this study: Resins manufacturers 1. need to understand the trends of the market and technologies to plan their investment, production, and research and development (R&D) for the next five years and longer. 2. Plastic molders need to understand the trends of technologies and markets of rigid transparent plastics. 3. The manufacturers of automobiles, medical devices, electronics, housewares, architectural materials and appliances need to understand trends in technologies and performance of rigid transparent plastics. SCOPE OF REPORT The report forecasts the size of the market in current U.S. dollars for rigid transparent plastics, in value terms for each material and/or in volume terms from 2016 through 2021. The North American market is not included in this study; a separate report covers that market. In this report, rigid transparent plastics include polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA), styrene block copolymers (SBC), styrene methylmethacrylate (SMMA), cellulosic, polyamide (PA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The ABS sector will cover the technologies and production of styrene acrylonitrile (SAN), also known as acrylonitrile styrene (AS). Forecasts are classified by product type, technology type, application and geographical region. The report also describes raw materials supplies and important players in the rigid transparent plastics industry. INTENDED AUDIENCE The intended audience of this report includes rigid transparent plastics (PC, PVC, PS, ABS, PMMA, PP, etc.) manufacturers and suppliers. Oil companies, chemical producers and plastic molders in various industries may also have an interest in this report. METHODOLOGY Estimates of current market demand are made for 2016 and projected over the next five years. Projections are made in terms of constant U.S. dollars (2016). Growth is presented in terms of compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Prices are measured at the manufacturer level. INFORMATION SOURCES Information sources for this report include experts, executives, professors and officials in rigid transparent plastics companies, other plastics companies, petrochemical companies, oil companies, industrial associations, universities, trade organizations and governmental departments. They include Sinopec, Saudi Basic Industry Corporation (SABIC), The Dow Chemical Co., Chi Mei, INEOS, BASF, Chevron Phillips Chemicals, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), ExxonMobil, Hanwha Chemical Corporation, Reliance Industries, Tsinghua University, the Ministry of Commerce of China, China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA) and the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS China). Information sources for the study also include online research, patent literature, technical journals, trade magazines, governmental data, and conference papers from China, Japan, Korea and the U.S. ANALYST'S CREDENTIALS Jason Chen has been an analyst and consultant for the polymer, composite, fiber, textile and energy industries for 15 years. He is a researcher, writer and editor for the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), China Textile Academy (CTA), International Fiber Journal, Filtration News, Platts Emission Daily, Vision Systems Design, Pesticide and Toxic Chemical News, China Chemical Fibers and MobileTex. He has authored more than 30 books in the U.K. and U.S., including many BCC Research reports. He holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in civil engineering as well as chemicals and composites. Currently, he is the chief scientist of a filtration company endeavoring to reduce China's air and water pollution. Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p01941931-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 LONDON, October 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FCA posted another strong monthly performance in Europe, with September sales up 14.2% to 90,900 vehicles, significantly outperforming the industry average increase of 7.3%. For the nine months year-to-date, unit sales totaled 768,000 vehicles, a year-over-year increase of 15.3% compared with 7.7% for the industry. All brands contributed to the September increase and outperformed the industry average. Sales were up 39.0% for Alfa Romeo, 21.0% for Jeep, 14.7% for Lancia and 10.8% for Fiat. The Fiat 500 and Panda continued to dominate the European A segment with a combined share of nearly 30.0%. The Fiat 500L, leader in its segment for the past 2 years, posted a 26.0% segment share for the year-to-date. The Fiat 500X, consistently among the top five in its segment, posted a 65.8% increase for the year-to-date. The Lancia Ypsilon continued as leader in the Italian B segment, with sales up 16.7% over September a year ago. Jeep maintained its momentum, with the Renegade posting a 22.1% increase for the year-to-date. Alfa Romeo also posted a strong monthly sales increase with the added contribution of the all-new Giulia. In September, FCA posted another strong monthly performance in Europe (EU28+EFTA), significantly outperforming the industry average. In fact, September sales totaled nearly 90,900 units, an increase of 14.2% year-over-year versus 7.3% for the industry. Market share was 40 basis points higher at 6.1%. For the nine months year-to-date, sales were up 15.3% (+7.7% for the industry) to nearly 768,000 vehicles and market share was 40 basis points higher at 6.6%. For both September and the nine months year-to-date, FCA outperformed the industry in all major European markets. September sales were up 20.8% in Italy (+20.3% year-to-date), 29.4% in Germany (+10.4% year-to-date), 8.4% in France (+11.3% year-to-date) and 37.2% in Spain (+24.4% year-to-date). Fiat brand posted a 10.8% increase in European sales in September, with more than 67,000 vehicles sold. Market share was 20 basis points higher at 4.5%. For the year-to-date, brand sales were up 15.4% to nearly 580,700 vehicles and share was 5.0% (+30 bps). In September, the brand posted increases of 16.0% in Italy, 35.9% in Germany, 2.3% in France and 35.5% in Spain. For the year-to-date, sales were up 19.7% in Italy, 12.1% in Germany, 14.0% in France and 27.0% in Spain. The brand remained the undisputed leader in the European A segment with the 500 and Panda ranking first and second for both September and the year-to-date. So far in 2016, the two models hold a combined 29.5% segment share, with sales of the 500 up 2.4% over the same period in 2015 and sales of the Panda up 12.0%. The 500L ranked number one in its segment for both September and the year-to-date. With nearly 66,000 vehicles sold so far this year, the 500L holds a 26.0% segment share. The 500X continued as one of the best selling models in its segment, with sales up 10.5% to 9,700 vehicles in September and 65.8% to 83,000 vehicles for the year-to-date. Sales of the Fiat Tipo family continued to increase and the Fiat 124 spider was among the top five in its segment with a 10.0% share. Lancia/Chrysler posted sales of 5,400 vehicles (+14.7%) in September and 52,800 vehicles (+9.2%) for the year-to-date, with share 10 basis points higher at 0.5%. In Italy, Lancia's primary market, sales were up 18.4% in September and 18.0% year-to-date. The Lancia Ypsilon continued to lead the B segment in Italy with September sales increasing 16.7%. Alfa Romeo posted sales of nearly 7,000 vehicles in September (+39.0%), with market share 10 basis points higher at 0.5%. For the year-to-date, brand sales totaled 48,500 vehicles (+11.5%) and market share was 0.4%. Sales were up in nearly all major markets, increasing 47.3% in September in Italy (+14.4% year-to-date), 110.4% in Germany (+26.1% year-to-date), 39.7% in France (+7.4% year-to-date) and 68.9% in Spain (11.1% year-to-date). Those results reflected the performance of the Giulietta (+3.1% year-to-date) and the all-new Giulia, which has been registering rapid growth in all major European markets. Jeep posted another strong sales month with nearly 10,400 vehicles sold in September (+21.0%) and market share was 10 basis points higher at 0.7%. Year-to-date, sales were up 22.1% to nearly 80,300 vehicles and market share was 10 basis points higher at 0.7%. The brand posted increases in nearly all major European markets, significantly outperforming the industry average. Sales were up 46.1% in September in Italy (+37.7% year-to-date), 18.8% in the UK (best sales month ever; +39.7% year-to-date), 36.8% in France (+18.1% year-to-date) and 43.3% in Spain (34.0% year-to-date). Those results were driven by the continued strong performance of the Jeep Renegade, which has established itself firmly among the leaders in its segment. The Renegade posted sales of around 7,600 units in September, representing a 41.7% year-over-year increase. For Maserati, the Group's luxury brand, European sales totaled 927 vehicles in September and 5,459 for the year-to-date. SOURCE Fiat Chrysler Automobiles "As companies strive to become more customer-centric, taking a data-driven approach to better understanding customer behaviors and needs will be paramount," said Hunter Muller , HMG Strategy's President & CEO. "The CIO is uniquely positioned to enable the company to take advantage of customer insights to drive business growth and new opportunities." The Southern California summit will kick off with an executive interview between Hunter Muller and Tom Peck, SVP, CIO and Global Head, Procurement & Travel, AECOM. Peck will share what it takes to lead a Fortune 500 company's global IT organization to maximize performance and help the enterprise to achieve competitive advantage. Other energizing topics at the Southern California conference will include how digitization, the Internet of Things, and other innovative technologies are expected to impact the customer experience; current and emerging security threats that are facing the enterprise; interactive interviews with Silicon Valley venture capitalists on hot technologies CIOs need to be aware of; the new performance attributes required by CIOs to lead in a world of accelerated change; future trends that will impact the enterprise; and the courageous mindset that CIOs must embrace to drive innovation and transformation. Illustrious speakers participating at the Southern California summit will include Jay Banfield, Founding Executive Director, Year Up; Scott Cadwalader, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Diligent Partners, LLC; Shawn Henry, President of CrowdStrike Services and CSO, CrowdStrike; Rick Hopfer, CIO, Molina Healthcare; John Iannarelli, Former Senior Executive Advisor, FBI; Michael Keithley, Former CIO, Creative Artists Agency; Tony Leng, Managing Director and CIO Practice Leader, Diversified Search; Joel Manfredo, CIO, Motion Picture Industry Pension & Health Plans; Hunter Muller, President & CEO, HMG Strategy, LLC; Lior Ofir, Managing Director, IT, PennyMac Financial Services; Tom Peck, SVP, CIO and Global Head, Procurement & Travel, AECOM; Jim Randall, Deputy US CISO & Network Head of Cyber Security, PwC; Ram Reddy, VP Global IT, Dermalogica; Kim Terry, EVP & CIO, OceanX, LLC; Jay Tucker, CMO & Head of Programs, USC Marshall School of Business; and Naveen Zutshi, CIO, Palo Alto Networks. Sponsor Partners for the summit include Cloudera, Datalink, Nth Generation, Pure Storage, and ServiceNow. Association Partners include SCSIM, Women in Technology International (WITI), and Year Up. 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. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428494 SOURCE HMG Strategy Related Links http://www.hmgstrategy.com PITTSBURGH, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's fast-paced, get-it-done-yesterday workplace, global leader MSA Safety (NYSE: MSA) is encouraging workers to pause at the start of their day and spend a couple of minutes talking about one thing: safety. Earlier this month, MSA launched #TailgateSafetyTalks, an initiative that encourages worksite operators to lead safety-focused discussions at the beginning of each shift, ensuring workplace safety is top of mind for every person on the jobsite. "Education, training and awareness play a critical role in keeping people safe and ensuring they go home at the end of the work day," said Rebecca Trimpey, MSA Global Training Manager. "Our #TailgateSafetyTalks campaign is a simple way to remind workers to pay close attention to their behaviors, including checking safety products before each use, engaging in behavior-based safety (BBS) practices, and discussing how they can be even safer moving forward." To encourage this practice, MSA has added a charitable tie-in to the program. For every safety tip workers share on Facebook using #TailgateSafetyTalks, those individuals will qualify for a chance to have MSA make a $250 charitable donation in their name. Winners will be drawn at random every Monday in October. "In order to improve workplace safety and eradicate on-the-job injuries, product training and consistent, ongoing education is crucial," Ms. Trimpey continued. "Our #TailgateSafetyTalks campaign, an idea sparked by our sales associates, represents just one element of a larger focus that ensures our customers truly know how to properly test and use their equipment." In addition to the #TailgateSafetyTalks campaign, MSA last year opened a new state-of-the-art safety training facility near Pittsburgh, Pa., to educate industrial workers, construction contractors, utility workers, and firefighters on how to properly select, inspect and use personal protective equipment (PPE) in an application-based atmosphere. The three-story indoor training complex, located steps away from the company's global headquarters in Cranberry Township, Pa., is packed with a complex rig of ladders, platforms, manholes and escape windows, which allows MSA to simulate true-to-life worker safety scenarios. For off-site customers, MSA offers more than 150 online training programs relevant to MSA's innovative products and general industry safety standards via MSA-U. Customers, safety experts and the public can explore MSA's new product solutions and latest technological advancements, and speak with the company's team of safety specialists, at this year's National Safety Council (NSC) Congress and Expo, held October 15 21 in Anaheim, Ca. Among the products to be showcased are the ALTAIR 5X Multigas Detector with photoionization detector (PID), an instrument that can detect up to six (6) gases simultaneously; the Latchways Mini Personal Fall Limiter, now available with tieback capabilities; and the revolutionary G1 self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). The ALTAIR 5X Multigas Detector and the Latchways Mini Personal Fall Limiter were both named Readers' and Attendees Choice Award winners by Industrial Safety and Hygiene News. About MSA Established in 1914, MSA Safety Incorporated is the global leader in the development, manufacture and supply of safety products that protect people and facility infrastructures. Many MSA products integrate a combination of electronics, mechanical systems and advanced materials to protect users against hazardous or life-threatening situations. The company's comprehensive product line is used by workers around the world in a broad range of markets, including the oil, gas and petrochemical industry, the fire service, the construction industry, mining and the military. MSA's core products include self-contained breathing apparatus, fixed gas and flame detection systems, portable gas detection instruments, industrial head protection products, fire and rescue helmets, and fall protection devices. With 2015 revenues of $1.1 billion, MSA employs approximately 4,600 people worldwide. The company is headquartered north of Pittsburgh in Cranberry Township, Pa., and has manufacturing operations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. With more than 40 international locations, MSA realizes approximately half of its revenue from outside North America. For more information visit MSA's web site at www.MSAsafety.com. SOURCE MSA Related Links http://www.msasafety.com DENVER, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In the book Authority Selling, the reader will learn how to build and use a platform of "Authority Positioning" to separate themselves from their competition to become the obvious choice. There is an integrated Authority Selling Action Guide encouraging readers to implement their learning throughout the book, which is available on Amazon Kindle and in paperback version. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428397 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428398 Mike Saunders, MBA | Authority Marketing Strategist "Authority Selling" Author Mike Saunders points out: "As you read this book, I want you to understand the simplicity of the concept of developing your Authority Positioning. This strategy is not meant to make you a national celebrity, but to establish you as the premier brand in your sphere of influence and build from there over time. Concepts in this book provide a powerful approach that allows you to strategically and subtlety connect with your target audience. When this is done in advance of them meeting with you, you are positioned as a credible Authority." Saunders continues: "Think about after you meet with a prospect, would boosting your Credibility and Authority help them make their decision in favor of you? When the sale does not happen during the meeting, you run the risk of losing momentum, so having a strategically-designed Authority Positioning Portfolio to leave with them will increase your chances of closing the sale." After his interview with Mike Saunders on Business Innovators Radio Network, Tom Hopkins, Americas #1 Sales Trainer, reviewed the book, Authority Selling and said: "Becoming a recognized expert in your field is the key to long term success. Authority Selling shows you how to do just that." Tom Hopkins is a sales legend. Since 1976, Tom Hopkins International has been dedicated to providing the finest sales training strategies and techniques to individuals and companies alike. Using this concept of a strategically created Authority Positioning Portfolio, readers will learn how to easily and effectively implement the Authority Selling System in their business. Limited FREE copies of the 162 pg. book, Authority Selling are available for shipment Details: https://AuthorityMarketingStrategist.com Media Contact Marketing Huddle Mike Saunders, MBA Email 720-232-3112 SOURCE Mike Saunders Related Links https://authoritymarketingstrategist.com BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) delegation will embark on an eight-day journey to Canada from October 16 to 23. This is the 9th destination country for CEC's annual visits, following successful trips to the United States, UK, France, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, Germany, and Italy. The journey will cover the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will again meet with the CEC delegation, hosting them at the Willson House residence on Meech Lake. Just six weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with CEC members at the China Entrepreneur Club Leaders Forum in Beijing during his first official visit to China. It created an opportunity for a candid discussion focused on the questions of China's private sector business leaders concerning Canada-China business relations and partnership growth. The delegation will mainly look into the policy landscape of Canada, the opportunities during economic transformation, competitiveness in talent and technology, and foster communication with important industries including technology and innovative industries, consumer goods, and finance. The CEC delegation to Canada will be headed by Dr. Ma Weihua, President of China Entrepreneur Club, President of the National Fund for Technology Transfer and Commercialization Council and former President of China Merchants Bank. Delegates include business leaders from various industries including Xu Jinghong, Chairman of Tsinghua Holdings; Frank Wu, Chairman of Central China Real Estate; Jiang Xipei, Chairman of Far East Holding; Niu Gensheng, Founder of Mengniu Dairy Group, Founder and Honorary President of the Lao Niu Foundation; Peter Wang, Chairman of Tentimes Group; Wang Chaoyong, Founding Chairman and CEO of ChinaEquity Group; Xia Hua, Chairwoman of EVE Group and other renowned entrepreneurs. The visit has attracted much attention, and a few of the events planned will include a media presence. On the business front, CEC's visit will include meetings organized by Power Corporation, Bombardier, Cirque du Soleil, and The Royal Bank of Canada. Roundtable dialogues will be held with the QG100 Network, the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA), the Canada China Business Council (CCBC), the Business Council of Canada (BCC) and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. The delegation carries an objective of bolstering public diplomacy of the Chinese private sector. Ma Weihua elaborated that the purpose of the CEC international visit is to learn from the most disruptive business leaders and systems across the world, while demonstrating the integrity of Chinese entrepreneurs and ambitions in seeking cooperation opportunities. Ma noted that the recent warming of China-Canada relations has created more opportunities for business communication between the two countries; the duty of entrepreneurs is to turn this bilateral enthusiasm and positive energy into practical business cooperation. The China Entrepreneur Club is the premier business leader platform in China. CEC member companies are economic powerhouses, with 50 dynamic companies earning a total annual gross income of over three trillion RMB. As a private non-profit organization, the CEC is committed to nurturing entrepreneurship and business integrity while paving the future of sustainable economic and social development. Media Contact: Enya Chen Senior PR Manager, China Entrepreneur Club Tel: +86-181-0108-0400 E-mail: [email protected] China Entrepreneur Club The China Entrepreneur Club is the premiere business leader platform in China. Established by 31 of China's most influential entrepreneurs, economists and diplomats in 2006, the CEC is a hub for Chinese entrepreneurial exchange, cooperation, and international collaboration. As a private non-profit organization, the CEC is committed to nurturing entrepreneurship and business integrity while paving the future of sustainable economic and social development. CEC members represent the first generation of modern Chinese entrepreneurs. Members and member companies are proud to signify commercial success while abiding by the rules and regulations of the market economy. CEC members continue to set the example for sustainable competitiveness by actively engaging in public welfare initiatives and endorsing corporate social responsibility. CEC member companies are economic powerhouses, with 50 dynamic companies earning a total annual gross income of over three trillion RMB. The CEC mission and vision represent a set of core values for club members, employees and affiliates to live by. These values are the backbone of club activity, from International Visits to the Member Company Visits and Daonong Gala. Additionally, the Green Companies Alliance and China Green Companies Summit exhibit a relentless pursuit of building sustainable, transparent green companies in China. Official website: http://www.daonong.com/English/ Follow us on LinkedIn: China Entrepreneur Club The CEC Annual International Visits The China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) has practiced effective public diplomacy with the strong aggregation of the 50 top Chinese entrepreneurs. Given this context, the international visit is one of the CEC's most important annual events. The visits provide a two-way channel for Chinese enterprises and the international community represented by their foreign counterparts to carry out open dialogue and enhance mutual understanding. With the strong support and active engagement of leading organizations in political, commercial and academic backgrounds, the CEC has enhanced the long-term positive communication between China and the international community by successfully promoting the public diplomacy in a market economy. Since 2011, the CEC business delegation has successfully visited the United States (2011), the United Kingdom (2012), Belgium & France (2013), Singapore & Australia (2014) and Germany & Italy (2015). Online information: http://www.daonong.com/English/cec_pv.html SOURCE China Entrepreneur Club Related Links http://www.daonong.com/English/ Tzu Chi Foundation will then launch a Cash-For-Relief program like the one we provided in Cap-Haitien, Haiti in 2014, and in Ecuador after the earthquake this May. Our Cash-For-Relief program is an effective means of initiating the rebuilding and recovery process, in that it enables the cleanup of devastated areas, while restoring desperately needed hope after a catastrophe. Tzu Chi Foundation was established 50 years ago, and our footprint of aid at the forefront of poverty reduction and disaster relief continues to grow, now reaching more than 94 countries. In support of our ongoing humanitarian aid and missions, we're hosting several events, and launching our Love Saves campaign. Love Saves embodies a vision that by giving with love, we can save others from suffering. We invite you to join the love saves movement, and welcome you at our upcoming events that include charity concerts in Illinois, Texas, New York, and California; and a film premiere in New York City. For more information about us, please visit: www.tzuchi.us/Haiti MEDIA CONTACT: Sabrina Ho | [email protected] | (909) 447-7799 x611 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428692 SOURCE Tzu Chi Foundation Related Links http://www.tzuchi.us/haiti LONDON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Summary The Future of Foodservice in the US to 2020 Report published by Canadean Intelligence provides readers with a detailed analysis of consumer, operator and technology level trends in the US Foodservice sector, analysis of market size, outlets and transactions in the US and key players in the US Foodservice market. Key Findings - The US Foodservice market is expected to experience a growth of 3.8% during 2015-2020 - The improving economic condition is driving the growth of the foodservice market. Additionally, rising employment and disposable income levels are fuelling consumer spending, which is in turn driving Foodservice sales. - Busy lifestyles of working consumers are expected to drive Foodservice sales at Quick Service Restaurants which offer convenient snacking options. - International tourism will drive the demand for Foodservice sales, especially with the US offering a range of international cuisine owing to the multi-cultural background. - Retail will be the fastest growing Profit channel in terms of sales during 2015-2020, driven by value deals offered by supermarkets and hypermarkets. Synopsis This report offers detailed analysis of the US Foodservice market with market size forecasts covering the next five years. This report will also analyze macro-economic factors that influence the foodservice market, key consumer, operator and technology trends and key players in the market. In particular, it provides an in-depth analysis of the following: - Macro-economic analyses and trends: detailed analysis of the macro-economic factors, GDP per capita, consumer price index, unemployment rate and age profile, that impact the foodservice market. It also provides insights into consumer, operator and technology trends in the US Foodservice market - Foodservice market attractiveness: details and insights into the development of the foodservice sector within the US for 2010-2020 - Sector analysis: provides in-depth data on the valuation and development of both the profit and the cost sectors, details on the number of outlets, transactions, average price, foodservice sales, sales per outlet, and transactions per outlet across nearly 50 sub-channels - Competitive landscape: provides an overview of key players, together with insights such as number of outlets, business description and product profile - Regulatory scenario: insights into regulatory environment for foodservice operators in the US market Reasons To Buy - This report will give the user confidence to make the correct business decisions based on a detailed analysis of the US Foodservice market and to identify emerging/declining markets over the next 5 years. - This report will give the user a thorough fact based analysis with information about value of the foodservice market across the channels in both the sectors and the underlying factors that are driving the channel sales. For example, Restaurants will continue to dominate the Profit Sector in terms of absolute sales driven by rising demand for convenient food options which cater to time scarce consumers. - The analysts have placed a significant emphasis on the major trends that will shape the foodservice market and will provide the user with a clear picture about the future opportunities that can be tapped, resulting in revenue expansion. E.g. International tourism will drive the demand for Foodservice sales, especially with the US offering a range of international cuisine owing to the multi-cultural background. - Brief profiles of the key foodservice companies in the US with information about their business description, product profile and number of outlets wherever available. This will provide the user with a total competitive landscape of the sector. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4221330/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "Today, the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce proclaims our absolute condemnation of presidential candidate Donald Trump a boastful champion of misogynistic supremacy over women, as wholly unfit for the presidency of the United States of America," states Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428670 U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce Condemns Boastful Misogynist Donald Trump as Unfit to Serve as President of the United States "It is not acceptable for any woman to be talked about, joked about or treated as a subservient piece of sexual meat by any man ever," declares Dorfman. "Not on a college campus. Not in the workplace. And, certainly not by a powerful man bragging about his celebrity sexual predatory rights at any place or time," adds Dorfman. The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce fights every day in support of the ambitions, intellect and economic advancement of women. This good fight includes at its foundation the right of every woman to know that she will be valued and treated with respect in our society. While the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has previously endorsed Secretary Clinton for the presidency the first presidential endorsement ever made by our association, due to the statements and actions of Mr. Trump we are compelled to issue this clear and absolute condemnation of candidate Trump as wholly unfit to represent America in any way whatsoever. "Donald Trump is singularly the worst possible individual to lead our country. We condemn him for his utter disrespect for women and call upon men and women everywhere to do more than passively sit back and watch this horror in silence," states Dorfman. "Today, we ask all citizens to tell everyone you can reach including Mr. Trump there is no excuse, there is no explanation or condemnation of others that he can spin to restore his fitness to serve as our president. It's simple: Mr. Trump's predatory sexual misogynistic exploits disqualify him from the presidency of the United States of America," concludes Dorfman. The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce unifies the collective strength of women in the U.S. economy. Using a platform of influence, innovation, and opportunity, the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce works with and for its members to grow successful businesses and careers. For additional information, go to http://www.uswcc.org or call 888-418-7922. Related Images image1.jpg image2.png Related Links U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce I Vote for Women This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce Related Links http://www.uswcc.org LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Documentary filmmaker, Kris Koenig, debuts SIGHT: The Story of Vision for broadcast on PBS affiliates nationwide starting October 13 World Sight Day featuring interviews with two University of Southern California (USC) Roski Eye Institute experts, Rohit Varma, MD, MPH and Mark Humayun, MD, PhD. The one-hour documentary, narrated by Sir Elton John, is a comprehensive look at the science, medicine and technology of human vision. The film includes several individual stories of those across the globe who are losing or have lost their sight as well as showcasing the history of sight over the last 800 years and highlighting a growing global vision crisis. Most PBS affiliates nationwide, are broadcasting the documentary throughout the fall and into spring, 2017 with more than 30 public TV stations, including New York, Chicago, Tampa, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Oregon, Denver and Dallas, debuting it on or around October 13. Locally, KVCR-TV in San Bernardino will air the program on October 26 and PBS SoCal (KOCE-TV) in Los Angeles will premiere the film in spring, 2017. The filmmakers have also secured international broadcasting partners in Canada, Europe and Asia. Filmmakers chose only certain expert interviews for the final documentary focusing on those who had both a national and international expertise. Dr. Varma, who in addition to serving as director of USC Roski Eye Institute is also interim dean of Keck School of Medicine of USC, was interviewed for his research and expertise on the growing worldwide epidemic of childhood myopia. Dr. Humayun, who is co-director of USC Roski Eye Institute and director of the USC Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics, was featured for his co-creation of the Argus II retinal prostheses system that is helping to restore some vision to those with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). His Argus creation contributed to Humayun being honored by President Obama with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation earlier this year. "Dr. Humayun and Dr. Varma are some of the best of the best in the field of research ophthalmology so it's very important to include them in the film," said Koenig. The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged that reducing visual impairment is a global public health problem which is why it is one of WHO's main goals in its Global Action Plan 2014-2019 Universal Eye Health. "It's exciting to be included in such a groundbreaking documentary film on vision and to represent USC, the USC Roski Eye Institute and our world-class vision research," said Varma. As one of the committee members who wrote the recently published report issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow, Varma added, "Both in the U.S. and internationally we have a societal obligation to preserve vision health and to reduce blindness and visual impairment - eye health has to be at the top of our national policy agenda and films like SIGHT help us tell the story about this global public health issue." "The passion of Kris and his expert filmmaking on this project is obvious when you see it," says Humayun who was also recently interviewed for a National Geographic cover story on "The End of Blindness." "It was an honor to be included in this film and to showcase how we can create a worldwide movement to preserve sight and prevent blindness." Underwritten by Zeiss, VSP Global, The Vision Council, OneSight, Essilor, Luxottica, Alcon and Brien Holden Vision Institute with presenting station SOPTV, the PBS affiliate in Southern Oregon, SIGHT is a multimedia program. In addition to the film, there is a companion app, Second Screen, that provides more content and stories that did not make it into the final 60-minute film. There is also a SIGHT eBook/iBook available on iTunes and Google Play. Terry Byland, a patient at the USC Roski Eye Institute and the only person in the world to have the Argus implant in both eyes, was interviewed along with his wife Sue by the filmmakers for additional educational content that will be seen on the SIGHT social media channels such as Facebook. Humayun, Byland's surgeon, says Byland played a crucial role in the ongoing research and evolution of the Argus system as the only person who can provide a firsthand account of the difference in the original and the FDA-approved versions of the implant. Byland had his first implant during Humayun's Argus clinical trial in 2004 and was implanted in 2015 in his second eye with the FDA-approved Argus, which has three times the electrodes of the original version for more visual clarity. The Byland's story and Sue's journey as Terry's caregiver also appears in an online article on PBS Next Avenue. SIGHT is also the first film to be broadcast with a color correction that is adapted for the vision of people with color blindness using Enchroma glasses and technology. Similar to Closed Captioning (CC) for the hearing impaired, and Video Description (VD) for low vision and the blind, the color blind accessible correction (CA) helps those with limited red-green color sensitivity better see differences between colors they normally struggle to distinguish. "Vision is important to every human being on the planet," said Koenig. "Once we realized that there wasn't a film on the various vision crises around the world and how vision affects everyone as we age, it became clear that a film needed to be made." USC Roski Eye Institute, in partnership with the local PBS SoCal station (KOCE-TV), will be sponsoring a special event to celebrate the premiere of SIGHT in Los Angeles when the PBS affiliate airs the program in spring 2017. To learn more about USC Roski Eye Institute, visit: usceye.org. Logo - https://photos.prnewswire.com/prnvar/20160927/412369LOGO SOURCE USC Roski Eye Institute Related Links http://usceye.org WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Veterans in Energy"a new national initiative with the goal of providing transition, retention, and professional development support to military veterans working in the energy industrywill hold its inaugural National Leadership Summit at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. today. The Veterans in Energy National Leadership Summit features leaders from the energy industry and the federal government speaking about the work being done around the country to support veterans transitioning from military life to successful careers in energy. Speakers include: Don Brandt , Chairman, President and CEO, Pinnacle West and Arizona Public Service , Chairman, President and CEO, Pinnacle West and Arizona Public Service Tom Fanning , Chairman, President and CEO, Southern Company , Chairman, President and CEO, Southern Company Tom Farrell , Chairman, President and CEO, Dominion , Chairman, President and CEO, Dominion Tom Kuhn , President, Edison Electric Institute , President, Edison Electric Institute Mike Langford , National President, Utility Workers Union of America , National President, Utility Workers Union of America Mike Michaud , Assistant Secretary of Labor , Assistant Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall , Deputy Secretary of Energy , Deputy Secretary of Energy LT Brad Snyder , USN Paralympian and Gold Medalist Swimmer "While Veterans in Energy is a new initiative, the energy industry has a long history of employing and engaging military veterans. Their capabilities and skills match those required for technical, engineering, leadership, and support positions in the energy industry," said EEI President Tom Kuhn. "At the National Leadership Summit, veterans who work in the energy industry are coming together with leaders in the federal government, the energy industry, and organized labor to support transitions from military life to successful careers in energy." Veterans in Energy builds on the success of Troops to Energy Jobs, an initiative launched in 2010 by EEI under the leadership of then-EEI Chairman Tom Farrell. The mission of Troops to Energy Jobs is to connect military veterans to careers in the electric, natural gas, and nuclear industries. One of the many best practices identified by Troops to Energy Jobs is the creation of Veteran Employee Resource Groups to help companies support the needs of employees who are military veterans. Many energy companies now have Veteran Employee Resource Groups. Veterans in Energy hopes to take this a step further by connecting military veteran employees to others around the country and by providing leadership opportunities in Veterans in Energy at the state, regional and national levels. More information on the National Leadership Summit is available at www.veteransinenergy.org. About Veterans in Energy Working with Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz in 2015, the energy industry identified a need to provide transition, retention, and professional development support to the growing number of military veterans working in the energy industry. Supporting organizations include the U.S. Departments of Energy, Labor, Defense, and Veterans Affairs; the Center for Energy Workforce Development and its members: the Edison Electric Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the American Public Power Association, and the American Gas Association; and labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Utility Workers Union of America. About the Edison Electric Institute EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Our members provide electricity for 220 million Americans, operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and directly and indirectly support more than 1 million jobs. EEI has more than 70 international electric companies as International Members, and 270 industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160106/319949LOGO SOURCE Edison Electric Institute Related Links http://www.eei.org BROOKLYN, N.Y., Oct. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 20 teams of high school students in the United States and the United Arab Emirates have won coveted slots to compete in the world's largest set of student-led cybersecurity contests, the New York University Tandon School of Engineering's annual Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) games. For the first time, the final round of the High School Forensics Challenge (HSF) will be held simultaneously at NYU Tandon in Downtown Brooklyn and NYU Abu Dhabi. The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) will simultaneously host other CSAW contests for the India-wide finals. Together, the three regional CSAW hubs will bring hundreds of high school and collegiate finalists, mentors, recruiters, cybersecurity professionals, and top academics to the 13th annual CSAW, November 10-12, 2016. The HSF finalists in the U.S. regionals will be awarded a scholarship (contingent on admission to the NYU Tandon School of Engineering and maintenance of satisfactory academic progress) and will receive cash prizes for their high schools provided by a grant from the U.S. National Security Agency. NYU Abu Dhabi HSF winners will receive scholarships and travel to prestigious summer educational programs and university letters of recommendation. In the U.S. the HSF Challenge preliminaries (September 28 to October 8, 2016) were divided into four regions, with the top-performing teams from the Midwest, West, South, and Northeast earning prizes to travel to NYU Tandon in Brooklyn to compete in the finals. Additionally, seven wildcard teams were invited based on their outstanding scores. The CSAW finalists from the United Arab Emirates were not selected by region but were the highest scoring teams. U.S. Regional Finalists FailSec Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois 1064CBread Dos Pueblos High School, Santa Barbara, California Transcendent Gluten-Free Pudding Poolesville High School, Poolesville, Maryland TheePotato Thomas Jefferson High School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania U.S. Wildcard Finalists Farm Fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Finger Poolesville High School Flaming Pandas Suncoast Community High School, Riviera Beach, Florida in/s/ane Stuyvesant High School, New York City 's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia n0de Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland Darkside Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland wacode Westford Academy, Westford, Massachusetts UAE Finalists Crypto Crew Abu Dhabi Secondary School, Abu Dhabi The 404s Greenwood International School, Dubai Pirates Party Islamia English School, Abu Dhabi Pwn Shadows Applied Technology School, Fujairah Spectres Islamia English School, Abu Dhabi Striking Slayers Islamia English School, Abu Dhabi Cyber hackers Applied Technology School, Fujairah SKW Raha International School, Abu Dhabi Diablo Applied Technology High School, Fujairah TheSeCaTech Delhi Private School, Dubai Besides honing the skills of young enthusiasts, the HSF Challenge introduces high school-age novices to the cybersecurity field through an online education program featuring free CyFor self-guided education modules and a series of webinars, both of which were developed by NYU cybersecurity undergraduate and graduate students and mentors. The preliminaries employed a series of fast-paced challenges similar to the CSAW Capture the Flag contest. "We originally conceived of the CSAW High School Forensics competition as a means to engage students at a young age in an exciting area of computer science," said Nasir Memon, NYU CSAW founder and professor in the NYU School of Engineering Department of Computer Science and Engineering. "That's why we scaled up our outreach last year through open-source education and a contest format similar to Capture the Flag. The initiative has proved very successful." At the HSF finals, teams of high school students will attempt to solve a fictitious murder mystery by identifying and analyzing electronic evidence pointing to the perpetrator. Sponsors for CSAW 2016 are: Gold Level Palo Alto Networks, Trendy Micro, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Silver Level Bridgewater, Google, IBM, and Kroll; Bronze Level Facebook, Jefferies, Navy Civilian Careers, NCC Group, and Raytheon; Supporting Level Bloomberg, Cubic, EY, Intel, National Security Agency, Optiv, The Ruth & Jerome A. Siegel Foundation, Sandia National Laboratories, and U.S. Secret Service; Contributing Level ACSA, Altera, and Cigital. For more information on CSAW, visit https://csaw.engineering.nyu.edu. Follow @CSAW_NYUTandon. About the NYU Tandon School of Engineering The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within the country's largest private research university and is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. www.facebook.com/nyutandon @nyupoly Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151013/276541LOGO SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering Related Links http://engineering.nyu.edu If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Williamnagar (Meghalaya), Oct 7 : The Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) suffered a major setback to the leadership in Meghalaya after the number two man in the outlawed outfit surrendered on Friday. Zen Robert Ch. Marak alias Rupanto Marak, deputy commander-in-chief of the GNLA, along with his aide Armindo B. Marak alias Rangdat surrendered to Davies Marak, the police chief of East Garo Hills district. "It is a huge setback for the GNLA leadership (Sohan D. Shira). We are expecting more of them to surrender," Marak told IANS. The surrendered terrorists deposited one 9 mm pistol with nine live rounds of ammunition besides mobile handsets. "Rupanto told us that he decided to give up the GNLA due to the growing dictatorial attitude of Sohan towards the cadres besides the unwanted killings," Marak said. The officer said both terrorists came overground in the wake of the intensified combing operation launched by Meghalaya police in Garo Hills against the outfit. "They have been under intense pressure and the only option for them was to surrender. We are hopeful more of them will follow suit," Marak said. The GNLA, which claims to be fighting for a separate Garoland in western Meghalaya, is headed by police officer-turned-rebel Champion R. Sangma, who is now in the Shillong jail after being arrested from near the India-Bangladesh border in 2012. It has forged an alliance with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent. Port-au-prince/Daytona Beach, Oct 8 : Hurricane Matthew, the most deadly storm in a decade, killed nearly 900 persons in Haiti and left tens of thousands homeless before it slammed the Atlantic Coast at the border of Georgia and South Carolina early on Saturday, bringing torrential rain, powerful winds and storm surges. According to some reports, the number of deaths in Haiti could reach thousands. Aid officials say up to 90 per cent of some areas in Haiti were destroyed. Government and UN officials estimate that some 3,50,000 persons need help. The storm, which spared Florida a direct hit, nevertheless caused extensive havoc. It caused devastation in Florida where one million people lost power and six died. The storm, which on Saturday morning was downgraded to Category One, packed maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. Although the storm weakened substantially, the hurricane center warned of "strong winds and dangerous storm surge" along the South Carolina coast and heavy rains. The National Weather Service also posted a new tornado watch for parts of northeast South Carolina and eastern North Carolina until 4 p.m. ET Saturday. Matthew, with winds of 105 miles per hour, is expected to move to North Carolina by night. The storm surges are likely to reach six to nine feet above high tide from Jacksonville, Florida, up through Charleston, South Carolina, reports said. Haiti has borne the brunt of the storm as Matthew tore through the Caribbean earlier this week as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane also crossed over the Bahamas on its way to the United States. In a part of Haiti's southern peninsula, the storm destroyed nearly 30,000 homes and killed 150 people. In many areas, the sugar, banana and mango crops were flattened. Rescue efforts were hit by the massive destruction all around, with trees and buildings felled and floodwater marooning remote areas. The UN has warned that it could take days for the full impact of Matthew in Haiti to emerge. Haiti's Civil Protection Agency on Friday doubled the death toll from the hurricane from 400 to more than 800. World Food Programme's Haiti Director Carlos Veloso said some of the hard-hit towns in Haiti can be accessed only by air or sea. More than 61,500 people are in shelters, officials said, Mobile phone networks are down and roads flooded, making it difficult for aid to reach hard-hit areas in Haiti. The Mesa Verde, a US Navy amphibious transport dock ship, was headed for Haiti to support relief efforts. The ship has heavy-lift helicopters, bulldozers, fresh water delivery vehicles and two surgical operating rooms. The Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for $6.9m, "to provide medical, shelter, water and sanitation assistance to 50,000 people". There have been concerns over a surge in cholera cases, with at least seven deaths reported. A 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed thousands of people. Four persons died in the neighbouring Dominican Republic on Tuesday. As it approached Florida, the storm swept past the coast with winds of up to 120 mph (195 kph) but did not make landfall in the state. US President Barack Obama on Friday warned that, while southern Florida had been spared the worst, the hurricane remained very dangerous, and the risk of a storm surge and flooding remained real. A state of emergency is in place in several states of US. The hurricane has caused major transportation disruptions, with more than 5,200 flights canceled between Wednesday and Saturday. Mumbai, Oct 9 : Marvel's "Doctor Strange" will hit screens in India on November 4, the same day as its North American release. Also, some of its fans in India will be treated to an exclusive peek into the film on Wednesday. India would be one of the first countries to see approximately 15 minutes of exclusive footage from the highly anticipated, action-packed "Doctor Strange", which stars the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel McAdams. The sneak peek will be showcased at an IMAX screen in Mumbai. "'Doctor Strange' is nothing like any other superhero movie we have seen and that makes it all the more special. Not only that, it presents Benedict Cumberbatch in an inimitable and unique style and it is his very first outing as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," Amrita Pandey, Vice President -- Studios, Disney India, said in a statement. "The Marvel Studios' Expand Your Mind: An IMAXA 3D Exclusive First Look screening is a special treat we want to give to all Marvel fans in India. The screening would include over 15 minutes of exclusive footage from the movie and give the fans a sneak peak into Dr. Stephen Strange's journey," Pandey added. "Doctor Strange" also features Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt and Scott Adkins, with Mads Mikkelsen and Tilda Swinton. Scott Derrickson has directed the project, which is produced by Kevin Feige. Lucknow, Oct 9 : BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday accused the BJP of trying to convert India into a "Hindu Rashtra" and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to fulfil his election promises. Addressing a huge rally here, the four-time Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also accused the government of doing "natakbaji" over the army's surgical strike on terrorist launch pads on Pakistani territory. The Sunday event was called to mark the 10th death anniversary of BSP founder and her mentor Kanshi Ram and comes ahead of assembly elections in the state early next year. A stampede during the rally left two aged women dead and a dozen others injured, one of them critically, police sources said. Calling for Dalit-Muslim unity in the country's most populous state, Mayawati accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to convert the country into a "Hindu Rashtra". If Dalits and Muslims come together, it would be enough to defeat the BJP in the state, she thundered. Accusing the BJP of spreading communal poison, she said Dalits were also being targeted in the name of cow protection. Crimes against minorities had shot up during Modi's rule. Mayawati was particularly harsh on the Prime Minister, accusing him of "busy converting black money into white". Modi, she said, had done nothing but "fool" the people since taking power in May 2014. "Modi sold a dozen dreams to the people in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls but has done nothing to deliver on them." She also accused the BJP-led central government of using the Central Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to intimidate political opponents. "The Modi government has connived with big industrialists and businessmen and is torturing small-time businessmen," she alleged. She accused Modi of making frequent foreign visits and said he had woken up to the threats from Pakistan only now. Referring to the army's September 28-29 surgical strike across the Line of Control, Mayawati said the government was doing "natakbaji" in a bid to divert the people's attention from their problems. In any case, she argued, this was not the first time an Indian government had ordered a surgical strike on Pakistani territory. Mayawati also targeted the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh and accused it of plundering the state coffers and letting loose criminals on the people. If the BSP formed a government, it would dramatically improve the law and order situation, she promised. The BSP leader said that many of the projects completed by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav were initiated during her earlier regime. Mayawati did not spare the Congress either. She said the Congress had done nothing for Dalits and weaker sections in the state. She warned Muslims that voting for the Congress or the Samajwadi Party would only benefit the BJP by dividing the anti-BJP votes. Kigali (Rwanda), Oct 12 : Environmental groups on Wednesday urged world leaders to come together for an ambitious deal to cut down heat-trapping super pollutants like hydrofluorocarbons and reaffirm their Paris commitment to take steps to tackle climate change. "A success in Kigali can really raise the bar for greater ambition on global climate action in the years ahead," said Wael Hmaidan, International Director for the Climate Action Network, in a statement here. Though heat-trapping substance hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs -- the refrigeration and air-conditioning coolants -- do not harm the ozone layer, they have a high global-warming potential. To negotiate amendments to the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs to enter a critical stage, nearly 40 Ministers will arrive here on Thursday to attend the 28th meeting of the Parties to the 1989 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to freeze an agreement as early as possible to eventually eliminate the use of HFCs. "It's fitting that Ministers will be arriving here at the summit in the coming days because it is their government's credibility that will be on the line, if we don't get a good outcome," Christian Aid's Senior Policy Officer for Africa Benson Ireri said. "Vulnerable countries do not have time to wait, the climate is changing fast and phasing down HFCs is something we absolutely must do if we're going to honour the pledges of the Paris Agreement," Ireri said. Avipsa Mahapatra, Climate Campaign Lead with the Environmental Investigation Agency, said: "Although we've made progress on the important issue of baselines in the negotiations, time is scarce, and barely three negotiating days remain to reach the ambition necessary to achieve the 0.5 degree contribution to avoided warming that we desperately need." Sounding optimistic, Natural Resources Defence Council India representive Bhaskar Deol said: "The technology for transition to energy-efficient and climate-friendly alternatives is already available. As the talks progress, most developing countries are displaying ambition and are ready for a freeze starting in the first-half of the next decade." "Developed countries are also supporting early action and pledging adequate funding to developing countries through the Multilateral Fund," he added. India on Tuesday played a crucial role in the ongoing negotiations on the Montreal Protocol by favouring two baseline years for bringing down the consumption of HFCs by the developing countries, provided the developed world "agrees to reduce its consumption by 70 per cent by 2027". India also demanded transparency and more clarity for the allocation of funds to help developing countries in research and development for smooth technological transition without any delay. (Vishal Gulati is in Kigali in Rwanda to cover the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in) Los Angeles, Oct 12 : The upcoming superheroine film "Captain Marvel", featuring Brie Larson in the lead, will focus on her origin story, says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Feige touched upon the topic of Carol Danvers, also known as Captain Marvel, while gushing about "Doctor Strange" actor Benedict Cumberbatch, reports aceshowbiz.com. "I think Benedict is one of those ways. Benedict is an amazing actor and totally different than (Chris) Hemsworth and totally different from (Robert) Downey (Jr)," Feige said. He added: "We want to stay true to who he was in the books. The metamorphosis of what he goes through is more drastic than Tony (Stark) and that was fun to chart. "I guess Black Panther isn't really an origin story since we saw him already in 'Captain America: Civil War', but his stand alone certainly introduces you to 99 percent of his world which you never saw before. And Captain Marvel is certainly an origin story from the start," he added. "Captain Marvel" is slated to release on March 8, 2019. Bhopal, Oct 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a war memorial here on Friday, constructed by the state government to honour those who gave their lives for the country. Spread over 12 acres, the 'Shaurya Smarak' portrays the different stages of one's life. The valour gallery showcases the tradition of military honour. According to official sources, the Prime Minister will arrive in Bhopal at 4 p.m. in the afternoon to inaugurate the war memorial. After the inauguration ceremony, he will attend other related events and leave for Delhi at 7 p.m. Special security arrangements have been made for his visit. State Home and Transportation Minister Bhoopendra Singh said," Security has been tightened for the October 14 visit of the Prime Minister and his VIP delegation. I have reviewed the security arrangements at the war memorial as well as at the Lal Parade Ground with the police and transportation officials." Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asked the people to visit the memorial as well as participate in the 'Shaurya Sabha' at the Lal Parade Ground. "PM Modi is going to inaugurate the war memorial dedicated to the memory of martyrs. The war memorial is a symbol of the patriotic journey of a soldier," he said. New Delhi, Oct 13 : Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday accused the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP state government of "partisan politics" over the Centre's decision to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu. The Union cabinet on Thursday approved the establishment and operation of the premier management institute in the state's winter capital at a cost of nearly Rs 62 crore. The 20th IIM of the country will function from a temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering and Technology for the first four years, from 2016 to 2020, it said. In a series of tweets, the National Conference (NC) leader hit out at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. "Jammu gets the IIT & gets the IIM also. Where have all those voices that called for balanced regional development in J&K disappeared." "This is just blatant partisan politics of the kind we have come to expect from the BJPDP. No wonder so much of the state is restive today," wrote Abdullah. "When Kashmir was awarded an AIIMS (hospital) Jammu agitated, successfully, for its right to be granted one as well. Why this partisanship now?" "Realise that Mehbooba Mufti has had to sell out her political agenda to remain in power but I didn't realise she's sold her soul also," he tweeted. Port-au-prince, Oct 14 : Haiti continued its efforts to normalize areas devastated last week by Hurricane Matthew, while more than a million are awaiting supplies of food and medicine. Nine days after the hurricane struck Haiti as a Category 4 storm, the government and international aid organisations are stepping up assistance to those affected but the condition of roads in the worst-hit areas is slowing down the process, Efe news reported. The latest provisional figures released Tuesday by emergency management officials indicate that Matthew left 473 dead, 339 injured and 75 missing. A total of 175,000 people also are homeless and living in 224 shelters. But sources from aid organisations and local authorities said last Friday that the hurricane killed more than 800 people. The United Nations said on Tuesday that the toll would continue to rise but not reach 1,000. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says Matthew affected 2.1 million people, of whom 1.4 million, including 592,581 children, need humanitarian assistance. It added that 750,000 people, including 315,000 children, will urgently require humanitarian aid over the next three months. More than 106,000 students also are unable to attend class because the hurricane damaged around 300 schools and forced many others to be converted into temporary shelters, On Tuesday, the World Food Program distributed 20 tons of food in downtown Jeremie, one of the cities hardest hit by Matthew, an operation backed by the UN Stabilization Mission for Haiti and the National Police. More humanitarian assistance from different international organisations is due to reach Jeremie in the coming days, including an aid plane that arrived Wednesday in Port-au-Prince from Spain. Besides needed deliveries of food and water to assist some 1.4 million people affected by the hurricane, an additional 60,000 people require urgent medical care. The Haitian government and international aid groups are particularly concerned about a new cholera outbreak in the aftermath of the hurricane, which, according to the United Nations, has triggered the worst humanitarian crisis in the impoverished nation since the 2010 earthquake that killed some 300,000 people. Matthew forced the postponement of general elections in Haiti that had been scheduled for October 9. No new date for the elections has yet been announced. Washington, Oct 14 : Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump denied the accusations of sexual abuse made against him by several women and called it a conspiracy hatched by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and the press. The billionaire on Thursday said that the complaints are a "coordinated, vicious attack" by the "establishment," namely the Clintons and the "corrupt" press who see him as an "existential threat," Efe news reported. Several women have come forward to allege that Trump sexually assaulted them in various incidents from the 1980s through 2005, adding to the political scandal sparked last Friday with the release of a 2005 videotape. In the tape, Trump can be heard making lewd and sexist comments about women and bragging about molesting or kissing them against their will. During a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said that the complaints are "totally and absolutely false," adding that they are "pure fiction and outright lies". He called both former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary "criminals" and he said the US government is a "cartel," adding that he has substantial evidence, along with witnesses, that will prove that the accusations of sexual abuse were "fabricated". He reiterated that he will file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the media outlets that published the stories of women claiming Trump abused them based on interviews with the alleged victims. Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks talked with the Times and complained that Trump had touched and/or kissed them inappropriately in the 1980s and in 2005, respectively. During the second presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Sunday, Trump had denied ever sexually assaulting any women. However, Trump had bragged on the 2005 videotape: "I just start kissing them. ... It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait." Washington, Oct 14 : The US has reiterated that peace in Afghanistan will be in the interest of both India and Pakistan, the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbours. "With regard to Afghanistan, it's in the interests of both India and Pakistan to see a stable, secure Afghanistan emerge from the years of fighting," US State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said in the daily press briefing here on Thursday. He was responding to a question on a group of Pakistani envoys carrying the message that Pakistan would not let have peace in Afghanistan unless US helped "solve" the Kashmir issue. "And certainly, in the interest of regional security as well, there's a lot of contentious issues, as you note, between India and Pakistan, but the two countries we would encourage to take a more conciliatory approach to each other and to work through some of these issues for the greater good of the region," Toner said. Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated with the Indian Army carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) last month in Jammu and Kashmir on terror launch pads. This came in the wake of the September 18 cross-border terror attack on an army base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives. India has blamed the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. In September, India, the US and Afghanistan held a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, the first such since 2013. Both the US and Afghanistan appreciated India's role in development work in the war-torn South Asian nation. Dhaka, Oct 14 : Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Friday for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years to this South Asian nation. Bangladesh is the second leg of Xi's three-nation Asian tour, which already took him to Cambodia, Xinhua news agency reported. He will later travel to Goa for the Brics Summit scheduled to take place from October 15-16. New Delhi, Oct 14 : HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday rejected National Conference leader Omar Abdullah's charge of "partisan politics" over the move to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu region. After the union Cabinet announced the decision on Thursday, Abdullah accused the PDP-BJP government of pursuing "blatant partisan politics" and ignoring "balanced regional development in Jammu and Kashmir". On Friday, Javadekar enumerated the Narendra Modi government's initiatives taken for the benefit of students in the Kashmir Valley. "Better not to politicise education Omar Abdullah. You know there will be off campus of IIM in Kashmir Valley," Javadekar said. The Rs 62 crore IIM will have a temporary campus in Jammu till 2020, with an out-campus to be set up in the valley later. "The Centre has sanctioned Rs 100 crore for NIT Srinagar modernization. You (Abdullah) should help academic session to begin soon there," he said, in an obvious reference to the continuing shutdown in the valley. "The Centre has granted Rs 50 crore for seven girls hostels in Jammu and Kashmir, of which three will be in the valley. The minister also said the Centre had increased super numerical quota from 2 to 10 for Jammu and Kashmir students in the current year. "You Omar Abdullah should have helped streamlining the Prime Minister scholarship which was mismanaged through 2011-14," he said. Abdullah was the Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister during the period. Abdullah hit back: "Thank you for your tweets but none of them address the inherent imbalance of your decision regarding IIT and IIM. "Sir, according to you, the whole country was mismanaged from 1947 to 2014 and you are too senior to me in age for me to argue with you," added Abdullah. Washington, Oct 14 : Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is ahead of Republican rival Donald Trump by 7 percentage points in the latest Fox News national poll. Forty-five per cent of likely voters surveyed by Fox said they supported Clinton, the Democratic nominee for President, while 38 per cent said they intend to vote for Trump, according to the poll which was conducted after Sunday's second debate issued on Thursday. In a one-on-one race, Clinton is leading Trump 49 per cent to 41. The survey signalled a drop in support for Trump and a slight increase for Clinton, who is emerging as the clear favourite to win the presidency. A previous Fox News poll, conducted from October 3 to 6, showed a slight lead for Clinton, with 44 per cent of voters polled supporting her and 42 per cent backing Trump. According to the poll, likely voters remained deeply sceptical of Trump's qualifications to be president. More than half - 56 per rcent - said he was "not at all" or "not very" qualified for the job. Seventy-seven per cent said he was not a good role model for children. Trump's favourability ratings declined, too, while Clinton's went up, though both candidates were in the negatives. Trump is now viewed unfavourably by 61 per cent of surveyed voters, compared with 38 per cent who have a positive opinion of him, for a net of negative 23. Clinton is at negative 5 overall, with 52 per cent of surveyed voters reporting having a negative view of her and 47 per cent saying they viewed her favourably. Trump's drop proved true for Republican voters, too. Only 73 per cent said they viewed him favourably, compared with 84 per cent in the last poll. A majority of voters, according to Fox, think Trump is headed for defeat in November: 65 per cent predicted a Clinton presidency. Srinagar, Oct 14 : India and Pakistan must talk and solve the Kashmir issue to end terrorism in the region, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said, speaking for the first time since the ongoing unrest erupted in the Kashmir Valley. "Both countries must sit and have talks on Kashmir. That is the only solution to end terrorism, otherwise it will keep on escalating," Abdullah told reporters after a meeting of opposition parties here. "All of us are looking for the way forward and not looking back at what happened," he said, adding he was "always in favour of peace". The National Conference President said he was concerned about the turmoil in the Kashmir Valley that has left over 90 people dead and thousands injured since the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The meeting of opposition parties discussed the Kashmir situation and the way the state and central governments were dealing with it. Abdullah said the situation demanded that "a solution needs to be found" to the vexed Kashmir issue. New York, Oct 14 : The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has declared Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a threat to press freedoms. "Donald Trump, through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the US, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values," CPJ's board chairwoman Sandra Mims Rowe said. Rowe flayed Trump "for his virulent anti-media rhetoric and actions". At a rally in Florida on Thursday, Trump railed against the media, saying they were working with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's campaign to defeat him. He declared that he was preparing to sue the New York Times because they published accounts of women who accused the Manhattan billionaire of inappropriately groping them, Politico reported. "Corporate media is no longer involved in journalism. They're a political special interest no different than any lobbyist with a total political agenda," the Republican nominee said. The CPJ statement said: "Since the beginning of his candidacy, Trump has insulted and vilified the press and has made his opposition to the media a centrepiece of his campaign." It cited an incident in November last year when Trump mocked a disabled New York Times journalist by imitating him on stage at a rally. Trump has denied he was imitating the reporter. "A Trump presidency would represent a threat to press freedom in the US, but the consequences for the rights of journalists around the world could be far more serious," Rowe said. "Any failure of the US to uphold its own standards emboldens dictators and despots to restrict the media in their own countries," it added. New Delhi, Oct 14 : Microsoft on Friday announced new Cloud service "Dynamics 365" that will help enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India transform their enterprises with intelligent applications. Powered by advanced analytics and machine learning, "Dynamics 365" will be available to customers in more than 135 markets in over 40 languages, beginning November 1. The service will be available in two editions -- Enterprise and Business -- on a subscription per app/per user model, the company said in a statement. With the app-based subscription, businesses will only pay for the app they need, licensed to a particular user. Using the new plans, businesses get one holistic subscription to have all the information at their fingertips and they could save four to five times the cost of traditional CRM providers. This new Cloud service from Microsoft can address specific business needs like sales automation, operations or customer service and usher in a new era of business agility. The intelligence capabilities of Dynamics 365 can help improve manufacturing and supply chain execution, make field service operations more efficient, sell more effectively and deliver exceptional customer experiences, the company said. Bengaluru, Oct 14 : Global software major Infosys Ltd on Friday lowered its annual revenue guidance for the 2016-17 fiscal due to uncertain business outlook and currency volatility despite robust growth in the second quarter (July-September). "Our consolidated dollar revenue for this fiscal (FY 2017) will grow 8-9 per cent in constant currency, which translates into 7.5-8.5 per cent on September 30 dollar value of Rs 66.62 and 10.9-11.9 per cent in rupees," said the IT major in a statement here. Around 85 per cent of the outsourcing firm's revenues are billed in dollar and euro currencies as software exports. On July 15, too, the company lowered dollar guidance for FY 2017 to 10-11.5 per cent on June 30 exchange rate of Rs 67.53 per dollar from 11.8-13.8 per cent projected in April on March 31 exchange rate of Rs 66.26. For fiscal 2015-16, consolidated revenue grew 9.1 per cent to $9.5 billion in dollar terms and 17.1 per cent to Rs 62,441 crore in rupee terms. The lower revenue outlook impacted the blue chip company's scrip in the stock markets, resulting in its shares of Rs 5 face value, losing Rs 11.70 to Rs 1,041.10 in post-noon trading from Thursday's closing price of Rs 1,052.05 despite opening at a high of Rs 1,060 per share. "Considering our performance in the first-half (April-September) of the year and the near-term uncertain business outlook, we are revising our revenue guidance," said company's Chief Executive Vishal Sikka at a media conference here. Earlier, the city-based company reported Rs 3,606 crore consolidated net profit for second quarter (Q2), registering 6.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth from Rs 3,398 crore in the like period year ago and 4.9 per cent sequentially from Rs 3.436 crore in the first quarter (April-June). Consolidated revenue for the quarter (Q2) under review increased 10.7 per cent YoY to Rs 17,310 crore from Rs 15,635 crore in same period year ago and 3.1 per cent sequentially from Rs 16,782 crore in first quarter. In dollar terms, consolidated net income grew 3.8 per cent YoY to $539 million from $519 million year ago and 5.5 per cent sequentially from $511 million quarter ago. Likewise, consolidated gross revenue rose 8.2 per cent YoY to $2,587 million ($2.6 billion) from $2,392 million ($2.4 billion) year ago and 3.5 per cent sequentially from $2,501 million ($2.5 billion) quarter ago under the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). "We focused on strong execution in Q2 with our core IT services business showing good progress on the strength of our innovation and operational initiatives," recalled Sikka. Operating margins expanded 80 basis points sequentially to 24.9 per cent in dollar and rupee value, while volume growth was 4 per cent during the quarter. "Our margins expanded during the quarter on the back of further improvement in operational efficiencies, said Chief Financial Officer M.D. Ranganath. Operating profit grew in second quarter 7.9 per cent YoY and 6.5 per cent sequentially in rupee terms to Rs 4,309 crore. In dollar terms, it grew 5.6 per cent YoY and 7 per cent sequentially to $644 million. "While we continue to navigate an uncertain external environment, we remain focused on executing our strategy and increasing momentum of our software plus services model," asserted Sikka. The company had 78 clients during the quarter as against 95 quarter ago and 82 year ago, taking the total number of active clients to 1,136 by second quarter as against 1,126 in first quarter and 1,011 in like quarter year ago. "Longer-term, I believe it's increasingly clear that our industry's future lies in evolving from a cost-based, people-only model, to one in which people are amplified by software and AI (artificial intelligence), and are freed to innovate in areas that are strategic to our clients' future," added Sikka. Liquid assets, including cash and investments, were Rs 35,640 crore ($5.4 billion) at the end of the quarter as against Rs 33,212 crore ($4.9 billion) quarter ago and Rs 32,099 crore ($4.8 billion) year ago. "Operating cash flows for the quarter were healthy and we effectively navigated a volatile currency environment through prudent hedging," noted Ranganath. Although the company and its subsidiaries hired 12,717 people during the quarter, net addition was 2,779, as 9,938 techies left, taking the total number of employees to 1,99,829 as against 1,97,050 quarter ago and 1,87,976 year ago. "The changes we made to employee engagement, policies and rewarding high performers continue to help retain our high quality workforce," pointed out Chief Operating Officer U.B. Pravin Rao. The company declared an interim dividend of whopping 220 per cent or Rs 11 per share of Rs 5 face value for the first six months (April-September) of this fiscal. "We had well-rounded growth in our market segments. Our delivery and support teams executed well on their plans for resource management, leading to an uptick in utilisation," added Rao. Thiruvananthapuram, October 14 : Journalists who turned up at the vigilance court in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday to report on the hearing on a petition seeking a vigilance probe against industries minister E P Jayarajan were driven out of the court room by a section of advocates. A journalist with the new indian express was allegedly manhandled outside the courtroom by the rogue lawyers. The untoward incidents reportedly took place even as the vigilance judge and office bearers of the bar association were looking on. Journalists alleged that bar association president K P Jayachandran, and secretary Anayara Shaji were present in the courtroom when the lawyers turned on the scribes but they chose to remain mute spectators. The lawyers reportedly asked the scribes to clear out and warned that they would be forcibly removed if they did not leave of their own accord. The helpless scribes then approached the vigilance judge A Badaruddin for help. Hearing the commotion outside the courtroom, the judge enquired aloud what was happening there?, but the lawyers remained defiant. The journalists were then escorted away to safety by women civil police officers. Some reporters could not help but wonder if the incident was more than just a fallout of the internecine stand-off between the two fraternities and had political overtones to it. A reporter with a private news channel reported that the journalists had assembled at the courtroom in the morning itself but the lawyers turned hostile only when the court was about to take up the petition against E P Jayarajan. Later, as the journalists were standing outside the court compound, advocates hurled bricks and stones at journalists, damaging the OB van of a private news channel parked outside. Journalists also reported to have received warnings from a section of advocates of trouble when they turned up at the court premises in the morning. The unseemly incidents come even as chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and chief justice of the Kerala high court Mohan Shantanagoudar had intervened to restore normality in the relations between lawyers and scribes. However, a section of belligerent advocates seem to be bent on keeping alive the hostilities between the two fraternities. New Delhi, Oct 14 : The bidding for telecom spectrum this year was protected with enhanced, multi-layered security measures as the chances of a hacking attempt after the Uri attacks were deemed very high, according to a top official of the company mandated to conduct the auction. Without naming Pakistan, Vinaya Varma, CEO of mjunction, said the "threat perception was high this year from the western front". He said as the auction was highly publicised, special care was taken to look at vulnerabilities. "The procedure was made extremely secured so that any attempt to hack would fail," Varma told IANS in an interview over phone from Kolkata. "We had deployed various security procedures such as secure login, digital signature certificate, fixed internet protocol address for bidders and other procedures to make bidding foolproof and transparent," he said. The company had also set up an infrastructure team to monitor any abnormal activity like intrusion or data filtering. The team ensured that all the links were working properly. An e-marketplace, mjunction services limited, is a 50:50 venture promoted by SAIL and Tata Steel. It has won a three-year mandate from the government to conduct e-auction of spectrum. It conducted the first spectrum auction in 2015. A total 2,354 MHz of spectrum was put on block for e-auctioning this year in seven bands -- 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz. The bidding was also made secure from snooping. The platform was designed to ensure that while auction was in progress, the identity details of bidders were hidden through database-level encryption. Neither the auction administrator nor the seller (Department of Telecommunications, DoT) had any access to bidders' bid details. "The system allows access only to summary-level information of all bids made. Each bidder has access only to his own bidding history and also to summary-level information of all bids made. The platform provided separate dashboards for bidders and for DoT," he said. The platform for bidding was the same as last year but the offerings this time were higher. This year there were 126 offerings (seven bands multiplied by service areas) compared to 69 last year when the auction took in only four bands. The offerings started at the same time, ran and closed simultaneously. Before 2015, auctions were done in a sequential manner. "Auctioning was done through Simultaneous Multiple Round Auction (SMRA), which is an internationally-recognised methodology for e-auctioning of spectrum. It is the most sophisticated methodology but also the most complicated. There are various permutations and combinations in spectrum allocation, which are in play in live bidding," Varma said. Asked how difficult or smooth the process was, Varma said: "The tender document preparation, system design, the programming and the actual execution of the auction were all very complex activities." Saying that mjunction works in close coordination with the government, Varma added that the Department of Electronics and Information Technology had spent weeks testing the auctioning platform before giving them the green light. In 2015, when mjunction got the mandate, it took the company five months to design the platform. Because of the higher offerings this year, three more months were needed to customise it. "We had set up a help desk with nine highly-trained people whom operators could call up for clarifications. We had also placed a domain expert in DoT." He said this time the spectrum offered was in contiguous range. Also, the frequency assignment was done in such a way that the operator got contiguous bands. "The algorithm was designed by mjunction. The DoT just had to press a button to allocate contiguous bands. Manually it would have been very difficult," Varma added. (Aparajita Gupta can be reached at aparajita.g@ians.in) Agartala, Oct 14 : Five militants of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) after escaping from their hideout in Bangladesh, have surrendered to the Tripura Police, officials said here on Friday. The guerrillas, led by their self-styled corporal Bisurai Debbarma, 33, surrendered on Thursday night, Tripura Police spokesman Uttam Kumar Bhowmik said. "The tribal extremists fled from their clandestine camp at Thangnang (under Rangamati district of Chittagong Hill Tract of southeast Bangladesh) and crossed over to India on Wednesday night," said Superintendent of police (Special Branch) Arindam Nath, to whom the rebels surrendered. They also deposited some electronic gadgets and incriminating documents with the police. Aged between 27 and 33, the militants told the police that they fled from the NLFT camp in Bangladesh out of frustration and miserable conditions. According to them, more NLFT cadres from Bangladesh are likely to surrender. Over the past six months, 33 NLFT rebels with a huge quantity of arms and ammunition have surrendered to the Tripura Police after escaping from their hideouts in Bangladesh. NLFT cadres and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) militants undergo arms training in hideouts in Bangladesh, which shares an 856-km border with Tripura. Banned in 1997 by the Union Home Ministry, the two outfits have sought secession of Tripura from India. ATTF has become almost defunct due to the surrender of most of its cadres. A senior police official, citing intelligence reports, said that the Bangladesh Army and security forces in separate operations have recently busted two camps of the NLFT and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah faction) in mountainous Chittagong Hill Tracts. Srinagar, Oct 14 : India and Pakistan must talk and solve the Kashmir issue to end terrorism in the region, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said on Friday, after a meeting of opposition parties to discuss a stand-off between the two countries and the ongoing unrest that has crippled normal life for over three months in the valley. "Both countries must sit and have talks on Kashmir. That is the only solution to end terrorism. Otherwise, it will keep on escalating," Abdullah told reporters here, speaking for the first since the eruption of the unrest that has left over 90 people dead. "All of us are looking for the way forward and not looking back at what happened," the National Conference President said. He said dialogue was the only way forward to end the Kashmir problem and urged the central and state governments to have an internal dialogue, including with separatists. "When former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee can reach out to Pakistan for peace why can't we speak to our own people." He said the turmoil in the Kashmir Valley that has left thousands injured since the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani caused concern and demanded that "a solution needs to be found" to the vexed Kashmir issue. Abdullah demanded immediate release of all separatist leaders who have been jailed or detained in their respective houses since the present cycle of violence began. The meeting of opposition parties took place at his high security Gupkar Road residence. Leaders of various opposition parties said they discussed the Kashmir situation and the manner in which the state and central governments were dealing with it. Those who attended the meeting included state Congress chief G.A. Mir and state secretary of the CPI-M Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami. Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 14 : Kerala Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan on Friday resigned after coming under attack for appointing two relatives in state public sector enterprises. CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made the announcement, saying Jayarajan himself decided to step down. "He asked for permission in the Secretariat meeting following the mistake he committed. He was very particular about the image of the party and the government," Balakrishnan told the media. "He sought permission to resign and he resigned," said Balakrishnan. The news of Jayarajan appointing his relatives surfaced 10 days ago, triggering a volley of criticism against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government which took power only four months ago. The Congress-led UDF and the BJP approached the Vigilance Department to seek a probe and demanded the minister's ouster. Jayarajan was a close aide of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the number two in the cabinet besides being one of the most powerful leaders in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in Kerala. According to CPI-M sources, Jayarajan did his best to explain his case at the meeting of the 14-member Secretariat of the party. But Vijayan was in no mood to relent as the central leadership of the party had taken Jayarajan's action as a serious lapse. One of the two relatives in the controversy is P.K. Sudheer, son of CPI-M Lok Sabha member P.K. Sreemathy. He is a nephew of Jayarajan. The other person is a niece of the minister, Dipthi Nishad. Neither Sudheer (appointed Managing Director of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd) nor Nishad (named General Manager of the Kerala Clay and Ceramics Ltd) had the experience or qualifications for the job. Following a huge outcry, both quit their posts. "We have proved that we are a party that holds values in politics and we are different from other parties," Balakrishnan said. "The previous (Oommen Chandy) government saw several ministers getting involved in trouble over various charges. The BJP-Vasundhara Raje Scindia (government in Rajasthan) faced charges but did not resign. "With Jayarajan's resignation, we have proved we are different," added Balakrishnan. The party Secretariat meeting held here went on for nearly three hours. Vijayan, taking the salute at a passing out parade of police constables in the capital, pledged his government won't be soft on corruption. The CPI-M found itself on the backfoot over the Jayarajan issue, with not a single party leader turning up for debates on TV channels to discuss the nepotism charges. As he left the meeting venue, Jayarajan sarcastically remarked to journalists: "An announcement will come soon which you will like to hear." Meanwhile, the Vigilance Department told a court here on Friday that it was taking necessary steps in the probe against Jayarajan. On Thursday, a public interest litigation was filed against Jayarajan. Lucknow, Oct 14 : In a clear sign that Akhilesh Yadav may not be the Chief Ministerial candidate, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Friday that the elected legislators will decide who will head the government in Uttar Pradesh after assembly elections. "The elected legislators and the Samajwadi Party's Parliamentary Board will pick the next Chief Minister," Mulayam Singh told the media here, virtually admitting to continuing differences within the extended Yadav family. This would mean that Mulayam Singh has decided that unlike in 2012, the party won't portray the young Akhilesh Yadav as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The remark comes amid a bitter strife within the Samajwadi Party between Akhilesh Yadav and senior party leader and his uncle, Shivpal Yadav. Mulayam Singh, a former Indian Defence Minister, however, insisted that there was no rift in the "Samajwadi family". He also said that there should be no politics on a Uniform Civil Code and people should be free to follow any religion in the manner they want. Until now, Akhilesh Yadav, despite the power struggle with his uncle and state party chief Shivpal Yadav, has exuded confidence that he would again be the party's Chief Ministerial face. Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls early next year. Mulayam Singh made it clear on Friday that whatever the party was today, it was because of him (Mulayam). Akhilesh Yadav had earlier told a journalist that all was not well in the Yadav family and that he would go it alone in the election campaign soon. Mulayam Singh also praised his brother Shivpal Yadav, saying he was "everything for the party". Lucknow, Oct 14 : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday served a notice on the Uttar Pradesh government over the reported death of a patient in Bijnor for want of oxygen in an ambulance, officials said. Taking suo motu cognizance of a media report that an asthma patient died in Chandpur area of Bijnor in the ambulance as the oxygen cylinder was empty and that the relatives of the patient raised a protest, the human rights panel issued the notice to the state government. The notice was served through the Secretary, Department of Medical Health & Family Welfare, calling for a report within four weeks. The NHRC has observed that it was shocked to peruse the painful news report that a human life could not be saved even after timely arrival of the ambulance, because the oxygen cylinder, which is the most crucial and important life saving apparatus, was not functional. "This is a case of sheer negligence on the part of the concerned officers, amounting to violation of right to life of the patient," the notice stated. According to media reports, 55-year-old Mohd Aslam, a resident of Chandpur area of Bijnor, suffered a severe attack of asthma. His family members called up 108 for an ambulance. The ambulance did come and the patient was shifted into it, but on way to hospital the oxygen cylinder in the ambulance was found to be empty. The patient died in the ambulance for want of oxygen. Mumbai, Oct 14 : The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) on Friday announced that movies featuring Pakistani actors -- starting with Karan Johar's forthcoming "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" -- won't be screened in single screen theatres in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. However, a Home Ministry official has said the government has no problem in issuing visas to Pakistani artistes. The decision of the COEAI -- which has over 400 members -- comes two weeks ahead of the release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. However, multiplexes are yet to take a call on the matter, said sources. COEAI President Nitin Datar told IANS after a meeting of members: "We have nothing against Karan Johar. It's just that we won't allow the release of any film which will have Pakistani actors or technicians in it." "We have collectively taken this decision that we won't showcase such films in our single screens. As of now, we will be following this decision in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat," Datar said and added: "In future, if our (India's) relationship with Pakistan gets better, we will work towards it. But looking at the current scenario, we have to take this decision." This news comes amid India-Pakistan tensions following a terror attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers. The Indian Army then carried out surgical attacks on terrorist launch pads in Pakistani territory. Given the scenario, and considering how Pakistani artistes refrained from condemning the attack, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) had passed a resolution disallowing them from working in Indian films in future. But it's not a government diktat. "Government of India has no problem in giving visa to any Pakistani artiste," a Home Ministry official told IANS. "We have no problem in granting visas. If a person applies for visa and he fulfills the conditions, he gets it. It's not that we don't have to issue visa to Pakistani nationals," the source added. The IMPPA has, however, condemned the COEAI's decision. T.P. Aggarwal, President, IMPPA, told IANS: "I don't agree with this decision taken because the film was ready even before the problem popped up. Due to this decision, the Indian producers will be suffering unnecessarily." IMPPA Vice President and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit agreed, and said that the theatre owners, if were scared of people who would try to come and stop the film from being showcased, should have approached the Maharashtra government for police protection. He said that while COEAI is targeting filmmakers whose movies are ready for release, IMPPA has only asked filmmakers not to work with Pakistani artistes anymore. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri said the "public outrage" over recent incidents between India and Pakistan may have led to COEAI's decision. "If only Pakistani actors had given even a small statement condemning the act of killing people, I don't think people would have been so outraged," Agnihotri told IANS. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had earlier warned Pakistani actors to quit India and said it would not let movies -- including "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and "Raees" -- to release. Following that, IMPPA passed its resolution against Pakistani artistes. In response, Pakistani exhibitors had reportedly decided not to screen Indian films in their cinemas. New Delhi, Oct 14 : Lights are on, the stage is set and the curtain is about to rise on the 'Asia Pacific Bureau' (APB) meet of drama schools with a host of performances and workshops from the 10 participating countries from the region. The ninth APB meet, to be held from October 19 to October 25 at National School of Drama (NSD), will have a participation of 14 schools including the host school, said NSD Director Waman Kendre. "The festival will see the participation from ten countries including Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the theme of this edition of APB meet is 'The strength of Asia in Contemporary Performance Culture. "APB will explore the contemporary theatre culture in the continent. "The participating schools will dive into and explore the nuances of different cultures in theatre performances and the technical aspects of it," Kendre told media persons here on Thursday. This edition of the festival has an elaborate learning programme for the participating schools, consisting of festival performances, directors' meet, interactions and workshops. Each school will conduct a workshop for all other participants providing a glimpse into its training methodologies through a series of exercises for the participants. There will also be a practical session, where a studio space will be provided to each school to perform. Participating schools will perform a 45-minute student presentation, which will be held in the Flexible Performance Space at NSD. According to NSD Professor Tripurari Sharma, who is heading this edition of the APB meet, "the festival is beyond performances, as it will have multiple workshops where we will try to understand each other's mannerisms and explore an Asian methodology". APB was established in 2008 under UNESCO's International Theatre Institute with the aim to promote interaction and exchange among Asia Pacific theatre schools. Each year, APB meet is rotated amongst different member schools from countries across the region, she informed. "In six days, 40 workshops would be conducted and many of them would be repeated. It's going to be more about teaching drama than witnessing it," she said. Kanpur, Oct 14 : BJP President Amit Shah on Friday took a dig at the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh for the "deteriorating law and order" situation in the state, and said the party should first try to control the "infighting" within it. Shah also attacked Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati for not doing anything good for the Dalits and the downtrodden. "The government has failed to control law and order in the state. How will those who cannot control law and order in their own family control the state," Shah asked at a rally here. Slamming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for the poor law and order situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party chief said: "UP is very big Akhilesh bhaiya (brother)... first of all, control your family... only then will a bit of peace return to the state." The BJP President's remarks came amid souring relations between the Chief Minister and his uncle and senior Minister Shivpal Yadav. Attacking the BSP chief, the BJP President said, "Mayawati claims to get rid of the misgovernance under the SP regime, but will she and her brother reveal the actual property which they had after the death of Kanshi Ram ji and now?" "The day she reveals her property details, Dalits of Uttar Pradesh will understand," the BJP leader added. He accused the BSP and the SP of doing injustice to the Dalits and the poor. Lashing out at Mayawati for supporting the Congress, Shah said, "Mayawati supported Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) for 10 years. And in return Congress kept on insulting Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar." "It's BJP, which under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi preserved all the monuments and buildings related to Baba B.R. Ambedkar," he added. He also said that only the BJP can do good for the Dalits. New Delhi, Oct 14 : Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said his questioning by the ACB for three hours was based solely on a clarification note he had signed, adding the whole affair was aimed to stop the government's public welfare work. "How do I become a criminal just for writing a clarification note (on an official file)? When I asked them, they (Anti Corruption Branch) had no answer," Sisodia said. Sisodia appeared before the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) on Friday regarding a case of alleged illegal recruitments in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), in which DCW chief Swati Maliwal has been booked. He said he had clarified in the said note that as per the Delhi Commission for Women Act, 1994, the administrative and financial powers in the panel lie with the commission's member-secretary. "This is a note that just clarifies the law," he said. Sisodia said the questioning showcases the attempts to stop the Delhi government's work for public welfare. "The amount of work the Delhi government has done in the last one and a half years -- and that too at such a fast pace -- no other government has done in the last 20 years," the Deputy Chief Minister added. Earlier in the day, Sisodia told reporters that some people are not able to digest the Delhi government's work. "We are doing our work and some people are not able to digest it. This is why the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ACB have been told to go after us," Sisodia said. Just after Sisodia's visit to the ACB office, DCW chief Swati Maliwal said that the ACB summons to Sisodia "reeks of political vendetta". "ACB summoning @msisodia (Manish Sisodia) reeks of political vendetta. He has no role in DCW appointments. DCW was always autonomous," Maliwal tweeted. Maliwal, an accused in the alleged illegal recruitments case, was questioned twice by the ACB before she was booked in the case. Guwahati/Itanagar, Oct 14 : The BJP became a part of the Arunachal Pradesh government with its senior leader Tamiyo Taga was sworn in as a minister in Chief Minister Pema Khandua's cabinet on Friday. Governor V. Shanmuganathan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new minister in an impressive function at the Darbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan in Itanagar, attended by Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues. While Taga was accommodated in the cabinet, state Industry and Textiles Minister Tapang Taloh was dropped from the cabinet. Khandu, during his recent visit to New Delhi, met BJP national president Amit Shah and appealed him for BJP's participation in the government for the sake of development. BJP was only supporting the Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA) government in the state from outside. Khandu, son of former Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, became the state's Chief Minister almost dramatically after the Congress chose him as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) replacing Nabam Tuki in July this year. The development took place after a Supreme Court verdict reinstated the Tuki led Congress government in the state. However, the Congress Legislature Party elected Khandu as its leader in place of Tuki just ahead of Tuki's floor test in the House. The dissident faction of the Congress led by Kalikho Pul also backed Khandu and returned to Congress fold. On July 17, Khandu was sworn in as Chief Minister, with Chowna Mein as his deputy and proved his majority on July 20. However, on September 16, Khandu and 42 lawmakers walked out of the Congress and joined the PPA. Hyderabad, Oct 14 : The Telangana government has entered into an MoU with pharma, life sciences and healthcare multinational company Johnson & Johnson to work together for making the state tuberculosis free, it was announced here on Friday. The New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson will play an active role in the project by assisting the state government in achieving the goal. The MoU was signed when Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao called on top leadership of the company on the second day of his business visit to the US. Rama Rao met Paul Stoffel, Chief Scientific Officer and Chairman of Pharmaceuticals Division, Melinda Richter, Head of JLabs and Jonathan Collard, VP, Government Affairs and Policy, Asia Pacific. Stoffel was very enthusiastic about proposed Hyderabad Pharma City, and will be visiting India and Hyderabad next year, said a statement from the minister's office here on Friday. Richter assured the Telangana delegation that they would explore the possibility of setting up of JLabs unit in Hyderabad. Later, the minister met Sanat Chattopadhyay, Executive VP and President, Merck Manufacturing Division, who mentioned the firm's intent for a social partnership with Telangana Government on arresting infant diarrhoea. Merck also expressed interest in setting up manufacturing base in Telangana in collaboration with local partners. It also evinced interest in setting up "vaccine centre of excellence" in Hyderabad which will also be used for imparting skills, providing training based on the specific requirement of the companies. Nanette Cocero, President for Emerging Markets for Innovative Health business, Pfizer and Jeffery T. Hamilton, Senior Director, Pfizer, during their discussions with Minister explained about Pfizer's ECHO project in the area of breast cancer screening. The minister elaborated on the steps Telangana Government initiated to boost the pharma sector in Hyderabad and invited Pfizer to associate with Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH). Another MoU was signed with IV2 Alliance, a non-profit corporation and one that works in tandem with US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to promote collaboration within the scientific, research and provider communities to achieve advances in the field of healthcare and wellness. USFDA in a written communication stated that Pharma City near Hyderabad can be the first of the international clusters it seeks to bring together to link scientific and medical advances from across the globe for better healthcare. New Delhi, Oct 14 : Francesco Pensabene, Trade Commissioner at the Embassy of Italy and Coordinator for Italian Trade Commission Offices in India, feels Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative can strengthen business ties between the two countries. Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), Italian Trade Commission in New Delhi, ASSOCALZATURIFICI (Italian footwear manufacturer's association), and AIMPES (Italian leather goods manufacturer's association) on Friday organised a round-table discussion on "Forecast trends in Italian fashion for shoes and bags" at the ongoing Amazon India Fashion Week (AIFW) Spring-Summer 2017 here. Pensabene expressed his views post the discussion on the third day of the five-day fashion gala here. Asked how he sees the business relationship between the countries building with the Indian government, stressing on Make in India initiative, Pensabene told IANS: "I think we are doing very well". "The trade exchange between Italy and India has amounted to 7.3 billion euros in 2015. 'Make in India' is a fantastic chance to improve our investments into the country from fashion to furniture to automotive...We can do a wonderful job and I think there is a long-lasting and fruitful combination," Pensabene said. He also shared that Italy has invested 1.5 billion euros in India and he believes he "could do more". The panelists included Salina Ferreti (Vice President of ASSOCALZATURIFICI); Riccardo Braccialini (President AIMPES); Italian designers Orietta Pelizzari, Maria Soriano and Dario Pavon with Indian designers Rajesh Pratap Singh and Sanchita Ajjampur. Talking about association with the fashion gala, Pensabene said: "Through this platform we have the chance to make Italian companies better known to Indian designers and companies and it is also a chance for Indian designers to get connected with Italian companies." Pensabene added that "it is a great platform to increase business interaction between Indian and Italian designers". The fashion gala will close on Sunday with a guru-shishya (Master and Disciple) presentation by designers JJ Valaya and Alpana-Neeraj. Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 14 : The efforts of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala High Court Chief Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar for peace between media and lawyers seemed to have failed with angry lawyers on Friday asking journalists to leave a court room here. Since July 19, virtually there has been a ban on the media by the lawyers in several courts in the state including the high court. "Me, another woman journalist along with other male journalists had come to the Vigilance court on Friday morning to cover the proceedings. When the court took up the case against State Industries Minister E.P.Jayarajan, a group of lawyers asked us to leave the court room. The judge hearing the commotion asked what is going on. Three male journalists had to suffer the wrath of the agitated lawyers," said a woman journalist present at the venue. This incident has taken place when the meeting between Vijayan and Shantanagoudar last week had claimed to have resolved the faceoff between the media and the lawyers and promised that the media will not be stopped from doing their duty. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists have condemned the act of the lawyers and have demanded appropriate action be taken against those who were responsible for the unruly incident. State Congress president V.M.Sudheeran too demanded action be taken against the lawyers who were behind this episode. Srinagar, Oct 14 : India and Pakistan must talk and solve the Kashmir issue to end terrorism in the region, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said on Friday, after a meeting of opposition parties that rooted for talks with all, including separatists, to end the ongoing bloody unrest that has crippled normal life for over three months in the valley. Abdullah had called the meeting of state opposition parties to discuss the India-Pakistan stand-off, its impact on the already volatile situation in the Kashmir Valley and the situation on the tense border between the two countries. Abdullah, in his first public comments since the eruption of the unrest in early July that has left over 90 people dead, said all opposition political parties in Jammu and Kashmir yearned for peace in the state and between India and Pakistan. "Both countries must sit and have talks on Kashmir. That is the only solution to end terrorism. Otherwise, it will keep on escalating," Abdullah told reporters after the meeting. "All of us are looking for the way forward and not looking back at what happened. If we live in peace with neighbours, we will all prosper. If we take the route of confrontation, their development might be hampered but ours will also be affected." Asked if his comments would embolden militants in Kashmir, Abdullah said: "If we resolve this issue (Kashmir), there will be no terrorism. If the two nations resolve this issue, terrorism will die automatically." The National Conference President said dialogue process was the only way forward to end the Kashmir problem. He urged the central and state governments to have a political dialogue, including with separatists, on finding a political solution to the political issue. "The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has said it needs to be resolved and it is even part of the agenda of the ruling party (PDP) to have a dialogue with all stakeholders, including the Hurriyat Conference." "Through dialogue, our (Kashmir) issue will also be resolved. War is not a solution. When former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee can reach out to Pakistan for peace why can't we speak to our own people?" Abdullah said the current situation in the valley was "very dangerous" and needed an urgent way out. "The sooner it is resolved, the better it is for the state and the South Asian region." He demanded from the government immediate release of all separatist leaders who have been jailed or detained in their respective houses during the three months of turmoil that has left thousands injured since the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The meeting of opposition parties took place at his high-security Gupkar Road residence. Leaders of various opposition parties said they discussed the Kashmir situation and the manner in which the state and central governments were dealing with it. Those who attended the meeting included state Congress chief G.A. Mir and state secretary of the CPI-M Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami. The opposition parties also demanded appointment of a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to probe the deaths in firing by security forces and loss of eyesight of hundreds due to the use of pellet guns. Islamabad, Oct 14 : Pakistani authorities on Friday lifted the travel curbs imposed on a journalist who had revealed alleged differences between the civilian and military leadership vis-a-vis terrorists. Dawn staff writer Cyril Almeida's name has been removed from the Exit Control List (ECL), the newspaper reported, quoting the Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan earlier told the All Pakistan Newspapers Society and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors that Almeida's name would be taken off the ECL. Those on the ECL are not allowed to leave Pakistan. The minister, however, said the inquiry ordered into the controversial news story would continue "till its logical conclusion", the Dawn reported. Almeida's name was added to the ECL on Monday after he wrote a news report which said that the civilian leadership had told the military to act against terrorists or face international isolation. The Prime Minister's Office denied the veracity of the story thrice but Dawn stood by it, saying it was filed only after it "was verified, cross-checked and fact-checked". In the wake of the travel ban on Almeida, human rights and journalists' organisations rallied in his support. Most TV news channels also attacked the government action against the Dawn journalist. The alleged advice from the civilian leadership to the Pakistani military was given in the wake of heightened India-Pakistan tensions. New Delhi, Oct 14 : A non-bailable warrant (NBW) was issued against Gulab Singh, Aam Aadmi Party's MLA from Matiyala, by a local court after he failed to join the police investigation in an extortion case, police said on Friday. Police said Singh, co-incharge of the party's Gujarat affairs, had informed Delhi Police about joining the probe on September 16, but failed to appear before the investigators. An NBW against Singh was obtained from the court on Thursday evening, a senior police officer said. "A case of extortion was registered against Gulab Singh and his associates, including his driver and personal staff, following a complaint by property dealers Deepak Sharma and Rinku Diwan," Joint Commissioner of Police (South Western Range) Dependra Pathak told IANS. The complainants claimed that Singh and his associates Satish, Devinder, Jagdish and others are involved in extorting money from builders who were often threatened with demolition of their buildings, Pathak said. A case under Section 384 (punishment for extortion) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Bindapur police station on September 13. Patna, Oct 14 : Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said if Islamic countries can amend their divorce system, then why cannot India follow suit. Noting that the issue is before the Supreme Court and the central government has already cleared its stand in its reply to the court notice, he said the government stands by gender justice, gender equality and gender dignity in connection with triple talaq issue as per the Constitution. "After the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the central government in the wake of numerous complaints filed by several Muslim women against the triple talaq issue, the government had replied to the notice," said Prasad, who was here to attend a meeting of the state Bharatiya Janata Party. "In our reply to the apex court, we said that in more than a dozen Islamic countries, the triple talaq system has been regulated. So, if in Islamic countries, this system can be regulated, then why not in India which is a secular nation," he said. Prasad, a noted lawyer himself, said voices for justice by Muslim women itself suggest that triple talaq can't be justified under Constitutional provisions as gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women are fundamental Constitutional values. Chandigarh, Oct 14 : In a bid to maintain the pressure on the Punjab government on the issue of the drug menace, the opposition Congress on Friday said its supporters will burn effigies of 'chitta' Raavan in all 117 assembly segments. Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh said the move was aimed at highlighting the failure of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government led by Parkash Singh Badal to curb the menace in the state. "We have declared a war against the government over its failure to transfer the Ludhiana Police Commissioner in the 'chitta' Raavan case. We have asked party workers in all 117 assembly segments to burn such effigies to protest," Amarinder said here. Congress leaders, including its MPs and legislators, have been protesting against the Punjab government and state police outside the Chief Minister's official residence here since Thursday afternoon. The protest had continued through the night also. They are demanding action against senior police officers in Ludhiana who failed to avert a clash between Congress and Akali supporters on Monday over the burning of an effigy of 'chitta' (colloqial term for drugs in Punjab) Raavan but later booked Congress leaders. They accused the Punjab Police of high-handedness. "It is an irony that the culprits are walking free and the victims have been put behind bars," the former Chief Minister and sitting Amritsar MP said. Badal had ordered Director General of Police Suresh Arora to probe the violent clash on Dussehra eve in Ludhiana. "We will actually destroy the 'chitta' and its Raavan in their entirety in the state," Amarinder said. Wondering why the Akalis were so touchy about the 'chitta' Raavan issue, the Congress leader said: "Is it your guilty conscience that gets pricked and causes you to get goosebumps over the very mention of 'chitta'?" Beijing, Oct 14 : China on Friday made it clear that it will not climb down over opposing India's bid to have Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar declared a terrorist and enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group. It made its stand clear on the eve of President Xi Jinping's visit to India to attend the two-day BRICS summit. "My colleagues have responded to the listing matters many times here. I would like to re-emphasize what have been said," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shunag said here, referring to Beijing's opposition to Azhar being declared as a terrorist. "As we speak, various parties are still divided on India's application to list certain individuals. The technical hold to the listing application gives more time to the (1267 UN) Committee for deliberation and relevant parties for further negotiations. "This also shows that China is serious and responsible for this issue," Geng said at a press conference. China has twice blocked India's attempt to get the UN to ban Pakistan-based JeM chief Azhar who is accused of plotting the Pathankot and Uri terror attacks. On India's bid to enter NSG, Geng said China stuck to its earlier stance. "China's position has not changed regarding the accession to the NSG by India and other non-NPT countries," he said. "As for the China-India leaders' meeting, President Xi Jinping will meet and talk with relevant leaders, including Indian Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit to be held in Goa, India. Relevant arrangements are still under discussion, and we will release information in due course," he added. In June, China blocked India's entry into the elite grouping, citing the latter's non-signatory status to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Gaurav Sharma is the Beijing-based correspondent for IANS. He can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com and gauravians@yahoo.com) Panaji, Oct 14 : New Delhi is confident that Moscow will reflect on Indian concerns over Russia's participation in military exercises in Pakistan last month, Indian Ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran said on Friday. "We are confident Russia will reflect on our concerns; that is where we stand right now," Saran said. Earlier this week, Saran expressed unhappiness over the joint military exercise. In an interview to a Russian news agency, Saran said military co-operation with Pakistan, "a state that sponsors and practices terrorism as a matter of state policy, is a wrong approach and it will only create further problems". Summit-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to be held in Goa on Saturday. The Indian Ambassador said it was natural for issues related to terrorism to come up for discussion by the two leaders at the India-Russia summit. He said the bilateral relationship was built over decades and it would not be legitimate to pitch the same against the joint military exercise, a one-off incident in question. "... your question alludes to a specific incident or an episode that occurred a few weeks ago. I do not think it is at all legitimate to induce this relationship, that has been built up over several decades, over what happened a few days ago," Saran said when asked if Russian participation in a military exercise with Pakistan reflected a change in Moscow's long-standing disposition towards India. As to whether Pakistan-sponsored terrorism will be discussed at the bilateral meeting, Saran said: "I would not like to pre-judge in any manner what exactly will be the agenda for discussion tomorrow (Saturday)". New Delhi, Oct 14 : Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday urged President Pranab Mukherjee to disqualify the MLAs in various states appointed as parliamentary secretaries and holding "office of profit". Sisodia led a delegation of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders including Gopal Rai and Ashutosh to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday evening. He complained to the President about the "illegally appointed" parliamentary secretaries in some states, including Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. After meeting the President, Sisodia told reporters that Chief Ministers in Haryana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh have administered oath to MLAs as chief parliamentary secretaries/parliamentary secretaries and provided them "pecuniary benefits", which is in violation of the spirit of the Constitution. He said that crores of rupees are being spent on these parliamentary secretaries, which is against the Constitution. "These parliamentary secretaries are getting salaries, allotted VIP vehicles and other perks, for which ministers in these states are entitled. These parliamentary secretaries are given the rank of Deputy Minister, which implies that these MLAs hold an office of profit," Sisodia argued. "We have complained about these illegally-appointed parliamentary secretaries in these four states. We requested the President to immediately disqualify them," Sisodia told reporters. He further clarified that the AAP government has not provided any kind of "pecuniary benefit" to the 21 MLAs who were appointed parliamentary secretaries in Delhi. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has given Delhi's 21 AAP legislators time till October 17 to explain why they should not be disqualified from the assembly after their appointment as parliamentary secretaries. In the notice issued on Monday, the ECI also told petitioner Prashant Patel to submit his rejoinder to the 21 AAP lawmakers' reply by October 21. After coming to power in February 2015, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government appointed 21 party lawmakers as parliamentary secretaries, saying this would facilitate smooth functioning of the government but would not put any burden on the exchequer. The Delhi High Court in September quashed the appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries. In June 2015, a major row erupted on the issue of 'office of profit' after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Delhi government's bill to exclude the post of parliamentary secretary from the 'office of profit' definition. New Delhi, Oct 14 : A blanket ban on import of Chinese goods as being demanded by some sections in India is not a feasible option, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. "Just because we may not like certain things about a country is not reason enough to block imports from that country. We could impose anti-dumping duties, but there are established ways to go about it and dumping has to be proved," she told reporters here responding to a query on curbs on imports from China. "Curbs can only be placed if there are quality issues or if the imports are subsidised or dumped. "Anti-dumping duties are levied on particular items, on certain tariff lines...they cannot be levied across the board," she added. In her bilateral talks with Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce and Finance Wang Shouwen on Thursday, Sitharaman said she raised concerns about India's growing trade deficit with China. "Several issues have remained unresolved since I assumed charge in June 2014. I raised the issue of the difficulties faced by Indian IT companies in China with project approvals with the Chinese minister," Sitharaman said. "Our pharma companies, for instance, have been recognised by the USFDA (Food and Drug Administration), the European Union. Why is it then that the permission from China is taking so long?" she added. Sithraman said that the talks had been positive. "The Chinese minister assured that he will come back to us on the matter, expeditiously. My impression is that they will come back to us sooner. The trade imbalance issue will addressed," she said. An Indian commerce ministry release here on Thursday said Wang assured that China would act on the concerns expressed by India regarding market access for Indian goods, and said that recently China has quickened the pace of granting clearances to Indian pharmaceutical companies. In 2015-16, India's exports to China were $9 billion, imports were $61.7 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $52.7 billion. Meanwhile, Chinese media reported that calls for boycott of China-made goods in India following China's opposition to a UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar have failed and instead sales have hit a record high. "Encouragement to boycott Chinese goods has been spreading in the last few days on Indian social media. However, regardless of the passionate boycott in India and Indian media's hysteric reports of a 'doomsday' for Chinese products, Chinese goods have never been condemned by Indian government and are popular across the nation," said an article in the Global Times. "The boycott has not achieved success. Sales figures for Chinese products on the top three Indian online retailers in the first week of October hit a new record," it added. On Friday here, on the concluding day of the first BRICS Trade Fair, Sitharaman also expressed concern over the delay in signing of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) free trade agreement for which a framework agreement was signed in 2004. With India in the chair of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) for 2016, the forthcoming leaders' summit in Goa has made an "outreach" to the BIMSTEC, (which also comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal, in this edition of the BRICS summit. "A lot has been said about how we have not still signed an FTA. Yes, that is a concern and we shall work actively to get a consensus to have an FTA signed amongst the BIMSTEC countries," Sitharaman said at the BIMSTEC ministers meeting here. Panaji, Oct 14 : Discussion on terrorism will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet on Saturday during the 17th bilateral summit between the two countries. Indian ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said that the two leaders would discuss a "broad menu" of issues including new areas of co-operation like energy, infrastructure, railways, agriculture, hi-technology. "For sure, terrorism will be a subject of discussion. That is something which is expected and that would be very natural for both the leaders to discuss," Saran told reporters in Goa on Friday. The bilateral summit which is being held on Saturday, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, is Putin's 17th engagement with an Indian head of state, Saran said, adding that this alone "speaks for itself in terms of the intensity of the high-level political engagement between Russia and India". "As far as India is concerned, the relationship with Russia is among the most important that India has with any country in the world. It is based on mutual trust, mutual understanding, mutual respect and it encompasses every field of activity. So the engagement is deep, very intense and it is poised to grow even further," Saran said. He added that the nearly 70-year-old India-Russia relationship should be "reflective of the contemporary India-Russia relationship". "It should cater to the young generations of both the countries. It should be as inclusive as possible, both in terms of its content as well as its strength within Russia and India. You should take the friendship back to the people," Saran said. The ambassador also said that both the heads of state are expected to discuss wide-ranging issues when the two meet in Goa on Saturday. "It is a very broad menu and what I would say is that it is fully reflective of the kind of relationship which I have described to you," he said. Speaking about new areas of co-operation, Saran said: "We are making new inroads into certain sectors like energy. Like infrastructure, like railways, we are also looking at areas like agriculture and we are looking at hi-technology." He said that the leaders would also discuss issues related to port connectivity, which he said was being an "obstacle in the growth of our trade and economic partnership". "I would say that the India of today and the Russia of today, are more ambitious than they have ever been in the past about finding new areas and moving forward in all of them," Saran said. Lucknow, Oct 14 : Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday said the party's legislators after the Uttar Pradesh elections will pick the new Chief Minister, in a clear indication that his son and incumbent Akhilesh won't be the face of the party in the polls. Flanked by state party chief and younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, both daggers drawn with Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh said the legislators always elected their Chief Minister. "The elected legislators and the Samajwadi Party's Parliamentary Board will pick the next Chief Minister," he told the media here. This would mean that unlike in 2012, when the Samajwadi Party swept the assembly polls, the party won't portray the young Akhilesh as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The 76-year-old former UP Chief Minister denied there was strife within his family. "We have always been united for three generations. How can we have differences now?" he asked. Saying there was no bickering within, he held the hand of Shivpal Yadav, who he said was everything for the Samajwadi Party. He also praised Transport Minister Gayatri Prajapati, who was sacked by Akhilesh Yadav and then reinstated at the intervention of Mulayam Singh, saying a man from humble background like Gayatri was also a minister due to "the miracles of the Samajwadi ethos and ideology". In an apparent response to Akhilesh Yadav's statement that he had pedalled over one lakh km on cycle to make the party stronger and many leaders of the Youth Brigade (now expelled) had worked hard for the party, Mulayam Singh said the party was where it was because of him (Mulayam). Mulayam Singh announced that the Samajwadi Party would hold a grand event on November 5 to mark 25 years of its existence. Until now, Akhilesh Yadav, despite the power struggle with his uncle Shivpal Yadav, has exuded confidence that he would again be the Samajwadi Party's Chief Ministerial face. Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls early next year. Akhilesh Yadav had earlier told a journalist that all was not well in the Yadav family and that he would go it alone in the election campaign soon. Mulayam Singh also said that there should be no politics on a Uniform Civil Code and people should be free to follow any religion in the manner they want. New Delhi, Oct 14 : Even as the number of eye donations has increased from 680 in 2009 to 1,321 in 2013, the proportion of unused eyes has also increased from 185 to 400 in the same period, data from AIIMS showed. More than 2.5 lakh blind people in India could regain eyesight if majority of the Indian hospitals start conducting eye transplants, showed statistics recently released by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). According to Delhi-based opthalmologists, nearly 60 per cent of the eye donations go to waste in India. "Usually when the eyes are donated they either get infected with diseases, or are not stored in the eye banks on time. The biggest problem is that the window lapses as eyes from a dead person have to be retrieved within six hours after death," said Amit Singhal, opthalmologist consultant at city based Sharp Sight Group of Eye Hospitals. According to him, the removed eyes should be implanted in the next 24 hours, or stored at an eye bank, where it could be preserved for up to 14 days only. Many harvested eyes are rendered useless as they are declared unfit for transplant. Data from the Health Ministry has revealed that 51,354 eyes were donated in 2013-14, of which only 22,384 were used for transplant. The numbers have remained dismal over the past few years, with more than 50 per cent of the donated eyes going to waste. "There is a need for young people to be encouraged to donate their eyes, as older people mostly have some or the other health ailments due to which their eyes are not fit to be transplanted. Every donated eye is checked for various diseases like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD) before implantation," said Singhal, adding that despite all these arrangements, it is difficult to use all the donated eyes as eyes of old people in the age group of 70-80 are of least use due to blurred cornea. Stating that visually impaired people can also donate their eyes if they are not corneal blind, a leading Delhi-based opthalmologist Samir Sud said: "In our country we need to encourage visually impaired people to come forward for eye donations and dispel a common myth that a blind person cannot donate his eyes." "Visually impaired surely can donate their corneas if they are not corneal blind because in India we have an estimated 4.6 million people with corneal blindness that is curable through corneal transplantation made possible by eye donation," Sud added. Experts also said that though there's no dearth of people willing to donate their eyes in India, more transplants can't be conducted due to a shortage of eye bank technicians and eye donation counsellors. Michael Buckley and Mr. Malhotra "It's great to be a fan of YouTubers but what I learned from meeting so many of them was that being a creator is even better," said Mr. Malhotra, Monday, October 17, 2016 is National Boss's Day and while employees across the nation will celebrate their employers, a ten-year-old boy is growing his own business "like a boss" with a focus on helping other kids too. Jesse Malhotra, or Mr. Malhotra as he is known on YouTube, has gone from brain injury to boss with his own business, Become a YouTuber." Jesse suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident in July 2014. His mother, Angela shared how she watched her son go from energetic, playful and outgoing to extremely agitated, laying on the floor in pain and completely withdrawn from school. After six months of missed school, Angela followed the recommendation of a friend to take her son to Amen Clinic where he was officially diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Once we realized it was a TBI, we began to treat it. Jesse was back in school within a few months and won most improved student award after missing half of third grade. I'm beyond thrilled to see Jesse take his pain and turn it into a profitable passion," shared Angela Lauria, Jesse's mom. Michael Buckley, internet celebrity, comedian and vlogger who has a million plus following on YouTube partnered with Jesse Malhotra to launch Become a YouTuber at MineCon 2016. Mr. Malhotra met several influencers including Sundee, Mango Tango, Parker Games, Zack Scott Games, Grace Helbig, Evan Era and Shane Dawson. "It's great to be a fan of YouTubers but what I learned from meeting so many of them was that being a creator is even better," said Mr. Malhotra. Become A YouTuber is an interactive tutorial for children ages 8-14 who want to learn how to launch their own YouTube channel. It is designed to teach the insider tips and tricks of YouTube plus networking, financial literacy, and how to create a career where you do what you love. Interview opportunities with Jesse Malhotra are available by contacting angela(at)becomeayoutuber.tv. ### Beth Baerman I hope to bring clarity about managing variable hour employees and how to minimize financial penalties that can be associated with the ACA. - Beth Baerman Attendance on Demand, Inc., developer of employee time and attendance systems, will be speaking at the 27th Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Payroll Conference, Friday October 14th, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton - Loveland Hotel Conference Center & Spa in Loveland, Colorado. Attendees will learn about the challenges employers face when dealing with variable hour employees and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Beth Baerman, Director of Compliance and Communications at Attendance on Demand Inc., will speak on the Affordable Care Act: Misconceptions and Pitfalls for Variable Hour Employees. As an expert in time and labor management, Baerman is a frequent speaker in regards to labor compliance. She has been advising employers on the implications of ACA for more than five years. Baerman was recognized for her work with the 2014 Gold Award for Communications in the Women in Business World Awards. The Rocky Mountain Conference brings together HR professional and management personnel that are under pressure to both comply with new regulations and also run profitable businesses, said Baerman. About The Denver Chapter Payroll Association The Denver Chapter Payroll Association (DCPA) is a non-profit organization consisting of dedicated payroll professionals throughout the Denver metro area. The Chapter offers bi-annual study groups that are a great way to prepare for taking either the Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or the Fundamental of Payroll Compliance (FPC) certification exam. In addition, the Chapter hosts a yearly Rocky Mountain Regional Payroll Conference. This is a multi-state conference with topics on payroll basics, advanced payroll, payroll reporting, personal and professional development, as well as updates from various government agencies. The Chapter promotes Money Matters Economic Education by visiting local high schools to explain to students their paychecks and their rights as employees. In addition, the chapter participates quarterly on the Paycheck Line 9, which can be seen on KUSA, Channel 9. The Chapter actively supports several charities in the Denver Metropolitan Area including Paycheck Line 9, 9Health Fair, The Gathering Place, Food Bank of the Rockies, and the Furry Scurry. We are always looking for suggestions for other activities that we can support. There are always opportunities for both professional and personal growth through the Chapter and its activities. About Attendance on Demand Attendance on Demand supports the labor management needs of thousands of companies and more than three-quarters of a million employees across North America. Launched in 2006, Attendance on Demand is a rapidly deployed, cloud-based solution that minimizes a company's risk and technology investment while providing advanced features for securely managing labor datacalculating pay rules, scheduling employees, budgeting labor, automating recordkeeping for labor law compliance and managing employee status and reporting for the Affordable Care Act. With standard uptime over the industry average of 99.995% and above average customer retention rates, Attendance on Demand removes the worry of maintaining expensive infrastructure. An extensive North American distribution network helps organizations use Attendance on Demand to reduce labor expenses and improve decision making. Colorful new friends await on a Galapagos tour. A Galapagos tour or cruise can seem like a visit to evolutions own laboratory with the islands' countless different species, many of which are endemic to the Islands. The safari experts at Goway Travel are inviting travellers to get out there and see the worlds most iconic safari destinations. Animal lovers can enjoy significant savings on an East African safari, or one of a wide range of Galapagos cruises. The national parks and game reserves of Kenya and Tanzania take an African safari to the next level. Home to regions such as the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and Masai Mara, East Africa offers a slightly more adventurous alternative to the well-developed game parks of Southern Africa. For this reason, it can also be more expensive, but several new Goway offers are helping to keep these special wildlife regions open to travellers at every price point. Globetrotters can save up to $2600 per couple on a 14-day East African Safari through both Kenya and Tanzania. This trip takes in the Samburu, Mount Kenya, and the Masai Mara, before crossing into Tanzania and exploring the Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater, home to over 25,000 large animals, including rare black rhinos. Those looking for a shorter trip can save up to $500 per person on Goways 8-day Essential Kenya, an ideal choice for solo travellers since no single supplement applies for the first four travellers who book within eligible periods. Meanwhile, Essential Tanzania offers savings of up to $1000 per couple. Four passengers travelling together can also enjoy a private trip at no extra cost. Solo travellers should also ask about departures on this trip, as limited spaces are available with no single supplement. Across two continents off the coast of Ecuador lies another of the worlds greatest wildlife regions thats more accessible than many people think. A Galapagos tour or cruise can seem like a visit to evolutions own laboratory with the islands' countless different species, many of which are endemic to the Islands. Goway is offering animal lovers significant savings on bookings made by November 20. Passengers can enjoy a two-category suite upgrade, saving up to $2300 per person, a 50% saving on a second suite, saving $5775, or a $1500 onboard credit per suite on board the luxurious Galapagos Silversea. Passengers can also save up to US$999/CA$1299 on select departures on the luxury yachts M/V Cormorant and M/V Ocean Spray, or up to US$770/CA$1000 when booking any cruise on the M/C Seaman or M/C Sea Star by December 20. Even those paying full price can enjoy generous offers in conjunction with selected cruises. Cruise aboard the Legend, Coral I, or Coral II, and Goway will cover the return airfare from Quito, park entrance fees, and visitors ticket. Since 1970, Goway has been providing unforgettable travel experiences to Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central & South America, Idyllic Island destinations and Europe. Today Goway is recognized as one of North America's leading travel companies for individuals, families and groups to select exotic destinations around the globe. Goway has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Sydney Australia. For reservations and information, visit http://www.goway.com, or call 1-800-387-8850. Diana S. Friedman - GoransonBain, PLLC The Sam Emison Award is one of the most influential honors a Texas family lawyer or judge can receive and is earned in recognition of a significant impact on the practice of family law and the family law bar association. Developing professional relationships can be life-changing. For Diana S. Friedman, early career mentoring and active participation in the Family Law Bar opened the door to service and leadership in the field of family law. It has led to a career in which the GoransonBain Partner has risen to the forefront of the practice and recently earned her recognition as the 2016 Sam Emison Award recipient from the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists. Dianas ability to lead, serve, inspire and persuade has earned her one of the most coveted awards in Texas family law, said Curtis W. Harrison II, Managing Partner of the Texas family law firm. Her personal accomplishments are a testament to her passion for the practice of family law and the pursuit of all our attorneys to be at the forefront of the industry. The Sam Emison Award is one of the most prestigious honors a Texas family lawyer or judge can receive and is earned in recognition of a significant impact on the practice of family law and the family law bar association. The award has special meaning to Friedman. As a law clerk more than 25 years ago, her mentors invited her to the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists Annual Dinner. The Sam Emison award presentation was one of the defining moments that shaped her career. It provided a great example of leadership in the field of family law and demonstrated to me the importance of embracing collaboration, intellectual inquiry and legislative advocacy, said Friedman. A leader in driving legislative changes that will improve Texas divorce laws, Friedman is an active member and past chair of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, serving as Co-Chair of the Legislative Committee. She is the Past President of the Texas Family Law Foundation, a member of the Family Law Council State Bar of Texas, Past President of the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists, and Past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section. She is a frequent course director, speaker and author of matters related to family law. She is equally invested in paying it forward with the next generation of family lawyers. The mentors I had played an instrumental role in me understanding not just the business of family law but the practice, said Friedman. There is not a more personal practice of law than family law. The relationships you develop through active participation in your professional associations and networking benefit not only you but your clients, she adds. A fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Friedman has earned the 2016 Lawyer of the Year in Family Law by The Best Lawyers in America and Dallas 500 The Most Powerful Business Leaders in Dallas-Ft. Worth awards. In 2014, the Family Law Section presented her with the Dan R. Price Award. Friedman has been named a Texas Super Lawyer every year since 2003, and a Best Lawyer in America for the past seven years. Friedman received her B.S from Louisiana State University and her J.D., cum laude, from Southern Methodist University. About Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists (TAFLS) Established in 1984, The Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists is a professional organization of Board Certified family law attorneys and Board Certified family law paralegals. For further information, https://www.tafls.org/ About GoransonBain, PLCC GoransonBain is a Texas family law firm founded in 1987. Since its inception, GoransonBain has fostered a constructive atmosphere and strategic approach to help clients controls costs, minimize the disruption to their daily lives and achieve the best possible outcome. The firms team of attorneys, including three former family court judges, offers clients comprehensive experience and perspectives to work towards an efficient resolution in complex situations. Services encompass virtually every facet of family law, including divorce, asset identification and valuation, complex property matters, collaborative law, mediation, premarital and postmarital agreements, child custody and visitation, property division, child support, adoption, paternity, and same-sex legal issues. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, U.S. News & World Report named GoransonBain a Best Law Firm in its U.S. News - Best Lawyers for family law and family law mediation, an achievement that involved a rigorous independent evaluation process. The firm maintains three Texas offices in Dallas, Plano and Austin. Realtor Magazine recently put together its 20 hottest real estate spots, or real estate IRA markets, and American IRA is responding with commentary all its own. In the blog post Real Estate IRA Corner: Realtor Magazine Release Top 20 Hottest Real Estate Markets, American IRAs blog from September 18th, authored by CEO Jim Hitt, offered its own commentary on the list and noted some key absences that are sure to raise a few eyebrows. Under its Notably absent list, American IRA noted that New York, Washington, D.C., and Florida did not make the list. This is in contrast to Vallejo, California, which was number one on the list, and Dallas, Texas, which came in at number two. The Bay Area continued to do well in the list as well, thanks to both Vallejo and San Francisco, California making the top five. Other real estate market included Waco, Texas, the home of the reality television show Fixer Upper. We thought it was important to put out our take on this list, mentioned Jim Hitt. Its great to see these lists put together, but we find that readers often want to know more. Who jumped down the list? Whats the hot real estate market thats moving quickly up the list? And what are some of the most noteworthy real estate markets that didnt make the list at all? The blog post on AmericanIRA.com pointed out that Santa Cruz fell substantially, while Dallas continued a hot streak with an influx of jobs thanks to a new Toyota USA corporate headquarters relocation. These are the things you have to look at when evaluating these lists, noted Jim Hitt, himself an avid follower of the real estate market and in real estate investing. Click here to read the full blog post, along with the list. About American IRA, LLC: Click here to claim one of our 7 Self-Directed IRA guide(s). American IRA is committed to providing every client with gold-level service, regardless of account size. Experience their expertise through their certified IRA services professionals. Enjoy the value with one low annual fee of $285 with unlimited assets and unlimited account values. American IRA clients love the benefit of no charge for "All Cash" accounts. The performance of the American IRA staff is unmatched, with quick and efficient processing within 48 hours. American IRA services thousands of clients and has over $300 million in assets under administration. American IRA was built by investors for investors, and brings their successful investment experience to the table, providing excellent educational material showing the public that their Self-Directed IRA account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more. American IRA is conveniently located in Asheville, NC and Charlotte, NC, and serves clients nationwide. ALS Therapy Development Institute As a collective field, we are moving faster than ever before to advance potential treatments for ALS and accelerate clinical trials. Today, there is a greater awareness of the disease than there has been in its history. The ALS Therapy Development Institute announced the schedule of its 12th annual Leadership Summit to be held October 28, 2016 at MassBio in Cambridge, MA. The event is free and open to the public and will feature in-depth looks at the Institutes lead candidate program, AT-1501, a panel discussion with participants in its Precision Medicine Program and a community-nominated presentation of Leadership Awards. As a collective field, we are moving faster than ever before to advance potential treatments for ALS and accelerate clinical trials. Today, there is a greater awareness of the disease than there has been in its history. This years Summit will be very different from those in the past as a result of this momentum, said Steve Perrin, Ph.D., CEO and CSO of the ALS Therapy Development Institute. The Leadership Summit is free and open to the public. Advance registration is required online at http://www.als.net/summit. The ALS Therapy Development Institute is actively enrolling participants in the Precision Medicine Program, a program that has resulted in the worlds largest, patient-linked database integrating ALS genetics, voice recordings, lifestyle, demographics and accelerometer data. Simultaneously, the Institute also creates induced pluripotent (iPS) cell lines from Program participant samples which are used in crucial phenotypic screening and drug discovery efforts in support of its mission to find effective treatments for ALS. The program will be discussed at length at the Leadership Summit including perspectives from three research study participants: Matt Bellina (Lt. Cmdr., USN Ret), Jose Cofino and Beth Hebron. In addition, the Institute will present its annual Leadership Awards. Nominations are made by the ALS community via Facebook and other means. This years recipients are: Gosnell Family of Hanover, Massachusetts Fran Delany Challenge & Respect Award Ernest (Rusty) Perry of Dallas, Texas Mary Lou Krauseneck Courage & Love Award Smith/Hanses Family of Yakima, Washington Stephen Milne Adventurous Spirit Award Andrea Lytle Peet of Raleigh, North Carolina Stephen Heywood Patients Today Award Last years recipients include Matt Bellina, Sarah Coglianese, Bobby Forster, Beth Hebron, Jay Smith, and Maureen Ramirez (Team Godfather). More information about the Leadership Summit and the Leadership Awards can be found online at http://www.als.net/summit. About the ALS Therapy Development Institute The ALS Therapy Development Institute and its scientists actively discover and develop treatments for ALS. The Institute is the worlds first and largest nonprofit biotech focused 100 percent on ALS research. Led by people with ALS and drug development experts, the charity understands the urgent need to slow and stop this horrible disease. Based in Cambridge, MA, the Institute has served as one of the leaders in sharing data and information with academic and ALS research organizations, people with ALS and their families. For more information, visit http://www.als.net. 'This timely book on economics takes an in-depth look at the history of socialism and what the term means today.' - Robert Fletcher, CEO of Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Agency Websters defines socialism as a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies. Author Todor Bombov says, "No, this is not socialism!" He puts a human face on socialism, saying, From 1917 to 1991, the totalitarian system in USSR and East Europe was called socialism, and even by the scientific nonsense and absurd names of communism and communist system. In this system, the official ideology was allegedly Marxism, but really, it could not endure any Marxist criticism. There was never any socialism anywhere! His book, "Socialism Is Dead! Long Live Socialism!," is divided into two autonomous parts. The first book, "The State," represents a radically new political system of society, one which is the most democratic system ever made. This is a completely new society, a real civil society, which otherwise in the capitalist system could only be called a utopia. The second book, "The Economic Theory of Socialism," represents the only sequel to "Capital," the great work by Karl Marx. The economics of socialism make Marxs brand of socialism completely possible, and it shows that socialism is a more effective economic system than capitalism. All of this adds up to a fascinating read about global economic politics. Watch the video at: https://youtu.be/2KGPBqZ3jE0 About the Author: Todor Bombov lives in Varna, Bulgaria, the town called the Pearl of the Black Sea and where todays civilization arises from. Robert Fletcher, CEO of Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Agency, stated, This timely book on economics takes an in-depth look at the history of socialism and what the term means today. We are proud to announce its release. Socialism Is Dead! Long Live Socialism! The Marx Code - Socialism with a Human Face: (A New World Order) (ISBN: 978-1-62857-266-7) is now available for $16.50 and can be ordered through the publishers website: http://sbpra.com/TodorBombov or at Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com. Wholesalers: This book is distributed by Ingram Books and other wholesale distributors. Contact your representative with the ISBN for purchase. Wholesale purchase for retailers, universities, libraries, and other organizations is also available through the publisher; please email bookorder(at)sbpra(dot)net. Horse riding is not only fun, it also gives an opportunity to get closer to one of natures most beautiful animals. A proven exercise thats also great for health, its also a healthy way to explore the great outdoors. Gunnamatta Trail Rides is a scenic Mornington Peninsula tourist attraction that provides rides across stunning coastal bush-lands and beaches. It is the perfect way to spend a holiday with friends and family. With the commencement of daylight savings, the company spokesperson announced the re-introduction of its two most popular Beach Rides offerings, Once again, these rides will be made available during daylight savings and will offer riders from all experience levels to take part in this adventure 7 days a week.. The first offering is the Early Bird Ride that departs at 7 am. The second offering is the Twilight Beach Ride that departs at 5 pm. Both of these adventurous rides are 2 hrs in the saddle and take you across beautiful stretches along the waters edge on St Andrews Beach. There are many other options available to the riders who are looking for a more exclusive adventure. The spokesperson explains All experienced riders can choose an upgraded private beach ride at an additional cost if you are looking for something that is more personal and intimate with your partner or group of family or friends.. Gunnamatta Trail Rides also offers a variety of Bush Trail rides for the beginner (50 min Truemans Bush Ride) and the more experienced rider (3hr Greens Bush Ride). As the undisputed leader and pioneer in unique and innovative programs for Kids, they also offer Kids Program, School Holiday Program, Teen Program, and Education Programs. In addition, if you are looking for Riding Lessons, they also offer private 1:1 or Group Lessons with highly experienced and qualified instructors. A horse riding adventure on the magnificent Mornington Peninsula gives you an amazing experience and great memories that will last a lifetime. Our rides give you memories you can cherish for a long time and keep returning to us. Our gentle and well trained horses take you on your journey into the fresh air and the spectacular scenery thats simply mesmerising. And then theres our courteous staff that helps ensure you will have great memories to take back home, the spokesperson added. About Gunnamatta Trail Rides: Gunnamatta Trail Rides has 75 well trained horses that have been trained for different riding levels. An experienced riding service, the ride company has been operating for years offering professional, safe and world-class services. Whether its a vacation on your mind or school holiday activities for the kids, this is a safe and beautiful way to spend your time. The service also has partnerships with other local tourist attractions on the peninsula to provide the ultimate lifetime experience. Gables Residential has been giving back to its community in many ways around the country. One of the most significant ways has taken place over the past 16 years by dedicating a day where all associates come together in their respective regions to focus on giving back to a worthy cause. Gables Day encompasses a full day in each region throughout the fall where approximately 1,000 associates come together to volunteer their time and share in the experience of this special day. Since 2000, Gables Day has resulted in contributions of over $1.2 million in goods and services and approximately 125,000 hours of labor and dedication by Gables associates. In Houston, Gables Day recently took place at The Covenant House Texas, a shelter for homeless, abused and abandoned youth ages 18 20. In conjunction with many strategic partners and their respective donations including Comcast and PPG Paints, the day was spent on projects such as painting, building, cleaning-up and enhancing the living overall environment. Gables Residential did an outstanding job. Everyone seemed excited and energetic, and took care of several maintenance issues in the shelter with professionalism and skill. I was impressed with the way all of the Gables participants approached each task with enthusiasm and energy. I hope you will choose Covenant House Texas again to perform such extraordinary work, stated John Lampson, Director of Finance, at Covenant House Texas. Joshua Landry, Area Vice President Investments for Gables also shared, Its so rewarding to be able to give back to our community through efforts like Gables Day. It is a part of our corporate culture and truly represents our heart toward service and our neighbors. About Gables Residential Gables Residential is an award-winning, vertically integrated, real estate company and privately held REIT specializing in the development, construction, ownership, acquisition, financing and management of multifamily and mixed-use communities. Gables Residential owns, develops and manages communities in high-growth U.S. markets such as Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, South Florida, Southern California and metropolitan Washington, D.C. Gables also provides third party management services in the New York, Baltimore, Frederick, Tampa, Phoenix, Seattle, Charlotte, Central and North Florida markets. Gables manages over 31,000 apartment homes and approximately 550,000 square feet of retail space and has received national recognition for excellence in development, construction, management, sales, marketing, learning and development, benefits and corporate accommodations. These achievements reflect the impact of our experienced and dedicated team members, our superior knowledge of the markets served, and our expertise in development and management. 'This reception will be an amazing opportunity for employers to connect with this years awardees of the Hotel and Restaurant Foundations Hospitality Scholarship,' says Michael Pace, HARF's Board President. As the 2016 Fall Application Cycle for the Hotel and Restaurant Foundation (HARF)s Hospitality Scholarship comes to a close, the HARF team is ramping up preparations for the HARF Scholarship Awards Reception. On Thursday, November 3, 2016, from 5:30p.m.-7:30p.m., leaders from Californias hospitality industry will come together at the Marker Hotel in San Francisco to honor the newest awardees of the HARF Hospitality Scholarship and network with other industry players, past awardees, and present scholarship holders. The reception will include speakers and cocktails, and there will even be an exclusive career fair for the winners with HARF corporate sponsors. Top students from some of the best hospitality programs in the state will meet with employers looking to connect with the most promising future leaders of the hospitality industry. This celebration will even provide networking opportunities for professional attendees looking to connect with other successful members of the industry. The main goal of the November HARF Scholarship Awards Reception is to connect new awardees with the HARF community and current leaders in the hospitality industry. This reception will be an amazing opportunity for employers to connect with this years awardees of the Hotel and Restaurant Foundations Hospitality Scholarship. The HARF Scholarship Awards Reception is a fun place to join together with other individuals invested in the future of our industry. We provide meaningful opportunities to meet the future leaders of Californias hospitality industry firsthand and lay the groundwork for recruitment of the best and brightest. Our November event promises to be one of our best yet, says Michael Pace, HARF's Board President and Area General Manager, West Coast, Morgans Hotel Group. Tickets to this event can be purchased online (http://bit.ly/HARF2016Fall) until October 28th. 2016 Lead Sponsors include the Handlery Foundation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Lori's Diner, San Francisco Travel and the Hotel Council of San Francisco. Granbury Solutions "Jeffs commitment to quality engineering practices has made an incredibly positive impact on our engineering team" - Tom Bronson, CEO Granbury Solutions, a leader in hospitality and specialty retail technology, is excited to announce that Jeffrey Payne, the companys Director of Engineering, has been invited to present at the at the upcoming 34th Annual Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference on October 17 in Portland, Oregon. Jeff oversees development of Granburys vinSUITE and Thr!ve Suite solutions for the wine and restaurant industries. Jeff will be presenting his work Automating Restaurant Point-of-Sale Testing with Selenium WebDriver: A Case Study at the upcoming 34th Annual Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference on October 17 in Portland, Oregon. Busy restaurants, as Granbury knows, are one of the most hostile computing environments and yet the quality and reliability requirements for restaurant point-of-sale systems are incredibly high. If the point-of-sale system stops working, the entire restaurant grinds to a halt. This presentation will show how Granbury built an automated continuous integration test infrastructure for its in-store and online ordering systems based on Selenium WebDriver. Jeff will also discuss the institutional barriers to test automation and how to confront them by demonstrating how a comprehensive test automation suite can be a major competitive advantage and an asset almost as valuable as the products it supports. Jeffs commitment to quality engineering practices has made an incredibly positive impact on our engineering team, said Tom Bronson, President and CEO of Granbury. We are proud of how his direction and leadership have contributed to making our products reliable foundations of our clients technology strategy." Jeff joined Granbury Solutions in 2015 as Engineering Manager for the Food Service division. He was recently promoted to Director of Engineering, a role which gives him a leadership role in the companys Wine division as well. Read more about the conference and session here: http://www.pnsqc.org/automating-restaurant-point-sale-testing-selenium-webdriver-case-study/ About Granbury Solutions A leading provider of technology to the wine, pizza, delivery, specialty coffee, quick serve and casual dining markets, Granbury Solutions provides the Thr!ve Point-of-Sale, Coffee Shop Manager, and vinSUITE technology solutions. Granbury also serves the specialty retail market with its Nova point-of-sale division. Learn more about Granbury Solutions at http://www.granburyrs.com. University of La Verne students conduct laboratory research. The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the University of La Verne a $6 million grant to increase the number of Latinos graduating with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees. It is the largest government grant the university has received in its 125-year history. The five-year grant for Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) will fund new course development, faculty training, classroom technology, advising, and career support. It will also facilitate partnerships to give community college students throughout the region support in pursuing STEM majors at the university. This is a very exciting project, said Dr. Kat Weaver, associate professor of biology and co-author of the grant. It will allow the faculty in the Natural Science Division to continue their work on designing innovative teaching methods and improving learning and retention for STEM students. The Department of Education has projected a 17 percent increase in STEM occupations between 2010 and 2020, and there are about two science and technology job openings for every qualified job seeker. Studies have shown that diversity in STEM fields leads to better science by bringing many perspectives together in research and problem solving. The grants initiatives, called the Guided Pathway to STEM Success, are expected to increase the number of Latinos and students from underserved socioeconomic backgrounds completing STEM degrees at the University of La Verne by 10 percent by 2021. Weaver expects the program to boost the number of Latino sophomores continuing in STEM majors into their junior year by 15 percent in the next five years. But the program will help more than just Latino students. About 2,400 students, including 600 traditional undergraduates and 200 transfer students who are Latino and low-income, as well as 1,600 students of all backgrounds and majors, will benefit from the program by 2021. All students taking college algebra will benefit, Weaver said. All students taking physics will benefit. It is broad reaching across campus. The grant provides opportunities to incorporate more of what educators call high-impact practices, which include learning communities, group-problem solving, and peer instruction all elements that researchers say improve success in STEM courses. Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Gail Tang said she uses these techniques and will also utilize technology to help students understand various concepts in subjects such as calculus. There exists technology that allows students to better visualize these three-dimensional objects by plotting and then interacting with them by rotating, shrinking or expanding them, Tang said. Some elements of the program include: A summer mathematics boot camp meant to decrease the need for remedial classes Eight faculty and staff assigned full- or part-time to handle advising, technology integration, research, and career support. Four of these people will be new hires Faculty training in the use of technology and research-driven strategies that help STEM students succeed Partnerships with Southern California community colleges to assist transfer students An HSI is defined by federal agencies as an accredited U.S. college or university with at least 25 percent Hispanic full-time student enrollment. The University of La Verne serves a population of about 44 percent Hispanic students and about 40 percent first generation college students, reflecting the diversity of the communities it serves. About the University of La Verne Founded in 1891 and located 35 miles east of Los Angeles, the University of La Verne is a private, nonprofit, comprehensive institution founded on four core values: lifelong learning, ethical reasoning, civic and community engagement, and diversity and inclusivity. The University of La Verne serves nearly 8,400 students at its historic La Verne campus and across 9 other California regional locations. Genetec Clearance The partnership with Point Blank allows us to offer a turnkey body-wearable camera/evidence management solution to our customers Genetec Inc. (Genetec), a leading provider of open-architecture, IP security solutions today announced a strategic partnership with Point Blank Enterprises (PBE) a worldwide leader in the development, manufacturing and distribution of high performance body armor. Through this partnership, Genetec and Point Blank will be able to offer law enforcement professionals a direct integration between the IRIS CAM body-worn camera and the all new Genetec Clearance, a case management system designed to speed up investigations by allowing different organizations to collect, manage and share video evidence and other relevant case information. Genetec and Point Blank will demonstrate this integration at the IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police) conference in San Diego, CA, October 15th -18th 2016, on the Genetec booth #3517, and Point Blank booth #4825. Genetec Clearance allows police officers, investigators and security managers to gather digital evidence from a variety of sources such as the IRIS CAM, or other video management systems, as well as in-car systems and cellphone footage from bystanders and witnesses, and easily store, manage, review and share it from a single application. The Point Blank IRIS CAM can help law enforcement agencies improve evidence collection and enhance officer accountability. Built in a ruggedized enclosure, the IRIS CAM provides ultra-high definition recording with a 140 FOV, getting even closer to the action. Additionally, the IRIS CAM ensures not a moment is missed with 30 seconds of pre-recording and a long lasting lithium polymer battery that can last an entire shift. The integration of the IRIS CAM system with Genetec Clearance will allow for automated uploads, saving law enforcement officers time at the end of their shift. Once uploaded, the video can be viewed immediately, without the need for conversion. Post-incident tagging can also be added to the recording, to help with further classification of the event, and aid in locating the file for future searches or investigations. Recordings can also be shared with both internal and external users, at the click of a button, speeding up the case management workflow. The unique identity redaction tool in Genetec Clearance can be applied to mask or blur sensitive information which will protect the privacy and identity of individuals when evidence is shared with prosecutors or in response to FOIA requests. "The partnership with Point Blank allows us to offer a turnkey body-wearable camera/evidence management solution to our customers. It will provide an intuitive and streamlined way to capture, manage and administer video evidence from the IRIS CAM into Genetec Clearance, eliminating manual processes and saving agencies time and money spent on managing cases, said Christian Morin, Vice President Cloud Services, Genetec Inc. Law enforcement agencies will be able to benefit from enhanced intra- and inter- agency collaboration and transparency," added Morin. By offering this integrated technology approach from Point Blank and Genetec, our respective end-users and channel partners will be able to bring a unique hardware/software turnkey solution to law enforcement and case management customers that has not previously been available, said Paulo Motoki, Chief Operating Officer, Point Blank Enterprises. Genetec Clearance and IRIS CAM integration is expected to be available from Genetec channel partners and resellers in Q4 2016, the will be fully FedRAMP and CJIS compliant. About Genetec Genetec develops open-architecture software, hardware and cloud-based services for the physical security and public safety industry. Its flagship product, Security Center, unifies IP-based access control, video surveillance and automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) into one platform. A global innovator since 1997, Genetec is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and serves enterprise and government organizations via an integrated network of resellers, certified channel partners, integrators and consultants in over 80 countries. Genetec was founded on the principle of innovation and remains at the forefront of emerging technologies that unify IP physical security systems. For more information about Genetec, visit: http://www.genetec.com 2016 Genetec. Genetec, and Genetec Clearance are trademarks of Genetec Inc., and may be registered or pending registration in several jurisdictions. Other trademarks used in this document may be trademarks of the manufacturers or vendors of the respective products. To be recognized three years in a row as the number one franchise for military veterans speaks volumes to how important veterans are to our organization. CruiseOne/Dream Vacations, the nations leading home-based travel franchise as part of World Travel Holdings, announces that Military Times ranked it the number one franchise across all industries on its annual Best For Vets: Franchises list, for the third year in a row. In the past five years, the franchisor has given away more than $250,000 in free franchises to military veterans, and has nearly doubled the percentage of veteran- and military spouse-owned franchises to more than 30 percent. To be recognized three years in a row as the number one franchise for military veterans speaks volumes to how important veterans are to our organization, said Debbie Fiorino, senior vice president of CruiseOne/Dream Vacations. This is by far one of the most meaningful recognitions we have received and its our privilege to give back to our heroes and help them transition into business owners. Military Times, the organization comprising Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times invited hundreds of franchise brands across the country to complete a survey about their companies and their offerings for service members and veterans. The survey asked about company culture, the performance of franchise units, the costs associated with franchising, and the financial and other support offered to veteran and active-duty service members and their families. They also considered information from franchise disclosure documents. After retiring from the U.S. Army I was in search of a second career. I am a stay-at-home dad and wanted something that would allow me to maintain my time with my daughters and support their after-school activities. When searching for "veteran-friendly" franchise opportunities I quickly learned that CruiseOne and Dream Vacations is where I needed to be, said Retired MSG and Dream Vacations Franchise Owner Mike Hanlon of Wilmington, N.C. One of the main reasons I bought my franchise was the amount of support given to those of us that are veterans. CruiseOne and Dream Vacations welcomed me with open arms and my business is really starting to take off. I have even helped out some of my former unit members in planning their dream vacations. A member of the International Franchise Associations (IFA) VetFran initiative, CruiseOne/Dream Vacations is committed to giving back to the military community and offers many incentive programs including a 20 percent discount off the franchise fee and additional discounts for hiring former members of the U.S. military or active-duty military spouses as associates. The franchise also hosts a nationally-recognized contest, Operation Vetrepreneur: Become Your Own General, which has given away five franchises each year since 2012 to deserving military veterans. Consistently recognized by leading industry publications as a military-friendly franchise, CruiseOne/Dream Vacations accolades include inclusion on G.I. Jobs annual Hot Franchises for Veterans the past six years and recognition by MSC Cruises in its first-ever Seaside Salute Award. Additional accolades include being named Top 10 Military Friendly Franchise by Forbes, Top Veteran-Friendly Franchise by Franchise Business Review, Entrepreneur and U.S. Veterans magazines and inclusion on USA Todays 50 Top Franchises for Military Veterans. CruiseOne/Dream Vacations is committed to being Rich in Diversity and empowers all owners, agents and employees to reach their highest potential by leveraging their broad range of talent, experiences, personalities, viewpoints and ideas to generate business growth. Military veterans with a passion for travel who want to learn more information about franchise opportunities with CruiseOne/Dream Vacations should visit http://www.DreamVacationsFranchise.com or call 888-249-8235. About CruiseOne/Dream Vacations In operation since 1992, the home-based travel franchise CruiseOne is ranked in the top three percent of all franchises worldwide and is a member of the International Franchise Association; its sister brand Dream Vacations was launched in April 2016. As part of World Travel Holdings, CruiseOne/Dream Vacations franchisees are able to offer their customers the lowest possible pricing on vacations with its 100 percent Best Price and Satisfaction Guarantee. CruiseOne has received partner of the year, a top-ranking status, by all the major cruise lines including Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line. For more information on CruiseOne / Dream Vacations, visit DreamVacationsFranchise.com. Like CruiseOne/Dream Vacations on Facebook at facebook.com/DreamVacationsFranchise, and follow on Twitter at @Dream_Franchise. ### On Friday, October 14th, American Insurance Association (AIA) President and CEO Leigh Ann Pusey will join other industry leaders as a featured panelist on cybersecurity issues at the 8th International Insurance Conference hosted by the French Federation of Insurance (FFA) in Paris, France. Ahead of the event, Ms. Pusey issued the following statement commending the FFA for convening the industry, regulators, and other stakeholders from around the world on these critical issues: AIA is excited to participate in this important discussion with our international colleagues on how technological innovation and digital change are improving insurers' ability to serve policyholders across the globe. I look forward to conversing with our European colleagues about the new regulatory and cybersecurity challenges and how we can work together to address these issues. In a world that is becoming rapidly more interconnected, it is essential for stakeholders to collaborate on how the insurance industry and the accompanying international regulatory framework should evolve to meet the needs of policyholders. John Quinones will be the keynote speaker at Columbia Southern University commencement ceremonies on Oct. 28. Columbia Southern University faculty and staff are preparing to welcome family home as more than 720 graduates are expected to attend the commencement ceremonies on Oct. 28 at the Orange Beach Event Center. We are so proud and humbled to be part of this meaningful moment as our students prepare to make their way to Orange Beach from all over the world, said CSU President Robert Mayes. Commencement Day is an exciting milestone for our students, staff and faculty as it presents us with a chance to connect as a family while celebrating the joy and benefits education can yield." CSU students will also be bringing more family and friends --- about 2,650 totalto enjoy the moment. To accommodate this large number of attendees, there will be two commencement ceremonies at the event center: a morning ceremony starting at 9 a.m. and an afternoon ceremony at 2 p.m. The keynote speaker for the ceremonies will be What Would You Do? TV host and journalist John Quinones. The Emmy award-winning co-anchor of ABC newsmagazine Primetime and has been with the network nearly 30 years. He is the sole anchor of the "Primetime" series "What Would You Do?," one of the highest rated newsmagazine franchises in recent years. During his tenure, he has reported extensively for ABC News, predominantly serving as a correspondent for Primetime and 20/20. Attendees will also hear from honored local guests Orange Beach Mayor Tom Kennon and Alabama State Rep. Randy Davis before crossing the stage. To launch the commencement celebrations, CSU will conduct an Open House at its University Lane location in Orange Beach from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27 where faculty and staff will greet graduates and guests. After the Open House, CSU will present an Alumni Social at 5 p.m. at the Gulf State Park Beach Pavilion for refreshments, networking and socializing. Registration is closed for the commencement, however, there will be a live stream broadcast of the ceremonies at http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/commencement/video. For more information about CSU commencement activities, please visit http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/commencement. CSU offers online certificate and degree programs in various fields such as human resource management, organizational leadership, fire administration, criminal justice and business administration. For more information about CSU, visit http://www.columbiasouthern.edu or call 800-977-8449. VMRay logo 'This is further validation of the unique malware analysis technology that VMRay has developed. Our approach can give enterprises the edge in battling relentless cyberattacks,' said VMRay CEO Carsten Willems. VMRay GmbH, provider of 3rd generation agentless threat analysis and detection, today announced it has closed $3.9 million (3.5 million euro) in Series A funding with eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners AG and High-Tech Grunderfonds (HTGF). VMRay will use this funding to accelerate its product development roadmap and expand its sales and marketing worldwide. Since VMRays entry to market at the beginning of 2015, many of the worlds largest global enterprises and leading technology vendors have come to rely on VMRay for automated evasion-resistant threat analysis and detection that works on-premises or in the cloud. With this round of funding, VMRay will establish a U.S. office in Boston, MA, for North American customer support and worldwide sales and marketing. The Company will also expand the research and development team, led by co-founder and CTO Ralf Hund, in its Bochum, Germany, head office in order to continue to broaden its offerings and maintain its competitive lead. This is further validation of the unique malware analysis technology that VMRay has developed. Our approach can give enterprises the edge in battling relentless and ever-more sophisticated cyberattacks. The skills and specific expertise to tackle these threats are in short supply among organizations worldwide, said VMRay CEO and co-founder Carsten Willems. An automated analysis tool such as VMRay that easily integrates into existing security infrastructure enables enterprises to effectively leverage the resources they already have, while dramatically improving their visibility into the threat landscape, whereby improving their ability to react and defend. VMRays agentless automated threat analysis solution leverages hypervisor-centric technology and a unique monitoring approach (Intermodular Transition Monitoring or ITM), developed through years of research by the co-founders. By embedding monitoring and control of the target analysis environment in the hypervisor, VMRay Analyzer avoids the malware evasion and scalability challenges that hamper other approaches. "IT and cybersecurity is one of our current key investment target sectors. VMRay's sandbox technology is a great leap forward for the industry. We have not seen any solution with similar capabilities," said Willi Mannheims, Managing Partner of eCAPITAL. The product is well established commercially, thus we view this financing as an acceleration round. We are looking forward to helping facilitate the companys growth as VMRay expands its offerings and market presence. VMRay already constitutes the fifth major investment by the eCAPITAL IV Technologies Fund, which was started in 2016. As the seed investor in VMRay, we saw early on the potential of their solution and the ability of the co-founders to execute their vision. When the opportunity arose to make a further investment, we didnt hesitate. Given what the team has accomplished already, we know they will take VMRay into a leadership position in enterprise cybersecurity, said Holger Heinen, Investment Director of HTGF. About VMRay VMRay delivers 3rd generation threat analysis and detection using advanced agentless hypervisor-based dynamic analysis. The VMRay Analyzer is platform independent and highly scalable, the result of a decade of R&D by Carsten Willems and Ralf Hund, two of the worlds leading experts on dynamic malware analysis. By monitoring at the hypervisor level, VMRay Analyzer is undetectable by malware running in the target operating system. Based in Bochum, Germany, VMRay works through channel partners and OEMs to serve leading enterprises around the world. To learn more, visit https://www.vmray.com/. About eCAPITAL eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners AG is a Muenster-based alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) in accordance with the European Venture Capital Fund Regulation (EuVECA). As one of the leading venture capital firms in Germany, eCAPITAL has provided venture assistance to entrepreneurs in technology-driven growth sectors since 1999. Our investments primarily focus on innovative technologies and applications in the areas of ICT, Industry 4.0, Cleantech and New Materials. eCAPITAL currently manages 6 funds with total assets under management of 160 million and provides both early- and later-stage financing. To learn more, visit http://ecapital.de/en/. About HTGF High-Tech Grunderfonds (HTGF) is Germanys most active and leading seed stage investor. We finance technology-driven companies whether in the fields of cleantech, robotics, developing new drugs, chemical processes or new software. Our portfolio companies profit from our experience and the extensive network of our team and its technological and entrepreneurial expertise. To learn more, visit http://high-tech-gruenderfonds.de/en/. Brian Tracy, CEO of Brian Tracy International and Best-Selling Author of more than 75 books, announced the release of his newest digital training course and certification program, Power Productivity, during a live online training Wednesday afternoon. Tracy first established himself as a time management expert after the release of his best-selling book Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time," which has now sold millions of copies worldwide and has been translated into 42 languages. The information presented in his new training course will build upon the timeless principles laid out in Eat That Frog! and will teach individuals how to stop procrastinating, become more productive, and maximize their time so they achieve success in their personal and professional endeavors. Participants of the course will receive access to 12 guided productivity lessons (with worksheets and quizzes) and 1-click support to help with any questions, in addition to gaining admittance to an exclusive Power Productivity Mastermind Facebook group where they can engage with other participants, ask questions, and demonstrate their expertise on the topic. For the first time ever, Tracy will also be giving participants the option to complete a final assessment once the course is completed to become a certified Brian Tracy Productivity Expert so they can help others to take control of their time and accomplish their goals. According to Tracy, This program is for people struggling to get things done, no matter how hard they work and want to know the reason why. Ive taken over 30 years of my personal experience with productivity and research on the subject and delivered it in a way that can help anyone to be more efficient and successful. For more information on Brian Tracys Power Productivity Digital Course and Certification Program, visit: http://www.briantracy.com/productivity-course About Brian Tracy Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. Brians goal is to help people achieve their personal and business goals faster and easier than they ever imagined. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 79 other countries worldwide. As a keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. For more information, visit: http://www.briantracy.com.